diff --git "a/christian/train.json" "b/christian/train.json" deleted file mode 100644--- "a/christian/train.json" +++ /dev/null @@ -1,26738 +0,0 @@ -{"text": "Agreed: there's no equivalence. What is stopping the conservative Christians from practising their faith? What conservative Christians have been prevented from marrying, birthing 19 children, homeschooling, establishing their own schools, denying evolution and climate change, and creating fabulist \"museums\" about origins of the human species?\n\nUtterly ridiculous.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It took them long enough. And it goes against Catholic doctrine, for now. \n\nI've always wondered why conservative Christians - both Catholic and Protestant - were always so intent on enforcing two or three Old Testament texts on homosexuality, but were happy to reject slavery even though there are far more extensive Biblical passages that permit it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one knows the day or hour, or the identity of the anti-Christ. Many thought Ronald Reagan was the anti-Christ as the letters in his name were 666. Although we are living in perilous times, many generations thought theirs was 'it'. Jesus will come back as a \"thief in the night\" and Christians, if they stay awake, will not miss it, nor will they be deceived by a 'fake' Christ. The 'real' Christ is going to win, in the end. That I do know.\n.\nMy firm belief in my 'theory' is no different than the 'science' that portrays the 'theory' of evolution as a fact and has a 'firm belief' in it. Or the 'science' that claims people are the cause for global warming. Those are unproven theories taught as facts in many schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I could respect (grudgingly) the likes of Jerry Falwell, Jr. and Pat Robertson if they'd just admit that Trump is a low-life but that they agree with him on policy. But this nonsense that they buy that he really is a devout Christian is ridiculous. Not only does it insult the intelligence of their \"flock,\" it also exposes them as hypocrites and political opportunists. Nauseating.\n\nBy the way, I love that photo above. It's as if Falwell knows he's shaking hands with a repugnant person and can't quite watch himself do it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Fake Christians!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Assad is continually posted as the really bad guy who is totally at fault.\n\nYes, Christians were allowed to peacefully live in that country. He has Christians in his government. Syrians are an educated people...all under his watch.\n\nThen, the graffiti appeared...\"Syria, you're next\".\n\nAnd all chaos ensued. Really bad people then poured into that country. Islamic militants created caused chaos and destruction.\n\nSo why is Assad continually the 'bad guy'?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gunmen? The headline should say, \"Muslims in Egypt kill at least 24 Christians...\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed. You can't reach the lost by being a judgmental jerk who makes kids cry. Christ calls real Christians to be compassionate and come along side people in there darkest days, not yell at them to repent as they come out of the bar. There's a time to talk about the consequences of sin but if you don't be compassionate first, nobody will care about what you have to say. Plus, a position of judgment is the worst place to preach from about sin. Paul constantly used his past to lovingly show that he understood where they were right then and he accepted them. When you can say \"look, I've been where you are and have felt what you feel\", you will have much more of an impact. When people act like this, it makes the world think this is Christianity. Just my 2 cents.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Which part of your hateful Christianity says that those that are righteous should be killed along with thise that are not?\nYou could argue that God murdered millions indiscriminately, but I doubt that would fit your agenda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Go to Birmingham England.\nSharia gangs killing White Christian people on every corner", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ok, so you ARE saying that children should suffer for the actions of their parents. Do you consider yourself a Christian?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently, they didn't read Matthew Chapter 7. You are correct Old Soul. Judge not, Christian or not. Just a bad idea all around. Not our place to judge, and we do need the wood!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill Maher and Richard Dawkins say the same things about Islam as The Rebel but don't get attacked for it because they are liberals . Double Standard . The same people attacking The Rebel would be fine with it if The Rebel went after Catholics but Islam ,forget about it . What a bunch of hypocrites .", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Dammit Donald. \n\nThe reason that a lot of us support you is because you are NOT one of those A-hole Christian Conservative's. If that's what we wanted we'd have picked What's his name from Texas instead...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have to dig deep into Christian lore to come up with an example like that. Most Christians have transcended the silly stage of their religion; many Muslims appear not to.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "and now they embrace christianity and things are worse than ever!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sexism is bragging that you can sexually assault women because you're a big shot. It's the ultimate abuse of power from an immoral narcissistic psychopath. But don't let that stop you from being a good Catholic and giving this monster even more power.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Lots of so-called Christian suckers. The same people who give to these hucksters vote for Trump and believe his lies.\n\nAs Lincoln said, in a woderful euphamism for fools, \"You can fool some of the people all of the time.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Typical reaction from mean spiteful god fearing people right Sylvia! Showing your christian ways I bet. Such mean people a person died a horrible death who gives a crap who she slept with \n or if he she was a man or woman or she is left right. I wouldn't wish that kind of death on my worst enemy. Pathetic mean people. Disgusting", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"At St. Michael\u2019s College at U of T, a push to integrate faith and intellect.\" With all due respect to the author of this article, St. Michael's College has always been about integrating faith and intellect. With a quick survey of history she would discover that the concept of university evolved from the Catholic church.. The study of theology and philosophy were part of the dialectic that drew early intellectuals together. A little more historical awareness is needed from the G&M.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some of the biggest perverts to abuse this law are \"christian conservatives\" and the like. Sick, sick folks. so sad, so sad, terrible, terrible.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why the hell do you continue to delude yourself thinking that all sane people are Christians? Many of us are not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Its about time these poor people go hear. \nHarper tried but was billed as a racist by the Liberals because they were Christians!!!!!!!\nLets not even talk about Justin and how his team dragged their feet on this file because he supposedly needed approval from undetected hacks at the UN\nYes approval to save a people that were being raped, murdered and tortured by ISIS, \nTruly Shameful, how many lives lost Justin????\nHE HAS BLOOD ON HIS HANDS.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics who voted for Trump are getting what they deserve. Unfortunately, the rest of us are going to have to suffer with them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are not \"imposing\" anything. If you have a problem with Catholic sexual ethics, be Protestant and have sex with whoever you want, whenever you want.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely right, Manuel! Apparently the prevailing thought is \"Never say that you are sorry\" AND never, in JUSTICE clear the name and reputation of the accused. Remember when Galileo's name was cleared? During Vatican II and Pope Paul VI 'rehabilitated' Galileo.\nL O N G before that time, we knew that Galileo was RIGHT. But it took until then for the Catholic Church to say \"Oh, yes, Galileo was right.\" I do believe that he had family---descendants, but did this bring them any consolation---I don't know.\n\nIn our country and in other countries---theologians were \"thrown under the bus\" for doing what theologians are supposed to do---research, present the results of their research, present their research-finding to their peers, and the group [consisting of hundreds] evaluate and make conclusions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And how would you describe the hatred shown here of Trump, Trumpites, Republicans, bishops and orthodox Catholics?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a foolish, insane comment, TomQuinn. You clearly have distorted the Church's position on the use of such weapons, obviously to fit your own agenda as a member of the lunatic fringe. I really hope you do not claim to be a Christian with attitudes such as yours, as you are so far from the teachings of Jesus Christ it is amazing! I will remember you in my prayers, that you may find a conversion of heart and soul through the grace of the Holy Spirit.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It won't stop till the dinosaurs in the Vatican change the Catholic Catechism. There are many stupid and untrue non biblical based things in there that were aimed to hate Gays and Lesbians. It is this that the bullying gets its fuel.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. I'm Shi'a Muslim. And Burke used to have a hate-rant radio \"talk\" show. A few years ago he headed to California to try for the 'big-time'. Guess he didn't make it, because he's back in Alaska once more, seeking attention but only succeeding in being pathetic and slightly annoying. If he's got another show I'm unaware of it--I don't listen to radio much, so I'm spared his bigoted drivel if it's on the air, Allah Shukr (thank God).\n\nAnd I thank you for your honesty and introspection. We all need to make a habit of looking at ourselves in the mirror with our eyes open. I was born in the US (62 years ago), but I thank you for your welcome nonetheless. I do have relatives in four other countries. Also, my mom is a Christian. And you guys don't have a lock on imbecilic projectile-vomiters--we got plenty of 'em too.\n\nIn the words of both Jesus son of Mary and Muhammad son of Abdullah (alayhimus-Salaam): \"Shalom alaychem\", \"Salaam alaykum\", \"May the Peace (of God) be unto you.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I needed to read this article! \nSince I can't enter Catholic Church knowing; 1. Clergies rape children in the church. 2. the institutional church\nhierarch (80 %) condone clergy sexual rape of children systematically! 3. Pope F. and his prelates refused to make his bishop accountable for their supporting clergy rape of children some over thirty years. \nTo me, this is a spiritual 'Holocaust'. This CI (Catholic Institution) is killing millions Catholic's spiritual lives. Millions of Catholics, young and old are leaving Catholic church!\nAll these so called clergies/religious united in keeping their mouth shut and close their eyes and let the children suffer/commit suicide! I think this kind of religion will die of it's own lack of love for the suffering children sooner or later!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bible is a book of Hate and Evil --!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with Mr. Wadell that all ideologies are not created equal. He highlights some of the differences between Islam and Christianity, but the most important distinction regarding ideologies is faith-based v. evidence-based.\n\nStone age-ideologies like Islam and Christianity which are based on ridiculous unsupported fantasies have proven to be terrible for humanity. Evidence/science based ways of knowing are far superior. And while they don't guarantee immediate peace and prosperity, they most certainly give us the best chance for it. That's why institutions in our society responsible for seeking the truth like the press, the courts, and universities, use evidence-based ways of knowing and long ago left behind the great engine of ignorance and stupidity known as religion. It's depressing that so many still hold on to these very old and very destructive faith-based ideas.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Rubbish. You ARE lying, and your \"faith\" is certainly not Catholic", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ludicrous.\n Religions are the most divisive ideas and practices, the cause of delusions, war and suffering.\n Egypt is a Muslim nation of 90 million impoverished people essentially at the mercy of pseudo-Christian United States, ruled with an iron fist by a US puppet torture military dictator.\n If that isn't something to fight against, I don't know what is.\nThe \"spirituality\" of Christianity is an acquired taste to which the vast majority of the world has no attraction.\n The world desperately needs a spiritual revival to rejuvenate the reality of shared common humanity. But religions are not doing it for us.\n In the 1960's and 70's the hippies had an amazing kind of spirituality - a generous spirit of love for humanity, inclusiveness, and peace based on social democracy.\n That spirit still lives in the Scandinavian nations.\n No nation better embodies the ideals of Christianity; certainly not the US which says they believe in the 10 Commandments but lives by the 10 Delusions.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Good! White Christians are evil.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Justin represents all the people Gays, transgenders, blacks, brown, chinese, Jews, Muslims, Native Indians, not like Trump who just represents white people and christians. Thats the inner beauty of Justin and the outer ugliness of Trump.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Another gay-hating, self-righteous, Christian extremist child molester. Yep.. he'll win. He's a perfect representation of the current Republican party.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Since the Roman Catholic Church does not recognize any same-sex marriages it basically consigns all gay people to a life of celibacy, not mere chastity. Your failure to acknowledge that reeks of smug disingenuousness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The word Christian means \"Little Christ's\" and I don't really know who are Christians, but those who go to Church's that refuse to preach and teach Biblical truths would be highly suspect, like the Unitarian Church that gets all the local news coverage and several others that basically teach everybody goes to Heaven, that is not Biblical, nor is it true. I have no problem with them claiming they are a church, but they are not a Christian Church. You seem to believe everybody is right and nobody is wrong, I don't get it. It is very weird. I have a job where I deal with non-believing people all day long without preaching to them, you might be surprised. \n\nHere are some names of people I follow, what are they ?\n\nJohn Macarthur\nAlbert Mohler\nRC Sproul\nAlistair Begg\nJohn Calvin\nMartin Luther\nJonathan Edwards\nGeorge Whitfield\nJohn Wesley (Yes - Hark the Herald Angels Sing)\nAugustus Toplady\nIsaac Watts", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vote Dunleavy out when he comes up for reelection! We don't need anymore of his weird pseudo Christian values imposed on us or our children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Republicans are all about pretending and being fake Christians, it is what they do BEST these days ...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, you accomplished so much with your comment. Matt Wuerker would be so proud! You claim you live in Houston, a metro area of 6-7 million, where there is nobody like this cartoon depicts because they are all up in North Texas and other flooded cities? You're on board with belittling Christians' faith in God? I seriously doubt that first responders and volunteers are offended when someone praises Jesus, Allah, Yahweh,....you get it. Then you cap it off by implying that dumb people should lose their stuff and perhaps their lives through \"natural selection\"? But it's all hilarious, right? Way to go Travis! You are officially the worst person I've ever encountered online, and that's saying a lot.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I suppose you mean \"Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's\". That meant, \"Pay your taxes.\" Otherwise, there is no scripture demanding obedience to the President of the United States, or its first century equivalent. In Christianity, morals are not compromised because a powerful person demands it. That'w why Christian history is dotted with martyrs.\n\nWe are speaking of a different thing, incompetence, corruption, fraud, deceit. Obviously neither you nor many of Trump's voter cared that Trump was and is a womanizing playboy with no perceptible morals. The fact that someone else was, also, is no excuse whatsoever. Trump's voters were thoroughly hoodwinked, taken for a ride. If they can't see it by now, they are truly foolish.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Every country that has 50% or over Muslims makes for other faiths or individuals very hard to live. Talking about being victim, how about thousands of Indian who were tortured and killed because they would not accept Islam. What about their identity. What about identity of countless Christians in Arabic countries : like Iraq, Syria, etc tortured and killed I totally horrific ways but Muslims what about their victimization, what about their rights. \nThose articles written about current situations in this newspaper are totally pathetic. It\u2019s a joke.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hey, we can't leave out Obama's final great revelation -the one where he demonstrates that he actually is NOT a friend to Israel. When the UN starts telling the big Islamic countries that they must create protected boundaries with full democratic citizenship to their minority Christian and Jewish populations will be the day that Israel can start to adapt a two state policy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The underlying intent of EU is to destroy the white race and Christianity. Leave it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Rubbish. Canada's population is 80% European with 79% of Canadians self-identifying as belonging to the Christian religion. These are its most distinctive features.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a HORRIBLE 'leader' Republicans elected!! Shouldn't have to be dragged into the light of day to say, do, behave in a good way ... Cheetolini is morally BANKRUPT ... HOW DO Y'ALL CALL YOURSELVES CHRISTIANS??!! 85% of Cheetolini supporters consider themselves Christian. You can't vote for and support this moron AND still be a good Christian. You'll rot for this vote.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Islamic religion is tied to killing people, just like the Catholic religion has been tied to sexually abusing boys. Do some religions seem to find their way into these social problems, and why?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I doubt an old, socialist Jewish atheist would've had much of a shot in the general. Trump was elected by white Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed. What I always found astounding is how people willing to denigrate Christians for their belief system, buy into the universe springing from nothing. A clear violation of the first and second laws of thermodynamics, yet they're will to believe in that and not God walking across water. Seems pretty short-sighted and hypocritical to me.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sarah Silverman is a vicious and disgusting anti-Catholic bigot -- ignore her", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Please don't question his 36%, of course they trust him, his bigots, racists, evangelicals, deplorables, KKK, the Nazi's, the white supremacists and \"some very fine people\", trust the thin skinned vindictive bully, who just also happens, in his own words, to be a p**** grabber. God Bless America.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You can read stuff like that in the Old Testament; that's why Christ reformed all that hogwash.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "GOD gave women their rights as human beings, not men. Did Jesus Messiah approve of treating women as mere p******s to be groped? Hell no! A man was not even to exploit a woman in THOUGHT.\n\nYour objection is neither here nor there. I gave you the example you demanded and you changed the subject. Duly noted.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hmmm but in the Gospel Jesus tells us to eat His flesh and drink His blood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't that the argument they use against Islam? Don't some of these good Christian folks say that Mohamed was a pedophile, yet now that is their defense of this joker?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cheetolini wants to ignore his duties, and is a racist pig. Plain and simple. He can't fake care like he does when he fake prays and gullible blind American 'christians' gobble it up.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus H. Christ, it's about time someone published this! This is the information that need to be plastered on mainstream media. We will loose this fight and that's a god damn guarantee! It's asshole's who post Youtube videos of their suction dredging and drool over their fucking miniscule amounts of Au in front of the entire world who has fucked us! This Asshole, Dave Mc Cracken and his Happy Camp Methadone patients that go into peoples back yards with their 6\" Proline's and dredge their birdbaths because they can is fucking bullshit!! Happy Camp, California needs to go! he IS the clown that brought ALL of this bullshit from the Left. Why you ask? Well I'll fucking tell you why since no one else will. Seriously, 70 fucking miles this asshole had claimed for his newbies to royally piss off the Karuk not to mention the other people who live up there. NEWSFLASH!! Why didn't HE defy the ban and get arrested in '15 to show the world his stand instead of his brainwashed assholes? Fuck him!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So you believe that Pinochet's murderous dictatorship was the \"lessor\" evil to Allende's elected democracy? Or that the nun-murdering generals in Guatemala were the lesser evil to their democracy, which justifies in your mind overthrowing it? Or that the ruthless shah in Iran was the lesser evil to their democracy, whose real crime was to insist the profit from their oil belonged to the people, not our big oil companies? You're a vain and feigned Christian, Harry. You defend Trump by insisted he only SAID horrible things, not did them, but the Christian bible says we are judged by every word that comes out of our mouths. I'm thankful for Christians like you, since I'm hoping God grades on a curve. You are one evil person.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Got a love these jerks at the AUSCP.\n\nHow dare you, Pope Francis, attack Gay Priests and support the idea they are less worthy for priesthood. Don't you know that you should follow the Association of US Catholic Priests and only attack the human dignity of all women called to priesthood and equal ordination. Only women aren't really people. You might actually hurt men when you strip their souls by taking away their experience of equal sacredness by taking away a whole sacrament without any real reason. AUSCP only feels women are not harmed by their forced voicelessness in our church and sacramental slavery and that is what we stated to you Pope Francis in our letter just two years ago - please limit only women to deacons. \n\n\"A Statement released, by the 1,200-member Ohio-based organization charged that \"the terms 'homosexual tendencies' and 'deep-seated homosexual tendencies' are ambiguous and disrespectful of the personhood of those who identify with a homosexual orientation.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Truly, directly on point, yet now deleted? I am sorry you continue to believe in this restriction business, but I guess it assuages the unhappiness wrought by the suspension that deprived us all of your wit and wisdom for so many days. But, let's do try to stay focused on this article about Cardinal Burke, and not one's personal agenda. Have a blessed and holy day!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For the Catholic viewpoint, interview the head of the most notorious pro-abortion \"Catholic\" organization.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All because the LEFT wants immigration from the middle east.\nI don't get it?\nWHY!\nThese animals live in the stone age.\nBeating women, killing women, mutilating girls\nThey hate democracy, Christianity, Buddhism, etc.\nWhat is wrong with you leftist nutbars.!\nWhat is even worse is the feminists want them in?\nThat takes the cake", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Straight* Learn how to spell, and bullshit. No one hates straight people. Only those who are close minded and self centered religious bigots that have nothing better to do then make a big deal out of someone for not being christian or for being LGBT.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "According to your rationale, if the pope becomes a heretic then the whole church becomes heretical.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any Catholic who at this point believes there is an actual moral equivalence between voting for Hillary or for Donald, or worse, believes that Donald is preferable to Hillary, so powerful is that ancient irrational anti-Hillary hatred, is a deluded and irresponsible fool. Hillary Clinton is by far the only acceptable candidate in this election campaign, of the four. By far.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I doubt that. People disliked Irish immigrants, Italian immigrants, Japanese immigrants, Chinese immigrants, etc. It is just a matter of which decade we are talking about. There always has to be an immigrant group to hate.\n\nAnd just because you hated the Irish or Italians, that doesn't mean you hated all Christians. So why the special hatred towards the Muslims?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, i have been in a position of getting a court order from the operating room to give blood to a dying child whose parents are Whitneses. These parents actually thanked me afterwards and told me that they would been shunned had they given permutation. I asked them if religion is ever worth emotional shaming. Same is true of the dogmatic catholics on this board and many dogmatic American \"infallible\" Bishops. Time to shame them back!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Michael, you've outdone yourself! Your singular obsession with Hilary Clinton is so Catholic Churchy. Darn that female. Women cannot be trusted. I am anxiously awaiting your column on the charge of underage rape and court date for Donald Trump.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "John F. Kennedy (JFK) appointed his brother Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) as Attorney General. RFK was an outstanding AG. In my opinion Robert was the most talented and genuinely interested in making the world a better place of the Kennedy Brothers. \n\nBetsy DeVos is a stupid person. Just out and out dumb. She wanted to be Education Secretary to push her Christian Fundamentalist agenda of using taxpayer money to fund religious schools under the guise of charter schools. She could less about improving American education. If Betsy has her way we'll be funding schools that teach kids that the earth is flat, 6000 years old and Jesus rode dinosaurs. Yup, that will really help us compete against the rest of the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ridiculous. At no point did Jesus shed His Divinity by taking on our humanity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This was not a Canon Law matter. This was the bishop being a sore loser on gay marriage by being rude to gay spouses and threatening to the priests who would minister to them. We saw the same kind of retaliatory nonsense when the Affordable Care Act passed and certain Bishops took retaliatory actions against sisters in Catholic Health who cleared the bill as not promoting abortion, which was correct, by the way.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Naah...The Pope has no interest in the unborn. He slapped Catholics with a comment about too much focus on abortion. He needs to resign and move back to Argentina", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "the honest truth is, trump's supporter are a basket of deplorables: racists, bigots, evangelicals, neo-nazi, white supremacists, birthers and some \"very fine people\", I'm sure like yourself, lol. imua, aloha, mahalo", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I do know what I am saying. That also gets to the idea of my statement about liberals deny freedom of association. Part of the freedom of association is the freedom to NOT associate with people you do not want to. Liberals have these notion that you have to associate with everybody. This can also be confusing because liberals also seem to allow certain classes of people the right to not associate with other certain classes of people. What I also quite often do is point out the hypocrisy of the left.\nAlso, as I have pointed out before, you get lousy service when you FORCE people into your belief system. For instance, that daycare you mention, (good choice by the way as this is similar to what our public schools are) would have a tendency to teach children what lousy people Christians are, that they are bigots and evil. Why would I want to leave my kids there?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is actually you on the right who are so filled with hate. Your hatred of Hillary crossed the line along with your hatred of the last president who actually balanced the federal budget. Sad that you phony conservatives are filled so much hate. When you are not hating the Clintons, you are hating gays for some reason. \n\nI guess the biggest hypocrisy is that many of you profess to be Christians which is a joke. Jesus was about love not hate. No way any of you could really be Christian, just phony christian like being phony conservative. Shape up and start being real Chrisitans and real Conservatives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It blows their minds. The Metro thought only straight white Christians had such opinions of Islam.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I wish it were just plain old \"homophobia\" - that would be easier to expose, treat, and then move on from. \n\nWhat we're talking about here is endemic hypocrisy, born of self-loathing and a celibate clerical sub-culture that lives in constant fear of the loss of its political hegemony over the rest of the church. \n\nMost clerics allow their fear and shame to overwhelm themselves, convinced that their status and power in the Catholic community will be rejected out-of-hand by the people. That is why the Church and the great majority of priests and bishops are all balled-up in a twist over human sexuality. Celibacy was the price that far too many priest paid in exchange for entry into the ruling elite of the church. \n\nHomophobia is just a screen or dodge that excuses the hierarchs from acknowledging the central truth of their lives. \n\nWell, we're all taking notice ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is why the American Roman Catholic church is hemorrhaging so many traditional conservatives from it's pews. We've had our fill of this garbage.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately for your text, part of Pope Francis' job description is confirming the brethren.\n\nSo, if you're saying he either refuses to do his job, or just doesn't want to do it, thus he feels \"Pope Francis owes absolutely no explanation to anybody\", the problem is larger than it appeared before you wrote.\n\nTo pretend that \"we the laity\" or the bishops or the priests \"comprehend what AL says\" given the conflicting views expressed in each of those groups is indefensible and flies in the face of reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just another state ruled by Republican, heavily government-subsidized farmers, ranchers, oil and gas living on their giant estates voting against all taxation while sucking up the government cash. Fundamentalist christian theocrats ruling over every city, county, and state governing system as they ban abortions, defund all social programs, and maintain the working classes in indentured servitude. All while proclaiming how \"friendly\" they all are, except of course if you are non-white or refuse to \"believe\". The state was ruled by Anaconda from its inception and is now ruled by other Corporate dictators owning the majority of the lands where Republicans reign supreme. One small area around Missoula is a shrinking bastion of human rights. The rest of the state is harcore racist, bigotted, and stupid. Time for a Revolution to wrest the nation from these Republican fascists.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Obama was a militant pro-abortion, narcissistic, anti-Catholic clown. Thank God we did not elect Hillary for another 4 years of destruction regarding the moral fabric of our society. Respected around the globe? I think not!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How many judges and prosecutors are bribed to funnel prisoners into the privatized prison system? How many politicians are bribed to steer contracts and money to their corporate benefactors?\nI see most if not all, are christians all claiming to be deeply committed to their white mans jesus teachings that is a prerequisite for office. But our corrupt Tammany Hall in Washington is causing suffering and death instead of helping.\nSo where do their supposedly christian souls go when they die, after causing pain and misery, How about their supporters souls? They forgot jesus was a refugee and helped the less fortunate, the sick, weak, diseased, infirm, hungry and dying instead of preying on them like parasites. Them going to heaven make as much sense as the jihadi terrorists murdering innocents and expecting to go to their Islamic heaven with 72 virgins", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Gay marriage will never be approved by the Catholic Church, nor should it be.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "'Conservative Christian'...mostly oxymoronic. Too many conservative positions are not Christian..particularly on wealth and poverty, migrants, environment, climate change. \"Love your neighbor as yourself...\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This new Canada is getting sick and disgusting.\n\nWhat's next, assisted murder for simple convenience?\n\nThis is an entirely rhetorical question, as liberal insanity knows no bounds. I guaran-damn-tee unless we get back to our true Christian values, it will truly be the inmates running the asylum, even moreso than it already is. They're just getting warmed up. As things get worse you'll gradually realize that it's ALL wrong, including the murder of our unborn children.\n\nFilthy disgusting country we're becoming.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"She is a freak - don't expect an answer from her.\"\nHow very Christian of you!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic board is fine with condoms as long as yo hit it with the holy 3 hole punch first.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... what a dirtbag waste of human skin USA Republican 'christians' elected ...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I really hope the baker wins this case. My religion teaches the hatred of black people, and as a negro-hating Christian I deserve the special right to refuse them service at my restaurant.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "cmb: If this is your attitude I don't think you have to worry about anyone thinking you are a Christian, a moron is more likely.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church has thousands of married priests at this very moment. The only thing stopping them from ministering is closed minded ignorance.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The popular disrespect for Easter and conventional Christianity can be plainly seen in the mindless chatter that flows through the 'news' channels where the Easter Bunny and stupid SNL skits are treated as icons of the season.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Prisons around the world should be full of the pedophile priests in the Catholic Church and of course the priests that colluded to cover up what the pedophile priests are guilty of.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Every family has their own culture and values. I don't hear you standing up for children forced in Catholic schools. \n\nYou are assuming that women do not like wearing it. If they are adults they can make their own decisions. You are assuming that since they are women they can not make up their own minds - it's misogynistic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "http://www.politicususa.com/2016/07/21/hillary-clinton-reminds-america-evangelicals-warned-donald-trump-scam.html\nHillary Clinton Reminds America That Evangelicals Warned that Donald Trump is a Scam \n\nDonald Trump doesn\u2019t represent evangelicals and would be dangerous:\n\nTrump is a misogynist and philanderer. He demeans women and minorities. His preferred forms of communication are insults, obscenities and untruths. While Christians have been guilty of all of these, we, unlike Trump, acknowledge our sins, ask for forgiveness and seek restitution with the aid of the Holy Spirit and our community of believers.\n\nAnd our Republican delegation in DC don't seem to give a damn about this.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, he is the poster child for white, heterosexual male, Christian life.\nSo bland.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Works for me? Sir, Luther eventually left and started his own Church--or didn't you know that?\n\nDo you know what the difference between a Protestant and a dissident Catholic is? The difference is that the Protestant has integrity. I have far more respect for a Catholic turned Protestant than I do for a dissident Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bottom line is all religious extremist of all faiths (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddahist and Skih) produce nasty results.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is a Muslim ban - as long as it doesn't inconvenience citizens from countries with who/which Trump does business. The exceptions for Christians from the specified countries makes that clear. Both are described as being Roman Catholics. They should listen to their Pope rather than their President: Pope Francis made it clear that you cannot count yourself as being Christian if you support a Muslin ban. \n\nFor God's sake, this stupid ban impacts the most vulnerable. It is immoral.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Your Catholic fascist at work. They'll never get over the French Revolution.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Motto of the Catholic Church hierarchy = Deny, deny and then cover it up!! Any other organization with this child sex abuse record would have been shut down years ago!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims, atheists and cults don't care about your pope or his opinion. LOL Frankly, I don't either, he's NOT my POPE!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No real Christian would ever support Drumpf.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is our opinion and you are entitled to it. Dance of any sort by anyone has no place in the Liturgy. We are worshiping Almighty God and we follow the Tradition handed down for the past 2000+ years. Liturgical dance is an abuse. If you want to dance, do it after Mass in the parish hall. Our bodies are not profane. They are Temples of the Holy Spirit and should be used to glorify God. The Holy Sacrafice of the Mass is no place to innovate and or express yourself. We follow rubrics. We are Catholics! Amen!\ud83d\ude07 and God's Blessings", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can't expect a Satanist to recite the Lord's Prayer and you can't expect a Christian to be ok with invoking Satan no more than a Muslim is going to show up for Christmas Mass. Whomever came up with the idea is foolish!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "unfortunately, they are neither Christian, nor anything other than a phony religion created by an ignorant drifter who invented it all. Sad.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's truly amazing the hatred and contempt here for pro-life politicians, while there is nary a word of criticism of those who have given us 60 million dead babies. And yet this calls itself a \"Catholic\" newspaper.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims are hell bent to exterminate Christians, Jews and especially other Muslims. Islam is a death cult, and you guys criticize Trump for trying to stop them. Even Putin is on the wrong side of history and he gets less bad press.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I rarely pass up an opportunity to cite an article by Gene McCarrraher, writing at Commonweal on November 5, 2012. He refers to the Acton Institute as \"the horrid love-child of Thomas Aquinas and Ayn Rand \u2026 \u201c The article is titled \u201cMorbid Symptoms: The Catholic Right\u2019s False Nostalgia.\u201d The essay is here: https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/morbid-symptoms", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would say that we should do away with all of bishops and higher up clergies including Pope F. of course! Who could trust any of them now. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely!\nThey took 15 years to prove their inability to clean up their slavish addiction to the sexual abuse of children before the world!!! That is sickening and sad reality of Catholic Institution today!\nOh, God have mercy on us!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "... what horrible human beings .... pathetic. Super duper fakey 'christians'.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "this is a story that needs to be told..so that people will know some of the evil,white people are capiable of..even so called christians,,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Enjoy burning in hell, 'christian'.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The difference is that the interpreted by Christians and Jews of the biblical passages in question are viewed in an historical context. The passages from the Quran are interpreted in eternal time. The difference is that for Muslims it is ok to kill all Christians and Jews.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you say that? Many black Christians are victimized by bigots, and SPLC works to change that.\n\nWhy do you write such nonsense? just to get a reaction? Are you nothing but a mindless troll, or are you more like a \"prostitute\", who posts just to get \"hits\"? \n\nIf you don't shape up soon I'll put you in the mute bin, along with GBA.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Takes the last paragraphs to reveal the real ideology of the author - Just another Republican Terrorist Traitor demanding fundamentalist christianity ruling over all secular government and the usual federal government hater which, in itself, is traitorous to the nation. Blind Republican ideologues caring for no one except themselves as they feed and have fed at the government trough for their whole lives. Blind Republican ideologues failing to understand that the government spending has sustained the national economy since the Great Depression. Of course, they don't count all of that military spending as really \"government\". When these traitors finish, the economy will be right back to Depression days and, this time, the citizens will rise up in armed revolt against all of these traitors. Disgusting.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yep, focus on that family hate. Embrace the serial adulterer and pu$$\u00a5-grabbing buffoon in the WH while casting out your own family member. \n\nMany of these \"christians\" are really quite disgusting people.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christ did not have gentile apostles, therefore only Jews may be ordained. That is exactly the same argument as your \"Christ did not have women apostles, therefore only men can be ordained.\" The logic of both is identical, and equally bogus.\n\nJPII issued a decree which any subsequent pope can overturn. The Right typically misquotes the second amendment, but then, they believe that their guns are more important than their children's lives. They are kind of stupid that way.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Did you know that Islam's prophet was the largest Black Slave owner during his lifetime.. His closest black slave Bilal begged his white prophet master to set him free and he wouldn't.. If you ever called The Muslim prophet a black man, he would have slit your throat because he equated blackness with the devil and even wrote that the devil is a black man, black dogs are evil, and many other examples. Even today at this moment in time Islam is enslaving black people and I am not talking about Boko Haram but Libya thanks to Obama and Hillary for taking out Gaddaffi, they created not just Benghazi but this. And if you are not a Muslim then you should read the Quran and Hadiths because you are already written within the pages as an infidel, and Christians and Jews are called 'pigs and dogs' and women 'halfwits' who mostly will be in hell fire.. Before you speak get educated. Libya: African migrants sold as slaves in slave markets\nwww.jihadwatch.org/2017/04/libya-african...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Missed the point. It has nothing to do with religion. You must know your audience and Gardner isn't a Denver/Boulder favorite. I always get nervous when liberals use Jesus and Christianity as an argument for their prolific social programs. I would have to agree with some of what you posted. \"Beggars, thieves, prostitutes...\" are the stuff of the Democratic Party.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock the smiling, lying christian crusader, Mike Pence. Lock him up!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Weren't you just questions the \"Christian Moralness\" of the Founding Fathers ? So you weren't making an argument ? I was simply pointing out the founding fathers were most likely NOT Christians, so you can't label them hypocrites (which we all are anyway, so its no surprise). If you listened to the seminar I gave you your would understand what I am saying.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mormonism and rape are always mentioned in the same sentence along with racism. Like Catholicism, homosexuality, and pedophilia. Both organizations should be banned from the USA.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "15 year old kids, especially Muslims know exactly what they are doing, they know what blood tastes like and are in no way innocent. That young Muslim man deserves incarceration and the punishment that is owed to him. \n\nWhen resources in this world become scarce and but one piece of bread is left on the table, the Muslim man will slit your throat to have it but the Christian man will make sure that the piece is shared amongst us all.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Good man? LOL \"Grab them by the p*ssy.\" That good man? You act like the good Christian when it comes to abortion but you will apparently overlook anything Trump does. You drank all the Cool-Aid.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "In future elections, Catholics need to distance themselves as quickly as possible from the \"Breitbart\" base of the Republican party that gave us Trump as a candidate. They are toxic. Trump's supporters are so vile that the only thing they accomplished is to guarantee that Hillary Clinton will be our next president. That is what happens when you make a bargain with the devil. Evangelicals who continue to support Trump have no moral integrity. Mike Pence is an absolute hypocrite. Thank goodness for Paul Ryan, Jeb Bush and other principled Republicans. Elections don't have to be this way. Bernie Sanders is a great example of how a respected rival can push a candidate to moderate her position on specific issues. Catholics need to pray for social justice candidates who can have the same impact. That means either an Eisenhower Republican or a Pro-life Democrat. https://goo.gl/KNAc7A", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Let's see.\n\nIs Hillary Clinton \"amoral\"? No.\nSexist? Certainly not.\nNarcissistic? No.\nA liar? Well, all politicians lie to to some degree. But on the brazen, colossal scale of Trump's compulsive lying? Different galaxy.\nIs Hillary Clinton knowledgeable about the Constitution? Quite.\nDoes Hillary Clinton care about the integrity of the democratic process? Yes.\n\n<>\n\nAre these things true of Hillary Clinton? No, they are not.\n\nAs usual, Buster, you're just slinging bs. False equivalency is so last year. Let's see you defend Nazis, white supremacists, Russian mobsters, and Joe Arpaio and call yourself a Christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There is no group in this country more opportunistic and more hypocritical than the leadership of the right-wing Evangelical movement. These are the people who, with straight faces, endorsed Donald Trump for president because they \"believe\" he's a sincere Christian. In a pig's eye.\n\nJohn Hagee values Jews in Israel the same way a chess player values pawns. They're useful at a certain point in the game, but ultimately expendable.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I think that if you Canadians to take this touchy-feelly stuff seriously, you should start by proving that Muslims in Canada will not tolerate the hatred all too frequently spouted against Jews and Christians in their mosques and schools, in their newspapers and web sites. \n\nCome back to us when it becomes unacceptable to disparage gays in Islamic communities (yes... individuals may always say that stuff, but the leadership must not tolerate it).\n\nCome back to us when the community stops denying the reality of honour killings and does something about it. \n\nCome back to us when no one in a spiritual or political leadership position tells the community that Islam in not compatible with democracy and secular government. \n\nCome back to us then, and tell us how we should all get to know and love one another.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why worry about Trump, he and his childish mouth and tantrums will hand it to Hillary then we are all lost in a sea of socialism,progressive which is communist lite, rigged Supreme court,and anti- American sell outs for her foundation The Clinton's are only about their money and to hell with everyone else except illegal aliens and Muslim invaders. That war with Islam and its attacks on the West and Christians started 1,400 years ago and never stopped if you research history.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Buddhists are FAKES! Their schtick is to shave their heads and wear orange rags begging at doors like the Mormons. They are rude and cheapskates. Not polite or peaceful at all. They covet rich expensive things like ordinary folks. In Thailand the soldiers and police are arresting them for bribes, tax evasion, rape and pedophilia (like Catholics). Trying to arrest one leader in a flying saucer-shaped temple for an investment scam but nobody can find him. They all look alike.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus loved prostitutes!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So we should take hunting rifles from Alaskan Natives so we can continue importing people from places who want to kill Americans? Lol!!!!! Sounds totally logical to me. Are you done virtue signaling & posting anti-Christian hate speech?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, there are relatively few Catholics who are concerned with this problem. Pope Francis is telling us to act like the adults we are. He is advising us to seek the counsel of our well-formed consciences and act on that counsel. If some folks are too frightened or too stubborn to see that, they need to continue discerning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. I found the Catholic Church under JPII/ Benedict to be quite unmerciful. I had all sorts of problems with the hypocrisy and condemnations and rigid rules and lack of individual love and mercy. I think that many ex-Catholics including myself were turned off by what we experienced with priests, religious, and the conservative Catholic \"temple guard.\" I have issues with Pope Francis but at least he is trying to make the Catholic Church nicer and more open and more about being a good person and having a personal relationship with Jesus and helping the poor than about the rubrics and the Catechism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you have a problem with white people, you seem to think all Trump supporters are right wing extremestis? . Your generalizations are astounding. Trump is making our country safe. I think you are the racist. You are kidding yourself if you think that all terrorists came here legally. The travel exec. order includes countries that have many other religions besides Muslim and it also is amazing that the MSM ignores the persecution of Christians throughout the world. Not all people that voted for Trump are right wing extremest", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What if instead of \"Christian Freaks\", your comment said \"Muslim Freaks\"?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The man is utterly revolting. I hope US catholics don't fall for his nonsense.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "He really showed what an awful human being is! He was given everything and he really has no humanity except in a negative manner - Greed and amoral behavior, every attribute antithetical to Christianity and about every other religion - he's a bum's rush and attractive to other lost souls. So why is he attractive?\nHe doesn't pay taxes? He is over his head in losses? He's getting away with it. \nBut why the attraction to the Moralist Christian's? \nAre they this stupid or do they already just support similar characters in their pulpits?\nIt's a mystery because he's really mean!\nTime to get right with one's soul despite what the party says! The Bush Family has done so, but Ted Cruz is incredible. How bad does it need to get?\nJust read in The Belly of the Beast!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Everyone who defends islam and muslims endorses crime.\nEndorsing crime IS a crime, so those doing it are criminals.\n\nRight in the Qur'an is: the permission to murder Jews and Christians (Surah 9:29), to terrorize all non-Muslims \n\n(8:12), to rape young girls (65:4), to enslave people for sex (4:3), to lie about one's true goals (3:54), and \n\nthe command to make war on all the infidels (9:123) and subjugate the entire world to Allah (9:33).\n\nAre death-threats legal? NO.\nIs extortion legal? NO.\nIs slavery legal? NO.\nIs murder legal? NO.\nIs rape legal? NO.\n\nTHEN ISLAM IS ILLEGAL!\n\nRape, slavery, robbery, extortion and murder are never OK!\n\nEverything muslims pretend to see as \"holy\" is already a crime!\n\nSo nobody has a legal right to practice islam anywhere on earth!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "His mother in Germany thinks her dear son is being framed by Christians for a crime they committed .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is a racist sympathizer.\nHe single-handedly used his wealth and fame to perpetuate the lie \u2013 wholly racist in nature \u2013 that President Obama was not born in the United States.\nHe has declared his intention to deport millions of law-abiding Muslims, ban immigration of Muslims, and has called Mexican immigrants drug dealers and rapists.\nHe openly accepted the support of avowed white supremacists during his campaign and has done virtually nothing to distance himself from these groups and their political aims since.\nThe neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups that marched in Charlottesville are similarly transparent in their purpose.\nThey believe in the supremacy of white European Christians over, well, everyone else.\nIn particular, they want to eliminate Jews and Blacks, and Latinos, Muslims, LGBTQ folks, feminists (perhaps women, generally), Catholics, and many others.\nThere is no mystery here.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I would be carrying more than a large knife if people were shooting at my home and animals, calling me a white nigger, threatening to shoot me, and showing up with a virtual lynch mob of ignorant people who are shouting and threatening to 'tape me up' and send me out of town. The leaders of Akiak have led their people to commit illegal actions before and what would stop them if they told these people to harm this man? I understand that kind of harassment is legal and accepted in Alaskan native villages apparently, but it's not right on a human or a Christian level ( which is apparently not their religion). Sooo he is wearing a knife on his belt on a small farm in Alaska and that makes him a bad person? Hahaha. That's beautiful.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "not only that, but any Catholic who is brainwashed enough to believe that the Evangelicals will treat them well when they get some power is totally deficient in gray matter upstairs. they hate Catholics as much do gays and Muslim. they may hide it better these days, buy it is still there and won't be going anywhere a long time yet.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks man. but This ain't a democracy brother Michael. This is a constitutional Republic with, get ready for this; its own culture, values and laws which it derived from Judeo-Christian principles. I know that last bit always offends liberals. But ignoring the facts does not make them any less true. \n\nMuslims put their religion, their race, their culture before everything. And now they thrive amongst a people who are afraid to talk about their religion, race and culture. \n\nWhat do you think is going to happen?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The optics surrounding the deportations are ugly. We see predominately white border agents putting handcuffs on non-violent brown-skinned people. Charges of overt racism come to mind which sullies the reputation of the United States. One wonders if the outrage over the latest refugees from the U.S. if they were fortunate to be blond haired, blue-eyed Christians? There's a distinct whiff of bigotry in a lot of the comments.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It is just a joke to placate the bible-belt voting reefer madness conservatives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Timothy McVeigh was a Roman Catholic and he killed 168 people in the Oklahoma City bombing. If you assume that he and 18 members of his congregation carried out attacks of equal lethality, that would total 3192 deaths. By the same mathematical calculation, each of the 19 terrorists on 9/11 was responsible for 157.7 casualties per terrorist. So by your logic, Roman Catholic terrorists kill more people per terrorist. Just doing math here to show the idiocy of your logic.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So Facebook makes you dumber?\n\nOr only the dumb sign up for FB? \n\nOr Satan and Jesus arm wrestling would create a blackhole that would swallow the earth?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Which \"religious leaders\" support the humane and sensible priorities of assisting the poor, disabled, elderly, children, working poor, middle class, education, healthcare, and protecting the environment? Pope Francis certainly does but what percentage of Catholics? As for the Christian leaders who support Trump, just what kind of Christianity are they practicing and preaching? This Pussy Grabbing heartless, cruel, bigoted narcissistic jerk they elected President is their hero! It's obvious whatever religion they are practicing has nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus Christ! They care about money and power, period!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Parents think first when you feed your little boys to the pedophile priests. There are hundreds of thousands of them. Jesus warned many will come to me and say \"lord, lord\" didn't we serve you but I will say to them, depart from me you lovers of evil and wickedness. Jesus will throw them into hell!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Clinton foundation took millions of dollars from the Haitian refugee relief fund; that was supposed to build a hospital and make life better for the Haitians after the earthquake and instead of doing what they were supposed to do and had promised to do they chose to keep the money to fund their lavish lifestyle. Bill Clinton whom Hillary has promised to make her co-president is a rapist and a sexual predator of the worst degree... Over 30 women have come forward and filed formal complaints against him for rape he spent 27 trips going to pedophile island to have sex with children .... Christians have no problem making moral judgments on people like the Clinton's. People like Nicholas Kristof are is corrupt as the Clinton's whom they seek to put into office it's ridiculously transparent and laughably nonsensical. The audacity of trying to use a moral argument to promote the Clinton's is absurd and mind-boggling.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Almost. This \"rule\" was actually Jesus' response to a hypothetical posed by certain Pharisees: \"Is it lawful for a man (male) to divorce his wife, for any reason? Jesus NEVER answered that question, but counseled against divorce without reference to a \"rule\" forbidding divorce, or creating such a rule.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These \"...Bible thumping 'holier than thou' hypocrite[s]\" are more interested in fleecing their dim-witted, too trusting flock.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We must be submissive Marian broodmares for Jesus. Duh.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, so now it is oh-so-Christian to vote for a guy like Trump who has defrauded his investors, refused to release his tax returns, grabbed women by the pussy and bragged about it, and has been married 3 times? Ha-ha, you guys were used big time..... and don\u2019t you think that most Christians would want to see health care for the people and aid to poor folks? That\u2019s what Jesus would do, but not Trump \u2014 he\u2019s the exact opposite, distributing income to the rich.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As a modern Republican, what does it FEEL LIKE to have a swirling black hole where a beating human heart should be ... \n\nI'll bet you consider yourself a Christian. 'christian' is the reality ... you are living a lie.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So are Christian fundamentalists allowed to pray at school? Is the Latin sect of the Roman Catholic church allowed to pray at school? Are Wiccans allowed to have meetings at schools? Okay, what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Eliminate all prayer at schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill: I'm guessing you're referring to the teaching of Evolution when you state \"almost all public schools in the US are required to teach that there is no Creator.\" Teaching Evolution does NOT mean teaching that there is no Creator. There are tens or hundreds of millions of Christians and believers in other religions who accept the undeniable (except by hard-core zealots) evidence that Evolution indeed occured over millions of years AND AT THE SAME TIME, believe that, at the \"core\" of that process, there is a GOD. Those two beliefs are not mutually exclusive. A \"day of creation\" doesn't have to be 24 hours long...except for hard-core fundamentalist Christians who insist on a literal reading of both the old and new testiments. (cont)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's also interesting that most child predators are christian white males.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The point you're missing is that it's the Christians who are making the pious holier-than-gay big ol' stink about everything. Many people are prejudiced, but some know to keep their ignorance to themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Winter Solstice is the reason for the season. Christians had to have something to bring the Pagans around to their way of thinking, so they changed the birthday to the winter solstice. This guy is a complete idiot.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, it meant western Europeans that are Christian! Stop the lame propaganda!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your disgusting treason to rationality, civilization and humanity is inexcusable. Islam isn't a \"race\" (at all, much less one of poor, mentally-inferior swarthy \"People Of Color\" who are oppressed by mentally superior whites) nor is it a \"religion\" (at all, much less one \"Of Peace\")! Islam is only the world's largest and oldest, ongoing extortion-racket and crime gang, and one whose 'holy mobster' \"muslim\" gang members' blame a \"god\" as their #1 alibi to excuse their own criminal desires and actions.\n\nRight in their Qur'an is: permission to murder Jews and Christians (Sura 9:29), to terrorize all non-muslims (8:12) to rape young girls (65:4) to enslave people for sex (4:3), to lie about one's true goals (3:54), the command to make war on all the infidels (9:123) and enslave the entire world to Allah (9:33)\n\nAre death-threats legal? NO.\nIs extortion legal? NO.\nIs slavery legal? NO.\nIs murder legal? NO.\nIs rape legal? NO.\n\nSo nobody has a legal right to practice islam anywhere on earth!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I really think the hierarchy's warped view on sexuality is all tied up with the accompanying sexism (however they want to package it). I would not disagree with you and besides women clergy, there is no legitimate reason why LGBT could not be clerics. Afterall, Christ made no \"if ands or buts\" about who should follow Him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's right! Live and let live! So we need to allow pedophiles to do what they will because we want to live and let live. We need to not discourage people from killing each other because we want live and let live. We want to let people kill all Jews, blacks, Christians, etc., because it's what these people want to do and we want to live our lives the way we want to! I think life would be so much better if we subscribed to this philosophy!\n\nThe problem with you saying we should subscribe to this philosophy is that it's absurd. It's too simplified a statement. What do you actually mean when you say this? There have to be limits for society to be able to function!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Science ...........\nSomething the crazy Jesus freaks and the old white uneducated men of the GOP do not understand!\nHellloooooo ..........\nAnyone who thinks that the earth is 8000 years old needs to have their head checked...........", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I know. This is nothing good for society. But the uber rich don't care, because their needs are being me. And to think that white Catholics put this system in place. Aaaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Constitution gives the States, and only the States, the right to regulate marriage, with the proviso that the States will not regulate in a way that interferes with one's Constitutional rights. See Loving v. Virginia. \n\nAs for your friends and gay marriage. For the past 50 years, secular and Catholic educators have failed to teach the Constitution, and Catholic educators have failed to teach Catholicism. No wonder your friends think the Court got this one right. Do you REALLY believe that the framers of the 14th Amendment thought that Amendment REQUIRED the States to re-define marriage so as to include man-man marriage? Really? When virtually EVERY State at that time (and until recently) had laws that criminalized that kind of \"sex\"? You REALLY think the Framers of the 14th intended that? A straight-faced answer would be appreciated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In addition to being a sexual molester, Fr. Maciel was also a drug addict who fathered children with at least two women. He died a priest!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hell shall freeze over and Bernard Law will be declared a saint before any bishop is held accountable for aiding and abetting the felenous rape of minor childrn and felony obstruction of justice. The organizational Church is irrelevant.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"In Minnesota deposition, archbishop said he was uncertain that if in the past he was aware a priest abusing a child constituted a crime.\" \nWhat you listed here was after that. What difference would it make now but it remains AB. Carlson\nwas deceiving court by his stupid dishonesty! Archbishop Flynn was worse in deposition! I was almost in shock to learn CI (Catholic Institution) Archbishops deceitful witnesses in public!!! Yak, yak, yak!!!!!!!!!!!!!! \nAre they witnessing how corrupt RCI clergies are? We used to have the martyrs!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Do you consider yourself Catholic?\nIf you say yes, why? Pls, exclude that you pay, obey, shut your mouth about clergy sex abuse of children, or ordination of women priest!!!!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Well, the abusers are getting annulments now, so it isn't like the process isn't being abused already. Bill O'Reilly has no problems getting an annulment despite abusing his wife (or special favors from Timmy D for that matter). What AL does is level the playing field. For instance, Bill O'Reilly cannot threaten his ex-wife or try to get her excommunicated for receiving Communion like he did a few years back now. A woman (or man) who doesn't want to have to deal with the annulment tribunal because they had a messy divorce or crazy ex-spouse doesn't have to. Money unfortunately still talks within parishes; I've seen it happen. However, a norm is more likely to get a fair hearing and compassion from a pastor than he/she is from a bishop or a sterile Church bureaucracy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic church confuses forgiveness with forgetfulness as a defense mechanism with their grievous history. Demanding celibacy of young men who proved, again and again, that suppression of sexual energy leads to violating those vulnerable to their predation.\n\nAs in most crimes, the cover-up is a more serious crime, because it's a more conscious and methodical use of will power to subvert the truth. The Catholic church has engaged in covering up their criminal sins with the tacit approval of the status-quo.\n\nThank you, Ms. Fawcett for bringing this to our attention.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The most idiotic justification I've ever heard of. Jesus was born from the Holy Spirit as a spiritual manifestation of God in heaven. Joseph is not Jesus's Father , and so clearly your premise is based upon a lack of spiritual understanding of God. And one thing about the person of Jesus which He declared, What is done is darkness will always come to the light, When you declare Him in a public setting like running for office. God will always display the intentions of a man's heart and clearly this racist hatred is EVIL and of satan. Only an evil pedophile entices children for sex. That is what is in an EVIL man's heart like Roy Moore if this is all TRUE.. May God have mercy on your soul!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope needs to splash the idiot with some Holy Water and watch him melt away like a slug that has been sprinkled with some Hawaiian salt. I pray for the day that it happens.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "More of that progressive civil \"dialogue.\" It's building bridges. \n\nAnyway, let's not lose sight of why the church is so seemingly unreasonable about divorce. It has something to do with this Jesus fellow and what he said on the matter. \n\nBut perhaps Jesus was a troll.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A. So please elaborate:\n1. what is the subject of your Masters?\n2. at what university are you doing it?\n\nB. Priests preside at the Eucharist as delegates of the bishop. The bishop remains the \"ordinary\" minister of the Eucharist.\n\nC. It is the Church as the Body of Christ who offers ... Yes, this involves the ordained minister who is the guarantee that this is Body of Christ, Head and members, but this minister is \"called from among the people of God to serve\".\n\nD. CCC\n1376 is about consecration, but does not say that \"priest\" is the agent of this\n1377ditto\n1378 only mentions consecration by implication, ... but again no mention of the priest as the agent of this consecration\n1408 as for 1376 & 1377\n1411 insists on the presiding minister being a validly ordained minister and here seems to assign \"consecration\" to this minister\n1413 as for 1376 and 1377 and 1408\nSo out of 6 of your quotes, 5 are irrelevant.\n\nFrankly, I pity whoever is supervising your Masters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islam is a breeding ground for genocidal maniacs. Its in the fabric if the religion just as charity and missionary medical service is in the Christian faith. Islam is the religion that keeps on taking.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So if you self-identify with a parish so that your kids can attend a Catholic school or you just want to be on record supporting the place, it becomes okay for some nosy ninny to butt into your personal life? Umm, no it really doesn't. Unless the priest suspects abuse, he has no right to butt into the happy personal lives of adults. They are adults; he has no right to lecture or shame them. As I pointed out, if he is so bored that he has time to investigate the marital status of everyone in the Catholic Church, he should find something to occupy himself that would be more constructive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sarah Huchabee is a very ugly woman inside and out. Shes also a liar who lies daily, l mean whoppers in order to protect and defend the liar in chief. She is dispicable. A lying, fake christian...wow how original. Nobody should care about offending her by calling her what she is. An ugly, crossed eyed lopped sided faced liar..the man she so vehemently defends has set the bar really really low. Like Kelly said NOTHING is sacred. I just wish Kelly would whine to his boss about that instead of picking on a congress woman for telling the truth. When trumped mocked a disabled man that truly was the point when l realized NOTHING was sacred...do Sarah Huckabee is one hideously homely liar.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sikhs, Christians, and Muslims are usually fine folks...it's their religion that is crazy", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "America is infamous for, having Sundays being the most Segregated day of the week, especially the hours when people go to church. It tends to confound foreigners who are Protestant. Of course, Catholics in the United States have either lots of Latinos in their churches or in a reflection to the 19th and 20th centuries Ethnic enclaves ; I would gather Latino, Vietnamese, Filipino etc;.\n\nThe big divide of course, was/is the Black American Catholic issue. I have seen the lures of \" Gospel Masses, Afro Centric\" and such being used as a lure, but not just the Novus Ordo, or an approved Mass in Latin and heaven FORBID if you're Black and venture into the Traditional Catholic realm; you will NOT be welcomed. I learned that lesson in 1992 myself!\n \nYou have to be a very brave person to go where you may not be wanted; for me it as deciding that leaving \"Traditional Catholicism\" was better than getting arrested in a suburban \"house church\". Food for thought.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All the religious terrorists that have tried to kill me have been white Christians. Of course, I'm black. No one has to leave this country to learn to hate.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yep, every business owner who hates gay people for whatever reason could put out signs saying \"No homosexuals allowed\" or \"Help wanted: homosexuals need not apply\".\nAll they'd have to do is claim their conscience is violated.\nConservative Christian groups would launch campaigns claiming businesses that didn't discriminate were anti-Christian and anti-family-values.\nThe people backing this baker want to shove gay people back in the closet.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, Harry must mean like when T-rump ridicules a handicapped reporter, or demeans women as \"fat pigs\" or advocates grabbing them by their genitals and says he gets away with it because he's a celebrity? I see why a \"Christian\" like you, Harry, would defend him -- because you are a \"fake Christian.\" You find nothing T-rump does as \"degrading\" because you have no moral standards from which to assess him. Your defense of this monster degrades you as well. You are no better than he is.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No doubt they are kidding Shar-M!!! Unless, they have a full intention to show their mockery of Catholic lay people as fools!!!!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Glad to hear the Christians are not responding with violence. Now, about the plans to \"bomb the sh*t out of ISIS ... \"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Roman Catholic bishops have said that voters need to be informed in order to choose the proper candidate. \nAnd, how do voters know if they are informed and a candidate is proper?\nIf the voter and candidate conforms to Roman Catholic Church teaching.\nSo much for diversity of thought. \nRoman Catholic bishops and Denver Post columnist Vincent Carroll bludgeon the heads of anyone who supports the principle of government tax dollars going to secular schools with the libelous charge of being anti-Catholic bigots. Which is an attempt to silence us.\nIf government tax dollars go to one religion's schools, they must go all religions' schools -- or none.\nMuslim mosques routinely are challenged in courts and zoning hearings.\nMillions of people opposed Mitt Romney for president because he was a Mormon. \nAnd these bishops think there won't be opposition to tax dollars going to Muslim or Buddhist or polytheist schools?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Whether you think Trump is pro life or not, the fact is that judging from Catholic media, a great many Catholics do believe his pro life position.\"\n\nAnd that says plenty about a great many Catholics. What is that P. T. Barnum quote?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I grew up in the south in Christian America during the 80's. Censorship and being offended was a way of life, offended by rocknroll, sex, nudity, cartoon violence..... \n\n\nI'm kinda getting sick of the stupid \"people are so PC these days\" comments when I know the religious are a barrage of censorship that's been going on since the birth of Christ. It's got nothing to do with \"now'a days\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "your either an islamist or a far left(marxist) who hates Jesus Christ...\nthere are no homicide baptists running around, genius!!\n-------------------------------------\nTHIS is hate; all from the Qur\u2019an.\u201d\n\nThe eternal, unchanging words of Allah:\n\nQ 2:193 \u201cAnd kill them [unbelievers] wherever you find them.\u201d\n\nQ 2:216 \u201cFighting is prescribed for you.\u201d\n\nQ 8:12 \u201cI will strike terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore\nstrike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.\u201d\n\nQ 9:5 \u201cSlay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captive and\nbesiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush.\u201d\n\nQ 9:123 \u201cO you who believe! Fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you\nand let them find in you hardness.\u201d\n\nQ 4:73 \u201cSo, when you meet those who disbelieve smite at their necks till when\nyou have killed them and wounded many of them.\u201d\n\nQ 5:14 : \u201cWe [Muslims] estranged them [Christians] with enmity and HATRED\nbetween one and the other, TO THE DAY OF JUDGMENT.\u201d", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"students from all backgrounds feel welcome here and they have an identity here,\u201d \n\nUnless of course you have a gay identity, in which case you are told you \"struggle with same-sex attraction,\" because as we all know, in the Catholic world as in Iran, according to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to an audience at Columbia University, gay identity doesn't exist.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims are people. Islam is a religion. As a phobia it pertains to the religion not the people. This type of motion is the beginning of stopping criticism of a religion and in this country you should be able to criticize any religion without be labeled a bigot, racist, Islamophobe, a Catholicphobe or a fascist or any other of the myriad of labels that people like to throw around.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "this is not even a religion, this is a man made occult started by the devil worshipers and to corrupt true christianity", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When are the geniuses in the leftist media going to finally admit that they helped create Trump. That their elitism, arrogance and yes, stupidity, got the crackers, gun nuts, Christians even some decent Americans out to vote.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Saunders, Weird how you are also guilty of subjugating and dividing by blaming racist Christians. Unbelievable hypocrisy! Your own European roots are Christian and yet you label and segregate all Christians together. Embarrassing logic and writing!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These people did these things not because they are Christian, but because they are morons. Because one can assume 30% of humans are morons, at times like these, 30% of the people in groups are morons. 70% of the population are Christians. Therefore, in any given sample, 70% of the 30% of the group are going to be Christian morons. And because Christianity appeals by design appeals to non-thinkers, the numbers might be slightly skewed on the side of the morons. I am a thinking Christian. I would not have done what you described here because i am not a moron. Don't confuse religious people with morons. I know it's not always easy, but in any group, you'll get those 30% who give th rest of the group a bad name only because they are idiots. Don't paint the whole group with that same brush. \nI was overwhelmed by the non racial, non credist, non classist outpouring of love from all parts of the country to help those affected by this dreadful disaster.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Lynn ...The vulgar statements you have described weren't what he said. Who would you have a Christian vote for? Donald Trump who sees himself as the man for the middle class or Hillary Clinton the corrupt, lying thieving murderer with no class or low class?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "MSW - your Planned Parenthood/Democratic Party lacks nuance. Your simple statement comes across as single minded and as crass as your prior link to Evangelicals. You might want to spend some time on this issue - availability of contraceptives; coverage of their costs for low income; etc. is a Women's Issue and a Healthcare issue - duh, it also reduces abortions. It, imo, is the common good (your stance bends too far to the Fortnight for Freedom wing nuts, Hobby Lobby ridiculousness, etc.\nGeez, even the Catholic Church understands that almost no catholic follows HV any more - it makes little sense from many human rights angles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's people like Demboski that give Christians a bad name.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Taking a knee\" is simply being respectful.\nGod is irrelevant in this discussion.\nStop acting like Christians have a monopoly on taking a knee", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You didn't read the article very closely. Christian families are not accepting their kidnapped daughters back into their families because it brings shame on the family. It is far from true that global Christianity recognizes women as equals. http://www.shoparcade.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is that to mean?\nThere are Jews in our so-called president's inner circle.\nThere are Jews on the staff of WSJ.\nThere are Jews who are child molesters.\nThere are Jews who are Catholic, Muslim, Atheist, etc.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Right - and the rest of the Catholic women voted for the crooked, corrupt, lying, scandal-ridden, all out baby killer - Hillary.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Church - from Pope whomever on down to you and I - has abused our Jesus and the immense treasure of our real tradition in intransigence, misogyny and worst of all, the sexual abuse of children. Christian left? Seems more akin to coffee shop self-excusing chat.\nRight-wing upsurge world-wide, homelessness, statelessness and their concomitant pain and suffering, environmental devastation, all illustrated so graphically in the putrid \"reigns\" of Putin and Donald J Trump as the \"leader of the western world\". Our Church seems an integral part of it, a cohort of the \"enemy\", not its opposition. Worse, it feigns opposition while being an ally. \nSanctimonious platitudes be d----d. \nWho is fooling who?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am not sure I buy into this, so let take this one by one-\n1: Freedom of speech- I see it everyday in protest, heck we are voicing our freedom of speech in this forum.\n2: Freedom of Religion- Everyone has a right to follow their own religious path...If your Christian (just follow the 700 club, or Jerry Falwell).\n3: Freedom of association- I meet with my military buddies, I follow and support different groups. If people want to associate with hate group such as the KKK and white nationalism, more power to them, they march, they meet because of free speech, they just have to listen to others who disagree and have the same free speech rights.\n4: Among others- Don't worry, I couldn't think of any either.\n\nSo again- what freedoms have been taken away from you or me? What can't you or I do that you could do in the past? I need to know so I can protest with my Muslim friends that I associate with and get them back.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pro lifers have assassinated doctors\nChristians are the terrorists", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Please cite some evidence that any Catholic rapist has used that defence!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, how times have changed! All hail the muslim. It wasn't so very long ago that Christians were told to remove all crosses from government properties in Hawaii and even some privately owned churches were heartily challenged. Now we have foreign born muslims on the front page and their \"right\" to be is heavily protected. Go figure.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A woman's fertility is the woman's not yours. So unless you are willing to drop your pants and put your prostate health into our Christian hands, you are a hypocrite.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I do not see what is happening with Card. Pell as \"a sign of the progress the Catholic Church has made in addressing the abuse of children by clergy.\" Pell being accused by civil authorities is, rather, a sign that the civil legal institutions are no longer bowing to the supposition that religious leaders are somehow immune from sexual misbehavior.\n\nMaybe it is an improvement made by the Church that they did not automatically give Pell sanctuary as they did Law of Boston. But Francis elevated him to a high position in the Vatican after it was known how he had treated abuse victim/survivors and after he claimed total ignorance of any sex abuse occurring in areas where sex abuse was rampant. \n\nAnd, yes, there is better safety in some places, thanks to vigorous exposure of abuse by organization like SNAP and a relentless media exposure. Francis has no \"zero tolerance\" and he has not made changes in Canon Law that are needed\n\nMaybe getting rid of Muller opens up possibilities. Maybe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Strangely, I am not interested in C. Pell\u2019s trial!\nTo me he is already an utterly failed man!\nCan you say a man without an ounce of compassion for other being a Catholic let alone a man???\nIt is pity RCI (Roman Catholic Institution) promoting such a monster as a high-ranking Vatican prelate!!!\nI see the lack of spiritual wisdom in Pope F. and all prior Popes!!! It is laughable!!! LOLOLOLOL!!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "White Radical Christian Terrorist.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I do not believe that there is some sort of psychic connection with other Christians, I believe in personal responsibility, ypi try to shift blame onto others. \n\nWhat YOU said was gibberish. You are, as usual, distorting what I said.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...the bounds of decency\"? So abortion, statism, imposing the state religion of secularism, enslaving black people on the government plantation, standing by while Christians are being murdered en mass, helping the enemies of America flourish, lying, slandering, unprecedented corruption, wanting to destroy our Constitution, promoting immoral sexual conduct, degrading our culture, allowing alien criminals to cross the boarder and murder and rape Americans, destroying the traditional family, pillaging and plundering the nations wealth, Attacking the Church as an institution, having no respect for the rule of law and on and on. SO ALL OF THIS IS DECENT??", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Show me a Christian fleeing Syria and I'll show you a persecuted refugee. Show me a Muslim fleeing Islam, but bringing Islam with him and I'll show you an Islamist (someone who intends to spread Sharia Law). Not all Islamists are terrorists, but damn near all terrorists are Islamists. Islam does not accept other religions. I don't want my grandchildren to be forced to choose between Christianity, or being decapitated, raped, or both. Pope Francis does not appear to mind. My kid's lives are a sacrifice he's willing to make so that he can pat himself on the back for being such a \"nice guy\"\n\nWAKE UP!!! Sadly, Pope Francis has taken a powerful tranquilizer.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That's silly. very little of modern life, which is regulated by the constitution was directly addressed by that document. What you are claiming is that religion takes precedence over any other consideration. Sort of a Christian Sharia, amirite? \n\nSo if Jews are considered as Christ killers, is it o.k. to discriminate against them? If a muslim decides to discriminate against women, it that o.k.?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If these pastors claim we're near End-Times and the Apocalypse, then who among us is the Anti-Christ? \nI submit he is Donald Trump, our charismatic leader whose family owns a controversial skyscraper at \"666\" 5th Avenue in New York City. He publicly professes to be a Christian conservative but secretly colludes with the godless Russians and now is making deals with the \"dirty Democrats\".\nRecently, a far-Right Christian Conservative posted a comment that at one time it was thought president Ronald Wilson Reagan was the Anti-Christ because each first, middle, and last names contained 6 letters or \"666\".\nAnother theory is that all the horrible storms and flooding going on in the South is God's \nretribution for all the hatred and bigotry over the removal of Confederate symbols, statues, and monuments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Quebec shooter was a fan of Jack Layton, NDP, and prominent atheists like Richard Dawkins, but the media call him right wing christian...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why in the world would you expect any of these fascist \"Christians\" to interpret the Bible in any way but a self serving way?\nYou give them too much credit when you actually think that they are interpreting the Bible. They are using the Bible as a prop, as a justification for their vicious beliefs.\nWhen you say Jeffress is \"wrong\", you are understating the problem by several orders of magnitude.\n\nJeffress is a vicious, calculating, hard right fascist. \n\nJeffress is not merely wrong, he is a cancer on the United States.\n\nJeffress is not merely wrong, he is a cold, calculating hypocrite of the highest order, a devil and a traitor to American values.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The KKK threatens to and does murder blacks that don't comply. The baker walks away with his life. BTW, the KKK is a Christian organization. That is what the burning cross is for.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"The baker is a bad Christian. Jesus would serve them.\"\n============\nYou are right. Jesus probably would have served them. After all, Jesus ate with a lot of sinners and healed a lot of sinners.\n-\nBut your supposition that Jesus would have baked them a \"gay wedding cake\" and officiated at their wedding is as wrong as you also supposing that Jesus would have performed abortions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So basically Doug is saying that the Christians who run the west with their War against Drugs, War against Sex, Sin , freedom of speech and even men are just as radical as the Muslims in the east with their intolerant attitude toward freedom of speech, gays, and women?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I would trust any transgendered soldier to have my back before I would trust Trump, or any of his bible-thumping christian bigots.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "First you crazy Jesus freaks tell us everything on the Earth \"God\" made. Then, you claim that his, \"son\" Jesus doesn't want us to use it?\n\nMake up your mind, Ned Flanders.\n\n\"Let it grow...let it grow...greatly yield\"!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Exodus 35:2 Those that work the Sabbath shall be put to death.\n\n\nMasterpiece Cake is open on Saturdays. Odd that it's ok to go against some pretty strong direction by Yaweh, yet somehow claim your religion prevents you for baking a cake for two homosexuals.\n\nSalad bar Christianity....I love it. LOL", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh boy, THAT'S RICH!!\n\nNothing sez 'modern christian' like defending a pedophile ... ONWARD christian SOOOOOOLDIERS!!\n\nRoy Moore's candidacy is taking a nose dive ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More pathetic leftist drivel from the Globe and Mail's anti-Judeo-Christian Minister of Propaganda.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "RD praises Trump's killing of Obamacare. He knows that it is what gives my seriously ill wife access to health insurance, but he doesn't care. He prefers that my wife die because of his morally bankrupt political ideology. He is pro-death, and no Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "are you guys demented?\nhow dare you speak about us in the East in this way?\n\nwe were SLAVES TO THE ISLAM for 650 years!!!\nwe were raped, pillaged, occupied and assimilated for 650 years!!!\nour culture, religion, roots were destroyed by ISLAM for 650 years!!!\n\nyou don't dare to speak like this with us!\nwe payed A BLOOD TRIBUTE TO THE ISLAM for 450 years, over 20 MILLION of us were enslaved in the name of Allah and sent to fight for the ISLAM\n\nwe are the children of those that survived, we stood and fought the ISLAM for generations and managed to preserve our culture, identity, tradition AND CHRISTIANITY in face of the most evil horde mankind ever created\n\nand then we got Nazists and Communists\nyou DO NOT SPEAK WITH US LIKE THIS\nyou are nobody, you're a speck of dust in our presence you revere in silence and dare not to ever rise your eyes upon our culture and history!\n\nwe pay our freedom from ISLAM with BLOOD\nwhat did YOU payed for your freedom?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Would prefer the Archbishop to keep a closer watch on our children. Allowing priests to sexually molest them for years and then covering it up angers many of us. Likely to still be lots of pedos in the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "After we admit that \u201che said all manner of vile things \u2026.\u201d and then we caution \u201c[b]ut, no one knows whether to believe \u2026.\u201d we go on to say he\u2019s our president. Show support! Allow the clergy and the faithful to know they can support him and through him these \u201call manner of vile things\u201d in the best Catholic tradition of those despots of French history. Let us repeat history.\n\nThe disconnect is so very obvious and so very not Catholic. Alternatively, if there is no disconnect, if this is Catholic, then the faithful will be weighing Cardinal Timothy Dolan\u2019s support of \u201call manner of vile things\u201d against what is becoming more and more obvious need for a morality independent of the current Catholic leadership.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a lame attempt at spin. If the Pope has ANY armed men to protect him, then he's a hypocrite. Someone wants him dead. Too bad! HE'S the one condemning arms makers, yet HE is fine with having armed men protect HIS behind. \n\nPope Francis graciously accepted a gift from Bolivia's Presidente, Evo Morales. The gift was a blasphemous crucifix made with a communist hammer & sickle. Why not just use a swastika? Both symbols represent mass murder. The Pope IS trying to keep Venezuela communist.\n\nThe spin on Christianity VS Islam is especially pathetic on the Pope's part. It was NOT Christians who flew jet liners into the World Trade Center!!!\n\nI don't like Pope Francis for good reason. Neither do millions of others. Don't like that? Too bad.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How else can one describe \u2018slimy underbelly\u2019 situation? That is it CI (Catholic Institution) is not a civil organization! \nCI behaves worse than \u2018slimy underbelly\u2019 ways, condoning clergy sex abuses of God in children and Pope F. and the all of prelates and bishops hiding and enabling rapists clergies and they are proud about their criminal conducts beside!!!\nI just about vomit when I think about this sick organization!!!\nI cry to God about this sick organization everyday!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "well pardon her all the way to hell......wtf??? they say they want her to recognize \"consequences\"??? well I think she has done that...she will be a mother at 18....how's that for a \"consequence\"? seems to me she has accepted responsibility for her actions and is dealing with it....but if they really want to be \"biblical\"....then they have to stone her to death....that's what the Buy-Bull says...but what the hell....Christians have been cherry picking that stupid book for centuries......lets just call this what it really is....a teenage girl made a mistake and by that I don't mean had sex....she didn't use contraceptives or at least that's the way it appears....she needs help and support and education....not punishment....or maybe we could get a useful quote from that Book of Jewish Fairy Tales.......LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN CAST THE 1ST STONE.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Actually Rose, it goes much further back in Church history. In 1922, Pope Pius XI issued an encyclical entitled\" Crimen Sollicitationis\". From what I understand this encyclical was issued because there was a scandal at the time with priests soliciting sexual favors from lay people in the confessional box. In this encyclical. Pope Pius XI introduced the Catholic world to \"The Secret of The Holy Office\", also known as the \"Pontifical Secret\". Anyone in the Church but particularly those in the priesthood and Hierarchy were forbidden from talking about anything that would bring scandal to the Church. The penalty for violating this order was excommunication. Reporting sex crimes to civil authorities was forbidden. In the early 1960\"s this order was reissued and a copy was sent to every diocese to be filed with the secret archives of each diocese. In 2010 Benedict issued a revisal allowing reports to be made to local authorities where local law required it", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, genius, but you could not govern Rome without the support of the populus; even the Praetorians weren't stupid enough to try. They kept their fingers in the wind too. Rome didn't fall, it went broke; it could no longer provide for both the mob and the Legions after Roman Africa, Rome's breadbasket, fell to the Vandals. You had the winning combination of crony capitalism trying to hold the African rent farmers harmless and the Roman/Ravennan power elite trying to keep the mob from ripping them to shreds by trying to provide for them with dwindling wealth. Sounds a lot like the US today. The Gibbons' meme is just Christian \"moral failing\" propaganda; the end of the Western Roman Empire was just real politic. And f*ck you over the Oral Roberts U, stuff, you're just another arrogant leftist pr*ck. Now your lefty \"peers\" will save you from this comment.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Funny thing. I'm a white guy and no doubt that made plenty of things easier. Curiously, I grew up in inner suburban-Toronto of the 1970s in what was for that time a very diverse school environment and somewhat diverse neighbourhood. Anyone much older remembered a far less diverse country and city and had the habits of one. These elements made it quite a mix of experiences:\n\n1. White store detectives had grown up surrounded by white people and thus were occupationally suspicious of white teens anyway. Corner store owners were all East/South Asian and suspicious of all teens. I was looked askance at by both.\n\n2. I took punches for not being Catholic, Pakistani, what have you. [Different incidents...]\n\n3. I have been verbally but sternly dissuaded by families of South Asian, East Asian, and Jewish origin from dating a daughter of said families.\n\n4. I have been verbally threatened on the street by kids of another origin. \n\nAll long ago, to be sure.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quit being so ignorant. The King James version of the holy bible is the true bible. Revelation 22:18 For I testify unto every man who hears these words of prophesy, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book. Revelation 22:19 And if anybody take away any words of the bible, God shall take away his part in the book of life, and out of the holy city, and out of all things written in the bible.\nOh by the way what you just put down Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is written in Mathew27:46, dumb shit. your probably still pissing in your pants. \n\nSo what scriptures do you have as proof? You don't have any , eh? Selah", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You should be ashamed for writing such a hateful post and quoting the bible is particularly vile in this case.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please tell me this is just a bad dream. Every time I hear Donald Trump referred to as \"President Trump,\" I cringe! A 70 year old lying crooked con man who dyes his hair orange, scotch tapes his tie, brags about grabbing pussy. This guy had the final word on the attack in Yemen?? To every one of you that voted for him, you have been his greatest con of all. He urinates and defecates in gold plated toilets and you think you have something, ANYTHING, in common with him? He doesn't know you and he doesn't feel you. Actually, he despises you. You were just too easy, so gullible. To Trump, you're a bunch of dummies. Steve Bannon is about to school you on just how gullible you really were. Shoving Christianity down our throats is just another example of what's in store.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is a stupid article attacking Catholics, who are a popular target these days because Catholics are pro-adoption and recommend not killing babies, and offer pregnant mothers alternatives instead.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What has happened to all this 'love thy neighbour, accompaniment, forgivesness and mercy' you have all been preaching of late? Surely it is sinners such as \"porn stars\", Jesus would have been welcoming and mixing with?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus Christ is my Lord. Allah is a silly cartoon figure who was invented by a desert drifter. Sad that so many have suffered from the imaginary creature of hate.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's the hypocrisy stupid... ordained priests who profess to preach infallibly with respect to faith and morals raping children in persona Christi!!!??\n\nNot to mention the worldwide cover up to protect he wealth and image of \"Holy Mother Church!\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You cherry pick the parts of the Bible you like, and judge gays for doing the same. I know many Christians who would call you a Jezebel for claiming to have authority over men. That is fine with me, but your hypocrisy isn't. And if you are going to flag people who state this simple fact we will flag you into oblivion as well...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obama is the racist.\n\nWhen white racist Dylann Roof tragically murdered nine black Christians in Charleston, South Carolina, \nObama said: \u201cThe motivations of the shooter remind us that racism remains a blight that we have to combat together.\u201d \n \nYet, when homosexual black racist Vester Lee Flanagan, whose alias was \u201cBryce Williams\u201d during his failed career in journalism, viciously gunned down a reporter, Alison Parker, and a cameraman, Adam Ward, only because they were white, Obama said: \u201cThe number of people who die from gun-related incidents around this country dwarfs any deaths that happen through terrorism.\u201d\n\nMore:\n\"Trayvon Martin could have been my son.\"\n\n\"My grandmother was a typical white person.\"\n\n\"That's just how white folks will do you...\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The anti-American pile of Theocracy Republican extremists does not know why he's buying Russian boy followers on Twitter, huh. Funny, most Christian republican traitors KNOW when they're committing treason. I guess this Christian Republican white supremacist pile of Republican is too stupid to know he's buying Russian bot followers.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The treatment of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar is terrible. Still, it is not difficult to understand why the people of Myanmar want these people out. The Rohingyas cling to a detestable belief that Muslims has an obligation to spread the pure nonsense of Islam to all corners of the world. Without any form of evidence their faith claims that God prefers women to be covered up and kept under strict control. God does not favor men on men, Christians or just about anybody not Muslim. Per the Koran it is okay to kill them all; especially Jews. \n\nThe problem with the Rohingya Muslims, sometimes referred to as the most prosecuted people on earth, has a \nrather obvious solution; they can abandon Islam. \n\nOf course, this is an impossible task as they have all been indoctrinated in the terrible cult from birth. They prefer the constant oppression, rape and murder of their people for the simple reason that they lost their capacity for rational thinking.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "...or the sexual abuse of children? Jesus is a \"big boy\", reputedly \"all knowing\", etc. Children are quite another dimension.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agirl: SORRY, I just can NOT accept the Catholic organization because of their Raping Priests. Look at the Magnitude of Mental Anguish that they INFLICT on their Victims, and these Victims are messed up the rest of their lives. Same with the Boy Scoundrel Scouts.........", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I, (much of Catholics) think the bishops/archbishops/cardinals who hide and enable rapist clergies for tree decades are worse then the individual rapist clergies. They are 'dev!l' incarnates!\nIn the same vein, Pope is the worse 'dev!l' of them all since he has power to stop hiding/enabling sex abuse clergies, yet refuse to do so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!\n So why are we write article about what this 'dev!l' incarnate Pope F. has to say about anything?\nDo we think the sex abuse promoting organization CEO really has anything worth while things to say? I more likely vomit if I see him on the street!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There's a difference between a business and a tv show. Why would Ellen want someone on her show that calls her what this idiot did in her church? I'd like to see christians use Jesus' actual words on homosexuality instead of Leviticus. You know what Jesus was supposed to have said on the subject? Not one thing. Please note how these people that use Leviticus to condemn homosexuals, ignore the no shellfish, no two fibers in clothing and every other rule in the book but glam on the homosexual passage like a life boat. I'm guessing WWJD isn't something they really ask themselves that much.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "food stamps\nschool lunches\nobamaphone\nhandcrock free rent\njesus F christ when will it end? democrats suck handcock!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Get out of the tub Joe. Your brain is getting waterlogged. Your fascists lefty buddies in black masks are not Republican nor Christian. I haven't seen anyone beating up people with a cross lately. Republicans respect private property and don't throw burning trash cans through windows.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The leaders of the church already took a stand on sexual violence: they assisted priests who raped children.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Everyone should hate sodomy. Christ hates it. He destroyed five cities because of it. The saints and the magisterium hated and condemned it as an abomination, a sin that cries to heaven for vengeance. In Catholic nations people retarded sodomy with revulsion and Catholic governments punished sodomites with the death penalty.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Your comment speaks for itself. In your mind Catholicism is all about sex.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sekulow already lies for the Fake KKKristians...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This must be the work of Satan. They probably rejected Christianity as being a \"white man's religion\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Look what those Popes did to the Catholic religion!\nI can't even enter Catholic Church knowing; 1. Clergies rape children in the church. 2. the institutional church hierarch (80 %) condone clergy sexual rape of children systematically! 3. Pope F. and his prelates refused to make his bishop accountable for their supporting clergy rape of children some over thirty years. 4. Vatican prelates hoard mafia's money& regularly launder the illegal money. 5. they live in the luxurious mansions & drive around fancy cars. 6. They parade in $36,000 clergy outfits. 6. They invest billions in the stock market. \nMillions of Catholics, young and old are leaving Catholic church!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "HERE SOME AUTHENTIC DIALOGUE!!!\n1. Aryan man child who cosplay confederate loser, who pride in their treasonous ancestry, of brutalizing enslavement of man women and children, in the name of god, wants a collection, of collectable action figure dolls, displaying their public hate fill value of murdering their fellow Americans, because they are all brain damage inbred psychopathic boy scout! ya. killing thing is a well know past time in the south because Aryan Americans is all about killing color people and stealing their property and turning color people into property! \n2. Jesus teaches his disciples the value of idolatry! building statue of white men to worship other than the god of Jesus! ya you know, right under the christian virtue for white Americans profit from slavery.\n3. The only way white jesus freaks don't think they'll burn in hell is because they don't really believe in god. which makes your Aryan religious institution redundant!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "IRONIC\nIt's ironic that many of the posters here and on many other articles dealing with Muslims accuse Islam of being a religion of hate.\nI have seen countless hateful Anti Muslim comments here posted by people who are self poisoned with hatred of Muslims......people so blinded by hate they can never see Muslims as basically the same as you and I......\n\n They can never see let alone admit the horrible wrongs that we the \"peace loving Christian civilizations \" have done to their homelands with our installation /support of brutal dictators , our \"accidental\" killing of hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children with our \"practically humanitarian\" smart bombs and millions of DU laced bullets that our mercenary armies spew in our illegal- war crime invasions of \"Liberation\". \n \nIt's terrible and sad in a country as wealthy + blessed as Canada that there still some people that fill themselves with hate and spew it on others. and you think Muslims are hateful ! ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a primitive Native heathen, I do not share the deadly fervor of this hymn. \n\n\"Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war, (KILL!! KILL! KILL!!) with the cross of Jesus going on before, (KILL!! KILL! KILL!!), Christ the royal master, (KILL! KILL! KILL!) leads against the foe, (KILL! KILL! KILL!), forward into battle, (KILL! KILL! KILL!)\nOnward then ye people, join our happy throng, (KILL!! KILL! KILL!!), blend with us your voices, in our Trumpsters song, (KILL!! KILL! KILL!!).\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Can liberals please explain this: \nChristians merely teach that homosexuality is sinful. \nMuslims teach that homosexuals are pigs to be decapitated. \nLiberals teach homosexuality is the pinnacle of human achievement. \n\nSo why do liberals praise Muslims to much, yet have demonic hatred for Christians?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "One of the most abhorrent things coming from this guys \u201cChristian\u201d supporters is that the Bible supports sexual abuse of underage children by way of the example of the Virgin Mary and Joseph and therefore the word of God supports Moore. This is a breaking of the 10 Commandments\u2014 according to Paul, the most important being the use of God\u2019s name in vane which constitutes a profound disrespect of God. According to Paul, God\u2019s punishment for those using God\u2019s name in vane to minister for their own causes is to turn them into lusting persons including homosexuals that will face further punishment beyond that.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Transgender kids don't have much choice in their gender. Christianity is a choice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So another American \"tv preacher\" is coming to Canada to fill his pockets with cash and breath fire and brimstone.... Christian my ass... he has about as much to do with the ideas of Jesus as pigs can fly...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is a disgrace and he has no understanding of the history and heritage of the Jews. He may call himself a Christian but in heart it is very dubious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Congress is NOT Christian - they're politicians. Stop with all this nonsense.\n\nMost of the members of this Congress, who give lip-service to right-wing evangelical Christianity, wouldn't know the Gospel if it bit them in the a _ _. \n\nRemember they support a racist, misogynist, fascist buffoon?!? Remember the \"p _ _ _ y-g _ _ _ _ing\"?\n\nChristian? Please get real ...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"There are foolish Christians and foolish pastors. St. Augustine would give them a good clobbering because the foolishness of pastors hurts the flock.\"\n\nIndeed Saint Augustine would Pope Francis, indeed he would.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Christian right should be up in arms, but they already made their deal with the devil...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "''How the heck can Trump who many call a bigot, a racist, misogynist, etc. etc. get elected president?''\nwhen a nation is top heavy with fake Christians and desperate and grossly ignorant people who are angry at everything suddenly become motivated by an overly-inflated TV carny with foul manners and insane promises, obviously ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. toss in a rogue FBI Cir. with a yuugly inappropriate mouth, repeated lying to Congress being ignored, massive voter fraud continuing to be uncovered, an archaic Electoral College handing it to those it was originally designed to keep out, a trash media paving the free road for such a blowhard, and the only thing left puzzling is why this bunch are still brazenly operating their affairs against this country with anyone supporting their crap. YEP!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Surely the catholic church should concentrate on it's dwindling numbers and paedophiles", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "State Department defends US vote against death penalty ban at the UN\nhow about this:\nUS Votes Against UN Ban On Death Penalty For Homosexuality\nDeath for being a homosexual. \nLet's do the same...........death for being Christian/Muslim. Fair?\nHell YES!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You worship a unhinged racist who courts the Christian devil like the orange headed groper and sexual predator (Prez), who will end up paying for their sins sooner or later. Should be in his lifetime here on earth cause I hear the Christian hell is a helluva lot longer to fry. Imagine the Christian and their evangelical idiots, who think they are going to their Christian heaven after kicking out refugees and immigrants, after knowing their jesus was a refugee himself, or idiots because the republicans are defunding the health and social programs that help the same class of people jesus helped, in order to give the money to the same class of people the jesus punted out of the temples. Christians supporting Trump expecting to go to their heaven makes as much sense as the Mideast terrorists expecting to go to their Islamic heaven with their 72 virgins, after slaughtering so many innocents.\nWhat kind of Christianity do you all worship? The same one as the neo Nazi's huh?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Here's the rub Mr. Scott: You state that it \"stinks\" when some find ways to subvert American Law. I think that is a gross understatement and what they are doing is not simply \"subverting American law\" but rather using their religious and political power as a majority religion to directly inspire acts of terrorism as the MEANS by which they achieve their political goals. \nDean Lewis Dear was directly inspired by the rhetoric of evangelical and other \"Christians\" or is it Christians (I don't know and don't care) to attack the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado in 2015. \nYou claim that a small minority of people hate women which, if by this you mean people who consciously hate women, could be correct. My assertion is different. I assert that the Christian religion has stigmatized women as being inherently \"sinful\" and influences society in general to view women as persons requiring sadistic punishments. \nThey want American women to pay for Eve's sin. We reject this and them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Conservative Christians have the power.\nConservative Christians can't stand the fact gay people have the same rights as them. They want to restore their former power imbalance that was in favor of them.\nConservative Christians want the right to discriminate against gay people, on religious grounds.\nBut, if a gay business owner discriminates against a Christian, that Christian can sue the gay business owner on grounds of religious discrimination.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Republicans like being called Christians but that's just a facade. There bunch of phonies, wolves in sheep clothing. The devil and his demons are the angels of light who masquerades as the servant of righteousness. The purpose of the devil is to lie, deceive, betray, cheat, steal, kill, and destroy. I think enriching themselves with lots of money is the driving force behind this bill at the expense of 35 million people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Eh, incase you didn't notice, Max, 90% of Catholics didn't get a choice about being a Catholic. The decision was taken for them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Catholic Church should ever shield illegal aliens.\n\nThis gathering is a toxic cancer. This is the sort of left-wing Protestant nonsense the Church needs to not touch, it's a political tarbbaby.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "McConnell is is the scum of all Senate. He is self-serving, greedy, aggrandizing , misreprepresens his constituents ,lies..Our Kentucky friends despise him, call him ignorant, anti-science, a pseudo-Christian who victimizes the poor. He is purely selfish. These friends are scientists who are appalled by his stupidity and claim KY has a despicable healthcare system. Their schools teach false science.. So our scientific friends send their kids to reputable, up to date schools where evolution, global warming, genetics are taught along with advanced math and the true age of the Earth. The coal industry is dying and killing miners.Mitch doesn't care. Educated professionals come from other states because Kentucky has so few.The economy is pitiful because Bourbon and horse racing aren't very profitable. They describe him as the wicked, conman and discourage anyone of intelligence from moving there.to live with this racist scum. They are moving a big scientific convention from KY to Ind.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "yes. like ignorant Goll Darn sheep (that g.d.?) - in the sense of so many \"Christians\" have never actually read the bible. they're taking somebody else's word for what the bible says. money is not the root of all evil - trump is - no ..cheap jab - the love of money is the root of all evil..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians make the worst Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\" Christians are never pessimistic.\"\n\nApparently Pope Francis has never met some of the trolls who post on this web site.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How Christian of you, wanting to defend rapists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again absolute proof that the USCCB is one of the most useless organizations in the U.S. Catholic Church. They do nothing to lead this church..... Pompous lazy fools.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "McHale, since you are in schism with the Roman Catholic Church, how do you reconcile that with your extreme interpretation of extra ecclesia nulla salus? You are proclaiming that you, yourself, are damned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The face of evil ... Republicans, pull the thumb on your horrible voting records. The amount of Forever Wars of Choice, debt, and destruction to life on this planet is truly SICK. You consider yourselves Christians??!! Far from it ...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "When was the last time a Christian, Catholic or a Mormon blew themselves up in a market?? When have we EVER hear these other mainstream popular religions where religious zealots commit mass murder and carnage in the name of their beliefs? Get a grip! Muslims are the most dangerous religion right now. Not all Muslims are radicalized or going to strap on a suicide vest. This is religion is the BASIS for these radicalized terrorists. Terrorists are wearing Burkas to hide RPG's and bombs. BAN this crap! Protect our people! The terrorists have brought this to America and if we don't do something NOW, we are going to end up with more terrorists attacks. Burn the Quaran, burn their clothes, their mosques. Ban everything about this religion. If people want to practice their Muslim beliefs then they can leave America. Their religious freedom is not more important than the safety of millions of American lives. You can't ration with religious fanatics. They will happily die for their cause.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Anyone who professes to be a christian and supports Donald Trump is both a hypocrite and an idiot.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Shows you how screwed up the Catholic church is. Besides all the abuse and sexual assaults on altar boys, stealing from the church. Practice what you preach. THOU SHALL NOT STEAL...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Given that Trump has shown himself to be a narcissistic, lying, sexist, racist bigot, he DESERVES to be attacked. Certainly, no Christian should support him. Do you really believe he gives a damn about abortion?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "President Carter, Christian family man, builds houses for the poor, Nobel Prize winner and peace maker.\n\nPresident Trump, pseudo-Christian poser, his fake university scammed the poor, prize winning liar and lowlife piece of ....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ahhhh.... Isn't that special? Another righty who thinks that they or their family members can't possibly become gravely ill. That's when they learn, when a family member becomes so sick with cancer, heart disease, or any number of things and faces a cap on coverage. Bummer that you've got to let that loved one die, huh? They always think they're isolated from such illness & pain but it always catches up with them. Health insurance is life or death for many people. They think it's a privilege until sickness comes calling. Then suddenly they have a \"right\" to be treated and are outraged when they find out that the same \"couldn't care less about anybody else\" opinion they've latched onto comes back to bite them in the arse.\n\nHe probably considers himself a christian too. I believe it was Jesus who said \"that which you do to the least among us, you do to me\". What a moron. Look in the mirror, you're the problem.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Holy Roman Catholic Church is a child prostitution ring. It should be shut down.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, actually your comment is not only completely stupid but wrong, first of all the Nordic do not allow people to lay around, actually the opposite is true, they have the lower unemployment than we do. Second it is not ethnically homogenous, this is the Norway of the 21st century, the King even have a speech about it. Third. Protestant work ethic? As if your religious beliefs have something to do with work ethic, yes all of those lazy Catholics and Buddhist who built this nation....", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What else, priests are making the most blest human loving into a hellish conduct?\nCan Catholic religion be humble and stop demanding what is obviously not doable by an ordinary man? \nCI (Catholic Institution) is a perpetuating a human hell by demanding celibacy!\nFirst place, it matters great deal if the priest fathered a child by rape or not!\nThat is an entirely different problem separate from fathering a child! \nWhat a hypocritical to constant screaming about abortion when you priest ignore your own child! LOLOLOL!\nBeside Christ, holy Mary, and God, my children were everything; they were heaven and earth to me!\nWhat poor man who ignore your own blessing! That is a true human tragedy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From a man that claims to be a Christian but doesn't have any Christian qualities very much like lots of his fake Christian followers . Greedy , spiteful, pompous, arrogant and a sexist .", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No matter how hard the liberal bishops and Pope Francis try. The only followers they now have are illegals, home ose xuals, muslims and Protestantized Catholics.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Her Catholicism was warp and woof of her writing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Plus, if he thinks homosexuals are sinners, he is required to serve them, following the example of Jesus who served sinners.\n\nThis guy is really bad at being a Christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Nearly all are native born. And none from Trumps unhappy seven. In fact most of our terrorism comes from nativist white surpremicist Christian extremists. But we never call them terrorists. Just deluded loners.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Now hear this, Senators and Represetatives, \"it is within the law\" is NOT an acceptable answer to anything, ever. If your moral compass cannot tell you what is wrong and right you have no business dealing with public business. Slavery was legal, it was illegal for two races to marry, woman could not vote legally, in some states you could beat your wife legally. Bribery is legal its called lobbying, it is legal for President Trump to benefit from being President but is it just? $800 on two pairs of glasses? Collecting public money at a publicly subsidized cafeteria and then pocketing the money is legal but, not okay with any one out side of Juneau. Kelly what you are doing is bullshit not reporting it. Neuman, you're a disgrace, and the worst of the bunch. But the cake has to be Anchorage Christian Schools giving money away that parents pay in tuition and make kids sell chocolate to help keep cost down, shame on you, shame.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A woman in her late 20's is Kiddy Porn?? Kiddy Porn involves subjects that a are minors engaged in sex acts. Are you like a Muslim or a super conservative Catholic, or maybe a Hasidic Jew? You go around accusing everyone you dislike of Kiddy Porn? That is about the most dirty and low down name calling that a person can engage in.\n\nThe Ted Cruz campaign has been using her photos to discredit Trump for some time now. Anything is fair game when it comes to attacking Trump and criticizing him. Why should his wives and his sex life be off the table? Do you even know what he said about having sex with women in his March 1990 interview with Playboy Magazine???\n\nI see no problem in ridiculing Trump for his sexist views of women. It is most clear that he only looks at women as being sex objects. And his current wife is only the latest manifestation of that.\n\nIt is a most valid criticism to make of him.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora regularly calls me a liar, because she does not like me saying things about her that she does not want to hear. RD called me a liar on multiple occasions. You want quotes?\n\nYes, I accuse you of the sin of sloth, Trid, because you tell us \"let other people make your moral decisions for you\". That is exactly the same attitude that Eichmann took. That should make you think, \"Perhaps unquestioning obedience is not a proper attitude.\"\n\nOne reason for not following the magisterium unquestioningly is that it while it claims to preach acceptance of homosexuals; in practice, it does the opposite. The homophobia practiced by the institutional Church is a perversion of Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Being an asexual is rare. So is being a Catholic priest. The interesting thing is the intersectionality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Geez, MSW - thank you for highlighting the CARA study. If you read the comments section, you would have noted that I highlighted and outlined/linked to the CARA study over a week ago in response to some *trad* commenters who were quoting incorrect and out of date catholic voting patterns in 2016. You might also want to note pattern by US region (catholics in Midwest and Northeast - you folks, MSW - voted for the Trumpster). Also, note voting patterns by ethnic groups and age groups. \nPer commenter - yes, CARA does not voters who were not either Repub or Democrat.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bull! Please list for us all suicide bombs, truck attacks, nightclub shootings et. al. which Christians have committed in the name of god. \n\nYour silly little deflection is completely irrational and dishonest.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "ISIL wants to kill the pope and raise their flag over Vatican City. \n\nCrazy naive to say they aren\u2019t an enemy of the Church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I think the issue with the death penalty is not what it says about the bad guy. Its what it says about the rest of us!!! No one is debating that the criminals are total scumbags! The question about the death penalty is why YOU think YOU can kill someone....with impunity! (I'm not impugning YOU personally!!)\nI would also remind people that Pat Robertson, the ultra right wing \"christian\" preacher who runs the 700 Club stated that he believes we should have the death penalty for women who have an abortion!\nThe world is just plagued with psychopaths who like to portray themselves as \"good\" people!\nAnd perhaps we should remember back to the middle ages and even in the early days of America, when \"Christians\" used to burn people at the stake......because they objected to witchcraft!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ignorance like this is partly what prompted me ultimately to leave the Christian Church I grew up with. Contributing to this baseless idiocy about Sharia law taking over in America is reckless, uninformed and contributes nothing to bringing this country together. It merely funnels more ignorant hate and fuels ridiculous conspiracy theories.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you hate Christianity and Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dammit Donald.\n\nThe reason that a lot of us support you is because you are NOT one of those A-hole Christian Conservative\u2019s. If that\u2019s what we wanted we\u2019d have picked What\u2019s his name from Texas instead\u2026", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed, the God of the Old Testament is simply not credible as the Father of Christ. The Old Testament is largely bat-sh*t-crazy. Richard Dawkins said it best: \n\n\"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.\"\n\nChrist, whether you believe in his divinity or not, was altogether different, and apart from loving the aforementioned bully, a wonderful model by which we'd all do better to pattern our own lives. Roughly 99.99% of so-called \"Christians\" don't do that, unfortunately.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Complete truth. You supported Burke when he told grandparents to shun their gay children, lest the grandchildren come to accept gays. You supported Paprocki in his quite blatant homophobia. No, you have, time and again, supported homophobia, and you are doing it again here, when you claim that those who oppose bigotry are themselves bigots.\n\nMy comment is quite correct. You claim that I am uncivil when I point out the FACT of your anti-gay bigotry, but that's just too bad. You clearly believe that saying \"Once again, you show yourself to be a bigot\" is worse than your bigotry. Actual followers of Christ would disagree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I also was abandoned in a cardboard box wrapped in a towel in an catholic church in anchorage in November 1973. Your story really touched me. I have often thought of doing the DNA test. I would like to know something about my ancestry. It is its own kind of loneliness as you said. I have never meet anyone with a similar story to mine. I have often thought about trying to find my biological parents but it seems so remote. Thank you for writing this story.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you are Satanic, gay , trans or even a pedo and the Left will be very tolerant of you, but if you are Christian they have zero tolerance for you.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus blowing freaks are a curse on education.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Retire your fingers \"Ailina\" you troll. Free Canada Press is an anti-catholic and anti-semetic alt right online blog run by Judi McLeod. They are the same outlet that claimed 9/11 was an inside job perpetrated by \"the mob\" and any Latin Americans who protest tougher immigration laws are actually acting under detailed instructions from \"Swiss Jews, an Irish/Canadian manager, and a Califormia Jew\". \n\nhttp://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Judi_McLeod", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What are you guys smoking? PF is a destroyer of the Catholic Church. How can so many be so blind?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These bishop were to focused on abortion to think about what this new president could do to people out the womb! They cared more about stoping woman from having the right to choose and elected a racist bigot for president! I'm finished with the Catholic Church", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The end of another anti-human tale generating worldwide headlines to serve the political/religious wants of the CONservative/christian demand that all living things be kept alive with every mechanical device created by human hands for as long as possible. The suffering of the individual matters not as the great press benefits for the totalitarian religious dictators supercedes any human pain. A child suffering a devastating condition used as a poster child for religious dogma certification feeding on the emotional dysfunction of parents blind to the child's needs over their own sense of loss and guilt. The disgusting displays by politicians and religious \"leaders(not)\" led by a Pope denying all human access to contraception, sex education, and end of life choices stirring the insanity of a brainwashed populace. Corporate Media feed at the same trough of pain and suffering to generate ad revenue from readership expansion. All guilty of human degradation to serve selfish wants. Sad", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<<\"It is deeply disappointing to many Americans that, in modifying the American Health Care Act to again attempt a vote, proponents of the bill left in place its serious flaws, including unacceptable modifications to Medicaid that will endanger coverage and affordability for millions of people, according to reports,\" Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Florida, said in a statement at the conference's website.>>\n\nThe USCCB was of course among the loudest organizations to demonize Barack Obama and demagogue the ACA as an attack on religious liberty. Although it was obvious Trump is a completely corrupt ignoramus and danger to world stability the bishops tacitly endorsed him anyway because of their obsession with abortion and SSM, and indeed a majority of white Catholics voted for Trump. Now the bishops say they are \"deeply disappointed.\"\n\nNot one molecule of credibility.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Let's see. Self-styled peacemakers like Pandora wish for the opposition to forget everything the president-elect and his alt-right legions ever said and did and make nice with:\n\nracists\nNazis and other anti-Semites\nmisogynists\nanti-LGBT bigots\nxenophobes\nIslamophobes\nneo-fascists\ntheocrats\nisolationists\nclimate-change denialists\nanti-American Russian sympathizers\nanti-American guerilla poseurs\nanti-Christian Christian tribalists\npost-truth ignoramuses\n\nHell no.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How ignorant! No wonder Catholics are leaving the church in droves.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Typical libs in perpetual denial.. when Brazile was confronted with her own words from a Wikileaks e mail to the affect \" sometimes I get these questions in advance\" all she could do was spew a bunch of nonsense about being a Christian woman and that the e mails were stolen!!! This is just like a Hillary.. if caught red handed, admit NOTHING and deny deny deny.. All based on the liberal premise that voters are too stupid to know better. The arrogance know no bounds!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Now isn't the time for platitudes. It's time to buy a gun if you aren't white and male. Trump won because of white people, including college educated whites (by 1 point). They voted for him, he's their macho man gonna make America safe for the white male pussy grabbers and Christian rapos. \nUltimately it was all that pent up rage at having an educated black man for president for 8 years. It's literally jealousy. Jealousy that some black people have moved up the economic ladder. The ignorant undereducated whites just popped their pills and drank themselves into a stupor while non-whites got competitive. \nTrump is the president for white people. The white supremacist heartland (and rustbelt) have spoken. The whites have fallen into line and are ready to do the bidding of the 1% even against their own self-interest because they are first and foremost racist.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Rogue Catholic knows, he just knows, that the Spanish tragedy was perpetrated by \"brown skinned people.\" Disgusting.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I think it's a mistake to over-generalize and put all priests into the same bucket.\n\nThere are many many many priests who are totally self-donating, and humble, and prayerful...and don't fit into your \"one size fits\" all clericalist priest mold. Unfair.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And yet over 60% of Catholics voted for this hateful clown. Why?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Agree. An adulterer to represent a serial monogamist. I hope she won't appear in any color other than black. Will the Newt be carrying her train to official events? Ah, well: the Vatican had seen more than it'd share of charlatans and whites sepulchres.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You hit the nail on the head:\n\nSaint Pope John Paul II = Patron Saint of pedophile priests and enabling Bishops", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Muslim are killing Muslims in Quebec but they still blame non Muslims of being worse. 50 LGBT persons were slaughtered in Florida by a Muslim yelling Allah Akbar and Muslims in America blamed Trump and the NRA. The Muslim lies keep flowing thick and fast. Even having the names of the killers CTV won't identify them., leaving the impression white Canadian racists fascist Christians did it and must be feared .", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Constantly accusing other posters of the most horrible things.\n\nYou're an embarrassment to progressive Catholics everywhere.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Another christian tempted by the prospect of sex with other men....\n\nmust. stop. gaysex.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Need a citation to selective rights. Do you mean how Dred Scott, because he was black, was chattel? Is that an example of liberalism? And is consevatism where people adhere to tradition based on the Bible, where slavery is authorized by the Bible (and where gays need to be stoned to death)?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So we have Gregor wanting to stop Trump from being on a building, and now is trying to manipulate who a Christian faith gathering have to speak at their event.......this guy really is an idiot.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe they should pray for their pedophile Catholic priests to stop sexually molesting innocent little boys.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I had nuns in my family, I don't care for the \"christian\" tradition, I even told them off when I was 14 that I would choose my own. \n\nI live in Vancouver, born and raised - the men here would like my place, but it's mostly foreigners now who would rather abuse me to have my place than be with me (of which I do not even want them)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Republicans in Hawaii? That's an oxymoron if I ever heard one. Booty with his dirty mouth and sick mind talks about Christian values. Booty and Christian...another oxymoron.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "At least you are honest and care to speak from a Catholic platform, as it were, about how stupid the CC is -- now that it has been taken away from you -- by choice. Nothing like biting into an apple wrapped in plastic. lol", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "PC America needs to go. This is a Christian country. If you don't like it and get butthurt too easy pack your crap and leave now. You have turned this generation into a bunch of wusses!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Go to hell\" - how very Christian of you. And I've got news for you: Once baptized no one and nothing can separate a Christian from the Body of Christ.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "During the last year.\n\nAll this pretense and palaver about diversity, humility, inclusion, tolerance and open-mindedness being Christian qualities....but not even the slightest attempt to consider the views of the opposition.\n\nJust a stone wall of piece after piece abouit \"we are absolutely right, and all those who would vote for him\" are ignorant enemies of the Good.\n\nWow, what an arrogant publication.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I know that private charities cannot help all who need it, and the government must take up the slack. Your morally bankrupt ideology would deny food to the hungrey and healthcare to those who need it. You spout piffle about subsidarity, but the upshot of your immoral beliefs is that you would deny help to those in need while feeling self-righteous about your frank greed. As I said, your claim of being a Christian is a hypocritical sham.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What an incoherent ramble! Take your meds KK and get a grip on yourself. The law was un-Constitutional and thoroughly un-Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "White Christians are the majority voters in the US, you are saying don't appeal to them? Why would a politician not respect the majority?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are missing the death to America rally, where were they when they kill Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings........Trainwreck? The train never left the station! The Republican leadership is disgusting and so offensive to Christian values! Then there's mush mouth Senator Johnson pushing farther to the right....what a disgrace he is to the people here in Wisconsin! And of course Randian Ryan also from here needs a lesson on the Beatitudes! The Bishop of Madison should be ashamed for not speaking out against Ryan!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock up the smiling, lying Christian crusader, Mike Pence. Lock him up!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I don't, I give Thanks and Praise daily to my Lord, Jesus Christ. Without Him I would not have the beautiful life I have. I have known and loved Him all of my life and try to live His teachings daily. \n\nWhy would you think I hate Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Rise and Fall of the Trump Reich. Herr Trump is in deep doo-doo with Melania, his supporters, the Retrumplican party, the American public, and God if he ever believed in God. Meanwhile Mike Pence the \"good Christian\" will just deflect and ignore. What hypocrites! ... but that's the Republican party.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent, argue definitions, and if necessary, demand citations and references! Surprised to hear the Church does not teach infallibility. Are you sure you are a True Catholic, and not one of those cafeteria types. In any event, we agree, if God says kill, then babies, pregnant women, whatever, it's OK to kill them. In His Mercy, of course.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Does that statement include Christians? Ha. Ha. What do you do with people who run for public office under the name Christian Heritage Party? Will you start by exiling them from Canada? Those people are closet Nazis anyway.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You really must be dumb as nails. The terrorist here wasn't Muslim, he was Christian. and yet you can still find a way to use this act to attack Islam. you are a sad and pathetic human being.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Amen brother Winston ... really makes me wonder what the faithful are doing wasting their time every Sunday when THIS is the result of their efforts. They OBVIOUSLY don't fully practice what they preach from the book of Love ... horrible fakey 'christians'. Really bad!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why is it that evangelical Christians (and I am making an assumption about you here - if I am wrong I apologize) think that everyone who disagrees with their views is a Muslim, gay, going to hell, a Liberal (slung as if it's a bad word), granola eating tree hugger?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So, no Jewish immigrants? No Seventh-Day Adventists, or other fundamentalist Christian sects who prohibit pork? No vegetarians regardless of origin?\n\nSo much ignorance and bigotry. Pathetic.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "In my opinion, the Catholic bishops need to ask themselves a couple of \"dubia\" ... and need to come up with some convincing answers.\n\n[1] is the homosexual orientation really an objective disorder? If so, why so?\n\n[2] are \"homosexual acts\" always \"intrinsically evil\"? Even if between a monogamous loving couple in a same-sex (civil) marriage?\n\nPerhaps a commission (much like the one established to examine the contraception question in the 60s) could be established to assist Pope Francis and the bishops in undergoing the necessary discernment. Such a commission should include experts (including scientists) as well as committed gay couples. A scientific consensus is emerging: http://tinyurl.com/grmhhs8 . We are about both Faith and Reason. Gaudium et Spes 62 sums it up well: \"The recent studies and findings of science, history and philosophy raise new questions which effect life and which demand new theological investigations.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suggest one consult one of the many fine historians of medieval Catholicism and/or the Dominican Order before taking this essay as gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians should be very, very careful using bible mythology to justify modern morality. Remember, using the Holy Bible, Jesus was born a bastard.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is an admitted sexual predator.\n\nAnd Newt's mistress was just named Ambassador to the Vatican by Trump.\n\nAnd Lisa and Dan confirmed the nomination.\n\nGot that? An adulteress was just sent to the Vatican as America's ambassador.\n\nTell me again about Republican 'values'.\n\nEvery vote for Trump enabled a pervert. \n\nAnd you say Republican self-styled 'christians' aren't hypocrites?\n\nTell me another Republican lie.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think Conservative Christians are any blinder or stupider (more stupid?) than anyone else. I think the majority of them are aware that Trump has a 'history' of veering wildly and saying things that are not true. Rather, they don't believe his opponent in November was any better either with the truth or especially with her positions and her party's platform. Both candidates had extremely high negatives. So I think the bulk of this article is redundant to the bulk of American voters. The United States of America has been a Christian majority country for all its existence and this will not change soon. Nevertheless, because American Christians are diverse and changing and for the most part tolerant, there has been considerable development in American politics throughout our history together.\n\nI would make one point, perhaps unnecessary to most of the Christian electorate. Most American liberals are informed by their Christian values, too.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "... all you 'christians' are super fake. praying at the alters of greed and war ... SICK.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "He was an atheist who hated Christians.\nHe might as well have been ISIS.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That is a ridiculous comment. I'd say there's borderline anti-semitism embedded too. I have seen Islamic schools in areas. I have seen Catholic schools in areas. I have seen French schools in areas. Why is it you single out only the Jewish schools?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What would Jesus do? Penniless as he was, and we who read the bible know his thoughts on helping the less fortunate and about camels fitting the eyes of needles. The hypocrisy of the christian right is astounding.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Firing gays who marry is OK? Not in my vision of Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, you're informing me that life can be difficult.\n\nI guess I am just happy that - to this point - I have not been asked to be spat on, scourged, tortured, and crucified.\n\nI rather assumed that being a Christian was going to be difficult rather than easy.\n\nWhat were your expectations?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Black Panthers and the KKK are not remotely comparable. Setting up lunch programs in the ghettos and burning cross and hanging people by their necks are not similar activities. Your historical knowledge is skewed because you are likely a racist too Mr. Loewy. If you're so worried about terrorism stop looking at Muslims and start looking at crazy white Republicans like Robert Lewis Dear Jr. and other white, Christian terrorists.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The country is something like 80% self identified Christians, so the odds are damn good. Besides who else in this country seems to hate and/or fear Muslims, hint, it isn't the atheists.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Immigrants are deciding our elections \" Then we need to change our way of voting !\nWhy should newcomers decide what is best for our Country ?\nEspecially newcomers that oppose our Judeo/Christian values !\nWe have to put up with politicians that don't have the ability to be garbagemen , yet they take our hard-earned dollars and fritter them away on looney schemes that do nothing for no one but themselves !\nJust look at the present pack of idiots !\nGod! -How i wish we had a Donald Trump !", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No kiddin' ... he'd grab 'em by the hmmm hmmm, lie about it, then find support from the Republican party where all the other 'fakey dirty christians' have congregated.\n\nEver seen him 'fake pray', I love seeing it ... it isn't even Swaggert fake praying. It is something worse.\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70JWH5RsR50", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So, Christ is a white supremacist? You're an expert on theology and Christianity has been overrun?\n\nIt's funny how racist you're being while supposedly attempting to call out racism.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I consider that backing down, in the face of bullying, shows one to be lily-livered and a sad person/persons. It reminds me of the Gospel story in which Peter denied Jesus 3 times. 'The cock crowed and the Lord turned to look at Peter'. What did this look consist of? What did it say? It caused Peter to weep bitterly and mend his ways. Maybe all those, with hatred or lack of courage in their hearts, would do well to ponder this Gospel message. There is no place, whatsoever, in the Gospels for hatred, bullying, and wishing evil on those with whom one doesn't agree. What we all need, as Christians, is to find meaning in Prayer and open our hearts to God without putting up any barriers between Him and us, and not claiming ever to know what He is thinking or deciding. The human situation will always intrude, but that doesn't excuse us from building our relationship with God daily through Prayer, or beginning again, when we fail to live up to our baptismal promises.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If he sounds like a racist, acts like a racist, and defends racists, he IS a racist. And, he NEVER apologizes for being a racist in his stupid tweeking bloviations. In fact he never apologizes for any off his lies, misogyny, and character assassinations. Is this Christian behavior?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How pathetic of Kellie Leitch to compare her Roman Catholic identity to Muslims in Canada.\n\nCatholics have been here from the beginning days of this country....they are totally accepted, even though you do read mocking comments on the Internet at times, it is nothing at like experienced by Muslim people.\n\nI'm Catholic.....I've never been personally insulted on a bus or taking a child to school or shopping in a grocerty store the way some newcomers to Canada are. \n\n How silly of Ms. Leitch to make such a comparison....it's embarrassing actually.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is a perfect example of the RG mocking Christianity..... by not making a simple grammar edit from \"feast\" to \"festival\", they maliciously embarrass an obvious ESL christian. Pathetic.\n\nAny display of Christianity in Eugene nowadays will get you tased and jailed by the PC brownshirts. /s", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes I do remember that ... when Obama won you couldn't find a Republican who would admit for voting for W not once but twice. W drove the USA economy off a freakn cliff, started 2 'off budget' wars we are still fighting today ... YET ... the ONLY thing that mattered to 'em was that there was a Black man in office and the deficit was ALL OBAMA'S FAULT ... \n\nThe deficit ONLY matters to 'em when a Black man is in office. Now that Cheetolini is in office, you don't hear a PEEP from Repubs about spending EXCEPT when it is spending focused on USA citizens. All domestic spending BAD. All war spending GOOD. The Military Industrial Machine is FULL of eligible voters who get their paychecks from Defense contracts, the irony isn't lost of myself that many of these suburban folks in 'republican' areas consider themselves Christian ... but sh*t howdy do they pray to the alters of money and war!!! They are SICK!!!\n\nDems need to pull the thumb on not running Hilary and Sanders together Pres/VP.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And also how many of the so called Christians are also white racists.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "EFC: \"A 'good Catholic education' fails miserably if it teaches that receiving the Eucharist and other sacraments is unnecessary.\" \n\nMany of the folks, at least the ones I am referring to above, do not see salvation as anything other than \"getting to heaven later\", and 'going to church' has minimal vaue and importance. Religion was taught as a system of definitions and rules that in their minds makes no sense and thus is not necessary. In their own way they are living the gospel pretty well. They have taught me a thing or two.\n\nMy time in the Army taught me just to be with people of many religious traditions and no religious tradition wherever and however they are, and not pretend I have all the answers on how they are supposed to live. We learn a lot from each other and can help each other. I can live with this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "hugh: YOU must be using LSD????? Sure sounds like it.............\n\nYOU stated, \"we all know a church has never caused anyone any harm in the history of the world\". YOU must not be from this world. What about the thousands or tens of thousands of Catholic Priest's that have RAPED young boys and continue to do so?????", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Religions\" don't take in refugees. Nations do. And nations are led by individuals, some of whom are guided by religious principles and some of whom use them as a pretext for indulging their own appetites for power. Case in point: the U.S. is led by a president who claims to be a devout Presbyterian but shows little evidence of Christian charity in either his public policies or his personal behavior.\n\nBut if your point is that the Middle East is a royal mess, I quite agree. And I understand why refugees want to leave there. But that's their tough luck, huh?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims can kiss my white christian ass.\nDeleting this is an infringement on my freedom of speech.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This \"self-proclaimed Christian\" thinks Donald is a shameful, disgraceful person who needs Jesus.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trid, you take your support of Trump as an indication of your Catholic orthodoxy. Did you happen to notice that Trump is a pathological liar, narcissist whose only values are greed and his own ego. These values are the anti-thesis of the Gospel. He brags about sexually assaulting women and sleeping around. He's on his third wife. Tell me again how supporting him proves your Catholic orthodoxy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, gay and black, you just caused all our white christian friends here to start salivating at the same time, for what I'm not sure.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Cite a source where Muslims are trying to make stoning homosexuals or sluts not crimes in the U.S. And if you need sources of Christians trying to influence our laws based on their dogma, just ask.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Fake Christians!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What an idiot. I am a CHRISTIAN and I believe in Jesus but there is no harm in this anyway. It's just a fun thing to do on Christmas. I knew who Jesus was since I was VERY young and I knew there was no Santa or reindeer that flew. It's just harmless. He was way out of line.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "so I'm going to ask all you socialist supporters, why is it ok for a oped guy to call Christians, \"Religious Right\" but I would be slammed if I called Homosexuals \"The Gay Left\". So for like the 5th time, please me understand. this why I'm asking all you Liberal elites because as you keep stating, I'm not too smart and do not know much. so please help this dumb guy out. Please leave Alinsky, Rules for radicals scripture out of your answer.. hahaha.. Sandya, shame on you thinking its ok to call Christians, \"The Religious Right\". shame on you. I thought you Socialist were \"Tolerant\". That's what you all say....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You prove my point that it is a matter of personal judgement, you don't think that 'certain' person is a troll, I do think he is. I'll grant you he is ostensibly civil but his aim is to pour scorn on and subtly abuse orthodox Catholic posters. Yet for all that I do not flag him nor do I mute him just because I think his comments are generally pathetic.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So you don't like restaurants that pander to all of those white christian immigrants from Europe?\n\nOr are you some sort of dumb racist that thinks only non-whites are immigrants?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If the bishop wants to avoid \"scandal of the faithful\" he will immediately rescind these devastatingly unkind, unloving, disrespectful, scandalous rules. Who is he kidding about what creates a scandal? This very un-Jesus like treatment of a suffering beloved person and family painfully going through the loss of a loved one is unChristian. So, too, is it unChristian to let those NOT involved in the life of these grief stricken people claim some sort of \"caring\" about how they are treated. \n\nWay to reward the utter selfishness of busybodies and their judgmentalism, bishop, and to make a mockery of real grief. THAT is the scandal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stalemate. Obama is a black muslim and above reproach. trump is white christian and open to any and all criticism.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "... teaching history to a complete moron is one thing, ELECTING HIM a totally unacceptable way to 'reach out'.\n\nLGBTQ folks aren't the ones I worry about EVER, Cheetolini is on my mind IN A BAD WAY more than I wish to admit. Every city I've lived in (Denver, Seattle, Chicago, Madison WI, Boulder) the LGBTQ crowds have been great to be around, ALWAYS raise property value, super fashion starters and trenders, and run some really great businesses super easy to be around ... the are incredible at creating value out of sometimes the TRASH of those that offend, persecute, and belittle 'em with GARBAGE OF THE LIKES OF CHEETOLINI, HUMAN TRASH!!!\n\nShame on the 'christians' that elected this waste of human skin, ~80% Trump voters. If you are a true believer, you'll rot for this don't wonder if this will be, you've assured it. As an atheist, if you are correct in your faith, I'll save ya a cold spot or happily dance on your GRAVES. YOU ARE HOLDING THE USA BACK WITH GARBAGE LIKE THIS!!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Well thank God for the Niagara Catholic Schoolboard. It's about time someone at the top of an organization stood up to this insanity. Children rarely get confused about gender but they are sponges & this crap just feeds them this social contagion. People have gone stupid supporting transgender diagnosis as if it is something to be celebrating. Lupron the puberty blocker causes sterility and brittle bones. They are supporting the chopping off of healthy body parts & putting people on life long hormones. Young women are taking testostorone right now without knowing long term effects. There are no studies. Sure Gender dysphoria is a medical condition that requires compassion & all people need to be respected but let's stop celebrating this. The same thing has happened in Australia in their curriculum. The Education Minister put an end to educating kids about transgender issues as there was a alarming increase in kids. Kudos to the Niagara schoolboard for protecting their kids.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "http://www.truthbeknown.com/victims.htm\n\nhttps://www.google.com/amp/foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/14/if-islam-is-a-religion-of-violence-so-is-christianity/amp/\n\nhttps://www.thedailybeast.com/yes-there-are-christian-terrorists\n\nIn the USA of today, you are more likely to be killed by a \u201cchristian \u201c than a Muslim. They frighten me far worse.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Really? MSW is Catholic and Elaine's just being a jerk.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "She's just another political piece of shit exploiting the fears of morons for her own support. As an athiest I hate everything about her and her radical Christian terrorist tactics", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The DeVos, Koch, Heritage Foundation plan is anathema to public education.\n\nThis is nothing more than a DeVos style scheme to get tax money into private hands and Christianity into schools. Instead of tax dollars going to public schools, they will go to private management companies that will then give 10-15% to your kid's school.\n\n The professional teacher will all but disappear. In return, The Heritage Foundation, the DeVos family and the Kochs will have created generations of uneducated zealots.\n\n\nThis is corporate welfare at its worst.\n\nOnly the loud voices of educators and parents can stop this. \n\nStart organizing and making your protests heard in hopes that it's not too late.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By too late for Bonhoeffer, I meant, of course, too late to save his life from the gang of criminals in power in Germany. He was internally liberated already though imprisoned by the gang for his Christian conscience and personal integrity. Another gang of criminals, this time in Russia, have been trying to extend the tentacles of their corrupt power west into Europe and even here. The GOP -- and stupid, blind Americans who back Trump -- are complicit. God help us.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Disgusting excuse for progressive Catholic journalism that smears most of America as racist. Hateful, worthless, stupid, harmful, irresponsible, and untrue.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So Trump is right because you're a Christian?\n\nI really don't follow.\n\nIf we discovered that Obama was a pedophile would that make Trump infallible? No.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why don't PC fascist like yourself not go and create a redoubt of like minded leftist? There would be no whites, no normal sexual orientation, no Christians', no sober folk not on drugs or booze, Wow, a progressive paradise! You could sell books on pot farming, astrology, gunophobia, hemp, brown supremacy, How to speak PC code! Wow!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I dismiss no one. I simply point out what the Catholic Church teaches from its papal and conciliar documents when people here reject and deny them.\nPope Francis seems somewhat reluctant to point out the teaching of his predecessors and the Councils.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I read reactions to the Rainbow Family I notice prejudice against \"dirty hippies\" is still alive and well. \n\n When we bought our little 10 acre farm out west of J.City, we were \"those G.D. Hippies from California.\" I can tell you many stories of the discrimination we faced. It was not a great deal of fun. I'm 74 now and now an \"old hippie,\" and very willing to acknowledge it.\n\n The Rainbow Family folks are \"hippies\" too and today face the kind of hatred many posters express in this stream. They're decent, self-supporting folks, who have a different lifestyle from some. They may wear tie-dye instead of a suit; they may go to the Country Fair or the Rainbow Gathering instead of the Country Music Festival and the Pendleton RoundUp and \"worship\" nature instead of fundamentalist Christianity. So what? They're peaceful, loving persons who harm no one. They gather each year to celebrate life and community. They leave their camp area cleaner than they found it. (cont)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Holy Spirit would never have anything to do with the Catholic so-caled church.\nRomam Catholicism is of the devil and an antichrist religion / Cult & is The Whore of Babylon of Revelation 17 KJV /AV_1611.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "there's too many fake Christians favoring trump's child murders", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Oh look they cried and whined and got what they wanted - who didn't see that one coming?! This nonsense needs to stop, let's make Canada Christian again. Enough of this INVASION.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\nBut the church has moved on. Nobody, or almost nobody, knows or cares what these guys think about human sexuality. I'm not even arguing that that's a good thing; but it's a true thing. By failing to attend to the contributions of scholarship, history and experience, the bishops have forfeited their right to be taken seriously on these issues.\nThe interesting thing is that their teaching on social issues is received more favorably precisely because it is proposed more humbly; nobody threatens someone with eternal damnation for opposing the social teaching of the church -- but masturbation gets you a ticket to hell. Preposterous. No reasonable person believes that, but the church teaches it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Ultimately, this election is not about Trump, but about the moral character of our nation. For Catholics, this election also challenges our basic faithfulness to Jesus' nonviolent Gospel witness.\"\n\nAgreed.\n\nWhat can one expect from a culture that murders children in the wombs of their mothers on demand and claims this is \"advancement\" and liberation for women? If the fruits of sex meet with such violent ends, is it really any wonder that both men and women become demeaned in the process? \n\nPope Saint John Paul rightly named this a \"culture of death\" focused on satisfying selfish wants. \n\nBoth these Presidential candidates say a great deal about the state of American culture and I suspect would have been run out of town a couple of generations ago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you believe in the Bible, then you know you can go to hell for lyin'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"For some reason Jesus picked male disciples .. and the Church respects this decision and action by Jesus\"\n\nBut the institutional Church did not respect Jesus' decision to pick Jewish disciples. The institutional Church seems to do a lot of picking and choosing when it comes to respecting Jesus' decisions. It is very comforting and reassuring that the institutional Church is able to improve on Jesus.\n\nPlease keep us updated on all of the other ways in which the institutional Church has improved on Jesus. Peace and blessings to you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"..which was to protect the institutional church\"\nSo Pope F. all his clergies are 'company men' who are willing to go 'burn in hell' for the CI! What a pity!!!\nIOW., they don't believe in living God, Christ, Holy Spirit, Holy Mary, communion of saints & angels! That was all what CI business merchandises for donations then! What a pity indeed!!!\nWe, the laities should teach these sick CI clergies! LOLOLOL!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Most people that spout Jesus this or that are usually two faced hypocrites. Go back to watching your porn...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "One has to remember the venue for such vile intolerance - Eugene Oregon - Where Christians are loathed and Islam is embraced... the same Islam that executes homosexuals, beheads \"infidels\" and treats their women like dogs.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop Patrick McGrath of San Jose, California, issued an open letter to \"Father/Sister/Brother\" June 29 in reaction to \"recent news reports of policies and practices related to members of the LGBT community in other dioceses.\" The San Jose diocese's \"pastoral response \u2026 remains just that: compassionate and pastoral,\" he wrote. \"We will not refuse sacraments or Christian Burial to anyone who requests them in good faith.\" Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, recently decreed that persons in same-sex marriages are barred from Communion and a Catholic funeral in his diocese.\u2014 Dan Morris-Young", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think a little more research in 'actual' history might surprise you. Rome (even while Christianity was the official religion of Rome), fell, because of a long line of incestuous idiots dictating orders that had no connection to \"mocking the lord.\" Sheesh man, the word 'progress' has only been politically used for the last 500 years, and in the face of superstitious religious extremism who's only purpose is to dictate intolerance and pep talk the superstitiously gullible into spreading the most impacting lie on human history.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Whoa Big Fella, pump your brakes.\nWhere did I even imply that Jesus would bake a cake. First off, it would probably suck. Jesus was a carpenter. Officiate their wedding and perform abortions? Did I really say that?\n\nThe gays are only sinners in the same way you are a sinner. \nI am not a sinner. \nHave a great day.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There is a middle way and when the church veers too far one way or the other, adult Catholics use their head and hearts to see the hypocrisy and are called to live as Jesus did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Molesting children is NOT approved of in the Bible nor in our own society. In fact in the old days we all know what they would have done to a man who molested a child.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It is actually Anglican Church, United Church propaganda, that is where they come from at the CBC, not liberals but censors and people who know better than the rest of us - in their own small minds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. You cannot open business to the public and then have a list of disclaimers based on the type of people you will or will not serve. Gay, straight, christian, muslims, etc. It doesn't matter.\n\nIf your religion requires you to discriminate then you should not open businesses to the public. \n\nAs I pointed out to Bill: what's stopping the church of satan from denying services to christian events? You might laugh because the church of satan isn't as large as Christianity but imagine reading a news article where a coffee shop run by a satanist denied a church a large catering order. You'd think \"that's discrimination! You can't open a business and not serve certain kinds of people! What an idiot!\"\n\nThe reason people are for this precedence of discrimination is only because they agree with the baker. They're blind to the underlying issue.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The killer shouted \"God is great\" in Arabic. I think everyone on the planet knows what Allahu Akbar means by now. It is a phrase that is used in conjunction with cowardly Islamic terror attacks. Very sneaky move by the AP. The implication is that the killer is Christian when even my blind and deaf 15 year old dog knows the guy is a Muslim. Did he also say he hated white folk in Arabic?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I wasn't there and support it 100%.\nYour murder claim is wrong. Wasn't the serial killer a white boy for east high? Look at all the violence in the valley and there isn't a person of color to be found. I'm guessing you've had zero personal experience with anyone who doesn't look like you. You call yourself a Christian but that couldn't be further from the truth. Too much garbage collecting went to you head.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We have yet to survive obama's anti-Catholic, anti-the sanctity of life, anti-family, anti-Christian, anti-marriage, anti-Catholic medical providers, anti-affordable health care, anti-business, anti-American Vets, anti-children using bathroom that are safe, anti-anything that is moral and productive for the lives of Americans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "U libs are so desperate to bash anything that doesn't fit with your atheist views, you turn Christians into the enemy, even though u know who is blowing people up, it doesn't matter, not until your wife , brother, sister or own kids get blown will u maby realize how ignorant this article and this additude of arrogance really is.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Is the Pope Catholic? Of course gun reforms will help curb gun violance. Look at Australia. Stupid to just continue to ignore this problem so that big business can make a few bucks.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Layla4, you are correct to the extent that Human Rights Codes do not prohibit or restrict stupid or unfair hiring decisions - only ones where the employer has a prohibited motive. Examples are where the employer refused to hire because the applicant black, jewish, muslim, christian, disabled, for instance. \n\nIn those cases, the employer will still be in the right if he can establish a bona fide occupational requirement for the decision.\n\nComplainants lose the overwhelming majority of human rights hearings, by the way.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trump won because Clinton's VP was too white and because of last minute stupidity by the FBI chief. The polls reflected it. Trump also spoke the Bishops\u2019 line on abortion enough for them to edge four states he should not have won. Sadly, Hillary should have taken the Obama line that the Pro-life movement is an electoral scheme, giving many Catholics cover. She was winning the pro-choice vote anyway. If she had done what I told her in 2007 we would not have an idiot in the White House.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Bigots, racists, nazi's, white supremacists, evangelicals, and \"some good people\" lol, part of the normal republican party these days. And I heard this from reliable sources, Special Agent Mueller is going to pop trump's a** soon. imua, aloha & mahalo", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "gimme a break. why doesnt the author lash out at the extremist that are beheading and killing women, Christians and gays. who is heck is she to label a TEMPORARY BAN, a hate crime. Focus on the real hate crimes. You are biased and trying to tick us. I am tired of caving in. It is always a one way street and my bleeding heart is with the families of the real hate cimes. Why don't moderates speak up against the atrocities that they should be fighting. So ignorant.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "All Catholics received the Holy Ghost at Baptism and increase at Confirmation. There is no such thing as a\"baptism in the Holy Spirit\". We can receive gifts and never use them also. Perhaps, if more Catholics would read, pray and use the gifts they have already received, nutballs (directed by the devil) would not have even gotten a hold in the Church. Stupid attracts stupid and the devil laughs!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You have been treated as equals for 30 years. Just because you aren't int he boardroom doesn't mean you are slighted.\nIt means you are not competent. It's called merit...\nMerit is sexless...\n\nTime to let go of your white man hate\nIt has to be white man hate cause you never say a word about the Muslim patriarchy and the destruction of women's rights\n\nIs it because most feminist women just white men?\nCause how can all you be for Muslim immigration of ugly midevil values towards women and Christians?????\n\nAnd this comment\n\"\"\"Such condescension targets women in the global south regularly, but none of us are immune.\"\"\nwhy would you aid a women who has 7 kids?\nIt's called choice\nThe double standards here are really harmful\n\n\nCare to enlighten us?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "An absolute monster and an embarrassment to Christians everywhere.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Junior is always seen sucking up to M\u00faslims. His adoration of them is of a pathological nature. He should seek help from the professionals.\n\nIf he only used photo ops to be seen with just a few Christians now and again....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One more deluded entry to certify your complete idiocy as part of the purist White Supremacy ideology lamely trying to claim the same inbred racism for all others. Woodrow Wilson hated blacks. Woodrow Wilson was not Progressive. Your postulations continue to be utterly stupid as is you and the rest of the right-wing fascist horde. Try getting an education from somewhere other than the Right Wing Cathedral of White Supremacy, racism, bigotry, misogyny, fundmentalist christian fascism, et. al. Back to the books.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Time for another book EC, this time depicting the un-Christian values the RCC has championed throughout the ages... IMO the goal should be to hasten the demise of RC in its present form and \"free\" the people of God from centuries of their contrived and sacramentally-imposed bondage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's pretty obvious that Cowardly Ryan still worships Ayn Rand. I'm surprised he even has the courage to attend church considering everything he stands for is counter to the teachings of Catholicism. How do the politicians and other citizens continue to fool themselves about denying affordable healthcare to Americans who are not wealthy? Do they really think everyone will simply lie down and accept the lack of investment in communities. Do they think the \"folks\" will continue to peacefully watch the GOP give this country away to the filthy rich? There is one important fact they should remember. America is the most well armed nation on this planet. If the GOP continues down this path they will be lucky to lose their job at the next election rather than lose their life at the end of a gun held by someone who lost a loved one because there was no healthcare! Healthcare is a human right, not a privilege reserved for the wealthy! Stop this stupidity and work to make healthcare affordable!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Lisa Murkowski is a hypocrite. She went to Catholic private schools. Her own boys went to private schools. But - a charter school, private school choice advocate, Betsy Devos, who has helped poor children and families achieve the same choice the Murkoski family has received - is deemed unfit?! In the poorest performing ghetto schools in America, this is unfit? Compared to Obama's public school DOE chief Arne Duncan?! Who came from murder capital, ghetto school heavy Chicago?! And who did away with common reading, writing, and math achievement tests across the USA to see how students were doing comparatively in state to state?\nHere's the bottom line - Murkowski is sucking up to the NEA and AEA teacher unions to pander and grovel for their votes and money support. Dump Murkowski! Her results for Alaska are zilch, and now she shows to be a Republican in name only but the worst thing of all - a self-serving, shameless hypocrite, who does not represent majority Alaskans.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Neither is a baker...there are plenty of bakers out there who'd be happy to bake you a phallic wedding cake, these types of things are only to attack Christians for their convictions. Besides if you're gay why would you want to give your $ to people who disagree with your way of living? Find a friendly baker...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So is the guy who shot the Republican Congressman a left wing fanatic, or a Christian terrorist?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "maybe you \"brave\" folks could try that in syria with a koran.....\n\nas it wasnt a Christian who shot the sodomites", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What an stupid argument! Our reference is the Holy Bible, tradition and the Catholic Cathecism! It doesn't mean Catholic Church be a museum at all! Sin is always sin! Divorce was always hated by Jesus!\nJesus says 15 times that there is a risk of eternal damnation if someone persists in a grave sin, while Amoris Laetitia 297 claims that no one can be condemned forever because it is not the logic of the Gospel. Thus, eternal damnation would seem to have become a heresy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mexicans are also Christians. White Christians really don't seem very Christian to me.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes y'all gun toting 'christians' pray HARD to the flying spaghetti monster to stop your kind from misbehaving ... uh huh!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...this is not about religious accommodations or the best interests of students at all. Rather, it suggests this is about Islamophobia. \" \nI will assume Shulamit that you don't have any knowledge of the history of Canada or our charter. You are also ignorant of the fact that Canada was founded on the principles of Christianity and those Values have made Canada the great country that it is. How dare you label Canadians who don't agree with you as Islamophobic. Truly pathetic!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, we are miles apart. We want to help the poor, you do not. I suggest that if you get this crap from your guru in Opus Dei, then you had better quite that cult, since it does not teach Christianity. If this is your political ideology speaking, then it is similarly not Christian, but rather morally bankrupt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you one of 'dev!l' mouth peace! \nSo, others rape too, and you are saying it is perfectly OK for CI (Catholic Institution) clergies rape and hierarch's rape/hiding/condoning rape of innocent children?\n\nNow nuns taking away that new born baby from baby's mother?\nI suppose CI clergies will rape that orphan child in the nun run orphanage like what happened in Australia, German, Ireland, other countries orphanages!\n Do you have any idea What a 'hell' an orphan child could go through in life? \nWhat a 'hell' of fake, FAKE, FAKE Catholic clergies/nuns claim that they are against abortion!\nTry to have a heart for your soul's sake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So much better to just ignore cops killing blacks, right fiveo? They deserve it. We just want to watch a football game and get drunk. So very American. \n\nIf God did have a hand in the founding, he or she must be shaking their head like crazy today. \n\nHow could a country get away from God so much where violance is tolerated and actually celebrated each week? So very Christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "In Doug's mind only white Christians are racist.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Well said. Jones revealed his ignorance and hate for Christianity to the entire galaxy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Damn Christians!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You are hateful and ignorant. Donald Trump is also a Christian. Quit name calling.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry that gay marriage is something you really disapprove of. Yourban huffing and puffing does not disguise your unchristian attitude towards gays.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "1 down ... but you're right, Republicans are filthy with 'christian' pervogoats", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Thousands of Hawaiians are Christians and do not believe the mountain is sacred other than as a metaphor. God is sacred. Not the mountain. Reality is a tiny number of protesters, most of them, not Hawaiian, have held the state hostage. Ige's lack of leadership has once again hurt the state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are correct, but there are also Christians in Africa that are about as bad as Muslims toward gay people. FOTF is a hate group and a threat right here in Colorado. While they don't want to \"kill the gays\", they do want to make life quite miserable for them. But overall, their battle against gays seems to have been a losing battle.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Assad being a Shitte protected the Christian minority. \nSunni want to destroy them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No offence, but when http://www1.cbn.com/thebrodyfile/archive/2017/01/27/brody-file-exclusive-president-trump-says-persecuted-christians-will-be-given-priority-as-refugees proves your 'alterna-fact' erroneous, it seems appropriate that \"Demento\" is part of your nom d'ecran.\n\nHe is targeting Muslims with the exact same \"precision\" with which North Carolina's voter ID laws \"target African-Americans with almost surgical precision\u201d.\n\nT-rump is a loathesome racist, xenophobic, 'religious' (Ha!) bigot - it seems that's the way America is now. Again. Still.\n\n\"Sad!\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"I don't believe in restricting people from engaging in sodomy.\"\n\nThen when you wrote \"For example, anti-sodomy laws are of Christian derivative and were in every state up until 1962 when the sex perverts started lobbying for sexual freedom.\" you were not regretting that these laws were abolished.\n\nAnd you are back to one of your \"gay sex is icky\" rants. As well as telling gays \"go back into the closet\".", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Consider the source, News. The folks you call a Catholic \"entity\" are basically liberal apostates....they exist only to subvert the Catholic Church. Their theological agenda is their political agenda: secularlism....liberalism....socialism....Marxism.\n\nThey are a cancer and parasites. They are the fungus among us. That is why loyal Catholics want them out of the Catholic Church -- smaller IS more beautiful if it means excising warts, gangrene, and puss.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Given the hatred and bigotry that Lorna and her ilk have promoted over the decade in the name of Christianity, she's mostly evil.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The women came out because he is a hypocrite, a child predator. Comeon trumpers, defend the child predator Christian, lol", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Only a Church rich in witnesses will be able to bring back the pure water of the Gospel to the roots of Europe.\"\n\nExactly, Good Pope Francis! For centuries, the church in Europe, Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant, was an organ of state power. If Christianity is going to make a comeback in Europe it has to be completely separate from the state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can't say I'm a total fan of \"civil comments' (the face making feature is so childish & ridiculous), but I wasn't aware it was driving people away. \n\nMaybe many have left because they're demonized for their political opinions.\n\nPerhaps hard for some to believe, but I actually respect both the Trad and Prog viewpoints on Catholicism. What irks me are those here who make these sweeping condemnations of anyone who disagrees with them. Whether Trad or Prog, that indicates a deep lack of good faith in one's fellows.\n\nAnyway, I enjoy a good debate. But good debate is not the stuff of \"oh yeah sez you\" banter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the chief freedoms in western democracies is the freedom from religion. Muslims, Christians, Zoroastrians, et al should be required to leave their particular idiocy at home. The prevailing state of mind in the west is not religion, thank god.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Minnery and the Alaska Family Council feel like Christians are being marginalized, which is ironic because that's exactly what they've been doing to others for years. This would be a good time in human history for all religious cults to fade away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, Ashfall, you and the rest of the loudmouth cowards will find out. Millions have been locked and loaded long before the NRA gathered in all of the fools whose only practice is with their thumbs on video games. Hitler found out. And so will the modern fascists represented by the Republican Terrorist Traitor Party joined with the White Supremacists and theocrats of the fundamentalist christian greed merchants. Those with the loud mouths, waving flags, and bragging about their prowess are the ones crying Momma when faced with those with equal firepower. Trolling the net for inane examples to support your specious theory with one person never handling a gun is just stupid. We liberals/true patriots trained in the wilderness, the wildlands, and the military. The cowards have been weeded out. Test us at your own peril.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Errr...I meant conservatives killing and now Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That's WHITE Catholic women. They voted their skin color and not their religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't disagree, but unfortunately once you try to use religion as a club to shame others with, you become the poster child for what is wrong with many so called religious folks in this country. Not all and not even a majority, but enough that it gives those who are religious and polite a bad name, just by association. I'm not Christian, and I can't tell you how many times I have been prodded by so called religious folks about how I will be going to hell if I don't embrace Jesus. I generally just ignore those fools, kind of like how I ignore the idiots with the bullhorns screaming about how you must repent. For the life of me, I can't figure out how a message of repent or burn in hell is a compelling message to get converts, especially if the message is screamed at me through a bullhorn.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "He's a 'modern christian' dumber than a box of rocks and full of Jesus' hate for poor people...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No, I say that antsemitic, racist, and homophobic speech is hate speech. That's the sort of speech that Milo spews. And, apparently, that's the sort of speech you support. \n\nAs a Christian and a human being -- heck, as a carbon-based lifeform -- I believe that such speech should not be allowed on the public forum. Hatred is not something to be encouraged.\n\nYou would encourage him in jis hatred. You are a Trump supporter. \n\nOh and your LIE that I support mob violence is something you should be ashamed of. But rhen, Trump supporters also support lying, since your glorious leader is such an inveterate liar.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You are right that Trump is disgusting and this open mike just clarifies how disgusting he is.....but why in Gods name would a reputable independent Catholic media give this disgusting man any ink? This man who treats women so appallingly and why would any even sort of reputable hierarch have anything to do with him....\n\nSimply is unbelievable.....and in my view wrong.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ya, well that's a load of crap. The idea is to reduce emissions, not redistribute wealth. Of course, the extremist Christian right doesn't really care what the accord is about since in their view any suggestion that humans can modify climate goes against their fundamentalist religious ideas. So let God take care of it. \n\nYa, well, I'll stick with the scientists, thanks. Much better track record. \n\nJust calling a spade spade.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cDo you still love Jesus?\u201d Do you?\n\u2018I assure you, as often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me.\u2019 (Mat 25:40)\nDo you know that God is immanent as well as omnipresent in this universe?\nI know from Jesus talk to me many times on my thought and one time he asked me to join him from inner most dark room in me.\nDo you realize these sick devilish clergies are raping Jesus in children? \nAnd Pope F. is in no hurry to stop his clergies from raping Jesus in children!!!!\nSo you don\u2019t blame Pope F. You must hate Jesus then!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What we have with Trump is a demonstrated lifetime of sleazy nasty sexist, self absorbed behavior. Trump is clearly absorbed with sexual conquest, wanted by his victims or not. He does not care. The Clintons are saints compared to this man While Bill has his sexual issues, Hillary is the candidate and she has stuck by her man, deserving or not. That used to be considered a virtue among Christians, you know marriage as a lifetime commitment. Apparently at least with some evangelicals, marriage is now a one way street with the man calmly all the shots, rotten nasty behavior or not. It is like a time zone, back to when women were considered property by rich powerful men.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am gay too so I can say it is quite fascist to eradicate the rights of others, ie, the right of the School Board to say no. If Muslim parents had objected you would say nothing. Even today in Toronto, Imams teach children in mosques that gays are sick depraved people yet you say nothing about it. Catholics are much easier targets. .", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That's because you're too dumb to understand the data Bob. You're just another stupid conservative \"catholic\" who thinks being catholic means being ignorant.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Your \"If either the buyer or the seller does not want to enter into that contract for whatever reason then I believe they have the right to refuse.\" means that you support those who say \"no Dogs of Jews\" or \"Whites Only\" and similar expressions of bigotry. You demonstrate out of your own mouth your wholehearted support of racism, sexism, antisemitism and all other forms of bigotry. As I said previously, your claim of being a Christian is a complete and utter sham.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "One crazy guy is no more representative of the anti-Trump faction than the one crazy guy shooting up a Planned Parenthood is representative of Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Good luck Mr. Hickenlooper. Mr. Gardner is a hard case and will probably vote for the stupid bill no matter what anyone says to him. I don't know these people can call themselves Christians and wreak so much havoc in so many lives!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I asked because a few of your posts have come up < this comment did not meet civility standards >.\n\nAs you know I share your conviction that certain right-wing Catholic agencies are either wittingly or unwittingly being exploited as useful idiots by that great guardian of Western Christianity, KGB thug and kleptocrat Vladimir Putin.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What Catholics \"hate black folks and to ignore the needs of the poor\"? \n\nThat's as nonsensical as saying: Catholics are free to support contraception, abortion, same sex marriage and adultery.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Give it a rest, Pat. Liberal whores like you think you can tell the Catholic Church to pimp for your social justice garbage while ignoring the civil rights of a Church that is 97% white and middle class.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"...roll eyes the moment some WASP...\"\n\nHello denglish4,\n\nWhy the racist, bigoted, hateful targeting of WASPs?\n\nWhy are you filled with seething, racist bigotry against specifically WASPS and not specifically against white Catholics or White atheists from Spain and Greece?\n\nWhy do you target WASPS in your hatred-motivated attacks? Why are they the only white people raising your bigoted resentment and hate?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Your support of the 2nd Amendment tells us how much you care about human life. That would be little and or none. Heck, you tried to tell us how wonderful race based slavery was. You are just a white man that wants what he wants, no more and no less. You don't care about justice if it gives rights to none white men. White men like you can rationalize rape, robbery, torture, and murder if those actions benefit you. I bet you claim to be a Christian too. That doesn't say much for Christians. I would not be surprised if you care more about being white than being an American or human.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "taipan, are you an old privileged white guy? sound like one. i'm one myself but i say 'god damn america' too. that flag only applies to white, christian, racist, bigoted and intolerant males. no one else. i thought i was alone but you have shown me that is not the case and for that i thank you.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Great post ... remember 80% of Cheetolini voters consider themselves Christian!! Haha haha... Jesus would spit in their faces n sh\u00d7t down their pie holes in complete DISGUST!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Just think how much further ahead many African and Asian countries would be if not for Christians from Christian countries pillaging thier resources and taking people into captive bondage as slaves and objects of sexual amusement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Last week in Egypt, Muslim gangs burned down several Christian Coptic churches, and killed Christians by burning them alive inside the churches or by crucifixion . In other Muslim countries gay men are tossed off buildings, hanged or beheaded.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That holds true to this day. Christian charities do more for the poor than any other group in America. What deluded neurotics fail to understand is the difference between the poor and freeloading leeches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Silly child. He still has his beleifs. The state forces him to make custom cakes for all protected classes or for no one.\nThe state forces every one to do this. Why is this triggered snowflake the only one that can not follow state law regarding protected classes?\n\nSo the mean old gov forces every one to act like adults when it comes to serving the public. The baker is a petulant child with very stupid and inconsistent religious beliefs. He has stopped making wedding cakes for all.\n\nWhy does he serve adulterers? Why does he serve people that have been divorced?\nThe baker is a terrible Christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "FYI i don't care for kool aid - never did.. it's one of many trumped up facts that get thrown around with all the accuracy of a knuckle ball.\n are you a drinker, bill? a couple cold ones every night? or 12 pack friday and saturday nights?.... are you living in a glass house perhaps? \n BHooper: \"And locker room talk is just that. It is nothing to be taken seriously.\" unless you are wearing a mic,toying with making a run for president and talking some seriously ignorant trash.\n i have never have, nor heard of any woman talking about sexually assaulting a man . an UNKNOWN man whose testicles get grabbed and squeezed. Fun stuff eh? hey - you like it and i got $$$ so i'm entitled.\n i've never said \"i have you by the balls\"... short hairs is the phrase anyway....\n BH: \"Has Trump lied under oath\" HA! are bears catholic? does the pope poop in the woods? you'll know trump is lying cause his lips move.\n bit more below", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Holy F*** you're deranged. You're the guy that sits in front of planned parenthood all day to \"protect the babies\", yet want to shamelessly go to war. Wow. Typical fox news christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm Canadian and I feel so sorry for your country mine too but this president is an ICEHOLE, sure he made millions but that doesn't mean he knows how to run a country Hillary should of been president Donald \n\nTrump is a Man that says Do as I say but I don't have to , I'm a hypocrite. my spelling yes is bad, oh well.Mr President YOUR FIRED. When is that gonna start. Think of the country and the people instead of yourself and family and MONEY????????. hopefully YOUR NOT THE anti Christ....... This world is gonna see a lot of TROUBLE DUE TO TRUMP HUMP", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps you can tell us if Christ ever implored his followers to kill anyone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Socially backward policy??\nThe only socially backward policy is yoru monkey ape assertions about climate change religious intolerance, and gay marriage..\n\nThe Muslims in the middle east are killing Christians, gay men, and mulilating girls and killing their own people by the 100's of 100's and you are calling us Intolerant?\n\nYou leftists need to be confronted at every turn\nYou lunatic fringes need to outed, we are the majority - not you\nWe see you", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Thompson and his fundamentalist bible bangers demand obedience to a god to fix everything. It is called a Theocracy and ruled the European world for centuries as the Holy Roman Empire. Why bother with voting, elections, or government. Just bring the Pope over from the Vatican to rule as he is the proclaimed messenger of god and its trinity. Let the preachers, ministers, priests, monsignors, bishops, archbishop, cardinals decide all things for everyone. Escaping the Holy Roman Empire was the one of the first reasons for the revolution. The fundamentalist brethren of Thompson just voted in a pathological liar, an adulterer, a sexual predator, a business cheat, a non-taxpaying scofflaw, a hedonist, who has committed every sin found in the bibles, Koran, or any religious dogma. How is it justified? Because they believe in fairy tales and invisible beings created by other humans without any verifiable factual existence of any of it. Theocray so preferable to any Democracy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Marilyn: I believe you are totally right on target when you assert that victims of clergy/sex abuse will suffer all their lives. As someone who was molested by a Catholic priest some fifty five years ago[I am currently sixty seven], I honestly believe that the effects will be with me until the day I die. That does not mean that I have not made plenty of progress over the years. After I was abused , I attempted to take my own life. I have lived with the thoughts of suicide most of my adult life. For the most part, those thoughts are no longer with me. But I also know that they could return. There are so many effects of what childhood sexual abuse does to a child and then to the adult that child becomes. The way we coped as children become blockades as we grow into adulthood. I withdrew socially as a child and have never been able to make up for that loss .I drank alcoholically for some 17 years.I am convinced that if I had not stopped drinking, I would be dead by now. Therapy helps.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does C. Dolan know anything about God? God is omniscient. Does he really think he can deceive God?\n \nWhat good is being a Cardinal if it makes you to sin in grand scale? I wonder C. D believes that there is no such being as God at all. It must be that C. D. also believes all lay Catholics are stupid and gullible. \n \nAre all Vatican prelates including Pope F. portraying Catholic God as not knowing and gullible old man in the sky? What on earth all of you clergies are doing? \nDo any of you clergies fear God at all? \nLet me tell you that God is \"I AM WHO I AM\"!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Protesting against Islamophobia?!? \n\nSigh...Alice, close your eyes, we've reached a new level of sheer stupidity.\n\nI wish these same progressives would protest against antisemitism.\n\nOr anti-Christianity.\n\nThose darn white people just aren't as politically 'SEXY'\n\n\nHow about we protest against selective religious intolerance?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, your claim that only Jesus is God is rubbish, and I'm glad you have recognized and, hopefully, repented. I hope you will next discard and repent of the idolatry of worshiping a man-made institution as Divine.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Pence's \"Christianity\" turned a blind eye to the misogynist filth Donald Trump spewed in the Access Hollywood tape. He also had no problem with having an X porn star (who defends her husband's bragging about sexual assault) becoming First Lady to our nation. \n\nYour racist, misogynist, white supremacist rant is offensive. Go back to your Vagner music.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"When I hear a conservative Catholic argue that setting the minimum wage is a mere matter of prudential judgment, I cringe because they are unwittingly denying that how we treat our fellow men and women is called to reflect the love within the Godhead itself. \"\n\nNo they aren't. Sudy up on what prudential judgment means.\n\nIt's not up to the Church to weigh in on specific cases...telling free Catholics what to pay in wages!!\n\nRidiculous.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus preached among the beggars, thieves, prostitutes and leppers. He wasn't ducking anybody. Mr. Gardner preaches to the white, christian, suburbanite - not at all the same thing is it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Look. It's turtles all the way down. I agree with you. The problem is when we didn't find a literal turtle holding up the earth you're making all sorts of special pleading as to why you still think that's literally the way it is.\n\nThe bible does not say \"The earth started at this time, and then this many days have passed since then, and we know that because of this and that\". You deduce numbers that contradict our observations. Your answer to that contradiction is \"God made it that way\". Which is a total logical fallacy. \n\nWe're like \"woah the earth isn't held up on the back of a turtle, who knew! There's actually other suns, and other planets out there. We're just on one of them!\" and you're like \"Nope, it's still on a turtle. You're a LIAR and SCUM!\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A good priest gets excommunicated for saying women should be priests but bishops who enable pedophile priests get a wrist slap. How pathetic is that?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This man desecrated a Catholic altar with the body of an aborted child.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Justice Scalia believed in a democracy where religious power could be used to define public morality, mostly at the state level. He had a puny view of the 14th Amendment, which protects us from the tyranny of a moral or Catholic majority. Scalia is gone and I doubt Gorsuch will replace him in that view. But even then, Roberts and Alito will not, so the whole strategy of voting Republican for President, no matter how flawed, is a fool's errand and Chuput does not like being called a fool.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What in the world does it mean to \"practice\" homosexuality? There was a cartoon with the caption \"A practicing Catholic, and an observant Jew,\" showing a Catholic priest seated at a piano, playing it, while a Hasidic Jew stood a couple of feet behind him, looking at him as he played. But a sexual orientation is not like either a religion or a musical instrument. True, there are some gay wags who say they love practicing their homosexuality, because \"practice makes perfect,\" but that's something else.\n\nWhat the objection of conservative Christian authorities to \"the practice of homosexuality\" sounds like is no less than that they wish all LGBTQI people would stay secure and gagged in their closets, forever. These are the same people who at other times would say they give praise to God the Creator for all his creatures. Fools. Hypocrites.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus said if you don't have a sword, go sell your cloak and buy one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are a shameless liar Bill. I quoted Ephesians 1;4-5 not Calvin. Calvin did not write the Bible I am quoting. You can't address the text I quote so you deflect to Calvin. Its pathetic but predictable.\n Bottom line bill, you believe Jesus shed his blood in vain for billions of people who he will now torture in hell for eternity, because you think those who burn in hell are stupid, whereas you were so smart to give Jesus permission to save you. You do not glory in the works of Christ, you boast of your will, calling Jesus a liar when he said there is none that doeth good, no not one...except Bill Hooper boasting in his works. Bill did good works, h gave Jesus permission to save him.\n My point being this I exactly why religion was booted out of schools. The topic of the op-ed.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christ said give unto Cesar what is Caesar's. Pay your taxes like the rest of us suckers.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I haven't mocked Mary. The Church made up a bunch of falsehoods about her that reflected not her life and her sacrifice, but their own personal issues with women. Aquinas, for example, believed women, which would include Mary, were malformed men. How's that for mockery?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There can't be Catholic schools in Canada, if we as a society truly believe in equality for women, gays and other religions. It's not like were talking about the Egalitarian Christian Churches who believe in equality for all, based off well educated modern interpretations of the bible. Were talking about the Catholic religion which has primitively old discriminatory interpretations, which they refuse to change. My concern is how these discriminations over time will effect the self esteem and personal views of young Canadians. The Catholic school funding by our government simply does not belong in this era. It seems obvious, unfortunately the only way for the funding to stop would involve a large petition and a political agenda. (:", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is one of the gazllion problems with Trump. Racist creeps like you are coming out of the woodwork all over the country. And under the banner of Christianity! As usual.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a good thing the Bible doesn't say anything about forgiveness and accepting sinners or your comment to the church would look really dumb.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't that amazing? The cognitive dissonance of his followers is stunning.\n\nThe guy's a huckster, non-Christian, corporatist, trust-fund brat (everything they claim to dislike) who has NOTHING in common with his followers but they love him.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How is this more mentally ill than 80% of the American population believing a mysterious God dictates our existence? I think these people are loony, but how much more loony is this over religion? For every commenter here, how is this more crazy than Christianity? Because both have insane premises.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Kenney supports the corrupted catholics and therefore is incapable to unite Albertans. Religions are used by politicians to divide societies.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The day you finally do some research on why Obama's ban was significantly different than Trump's ban is the day you'll also discover why Trump's ban was ruled unconstitutional and Obama's wasn't. \n\nI'll get your research started for you: Obama's ban didn't single out or prioritize based on religion. Trump's had a Christian preference. \n\nBut of course, Obama was a constitutional scholar and lawyer, and Trump is just a bumbling idiot.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Frederick -- Were you the big fat guy who joined your friends to interrupt my wife and I night out? Ya, we stopped by Barns & Noble and your gang of socialist started hassling my Wife and I. Very rude! I didn't know who you guys were. You socialist said something to me. \"Are you Eddie Burke\". But this is typical for liberals. sp why is it ok for leftist to call Christians \"Religious Right\" but its wrong for me to say, Homosexuals are the \"Gay Left\"? Please explain why? Ive asked this question 7 times now. Why cant one of you answer ? I heard you communist folks were very smart. I know I won this hole back and forth when you cant answer my one question. hahahaha I learned from my radio show, Liberals cant actually back up the crap they vomit from their mouths.... hahahah", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "REAL ID's, WTF has happened to our Country? From National Health Care to a Border Wall, how can we be a Democratic Republic? If we allow these Jesus loving Fascist Pigs turn our cutting edge Country into a National Socialistic regime during the triumphant time of Legalization, how can I enjoy taking a REAL BONG HIT?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Anchordoquy,\nFeel free to start a public campaign to persuade the legislature to add \"political affiliation\" to Colorado's non-discrimination laws.\nRight now, the Cheyenne Mountain Resort can refuse to accept business from either white nationalists or black power advocates (if the reason for refusing either group is solely because of their political views and not their race), or from Democrats, Republicans, socialists, communists, or the Milton Friedman or Thomas Piketty Fan Clubs.\nIf a baker refuses to make a custom cake for two women or two men because they are about to be married to each other while offering the same custom service to any heterosexual engaged couple without running a background check on their moral fitness, that's discrimination under the laws of Colorado.\nIf a baker was to refuse service to a conservative Christian couple because their religious views violate the baker's freedom of conscience, watch how fast the howls of protest from conservatives would arise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Few realize it but \"religious institution\" (s) have no \"credibility\" since\napostle Paul wrote 2 Timothy 1:15\" This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes\" in the first century A.D. It wasn't a temporary \"turning away\" you see?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let me get their logic straight: Jesus was a pedophile, so it's ok for Roy Moore to be a pedophile?\n\nWow. Just wow.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I have never met anyone who calls themselves 'Christian' who does not believe their belief is the true faith. The KKK and other White Nationalists believe themselves to be Christian and the only true Americans. Their faith does not stop them committing violence on those 'not like them'. Also what you believe doesn't matter to them; if you seriously interfere they won't mind punishing you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh Christine,\n\nI'm a Catholic too. I was always taught by the nuns, that you should lie. So why did you write this?\n\n\"Yes, we all know there are far too many Catholics on the Supreme Court. They're going to overturn Roe v. Wade. Just give them another 43 years and you know they'll finally do it, one of these days. Those sneaky papists, they lull you into a sense of security and then, wham!, back to the coat hanger.\"\n\nWho said that, except you?\n\nYou're \"an amazing bastardization of the faith.\"\n\nYou must think we're all stupid, and you can easily manipulate us.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Quite a funny post, on many levels. On one hand, funny because it implies the immigrant population is committing sexual assaults on swedish women, on the other had funny because it trivializes the very crime and its victims. And thus we see the life of the laity involves mocking victims, pretending to be concerned about crime, but trivializing it. Truly, you are a Christian, and act consistently with the teachings of Jesus Christ, as interpreted by the Theology of the One True Church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The usual hate boiling out of the fundamentalist christian born in Roman Catholicism to establish dictatorship over all human bodies especially women. Your vile attempt to involve my birth mother is one more example of no evil too disgusting to be used against any who dare to deny your dictatorship. One of the most disgusting comments to appear in the forum. You are a disgrace to the human race and have no value to offer to society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I like your form of Christianity ... others I view as small minded cased 'christians' super fakey surface level morons ...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "When Trump says \"America First\" he means \"white, privileged Christians first, and everyone else, screw you.\"\n\nThat is not a patriotic viewpoint. It's very anti-American.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "He is a bad priest. He is a caricature of the caricature of the Jesuit priest: a man who scorns and despises the truly marginalized and flatters and cultivates the rich and influential. (The idea that same-sex attracted men are \"persecuted\" in the Catholic Church is beyond ridiculous.)\n\nAnd he is a terrible role model. His every sentence begins with the pronoun \"I\" and his god is a thinly-disguised \"Jesus\" who loves and adores and worships him. He is thin-skinned, he is a complainer, he is vain, he is self-absorbed. Exactly the sort of man who makes the Catholic priesthood ridiculous and impotent.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Are you serious? You want a comparison to the Clinton Foundation??? This so called Christian has been allegedly scamming other \"Christian's\" out of millions of dollars for years...he's been running a boiler room targeting poor people using Jesus....it's disgusting", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sure shows you to be the bigoted a.. then. Insulting Jews who have absolutely nothing to do with this article or conversation when, in fact, the pro-life anti-abortion hypocrites call themselves Christian. Clearly you are anti-Semitic too. And - You are tired of dogma? I am tired of scum bags.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How very 'christian' of Cheetolini ... both him and his supporters will rot in hell", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for shining a light on the frauds, the posers and the hypocrites, Shannyn.\n\n\nThe Minnerys, the Dysons, the Geissels, the Coghills, the Olsons, the Lemans, and the Friendlys.\n\nThe Trotters, the Pennels, the Fritzels, the Flints, the Bienvenues, the Browns and the Bronsons.\n\nHypocrites all.\n\nNot Christians, \u2026heretics and false prophets.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hinduism is the complete antithesis of Christianity.\n\nHindu's are not obsessed with sin, sin of death or sex.\n\nBut they do like a moral society and safe society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AB: You put your foot in your mouth. You stated above that I am hateful and raising my children as judgemental bigots. Is that NOT name calling????? If YOU have a MIRROR in your dwelling, YOU should stand in front of it and take a LONG LOOK. \n\n I will take a Christian any day over anybody. \n\nIts extremely hard for people like you that are DRUGGIES or SUPPORT DRUGGIES, to ACCEPT REALITY........", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quite a leap from these idiots pretending FOTF and Pence stand for turning women into chattel. I'd strongly suggest you do comparative doctrinal study of both Christianity and Islam since you think the two religions are similar. That's a common fallacious claim that religiously ignorant secular liberals make.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. Jesus and the Christians said you are forgiven. Some other faiths would have stoned her for her sins. Pope Francis told Donald Trump last week do what you must do . You have my Blessing now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes Christians are all good, Muslims are all bad !\nTrump is always right !\n\nBack to the dark ages for the USA, if this gang get their way.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Religion shocker! Islam isn't Christianity! Several amazed!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "cast not your pearls before swine or right wing cafeteria Catholics", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Muslim are joining SJW's to hide behind their global agenda and racism and are really just racist fascist haters of infidels.\nhating white people isn't racism its discrimination... You can't be a white hater and racist.\nWOW\nNext she will culling Christians...\nThis is one very dangerous person", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Christian Nazis going all out to deny all rights except their own religious dictators. Christian CONservative is just another appellation for Nazi. Time to rid this nation of these traitors.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "... lying, cheating, stealing, and buggering your young children in church ... its what today's 'christians' DO!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Normal\" racist & white supremacist values ...sounds weird but that's what this Beyak woman really is - nothing nice or christian about her just your plain ol' garden variety deplorable white supremacist racist. Definitely not someone to whom we should be paying a senator's salary to be present in our chamber of sober second thought...maybe she should have some sober second thoughts about being such a horrible person.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Then you better exclude Christians. For undoubtedly, they have created more harm and evil in the name of their God than anyone else on the planet. Ever. And they still do.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There is something ironic in the guy making an ass of himself because parents are \"misleading\" their children about the \"real meaning of Christmas\" thinks that meaning is the birth of Jesus, which didn't happen in December or the winter at all. The early Christian church grafted Baby Jesus onto pagan holidays gentile converts to Christianity wouldn't give up now matter how many idiots like this clown shouted fire and brimstone at them. Quite honestly, going to see Santa, a much debased stand in for the original scary Germanic deity who roamed the dark in midwinter with his army of the dead, blessing the good and doing unspeakable things to the bad is probably more in line with the \"real meaning of Christmas\" than listening to some idiot scream vapidly at a mall.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A true Christian is accepting of all just as Jesus was. This whole thing is bogus. Why her panties are in a bunch is beyond most. Live and let live. Who cares who sleeps with who, how does it really affect her or anyone else? her proposal really amounts to wanting to discriminate but that how the religious fanatics are, they preach everyone has to be as they are. So get over it and don't worry live and let live. \n\nSo if a baker doesn't want to make the cake why would the couple want them to and patronize an idiot. Plenty other places to get the cake. The whole thing is just plain STUPID\n\nKudos to the preacher who called this bogus and where is the data that shows any of these people are harmed in any way.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What a stupid dismissive article! Would you suggest blood pudding and skinless boneless children's thighs for a Christian picnic? Fried Chicken and watermelon for an Obama state dinner? \nI can't believe that a thinking human would write this, even less That their editors would let it be published. \nReverend Laurel Hess", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "First, it's not a bill, it's just motion. Second, it only applies in Canada, which is appropriate. Third, \"...(b) condemn Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination\". That covers \"the radical Muslim world\" as well as all the usual suspects, mostly from the \"Christian\" right wing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry if the difference between \"minorities\" and \"protected classes\" eludes you. \n\nGender is a protected class. Women are not minorities. Religion is a protected class. Christians are not in the minority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, I meant white ethnic Catholics (WI, PA, MI). We supplied the votes.\n\nAs many of you may know, CatholicsForTrump -- led by Frank Bertoni, Esq. -- helped register nearly 500,000 white Catholics in 5 key battleground states. Turnout was increased by 10% over 2012 levels. \n\nBesides moral and cultural issues, CFT focused on (1) ending welfare queens ability to steal money from suburban taxpayers (2) ending racial quotas and affirmative action reverse discrimination programs (3) locking up criminals and accelerating the death penalty (4) attacking Black Lies Matter as a racist, Jew-hating, anti-Catholic ghetto criminal organization.\n\nThe Left and the media never saw it coming. Of course not. \n\nWait till you see what we have planned for 2018 and 2020. The Left is going to rue the day they bussed Irish Catholics.....closed down Italian-American owned businesses.....discriminated against white ethnic Catholics....attacked religious liberty...and stole Church property for the ACLU", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "shows who the liberals would rather support a murdering muslim terrorist or a \n christian family who lost thier father this story is so fucking disgusting someone needs to knock off trudeau quickly.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "All very Christian: arrogant, vain, bigoted, malicious and wilfully ignorant.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ever seen the turnouts the Garrison inspires for his life appearances? It puts a lot of neo Nazi populists and phony Christian evangelists to shame! He must have something going for him that most Americans find appealing.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm waiting for you to write an article about a Christian or Muslim potluck. You're genuine assholes, WW. Congratulations.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I can't believe Cohen is staying after Trump's embarrassing and stupid retelling of the well-known internet lie that Gen. Perhing used bullets dipped in pig's blood to kill Muslim prisoners in the Philippines. First, it isn't true, and anyone with half a brain hearing would think, \"You know, that just sounds like someone made that up.\" Second, Trump believing that pig's blood is the way to stop Muslims is naive and, well, just so dumb. And three, it is greatly offensive and inflammatory to spread this lie, as president of the United States. It is offensive to Muslims and it is offensive to Jews, and it is offensive to true Christians as well.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "rangerMC, you dont even make sense anymore. when will you thumpers realize that lgbtq's, blacks, muslims, mexicans, asians, the poor, the homeless, aliens, extraterrestrial and earth bound, all have the same, inalienable rights as you, white, christian males do (in a just world of course), the right of personal choice. no one says a straight guy cant marry a straight woman. we just dont care because it is none of our business. its not about your beliefs or your ideology, its about equality and a persons right to choose. your comment on transgenders in elementary school bathrooms is just too stupid to deserve an answer.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Silly DannoBoy. Spakovsky and I both oppose Chin's work. We both call Chin a hypocrite for claiming that Trump singles out one ethnic group for special treatment, even while Chin himself (and Danno) defends how his own State of Hawaii singles out one racial group for special rights and benefits others cannot have.\n\nPerhaps Danno would agree with me and Spokovsky that refugees who are Christians, Buddhists, and Jews who live in Yemen, Sudan, Somalia et. al. should be vetted as carefully as Muslims, because we agree that those countries are so chaotic that their governments are unable to do proper vetting. Yes, Danno, we must make sure that no Christian, Buddhist, or Jewish terrorists can come to America.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christians were responsible for that ? Don't bother answering...You are probably one of those people who will also say they are sick of the Evangelical/Israel paradigm on another thread. Can't have it both ways, LenG.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see Christians picketing funerals and bombing/shooting up abortion clinics. It's as stupid to compare fanatics of Islam to all Muslims as it is to say all Christians are doing the bombing and shooting. \n\nYou are clearly just upset that a Muslim got any air time at all for anything other than terrorism.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There is a passage in the good book that talks about evil and its \"departure\" from me. It is appropriate that we could apply that passage to the troubled and confused U.S, president Donald Trump. There is nothing christian about Trump. He is a made-up kook, misfiring every round, incompetent, unschooled, amateur ignorant fool.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity is dying a slow death in South-central.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) The CBCP (Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference of the Philippines) said the use of the tool for the sacrament of confession was still awaiting approval from the Holy See.\u2014Ni\u00f1a P. Calleja As Sight and Hearing Chairman for my local Lions Club, I am angered at the delay. I wonder whether the Vatican worries about penitent and priest not having to be face-to-face. Not having to be face-to-face would make it less probably there would be more sexual cover ups to consider.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about if I read in the Bible that homosexuals should be stoned to death? I guess that means, according to you, that all Christians should be banned from U.S. soil. Awesome! I am definitely on board with that.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You ARE giving the Muslims a pass. Check out the Qu'ran. You are an Infidel Paul Scott, worthy only of death. Taqiyya is their moral authority that teaches it is good and religiously correct to lie to, cheat, rape and murder infidels whenever it benefits the Muslim. Interestingly enough, Christians are taught to love their enemies as they love themselves. (small difference?)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity is \"the Religion\" of Love\", except for the part where Catholic and Protestant want to kill each other, riight.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No kidding. How dare \"Christians\" have to live with gay people! how terrible!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "My proposal: that every one of us look into our own religion, and weed out the fanatics in extremists in our own house, instead of looking into somebody else's religion. Let the Muslims oppose Jihadi extremists and the Christians oppose Christian fundamentalist extremists and we'd all be better. It's like the opposite of the grass is always greener; the religion is always worse from outside in.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Murkowski needs to go. What a liar, so she's a Catholic yet supports the \" planned parenthood\" abortion machine, lying, and calling it healthcare for women?! \nMurkowski needs to go. What a liar about education choice like she had in Catholic school her whole life in Fairbanks, and in D.C. for her two precious Liberal boys, but now denies the same to American families and children - the same free education benefits - by fighting Betsy Devos, champion of American children and families' education choice for their precious children!\nDUMP MURKOWSKI -what a flaming hypocrite! And worthless to Alaska -a swampy, stinking congresswoman, way, way overdue for replacement ! She accomplished nothing for Alaskans' benefit!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I know you feel this way Mike.\n\nAnd again, your rhetoric is silly and will only serve to contribute to getting people hurt.\n\nReally hurt.\n\nYou're calling half of all American Catholics racists and fascists.\n\nYou're the dangerous one, the one who is uncivil.\n\nPeople should be very clear about this, and about the ultimate consequences of your inflammatory rhetoric.\n\nI hope NCR wakes up. They are dividing Catholics and stoking fires of hatred.\n\nand ultimately, violence.\n\nVery sad.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The underlying intent of EU is to destroy the white race, Christianity, and western civilization. Leave it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At the very least, don't stay if you're one of those brainless Trump types. We don't like anti-intellectuals around here nor do we like racists. You've got the \"heartland\" that none of us would touch with a ten-foot-pole to live in. Leave us awful liberals alone. We're mean, very violent, and heavily armed anti-white-christian-nationalists and we're just awful educated snobs in any case. And when you get lost in the wilderness we'll give you directions that will get you lost or hopefully killed. Plus, we make fun of you at all of our parties and everyone laughs a lot. Also, if you choke on a piece of steak we won't give you the Heimlich. You don't want to be here other places are a better fit for you. You may think people like you but we're actually just pretending and the minute you turn your back we roll our eyes and make gagging gestures.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately, I agree completely with you Emmett. This institution is already dead spiritually. It can not and does not lead anyone to the way of Christ. If The Way is to continue, it must continue in peoples homes and hearts and they must be able to understand the evils of Rome.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You would think that a judge, who was kicked out for breaking the law and holding his religion over the constitution would know better than to lie again. The constitution says the players have a right to protest and it has been upheld by the supreme court. It also says that a nut job like Moore can't force his religious beliefs on others, but I guess he missed that part. Don't you just love these evangelical flag wavering a**clowns, who have no trouble using their bible to promote hate, bigotry, misogyny and fear in the name of their god against other Americans and then try and lie about what a patriot they are? You just can't fix all the stupid these people promote and the morons that actually believe the rhetoric. They would have a christian caliphate in this country in a heart beat given the chance and it wouldn't end any better than ISIS. I have yet to have one of these so called bible thumpers show me in their book where God is against abortions. Just another bible lie.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"The free world... all of Christendom... is at war with Islamic horror. Not one penny of American treasure should be granted to any nation who harbors these heathen animals. Not a single radicalized Islamic suspect should be granted any measure of quarter. Their intended entry to the American homeland should be summarily denied. Every conceivable measure should be engaged to hunt them down. Hunt them, identify them, and kill them. Kill them all. For the sake of all that is good and righteous. Kill them all. - Captain Clay Higgins\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Even the promises of Christ can't help an idiot Pope.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Funny thing is: Most of the populist movements in Europe are headed or supported by Catholics. \nI guess the pope doesn't want to mingle with and smell like his sheep. \nHypocritical? \nYes.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is why you should never trust someone who claims to be both a Christian and patriot", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What a kill joy. This man isn't a Christian, he's a Grinch.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity doesn't require you to participate with the promise of punishment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is not a bureaucracy. Catholics are concerned that absolute and eternal truths are in danger of being declared no longer true under a blanket of pastoral care and mercy. There can only be one reason for doing this, not change but the very destruction of the Church itself.\nThose who work with the Pope are the ones likely to know him best. By all accounts many of those who knew him in Argentina labelled him an autocrat and some who work with him now would agree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"Y'know, many of the Church Fathers like St. Jerome taught that when Christ was born, all peoples practicing homosexuality died to purify the world for the Incarnation. Lux orta est iusto.\"\n- In light of Jerome's weird relationship with women, and his rants that their existence occasioned it does not seem odd that for Jerome, creation would be improved by the obliteration of those in the throes of gay sex.\n- That is for Jerome, God's act of creation was not pure enough for the incarnation until women were dismissed or controlled, marital sex was limited to those several times needed for procreation (at least an heir and spare), and men (gay or not) who had sex with men were disappeared.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If Pope Francis were not so rigid in his attachment to the post Conciliar liturgy he would know how far off the mark and mercilessly judgmental his assessment of young traditional Catholics is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So on the basis of some bad Catholics you justify a phobia. Therefore on the basis of some bad Muslims, Islamophobia is justified?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This appointment is, at best, an exercise in tone-deafness on the part of the Trump administration. At worst, it's a deliberate insult. So what else is new?\n\nBut no matter. Francis will overlook it all and graciously welcome Ms. Gingrich because that's what gentlemen and Christian leaders do. \n\nOnce again, Trump will be saved from himself by a head of state who, unlike him, isn't a jackass.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "cmb: If this is your attitude I don't think you have to worry about anyone thinking you are a Christian, a moron is more likely.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Called a poor leader by teachers during an investigation into him, an incompetent leader. God forbid termination, just move him to another school, pass this LOSER onto other parents children. DISGUSTING. This is what the Catholic Priest's organization does. A priest gets caught sexually abusing a young male or male, (and there are zillions of them), the Catholic organization just moves the priest to another school.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christ, have we all lost the ability to look to the future? All the bleeding hearts want to do in this country is dredge up the past and apologize, apologize apologize and then apologize some more. It's sickening. Removing Macdonald's name off school buildings? Are you frigging serious????? This country is on the fast track to disaster if we begin letting all the \"victims\" (seems like everybody wants to be one these days) call the shots. Grow a pair for Christ's sake.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Frankly Mike Brooks, an idiotic comment like that would make me eager to leave; if individuals like you are typical of those ensnared by Catholic groupthink, no wonder the Roman Catholic Church is in trouble. (And don't waste your time trying to convince yourself that it isn't.)--- \ud83d\ude23.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Putting a temporary ban on people from countries in chaos seems totally reasonable. No one has a right to enter. If Mr Trudeau wants to be really compassionate he could just open the doors with no limits. He won't because it is not in Canada's interest. There are 10 million refugees in the Middle East. They live safely in refugee camps but naturally want to better themselves. It is a bad life. On the other hand ISIS is gradually weakening and is doing its best to infiltrate terrorists into the West. Europe lectures the US while terrorism continues in their own countries. Swarming railway stations to molest women is the latest migrant pastime. \n\nTrump is a twit when it comes to execution but a pause in immigration flows from dangerous places is neither racism or fascism. I can assure you that American Muslims are better treated than Christians in any Muslim country you can name.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "dick-centric view of the universe. \"I have a ---- and I am entitled to put it somewhere whenever I feel like it; ergo woman was made for me.\" In point of fact, no matter what JPII said, nobody was \"made\" to mate with anyone and the Catholic Church has very little understanding of the actual richness and complexity of sexual desire.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"the clear doctrine of original sin as presented in the bible.\"\n\nOriginal sin is a Catholic heresy (hence, the \"immaculate conception\"), unfortunately adopted by most Protestant churches. Adventists do not believe in original sin. \"To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.\" James 4:17.\n\nWe are born with a sinful nature, thanks to Adam. But we choose to sin. No one forces us to. Original sin is a cop out, to excuse our desire to sin. Read \"Face to Face with the Real Gospel,\" by Dennis Priebe.\n\nYour name calling is not likely to garner you any support.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Donald Trump is a racist Russian Nazi. John and Tony are honest businessmen who just like pizza with cheese and walnuts. Robert Mueller was just proving to the Ruskies that we had uranium when he met them on the Moscow tarmac. Bill and Loretta only talked about their grandkids in a similar meeting. James Comey is a straight shooter. Clapped and Brennan are good guys, you can't be Director of the CIA if you aren't. Soetoro was born in the US and is a Christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There is truth in what you say -- nations in the Middle East are described as theocracies, or governments guided by strict religious principles. Saudi Arabia is an Islamic theocracy, dominated by Sunni Muslims, while Iran is dominated by Shia Muslims. If you accept a work contract in Saudi Arabia, and if you are Christian, you are told that churches are illegal and banned there, so practise your religion privately at home -- out of sight of the Religious Police who assess public behaviour for conformity to Islamic principles.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I know he is linked to Trump. So what, they are both sexual pigs. I am calling out you libs for your hypocrisy. You love calling conservative Christians hypocrites while you turn a blind eye on your own sexual deviants. \nYou all voted for Hillary even though she did more to publicly destroy Bill\u2019s victims than Bill did.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why? it not christians throwing gays off roofs, using the death penalty for homosexuality, or shooting up gay clubs.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Press since the 1960's has betrayed their obligation to both the American people AND Constitution. They are supposed to be an unbiased source of information. Instead, they have become a overpaid narcissistic group of losers who think they can shovel biased, fake and fraudulent news to Americans. Today, even locally it is NOT about facts but entertainment and ratings. As CNN (Clinton News Network) CEO recently was caught on tape saying, 'America voters are idiots.' 50% is rather low as far as I'm concerned. I'd be willing to say 99% of the media is anti-Trump, anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Israel and pro-Democrat. In short, the American media is a pathetic, Godless, mouthpiece for the perversions of Democrats and Hollywood 'elietes.'", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What, did the Archdiocese close down all the molestitoriums? Keep ur cult wierdo voodoo and your opinions cloistered. Who cares what the Catholic Church has to say anymore anyway? You sheep need to close your pathetic wacked out stained glass museums of cultification thru indoctrination and turn em into betting parlours, beer halls, and bordellos, so u can be taxed and your former free housing legitimized in some fashion or another. Take your quasi organized pedophilic mentality and donate all ur organs to people who need them because that's what fairy tale Jesus would want.....", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "They pass this stinking pile. The trumpcareless-FU bill. Go ahead, with 100's of thousands condemned to be walking dead, I'm sure they will give republicans all the free speech they can handle.\n\nThe republicans will kill more Americans then ISIS could ever hope for. The terrorist are in Capital Hill and the white house. Time for revolution, we have taxation with FAKE representation, a fake executive off, a fake president and a fake congress, all courtesy of our FAK news. Time once again for Americans to fight for their freedom. How about all those so called Christians that are racists. There is a special place in hell for these worms. So even Christianity is increasing FAK. The US is the big satin, the deceiver and corrupter of all. The head of this snake is the Cabal. \n\nIf money is free speech, I think guns must be free speech too. Citizen's united proves the supreme court is corrupt. Where all those wall street prison sentences. Trump is an Establishment Shill.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You do understand that Trump is the son of the anti-Christ right, Young?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Alright, let's say all those stats put out by non-Catholic sources are lying and NFP is only 75% effective as the Dept. of HHS claims. Of course that absurdly lowball claim is based on 25% of women who practice NFP get pregnant while not mentioning that indeed women practicing NFP are generally a bit more open to children than those using contraception and might want to get pregnant. \n\nLet's just say NFP is THAT ineffective (which it isn't). Who cares? Engage the heart of the matter. I certainly appreciate the difficulty of your particular situation. The suffering of choosing between abstaining and the consequences of a highly dangerous pregnancy is so real. Still, it is in such moments that the choice between selfishness and the self-offering of Jesus becomes most present. On which side does contraception fall?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So Catholics and Evangelicals aligned themselves with the KKK and White Supremacists in support of Donald \"Grab Them By the Pussy\" Trump, your hero. If I was younger and raising children I would seriously consider a move to Canada. Since we are older and all children are grown, we will stay and fight for what's left of American Democracy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You prove my point. I challenged you to read Hebrews and you either can't or won't. It is not an historical fact that church teaching has remain unchanged through the millenia. Trent, in my view, is Medieval and should go the way of the Inquisition and the crimes of the Papacy-such as screwing nuns with a torture chamber below the Papal bedroom with a channel to allow the screams of the victims of the Inquisition to reach His Holiness while he has sex. \n Or go the way of the end to priests who shove the Host up a teenage girl's vagina in Philadelphia in our day, albeit decades ago. Or, why in heck would you want to crucify Jesus if you ever met Him? This is the theology of alienation. Dark theology breeds corruption and spiritual decay. \n I DARE you to tell me you have read the letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament and that you are not brainwashed, as so many Catholics are.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hey, these are future cabinet members in Trumpworld.\n\nGalatians 6 \"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.\"\n\nThe white evangelicals who voted for Trump should study that biblical passage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is the kind of hate crimes that Donald Trump has given rise to. In fact, shortly after this occurred a member of the mosque was taped saying that this was because of Trump, but this was not mentioned in this article. \nHate crimes against Muslims, blacks and other visible minorities have skyrocketed throughout North America because the man in the White House who has given them license to do so. The very day the world is sent into chaos because of Trumps Muslim ban from 7 countries that the Cato Inst. says are responsible for 0 American deaths (but excludes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE who are responsible for hundreds / thousands of American deaths because Trump has businesses there) this tragedy occurs. Trump and Bannon this is on you. You fan the flames of racism and hatred against our brothers and sisters of colour. You said on TV you favour Christians over Muslim immigrants. Canadians don't want your condolences. Keep them and lift the travel ban against Muslims NOW!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That was precisely what made me realize that St. Paul was mere man and Jesus was God.\nJesus never said such a stupid discriminating talk!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Not only is the institutional Church sexist, it is also homophobic. Neither one is a Christian value.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I'm sure you are right. Christ will most likely vomit me out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry Harkins, but you'er sounding like the anti-christ's son or twin. Get outta here with your pussy, sabertooth blubbering. Ssst.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "BOOOOOOOOO! You need more Jesus \" sarcasm\". Your hearts still black.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While Muslims excoriate us about supposed Islamophobia, we should bear in mind Islam's entrenched xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, Judeophobia, Christophbia, Europhobia, Americanophobia, democraceaophobia, iconoclasm, and even Islamophobia against each other. Ancient hatreds and wars of extermination between Kurds, Shiite, Sunni, Wahhabi, Druze and other Islamic sects are worse than anything expressed in the west, even by Trump", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Those darned Mormons! They won't let perverts be Boy Scout leaders, either!\n\n\"Yet, Hill notes, no one is going to do a prospective trial where kids are given porn in a controlled environment to see how they are affected.\"\n\nThe next Federally-funded research project at Duck U has been identified!\n\n\"Arguing whether the entire genre of pornography is categorically bad or good can be idle bickering,\"\n\nWhat's wrong with 'idle bickering'? It brings clicks to the R-G!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "YOu sir are a sick man. in Jesus name I will pray for you", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Wow! Thank you, Marie Collins, for courage, honesty, stubbornness and clear thinking. \n\nThis rebuttal to CDF's Muller was necessary if there is to be a chance for change. As Francis Sullivan said last Friday at a meeting of the Catalyst for Renewal meeting in Sydney, Australia: \"If people of good will, the good priests, the willing religious, the enlightened leaders, but more importantly people like you \u2013 the engaged and informed Catholics \u2013 don\u2019t continue to push for change then, as sure as night follows day, the reactionaries will overcome and nothing will change.\"\n\nFrancis Sullivan is the CEO of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council set up by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Catholic Religious Australia soon after the Aussie government created a Royal Commission to investigate institutional response to child sex abuse. Even Sullivan, appointed by Australian bishops, is speaking out for real substantive change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The church pastor humping a teenager - and his removal is 'race' motivated???? Get rid of this hypocritical jerk right away.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I gave you the standard, and that is perfection (Christ). Your justification for calling him \"disgusting\" is that he is not as good as you, which is moral relativism. I don't think he is any more \"disgusting\" than you or I. For ALL have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I shudder to think of your sexual relationship, if all sex is to you is lust.\n\nAnd you know the mind of Christ, to say that he agrees with you that gay sex is icky.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Pence is a dishonest worm who is waiting to take over from a failed president now on the run. I find Pence in his own way more irritating than Trump as he is craftier and less in people's face. His manipulation of poorly educated evangelicals is just horrid.,", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A priest raping a child is hysterical. Your comment history shows your reverence for the church and seems to be missing the teachings of Christ.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There are many heterosexuals that participate in oral and anal sex. It seems that Catholics used to punish them for these acts as well as for taking pleasure with a spouse for vaginal sex IF the purpose was NOT procreation. Should we torture and burn hets for those reasons as well?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's the leftwing of the Labour Party and the LibDems who are anti-Semitic in the UK. The term \"Zio\" is often used as an acceptable word for Jews living in the UK,; Corbyn's brother has done this. Labour are going after the Muslim vote.\n\nSaunders has been preaching for years that Europe has nothing to fear from Islam; a religion openly hostile to Jews and Christians, as well as gays and women. \n\nAnother article from Islam's useful idiot.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A little bit of both, in Florida, but mostly Catholics moving South. Many Catholics with disposable incomes are active and give generously while many young families, Anglo- and Latino, are joining parishes, getting involved because they like what they see. Parishes I visited in Orlando, Naples and Tampa are booming. Are there many converts? Some. Higher than in the East. The real challenge for ALL Christian Churches, however, is attracting the non-affiliates. Churches are great at \"sheep hustling\" from each other, whether intentionally (as among some evangelical churches) or unintentionally; but US Christianity in general still stays the same low percentage -- 70%, especially with Southern Baptists reporting continual declines. I personally think Catholicism benefits from a heavily evangelical population owing to the latter's active church participation and financial commitment to their churches. Catholics mimic them, as it were. But evangelicals are declining in many parts. Not good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Callista is a lifelong Catholic and has been active in her faith for many years,\" Johnson said.\n\nWasn't she having an affair with Newt when he was still married to wife #2?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trid, your \"absolutely convinced of his own righteousness\" describes you, not me. You are the one who has made it abundantly clear that you only accept people as Catholic if they agree with you in all things. As I said, I have lost count of the number of times you have read me out of the Church. \n\nI have one and only one criterion for saying that someone is a liar, or stupid or ignorant: Is that person lying, being stupid or showing ignorance? I do not suffer fools gladly, and I cannot abide lying.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "At no time do you ever have anything remotely intelligent to offer public debate. That would require intelligence. neither do you know how to be a man, and man up when your ignorance is addressed with irrefutable fact. That would require character. What a daft deluded fool like you fails to understand is the fact you are the political twin of right wing Christian nut cases.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How ignorant! No wonder Catholics are leaving the church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm still looking for Trump's \"one Corinthians\" or to see his behind in a pew. Remember Trump \"never asks God for forgiveness.\"\nYour \"Christian\" hero fails \"huuuugly\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What the hell are you talking about? You are now against a statue of our Blessed Mother holding her son Jesus, on the top of a Cathedral? What a joke, I could find more Catholic beliefs on an atheist site.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whom should we blame then, Christians, Jews, Hindus - the list goes on but at the end of the day it is Muslims who are doing the killing, like it or not.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why do the people allow these bribed and incompetent scumbags to stay in office? Self proclaimed evangelicals and Christians doing the most unjesuslike things to people. Everything they do is done to enrich themselves and their corporate pimps and money changers who's actions kill innocents. As a one more, the jesus they proclaim to worship was a liberal in his words and actions, opposite what these leeches and parasites do", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"How can the U.S. government justify a religious fundamentalist government in Washington and condemn the one in Iran?\" Because the Washington fundamentalists are the \"correct\" Christian ones, while the Iranian ones are \"terrorist\" Muslims. :-(", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'll give you several. You don't know me, and your continuous B.S. is based on these things:\nArrogance, hatred, dishonesty and complete ignorance. You have shown yourself to be a complete liar and an utter fool.\n\nTaxation for expenditures outside of the correct purview of government IS nothing more that forced, legalized theft.\nAs far as helping the poor, I'm all for it. There are numerous poor that I'd like to help but can't afford to because the government takes so much already, to spend on abortion mills, sex change operations, birth control, and a slew of things that are quite contrary to Catholic teaching; teaching YOU don't support, because you are no Catholic. You are a hateful, spiteful, liar feeling your way through life, blinded by progressive ignorance.\nHow's that sum it up for you, liar?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Meanwhile Muslims in Toronto are launching a campaign to convince the LGBT of Canada that Islam is their friend, a better friend of transgender and gay people than those intolerant Catholics and Christians. Forget about Orlando and Bataklan; that was Trump and the NRA.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "When I was in High School there was a Christian Club....called the Navigators who were given use of a classroom at noon hours to meet and pray. I think you would term them, and they would be glad to be considered \"devout Christians\".\n These \"devout Muslims\" are not asking for a special room to be adorned and used exclusively as their prayer room, as some reactionary obviously anti Muslim posters have falsely claimed.\n\nTake his test to see if you are biased or truly against anyone regardless of their religion being allowed a quiet space in our schools to pray.\n\nAsk yourself this; if there is a Christian or Jewish group in this school that has , for years, been granted a vacant classroom to meet should they be now told that they are not to be allowed a vacant classroom to meet in ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "WTF? I don't know if Moore did these thing or not, but to defend pedophilia as a good thing using the foundation of Christianity is shocking to me. \n\nI now understand why the catholic church molestation problem was not thought to be a big deal within the church", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "WE ARE CALLING ON ALL BEARS TO ONLY ATTACK CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS AND LEAVE NO HEARTS BEATING,THANKS BEARS", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Just so I'm clear, your approach to toughening up Christians is to throw rocks at them and see if they can take the hit?\n\nYoiks!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One more insane christian fascist infecting the entire governing system of the nation", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "christians have killed a lot more people than muslims have.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We kill Muslims and they kill Christians and Jews. Imagine that.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Instead we've got a group of Christian fundamentalists. About equally as dangerous and there's a shit ton more of them in this country.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "After 10 years of 'Mad Dog' Harper and his far right Evangelical garbage - is it any wonder someone criticizes 'Christians' ?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You let a non English, Non - Christian, Non -White Misogynist immigrant cultures in and try to keep Canadian Culture?\nThen you rail against white misogyny?\nYou people are truly laughable, \nYou just proved how stupid you really are.\nI guess blowing 500 million is OK cause immigrants are good...\n\nWTF! is wrong with you people", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You folks are hilarious...you REALLY think that impeachment is likely ?\n\nPlease...stop your delusions....white Catholics like me supported Trump and we know he is our best friend, not left-wing social justice maggots like the filth the Catholic hierarchy pisses our money away on.\n\nWhites put Trump into office, and whites will keep him there.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "She say's that he made some statements that were offensive. Well last week she said his statements were ok. Make up your mind Sarah, are you a liar now or were you a liar then. And you question why the press doesn't believe what you say. Some Christian", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some post Christian rubbish.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We all will die. That is guaranteed. \n\nThe 'death we deserve'? Opinion only, and subject to your personal biases, beliefs and prejudices.\n\nA three-year old infant does not \"deserve to die\" or \"die the death they deserve.\" Nonetheless, three-year old infants still die. \n\nShamans try to 'explain' such things by inventing 'theology' and 'doctrine' and other cant. \n\nChristian shamans, New Age shamans, Buddhist shamans, Islamic shamans. Jewish shamans. \n\nJust ignorant people trying to justify their ignorance by inventing something to placate those who pay their bills.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I have read a lot of bullshit in the media lately but really this must be the bullshit of all bullshit, \n\nThe statistics so well listed but all crap. \n\nWhat is the author here really trying to say when he/she refers to the atheist's preferance of animals? \"They prefer cats over dogs and they prefer reptiles\". Please contact me and i will put you in contact with many of my atheist friends to enable you to get a better and far more realistic and true picture of atheists and maybe then you can write another article with real and true facts and figures. \n\nLet me guess... you are Christian and under the impression that Atheist = Satanist? \n\nYour lack of knowledge makes you look like a 100% idiot.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "PS: I forgot to mention that this horrible state that does give \"...Arabs a fair shake....\" elected the first Arab American governor in US history, a fellow Christian of Middle Eastern ancestry, Republican Victor Atiyeh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islamic counts on Christians in the last two years, few hundred. Civilians killing Muslims less than a handful.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, there is. Of one believes as the Catholic Church teaches that \"gay marriage\" is not something that can morally be supported by a practicing Catholic, then baking a cake for said \"marriage\" would be sinful. At that point, a business person decides whether it is more important to serve God or Caesar. If you require Biblical citation, I suggest you begin by reading St. Paul's Epistles concerning the morality of a good Christian. Try 1 Corinthians 6:9. There are others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everything but just doing the right thing, the Christian thing. I know it is really quite sickening. Thanks Poetman!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "He said racist Christians. That's not ALL Christians, unless you are suggesting that all Christians are racists, which is ugly on one hand and ridiculous on the other.\n.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Every mass shooter in America, has been a legal gun owning Christian. Christians mass murdered the real Americans and stole their country. Now they call it \"their country\" and demand no one else come in. Christians still hold the record for the worlds worst atrocities and most people killed, and killed in the name god, during their Holy War, which somehow they managed to flip onto Muslims, by claiming Jihad means Holy War, which it doesn't. Christians are also labeled the most ignorant people in the world and most unaware of reality. Although I can't imagine why! Clearly that isn't true... :/", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You can't answer a straight question can you? If you want to talk about atrocities committed every day, give me just 10 in the last ten days. You got nothing. But atrocities by Muslims? Dozens almost every day. The HERE and NOW dummy. Christians have made mistakes in the past but are working hard to improve and show more love. The Muslims? Well, WHICH kind are you freaking talking about? The Sunnis or the Shiite? They've been righteously murdering one another since the 10th century. And its getting WORSE. WTF bro? Are you blind or just a prejudiced bigot? OH My. I think I just hit the nail on the head. You need to quit talking out your ax.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Jews, Protestant's and Catholics have all done exactly those things, all in the name of religion.\nSlavery was OK because of biblical passages, native Americans almost went the way of the Passenger Pigeon because they didn't have rights, except of course to be raped, murdered and have their land stolen by a \"christen nation\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and yet you offer absolutely nothing to back your ridiculous claim that is as ignorant of basic history on this subject as it gets. But, I expect this when I am being asked grade school level questions. There is plenty of evil committed by the Christians to address without making crap up like a child.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And you probably voted for Hellary which is a vote for pure evil whether it be abortion, gay marriage, euthanasia, corruption or an all out assault on Christianity. Those who voted Democrat and Hellary are a disgrace.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe Canada should fly Justin over to Myanmar.\n He loves Muslims more than any other Religion. \n Only Christ knows what the idiot will do.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You're the one who is confused! The Eastern Rites have ALWAYS been considered the Left Lung of the Catholic Church. The insights of all rites cause the Body of Christ to breathe with both lungs---and offer greater spiritual health and life to the People of God.\n\n\nYour theology doesn't allow for greater understanding of human relationship to God occurring over the decades and your spiritual outlook smacks of mental illness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religious Hypocrites from Alabama....sick evil people. The past should be your guide folks, these people used the Bible to legitimize slavery, they used the Bible to legitimize segregation, they used the Bible to keep it illegal for blacks to marry whites....is there no limit to their warped view of morality? No there is not, they will even go as far as using the Bible to defend a PEDOPHILE. Politicians in Alabama have been doing it for over a hundred years, they know if they can wrap some bulls*it in a quilt of so-called-Christian dogma that the poor ignorant redneck populace will swallow it whole and ask for seconds. The decent people in Alabama don't even vote anymore because they know how corrupt and broken their government has been for so long. Funny how these people raise their young sons to be respectful of the fairer sex, opening doors for women, saying yes & no ma'am, treating every lady like a queen. So Alabama, is it ok for a lawyer to molest a 14 year old little girl?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus blowing ignorant freak bible humpers", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Not really.\n\nPeople are killing each other in order to obtain or preserve power over the masses and to shape society and harness resources as they see fit.\n\nHitler did it. Mao did it. Stalin did it. Lincoln did it. Pol Pot did it. So did Ivan the Terrible. The native tribes of North America did it. The British did it all over the world. \n\nThe \"trample on other\" instinct is very powerful in humans and transcends religious beliefs. That is how you have Christian whites in the southern USA slaughtering Christian blacks in the southern USA, and how you have castes in India of the same religion trampling upon one another, that is how you had the north and south in the American civil war having the same religion.\n\nPeople kill each other in order to obtain or preserve power over the masses and to shape society and harness resources as they see fit. That \"trample on other\" instinct is actually the core and key problem, not the matter of whether others worship trees or have darker skin.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This proves that anything Trump touches turns to a pile of garbage. Like his evangelical Christian advisers. Evangelicals now support a Nazi sympathizer. Perfect.\n\nThe really good news is that the evangelical hypocrisy is being exposed. \n\nAnti semitism? No problem! Ku Klux Klan? No problem! Nazis? No problem!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Marty you espouse the kind of thinking that drives me round the twist. You want it both ways. Trump's triple marriages are OK, his sexual predations are OK, his racism, his disdain for the poor, his pure freaking self centered narcissism is OK. And you accept this because he suddenly bought the Evangelical and white Catholic vote by being 'pro life'. Woow. How many abortions did he pay for when he was engaging in his 'personal Viet Nam\" by avoiding an STD. You pro lifers who supported Trump are way too much for my brain.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe we just like making fun of fools like the evil reverend. After all he is the exact guy that Jesus railed against in Jerusalem. Jesus rose up against the priestly class that made wealth off the backs of the poor and ignorant. And that is this guy to a 'T'.....not even counting his distorted views on Christianity that would isolate half the worlds population due to bigotry.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Most of these surveys are actually quite silly and superficial.\n\nA better survey would require respondents to detail the principles and the chained logic of their reported opinions, vs. just skimming them for emotions.\n\nHow many of these Catholic respondents could work their opinions down to a set of underpinning and stable (across circumstances) moral theological principles?\n\nCan they provide solid descriptions of their \"opinions\" in terms of \n-the law of love?\n- justice (can they give an operational definition of justice, without waving their arms?)\n- intention?\n- the duties for which our freedoms are given?\n- the object of a moral act?\n- the circumstances of the action?\n- protection of the common good?\n- last resort?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sit on your big fat American butts, and watch as the Catholic Social Service give away your country \nWho's going to feed these refugees, house them etc, not the Catholic Social Service, they just bring YU the American tax payer the problem and CSS REAPS THE GLORY, screwing the tax payer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "there's a reason we non-believers dont believe in god or the bible. crap like this. if jesus were in anyone of you haters hearts, like you profess, you would be physically unable to post the vitriol against your fellow men and women like you do here. if some of these posts were written by non-believers, you must not believe in anything that requires any emotion other than hate. shame!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is hilarious. All the poor Catholics whining because they can't have the opportunity to support their gay child. Meanwhile they belong to a religion that teaches that their gay child is going to burn for all eternity in a lake of fire. Good grief.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Was Fred denied opportunities by political institutions bc he was gay, Jewish, Catholic, a socialist (gasp)? Or did he and his family just play the game and lose bc he wasn't smart, didn't want to work hard, etc.? There's your answer. And for what it's worth, wealth redistribution has been going on in the country for longer than there's been a country. Most people just never noticed bc they've been on the better end of it. Like me and my German great grandparents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It isn't hate, it is simple facts: liberals and democrats have endlessly attacked Western Christianity for the last four decades but suddenly want everyone to 'tolerate' and embrace Islam. Very strange to hop into bed with a religion that executes homosexual and stones women to death for infidelity in 2017. I wonder why?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The one and only expression of sympathy you have ever expressed is in the post which I said was \"bull\". You are clearly incapable of expressing sympathy, just as you are incapable of denouncing racism. Since you are a demonstrated and unrepentant liar. it appears that your saying you sympathize is just one more of your lies. Instead you give us pietistic platitudes.\n\nYou are a fraud, RD. You lie, you show us constant arrogance, pretending you are better than us, you refuse to say that racism is wrong, you object to showing sympathy. You pretend to be a hyper-Christian, but you back this pretense up with mouthings that you undoubtedly plagiarize from your Opus Dei guru.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "My point, by the way, is not that the sexuality of Jesus or his mother is important. It isn't. What made it important was that it was used in service of a stoic/platonic sexual ethic that had nothing to do with the teachings of Christ or Jewish tradition and everything to do with the elite sexuality of Rome at the time. That sexuality excluded women from importance unless linked to men. The word is misogyny. Christianity was never meant to be misogynistic. From Sacred Continence to Humanae Vitae, the ultimate goal was the glorification of asexuality and the suppression of women in the clergy. As the first is revealed and the second is rejected for what it is, the myths will adapt again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Only one of the Countries frequented by Limbaugh, Franklin Graham and Falwell Jr. to indulge their tastes for little children. Its in the genetics of Christians, particularly Southern Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can see why.\n\nRussians aren't dumb; they can see what fRANCIS thinks of Chinese Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it funny that every time a self professed Christian commits an act of terror, that you guys always rush to the \"He's not a Christian\" but if a Muslim does the same thing, and he is denounced by his fellow Muslims, you guys claim that the Muslim is lying.\n\nHere is some of what he had to say.\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/05/27/us/ap-us-fatal-stabbing-portland.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do you know he is not proud of his cakes? Artists do not take pride in their work?\nMaking a cake for a gay wedding does not support that lifestyle, it is a business transaction. Period.\n\nI am aware no one said anything about him asking people about their sexuality. I am sorry that was hard for you to understand. Is he going to ask everyone that comes in if the cake is for a gay wedding? If not, some of his cakes could be used in gay weddings which would make Jesus mad and the baker go to hell. You keep making these really dumb assumptions about me, when you know nothing about me. I am not confused, you are rude. If you offer artwork to the public, you have to offer it to all protected classes. \n\nWhy would black people be discriminated against? Precedent. Ridiculous? \nIf the baker can legally discriminate based on a very weak interpretation of the bible, then anyone can discriminate against anyone and point to the bible. Satanists can discriminate against Christians...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why trash a Catholic martyr's witness with an ill-informed rant against Pope Saint John Paul and Pope Benedict?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It apparently shows that this group agrees with trump when he condones sexual assault of women, and agree that grabbing women by the p*ssy is perfectly acceptable. It's truly bizarre that anyone would agree with trump's values of racism and sexism. When a group agrees with these values, coming from a clueless and narcissistic moron, it shows the intelligence level of the entire group. To think that Donald Trump knows anything about Christian values is a joke. Once again, he brings his BS to whatever crowd he happens to be talking to that day. These are the people that fell for his lies, and agree with his twisted values, and why our country is on the verge of a disastrous war.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Except for the first category --- divorced and remarried Catholics --- I agree that the failure to fire does constitute unjust discrimination. But then, there are firings in the all instances you mentioned (except the first), just not as many as you and I would like to see. The answer, though, is not to increase the numbers of wrongs by the Church by failing to fire in-your-face married gays who have positions of prominence. The answer is to fire them AND those in the categories you mentioned (except the first).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How from off is this guy from the lunatic fringe bandana-wearing 'resistance' protesters seen at rallies, or from Jeremy Christian, the Oregon bus stabber? I don't think he's far off from those hoodlums. It doesn't take much from either radicalized side of the political spectrum to set someone off. The difference now is that these morons see themselves as a part of the political story, a story they don't have a basic, high school civics level, of understanding. Look at the posts here, immediately the right jumps to this moron's politics as the reason for the shooting while the left comes to the general defense of his politics, or strains to make this about Trump or guns. There's no one reason for this and all cited things played a role and are independently supportable, shooting or not. Of course this lunatic shouldn't have had access to gun, of course Trump is a goofball and shouldn't be President and of course the left radicalized this moron. Mix it all up...viola a shooting.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why do low-to-no knowledge people confuse atheists and Christians?\n\nIt was Christians killed and mained by a white \"atheist\" dude!\n\n\"Friends said on Facebook that in recent years, Mr. Kelley had become vocally anti-Christian, to the point where many stopped communicating with him. His Facebook page, which has been deleted, listed that he liked a number of atheist groups.\n\n\u201cHe was always talking about how people who believe in God were stupid and trying to preach his atheism,\u201d one of his Facebook friends, Nina Rosa Nava, posted on the site, saying she unfriended him because of it.\"\n\n https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/us/devin-patrick-kelley-texas.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Incorrect. These are liberal positions in the Lockean sense, more correctly called left libertarian or liberal libertarian. The key provision of the ideology is privacy, not from search, but of conduct. There are some things the society simply has no interest in doing, like considering Latinos as white people who can face enhanced scrutiny and racism by law enforcement, like regulating birth control or pre-viability abortions, regulating consensual sodomy, allowing Evangelicals to discriminate against Catholic Churches because they believe the Pope is the anti-Christ and denying marriage rights to gays because they are gay. Also denying education to the American children of immigrants (or benefits). In other words, freedom is no license to treat other people with scorn, torture, incarceration or the power of the mob, even if the mob is led by the local Catholic bishop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I can't understand why it is verboten to criticize islam\". Maybe because \"Islam\" is a stupid thing to critcise. It's one thing to oppose the retrograde attitudes toward women demonstrated by adherents of, say, Wahabiism. It's something quite different -- quite ignorant, in fact -- to conflate the attitudes of, say, the Doukhobors, as a condemnation of all Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Did you attend a residential school? Were you raped and abused as a child by a so-called Christian cleric? I have met many people of the First Nations who suffer from lateral violence and toxic stress as a result of their incarceration. They can't respond, because they don't yet trust white people.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What I fail to understand is the fact that most conservatives don't seem to understand that whether contraceptives are available or abortion is available ....absolutely no one is forced to engage in either.....the availability of contraceptives OR the accessibility to abortion forces no one to utilize either option....\n\nIndividuals utilizing personal conscience rightly or wrongly make those choices....AND we know personal conscience is the ultimate arbiter before God. AND takes precedence before any other consideration.\n\nI think the church has made a pelvic God out of culture war issues and totally missed Matthew 25 et al....I think their accountability process can't factor in personal conscience OR any issue except pelvic.\n\nThe Pope had it right regarding the election....Pray, inform yourself and vote, PERIOD", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"No, our hope is a person, it is the Lord Jesus who we recognize alive and present in us and in our brothers and sisters.\"\nBut Pope F. your clergies rape \"the Lord Jesus who we recognize alive and present in us and in our brothers and sisters\", especially in children. And you resist any effort to stop and prevent clergy sex abuse of children and eliminating the Cannon Law to not report the clergy sex abuses to the police!\nYou prove by what you said here that you are the biggest hypocrite alive on earth today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! \n\nGod have mercy on your hypocrisy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What an idiot!!!!! How dare him to compare God's word to his life. Let's get one thing straight, Joseph did not fornicate with Mary. She was visited by an angel named Gabriel and brought the news to her that she will conceive The Messiah from our Heavenly Father. True Christians never compare their sins to the actions in the Bible. If these sexual activities are true, he must step down and face the consequences.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trump simply can not go a day without lying. He has corrupted and debased the Presidency and American culture to the point it may never recover.\nInstead of the howling from conservative Caucasian preachers about a black President being the 'Anti-Christ,' Donald Trump has become the most evil, divisive, selfish, corrupt, untrustworthy Machiavellian figures in modern history.\n\nThese preachers and their so-called 'religion' never got past the color of the President's skin. Ignorance and ineptitude are natural consequences of bigotry combined with fear.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The fact that 81% of Evangelicals and 67% of Catholics voted for a narcissistic, criminal, misogynist, bigot named Trump tells me everything I need to know about organized, white, male dominated religions. And none of it's good! Which is why I'm a None! If your hero is Donald \"Grab Her By The Pussy\" Trump need I say more?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Many of the arguments of pseudo-Christians in support of race-based separation, segregation and white supremacy are based on the so-called \"Curse of Ham\" (Gen. 9:20-27). The Wikipedia article provides a decent review of the relevant issues.\n\n<>\nAbsolutely! Religious faith cannot be a trump card (pun acknowledged but not intended) that permits the abuse or harm of another person, or the denial of their rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In response to this, two progressive Catholics put a laughing face emoji below your post.\n\nBoth were totally unable to offer a cogent rebuttal, and masked their ineptitude with ridicule.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You obviously have a dog in this fight and it is Hillary and even though Trump crossed a line and was a complete idiot, especially at the end of his speech. In your first sentence you start making your case with your opinion, but I beg to differ (I want to be fair so I will fight opinion with opinion), what he said was not even close to being as viscous, condescending and judgemental as what the Podesta emails revealed. Then you go on to state Clinton is wrong on abortion but....... There is no but, her stance and that of the DNC are wrong and it really is that simple. You are the worst case scenario of what you accuse others of being, and you use gov't and supreme court decisions as a crutch to justify moral decisions instead of using your free will, your brain and your faith. \n\nDo changes need to be made in the Catholic Church? Many say they do and I can be counted as one of those but those changes should come from within the church and not forced on us from outside, \n \nRick W", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Adam Lanza... Dylann Roof... Jeremy Christian...\n.\nTo pretend that one race isn't contributing to the problem is just plain ridiculous.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, but denial of such things runs hard and deep. It is easy to not hear of it. So many Bishops and priests never heard of this problem or of the problem of rape of children, women and men by their fellow clerics. Yes, denial runs hard an deep. \n\nPriests that father children and a lot have are said to be celibate and Catholics clerics have a self belief that they are above the laity. When one reads JPII's theological works about sex and the Family, one can see the pure ignorance of this man about what sex in the family really means and should mean. Is that enough working it out for now. Don't get me started on Aquinas and his weird beliefs about sex..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fake Christian Sarah Huckster-bee Sanders lies like a pro. \nShe must have gone to Trump's Scam University.\nAnd it turns out that EVERYTHING we suspected about Trump and his collusion with Russia is true.\n\nNo surprise... This the fool who has lied every day he has been in the White House. He was guilty from the 'get go.'", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "WHAT'S WRONG BEING ANTI- CATHOLIC.???? \nI'm Anti-CHURCH and Bible.!!!!! All Churchest Only Want's Your Money To Build More Church.!!! YES.!!! Church Does Help Others With Your Money.!!!! As For Bible, It's Full Of HATE.!!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "... esp. when they always try to claim the religiously moral 'family values' high ground, and then vote for Cheetolini, touchers, molesters. This guy was putting folks in jail, buuuut didn't see ANYTHING wrong with going after and molesting under age girls while fashioning his home made 10 commandments. That's rich!\n\nREPUBLICANS ARE TRULY SICK PUPPIES!!! They are defintely holding the USA back ... feigning Christianity and flag waving while finger pointing at all other segments of the USA. WTF.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics already knew it was wrong to abuse minors. The many priests and bishops as well as the last two and current pope (at least) knew as well, but were so evil they aided and abetted the rape of children to protect the institution and further their own interests.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Now is the time for all true Catholics to defend the Church, even if that means defending pedophiles and sexual predators.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hello denglish4,\n\nWhy the racist, bigoted, hateful targeting of WASPs?\n\nWhy are you filled with seething, racist bigotry against only WASPS and not against white Catholics or White atheists from Spain and Greece?\n\nWhy do you target WASPS in your hatred-motivated attacks? Why are they the only white people raising your bigoted resentment and hate?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RD, the man who urges us to be more Christlike, shows his lack of Christianity by a meaningless insult.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "HOW could Trump be 'worse' than a lying, murdering, thieving career criminal that takes bribes from countries that murder gays, treat their women worse than their dogs and stands by as Christians are murdered because they won't convert? Let's not count all the 'mysterious' or 'coincidental' deaths that have followed her since she was fired from the Nixon investigation.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "we know who/what satan is. to invite him into your meetings is a stupid idea. and it is time that people stood up, spoke out, and pushed back. if you don't want to join a moslem prayer, the constitution says the gov't can't make you. same with a Christian prayer. no one can MAKE you pray, or JOIN a church. that is what the law is about. i personally will not pray to anyone but the Christian God; i will not participate, bow my head, raise my hands, close my eyes, etc. etc. i will NOT. but look at the state of our nation since we started preaching the religion of secular humanism and evolution. we are hip deep in a cesspool.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Another 'wham' is his comments about 'Mariolatry.' Sick and tired of the laughable or poisonous stuff promoted by these religious psychos and attributing it to Mary. If Jesus wanted to terrorise humanity, he could have done it himself.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It is not a valid teaching if it can be proved to be false. There are enough church historians [who have ancient documents] that can prove that women did hold clerical positions in the early church. For example, St. Brigid of Ireland was INDEED validly consecrated a bishop by a bishop. \n\nBut like so many other issues within the church, the Vatican wants to continue to pretend that none of this happened, none of this documentation exists. The longer the Vatican continues to deny the truth, the more painful it will be for the entire church. People who are highly educated in theology, scripture, and church history---do not accept without question what the hierarchy claims anymore. The hierarchy LIED too many times.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Let\u2019s call Trump\u2019s Muslim ban what it really is: A hate crime\"\nRidiculous assumption, but expectable coming from an islamic writters name.\nFor what I know, Christian muslims will be facilitated and given priority to come over to the States. Now that lives out the extremists who want join the Americans.\nNope, wrong again, it isn't a hate crime.\nCutting throats, stoning women, killing gays, write about that and call it a hate crime Ms, Shaist Aziz.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "the first and most vocal moron out of the clown car is your duly elected self righteous homophobic religious whacko. no recall of that idiot? then own her. i would be embarrassed to admit i was from Eagle River, because of her.\nonward, Christian soldier, keep purging the pews. you'll have no one left soon. that day can't come soon enough.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We will ever have true equality in Canada until ALL people are accepted. I'm not a Christian, but many of my Christian friends tell me that Jesus loved everyone and never condemned others- nor did he even say anything about homosexuality. \n\nIf that's the case, why then do we have self-righteous religious organizations around the world eager to promote exclusion, bigotry and condemnation toward the LGBTQ community? Maybe they should read the very document they profess to live their lives by....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What in the world are you blabbering about? In all of my posts, I did not mention one word about religion, nor imply any thing even close to it. You libs are all the same and kneejerk revert to spouting the same idiotic weak rhetorical baffelgab...\"enforced uniformity of religion and Christian sharia law.\" Bla, bla, bla. LMAO. Who gives a good crap whether you do or do not practice a religion. Get a grip dude.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Maureen Gieber, Catholic moralist, appears to have trouble with a band name. Meanwhile, her ideal president abuses women, adolescent girls, and the occasional wife. No Maureen, not buying it.\nWhen will you explain this outrageous dichotomy? \"Pussy Riot\", the band from Russia, says it all.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Radical muslims kill Christian minorities in their own countries of origin. Why would they want to \"integrate\" into a majority Christian, even if non observant, civilization. ?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If you are a Catholic, calling Islam the world's largest and oldest ongoing extortion-racket and crime-syndicate is the height of hubris!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Typical response from a Trump/Republican/Christian terrorist traitor.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We would need a room for muslims, another for jews, another for hindus, another for catholics, another for buddhists, another for.........\n\nVery soon, we need a room for liberals, another for conservatives, another for white supremacists....\n\nVery soon, our kids would have no place to go to study as the school has been hijacked by minority groups.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny, you don't bother to mention that Hillary wants to murder little babies ready to be born, apparently that doesn't upset you. I thought the sanctity of human life was a cornerstone of the Catholic church. Did you bother to watch the entire dinner? Because if you did, Hillary was nasty, Trump didn't say anything worse that Clinton. You write an entire article slamming Trump instead of writing about the butchering of little babies. Disgusting.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Americans should realize not all religions are as stupid as the western ones (Judaism, Christianity, Islam). If you're spiritual and don't want to run around coming up with excuses for the hate in the bible, check out eastern religions. They've got a much better handle on acceptance and respect of others who are different.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "These tiny examples of Christian love ........ along with cemetaries filled with decaying corpses of self loathing homosexual hierarchs will eventually put an end to this Catholic hatred.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "RD, your insinuation that you are the only true Christian here may be your most laughable yet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "DavidatMililani, blaming Democrats for the problems of homelessness is just more Steve Bannon extremist fascist Christian Supremacist scapegoating.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Stupid article; until you know and understand sharia law, you should not bother to write about it. Christian organizations should not bow to the leftist drivel. A Christian church or organization cannot hire or employ an immoral person to fill any position. They should not be forced to cater to that which they find abominable. There are immoral laws, and we cannot follow them.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "... Republicans are super fakey 'christian' dirt bags ... they'd stab anyone in the back for a buck.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Quit conflating \"Catholic\" with \"Reactionary\" and pro-abortion with pro-choice and then not listening to reasons they are different. As for women's ordination to the priesthood, it always starts with the deaconate and the ball is rolling.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, yes...\"original sin.\" The Christians' excuse for rotten behavior. They were BORN in sin. Of course this overlooks Jesus' admonishment that children are '...of the Kingdom of Heaven.' Perhaps they're merely quick studies...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Canadian Culture is being open and accepting. It is being open and honest and not excluding others. It is not being held down by the confines of the past but looking to to the future. Calling a penis a penis and not playing some games that are just based on religious stupidity. Everyone should get the same education and not have to compromise based on who they attend school with. Coming to our country should mean conforming to our education and social systems. Religion is one thing but forcing values on others is not assimilating. I am not clear why we condone practices that are sexist and racist just because they are traditional. They would be not be accepted from Christians, so why is ok for Muslims. The whole system is absolute hypocrisy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Pope F, prelates, bishops refuse to take fitting punishment that all the lay offenders pay with their lives! \nHundreds/thousands of clergy sex abuse victims lost their lives through suicide, or alcohol/drug over dose. And you almighty clergies keep your mouth shut not even flinching your eyes & go on business as usual? \nTell me pls, why CI (Catholic Institution) clergies do not listen to Jesus? Are they worshiping Pope F or CI?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're suggesting there are no murderous radicals outside of Islam. In all truth, for some Christians, if a doctor performs abortions, they are worthy of death and have reason to fear for their lives. I oppose this motion but it invalidates anything you say on this topic to suggest that only Islam has extremists and radicals who kill.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "More baloney! Sacraments are NOT necessary to the Faith, and in this priest-short era, it's good for all of us to know that! I applaud monicadeangelis for getting the Truth out there! Even the Catholic hierarchy must admit that monica is Catholic. Time for you to re-board the SS. Catholic church before she puts out into the deep!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps we should not allow women to enter a church, or, if we do, the requirement should be that she should wear the Catholic equivalent of a burka. Then, those uppity and pesky women will know their place!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're so ignorant you don't even know it. The ACLU fights for any group that has had it's civil liberties threatened and that includes Christian groups. Here is a link to a site that lists all the times the ACLU has come to the defense of Christians and Christian organizations: http://www.aclufightsforchristians.com/", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Show me Christians alive today overseas who believe that mass murder and mass sexual assaults in the name of Jesus are called for, encouraged and acceptable and I'll support blocking them, too. Please don't drag some figure from the year 1272 AD, or something, into the picture to imply that \"Christians commit mass murder in the name of Jesus\". Such people are not alive today and are irrelevant. \n\nAs vile as Bill Maher can be, he does have a terrific understanding of the nature of Islam and an exact understanding of the ushy-squisy \"liberals\" who foolishly believe that there's no connection between Islam and Islamic terror and the nonsense that Christianity and Christians \"do it, too\".", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "LOL! \n\nNone of this medieval maneuvering has diddly-squat to do with any group of people who call themselves \"Christian,\" i.e., followers of Christ. It may, however, provide Dan Brown with his next stupid book and Tom Hanks with another bad movie.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Anti-\"everything but Muslim\", hate has been in Islam for 1000 years! Christianity got that out of its system a long time ago.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Two questions:\n1. Why Pope F. become a symbol of light instead of a pitch dark bottomless hole regarding clergy sex abuse of children?\n2. Is Pope F. consider as a Christian since he is hiding condoning his clergies rape children?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Look out, Roberta Bondar.... school names are no place to celebrate your white privilege! \nChris Hadfield.... male.... disgusting!\nMother Theresa... Christian... OMFG!!!! EEK!!!\n\n(Terry Fox, rest easy... thankfully you were Metis)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Churches are attacked in Mississauga. Do we need a Christianphobia resolution? Jews are attacked in Montreal and at York University. Do we need a Judeaophobia resolution? Why is Islam so darn special that it needs a specific resolution?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "and this is why the socialist left never said a word when ISIS AND THE TALIBAN desecrate Buddhist statues and temples and blow up christian churches.....We need to rid ourselves of the scourge of liberal socialism immediately. I DEMAND THE ARREST OF THE SOCIALIST BLACK BIGOT SENATOR XBXTXCH FROM MISSOURI WHO IS CALLING FOR THE ASSASSINATION OF OUR PRESIDENT.....PUT HER IN JAIL NOW......AND SHUT DOWN THE ISLAMIC TERRORIST SYMPATHIZERS IN THE MEDIA.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And Satan's spawn using a church for the meeting no less. Church of Evil, from the sounds of it. Fake Christians. Death-dealers.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why don't you try to convince us that you're a Christian. You'd have to be extra special stupid to believe that.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Good\" Christians will always come up with some kind of crap to justify their particular brand of hypocrisy. It's been going on for just about as long as Christianity. It used to be that this kind of crap would never see the light of day especially 30+ years after the fact. Two things come to mind here--1) it is currently \"popular\" to make allegations of sexual impropriety (i.e. Weinstein/Cosby/Spacey--curiously though not Trump) and 2) this particular person is repugnant to enough people that any pecadillo becomes exacerbated.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What an ugly thing to say. You are the most ruthless of all when in comes to slamming the Christian faith. You're no different than me when it comes to being \"mean\". The only difference is that you're a hypocrite and you out my identity while hiding your own.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Liberals being against ecumenism, who'd ever expect to see that. And \"traditional ecumenism\" - what's that, \"Return to the Catholic Church\"? How hypocritical: ecumenism is only ok with Christians more liberal than us. From Fr. \"2+2 sometimes = 5\".", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "... 'christian' sheeples gotta be sheep ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not a Christian soldier, damn your a bitter divisive individual. All hate", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That murderous sociopath who claim to be religious are killing people. Christians meanwhile profited from enslaving millions of Africans over hundreds of hears, occupied these nations then propped up dictators in the war against communism", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Fanatic ??? \nWow you have no issue with other religions but becouse your ilk gives the social license to slag Christianity and only Christianity you do it !!! \nFYI, Junior with the Pope today - ooops !!!\nYes left wing hypocrisy at its finest.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Because she don't trust his wandering, hypocrite GOP eyes. \n\nLike that Pro-Life, God fearing, anti-choice, Christian CONgressman - Tim Murphy - that told his MISTRESS to have an ABORTION.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "List of \" Christian terrorists\" - \nsorry this page is blank", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hating on Catholics is pretty acceptable - just ask Californian Diane Feinstein.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, you're right. The infinite and all-powerful God scrunches up like a hermit crab to fit into the teeny, tiny shell of ridiculous statements about bread and wine, being oh so careful that there is 1) gluten present in the \"bread,\" 2) grapes in the wine, 3) official credentials on file to validate the celebrant and the confection he is ontologically elevated to perform, 3.5) the presence of his XY chromosomes, 4) the validity of the bishop who ordained him, 5) the correct and perfect pronouncement of the exact magical words of consecration, etc., etc., etc. This is all so plain in Scripture, particularly the long passages in each Gospel where Jesus insists on absolute compliance with every jot and tittle of what would become Canon Law and GIRM requirements over the centuries. RIDICULOUS!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Larry,\n\nChristianity sprung from the Jewish mind. Thousands of Jewish minds came to believe on the resurrected Jesus Christ (in a single day) .\n\nActs 21:20 Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:\n\nHe told Pilate: \"For this purpose I came into the world.\" Jesus was not hoping on some other Messiah. He was fulfilling prophecy and quoting scripture when he cried out, \"Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani?\" For this purpose He came into the world: to be crucified, King of the Jews.\n\nRejoice, He is our Deliverer. Jesus said unto her, \"I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:\"\n\nAbraham, the father of the Jewish mind, also believed his son might live even if he were dead. \n\nJesus was eliminated from the Jewish mind? Ha Ha - that is not based in reality. You been smoking ambrosia or something.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obama was too busy promoting transgender issues and hating on white Christians to actually help Americans.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed, when will the American people STOP BEING THE FOCUS OF REPUBLICAN ATTACKS AND CUTS IN QUALITIES OF LIFE ... \n\nI'm convinced those that work in the defense industries keep voting for these monsters just to keep the paychecks coming. Most of 'em consider themselves Christian but those that understand what is going on fully understand these folks are evil motherf**kers!! Praying to the gods of money and war!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joining coalitions, raising awareness, providing information... Loren, why should you be astonished that some\nof us are not saying, \"Wow!\" And is your astonishment intended as a \"civil\" indictment of those who see the issue differently from you? \n\nYes, I can imagine Jesus \"ignoring\" most of the oppression and injustice in the world outside His immediate sphere. In fact, that seems to be exactly what He did. That doesn't mean he was indifferent to it. Nor do the responses which you caricaturize as callous indifference suggest that we don't care. \n\nTell me, Loren, what are you doing about the Christians who are being persecuted, raped and murdered in countries ruled by Islamist ideologies? What have you done about the victims of Boko Haram? What have you done to respond to the plague of violent crime in America being committed by illegal aliens? What standards would you suggest we use to prioritize our resources in responding to an endless supply of evil and suffering in the world?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, just hoping to makes this denominaction Christian. A tough row to hoe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is nothing wrong with the headline. Those are majority-Muslim countries.\n\nAnd in case you doubt that the ban applies to Muslims, read the wording of the ban: \u201cRefugees should be prioritized for entry on the basis of religious persecution, provided that the religion of the individual is a minority religion.\" That would open the door for Christian refugees from Muslim-majority countries to be accepted in the US while Muslims fleeing those countries would be excluded.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics who respect and love their faith have every right to be cynical and \"we\" have every right to express our anger, disappointment and, indeed, outrage at the failure of the \"administrators\" and, self-proclaimed \"legitimate teaching authority\" to deal with alacrity, sincerity, and the utmost of transparency and decisiveness in a matter as vital as the abuse of the sexual integrity of children and other vulnerable. \nIt is indeed interesting as it is incongruous, that you relate and compare an issue with regard to women's \"feet\" with the sexual abuse of children. Both the sexual abuse of children and the exclusion and diminution of women are expressions of the abuse of authority by patriarchal clericalists - whether sick or demented, whether simply \"ontologically other\" who knew and denied, or the \"fullness of ontological otherness\" who have known, facilitated, turned a \"blind eye\" and/or denied, obfuscated and demeaned victims, and those who sought and seek to cleanse and heal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...all of the members of the Catholic community will be invited to participate in a preparation process in which they will be asked to pray, to listen, to learn and to discern...\" Is that listening and learning a two way street? \n\nWhat is the \"good news\" of the Church? If we stick to the story of Jesus, there is \"good news\" indeed. \n\nBut is the Church's attitude on women, contraceptives, LGBT people who marry, people who live together before marriage, and so many other issues - is that part of the \"good news?\" Do I want to spread this part of the \"good news\" to young women, gay friends, to career minded couples who are going to hear that contraceptives are a no-no? Or, do you suppose folks will come into the faith realizing that not even Catholics really believe all that \"rules\" stuff?\n\nI no longer know how to parse my Catholic faith to others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I love all people\", but they had better think just like me or I will damn them to hell . . .\n\nSounds pretty Christian to me.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Who is advocating white supremacy beside a few marginal weirdos that no one listens to? The left creates boogymen who don't exist to rationalize their own prejudices. Your side loves to say that \"not all Muslims are responsible\" for a terror attack that happened last week but out of the other side of your mouth you say \"all white people are responsible for slavery\" that happened 200 years ago. We don't have Christians killing and raping their way across the globe in 2017. Christians pray for gays while Muslims stone them and throw them off rooftops", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "(Old) news -- We've had \"loser pays\" for a lotta years, and many times it's the doc or hospital or the medical center. They do make mistakes, to be sure, and sometimes they actually kill people, right there in Catholic hospitals even! They don't like it, of course 'cause they think they're privileged providers, but the system DOES keep them relatively honest, and on their toes. At least I've always found it so, Benedicamus Domino!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You were just having the God you have created in your own image and likeness -- cold, merciless and obsessed with obeying the rules -- condemning someone to hell for trying to save lives. You make it blindingly obvious that you want those women to die rather than use condoms. On what basis do you call yourself a Christian? Heck, on what basis do you call yourself a human being?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I reject, completely and absolutely, your pathetic liberal diatribe as to why President Trump should not be invited to be Notre Dame's commencement speaker. Your rationalization that Obama , in spite of being an open advocate and proponent for abortion, is more worthy than President Trump because he is black and has positions 'not that far out of the mainstream\" is spectacular in its absurdity.\n\nIt sicken and disturbs me that you are associated in any way, shape or form with the Catholic Church - perhaps you could find another 'faith' more accommodating to the mental masturbation you spewed above.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "canada takes 30k immigrants a year. based on a point system. you have to speak english or french. recent news stated 1k immigrants were rushing through our southern border per day. going to a catholic agency. given packets, put on buses, sent to a city near you. catholics: how about you take care of the homeless americans, the under employed, those in need of teeth and clothes? you are a bunch of hypocrites.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Many white Christians are women, and many of those are just fine with their health care, reproductive-related or otherwise.\n\nI was flagged last week for using \u201cterrorists\u201d to describe protestors at a Trump rally in New Mexico. Your post is far more hostile, uncivil, and misinformed than anything I\u2019ve ever written in any medium, and I have flagged it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "christianity:\n\nthe belief that a cosmic\u00a0jewish zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope criticised Trump for not being a Christian. You are a Trump troll.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I believe that Jesus never mentioned homosexuals. That makes no difference to the homophobes and gay haters. Several of their prophets said some disturbing things. Radical Christians use those idiotic passages to spread hate and lies about gays. Yes, the bible calls for death to my tribe; can't sugar coat that. Interesting how Christians pick and choose what they follow and do not follow in that book. All it takes is one of the gay hating Christian charlatans to incite hate and murder.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Policies of new US administration face Catholic opposition\" \nBut not the USCCB.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islam is a pernicious malignancy. Moses is the true prophet. I would prefer not being under Islamic compulsion. There is no redemption under compulsion. If you're forced to pray 500 times a day, it has no true meaning because it was an act of submission, not voluntary. Little wonder they rebel and see no future for themselves. They should ask Jesus and Moses to redeem them.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Considering there's plenty of explicit lessons on morality and ethics in the bible that the christians ignore as being \"out of context\" or \"subject to interpretation\" I have no doubt that these self-serving egotists that call themselves preachers would find some way to either dismiss or corrupt something as simple as \"dont be an asshole\" and use it for their own benefit.\n\nI mean we are talking about a religious group that manages to make themselves tax exempt, walk all over other people's constitutionally protected rights, and amass great wealth while avoiding doing virtually anything their holy book says about helping the poor, feeding and clothing them, etc.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is an atheist who manipulates poorly educated evangelicals to his own advantage. I find Trump easy to see through. He is a cynical TV entertainer and shibai artist. So sad to see any Christian fall for his nonsense.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There is a difference between countries, and religion. For example, the Hutus who slaughtered Tutsis in Rwanda were Catholic, with active support of the Catholic church there.\n\nSo Catholicism is a genocidal religion, right?\n\nThe Serbians who slaughtered Bosnians were Orthodox, so Orthodox Christianity is a genocidal religion, right?\n\nShould I go on?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What makes Islam unique among major world religions is that its founder espoused warfare and elevated the status of a soldier in a religious sense. Contrast that Jesus, whose birth we will soon celebrate. Jesus scolded, not praised, those who took up the sword, even his own disciple Peter who fought the Roman soldier arresting him in the Garden of Gethsemane. \n\nThe dual nature of the Muslim faith, a discipline inner spirituality, combined with an outward aggression and the objective of domination is a challenge to all societies which treat all faiths as if they are similar in nature. They are not. \n\nWinston Churchill, the same luminary who foresaw the outcome of Chamberlain's compromise with Hitler, also foresaw the risks posed by the Islamic cult. \"the Mohammedan religion increases, instead of lessening, the fury of intolerance. It was originally propagated by the sword and, ever since, its votaries have been the subject ...to this form of madness.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "His sermons are all about money. Jesus must be weeping watching this travesty of Christianity. Give me a small, humble church doing God's work and preaching the Bible any day. By the way, his TV broadcasts never show the cross at all..just a rotating globe. Horrible!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The hateful and sometimes violent homophobia of people that call themselves \"religious\" or \"christian\" is the main reason I became a None! There is no difference in hating someone due to race or religion or sex or sexual orientation. They are all hate and equally disgusting horrific human behavior! And what's worse is when that HATE is spewed out of the mouths of so called religious people. Now, I know not all people who claim religious belief are all homophobic, racists, and women haters. Unfortunately, churches are one of the best places to find such people. And too many large, powerful, well funded institutions are homophobic and bigoted in their actions, if not their words. Hate and tribalism under the disguise of \"religion\" is worse than just plain old hate for the sake of hate. At least such people aren't looking to use religion as an excuse and justification for their bigotry, whatever the flavor!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Actually Matt, given the regularity with which white Christian dudes in the US open fire on strangers in crowded places - you're likely your own worst nightmare.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"So I'm not sure these guys have a good handle on the problem.\"\n\nYou are right on target, monicadeangelis. Maybe the very secure English bishops are attempting to push their less secure, more fearful or fainthearted counterparts in, say, Brazil to move forward in regard to ordaining married men. Security sometimes provides a greater magnifying glass than insecurity. Of all the Roman/Latin Catholic religious communities in the world, the English Catholic Church knows best -- sees best -- how successful married Catholic priests function in parochial ministry. When I was in UK this past January, a Catholic cleric told me that in some areas nearly 10% of the Catholic priests in UK are married (former Anglicans). And they are doing just fine, too -- accepted by the laity. Still, most National Bishops' Conferences are hesitant to more forward on this issue/this need. There has to be a reason for this, of course. (And they can't blame the pope.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trudeau is total idiot telling criminals fleeing the USA to respect our border laws Christ is he actualy that brain dead", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "David,\nWhat is this silly talk of 'face God the Father in the East'?\nGod is immanent in us as well as Omnipresent. Tell me where God is not present, east, west, south, north? We have our being in God. Nothing exist outside of God. It is embarrassing that Catholics perhaps are the most ignorant about God among all religions on earth.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Just love it - now he has been ordained by Monica. You might want to google Mr. Garvey and his significant contributions to the US Church.\nBut, that being said, agree that Garvey has constructed a number of strawmen to make his points while skipping over the main thesis of T. Robert's analysis.\nSome examples:\n- are Humanae Vitae or Evangelium Vitae no longer the teaching? Please, HV alone is a complex issue (which Garvey makes simplistic to reinforce his opinion) and a reasonable theologian can argue that the sensus fidelium rejected HV decades ago - so, K of C has one viewpoint - is it the only viewpoint? And is it tied to US partisan, political votes, policies etc.??\n- Beckett Fund - they work for the Li'l Sisters for free. Really? What a load of manure and simplistic again\nGarvey and K of C define their Church (a la Burke) and then pass judgment on those who don't meet their standards and put millions of dollars behind that approach. Not exactly what catholic social justice is", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"the pontiff continued. \"For God, it is better not to believe than to be a false believer, a hypocrite!\" \nI'm still trying to figure out what that statement actually means. Is he saying a false believer is one who does not embrace ecumenicalism? One who still believes the Catholic Faith is the one true religion?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Um, ya he did. Kenney supports the proposed Catholic curriculum which suggests that gay people are going to burn for all eternity in a lake of fire. This is what they want to teach to children, in 2017. There is an invisible man in the sky with a score card and if you are gay then you get to go to hell. Seriously. This is the kind of thinking that is supposedly superior to the evil socialists.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is partly why we are losing faith in our politicians, elites and journalists in the Western world. The choice was between secular Assad or islamists linked to Al Qaeda (Al Nosra)-Muslm Brotherhood or ISIS !\n\nAt least, Assad ( an Alawite) is protecting the Christians while they are being murdered. butchered or converted by Islamists. Moderate islamists is a lie or just naive useful idiots belief...\n\nOur elites and the G&M don't give a damn about it. This religious war was started and ignited by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey ( all sunni states). A pipeline from Qatar to Turkey through Syria might be the main reason behind this civil war...but you won't read it in the mainstream media.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes great plan I agree! Let's come up with a ridiculous scheme that'll never happen to make it seem like we are not knuckle dragging Bigot-o's! Ya, that's it! Let's tell those slanty eyes foreigners to send us their poor people, not their rich people! Because when the poor slanty eyes come here and start renting up all the lower end apartments, and pushing up rents for all them other non-whites, no good god fearing Christian white man will protest! All the white Canadians will still be able to afford houses and the poor slanty eyed foreigners can live in our slums! Ya, that's it! Canadian houses are only for white Canadians, not poor slanty eyed Orientals!\n\nBurn those rich slanty eyed foreigners I say! They don't belong here!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No, he is not. His policies were the gospel of our country. We want him back and we want the leftist liberals who have nothing but tofu in their brains out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think this article is bound to make anyone who reads it dumber. I wonder why G&M's \"this comment did not meet civility standards\" detection didn't kick in and remove Andrew's article.\nI trust everybody noted that there was no anti-Christian accusation or evidence in any of the article or its referenced anecdotes. Talk about lying through your teeth, Andrew. It certainly makes sense that you were Harper's director of communications!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think that many Christians have a problem with homosexuality, it's the actions, & forcing businesses to close, because they choose to follow the Biblical teaching on those actions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, you know, for the first time in a long time, it seems like Denver has tried to solidify itself in plenty of spots. Isaiah? McKenzie looks like the real deal even though many among the Colorado faithful were pulling for the Christian kid McCaffery. In my opinion, McCaffery won't make it and McKenzie should do just fine. Carlos Henderson, on the other hand, should also make an impact.\nIt seems like Denver has taken a lackadaisical approach to offense recently and the big-time bust of Russell Okung and Dwight Stephenson along the offensive line proved only part of Denver's problems.\nLook forward to see how DeMarcus Walker, the quarterback menace, adapts to the NFL. Of course, everyone will scrutinize Garett Bolles, the presumptive heir to the left tackle position. If he really is mean and nasty, he has an excellent example in Ron Leary. Leary, in my opinion, is the best pickup Denver made in free agency.\nIf Melenik Watson comes around, the offensive line should improve greatly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some folks say \"well those were the times\". However, it should be noted that young unmarried mothers during the postwar period were subjected to illegal, unethical and human rights abuses in adoption policies and practices all over Canada. Women who resided in Canada's \"homes for unwed mothers\" run by Anglican, United, Catholic, Presbyterian and Salvation Army, and funded by federal and provincial governments; report psychological, physical and even sexual abuse in these facilities. Further, mothers report inhumane treatment (as this mother does) in Canadian hospitals, with separate protocols for married and unmarried mothers. Unmarried mothers were unable to see, feed, or hold their babies prior to the signing of consents. Many consents were taken under duress. It is time for these mothers to be acknowledged. Australia has done so with a Senate Commitee. It is time Canada did the same. \n\nValerie Andrews, Executive Director\nOrigins Canada: Supporting Those Separated by Adoption", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The child rape scandal has exposed the claim the church is guided by the Holy Spirit at every moment of every age to be a pathetic lie.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The faux duke well represents the Trump right, all those rednecks and frat-boys -- and oh yeah, those so-called evangelicals, the ones with a Bible in one arm and a shotgun in the other.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Nope, just Christians. Well and maybe white males and especially rich white males.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God is one of love and God is one of revenge... yes that's what i was told\n\ni was also nailed to the wall by some Christians..., blocked and unfriended by a good couple... many agreed about Knysna burning due to the LGBT things happening there.. i asked them why god took 2 years to burn Knysna to a crisp, response was one of \"in his good time\". then came the arson thing, same Christians... i then asked them seeing they agreed that it was gods wrath if he then instructed these apparent kids to start fires. this was the turning point because this meant god was doing good by employing arsonists.. OUCH!!!... thats where the blocking came in... god burning is ok, god using crime to do it, big no no...\n\nbut i get you, it does get a little to much, way to much. thanking god and praising god after almost dying in a car accident or almost being raped my question is do you pray and crap him out because your friend did die or your friend was raped... you dont want to hear the comments...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Leave other People alone. You \"self ordained Jesus wanna-be's\" actually bring shame upon the name of Jesus. It is not your place to deny others their destiny. It is not Jesus' , or his spirit that is in you when you tell someone they are not accepted by society. I hope the good lord gives you all little ethnically anamolous (because your wife had an affair) hermaphrodite children, and they all have both a penis, and a vagina. I hope that you are made to cry and ask Jesus for forgiveness when those children aren't allowed to use the bathroom, or participate in sports. I hope they can't get health care, or death benefits, and I hope you live the pain that you are forcing on others this very day.............\n\nSee, That's who the Alaska Family Acton people really are, and I am asking the greater power to give their wicked and harmful energy right back to them !!!!!!! Mr. Minnery, you are, in deed, a wicked man.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "While Muslims excoriate us about supposed Islamophobia, we should bear in mind Islam's entrenched xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, Judeophobia and anti-Semitism, Christophobia, Europhobia, Americanophobia, democraceaophobia, iconoclasm. Muslims even suffer Islamophobia against each other as hate filled Islamic sects try to exterminate each other in endless civil wars.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am glad to see the hypocrites out in numbers. It is not your place to judge others, it is your place to turn the other cheek. Forgiveness is not yours to give. Christ teaches love and harmony on earth as it is in heaven. The hypocrite turns Christ's teachings to serve his own purpose.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "My dear Tridentinus, I am afraid you utterly misunderstand me.\n\nIt is good practice encourage hierarchs to resign, or, if that is not considered to be a wise action to benefit the Church, to refrain from giving a read hat (I think both you and I agree that AB Chaput being left out again is as clear a sign as one can imagine, which is why I suspect Pope Francis prefers to simply not bother much with him anyway in the grand scheme of his reform of the Church. There is plenty of clean-up to do in Philadelphia, and Chaput handles the broom well, by all appearances).\n\nIn addition, am I to understand that you consider doing the 30-day Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius a sentence? That reflects poorly on you and not the Spiritual Exercises if this - horribile dictu! - is indeed what you imply. I, for one, fervently hope that you are not serious in making that statement.\n\nI end my reply in the way in which St. Ignatius ended many of his letters: poor in virtue, yours in Christ, Emigree", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I did not join this Holy Church for a twelve step meeting or a picnic. Why don't the lot of you just join the Presbyterians if you hate the Mass so much. The true faith of Jesus Christ will outlast this silliness. As a woman I don't want to validate my gender with holy orders.What good is that? I want to become a Saint and ascend the heights of heaven.Wake up Laodicea! You are wretched and miserable,naked and poor. http://erenow.com/ancient/early-christianity-and-paganism-1902/25.html", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This kind of idiocy shows why the title of Bishop carries with it no infallibility. This particular Ordinary is the most ordinary of them all. He is a right wing idiot who is pandering to himself because I doubt anyone else cares. Being an adult GS leader is hard enough without inane comments from the cheap seats. I feel sorry for the girls, although most troops will likely just move to another sympathetic venue. Catholic separatism is no longer so important that Catholic girls need to to troops in the parish. I really feel for the adult leaders who feel morally conflicted about this. They should not. Their bishop is a horse\u2019s behind.\n\nMSW is correct in quoting Francis that God does not need us to protect Him. Hopefully God will protect us from His bishops. Francis has his hands full with Kansas City.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I would talk about the lies you spread about Hillary, but I really need to talk about something else.\n\nYou personally were against trans using the same bathrooms as women because they might be groped. You are now excusing someone who is in court for the rape of a 13 year old and openly stated he groped women.\n\nChristianity Today, the largest evangelical mag, dropped Trump due to him being very non-Christ like.\n\nYou are literally advocating for someone that is talking about sexual assault.\n\nLet me spell it out. Saying \"She has a nice ass\" is different that 'Grab them by the p***y...they can't say no cause your are rich and powerful.\n\nUntil you understand the difference please step aside and let real honorable men have a conversation about how women should be treated.\n\nI as a man refuse to be lumped into the category as those that abuse women.\n\nLearn what consent is.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Once again, NCR is very clear in telling us that it believes most white Americans are racists.\n\nNCR tell us that racism is everywhere, and everyone is blind to racism.\n\nAnd we have professional Catholics out there who support and encourage people to fear and hate white people.\n\nMakes me ill.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "William,\n\nYour comment re the impact of Fundamentalist Christianity on Adventist history is lacking. The Fundamentalist movement arose around the turn of the 20th Century. If you carefully study the history of \"mainstream\" Adventist thought, you will see that the 1919 Bible Conference marked the ascent of Fundamentalist thought within Adventism and the decline of the influence of AG Daniells and W C White.\n\nWhether the evocative phrases \"Adventist spring\", \"backlash against women in leadership\" and \"tide against [women]\" were used by Valentine or arose in Gallagher's summary, I have no way of determining since I was not there.\n\nIt is undeniably true that women did at various times a century or more ago, hold influential church offices. Are you aware that in the early 1900s one of the most effective evangelists and pastors in the NJ Conference was a woman, and that the conference sought approval to ordain her?\n\nAdmittedly these women were exceptional, as was Ellen White.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RCI(Roman Catholic Institution) refuse to odain a women priest!!! ROTFL! :-) :-) :-(\nWho could possibly screw up the priesthood more then the single men? LOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!\nI am sure the door to hell must be jam full of priests waiting to be burn in H#ll for their rape victims pain of cries broad casted in full volume for twenty, thirty years! I do not know how to express my sorry for your hell punishments! I don't think there are diplomatic immunity in HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Womenpriests.\" What a joke! Neither Roman Catholicism nor Eastern Orthodoxy could care less about these charlatans. We can call a banana a turnip, but that doesn't make it so.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What a disgusting comment for one who claims to be a Catholic priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "yeah a party matter, a party that is unelectable unless you want some crazy social conservative christian maniac deciding you are wrong or right in your personal life.\nLook, Harper killed conservatism in Canada. It's over. You have to crazy, stupid to vote for the CPC now.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Congratulations all you Conservative Christian Freaks ... you got another one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'\n\u2026or they've seen how hypocritical Christian act.\n.\nSin all week long, absolve yourself on Sunday.\n\nRinse and repeat.\n.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Start by kicking islamics out of Canada....this is a christian country. No place for satanic hordes of hell!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I believe that God is not as hung up on sex as many of Christians are.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Tens of drunks, packers and christians - no thanks!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Now we are Catholics again. Thanks be to God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can't remember the last time someone walked into a Christian church in Canada and opened fire. Or a Christian follower being harassed as they walked down the street. The reason the Canadian Muslim population garners such attention is because they are a target of hate and discrimination.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I wrote not too long ago asking WHY were there no Black Catholic clergy present when Black PROTESTANT Ministers were protesting against racism and Trump? The succinct answer (the accurate one too, as I believe as well), was that THEY were afraid of their Conservative White REPUBLICAN Bishops!\n\nSo despite Nazis and KKK marching and threatening to march and intimidate ALL those who don't look and act as THEY DO, the Church's concern comes a little too late. Unless the Trump regime is publicly denounced in no uncertain terms and BLM is understood as a reaction to the shooting and defamation of unarmed Black Men, Women and Children rather than be blighly written off as a TERRORIST organization.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The rise of lay Catholics to prominence. Wasn't that one of the dreams of Vatican II? The laity would come out of the shadow of the hierarchy and would speak with its own voice. Wasn't that supposed to be one of the great achievements? That the most robust voice would be orthodox wasn't part of the plan though. That it would be distinctly Catholic, not just a dressed up amalgam of the warmest and fuzziest parts of the Episcopal/Presbyterian/Methodist/UCC conglomerate, was a surprise. Turns out the brave new world wasn't born in 1960's Rome but 1882 Connecticut. Vivat Jesu!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Got your drift Jay Bob,\nMoslems will never be as good as Christians or Jews and they must always must be seen as inferior or sub-human or in-human. Islam is a religion that will never have your respect. You're coming across loud and clear.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If racism is an issue then black Christians must commit terror acts as well . Not happening.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I spent a good two or so months engaging these IDIOTS and I was able to draw some conclusions:\n1)They are in fact IDIOTS\n2)They WANT to believe they are being lied to\n3)They NEED to believe they have stumbled onto some great truth that others can't see. It makes them feel smarter than others, and \"special\" (Oh, you're special alright! LOL!)\n4) Most are also Christians and they'd prefer to think they're living safely under some dome that God made than to face the reality of our place in the vastness of the universe.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "... really no surprise when a monster commits evil, AGAIN, anymore ... always disappointing for sure that 'christian Americans' are focused on this GARBAGE rather than FIXING the woes of the country. HATRIOTISM IS PATHETIC AND UN-AMERICAN.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Klavern\"?\n\nAnother progressive Catholic who labels half the nation as fascist.\n\nThis is why I do not like or respect progressive Catholics. They are odiously smug and terribly paranoid.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "child rapist are a protected group... in the catholic church...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That was my original question.So you think that the DP believes white Christians are sexist, racist, etc?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "christians are not praying for the destruction of the infidel", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Protestants can be made to feel welcome when they stop treating catholics like garbage.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Never heard of such an incident, however there was an \"atheist\" recently who did something that evil!\n\n\"Friends said on Facebook that in recent years, Mr. Kelley had become vocally anti-Christian, to the point where many stopped communicating with him. His Facebook page, which has been deleted, listed that he liked a number of atheist groups.\n\u201cHe was always talking about how people who believe in God were stupid and trying to preach his atheism,\u201d one of his Facebook friends, Nina Rosa Nava, posted on the site, saying she unfriended him because of it.\"\n\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/us/devin-patrick-kelley-texas.html?action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&module=RelatedCoverage®ion=Marginalia&pgtype=article\n\n\"Perhaps atheists are more of a problem than burkas.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What is intrinsically disordered is the liberals' attempt to separate Christ from His Church. The devil has been trying to do that for over 2 millennia.\nThe promotion of division has always been Satan's number one ploy. Firstly, division between man and God, between man and man, between nations and races, between men and women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fox & Friends Host Says If You\u2019re Going To Get Gunned Down, Church Is The Best Place...who says stuff like that?\n\nIs she suggesting that it is better to kill Christians because they are destined for heaven instead of hell?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Facts aren't subjective. Your \"facts\" aren't even close to truthful. If a Christian kills someone as a hate crime, or kills a gay U of Wyoming student, I don't project these heinous acts upon all Christians. Grow up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "REALLY tells one all one needs to know about 'christians' of today ... when CHEETOLINI is your savior!!! 80% of Cheetolini voters consider themselves Christian, but ANYONE that voted for this MONSTER is an evil motherf!cker ... plain and simple, PERIOD. As far as I'm concerned, anyone that states themselves a Christian needs to be avoided and condemned by the general public. They do much much more harm than good I don't care how many wells you dig in impoverished countries you are also trying to FOOL with your FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER GARBAGE if you are perpetuating the War Machine and Flat Earth mindsets via Cheetolini.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "When you fools vote for Cheetolini, you can't call yourselves Christian. You need to get used to understanding we all now know and fully understand you are all 'christians'. Evil here on earth. When y'all super fakey 'christians' die, the earth becomes a better place.\n\nVoting Republican AND being a Christian is an oxy moron. The 2 are impossible to exist together in harmony. You are either one, or the other, and via your voting records for Cheetolini, you are CLEARLY SHOWING YOUR TRUE COLORS : EVIL!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You keep saying such things, and I keep reminding everyone of what you are actually saying. You have a remarkably arrogant attitude, in that you insist that you are the soul of orthodoxy, and that anyone who disagrees with anything the magisterium says is not a true Catholic. You also say that the magisterium has never, ever changed a teaching, which means that you are either ignorant or dishonest.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How many gays have christians thrown off rooftops and then stoned?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Expand your thinking!\nI'm thinking of all the Muslims killed by Crusaders.\nI'm thinking of all the Jews killed by Christians.\nI'm thinking of all the pagans killed by Catholics.\nI'm thinking of all the Protestants killed by Catholics.\nI'm thinking of all the native peoples killed by Catholics.\nJust for starters...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a 'christian', super fakey 'believer' in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, do you ever wonder what the hot burn of HELL will feel like when you die ... ?! Your voting record alone will put ya there ... since you 'believe'.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Dude are fake christians spreading the fake good news. phony jehovas witnesses. wow dude that scary", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "... I'll hate on 'em, can't wait 'til the likes of Cheetolini supporters up and DIE so they can start sizzling in their lovely HELL for the harm they've done here on EARTH in the name of 'christianity'.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I have more important things to do like saving the boys and men in this country from bigotry and sexism......\nMen and boys have been persona non grata for a decade. To hell with that\nBesides -you would do alot for your cause if you didn't have alleged terrorists running your women's marches.\nYou have gained your equality, now deal with the terror in your midst.\nThen you say nothing when Muslim women are slaughtered yet you demand that their killers be allowed into our country to spread their hate of women and Christians here.....???\n\nYou are very screwed up in your thinking.\n\n\nYou have lost all cred", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's interesting that at least conservatives like you are wallowing in the pig stye pointing at a few bird droppings on Obama's lapel. \n\nAgain Bill, I'll join you in agreeing that any mistruths or lies from the Obama administration or the Clintons deserve rebuke. To pretend liberals aren't critical of their own party as a way of defending Trump is pure fallacy. \n\nTrump lies far, far more. And has far less character than Obama did. As a Christian (he's not) or simply as a public figure, Trump is indefensible. The fact that Obama exists does not give Trump a free pass. If this is the way conservatives move the country \"forward\" after Obama then the Republican party has flatlined. Trump makes George W. Bush look like Abraham Lincoln. \n\nYou're like a little brother who gets caught eating the entire cookie jar. Crumbs and chocolate all over your face. When asked why you did it you point to your big brother who took a single cookie and say \"Well he did it too, he's worse!\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "More than 2000 years, but not the 3700 that you attribute ot the book by claiming it to be Divine revelation to Moses. I am sure the authors were inspired by a love of God and the Jewish people, but that does not put them beyond reason. Also, they are not reactionary, you are. Your reactionary nonsense is only 50 years old. Maybe 150 if we include the idiot Pio ono. The Lord did not dictate to Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They used various sources in writing their letters and Gospels and we can understand these things in relation to what we knew about them. You also don't understand-the word Apostate. I have renounced nothing of the truth of the Resurrection and have only called for sanity in dealing with sexual doctrine. That is a love of the Church and a desire that it quit makiing a fool of itself at the hands of certain bishops.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "the real LDS are bad enuf!\nbut fake Christians have a special place waiting in Hell", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We failed the Coptic Christians in their ethnic cleansing by Islam.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You people are utterly clueless. \nThe writer and commenters both are clueless. \n\nJihadis aren't violating Mohammed's example. \nThey are emulating it. \nAnd comparing Christ of the Bible to the disjointed voiced Jesus of the Koran betrays grotesque ignorance of both.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "In addition, AT, you are certainly a self-righteous hypocrite, but that in itself doesn't make you Christian, in fact it stands in the way of Christianity. You are like the Pharisees with their hateful dogma. In future, please refrain from pulling your religious crap on me. I don't want it, nor do I need it, and I find your self-righteousness to be repugnant.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, gays should remain in the closet, where they won't bother TomZ. He wants his daughters to be brought up to loathe gays in just the same way he does. And God forbid that gays should have \"rights\" like straights do. Tom calls himself a \"Christian\".", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If funding for birth control and cancer screenings, and STD' can be denied because the same organization refers for, or performs abortions, then why should my tax dollars go to any organization (churches or religious groups) or any of their affiliated and supposed charity organizations, that promote and administer programs that promote someone else's religion. I don't want my tax dollars being used by Christian wing nuts to try and brainwash people into Christianity, or teach abstinence as a birth control method. Republican Christians in America are hateful bigoted hypocrites, and Jesus would no sooner save them than put the camel through the eye of a needle. \n\nDisgusting Charlatan Bigots !!!!!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is more common than you may think. I was 1 of 4 Jewish kids in a large high school in eastern PA. The amount of crap I took from teachers and/or administrators because I am not Christian was pretty damn frustrating. That crap was everything from being sent to detention for not wanting to sing Christmas songs praising Jesus as a part of a required Christmas pageant, to being told pointedly that I would fail a class if I missed a day for the Jewish High Holidays. Those holidays happen early enough in the school year that there is no way I wouldn't be able to make up the work, but since the teacher had scheduled a test for that day, with no way to make it up, I was out of luck as far as he was concerned. Thankfully, my parents are both incredibly pushy and managed to make most of the problems go away without resorting to suing.\n\nAs for the Christmas songs, I would have been fine if they had been the secular Rudolph and Santa type songs, but not full on religious ones.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sex abuse, it's not just for Catholic priests anymore.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Suggesting that Trump ran on a platform of hatred towards the poor and immigrants is beyond belief. If Cloutier really meant this, then he is a jerk. And to suggest this is why Christians voted for Trump, makes him a bigger jerk. This is just one more reason followers are leaving the Catholic Church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What does it feel like KNOWING you support a complete JERK like Cheetolini ... do you consider yourself a Christian?\n\nRepublicans only know how to finger point, NEVER pull the thumb. Threatens your idea of 'manhood', but in my book, all ADULT MALE COWARDS ARE LITTLE BOYS.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Another radical Christian terrorist.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Then do away with it but here is the fact! They didn't want to listen to her!! So why was she there? Was this planned ahead of time for public stunt and gain? Seems stupid. \"Hail Satan,\" yeah not evil at all.. let her try that in front of Vatican and try to file suit. She made the choice knowing it would create chaos and now continues to create more chaos and cost money to the public.. Why go to a predominantly Christian establishment and hail Satan? Uhh.. not hard to figure out your going to make people uncomfortable. It was intentional and she is the one who filed this stupid lawsuit, not KPB. If they let everyone like that win a lawsuit the battle would be never ending.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What about the African Americans shot in church by that white spremacist? What about the Indian American shot while washing his car by a white dude? \nWhat about the Muslims killed in Quebec by a white nutcase? \nShould we ban all white male Christians?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Any \"Christian\" faith publicly supporting Trump has permanently polluted their message with the same filth that has spewed out of Trump's very mouth. The list is too long and everyone here has heard the racism, misogyny, bigotry, intolerance, vulgarity, and stupidity that flows out of his mouth every day. How in the world can any faith whether Catholic, Evangelical, or for that matter non-Christian; seek to attach themselves to the hate, lies, and brutality that is Trumpism? If you believe in an Anti-Christ, Trump would be the perfect example. How can people be so blind, stupid or frightened to believe that placing a creature like Trump in power would be good for America or the Planet? I'll never understand it, and can never look at people who support him in the same way ever again. This all seems very familiar, like Nazi Germany familiar! Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder if Donnie Two Scoops would ever say this about the violent criminal terrorists in Christian Identity groups? \n\n\nOr does he just say this sort of garbage to dog whistle to his fascist and racist base and would never suggest that bad cops should go rogue on white power types?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Oh yeah, you gotta watch out for those cut throat Christian suicide bombers.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Which just goes to show that the majority of US Catholics are sheep.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Would you be opposed to a pro-pedophile group on a Catholic campus, in the name of introducing children to positive sexual experiences? Studying an issue and it's personal/cultural impacts, is far different than advancing a certain agenda or promoting a certain life style. I have Zero Problem with a Faithful Catholic university studying the issue of homosexuality in a scholarly way. That is far different than Clubs on campus which are advocacy organizations for the homosexual promotion agenda. Do you understand the difference? Newman certainly did!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a great thing, Jennifer, to teach young women that they are powerful, strong, and, in multifaceted ways, beautiful. But it must be difficult to do this important mission in a Catholic school when the Church hierarchy and their idiotic laws themselves conspire against that message in the ways that count most: in action, policy, and opportunity. I'm sure you and the young women you teach rail daily against the Church's nice words that go nowhere\u2014go nowhere with a vengeance.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Muslim bakeries have refused to make wedding cakes for sames sex couple, have been given a pass to refuse service. Even gays won't go after Muslim discriminations. But a Christian pastor is all but tarred and feathered to get out of town.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sure as a true conservative you are that you were born on the streets. That you didn't have a family take you to church every week. For their to be the rich there also must be the poor. I guarantee you selfish Christian conservatives don't care enough about anyone. But blame choice.... You don't want to admit the great life you've had wasn't a choice but a long line of eventa through your family that got you were you are..... But poor people.... They chose that? Who the hell chooses to be poor.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Every religion has its own forms of hatred that any looney tune can use to throw stones. \n\nThe problem is with how many looney tunes flock to whichever sounds good at the time. \n\nOnce upon a time Christianity aka puritans and their ilk practiced this... now it's Islamist militants .. what's new. \n\nShaking my head you're pathetic. A terrrorist is a terrorist I don't care what he's reading. He's just looking for a reason to kill someone. Pretty sure the way you're talking you've already found yours.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Following a Jesus Christ or Yeshua is Idol worship(paganism in it's most deceptive form).\n\nIf following the son of GOD leads to the Heavenly Father how is that idol worship and paganism ?\nEven Christ himself gave all glory and credit to the Father.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They also hate Christians, the Western life-style and who knows what else. If that's their attitude - then go back to the middle east with the mud huts, shoe-box toilets and liquor free environment. They're nutty, cowardly hypocrites.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I understand that you disagree with my post and follow the assertion that ordination is closed to women. I on the contrary do not accept that this decision must never change. The RC has changed many things over its history and this too could be altered.\nI and all women are Baptized and made full members of the Christian Community. In that Baptism we put on Christ. If we have put on Christ there is NO reason we cannot serve our fellow Community members. As Paul said no longer male nor female....all one in Christ.\nOur religion has an unfortunate history of holding on to the Gnostic and Stoic cultures of the past. These philosophical ideas infected our church's history and have held women in a place of religious inequality.\nGod does not play gender favorites. We as women can serve others because our most important bodily organ as for men is our brain. Perhaps I will at 77, not see the day, but it will come.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ignorance: to be unaware of or to not have true knowledge regarding a subject\n\nStupidity: Having the knowledge but refusing to accept it.\n\nAs I read these postings, it is evident that there are 2 certainties regarding these postings:\n\n1. Most of you have no idea what scripture actually teaches, making your statements based on ignorance.\n2. Some of you have rejected the truth of Gods written word and refuse to accept or seek it. That's your choice. Why than, attack with growing malice, what you don't accept? It makes little sense.\n\nThe whole of the Gospel is to love God and love people. Remember, \"Christians\" are imperfect people. True Faith is exactly this. Work on yourself, love people, love God, share faith.\n\nThere are both good and bad in every \"culture.\" Why is it that all Christians are lumped as \"bad?\" So.....under this logic...Mother Theresa was a racist, bigoted, homophobic bible toting hypocritical follower of Christ. The logic doesn't add up.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "actually....you are ignoring what your stupid book says....it says to stone her....but hey...if you want to hide something from a Christian....put it in the Old Testament...they never look there.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So we created Islamophobia....just because we hate muslims...absolutely no reason for it I guess...\nThere is no Jihad, there was no 9/11, there was no cutting off heads of Christians, there was no Brussel, London, Spain and countless more muslim terror attacks....\nAll these are lies I guess.\nThis is a lie too: Paris terror attacks 137 dead....\nalso this one: Nice in France", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Fr. Reese lost his job as Editor of America magazine because certain American prelates didn't like his take on all things Catholic. He rightly points out that what really irks Fr. Weinandy is that he and others of like mind are no longer \"in charge\" and resent the Pope who doesn't organize his papacy around telling Catholics to center their faith around the knowledge to be found in the Catholic Catechism. Has anyone wondered how any Catholics over the centuries managed to win the mercy of God when most of them were illiterate, when there was no CCD, when the readings at Mass were largely unintelligible, and when preaching was either non-existent or awful. The clericalism of the past required people to check with the clergy for what to believe and what to think and what to do. Younger priests often talk about just \"telling the people what they ought to do\" so they can be more \"reverent\" and more \"Catholic\". We need reasons and credible explanations, not dictates.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How did the deceased get home eternally in the arms of God?\n\nDid she or her obtain a plenary indulgence at the point of death, avoid Purgatory, and head for the Pearly Gates?\n\nIt is rather sobering to find out that in some quarters no one prays for the dead in allegedly \"Catholic\" settings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, we all know angry white Christian men have never killed anyone. And the Klan and Neo-Nazis' just like parades and speaches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trad Catholic - you are spouting a bunch of bull. You have misconstrued the whole point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What an outwardly racist comment. Yeah, its still ok to malign Christians in this world where negative comments about others are immediately censored. Double standard much? What about the Muslim view, the Buddhist view, the jewish view, the indigenous people's views? Why didn't you also discuss those views in an article regarding parents rights vs the state's rights when it comes to medically ill children?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Moore is the same so-called \"christian\" that said this, \"\u201cHomosexual behavior is a ground for divorce, an act of sexual misconduct punishable as a crime in Alabama, a crime against nature, an inherent evil, and an act so heinous that it defies one\u2019s ability to describe it.\u201d He claims it's the same as bestiality. Look up the rest of this moron's nice \"christian\" comments.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "He's the most dangerous type of rapist \u2014 earns trust of a classmate or family member who thought he was \"one of the good ones.\" There was clear intent this Kennedy joker wanted his way with her... \"He's too soft-spoken, gentle and Christian...\" give me a break! This dude sees women as limp meat! Sick and wrong!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How does Miller justify this sudden conversion to \"libertarianism\" with his \"I'm the Christianest Christian that ever Christianed\"? \nThe guy is a huge. swallowing hypocrite.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Let me cut to the chase! Trump is the most vile, ignorant, immoral, racist, misogynist, sorry excuse for a human to ever occupy the White House! And anyone who calls themselves a Christian, who continues to support and admire this cretin; is even more vile and disgusting! Why? Because you can stand back, watch and listen to Trump who contradicts himself daily if not in the same sentence, and correctly conclude he is a vulgar, lying, narcissistic nut job! Yet such people continue to excuse his disgusting comments and unhinged behavior which is on display every time Trump is on TV! The hypocrisy is mind blowing! The ranks of the Nones will continue to grow exponentially in response to this mindless worship of the Pussy Grabber in Chief!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trump+Evangelicals=Evil; God will deliver his judgement forthwith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I haven't seen any Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Shintoists, Confucians, Zoroastrians, Pagans, Animists, et al beheading Muslims on video, using kids and women as suicide bombers, throwing gays off rooftops, hanging people upside down from meathooks and slaughtering them like a goat, drowning people in steel cages, stoning women for not doing the dishes, etc. \n\nHave you? No, you haven't. You need to quit coddling and protecting Radical Islamic Terrorists, eric. You also need to quit exhibiting your anti-Christian and anti -American hate at every opportunity.\n\nI will say another prayer for you eric. Not in Arabic though.\n\nBe a Great American. Vote for Trump.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelicals are the most gullible people in the country. They fell for extreme religion, lies, and will send their last penny to their millionaire preacher.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I actually feel sorry for people like you. Trump doesn't care about abortion. He just said so to get votes from religious types like you willing to overlook his lies, crimes, sexual assaults, tax cheating, insurance fraud, scams, rip-offs and other nefarious behavior. This is a man incapable of raising his own young children. He is a vulgar, adulterous misogynist with a life long lust for his daughter. He has no empathy, sympathy, patriotism, decency, and any other laudable human behaviors. He is evil personified. He loves three things. Himself, money, and power. Yet people like you who claim to be \"Christian\" willingly close your eyes to the truth of Trump which has always been obvious for anyone to see. He is your Anti-Christ, your Adolph Hitler. Now I understand what happened in Nazi Germany. I understand the behavior of so many German citizens who turned their heads while violent, evil, obscene acts were done in their name. History has repeated itself again!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder what Pope F.'s spiritual aspiration is? I pray & hope that he doesn't think that he reached the top and all he have to do is to enjoy his accomplishment. \nYou are the head of Catholic Institution, are you not? Show us how to be united to God!\nDo you know a prelate with doctorate degree in theology is a beginner in spiritual journey?\n\"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.\"\nDespite Pope's tiera & crozier, B. Juan Barros is a supporter of pedophile priests stays truth with or without your endorsement. What you so far represent is more of devil then God!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"What happens when men like these popes and other child raping priest protectors say Mass? Is it holy? Is the ritual itself a form of worship?\"\nExactly, I had to give it up going into Church building where clergies rape children in sacristy and confessionals. I felt contaminated with clergies sexual impurity attending Mass receiving Eucharist from the filthy hands which raped children!!!???", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There are lots of implications for contemporary situations. \n\nSince Catholics have always believed and taught (but rarely discuss) the truth that couples marry each other and that the real sacramental action happens directly between the hearts of the betrothed couple, and not on account of anything the priest \"confers\" on them, I'd say there are many ways the ancient Jewish ritual you describe could be used to remind us of our common roots as it relates to the sacrament of marriage. In fact, I'd go further and say that if we really believe that, why should any church authority ever dare to question the marital legitimacy of gay couples who believe in their heart of hearts that they have already married each other? \n\nThen there's the lengthy history of couples living in remote rural areas who marry themselves only to have a priest bless their marriage after the fact, or the slaves who \"married\" each other by jumping over a broom without the benefit of the church or the state's blessing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The difference is Jesus never said to kill homosexuals. Mohamed did.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Who is this \"true\" Christian? The one who bragged about sexually assaulting Women and surrounds himself with the KKK, Neo Nazis and called Mexicans \"rapists and killers?\" Don't be shy now.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Judaism is an outgrowth of Zoroastrianism, one of the first One God religions based on a Patriarchal deity displacing the Matriarchal Godesses of earlier spirituality. Godesses revered as the producers of life. The result has been war, torture, misogyny, and male prelate dictatorship dedicated to the conquest of all others' land, property, wealth, bodies and soul. All accomplished through militant actions wiping out any other humans in their way. Christianity is a creation using Judaism as a base by a 2nd Century Pope in collusion with a Roman Emperor to wipe out all other pagan religions for a more suitable male dictatorship reflected in a male god. The Roman legions were used to carry out the conquests under the new banner of the male christian god. All of the current male god religions, Judaism, christianity, and Islam are based on the Judaic creation story of Adam and Eve and their tyrannical god. The world has suffered ever since. The biggest lie of all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not all the \"muslims\" who went to join ISIS started out as muslims. You seem to prefer to gloss over that fact. Quite a few of them were average white, christian kids who got sucked in by propaganda or simply had a desire to kill and wanted an excuse. There's no fix for that.\n\nDefeating ISIS won't end terrorism. Putting every Muslim person on Earth wouldn't end terrorism either, not that it's even possible. There will always be people eager to put on a mask and commit acts of violence. We can't pretend we live in a world that doesn't exist. \n\nShould security agencies and the police do their best to prevent violent extremism? Sure.... and they do. Does calling it ISLAMIC extremism help that process? Not really.... although it seems to make you feel better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whoa!!!!\n\nYou specify \"the Church\" and the \"Magisterium\" as the authority---then you firmly deny (\"not me, not you\") that life of the lay, to coin a term, is part of the authority of the Church and the Magisterium.\n\n That dichotomy, as stated, has to mean we aren't the Church. You present a vertical authority structure that Groucho Marx would like: \"I can't be part of any Church that would have me as a member.\" \n\nI love the motto: \"All Are Welcome. But Not Me, Not You. Not Now.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Grisham, why the heck are you lying about Santa! There is a Santa Claus and this I know because Jesus told me so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "what would he be bragging about?! People brag about accomplishments. What kind of sick and deranged human being would brag about kiling her? Be proud of killing a Catholic priest child molester Be proud of killing Ted Bundy. But her?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Now even nuns taking away that new born baby from baby's mother?\nI suppose CI (Catholic Institution) clergies will rape that orphan child in the nun run orphanage like what happened in Australia, German, Ireland, other countries orphanages!\nDo you have any idea What a 'hell' an orphan child could go through in life? \nWhat a 'hell' of fake, FAKE, FAKE Catholic clergies/nuns claim that they are against abortion!\nI heard some horror stories of CI clergies taking away children from their mothers in Ireland!\nIt must be the end time to see all these CI clergies/nuns doing so much evil!!!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Again, the USCCB (the boy's club) looks like a bunch of idiots. This has nothing to do with religious freedom. Rather, it is the Catholic Church making another feeble attempt to control women's bodies. The Catholic Church's position on women's contraceptives is wrong and Catholic women have ignored it for years. I note there is no objection from the \"boys club\" about whether health insurance covers Viagra and other similar drugs. Such hypocrites!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christian's better wake up, sharia law will have your heads", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What trash, Tridentinus! There are many who leave the Church for other very important reasons, the sex abuse cesspool for example. Your rigidity reflects something entirely different from the Church of the Gospels.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Don't be so stupid.\n\nThe Koran isn't a vehicle of hate speech, any more than the Bible is.\n\nThe threat to Canadians, is right wing extremism, and Islamaphobia.\n\nIt's too bad that you're so afraid that you can't come out from under the bed and enjoy the great, multicultural society we have.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I have a heart but come on you broke the law and I am sure I would be thrown out of your country in a second. Its getting a little ridiculous when you know that you broke the law and now you want help. Its ridiculous that the church is letting law breakers seek sanctuary in their church but yet would throw a gay person to the wolves. Very christian like", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Yes it's certainly not cool for a son to have sex with his mother, but . . .\"\n\n\nYou missed the point, which was that for unrepentent, recalcitrant mortal sin, Christians eventually have a right protect the Church by saying \"good riddance.\" That time has come. Things have gone from bad to worse to intolerable. It wasn;t enough that gay sex almost destroyed the priesthood. Most of LGBT wants more. To those who do, \"Good riddance.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Most of what I've seen in OCP's publications is not what I would call .... Music fit for a King. Exactly who are we trying to please here, yourselves or the Lord. Garbage, Garbage, Garbage.\nNo wonder Catholics can't or won't sing.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "CPC elected an evangelical hypocrite as it leader. I hope majority of Canadians see this as it is.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently, Chaput's church is a church for saints, not sinners. Makes me glad he didn't get the red hat this time around.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Numbers 15:32-26 their loving Christian god had a man stoned to death for picking up some sticks on the Sabbath. On the other hand...Exodus 21;20-21 if you beat your slave, and they do not die...no problem.\n Golly, let us all pray to this sick, sadistic God so full of love.\n Now to answer the question this poor deluded soul asks; For 2000 years Christians have been praying for peace and the return of their Jesus, and for 2000 years their god has ignored their prayers. For 2000 years Christians have been convinced their generation was in the last of days, and for 2000 years they have been impeccably wrong...and when you study history...today is quite mild compared to the past...and predictably what this poor soul doesn't grasp about their own religion...the sign of the end is not sin going off the charts...it's an apostate church preaching lies in the name of Jesus. Holy crap, this is the end times!!! Oh wait, the church has always done that, nm.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We may be officially secular - but our history w.r.t FN ( and any \"discovered\" society ) is one of Christian missionary abuse of their cultural values, including justification of slavery. Nature worship, animism ... at least showed respect for the forces of nature, whereas Christianity is not exactly famous for looking after the environment, or women for that matter. Many New World indigenous societies still suffer the after effects.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora17. If I could give you three stars for your response to this moron, I would. Excellent. Continue telling the truth in the name of Christ and his Church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So a Christian can pledge allegiance to their religion first, but if a Muslim does then it's automatically more suspect? I'm not suggesting you explicitly said that, but inciting Sharia law or beheadings at the mention of Islam invokes that kind of double standard. As if Islam itself is to blame, not a complex mix if politics, history, and culture that leads to the extremes we see.\n\nI'm trying to get at the core assumptions here, as to the kind of rhetoric I see as harmful and unfair in it's correlation. It's this general belief that peaceful devotion to Islam is fundamentally dangerous whereas devotion to more familiar religions is no need for alarm.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is Mindanao a muslim majority island? Wikipedia says it is 70% Christian and that the high estimate for muslims is 40%.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one has wised up and become a progressive. No one wises up and believes a religious or political agenda whole.\n\nBecoming a progressive is like becoming a Scientologist, born again Christian or Ayn Randist etc....\n\nGoing from a Reagan conservative to progressive is like going from born again Christian to Islamic State member.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't get to decide whether another person's religious beliefs are valid. There is nothing in the Bible forbidding abortion, that doesn't mean I can say opposition to abortion is not a valid Christian belief.\n\nPS. If you wore a balaclava when speaking to me I would think you were protecting your face from the cold.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By definition, atheism is a faith-based belief that God does not exist. Teaching that God does not exist is at the heart of our nation's public school system. Therefore, our public schools and teachers such as Bobby Letter teach an atheistic belief that (1) religious in nature and religious by definition and religious in overtones (2) contrary to the beliefs of most parents who are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Practical means concerning action in the world. The Christian is both contemplative and practical. In our vocations some are called more to one side than the other, but everyone is called to both to some degree. I have been accused of being an academic elitist and other such nonsense, but in reality I am just defending the contemplative life from original poster, who said all academics should \"do something useful.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't agree that faith based education and right to beat your children are at all comparable or similarly debated. And Individual values come from many things, family, religion, school, society, the law, the economy, many things. \nThe hypocrisy of the left, wanting others to do as they're told, closing minds to any other opinion, while refusing to publicly fund anything they disagree with. You don't get to tell parents what to with their kids or how to educate them, you don't get to shut down Catholic schooling when there is clear demand.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will say this slowly... All Catholics are obliged to believe that which Holy Church declares to be Divinely revealed. The proposition that we \"all believe in the same god\" is nonsensical both theologically and eschatologically. Jews and muslims deny the Trinity. How, then, do they worship the same God as we? You and luther's rebels may be moving toward \"intercommunion\" {whatever that means}, but the Catholic Church is, always has been, and always will be in full communion with Her Divine Founder.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It would be helpful if Catholic schools worked with other confessional and secular private schools (charter schools also), to oppose De Vos' goal of getting rid of public schools. The former schools, Catholic being an admirable exception, can always raise the tuition so high,(so one can't attend in the first place), or make up \"rules\" about hairstyles etcetera ; that either keep POC, Blacks in the main, the ones who see more suspensions, detentions, exclusions from participating in extracurricular activities or more seriously barred from attending graduation ceremonies. \n\nLet's be clear that the return of Jim Crow or in reality depriving POC of education, healthcare, housing and jobs back to near slavery days is the goal of those in the Trump Administration.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're right that the Episcopal Church, like all traditional mainline Protestant churches, has lost members. Back in the day, the Episcopal Church was called the (Rockefeller) Republican Party at prayer. If you wanted to succeed in business, the best place to start was a tony Episcopal Church, preferably in a tony suburb. Why else do you think Prescott Bush, Poppy's daddy, moved from Ohio to Greenwich, Ct. and promptly joined Christ Church, THE Episcopal Church for ambitious up-and-comers like Prescott? Back in Ohio the Bushes were Presbyterian, which was the thing in Ohio. When Poppy moved his family to West Texas in the seventies they all became Methodist because the First Methodist Church in Midland was THE place for ambitious politicians.\n\nNowadays you don't need to belong to the right sort of church in order to succeed in business, so once the sixties came and went the Episcopalians lost a lot of dead weight (though admittedly a lot of money) when the barely spiritual left", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And therein lies the dangers of M-103.\n\nThe Canadian Charter freely allows me to publicly and quite vocally denounce all religions, not just ones that aren't afforded special protections.\n\nI invite the authors of this article to cherish free speech and remove the alt-facts. These protesters were protesting Islam, not Muslims themselves.\n\nMuch like I protest the Catholic faith (the religion), I don't protest Catholics (people).\n\nIt's no wonder the majority of Canadians have rejected M-103 as divisive, unnecessary or ineffective.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is important to hear from Evangelical Christians such as Senator Lynn Beyak. We need to be reminded that there is still a fundamentalist Christian element in our society and in the Canadian legislature too. Now that Senator Beyak has made her views known, it is important to keep the pressure on to make sure she leaves the senate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Mark. This is, though, sort of what I was responding to in Ixtlan's posts--I am Jewish, but I don't practice the religion. I'm an agnostic (my personal belief is that there might or might not be a God or gods, but that we do not--and probably cannot--know). So not all Jews believe in God--a great many don't--but they're still Jewish. \n\nYet though I don't attend synagogue or believe in the Hebrew God, I still practice some of the rituals, like lighting candles on Chanukah or gathering for a seder on Passover. I am also a product of Jewish culture, which in America includes a spectrum of beliefs but has a common ancestry, a shared history (mostly of persecution) and some general values, such as an emphasis on academic success, tenacity in the face of adversity and a good sense of humor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hopefully catholics in Russia will not face the sever religious persecution faced by catholics here in the states. We are fortunate our Courageous Bishops have stood up to the oppression, and through their efforts have now placed a true christian who shares their values in the White House. Maybe Francis should send some of our brave leaders to Russia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding ethics, I've always steered very clear of small businesses that prominently display that Jesus fish. It's been my anecdotal experience they will NOT be someone you want to deal with. \n\n\nI'm sure some are fine; I've been burned too many times. Now it might be used by bad apples as a \"shorthand\" to people fooled into thinking Christian=good, and not mean they are actually Christians, but I don't really care to understand the why behind it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Taxes are how the United States paid for the Interstate Highway System, defending our country, safe food and water, a great public school system (until repubs defunded it and tried to fund \"Christian\" and private schools), our space program, and lots of other things that our citizens, all of them, use and depend upon daily.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can't Notre Dame stop the tradition which automatically honors the holders of a political office no matter what they stand for? Pence locked horns with Cardinal Tobin over accepting refugees. In the same way, Obama although he had many wonderful qualities was the \"deporter in chief\". Why should a Catholic university which preaches social justice always bestow \"honorary degrees\" on politicians no matter what they practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Americans need to recover their sense of courage. \n\nUntil they do, they cannot call themselves Exceptional - nor Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the \"good\" Catholics on here who were frothing at the mouth because some Catholic staffers of Hillary were discussing their own church, but had no problem voting for Pence, who abandoned Catholicism and is guilty of material heresy by becoming an evangelical Protestant. Talk about cognitive dissonance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many of that 43% are professing to be Christians as a means to gain economically and politically? If so, they are Fake Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope your Lutheran \"friends\" are every bit as sensitive to you as you are to them. You don't need their permission, or even approval, to be Catholic. I have never felt the need and I am from a protestant family.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The part of Iowa from which I came was populated by a massive influx of German Catholic immigrants after the civil war. When they arrived, they did not speak English and were resistant to learning. They published German language newspapers, and generally overran the white settlers who first laid claim to the area. There German Catholic culture became the culture of the area. \n\nThis story repeats with many different immigration waives all over the country. Thus American culture is immigrant culture. There is no singular American culture. It is a patchwork of multiculturalism.\n\nSpanish was the first European language spoken in what would become the US. America itself is named after an Italian. Colorado is a Spanish name. The list goes on. The US should at least have Spanish as an additional official language. \n\nNot sure what you're going on about with the stabbings and all that but it is clear that white males commit the vast majority of random mass murder in the US.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting to see conservative candidates supporting the Islamic, Christian, Catholic, Buddhist, Jewish values of pro-life. \n\nNot just symbolic gestures on the surface meant to appease. \n\nLets keep this rally peaceful from those progressives rushing in to de-platform and assault those who are free to express their beliefs in a democratic society that values freedom of expression and freedom of speech and freedom of religion.. \n\nFor all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A Christian nation! Oh boy. Just no. Obviously Christianity is a dominant cultural force, but the U.S. was NOT constituted as a \"Christian nation.\" Exhibit A: Constitution of the United States of America.\n\n\"In God We Trust\" did not become the official motto of the U.S. until 1958, replacing the de facto motto \"E pluribus unum.\" The appearance of \"In God We Trust\" on coinage was the result of a campaign waged by a Civil War-era minister anxious to assert God was on the side of the Union. Kind of ironic now that the neo-Confederates are back in force under the Christian banner.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We need to give everyone equal protection under thew law. That will level the economic playing filed somewhat. The poor are truly defenseless on so many levels. We treat the poor like criminals for trying to exist. The irony is that many people claim that this is a Christian nation, yet the majority of us refuse to follow the advice Jesus gave us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a given that one of them will be elected. For the sake of the republic it should be someone with intellectual metal, not a 70 year old narcissistic adolescent. This is one 'Catholic' whose well formed conscience meshes with his desire to preserve our nation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The question is are those who question Pope Francis, even Christian---or are they \"wannabe\" Pharasees, who make Paul, before his conversion, look like a slacker.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How did Merry Christmas get to be a Christian greeting? 'Christmas' takes at the Winter Solstice. When I was growing up, I was told that Christmas time is a special period for people to express love and caring for one another, and there is no conflict between Santa and 'Jesus in the Manger' because they are part of the same thing, the spirit that can be called 'Santa Claus' or 'the Christ Child', or the Great Flying Reindeer'. It's the 'Christmas spirit', whatever we call it, that has us speaking to strangers and wishing them well. Some of us practice that all year long, some need special permission.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some people might not catch what I can only assume is irony!\n\nSo many customs and traditions brought over from many \"home countries\" are mostly pious superstitions and second generations do well to lose them! They may have given identity as being \"Polish\" or \"German\" or \"Italian\" or whatever other Nationality , but one learns to be \"Catholic\" when one learns to just look at them as cultural nostalgia rather than as essential to \"True Religion\".\n\nSome might not hurt, but they aren't \"the Faith\". They are rather like the various National cuisines -- Mexican food, and Italian dishes, and Polish sausage, or whatever, are all good. Everything adds to the American experience. But one does not limit oneself to the old country diet of one's origen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic church, in my opinion, needs to be more 'people centric', rather than 'dogma centric'. And that is what Pope Francis is trying to do. In the early nineties, while I was working in Saudi Arabia, we used to have the 'Sunday Mass on Fridays' in an auditorium within the Aramco (presently Saudi Aramco) premises where many American and European families were staying. This was supposed to be done in secret though the Mass was held with the knowledge and permission of the concerned persons. There was a period when the people concerned could not bring in sufficient hosts in time for the mass. So, what they did was just to be pragmatic. They took the local Arabic bread \"Khubz\", cut intro small pieces, and consecrated in place of the normal host. All of the participants took communion of the Khubz without any problem as they were not bothered about the dogmas. So, I have a feeling that the catholic dogmatism creates problems than it helps in solving problems.\n\nSebastian Thomas", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The good news is that other Catholic news sites...those not on inner circle of this largely jesuit, high wall, bordered conference...have picked up on the narrow selectivity of this conference and have suggested it will have limited influence in the USCCB.\n\nThe actual movers and shakers in the USCCB may in fact react COUNTER to the crafted messages coming out of this jesuit conference in Boston.\n\nBreak down the walls. No more bordered conferences.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Krauthammers' sympathies for Israel are understandable and, in this one and only instance, mirror my own.\nIt would be interesting to see just how little sympathy and support any Americans would afford Israel if not for the Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and the belief by many American Christians that Muslim/Palestinian control over the city would seal off Christian access to those sites.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, the local Churches have to many true believers who think the GOP and the Catholic Church are one and the same. At least the Bishop of Syracuse is not one of them. Like I said yesterday, Bishops and their staffs should not tweet.\n\nAt some point the people in the Administration that will be negotiating tax policy will have to also deal with Obamacare and a Democratic minority in the Senate that can stop any change. Four plus 48 is enough to stop Medicaid changes (I depend on Medicaid) so the cost savings piece of the bill is DOA, making it vulnerable to 60 vote point of order that the GOP cannot clear. This means that the elimination of the payroll surtaxes on the rich won't survive unless replaced by a more general Value Added Tax. Or it could mean nothing will happen.\n\nLongnecker does not understand Modernism, the chief feature being that evolution and scripture scholarship radically change our understanding of the authority of the scriptures. The modernists won.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The story is approximately two weeks old. \nNot \"about two years old\", as you claim.\nRe-read the article.\nWhy do you write 'some \"Catholics\"', if you are arguing - per your final sentence - for \"Tolerance\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Fr. John Riley, chancellor for the Archdiocese of Kansas City, told The Wichita Eagle in an email that yoga is more than breathing and stretching because of its ties to Hinduism, with the objective being to achieve spiritual purity and divine union.\"\n\"It is for these reasons that Catholics are alerted to the dangers of the practice of yoga and are encouraged to look for other exercise alternatives that do not incorporate a spiritual dimension,\" he said.\"\n\nThen Cardinal Ratzinger wrote in his 1989 Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation that practices of meditation of the great non-Christian religions can be \"a suitable means of helping the person who prays to come before God with an interior peace\u201d (#28). \n\nLooks like Fr. R. did not do his homework before making his statement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Despite years of dealing with critics of the Church, some of whom recite their positions directly from Jack Chick comics, I am always somewhat stunned when I read something along the line of \"(h)istory is no friend to the One-True-Church crowd\", especially in a venue with \"Catholic\" in its name.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry I didn't get your meaning from your previous post, but I didn't. Thank you for expanding on it.\nI think concelebrated Masses sometimes do reflect a failure to distribute priests fairly and efficiently. I think it's also true that we shouldn't be assigning priests to work in the curia and chanceries doing work that does not require ordination.\nIn the final analysis, though, the argument for the ordination of women does not rest on the \"shortage of vocations\". Women should be ordained because the failure to ordain them disfigures the church; it reduces Jesus' priesthood to what he shares with half of us (maleness) rather than what he shares with all of us (human nature). The church cannot be whole, healthy or holy while excluding women and married men from any office or ministry in the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is fine. It mostly skews the Knights to their own detriment. Like FoxNews viewers (and I suspect there is plenty of overlap), they are older white men who will not live forever. Whether the Knights adapt or die is probably something that most Catholics don't even care about anymore, which is sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Tradition, one of the two sources of revelation in the Catholic Church along with Scripture, does not change.\n\nSmall \"t\" tradition may change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, bass ackwards.\n\nYes, you're reciting the creed according to those who think a hierarchy is an add-on.\n\nNo, it does not correspond to the history of the Church or its teaching.\n\nThe very first Christians were bishops, the apostles.\n\nUntil they went out and began to teach all nations, there was no \"fellowship\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you serious? What in the world is an Ace? If I follow Annie's logic all you seem to talk about is asexuals, therefore you may be one, however I cannot say. For the record, I am not homophobic, and I do not have an excessive interest or concern over homosexual issues. I simply respond to the myriad of articles posted on this website dealing with the issue. I will go out on a limb and suggest half the frequent commenters on this site are homosexual. I am sick and tired of verbal assaults made against good Cardinals such as Caffarra, Meisner and Burke, simply because they follow church teachings on the subject. I have never made one personal nasty comment about homosexuals period, I simply state my opinion which is in line with church teachings. Four years ago I never would have made any comments regarding the issue, however with recent attacks against the Church, personal businesses and now Gender Identity, it is time to make a stand for what is right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "indeed they did arise out of your comments about tradition. I speak to many people in the world of catholics both liberal and traditionalist. My only attempt now is to understand where the differences are and why.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Love of God and neighbor are not measured out like blocks on a grid. It is a way of life, that is to be the hallmark of a true Christian. There are plenty of organizations that demonstrate the true Gospel message much more than some churches do. \n\nWhen people ONLY use their reason to guide them----we have nothing showing of the inspiration of God. God does not live, move or have any being in robots. \n\n\nWe live in a world where events happen over-night, in a few hours. Today's Christian must be so imbued by love of God and neighbor that he/she can act on a moments' notice if need be. \n\n\nThere is a time and place for criteria. But not where the immediate needs of people are waiting to be met. Food, clothing and shelter are such needs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "BS. As I demonstrated above, Gruner was an apologist for Russia whose sympathies extended beyond innocuous claims of \"new Christian values in Russia.\" Putin is a ruthless dictator who plays the Russian Orthodox Church in the cynical tradition of Mussolini. How gullible are you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, 'Roman Catholic Women Priests' would be all for Pope Francis but you must be absolutely naive to think he supports you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True, but what makes \"the church\"? In the context of this issue, I mean. There's the rub. \n\nDoes Burke et al speak for the church, or does Francis? \n\nWe can think the answer is clear, but if it were clear, why is there this obvious deep disagreement?\n\nIn any case, I can't help but be curious how many Catholics side with Burke + 3 over Francis. Since there are only 4 who have stood up against the Holy See, then the answer seems obvious. But I suspect (from purely impressionistic readings of Catholic media) that a great many Western Catholics side with the 4 over Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The early church had the authority to ordain women to be leaders of their communities according to Paul. When Rome allowed Christianity the Church adopted Rome's stance on women. The Church sacrificed justice in order to gain favor. Now they have revised history to support their unjust position. Please look into it instead of blind obedience to Church Teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope he is not a practicing priest, but I truly fear for the salvation of many of the current and former Catholic Priests on this forum. Diabolical disorientation seems to be rampant according to many comments on this site. They need our prayers. I think the Rosary is the only answer now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ted, if you are interested in this topic, there is a whole book on the subject:\n\nSamuel M. Zwemer, chapter vi, \u201cMohammedan Ideas of the Trinity\u201d, The Moslem Doctrine of God, (New York: American Tract Society, 1905).\n\nI don't have space to discuss all the details. For example the Qur\u2019anic passages about Jesus are possibly focused on the medieval Catholic-Byzantium worship of intercessory saints, because as Zwemer points out, the Qur\u2019an is actually focused on those who link Jesus\u2019 divinity to that of the Virgin Mary", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wrong, Mr. William Watts....you have apparently have not read the transcripts of the Andersonville Trial where Henry Wirz was placed on trial. The transcripts clearly shows how he turned away wagons full of food donated by good Southern people of the area when they heard about the massive starvation suffering by the Union prisoners. These folks, thinking that they were doing their Christian duty, choose to help their enemy but was turned back by the men who wore the gray. Conditions at Elmira was nothing like Andersonville. Most of the Confederates died at Elmira was due to hygienic problems which was still not understood by neither sides of the war. Unlike Andersonville, there was no plan to starve or force Confederate POWs into holes while living in nakedness and among their own filth. That was the Confederate plan as designed by General John Winder who proudly claims to be killing off more Yankees then Bobby Lee!! Winder commanded the prison camps within the Confederacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remember what I said earlier about explanations?\n\nYour explanation is easy to vary. It's about as sound as saying \"Thor is the reason there is lightning and thunder\". Do you believe Thor causes lighting and thunder? No, you don't. You understand about electromagnetism don't you? I hold your explanation to the same scrutiny. You gave me a judaeo-christian bible verse and I give you the theory of an expanding universe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Equating Jacob Zuma to all dedicated Christians displays an amazing lack of understanding of what a Christian is. I would have thought that insightful background reading is mandatory for good journalism?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Depends. Are you the Christian being asked? Then I'd expect the percentages to be significantly higher.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's highly controversial to assert that conservative Catholics are somehow in control of God's will, while those of us who support some socially liberal policies are misguided, basing that support on \"man's understanding\" and \"our own opinion.\" As though the conservative Catholics were not also human beings, and their interpretation of biblical literature were not based on their \"own opinion,\" and their human \"understanding\"! \n\nIn fact, socially liberal policies draw much inspiration from Christian or biblical sources. And the interpretation of those sources is guided by reason (God's gift to human beings), the love of justice (a responsible, logical reaction to God's creating us as social animals), and very often charity too (the greatest of the theological virtues).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seriously? I will leave you to languish in your euphoria. I do not want to argue. Many good people are Christians. Many bad people call themselves Christians. Terrible things have been done in the name of many religions. In general, most people who call themselves Christians, and I do mean most, do not walk the talk. That is clearly not the fault of the diety they claim to follow. I do not blame any diety for anything that is wrong on earth, but at the same time I do not give them credit for having influence on anything positive either. If humans could take responsibility, in full, for their own circumstances, the world would improve. Here I agree with the communists: Religion is opium to the masses. If it helps you cope and makes you happy go with it. I have an argument about this once every few years, but it is always futile. Mostly because I am not even remotely interested in changing your mind. I am happy that you are happy. Who am I to try and remove that from anyone's life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "EFC1127A: First of all, MSW is no more an expert on the mythic \"Catholic Left\" than you are. And yes, for the record, your postings are generally very \"lame.\"\n\nEFC... [Anyone whose moniker is their serial number off their past-due label deserves all the skepticism they get - are you in hiding from your buddy 'thought police' in the Vatican?] For your edification, there is a reason why the \"Our Father\" is immediately followed by the \"Sign of Peace\": they are both part of the same introductory ritual of the Communion rite - natural progression from one to the other - but of course, for you, that is a non-essential element, not part of the eucharistic \"essences.\"\n\n\"Semi-coma?\" Really? You think so ... When you stick you head in the sand like an ostrich, remember EFC what part of your anatomy is most exposed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rather then toss out the \"dignity\" card, why not address the issue of why Protestants numbers are dropping more then Catholics, & even married men/women Pastors are not helping. \n\nHave you considered that may not be the answer.\n\nNor is it a perverse \"numbers game\". as you your self use \"droves\" instead of \"numbers\". Or is it perverse because you just don't like the \"numbers\", & would like to dismiss them.\n\nAt the same time, increasing priestly ordinations & seminarians are happening. Why is that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I strongly affirm what you have stated here... superstition and magic have long been infused into our ecclesial mores and only recently, relatively speaking, has Christendom had the tools, knowledge and freedom to firmly rebuke it. Jesus did not teach that the source and summit of our faith should be boiled down to a mere carnal belief in the real \"physical\" presence in the manna (i.e., body, blood, soul and divinity). Instead, as you say, His chief teaching was about the transformative power of communing with Him and our neighbors through love, mercy, compassion and fellowship, which He so excellently modeled for us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not like European Christianity ever conquered whole peoples and continents in the name of the Christian God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suggest the \"propensity to put everyone into neat little boxes\" is the direct result of the way human intelligence works. In every field, including natural science, the intellectual urge is to make distinctions founded in data, and use those distinctions as our understanding of the world.\n\nI further suggest that we see exactly the same propensity to discover \"neat little boxes\" in emerging gender theories. Just now the field is a bit of a mess, in the sense that everyone and his dog is proposing new distinctions from diverse perspectives. This mess is not bad, but perfectly natural as the human mind struggles to make sense of new data, new observations.\n\nOur Catholic problem is somewhat different, I suggest. There is a powerful tendency to sanctify prior sets of \"neat little boxes\" rather than be open to new one, based on the false assumption that those prior boxes have been with us from the beginning. Doctrine has always changed, and that crucial fact was not taught in seminaries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you're claiming the Christian has the power in this case, I'd say you've been buying too much Rocky Mountain High. \n\nThe gay couple asked for a wedding cake, Phillips said no, the gay couple made a couple of impolite remarks, flipped him half the peace sign, then went to another bakery and got a cake for free.\n\nThe baker has been fined, his staff \"re-educated,\" forced to document his compliance with the law--and, as a result, he shut down his cake-making business. \n\nThe score is Gays 1 and Baker 0. \n\nBut this really isn't about Christians vs Gays. It's about conflicting rights of individuals. Gays can get married if the baker wins or loses the case. But if the baker loses, he'll likely go out of business.\n\nBy the way, it's legal for gays to be Christians--thanks to the First Amendment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You previously asked, \"How does a Christian know he/she is \"in Christ\"?\" To which I responded, \"Not with a checklist of socio-political mores.\" That would be a gospel of works, and works in and of themselves save no one. Honesty, justice, and equality are the -results- of being in Christ, and do not cause being in Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You do know that there are many thousands of women Christian ministers and a growing number of female rabbis, right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is totally unfair that you can Latinize my name and I cannot do the same! Are you named after St. Augustine's mom? And where does DeAngelis as a surname come from? I am familiar with Habito and Sacerdoti as surnames, which point back to some clerical contributor. \nAnyway, I reject the quidquid recipitur, because the modus recipiendis can be so crippled by bias, fear, or ideological fixations as to render any teaching a carrier for that bias, fear, and attachment to viewpoints. (But also I am a Mahayana Christian, and they began by emptying their own viewpoints, making them all conventional). A while ago a friend told me Lonergan had a piece refuting the quidquid, which makes me more confident. I think it's all about the attitude with which one approaches a faith, whether it is to practice it, or just to feel right about having truth.\nI agree with most of what is here written about the abuse. But it seems like a never-ending story that I know so well. Continued:", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The future looks hopeful indeed just look at these pictures from the Catholic Herald:-\nhttp://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2017/06/20/pictures-extraordinary-form-ordinations-take-place-in-england-for-first-time-in-decades/\nLiverpool once the most Catholic diocese in the U.K. and now one of the least Catholic thanks to its liberal clergy gives us hope for the future. Archbishop McMahon entering the Church in his Cappa Magna, like Cardinal Burke ordains two FSSP deacons to the priesthood according to the pre-conciliar Pontifical. Catholic bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury is in attendance.\n'Catholic' bishops are thin on the ground in England and Wales so it is good to know that they are not extinct.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can appreciate your reaction finding out the spin you were given was unmitigated hogwash.\n\nThe feasible solution was the one proposed in several comments by religious organizations BEFORE the rule was adopted by the Government under Kathleen Sebelius, the Administration\u2019s house Catholic.\n\nThe Government in adopting the rule, and then pursuing the cases, took the position that the solution was excessively burdensome on the Government and pursued that line for almost three years in courts.\n\nOnce it dropped that pose, there was no can to kick down the road.\n\nI would get really familiar with the law under which these cases were litigated and how the Government was coerced into its admission before digging your hole any deeper.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find this is a consequence of abandoning Christian values. There is no acknowledgement that good people can make singular bad choices and should be forgiven, especially if the one event is totally contradictory to persons values and character demonstrated throughout their lives. In this politically charged times, there is no forgiveness. Any slight is automatically classified as a high crime and a person is destroyed without mercy. The case of the British Nobel laureate who was banished and kicked out for making fun of women in labs also comes to my mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK - I can take some pointers from you on this, because I hope my kids demonstrate the maturity to enroll at Sheldon in HS in a few years (we shall see). Obviously I am going to pay anyway, but sincerely believe more options will help 4j do a better job. I have coached Kidsports BBALL for 2 years (didn't do it this year) at Bertha Holt and know the kind of kids we are dealing with in Public School, and how they are disadvantaged (I don't think one of my 4th graders had their original parents in the home), but the monopoly thing does not seem to be working, From my perspective the tax thing is simply a reflection on the arrogance of the government who rules from the Ivory Tower, if they would engage a bit more with the community perhaps there would not be so much animosity withing the Christian Home-school Community.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no mention of the priesthood period, except for the single reference to the royal priesthood which refers to Jesus and Jesus only. The earliest Christians were Jews who were very familiar with priesthood, it was still active in their lifetime. Jesus, Founder, was Himself not an ordained priest and chose not to be born of the priestly tribe. He refers to Himself as a teacher (rabbi), and His followers initially considered Him a prophet. The concept of ordained priesthood is a gradual understanding (perhaps initiated by the Holy Spirit - see how that works?). Perhaps She is still working, further unfolding our understanding of servant-leader priesthood. Perhaps that includes the understanding that gender (in this instance) is an accident of nature, and totally unrelated to the call to ordination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And as the safety net for the middle class tears, the ranks of the poor will grow. But good Catholics like Ryan are oblivious, and, so, of course is our president-to-be, along with his court....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was James Joyce who said the Catholic Church means, \"Here comes everybody.\" So what were Francis George's \"gifts?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't worry, Terri. You know me. Losing the ability to crack wise now and then would be like losing a limb! No, I still believe that humor is an important safety-valve and, sometimes, just the thing to cool down a heated exchange.\n\nI just want to be more disciplined going forward and try to direct my snark toward situations and observations instead of at other posters. I do think public figures are fair game, including Church leaders, but even with them there's a line of Christian charity that I think shouldn't be crossed.\n\nAnyway, fear not. The Wombat hasn't lost his sense of humor and has no intention of ever doing so!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now the IRS should concurrently remove all tax exemptions for all religions and their greedy enterprises led by the Catholic \"healthcare\" monopoly. They are all leeches on the nation contributing nothing in return except hot air filled with absolute lies from bible to Koran to pulpit. The most dangerous entities in the nation and the world. Time for a Revolution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I couldn't find your reply to me about why Christians would vote for Trump. (It was probably deleted because it didn't meet civility standards.) The simple and profound reason Christians would vote for Trump is because he isn't running for pastor, priest or rabbi. President is a secular job and, like it or not, Christians are not trying to start a government religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Colkoch for your response\nWe all have our Being in God as do all created life forms.\nWe are more than flesh and blood we all have a divine spark one of God\u2019s Spirit (Truth) within us \n\u201cGod is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.\"\nYou say\n\u201cIt (ego) is not in and of itself capable of meaningful rejection of its ultimate creator or the Ground of its Being\u201d\nThe divine spark (Consciousness /freewill) within all human \u2018Beings\u2019 can separate itself from its Creator by rejecting Him, and we do this when we reject the essence of His Love which is Truth. \n\u201cHe who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day\u201d\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On the one hand, one has to give Pavone credit for standing up for his convictions, despite criticism and controversy and consequences. He does want to bring an awareness of the physical reality of what abortion really is into the public eye. And even though some NCR readers and others might not want to face or view that reality, it still is the reality. On the other hand, placing a dead fetus on an altar seems to me to be very inappropriate, to say the least. Also, I personally can't see how any Catholic could in good conscience truly support Trump (or Clinton). I would also add: Neither Pavone nor hardly anyone else talk about the *True* and primary tragedy of abortion: that is, that when these infants are killed, they are deprived of the Beatific Vision because they die in Original Sin. Unlike Benedict XVI and pretty much everyone else, I assent to the dogma of the Limbo of the Infants.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In addition to sources written by his students after his death, we have a contemporary satire written by Aristophanes that pokes fun at Socrates. In contrast to the gospels, these sources are independent of each other, which is arguably better evidence than we have for the existence of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "-Private Baptist schools , private Catholic schools, private Muslim schools, private Jewish schools, private Christian schools- all have religious instruction based on their tenets. Get religion out of schools", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump's father was arrested at a KKK rally in 1927 for opposing immigrants from Catholic Italy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Look into those 'modifications' (called variances in textual criticism) and you will see that not all variances are the same, nor do they equate to falsehood or that what was originally written is somehow unattainable to know. Secondly, there are many other passages, the earliest and most agreed upon, which demand that Christianity is Jesus Himself, not a system or path that he simply taught others to walk.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Smoothie,\nThe conservative catholic organization you referred to does not speak for the Catholic Church. I'm certain that Pope Francis would not approve of the articles blaming the tragedy on liberals. Check out the organization Catholic Democrats, to get a realistic opinion of the church's true teaching on political issues.\nThere is a huge difference in thought and interpretation by conservative fundamentalist catholics and progressive liberal catholics especially on political matters. The church welcomes both, but insists on adhering to the words and teachings of Jesus. Peace and Love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I think a thought that haunts children when a parent dies is that they will end up in a relationship or even re-marry...\"\n\nI can't say that I'd ever be \"haunted\" by the prospect that a widowed parent might once again find love and happiness.\n\nThen again, I'm not a very good Christian...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"As I enter my majority-adulthood life, I'm living in a nation that's never quite let go of its hostility towards women and people of color, especially black people. I believe some of the strength that I need to face the world, fight it, and survive it is still found in female friendships, but I'm looking for them outside of familiar circles. I'm not a regular churchgoer anymore since my Christianity has taken a dramatic turn to the left, and I don't think I could sit quietly by and agree if conservative views were espoused again like they were back when I was in college.\"\n\nIf you think, at your age, that this nation is hostile towards women and people of color, wait until you hit 65. (I am almost 69.) Our society wishes we old ones (female AND male) simply did not exist, if for no other reason than we tend to remind the younger ones that they'll be old someday too. With that said: I agree w with Maureen : I loved my 50s and have REALLY loved my 60s. I hope you do also.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting response. The Eastern European countries largely had their governments imposed on them by foreigners. Germany, Italy and Spain otoh chose their governments in some way, like civil war, elections etc. Catholic participation in the selection may have been ill informed, or well informed, but in either case, they did participate in a way that led to support for open warfare, genocide and totalitarian governments. This was very different from the Eastern European situation.\n\nVatican II was called in the wake of that experience. Teaching Christ needed to be overhauled so that Catholics would resist the totalitarian, warring, genocidal mpulses in their midst. Hopefully that has happened.\n\nIn response to these assertions, you listed a number of evils that currently exist in those countries. I figured you wanted those things to be resisted by Catholics, as do I. That means there most be more reform, doesn't it? What we have done so far has not been enough? Sorry if I got that wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, you should accept Tridentinus's personal interpretation of Catholic teaching. \n\nIt is perfectly possible to disagree with the magisterium in some things and be a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a long way to say if Christians do something you, Thor, don't like, they are no longer Christian. Very convenient for you.\n\"No true Christian\", eh?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re-write with an addendum:\nWhile you act locally, you refuse to see the global picture. You refuse to see the global impact humanity as a whole has on this planet.\nI have met Christians all my life. They come in an astonishing variety of beliefs. I've prayed with Roman Catholics, sung with Episcopalians, protested with Mennonites, sat in on Assemblies of God services, broken bread with Methodists.\nYour concepts of a good Christian and proper belief are so narrow, light can't get through.\nAnd you're still dodging the connection between conservative Christianity and the notion that God will take care of everything for the \"good Christians\", and complacency and apathy towards the Earth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe that the corporal works of mercy can be found in this statement by Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller : \"The people of San Antonio have opened their arms to welcome evacuees of this historic hurricane, and Catholic Charities of the archdiocese has been assisting and will continue to assist in a variety of ways those impacted by this natural disaster.\"\n\nOf course hefty donations to the Red Cross and to local Catholic Charities can be a VERY useful analog to any of the Corporal Works of Mercy right now. Care to help?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While Roman Catholic theology (as opposed to Eastern theology) holds that the ministers of the sacrament are the couple themselves, the Church requires a priest or deacon to officiate as the official witness on behalf of the Church for a valid and licit sacramental wedding.\n\nOtherwise, two Catholics could get married by anyone with a secular licence and have that marriage accepted as a sacramental marriage. In fact, if two Catholics got married in this fashion \"outside the Church\" and then divorced and each spouse sought an annulment to remarry in the Church, they would be told that they do not required annulments because their first marriage was not valid. \n\nYour concern appears to be belittling the \"ordained\" diaconate. I am not engaged in that discussion. The significance of the diaconate as an ordained ministry within Catholic canon law is not dependent on what deacon may or may not do liturgically. A deacon is a cleric in canon law, and there are many things only clerics can do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sher, it has to do with the Christian day of rest\nso what? what do you intend to do about it?\n\nthis country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and Western civilization\n\nyou can't change history", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the National Catholic Register should change it's name National Republican Catholic Register and the USCCB should become the USCCBofGOP, since I don't remember any positive statements about President Obama from either of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Western media types are so critical of fear and domestic security concerns stoked by the arrival of so many Muslim refugees -- followed by terrorist attacks in 'host' nations. Why not compare the West's humanitarian efforts to those of Middle Eastern nations to shelter Yadziki Christian or Shia refugees in places like Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia ... where Christianity is outlawed. The ONLY virulent 'disease' is hardened religious fundamentalism promoted by theocratic governments. Time for Mr. Ash to look beyond his sanctimonious western bubble. Set the standards high for EVERYONE, not just the West where religious war is being imported.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you read my later comment? The pastor from one of those churches was asked to pray with George W. Bush after he became president. This church actively worked to get him elected. I personally watched thousands of people at one time listen to and participate in this message...the church had millions of attendees (a mega church). And it wasn't just this one denomination. It is a movement that is active in most communities across America. It's members become elected officials. A decent handful of Republican candidates for president identify themselves as such. \n\nI've seen small oddball churches with out-there ideas. But evangelical Christianity isn't cherry picking. It's real, it's powerful, and it has numbers. But even then, I'll say a lot of it's members are well-meaning. It's a shame to see politicians use their good intentions. \n\nBut extreme examples of Muslims come nowhere close to the adoption of evangelical Christian beliefs. That's why it's not a concern to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry, if you sign up to be a Latin-rite Catholic priest, you know that you are expected to make a promise of celibacy. Like people who get married know they are supposed to be faithful to each other for life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting. I assumed you identify as a Christian. You implicitly deny that label. Wonder if Jesus would approve of a Catholic denying him. But at least the aversion to Christian behavior is now explained.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you're going to write a article learn the actual true facts about Christianity. Real Christians DO NOT celebrate Pagan Egyptian rituals like Easter . True Christians celebrate the Passover and the bread & wine rituals", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am glad he doesn't have a problem with Muslims, just the religion.\n\nI wonder if he is aware of the many sects of Islam. I mean, I have no problem at all with Christians. But I thought the Spanish Inquisition was kind of over the top. And the folks who handle poisonous snakes down South are still a little on the weird side if you ask me. Jim Jones was another Christian who seemed to be outside the herd.\n\nBut for some kooky reason, even in the face of all that insanity and cruelty, I still think Christians should be free to practice their faith, and don't mind too much if they emigrate here, either.\n\nMaybe I am just too darned tolerant for my own good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Baltimore isn't even very good, either. It doesn't hold up next to the Penny Catechism (compiled by the same Bp. Challoner whose incisive commentary often accompanies online copies of the Douay-Reims), let alone a modern adult resource not afraid to engage with ideas, like (La Ravoire's) My Catholic Faith. \n\nBaltimore is worse when it is read as anything but what it was written to be: a teaching aid for children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you suggesting that practicing, otherwise law-abiding Americans, Christian or otherwise, are committing these mass killings? Commit the majority of \"normal\" violent crime and homicide? Cite?\n\nWhy blame people who are not committing the crimes?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am sure you can cherry pick examples from any religion to paint whatever extremist boogeyman narrative you want.\n\nBut let's not forget the most politically active and influential religious group is evangelical Christianity. I recall watching thousands of people over the years praying and cheering for the likes of Trump and Bush thinking they were born again Christians who would \"bring this country back to God\" and \"make this a Christian nation again\".\n\nImagine the outcry if any other religion (or secularism) had that kind of rhetoric and influence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know the difference, thanks, and you distort my words. My point was that, though she mistakenly referred to the Talmud, it's obvious what she meant. Jesus was not a Catholic, but a Second Temple Jew.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why move forward? Was the work of the apostles and Church fathers not sufficient to seperate us from the secular world and become saints? Which is the entire goal of being Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We should open our homes and hearts to others because it's consistent with our Christian and American values...\"\n\nVery well...it's natural then that we generate and meditate on a few points of examination from this touching aspiration that Monica has given us:\n\n\"How many foster children have I personally taken in over the last five years?\"\n\n\"How often do I go down to the city square and bring in the homeless into my home for the weekend?\"\n\n\"How many homeless friends do I have?\"\n\n\"How long and consistent have I been in doing this form of charity 'consistent with our Christian and American values\"...?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As you are undoubtedly aware, Burke has been styled as \". . . of the world's foremost authorities on Roman Catholic canon law.\" Ray has, or should have has, plenty of know-how to resolve his own dubia, privately. On the other hand, Burke had previously commented, publicly, that the Catholic church under Pope Francis, is like \"a ship without a rudder.\" No doubt about it, Burke has made himself an extremely controversial figure on the Catholic church, and Pope Francis is extremely wise in maintaining sufficient silence for Burke to resolve his own dubia, or to assemble enough rope to hang himself and his scarlet-clad comrades in mutiny.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cwe have no knowledge of who actually committed the bombing, let alone any details about background or motive\u201d\n\nWell let\u2019s talk details. \n\nWas it a Hindu who flew a plane into the world trade center north tower?\n\nWas it a Sikh who flew a plane into the world trade center south tower?\n\nWas it a Buddhist who flew a plane into the pentagon SE E-ring?\n\nWas the attack in Little Rock unleashed by a Methodist?\n\nWas the attack in Detroit unleashed by a Jew?\n\nWas the attack in Fort Hood unleashed by a Roman Catholic,?\n\nWas the attack in Times Square unleashed by an Episcopalian?\n\nWas the attack in Boston unleashed by a Mormon?\n\nWas the attack in Chattanooga unleashed by a Lutheran?\n\nWas the attack in San Bernadino unleashed by a 7th Day Adventist?\n\nHow about the attacks in Orlando, St. Cloud, Oak Harbor and Fort Lauderdale?\n\nNope, each and every one of these vicious attacks was planned and executed by a MUSLIM.\n\nAnd you think that is all COINCIDENCE? \n\nIf so YOU are the threat to this country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It just doesn't bother me. It is historically what it is. (No one expected the pope/Papal States to surrender to the shadows of history as the Dalai Lama has had to after Tibet was appropriated by Communist China. Some kind of entity was bound to surface that satisfied both the Holy See and Italy. Remember, before the fall of Rome [to the Italian revolutionary forces] in 1870's, the new Italian government wanted to give a much larger section of Rome to the pope, but he wouldn't hear of it, would have nothing to do with a \"compromise.\") Anyway, the European Union doesn't have an issue with it (which includes Italy) nor do other countries -- 150 -- that have diplomatic relations with the Holy See. For most, the Vatican is a force for good. And most Catholics are thrilled to go to Rome to see the pope. No one talks about doing away with Vatican City. It's holy ground for so many pilgrims, especially in this 21st century of violence and barbarity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for this. I did not know about Freedom House.\nGreat idea.\nI love the idea of our country as refuge and sanctuary and happy to see Emma's words used as she to helped others with her friend Rose Hawthorne who also worked in the tenements of NYC.\nRose as most know, went on to offer free care for terminally ill folks after Emma's death from cancer. Back then it was horrorifically stigmatized.\nWould love to see a two tonged approach with our open arms to others and to our own folks.\nWe can do this - maybe a great idea for those fleeing oppression and torture can be used here for trauma issues.\nIntersectionality rather than fear.\nYes and instead of no.\nJoy instead of bitterness.\nWhoville!\nNot Christian but I believe God and Jesus bubble up in the strangest places!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Nones\" is the colloquial term for anyone who does not identify with a religion. (The term has its own Wikipedia entry.)\n\nIronically, \"nones\" also has separate meanings in the old Roman calendar and in Roman Catholic liturgy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Name one and we can discuss it. You can start with thinking about the difference between a Rastafarian claiming the Constitutional right to smoke dope and a Catholic claiming the right to not dispense contraceptives.\n\nI assume you will be more open to discussion than David, who wrote --- get this --- \"Now this is the last time I will respond to you.\" LOL. This ipse dixit attitude is becoming more prevalent on the left. What irony.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But if you scare them enough, it's easier to pry them loose from their money. Every preacher knows that and Presto learned at the foot of a master - his father Ernest C. \"Back to the Bible Hour\" Manning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the reply. What I am hearing you say is that your rationale for advocating in favor of the obstructionism which you condemn as 'treasonous' is a combination of \"because they did it first\" and \"we'll show them - - let's give them a taste of their own medicine\". The first one seems like a terrible reason to me, with little support in Catholic thought. As for the second, while surely we are told to be 'as wise as serpents' in certain contexts, would not the country suffer both through bad example and perhaps the governmental paralysis you condemned in your initial post? It seems to me there would be more prudent courses that could get the same point across.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We can respect his opinion but we just won't vote for another Christian Supremacist like Harper again!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe you Christians can explain this to me: when does the, \"thou shalt not judge\" come into play?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill: remember, I stated I didn't want to get involved in a debate/discussion regarding fundamentalist Christianity. Really, there's no purpose. You are a fundamentalist christian. I am an agnostic. You're comfortable with your beliefs. I'm comfortable with mine. regards, Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I'm reading the Pew article correctly, Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Catholics and Jews are over-represented in Congress in comparison to their percentage of the population. Baptists, Nondenominational Protestants, Pentecostals, Adventists, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and nones are underrepresented. While nones are the most underrepresented, Pentecostals are very underrepresented as well (.4% of Congress, 5% of the population).\n\nI can see why nones and non-Christians are underrepresented. I wonder what accounts for the underrepresentation of nondenominational Protestants and Pentecostals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can tell you what the Bible says about that, but I suspect you already know that. You having and expressing opinions of faith are fine with me, but claiming they are biblical or Christian are not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did Paul Bernardo claim he murdered women as a result of his Christian faith? No. You are the one with a bizarre stretch of logic.\n\nA better example would be the Westboro Evangelical Church, an extremist group who do claim to be Christian, but they are only a tiny handful of people, not a large movement, and even they did not murder anyone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So very sad, and still not expression of sorrow from POTUS. probably because attack was on non-Christians by and large and was perpetrated by a person whose skin tone is more like his own. Shameful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".\ntoo many voters agree that they should be able to force their religious views on others despite it being clearly against the law.\n\nOne of those assemblymen chose to run on this specific issue.\n\nHe announced as much, saying it spurred him to run.\n\nAnd he got the votes.\n\nShows how much respect for the rule of law the christian extremists have.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"What we have in common is more important than what divides us.\" Yes, to recognize legitimate diversity as a reality to be accepted and not a stumbling block. There will always be those who wish to re-fight the old battles, on both sides. That's a scandal for both Reformed and Roman Catholics. In an age of theological illiteracy, so many don't even know the basic concepts of Christianity (the Creeds, the Gospels, the Lord's prayer, the meaning of \"grace\" or \"sacrament\"). In such a situation, it is far better to work together in ministry and service, showing the face of Jesus to the indifferent who are beguiled by a deeply secular culture. The past horrors cannot be changed; we killed each other, we condemned; we even got Jews and Muslims involved in our own Christian divisions, on both sides. Enough! Let the Spirit lead us, and banish fear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anybody else concerned that this \"leader\" of a nominally Christian sect (to which I still belong, occasionally to my own amazement) admires a political candidate for \"twisting the knife\"? Even in context that's a remarkable thing to say.\n\nMethinks Charles Chaput dabbles in the dark art of twisting the knife himself, and revealingly gives credit where credit is due. The Archbishop's own attempt to twist the knife in leading Democrats pales besides Trump's outbursts. But it's no less inappropriate. \n\nToo bad Charles Chaput isn't on the ballot for his office.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rich white conservative 'Christians' (use of quotations necessary because they are anything but).\n\nWow. Depressing. Sorry America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the reasons Christianity has declined in Europe is that for centuries it was an arm of the state. Christianity has flourished in the U.S. because there is no state religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How long until it could become not \"Christian vs non-Christian\" prayers in public, but \"Episcopalian vs Methodist vs Catholic\" etc. as theocrats turn on each other in the demand for supremacy and the religious struggles of old Europe are revisited here?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In theory , I would agree, in practice I disagree. Alcohol is a plague, I don't understand how, with the number of deaths associated this drug, it can be celebrated and/or endorsed in any form within the Christian community. People become alcoholics by drinking it, and an endorsement from a Christian, even under Christian Liberty is dangerous ground. I have not had a drink in probably 15 years, except for 1 beer on a business trip I took with co-workers 3 years ago (It took me two hours to drink it), I can be at peace knowing I have not \"enabled\" or endorsed another persons drinking or alcoholism by the exercise of my liberty. Same goes with Marijuana - there will be a day where we will see marijuana themed bible studies, just as we see craft beer gatherings. The elephant is sneaking his way through the door, and the consequences will be troubling.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I apologize for calling you a progressive, I assumed you voted for Hillary. As far as you trying to conflate the conservatives / liberals of 150 years ago with the conservatives / liberals of today, you are dead wrong. The anti-slavery movement was born and fostered by the Christian churches of the north. They could easily be compared to the antiabortion Christians of today. Liberals of today have no standing trying to assume their mantle. Trying to claim Lincoln because he opposed slavery and considering him a leftist is a complete rewrite of history. If I were a shameless Democrat, I would also try to claim Lincoln as my own. Lincoln was murdered by a Democrat for political reasons. \nYour ridiculous argument claiming that the \u201cliberals\u201d fought Jim Crow Laws try\u2019s to cover today\u2019s libs with yesterday\u2019s Republicans who by a higher percentage than the Democrats overturned Jim Crow Laws. \n\nCalifornia has almost 1 trillion bucks in Public Employees unfunded liabilities. Oops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Forty years ago or so there was a similar group called CALIX for Catholics in recovery. They were active in AA, but had the bonus of the church's teachings and sacraments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Burke is not merely asking a question; Francis is not refusing to answer. Burke is trying to undermine the teaching of AL; the pope isn't biting.\nA Catholic (or anyone) not only may but must follow the judgement of her/his conscience (cf. CCC 1790) even if, objectively, the judgment is wrong. Conscience formation is a serious obligation and while Catholics consult the teaching of the church, they cannot reduce conscience to conforming behavior to church teaching, especially if they have concluded that the teaching is wrong, as most Catholics have with respect to issues like birth control, masturbation, and homosexuality.\nI apologize for allowing you to draw me into a discussion about who goes to hell for what. I admit that I hurled the first volley in pointing out the lunacy of the teaching about masturbation. I really don't think, as I said earlier in thread, that anyone takes this seriously; but I'm aware that someone might be reading who could be harmed by what you write.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So change what we believe to get new members? Sounds like pandering to me. \n\nThe music sung in most Catholic Churches could use an improvement, if you are not being metaphorical. Too much jingle type music with kiddie melodies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many Christian organization can you name that also have tax exemptions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As we discussed on a separate thread, we were told \"Be afraid\" more often than \"Be not afraid.\" Fear was an efficient means of assuring \"Church productivity,\" with all metrics to show it--attendance, enrollments, donations, memberships, rules keeping, identity, and public reverence. \n\nAlas, avoiding pains, burns, agonies of Hell was the motivator far more so than loving, and we, with fear, looked at the Church scoreboard to see if we were winning, averting hell and escaping Father's or Sister's wrath. Like Chuck Colsen said, \"Once you've got them by the _ _ _ _, their hearts and minds will follow.\"\n\nBut efficiency, as Drucker told us, is doing things right, not necessarily doing the right things (effectiveness). \n\nSome would say Vatican II produced failure, citing the pre-Vatican II metrics for success. \nBut that is \"temporal provincialism,\" the application of standards of one time to another. \n\nLet's wait and see if Christian roles will beat Christian rules on the scoreboard.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Much of what you call \"folk music\" that is performed in Catholic churches these days is not really folk music in its strictest definition of the term. Instead, it's music that makes young people cringe because it sounds \"so last year,\" which is the kiss of death. Real folk music is hard to come by and mostly not appropriate for the liturgy. I'm thinking about early American tunes, Cajun folk music, that sort of thing. Also, great music is not always difficult to perform, although that is sometimes the case. Mozart's famous \"Ave verum,\" for instance is a great piece of music written about the same time he wrote his famous \"Requiem,\" but it's not at all difficult to perform. The \"Missa Syllabica\" by the contemporary Estonian composer Arvo P\u00e4rt, for instance, is not very difficult either. Sometimes the best art is the simplest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"..there's something happening here...\"\nWhat it is ain't exactly clear: Some \"Christians\" are afraid that someone is trying to take something from them, and are downright hostile toward those who don't jump on the Jesus bandwagon. Those of us who don't believe are defensive about our rights. It's a two way mirror. The true Christian patriots are busy 'running up their flags while tearing down their neighbors'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is not a Catholic and I don't expect him to cater to Catholics. but Hillary's abortion policies are so profoundly against the unborn and people who care about the unborn making every tax payer involved in paying for abortions and partial birth abortions and trafficking of unborn body parts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words--\n\nThe Catholic Church needs to give up the Catholic Faith and embrace the Faith of liberal, secular, humanist atheism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Britain\u2019s asylum seekers are the ones in real danger\"\n-------------------------------\n\nHmm you should watch the videos of the suicide bombings by ISIS in Egypt that targeted Coptic Christians today. Killing at least 37.... I'd say they are much more in danger.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And supposedly, when the pope speaks it isPeter speaking through him. You accepted every belch of JPII the Great Enabler and his sycophant Benedict as being infallible and anyone questioning then as arch heretics, but because Francis saying that love and mercy go beyond law, he is going to destroy the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I often do and my pastor is fine with it. Apparently the problem of understanding scripture is yours alone. Good luck in your endeavors to understand what you are pulling out better. Christians are not in agreement about many things as this discussion shows. I will pray for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@ Red chook\nThank you for your comment and the joke.\n Pius XII also put the writings of Sr. Faustina on the Index of Prohibited Books\nYou are correct I do refer to the divine Mercy Image but not the image the Church displays today but the true image an image of broken man\n\u201cPaint a picture according to the vision you see and with the inscription: \u201cJesus, I Trust in Thee.\u201d\nI desire that this picture be venerated first in your chapel and then throughout the whole world.\nShe acted immediately in singular (pure) intent; no one else can paint this picture, as no one else can SEE what she saw. The picture she painted, sketched, (no matter how badly) must be venerated and no other, to do so knowing it is not the painting commanded by God *(His Word is inviolate)* is to commit blasphemy\nRevelations given by the Saints are not binding on us, only (worthy of belief) we do not have to accept them.\nWhen Gods Word is accepted by an individual in a revelation it is only binding on them, but \ncontinue", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not the Christian portrayal of God. Perhaps you noticed?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, the one thing that Tebow and Kap share is their deep Christian faith. \n\nOne can certainly argue who is more patriotic, I take the side of the one who willing to fight to make America live up to it's ideals through peaceful protest and charitable acts. \n\nWhen can also argue who is more Christian, though as a secular humanist I can't make that call. This article by a person of faith may resonate better with you than anything I say. https://www.bing.com/search?q=colin+kaepernick+christian+faith&pc=MOZI&form=MOZSBR", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not just Catholic Church cases that are affected. Oh, many, if not most, of them are. But the episcopal cover-up of these crimes should not be rewarded by giving the bishops a free pass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and so much of what passes for \"christianity\" here in the USA is as far from being what it means to be American as it is from what it means to be a Christian. no wonder the nones become greater in number every day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Assembly-approved religious association\"...That is absolutely chilling. Are these Christians so insecure and close-minded that they can't tolerate those who have different ideas? By the way, the specific content of that \"satanic\" invocation sounded pretty reasonable to me. \n\nGovernment whether state, federal or local has no business approving or disapproving any religion. They should have just dropped the invocations altogether. This makes those 6 members on the assembly look like a bunch of thin-skinned religious extremists. What's next, Kenai borough blasphemy laws?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" but I already knew both of the mentioned progressive Catholic groups were in existence long before Clinton\".\n\nCatholics in Alliance for the Common Good & Catholics United were founded in 2005. \n\nSo if is as you say these groups were in existence before Clinton, was that a ghost or specter in the US Senate, prior to 2005?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The early church did all it could to suppress any other competing religions of the time, so I am not so sure that the Last Supper was not indeed a Seder Supper. \n\nBut be that as it may, I remain very much moved every year at this time because this week's series of events, more than any other, illustrate Christ's mission to His people, His humanity and how much He love(s or d) us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A lot of Christian beliefs had their beginnings in spirituality. The two do not have to be mutually exclusive, though most try their hardest to make it so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not in that area. That is conservative and Christian territory.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're history is correct but, if memory serves me, ended with the last Catholic European monarch. Since then, no civil gov't in the world has been granted this privilege by a pope. Zen's fears rests on a communist, totalitarian gov't having this power. What has changed in the last century is having a pope who wants a \"diplomatic coup\" in achieving a \"breakthrough\" with China.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not quite. David, I suggested Francis has demonstrated the guts to do much more. V1 gave the Bishop of Rome universal jurisdiction over everyone and everything Catholic, and it does really take gut to exercise uncontested power. V2 restored some balance by adding episcopal collegiality as an equally core value in Church governance. \n\nWith regard to communion for remarried active Catholics, Francis made it very clear he was in favour, but none the less convened two synods in an attempt to garner collegial support. After all, what loving Christian would not want to ease the burden of fellow Christians, Francis must have thought. When his colleges failed to demonstrate their sense of God's mercy wasn't up to Francis aspirations, he must have been sorely tempted to exercise his V1 authority. Instead he exercised constraint, and wrote this beautiful piece in which he maintained the status quo, and yet authorized priests to be merciful in the internal forum.\n\nThat took guts, don't you think?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your initial post referred to \"dreams,\" not daydreams. They are not the same, though you put them in the same moral canoe (or pirogue, if you're from South Louisiana). Tell that to your friends when you invite them to laugh at the thought that you're a new Catholic.\n\n\"A willfully entertained fantasy\" is not to be averted or discarded; it is to be cherished.\" Wow! What a major premise. Tell this to your friends when you invite them to laugh at the thought that you're a new Catholic.\n\n\"It is wrong to objectify a daydream.\" Another astounding premise. \n\n\"You sound new to love and romance.\" Tell that to MY friends. They really WILL guffaw.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes it is. \nFollowing the bishops at Vatican II, priests generally rejected the dry scholasticism that dominated the preparatory documents from the Vatican. This included rejecting the anti-modernist campaign that maligned many good Catholics and stifled conversation in the Church. Many of the worst attitudes we see on social media today come from people influenced by the anti-modernist campaign.\nHowever, I am not sure you can give that generation the credit for exposing sexual abuse in the Church. They remained largely silent, as clergy had in the generations before them. It took courageous victims speaking up, journalists covering them, and courts to really bring the abuse to light. Some of the clergy involved in facing the issue, like Cardinal O'Malley who was ordained in 1970, do come from that generation, but they largely followed the scandal after it had been brought to light.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To the republican nra(Nazi's Razing America)the slaughter of Christian families worshipping in their churches or county music fans at a festival with military weapons is the bargain basement price of freedom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, the article mentions his orthodoxy only once, and that was in the context of explaining why he is so popular with conservative Catholics. \n\nI just think it's important to look at allegations of criminal behavior straight on, without distractions. Whether or not he's orthodox is irrelevant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No worries--Mike Dunleavy is history. He has created a monster that will eat him for lunch. His \"better than thou\" pseudo-Christianity policy making will take him down--hard!!\nAs this new wave of Independents and Democrats turn Alaska purple, the DNC will start pouring money and resources here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am as familiar with it as Jesus was. In other words, it does not come from Jesus. But I have read the dogma.\nJesus said he came to the House of Judea. But when pressed, his compassion surfaced and he showed God's love is not limited to Jews but all, even Catholics like you and me. :>)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The word conservative has a political ring to it and political parties can encompass a varietiy of tenets within reason.The Church is not a political party and there is no room for diversity of belief in matters of Faith and Morals.This is why from the very start Creeds began to appear. I prefer the word orthodox when speaking of religion.\nBecause of this I only support orthodox speakers addressing any Catholic religious gathering precisely to avoid sowing doubt and doctrinal diversity. \nI post here to counter any heterodox opinions being propagated either in the articles or the comments section. I don't expect to have any effect upon the regulars here but I am trying to \"protect\", your word, anyone who may think that everything they read here is orthodox Catholicism.\nI don't judge individuals. If my tone is shrill it is probably in response to shrill reply. I'm not the only one who responds negatively and only do so when I disagree with something, which I admit is quite often.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only action that good citizens must do now is to watch and oppose any action the Trump administration is doing that is opposed to our nation's traditional and christian values. We can only thank Trump for waking us up as a country to be more involved in our political life. We, from our supposed leaders to the last citizen, deserve Trump. Now we have the obligation and the chance to make sure what is for the common good is accomplished.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mike: \"[T]ake it up with your confessor.\" Considering how very few Catholics make use of confession, perhaps the Holy Father could spend some time on this subject.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a lifelong Catholic I have scores of Catholic friends. Of those, I can count on my fingers the number of their daughters and granddaughters who are practicing Catholics. Adding my toes would be enough to cover their sons and grandsons.\n\nYet most of my friends' progeny are deeply spiritual individuals. Sadly, they have found other ways and other venues to express that part of themselves.\n\nThe church can remain an ossified all-boys club with a formulaic approach to the Great Mystery at the heart of our vast universe, but it is losing the young in droves.\n\nAnd I have no sympathy for an institution that considers 51 per cent of the human race unfit to participate fully in its leadership, its ministry and its visioning. Without the wisdom of women, the church continues to shrivel. and offer less and less of true value to our suffering world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, the Vatican boasts frequently of the Catholic church as a worldwide business, a BIG one, It's way bigger than Trump's YUUGE empire. And it goes back at least as far as Judas' purse, if not the Gifts of the Magi, which included glittering Gold!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One would think those who scream this must be a Christian nation would insist the government behave according to Christian principles, and demand actions of Christian charity and caring for its citizens, and gladly contribute to those government mandates. After all, if corporations are people, should not a government also act as a person, and a Godly one?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It sounds like you're a libertarian. All well and good, but it is not Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another option for affordable dependable care for families and individuals is the fast-growing healthcare sharing ministry programs like Christian-based Liberty HealthShare and Catholic-based Solidarity HealthShare. Sharing programs like these are recognized and classified by the ACA as 501c3 non-profit, and unlike traditional commercial insurance, are exempt from State insurance laws and 'individual mandate' requirements. Really innovative programs where responsible Christian families and individuals, or organized denominations holding common ethical/religious beliefs for medical expenses via advanced well-coordinated electronic payment process. Rates are unbeatable due to low admin costs not like commercial insurers paying skyrocketing HMO executive salaries! And members can see any hospital or doctor they choose. In my opinion, overall more attractive than Insurance Exchange Marketplace plans --check 'em out!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Substitute \"Alberta-based fundamentalist Christian sect\" for Islam in this issue, and watch the posting/disagrees, etc turn around 180 degrees...\n\nIt would be interesting to keep track of who is posting here in favour of this motion, and their comments every time Christianity is the issue...what is good or bad for one set of beliefs is good or bad for all...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, Singapore is really a amazing city. A perfect example of how things can be done when a government is concerned about looking after its citizens, unlike the mess we have here in Hawaii and the wider US. An educated, polite and considerate population where Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists live side by side in harmony. Really amazing what can be done when devise politicians and lobbyist are not in charge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've been criticized by friends of just being afraid of death. The claim being Christian will believe anything so they can have that security of salvation. There is a lot of theological arguments for and against that.\n\nI personal do not believe the written text of the bible in all cases. It was revised thousands of times and politics was often a part of what was taken as gospel. But Jesus left no written record, nor did he promise one to come. What he did do is talk about the Spirit and let folks know that Spirit was always available to them.\n\nOf course politics and power corrupted Jesus message time and time again. Even the faithful in most church's don't make an attempt to 'listen' to the spirit. Silent meditation (framed by biblical text), it NOT the rule but the exception. People prefer to talk religiously and lose the ability to listen to a quieter voice. I struggle scheduling quiet time for that matter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Betsy DeVos's game is to shift public funds to private church run schools using \"choice\" as the excuse. DeVos, like many other Trump nominees, is a right-wing evangelical Christian more interested in her faith than the real public good. DeVos and her supporters like to bash teachers unions because the teachers get in the way of their political agendas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I have always regarded the concept of God as mystery, I felt I was pretty clear on what \"Christian Charity\" meant. Your comment leaves me more certain about God and totally mystified by your concept of Christian Charity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's a more complete statement of the case against Hamilton CAS. The biological parents did not ask that the children be told the Easter Bunny is real, and the foster parents appear to have been very reasonable. If the facts as stated here are accurate the foster parents are in the right whether you are a Christian, atheist or pagan, or a reasonable Easter Bunny.\nhttps://www.jccf.ca/children-taken-away-from-foster-parents-unwilling-to-say-easter-bunny-is-real/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Many young women ... nor to celebrate their innate wholeness as it reflects the Divine image and likeness.\" I've come to feel the primordial reality eroding the 'innate wholeness' of all Catholics is the doctrine of 'original sin' - that even newborns must be 'saved'. 'Welcome, Child of Satan' is hardly a reception to fill one with self-confidence, after all. Then, Catholic women are forbidden - by overweening elderly males - to take effective means to use their power to give life responsibly; they're told they should of course plan their studies, work, holidays and all other aspects of a truly self-assured adult human life, but with the one major - gigantic - exception: under pain of deathly sin, they may not use 'artificial' means to plan their families. We all share Ms Merten's abhorrence of 'rape culture' of course, but I fear her task is much more profoundly difficult even than it appears, given the internalized self-doubt that the male-dominated Church sows in us from Day 1.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are right. In looking at this today after having been to church for a change, I re-read the article and think it possible one might wonder what I was complaining about? \n One can't \"do\" church and openly criticize the Popes. I understand that is the way it is. \n I heard a Jewish journalist on NPR this afternoon talking about Israel and the settlement issue, etc. and she was very candid, wishing to be faithful to integrity in reporting as a journalist. \n I thought of the investigation of the nuns, DOMINUS JESUS, JP IIs actions in silencing theologians and revoking teaching licenses, and his abysmal record in confronting the sex abuse crisis and the reminder that the present liturgy is Benedict's personal preference, instead what ICEL prepared. \n Does commitment to candor and integrity in journalism require an unflinching look at the truth, regardless of the cognitive dissonance such a view might create in the reader? \n I think it does.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well the text says elder, not clergy. And it says, they (Paul and Barnabas), it doesn't say anything about the Holy Spirit. It sounds a lot like an Adventist Ordination. I'm not thinking ordained, I'm 'reading' ordained. The bible doesn't say more or less. I don't think you can say, as you have said, \"ordination is not biblical.\" \n\nI have always thought Adventists had a very flat ecclesiology, Elders and Deacons. Some Elders are ordained to the gospel ministry; and that is it. All modeled on the New Testament, we not copying holy orders from the Roman Catholic church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, consider the stated concept of the person being \"in sin.\" Now, I'm writing about the innocent party in the divorce who did not cause the breakup and is the injured party. If they remarry without yet having this church \"annulment\" why are they \"in sin?\" What gives the Catholic church the right to punish this person by withholding the sacraments? The Catholic church should offer comfort and help as a matter of duty to the injured party; not tell them they are a sinner.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's be clear here. The target of article's criticism was not the evangelical side of this unusual \"ecumenism,\" but rather the cultural warrior Catholic side. It is the narrow focus of these Catholics, primarily its episcopal leaders, the Francis would like to call back to a balance view of Catholicism, preferably in his image of the social gospel. \n\nNot only is it out of place for the Vatican to chastise the evangelical side, but were the core Catholic disagreement with that version of Christianity, the critique would be about how to read scripture. \n\nFrancis being Francis, he may well take the meeting. What he might do with the occasion is difficult to predict.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then you definitely should study Catholic theology with a more reliable teacher...the Mass is a re-enactment (?) of a one-time sacrifice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, is that Christian ethics at work, going after the woman and not showing her an ounce of compassion for political expediency? Or is that a Roman trait?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Help us Jesus, amen!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "St. JPII could let himself be blown away more by the poetry of his own statements than by their meaning. As much as many Catholics find his analogy of the Christian East and West to lungs, it betrays the ecclesiology of both the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches, who both consider themselves to be the fullness of Christ's Church, not merely half of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The better educated elite were not so prevalent in small rural parishes and thus less educated plebeians took as much of an active role as they could...because we didn't really have parish priests, we had sort of assigned circuit riders which had three or four small parishes. Laity ran those small parishes or they didn't operate. The major problem with the Church is it's way too freaking big and impersonal. In too many places Walmart and McDonald's have much better service. South America has been the canary in the coal mine about this problem for decades which is precisely why Pope Francis has talked so much about going outward to the margins. \n\nThe hierarchy has a Catholic monopoly and it needs to be broken up into smaller units if it has any hope of meaningful survival into the next century. I truly believe this is going to happen whether the Vatican gives it's approval or not. God seems to like diversity and it's good for human evolution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You cherry picked the extremists Mr Fish - \"I recall watching thousands of people over the years praying and cheering for the likes of Trump and Bush thinking they were born again Christians who would \"bring this country back to God\" and \"make this a Christian nation again\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"The true scandal in the church is not what one theologian or pope says, it is that we are not capable of dialoguing with each other. That is the fault of John Paul and Benedict, not Francis. They attempted to impose their theologies (their way of explaining the faith) on the church and silenced anyone who disagreed.\"\n- In effect the two archbishops, JPII and Benexvi, provided the 'pure catholic church crowd' a foundation to exist, as well as legitimized Pius X Society's 'game plan' to confound the church.\n- It is no wonder that the universal church must again deal with the shadows of pelagianism and gnosticm. The first heresy allows for the manipulation of God, and the other heresy requires the select few in the know to judge all those not in the know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sounds like you're describing the Catholic teachings as-they-really-are. As Catholics, to miss even one mass is to incur mortal sin. \n\nJust yesterday I heard Radio Mother say to a caller that to attend a Baptist church is \"to leave Christ.\" Did she make that up? Nope, it's clearly a part of official church teachings.\n\nSo before you diss the Mormons, be sure you know what Catholicism is and the many stone walls it has established.\n\nTrue religion is always a surrender of the will, which means a surrender to the group. This always involves sacrifice and standards. True religion isn't \"like, whatever.\"\n\nAs for the Mormons themselves, every one I've ever met has impressed me as sincere and well-integrated persons.\n\nAnd as for my original point, by taking their religion seriously, the Mormons have a lot to teach Catholics about how to truly engage young people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All churches (and there a LOT of them) take from the rest of us by not paying taxes. Since they don't pay property taxes, all the rest of us make up the gap by paying extra. Honestly, WHO is denying Christians their rights? Schools don't deny religious beliefs to students who hold them, but likewise don't push one specific religion on all students. WHAT are you complaining about? Please, get a hobby.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The most important concept of the Bible is that one must follow Jesus Christ as Lord, after having been born into the Holy Spirit. Only He, as God-Man, lived a sinless life, and nothing less measures up to God's standards. By following Jesus, his righteousness is attributed to us, by His atonement for sins on the cross. Being a nice person won't cut it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those playing 1950s priest should at least watch Bing Crosby and Spencer Tracy play pre-Vatican II priests a few times so they can get the gist of it better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: \"Why denigrate Christianity?\"\n\nBecause it has a LOT to answer for, that's why.\n\nThanks for asking.\n\nBesides, criticism is not the same thing as denigration. Frankly, Christianity deserves a lot of criticism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Love the way Atheists defend their belief in the non-existence of God. Christians, Muslims and Jews are almost as fervent in their defence of an existence in God! Question is how many atheists would stand firm should so-called evidence emerge that there is a God? ;)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Onward Christian Soldiers?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "--That link goes to their website that has various youtubes of mostly Sunday homiles. I just tried it .... https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtI9fojkErcqIAD7QDB13Gw... and it worked. You might try again, or google \"St Columba Oakland\" and open a listing entitled \"Saint Columba Catholic Church - YouTube\"--", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yep. Pretty much preaching what Jesus taught when he said \"turn the other cheek\"(Matthew 5:38) as well as \"blessed are the peacemakers\"(Matthew 5:9). What made Jesus's teaching even more radical was he was living under a brutal and oppressive Roman occupation where many people(i.e the Zealots) were tempted to launch a military revolt against the Romans. Christ stuck to Nonviolence. \n\nThat's the God we worship, a God of nonviolence who nonviolently hung on a brutal cross while he said about his enemies \"Father forgive them for they know not what they do\". Francis is bringing that God out in the open and basically following his name sake, St Francis of Assisi who stressed peace and nonviolence during an era when there was so much violence(the Crusades).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately, this is a common pattern with this particular poster. Generally, he shows up in any article addressing women and the church or the church's past and ongoing support for child abusing clergy, then seeks to lead the conversation off on a tangent, drawing as much attention to himself as possible. It's not very christian, but for some the devotion to the institution is more important than any particular code of conduct. Based upon the behavior of many bishops and not a few popes, this is acceptable for catholics. Jesus's instructions about conduct are only used to criticize other posters, but may be completely ignored by the pro-institution poster.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any American who has lived under Christian (or any religious) repression understands Ms. Rampell's analogy. Elimination of the Johnson Amendment would be a step in the direction of State endorsed religion and immediately set up Constitutional contradictions, stacking the deck against the opposition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, what was originally intended was destroyed. I would almost call the disregard of the result Apostacy en masse except those who disagreed were correct. If you understand the Asexual Orientation of most bishops (celebate gays never get the job), the teaching, which alien to the experinece of healthy heterosexuals, was bound to fail. Of course, if you conveniently reject the concept of diverse sexual orientations in humanity none of this can make sense to you, which is like believing that Galileo had to be wrong because God had to be here, at the center of the universe. Those deductive reasoning \u201dhave to bes\u201d are the Achilles heal in most of the Catholic Doctrine that can\u2019t cope with modern science and medicine. Nothing \u201dhas to be\u201d if the evidence life provides contradicts it. That is common sense, not modernism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But he was not silenced. And he's still on Vatican committees. And Francis had nothing to do with his being asked to resign as far as has been printed. Curren was not silenced but others were. Curren just was removed from his job. I think he's much freer to teach at a non Catholic university, which I think is a shame.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow what a great disciple of Christ, avoid all the people who need to hear about Christ! Because we all know that Jesus said to judge and hate everyone different than you right? Not!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We often act as if we're not little..and that's when we become sad. We say yes to pride and not yes to humility.\n\nJesus told us - as each saint tells us - to come to him as \"little children\". \n\nReminding others of what Jesus told us is no way being disrespectful to them. It's actually helping them. \n\nProud people are NEVER happy. You can see them all over the place here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was amazed when religious questions were asked by Feinstein and Durbin. \nThey both know that is banned by the U.S. Constitution itself.\nIf someone asked \"if a jew could be judge\" Feinstein would be up in arms.\nDurbin was raised Catholic and graduated from Georgetown U.\n\nExpect fireworks at the next town meeting either of these two politicians hold.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The word apostle has several meanings and since the Gospels were written in Greek it is appropriate to use their definition. \nJesus arrived in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday with his disciples including women. It is not unreasonable to believe they participated in the Last Supper. Beware of being too literal in your reading of the Gospels. Jesus often invited tax collectors and sinners to dine with him including women. Women would play a significant role the next few days.\nThe cross is a symbol of suffering that all of who follow Jesus must face in our lives. And with it we will find the love of God and transformation into spiritual life.\nI just can't see God asking for his son's death as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. Maybe your view of God requires it? But the God Jesus presents as His Father is love, mercy and forgiveness. God already sees mankind with love. God doesn't need a sacrifice. Jesus was killed by the Romans who were convinced by the priests that he was a threat.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find a disconnect between the misguided policies of the Roman Catholic church as an institution with the astonishing dedication and self-sacrifice of some members of it, who did huge amounts of good in their personal capacities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What he said was \n\u201cVery few people believe in the devil these days, which suits the devil very well. He is always helping to circulate the news of his own death. The essence of God is existence, and He defines Himself as: 'I am Who am.' The essence of the devil is the lie, and he defines himself as: 'I am who am not.' Satan has very little trouble with those who do not believe in him; they are already on his side.\u201d (\"Life of Christ\")\n\nHe also said when discussing the Counter-Church of Satan - \"The False Church will be worldly, ecumenical, and global. It will be a loose federation of churches and religions, forming some type of global association...A world parliament of Churches. It will be emptied of all Divine content, it will be the mystical body of the anti-christ. The Mystical Body on earth today will have its Judas Iscariot, and he will be the false prophet. Satan will recruit him from our Bishops.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The essence of the question is whether one can individually find Christ in the modern world? Of course, both in the events of the Gospel and in an individual belief in Christ. We can even find that belief in commuity but we must abandon the notion that we must force that belief on anyone, even as we demand justice for everyone in His name. If we really trust God, we don\u2019t worry about saving anyone else\u2019s soul. They are entitled to their own faith adventure. If you like Benedict\u2019s economics and theology, read the book (even if you think he missed the boat on relativism).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is not a Catholic and just met with the Pope. Was there a point in there somewhere?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good luck getting Christians, Jews, and Muslims to agree that Allah, Jehovah, the Christ, and Jehovah are one and the same. It might actually be historically true since they came from the same tradition, but tell them that and see how well that goes over.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(The shooter was a white Christian with an American rifle)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The jabs Christians give each other, directly.\n\nBringing the Lord into our mind...in the examples I gave..is \"navel gazing\"?\n\nThat's an odd assertion. \n\nThere are different types of prayers, and different forms. \n\nThere are prayers with forms...The Our Father, The Hail Mary, the Memorare.\n\nThere are prayers without form...fasting is a form of prayer...it's a prayer of the senses.\n\nThere are also aspirations..such as the ones I gave above.\n\nAn inspiration in prayer that Gabrielle Bosssis received is helpful here: \"Let one form of prayer rest another\".\n\nOur whole day - and our whole life - can become prayer.\n\nTakes work, humility, beginning again, directiom from a good spiritual guide, and well, it takes prayer.\n\n\"Pray always\" \"Rejoice always\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John Hobson, you write as though you have a lot of hate in your heart.\n\nIf you read McVeigh and Nichols writings, you would know they are not conservative or Christian. Why would you willingly disparage Christians in this way?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with you that the wise person listens to those with different life experience. So why doesn't the institutional Catholic Church practice it? In the institutional Church, not having any experience with a subject is no bar to making pronouncements on it. We have synods on the family with no married people in attendance, male-only meetings about women, an encyclical on contraception issued by a man who was very likely a virgin. The statement \"you don't actually know what you are talking about\" does not resonate with those making Church policy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Loyalty to the pope needs to be earned as loyalty an anyone or any institution needs to be earned. And, loyalty does not mean agreeing with everything the pope says or does. Catholics in today's world are educated, professional and taught to think and discern in every part of their life. Loyalty does not mean submission at all cost.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wasn't talking to you - Skepticat and Eric are the ones I had the encounter with, and they made their thoughts abundantly clear. Your generation brought in polices that have harmed society greatly, not the least of which, the elimination of millions of our citizens. Trump does not claim to be a Christian, and none of the respected Christian leaders I am aware of consider his alleged profession of faith legitimate. And there is a big difference between my \"condemning\" (whatever that means in your mind) and \"being critical of\", and my childhood, although influential, has little to do with my thoughts today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John Adams: \u201cThe government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In this case Congress already considered your proposition and passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which puts a hole below the waterline of your thought.\n\nThis is the last hurrah of an Administration marked by repeated attempts to void the RFRA by regulation.\n\nSimilarly when Congress passed Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 it wrote \"sex\" and meant it. Every attempt to amend the law to read \"gender\" has been rebuffed and, again, this Administration is trying an end run around the plain English of the law.\n\nThis only makes it clear that there was a lot more going on in the last election than \"racism\", many Christians believed this war on religion would continue and increase.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a sentence, above that is unclear; I'm going to attempt the clarify it (first of the second paragraph).\nI'm sorry but, if Jesus came to reform Judaism he was a terrible reformer and utterly miserable teacher - certainly not God. God chose to, very effectively, speak through prophets in earlier times. Jesus - as God - wasn't necessary to deliver a message. His was not the death of a prophet - it meant much more than that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think fundraising is where this idea, or some reasonable facsimile thereof, takes off. I think it starts with a commitment to move away from the magazine approach to Catholic journalism and toward investigative reporting and analytical commentary -- which is a far cry from \"this is what I think about what I saw on TV last night.\" Ironically, this is where NCR has done its best work over the years, so I would wonder at a decision not to pursue this precisely when everyone in America is concerned about our common future. \n\nI think it's fair to say that Catholic journalism is in crisis, which may be where it can find its voice again. Just think about what someone like John Allen is doing for a living these days. \n\nThere's an old joke about \"hard-hitting\" headlines in diocesan newspapers, such as \"Priest's Mother Dies in Ireland.\" I wonder if a series of articles about what cardinals are up to is any better....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's obvious you don't accept the authority of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why should NCR remove the word \"Catholic\" from the name? They are most certainly Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or how about a non-violent demonstration ? Gandhi won back an entire sub-continent . Of course , he had quite a time of it convincing his followers to refrain from violence . Peaceful resistance, learned from the Gospels has rarely if ever been tried by Christians with the exception of Pax Christi .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lord knows he's a shining example of \"Christian Family Values\", LMLWAO!!! :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hard to believe Merkel is a Conservative of Christian Democratic Union \n\ndoes not walk and quack like a Christian Democratic Union conservative\n\nor does she have several faces like a true politician", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Being anti- religion is not bigotry. Religion isn't an ethnicity. \n\nAnd nothing wrong with criticising religions in general and even relgious texts. It becomes hate when it is directed at specific individuals/groups where it's used to target and oppress them specifically. Criticising Islam, judaism or Christianity is not the same as acting on and spewing hate towards a specific individual for being a christian or jew or muslim, amongst others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For McHale, Rome only truly speaks if he agrees with what is said. \n\nSome people here say that Tridentinus is a reactionary, but McHale is even more of a reactionary. Trid agrees that Lumen Gentium is an authentic Church document. McHale says that since LG disagrees with Pope Eugene IV's Cantate Domino, which says that non-Catholics are automatically damned (Eugene specifically mentions Jews, as does LG), then LG is not an authentic teaching document. \n\nI mention the damnation of Jews because it makes McHale's God an unpleasant character. McHale's God sends Jews to hell simply for being Jews, which is no different from the Nazis sending Jews to Auschwitz for being Jews. McHale's God is neither just, loving nor merciful, for damning people because of who they are, not anything you've done. \"Sorry, you picked the wrong parents, so you are going to hell.\" Deporting Jews to concentration camps was properly deemed a \"crime against humanity\", which McHale's God is also guilty of.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The dogmatic so-called Christians seem to miss the whole purpose of Christ's teachings. But it is pointless to point it out to them. They are stuck in the law instead of the fulfilment of the law which is love, which is Jesus. \"34 Then the King will say to those on his right, \u2018Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.\u2019--- Matthew 25", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Fathers of the first three centuries did not have access to all four gospels, nor many of the letters of the NT. Matthew, by your logic, was closer to events than Iranaeus. He says they had marital relations. These Fathers have a lot to answer for. They oversaw a church which completely departed from Christ's teaching re war, Christians taking part in it, power, wealth, hierarchy etc.. \n\nIt actually makes no difference to me whether Mary was a virgin or not. It has no bearing whatsoever on my faith. However, those who have insisted on it in history - based on zero evidence - have done a great disservice to ordinary Catholics, demoting sex and sexuality to a place lower than virginity/celibacy. It also reduces who Mary was. You won't find her name mentioned anywhere in the liturgy without the word 'virgin' lumped in front of it. It's almost obsessive. Why?\n\nAnd people wonder why the clergy and hierarchy see themselves as 'higher' than mere mortals. There's one answer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How did it get to this, that religion would be about rights? I am one Christian person who becomes dismayed when Christians make themselves into victims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What of those who argue that the government is imposing their agenda on the Catholic church by trying to impose abortion and contraception?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Conservatives are angry as Hell about the London attack, but totally calm about the recent Orlando attack, despite the fact the death count is roughly the same.\nI doubt the relatives of the London victims feel reassured that the victims died at the hands of a terrorist, rather than at the hands of a disgruntled worker.\nConservatives are eager to come forward with ideas how to stop terrorists. Not so quick to confront random gun violence with no non-Christian terrorist angle.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just read some of the comments on National Review articles criticizing Trump. Then, you will understand why he is at 36%. One guy actually said that God sent Trump to save Christians in America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow... you simply presume that \"right reason\" and \"Christian truth\" are identical.\n\nPeople were able to reason correctly long before Christianity ...\n\n... and there are many commentators on this site who would claim to be Christian but whose grip on good reasoning is open to question.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God gave us something we didn't earn: grace, a share in His life. We are obligated to care for our brothers and sisters, especially those most vulnerable. This is clear Christian teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 3\n\nruins his marriage, although married in a Catholic Church his wife was not a catholic, she remarries and has another child, a few years later Joe meets someone who helps him with his problems, he commits to a civil union, he now has two more young children, with his new partner, who is not Catholic although a Christian, Joe has a true conversion (He realizes what he has lost) in that all the errors/ sins he has committed come in upon him, he wants to recapture that which he has lost and return to the Church and in doing so wants his children to be brought up as Catholics, his partner is in agreement with him. \n\nHe knows he cannot as he cannot receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation or partake of the Bread of Life, he is entangled in a sinful situation, in his heart he knows that he cannot leave his present family and he also knows that continence even if attempted is unrealistic for him and his new partner, if he is to maintain family harmony at this moment in time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also think it would be interesting to know what the actual funding of the USCCB is all about....local diocese are \"taxed\" and a portion is passed on to Rome (I recall USCCB meeting \"minutes\" that note the increase in those taxes).\n\nFurther, recall federal funding in very large measure for Catholic Charities nationally, Catholic Relief .Services internationally AND other immigrant and social services ....recall that the Obama administration was the most generous ever relative toCatholic Charities....\n\nThink when you reap very large funding from the Feds it can well affect your political perspective?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you believe Winter's description is \"accurate,\" you have never been properly catechized. I urge you to read the old Baltimore catechism and properly relearn your faith because if you believe CM is \"wrong\" about anything, you have obviously been indoctrinated into something that is no longer authentically Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's in the Old Testament.....read by billions of peaceful Christians and Jews.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Selling the Vatican, Ceasing all operations and closing every last Catholic institution or organization and otherwise no longer having a Catholic Church or Faith is not an option. \n\nExpecting the Church to do this is like expecting the US government to sell off all it's holdings, including the Whitehouse, SCOTUS, Capital, etc, to pay for war reparations of reparations for slavery. This just isn't going to happen--and no one would say the US government should do so--even if it was agreed that the US government OUGHT to do something to make up for past crimes. \n\nThus, aside from the above--is there anything the Church can do to compensate victims of sex abuse that won't be criticized as not being enough or being fair?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think this conversation is getting to the silly part. I'm not sure why ANYONE would put up with the bureaucratic hassles of a world-wide church if not for the Eucharist, are you? \n\n\nOr, if you have a complaint, perhaps you should direct it to the parish. What you are really seeming like you want to do is to complain that other people are less Catholic than you. Sorry, LG, but there is no evidence of that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A Masters Degree in Yoga Studies from a \"Catholic\" University. We are witnessing the total apostasy of the Catholic Church. How is this possible?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Episcopal church is less than half of what it was over 100 years ago, the same cannot be said of the Catholic church.\nBut you are right there have been mass defections because the faith was abandoned after the confusion and rot of the misapplication of VII by CINO shepherds, teachers, catechists, social justice for all but the unborn type people.\nFactually where you will find a huge increase in young people is in the traditionalist movements where the faith is still taught in full, the sacraments celebrated, devotions upheld and right worship enacted. as a matter of fact the largest seminary in the USA was recently opened in Virginia and it doesn't belong to any Novus Ordo religious group but to the SSPX. Also as a matter of fact, the largest segment of growth within the dying Catholic church in France is the traditionalist movement with the number of ordinations surpassing the total of all the French dioceses ordinations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Angelo Sodano is not Cardinal Raymond Burke. He is something quite altogether different. I would say the difference is like that between the Head Sparrow and Peter Littlefinger in Game of Thrones. One is a religious ideologue out to save Westeros from it's vices and sins, and the other is out to own Westeros while maybe taking the Iron Throne in the process. I would think any Catholic who cared about the Church would look at Sodano's over all actions, and those of the Cardinals and Vatican officials in his circle. Don't overlook the fact JPII was physically more or less out of commission his last years as Pope. Who do you suppose really ran the show? It wasn't Cardinal Ratzinger.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here are some links that follow up on Mark's pastoral and highlight an anniversary interfaith gathering last Sunday that included the catholic associate bishop - one focus with Dallas Police Assistant Chief was Texas Senate Bill 4 (focused on by this pastoral):\n\nhttps://www.dallasnews.com/news/immigration/2017/07/15/north-texas-religious-leaders-step-speak-states-sb4-immigration-law \n\nhttps://twitter.com/disolis/status/884200328756948992\n\n\"Before a packed audience of 700 leaders of Dallas Area Interfaith, and on the one-year anniversary of the shooting that took the lives of five police officers, Dallas Area Interfaith continued the public conversation about community relationships with the police in the context of SB4. In response to stories about immigrants fearful of reporting crimes they've witnessed to the police, Dallas Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Greg Kelly announced, \"This is evidence of why SB4 is bad.\" \n\nI was DAI leader who posed the questions on SB4 to Asst Chief Tittle", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There was NO \"disobedience\" (your term) involved in NCR's decision to retain the word CATHOLIC in its title. The two bishops who demanded compliance had absolutely no basis for their demands. One of these bishops subsequently issued a condemnation of NCR \"in fairness to our Catholic people.\" (And he had no basis for doing that, either. Retaliation is no basis, and lowered Bishop Helmsing's credibility to near-zero.) The other fruitless demander was Bob Finn, who was forced to resign under pressure, following Archbishop Prendergast's apostolic visitation. Them's the facts!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As Catholics we are all the Pope's friends, I should think. See Cardinal Ouellet's ( non-liberal by definition) take on AL\ncatholicregister.org/item/26073 \n\nIs it substantive and honest enough for you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seemed a bit disjointed....until the last two paragraphs. Then...Zing. It was an excellent exposure of the evangelicals' lack of christianity, when it comes to public policy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The critique isn't about all U.S. Catholics but a relatively small and extreme segment who misuse Church teaching for right-wing power brokering. That issue isn't going to be resolved by the pope meeting with a group of Trump's evangelical advisers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is it not allowed to question then propriety of a Catholic institution funding Hindu worship, which includes worship of gods other than the God of the Bible? Because it's not politically correct?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On the contrary, the Church treats all marriages between non-Catholic baptised Christians as sacramental wherever they take place providing there are no impediments such as a previous marriage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Professor - Perhaps you could explain how I misused the word apostasy in my above comment. APOSTASY 1. a total desertion of or departure from one's religion, principles, party, cause, etc.\nWhy did I use that word to describe a Catholic Institution of Education that offers a Masters Degree in YOGA? \nOne understands that the practicing of YOGA and Eastern meditations by Christians violates the First Commandment of God. \nThe Church definitively categorizes them as esoteric, occult, New Age practices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Posing the fate of the unborn against the fate of the already born may be an attempt to soften the dark realities of abortion, but doesn't work. To claim pro-lifers don't care about anyone or anything else other than the fetus (can't say baby) is knowingly unfair and knowingly false.\n\nBy treating abortion as just a side issue that has nothing to do with public policy misses a larger point of who as a society we want to be. Can we take care of those who find themselves in troubling pregnancies with compassion and dignity, and also protect the lives they're carrying? We need to try. These aren't religious values, but simply good values. However as Catholic Christians, we should know this is part our calling.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article was attacking Protestants and Catholics working together for the restoration of Christian morality. The authors called that an 'ecumenism of hate'. If they represent the Pope's view then perhaps he should tell us why Christians should not strive to restore it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First let me reassure Jim Lieb that I'm not an Islamic mischief maker as he slyly suggests but have arrived at my viewpoint thro' curiosity not animosity! Second, we don't need a time machine to go back to 30CE because it's obvious from the very first Christian documents (the early epistles) that their writers knew nothing of the Jesus described in the later gospels (which, btw, were NOT written by Jesus' companions) and nor did any of the Jewish historians. If Jesus had really done stupendous miracles or drawn crowds of thousands which made him \"famous thro' all Syria\" the early Christians especially MUST have noticed him but they can't even tell us he was tried by Pilate in Jerusalem! I think this must make us seriously doubt the veracity of the gospels.\nDavid H Lewis", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Could you please support your wild contention that Christians want to eliminate science? It seems much more clear that educators want to eliminate or mis-state the important knowledge of Christian doctrine from the curriculum while retaining that of many other religions.\n\nThe Theory of Evolution is, as your own description says, a theory, not proven fact. However widely accepted it may be, it so far lacks the ability to be replicated in controlled circumstances, no species has ever been demonstrated conclusively to have evolved into another, nor is there significantly useful predictive value available from it. Serious mathematicians would say this cannot rise beyond being an hypothesis, though a very involved one, much less a theory.\n\nStill, you may be correct that the writer's confusion of evolution with astrophysics is troubling. But this does not refute in any way her very reasonable (at least as much as evolution is reasonable) faith that a creator planned and made the universe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In 2014, I totaled my Toyota on black ice and, admittedly, I was driving too fast. Why, because Obama made me hopeless and reckless. And once, I could have had a pretty good job as a managerial assistant but didn't get the job because Obama has been encouraging racial division. I was overlooked.\n\nAnd I'm a conservative, but I have to put the blame on someone because by god, I'm white, christian, male and ENTITLED and I'd prefer, truth be told, to just put these burdens on someone else's shoulders.\n\n/s", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The teacher dealing with tests would absolutely have had that same stance for a visiting relative or for a Dr. appt, both of which are somewhat a matter of choice in relation to timing. You can choose when to schedule a Dr. appt, or a family visit, a religious holiday is fixed on the calendar, I can't exactly reschedule Rosh Hashanah. Hell, many calendars even list the Jewish holidays, so it isn't like this is some kind of a secret. As for a Christian holiday, based on his other behavior, as long as it was what he would consider a mainstream sect of Christianity, he probably wouldn't have had any problem, but if you were a Mormon or Jehova's Witness, he most probably would have. I don't know if either have holidays that are different than the mainstream Christian ones.\n\nThis is the same school system that threatened to fail a Jehova's Witness girl who didn't want to go to the big Christmas display as part of a school trip. As far as I remember, it isn't allowed in her religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, it does depend entirely on how we understand worship. But, say I, the question is better put as how we ought to understand worship; and that IMHO means simultaneously two things--(1) an appreciation of our ENTIRE historical tradition of worship, as well as (2) how we moderns are inclined towards the spiritual. I am appalled that the historical dimension is missing from the project described in this story.\n\nWe know that our post V2 liturgical changes, including much that happened in archetecture, was driven by deep knowledge of the entire history of Christian worship, but, say I, there was and remains an abysmal failure by the magisterium to convey that history in sufficient detail for ALL of the people of God to grasp the wisdom of the reform. Without the full history, we end up, as we have, with our cultural liturgical wars. Sad!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We should be radically Christian all the time. \n\nFail and begin again is what Christians do! It keeps us humble, leaving more room for God to work in. Pride crowds out God. \n\nRead Romans 12 and sense it. It's not the tenor of your notes to be sure.\n\nWe all fall short every day, but that doesn't mean we give up or whine or quit, or say \"we won't until something somewhere else changes first\". \n\nRead Romans 12...slowly and renew your sense for what St Paul was encouraging.\n\nParts of it read almost as if he was dictating it on horseback, galloping, unable to contain the Holy Spirit coming out of his mouth. \n\nThat's the spirit of Christianity..and it's not beyond any of us to implement this spirit (His spirit) heroically daily right where we are, immediately and always. \n\nFalling short, sure, but beginning again with Him tomorrow, or earlier. \n\nWe shouldn't fool ourselves into thinking Rome needs to change before we can live this spirit, heroically, today/now, right here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You seem to be an authority on what \"they\" want! I wonder what you are basing your opinions on? You have to \"pay your taxes and shut up\"? Don't you get to vote, just like every other Canadian? Aren't you free to call your MPs, your MLAs, your Premier, your PM? Aren't you free to write to editors of newspapers, call radio programs, comment on articles like this one? \nWhat \"free stuff\" and who's desires\" are you referring to? On what occasion have you EVER been told practicing Christianity is \"unsavory\"? What, exactly, is being \"shoved in our faces'? It is simply not true that we must respect Islam but there is no reciprocation. Time for you to speak to actual humans that also happen to be Muslim. They want all the same things you want. A roof over their heads, good food, a good nights sleep, fun times with friends and family, a good job, freedom to worship, peace and good government. How do I know? I asked. Try it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope, we don't- but close. Here he is saying that the core precepts central to any major religion can be rightfully agreed-upon by everyone. While the extraneous aspects of Christianity are tertiary, He was, At his core, an ardent believer of and follower of Jesus Christ.\n\nThank you again for the support of illumination on Deism!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The popes and Christian princes of that day believed the sun went around the earth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians invented the modern pluralistic Democaracy, and Iris Fontana has no place in it. Our founders and our elected leaders can and will feel proper and comfortable praying wherever and however they wish, as granted by their inalienable rights and our Constituition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The complaints you'll see below will to the person deeply familiar with the Gospels seem as though they came directly from the very throat of Judas, who complained about the Magdela's use of perfume on Our Lord. What did Judas say? What a waste...could have been used \"for the poor\".\n\nWhat does our Lord say? He mentions they'll be used on His own dead body!!\n\nLiberals have trouble connecting the dots of the Gospel to their own daily life (and to comments that flow from their clean finger-nailed hands), and so they repeat the mistakes of charity just like Judas. \n\nIf they truly believe that we should \"love one another as Christ loved us\"...they will treat every soul that they run across as if that soul were in fact Jesus Christ, in the living flesh or even in the dead flesh because their charity would in fact be \"purified\" and its end would in fact be the love of God!\n\nThey'd whine and complain a lot less if they \"worked over\" the Gospel more and more in their private prayer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...why many millennials are walking away from the RCC.\"\n\nAccording to Pew Researchers, among others, millennials are walking away from all churches, Hn Tn, whether clerics \"dress up\" (in cassocks) or \"dress down\" (in shirts and ties). Clerics of nearly all Protestant churches, for example, don't wear cassocks, yet American Protestantism -- which includes millions of millennials -- has dropped from 65% of the US population (in the 1960's) to 46% today. Needless to say, some millennials leave American Christianity (for good or temporarily) for a variety of reasons, but certainly not over liturgical vestments. Some have little need to deceive themselves over vestment lengths or over a new liturgical design, especially while pretending to sentiments and internal religious beliefs that they do not genuinely feel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many on the right? You make it sound like only Repubs are Christians. \nAmerica is absolutely a Christian majority nation, for you to say otherwise is an outright lie.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will give you this :\n\nFaith, Religion, Doctrine and Theology have been USED and PERVERTED by evil men to foster wars and killing. Those concepts in and of themselves cannot \"Kill\" anything, that is an important distinction.\n\nAnd orthodox Christian Theology has been responsible for some of the most important \"goodwill\" efforts in the history of man, the list is simply too long to list. I respect you intelligence and knowledge on most issues, but you are wrong on this one, and the list you proved below is woefully absent of Christianity. BTW: The Crusades were Catholic, not Christian.\n\nRead: Biographies like George Mueller, Henry Martin, John Patton (new Hebrides), Hudson Taylor, Adoniram Judson, William Carey etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When the entire cabinet behaves like the Pharisees in Jesus' time who say one thing and do another (Matthew 23:3), i.e. profess to be good upright Christians and then proceed to govern in a manner that can only be described as un-Christian, then yes, I would say the shoe definitely fits, and no, there's nothing silly about naming them for what they are - wolves in sheep's clothing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "> God bless our\n\nYou do realize he did this *because* of god, right? This happens in the \"free\" and \"non-free\" world *because* people are full of religion. Some Christians used to terrorize(some still do), some Mormons did it, some Muslims do it.\n\nReligion is a form of education, and education is power, but with great power comes great responsibility.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Fortnights for Freedom? What Fortnights for Freedom?\" say the Catholic bishops. \"We LOVE Obamacare!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So my question is how did the first \"doctrines\" get made? Wasn't it earlier Christians that \"created\" doctrine from scripture, Tradition? If so, then can't latter Christians \"create some new doctrines?\" Be careful with your response, as not everything has been revealed per scripture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It could happen once the door to these issues are opened wide. But they don't have the $$ and the power of the Catholic church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A lot of the Balkan Orthodox preferred their Muslim overlords to the Catholic overlords of the Hapsburgs.\n\nFrom Lord Kinross book about Turkey", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well. Hillary has told Christians (and by inference Catholics) that we must change our views!\n\nWikileaks has been wonderful for this election, revealing her hidden speeches and motives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you aren't familiar with him, Michael Gerson is a right-wing conservative Christian who was speechwriter for George W Bush.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd like to have someone who thinks they can defend a sharp \"differentiation\" between the so-called \"institutional\" church and the church answer these (and I have about 10 others) questions. \n\nI mean I want someone to really get into the weeds on differentiation, with some rigor, no arm waving. \n\nDid the \"institutional\" church or the \"People of God\" give us a \"closed\" canon of Scripture, deciding which books belonged in the canon?\n\nDid the \"institutional\" church or the \"People of God\" give us the form of the Sacraments?\n\nAnd when did this occur?\n\nThe words for the \"Institution\" in the Mass come from the early 300s. \n\nWere those words given to us by \"institutional\" church or the \"People of God\" ?\n\nInfant baptism....did this come from the \"institutional\" church or the \"People of God\"? \n\nThey can't be separated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry Bill, but we know that the Catholic Church is the sole owner of Jesus, the rest of our Christian Bros. are out of luck.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So much for \"traditional\". So much for \"catholic\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We sin as a church and the pope sins too as long as he and we espouse a belief that there are any functions women should not be allowed to do. The Great Commandment is clear: Treat all the same and with love or we sin against Jesus Christ, who is the Holy Spirit of the Living God. There are no exceptions to this commandment - not for priesthood or women. One cannot treat their neighbor as their self while telling their neighbor God can call me to ordained priesthood but God is not allowed to call you to that same ordination or sacrament.\n\nWe will not grow while we continue this abuse of the human dignity of women in our church. Sexism in religion directly causes global poverty, global rape, global child abuse, violence, terrorism and slavery. \n\nIt is time we held our hierarchy accountable, and protested, openly, everywhere around the globe, this abuse of human dignity, and called it out for the heinous destructive sin that it has always been.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "oh NO! I'm so sorry to have put you into this situation and make you post that. Forgive her Allah for she does not know what she do. Yikes!\nI never thought a devout Christian, especially from a Christian woman that knows how it feels to be persecuted. I've never in the life of me heard of a Christian who talk like that of another Religious sect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're right that the Episcopalian Church will welcome them, but how sad when a Christian Church chooses to behave this way......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing knee jerk about amending the 2nd\n\nThe same folks that pretend climate change isn't human fueled are the one's that defend gun ownership, and yet, claim to be 'christians'. Flat earth mentality with ZERO connection to your faith regarding greater human life and existence other than your very own.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul did not have a horse. That is a later embellishment, probably by some medieval artist. But it might clarify to note that the historical Jesus in his New Testament mission to Israel choose only Jews, symbolically twelve to represent the twelve tribes. Paul himself in his letters says he had a revelation from Christ and had seen the risen Christ, while Luke in Acts has three versions of the encounter, in one of which Paul asks his vision to identify himself, when the risen Christ does so, saying I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. There is no mention here of anyone chosen, no matter how chosen, as priests. The only New testament text that speaks of Christ as a priest is Hebrews in developing its Platonic theology of sacrifice as the instrument of our deliverance from this world of change and decay to the changeless realm of the Sabbath rest in the new Jerusalem. Before Hebrews, ca 100, no priests at all, except for the temple priests, the Saducees.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As St. Paul taught, God selects rulers and we should obey, especially in this case, where the Moral Paragons, the Bishops of the Inerrant Church supported this particular person in his candidacy. Time to be True Catholics, follow Paul and the Bishops, and support this leader as he creates the America the US Bishops desire.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Words, deeds, and obedience to God's Word/Will can be feigned, yes. There are Phrases in Scripture which can not be deceived/ misrepresented: \"I AM\", \"Follow Me\", \"My sheep know Me; I know them; and they Follow My voice.\" Jn 10: 26-28. We refer to Jesus as Teacher. Human teachers know their students needs well enough to teach to their individual needs, also. We know for sure, that can not be accomplished if our students do not want to learn. So many times, when we, inadvertantly, \"figure out\" what approach might spur a student into the \"learning\", we use it, for maybe it will do the \"trick\", if not we keep trying other \"approaches\" to \"...And just as Jesus does with us thru all that we do each day, teachers, periodically remind; reteach them; provide practices; and test; and at times add an application activity for fun! The Church, guided by God, has given us many Titles for God and for Jesus. I believe to help us find the ones that helps us \"catch\" the meanings found there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Christian Francie Duggan should beware. Kim Il Jong and his family WERE Christians and they have since embraced the mystical 'cult of personality.' I would suggest we are already seeing this process happening here in the US, Francie! \nApparently there is a menace to Christianity greater than the godless who eschew Holly Lobby's DIY crafts and wicker baskets and it comes from within Christianity itself. Pray, Francie, pray for the soul of Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many conservatives feel it is their Christian duty to make healthcare unaffordable for the least among us. However, the dedication with which this has been pursued, particularly in the the Deep South, makes me wonder about the real national Republican agenda in regards to Medicare. They've never fully funded it, they've always been against it. The conservative agenda for a long time has been to destroy Medicare. Bravo to Governor Walker for trying to do what is morally right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether a political leader can be a woman or not is hotly debated among Islamic scholars. Not so among Christian leaders. The trend is for more women leaders in the west, and fewer among muslim majority countries. One of Canada's Prime Ministers was a woman, Kim Campbell. In August 1993, a Gallup Canada poll showed Campbell as having a 51 percent approval rating, which placed her as Canada's most popular prime ministers in 30 years. In the US, no strong, likable female leader has emerged. When one does, no doubt she will elected. There have been 6 leaders of muslim nations, Megawati of Indonesia, Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan, Khaleda Zia, of Bangladesh, Tansu \u00c7iller of Turkey, Hasina Wajed of Bangladesh and Mame Madior Boye of Senegal, all relatively recent. Much lower percent than in the west. Expect the gap to grow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another common misnomer, like Modernism (which is property only about the Trinity and how evolution affects original sin), is Americanism. It is not a condemnation of a muscular American foreign policy or American exceptionalism. Instead, it is about the notion that Catholic doctrine needs to be adapted to the United States because it is a free society rather than the usual European autocracy (like the Austrian Empire, Spain, the Papal States, the German Empire). Of course, the American hierarchy disabused Rome of the notion that it sought special treatment. It would have been nice if we could have insisted on electing our bishops, but the hierarchy would not have accpeted it anyway. They were as corrupt as anyone else. Ideally, a more democratic Catholicism would be a good thing, both here and in Europe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What you call kibitzing others call Christian fellowship. I can only imagine such sounds are pleasing to God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Italian Jesuits probably don't understand that in the U.S., if you're a Catholic, you're supposed to be a Republican, at least according to Catholic bishops, and Republicans mingle with evangelical Protestants. A lot. Apparently they never got the memo.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You haven't got quite right the understanding of the Catholic Church.\n\nThe past Church still speaks with the current Church!!\n\nThey (the past) get every much a say on our teaching of faith and morals as cherry picked set of bishops, some of whom were selected by their own Conferences and some who were seeded by fRANCIS. \n\nPeople just don't understand it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Archbishop of Vienna has given a church building to the Russian Orthodox community there (in Vienna) as has the pope given a building to the Russian Orthodox in Rome. The majority church helps the minority. Sad that the Russian Orthodox can't reciprocate in like manner in Russia. Not that they should give Russian Catholics a building, but at least treat them fairly, allow them to worship freely.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your Comments Juergen I am pleased you now find yourself in such a positive situation in regards to your faith, you are obviously making good progress, you appear to be absorbing an awful lot since you confession this would probably overwhelm some and they might proceed more slowly, take care on your journey.\nYou say that you know a couple that are now living together chaste in the faith they have reached an understanding of our faith and are committed to it, and yes this is very positive.\n\nAt this moment in time it is fair to say that you are rejoicing in the mercy you have received from God. And I assume that you would want this for everyone sadly some are entangled in a sinful situations. \nThe permutations of this scenario are endless\nJoe was married for six years with two Children, he is a cultural catholic, he develops an addiction problem that ruins his marriage, although married in a Catholic Church his wife was\nContinued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continuing with the personal attacks, I see; 3 in 22 minutes. How very Christian of you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I used that as an example of \"separation of church and state\".\nIt is no secret that Betsy DeVos wants vouchers so that they can be used for Christian schools, her own words. Google it!\n \nFurther, not everyone who goes to a Christian school is a Christian. Some are actually atheists but they send their children there for an education or for safety. Power to them when they do but not on my dime.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Constantine actually issued an Edict of Toleration in 312, allowing Christians to worship freely. Christianity became the official religion of the empire in 380 under Theodosius. In any case, being the official religion was not intended to bring temporal power with it, and didn't for another four hundred years or so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This issue is that he Vought believes billions of persons are of unequal value in the eye's of a God. \n\nSanders question, and it is perfectly valid, is if that attitude should disqualify Vought from a leadership position.\nI'm a Christian who does not believe in hell. I have every right to work in a Federal position without regard to the particulars of my religious beliefs. The founders designed the constitution to prevent a religious caste system for those who get 'in' and those rejected to serve in a position of influence.\n\nThere is plenty of history to suggest that fundamentalist religious beliefs can lead to extreme discrimination in public policy. Sanders has reason to be cautious, but he must prove that Vought's beliefs guide his management decisions. Sanders needs more than concern, he needs proof.\n\nBoth Vought and Sanders lack the evidence to support their bias.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is beyond amazing to me-- in fact absolutely astounding -- that you can write this, yet consider yourself a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"People go where they feel cared for.\"\nThat is so true. \n\nAnd people go where the resources are. One person flies across the globe first class to make millions in Tokyo, while another walks across a single border, to make a few thousand in a poultry plant. \n\nI sometimes recall that the renaissance, the grandeur and majesty of Europe, the Church's gilded cathedrals, were in significant measure financed by the expropriation of wealth from the Americas. \n\nMan may not live by bread alone, but that truth does not preclude the necessity of bread. \n\nIn my neighborhood, the churches that thrive most visibly (Catholic, Baptist, Muslim, Apostolic) are those with active social justice missions, and ministries that are at least somewhat able to serve the material, as well as spiritual, needs of their congregations and neighborhoods. \n\n\"People go where they feel cared for.\" I so appreciate the clear anthropological understanding of that observation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most of the Founders were Deists, not Christians, but all, including the Christians, were clear that religion should be kept separate from government. They were very wise in this regard. \"Founded as a __(insert name of any religion)__ nation\" is a false statement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Blaine Amendments still are used to deny funding to catholic schools why are those being ignored by the court? Again, lets keep state and church affairs separate, to be fair to all beliefs and religions, not just the Fundamentalist Christian ones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The theology of the Catholic Church is that there are no borders?\n\nThe border of the U.S. belong to the citizens of the U.S., and the immigration policy of the U.S. re those borders is likewise made by this nation's voters.\n\nGuess what? This nation just voted to really enforce those immigration laws.\n\nMy guess is that your knowledge of law is equal to your knowledge of theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How dare Msgr. Charles Pope arrogate to himself the idea \"he is the official teacher of the faith?\" That distinction clearly belongs to the nearest dissenting theologian at the most proximate university to be found in the \"Catholic\" (or, better yet, \"Jesuit(ical)\") \"tradition.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perfect. But I was using Catholic theology. When you \"love someone\" you are DOING something, you're not just \"feeling\" for them. \n\n- Jesus came here to provide a way that God could be closer to us. \n- We can't do this ourselves. \n- We sinned and offended an Infinite Person (so, an infinite offense was committed by your free will and my free will badly used) \n- Justice demands that an infinite compensating act be performed to ameliorate the offense.\n- Jesus died for your sins and my sins. This was the infinite compensating action for our unlove of God. \n- And through this salvific action we are redeemed. \n\nIn Catholic theology this is the perfect act of love. Love is sacrificing for someone else's greatest good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which is bad news for the Christian right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps you're not aware that the Cardinal giving a Catholic perspective.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yours and John Hobson's understanding of the sacraments are way off beam, Protestant, most certainly un-Catholic; John himself admits it. He has told us that he examines what the Church teaches, prayerfully, etc, you know the jargon and then decides whether he agrees with it or not: his judgement in the end is always paramount. He does believe in the magisterium, his own.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. To a Christian, Christ was God. God CANNOT be wrong. So no matter how heartfelt your conscience, no matter how well-searched, your conscience cannot prevail in a disagreement with God. And how do you know what God said? By listening to what Christ said.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a church on every corner of Kenai Peninsula communities. So what is this, a public assembly meeting for administrating community needs gets a prayer to open so the good Christians can skip going to church? Sarah Palin started a big trend when she campaigned on social issues embraced by Christians when running for Mayor of Wasilla years ago. Running for Mayor of Wasilla the voters had a chance to vote in a Pro Life candidate which was at odds with the small town political process at a time when assemblies and mayors of small towns never even mentioned what political party or religion they were a member of or not. In a small community there were no decisions to be made based on those beliefs where on state level that could happen. So skip any opening that reeks of any \"spirituality\" and get on with the business of running a small community and if you feel like you need a moment with some God, then step outside and commune with nature.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My Bible doesn't teach Christians to persecute nonbelievers, fight them until they convert or submissively pay an extortion tax and live by the rules of Dhimmi. What does yours teach?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump has also signed an order making Christian refugees priority for acceptance.\n\nExcellent move.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was referring to you, not Jesus or Christianity, but go for it Don. Here's a shovel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So the holier than thou meet the devil. I always thought that there was a definite space between church and state in America. But, of course, that is just another anomaly in the truth pattern of the US. But maybe the reverends think that they are really meeting with one who believes that he is God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Polish people, as I stated above, didn't have the documents of Vatican II until the 1980's. There were documents which attempted to disguise this, such as the letter \"Tertio Millenio Adveniente\" which stated that Vatican II brought \"a new era\" but says that Catholics have yet to find the meaning or impact of the Council: \"In the universal Church and in the particular churches, was the ecclesiology of communion described in LUMEN GENTIUM strengthened? Does it leave room for charisms, ministries, and different forms of participation by the People of God, without adopting notions borrowed from democracy and sociology which do not reflect the Catholic vision of the Church, and the authentic spirit of Vatican II? John Paul II, himself, missed the postconciliar era and ignored it. His politics repressed local episcopacies and ignored the expansion of lay ecclesial ministry.\n----------\nTertio Millenio Adveniente 18, 20, 23 [36]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" And guess what, he's a Christian!\"\n-\nA \"Christian\" is defined by action - it is not a self identified label or definition\n-\n-\nsomeone may call himself a \"neurosurgeon\" without studying medicine , surgery and neurosurgical technique .......\n-\nbut that doesnt make him capable of resecting your meningioma", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can't believe you're belaboring the point and accuse me of incivility to boot.\n\n<>\n\nhttp://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05029a.htm\n\nhttps://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+13\n\n<>\n\nThe attributions to Jesus in the NT are just that. The utterances, mentality and political disposition of the historical Jesus can only be surmised.\n\nSo in the earliest Christian witness Paul reassures the Thessalonians of a symbolic Day of the Lord? Of course not. It was to be a literal event.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you have no faith in the traditions of the Church, including the scriptures what do you base your Catholic faith on?\n\nIf the Church got something so basic as the scriptures wrong then it shouldn't have any credibility whatsoever. That would be my conclusion if thought like you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have said before (primarily when talking about the political/Christianity complex), that the devil has taken control of organized Christianity. The absolute power and discretion given to clerics is unconscionable. The temptation for abuse, of any type, coupled with the notion of God-given superiority (the old indelible mark/keys of the kingdom horse puckey), shows more than anything else that congregations must have more control about their parishes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is married! Only Catholic priests aren't allowed to marry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "if Mr. Brown had been helped at conception, had we, as a society relocated his mother into an environment that 80% of us are fortunate enough to be a part of, trained her how to be a mother, had he been actually born into 'our' society, grown up and educated like you and i were, then i dont think we would know who he was. bouhlel drove that truck into that crowd out of frustration at being denied even the most basic human decencies afforded 'white christian' french citizens. pew research conducted a study and found-Holding all else equal, Muslims who use the internet are much more inclined to like Western movies, music and television, and they are somewhat less inclined to say that Western entertainment is harming morality in their country. europe is now trying to limit internet connectivity in muslim enclaves. what is needed is free smart phones and free wifi for every poor person, muslim and non muslim under 34 on the planet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The RCC Cardinals and Bishops need to atone for their part in Trump's election.\n\nI suggest they start the atonement process by 1) marching en-masse -- the entire USCCB membership --through the halls of congress, 2) stopping at each office of a professed Catholic, 3) giving a three minute lecture on the morality examples expected of them, and 4) publishing the reactions and remarks of each congressperson encountered.\n\nThe atonement process continues as they do the same thing every week, inviting clergy from a different denomination or faith to join them each week to 1) march through the halls, 2) visit ALL offices these times, 3) instruct, and 4) publish the reactions and remarks of those visited.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They were made by Catholics about their own church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jeff, you have wandered so far away from the original discussion, which was that Mike Pence and Sarah Huckleberry Sanders are consummate liars who claim to be Christians, that I have to wonder if you suffer from some kind of attention deficit disorder. Or, perhaps it's just that you've mastered the right-wing art of distraction and deflection. FYI, the number of democrats vs republicans who are christian is irrelevant to this discussion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You need to bone up on Neoplatonism and how it influenced the early Church.\nPeople have described Christianity has a fusion of Greek philosophy and Jewish ethics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"faith\" of the people has changed since the introduction of the Novus Ordo Missae. Lex credendi, lex orandi indeed.\nHere are some of the things that New Order \"Catholics\" believe today, which we see in their very own posts daily on this site alone:\n-A belief that the murder of unborn children is acceptable \n- gay \"marriage\" is acceptable \n-gay sexual relationships are not intrinsically sinful\n- situational ethics are fine\n- divorced and \"re-married people living in a state of sin aren't actually sinning and should be allowed to receive the Novus Ordo cookie\n- only 22% of \"Catholics\" believe in the Real Presence \n- sins against the 7th commandment are fine if the government sanctions such activity\n- De fide sacramental theology is to be tossed aside in favor of \"equality\"\n- all are saved, including heretics, pagans, Jews, Muslims, and even atheists, in contravention to Catholic dogma\n\nTo allow the traditional Mass is to undo the political machinations & heresy of the New Order.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, if we are saying the same thing, you expressed it rather badly.\n\nIt sounded like you were advocating a return to the actual words and gestures of Jesus.\n\nSince we cannot be sure what those were, how could we return to it? Vatican II set itself a more nuanced objective.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another gloom and doom entry.\n\nCan't wait for IRMA.\n\nA counter view, one from a Catholic perspective.\n\nthe thesis offered us in this article is simply one of seeing a problem with mere human eyes.\n\nImagine the effects of 300k fueled by the Sanctifyng grace of Holy Communion who enter the fray of this storm damage to fix homes and hearts with the sweat of happy sacrifice and constant prayer. To not count to cost but to self empty in order to bring order and calm to the area's souls, not gouging on repair work. Working long hours building friendships.\n\nAnd imagine those Catholics directly affected who resist taking the \"woe is me\" path and instead cheerfully dust themselves off in a more sporting spirit, encouraging by their sincere example their non Christian neighbors. God's Holy Spirit moving through those people.\n\nGod can draw unimaginable good out of this disaster.\n\nDon't let the gloom and doom writers of NCR cast the message unchallenged or unfazed by the message of the Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since the 1960's many people have practiced a 'religion' of peace and freedom. That is our religion. But is our religion recognized? We have been pull over at check post and searched, we have blue suits break into our houses and search them, they break into our phones and computers, they put CCTV in our parks.\n\nThe problem of freedom of faith is it means THEIR faith and not anyone else s. It means mostly Christian religious values, book values and rules, which are merely perceived and interpreted by some pundits.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Should be interesting to see investor reaction after Trump tweets against Yellen the first time the Fed raises interest rates this year. (Come on - you know he will!)\n\nLooking further ahead after he picks another staunch Christian Conservative billionaire to replace her next year we'll all be praying that the market won't crash (again).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RD has decided, based solely on his personal prejudices, that the social sciences are worthless. He reminds me of a man I used to know who told me that since he, personally, had no interest in cosmology, no one else should be interested in it either.\n\nRD is given to such inanities. In the https://www.ncronline.org/news/justice/conference-examines-clash-between-us-culture-catholic-social-teaching thread, he said that dysfunctional families \"the only thing serious Catholics should be focused on\". He's rather arrogant in thinking that his priorities should be everyone else's priorities as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If it really is a Catholic university, it darn well should be!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some of the women in Romans 16-17 likely presided at Eucharist. One, Prisciala, was the first bishop of Rome (Paul did not mention Cephas). While these men and women might be missionaries coming in, they still included females. I have no problem with male priests, female, gay or married, but they need to reject the ideal of Continence, which seems to be the root of all dysfunction in Catholic sexuality. Beyond that women priests need to be the voice of the pro-life movement, particularly married women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Happily married, father, Catholic, Director of CFam, author. \n\nIn other words \"the enemy\" of many here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can't we all just behave like good Christians? LOL", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is citizens united,the corporation pays the fines,the aristocrats are unaccountable and no one goes to jail.To the Christian republican right the teachings of Jesus are fake news.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the Catholic Church, the magisterium IS the criterion of our faith. Nobody can change the Deposit of Faith. Would you consider buying a copy of the Baltimore Catechism before you go around dictating to other people what Catholicism is and is not? Sheeeshh...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have never been convinced that a Married Priesthood is an adequate answer to any actual question. One expects such clerical families to have a surfeit of offspring who will require Catholic educations, at truly astronomical costs . . .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your view is actually ego centric, not Christocentric. \n\n\"Christ suffered because we suffer\". \n\nChrist suffered as a gratuitous act of total self-gift, unmerited by us. \n\nPicking up the Cross is an act of love.\n\nJesus taught us that love is self gift.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Harry,\nAny person who confirms that they are a Christian is instructed by Jesus to represent Him to others in their actions and words. All humans fail this ideal every day. We repent by acknowledging our faults and asking for forgiveness and apologizing to those we have failed to love as Jesus commanded us to love. God alone knows how well we meet this challenge. \nI expect the person who leads us to follow Christ's example by humbly serving all people not just their partisan allies. Acknowledging our faults and sincerely seeking forgiveness is virtuous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pretty sure ISIS also is perpetuating hate crimes. \nThe fact that Christians are persecuted and executed as well is a hate crime over in the middle east.\n\nBut please Shaista, do go on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, some on the Catholic right, especially the far right, are attracted to far right populists. This is why Pope Francis should be clear about the fact that movements like the National Front are incompatible with the Catholic faith. I hope that at the very least Pope Francis will put out an encyclical on populism.\n\nAnd Pope Francis' non-answer on the French election was odd. I guess that popes shouldn't be butting into elections however and Francis didn't want to get into an argument with Le Pen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Times change & political parties change from the days of the civil war.. Now you have republicans acting like they never break any law and claiming to be for family values while they rip families apart. They also claim to be Christians but display none of the qualities of Christians. But there are Christians sheltering immigrants like in the days of slavery, it was legal but good people morally objected and aided people to break the law. \n\nThis is what I am doing and I am proud of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There really is no such thing as a \"just war\". Now it is used by Republican Catholics such as Heaton, Weigel and other Right Wing Catholics and Catholic Neocons and Catholic PNAC-ers, etc. \nThat idea was used by the church to justify it's violation of God's Laws -- thou shalt NOT covet, thou shalt NOT kill - not even for oil, niot even for the church, not even for the GOP, NOT even for Bush or Chaney, NOT even for the Koch Bros, NOT even for the oil industry, NOT even for 'the beacon on the hill, etc,etc, ad infinitum!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"He literally said, \"I am God\", on countless occasions,\" I am not a biblical scholar with a \"Divinity Degree\", so please explain this statement & define countless, as it applies to the scriptures in this context. It sounds like the commonly misused term \"common sense\" which is used to berate someone for lacking knowledge, understanding & wisdom. The bible never speaks of common sense, but does exhort Christians to seek out wisdom, knowledge, understanding & have a spirit of discernment, all so that we may be more compassionate (Christ-like, non-judgemental) towards our fellow humans...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In the creative quest to make Jesus known, we should not be afraid because he precedes us in this task. He is already in the people of today, and there he is waiting for us,\" the pope said.\nLIFETIME CATECHESIS isn't just in word, but in work of living and exemplifying the Gospel - not an elect position institutionally claimed and owned by a priestly class.\nHistorically, church catechists are too much cultured in disconnection from an authentic sense of earth-belonging, of a kind of spiritual arrogance that self-presumes an elitist chosenism.\nArrogant self-election contributes to a de-facto global culture of internecine violence. Take the religious wars in the Middle East, for example, in the \"Holy\" Land. Truly, land is holy everywhere - and yet, perhaps nowhere more desecrated than in the Land of Christian origins.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Could it be that what you describe as \"new agey type words\" is simply modern English, as opposed to archaic English en route to obsolescence. Also, could it be that you simply prefer the comfort of lyrics we seniors were raised with, rather than the modern and fast evolving English that our youth prefer.\n\nAs for \"Lord\" being replaced by \"God,\" I presume you are talking about the Psalms and other OT scripture? If so, there is some history behind the change that is important.\n\nWhen we read \"Lord,\" the Hebrew was often \"Yahweh\" (actually the Hebrew only has the consonants YHWH). The Jews and modern scholarship recognizes this as the name of God, so by the normal rules of translation of names from one language to another, we ought to read \"Yahweh\" rather than \"Lord\" in English translations. Indeed the New Jerusalem Bible, used in Catholic liturgies in Great Britain, always correctly translates Yahweh as Yahweh. \n\n (continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The situation in the Mideast and elsewhere for Christians is dire, but for some reason particularly underreported in the press. Turkey, Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria...where is the outrage? \nhttps://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/world-watch-list/\n\nWhere are the articles here clamoring for news and the release of Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil? There was one in the last 8 months...with one comment. Mine.\n\nWhere is the concern here?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suppose in Christ's time, all the prophets that failed to connect with the people and generate a following thought, \"Wow, so in order to get people to listen to my message I have to perform miracles and be killed?\"\n\nThere are lots of \"religions\" derivative of Catholicism trying to spread their version of Christ's message, and they're all failing. The Church recognized that to get people to pay attention you have to do more than just babble about Christ's message of peace (that's the easy part); you also have to talk about evil and sin, and, yes, create a ceremony worthy of the greatness of the teachings. Jesus spent lots of time in the Jewish Temple.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you are Catholic there is a massive difference.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Spoken from a Western viewpoint where icons mean nothing, gnosticism denies that each human is BOTH body and soul, and rationality reigns supreme.\n\nThe importance Christ lent to his Body is reflected in the words \u201cThis is my Body\u201d, in the feast of the Incarnation, and in the definitions of the Council of Ephesus (431) and the Council of Chalcedon (451). \n\nIn order to understand Inter Insigniores and Ordinatio Sacerdotalis you need to understand what a priest actually is, what function he performs, the meaning of \u201canamnesis\u201d, and the Church\u2019s theology of the Eucharist.\n\nIn particular you need to understand the theology of the letter to the Hebrews.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Happy Holidays is just as good as Merry Christmas. Christ has been replaced with Santa for eons. Can't worship one God and feast to another that's called walking fence post for both. I think Christians feel guilty for celebrating a pagan feast and calling it godly. Besides what good are words when the heart is not connected. It's just a phrase. Has nothing to do with anything. It is similar to I love you. Overused and empty in majority of sentences and greetings. How many times have you asked someone \"how are you\" and prayed they wouldn't tell you? People getting tighty whities in a twist over nothing. Celebrate if YOU choose or not, just move on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "PS\nAt Oslo the Palestinians clearly and unambiguously renounced armed struggle and accepted Israel's right to exist. But while Oslo provided symbols of independence like the right to issue postage stamps and raise flags, the occupation was further entrenched, settlements expanded and Arafat reduced to a Israeli virtual prisoner. (Hence Hamas' adamant refusal to follow suit).\n\nIsrael has since raised the bar and insists Palestinians must now recognize it as a \"Jewish state\", even though it signed still-honored peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan without that precondition. This latest demand is equivalent to Ottawa demanding First Nations recognize Canada as a \"Christian country\" before land negotiations. No self-respecting leader would accept.\n\nThis is precisely why Israel insists on it; it enables the \"no peace partner\" mantra allowing time for \"facts on the ground\" (illegal settlements) that abort the birth of a viable Palestinians state (as promised in Likud's election platform).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It sounds like the reviewer doesn't like the film because she has a problem with Catholicism and/or Christianity. But she doesn't come out and say that in the review. I'm not impressed with this review at all. It has \"isms\" written all over it. I can't wait to see the movie and God bless Scorsese for having the patience and passion to execute a project that he has wanted to make for a long time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I listen to him and actually wonder whether he would put in the same effort if this had been a Christian church. Sorry folks, but it seems like a contrived response to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You may well think that he is doing that but from old I know that Kurgan (Nic) is lampooning the Catholic Church.\nOrthodox Catholics now ignore him but it is amazing how many progressives new to this site rise to the bait.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "May I ask...although I know you won't answer...\n\nIf you are not a member of the Roman Catholic Church - (In my church -- the Ukrainian Catholic Church) why are you so involved in critiquing it?\n\nI don't believe I've read your comments on your church's stance on SSM. Do you criticize your church, too?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I remember reading that speech of Enda Kenny over and over, and watching replays of his delivery. Finally, someone with governmental power called out the Vatican for its claim of special exemption to following laws of the country in which they didn't just exist, but in which they had played an powerful role in both society and government. The Royal Commission did the same kind of in depth investigation as Ireland had done. \n\nI think the impact in both countries was profound - at least on the Catholic people. I don't know if the church itself, acting through the bishops and the bishops conferences, really did much to change themselves. Oh, they implemented important and necessary procedures to protect children now and in the future. But it doesn't seem to me that they even looked at themselves and why they failed so utterly in the first place. What happened is systemic to what and how they (the hierarchical church) think and how they have organized themselves. They don't get it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suggest you read the book and/or watch the movie I have suggested. You might also check out \"The case for Christianity\" by CS Lewis. At one point, CS Lewis was an atheist. There are many atheists that have converted. I agree that just because you believe, not all of your faults magically disappear. Some things should change as you go through your walk. A fun book in that regard is \"Pilgrim's progress\". The original versions are all in Old English, but has been updated to be in modern english. You might even be able to read it online.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If she were serious about \"getting to know each other\" as a solution, and really believed that if we \"knew each other better\" the mistrust of Muslims would disappear, she would be spelling out which teachings of Islam she considers fundamental to \"mainstream Muslims\", and which she and they consider wrong and extremist, instead of deflecting. \n\nBut like the Catholics who for decades sought to shield the pedophiles and child abusers rather than denounce them, either her first loyalty is to her faith community, so she will not, or she actually knows that most Muslims, and maybe even her, do approve of those practices, so she must deflect instead.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's true, but if you are no different from a Protestant church, once the new and shiny wears off, the people will go in search of better sermons, more \"emotive\" music, and better coffee. I see no reason why Eucharist should be excluded from preparing a Catholic Mass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "None of the comments in the article fall into anything which would lead to arrest.\n\nSan Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo plays the political card but increased access to information and legal aid violate no laws.\n\n\"Prayers of Light\" is pleasant and Godspeed them.\n\nSt. Agnes pastor, Jesuit Fr. Ray Allender, violates no laws when he weaves a harmless string of platitudes: \"It is keeping with the social justice orientation of our parish and is in line with the teaching of the church and Pope Francis. It is the Gospel. In my opinion, there is no other option if we are to follow the footsteps of the Lord and our call and mission as Christians.\"\n\nArchbishop Salvatore Cordileone has spoken in support of efforts to welcome refugees and protect immigrants, but he advocates nothing illegal.\n\nAll of these folks steer clear of advocating lawbreaking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The golden rule: \"do unto others as you would have them do unto you.\" The rule being followed, and explicitly stated although in other words: \"Do unto others as you perceive them to have done unto you.\" In other words, repay \"snark\" or perceived \"snark\" with snark, respond to perceived attacks with attacks. This after all, is what Jesus taught his followers isn't it? One one must assume that a poster who claims to be a catholic is a follower of Jesus. So when that poster proclaims that he attacks when attacked, snarks when snarked, that poster is representing Jesus' teachings. Or is disregarding them because he isn't actually a follower? Or believes those teachings have been superseded, perhaps by the Rites, Ritual, Regulations and Habits of the Church? Its all quite confusing, or possibly hilarious, depending on the poster's intentions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The \"spirituality\" of Christianity is an acquired taste to which the vast majority of the world has no attraction.\"\n\nYou may want to rethink that assumption:\n\n \"Across Canada, immigrants and visible minorities are much more likely to be religiously committed. Visible minorities made up 16 per cent of the sample group but accounted for 29 per cent of all religiously committed respondents.\n\nhttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadians-may-be-vacating-the-pews-but-they-are-keeping-the-faith-poll\n\nhttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/religion/ray-pennings-it-is-time-to-change-the-narrative-around-religion-in-canada", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The National Catholic Register\u2019s report is appropriately sanitised to leave out the admission by Pope Francis that the Church has been slow to respond, and his \u201cerror\u201d in pardoning an abusive priest. However, the comments are the interesting part because almost everyone has criticized Francis for more window dressing and not following up his words with actions over matters such as the pontifical secret over clergy sexual abuse of children, failing to discipline bishops, and his appointment of bishops tarnished by the abuse scandal etc. If the readers of the National Catholic Register are feeling that the wool is being pulled over their eyes, then it most certainly is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gary looks down his nose at Christians unless they conform to his radical leftwing world view. He'll never admit to it because that would be politically incorrect, but it's real obvious in his posts if you've followed him for a couple years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Primacy of conscience is one of the centerpieces of Catholic moral law. Perhaps you were unaware of this.\n\nYou seem to be saying that I should ignore my conscience and follow someone else's. And then you whinge when I compare you to Adolf Eichmann, who allowed others to make his moral decisions for him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \" \u201c...it is also clear for us as Catholics that loyalty to the pope is substantial for the Catholic faith.\u201d\"\n- No doubt 'catholic' hear means those catholics who are in communion and union with the successor to Peter, the archbishop of Rome. There are a great many catholics who are in neither communion, or union.\n- No doubt 'loyalty' means being attentive to the ArchborRome as the one with whom one is in union and communion.\n- The relationship of communion and union allows for a great deal of dialog, discussion, and disagreement. In such a relationship the 'taught church' (body of christ) effectively teaches the 'teaching church' (the successors of the apostles).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians already won. It's 2017, YEAR OF OUR LORD.\nAnd they will win in the end as well.\n\nGod will take this imperfect vessel and do his will.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Another five local houses of worship have pledged themselves \"in solidarity with\" the sanctuary congregations, and will potentially provide money, food, clothing, transportation and more. They include a Jewish congregation, a Methodist church and a nondenominational Christian church.\"\n\nI don't see any Catholic church mentioned. Anyone on this board from Cincinnati?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Catholic, you shouldn't be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let me guess--- \"Study something more geared to the experience of living an 'adult' Faith\" is a euphemism for \"Read what liberal, dissenting catholic scholars have to say about Catholicism and accept what they say uncritically.\"\n\nDoes that about get to the real meaning of your post?\n\nAnd by the way--I have read works by dissenting catholic scholars. Gary Macy is one such scholar. Charlie Curran is another. Ray Brown, Elizabeth Johnson, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just a note on Christianity and the Hippie movement. There was a lot of the 'Jesus movement' associated with that period of time also. Religion and spirituality was very inclusive among the hippie movement and in fact there were many songs created in that era that focused on Jesus' love, Jesus Christ Superstar was a HUGE hit - don't discount the overlapping of Christian principles and ideals that were intertwined with it, as well as Hinduism and Buddhism etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Talk about slipping into an alternative universe. Our teachings constantly state that we to be based in reality, not ideology. Given Koch et al - as documented in Jane Mayer's 2016 Dark Money, practice is the opposite of what he claims to be doing; and the actual lived results of the proposals - even in the USA - are devastating for everyone except the investor class ... even in the USA - as documented in Arlie Hochchild's Strangers in their Own Land ... the very human and natural environment lived realities riled against in our rich teachings are created by these very people claiming to be the saviours of both Catholicism and the USA. \n\nTalk about self-serving belief systems. Talk about a \"captured church\". Once again - the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic church is on the life-denying side ... as it was in Mussolini's Italy, Franco's Spain, Pinochet's chile ... and on and on.\n\nAnd as Bush correctly states - these folks educate the American bishops. \n\nGod help us!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Simple question, does it hurt me that ppl pray? No. Leave 'em alone. My niece belonged to a Christian group in her public school. Nobody fussed", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now if they could just get someone on the committee that selects what the taxpayers are going to pay for who isn't in love with red paint and welding rod, that would be a good thing!\n\nThe stainless steel stuff isn't so bad, but the fire-engine red blobs of recycled steel grate.\n\nAlthough the huge Bishop's mitre at Gateway is a perfect symbol for the Catholic hospital down the street!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jerusalem should be an international City protected by the United Nations. It is a sacred site for three related major world religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.\n\nThe Israeli capital can remain in Tel Aviv with no change in Israeli government and the Palestinians can have their own capital in the West Bank. This is the most Fair and Equitable settlement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unless you are cherry picking from VII, Dignitatis Humanae alone would highlight that current senior management of the worldwide K of C does not support VII constitutions.\nKey - \"....as the encyclical declares that coercion is fundamentally antithetical to Christian belief and tradition. This endorsement of religious liberty and freedom of conscience represents a marked departure from previous papal encyclicals.....\"\nWhen Anderson funds groups such as the Federalist, then we have left VII documents far behind. If DH means that we must be free from coercion in civil society, funding the Federalist, Forenight for Freedom, etc. is just another version, technique, and way of creating coercion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many Christian church organization will be granted intervener status? Not many I am sure because that would be considered prejudicial.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The perpetrator would, at the very least, have a duty to remove himself from a situation where such heinous behaviour might continue and his confessor would have a sacred duty to inform him of this. \"\n\nBut the point of the whole Clergy Sex Abuse crisis is that it was NOT done. That is why the Catholic Church has mired itself in so much scandal.\n\nIf a confessor made absolution conditional on the perpetrator going to the police as having committed a terrible crime, then there would be no scandal. But what happened (and happens) is that the perpetrator is 'forgiven' for having committed a sin, and allowed to continue. If too many complaints come, then the perpetrator is moved to begin once more. If a priest confessed to murder or to robbing a bank, his confessor would insist he give himself up to police. Child abuse is just as serious a crime. It murders the spirit and robs the child of trust.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is not the internet that convinces me I don't have to be in church on Sunday; it's the bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's just so sad that able bodied men would steal from others rather than get a job, even if it's a laborer job. It's just so unnecessary especially to beat an old man. I think people like these men somehow have grown up to not have any conscience. They sound like they are mentally disturbed, but not mentally ill. \n\nI'm going to go off on a tangent about something that is related to the condition of this world related to the crime. I prefer to believe that God will rapture out the Christians (or believers of God). Some believe that there will be 7 years of tribulation (really hard times for people not of a Godly faith that are not taken up). Some believe that we are in the middle of tribulation. Jesus will return with the people raptured off this planet to a new Earth & new & good ways of living. This is what I am hoping for myself. I have turned over my life to God. At any rate, I'm going to be a doomsayer & say that I believe that this planet is on a path to self destruction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are probably right. It is not going to happen. The Vatican, the bishops and the junior clergy are slowly destroying themselves. They either cannot or don't want to come to grips with the scandals that they -- not the laity -- have caused. Their days are slowly coming to an end. A future iteration of Catholic Christianity will be one without clergy. The current structure doesn't work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior you are saved. The Protestants have always believed this and in the Joint Declaration between the World Lutheran Federation and Roman Catholicism, both sides, including Pope Francis' Vatican, has agreed to \"salvation through Faith alone.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Melania Trump is Catholic and so she confirmed following visit to the Pope....\nnow, in light of that, ponder the little exchange between Pope Francis and Melania...\nyes indeed,\nPope Francis out flanked Trump.... Brilliant!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR, what are your salaries?\n\nList the names of your top writers and editors, and post their salaries.\n\nWhy are you keeping this info a secret, yet asking us to give you money?\n\nYou claim to be a Catholic news org that's into transparency. You have no problem criticizing other Catholic orgs use of money. Why then are you being secretive about your own financial operations?\n\nSo what is your use of money, NCR? Publish that info please.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...why don't they tell the Catholics to move to the Republic, instead of trying to claim Northern Ireland all for themselves?\"\n\nMay I suggest you actually study the history of Northern Ireland before making such statements?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for one of the most Christian views I have ever read. God bless Fr. Orobator for the wideness and the depth of his understanding of the value of women's contribution to all our churches and lives! He is a true follower of Christ!! Sr. Anitra Hansen SSJD (Anglican) Canada", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Judaism long ago moved from the temple priesthood to a rabbinical model ... \"\n\nThat may have had something to do with the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, when Jewish leaders were exiled from the land, killed, or taken to Rome as slaves. In 132 AD, the remaining Jews were exiled. Judaism still hopes for the rebuilding of the Temple and the reinstitution of their Priesthood. \n\n\"God will not be present to us sacramentally unless a priest recites certain prayers, we should by all means retain the priesthood. Let's just not call ourselves believers in Christ who promised to be with us wherever two or more gather in his name.\"\n\nInstead, we could just call ourselves Catholics or Orthodox Christians - not Protestants.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't do secular Christmas decorations, not out of any pagan concerns, just because it's not my thing. I don't need a tree to celebrate Jesus' birth. I do dye eggs, but it has been repurposed with Christian meaning. It's only the English and German languages that give us the pagan word \"Easter\". Romance and Gaelic languages use the Hebrew word for Passover instead to derive their terms for the Feast of the Resurrection (see P\u00e2ques and C\u00e1isc respectively.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you don't think that helping refugees is the Christian thing to do?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Too bad most Christians refuse to follow the advice that Jesus gave them.\"\n\nWhat advice would this be? To feed, house, and find work for the homeless like Eugene's Mission, St. Vinnies, and an assortment of other Christian assemblies and charities do in our town?\n\nAs a Christian family, we took many homeless people in over the years when my children were young and we lived on a farm. I was younger and had the energy and strength to care for the homeless souls that wandered our way and also to guard my family against their occasional theft and violence.\n\nI suggest that Christian scoffers and homeless advocates all take some homeless folks into their homes to get first hand experience with sheltering, feeding, and, yes, surviving homeless people.\n\nWhy wait for \"Proper public housing, public education, and public healthcare\"? Take charge yourselves! House some homeless people now!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am so glad to see you back from suspension! Very few true catholic voices here representing the true face of Catholicism. Hopefully you can continue vigorously representing the Catholic Christian virtues of self defense and condemnation without getting suspended, again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Educated atheists I don't think would go along with your historical timeline; to think the following of Christ came about ~300A.D. wouldn't be held by anyone with a high school World History understanding. Beyond the Bible, other histories show it as a live movement pretty much to the full extent of the Roman Empire by 300.... The main doctrine of Christian church is there is NOT purity of soul but original sin that maintains itself even amongst those who are converted and become believers. From what you have written here, I think you need to become familiar with U.S. Government's Bill of Rights and early colonial history before sparking off talk on 'melding of religion and government'. History has many strands, and the Christian Church in many ways has improved \"Natives\" lives. (Also go back and review Native tactics, torure, slay and beatings among the various tribes and you will find that such sins are universal in world cultures and certainly American History).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I most certainly am, Trid. And much of that amusement comes from postings of the Catholic right-wingers!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The mis-application of that Jesus saying seems to have begun very early! if they were baptizing infants in the first century. Even t Paul may have baptized everyone in a converted family. Though it might have been more the 'Christian initiation' primarily.\n\nOf course 'Limbo' used to be 'taught' -- which is what 'doctrine' means. Doctrines start off as 'theological opinions'. That's what full and official and infallible doctrines \u2013 like the Assumption of Mary \u2013 were for all those centuries before being 'proclaimed' officially. \n\nIt was a 'theological assumption' but not yet an ''infallibly taught and official 'doctrine'. And even now, some argue Mary died first, like Jesus did, and 'tradition' claims -- while some argue she got 'assumed' without having to die.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the reply. Yes, there is no end to people who use the Bible or any other thing to gain advantage over others. They are shameful and not to be mistaken for Christians, though they sometimes say they are. True Christians are known by their fruits, meaning you will see the goodness they do in their lives. But Christians are never perfect either, so we often need forgiveness, too, like everyone else does.\n\nAs for Separation of Church and State, please read my comment and links to Gladys Kravitz. The meaning of the phrase has been turned on its head. Separating anyone and their beliefs, whatever they may be, from participation in our government, all areas of society government has involved itself in (like schools), and society itself makes no sense, particularly when Christians are singled out in this separation! But I completely agree with the Establishment Clause, meaning no state establishment of religion. That, in fact, would be unChristian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree abour John Allen's piece, which creates a false parallel between Trump and the Holy Father. False irenicism. Francis is gutsy. wise and fundamentally Christian and evangelical.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The suggestion that the secular left needs the Catholic left even more now strikes me as a little self - righteous, and a bit premature by half. Would we not better first look to find if and where the Catholic left has registered an influence or impact on the secular left's attempts to effect change? What this election result could do is cause us all to examine or assess if and how our inclinations to Catholic ministry are evidenced before we presume to assign the level of importance and impact we think we are worthy of.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. MacDougall if you want M-103 lets make it fair no free speech no freedom of speech on Islam, Jews, Christain and so forth or lets not stop there!! Our Canada will become Sharia Law soon...no rights for women back to the stone age or bags over your head and slavery!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hardly but thanks for agreeing that the US is hardly Christian. You realize that the US, unlike a lot of nations, does not have an official religion? Probably the main reason why Americans are more religious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But you left out the major point that the average Catholic doesn't have a clue that they are witnessing Christ redeem them....they are self-focused on their phone, their chewing gum, where they went to dinner the night before...their boredom at a homily. \n\nThat's not a good type of self focus.\n\nWe should be absolutely interested in our own salvation and the salvation of the person to our left and right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But isn't the goal of the Christian to SEEK UNION with God? To do so with an \"uncluttered\" mind and heart is PURITY. So what's the problem with Yoga if it aids people in this?\n\n\nIt's not like Hindu monks are going to be knocking on students' doors in the dorm or at home, trying to evangelize them to Hinduism. Benedictine College officials and Fr. John Riley ought to try Yoga themselves and read what Yoga can do----BEFORE condemning it. After all, how successful has the Archdiocese of Kansas City been as far as providing Catholics with the means of achieving [or at least growing] in practices that further Union with God, by teaching how to do centering prayer, or teaching any form of meditation to Catholics? \n\n\nHinduism predates Christianity by centuries. Many of the ascetical practices of some of the Christian saints---bear close resemblance to practices from Hinduism. Learning how to contemplate is easier if one knows proper breathing and centering prayer practices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks, Bill, that is a good point. He'll be in it up to his nose if he tries that, as I have a degree in Biology. And like you, I am a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The fact that the Bishops will not work with the ACP really says so much about the Bishops. They aren't interested in renewal, or a real spirituality or service. If they were, they'd all be attending ACP meetings with their brothers.\n\nAnd btw, the numbers who will greet the Pope has got the square root of zero to do with what the Bishops do or don't do. It will be packed because many Irish people love Francis and will go to support him and stand beside him. He displays all the characteristics which would appeal to their awakening idea of authentic Christianity. Kindness, for starters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And, yet, I have not heard Chaput or others suggesting that Ryan leave the Catholic Church ......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which of the saints I mentioned are myths? May I ask what is your belief of the Church 4 marks as one, holy, apostolic and catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When you don't have enough priests, you need a new model of church, a new model of ministers, and an openness to what the Holy Spirit's been talking the church for decades, if not centuries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a Christian , BUT?\nI think I was afraid to take my talents to say?\nKSND , Or KZEL, or any other station why?\nI knew KORE\"s formats and I think it was easier to just return then learn a new \nformat why?\nAgain radio is a job , No I would not work at KNRQ not my kind of station or format but?\nso yes I would have gave it a thought an not just worked at any other format no.\nMany Christians do not understand that radio is a job like any other job in my opinion.\nI also think that to learn radio one must work in the secular radio jobs to get a real look at broadcasting in my opinion, One ex girl friend again didn't understand that if?\nIf there were NO jobs around in the Christian format , and radio was my love?\nThen why not work at say small KNND in cottage grove , I started my radio career there so why not?\nShe thought at the time that Christians should NOT work in secular?\nher opinion not mine. what Im suppose to do starve?\nwe cant hide from the real world.\nin my view.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Newsflash: The dead don't care, even if they are stuck in the ground for eternity next to the corpse of a Christian, a Jew, or a non-believer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agree 95% with the author. His one point is a bit off base: \"When a survey finds more than half of academics in some fields would discriminate against a job seeker who they learned was an evangelical, that feels to me like bigotry.\"\n\nI would be reluctant to hire an evangelical in an academic setting as well. Typically their beliefs hold positions such as that the earth is only thousands of years old, today's humans are not the product of evolution, that they're charged with proselytizing their religion to others, etc. Universities need to have a foundation built on rational thinking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am for the right of women to their Reproductive Health Care which the current administration, unlike Obama care, wants to deny them. Not everyone practices your kind of Catholicism. Religious Freedom allows you to practice your religion on yourself not on others through legislation. You sound very judgmental and full of hate which is most un-Christ- like of you. Read my response to EFC 1127A for more explanation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, I'm with you. She starts by stating that Christians don't conflate nature and heaven and then proceeds to do just that. It's pretty close to gobbledygook.\n\nMy take on the Cosmic Christ is that all creation was initiated by God the Father through God the Son and, ultimately, points back toward God. In the words of the Nicene Creed, \"Through him all things were made.\"\n\nIt's a bit more complex than that, but my point is that one doesn't have to go whole hog into pantheism, as this essay suggests, to accept the notion of the Cosmic Christ. It is consistent with traditional Christian creation spirituality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are also lots of Catholic, Presbyterian, United etc. cemeteries all over Ontario.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\", ALL I have to do is post quotes that I \"think\" I \"might be able to find,\" -- REFUTING the fact that our founding fathers made us a Christian nation under the Judeo Christian paradigm, correct. That was both explicit and implicit in the post-- the most casual reader, exercising the most basic of critical reasoning skills would have gathered this. There is no possible way you can be this deliberately oblivious -- NONE of the quotes you tried to find refute this fact. You agree with this fact, or you don't-- which is it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear John Fitzgerald 486,\nOf course I will explain why I never changed the Pontifical Secret: because doing so would potentially open the door to countless criminal and civil prosecutions against enabling Bishops and Cardinals; but as no good Catholic wants that to happen then I will not change the Pontifical Secret. I am not afraid of offending Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI; actually we both agree on most issues involving the handling of clergy pedophilia allegations including the need for Bishops and Cardinals to obey the Pontifical Secret in places where the Civil Law does not require Bishops and Cardinals to report clergy pedophilia to police. I am glad that the world accepts me as a sincere, gentle and holy person with a sincere heart; unfortunately I will die before having a chance to prove them right, and that's the way that my masters, that is the Curia, wants that to happen.\nSincerely in Christ,\nPope Francis", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you are back practicing in the Ukrainian Catholic ritual? When did that happen?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Finally - the Catholic Theological Society of America:\n\nhttps://catholicmoraltheology.com/the-power-of-ctsa/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is your answer to the above question as a \"thinker and creative\" person? Someone has to stand up to the offensive, scandalous, and sacrilegious comments posted. If you don't believe Jesus was Divine, then I guess you are not a Christian, period.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because Christians were slaughtered? You make zero sense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only way to evangelise is to teach the Catholic Faith in it's entirety. if becoming a Catholic requires no change of heart or lifestyle, why bother?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis certainly doesn't care about religious creed when he advocates for refugees, most of whom currently attempting to flee to Europe are not Christian. I would certainly hope that the U.S. bishops don't either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now that is BS.\nI am mixed race, & a Christian.\n All I ever call for is liberty for everybody.\nAnd with liberty comes personnel responsibility.\nI think it is that whole \" responsibility \" thing that the liberty loathing left does not want any part of.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Jewish God, the Christian God, and the Islam God are all the same God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you , members of the Mennonite Church, for taking this moral stand and publicizing it in the media. Your statement is a reminder of what true Christian values are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As it is so many time when it comes to the Catholic hierarchy, Papa Francesco must be very political [read carefully picking his spots] because many of his critics are also the very same clerics who supported his election [at the time] - it is absurd to think that now he is easily going to turn his back on the very traditionalists he needs to run the church. Francesco is playing a political game that is both long in duration and thinking. The pope's most potent political gambit is to shape the college of cardinals that will choose his successor: that process is designed to ensure stability over time, if not the inspirational pastoral leadership we long for, we so desperately need.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You read my mind ! Especially useful for Protestants, perhaps a new acronym is in order. Christian Universalists of Zion, C.U.Z. !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed, the People of God are \"The Church.\" That is a Red Herring.\n\nThe question is who leads the Church and speaks for the Church. The question is also who can bind the Christian Conscience in the name of the Church.\n\nI answer that the bishops in union with the pope are those leaders who can speak for the Church and bind the Christian Conscience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Extraordinary Form more clearly communicates Catholic doctrine regarding what is going on in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and one of the considerations behind the Ordinary Form was these appeasement of Protestants and others in stripping away aspects deemed to be \"too Catholic\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Its meant to be funny, relax! I guess Wynne should ban South Park immediately from screens.\n\nHow about this joke:\n\nA Muslim, Christian and Buddhist walk into a bar...(should stop while I'm ahead!)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not the progressive Catholic movement that wrote this article. The Vatican concern expressed therein is targeted at the Catholic side, and it is an invitation to step back from the narrow cultural warrior imagine of Catholicism in favor of a more balanced interest in gospel values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope NCR doesn't spend more valuable time wallowing in the mud of the election and transitions to an editorial stance that makes a contribution to the future of the nation from a faith perspective.\nThe story of Antiochus Epiphanes is in the bible because the Maccabees led the resistance, not because they wrote essays about how awful he was. \nCall a strike by Catholic workers until the government responds to our demands for just treatment of immigrants. Talk is cheap and cheap talk got us where we are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Christianity, fasting is not a stand-alone discipline: it is done in the context of prayer and alms-giving; in other words, it is outwardly directed as a way to deepen our relationship with God and neighbor.\nAn incarcerated friend tells me that he always looks forward to Ramadan (he is not a Muslim) because the Muslim inmates with whom he lives, who fast from food and water in all the daylight hours of Ramadan, receive a meal after sundown -- and most of them share the meal with the other inmates who ate normally all day long. I'm not prepared to draw any profound conclusions from that, except to say that God is good and so are God's people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then you reject the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the entire tradition of Catholic moral theology. \n\n\"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.\" (1 Cor 6-11).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cheryl Lobo Kaster, Terrorism is associated with various religions. The Ku Klux Klan, for example, has a long history of terrorism, and it is based on Christianity. Trump has done nothing to stop the Ku Klux Klan because it supported him during the campaign. AG Chin and the AGs of many other states oppose Trump's travel ban because it is discriminatory and unconstitutional. The took oaths to uphold the Constitution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus is a real person. If you do not want to believe the Bible, there are other sources that mention his existence. Who wants to weaponize friendship with the creator? It is you with your hatred that has a problem. While I do not like pain or hatred anymore than anyone else, for the Christian, persecution is welcome in that our Lord and Master, was also persecuted. Since He was persecuted, should we really expect any better from the people who hate Him, as you seem to. I know you have seen some bad things in the church, but is that really any excuse to hate Him who has only shown you love? Who has not given up on you? Who desires to have YOU by his side? Remember the apostle Paul was much like you. He hated the Christians as much as you do. And yet God welcomed him with open arms. \nAs far as a threat is concerned, were we truly a threat to ISIS?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "once again Tridy it is you who are projecting judgement. It is clear that we are not perfect beings. Our minds are indeed very fallible. When you believe that only your definitions of orthodox are indeed one and the same with the Catholic Church, you seem to place your self in a small dark, flatulent corner of the catholic cafeteria.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic altars contain the relics of martyrs so what is sacrilegious anout one whose innocent blood has been spilled being placed upon it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I must have missed it - where was the attack on Christianity? It's pretty sad when you have to make up things to be fauxraged about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Despite his admission of wrongdoing, he retained the honorific of most reverend and held the title of bishop emeritus.\"\n\nIn the Catholic brand of the Christian Superstition being made a priest and elevated to other higher ranks in the hierarchy conveys some sort of supernatural contagion, so trying to hold one of the supernaturally enhanced former plain human beings accountable would be similar to trying to bring their top level imaginary supernatural buddy before a human body to judge his guilt or innocence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Calling priests \"Father\" is not inherently patriarchal if you also have female priests whom you call \"Mother,\" which is the case in Episcopal Churches, particularly those Anglo-Catholic Episcopal churches who have embraced the ordination of women. Ordain women to the Roman Catholic priesthood and your problem with patriarchy is solved. No need to stop calling male priests \"Father.\" Since pastors act as heads of a large \"household,\" referring to them as \"Father\" or \"Mother\" is something I don't see as problematic. Not ordaining women, however, is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good analysis. How does this attrition rate compare to decrease in the numbers of practicing Catholics? Meaning, if the challenge to make the faith appealing to children of mixed marriages similar to that of keeping people in the faith? If people grow up with an acceptable alternative to Catholicism - rather than being \"indoctrinated\" by parents who guilt trip you, it appears that the preferred alternative is to leave. The pastoral suggestion to pay \"special attention needs to be paid by the church to children of mixed marriages so that Catholicism is presented in an attractive way that does not alienate the child by belittling..\" should be applied to all children, and the disgraceful but deeply rooted practice to belittle any deviation from the \"mainstream\" should forever be abandoned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whoa there. Lets back it up and take a deep breath. You jumped from \"the contemplative life is a waste of time to \"burning heretics alive for their own good, awarding bishops coats of arms, or covering up child abuse by priests to protect the church from scandal.\" The Martha/Mary narrative shows us that the Christian life is BOTH contemplative and practical. The are equally important to the life of the Church. I'm not saying we should all be theologians (I'm trained as a philosopher, not a theologian) but, I must object to the notion that all Christians should abandon contemplation \"go do something useful.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Weird comment. Not destroying the unborn in the womb is a Christian position that should not have any defectors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" In one part of Toronto, most of the Portuguese kids may go to the Catholic schools; in another, it may be the Filipino kids. They are bundled with their own kind. It would be far better for the social health of the city to see everyone mixed in together in a single secular, public system.\" So it sounds like Toronto is divided along cultural ethnic groups. If the local public school was in a Filipino neighbourhood, wouldn't most of the student population still be Filipino? Ditto for the Portuguese neighbourhood?\n\nBtw, have you stepped into a Catholic church service? Folks attending are multicultural, with family who came from all over the world. Culturally and ethnically diverse, all together at Sunday mass. What is the definition of \"catholic\"? Look it up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On the basis of my informed conscience, I am a \u2018conscientious objector\u2019 to a few Church policies \u2013 just as I am conscientious objector to the structural sins of the society in which live because, being part of a structurally unjust society makes one complicit in that structural injustice. That\u2019s why I have dedicated the last 40 year of my live to pursuing social justice, and the last 10 within the context of living in voluntary simplicity and poverty. It is the duty of a Catholic to follow the dictates of his or her informed conscience wherever it leads, even when, as St. John Paul II noted, the dictates of conscience conflict with Church teaching. \n\nWhen the Church falls into error, the Holy Spirit moves among the faithful and corrects the error. The Holy Spirit is even now moving among the faithful and making change. What would the Church be if it recognised an error and refused to correct it? As Jesus noted, people born of the Spirit from above are like the wind \u2026", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting that I was living in Connecticut when we left the faith for ten years. My reason wasn't the social issues that they mention, we just had a very lack luster community of Catholics. It was not inspiring, and no one seemed very connected to their faith...they were just punching a Sunday card. I do have friends that still go to the local Catholic Church there, and some have become more involved, so hopefully it is changing now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed.\n\nIn his July 2016 acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Mike Pence famously declared \"I'm a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order.\"\n\nDoes anyone see anything missing in that list? And we can be sure Pence isn't alone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religion is not \"made up by men\". Those Christian denominations which follow the Bible would never say that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When Religious Right Wing Nuts fall back on Tricky Dick Nixon's \"Silent Majority\" talking point you know that they have given up on finding evidence to support their claims.\n\nI suspect that Senator Beyak thinks Canada is still a \"Christian Country\", even though most young couples in \"Catholic\" Qu\u00e9bec aren't bothering to get married, let alone by a Priest in a Temple. Only about 30% of Canadians are still Religious. \n\nhttp://www.people-press.org/2002/12/19/among-wealthy-nations/\n\nBeyak thinks that forcibly converting children to Christianity was a good thing. A majority of Canadians thinks that religion causes more harm than good.\n\nhttps://www.irreligion.org/2011/09/16/half-of-canadians-think-religion-more-harmful-than-good-poll-finds/\n\nBeyak must yearn for the days when the Catholic Church could tell Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois how to vote by hanging Blue banners in their Temples before the election. \n\nhttps://www.google.ca/#q=le+ciel+est+bleu+l'enfer+est+rouge", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...the metrics-based relationship between levels of higher education and disaffection....\"\n\nYou have no hard data for this -- that higher education and disaffection go together, as it were, especially in relation to Ct. Catholics (in the costal towns or cities) or Catholics anywhere, for that matter. Many educated Catholics (and well off) continue to send their children to Catholic institutions of learning -- secondary schools, Catholic colleges and universities. The biggest donors to these schools are super wealthy, educated Catholics with disposable incomes. Disaffection, however, occurs at all class levels of the church, with 41% of the Nones, according to Pew, suggesting some might even return some day to the sacraments, under different circumstances. Pew, however, has never indicated to which income and educational bracket these ex-Catholics belonged. (And if they did, one wonders how reliable they would be considering the way citizens fibbed to pollsters in this last election.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Native Americans held black people as slaves. My alleged great grandmother was taken as a slave-wife to a chief. One ancestor tried to defend a Protestant leader from the Inquisition of Charles von Habsburg who conquered the Aztecs. My Huguenot ancestors fled to America from the Catholics. Black Americans were drawn to Moses - the Abolitionist. I have proven Jesus was an Abolitionist who began the War of Liberation from Pagan Rome, thus, Pagans owned millions of slaves. Judaism is a tribal religion that came out of pagan India. The days of the week are named after pagans. When the Jews lost the world war with the Roman Slave Master, Christianity was altered to appeal to Roman Pagans. Did black slaves adopt the religion of their Native slave masters? http://atlantablackstar.com/2014/04/09/5-native-american-communities-who-owned-africans-slaves/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your theology comes from the late 18th Century. It's anti-Christian, and doesn't represent the stance of the official Church today. It hardly reflects how ordinary Catholics regard their family members, friends, neighbors and co-workers who are non-Catholic Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you believe Islam to be a religion where men and women aren't equal or that gays aren't tolerated? Have you read the Bible recently? Here are some interesting excerpts for you to ponder:\n\n\u201cIn the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.\u201d (Romans 1:27)\n\n\u201cDo not allow a sorceress to live.\u201d (Exodus 22:18)\n\n\u201cI do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.\u201d (1 Timothy 2:12)\n\nSo, as you can see, there are similar beliefs in other religions as well. But, I don't hear you complaining about those.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent article !\nBut - can we please put the \"Crimea\" case to rest - give it a decent Christian and very deep burial ?! The Crimea had been part of the USSR until Kruchov gave it away to the Ukraine ... beyond that its histroy has been tumultuous at best. No matter - it has been and always will be within Russia's sphere of interest.\n\nSimilar for the Cold War - time to turn off the power to this walking Zombie ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Ottomans were fighting a war with the Safavid Shiites, and saw their own Shias as a fifth column. This is not new - Louis XIV exiled all the Huguenots on the same basis. The Catholics in England were severely suppressed, as were the Protestants in the Habsburg Empire - which triggered the 30 year war. \n\nThe Spanish Habsburgs eliminated Islam and Judaism in Spain, to the last person. they repeated it in Italy and Portugal. The other Europeans restricted Jews into ghettos. Tell me, when did the Ottomans do that ?\n\nOttoman Emperors like Suleiman (the law giver) were very liberal, especially by European standards. When the Jews fled Spain, they went to the Ottoman Empire. the Orthodox Patriarch used to reside in Constantinople. No Muslim Patriarch resided in a Christian country. \n\nAs for the definition of primary - were the Hutus of Rwanda the primary Catholics in the world? Could I say Christianity committed horrific genocides in the 1990s? If I include the Serbs, it is true.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't let those with the NCR worldview discourage you from joining Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church!\nThose of us who believe what the Church teaches could use all the reinforcements we can get!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where is the call for justice from the Conference of Catholic Bishops or \nthe K. of C. for that matter? I guess this isn't in keeping with their style of activism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "20 years ago, when I was still a prosecutor whose duties included handling immigration cases, I took an afternoon off and went to Duke Divinity School's library to pore through recent and archived issues of America Magazine, hoping to get a better grip on the Church's stance on illegal immigration. I have a love-hate thing with the Jesuits, but I usually look to them first for advice on moral matters. (Yes, Neko, I did go to Jesuit.) This time their advice was unusually important --- I'm Catholic first, American second. No real luck finding the right article. \n\n20 years later comes this great piece in America Magazine titled: \"I am Catholic\u2014and I don't know what I'm supposed to believe about immigration,\" America Magazine. See: https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2017/09/12/i-am-catholic-and-i-dont-know-what-im-supposed-believe-about \n\nIt still doesn't answer the questions, but it does pose the right ones, and that's a step closer to the truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Francis has nothing to say to me or any other woman\n\n\nDid Francis manage to get through all the interviews in the book \nwithout saying \nsomething derogatory about women\u2640 and \nshowing \nhis disdain for women\u2640 and \nhis non-inclusiveness toward women\u2640 and \nhis complete lack of leadership on this issue re women\u2640? \n\n\nWhen is he going to 'dialog' with the Roman Catholic women priests? Oh. 'That door is shut.'\n\n\nWho would want to dialog with someone afflicted with rancid chauvinism. It has not aged well. \n\u2640\u2640\u2640\n\n\nMaybe the Taliban would like to dialog with a kindred spirit. They would certainly understand his point of view on women\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When President Obama was invited, Notre Dame made, to me, a very effective, very intellectually sound, and very appropriate statement in support of that invitation. It also was a courageous decision, given the many critics. And the potential \"circus.\" \n\nThe university said it was the POTUS position and the tradition/precedent--not the individual or the content of his speech or positions--that drove their invitation to President Obama. They also said it was an honor for students to have the President there. \n\nThey should not back off their position or else the credibility and the sincerity of their excellent rationale will be questioned, and appropriately so. \n\nFear of \"a circus,\" while legitimate, must never chill free and open discourse on the campus of a great Catholic university and a Catholic great university. Indeed, fear of a circus ESPECIALLY must never be allowed to challenge that commitment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was sorry to see not one single article this Memorial Day weekend from NCR on..well Memorial Day.\n\n- Not a prayer to pray for the heroic souls who gave themselves for our country.\n- Not an article about a chaplain (or any Catholic) who died giving aid to soldiers or Marines.\n- Not a history \n- Not a personal story.\n\nNothing at all. \n\nAre there any veterans among the writers at NCR?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The teaching of literature is NOT directly connected with teaching Catholic doctrine on faith and morals. If it were----there would be very little for the students to read.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But as Kurgan told us awhile back, Aquinas is spending millions of years in purgatory for distorting the teaching of Jesus with pagan philosophy. (Sigh!) People today do not understand that Thomas has much to contribute to the life of the Church and the practice of Christian living today. The loss is theirs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "America's founding - both the \"pilgrims coming ashore\" phase, and the \"British are coming!\" phase - was one part tax rebellion, one part belief in the superiority of local governance, and one part desire to establish a devout, Christian, \"city on a hill\". Those may or may not have been Conservative notions at the time, but they are what paved the way for the nation's success between that point and today, and they are fundamentally most in line with the values of the Republican party and the Conservative movement.\n\nA movement that seeks to overhaul or supplant the values on which our country was founded, with cautions incessantly against loving our country too much, which seeks to make our country just another face in the crowd of nations....is, fundamentally, not a movement that can ever be labeled as patriotic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Canadian Constitution provides for Catholic schools in Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan to be fully publicly funded. It's not in dispute, nor has it been for at least 30 years.\n\nThis Saskatchewan case is about a more narrow issue: funding non-catholics to attend catholic schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Newspapers report the news, not the beautiful. A liberal Catholic paper has a responsibility to report on these issues, whether they strike you as pessimistic or not. Another solution would be for you to stop reading and stop commenting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not unless you include ordaining women--equal rites. Ordaining married men would just perpetuate patriarchy in the Catholic Church. Justice means inclusivity not exclusivity!\nOrdained Catholic female priests would enrich and enliven the Catholic Church by leaps and bounds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lol, your adult life is one rebellion after another against the Catholic Church. What about your present fellow parishioners whom you will not associate with as you would consider that \"scandalous\"? They haven't rebelled. You have already admitted that in your eyes they count for nothing! Your comments yesterday have demolished what little credibility you had on here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hateful rhetoric? Certainly not! Read the very next chapter.\n\nIn Romans 2: \"You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things.\"\n\n\"Don\u2019t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can\u2019t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?\"\n\nChristians are not to condemn anyone, for we are sinners, too. No one has anything to fear from true Christians. We will argue for laws that promote good behavior as we see it, just like you think you do. But you clearly take out of context the part about \"deserve death.\" That is God's judgement, not ours, and Paul emphasizes this. And God does everything possible to avoid that death sentence, including allowing His own son Jesus to die for our sins, and raising him back to life to prove it. Witnessed by 500!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most Christians understand that consenting adults have whatever relationship they want, and the vast majority of younger Christians feel very strongly about this. The \"Religious Right\" consists of old guys like you that think Charles Wohlforth still uses a typewriter. \n\nHere's a newsflash - \"leftists\" would consider it an improvement if the \"Religious Right\" began referring to homosexuals as the \"Gay Left.\" Their current terms are far more derogatory. The many gay republicans might take issue with this, though.\n\nEddie - you should analyze your impact in these discussions. Despite your loud protestations, Anchorage recently elected Berkowitz and a more liberal Assembly majority. I'm guessing thoughtful comments moved some voters to toward the other side. In fact, I'm guessing the liberals applaud every time you post.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any Christian religions requiring their adherents to pray - off by themselves - during school hours would absolutely be entitled to the same kind of reasonable accommodation. Are there any?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ironic that your avatar is a Christian symbol, yet you display almost nothing of that ethos.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity is not a rule-book religion. Read Romans. Read Galatians. Read the Beatitudes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your post (above) raises a few questions for me: \n\nIs having a good prayer life and being infused with the Holy Spirit enough?\n\nIf you combine the above traits with being kind, loving, merciful and compassionate to God and neighbor... is that enough?\n\nWhat is \"enough\" for you and who gets to define this?\n\nWould Jesus agree with what the RCC has promulgated in terms of being a follower of Christ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The two texts you mention contain what I consider to be fundamental Christian beliefs. Note though that there have been some very good Christians, even saintly ones, who did not believe Jesus was the \"Word made flesh\" during their lives on earth, e.g. Paul and the authors of the gospels according to Mark, Luke, and Matthew. And according to the Orthodox, RCs don't fully and truly \"believe\" in the Nicene Creed, when they insist on inserting the Filioque.\n\nIt looks like quite an imposition on your part, that you demand of me if I \"believe\" these things. Who are you to ask me that? What do you want that information for? What would you do with it once you have it? Why should I trust you? Are you my judge? I should add here that I challenged you earlier regarding your rhetorical expression \"gift of life, God's gift,\" and you ignored it. So I guess you're the one who counts and gets to ask personal questions, but I don't count and should be expected to answer them. No thanks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A small percentage of Christians wear a cross as jewellery. What does that lead you to think? Cultural, political or religious symbol?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We need to be allowed to voice our concerns, but apparently when the liberals try to shut people down with name calling, our pm calling people who don't agree racist thats does nothing but creat it does not make people back down. Why will nobody listen to the concerns of people who do not support mass refugees, we should be questioning who is coming into Canada. Have you seen what is happening in Europe with mass refugee's. Yesterday an ex muslim woman and others were arrested for having a different opinion then all the other protesters against Islamophobia.. She is putting her life on the line by speaking out against a religion she grew up with . She found freedom in Canada. Now she sees the oppression seeping into Canada. What about the Syrian Christians who have found safety here, they watched muslims kill their friends and families for just being christian are now in danger again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religion played a major role in the American Revolution by offering a moral sanction for opposition to the British--an assurance to the average American that revolution was justified in the sight of God. As a recent scholar has observed, \"by turning colonial resistance into a righteous cause, and by crying the message to all ranks in all parts of the colonies, ministers did the work of secular radicalism and did it better.\" https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel03.html\n\n(War of 1812) . . .\"Canadian churches were almost universally loyal to the Crown and extolled their parishioners to be likewise because they believed that England, not rebellious America, was the only truly Christian nation. They framed the war as a theological struggle to determine who would rule in the Americas and who was favoured by God. Thus, every battle had cosmic significance and military morality took on both political and eternal ramifications . . . \"\n\nBlasting out unfounded assumptions it seems.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Do these people not understand the impact a million of them could have had in the recent marches against Zuma?\" - Marc Frick\n\nI gather that in your opinion this contribution of some Christians that pray is \"invalid\" in our time of discontent. I wonder why.\n\nSome people, including you, clearly prefer to \"march\" whilst others prefer to \"pray\". Others both pray and march. \n\nI am reluctant to judge anyone. \n\nTolerance for diversity is indicated. In my opinion that is what freedom is all about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mel, you said: \"Christianity is intimately tied to the power structure in Quebec and Canada, so its influence must be eliminated. \"\n\nThe article said: \"Mr. Charest\u2019s first reaction to the tabling of the Bouchard-Taylor report a year later was to reject outright its call for the crucifix to be moved from Quebec\u2019s National Assembly to a museum of parliamentary history. \"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All life, including Catholic Churches, are subject to the same divine laws of evolution: Evolve or die. As your post indicates, too many of the hierarchy, and folks like yourself, have decided to die, rather than live. You ignore the injunction of Deuteronomy: \"I place before you the blessing and the curse ... Choose Life!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ideas that are certainly worthy of consideration and discussion. The elimination of paid clergy has some benefits, but it also has some obvious downfalls. \n\nThe pluses to me seem to involve returning to home church style services where there the more knowledgeable and willing teach.The minuses are that some individuals knowingly, or just mistakenly, lead others into distinct errors. We obviously need overseers to correct those and maintain some accepted order. \n\nHow to implement such a system without developing a over large and unnecessary hierarchy requires the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but we can see several examples of how things go astray even in the Bible with the apostles readily available and on hand. But nevertheless, I know what would solve all our church structure problems, and I say this in total seriousness and without jest; the physical return of the Lord Jesus to rule and reign in person. He's promised His return .... we are told to expect it after the end of days.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We have not gone far enough,\" said Farley, professor emerita of Christian ethics at Yale University Divinity School and a Sister of Mercy. \"We still hear the cries of women, through the centuries and today.\"\n\nAs long as women are second-class Christians in their own church, the church breathes with only one lung.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You sure don't, but christian values are what I'm teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To suggest that the church needs to change is to demonstrate an inherently disordered view of the inerrant nature of the church and a dangerous mindset for leadership of this christian nation. As any bishop well knows, the church was founded by Jesus when he gave Peter the keys to the kingdom and made him infallible, and from that point on the church has never erred, never changed, and it never will. Obviously, in light of these emails, we must seriously consider voting for the only candidate who embodies the ideals of the catholic church, as advised by our shepherds, the USCCB.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspect that the author of the article you cite does not mean to suggest, as you seem to, that all of the other commandments have equal weight, or that any of them is equal to the to the Great Commandments.\n\nI'm not even sure what point you are trying to make. If you deny the primacy of love as the basis for the Christian life, then I would think that you are arguing from outside the Christian tradition. Much of what you write seems to come from the Pharisaical tradition which Jesus so thoroughly repudiated.\n\nBut which is it that God desires: Mercy or sacrifice?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "it isnt about Hawaiians. it inst about other ethnic groups that arrived later. it inst about Christians becoming rich off of others ignorance. in 2017 all of that is irrelevant. its about the few hundred people that own all of us, direct what we learn,see, hear, eat, do and etc. its not even the billionaires. its their bosses. if you dont think bill gates has a boss, look again. ever hear of mcgraw-hill? you probably read many of their textbooks in school. take a look at them today, but also look at who owns them, and most of the other corporations and hedge funds. just 8 men and one woman directly control $21T. we are told what to think and when to think it and how to think it from birth. the richest men on the planet have succeeded in their quest to own everything and everyone by keeping all of us divided into little tiny pieces. debate away.\nhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/brendancoffey/2011/10/26/the-four-companies-that-control-the-147-companies-that-own-everything/#481a432c685b", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My real apostolate are my one-and-one face to face friendships that I actively develop with Catholics, Christians, nones, and agnostics. \n\nEvery friendship should be examined against the 3 S's, and for balance\n\nHow Superficial does the conversation tend to be...sports, food, events, the weather, etc. (the senses).\nHow Substantial are the topics: truth, beauty, goodness, virtues, health, longings, new goals, beginnings again, great biographies read, findings from science, etc.\nHow Supernatural are the topics: God, Heaven, Love, Sacrifice, Hell, Prayer, Sin, Reconciliation (all types)\n\nWe each should have a dozen of so friends who we are regularly working on knowing better, serving them more in a thousand quiet ways, including prayer and fasting.\n\nShort cheap breakfasts, quick evening beers, a run, dropping off of tools for them to use (after garage cleaning: >), txt msgs \n\nIf we don't know what our friends are praying about, how can we really help them? Are we really friends?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cThe Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects all Canadians, every one of us, even when it is uncomfortable,\u201d\n\nExcept when you are a English speaking Christian male of European descent who hangs around with others of the same, wear the same shirt and enjoy walks in the park on national holidays.\n\nThen your Charter rights do not matter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm guessing Islamisation as seen with groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS plays a role here as if any other group asks for accommodation then there may not be such a big uproar. Islam as practiced in Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Indonesia etc plays a big political role running all aspects of life in those societies and that is what is not probably wanted in this part of the world being predominantly a judeo-christian society and culture. Plus multi-culturalism in Canada has been always been a work in progress and not properly understood by many - is it accommodation of all people irrespective of religion and culture or is there a common identity that we adhere to despite being different ethnically and culturally ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I recall reading that when the Muslim Brotherhood was about to have a demonstration they would send a squad of Muslim males and female s to the Catholic Church compound to protect the nuns and priests who were in residence. This went on for a few years until the Muslim Brother hood was suppressed and went underground.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This evil scandal appears to be pervasive throughout the world. How can the clergy be expected to root out the scandal that they are the cause of? The current structure of the church just isn't working. While it will not happen in our lifetimes, a future iteration of Catholic Christianity will be one without clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Trinity Doctrine that he talks about didn't even exist until 400 years after Christ. \n\n\"Scripture contains neither the word Trinity, nor an expressly formulated doctrine of the Trinity. Rather, according to Christian theology, it \"bears witness to\" the activity of a God who can only be understood in Trinitarian terms. The doctrine did not take its definitive shape until late in the fourth century.\"\n\nHe acknowledges that both religions trace back to Abraham just as I stated.\n\nHis theology (not followed by Unitarians-who are also Christians-for example ) says the doctrine got going about 100 years after Christ. \"Ignatius of Antioch provides early support for the Trinity around 110 AD.\"\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, if clarity is your goal, I think it is only right that you acknowledge Trump has been crystal clear in his desire to focus upon \"Christian\" refugees, from the Middle East. It would require some serious mental gymnastics to conclude that his actions are not focused upon Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All christian denominations are one - are \"the church\" - because they are united in seeking to follow Christ. A priest once said to me that he holds a \"wagon wheel\" understanding of christianity. The different denominations are spokes in the wheel, and all are connected to the hub - Christ. Each \"see\" the hub - Christ - from slightly different perspectives. But all are focused on Christ. \n\nJesus was a Jew, as were all of the apostles and most of the disciples who followed him during his lifetime. He did not found a church as we understand the word today. Christianity did not really separate from Judaism until decades after Jesus' death. The christian religion evolved for at least three centuries after Jesus' death before beginning to become the institution that has grown and changed for the last two thousand years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Processing refugees is not a black and white issue. None of us would allow homeless people to roam our homes without our permission. Governments have a duty to protect their sovereignty through their borders. There is nothing un Christian about that. Even Pope Francis recognizes that. Identifying those people whose nations are well known to sponsor extremist activities is not only smart but in our national security interests. For all of you who advocate open borders, why don't you practice what you believe and open up your homes to those who are homeless in your cities. Is that the Christian thing to do? And you wouldn't do it. Why? Your family members would seriously protest and you would have no control over who enters and leaves your homes or what disorder and chaos would be caused by those roaming the streets. You would need extreme venting if one were to allow the homeless to live in their homes.\n\nThe Left loves to pontificate but does very little to practice what they preach.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tell me something - why is Sunday the weekend in a school? Is that for completely secular reasons, or does it have to do with the Christian day of rest?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Almost, I am referring to the more profound fact that all of of creation was designed to bring about our salvation and entry into heaven!! It's God's plan to bring about our unity with Him. \n\nSo it's much more grand than what you write (\"spiritual womb\" sounds oh so cuddly, but it misses the fact that our end is in heaven), and my point is at the same time far more \"particular\"....my salvation, and your salvation (vs \"we all are\")). \n\nThe environment is here to serve God's plan, for you, and for me, and for that other person.\n\nGravity in fact serves our redemption.\n\nNCR should serve our redemption.\n\nExxon should serve our redemption, by solving a particular set of problems for your family and my family. And when they don't, then it's up to Christian lay people...not bishops...to work toward a better outcome using their positions in the lay/secular world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic Trads and Catholic Progressives both complain about the \"U.S. Culture's Threat to Catholic Moral Teaching,\" yet cite vastly different threats...and vastly different concepts of \"morality.\"\n\nIf you see \"morality\" in a headline in the National Catholic Register, you can be sure it's about sex and gender issues.\n\nIf you see \"morality\" in a headline in the National Catholic Reporter, you can be sure it's about racial and social justice.\n\nI generalize...but not by much. \n\nAnd I could be wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks, Bishop Gumbleton. As I reflect on the experience of doubt in my life I often remember that one of Jesus' most often repeated sentences in the Bible is, \"Your faith has saved you.\" That and the \"love one another\" message pretty well sum up Christianity for me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He did. But it\u2019s shocking to me that this can continue and the university still keeps its \u201cCatholic\u201d credentials. If the LCWR or any more progressive institution had done the same, Vatican investigations would be forthcoming.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you can cut and paste with the best of them. Good for you. I also know how to cut and paste from Wikipedia:\n\n<>\n\nYour contention about gritting teeth and the electoral cycle has jack to do with whether a fraction of the electorate represents the American public or whether a majority of the actual American public supports funding contraceptives overseas.\n\nLike I said, my other point had to do with your propensity to unduly generalize your personal convictions. It had to do with YOU and your convictions, common to right-wing Catholics, not with minority views per se.\n\nBut as usual this exchange has become tedious. I made my point several posts ago and will stop here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marriage is purely religious. Jesus confirmed the path to marriage by citing the first divine law, Genesis 2:24-25, as the union between male and female. There is no such thing as \"secular marriage\" therefore, any true person of faith can not service or participate in any event that celebrates mockery of the divine law. This is an egregious sin and has eternal consequences. If there is such a secular law for marriage, cite its authority? Stealing divine laws and claiming them to be secular is a deception that will not be overlooked by the people of faith. Further, the government violated the first amendment with the marriage decision since it clearly states that the government shall make no law respecting religion or the free exercise thereof.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Administration knew, even Trump seems to have known, that they could not get away with a straightforward Muslim ban. Thus Giuliani was tasked with formulating an order that would accomplish the goal of banning Muslims, but in a way that would pass muster in court. We're in the process of discovering how the courts will find on this. The ban works this way: Everyone from the named countries is banned; then a class of exceptions is created for Christians, thus effectively banning Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic schools that serve the poor use fed Pell Grants to pay students way....and other forms of assistance for low income students.\n\nPublic state schools that might (getting congressional consensus is highly doubtful) carry students in family's with certain income limits (with fed assistance) is a fine idea, (these students might well be eligible for traditional assistance of some sort, as well). \n\nFamilies that just miss those income barriers and have a number of kids to educate....are dipping into their pension funds, increasing their mortgages et al.....experiencing serious debt .....I have absolutely no sympathy for catholic educators bemoaning this proposal.....\n\nTo get an education, wherever possible....is incredibly important and should be actively promoted!\n\nThese catholic educators perhaps don't appreciate the struggle that families country wide are experiencing sky rocketing tuition....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Kevin,\nGood!\nGot it, will do!\nYou will be in mine as well!\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That means 30-47% of the \"white Catholic women\" did NOT vote for Trump...depending on whose numbers you use.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Still trotting out that falsehood.\n\nThe Church doesn't, as some simplistic progressives imagine, spell out all its beliefs in some sort of exhaustive positivist approach.\n\nIt teaches to what it thinks is sufficiency, and when there is overwhelming debate...it steps in..often years after..and makes a statement.\n\nJesus, by your standards, \"accepted slavery\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No doubt about that. I can't understand what happened to the sensitivity of those men that support and fight for the perpetuation of discrimination of women in our Church. It is so absurd!\n\nBeing a psychologist, I certainly have a clue of what may have happened to them psychologically (or even educationally) in their growing up years. But I also certainly expected that the Gospel and the true Christian spirit would make up for those character defects and they would improve their faulty sensitivity. But it's not happening!\n\nCharacter defects? Absolutely! Any person who is a discriminator, be it against races, against gender, against nationality, against religions, you name it, is certainly a person with a defective character - or stamped with, \"Flawed Christian. \" They often believe that God actually commands them to do that. Their god talks to them when they talk to themselves in the mirror every morning in the bathroom!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If all humans descended from two individuals, DNA would reflect that limited gene pool. You say wrong. Provide a counter argument. \n\nThe Church does not teach the Genesis story is factual. You say wrong. Provide a citation to a credible Catholic authority holding that Catholics must believe the myths of the Old Testament are factual accounts of historical occurrences.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can't figure that out either. I'll say it again, the abortion issue is the underling issue to Clinton's disapproval by our Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, but I looked it up. See, with Catholicism much is both/and, not either /or. Christ is fully human and fully divine. He is fully present, really present in the Eucharist whether in a monstrance, tabernacle or in our stomach. The latter of course gets digested and the Real Presence does not last, whereas consecrated but unconsumed, it remains Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I was at Loras, which was diocesan rather than Order, I was surprised at how modern the teaching was on sexual morals (I heard second had) I was more conservative then and did not want to expose myself to taint, but eventually I learned to think for myself and grew out of the contradiction of natural law taught with papal authority. You can't have it both ways. My first exposure to the nature of the controversy was when Fr. Charles Curran was denied his mandatum by Cardinal Hickey (or in fear of him by the University) for teaching honestly about masturbation. Let's be clear, the issues on Catholic Academy are not about what is taught in Physics (not since Galileo) or Biology (the Church lost the creationism/Eden myth battle long ago), but in Theology/Religious Studies and the bishops v. the profession of academic theology. Exploring this in the age of Francis (and looking back at the age of John Paul and Benedict) will be interesting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, liberals and Democrats have endlessly tried to prevent Christian attempts at using the machinery of gubmit to grant themselves special privilege and enforce their dogma on society, while standing up for individual rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I run a Pregnancy Resource Center in Hartford and we have just started a group of twenty something pro-lifers (all of whom happen to be on fire Catholics, some of whom are lay people studying for ministry at Holy Apostles Seminary). I would like Dr Silk to meet them, and open his mind to the changing landscape of CT which has escaped his study. http://www.catholictranscript.org/slider/4806-young-adults-inject-new-energy-into-pro-life-efforts.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The life of Mother Teresa really stupefies some people.\n\nThey can't possibly understand how sanctity can be associated with \"dark\" periods, so wed to feelings are they. So trusting of \"emotions\" are they.\n\nMother Teresa, I am convinced, ASKED for a pure love of God, a love given without any strings, a life given to God for the supernatural good of others, with no desire for returned consolations. \n\nThe Catholic Church has no temporal aim, only a supernatural one. this is something that many people don't understand either. \n\nIf we truly love someone...\"we will do for them\" without any contingency or expectation of returned benefit, not even \"feelings\". \n\nThis is what the Mother Teresa haters don't get....the supernatural aim of her work. They see with only secular eyes, even the so-called Catholic critics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A a former Vicar General in the Catholic Church is just the person to oversee the state's planned US$ 2 Billion affordable housing initiative. One does not rise to such a prominent position in the Catholic Church without developing a feel for the needs of parishioners.\n.\nI for one am certain that the Vicar General will apply a similar hands on approach to his new constituents and his US$ 2 Billion budget.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't know that the purpose of education in the American school system was supposed to \"confront the culture to help advance God's Kingdom.\" (sic) I suppose one needn't ask whose God will be advanced. To me this plan sounds like indoctrination, not education. I feel very fortunate to have attended school at a time when they thought critical thinking was more important than advancing muslim, christian, or religious beliefs of any sort.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Understand you are primarily communicating with Chirstians on this blog. We accept the Torah books as God revealed but not the Kabbalah. Just as there are books & beliefs Islam & Jews accept as true along with Christians but not all of them. I am Christian & believe that the first 5 books of our Christian Bible are revealed by God & they describe through symbolism, & some plain facts, both the History & Faith of God's chosen people & creation. For example: God tells us in Genesis that he created the world in six days & rested the seventh. This contains literal truth, deep symbolic truth & actual world history. I say this because we know now that the earth was actually created in 6 major stages of evolvement & pretty much in the order written in Genesis. Science has proof now that the earth had water on its surface much earlier than previously thought. We know all animal life derived from minerals (dust), water, & heat/energy-these items all have symbolism-God's day is not ours.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am very happy to see this ballot initiative rejected. Maybe now our friendly local christians can concentrate on love, compassion, and charity you know things that Jesus actually talked about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Letter to the bishops of the catholic church on the collaboration of men and women in the church and in the world\", May, 2004 promulgated by then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with the approval of Pope John Paul II", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All of that is consistent with Catholic teaching and I haven't contradicted it. However, the promise of the Holy Spirit was to lead the Church into all truth and to protect her from doctrinal error. It was not given to individuals. \n\nRead 1 Corinthians 12 for an understanding of the different roles in the Body of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.\"\n\nPaul certainly explained Christianity to us. But Jesus of Nazareth invented it. From His first words, \"wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?\" to His last, \"It is finished.\" He expressed the unshakable belief He Himself was the only begotten son of God, the Son of David, Israel's Messiah. Read His words - you can't miss it. In every text, Jesus saw Himself, the Holy One of Israel.\n\nThere is nothing in Jesus like doubt. Just sorrow and suffering - and joy at God's choosing. \n\nYou say, \"Believing or not has no effect on life...\" You are quoting neither Paul nor Jesus. You are expressing the antithesis of the Jewish Mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, our freedom of conscience comes into play. The freedom of conscience of the Catholic comes into play, and the freedom of conscience of the secular thinker comes into play. Everyone has a conscience which informs their decisions on abortion and all kinds of things.\n\nWhen we hold an opinion, formed by our conscience, it doesn't necessarily follow that our opinion is a violation of the rights of others. Even if our opinions, our conscience, is informed by our religious beliefs, that doesn't necessarily mean our views are somehow illegitimate or an trespass on the rights of others who don't have our religious views.\n\nWhat's the test to see if our conscience is violating others rights? In the secular sphere, it's called American democracy. Certain rights are set by law, some through voting, others through judicial decisions. Every American then, whether religious or not, has the right to their views within this democratic system. Not perfect, but nothing is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These are the essays that appear in the current issue of the Catholic Biblical Quarterly: \"Stones from Heaven and celestial Tricks: The Battle at Gibeon in Joshua 10,\" \"Pornography or Theology? The Legal background, Psychological Realism, and Theological Import of Ezekiel 16,\" \"The Date of Mark's Gospel apart from the Temple and Rumors of War: The Taxation Episode (12:13-17) as Evidence,\" \"Faith, Judgment, and the Life of the Believer: A Reassessment of 2 Corinthians 5:-10,\" \"The Rhetorical Strategy of 1 Timothy,\" \"Visually Oriented Rhetoric and Visionary Experience in Hebrews 12: 1-4.\" \n\nI'm not knocking these authors; I read the essays and learned something. But I think that scripture study has become so esoteric, I don't see how our scholars are nourishing the community. Again, I don't want to ask others to fight my battles, but I'd like to see them address questions that burn in the hearts of the people, including the use of authority in the gospels, access to ordained ministry..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, not at all. That is what the priesthood is--priests are an \"Icon of Christ.\"\n\nQuite obviously some priests are better reflections of Christ than others. \n\nJust because someone received the Sacrament of Holy Orders, does not guarantee they will reflect Christ in their lives. But when a priest celebrates the Sacraments He stands in persona Christi.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remember also what Jesus says about giving scandal, and the millstone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you're right, I think he is laying the groundwork - possibly without realizing it - to conclude - as you do - that expecting a priest to teach with the Church is akin to \"George Orwell's Ministry of Truth\" and \"clearly promulgated by raging control freaks.\"\n\nThat's the Episcopal Church, not the Catholic Church, which was divinely commanded to teach all nations and given the Holy Spirit to lead it in all truth, and constituted with a hierarchy to shepherd it.\n\nThus a valid \"let's not overdo it\" can quickly generated into \"whoopee! there are no rules!\", which you never tire of demonstrating.\n\nOf course because God really loves us, He gave use the Natural Law, the Ten Commandments, and a Church to preserve and pass on the teaching, just as parents who really love their children impose curfews and limits on what they watch.\n\nBut sometimes we have children with oppositional-defiant disorder.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also, Christianity was persecuted in Rome until Constantine in 324 CE declared tolerance for Christianity throughout Rome. Rome is considered to have fallen about 100 years later, with Christianity the accepted religion in the Byzantine eastern Roman empire, but not the west. Wolf Eagle is correct in his understanding of the history of the church and in his timeline.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's too late, not everyone goes to University.\n\nIn today's world, everyone should understand the basics about all the major religions. Most people today are woefully ignorant even of basic Judaism and Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ottawaoak,\n\nI'm sorry to inform you, but, Blacks in this country WILL NOT always play the victim card. I have worked with Black/African-American people throughout my nearly 40 year professional career and not once did any of my co-workers \"play the victim card\". Your statement like the rest of your post exposes your racism. \n\nI hope you realize, too, that Christianity is not any part of the issue involving Professor Shurtz, you brought it into the discussion and are \"playing the victim card\" with it. This is offensive to me as I am a Christian and Jesus included every race in His love. Remember, Jesus was a Jew from the Middle East, not a very white-skinned region of the world.\n\nGladys", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really now. As opposed to Christian principles, Jewish principles, Muslim principles? Any candidate with faith was raised or believes in certain values and there is a commonality between all major faiths. I would expect certain values would be brought to bear while governing, not necessarily consciously, because often time those values tell you what the right thing to do is. Singh, if he is ever elected PM, might naturally use some of his values. But don't lie to us by implying only he is different.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To begin with just going over the heading: \"Christianity is about values, not \"cold attachments\" to norms\"..... is enough to choke anyone with experience with either the advisory or governing body. They don't seem to know what role goes beyond their jurisdiction, at least I have an excuse. \nA letter from a couple Excellency's to each other that shouldn't have come into my possession I now believe, had salutations to the receiver whose understanding was requested cold, dead and buried in his grave.\nAnd the contents was absolutely contradictory to the words of Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, I'm talking about religion. If one protests what the Catholic Church has taught for 1500 years or so, you know the operative word....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You would do well to ponder deeply your claims of...\"not forgiving\"...the individual in question; I remind you that unforgiveness is NOT an option for professed Christians...\ud83d\ude11.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a fashionable thing that short wave writers do, munging together words (Muslim Jesus) instead of actually working harder in the thinking they do before they write.\n\nMuslim Jesus\nLucan Jesus\nJohannine Jesus\nSocial Jesus\nObamanian Jesus! \n\nIt's easy to do.\n\nTry it yourself. You too can be a writer in the shorter end of the today's' writing spectrum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Johnston says: \"Fictional or not...\". Christianity does not want truth, only the weird, impossible but kinda cool story", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the link. She is a wonderful writer and a breath of fresh air in the Catholic pro-life movement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everyone twist the words of Jesus/biblical writers to the own experience. I accept that as truth through personal experience and thousands of hours spent with Christians discussing biblical verse. \n\nThe church or individuals who claims perfect understanding have fallen to the very human need to rank ourselves as superior to others. It defines human self-centerdness and is the opposite of agape' love that calls on us to love our enemies. That arrogance is what defines the resentment found in religious hatred.\n\n*Jesus also said to pay Rome her taxs without complaint- it does not change our relationship to what we hope is an eternal relationship with God. God can not be defined in human/political terms. \n\n\n\nSo let's part in peace and accept that our spiritual lives are unique and are values diverse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you feel the same way about teachers? Health care workers? Other religions? \n\nThe horror of the abuse scandal is not owned by the Catholic Church. I never hear too much about their responses.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, my Catholic religion believes this, as does the Jewish faith, among many others. \n\nI think you've been bamboozled by secularism and moderism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Totally agree. What political turmoil if every religious entity demanded to be recognized as a political one? The RCC, as the Vatican, is in the tradition of Constantine, not the gospel!\nTruly a desecration of the the gospel!\nJesus would be rolling over in his grave of what is done in his name!\nIs he roiling in heaven?\nMaybe he can dispatch Mary with an apparition message for the Vatican to cease and desist pretending to be both a church and a state!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Canada has been guided by a series of folks who have come here and told others how to act. \n\nMostly, they've been christian, and any success enjoyed has been a function of having virtually swept away, overridden or overpowered the belief systems that preceded theirs. \n\nTherein lies the rub with the pitch being delivered here - its success is equally contingent upon destroying the pre-existing belief system.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A slightly inflated view ... did he expect this of \"Catholics\" in general, or of \"Catholic Scripture scholars\" ? ? ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can't you just feel the love and non-judgementalism of putative Catholics here?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm Catholic, I believe in Purgatory.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm atheist and have many atheist friends. I don't know a single one of them that are remotely offended by the greeting \"Merry Christmas.\" It helps to understand that many of us also celebrate Christmas, but as a secular holiday, not Christian one. Why would we be offended?\n\nThe real issue is a fake \"war on Christmas\" touted by certain media outlets intended to divide us and make liberals and atheists the enemy of Christians. That's the real war on Christmas - divisiveness where it doesn't exist at a time of year where we should be putting down our verbal weapons. \n\nWhether you greet me with \"merry Christmas, happy solstice\" or \"happy holidays\" - I'll just happily return the greeting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lots of people feel it unnecessary to mention or even consider religion, since no religion condones what terrorists do. And besides, people get all up-in-arms whenever a Christian terrorist is outed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, I am saying that you whinged \"Francis did not say 'Christianity ... [is] about an intimate relationship which Jesus Christ'\", when that is what he did say. Or else \"Discipleship ... is not something static, but a continuous movement towards Christ. It is not simply the fidelity to making a doctrine explicit, but rather the experience of the Lord\u2019s living, kindly and active presence, an ongoing formation by listening to his word.\" means something different to you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Refresh my memory -- weren't millions of homeowners assisted by the Gov with their underwater loans, or was that just Caliifornia and other singular states? \n\nHow I wish all this amateur political punditry would revert to amateur Catholic-issue punditry. I don't read NCR for political screed, unless the issues directly relate to Catholic culture. But maybe I stand alone on this -- we all have political concerns in common, but being a respect analyst of religion is FAR different from being a respected political analyst.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the end, this strange marriage has resulted in a most regrettable Catholic \"political assimilation\" that is a perverse inversion of \"Gospel enculturation!\" Resultingly, the faith of some believers has been \"coopted by\" rather than \"gifted to\" the wider culture! \n\nSuch an assimilation can take place anywhere along the political spectrum. It's time, perhaps, to tone down war & warrior metaphors, whether re cultures, civilizations, social justice, etc?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Crusaders may have been Christian\"\n\nMAY have been Christian? The Crusaders weren't Jewish. They weren't atheists. They weren't Buddhist. They weren't Hindu. They weren't polytheists. In the Middle Ages, being a member of any of those groups was grounds for a public barbeque, with the offender as the main attraction, assuming Middle Ages religious and political leaders knew what a Buddhist or a Hindu was.\nThe Crusaders were definitely Christian.\nThe Popes sanctioned the Crusades. The Crusaders' shirts had nice big red crosses on their chests, and no, it wasn't to identify them as medical workers. The crosses did give Muslim archers nice aiming points, -- crosshairs, so to speak -- but that was an adverse side effect.\nHow about reading the very first comment by old cool, reading my comment in context, then getting back to me?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is an old saying \u2018offender is the biggest victim in the crime he committed\u2019.\nThe CI (Catholic Institution) & it\u2019s clergies are the biggest victim in the clergy sexual abuses.\nTheir spirit lives with the \u2018heavy millstone\u2019 around their neck and gasping for air in the bottom of the sea!\nThey have no love for children which means they do not have heart, thus they are the furthest from God! \nAnd they claim to guard the Holy Temple, and want Catholics to be silent about the clergy sex abuses of children!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a nice Christian comment about your views on the Police in the United States. Yes they must be considered the enemy because that is what the media reports every day. Open your eyes and realize much of what the media reports is biased if not outright untrue. Hopefully you won't ever need the assistance of the Police in your future. I don't see much outrage regarding the four police officers shot this past week for no other reason than wearing a uniform. Do you berate others who are not slim as you put it? Very classy. \nLast point, but some woman report rapes to the police that turn out in fact to be false. How should the police handle this unfortunate fact? Should we just arrest anyone because someone makes a mere accusation without proof? I await your excellent advice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you've already agreed that such a thing as \"christian numerologist\" actually makes sense, then I suppose you're correct.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the important issues with this topic is that of perceptions, particularly perceptions among those who Christ has commanded us to reach; \"every tribe and kind\" of people (Matthew 28). That is a consideration that is really outside the scope of the analysis Michael Peabody has done (which I much appreciate); it is about missionary strategy and not about defending the rights of believers (which for Peabody and myself means all kinds of religions, not just Adventists). What is the wise way of relating to these issues that avoids transmitting negative perceptions of the gospel and Christ's followers? How would the compassionate Christ relate to our contemporary situation?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our Lord, Himself, referred to His followers as sheep when He tasked St Peter to feed His lambs and to feed His sheep. It is sad that modern Christians feel themselves to be above Our Lord's description of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So glad you asked Neko! Relics reflect the Church's emphasis of embodiment. Catholic life and worship is peculiar in how matter is involved at every level. Every sacrament occurs through and within material. This is appropriate for human beings since we are also material. We don't just possess a body, we are a body. This of course coincides with the doctrine of the resurrection of the body. Since we are embodied beings, our final, perfect state will not be bodiless. As such, the bodies of the departed saints are not truly a sign of \"death\" for Catholics, but the new life to come. In recognizing that the body before us will be raised up on the last day, we turn in hopeful anticipation towards the resurrection of our own body. This orients us less to the saint himself/herself, and more to the One who will raise them and hopefully will raise us as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The IRA campaign that began in the late 1960s was the latest round to reunite Ulster with the Republic of Ireland. It began with protests against Protestant discrimination against Catholics over jobs and housing in Ulster. It escalated into what would have been civil war if the UK government hadn't sent in troops to try to keep the peace. Many, including military, died on both sides\n\nThe latest IRA leaders were Marxists, as well as nationalists, and took their campaign to the UK mainland, as in the past, to achieve their aims. Unlike Islamic terrorists, they had no wish to attack democracy and substitute a theocracy in the UK as part of a global caliphate. Their campaign was not against the British way of life but to effect a change in Ireland.\n\nMany people in Britain either sympathised with the aims of the IRA or would have been happy to see to pull British troops out of NI. Not many people in the UK sympathise with the aims of IS.\nThat's the difference.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"the espousing of left wing causes which have nothing in common with Catholic social teaching\" \n\nOh you mean like worrying about wether people have a decent wage, whether they are treated justly, whether they are discriminated against in school or the workplace? Because those have nothing to do with Catholic social teaching?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't like Catholic birth control rules? Don't work for nuns. That's your FREEDOM talking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another Catholic crusade", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a faithful Catholic. \nObviously, you don't get a vote on this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Fg: first, I think it's more a question of when an individual is in private versus in public. Second, there are Stats Can data that will be released next week on minority groups in Canada to confirm this, but my understanding is that Moslems make up only a fraction of the Canadian population (3.2% at last count), and that only a fraction of them choose this garb. We have a population of 35 million, so they're not likely to assimilate the rest of us any time soon (if that's a real risk, we're more likely to end up as Tagalog/Spanish-speaking Roman Catholics, just going by the numbers...).\n\nAnd why is this 'wrongness' that requires intervention and coercion by the state, other than the fact that it makes you uncomfortable?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For many if not most people, the word \"atheist\" carries as much emotional baggage as \"communist\" or \"anarchist,\" and that's why a lot of people who are atheists aren't comfortable expressly identifying as such. \n\nI don't think it has anything to do with political ideology. Christians are not exclusively conservative, and atheists are not exclusively liberal. For me being an atheist is not something to necessarily be proud of, any more than being right-handed or liking pizza. I just determined at an early age that I just wasn't getting the hang of the whole \"god\" thing. It was as though my antenna just didn't pick up that frequency. I'm content to live in the real world. I don't need to be beholden to an invisible world of angels and demons and gods and prophecies to have meaning and purpose in my life. And I suspect a lot of other people feel the same way, if they aren't so up-front about it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...seems to indicate...only as a tool for your real goal....\"\n\nYou might be right. In other posts, Mokantx has noted that she no longer considers herself a Catholic and worships instead at a Protestant church, either Methodist or Episcopal church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then the words of Christ mean NOTHING.\n\nJesus thought His disciples the perfect prayer: Our FATHER . . .\n\nThat seems pretty clear and definitive to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is you who has the problem, not I, you are always complaining about it. \nIt is easy for you to say \"it is a demonstrated fact,\" without bothering to show how it is demonstrated. Until you can do so it is just your opinion.\nAs I said, I don't have a problem with it, the Catholic Church says it does not have the authority from God to ordain women, it doesn't ordain women, I'm quite content with that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The good bishop isn't the least bit concerned about how the Evangelical based American Heritage Girls promote Christianity. He's concerned that Catholic girls not be exposed to any hint that they have any control over their own reproductive health, that they not think they are truly equal with men, and that they learn how to bake the cookies they sell. This isn't about Jesus, this is about gender ideology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would have been more interested in knowing how graduates of this college contributed to making the world a better place ... if \"Catholic identity\" is based on baptism, then surely it is less about \"who we are\" and far more about what we commit to do ...\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"\u201cFaith leaders are called to speak truth to power, and we cannot do so if we are merely cogs in partisan political machines,\u201d said the letter signers from all 50 states. \u201cParticularly in today\u2019s political climate, engaging in partisan politics and issuing endorsements would be highly divisive and have a detrimental impact on congregational unity and civil discourse.\u201d\"\n- For these same reasons, organizations like the USCCB and state level lobbying associations of catholic bishops should be barred from directly addressing lawmakers, legislators, governors, or presidents. Their 'speak to truth to power' must be directed to the congregants who then will decide if what the bishops want in secular laws merits consideration, and if so, it will be the individual congregants who will exercise suasion upon legislatures.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When?\nI will state I am not Christian, however, I attended Theology School and actually have no beef with any religion. I've had conversations with people who came to my door in attempts to convert me.\nI have never tolerated zealots, no matter their religion, and I have met more than a few zealots who described themself as Christian, but did not follow their own scripture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At the 50th reunion of my 8th grade Catholic school in August, I found that of the 30 some who attended and the 10 or 15 who responded otherwise, only about 20% still went to Mass and trust me, we were catechized. Most shocking were the women who left right after graduating from high school, many of who were VERY devout in school. Likewise, many of the devout men left. My wife, who is 9 years younger than me was surprised and asked a couple of my classmates why they left. Their answer basically was \"we were catholic because our parents were and we were afraid of being punished by the nuns if we didn't do what they said.\" THAT'S IT. You can't MAKE some one believe. You can't force faith.\nI am also sick of hearing \"they were poorly catechized\". Please stop thinking that catechizing someone makes them a believer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Grand Sheik is free to interpret his religion as he see's fit and others are free to agree or disagree. I am Christian and I disagree with the Pope on many points. I am free to practice my religion as I see fit and this right is protected by the Charter whether the Pope agrees with my interpretation or not. And I actually have taught women wearing Niqab's in Toronto and Niagara for over a decade now and have never once felt that the niqab was a barrier to our interactions or their integration. I was able to look into their eyes and have a conversation just fine. Most people speaking on this issue have probably never once even spoken to a woman wearing a niqab. Try saying hello, you'll be surprised by the response.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only bridge worth building is one based directly on Him Whom is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. \n\nFriendship divorced from Jesus Christ is a fraud.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Truly, you have a problem with reading comprehension or you are trying to spin. \n\nThis is the post:\n\n\"This is the second article in the Globe today trying to claim that opposition to Mr Scheers neanderthal policies are anti Christian.\"\n\nNo one said his Neanderthal policies were anti Christian.\n\n.Your post is somewhat similar to Mr Scheers playing both sides of the streets with social conservatives and so very much like the Harper gangs slipperiness.\n\nAnd yes I was a member of the PC Party of Canada and it is the only party I have ever joined. \n\nYour post about bob whats his name proves my point. My guess is that you have a much higher opinion of Mr Trump and Mr Levant than of Mr Stanfield . .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is a very good, Christian reason for forgiving one's enemies. I wonder why Our Lord never thought of that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anti Christian rhetoric", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well I don't blame lack of Christian values or lack of stable families, I blame lack of transmitting the value of education by parents to children, which can occur for many reasons, some correlated to lack of stable families.\n\nThe most important factor in school success in fact is size of vocabulary at the start of school. \n\nIf parents are too preoccupied with their problematic love lives, or lack the cultural capital themselves, to make sure the kids get an early, good grounding in language skills, the kids will struggle in school, fall behind in reading, probably develop a hatred of it, etc.. It then becomes very difficult to catch up.\n\nIf you can barely graduate from high school, that makes attaining a university education pretty much moot, no matter how cheap.\n\nThe problem isn't getting everyone a university education, it is making sure there are decent alternatives for people who can't get one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There has been a strain of Evangelical Christianity called Dominionism, that has been extremely active in American politics as something of a fifth column. It is mirrored in Catholicism by the \"Church Militant' movement. The goal is war with Islam, the big clash of civilizations, the final Apocalyptic moment when Jesus comes and divides the righteous from the libtards. \n\nSara Palin was as close as they had come to getting someone in power. Now they have Pence for religious reasons and Bannon because Bannon prides himself on being an agent of chaos. Bannon has also recently targeted Militant Catholics as allies. That is not suprising given Catholicism's global footprint which is an order of magnitude beyond the Dominionists. This is scary stuff precisely because Trump got where he is on nativism and with Pence's and Bannon's supporters. Oh, and these guys won't punch any red buttons, they will go bio/viral as their excuse to close the borders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, how Christian of you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So if you aren't a catholic, why do you come to this site? We cannot help a none, as you well know, they are doomed. Sorry, you know the rules, you've read the catechism. Best get your head right with the One True Church, if you know what's best for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People seem to miss the point that the USA and for that matter Canada are a Christian-Majority (and to a lesser degree Jewish) nations. This issue is very clear cut. There is a culture that sometimes is in non-agreement with Western Values. The threat of terrorism has to be taken seriously and that is a fundamental right of any nation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Francis' openness to studying the possibility of women serving as deacons could represent an historic shift for the global Catholic church, which does not ordain women as clergy.\"\n\nStill reporting that way, I see. Even though the Pope said he was very annoyed at this portrayal.....\n\n\"They said: \u201cThe Church opens the door to deaconesses.\u201d But, the first to be surprised by this news was me\u2026,,,Really? I am a bit angry because this is not telling the truth of things... \" http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/full-text-pope-francis-inflight-press-conference-from-armenia-45222/\n\nDon't forget he also said \"There is a president in Argentina who advised presidents of other countries: \u201cWhen you want something not to be resolved, make a commission.\"........we had heard that in the first centuries there were deaconesses. One could study this and one could make a commission.\" (same source).\n\nIs this still a case of \"if we report it often enough, it will BECOME true?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"There is no divine revelation without human experience, and all human experience is already interpretation\"\n\n\"...there are three elements that make for effective communication of meaning: the one wishing to communicate; the actual articulation...in words or actioa; and the ones who are receiving that communication\"\n\nSo simple! So obvious! So profound! So true! So dismissed by fundamentalist, by the selective traditionalists - knowingly or not. So abused by \"scholars\" such as Ratzinger/Benedict and ecclesials as Pope John Paul II. So much of what we need to somehow understand with the capacity to incorporate into our faith learning and practice and especially in our sharing/teaching.\n\nAnd then, for the dessert he offers: \"...demolishing an oppressive notion of God\" and \"...and his (Christ's) vision of God and God's vision for humanity:\"Laughter, not crying is the deepest purpose that God wills\" for humanity\".\n\nSo much implicit in these. Immense meditations. Church needs this. Thanks", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul: True, and most of those millions also accept that the earth is NOT 6000 years old. I certainly acknowledge that most Christians accept the science of Global Warming and don't ever intend to imply otherwise. regards, Gary", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stealth version of the \"Canada is a Christian Country\" line?\n\nHistorically Religious Belief in Canada has declined as you travel West and North. \n\nCanada was built by Free Spirits who didn't want Priests or anyone else telling them what to do. (Bibby, 1986)\n\nOnly 30% of Canadians are still Religious. Stats Canada always gets the numbers wrong, on the Census, and on their General Social Survey. Clerics laugh when asked to reconcile the Stats Can imaginary belief numbers with churches closing for lack of attendance and cash support.\n\nhttp://www.people-press.org/2002/12/19/among-wealthy-nations/\n\nEven Stats Can admits that Nothing is the fastest growing response to their question. They fail to adjust for people giving socially conventional answers when the government asks the question, recording the response along with the name, address, and other personally identifying information.\n\nThe USA shows the same geographic trend, Alaska is the most secular, least Religious state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@idem\n1877; the Northwest Territories (annexed to Canada in 1869);\nThe constitution has guaranteed these territories bilingualism in the legislature and in the courts.\n(1890; Conservative MP D'Alton McCarthy abolish the bilingual character of the Canadian territory).\n(1892; made English the only language in schools and courts. The Council of the Northwest Territories then abolished segregated schools, that is to say, Catholic and French.)\n\n1905; Saskatchewan and Alberta\nNo constitutional guarantee was given to French Catholic minority of these new provinces, while the federal government did not show no will to protect these rights, any more than it did at school conflicts in New Brunswick and Manitoba. \nThe \u00ab School Act \u00bb of Alberta imposed English as the ONLY language of instruction.\nIn Saskatchewan, the \u00ab School Act \u00bb of 1909 made English the ONLY language of instruction, but allowed limited use of French in primary schools.\n(more to come)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes Angela Merkel is exactly what the world needs right now.\nGood on Germany.\n-\nMerkel come from the right of the political spectrum\nHer party is \n-\nThe Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic[2][8][9] and liberal-conservative[2] political party in Germany.\n It is the major catch-all party of the centre-right in German politics.[10][11] \n.\nThe leader of the CDU, Angela Merkel, is the current Chancellor of Germany. .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yours is a hard statement RCW. Sadly, it seems so true. It is my opinion that the world needs Catholicism more now than ever. Sadly, it has ceded its place in the \"public square\" to ridicule and/or irrelevance. \nOn a more general level, Christianity, led by Catholicism has so absorbed human values into religion that as such they have a) become ideological and thus divisive and excluding; b) they have become dogmaticly definitive to be followed rotely, without reflective thought, and c) having lost their basis in real human life, living, \"boots on my ground\", they have become part of a logic, a system that has little evidence of being grounded in me, in us. \nTo the point \"Ethics\" is either a \"catechism\" item of religiosity that is imposed or an esoteric consideration for specific professions, like bioethics.\nGet ethics, compassion, civility, love out of the Bible for a while. Teach \"civics\" a la Aristotle and Jesus as real \"experts in humanity\" not clericalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ecumenical activities at Catholic parishes pretty much came to a screeching halt early in the papacy of JP II, and assumed a less vibrant character with the advent of the so called JP II-B XVI priests and bishops, and the restoration of the \"extraordinary\" (Tridentine) form of the Mass. Under current Catholic clerical leadership at the parish and diocesan levels, we will have a much more challenging (difficult) situation when it comes to any kind of \"progress.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is integrally human. We do not need women priests to be integrally human.\n\nWomen will never be ordained to the priesthood in the Catholic Church. If you are waiting for this to happen, you will be waiting forever. If it is women priests you want, and if you like the Roman pageantry, I suggest joining up with the Anglican Church--or the American \"Catholic\" Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I prefer the term Christian or follower of Christ... what's your point Ebes, upset that I'm not bothered by your trivial labels?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus got plenty afraid in the Garden of Gesthemane, and his fear was precisely because he knew people were going to kill him. God understands that fear is natural. The point, as Christians, is not to deny fear but to believe that we can rise above it.\n\n \"The perfect is the enemy of the good\" is generally attributed to Voltaire.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "lol, you are quite correct; this nation might rapidly become a Christian nation, but it never was and the visible signs are not now evident.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A careful reading of the Vatican II documents and statements of Pope Francis will show that the reform involves a return to the actions and words of Jesus as the basis for the mass and our common liturgical celebration.\"\n\nOf dear, what a simplified notion this betrays.\n\nThe reform involved looking to the earliest tradition of the Church, and trying to respect the principles that underpin it. \"Returning to the actions and words of Jesus\" is illusory. What they sought was to see how the early Church kept alive the memory of the words and actions of Jesus, and to shed whatever debris accumulated in succeeding centuries which made this less clear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are multiple subtle differences between the current (1979) Eucharist services in the Book of Common Prayer and the Roman Catholic Mass, most designed to eliminate or minimize the Catholic belief that the Mass is the anamnesis of Christ's Sacrifice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Explain the difference. Concealed identity by choice cloaked as a religion? The vast majority of Muslims do not veil their face, so it is not anti Muslim, just as multiple wives of certain sects of Morman are illegal, but it is not considered anti Christian.\nIt will be a world issue soon. No good ever comes from masking a countenance to avoid identification. This is the 21st century, not the third world dark ages.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Guess what - Middle Easterners (whether they are Muslims or Jews or Christians) are WHITE. If you look at the FBI statistics based on race, here are their groupings:\nWhite\nBlack\nAsians\nAmerican Indians, Alaskan Natives\nHawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sad that I find no comfort or joy in the article's title. Members of the KKK and white-nationalists also self-identify as Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish we would stop comparing others to Pharisees in an attempt to denigrate them. Most scholars recognize that the gospels' portrayal of the Pharisees was based on the experience of new Christians after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70CE and was read back into the life of Jesus by Matthew in an exercise in vaticinium ex eventu. In particular, I think it's more self-serving than historical to compare traditionalists to Pharisees, who were actually the more \"liberal\" group within pre-rabbinic Judaism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners/2016/11/trump-jesus-name-tragedy-christian-public-witness.html\n\nThe above is a link to a article in regard to Christians voting for Trump. I have a comment at the top of the list the reader may wish to examine as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A first reading of the title of this article, I wondered why this matter was even in question.\n\nAnd, then I recalled a Catholic funeral I had attended just this past Monday morning.\n\nOne the most impersonal ritual-focused funerals I have ever attended.\n\nThe service offered little or no solace for the family and, certainly, did not help others participate in the grieving process.\n\nAfter the service, the priest vanished and didn't even join in the refreshments afterwards.\n\nVery sad!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where did we Christians ever get the idea there could be no suffering in this world, in our life? Look at Jesus, the person upon whom our faith is based. He hardly escaped suffering. His message is how to deal with suffering. \nArguments against the existence of God based on suffering and evil are off point, irrelevant, when it comes to the God of Christianity. IMHO.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Globe has persistently and purposefully ignored the political ideology associated with face coverings due to a hypersensitive commitment to political correctness and a fear of perpetuating \"Islamaphobia\" (whatever that is). Ultimately, the Globe's position only leads to full censure of any critical analysis of the politics and culture of that religion - like the TDSB's definition that included criticism of culture and politics of Islam, that language was not an accident. We can criticize the Catholic position on birth control in developing countries but not the subjugation of women in countries under Islamic law, the Globe (and the \"establishment\" media) afford a double standard when it comes to critical analysis and satire of religion. \nThe Globe is incapable of addressing Islamism (or political Islam) - the belief that all levels of society should be governed by Islamic law. Why is that? Why does the Globe ignore reformers like Tarek Fatah and Ayaan Hirsi Ali?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump's Muslim Ban was considered unconstitutional by Republicans and Democrats before the Election. Rudy Giuliani has boasted they knew it was unconstitutional and so tried to write it in such a way it would pass the smell test. But the fact he boasted in public undoes their efforts as does the subsequent announcement that Syrian Christians will be exempt from the ban.\n\nThe Executive cannot question the authority a member of the Judiciary. Each of the three branches must respect the others. Sure, the President can file for a stay of the TRO, but the fact the President fired the acting AG Yates for saying the ban was unlawful will weaken his case. And don't expect judges to be flexible toward an administration that holds the Judiciary in contempt.\n\nI laughed when Trump tweeted about Democrats in Congress delaying the approval of his cabinet nominees for purely political reasons. That's because this is POLITICS. Welcome to the Real World, Donald. Government is All Politics. 24/7", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As soon as you say; opposed to our nation's traditional and Christian values, you have gone off rail. Our country is not now, never was and hopefully never will be a Christian nation. Our nation is a culturally diverse nation, respecting all creeds, beliefs and non beliefs, colors, ethnicity and political beliefs. To be a Christian value, the value must be unique to Christianity; otherwise it is a universal value. Human values of decency, truthfulness, respect, and care and concern for all including the environment is not the sole realm of any religion. Our Founding Fathers brought forth this nation upon the principles of the Enlightenment...that is science and reason would replace dogmatic religion and superstition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Malaysia is another majority Muslim (predominantly Sunni) country (63%). It's official state religion is Muslim, but Malaysia recognizes all religions where Buddhism (20%), Christianity (9%) and Hinduism (6%) are the other major religions in the country. Indonesia is 87% Muslim (predominantly Sunni) and 10% Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, not at all. The previous poster claimed that the Holy Spirit was guiding total reordering of sacred architecture and the Christian faith. I ask: If that's the case, where are the fruits? (No fruits==sterile). To elaborate: why did removal of rails or the horizontalization of the Mass not bring an increase of faith in the Eucharist and of living as disciples? Why are nominal-Catholic children from parishes with \"ritus suburbanus\" OCP/JourneySongs/Breaking Bread/Gather worship as likely as not to fall away (and more likely than when the Mass was typically a very poorly offered, unintelligible, rushed Extraordinary Form?) Why after these things were adopted do so few self-identifying \"Catholics\", when polled, believe in the Real Presence?\n\nThe Holy Spirit does not move us to sterility (inability to propagate the Faith), indifferentism, or apostasy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now don't attack people personally.\nThat's not Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW is predicting that Pope Francis has permanently changed the Catholic Church, and that the Holy father's co-called reforms will never be reversed. But MSW also believed Donald Trump would lose to Hilary Clinton. As for \"regalia\" versus \"simplicity\", regalia goes when people get bored with it, and is replaced with simplicity. Simplicity will go when people get bored with it, and will be replaced with regalia. Overexposure, a real threat to Francis, will hasten the boredom. \n\nMSW also brought up Cardinals Burke, but he should be careful here. There is far more that unites a so-called progressive Pope with a so-called conservative Bishop than separates them. Pope Francis is much closer in thought to Cardinal Burke than he is to MSW and the dedicated readers of this particular blog. As for Mr.Trump going through the Catholic Church to get at migrants, he'll be only too happy to. Who is going to stop him?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Doctrine is not decided by a consensus of the people. The Church is not a democracy. \nAs I said in another post, we do not have everything in the Gospels that Christ said or did, the Gospels even say that. That is why we have Sacred Tradition. We are not Sola Scriptura Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Brunout its not a religion to not have a religion. Just like its not a religion to not believe in leprechauns, Xenu, Zues, or Baal. You assume you know what people believe when they don't sacrifice their life in someway to one of the thousands of deities. You are wrong, all non-theists aren't atheists, just as all theists aren't christian. Again, just as your belief in god(s) you assume too much with no credible information back it up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I love that someone evoked FDR's \"Four Freedoms\" from WWII. Kudos to you. However, I feel like you have a lot of nerve evoking FDR's \"Four Freedoms\" when Christians no longer have the freedom of religion to live out their religious convictions, nor the freedom of speech to express their beliefs or ideas without constant persecution. I was fired from a great job due to what I believe, and now, I live in constant fear that my new boss will discover that I go to church on Sunday and fire me. So I don't want to hear anything about Democrats supporting the Four Freedoms-it's a lie.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everyone here is comparing the Church to a Government, i.e. a democracy.\n\nThe one thing the Church isn't, and never will be - is a democracy. \n\nThe Church is 'run' by the Holy Spirit - and God doesn't put things to a vote.\n\nDo you think, in several years, the Church will 'vote' on abortion - and if a majority of so-called Catholics say it is ok, the Church will then proclaim that abortion is no longer wrong??\n\nIf the pope feels the Holy Spirit compel him to have women ordained - then it will be.\n\nIf he doesn't - than it won't.\n\nPicketing and protesting will not bring about what you hope for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a lay driven enterprise that is not Catholic in any official sense. It is much more like Salon or Huffington Pose than it is L'Osservatore Romano. It covers Catholic news. It does not claim to be an official Catholic apologetics site.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Protestants don't believe in the Eucharist, reconciliation, or the traditions handed down since the early days of the Church, so yes, they're free to have anyone they want lead their non-sacramental ceremonies. That implies nothing for orthodox Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Be honest Juergen, you are an uber-Catholic, face it. Your conscience is your guide, your humility learned through these devotions should stimulate you to look upon others more benignly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Western society has a culture based on 2000 years of Christianity, as well as our origins in Roman and Greek culture, so of course it reflects that fact in all kinds of ways, from our holidays, to the 7-day week, to the expressions we use in our language, etc. Nothing wrong with that.\n\nWhy should India be a model to follow? It isn't efficient to have a zillion public holidays, and it doesn't even make for a particularly harmonious society judging by India.\n\nLast Xmas a Montreal radio talk show had a phone-in about how non-Xians felt about Xmas, the host expected to hear complaints about \"alienation\", but the calls poured in from Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, etc. who said they LOVED Xmas and celebrated it.\n\nIf your religion says celebrating the major western holiday is wrong, then maybe you should consider that maybe it is YOUR religion that is intolerant. Orthodox Xians never complained their Xmas was ignored, they celebrated both, theirs privately.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since it pleases Trump's conservative Christian base for him to do so, Trump will throw the GLBT community under the bus if it advances his political agenda.\nTrump probably has no problems with GLBT people, doesn't concern himself with them one way or another, but since Trump has no ethical core other than the advancement of Trump and his family, the GLBT community is expendable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More pious talk but no action. Do the bishops and the clergy actually believe in anything that they preach?\nThe entire edifice is now at stake! The age of the clergy is passing albeit slowly. While it may take a few more decades, some future iteration of Catholic Christianity will be one without clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm against prayers in schools, not because I'm anti-Muslim but because they have no place in the contemporary secular school system. So I would oppose prayers of any religion.\n\nMuslims should be prepared to compromise here. There is plenty of time out of school for them to pray. If we are to have a peaceful society, compromise should come from all quarters.\n\nSo Muslims should start learning not to take their holy text so literally as Christians and Jews have learned to treat theirs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I missed where Dan Sullivan's nuisance sidewalk law was coordinated with them obamer demoncrats. Was it with the rousting of the homeless camps or theft of their meager belongings? It's hard to tell. There's so much them libtards got their fingers in these days. They've taken over our gubmit I tell ya. It's gotten so a selfless pious christian can't lecture the poor when they need it the most.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"And the bishops need to consider how they can ensure that no one mistakes Church Militant for the authentic church.\"\n\nThe irony and hypocrisy of this statement issuing from NCR is delicious. At least, so far as I know, Voris never expresses the disdain for traditional Catholic teaching that is the staple of posts to this site. I know of no teaching by Voris that is at odds with the Church's. His site attracts those who consider themselves true Catholics, rather than unrelenting dissenters. The last thing Winters should ask from the bishops is to illuminate differences between \"the authentic church\" and Church Militant. The bishops just may be emboldened to take action against NCR, which is distinctly non-Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now that we have truly Christian leader, as recognized by the US Bishops who supported him, we can finally reverse this trend. Once the freedom of religion has been restored and Christianity is again taught in school, and those who are not christian are put in their place, we will see a return to the day when the USA was a christian nation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Someone asked for better reading than NCR on this topic? Crux Now is heads and shoulders above NCR in terms of environmental coverage and Catholic matters. Less bias, and less \"same same\" crankiness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh heavens. He was asked for loyalty. Was not aware that was a crime. Nothing here. Sorry guys. So far, all show no go. Plus do you really want Pence to be your president? If so, you will get a Super Christian righty that will take away things like Planned Parenthood, public television funding, and will invoke religion into most things. Your choice. I will roll the dice with Trump as he does have the common American in mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics don't subscribe to \"one saved, always saved\" theology which is what is espoused in Amazing Grace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have read;\n\u201cAt this moment in time the\nchurch has two sails that are blowing in the opposite direction causing great\ndiscord within the Church. On the Right: an extreme conservative wind wanting\nto blow our boat back to the becalming out-of-date swamp of pre-1962. On the\nLeft: an extreme liberal wind wanting to blow our boat into rapids where faith\nand morals are thrown overboard\u201d.\n.\nBut we can go forward in UNITY OF PURPOSE by hoisting a third sail one\nof Humility, the true (only) sail that the Holy Spirit blows upon, bringing\narrogance to its knees and folly does not have to be appeased.\nPlease consider continuing see my post in the link\n\nhttps://acireland.ie/amoris-laetitia-the-joy-of-love-reviewed-by-aidan-hart/#comment-10034\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many people in Canada are force into Catholic schools. So where is your outrage? How many children do not want to go to bible class, yoga class, barmitzfa, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sure Catholic churches have their own cemeteries. Yet you don't have to be Catholic to be buried in one. \n\nCan the same thing be said of a \"Muslim\" cemetery?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are so right David...our society is all about revenge, while we pay lip service to rehabilitation.... Not very Christian indeed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So good to hear from WOMEN THEOLOGIANS! We need exploration of\nPost-Vatican II theology...women who, like theologian Edward Schillebeeckx, are not afraid to question theological roots that exalt suffering.\n\nIt's not enough to demand of the Church to change its attitudes and practices when theology underlies its conviction about the inferiority of women and its negative perspectives on other gender and sexual issues. \n\nWe need a post-Vatican II Church that is not afraid to tackle the much-need transvaluation or even transmutation of all-important doctrines such that they can be the bedrock needed to raise consciousness regarding women and all other justice issues. \n\nNONE of the changes called for in this article will happen within the present Opus Dei/Evangelical Roman Catholic Church, as much as Pope Francis & others may desire them. \"[T]he [very strong]temptation is to push the issue back under the rug\" or whitewash it without doctrinal change. See https://RiteBeyondRome.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I beg your pardon: in my too optimistic meditation on the fragility of eternal institutions I forgot to look back -- at emperor Constantine -- and forwards -- at a quite credible candidate to succeed him. But this piece of news brought me back to the real world:\n\n\"(RNS) For the first time in 40 years \u2013 since President Jimmy Carter took office in 1977 \u2013 a Catholic bishop will take part in a presidential inauguration.\n\nCardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, is among six faith leaders who will participate in the Jan. 20 swearing-in ceremony of President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Michael Pence, the Presidential Inaugural Committee announced Wednesday (Dec. 28).\n\n\u201cI am honored to have been asked to offer a reading from Scripture at the upcoming presidential inauguration and look forward to asking Almighty God to inspire and guide our new President and to continue to bless our great Nation,\u201d Dolan said in a statement.\"\n\nMoney and Power are in fact powerful allies", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for doing the bare minimum of your duty as parents by bringing your kids to Sunday Mass. Why don't you give yourselves a round of applause?\n\nI think sadly, a large part of the liberal Catholic project involves keeping the Church's teaching from people and not allowing exposure to some of the treasures of our tradition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Mark for your comment\n\n \u201cIt's likely that the historical Jesus may have thought as little of same-sex relationships as did his Jewish contemporaries\u201d.\n\nI think it is fair to assume It would have been a no go area I could give quotes but I am trying not to be combative.\n\n\u201cIt has nothing to do with which individuals may be married in the first place\u201d.\n\n\u201cWhat God has joined together let no man put asunder\u201d\n\nThis statement has everything to do with which individuals may be married in the first place\n\n\u201cBut at the beginning of creation God \u2018made them male and female\nFor this reason a man will leave his father and mother (continuing the creative process) and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh\u201d. (The Truth of this statement can be seen in any offspring they may be blessed with) And this visual Truth defines marriage (as been open to the Creative process) sexual union, \u201cSo they are no longer two, but one flesh\u201d\n\nContinued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great essay, Bill. Let me offer my slant. In the past, it may have been true that most Christians were theologically and biblically illiterate because of a lack of preparation in those disciplines. Since the advent of higher criticism, it's also true that we're \"illiterate\" in the sense that people who approach the academic study of theology and scripture from different perspectives and sub-disciplines are often unable to have a conversation, so great are their methodological divergences. The result is that theologians and exegetes tend to engage in internecine debates about the history and interpretation off texts, leaving them unable to speak the language of the people. At the same time, the bishops, aware that the discussion is often over their heads/miters, don't engage their people at all. The original intention of various Catechisms was to bridge that gap, but their success has largely been measured along party lines. If we don't bridge this chasm, I don't know..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There\u2019s nothing new about phony teachers in the church. They\u2019ve been at it for a long time, drawing people after themselves and away from the Lord. \n\nJesus warned: \u201cWatch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep\u2019s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves\u201d (Matthew 7: 15). \n\n Jesus\u2019 apostle Peter had some choice words about them too: \u201cBut there were also false prophets among the people [the ancient Hebrews], just as there will be false teachers among you [Christians]. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them [e.g. atheism]\u2014bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth [Christianity] into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping\u201d (2 Peter 2: 1-3).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sheep are used throughout the Bible to symbolically refer to God's people. Sheep are mentioned over 500 times in the Bible. I consider myself an Agnostic.\n\nChristians traditionally refer to Jesus as the \"Lamb of God.\" \n\n\"It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.\" Psalms 100:3\n\n\u201cBehold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves\" Mathew 10:16\n\nI detest the way sheep are used in modern day pejorative terms, just like \"liberal\", hence the reason I threw your original use back at you. No offense to you or sheep! \n\nDo you remember the Trump tweet from a few months back, quoting Mussolini? \u201cIt is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.\u201d \n\nSubstitute Wolf for Lion and it reads the same. Something to think about as you go to the polls to cast your vote for Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't really see a connection between the Trump America and the Handmaid's Tale except maybe a certain degree of pessimism about the near future. The society featured in the Handmaid's tale was more based on extreme religious fundamentalism then political ineptitude. When the book was written there was a lot of fear among liberals about the Christian/political movement called \"The moral majority\" which looked like it would seriously roll back liberal legislative gains.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe the most important aspect of Christianity is charity in all its guises. \n\nThe ancient rituals are way down the list as important to Christianity.\n\nThe ancient rituals MIGHT be important to Catholicism --but I fear one who feels that strongly about them might also be too busy being Catholic and not busy enough being Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am no feminist. In fact, my wife of 53 years informs me that, deep down, I am still a MCP with just a little appreciation for feminism as a \"sign of the times.\" My take is that what really matters is to be a Christian, male or female. Easier said than done, but during this Holy Week, let us pray that we let go of the patriarchal covenant (Old Law) and embrace the sacramental covenant (New Law). For your consideration and prayers:\n\nViri Probati and Feminae Probatae ~ \nThe Homogeneous Sacramentality of the Human Body, Male and Female \nhttp://www.pelicanweb.org/solisustv13n04supp6.html#section9\n\nMay you all have a blessed Holy Week,\nLuis", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "David, \"No contemporary Jewish historians mention Jesus either (disregarding the acknowledged forgery in Josephus).\"? Just Google \"non Christian witnesses to Jesus's existence\"; there are multiple 1st and 2nd century verifications that Jesus existed from sources (though not necessarily Jewish sources) hostile to Christianity, totally aside from Josephus (and if one looks at the issue of Josephus' supposed comments on Jesus, there's a high likelihood that Josephus made comments which were later modified as to who Jesus was, but not on the base issue of him having existed). The real issue is you not wanting to deal with the claims and teachings of Christ, and trying to do that by pretending he didn't even exist, but that isn't going to work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll trot out my favorite examples of the \"development of doctrine\". In Quanta Cura, Pius IX calls \"liberty of conscience and worship\" \"an insanity\". Vatican II's Dignitatis Humane says that this liberty is a fundamental right of all people. \n\nPope Eugene IV wrote in Cantate Domino \"all those who are outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels\". Vatican II's Lumen Gentium said that essentially everyone, and it is specific about Jews, has at least the possibility of salvation.\n\nIn both cases, the latter teachings contradict the earlier ones. Doctrine can not only \"develop\", previous teaching can be outright reversed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess its too soon to know how the Pope Francis bishops are going to turn out, but I often despair that we would be sent some actual Catholic bishops, instead of these \"Nationalist Bishops\" who are more in tune with the needs/demands of the American Empire than the Catholic faith. The Romero Catholic Worker House has been pointing out for the past decade that the US Catholic Bishops are guilty of material cooperation with the objective evil of unjust war. Thus it does not seem surprising to me that they may be ready to materially cooperate with the objective evil of mass deportations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry, I just don't know what you are talking about. I have never denied that Our Lord said that where two or three are gathered together in his name, there is he in their midst. Why are you saying I did?\nIt is God whom I worship and obey. I know what He demands of me through the Scriptures and the Tradition of His Church. Where and how do you find out what God demands of you? Are you privy to personal revelations?\nYou have accused me of not being a Catholic without giving a reason. You have accused me of ignoring Christ without saying how. You claim that l disobey God and fail to worship Him.\nDon't you think you owe me an explanation?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure what would be the grounds for excommunicating Catholic business owners, or precisely what \"refuse to supply a living wage\" even means. But I think your options are limited by tying yourself to Capitalism. Catholic teaching and thought really steers us in a different direction, which is to give more workers more of a stake in the means of production and thereby allow them to reap the benefits of their labor beyond a fixed hourly wage. If we can move our society in that direction, which I think is quite possible, then the magnitude of the wage issue - which is really an artifact of Capitalism - will diminish.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, you keep on insisting that the \"Church\" is the hierarchy/clergy. They are only less than 4% of the Catholic population. The Church is made up of all Catholics. No teaching of the Church can exist WITHOUT the assent of the informed and conscientious faithful to that teaching. Humanae vite DID NOT have that assent from the informed and conscientious faithful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can you define what beliefs make a Catholic a Fundamentalist as you described above?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That theology was not an \"allegory\" -- it was absolute fact for the majority of Catholic kids of those times. \n\nThanks for your comment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What you're saying if I understand you correctly is that we don't know with any degree of certainty that:\n\n1. There's a God\n2. There's a Trinity\n3.There's an afterlife\n4. Humans have immortal souls.\n5. We will be judged at the end of our earthly lives. \n\nThese are all part of the dogmatic teachings of the Catholic Faith, and must be believed by Catholics under penalty of sin. Anyone who says that a teaching must be taught ex cathedra before it is binding upon their conscience, is woefully mistaken.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually on this the Catholic Church has been pretty consistent. Some of the toughest advocates to put pressure on Congress for Immigration reform where the Catholic Bishops and Priests. Just wasn't reported in the Media. There are many things to criticize them for. Not this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gosh, and you condemn orthodox Catholics for being literalists!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sr. Rose was disappointed that this Flannery film does not explore \"O'Connor's Catholicism, her ideas about the Catholic sacramental view of life\".\n\nThe timing of Flannery's premature death, coming just as Vatican II was occurring, & before the legislation of civil rights, left her notions of Catholicism, citizenship, & justice relatively undeveloped.\n\nThose notions don't lend themselves to the program's goal of enticing & educating high-school & college students.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not just Christians. Pretty much every other major religion on the planet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"back door to ordination\"\n\nIf women's ordination comes at all, it will be through the Catholic front door -- with an Ecumenical Council. Only an Ecumenical Council will solve this issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope - not a dogma. In fact the pope before John Paul II spoke openly about possibly ordaining female priests so we know, if only 2 popes ago, a Pope was publicly considering ordaining women to priesthood, and Jesus does not state we can treat women differently than men, which he didn't, then there is no scripture support to keep this abuse in place, and because John Paul II was told that he had no basis for making this exclusion a dogma, and that is why JPII didn't claim it was a dogma, nor could he because it doesn't have a basis necessary in scripture or historical agreement of all bishops, then it can't be a dogma. \n\nDoctrines and traditions have changed in our church history. We used to own black slaves too and only 200 years ago. Sin must be repented of whether in the form of tradition or doctrine or Jesus tells us he will deny we belong to him. There is no salvation from Catholicism unless it is first Christian. Also Pope Francis never confirmed that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I bet you will hear that Trent is no longer in force....\"\n\nlol. Before predicting things, ashpenaz, read DISPUTATIONS CONCERNING THE CHRISTIAN FAITH, by Robert Bellarmine, S.J., in which work he argues forcefully for the rationality of Catholic theology against Lutheranism and Calvinism. I doubt Francis will ditch his fellow Jesuit's brilliant work for \"Lutheran sacraments or ordinations\" or for Luther's two Catechisms (never seriously taken as works of academic theology). I am sure, too, Luther's understanding of the role of the \"godly prince,\" which effectively insisted that a monarch had total control of the church, would not sit well with him (as it didn't sit well with republican Calvin). Your predictions seem to have more affinity within your heart, wanting to assure some pseudo- event, than with current ecumenical theology. You mean well, but prediction is not a pastoral remedy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We must GET SMART about Christian extremism!\", said President Trump -- never.\n\nHad a Muslim taken out 25+ people at a mosque in the US, we'd have already seen a tweet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wasn't aware there was any 'retro fitting' to be done.\n\nThis issue involves the Peel District School Board, not the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board.\n\nYes, that's correct. There is a publicly-supported Catholic School Board, which teaches students from a Catholic point of view.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My opinion is some politicians use religion as a shield to target their goals. All human beings are same, born in the same way, their body functions are same, and have to die one day too. God have given a fair earth for human to live where there are water, soil, inc. its plants. And you all get sun light and moon light in the mean of taking turn, that all human beings can enjoy no matter where you go. Those who are Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddists, Atheists, etc. have same privileges. Look at Indonesian majorities, how they treated the minorities? It is a very sad story.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi, Neko. I know you're being tongue-in-cheek, but I'm never loath to comment, so....The church has followed two main paths for a very long time. One, as I pointed out above, was that of temple Judaism. The other was that of paganism, which was (and is) based on the notion that the gods exist to be appeased and religion consists in appeasing them as much as possible. More incense, please....\n\nThe Greek and Roman gods could only mess with you in this world, but in Christian paganism, those who don't appease the gods enough in this world get to pay for it in the next. So Christian pagans believe they have to do stuff to make their favorite gods happy, and avoid stuff they've been told makes the gods sad. Religion helps us sort out which stuff to do and which stuff to avoid, because we're too dumb to figure it out for ourselves.\nIt is, in essence, an infantile understanding of God and an infantile religion, but it is still with us. (How's that for angst?)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And so, the witch hunt against the KofC continues, under the disguise of inclusiveness, tolerance and Christian love. Such blatant perversion of basic Christian values for partisan-political gains is the best way to destroy human relationships and the fabric of church and society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I understand and agree with your fears Icon. As a person of faith, I have never expected, nor ask for, special treatment. I can pray anytime I want, I don't have to stand on the street corner so everybody can see me. Government has zero influence on my chosen spiritual life. \n\nDemand for things like a return to school prayer is Demeaning of God. When did Jesus, a human reflection of God, every ask for, or receive special treatment by a formal religious or government institutions? God does not need our help.\n\nI'm not sure this particular letter writer would impose his beliefs on others though. \n\n\"We all need to be courteous, balanced and thoughtful in our conversations and curious about what others believe and why\".\n\nI can live with that. Why create enemy's by alienating a Christian of good will?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is risen. My wife and I are devout Catholics. \n\nWe were here when the state had an income tax and support the reinstatement. As someone perhaps more conservative than my wife, I believe that taxation can be done right and taxation can be done wrong. \n\nIn the right way, we who pay taxes become job creators. We pay into the public economy, which provides services and whose salaries are then fed back into the private economy as the state and state workers spend their money. I also think that we have to go beyond canon law and each do our own part to help the poor but to also contribute to our neighborhoods.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't blame Christians just yet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Layla herself has previously pointed out that the Garratts would never vote for a \"Liberal\", let alone Trudeau. As members of the PAoC, they are part of a socially conservative, evangelical Christian movement which very strongly supported Harper in both his leadership bid and in the elections which followed. The PAoC, along with other Christian Right groups (eg: Charles McVety) do not like \"Liberals\" because of their stance on abortion, gay rights, etc. \n\nKudos to Kevin Garratt for thanking Trudeau, which was probably not easy for him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Background helps. Women could NOT choose a husband - they were married off by their families. So, the woman at the well was not living with yet another husband supplied by the family, but presumably with someone she loved. Not condemnation by Jesus - the opposite in fact - she, the foreigner, the \"heretic\" became the first cross-cultural missioner in John's Gospel! No ethical comments are made of the issue of whom she was living with - Jesus' insight is the occasion of the woman acknowledging Him as prophet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"... they are not per se \"Catholic\" Knights.\"\n\nYou may want to reconsider that. The Code of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta very specifically states that an indispensable requirement for admission into all three classes of members of the Order is that the person must \"profess the Catholic religion\". In particular, Article 113 (Requirements for Admission) under the section on \"Common Requirements\" says that:\n\n\"Par. 1 \u2014 To comply with the requirements for admission, the aspirant Knight or Dame must provide proof of profession of the Catholic religion.\"\n\nIn fact, a request for admission into the Order must be supported by a certificate of baptism. Into the Catholic Church, of course. ;)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you're confusing the natural law with certain interpretations of it. You are collapsing two distinct things into each other. Natural law absolutism should rightly be resists; but the natural law forms an essential element of Catholic moral theology, nonetheless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In your opinion. Actual Catholics disagree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, yes, I think we're all familiar with Catholic Answers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "E-D, I agree with the point of your post, but actually Christian churches do in fact run their own food banks in Canada and elsewhere. I am the main purchasing agent for the bank run for our small Baptist church. Here we buy the normal non-perishable staples, including pork in some of our foods. Unlike the Muslim food bank highlighted in the artivle, we offer service to people inside and outside our church. As such, nearly all families outside of our church live outside of the Christian faith. We have never encountered religious-based complaints.\n--David Murrell in Fredericton", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My friend (who is not on facebook and so can't comment for himself) wonders about that last Assembly member, Wayne Ogle, who \"was present at the event Wednesday, though he said he was there as a Catholic and not as an elected official,\" acting at the behest of his \"leaders.\" Who are his leaders when he's acting as an Assembly member? They should be the people who elected him. This is why we have separation of church and state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're quibbling with \"make sure\"? OF COURSE, they can;t \"make sure.\" It's a figure of speech, tin-ear. But you knew what he meant. And knowing that, you still called it a \"lazy-man's approach for someone who is unwilling blah, blah, blah.\" That's the difference between you and a real Catholic. You wish Jesus had been just Saul Alinsky, rather than someone who really believes there's a hell and has come to save you from it. You don't need no stinkin' savior. Ah, but forgive me. I wax so medieval.\n\nAnd I love your oh-so-PC \"(or woman's)\". Geez. If you want to seem genuine instead of just preening and condescending, at least ditch the parentheses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "geez us.\nwhat are we arguing about The Virginia violence or WW2, Christians, Romans, the Pharoahs, etc.?\nNext time I'll have to slow down and spell everyword for yah, I'm breathin, calmed down.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My point was that he talks about his Christian values, but serves divorced people and refuses to serve others. Matthew 5:17-20\nI have not heard about him free cake to homeless. That would be bad anyway. Cake is pretty much empty calories.\n\nYou can not claim moral high ground when you are wallowing in the swamp with everyone else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks, Rita. I'm aware of the criticism of USAID as merely an instrument of US foreign policy, but I wasn't aware of the same criticism of CRS. I do wonder about a Catholic organization that receives so much of its funding from USAID, however.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings....It seems the Gang of Four are the ones causing confusion! Cardinal Burke is afraid the Sheep have no inner conscience to use in their discernment of the cathehism! The majority of Catholics have no interest in his nit picking of the Bishops Synodal process and the Holy Fathers JOINT final recommendations. Blessings to Pope Francis in the New Year!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is \"no big deal\" for another reason, globereader13, the same one, presumably, that makes the unnamed award received by 3 other Muslim Canadians last spring, \"no big deal\" either.\n\nAs long as the Khadrs stay in Canada (I was going to add, \"why would they not?\" but given the wackiness found in many families--Christian and Muslim--who knows? Could be up and gone to Afghanistan next week...) the money--or a good part of it--presumably will go to work here in Canada. The family'll buy stuff. Seek educational opportunities. Investment opportunities. See? \n\nIn one pocket...and out again, into many, many pockets alllll over Canada. \n\nNow, the mistake the government made was calling it compensation (oooh, click-bait word, for sure!) No. The government should have called it what it truly is: wealth redistribution. \n\nIf the government had used THAT term, one immediate effect: far, far fewer G&M comments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, Lars, they say there are two kinds of people: Those who think there are two kinds of people, and everyone else.\n\nOur rights, such as they are, are clearly the result of agreement between people. Whether or not a god created them to make these agreements with each other is an argument to be held outside of the halls of government where it won't waste everyone's time. \n\nThe judeo-christian version are called commandments---subtle difference. It's one of many reasons the people who agreed to these things and wrote them down, put in that provision that we're going to leave religion alone, and religion is going to leave us alone. That they framed their argument in the parlance of the day doesn't lessen its importance, or change its meaning.\n\nWhat makes our rights inalienable is that they apply equally to all people, everywhere, regardless of nationality or creed, for the simple qualification of being human; something more \"christians\" should think about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, thank you, I was responding to McHale's post:\n\n<>\n\nI'm acquainted with the development of the dogma of Original Sin, but as you say, it's dependent on an original human pair who are entirely mythical.\n\nThe Resurrection doesn't rise to the level of historical fact. It's a supernatural occurrence that Christians believe on faith. Likewise, for Catholics, the Assumption.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"early Christians merely went with the existing custom.\"\nNot exactly. Early on, the church outlawed Christmas. Too much debauchery. After a while the wild partying got toned down a bit. Someone penned some pretty carols, some people started feeling all cheerful and generous of heart. The festivities helped brighten the dark and cold winters. The story of the babe in swaddling clothes spread, and the Church really latched on to Dec 25 being Jesus' birthday and the whole \"reason for the season\" movement was born (again).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many people i know in Ontario are non-Catholics but send their kids to Catholic schools because it is a improvement to overcrowded public schools, better kids, better morals being taught, etc. In essence, a discounted private school! Not sure, if this is a good use of taxpayer dollars or what the Fathers of Confederation intended.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church, in theory, now espouses a preferential option for the poor, which she does based on the Authority of Christ. That she has failed miserably in the past (and present) in this mission doesn't mean she can't pick herself up and try again. Pope Francis and his allies are trying again.\nA more just distribution of social and material goods has Christ's imprimatur, as you must know. It's hard to understand why you'd glibly mock the teaching of Pope Francis on issues relevant to this mission as evidence of his \"self-interest\" or his mere power-seeking. PF is encouraging Christians to cooperate with God more effectively so as to redeem human power on Earth by aligning it in consilience with its rightful origin in the Kingdom of God, seems to me. That power has been usurped for millennia. \n\nYour cynicism can get tiresome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ward 1, I see you are a Christian, as am I. I feel you are in need of some gentle correction. The Bible is clearly against drinking to drunkenness, as the scriptures you mention attest. And erring on the side of caution is not unreasonable. But saying \"Jesus turned the water into grape juice\" is simply inaccurate as even the context of the passage indicates. It comments on how the best wine is usually served first, and lesser quality wine later, but in this case the best (which Jesus provided) was served last. How does this make sense unless their oinos, like our wine, dulls the senses? It was fermented wine, not grape juice. This was the primary drink they had in Jesus' time, without question. Also, Paul instructs Timothy to drink some wine, not just water, for his stomach in 1 Tim. 5:23. It is OK to drink some wine, but not to drunkenness, and certainly not before driving when lives are on the line. There are no contradictions are in the Bible, only in our understanding of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The same must be said of those who are \"attached to\" the all-male, clubby Catholic priesthood! It's already a rapidly vanishing species, and endangered as well. It's nothing short of ironic that some of those who endanger it the most are the doctrinaire proponents of male exclusivity for that priesthood!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you misstate MSW's concern. He was not worried about a specific aspect of Pope Francis agenda, but more the risk that the media was looking to remove the Holy Father from his pedestal. In that regard, we Catholics should agree: The Vicar of Christ, Chosen by the Holy Spirit to lead the One True Church must never have his status questioned by the media, or anyone else. We were spoiled during the era of the Saint, whose infallibility and divinity was so apparent, none ever dared suggest removing him from his pedestal. This new Vicar of Christ needs a little more protection from criticism because he is not so obviously Holy and Infallible as was the Pope Saint John Paul II the Great and Terrible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Focus is always the same here: clerics\n\nHere are articles you don't see here, but you do see at National Catholic Register or at Mercatornet. \n\n- Catholic groups launch a practical program to help men be better fathers and women better mothers.\n\n- Catholics build a retreat program to help lay live a more generous and self-less married vocation.\n\n- Young Catholics explore how they can love Holy Mass more by putting more love into the Mass.\n\n- Young adults describe how to squeeze more out of Sacramental Confession.\n\n- Catholic entrepreneurs hold a workshop on how to bring a greater spirit of service into one's business. \n\n- A workshop on how to love your work more by loving God more. \n\n- Becoming a better Catholic conversationalist by not turning every conversation into politics, finger in your eye liberalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except that Catholic traditionalists and right wingers like yourself and most of today's active bishops use a variety of labels, with a peculiar vengeance! And one of them is \"intrinsically disordered.\" It betrays a lot of ignorance and ill will, and has NO truth in it!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Businesses were closed on Sunday to placate and reflect the values of Christian churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholics got their separate schools so they didn't have to be exposed to the Protestant faith in schools. They didn't bring religon into the school system, it was already there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, there is still quite a bit of unmerciful currents in the Catholic Church, especially American Catholicism. It is going to take decades to disassociate Catholicism from the uglier partisan politics and condemnations that it has become associated with and in the meantime people will continue to be turned off from religion in general and see it as a force for bad rather than good in the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe this will help: I'm classified as lesbian, or is it Lesbian? Is it a noun, maybe a proper noun, or an adjective? Certainly there's a descriptive in the word. Maybe Gay Woman? Is this the tack I want to take, correcting people to make sure that they refer to me and mine as \"lesbian women\" or \"gay woman\"? There are, IMO, words that clarify something about us without necessitating further qualifiers: She's American. (American woman) They're gay (that group of people) The Christians. The gays. The lesbians. The druggies. The Socilaists. The transgenders. \nAnyway, if you're the Seda from the article, I applaud your courage in coming out and I very sincerely wish you and your family all the best.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The United States is a secular republic.\n\nAnd what the Catholic Church thinks about God's plan for marriage is clearly irrelevant to the state's understanding of marriage. You lost that war, remember?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Canada has no culture. There is nothing to fit into except Christian supremacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will always be a Trump supporter.\nIt is simple main stream media hates Trump and will make up complete lies about Trump.\nUnfortunately every one believes those lies.\nThis country is a mess because of the pay for play clinton foundation and her muslim terrorist donating nations. \nMSM loves Hillary and Obama and lies for them. \nMSM lie more than Hillary and Bill. \nWasnt the look on Bills face shocking when the women he raped sat right beside him and at the debate?\nTrump pounded the Clintons.\nThere is a lot more on the Clintons and that is their murder and killing of people that get in their way.\nTrump will have this at their next debate. \nI am guessing Lisa and Dan are part of the Washington elite and voting for Gary Johnson and Mike Pence. \nTrump will be our 45th POTUS.\nI have feeling God has big plans for the USA and Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part four of five) I run a Pregnancy Resource Center in Hartford and we have just started a group of twenty something pro-lifers (all of whom happen to be on fire Catholics, some of whom are lay people studying for ministry at Holy Apostles Seminary). I would like Dr Silk to meet them, and open his mind to the changing landscape of CT which has escaped his study.\u2014Leticia Velasquez\n\n\tThere ought to be Yale women associated with said Pregnancy Resource Center, women willing to think and read.\n\n___\n\nthe majority of Americans are still moved to vote based on a candidate's position on abortion.\u2014Leticia Velasquez\n\nMaking the Supreme Court in a Republican anti-abortion mode does seem to account for why Donald Trump received many evangelical votes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... atheists like myself have known 'christian Republicans' are all devils for a long time, decades ... there really was no 'fooling' today's 'christians', they've been behaving and pushing for the likes of Cheetolini for a long time.\n\nThe surprising part was not all of 'em realized pre-election what a perfect representation Cheetolini is of all they have become in modern times ... super fakey, praying to the alters of money and war.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian retreat? Where was Jesus on that one . . . ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Look as christians we must help and admit people in on the basis of what is the right thing to do. But the President of the USA has the responsibility to protect its citizen from people that declared they will bring harm worldwide. This is a moral dillemma. People these days are afraid to Identify themselves christians ....geez\nBut there are options.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't believe that 70.6% or even 40% of adult Americans are comfortable with spiritual materialism, arbitrary radical new intolerant forms of extreme doctrine subverting or creating new sects and cults claiming space within Christianity, or these brave new social cultural political forms of spiritual authoritarianism imposed in depraved theocratic style upon free society. As to which God or gods or divine-within that we citizens worship or dedicate ourselves to, there seems to be some diversity and controversy here about claims we're anything less than all Gods, gods, and associated spiritual beliefs and practices. We're certainly not an extreme dogmatic monoculture that virally excludes and inhumanely undermines everything outside itself with such flaming contempt for anything that steps outside the bounds of its own narrowminded authoritarian spiritual intolerance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "my2cents: Mr. Lewis' simple disagreement with Christianity does not constitute \"hate speech.\" Given the aggressive proselytizing by some Christians...and the \"Middle East\" slur by Mr.Lieb...I contend Mr. Lewis is just acting in self-defense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cI\u2019m pretty excited about it. I have to give (Irish players) Jaren Banks and Patrick Herbert a lot of credit for recruiting me to Sheldon ..\" Isn't there an OSAA rule violation going on here. Seems to me that the rumors of recruiting at Marist and Central Catholic years ago prompted the OSAA to establish strict guidelines to prevent this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read Tridentinus again. The choice he proffers concerns only the Western Church, defined as Catholic or Protestant on the basis of accepting modern Councils, regardless of profession. So...I'm forced to be Protestant in his world no matter what I profess, but you m'lady get to retain your Orthodoxy by virtue of self-declaration. Lucky you. ;-}", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jay: The\"religion content of Christianity\" has historic and cultural dimensions:\nIs the Roman Catholic Church the last surviving relic of the great Roman Empire?\nIs the Roman Catholic Church the primary preserver and sustainer of medieval and renaissance fantasies, traditions, and fables?\nIs the Roman Catholic Church the logical future home for a science-based theology of Christogenesis as the cosmos evolves toward its full realization at Omega, a point which coincides with the fully realized Christ, envisioned by Teilhard de Chardin?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you ask me this? Every few months, we have exactly the same discussion. Do you forget?\nBut to recap now, for the nth time:- You have made it very it clear that you reject almost every teaching of the 2nd Vatican council. In particular, you reject the council's teachings on ecumenism; on our relationship to our Jewish brothers and sisters; on synodality; and on the liturgy. You have explained several times that you lean strongly towards Lefebvre and the SSPX, who (as we know) are clinging on by their fingernails to the RCC. Clinging, in fact, in much the same way that other people here are doing, albeit at another end of the spectrum.\nYou have also shown scorn and open contempt for every Pope and magisterium since 1958.\nSo your own 'picking and choosing' has always been very clear. You have never hidden it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "HPWells can say \"Following a Jesus Christ or Yeshua is Idol worship(paganism in it's most deceptive form).\" but Christians can't make a case that the Jewish religion may be false? My entire life I have always blessed the Jews in my heart. I send monies every month to a Jewish orphanage in Israel. I encourage my government to be supportive of Israel. And part of my comment gets flagged simply for expressing a different religious belief? Below is what got flagged:", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A Catholic culinary school would have been more popular? \nFrom the beginning, predictable that it would not be a big draw.\nWhy don't they affiliate with the American branch?\nCould shore up this one before it too declines into a school of too-little-interest.\nDoesn't pass the Catholic imagination test.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) One idea born out of contemplation came to Sr. Kathleen Kanet, a Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary: Have every Catholic sister write a letter to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan regarding the federal budget.\u2014Soli Salgado Now is an era of fake news of which Ryan takes advantage, but not the first such era. \u201cThey spread discouraging reports among the children of Israel about the land they had scouted\u201d (Numbers 13:32).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1017:\nThe Christian Crusade Holy War from Europe on Middle East started\nThe Muslim Holy War on the West started\n\n2017: \nThe Christian Holy War from American-Euro states on Middle East continue\nThe Muslim Holy War from radical Islamic fighters in retaliation continue\n\n3017:\nChristian-Islamic holy wars ended with fracturing and bankruptcy of these warring states\nChina become world superpower able to maintain order and sense, enforce ban of all wars of religion", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about a certain white Christian man who beat HIS wife and child then went on to murder 26 people?\n\nPerhaps white men are more of a problem than burkas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Great misdirection there Mr. Falsey. No one obviously would support a Catholic organization firing someone for being a Lutheran.\"\nThe law does not function merely upon what people support but how it can be reasonably interpreted. Take for example \"fighting words.\" SCOTUS has determined that this type of speech is not protected by the First Amendment but also found every law that tried to criminalize it as unconstitutionally vague or overbroad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think that technology per se is the culprit, but rather a fundamental shift in education that emphasizes more rational thinking (e.g STEM) rather than faith-based rote learning, combined with ease of independent access to enormous amounts of information that challenges the sales pitches from political parties and organized religions. Technology however certainly enables and accelerates this trend. \n\nThe Catholic hierarchy draws comfort from the historic fact that they have withstood many cultural changes over the past 2000 years. However, none were as global, rapid, and information-driven as changes that we are seeing today. \n\nEvolution is the most fundamental force for all living creatures, cultures and societies, necessary for adaptation to changing environments. Political parties and organized religions will necessarily evolve or disappear. The institutional Catholic Church ignores these changes at its own peril.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you live in Florida, there are many Cubans my age who were very, very upset with Obama's overtures to Castro. \nIn addition, I know that many Latinos are Evangelicals or Catholics. Both Evangelical pastors and Catholic priests were focusing on Hillary as being pro-abortion. I think that this made a big difference. But, I am amazed that there were not more Latinos who cared about the plight of those without status. Many of them are married to US citizens and are related through marriage to other US citizen Latinos. Most of my clients are terrified. While I try to calm their fears as much as I can do honestly, I am very, very worried about them. Although I truly do not believe that Trump's administration is going to carry out massive deportations because of the tremendous cost involved, I do believe that the \"atmosphere\" in DHS will become even more hostile than it is now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That might be true in the US but not in Canada.\n\nOur Constitution entrenches government funding of denominational schools (minority Catholic or Protestant schools as the case may be) in certain provinces as part of the Confederation bargain. This would be unthinkable in the US model. Adler v Ontario (AG), [1996] 3 S.C.R. 609 S. 93(1) of the Constitution Act, 1867 requires the Ontario government to fund Roman Catholic separate schools fully.\n\nPrime Minister Stephen Harper observed that separation of church and state is an American constitutional concept and does not apply to the Canadian constitution. He went on to say that separation of church and state in Canada has meant, traditionally, that the government will not interfere with religion.\n\nWe do provide reasonable accommodation for religion as with the 2006 SCOC kirpan case - Multani v Commission scolaire Marguerite\u2011Bourgeoys.\n\nIn Ontario the Human Rights Code specifically mandates reasonable accommodation at S. 11(2).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You modernists just can't help yourselves--its only a matter of time before you drop the \"white, European Christian \" bomb. I will give you that lecture some day, and I'll throw in a talk on Galileo and evolution as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're confusing the law with rights. By that logic, every citizen had a \"right\" to own slaves up to 1863.\nI'm talking about genuine, unalienable rights, not legal authority or grant.\n\nThose who need emergency care do NOT have a right to have anyone else pay for it. We, as a generous people who recognize our Christian duty, have a responsibility to care for those who need emergency care. We also have an individual obligation to pay for the goods and services we use.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I said, it obviously isn't an abundance for everyone. You've made that point clearly. \n\nCatholics certainly assist at the Holy Sacrifice, but I would find it odd if that precluded worship. If you had misgivings about how I intended the term, perhaps the Catholic Encyclopedia at New Advent, or the Catholic Dictionary, also available on line, would relieve your concerns. \n\nIn any event, I'll amend, and offer my sincere hope that you have found a place to assist at the Holy Sacrifice that is to your liking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is also long overdue to get references to the Christian Superstition out of \"O Canada\".\n\nhttp://www.pewforum.org/2013/06/27/canadas-changing-religious-landscape/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hmmm. As a convert to Anglicanism myself, I can kinda bear witness to the splits happening over these issues since it's happening in our communion so I think all speakers make a valid point. On the one hand I think issues over Gender politics and sexual minorities are important. At the same time I agree with the first speakers that there are other issues such as poverty, migrant justice, climate change, structural racism, etc that are enormously important. \n\nThe thing I always wonder is this. Why is it these issues(sexual politics and gender) generate the heat the do. The whole point of the term \"communion\" in Christian lingo is being in a spiritual family even with people you don't agree with. That is what Christ shows us at the Last Supper. I don't get people, liberals or conservatives, who think causing a schism and a division among believers is worth it because you disagree with them on one issue when there are many more that unite.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought America wasn't a \"christian Nation\" anymore??? Wat up wit dat yo?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...emerging forms of ... mostly married couples....\"\n\nYes, quite right, especially when considering effective and influential lay groups like Sant Egidio Community, Communion and Liberation, Focolare Movement, Neo-catechumenate, and even Opus Dei. Very effective lay people. And the whole Charismatic Renewal Movement. These are huge and the future. However, alongside these mega-lay groups there will always be Christians called to -- who feel called to service-- in more traditional orders -- Jesuits, Franciscans, Carmelites, Trappists, etc. The Dominicans at Providence College, Benedictines at St. John's and elsewhere and Holy Cross Community at Notre Dame all seem to be doing well, too. All these communities seem to have special communal gifts that still attract a minority of young lay people. I think together -- the super-mega and mini -- all \"look forward,\" believing the vision of their founders' and leaders' spiritual revolution or renewal was meant to last more than a fortnight.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nobody here except you is calling for or considering the possibility of \"force\".\n\nTo refuse to admonish those who are capable but will not kneel or (more generally) to catechize your congregation in the theology and tradition of kneeling is un-Christian and manifests a defecit of love for the laity.\n\nThis is the new clericalism--Baby Boomer priest decides the laity should not kneel before the Lord, so a pious practice dating from apostolic times is not explained and the typical means to facilitate it are taken away.\n\nBut Google has it that you are an illicitly ordained priest in a breakaway sect (however reasonable its origin) that has become the post-Christian/moralistic-therapeutic-deism equivalent of the SSPX, so I presume laity who place themselves under your care do not end up there accidentally.\n\nAs one of the Desert Fathers has it, \"The devil has no knees. He cannot kneel. He cannot adore. He cannot pray. He can only look down his nose in contempt.\" Such also with wreckers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like the Catholic Church does?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have had Catechisms since the 1st century, don't think Pope Benedict was alive for writing the didache.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My credentials as a parent supercede yours and any other \"official\". That's a fact. What's your credentials on allowing the Christian church into school?? I don't think you desire that", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are one in the same. \"Progressive Catholic\" as outlined by Bishop McElroy's speech is a call to live the Gospel. Bishop McElroy's words reflect an understanding of Jesus' life and ministry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, I'm not a Christian but an atheist so that doesn't apply to me. And yes, I voted NDP in the last election.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "how is prayers insulting to Christians", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"One cannot really be a Catholic and grown up.\"\n\nGeorge Orwell", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There was an interesting review of Silence in Table, a Jewish publication, that called it a great Jewish movie that handled the Job theme in a similar way as the Biblical story. The book explicitly does, but the movie as far as I remember makes no direct mention of Job. In any case at one point the priest in the book seems to deny the very existence of God; the Bible does not, it just questions his justice. The priest returns to a belief in God or at least Jesus without ever regretting that denial of God's existence. It puzzles me if Endo is being deliberately vague about the priest's beliefs", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A post full of Christian love and charity. Marvelous!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe the decline especially among those under 30 is that they sense the hypocrisy, judgmental nature and general lack of love and kindness among Christians as a huge turn-off. We again, I believe, need to hearken back to the Gospels and love one another as Christ loves us, period.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Am assuming all 3 movie families are Christian/celebrating Christmas, but quick note that a common Chanukah decorating scheme is silver and blue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rather than try to smear this as \"cruel\" why not show some Christian charity and debate this budget on the merits?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm afraid that I don't understand how this article falls into Eco-Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are here because you are here.\nThis site goes under the name of 'Catholic' which might give the impression to anyone coming across it that what they read here is what the Catholic Church teaches when it is most times the very opposite of what the Church teaches.\nIt is to provide a counter to what is posted here, to publish what the actual teaching of the Church is and not what majority of posters would like it to be. Hardly any who comment here come to discuss even less to learn. Most are continually lobbying for a Church which accommodates itself to and adopts as its teaching the secular values of the day. The editorials and contributors make no bones about this.\nWe do not put our own points of view over, we simply point out what the Church teaches and has taught constantly upon issues which are raised here. We are not here to gain 'likes' nor do we expect to gain them in this environment. \nSo there you have it, this why we are here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Islam needs a reformation.\nBut Iran is not Muslim (according the most Muslims). Iran is Shia, much closer to Catholic/Orthodox Christianity. Why reform a faith that is in continuous state of reformation?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gary,\nConcerning the Christians you know, why did your description of extremely conservative Christians include the word \"rigidly\" when you did not apply it or something similar to the extremely progressive Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words--you want a liberal, secular, atheistic, humanistic Church that teaches a liberal, secular, atheistic, humanistic Gospel. \n\nInstead of trying to force the Catholic Church to conform to your values, (or that of pop culture, etc) why not just join a Protestant church that teaches these values?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What gave you that impression from the article? What I gleaned was she was using her association with APD to fund raise off her website, social media, etc. and wasn't keeping private issues private so rightly APD severed their relationship with her. I didn't read anything that she was proselytizing/preaching to the men and women of the APD. Did I miss something? Chaplains are typically associated with a church, whether that be a muslim, jewish, satanic, catholic, etc. so what they do outside of their volunteer service to APD is within their rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, not circular reasoning at all. The gift of Faith enables me to believe without doubting whatever God has revealed. \nHow do I find out what God has revealed?\nThrough the teaching of the Son of God, Our Lord, Jesus Christ passed down to us by His Apostles via the Traditio ad Apostolos and Holy Scripture.\nWho determines this Tradition and Scripture? \nThe Apostles who received it and their successors, the popes and bishops of the Church founded by Our Lord Himself to whom He gifted the charism of infallibily passing it on to future generations.\nTo be a Catholic is a desire to follow the teachings of Our Lord as bequeathed to us through His Church. \nThose who wish to decide for themselves what to believe and what not to believe are quite entitled to do so; what they are not entitled to do is pass on their own personal beliefs as Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Christ, being God, knew all things for all time. The unchangeable teaching that the priesthood be reserved for men only was what He taught through His actions is not to be questioned with any hope that the teaching will be changed.\" That's not quite true. There are Roman Catholic theologians, in good standing with The RCC, who think that Jesus did not know all things at all times. That He didn't even know he was God from the moment of birth -- that it was something that was slowly revealed to Him as he grew. Also, of course Jesus was socially conditioned. If Jesus had had female apostles in that society at that time, He and all of His teachings would have been very suspect. Also, Jesus didn't 'ordain' anyone. Paul actually established The RCC, and it took a couple of hundred years after the death of Jesus for The RCC to have any real hierarchical structure. I could do on, but I don't see why I should. You really need to take a course in Church history (from The Jesuits).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The poster's comment was rejected as uncivil at least twice before getting through...unfortunate this happens and that the poster brags about using tactics to circumvent the cc...Time be rational and look at yourself...your hatred is going to consume you if you don't...and really isn't one who claims to be a christian expected to adhere to higher standards?Yet the poster proudly claims he must answers back when attacked...hardly living by the teachings of Christ...where is the turning of the cheek? sigh. \"If you love me, keep my commands.\" Perhaps the poster should consider that passage before continuing to lash out? Maybe meditate a bit on it? Yes, I think that would be good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dennis, here's the website for the association. Like most such groups, they sponsor events throughout the country during the year. The one in Venice is the one on Yahwism. I haven't seen a precis for the one in Venice, but I assume that the conference will explore what can be known about the origins of Yahwism because, as you say, it has been known for many years that worship of YHWH was not exported from Egypt and because a Christianity that cannot tie itself to the Exodus myth has to understand the roots of its faith better. \nhttp://www.associazionebiblica.it/images/stories/abi2017%20corsi.pdf", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are several quite distinct groups that embrace the KKK identity and ideology. I think most, if not all, of them have not only accepted but recruited Catholics since the 1970s, provided of course that the Catholics hate everyone else the KKK hates.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "R and R,\nAren't we full of good advice! And seasoned with just enough condescension to let us all know you occupy higher ground. I would welcome someone making and applying whatever salve can be found in Catholic moral doctrine to the wounds and confusion many folks feel today. If you could find that ministry in yourself, I would be grateful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another \"interesting thought experiment\" would be to imagine how the Catholic Church might have fared if Francis had tried to build and attract people to Catholicism instead of undercutting and insulting its loyal sons and daughters while simultaneously playing up to and supporting its enemies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know any 4th century Greek, so I don't know. \n\nThe French Catholic is \"de m\u00eame nature que le P\u00e8re\" (same nature). The Greek Orthodox use \"one essence.\" In my view, these preserve the individuality of the Father and Son, so one is not the other. Same nature is not quite the same as same substance, which blurs distinctions. \"Same being\" or \"one being\" goes too far.\n\nhttp://www.eglise.catholique.fr/foi-et-vie-chretienne/la-vie-spirituelle/priere/credo--symbole-de-nicee.html \n\nIt looks like the Church of England has \"of one Being with the Father\" at https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/texts/newpatterns/contents/sectione.aspx\n\nBut they do not slight Mary but rather say \"was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary\"\n\nThe French Catholic has Jesus assisting in his own nativity - oh la la - with \u201cby the Holy Spirit, he took flesh from the Virgin Mary, and made himself man,\u201d (\u201cpar l'Esprit Saint, il a pris chair de la Vierge Marie, et s'est fait homme\u201d).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We flew a flag and we were not retired service people. And...you can pray as many times as you want to a false god and never get the same results as one prayer to the Almighty God. People may choose to worship how they wish in this country but not at the expense of diminishing and undermining those who worship the Almighty God. Additionally, people are free to choose their traditions and values but not at the expense of Christian traditions and values. We are a Christian based society in The United States. We cannot become everything...good and evil are like oil and water.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Card. Wuerl, kingmaker, scary. As some profs in Rome/Vatican have already known for quite some time, he helped the cause of the ultra-conservatives when they opposed the hiring of moral theologian Martin Rhonheimer after Catholic U. in DC wanted him. This Cardinal is quite known for changing sides depending on who is in power. Back in 2013, this professor was not \"orthodox\" enough for the Cardinal and so, being a member of the board of the university, he blocked the hiring (imagine, an Opus Dei priest not orthodox enough!).\nI suspect Wuerl was back then strict on the no-use of condoms in any case (an ex-cultural warrior?), see http://www.americamagazine.org/content/all-things/rhonheimer-benedict-xvi-has-changed-discourse-aids-and-condoms", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You'll find the answer to our first little conundrum in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a hopeful sign to me that some schools are trying to find language that welcomes folks that don't inhabit the center of the Bell curve ; it is distressing that the language seems to be : DON'T STAND OUT while you are here at St. Someone's Catholic School.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am in total agreement with what Bill Tammeus wrote about having non-clergy take on some of the tasks that are currently performed only by clergy (especially giving homilies). I would like to see a return to true Christian communities where people actually know each other by their first names and have at least some idea of who their family members are, what kind of work they do, etc. The church that I am part of now has more than 4,000 households on its ledgers (though only about 25% of those folks show up for Mass on Sunday). I have been a part of this parish for more than 25 years, but I could count on one hand the number of people I really know or who know me by name. As for our priests / pastors, most could not put a name to a face if you paid them). priests who have come and gone, who could name more than a dozen parishioners. Something has to change!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He was a Republican long after Republicans were no longer conservatives.\nHe's just not down anymore with the back corporate interests at all costs, anti-science, kowtow to the Christian religious right, vilify anybody that doesn't agree with you, thinly disguised bigots that have hijacked the Republican party.\nScarborough just took a lot longer then most of the actual conservatives to realize that the Republican party left them. As far as who cares? Conservatives do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Why shouldn't a Catholic want to avoid any hint of idolatry?\"\n\nScrupulosity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "richard, there are eight homeless in hawaii. exactly how many thousands of them did you 'personally' witness being begged to go to a shelter? the 2015 hawaii point in time count report has a lot of information in it that you might find useful. i see born again christians yelling on street corners telling people their unborn child is going to hell, but they dont lift a finger to help the old lady crying our of despair on the sidewalk next to them. we are born with dignity, but, people not unlike yourself, strip it away from the vulnerable whenever they can. we need to get these kids at conception and change their mothers lives, so she can bring that child up in an environment like you and i had. i dont know about Illuminati but i know a few rich control everything. \nhttp://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/corporate_community.html\nhttp://www.forbes.com/sites/brendancoffey/2011/10/26/the-four-companies-that-control-the-147-companies-that-own-everything/#7fe6136d7f3b", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "News alert: evangelicals are Christian", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is interesting again Pandora the you suggest that Cornwall's book \"takes apart Yallop' s.\" How could that be so when Cronwell's book was first published in 2001 or 2002, while Yallop's was published in 2007? I have read both books and would say rather the opposite is the case. Yallop is highly regarded for this piece of investigational reporting and points out why most people who have studied all the facts know that JP I's death was under highly questionable circumstances and that in fact a simple post mortem, or a Pope JP II that should have been interested in investigating what happened, was totally lacking. For you to say that I am some how anti-catholic as you did in your first diatribe is one of the reasons I have in the past and will now again cease to comment on your presentations. Here you have really twisted the facts as is usual. This is what I mean about the use of \"factoids.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Occupied Palestinian Territories\" (sic)\nThere is no such place, contrary to the lies of the UN and other global institutions that have long since been captured and distorted from their original missions by the Arab Bloc. The area you are referring to was known almost exclusively since ancient times (in the Western world, at least) as Judea and Samaria until the Jordanian occupation of 1948-67. Since then, the duplicitous and misleading appellation \"West Bank\" has been popularized by the media both in ignorance and in a deliberate attempt to erase the millennia-old historical, spiritual and religious connection of the Jewish people to these territories (the very cradle of Judeo-Christian civilization).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In attempting to protect the institution from scandal, the Catholic Church and its leader, Pope Francis have betrayed children, their families and their communities. \n\nThe Catholic Church has 'strayed from its own teachings'.\n\nAfter many worldwide investigations, Inquiries and Royal Commissions into clergy child abuse, \nCatholic leader's remain in denial and unwilling to change. \n\nClinging to the medieval structure and relying on canon law, has caused devastating damages to young lives and families across the globe.\n\nIn 2017, Australian Catholic leader's claims to 'bloodless martyrdom' falls on deaf ears or now becomes a lead joke for comedians.\nPope Francis has the opportunity to change canon law to protect future children from abuse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your not looking hard. How many Americans believe this is a Christian nation. In most of the world we are viewed as Christian nation. \n\nThose outside our nation put American violence as representing Christian values. Heck many in our nation believe that we are a Christian nation.\n\nI do not believe our nation fights wars to promote Christianity. Money is our idol.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a great topic to focus on: \"how the Catholic church can help accompany young people in discerning God\u2019s calling for their lives.\"\n\nRich and needed topic. The Church can help much. We can help much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for making the point of respecting the human dignity even of those with whom one does not agree. It is important that the more than 1 million people who work for Catholic universities, Catholic charities, Catholic hospitals be treated as people who have a right to make their own choices. Many/most are hired for their job skills, not their faith. Who knows how many are Catholic and, even if Catholic, how many agree with the teaching on contraceptives. I see a government mandate on employer provided health insurance as an important step in assuring that citizens have access to the health care they are advised to use. Providing the coverage still gives people the chance to say no. \nInstitutional Catholic employers deduct taxes from peoples pay and send it to the government, even taxes used for war, for maintaining the nuclear bomb stockpile, for paying for drugs used in carrying out the death penalty. I find those acts to be against Catholic teaching, too, yet they do it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's funny.\n\nEgyptians enslaved the Tribe after Joseph brought prosperity to Egypt. Let us not say what Egyptians did to the Tribe and its infants and Egyptians motives when The Tribe wanted to leave in peace. \n\nThe Tribe - in modern times - offered Arabs to take back lands they lost after attacking the tribe - in return to peace. Arabs said NO.\n\nIsraelis live in peace with each other. \n\nIn comparison, 23 Arab states and 71 Islamic states are constantly warring each other, leave alone fighting Christians (Crusaders), Hindu, Russians, etc. \n\nJihad is about dominance and war, not about peace. And those apartments are irrelevant to Jihad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder how many \"guitar music, hands clapping\" Catholic liturgy fans....AND the Extraordinary Form fans/snobs....would be happy to actually GO TO HIS Passion and to CALVARY. \n\nYes...that is, when the Holy Mass started! That one...the one with the first Pilate (most of us are new Pilates every day in various ways).\n\nI think both sides get wrapped up in their own \"experiential preferences\".\n\nWould they go? Or would they say...Can I just have my own liturgy, just like I like it.\n\nLet's just go to Calvary in the Mass, whether there's an Arlo Guthrie pretender singing with guitar, or whether there is lovely, transcendent chant being present with the correct number of candles. \n\nLet's just go and accompany Jesus mystically on His way to Calvary, which is what the Catholic Mass invites us to do, every day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't get it: Why does a \"so-called\" Catholic university want to suppress free speech for Palestinian rights when many Palestinians are Arab Christians?\n\nWhat's wrong with Fordham Univ.??? You're not going to support you fellow Christians in their struggle for human rights? \n\nWWJD? Support Israeli apartheid? Or, stand with the 'Samaritans' of our time? \n\n\"Who is my neighbor?\" (Lk 10)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They stay silent because they know very well there are skeletons in the cupboard....Australian Stephen deWeger [look him up]is now matching the #Me Too hash tag for those who have experienced sexual misconduct within the church male or female Priest, Bishop, Brother or Sister..\nHome-Catholic \"Catholic Me To\"....good for him although there would many who wouldn't be coming forward due to compensation clauses the church would be counting on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Though for over a year Pandora circulated low-grade propaganda about Hillary Clinton with never a criticism of Donald Trump more astute than \"I don't necessarily like him,\" she pronounces it \"dangerous\" to identify the president's obvious and alarming deficiencies and effectively advises us to shut up and emulate her own wondrous lack of discernment in the interest of \"working together.\"\n\nPandora, even if ever since you got here you hadn't manifested a pattern of willful obtuseness, intellectual dishonesty, calculated deceit, a desire to be annoying, or whatever combination of perverse incentives accounts for your commentary, the fact you upvoted a poster who expressed admiration for the virulent Catholic anti-Semite E. Michael Jones tells me all I need to know about you. Not only that, when I protested that neo-Nazis and their defenders at NCR are an abomination, you were quick with the disagree frowny face.\n\nAnd you have the gall to sermonize about the \"good of the country.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It doesn't matter WHAT the Church teaches, reality remains what it is regardless.\nReality had a bad day when there was a cover-up of priest abuse of minors. Reality was trampled on when victims were tortured during the Inquisition. It doesn't matter what the Church teaches, )it also matters very much what the Church teaches) the Gospel is what it is. Jesus left us a memorial of His passion, Pope Francis says this is what iit is, hooray. The Vatican II documents are spot-on. \n You are a Trad. For the record, when the priest says the words of the consecration he is doing what Jesus commanded at the Last Supper. The self-serving theological elaboration you refer to developed over time, window dressing on the reality and obscuring the Real Presence from the laity, who are to this day deceived and unaware that they are the Temple of the Living God. \n I can have my own mind about this and be Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quotes By Barack Obama About Christianity\n\n#1 \u201cWhatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation\u201d\n\n#2 \u201cWe do not consider ourselves a Christian nation.\u201d\n\n#3 \u201cWhich passages of scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is an abomination? Or we could go with Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith?\u201d\n\n#4 \u201cEven those who claim the Bible\u2019s inerrancy make distinctions between Scriptural edicts, sensing that some passages \u2013 the Ten Commandments, say, or a belief in Christ\u2019s divinity \u2013 are central to Christian faith, while others are more culturally specific and may be modified to accommodate modern life.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In strongly Catholic Brittany, the remains after a few decades (by that time reduced to bones), were moved to ossuaries, typically in underground tunnels in the churchyard or beneath auxiliary buildings in the church complex. There they were sometimes sorted into skulls, long bones, etc, in fancy patterns for display. There seemed to be no need to keep them together as individuals... \n(Caution -- actual pictures of the remains) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVDdWIDUrRU", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I love it. Instead of dealing with the substantive issue--which is----why is the Catholic Church the problem---you choose to deal with a technicality that while technically correct does nothing to advance the discussion. This is vintage liberal dialog. \n\nSir, why when it comes to the moral teachings of the Church is the Church assumed to be outdated and wrong? Why is it that society does not have to consider that may it needs to change?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis and his marxist comrades fail to teach about Christ while they can't say enough against the United States and those who stand for freedom. Sad and dangerous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are Catholic cemeteries in Canada that won't bury other denominations either, even other Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remember when he makes statements like that he is making it as the first Catholic Pope from the Global South. And in the Global South(i am from there) there is a perception that liberal attitudes in the West on Gender and Sexuality are a part of a Western/colonial construct. \n\nThat view point is totally wrong of course and should be challenged. But that's the background.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh Jay, I couldn't disagree more! Hillary has throughout her life been a practicing church going Critian, she just doesn't wear it on her sleeve. But her record is consistent and clearly living the mandate Christians should follow, make a better life for the least of these. Trump on the another could be the antichrist for his lack of anything approaching values-based choice.nas the manager of his father's rental properties he red-lined against blacks..was found guilty. So vote your values and explain this higher powers when the time comes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately the bishops have lost their moral voice opting for the comfortable gala dinners to raise lots of money from those wealthy successful business types. They have sold out. You can not serve both God and mammon. The bishops have made tried to walk the center, least offensive line possible. It seems to me that the only one they are offending is Jesus. \n\nSure I pray for the bishops, but this article and the many thoughtful comments are provoking in me a self-examination of my own integrity and need to be more courageous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not the behavior one might expect from a person named Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop McElroy gets it wrong, like all apologists of Islam. Islam has not been \"distorted\" by a few crazy terrorists. The \"terrorists\" are following the words and deeds of their prophet as written in the Koran, Hadith, and Sira. Moderate muslims simply choose to ignore their Islamic doctrine. The bishop is either not educated on Islamic doctrine and its spread throughout the world in the last 1400 years, or he believes that befriending Islam will convince its followers not to adhere to their very political religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "SteadyWoken,\nI disagree with you about our society,system and economy as having failed this amazing man and his family. I doubt the positive outcomes of his children would have been as great as they are if the \"system\" had helped them. It is clear from the article that members of our society and his community helped this man and his children. The Catholic Church, it's pastorial staff and programs were there to help to support him and provide services to both him and his children. That is what a community and society should be doing ! The \"system\" certainly put some road blocks in his way but he managed, with help, to overcome them. The \"system\" did help provide low income housing. It may have taken a while for it to happen but this man is not a quitter and he hung in until his name was at the top of the list. \nWhat may be bothering you is that this man, father of seven, was able to do what he did without the \"system\" being there to tell him what to do. That he could succeed without it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is not,there cannot be hateful speech. There are, it must be noted, those who seek to impose on\nus their arbitrary views and to deprive us, the citizens of the country, of our freedom to discuss all things.\nThere are not only many critics,there is a war against Christianity. There is nothing wrong with such\nan onslaught,- provided ,of course, these warriors present an argument and are ready to pursue their\nargument.Likewise,there is not,and there cannot be what is called \" Islamophobia\".This is not to say\nthat there is no reason to reject the doctrine of Islam , a doctrine the followers of Islam hold to be\nabsolutely beyond all human endeavour.If so, no parliament would have the right to discuss anything, not to mention that a parliament would not even be tolerated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian attitude is one thing. There is no right to health care in this country.\nPlease don't confuse the two. When you do, you get the question \"why not give everyone a car, a gold bracelet, and a trip to Disneyland too?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I don't find their reporting \"unhinged\", especially given that the secular press has had many of the same questions and findings. As do many Catholics and other folks as well...\n\n\nOn the other hand, I would guess that NCR isn't too pleased by the endless bucket of money that Crux has now at its disposal. But so that goes....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What does this have to do with the Catholic church? Was there any catholic media present?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) Even public figures have a right to reasonable privacy, as long as it does not shield illegal or security lapses. None of HRC's computer hard drives or related communications have been found to fit those categories. It is simply conspiracy theory that is being used to discredit her, as they defy the facts in order to so. Are we to assume then that you are among those who subscribe to such false constructs?\n2) We must all acknowledge - and then get past it - that every single politician at every level (and all the rest of us) have flaws and have made poor judgments at times as well as outright mistakes and errors that did not seem to be so until viewed in the light of hindsight. The idea of seeking perfection in elected officials (or Hollywood stars or Nobel Peace medal winners or Olympic athletes or popes and priests and or Muslims) is a nonsensical pursuit that should have been abandoned decades ago.\n3) Look at what HRC has indeed accomplished: it is a job to be quite proud of.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The truth is that there is a class of professional protesters, fueled by a few well-heeled atheists (Soros, etc), who are led around by the nose by these sponsors (who never march themselves) and who have really nothing better to do than to protest.\"\n\nLOL! That's a good one, R.D.! I frequently attend protests. I have never met George Soros or any other billionaire for that matter. I have never received a dime from him, nor do I know anyone who does. Most of the veteran protesters I know are Christians called by the Gospel to stand up to injustice. Your claim of a atheist boogeyman leading the social justice movement is yet another another of your pants-on-fire moments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am horrified at some of the comments posted here. How they passed civility standards is beyond me. Some are just plain snarky and nasty. And then there is the gang mentality that leads other so jump in when one of their gang attacks another. Hardly christian, but I guess that is how some people choose to act.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only reason why one is better is because secularism has kept the christian sky fairy in check. That might change with the people Trump has been appointing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bubbles,\nA Christian has a right to defend themselves. Yes? And a 'civil' society has a right to defend itself and for the 'common good' defend all law-abiding citizens. Yes? The Bible actually says that a Christian should obey the governing authorities as they do not wield the 'sword' for nothing. And whoever is rebelling against the authorities are in reality rebelling against God as it was He who instituted them. A criminal has every reason to 'fear' that 'sword'. It is not Christian to turn a blind eye to crime that hurts the innocent. That is not what \"Love thy neighbor\" means. Loving ones enemies means just that, but you still defend your 'person' from physical attack with a physical defense. And a verbal attack with a good verbal and civil response.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I am fed up with the charge that sexual revolution promoted the objectification of women.\"\n\nThe point is that a Catholic perspective on sexual morality would offer both men and women a healthier outlook on their relationships with one another.\n\nContraception has reinforced the objectification of both sexes and has certainly made sexual activity a much more popular option that it was when the fear of pregnancy deterred a great number of men and women from engaging in premarital and extra marital sexual intercourse. \n\nAre you denying that there has been a widespread decline in sexual morality in the last 50 years? The increase in the number of divorces, abortions, unmarried pregnancies, and venereal diseases should convince you otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Okay, you have serious disagreements with the Catholic Church and its teachings.\n\nAnd you know what scholars\u2019 opinions you favor.\n\nI've dealt with worse, and much much better.\n\nAnything else?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Believe it.\n\nAs a Catholic I have to reject the assertion that the \"attributions to Jesus in the NT are just that. The utterances, mentality and political disposition of the historical Jesus can only be surmised.\"\n\nTo adopt that position, and join the search for the so-called \"historical Jesus\" is to leave Christianity.\n\nYes, you've made quite clear which current biblical theorists you admire.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, there was never an outside audit? And if there was slipshod oversight in this place, where else? \n\nThis is just another story of something that gets reported over and over again but bishops don't learn the lesson. And, as you point out Michael, this isn't some unexplored, esoteric unknown area of research. There are experts in the world, many of them Catholic, who could lend their expertise to parishes and dioceses and archdioceses in how to set up better financial management and oversight systems. \n\nI wonder if Chaput understands that each time there is another report of priestly malfeasance it is another reason to know that priests are just as human as the next person, just as fallible, and that \"ontological change\" is a not a measure of the honesty and integrity of a person, of the trust due that person. \n\nAnother stone removed from the base of the pedestal of clericalism. How many are left?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To put a religious slant on what happened yesterday, at least we can take satisfaction noting that the myth that the USA is an exceptional country espousing Christian values has at last been dispelled. 'Whatsoever you do to the least of your brothers you do unto me' was vetoed by the US Congress.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "St Vincent DePaul is a Catholic, not a Christian organization.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's even more shocking is the fact that the very Allah (God) referred in the Quran is the exact same Allah (God) Christians worship!!! Both the Quran and the Christian Bibles were derived from the exact same ~5,000 scrolls found in Egypt but theologians couldn't agree with each other as to which scrolls to trust and randomly started to piece together stories (scrolls) they found fit to their reasoning and logic hence we have now many different religions and similarites. To this day scholars and theologians still debate which scrolls could be the correct scrolls since there were vast contradictions in some of them but the undisputed fact still remains that both worship the same God! LMAO", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent point. Liberals fail to point out that Pearson got his prize for negotiating between powers that did not include the Muslim-majority countries of the region. It was a deal near the end of colonialism, not the start of something new. And Pearson referred to himself as a \"Christian Zionist\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church has been woefully inept at providing education on its own teachings in the past few decades. I mean, how else can you explain NCR? It is understandable, that any sex education provided was inept....Wait a second the Church teaches that parents are the primary teachers of children....(most parents gloss over this at the Baptism) \nWhile it is sad that there is woefully poor education in a school, it has, for many generations, meant to be supplemental. The problem is not that the High School provided poor education. The problem is that families (parents) have abandoned there responsibility. This, at the heart, is a crisis of family.\n\nThe Church understands sex better than any other human institution. The issue is that anytime they say something people don't like people tend to put their fingers in their ears.\n\nSt.JPII will eventually be declared a Doctor of the Church due to his Theology of the Body. It may be another 40 years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stephen B. Pacetti has it backwards. It would not take a crystal ball to see the potential consequences, it just takes a knowledge of history. I am old enough to remember a time when stores refused to serve racial minorities, ethnic minorities, Catholics/Protestants/Jews/etc., immigrants (and their descendants), and other such groups. It is easy to brush off a single establishment doing so, but it was not uncommon for, say, every bakery in town to refuse service to such people. And in every nearby town as well. Laws and the Courts put an end to that for most groups, until recently. The consequences of bringing it back are known and well documented.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed - and taking it a bit further than that, compare the books, Christians are called to lay down their lives for their enemies as Christ did, does the Muslim book teach that? Not anywhere I can see.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Implied in the article: The land was part of a larger parcel purchased by a Catholic cemetery for future expansion. The whole parcel was rezoned for burial purposes, but the cemetery paid its city taxes by giving the city a piece of the land, which the city has now sold to the Muslims.\n\nSo while no new Catholic cemeteries are being built, the old ones are still expanding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So what's your point here?\n\nBecause this is what I'm hearing: \"You're simply not educated enough to understand how foreign and opposed to Christianity Islam is.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "P2: \n\nIn this new narrative, the problem of What happened to the Canaanites? disappears; for they simply became the Hebrews. (Not sure I have this schema correct, but hopefully it is a least recognizable as an amateurish depiction of recent research and theory.)\n\nIf that is what you mean by exploring the roots of Yahwism, I would have thought that many if not most of the lead presenters would be Jewish archeologists, and the conference would be from the bottom up a Jewish-Christian collaboration?\n\nElsewhere you mention that the association has Jewish members, but that doesn't make clear whether Jewish scholars, who I think have lead the way with these new theories on the origin of the Hebrews and Yahwism, are among the leading presenters. If Jewish scholars are not there in that role, then what the hell is going on here?\n\nAgain, if I have the topic more or less correct, then it is not hard to imagine how Orthodox Jewish rabbis would conceive of this, unfairly, as \"anti-Semitism.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AS FAR AS \"MAHU\" - THEY WERE ALWAYS RESPECTED AND PLAYED IMPORTANT ROLES IN OUR TRADITIONAL POLYNESIAN CULTURE - THAT IS ONE MAIN REASON - THE \"EQUALITY BILL\" GOT PASSED IN HAWAI`I - AGAINST - \"THE CHRISTIAN OBJECTIONS MAINLY FROM OUTSIDE OF HAWAI`I\" - WHO WERE DEFEATED.\n\nTHEY COUD'VE LEARNED ABOUT \"EQUALITY\" - BUT INSTEAD - THEY TURNED AMERICA INTO - A RACE GENDER FAITH BASED ANARCHY.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" It is presenting it within the context of the people's lives of TODAY.\" There lies the problem of the progressives. The truth is the same today, 2000 years ago and 2000 years into the future. In your ignorant view you posit that intelligent people from the past 2000 years were totally clueless, and luckily our generation came about and fixed all the problems. When a Prince of the Church no longer has any belief in the supernatural, that to me means he is an apostate. Kindly read his writings, he does not believe in any of the miracles of Jesus. This is not my opinion but his own words. It would not surprise me to find out he has no belief in the existence of Satan or Hell. Most Jesuits of \"Today\" would agree with Cardinal Kasper's views, which once again shows the apostasy in the Catholic Church of Today. Do you believe in the Miracle of the Fishes, Jesus walking on the water, or changing water into wine?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With respect to the author, the outstanding questions remain:\n1) whether adulterers can receive Holy Communion; \n2) whether there are absolute moral norms that must be followed without exceptions; \n3) if habitual adultery is an objective situation of grave habitual sin; \n4) whether an intrinsically evil act can be turned into a \u2018subjectively\u2019 good act based on circumstances or intentions; and \n5) if, based on conscience, one can act contrary to known absolute moral norms that prohibit intrinsically evil acts.\nWhy aren't these being addressed?\n\n\n\nCatholic teaching answers:\n1) No;\n2) Yes;\n3) Yes;\n4) No; and \n5) No", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "119. When these means which We have pointed out do not fulfill the needs, particularly of a larger or poorer family, Christian charity towards our neighbor absolutely demands that those things which are lacking to the needy should be provided; hence it is incumbent on the rich to help the poor, so that, having an abundance of this world's goods, they may not expend them fruitlessly or completely squander them, but employ them for the support and well-being of those who lack the necessities of life. They who give of their substance to Christ in the person of His poor will receive from the Lord a most bountiful reward when He shall come to judge the world; they who act to the contrary will pay the penalty.[94] Not in vain does the Apostle warn us: \"He that hath the substance of this world and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him: how doth the charity of God abide in him?\"[95]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you suggesting science and religion are mutually exclusive? Contrary to popular belief, science is not the enemy of religion. In fact, throughout history science has a benefited greatly from funding provided by the Catholic church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dats wut I'm talkin bout yo. Here we have a Christian organization doing the job of govt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Spiders are God's creatures, too. No reason not to celebrate out arachnid friends.\n\nI would prefer the \"Christian outrage\" be saved for something a bit more worthy, like starvation, human trafficking, the opioid crises, abandonment of the elderly, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That bakery is open on Saturdays, and the bible says we shouldn't work on the Sabbath. Sounds to me like the Christian is just picking things out of the bible that align with his opinion, and he's not really about pleasing his god.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quran 5:117\nI said not to them except what You commanded me - to worship Allah , my Lord and your Lord.\nAnd I was a witness over them as long as I was among them; but when You took me up, You were the Observer over them, and You are, over all things, Witness.\n\nJohn 20:28 \"Thomas answered and said to him, \u201cMy Lord and my God!\u201d\n\nConsidering the Quran is writing after the fact. Why didn't Jesus refute Thomas in verse 28 if the verse (5:117) in the Quran were true?\n\nQuran 9:30\nThe Jews say, \"Ezra is the son of Allah \"; and the Christians say, \"The Messiah is the son of Allah .\"\n That is their statement from their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved [before them]. \nMay Allah destroy them; how are they deluded?\n\nBeing a Catholic, Jesus is the Messiah the son of God. But saying that...clearly I \"disbelieved\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, the democratic party hadn't become anti-Christian. America has become less Christian.\nBut relating the republican party to Christianity is a little hard to equate. What about trump is Christian? If 5 children by 3 different mother's, adultery, fraud, racism are Christian values, that's news to me. \nJust because the republican party claims they are \"more Christian\" doesn't mean they are. \nThe democratic party's whole platform is helping the working class, helping the poor, feeding the hungry, etc. That's Christian values in deed not just in word.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Goodness gracious, as my Mom would say. I have many non-Catholic friends, some of whom are better Christians than I am. I simply don't believe that they don't merit salvation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's an article I suggest you read. You can find it online at CP's website (The Christian Post) dated 10/3/16 by Eric Sapp. The title is \"Hillary Clinton Is the Best Choice for Voters Against Abortion\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Every nation succumbs to its eventual death. Usually moral degradation is the first sign of doom. This leads to an unwillingness to support a military so the nation is susceptible to invasion or conquering. Or, revolution may set in. The detachment of a people from its traditions ushers in the revolutionary spirit; change for the sake of change, most often led by progressives of the day.\n\nIt would be great if everyone would disarm! But the only way to make that happen is for the powerful to make it so, and if we disarm first, we lose that chance. Our enemies won't abide by any such agreement. Let's all treat others in the manner you suggest, but know that the largest number from among our human population will treat you much worse. Being a Christian is either a death sentence, or cause to mistreat you in many parts of the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Christians you mention are well within their rights. I just want them to have the right to make the choice and not be compelled by law to do so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know a woman who left the church (went Episcopalian) after one of the recent child rape scandals. Raised catholic, catholic education through high school. Yes, Tommy got it right about faith. She lost faith in an institution that claims the Eucharist is sacred while protecting child raping priests who perform that ritual. She lost faith in liars like Tommy, JPII, Francis, etc., who put the reputation of the church and their own careers ahead of protecting the flock. Yes, it's about faith, Tom, and you and your cohorts forfeited any claim to the faithful by your disgusting, slavish obedience to the institution, which you elevated over God and the people you allegedly care so much about, your smug arrogance and your lack of virtue. You'd best take some time to examine your own conscience, Tommy, because if there is justice in the afterlife, Hell is going to be crowded with bishops, priests and popes, while heaven may contain a surprising number of \"faithless.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agree. As a southern-raised conservative Christian who believes that God made all of us equal in our humanity, I find it very easy to understand why blacks would be deeply offended to see the Confederate flag. Its defenders say it doesn't stand for racism, by those who fly it are not especially marked by their passion for equality, are they? They say it stands for a noble cause --- resistance to Northern Aggression and the Right to Secession. But what was the cause of that cause? Slavery. And that flag, if it ever had a noble significance, completely lost it during the civil rights era, when it was flown as an express symbol of resistance to the Equal Protection Clause. It's meaning is clear enough, and it offends. Agnikan is right: If this flag DOESN'T offend you, you need a history and an ethics lesson. And a lesson in basic Christianity and the meaning of empathy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This comment perfectly describes the impasse between traditional authoritarian Catholics and progressives. Precisely because your belief system is based on external authorities teaching the Catholic truth, and because they say they do, you reflexively assign the same kind of learning pattern to everyone. I got over that one when I was seven years old.\n\n I can't speak for all liberals, but this is not how I absorb and integrate information. My personal experience has been that on too many occasions given authorities are dead wrong and that includes bishops and priests and all the rest of the ontologically superior caste of Catholic authority. All one need do is spend some quality alone time reading a decent history of the Church to discern how often the authorities have been invoking non-authoritative personal opinion as authoritative teaching. I proceed by the mantra 'buyer beware' and that includes the Roman Catholic teaching magisterium.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My observations and experience tell me something different. Those that have been raised in even non-observant Catholic homes are indeed aware of the general flow of the Church. Those who have no experience growing up with the faith in homes with \"nones\" who were once Catholics, also have some awareness of the currents of Catholicism - in particular, Pope Francis. I would not write them off so easily, Tri. They have no interest in being members of \"your\" type of Church, but they find an attraction to the messages of Christianity, of the mercy and love found in Pope Francis, and many of the clergy, religious and Catholic faithful they encounter. They clearly reject the rigidity of the \"institutional\" church and likewise most of its bishops. And their desire to help others and the earth is amazing. Too many are lost to us for various reasons, but it is rarely of their own doing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No - The Bible is the source of all truth, there is a difference. And there is not such thing as a non-born again Christian, the words of Christ himself - You must be born again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quite right.\n\nRemember the two organs that Catholics can't contemplate the transplant of are the brain and the privates, as these provide our unique identity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr Jaskilka: You make a very good point......no single person represents the \"view\" of Christianity. I know Christians who are extremely progressive regarding social issues, I know others who are extremely, and rigidly, conservative. I know pro-choice and \"pro-life\" Christians..and, the same is true for virtually every social issue. I think the real key is a simple response when someone asserts they \"speak for Christians\": \"excuse me, sir/madam, you do NOT speak for anyone other than yourself and to assert you do is presumptuous\".... Such a response would likely shorten the conversation. Regards, Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are opposing the magisterium taught by the pope. According to YOU, they should accept the magisterium without question and those who do reject the magisterium are ipso facto dissidents.\n\nBut thank you for confirming what I have said for some time: When you say \"Catholics should agree with the magisterium without question\", you actually mean \"Catholics should agree with ME without question\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you understand that Assad is a member of a Moslem minority sect in Syria? His rule has been secular, meaning that his Alawite sect, all Christians and Yezidis were treated equally. Under his rule, women have Western-type freedoms from religious rule. There are members of the Sunni Majority in Syria (75% of the population) who want to overturn this secular rule and turn Syria into a Sunni Moslem theocracy like Iran and Saudi Arabia where Sharia law is practiced. Majority rule is not optimum when the majority wishes to annihilate the \"infidel\" minorities. This is what Assad has had to deal with, sometimes brutally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's sad to see the direct connection between Hawaii's Catholic bosses, progressive political operatives and the Democrat political machine. Anybody who understands being poor knows that surviving poverty is all about CASH FLOW. Waiting 12 months for a stupid tax credit or rebate is not helpful. Lowering the cost of living on a daily basis is what folks need. Eliminating the regressive GET on rents, food, medicine and other necessities not only reduces the tax at point of sale but ALSO reduces the prices, thanks to the way our GET pyramids at each point of sale. But Mr. Walsh, like his many predecessors, are buddies with the Democrats; the same Democrats to whom charities get operational funding for their nonprofits. Speaking truth to power means telling Democrats they are overtaxing citizens and the GET needs to be completely overhauled. The slippery, squeamish approach is to partner with liberals for a feel-good and totally useless credit or rebate. This article is the latter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Unifying christians under one roof may not be best for christianity (sic).\"\n\nHow does this square with Christ's last prayer before ascending that all would be one?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You tried to argue that the use of violence can be defended by appealing to the life or teaching of Jesus. It cannot. You cited scripture passages that not only do not support your claim, but refute it (Romans.) You claimed that the Catechism supports your claim, but you cannot cite a reference because there isn't one. You claim to be familiar with the Just War theory, but you don't seem to be aware that it is rooted in Natural Law reasoning, from pre- and extra-Christian sources, not in Scripture, and adapted in an attempt to rationalize and minimize the acceptance of violence that emerged in the Christian community in the Constantinian era. \nIt seems that the less you know, the deeper you dig. I note your obsession in posting to me and in this thread. When you are \"muted\", the thread almost disappears; and yet you contribute nothing of substance to it. Thus, I'm going to implement the \"mute\" function for the first time. I know you'll respond; you can't help yourself. Have at it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In 2003 there were 1.5 million Christians in Iraq. Today there might be a few hundred thousand, in hiding. In East Timor, over 200,000 Catholics were killed during the invasion by Indonesia. How many thousand Coptic Christians have been killed in Egypt? Would you not say that the ISIS attack of the Yazidis in Iraq was genocidal? Christians, with 2000 year old roots, have disappeared all over the Middle East. If they were lucky, they got out alive, if not...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What point is that InterestingColorado? That \"Being religious and ethical are not gurenteed(sic)?\"\n(My Answer) Much better chance of being ethical when a person is a believer in the Bible/God.\n .\n(InterestingColorado) \"Religion has been and will continue to be used for many unethical acts\"\n(My Answer) Yes, ISIS and the Radicalized Muslims, I agree. But I was talking Christianity soooo...what is the relevance and how does that relate here????\n.\n((InterestingColorado) \"Reason and thought are the only tools needed to be ethical.\"\n(My Answer) Ahhh! \"Reason and thought\" That is how really proficient criminals operate successfully, sometimes for years. So much for ethics...\n.\n(InterestingColorado) \"Religion teaches neither.\"\n(My Answer) Oh I beg to differ, Study Theology, quite a difficult subject that requires more than a government public school education.\n.......\nGee,that was fun! Wanna play again?!!! LOL :) Have a great weekend.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "May I ask Mr. Laiu why so many Christians including Adventist Christians have no problem with understanding that not only the universe and our solar system, and the earth, but also all living things on earth are billions of years old. Are they wrong and your are correct? You do realize, don't you, that you are a small minority? That's certainly does not make you wrong, but you might wonder, why do so many other honest Adventists disagree with me?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is wonderful. Makes me proud to be Catholic!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where was Christianity mentioned in the article? I must have missed it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again someone who gets to decide who can be Catholic and who cannot. Go, be happy with your church of laws; I take the Roman Catholic Church of Jesus, which is love, peace, compassion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chris-I liked the letter after the humorless week in Cleveland putting things in context was fun...I simply can't believe how the extreme left has joined with the strange right in their hatred of Hillary...she seems like a earnest follower of her values, real christian values. Oh well such is our times. Again thanks!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Courts exercise discretion all the time when mitigating circumstances call for it, as do presidents, governors and other executives. Exceptions don't need to be written into every statute because it's understood that such discretion is a part of our system.\n\nYes, DACA litigation was rendered moot yesterday, which means that its constitutionality will remain unsettled. But set that aside for a moment. What do you believe the right thing -- the Christian thing -- to do is regarding these young people who have only known the U.S. and are, in all but legal status, Americans? Do you believe they should be deported? Say plainly, yes or no.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's involved in \"retro-fitting\"? I don't imagine a room designated as available for praying requires much in the way of infrastructure. Do the Catholic kids need somewhere to pray regularly?\n\nDo you have the same objection to schools providing space for extra-curricular clubs that cater to only a handful of students? How about sports teams that only have 24 kids on them? Should the school really be devoting resources to something that only a few kids participate in?\n\nYour arguments are thin, to say the least.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unlike some of the early Christians who expected the return of Christ in their lifetimes and therefore had none of that evil s e x stuff, the Puritans went along with John who, in his Letters to the Corinthians basically said \"If you gotta, at least get married!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have yet to hear your BFF Justin condemn violence against Christians. Why is that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yep, all six progressives in Colorado Springs packed that town hall. The five in Greeley: same. And the two in the \"Christian\" university in Lakewood: same. \n\nThe other thousands were working class Republicans who recognize that they need access to health care.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is that a Christian response?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is a really limited - sad - concept of what loving God means. The church made a rule, playing on the fears of people who, through most of history, were uneducated, illiterate, and had no way of accessing the scriptures for themselves. It made a rule, meant to scare people into church on Sunday.\n\nBut now, people read the gospels themselves. They know that the commandment is to \"keep holy the Lord's day\", a commandment issued long before christianity developed. It certainly was not a command to go to mass on Sunday. They know that Jesus never said \"Thou shalt go to mass on Sunday\". They know that the mass did not exist.\n\nThey know that Jesus did issue two commandments to love. Loving God does not require going to mass on Sunday. Some may find the ritual helps them to love the rest of the week. Others may find a different way to \"keep holy\" the Lord's Day. If the love is there - going to mass because of love - skipping mass to do something else for love - God is OK with it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@ ScottG\n\n\u201cbinds us to an institution rather than liberates the spirit\u201d..\n\nThank you for your response Scott\n\nI don\u2019t see it like that but without digressing I will stay with Humaane Vitae, I know innately within my heart that to deliberately deny another the opportunity of life while partaking with Him in His creative process is a sin (not a failing).\nIn acknowledging this basic innate truth given by God to His creatures I am been honest with myself, because it is innate I know His Will, honest with my Creator in acknowledging this gift He has given me, is to love Him, and in accepting the logic of Humanae Vitae which stems from this root is to serve Him. This puts me in harmony with this teaching, to Know Him to Love Him to Serve Him.\nWithin my response I do not know what the initials IMO stand for.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Before they cut low wage state workers how about they look at quit giving state money to religious/private schools? What you say? Yes, Sen. Mike Dunleavy from the Valley has his catholic kids covered. He devised a bill to call private school students \"homeschoolers\" so they get $2400/year from the state. When my friend's son attended Our Lady of the Valley she did not know for three years that he was \"duel enrolled\" in homeschooling. No accountability but some nice, expensive computers came home.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Spedaro relates how the pope wishes to distance Catholicism from any suggestion that it is a guarantee of power, any lingering vestige of Constantinianism\". \n\nThis seems to be key, sadly but realistically, more threatening to the authoritarian, rotist and ideologues of religion and political right than the more easily debatable \"mercy\". Detractors can argue forever about mercy without justice, i.e., vindictiveness, and thus obscure the reality that it is about alliances of mutual advantage in regaining, maintaining and enhancing power, control and the benefits thereof. Constantinianism, joint control over the body and soul of community to the advantage of elitists is, it seems, the essence of the strange \"ecumenism\" of hierarchy, evangelical christians and right wing politics. \nMercy as the discerning, unwavering, loving benevolence of Jesus is meant to be the thorny conscience in the side of state, not willing conspirators in domination, an unholy alliance. \"Render unto Caeser...\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Another attempt to whip up a certain class of Catholics into a lather,\"\n\nRD, what class of Catholics would that be? Abuse survivors? Non-Opus Dei members?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"LGBT Americans feel Trump has sacrificed them to shore up his evangelical base\"\nThat's because President Trump is doing exactly that.\nTrump knows that conservative Christians will support him, no matter what, as long as Trump throws GLBT people under the bus.\nTrump has no ideological core. Trump doesn't care one way or the other about GLBT people. Trump is no more religious than Emperor Constantine was. But Emperor Constantine saw Christians as a means to power, and Trump sees conservative Christians in the same light.\nSo, wake up GLBT Americans! Conservative Christians want the right, in the name of religious freedom, to deny us any goods or services they please, any job or housing opportunity.\nBut, if we discriminate against those same conservative Christians, they can sue us for discrimination.\nConservative Christians want to discriminate, but not be discriminated against.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This whole bit of thread is what we call deflecting. Abortion was not mentioned in the article and if the only way Quinn_et_al can affirm their consciences on race is to say, \"yes, but, but, abortion!\" then you have nothing to say for your side on race except admit that it is full of racists.\n\nThe sovereign must protect life, whether it is a king or a democracy or us (a Republic). We are resposible for the lives of the public, correctional officers and inmates. If protecting life means solitary forever then even inmates will call it a death sentence by slow torture as the state is causign the death of the convict. Most would rather die quickly.\n\nMost Catholics personally do not abortion and have choice about others because it is not a democratic issue. There is no abortion law, it is entirely constitutionalized. Until there is a federal bill to change when the unborn are legal persons, the views of Catholics don't matter, nor do their votes on the issue. Only conment say otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AB, SK and ON all have support for the Catholic separate system written right in their founding legislation. The fact that's the BNA Act for Ontario and the Alberta Act or Saskatchewan Act for the other provinces, is kind of immaterial. So, the fact this ruling happened in one of the three remaining provinces with constitutional backing for a separate system is telling.\n\nIt was always going to be harder in those three provinces, but was it going to be impossible? Fast forward 100 years ... will we still have a Catholic system? We both know they won't exist, so the real question is: how quickly will they fade, and by what method will lawyers find a way around the constitutional restrictions. It's going to happen, regardless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, as Trump would say, \"it's a beautiful, amazing thing.\" Just like Catholics and Evangelicals aligning themselves against the anti-Christian prejudices of Clinton. That's pluralist-liberal democracy for you. Different interest groups, including faith groups, are entitled to organise to seek to influence the political process.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's a good one from Francis recently. It can't be \"early onset\" as he's 80. The question was on SS and Portugal.\n\n\"I think it\u2019s a political problem. And that also the Catholic conscience isn\u2019t a catholic one of total belonging to the Church and that behind that there isn\u2019t a nuanced catechesis, a human catechesis. That is, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is an example of what is a serious and nuanced thing. I think that there is a lack of formation and also of culture. Because it\u2019s curious, in some other regions, I think of the south of Italy, some in Latin America, they are very Catholic but they are anti-clerical and \u2018priest-eaters\u2019, that \u2026 there is a phenomenon that exists. It concerns me. That\u2019s why I tell priests, you will have read it, to flee from clericalism because clericalism distances people. May they flee from clericalism and I add: it\u2019s a plague in the Church. But here there is a work also of catechesis, of raising awareness, of dialogue, also of human values.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To much of the Lutheran and Anglican world who have moved toward Arminianism and away from double predestination, or classical Calvinism, there is agreement with your main argument. I don't think anyone in your church is ignorant of the major theological differences with the Calvinist and Pentecostal wing of the Reformation. Therefore talking about unity between \"Protestants\" as a general term, and Roman Catholics, is not productive.\n It does however make a useful cudgel for Catholic trads to bash any ecumenical efforts. These efforts have borne fruit when they proceed on specific denominational tracks. I think Kung is steeped in German, Swiss and European religious culture. Diversity existed for the first thousand years of Christianity. The Apostolic churches established in Asia (long before any western Franciscans or Jesuits showed up) by the hand of an Apostle, developed organically into churches with views not always consistent with the church of Rome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why are so many of the refugees who are apparently safe in places like Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Kenya clamouring to get to the West? The main reasons, of course, are economic, which supports the point made in my original comment. As for the biblical analogy, Joseph and Mary travelled to Bethlehem to participate in a census. Subsequently, the bible holds that they fled to Egypt to escape King Herod's purge of newborn males, although later, after Herod died and the risk diminished, returned to Judah. They didn't seek permanent refuge in Egypt and thus don't provide an analogy to those who today seek to get to the West. In any case, many view the biblical stories as a series of parables, akin to moral lessons rather than actual history, while some see the bible as essentially heavily edited propaganda that was intended to suit the political interests of the early Christian church and its leaders. Today, it's mainly fundamentalists who promote literalist interpretations of the bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stem cell research IS at risk with a Trump win... his ultra-right Christian pals are very much against this and many other forms of research, and so will no doubt cut their funding. And so one of the largest funders of research in the world (the US gov't) will not be contributing in these important fields. I'd call that a very big risk.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Although members of the KKK swear to uphold Christian morality, virtually every Christian denomination has officially denounced the KKK. Besides we all know that democrats aren't exactly known for their Christian viewpoints and the KKK was most certainly a democrat group before it claimed Christian morality", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marty, the human suthors of sacred scripture sometimes put outrageous words into God's mouth not to lie but simply because that is the level of development at which they are .\nWhen , 2000 years later we read them we can go deeply into meaning .\nSo these \" babies \" who are to be slaughtered are one's own desires , ideas , behavior etc. which are keeping us from living a life of gospel values and claiming the place in which Our Heavenly Father wants us to live . \nMeaning, meaning , meaning is in the message .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Akskiman wrote: \"DeVos will NOT end public education but she will work to create a competitive environment which is sorely needed. \"\n\nYou should watch some of her testimony in front of The Senate. She is ill prepared for a cabinet level appointment. She has never attended a public school, never taught at a public school and DeVos sent her kids to private schools. She in no way has the best interests of the majority of citizens in mind. DeVos is a Christian crusader who has been spending her time and money to privatize our public schools in order to provide public funds (tax dollars) to private corporations - it's an old game that does not benefit the public.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But, Monica, Paul himself in chapter 1 of Galatians says that, after his encounter with the risen Christ, he did not go up to Jerusalem where the \"apostles before me\" were, but returned to Damascus from Arabia. Then after 3 years he did visit Cephas in Jerusalem, All of which indicates a church functioning around apostles right after the resurrection. Acts is a family history--all the good stuff, none of the bad. But Galatians is Paul himself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Both Pope Francis and President Trump agree. \nTrump wants the child brought to America for the treatment; the pope concurs.\nWhere are the \"Catholic\" Democrats and liberals now?\nAren't they supporting the pope on this issue.\nOf course not!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To Allan Ross\n\nthis country was founded on Anglo-French Judeo-Christian principles\n\nwith the Queen as Head of state, who is also head of Anglican Chruch\n\nthe country is still predominantly Christian Western heritage - so sorry Sunday is a day off\n\nby immigrating here immigrants have no problem with that\n\nbut Allan seems to have a problem", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks, Anon. Maybe I'll just use my hands when I write....\n\nThere is a discernible timidity in today's church that has reduced the radical gospel to mildly-worded objections that make the bishops feel good, but neither offend nor affect the intended parties.\n\nIn Italy, we voice our objections through \"lo sciopero generale\" -- a general strike that lasts a day or two, but gets everyone's attention and puts the government on notice that certain things will not be tolerated. If you've been in Rome during a strike, you know it's a pain in the nether regions, but strikes work and pastoral letters don't. The Catholic Church is fully capable of responding to any governmental violation of human rights by calling a limited strike that would temporarily cripple much of the affected region. If Catholics walked out of schools, hospitals, and social service agencies for one day, and if they were accompanied by sympathetic Catholic who walked off their jobs, maybe we wouldn't have boring meetings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Let me give an example of the problem. Not long ago, I was invited to participate in a debate on religion with a born-again Christian. I was told that we could debate any aspect of religion, so long as we agreed that the Bible was the source of all facts.\"\n This from the editorial in todays paper \"Campus should allow opposition.....\"\n\nIf I'm not mistaken you would agree with the terms of this debate, that the Bible is the source of all facts? (Had to look up presuppositionalist for myself).\n\nPeople are free to make decisions that lead to their happiness. For some, certainty is required to be happy. For others, like me, curiosity never stops and I'm fine knowing I can't know all things. Both types can live a life of compassion and love. Both can also turn people to intolerance and hate. We make an emotional/intuitive choice, even if we wrap it in intellectual argument.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Affirming sinners in their innate dignity and worth is exactly what makes a great bishop and is wondrously reflective of God\u2019s Word made flesh! It is heretical to say that Jesus\u2019 salvific action is contingent upon behavior. Jesus never did, although his church has been doing so for centuries. As Richard Rohr has written, \u201cThe cross is a healing message about the violence of humanity, and we tragically turned it into the violence of God, who we thought needed \"a sacrifice\" to love us.\u201d\nThe teaching Church does state the ideal behavior of one living in God\u2019s kingdom (even before physical death). But it also stresses that what it states as the ideal is only achieved when we are in perfect communion with God\u2014something that is perfected in eternity and not in time.\nWhen we say we are redeemed sinners, we do not mean that we used to be sinners but now we are saved or redeemed, but rather that, even as sinners, we are saved! That is the paschal mystery. It is a gift, freely given!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Aaaaaaaak! Geez, people! It is not \"the 7th Calvary.\" The word is CAVALRY! Calvary is the place where Jesus supposedly was crucified. Cavalry, according to Webster, is \"a unit of troops mounted on horseback or moving in motor vehicles .\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As history, you bet I do. Most Catholic religion teachers do. It is allegory. It has to be, because modern humans, and even the neanderthal mixed white ones, predated the begats by tens of thousands of years. The real message of the allegory was not the disobedience but the resulting human tendancy to blame, which is the reality of the knowledge of good and evil. It is not the disobedience that was repaired, it was the blame, especially among the self-righteous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What if you're not Catholic? \n\nThe case in question revolves around secular students seeking a secular education, via the Catholic system because the public system closed the school.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"When has I ever bothered the Roman Catholic Church when it came to murder and killing their fellow Catholics.\"\n\nNot sure what you mean? Catholics, in virtue of being civilians of different countries, subject to civil law, are drawn into conflicts, international and armed. Catholics are also members of regular armed forces, sometimes members of militia, are irregular fighters, and often make up medical and religious personnel. All 1.2 billion are in every country of the world, dealing with combatant immunity, and other combatant privileges and protections, means and methods of war, etc. Catholic pacifists, of course, have no desire to deal with these realities. Anyway, in general, all Catholics are bothered by war, specially with the use of chemical weapons, cluster munitions, incendiary devices, landmines, drones, nuclear weapons. War is inevitable -- killing, murder -- so long as nations (and Catholic noncombatants within them) are sovereign and powerful and believe they are right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How are the \"Catholic\" universities in England fairing?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I were a Martian reading this article I'd assume that it was all that catholic endeavor (with a bit of ecumenical help) that stopped this rotten healthcare proposal....\n\nI'd miss the 6000 Indivisible groups nationwide with hundreds of members in each one and all those phone calls and Congressional office visits (I just made 6 calls yesterday and my group has 570 members and it's one of 6 within a ten mile radius) AND I'd miss all those national players in the healthcare field like the AMA et al and there are at least 50 of them that have vocally opposed this proposal...I believe Kimmel identified them by name for a number of evenings on national TV....recently....and I could go on and on.....the glorious efforts of the bishops notwithstanding....\n\nCome on you guys....it's OK to identify Catholic response but put it in a global perspective....and it's peanuts by comparison with the larger national response.\n\nThe larger national response in my view is clearly the work of the Spirit!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I totally agree, religion nor race should make any difference. While I am white and Christian, we have Muslim, Hindu and Buddist relatives. We are all races and colours, but not religion or race come between us as we are all family. Canada has stood out around the world because of our tolerance, and inclusion. We will and cannot let them separate us as a people or country. One day we will all stand before whomever we call God and be held to account. Canadians now is the time to stand together united against those who wish to crawl back into a cave.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's my booklet on some of the horrible things from the BC Liberals, link below:\nContents:\nIntroduction\n1 English: The Language That Must Not Speak Its Name\n2 Citizenship Has No Privileges\n3 Employment Services Exclusively Run By Migrants and Christians\n4 Report Theft of Taxpayer Dollars, Lose Career\n5 Scamming The Public: BC Liberals Buy Happy Media Reporting\n6 Joe Job 1 - Migrant Height Discrimination Dismissed By Migrant \n7 Joe Job 2 - Wrong Race, Gender, Ethnicity For Work At WorkBC\n8 Joe Job 3 - Stigmatization: BC Welfare Forces Me Out Of Work\n9 BC Justice: Vancouver Police Corrupt, Incompetent or Both? Part 1\n10 Homeless by Police Action\n11 BC Justice: Vancouver Police Corrupt, Incompetent or Both? Part 2\n12 Just Some Of The Suicides & Deaths That We Know About Due To BC Liberal Policies \n13 Prosperous and Free in BC: Some Solutions\n\nPDF Link\nhttps://drive.google.com/open?id=0By17LuyY9bAUc2lBVHd3eExlR3M\nEPUB link\nhttps://drive.google.com/open?id=0By17LuyY9bAUMldTNEoyZ3BheFk", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indoctrination through propaganda? \nAnd how do you think the catholic church managed to become one of the most richest tax free organizations in the world?\nHow do you think they have controlled and indoctrinated people for so many centuries?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Based on militant Church History in the matters of anti-Islamic Crusades, and Counter-Reformation against Martin Luther, Knighthood is radically linked to 'Church Militant Theology', which is antithetical to the example and teaching of Jesus.\nJesuit Pope Francis is strikingly different from Jesuit founder and soldier Ignatius of Loyola. Few institutions are more anachronistic than that of ecclesial knighthood and its theology of militancy.\nInternal Church reform is needed today especially away from militant theology to a sense of universal concordance - meaning, the KofCs need a lightning strike of updating beyond its self-aggrandizing cult of medievalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More like a Christian Soldier.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I fully agree with your first paragraph. \n\nRe the second paragraph, may I suggest that it is not the \"organisation\" that calls all of us to become better (images and likenesses of Christ). It is Christ who calls us, in our baptism. But that does not mean that the 'organisation' should not strive to become better as well. Once again, I agree with you there. \n\nIt is not structures that need to change but those making up the structures. In a predominantly horizontal (democratic) society like North America, crime, corruption, abuse (all kinds), etc. is well and alive (and prisons are full). No matter how much you change structures, people will find ways to abuse them, unless they don't want to do so. This, of course requires personal resolve (conversion). That, i think is the real change, and what ultimately matters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not meant to sound cavalier, 2Be4Peace. I have friends and acquaintances of Tutsi victims, intimately connected with those victims, who remind me of the current spirit of reconciliation taking place in Rwanda now. Laura Waters Hinson's film, \"As We Forgive,\" also attempts to convey that spirit of mediation among Rwandans. It is a very moving film, reminding us (and seconding what African associates have told me) that we pardon in the degree that we love. The film portrays, for example, how hard it is for family members of victims to forgive perpetrators (Catholic or other Christian) who live just a town over. But Rwandans are doing that today. They are forgiving their neighbors who hacked their loved ones to pieces. They are very brave and strong and burdened by horrible memories, but they want to move on, beyond tribalism, revenge. The pope's apology for Catholic Rwandans who participated in the genocide is important, but not as significant as the reconciliation taking place now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now it is Newton, Einstein and Hawking, only two of which thought that there was an underlying God at work.\n\nMore interesting are the Aristotelian comments on the soul, which still find their way into Aquinas and Catholic Doctrine (they certainly did in my Ethics class in Catholic College - not sure how this had anything to do with being pre-law). Because the soul is a philosophical concept, these observations must be taken seriously, even the ones on astrology (nothing to do with cosmology, everything to do with studying human nature and how paganism relates to psychology). If the soul is the life force rather than the ability to think or experience consciousness, then ensoulment must occur when the genes of both parents kick in and begin organized development - which is gastrulation, not conception. The problem with the Church is that it is invested in the conception marker and cannot bear to admit it is wrong, lest its entire authority be suspect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If, and a big \"IF\" Catholic means right wing, authoritarian, fundamentalist hierarchy who likely are card-carrying Republican (and their sheep), then yes. However, if Catholic means the community of the companions of Jesus working towards and in His message, then WRONG!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All of this planet belongs to God. None of it \"belongs\" to any sovereign nation. \"Lawful borders\" are an artificial construct created by selfish human beings acting in a non-Christian, proprietary manner. We are all guests of the Lord God wherever we happen to find ourselves. Shame on you for thinking otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr.Haskell claims to feel a little like Jonah, but he comes across as having all the sympathy and sincerity of one of Job's comforters.\n\nThis paragraph, in particular, strikes me as the most egregious example of his disingenuous cant : \n\n\"I recognize that many of these liberal clergy and congregants are already experiencing the trauma of a dying church; it must be very saddening, maybe even frustrating, to hear that some researchers now claim the theological outlook they esteem is a contributing factor in their church\u2019s death.\"\n\nDear, dear, the poor liberal clergy and congregants! \n\nAnd who says the what they are experiencing is actually the trauma of a dying church. Didn't Jesus say something along the lines of \"Wherever two or more of you are gathered in my name\u2026\"\n\nI don't believe Mr.Haskell has much concern for Christian churches of a so-called liberal theological bent, and unlike Jonah, he's excitedly preaching to the fundamentalist choir.\n\n\"Take it up with the boss.\" he concludes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quite simply by recognizing the world has had many Jesus's over the eons and like St. John of the Cross, or Ramakrishna or the Sufi's....the teaching of Jesus is universal and not confined to Christians. Jesus (I think) never believed in Christians over others (obvious in one way as it was not coined at that point) and recognized that if you followed non-violence and love of neighbours than God realization is something for everyone. Ghandi would comment that sometimes the people who understood Jesus least were Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems that if Catholic men, over 50 even, had voted for Ms. Clinton at the rate that Catholic women had, Donald Trump would not be President-Elect. What does that say, Pope Francis?\nIf the equality of women before God and humanity, \"....in the church and in the world\" was acknowledged and enacted by \"our\" church, the world would be less evil, more civil, less dangerous, a little less hateful, a little more hopeful. Thank you church. Not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cSound policy and our imperative duty to these wards of the government demand our anxious and constant attention to their material well-being, to their progress in the arts of civilization, and, above all, to that moral training which under the blessing of Divine Providence will confer upon them the elevated and sanctifying influences, the hopes and consolations, of the Christian faith,\u201d \n\nAbraham Lincoln, Annual message to Congress, December 1863 talking about Indian policy in the territories\n\n\"The second argument is that we mustn\u2019t apply modern standards to old heroes, and that everyone objecting to the perpetual celebration of people who tormented or enslaved their ancestors or their living relatives, like their auntie over there knitting them a scarf, is being far too sensitive.\"\n\n~ Tabatha Southey June 2017\n\nMost Significant American President: Abraham Lincoln ~ Smithsonian\n\nI'll put Ms Southey down for a yes on the rename of the Memorial to \" National Mall West\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Still no connection to the state, Lee. Where is the connection? Like the state is paying for this, coordinating this, etc.? Are you saying that christians have no business getting involved in politics? That christians are not allowed to voice a political opinion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A - Because there is no such thing as a Christian terrorist.\n(when Republicans control the media)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These \u201cbiggest names in conservative Christian thought\u201d know right where the power lies\u2026corporate-money politics. And Alaska\u2019s corporate-money politicians know right where their reelection hopes lie\u2026convincing \u201cthe voters that make up their base\u201d there is a higher power behind this Religion In Politics festival.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Claiming to be persecuted seems to be central to both Christianity and social conservatism. It makes them feel special. Christians were persecuted by the Romans, who regarded them as a dangerous Middle Eastern cult. They weren't far wrong, as there are good reasons to believe it was Christians, not Nero, who burned Rome. But once Constantine had his conversion and Christianity became the state religion, they began vigorously persecuting other religions. Though Christians have exercised a sometimes belligerent domination in the west for centuries, they still see themselves as persecuted when their impulse to force everyone else to follow their dogmas is frustrated in some way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you are conflating lots of levels of understanding. Catholic teaching has, can, and will change. Did supporting Catholic teaching (using your words) require pouring $1.4 M into a political campaign? What if one catholic teaching contradicts a more, core catholic teaching - respect for each person's dignity; following the actual consequences of VII's Dignitatis Humanae:\n\n\"......declares that all persons are to be free from coercion in matters concerning religious belief and worship, so that they may seek the truth in a manner befitting their human dignity. The state oversteps its authority when it coerces compliance with or inhibits the free practice of a particular religion by its citizens. Christians in particular are exhorted to respect religious freedom as a human right, as the encyclical declares that coercion is fundamentally antithetical to Christian belief and tradition.\" (suggest that K of C financial support appears as coercion to some)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are correct, Ms Bolcon. You do not accuse. You simply slap on labels; in essence you are engaging in name-calling. You are the one who insists that getting rid of the requirement of celibacy is necessarily going to delay/prevent the Catholic Church from ordaining women. You may be right, but you may also be wrong. You refuse to accept the possibility that those who see the two as separate issues may also be right. \nIt appears that you are so certain that your point of view (and that is all it is) is completely correct that you refuse to consider that, just perhaps, you might not have all of the answers. I don't think that most of the men in the hierarchy want women ordained, but I believe that it is important to push for this, because it is just. However, I don't believe that other issues ought to be set aside because of the sexism and misogyny of the hierarchy and many of those who support them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ch 36 in 'Humanae Generis' - got as far as saying ...\"the Teaching Authority of the Church does not forbid that, in conformity with the present state of human sciences and sacred theology, research and discussions, on the part of men experienced in both fields, take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter \"...\n\nOf course the 'present state' in both science and theology and Scripture had developed considerably since the 1950's!\n\nRecent Popes, such as John Paul 2, and Benedict, -- not sure if Pope Francis has said anything on this as yet \u2013 have told us that Catholics can believe in Evolution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The call to holiness is rooted in baptism. But the priesthood is seen by the magisterium as much more than that. Let me cite two representatives of that concept.\nIn inaugurating the Jubilee Year for Priests at Vespers on Friday, June 19, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI stated in his homily: \"The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus for the human race. It was God's plan to make Christ \"the heart of the world. This plan is achieved in history \"as Jesus gradually become the HEART of human heats. It starts with those called to be closest to him: namely his priests. Citing St. Jean-Baptist Marie Vianney, Pope Benedict states \"After God, the priest is everything!...Only in heaven will he fully realize what he is.\"\n\nAt the World Synod of Bishops held in Rome September 30-October 28, 1990, Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk stated that: \"The sacrament of Holy Orders marks the priest as a member of the Christian faithful who has been permanently configured by Christ [alter Christus]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether or not health care is perceived as a right in any particular country is fluid over time. The US is moving in that direction, long since achieved by all other western democracies. IMHO, critically important in that movement is the disposition of medical professionals, and I sense that that group of stakeholders is pretty close to regarding health care as a right. Indeed, the only stakeholder holdouts would appear to be insurance companies whose ox will be fully gored when the US finally buys into single payer. And of course political ideologues, who value the notion of capitalism more than the common good established by hard evidence. \n\nAs for the Christian attitude, other have cited chapter and verse for you re the official Catholic position. What I find so very interesting is that conservative Catholics who insist on voting according to Catholic morality re abortion, with equal fervour vote against the magisterium on heath care. Can you explain that to me?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church is the Church founded by Jesus Christ. Today, Catholicism (from Greek \"katholikismos, \"universal doctrine\") is a term which in its broadest sense refers to the beliefs and practices of all Christian churches that perceive themselves to be members of the Body of Christ. \nThe Western/Roman branch and three main branches of the Eastern Church (i.e. Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church and Church of the East) consider themselves to be the \u201cone, holy, catholic, and apostolic church\u201d in accordance with the Nicene Creed, and each of them maintains that their denomination is identical with the original Catholic (i.e. universal) church. Several mainline Protestant churches which continue to accept the Nicene Creed maintain that their denominations are descended from and remain linked to the universal church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kudos to Obama; America is not now, never was and hopefully will never become a Christian nation. Our country is founded upon the principles of the Enlightenment. We are a culturally diverse nation respecting all creeds, colors, ethnicity, beliefs and non beliefs and so say us in hope and defiance of what Trump has in order. We are ordered to a principle that this nation is not a numbers game, of how many of any category be, but that individuals have a minority right of dissent not to be prevailed upon by a majority. This notion is now in peril by the president elect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Church may be a question to you, but Christian is an \"exclusive\" term within the Ecclessia (look that one up and get back to me - no please don't as I tire of your spin), it is clear and not debatable who the Ecclessia are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...other African Americans whose ancestors were exploited as salves like in the case of Georgetown University and the Jesuits?\"\n\nThat's a stretch. Georgetown is an anomaly, founded in 1789. Most Catholic universities/colleges were founded much later, in free states or territories and at a time when anti-Catholicism was vehement, excessive and violent. The Jesuit founder of Boston College, Fr. John Papst, for example, was tarred and feathered and had his rectory and chapel bombed before being assigned to Boston. But Jim Jenkins, since you raised the question, can you come up with some names, some Catholic universities (other than Georgetown) that engaged in human bondage, imprisoned liberty, as it were, to survive and/or raise revenues?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The question is not only if, but what happened if it happened. That is why accusation without substance is simply that: accusation with no substance. \n\nOh yes, ... and the last time I checked, it was innocent until proven guilty. But, again, maybe not when it involves Catholics, especially clergy ... \n\nHate does funny things to people's minds, don't you think?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The movement that eventually became Christianity had its inception in an organized protest by Galileans against Judean cooperation with Rome. That, not a pious procession, is what is portrayed as Jesus' \"triumphal entrance into Jerusalem.\" That is why he and his followers went to the Temple to protest; that's why the guards put down their protest and the chief priests decided to arrest Jesus. That's why the charge against him was rebellion and why he was executed among other rebels. That's why he died, and why so many of his followers were executed later. Reza Aslan does a pretty good job of uncovering many of these facts in \"Zealot,\" but we tend to read these works and go back to being mild-mannered Christians.\n\nNow we're faced with what seems to be a genuine challenge to our core beliefs. If the Church responds by cuddling with the pagans, left and right, I don't see how it can survive. If it does, I'm not sure it should.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am well aware of the Catholic teaching about war. \n\nYou seemed to insinuate that Mr. Trump was more anti-life than other Presidents due to his speech today...I merely pointed out that his speech was mere regurgitation of what the US President has been saying for 54 years, Mr. Obama included. You spoke of catholic morality - just wondering where your judgement of Mr. Kennedy would fall in this area.\n\nSo no, not inept or disingenuous. I merely asked you a question. But thanks for the needless personal attack.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right and Righteous!\n\nMatt 22:37 Jesus replied: \u201c\u2018Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.\u2019[c] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: \u2018Love your neighbor as yourself.\u2019[d] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.\u201d\n\nSo I just let the Gospels speak for themselves. \n\nWe Christians, including Aquinas, do not have the right to forbid what Christ allowed in the Gospels or promote what he forbade without risking falling into sin because he is the one we chose to make our Lord and Judge. Jesus never condemned contraception so therefore there is no Law of God against it in Scripture-fact. \n\nYou are allowed to judge behavior but not individuals. So yes you can state you believe contraception is wrong but condemning the user of contraception as one who is condemned to hell is a Judgement only God has the right to make and if you make it for someone else you risk condemnation yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm all for liturgical dance. It makes for such hilarious youtube videos that go viral through the Catholic blogosphere, lightening things up these dark days. And no foundation garments or shoes, please.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thus far, any Catholic who is even remotely familiar with his Catechism should be thrilled with the new POTUS, most particularly on the issues which are of the gravest concern, i.e. abortion and religious liberty {even if only in the secular/neo Catholic meaning of the term}.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For legally backed and officially propagated Christianity it is hardly counter cultural, but to really follow Gospel teachings Christianity is very counter cultural.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, why are YOU posting here? Is it that you're looking for real MERCY from us Catholic progressive justice warriors, and our Chowder and Marching Society too?!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks Jim. My question arose from my experience with Byzantine Christianity and non-recognition of the crescent + star in that context. Clearly, this symbol and its relatively minor association with Byzantium prior to Christianity, and its strong association with Turkish Byzantium/Istanbul after the conquest in 1453, does not counter by experience. \n\nVery interesting indeed, especially it relatively late acceptance as a symbol of Islam. I had assumed without evidence that it arose with the spread of Islam from the time of Mohammed. \n\nThanks for the education.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's only about different views regarding some \"social issues\" from Pope Francis. Historically, Catholics are used to obeying the same instructions for hundreds if not thousands of years. Now some of Pope Francis exhortations seem to be \"different\" from those of his predecessors. It sure caused some concern about his view of the Church and how it should address the current issues effecting Catholics world wide.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does that include the members of the Christian Heritage Party?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nowhere in the book (and this story missed it,) does Chaput make any reference to one of the core Catholic beliefs; optimism. Catholics believe in optimism; \u201cno matter what, life is good, when we die, life will get better.\u201d That may be a poor paraphrasing, but it is what we believe. For Catholics, the future is bright. Chaput\u2019s view of life is so dystopian, to lead one to believe he has lost all faith in his Catholicism. How unfortunate, to put out a book that is do dark and unforgiving. St Maximilian Kolbe would be stunned to read such lurid dreary descriptions. Even in his darkest days before the Nazis killed him he had optimism. Something Chaput is totally bereft of.\n\nNo matter what, I refuse to be sucked into such dark thoughts and remain optimistic as I look forward to life after death.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you're right, Monte, in your conclusion that this issue won't easily go away. But IMHO, the reason is that the battle is being fought primarily on ideological grounds, and is driven by the. need to be right. W.O. will only cease to be an issue as the Holy Spirit is seen working in remarkable ways through women as leaders to transform lives and faith communities. It was stories of Holy Spirit power witnessing through the lives of uncircumcised gentiles that made the issue of circumcision go away for the early Christian church. \n\nThe evidence that anti-W.O. sentiment bears significant responsibility for membership attrition is not persuasive to me for many reasons. Nor is it particularly relevant. I am aware of no data supporting the idea that ordained women are more effective in bringing folks to Christ than are \"commissioned/ordained\" women. \n\nI completely support W.O. But it is sad that the issue won't go away. As Jim observes, not all conflicts need resolution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The word christian may not appear in the EO but there certainly is a reference to providing priority for those who are part of a religious majority in the seven countries where Muslim is the vast majority. That would put Christians in the minority along with some other religions. You can now use your alternative facts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The idea is to not to have to build a wall between the Irelands. A flip side implication would be that the EU is less interested in Scotland leaving the UK and joining the EU.\n\nHowever, Northern Ireland would have trouble getting a referendum to quit the UK. By the power-sharing agreement, the Protestants would never leave and become the minority in a Catholic country, so no referendum would ever be held. And if power-sharing fails, the NI government reverts to direct rule from London, which would never let a referendum be held either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd be interested to know what evidence you have seen that those of us who are sceptical have not? I've spent my whole life looking and have found exactly ZERO evidence that there is a god of any kind out there.\n\nthe only evidence for Christianity I have seen in the history books indicates that there was a man called Jesus Christ who was crucified by the Romans. He may have claimed to be the son of god, and anecdotal evidence suggests this was probably the case (at the time, there were a number of other preachers also claiming to be the son of god) but that he actually WAS the son of god? no evidence. zero, zip, nada.\n\nBut if you do have some evidence that I can weigh up that I haven't seen (and no, the bible doesn't count as evidence - its a book created to tell a very specific story, and was written by a bunch of men a century or so after Jesus died on the cross.Worse still, more than half the accounts were simply left out of the book by the church) I will gladly take a look...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I doubt very much that \"the Catholic Left\" gave Trump many votes.\n\nThere most certainly is such a thing as the Catholic Left. I am one, for example.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The comments of \"Groucho\" echoes the beliefs of many dedicated, honest Christians including Adventist Christians. However, I trust that these individuals realize that the vast majority of educated Christians in mainline Christian denominations and in the Catholic tradition do not share such understandings of the bible. As often commented, they take the bible seriously but not literally. I realize that many presuppositions of Groucho and others who share his view make it impossible for him and others to accept the scientific consensus and the views of non-fundamentalist Christians including non-fundamentalist Adventist Christians. We will simply have to agree to disagree and move on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think it's very hard to believe in the Eucharist unless you learn to believe when you're very young. You have to try believing when you're still young enough to really believe in things like ghosts and magic. If you try to believe that Jesus is really and truly present in the sacrament when you are still young enough to really believe, he comes and then you believe forever. But if nobody prepares you right for your first communion, sometimes you never learn to believe enough to make it real for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You say: \"Technically, Jesus created the institutional religion that is the Catholic church when he said \"you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.\"\n\nI realize that this is \"traditional\" Catholic teaching (based entirely on a literal interpretation of Mt 16) but do you think there is a chance that Jesus may have been speaking metaphorically about this? After all, parables and hyperbole are commonly used throughout sacred scripture. \n\nFurther, what evidence do you have to support a literal interpretation, especially given the idea of erecting the church on a mere mortal is rather counter intuitive... wouldn't you agree?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Same can be said about all religions. Christian and Jewish.\nJewish is not a race many people convert to the Jewish faith of all types of races.\nExample: Drake, Ivanka Trump and her brother.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" as much as they need having rigid rules in place in which to define the parameters of Christian behavior.\" \n\nYes, this is so true because they define the Christian by behaviors, not motivation or attitude. Jesus taught attitudes, not behavior. We are to be forgiving and loving, and as gentle as doves but wise as serpents. The behavior that flows from those attitudes will please His Father and bring us to the Kingdom. Constantly worrying over 'right behavior' is fourth grad Parochial school stuff.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The question is whether or not the information is accurate or not, not whether the leaker had an agenda. If the Clinton campaign really did try to create a \"Catholic spring\" to try and force the Church to change its doctrine then that is a serious problem even if it was exposed by Trump himself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I against abortion and capital punishment. It is my sad experience that the seamless garments is also ignored by some progressive Catholics. They are against the death penalty but support abortion rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Red, thanks for the feedback on Australia. I remember reading about Dixon's research a few months ago but it is always good to get back in touch with what he said. I have the utube video running on another tab while I am typing this.\n\nIf the Church has the quality of that kind of research available, why don't they use it? Do they have someone studying Dixon's work and the work done by Professor Des Cahill and Dr Peter Wilkinson? \n\nThere is an enormous amount of expertise the bishops can draw on in Australia and there is a (shrinking) coterie of Catholics who do care in groups such as Catholics for Renewal and Concerned Catholics. There are voices in Eureka Street, The Swag, Catholica and other publications who have something valuable to say. They could listen to Bill Morris. They will have to work to get attendance by those who dropped away or only participate occasionally - why should bother? It would help if they promised to really show them the respect of listening to them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The subject is actually interlinked with a number of important ones - capital punishment, war, laws - so indeed I take it seriously.\n\nTo be clear, it is the bulk of Christians that \u201cnarrow the relevance of Jesus' teaching\u201d, not me, not the Catholic Church.\n\nWe can expound on why at length after you take a look at the hypothetical.\n\nThe short answer is that it became clear when the Church dealt with Judaizers that the entire Old Testament laws did not transport into Christianity, and that Jesus was silent on a large number of moral issues, fornication being a good example.\n\nThe answer was that the cultic (e.g., kosher and Temple sacrifice) laws were voided, but the entire moral law remained, including the Natural Law. Jesus was silent about the role of the state, leaving the Natural Law in place.\n\nTo take your position would demolish the state, which would be unable to pass and enforce laws, form armed forces and defend itself, conscript citizens, and so on. Evil would march the earth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One reason christians should understand that the Bible reflects the human experiences and human understanding (often misunderstanding ) of its ancient human authors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When the people asked \"who is my neighbor\"....Jesus told them. \n\nHe didn't say only Jews, or Gentiles, or those other people over there...he said gave us the story of the person who simply ran across on his way to do something else a person who needed his help.\n\nPlain as day. Scriptural based.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's get to the real point. There are evidently many people in Douglas County that would like to use schools as another tool in their arsenal of weaponized Christianity. These folks tried these same tactics in Loveland but were thrown off the board last year. Yes, most of the for-profit schools are scams, but I think the biggest academic threat to this country is teaching religious dogma in secondary schools and masking it as \"education.\" Very happy about these election results.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You ask: \"Aren't any of you bothered by the statements made by Clinton's staffers?\"\n\nNot in the least.\n\nThe \"political left\" is actually too amorphous to characterize with much accuracy. I'd say there's hostility toward the religious right (not to be confused with Christianity), though it certainly varies in intensity.\n\nObamacare doesn't \"force\" the Little Sisters to pay for contraception.\n\nHillary Clinton has repeatedly said she supports restrictions on late-term abortions except in cases of rape, incest and when the mother's life and health are in danger.\n\nAnd it's the Democratic Party.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your rejection on the Church's teaching as to the meaning of Genesis really doesn't communicate to a Catholic who accepts the Church's teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On some level, this is about defining Donald Trump. Some want to define him as racist, xenophobic, against all religions except Christianity, etc. Trump himself has always claimed he is not. If Trump really was, I think he'd let you know it. The fact that he works with Muslim and Jewish leaders overseas is more consistent with Trump's claims than his accusers.\nThe Supreme Court ruling may not be the end of this issue. The Appeals court overturned the Hawaii court's prohibition against the government reviewing and updating the Visa program. If the Visa program is now revised with new rules, will Chin file another lawsuit halting the revisions? That would depend on what the revisions are, and what the Supreme Court rules on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True, my opinion holds no more weight on the legal process than does yours. I never claimed otherwise. \n\nBy what authority are you able to judge my religious practices if I feel it's my duty to rebuke a fellow Christian?\n\nI've never found a thing in the bible that says anything about this situation. I never said the baker was wrong, I said I can't find anything to support his position. At the same time, I hope he wins because I think freedom of association and the freedom to practice his faith supersedes the idea that someone can force him to sell them a cake. I also said the whole thing is pretty nuanced and that there are multiple points of view. \n\nThere is a difference between discussing something in a forum like this and the government forcing him to do business in a way he feels goes against his faith. My opinion is only that, it is not law and I don't believe otherwise.\n\nMy OPINION is that there are lots of cake bakers so the offended party isn't harmed by the baker's decision.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, neither party is liberal in any real sense of the word. Neither party embodies any particular sense of Christianity, either - at least, not at the national level. In any case, Christ was definitely a liberal, so read into that what you please. As for leftist, that is no more than a made up word so called conservatives use to denigrate anyone who doesn't agree with them, as if their conservative world view hasn't failed utterly whenever it it ended up in power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What about the Catholic schools, what are they telling children?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sisters who write are not of the pray-pay-and-obey mold, at least not generally. In the parable, Jesus portrays the woman as thinking, but blindly praying as this reflection advocates. There follows another take on the same Liturgy of the Word.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bizarre to pay all that money to go to a Catholic school and then walk out because the commencement speaker agrees with Catholic teachings you don't like.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus specifically railed against a faith rooted in doctrines, and argued for a faith anchored in one's relationship with God through him. That the churches have forgotten this is the great tragedy of Christian history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was the Council of Nicea that settled the issue of Arianism. I don't see the Church departing from this teaching, hence my demurral. \n Having said that, I thought it relevant that the way the Trinity is imagined might be different were the Orthodox view included, without the Double Procession implied in the Filioque. \n The inspired writers and mystics I mentioned earlier were examples of THE CHURCH in the spiritual sense, which should include Protestant divines as well including Martin Luther King, quoted by Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia.\n The idea that the Church has got God wrong needs a nuanced understanding lest we forget the many who didn't. However, we do need to grow and all Christians could use to improve their serve, to use a cliche. I welcome anything that challenges our complacency. \n The book should be a good read. I wonder if the implications therein may be missed by many.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well said Bishop Tom. I personally am convinced that our Christian Faith would impact as a much better \u201clight to the world\u201d and \u201ca barrel of salt to the earth\u201d if instead of focusing upon \u201cour faith and dogmas\u201d we focused upon \u201c our building the \u201cReign of God based on \u201clove one another just as I have loved you\u201d right here upon our \u2018criminally maltreated Mother Earth\u201c.\nJustiniano from Managua", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems that the alt-right (and those that find them acceptable), is trying to take over the word \"populism\".....it's been used to describe many different movements historically. At this moment in time is describes a group, largely white, who feel that many others that are different from themselves are taking jobs and and the \"good life\" away from them.\n\nIt reminds me of how the word \"Christian\" has been taken over by the Fundamentalists. A woman asked me recently if I was a Christian, saying: \"Oh, I thought you were Catholic.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In 2015, 16,000 children died every day. The bulk of those were children of colour, with the biggest single group from Africa.\nIf this Christian god is all powerful, and all knowing. I would like to know what it is he has against black babies. Did they do something intra uterine that was some sort of unpardonable sin. \nWhy is he sitting back and just letting this go on.\nIf I am going to start endorsing gods of one stripe or other, I would first like some answers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quebecers are no more xenophobic than the Anglo-Canadians but they aren't ashamed to show it. They are proud of their history, culture and language and want to keep it that way. No multiculturalism in that province where people realize that the policy has been a failure everywhere it's been tried.\nI wish Canadians had as much pride in their judeo-christian heritage as Quebeckers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excuse me, nobody can change the Deposit of Faith. NOBODY. If you reject the teachings of the Magisterium, that makes you a protestant, not a Catholic. If you reject the Baltimore Catechism, you are not a Catholic in good standing. In the Church, you don't get to choose what to believe. If you want to endorse sodomites, go ahead, but you need to leave the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no such thing as an Anglo-Catholic Episcopal church in anything other than name. They are NOT Catholic. Just throwing that word in a title does not make something truly Catholic, much like the name of this magazine in no way makes it a \"Catholic\" magazine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "[Conservatives founded this country]\nYou sure about that? It's been a few years since my undergrad Poli Sci days but IIRC the Founding Fathers considered themselves liberals. They broke from tradition and sought a means of self-governance free from monarchical rule. Even by modern standards, liberals are different from conservatives on the issue of tradition and conventions.\nNext I expect you'll claim that America was founded as a Christian nation...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More Christianity , that is the following of the teachings of Christ makes for a better world:\n-\nLove your neighbor as you love yourself\n-\nFeed the hungry , clothe the naked , tend to the sick , house the homeless\n-\ndo unto others what you would have them do unto you........\n-\nthis cannot be debated\n-\nI have difficulty finding another code of ethics more honorable", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The same Holy Spirit that has selected every bishop in the catholic church for all of its history. The involvement of the Holy Spirit is central to the concept of infallibility and is supported by the universal virtue of every bishop in history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "simply because you have cancer doesn't give you a free reign to distort my point about pain. There are two ways that some people respond here...\"exception proves the rule\"...and \"my condition proves the rule\". 2 for 2.\n\nRead Salvifici Dolores to better understand the proper Christian understanding of pain, which is at great variance from your view. \n\nThere is a spectrum of pain & Church teaching accommodates all points in the spectrum beautifully. None of my points depart from this teaching. \n\nSome forms of \"ordinary pain\" (getting up, common colds, twisted ankles, applying exactitude to finish a job well, sore necks, stiff backs, tingly fingers from stenosis, etc.) are perfect examples where a Christian can brace up a bit, & draw closer to union with Jesus in that moment of pain. Offering the little pain for reparation, in thanksgiving, etc.\n\nIt takes a bit of practice; but the intimacy with Christ is dear. \n\nMore extraordinary pain can be managed with prudent use of pallitatives", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Mokantx,\nWhat so far, the realization that settling in me is that CI (Catholic Institution) is no longer an organization many of us Catholics can look for support of even the basic spiritual life. \n-\tIt is not a safe place for the family. I certainly can\u2019t bring children there.\n-\tThe physical harms can be medically treated and healed, but sexual abuse by clergy is putting a child in the literal h@ll on earth & ruin their spiritual lives. \n-\tI can\u2019t take clergies teaching with straight face knowing what they do/don\u2019t behind the closed door.\n-\tThe majority of clergies abandoned people.\nContinue", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sticks and stones may hurt one's bones bur names will never hurt one.\nYour posts here are manifestly lacking in Christian Charity which you appeal for and promote.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am under no illusion that Francis would agree to women priests. He is far too conservative for this. What I meant was that people -- laity and clergy ought to be pushing for the ordination of women.\nI have no way of knowing how many married clergy there are. I do know that in the Ukrainian Catholic Church, a growing number of parishes have married clergy -- and survive quite well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What books kids bring to school is one thing. What gets taught and assessed is another. You make a good point regarding some of the more bizarre sexually explicit and violent specific stories - but basic concepts written in the Bible - New Testament (along with basic ideas/concepts written in the Muslim Quran, Hindu Shreemad Bhagavad Gita - Upanishads - and Veda, Buddhist Tripitakas, and the Jewish Torah and Talmud) are totally appropriate for elementary kids - especially when those ideas permeate so much of our culture like it or not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They took away Christian prayers in public schools - take away Muslem prayers. It's time for the government to get out of our schools and the unions . If Muslims want prayer Friday go to a Muslim school pay for it yourself and leave us alone. Same for Catholics, Jewish, etc. etc. etc. etc. The only thing the government needs to do is give everyone \"VOUCHERS\" and they can go to their school of choice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are far more than 2 ex cathedra decrees. There have been 2 ex cathedra since the dogma of papal infallibility was defined by the First Vatican Council. Additionally, de fide teachings are also infallible. For example, the dogma of the Holy Trinity, the de fide teachings on the sacraments, etc., for example, that Christ ordained the 12 Apostles at the Last Supper is a de fide teaching of the Church. It is a dogma that must be accepted and professed by Catholics. Those who deny it, or any dogma for that matter, are heretics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's really tough to make sense of this because we (well at least I) don't have the foggiest idea about lay military religious orders as a class of historical Catholic entities. Given that V1 essentially gave the Bishop of Rome absolute jurisdiction over everyone and everything Catholic, I think you are right, Mike. Francis has the upper hand. \n\nFor my money, the critical fact here is that Burke personally presumed to speak for Francis. NCR reports have never stated that, but the Tablet sure did:\n\"The respected German Knight was sacked on 6 December by the Knights\u2019 Grand Master, Matthew Festing, in the presence of the Order\u2019s patron and prominent conservative critic of Francis, Cardinal Burke. BOTH OF THEM had claimed that the dismissal was in \u201caccordance with the wishes of the Holy See\u201d. (emphasis added)\n\nFesting claims neither the pope nor members of the order can criticize his action. That's more authority than Francis, given the V2 concept of collegiality, claims for the papacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excepts \"ecumenism\" strictly speaking means inter-Christian relationships ... Your comment includes several kinds of non-Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You obviously have not lived in the United States and have no acquaintance with the types of \"Christians\" the author is talking about. There are many Christians who do not share these views, but Mr. Trump is not appointing them. The teaching of creationism in school is a real thing here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For 'Conservative Christians' it's never been about faith. It's about power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because David Clohessy for his whole adult life has been a champion for the abuse, and he is tried. David has a wife and children. Its time to move on. Trust me, new leadership will emerge in SNAP.\n\nThat priest you referenced has a huge $billion corporation [the Catholic Church] to support his claims in court. The survivors have only themselves and SNAP. That case is on appeal. We'll see ...\n\nYou should wait and see how that case of a falsely accused priest turns out on appeal before you start gloating.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You really think that a MOSQUE was attacked because Canada is a Christian open society? Wow...I'm speechless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think a little degree of nuance is needed here.\n\"... destroy Christianity and you destroy civilisation\" might seem to imply that if a civilisation isn't Christian, it isn't civilisation. That is clearly false. \n\nOn the other hand, perhaps you mean that a civilisation that is built on Christianity might have difficulty surviving without Christianity. I would be inclined to agree with that.\n\nHowever, that leads to a subsequent consideration: what kind of Christianity is needed within a \"civilisation\" that has been traditionally \"Christian\"? Is it always as it has been in the past? \n\nFor me, one of the reasons why the Church held Vatican II was to begin to look for the way to be Christian in and for the modern world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I was wished a happy holiday by someone. I told this person I'm Christian and that it's OK to wish me a Merry Christmas.\"\n\nWhy not just accept their good wishes in the spirit in which they were intended instead of correcting them? Personally, what you did strikes me as a bit rude.\n\nI don't give a fig whether somebody says Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or Have a Nice Day. Unless I have some reason to doubt their goodwill, I'm just going to appreciate it. The last thing I'm going to do is assume some ulterior motive for the words they happened to choose.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"Hospitals and schools can be stripped of their \"Catholic\" identity, sort of like the Church owns the brand. \"\n- Well, what really happens is that the local bishop takes the institution off his list of catholic institutions in his diocese. This means that he, himself, can not vouch for or verify the institution's catholicity and the institution's communion and union with the Archbishop of Rome.\n- The institutions itself can still call itself Catholic and see itself as catholic and in union and communion with the Archbishop of Rome as the people who operate and own the institution wish it to be so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Esther, for calling out what clearly must be in his heart despite his repeated assertions to the contrary! Happy to stand by someone who will go with her own gut over so-called \"Christian charity!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When Jesus left us to sit at the right hand of the Father He sent us The Holy Spirit to guide us. The Holy Spirit influenced the writers of The Gospels, of which our Church guards. The prayer to the Holy Spirit to enkindle in us the fire of Divine Love and You will renew the face of the Earth. I think a fuller interpretation of what Jesus said according to the Gospels, will do just that, help us with the guidance of the Holy Spirit at this time in History to \" Renew the face of the Earth.\" Deacon'82 Environmental and Social Justice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics do, ultimately have a say in the governance of their Church--at least when it comes to the business end of things. If a pastor at a parish is not working out, or blowing through money, etc, eventually the bishop will reassign him. It is just that trustees and elders do not have the authority to fire him based on their personal whims at the time. \n\nI have seen how ruthless boards of elders and trustees can be to their ministers. I have seen this in both the Methodist and Presbyterian churches. There is one Methodist Church where it was like a revolving door when it came to the ministers. I wondered why the superintendent did not eventually stand up to them and tell them to live with the minister or they are not getting another one.\n\nWhen it comes to doctrine, ultimately the bishops have final say, true, but this is not to say that the Faithful are irrelevant when it comes to doctrine. They just don't have the ultimate say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A writer for the National Catholic Reporter writes a column for readers of the National Catholic Reporter? What a deduction, RD!\n\nSo only NCR readers, non-Catholics, and dissenters care about the victims of sex abuse by priests? This explains plenty about Opus Dei and its hangers on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Kigali we visited another church that had seen the massacre of its parishioners. In the first chaotic days of the genocide, more than 2,000 people had sought shelter in Saint Famille, Rwanda\u2019s largest Catholic church. Later, many were handed over to the killers by one of the parish priests, who witnesses said colluded with the Hutu militias.\n\nYou might want to do your homework on Rwanda and why it is 'different'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It restores the unity between the will, the intellect and the body.\" What did the church do before there was a sacrament of penance? It did not exist during the Apostolic Era, And wasn't around when St. Augustine lived.\n\nThe Eucharist WAS the first sacrament of forgiveness. Penance came after the persecutions of the Christians were somewhat over. It existed for those who committed the sin of apostasy, murder, and adultery. It was imposed on a sinner, not by any priest, but by the Christian Community itself. And it was the Christian Community, not any priest, who chose, after sufficient public penance was performed, to accept or not---the penitent back into the Christian Community.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It has become the mantra of so-called progressive Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Amazing how many heads one man can roam around rent free in. Trump is this, Trump is that, all coerced by an establishment media manipulating emotions. Funny, never once heard any of these geniuses discuss Obama's having banned certain Muslim groups at various times, the treatment of Cuban refugees at one point nor the fact something like 98% of the 'refugees' are Muslim while he actually turned back christian refugees. Where is the 'honest' reporting on that? Does the left and their atheist cohorts despise christians to the point they are prepared to be subservient to Muslims? Amazing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Would you lie to yourself? When I see my 'neighbor' drowning in self-delusion I treat them the way I'd want to be treated, even if the 'treatment' might cause some temporary discomfort. I would want to help them see the truth. \n.\n No, Trump is not even close to being all the things you claim, but a TRUE Christian needs to forgive or they won't be forgiven in this life or the next. There is a big difference between defending and forgiving. What exactly should Donald Trump be in prison for doing? He hasn't done anything to even be arrested for, yet the mayor of Seattle breaks City, County, State and Federal law in setting up ILLEGAL drug injection sites. Blatantly breaking the laws he's sworn to uphold and no one cares about it. Talk about Hypocrisy..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2/2\nTake contraception and abortion for example. \n\nIf our FIRST obligation arising from OUR declaration of religious freedom is to respect the conscience of others, then we must be sensitive to the conviction of others that contraception and abortion are not immoral. \n\nWe have no right to attempt to impose our moral conviction that abortion is immoral (most Catholics agree) or contraception is immoral (apparently most Catholic bishops agree) on others. \n\nTo fight to make abortion illegal is clearly a rejection of the religious/conscious freedom of fellow citizens. To insist that Catholic entities be exempt from covering contraction, is to scream \"We demand our religious freedom, and damn the freedom of others--non-Catholics working for the church, and the majority of Catholics who disagree with the magisterium.\"\n\nTalk about self-serving moral blindness. Wasn't Jesus opposed to that sort of thing?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My thoughts exactly. It probably is the most obvious and logical answer which is they don't want to wake up every morning only to stare at a cemetery from their bedroom window when formerly they used to see nature, a forest, perhaps a deer once in a while and want to keep it that way, nothing against muslims, christians, jews, buddhists, its just the cemetery itself, I know that is the way I would feel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If one wants to get a cogently expressed Catholic political perspective on why the attacks on Syria were a mistake (and not another long dissertation by MSW on the president's personality) read Patrick Buchanan's columns.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quite true. We have no comparative study (to my knowledge) to judge whether the bishops are better (more proactive) than the rest of society. According to Chowdhury, exploitation of children is so widespread in Indian society that one shouldn't be surprised it taints the church, too. But it shouldn't. Unlike Hindus who believe an individual, an abused child, will have many lifetimes/reincarnations to work out inflicted evil, we Catholic Christians believe we pass this way only once. There are no multiple lives or reincarnations on earth. All the more to make zero tolerance an absolute.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And remember who the author of this piece is - go to page 100 in her book \u201cWomen & Catholicism: Gender, Communion, and Authority\u201d where she describes then Archbishop Burke\u2019s canonical consideration of Louise Lears, formerly in the Sisters of Charity, as \u201cretribution\u2019.\"\n\nMarty E, are trying to suggest it wasn't?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think making someone sign a letter represents a massive intrusion into an organization's religious rights. And how come only conservative, Christian churches get the courts and legislators to carve out special treatment for them? Does this represent some kind of governmental endoresment of certain religions? Seems like it to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Roberto Clemente was my boyhood hero when I grew up in Pittsburgh, a truly amazing athlete and great human being. God, not the Catholic Church, ultimately decides who qualifies for sainthood. My bet is that giving ones life trying to help \"the least of his brethren\" in Nicaragua ranks higher on God's check list than membership in the Catholic, or any, church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently in Macdougall's world, to be Christian is to necessarily be against human rights, constitutional rights and decency.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Publication which is continually challenging the teaching of the Catholic Church has no right to call itself Catholic no matter who it is written by or intended for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are monsters in Protestant churches, in public schools, in government offices, in healthcare... we are not yet in heaven. Only one institution points us to truth though - Catholic Church. It can get murky before we see clear water, but it's there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Secrecy is the Catholic Canon Law right. The priest-penitent privilge is American law and it goes back to 1813. The rules of evidence reflects the constitutional interpretations by the Court. You are looking for a result, not the rule of law. That is no different from the pro-lifers who don\u2019t like Roe. The Secrecy of the Confessional in the Church does not prevent a subpeona of chancery personnel files.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps we should review the entire history of Christianity -- Something enabled Christianity to spread from a small Jewish sect to become the major faith and power in the Empire -- and then Something caused Christianity to falter in areas where it had once been dominant, and then to fade away entirely in spots. What failed? Who failed? How is that faltering now happening in the world? And how can/should it be responded to? \n\nIs it important to be dominant, or is it important to demonstrate Christ in and to the world?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Change of culture? The annulment process is still deeply mired in, if not a captive of, Roman Catholic clerical culture. Couples should be able to access a much less formal and clerical procedure, in addition to the tribunal/annulment form of resolution. And the choice should belong to the couple!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have spent time in Saudi Arabia and one of the problems they had with the full face covering was rapes by men wearing the full abaya and face covering in public women's washrooms. You cannot identify a person with full face covering and in this country, identification is part of our culture and law. If people wish to continue to live like that, they should have explored the norms and values of this country before they immigrated. We had to adapt to the laws of Saudi Arabia while we were there, my wife could not drive, we could not display any kind of Christian or Jewish beliefs and she had to wear and abaya and head scarf in public. She was stared at all the time and if perchance she happen to look in the eyes of a Saudi or any other muslim living there, it was taken as a come on. Yes, women are harassed here by men now and then, but can work and live alongside men without worrying about their safety. The staring is enough for any woman to want to cover up. It is different here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm aware that Bishop McElroy urged Catholics to \"disrupt\" society until the day comes when open borders is the law of the land. And I'm not aware our good Bishop has said jack about the repeated incidents and threats of violence against those who disagree with his take on proper social policy.\n\nGood on you that you're against violence and for free speech. Bad on you for invoking \"logic\" as an argument in itself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Did Catholics vote for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton?\"\n\nCould anyone come up with more terrible options than these two, ... from a nation of 320 million?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The magisterium of the Catholic Church teaches, infallibly, that freedom of religion is a right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Secularism makes no sense. If the public is christian, muslim, jewish etc. then there's little reason not to have christian, muslim, jewish etc. schools. Kids need to learn about their faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Freedom of religion part of the Constitution does not just refer to Christianity....it refers to all religions.....and history shows that most of the framers of the constitution were deists not Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Christmas tree originated in Germany. Before Christianity it was common for people to decorate using evergreens and to celebrate the winter solstice and all this was incorporated into the Christian holiday. The use of ornaments is something Americans adopted which they got from Germany (Europe). Prior to ornaments Europeans use to decorate xmas trees with candles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was a Jew and was not a priest. He did not start a church. Women were disciples of Jesus. It would not be an about face. Women are faces of God.\nFollowing Jesus provides real demands. My comment: \"more prayerful contemplation and a consciousness more attuned to the Gospel messages of compassion, love, social justice, Beatitudes, and forgiveness (instead of violence)\" is non denominational. It is what Jesus asks of all of us.\nWhy are you more interested in comparing Catholics over others? You should focus on loving God and loving family and others as God loves us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yet the Christian Bible and Christian theology include not just Christ's teachings don't they? Nice try deflecting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From Sacrosanctum Concilium:\n\"The treasure of sacred music is to be preserved and fostered with great care.\" (Nothing about throwing out the old music for new wineskins. How can you preserve and foster what you banish?)\n\n\"The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.\n\nBut other kinds of sacred music, especially polyphony, are by no means excluded from liturgical celebrations, so long as they accord with the spirit of the liturgical action, as laid down in Art. 30.\" (This does not occur in the vast majority of Ordinary Form parishes.)\n\n\"The texts intended to be sung must always be in conformity with Catholic doctrine; indeed they should be drawn chiefly from holy scripture and from liturgical sources.\"\n\nSo much of the new music contains heretical notions, banal lyrics and melodies that are like campfire songs for children, or Broadway and not solemn.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quite right, Bennett Kalafut. And if there can be 24 different Catholic Churches in Communion with Rome, there certainly can and will be many different ways of worship and expression within each of the different Churches, depending upon the local, national and international character -- liturgical, geographical, monetary, \"populace\" make-up -- of each territorially rooted community. I see this already in Virginia, Florida, CA (Santa Clara, absolutely)and Texas, among others. \nWhat we do need, however, are good pastors, leaders, who look upon a parish as a \"field hospital\" (drawing on Pope Francis's metaphor) -- an inclusive site of prayer, healing, sacramental ministry, and social justice. In this regard, one wonders if pastors must necessarily be clerics (why not draw from a larger pool of committed lay people?); for while we need more priests, we need QUALIFIED pastors a hundred thousand times more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The RCC should stay out of politics with the exception of working for the freedom to attend one's church of choice. Church/State entanglement is taboo in my book.\n\nThen the RCC should 1) preach a non-politically-aligned message and 2) institutionally serve as an example of that message in action. As the song goes \"They will know we are Christians by our love ... \" \n\nIf the message and example are accepted then membership in the RCC rises and the politicos, as a matter of practicality, will take notice.\n\nIf the message and example does not draw congregants and increase membership then the RCC is doing something dreadfully wrong, or the RCC is greatly mistrusted, most likely due to past actions not yet forgotten nor forgiven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, you couldn't explain this? In every action Christ does he requires a small ascent/action on our part (The Mass is an act of Christ through the priest who is \"in persona Christi\"). Money is simply an easy way to show support to the ministry of the priest, by providing a simple offering. I have never heard of a priest denying saying Mass because someone couldn't spot a five dollar bill. When we ask for God's grace it is appropriate to make some participatory action (or act of piety) to cooperate with the grace. How did this article get published in a \"Catholic\" publication?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "BS article written with BS statistics and trying to apply Muslim and Jewish failed marriages to a Christian-background nation which historically supports younger marriages. You people have fallen far indeed to try and destroy the sanctity of marriage and how God designed it, and convince people to \"wait\" until they are biologically spinsters to have families, children, and happiness in the home. Not surprising that there's zero comments on this either. Left-leaning \"news\" posts love to censor out any opposing views to their insanity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I certainly don't expect them to micro manage parishes and ancillary Catholic organizations, but I do expect them to know their own diocesan responsibilities and oversee the execution of those responsibilities. So yes, I do expect that Sal would keep on top the health insurance premiums of his archdiocesan employees, especially if he is getting fined to the tune of 3 million dollars. I don't buy it's OK because this started with his predecessor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Happy that some prelates are ready to go to jail in order to preserve the seal of confession.\nIt will be a great heroic witness.\nSincerity in confession is more important than temporal matters.\"\n\nHappy that some prelates are ready to go to jail in order to protect pedophiles, pedophile priests, the Pontifical Secret, and enabling Bishops and Cardinals.\nIt will be a great heroic witness.\nProtecting criminals is more important than protecting children, as per conservative Catholic thinking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So are you saying you are not defending the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, only the NT? Do you believe there is only one version of the Koran?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Canada, Qu\u00e9bec is \u201cofficially\u201d French speaking since 1774-\n(but we all know that it is since 1608) so why are you crying for then ?...Who\u2019s LATE here ?...and who\u2019s got & MAKING a problem with it ?...\nThe past & present MINORITY of the Ghetto Anglo Montrealers (7%) of all of Qu\u00e9bec is to blame here for not consciously recognize the \u201cQu\u00e9bec Act\u201d (an Act for making more effective Provisions for The Government of the Province of Qu\u00e9bec in North America) was a British statute which received royal assent 22 June 1774 and became effective 1 May 1775;\n- it re-established the French language rights (got it Anglo Canada ?);\n-+ Catholic faith; \n-+ French civil law...\u201d\n(It\u2019s (almost) \u00ab a State into a State \u00bb, oui ?)\nIt also began what was to become a tradition in Canadian constitutional history \u2013 the recognition of certain distinct rights, \nor protections for Qu\u00e9bec \u2013in language, religion and civil law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are completely wrong. I left the religious life because I could not see myself spending the rest of my life under a vow of obedience regardless of whether God was calling me or not. Rather similar to the rich man in the Gospel whom Our Lord invited to give all he had to the poor and to follow Him. The rich man declined the invitation and I 'failed' to accept it as well.\nThe common thread running through the comments of progressives here is a total rejection of authority. Initially I, too, rebelled against authority. Unlike you, I speak from my experience not conjecture. I do not psycho-analyse David Gibson, I form my opinion of him from what he writes. I could give you a list of ex-religious and former priests who harbour and publish the same resentment towards the Catholic Church as Gibson.\nI don't need a hug thank-you, I am not in purgatory over it, I don't need to deceive myself, I was just stating a fact.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican II and the spirit of the age did empower people to leave who had a crisis is certainty, which is too bad because being overly certain is not good for the Church. I am sure many had very pious reasons for joining the religious life and realized they made a mistake and the loosening of things let them correct that. The old Catholic Church which asserted religious power more than religious freedom waned a bit and that was not a bad thing. This was never intended to be a Catholic nation, although it can be with renewal, but you won't like it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But...there are distinctions in the Body of Christ. I am cool with that. \n\nMy Baptismal worth does not depend on whether I get to perform priestly functions--as it apparently does for dissident liberals. Dissident liberals are guilty of the very clericalism they seek to condemn. For them, being someone in the Church has to do with getting to perform the functions of a priest without having to be ordained. Newsflash: Baptismal worth does not depend on whether you get to do priestly functions without being a priest. Baptismal Graces have their own worth just as they are.\n\nI am not insecure in my Baptism and never have been. I don't need to pretend to be a priest to feel like I have worth in the Church. I know that my worth as a child of God does not depend on how many Sacraments I get to receive, what I might do, or what office I have, but through my Baptism. Again, I am quite secure in this and do not need to take on priestly roles to feel secure in the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So much for being Buddhist! Just what the poor Gautama who gave up his riches would've wanted! But this is true of the Hongwaji people, who go out of their way to promote, cover upand encourage infidelities and affairs! Their development officers and photographers and the trips they arrange(d) for UH admins! They have no morals, these present day followers of poverty choosing Gautama! And the same is true of present day abundance minded Christians! What would Jesus and Gautama do? What were these people peddling anyway? Nirvana?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can't criticize jews. \nThe war on drugs and war on sin are victimless crimes created by the Christian jihadists.\nNatives get special rights.\nWomen get special rights and jobs.\nChristians get special schools and universities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Life was brutal for Christians in Andalusia. Please read the book and then refute the author's findings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nones has referred to plain vanilla \"unaffiliated,\" 60% of whom believe in God, if I recall correctly. Many of these folks, including atheists & agnostics, don't believe in the same gods whom we don't believe in. \nOf course, we must do a better job of inviting them to believe in the same God as we do believe in. In that sense, many are not so much post-Christian as they remain pre-Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Enjoyed reading your Mike, and glad that you shared your epiphany moment when you remembered Reinhold Niebuhr's insightful prayer about serenity. Is it a coincidence (or as Christians would say a Godincidence) that another pastor, Martin Niemoller, penned an equally striking statement that alerts us to the dangers of remaining silent.\n\n\"First they came for the communists\nAnd I didn't speak up because I wasn't communist.\nThen they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up because I wasn't Jewish\n They came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't trade unionist.\n they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant\nThen they came for me and there was no one left to speak up for me.\"\n\nWould serve the ANC MP's well to read both Niebuhr and Niemoller's thoughts when in parliament.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, Marty is right, \"Christian textual critics, who have little in common with Christians except they like to denigrate the Faith with clever textual punditry.\" is not a Ad Hominem. Rather, it is an example of the Appeal to Spite -- dismissing an argument because one does not like the person(s) presenting it.\n\nMarty is wrong when he claims that the early Christians believed that the Second Coming was immanent. Along with the quotes given earlier, \u20091 John 2:18 comes to mind: \"Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. From this we know that it is the last hour.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While the theology of Augustine shown in this article by Gregory Baum is quite sound, I am always fearful of adding to the exaltation of Augustine which has been a seriously negative influence of Western Christianity in other ways. Namely his supporting violence against Christians who did not support the orthodox view. This is why Augustine is called by some \"The father of the Inquisition.\" Secondly, his alignment with the Roman military and his \"just war\" theory have given justification to many evil wars by Christians. \n\nGregory Baum notes how the society that Augustine lived in was pluralistic. Augustine, however, was not tolerant of beliefs different than his which was shown by his support of suppression of Christians who disagreed with him. \n\nFinally, an argument can be made for serious narcissism in the prolific writer Augustine. He is often cited today as the prototype of the memoir which is a staple of our age. Our narcissistic era is shameless in that exhibition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, Jim, we're not referred to as Reverend. When we're being really formal (rare), we can be called Elder Tammeus (well, I can be called that). Mostly I'm just Bill. In the United Methodist Church, however, people with the title elder are, in fact, ordained pastors and are called Reverend. Also note that in the PCUSA, elders and deacons, both elected offices, take the very same ordination vows that people being ordained to the role of pastor take, with one exception: The latter take a vow that has to do with their job of presiding at the two sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion. Elders and deacons, except in rare cases, do not preside at those sacraments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fran\u00e7ois Jourdan, French islamologue;\n\u201c...Islam is very frozen for many centuries and basically lack of freedom - today, it must be said clearly that we cannot build a society of one religion, Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist... or atheist. \nThis phase of human history is now overtaken by religious freedom and human rights. Secularism requires not the ban but the discretion of all religions in the public space as other citizens have the right to have another way of life. \nThis isn't the Koranic trend where Islam does not consider itself \nas other religions and must...DOMINATE !...\u201d\nSo, He said;\n\u201c...Secularism requires not the BAN but the DISCREATION OF ALL RELIGION in the public space...as others Citizens have the right to have ANOTHER WAY OF LIFE\u201d, oui ?\nIslam does not consider itself as OTHER religions and MUST... DOMINATE !...don\u2019t you get it Canadians ???...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My reading is that too many people are too easily manipulable. Maybe Ratzinger was right when the preached: The ordinary Catholic is a simple person....it is the role of the Bishop (or equivalent) to protect him from the power of the intellectuals (or fact/truth).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Segment 2:\nIn 1219, during the 5th Crusade, Francis of Assisi met with Sultan al-Kamil. Since then, the Franciscans were welcomed and have been ministering as custodians of the Holy Land. In apostasy or ignorance, the archbishop says that despite his \"long list of concerns with the content of Islam,\" he admired Muslim women who proudly wear the hijab, which in spite of being a woman's sign of submission, he considers a voluntary act, suggesting that Catholics could learn from that as they seek to \"recover their own sense of distinction from the surrounding secular meltdown.\" Women can wear scarves or mantillas. What should men have to don?\n\n+Chaput declares that \"'a smaller, lighter church' of fewer but holier believers is preferable to one that promotes inclusion at the expense of traditional orthodoxy.\" Jesus never did nor will Jesus ever say that.\n\"Make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is ignorance, let me sow truth, where there is hatred, love.\"\nPaz y Bien, Rolando, OFS.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I must confess that should Archbishop Chaput get his way of a smaller, lighter Church of 'holier' Catholics, I will most probably be on the outside and happier to be there. But I have no intention of surrendering my faith and love of Catholicism any more than Jesus was prepared to surrender his Jewish faith to the Pharisee in Luke 18:11.\nDon Mullan, Dublin, Ireland", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've monitored the situation regarding Amoris Laetitia/ Annulment Tribunals by reading blogs and forums both secular type (wedding) and Catholic and neither of these \"reforms\" have helped a single person. In fact, every time an annulment comes up it is to complain about the process and how they are treated. I wish that these were actually helping real people but they aren't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Richard,\nDo you have a reading comprehension problem? The article says:\n\n\"If a person is too sick to get on or off a commercial airplane or to sit for the duration of the flight, the airline probably won't transport them, said Ted Galbraith, the director of clinical services for LifeMed Alaska.\"\n\nIt doesn't matter if you're in first class or not.\n\nWhy don't you take $20 of that big government retirement check we're all paying you every month, and contribute to the GoFundMe account? Try a little Christian charity for a change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You do really need to read more and be more understanding and less judgement of people. You have tenured friends who are at the UofO and don't like it? Why do they stay, surely there are Universities and Colleges clamoring for their skills.\nI misspoke earlier, 1 in 10 people are gay, didn't realize my error until you pointed it out re transgendered people.\nYes xx=girl and xy=boy but it doesn't stop there. Please explain how some people are born with two set of genitalia, one male and one female? Which one gets taken out surgically, who makes that decision? Christian schools don't teach that.\nExplain why males and females both have nipples?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a CRUX story today reporting that +Samuel Aquila (R-CO) has written an article for his diocesan newspaper (Denver) in which he effectively endorses Trump and the Republican ticket. Predictably he's pretending to believe that Trump is pro-life -- and giving Trump a pass on his racism, xenophobia, misogyny, nativism and his fascism. Catholic clergy (including Fr. Pavone of Priests for Life) who endorse Trump, support him, or in any way provide a rationalization for voting for him, are doing grave harm to the country, to the church and to the cause they purport to advocate. I hope that the priests of Denver will remind the people that, although their bishop is entitled to his political opinions, they are entitled to theirs, too. And I hope they will decline to say or do anything from the pulpit or in their parish bulletins that would lend credence to the archbishop's irresponsible use of the diocesan newspaper. Perhaps the archbishop will apologize for his error in judgment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cIt is, perhaps, to Trump's credit that in Cleveland he did not pretend to beliefs he does not possess.\u201d Well\u2026\u201cin Cleveland\u201d anyway. Mr. Trump, in going down his checklist, has already professed to \u201cmany beliefs he does not possess.\u201d He once held a bible aloft. That, in itself, is sufficient\u2026because \u201cfaith\u201d will take whatever it can get. And, having the advantage of being incarnate, Mr. Trump has already received an Evangelical endorsement. \nReligious sycophants now speak for Mr. Trump\u2026stating openly that Jesus Christ speaks through him. And Dr. Ben Carson, crudely wielding his scalpel of faith, linked Hillary one-step away from Lucifer Himself. Mr. Gerson does not understand how \u201cgenuine\u201d religious faith works in political America\u2026it\u2019s a matter who gets there first with the token symbolism. Hillary could drop to her knees right there on the convention floor and tearfully proclaim to be \u201cborn again.\u201d But the more thoughtful Christians out there would not be swayed by such antics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yep.\nA round flat table on four pillars that sit in an ocean of unknown depth, with a crystalline hemispherical \"firmament\" on top of the table, the whole thing surrounded by water in all directions. When it rains or snows, God opens slits in the firmament. When it floods along the coast, God allows the oceans to escape. See Genesis chapter 1, plus the Noah narrative, and also references in the Psalms.\nStrange how the people who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible leave all of that out.\nAnd as far as the peoples of the Middle East and the conflict there:\nI feel all of the fanatical conservative American Christians who believe Israel is divinely inspired and part of God's plan are playing with matches in a gunpowder magazine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's an old church with a single entrance just like when it was built built decades ago and used by Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many Christians feel the same way towards you. I disagree with them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church teaches, de fide, that Jesus\u2019 mission was to die for our sins, ascend to heaven, and offer his Sacrifice to the Father on our behalf. With the exception of some minor fringes in the Episcopal Church and minor splinter groups in the Lutheran churches, that\u2019s a core belief of every Christian denomination.\n\nThe Kingdom of God was not of this world - his words.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thomas Reese and James Martin are well-intentioned but their recommendations fall far short of dealing with the tragedy of Christian and especially Catholic persecution of lgbt folk over long centuries and still today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians support the elected President of the United States because we are told to do so in the book of Romans. Root for and vote for whoever you wish in the elected, but once a candidate is elected it is time to cast aside the bickering and support the POTUS. Along with being the right thing to do, it also facilitates and peaceful and prosperous society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who decides what is perversion? Personally, I think Radical Religious--including Christian--folks want to be super citizens. That is not American, civilized or lawful. Also, they need to be taxed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As in all things, you have to look at the totality of the circumstances affecting the two groups. The Orthodox church was in the east, where the Renaissance did not develop, not did those areas participate in much of the social and economic advances that the Catholics and Protestants shared in the West. In the East when they did have contact with Catholics, it was mostly because they were under the thumb of a Catholic empire (the Habsbugs, etc.) and local minority Catholics took full advantage of their patrons in Vienna, et al. to treat the locals badly. It's not surprising Orthodox feel, in the great scheme of things, they have have little in common with Catholics. To be fair, to the average western Catholic without much foundation in theology, there seems to be little in common with the Orthodox as well; and certainly far less there is with Protestants.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that your concept of natural law is erroneous, it does not mean the law of nature in tooth and claw. It means the law written in men's hearts from the moment they were created whereby they knew what was right and what was wrong. Without it human beings would be no better than members of the animal kingdom.\nThe only interpreter of the Natural Law is the Catholic Church instituted by Christ. Your interpretation is simply your own.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Those who depart this world without sanctifying grace through ANY type of mortal sin can not be saved. That's Catholicism 101\"\n\nNot so . . . sin is the illusion of separateness\u200b. \n\n\"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: \u201cFor your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.\u201d No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.\"\n\nRomans 8:35-39", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus expects us to accept all of the Law of Moses (\"I have come to fulfill the Law, not abolish it\"), not just the ones that tickle your fancy. You're a cafeteria Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That isn't close to true. There are plenty of militant atheists out there and a significant number on these message boards who are even more into pushing atheism than the Christian out to win converts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jay, NOWHERE do I suggest that Catholic freedom conscience is less important than other's freedom of conscience. My point is only that OUR first obligation is to respect the conscience of others.\n\nJay, the \"fundamental right to life\" of the unborn is our conviction, our conclusion, our belief, but it is obviously not others' belief . Do you (that is Jay Edwards) or do you not accept that their religions freedom entitles them to disagrees with us, we oblige ourselves respect their conscience on this matter? If no, then do you at least agree that you reject religious freedom on this issue, and insist instead the error has nor rights?\n\nI believe that ultimately our conviction that the fetus has a right to life is dependent on our conviction that he fetus is immortal (that it already in guaranteed life beyond the grave), and in the specific sense, the fetal life is no less significant that the life of the born. \n\nRemove that belief in fetal immortality, and the moral analysis changes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Msgr. John Strynkowski, a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, writes about Scriptural and doctrinal foundations of Catholic social teaching\"\n\nHaving read it. It seemed pretty thin gruel. If it was surprising to anyone, I will be stunned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Why else would so many who are not Catholic here or who want to call themselves Catholic, but do pretty much what they want demand Catholicism change?? and not them?\"\n\nBecause Catholic Bishops and Cardinals (including those at the Vatican) cover up crimes against children due to Church Law orders, unless local laws require them to report such crimes to police.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cont. from your first section. \n\nEph. 4:11 And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for works of ministry, to build up the body of Christ . \n\nIt is true no sacramental priesthood is mentioned in the New Testament except when Hebrews compares Jesus' High Priesthood to the Jewish Priesthood & this states Jesus basically satisfies all that Jewish Priesthood needed within himself alone. \n\nSo Catholic Priesthood is not a continuation of Jewish or Levitican Priesthood & Christians don't believe that Jewish priesthood needed to continue because of Christ's sacrifice.\n\nPeter does mention that we are all the Royal Priesthood together as the Church and Jesus does state he will make us a nation of priests. I believe Jesus makes the disciples into the first shepherds like himself at the last supper-sacramental pastors & evangelists - presbyters who will supply the basic needs of the flocks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We have seen what happens when ISIL persecutes Yazidis, Christians and dissenting Muslims, when extremists in Burma attack Rohingya Muslims and Christians with impunity, and when Pakistan's blasphemy laws incite extremists to attack perceived transgressors,\" said Reese, who is also a senior analyst for NCR.\"\n\nYes, because those examples of infractions on religious freedom are exactly comparable to companies like Hobby Lobby being forced to pay for contraceptives as part of their employees' health care. Wrong again, American bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2/5\nWe know now, largely as the result of modern scriptural studies, that we humans add one hell of a lot of ourselves when we attempt to give written expression to the guidance of the Spirit. For instance, we once took scripture rather literally, and now we happily distinguish the theology of each of the OT prophets, and of each of the evangelists, etc.\u2014multiple theologies in the same bible all inspired by the same Spirit. And in the Christian era, we have to distinguish official episcopal teaching from the teaching of theologians and the beliefs of the people. V2 definition of the \u201cChurch\u201d as the all of the holy people of God helps a great deal in this regard.\n\nIn my view, we should be extremely cautious of simply throwing out the past to replace it with what suits us, without first striving to understand the past in the best possible light. And yet intellectual progress of all sorts, including theology, almost always depends on finding fault, often serious fault, with the past.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Representative Hanabusa - Thank you for reconsidering your position on the criminalizing of protests for boycotts against Israel's settlement activities. As a Christian, and one who loves the Israeli people, I cannot but see the settlement activity as grossly unjust and a key factor in preventing any hope for peace in the region. The Palestinians are an oppressed people and the Israeli settlements are no less an act of oppressive annexation than any of the actions taken by Russia and other countries from which the U.S. claims to be different. As residents of Hawaii, we share a greater sensitivity to oppressive annexation of a sovereign nation and it is hoped that such an understanding will guide our future actions as a nation. My prayers are lifted for you and your colleagues in congress to resist the political pressure that fuels the Israeli actions to minimize both the worth and the suffering of the Palestinians as they, like the rest of us, are all God's people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. Christianity, the First 3000 Years, by Diarmaid MacCullogh. page 133-136 .relying on biographies of Ignatius of Antioch. and continuing to desicribe how the Bishop of Rome would send Communion to outlying areas and later withhold it as the first form of excommunication.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that we can never know a person's mind, much less what Newt is up to when he's not facing the cameras. That is why I asked.\n\nThere's a difference between condemning hypocrisy and condemning a person. In the gospel Jesus said judge not; he also inveighed against hypocrisy. A complex figure, and a mystery!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, the first ones to come up with the idea that slavery was wrong and campaign to get it abolished were particularly strict Christians who took the admonition to \"do unto others as you would have them do unto you\" seriously.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"... with its particular beliefs about hard work and salvation - versus Calvinism, Catholicism, and other Christian sects.\"\n\nTo be more clear and precise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Almost, Christ only ever spoke of congregations, the word church does not come from The Holy Bible. And yes, Jesus was rebelling against the State(Caesar), The Roman Catholic Church was first invented by The State to bring Christians back under State control...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The soldiers and the Jews knew what they were doing, they were executing a criminal as far mas they were concerned. Surely Christ was referring to the fact that they were unaware that they were committing deicide?\nOf course we are not perfect, the Redemption secured for us the possibility of salvation but did not take away the flaws in our intellect and will as a result of original sin. However, God would not make it impossible for us to obey Him, not always easy but not impossible.\nI believe that if God did not love the world it would not exist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Should a Christian film maker be forced to film porn, because to not do so would be discrimination? Should a Jewish baker be forced to make a cake for a Nazi themed party? Should a Muslim baker be forced to bake a cake for a Gay Pride party?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can take the words literally, but the real key is how religions interpret their bible /Koran, etc.. Mainstream Christians religions do not take these excerpts literally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He said many people believe more change is needed and spoke of the Second Vatican Council idea of \"authority as service, leadership as service, not as an elitist class who are above accountability, transparency.\"\n\nOne of the hallmarks of a cult is the notion that the clergy are without fault and no one can say otherwise. This notion still has hold outs in the Catholic Church among the clergy and laity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a perfect way for Republicans to inaugurate their new administration. Take away healthcare for 20+ million people! I mean after all, how call all these Christians who practice \"Prosperity Christianity\" feel they are specially blessed by God when they see poor people visiting the same doctor as they do? To feel \"specially blessed\" they must see the poor, working poor, and middle class, lining up for medical, dental, and vision care at yearly free clinics put on by charitable organizations and using their SNAP card at the grocery store. Only then can they feel smugly confident that GOD loves them more!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I have been involved in Catholic Pro Life activity, pro life politics for over twenty years I don't believe, respectfully, our Pope Francis is very well informed regarding: ROE v WADE made a law in the United States in 1973. It would be better for Pope Francis to read \"Pope John Paul II book: \"Memory & Identity\" and President Ronald Reagan's book: Abortion & the CONSCIENCE of the Nation 1983. While it is true we must handle the welfare of 800,000 or so Dreamer's and/or those listed in DACA humanely - I don't think DEPORTATION at this point makes sense. The prolonged mismanagement of Government UN ENFORCED LAW created \"Red Haired Orphans so to speak. The Dreamer's wouldn't know a foreign land from Adam - Dreamer's grew up here and are American's- some serving in the military; already in the workforce; or attending colleges. President Obama knew DACA was a deferred program -Obama couldn't make it law as that is the job of Congress. Obama EXPLOITED DREAMER'S for political expediency.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The comments here are astonishing to me, coming from Christian men. They seem to range between \"It's not happening in my world so why are you bringing it up?\" to \"It's not happening as much as you say it is, so why are you bringing it up?\" to \"You are a pastor, so why are you bringing up social justice matters at all?\" \n\nCan you imagine Jesus ignoring such a matter, or saying \"Oh, it's only a few people, not many. We have other things to worry about.\"\n\nI thank Mark for reminding us of this problem, and for calling attention to those, including Seventh-day Adventists, who are trying to address it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Fr. Gruner gives more details about the coming chastisements (19:20). He explains that if the Secret was released, it \u201cwould stop the changes of Vatican II in its tracks: immediately\u201d.\"\n\nThis would explain why the Third Secret which was supposed to be revealed in 1960 wasn't, and why Pope John XXIII railed against \"prophets of doom\". Given the collapse in the practice of faith the \"prophets of doom\" seem to have been vindicated. Reportedly J23 fainted when he opened the secret.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are the one who is mistaken.\nAre you forgetting the early Christians shared all they had in common? Isn't that a form of communism?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed, but not just any form of tolerance but Christians seeking reform of the Church as well as society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, this is an essay about the evils of biblical literalism, something I used to think was the sole provenance of Evangelical Protestants. No argument from me there. Now maybe we can have a discussion about the broader effects of fundamentalism within Catholicism, which often manifests itself in different ways than it does with Protestantism. I'd say that discussion is long overdue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with you. I'm sorry you have bad experiences with Christians. There really are many out there that don't use bullhorns or shame or other egregious tactics, but try to live their lives and treat others with kindness and civility. Many do absolutely amazing and selfless things in this world to make it better, but goodness and self-sacrifice aren't all that interesting to the media, lol. There's a verse, Ephesians 4:15, that says \"but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ\". There are other similar verses, that seem to be missing from the Bibles of some, I'm sorry to say. \n\nI have never been tempted to evangelize with pushiness, threats, shame, or bullhorns. And I've never found the verses that encourage that. Just know that the author of the faith, Jesus, was a terrific guy that people couldn't wait to spend time with, and His plan is that His followers would be similarly appealing and pleasant. Some are, some aren't", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "President Obama is a Christian. And one of the most-ethical presidents we've ever had. But he has nothing to do with this story.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have my own church where I worship. years ago I received orders from an Old Roman Catholic bishop and when I left active ministry I didn't practice anything for a long time. but a couple of years ago an Episcopal priest friend, a Roman Catholic priest friend and a Mormon friend all ganged up on me and told me that is I wasn't going to go anywhere, I should start offering Mass at home again. I am still not in active ministry, but I have decided that if ANYONE asked me to provide any pastoral service for them, I would do it. Since then I have married my Lutheran goddaughter, gave my brother in law's dad the Last Anointing when all the parish priests in town were on retreat and they couldn't get the one who was supposed to be available for such things. A coworker has asked me to baptize her granddaughters and I told her I would. So not totally godless. LOL", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A truly irrelevant non Catholic event", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are confusing the date of actual text with the theology it contains.\nVatican II was about a return to sources, which includes Scripture ... \n\nSo to start your comment by saying \"Here's some pre-Vatican II theology\" and then quote Luke shows you have not understood Vatican II, or Scripture, or even both.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So when you said: \"I gave interpretations from a strictly Catholic viewpoint,\" what you actually meant was you stayed quiet when the issues of the Magisterium, Papal Primacy and Infallibility were raised? All of which are based on a Catholic interpretation of scripture. \n\nAnd these issues: Penal Substitution? Imputation versus infusion of grace? The Five Solas? Did you stay quiet when these were raised too?\n\nHow about the Marian dogma of Immaculate Conception and Assumption?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope. Jesus missed the [\"institution of a priesthood\"] by at least a century, or more. You going need to search a long time to find scriptural basis in the NT for your assertion. \n\nThe authorship of Hebrews is uncertain - Eusebius, the Greek historian and polemicist of Christianity (314 AD) had his doubts about Paul's authorship . But we do know that it was written most likely in Rome - therefore it presents a christology that is a backwards look in time.\n\nScholars believe the Book of Hebrews - very polished and eloquent - was written for Jewish Christians. Its purpose was to exhort Christians to persevere in the face of persecution. The theme of the epistle is the doctrine of the person of Christ and his role as mediator between God and humanity - which eventually did become a major tenet in Christianity's priesthood cult.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR's editor must be on a long holiday.\n\nThis article is in need of a severe editing.\n\n\"Christians general learn very little about things like Catholic Social Teaching and stop learning anything beyond their 12th year when confirmation sends them off while their education goes on elsewhere.\"\n\nI'm not kidding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's this, another comment where you simply repeat Church teaching? No, yet another derogatory slur. Tridentinus, this is a matter for Catholics not lapsed ones like yourself. You really have no right to be lecturing anyone on Church teaching since you ignored one of the most fundamental ones for long periods of your life. \n\nI have experienced many like you in my life, people who suffer shame and guilt for their own behaviour who suddenly become more Catholic than Catholic in order to convince themselves that they did nothing wrong. It's really a form of guilt transference.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jeremy Joseph Christian, the Portland man who killed 2 Good Samaritans in Portland when they tried to stop a racist attack on young a Muslim girls.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not supporter of the Conservatives or Scheer by any stretch, I'm a center left liberal. But I don't think it's appropriate to label the Leader of the Opposition a \"Christian Supremacist\". If you want to challenge Scheer, you need only point out the failure of his ideology and actions. I would also add that there's nothing wrong with being a Christian either. Atheists (not saying you are or aren't atheist Allen) seem to forget that our secular nation and its social democratic institutions, were developed by Christian liberals (small l liberal) over hundreds of years. And while Scheer could really learn to be more tolerant/inclusive and understanding of other cultures, religions, and beliefs, it's nothing short of hyperbole to suggest he is a supremacist. He's the leader of the Conservatives and the Opposition in the House of Commons. Disagree sure, but show some respect for our institutions and the man.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I look forward to seeing this. I start to get an opportunity this evening. \n\nHowever - if a major thesis is that the USA got into it through a series of \"mistakes\" - best check that. \n\nHo Chi Min had successfully led a struggle for national liberation from French colonialism. The north and south ... after being divided ... were to have a referendum about union. The USA leaders feared the south would vote for unification with the north ... so didn't allow it. \n\nMeantime - in a majority Buddhist country, the South Vietnamese president was Catholic; one got promoted faster in the military if one was Catholic; USAID went preferentially to Catholics and Christians ... \"better dead than red\" remember. \n\nA collaboration between the CIA and the Vatican that began in WWII continued ... to the detriment of so many around the world ... \n\nLike so many national liberation movements during the Cold War ... usually mislabelled \"communist\" ... . \n\nand like WWI - usually about imperialism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for putting the Christian spirit back into Christianity. Hatred and bigotry doesn't belong there, no, not *even* under the guise of supposed religious beliefs. People should not be allowed by law, in the name of \"religious freedom\", to violate another's civil or human rights: the right to live, love, work, have access to capital, or to conduct transactions in the marketplace as any other citizen without fear, and without discrimination. Including which public bathroom one chooses to use. Peace to All.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Orthodox Catholics care very much what their bishops have to say about human sexuality. Alas, if the polls are correct there are very few of them left in America and Europe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a pity this article doesn't offer an substantial analysis of Fr. Weinandy's letter and his very legitimate concerns; concerns shared by many faithful Catholics. \n\nHere's an interesting insight:\n\n\"I have often asked myself: \u201cWhy has Jesus let all of this happen?\u201d The only answer that comes to mind is that Jesus wants to manifest just how weak is the faith of many within the Church, even among too many of her bishops. Ironically, your pontificate has given those who hold harmful theological and pastoral views the license and confidence to come into the light and expose their previously hidden darkness. In recognizing this darkness, the Church will humbly need to renew herself, and so continue to grow in holiness.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, you are correct. \nAs Fulton Sheen said of many bishops and theologians after Vatican II: \n\"Why do good Christians in the Church of Christ accept the present dynamic wherein people of little or no faith are setting the standards for people of great faith.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, the way to effectively reduce unplanned pregnancies is not to do the deed that leads to unplanned pregnancies. If a person isn't ready for a child, perhaps they are not ready to engage in the deed that leads to children. I want to note that abstinence is 100% effective, free and there are no negative side effects. What is this about poor women needing free contraception? Abstinence is free. \n\nHowever, if you think my suggestion is not practical, last I heard and checked, prophylactics cost around $.50. Who can't afford those? Why is it necessary for the Church to provide free contraception? Again, who can't afford $.50? Right--everyone can afford that. \n\nSo tell me about the need for \"access\" compliments of the Catholic Church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are correct. Youth are able to point out how it is gramatically incorrect with numerous runon sentences throughout the Eucharistic Prayers and Collects. The \"Parallel\" Catholics use the Paul VI Sacramentary and did not make the change in 2011. Good for them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The whole world is bigoted, so what, it will never change. Why not stop the PC malarkey. The real truth is that you and your ilk want the country to be a minority of white right Christians. Sorry Charlie, you got Trump breathing down your neck, now! America, love it or get out! Oh, and nothing wrong with war. It is the one constant of human kind. Get used to it, war will only increase in the future. Kumbiya!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Church teachings\" must never be thought to have been equally \"given by the Inviolate Word of God.\" There are indeed essential, fundamental Christian doctrines, which the Church of Rome shares in teaching, and which may be considered inspired by God. And then there are a lot of decent doctrines that were developed in a way that was consistent with those original doctrines. But then too there are a lot of much more questionable developments. These include not only a good bit that the Catholic church \"teaches\" regarding sexuality, but also even the very pretense that the church's role is to make detailed pronouncements on sexual matters.\n\nThis is a matter of history, and the Catholic church is a creature of history, affected by changes in circumstances, ideas, and the influence of personalities. What we will have to give an account of is how we used our heads to evaluate such historical phenomena as the Church of Rome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Sri Lankan war wasn't Muslim - I said it was similar. More than ethnic, it was a linguistic battle - each side had Christian minorities within the majority linguistic group. The Tamils felt discriminated because Sinhala was the only official language, replacing English after Sri lankan independence (similar to the Quebec issue - would you classify that as an ethnic conflict too?).\n\nAs for immigration, let's take Italy as an example. It was an emigrants country till late 20th century. It's citizens emigrated to the USA, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, UK, etc. today they are a large recipient of immigrants. Ditto for the Irish, the Brits, the French, etc. London would never be the world's largest international financial center without those immigrants.\n\nLet's take the USA. It is a hyperpower due to its immigration policies. if they had depended on the sons of the soil, they would have been a middling power today. They would certainly not have won two world wars and the Cold War.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For what it is worth, \"easter\" is a word derived from a word with meanings of \"spring\" and \"fertility\". The date is chosen according to lunar cycles. A little research will show that the church has adopted the term, perhaps like Christians claimed the winter solstice time as a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It was a way to compete with old religions. Considering all that, the bunny seems to be as genuine a derivative as the resurrection of Jesus.\n\nDon't get me wrong. I have been a Christian all my life, but I want to be an effective one, and one who can accept that not everything is about me and Jesus.(I think that's what Jesus would want)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great story about John Wesley that may be apropos:\n\nWesley was an ardent preacher and scholar, but secretly felt he was a fake. He had lots of knowledge and was doing all kinds of works, but didn't really feel like an authentic Christian.\n\nLater, he went on a voyage and there was a storm at sea. Very frightening in those days, and Wesley was near scared to death of dying and ashamed of it to boot. Where was his faith, he wondered? \n\nHe noticed that some German Christians of another sect were together singing hymns while the storm raged. They seemed at peace. How could this be? What did they know that he didn't?\n\nThe storm passed, and the next day, Wesley swallowed his pride and approached the German pastor, inquiring of him why he and his people were not afraid.\n\nThe pastor said, \"you either believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and gave you salvation, or you don't.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "HPWells: I suggest that you have the right to follow your chosen religion, but please stay out of ours. Us \"pagen Christians\" have enough variance within our own belief structure, and don't need outsiders meddling, adding fuel to the fire. And you have the written Torah? We have Torah written in our hearts. Even better! We do by instinct, what you have to be forced to do by Jewish law.\nThis last paragraph was offensive enough to get flagged? While HPWells can freely accuse all Christians of idol worship?\nCivil comments: Your algorithm appears to be in need of more hands-on \"baby-sitting\". It doesn't appear to be ready for autonomous deployment just yet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It isn't a Protestant website exactly. NCR was told not to call itself Catholic but continued to do so. Why? Look at all the traffic it generates for nearly every issue. It never fails.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is sad. However, as the article said, many Catholics moved into the suburbs and vacated the cities. The suburbs have not really downsized yet. I have heard that the church is also growing in the south , where many northerners relocated over the past 3 decades. Change is a part of life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But if the winner \"donates\" some money to the Catholic church, they gladly accept it. They won't refuse it. Other winners on the mainland often say they will give money to the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Devos \"and her children have only ever attended Christian schools, and she and her husband have donated almost $8.6 million in recent years to Christian schooling organizations.\" \n\n\"The limited scope of DeVos' education policy experience has raised questions for many about whether she is suited to run the federal agency charged with making American public education first-rate for all children.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For other examples of Catholic journalistic independence based on constituent support, may I suggest \"Culture Wars\" (E. Michael Jones) and The Vortex (Michael Voris).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I prefer toe National Catholic Reporter to the National Catholic Register at this moment in time, because here you can find an arrticle like this which challenges you to think about the Christianity of Trump's ideology. At the Register this whole issue is just glossed over. It is suggested that it is indifferent to the Christian that 24 million people will lose their health care under the now failed Trump/Ryan plan. As long as one is not forced to pay for contraception! Such indifference to social questions makes one lose one's credibility in the struggle for the Culture of Life. Still, being frugal (and not giving out money on unnedessary things (contraception) does help one to have something over for the poor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the mid 1990s, on a now defunct Catholic blog (the \"Free Catholic Mailing List\"), I knew a Martin Eble. He sounded a lot like the Marty E. we have here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are NOT similar. The intent, the circumstances, and therefore the consequences are very different, and that is what you keep evading.\n\nThe \"transfer of property\" aspect has been greatly exaggerated, and has been only symbolic for quite a long time now. The woman's consent has always been expressly required. Women have been active socially and religiously from day one in western/Christian society, had an important role in its inception, participating in religious services next to men, instituting and leading religious orders themselves, mixing with men at country fairs and dances and church socials, balls and banquets and court life, organizing dinner parties and salons, etc. It was easy to go from there to expecting equal political rights.\n\nMeanwhile Muslim women were hidden in back rooms and behind veils and partitions, observers but not participants.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There would be no \"Fr. John Zuhlsdorf and Church Militant and Rorate Caeli (which) all traffic in this nasty brew\" of right wing political agitprop IF..\n1. The inappropriate implementation of Vatican II had not discredited as \"deplorables\" those who loved the Latin Mass and all things rosary, statue, candle, benediction, pageantry, etc.\n2. There would be no cause for left/right wing animosity or division in the Catholic Church IF Pope Francis and his advisors would acknowledge and guide the existence of a Vatican II Rite/Church alongside and in union with Rome...in union with the other 22 other inter-independent non-Roman Catholic Rites most of which have existed in Catholic tradition for a thousand years.\n3.If only RCC today could give up trying to force unity into the mold of uniformity of belief and practice. Church unity viewed as a unity in diversity...Wouldn't that also be great example to the world today? \nWhat do you think?\nVisit Rite Beyond Rome https://RiteBeyondRome.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "IF the Trump-aligned Evangelicals do achieve their political goals, they will turn against Catholicism, denouncing it with the same slurs of past anti-Catholic eras.\n\nCatholic-Evangelical alliances are, at best, temporary marriages of convenience. I suspect neither really trusts the other, nor endorses the other's generally held beliefs and practices.\n\nWhen such an alliance is dissolved, as it surely will be, I expect Catholicism to get the short end of the stick.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's called \"forgiveness\" a cornerstone of Christianity.\n\nMatt 18: 21Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?\n22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.\n\nLet he who is without sin cast the first stone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I like about Burke is that it is priest like him that causes Roman Catholic to leave the church and come to Old Catholic and Independent Catholic churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have at one time or other read most of the documents. Forget most. The residual is, for me, the \"spirit\". It is that our Church is \"in time\" and time is the measure of change. The implies quite clearly to me that even the specific words of the original documents of decision can change, must be open to evolve. What remains constant is the evolving mission and message that is Jesus the Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alexandra...cont.\nAs to Simone, I agree that she is busy...but she has commented on occasion on NCR and the idea of using one of her staff is a fine idea....\n\nThe problem I see..and have experienced is that the media, Catholic or otherwise, really doesn't understand the nuances and interfaces of programs like EITC...\n\nI used to take local reporters out to lunch and bring along a one page fact sheet (more, they wouldn't read) and try to explain whatever the entitlement issue of the moment was....\n\nA number of years ago the NCR...very briefly, had a Hill staffer as a commenter on such federal issues and I loved it!\n\nFINALLY They had someone who actually knew what they were talking about and wrote well....\n\nI would love it if the NCR hired a pro to do their Poverty articles...!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry for the delay In responding - things get busy. I don't defend the murderous actions of any regime, whether Israeli, American (yes, much high-up American leadership is Godless, even evil), any number of Muslim regimes, or many other nations committing atrocities as well. You aren't seeing the big picture - those unreconciled with God, living without God's indwelling Holy Spirit, are ultimately either aiding Satan or are at best sidelined in the battle against him, and he's very good at getting us to destroy each other. The human heart, without God, is \"desperately wicked\", and nationality doesn't matter. On reconciliation, \"Jesus said to him, \"I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.\" Genuine good fruit and good works outflow from a right relationship with God, but good works alone can't wash our sins away. In Matthew 7 Jesus isn't criticizing people for calling Him Lord; he is criticizing those who call Him Lord yet disobey him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no way around this. If someone remarries while his/her spouse is still alive and the marriage has not been annulled, having a sexual relationship with the new spouse (or anyone else for what matters) is adultery - and someone who not only committed adultery, but does not make sincere and honest attempt to avoid it in the future cannot receive the Holy Communion.\n\nMarriage is either indissoluble or it isn't - and the Catholic marriage is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a Wikipedia article, List of Christian Nobel laureates at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_Nobel_laureates\n\nAmong the Nobel Peace Prize winners, there are 16 Catholics. This includes the Dominican priest Dominique Pire and Mother Teresa.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ATF, this is a serious question, no snark at all. How come we expect only bishops, archbishops, cardinals to be the \"on the job Catholics\" in a neighborhood or country. Gandhi used the vision of noncooperation to break such impasses. That would mean everyone 'standing down' and refusing to cooperate, here in Dakota and in Honduras. The people standing with standing rock are engaged in forms of noncooperation.\n\nI'm focusing on the common expectation that if 'leaders' did enough the pew people could 'sit it out'. Not one who usually quotes Dr. Phil but I got to ask... \"hows that workin' for us?\" Not so good ehh? \n\nI've been reading NCR type magazines from other denominations, and they don't seem to invest as much time bashing the leadership but rather call out and call on each other to do the part they can do. A bit less flash in the media and more muscle to the moment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know, I agree. Let them play, let them wander, let them do what they do. We can heal without them. We can find or build a new community. We can not be stopped. It's already a new day. Nothing in the Catholic Church will ever be the same. We have Survived. We are talking together. We are growing in numbers. We are the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So nice to know we have fellow Canadians who put down and discriminate against those who have different beliefs, as if that matters. Just wow. Catholics, or any religion or belief system can lead our governments if they remain independent of governing . It's more about the party. McGuinty is a Catholic. Wynne is a Christian. Both ruined Ontario due their party's policies, not religious background.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"You write a lot of words merely to justify your getting into other peoples' business because you believe your judgement and version of Christianity, among hundreds, trumps everything.\"\n\nAmen, brother.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He lives in Bellevue not too far from Topeka. I have cousins just down the road from him. As far as I know he is still around. I jearbhe finally found some Old Catholic bishops to give him bishop's orders. You can follow him on Twitter: \n\nhttps://mobile.twitter.com/popemichael1", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, you know, that biblical view of marriage where there's no divorce, or cherry picking the other things out the Bible one wants to ignore or abide by. This Christianity concept is good, too bad the human practitioners of it screw it up so badly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, the Holy Father cannot change doctrine, which is all Church teaching in matters of faith and morals.\n\nThe doctrines of the Church are those teachings which must be believed by the faithful, including 1) dogmas, teachings which the Church has solemnly defined as formally revealed by God, and, 2) other teachings definitively proposed by the Church because they are connected to solemnly defined teachings. The first (dogmas) can be called doctrines of divine faith, the second doctrines of catholic faith. Together they are said to be \"of divine and catholic faith.\" Both kinds of doctrine require the assent of faith. Both are infallibly taught by the Church. Dogmas require it because they are formally revealed by God. Doctrines definitively proposed by the Church require it, because the infallibility of the Church in matters of faith and morals is itself divinely revealed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For many fundamentalist Christians, support for the State of Israel is rooted in the belief that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land is a necessary pre-requisite to the Second Coming. However, these same Christians often -- usually -- believe that at the Second Coming, Jews will be excluded from the salvation the Lord won for Christians. In short, one can say that many fundamentalist Christians love Israel, but Jews not so much. What exactly Pence believes, I don't know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, he did. He was denied his faculty to teach as a Catholic theologian with a certain then Cardinal Ratzinger leading the charge against him. Burke, Meisner, Caffarra, and Brandmuller have gotten off easy for their treachery.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting that the Catholic Church is more obsessed with the remarriage than the divorce. It doesn't care if a woman/ man gets divorced to find him/herself as long as that person doesn't remarry. \n\nAnd sometimes a divorce is better for the children than living in an unhappy and acrimonious marriage. In the case of abuse, leaving the relationship is better for the children than staying. A man/ woman who chooses to stay with an abuser and who subjects his/her kids to that is actually harming the children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. I am not trying to separate faith and politics, but that has nothing to do with priest's trying to judge who is standing in front of them. \n\n\n2. Politicians, Catholic or otherwise, do need to provide information on their positions on issues for voters to make decisions. Your continual point that they are \"supporting abortion\" is, of course, only YOUR interpretation of what they are doing; I'm guessing that they are actually doing something else that you don't accept as it is, but prefer to interpret as \"supporting.\"\n\n\n3. And, finally, it's \"its\" not \"it's\" in your third paragraph, first sentence. A common-enough error, but it does distract the reader from the content.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, essentially Trump skipped town. No, Obama did not insult Christians; he is a Christian. As I posted below, ione's view of the headlines depends upon whose ox is being gored. Have a good evening.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You accurately include the Christian view of \"heaven\" with other mythological places.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If this motion is supposed to cover all religious discrimination why does it have to single out Islam as special? Jews are attacked in Montreal, Christian churches are attacked in Mississauga. All religions need to be treated as equal. Islam isn't special and needs no special protection which is what this motion seeks. And the media are complicit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) I've been a Catholic for nearly 74 years and absolutely disagree with \"changelessness\" as being a \"central tenet.\" The \"central tenet\" of the entire universe is CHANGE; annihilation is the consequence of NOT changing. (Check the evolution of doctrinal truth as it changed over the centuries, beginning with the Council where the principals VOTED ON the divinity of Christ.)\n2) I deny nothing of the essentials of the Catholic/Christian faith. I certainly DO have serious objections to the laundry list of evils detailed in my original post, and I have to ask why you DON'T? Take off the angel-dusted blinders you're wearing and view the institutional Church objectively, then ask if you support those characteristics that originate from corporate sinfulness. \n3) I'm sorry if you are offended by those of us who are not blind to the changes that must occur in this institution. We are a small, vocal group whose opinion doesn't matter in the long run. You don't have to read this forum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I Christian I will say this person is horribly misguided and/or Biblically illiterate. A Nation (at least the way she is using the term) cannot \"repent\" at least in a Biblical sense, which is what she seems to be implying, by displaying the ten commandments, school prayer or anything else. People are the only ones who are commanded to repent, and doing these \"good things\" she references are meaningless to God without the inner conversion God requires (being Born Again of the Spirit of God) in order for man (and woman) to be justified before God, if enough people are converted and begin to interact with society, the society may \"change\". Moral Standards are what the Catholics try to use, look at how that worked out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Simple question: \n\nWhat does it mean to be a \"practicing\" Catholic. In other words, what distinguishes Catholics from other Christians who profess the Nicene Creed?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ">>>Nowadays nobody knows cause all we read about is what the biased news sources report.\nEvery wonder why there is story after story about ripping the GOP and only good about the DEMS?\n\nGone, the legitimate news sources report quite accurately. Sometimes this truth hurts, though. \n\nWhy there is mostly good news about the Democrats and bad news about the Republicans? Do you really have to ask? The Republicans have gone from respected, to Libertarian (Tea Party) to just plain off the grid crazy with the Donald. Not much good to say about it these days, I'm sorry to say. I used to be one, but switched in the 1990s when they refused to do anything about gun violence and got in bed with the evangelical Christians who only stayed there because they were against abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MY V0CATION to the Catholic priesthood, the call of The Holy Spirit, has been with me for years and years, and has been confirmed by many, Bishops Priests Laity, and yet because I am married, I am NOT worthy. I know of many in the same situation as myself who have been married within The Ordinariate, my preferred pathway. However, I have been blocked at every turn, absolutely no mercy, no compassion, no flexibility etc, all things called for by Pope Francis, but still NOT A WORD of approval for me. I would wish they would come and\" walk in my shoes\" and experience my hurt, my utter frustration, my broken heart, my sorry for the Holy Spirit. All I can say, :COME HOLY SPIRIT\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump spoke throughout the campaign of his desire to deport millions of illegals. Yet the bishops never acted as if this was a major issue of conscience where Catholic voters were concerned. They waxed rhetorically that voting for anyone who is pro-choice (e.g. Clinton) was a grievous sin. Now having helped Trump become president-elect they are trying to ingratiate themselves with he flock they previously shunned by acting as if social justice was their overarching motive all along.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Benedict XVI: \"...now we can justly place it (solidarity) next to the two key Christian words, \"Eucharist\" and \"Communion\". Solidarity in this context signifies people who feel responsible for one another, the healthy for the sick, the rich for the poor, the countries of the North for those of the South. It means a sense of individual awareness, of reciprocal responsibility; it means we are conscious that when we give we receive, and that we can always give only what has been given to us and that what we have been given never belongs to us for ourselves alone...\" taken from the above cited document.\nCan President Trump ever come to believe and support such a concept as 'solidarity'? Can we?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of all of the branches of Christianity the Catholic Church has the most wealth $$$$$$$", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quite so, my friend. In the Middle Ages, clerics were immune from suit or prosecution in the king's courts. This 'privilege of clergy' was backed up by canonical censures up to and including excommunication. It was the bone of contention between King Henry II and his Archbishop of Canterbury, St Thomas Becket, and in the case of Richard Hunne (1515) who was murdered in his cell in the Bishop of London's prison whilst awaiting trial on a charge of heresy.\n\nThe 1917 Code of Canon Law retained privilege of clergy and its associated penalty of excommunication, but for obvious political reasons it was rarely enforced, at least in countries where Catholics were in the minority. It was quietly dropped from the Code in the 1983 revision but still lingers in some clerical minds.\n\nWhatever its outcome, the impending trial of Cardinal Pell will be a watershed in relations between church and state. Governments should now recognize the Pope as a religious leader only and not as a head of state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Forgive my bluntness but I don't see a theological argument, is Catholicism not a belief? If you believe the Church is wrong does that not by definition negate your belief in the Church's teachings on its sacraments?\n\nI am genuinely confused, it seems like an paradox to say one is a Catholic as if it is an ethnicity and not a creed. How can you choose to remain Catholic and at the same time reject it? \n\nOther denominations have very different understanding of ecclesiology, there is in built interpretive authority, while the Catholic church(along with the Orthodox) have as a core belief the idea of unchangeable truth beliefs. It would be like you being a seventh day adventist but rejecting Sabbath worship as wrong, it makes no sense. \n\nEither it is simply an identity label that you and others refuse to let go due to emotional attachment or there must be some sufficient theological argument.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sir, please stop using euphemisms. Pro-choice is pro-abortion. The minute you use those euphemisms the abortion lobby has already won. \"Reproductive freedom\" \"women's rights\" etc, are other euphemisms employed to cloud the issue. When abortion supporters frame the debate with their euphemisms they can make it as if those who are pro-life are somehow against women's rights, their health, and their reproductive freedom. The issue, of course is not any of those. The issue is abortion and always has been. \n\nYou are right: under the current landscape, there are too many states that are pro-abortion that an amendment would never pass. \n\nYou can make all the excuses you want for the \"Catholic\" politicians. What if the politicians said \"We don't support slavery--but that is an issue for the state, not the federal government\" or \"We don't support slavery, but that is a Constitutional, not a legislative issue.\" Would anyone believe them if they claimed they aren't racist?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is not a problem for me. My God is love and forgiveness. \nYou and Jay have taken my comments that Jesus said on the cross, that he forgave everyone because they did not understand what they were doing, to mean \"universal salvation\". I think helping the needy, working for social justice, and working on establishing and living the Kingdom of God are important.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is your point? This is a discussion of religion and the law in Canada. The authors position, with which I agree, would keep the courts out of internal disputes within a mosque over internal procedures, just like with a Catholic or protestant congregation, so long as they don't conflict with criminal or civil law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The conclusion that the sacraments are effective \u201cex opere operato\u201d (from the work worked) was one of the results of the Church\u2019s dealing with the Donatists.\n\nCaecilian noted that \"the validity of the sacraments and of other such acts cannot be made to depend on the worthiness of the one administering them, for in that case all Christians would be in constant doubt regarding the validity of their own baptism or of the communion of which they had partaken.\"\n\nThe Church concluded that the efficacy of the sacrament is a result, not of the holiness of a priest or minister, but rather of Christ Himself who is the Author of each sacrament. The priest or minister acts in persona Christi (in the person of Christ), even if in a state of mortal sin.\n\nThe principle affirms that while a proper disposition is necessary to exercise the efficacious grace in the sacraments, it is not the cause of the sufficient grace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill Mayor Show? Is this the show about crime in Chicago?\nOooh... you mean the Bill Mayer Show where Freeland was shouted down on left and right when she said Islamic fundamentalists don't speak for all Moslems any more than Christian fundamentalists speak for all Christians? Yeah, that was an odd broadcast. Mayer really did come across like he was leading a gang . . .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Social Security is much more efficient than depending on private retirement. You want dine and dash taxation. Every public finance text book disregards the taxation as theft/government forcing you to pay for services mindset. If you are Catholic and you want abortion to be gone, the Popes have the solution, else you are picking and chosing from the same Encyclical, which I don't mind doing when the popes are wrong, but in this case they are right. If you put your libertarianism over your Catholicism, then birth control and abortion are none of any employer's business, including the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I have far more respect for a Catholic turned Protestant than I do for a dissident Catholic\"\n\nAlthough your \"respect\" may work well as a benchmark for you, it is likely that seeking your \"respect\" is not widely used as a benchmark by others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Christian right is largely composed of people who believe that piety, patriotism and well-ordered family life are essential to the good of the country. They tend to be people who are devoted to their own family, church and community and think everybody else would benefit from enjoying the things that make them happy and fulfilled. Most of them don't like Donald Trump's private life, but they think the Republican Party's policies are good for the country, so they'll vote for the Republican Party's candidate.\n\nI personally think theirs is a fairly narrow view of the world. But the Christian right is overwhelmingly composed of good, decent, patriotic Americans. There is no reason to doubt their good-will, to second-guess their motives or to insult their integrity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I certainly applaud the Diocese of San Diego for taking the time to study family life today.\n\n\nBut I wonder, will there also be a Synod looking at issues of those adult Catholics who are NOT MARRIED, who will never marry. Or perhaps, taking a look at widows and widowers who will not re-marry---but who are active [not in nursing homes]? This is a group of people who just fall through the cracks where Catholicism is concerned. Not all adult Catholics are either married [or divorced] or priests/religious. There are a good number out there who are NOT MARRIED, who DON'T have Families, and who never will. What is there for them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Didn't the Pope say something recently about not building walls and keeping doors open? Those who wall out other people are really just excluding themselves. Jesus said -- love your neighbor. Walls and locked doors are incompatible with that love. Jesus said -- come follow me. Not -- follow me if you can get permission from Pandora17 and some Pope. I assume that no one would say she is Catholic unless she truly believed she is. They are not pretending to be Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are many people that believe in the precepts of Christianity but not the divinity. I think she is an honest and sincere and rational person. I would go to her church If I lived in Toronto.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr Reese' article was about Catholics as citizens advocating for particular laws, not advocating for anti-clericalist position along the lines of France and Mexico.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The two pieces about such different treatment of LGBT issues in the Church is a good example of the contrast between a JPII/BXVI bishop and a Francis bishop. Paprocki and Joseph Tobin. Interesting discussion on that link to the WNYC radio interview. Christopher Bellito, historan at Kean U and invited speaker by the media on things Catholic, talks about the liberal/conservative/liberal swings the Church goes through. \n\nSad it is such a divisive issue. Paprocki is going to cause more people to leave the faith, especially young people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But that would be considered highly controversial. There would have to be trigger warnings to protect vulnerable people who may be traumatizes reading what a Christian has to say. Grab your smelling slats Aunt Haddie.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hogwash - Where on earth do you get the idea Jong is or was a Christian ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to the CDC, she is way off\n\nIn 2011 31,940 people; In 2010 31,328 people; In 2009 31,177 people; 2007 31,224 people; and 2004 29,569 people.\n\nThat averages out to 24,800+ Multiply that by 10 and you get 248,000 for ten years.\n\nIn 2011 Accidental discharge 851 \n\nSuicide 19,766 \n\nHomicide 11,101 \n\nUndetermined Intent 222 \n\nLegal Intervention: 258 (Police shootings)\n\nUnfortunately, the CDC doesn\u2019t keep track of gun deaths by religious preference so we don\u2019t know how many were caused (or inflicted on themselves) by Christians.\n\nBut it certainly wasn\u2019t 500,000. Even if 100% of the homicides were by Christians, there is no evidence that all (or any of them) of them were \u2018Gun Toting Christians\u2019.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What does Jesus say in the Gospel about this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Bible teaches that we are one and not equal, it (by definition) demands some kind of hierarchy. That was Christian doctrine until the Reformation and is still part of Roman Catholic tradition. But it is not Adventist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are citizens really willing to allow parental rights to slip away by being side tracked by talk of God or separation of church and state. People, this is solely about getting rid of judges who are taking away parental rights. Atheists want the same parental rights as Christians. What is the problem here?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Is Pence leading attack on reproductive rights?\" (yes) \nI'm surprised Gail Collins mentioned nothing about his debate with Kaine--very telling. Kaine, a devout Catholic, explained his personal struggles with certain issues, but won't allow it to interfere with public policy. Pence appeared to dig his heels in more, bringing up the importance of 'ancient principals' and how 'faith informs his life' and gave no indication of separating it from politics. And some wonder why the marching...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For those who are medically able, the act of denying oneself is profoundly revolutionary in our self-indulgent culture. The treasury of Christian spirituality going all the way back to Christ himself has emphasized that fasting from food is a particularly powerful act. Living simply, humbly, doing works of charity, etc. -- all of these are commendable things that can yield much spiritual fruit for the soul, but they don't replace fasting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\n<>\nThen why have you so far declined to answer it. I asked: Do you think Jesus would push the button to drop the bomb?\nI've been unable to reach a pacifist position because I am a sinner and my faith is weak. That's really the only explanation for any Christian who is not a pacifist. It is blasphemy to blame Jesus.\nAre you familiar with the Just War theory? Do you know of any war that has been averted because of it? Of any military action that was not taken because of it? The Second Lateran Council (1139) condemned the crossbow as incompatible with the requirements of just war teaching. Almost a thousand years later, there are those who think that weapons of mass destruction -- that can't and don't discriminate between combatants and non-combatants -- are permissible using just war reasoning. Thus do many wonder if just war reasoning is still useful -- or even if it ever was.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do u consider yourself a Christian?! Just curious ... :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Why do I read this National Catholic Reporter beats me.\"\n\nYou read it because it attaches names and faces to Catholicism's most prominent enemies, I presume. We all need to inform ourselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A SURVEY?\" That's quite meaningless, unless you identify the survey! And even if you were to do that, public opinion is NOT the law, even in the Catholic church! Hillary will be an excellent POTUS, and she will get a majority of the Catholic votes!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bless those who reject the teachings of Marty Eble, which are not necessarily the teachings of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I refer back to my original post in which I wrote \"H.R.C. should never have been invited to the event with her history of attacking virtually every Christian value, let alone Catholic value\".\nI might have clarified by changing to: \"with her history ,policy, agenda, crimes, and platform of attacking ...\". My point being that Trump on the other hand opposes all that in his candidacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder about Merkel's \"Christian Democratic Party\". Christian and Democratic seem to be contradictory. And what Christian Party was ever liberal? Another contradiction. And how can they be liberal if they're right-of-centre? Another contradiction.\nMerkel seems to be trying to please everyone by fooling everyone while the shadowy multinational corporations divide and rule the world.\nBut the immense power of Merkel's liberal right-of-centre Christian Democrats (lol) certainly helps explain the rise of Trump and the right in the US and Britain. And the move to the right of Canada's Liberals and NDP along with the Conservatives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Judging from 'my' comments? \nI would say it is judging by other people's comments and ratings that many folks don't agree with my take upon the direction of NCReporter's presentation.\nThe Catholic Church is universal, world-wide and not a national, American Church. Everything heterodox coming out of the Church in America affects the whole Church throughout the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also a Christian, but I think you calling yourself a saint is quite self-righteous and used in wrong sense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "in the public system yes but we have constitutional rights for our christian schools too, there is no such for any other,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't asking a group of architecture students if they foresee a future for religious architecture kind of like asking a group of cattle ranchers if they foresee a future for carnivorism? What do you expect them to say?\n\nI take the \"spiritual but not religious\" thing with a grain of salt. Many who call themselves that are no doubt sincere seekers who reject organized religion. But I'm pretty sure there's also a sizable number who check that box because it sounds better than admitting they lack a metaphysical imagination and like to sleep in on Sundays. \n\nAs for religious architecture in the future, like in the early Christian era I expect form to follow function. Living rooms will suffice nicely for the \"where two or three are gathered\" kind of small faith communities likely to emerge in the years to come.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sir, Lumen Gentium did not change anything.\n\nAnyone who knows the truth and yet rejects it, cannot be saved. The difference before the Reformation and after the Reformation is that it was presumed that anyone who wasn't Christian knew that Christianity was true and still rejected it. \n\nThe presumption that Jews and Muslims know the truth yet still reject it is what was incorrect--not the teaching that those who know the truth yet refuse to reject it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't let your anger consume you for the next 8 years; let it go, you'll be much happier. When all is said and done he is still our brother in Christ, is he not?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm alright with this. There was an article several years back (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/toronto-district-school-board-defends-hosting-muslim-prayer-sessions/article585899/) about how Muslim students may end up missing class time because they were leaving on Friday's to attend prayer. It sounds like the current arrangement ensures they do not miss class. Also, the only reason they're main day of worship conflicts with class is because the school boards were originally Christian, so Sunday was the day of rest and Saturday the prep day.\n\nFurther to some of the critiques I've read in the comments:\n1)Why this but no Lord's Prayer \nThe Lord's prayer was removed because all students were required to hear it at the beginning of the day. Thus all students were forced to participate. This is optional , and does not occur during class time. \n2)Choose religion or school\nI find this divide more likely to encourage private religious schooling which would decrease integration.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On an historical note, the term \"Christmas Tree\", and, indeed, the mid-Winter celebration of Christmas were also exercises in historical and cultural revisionism in their own day.\n.\nThat is, the pre-Christian pagan societies of the Norse and Celts had Winter Solstice festivals, which, among other things, included making gifts to, and the worship of, forest Gods - hence of decorated trees. The name \"Christmas tree\" was thus a re-branding of the earlier pagan rites.\n.\nYuletide celebrations and Yule logs preceded the adoption of Christianity by a log time. There weren't a whole lot of fir trees in the mange in Bethlehem ...\n.\nEven after the adoption of Christianity, apparently the Norse had a habit of worshipping Christ when ashore, but trusting in Thor when at sea.\n.\nAnd with that, let us now raise a flagon of hot mead to Odin, Thor, and Freya, that we may meet again in Valhalla.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Victor/Victoria , if I may ...Jesus said nothing of actually throwing anyone into the sea tied to a millstone \nhis words were in Scripture \" it would be better for that man if he were to be ... \" \nSort of sounds like \" such a hideous event would be that man's lucky day !!! \" \nalso , Jesus did not exclude women !!! As if they would not be guilty of serious sin !\nJewish/ Hebrew vocabulary had no abstract words and therefore required vivid picturesque expression which , in turn made for memorable lessons .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except that the western form of Christianity was responsible for millions of Jews and gypsies and Slavs being murdered in WW2. Western Christians in the US and Canada refused to allow Jewish refugees, due to their religion. Very Christian states in the southern USA had segregation till 1965. \n\nIn terms of genocide, western Christianity leads all religions. Eastern Christians, like the Copts, the Maronites, etc are much more peaceful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Charles said nothing about race. Segregated does not have to mean race. The Christian community has thousands of subgroups segregated into thousands of sects with different belief systems.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am in awe of Pope Francis' courage and wisdom. May his words reach the heart of his Muslim listeners - and all of us. God keep him safe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, no, Annabelle. If Christian marriage is a Sacrament it can only have been instituted by Christ.\nThere have been many changes indeed over the centuries regarding the conferal of the Sacraments except where the formula is biblical. \nThe Sacrament of Matrimony was conferred by the spouses upon each other. In later years in order to preserve the tradition of the Sacramental Union the witness of the Church was required to render the contract valid before God against those who disputed that.\nCatholic doctrine has evolved. In the face of orthodox belief being attacked the Church has asserted its teaching and put into place regulations to safeguard that teaching.\nAll the Sacraments are those of the New Law and can be traced back to their institution by Christ Himself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I certainly hope that when Trudeau says we as Canadians open our hearts he doesn't also mean our wallets. An article mentioned a Muslim woman in Quebec that wants to know what to tell her daughter. Perhaps the truth would be best. We are members of a vast world wide cult , one of many cults that believe in fantasy and mythology. People dislike other peoples fantasies so they become violent. The Christians with the crusades and various other periods of history and now the Islamic flavour of cult is causing a stir because of fighting within their own group causing wars between two factions. The truth sometimes frightens people but its not as frightening as religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a wonderful article and I applaud you, as a graduate of an all girls Catholic high school. Now we need to hear from a religious ed teacher who teaches in an all boys Catholic high school. It is just as important, if not more important, for the boys to get the message as it is for the girls.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, thank you John. I am learning new usages of English through NCR posting. \nSo, how are you? Is it not polite to ask you about Mahayana theology? :-) Since I grew up in Buddhist culture, I am interested. \nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly it persists. The quotes and paraphrases in my post above are from an official document from the Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (protector of fidelity of doctrine) as recent as 2004. The author is/was Joseph Card. Ratzinger, reputed as a great scholar and as Pope Benedict XVI as \"the teaching Pope\" and approved by then Pope John Paul II. Many hierarchs quote from its language but no one, to my knowledge has rebutted, corrected or questioned it. \nI might go a bit further than \"Catholics are no different from literalist Protestants\" and opine that Significant numbers of \"legitimate authority\" Catholic teachers are no different from fundamentalist Christian ideologists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually I'm a conservative born again Christian who is sick of the hate bigotry and discrimination.read your bible", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What Pope Francis points to so graphically here, it seems to me is the paradox that is our \"social sin\". In practice, each of us in his/ her personal life perceives interests of one's own well-being as being challenged by common well-being. And so it is.\nIt is difficult to balance self-interest and other-interest; and yet, that precisely is the Christian mandate, the 'golden-rule' mandate. Collective individuality, self against other (ecological nature), is in practice the 'social sin' that continually conflicts consciousness and the sustainability of nature - what we might call the 'Original Sin\".\nEucharist is about enlarging the gratuity potentials of nature, not depleting them by mindless exploitation. We must ask ourselves, 'are we fated to self-destruction', or, do we have the grace and intelligence to put other-interest on a priority basis to self-interest? Isn't that the lesson of Jesus' Life and teaching?\n\"...serious about building a solid and fruitful relationship of love...\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "4 ways Catholics can sanctify matters of serious illness & death.\n\n- ask God for greater faith, hope, & charity, daily. Build great trust in God. He is with us in every detail & decision surrounding illness & death. He is the Master of Life & Death.\n\n-seek (& later give) \u201cformation\u201d (including Church teaching) on matters of death and dying. This isn\u2019t just \u2018Father\u2019s or Deacon\u2019s job\u2019; this is the grave responsibility of every confirmed Catholic. \n\nBuild a lively interior life when dealing with illnesses & death; we need grace to die well & to help others deal with illness & to die well (via: mental prayer, frequent & good use of the Sacraments, including Mass, Holy Communion, Confession, spiritual direction, acts of charity, faith, hope, the Rosary). \n\nLearn how to \u201cconvert\u201d the endless temporal & ordinary realities of serious illness (pains, doctor visits, changing bed sheets..) into closer union & intimacy with God using conversational prayer, \u201clittle offerings\u201d to Him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see no documents to substantiate your opinion. Obviously you have not been to Washington DC and studied our history. Yes, America is founded on Godly principles. That's why you can enjoy your freedom to speak your opinion without any basis of proof. We all must remember that Muslim is not a race of people but a religion. These wonderful people come from many ethnic backgrounds. They live in almost every nation on the earth and come to America fleeing from persecution. Can they worship along side Christian's in America? Yes, they do everyday. Muslims, Christian's, and every other religion have far more in common than those that insight hate and discord. We value and honor all life, every person is important, and there is allot of love that goes around.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's so weird. At these conferences at Catholic institutions, union leaders, politicians, activists, etc., who support the murder of babies, all seem to be welcome, and hailed as interpreters of Catholic social teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Knights gather together many fair-minded, well- motivated, generous and faith-filled Catholic men. I know many and admire most of them. However, the ideologically driven executive structures co-opt the historical apostolic ministry of the Knights. It seems to have become yet another money fuelled pillar of male influence that the institutional church is only too happy to recognize and lean on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Glad you noticed. Tell all your friends. Tell my ordinary so I can get the audience these comments deserve, which is more than the dubia deserve. Again, I have something at stake, the Cardinals have nothing but nostalgia and their superstitious version of Catholicism. No wonder Richard Dawkins pokes fun.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pointedly, KB ends his article, \"Religious rights include Christian rights ... but must encompass more than the version of Christian rights defined by earlier times when inimical social mores brushed aside the Sermon on the Mount.\" Many Christian would like to excise the Sermon on the Mount. A singular departure from Judaism. Many Christians are more comfortable w. Judaism than this departure from old thinking, acting. \nInteresting, the Sermon on the Mount is a central focus of the Amish & those of the Anabaptist tradition. They seek to personally witness to their belief without expecting others to conform to their practices. They do not look to the state to enforce their interpretations. Too bad more Christians don't emulate them. How many Christians communities could respond to mass murders as the Amish response at West Nichol Mines massacred on 10/2/2016? They walked the walk as to what the Sermon on the Mount is in deed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, do you rely on science for other aspects of your life - I see you do 'cause you're using those new fangled computer thingies on that interweb. How about medicine? Do you use that too because unfortunately for you much of medicine relies on an understanding of evolution.\n\nYou say that evolution is obviously untrue? Why then do the vast majority of actual scientists, even the Christian ones, accept it is true?\n\nAlso, you seem to believe in a single creation of all life forms and so on about 6000 years ago. I guess you also believe in the Noah's ark myth too? If so could you explain how Noah got all the different animals plants and microbes on the ship and sustained them?\n\nOr do you claim he only took 'kinds' of animals like 'cats' and 'dogs' and 'dinosaurs'? If so then how did we get all the other varieties of life we have today - unless you believe in a kind of 'hyper-evolution' after the flood? Please clarify your views.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It'll be a great idea if the Globe provides equal opportunity time to a catholic nun. Let's hear from the islamic's prosecuted ones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for reminding us that all lives don't matter in this country. They never have. The irony is that most Americans claim to be Christians. That doesn't say much for Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know of a couple of parishes where the sanctuary is alarmed. Sometimes the Blessed Sacarament is placed on the altar (in the sanctuary) in a monstrance for adoration--from the nave. Likewise, at least in a Catholic church, Stations of the Cross are hung in the nave, not the sanctuary.\n\nDuring the Mass the demarcation between nave and sanctuary symbolically separates the heavenly and earthly action. (Which is one of the reasons receiving our Lord at the rail instead of at the head of a queue is such a beautiful thing.) It remains set aside for this purpose and few others even when Mass is not offered. Typically when vespers or other hours are prayed they are only led from the sanctuary if led by a vested priest or deacon, and even then not always. \n\nWhy open up the sanctuary for devotions that have for centuries taken place in the nave? And where in the sanctuary do you intend for people to pray the rosary or stations?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But the Apostles, who knew Jesus best, did set up a Church. \n\nYour rejection of \"Upon this rock . . .\" is a rejection of Christ's founding of the Papacy, and hence a denial of the legitimacy of the Church itself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Alexandra, Jesus said \"love one another as I have loved you\". But He goes on to say, \"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love.\" How can we love Jesus and destroy the child that has been conceived in the womb? How can we love Jesus and not treat our bodies as His temple. Through the sin of impurity, we are offending Jesus terribly. We cannot serve God and our sinful desires. And they are being persecuted for defending life from natural birth to natural death.\n\nChristians are persecuted when they confirm what Jesus said about marriage, \"A man shall leave his mother and father and cling to his wife and the two shall become one flesh\". Jesus also said, \"If you want to enter (eternal) life, keep the commandments, 'Do not murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness and love your neighbor as you love yourself\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If one is a Catholic and sees no difference between the faith professed by Lutherans and that professed by the Catholic Church why would one become a Lutheran?\nThe Decrees and anathemas of Trent can never be revoked not even this pope would by rash enough to try.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe she should approach the Catholic Church for help.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspect he feels history and theology outlining the identities of Catholic versus Protestant have value and are essential despite showing differences and demonstrating divisiveness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes we do disagree & if this were not a discussion about supporting, thru priorities, the furtherance of sexism or hatred & oppression of women in Christianity, I would be fine with just disagreeing. But just as if you were supporting neo-nazism as somewhat Christian or supporting a change in Church rules that could only result in black people being completely segregated from the hierarchy in our church, uniquely, compared to all other races, then I could step aside. However, this issue is too important to let disagreement appear equally just no matter what side the reader chooses.\n\nIf you know that a change will automatically create a situation of increased oppression to one group of people, but that wasn't the plan, you cannot claim innocence of the sin, of the increased oppression, because you knew it would happen and did not change your course, or suggestion of action to others.\n\nAlso, there were actually women claiming to be called to priesthood throughout our church's history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is really no reason to step back.\n\nYes, various groups in the East, and particularly the reformers of the 16th century, adopt versions of what you propose, by necessity of course.\n\nThe Church, including at the Vatican II Council, rejected those interpretations and in fact has strongly restated the view of the ordinary magisterium which I reiterated.\n\nThe Church considers Scripture and Tradition as the two pillars of revelation, and I am not going to dispute that. I have no reason to as a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well I am saying that feelings can accompany love, but aren't essential to it.\n\nThe Catholic understanding of love comes from the life, words, and actions of Jesus Christ.\n\nJesus taught us a much higher and grander and heroic understanding of love, which theologians have termed \"kenosis\". Self emptying gift.\n\nWe use some of those words from Jesus in the Holy Mass, and they convey a grand dual meaning for us.\n\nMost Catholics don't understand the dual meaning for instance of the words of Institution in the Mass.\n\n\"Take this, all of you, and eat of it:\nfor this is my body which will be given up for you.\nTake this, all of you, and drink from it:\nfor this is the chalice of my blood,\nthe blood of the new and eternal covenant.\nwhich will be poured out for you and for many\nfor the forgiveness of sins .\nDo this in memory of me.\"\n\nThese words do not simply mean \"do the liturgical act\"...no, we too must \"pour out ourselves\" for others in memory of Him.\n\nJesus told us to pick up the Cross \"daily\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except for Nazem Kadri, I believe that all the other people you list are christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not a pacifist, and so I guess I agree with you. \nEarlier in my life, I struggled to get to pacifism, and learned to distinguish between pacifism and non-violence. I also accepted that the reason I am not a pacifist is that I am a sinner. I recognize that the question \"What would Jesus do?\" can be trite -- but I also think it can be clarifying. Can we do what we cannot imagine Jesus doing -- and still call ourselves Christians? Or asked differently, how much distance between Jesus' teaching and example can we rationalize and explain away? Father Berrigan was a more rigorous Christian than I am.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's pretty much how most dioceses do it anyway.\n\nBut a couple of important points.\n\nMany pro life diocesan activities are in fact directed toward Catholic families in the diocese; ezamples include formation on natural family planning, adoption help, end of life directives and education, living family life well, etc.\n\nAnd it doesn't cost much t to pray at abortuaries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not true. 71% of Americans consider themselves Christian, and this has been that way for a couple hundred years. You cannot blame Christians for the illiterate or for the Right Wingers, many of whom are not Christian. Us Christians on the Left have been ignored for decades now, shunned by our Atheist Liberal peers who scorn us for our belief in Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dianne Feinstein may have been partially educated in Catholic schools, but that education obviously had little effect on her. Her comments ARE anti-Catholic, and they are also a violation of the constitutional prohibition against a religious test for office. He assertion that she knows Catholic leaders is hypocritical and ridiculous. I am sure that many dictators who persecuted Christians knew some of the people they put to death. Feinstein is just one of many on the left who have as an objective forcing all religious institutions to bend their beliefs to agree with the dogmas of the left, and care little about constitutional \"niceties\". Clinton and Obama are two cases in fact. Even more vigorous acts of persecution have already begun in some states in the U.S. The late Cardinal George predicted this would happen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The fatal flaw in the argument to \"save\" Charlie Gard is the fact that he is already dead. This baby is being kept alive by machines. I understand what a difficult, heart-wrenching decision this is for his parents but the sad reality is that there's nothing to save.\n\nWhat is truly curious about this case, and similar cases, is the adamant refusal of the Christian right to allow nature to take its course. It's ironic that the people who speak so glowingly of Heaven are so determined not to let people go there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why would these Christians of the 2nd and even 3rd generations believe that the 2nd Coming was immanent? \n\nI think because Jesus actually did make another unequivocal statement about the End: Jesus said it would come in the lifetimes of some of his living disciples.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Beautiful!\n\nAs a Christian believer.\nI hope and pray everyone has a safe, and enjoyable Christmas, with family and friends.\nPlease remember our service Members, who are away from their families.\nKeep them in your thoughts, and prayers.\nAlso, please remember to pray for those in need, the sick, the homeless, and for our nation.\n\nRemember, CHRISTmas is about GIVING.\nIt is \"NOT\", about how much you can get.\nThe virgin birth of Christ, is the TRUE reason for the season!\n\nTake care, be safe.\nGod Bless.\nMerry CHRISTmas\nGriz", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\n\nCardinal Farrell's brother, Bishop Brian Farrell, LC, is apparently still a member of the Legion. On the Catholic Hierarchy website, his name is given with the LC designation. He is the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The cri de coeur of Brexit reflects the body politic\u2019s diminishing interest in, bordering on outright dismissal of, facts and expertise. As Michael Gove, then UK Justice secretary and leading Brexiteer, notoriously put it last year: the people have \u201chad enough of experts.\u201d It\u2019s a position reflected elsewhere in the world. The election of a TV celebrity and real estate mogul to the office of the US Presidency has ushered in what many perceive to be a systemic assault on the sciences in the Anglo-Saxon world.\"\n\nWhile the above quote comes from an article about the turmoil in Great Britain right now, it is also the USA. What good can come from electing Trump president? Maybe people will see how ridiculous we have become - turning our backs on facts, science, reality, and our fellow humans and any sense of a community that cares about one another. \n\nWe are seeing the emergence of the caliphate of corporatism replacing democracy under the guise of the Christian prosperity gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you serious? You think the abuse of children should not be considered from the perspective of the victim? I must be misunderstanding your post. There is no way, no how, that anyone could still, after all these terrible years of learning about the tragic and criminal abuse of children and teens in the Catholic Church, could think that Jesus would want the \"needs\" of abusive clergy to be elevated above the needs of Survivors. NO WAY IN HELL", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If you had any real concern for education you would want more power in the hands of parents and an increase in the number of options available.\"\n\nAbsolutely, but why do you think that argument is a defence of a mandated second system of a mandated faith? Do you think the fact you've raised the available options from 1 to 2 offsets the fact ALL faiths can use the first school equally but the second one has some pretty firm faith restrictions they seem intent on fighting to maintain and that might drive away those that disagree? I wonder if we poll Hindus or Muslims or Shintoists or Jews to see whether they consider the Catholic school a viable second option for their children, what they'd say.\n\nThis falls firmly under the illusion of choice, not actual choice. Only in Canada would we see people arguing that one of the oldest, most staid, most hoary institutions in the world is a vector for change and options!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We were discussing Fr Gruner and the Fatima Crusader magazine, not every traditionally minded Catholic on youtube who believes in the Fatima apparitions. I guess if I stated the true fact that Syrian Catholics are treated better by Assad, that would make me Pro-Assad in your mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"[Trump] had a running feud with Mayor Khan\"\n\nIs that feud about anything other than the fact that Mayor Sadiq Khan is a non-Christian?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the first paragraph, you are asking relevant questions, but you fail to answer them. Why? If you had answered those questions, you would never have asked the the two questions of you second (one-liner) paragraph. \n\nBTW, what do you mean by \"domination\"? Did Christ overcome (dominate) evil, sin, death? Or was he dominated by them? Had he cleansed the temple, or did he invite more merchants in (to promote diversity and inclusiveness)? Did he ask his followers to pray for their enemies and persecutors to assist/help them in their actions, or in order to facilitate a change of heart and conversion in them (to show that they are wrong)? Did he volunteer his disciples for martyrdom?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When you look at the right's fanbase you start to scratch your head. Maybe try condemning white supremacists and accept that there is christian extremism and the left might be more amicable to your opinions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't care about Schonbrunn. I care about the reactionaries in the US. When will Francis clean out the entire US episcopate and appoint more Francis type bishops? The entire conference is at odds with Pope Francis and is biding its time until he is gone.\n\nAnd Francis is the intellectual framework for his papacy. Please stop trying to make JPII or Benedict some forces for good in the Church. Both led many Catholics to be disillusioned with the Church including myself and empowered all sorts of reactionaries among both the clergy and laity. The best thing Benedict did was quit his job, which should tell you something about his effectiveness as pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anne, where is your Christian sense of compassion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If this huge crowd of Christians had marched on mass that would make them politically active to a particular political cause... precisely what you, yourself, probably don't want the Church to do. \n\nThe Church is not called to be politically active but to rather be part of building society. Of course people can (and in cases should) march when appropriate, but please never under the name of the Church, a Christian organisation, or under the leadership of a purely Christian leader. What you get there is everything you probably don't want.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They do indeed have a long way to go. And they have such a vested interest in not getting there, over and above the normal human defensive reactions. I think they're starting to see what their response (such as it is) has cost the Church in the eyes of the world and in the eyes of so many Catholics. But whether that will be enough to bring about the change of hearts..... I just don't know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant.\"\n\nSome Episcopalians do, but a number of Episcopalian and Anglican scholars think otherwise. Scholars like Anglican historian D. Mac Culloch note that the middle way developed in England in the late 16th century was between Lutheranism and Calvinism -- two quite distinct versions of Protestantism. The middle way which resulted was neither Calvinist nor Lutheran -- but it was certainly Protestant.\n\nAnd other Anglican scholars like Alister McGrath note that from a historical perspective the English national Church of England must be regarded as a Protestant variant -- the \"Protestant Episcopal Church of England and Ireland, as state/parliamentary documents regularly describe it. And as noted in my own post, the Episcopal Church in the US which prefers to describe itself as the \"Episcopal Church\" was originally entitled \"the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.\" This still remains the EC's legal title.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Didn't hurt Christianity so much as it did the Roman Empire.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And to play \"devil's\" advocate, many atheists won't make the logical argument for good and bad (evil), as in \"do the right thing\". Ironically, there is a logical, secular, humanist rationale to do good and believe that right and wrong exist. It has nothing to do with any mythical deity. Yet a segment of atheists don't make the case. They have a similar academic laziness that say, fundamentalist Christians do (with their myth fiction nonsense) have.\nSo, atheists, how do you counter the (false) accusation that atheists can do anything they want because morals are irrelevant? (I'm not an atheist. My philosophy-not-religion with the Army was, and with the hospitals is, \"Bedonkohe\". I am basically a secular humanist.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is a common definition of \"Christian Church\"...\"The Christian Church is a term generally used by Protestants and some others to refer to the whole group of people belonging to the Christian religious tradition throughout history. In this understanding, the \"Christian Church\" does not refer to a particular Christian denomination but to the body of all believers.\" from Wikepedia. You'\nre, of course, welcome to reject that definition....but, please don't accuse me of creating it. Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you are making yourself out to be the sole judge of what is orthodox and what is not. This very much resembles the approach of Ray Burke, who takes the pope to task, right in public. Perhaps someday, both of you will get around to admitting that the Roman Catholic church has many many orthodox adherents who do not fall within the parameters of your very narrow \"definitions.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From the article; \"There's no doubt Catholic parishes have a lot to learn from their Protestant neighbors about how to throw out the welcome mat for people who perhaps have not darkened the door of a Catholic church in many years, if ever.\"\n\nHow true that is.\n\nAs a general rule, in a Catholic church, if you see a group of people either before or after Mass talking and being sociable, you can pretty much bet it is the \"in crowd\" enjoying each other's company and not taking time to include others. And that includes any priest involved in the conversation. Even if the priest wants to talk to others, the \"in crowd\" stymies that effort.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora, it was perfectly obvious who \"they\" was and it was not an attack on all Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\nI think that's right -- but it is not a case of benign, or even malignant, neglect; it is a case of affirmatively undermining Catholic Social Teaching. The teaching was better known, at least in the United States, in the 1930s, 40s and 50s than it is today. In the 1980s, the bishops of the United States embarked on several efforts to make CST better known and to apply it to contemporary issues. (cf. the pastoral letters, 'The Challenge of Peace' and 'Economic Justice for All.') Unfortunately, their efforts ran up against Pope John Paul's campaign to water down Vatican II's teaching about collegiality. The pope didn't object to the bishops' teaching (he was generally to their left on social issues), but to their method: they were listening -- even to lay people, even to non-Catholics! JPII appointed reactionary bishops who did not teach CST.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can only say that your concepts of trade are poorly conceived. I do CAD designs for plastic injection molds. The reason that US manufacturing is not competitive is because of the unbelievable greed of US government entities. I do not have the space to explain it all here, but believe me \"Globalization\" is only a code word for world wide \"Progressivism\" which is of course a code word for \"Marxism.\" \n\nI have considerable experience in the world and grew up in Southwest Alaska. I long ago concluded that we do not have racial conflicts as much as we have cultural conflicts. The genius of the US is that it used to be a melting pot where cultures came together and the good portions of cultures were incorporated into the general culture and the poor portions were rejected. Diversity is only the attempt to engender cultural conflict. And remember one of the fundamental teachings of Christianity is that men and women are equal partners in life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any \"religious group\" holds in common certain tenets of its faith. One of the tenets of the Christian Faith is that God created human beings man and woman, and that he intended for them to marry, i.e., to become \"one flesh\" and thereby to \"be fruitful and multiply\". These are the time-honored parameters for marriage, no matter how Gov. Abercrombie and the state legislature may have breached them in order to pander to the homosexual zeitgeist. A Christian church worth its salt will maintain this timeless definition of marriage, and in our country its members are free to practice their religion without harassment. They are free to associate with others of the same understanding of marriage and to not associate with those who reject that understanding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Huge mistake made back in the 70's?? when they (Government) started funding Catholic Schools. We should have a PUBLIC SYSTEM .....and every other choice should be \"PRIVATE\" . If there is a demand for Catholic Schools parents should fund it. If there is a demand for Jewish Schools parents should fund it. If there is a demand for \"Muslim Schools\" parents should fund it........oh this is were my theory falls apart. If I say Muslems should be pay for their own schools then I'm what....a racist??? School vouchers now clearly the way we should fund education. Parents can take their vouchers to whatever school tickles their fancy !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another problem worth mentioning: \n\nReporting on results of a meeting of the Orthodox-Roman Catholic Commission on the island of Rhodes in 1981, the New York Times pointed out that: \u201cThe Uniate or Eastern Rite churches attached to Rome are said to constitute a major sticking point between the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox, the Orthodox side scorning the rite's members as ''papists acting as Orthodox.''", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe I should re-post some of your vile hate directed at me, Jesus Christ and Christianity in general? It's all right here under one of your many previous nom de plumes ..... https://disqus.com/by/disavour/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They were historic as witnessed by empty tombs. Jesus appeared privately, not publicly. Mary did not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We use the religious phrasing for those because most of our children were raised with Christianity in past generations, but the sentiments in those phrases are as old as the hills and have been reiterated with slightly different wording by virtually every religion on the planet, and also by all sorts of secular parents who teach their children concepts for interpersonal behaviour like 'reciprocity'.\n\nWe can still educate our kids on those principles without the religious trappings ... and do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You asked when the last Christian terror attack took place. I answhered.\nHere is an expanded answerm but keep in mind it is only a sample:", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian & atheist-phobia must also be exposed.........this is most certainly not a one way street. Although our media and people like yourself like to play it up like it is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wrong again. Millennia of migrations, religious back-sliding, and feckless military conflicts make contemporary Palestiniansr related to ancient Philistines as much as todays Roman Catholics are to ancient Romans.\n\nEven if they were, this would still not justify Palestinian and Arab hegemony: my \"ancestral homeland\" years ago may well be Canaan, Peru or Timbuctu, but that does not give me the right to displace or dominate those who lived there for centuries and have liberated their historic homeland from their Muslim adversaries and conquerors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But \u201cKeep abortion legal\u201d doesn\u2019t bother you.\n\nI just cannot believe that any Catholic would write something like that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Too in depth for a potted history for me I'm sorry, the church was in bed with Franco furthering it's tentacles of power under the guise of religion........as usual, and Jose Escriva as a faithful servant was the vehicle in my estimation. The correspondence between the two of them freely mentioned on their site confirmed that. It was written when the Treaty of Rome was established the precursor to the European Union in 1957 and activated in 1958.\nLluis Company's was devout Catholic but anti-fascist and paid for it with his life. Ironically the now legitimately elected leader, [as was Lluis Companys], that speaks volumes threatened with the same fate.\nA brief interview on *BBC World Service programme,- Witness Lluis Companys-Martyr of Catalan Nationalism may help to give you an insight.\nAlso.\n* 75 years after execution, no reparation from Spanish government to democratically elected Catalan president.\nThat's just scratching the surface, I hope you take it further for yourself", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"ADvindicate\nBORN TO A SPECIAL PRIVILEGE IN TIME\nOctober 27, 2016 Floyd Sayler\"\n\nBy the way, don't assume I support this false theology by Sayler. The LGT advocates that after probation closes, we will be sinless in ourselves and all we need is for Jesus to help us keep the law.\n\nEGW endorses no such false doctrine and you have to wrest her quotes out of context to support it. The purpose of redemption is restoration. That means restored to the original position Adam and Eve had \"in Christ\" before the rebellion.\n\nSo moral perfection and character perfection is not some inherent sinless perfection the LGT advocates. As EGW has well said, \"In ourselves we are sinners, but in Christ we are righteous.\"\n\nNo one gets beyond this statement, past, present, or future.\n\nAs Wesley said of true believers, \"Sin remains, but does not reign.\" This from Rom. 6,7, and 8. The LGT theology claims sin does not remain so we are sinless in ourselves apart from Christ before Jesus comes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What five Catholic non-negotiable?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good and thoughtful article. \n\nWork will be with us forever. Its form may change. It may take more effort to live out our work life properly, ethically, justly - in a holy fashion, but work isn't going to go away. God made the world and us to work.\n\nPerhaps this concern over robots will wake up some people, helping them to deepen and enliven their own view of work and their approach to it.\n\nWork isn't to give us a means to slake our appetites after we work. It is to make us holier people, more Christ-like, more focused on solving problems and struggles of others, more virtuous - ready to give effort to problems, to use our intellect fully, to develop patience, fortitude, temperance, and more desirous of becoming an image of Jesus, Who worked for a living before He began His visible ministry. \n\nThis new world of work could be great fun if Catholics lead the way and set the example.\n\nMaybe NCR could develop a new \"category\" on their front page, near the top: Work life", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let me assure you Garycrum there is a God, his name is Jesus!, and yes He does care about you and everyone else in the world. I am not going to preach to you about what is right or wrong, I encourage you to find that out for yourself. one sure thing is that God wants to know you and that is all that really matters. \n\n This Election like most elections as a Christian, I find myself not so much voting for a candidate but voting against the other side. You are correct that this year\u2019s contest is very significant, we have seen 8 years of not much hope and change for the worse. What amazes me is that politicians are still running on bringing \"more of the same\" ask anybody, we don't want more of the same from the government, we want a government that works for us not against us.\n\nSo yes vote, but first make sure you know, really know what and who you are voting for, we are given a brain to use not just follow the flow like lemmings.\n\nNow go, do your research, and vote your heart.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You go much lower. It is like you are trying to not be a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't you see what he means? You reject the doctrine and practice in favour of your own personal interpretations of Catholic teaching. Ask yourself where do you get this interpretation from? Most certainly not from the teaching of the popes and councils including Vatican II.\nIt is a mystery to me and always has been how someone can claim to be a Catholic and at the same time reject what the Catholic Church actually teaches. I am not advocating that anyone should leave the Church, I am simply asking how it is possible for someone to not subscribe to the tenets of the Catholic Faith yet say, \"I am a Catholic.\"\nIt strikes me that it is similar to ethnic, yet non-practising Jews turning up at Passover because of a cultural attraction rather than out of any religious conviction. In the same way I suspect many modern Catholics 'practise' their religion,.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have to say this is a very brave article. I have thought about a lot of this...but if I ever said it or posted it on line, I would lose many of my friends who are conservative, republican, and Christian. I don't know why these friends of mine can not see that we don't live in a theocracy and should not want to. We should not want to go back to the good ole days, which weren't all that great. We need to move forward and work on things that matter, the economy; education; poverty; the environment etc...but we get stuck in old battles that never seem to go away. Yes the republicans have researched their fan base well...just keep saying they will end abortion, even though they never do, and people believe them. Most of my friends are voting on this one issue, and they think Trump is with them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wachit. The big toad is going to try and do a Manana. By humbly begging for pardon for his errors, he expects his faithful followers to forgive him, Christian-style.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another lie to make an excuse for war. The south lost for Gods sake, move on. And school books shouldn't be northern or southern, they should be the truth.\n In the minds of many, the south lost because they were fighting for an unchristian system.\n As it's always been, if you only want your version of the war told you better win. You will notice the General didn't deny that the south was .fighting to retain slavery. What he said is that the north wasn't fighting just to abolish slavery. \n Have a good life amvet, but know that there are a lot of us old folks from the 60's who saw the truth with our own eyes when it come to civil rights of then and today. You won't be able to smother the tragic truth in down home charm or your humble talk of Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You said you don't distinguish between infallible doctrine and dogma but are all doctrines infallible? \nI guess I was surprised by the one teacher as I think science should be taught by science teachers etc. Did you mean moral, or religious teaching not all other teaching? \nAbout things like slavery and usury-do you not define those as doctrines and therefore change in them is acceptable? \nI'm in the US, a former primary teacher, way over 70! And most of my religious training after childhood came from various courses I've taken in church history-shocked to find all seven sacraments were not defined as dogma/ doctrine untill Trent! and sacraments including the history thereof, some spirituality-though much of that was too non logical/literal for me!, Never thought before this about what Jesus probably thought of the word priest. Had a hard time studying scripture as I'm very literal and the Jews were not Greeks! In other words they used metaphorical language which floored me for years!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I remember, the acceptance of evolution by the church foes back four or five popes. Creationism is an outlier among Catholic thinkers, not taught by the magisterium for decades.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fair enough. I also was raised pretty conservative, and exposed to Christian legalistic religion. I have my own scars from a religion that's all about how well you perform. Turns out I broke from that and still believe in Christ. I just found out he is neither conservative or liberal, legalistic or apathetic, but something else entirely. Some Christians might still need to find that out, but that is their journey.\n\nWhile I have your attention, let me thank you for your articles at DM. They are often a breath of fresh air. :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For what it's worth at this point in the discussion, my thoughts are that the role of religion has changed so dramatically since France and Britain were battling for supremacy here in Canada.\nPart of that early settlement meant Catholicism and Protestantism issues had to be ironed out as well. And look, it all sorted itself out over a century and a half.... However, religion in most western societies has changed its appearance. We no longer say prayers in public schools but I believe the Catholic system still offers religious studies to students. But all that religiosity has gone by the wayside over the decades; look at the dwindling flocks in Christian churches.\n\nAll that said, if the school offers prayers or devotional time for Christian worshippers, then it must be matched by allowing Muslim students their time as well on Friday. \n\nIf other religions are not acknowledged in a particular school, then the Muslim students should leave for prayers in their mosques.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Awhile ago I visited an LDS church near my home and attended their young persons (18-22) bible discussion. \n\nBy all appearances these young people were impressively psychologically mature, everyone friendly, well dressed, glad to be there, intelligent, and full of zeal. Trying to think of ever visiting a Catholic church and seeing anything similar. A group of 20 something Catholics who dress well (try to find just that!) and freely choose to attend a bible discussion after mass? Heck, to spy a 20 something at mass is now and has always been a rare event. \n\nOther religions are doing something right that the Catholic church is not doing. The Church can learn from them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Catholic Action Center here will soon adopt solar power as its sole source of energy, perhaps becoming one of the first homeless centers in the country to take this innovative step.\"\n\nThis is wonderful news.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "maybe religion content of Christianity in general needs to be brought up to date with informed faith's science-sense of reason.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really bothers me when people who don't act like Christ call themselves Christians...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where we live in Northern Ontario there are actually four different school boards* and many schools around the region slated for closure. It's extremely inefficient. Of course these boards all have huge overheads of administration staff, maintenance staff, busing, and half-used buildings and land. Besides the inherent unfairness of it all, there's also the cost!\n\n*That's right...\nFrench Catholic, \nEnglish Catholic, \nFrench Public, \nand English Public\n\nOf course they all fight tooth and nail against even the idea of sharing facilities, let alone amalgamation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Same subject, same data, a barely different perspective, more distraction from living our own life with a generous Christian spirit right where we are. \n\nThese articles help us stay bitter and focused on something outside ourselves and for the most part outside our control. They keep us from doing our own examination about our own defects, failures, infidelities, cutting sarcasm, etc. \n\nIf writing articles about this topic could have done anything to solve the problem, it would have been solved 15 years ago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just because it's legal to drink doesn't mean certain Christians can't practice temperance, or stop using electricity all together.\n\nThe people in this article have said nothing about trying to change the laws of Eugene or Oregon to Sharia law. So why are you bringing it up?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...\" 'episkopos' (overseer, guardian), 'presbyteros' (elder) and 'diakonos'(servant) for the first two centuries\".....\n\nMaybe for the first two centuries the Christian Church followed the thinking in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and avoided trying to have any 'priest' other than Jesus, our 'Great High Priest\" who made any other 'priests' unnecessary. \n\nBut afterwards the thinking and attitudes of needing a 'priest' to represent the rest of us seems to have crept back in. Whatever they did in the first two centuries no longer applies. Monica seems to be speaking of our current 'reality'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This was a debate among the early Christian writers (before the word Catholic was even used). What God does with us after death is unknowable to us, period. Salvation, as in the sacrifice of Jesus to feel what we feel is for THIS life. These folks probably think themselves saved, but I doubt they have forgiveness and love in their hearts. If they do, it is cheap grace. You can't have that much hate in your heart can really know Jesus. They are certainly not doing the work of the Kingdom of God in a way that shows they are radicalized into it. Salvation quiets the heart. I don\u2019t see it in them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is purely my opinion, ATF, but those Catholics who voted for Trump probably do listen to their bishops (assuming they are still in the pews) but they also probably hate HRC. We'll probably never know if the Catholic vote was FOR Trump or AGAINST Clinton. I don't think we can ever underestimate the weight of hate carried by people, fueled by ridiculous far-right gossip and rumors, dating to Bill's first term in 1993 and fed like imprisoned veal ever since. I suspect those Catholics who voted for HRC are progressives who don't much care what their bishop has to say about much of anything. When surveyed, I self-report as Catholic, but only because there isn't a category for Progressive Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey Kev, It is Memorial Day Weekend and I am getting away for a couple of days (till Tuesday) but wanted to get back to you before leaving. Kevin, I have responded to both your asking me to share what I have learned (Catholic Schooling all my life - Grammar, High and University) regarding the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. \"To go away/home justified\" means to be made righteous, just, holy and acceptable before God. Justification involves being transformed from the state of sin to the state of grace. One cannot believe that Jesus sent the woman caught in adultery home by telling her that her sins have been forgiven and to go and sin no more but that when He spoke in parables, the person who called out for God's mercy because he/she are great sinners with contrite and humble hearts would go home only to remain in their sin. (continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This thread is ALL ABOUT sexual orientation. The official church, especially in the U.S. has had its mind 'below the belt' on SEX, SEXUALITY, SEXUAL EXPRESSION for far too long. \n\nThose who hold 'natural law' and the teachings of the magisterium as the ultimate authority, fail the people with their abstract and prefabricated understandings from by-gone-eras.\n\nHow Christians are to act, as humans, as sexual beings, in any capacity---does not come from moralizing principles and models authoritatively imposed from above on a passive people, but from active involvement by the people themselves, based on their experiences from the act of living life and experiencing love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do believe this gentleman is mistaken. The Founding Fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Hancock, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton were not atheists at all. A list of their religious affiliations indicates that 88 were either Episcopalian or Anglican, 30 were Presbyterian, and 27 were members of independent Protestant congregations. Another 7 were Quakers, 6 with the Dutch or German Reformed Church, 5 Lutherans, to go along with 3 Catholics, 3 Huguenots, and 3 Unitarians. 2 were part of the Methodist Church, and there was a Calvinist. \n\nEven Thomas Jefferson, the principle writer of the Declaration of Independence, was part of the Episcopalian Church and throughout his life claimed to be a follower of Jesus Christ. \n\nIn short, it would appear that your submission is totally fabricated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians get Christmas (and a long holiday, Easter Friday and Monday. Those are the holy days.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jacqueline Fries: Religion has traditionally been used in politics to \"...promote your own agenda and gain control.\" Which is why the Founding Fathers sought to keep religion out of politics. Religion gains power through politics...while at the same time declaring itself off limits to the usual give and take of politics. Religion demands the special right to engage directly in politics and yet be free of having to endure \"...rhetoric offensive to a huge Christian population.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let me try a radically Christian approach.\n\nAttract others because we seem to be an indefatigably buoyant people in contrast to the tenor of the secular world.\n\nWe may not get \"our way\" in this or that, but it doesn't matter, we have Jesus Christ as a dear and present friend.\n\nWe suffer cheerfully, work tirelessly serving others, growing all the time, because loving like this grows virtues by the hundreds!\n\nWe don't spend time or energy or make noise claiming this or that 'right\", instead, we seek to serve in every minute of the day, taking up the Cross that Jesus told us about, daily, self-emptying. Kenosis. \n\nWe don't overblow situations. We don't play the victim. \n\nWe live the happy Cross, because we're very very close to Him. \n\nWe're constantly \"dealing with\" Him as we go about solving problems for others. \n\nHow's that?\n\nIsn't that a bit of a different sense for what a Christian should be than what one gets from reading NCR (articles or comments) week after week?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In agreement with most of what you say, John, but would disagree slightly with regard to Bishop Casey breaking the faith of the ordinary laity. Bishop Casey was very much loved and it wasn't so much the sexual relationship that hurt people, it was his using of Church money to give to his partner, that irked. One local, very faithful Catholic told me he stopped going to the sacrament of confession after the Bishop Casey scandal, saying to me, \"If they can't forgive Casey, they can't forgive me.\" And the intelligence of Kerrymen is questioned? \ud83e\udd14\n\nBrendan Smith et al and cover up, now that's what you mean by \"broke the faith.\" However, I know many Irish people who no longer go to Mass - but have great faith. They just grew up, that's all. \n\nThe Bishops aren't crying to Francis about peoples' faith. Nothing wrong with that at all. They're crying because their power is gone, their money has nose-dived and their personal and collective integrity is zero.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe your conscience was provided to you by the (Catholic) church. My conscience and most others are gifts from God to each of us, which do not always produce the results the church clergy expect. What you are operating with is a particularly noxious version of clericalism, which has no place in our church!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ryan used to try to cloak his Ayn Rand-inspired ideas in the mantle of Catholic Social Teaching. I don't think he pretends any more. He wants to treat health care like any widget in the economy, available to those who can afford it, everyone else be damned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does it somehow give you comfort to make these kinds of judgments? I cannot even imagine how you would feel perfectly comfortable calling our Pope an end-time False Prophet...perhaps it is you who are covered in great deception at this time. He is NOT the antipope - he is the person who speaks the truth of the Gospel, and we are so incredibly blessed to have him speak for our risen Cosmic Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church is a hierarchical Church. \n\nThe Supreme Court in the St Nicholas decision affirmed that whenever a case involves questions of religious discipline or faith, or ecclesiastical rule, custom, or law, the courts must accept such Church-rendered decisions as final, and as binding.\n\nHow, then, the case could be decided on neutral principles of civil law is a bit puzzling, unless that jurisdiction is somehow exempt from constitutional law.\n\nThe excommunications resulted from the board's schism. The parish was flooded with new members who quickly outnumbered the original parishioners and headed the parish out of the Church. Since then it has gone sufficiently out of orbit that neither the Episcopal Church nor the Polish National Catholic Church will have it.\n\nIn any case, there was no particular large negative public reaction to the Archbishop's course of conduct. You just happen not to like it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly Mark, that appears to be the case with this lot. \n\nWe can only hope and pray (in an inclusive, non-Christian manner of course) that one day we can have a government led not by an autocrat but by a plurality of people like Judy Rebick, Ross Harvey, Svend Robinson, Elizabeth May, Harsha Walia, Janaya Khan, Maude Barlow and Linda McQuaig. \n\nBTW, what is your preferred pronoun? Mine are \"zhe\" and \"zhir\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our history is to let the religion decide these matters and not intervene in manners of custom and tradition. Certainly that has been the response to most sects of Christianity, although not so much to non Christian religions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In case you haven't heard, telling folks to go to other denominations is not acceptable Christian practice. Many/most of us here are lifelong Catholics and nothing you (or we) can do or say will separate us from our Christian Catholicism. The Church is ever in need of reform and we are exercising our Christian duty when we participate in her reformation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I recall, and I'll rely on you to provide the citation, Jesus told his followers \"the first rule of christianity, is you don't talk about christianity. The second rule of christianity is you don't talk about christianity. \" Smaller, purer, faster, stronger, the church of the future!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't mind the new priests having some Francis, but I do hope they have much more Benedict--where they know the Church's theology and can articulate it to a world hungry for the Truth. The Good News is not just good news; it is the Truth. And priests should be able to explain that to a relativistic world. Benedict is the key to doing that. Social Justice *follows* from the Truth of Christ. No Christian should lose sight of that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In an informal review of what conservatives have found most wrong with the post-Vatican II Church I have found among the leading \"sins\": 1) acceptance of situational ethics; 2) acceptance of ends justify means---two things you use in your defense of a Catholic voting for Trump.\n\nI'm not saying they are wrong bases; I just want you to admit you use them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All Christian churches are Christ's church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alas, the criticisms voiced by my fellow Traditional Catholic posters are shown to be correct! I will refrain from demanding to know if you are a member of the clergy, but only with great difficulty. Sigh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, since I am one of the Catholics who has no desire to see us reunite with the more conservative Orthodox churches until after we have unified with the more progressive Protestant Churches, like the Anglican & Lutheran, this article pleases me more than upsets me.\n\nWe do not need to become more conservative and sexist & both of these churches' stand on unequal ordination of women is causing them to decline in all educated and industrial nations. \n\nIn fact, it is the Orthodox Churches refusal to ordain women priests that stands as perfect proof to all those Catholics who claim allowing marred men to be ordained priests, first, before fighting for human justice for women to be ordained to priesthood, is best because these married men will fight for women right after being ordained is a complete lark! \n\nMarried Orthodox men are less supportive than celibate Catholic Priests regarding equal ordination, equal sacraments, & equal voice for women in religion.\n\nNo thanks - We can wait.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When you presume to change, alter, add or subtract words from the liturgy, at that moment you cease to be catholic - small c - because you cease to express with others the universality of the Catholic faith.\nThe phrase \"for us men...\" is not a reference to men as opposed to women. \nIt is instead a reminder that as human beings we thank God for sending his Son to redeem all of mankind.\nWhile feminism prefers to argue against words like that - including huMAN and MANkind, the concept remains the same.\nChrist came for all human beings, not birds, dogs or bacteria, in order that we may be saved.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I was in Catholic grade school there were a couple sisters teaching, and it was so delightful to have them. They were smart and so very dedicated to us kids. They didn't take any flack. They knew how to discipline and keep us in line, but they weren't mean in the least. In retrospect I think God gave them special graces to remain even-keeled in a room full of rowdy youngsters! They cared about us, took a deep interest in not only our studies but also our growth as human beings. Our lay teachers were pretty awesome as well (although there were a few who clearly should have chosen another profession!), but the sisters were special. We need more of this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since when is christianity considered a race?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pat Perriello wrote: \"...one of the big problems with Catholicism is it is often more interested in being Catholic than it is in being Christian. ...Sometimes it seems we almost forget that we are called to follow Jesus and not rules derived by theologians.\"\n\nAnother way of putting it: do we worship our God, or just an institution and its rules as a divine substitute? ...or perhaps confuse the two as one and the same? Pope Francis seems to be changing the view of what 'church' is in a gospel sense, while some of his brother bishops refuse to go there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".\nWasn't it you who said? \"I can't deny that I'm a Christian spiritualist\"\n\n\u2026John 4:20", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So then why is Saturday a Holiday. Sunday may be a day of worship for Christians but the Saturday Sunday fortnight has been with us for thousands of years. If they want religion in schools they should start muslim schools and pay for it themselves, or with some additional funding like Catholic schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does a Muslim Yellow cab driver have the right to refuse a Christian service?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but Cardinal Muller was educated at the Seminary of Regensberg, the seminary founded by Joseph Ratzinger[ in the mid 1970's], as one of three founders . It was one of the most doctrinally conservative seminaries in Germany. \n\n\nIn fact, Ratzinger left the University of Tubingen---one of the most creative and important centers of Catholic thought [founded by Johann Sebastin Drey in the late nineteenth century]---because the university had a very different way of understanding theology. Theology was studied from the concrete life of the Christian community. As such, this university was in perfect alignment with the teachings of Vatican II. Cardinal Walter Kasper is a distinguished representative of the Tubingen School.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This past weekend at the refugee protests, I thought the most poignant sign read:\n\n \"First they came for the Muslims, and we said 'Not Today [expletive!]'\"\n\nIn a nutshell that must be the response of every Christian in the country who wants to walk in the path of Pastor Niemoller and Pope Francis and hold his/her head high on Judgement Day. This president and his henchmen must be opposed at every step. We have seen this show before and without unfailing, incessant opposition on every level, it will not end well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not \"implying\" anything: I'm directly and overtly announcing that Christians aren't the only ones who don't want to be bullied into accommodating people's feelings and political correctness. I'm also explicitly saying that if a Christian doesn't agree with you on any given issue, it doesn't make him or her \"less Christian\" out of some perceived lack of compassion, as you imply.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Teachers in Catholic schools, are paid. Catechists, in most parishes, are volunteers---no pay.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\nAlthough I agree your comment is a solid rejoined to Heartbreaker's oversimplification of medieval understanding of original sin and its effects, may I suggest an amendment?\n\nIndeed the concept of original sin as we have inherited it, is largely coined by Augustine building on Paul's explanation of salvation through Jesus as the New Adam. And indeed the evils of \"sickness, suffering, and death\" can no longer be attributed to original sin in any way for precisely the reason you give--we acquired those \"evils\" as intrinsic to our biological nature evolved from the very earliest form of life. And indeed, in Catholic parlance, \"original sin never occurred\" is a reasonable way to express that.\n\nNonetheless, I suggest there is an altered understanding of the tradition of original sin that expresses something very true about our human existence. In a very real sense, we do come into this world immersed in \"inherited evil;\" and I think there are two ways in which this is true.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. Actually, it is very narrowly tailored. Pope Francis meant it for a very small subset of Catholics who cannot for whatever reason use the annulment tribunals. I'd like for the annulment tribunals in general to be dismantled and for a discernment process to be used similar to the Orthodox Church, but that isn't what Amoris Laetitia does. It is a VERY narrow opening. As I pointed out, I doubt that either it or the annulment reforms are having much of an impact on the ground. I still read lots of griping about the tribunals online in both Catholic and secular forums and I have yet to hear about anyone receiving Communion who is remarried who wasn't already doing so prior to Amoris Laetitia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, it's a ban on citizens of countries where the majority of the population are Muslim. There is no God-given right for any foreigner to enter the USA; it's their border to regulate. If the US were to ban entry for, say, Austrians, where the majority of the population is Catholic, would that be a hate crime against Catholics?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quote from the article: The U.S. Catholic bishops warned political leaders against using health care \"as a bargaining chip,\" saying that would \"strike at the heart of human dignity and the fundamental right to health care.\"\n\nOh, Bless your hearts. You are a little confused. The Republicans used you for decades, dangling promises about abortion and \"religious freedom\" in front of your noses. And, let's be truthful. You attempted to use health care as a \"bargaining chip\" to get what you wanted. You were quite willing to promote voting for Republicans who you knew didn't believe in universal access to health care, in exchange for empty promises on abortion. YOU were willing to risk health care for all for the \"religious freedom\" of controlling what should be a decision of conscience of others.\n\nOwn it, bishops. You are a part of why there is a Trump in the presidency and why millions of people will lose access to health care. Millions will suffer for your \"religious freedom.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is an interesting comment. Contrary to some (evangelical) preachers, most of the Founders were deists, at best, and specifically wrote language in the Constitution that would limit the power of any organized religion. Second, the Catholic Church has very often felt most comfortable around strong arm civic leaders (e.g., Franco). Having to argue their point of view in the public forum seems, um, \"distasteful\" to them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church has always taught that conscience is innate, independent of catechesis, which explains why the Church has always taught non-Christians can be saved.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is the situation. Christian Fundamentalists and Paris Climate Accord Supporters have both been (voluntarily) misinformed. Global temperature has been fluctuating greatly for millions of years. \nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleoclimatology\nGlaciers advance and retract. More than 99 percent of all species, amounting to over five billion species, that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct.\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or because no matter how Pence defended his personal religious beliefs, no matter that he has an extremely impressive record as a faithful Christian, Catholics would stiffly complain that he \"abandoned\" the RCC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since I wrote the post, I know what I meant, and we were post polls and on to real life with this Administration.\n\nSo, no, it was a not a non-sequitur - cut and paste notwithstanding.\n\nI don't really appreciate the \"right-wing Catholics\" insertions, which are inherently uncivil, could be considered ad hominems, and are personal assessment rather than contributions to a discussion.\n\nYes, I am Catholic. Yes, compared to your beliefs I might be \"right wing\", but then again compared to your beliefs Hans K\u00fcng might be considered \"right-wing\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow...is there any end to the crimes perpetrated by the Roman Catholic Church? THIS is church established by Jesus Christ??", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A true Christian might be disposed not to rush to judgement by immediately assuming the worst.\nI have noticed that those who class themselves as progressives are only too willing to accept uncritically any criticism about the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is Christianity, Hinduism and Judaism, tolerant and non-authoritarian?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately, as a Christian in a foreign land, I doubt that you would be allowed to be buried in a Muslim cemetery.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously I hit a nerve because you accuse me of assuming I own the Catholic faith and decide who should belong or not, when none of those things were in my comments, nor were they implied. As a matter of fact, I specifically stated that the Church is not ours to make as we want it to be. That is something most here on NCR have a hard time dealing with. The rest of your post above is simply mean and spiteful, and does not address what I wrote, only what you choose to imagine. You have made the Catholic Church up in your mind to be what you think it should be, whereas I choose to accept the Church as God chose it to be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The UN ruled that Ontario Separate School support of a single chosen cult of superstition is discriminatory.\n\nWe have seen Ontario Catholic Schools lie to students, telling them that the Catholic Religion Classes are mandatory. Ontario Courts have ruled that the Indoctrination Courses are optional, and that students can opt out, even if their parents want them to attend. Children are responsibilities, not property. Why don't Catholic Schools respect the law?\n\nhttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/catholic-schools-force-students-to-study-religion-despite-court-order/article19998101/\n\nhttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/students-can-attend-catholic-school-without-attending-religious-programs/article17876819/\n\nhttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/catholic-board-pushes-against-ontario-court-ruling/article20317408/\n\nThe right to an Education Free from Religion is the Birthright of every child in Canada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think though that before we were Roman Catholic, we were British and later Irish Catholic, in a church founded by Joseph of Arimathea in England/Wales somewhere..some say Glastonbury, some say not. I don't know. But i know that the religion had to have been far far different than the often cruel mess we have ended up with. Your Fitzgeralds..my own Fitzgerald ancestors..dimly remember something that was good and parts of it endure to this day. We just have to trace our steps backwards, and recover what we can.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Israelis have all the characteristics of a spoiled brat. They will get along famously with President Trump.\nJimbo5\n-----------------\nThe spoiled brat versus the psychopath bully who wants to destroy you because the bully has the support of\n1. Arab League (22 countries)\n2. Organization of the Islamic conference (57 countries including Iran)\n3. the Muslim world of 1.5 billion\n4. radical leftists of the West including churchmen\n\nand let us not forget the progressive left whose so-called compassion is reserved mostly for Palestine\nand not \nTibet\nDarfur\nRwanda\nMali\nSyria\nIraq\n\nvictims of ISIS\npersecuted Christians, Assyrians, Coptic, Chaldean of the middle east", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can not support Trump's policies and at the same time be Christian. It just is not possible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes to Serafim Sarovskll. I don't understand why Melania will show respect for the \n Catholic tradition of covering the head, but not for the same Islamic tradition. And just because lace has a few holes in it and is pretty, why is it any different than a hijab?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who said a person had to be sinless to be saved ? Christians are imputed (or covered or are credited) with the righteousness of Christ. As a matter of fact, Christianity is the only \"religion\" where the members must admit they are sinful in order be accepted into the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bishops' position is self evidently incorrect. A barely sentient person could readily identify circumstances when abortion or physician assisted suicide is morally permissible. That's not to say that catholic teaching lacks value; but it does lack integrity. Such far reaching moral issues as abortion and end of life are not susceptible to simple absolute prohibitions. To maintain such a position is to lie.\n\nPerhaps the commonality between a certain president and certain catholics is that each recognizes in the other a talent for saying that which isn't true and brazenly demanding belief? We have stunningly poor leadership in the American branch of this church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part (1)\n\nSeveral days ago I posted the names of the members of Trump's Catholic Advisory Council, anticipating that perhaps at least some of them would have the integrity to resign and withdraw their support from Trump. Even many Republican politicians are doing that; one would think that persons who publicly linked their support for Trump with their Catholic faith might have as much integrity as the politicians. I don't have time to search for all 34 members of the Council, but I did check out the two clerics on the Council: Deacon Keith Fournier, Chairman of Common Good Foundation and Common Good Alliance; and Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life. I was a little surprised to find that neither has resigned from the Advisory Council, but stunned to find that they have both doubled down in their support for Trump. (cont'd.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a liberal Christian, I quite agree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "easy target, christian and open society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, they are saying that, in fact, the pope does support the Catholic faith. It is just Elaine -- apparently with your approval, Trid, who says he doesn't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reading the comments here makes me sick to my stomach. You people should be ashamed of yourselves, instead of looking for humane solutions, and looking at the root causes of homelessness, you find it easier to beat your chests and look down on your fellow citizens who don't come from or have access to the same means you have.\nThe ravages of Capitalism have caused this breakdown. The lack of Christian love certainly needs to be examined as well. I have often found it interesting that the Christian Right Wing votes for people who really could care less about the destitute. \"Ship them somewhere else.\" seems to be the only solution you have for an issue which should garner sympathy yet instead seems to attract the worst of human nature. I sympathize for those neighbors who don't want their things stolen, I live in Spenard and see the problem daily, but the solution is not to 'ship them off' or to put them in jail, but to encourage programs to help these people with their issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am speaking from a biblical perspective - Christians are instructed to pray for, support and submit to the Governing powers UNLESS they conflict with Biblical Mandates. That is simply what the Bible says, and if you have a problem with it you can take it up with God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Com on, Marty, you knew I meant the Twelve. In regard to the Twelve, disciples and apostles are used interchangeably. Sheer pedantry.\n\n A reconstituted Israel was an expectation of apocalyptic Messianism (I don't have the cite handy; I may have read this in Sanders). You have no idea what Jews thought about what Jesus was saying, except as recorded in the NT and the few non-Christian sources of the 1st-2nd centuries. Wow!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Should we forgo married priests until we can have women priests? YES! There are tens of thousands of nuns and other celibate women that would be qualified, and most would consent to be ordained. But it is not just a matter of numbers. The most urgent need is to clarify the most harmful aberration in Catholic doctrine, i.e., that only baptized males are \"proper matter\" for priestly ordination. As long as this patriarchal prejudice is made visibly evident in the Catholic liturgy, the credibility of the Church is compromised.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...BROUGHT OUT ALL THE CHRISTIAN HATERS FOR GOD TO SEE.\"\n.\nMine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord\nHe is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored,\nHe has loosed the fateful lightening of His terrible swift sword\nHis truth is marching on.\n.\nHe has sounded form the trumpet that shall never call retreat\nHe is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat\nOh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!\nOur God is marching on.\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "where did I mention that I teach or follow the Christian way??? I never did, nor do I. I asked a simple question... Why would you force your beliefs on my family..,?? I do not want, nor do I want the church in school. It was a question that you categorically assumed I supported. Thereby proving you think your superior. Teach your kids what you want. Let me do the same. That's why your a liberal and I'm for freedom... You can't be", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe, and I think most Christians would say the earth MAY be warming, but it has in the past as well , But the industrial era has brought about unprecedented human flourishing, So it would be better to shut off the power plants, agriculture, water filtration etc, and return to the age of poverty, starvation and disease ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Surely I am not the only person who has heard many times over the years on the radio, in stores, as part of holiday specials, etc. the perennial favorite song \"Happy Holidays\". If a good Irish-American Catholic like Bing Crosby can make a fortune singing that phrase (his estate may still be collecting royalties) as well as another holiday song which uses the Hawaiian greeting for this time of year which I am not going to try to spell, then surely the rest of us need not fear using it.\n\n I use \"Happy Holidays\" when I greet people whom I meet whose religion I do not know. It seems more polite to me than reminding those of other faith traditions that they live as minorities in a majority Christian country. Or at least, a country filled with people who claim to be Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What relevance does all that have to the embezzlement issue under discussion?\u2014Ed McManus When we studied justice and rights in school, my classmates and I decided that in this life there was to be neither justice nor rights. The idea is to behold the face of God in justice . . . or the apparent lack thereof. Should a pastor fleece his flock, he would not be the first. Just as Black Catholics surviving those sold down the river by the Maryland Jesuits, rather than set them free, just as those surviving Black Catholics kept their Roman Catholic Faith, so must the rest of the Faithful occasionally, when also fleeced by their pastors. Jacob should not have had to fight with his loving God. That demoniac should not have been possessed by an evil spirit, to begin with. All of such goofy stuff can draw the Faithful to contemplate God at Mass . . . at least maybe. \ud83d\ude0a", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which teaching of which Ecumenical Council do I challenge, be specific if you are going to make allegations? Doctrinally the last council changed nothing, I challenge only those who think it did. I will not give up the belief in the Catholic Faith which was taught to me by people whose ancestors had siffered and died to preserve it, those saints and martyrs who the Modernists have betrayed.\nI know enough theology to be aware of what is right and wrong before God.\nWhilst I have condemned sin, I have never called anyone a sinner as you have called me to my face. Nor would I dare to even obliquely by suggesting they go to Confession? See to your own soul before judging others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you pretend to be a Christian?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stephan Wiebe, thank you so much for writing this article ! There is no doubt that most everyone sends thoughts, prayers, and well wishes to the family and friends each in their own way. Most of all, to me, I am elated that ADN had published and article shedding a positive and supportIive light on Christian beliefs.\nNot only is it rare that there are any stories mentioning the Christian faith let alone one positive ones.\nPlease recognize that there is so much support and aid in our community, daily delivered by Christians one could write an article everyday !\nFrom Brother Francis Shelter to Catholic Social Services and countless Christian communities, Christian faith is alive for many people and prayer, donation, and active volunteering. \nThank you again and please include the so many people in Anchorage and Alaska in a equally proportional way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My point was that a properly constituted ecumenical council said Rome and Constantinople were equal. Thus, it is a magisterial teaching and must be accepted by all Catholics. Just ask Tridentinus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow. So people are supposed to be forced to shop at a store run by people they disagree with because conservative Christians want to hector people about their private lives? Isn't that fascism? Sorry but there are social consequences for holding beliefs that others find abhorrent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The idea that that Republicans and especially, Christian Evangelical Republicans carry moral superiority over the rest of us is, in fact, Fake News. That's obvious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know your question is facetious, but the American constitution did in fact have a provision which protected human trafficking, namely the slave trade. Article 1 Section 9 of the U.S. constitution prevented Congress from prohibiting the importation of slaves for a period of twenty years, ending in 1807. The same provision permitted Congress to impose a tax on each imported slave, which I'm sure irritated to no end the good Christians in the U.S. South (aka Trumpland).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the shift in official Catholic attitude towards Judaism is relevant here. We once spoke of the NT as supplanting the OT (as if God changed his mind!) but now we speak about Yahweh's perpetual fidelity to his covenant with Israel. \n\nWe agree that the episcopal magisterium is currently one hell of an obstacle to the Spirit, and then, it seems to me, (1) you \"look forward(?)\" to the Spirit abandoning the bishops by withdrawing her teaching charism, whereas (2) I look forward to transformation of the college of bishops under the guidance of the Spirit, as happened during the iconoclasm controversy. \n\nRecall that the Spirit's view is very long term, and JP2's and B16's transformation of the college into a bastion of narrow-minded orthodoxy is very short term. The heroic bishops of V2 were a slightly earlier incarnation of EXACTLY THE SAME episcopal college. \n\nA bad patch is just that, a bad patch; not a reason to throw out the baby.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a false start.\n\nThose have been going on since the 60s and race relations (at least between blacks and whites have only gotten worse since the 60s, despite trillions of dollars of 'reparations' (HHS), empassioned marches, speeches, rallies, and a half black president for 8 years, and of course the Beer Summit at the White House).\n\nWhat's going on is that America's complexion is no longer white and black, it's every tone in between...and the professional race baiters (on both sides) are feeling inconsequential or mad that the \"reparation\" dollars (HHS) are going to be spread load into groups not traditionally classified as entitled.\n\nBig waste of time and hope.\n\nNot the Christian way..but the way of Stalin, Lenin, Mao, and other revolutionaries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where were we before we were born? Christianity says we were ideas in the mind of God, our lives were a dream of God. Being restored back to that vision is what are lives should be about. God wants to share his life with us and salvation is the healing of that relationship, that unity with God which has been torn because of sin. Christ came as a gift to us to be a sacrifice in order to be restored back to God. I hope and pray that this soul was right with God, in all its simplicity and beauty through love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What you can't do is trash every adherent of a religion because of some passages in its holy book. That is what is done regularly on these comments threads by people cherry-picking from the Quran. If we do the same thing for the Bible, we would have to expel all practicing Christians and Jews!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From your own (unattributed) post.\n\n\" The attack, it said, was revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria.\"\n\nTherefore nothing to do with the calendar. And given that ISIS killed far more Muslims than others in the attack you can hardly claim it was directed at Christians. They simply attacked a secular, international holiday because was a time when the club would be packed with revellers. \n\nAnd for the last time, this has nothing to do with the issue of Muslim religious services in Peel Region schools. \n\nOh and by the way...\n\n\"Prior to 1917, Turkey used the lunar Islamic calendar with the Hegira era for general purposes and the Julian calendar for fiscal purposes. \"\nhttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The broader question is: has the Catholic Church been wrong for 2000 years. It wasn't a decision made by JPII. He was providing leadership and passing on and reinforcing Catholic doctrine - the task of a Pope - given the issue had surfaced and was causing division and dissent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the last 2 months, Imams in Toronto and Montreal were discovered to be preaching death to those of a certain religion. ( Neither Muslim or Christianity) No hate crime charges were laid, nor is it likely they ever will. Religious freedom ensures Imams can preach hate and death to others who do not follow their beliefs. Politicians don't care, and the cops haven't the guts to lay charges. Needless to say, some listening to this hatred will become indoctrinated. It will spread and grow. Its only a matter of time before we are all reading of growing terror and murder here right in our own back yard.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Murray grew up in working class neighborhoods in and around Seattle as one of seven children in an Irish Catholic family. He learned Gaelic (pronounced gay lick) at an early age.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OR: let the church stop assuming Catholics need priests to guide them throughout their lives, and trust adults to take responsibility for their own faith. \nPromote the ministry of parents to form their own children in the faith. Gather them for the celebration of Eucharist. Entrust them with converting their corners of the world to God in Christ. \nClose the leviathans we used to call \"parishes\" and open small communities led by people who understand the gospel and the people called to live it.\n\nAnd let the priests and religious enjoy their retirement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There have been numerous anti-semites who joined the Birch Society and there is a long history of anti-semitic incidents. Yes, most of those individuals either resigned or were expelled. However, as was shown by the internal JBS controversy over John McManus's comments before Catholic organizations, every-so-often anti-semitism does rear its head.\n\nThe 1965 California Senate report referred to a \"dangerous increase\" of anti-semitism within the JBS because of incidents they were aware of.\n\nNobody is claiming that the JBS is an anti-semitic organization but, sometimes, it has associated itself with (or employed) anti-semites such as Eric Dudley Butler, Gordon (Jack) Mohr, and other individuals, including authors who presented anti-semitic themes or used anti-semitic sources in their writings. The official JBS position on Israel was that it was a Communist-dominated country; Robert Welch described a \"zionist conspiracy\" that pre-dated and subsumed the Communist conspiracy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Choice in education is a good thing. Not every child learns the same way or has the same interests. Parents should have options about where they send their children rather than sending them to the neighborhood school where they are given the same cookie cutter education. I do have issues with giving religious schools public money however because if you do it for the parochial schools, you have to do it for Jim Bob's Evangelical Jesus Academy. Also, in my experience poor scholarship students are treated badly at Catholic schools; they get punished more often than the like. Money unfortunately still buys privilege at Catholic schools. The best way to not be punished is to have your family name on the gym.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've always wondered why they called the BIA school in Wrangell an \"Institute\" It was segregated from the town of Wrangell by a few miles and there we lived 9 months out of a year for 3 years in isolation from the \"civilized\" world. Myself, my sister, brother, and a few cousins were products of this institution in the 1950's and yes we're still very much alive. I knew Jim and Kermit LaBelle when I was there (sorry to hear about Kermit) and their treatment and I still remember vividly the sobbing and crying at nights of a whole wing of a floor especially us younger ones (5 yrs and up), but was never abused by the matrons/staff while there. For the next 7 years I attended a Catholic school and got brainwashed with religion and went on to Mt. Edgecumbe, where I graduated and went on into the military service (Viet Nam Vet)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you read my comment? Maybe.\nDid you understand it? No.\nThe Anglicans are in the same boat as the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "not according to most right wingers, if you aren't Christian (and THEIR kind of Christian), you can't be a real American.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Second, I'm not convinced that disagreement about sexuality morality is a primary cause of departures. If that were the case, the mainline Protestant churches would be booming, but they're not. Most of them jettisoned traditional Christian teaching on these matters a long time ago and still they languish.\"\n\nThis comment assumes that mainline Protestant churches began to see a decline in attendance AFTER they changed their tune on sexual issues, which happened rather recently, not \"a long time ago.\" In fact, there's every reason to believe that their decline began well before that, when they were singing the same tune the Roman Church is now. It's quite convenient for the bishop to gloss over the dissatisfaction of disaffected Catholics and blame their \"lack of faith\" as the primary reason they've left the church - that absolves him and his fellow bishops from scaring people away with their teachings which the disaffected see as hypocritical at best and cruel and un-Christian at worst.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "re: 1) virtually exceptionless norms that bind<<< The reality of subjective exculpability remains.\n\nre: 2) no conscience can legitimate<<< Primacy of conscience still obtains.\n\nre: 3) objective situations of grave habitual sin<<<\n\nThe presumption of innocence and explicit bias in favor of one's right to the sacraments trump concerns for scandal, which, juridically, has evidentiary & prudential hurdles set so high that few bishops ever employ such canons. Ironically, though, the rigorists, for some reason, are spectacularly lax vis a vis such legal hurdles! \n\nre: 4) no intentions or circumstances can transform into a subjectively good or defensible choice<<<\n\nAmoris was recognizing that so many irregular relationships, somehow, bear spiritual fruit & realize unitive values -not because of, but- in spite of objective situations (& that subjective exculpability may obtain).\n\nre: 5) communion given to Catholics in irregular situations<<<\n\nBeyond juridical routes, discernment can determine!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" It's 'Christians'. \"\n\nI presume you meant those \"other\" Christians and not yourself. Touching ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"God\" is not a christian term. It's an English term. \"Allah\" is an Arabic term. \"Dieu\" is a French term. All mean the same thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By Jesus's \"own church\" you are, presumably, referring to the priesthood of Second Temple Judaism?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"\"We are grateful for the efforts to include protections for the unborn, however, any final bill must include full Hyde Amendment provisions and add much-needed conscience protections. The current proposals are simply unacceptable as written, and any attempts to repeal the ACA (Affordable Care Act) without a concurrent replacement is also unacceptable,\" he said in a July 25 statement.\"\n- If there is one thing that Congress learned during the Obama's term it is this, that USCCB is not a fair partner in civil discourse. \n- It is appropriate for the USCCB to express the collective opinion of the episcopate in the US to the adherents of the 'catholic church'. However, Congress is wise to disregard what the USCCB states or reports until such time as when each congressional constituent having screened the USCCB's statement(s) then relays to the congressman what applies to a constituent's interest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The mythical jesus said no such things since he didn't exist. All of his plagiarized sayings, actions, and stories came from pre-christian religions mostly made up of multiples of gods unrelated to any One God ideology. Has no relevance to the basic human need to care for one another.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Prayers do no good without guns to back them up against the evil. The religions stole the feasts and celebrations from the pagans to fit their own agendas. Germany was officially a christian nation with its base in the Holy Roman Catholic Church of the Roman Empire which started it all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The school is spot on target! There is a Christian word for women like this and it's Jezebel. Be real Christians, put the scarlet letter on her and ride her out of town. Right-wing Christians often say Liberals suffer from moral relativism, but it is the right-wing Christian voting bloc which suffers from the scourge of moral relativism. This young woman is the perfect example: \"pre-marital sex is wrong\", except when you have it, then everyone will dote on you and call you a hero; \"men who hurt women are immoral\" and \"men who cheat on their wives are immoral\" and \"men who cheat in business, are egotistical, and self-dealing are immoral\" until Christians vote for him for president, then everyone will rally around their new hero; \"homosexuality is wrong because we can find several passages in our Bible that say so\" but we ignore the passages that counter our self-important self-view or say that our own behaviour is wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anyone who steps out to challenge the status quo will be challenged. Also, just because someone says they are a Christian does not mean they are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bible claims to be truth, as many others do. There is eyewitness testimony of the Resurrection, which you will no doubt reject. I am more convinced by the presuppositional argument which was first formulated by Cornelius Van Till, but the long and short of it is that Spiritually dead people will not understand or accept the truth of God, it is reserved for those the Father has chosen to reveal it to, \n\nMat 11:25\u00a0 At that time Jesus declared, \u201cI thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would change your second and third sentences to say \"This opinion is what the celibate men of the magisterium teach. It is the basis for some terrible pastoral practice. Anyone contradicting my personal opinion is a Catholic in good standing.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "-- https://international.la-croix.com/news/are-us-catholics-too-american-to-stand-up-to-trump/4873\n \nAre US Catholics too American to stand up to Trump? \nMassimo Faggioli\nMarch 20, 2017 --", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus taught us the Kingdom/Reign of God is here within us. It is spiritual (not of this world). Jesus taught more about this Kingdom than anything else. It is an inclusive kingdom of sinners and saints (weeds and grain). We are invited to join God by our Love for others. We show it by helping the poor, hungry, homeless, and sick. This kingdom is open to all, not just Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is scandalous is for a Catholic bishop to refer to an innocent, murdered, unborn human being in such cold and clinical terms as, an \"aborted foetus.\" \nIt would be more appropriate if the Diocese of Amarillo were to deeply regret, \"the offence and outrage caused by\" the killing of this innocent child in the womb, \"for the faithful and the community at large.\"\nIf the actions of Fr Pavone are \"not consistent with the beliefs of the Catholic Church\" perhaps the Diocese could publish its own views on what the Catholic Church believes about abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's weird how they made no mention of Christianity in the founding documents, isn't it?\n\n\nIf they founded it as a \"Christian nation\", they sure had a funny way of showing it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I try not to question the motives of the evangelicals that I have known in the last 50 years. They are a more diverse group than the political commentators make them out to be. Kristoff points out some very good work by those who find the courage and energy through their faith, to do some very risky work with little personal reward. \n\nWhat I do resent is those who make abortion the only 'test' of faith that they seem to lean on. Frankly, for some, the 'correct' view of abortion seems to them a moral 'get out of hell' card regardless of any other behavior that may afflict their lives.\n\nPersonally I'm on the side that believes we are all imperfect. In relationship to a cosmic God who knows no bounds of space and time, there isn't much we can do to impress, or offend her. The'ranking' of sin is not an expression of God's judgement, it's the expression of human judgement driven by human insecurity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As it is the woman and the man who marry each other in a Catholic service, with the priest being the official witness of the church, the onus is clearly on them to carry this relationship forward. No one, at this precious juncture in their lives, would envision anything less than the ideal: \"We shall love each other all the days of our lives.\" But that is the ideal, and then, life happens sometimes to make that man and woman look at each other differently. That Francis understands that the complexities, the vicissitudes of life can intrude on the best intentions of a couple and change forever their original commitment to each other is a heartening sign, not one to be dismayed about. Only in God is there no change. Understanding ought to be the watchword of an enlightened age and a Christ-like Pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some separated brethren self identify as small c catholic but the fullness of the means of salvation is in the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic Christianity encompasses both the Old and New Testaments, and Tradition. Prior to Vatican II, to me, the emphasis, in my view, was the Old Testament. Today, the pendulum has swung too far in just emphasizing the soothing messages of Jesus, without also focusing on His demanding code of behavior. Today, we need to get back to a balanced view which encompasses all Scripture, both the Old and New Testaments. Jesus said: \"I have come to fulfill the Law, not abolish it.\" I take Him at His word. As a charamatic Catholic, I'm grateful to Vatican II for emphasizing the need for all Catholics to be become readers and lovers of Scripture. I belong to a weekly ecumenical prayer group which includes Catholics, conservative Protestants, a Catholic priest, and a Protestant minister; and our diocesan bishop meets with us once a month for prayer and the sharing of a meal. This is one of the beautiful fruits of Vatican II: Catholics and conservative Protestants coming together.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On April 2009 Pope Benefict apologized for the role the Catholic Church played in the residential schools. Chief Edward John of the Tlazen First Nations stated at the time that the apology will help people to move on. Phil Fontaine national chief of First Nations at the time, stated that he felt this apology. Why does another Pope have to go over the same ground, and why hasn't it been acknowledged that a Pope has apologized.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "the Canadian British North America Act created Catholic schools in Ontario and Protestant ones in Quebec\n\nwe follow OUR constitution and not the UN", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem is not one of withholding the Catholic faith. The ;problem is one of withholding your vision of what is Catholic and what is not. Some of us see it as a very poor vision.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...but that they don't care.\"\nPrecisely!\nThere will be no reform.\nIf there is a future for organized Christianity, it will be a future without clerics.\nThe slow motion implosion of the church continues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This ruling did not go far enough. Unless the state does not have a Blaine Amendment, the Amendment, which was originally meant to prevent the funding of Catholic Schools with a very real history of bad intent against Catholicism, must be struck down in every state. Of course, this case will be useful in doing so. Jay Sekulo should drop Trump as a client and file suit for Catholic school in Virginia to get fully funded.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes Jesus wants us to be one. \n\nUnity and dialogue must be based on truth. \n\n\"E1\" is not problematic as long as it doesn't cause Catholics to water down our faith or pretend disagreements aren't there or promote relativism. \n\nWhy is good will between Catholics and dying liberal denominations like the Episcopalians or the Lund Lutherans good but good will between Catholics and Evangelicals bad?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Scripture is clear. Jesus gave us instructions, step by step, more progressive and demanding each one.\n\nHe ended his instructions - failing all else - with \"Rebuke the sinner\".\n\nYes those are Jesus's own words.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So sad that these men were taught they would go to heaven by hurting so many. May need to realize that Islam HAS an internal issue. I don't hear this coming out of Christian, Hindu, Buddhist churches. Maybe with some extremist Jews, but they have also been targeted forever. Hope we learned to be selective on who comes to our country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe you've forgotten some New Testament history: Jesus saying: \"Give to God what is God's and give to Caesar what is Caesar's.\" You seem to be fixated on legalism (letter of the law) rather than on Jesus' teaching and practicing spirit of the law, get it? Are you familiar with the CHRISTian song: \"Whatsoever you do to the least of my people that you do unto me?\"\n\nYou may have a very narrow view of WWJD...get it? Expand your pastoral horizon and learn about and practice compassion. Are you familiar with Pope Francis' example? \"Smell like the sheep\" you serve (and live with!)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The commissioned report talks about demographic diversity: race, ethnicity, and age. Also important, and probably far more important, is the diversity of these Catholic people's views: attitudes about authority, attitudes about literal beliefs versus metaphoric beliefs, attitudes about giving priority to submission and acceptance of traditional ways of interpreting the religion as opposed to giving priority to thinking for oneself and being creative about it, attitudes about the unique rightness of Catholicism versus a level, ecumenical view of the world's religions, attitudes about the size of moral territory governed by individual conscience, attitudes about the security of surety and the insistence that such surety be exhibited by all members as opposed to comfort with lack of surety and thinking even that surety in the field of religion is itself a sign of mistaken thinking, attitudes about whether to equate devotion to following rules.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I already told you this person knows I'm Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you know what *immutable* means? Sorry, but for many who define immutable, it does not mean that there is no visible change. Geez - moral law moved from the OT to the NT; we have moved from a classical mindset to a historical consciousness mindset. You confuse and conflate the reality that there is a core that we believe does not change but that it is expressed and lived tempered by the times, cultures, and changing concepts of human life.\nImmutability does not mean that God does not vary. The incarnation is an example of variation. Also, God's attitude toward a person is changed when the person becomes a Christian. For example, the enmity between God and man is removed (Rom. 5:10).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hardly! Knowing that the church teaches is definitely a matter of making judgments about what the church teaches, what the church has taught in the past, and what the church does not teach! And because not all teachings carry the same weight, the theological note attached to each teaching can be of the utmost importance on occasion. The self-styled \"orthodox\" Catholics who post here and elsewhere typically expect all others to accept their judgments about church teachings just on their own say-so, and thus uncritically. Ain't gonna happen!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that is a bias and Eurocentric stereotype that you are pumping there that the only reason people in the global south are accepting Christianity is because of \"fear of hell\" or that some how they are just ignorant. Churches do a lot of social justice work in these areas that don't often get attention. \n\nIn the Congo for instance the Catholic Church just played a major role in terms of peacemaking in that area. In South Sudan both the Anglican, Catholic and World Council of Churches are on the ground in terms of push peace and reconciliation and providing shelter for those experiencing violence. In these regions the Churches are some of the largest health care providers out there and they are often at the fore front of social justice issues from the environment, to poverty, to how migrants and refugees are treated. \n\nSo people in the Global South obviously know about the abuses in Church history. You had decades of colonization. But they are still attracted to Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Could you send a few to us so they can share their traditionalist views? Many of us have looked but have found so very few, they are statistically insignificant. BTW - those who attend Mass and/or a Catholic school do not automatically count as \"traditionalists.\" Thanks so much!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. Only from what they write. My gripe with the Pope is that he has allowed a situation to develop over AL whereby it is being interpreted differently by bishops and bishops' conferences throughout the world.\nWhen Pope St John II spoke on the doctrinal matter of women's ordination he did it 'to confirm the brethren in order that no doubt might remain'. Pope Francis has studiously ignored pleas from scholars, priests and even cardinals to remove all doubt about the Exhortation.\n2. Of course those posts had everything to do with religion, they were centred mainly on abortion and religious freedom. Hillary's manifesto I concluded was downright anti-Catholic and that the Catholic Church would find him a more sympathetic President than her. I am naturally delighted at this but if you wish to interpret that as gloating and jeering, so be it.\nI gave you my answer, if you don't accept it there is not much more I can do about it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What does being a \"Roman Catholic\" have to do with anything? Is this a blatant attempt to claim the moral high ground as if that somehow endows Scaramucci with righteousness? SMH", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether we're talking about the right or the left in the Church, the parable that comes to mind is the one about the wheat and tare. It seems that all of our organizations are composed of both. Discerning Catholics should be able to sort through and see what's good, even as we deal with our own personal wheat and tare conflict. There is sort of a dialectic going on here\u2014good vs. evil, light vs. dark. We know how it will end (it's actually ended already) but we have to live it out.\n\nSo go at it NC Reporter, NC Register, America, EWTN, progressive-but-faithful Catholics, Opus Dei-ites, Dubia pushers, field hospital denizens. You are all in this big catholic tent of ours. And the truth will out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Translation: if you don't believe what I, John Hobson, believe, you are not really a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great composers are often only recognized as such long after their deaths. By the end of his life J.S. Bach was considered an old has-been writing in an old-fashioned style that his contemporaries were abandoning in droves. And yet, his great contrapuntal masterpiece, \"The Art of Fugue,\" was written during his late period. It is considered the crowning achievement of the Baroque era in music. There are great composers writing for the church now. You'll hear their music performed in some of the great cathedrals and major parish churches both in this country and abroad. You just have to look hard to find them. Great art often challenges people in ways that make them uncomfortable. Such music is largely avoided in most Catholic churches in favor of bland, tepid pabulum that mostly seeks to comfort the comfortable. Such music will end up in the dustbin of history, where it belongs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cAs a fully inclusive and supportive Catholic Board for all students and staff, decisions regarding offering presentations to students from community members are made upon individual consideration and review,\u201d spokesperson Jennifer Pellegrini\n--------------------------\nGood lord, how long did it take to write this mouthful of fluff. \"Communications\" is a disease and we are in the middle of an epidemic. Phone public health.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "michael last, i certainly hope you come in last. your archaic views of government are trumpish almost. you cant rely on religious folks to run things. there are 600,000 professed christians in hawaii and 8000 homeless people. how do you account for this fact?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of two) Vatican II somehow gets involved, after another five hundred years. All Vatican II does is invite the Faithful to think, rather than simply pay-pray-and-obey.\n\nNicaea and its Creed are more than hypothetical; they are the fundamental belief of Christians. \n\nwe can ossify in our stodgy theological dungeons, but not all theology is in stogy theological dungeons, despite the likes of what caused the American Association of University Professors to censure the administration of The Catholic University of America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So white Christians then.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And every Republican president since then, if you want to distribute blame. The fact is that the majority of Americans favor some form of abortion as a woman's right. Many differ on the details. If Catholics and others believe abortion is a sin, they should definitely not have abortions. More, they should work to make abortion \"safe, legal, and RARE\" by promoting low/no cost ABC. And they should make pre and post natal care free for all. There are a myriad of things that can be done to encourage pregnant women to give birth. Making abortion illegal and forcing women into back alley procedures isn't one of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What little information we are given in this story about the conference topic, strikes me as not in the least anti-Semitic, but your point is very well taken 1LittleBear. In this day and age, a biblical conference focused on early Hebrew history (my read of what lies beneath the little info given) can only be scholarly conference if it involves Jewish scholars as well as Christian. Then again, we are not told there are no Jewish presenters. Difficult to make sense of this story.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Reproductive health care\", by definition, includes a purported right to abort (murder) unborn children made in the image and likeness of God.....a proposition anathema to Divine Law, Natural Law, and the teachings of the Catholic Magisterium.\n\nProponents of this eugenics inspired positive law (Roe v. Wade), under the guise of \"reproductive health care\", have already attacked the Catholic Church by attempting to cause it and its followers to pay for abortion and the vehicle that gives rise to abortion...failed contraception.\n\nNo troll here...just a Catholic who reads the Catechism and who has a healthy respect for the Constitution's protection of religious beliefs.\n\nMay Christ's peace be with you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even if I thought for a minute that religious discrimination was a legitimate reason to refuse service by a business that is a public accommodation, Jack Phillips isn't even following the teachings of Christ. If we accept his belief that the persons he refused to serve are \"sinners\" or \"sinning\", Jesus instructed us to serve sinners, and he set the example of serving sinners even when it ticked off the religious establishment.\n\nSo Jack, if you can't even practice the teachings of Christ, I don't think you can make a legal claim that you are so devout in your beliefs that you must be granted special privilege to discriminate against others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am challenging your exclusive club mentality of Catholicism. Your concepts of God do not reflect the many modern Catholic theologians. They are incorporating modern science and social sciences to replace your bad theology from the past based on rules rather than Love. It is your ideas that are irrelevant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...to the best it can be at the time....\"\n\nSome theologians would call it, \"Senses of Tradition\"; others, \"Continuity and Development in the Catholic Faith\"; Newman, \"Development of Christian Dogma\"; still others use terms like \"development in continuity,\" \"dramatic development as a sense,\" \"incipient development as a sense,\" \"prospectivity,\" etc. But all the terms mean what you say above, Leo Sprietsma, especially in regard to the model one uses in studying the development of dogma: the dialectical model, noetic model, organic model, reception model, or Stohr's model, among others! A good systematic Theologian couldn't simplify it better than you did, Leo!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So many heartless, knee jerk reactions to this story. People who claim to be Christians, who would for the sake of politics, have a young mother separated from her children, or would have two young American citizens sent to a country they've never known. We have it within our power to fix immigration, to find just and humane paths of citizenship for the undocumented, to change laws so that victims of identity theft can more easily appeal and repair their disturbed credit. The reactionary response of \"Send them back,\" regardless of circumstance, is both profoundly disturbing on a humanitarian level and intellectually lazy on a legislative one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is the big deal?\n\nOnly 30% of Canadians are still religious.\n\nhttp://www.people-press.org/2002/12/19/among-wealthy-nations/\n\nStats Canada always gets the numbers wrong:\n\n1. people tend give socially conventional answers about religions, saying they regularly attend church and give tithes, when as often as not they are lying\n\n2. Stats Canada records the response along with the name, address, birth date and other personally identifying information, for future publication. People with kinfolk in Cults that practice shunning are not going to give an honest answer. Neither is a non-religious teacher at a Catholic school. \n\nEven back in the 1980s being Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, ..., Jewish had no significance for most Canadians beyond what genre of ritual was performed when they were born, married and buried. Bibby (Fragmented Gods)\n\nBibby noted that it was a bit like declaring yourself to be English, Irish or Scottish. A statement about your ancestors, not about yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"This is why at the beginning I wasn't planning to celebrate a Mass for the Catholics on this trip. I wanted to insist on an ecumenical witness. Then I reflected well on my role as pastor of a flock of Catholics who will also come from other countries, like Norway and Denmark. So, responding to the fervent request of the Catholic community, I decided to celebrate a Mass, lengthening the trip by a day. In fact, I didn't want the Mass celebrated on the same day and in the same place as the ecumenical encounter to avoid confusing plans.\" \nThe Pope clearly seems to have lost his direction as the Vicar of Christ in the Catholic Church when celebrating the her etic Martin Luther takes precedence over administering to his fellow Catholics by celebrating a Mass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Strategic Engagement\" Wow! I bet that sounded good in the board room when they were going over the 'numbers'! \n\nI'm willing to venture that there was no serious discussion at Catholic church-run Peacehealth regarding the moral aspect of its responsibilities to or of discontinuing its employment of up to 500 people. All that some of them, perhaps half, have now is a promise of a sign that says 'priority'. I'm also willing to venture that they should expect cuts in wages, as well as in employment, health and retirement benefits. The other half, not so much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What exactly is a motion in the House of Commons going to do to quell anti-Muslim hate. The haters are going to hate regardless, this is just an exercise in politics.\n\nLet contrast Canada with Indonesia where a Christian candidate for governor is being attacked because hardliners are upset that a Christian will lead a Muslim majority province. Not to mention attacks on the Christian and other non Muslim minorities in that country.\n\nhttp://www.cbsnews.com/news/christian-worshippers-attacked-in-indonesia/ \n\nThis MP and the Calgary mayor were Muslims elected in a Christian majority country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And out here in BC our private/catholic/muslim/Jewish, etc. schools receive 50% of their funding from the government--yes 50% so a child may go to a school and be with exactly the 'class' /religion of their families. So much for integration. None of our parties ran against it-NONE! In Canada, in 2017 we still segregate children, pay for it and keep silent, and we go on and on about residential schools--Go figure.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good observations. Having served churches with very traditional, obsolete space and those with more modern, multipurpose space, I definitely prefer the latter. In many Catholic and Protestant churches, faithfulness to the church's mission suffers because of the exorbitant cost of maintaining outdated facilities. I also find that in some places, church folks actually think the church is a building. A church that pretends to be a museum eventually becomes one!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Modernist heresy says that. If modernism is what the current occupant and his like-minded, immediate predecessors believed it and promoted it, it doesn't make it Catholic Teaching. Catholicism is an Apostolic Faith; the ever-changing New Order is not Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Canada is not a theocracy.\"\n\n No it isn't. But since 9/11 various religions are increasingly exerting tight control over everyday thought and everyday behaviour of Canadians cowed into silent obedience.\n Canada's lurch to the right wing is a consequence of endless war, war-time constraints on free speech, tightening of corporate control over government, increasing militarization, growing income disparities. submission to political correctness, and compliance to the multicultural mantra of \"diversity is our strength\". Moreover, it's all being forced on Canadians with a pervasive everyday commandment to tolerate the momentous new influences of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and other religions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Investments in early child education and care is predicated on the principle of national competitiveness, the principle social equity is very much a distant second. That is, less about giving every child a chance in life (although that is part of it) and more about ensuring Germany has the most educated, advanced labour force. \n\nThe CDU break from traditional conservative, Catholic values of family responsibility started in the mid to late 1990s as the reality of neo-liberalism and global corporatism became clear. However, there remains much resistance in the more Catholic oriented L\u00e4nder to local implementation. \n\nUltimately, the case is stronger that social investment and child care in Germany is more the product of neo-liberalism than democratic socialism. Of course, that also reflects the composition of the current coalition government which is led/dominated by the CDU and the smaller partner the Social Democratic Party (SPD).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wholesome Goodness, your moniker masks your xenophobia. Real estate has been bought and sold the world over by foreign nationals for centuries. And as for laundering money, since when did that become a Chinese monopoly? Guess there is nothing purer than a white christian Canadian of Anglo-Saxon heritage - we never take advantage of anybody or any situation. If Vancouver or other Canadian \"World Class\" cities like to pretend as such, they need to learn to accept the dynamics that come with the territory. How many Londoners, Parisians or New Yorkers are there who don't struggle with housing prices. Not many is my guess.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A good question maybe for some to ask. \n\nThe answer: The Roman Catholic Church has not \"thrown away the anathemas of Trent\". The declarations and anathemas of the Council of Trent have never been revoked. Indeed, they were confirmed by Vatican II and are restated in the Catechism of the Church..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder about you argument that the state need not treat all religions the same. Does that mean that a state could favor Evangelicals over Catholics? Christians over Jews? Might it not be better to provide a level playing field for all religions? Perhaps that would result in greater fairness and few controversies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"church\" no longer controls my body!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When they hired Drummond from TD they told him defunding Catholic education was \"off the table\" even though it would save a billion a year after amalgamation so, they truly are their own worst enemies. An election cannot come soon enough!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your words: \"I gave interpretations from a strictly Catholic viewpoint, and my input was welcomed by all present.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, since it seems I have been overly liberal in my \"Civil\" voting, I am now limited to 3 comments in a 24 hour period -- and I can't find any guidelines for what is \"civil\" so as to comply. So, this is probably my last on this subject. \n\nAustralia I couldn't speak to. I know they are somewhat xenophonic particularly in regards to Asians. Mexico? I think their \"lack of diversity\" has as much to do with big Catholic families as anything else. To my understanding they are quite willing to take in expats, retirees most so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Klein's had served this couple before, though not for a wedding cake, so their refusal to serve them this time was not because they were gay.\n\nThe Klein's actual reason was because their Christian beliefs require them to have nothing to do with promoting homosexual behavior, and they believed doing so could risk their immortal souls as well as the souls of the homosexual couple.\n\nThis is a protected First Amendment right. Any laws the State of Oregon may have that deny this right should be deemed unconstitutional. Whether our Supreme Court will do so without Justice Scalia remains to be seen.\n\nEither way, the Kleins will choose their immortal souls and those of the gays over their business interests every time, guaranteed. I highly respect and admire their decision in the face of great adversity and persecution. And I am ashamed as an Oregonian that the OBLI could not recognize the conflict of legitimate rights between the two parties and craft a much wiser decision.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Way to miss the point. The critique doesn't advocate changing church teaching. Quite the contrary, it opposes assimilating theology like the prosperity gospel incompatible with Church teaching. Further, it denounces a Biblical fundamentalism committed to the establishment of a theocratic \"Christian\" state, much like Islamic fundamentalists dream of establishing a Caliphate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"But, instead of being disciples of Christ, I guess they will remain disciples of the institution.\"\nThank you, Kurgan. Your comment succinctly explains why the age of the \"ontologically different\" clergy must needs be coming to an end. They need to become extinct. As I keep writing, while it will not occur in our lifetimes, if Catholic Christianity is to survive, a future iteration will be one without clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly there are these types in Denver again. There's a whole house full of them off Colfax and Ogden and Matt Heimbach's Traditionalist Workers Party has a presence in Colorado both on the street and in at least one Eastern Orthodox Christian Parish.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This picture is still a big improvement over the Children's Bible we had at Catholic school where Jesus was blonde, blue eyed, and fair skinned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even the in lowest, low Church Anglican parish, chances are there is an altar rail, whereas the most Catholic churches have ripped them out. Of course, the Anglican church copied the Catholic one since the Anglicans broke off from the Catholics. \n\nWhy should anyone be ashamed to kneel to recieve Our Lord? How do you reckon it is some kind of superstition?\n\nStill, how Orthodox and Eastern Catholics can have a full on iconostasis and that is fine, whereas a two foot tall rail that does not impede view of the sanctuary is unacceptable as a \"barrier\" boggles the mind. The East is seen as \"exotic\" so they get a pass, but members of the second largest gathering of Christians are aghast at some of the things that go on in your typical Novus Ordo.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AnonAJ,\n By the death and resurrection of Jesus we are set free. Millions of people throughout the world profess by their words and actions that Jesus is their savior.\n And we choose accordingly to be a sinful person or grace-filled person.\nGod's benevolent love is always there for us...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You mean they may be Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The gospels do not refer to the the Mystical Body some have named the Catholic church. There is nothing about church in the sense we kniw it today. I wonder what Jesus the Palestinian Lifelong Jew would say about an ecclesiology that post dated him by hundreds of years. Jesus the Jew, not Jesus as if he founded Catholicism, A good study of Christology and ecclesioogy would go a long way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You need a citation to a source that supports your very specific claim (how it's done by Republicans), that ALL Muslims worship and believe the same way. I know that all Christians do not worship and believe the same way, and it's even evident (unbeknownst to you) in your comment--\"fundamentalist.\" Not all Christians are \"fundamentalist.\" Clearly, you've never heard of a little thing called religious \"sects.\" It kind of rhymes with \"sex,\" but it's not. Good luck, IAMME!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Depends on the Gospel values. Jesus never taught one thing to His Apostles about the specialness of our current concept of priesthood, and in fact, most likely died for His views regarding the contemporary version of the Jewish priesthood He grew up in. That priesthood never recovered from the destruction of the Temple, something Jesus predicted. There is a lesson there that our Catholic clergy seem to have missed badly....and repeatedly for over a millennia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm now curious about how you define \"extremely progressive Christians\". It seems that extreme adherence to any doctrine, be it conservative, progressive, orthodox, reform, whateversiveism, is by its very nature rigid.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with you. I am no expert on Christianity, but I think there is a provision that one can be forgiven, but one must still pay penance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He gave a talk at the Vatican sponsored by the Institute for Human Dignity and he likes to carry on about the Church Militant. (Aside: has anybody else noticed that the Church Militant's most militant soldiers all seem to be conspicuously fat and seedy? Maybe the Church Militant needs to upgrade its physical training program?) \n\nOf course, the devout blogosphere is full of self-proclaimed devout Catholics who never seem to get to mass, but he certainly has a lot of devout friends.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This place sounds like it is balancing the scales. Drunks have bars to hang out in, so why cant smokers? In time we will see who is right and who is wrong on this issue, but as long as they will have alcohol bars, then it is only 'fair' to not discriminate against the smokers. You see discrimination comes to a new meaning with in this issue, not black or white, christian or Muslim, but smoker or drinker...many pot smokers do not consume alcohol to relieve their stress, they smoke pot instead. Many alcohol drinkers still require prescription pain meds and anxiety aids, Most smokers do not. The only reason they do not want pot on the market is the Pharmaceutical industry will loose money! I as a cancer survivor have used pot to help me eat, and relieve pain and nerve issues that prescription pills did not work for and alcohol only made worse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank heavens somebody is talking sense on the fragmented publicly funded schools. It's high time that Bill Davis's folly to give funding to Catholic high schools was rolled back. To remove funding from Catholic elementary schools would be a bonus, despite the fact that it was enshrined in the British North America Act. My son played rep basketball about fifteen years ago. The out of town tournaments were held almost exclusively in Catholic high schools. These were veritable palaces compared to his midtown public high school, which more resembled a gothic horror movie set than a learning institution, with its falling acoustic ceiling tiles, broken lockers and bathroom cubicles with missing doors. Why did this happen? Because after 1985 so much money was siphoned out of the public school system to fund Catholic high schools and the parallel administration to the public high schools. If Newfoundland can kick churches out of education, there is no reason Ontario can't!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow! Because of your first sentence, I must surmise you must not be Catholic. We Catholics know that we are \"Christ's body\" here on earth. Therefore, we are called to further His works and that means we bring peace to humanity. We are His disciples (read that as His believers and his instruments). St. Francis (of Assisi) in his famous prayer states, make me an instrument of your peace! So, Christ uses us to bring His Peace! (Read it! It will tell you a lot about who we are.)\n\nAlso giving credulity to you not being Catholic is your inability to comprehend written statements, which we Catholics learn at a young age. Lilian never stated her or the Pope's support for abortion but stated the Pope does \"not discriminate against supporters of abortion.\" Maybe you cannot see it, but there's a huge difference there. Check with a local Catholic parish. Most have a program called RCIA. They will assist you in becoming Catholic and thereby more enlightened!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The trip will take in Saudi Arabia, Israel, Italy, the Vatican and Brussels in a complex tour that includes the ancient capitals of Islam, Judaism and Christianity.\"\n\nI will admit as I read the above sentence, I initially saw \"comedy\" not \"complex\" and that it's all Donald's fault. BAD.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is the commands of Jesus that form my opinion on the subject. Jesus and St. Paul were very specific on what to do when leveling an accusation in the Church, and the OT laws Jesus and St. Paul alluded to were even more specific. Like it or not, THAT IS Christianity. Like it or not, not all of Jesus' Words were about coddling, or peace, love and understanding type of fluff. \n\nI'm on record as agreeing with the judge's decision on the Finn matter. What I do not agree with is Baker's decision to drop charges against those complicit in the case before Finn had direct knowledge of what was going down. And not all of those that had knowledge of Ratigan's behavior prior to Finn knowing were even Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for this. I may not agree with every last assertion, but that essay is superb! I read it after posting my remarks elsewhere on this thread, so I was gratified by Gene McCarraher's defense of ridicule.\n\nThe best case against Catholic-American nationalism I've ever read. Much obliged.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Harriet Tubman is a great choice for the $20 bill. She was a Christian, pro-gun Republican who fought against slavery and tyrannical govt. Andrew Jackson on the other hand founded the pro-slavery Donkey Party.\n\nhttp://www.guns.com/2016/04/20/obama-administration-says-pro-gun-republican-harriet-tubman-to-grace-the-20-bill/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You've got to be kidding me....few on the left are saying they are morally superior...just the opposite, we are all equal in our eyes and in the eyes of any God you choose to worship. And Hate....you just have to look at the the vitriol that comes out of the right to feel the hate that many have...including Trump and his followers. Just look at the rallies the Trump had and the violence perpetrated by he and some of his followers. Scary! You really misunderstand those that disagree with you. I agree that there are some on the \"far left\" just as I suspect that those on the \"far right are intolerant. I've known many \"Christians\" however that identify with being liberal. One side of being Liberal to me, means protecting the poor and less fortunate and treating all as equals, as Jesus did. Its called social justice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, HV was a watershed moment in the Catholic Church in the modern world where a schism of a particular kind opened up. I have little interest in your \"correction\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do get your point, but considering the present climate, I think it's fair to say this when so many self-proclaimed Christians prefer to remain silent on or tepidly supportive of such a reaction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I ask readers to list other colleges and universities that meet this mandate audaciously set and successfully met by Father Hesburgh at Notre Dame.\n\n\"Both a great Catholic university and a Catholic great university.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can our Pope prioritize the celebration of Martin Luther over the celebration of a Catholic Mass to his flock in Sweden?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem is not Muslim, it's not Christian, it's extremism and fanaticism. It's Religious fanatics, of whatever faith. Fanaticism breeds hate and violence. That's all over human history. Anybody who wants to can find horrifying pieces of text in the Bible as well as the Quran. Lately the Muslim extremist fanatics \u2013 Jihadists \u2013 want to provoke a new version of the Crusades to create chaos they can exploit. Bigotry against the billions of Muslims who aren't extremists plays right into their hands. Resist fanaticism, not Islam. Resist it in Muslims, and Christians, and anybody else. Anti-Muslim bigotry gives strength to Jihadists. (I wish our president understood that too.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "FT: Don't you realize that offering such reasonable, rational suggestions will confuse people?\n\nWhat you propose is a \"grass roots\" approach seeking individual responsibility and action. \n\nNow, if you can just get the Catholic Church behind this idea.......... regards, Gary", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The truth of the Eucharist and of warming are different realms.\"\n\nYou're right, one is true and the other is false. I believe the One that said - \"This is my body, this is my blood.\" If He can provide himself in each piece of bread and drop of wine around the world day after day, having raised from the dead, I am confident that His Father knew what He was doing when He created the world and all life in it dependent on two things - Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide. No where does Jesus warn us about \"warming;\" that is a man-made fallacy intended to deceive people for purposes of human ambition, detracting from God, and elevating man. Even the professor who got Al Gore started on this campaign has come out against what he once believed, as well as the co-founder of Green Peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No tolerance? India had tolerance when the Christians were being thrown to the lions in Rome - In 52 A.D., St Thomas came to India, and was given land by a local king to build a church. \n\nJews lived peacefully in India, while they were ghettoised and slaughtered in Europe for centuries. Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism were founded in India.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I understood your post to be condemning Muslim religion for practices which we frown upon today, but which were acceptable within that culture at the time. I believe you singled out the Muslim religion for criticism that could just as easily be aimed at every religion, given that pedophilia and bestiality are practices widespread among all religions, including Christianity. \n\nKing David founded the Hebrew religion and built its first temple in Jerusalem. Jesus was born into the house of David. His disciples were the actual founders of the Christian religion, based on the teachings of Jesus. Your point has some merit, but overall, considering your obvious intent to condemn the Muslim religion, your point is irrelevant.\n\nTo repeat, people are people. 99.99% of Muslims live peacefully. That is probably true of Christians in the US. Condemnation of an entire people for their religion is irrational, and it results only in unnecessary conflict.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(continued) The purpose of sanctuary as practiced since ancient times is gone. The interpretation of sanctuary & the moral righteousness of it is something on which I seriously disagree with these churches. If my church were to do such a thing, I would be gone. However, & here's the problem, I can't, under the 1st amendment, tell religious people their activity & beliefs in practicing their faith are wrong. Progressives really seem to enjoy telling all sorts of religious folks that they are \"wrong\" in their convictions, that their unpopular manner of practicing their faith is not \"Christian\", & all sorts of judgments that depend entirely on whether the practice agrees with the critic's politics or not. \n\nIt's up to the courts to put the brakes on certain religious practices when such restrictions would serve a compelling public interest. IMO this is one that should be reviewed for that test. But until then, I can disagree all I want, as I do on every article, but I can't fix it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most likely not. Catholic Answers is a good starting point to learn.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "jews and christians follow the god of abraham, isaac, and jacob. that is where we split. and we follow a different Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whose \"truth'? You have a particular understanding due to your particular form of religion. Others have a different understanding, often due to their particular form of religion. There is a wide range of belief within christianity, not to mention a huge range among all religions. Some do not believe in religion. In our country, ALL of these beliefs must be respected. This is not a theocracy and conservative christians have no more right to impose their beliefs on all than do Muslims who believe in sharia law.\n\nWhy should your understanding \"trump\" the understanding and religious beliefs of others?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of three) NCR is now claiming investigative reporting status...that's not one-sided, is it?\u2014Pandora17 The problem is not left versus right, but truth versus politics, which determines which. Planned Parenthood faces the truth of human sexuality as best it can and tries to help females cope with grown-up realities of child raising. The K of C, all the while, marches around Abortion Clinics, claiming concern for distraught families coping with economic realities.\n\n10 million dollars that could have been given to a real charity to feed the poor.\u2014Heartbreaker As if education and the intellectual life is not \u201creal charity.\u201d The American Association of University Professors has held the administration of The Catholic University of America under censure for its policy of firing professors for thinking, without giving them a hearing. This censure began in 1990.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The hubris of those folks was staggering----no Catholic can claim \"freedom of authority of whatever kind\". We are all subject to the Most Supreme Roman Pontiff and the local Ordinary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is what PB had to say about the organic development of the mass over 1,600 years:\n\n\" The Holy Mass is a sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice, created by Jesus.\n\nThe first Mass was, of course, the Last Supper. Christ instituted both Holy Communion and the Priesthood that night, establishing Apostolic succession:\n\n\"Neither the apostles nor their successors 'made' a Christian liturgy; it grew organically as a result of the Christian reading of the Jewish inheritance, fashioning its own form as it did so. In this process there was a filtering of the individual communities' experiences of prayer, within the basic proportions of the one Church, gradually developing into the distinctive forms of the major regional churches. In this sense liturgy always imposed an obligatory form on the individual congregation and the individual celebrant. It is a guarantee, testifying to the fact that something greater is taking place here than can be brought about by any individual community or group of peo", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Speaking of Christianity, all the apocalyptic talk about nuclear war with North Korea may be another ploy to scare folks into line, in line at their local church, asking their pastor to absolve them; in line at their corporate workplace begging their employer not to lay them off; in line at the only vacant apartment in the city beseeching the landlord to rent them a roof over their heads; in line at the food bank; in line at the employment office begging for a second job.\n Do you really think Marx was wrong when he said religion is the opiate of the masses?\n What boomer in 1970 would have guessed religions would be so powerful in Canada in 2017?!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Looks like it turned out to be good advice for Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...who is an atheist, than would younger, less conservative....\"\n\nNot necessarily. There are lots of conservative young people on campuses today and elsewhere. And according to Pew, many unaffiliated young people turn conservative when older. \"Younger\" is not synonymous with \"more open.\"\n\n\"...between Christianity and 2 party....\"\n\nIn the US, the candidate with the most votes is winner of the Congressional seat. The losing party or parties win no representation at all. The unique unity of the Amer. people and the homogeneity of Christianity mitigate against large dissenting groups. But as Christianity shrinks (70% of the population now) and the unaffiliated rise, it is possible that large dissenting groups (say, of conservative Christians [both Protestant and Catholic] or of the unaffiliated) could surface. So far, however, our two party system has been able to absorb all groups, all religious and non-religious persuasions. This is not the case in Canada, most of Western Europe, etc", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Primacy of Conscience\nGaudium et Spes #16\nDignitatis Humanae #2\nCatechism of the Catholic Church #1782, #1783, #1784, #1790\n\nCommunity---rights of participation\nCanons #213, #214\n\nFreedom of Expression\nCanons #212.2, #212.3, #907,\n\nGovernance & Participation\nCanons #208, #214, #216\nLumen Gentium #12\n\nCouncils---Every Catholic has the right to convene and speak in assemblies where divese voices can be heard.\nCanons #215, #216\n\nRights of the parishioners as a corporate body \nCanons #519, #529.2, #536, #537\nParishioners have the right to appeal to the Apostolic Signatura\nCanons #221.1, #1491\nIf the bishop will not respond, the people can appeal to the Congregation for the Clergy in Rome", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that sounds strange - But man was created perfect, then sinned, which implies imperfect, but is part of God's plan nonetheless. This is a hotly debated topic within Christianity BTW, and is not a subject we are burying our heads in the sand on. If you want me to point you to some scholarly articles on the subject I would be happy to. Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism are the terms if you want to look them up, I doubt they will be answered to your satisfaction, but if we could have complete knowledge of all of God's ways he would not be God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On Philippians 2:6, \"denounce\" would be an improper interpretation. The text speaks to Christ's humility in not asserting His equality with the Father even though He certainly did possess it.\n\nIf the Qur'an is an eternal manifestation of God's word, then why the need for abrogation? (2:106 -- \"Whatever a Verse (revelation) do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring a better one or similar to it. Know you not that Allah is able to do all things?\")\n\nIf the Qur'an were addressing Medieval Platonic Christians in Surah 9, this should come as welcome news to the Coptic Christians in Egypt who are subdued dhimmis and other Christians throughout the Dar al-Islam who share the same fate and pay a jizyah. Perhaps you could convince their Moslem overlords that they have erred in applying these texts outside the confines of the intended historical population.\n\nPerhaps it could be recognized that the 270 million who have died by jihad perished in vain. Why should peace be upon Muhammed?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Comment 1 of 2\n\n\"This will especially be the case when new truths emerge from scientific inquiry that challenge age-old cultural thinking (e.g., concerning gender and sexuality) that may have come down to us along with our religious beliefs...\"\n\nWe do need the conversations. Both sides, willing to listen, learn, discuss, pray, and repeat these steps. This is what needs to happen. We can point fingers at the \"alternative facts\" of Trump, but we also should not/can't ignore the problem of theologians, fundamentalist ministers, Catholic bishops, and popes refusal to participate in these open and honest discussions and be willing to learn and change their minds about an established belief. \n\nThere is an interesting and on-point article published on line June 2014 at the Assoc. of Catholic Priests -Ireland website with the combined title 'Irish Catholic Catechism for Adults' and 'The Fall'. The article talks about this very problem.\n\nSee comment 2", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe the poster doesn't pay as much attention to those details as you do. It happens. \n\n\nI may well be out of the Catholic and/or political loop, but what campaign is +Chaput the subject of or part of?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is because most of the religious left does not bring their progressivism to reforming the Church. Not the case for me. Pushing democratic control and humanistic morality is essential on the Christian left side. In fact, it is what the Gospel demands.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OH, PLEEZE! Jesus, himself, could have given an explication of the call of Matthew, and you would have found fault with it. \nWhere are the politics in Francis' homily, that you are mentioning? What the homily does state, plain and simple is that Jesus came for sinners [in his time and in today's world]. He did not come for the people always demanding from others---litmus tests of dogma, doctrine, the Teachings of the Church as the hallmarks of 'orthodox Catholicism.' Those who do demand this, are the current pharasees embedded in the Catholic church. They are no different than those pharasees in Christ's time---who thought that the observance of the Law[s] would save them. \n\nOnly following, imitating Christ will save. It is Jesus who stated, \"I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me to drink, naked and you clothed me, sick and imprisoned, and you visited me.\" Matthew learned from Christ well, because I cited this from his Gospel passage [Mt. 25:35-37].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The paradox of the progressive catholic: \n\nthey believe the Church is Wrong, yet at the same time they believe the Church is now, and forever shall be, the only Right church to belong to, \n\nthey believe ecclesial authority of one man over another is Wrong, yet they argue that women should be granted positions of authority over others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Imagine the outrage if it was Christian families after Sunday service having their lives threatened.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's coming for me! It knows I'm a christian!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You must not know very many Catholics if you consider the church a social club. That's funny.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Danno, dear God, and maybe that's the point, I make a very clear distinction for myself, between God and Church.....And I think maybe you should consider it too.\n\nSpeaking personally Danno..my relationship with God is one thing and the Church and it's behavior, quite frankly a totally different matter..Danno there are over 7.3 billion folks on this planet and I think God loves them all and cares deeply about them....and wants us to do everything we can to see that they have what they need....in many ways I am more interested in the UN millennial development goals....food, water, survival then I am in local RCC issues.\n\nWhat I think, bless your heart, that I hear you saying is a very very profound and appropriate anger at the RCC.\n\nBut what I am saying and the reason I suggest \"moving on\" is that your spiritual life....your deepening trust in God (NOT the RCC) might be very well nurtured in a Protestant church that is also Christian, but has not hurt you! You need loving 'safe' folks!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Pope Francis on Thursday acknowledged the Catholic Church was \u201ca bit late\u201d in realizing the damage done by priests who rape and molest children, and said that the decades-long practice of moving pedophiles around rather than sanctioning them was to blame.\"\n\nAnd one of the biggest offenders in ignoring the problem or \"moving around\" pedophiles was the not-so-great John Paul II. It would be a travesty if they ever append \"The Great\" to his name.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It may seem unfortunate that the Christian Leaders endorsed by our Holy and Blameless Bishops are not very interested in the poor, but remember, the poor do not contribute the money to get good Catholics like Ryan elected, nor do they provide the money necessary to keep keep the Bishops of Jesus' church properly housed and attired, and provide them with the provender necessary to maintain their healthy physiques. Yes, the poor will suffer, but that is their own fault for not being smarter, more virtuous, harder working, more beloved and thus blessed by God, or whatever the problem is that prevents them from attaining the success of a Great Conservative Catholic, like Mr. Ryan. Our bishops understand this. It may not seem consistent with Jesus' teachings, but let's be honest, The Church left him behind a long time ago. He's really no longer relevant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Scott - I don't know why it is so hard, but then, I am not one who has to do the work. I think John XXIII opened a door and JPII and BXVI fearfully did all they could to close it, shutting down voices that dared imagine a different understanding. We have made an idol of the church and its teachings, thinking past and current theologians and popes can create an understanding that will last for all time. \n\nThe Church needs the minds of people of today, especially women (as CAEL noted in her comment), but they need to listen to the lived experience of people of today. And they need courageous minds such as Teilhard de Chardin, who dared to reimagine so much about God, creation, faith, what Jesus means in a world 2000 years away from Jewish and Roman culture and knowledge. \n\nThe old rituals and sacraments do not keep faith fed and alive any more, do not allow the presence of Jesus to be realized in many lives and hearts today. I think that is what is needed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "--It has to be repeated over and over and over: we HAVE a married priesthood in the RCC. The Eastern Rites have had it since their inception. B16 created what I lovingly call the Orneryariate, that allows married Anglican/Episcopal priests (usually of a conservative stripe that don\u2019t gay clergy and female bishops) to minister as priests in the RCC. There has also been a practice to receive some married ministers from other denominations and allow them to serve as Catholic priests. ** All that needs to be done is to expand these practices throughout the entire RCC.\n\n** you should be able to access this free article in The Tablet entitled: The Tablet Interview: At home with my father the Catholic priest \n\nhttp://www.thetablet.co.uk/features/2/9878/the-tablet-interview-at-home-with-my-father-the-catholic-priest--", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, all we know is what was recorded in the handful of documents deemed worth being kept as valuable and revered as canon, determined over the first couple of hundred years of Christianity, while it was separating from Judaism and finding its way to respectability and power in the Roman Empire. There are sufficient hints there to suggest some of today's Tradition doesn't have the historical back-up some claim it to have.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Certain Christians want to show that \"everything\" in that region portends the coming of Jesus of Nazareth.\nThey see the whole of the Jewish Scriptures (Old Testament) as a foretelling of Jesus' coming, not as a religious scripture in its own right.\nThey see artefacts from the entire region the same way. The don't see these ancient cultures in their own light. Everything has to relate to Jesus and the Bible. Their interpretation of the Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Granted, this is America, but our church is the Roman Catholic Church. Faith and reason go hand in hand.\n\n\"I will not serve.\" -Ole Scratch", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So many comments on contraception and religious liberty. What about \"San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy [saying] the \u201cscourge of anti-Islamic prejudice\u201d requires more attention from our Catholic leaders. What about his recognition that \"We are witnessing in the United States a new nativism [xenophobia], which the American Catholic community must reject and label for the religious bigotry which it is...\u201d\n\nAnd how will this change in the American Catholic community happen when according to research of the Bridge Initiative at Georgetown University...\n \"Only 14 percent of Catholics have a favorable impression of Muslims. Perhaps most troubling, according to the research, is that Catholics who read, watch, or listen to Catholic media have more unfavorable views of Muslims than those who don\u2019t\"\n\nwhich means? CATHOLIC MEDIA SPREADS ANTI-ISLAMIC PREJUDICE. Maybe not just Catholic media..but Catholic tradition...history? Let us \"mea culpa\" without defense or excuse. Google Rite Beyond Rome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Michael,\n\nI think as far as the Bible content and what we choose to believe of its essence in some ways we are just going to not really agree totally and that is a faith choice so that is ok. I understand what you mean I just don't believe quite the same way you do about these scriptures. Even though they were initially written to the Jews and are about the Jewish people, as a Christian, I believe God intended gentiles would come to know and believe in these scriptures too and how they support the initiating of Christianity. However, I do believe that both Jews and Christians have often misinterpreted these scriptures, and often intentionally, to support all the ills you brought up in the end. So we are agreed that scripture is often used to wrong ends and certainly our church has twisted it to excuse great wrongs and oppression and bias.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I always support your humor, but really, shouldn't you reign it in a bit. Generating a nonsensical resume was a hoot and I think many enjoyed the inflated claims, but this last posting, my, anatomical area? Is that really proper? Hardly, for a good christian woman. Or is this more of the satire? It's so hard to tell, your rants are so over the top. Keep up the funny!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mindi,\nWrong, it has everything to do with the Catholic church -- it began with Pope John Paul II and continues to this day via the USCCB.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seems someone does not want me to respond to any further comments. Three of my comments were rejected today. Does the following comment rate as uncivil? I'll try posting it one more time. \nProfessor - Perhaps you could explain how I misused the word apostasy in my above comment. APOSTASY 1. a total desertion of or departure from one's religion, principles, party, cause, etc.\nWhy did I use that word to describe a Catholic Institution of Education that offers a Masters Degree in YOGA?\nOne understands that the practicing of YOGA and Eastern meditations by Christians violates the First Commandment of God.\nThe Church definitively categorizes them as esoteric, occult, New Age practices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Kevin, I read the entire link you shared with us. Thank you. It is very interesting. As a Catholic that has sinned terribly against purity, my experience is that once I went to Jesus in the Sacrament of Confession and confessed that I had not glorified God in my body and how embarrassed and sad I was that I had let God down the way I did, knowing that He has always been at my side, the Priest said to me, \"It is good that you have confessed these sins (impurity involving men and a woman) and as your penance, I would like you to pray 5 decades of the Rosary here in Church now\". He went on to further tell me that \"The Rosary is a good weapon to protect us from our own sinful nature and especially the sins of impurity.\" I knew Jesus was talking to me personally. I did remain in the Chapel that afternoon and prayed the Rosary, and the Priest even came back to the Chapel about an hour later and said he was happy I remained to pray the Rosary. It is in the Sacrament of Confession and TBC", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is somewhat insensitive raising this question at this difficult time for Canadian Muslims however as she invokes a positive and benign image practicing her faith the question, putting aside the often raised point that Christianity has not been without criticism, has to be asked. Does she reject the verses of the Koran and Hadith espousing and directing Jihad (not the internal struggle), death and other unpleasant acts upon non- believers?\n\n It would be reassuring to know that she and her companions who follow Islam in Canada have no malice towards the remainder of those who are not members of her faith and wish to participate in the potential of Canada to grow and continue in a peaceful, prosperous manner bound by the continuance of our secular society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Judaism is not and never was a pretext to Christianity, Judaism stands on it's own merits with One G-D being the primary focus, that has adopted Israel as his only son for a light to the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stop all deacon ordinations because what deacons do requires no ordination except in rich countries that can afford deacons. If a women can baptize, preach (reflect), officiate at a wedding and funeral, as has happened recently in Ireland, and often in the past 50 years in S America, why are we ordaining rich Western Men to do the same in the U.S, Canada, and Europe? Realize: Africa - the whole continent - has about 10 perm deacons, All of Asia has only about 2,000, and All of S. America has total about 4,500 - and these are some of the most Catholic populated countries and continents on earth and many have very low priests per population but manage with very few or no deacons. So why have deacons at all? \n\nOrdain women priests, as a matter of Human Justice & Gospel Command since Jesus tells us to treat all the same, therefor offer same sacraments & treatment to all believers which includes women. Then allow married priests of both sexes. Let laity do the rest. Problems solved!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"While I deemphasize institutional metrics, more broadly conceiving the Church in mystical, sacramental, herald & servant conceptions, still, even mere institutional metrics don't reveal Christianity to be in decline per Gallup, Pew and other researchers.\"\n\nOh dear, such complacency.\n\nYes, the US is a couple of decades slow ... but the same early signs of secularisation that were evident in Europe some decades ago are evident for you. In all events denying the challenge is the surest way to ensure the success of secularisation.\n\nAnd instead of pursuing just pure statistics, try dipping into experts who interpret them for underlying trends (e.g. Charles Taylor).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please do not judge all Christians as one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not what I believe, it's what happened. Core Catholic countries in Europe were seeing a steep and steady decline in Church attendance after WWII, and I am not referencing the countries under communism. I am referring to France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, and Germany. I wouldn't be surprised if much of that had to do with national bishops supporting fascist authoritarians and then silently standing by as their countries were destroyed by the very fascists they helped bring to power. Why wouldn't the laity who paid the price for the destruction start walking out of churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Poor example. \n\nThe Troubles in Northern Ireland was/is a political conflict not a religious conflict - the politics just happened to split along religious lines. No credible person would claim to be able to trace the licence for such violence back to the Christian texts. The same can not be said for the Islamic religious texts - quran, hadith - which explicitly provide license for the sort of thing we saw in Berlin today.\n\nSee where I'm going with this and why these two things are different?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian students have the same access to law schools as everybody else.\n\nThat's fair.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Boreal, listen up: AA is not a \"Christian message\"! There's no mention of Jesus anywhere in AA, and Jesus is the sine qua non of any Christian program. AA mentions \"God\", but God is universal. Conservative Jews spell it \"G-d\" but it's still a universal God, not the father of Jesus that's being discussed. What makes a message \"Christian\" is including Jesus in the conversation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic women's f-u-t-u-r-e is also in Catholic women's hands...and in their feet, their voices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "lol, that would be way too much to ask for. That republicans actually follow the teachings of Jesus? what was the saying about an eye of a needle? Republicans love to say they are \"Christian\" but very few truly follow the teachings of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alisa, Exactly right. Since when does being elected to an Adventist Organization leadership job make a man (or a woman) a \"ruler.\" I understood that in Christ those given responsibilities were servants of all in their area. Woman as I observe are very good at helping and serving others. I'd think that alone would make them prime candidates for a leadership servant role in the Seventh-day Adventist church as Christ intended it to be run?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "FC, First thought ... it may be legal but it may not be just. ... I thought bishops , including the Bishop of Rome; were all for justice. That justice was an intrinsic element of Christianity. But then bishops, have under questioning at judicial reviews, agreed that their first priority was to protect the high moral ground rather than protect children, who were victims of clerical & religious abuse. So between their perch on the \"high moral ground\" and their love of the \"legal system\" (since there is no shortage of diocesan funds) both justice & Christianity also become victims. Is it any wonder that the pews are hemorrhaging of worshipers, who see no accountability. A significant number of bishops are very Catholic by the definition of the Papal Court but very un-Christian by Christian values .. That is the basic learning from the abuse scandal and accounts for the total loss of credibility for those bishops as Christian leaders; including the Bishops of Rome; past & present.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another ad hominem.\nI repeat the teaching of Holy Mother Church on matters of Faith and Morals most of which you do not accept. I would say that what I write is building the Church up. I would suggest it is yourself who is doing the tearing down by your wholesale rejection of Catholic doctrine and dogma.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know it now. Many people who post here do not realize that they are not Catholic. It's just another institution the Leftists are trying to destroy by re-definition. It's much easier than creating a new institution of their own.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some good articles on Commonweal, Religion section\n1) A Wakeup Call for Catholic Bishops\n2) Reframing Religious Liberty\n3) Not the Time for Reconciliation.\n4) Is the Common Good Obsolete?\n\nI would like to see more like this. Good questions are being asked, important points raised. If we had more of it, maybe it would bring greater awareness. But, these types of articles and these issues need to be raised in Sunday Bulletins, in diocesan news papers. There need to be discussion groups among parishioners where subjects like this are discussed - and discussion leaders who keep it from dissolving into the usual political taking sides on the bishops militant subjects and ignoring everything else. \n\nThis NCR fills a niche in Catholic media that no one else does. True, it doesn't do it all. But I want what it does bring - an awareness of what is happening in the Catholic world, in parishes and the Vatican. I like MSW's pieces, his mixed, sometimes screwy point of view makes me think.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was raised in a strict Catholic family, pre-Vatican II, Latin mass, First Fridays, regular rosaries, Baltimore Catechism. Etc. Parochial school for most of elementary (public when we moved away to a small town that didn't have Catholic schools), a Catholic university for undergrad and graduate school. Of the five of us, two remained practicing Catholics and three of us did not. I have been happily married for more than 40 years to a Protestant. My very unhappy Catholic parents divorced. We raised our kids Catholic, sent them to Catholic schools for most of their education. We taught them that Catholicism was a foundation in christianity, but that they were to make up their own minds as adults. They knew of my disagreements with many Catholic teachings. I became an \"sbnr\" once they were all in college. Two of the three left the church and did not marry in the church. The third stays because he's married to a Catholic. He would leave otherwise. No magic formulas these days.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...better served by investment in human development...\"\ninvestment in human development rightly calls for updating consciousness beyond misinformed ancient memes: for example, notwithstanding ingrained male theology/ politics, we might consider: if God the Holy Spirit is authentic as male, why not also as female? If we can authentically pray 'God The Father/Son/Holy Spirit', why not also 'God The Mother/Daughter/Holy Spirit'?\nSurely, God The Holy Spirit is equally authentic, Female as (S)he is Male. (?)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey, you get a full day off to practice your Sabbath (Saturday if you're Jewish or 7th day Adventist, Sunday if you're otherwise Christian). I don't see you complaining about how those religions force businesses to change. Should we just ignore religious practices in general?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Petersen, you do know that the Christian Church, in all of its permutations, is the largest charitable organization in the world, don't you? If the Church were to just up and quit its outreach to the poor and downcast, do you think that the government would be able to take up the slack. I don't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians or Jews or Buddhists don't drive cars and trucks into crowds of innocent people and turn them into masses of bloody pulp because it's not how civilized peoples behave.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Lord's Prayer is NOT outlawed.\n\nChristian kids will be accommodated if they want to go into a room and recite Christian prayers, including the Lord's Prayer.\n\nWhat is outlawed is forcing ALL students to recite any particular prayer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Black slavery in America was pretty bad, but it wasn't anything special. Throughout history, every color of the rainbow has owned slaves and been enslaved. The dictionary tells us that the root word of \"slave\" is \"Slav,\" because Slavic peoples\u2014who are REALLY pale and white\u2014were the primary slave population throughout the Middle Ages.\nthere have been long stretches of history where Africans have owned white people as slaves!The empire of Carthage transported white slaves to Africa. The African Moors ruled Spain for 500 years and sent white Christian slaves to Egypt. And poor, defenseless white kids were kidnapped by Muslims during the Children's Crusade and sold into Egyptian slavery.\nSlavery was common throughout Africa, with entire tribes becoming enslaved after losing battles. Tribal chieftains often sold their defeated foes to white slave-traders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis. Embodying his name sake St Francis of Assisi in the quest for peace and nonviolence in the world. And embodying the life and teachings of Christ in the Sermon of the Mount when he says \"blessed are the peacemakers\" and to \"turn the other cheek\". People also said Jesus himself and his teachings were unrealistic and yet he preached what he preached anyways. And as Vicar of Christ for Roman Catholics it makes sense for Francis to embody the pacifism of Christianity's founder.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Holier than thou Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Looks like someone in authority here found some Protestants they didn't like. Rare to unheard of. The Greens' Supreme Court case, which established that the family has a right to live out their religion in the way they conduct business and commerce, was a victory for Catholics who strive to do the same. As for being \"anti-Catholic,\" all Protestants are that, as the Catholic Church is precisely what they \"protest.\" Loyal Catholics, of course, are anti-Protestant, also by definition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe that saying refers to different conflicts in behaviors and practices within the larger Christian church. There are ways to segregate people other than race, but some would probably correlate to race, so it plays a factor for sure.\n\nI've found my faith is personal. I'll express it, but I don't ask for, or expect, agreement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps Jesus did say that. Not everything he said is contained in the Gospels. And we need to be very cautious here ... not everything that is put in Jesus' mouth in the Gospels is necessarily what he said! These texts were written quite some time after Jesus' death and resurrection ... there was clearly a lot of reliance on recollection ... and we know how tricky that can be a few days and months after the fact ... let alone several decades!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why are the headline editors at the Globe and Mail producing such inaccurate headlines?\n\nThe headline just prior to this headline claims: \"Trump bars Muslims from seven countries from entering U.S.\".\n\nWRONG.\n\nTrump is banning EVERYBODY from seven countries from entering US, be they Muslim or Druid or Christian or atheist. The Globe and Mail's headline is glaringly inaccurate and misleading.\n\nThis is what, the third time in three days that we have had these \"alternative facts\" headlines? (Previous two were on alleged (make-believe) abortion response by Canada to Trump, and Trudeau's (make-believe) ending of cash for access).\n\nWhat is going on with the headlines, Globe and Mail? Are these errors? Or is this some kind of propaganda campaign on your part?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Art is important in every religon.It would be nice for different branches of religion come together that havnt historically and show their love to the Arts...protestant plumbers and catholic carpenters?...we must agree probably our earliest introduction of Art was in a religious form or temple....including just out in nature!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you are not a Catholic, point taken.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Christian message of Catholicism is suspect with such a list being necessary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know, right? Who needs the 8th Commandment if you're rich and proclaim your family business as \"Christian\" based? The 10 Commandments are only for the \"little people.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Annie, certainly you make very good points. However, my point was that illegal immigration must be stopped, certainly not ALL immigration. If you want to argue that the immigration laws and requirements are too strict and/or difficult to conform to, and need to be reformed, then I would readily and totally agree. But the claim that desperate people need or deserve to be allowed to \"jump the line\" if you will, is problematic. Does a person without a job, living in poverty, and who is hungry, have the moral right to steal food from a grocery store or a private home? Do we have the moral obligation to leave our doors unlocked in case someone needs to take food from our homes while we are out? \n\nA sovereign nation has the right under international law and Church teaching to control its own borders. A nation that closes its borders to all immigrants would be within their legal rights, but in violation of Catholic teaching; a nation that insists immigrants follow procedures is not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But our tax dollars go towards many things that many do not agree with. If the people that publicly fund these schools want a Catholic or faith based option, then they should be allowed to have one. Your opinion isn't the authority. If there is demand for Catholic schools, then leave them alone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These \"23 Academics\" and even the \"4 Cardinals\" remind me of the first Disciples in the boat, during a storm on the Sea of Galilea: Matthew 8:25-26 NIV : The disciples went and woke him, saying, \u201cLord, save us! We\u2019re going to drown!\u201d AND JESUS REPLIED TO THEM: \u201cYou of little faith, why are you so afraid?\u201d Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, but it is not based on religion. No one claims that the Quran says that Sunnis or Shias should be killed, and the Prophet never uttered such nonsense either. This \"battle\" is based on politics and power alone, which are the same themes of every other conflict that has occurred in the name of religion in history.\n\nWhen the IRA was blowing up bombs in the UK during the 80's, did anyone say that it was a Catholic/Protestant issue? No, it was political, just like this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting that Gerson equates Feinstein's Jewishness and non-Catholic perspective with being secular. There were six Catholics on the Bench and three Jews. Now it is said there are five Catholics and Gorsuch, who is far right and was Catholic. As an atheist, I have grave doubts as to the high court's ability to embrace the law in a non-biased way.\n\nHugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My guess is that Burke presumed to know the mind of Francis re condoms and merely added that obviously anyone who cares about Catholic teaching (as Francis must) would obviously support the firing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've read the comments and thank God some people had positive experiences. But when a person endures a traumatic experience you don't \"just get over it.\" Unfortunately, you hide it deep in your heart and those are the feeling you react with when a familiar situation arises again. People hide pain with substances but its only temporary. But then additions set in. So now the person raises their kids with trauma driven emotions and the cycle begins. Healing begins with one person at a time. The answer is Jesus, he can help bring forgiveness, restore peace in place of pain, restore dignity, value, and joy! Remember, it not a church or religion that brings freedom but the person of Jesus Christ. Rev. L. Faga", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a devout Christian I am appalled at the very idea of this motion which I assume has been tabled by a member of the Islamic faith. While I cringe sometimes at the freewheeling and generally uninformed attacks on Christianity, even in Canada, I would not want religion to be without the sometimes positive effect of legitimately expressed criticism. The Quebec attack is unquestionably shameful, but one terrorist attack does legitimize a whole new regime of anti-Islamic laws. I feel Canada is all but lost, and I have left the country, I think for good. Thee was for me no country in the world that could so much make the heart glow to 'see thee rise.' But not any more. This proposed legislation is the beginning of sharia law for Canada, and a shameful day for the LPC which has forgotten its promises to effect electoral reform, now for elevating a cultic religion in its place.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"But, it strikes me that Naumann's edict will do more harm than good, making the church look narrow and self-obsessed, unhealthy and disengaged, instead of evangelizing, open and pursuing the common good. \"\n- In any case, the heads of any domestic church who are also parents or guardians who wish to engage with the GS will in all likelihood withdraw their daughters from a parish troop and enroll them in a troop sponsored by another christian church, or religious institution, or civic organization.\n- In the moderate to long term this will add another layer of scheduling complexity for the heads of the domestic church as they decide when and in what manner to engage with the schedules of the parochial or local church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why would you \"flag\" me for something like that ? You said yourself your posts are being blocked automatically in a earlier thread, none of mine have ever been blocked, except for one to Old Soul when I said \"whose your daddy ?\".\n\nI believe in science if it is observed, repeatable and testable, ism't that what science is ? I could also share with you the number of scientists in the US who are Christian, but that would not do a whole lot of good would it ? I also was a recruiter for JPL at one point in the 90's, and you would probably be shocked at the number of Christians that work there, or perhaps not. You do not threaten or intimidate me, and I am not going to allow you to go unchallenged. You obviously know the Bible and refuse to believe it, nothing I say or do can change that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tridentinus, I am talking about the Fundamentalist, power seeking Catholics who use politics to legislate and force their primitive, intrusive, domineering doctrines on modern Catholics, non-Catholics, and non-believers. Catholic supported Hospitals who refuse to give women those reproductive health treatments banned by fundamentalist Catholics, pharmacies who refuse to sell contraceptives to women, are also guilty of practicing their so-called religious beliefs on other people. That is also discriminating against non-Fundamentalist Catholics. Modern Catholics support all those treatments, procedures and devices that Fundamentalists are against. Do you know your Medieval History? Millions of innocent people were tortured and killed by Roman Orthodox Fundamentalist Christians who used the power given them by the Roman Emperors, to subjugate, torture and kill people including Christians who did not accept their dogmas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"doing unto others as we would have others do to us\"\nDo some research. The Golden Rule is found in every single philosophy and religion people adhere to. And Christians are no more successful at compliance rates than any other group of people.\nCharity is also found in every religion and philosophy.\nSlavery was abolished in many European countries before we abolished it.\nIt took a brutally-fought civil war roughly 90 years after the Declaration of Independence's principle that all men were created equal to abolish slavery. It took a civil rights movement roughly 190 years after that stated principle to bring \"all men are created equal\" to reality.\nAnd Christians were on both sides of both struggles.\nAll these years later, some women are still wondering whether the principle applies to them.\nAnd where do charity or the Golden Rule show up in the founding of this country?\nSo, you're batting .000 on exclusively Christian principles founding this country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's fine. I've always admired Eastern Orthodoxy. The bishops there are much more right-wing than lots of Catholic bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Who will pay the bills....\"\n\nAlthough, Robert Addington, I strongly disagree with Archbishop Chaput -- it is as if he wants to set himself up as the sole arbiter of Catholic morals and identity -- I do think the CC would/could thrive with smaller numbers (and pay the bills) the same way the Southern Baptists and Mormons thrive with much smaller numbers. I believe there are only 6 million Mormons in the US and only 15 million Southern Baptists (to 70 million-plus Catholics). If the CC were to drop to 25 million, say, think of all the property the bishops would have on hand to liquidate. Then the CC would be richer than the University of Notre Dame (with its endowment of 10 billion-plus) and could do what the CC in India does, invest it; or what the Mormons do so well -- run farms, properties, and invest with handsome returns. But I think Archbishop was thinking of more spiritual dividends, as it were. He wants a more holy and committed Catholic community.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree to a degree. In the \"old days\" the huge cathedrals were used for many things, not just as a place to worship. It represented the power of the church, the power of the church and state in many countries, the dominance of religion in the lives of the people, employment of many people over many generations, and a center of life for the people of those towns and villages. Having a tiny, plain chapel was probably not what anyone (people, church or state) wanted or needed then. The Protestant Reformation drastically changed that concept with a return to basics, but an argument could be made that it was just a reflection of changing values propelled by the Renaissance. Having said all that, there is something to be said for the powerful invocation of majesty and awe that these edifices provide. Think \"St. Peter's in Rome.\" But \"Ruin and perdition\"? Come now! Buildings have nothing to do with that! A disconnect between leadership and people do, both in faith and in politics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Bishop Tobin,\n\nAs 70 year old who trained long and hard in Catholic Institutions, I beg to tell you that you are wrong and very disconnected to the people you propose to serve. It is not the lack of faith in Christ and in Jesus's Gospel, it is lack of faith in the corrupt institution. A lack of faith in a clericalism that separates, Bishops and Priests as people of a Leadership Class and a higher calling and holiness than the laity. Actually Sir Bishop, those who try to practice the deprivation of celibacy have placed themselves into a schizoid environment that can not and will not communicate very well with those they purport to serve. Please see the Harvard Study conducted over generation that shows what promotes a happy life. https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_waldinger_what_makes_a_good_life_lessons_from_the_longest_study_on_happiness Deprivation does not promote holiness. In fact promotes only woe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I thought that was an excellent letter, and an excellent purpose. And, as an atheist, I'm available for coffee with Christians. And/or with Mr. Jones!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a pen name for a self-published Christian writer and blogger in Fairbanks. Self-identifies as a \u201ctea partier with libertarian and anarchist leanings.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Add freedom from censorship, freedom of the press, freedom of expression, academic freedom, literary freedom, freedom of participatory democracy, freedom of public education, and freedom of dissent to the list of things once formally (and relatively recently) derided and now accepted as core principles of human rights. One would have to be ignorant of Church history to deny condemnations in those areas--often condemned under the umbrella of \"modernity\"--existed. And to deny that the Catholic Church (yikes, the MODERN Church) has often courageously led global reforms in those vary areas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is an amazing development to include women in the conversation and the power of the Catholic Church. I also support priests being able to marry if they choose - this will lead to a more fruitful church family. Thank you!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I assume you are aware the majority of Christians to do not interpret the creation story as described in Genesis as a literal account, and furthermore see no conflict with the current evolution theory?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know, Kag, I agree with your first paragraph wholeheartedly. I went through such a phase many, many years ago.\nOf course, social programmes will attract politically left-wing Catholics who seek to integrate and synthesise secular, political ideologies with Catholic social teaching. Eventually such people will grow up when the vicissitudes of living in the real world cures them of their idealism, hence you now have Donald Trump for your President.\nWhen you say, \"... if the Church wants to retain people ...\", do you think that it is merely all about putting bottoms on seats in Church and that secures one's salvation? According to polls most millennials live to enjoy life upon this earth as comfortably as they can and as their means allow: mention the world to come and they will look at you askance. The link between them and their forbears has been well and truly broken, their Catholicism is no more than tenuously cultural.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not sure I understand. Does \"independent catholic jurisdiction\" mean an organization like ECCUSA which is not in communion with the Church or one like one of the Anglican Ordinariates which are in communion but which do not fit into a typical diocesan structure or exist as a Church sui iuris?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well not ex cathedra means not a dogma that can't change - so that is what. And its a what that matters a lot. \n\nWhere is your proof that God did not call me to priesthood? This accusation which you cannot prove is sinful and hurtful and you are responsible to God if you do not repent of it. Not being ordained because our bishops, for now, still support sexism in this church is not evidence. Evidence would be some kind of writ which you could prove was written in Christ's own handwriting stating that Nora Bolcon was not called to ordained priesthood. If simply not being ordained yet meant a person was not called by God, then none of our seminarians are called by God to be priests because they are not ordained yet either. \nTrent was a council which the emperor demanded women be kept out of having a voice. This created a biased council to start with, and since God does not respect sexism, even though Constantine did, this means we were wrong to allow the bias then.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yet another misguided ineffective program of the RC (Republican Catholic) hierarchy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "None, it is religious beliefs not a church. All profits stay in the not for profit to keep the monthly rate flat. The profits are less than 5% of revenue. The not for profit has to try make a profit as the health claims can fluctuate significantly from year to year if more people than normal say have heart attacks or come down with cancer, etc. I understand your questioning as I spent dozens of hours researching and obtaining documents from the organization before I would join. The not for profit I am a part of has over 250,000 members through out all 50 states and probably every Christian denomination in the USA.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"God is not a Catholic!\" Pope Francis \nWhile you are at it, try to study couple of other religions too.\nThe cross educations will deepen and widen your understanding of God and people.\nGod bless!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Looking for the silver lining of a Trump presidency as he pushes the world to the brink of nuclear war is a very hard sell. The question should be, if we manage to avoid nuclear war, if we manage to avoid the deaths of tens of millions and a nuclear exchange with both Russia and China, we we manage to avoid a radioactive cloud raining down death on America, will there be any positives from a Trump presidency? Where is the pro-life Catholic Church right now? What is the Catholic Church doing to avert nuclear war right now?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is the Pope aware of this and has he commented?\nI would be interested in hearing what Pope Francis has to say about this and his recommendations for Father Pavone's future as a representative of the Catholic priesthood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I felt that!\n\nGreat comment!\n\nWhy doesn't our friend Bill answer the question: \"Why is it always Catholics that have to change? Why it is always the Catholics who have to give up their traditions?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for catching the typo, so tenderly and gracious like. Please provide us any substantiation then. \n\nOh, I've already read and highlighted them. I'm working Church documents on marriage right now, giving a class in a few weeks. \n\nSacramentum Caritatis\nHumanae Vitae\nCatechism of the Catholic Church \nGaudium et Spes \nFamiliaris Consortio\n\nLumen Gentium also has good content here.\n\nKeep the list handy,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It gets better, Jane, as we come to embrace a Catholicity (universality) which includes different ways of being Catholic. A Catholicism that has no fear of unity in diversity would be a great example in the divisive climate of today's world, no?\n\nYou might enjoy \"Church Unity: NOT about merging disparate factions\" on https://RiteBeyondRome.com\nCheers!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Extending a hand at Mass is an unwelcome breach of tradition in many parishes. It is often not given as a sign of unity but as a statement that \"we\" are a \"new\" Catholic Church. That ignores the feelings of the recipient of the extended hand --- not good manners --- not to mention that it's liturgically unfounded. \n\nSo, even if the liturgy means little to you, at least some good manners might help.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One sees right away that certain forms of strictness \u201carise from a shortcoming, from the desire to hide one\u2019s own sad discontent within a suit of armor,\u201d he said, adding that the film Babette\u2019s Feast offered a good example of \u201cthis rigid behavior.\u201d\n\nI am glad he mentioned Babette's Feast. It is one of the best movies I've ever seen about Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He was also the most generous funder of Catholic Charities in the nations history.....providing multiple grants that the hierarchy took credit for.\n\nI have always thought it would be a good idea when any hierarch commented on his Catholic Charities agency and their works to identify the fact that 70% or MORE of the funds were fed grants....in SF think it's 84%\n\nWhich is to say that the US taxpayer is the primary donor, AND this president facilitated that interchange on the largest scale, ever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You seem not to be aware that the U.S. government, as well as the state governments, have both the constitutional support--and, in some cases, requirement--to provide some of the economic and social supports that you are calling \"charity\". \n\n\nAnd good luck trying to keep Catholic charities from seeking grant-funding. Catholics don't provide enough of the funding to get the job done. Never have, never will, never can. Which is not to say that Catholic charities have not done more than any other sectarian or private sector organizations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Christian Church (Church means Ecclessia or Called Out ones), I have NO problem with you referring to the word \"Church\" just don't refer to it as the \"Christian\" Church. A Christian Church is one that follows and obeys Christ, so yes, that is exactly what I am saying. You are, plainly and simply, making your own definitions, and for one who was charge was to teach kids facts, I would also say \"WOW\"...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The greatest number of hateful comments and hateful disposition is directed at the Jews. Nobody talks about this. The Jews are alone in their corner while we have been witnessing for many years now the rise of antisemitism. \nOur kids are being poisoned in the schools and universities by groups of people whose hate of Jews is systemic within their culture. \nMeanwhile, the agnostics are battering anything that is Christian. \nWhy put one particular religion on a pedestal while ignoring the most battered?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These Evangelicals know where the power lies...secular money-politics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I bet you that teacher would have had the same stance if you were missing class for a Christian holiday or a visiting relative or a doctors appointment too. Just saying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are entitled to your opinion but the struggle to identify and remove the effects of prejudice from our society is far from over. The struggle for social justice is part and parcel of catholicism and Christianity in general.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Studying the Bible as literature does not amount to 'establishment of religion.' \"\nProbably it does not. But a legitimate course would be a survey of sacred literature that included the literary devices found in samples from several faith traditions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"there could be said to be two different Gospels at work.\"\nThat is an oxymoron because only one gospel \"works\", i.e., saves unto eternal life: the gospel of Christ in I Cor. 15:1-4.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And neither is Mr. Unhappyface, it seems.\n\nIn fact, I'd warrant a guess that Mr. Unhappyface doesn't know anything about the state of the Orthodox Church in Russia today. It, like most of evangelical Christianity in the USA, now serves purely nationalistic enterprises.\n\nhttp://newslanc.com/saint-stalin/\n\nhttp://riowang.blogspot.ca/2014/01/apocryphal-icons.html\n(This is a real glimpse into the heart of Russian religious practice. Very interesting.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And may our Christian God and the one and only Jesus Christ look after all those who might be affected by this tragic accident. Amen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Trump picked up a gun, it would probably be pointing at his own face. He couldn't defend his bucket of KFC if he tried.\n\nJust more blatant base pandering from tRump, just like his Christian faith. What a joke.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope is talking to the wrong Lutherans and visiting the wrong Lutherans in Sweden. Those Sweden Lutherans are very liberal much like the ELCA in the US -- they are focused on society issues not the Bible.\n\nThe ELCA has full Altar and pulpit fellowship with extreme liberal denominations in the US -- some you would question if there really were Christians because they hold no doctrinal beliefs. RC's should be talking with confessional Lutherans who hold beliefs more like their own.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@Noa; \u201c...( )...But now I am listening and I am watching, and I will stand up and use my voice against any racial slurs or epithets I hear...( )...I also am not afraid to use my voice to take a stand for what is right, because racial hatred is not the way forward. It is me and my friends, and all the youth of today, who must be the change-makers of the future...\u201d\n-\nYou said you are \u201chalf Jewish\u201d. How could you be \u201chalf\u201d ??? Have you heard someone saying \u201cI\u2019m Half Catholic\u201d ? Or \u201cHalf Muslim\u201d ?\nAnd where do you stand as a \u201cHalf American Jewish\u201d in MD ? \nhow could Israel be a democracy when 600 000 Israelis \"outlaw\" live in the West Bank in the occupied territories not recognized by the international community of 130 members of the United Nations? \n(@The G&M monitor= why \u201ccensured\u201d this comment ?)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) We live in a country where there is separation of Church and State. It is this separation that allowed the Catholic Church to grow and flourish when it was very much a minority religion. It seems grossly unjust to decide that Catholics no longer want the separation, once they have been able to grow big enough to bully others.\n2) Evangelizing and forcing others to adhere to Catholic doctrine are two different things. If Catholics were so successful in evangelization that everyone in this country became Catholic -- that would be one thing. But we are nowhere close. The Catholic Church is actually losing faithful, so I don't see this happening soon. . \n3) The Catholic Church supports freedom of religion and agrees that there is more than one way to God. So, why would Catholics want to impose their beliefs on others?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "James, \n\nI hope I don't cause you to think I'm a fundamentalist. I fall to the left politically. I think everyone has the right to believe or not to believe spiritually, and, should not be persecuted either way. What I find amusing is that many people single out parts of the Bible to stamp their \"authoritative\" knowledge when trying to qualify their opinion as coming from Supreme teaching, that is when I do refer to Matthew 22:39-40 because, for me, that pretty much sums up Jesus' teachings and what Christianity is about.\n\nI strongly believe in the separation of Church and State and don't ever want any religion recognized as the \"Official \"religion of the United States of America. Religion and politics are like oil and water, they don't blend together very well and need to be kept separate of each other. Just look to the history of the countries of the world for proof of that.\n\nSorry if my post misled you.\n\nGladys", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"This duality is an essential aspect of what being human is all about, as ordained by God.\" It is certainly essential to the gender bias in Catholicism that's for sure.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "continued...\n\nJews helpfully label themselves officially: Secular (cultural) jews, Reform Jews, Conservative Jews, Orthodox, Ultra-orthodox, Hasidim, etc.\n\nChristians have dozens of pretty clearly defined denominations from ultra-liberal to ultra-conservative.\n\nSo it is much clearer than in Islam, where the battle between islamists and moderates, liberals or secular Muslims isn't between clearly defined groups, but a battle to define what is \"mainstream\".\n\nThe battle around the hijab has been going on among Muslims themselves for ages, and after decades of liberal Islam winning, the islamists are now regaining ground, and the left like you are siding with them.\n\nThe Left that used to ridicule Victorian prudishness and Christian missionaries for making \"naked savages\" cover up, now see nothing negative about claims that women who bare more than their faces are \"immodest\" and displeasing to Allah.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The legacy of the quiet revolution was the end of big catholic-Quebecois families. Catholicism didn't allow abortion.The eventual end of the Quebecois culture. Immigrants are needed to work. Muslims are having large families. They are part of a loud revolution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Creator.... Nature's GOD. Not the \"CHRISTIAN GOD\" that people keep referring to. Laws of Nature and Nature's GOD is not the Christian GOD. Creator is a term that Native Americans and other religions use as well. NOT THE SAME AS THE CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY at all. I'm good with the Laws of Nature and \"Nature's God.\" IS that that God you speak of. The founding fathers (most of them) were NOT Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The minister of a sacrament, its form, its matter are all matters of dogma.\n\nThey're not open to revision.\n\nBaptism and Matrimony have never required a priest to administer. \n\nThe usage \"ordained minister\" is not part of Catholic terminology because, unlike our Protestant cousins, Catholics believe that ordination is more than \"authorization\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus said many things that must be considered in the light of tradition, Aquinas, and expediency. Love your enemies was said before the Church was a secular power, with its own military and that of the sovereigns of Europe to support it. Since then, Tradition has trumped Jesus. Love your enemies has been supplanted with theories that allow for violence when it is necessary, or expedient. And that is now the Hallowed Tradition of the One True and Unchanging Church. \n\nRegarding the Colt .45 Single Action Army Revolver, neither conservative nor progressive can take credit for dubbing it the \"Peacemaker.\" In all likelihood, that name was applied by Protestants.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "4 of 8.\tIt [AL] contains some obvious errors, such as its claim that the Catholic church opposes the death penalty, which is absurd.\n{Since my original comment failed the \u2018civility\u2019 test, I\u2019m re-posting it line by line, so the censors can eliminate whatever line they considered uncivil.}", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely true. In fact women were priests in the early church (aka presbyters) and this was when the church thrived the most. We have always been ready for women priests, bishops, cardinals and Popes, but once we gave evil and hatred room to enter and take control, around the 250's to 600s AD, it makes it very hard to be free again. It will take prayer and genuine revolution of the laity, religious and priests, with active and aggressive, though non-violent, protests to rid us of this demon misogyny. It needs to be done immediately for the sake of our church and our world. I am starting to contact lay people who are interested in forming groups for this cause. If you are interested - email me at restor now(oneword) @ mail.com (no spaces). \n\nThanks for your frank and enlightened comment!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agree. Why are Catholic bishops not speaking out against all the non Christian rhetoric and actions of Trump and the Republican Congress? I am not sure 'prolife' means anything at all. The bishops should be working for the rights of all people and against the corruption that is so obvious in our government today. With Trump's crazy comments, we may be seeing the end of human life as we know it. Is his ego worth it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One's biological sex - male and female - is a valid distinction. Sexual expression, according to the Catholic Church, is either moral or immoral in its expression.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with you, Jim. Rarely is there any concession that the person in question might have thought deeply about the matter and concluded that some of the Church's position are flawed, possibly even immoral. Instead, people of this ilk insist it boils down to a refusal to listen to the \"truth,\" being awash in \"secular culture\" (where the Holy Spirit is actually hanging out, though that's lost on Chaput), and having dangerous erotic or selfish impulses. There's a great deal of projection in these accusations, of course. It would be terrible of Chaput woke up one day, had a change of heart, and there was no one left to minister to. But he'd be at least partly responsible. Quite frankly, I find his particular notion of \"church\" as outlined here the antithesis of Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "unfortunately i, do not know much about that other than it having something to do with christian clerical fascism. and i am, not a big fan of christianity.\n\nbut i, do know about ELOHEEM being Both MALE/FEMALE as described in TheTorah Scroll. which eliminate mankind being made in THE OUR HE/SHE IMAGE And LIKENESS of ELOHEEM given only to Adam.\n\nand that it is hard for people to comprehend, just how involved ELOHEEM is in this world. ELOHEEM is very very proactive here in THEIR Story of The Creation again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but I respectfully disagree with ALL of your comments. I grew up in CAN (TO, EDM, Calg) and have lived in the US for 20+ years now. There are a LOT of religious right crazies here that you do NOT see in CAN, where the key driving force in their life is their version of Christianity. Mayor Nenshi was elected BECAUSE Calgarians are very inclusive and they don't look at color, religion, etc. He would probably not be elected here, much less run for office. We have a Muslim guy who ran for a City Council seat where I live, and there was an anonymous letter sent around the neighborhood prior to the election, and it commented on his color, race and religion, and insinuated that he was a Muslim extremist. And lets not get into the Creationism issue. THAT will certainly repeat itself. VERY scary times here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It noted that the Christian Europeans around him, while professing liberal tolerance, were continuing to treat Jews such as himself as different, other or outside\" ... This is probably true, on the other hand, it is also probably true that many Jews will see the Christian Europeans as 'other' too. I have many Jewish friends, and from talking to them, I know this is true. But that's not necessarily such a bad thing, surely? What makes our relationships interesting is in fact the exploration of the other. Even if it's not a matter of ethnic difference (which mostly boils down to being raised with different customs), all of us are unique.\n\nWhere this becomes a problem is when you use the differences you find in someone else as an excuse hurt and persecute them. But that's not what I read here - there was nothing in this article - beyond a description of a historic antipathy between Jews and Muslims - that was that new. Not sure I saw the point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Truly shameful to slander us with a link from the Register, which has sank, and you with it, to the bottom of the first century, where a static world was looked upon as permanently fixed. Unless the Eucharist is available to all, the church might just admit that its four marks of one, holy, catholic and apostolic are erroneous. As said on numerous other posts; communion is nourishment for the spiritually impaired. By the way, that is all of us...and not to you, me, the bishops or the church to judge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope God can look at you with a straight face when judgment time comes and you declare \"traditional true Catholic\".\nI think he will demand to see some faith in action and some good works thrown in there, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is not the command I'm referring to. We do make judgements, that is not the same as judging whether someone is a Christian, which we have no right to do. You have your belief, someone else a different one. Only God knows which is true. It is overweening arrogance to presume to know God's mind. The most we should ever do is wonder, and perhaps pray for humility and guidance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Consult the Wikipaedia for Americanism (as heresy) - or look at New Advent blog to see the article in The Catholic Encyclopedia. For the Protestant Evangelicals history -- also try the Wikipaedia and see where the references lead you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have been \"taking a knee\" since I started kindergarten. Born and raised Catholic part of our religion dictates that to show respect and honor to the church altar before mass that we \"genuflect\" which is defined as placing one or both knees on the ground. Catholics also Genuflect when during mass they receive the communion, the Holy body of Christ. Other common \"take a knee folks\" are those who do so to respect and honor royalty and knights who are being knighted by a King or Queen. The more common use of Genuflection today is by a man who \"takes a knee\" as a sign of his love and dedication to the woman he is now asking to marry him. So Genuflection, or now with a new nickname of \"taking a knee\" has a long history of an act that is done only to clearly demonstrate respect, honor and dedication from the person who is \"taking the knee\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican II didn't JUST REMIND the laity of their role. It was for the Whole Church. Everyone must continue to grow.\n\nBut even Vatican II was the \"Sum Total\" of our Church in the life of humanity. We're decades out of Vatican II. And the world that we live in doesn't look like the 1960's any more. The 1960's set the stage [indeed it is the ground level] of the world that we live in---but it's not the sum total. \n\nAs baptized Catholics, we are anointed with Chrism as Priest, Prophet, and King on our baptism. Being a Prophet---calls for the courage to not only speak out but also to act----for the greater growth of God's People. \n\nWe don't live in a simple world anymore, either. There are many categories----but all who fit into those categories, are members of Christ's one flock.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gary has got you on this one Always. If you expect the law to cover all 'Christians', then you chose to assume all Christians have identical religious guidance, or, have identical standards of personal conscience. The facts are that they don't. The diversity of behaviors on Christian have very little variance from the non-religious population, (my pastor would often say an 'unmeasurable amount of difference,' and say it with a touch of sadness to an audience who prefers to feel more righteous).\n\nI would never enter a church again if I spent my time judging the faith of those who sit in the pew with my family. For Christian church's who like to use the word 'truth,' they would be better served by saying they are the equals of the non-religious, not inherently superior by use of the 'Christian' label. *Most of my moral choices are deeply rooted in my Christian faith, that does not mean they are the same as every other person labeled 'Christian'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well yes of course, long overdue. \n\nAttempts to schedule Christian Prayer in room in the BC Leg fell apart after other brands of superstition demanded equal time. Here in BC \"No Religion\" (thank you very much) has overtaken \"Catholic\" as the most common response when Stats Can pokes its long nose into that aspect of our private lives.\n\nAfter all, they stopped hanging those Blue banners in Catholic Churches, telling zealots to vote Union Nationale or Conservative.\n\nhttp://encyclobec.ca/region_projet.php?projetid=255", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My ancestors fought for the North. One was a Christian minister, and when he died, every town in the county shut down to attend his funeral. \n\nJesus took the form of MAN, in the lineage of Adam; only a racist would see Him through a prism of skin color. In His Glory, He is beyond description, He is pure Love. Fallen man falsely accused and tried and crucified Jesus, but what man did for evil, God turned to good, the salvation of mankind...a free gift for all who will simply repent, accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, and live in His presence in eternity. You need to drop your burden of hatred at the foot of the cross and let His blood cleanse you....and you never have to come back here if you hate America as much as you say. I hope you are content living wherever you are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thor,\nMy example was intended to offend neither Christians nor non-Christians ... only to demonstrate the power of propaganda and the malleability of the human mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, sir, it isn't just that they disagree with me. There are some points on which Catholics can have legitimate disagreements. The death penalty is one such example. Another example is social policy. There are many others.\n\nThere are some points, however, that are not in dispute and Catholics cannot legitimate disagree on: support of abortion, support for women's ordination, that marriage can be anything other than one man and one woman, that Jesus is God, etc. Those points and many others are not up for grabs. These issues have been decided and are not open to change--now or ever--as even Pope Francis--the darling pope of liberals has said. That is what it at issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It helps to \"convert\" little temptations that we may face in the course of a day (...the temptation not to smile when someone we don't like a lot greets us, the temptation to not withold a biting remark, the temptation to stop our work before we've finished it off well, and other temptations) into moments of unity with Jesus and with those Christians undergoing real violent deadly persecutions.\n\nRedemptive suffering, an act of the Communion of Saints, is a marvelous way of finding intimacy with Our Lord and with other Christians. We can unite our little tiny sufferings with those of Jesus and with those Christians who are truly being persecuted.\n\nTreat temptations as though they were persecutions, however small, and do it in conversation with God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You dodged my question. I didn't ask about Bishop Williamson per se or about defrocking a bishop who had been previously ordained. \n\nSo let me ask again, more plainly this time. If it were known that a candidate for the episcopacy held the belief that the Holocaust never happened, in your opinion should that preclude him from being ordained a bishop?\n\nJust so you know where I stand, I think such a belief would, at the very least, indicate an unhealthy and obstinate refusal to acknowledge historical fact. At worst, it could also be a warning sign of dangerous bigotry that is certainly unfitting for a member of the Catholic hierarchy.\n\nIt isn't just a matter of being entitled to odd beliefs. It's a matter of whether or not we choose excellent bishops. Being orthodox but delusional does not make for excellence. \n\nSo, yes, I believe such a belief should preclude somebody from being ordained a bishop. Now please tell us, plainly, what you think.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry but I thought the statement about kneeling in the presence of Jesus was in fact mentioned in the Bible. Are you stating you would not kneel in the presence of Jesus?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wrote to Senator Giessel and expressed that, should she continue with the fiscal irresponsibility of increasing real actual dollars spent by the State of Alaska whilst our revenues continued to decline, I would be forced to work for the campaign of any candidate, regardless of party, that opposed to, to she her removed from office.\nNow, while the State of Alaska fails to perform adequately its obligation for winter snow removal from roadways, sidewalks and handicapped pedestrian crossings, she proposes an increase 15 times the tax on tires because her self-centered point of view is they are unnecessary?\nShame on you Cathy Geissel! What would your Jesus think? Because this type representation of him is an anathema to your previous claim of being such a good and caring \"Christian\" person. My children don't have your resources or decades of experience. They need the additional safety margin, as well as do my octogenarian parents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was thinking this very thing John. I sincerely hope Faithful Catholic is ok with giving Down's babies and their parents a whole bunch of free stuff at tax payer expense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Freedom of religion\" is an American right in the Bill of Rights.\n\nIt has nothing at all to do with events outside the United States, which are not regulated by the Bill of Rights.\n\nWhat does bear on freedom of religion in the platform is:\n\n\"We support a progressive vision of religious freedom that respects pluralism and rejects the misuse of religion to discriminate.\"\n\nA group of prominent black clergymen brought this to the losing candidate's attention and pointed out the exiting Administration had used this policy to attempt to compel people of faith to perform acts abhorrent to their religion, both Catholic and Protestant. They received no response.\n\nUnfortunately for her candidacy a 306-page report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued Sept. 8 titled \u201cPeaceful Coexistence: Reconciling Non-Discrimination Principles with Civil Liberties\u201d made crystal clear the implications of this bit of the platform.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "O sure! NCR is in favor of every liberal trend that comes down the track but aghast at the thought of a Bible Museum that might be fundamentalist orientated. Surely NCR's enlightened readers can resist literalism even when attractively displayed. The challenge might actually give pause to the modernist approach to God's Word that afflicts the rest of the Christian community.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Waddell is incorrect when he asserts that there can be no freedom from religion. What Mr. Keavy was advocating was the right to freedom of conscience which is the constitutional right of every citizen to decide FOR THEMSELVES how she/he will live her/his life. \nChristians have the right to speak about what they believe and non-Christians have the right to disregard what they say about their beliefs. Likewise for the Christian when the non-believer shares her/his beliefs. The rub that Keavy was referring to is the problem, and it's a serious one for Christians, of them believing that their fellow citizens can be forced to live according to the tenants of the Christian faith. Christianity is the majority religion in the U.S. and Christian politicians use their public office to force non-religious Americans to live according to that religion. See, for example, Trump's discriminatory exemption of women's reproductive health from mandatory coverage by insurance. Much trouble's ahead.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but no one needed to plant any seeds of disunity. The seeds were already there since the release of Humanae Vitae and have grown since then. The coup de gr\u00e2ce was the sex abuse scandal. Today, the laity is out of sync with the hierarchy on a number of key issues and will not be drawn back. Whatever was uttered in this e-mail conversation has been uttered millions of times already in the kitchens, dining rooms, and bedrooms of American Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words, the Republican platform supports discrimination against homosexuals under the guise of practicing one's religion. A profoundly anti-Christian stance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your comment is just an opinion based on no facts. FYI, the highest paid person at the not for profit I am a part of is $200K as compared to multi million dollar salaries at insurance companies, hospitals and doctors. Their administrative costs are less than 5% of revenue as compared to insurance companies of around 20% and typical not for profits also around 20%. They are tax exempt because of being a not for profit not because of being a church. Even not for profits are subject to regular corporate incomes taxes if they conduct activities that are outside the scope of tax exemption. As stated above, for one of the organization you do not have to be Christian or even believe in God, you can be an atheist and just believe individuals have the right to worship the God of their choice (or no God) in whatever manner they want.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was less offended by what she said than I was by her un-professionalism and arrogance. This was not an off the cuff remark said in a private conversation or a media scrum. She was giving a presentation and she's a 53 year old woman not a 20 something kid. As a Christian I take this whole incident as a reminder of the danger of allowing your pride and ego to rule you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Included are 101 anti-Muslim hate groups, but somehow not a single anti-Christian hate group is identified. Actually, Christian groups, in its map, turn out to be the haters.\"\n\nhttps://patriotpost.us/opinion/50995\n\n\"In recent media appearances discussing Charlottesville, I noted the equivalency I see between the LGBT rainbow flag and the Confederate flag. Both stand, as I explained, for particular dogma and are statements of exclusion to those who don\u2019t fit their worldview.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Assuming oneself or one's country to be an instrument of God's will is a dangerous path to go down.\"\nQuite so! The key is to be an instrument and not confuse my will with God's. God's will is that we love one another as God loves us. That is a lot to handle. What the\" loving thing\" is in any given situation is not always easy to discern. I do believe we create the world we live in by the attitudes we have and the actions we take and we have pretty well made a mess of things. Christ is the example we should, in my opinion, seek to follow and that does mean taking up the cross of love every day and doing the best we can to better life for everyone. I need, as a Christian, to see Christ in every other human being and, more importantly, strive to be Christ for others. Big order!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is it not shameful what Cardinal Burke did? He gave an interview in The National Catholic Register [owned by EWTN]. He threatened that if Francis didn't respond to the demand of clarification that there would have to be \"a formal act of correction of a serious error.\"\n\nCardinal Burke would issue a \"formal act of correction of serious errors\" in Christ's teachings as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You seem to be in favor of establishing a theocratic dictatorship here in the USA... under YOUR brand of Christianity...\nFortunately, my God is a bit more understanding of human efforts to govern themselves in a multicultural, including multi-religious & non-religious setting...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I understand correctly, you would like a movement to remove any and)or all Bishops who adhere to Catholic teaching?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Serious question that will help where I direct this conversation - are you a Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But, regardless of how exemplary a life one has led, some Christians believe if you aren't Christian, there's no salvation.\nAnd I think God is bigger and more just and merciful than that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good for him. No reason why a conservative Christian can't be a member of Congress.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I go to church, in fact I will be in daily Mass this morning, I look around me and see the vast majority of the people sitting around me still support, no, they strongly support Trump. I know how far up the ladder this feeling goes in my diocese. I pray until I shake, I cry when I hear the words of Christ being spoken by one who whole heartedly believes Trumps words as though they too were Gospel. The distrust, and dislike of Pope Francis is openly discussed. I am getting physically sick, I have nowhere to turn, I love my church, my Catholic faith, but here it seems I am alone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great article Mr. Gee! It is simply outrageous that Ontario continues this practice of two taxpayer funded systems, when the rest of Canada has ceased the practice. If RC Ontario residents want their religious education, there is nothing stopping them from having private catholic schools. According to many i know, Catholic schools have generally become a cheaper form of private education. Sadly only the Greens in Ontario have proposed to end taxpayer funded religious education. Will the LPO or PCO find the same backbone and make this their policy?? I am not holding my breath!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This DACA issue is a case in point why I voted for Trump.\nObama's executive overreach created this problem for these illegal immigrants.\nHe gave them a false sense of security--- that they would be considered legal if they came here illegally.\nHe told us that he couldn't change the law willy-nilly before then.Remember?\nWhere is the outrage about this reckless, hurtful behavior?\nObama and the Progressive Predators use these people to build up their voting base and when things don't go as planned, it's the Republicans or the Christians fault?\nTrump is working hard to restore lawfulness to government so that innocent people will\nunderstand the law of the land.They will then be in the best situation possible to evaluate \nthe risks involved if they decide to violate the law. \nUnambiguous, non-contradictory law avoids the exploitation that the Left is notorious for, and respects everyone including taxpaying Americans and immigrants who follow the law.\nThat's Christian respect and empathy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have the emotional maturity to realize that the critics love the Church and want it to thrive and that maybe, if you try on what we are saying, it might have a better chance. The Gates of Hell prophesy by Jesus says eventually you will.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is too simplistic. \nMarriage between Christians is sacramental the spouses are joined together by God. Natural marriages, those between non-Christians or between a non-Christian and a Christian are not joined together by God.\nNevertheless, the Church allows only the remarriage of the Christian spouse if the non-Christian spouse wishes to divorce. \nThis is basic, there are more conditions than this which would require much more space and time to go through. These are available on the internet if you care to Google the topic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I don't believe that progressive Catholics like msw even believe the stuff they preach.\"\n\nIn my experience, those most ready to doubt the sincerely held beliefs of others are the very ones who own belief is shallow, superficial ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "have we ever seen the world leaders in such a pressing mood when Copic Christians are butchered...... no the left wing governments have a double standard when it comes to actually condemning and protecting certain groups.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Listen. I'm not trying to escalate things here. I'm having a hard time responding reasonably to insults and the door being slammed in my face.\n\nI used to be a \"fundie\" I used to believe (as I was told growing up) that the Earth is 6,000 years old and that dinosaurs were alive in Jesus' time (sup Leviathan). \n\nI'm not saying you think those things but I used to be so SURE I knew. All I've tried to lay out here is how I am unsure, and how science gives us explanations that are more consistent with observation - and that it doesn't need to be a threat to faith. This makes you upset, or makes you think I'm pious. I can't change that.\n\nIt's just been really beneficial to me, and if there is a God out there I hope brings me a little bit closer to understanding what that might be, rather than what some people told me it is. The universe as it really is \u2013 is AWESOME. I just want to see other people - Christian or not - understand that more.\n\nStay curious, and stay skeptical. These are virtues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Although obviously He was without sin, the Immaculate Conception does not refer to Jesus but rather his earthly mother the Virgin Mary, who according to the doctrine (held by Catholics) was uniquely free from original sin from the moment of her conception.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 of 3\n\nthat you would twist in such a way, that it would not fall out from the lapel of ones coat or jacket, mine was stolen (Ripped from my jacket). When I tried to obtain a replacement for it I was told, \u201cwe don\u2019t do (Encourage) that now\u201d.\nAre we now going into another stage, to obliterate the Christian message of Truth/love\nAs a U.S. court rules that a 90-year-old giant cross is \u2018unconstitutional\u2019 See article within the link\nhttps://international.la-croix.com/news/us-court-rules-90-year-old-giant-cross-is-unconstitutional/6153\nWhy does this Cross of Jesus Christ, that dominates the sky line offend the sensibilities of so many none believer, when \u2018love\u2019 is been made manifest by this symbol to all of mankind. When over symbols do not, such as Synagogues with the Star of David and Mosques with their minarets that dominate the skyline........ \n \n\ncontinued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Hijack\" is a little strong for less than a dozen women carefully watched by a number of police and Vatican guards. \"The unchangeable teaching... taught through His actions is not to be questioned..\"\" So, we should all steal grain on the Sabbath? Or possibly consider that there were some women in the NT who would gladly have followed Jesus except for the opprobrium then of women wandering the countryside with men who were not their husbands, the times such that this would have cast terrible questions on His message.\n\nIt's quite a hop and skip from PJPII to \"question the Divinity...\" Maybe there's a third option - since there are a lot of teachings that are hard to take, maybe He's waiting on us to catch up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are many of us out there. I decided long ago I keep the parts of the culture and traditions that I find meaningful and helpful and ignore the rest. When people ask if I'm Catholic, I usually respond that I am a cultural Catholic. (Reminds me of a Three Stooges line. Curly is asked by the bailif in court if he swears to tell the truth, but Curly stops him after saying swear and says \"no, but I know all the words\")", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What does the ACLU have to do with the issue?\n\nIt's simple...\nI'll say again as did before...get down to the business at hand. If you feel that u need to pray for your decisions you can do it any time any where. You can even do it n the shower before you go to work.\n\nI don't believe that there is any argument about religion. Just do your job. BTW i'm a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You pre-suppose that doctrine \"does not evolve,\" perhaps because your paradigm of human development is weak or inapposite. If doctrine did not evolve, the Catholic church would have no need for a magisterium.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The real problem is the idea that what is spiritually nourishing is universal for all people. I personally prefer a more traditional style church. I'm not saying I need a cathedral with 50 statues, but I feel more connected to God when I am in a Church that tickles my senses. The sites, the smells, and the sounds are all out of the ordinary from what I see during the week, it helps my mind remember why I'm there. I prefer to hear the music rather than sing it. I have a poor working member, so when I try to sing, I become so focused on what i'm singing, that I'm not present when saying the lyrics. When I'm silent, I can hear the lyrics and really pray with them. Another example is Bible translations. For spiritual reading, I prefer a dynamic equivalence translation. Yet,Pope Benedict's VERBUM DOMINI calls for a more formal equivalence translation. Other people might prefer to sing, or might gain more spiritual incite from more formal translations. To be continued...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The point is we should have more articles encouraging Catholics to not focus on themselves so much, or perhaps articles that don't simply cause the nursing of resentments and complaints and finger pointing. Most people know what I mean. \n\nReal men and women don't focus on themselves very much, but are instead intently focused on serving others, and especially so when it causes them to go against the easier grain of focusing on themselves. I can't point to any here so if the reader wants I can look around and provide some links to such better reading. \n\nTake this exchange. I am really not focused on responding to Kurgan, but instead offering other readers some substantial points about a more heroic way of Christian living, worthy of real men and real women. And in so doing I am providing them a starker contrast to the contribution preceding it written by Kurgan, whose intent is more superficial at best and more likely just sarcastic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Henry VIII wasn't the only royal/nobleman who sought to terminate his marriage. His approach wasn't what was accepted. \n\nJoseph Ratzinger's teachings ARE NOT the Church's official teachings. Ratzinger was a representative of the Augustinian theological 'camp' at Vatican II. The narrow Augustinian theology blamed the primacy of conscience for everything from the impudence of freedom of the press to the skepticism of historicist thought.\n\nDuring the pontificate of JP II to his own pontificate, Ratzinger's teachings represented the most narrow interpretation that polluted the hierarchical teaching office's position on conscience until\nMarch, 2013. \n\nReferences:\nBrian Lewis, \"The Primacy of Conscience,\" Australian eJournal of Theology 6 [February 2006]:1\n\nJohn W. O'Malley, 'What Happened at Vatican II' [Cambridge, MA:\nHarvard University press, 2010], 48-52.\n\nLinda Hogan, \"Confronting the Truth: Conscience in the Catholic Tradition' [Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2000], 98.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why would Trump care about what the Pope says? 52% of US Catholics voted for him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have an idea John: In the same vein as annulment = Catholic divorce, why don't we call this 3rd party access to contraception = Conception Deferment (or something to that effect)? That way the trads can pretend that Catholic Institutions remain unwavering on what the Church has always taught...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A wonderful choice. Urban renewal is going to happen big time and Ben will be a hero in burned out inner cities. \n\nIn case you Christian haters did not notice, the inner cities have many many thriving churches. Ben will be welcomed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I took it for granted that I was talking about Faith and Morals. The Church has no competence to teach maths, science, etc.\nThe Sacraments did not come into existence only upon Conciliar or Papal definitions as they were instituted by Christ, Himself. Definitions of the Sacraments occurred as a development of Sacramental theology usually in response to those who attacked their existence or nature.\nThe Protestants reduced the number of Sacraments from 7 to 2 which tells us that Matrimony was considered a Sacrament long before the Reformation or Trent. Trent merely reaffirmed Matrimony as a Sacrament.\nThe morality of Usury has had a chequered history. In the OT it was permitted to charge interest on loans to non-Jews which proves that Usury in itself was not immoral but subject to regulation. You will find that in the history of the Church Usury was at times banned and at times permitted under regulation for mainly practical reasons.\nContd ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know you have \"issues\" with Christians, it is evidently clear in how you speak to them (and gang up on them with Norstog). Many people claim to be Christians, the Bible itself states that as many as 3 out of every 4 who claim to be are not (and maybe even more than that). \n\nEspecially my parents - They were the typical 60's rebellious pot smoking, free loving, rebel against authority hippies. I do not have a hidden anger problem like Crum will play it off as, but the backlash from that generation has been for more overly involved parents we see now. I see it as it is (or was), probably the most seflish, self indulgent generation in modern history. Coming right off the heroes of WW2.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The difference between Catholic and Christian can be demonstrated from their beliefs. Where Christianity encompasses all churches and sects, Catholics believe that the Roman Catholic Church is the supreme authority on Earth and that God speaks through the pope.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please google 'the seven mountain strategy'. The so called restoration of Christian morality, is not precisely what these groups are all about. That is just the one of the means to the end.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you'd agree, of course, in order to stay logically consistent, that these Catholic orgs should then limit their charity activity to just Catholics. In factthe Government should also enforce this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Next big push thats coming will be all food being Halal. Presently majority of the food is Kosher and next will be Halal. Animal rights should look into the practice how they kill the animal. Oddly enough we are becoming less secular and having religion covertly in all aspects of our life. Public schools in Toronto have special prayer rooms for Muslims. Yes, i wrote public its hard to believe but its true! \nI have recently seen sour cream blessed by a Rabbi and Mullah and yes it 2017 not 1817! The Pope should get into this action and demand all food be blessed by a Catholic. Truly amazing!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In Christ There is No East or West\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Look for the christian church connection.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Replace the words \"Christian converts\" with a reference to any other religion/ideology and your comment would be deemed \"uncivil \" by the usual gang of SJWs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My eyes opinion. Don't take this personally Pocho, but Christianity creates more religious wolves than any other religion. This is a fact that Jesus himself foretold and warned us about. He clearly identified who these people are and what we need to know in order to avoid them. They are not followers of Jesus, but imposters and as you put it \"under the guise of sheep.\"\nThis is true in every religion. There are sheep and there are wolves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I get your sentiments...to a point. #1 is bad if true, no argument, #2 is mildly accurate from a canonical standpoint (dictator tag is extreme) but is WILDLY disconnected from how parishes actually function 90% of the time, #3 hints at your more specific aim at changing sacramental discipline which is a desire shared not necessarily by women but liberal Catholics of all stripes and ordination levels regardless of gender so I don't get how this is a woman-oppression matter, and #4 just...wow...if your example of a female leader being oppressed by evil male clerics is Sr. McBride JUST BECAUSE she approved the abortion of an 11 week old unborn child at a Catholic hospital...I can't really help you.\n\nYour vision of Church which can be changed through voting power and advocacy by any grouping of Catholics is an entirely different thing altogether than what and how the Church has always defined itself. Just be a protestant! It's so easy! Plenty of denominations to choose from!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The product offered by the Roman Catholic Church is no longer in demand. It's current marketing efforts have not succeeded in gaining ground in the ever-shrinking market, with a resultant loss of revenue and the attendant need to close under-performing outlets. Perhaps it is time to reconsider the brand's offerings. There may be a revival in interest in medieval based, guilt emphasizing mumbo jumbo. Nonetheless, it may be time to discuss reorienting the institution to something based on the teachings of Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quakers are forced to pay taxes for war against their religious beliefs. The Supreme Court has no qualms evidently with their \"religious freedom\" being trampled. \nhttp://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/27/us/us-sues-quaker-group-over-taxes.html\n\"Ms. Adams sued the government on religious freedom grounds in 1996, asking the I.R.S. to set up a fund for conscientious objectors...The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit rejected her arguments, and the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.\"\n\nThe idea that this is a question of religious liberty is a farce. It has to do with punishing women, a central tenant of the Christian religion. I have my own deeply held religious beliefs and object to my tax dollars being used to provide healthcare for Christians. My body and everything therein contained is my property. I don't acknowledge the right of anyone to harass, intimidate, block or otherwise interfere in my access to medical care and will defend myself with a firearm where necessary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All talk and no action except the continuing spread of the false ideology. At the same time raking in wealth from rich and poor with no return except false promises of death glory in a non-existent place. Just like Trump. Our healthcare system ruled and controlled by the feudal monarchy of Pope, Cardinal, Arch-Bishop, Bishop requiring all patients to obey Catholic dogma. Denial of secular, scientifically valid healthcare based on religion. Political power from agents of all of the christian sects founded on lies. No power except the military powers of the state managed by christian agents to eradicate anyone who refuses to bow down and obey. History of slaughter, genocide, and evil. We must not be \"Catholics\" or we are doomed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A moot survey. There are as many definitions for \"Christian\" as there are humans in the galaxy. Even Barack Hussein claimed to be a Christian while slaughtering Afghans, Pakistanis, Syrians and various other innocent beings. And don't forget Fast & Furious gun running to MX that got an American border patrol officer murdered.\n\nAccording to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, 70.6% of the adult population identified themselves as Christians, so a big DOH to \"70% of women who had an abortion ID as Christians.\"\n\nSheesh", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "formerlyrbfromcalgary: I saw Bill Maher on Van Jones' CNN show ('The Messy Truth') yesterday evening. Maher, of course, is a critic of religion in general but notes that the specific problem with Islam in the West isn't terrorism and those who use it to promote their fundamentalist views but instead is that too many otherwise peaceful Muslims support their religion's rigid practices and ideology. Most Christians and Jews in the West have learned to put religion in perspective and view it as a strictly personal issue. The cure for religious discord and conflict in diverse societies according to Maher is strict secularism. In his view, there's no rational \"progressive\" basis for the accommodation of religious intolerance and medievalism in the name of tolerance. His perspective is undoubtedly compelling. I've long believed that the only basis for religious harmony between Muslims and others in the West is the development of a humanist Western form of Islam. I suspect Maher would agree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am well of this. We conceived three times and enjoyed doing it. Sadly, we lost two to miscarriage, which is why I will resist any effort to give the state police power to investigate first trimester abortions.\n\nYour own comments resisting paying for children with public funds because people should be responsible for paying for their kids shows there is truth in the propaganda. This is not my first rodeo with a pro-lifer who resists the real solution - which comports with what Leo XIII and Pius XI say about a just family wage.\n\nIt is certainly not true that repealing Roe led to an abortion boom because of the sexual revolution. That is pure golden age thinking. The generation that thinks gay marriage and abortion are key issues to resist is dying out. The young who got roped into being pro-life by the Catholic school system tend to change their mind when they become sexually active. The Trump election aided by the pro-life bishops were your last hurrah.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians were a thriving, if secret, community there for over 200 years. The growth was through family but tens of thousands were present in the country when it was reopened.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes!! Although I was not a big fan of nuns while in Catholic schools, I think that they are the most ''erased\" women from history. Almost all women's, if not all, women's Catholic colleges, were run by religious sisters until the big vocation drop. They are almost never, if ever, included in discussion of women's history in general.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many christians do you figure he's 'leading'?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My question to you is hypothetical; if G.W.W.Bush III was the lame duck POTUS would you be posting the same? Can you answer honestly? C'mon, if you're a good catholic boy, you can't lie.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Growing up in a traditional Catholic culture it has taken many years to separate out my emotionally formed and informed resistance to just about everything and anything same-sex. There is still an element of \"work in progress\" but I have been assisted greatly by the few same-sex couples I have met. \nIt has become increasingly discouraging to see how a tradition of acumen such as the Roman Catholic Church could hold - and even worse, foist upon it own and in the public square - such a static and absolutist concept of \"natural law\" - in a creation that is sustained by change itself. Of course, the \"conservatism\" that preserves knowledge and wisdom is to be treasured but lived within an evolution that preserves value within change. \nIt seem axiomatic that challenges to stasis would give rise to reflection upon \"higher principles\" that guide consideration. Our \"institution\" seems to have chosen the lower. We 'sheep' increasingly the higher, in spite of resistance: leadership welcomed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish Catholic parishes and dioceses particularly in the South were less segregated between the Spanish and English speaking communities. It would be much better if there were more bilingual services and social events so that English speakers would regularly encounter their fellow parishioners, and be more informed about what's happening to them. We need more of the \"Culture of Encounter\" the bishops are endorsing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Truth of this statement can be seen in any offspring they may be blest with.\" \n\\\nI hope you are including their gay offspring in this sentence because they also have received the gift of life... and for whom the Church teaches lifelong celibacy which, according to your reasoning, deliberately denies them from offering any child an opportunity at life, thereby putting them in a perpetual state of sin. One surely does have to check their brain in at the door of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I like the way you expressed the work that goes into 'helping others become welcoming'--\"undertaking missionary work in a Catholic church\". Very well said. People stop seeking support or seek it elsewhere when the energy demanded in seeking it outweighs any benefit returned. In other words, when it becomes more stressful rather than less so. Exactly expressive of the research regarding support.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am sorry if I hurt your feelings but honestly, why bother?\nYou will not change your opinion despite rational arguments, that is what I meant about not wasting my time. \nI don't have a gang mentality. I read what is written and choose to respond where I feel is appropriate. \nYou have no idea what my commitments or circumstances are, therefore your comments about my \"efforts\" are inappropriate.\nAnd FYI I strive to lead a good Christian life to do good everyday. To be kind and honest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is all very fetching that the Catholic Church supports physics and cosmic science. But, it is important to remain consistent: How about supporting human biological and evolutionary science FIRST?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no constitutional rights for freedom of speech at work. Freedom of speech is in conjunction with government issues. Try going to work and telling your boss what you REALLY think of them then start saying it to his/her customers... see how long you work there. There players are on the job, on the clock and holding paying customers hostage to their message.\n\nTry performing a Catholic Prayer on the field, and see how bonkers the libs go...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin, (continued)\nand in this way God will abundantly pour out His graces upon him and his wife and his heart will be moved to humbly and with a contrite heart go to Jesus in the Sacrament of Confession and endlessly be freed from the sin of impurity because the graces God has given Him will allow Joe to stop sinning and offending God in this way. Kevin, putting Christ first is urgent, not just a possible option for our lives! It is to be immediate, not just when I feel like it! It is to be my total commitment not my half hearted loyalty! All my excuses are inadequate! Even a trial or tragedy in my life is not an excuse, but actually a reason and opportunity to trust God more completely! The choice is always ours. God will never ever force our decisions, only gently prod our hearts, souls and consciences because He loves us so much!\n\nIt is hope and prayer that God has been able to use me to help you and others in this regard! In the love and peace of our risen Lord and Savior, Juergen", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The few posts regarding Mormonism and Christianity may require further explanation.\n-\nWhich of these were/are \"cults'\"? Jim Jones's People Temple (who committed mass suicide by Kool-Aid). David Koresh's Waco, Texas group (where he had multiple sex partners including other men's wives). Scientology. Mormonism. Jehovah Witnesses. The Robert777 Church of Jesus Christ.\n-\nI threw that last one in simply because I am not going to tell you which ones are \"cults\" and which is not. I'll let you decide, based on the following analysis.\n-\nA \"cult\" is traditionally a \"secret\" \"religious\" \"group\" where the leader claims \"messiah-ship\" and \"secret knowledge\" where he \"knows all\".....but doesn't tell all. Perhaps not ever. But perhaps, for monetary consideration and your complete devotion, he may tell you bits and pieces here and there....to get you hooked...to devote more and pay more.\n-\nA Christian Church is completely free. They don't charge. You are free to walk in, hear, and leave. No charge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a former altar boy for the Catholic mass in the 1950's, very few people at mass knew or understood the mass. As a medical student in the 1960's, one of my devout catholic physician mentors once mentioned that he hated the English mass because it seemed too noisy to listen to everything. He just wanted to go back the way it used to be when he could sit or kneel in a pew near the back and relax for the week. He liked it better not understanding anything that was said. He felt it was his hour of meditation. Of course, he was not all wrong. Perhaps we could all stand a mass that is much shorter and with a full hour of silent meditation before or after communion. No Bishops letters especially about voting for certain policies or committing a mortal sin because the magical magisterium knows The Truth. We might pay attention to the Buddhists ideas a little more...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How would that serve the Bishops goals? The fortnight of freedom has been very effective in elevating their political power, getting donations, and feeding the bishops' egos with press coverage. Getting involved in civil rights will do none of this. Oh, wait, you are suggesting the bishops act like christian leaders? That would be a nice change of pace, but not likely to happen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And of course he's a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholicism of Vatican II cannot be found in the the United Church of Christ \"Gaudium et Spes\", one of the major documents of Vatican II, calls abortion an \"unspeakable crime\". The United Church of Christ supports abortion rights and Planned Parenthood. \n\nNeither can the Catholicism of Pope Francis be found in the United Church of Christ. Pope Francis has called abortion an \"absolute evil\" and a \"horrendous crime\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know if the GM will print this, i think there should be all public cemeteries and the way Christian people are treated in some countries does not help matters, fear is in all of us and it makes us suspicious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "chastity has its benefits. So does having solid Christian values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So who is the authentic interpreter of Holy Scripture, oneself or Christ\u2019s Church? This was one of the questions raised at the Reformation. Protestants came down in favour of private judgement, the Catholics stuck with the Church as the sole interpreter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Who is saying that all places of the globe have to have the same laws imposed on them.\"\n\nWho said that? Not me. Catholics might \"have a solution apiece,\" I said, \"but not a universal one [solution] to impose on all [everyone].\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Liberals specialize in attacking any Christian owned businesses, like Hobby Lobby, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Chick-fil-A, and many others. They'll lose this case too, because we live in a free country where people can pretty much believe whatever they want, and not just what the liberals want you to believe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since when you are the arbitrer of what counts as \"one, holy and apostolic\"?\n\nAnd, in case you hadn't noticed, you missed out \"catholic\" ... which is just as well because you would have misinterpreted what that means", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know that many at NCR are paid professional Catholics.\n\nI know from reading the latest 990 that the publisher of NCR takes $122,000 in salary.\n\nI know that NCR takes in over 7 million dollars of revenue a year.\n\nI don't know, but expect that many of the NCR writers are well paid.\n\nSo I at least know that much, and given that NCR gets its money from donations from Catholics, they might feel uneasy about how other Catholic organizations conduct their fundraising.\n\nIn any event, I'm not trying to tar NCR as being financially unethical. But I do feel that every Catholic org worker and Professional Catholic apologist should make their salaries public knowledge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I started to think I had read it before, but then this bit clinched it for me: \n\n\"Caught in a great historical transition in which church authority has eroded on every front, many conservative prelates and lay Catholics exhibit an array of morbid symptoms: lurid fantasies of sexual pandemonium; paranoid delusions of cultural conspiracy and government persecution; and ugly outbursts of rage at a world they no longer understand, control, or can persuade.\" \n\nYou just can't forget that. ;-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Some great insights into what the leaders of the denomination are focused on. I wonder why there are so few comments and questions when the focus of our reports turns to mission and away from controversy?\"\n\nUntil you can define your message and what you believe, everything else has no meaning. So \"What mission?\" All the talk about \"mission\" is worthless dry talk.\n\nAnd the controversy is about definition. Not mission. If you want mission, join the RCC. They have much ado about mission. They are the leaders in the \"social justice movement\" that little or no definition but \"feed the hungry, clothe the naked and house the homeless.\" This is the \"new gospel\" that takes a bible truth, and turns it into a lie.\n\nThe SDA message is sin and judgment. And the definition of sin in all its meaning and ramifications. Until you can define this, the gospel has no dynamic meaning with some wishy washy idea of \"be good, and love your neighbor.\" And by all means, don't condemn sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have read of this \"Pope Francis\" of which you speak. Here at NCR I have been told he is in the midst of rearranging the Catholic Church to suit the wishes of those who think Vatican II was stolen sometime near the end of the pontificate of Paul VI.\n\nTherefore, the \"Pope Francis\" you mention must be a body double.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's a big difference between calling yourself a Christian and acting like one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have made the same comment twice. This does does not improve it.\nThe teaching that we have been 'bought at a price' means that our salvation has been achieved by Our Lord's suffering and death. We are also being taught to respect our bodies, the temples of the Holy Spirit. But we are not being taught that our bodies are 'on loan' to us, nor that God 'owns' our bodies. These ideas of 'ownership' and 'property' are your own ideas only - presumably they are the result of your personal view of property. They have nothing to do with the Catholic faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One might ask where are the great composers and then, among them who would be interested in composing for Roman Catholic liturgy? We don't really \"pack the halls\" either, do we?\nOne might also ask, where does great music come from? As with any great art, it emerges from a much larger environment of the bad, ordinary and good. We tend to forget.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are also entitled to your opinion, Marty. Just don't automatically assume that your opinions are congruent with the doctrines, practices and history of he Roman Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That caste system still exists. Salvation requires faith in Jesus Christ, right? I've heard many Christians say that unless you believe in Christ, there is no salvation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe one thing that drives young people away is the animosity that Pre-Vatican II and Post-Vatican II Catholics have for each other...NCR being just one place where we can bite at each others' heels.\n\nWHEN, O WHEN, are we going to allow both different yet one-with Rites/Churches to exist in their different Roman and Vatican II variations? Roman Catholic Church, Vatican II Catholic Church, and 22 other mostly Eastern Catholic Rite/Churches in union with Rome...each with its own understanding and practice of Catholic theology, governance and liturgy. https://RiteBeyondRome.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, one value is protecting the innocent from grave harm. Another value is knowing whether you are actually receiving the Body and Blood of Christ -- or not. \n\nI think a lot of people would say that *both* of these are rather important, because the Eucharist is, after all, the \"source and summit\" of the Christian life (Vatican II) -- so getting the Eucharist right would matter quite a lot.\n\nTo some of us, at least.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings....Burke simply reminds us good Catholic boys and girls of the smarty pants kid in grade school\ud83d\ude07! He is the kid that donated the most pennies to the Pagan Babies during Lent....Had the most expensive First Communion book.....Was the lead Altar boy....ect...ect. What Burke needs is his own Church....Hope he moves on in the New Year to another realm!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, \"ethno-radical\" is a replacement for \"right-wing so-called Christian\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Until gender inclusion has been resolved, the Roman Catholic Church will continue to be the Christian outlier, separated by long disparaged corporate norms. Gender equality is not a \"side issue\", it is central to civilized, modern, and ethical standards of governance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You say: I come here principally to try to \"tune up\" and bring closer to the good and the true the articles that I find here, drawing out points not made at all, or made poorly.\n\nI hope you can step back and realize how blatantly arrogant your statement is. I suppose you think it your duty to \"correct\" those who don't toe the *Imperial* party line, but you should know this sort of exclusive elitism is a real turnoff to the average Catholic Christian. For what it's worth, I'm confident the current \"vicar of Christ on earth\" would agree with me as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know little of Alberta politics however certainly seems to be setting up an ideology theme between the big social conservative element of Kenneys new party(aka Catholic church) and the progressive urban element of the NDP. It is going to be interesting to hear/watch over the next period of time. No matter what, Kenney as Premier won\u2019t push BC around.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...and I don't trust what comes out of Poland and Ukraine....\"\n\nIf only owing to the way Russia has treated Poland and Ukraine the last century, I would trust the latter -- trust Poland and Ukraine. And the persecuted Ukrainian Catholic Church -- around since 1596, just 60 years after the Anglican Church was founded! What hasn't that church community suffered at the hands of the Russians?? Last century, Ukrainian Catholics were arrested, deported, tortured, forced to go underground for decades and, on top of that, had to witness their churches being seized and handed over to the Orthodox Church (which gladly took possession of Ukrainian Catholic property). There is no merit in that kind of treatment. No persecuted church -- however forgiving today -- should be exempt from remembering their past. Not even the Copts have suffered that much (at the hands of Muslims). No doubt the memory of such crimes still hurts and makes bearing justice and charity so much harder today for Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And I replied at the time.\n\"Apostasy from the Catholic Church imperils one's salvation, that is what the Church teaches and has always taught. Of course it may not be congruent with your own personal magisterium. You are continually telling us that you subject Catholic doctrine to the test of your own intellect and accept it or reject it according to your own lights, which renders what you believe no more than a personal, individual credo.\"\n\"Are you seriously proposing that apostasy from the Catholic Faith has no eternal consequences? If you are then let's have some back up and not just careful selections from various Church documents. When has the Church ever condoned apostasy.\"\nHere is what Vatican ll teaches.\n\"Whosoever knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved.\" Lumen Gentium 14.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whenever personal power becomes a main focus it sows division and corruption. Which is one reason Jesus made clear on various occasions that he was calling his disciples to servant-leadership--even before he washed the apostles' feet at the Last Supper--to put the will of God and the common good first and self-interest and personal power last. \nWe do know of some who truly heard this in their hearts--Pope John XXIII comes to mind-(and even in the secular world--A. Lincoln). Most leaders struggle with the conflicting demands made on them and muddle through. \nSome things cannot be decided by democratic vote--the force of gravity for example. \nAnd consulting the faithful IS good.\nThe question is--how do we get people to put God and the common good first?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder how many of you that cheer on Trump and ICE call yourselves Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am afraid you don't understand the poster in question. She, like all True Catholics, venerates the Traditions, Rituals and Clergy of the Church above all else. Whatsoever they do to the least of Jesus' brothers, as long as it conforms to Canon Law and Tradition, is Moral and Right. Bishops, having been chosen, like the Popes, by the Holy Spirit to lead the Church can, by definition, do no Wrong. If the Bishops choose to put children at risk, then that is just something the Laity must accept, since God put them in charge. After all Saint Pope John Paul II, the Great, zealously supported the protection of child abusing clergy, a tradition continued by his successors, including the current Vicar of Christ, although he sometimes causes confusion by appearing to hint at maybe someday taking some action to do something.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus is not only truly God, but he is truly human. No human baby knows everything about its society. Jesus learned from his parents and later on, he did go to 'school' to be prepared to make his Bar Mitzvah. He needed to be able to read and write. Between school and Joseph, he certainly learned the rudiments of math. Jesus knew very well what was and what was not prohibited. B U T....\n\nJesus CHOSE to disregard certain elements of common Jewish practice----because he knew what was JUST human practices [usually taught to the people by the religious authorities], and how God viewed those practices. For God, the love and concern for these people [viewed as sinners] was vitally important.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My bad, should have paid closer attention. Let's go on anther Greek expedition.\n\nThe \"until\" of Matt 1 = \"heos hou\" in Greek. Throughout the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament \"heos hou\" is placed not to demarcate \"it was like this before and then after this moment it changed\" but simply to indicate a \"while\"\n\nEx: \"\u201cThen Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, \u2018Sit here, \"heos hou\" I go yonder and pray.\u2019 \u201d - Matt 26: 36. Obviously here it means \"while\". The context of Matthew 1: 18-25 is that the author is to underline the point that Mary has conceived without sexual relations. Mt 1:25 drives this home. Sure, more specificity in either direction indicating that they definitely had relations after Jesus' birth or that they never once had relations ever would be helpful but it's left ambiguous. The Greek doesn't meet your assumptions though. \n\nJust to be clear, to you Church fathers are \"primitive\" and apparitions are \"ghosts\". Right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LFS2 is partly right but it's not \"law school liberalism\" that is hostile to the never ending demands from Evangelicals especially and Catholics to a lesser degree for theocracy. It is me and the majority of Americans who demand that separation of Church and State be the absolute law of the land.\nIf that threatens theocratic proponents than so be it.\nDemocrats understand how the Religious Right helped in the defeat. They've been voting for phony authoritarians in the pay of corporate oligarchs for decades. But we will not crawl back into the cave as these people hypocritically fight the scientific knowledge that makes their own technologically sophisticated and medically healthy lives possible. Nor will we accept the constant demands to ignore social and economic progress which liberates us all in order to accept narrow dogmatic philosophies from religions which eschew spiritual comfort for social control.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis and the Catholic Church could turn out to be the big heroes of 2017. They must be the resistance to Trump and the GOP's anti-poor, anti-environment, anti-everyone but the rich agenda!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually unlike most prophets Mohammed was a conflicted prophet; he was confused why God had chosen him and struggled for many years with it. He was a peaceful man that was kind towards women and tried to bring some sanity to Mecca. And yes, eventually many years later he did engage in raids of caravans so Medina could subsist and then a larger scale battle with his former countrymen. But all in all he was a man devoted to peace and considered Christians, Jews and Muslims all people of the Book. \n\nFunny how you include Geert Wilders above a quote about false prophets and ravenous wolves....he preaches far more intolerance than Mohammed ever could.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Legislatively, it couldn't be easier to end the Catholic school boards.. \n\n1. The Ontario legislature votes in favour of amending the Constitution.\n\n2. The House of Commons does the same. (The Senate can only delay)\n\nThe problem is political will.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rasminsky became governor in 1961. It was a big deal at the time in the Jewish community. Forest Hill Collegiate was overhwelmingly Jewish because the upper crust Christian families living on their side of the suburb sent their children to UCC and to Bishop Strachan.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I forgot to mention, after getting through the stuff around this issue how astute and insightful your comment is and helpful to learn that not everyone holds the same view. My brief history with this issue is meant to show how complex Catholic culture can be. For an adult convert it has been a learning curve.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's not limit it to a \"Christian conscience\". Jesus Christ ELEVATED human values and asked for more; He did not establish them! Donald Trump is not only an offense to \"Christian\" values; he is an offense to human decency, let alone values. It seems to me that \"human decency\" is the basic standard of human ethics of probity- the low but beautiful bar of civility. Trump does not meet that low bar of, what we Catholics are wont to term, \"intrinsic\" standard. This is first and foremost a human, civilizational expectation that, granted is flaunted too often. However, it does not expunge it from our pantheon. When one person encompasses and expresses such a plethora of deviations how can anyone justify, and more importantly, not see that this narcissistic predator is not only a sexual deviant, but deviant from every value that we/you hold as even minimal. His deviant traits run the gamut and are not reserved to sexuality alone. This we should note is not just \"bad\" or even \"worse\"...!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"One of the problems with Catholicism (and I am Catholic) is the whole pesky repentance/forgiveness thing.\"\n\n\"Another problem is the concept that we are more than the sum of our parts, that our abilities and skills are not defined only by our past, that we are capable of extreme growth and change.\"\n\nThose are very terrible problems for someone claiming to be Catholic. Perhaps you would be better off as a confused atheist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As with nature, there are some who resist the \"changing of seasons\" and pine away for the security of an eternal summer, one where the weather is always quite predictable. And so we have no shortage of cons and neo-cons, both clerical and lay, who want to turn back the clock on Vatican II and resist the vision and teaching of Pope Francis. Once again, by creating these new cardinals, Francis reminds us that the seasons, like Dylan's \"times,\" are a-changin', and we -- ALL of us -- along with them. Without exception, these new cardinals have already experienced profound change in themselves and their church careers, as well as in the church itself. They know the time and the date, and are not looking to turn the clocks or calendars backward!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "WE want HALF of the seatS at the table. It is time to hammer home to the Vatican that THEY are not the Church; the laity are equally part. Stop the offerings in cash to get their attention. To be honest I think it it's too late; the damage done by the abuse scandal is irreparable. The victims and survivors are not being focused on, as the primary issue. All the attention is drawn away by organisational issues; which are secondary. How can you believe anything from the Vatican down; they are still in denial and are playing a waiting game, for it all to just blow over. They believe in their own marketing image and do not realise that their product is highly contaminated and out of date by centuries. The abuse scandal has just highlighted their decision-making process. We should be reopening their decisions to examine their authenticity. Did it ever strike you as strange that Lourdes; Fatima; & Knock quickly followed on from Pope Pious IX's extreme Marian devotion, from the mid 1800's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Sanctuary movement is growing in parishes and dioceses all across this country. In this time of terror, it is the duty of every Christian to welcome the stranger and not give in to fear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am only noting that some religious communities are doing better than others in terms of recruitment and retention, though all are resting on the death or lessening of their ranks. But -- as I said above -- there will always be some Christians, albeit a small minority, who will opt to live out \"community living,\" \"sharing resources,\" \"celibacy\" and \"obedience in service\" in certain religious communities. So for every 1000 who want to live in or join Catholic lay communities, there will always be a few who prefer the traditional religious community. To \"establish\" these \"facts,\" all one needs to do is contact -- on one's own -- the above mentioned religious communities and get the number of professions and/or ordinations they have overseen/had in the last 15 years. Professional/ordination classes are much smaller, but professions and ordinations are still happening.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Iran is Persian, not Arab. Their theocracy is Shi'a not Sunni. \n\n There are not 'two sides' in the Middle East; there are hundreds of years of animosity between the Arabs, the Persians, the Kurds, the Druze and each other. You must think 'tribally' to even have a hint of the conflict(s) involved. \n\nWe 'Crusaders' are just one of many groups to be hated, reviled and feared. Jews and Christians were once \"People of the Book\" and not targets of jihad. That has varied throughout history depending on the power seekers of any particular century, including this one. \n\n\"My Brother and I against My Cousin; My Cousin and I against the Stranger.\" is a widely adopted concept across the entire region . Unless you understand that concept you are ignoring a fundamental fact of life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not the government's job to take working peoples' money and redistribute it to others. Jesus never called on the government to take on that role. Jesus told us what he thought about taxes: \"Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's;\" a backhanded attack on the forced taking of peoples' money and using it in ways that are unGodly. Charity is an individual decision not a government mandate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As always, Fr. Reese states the facts as they are. Very clear and precise and devoid of partisan politics. Maybe MSW should take a few lessons from the seasoned Jesuit priest. \n\nThe only fact he left out, however, was that Trump garnered more Catholic support than previous Republican candidates and in this year won more Catholics than Clinton. An important fact that he should have included. Also he failed to cite that many of these Rust Belt states traditionally have always voted Democrat but decided this year to vote for Trump, and within these states are large concentration of blue collar Catholics. Further more, we don't pay attention to what bishops say. We just don't, but we do listen to our neighbors and family members who felt Trump would bring jobs back to the United States. The Democrats are no longer believable because they are controlled by the special interest. Trump, for better or worse, is his own man and this is why he won.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How amusing that we hear criticism of a \"self-focused approach\" to Christian living from someone who is always defending his own self-focused approach on how to be Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with everything you said except the DP will only stick a fork in Christian based religions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora, I think the rush to judgment that you condemn stems from the very responses of the hierarchy. The hiding of abusive priests is well documented. The lack of punishment for the bishops is ongoing. The legal fight against the victims continues, while the Christian response of walking with the victims remains muted at best. \nI am a previous chair of my diocese's sexual abuse committee. I have seen false accusations. They are few. I have seen accusations of priests I knew, incredible until they were indeed proven true. I have seen two heroic priests, falsely accused, step aside until they were cleared and then returned to ministry with honor. I've seen a great deal more predatory wolves among the lambs.\nThis particular case may have issues. The bishop has obvious issues as well, documented and real. I agree with your call to wait and see, but I greatly resent the implication from you (and the expected more direct accusation from Eliane) that such lawsuits are mere greed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't forget to include the Catholic church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" The realm of religion is entirely subjective and relative. That is the nature of religion.\"\n\nAn odd comment to make and not one Christians subscribe to.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The real politik of the two state solution is that it will never happen ....\n\n\"Jerusalem\" has been a religious quagmire since time immemorial and the three world religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam lay claim to its holy sites. Just walk away and let God sort it out - perhaps He will, or not ...... In the meantime Israel is not about to relinquish any of its settlements - diplomatic posturing to the contrary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding the mention of Hillary Clinton's VP, \"Catholic\" Tim Kaine, the National Right To Life Committee (nrlc.org) rates Kaine 0% pro-life. Donald Trump picked 100% pro-life Mike Pence. Pro-Catholic-doctrine VP winner: Mike Pence. Please see the 5 non-negotiables for serious Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I noticed, and found it intriguing, that Pence did not mention his own Catholic upbringing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re \"The most dangerous prospect for this strange ecumenism is attributable to its xenophobic and Islamophobic vision\": That is indeed very dangerous. But how do we compare different \"dangerous prospects\"?\n\nAlready since the 1980s, right-wing Catholics and Evangelicals in the US have been political allies; and even among young Catholics, there seems to be a creeping influence by Evangelicals on the more and more literalist way these young people read the Bible, for example denying that it's possible for Catholics to accept a deep-time cosmology, and a Darwinian view of the emergence of new species. If such Catholics have now made a habit of joining Evangelicals in support of pro-capitalist, pro-fossil-fuel, anti-science, anti-regulation politicians (these also being in denial re the climate crisis, and opposed to \"Laudato Si'\"), that amounts to a very \"dangerous prospect\" indeed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only book, as you well know, that a True Catholic needs is the Catechism. Your comment about sarcasm is unclear. Are you being sarcastic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not about the establishment clause, it is about the Blaine Amendments which were originally used to deny funding to catholic schools, and still are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Canada is a Christian country, most of the guards are christian, same with the judges and lawyers. Bibles are in every cell room. We are Saudi America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's no shortage of younger Catholics at the Extraordinary Form I go to.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then being a Christian, which is certainly counter-cultural, is sowing division just as Christ said it would.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Same holds true for the Roman Catholic Hierarchy!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As someone living outside the USA - I think it time you folks stopped doing the Trump/Clinton dance and better ask: how did you end up with two such unpopular and inappropriate candidates. The so-called \"left\" or \"progressives\" failed the American people ... and given the size of your military and what it defends (not democracy and freedom to be sure) and by extension the rest of us in the world. The only choices for development are not unregulated capitalism or moderately regulated redistributive capitalism. There are literally thousands of choices. Meantime - any Catholic leaders - lay or ordained - who reduce our amazing social teachings down to one issue in order to promote a form of libertarian ideology while using the leavers of government to siphon taxpayer funds and resources to the already rich ... are not only going against our teachings ... particularly those of St. John Paul II ... by facilitating putting into place such an unjust system ... feeds such racist reactions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, that's not my assumption. It's a policy position taken by every Western nation. An increasing population is healthier for a country than is no population growth. The baby-boomer example I provided is just one of many possible scenarios that make no population growth a dangerous situation for any country. Anyway, I answered your question: why have any immigration at all?\n\nNow you want to shift the goal posts to have \"targeted immigration policies.\" In that case you'll be happy to know that Canada has never permitted mass migration. Since at least the 1960's Canada has targeted specific types of immigrants, namely immigrants with an education, a skill-set or financial assets that we can put to good use. But what Canada doesn't do is demand that immigrants must be white Christians as well. If you have the qualifications as above, you can immigrate to Canada regardless of your race, religion, ethnicity or nationality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many Catholic churches are empty and many are full (likewise among all denominations in the US). Needless say, some parishes are thriving with the \"historical priesthood\" and some non-Catholic churches -- that never had a \"historical priesthood\" -- are suffering losses. So it's not necessarily the \"historical priesthood\" in itself. I also don't think \"flinging the doors open to let people out into the world\" is a solution because \"they\" are already \"out\" like runaway horses, as it were. \n\nThe most active parishes I know of, however, consist of lay and clerical leaders showing parishioners how to do the work of disciples, of committed Christians. Liturgies at these parishes are a consequence of or the result of community action, involvement in neighborhoods, Matt. 25 in action. But liturgy and service go hand in hand, nourishing parishioners and the parish leadership team alike, mutually. Finally, such active parishes never confuse bad oversight or management with fate or patriarchy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...the uniting principle: \"we are all God's Children\",\nwhether Jewish, Islam, Christian or other - religion has been and continues to be badly used to justify primacy claims and wars based on religious conviction. Can't we get over it and wake up to common belonging as the basis for common faith and love for all other, notwithstanding historical and cultural differences? Religion-based violence is doing us in, is doing global life in. Let's get serious about salvaging our common future and get smart about religion-in-common - the hour is late.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are as many definitions of \"Christian\" as there are humans on the planet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course our Catholic Biblical Scholars do have the Church approval of an 'imprimatur'. They are our official teachers on Biblical matters. When it comes to Bible knowledge, they are all we have.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tinus, are you interpreting the Council of Trent as saying that a failed marriage that cannot be put together again is a sacrament of the love of Christ and His Church (because it was legally in order), but a second, successful marriage of loving parents is \"living in sin\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have followed these arguments about more \"democracy\" in the Roman Catholic Church for some time. The lack of theological grounding is very annoying. Lay people being involved in church governance starts with one's theological understanding of baptism and ministry. It's not about democracy, it's about how you understand what participation in the Body of Christ means. Please somebody, bring some theology into this argument. I recommend John Zizioulas Being as Communion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing like a little hypocrisy from the \"inclusive\" progressives in response to Ms Wente's column. The personalized venom is not surprising (eg: \"...Scheer is a christian fanatic\"). I think most reasonable Canadians of all colors and faiths will make their own judgement on Mr. Scheer. I am only beginning to learn about this new party leader and so far I like what I have seen and heard. Perhaps he is not the fire-breathing, bible-thumping wing-nut that the supposed \"inclusive\" progressives are making him out to be?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was wondering if this was intentional self-satire: \"a spoiled brat, desperately trying to say anything that might shock his audience and, so, garner their attention. No thought came from his lips that would warrant such attention, to be sure.\"\n\nI realized it must be at: \"I would submit that the first book on everyone's reading list should be Isaiah Berlin's Three Critics of the Enlightenment. Your copy of it should be well dog-eared.\" (The idea of MSW reading anything more complex than a blog, hysterical.)\n\nFunniest line: \"The church's commitment to egalitarianism ... the common brotherhood of humanity.\"\n\nSlightly over-the-top wrap-up: \"Let those of us who are charged with exercising the Catholic intellectual apostolate get to work.\"\n\nNobody will ever wonder if MSW is writing ironically again. He's clearly auditioning for the role of the Catholic Church's Milo Yiannopoulis. Unfortunately, the role's been cast: Milo Yiannopoulos is the Catholic Church's Milo Yiannopoulos, duh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any human being can be good without god. Too much of \"christian values\" have nothing to do with good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry lady, but voting for tRump isn't going to save you or your family. tRump and his minions will start the Mexican and Muslim purge before tRump takes his hand off his anti-Christ bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The church of the organic is like their political twin, Pentecostal Christians, who insist America is a Christian nation. Reference the book of Hebrews that plainly states all Christians are pilgrims and strangers on earth who have no nationality and hey will reject the bible to cling to their delusions. In this case you fail to understand the organic industry is chemical-based farming that is polluting the earth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is one's inner motives for criticizing the pope that matter. Is is an honest criticism or is it because one wants to be right ? I believe that if a Christian Catholic is honest they will see that this pope preaches and lives the teachings of Christ and that to disagree with him is to live under the old law which Jesus came to fulfill with the new law of love. Really is that simple", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From a review of \"Getting Jefferson Right: Fact Checking Claims About Our Third President\" by evangelical Christian historians Warren Throckmorton and Michael Coulter, who shredded Barton's work:\n\n\"In each of these categories, as Throckmorton and Coulter gently put it, \u201cwe find the reality is often much different than the claim.\u201d That\u2019s their way of saying that the claims are, mostly, \u201cpants on fire,\u201d to use the language of Politifact, the Tampa Bay Times\u2019 fact-checking project. Others rate a \u201cfalse\u201d or \u201cmostly false\u201d label, while there isn\u2019t a single one (other than minor statements of fact, such as date of birth or dates of his presidency) that rates \u201ctrue,\u201d or even \u201cmostly true.\u201d\"\n\nhttp://religiondispatches.org/the-quixotic-task-of-debunking-david-barton/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Total agreement.\n\nI find your Dublin priest and his congregation's response awe inspiring. When was that referendum in Ireland, and what were the results?\n\nGiven the fear of clergy to come out, it is very tough to estimate the proportion of clergy who are gay. I waffle in my guesses from about 20% to 45%. What's your guess?\n\nRe my point 3, are you sure you want to say something positive about gay marriage in Catholic churches using, at this particular time in human history, the phrase \"the truth always TRUMPS lies.\" ;-}", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When will the Trudeau Liberals Government bring to Canada Christians and Jews being prosecuted in the middle east Muslim countries?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The gauntlet was initially \"thrown down\" in private and it is not just 4 cardinals. I didn't mention those cardinals by name. \nBurke's humiliation was his removal from the Signatura and being sidelined as Cardinal Patron of the Maltese Order. Mueller as the Pope's doctrinal voice was placed in an impossible position of having to walk a tightrope between upholding Catholic doctrine or contradicting the Pope. Sarah was humiliated by having the majority of his dicastery replaced with members hostile to his views. In all this he is not \"standing up for himself\", he is ruthlessly getting his own way by hook or by crook. He got into trouble as Jesuit provincial in Argentina for much the same reasons.\nYou are rather unspecific yourself about how the Friars' and the Knights' cases were \"handled by the book\". Perhaps you might elaborate on that.\nThe Pope has often advocated 'making a mess' and Archbishop Bruni admitted that Francis told him to be vague re: reporting the outcome of the Synod.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The legal framework that allowed this Ten Commandments monument on public grounds also excludes symbology and iconography of other religions (they are not \"approved\"). This monument is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution and is an affront to to people of other faiths and non-believers. It is time that we stop the practice of Christian entitlement and exceptionalism by allowing them to usurp the power of the State to promote their religion over and to the exclusion of other religions. We need to protect and defend the the Constitutional principle of Separation of Church and State for the religious liberty of all of us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anecdotal evidence cannot compete with empirical evidence. Go to states that have large numbers of obese citizens and you'll find many Christians among them. And you can't simply say that these people simply call themselves Christians but are not really Christians anymore than they can say that you just call yourself a Christian but aren't really a Christian. Your reasoning is almost always specious AlwaysThere. You should change your moniker to AlwaysSpeciousReasoning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the problems of the Article mentioned and cited -- and then your editorial is that Christianity is far more complex than Matthew 25 and 'social justice warrioring' -- even Dorothy Day understood and acted upon that knowledge. The article speaks from a strange ignorance of Protestant and Catholic history in the USA -- and 'simplifies the true situation' almost beyond recognition. We were once wrongly accused of a 'pseudo-heresy' called \"Americanism\" -- and this resembles that wrong accusation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But they do, from the Anglican/Episcopalian point of view. Roman Catholic priests are routinely accepted into the Anglican/Episcopal churches without re-ordination. And some of them have been elected to and approved for the episcopate. Not so (yet) from the Roman perspective.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And that is why the anti-Trumps continued on with the two lawsuits after EO-2 (as the Supreme Court called it) was issued removing the reference to Christians?\n\nYour response is the 'intellectually dishonest' one on that issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, you know why, Pandora, the mention of Donald Trump like the mention of Cardinal Burke always brings out the 'Christian' in liberal/progressives. \ud83d\ude09\ud83d\ude09\ud83d\ude09\ud83d\ude09", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Hans Kung for reminding us that some progressive \"Catholics\" regard Catholicism as being as easily shrugged off as last week's dead skin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see you did as expected, and posted a back handed swipe at Ms. Collins while avoided the content of her letter. You are truly all that JPII would want in a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He's right, Jesus was all for un-Constitutional taxpayer subsidies to insurance companies, it's in the Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is your interpretation of your church's theology. There are millions of people who claim to be \"Christian\". \n\nSome rely solely on the New Testament, some more on the Old. Then you have all those people who have that whole extra book of Mormon. \n\nFaith, Religion, Theology. \n\nThe combinations and permutations are infinite--and that's just for the Baptists!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jackie: Our current District Attorney, Patricia Perlow, has only been on the job for 7 months. She was appointed by Gov Kate Brown last year, after the previous DA Alex Gardner resigned.\n\nRemember, there was ethical controversy during her appointment, over her role as being one of the two prosecutors who listened to a secret tape recording of a confession by a Lane County inmate named Conan Wayne Hale to a Catholic priest. When that happened in 1996 , it was a big scandal, making headlines around the world.\n\nHere are some comments from back then about what Perlow and the DA\u2019s office did:\n\n\u201cThis is naked fascism, truly the end of the line. It yanks at the very pillars of separation between church and state.\u201d \u2013 William F Buckley\n\n\u201cThis is unprecedented in American history \u2026 a N A Z I tactic\u201d \u2013Catholic League for Religious & Civil Rights\n\nThe Vatican was furious with the Lane County DA:\n\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/26/us/vatican-wants-tape-of-jail-confession-destroyed.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a question of what it means to be religious, fundamentally. If you believe the Last Judgement parables then it is more important what kind of person you are and how you treat others than being a card-carrying Christian, so to speak. \n If you believe everyone is made in God's image and has a spark of the divine, the light of Christ which lightens everyone that comes into the world (paraphrase of the Gospel of John) then you might be more inclusive in your view of humanity. \n As for a literal understanding of Genesis, for example, I find it an embarrassment. It is not intended as a scientific narrative but theological, and therein lies the power and authority of revelation. One must recall that people wrote what is contained in the Bible and what is read there contains the human and the divine. \n Ego alienates, faith can see beyond strife and insecurity to a greater reality. Ego builds walls around an imagined monopoly on truth. Faith can set you free.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The extraordinary irony here is we live in a post-Christian world in which the incredible success of science has become in the minds of most of us the false conviction that the only \"real knowledge\" is scientific knowledge (based on external sensory data) and everything else is subjective (based on opinion, with one opinion being self-evidently as good as any other). \n\nAnd yet on this one subject where an incredible 97% of scientific experts agree, \"real knowledge\" is disparaged as mere subjective opinion.\n\nConclusion: our insane capacity for irrationality not only exists within the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The staff from that online California traditionalist Catholic publication Jim reports on occasionally must be in paroxysms of delight and rapture at the news!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religions are like fire or water or any other primal force. They can be either life-giving or death-dealing, depending on the motivations of their adherents.\n\nSome practice a particular religion for purposes of enlightenment and some as an avenue to power. It's true of Islam and it's true of Christianity, as it inevitably becomes true of any religion that's stays around long enough and attracts enough followers. That's one reason why the separation of church (religion) and state is always a good idea. The temptation to abuse is too great otherwise.\n\nThe sacred literature of Islam, like that of Christianity and Judaism, was written in a particular historical context and shouldn't be evaluated simplistically. Those who do so usually reveal themselves to be more motivated by bigotry and politics than faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm fascinated at how progressive Catholics see egalitarian U.S. immigration law as \"hateful bigotry.\" Particularly when the Pope says every nation has a right to control its borders.\n\nBut as for the NT players you mention, they are the exception that proves the rule. That is, these were people from factions quite *against* Jesus, and moreover, factions that Jesus made plain he was against. Jesus' acceptance of these individuals was directly tied to their acceptance of his gospel.\n\nBy the same token, progressives ought to accept the gospel of the U.S. -- respect for our citizenship laws, which include respect for our border, and for protecting the citizens of this country from aliens who have vowed to harm us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The applicable Christian law is that people honour the Sabbath, so we have Sunday off from school and, not that long ago, from all unnecessary work. Do you really think we would have Sunday off for any other reason? The applicable Muslim law, evidently, is that they pray several times through the day. I don't know how to honour that basic, understandable requirement without giving them time and space to pray during school.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you - that's all I asked.\n\nThe Pope did NOT say church housekeepers should \"give thanks for their vocation to cook and clean for priests so the men could do their important work,\" but instead congratulated them for their important work, vocation and desire as \"Aides\" to priests, and said \"This spirituality of deep veneration of the priesthood is incarnated for each of you in the humble fulfillment of your daily obligations....to activities that make a living and radiant parish: catechetical teaching, groups of prayer and apostolic movements, the dissemination of the Christian-inspired press, the visit of the sick and the isolated, the preparation of liturgical ceremonies, etc. Once again, I congratulate your Movement for having done much to give the auxiliaries of the priest not only a new title but a style of life and status inspired by the conciliar decree on the apostolate of the laity.\"\n\n(continued)...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or for the majority in this country who believe in God (specifically 70.6% of the adult population are Christians, as of 2014) yes \"Pence would be competent, and he is a true believer, which when it comes to religion\" is thrilling! \n\nSo I guess it just depends on which side of the aisle people are :) And for over three quarters of Americans, Pence fits perfectly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You should read the book 'god is not great' by Christopher Hitchens. Then come back and tell us about how great religion, specifically Christianity is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So proud of the Catholic priests who booed Trump (first time ever in the history of AS dinners) for his nasty and inappropriate remarks about HRC. Thank you for showing much needed leadership in this ugly campaign.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well said Elise. The (so-called) \"christian\" right do seem to have an obsession with people's body parts and what they do with them. \n\nAs far as respect, just respect everyone by putting doors and walls on the stalls of public bathrooms.\n\nDon't extend special rights or status to a specific group, CHURCHES, tax them all equally!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"So, wake up GLBT Americans! Conservative Christians want the right, in the name of religious freedom, to deny us any goods or services they please, any job or housing opportunity.\nBut, if we discriminate against those same conservative Christians, they can sue us for discrimination.\nConservative Christians want to discriminate, but not be discriminated against.\"\n==========\nI guess you can always pray for Jesus to come back.....and soon....because even you should agree that God does not play the \"political games\" that you think Trump and Conservative Christians play, eh?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem with the Lord's Prayer was it was imposed on ALL students. They now offer a minute of reflection during many school opening ceremonies and Christian students can recite the Lord's Prayer to themselves during this moment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow. A Catholicism whose members don't care what Popes and bishops say and do. Could \"today's Catholics\" be more self-contradictory, more non-Catholic? That's the culture at NCR, I agree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would also point out that the Old Testament was about the designation of specific part of the world for the Hebrews/ Jews. All the stories in the Old Testament are about gaining, retaining and losing that specific piece of land. Christianity rises with the loss of the Jewish homeland. It retains the message of justice from Judaism while discarding the claims of an exclusive homeland. Islam retains the tribalism of the Old Testament and rejects the idea of \"welcoming the alien into their midst\", claiming the whole world for itself and demanding the exclusion of those that do not adhere to its tenents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was not attributing the view to you.\nI agree that it is offensive. It is from Joseph Card. Ratzinger (future Pope) as Prefect of the Cong. for the Doctrine of the Faith, with the blessing of Pope John Paul II. (\"Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World\", 2004). Grating isn't it, especially if you are a scholar of good mind and as a result of your reason and scholarship are offended by such manipulation and misrepresentation by a respected authority. When one panders to the piety of the faithful and arms the hierarchy (who will use it and pass it on) with an updated rationalization for the exclusion and diminution of women, it is somewhat understandable that a \"feminist theologian\" of Catholicism would use strong terms. No?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Too bad he doesn't extend the same concern to white supremacists, white christian extremists, and white right wing militias. Google deaths in the US by those groups. It isn't 3 billion to 1....and now you can also check Canada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our faith is in God, not in numbers. After all, Christianity began with a handful of people in the Middle East who put their faith in the resurrection of Christ, and walked away from the beliefs of their fathers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You made your very valid point in the 3rd paragraph, you should have just said don't do it again and end off the article, instead DM gives you a platform to write a rather long diatribe berating God and Christians just by virtue that you are Ivo Vegtor and therefore your opinion deserves to be read. I doubt a Christian or even any other religion will be given the same platform to state their reasons why they believe there is a God and why during a time of crises it is one of their first places of refuge. But because atheists see themselves as so called reasonable people they are given the platform to do so.\nIf I don't believe in something, I don't spend so much time trying to disprove it and I certainly don't express such vitriol and disdain towards it. In fact, I don't even take note of it, it is so insignificant that wasting my energy on it isn't even worth my time. You've added nothing new to the debate, if you don't believe, don't believe don't make your unbelief my problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is instructive to see neocon reader comments in the report about the same matter that appears in National Catholic Register (the \"other\" NCR). There were 7 comments when I last looked. All of them assume that large numbers of Catholics oppose the pope and that he is indisputably in error. This internet \"thought bubble\" phenomenon is both fascinating and scary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are talking about how our country was founded, not how it currently operates. Let me strive for clarity: we were founded on Christian principles but are not a Christian nation. However, the Church as a whole does, in many ways, fulfill biblical mandates like helping your neighbor, caring for the sick, feeding the hungry... Its not unChristian if the government fails at any of these tasks. Remember, we are a secular nation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AnonAJ, your statement that the bishops of the USCCB are \"feckless\" is a lot kinder descriptive than I would use.\n\n\nThe USCCB, as a group, are political opportunists at best and 'gutless wonders' at worse. They are devoted to politicking and the wimpy behind-the-scenes stuff---none of which relates to advocacy or concern for the 'strangers among you,' the immigrants. \n\n\nIt will have to be up to the laity---to take the lead in demonstrating concern for the immigrants. As I stated in another place on this site, lay Catholics do not need any imprimatur from their bishops to give prophetic witness to the gospel message. Who knows, when they take a stand, they might even find a FEW bishops standing with them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We know that \u201cconservative\u201d Catholics think doctrinal development aims to reverse teaching, but I don\u2019t know why you would think \u201cprogressive\u201d Ccatholics agree with them.\n\nYou already know the contortions that have surrounded \u201cfalse witness.\u201d White lies. A little fib. Etc. \nYou know, and I think endorse, much of the development of \u201cYou shall not kill\u201d into self defense, just wars and capital punishment. I dont know why the other commandments would be excused from similar development.\nGenerally, progressives are progressive because they think things can be handled better than they are now. Sometimes that means taking an existing law, and identifying exceptions to it. Eventually the law changes to accomodate the many exceptions. There are other ways this can happen- internal forum, legal leniency, etc.- but development seems to be the most honest. Projecting your fears anto progressives, or any opponent, is rarely a good idea.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity and Judaism are Middle Eastern based too!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's not what his comment meant. He meant the one Christian who objected to the agnostic group and got them delisted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course they are part of the Catholic Church but they are not the Church. They are Catholics following the teaching of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a \"good news\" story! To me - this is the kind of person and enterprise that should be showcased at the Catholic University of America's Busch School of Business and Economics (financed largely by Tim Busch and family's Busch Family Foundation and Charles Koch of Koch industries - both involved in the decades long stealth covert campaign to destroy our and government capacity to be self-determining and co-create a variety of authentic sustainable cultures of life) and within that the Center for Principled Entrepreneurship financed by yet another Koch ally Authur and Carlyse Ciocca Charitable Foundation. Instead ... Oct. 4 - 6 - Koch address the assembled about \"Good Profit\" practices - none of which he practiced in amassing his and David's fortune. And from all reports - no one at the conference (Good Profit and Catholic Social Teaching) even questioned the misinformation given to those who paid $2500. each to be there. They are very aware they are educating up-coming bishops", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This has nothing to do with Catholicism. Catholics voted for Trump 52-45.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As did Moses even he granted bills of divorce. I'm sure he thought it was pastoral. Did Jesus err when He corrected Moses?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"bleaches out strong religious convictions in the name of liberal tolerance.\"\nBoth the liberals and those with the \"strong religion\" are lost mankind with few exceptions. \n\n\"And it's not just lying but an act of betrayal and violence against the rights of those who do believe and do seek to live according to God's Word.\"\nIt's not honest or true to equate Catholic dogma to \"God's Word.\"\nIn anticipation of being asked: \"Who says?\"\nIt is from God's Word--- the bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is why I come to NCR. Classy, thought-provoking articles, written with a warm and charitable Christian tone. \"Bromance\". Lovely. \n\nI don't expect the reading fare to really be that taxing intellectually, a spiritual uplifting either, given the writers assembled and the editorial agenda, \n\n...but the tone makes the absence of these other things worth it, yes?\n\nNo jabbing.\n\nNo biting.\n\nA bit unpredictable in perspective, yes?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The thing is...if you look at the facts...Hillary better represents the first group of Christians you mentioned and Trump the second.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ replied to the Scribes and Pharisees who were testing Him about the Law of Moses in particular. His teaching therefore applied to marriage under the Old Law.\nThe Church holds that all marriages between baptised non-Catholics as sacramentally valid, wherever they take place as long as the conditions for a valid marriage are present. So no, no spouse in a civil marriage is totally free to get a divorce and remarry. As far as the Church is concerned civil marriage between baptised non-Catholics is presumed valid and no different to a marriage between two Catholics in Church.\nNatural marriages as far as I am aware cannot be dissolved if the unbaptised spouse does not wish to end the marriage. Perhaps you can refer me to any Canon law which states otherwise. \nLogic compels one to believe that the Law of God can never be out of synch with the teaching of the Church otherwise there is no way of discerning that which is bound in heaven and that which is bound upon earth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Eh. Jesus said a lot of parables, many Gospels have their own account and all include parables. Christianity doesn't neutralize the words of Jesus but focuses on them as seeing him as the Messiah. Whereas the Jewish don't connect him with the prophecy as the Messiah is foretold to do things Jesus did not, so they see him as a prepatory historical figure. And not the Holy Trinity Christians do, the intertestamental period created a divide in people...but at the pinnacle of all Abrahamic religions is God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Two points: \n1) Europe has been attempting to resist Persian invasion/immigration for over 1000 years. It is just recent history that Europeans have forgotten one of the founding principles of the continent. Turkey has always been the barrier between these two civilizations.\n\n2) Islam by definition is incompatible with Western Civilization for the following reason: Islam is a Political Structure whereas Christianity and Judaism are not. For example, the US Constitution explicitly forbids government imposing religion on it's citizen( 1st Amendment); whereas, Islam demands that Sharia Law take precedence. This is clearly in conflict with the 1st Amendment. \n\n\nCheers", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then they should pay taxes, justify their actions, come out of the political closet, as it were. Of course they can't be practicing Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are a Catholic publication but one with a more liberal bent. And if you think that publications like NCR are \"anti-Catholic\" just because they are liberal Catholics, why do you insist on posting here? \n\nAnd the allegations are old ones and no one cared prior to this. There wasn't any discord in the Order until Ray Burke got transferred over there a little over a 18 months. He is again the cause of dissent. Burke is a very sad and small individual who is uncapable of playing nice with others which is why he keeps causing these problems in every position he is in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"And it followed the rejection of primary candidates who seemed to more clearly espouse their conservative values.\"\n\nThe sad truth is that it has little to nothing to do with Christian values. It is nothing more than a naked power grab.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gee, why worry about immigrants setting up Sharia law, when when we have American Christians advocating \"Christian law\" in defiance of U.S. law? \n\nLong ago they warned us that they would take orders from Rome. Starting to look like they were right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I dunno, did Christians just force the school to allow time for their prayers?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It wasn't considered a hate crime when Schools were told to take out the morning Catholic prayers, so it equally isn't a hate crime to not have a school accommodate Muslim segregated prayers. \n\nPublic Schools are not religions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're closer now! What you have to figure out is the Hebrew pronouns for \"he\" and for \"she.\" It's not hard if you know the mnemonic -- she is he, he is who, and who is me. I have always regarded that as a bit of divinely inspired wit and wisdom, not to mention a revelation of what the LORD has in mind for (Catholic) women. After all, God works in mysterious ways, and this could well be one of them! You may be around to see the day!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do these officials and their supporters not get it that we are free to pray whenever we want, precisely BECAUSE the gov't is not permitted to impose any type of particular religion?\nMany of the people who want Christian prayers said at the beginnings of meetings are the very same ones who spread hysteria about the imposition of sharia law. How is the imposition of Christianity and adherence to particular Churches' interpretations of the law any different?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You do not represent the \"will of the people\", but one little person. Nor do you represent the decisions of the government, represented in three branches of government. Or in different governments, local, state, and national. The rest of your gibberish is simply that--it doesn't seem to represent anything real--but does attempt to fill people's beliefs that there are just piles of free goodies in the middle of some room. And you don't know history--Alinsky has nothing to do with any of the things that you mention, but rather the engagement of people in the democratic process--where you get some connection with 'invisible paychecks' is yet to be learned--but it is not real history. It is fake history. \n\n\nWhat you seem most versed in is called the \"Protestant work ethic,\" which is not representative of the Catholic social ethic. Perhaps you are the one who found himself in the wrong religion. But so it goes. There's still time to learn about Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Caiside,\nIndeed. Canon Law is often treated like the Catholic Commandments. So much for the Ten Commandments, the Eight Beatitudes, the Law of Love?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Years ago I attended an evangelical church where the pastor chose the Scripture readings for the sermon and theme of that Sunday. It was always something from the OT, or a cherry picked selection from Paul's epistles that supported the pastor's worldview. NEVER Jesus' direct words from the Gospels about humility, care for the poor, love fulfilling the law, etc. Less of a problem for the Catholic Church where Scripture readings are set for every week of the year, but still, the bishops still have their own priorities in these selections, with notable de-emphasis of women's stories in Scripture. And Sophia/Lady Wisdom is always MIA from the bishop's choice of readings for the year.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We must be thoroughly convinced that nobody is worthy to receive the Holy Eucharist,\" the cardinal said. \"It means therefore, that whoever is in a position under the rules of the church to approach the holy Eucharist must do so with fear and trembling and with deep humility.\"\nDid the Cardinal actually make the argument he was attempting to quash?\nDid the Cardinal display the inherent abuse of logic which is crippeling Jesus message \"....in the church and in the world? The \"therefore\" declaration of inerrant logic and dictate of absolute conclusion (that only people who follow the rules...) does not seem to fall inerrantly or absolutely, or at all, from the premise: \"...that nobody is worthy to receive the Holy Eucharist\". In fact, the opposite, it seems.\nI also ask, should anyone \"approach the holy Eucharist...with fear and trembling\"?\nHis approach to \"logic\" is that of a clerical patriarch who really means - to heck with reason, it's MY authority that counts, i.e., the usual.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A faithful Catholic accepts all of the Church's moral and theological teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know you are not part of the evangelical right, but the \"this is America\" reference is at least implied in so many arguments coming from the political right where John 3:16 and the Second Amendment are regarded as equally important. Too many American Catholics look at the American and the Catholic part of that description as equally important instead of emphasizing that Catholic is the noun and American just an adjective and I hate to see people who can offer intelligent debate falling into national references that I expect will be completely inconsequential when it is time for judgement. \n\nIf complaining about Rome is our worst sin I expect we would be in good shape. It seems like a baptismal right. (Alas, it is not my worst sin.)\n\nYou are, of course, right about the children.\n\nMay the Lord look upon us kindly and grant us peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "he wasn't a Christian , do have comprehension problems.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Probably. The USA is the only developed country where a majority of residents still claim that Religion is important in their daily lives.\n\nhttp://www.people-press.org/2002/12/19/among-wealthy-nations/\n\nSurveys seldom adjust for Religious Survey Responses being faked to be socially conventional. People tend to respond to Religion surveys the way they think they are supposed to answer, rather than giving truthful answers. That is particularly true when Stats Canada is asking, and recording the name, address, and birth date of people for future publication. If you count heads and tithe envelopes in church you get attendance and tithe rates that are half or less what polls show.\n\nThe Christian Superstition is a mix of Biblical Literalists, and deplorable folks who feel that the Babylonian Garden of Eden myth borrowed by Hebrews during the Babylonian Captivity is a metaphor for Cosmology, Astronomy, Geology and Evolution.\n\nhttp://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=5328", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and way too many of them consider themselves \"good christians\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, Cdl. Burke is probably not bothered; but surely you will be horrified were Burke to give Abp. Apuron a pass in the face of solid evidence, should that prove to be the case?\n\nIt would be a good thing for Burke to be bothered by the knowledge that many Catholics have lost confidence in his integrity (fairly or not); for that would drive most people to scrupulously perform their duty, especially went the world is watching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is why I named them and didn't just call them Christians. In fact, my maternal grandfather was an Anglican priest and my mother the kind of Christian where she derived guidance, solace and comfort from her religion. My father however was vile about homosexuals and used his religion to judge and deride and feel righteous. God was a man and men were made in God's image and therefore men rule the households and the world. All religions have these extremes. I do feel religion has an important place for charity and to teach tolerance, love, inclusion and to lift up those who have less or are in need. It sounds like this is you and I fully respect that type of Christianity. But religion isn't the only avenue to teach and learn ethics and morality and, unfortunately, the good aspects of religion are too often overwhelmed by the bad and abuse of religion to say G-d is on their side. (and wage war).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know, but maybe we do agree with each other on something, I mean we are both Christians. So I assume we both worship Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What can be verified and not ignored just because authority is resorted to. QC 5 and 6 asserted authority, not any particular dogma. Pius IX would not brook dissent. Too bad for Pius. That is tantrum, not truth. No pope is the sole source of Truth in the Catholic faith and never has been.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that the Catholic Church has more serious issue to worry about like being led by a communist Pope who adheres to a godless, totalitarian ideology that, over the last century, has led governments under its yoke to murder over 100 million of their own countries citizens.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As usual, your misrepresentations are abusive, insulting, and beneath contempt.\nTalk about \"completely at odds with Christianity\"!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He doubtless uses money of his own too. Philanthropists typically help out, they don't make themselves broke in the process. Why does it matter that the Aga Khan is a Muslim anyway? What if he were an evangelical Christian?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".continued\n\n \n Fr Malachi Martin exposes the fifth column infiltration and subversion of the Roman Catholic Church from within; and, particularly through the agency of the JESUITS. One of his books is titled \u2018THE JESUITS: The Society of Jesus and the Betrayal of the Roman Catholic Church.\u2019\u2019 jesuitism is really simply CRYPTO-JUDAISM. CRYPTO-JUDAISM is the term to describe the ancient practice which jews would deploy in Christian countries; whereby they would feign conversion to Christianity yet work to judaize the faith from within. bergoglio is the vicar of george soros. Laudato Si for example is the communist manifesto for [apostate] catholics. A rewrite of AGENDA 21-AGENDA 2030 under a cloak of morality;....the MARXIST BABY LOOSELY SWADDLED IN ANCIENT CATHOLIC TERMINOLOGY.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How to preside over large numbers of Catholics apostatizing over to Evangelicalism...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "France is a secular country. The United States is not.\n\nWe are a neutral country with a positive attitude toward religion, which the Founders viewed as a civil virtue.\n\nThe Supreme Court sessions open with \u201cGod save this honorable Court\u201d. Our money includes the statement \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d.\n\nWhile it was dicta, the Supreme Court in Holy Trinity Church V. the United States\n143 U.S. 457, 12 S.Ct. 511, 36 L.Ed. 226, 1892 stated \"These and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation.\"\n\nWhat we do not do is establish a religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are a neutral country with a positive attitude toward religion, which the Founders viewed as a civil virtue.\n\nChurch attendance in the USA remains among the highest in the Western countries.\n\nThe Supreme Court sessions open with \u201cGod save this honorable Court\u201d. Our money includes the statement \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d.\n\nWhile it was dicta, the Supreme Court in Holy Trinity Church V. the United States\n143 U.S. 457, 12 S.Ct. 511, 36 L.Ed. 226, 1892 stated \"These and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation.\"\n\nWhat we do not do is establish a religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lars if you believe this is not being promoted by a religious based on Christianity than what is the basis for the claims. After all the case before SCOTUS, Hobby Lobby, was based on the owners ability to follow the teaching of his Christian church. Tell us the names of non-christian groups activity fighting to allow it members to not have to sever customers when it not acceptable to their religious beliefs to serve those customers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Meanwhile, the pope's own status as a Christian is increasingly doubted, both by Catholics who feel betrayed by him, and by implication, by his most avid adulators too. He should be more worried about his own faith than Trump's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and many Eastern Catholic and Orthodox priests do that too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, no one ever promised us religious orders at all! I think they will continue to become a smaller part of the Catholic Church, yes, just as priests are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Things are pretty bad when the pastor of a local Catholic church \nwrites a letter to the newspaper to address hospital problems. \n\nI wonder what the dear sisters who worked there in years gone by \nwould say about today's operation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This isn't the question at hand. The question is whether Christ is present or not in the Sacrament for all but whether or not a sin of sacrilege is committed when one presents one's self for Communion when not being properly disposed. See 1 Cor 11:29, which is still something Catholics believe even though this verse has (inexplicably) been omitted from the lectionary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Traditional Catholic, I oppose this trend. Only when a priest is totally devoid of life inside can he be properly infused with the spirit of the episcopate and take his proper place in the hierarchy of the One True Church. After all, the vessel must be emptied before it can be filled with Bishop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course it flies in the face of the \"first commandment\". The first amendment permits a U.S. citizen to pick ANY or NO god/gods/goddess/goddesses of their choosing. \n\n\nThe very first commandment in \"the\" bible that Christians claim to follow demands of them that \"Thou shalt have no other gods before me\". \n\n\nHow can one square those things? They are in direct conflict.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This question is based on a superstitious view of marital morality. The time for Catholicism to be a superstition ended with Vatican II, although St. John Paul and Pope Emeritus Benedict endeavored to bring it back.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which Canadian: The French Tribe, The Catholic Tribe or the Northern Women Tribe?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The best thing to come out of Amoris Laetitia is the fact that the clergy are actually conteplating divorce and remarriage and not just spewing catholic teaching. I am enjoying watching them be so confused. They are confused because they haven't given this issue any real thought in a long time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You write as if Pope Francis does not have excellent theologians who both proof-reading his writings and also support his writings. Francis is hardly 'distorting' Thomas Aquinas' work.\n\nI support good theologians. But what is more important than having theologians theorizing concepts, is the LIVING of the Christian life in TODAY'S world. How Catholics do this is to seek out new horizons of service and be unafraid to think new thoughts. \n\nUnlike Pope Benedict, Pope Francis IS able to think on his feet and take 'impromptu' questions. He has often left the security of the prepared text and scripted event, has taken risks, and made himself vulnerable to the impossible-to-predict nature of the questions people might ask. Jesus did that as well--it's risky.\n\nFrancis is also sharp enough to know when people want to \"set him up\"---which is why pastoral concerns, rather than legalism [as some of the Dubia signers support] supports the transformative and central nature of the Gospels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your qualifications are that you don't read what you write---then you try to wiggle out of what you stated. You stated that \"none of CTU's LAY alumni/ae are notable in either the Catholic Church nor society at large.\"\n\nI still have a long list of alumni/ae of CTU----who have contributed MUCH to the Church and society. THEY are demonstrating leadership and much of what they saw and learned about leadership came from seeing/discussing issues with their professors at CTU. THAT IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN STATING ALL ALONG!\n\nLeadership is demonstrated---by actions as well as by word. THAT is why the people signed the Ad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church has stopped acting like it believes what it teaches since \"the Spirit of Vatican II\". For example, if people receive Holy Communion in a manner that is not much different than lining up for a movie ticket, is it any wonder if faith in the Real Presence declines? The law of prayer is the law of belief; water down how the Church prays and faith will wither. Would a non-Catholic visitor to Mass get the impression Catholics take belief in the Real Presence seriously if we looked at how Communion is distributed in an average parish?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This reflection on the Readings of the Holy Mass is perhaps one of the most offensive to the themes of the readings that I've ever run across. They're not at all about the worn-out Marxist theories of the oppressed. \n\nThe theme of the readings inarguably is about true, deep, costly charity for another, and which includes doing the will of God, including His Commandments, and as several of the readings point out, also includes notably the duty of Christian fraternal correction.\n\nAnd interestingly, the Gospel passage provides a Scriptural basis for the Catholic social justice principle of subsidiarity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"And, unlike the Methodists, one large issue facing Catholic parishes is a lack of potential pastors (among Methodists, there are plenty of ordained ministers but relatively few jobs; many pastors are now part-time ministers).\"\n\nYet another example of why mandatory celibacy for Catholic clergy is a burden of great weight on the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and if you go to a mosque you'll find an even larger gathering of jewphobes, christianphobes and porkphobes. What's your point?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'\nNo mention that 'Operation Rescue' was the organization behind the assassination of a doctor killed while he went to his church.\n.\nRead the link about this supposedly Christian bunch of extremists and zealots.\n.\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Rescue_(Kansas)\n.\nPuts a whole new slant on the people protesting on the corner and who's behind it.\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It would be nice to see the United Church have some backbone and stand-up to this person. She doesn't believe in God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit? Yikes, that's the Trinity - pretty fundamental to Christianity.... No offence to her, but how does she stand under a Christian banner while not subscribing to basic beliefs of the faith........", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He should take note that greater Catholic scholars and theologians than I consider this statement confused and ambiguous at best and manifestly heretical at worst and for very good reason.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) Search and you will find all kinds of information outside your personal echo chamber. There are many eyewitness accounts of Jorge Bergoglio's penchant for bragging about his humility and refusing to kneel before the Eucharist going all the way back to his time in Argentina. The useful contrast, of course, is his eagerness to kneel in front of Muslims, Protestants and Jews when there are cameras around.\n\n2) There is also this particularly revealing anecdote from Bishop Dorylas Moreau of Canada: \"The Pope said to me, \u2018Listen, you are forgetting two things: the future of the Church is MORE ABOUT THE WORD OF GOD than (it is) about the EUCHARIST,\u2019 paraphrases the bishop. Because THE WORD OF GOD DOES NOT NECESSARILY NEED PRIESTS to be expressed and implemented in our environments. And he insisted very much on the works of mercy. This is new, it is doing good, caring for the poor, being open to justice, and so on. This is what will give the testimony of the Church. \u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please don't make the mistake of thinking that I impute moral guilt to somone who acts in self-defence. As I've already said of myself, I'm a pacifist by moral conviction, but not by nature. If you try to take my life, I most assuredly will try to thwart that by taking yours.\n\nI am a spiritual work in progress. I can no more now be a \"pure pacifist\" than I can be a perfect imitation of Christ: holy. But I shall be these one day; in the meantime, I must be patient with myself, be prayerful and watchful, knowing, in joy, that the aspirations I have for myself are also God's aspirations for me.\n\nI will never talk of the sinfulness of any child of God. I will never say to him or her that they have sinned greviously by not measuring up to the teaching and example of Christ. Did Jesus condemn Peter for his moral frailty in face of grave personal danger.\n\nWe are not God, and Jesus knows it. He's not unreasonable: he doesn't ask for what we can't deliver...yet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Umm...ever heard of public Catholic schools?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why are most comments here discouraging the prime minister when he meets Drumpf? Everyone is soiling themselves over Trump. While Trump poses all day, Trudeau is doing something beyond imagination. I say this not as a member of any political party in Canada. I am not a fainting robin. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada is rather brilliant. His days as a drama teacher have not been wasted. Imagine sitting in Tehran or Mogadishu and watching the funerals of attack victims, all Muslims, attended by thousands of Canadians and Quebecers including the prime minister and the premier of Quebec and the mayors of Quebec City and Montreal along with Christian and Jewish clergy. The images are very powerful. Only those who are negative and nasty (I won't spell it out) do a disservice to Canada by not acknowledging the profound effect this has in the Islamic World. This does wonders for Canada's international reputation. Trump must be fuming. Good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right. No comparison. A contrast, yes, but no comparison. The people who are reveled in the Wikipleaks have outright disdain and loathing for the Church. That's not Dolan's offense. His offense was that of a misguided loyalty to protect the Church at all costs. Not the same --- to a Catholic, anyway --- as loathing the Church and seeking to dismantle it from within.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think any conservative, lease of all myself demanded unwavering obedience to anyone--let along a US president. In fact I don't know what George Bush has to do with this discussion.\n\nWhen Pope Francis is talking about immigration policy, government policy on the poor, etc, he is free to state his opinion. But those things are prudential judgments. Catholics can be at odds with the pope on matters of prudential judgments. There is not one right way to help the poor. Pope Francis has his ideas, and conservatives have their own ideas. Unlike Pope Francis, conservatives do not think an entitlement based society helps the poor-in fact we believe it enables poverty--and is thus more harmful. \n\nWhen JPII and Benedict VI talk about moral teachings: abortion, contraception, divorce and remarriage, those things are not prudential judgments. Catholics are not free to be at odds with the hierarchy on these issues. \n\nThat is what makes this different.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Opus Dei doesn't decree or have a politics. Its \"agenda\" is focused on helping ordinary Christians pursue personal holiness and apostolate in the world (less focus on the parish): How are we drawing closer to God in our ordinary day, how are we helping God by bringing souls closer to His love, etc.\nIt doesn't do protests and make nice flashy banners.\"\n\nReally, R.D.? Because Opus Dei doesn't do open protests, even though its members appear to be very angry in cyberspace, no one else should be allowed to protest in public? Your understanding of the First Amendment is sadly lacking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As your 74 word post demonstrated your discussions are being \u201csabotaged\u201d.(?)\n\nThe problem you\u2019re describing is an inability to prevent Catholics who are progressive but not in conflict with the Church\u2019s teachings from posting.\n\nThere is a word for preventing them, and it is generally not considered a compliment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you misunderstood my point, which was to plead for distinguishing between \"civilisation\" and \"Christianity\". It is possible to be \"civilised\" without being Christian.\n\nAnd, by the way, in your comment you seem to make an equivalence between \"the modern secular world\" and \"darkness\". Again, nuance needed.\n\nIf the modern secular world, which gave you internet, is to be shunned because you are a Christian, how come I can read your comment here?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One report I read said the bishop has given the priest permission to move to the ordinariate, but that the property and church would remain property of the diocese. That had some folks riled up as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What utter codswallop! Is Mr. Sheer a social conservative? Yes. Did the Liberals criticize social conservatives? Yes. Is Mr. Sheer a Catholic? Yes. Did the Liberals criticize Catholicism? No. Did the Liberals criticize any religion? No. What a facile leap; to oppose social conservatism is to oppose Christianity. As though all Christians were of one mind. And the right fumes at \"political correctness\" - codswallop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If they are talking Christianity, it is made up of different ideologies. Not necessarily the root of Muslim faith...maybe? Sounds more like Prophet Abraham's law...a \"tooth for a tooth!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps you need to look at a sixth-century map of the Roman Empire, and contemplate the Christian presence (the majority of the Empire's population) where today none could be found. \n\nAfter that, you can contemplate on the meaning of the expression: \"Gates of Hell\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Donald J Trump is responsible for opening the flood gates and making hate, racism and sexism fashionable and acceptable within a certain segment of American society. This is his legacy. Regretfully, that self confidence among the Far Right under its many banners (KKK, Tea Party Activists, Supremacists, Christian Conservatives to name a few) has spread like a cancer to other countries; Canada included. After all, if it is acceptable coming from the Instigator in Chief then it must be good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A reasonable post. Coming from the \"bring America back to God\" evangelical crowd I agree with you that there is not a political answer to this \"how do we make people moral?\" question. I find it shameful that so many Christians believe the way to evangelize is through politics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, R.D? Coming from a guy who believes that Catholic life is about cleaning one's garage, you are in no position to throw stones about raising important issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Rahnerian claim made herein is worn out and due for retirement. The Mass appears on a superficial level to be \"European\" because Europe was shaped for nearly two millenia by Christianity, not because there is anything peculiarly European about it. The Mass is in the same way Mexican or Filipino: cultures shaped by Christianity.\n\nAnd saying so is not to speak out against organic inculturation. Which may be facilitated by collegiality, but the ICEL debacle still shades this discussion. In 1998 ICEL was still trying to give English speakers a theologically and ritually deficient Mass and in 1997 their proposed \"translation\" of the rite of priestly ordination was considered so theologically deficient as to be unsalvageable. Collegiality, sure, but not collegiality as subterfuge or mechanism for deprivation of the faithful. \n\nWith the necessary corrections in place renewed collegiality may present a way forward. Or not--if it is abused by 1998 bitter-enders!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And this is why, by many accounts, the Catholic church and certain recent popes have, in fact, lost all moral authority and credibility in these matters! How many lawsuits and how much media publicity will it take to wake them up?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If our Christian Doctrines are supposed to be baed primarily in Scripture, then advances in Scripture understanding makes a difference in our Theology.\nAt least a few \u2013 or more than a few \u2013 of our commonly held 'beliefs' are in desperate need of re-thinking.\nTheologians need to keep abreast of Scripture scholarship.\n\nCertain areas \u2013 like how we think and speak of 'Original Sin' \u2013 are overdue for inviting Theologians to teach us how to get our theology in line with out Scripture knowledge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I went to the arcwp.org site. Dear God. Looks like a weight watchers' convention. \nHas anyone told them that their mere pretense at being Catholic priests is a violation of Canon Law? They are entertaining, though.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The role of conscience in Christian moral thinking has always been central. But to say this does not mean that the role of conscience has not been obscured at certain moments of history when there has been the temptation to make of the Church a merely authoritarian structure. Therefore I like what Msgr. Scicluna said about a hermeneutics in continuity (which is an improvement over \"hermeneutics of continuity\" which can be understood in a merely ideological sense which denies the sins of the Church.) This is why I would bet that almost all those behind the Dubia and the Filial Correction are people who have never accepted or fully taken into account the teaching of Dignitatis Humanae (Vatican II on religious liberty). DH affirms the central role of conscience in religion. AL affirms the central role of conscience in the healing of marriage and family in the present daty world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which sounds exactly like conservatives, including conservative Christians.\nYou still can't admit that splinter in your eye.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is most troubling about the current narrative is that it equates all religions as troublesome, when that is empirically not the case at all. \nChristianity is intimately tied to the power structure in Quebec and Canada, so its influence must be eliminated. Other religions, by contrast, pose no threat to diversity at all; in fact, they empower diversity. Therefore, their cultural influence must be enhanced.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is that an alternative fact or has it actually been substantiated? My understanding is the largest \"denom\" is made up of former Roman Catholics, which I believe has been substantiated by notable survey data.\n\nRegardless, there is no argument you can present which would warrant a continuation of failed/failing imperial policies versus essential gospel imperatives. It is not only unpopular to do so (despite your small movement toward \"orthodoxy\"), modern Christian scholarship renders your outdated, imperial approach somewhat apostatic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is with great disappointment that this long-time Knight of Columbus member read Winter's editorial; it and the Tom Roberts article once again show the utter contempt for conservatives and traditional-minded Catholicism that has become the hallmark of NCR reporting. \nI particularly take umbrage with their deliberate attempt to anger readers by insinuating the salaries of the KofC's Insurance Operations company officers somehow inappropriately come from it's charitable activities. I can only conclude that this misrepresentation was deliberate as the sources of their incomes is published every year in the October issue of the KofC's COLUMBIA magazine. \nConsidering the NCR-'s editorial bent, it is unsurprising to find liberal wolves in sheeps clothing arguing for the neutering and silencing of a vibrant and truly Catholic organization like The Knights of Columbus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Catholic I find your comments offensive and uncivil.\n\nIf I wanted to talk with Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and Jews I would be at the National Hindu Reporter, National Buddhist Reporter, National Islamic Reporter, or the National Hebrew Reporter.\n\nIn addition none of these others claim to have the four marks, and none of them do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More people should meditate, the planet and especially Anchorage, would be a better place for it. \nChristians like myself hold to scripture that requires us to take care of our planet, not destroy it because of a 'Second Coming' for which we do not know the time of its happening. We are admonished for not being humble, only due to our smug belief that we are somehow above others. Most importantly that we try to live our lives as an example, and I prefer people to see that, get to know me, and in the course of which find out that I am Christian. Monkey see, monkey do. Haha!\nMuch of what turns people off toward Jesus is the negative stuff they see in Christians who put themselves up as leaders, instead of focusing on all the quieter ones who try to lead by example and not be judging.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Glad NCR finally is breaking its fast and sharing some morsels of the new civil rights movement exploding here.\nWon't find an RC pastor or parish this brave! \nMy bishop rather raised a public disclaimer that sanctuary is giving \"false hope\" to people. He doesn't spell out what this means. What does Paul mean when he encourages \"hoping against hope?\" Preaching false hope to the vulnerable?\nIronic that more secular entities are supporting sanctuary. Now the state of California is debating to be a sanctuary state!\nSanctuary has a 1,000 Christian tradition but upheld now by secularists, religionists having abandoing their faith. They will continue to preach in abstract about the least ones and fervently sing \"The Lord hears the cry of the poor.\" All in the Lord's hands, lap.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Try reading the article , The KKK in the 1920's here in Denver was about disliking Catholics and Jews, had very little to do with race at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is this talk at universities of \"safe spaces\"?\n\nHello?\n\nThe safe space is not on campus, it is at your home, in your living room, on a couch with a favourite blanket.\n\nYou're a Catholic and the professor's talk of embryos and abortions has you riled up?\n\nGo home to your safe space.\n\nYou're a Protestant and the professor's talk of evolutionary biology has you riled up?\n\nGo home to your safe space.\n\nYou're a Muslim and the professor's talk of body cover, sexism and patriarchy has you riled up?\n\nGo home to your safe space.\n\nYou're a pacifist and the professor's talk justifying war has you riled up?\n\nGo home to your safe space.\n\netc. etc. etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to scripture, they are. God is immutable and so is His moral law. The nature of man has not changed, nor has God's decrees about how man can achieve happiness in this life and the next. The moral law isn't imposed as a set of \"rules\" for unthinking beings. Through faith and grace, the formation of conscience and an understanding of their purpose, a Christian will understand the way to live and accept it with joy - no matter how difficult nor the self sacrifice involved.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The entire purpose of Religion, Doctrine and Theology is to convince, either through persuasion or outright naked force that a particular belief is the Truth to be followed by all others and to the benefit of those who invented the concepts Religion, Doctrine and Theology. \"Perversion\" or \"Bringing the masses to Jesus\"; depends on the time. The Conquistadores were charged with taking Jesus to the Americas. The Baptists, the LDS, and many other proselytizing Christian faiths are doing the same as we speak. They don't get to use armed force today, they use other tricks instead. \n\nFaith, I think is a different matter. It appears, at least, to be honest. The other three, not so much. \n\nThe 1.27 billion Catholics, members of the largest church in the world, would certainly be interested to learn that they are not Christians. \n\nAll those crucifixes, all those Pietas, all those \"Saints\" relics, all those cathedrals, the invention of the Inquisition to 'purify' the True Faith?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islam has been violently expansionist from its early years. The attacks on Europe began in the 8th century. Read some history.\n\nPalestine was originally Christian, like much else of the Middle East.\n\nWhy do Muslims identify with Muslims in other countries ? Should Christians in Europe attack Muslims in Europe because of the way Christians are persecuted in Pakistan and other Muslim countries ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Archbishop Chaput wrote. \u201cIn the meantime, a friend describes the choice facing voters in November this way: A vulgar, boorish lout and disrespecter of women, with a serious impulse control problem; or a scheming, robotic liar with a lifelong appetite for power and an entourage riddled with anti-Catholic bigots.\u201d\n\nBy Douglas Ernst - The Washington Times - Thursday, October 13, 2016\n\nAnd you only focused on the one side you wanted to vilify? Seems you had your own agenda with your article.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"No one disagrees that Catholic schools have the right to propagate the fundamental beliefs and teachings of their church. But at the same time, they can't be allowed to promulgate viewpoints that run counter to what's best for society, or that might help produce a narrow-minded, ill-informed and careless-thinking student.\"\n\nSo Catholic schools should be able to promulgate their fundamental beliefs and teachings but not unsavoury \"viewpoints\". Well, the Catholic Church has a Catechism which is very clear on sexual morality. Not \"viewpoints'', rather fundamental beliefs and teachings. So case closed, the State can't force it's doctrines on the Church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "from Berig in Rochester, NY\nAre we not all \"People of the Book.\" As a Christian it wouldn't bother me to buried in a Muslim cemetery, why would our brothers and sisters, Children of Abraham, not wish to be interred in a community cemetery? Are we not working towards global integration and multiculturalism? What could be more symbolic of integration than being buried side by side? I'd be interested to read what a fellow believer, albeit Islamic, might add here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But the one thing that ALL Christians believe that NEITHER Muslims nor Jehovah Witnesses believe is that Jesus is the Only Begotten Son of God and, is, in Fact, God. That is not a minor difference. Muslims are not a \"branch\" of Christianity - they do not hold to the creeds that ALL Christians profess. The waters of the Christian faith are not as muddy as you make it. Sure there are differences on theological issues and interpretations BUT NOT ON THE PERSON OF CHRIST. Christians DO agree on who Jesus is. That is what defines them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"As the country prepares for new leadership, the framing of many issues in terms of libertarianism versus Catholic social doctrine remains a potent frame of reference.\"\n\nLibertarianism, in the age of Koch, means one thing only: greed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and Christmas etc. These days off are based on a calendar dictated by the christian religion. Non christian sand atheists are already making an accommodation to all Christians by following their calendar. I wonder what the reaction would be if we switched to school on Sunday but not friday.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well as they say, what was hard to endure is sweet to recall; in this case, your exit. \n\nCurious that you still want to \"inform\" us of your departure. Sometimes I read Episcopal Caf\u00e9 and have never found, for example, an ex-Episcopalian knocking the EC or informing Cafe people how he/she -- as an ex-Episcopalian (or, say, an Ordinariate Catholic) -- is being led in a more \"authentically Christian direction\" (i.e., away from the EC). Were that to happen, I would ask \"Why\"? Why post? If the ex-Episcopalian is happy, why? Why come on the Episcopal Caf\u00e9? To super-moralize one's departure? Maybe he/she hopes his/her posts will generate a transference of resentment of sorts to Episcopal readers that he/she still bears against the EC?? Who knows! Anyway, not many ex-Episcopalians post on the Episcopal Caf\u00e9. They have moved on, have followed their conscience (as you note) and have much better things to do in their new church community than inform Episcopalians of their departure from the EC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Until the church declares and demonstrates that women and men are equal as persons \"...in the church and in the world\", it actually rates as an abuser and enabler.\nIt is not only the exclusion of women from the clerical state and hierarchy but their rationale(s). It extends beyond the clerical and church to the family, community and the world, from one idiotic opinion and metaphor to another and all elevated to \"authoritative teaching\", diminution, exclusion and the emotional as well as emotionless misogyny.\nWomen of all faiths and none; of all nations, cultures need the Roman Catholic Church to step-up and step-in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, the laity may express their wishes as much as they wish, but the Catholic Church is not a democracy. Jesus Christ himself ordained a church led by a Pope in Rome, Bishops, and Clergy. The role of the laity is to do as they are told, except when it comes to certain things, like advocating for the return of the latin mass. Then the laity may disagree with the pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Man, your take on history has me openly laughing.\n\nYou know how the Mamluks came to be? Christians Copts, Turks, captured European Christians, Persians, etc. were forced to convert to Islam or be killed, and then molded into outright fanatical soldiers. They only inherited the caliphate because the Mongols invaded and wiped out the entire eastern side of the caliphate, including the capital in Baghdad. The Mamluk commanders in the Abbasid's army had a military base in Egypt, the Mongols never got that far, and Cairo became the new capital by default. The Mamluks aren't a sign of Islamic tolerance, they are a sign of their power to force their slaves and defeated foes into service, who inherited power by historical accident.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Saskatchewan and Alberta have a publicly funded Catholic school system and have had it since 1905. Besides you can enroll your kid in bilingual school anywhere in Alberta, public interest in French instruction in Alberta has never been higher and you now have to have 2 languages (though not necessarily French, but English alone is not enough) to get your high school diploma in Alberta.\n\nTimes have changed, man. Get with the program!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If it weren't for Catholic theology positing that God is unchangeable, and that there are immutable laws because of that, there would be little of what we know of as science. Formerly, the highest that science would be able to develop was the level of engineering, due to the influence of capricious gods on the state of the world. With no immutable laws, there would not be a hope to discover the nature of things beyond a rational examination of how things \"should work\" or \"how things usually work\". Thus the logic of science derives directly from the theology of the nature of God and His foundations for creation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, Republican Catholics put ideology and party before the Gospel. It is good that Cupich stands with Francis against this insanity.\n\nEpiscopal doctrine dictates that life begins at implantation, not conception. They are afraid he will be the vote that finally ends the charade that Roe will be overturned and will block any of the personhood initiatives that say otherwise, or rather that he won't vote for Cert. They are likely correct. What worries them is not the actual position but what it will do to their fundraising to concede that their main strategy is dead.\n\nI will not repost cute dog or cat pictures on the Internet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You should probably also familiarize yourself with the \"No True Scotsman\" fallacy. Also the fact that you do not know who Jerry Prevo is leads me to believe that you are not from Alaska or currently living here or that you are completely ignorant of christians in Anchorage, either way your opinion carries far less weight because of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just because I cannot believe writing laws help (murder is already against the law) it doesn\u2019t mean that I don\u2019t have other bad ideas. Why not teach Christianity to students K-6 in our public schools? It is also unconstitutional but I think would make for much better and kinder citizens.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I had Jewish friends at school, they told the best 'Jewish ' jokes. Even if mom still has her ;number on her arm . Facts are there , no religion needed . \n Go there , go Hollywood . Read the credits , play spot the christian :-)Just saying . I do not hate someone for being successful .\nI liked the article , spread the word to the voters", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where Mr Perriello writes that he doesn't want priests \"driven by doctrine\", if we take him seriously and the words seriously, that means that he would prefer that priests not be driven by the teachings of the Church, which are the Christian faith.\n\nThat clarifies the worth of the rest.\n\nRegardless, why have nonChristian priests for a Christian laity? Why should any boy consider a vocation to a non-Christian/post-Christian priesthood? Why should the laity put money in the basket every Sunday to give such men (and as Perriello would have it, women, but if we're not going to be Christian and the \"priesthood\" under discussion has nothing to do with Holy Orders, that's OK) in such a priesthood a livelihood. And and why would non-Christians want priests at all?\n\nIf you want social justice, do it yourself. As the Protestants would say, you don't need a mediator. And per that there are already \"women in ministry\". You don't have to be a priest in order to minister. Try it sometime.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"\"I think I have a right, as an elected official, because I'm Christian,I'm Catholic, all my decisions stem from my core belief, and I think I have a right to have people give an invocation and a prayer,\" Gilman said . . \"\nGilman is struggling to explain where this \"right\" comes from.Is it (A) because he's an elected official? Does that mean the rest of us don't have that right? Is it (B) because he's a Christian? Do non-Christians lack this right? (C) because he's Catholic? Leaving Protestants and everyone else out in the cold? Or (D) because all his decisions stem from his core belief, that he \"thinks\" he has \"a right to have people\" give invocations and prayers at a government meeting?\nHere are the rights Gilman actually possesses: the right to be a Christian and a Catholic and to pray to his god anywhere and any time he wants. Meanwhile, I possess the right not to have to believe in his god or to have to listen to his prayers when I'm attending a government meeting. Pretty simple", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You really shouldn't talk about Christianity that way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"tough times weed out the nominal believers and leave only the true believers.\"\n\nGroucho, the only ones left standing will be those with the Spirit of Christ in them. I also have experienced difficult and desperate times; it was then when His Spirit guided and comforted me--when I was weak, He was strong. And looking back, those were the best days of my life. Only with His strength do we triumph in times of persecution and trouble. And, yes, you are right: \"Once it became legal, things went down hill.\", or, once people have gained a \"good life\", by whatever means, God was no longer their focus in life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I found that odd too. Right after I posted, your comment vanished. I have more to say about the early use of Cannabis buy Jews and Early Christians, but maybe I'll wait until the \"intolerant\" folks go to sleep.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I remain surprised, sister, that you continue to live on the donations of\nCatholics. If you truly believe in your own convictions, you should earn your own living and support your cause, which is not aligned with the Catholic Faith, whether or not it aligns with the faith of rebellious catholics. No corporation would allow its people to spout beliefs contrary to its own policies, as you do. Those people would be let go.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are many Christians who do not feel superior to, nor believe we have the right to judge others. To practice bigotry in the name of Christ goes against the loving example of the Christ whose teachings many Christians follow. In short, you do not speak for all Christians. \n\nAs for your freedom, you can practice your religious beliefs in your churches, or anywhere you want as long as you do not use your beliefs as a tool to discriminate against others, which is against the law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She is complaining about his general defense of immigrants and refugees. And the Catholic Church and Pope Francis didn't say anything specifically about Le Pen or the French election. IMO, they have been too unwilling to interfere. They should be more aggressive with these things like Pius XI was with Accion Francaise in the 1920s.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess I only get one more today, so you are it.You are right that the rapture has been misapplied by many Christians.From my reading of the Bible, I'm only confidant in two things.1.God will not let His people go through His wrath.(Who are his people?Those who accept Jesus work on the Cross.It has nothing to do with going to church, praying to ???, reading whatever or doing good deeds.)We see evidence of Him not letting His people go through His wrath in Genesis 6-8.2.Jesus will come back a second time because He said He would. Over 300 Scriptures predicted His first coming, so I have no reason to not believe Him when He said He will come back.I stick with those two because most of Revelations is too cloudy for a simple man like me to work through.I don't look at the rapture as God's way of solving the Earth's problems, but as God's way of removing His people before pouring out His wrath.Until then, I will do my part to make the world better.That's why I spend time mentoring boys.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or how about Catholic college and university presidents who use sophistry to justify utilized under-compensated adjunct faculty in the first place, and then to bust their legitimate unions in the second? Why not mention them, Mr. Chaput? Perhaps because they worship the same deity, the almighty dollar?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree. The low hanging fruit will be for undergrad STEM majors since the coursework will be much the same from one place another and can be easily taken online. Liberal arts studies, especially in the final two years and grad school likely will benefit more from opportunities for direct engagement with profs typical of smaller Catholic liberal arts colleges.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To those who say \"just become Protestant\": I believe many Catholics view their relationship with the Church as family. If my husband and I are struggling with some issues and my marriage is not particularly appealing at the moment, I don't divorce him and go find a new husband. If I am working on psychological pain handed down by my parents' mistakes, I don't cut my parents out of my life and refuse to acknowledge the good of them raising me and giving me life. My relationship with the Church is the same-all human interactions are bound to involve some pain and discord but we are supposed to struggle and work through these things while honoring our commitments. As the author said below, \"it's my church too.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you didn't educate your children about sex?\nMy grandson attends Catholic school in Ontario. They follow the provincial curriculum- he had extensive teaching (and notes) on various kinds of contraceptives in middle school. They also learned about 'consent\", and about STDs.\nThe children are not growing up in a vacuum- they are exposed to all sorts of things that we never were. They have to be properly prepared.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill makes the error of supposing that there are many Jesus Christs. He's not alone, unfortunately. It's a trendy thing to do here in this site to hold that there are different Christs. These people have willingly self-sprinkled too much starch in their shorts; and they love to banter about the \"Lucan Christ\", the Johannine Jesus, the Jesus of Matthew. All error. \n\nKeep this in mind. These people can't be dismissed totally because there's a soul in each one of them. A soul that needs to set pride aside and seek God humbly, with their intellect, but also with their will, with their body, with their faith.\n\nBut their soft sounding ideas should simply be \"waved on by\" like a traffic cop in a crowded intersection to avoid any collisions and distractions of others, treating these ideas like light distractions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin, (continued)\nabout physical abuse in a marriage, about remaining faithful to the marriage vows, etc. Priests have abandoned their flock by remaining silent with regards to the sin of impurity. We are witnessing the results now. \n\nKevin, Jesus exalted the tax collector after he humbled himself. While the Pharisees boasted of their moral perfection, the tax collector said to Jesus; \"God, be merciful to me a sinner.\" Jesus said to the Pharisees, \"If you do not confess your sin(s), it (they) are not taken away, but remain.\" You wrote that the tax collector remained in his sin (continued being a traitor). I am not sure what you mean. Also in the story of Zacchaeus, the repentant tax collector, he promised Jesus to give half his money to the poor and repay those he cheated. Notice like the story above, it was after Zacchaeus made a pledge of repentance that Jesus told him that salvation had come to his house that day. He did not continue cheating people (sinning).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, but, I agree with everything my fellow Traditional (True) Catholic says. Only Catholics in Heaven, and then only those in good standing with the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sad to say but this is largely true. \n\nAnd the \"Scripture scholar\" has replaced the priest as the one who needs to supervise the Catholic who wants to read the Bible in the liberal Catholic view. \n\nLiberal Catholics mostly know only the parts of Scripture read at Mass (if they attend Mass) and the Ordinary Form Lectionary readings can be \"short form\" meaning bits are cut out...so as not to offend those of delicate sensibilities. You can end up with readings like Genesis 41:55-57; 42:5-7A, 17-24A proclaimed on Sunday which I found scandalous when I figured this out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well written and interesting. While I will agree to disagree with Miss Williams biblical philosophy I do imagine it was very painful to be rejected when churches learned of her orientation.\n\nI don't believe Jesus would have rejected her. Loving Christians wouldn't either, even if they disagreed with her. As for a leadership role you have to remember 1) churches are run by people and Christians are not immune to bad thinking and behavior (pastors will say amen on this) 2) leadership requirements are a higher standard and yes, include the variable of perception.\n\nSo, I feel for her. She could have been treated more lovingly. Not surprised though at the outcome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Victim? You mean like the faux Christians, who insist everyone's always picking on them? Or maybe you mean the red states that take more than they contribute? Or how about the Trump voters, who believe they're entitled to get help, but believe the people of Puerto Rico are not?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The odds are pretty good that these people identify themselves as Christians and believe that the US is a Christian country. Don't pretend otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article looks like a high school team project where individuals are given an assignment to look up some information on a subject and the results are combined into a final product. It certainly is a weak example of journalism and if you are going to write an article about a group of people's religious views in a Catholic paper it seems to me that the essential questions being answered are how do their values resonate with Gospel values and the Church's teachings on social justice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is very good news. Burke is an expert canon lawyer and has experience with the cover up scandal. And, of course, he is a True Catholic, a follower of the Rites and Rituals, understanding the role of Bishops. Now we can count on a properly-run canonically correct trial, resulting in the correct result of the accused Cardinal being found innocent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are all, ALL, children of God and Judson's congregation, as baptized Christians, are members of the Body of Christ. That's good enough for me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A sign of a people being very close to Christ is generosity and naturalness in the apostolate.\n\nIf a Catholic church isn't growing...it's doing something wrong.\n\nIf a church is getting further into debt...it's doing something wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "10/6/16 \"Loretto sisters summoned to Rome, raising questions on closure of apostolic visitation. The head of the Kentucky-based community has been asked to explain alleged \u201cambiguity\u201d in the order\u2019s adherence to Church teaching and its way of living religious life. The order was among other US women religious communities of apostolic life, who were subject to an unprecedented Vatican inquiry.\" (lastampa.it/vaticaninsider) \n6/15/16 The Vatican, once again, has asked \u201cmore than a dozen orders to send their superiors to Rome to discuss concerns\u201d including the superior of one of the major orders of U.S. Catholic sisters it was reported on June 9. (cruxnow.com)\n6/15/16 On June 15, the president of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, said her community received a letter from the Vatican \u201cin early April asking the sisters for written response to the office's continued concern over the order's \u2018public dissent of Church teaching.\u2019\" (ncronline.org)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tell Skepticrap that. But I saw and heard him say, \"I am a Muslim\"but then he immediately took it back and went Christian. But my alarms went OFF. AND then his governmental actions debunk that claim about being a Christian. Please Gary, take all these conspiracy theories and place them accordingly. Then explain the $150 Billion to Death to America Iran and tanks and jets to the Muslim Brotherhood. And we're talking Advanced Jets and Tanks. He sold us out again and again. On another note will you please tell me how to \"click on this link\"? I have a MacBookPro. People keep telling me to do it and I don't know what it really means except a method to access info. How?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The habit of holding women in subservience has been with us a long time, and in many places. It has for most of recorded history been one of the most reliable features of social orders. \n\nThe Church's repudiation of slavery came quietly, and only after the civil authorities of the world's largest Catholic country had finally ruled it a crime. While individuals within the Church took virtuous stands, in various times and places, the institution itself did not rise to its feet 'till that struggle was over. \n\nIn 300 years, perhaps Fr. Orobator will be cited as a proof that the Church has forever taught the true equality of men and women, a few errant homilies notwithstanding. God's blessings on him, and those he loves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think its simple folks. This Satanic invocation was just making a point. What its like to have to listen to something you don't believe in a venue thats inappropiate. Of course christians don't care about this. They need an audience to express their beliefs. True, maybe technically prayer can be said at these things. But how about respecting other beliefs? You got christian apologist Lars all over these discussion boards all but saying that CHRISTIAN prayer is not only allowed but needed. He'd be singing a different tune if it was Atheists, Muslims, Hindu's, Buddhists, etc etc. A government assembly meeting is not the place for public prayers. These people are on the clock. There to do a job not be in church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is far more than an examination of conscience Paul requires. He also specifically says make all equally welcome and avoid gluttony. These are behavioral considerations that affect the whole community. The Catholic NABRE departs from the pack at Biblegateway with \"If we discerned ourselves, we would not be under judgment\" (1Co 11:31); 'discerning ourselves' can mean perceiving the communion of believers. (This is not my idea about Paul and 1Co 11, but that of a Catholic friar who posts here.) Paul could have simply continued with the Pagan notion of feasting on the god and gaining strength from its body and blood, but Paul went further than that tradition and urged his followers to view the whole community as a \"Body of Christ,\" and apparently to gain strength from that unity and wholeness. \n\nThe kind of men who would want to join a chauvinist organization are not those best suited to lead diverse communities. Anyone with a need to feel superior is not going to make an able leader", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you are going to write about the Catholic Church as it is, you must write about the clergy at least some of the time. RD's second and third sentences would only make sense if NCR did not have articles about the laity, which, of course, it has.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because liberation theology is more Marxist than authentically Catholic? \n\nWhy do at least some portion of the poor find Pentecostalism more in tune to their spiritual needs than liberation theology? I imagine the parts of evangelicalism having a personal relationship with Jesus, reading the Bible, prayer, appeal to these folks more than bringing down structures of oppression. Why is that? Why were they unable to find that in the Catholic Church? Did we neglect the spiritual to focus mainly on the temporal? Liberation theology doesn't speak to the world beyond this one, and is Marxism with a veneer of Christianity. Do these poor folks need others to come in and say liberation theology is best for them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In my reading of the Gospel account, the bit about issuing bills of divorce did not come from God. Moses put that in because of the hardness of hearts. The disciples around Jesus were shocked by His teaching and responded if what Jesus teaches on marriage is true, better to not marry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John Adams: \u201cThe government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is obviously not Holy at Judson ! Except in a generalized \"Gaian\" sense. Let's hope that not too many Catholics take this seriously.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" There are whole segments of our church who seem to excuse criminal behavior toward women. Are those the same ones who now oppose women's ordination?\"\n\nOur church is not the civil government. They put Pipim out of the church and it is not our duty to have church cops and criminal lawyers to deal with civil infractions of church members once they are disfellowshipped.\n\nWomen today don't know their place in society, the home or the church. They have been duped by the \"social justice\" advocates into thinking they should hold the same level of authority as men when God has not ordained any such level of authority in the civil government, the home or the church.\n\nGet over it and quit \"cry babying\" all over the church demanding your \"rights\" to equal authority with men. You are rebelling against God and the position He has created for you to hold as responsible Christian women who \"know their place\" as God has ordained it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are not all Christians Mark and neither are WE.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would like to make the point that Amoris Laetitia does NOT allow Catholics who are civilly divorced and remarried to receive Holy Communion. It promotes the use of internal forum. There is a big difference there.\n\nDo you support Pope Francis's clearly stated teachings on contraception and homosexuality in Amoris Laetitia?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "the author should not be too smug about ' Anti-Muslim hate has been in Canada - and our politics - long before the violence\"\n\ndoesn't he come from a region with Anti-Jew hate, Anti-Christian hate, anti-Yazidi hate ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Christian that I know forces their beliefs on non believers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You replied to a lot of things I've written. I will take them one at a time, trying to make sense out of each point. On this one, I'm not sure where you get your information, but Christians have never thought that they are the majority. However, you are correct in saying numbers make no difference to God, unless you are talking about souls lost to Eternity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In his article, Samuel Gregg claims that \"statements put together by various scholars and intellectuals involved in movements such as Evangelicals and Catholics Together . . . contain not a shred of theocratic aspiration.\"\n\nYeah, well, not quite. In their joint statement, We Contend Together, Evangelicals and Catholics Together posited \"moral truth\" as the basis for politics and law; said religion uniquely secures \"virtue\"; demanded \"moral education\" in public schools; and in a mysterious fit of pique, condemned \"multiculturalism.\" (I know the latter isn't relevant but it was too bizarre to omit.)\n\nAt the very least, this is a moving sidewalk to a theocratic state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, it doesn't. \n\nThere are different senses of words and phrases, and the Catholic Church takes advantage of all of them, appropriately. \n\nhttp://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05692b.htm", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I just love all these \"Garratts as master spies\" posts.\n\nA lily white couple immersed in a sea of Asians, is hardly deep cover. Taking photos of traffic you say - oh-my-gawd. With foreign diplomats coming and going, openly, from their coffee shop. OMG again!\n\nThe US, and others, have spy satellites that could take photos of individual pages of the Bibles that the Garratts thumped daily.\n\nThe US, and others have paid spies in every corner of the globe where they feel ,for whatever reason, they need information. \n\nThe Garratts are oddballs, no doubt. Marching to a different drummer, and I suspect with more than a little bit of \"Christian martyr-complex\" motivation.\n\nBut spies? Too funny.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW is a hierarch-wannabee -he has been thirsting after the \"oils\" for decades. The only cadre within the Catholic Church that has even the capacity to reform and renew the priesthood from parish to pope is the PEOPLE! I'm not worried about politics among the People - it's the politics among the hierarchs that is screwing us over, literally! The only way to effect change in the hierarchy is for Catholics to take control of the MONEY. Catholics need to permanently DEFUND the clericalism and patriarchy. If the People controlled the money, the hearts and minds of the hierarchs [and people like MSW] will soon follow - the money is all the hierarchs live for. Fundamental precept of politics: She/he who has the gold, rules! LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What \"greatest Catholic theologian\"?\n\nI have Googled your quote, and find it nowhere.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That Presidential (NOT) candidate from Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, did what the Alaska Senate and House plan to do with Alaska. He unbalanced the budget and if you drive across Louisiana bring an extra set of tires as the roads are the poorest in all America even worse than the rutted roads in Anchorage. So let the Valley and North Pole ruin all Alaska, or return to the responsible, cooperative, reasonable Legislature prior to Parnell who pitted his \"special\" christianity versus cooperation, petro-corporation welfare versus cooperation and the ability to civilly govern Alaska by law, not the special interests teeth, claws and fangs sunk into the neck of Alaska's 29th Legislature as shown by this article about GOP foodfights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Meaning no disrespect but this is hardly a sympathetic case. A. The man knew the rules and made a deliberate choice and B. He's rather past his prime, no...? If we're going to knock the church, let it be for something more deserving than this. This guy can continue to be a serving Christian, just not in a formal or official way. A second marriage at 88 ought to be consuming enough, never mind being the patriarch of such a large family.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Embrace socialism and benefits for everyone, even the non citizens, and let's tolerate daily terrorist attacks.\n\nThat's not Catholicism, that's madness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump's Presidency and Administration is imploding from all the dishonesty, lies, incompetence, collusion with Putin and the Russians, money laundering of Russian oligarchs, right wing racist and fascist white Christian Nationalists and Supremacist jockeying for power at the expense of our civil liberties and our Democracy", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually you are wrong - A genuine Christian will freely admit these things, they are called Temptations, Sins, Trespasses etc., and something we are all stuck with. Admitting one's sinfulness is a requirement for salvation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marriage prep needs to be much better than it is now. Milennials are choosing to marry outside the Catholic Church for a variety of reasons. The fact that most live together prior to marriage is a biggie. Catholic parishes need to come to the realization that most people marrying are not 21 year old virgins and adapt to that reality. Another biggie is the lack of flexibility in the ceremony itself. Why can't someone have someone read a poem or reflection or have a family member sing an appropriate contemporary song? It seems to me that parishes should be more willing to work with couples to make their day special. \n\nAnd as I posted below, how dioceses and even parishes within dioceses handle annulments is very hit and miss. Most Tribunals have a stiff formal process in contrast with a pastoral one. I'm not even sure what a \"pastoral\" process would look like.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did Jesus discriminate?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I trust you, Ebes, to figure out what it means to you. You've earned the trust, as have we all. \n\nA Pope who calls us , trusts us, and honors us as adult Catholics to join him in figuring out things deserves our admiration and attention--and \"obedient\" commitment to the concomitant rigor and work required. \n\nThe sin of sloth is so evident in those Catholics who demand ambiguity-free papal rules for compliance rather than accept the obligation to courageously discern, figure out, research, pray, consult, sweat, risk, agonize, and trust. \n\nThere is a \"false truth\" afloat that declares \"ambiguity is always a sin and clarity is always a virtue.\" \n\nYour humble \"I'm still trying to figure out...\" is not an admission of fault or vice, but of humility and virtue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All Catholics May Support The Death Penalty\n\n\"There is a very robust debate countering both the Church's 20 year old anti death penalty teachings (CCC, amended 1997) and the statements by Pope Francis, both of which are contradicted by fact, reason, the Gospel and 2000 years of Catholic teachings, through today\", as detailed.\n\nAll Catholics May Support The Death Penalty\nhttp://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2017/10/all-catholics-may-support-death-penalty.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good editorial. Patriarchy is an artificial culture, not essential for the Catholic faith. The patriarchal priesthood of the Old Law is now becoming tragicomical. The door can be opened at any time, because there is no dogmatic impediment. This is my summary of the situation:\n\nIrrelevance of Religious Patriarchy under the New Law\nhttp://www.pelicanweb.org/solisustv13n09supp6.html#section9\n\nIn brief, apostolic succession is not contingent on masculinity. For the glory of God, and the good of souls, it is time to let go of religious patriarchy. Let us pray to Mary, Mother of the Eucharist and Predecessor of the Apostles, that the door will be opened soon!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Get ready, Don is for pulling down all the Catholic churches. \n\nFierce Rainbow Taliban warriors have so much work ahead of them!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article's position that \"the closing of parishes is the direct result of people leaving the church\" is not completely accurate.\n\nMore accurately \"the closing of parishes is the result of Catholics not being in the same location as parish buildings\".\n\nThis can result from some decline in membership, or decline in attendance, or the fact that populations move.\n\nThat's why in areas such as the rust belt you encounter closed inner city parishes and brand-new suburban parishes with full parking lots.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I covered that above. You are still wrong. Fecundity is not a requirement in Canon Law for marriage. Never was, never will be. Look it up yourself. That is why the defense of marriage folks were laughed out of the District Court in San Francisco, because they relied on a moral philosophy that even Catholic Canon law did not require. It was certainly not a universal enough philosophy to sway the Trial Court, the Appellate Courts nation-wide and the Supreme Court (only Scalia bought it, he's dead and all the other Catholic justices voted against him). This is why natural law reasoning cannot be lodged in the teaching Magisterium of the Church, because it must be based on reason or else it is simply belief. We don't make civil law based on belief, or it seems even Canon Law in some circumstances.\n\nYou can keep arguing this, but you might was well simply say what plebes say during their first year: \"Thank You Sir, May I have another!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"None of those will be discussed at our final judgment, according to Jesus.\"\nYou are incorrect because the Lord Jesus Christ said in Matthew 5: 17-20: \n\u201cDo not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hillary may make a claim of a belief in Christ, but her past actions and inability to simply tell the truth, speak clearly of the fact that living up to being a good human being is beyond her, let alone a good christian. It is simply another tool in seeking the power of high office, but one that only applies to Mr. Trump I would presume.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think the comparison is applicable.. Certainly there was a time when Christianity experienced its share of inter-sect fighting but that hasn't been the case for hundreds of years \n\nThe only recent conflict in Ireland where the factions were referred to as Protestants and Catholics had nothing to do with religion, It started out as a religious conflict but by the time it came to the violence is was about something else entirely, loyalty to Britain.\n\nIslam has struggled with inter-sect violence throughout its history and unfortunately it continues today. Can you name one Muslim majority nation that has avoided this struggle and all religions co-exist peacefully together?\n\nSecular nations update their laws to reflect changing times without having to question their religion, \n\nNon-secular countries are stuck in time, as are their laws because questioning their religion is unacceptable and in many cases illegal.\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, what we have is a conservative Catholic revealing what he thinks. RD does not speak for the Vatican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Trump does go ahead with his malicious and unconstitutional registry, then it is the duty of every Christian to register.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Orthodox Catholics believe that the Holy Spirit guides the Church, preserves it from error and speaks through it as at Pentecost in Acts. They do not believe that the Spirit goes around whispering this, that or the other into individual ears. The Church alone discerns what the Holy Spirit has to say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know about actresses who have spoken about having abortions. For those about whom I have heard, the decision was a difficult one. I have not heard about anyone \"boasting\" of having had an abortion.\nMost abortions occur before the 12th week, before the embryo is fully formed; it is hardly a child at that point. \nCatholics are not being pressured into having abortions, or of agreeing with abortions, or of performing abortions. \nThe only commandment that is directly ascribed to Jesus is that of loving one another. \nCatholics are not the only ones who follow Jesus and are not the only ones who interpret the word of God. They are human and prone to the same error as any other human being. They are no more able to interpret the words that are ascribed to Jesus or to speak on behalf of God than anyone else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That masculinity is a requirement for priestly ordination has NEVER been infallibly defined as a divinely revealed DOGMA of the Catholic faith, by St John Paul II or any other pope. Canon Law can be changed at any time that the Church chooses to do so: \n\n\"If it was at one time necessary even for validity by the will and command of the Church, every one knows that the Church has the power to change and abrogate what she herself has established.\" Pius XII, Sacramentum Ordinis, 1947\n\nWhen a baptized person, man or woman, is sacramentally ordained to the priesthood, that person becomes a priest. Whether or not such baptized and ordained persons are designated as lay or clergy or any other designation is not dogmatic. Just in case it might be of interest, the chronology of events leading to the current confusion about this issue is summarized in section 5 of this summary:\n\nReligious Patriarchy Compromises the Mission of the Church \nhttp://pelicanweb.org/CCC.TOB.1703A.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know whether you refer to the Holy Ghost as 'she' just tomwind me up: if so, it doesn't.\nSt Peter would have been able to make himself a cup of coffee with the technology available to him in his day: outcome the same, method, applying heat, sources of heat different and even in those days there were different sources.\nYou say the Holy Spirit is saying, talking to us, how do we know who He is saying it to and what He is saying? I reject the notion that the Holy Spirit is revealing things to this generation hitherto not revealed to previous generations. The Holy Spirit is the guarantee given by Christ that the Church's teaching will not deviate from that which He, Christ, bequeathed to His apostles and through them down to us today.\nWhy, oh why, is this so difficult to accept?\nWhether one believes in the sin of Adam or not, one must surely grant that the desire to be as God is the main aim of the 'nouvelle theologie'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On the campaign trail, politicians say anything, literally anything, that will garner votes. Trump is no exception and neither is Hillary. Hyperbole, stretching the truth, taking out of context, and outright lying are daily occurrences. Somehow, we have gotten to the point where any candidate who does not do this will lose. That is on the voters as much as it is on the candidates.\n\nBut while serving in public office, this behavior is intolerable. Hillary Clinton has made a career of it for 25 years or more. Trump may do the same, but we don't know yet. But Hillary, we are certain of her character while in office, and it is offensive. Mr. Dionne and other Hillary supporters ignore this behavior, or even excuse it. That is also offensive, because he is a member of the press.\n\nNeither Trump nor Hillary are Christians according to their fruits. But Trump is correct about at least one thing: our leaders ARE selling Christianity down the tubes. But it is not Trump doing it. It is the left.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People think and act like they want to and that's a BIG Problem, not THINKING before they ACT. I am NOT interested in or TRYING to or WANT to WhiteWash anything...................I would bet that if a high percentage of people in this world were Honest, had Integrity, High Morals, accept Reality, had Excellent Character, Believed in God and Jesus, that we would have a much, much, much, BETTER World.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And leaving the woman one tube short. So? \n\nYour point about not supporting Catholic hospitals? Fine. That is what I have been saying. If you don't like the care you get in a Catholic hospital, exercise your free \"choice\" and \"choose\" another hospital. Liberals, after all are supposed to be the bastions of \"choice\" and \"freedom.\" See, now you are making sense. Perhaps you could explain that to your liberal cohorts on this site? \n\nAs for your second point about writing state legislatures--- if you can succeed in amending the constitution to either limit or take away religious liberty, more power to you. Then the Catholic hospitals will have to either comply or go out of business. Currently, however, that pesky Constitution places limits on what the government can compel the Church to do or not do. Until you succeed in getting in a Constitutional amendment Catholics still enjoy the protections of religious freedom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I wonder what the fallout would be\", you ask.\nThere would be a wide-scale excommunication, with the forming up of the adamant opposition by the institution. It would have to be very, very public as well as within the internal routes and systems. Okay, so far? \nThe rationales for the exclusion would be poster'ed, declared, broadcast and published. It would become headline news - within and without. The patriarchalism, inanities, misogyny, prevarications, the mythical as well as the literal interpretations of Scripture and theological tomes will be exposed to the questions, repudiations and even ridicule they deserve. \nThese women priests and the supporters, clerical and otherwise would coalesce among themselves, and increasingly by those who finally \"see\". There will be, or come close to being, a schism and a negotiated re-union will be agreed upon. \nThe \"schism\" will be of the uber-traditionalist, hard-liners but the road to a universal, variegated Christianity will be reopened.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are good and evil. There are people who do uplifting things and people who do bad things. There always have been and always will be. The job of each of us is to minimize our evil and maximize our good. We will fail. We will be guilty of being less than perfect.\n\nThe place where Christianity wimps out is the doctrine of substitute atonement -- the teaching that Jesus can atone for my guilt. He can't. No one else can. Only I can atone for my guilt. And, being imperfect, I can never atone fully for it. I don't get a free pass and I don't expect it. I live with my imperfections and failings. It's called life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you missed the point:\n\nWhere does Bill get off telling us anything about what we should or should not do in our Church?\n\nShall we tell Muslims what they should do? How about Jews?\n\nHow would you feel if I came to your house--and when you told me it is a house rule that I have to take off my shoes before I enter--that I find that offensive and it needs to change? How would you respond? How would Presbyterians respond if I as a Catholic wrote an article telling them what practices they should change?\n\nWhy it is always the Catholics that have to change anyway?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a much more realistic vision of our future. Without the the sacramental practice distinctive to Catholics and Orthodox there will be nothing resembling the Catholic Church. We will have devolved into something more like the Assemblies of God. We will have acted to thwart Jesus last prayer for us before His Ascension. For practical and wise reasons we will develop and continue redeveloping a structure where smells and bells will be dominated by clergy and nuts and bolts will be directed by laity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It does, but we don't need to treat with superstition, especially if we understand it is proposing doctrine to promote the Catholic brand rather than a universal truth, or even a human truth. Most every pope at least states some kind of infallibility because they don't conciously publish error (I say publish because there is a lot of ghost writing involved. Are ghosts infallible?). Some of that teaching office is an attempt at common sense advice, like Casti and Humanae Vitae. Most married people look at this attempt, which like the book of Proverbs is both didactic and a bit unreal, and laugh because they don't want to cry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Wikileaks. Eliane's talking about the Wikileaks. It really WAS a \"deliberate fifth-column attack on Catholic people.\" Read the leaks. They have nothing but disdain for Catholics who believe in this medieval mumbo jumbo of ours.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But this investigation began before Archbishop Cordileone arrived in San Francisco.\n\nI can't speak to his \"pet causes,\" but I understand he basically is a staunch proponent of traditional Catholicism...straight along Church teaching. It may be San Francisco is a bit of a challenge to that...I don't know. But it is where the Pope determined he was best needed; and Pope Francis apparently agrees.\n\nI do appear to always defend the heirarchy - typically because of the many nasty comments posted here. If only people would discuss issues rather than personal attacks! Just look at some of the comments here..and typically about JPII, Benedict XVI, Cardinal Burke! My goodness! So yes. I do defend - and beg for facts rather than pure animus. \n\nYour post is refreshing, although I don't think the Archbishop is setting up \"covens\" and the \"pet causes\" seem to be in line with Catholic teaching ... *lol* But thank you for being polite and easier to talk with!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm delighted! I think Callista will give the Vatican a very necessary understanding of where the U. S. bishops have taken the Church in the past few decades.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everyone, especially immigrants of different faiths, fully well know that Quebec and the rest of Canada is a Christian society and it is their liberal attitude that opened the gate in the last four decades.\n\nCross in the Assembly is the recognition of the tradition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus didn't have over a billion followers, the sacraments had not been fully developed, and the \"church\" after His death were Jewish-Christian until Paul and other Apostles/disciples established churches in other areas of the then-known world . It is kind of like the development of the US since the first settlers stepped foot on the continent: you wouldn't compare us to them for models of how to run and manage the US, would you? Please, let's stop with these notions that somehow the Church, being so huge and literally world-wide, is supposed to be the size of one diocese. The issue is about how effective each dicastery is in service to the rest of the Church and to the Pope (the curia is his \"cabinet\"). +Francis has, along with his cardinal advisors, already trimmed a number of the offices of the Curia, appointed new prefects, and redirected their vision from self-serving to service to the Church, particularly the poor and needy. It is one of the biggest organizations on earth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Encouraged that NCR is returning to its original roots and doing investigative journalism of anything that labels itself of Catholic auspices. \"Sunshine is the best disinfectant\" as a SC justice declared.\nBut transparency is not the Catholic thing. Applaud NCR in attempting to shed light on the dark dealing of the KofC. The fact that Anderson wouldn't do an interview speaks volumes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or people don't want to A. lie and pretend their marriage didn't exist or B. put up with all the annoying bureacrats, red tape, fees, and paperwork. And it is hilarious that some conservative Catholics are suddenly okay with remarriage as long as people have gotten the correct bureacratic paperwork. Sin is all cleared apparently as long as the mid-level Church bureacrat checks the right box.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I know the arguments and find them weak. I don't particularly care about internecine squabbles within the Anglican Communion. Neither do I have any intention of joining the Episcopal Church (at the moment, anyway). However, I am pretty happy to ride out my self-imposed exile in a parish (?) headed by a woman priest. The service is quite similar to the beloved Catholic Mass. Furthermore I'm not skipping out on the Eucharist just because I'm furious with the Catholic Church.\n\nSo there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The statements from the CUC the PUC and more recently, the Southern Pacific Division are commendable.\n\nThey are creatively crafted and elegantly egalitarian, but that these pronouncements about gender equality are even necessary in our modern westernized world is SURREAL.\n\nWe appear ridiculous when we are forced to pathetically proclaim what should be self evident: \nboth male and female church memhers are equal in God's sight, equally endowed with talents, and as Christians, equally called upon to proclaim the Gospel", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "After saying the door is shut, the Pope says that women have the capacity to be priests (September 28, 2015 NCR article). Despite the headlines on or about November 1, 2016 (NCR), the Pope says aboard the plane from Sweden that the teaching \"remains.\" That could mean \"endures;\" however it could mean, \"it is the status quo.\" At this point one might assume he means, \"it is a done deal.\" However -- then he says,\"it goes in that direction.\" So not a done deal, but instead, a process that has a direction. This is an enormous step forward to define the teaching not as a done deal, but as a process, perhaps a process of discernment. His affirming the Magdalene as apostle also has interesting implications. If real Christians 'don't put up walls,' as he has said, then he should begin dialoging with the organization of Roman Catholic women priests, just as he is willing to dialog with the Lutheran Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are no lay member of the FSSPX, it is a society consistingly solely of priests. Pope Francis has said the priests of this fraternity may licitly celebrate nuptial Masses for those who desire them to. This actually means that any Masses celebrated by the priests of this fellowship are undoubtedly valid but also licit and that those who receive Holy Communion at those Masses do so licitly. He has also allowed local Ordinaries to permit FSSPX priests in certain circumstances to witness the exchange of marriage vows on behalf of the Catholic Church. FSSPX priests are also permitted by Pope Francis to hear confessions and absolve sins.\nThere is no comparison whatsoever between the FSSPX and the divorced and remarried. The Catholic Church has never demanded that those whose marriages have been witnessed by an FSSPX priest or bishop be remarried or required to be subject to 'sanatio in radice'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find your assessment of bishops to not coincide with mine. I straddle the border between a diocese and an archdiocese, and both bishops and their priests consistently ran down a laundry list of social concerns the faithful Catholic was to prayerfully consider when voting. That list was very evenly divided when one considers what is typically on the GOP platform and what is typically on the DNC platform. I think your last sentence is grossly hyperbolizing and broad brushing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agree. I have over the past, say, 10 years spoken with several Muslim colleagues about religion. Or rather I tried to talk about religion. However, my Muslims colleagues typically say something along these lines: \"I don't criticize your religion so shut-up about my religion.\" This is the problem, I think. There is no tradition or example in Islam, at least not that I know of, where criticism and questioning the religion is acceptable or tolerated. It's like a taboo. And look around the so-called Islamic world - blasphemy and apostasy usually means death. This is one reason why there is a problem of integration of Muslims in the West.\n\nI believe Muslims and Islam, if they are to coexist peacefully in the West, must accept the same kind of criticism (including satire and mockery) that Christianity in the West has faced for hundreds of years since the Enlightenment. The idea that Islam must not be criticized in any way shape or form is neither acceptable nor sustainable. Media take note", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not necessarily. There was some tension between communities at the time of decolonisation (and also the creation of Israel) but Jewish communities in the Muslim world fared far, far better than their brethren in Christendom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Old Testament is a straight up nightmare, and The \"New\" Testament exceeds the evil of the \"Old\" one. Religion does indeed poison everything.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's the funniest thing I've ever read.\nChristians all the time say they are born Roman Catholic or Methodist or Episcopalian or Southern Baptist, etc.\nIt's just s way for you to selectively decide who is a Christian so that Christians are never wrong. You're the walking advertisement for \"No True Irishman\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry that your reading ability is not up to snuff. I wrote \"read\", not \"ride\".\n\nAs Mark Twain said, \"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lighting and the lighting bug.\"\n\nOhe, and real Catholics know that it is most certainly possible to disagree with the magisterium and remain solidly within the Church. You seem to be confused with the difference between the laws of God and the teachings of the magisterium. They are not necessarily the same thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks. I like the way you describe another kind of problem: those who think \"obeying the minutiae of church laws is more important than living the Gospel.\" Jesus is not in the law; He is in the heart. \n\nThe Church could even make a \"good first step\" that doesn't go as far as allowing married men and women in the priesthood if they would begin that process of looking at what priests now do that can be done by non-ordained lay people.\n\nI don't believe in the \"magic hands\" any more. Dedicated priests are good men who are trained to teach us what is good and holy and lead us in living a life of care and compassion in our dealings with one another and our reaching to God. But does it have to be an ordained priest? Faith brings Jesus to the Eucharist. Recognition of and true contrition for our sins brings God's forgiveness - a priest can guide but can neither give nor block God's power to forgive. \n\nIs it time to redefine the role of the priesthood of the believer?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess that it depends how one looks at Catholic doctrine. If one sees it as an unchangeable rock, then one would be worried that any changes are actually a chipping away. \nIf one sees Catholic doctrine as an evolving, live organism, then changes are not necessarily harmful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It makes perfect sense that you would defend this ugly, twisted view of an allegedly Christian sect. They are the absolute worst that Catholicism has to offer and yet you seem eager to defend it... THIS is what gives so-called traditional Catholics a bad name, rather it makes many of us ashamed to be associated with Catholicism at all (speaking for myself and many others that I know).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just say happy holidays and you'll be correct. Saying merry christmas is an insult to all other religions because it is disrespectful to others' beliefs. Stop saying it and show some damn courtesy. Not everyone in the world is christian, so stop acting like they are or 'should be.'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I too was puzzled by the ad, mostly because of the cherry-picking to tribe to make something true that isn't...the United Staes were never a fundamentalist Christian nation, far from it. And most Christians don't share the radical views of. Very few believers, they seem to have come to terms with a old earth, an expensive universe and believe that Jesus was a liberal...maybe the first and those at the time who were struggling with intrinsic value, not because one of was white and wealthy, but based on one's connection to god no then one's actions. And it is in that that Hobby Lobby has taken up a fight, and some of us strongly disagree. Then they buy an ad, that tried to create the false inpression of the history and values of the United States. And they will get push-back 'cause it is wrong. And that's free speech, not PC, not hate speech, just evidence of a much more complex conversation about who we are and why that is not what they said was true.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus included women as disciples. That is clear enough. The problem with the traditionalists and their institutional church is they ignores much of his example.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Franciscan, Ave Maria, Thomas Aquinas...all wonderfully vibrant Catholic schools that will help your children embrace the Faith as their own.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And when the Magisterium gives approval for a Catholic Biblical Scholar to publish with an 'imprimatur', it means the Magisterium is approving of what is written and finds nothing objectionable.\n\n'Magisterium' simply means 'teaching authority'. Approved Catholic Theologians and Biblical scholars are a part of the way the 'magisterium' functions. The 'magisterium' is more than 'the bishops'; and even some bishops , if not all, are also Biblical scholars.\n\nI presume you must know that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nature, my friend Timo, the premise is rooted in nature, not Adventism or Calvinism, or some other 'ism.' Men and women are not designed for equal purpose. You need a powerful 'ism' to believe otherwise. \n\nAs for the words of Jesus, \"You did not choose me, I chose you\" - I don't think John Calvin followers have a monopoly on the straightforward interpretation. \n\nHow do you interpret the text?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course, but you've accused him of imposing his views on others. He's merely exercising his right of free speech and using his vote as he sees fit. His views are actually orthodox Catholic views too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Refusing to be a part of a fraudulent commission designed to protect the church's reputation while doing nothing to protect children is an act of integrity. Something the pope and his cardinals lack.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Catholic I know believes any of that misrepresentation. Such caricatures distort the truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does the Holy Father believe that if someone is successful and affluent that they do not belong in the Catholic Church? Does Pope Francis think that the middle class, because they work and are not impoverished, do not deserve the good news of the Gospel? Does \"a poor church for the poor\" mean that all of the property of the Catholic Church, including the Vatican and it's vast art treasures, should be auctioned off with the proceeds going to \"The Poor\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "annexe@Western\n- it re-established the French language rights (got it Anglo Canada ?);\n-+ Catholic faith; \n-+ French civil law...\u201d\n(It\u2019s (almost) \u00ab a State into a State \u00bb, oui ?)\nIt also began what was to become a tradition in Canadian constitutional history \u2013 the recognition of certain distinct rights, \nor protections for Qu\u00e9bec \u2013in language, religion and civil law. \nJustin Trudeau;\n\"...The Liberal party of Canada recognizes that given the unique character of Qu\u00e9bec society, the Government of Qu\u00e9bec has specific responsibilities. If my party is brought to power, Canadians can be assured that my Government will respect this reality and work with enthusiasm, together with your Government, to promote the French fact and the Qu\u00e9bec culture, to Canada and abroad-\nalso, it's part of who we are as Canadians...\"\n\n\nWithout Qu\u00e9bec, NO CANADA !\nWithout Qu\u00e9bec, NO USA !\nFalse or true ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Congrats, Michael on a well-constructed speech. I would suggest that the next step is to ask, \"who believes this stuff'? And, my answer is to look behind Trump at the crowd in Melbourne, FL last week. Overwhelming white, seemingly middle class, ranging in age from early thirties to over seventy; how many of those folks made it to a Catholic parish for Mass? How many of the crowd want a \"culture of whiteness\" to continue, without caring for the least among us? Aren't our pews filled with \"alt-right\" sympathizers? What is the RCC's response?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you're not quite getting the message about what \"one\" means.\n\nUnity, the totality of union, including one with the will of God.\n\nSt Paul \"got it\" as in Romans 15:6\" \"May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to think in harmony with one another, in keeping with Christ Jesus, that with ONE accord you may with ONE VOICE glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.\"\n\nIt's the Scriptural ignorant that on the one hand demand Scripture (and only Scripture) for everything and on the other reject it when handed it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My comment was only about the freedom of conscience that allows political diversity within a Catholic moral framework. I'm not getting down in the weeds on the various healthy and unhealthy ways people form their consciences. I think you know where I stand on the current administration.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why ordain married men; why anyone? If \"priests\" are some mystically transformed \"sacrament\" dispensers established by Jesus then one really has to wonder about the whole business. So..Baptism - anyone can \"do it\" if circumstances warrant. Couples \"marry\" themselves and the \"cleric\" witnesses? If a priest is not around, I can rely on God's forgiveness. \"Confirmation\" is either sorta meaningless or it's a \"baptism booster\". As someone herein reminds us, in the absence of a priest I can do a \"spiritual communion\" - so there goes liturgical Eucharist. Sacrament of the sick (Extreme Unction - as I recall) really doesn't seem to do much. So....what's it all about Alfie? Holy Orders? Church even acknowledges that Jesus is not limited by the sacramental rites (external signs). So, we need priests to do what can be done without them? \nWe create \"lesser\" deacons to \"free up\" so priests can focus on sacraments? \"Free up\" FROM what is the real Jesus stuff- teach, console, meet, clothe..?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr. Martin has been way too respectful and even then he was tossed from American Magazine as publisher. The fact is that the hierarchy cannot handle the truth, even the personal truth of many of its members and priests, who have a sexual orientation much rarer than the homosexuals they seek to force into celibacy and the priesthood. Less common in society and more common in the clergy are those who settle into celibacy as natural for them, those of the Asexual orientation. The way to argue the theology of sex is not the merits, since the Church will argue scripture and tradition to resist, even as they are proof texting both badly. Instead, it is time to \"out them\" and demonstrate that the ancient and modern clergy of this orientation are promoting their unique sexuality and that it does not apply to the rest of us. Until the truth is revealed, we will be stuck in a morality that is not appropriate to the vast majority of us. Martin should write about that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Somewhere, at some time in our recent past, there must have been a California-sized fire when millions of voters tossed their critical thinking caps in the flames. It takes about 2.3 seconds to recognize the disparity between mouthing words of fidelity and devotion to biblical and Christian principles and ripping existing social safety nets from under poor and disadvantaged people. You can't really \"love your neighbor\" when you withdraw food, medical care and disability assistance from families (then pass along those \"savings\" as tax cuts for the privileged). Hands-on praying over the president in the Oval means zip when the next day he announces he's still waiting, pen in hand, to sign a bill that very few think is viable, let alone decent. \n\nA lot of people/voters need to buy new thinking caps and USE them to differentiate between the spoken (warped and lying) words of this administration and Congress and their actual actions. Maybe we could start something on GoFundMe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You apparently haven't read the bible, what the church binds on earth is bound in heaven. And of course, we have many examples of the Church having to put aside some of that Gospel stuff because it just doesn't work. Remember the abuse scandal? Turns out Jesus and that whole millstone business was not acceptable to the Church, which, in its inerrancy placed the protection of its reputation over the protection of the flock. Jesus went on about humility in his followers, but the Church recognizes that it is necessary to be lead by Princes, dressed as Princes, so humility for the followers of the Apostles is out. These are just a few examples where the Church had to jettison those scriptural passages that didn't work. You can have scripture, or you can have the Holy Mother Church, lead by Our Holy Father. I'll stick with the Traditions and Rituals that lead to Salvation, if you don't mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe the Christians Arabs feel more secure in Israel.\n\nIf you look in many, if not most, Muslim nations, basically Christians are classified as 2nd class citizens.\n\nTurkey- Christmas Carols banned \nIraq - Christian population reduced by 2/3rds since Saddam left\nNigeria- Christians & even some Muslims are killed or kidnapped\nSudan - More killing\nAlgeria - \"\nPakistan - Blasphemy charges resulting in death, with or without a trial\nIndonesia - Christian official charged with blasphemy\nPalestine - Pension to family for \"martyr\", among other things.\n\nWhen Gaza was returned to the Palestinians, I seen a video (CNN?), showing the Palestinians destroying the irrigation systems put in by Israelis. These were high efficient food production systems, that if been used, would have benefited the Palestinians.\n\nSounds more like many would like to have the Mid-east for Muslims only. And many leaders, hold power, by venting the culture of Jewish, & Christian hate, is to harp on Israel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am afraid I am unfamiliar with Mr Do Bee.\nAs far as my comments are concerned my conscience is quite clear that none of them are homophobic. I have written nothing which can be construed as expressing hatred or fear of homosexuals. I have written nothing that can't be found in the Scriptures, the Catechism or any other teachings of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The author writes\n:...\"such as the Spanish Inquisition (Christianity) and, more recently, the fanatic Jewish settlers in Israel\u2019s Occupied Territories whose religious claims to the land eschew the rights of others.\"\nWow, I never thought that I'd see the terms \"Spanish Inquisition\" and \"Fanatic Jewish Settlers\" in such close proximity in print, and the implication that there is some equivocation between them. At least without some sense that there is a substantial difference in scale and quality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With this anti-movement in truth so prevalent, why do we have a seminary--Andrews University or any professors? Don't we believe those who have researched and studied the Scriptures their entire careers given to the service of God? Shouldn't we listen to such godly persons or do we put our views ahead of them?\n\n We have our different cultures and opinions that stubbornly go against Christ and His love. Now that is real rebellion. It doesn't care about evangelism in other places. (Sabbath is usually not accepted for cultural reasons.)\n\n God reaches people where they are and is patient with their growth. (Remember that harems were once the custom.) Can't we allow each brother and sister to grow in Christ as He has revealed Himself to them? To do otherwise is to commit oneself to the beast and its image whose goal is to divide and conquer and to take away our freedom to think under the Spirit that has spoken to us in our location. We must do nothing to squelch the Spirit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, good news, its all fixed, or as you pointed out earlier, never happened, wasn't all that bad, everyone does it, the media, everyone's out to get the church, etc. Odd, though, that there should be good news if the earlier posting that there really wasn't anything happening is correct. How can there be an improvement if nothing needed improving? I think it would be better to say what you and I, and all True Catholics must believer: the Facts are what the Church says they are, and to think otherwise is probably putting ones immortal soul at risk.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If it loses those I wold no longer have any desire to be Catholic....\"\nYou obviously not only understand the love of Church that seeks its emancipation from injustice but lack the faith the impels one who loves, dissents because of that love yet stays.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure what you mean by \"progressivism\". \nBut I am pretty sure Duplessis(who was supported by the Catholic Church)is considered one of the most corrupt politicians in Canadian history. The people who spurred the Quiet Revolution of the 50's and 60's were labour activists, intellectuals and artists. If there were a few priests and nuns in there, you can be sure that they were under huge amounts of pressure to shut up.\nAs for Alabama, Missisippi and other states... those movements were spearheaded by liberal and left wing (yes I said it) activists who had support in the northern states who were able to feed money and resources to their family and friends in the south. Activists were able to create coalitions with churches in those southern communities. The Martin Luther Kings were a minority in southern religious communities. \nStanding up against corporate greed has rarely been spearheaded by religious institutions. They too often benefit from it and power structures behind it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are very loyal to Church Teaching. When history presents a different story. I prefer history. The RCC teaches the Gospels were written by Catholics. I think the Jewish authors would be surprised.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"...American Catholics helped to elect an administration that has been the most stubbornly unfriendly to religious believers, institutions, concerns and liberty in generations,\u201d he said.\"\n- Now Archbishop Charles relates the core of his perspective, the lens through which he interprets the secular world in which he lives.\n- He is so angry at American Catholics helping to elect an administration who he accuses as being the most stubbornly unfriendly to religious believers, religious institutions, and religious liberty that he is completely unable to read emails referencing anything catholic without gall.\n- No doubt the hard hard hard stone in the center of this anger is that no one in this country, because of religious liberty, thinks that a bishop or the bishops are the best sources of information about what it means to be catholic in a secular society, and how a catholic balances religion, faith, and belief within that society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "American \u201cyoung people\u201d currently cannot buy guns, it is an adult-only proposition.\n\nThe issue of Muslims is irrelevant to the dicussion.\n\nNeither bears on the Catholic moral consideration of gun ownership.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Anglican Church has had its share of internal fights and arguments. These often drive people away. I don't really know enough about other mainline churches to be able to talk about the reasons for their declines.\nI do think that it would be worthwhile for the Catholic Church to look at the reason of the loss in membership. I know that many people talk about small home-churches being the future. But what happens when one does not know people who are interested in that? I think that organized religion can serve an important role in society, but it seems that those in charge don't really want to do so. I think that's a shame.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent memories of Christmas past. A few years back I was working in a place that had a variety of races and religions and we all got along well. One individual was a muslim and a very smart and well spoken man. I wished him a Merry Christmas and initially he seemed to dislike my Christmas greeting. We discussed it and I asked him if he would be upset if he wished me well on Ramadan in what ever traditional way is called for and I took exception to it. He told me he would understand if that would upset me. I asked him if by giving a Ramadan greeting, he was insulting me or wishing bad things to me? He thought about it and told me that he would not be wishing bad for me. I then informed him that I would take it in the spirit it was given, even if it were not a Christian greeting and could he also take my greeting in the spirit given? Thinking about my statement, he then smiled and said, yes and wished me a very Merry Christmas. That was a very good day. Nothing bad about being nice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unable to win militarily, and aping the Indian Independence Movement tactics, the Palestinians have moved to economic warfare - make occupation economically expensive.\n\nSeriously injuring the enemy is economically more damaging than killing him. Using non-military tool (trucks, hijacked at that) to ram into Jews injures more than kills, making most of the injured economically unproductive, nay a burden on the rest forever.\n\nWith time on their side Palestinians know they can not lose. Trump/Netanyahu knee jerk reaction will only worsen the conflict.\n\nBalfour will be laughing in his grave. Creation of Israel was a move to break the 1,300 year old Sunni muscle /Jewish finance cartel that had terrorized Christians continually, blocking East-West trade and financing inter-Christian wars. \n\nBrilliant Balfour - simply brilliant. Since creation of Israel there has been no inter-Christian war in Europe !!!\n\nBalfour and Hitler had same goal - rid Europe of Jews. Different tactics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stalin was a Georgian running a Russian Communist Empire (he appealed to Russian patriotism in WW2 , with reference to Russian heroes like Nevsky, Suvorov, etc) . First proof of diversity.\n\nAnd the USA is still run by one race and gender. Look at their President and Cabinet. Most of them belong to the same race and gender as 30 percent of the population. Even Obama is half of that race. He wasn't fully from the other race or gender.\n\nLet's take the Ottoman Empire as an example. The Janissaries were Christian children from the Balkans who were converted to Islam. They were the stormtroopers of the empire. Most of the traders were Greek or Armenian. The poets were Persian. The Viziers were usually non Turks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A 2011 study by the Pew Research Center found there were 122 million Pentecostals and 110 million Evangelicals in Sub-Saharan Africa, meaning their combined total at 232 million outpaced the number of African Catholics at 200 million. Given explosive growth rates, it\u2019s likely that gap has widened over the six years since the survey.\" (cruxnow.com)\n\"The share of Brazil\u2019s overall population that identifies as Catholic has been dropping steadily in recent decades, while the percentage of Brazilians who belong to Protestant churches has been rising. Smaller but steadily increasing shares of Brazilians also identify with other religions or with no religion at all, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Brazilian census data.\" (pewforum.org)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "YOU keep your poor excuse for the practice of Christianity out of your discussions of groups that center themselves on Christian/Catholic ideals.\nWhat has made these groups wonderful is that they fully live up to what a Christian is supposed to be in today's world. Is the practice of Christianity supposed to be a \"private affair\"? That is an excuse that those not acquainted with the Church's Social Gospel, trip over all the time. \n\nThe heart of the common good is an on-going action, , foundational to, but distinct from all the other public, much less private, goods we pursue. The common good of Catholic social thought is an ongoing acting that must be maintained in act\n\nIt ought to strike believers who have stood strongly against Western individualism and the privatizing of religion as something of a tragedy---tha we can do not better. We can, and we must.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow newsreader, you don't read me right. I had 22 year of Roman Catholic Education including 2 advanced degrees in this system. I learned to think on my own and you my friend seemed to have learn to follow the instructions of authoritarian leaders....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With pacifism on one end of the continuum and rabid ranting war mongering on the other, it seems Jesus tended to be closer to pacifism. Your misinterpretation of Jesus' teachings is sad. Your reliance on the old testament is a sure sign of desperation. The fact is, Jesus never defended himself, and neither did his followers for hundreds of years. He never advocated violence, in self defense, or in the defense of others. He seemed to rely solely on God, and expect his followers to do the same. You rely upon one line of gospel for your advocacy of military might. While your argument may be logical, that does not necessarily mean it is Christian. Jesus may very well have expected his followers to be total pacifists and he may very well have expected his followers to endure martyrdom. They did for the first centuries, and the Word spread.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Donald Trump will face intense verbal arm-twisting from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other G7 leaders to stay in the Paris climate change accord and to be more open-minded about the benefits of free trade.\"\n\nAfter seeing Donald pushing himself past the Prime Minister of Montenegro and then adopting his intense 'Merican eagle like glare/stare and then his fellow businessman Republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte \"body-slamming\" a reporter in Montana...maybe Donald would understand if the three leaders to his right and the other three to his left of him in the middle of a G7 photo op would grasp his tiny hands and twist his arms right off...\n\nThen I awoke from my daydream...SNL's final show was last Saturday...my vision of Alex Baldwin standing there no arms spurting fake blood from both shoulders and Melissa McCarthy yelling...\"I told you as a Catholic you should have let me meet the Pope instead of Jared and Ivanka\"...was lost...maybe Alex builds an Ark on 5th Avenue?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"The Vatican office that handles affairs relating to the Catholic church's liturgical practices has confirmed that Pope Francis has decided not to renew the terms of several of its bishop-members, many of whom are known for preferring a more traditionalist practice of liturgy.\"\n- Hopefully the CDW will revise the JPII sacramentary / missal taking out or revising out the bits that reinforce clericalism.\n- Hopefully the CDW will allow the English speaking bishops to publish the sacramentary / missal that they approved in 1998.\n- Hopefully everyone who has participated in or aided and abetted Vox Clara will be dismissed from any role that gives them influence on the translations, and clerical formation.\n- Hopefully the CDW will contact bishops in all diocese and ask them to identify clerics who are in parishes who pine for the 'mass of old' so that they might be admonished and to make sure that they are not on any terna.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe the consideration would be 'assisted suicide'. You do agree with the Council of Chalcedon 351 CE that Jesus is fully human and fully divine. As part of the God head Jesus certainly would be all knowing, and that what prophecized activities included his death as carried out. Thus, he was 'complicit' in His death. Whether married or not, your guess is as good as anyone elses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, it does not. Quite the opposite, in fact. John's Gospel has it that Jesus affirms his kingship, but qualifies that affirmation by stating that his Kingdom IS NOT OF THIS WORLD. Curiously, the Catholic feast of Christ the King is of relatively recent origin, and once played against Reformation Sunday in Protestant and Anglican calendars! Thankfully, and Hallelujah!, that changed with the reforms in the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar after Vatican II.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The use of the term \"faith-based\" is a misnomer. It is blatantly fundamentalist christian. If faith-based programs are to be allowed, all other faiths must be given the same access, i.e., Islam, Buddhist, Hindu, etc. Even atheist programs without the absence of religion should be allowed. Then, let the prisoners choose.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because that would be the start of actual Gender Segregation and the extreme abuse of all women in our church. This represent a great attack against the human dignity of women. Shame on us for even considering this form of segregation. There is no reason not to protest the evil done women in our church and demand this Pope ordain women equally and to priesthood immediately. We should refuse all men optional celibacy by protesting against any parish that is sent such a priest. \n\nHow easily we supposed Christians accept the Hatred of others and are willing to espouse it. \n\nDo unto to others as you would have them do unto you. Catholics, sadly, are becoming less and less Christian everyday. How can we blame our young for not bothering to come to a church of hate and abuse. \n\nJesus does not teach us that we should seek greater access to Holy Eucharist by the oppression and abuse of the Human Dignity of our sisters. This is what Satan, not God, suggests. How blind & nasty we are!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LG, that's your idea of things. You are picking and choosing what the imaging is about too. In American Catholicism, we do both on the tongue and in the hand. To me, communion in hand is closer to an imaging of the Last Supper. I don't need to lounge chair set up for me. Don't be ridiculous. \n\n\nI'm speaking within American Catholicism and, in my parish, people mostly take communion in hand. A few do on the tongue, and fewer find a way onto the floor before they receive. I don't poke at them or complain, although they do sometimes cause people behind them to pile up and stumble a bit. It's just what happens.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe there is more than one issue Catholic voters need to consider.\n\nThe poor, the hungry, the disenfranchised...are as important if not more important than abortion. You must also consider abortions have declined since there are safe places to have them. Just because you make abortions illegal does not mean they will stop...the back alley abortion business will increase and more women will die.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(NOTE: I am a Christian)\nI'm somewhat alright with Putin annexing the Russian Federation with the Russian Orthodox church, however, some Russian citizens, who are not \"ethnic\" Russians and hence not observe Russian Orthodoxy, are still dispersed throughout the nation, which is the largest in area (though not population). That's the key problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Aww, I guess that was your cue to wail about persecution. Spare me the drama. And who's this \"them\"? Like I said, I'm a cradle Catholic.\n\nThis whole digression began when I challenged your assertion that \"The martyr must have died specifically for being Catholic.\"\n\nEdith Stein wasn't gassed \"specifically\" for being Catholic. That is false. She died \"specifically\" for being Jewish. It is indeed the mark of a fanatic to deny the plain facts in defense of, not even a point of theological conviction, but of a religious institution.\n\nIf anything, Stein was a Jewish martyr, as was the Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Last time I checked,\nThe Klan was full of white male Christians with white pillow cases over their heads and two slits cut out for eyes.\nSo repressive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop Helmsing was of course right. NcR is indeed a divisive paper. You're free to follow the Catholic Press Association if you wish, I will be following Jesus Christ and his Church, I pray others do the same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God created our bodies to be sexually complimentary to the opposite sex. That is God's plan of creation and the natural order. No creatures have same sex orientation. All male and female creatures are by the design of their bodies sexually complimentary to the opposite sex. Sexual deviance comes from original sin, not from nature. Sodomy is contrary to nature. It has been condemned by saints and the magisterium as a grave sin, an abomination cries for the vengeance of heaven, and in Catholic nations sodomites were punished with the death penalty. Christ destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of sodomy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Someone needs to convince the Catholic Church to rethink their contraception policy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is around the dinner table, eating mom's home cooking that Jewish kids are taught the values of study and scholarship, to be a mensch and donate to the local philharmonic orchestra, hospital or university. It is the place where young Christians are taught to go and do good works to help others, like missionary medical work, like helping women in remote and hostile places needing child care. It is where Muslim are taught to kill Jews and Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...it is absolutely appropriate that Islam is not represented.\"\n\nThere are too many law-abiding, decent American Muslims in the US to exclude them, to exclude a religious representative of their faith community. We are all brothers and sisters, citizens of this country. No one can boast of American tolerance and civility if some Americans are excluded. \n\n\nSo at the prayer service, we will have -- a white male Catholic, a white female Evangelical Protestant, a white male Evangelical Protestant, a black male Protestant, a brown male Evangelical Protestant, and a white male Jew. And of course, the service will be at a white mainline Protestant church -- the Episcopal National Cathedral. All the more to have an American Muslim cleric present!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God help us, who are the other 32 Catholic advisors to Trump?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the gospels, Jesus told his disciples that he will send the Holy Spirit to them after he leaves them. No mention of an institutional church as it wasn't created yet. Later the institutional presented a different teaching that the Holy Spirit speaks through the church. \nGod is consciousness and teaches many of us to follow Jesus and the Spirit of Jesus today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, it will be a new war or new cold war! Too bad we can't learn to live together in peace.\nJesus gave us a new paradigm for all religions to accept and live a life of love and peace.\nToo bad the religions, including Christian, are rejecting Him and follow their own will.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have an intuition -- I have not researched it, nor am I aware of any studies that have addressed it -- that the difference that Vatican II made with respect to clerical sexual abuse has less to do with the frequency of abuse and more to do with the willingness of victims and their families to confront it. Stated differently, I think the generation of Catholics who entered the 1980s as adults and as parents had been formed in a Vatican II ecclesiology which taught that they had rights and duties as members of the church. If they were still deferential to the clergy, they were less so that their parents were; if priests were still on a pedestal, the pedestal was lower and the parents of victims were willing to take down the priests who harmed their children. The post-Vatican II parents were less willing than earlier generations to go away in silence. Vatican II taught them to think and act as adults in the church, and many of them took that teaching seriously.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good points.\n\nJustification and salvation are slightly different aspects of a restored relationship with God. \n\nFaith, working through grace. \n\n\"Judgment\" is used in different senses in the Bible.\n\nIn one place Jesus says if a sinner doesn't give up his ways we should eventually \"Rebuke him\".\n\nThat's pretty \"judgemental\" by some standards today.\n\nThere is final judgment which is God's alone, and there are the judgments we must make as Christians to help one another grow closer to God. Those must be done charitably, properly, with the highest intention possible, after much prayer, perhaps consultation with a well formed authority, prayer over the relevant points in the Catechism etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/vatican-officials-warn-against-division-over-amoris-laetitia\n\n\u201cHe recalled that in 1994, under the then-prefect Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI), the congregation had rejected the suggestion by three German bishops that, in individual cases, divorced and remarried Catholics be allowed to receive Communion.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe indissolubility of marriage must remain \u2018the unshakable basis of any pastoral accompaniment,\u2019 M\u00fcller emphasized.\u201d\n\nThat certainly did not work out well for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And I am sure till some point the kids in Pakistani Catholic schools also sang Christian hymns - but I am not sure till when and will confirm.\n\nI don't assume that I know everything about Pakistan. Unlike others in this forum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe because this publication is devoted to broadening an understanding of Catholicism and not of Satanism?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The dominant \"private\" healthcare ownership and resulting pricing operation is owned by the Roman Catholic Church corporations across the nation and quickly gobbling up more aspects throughout the nation. Add on the massive housing complexes owned by Nun-created corporations feeding on social security, welfare, and subsidy payments while claiming tax-exempt status and care for the homeless. All in the interests of \"charity\" and good christian works. All restricted by Catholic dogma.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, sneering at my thesis. It\"seems what I should expect of you, showing both arrogance and ignorance. Neither of which fits in with the humble Christianity you claim to follow. \n\n What I did was demonstrate that a particular rather popular pseudo-random number algorithm did not generate a string of numbers that approximated actual random numbers. The problem was not individual numbers, but rather groups of numbers, which repeated too quickly. It was a non-trivial task to do show this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, you are proclaiming what is often called \u2018the law of the jungle\u2019 that ensures the survival of the strong at the expense of the weak. It is a well-known fact that life-expectancy is much lower for people living in poverty than for the affluent. How does a baby take \u2018responsibility\u2019 for the serious damage to health that results from being born into a poor family? How does a family take \u2018responsibility\u2019 for the crushing health debt incurred in a car accident that wasn\u2019t their fault? \n\nYou are quite mistaken! Pope Francis, and the UN Declaration of Human Rights say health care is a right, and not a privilege that comes with wealth. When you say it\u2019s not a right, you reduce an essential of life to just another commodity to be bought and sold in the marketplace. It might be good business, but it is barbaric and most definitely is not Christian. Not providing health care for all is simply not compatible with an ethic of life - as Jesus makes quite clear in Matthew 25:31-46.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Christian and an American I do not approve. If we stand by and let them take away freedoms from people we disagree with we will be next.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you MikeAA for your for your comment. but the question was is God's Word inviolate?\n \nA Contradiction\nWe have a contradiction as Christians we are taught by the Church that God\u2019s Word(Will) is Inviolate\nBut the church teaches in private revelation even a Direct Command from God endorsed by the church. We can take or leave.\nIt abdicates its responsibility and confuses the laity which causes division\nThe subject matter concerning the revelation of God\u2019s Word (Will) to St.Fuastina Divine Mercy demonstrates that the concept of a divide between Private and Public Revelation (as stated by the church) is flawed.\nIt permit\u2019s the hand (will) of man to control God\u2019s Word (Will) without taking responsibility for their actions. It pass\u2019s the responsibility to the laity and in so doing denigrates God\u2019s Word and undermines the authority of the apostles successors.\nIt is written \u201cYou shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve\u201d.\nMan was made for God and not God for man\ncont", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings.....while I was reading and assimilating this article I thought to myself how much Rep.Paul Ryan's new Republican budget does not embrace our family values! This man goes home every weekend to his family and is a practicing Catholic. Rep Ryan needs a Jesuit retreat on the Beatitudes and the proper use of them as practicing Catholic!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The latest Trump escalation to approving all-out violence on all journalists and media outlets by displaying a false video of himself body-slamming CNN. Chortling Tweet from the mind of a madman. Taking a page from the Gianforte, Montana Representative, who got away with body-slamming a real journalist on video. Got elected and got off with a slap on the wrist. Meanwhile running on his Christian Evangelistic Fundamentalism to the point of 6000 year old earth and humans running with the Dinosaurs. Adding to the insanity ruling CONgress, Executive, and Supreme Court based on Republican purest ideology. Time for a Revolution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good that he was found. And is no longer.\n\nWe see the Islamic terrorist attacks happening in Europe. All done in the name of Islam.\n\nWe see what happened in Australia this week when a truck rammed a building belonging to a Christian organization. Same truck ramming to destroy as in the south of France, same as just happened in Germany.\n\nAre we expected to open our arms wide to Islam coming into Canada? Are we expected to accept a society that refuses to integrate? Are we expected to accept a society that keeps its women under Middle Ages wraps while the men dress in Western clothing...who view women as inferior?\n\nGlobe, why did you not report the Australian incident?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the biggest surprises when I finished active duty in the Army was the number of folks who, when I knew them and their families of origin some 25+ years ago were \"active\" Catholics, but who are now not involved in any way with the church. The few times we have talked about this it just seems that they see no value for them in \"going to church\" anymore. Their family lives are wholesome, they are active in various forms of helping others, and are doing quite well. All of them went to catholic schools at least through grade 12. They are fairly open in discussing these things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This flies in the face of religious freedom as guaranteed by our constitution. There are radicals in every religion and Christians are certainly not exempted. I believe it has no place in government at all. Our assembly members can pray/meditate any time they want to before the meeting times. It might also help with their decision making, if they would open the meeting agenda packet they receive some 10 days prior to the meeting. That would be a novel idea, as I've been witness to many assembly members and planning commissioners that never opened the packet until the meeting opened. What a waste of time and money, not to mention the diminishing of character and integrity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not all the founding fathers were Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have had Catholics and Protestants as leaders of our country. Why not let others lead. Who cares what they believe in? The main issue is Governing Responsibly . Give some other kinds of people a chance. People are People are People.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remember when Christians chose the freedom to act in any way they wanted at their own business and hung signs that said \"no [blacks], no Jews, no Natives, no Irish...\" Before America became all politically correct? \nShame on Minnerys and the whiney Christian extremists acting like their rights are more important than average Americans. \nShameful!!!!!\nIf not for the spirit and grace of the Politically Correct, the Minnerys would be exiled from the community. \"No Minnerys or Whiney Religious Extremists\" signs would pop up on Alaska businesses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Conservatives certainly believed that THEY controlled the Church during the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The notion that Jesus was speaking metaphorically when he told the apostles to arm themselves with swords is refuted by common sense --- including yours --- and by most Christian interpretation of Scripture. Nothing in that passage argues for the aggressive use of swords. That's obvious. But given what's equally obvious --- that the apostles would soon be in great danger --- Jesus meant to tell them it was permissible to arm themselves in self-defense. That, indeed, is the common-sense and commonly accepted interpretation of the passage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would like to add that since Christ was part of the creation a.k.a Word in John's Gospel, and Christ was the alpha and omega (beginning and end), Jesus came to us a human with biological parents Mary and Joseph. I say that because Jesus was a decedent of King David through Joseph according to Mathew in the Gospels. \nJesus also was Christ and in that role his father was God. And after his death and resurrection he returned to be Christ. \nBut it is more important, that we see God in his Message. The Way, the Reign of God, Beatitudes, and His Parables teach about God and how to become like God through our kindness, love, forgiveness, and relationship.\nIt is our effort and ability to transform daily our lives that we find God in ourselves and others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "well--- in all honesty I have attended very few ''non-catholic'' services. on the whole, I was not impressed or moved. just as in the RCC, services can be a pile of contradictions. i.e. I attended an episcopal funeral and was thrilled when the presider( a woman) invited and encouraged EVERYONE present to approach the alter for Communion. !!! wonderful.....but on the other side, the language used was so incredibly sexist!. one would think that 'women' did not even exist...just men! my own personal conclusion is that nothing can replace the RCC Vat 2 services. my own assessment of the ''failure'' of these services is that 'everything happened too quickly.' i.e. one day we are told that it is a sin to talk in church; the next day we are hugging' and loving' during church. one can only hope that the return to reflective 'variety' will allow us the freedom to find that which is most meaningful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "May I suggest that \"an honest Christian,\" if he or she was intellectually honest (Are not all honest Christians intellectually honest?) might reply that a literal reading of the Genesis creation narratives might be interpreted so that one might think that. \n\nHowever, this honest Christian might also continue to say that in modern times, God has allowed humans to better understand the history of this planet through scientific research.\n\n We know that ancient Hebrews believed that the earth was flat. We also know that they were wrong. Scientific research has determined that our interpretation that the ancient Hebrew believed that every living thing was created in 6 literal \"days\" turns out also to have been in error.\n\nWe now know that dinosaurs became extinct millions of years before human beings appeared on this planet. And so, the answer to the question would be: \"No, we know that dinosaurs and humans did not live on earth at the same time.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a victory Satan is having. While SDA's are arguing about church leadership, other faiths are preaching the grace of God, righteousness by faith and the second advent of Jesus. \n\nBut there are those who are concentrating on their relationship with Jesus within the church so don't be discouraged. \n\nSatan used a woman to destroy the church in the beginning, and he's using woman to do the same in the end. If woman feel a calling to spread the gospel, there is no need of a position or title to qualify them. Only the presence of the Holy Spirit. \n\nYes, the old boys club has been violated by women. Wouldn't it be better to drop the subject and get back on track with the mission at hand. Go into all the world! After all the commission isn't limited to one gender, but ordination is. \n\nWhat is being demonstrated to the members of the church and the world is one big power struggle which has nothing to do with the gospel but everything to do with ego. \n\nWho sits on the left and right anyways?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's not the point of the Dubia. It allows Pope Francis to confirm that AL affirms the infallibly declared doctrine that men and women living in adulterous relationships refrain from receiving the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. Pope Francis isn't refusing to claim something infallible, he's choosing not to confirm that his writing is in line with what has already been declared infallible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Quebeckers like to think of themselves as a secular people, but their attachment to cultural Catholicism runs deep.\"\n\nAnd why wouldn't it run deep?\nWhy shouldn't it run deep?\n\nIs Justin going to stamp out this attachment to cultural Catholicism with his \"Diversity\"\n\nAnyway, cultural Catholicism is a form of secularism, like Christmas Trees and Merry Christmas even if you are an atheist", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But not our pride, self-respect, principles, and place in history as a people who did not cave in the face of gargoyle politics and undeserved power. Thank goodness neither Scheer nor Harper are PM at this time. Each would be so thrilled by Pence's push for the Christian god's kingdom on earth, Trump's roll back of environmental protections, and amped up tea party continuation of gonzo capitalism that we'd be a U.S. state by now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Unchristian Christian, Would I give up my love for \"Golf\" because the only course close enough for me to play is an instrument of Donald Trump, Inc., whom/which I detest?\nBy the way, the \"organization\" is not controlling me and you do show disrespect for other Christian expressions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The rest of the Gospel - making disciples.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Odendall, Sehnaoui, and Archbishop Tomasi have been involved with Boeselager regarding a very large bequest to the Order \" and Parolin's appointment of his brother are facts. You cannot dispute nor disprove any of NCRegister's Vatican reporting and over the years, I have always found it to be reliable. The four cardinals released their dubia as a group. (mondayvatican.com)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If we were discussing Christian right wing armed compounds, I am quite sure you would be spewing a different line of rhetoric. I find your defense of this group using the second amendment hysterical.\nDem hypocrisy knows no bounds. You are correct about one thing that Mr. Jones ignores, this group is indeed arming these compounds with more than bird guns and doing military style drilling. \nWhether that is prep for terrorist activity or peaceful citizens exercising their rights could certainly be a topic for debate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Five questions. Five answers. Five words, and all of this ends. These are very simple, direct questions about some fundamental teachings of the Church. And right now, no one but Pope Francis knows the answer. I look to the Church for guidance, as do untold millions of Catholics across the world. (And for a convert like me, it's especially important, since I don't have that \"Catholic mentality\" yet). When no one can agree on what the teaching says, it's incumbent upon the Pope to clarify. Again, five words, and this pointless conflict ends. It would take only seconds to help heal a growing divide in the Church.\n\nAnd so can someone here please explain to me why this is still an issue?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The seamless garment argument is as true now as when Archbishop Bernardin first articulated it. It was well thought out exactly to defuse the crazy \"Catholic voting responsibilities\" rhetoric that has continued to dog us generations later. People should read Joseph Ratzinger's memorandum on Catholic voters considering proportional reasons when they vote. They should also read St Thomas Aquinas' dissertations on the preeminence of conscience. Visiting either or both of these sources should be a sobering experience for those in the pews who are playing it fast and loose with the truth--as LifeSiteNews and Priests For Life are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Given the limited number of characters we are permitted on this site, I could not possibly list every single teaching we are not free to dissent on. I mean, surely you don't expect me type every single decree and definition from a council do you? I doubt you would dissent from the teaching of Nicaea...though you never know with liberals...\n\nI brought those issues up because they are the hot button issues today that liberal Catholics think they can dissent on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That he was! Although, to be honest, there was a lot of going back and forth between Orthodoxy and the Ruthenian and Ukrainian Catholic Churches. What is St Luke's Byzantine Catholic Church was originally a Ukrainian Catholic parish. In it's 100+ years, that parish was Russian Orthodox twice. Both times they got into an argument with the Ukrainian Catholic bishop over something and became Orthodox, but a few years later went back to being Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\nThe real issue is not whether all humanity obeys Jesus, but whether anyone does; and if anyone does, who are the obedient ones? The war makers? Or the peace makers?\nDuring the long season \"between the times\", the followers of Jesus have learned to go along to get along; it was not always like that, and Father Berrigan reminds us that it won't be like that when at last the reign of God is fully established.\nI wonder if, when I meet God face to face, I'll be counted among the lukewarm: I don't want to live in a country without an army; I am shamed by that. When the Vietnam war was heating up, I supported it -- but I didn't join the army. After the bombing in Cambodia, and influenced by the Berrigans and others, I came to oppose the war -- but I didn't burn my draft card. Had I been drafted, I'd have gone. I have tried to embrace Christian non-violence, but I have fallen short of it in so many ways.\nWhen Fr. Berrigan met Jesus, he was not found to be \"lukewarm.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The term the 'Holy Sacrifice of the Mass' came much, much later in church history.\"\nReally? The phrase, perhaps, but the Didache, written before the turn of the First Century, refers to the Eucharist as sacrifice as do both Clement (also in the First Century) and Justin Martyr, writing only 70 years later.\n\"When did Jesus present his Father that way?\"\nMatt. 20: 18-19 and 26:39, Mark 10:45, Luke 23:46. Outside of the Gospel accounts there are numerous others from Scripture that further demonstrate the necessity of Jesus' sacrifice.\nI do agree that statues, kneelers, are not constituent to the faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 3\nloved in confidence, in that we are acceptable and embraced when we acknowledge Him/Truth in humility (our fallen state).\n\nJesus teaches us The Way in His act of atonement, obedience to the Truth/love and in doing so fulfils these words\n\n\u201cBut a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him\u201d.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I've already said, if you can show that the information presented is incorrect, slanted, biased, or other inaccurate, please do so. Your simply believing a website is unreliable does not make it so, unfortunately :) \n\nLars said this: \"All of them- up to and including today\u2019s Congress- calls a Christian invocation before every session.\" He said nothing about who offers these invocations, just they are always Christian in content. This is not true. You are correct about the Chaplain, but this is immaterial to our discussion since Lars never mentioned it and I made no claims relating to the Chaplain--thanks for the info though: irrelevant to this discussion as it was, it's still based in truth and factual reality, unlike most of the claims made in this thread.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR has become far less Catholic focused, and more interested in the temporal affairs of humans, mainly politics. It doesn't do this very well. \n\nThe aim of the Catholic Church is supernatural only.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sounds like just another Gun Grabbing Democrat Propaganda article. While completely ignoring \"Why Islamic State would target Las Vegas Nevada\" and or Claim to have demanded, Ordered, the Attack. Hint if you don't know start researching what is at Clark County Nevada. This also would be part of the Muslims' 109 Suras of the 114 Suras of the Holy Koran's Written Declared War Against Christians, Jews, Unbelievers. As far as the other Mass Murders, involving Firearms at the U.S., the Study Demanded by President Obama done by Vice President Biden explained everything too well, \"Culture of Violence\", as basically the young are being raised on the Violence of Video Games, and Violence in Movies, Media to the point that is normal acceptable behavior, the proof being the things that imitate art like all the Vehicle Mass Murders that are like Mr. Mercedes (TV Series).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the link. I still have enough of the Catholic tradition in me that I can't bring myself to accept the idea of a priest breaking the seal of confession, but I think canon law should require a person who confesses a crime against a child to surrender in order to receive absolution. \nDuring the U.S. presidential primary, at one point Donald Trump's marital infidelities and serial sexual offenses were front and center in the campaign. The only surrogate willing to defend him on the Sunday talk shows was Rudy Giuliani, a thrice married Catholic who was also famously unfaithful to his wives. When an interviewer suggested that he might not be the best person to defend Trump given his own cheating, Rudy responded, glibly, that \"everybody does that. I just tell my priest,\" thus giving credence to one of the most egregious anti-Catholic canards: that confession allows Catholics to keep re-offending. Requiring someone who has harmed a child to surrender would close the revolving door.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But that is the point.....our current (and past for almost 100 years) can no longer sustain themselves. Some well-known orders have already \"collapsed\" by folding their few remaining members into other, related congregations. As for being \"attractive,\" by which I assume you mean creating interest in the affiliate groups, my sense is that it is already happening with those orders creative enough, and committed enough, to creating that future for themselves. An outstanding example, in my mind, are the Marianists (Society of Mary) who have various types of related groups, some of whom make \"Promises\" to the community, some belong to a Sodality based on the structure of the original congregation, and so on. You may want to check them out. Where there is a will, there is always a way. It is useful to look at it in reverse: what is it now that keeps many Catholic away from our doors? If we listen to the answers, the way forward is clearer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "from Berig in Rochester\n\nsource: Wiki\nPeople of the Book (Arabic: \u0623\u0647\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0643\u062a\u0627\u0628 \u200e\u200e \u2032Ahl al-Kit\u0101b) is an Islamic term referring to Jews, Christians, and Sabians and sometimes applied to members of other religions such as Zoroastrians.[1]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's been about 15 years since I read the book but it seemed to me at the time that the actual transition and mechanism of that transition from a Democratic government to Gilead was pretty sketchy in the story. I didn't think it was all that plausible (essentially Christian fanatics just machine gun Congress and POOF - United States of Saudi Arabia).\n\nBut regardless of whether or not you think the story was plausible, the connection with Donald Trump is lost on me. I can think of few politicians who have less in common with Gilead as described in HT as Trump. In fact, he is pretty much the antithesis of what Gilead represents. I can only presume that the comparison is just a very thinly veiled rehash of the \"war on women\" rehetoric that's been leveled against the Republicans for years. It has pretty much nothing to do with Trump, who is a sexist boor, but as far from a fundamentalist Christian misogynist as... well... ummm... anyone, ever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This scandal was the beginning of the end for the Catholic Church's status in Ireland that it had enjoyed since the De Valera era.\n\nI heard him give a 45 minute homily at a Mass at a music festival. He was oblivious when people started walking out on him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but for about 40 years, Vatican II didn't get to be promoted much. This was because we had two popes who thought that Catholicism should be like the church that they remembered from their boyhoods---provincial, \nand pretty isolated from the rest of Europe [Poland---isolated from Western Europe as well as North America]. So Vatican II is not past its expiration date. Sadly too many Catholics are living as though the Church [which we all are] are still in the 1920's.\n\n\nVatican II DID focus on Jesus' teachings, especially in the Constitution \"Dei verbum\"---the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. From the Middle Ages through the Protestant Reformation to Vatican II----Catholics really didn't know what Sacred Scripture taught. They had to depend upon the church leaders 'to tell them' like little children do. With this document [and others as well] Catholic were urged to hold fast to the Scriptures through reading, study, and prayer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...as much as Pope Francis & others might desire them\"\nInteresting way to pose it. \"Desire\" is as effective as praying for gun control. \nAs a \"trinitarian\" it would seem that \"God the Parent created us\"; \"God the Word\" redeemed us, and we think that waiting for \"God the Spirit\" to move us is an excuse for intransigence. (Did God-ot ever come). \nThere's something to be said for the metaphor of Church as \"Body of Christ\" maturing. But when real harm is caused and abetted by fixated adolescent refusal to take responsibility for adultship, its antecedents and consequences, then it's time to take decisive action. \"Wishing\" is then recalcitrance, is complicit.\nThis month of recalling M.Luther's 500 year old break is clearly a call for the real orthodoxy of an adult church to risk alienating the recalcitrant in the perversity of their childish self interest. When such self-interest contributes to real harm, then it is time. It is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. Not sure where you're going with this? I don't doubt some Christians own guns, but so what? Maybe they like target shooting? It's the usage and intent that matters. \n2. Homosexuality is not a 'sin'. One's personal choice to act upon inappropriate desires however, is. \n3. Voting is a civic duty; None of the Canadian parties have platforms which are both socially and fiscally conservative; hence there is always the need to compromise.\n4. It comes down to bi-lateral respect. Not race, country of origin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By \"Catholics\", Trid means \"ME!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder if Mr. Winters' dismissive comments about another Catholic in good standing would pass the civility criteria? I wouldn't pass them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's a difference between refusing someone service in a restaurant because of their race, sexual orientation, or other category, and being forced to bake a cake celebrating a union that your religion teaches is sinful. Maybe a Democratic baker should be forced to make a cake celebrating Donald Trump?\n\nAnd would someone having a same sex wedding ceremony really want to give their money to someone who thinks same sex acts are sinful, or is this really about forcing someone who disagrees to go against their conscience?\n\nRegarding Notre Dame and contraception...expecting a Catholic institution to pay for birth control is as ridiculous as expecting a Jewish deli to serve you ham. If you want your employer to pay for your birth control, don't seek employment with a Catholic university instead of trying to make the institution be hypocritical by doing something against Catholic beliefs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a critic, not an \"enemy.\" You fanatics cannot distinguish between the two.\n\n<>\n\nI'm all too familiar with this distinction and its abuse as a catch-all defense of the church regardless of the issue.\n\nAs usual and utterly predictably, your argument boils down to an appeal to authority and a reflexive resort to suspicion and imputing motive. Try to wrap your mind around the fact that Catholics don't go looking for excuses to \"impugn the Church.\" History attests the Vatican and its satellites are as corrupt and ruthless as any other political organization. Alas, the church provides of its own volition more than enough targets of criticism.\n\nYou evidently wish for all criticism of the church to cease and for all Catholics to meekly surrender to the authority of the magisterium. Now that is chilling. Fortunately, the days of terrorizing the laity into submission are over.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: Abuse in Australia\n\n\"Tom Doyle, the US author and expert on canon law and child sexual abuse, spoke carefully and with authority on his experience as a canon lawyer. He identified clericalism as a major cause of injustice. He described it as a \u201cvirus infecting the church\u201d that caused much damage, including spiritual abuse, which the church has barely recognised.\"\n\nDoyle is my Christian leader, in a world of lies, half-truths and make-belief.\n\nEnough of Vatican's smoke screens!!!\n\nClericalism -- and this is a soft world for pure evil -- is everywhere, from the basis until the top.\n\nOnthological superiority, anyone??? Or just lower than animals kinds of behaviour?!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article was about Syrian refugees, not about Muslims. Syrian refugees include Christians as well as Muslims, even though freedom of religion is protected in Canada, so it shouldn't matter anyway. They are just human beings who badly need our help, our compassion and our understanding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is heartening to see that American Indians remain united on this issue of fundamental importance, and also that they continue to win over many allies. E.g., there's the participation of the Disciples of Christ ministers from the Nixa Christian Church, just south of Springfield, MO, where everybody round about who voted had voted for Trump; it's good to see that every now and then, the gospel of Jesus Christ actually moves people in the right direction!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Emmett,\nOver the years, many attempts have been made to reform the RCC and all have failed. The reforms themselves have failed. Christianity has failed. Perhaps we should load it all into one great computer program and then hit delete. Christ began his mission by proclaiming the Kingdom of God is at hand and telling us to \"metanoia!\"; to turn around and see things with a totally new outlook. I don't know. I do fear the path we are on is leading us toward hitting the delete button for humanity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Father Hans Zollner stated in another article that the pope approved a day of prayer for victims. He stated \"Prayer is vital in our faith, and that's why it is central to let the reality of deeply wounded people ( wounded by representatives of the church) and all that relates to this , such as suffering, passion, rage, depression and death, enter into prayer. Once this is acknowledged in our dialogue with God it leads to changes at the spiritual and theological level, regarding the spiritual trauma and the theological questions behind that.\" As a victim the last think I care about is prayer. What happened to me was a crime not something I wish to deal with by prayer. Why would the God of their church allow them to soul murder thousands of children. Religion and prayer is not going to do anything to make me whole again. Three years and this is what they come up with. Catholics don't need prayer they need to wise up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would urge patience and tolerance on the government in Quebec. In my lifetime, observant, devout Christian women (AKA Nuns) used to wear very similar coveralls and when questioned said things very similar to the comments made by the women interviewed for this article. Give it a couple of decades and this story certainly won't be an issue in Canada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How should the Catholic Church react to the possibility of the next election involving a candidate who is a Satanist? Would it be too political for the Church to advise against voting for said person? How is the issue of abortion any different?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of three) I am unimpressed with scholarship emanating from the Gregorian, mainly because of the influence of Church politics determining truth, rather than letting truth lead where it may. Evidence for this attitude toward truth is found with the 1990 censure of The (Pontifical) Catholic University of America.\n\nIt occurred to me as I read this article that when people approach Scripture study from the perspective of defending doctrine they are destined to fail. Critical study of any kind cannot begin with preconceptions.\u2014RockChalkWombat. Ah so.\n\n To contend that understanding is ONLY in that context is to miss the whole point.\u2014dennism Ant that is the value of the Church community today.\n\nSo abused by \"scholars\" such as Ratzinger/Benedict and ecclesial as Pope John Paul II.\u2014dennism making the point about the value of the Gregorian under the reign of these Popes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only way anything is going to change is when lay people in the pews say enough is enough and get up and walk out. I'm astounded at the frustration and level of debate I read in the comments section week after week, year after year. When the pews are empty and the money isn't coming in, things may change. It's the Catholic form of resistance and protest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How old are you? \"Cheetolini\"? Having a discussion is one thing, creating strange and immature words to make yourself feel \"above it all\" is another. Ripping Christians for being mean spirited when you yourself spend every post attacking? I suggest you become more mature in your thinking. You will be a much happier, and less angry individual.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All right, it's only partly about people leaving the Church. It is mainly about why you should not leave the Church. It still should mention a significant cause for people leaving -- the disgust about the clerical abuse scandal. RD and the writer of the article just want to sweep it under the rug. One of the main penchants of the Catholic conservative is a belief that all is for the best in this best of all possible Churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All I have to go on is on is what you post. It does not support the conclusion that you\u2019re familiar with the history, and particularly with the context.\n\nYes, I am a Catholic and, yes, I am an apologist for it. You\u2019ve self-identified as a critic or an enemy of it. And yet here you are carping at it. It\u2019s rather chilling.\n\nThe Church itself and the people in it are two separate but related things. The Church is the communion of saints and subsists in what you\u2019re looking at here. That is, there is a set and a subset. You apparently cannot distinguish them.\n\nOh, yes you can weigh in on any Catholic issue you like. And I can weigh in and point out your various errors, misimpressions, misassumptions, and underlying adversarial attitude.\n\nSo, carp away, I care not.\n\nThe criticism that Stein was exploited to burnish the church's public image is simply a reflection of a lack of bona fides to analyze the process, and a reflection of a desire to impugn the Church. Nothing more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry I sounded like I was arguing with you. You're right, of course. We're living in a post-Christian society, and indeed, a post-Constitutional society. Unfortunately, Christ's own words are rejected on many things, and our Constitution is thought to be \"living and breathing,\" so that it can now be said it means whatever a panel of judges says it means.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ultimately, faith/ hope/ love come to Eucharistic Altruism. Evolution\u2019s trajectory (cogitata perficiendo, cogitando sic perfecta) is forward toward altruism, self-reflective CHRISTOGENESIS \u2014 the intentional choosing to be sacrificial. This is the point and purpose, not just of Christianity, but of Nature\u2019s Symbiotic Altruism, other-directed \u2014 what is the authentic conscience of faith and reason, common to all authentic religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but your \"Theology of the Body\" [from JP II] only describes WOMEN as being complimentary to men. It never even indicates that men should be 'complimentary' to women. Secondly, in Theology of the Body, women are seen primarily as wives and mothers. All members of the church are human persons made in the image and likeness of God, and hence they all share the same sacramental valence.\n\nThrough baptism, we as priestly people, represent God to the world and bring the concerns of the world before God, sharing in the one priesthood of Christ that is so clearly laid out in the \"Letter to the Hebrews and reprised at length in \"Lumen gentium\". The ordained minister presides at the Eucharist because he is called to be the servant leader of those, the laity, whose task is to sanctify the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exit polls showed 60% of white Catholics voted for Trump.\nData collection for the ANES 2016 Time Series Study began in early September and continued into January, 2017. Pre-election interviews were conducted with study respondents during the two months prior to the 2016 elections and were followed by post-election reinterviewing beginning November 9, 2016. That is, during this period as an aggregate, Clinton was ahead in almost all the polls regardless of the religion of those surveyed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "3 of 3\nThe reason is that the symbols on Synagogues and Mosques do not confront evil, as the cross of Jesus Christ is an emblem of Truth and been so confronts evil, as it bears witness to the Truth, the essence of \u2018love\u2019 of neighbour, and in doing so often antagonizes the sensibilities of innate knowledge known within the human heart.\nThe serving of the Truth is Love, and to know Jesus Christ, this must be truly understood.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ahh the tolerance of the \"Good Christians\" in this country is stunning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The notion of rights as inherent in human nature is a philosophical concept. Rights in law, individual rights enshrined in the laws of this or that land, is a very different conception of the same word.\n\nThe question whether healthcare is construed as a philosophic right depends on the philosophy adopted. Adopt as one's core philosophy the tenets of laissez faire capitalism, and one might conclude no such right exists. Adopt as one's core philosophy the tenets of Christianity, and depending on your version of Christianity, the notion that healthcare as a right can be derived without great effort from the golden rule.\n\nIn the current context, the question properly put is whether Americans ought to adopt healthcare as a legal right? If they answer in the affirmative, and if they elect lawmakers who actualize that affirmation in law, then ipso fact healthcare becomes a right in the US; just as it is in virtually all other first world countries. \n\nAmerican's decide if it is a legal right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@Valzar & his Roc friends. he says;\"...the one group is special, unique or distinct...\"\nHard to \"swallow\", eh Valzar ?\n\u201c...the British passed the \u2018Qu\u00e9bec Act\u2019 of 1774 and expanding Qu\u00e9bec's territory to include Labrador, Ile d\u2019Anticosti, Iles-de-la-Madeleine, the Great Lakes and...AND\u2026expanding to...Ohio Valley (much of what is now southern Ontario, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota-\nYes Sir ! nothing less)\n-+ it re-established the French language rights (got it Anglo Canada ?);\n-+ Catholic faith; \n-+ French civil law...\u201d\nIt\u2019s (almost) \u00ab a State into a State \u00bb, oui ? It also began what was to become a tradition in Canadian constitutional history \u2013 \nthe recognition of certain distinct rights, or protections for Qu\u00e9bec \u2013\nin language, religion and civil law. \n(more to come)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll ask it this way: Which of the Newman Society-endorsed Catholic universities, when evaluated with Catholic higher ed peers in terms of academic quality, research, outreach, grants, selectivity, publications, facilities, and the other objective criteria for academic quality at ANY university, comes anywhere close to matching, say, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Fordham, and Boston College, all of which are proven GREAT CATHOLIC and CATHOLIC GREAT universities (unless you have objective evidence to the contrary).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's a Catholic church in my area that completely turned its fate around when it began exclusively offering Latin mass.\n\nhttps://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/9237/amazing-story-of-st.-annes-parish-in-san-diego/p1\n\nThere's confession offered not just every day, but at every Mass, and the lines to the confessional are always long. The pews are usually full for every mass. Hard to imagine a more vibrant parish.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quite right, gewaite. The Orthodox in UK are just not overwhelmed by Anglican ecumenical overtures, especially since the Anglican Church has ordained women (bishops, no less) and allows civil unions between Anglican gay clerics, couples, including bishops. Was there recently and heard Anglicans complain about the cool politeness they get from Orthodox circles. (Ironically, the Orthodox Church, like the CC, doesn't even recognize Anglican orders, yet they complain, especially Russian Orthodox.) And Francis seems far more receptive to Anglican gay bishop/priest couples than the Orthodox since he commissioned pairs of male Anglican and Catholic bishops to work and pray together in their home countries (though, as I said, there were no pairs of women bishops, gay or straight, commissioned). Anyway, ecumenism is in the ice age as far as I can tell, even with Francis' good will gestures.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While Prairie Home Companion was never my cup of tea, I have always thoroughly enjoyed Garrison Keillor's columns. \"Too many of my fellow Christians voted for selfishness and for degradation of the beautiful world God created. I guess they figured that by the time the planet is a smoky wasteland, they\u2019d be nice and comfy in heaven, so wotthehell.\" ~ Bingo! And the zinger about the Dalai Lama not having kids. Priceless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "it was founded in 1943... that gives a hint as to why, and where.\n\n\"In 1943, the Roman Catholic Bishops of the United States established Catholic Relief Services to help war-torn Europe and its refugees recover. During World War II, CRS\u2019 work focused on the resettlement of war refugees in Europe. \"\n\n20 million people facing famine in 4 countries... doesn't seem customary either. This administrations response -- oh well....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AT: Sorry, but I find it a bit presumptuous for you to speak for \"Christians.\" In fact it's likely that there are millions of Christians who did not vote for Trump (and an increasing number of Christians who did vote for him) who find his values, mental and intellectual fitness and competency so lacking that they choose to not support (or cease supporting) his Presidency. The growing concerns over Mr. Trump and his cohorts can hardly be dismissed as \"bickering.\" You might check his approval ratings to see just how rapidly the opposition to his actions is growing. Mr. Trump, IMO, is clearly not worth supporting, but well worth opposing. As an American I will actively oppose the actions of a President who I feel is harming our nation. To use your phrase, I feel that is \"the right thing to do.\" Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Darwin was married to a very devote Christian women who was the love of his life. Darwin had internal struggles about what he was learning and his wife's Christian beliefs. When it appeared that another scientists at the same time was formulating the nature of genetics it was Darwin's wife who insisted that her husband publish his completed work now and get the credit and recognition he deserved in England among his fellow scientists and the world. And so he did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Markham: You sell weak tea. You have blinded yourself to the infinite abundance of evidence in the natural world that stands against the christian myth.\n\nI hope someday christians will truly cloister themselves away from science-based community governance. Until then, smart secular people must endure the sensitivities of the religious like we refrain from talking about certain topics with children. We don't want to upset them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Throwing all the bums in the Brother Francis Shelter and feeding them in soup kitchens may keep them breathing, but certainly not alive. I want to see them with \"a life\". What you call the \"Red Nose Inn\" model of welfarism has shown repeatedly (and in study after study) to be more successful at turning lives around than the hard nosed Right Wing pull yourself up by your boot-straps approach. In total effect it is also far less expensive as those that become more self-capable rely less on the system. A multitude of studies and real life examples in other large cities shows this to be true. This success of compassionate care, is a real dichotomy for the Right Wingers and many Christians, who want to claim the mantle of righteousness and compassion when it doesn't cost them anything, but have a tough, by your nuts approach for the struggling. A more effective use of your criticisms would be to attack the rampant and corrupt corporate welfarism teeming in our State Gov't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If one maps the spread of early Christianity, it overlays very faithfully to the Roman lines of communication. Makes sense. \n\nGod also \"used\" the Roman and Greek ethos for logic, laws, order (and hierarchical decision makeing) to develop the Church and its teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was more likely started by white Christian males.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but trying to put the 'same size shoe' on everybody's foot, doesn't work today. Unity does not mean 'uniformity'. All the Catholics in the world DO NOT have to have the same rules. That is why REGIONAL synods are important. \n\n\nThe Sense of the Faithful--certainly WAS mandated to occur after Vatican II. But we had two popes who were trying to go back to the church of their youth----and both JP II and Benedict were more comfortable with a dictatorial church than a church that deals with the church in the world TODAY.\n\nYou don't know church history AT ALL.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The sensational headline to article with anti-Catholic fails to demonstrate how it is anti-Catholic?! Did I miss it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, not everyone twist the words of Jesus. Jesus said there are many who will not understand his words; he never said no one will understand them. He did say to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's. Adding \"without complaint\" is your interpretation, especially since we get some say in our taxation, whereas Jews had no say in Roman taxation. Furthermore, Jesus was responding to a verbal trap set by Pharisees who did not understand Jesus' words. Don't be like them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The actually did choose a representative group...it's just the group was a representation of Catholic millennials. And there is nothing wrong with that if that is the demographic that you want to interview for an article. No different than asking the Catholic Bishops some specific questions about Catholic teaching. Or, would you consider that not a representative group of Catholic teaching, since that is a primary role of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you read this article: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/education-not-income-predicted-who-would-vote-for-trump/? It suggests a different analysis of Trump voters.\nI agree with you about all of the white Catholics (60%) and white Evangelicals (80%) who voted for Trump. The nuns to whom you refer do fit into this category. They absolutely ought to be held accountable. \nIt pains me that those religious who favor women priests are refusing to come out and take a position publicly. I believe that if they would all stand together, there would be nothing to lose -- especially now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Catholic progressive convert with a traditional bishop, things like this give me hope. It was the women who used to be vocal shortly after Vatican II that made me decide to convert, knowing I could become a Catholic with a conscious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The issue of married men in the priesthood is a none issue. Protestant congregations function very well with married ministers. In very small congregations, the minister hold a job, maybe part time, and the wife works and they raise children and minster to their congregation. Catholic priest could do likewise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Monica,\nAs a father, I share that suspicion. And that's part of the reason I'm so concerned about the church's refusal to create real change: changes in Canon Law, in organizational structure, in the culture and in whatever way it takes to not just send the appropriate signal today, but to honestly be ready for that next wave. \n\nI don't see how this is even possible without having women and victims in key, decision making roles in the church. Nor do I think it possible as long as secrecy, or fear of scandal remains the dominant path of church leadership. And I am virtually certain it cannot happen without putting in place, a system of accountability for bishops and church leaders. \n\nI'd LOVE to believe church leadership can operate effectively, driven solely by the fire in their hearts for the Gospel. But the truth is, they themselves have imposed a culture on the laity wherein a little fear is always there. Perhaps the threat of accountability would do the same for them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Yves Congar wrote an interesting essay, \u00ab Martin Luther, sa foi, sa r\u00e9forme \u00bb (I do not know if it has been translated into English) that places Luther firmly within a well-established Catholic tradition. Oh, Congar disagrees with Luther on sola fide, but says that Luther overemphasizes faith, and did not really understand James 2, which Luther called \"an epistle of straw\".\n\nUnfortunately, in Luther's day, both sides were more interested in scoring debating points than in understanding their opponents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's stop supporting the Middle East oil producers and buy our oil from Alaska and support American values! \n\nThe American gasoline consumers should send our money to Alaska and stop sending our wealth to the Middle East to buy oil!\n\nIt is sad but true, some of our money is used to buy their oil clearly goes into the hands of Isis that hates Americans!\n\nThese Middle East terrorist truly cut off Christians heads if they don't convert the teachings of the Koran! Read the news!\n\nI love Alaska and it can help our nation keep our nation supplied with oil!\n\nThe United States welcomes all good people! \n\nLet's give our oil money to Alaska instead of the Middle East and Isis. \n\nLet's Fill TAPS, \n\nLet's double the PFD, \n\nLet's make America great again!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you follow progressive Catholic thought on this issue....oh boy is it arbitrary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ, the High Priest was a man, fully masculine, like us in all but sin.\n\nThat is not patriarchal gender theory, that is the revelation.\n\nThe Church can only do what it was commanded to, which is why only men can be ordained.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Martin's omissions put him well outside the Catholic tradition. What is not said is as important as what is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The solution to this vexing issue is to recognize that apostolic succession is not contingent on masculinity. It is time to recognize the irrelevance of religious patriarchy after the redemption and the resurrection. FLESH is the proper matter for all the sacraments, not masculinity or femininity. We need women deacons, women priests, and women bishops. Let us pray that Church leadership will not continue to procrastinate on this matter, because the entire body of Christ is suffering the lack of a feminine presence in the hierarchy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, I am citing today's poll results from one of the most accurate pollsters of the 2016 election:\n\nhttp://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administration/prez_track_jan27\n\nI won't ask for any apology for what you called me, since Catholics like yourself who use words they'd never say to others faces tend to never admit they're wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can get those facts from the Gutthmacher foundation, or even Planned Parenthood if they give out such information. However, whether abortions are medically necessary for 1% or more, the bottom line is that women and their families have a constitutional right Re : Roe v. Wade to have abortions even elective ones, and as autonomous human beings the right to plan their lives according to what they deem to be best for them and their families It is entirely their personal business But according to your religious bans, a woman cannot but she does. Planned Parenthood has reported that quite a few Roman Catholics have abortions and 98% of them use effective contraceptives that are regarded by their religion as abortificient. That is why so many have left their churches and joined more moderate Christian denominations or become non-believers, You may find that information on the Internet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have you just been Catholic since 2015? (Looking at your screen name.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not bragging, but I do know a fair bit about world religion. And I've never seen a religion that frets more about what other people are doing. This is true for both progressives and Trads. The entire focus of both factions seems to be based on consternation about what the world and other Catholics do and believe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess it was only a matter of time before the label \"modernist\" was attached to anyone disagreeing with the writer's views on cumpulsory priestly celibacy. If the term was meant to mean the heresy condemned by Pius X, that's uncalled for. And unjust, too. The Eastern Catholic Churches ordain married men priests---are they all heretics, too?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our parish has used OCP Missals for more than ten years, and I am glad for the selections. Our music director deftly connects his choices with the Scriptural readings of the day. I do wish a nod was given to at least some of the more famous Introits.\n---\nI particularly like the hymns of German origin or those of a Christian tradition that happens not to be Catholic, Wesleyan in particular\n---\nWhat concerns be about this article in NCR is the suggestion that antiphonal singing is desirable. I prefer a psalm or Gloria that is sung vigorously by the congregation straight through. The notion that the congregation can only sing antiphons inserted between each phrase strikes me as clerical, and the result is a stretched-out song, such as the Jubilation Gloria.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I recall the transition from singing God Save the Queen to Oh Canada very well. Some of you may find my little relevant and personal tale interesting. Mixed marriages were a rarity then, so in 1969, when the Catholic French Canadian side of my family was about to come to our synagogue in Montreal for my Bar Mitzvah, I suddenly recoiled in horror when I realized that the ceremony would open with God Save the Queen rather than \"Oh Canada\". I begged the administration to allow us to sing \"Oh Canada\" instead. As it was \"my day\" the synagogue relented and for the first time in synagogue history, the Congregation sang what was to become our National Anthem. Never had so many Catholics been made so happy in a Jewish synagogue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My parents were married 65 years, until my father died. They should have gotten divorced shortly after they got married -- everyone, who they ever knew, knew they were miserable with each other -- but they were good Catholics. However, they made the lives of my sister and me miserable until they died, or at least tried to -- my sister and I kept our distance after we reached 18 and left home. Did I mention they considered themselves very good Catholics? I know you probably think that I should be more understanding and forgiving, but then you weren't one of their children. As for their 'friends' -- they never really had any -- no one could stand to be around them and their fighting for very long. What a waste of two lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are exactly correct. Jesus repeatedly told his followers to focus on a small, doctrinally correct church, focused on study of dogma and rules, and not to run off spreading the word to just anyone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do believe that you really think your interpretation of what other people say is the only correct interpretation. I marvel at the fact that you believe that everything you assert is correct because you say it is and anyone who doesn't agree with you is wrong.\nYour disgraceful comment to Marty below is at least honest insofar as you engage with him out of personal animosity, no matter what he wrote you would disagree.\nUnfortunately you get kudos for attacking orthodox Catholics here simply because you are attacking orthodox Catholics regardless of whether you are right or wrong, make sense or don't and this encourages you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Only the artist knows for sure. Since the Eucharistic Prayer I (opposite) encompasses Last Supper, Calvary, and Resurrection, \"dying you destroyed our death, rising you restored our life . . . eat this bread and drink this cup . . . . until you come in glory\" maybe the illustration reflects all that, including the glory. As for the bread, there is a round bread-colored object between her wrists, below and adjacent to the cup-like object. Maybe next time you are in church take a magnifying glass and peek at it (with permission of course), and let me know? The scene is compatible with the history of Christian art where a Mary is not passive, but rather raising her hand or hands in some way next to the cross (in a few examples I found). Recall that the Magdalene was also at the cross, although of course officially, the illustration would have to be a portrayal of the mother. The illustration is very sophisticated art and I wish I had access to a clear copy of it online and an explanation", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When we learn that Jesus didn't really care for the poor, the weak, the little people of the world, then we can do what you stated.\n\nYou have a very snide and depreciating view of humanity, which God so greatly loved. The Word made Flesh became human, because God loves humanity---men and women. What builds up humanity---is not considered \"little\" or unimportant to God. And what you are saying, in an backhanded manner, is that women have identities that are of little worth. When you can prove that this is how God looks at women---maybe we'll have something to speak of. I attend the liturgy everyday. In today's Gospel reading, Jesus sent the Twelve out on a teaching mission. It was important to his ministry. Equally important, and mentioned in this Gospel reading, is the women who followed Jesus [as disciples] and supported his ministry from THEIR resources. Their identities were important enough for the Evangelist to name them. And I'm sure they were important to Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with the core concept of this column, but this is simply a matter of money. We are funding 4 school boards in Ontario - English Public, English Catholic, French Public, French Catholic. Crazy, and too expensive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is part of the problem: In line with Vatican II, \"[Fr. James Martin]staunchly insists he seeks no change\" when in fact, he seeks deep change in the very \"tolerance\" he prescribes. Fr. Martin seeks to crack the door open on sexual doctrine, somewhat as Martin Luther sought deep change in the doctrine that one could purchase salvation with prayer and almsgiving.\n\nChanging doctrine, even cracking the door slightly open to doctrinal change, is something even Pope Francis won't touch, as evidenced by his pastoral defense of the changes he is trying to implement in the Church.\n\nIt may be time in the Church for Vatican II-oriented clergy to look at canonically approved structures in the universal Church that allow more room for a post-Vatican II implementation...structures such as prelature, ordinariate, with eventually, perhaps, a post-Vatican II Rite/Church in union with Rome and the Eastern Rite Churches. What do you think?\nSee https://RiteBeyondRome.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What really would help Catholic Medical School Education is for all the schools to follow A group of nuns into Dignity Health Care to get rid of Bishops who insist that they have the right to practice emergent Gynecology, end of life, and hospice care without a license. When this is done, perhaps it will once again be safe to offer our donations to these institutions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please note that I referred to \"obedience\" without regard to either element in the relationship\u2014either the one who is submissive and taking direction, or the person who is providing it. As a concept, \"obedience\" is overrated. We get no credit simply for following rules, especially not in Protestant America. We are not obedient to the Pope, for example, nor should we be to others to whom we do not give authority. The root of the English word digs into giving ear and attention to the requirements of others; I choose not to do that in regard to everyone, only to those to whom I choose to give authority (Protestants, for example, do not believe in inherent authority but in attributed authority). Those who want to take credit for following directions, as though that choice creates a valuable condition of goodness are really focusing on their own notions of who they are and are, ironically, self-centered. I opened a thought process about the word, not about Christian theology. [\u2014cont'd", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To be human, \"man's response to God by faith must be free, and... therefore nobody is to be forced to embrace the faith against his will. the act of faith is of its very nature a free act.\"39 \"God calls men to serve him in spirit and in truth. Consequently they are bound to him in conscience, but not coerced. . . This fact received its fullest manifestation in Christ Jesus.\"40 Indeed, Christ invited people to faith and conversion, but never coerced them. \"For he bore witness to the truth but refused to use force to impose it on those who spoke against it. His kingdom... grows by the love with which Christ, lifted up on the cross, draws men to himself.\n\nI struggle with this in the catechism, if they goal is to invite people to the church and not force it, why do Catholics participate politically in abortion and gay marriage? Which in a sense, forces someone to comply.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is much more to +Mark Seitz Read this!\n\n\"Carrie Gehling, who has lost both legs to diabetes and has suffered four heart attacks, needed a kidney transplant after years of dialysis. Her medical history made her a high-risk candidate and she needed to find a live donor herself, the Dallas Morning News reports.\"\n\n\"The 45-year-old Gehling turned to her pastor at St. Rita Catholic Church, Msgr. Mark Seitz.\"\n\n\"Msgr. Seitz, thinking about where his parishioner could find a donor, said he thought to himself 'Why not me?'\"\n\n\"Testing proved he was an acceptable match. Gehling, hearing he would be her donor, said she would call the gift her \u201choly kidney.\u201d\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Justin & Company,\n\nIf you give Muslims this special treatment then you better give it to the rest of Canadians who are one of the many other religions in our Country, to name a few, Christians, Jews, Sikhs, Hindu, Buddhists and so on. We have become a nation of enablers and the Liberals are leading the way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Holy Spirit is a Progressive. She moves On The Jump. After Pentecost, the disciples run to the windows and begin preaching to the gathered. If the Holy Spirit was a Conservative [like too many of the hierarchy], Peter and the rest would still be hiding under the tables---waiting to carry the Gospel of Christ for the 'opportune time.'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Waiting for the Glob\u2019s report on the large celebrations last night in Aleppo to mark the turning on of Christmas lights and a giant Christmas tree that is now there following the defeat of the US/Saudi/EU supported \u2018good moderate head-choppers\u2019? Where is the report of the celebrations of Christians and Muslims together, where is the reports of the music and happiness that is returning to the city?\n\nAnother \u2018sin of omission\u2019 from the heavily opinionated and biased Glob reporting on Syra.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An interesting question for me since I have lived in the home of a non-SDA for decades--my husband. That is where I learned to socialize with \"them.\" Oh, he goes to his church now on LLBN-TV while I attend a local church. I have worked for the church organization 20 years but don't live in a \"ghetto.\" Many of our friends arem't church members but some are Christian and I see no reason to change them. I don't have difficulty in talking to them because we have like values. We don't discuss doctrine unless they ask about it which has happened on occasion. I think most of them are kinder, nicer, and more helpful than I am (so is my husband). \n Now how do you witness to neighbors who seem \"perfect?\" They have perfect, beautiful, intelligent, talented adult children. They are good-looking, talented, rich, friendly and live in a mansion. (I don't, thus hesitant about inviting them over for dinner even though they have had us for many Thanksgivings in their palatial home.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes.\n\nReturn to the post above which begins \"I appreciate your upset at not ...\".\n\nCatholic Archbishop John Ireland is called \"The Father of the Orthodox Church in America.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agree, but that would never have happened had the Enlightenment not happened in an existing Christian background.\n\nThe Renaissance brought back ideas from Antiquity which led to the Enlightenment, but slavery was accepted in Antiquity.\n\nIt took the confluence of ideas from Greece, Rome and Christianity to produce modern western thought.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 2: I just read a fascinating book on Revelation as the work of a astral prophet, who describes what he actually sees in the night sky, interpreting them within his Jewish/Christian faith tradition. Ii is the most cogent interpretation of Revelation I have ever seen, drawing on the ancient fascination with the night sky. It is: Bruce J. Malina, On the Genre and Message of Revelation: Visions and Sky Journeys (Peabody, Hendrickson, 1995).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Raymond Arroyo isn't the only prominent Catholic raising the possibility that the church is in a state of schism with itself: Ross Douthat infamously did the same thing on the pages of the New York Times after the publication of \"Amoris Laetitia.\" Of course, Old Catholics believe the church has been in a state of schism ever since Pius IX promulgated the doctrine of papal infallibility during Vatican I in 1869-70. Still, bringing up the \"S\" word when your side is no longer ascendant seems more than a little pouty, childish, hysterical, and ultimately, unhelpful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<<\"Both Clinton and Trump were flawed candidates \u2014 neither succeeded in winning approval from more than half the country. But Trump's negatives perhaps were seen as evidence that he was a 'sinner,' whereas Clinton's negatives hinted at real corruption,\" Wenski wrote.>>\n\nThis is the kind of false equivalency cr@p slung by priests and bishops before the election, yet people affect indignation at the suggestion that (many) clergy all but instructed Catholics to vote for Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What you say is very true but Trump isn\u2019t going to do anything about the problem of racism other than fan the flames and push buttons. The matter of him threatening to incinerate North Korea looms large and should be alarming even the base if they are, as many profess to be, devout Christians. No matter which way you look at it, it\u2019s a mess.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is the sort of drivel you get when you forget which church you are supposed to be ministering in. \n\nIn order to solve a problem, that problem ought to first exist - and manmade global warming due to CO2 emissions - isn't one of them. Otherwise, you are participating in an exclusively faith-based exercise, which is the foundation of this piece.\n\nIf you as ministers want to transition from Christians to Pagans, be my guest, as it is a free country. Just please don't wrap your newfound religion in the Bible, as it gets (intentionally) confusing. Cheers -", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The story of the Fourth Crusade is interesting. The Crusaders had contracted with Venice for transport and general logistical support for 85,000 silver marks. The Venetians, under the 85-year-old and blind Doge Dandolo, wanted the money up front. However, the crusaders could only come up with 49,000. Dandolo made a deal. A city in what is now Croatia, Zara (now Zadar) had revolted against Venetian rule, and would the crusader army take it back. Despite the crusader oath promising not to attack other Christians, some of the crusaders did exactly that and sacked the city. When Pope Innocent III heard of it, he excommunicated everyone (and then lifted the excommunications a couple months later.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not one of these theologians EVER denied Jesus Christ! And many of them are not excommunicated---but were 'silenced'. Where in the Gospels does Jesus state that he is forming a church that is one, holy, Catholic and apostolic? These are qualities that the official church gave itself. These qualities were not given to it by any other religious body.\n\n\nBut there were some things that Pope Benedict did that would cause one to wonder if HE didn't overstep his authority as head of the CDF [new name for the Inquisition], and demonstrate the basic flaw in his theological development. Ratzinger was always holding onto the past---and memory of the past. He was totally unable to look at encounters with what is new---what people face in their lives TODAY. These theologians listed by Hooded Claw, Mike AA and 12th Night---did and have looked at what people in our own age grapple with every day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It states those who have a practiced \"habit\" of sinning AREN'T Christians, not CANNOT be Christians. There is a huge difference between the two statements. The former is a statement describing the \"fruit\" produced by the Spirit of Christ dwelling within the Christian, the latter is placing human performance as a pre-requisite to being a Christian. As always, God decides, but we can make judgments based on common sense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic parents who want to raise children to value and respect everyone are in a bind. Unless the parents can be assured of the contrary by personally examining the curriculum, philosophy and values of the school or religious education program, they have to assume that a Catholic school or program is hostile to GLBTQ students and families. If such parents continue to value religious education for their children, they will have to find a way to provide formation for the sacraments that excludes the bigotry of the main program. Schools and parishes, teachers and pastors, that are trying to be welcoming, inclusive and affirming are walking a precarious tightrope; I don't think it's sustainable. Home schooling for religious education may be an answer for some families, but this situation does not seem tenable over the long haul.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am an ardent supporter of free speech. Peggy Regentine has the right to express whatever unfounded fears she has about Muslims, though I find her words offensive and predudiced. But, I must object to the Star-Advertiser acting as a megaphone for her biased rant about hypothetical Muslims. Would the Star-Advertiser have published a similar letter if the target were Mormon, Jewish or conservative Christians who hold to certain restrictive dress standards?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is one of the most respected and credible organization in the US. It does not discriminate when it comes to identifying Hate Groups.\n\nSo when it says that Act for America (founded by Brigitte Gabriel) as an \"an anti-Muslim hate group\" it perfectly describes said organization.\n\n\"The SPLC monitors the \"activities of domestic hate groups and other extremists \u2013 including the Ku Klux Klan, the neo-Nazi movement, neo-Confederates, racist skinheads, black separatists, antigovernment militias, Christian Identity adherents and others\".\n\nhttps://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/06/10/live-blog-act-america%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cmarch-against-sharia%E2%80%9D-rallies-1", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those who OFTEN represented the evil were, sadly, those who were the religious leaders of the people. Remember that it was the RELIGIOUS leaders of the Jews who were seeking to arrest Jesus. Their religious beliefs did not transform them at all.\n\n\nReligious beliefs ALONE do not transform people. Note the numerous wars that Catholics waged upon each other [100 Years War between England and France]. Numerous wars in Catholic/Christian Europe. Transformation comes from SERIOUSLY internalizing Jesus' message, LIVING it daily. And it means DEMONSTRATING it in daily life. We have plenty of example from Paul, after his conversion. BEFORE that, Saul was an excellent observer of the LAW----and he was murderous. AFTER his conversion---he reached out to others---accepted the sacrifice entailed in preaching the Gospel---and DEMONSTRATING his fidelity to Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've never heard myself, or through my daughters, that a teacher told them there is no creator, not once. We all went to public schools only. \n\nIt seems you are expecting them to confirm that there is a God/creator and that Adam gave up a rib to make Eve, the snake, ect.\n\nA person teaching critical thinking and rational problem solving, just can't do that. There is no evidence at this time that supports that. That doesn't mean that a scientist can't be a spiritual person and I know many of them, both in physical sciences and behavioral sciences. These scientist give value to our emotional and spiritual needs as critical component of our lives.\n\nThe leading scientist of the global research to identify the details of the human gene stucture is Francis Collins, a devout Christian who's work is predicated on accepting evolutionary processes. You might check his book \"The language of God\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I won\u2019t pray to her, as I only pray to God\", thank you Mr. Minshall for pointing out to whom a Christian should be praying to also.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Saint Cecilia Catholic Community, where I am pastor, meets in a warehouse. The altar is at the front with the clergy seated behind it. We celebrate westbound. The congregation sits in a semi-circle in front of the altar. The font is near the front door. The altar and font were built by the volunteer labor of one of our parishioners out of ordinary lumber. Yet all liturgical ministers, clerical and lay, are properly vested (no readers and Eucharistic ministers in street clothes!), and we sing 100% of our Sunday Mass every Sunday.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd rather people love more. And the people who are loved struggle a bit more. \n\nMost government programs are so stupidly designed the create benefit addiction. \n\n2 Thess, 3: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.\n\nWork develops one's capacities.\n\nGovernment programs almost universally sap growth. Sapping growth, saps holiness. \n\nA fat but poor person ends up focusing on themselves....and that's not Christian or good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, the PC police from California have finally made it to Alaska. I never figured they would. Must have been this last mild winter that allowed em to make it up here. I wonder whose coming next? \n\nYou're either going to have a dogsled race to Nome by the fastet mushers in the world or you're going to have something less. \n\nSo you banned a guy for DV, what's next? Driving violations? How about shoplifting when the musher was a kid? How about unpopular speech? Will I be banned from entering if I display a Christian bumper sticker on my truck? Will we have to submit to a criminal backround check and submit a blood sample in the future?\n\nSome advice...let the courts punnish law breakers, you guys focus on running a dogsled race to Nome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And how different would the answer be if Christians were asked the same questions?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would retitle the piece: \"The Disaster We Avoided.\"\n\nYes, Catholic social teaching is vital for America, but the likelihood of the secular left embracing it in any except occasional utilitarian opportunities is I think, nil. After all, it's the preserve of people who don't understand things like \"subsidiarity.\" Oh, but that was the view of the disaster we avoided.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 of 2 \nHis Path/way is different for all of us but in essence it is the same, as we all walk in our fallen human nature as He did in \u201cfaith\u201d, while our intellect is enlighten as our hearts are transformed.\nIs it not our truthful response in humility before His inviolate Word (Truth) that leads us to \u2018The way\u2019 that wells up into eternal life? \nJesus says\n\u201cI am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me\u201d.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do not need to \"get over\" anything, least of all the expectation that the successor to Peter will confirm the brethren.\n\nIf the same situation is presented in Argentina, Germany, the USA, and Italy, and in one case the couple is allowed to cohabit, the next exhorted to go through the annulment process, the next to not even bother getting remarried - just cohabit, and the last to live as brother and sister, the unity of Christ's Church is gone and the teaching authority abandoned.\n\nThat is a big deal. If I did not think it was a big deal, I'd be an Episcopalian or an Evangelical Lutheran or some other \"an\" where the rules are easier or non-existent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your first para presumes to speak authoritatively about hylomorphism, but when you elaborate that hylomorphism (the metaphysical concept the everything consists of matter + form) equates with sexual dualism (female body has a female soul) you demonstrate that your understanding of Aristotelian hylomorphism if rather primitive. \n\nAnd when you elevate your simplistic understanding of hylomorphism to the status of Catholic doctrine, one hardly knows what to say, Purg.\n\nWhile it is true that, since the seminary reforms instituted by the Council of Trent, there has been a powerful tendency to COMBINE Aristotelian philosophy as expressed by Thomas Aquinas (especially psychology and metaphysics) with theology by explaining many fundamental Christian concepts in terms of that psychology and metaphysics, one must always distinguish between a philosophy borrowed to explain theology, and doctrine itself.\n\nTheology is not intrinsically tied to the truth/falseness of ANY philosophy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We scientists who happen to be Christians (talk about an oxymoron) just need to learn to keep things simple...like keeping faith.\"\n\n\"God did it\" provides no answers and neither does \"faith\" in Middle Eastern creation stories. If you rely on faith for answers to complex questions you may as well posit that it's turtles all the way down. Science may not have all the answers (yet) but every time it makes a new discovery the idea that supernatural magic made things the way they are recedes into an ever-shrinking patch of human ignorance, to paraphrase Neil deGrasse Tyson, a prominent American physicist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you implying that over the last 11 years Ms. Weiss has been teaching (in Literature classes) material contrary to Catholic doctrine and teachings? Please! So, what did you hear at Notre Dame U.?\nYou were there, of course.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr Weinandy's letter is simple and temperate yet cuts far deeper than the filial correction. Here we get to the heart of the matter; the Pope is vocally hostile to doctrine itself and sets Christian doctrine against Christian practice when it is convenient.\n\nBut however temperate his letter is, the need for his resignation was set when he noted that some bishops nominated by Francis are less than faithful. Even without naming names, if one works for a bishops' conference that puts one's employers in a tight spot, unless bishops are to start anaethmatizing other bishops. Maybe that is what we need, but it won't happen until things get much worse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Donald Trump is bad news for all. His ban on entire populations is shameful and indeed un-American.\n\nBut forgive me - I find it hard to hard to take this columnists seriously - when she does not ask Pakistani politicians and leaders to treat Pakistani Christians with dignity and respect, deserving of full protection of the state.\n\nWhen terrorists attacks Christians in Pakistan, she writes articles, essentially saying: well, terror affects Muslims too. She does not ask Pakistani leaders to acknowledge that Pakistani minorities are deserving too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow! Talk about taking things out of context. George Soros' Dad kept his son from being taken by the Nazis in Hungary by paying a Christian to act as his godfather. The 14 year old Soros then had to go around with the Christian and help remove Hungarian Jews of their worldly goods. Quite different from turning them in and also he was in a forced situation. Just not the same as being a Nazi Collaborator. Here's the link: http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=43876", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not what I said. The reasoning behind the comment can justify any objectively sinful activity or situation as acceptable to God on the basis of \"conditioning and mitigating factors\". Christians are called, through the grace of God, to understand and overcome sin, not accept it. That's what a properly formed conscience, enlightened by the Gospel and the Church, and strengthened through the sacraments, achieves. And the priests role is to facilitate this process.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The public record disputes your \"facts\" just like everything else you write in your blind fealty to all things Republican, Conservative, christian fundamentalist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether or not the niqab and burqa are requirements under Islam depends on which version of Islam you subscribe to. Islam is almost as splintered as Christianity where, for instance, most theologians will tell you here is no religious prohibition on blood transfusions, but Jehovah's Witness theologians will disagree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You realize of course that small \"c\" catholic is a complement...any paper worth its salt is honoured to be recognized as universal, global in perspective.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cdl. Cupich is a great spokesperson for the American Catholic Church. The alternative would be one of the (many) culture warriors who like nothing more than to argue against Pope Francis and divide the faithful into polarized camps.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But he was in fact NOT referring to HOW the Church faced the problem. That's your belief based on a bad translation.\n\nYou specifically reacted to the word \"conscious\". That's a word he did not use. Nor did he mention consciousness. What he said was that the Church didn't *face up to* the problem. He was describing -- accurately -- the failure of the Church to act. This isn't a quibble. Because of the very bad reporting in this story, people are commenting on things Francis did not say. He was being perfectly straightforward, but the translation comes out as obfuscating. I wouldn't expect this to change your opinion overall, but it should affect your understanding of what Francis said today about the Church's track record.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Haha - yes not too far from my experience growing up. I had former Lutherans on one side of my family, and then Pentecostal ministers on the other - and a mix in between in a lot of cases. \n\nDid you know there are like 36,000 denominations of Christianity (consider how many different brands of Baptist there are)? The thing that led me away from it was reading The Bible - I read it and re-read it and then I started to realize that most of the things my pastors would say were cherry-picked and contorted to mean things that it wasn't saying. I started doubting certain things like the concept of the trinity, hell, the fall, etc. Eventually I just scrapped the whole thing and became an agnostic. I don't claim to know anything but I sure doubt people who are certain they do.\n\nI think there are some really interesting concepts in The Bible and the apocrypha. But I pretty much view it like any other mythology at this point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The author seems to have entirely missed the point that some immigrants resist integration, at least psychologically. A 2016 study, for instance, indicated that 61% of Canadian Muslims identified primarily as being Muslim rather than Canadian and a recent NY Times article, written by a Muslim, points out that Muslims sometimes reject Western values, creating a barrier to integration. He notes that \"Often Muslims support liberalism when it serves them and reject it when it does not.\" My own immigrant mother, albeit a Christian Caucasian, said it took her about 20 years to feel like she was a Canadian, at which point she acquired Canadian citizenship. But she always encouraged us, her children, to embrace our Canadianness above any other identity. Integration is in fact a two-way street that requires give and take on the part of both immigrants and their host society. \n\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/27/opinion/is-free-speech-good-for-muslims.html?mcubz=1&_r=0", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You may be confusing Christianity with \"Fight Club,\" or \"The Six Million Dollar Man.\" Perhaps you can clarify your point, however.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cut to the chase and watch The Passion of The Christ.\nForget \"Silence\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the good/sorta/bad feature poses an ethical problem, because it is anonymous and collective.\n\nChristianity (and Roman Catholicism) teaches that we should not blacklist our brothers and sisters who do \"bad\" things. The Bible says : \"if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone\" (Matthew, 18:15). \n\nSo the Bible teaches us not to remain anonymous when we judge that our brother or sister did something bad.\n\nChristianity teaches forgiveness and mercy. How can the people \"unbad\" a post previously judged as \"bad\", which they want to forgive ?\n\nThe good/sorta/bad feature trivializes the notion of judging people as \"bad\", whereas Pope Francis, for example is famous for saying \"who am I to judge\" ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Would that be Anglican or Roman Catholic orthodoxy?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...tell the Irish to move to the Republic....\"\n\nThey are only claiming what is theirs. The suppression of the Irish by the English, notably by Elizabeth I, especially in the \"Revolt of the Earls,\" begun in the 1590's, sounded the death knell for Gaelic societies and Gaelicized Ireland. Today her actions (and Cromwell's) would be considered genocidal. The native Irish Catholic chieftains THROUGHOUT ALL of Ireland were dispossessed, the bards banned, the warriors forced to abandon traditional dress, the earls exiled, and the landholding and inheritance laws were redrawn in the English direction to favor Protestant Scots or English. The Irish masses were considered savages. By early 17th cent., out of a native population of a million and a half, five-sixth of them died of war, famine or pestilence. After 1650's, 20 years after arrival of the Puritans in Boston, Irish Catholics, who held two-thirds of the good land for centuries, lost it when it was passed into the hands of Protestants.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part Two:\n\n#4. Kag1982: \u201cI was thinking the Ordinariate priests, all of whom seem to be from snobbish academic sort of background, the Latin Mass Society, Damian Thompson, etc. It does seem like the Internets voices are mainly centered in the UK and that it is a class thing. And most Catholics in the US love Francis as well.\u201d\n\n#5. Tridentinus: \u201cOrdinariate priests make up only a tiny proportion of priests in the U.K. and have enough problems with the Catholic bishops to be bothered unduly about what is going on globally. Orthodox Catholic websites are much more numerous in the U.S. than in England.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because of his obsessive concentration of the Christian virtue of mercy; to the exclusion of all other aspects of any problem which allows him to exercise mercy.\n\nAn obsession which resulted in the personal papal decision to re-instate Monsignor Izoli who had previously been laicised due to involvement in child abuse.\n\nAn egregious mistake which the pope was forced to recant publicly 10 days ago. After humongous fresh damage in this most sensitive of areas had been done.\n\nWere such mistakes confined to off the cuff remarks, often at widely reported press conferences sadly, they could perhaps be tolerated, though they would still be exceedingly disconcerting.\n\nAs the above case highlights, and as the prolix AL confirmed, it is not just in the press forum that Pope Francis manifests ill judgement.\n\nHence his decision to introduce a bombshell innovation in the form of a mere footnote there. Supplemented by an astonishing assertion, less than a week later, that he could not remember it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the depths of his conscience, man detects a law which he does not impose upon himself, but which holds him to obedience. Always summoning him to love good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience when necessary speaks to his heart: do this, shun that. For man has in his heart a law written by God; to obey it is the very dignity of man; according to it he will be judged. Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with God, Whose voice echoes in his depths. In a wonderful manner conscience reveals that law which is fulfilled by love of God and neighbor. In fidelity to conscience, Christians are joined with the rest of men in the search for truth, and for the genuine solution to the numerous problems which arise in the life of individuals from social relationships. GS 16\n\nNo particular disagreement, just a desire for a beautiful portrait of conscience alongside the ugly one you posted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A lifetime ago I was a student at the Yale Divinity School and one of my teachers was Fr. Aidan Kavanagh, who wrote several important books, including major works on Christian Initiation and the Eucharist. I remember one of his lectures in which he discussed early liturgies in both the East and West. He mentioned that pews were never present. Instead, chairs would be arranged around the perimeter of the space for the elderly and pregnant women, but everyone else was expected to stand. This, he said, created a scenario in which kinetic energy was present, in a manner not unlike that of a cocktail party in which the dynamic was \"many to many.\" He said that the later addition of pews bolted down to the floor killed the kinetic energy and replaced it with a scenario more akin to a lecture, in which the dynamic was \"one to many,\" creating a very different kind of energy. His suggestion was to use cathedral chairs which could be moved around according to need. That sounded reasonable to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vince Fennimore cruises through a variety of innocent sounding obfuscation until he arrives at his real intent and conclusion in the last paragraphs. Anti-abortion at any stage of embryonic existence falsely portrayed as based on a government founded on judeo-christian heritage, Declaration of Independence, and Constitution. Blatant lies to support failed attacks, including murder, against the right of women to their own bodies. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were crafted, written, and signed by Theists, not all christian participants. One more example of historical revisionism to falsely support an anti-human rights agenda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article was quite revealing, in that Spadaro said Francis also distinguishes between the constructive criticism of those who \u201creally want, in good conscience, the good of the church\u201d - i.e., those like Spadaro who truckle to the Holy Father - and \u201canother kind of opposition, which is just imposing one\u2019s own view, which is ideological opposition.\u201d - i.e., those exercising their right and even duty under Canon 212 to manifest to their sacred pastor their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful.\n\nSpadaro communicates like a Sicilian, a true Underboss.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quite a misstatement. The pope shows great balance, in my opinion, and the Malta group and oppositional +Burke pushed him - and the scope of their power - too far. They needed to be brought to their knees. I note the defensive comments from a few so-called traditionalists here on this matter who play way too loose with their touted loyalty to \"all things Catholic.\" Besides their being 'cafeteria Catholics' like the majority of the Church, they are selective in their criticisms. But do not mistake Pope Francis' call to mercy as being weak on asserting proper authority when it is a purposely orchestrated showdown at the Vatican corral by +Burke et al. I very much agree that there is great need to remove this troublesome cardinal from all posts, all positions accorded to bishops of such rank, as he consistently restrains the pope and the rest of the Church from moving ahead with matters that really count.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora, I need not twist anything to disparage this gentleman, his own words and thoughts are sufficient to engender distaste for his ideas of what comports with being a good Roman Catholic.\nYour attempt to be an apologist for this man falls short. \nAs suggested continue your discussion with the author, as I have made all points I wish to state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" Such a meeting would be about be about coopting each other for political advantage, not for promoting the Kingdom.\"\n\nIndeed, this entire little tempest is highly political, and in no way for \"promoting the Kingdom.\" If the pope does not meet with the evangelicals whom his personal propagandists attack, they come out in the high side for at least asking. If he does meet with them, they still come out ahead for seeming to take the lead in healing a culture war that has spilled into the spiritual realm. So on the PR front this is a win-win for the evangelicals. On the religious front, it's just another day in the life of the culture wars which ultimately are about personal morality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are some early written references to Christians in Britain and France. However, didn\u2019t stories about the purported journeys and roles of Joseph of Arimathea, Mary Magdalene and Lazarus emerge during the 11th and 12th centuries?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr Cole has some problems with logic. He begins by quoting Canon law:\n\"\u00a72. Furthermore, each and everything set forth definitively by the Magisterium of the Church regarding teaching on faith and morals must be firmly accepted and held; namely those things required for the holy keeping and faithful exposition of the deposit of faith; therefore, anyone who rejects propositions which are to be held definitively sets himself against the teaching of the Catholic Church.\"\nHe even quotes Cardinal Ratzinger to emphasize his point.\nThen he describes the first dubia, asserting that the teaching in AL \"is in contrast to the teaching of St John Paul II...\" But then he takes an abrupt turn, and asks which we should believe in, John Paul II's teaching or AL's.\n\nCanon law says \"each and everything\" commands assent, not to which of these we should assent. We are to assent to both. Logically, this means we have to figure out how they do not contradict, not how do we choose between them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Smaller and more intimate. When Jesus fed the thousands He had them sit in groups of 50's and hundred's, nowadays it's thousands and we lose the intimacy of small groups. I notice that when two church's are joined that the total often is reduced to half of what it was. Remember that Jesus went about healing the sick, giving sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, the Church is not just a path to salvation, but has a mission to make this world a better world and we the people need to participate in whatever way we can. I truly believe that the Bishops have been blind to the Holy Spirit, refuse to accept what It has been trying to reveal to them, and some may have lost the way totally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He cannot keep a cork blocking his own social conservative opinions (he has just jumped in to support his Catholic faith in ignoring provincial education law), let alone those of all the WRA guys who are a big component of the UCP's institutional makeup. The UCP will try to market itself as middle of the road as the CPC did but as well as the even more pronounced social conservative tilt to the UCP, it has to deal with the fact that the CPC was unmasked and defeated just two short years ago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can't wait for the pictures of tRump being embraced by his supporters in the Catholic hierarchy! Dolan beaming like a sunflower just like he did at the \"Al Smith Dinner\" where tRump was booed when he called Hillary Clinton \"Catholic-hating,\" and \"so corrupt.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the people of a country chose to live according to Catholic values then what's the issue? If they elect a government that will express this in its policies, then what's the issue? Matters of border control are a matter for the prudential judgement of a nation's secular government and, in a democracy, they will have the support of the electorate. These are not decisions for the Church, although it is appropriate for the Church to put forward a view and to seek to influence the faithful. Multiculturalism is not a doctrine of the Catholic Church and is proving to be a demonstrable failure in many European nations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Dolan and his allies are believers in Christendom. They like the symbolism of Catholic participation in these events. For them, it is a triumph. They believe in maximizing relgious power rather than simply seeking guarantees of religious freedom. And that is a shame. Mores the pity of those who wish to baptize the prosperty gospel. They have answered the question of whether they worhip God or Mammon. Trump finds comfort in both for his own soul and his ability manipulate them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 2\n\nI made a short visit home a couple of weekends ago, and my parents took me to a performance of Bach's St. John Passion with the Cleveland Orchestra. Outstanding. I was far more familiar with the St. Matthew Passion also by Bach, and I love that work as well, but I think I have found a new favorite. It was an outstanding addition to my Lent observances. Try and listen to both if you can. The St. John has two final chorus numbers that were so amazingly impressive: the one is a sort of \"lullaby\" to Jesus, that He rest in peace and without pain now, and that we will no longer prevail upon him to do for us. How overwhelmingly sad. The last chorus is a prayer, that when God's angels wake us from our own lifeless sleep on the day of judgment, that we will open our eyes to see the face of the Redeemer, and we will sing His praises forever. Bach perfectly sums up the central Christian belief in this. And so I leave you to contemplate them as well. Blessings to you all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jay -- here's the rest of my thought from before...\n\nThis shows a problem in how the Church -- at least as I've seen it in the U.S. -- approaches the diaconate. We teach and profess that deacons, like priests and bishops, receive Holy Orders, and enter a distinct state of life. But in practice, the Church in many ways denies this by how she approaches deacons. So, for example, priests and bishops do indeed leave those things behind; they are expected to devote themselves entirely to the Church. But we don't do that with deacons. \n\nAnd I think this is partly because they are (usually) married when ordained. But the point I was trying to make was that the theology of this sacrament is, that once having received Holy Orders, the other sacrament of vocation is left behind. It's a fork in the road.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Back on topic, Mohammad was a Military Commander that had united the many Arab Tribes, after stopping them from killing each other. His Armies were conquering the Known World, he needed the 100 percent Support of all the People at all Nations to Support his Armies, to gain this Support he wrote the Holy Koran.\n\nOf the 114 Suras of the Holy Koran 109 Suras of the Holy Koran are the Written Declared War Against the Christians, Jews, Unbelievers (Kafir). And that the \"Collaborators to the Christians, Jews, Unbelievers must die a horrible Murdering to Dwell in that Firey Place.\" Only 5 Suras mention \"Peace\", that will occur when the Christians, Jews, and Unbelievers are Subjugated to Islam.\n\nTaught at Madrasa other than the U.S., the Real Meanings of the Holy Celebration of Ramadan, as the Celebration of the Defeats and Massacres of the Christians, Jews, Unbelievers. Fasting represents the Holy Warriors of Islam getting up before dawn eating drinking, then going into Combat all day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Further to this, what is the point of the Mass? Do we gather each Sunday or during the week to merely remember the Last Supper and the Sacrifice of the Cross. Or, do we gather in Church each Sunday to avail ourselves of the merits of Our Lord's bloody self-sacrifice upon the Cross at the real yet unbloody re-presentation of that Sacrifice upon the altar for the forgiveness of sins?\nI may be wrong but I can't help but suspect that most modern Catholics have no idea of what is happening upon the altar, especially during a Novus Ordo Mass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic church has LONG been in the business of annulling perfectly valid marriages (well, some of them may not have been so perfect!) as well as dispensing from vows of all kinds, including vows of continence, chastity and betrothal. For handsome fees, of course! So, there are NO real obstacles to ordaining married men, or women for that matter!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does that include your approval of Moore claiming 911 was god revenge on sinners, or perhaps you believe sinners should be put to death like he professes. When you can not separate christian values from sheer lunacy you are the problem, not everyone else.\nWhen a judge in Alabama is removed not one or twice for his actions you see how off the wall he is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Truisms with no bit!\nIn the first sermon I gave I declared the Roman Catholic Church is the largest non-prophet organization in the world.\nThat was over 50 years ago & still stands.\nThe RCC is on the side of power, how to use power to force its narrow agenda, largely on sexual issues, on the masses.\nIronic, when people sought to make Jesus a king he fled to the mountains.\nBut the RCC came up with the celebration of Christ the King, to align him with worldly power.\nNo RC church ever titled, Jesus the Prophet! Christ the Kings everywhere!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't protect pedophiles. I also don\u2019t make wild allegations in CAPS.\n\nI also don't mind pointing out that someone is a ball of hatred without bounds who is bordering on ranting.\n\n\"For the safety of our children, please seek help.\" is simple hogwash. Stow it.\n\nThe Archdiocese of Milwaukee went through a bankruptcy, and a second bankruptcy judge modified it to sweeten the payout.\n\nThe entire mess was created under Rembert Weakland, a disgrace to his order, the episcopate, and the priesthood who is unrepentant. If you're angry, you should be angry at him.\n\nThe exit of accused priests involved small sums, approximately $20,000 each, to bridge their transit into civil life. The payments are fully documented, as you noted.\n\nThe fact that they were not arrested, charged, and tried defeats the phrase \"pedophile clergy\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish he had sent someone with more experience handling these matters, successfully, like Cardinal Law, or Dolan. Perhaps Bishop Finn would be available. All these men understand the primacy of the need to protect the reputation of the Church from scandal and all have courageously suffered, martyrs to the Church and the sincere desire of Jesus to protect the clergy from secular law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no denial of the legitimacy of the Council, it is the heterodox interpretation of that Council which has paved the way for the current situation and the blame lies fairly and squarely upon the shoulders of popes, bishops for not reining in the false prophets Christ warned us about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Betty, I'm glad you brought this up. The Catholic far right's sympathies with Vladimir Putin and apocalyptic expectation of a Holy War between Christianity and Islam is an under-reported story in the Catholic press. (Needless to say, a Holy War is precisely what the so-called \"caliphate\" desires.) The fevered projections of a religious fringe have now gone mainstream and straight to the inner sanctum of Trump's White House.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So I guess we are to take it as defined teaching at this point that, yesterday's milquetoast \"criticism\" of the tribalist problems of \"some on the left\" notwithstanding, basically anyone to the right of George W. Bush is to be taken as distorting Catholic teaching for purely political ends, even when they offer criticisms of policies that even some on the left thought misguided. And how, exactly, is this view going to be the undoing of reductionistic, thoroughgoing Maincheism that has infected the Church? How is citing Ratzinger in his prime, but setting up a dichotomy of \"Francis bishops\" versus what came before, with Chaput as Exhibit A, challenging the distortion of the Church via politics?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Both of my parents, two uncles and three aunts all went to Catholic schools during that very same period, as well as three members of my religious community, and not one has ever claimed they were taught what you say you learned. It's a simple statement of lived fact, James Hart.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(b) condemn Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination.\u201d \n--------------\n\nthe objection is that Islamophobia is singled out for special attention\nand other religions (Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism ) are all lumped together under \"religious discrimination\"\n\nCould Ms. Renzetti defend this discrimination?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Before the Church as you know it today existed, there was Jesus, his words and his examples. Remember how many times he was surprised at the faith and insights of the non-Jews of the time. (e.g. the centurian who wanted his servant healed, the foreign woman who stated that even the dogs eat crumbs the children drop from the table.) Remember that he spoke to Samaritans which the Jews despised. When the Samaritan woman asked where one should worship, Jesus told her that true worshippers worship in spirit and truth. He didn't order her to become a Catholic. Perhaps these people eventually became Christians. Who knows? \n\nThe point is that Jesus accepted people where they were and touched their hearts. Ecumenism is the work of Jesus because he desired that all be one. Ecumenism may appear like compromising but look at what Jesus compromised to come and embrace us.\n\nRemember that the Church is here for the sake of Jesus not Jesus for the sake of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. Those \"uppity women\". Give them an inch and they take a mile. And anything that they say is sheer nonsense. So of course \"nobody thinks\" the way that they do.\nI wonder. Do you realize the incredible arrogance and insensitivity in your sentence: \"Nobody thinks translating \"propter nos homines et propter nostram saultem\" as \"for us men and for our salvation\" somehow changes the meaning to male men to the exclusion of female men without being taught that by somebody with an axe to grind. There is no authentic confusion about Christian doctrine caused by this translation.\"? \nOr do you realize and not care?\nFor your information: the countless people (women and men) who disagree with you are not \"nobodies\". Their opinions matter just as much as yours. You are right regarding the lack of confusion. We are clear that the interpretation to using the word \"men\" in a present-day context is simply erroneous and does not reflect actual belief.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is well known that Yoga leads straight to devil worship. It secretly subverts the christian soul because it has roots in Hinduism. This is not narrow-minded superstitious nonsense! I can only hope the church will nowdenounce the use of Latin, a language spoken by pagans. No doubt its usage subverts the christian soul as much as Yoga, although not nearly as much as listening to rock music!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Antiphonal singing is part of the heritage of the Church. Have you ever visited a monastery for the Liturgy of the Hours? The monks recite the psalms antiphonally; in fact, most monastic choirs were designed specifically for that type of prayer. This is not clerical, it is Catholic. The idea that the laity should participate in every aspect of the liturgy is a Protestant notion, not a Catholic one.\n\nI do agree, though, that some Glorias are needlessly drawn out. That's fine for a solemnity or major celebration, but for a Sunday Mass in Ordinary Time, seems a bit much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"That they may be one as You Father and I are one\"\n\nAnd by the way the Catholic Church doesn't follow the fundamentalist leaning of your question, \"sola scriptura\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The right to be left alone is not absolute, which is why viable fetuses are protected as part of the public interest. Non-viable fetuses are not because there is no authoritative statement in national law giving them that interest. Pass it or don't pass it, but don't act as if that is not the next logical step. The findings of Roe don't change until you do. There is a police power that exists when there is no General Will, as Rouseau would have called it. Libertarians also have General Will critera on some issues, although opion is mixed on abortion. The police power of the states is restricted under the 14th Amendment because they constantly misuse it agaisnt Latinos, Gays, Blacks and Women, as well as Catholics. The tenth amendment is largely oveturned by the fourteenth, the state must prove an overriding interest to target legilsationat a class. I suspect adult consensual incest laws are void Adultery laws have mostly been overturned. Bigamy laws won't last a challenge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Jesus invited all of us to follow him, then the Eucharist/Communion part of the package. It is the most profound event in his short life. He was giving to everyone. It didn't matter whether they were Jews, Samaritans, or pagan Romans. Today, after centuries Catholics have add barriers to entry. Maybe we need to open the door and welcome others in order to follow Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We agree. It was a Catholic website explaining the codifying of the Bible. I didn't keep the address. Sorry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pt. 1\n Your \"none of its lay alumni/ae [CTU]are notable in either the Catholic Church nor society at large\" is biased. And what are YOUR qualifications for making that remark? Here are some of the lay alumni/ae who made/are making contributions to either the Church or society:\n1) Julia McStraog, MA 2014---works for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Wrote articles on working with Quakers in ministry.\n2) Allison DeLaney, MA 2004---received the John Templeton Fellowship for promoting better pastoral care and interdisciplinary dialogue in healthcare.\n3) Kimberly Lymore, MDiv 2003---appointed Director of the Augustus Tolton pastoral Ministry Program at CTU.\n4) Jim Dennison, MA 2004---retired as Parish Director of the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin---is battling liver cancer and would appreciate your prayers\n5) Roger Grant, MDiv 2015---chaplain for Comfort Hospice and Palliative Care in Chicago. Also pursuing ordination with the Universal Anglican \nChurch.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Robert Blair Kaiser's wisdom and perspective will be missed as we witness Papa Francesco attempting to \"Duc in Altum\" ... put out into the deep!\n\nKaiser also called for \"autochthonous\" [or indigenous] churches or new rites in the Catholic Church [modeled along the lines of the Oriental rites] that would free Catholics today from the patriarchy and political hegemony endemic in the Roman church.\n\nWe have to keep Kaiser's hopes and dreams alive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Strawman\n\nor better \"when did you stop beating your husband\" \n\nThe purpose of every activity (not just \"business\") is to do good. \n\n\"Do good, avoid evil\".\n\nIn fact, for a Catholic, the purpose of every activity needs to become the seeking of the greatest good imaginable: To love God. \n\nSo this way can become quite helpful for us and for God, especially when we find work irksome or toil....we can \"convert\" the work into a marvelous prayer, an offering to God. \n\nEvery task thus takes on \"infinite value\". \n\nAnd God allows every licit task to take on infinite dignity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I disagree. For one thing (since you're on this site, I'm assuming you are Christian?), Jesus said, \"Love your enemies; and do good to those who hate you.\" I think mercy is more important than justice. Funny (not in a Ha-Ha meaning), right after I posted my previous post, there was an article on CNN where the relatives of the Roof's victims were interviewed, and almost all of them said that they didn't want Roof to be executed. They didn't want Roof to be executed because they didn't want vengeance. One relative called the death penalty \"barbaric\" (and, of course, I agree). The US and Japan are the only First World countries that still have the death penalty. The ONLY two. If the death penalty were any good at all, why have other countries abolished it? Because, I think, they are more morally advanced and know that the death penalty truly is barbaric. We are SUCH a violent country. We're always at war. We have more murders every year -- BY FAR -- than other FW countries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course didn't bend God to man's will. The council fathers and Pope St. Pius V who promulgated the documents and decisions of that dogmatic council were bound, like everyone before or after them, by Divine Revelation, that is, both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.\nChrist instituted all 7 sacraments. In the case of Baptism, He certainly specified water. In the case of ordination, he ordained the Appstles at the Last Supper.\nRead the decrees of that Council for yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Would you say the same thing to members of the small but traditional Christian denominations who also don't stand for pledges or anthems due to their Godly beliefs?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the magisterium has formally and repeatedly condemned the proposition that the faithful may own or drive cars built or marketed since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. That was just before Vatican II (collective shudder!) was announced! So the horse and buggy may be the ordinary means of salvation for all Catholics!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one is lying to women about what abortion is. There are literally tons of info. online and at abortion clinics describing in complete detail what is involved.\n\nYou don't demand men watch deaths of people who die of kidney failure if a man refuses to donate a kidney to someone who needs it. Just because science allows for photography, that does not equate that people must be offered pictures of things things they don't have an interest in seeing because they have made a decision without a picture as refusing science. \n\nAbortion clinics do not describe abortion as Catholics would because Catholics make assumptions, not proven by science, regarding abortion based on faith. This does not constitute a lie but the clinics refusal to be coerced by religion or politics when dealing with their patients.\n\nI agree abortion is immoral but that is a faith issue not a scientific fact nor has it been proven constructive to treat it as a legal/political matter. Jesus says teach not judge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MC I really like the Jeffersonian bible as he took only this words spoke directly by Jesus as the true lessons, and we see as we read that he was right. Too much trusting of his words as others tried to make their personal point rather than actually listen to the meaning. And when we listen we see the first liberal who valued each as a human, full of human foibles, whose divinity was based on the fact that they each are of value. Simple, important, direct...of course his view of fundelmenatlist is pretty grim, maybe rightly so. The lessons clearly lead to the idea that bearing arms is the antithesis of following the teachings of Jesus, plain and simple.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics who were baptized are CATHOLICS. As far as you not knowing \"a single liberal\" at your parish, means that you don't know many parishioners really well. How many parishioners in your parish have families that number 7-10 children? How many have children with serious physical/mental disabilities? Authentic Catholics are not those who worship the institution of the church. They worship God. The two are not identical by a long shot.\n\nMost couples do use contraceptives---not NFP---and they do so because it takes lots, and lots of money just to raise 1-3 children today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again we get the impression that the ONLY \"Catholic value\" that matters is to be anti-abortion. Caring for the poor, treating women as equal persons and not as sex objects, having compassion for the vulnerable among us, honoring one's marriage vows, caring for the planet God gave us--none of those things seem to be important.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, while this person calls himself a Catholic, his extreme and unfounded views do not represent the majority of American Catholics.\n\nThank you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The awesome thing about the organizations you listed to counter argue actually just prove Barbara's point more (pretty sure most of those organizations are Christian organizations anyway)! Those organizations are out directly affecting whole communities. Churches accept donations to do what...? To go where...? Why does this entitle them to reap tax benefits? We could fund a lot more of the programs that are losing money today if we started taxing churches how they SHOULD be taxed! Like everyone else! \n\nJust because a church preaches what you think it should preach does not mean it should hold tax exemption status.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "the \"costumes\" mentioned in this article are called VESTMENTS.\ntheir detail and cost correspond to the significance of the MIRACLE that happens at each Mass.\nour priests are of the order of Melchizedek,; the ancient Jews took worship seriously and their priests were the best they had to offer, so our priests, of the same order, are obliged to do as well.\n\ni do not like the style of this article and do not like the position it argues.\nhowever, the silver lining is the \"data\" it conveys.\nthe 87 year-old priest. the \"rebellion\" of retirees. the restorationist mindset of the YOUNG.\n\"Many younger pastors, the statement said, \"seem to have the attitude that the Second Vatican Council never happened.\"\"\nVII and the people that support the protestantization of the Faith will very soon blow away like dust in the wind and will hopefully be only remembered as a bad memory.\nHAGAN LIO!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That people disagree with you does not mean you are persecuted. It means you live in a pluralistic society. In his book, which I have read Abp. Chput makes the hysterical and perposterous claim that recognition of transgender people and issues undermines our, as Catholics, belief in the Incarnation of Christ! Much like Steve Bannon and the dominionists cited in the La Civita article, Apt. Chaput wants to go back to a Constantine-imposed Christendom. Not going to happen, nor should it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You really don't know that in the Early Christian Church---people elected their pastors, bishops even the pope. Let me cite some references for you.\n\nSt. Cypran, a third century African bishop and martyr, recognized the election of Cornelius as Bishop of Rome because he had been \"made bishop by the judgment of God and of His Christ, by the testimony of almost all of the clergy, by the vote of the people who were then present, by the college of venerable bishops and good men....\"\n-----------------\nSt. Cyprian, \"Letters\" trans. Sister Rose Bernard Donna, THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH, vol. 51 [Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1964] p. 138.\n\nPatrick Granfield, \"Episcopal Elections in Cyprian: Clerical and Lay Participation,\" THEOLOGICAL STUDIES 37 [1996], p. 41.\n\nOther saints elected to be bishops: St. John Chrysostom, St. Ambrose of Milan, St. Augustine and St. Leo the Great [Bishop of Rome---Pope]\n\nThe Presbyterians merely copied what we did in our early days.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There you go again parroting one of the pope's favorite strawman: the perfect and pure. Nobody is perfect. There are many people who acknowledge their sinful natures and regularly use the sacrament of confession to attain the state of grace necessary to receive the Eucharist, the real presence of Jesus Christ. This pope is pandering to people, so-called Catholics, who don't even want to do that because the sacrament of confession requires a sincere attempt to change one's sinful ways, to, as Jesus said, go and sin no more, but they still want to receive the Eucharist anyway because they feel they are entitled to it or it is just a symbolic meal anyway.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stephen wrote:\n\"I would argue that even though the Blaine Amendment was originally intended to prevent public money (used to fund Protestant-oriented public schools) from helping Catholic schools, it now serves as an appropriate barrier between church and state and is in line with the First Amendment to the Constitution. It has also prevented interference by government into the policies of parochial schools.\"\n\nWrong, it is not in line with the First Amendment. It is in line with Jefferson's misinterpretation of the First Amendment, but Jefferson's and Madison's point of view was defeated by the 78% Federalist majority of the First Congress which donated land and money to the Jesuits to create Georgetown University.\n\nCatholic schools are accredited and Catholic school teachers are certified teachers.\n\nThe accrediting agencies and most of the schools granting certification are controlled by anti-Catholic bigots, and were founded by anti-Catholic bigots, but that is another issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop Wester has lots of experience with folks raped by priests when they were kids from all his years in San Francisco with Archbishops Quinn and Levada. Playing it open and transparent was never part of Wester's contribution. See Ron Russell's piece.. http://www.ronrussell.org/see-no-evil\nThe men of roman collars who pretend sympathy for child victims of their priestly colleagues' variations of sexual torture and lie about presenting the children's stories to their own clergy review boards and then get promoted to bishop is a sorry old tale of how things work in the church that forgot Christ.\n\nBishop John Wester owes so many apologies to so many kids and their families that releasing the names now of child raping priests he never knew in Santa Fe is but a meager delayed forced upon him response to abject evil. \n\nAW", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. I am correcting fons's understanding of \"perfecting\" (toward what). \n\nI'm using the words of Jesus to orient with, to isolate on what this 'end' of our perfection must be. \n\nOur understanding of what God planned for us & intends for us must become ever more perfected over our lifetime, ever more true in its knowledge of God's will, ever more ardent in its pursuit of this good.\n\nOur will must be directed by this ever more perfect understanding.\n\nOur intellect must \"see\" this ever more perfect union with God.\n\nTogether they must direct our other faculties (body, appetites, desires) toward this end. This is the higher purpose, and which \"drives back\" into faith various and particular teachings that our Church has made on this or that topic, us part of an integrated whole, connecting us to our end, God. \n\nYou believe instead that there are just unconnected particulars that the Church has weighed in on, which you dissent from: same sex marriages, priests. etc. \n\nYou don't see a whole.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well Bill as usual your column is a brilliant piece of thinking and reading. Our whole concept of priesthood needs an overhaul so that's one good way to start it. In the US they call their priests \"pastor\" which I think serves as a more apt title for what priests do. I can see many Catholics will think this is an attack (sigh)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you were the lame man in the Gospel, at the edge of the waters in Bethesda, and Jesus came up to you and told you to \"get up and get in\"...you'd say \"not a scintilla of sympathy!\"\n\nI can't imagine a more \"fit like a glove\" example from Scripture for someone on this site.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sort of a non-article. MSW centers most of his article around a priest.\n\nWith the Dubia..we have some of the most senior Cardinals in the Church, brilliant men. We have a private letter sent to the Pope (unanswered by him, carefully and charitably and respectfully written, teasing out in a very clear fashion serious difficulties and questions about AL, which so many people have said is itself ponderous and rambling, and it seems hastily written.\n\nThe ONLY recourse these Cardinals have is to continue using all their means to pursue the truth, wherever it leads.\n\nFrancis himself has numerous times spoke about dialog, encounter, openness, and surprise, like a broken record.\n\nIt's not the Cardinals' fault that (1) the document itself is unclear and contradictory with the passages of received Church teaching, (2) that Francis has chosen to dismiss their questions.\n\nThe letter by Bishop Schneider today is strongly supportive of the Cardinals.\n\nRome: We have a problem that won't go away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've been listening to conspiracy theories all my life. Some are nasty (when they target specific groups of people as agents of human woe), some are whacky - such as the lizard men masquerading as humans to take over the world. There are large swathes of the population who believe the aliens are already among us, and like the second coming of Christ, are about to reveal themselves and save us from ourselves.\n\nAlex Jones is another one of these conspiracy spinners. I first heard about him in Jonathan Robson's hilarious book 'Them', in a chapter where the journalist joins Jones and his cohorts to try and expose the super rich at Bohemian Grove in California (which IS a bit creepy if you know anything about it).\n\nIn a secular world of seemingly random events, this idea of conspiracy is an attempt to make order out of chaos, and somehow by believing these unlikely ideas, take control of that chaos. Jones' is current notoriety is due to Trump - he and his kind are nothing new.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The prosperity Gospel is a severe distortion of Jesus' message and one that leads people astray.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Okay, I'll go you one further. MAKE NO NEW CARDINALS! Period. Let this hierarchy go away by attrition. Hire FEMALE Business Manager, Accountants, Theologians, Treasurers, Pastoral Manager and all the other titles your cardinals are now holding. If you can't make WOMEN priests, then give them hierarchical jobs. It's been proven, women are more honest, have more integrity, work harder (for less pay, need I say) and have all the degrees needed -- without the church paying for them. \n\nCanon law? Hire a female lawyer.\n\nYou get my drift. Peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly! It purports to perpetuate celibate clerical control over Catholic marriage and to a great extent, over all other marriages. The scheme is unworkable, and unholy!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't expect politicians to be saints. Plenty of Catholics voted for the Kennedys and Bill Clinton whose sexual mores were no better than Trump's.\nYour judgements of Trump's character are in my opinion born of a hatred of conservatism and a personal dislike of this man. Your published comments about Mr Trump are the anti-thesis of the Gospel.\nWere I to have had a vote in the U.S. election I would not have been able to vote for Hillary on account of her support for abortion, same-sex 'marriage', etc, and her left-wing political views. Mr Trump's politics coincide more with mine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is only one universal Truth and that is the existance of Life in the World. Jesus said \"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life\". Our goal to increase all life to its fullest would be the Scientific and Religious coming together, and our common goal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was not collecting sheep. So whether the numbers decline in one and raise in another has nothing to do with Jesus's teachings. Here are some quotes from high up fundamentalists that attract a lot of followers:\n\"I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good... Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a Biblical duty, we are called by God, to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism.\" \n-Randall Terry, Founder of Operation Rescue", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK. If that's what you think. But how do you rectify the fact that we have laws? Laws that should be enforced? If you have a problem w/ the law and how it is administered then work to have the law changed. I thank God every day that I was fortunate to be born to my mom & my dad. I am a US citizen. Your mendacity is in full view by trying to demonize or at the very least demagogue those who disagree w/ your viewpoint. Cool man. It's just comments....right? I don't see you expending the same amount of effort for the Yezidis or the. I actually went there and helped them. Many of them when offered an option to relocate did NOT WANT TO LEAVE the land of their birth. They just wanted to weather the storms. Do some historical research and you may find that the original caliphate allowed Christianity to live outside the territories they considered solely \"muslim\". Jordan, Syria, Gaza, Yemen, N. Africa, Lebanon. It is only recently (last 300-400 yrs) that that doctrine changed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) At my school, Christian kids are far from being the ones that are picked on, cast aside, etc.\n2) I agree.....but why did you use \"secular\" as a criticism of BVSD and schools in general?\n3) We do teach skills needed to survive in a complicated world....and I agree that schools SHOULDN'T be in the business of the other stuff. However, too many parents in today's society don't hold up their end of the bargain. A kid won't learn well if they're starving, or sick, or psychologically damaged from their parents BS. Too many parents don't teach their kids how to function and act properly. If the parent doesn't do it, and the school doesn't do it, who will?\n4) Sure, I could tell LGBT kids that.....but I'd be lying. I have told them that things get better, but I'd never tell them that no one in the real world cares, because that is BS, and it would be a huge disservice to do so. If you don't care, then kudos to you....but to say that no one does is a false reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Such a corrupts \"panorama\" of sorts has been seen by anyone who doesn't have tinted glasses ...Temer has been on the same payroll that his ( now imprisoned dear friend ...) Cunha : The sanctimonious Evangelist one, Cunha, has milked the country for years either in the name of Christ - or just money by money's sake . Temer is part of the South Brazil ( Sao Paulo) inner kabala of right wing industrialists bedding Brazil's obnoxious-deadly landowners who still live in feudal times while using and misusing high tech social devices. Brazil, Brazil, Brazil...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Had she entered a mosque unveiled you might have a point.\n\nBut, alas - and not to disrupt your peace MSW - Melania is a Catholic! Ouch.\n\nBravo.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Castro never supported Apartheid. He equally didn't support the slavery er... (forced labor) that Portugal made Africans do in Mozambique and Angola; slavery that the Catholic Church never condemned!\n\nBLM wouldn't seem as necessary if the murders of Michael Brown to Philandro Castile hadn't occurred.\n\nFor those against BLM, were YOU this condemning of the IRA and its offshoots?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"deprivation\" of the identity of the Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Nation Anglo na-na-da \nis an \"expert\" in the field. Is it not what Anglo Canada has done with the \"deprivation\" of First Nations Cultures? \n\"Cultural Genocide\", said one of them, oui ?\nAfter the establishment of the Canadian Federation (1867), the English speaking several provinces attended helplessly to the adoption of several LAWS and regulations, anti-Catholic and anti-French in English Canada, especially in that regard to denominational schools outside Qu\u00e9bec.\nAnti-Catholic and anti-French attitude drew its source, among others, the fact that many of the Loyalists who came to Qu\u00e9bec after the American Revolution of 1775 (Eastern Townships/ Ontario and Western Provinces) were \"Orangemen\" convinced. Orangemen advocated an anti-Catholic and anti-French doctrine, inspired by the reconquest of England in 1690 by the Protestant Prince William III of Orange.\u2026\n\t\nAnd Paf ! Problems started across French Canada ever since !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are a lot of things that people say Pope Francis said, which he didn't say.\u2014Janhoi Mccallum Jesus had the same problem, except \u201csatire\u201d was not offering an excuse, \u201cJesus entered the synagogue\u201d of public scrutiny, \u201c . . . they watched Jesus closely . . . so that they might accuse him\u201d (Mark 3:1-2). Reminds me of what is going on with Raymond Arroyo at EWTN. \n\nCrux plumbs the murky depths of neo-conservative dislike (hatred?) Of Pope Francis\u2014Victor Victoria Just the same, \u201cYou\u201d Pope Francis \u201care a priest for ever in the line of Melchizedek\u201d (Psalm 110:4b). \u201cand he was also `king of Salem,\u2019 that is king of peace\u201d (Hebrews 7:2). From Liturgy of the Word, Reading 313, Wednesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time, Year I", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The irony is that it has often been the \"non-religious\" who have been at the forefront of movements to speak out against such injustices while it is the \"religious\" who have too often been silent or even dismissive.\"\n\nTo quote Jesus: \"for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ward 1 has, on numerous occasions, identified himself as a fundamental Christian. \n\nExodus 34:6 \"but who will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children\u2019s children, to the third and the fourth generation.\u201d\n\nDeuteronomy 24:16)--\"Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin.\"\n\n(Ezekiel 18:20)--\"The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father\u2019s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son\u2019s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.\"\n\nI look forward to his response to your inquiry.\n\n(As an agnostic, I am unpersuaded by any of these \"Words of God\", however.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of three) Or are you simply displeased that certain theologians who have taught cintrary [sic] to this teaching have been \"censored\"?\u2014mjmchale Whatever \u201cthis teaching\u201d may mean. The concern is that academic freedom required to get past received biases and prejudices.\n\nThe Church may have responsibility for the fifty-percent divorce rate and for young people leaving the Church. Bernie S. Siegel, M.D., Love, Medicine & Miracles: Lessons Learned About self-Healing from a Surgeon\u2019s Experience with Exceptional Patients (William Morrow: An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 1990) makes the point that people have unconscious desires and emotions. With that as an assumption, at the Eighth Station of the Cross, Jesus upbraids the weeping women of Jerusalem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree, it supports what you said that there is an array of theological opinions. I felt the closing paragraph offered a nice picture of how a parent's hope for their child aligns with baptism when death intervenes, which is somewhat different from the way the discussion was trending.\n\nI don't agree with your dismissal of \"hope\" as \"wishful thinking\" but that isn't really the substance of what we were discussing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Cupich shows wisdom. I especially like his sense of Benedict. IMHO he is living the prayer, discernment, and leaning on God that Francis lives -- leading by example.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Erroneous autonomy is the erroneous belief there is such a thing as a Catholic who can have a private relationship apart from God, The Ordered Communion Of Perfect Love, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, and remain in communion with Christ's One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church; one can know through both Faith and reason, that a Catholic cannot be autonomous and in communion, simultaneously. Every act of Love will serve to complement and thus enhance, the fullness of Love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm afraid I don't understand that you find my response amazing. I understand the point, but as the child of linguits, I disagree. \nWomen are included in the language but \"man\" and its variations do not always mean \"a\" man but all of the race of men, that is, humanity. It's not the Church's job to impose a particular change in language to assuage the feelings of a few when the vast majority of the English-speaking world understand that the language has developed in such a way that \"man\" carries two definitions and the context of a document or statement make it clear which is meant. It would be silly to interpret a statement like \"Jesus died for all men\" as \"Jesus died for only males\". Similarly, it is imprecise to say that \"Jesus died for all\" when he did not die for mankind, bovine, and crinoids. You may argue that context supplies the definition for \"all\", and I won't disagree, in this case, but in other cases, fumbling around with \"inclusive\" language has been both problematic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First off, holy orders requires a vow of continence and a marriage cannot be contracted if someone has taken a vow of continence. The marriage contract says that a man and a woman give and accept a perpetual and exclusive right to acts which are, of themselves, suitable for the generation of children. If one has taken a vow of continence, they cannot give or accept rights to acts which are suitable for the generation of children. This is why a married man can become a priest in the Byzantine rite, provided his wife agrees to not ask for the marriage debt. This is also why a priest will never be able to marry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I came from a traditional catholic background to NCR to see what there was on the site. What I see here is no better than the batsh#t crazy stuff I see from the radtrads. You all believe whatever you want to believe like children. Hilary was elected senator, made sec of state, and then voted as the nominee of the democratic party for president. If sexism were truly as you say, none of these things could've happened. Moreover, she won the popular vote. The explanation for Hilary's loss lies in the fact that many people just don't like her, that she represents more of the same and they want change, and that they are tired of the clintons. Probably the biggest factor was the change theme: they wanted change and Hilary just seemed like the same old thing. Of course this won't convince the hard core feminists because no evidence can convince them of anything.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, I know. The other day, a woman informed me that God loves me, and is giving me a chance to repent (ie listen to her). If I don't, I will be suffer he eternal fire......\nBut I think that all of those people are using the Bible as an excuse. There is much in the Bible about loving others -- even the prophets talk about the care for others -- it's not just a New Testament concept. And if I, someone who knows very little theology, knows this, then others must also. They just choose to disregard those parts.\nAnd many hugs and much love right back to you!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bible is very clear. Hebrews stole the promised land from the aboriginal Canaanites.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The writer likes to label critics of Pope Francis \"conservatives,\" but does not refer to some of his supporters as \"liberals.\" An objective reporter avoids labeling people. Conservative/liberal are political terms. Perhaps \"orthodox\" and \"heterodox\" would be better in dealing with Church matters. Those other terms are very 1970's and dated. Let's not show our biases or ages so freely. God bless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "thank you Christian...since you are here and speaking of clarifying a story by adding to it when it launches - the story last week on the Ruby Ave house in santa clara was terrible. it was misleading from the very beginning and it shocked me that after all the additional comments that would have likely led a reporter to some people directly involved in the story to clarify and define the story...it was left as is. it was truly awful that another, accurate story wasn't run.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But the Catholic Church is against birth control, so that's not a legitimate point of yours. But, yes, paid family leave and higher minimum wages make sense, and so does sex ed. And Catholics to fight for the lives of immigrants, Muslims, and LGBT. Unfortunately, we tend to not talk about it enough.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Roman Catholic Church has the right to exclude women from the fullness of sacramental inclusion because of her genitals then why can't a man who claims the right to grab women by the genitals become President of the United States. \nThe Roman Catholic Church claims to be the one, true, holy representative of Christ on earth\nThe United States of America claims to be the greatest nation ever on the face of the same earth.\nOne can \"blame\" the Pope or the President-elect but that is mere scape-goating for the main reason. There are two options: a) God, b) you and I.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Charles Koch is currently being feted at the Catholic University of America during a three day conference organized around his book Good Profit. I found that conference disturbing before I read MacLean's book. After reading it, that conference is more than disturbing; it is scandalous.\"\nI would be careful not to make others unwelcome at a Catholic university, whether because they're allegedly too liberal, as in the recent case of Fr. Martin, or allegedly too libertarian, as in the example of Mr. Koch. Academic freedom and respect for civil discourse, both heralded by NCR in recent editorials, work for everyone or they work for no one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, it's based on current U.S. law. Nothing new. \n\nDemocracy in action. Purely constitutional. Purely legal. Purely humane. Purely just.\n\nBishop Robert knows that 10% of American Catholics are here illegally. That is what this is all about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's a brief summary of how the practice of calling priests \"Father\" began and spread: \nhttp://bustedhalo.com/questionbox/when-did-the-use-of-father-become-a-practice-in-the-catholic-church-for-ordained-priests\n\nSecular (diocesan) priests in the United States wore the secular clothing of the day (when not engaged in sacramental ministry) and were commonly addressed as \"Mister\" in the secular communities in which they lived. The clerical suit and collar for use in public in the United States, away from the church or chapel, was not required until the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore (1884).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is hard to read. I grew up in the Burgh. But perhaps the seeds of what we are seeing today started back in the 60's when I was going through Catholic grade school -- a nightmare back then, is how I remember it. Very heavy handed, lots of punishment, fear-based \"education.\" I recall thinking it would be a miracle if any of my classmates turned out to be Catholic after that experience. Are we harvesting what was planted?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope that Tobins words relative to the Nov USCCB mtg and the AL issue really come to pass: \"Tobin hopes that during the bishops' annual meeting in November \"we're going to be able to have a frank and fraternal and pastoral discussion on the text.\"\n\nFrank , fraternal and pastoral have not seemingly been certain bishops response to AL as of this date.\n\nThink Tobin was a great choice and his final thoughts about a cardinal's job sharing with the Pope what is really going on locally....may be truly helpful to the US church....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you believe God and His Church \"have no sympathy for the woman\"? Recall Augustine's admonition re death of the soul.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I found a big article \"Revitalizing Our Catholic Family\" in the current edition of The Southern Cross ...three columns wide about Halfway through the issue using the picture that NCR is using....\n\nI could copy and paste if you need help?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ never said he would give grace, mercy, and acceptance to those who determinedly violate Scripture. In fact, he often spoke of hell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It worked for me and millions of others. As I posted earlier it is not overtly Christian oriented but it does rely on the recognition that you are powerless over an addictive substance and by turning you life and WILL over to a higher power, whatever you conceive that to be, it will begin a healing process. For all I know Allah was in those rooms and so what? The program heals and it is free. Do you know of any alternatives to AA other than keeping the evil doers in jail getting thirstier by the day? AA is entirely voluntary once you've served your court ordered number of visits but you can certainly go to five meetings a day if that is what will keep you sober and you enjoy the newfound camaraderie and atmosphere. Have you ever attended a meeting just to see for yourself that it is not a hard core \"religious\" atmosphere? Ninety percent of every meeting is just men and women sharing the stories of what it was like and what life is like now in sobriety no matter how many days you have.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Asexuals believe that their sexuality is a virtue and it may be for them, but it is not hetero or homonormative, i.e., healthy for the rest of us. It took Humanae Vitae for us to notice this and now we ignore the likes of Burke, but not Francis.\n\nWhat to do about Burke? Out him and the other Asexuals in the clergy and do a reboot on Catholic sexual teaching and its asexual extremism. It is a rude and drastic step, so maybe a personal intervention by Church sponsored doctors would be a first step, but definitely discuss how asexuals have twisted doctrine to their own predelictions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ, alive and well as much in the First as the Sixteenth as the Twenty-first Century, head of the Church, recognizes the facts of the matter as well as, and beyond, the mere words we use to explain things to ourselves.\n\nAnd you know exactly what I mean.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And what is the upshot of Pope Francis \u201cworking on the implementation [of Vatican II]? Schism, strife, dissent, factions, polemics, cardinal against cardinal, bishop against bishop, requests for doctrinal clarification of papal pronouncements, fraternal and fillial corrections of the Pope, sackings of Curial members. In all my seventy odd years I have never witnessed such a dreadful state of affairs in God\u2019s Church as exists now. Every time the Pope opens his mouth he seems to make the situation so much worse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wrote the good Archbishop about the guidelines his Archdiocese published in response to Pope Francis' AMORIS LAETITIA. I objected to their tone (much like this speech of his), saying that rule-based Catholicism makes for a small Church, no? His response to me was the same as this message of his. He said he was more interested in the truth than in numbers. My question remains, the truth according to whom? Him? His sycophants who rally at his close-minded, clenched fist approach to morality and living one's life as a Catholic in today's world? He is not interested in conscience formation but rather in dictating to us what our consciences should be thinking. He and his ilk are not going to force me out. No, they will further plunge themselves, as he already has, into the abyss of irrelevance, thereby losing the good they could be doing in the cloud of negativity they spread on nearly everything they address. Inclusive means exactly what it says, \"all are welcome.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you , HC . At the time those of us who were either in our 30's or 60's were in a state of amazed shock . All we'd ever heard was ,,\" The Catholic church will never change . \"\nSo you are more than very welcome ! At first , my father was reluctant and fearful but he entered wholeheartedly into the \"changes \" by saying that he'd always done what the church told him and he'd keep doing just that .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Try this: religion (Muslims) is man reaching up to God. Christianity is God reaching down to man and man responding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Portraying the oppressive religion that controls society in The Handmaid's Tales as being Christian, shows the book and TV series to be at least 30 years out of date (and if you think that Trump is sympathetic to fundamental Christianity, you haven't been paying attention).\n\nWe can forgive this in Atwood's book, as it was written over 30 years ago. The TV series, however, might have been relevant had it portrayed the misogynist religion as one whose name translates into English as \"submission\" (from the Arabic, aslama, \"resign oneself\"). That, however, would have taken courage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@ DC Toronto yet we tax the smokers and put an age limit. If we imposed those same tobacco standards on all religions, then (Minimum 18 years to go to church and taxed its revenue) this generation would be the last of Catholicism and all mainstream religions in Canada. . \u201cGive me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.\u201d -Stalin\n\nBut yes your other comments would help in slowly removing all non-secular caveats from our constitution is a good start.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not mind-reading when I tell you Jesus' reason for admonishing Peter. The words of that passage itself tell you: \"Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 1\n\nThank you. I appreciate and concur totally with your first three sentences, although we probably disagree at depth about the nature of \"truth.\" Still dialogue must be based on mutual respect in the pursuit of truth.\n\nRE: \"Why is good will between Catholics and dying liberal denominations like the Episcopalians or the Lund Lutherans good but good will between Catholics and Evangelicals bad.\"\n\nFirst, we have to distinguish E1 and E2 more carefully. \n\nE1 is based entirely on fostering good will between entities with a powerful shared history of violent enmity. As an ideology it is not against anyone or anything, except historical misunderstandings and hateful myths. At the same time, it is in no way relativistic since acknowledging and mutually exploring fundamental theological differences is a very strong part of the practice of E1. Also E1 is formally Church to Church, at all levels; with formal gestures at the top playing an especially important role.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\n\nYou haven't acknowledged that Mark and Matthew give two different versions of what Jesus said -- one an absolute prohibition, the other with an exception. It is intellectually dishonest to say that the two passages say or mean the same thing; so: what do you make of the difference? \n\nI've asked you twice to reflect on Hosea 6:6: \"For I desire mercy, not sacrifice.\" You've ignored my question, and so I would simply ask you to pray and reflect on that passage, even as Jesus asked us to do: \"Go and learn the meaning of the words, \u2018I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'\" (Mt.9:13)\n\nYou are a prolific poster; I don't have time to read all of your posts. And so I may be misreading you: I thought you were arguing that a remarried person cannot be admitted to the Eucharist. If I have misunderstood you on that point, I apologize and I will stand down.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\".....equally endowed with talents, .....\"\n\nThere's a real stretch of the imagination.\n\nI am aware you are anxious to join the Methodist church, Robin, and if this is the best you can come up with for abandoning the SDA faith, well, that's really too bad.\n\nAs EGW said to Kellogg, \"I would help you if I could.\" as he was wandering off into oblivion. And this is what she would say to many who develop such lame reasons to \"hit the road\".\n\nBible literacy is at an all time low. And the real sad part of all this is those who know the least, are often the ones who think they know so much.\n\nAll we can say is \"The shaking will intensify\" and \"all that can be shaken, will be shaken.\"\n\nMale headship is a God ordained reality and nothing man can do or say will change it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's an example of something you wrote earlier:-\n\"...... when Cardinal Burke told parents to reject their gay children, he was not \"beige\" a homophobe. That was just the first lie \"in\" have seen from you.\"\nPerhaps you could explain what it means.\n'Real' Catholics know that the Church's authority to teach comes from God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Before you get too euphoric about the LDS youth, know that this church has its youth problems as well:\n\n---religionnews(.)com/2016/10/05/leaked-worldwide-only-25-of-young-single-mormons-are-active-in-the-lds-church/---\n\n\u201cWorldwide, only 25 percent of young single Mormons are active in the LDS Church\u201d\n\nThe article's author (Jana Riess) is a Mormon in good standing and has a column at Religion New Service entitled \"Flunking Sainthood.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To quote Jesus: \"By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.\u201d Donald Trump told us repeatedly what kind of man he is\u2014to the point here, that he's the very kind of man that Carolyn describes in her excellent piece, above. Why do so many people refuse to believe him?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I didn't make any comments on what Jesus knew.\"\n\nBut you did, by direct implication, when you said, \"Your reliance on the old testament is a sure sign of desperation.\" Reliance on the Old Testament is good enough for Jesus, but to you, it's an \"act of desperation.\" Congratulations! It's rare to see such unbridled arrogance. I'm sorry you have to go. I was just beginning to find entertainment in your absurdities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, I'm not a member of the hierarchy. What I intended was to illustrate that as I agreed with the hierarchy your harsh words for them could apply to me also.\nBishops and priests are just like everyone else we come across, we either like them or we don't because of some fault we perceive in their character or demeanour. I have not met any Catholic bishops as intimately as you seem to have to pass judgement upon them but I have known a lot of priests, some I took to some I did not. Intending to be a cleric myself I can't say how I would have turned out had I succeeded. I knew a fair number of nuns when I was a child and I can't say I disliked any of them.\nI accept what you say about envy not being the reason for your feminism. Where we differ is over your belief that women in Europe and the USA are oppressed, I can't see how. You are a lawyer, right? Your status and remuneration must be well above the average woman's whilst there are many, many men on or below the breadline.\nSee part 2", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just to be clear, \"Syriac\" does not refer to an ethnic group or to a particular Christian denomination, but rather to the important dialect of Aramaic which became a principal language of Semitic Christians in Late Antiquity. In fact it is shared by Christians belonging to churches from a wide array of confessions, from Monophysites (who historically did not accept the Council of Chalcedon) to Nestorians (who especially objected to the Council of Ephesus). A few groups in communion with Rome use it as a liturgical language, e.g. the Maronites. Originally the dialect of northern Mesopotamia and eastern Anatolia, it is fairly similar to the Jewish Talmudic Aramaic of Babylon, but not so similar to the Palestinian Aramaic of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which is why I have always believed that to be the principal reason Jesus condemned divorce in first century Palestine - to spare women from becoming ruined when their husbands cast them off for a younger model. Men, after all, held all the cards back then. Things are a bit different now, which is why the church's consideration about divorce needs some adjustment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Noting not long ago.....*The Guardian Archbishop Wilson to step aside to concentrate on pending charges for cover-up.* \nI'm not sure of another who failed to report abuse, that's three with high profiles in the limelight all for the wrong reasons \nThese are the headaches that never seem to disappear causing so much despair for thefaithful.\nYes leave it to the religious women who knew how to keep their mouths shut..\nWives of Christ I think they're called, by Benedict anyway.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't understand MSW. Remember, this is the man who bragged about how many clergy were crammed into the church for his father's funeral. He's a vatican fanboy and a partisan. In MSW's world, Burke is bad and papa Francis is good. The idea they are both symptoms of an illness infecting christianity is beyond MSW. He is part of the problem. He'll never admit that Francis is a liar playing us for fools. A naive little boy who measures his importance by his ties to Rome. Like the bishops, he never stops to consider the very real possibility that he lives a meaningless life and will leave nothing of value behind except the accolades of other vatican fanboys and assorted allied clerics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When the English-translation of CCC first came out 1n 1994, a number of good Catholics bought copies from a local parish. A number of people spoke to me about 3 weeks later stating that they struggled getting through the first section of part 1 \"The Profession of Faith I believe\" \"We believe\". And they told me that they found the CCC as dry as sand. Most of them never got beyond where they stopped.\n\nMost parents of growing children have never consulted the CCC for advice. Why should they? The people who wrote the CCC have no practical experience raising children, themselves. There are many other good Catholic sources in helping parents to understand how to impart the faith to their children. And these are written by actual parents of children.\n\nFor ordinary Catholics, the CCC is obtuse and obscure. It wasn't written for ordinary people to begin with---but for teachers [bishops and those educated in Religious formation].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church\u2019s take:\n\nCatechism of the Catholic Church:\n\n1979 The natural law is immutable, permanent throughout history. The rules that express it remain substantially valid. It is a necessary foundation for the erection of moral rules and civil law.\n\nHere\u2019s an example from American history of the use of Natural Law:\n\n\u201cWe hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly...communion - intimate union - with Jesus. Redemptive suffering. Suffering raised to the supernatural level. Well said Holy Father.\n\nand yes hope isn't a sentiment. It comes about because of union with God. \n\nFrom Dorronsoro, Time to Believe:\n\u201c\u2026When any one of us realizes he is sad, he must think: \u2018It is because I am not close enough to Christ...\u2019 When one of us becomes aware, for instance, of an inclination towards ill-humour, towards bad temper, he must similarly remind himself If he throws the blame on things around him, he will be wide of the mark; he will be looking in the wrong direction \u2026When somebody says: \u2018I appear to be incorrigibly lazy. I am not tenacious; I don\u2019t seem to be able to finish the things I start', today he ought to think \u2018I am not close enough to Christ' \"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to what you've said the people you have a problem with are Adam and Eve, or more accurately Adam since he was supposed to be the leader and is the ultimately responsible for the fall.\n\nThrough one man, Adam, sin entered the world, which includes \"children\" at conception, and yet through another, Jesus Christ, we are brought to redemption (freedom) from it.\n\nThe infinite love and mercy of Christ will take care of all those unborn children, but no one is \"inflicting the accusation of original sin on those fetuses or babies\" in any corrupt or perverted way at all.\n\nMay God bless you to see that and open your heart to His Truth!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yep, thanks. I know you cannot say it ALL in a short editorial, but the effort is appreciated. I asked myself, \"Are wins that I consider important (e.g. supreme court) worth the possible cost?\" I wrote in Mike Pence and Ben Sasse. I too was shocked at and concerned by the \"Make America Great, Again\" evangelicals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't. I have a thick black woolen ski mask that covers my face down to my shoulders. And I have a warm, black top coat. \n\nLiving in the 2nd warmest part of Canada, the GTA, we had 3 cold days last winter. On one of them I wore my black ski mask and my black top coat to walk to my drug store. \n\nOn my way out of my condo, I joked with the Concierge that in the spirit of Trudeau's anything goes attitude I was going to change from being a Christian man to being a Muslim women. He thought that was pretty funny (but then he gets my sense of humour).\n\nWhen I approached the pharmacist at the drug store, she gave me a look of absolute panic and I thought she was going to faint. \n\nIt turns out the drug counter at the pharmacy had been robbed by a burka covered person just weeks before and she was the one on duty.\n\nI apologized profusely, spent $40 on flowers, and felt like a real POS.\n\nEveryone knows that wearing a tent is demeaning and dehumanizing.\n\nWhy?\n\nBecause its 2017 not 817.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Jesus anticipated following Him could put us at variance with our family members:\n\n\"For I have come to set\na man \u2018against his father,\na daughter against her mother,\nand a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;\nand one\u2019s enemies will be those of his household.\u2019\"\n\n(Matthew 10:35-36)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Uncommon Grace: The Life of Flannery O'Connor\n\"This film traces the people and events that shaped her remarkable career, as well as the important role that Catholicism played in her writing. Featuring expert commentary and rare photographs, Uncommon Grace will give you a new appreciation for this highly celebrated, yet often misunderstood, storyteller. \"\n\nwww.beataproductions.com\n\nThe film does explore her Catholic faith in an depth manner.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The homeless are one of the many bad out comes when, as a nation, we decide that all lives don't matter. Civilized countries have proper public housing, public education, public healthcare, and a proper criminal justice system. We have none of those things for \"all\" of our citizens. People behave badly when they give up on themselves and life. Their continued existence just reminds them that their lives don't matter. Their most important goal each day is to escape the physical and emotional pain that is always near. Too bad most Christians refuse to follow the advice that Jesus gave them. However, we don't have to make this a moral issue. We can solve this problem as a cost benefit issue. It is better for the society to have everyone functioning as valued contributors. We should be making that as easy as possible for everyone. Everyone will be safer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bible says that we are to obey the laws of the land FYI.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of four) So, if election night proved anything, it is that we are not only two Americas, but two different American Catholic churches.\u2014Maureen Fiedler\n\tThe great divide is between those who let politics determine truth, like the Donald, no matter what he says is accepted as true; and those who let truth determine politics, like Hillary whose prose does not inspire. Just the same, \u201clight shines through the darkness.\n\nSo, if election night proved anything, it is that we are not only two Americas, but two different American Catholic churches.\u2014Maureen Fiedler\n\tThe difference is between those willing to read and think in order to seek truth, \u201cso that we may be co-workers in the truth;\u201d and those unwilling to read and think, because they already know the truth, without having to risk searching for truth. There is such a thing as \u201cthe rights of his chosen ones,\u201d rights that extend beyond clerics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems I have misunderstood your position. By break away denominations I mean the various denominations that have left Catholicism like protestants and sedevacantists. \n\nI ran out of characters but I meant the teachings of the Church as handed down from the apostles and the ecumenical councils. This is at least what Catholics affirm to when reciting the various creeds( Apostolic, Nicene, Athanasian, Tridentine and so on) .\n\nAs for right interpretation, isn't this where the Church magisterium is needed? Is obedience not a virtue to strive for, the fall of man was rooted in disobedience. \n\nYou mention that a wrong interpretation can come from a person of good faith, is it not better than in the same spirit of humility to at least try to understand and obey the hard sayings of the Church, if for no other virtue than the promises our Lord gave to the Church. In a sense the quality has been assured by God. \n\nIf I still don't understand your position, forgive me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Cont.)\nMark 14:17-18\n\u201cAnd when evening was come, HE COMETH WITH THE TWELVE. AND WHEN THEY WERE AT TABLE EATING, Jesus saith: Amen I say to you, one of you that eateth with me shall betray me.\u201d\n\nLuke 22:13-14\n\u201cAnd they going, found as he had said to them, and made ready the pasch. \nAND WHEN THE HOUR WAS COME, HE SAT DOWN, AND THE TWELVE APOSTLES WITH HIM.\u201d\n\nThe Gospel of St. John does not tell us precisely who was at the Last Supper, but does mention that Christ washed the feet of the Disciples, by which is meant the 12 Apostles as the names of two of the Apostles are given, Peter, and Judas. \n\nThose who foment for women priests often engage in a pernicious error, namely by distorting the meanings of two words: Disciple and Apostle. The word \"Disciple\" means \"learner\", from the Latin, discipulus. The word \"Apostle\" means \"messenger\" from the Greek, apostolos. The 12 Apostles were messengers, given the commandment by Christ to preach and to baptize.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John Allen has to appease his masters ... i.e. the KoC. He has become compromised. The KoC hierarchs won't have taken kindly to the recent piece in La Civilta Cattolica critiquing neo conservative Catholic culture warriors and their cosying up with evangelical fundamentalists. They will want to get back at Pope Francis. And Allen is assisting them in achieving their nefarious agenda. Shame on him!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"They probably just do it because they saw it somewhere and kinda like it; it\u2019s nice for the family to be united.\" \u2013 It is nice for the family to be united, but holding hands is not indicative of unity at Mass. The people are already united to each other: through Christ. Holding hands contributes to the horizontal aspect of the liturgy, focusing on each other instead of our hands folded in prayer, directed at the altar.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Eucharist is between Jesus and the person. The community is incidental.\"\n\nPaul (and with him the Church) would profoundly disagree with you.\nThe Church makes the Eucharist and the Eucharist makes the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Am glad someone profiled the mayor and his love-hate relationship with his faith but is Catholicism truly a \"prison?\" I ask more questions at: http://bit.ly/2nGwenF.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The review of this film in the National Catholic Register includes a warning about the traumatic, immoral, scandalous, and evil things viewers should know are depicted in this movie: \n\nThe gore and violence of battle...\n\nritualistic suicide...\n\nbeheadings...\n\nrear male nudity. \n\nIf there is a non-sequitur of 2016 contest, guess what wins? \n\nSomeone more clever and insightful than I will have to tell us about the kind of thinking that places the last one with the others. It's either humorous or it's sick. Or am I missing something?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder if it is more of a generational divide, or if there was something specific for your or my generation that makes us diametrically opposed in how we understand not only Christ and his Church, but the very purpose and experience of the ritual he instituted. \n\nIt would great if there was an in depth study on this. \n\nI can't put myself in your shoes, but would I'd guess that it could have something to do with you coming to mass expecting to give and work? I usually approach the mass with the expectation of receiving, and preparing to receive in a meditative manner. The silence especially leaves a profound impact on me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What if grads at Loyola Marymount protested because their university created a degree program in yoga studies? I'll bet you'd think that was OK. You and Heartbreaker both have warned about the dangers and demonic/Eastern religion/anti-Catholic threats of yoga. Would you and Heartbreaker be intellectually consistent in support of a Catholic university's right and obligation to serve its students with a grad program in yoga, even though some at the Far Right disagree?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now now, don't backpedal. We catholics must support the One True Church, right or wrong. Pointing out that other man made institutions have abuse problems is a great way of defending the church, and you should be proud of using that gambit, one often used by the Bishops. Shame about the kids getting abused, but don't let that stop you! Go Church Go!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Does it also hold true that if we look at the decrepit 'mainline' protestant churches today we will see what the western Seventh-day Adventist church will look like in fifty years?\"\n\nBrother William,\n\nI certainly hope not! But to some extent that depends on how the present generation of SDA leaders handle these issues. On the one hand we need to stand-up for the core values of our faith. On the other we need to be flexible on things that are not core values.\n\nMale Headship is NOT a core value of the SDA faith. It does not appear anywhere in our 28 \"fundamental\" beliefs. It has never been voted in a GC Session. In fact, according to some of the most able and widely respected SDA theologians, it actually challenges our understanding of the nature of Christ.\n\n(continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a shame that these men refuse to submit to the teachings of the Holy Father and the bishops speaking in unity throughout the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is not \"in charge\" of the the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta. He is in charge of Raymond Cardinal Burke and any religious associated with the Knights.\n\nAs to \"Burke is definitely trying to force Pope Francis to resign\"\n\nzapatopi.net/afdb/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think some of these Catholics and Bishops will be rather embarrassed that they have put support behind Trump, especially after the video that was released today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suppose there are some Adventist churches who have departed from the gospel, particularly with regards to Jesus' statement in Matt. 7:12 that we are to treat others as we would like to be treated. He went on to say that all of the law and the prophets hangs on this one principle. In the final judgement (when the sheep are separated from the goats) it all comes down to how people have treated their fellow human beings. Many Adventist churches tend to be belief-centric as opposed to people-centric. If you don't believe it, what do we talk about most in our evangelistic efforts? Doctrines. Having the right information! I'm not saying that what we believe isn't important, because it informs us of what God is like. But the devil is a better \"believer\" than the best Adventist we can find.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Shillady\u2019s message continues, comparing Clinton to Christ end the election to Good Friday, both seemed to end the hopes of 'the Messiah who was supposed to change everything.'\"\n\nhttp://www.conservativezone.com/articles/hillary-clintons-pastor-compared-election-defeat-to-good-friday/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We know -the Church taught and teaches: Adam and Eve are \"everyman\" and \"everywoman\". Their story is our lesson, their transgression is \"us\" and \"ours\" and \"now\". So, what are we to conclude in our homes, communities and parishes as obedient or encultured Catholics? Does church teaching impact, have consequences on, the assumption that men have \"rights\" over women's minds and bodies and that women have a reciprocal obligation to submit, or else?\nCreation- before \"the first sin\"\n1. God created women because of man's \"loneliness which the animals alone cannot satisfy\"?\n2. God created women lest men descend into a \"sterile\" and \"baneful encounter with himself\"?\nAfter \"the first sin\"\n3. God's \"definitive words to the woman\": \"...he shall have dominion over you\".\n4. The relationship/collaboration between men and woman since then \"...in the church and in the world\" is determined by the willing or unwilling service of women to men. \nThis is what church believes and teaches. Can it help? How?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Born in Manchester....and was himself and his parents....Methodist? Catholic? ..... yeah, thought so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I, too, am sorry that your mother and you had this awful experience. \nThe thing is that I don't think that the hierarchy cares about the fact that people are not receiving the spiritual assistance that they need. I think that US bishops only see the numbers remaining stable, as mostly Latino immigrants fill the pews being vacated by others. World-wide, I think that most look to the \"growing\" numbers in the global south, totally unconcerned for those who are being left without priests. \nThe Ukrainian Catholic Church had married clergy for decades (for a good part of the time, in the US, RC bishops opposed married Ukrainian Catholic -- then Greek Catholic -- priests), but now, for almost 40 years, we have had married Ukrainian Catholic priests in the US. So, there is no need to look to the Orthodox or Anglicans. But the RC hierarchy likes to keep things as they are, all else be d....d. Or, at least, it seems this way to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My late godmother used to say, \"Each to his own, 'said the old woman, as she kissed the cow.\" That pretty much sums up my feelings about Pentecostals and anyone else who likes to wear their religious fervor on their sleeve. It's fine for them, it's just not my style. The kind of religious fervor charismatics like to display may work well in small groups, particularly in home settings, but don't necessarily translate well with large diverse groups of people in large buildings, as is often the case in Catholic worship. Only when like-minded people gather does that form of emotive worship work, IMHO. When people don't know each other well it's considered polite to exercise emotional restraint - that's just normal intuitive human behavior. I don't see worship as being any different in that respect. When it comes to worship I prefer a little more formality. My old teacher, Aidan Kavanagh, said it best, \"You should do liturgy like you drink your scotch - straight up!\" I always liked that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the current state of the Catholic Church is just wonderful. 10% of Catholics actually attend Mass weekly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop David Doyle is a member of the Old Catholic Church and is considered a schismatic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, this isn't about benefits or advantages its about justice. One of my close friends at church took over 2 years to find a job as a CNA in an area which has shortages of people with those skills. Why, simply because he is a black man. He had the skills, he had the work history and there are plenty of openings he was applying to each week. When he did get a job it was only part time at the worst hours anyone could ever want and then when their department had cutbacks he was the first to go. What is just is a have a level playing field. In the same token when the discussion of unity in the church is brought up then if the conferences can show they want to have equal opportunities and resources for all then there can be discussion then there can be discussion. If not then no one is going to go and simply let themselves be exploited so the point is mute. Sending love in Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, Slovenia is right next to Italy, catholic, and considered part of Western Europe. It is one of the reasons they jumped ship soon after Tito died and Yugolsavia began its break-up. It directly led to me going to Tuzla, Bosnia for a year. As a side note, the first family (Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea) visited Eagle Base while I was there. One of my NCO's (female) tent that she lived in and was in charge of, was visited by Hillary and Chelsea because of their Christmas decorations. I just threw that in there for folks who like the game \"Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.\" I still think you should check-out the Libertarian Party. Both you and Jaded Jade would fit right in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Francis does support the Catholic faith, Ken ... just not your misguided interpretation of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent insights! You make it clear that Jesus was calling his listeners to a fuller expression of God's grace than selective and literal interpretation. To take the preaching of Jesus as laws laid out cafeteria style is to be like the servant who buried the talents the master had given. The preaching of Jesus is much richer. Taken in the fullness of an intensely personal love it inspires the cultivation of greater responsiveness to the Spirit within. It is this cultivation -- this submission to the one who loves you and who asks simply that you love your neighbor as your self -- that brings the reign of God and the fulfillment of the law. This is, after all, what Jesus was about: preaching the reign of God. A merely literal interpretation, one that buries the power of love in favor of enforcement of law, too easily becomes stubborn adherence to law rather than its fulfillment. Jesus hopes for better from those who purport to speak in his name.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As Job found out, God doesn\u2019t tell us why He does what He does.\n\nOkay, you\u2019ve scrapped the Natural Law, the moral law, and the divine commands in the Gospels.\n\nAnything thing else you want to burn down to the ground while you\u2019re at it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marshall McLuhan, a Catholic professor, who taught communications in the 1960 and 70's. coined the phrase, \"the medium is the message\". If the medium is only celibate males then that is the message. \nThe message needs to be more open and inclusive. \nWe are now in the 2017. That message needs to be relevant to our lives today. The failure to adapt is the problem. All churches are facing this. \nIf Church teaching moves to more prayerful contemplation and a consciousness more attuned to the Gospel messages of compassion, love, social justice, Beatitudes, and forgiveness (instead of violence), we will find people who can connect with the Church.\nI doubt that will happen because the current powers will not allow it. just as they rejected Jesus in His day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe not so much a lack of intelligence, but a lack of knowledge. It is one thing not to believe, or believe something different, but something else to make false statements and misrepresent others beliefs.\n\nIt is also a shame the article focus so much on the decision that Jake has made, and so little on his faith and beliefs that led him to the decision. Most of the article makes it sound like his decision needs an apology. Just toward the end it states \"Brownlee feels Catholicism is as relevant as ever\"; how about an article about that instead his decision process.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good point. But equally important is the fact the Talmud records a tradition that certainly goes back to the time of Jesus, wouldn't your say?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a young person who goes to church for all those reasons listed,but feel that bad homilies are something that can drive people away. He does raise an intersting point about why the mainline churches aren't booming. I am a mainline Protestant minister's daughter who converted because of the distintivly Catholic beliefs with the saints, Mary and the wonderful prayers of the Mass and receiving the Eucharist. I was also drawn to the social justice emphasis and share the same views as many NCR readers on more controversial issues. I converted and will stay as long as I can, but it is hard finding other young people with similar views,especially when the larger parishes have more traditional young people in line with Bishop Morlino.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let me introduce you to my community. You must not live in the Midwest. I have many college educated white Catholic women friends who voted for Trump. They did so precisely because they read the voting guides on life issues put into our bulletins and also the Priest for life inserts that were left around the narthex. They were warned in veiled homilies about life issues, and at the end of Mass to keep the sanctity of life at the forefront of their minds before voting. They didn't like Trump, they were appalled at his words....but they were in fear for their soul. They were following the main teaching of their Church as they saw it. I tried my best to discuss other issues with them, and to share Pope Francis's words on other important Catholic teaching, but I fear we have become the Republican Catholic Church of America...at least in my community.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Geraldo was raised in a \"faith\" which taught him all White, Black, Brown, Red, and Yellow not of their satanic cult psychosis are \"sub-human animals,\" \"Goyim,\" \"a mindless herd of cattle\" his duty is \"to lie to, cheat, rob, enslave, and kill, with impunity.\" Look up \"Rabbinical Talmudism's\" anti-God, anti-Judaism, anti-American belief system.\n\nFor centuries before Golgotha the same Gog/Babylon faction which crucified The Christ has been bonded in psychopathy and Rome's openly published satanic stratagem to promote and protect a politically and logistically supported organized army of pawns for invasion and conquest of the actual biblically prophesied \"Promised Land,\" \"Zion,\" is available for every Patriot eye to see: \"National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic Ministry,\" Doc. 199-7, US Conf. of RC Bishops.\n\nGeraldo is with the Mob-controlled MSM which has been under Vatican banker/FedScam Rothschild/Rockefellers' CFR since the Annenberg Gang takeover during the Circulation Wars 100 years ago", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most of them were in fact NOT Christians, You can find thousands of Strawmen to beat up on this issue, but if you look hard enough (past the Register Guard website), you can find some Christians educating other Christians on this subject. Gregg Frazer is a Professor at Masters University and gave a few lectures on this subject a few years back debunking David Barton, you can listen to it here. Now I am sure a staunch Civil Rights advocate and crusader for justice such like yourself would be willing to give it a listen and let everyone know your findings, wouldn't you Chuck ? That would be the right/fair/just thing to do, wouldn't it, Chuck ?\n\nhttps://www.gracechurch.org/sermons/12300", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any grave sin, we are to abstain from Holy Communion, whether the priest or other Catholics believe this or not. Consult the Catechism of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" Is there a consortia of 'pure catholic church' types,....\"\n\nWhere can one sign up for that. I would like to be in their number, when the saints go marching in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who said you don't love me if you don't keep my commandments: I John 14:15 and Mt 19:8. Or, for the \"Catholic\" Left: whatever you think regardless of the Scriptural text, because they are always \"seeking\" truth but never \"find\" it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The role of \"church\" in our culture? \nOur Church accepts the premise, expressed by Aristotle, long before and without Jesus, that \"a mutual benevolence mutually known\" is the basis of civility. Think about it: willing (doing, not just talk) the good, the absence of harm for one another is the basis of sustainable community. \nThe option is one (or few) dominating the other(s). It assumes that \"other(s)\" are tools, resources, disposable, to be used and/or that \"other(s) are incompetent, incapable of reciprocal \"benevolence\". \nI can't speak for other faiths, but, our Christ tradition teaches three principle cultural premises:\n1. the Aristotle notion of civility (2+2=4) is assumed and expanded to go beyond to assist those incapable of \"benevolence\", those for whom survival is paramount, assisting them, risking to fullness of inclusion (2+2=5)\n2. that both are now of divine value\n3. Teach 1&2, and ensure that the option of domination, the proclivity to \"use\" is exposed & resisted.\nNovel", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps \"liberal\" canon lawyers should go and act as you do. Just talk about the ultra-orthodox agenda and how everything presented at Canon Law conferences is from orthodox conservatives and how they sure wouldn't let a \"liberal\" canon lawyer present anything. They could make the point that the conservative \"agenda\" needs to be countered by those who speak for the \"real\" Catholics. \n\nDon't talk about the actual issues discussed, the effect on tribunals and on Catholics who go to those tribunals seeking a resolution to their pain. Just complain because it is all \"conservative.\" Is that the \"polite table conversation\" you imagine you engage in here?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Naturally it indicates we should always pardon one another, but it is a wonderful hyperbole. \n\nYes, Catholic teaching should evolve, but right now Catholic institutions are merely abiding by how the sun sets now, as it were, not guessing or anticipating how it will or should set in the future.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Didn't know NCR was a Communist RAG. President denounced FAKE press abroad NOT AMERICAN values of FREEDOM, LIBERTY, Agree w/Donahue's Catholic League, NOT this pro-DEMOCRAT RAG. Christie owns house on beach so he was sitting in his backyard. To Perriello, RETIRE", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We say: The martyrdom of Fr. Stanley Rother forces U.S. Catholics, to confront the complicity of our culture \u2014 and by extension, of each of us \u2014 in his martyrdom.\"\n\nHow dare you?! Really! Many of us have spent our entire lives resisting & protesting this culture. Be very careful before you extend complicity to everyone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Nora - while I too support St. Vincent ... I disagree they are not political. To me - all we do is political ... just not necessarily partisan. Because it doesn't advocate for the kinds of systemic change we need, to me - St. Vincent perpetuates the status quo - while doing a lot of good - I don't think with a hidden agenda. \nI volunteer with the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace ... because it is the only one even attempting the systemic change we need to do and are called to do by our CST - while doing a lot of good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ellamae, all I will say to you is read Sis White's writings, read Great Controversy where she talks about the Jesuits and the oath they take as Jesuits. Google the Jesuit's oath. It's difficult to find the truth about what they vow. If it wasn't for the Great Controversy, such inspired writings, we would not know what truth is concerning the Jesuits. Is pope Francis a Jesuit? History tells us how ruthless these men are and the reasons why. I know the difference between seminary students of the 1960s and seminarian taught in our schools since then who do not believe that our health message is the right arm of our beliefs, that SoP is no longer valid, that there's no such thing as a Sanctuary message and an Investigative Judgement. Students used to be able to work their way through college by working in Agriculture, that was taken away. NONE of our pastors believe in preaching Present Truth, or using the JKV Bible, they use the NIV instead with chunks of scriptures missing", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed , Trid . But this is small \"t\" tradition useful at a time in the past .\nCapital \"T\" Tradition has Love as preserving unity . Love is more than useful , it is of the essence ! The Spirit promised by Jesus urged the Council Fathers to return to the roots of ekklesia , church , ( gathering) of the People of God .\nWhy are we as church so afraid of this ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The end is near\" started in about 43 AD or so for Bible readers. \n\nThose who thought it would happen in their lifetimes quit breeding and died out over the centuries since. \n\nThose in Jonestown-style cults keep killing themselves to get there sooner.\n\nAs an agnostic, I'm going to wait and see! \n\n \nOr maybe this is the TRUTH:\n\n\"Holy Father, \"I have good news and bad news. \n\nThe good news is that Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has returned to the Earth.\"\n\"My son, what possibly could be the bad news?\" \n\"He was calling from Salt Lake City.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"The campaign is a response to an advisory sent to priests by Fr. James Bartylla, diocesan vicar general, that discouraged Catholic funerals for those in same-sex marriages and relationships. \"\n- If a mentally ill person steals, then we say that while stealing is a sin, the theft by an ill person, while not right, is no sin.\n- It follows then that if homosexuals who are disordered (church's teaching) then the acts that come from the disorder, while viewed by others as not a good, are also not a sin. \n- If follows then that presuming a disordered person has sin is a sin itself.\n- That is, while a local church might advise against a lot of funeralizing fan-fare, they can not refuse a funeral mass for gays or lesbians because the church suspects any sex that they had was sinful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 more examples of what unfortunately is all too common in this author's writing:\n\n\"his greatest effort to change the scope of Catholic moral thought was alreading fading from the assault it had received from fellow bishops and the Vatican.\"\n\n\"Bernardin was scoulded and belittled.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My view, which I have expressed often, is that by definition there is no shortage of vocations to the priesthood. The church is constituted by the Eucharist; no Eucharist, no church. The first and greatest responsibility of a bishop is to provide for the celebration of the Eucharist and the sacraments in his local church. The institutional church has established barriers based on sex and marital status, but these are not of God. God sends the church the priests it needs; the church must allow women and married men to respond to the call they hear and to test their vocations in formation and in service to the community.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Salena Zito should interview the \"Shout Your Abortion\" campaign staff. The campaign is about not allowing shame to be attached to their decision to have an abortion, not having to hide their choice because of the negative stigma associated with it. This article just attached more shame to those women & their choice. She implied that women owning their decision & refusing to be ashamed of it is \"going to ruin democratic politics & has turned Catholics away from the Democratic party\"? Come on!\nMaybe the \"Shout Your Abortion\" campaign is a little \"in your face\", but so were women burning their bras. If women sat back & waited for society to accept us we'd still be barefoot & pregnant, cooking dinner for our 13 kids. Instead of using the \"Shout Your Abortion\" campaign to blame women for the Democratic party's inability to connect with their voters, maybe Salena could explain what it's about & help the cause. Women need to champion each other & our causes, not hold each other down.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bible contains the truth and is also often factual. Science has never disproven, as fact, any of the truths of the bible. However, science does help us to find the untruthful parts, those parts whose imperfection was put in the bible, by the influence of the writer who is human and imperfect. \n\nAn example of this would be Christ teaches we must treat all the same, including in marriage, Jesus states the two become one, not two parts & one led by the other but one actual new creation where all the parts are equal to each other & lead the body together. St. Paul seems to teach against this idea when he commands women are subjective to their husbands because God called Adam not Eve to lead. This is false per Genesis or for those people who are saved by Christ or are before the fall in Genesis. Science agrees that men and women are equally inclined to lead and are equally good at leading. So science helps us to see that what Jesus taught over what Paul taught is the truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If they say \"she is not advancing Catholic values\", the obvious rejoinder is \"how so\"? It is a crucial question in this case, which the archdiocese is based on her actions. Those actions need to be spelled out or else they have no case.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A huge local synod? News to me, and I live in the San Diego diocese.\n\nLast night on another matter, I visited the SD diocese webpage and the local Catholic paper The Southern Cross. I didn't notice any mention of this synod.\n\nJust went back to these sites and looked again. I see there is a small link to \"synod\" at the diocese webpage, leading to some logistical links. And at the online newspaper, I still see nothing. I long to be a part of this tremendous synergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From Dublin.\nFrom both the Irish and Australian perspective; Catholics know the truth from Judicial Reviews commissioned by both governments. We know that that Cardinal Ratzinger as head o the CDF, dictated that all credible accusations on abuse be sent directly to him. He would decide what action was required by the diocesan bishops. He was so inundated with files and drew a line somewhere around 2002 . Irish bishops privately expressed their frustration with Benedict's 2010 Pastoral Letter, apologising to Irish Catholics for the clerical child abuse scandal; blaming mismanagement by the Irish bishops. They said they were following the strict instructions laid down by the Vatican. Muller's comments are disingenuous and an insult to Catholic communities worldwide. It was never the case, that diocesan bishops could make up their own minds on action required. It was dictated and enforced by the Curia, who required that they be contacted immediately there was a credible complaint.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So what? many chinese already keep their kids at home. We have a four day holiday weekend this weekend to celebrate the re-birth of Christ. Why not have a four day weekend to celebrate Passover?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yep. Underneath libertarianism is \"neoliberalism on steroids.\" It's a hyper focus on the individual as the ultimate reality, which is in deep contrast to the communitarian vision of Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1LittleBear. Your thinking is not Catholic or even Protestant. Being against our good nearly Catholic man Trump just shows that you may not be a friend of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Andrew Scheer represents no threat whatsoever to Justin Trudeau and the Federal Liberals. \nScheer's so-called accomplishments amount to nothing, he had just about zero visibility on the national stage,until his friendly rapport with alt-right media The Rebel was pointed out recently, he has put forth not a single policy idea of any kind, and the majority of Canadians, who approve of the progressive social agenda of Trudeau and the Liberal Party, are deeply suspicious of Scheer's ties to social conservatives and their outmoded, fundamentalist Christian agenda. \n\nIn Ontario and in Alberta, despite the dislike that many have for Kathleen Wynne and for Rachel Notley, the Conservatives still face an uphill battle. Patrick Brown is just as much a non-entity as Scheer, and his association with social conservatives continues to dog him in Ontario. In Alberta, many people will not forget the crony capitalism of the Conservatives and their economic mismanagement of the province for decades.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Much hopes and prayers for all these newly arrived refugees.You certainly appear to be courageous and genuine beautiful people and best wishes you become proud American citizens. Welcome .\n Issue with Catholic Social Services ,what has become of your confessed concerned if not troubled commitment to the indigenous peoples of our State? Historic professed well meaning but often convoluted efforts by a portion of your Jesuits on their behalf have left many First Peoples in virtual refugee status in their own land.Granted they don't bring in the lucrative State Department contracts as the more exotic troubled people from around the world,but with limited and shrinking local resources would it not be practice and a prudent contrisous act to focus on near pressing needs first.?.There are just as urgent lives in the balance in this State as are in other locations of the world.Perhaps the Vatican with riches that would make Solomon blush could loosen some of its purse strings to that effect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Spoken from a totally Western viewpoint where icons mean nothing, gnosticism denies that each human is BOTH body and soul, and rationality reigns supreme. Thus the revelation is \u201cirrational\u201d.\n\nIn order for the Church\u2019s teaching to make any sense, one needs to recognize the importance Christ lent to his Body is reflected in the words \u201cThis is my Body\u201d, in the feast of the Incarnation, and in the definitions of the Council of Ephesus (431) and the Council of Chalcedon (451). \n\nThen one needs to understand what a priest actually is, what function he performs, the meaning of \u201canamnesis\u201d, the iconic value of the Mass, and the Church\u2019s theology of the Eucharist.\n\nIn particular one needs to understand the theology of the letter to the Hebrews.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To clarify: the Mass if often described as a representation of Calvary and the sacrifice of the Mass is seen as a replacement for the sacrifices offered by the Levitical priesthood before the coming of Christ. Christ is offered in an unbloody mannner. I know the Cathechism. \n In fact, this is where the problem of corruption of the priesthood arises. The power given to the priest is almost god-like. He is interceding for the people and offering sacrifice on their behalf. This is also why there is a history of abuse and corruption in the church. It was this very priesthood that authorized the crucifixion. \n There is one high priest and no more offering for sin. The Mass is a communal celebration of Christ's death and resurrection for our salvation. In this view the Real Presence is no less real. It is a matter of whether the power belongs to God or resides in the sacramental powers of the clergy. Mystery, miracle and authority are the tools of the Grand Inquisitor in Dostoevsky.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So there was legal segregation in Britain until when? Isn't that the relevant question? 12.5 million black Africans, mostly men, were sold by Africans to Europeans in the transatlantic slave trade and 11.5 million blacks, mostly women, were sold in the trans-Saharan slave trade to North Africa and the Middle East. And millions more enslaved in the Mediterranean or in the Ukraine and the Caucasus and sold in the Mediterranean. (Cambridge World History of Slavery, Volume 3). And untold million slaves exported from India to central Asia and the Middle East---a much under explored topic. What stands out in human history isn't the existence or persistence of slavery, despite universalist, fairly egalitarian religions like Christianity, Islam, or Buddhism. What stands out is that slavery and the slave trade were ever abolished and suppressed and for that Britain deserves special credit. There is no reason for believing the rest of the world would ever have done so on its own.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one said there was anything wrong with a hand shake, and there is no way I would even begin to villify Catholics. I have friends and family who are Catholics. Come on brother, stop acting ignorant. This is not at all about villifying anyone, this is about obeying Christ and filling our purpose. How can we truthfully spread the gospel if we are being members of the ecumenical organization and looking or acting as if we agree with what is being said or taking place in these meetings? Sis White said that many SDA pastors will encourage their church members to accept the mark of the beast so as \"not to rock the boat\" so to speak! Knowing Bro. Diop, and the GC department he heads or is a part of does not give us SDA worldwide members a good reason for being members of these meetings and what they stand for. Bro. Diop does not represent me to pope Francis. Was Bro. Diop at that meeting to spread the gospel? I bet not!!! The GC and NAD are in GROSS apostasy!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Language is not the only issue. But consider this if I meet Catholics from any other country we have a common language, and common ritual to unite us. One that does not change according to culture.\n\nIt was a moving experience when I was in Krakow and the Juventutem group that compromised several different nationalities and ethnicities could pray together without knowing any of our languages. It was miles away from the general crowd where each group proudly waved their nations flags. That to me seemed more divisive. Indeed each nationality had specific times at the different churches for worship, whereas our group was always united.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A list of protected classes in Oregon. Politics is not among them. Now....if she said Christian Trump supporters are not welcome, that would be illegal.\n\nRace\nColor\nNational Origin\nSex (includes pregnancy-related conditions) Sexual Orientation (includes Gender Identity) \nReligion\nRetaliation\nAssociation with Protected Class\nProhibition on Genetic Screening and Brain-wave Testing", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No wonder you hide behind a mask Rogue Catholic. With statements like that I would, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\nWe need a bit of context here, Pandora. The question of women deacons has two parts. \n\nFirst, is it historically true that women referred to as deacons in our past were ordained in the same sense that male deacons were and are ordained -- that is, did these women received the sacrament of Holy Orders (in Eastern terms, Cheirotonia; in Western terms, a major order); or did they not not receive the sacrament, but rather merely a minor order (the Western term), or Cheirothesis (the Eastern term)? It is universally accepted that if women were ordained deacon in this precise sense in the past, then the Church has the authority to again ordain women to the sacrament of Holy Orders as deacons.\n\nSecondly, assuming a positive answer to the first question, should the Church re-establish the female diaconate?\n\nYou are correct in so far as you want to insist that the Commission has not been asked to answer the second question, Should modern women be ordained deacons?\n\n(cont.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, there are a lot of Catholics who disagree with the blatant sexism of not ordaining women. There are those of us who reject the teaching on contraception -- teaching developed in its entirety by unmarried men, men who believe in tying up heavy burdens, hard to bear, to lie on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. That's two.\n\nNeither one is truly central to the Catholic faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right, there were no sexual deviants or perverts before Vatican II; please. Dogma does not change because, by its very nature and origin {i.e. Divine} it can not chanhe.\u2014mjmchale Biases and prejudices all stem from history, i.e. \u201cbefore Vatican II.\u201d Whether or not dogma can change depends on the definition of dogma. In the meantime, perception of dogma does change. Understanding changing perceptions of dogma is a function of theologians. That is why the censure the American Association of University Professors is imposing on The Catholic (Pontifical) University of America is an abomination before God and humanity. The censure is due to the fact that CU policy will not grant a hearing before firing a professor. Even Jesus gave Satan a hearing. There is nothing against faith and morals in listening to a professor, before firing him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2 or 3\nYes, \"we must begin to see and hear with supernatural eyes and ears.\" \n\nBut in order to do so, in order to set the stage for the possibility of actually hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit guiding us to see and hear as Jesus sees and hears what we encounter around us, the struggles within the Church, and the world, we need two things, I suggest.\n\nFirst, we need an open mind. God's ways are not our ways, and from this it follows that if we see and hear and understand what Jesus sees and hears and understands, we would be perpetually surprised. We can pretty much count on it that what we see and hear and understand on our own, our instinctive perspective, our jumping to conclusions, our instinctive analyses of all situations, is NOT what Jesus sees and hears and understands.\n\nSecond, we need to be well practiced in the art of taking the perspective of the other. We need to be able to grasp that there are always more than one way to see, hear and understand every situation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps our difficulty is in the question itself. Did Jesus intend to be taken literally? Surely Jesus intended to be taken seriously. Is not that a more helpful way of asking the question? To take Jesus seriously is a better perspective for what Jesus said about marriage. From the perspective of seriousness, \"literally\" seems relatively cramped. \"Seriousness\" opens up possibilities for consulting the heart and conscience -- surely closer to the reign of God than the law -- that are not available if the inquiry is \"literal\" meaning.\n\nAs for the commandments, you turn Christ's ordering on its head. The 613 commandments of the Torah all came from God. Why, then, did Jesus speak of \"all the law and the prophets\"? \n\nAs Augustine understood, interpretations of scripture can be varied. Whether a literal reading of what Jesus said about marriage is sufficiently serious to be subordinate to the commandments to love God and neighbor is a question whose answer cannot be presumed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Intellectual standing of catholic universities has fallen - really?\n\nPlease prove that - more false news.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Seamless Garment was never anything but a rationalization for voting for pro-abortion politicians. (It was enthusiastically hailed by Mario Cuomo and other apostate Catholics.) If this required smearing pro-life policians as wanting to throw granny out in the snow, starve the poor, and BLOW UP THE WORLD!!!--so be it.\n\nIf NARAL, Planned Parenthood, and the DNC never sent Bernardin a check for a billion dollars, he got ripped off.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've known people like Pope Francis before. They are well meaning and can be effective leaders. However, when it comes to consistent theology, that isn't their strong suit. I'm not saying that he's right or wrong in his pronouncement regarding gays and their acceptance in seminaries, it's just that I suspect that we're going to be arguing theology back and forth during his period as Pope when it's a secondary issue to him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Lord says to Peter: \u2018I say to you,\u2019 he says, \u2018that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. And to you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven . . . \u2019 [Matt. 16:18\u201319]. On him [Peter] he builds the Church, and to him he gives the command to feed the sheep [John 21:17], and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [cathedra], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were that also which Peter was [i.e., apostles], but a primacy is given to Peter, whereby it is made clear that there is but one Church and one chair. . . . If someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the faith?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"....we were told that they were well educated, middle class citizens accustomed to a good standard of living, etc..\"\n\n\nYou have to go to Australia to see those. Unfortunately they are Chaldean Christians, Syrian Catholics, as well....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cIt\u2019s normally served a week after New Year\u2019s for some religious reason,\u201d The religious reason being January 6 - the Epiphany, when the 3 kings come to visit baby Jesus...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Dennis. Indeed, we do label ancient physics as philosophical, for the obvious reason that the ancients lacked the means to see more deeply into the world (no microscopes or telescopes). But they included \"theology\" right after \"physics\" that thought there were engaged in explaining the universe. For example, one of the troubling problems for ancient physics was what held the stars together, for there was no clear reason they should not just wander apart. SO among Greek philosophers that role was filled by Eros, Aphrodite, or Zeus, who controlled the stars, all of whom were intelligent beings. When in Col 1:17 the author says that \"in him {Christ] everything holds together,\" that meant Christ fills that cosmic role. But it is not just a single instance, for Col/Eph adopt ancient physics to such an extent that one scholar (George van Kooten) characterizes them as christological cosmologies (rather than cosmic christologies). cont.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You certainly seem to think \"Christ should do what I would do\". You have said, in as many words, that you know the will of God, and it agrees with your opinions. You have also said that your opinions are identical with the teachings of the magisterium. \n\nAnd yes, if you agree with the sages of the Talmud, that a fetus is not a human being until it is born, then there is no moral problem with abortion. That a fetus is a human from the time the sperm hit the egg is an opinion, no matter who says it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Protestant denominations with married clergy are hardly booming with vocations. More liberal and heterodox dioceses have way fewer vocations than those that embrace the actual teachings of the Church. Traditional churches are overflowing, while Marty Haugen Masses continue to hemorrhage parishioners due to no sense of the sacred.\n\nYou will know them by their fruits.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is certainly a matter of preference. I prefer the NO to the Tridentine Mass, because there is much more lay participation. However, it is my Liturgy (the Byzantine Catholic one) which truly nourishes me. \nAnd I have to tell you, Annie, that when I go to Liturgy, I don't have to \"make it through\" the Liturgy; neither do many others. The prayers are all meaningful to me, and I chant along with the cantor and other like-minded faithful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump's comments likely won't bother these folk. In fact, didn't Trump focus his attention on the primary reasons why women can't be ordained:\n1. (unmentionable here)\n2. The role of the female is to serve men\n3. According to the former Prefect of the CDF and Pope Emeritus, women was created by God to assuage the \"loneliness\" of man which the animals alone cannot satisfy (\"Letter...on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church AND IN THE WORLD\"{final caps mine}, 2004). This contention precedes the \"first sin\" according to then Card. J. Ratzinger.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Talking to the homeless, alcoholics, addicts and anyone that presented with a diagnosed psychological or neurological disorder and writing an after report was only part of what a post grad psychologist did to relieve the case backlog around 116th St in Manhattan in 1970 at Columbia. The problems people present today are the manifest same as their parents. Whatever they are or are doing isn't subject to your approval for public funding. You may not give, grant nor award public funds to be used for anything with any qualifying exception of any otherwise acceptable or legal behavior that you or any group don't happen to approve of. Nick, this isn't a primer on alcohol or drugs in shelters. It's about addressing homelessness and we don't have to solve all societies ills before we start. It's about civic responsibility.Lastly, I know the Catholic church has stepped forward and picked up the responsibility that should be the states. The state should take the lead.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and plenty of Popes as well. some in recent times....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...\"That's Biblical.\" You do realise that under the old covenant we had a priestly class who made sacrifices for the atonement of the sins of the Israelite. Under the new covenant established by Jesus, sacrifices no longer need to be made as Jesus has atoned for our sins - that is why he died on the cross. So there is no more priestly class instituted by God. Read Hebrews - its all there in black and white", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm neither a Melkite nor do I know what their liturgical practice is. I have and maintain strong personal boundaries, so, no, I don't go around looking to trouble others or interfere with what they do. I presume they can take care of their own business under their own structures, processes, and authority. \n\n\nI am both pre-, during, and post- V2 Catholic. I'm also an American Catholic. That is my context.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I tried to count all the essays about Popes and bishops this morning, but I can't count that high. Yessir, we certainly are implementing Vatican II when we write all about popes and bishops and priests and nuns. Because, as we all know, that's what Vatican II was all about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps, then you can answer the question:\n\nIf one can get into heaven---knowing that Christ is the only way to salvation, and yet reject it, why is it necessary to believe anything?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some are, some aren't. Rarely is it necessary. That's the claim that Catholics should press.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Long live Pope Francis! He's doing a great job, even if Laudato Si did not even mention the greatest contributor to climate change (raising animals for food), which makes it rather like a report on lung cancer which does not mention smoking. I look forward to him disbanding the Swiss Guard and putting an end to military guards of honour and 21-gun salutes when visiting countries. That is the kind of peace statement he needs to make in our violence-worshipping world. May God give him the strength to continue steering the church towards greater faithfulness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus Christ didn't tell us that our job is to focus on the secular world.\n\nHe commandment was that we love Him and love others that we come across, with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. \n\nThe changing of the world as it were will come about when the furnace of our own interior life with Him radiates warmth into the world around us, in little ways.\n\nThrough the 'salt' (charity) and light (truth) of Him. \n\nBeing \"little\" is frankly objectionable to our pride. We don't want little. We want big and dramatic fixes here and here. \n\nBut Our Lord has trouble 'working miracles\" in us - when we focus on our goals outside of our love for Him. \n\nThat's not nonsense...it's easy conclusions from Scripture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is the context for the man or woman in a divorce, enacted because she burned his meal, for example (Hillel)? The Shammai position makes even less sense because divorce is only enacted upon a spouse's infidelity - an act already punishable by death which ends the marriage, anyway. That's the context, on a hornbook. What Jesus said (or at least the explicit message that has been captured of what he said) is quite simple and only needs \"guidance\" in the debate if one seeks to guide another party away from the clear message.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People who look at Scripture for a list of things to do or not do are often at unpeace.\n\nI think God spoke to us more naturally, expecting we'd use some common sense.\n\nSee how naturally Jesus taught us how to serve one another; John 21:9", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Months ago on this forum I sparred with someone who insisted that Pope Benedict never spoke about wanting a \"smaller, purer church.\" Well, whether he did or not, it seems his kindred spirits in the episcopate are making that case for him and it flies in the face of everything Christ taught. Enough said about that.\n\nI have a little beef with MSW, though. I get slightly irritated when people speak loosely of \"elites.\" What does that mean? People who have taken it upon themselves to become educated? People who are wealthy? People who have power and/or influence? People who live on the coasts? What? Seems to me \"elite\" is just another way of engendering resentment and I don't think the use of that term brings any light to an argument, only heat. Perhaps other, more precise terms would bring clarity rather than value judgment to the argument. \n\nThat's my two bits, for what it's worth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Love this article. Great summary of Jesus's teachings on the works of mercy, the New Testament's teaching on the poor, the Catholic Social tradition's teaching on the Preferential Option for the Poor, and Pope Francis's emphasis on the poor throughout his Papacy. \n\nThis Pope is certainly through increments changing the direction of the Church's focus and you see Francis's emphasis on social justice trickling down in bits throughout the global Catholic Church. Cardinal Sean O'Malley is one great example of this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "EF attendees are at Mass every Sunday, tend to have larger families, teach their children the Catholic faith and produce vocations. So you are saying if something works, shut it down, and if something doesn't work, just do more of it. If you prefer the NO Mass, I am just happy you attend. I suggest you extend some generosity of spirit to those who don't share your outlook, but still try to be good Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One system of education,get rid of Catholic School Board,fire Teachers NOT Nurses.\nToo much waste.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Climate change is clearly a 'pro-life' issue. Those who deny climate change champion, unwittingly or not, what St. John Paul II called our \"culture of death.\" Those who deny the reality of climate change now being proclaimed by an overwhelming consensus of the world's top scientists and scientific academies are simply looking for an excuse to justify a greed so great it now threatens the very life of the planet. \n\nThe Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a pastoral letter entitled \u201cYou Love All that Exists - the Christian Ecological Imperative,\u201d states that \"\u201cCreation and the redemptive Incarnation of the Son of God are inextricably linked. Through his Incarnation, Jesus Christ not only encountered and embraced our humanity; he also entered and embraced all of God's creation. Thus all creatures, great and small, are consecrated in the life, death and resurrection of Christ.\u201d \n\nDenying climate change is another way to deny Christ and the sanctity of life itself in our time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis is the most Jesus like Pope we've ever known.. he has my undying trust.. Which is something our Church badly needs after the \"failings of the past!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So if somebody tells you next week that Jesus rose on the fifth day......Truth never changes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would rather have the Church not alienate the planet and be laughing stock, not for sticking to Christ, but for being stubborn. I believe in the prophesies of the protestants rejoinging the Church in this age and not acting like pompous idiots (Pio Nono) in the face of reality would be a nice start. You confuse belief with nostaligia and faith with loyalty. To stick to your guns on Adam and Eve, you must reject evolution or believe strange things about it. The Church needs to change on many fronts. St. Augstine wrote an interesting book about original sin and it resonated. Turns out he did not excel in scripture scholarship. It is time to adjust for his errors. You can put your head in the sand, but Ostrich makes great steak.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The embrace of conservative Catholics with conservative evangelicals reduces the former's credibility. The embrace of members of the USCCB with the GOP and by extension all thing 'conservative' to the detriment of the poor and others who are vulnerable reduces the credibility of 'our shepherds'. With their loss of credibility comes a loss of authority with all but the credulous. That seems to sum up the growth of the 'nones' and the lack of participation by many non-right wing Catholics in our church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"...\"...the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites.\"\"\n- Yes and correct ... for the holy church of Rome.\n- Elsewhere, other languages were and are used: Aramaic, Slavonic, Irish, Copt and so on.\n- The catholic church which is in union and communion with the archbishop of Rome made a serious mistake from 1492 to 1962 by taking the Roman Missal as a latin book to other countries and not adopting and adapting it to the needs of the people.\n- Trent acknowledge that the liturgies could contain the vernacular (pastoral explanations by the presbyter), though it never went very far with it. Trent also did insist that the ancient liturgies of each church (those not following the liturgies as in Rome, in many cases not with the Latin language) must be retained.\n- Luckily Vatican II in the spirit of continuity with Trent resolved and moved forward the occasions for the vernacular liturgies throughout the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Are the Lutherans sure they want to be just like us?\"\n\nI don't think Lutherans (and other Reform churches like the Anglican) really want to be like us, Michael Watkins; they just want intercommunion. They want to be able to share our Eucharist, go to communion without any membership responsibility. But for the CC (and global Orthodoxy), Holy Communion/Eucharist and membership GO HAND IN HAND. When I am in Germany, Lutherans tell me, \"we just want the pope to lift the excommunication on Luther and allow us to receive communion at Catholic churches (not 'crash the party').\" The German bishops answer, lifting the excommunication is up to the pope. Intercommunion, however, is out of the question until -- at the very least -- we allow our own divorced and remarried Catholics to receive (without a church annulment). Why allow Lutheran divorced and remarried couples an invitation, a free pass, when we deny our own Catholics one? (Likewise with Reform LGBT clerics in same-sex unions, etc.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God does not force us to enter into His Kingdom. \n\nWhat do you make of the Gospel verse \"Many are called, few are chosen\"? How does that square with your idea of universalism?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christopher, I have a unique perspective on this being one of just a handful of white members in my church family. The problem arises in the fact that most of the white members don't understand institutional racism, racial profiling and those types of maters because their exposure to it is only surface. The truth is that you really can't understand it unless you've really spent time with those on the other side of the fence and get a true sense of the reality that is faced. I have come to fully understand that I was born into white privilege and after joining my local church because I can see the inequality in the lives between the two cultures first hand. Every chance I get I try to speak out about the issues you brought up here because I agree with everything you have said in this article about this injustice and I know Christ would not want any of us to stay silent. Sending love in Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I understand it the internal forum is what it has always been . No general \"rule\" is promulgated . Each human person is respected and his / her awareness of interior intention is honored . The essential dignity of the person must always be honored . To do otherwise is to contradict the Lord God . When one fails to respect person it may be due to other reasons or causes . So it is not up to you or me to impute deliberate willfulness . \nBefore Constantine soldiers who followed the way of Jesus didnot have to be told to quit the army . After Constantine the church lost a valuable understanding. And church as institution has overwhelmed the far deeper aspects . \nLet God deal with \"willful self deception\" . Just present one's self at the Table of the Lamb because he\nsaid to . The beyond generous love of God is definitely confusing to mere mortals !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "GM,,\nJesus' comments only addressed the old testament bible teachings, the new testament verses were from the inspired words from the apostles. \nIt is obvious that there are many false interpretations from the words of men, but the Words and teachings from Jesus are simple and clear in the New Commandment He gave us, LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOUSELF. \nDo you know who your neighbor is?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apatrick: Please research before slandering fine organizations. According to Charity Navigator, 91.8% of funds donated to, in this case the local Catholic Charities org, are spent on charitable programs and services. Only 3.8% goes to administration. \nhttps://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3432", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For 50 years, the rate of departure from the Catholic Church among Catholics attending Catholic colleges has increased, AND the intellectual standing of Catholic universities has fallen. \n\nWho says today: \"Yes, he/she is a Notre Dame-trained mathematician, engineer, scientist, doctor?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a documented fact that one of the female theologians allowed into the synod on the family is a rabid purveyor of the \"cultural Marxism\" conspiracy theory, which claims that various social movements have arisen to take over and destroy society and its institutions (marriage, family, and so forth). It appears the Vatican has bought into this 100%. Many of their references to gender concern the destruction of what they believe are God's immutable laws about gender even though no such laws exist and the more likely characterization of gender is \"mysterious muddle.\" As you say, they would do well to pick up a science textbook now and then.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"BillGarber4 days ago\nWilliam A\n\nYour first paragraph suggests that nothing we know will impact our salvation. If so, I\u2019m right there with you.\"\n\nNow this is a creative and unique concept to consider. In the end, it can only mean how we respond to the word of God and the bible has nothing to do with whether we will be saved or not.\n\nOf course the idea is in perfect harmony with Bill Garber's view of Universalism that negates any moral accountability or responsibility to respond to the bible as God has stated and directed.\n\nIn which case, \"what we know\" has no relevance to salvation nor what we do could also be included. The bible does not teach this, but since what the bible teaches is not relevant to salvation, why concern ourselves with what it says?\n\nThe only thing we can tell people is \"Don't read the bible because 'what you know' is not relevant to anything important anyway.\"\n\nOK, I get it. But I don't believe it. Do you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not one word about this? Wow....\n\nMay God bless these priests and bring them safely home.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bear, you seem to suggest that to not embrace ecclesiastical anarchy is to reject the Gospel. St. John Paul addressed this specifically when he writes in Sacr\u00e6 Disciplin\u00e6 Leges,\n\n\"Christ the Lord, indeed, did not in the least wish to destroy the very rich heritage of the Law and of the Prophets \u2026 but He brought it to completion (cf. Mt. 5:17)\u2026. Therefore, although St. Paul, in expounding the Paschal Mystery, teaches that justification is not obtained by the works of the Law, but by means of faith (cf. Rom. 3:28; Gal. 2:16), he does not thereby \u2026 deny the importance of discipline in the Church of God (cf. 1 Cor.: 5, 6). Thus the writings of the New Testament enable us to understand still more the importance itself of discipline and make us see better how it is more closely connected with the saving character of the evangelical message itself.\" \n\nI edited this to fit in the comment box, I would recommend reading Sacr\u00e6 Disciplin\u00e6 Leges yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Reform\" is what Luther brought us. Had he been totally successful, there would be no Roman Catholic Church. Are you saying the Church is always in need of destruction?\n\nAnd can you answer my question as to why you think the Church was in ruin pre-Vat II?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You wrote this, which sounds to me as though you understand the Bible to be in the first place a complete authoritative book of instructions on how human beings should live if they wish to please God: \"We have the manual and all the help we need is available to us to follow Christ and His commands as He Himself Wills.\" And \"to follow commands\" is to submit to them and to obey them.\n\nIf that's not what you mean, please forgive me for misunderstanding you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no unary definition of a \"conservative\". And certainly no definition which limits them to paragons without hate in their hearts. The most common kinds are social, religious, and fiscal conservatives and general reactionaries. There are also Constitutional conservatives, but they are a lot less common than they used to be. There are common combinations, like social and religious, social and fiscal, and anything and reactionaries. There are even some triples. But all can include haters. \n.\nIn the end, we are left with \"they are if they say they are.\" John Clarke says he is one, so we call him one. The nazis, KKK, etc. call themselves conservatives, so we call them conservatives. Just like when the KKK and the Westboro group call themselves Christians. \n. \nThe old \"they're not REAL C's\" just doesn't cut it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Muller is keen to \"respect the legitimate principle of diocesan autonomy and subsidiarity\".\n\nCanon Law and the Pontifical Secret expose the contradiction of that statement.\n\nThe practical reality is that diocesan bishops are dictated to by the Curia utilising both; which is why Pope Francis was elected by the majority of the College of Cardinals with a brief to reverse the process and return their autonomy. That is the yardstick by which Francis will be measured. Cardinal Muller has just proved that the Pope has no traction on changing that issue. Time is slipping away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All created things come from God; Jesus IS God, the uncreated Beloved of the Father. He didn't die to change our minds about God but to atone for sins and redeem mankind. The Catholic Church is, apparently, God's will. Without the Church you would not even have scripture to quote.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Wuerl is fairly conservative in his views, as is Francis. However, he is like Francis in that he doesn't see the world through a rigid, black-and-white prism, and mercy and love take priority over harsh rules.\n\n For example, when a priest in the diocese who was presider at a funeral mass learned that the daughter of the deceased was a lesbian, he threw a fit. He refused communion to the woman, left the altar, and refused to go to the gravesite for final prayers. He did not find a substitute priest, but others did. The daughter who was treated in such an un-christian manner received a letter from the Archdiocese that apologized for the \"lack of kindness\" and saying \"I will offer Mass for the happy repose of your mother\u2019s soul. May God bring you and your family comfort in your grief and hope in the Resurrection.\" The priest was removed shortly afterward from the parish - without explanation (such as when Finn was removed). Wuerl is more Francis than Burke.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess you are just a better model of humanity than I. Perfectly consistent in all matters. Would never let your ideology cloud your judgment. It's impressive. \nThe Church has broken church rule and mandated reporter laws. My priests did what they needed to do, as I stated above.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Mark, your comments were more than appreciated as they are a blessing.\n ATW ?\nSadly Juergen did not come back (Respond) to me I believe the reason can be found our full dialogue that includes the link I gave him, but I have not given up hope, in that he might respond to my final proposal to him.\n\n\u201cAt this moment in time it is fair to say that you are rejoicing in the mercy you have received from God. And I assume that you would want this for everyone, sadly some are entangled in a sinful situations\u201d\n\nBlessings\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have been taught that there are at least two levels of teaching by the church: dogma which does not change and doctrine which does. The word being used in this discussion is doctrine. Do you differentiate between dogma and doctrine? \nThe Ten Commandments are so basic that nearly every society has owned them with perhaps some difference re the god to worship and when and how. But the do not steal, kill etc are pretty universal. Of course they are OT not new. As a child we were taught them but I confess as an adult I reflect more on the NT and particularly Jesus' sayings like the sheep and goats and the sermon on the mount/plain. I also frequently think of God's continual request of the people of Israel to worry less about their sacrifices etc and more about caring for the poor: the widows and orphans and the aliens in their midst. These were the people without status in their society: widows and orphans because they had no man to stand up for them and aliens who were not citizens.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unless Aboriginal peoples give free, prior and informed consent to any development on their ancestral lands, such development becomes the result theft, violence and greed. The plain truth is that most Aboriginal lands in North America were seized by force, and the 'push west' of American history had as its cornerstone a war of genocide against Aboriginal peoples. Now, even the lands left to Aboriginal people after one of the most unjust campaigns of conquest in history are being stolen. It is sad to contemplate that in its thoughts, words and deeds, federal and state governments, in thrall to the idolatry of wealth and self, show their hostility to Christian principles. One can only hope the Church will be successful in its attempts to re-evangelise North America ... a nation that worships the Golden Calf cannot long endure.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sigh... \n\nWhat is more problematic in my mind is this insecurity certain Catholics have with distinctions and office in the Church. I have a healthy enough of a sense of self that I don't feel threatened by phrases like \"Reduced to the lay state.\" This is especially true since I explained what I meant by \"Reduced to the lay state.\" The phrase means the priest is relived of his priestly obligations. \n\n\"Returned to the lay state\" if you really want to split hairs is just as \"offensive.\" It implies that something is being lost--something which lay people do not have.\n\nIt is like parish bulletins that use the word \"Associate Pastor\" rather than \"Assistant Pastor\" or \"Parochial Vicar\" because the word \"Associate\" implies \"equality\" where as \"Assistant\" or \"Parochial Vicar\" does not necessarily have the same connotation. It all amounts to the same thing though. If you are the \"Associate\" you are not the pastor. That is what matters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The presumtion [sic], by these people, that they, by virtue of ordination, are now community leaders.\"\n\nWell it's not presumed by me nor by what I wrote. I mentioned pastors, which priests do not automatically become on the day of their ordination. They have to be appointed by a bishop in order to assume that kind of responsibility, which is in fact a kind of community leader - the community being the parish family.\n\nNow if you have a problem with the concept of patriarchy or matriarchy in general that is another matter entirely. I'm not sure why anyone would object to someone being \"like a mother\" or a \"like a father\" unless you just prefer the idea of strict communality, which is mostly impractical in this day and age. My guess is that most parishes like having someone in charge whom they pay to take care of parish matters since they have their own lives to worry about. In Catholic churches that person is called the Pastor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".....Doing a little research on Coleridge and my dubious thoughts mentioned in relation to his statement about breaking the seal wasn't unwarranted.\nListening to him interviewed on ABC's PM program for Tuesday 15th August \"Catholic Church to lobby governments on Royal Commission recommendation\".......he stated in part, church would ultimately resort to leaving it down to conscience \" and we know full well what that means.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good exchange until the end.\n\nThat St Matthew reported the miracles & recorded them, that he memorialized for all time the expressions I gave above (worship, Lord of the Sabbath, etc. etc.) tells us he understood Jesus to be God.\n\nIt may have taken work a few years for the Church to sort it out, resulting in the beautiful Athanasian Creed, but that's the culmination of Jesus's words and the Holy Spirit working through the people who were successively given the keys to the kingdom. \n\nOther marvelous 'Jesus as God' references in St Matthew include the whole discussion with the pharisees entirely on the question of Jesus as God.....\"the Lord said to My Lord...if David thus calls him Lord, who is he his son?\"\n\nEven expressions of Jesus such as \"and everyone who has left houses...for my name's sake...\" tell us what St Matthew thought. \n\nAnd \"for where two or three are gathered in my name...\"\n\nThe \"name\" construction meant a lot more then to the people than it does sadly today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your comparison is unworkable. People really can kill one another, but only God can condemn anyone to hell. I can threaten people with hell all day long, and they can ignore me. Same with the Church. The Church doesn't do anything but report what Christ says he will do on judgment day. And, by the way, Jesus talked a LOT about hell. A lot. \n\nIn any case, you havent demonstrated that Jesus was uninterested in \"doctrinal consistency,\" whatever that really connotes in this context, nor have you rebutted my point, backed by Matthew 19, that amidst the scribes and Pharisees, it was our Lord Jesus who took the hard line on divorce and remarriage, against the more \"pastoral\" approach of the Pharisees, who after all, allowed divorce and remarriage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems you forgot - or imagined - a lot. Much of what you cite were in fact decisions made by the synod fathers, not the Pope. But in those cases where +Francis, which is completely his role and his right, selects certain bishops for certain specific roles, did you complain about the same pre-arrangements of St. John Paul II or Pope Benedict XVI? Of course not. Pope Francis wanted as broad a representative body of prelates as possible, the original candidates submitted to Rome were heavily concentrated in Europe and not inclusive at all. You act as if Pope Francis has no rights, no capacity as pope to make choices he believes are in the best interests of the Church. How uncharitable can you be? Oh.....I've seen you be even more so. Never mind!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Aside from its traditional meaning, 'Church Militant' has become a code word for an ugly strain of intolerance in the name of what you term faux-traditionalist Catholicism. I don't know to what extent, if any, Steve Bannon associates himself with all that or with Michael Voris, but I am confident that as a media-savvy person, he understands the implications of tossing the term around.\n\nI'm not sure where MSW is coming from, but Bannon is Catholic. As for the allegations of antisemitism, etc., they seem to stem more from comments others have made on the Bretibart site than those of Bannon himself, the implication being that his failure to refute or remove such comments suggests personal consent.\n\nI withhold judgment on all that, but I have learned enough about the man to believe he's unqualified to be a presidential counselor. But then, the president he'll be counseling is also unqualified, so I suppose they're a match made in... well, somewhere south of heaven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Julian of Norwich wrote of Mother God and Mother Jesus. Certainly God is not just male, is not limited by gender or in any way. God should not be limited by our language.\n\n\"Father\" has limited our understanding and experience of God, and this usage had led to the angry old bearded God image that has led many to become atheists. \n\nWhen language is divisive or dismissive, it needs a change. The church needs more inclusive language. Why be such a stickler for language that leaves out over half of us? Also, Your use of \"feminism\" seems a bit unkind, snide, disrespectful and dismissive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Judging from the names on the tombstones, she was buried in a Catholic graveyard, Canada1.\n\nhttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Annie_Moore_grave_marker.jpg", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He sanctioned state kidnapping of children from their homes, against parental will, to put them in institutions that damaged them terribly.\n\nHold him to 2017 values? How about the Christian values predominant in his own day?\n\nExodus 21:16\n\"He who kidnaps a man, whether he sells him or he is found in his possession, shall surely be put to death.\n\nor\n\nDeuteronomy 24:7\n\"If a man is caught kidnapping any of his countrymen of the sons of Israel, and he deals with him violently or sells him, then that thief shall die; so you shall purge the evil from among you.\n\netc...\n\nStealing children from their homes was never okay, in biblical times, in 1867 or in 2017.\nWe can celebrate Sir John A. in other ways, for actual good things he did. His name shouldn't be on schools. His history in the creation of the evil residential school system makes this an obvious point, whatever your particular 'values' are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Insofar as he is shaping the intellectual framework of Francis's pontificate, I'd hazard to suggest he is, in fact, helping Catholics in every place. I suspect Card. Cupich thinks so, as well.\n\nBut again, given the framework you're viewing this issue through, I'm sure you won't see it that way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Criticism by Ray Burke is grounds for canonization. As for future Popes, according to St. Malachy, they won't be in Rome, if there are any. If we merge with Orthodoxy, you will find that their approach to remarriage is even more lenient than Francis. The reality is that the Synods and A.L. codified what happens in most parishes already all over the world. This was the approach a priest took with my mother-in-law, whose first husband was dead but her husband's ex was alive and she was discomforted by trad tongue wagging on this issue. Had it not been for that, she would have happily kept going to Communion and felt the pressence of Christ. The Burke line on this issue has always been based on misreading of Mark's Gospel and Paul's letter to Corinthians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "u,\nSo wrong. You should use Google for thirty seconds and MUCH longer. Your overreaching. \nDems were manipulated, BIG TIME, into your war by those like you, the Neocons, Pnac-ers, Heritage Foundation, AEI, HUGE amounts of Catholic prelates who are aligned with your fear-mongering, war-mongering GOP-sters including Jeb Bush, Newt the Toot, George Weigle and numerous Right Wing Catholics, etc,etc, ad nauseam!!!\nObama used drones to save the lives of our troops being sacrificed for OIL via the Bush family, Cheney family GOP Religious Right wars. \nYou NEW folks really need to come up to speed and learn more than killing for religion and OIL and HATE!!!\nOnce you get past your Right Wing Trickle-down worship of the usurious Super Rich and RRs.\n\nIt always amazes me that Right Wingers and the Religious Right think and act as if it is totally okay to use and consume the lives of others for their own gain. Then insist that they are doing it for God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tridentinus, I really don't understand the man. You make the most sensible statements about Catholic moral theology, and you receive a rebuke in the form of a laugh emoticon. Not even a decent counter-argument, but a laugh button. How intelligent is that? And yet I've seen his writing. When he puts his mind to it, he's not bad. Well, just keep doing what you do. You and I don;t always agree, but we do for the most part, and on the important things. You defend the Church very well. God bless you, and keep posting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It appears that American Catholics, more than any identifiable group, are responsible for putting Trump in office. At last, when people say \"Francis effect,\" I know what the term means and can actually take comfort in it. And pleasure.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "[Pete] Actually, following the lead of Bishop Williamson, he's a Holocaust denier.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great article, Denise.\nI think the criterion we need to apply for a policy is to assess the intention of the parents.\nAre they Christian conservatives? No, their opposition to vaccines is not acceptable.\n\nAre the parents concerned about Big Pharma's incursions in science? Are we turning our backs on indigenous, non-Western alternative practices? These are valid concerns, so we should empower parents into making the right choices for their community. \n\nMel (zhe; hir; hir)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus is the path to God: \"I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your post is exactly correct. If Holy Mother Church wants to allow predators to be priests, protect them from being caught and move them from one hunting ground to another, that is completely within the power of the One True Church, just as it has the power to censure or remove priests who say or do things contrary to the Church's Rules. Some might call into question the moral authority of an institution that aided and abetted predators to prey upon the flock, some might even say it goes against the very teachings Jesus, from whom the Church claims Authority. But, the Church is not a democracy and it is infallible and sovereign, so it can punish whom it wishes, and protect criminals if it sees fit, and its moral authority cannot be doubted because Jesus died on the Cross to establish the Institution and give it full power to do as It wishes. All True Catholics must accept this, or else doubt the validity of the Sainthood of Our Holy Father John Paul II the Great.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I haven't gone into Canon Law but I did read that there was a new law enabling bishops to sack priests guilty of child abuse and that the Pope has 'zero tolerance' for it.\nAnyway, there has been almost as much trouble with the Anglican church in Australia or more, and I will certainly continue to go to either the Anglican or the Catholic church because I don't like the others. It's my choice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Oy vey\" is Yiddish.\n\nIt is a cognate of the German expression o weh, or auweh, combining the exclamation \"au!\" meaning \"ouch/oh\" and \"weh\", a cognate of the English word \"woe\".\n\nJesus, of course, spoke Aramaic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Las Vegas shooter benefited from white privilege. He checked into a hotel room with dozens of bags. If his skin had been dark or his name sounded Muslim, this would have raised red flags. The shooter's father was a career bank robber, but no one said parents in white homes fail to impart Christian values. The shooter was a rich white man. If he had been a Muslim, all the trolls who post here would write that Muslims should not be admitted to this country. Why aren't they here saying rich white men should not be admitted to this country or that they should be profiled?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And I totally agree that we should know what the Church teaches so we can weed out the \"spin\" from various sources. \nYes, Anderson was on the layman's board of the Vatican Bank - appointed by JPII in 1998 and kept on by Benedict. Peter Sutherland was appointed by this pope as an adviser: chairman of Goldman Sachs International, advisory director of Goldman Sachs Group, former chairman of BP Oil and European chairman of the Trilateral Commission.\nIf you want the latest information on Vatican investments and finances, I wrote a blog \u201cLibero Milone\u2019s resignation indicates that there could be a Vatileaks III\u201d (https://opentabernacle.wordpress.com/2017/07/16/libero-milones-resignation-indicates-that-there-could-be-a-vatileaks-iii/). It has references to prior blogs on Vatican finances.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trid, allow me to say that your description of the purpose of the various councils is lacking in depth. As is true with entirety of Catholic teaching, these councils provided the masses with a mix of moral, cultural and political instruction. The error of blending gospel tenets together with cultural and political mores dates back to emperor Constantine and the accepted \"norm\" of marrying church with state. While there is an obvious connection between church and state/politics, history has shown that religion should not attempt to govern society with a tightly bound set of rules.\n\nWhat you are implying--and perhaps correctly so from a historical standpoint--is that the councils effectively drew lines in the sand to separate Protestants and Catholic beliefs. Each time Rome puts down a line in the sand, they lose more people who are willing to give \"full assent\" to their teaching. I believe it is prudent to question man-made rules, do they advance gospel tenets or imperial-style church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "''not a single anti-Christian hate group is identified''\ndo you call them a hate group just for being anti fake Christian?\n''Actually, Christian groups, in its map, turn out to be the haters''\nhaters, yes, true Christians, no\n''LGBT rainbow flag dogma''\nI'll bet they just want their civil rights & haters to leave them alone", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Serial draft dodger trump couldn't care less about veterans. To him we are political props, to be discarded,along with the evangelicals, on11/9.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Misuse of authority doesn't invalidate that authority, I agree. But the lesson it teaches is obvious: that those in authority must be accountable, not only to God, but to the wider community. This implicitly means that the wider community has authority over those supposedly invested with authority. In truth, the authority given by Jesus rests in the entire community, that is, the People of God, not just in the bishops. To claim otherwise is unscriptural and a conceit.\n\nYou missed the point about those apologies: they were an official and high-ranking acknowledgement of evils committed by present-day representatives of offending past organisations. This is important. Unacknowledged evil is unrepented evil and therefore evil that is more likely to be recommitted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The last five elections have been about oil, and very little else. The issue is whether the oil companies can maintain the gridlock that has prevented anything being done about climate change. Up to now, the combination of oil money and a cynical exploitation of the opposition of evangelical Christians to abortion, of gun nuts, and of increasingly strident racism, has allowed the oil companies to achieve their objective.\n\nBut their ability to play that game is facing a demographic tsunami.\n\nThey refused to reform themselves after the Romney defeat.\n\nInstead, they doubled down on a strategy that requires them to whip an ever shrinking and narrowing demographic base into a frenzy.\n\nAnd then the oil companies were beaten at their own game by an even bigger flim-flam artist.\n\nA guy who has done everything he can to be as offensive as possible to Spanish-speakers, women, and African-Americans.\n\nThe Republican candidate has himself hastened the demographic day of reckoning ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The most fundamental truth is God is Love. \nJesus was never a priest as Hebrews claims.\nThe Eucharist is about communion of the People of God with the presence of God and renewal of our mission to continue being Jesus to others in need.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think it would be best for government to provide services directly without funneling it through religious organizations, but right now churches are how necessary social services are provided. I was at the gathering because welcoming strangers is one of my most deeply held religious beliefs. By gathering with others and holding candles I was acting out my belief. I recall the Babylonian captivity, the flight of the Israelites from Egypt, Hagar fleeing into the desert with her infant son Ishmael, and how Jesus was born in stable because their was no room in the inn. When I welcome refugees I welcome Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Hagar, Ishmael, Ruth, Naomi, Miriam, Moses, and Elijah. I recall St. Christopher who carried travelers across a ford knowing that each traveler might be Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW just doesn't get it. The Pope has published an Exhortation the interpretation of which has set Cardinal against Cardinal, bishop against bishop, Conference against Conference, priest against priest, theologian against theologian, lay against lay and he compares this situation with something so trivial as smartening up a dwelling house.\nDoes he not consider it serious that what the Polish bishops declare to be gravely sinful and sacrilegious the Archbishop of Chicago among others says it isn't?\nIs there not trouble brewing when priests refuse to go against their consciences one way or the other and disobey their bishops? If a priest refuses to let me receive Communion and I go to my bishop and he says I can but the priest still won't, what is the bishop going to do? How many priests in his diocese can he afford to fire?\nDoes he not think that the Pope has a duty as Vicar of Christ to try to remedy this state of affairs? Or is he enjoying the \"mess\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you read the story carefully, you will see \"Stepping out of the church, Kelley was confronted and shot three times by an armed area resident. \"\nIn other words, the massacre was OVER; all the armed area resident accomplished was to prevent Kelly from getting away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely. The Catholic Church hierarchy has become the Pharisees. \nDoes \"phylacteries broad and their fringes long.\" remind anyone of certain Cardinals who wear ostentatious clothing and the long, long cappa magna?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will accept your word for that. ;-)\nI have read your distinction between a deductive and inductive interpretations of Natural Law and your preference for the latter: I'm not convinced. \nTo judge the morality of sexual activity upon how we experience it would legitimise many more types of sexual activity than simply heterosexual and homosexual, which I'm not going to mention here.\nRegardless of the situation the accompanying pastor cannot ignore the teaching of the Church otherwise why would he claim to be a Catholic? He is duty bound to point it out to his fellow Catholic seeking his counsel. Having done so, the 'accompanied', if he was culpably ignorant no longer is so.\nDiscernment is another word for judgement. To judge whether something objectively wrong can be right under certain conditions is 'situation' ethics, the belief that one can deliberately do evil if the outcome can be deemed good, the end justifies the means. The Church teaches that this is never permissible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love) is causing great discord within the Church I believe the remedy to this discord can be found in an honest response to this question\n\nIs an act of humility too much to ask?\nI have read\n \u201cAt this moment in time the church has two sails that are blowing in the opposite direction causing great discord within the Church. On the Right: an extreme conservative wind wanting to blow our boat back to the becalming out-of-date swamp of pre-1962. On the Left: an extreme liberal wind wanting to blow our boat into rapids where faith and morals are thrown overboard\u201d.\n-\nBut we can go forward in UNITY OF PURPOSE by hoisting a third sail one of Humility, the true (only) sail that the Holy Spirit blows upon, bringing arrogance to its knees and folly does not have to be appeased.\n-\nPlease consider continuing in the link below\nhttps://reducedculpability.blog/2017/01/19/amoris-laetitia-an-apologia-for-its-orthodoxy/comment-page-1/#comment-270\nkevin you brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps you should re-read your Bible. \n\nS&G were destroyed for their uncharitable and inhospitable attitudes toward outsiders in their midst - an ironic point for you to bring up, no?\n\nAnd, yes, bless your heart, \"Jesus would have made\" a cake. Such graciousness was the entirety of his ministry to the Pharisees of then -- and now -- who purposefully misstated the Word of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your comment AnnieO\n\nI did not know that, I do not live in the States, I assume that the State of Iowa's is sparsely populated, apart from the birds that is\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the issue here is that some conservative Catholics are challenging the Popes authority to make this decision. These things happen! The last person to do this got nailed to a cross because he offended the religious establishment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If this cardinal really did not think ordination is important and those that seek ordination are just being clerical, shouldn't he prove that by choosing to be laicized and teach no one should be ordained so all our church members avoid acting clerical - not just women. \n\nThere is nothing clerical about seeking the same treatment, sacraments, and respect as your male counterparts based on the same calling from God, abilities, training and education.\n\nThis tendency of our Pope and Cardinals towards publicly shaming women who seek to be ordained to priesthood the same as their brothers who are called to the same sacrament shows their true colors and weaknesses. This pope says women should be paid the same as men then why does he not give them the same respect and ordination as men himself since it is within his authority to ordain the many already fully trained women to priesthood today and no one could stop him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hmm ....\n\nIn his final general audience during the Year of Mercy, Francis reflected on two verses in the Gospel of St. Luke (6:41-42) in which Jesus warns against the hypocrisy of noticing \"the splinter in your brother's eye,\" but not perceiving \"the wooden beam in your own.\"\n\n\"Offering counsel and admonishing sinners are works of mercy, but they are not a license to pretend to be better than others. To counsel others is a chance to see how well you, too, measure up to essential standards. Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother's eye.\"\n\n\"What must we do with bothersome people? First, look in the mirror and see if we, too, may sometimes prove to be bothersome to others. It's easy to point a finger at other people's faults and shortcomings, but we must learn to put ourselves in the other person's shoes.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one fully understands Transubstantiation. But it is possible to have SOME understanding of what Thomas says on that subject, and therefore, to have a greater understanding of how Jesus can be truly present. Do you really think that after reading and understanding a good bit of Thomas, you have no greater understanding of the Eucharist --- Christ's Real Presence through Transubstantiation --- than you did as a child?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I think it's very much in tune with the Gospel of Luke, where the church is called away. I think that he does see us moving through history as a people on pilgrimage, which is a theme of the Second Vatican Council and of Lumen Gentium.\"\n\nGod Bless Cardinal Blase Cupich for this beautiful description of the Catholic Church. We too often forget that faith, like life, is a pilgrimage. We start at one point and journey to another. The description of God and the Church as \"a Mighty Fortress\" that never moves is a false one. It is indeed ironic that those who consider themselves the most Catholic adopt this Lutheran metaphor. God does indeed accompany us on our journey.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, that is NOT what I meant to say! Neither Chaput nor Sample stands with Pope Francis and his extension of Mercy to ALL. That much is abundantly clear, already. And it couldn't be clearer, especially for those who are familiar with the Gospels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All good questions Linda. I visited the CENTER FOR APPLIED RESEARCH IN THE APOSTOLATE website that did the survey and they don't provide their definition of \"Catholic\" used for this survey.\nConsidering the title of the piece \"Pollsters confused about Catholic voters\" and the lack of a definition of \"Catholic\" for this survey, I must conclude that this survey provides no new information about Catholics' political preferences.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If people get a chance to read the Boston Globe's 2 part Spotlight on the Children of Priests and Bishops article, it's well presented and heart breaking. In Ireland, there are tentative steps lead by Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, to make the priests take responsibility. Still, the Irish Effort can be criticized because there's no episcopal oversight and no church law to make priests take the full responsibility. \nFor all of his public persona, the Archbishop of Boston, Sean O'Malley, is stonily quiet on these matters and won't answer queries from the Spotlight Team. The children are hidden away or many are being lied to by the local parish or the diocese/archdiocese. For all the talk of being an institution founded by Jesus. There are men dressed in brightly colored garb that doesn't have the first clue about relationships. They are sinful men that magic words won't help. They need to come to grips with this problem. An intervention is needed to confront the secrets.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is time for the theologians of the International Theological Commission and those of individual nations to sign in for Pope Francis. And it is time for the primates of the countries to abjure their silence and to defend the Gospel of Christ, the Good Shepherd, seeking out the \"people who have been sitting in darkness\" [put there largely by people like these letter-of-the-law cardinals].\n\nIn today's Gospel reading for December 9, 2017---we have Jesus condemning those who questioned his non-ascetic ways---and could not be pleased by either John or by Jesus. [Matt. 11:18] \"For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon': the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' yet wisdom is vindicated by her children.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But we no longer follow The OT aside from The 10 Commandments. And when exactly did 'God' GIVE us the death penalty? I must have missed that part. And who is Thomas? And doesn't Jesus say, \"Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read Hebrews in its entirety.\n\nHe is the High Priest who offered his Sacrifice to the Father, entered the second curtain into the Holy of Holies, and offers his Sacrifice eternally to the Father.\n\nTobias and \u201ccomplementarian stereotypes\u201d mean you\u2019re on the wrong page.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem is that no one really knows what Jesus said. The bible as we know it is a selection of writings that fit the political needs of those that were writing it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi! Mark \n\nThank you for your response.\nFundamental beliefs, \nDo you believe that the\n \u201cThe Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us\u201d\nA yes or no answer is sufficient\n also\nDo you believe in The Nicene Creed? \nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's a fancy Latin term that can help you understand a key part of the Catholic faith: It's called Sola Scriptura. And the Church rejects its fundamentalist, rigorist approach. You don't reject it apparently, wanting to see everything (preferably within quotes from Jesus...except when He tells us that we should come to Him as a child....or within one of the Gospels...preferably one of the synoptic gospels.....preferably within the new testament...\") in Scripture. Well and not everything in Scripture do you really want to be reminded of. And you gravitate to revisionism on these points too...\"that was the context and culture of the day..so all that should be set aside..it doesn't apply in any sense to us today....marriage one flesh? Well that was aspirational, contextual, dontic, etc. etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To quote Fr. Reese, our next ambassador should have skills, wisdom and experience equal to those of Ambassador Hackett: \n\"Being ambassador to the Holy See is a challenging job for any American, but Hackett was uniquely qualified because, as a former president of Catholic Relief Service, he was well versed in Catholic social teaching and the church's international reach. Having worked for the church on both the national and international level, he was well known in church circles and familiar with the politics and organization of the church. Few if any ambassadors have been as well prepared.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, \"Sorry, but your knowledge of church history is a bust!\" doesn't work.\n\nThe Church has never denied that the wolves commingle with the sheep, and that some portion of the Church militant are destined for perdition.\n\nYou really don't need Henry Chadwick to note that.\n\nNor is it germane to doctrine, btw.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm going to post this again, because there is no way it was uncivil.\n\n1. A-Chord, Gee's column in no way called for ridding Canada of all evidence of Christianity.\n\n2. Allowing one religious group to use a room for 20 minutes a week for prayer is in no way comparable to letting one religious group run an entire public school board.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Is the new America a fascist state or a theocratic state?\"\n\nIt can be both. In Spain, Franco's Fascist regime was supported by the Catholic Church for many years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is discord everywhere, why? \nAs these Words should define our unity of purpose\n\u201cThat they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me\u201d.\nHow can we end the discord at this present moment in time and bring about a consensus for this to become a reality? \nHow do we create a reconciled community one in harmony with all its members\u2019 one that is not superficial, as today so many appear not to want to embrace individually, the reality of sin within themselves, but rather live by self-justification.\nA reconciled community is a repentant community that has found the life and peace offered by Jesus Christ.\nAnd this can only be achieved by walking the \u2018Way\u2019 His Way, in humility\nPlease consider reading Third Comment The Wedding Feast; Humility. My Post @ 13/01/2017 at 10:57 am\nhttp://acireland.ie/sexuality-nature-and-justice/\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church teaches that only she possesses the fullness of Truth. ThisTruth has been revealed by God in the Scriptures, the teaching of Our Lord handed down to us by the Apostles and their successors, Tradition and in the natural law which is 'written in all men's hearts'. \nChrist gave the Church the mission to teach all nations this Truth. It is the duty therefore, for Catholics to bring this Truth to the whole world and unite all mankind in Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.\nThe only religion therefore, which has a God-given right to freedom is the Catholic religion. It exists in a world which, alas, has not fully turned to Christ. Nevertheless it has the right to proclaim the Truth anywhere whether non-Catholics agree with it or not and the duty to resist and secular laws which might force its adherents to commit sin. And it has this right because as I said above, it alone possesses the fullness of Truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you channeling St. John Paul II? He never met a lay person he didn't regard as a second class Catholic. Benedict XVI fell right in step with his own desires to be the chief theologian so he could punish those who disagreed with him or were better. There is a little problem with their moves to keep the laity in the pews: a document that says differently from a Church Council, no less, which elevates the laity to a far higher purpose, jut in time for the erosion and collapse of magisterial authoritarianism. Pope Francis knows of it, and regards it with seriousness, yet is slow to push its full expression in the face of so many resistant bishops to the sharing of influence and power. So we lose so many active and practicing (of the faith) Catholics and have the massive reductions in vocations of all kinds as we do\nRegression never works in the long run, and particularly not in the Church on a pilgrimage to meet Christ at the end of time. Our previous two popes were very wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not quite.\n\nJesus very clearly is pointing to Peter and giving him a title and a role.\n\nIt is true that we all must in our own way and in our space take on the happy burden of bringing others to Christ, as we pursue holiness relentlessly.\n\nBut it's fashionable now to say \"a = b and b = c and c = d\" in a form of slippery relativistic reductionism, emptying out the meaning of the Gospel to suit our fancies and passing fads.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We don't have to follow....\"\n\nI was really thinking of the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches (although I am sure the Ordinariate would like married bishops, so they could start recruiting and ordaining more married folk). For now, however, I think Brazilians will stick with diocesan clerics, allowing them the option to marry, without bringing in the issue of celibate bishops (and the traditions of 23 other Churches in communion with Rome, plus Orthodoxy).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My impression is that the root cause of the resistance to \"Amoris Laetitia\" is religious patriarchy. As long as the hierarchy of the Church remains patriarchal, there is no way in the world to reconcile our doctrines of human sexuality with created reality. The reason is that our current sacramental theology is contaminated with ancient/modern versions of \"patriarchal gender theory\" (i.e., the sex/gender binary, male headship, and complementarian stereotypes). The confusion is in part due to a biased patriarchal interpretation of St John Paul II's \"Theology of the Body.\" This is the most formidable obstacle to the \"new evangelization.\" May I share my petition to Pope Francis about this unavoidable issue:\n\nAppeal to Pope Francis ~ English\nhttp://pelicanweb.org/CCC.TOB.120.html#english\n\nApelaci\u00f3n al Papa Francisco ~ Espa\u00f1ol\nhttp://pelicanweb.org/CCC.TOB.120.html#spanish\n\n\"Redemptoris mater, ora pro nobis\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You make up rules and hypotheses as you go.\n\nWhen Jesus said \"Do this in memory of me\"...do you think He only meant superficially the meal only, or His whole life?\n\nJesus taught us to love. He told us that there was no greater love than to lay our life down. He spoke in sacrificial terms. He lived and died in sacrificial terms. He taught us that to love is to sacrifice for the great good of others.\n\nSt Paul could synthesize. You can hear it in his writing. You can't. Your theories don't hold together, and you have to postulate dubious authorship in order to keep the protestant theories going.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which guy who went to Mecca??\n\n\"If you are Muslim and you believe in your religion are you an Islamist.\" So YOU are the one equating islamists and ordinary Muslims now? Make up your mind!\n\nThe guy in Quebec City said nothing about actiing in the name of Jesus, the Bible, Christianity, or another religion, so no, he's neither a \"Christianist\" nor a radical Christian, he's most likely atheist or agnostic or indifferent, like most Quebecers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The name of the case is: Good Spirit School Division v Christ The Teacher Roman Catholic Separate School Division et al [2017, SKQB] \n\nThere is a link to a pdf of the full decision at: http://www.sasklawcourts.ca/\n\nWarning: it's 242 pages.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently the USA won't tell you where you are not allowed to visit. You can even visit Afghanistans and the other -stans all you like. Remember that Jamish schumuck who went to Iraq looking for a possible job as an independent contractor? Got his head hacked off. Remember that poor guy who got kidnapped in Beirut? Nobody said he could not marry a middle Eastern women and live there. We all have the freedom to travel the world and witness coups, wars, famine, Eboli in action, take pictures of Muslims shooting Christians because we want to be there. Adventures galore!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, in the Catholic Church at least, the first time that freedom of religion was admitted was at Vatican II. In 1954, the Holy Office ordered John Courtney Murray, SJ to stop writing on freedom of religion. \n\nLGBT rights are no different from rights for blacks, Jews and so on. If they are artificial, then so are other rights given to members of a discriminated against group.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of two) what Paul was doing was experimenting,\u2014Michael Sean Winters without benefit of the social sciences. This is not greatness.\n\nthe more excitable Catholics of both left and right found him impossibly moderate\u2014Michael Sean Winters Really.\n\nI hope to return to the Comments later today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've read Congar's History of Theology. Starting with the section on Aquinas, it really should have been called \"The French Scholastic Tradition in Catholic Theology\". Except for Luther, who is treated remarkably well, the Protestants are ignored, as are the Orthodox. Bonaventure and Duns Scotus and their followers are passed over with scarcely a comment. One might almost suppose that neither Germany nor Italy had any theologians of note. Bellarmine, for example, gets a single paragraph.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Burke is that guy we've all had to work with who cannot play well with others. Sadly, unlike most other professions, the Catholic Church cannot just fire a bishop who has no business being a bishop. Burke was \"promoted\" to Rome when he screwed up in St. Louis and then managed to screw up the two assignments that were meant to keep him out of trouble. How he caused this much tension and backstabbing in the Knights of Malta is beyond me. Pope Francis will probably have to reassign Burke again. Is there an academic position somewhere where he doesn't need to interact with other people? Perhaps he can rearrange the books in the Secret Archives or something.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bluster about cultural elites plays into the Fox News crowd. Last I checked, the enjoyment of elite culture (whatever that is - it used to have something to do with Judaism) was voluntary.\n\nThe views of the Catholic Democratic elites are not a cultural phenomenon. They come from a legal ethic that prizes individual liberty vs. the power of mass bigotry driven by those seeking religious power. That the bigots do not win the day is a good thing. Sadly, we can't force aid to the poor in the same way we can stop official acts against minorities.\n\nSadly, the Catholic politicians in question have not spoken powerfully on how and why Roe works and is essential. Then the mass of Catholics may understand it more clearly and we can end this debate - or transform it into a way to give parents the help they need to keep the child. Acceptance of mainstream constitutional law is not a sin. Until Chaput realizes this, most of us will simply ignore him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Simply b/c Carson sold out his principles for a job in government...and he even didn't get any job which he knows something about. Anyway just remember the rich ruler...what was his fate???\n\nThat anyone can defends Carson view on Trumps statements...is beyond me. I can only say that's not what my parents told me and what the Bible tells me God will/would accept. We have to stand up for God...and defend His level of conversation...not fall down to mans interpretation of what the word tells us to defend.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The notion that moral issues are reducible to axioms like '1+1=2' is naive nonsense that shows an utter failure to grasp the issue at hand! There is no 'one size fits all' cookie cutter answer to the problems of divorce, remarriage, and the best way to respond to those problems. Amoris Laetitia proposes dealing with individuals on a case by case basis - that's the way it should be because no two cases are the same. Nor can the role of a person's 'informed conscience,' which the Church teaches is the individual's supreme authority in matters of faith and morals, be ignored. Burke wants to render the same verdict and punishment in all cases, no matter how divergent the individual circumstances. That 'everyone is guilty no matter what' mentality is the hallmark of a God of vengeance and unrelenting punishment, not a God of love and forgiveness.Those who exalt the rule of law over God's law if love and forgiveness are, in Biblical parlance, 'Pharisees.'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The confusion that so concerns Burke and his party is simply this. Burke and some like-minded catholics thought they were divinely entitled to coerce fellow catholics based on a narrow interpretation of several arbitrary rules relating to marriage and the reception of communion. The Pope politely said \"no\". That doesn't confuse me. And by now it shouldn't confuse anyone else. Burke's rejection of Francis is rooted in his own pride, not religion or theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "His \u201ccouncil\u201d, the Pontifical Commission on Birth Control, was not advisory and had not been asked to make recommendations.\n\nPope John XXIII established a commission of six European non-theologians to study questions of birth control and population in 1963.\n\nPope Paul VI added theologians to the commission and expanded it to 72 members.\n\nOn its own initiative it produced a report in 1966 proposing that artificial birth control was not intrinsically evil.\n\nJohn Ford, SJ, with Germain Grisez wrote a working paper with three theologian priests on the commission stating that the Church could not change its long-standing teaching.\n\nPaul VI\u2019s delay in responding compounded his error in failing to direct the commission, and by the time Humanae Vitae was issued the damage had been done.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What did Jesus say about, if you don't have a sword to sell your cloak and buy one?\n\nJesus couldn't have been against self defense and defense of others if He told His disciples this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here a singular development may be mentioned of the doctrine of the Cross, which some have thought so contrary to its original meaning, as to be a manifest corruption; I mean the introduction of the Sign of the meek Jesus into the armies of men, and the use of an emblem of peace as a protection in battle. If light has no communion with darkness, or Christ with Belial, what has He to do with Moloch, who would not call down fire on His enemies, and came not to destroy but to save? Yet this seeming anomaly is but one instance of a great law which is seen in developments generally, that changes which appear at first sight to contradict that out of which they grew, are really its protection or illustration.\nNewman Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine 11.1.4", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd like to see a shred of evidence that liberation theology had the first thing to do with Catholics defecting to Pentecostalism.\n\nhttp://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/11/14/why-has-pentecostalism-grown-so-dramatically-in-latin-america/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In fact, Vatican II has commissioned the reorientation of this Religion to its genuine historical roots. This recognizes the invincible value of all human experience, and the universal status of revelatory incompleteness. We now have a common ground for a dialogue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Surely, there is nothing more insidious than the Knight of Columbus flipping pancakes in your parish's social hall. Be wary of him, watchful at all times, for in stealth he seeks to undermine all that is modern, good, and true. He over-polishes the floor so as to trip up liturgical dancers, destroys felt banners, and installs kneelers when no one is looking. His crimes reach their zenith when he visits Planned Parenthood to pray that one day the murder of children might cease. Do not be fooled by the batter-stained apron, the smile, the top-rated life insurance he can access through the order, his financial generosity to the parish, the time he gives to maintain the buildings and grounds, the food he gathers for the hungry, the clothes he donates to the naked, or the abundance of food he offers you at breakfast after Mass. It's all a front for Carl Anderson's plot to control the Vatican. You have been warned by your betters at the National Catholic Reporter. Take heed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no place for a bunch of Ku-Ku-Klowns in Canada.\nIn the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century an English \nthree Canadians was a member of the white supremacist organization Anglo-Saxon, WASP equivalent to the United States (\"White Anglo-Saxon Protestants\"). \nFour members have been Prime Ministers of Canada; \nSir John A. Macdonald (father of \u00ab Canadian Federation \u00bb of 1867\nbut not \u00ab Father of Canada \u00bb which is Sir Samuel de Champlain in 1608 ), \nSir John Abbott, \nSir Mackenzie Bowell (a past \u00ab Grand Master \u00bb (?)), \nand John Diefenbaker. \nIn 1927 the \u201cOrange\u201d movement gave birth to a more intolerant and racist group, the Canadian Ku Klux Klan, which had its deepest roots in small towns in Saskatchewan because of the \"yellow peril\", but also because of the blacks...Jews...Catholics...\n(The \u201cKu Ku Nest\u201d in the province campaigned against= teaching French + wearing the religious habit + the presence of crucifixes in schools.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't compare us to your Luddites on the Christian right. We have no problem with science. Qur'an articulated the big bang event, explained that living things were made of water, pointed out that man was created in stages, discussed details of embryology, told of places where ocean currents of differing salinities and temperatures met but did not mix, and taught that bees and ants were primarily female nearly 1,500 years ago. If you have problems with willful Christian ignorance (as well you should), leave us out of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"historic tradition\" reflects the cultures at the time the \"traditions\" were established. The Church organized itself and created governance structures that reflected the structures of other institutions of the times in which it came to power and grew in power. There is nothing sacred about the structure of popes, cardinals, bishops, priests with the serf-laity being powerless. It was the culture.\n\nIt matters now that the roles of men and women in society are far more equal than they were in the past. It also matters that acceptable forms of governance are no longer based on some assumption of \u201cdivine right\u201d of a few God selected men, but includes those who are governed in choosing who is to lead them and in setting the rules under which they live. \n\nThe Church needs to include not just women in all levels of management and service in the Church, but laity as well, in a participative governance structure. Doesn't have to be majority rule - but it does need to be participative.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trent: as to\n..\"most modern Catholics have no idea of what is happening upon the altar, especially during a Novus Ordo Mass\"...\n\nIn my own experience and opinion, finally being able to pray eucharist in our own language is exactly what makes it possible for most modern Catholics to finally fully understand what is actually happening on the altar.-- and participate in making it happen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Monica. I am reminded of reading about fourth-century Christ followers who did meet in cemeteries, around the graves/shrines of saints and martyrs. The author, whose name escapes me (maybe Ramsey MacMullin?), measured the available space within churches and basilicas, concluding that there was not enough space for ordinary people, so they developed their own cemetery liturgies, accompanied by lunch. The churches were for the clergy and the prominent; the quiet grave sites for all the many who literally could not fit into church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oddly, you are expected to \"call out\" someone while the person making the suggestion does not \"call out\" those with whom he agrees. Apparently, there are two standards, one to apply to those one agrees with, and one to apply to those with whom one disagrees. Wouldn't a follower of Aquinas, Augustine, et al. apply a more even-handed and logical set of standards, applicable to all? Or maybe those identifying as conservative catholics are just another band of partisans, no better than anyone else. So what's the point of following their particular brand of religion, if they are no better than those they criticize?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know that my Redeemer lives. I know this in two ways. The first way is that I encounter Him in the Eucharist. My experience of my thinking and feeling changes to peace when I encounter him in this way. The second is how St. Paul, whose reports of the Resurrection are more recent than the Gospel, describes the fact that people saw the Lord and that the Church is about the Resurrection, not some superior understanding of ethics (which sometimes it is not). A Resurrected Body of Christ is the Church, as well as the ascended Jesus. The whole Church, not the clergy. The Gospel accounts are later stories that flesh out the details, but they are not as important as the testimony of Paul.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually you're wrong God decides and has already. We choose God's decision for us or not. There's a difference.. Ours - like Jesus who said let them come - is to welcome all comers not exclude and especially children, weak, vulnerable, strange, different. To such belongs the kingdom of God. Such welcomers are spirit filled - to use your words - not not excluders. Your statements draw lines over which comers must cross. Jesus drew rings of inclusion and acceptance that enable people to belong and leave behind hurt and shame in order to create anew. It's not a Binary thing Clive. People learn not by being pulled and shoved over a fence. We learn by participating and being included in a movement of growth, development and relearning to love as Christ loves - unconditionally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 2\n\n \u201cWe are sinners and will continue sinning but God is merciful when we humbly repent!\u201d\n\nIs not Joe\u2019s humble public confession acceptable to God at that moment in time?\n\n If not what can he do or where can Joe go to repent?\n\u201cFor with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you\u201d.\n-\n\n\nJoe\u2019s civil partner is an unbeliever and is sceptical of Catholicism and believes that many are hypocrites \u201cthe majority use contraception which is a mortal sin etc\u201d But she has no objection to her children been brought up as Catholics, but would not be prepared to live the single life and why should she.\nJoe lives in a small house with two bedrooms he has a low income his partner suffers from a debilitating illness and cannot work, he is a good father and compensates for her lack of energy in bringing up his two young children one of them will soon be school age.\n\nContinued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Roman culture embraced slavery, infanticide [exposing unwanted infants in hostile environments], suicide [it was manly for a man to kill himself if by his jailing he would be demeaned], etc. Our Western Rite still calls itself the Roman Catholic Church---and it embraced Roman law for much of its model of Canon law.\n\nBut today, we no more belong to the Roman empire than we do to the planet of the apes. It is time for the Church to stop allowing ancient understandings of language or custom [which gave rise to shape how we minister to PEOPLE OF TODAY. Study and learn from the past, but don't be shackled by it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The good bishop cherry picks: here are some statements of Pope Francis which don't fit within the supposed \"new theological tradition\" which Bishop McElroy purports Francis to be establishing:\n\n\"The Church may render more clear her mission to be a witness to mercy; and we have to make this journey. It is a journey which begins with spiritual conversion.\" -3/13/15\n\n\"[Jesus] asks us, through genuine conversion, to open our hearts to a more sincere love of God and neighbor.\" - 12/16/15\n\n\"It is never too late to convert, but it is urgent, it is now! Let us begin today!\" - 2/28/16\n\n\"In order to convert, we must not wait for prodigious events, but open our hearts to love of God and neighbor.\" -5/18/16\n\n\"The possibility of confession, with which man expresses his inner conversion; and contrition, the means of repentance and atonement, in order to reach the encounter with the merciful and healing love of God.\" - Letter to the President of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Justmaybe,\nThat lack of trust in the laity gets to the very glue that has long held the church together. The disintegration of that Two-way glue is why the church is struggling, at least in the more educated parts of the globe. Until not all that long ago, bishops could and did \"demand\" trust, under the guise of their special \"charisms.\" I think they took that too far, and decided they didn't need to trust the laity as long as they could command trust, or at least obedience. \n\nToday, that game no longer works. With the overt rejection of the counsel of the laity in the preparation for Humanae Vitae, Paul VI destroyed that trust. The scandal just made it worse. For some, about all that's left to bond them to the church is momentum.\n\nThis is all really simple: human sexuality is far more nuanced and nurturing than bishops want to admit. It's a gift that is not theirs to control. And for guys who don't get the sacrament of children, they have no authoritative voice on the matter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is the second time in just over a year that Francis has countermanded Cardinal Sarah's excessive enthusiasm for pre-Vatican II behavior. In July 2016, he urged priests and bishops to start celebrating Masses facing away from the congregation ( ad orientem). By virtue of his office, some people interpreted this as an official directive from the Vatican. A clarification from Vatican spokesman, Fr. Lombardi, had to be issued, indicating that the Pope insisted that the \u2018ordinary\u2019 form of the celebration of Mass is that foreseen by the missal promulgated by Paul VI, and the extraordinary form permitted by Benedict should not replace it. \n\nWill it be strike three and out?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of two) \u201cEach one must be careful how he builds it\u201d God\u2019s building, in this case the United States Presidency and the Supreme Court, \u201cfor no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ\u201d (1 Corinthians 3:10).\n\nLiturgy of the Word, November 9, Reading 671, Feast of The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Historically, religion has been an excuse to justify attempts to subordinate groups of people the majority find inferior. The attitude is similar to bullying where one individual, in his/her sense of inferiority tries to dominate another for his/her own ego. Those who are using religion in this way to marginalize the LGBT community are bullying a minority whom they want society to accept as inferior. If they succeed with this all minorities are at risk. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act lists protected classes categorically but only the 7th Circuit has extended the proscription on sex discrimination to the LGBTs. The Supreme Court will need to add that interpretation or, if not, it will need to become a written part of Title VII. With this administration and Congress that will not happen. Only when the envelop is pushed too far and \"religion\" is used by Christians to cause physical harm will enough people react to curtail this abuse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspect you are a hit and run poster, but I will take on this comment anyway. I do not see every white Trump voter as a racist, or a nationalist, and anti immigration. I think many of them voted the anti abortion and anti gay marriage planks because they believe these are the paramount cultural issues courtesy of the USCCB. What I hope they begin to understand is that the Southern Baptist Convention has used cultural issues to hide their racism. So in effect pro life Catholics enabled Southern racism and the rise of the Alt Right. I didn't vote for President and am getting sick of pointing out to Trump voters that Trump did not win the popular vote. He won the Electoral College by some 70,000 votes. It is indicative of his narcissism that he can't handle the loss of the popular vote and yet it is equally indicative of many of his supporters that they can't handle that fact either. Trump is a disaster and no amount of Rogue Catholic defending is going to change that fact.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At least this time it wasn't a Catholic priest as far as we know. Parents should never allow innocent little boys to be alone with a Catholic priest of bishop based on news reports that we read almost every week in the papers or see on TV.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Superval07,\n\nHow can our churches recover when we're not focused first and foremost on actually doing what Jesus told us to do? We've just spent a quarter studying the ministry method of Jesus. How many people in our churches simply dismissed that as just another topic for discussion before moving-on to other topics and not changing their ways? Yes, we have problems, the biggest of them being allowing what doesn't build the Kingdom of God distract us away from doing what we're supposed to be doing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting. I see you don't ask those who are not Catholic why they post on a purportedly Catholic website...I at least am supposed to be among my \"tribal members\"....the site IS National CATHOLIC Reporter, right?\n\nBut, to answer your question? There was a time - not that long ago - when informed discussion and exchange of ideas was possible...even with those with whom I disagreed. The tone and timbre of this site has gone greatly downhill since the election. Then CC came along - and people learned how to game the system, use it for censorship, & character count eliminated ability to discuss.\n\nI do not find fault with \"anybody the least bit progressive\" - I do not find name calling, censoring, belittling others to be progressive. I do not call others \"ignorant\" and claim to be progressive or liberal. Do you? Did you actually read this particular thread? If so, and if you have a problem with the tone here, I look forward to your correcting others....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Faithful to the Church's teaching and mission of spreading the message and reality of the Gospel.\n\nHelping millions of souls with corporal works of mercy. Giving hundreds of thousands of men - if not more - good avenues of practicing their faith too, and means of friendship!\n\nNot a bad sort of influence, yes?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Myth. Nobody thought the Earth was flat in the middle ages. Catholic doctrine did not teach Earth was flat. Europeans knew Earth was found and its correct size since 400BC. Europe didn't know about the Americas however. This, assuming the correct size of the planet, reaching Asia sailing west was impossible for fresh water and food would run out long before the ships would arrive in Japan. Columbus thought the Earth was smaller than it really is. So he thought it was possible. He got lucky. Had the Americas not existed, they would all have died 1/3 of the distance to Japan", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Always such certitude. Every time I read one of your comments I'm reminded of the joke about the Protestant who dies and is met by St. Peter at the pearly gates for a tour of heaven. As the tour goes on St. Peter points out all the different denominations, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians and so forth. As they come to a certain group way off to themselves, St. Peter draws the man closer and whispers, \"Now, for this next group, we need to be really quiet. They are the Catholics and they think they're the only ones here.\" In the end, you may find that the joke's on you!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi there. That's a great suggestion. We have donated five truckloads of goods to both the salvation army and Catholic Social Services as we were clearing out space in early June. We are also working with Brother Francis Shelter to see if there are old boots, such as the Bunny Boots that they could use this winter. We will continue to donate goods that as we move through this inventory clear out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But the idea that one can think their way into belief lies at the heart of the church and its reverence for long-dead philosophers and logical argument. The implications are great. If your suggestion is correct then the bishops will have to consider the possibility that the conduct of those who lead an institution that claims to be the final arbiter of morality must themselves be paragons of morality and must live by the standards set out by the founder...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't disagree. But never once, in my nearly 60 years as a Catholic on this Earth, have I seen somebody grab the hand of another against their will during the Our Father. Extend a hand? Yes. Aggressively grab one? No.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2.)\n15. Matt Smith, President, Catholic Advocate, Board Member, American Conservative Union\n16. Austin Ruse, President, Center for Family and Human Rights\n17. Richard Viguerie, Chairman, ConservativeHQ\n18. Angela Flood, Former Director, Secretariat of Communications, Archdiocese of Washington, DC\n19. Lou Murray, New York Life Financial Consultant\n20. Lisa Bourne, Journalist, LifeSiteNews\n21. Cong. Steve Chabot, US Congressman, Ohio, 1st District\n22. Cong. Mike Kelly, US Congressman, Pennsylvania, 3rd District\n23. Ed Martin, President, Eagle Forum\n24. Chuck Mifsud, President, Catholics for Ohio\n25. Gov. Sam Brownback, Kansas Governor and former Kansas US Senator\n26. Tom Monaghan, Founder, Ave Maria University/Ave Maria School of Law\n27. Mark Corallo, Founder, Corallo Media Strategies\n28. Jay Shepard, RNC National Committeeman, Vermont\n29. Joseph Cella, Founder, National Catholic Prayer Breakfast\n(continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cael, Francis is probably capable of meeting them head on in the pedantry, given his resources, however, I'm guessing that as a former priest, Bishop, Cardinal and human being of a South American country, he will know exactly the consequences of shutting down two medical centres. For a group of Catholics to then decide that shutting down the third and last centre is the answer to the problem, must absolutely disgust him. He knows the consequences of this deplorable decision.\n\nHe will not let this drop. Heads will roll. A group of men claiming catholicity while overtly attacking the poor? Not in Francis' name.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed, the Church respects life from conception to natural death! And it respects the rights of children to live through years of abuse at the hands of clergy while it protects the clergy. See, no one died, except those who committed suicide after having their live destroyed by the clergy, and that was not a natural death, so they don't count in the eyes of the Church. All true catholics must rally in defense of the Church, even when the defending what appears to mere laypersons to be indefensible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have a excellent example in early modern Western history when there were indeed \"prayer breaks\" held by Protestants on one side and Catholics on the other. Both determined that they have God on their side. In the resulting \"Wars of Religion,\" Europe witnessed slaughter on a grant scale. It was finally decided that to stop the slaughter, God needed to be taken out of the equation so that some sort of peaceful resolution of the conflicts could be obtained. This was one element which lead to the later idea of the separation of Church and State. \n\nIt is too bad that our denomination can't admit that God has very little to do with the political decisions made by human beings--even in, and especially in church settings. A great illustration of this occurred at the last General Conference session held in San Antonio.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Successive popes? Read the document \"Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion\" authored by Pope Benedict when he was Cardinal Ratzinger. Interestingly enough, Cardinal Ratzinger opposes capital punishment--yet he said in the document that one can be a Catholic in good standing and disagree with the bishops on that issue. \n\nWhat that means is that it is not essential to Catholic belief to oppose the death penalty even if a majority are opposed to it's use. \n\nAs for myself---I do not rule out it's use. You know how you liberals are always whining about the imposition of views on people and how we mustn't impose our views--on things like--abortion or gay marriage etc? If we mustn't impose our views on those issues, why do we get to impose our views on the death penalty? If a women is free to murder her unborn innocent child--in the name of \"choice\" why isn't the state allowed to utilize the death penalty to punish cold blooded rapists and killers? --Seamless garment turned on its head.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of your good Catholics just shot up a Masjid day before yesterday. Another good Christian named Frazier Glen Cross shot three people to death in front of a Jewish Community Center in Kansas City, MO two years ago. And still another fine upstanding Christian named Anders Breivik slaughtered 77 Norwegians in the name of Christian supremacy just six years ago. And your good Christian \"Knights\" beheaded a black man in Texas ten years before that. And I defy you to come up with ANY quantitative data that Muslims ANYWHERE have generated a body-count anywhere near that of the so-called \"Christian\" nations since WWII.\n\nAnd kindly don't lump me with a group of murdering heretics that want to kill me and my family. It makes no more sense than lumping black families with the sheet-wearers who want to lynch them. A Shi'a scholar near my in-laws was murdered by the Da'esh for publicly denouncing their murder of Iraqi Christians. Their victim was practicing ISLAM. His murderers WEREN'T.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Imagine, please, an alternate universe where women occupy all the positions of leadership and power in the world and the Church, and God in Her infinite wisdom has chosen women, whose bodies alone can give life, as worthy of acting in persona Christa. While the Holy Mothers are not men, of course in their wisdom they can understand men's needs and roles, and can design a theology of men. They have translated the scriptures to say \"women\" and \"sisters\" but not to worry, that means all people. St. Thomasina Aquina has taught that males, who can only spill seed, not actually bring forth life, are therefore mis-gestated females, poor things. Even though males cannot be ordained, Holy Father Church is happy to have their talents in baking cookies, crocheting doilies for the altar, and answering the phone for Mother when she gets too busy. Imagine this world and tell me a man would see no sexism, no sin, only a \"recognition of fundamental differences.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I came into the Roman Church through Vatican II and Christ Among Us as a catechism. Vatican II opened the windows; JPII ran through the Vatican shutting all the windows and closing the curtains. I left the Roman Church after Vertitas Splendor and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I returned briefly when Francis became Pope--right after he said, \"Who am I to judge?\" I realized quickly that the return of Vatican II was not going to come to the Lincoln, NE diocese, which thinks Trent is too innovative. I am now worshipping in the United Church of Christ, where I have found a home for the Catholicism I fell in love with through Kung, Rahner, Schillebeeckx, McBrien, Johnson, et. al. In the UCC, I can celebrate the truths of Amoris Laetitia. \n\nI am not a fan of George Weigel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So Faithful Catholic decides about adoption, abortion and keeping the baby in other peoples pregnancies. That IS authoritarian belief....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The four women killed in El Salvador 36 years ago today were your friend Maryknoll Sister Ita Ford, her fellow Maryknoll Sister Maura Clarke, Cleveland Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kozol, and Cleveland lay missionary Jeanne Donovan. Masses of remembrance are held in several Cleveland locations on this day. May they rest in Eternal Peace, O Lord. We have not forgotten them. Even though the Vatican has for so long. All of those mentioned in your and RockChalkWombat's comment in response should be sainted as Martyrs. What else could they possibly be?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill I admire your boldness and zeal, but CMD is right on this one, as were Luther, Calvin and all the Reformers. Jesus dies only for the elect, this is plainly taught in Scripture and what many went to the stake and died for. Jesus could not die for those who did not believe, and yes, you did choose Christ, but only after he made you alive and gave to you ability to choose something good, this, of course is also taught clearly in scripture. This is the month of the remembrance of the reformation Listen to RC Sproul or John Macarthur teach some of these topics (Predestination, Election etc.), you can easily find them on the internet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I found Sister's mentioning the Eastern Rite Catholics as a possible sign of how we go forward quite interesting. I'd need to find an article either in the archives here or elsewhere giving an even-handed explanation of how those Eastern Rite folks operate in union with Rome. Sister says they kept their own traditions, their own histories, their own liturgies etc. However, I always thought they had to abandon some dogmas of Eastern orthodoxy, and add dogmas specific to Roman obedience. Moreover, they also had to accept not just the primacy of the Roman pontiff but the near unlimited powers of that office which is so very different from the role of the Oecumenical Patriarch who is primus inter pares.\n\nIf we in the mainline are to find ourselves, as Jesus would want in a \"Church of God\" with God, as head, (but with a servant model human leadership of the visible church) then the role and powers of the Bishop of Rome need to change, at least with respect to the non-Latin rites in union.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here we might be confusing the institutional church (e.g. - the hierarchy, the magisterium, doctrines, disciplines, rituals, etc.) with the Church, the People of God. The Church, the People of God, can exist, though at a disadvantage, without any of the elements (trappings, if you will) of the institutional church. It is the Church, the People of God, the Mystical Body of Christ, which Jesus founded. All the rest is simply embroidery.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So it's ok to have beliefs just as long as they don't have any implications for how we are supposed to live. \n\nYour conception of the Church is a country club, not a body that shares core beliefs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It truly amazes me by the support that Roman Catholics, particularly\u200b the leadership, provide the GOP. If they were pro-choice would there be such support? Does all of this bend on the one issue of legal abortion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clearly you are not familiar with Everson, if you claim that there is nothing wrong with a governmental official preaching Christ while in his official capacity. The very real wall between church and state forms the basis for Justice Black's majority opinion in Everson.\n\nNo, go back to your law school and demand a retroactive failing grade in constitutional law. My constitutional law professor would not have accepted your calling the wall between church and state \"imaginary\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Archbishop Chaput, for one, would question \"which Spirit\" Pope Francis was listening to: the Holy Spirit or the \"spirit of the world\" which \"leads one away from teachings of Jesus\"... as I was questioned on an occasion of accepting LGBT persons!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Tom,\n\nYou are definitely well past the \"kiddy-youth\" aspects of your faith. So many of us have felt that the church doesn't do 1/8 of what it needs to do for ADULTS [and not just parents of growing children]. Does your parish even have any adult discussion groups? Would you be up to starting one---for your parish or/and including neighboring parishes? Take a few [not too many] topics from your book CHURCH CHAT: SNAPSHOTS OF A CHANGING CHURCH and offer them as discussion [try Lent---great time to offer courses---six weeks is great to whet the spiritual appetite].\nMaybe go into Vatican II and discuss 'some of those changes'. \n\nYou will find others from your parish/greater parish area who also have questions and want to discuss. This will give you support as you give support to others. With your background, the parish should have no problems sponsoring this as part of Adult Spiritual Growth. Good luck and God bless you---keeping you in prayer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This reminds me of how some people have distorted and diluted the word \"thanks\".\n\nWhat was a beautiful word of self-exchange or self-gift is now used as a cheap biting verbal technique in social networks. And of course, it quickly self-empties itself and doesn't even achieve the invective intended. \n\nThe devil's work is to take what is good and distort it. \n\nWe see other examples in the beautiful words surrounding marriage. Marriage, love, sex have all been corrupted. \n\nIn a small effort to restore the meeting, let's ponder the beautiful words of the preface from the Holy Mass: \n\n\"It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God, through Christ our Lord.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can't refute the veracity, so attack the messenger. \nHere are the direct quotes: \"Opus Dei\u2019s free reign within the Catholic Church began after it helped install Karol Wojtyla as Pope John Paul II\" and \"Of all the groups that are engaged in the U.S.-sponsored campaign against liberation theology [in the 1980's is part of the article] none has played a more significant role than Opus Dei.\" After keeping these quotes for so many years and using them so often, I'll admit some quotations marks got shifted to the wrong locations along the way and I won't make the same mistake again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Today's syrupy church music is probably responsible for driving more Catholics away from Mass than anything the bishops teach.\n\nI remember the advent of the guitar Masses in the 1970s. That folksy music was actually far better than the damp-palmed pablum like \"On Eagle's Wings.\"\n\nSince the 70s I've also noted that the music dept. seems intent on taking a major role in the Mass, filing up every spare space that used to be an occasion for group recitation with \"da da da da dah dah! hey everybody let us sing the words for you!\" Don't need it, don't want it.\n\nI think everybody knows that Black churches get music right -- they make a genuine \"joyful noise.\" I can appreciate that popular parish efforts are trying their best to do likewise, but the result is irksome noise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There were no apostles during Jesus lifetime. Jesus didn't start a church. Jesus invited twelve disciples to be his closest followers. Judas was the only one who was replaced. Historically, there is no support for apostolic succession coming the Twelve. Jesus taught direct access God and to pray to Our Father directly. He left the Holy Spirit to exist in our True Self (in our souls). The Church does not play a role in access to the Holy Spirit according to Jesus. Jesus taught us to call no one on earth father but only our Father in heaven. The church seems to ignore this teaching as well. Jesus did not discriminate against women. The church has sadly gone astray from Jesus and his teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Keep tuned MJ for THEMIDDLECLASSALLIANCE.COM and the CatholicCaucus.\n\nFinally, an organization defending Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that you have found common ground with my family! We might be liberal in varying degrees where you are not, but that does not mean that we like either solid content or classical education thrown out the window.\n\nYou struck more than a couple of chords with this comment.\n\nI know of a Catholic secondary school for young women that has just instituted a \"Leadership Institute.\" I have been trying to find the words I would like to use to express my concern with what they are doing -- a series of lectures/luncheons by women in executive positions. I am not at all against women in executive positions, and when I was young, hearing from a few might have been helpful. However, I think that a couple of career or vocation evenings offering insights on any number of life paths would be a lot more helpful and realistic as it would have been in the early sixties when it was assumed that if we married, we would never again work outside the home.\n\nLove your last sentence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Steve Bannon literally told a bunch of evangelicals at the Voter Values Summit that trump is winning a war for white supremacists and they cheered. For some reason I never equated evangelicals with racists before, but it appears as if there is a large cross section?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Raise the tone by mentioning Christ's name.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\nI suppose that's true in Islamic states that are governed by Sharia law. Obviously, and thankfully, it's not true in the United States, where we enjoy freedom of religion rooted precisely in the separation of church and state. \n<>\nBut it does. Faith communities can define marriage for their co-religionists, but not for others. Secular marriage is a civil contract which creates rights and duties under civil law. The legislatures and courts have jurisdiction only over the secular contract; they neither have nor claim to have authority over religious definitions.\nPeople of faith can advocate their understanding of marriage in the public square, but they have no privileged place in the debate. Moreover, many persons of faith -- most, I think -- support the Court's decision. I'm a Catholic. Most of my family and many of my friends are Catholic. None of them thinks the Court got this wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely right, T. . The Church is not the Holy Spirit. And thank God for it. The Church comprises good and evil...and the Spirit is not evil.\n\nThe Spirit is certainly WILLING (I would use italics here, but don't know how to access them on my new tablet) to preserve the Church from doctrinal error, but cannot do so if the Church will not listen to it. The Spirit, as Dennis Gahon made clear elsewhere, respects human free will. So if the Church is not willing to listen to the Spirit (and it still doesn't in at least one fundamental respect), then (as Dennis pointed out, too), its interactions with the Spirit will contain more of itself than the wisdom of God.\n\nI prefer the earlier translations, T., not because they support my rendering of Jesus' recorded words, but because the nearer, linguistically, one is to the original languages, the more likely the reliability of the translation. Koine Greek is nearer in this respect than Latin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The correctio does not examine the ideas \"communicated\" by Pope Francis, unless you understand the term \"communicated\" or (to use the word used by the correctio authors) \"propagated\" in the misleading sense thay they use it. They say: \"Pope Francis says this. This implies that. And that is heretical. Thus if you say this you are propagating that.\" But this is ingenuous because in every case this does not imply that, unless you have rigorist axioms at your disposal. But these rigorist axioms have been rejected by the Church before Pope Francis. And Pope Francis is specifically rejecting this rigorism in AL. By rejecting this rigorism Pope Francis is doing a great service to the teaching of his predecessors. He is allowing the true teaching of the Church to be preserved.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, again, what do you do when someone shows up with a weapon?\n\nIf you don't want guns in the church, then don't call the police, because they will certainly bring guns.\n\nHow about a sign that says this, on every church:\n\n\"By order of the Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago, you are hereby on notice: in the event someone enters this property and carries out violence, you should not:\n\n1) Bring, let alone use, any weapon to defend yourself or others.\n2) Call the police, because their weapons are not permitted.\n3) Expect any help that requires the use of a deadly weapon.\n\nGood luck!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "FINALLY...the Conservatives elected a descent man.\n\n1- Young,educated and energetic with progressive ideas\n\n2- Family man with 5 children\n\n3- Bi-lingual \n\n4- Roman Catholic.\n\nI am a Liberal but I believe this man is going to challenge Trudeau.\n\n...at the end is going to be good for Canada and Canadians.\n\nGood luck!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I say to my cat \"Let's eat\", she knows to run to her food dish and wait for me to fill it. Likewise, a 7 year when asked if Jesus is divine, will tell you yes because she is conditioned/taught to say yes. She understands what that means as much as the cat does the actual words I said. All she knows is that I feed her when I make those particular sounds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How true! The only outcome the archbishop accomplishes with this sort of talk and with his entire approach to ministry, is to widen the already huge gap between the clerical hierarchy and the lay faithful of the Church. It has gotten smaller - mostly from the perspective of institutionalists like +Chaput - because fewer people find it to be inspiring or Christ-like. Where all of this leads is still uncertain, but one thing for sure is that it will never be what he thinks it will become.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were not refugees. They were law abiding travelers heading to Bethlehem to be counted in the census and pay their taxes. Jesus was carried to Bethlehem in Mary's womb. Still Mary and Joseph considered him a soon to be new born child, a person. Joseph and Mary recognized Jesus was a boy. Jesus remained a boy and became a man. He was persecuted and crucified because of his conservative beliefs. No much has changed in 2000 years. \n\n \"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from C\u00e6sar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.\n(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)\n And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.\n And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Jud\u00e6a, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David)\nTo be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very interesting report, once again. \n\nI agree that mission to Muslims is profoundly hampered by lives out of congruence with Christian faith. However, I wonder about some of the emphasis meant to counter this. In becoming more OT oriented in the interests of common ground are we not in danger of moving away from the Gospel.\n\nLiving distinctive lives with strict food rules isn't the best answer, it seems to me. Orthodox Jews, then, would have fields of common ground.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, I don;t \"think every woman who speaks up against injustice and discrimination is a man-hater?\" In fact, I don't think any woman who speaks up against injustice is, because of that, a man-hater. What I do think is that women who falsely accuse the Church of \"hating women\" because they don't allow women priests are pretty low and distasteful, to put it politely. \n\nI also think it's amusing that you asked the question you did, then answered it as though the assertion falsely implied in the question were true. Wow! Says a lot about YOU!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope wanted him to visit the Vatican. Looking for confession(s).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'CIVIL' don't allow more then one reply to a post, it seems. That is not working normal, since they limit the length of post too!!???\n\n\u201cIf we want a truly humane, humanistic system of beliefs and practices, we can do better than this \"service\" talk.\u201d\nI believe and practice Catholic religion because of Christ, the son of God and His teaching. \nYour so called \u201ca truly humane, humanistic system of beliefs and practices\u201d is not a religion per se. It is your belief system. I don\u2019t need yours since I have plenty of my own, thank you.\nWithout \u2018service\u2019 we can\u2019t even live our day to day life. How children can survive without mother\u2019s cook/clean services for her children?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Truth can not contradict truth.\nThere can not be 2 truths.\nThere is one Truth, Himself.\n\"Central\" gives a unity to the Body of Christ. \nThat's why Christ said what he did from today's Gospel in daily Mass: \n\n\"I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. \nWhatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;\nand whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(SIX)\n\nThe fundamental question of our day for all other realms of intellectual endeavor, including theology, is whether truth in those fields must also be understood in a similar fashion? \n\nI happen to think that Christian theology is the perfect realm of intellectual endeavor to explore that question. For, in my view, the evidence is overwhelming that conclusions have evolved overtime based on different presuppositions, different philosophical frameworks within revelation is interpreted. And ultimately we have to consider the possibility that revelation itself is ongoing, emerging, developing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Glad to hear that about those priests and the Eucharist.\n\nThe Lord's sacred food is his own to give, not that of any of his ministers. And he gives to all regardless, just as his love is given to all regardless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Caring for the stranger and those less fortunate is fundamental to Christ's message. Each time this message is repeated, as in this case by Fr. Daly, the Trumpinista's get all upset because their conscience starts bothering them. We as followers of Christ should approach the management of immigrants with compassion and generosity doing our best to provide for these less fortunate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hear that the Church of God is stricter. Just an FYI, if the case.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My feeling is that anyone has a right to believe in God or not. I choose to believe. With that said, in my opinion, a true Christian is one that accepts all for who they are. Does not judge others. Helps those in need. Why can't we just accept and love one another for who we are, why is there this need for people to want to change everyone and make them conform to some radical religious beliefs? I would not stop serving someone just because they didn't dress like me, look like me, walk like me, that is the whole point of being a Christian or just a good person is to accept those as they are and love them for who they are. There is too much mental illness in the world as it is let's not create more by making people feel unwanted, unloved or out of place. Just my thoughts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are called to be \"perfected in love'. God and God's love is perfect and THAT is what we are called to be perfected in. We're not perfect, and on this earth we will not be. But as Jesus taught and demonstrated at every turn---we will be judged by how we have loved God and others.\n\nI didn't just learn about heresies in the Church---I've been teaching about them for decades now. You fit the bill perfectly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus is God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My family helped pay for Alaska and I am a citizen of the United States of America! I have Native Blood and I am a Christian and have a nice family. I love Alaska and I first came to Alaska in 1984 and have had many oil and gas leases that I paid the state for and have owned oil and gas interest every since! I was against SB 21 and offered the 777 Plan that Ray Metcalf helped me with. Call me if you want to get to know me. I want to buy a house in Alaska can you help me? donkeloilalaska.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 2. \nThis last time, a Vatican spokesman said that first the records needed to be studied and agreement reached with the CEA, (Argentine Episcopal Conference) Then they would be released only by \u201cspecific legal questions requested by rogatory [a formal request from a court to a foreign court for some type of judicial assistance] or matters of a humanitarian nature.\u201d \nThis assembly of the CEA confirmed that \u201conly those victims and relatives or judges and prosecutors who request them during the investigation of the causes for crimes against humanity\u201d would have access to the documents preserved by the CEA, or kept in the Vatican Embassy located in Buenos Aires or the Vatican. (eldiariodebuenosaires.com)\nNora Corti\u00f1as, leader of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, a human rights group, \u201cminimized\u201d the bishops\u2019 announcement and demanded that they \"open the archives seriously.\" For Corti\u00f1as, the announcement is \"one more hypocrisy\" by the Church. (nuevodiarioweb.com)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The land is the Creator's, the God of the Bible Jesus Christ. It was deeded to the Jews in the Bible. Google why the Bible is true and the Word of God and you can search the borders in the Bible. There is massive information to verify Biblical authenticity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So along with the additional deflection you say you're quitting because you don't have an actual legal nor rational argument? Got it.\n\nAnd, so far as the -morality- of use of lethal force in self-defense goes, you'll note that the statutory justifications and criteria for use of lethal force in self-defense in the US (which are the same for both LEO and \"civilian\") evolved from the Common Law, which evolved from the Judeo/Christian tradition which Islam shares, which further evolved from prior \"pagan\" cultures, which so uniformly shared the same precepts among moral and faith traditions the world over that the few, arguable \"exceptions\" history provides actually prove the rule. \n\nWhich is why access to the most effective means of self-defense for individual persons, means not reliant on physical prowess, size, nor (dis)ability, the means currently best represented by firearms, is a fundamental human and civil right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jim Colver ran against Carl Gatto in 2002 (State House). I don't recall if he ran as a Democrat or as an independent, but I do know that he has played multiple roles in the Valley and seems have been reasonable and reasonably non-partisan. If he's a republican, he harkens back to the old days when there were moderate republicans who did work across the aisle. I will miss him. I've also met Rauscher. He's sat at our dining room table and complained about not being able to worship. (My wife and I are devout Christians and have no complaint about being able to worship). I'm sure Mr. Rauscher will be more \"focused\" and agenda-oriented.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That was in 1962, as I recall. Archbishop Rummel got away with excommunicating the three segregationists (one of whom, I believe, is still alive and still excommunicated) because he was on the 'right' side of history. An excommunication today, in a different political and ecclesiastical context, might well have unforeseen and even disastrous consequences for the Church.\n\nJesus came to proclaim the Kingdom of God, not the Code of Canon Law. As far as we know, he excommunicated no one -- not even Judas who betrayed him or Peter who denied him. Should we learn from him?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think so. Republicans vote for Republicans. That's how the world works. And usually Republicans lose national elections, because only Republicans vote for them.\n\nTrump won because he didn't only get the Republican vote. He got a huge proportion of the white male vote. Including a significant number who call themselves silly oxymorons like \"Catholic Left\" and \"Reagan Democrat.\"\n\nThere's no such thing as Catholic Left. The real Left is secular. Wanting religion to influence government is Right by definition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Priests \"work\" for an organization which enjoys tax-free status. The \"astounding percentage of Catholics (notice: there are no phony quote marks here)...who plan to vote for Hillary\" enjoy no such tax-free ride.\nAs to what I'm for: I'm for Hillary. As a matter of fact, I'm volunteering for her tomorrow, and I'm proudly wearing a badge that says, \"Vote for the adult\". Since the badge doesn't actually name the adult, perhaps I could pass them out at church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course you find them weak since they rely on Catholic beliefs which you have left behind.\n\nThat doesn't provide much of a basis to move forward in a productive manner together, and it does seem to indicate that a Catholic who accepts his or her Church's teaching can't really say much to you beyond \"Good luck\".\n\nGood luck.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Donald Trump and Don Giovanni are only the tip of the ice burg. Let us come a little closer to our cozy, comfortable, safe \"home\" and quote Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who is quoting and interpreting Scripture, LITERALLY: \"God's decisive (imagine literally DECISIVE) words to the woman after the first sin express the kind of relationship which has now been introduced between man and woman:\"your desire shall be for your husband, AND HE SHALL RULE OVER YOU\" (caps mine) Gn 3:16\". (\"Letter to the bishops of the catholic church on the collaboration of men and women in the church and in the world\",). These words, this mentality in 2004 by the future Pope and approved by the then Pope John Paul II.\nThink! If, as Ratzinger \"Teaches\", as does Pope Francis, that it is woman's essence to serve, wait, nurture, man, \"in the church and in the world\", and she refuses to submit to or serve (collaborate) \"the man\", what option is allowed him?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Christ calls all to the Father\" is a different argument from whether the Church, doing that calling in Christ's name, is small or large. A call to membership is not equivalent to membership; equivalency seems to be your argument.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know. Like thanks for the newest insult against my Human Dignity Cardinal Ravasi. Were we lacking in this area?\n\nI believe this Cardinal does not realize that what he is suggesting is exactly the abuse that has been done throughout the ages: Men taking credit for research and mathematical and scientific discoveries and inventions of women, and women having to give credit to male names, for their great literary works and works of art, in order to get them accepted in our sexist societies. \n\nIt never seems to dawn on this Cardinal to ask himself would he like to be treated the way he is suggesting women be treated (as Christ demands of him). Would he like to have no voice or authority in his church because he is male and so women ask his opinion, are free to ignore that opinion, and go vote while he can't. Would he like to be told at 15 that God does not call men to priesthood, he is just confused, even though he knows in his heart that God did so, and that he is capable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK, well, now you are talking about something very different from what you originally said. You originally called for: \"a return to the actions and words of Jesus as the basis for the mass and our common liturgical celebration.\" That's not what the Mass promulgated by Pope Paul VI, after Vatican II, was or was even intended to be. Nowhere do any of the Council documents talk about what you are talking about. On the contrary, the Council presupposed the existing Mass -- as it stood at the Council -- as the basis of some reform, and only those truly necessary. Vatican II was certainly not a \"do over.\"\n\nAnd, for all your complaining about the translation of the Latin, you do realize that the Latin text of the Mass is the normative text? The old English translation was awful; whole sections of prayers were simply left out. The new translation, whatever complaints anyone may have, is not inaccurate; it's *very* accurate. Maybe what you don't like is what the Latin prayers actually say?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Biggest Lie: \"Trump as a champion of Catholic values\". Trump is the antithesis of Catholic values. It is a shame that the Catholic hierarchy gives Trump credit for something he does not even understand. Catholic values do not equate exclusively to \"anti-abortion\". And Trump has rarely shown respect to life -- either in word or deed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "so Russell is appealing to his friends in the catholic church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I quit watching any late nite tv and SNL when it became open season on President Trump and his family. The comments made are not funny and tend to be crude to the point that I'm surprised they get past the censors. If the poor losers would accept reality and try to make things better instead of encouraging hate and discontent maybe our country could begin healing. And I might start watching late nite tv again. Also, I keep hearing about what a good Catholic that Colbert is. How does he reconcile his actions with Christ's teachings?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi, Sam (and hello to the family)! Thanks for the article. Responding to the \"information is insufficient for change\" thesis, and also to the direction of comments relative to sermonizing, I have to say that as a longtime member of a small SDA church that has experienced a multitude of pastors, we have had a few who knew how to preach effective sermons but far too many who either had no clue or were too lazy to put forth the effort required to prepare and present an effective one.\n\nYou mentioned Joseph, who was changed by a traumatic experience. Words are often less transformational than experience. The power of narrative preaching is that by embedding the listener in a story, they are themselves transported into the setting, and then transformed by the experience. This is very different than \"evangelistic\"/Bible study exercises in conveying information. It is truly life transformational--shifting people to a new paradigm. I highly recommend Milton Crum's Manual on Preaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It reported that it unanimously agreed that found no biblical or Sister White prohibition for ordaining women to the ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist church.\"\n\nCould you please quote where this was ever so stated by \"the GC President's committee\"? I think you are mistaken. I don't see how \"the GC President's committee\" would draw a different conclusion than a majority of the TOSC.\n\nThis was definitely not the case in 1990. What I recall is that the 1990 GC Session minutes record that the voted statement was that no agreement had been found on whether or not the Bible or SoP permits or prohibits such. It would be big news as far as AToday is concerned if now 25 years later agreement had been found.\n\n\"... the committee proposed to the SA General Conference to delegate to the Divisions when and how to implement women's ordination in their territory based on cultural implications locally.\"\n\nThis is false. There was no such proposal. A motion was voted, but nothing was recommended.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have attended Masses where the gathering was akin to family, but most are not. In most Catholic churches, Mass is a gathering of people who happen to be there at the same time. There is little to no interaction with anyone whom people do not previously know. Few people stay after Mass to talk with each other. Few become aware, let alone make connection with any who are \"struggling financially, as well as socially with divorce and estrangement, addiction and suicide\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus's similarity to the Apostles in image and likeness is greater than God's likeness to man in image and likeness. Your inability to point out the error in what I said is patent in your empty remark. Go ahead, show the error. I would welcome the correction, if you can think of one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(cont'd)\n2. Ok, Donald continues: \"I am for you Catholics, in a really, really tremendous way. Look\"..., he says, in his justification, \"I quote your number one emeritus guy, and, by the way, noone has said it is not still true \"in the church AND (watch him hand signal) IN THE WORLD\". Waddya think that means, eh? Here is what what's his name said: \"God's DECISIVE words to the woman - every woman, all times, he says. Doesn't that mean even in \"The Apprentice\", jawin' with Howard Stern and \"Engertainment Tonight\", right? And when I'm POTUS, right?\"God's decisive words to the woman after the first sin express the kind of relationship which has now been introduced between man and woman: \"your desire shall be for you husband, and he shall rule over you\". Right from Genesis. Okay, so she was not my wife, she was married, but isn't every woman supposed to serve every man, married or not\"? Isn't that why they were made, oops, I mean created?\nOf course an extreme interpretation, but not much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am an old timer who fought in WW11. At the time, my Americanism was most prominent in my mind and at my age I can still stand with Bruce Springsteen and thank God that I was born in the USA. Despite all the paranoia I can never remember in my ninety years being prevented from practicing my Catholic faith in this country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He also claimed in that speech that \"For some time, we have left behind us, at least in Western societies, the model of the social subordination of women to men, a secular model which, however, has never been spent of all its negative effects.\"\n\nA secular model? Like the Church didn't inform it from top to bottom? What a short memory.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A woman cannot act in persona Christi - in the very person of Christ - as a priest is called to do sacramentally. There is a fundamental difference in gender. It is simply a false modern construct to say there is not. God created us man and woman for a reason. If everybody's role is the same why two genders? And who is to say a woman's role as traditionally understood is not valuable and important in its own way? The Church is right on this one, and that's ultimately all that matters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Based on what he wrote - having actually read it - it would appear he is saying that if a Catholic in the employ of a Catholic institution/organization in which public disagreement with the Church by an employee would cause scandal, e.g. a Catholic divorces and remarries outside the Church and THEN engages in something such as public dispute with the pastor of a parish or the local diocesan, the institution/organization would have grounds for firing.\n\nI agree with him on that.\n\nObviously if your scenario is a state employee, the answer would be \u201cno\u201d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Silk reminds Catholics that the problem of disaffiliation is not confined to Catholics. Evangelicals and their mainline Protestant cousins also suffer from defections.\"\n\nAlthough he's correct in saying that Catholics and mainline Protestant churches have been losing membership, he's wrong to say the same about evangelical churches. The Pew polls showed them staying level and nort declining.\n\nWhat is a similarity between the RCC and mainline Protestant churches that doesn't exist in evangelical churches? The former have been moving away from traditional teachings (at least under Francis), whereas the latter have mostly stuck to the fundamentals. As the article points out, there maybe other factors involved, but this might be one of the more significant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True that; however, He didn't invite us to submit to religious leaders that propagate a false gospel. \n\" For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:\"(I Cor. 15:3,4)\n\nWhat He did was have His apostle Paul preach that when we believe this gospel we are saved to eternal life.\nThis makes it idolatry to turn to any denomination that adds any other requirements.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not running from anything. Faith is gift free to all who will accept it. \nMark 16:16 \"He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.\nJohn 20:31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.\nMark 1:15 \"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.\"\nRevelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, \"Come!\" And let him who hears say, \"Come!\" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.\nMatthew 11:28 \"Come to Me, all [you] who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.\"\nAll of these speak of choices being made. In the last two, Whoever and all, do not seem very selective. This last one clearly shows that will plays a part. Capitalization is mine\nJohn 5:40 \"But you are not WILLING to come to Me that you may have life.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, and in opposition to Catholic teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, it IS about recruitment, which you have not denied! So like OD and \"Priests for Life\", of which Rachel's Vineyard is an affiliate. One Taxas bishop has already declared that Priests for Life is not a Catholic organization in his diocese (where the PfL leader, Father Pavone, is incardinated), despite its canonical status as \"a Private Association of the Christian [Catholic] faithful.\" Indeed a cautionary tale, to say the least!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus has no compunction giving hard teachings...think of the many who left Him during the Bread of Life discourse. If He didn't make compromises for those who couldn't accept God becoming man who dies, rises on the 3rd day, etc., why do you think He only made male Apostles do to some kind of weakness?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem is that we can write libraries of books about such sophistries (and have!). Meanwhile, the average Catholic in the pew in the average parish beats his wife, abuses his kids and drinks just about as much as his non-Catholic counterpart next door. Why? Because he's sacramentalized but not much else. Until we do something about that, all this going on and on about arcane moral calculations is just more dead trees. (Or wasted electrons as the case may be.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with Dennis. Trump is pro-life, and Clinton is pro-choice. The issue of abortion is non-negotiable. Trump wins with FAITHFUL Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The gospels report both that Jesus told Peter to put away his sword and that Jesus said he came not to bring peace but a sword.\n\nSomething for everybody!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They say you can judge people by how they treat those with little, or nothing. The part that boggles the mind is that these Republicans claim to follow Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The meaning of \"Why do we have the right to question papal teaching, but others don't? \" is not clear.\n\nIn the Catholic Church the exclusion from the sacrament of orders has been taught authoritatively. Those who attempt it or participate in attempting it are excommunicated.\n\nClergy and religious who obstinately question the teaching are also excommunicated.\n\nThat does not appear to constitute a \"right to question papal teaching\", which in this case might be more correctly styled \"the teaching of the Church\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(continue #5)\n\"To this pivotal role can be added - and I hope with all my heart - a conscientious collaboration, according to your physical strength and according to your respective talents, in the activities that make a parish alive and resplendent: catechetical teaching, group animation prayer and apostolic movements, the diffusion of the Christian inspired press, visits to the sick and isolated people, the preparation of liturgical ceremonies, etc. Once again, I congratulate your Movement for doing much to give the priest's helpers not only a new title, but also a new style and status of life inspired by the conciliar decree on the apostolate of the laity.\"\n\nAfter some remarks to the priests present, he continues.....\n\n\"The good example of many women, who in an excellent manner, for centuries, have collaborated in the mission of the Church, give you enthusiasm and strength to carry out your mission so beautiful and important.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From the record as we know it, would Francis say \"Good riddance\"?\nFrom the Gospels as we read them, would Christ say, \"Good riddance\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A bad or good homily can make or break a whole Mass for me, even if I still find comfort in receiving Jesus every time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are very clever to see that by calling upon the Bishops to confront racism, these people are agitating to divide people. Modernists won't admit this, but obviously when one calls upon the Bishops to do anything that the Bishops are not doing on their own, it is agitation. Maybe, shall we say, an attack on the church? Sigh. How much better off we would be if people would just accept things the way they are and do as the Bishops tell them, when the Bishops tell them. It's the church's tradition. It's what Jesus wanted us to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe this is why honest dialogue is needed on these subjects. I can understand how men and women may be attracted to the same sex even though I am heterosexual but I have difficulty understanding gender re-alignment for anyone. This is because most of the people who seek gender physical change seem to be seeking a stereotype, when asked why they feel they are in the wrong body. I have not found any masculine or feminine stereotypes to be accurate at all, and many become mental prisons as 50% of each gender does not fit the macho man or soft nurturing woman cage that the church has defined to them as normal.\n\nDiscussion can help us understand what the other has been going thru and all can share what in their sexual experience has led them to believe the things they do. Having a bunch of celibate men decide what is natural law for everyone has been an extremely self-destructive choice. We need a church where all have a voice as Christ directed in the Gospels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You continue to analyze the morality of actions using the methods of Situation Ethics:\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situational_ethics\n\n\nSituation ethics are not compatible with Catholic moral theology. From the Catechism:\n\n1753 A good intention (for example, that of helping one's neighbor) does not make behavior that is intrinsically disordered, such as lying and calumny, good or just.\n\n1754 .... Circumstances of themselves cannot change the moral quality of acts themselves; they can make neither good nor right an action that is in itself evil.\n\n1756 It is therefore an error to judge the morality of human acts by considering only the intention that inspires them or the circumstances (environment, social pressure, duress or emergency, etc.) which supply their context. There are acts which, in and of themselves, independently of circumstances and intentions, are always gravely illicit by reason of their object; such as blasphemy and perjury, murder and adultery. ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I said, I did. \n\nNor am I an apologist for \"this man.\" \n\nAnd yes - you have made your points. But I will not accept as truthful those who will take random, parsed quotes out of context and in conjunction with other buzz words intended to incense, use them in order to further their point of view and disparage those with whom they disagree...even when it is pointed out that is a disingenuous and yes, even dishonest, thing to do.\n\nI'm not at all sure that's the Christian thing to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Humans are always changing, but God does not. ( Malachi 3:6) Jesus said, \"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.\" His words are recorded in the old as well as the new testament as He is the same Lord in both. There have been some serious attempts throughout history to get rid of the Bible or change it. None have ever worked and they never will. That in itself is miraculous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He didn't need to learn anything on social issues from Harper, Kenney is a Catholic seminarian and his views are on the conservative end of theRoman Catholic church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everyone who writes about the drop in numbers of self-identified Catholics misses one big issue, and it is one that simply flies over the heads of almost ALL Catholics. It is the treatment of children and teens within the church. \nThere is an over-emphasis on \"Catholic education\" that allows the kids who attend the parish school to be treated as royalty while the \"public\" kids are treated like third or fourth-class citizens! \nAlthough on average they total more than 66% of the children of the parish, they are made to feel inferior, their parents are looked down on by the parish, and there is no real, sincere program to truly include them in the life of the parish. Don't make excuses about \"but we have...program.\" Be honest - there is almost NOTHING for these kids at the parish! \nEven while attending what was then called \"CCD,\" for 9 or 10 years, my 2 sons NEVER were treated as true, important parish members. And so, they did not become parish members - no wonder!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trent\n\nas to ...'When St Thomas wrote of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist \"...\n\nI wonder how many people understand the Aristotelian Philosophy that St Thomas Acquinas used?\n\nNot sure that I do; but as far as I can figure, that Latin 'substantia' has not quite the same meaning as our English word 'substance' or 'substantial'.\n\n'Sustantia', in that philosophy, is a mental category. Eg. \u2013Something you sit on is a 'chair'. But if you take 4 chairs , attach them together, and remove the center arms so that 4 or 5 people sit on it, then you have 'trans-substantiated' those 'chairs' into a 'bench'. You have a different 'mental category'.\n\nThat's what St.Thomas means by 'tran-substantiation'. The bread and wine of the Eucharist become 'consecrated' bread and wine and so a communion with, and remembrance of, the sacrificed, risen, glorified Jesus \u2013 body and blood, soul and Divinity. The mental category has changed.\n\nOur English 'substance' carries a different connotation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why would God help, when our country has taken all decency out of our society and thrives on insulting him or her? It's not wise to mess with God Jesus will forgive you but the boss might not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Inspirational! This Great Man of God takes time out of his busy schedule to offer us this teaching, although it wasn't really directed to the laity, but how fortunate we are to receive the crumbs that fall from the bishops' table. I look forward to the future now that the Man endorsed by the Bishops will be President and will begin enacting the Christian policies he so often discussed, with the sincere approval of the Men the Holy Spirit chose to lead the One True Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I regularly see wildly inflated crowd estimates by the March for Life people, which shows the problem with the right./ Still there are reasonable estimates made. Based on these, March for Life will almost certainly be less than this crowd. Live with it.\n\nYou are also giving me the \"Take Adolf Eichmann as your role model\" line. Which is the problem with the Catholic right. You feel that thinking for yourself is wrong. Eichmann shows you the way: Obey your superiors without question.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have never said that \"superiors must be obeyed without question\" or that the Magisterium must be obeyed without question.\" There is no compulsion for anyone to accept what the Church teaches. \nWhat you don't seem to understand is that to want to belong to Christ's Holy Church means accepting what it teaches even when you don't fully understand the teaching. Each of us has the choice. If we don't believe that Christ's Church has the authority from Christ to teach in His name then we do not believe in the One, Holy, Catholic Church which the Creed requires us to.\nThe comparison with Eichmann is too far-fetched to be taken seriously but it is a clever yet uncharitable and unchristian ploy in order to discredit an opponent to liken him to a Nazi war criminal.\nThe Church is a divine institution and is not subject to the rules and conventions which govern secular institutions which are not held together by the theological virtue of Faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First of all, JESUS CHRIST saved our souls. NOBODY else can do that. All Christians are apprentices of Jesus. We are called to BE CHRIST for others. Pastoral Care---is the primary ingredient helping others to open themselves up to Christ. \n\nI know a good number of Canon Lawyers who state that Pastoral Care is the HEART of all Canon Law. After all---law is to promote the Common Good of all which is to help all to form a relationship with God. Without that our laws are about as worthless as the Jewish laws were at the time of Christ---MAN MADE.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That *phrase* has a history (it is not unique to MSW). Here is a statement by a professor that uses that phrase: http://religionandpolitics.org/2013/02/05/we-need-less-religion-in-our-politics-and-less-politics-in-our-religion/\nMSW followed that up with this opinion piece - https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/distinctly-catholic/prothero-religion-politics\nI agree more with Prothero than Wear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That answer, Trid, seems a bit over the top. The law is my second career; before that I had a degree and an almost degree (the dreaded ABD, at that) in literature and linguistics. I was talking about literary conventions, not duplicity or fabrication. No one at the time that the Gospels were written would have expected an accurate rendering of quotes. The speech attributed to Jesus reflects what people of the time believed was an accurate portrayal of His general message, tailored to the readers of the particular books of the Gospel. \nI don't know you, but I do know that Chapel Hill is not \"some dumb University\". Bart Ehrman is a noted scholar, who writes thoughtfully and who backs up his assertions. I'm sorry that you have the need to dismiss him because he's an agnostic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Between 1870 and the current date a pope has spoken ex cathedra only one time, in 1950. Therefore, one can rebuke Vatican II in its entirety and remain a faithful Catholic. Nor can a papal decree put an end to anything that sentient people know is alive and kicking, as is the \"Tridentine\" mass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree Bill, but remember that Muslim also use the old testament. The best look at the roles or men and women in Jesus time would be to look at the Muslim nations today.\n\nI think both parties are duplicitous. I agree with those who defend Muslims and rail against Christians. I also think conservative are nuts to hate Hispanics who are anti-abortion, small business, generaly conservative, more male centered and should be a fit for conservative Republican ideology. \n\nPartisanship creates a lot of weird associations that have little to do with ethics or morals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't see an anti-Christian card being played here. I see the Liberals trying to define the new Con leader on their terms, much as TheHarperParty was successful in defining a series of Grit leaders on their terms: Paul Martin (Mr. Dithers); Stephane Dion (not up to the job); Michael Ignatief (he's not here for you).\n\nNaturally, and somewhat ironically; it is the Cons who are playing the religion card in an attempt generate some pushback. The Con base - and most of their caucus - are willfully blind to the fact that in a pluralistic society a religious orthodoxy cannot be allowed to enlist the state to enforce their particular moral views.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's not bullying, that's doing the Church a service. Archbishop Chaput made a dreadful mistake ignoring Lepanto's warnings about Nutter and Wolf, two of the most high profile, anti-Catholic people in Philadelphia. One wonders whether this was concealed from the Archbishop by his Curia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 4\n\nPlease consider reading a continuation of my thoughts on this matter in my post @10 in the link below \n\nhttp://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2017/05/catholic-ethos-and-other-mysteries/#comment-88749\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My Path to Women Priests\nBoth my Wife\u2019s Grandmother and my Grandmother were among the first Democratic County Committeewomen in Camden County, NJ.\nIn 1930, my Mother should have been Class Valedictorian; but it had to be a boy.\nWhile in the seminary, the \u2018Spiritual Director\u2019 seemed childishly gleeful when he told us that, \u2018Only men can be ordained.\u2019\nSister M Edwin, RSM was one of my high school teachers. In the early 70s, she was featured on the front page of the local paper, advocating for the Ordination of Women. Several other Mercy Sisters at Camden Catholic could also have exercised priestly ministry.\nAlso in the 70s, St Joseph\u2019s University held a program on Women in the Church. When it was over, we were going to the cafeteria for refreshments. I asked one of the women if she\u2019d like to be ordained. Her reply: \u201cEven with an MA in Theology, I can\u2019t get a job teaching religion.\u201d She happened to be a niece of a Philly auxiliary bishop.\nNot enough characters for the rest.\nOrdain Women", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Back in the day....in my end of the land......then called 'WESTERN TERRITORIES.....\n\nChurches built palaces ....in hopes of being registered as a University.......with medical specialty\n\nThese same Churches ....(Roman Catholic...Lutheran....Baptist..Greek Orthodox....etc) all built churches and schools......teachers provided...many of them country schools.....grade one to grade twelve.....in same schoolroom\n\nPlus same churches did 'social service'....supporting a neighbor in hard times......even finding employment and ..in rare cases....financial support\n\nMain stream Churches no longer provide those services......but new Churches....ie Mosques....certainly do", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't enjoy biased reported. The pope SHOULD be gracious to Trump. He's going to make sure that Catholic social agencies, schools, hospitals etc receive more gov't funding while the tax payers pay for their discrimination against women and LGBTQ persons. Trump reinstated the Mexico City policy and broadened it to deny US funding to even health agencies fighting HIV/AIDS, just as the pope has opposed this funding by the UN and other int'l NGOs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Considering that Harvard has, and Princeton had, presidents who were women, this is not surprising or noteworthy. Yale had an acting president who was a woman, who went on to become president of the University of Chicago. These Catholic colleges are just catching up. When Notre Dame, BC or Georgetown (like Harvard, Yale and Princeton, formerly for men only) has a woman president, Catholic colleges will have caught up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "VVV, Id rather see Marty take some classes at his local parish and read some books and learn about how the Bible was written and what it does and does not mean.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What divided the church was suppressing the TLM and introducing Mass in the vernacular. You used to be able to go anywhere in the world and Mass was in the same language. Not to mention suppression of TLM led to Catholics being deracinated of 1400 years of their rightful patrimony.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr Weinandy said in 2011: \u201c Theology may be the only academic pursuit where one can seemingly be considered a theologian without actually having to know the subject matter. It would appear at times that a theologian need not actually know God .... \nMuch of what passes for contemporary Catholic theology, often is not founded upon an assent of faith in the divine deposit of revelation as proclaimed in the sacred scriptures and developed within the living doctrinal and moral tradition of the church.\"\n\nThe man is an eminent expert in his field and a true son of the Church. So much so, that Pope Francis awarded a Pro Pontifice et Ecclesiae medal for his work on behave of the Pontiff and the Church, one of the highest honors in the Catholic Church. In 2014, Francis also appointed him to the International Theological Commission.\n\nAnother critic of Francis bites the dust for defending the Catholic faith and daring to ask for clarity from the Pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Maybe we need to open the door and welcome in order to follow Jesus.\"\n\nWell, let's start with the country. Open the door and welcome Christians of all nationalities (without citizenship) in order to follow Jesus in the American Church. Then before welcoming fellow Americans (irrespective of their religious community or church) let's welcome fellow Catholics to the Eucharist table -- Catholic women, excommunicated for being invalidly ordained; LGBT Catholic couples expelled for promoting gay values at a Catholic school; then excommunicated Catholic couples, currently into their second and third straight marriages or gay marriages, who want to receive the Eucharist. In other words, let's start with our own constituent members first, component Catholic parts, as it were, who make up our membership, our Catholic community, fellowship. And when this holy exercise is settled, let's invite our Reform friends, irrespective of what they believe or hold sacred, provided they want Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr Reese is perhaps being a little optimistic in saying that only Pope Francis could get away with saying that the Church should not obsess over abortion, birth-control and same-sex 'marriage'. Orthodox Catholics who may well be in a minority in the First World and whom Fr Reese probably does not number amongst his acquaintances, are scandalised by these remarks.\nWhat he is saying is that Catholics ought not to focus too much upon behaviours which lead to the loss of souls: the deliberate murder of innocent, unborn children, the thwarting of God's gift to mankind for its propagation in obedience to His invitation to 'increase and multiply' and the sin referred to in Scripture as an abomination.\nWhen Fr Reese says only he, Pope Francis, could \"get away with it\", was he talking about getting away with it in this world or the next? Perhaps the bishops are more concerned with their salvation than being media darlings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is not a democracy. It doesn't matter if every Catholic in the world believes some heresy - it doesn't change the truth that Jesus Christ gave us under the protection of his Most Holy Church. Truth is universal - it does not differ based on time period or who is interpreting it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It really is quite hilarious, Victoria. Francis gives so much wisdom there that very few would find genuine fault in. And he gives excellent analysis of what has been happening in our Church. But some folk really, really hate him, as is evidenced by Ken. Still, if the heads of Orders are listening to him, these young clericalists are going to be challenged and weeded out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I simply am in awe of this 70-year-old priest, a man with such evangelical faith and human wisdom to trust the Spirit of God's workings over long reaches of time, patiently listening and conversing, tirelessly driving 500 miles per week, constantly delighting in the young students, selflessly taking up the pastorate of two parishes. The policies of state and federal government (e.g., draconian juvenile sentencing, capital punishment) and the Roman Catholic hierarchy (obstinately limiting parish priesthood to single, celibate men: \"I enjoyed teaching and working on the juvenile level. I'd still be doing it if we hadn't run out of pastors\"), none of these force-and-fear-driven human obstacles have defeated his finding and sharing the power of divine love in the places those socially powerful men seemly refuse to consider looking. In order to have continued access to prisoners, Fr. Harris cannot openly challenge policy. He inspires me to persevere in fighting for justice, for change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your inspiring article and your years of devotion. The large number of comments to your article indicates the importance of Sunday liturgy to the readers. What is of greater importance to Catholicism than liturgy? However, the question is not one of being imperfect. Everything this side of heaven is \n imperfect. While you may be present every Sunday the majority of baptized Catholics are not. The question needs to be continually asked, WHY? What needs to change and change and change. The solution is not to blame the people. That accomplishes nothing and allows for inactivity. The days of the priest simply \"saying Mass\" are gone. God, \"has no need of our praise\" . The focus must be on the people in the pews. What can be done at each liturgy to engage the congregation? The countless times I have been at Mass and the person at the microphone cannot be heard or understood. Can we not even get this on the right track? Closed and empty churches. Change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But the Ordinariate people are doing quite well in the States (with their fourteen parishes [some with schools]), alongside the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches and Roman/Latin Catholic Church. What a mix!! And we haven't even included Opus Dei people, the Neo-Catechumenate people, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But for Jesus Christ and His Church, marriage is indissoluble.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is important that we acknowledge that the attitudes and actions current during earlier eras differ than our own (and in some ways were deplorable by current standards): We do both ourselves & the past a serious disservice, however, if we allow valid criticisms of our earlier leaders to obscure the good they did.\n\nWhile Sir John A reflected the racist attitudes common to his era, he did actively oppose the strident anti-Catholic & anti-French Canadian biases of the Orange Order & too many other Canadians of that period. He was instrumental in bringing moderate Irish & French speaking Catholics & moderate Protestants together to form Canada & work together politically (failing only during the Riel Hanging Crisis).\n\nWe should celebrate the achievements of the past while acknowleging its shortcomings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Something I noticed about Protestant congregations is they will have one service listed as Traditional and another as Contemporary. Catholic parishes seem to be all of one or the other. Why not have one Mass with Latin and Gregorian chant (which the 2nd Vatican Council that the disaffected parishioners profess devotion to said was to be maintained, and in the case of Gregorian chant given pride of place) and another with the Haugen-Haas songs and everyone is kept happy?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Megachurch pastor? He is the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas. I wonder if this was meant as a derogatory term.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I want more, too. I wish NCR had a theologian/ethicist reporter who really helped educate us all on what is being discussed among Catholic theologians, here in the U.S. because it might actually relate to what are issues here and now for us. But also from other parts of the world where different problems are faced. \n\nThere are English translations of (I think) Spanish language articles by theologians here: http://iglesiadescalza.blogspot.com/ The most recent are: \n1. An interview by Alberto Echaluce, which appeared in \"El Diario Vasco\" with Teresa Forcades, where Forcades is quoted as saying \"a theology that moves beyond any stereotype of women is necessary.\" \n2. An article by Juan Jos\u00e9 Tamayo, which appeared in \"Redes Cristianas\" titled \"On holy masculinity and religious pedophelia.\" \n\nKeep reading at that site - there are more about theologians or by theologians. Maybe NCR could make a pact with this site to reprint some of the translated articles here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Life if more than \"canonical processes\"! While Cardinal Burke is 'fussing' about this issue---people are getting on with their lives----outside of the church. Everything that Jesus was preaching about what his purpose in life was [to reach out to those most in need of his mercy and forgiveness], gets lost in the 'sauce' of canon law.\n\nThe church is hemorrhaging members by the thousands. The church is to be for the people. LAW is for people, not people bent into shape for the LAW.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR reports on Catholic news and stories with various points of view. \nThe other website had a icon of Mary on the top of its webpage. I think they were sincere but wrong.\nI think after the temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70AD, the Jewish Sect disciples disappeared. The Romans were intent on gaining control of the region. The early churches went largely underground until Constantine made it the empire's religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or to the Ordinary Form in the normative Latin where changes in doctrine and subtle insults against one's fellow Catholics (in service to a faddish worldly agenda) cannot be snuck in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maureen, you are right on target here: \"...if election night proved anything, it is that we are not only two Americas, but two different American Catholic churches. And I'm not sure we know each other very well \u2026 at least to the extent that we should.\" \n\nPerhaps the author of the Tower of Babel had a good reason to inject diversity into the story. We have many different Catholic \"languages\" in the U.S. There is the Neo-Trent language, the Vatican II reform language, the feminist Catholic language, the Eastern Catholic Rite/Church languages, the Vatican II Rite/Church language https://RiteBeyondRome...and others. Some languages belong to the same family, others not so. But still, even in our diversity, we can love each other...sometimes love each other better from a bit of acdistance...such that we can genuinely connect upon occasion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I propose all churches or spiritual organizations be constricted to a district, and that district should be Mountain View. Unless they want to pay property tax. Then they could be anywhere they want.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is it that all of the topics you mention as change items for the progressives are pelvic issues? None of those will be discussed at our final judgment, according to Jesus. Instead, we will be asked whether we fed the hungry and clothed the naked. We will be asked whether we loved our brothers and sisters. No ritual purity, no strict orthodoxy, nada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting. Millions of Hispanics have the same devotion to the Pope, love for the Blessed Virgin, and deep respect for priests. And millions of their children march right over to the evangelicals as soon as they get to the US. I'm missing something in your statements. What about the blood of martyrs = seed of Catholics? I'd say that is a stronger argument.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But you missed a point, too, Trid. The fact is that being Catholic does not of necessity entail entering into the NO vs OF argument. I am Catholic and I participate in the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom on an almost weekly basis (there are specific occasions on which the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great is used-- but it is very similar, and I have not been at a Liturgy of presanctified gifts for a while) in a Catholic Church. You would actually get along very well with the pastor who is as conservative as you seem to be, even though he is married.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Abortion is contrary to God's law. \n\n\"The Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae, with reference to judicial decisions or civil laws that authorize or promote abortion or euthanasia, states that there is a \u201cgrave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection. [\u2026] \n\nIn the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to \u2018take part in a propaganda campaign in favour of such a law or vote for it\u2019\u201d (no. 73). Christians have a \u201cgrave obligation of conscience not to cooperate formally in practices which, even if permitted by civil legislation, are contrary to God\u2019s law. Indeed, from the moral standpoint, it is never licit to cooperate formally in evil. [\u2026] \n\nThis cooperation can never be justified either by invoking respect for the freedom of others or by appealing to the fact that civil law permits it or requires it\u201d (no. 74).\" (Cardinal Ratzinger) \n\nGod is not a democratic-pluralist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Being baptized can't be undone. Catholic apostatize, however.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: Irish priest challenges authorities over ..: Glad to hear a priest having the courage to speak out. The article notes: \"In September 2014, two months before it was announced he had been appointed Archbishop of Cashel, then Bishop O\u2019Reilly announced he was delaying introduction of the permanent diaconate there following strong protests by women mainly.\" I remember the reporting on that episode, too, when the women of that diocese were angered at another area of responsibility and authority being opened to men but not women. I think it is possible that Archb. O'Reilly could set up the system by which deacons could be selected and trained but make it open to women when Rome decides it is allowed.\n\nIn a recent follow-up item at the Irish Times on the same issue: \"The leadership of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) has said it fully supports a parish priest in Limerick who has publicly opposed moves in his diocese to have male-only deacons.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God the Father was revealed as the Father, not the Mother. What that signifies is open to discussion, but that is the revelation.\n\nGod the Son, who was incarnated in time and space, preexisted the creation. So, to speak of \u201cbefore the incarnation\u201d is really meaningless in this context.\n\nSince the Eucharist is the anamnesis of the Last Supper and the Sacrifice of Calvary, it is the Incarnate Son, the High Priest, who is relevant as a human, as a male.\n\nThat excises TOB. You do not need the Catechism, we have 2,000 years of uninterrupted consistent interpretation and a comprehensive theology of the Sacrament of the Eucharist which shows in every communion - non-Chaldean, Chaldean, Orthodox, and Catholic - the same.\n\nThe difference between the priesthood of the Old Law and the New is that the priesthood of the Old was ineffective, while that of the New is completely effective, that of Old in the order of Levi, that of the new in the order of Melchizedek promised to the lineage of David.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Same here brother and amen.\n\nWe may be using the word \"condemn\" a little differently, however. I would note that Jesus explicitly did not condemn the woman caught in adultery and enabled even the Pharisees to see it the same way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How would you know what an actual follower of Christ would do?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps \"selective accompaniment\" would be more accurate. There are large sectors of the Catholic population who hear Pope Francis talking, but don't see him walking with them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because, God willing, he will be Pope someday.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a result of Benedict wearing prevstican II vestements. These are seminarians and newly ordained priest who look out for people who are pro Vatican II to ostracize. These catholics can turn to an independent and or Old Catholic priest who is committed to Vatican II and the Vatican II Mass. This is a sad day for the priesthood and the bishop of Charllotte is a Restorationist bishop building a seminary for restorationist priest. The parishoner can also petition the Vatican through the papal nuncio in DC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is this a serious comment and question, or do you really not know?\n\nGod and His Word are eternal, and opposite-sex marriages are not a cultural construction of the Judeo-Christian religion.\n\nThere isn't one example of same-sex marriage in the Bible, nor any support for such uNIONS that isn't absolutely scathing.\n\nThere are; however, a multitude of opposite sex marriages mentioned and detailed. The first is Adam and Eve. Remember now?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Didn't Jesus make it clear enough when he in conversing with the Samaritan Woman at the Well that there is no longer need to go to a geographic locale since Worship will be in spirit and in truth ? \nIf ad orientem is so essential in the life of the faithful how come there's a woeful history in Christianity of war , torture , all kinds of destruction etc . Facing the east has not accomplished anything yet . How essential can it be ? \nI am renewed by this stand taken by Francis . He is rebuilding a church which is in ruin. \nPraise God .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the first things they pound into your head during freshman orientation is: Notre Dame is NOT a Jesuit university. It's Holy Cross priests and brothers, man ... I seem to recall that wannabe Catholic universities of lower learning like Steubenville and Ave Maria can only hope to be as great and/or Catholic as ND will always be.\n\n\"Ave Crux Spes Unica\" - Hail O Cross, our only Hope!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So the \"pro-life\" candidate is going to dismantle what meager gains were made in countering man-made global warming under Obama (despite the Republicans' best effort to thwart him) and now all life on earth will suffer for it, in some cases to the point of extinction. But fetuses will supposedly be saved once the new F\u00fchrer appoints new Supreme Court justices, so it's all good, at least for most Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Than you sadly missed the phrase in the Bible that says, something to the affect that it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into Heaven. Don't insult God with tRump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem you have is in how secular sciences view homosexuality. How do you protect students from the learning the latest research on LGBT, when that research contradicts the underlying premises of Natural Law theory. Hopefully a Catholic university is graduating students capable of dealing in their chosen professional worlds, and research on gender issues is a part of many disciplines, and that research is grounded in an entirely different approach than that of natural law. The same thing would hold true in business schools. Students have to be able to study the currently available information on both economic systems and ethics. If we want our kids to have professional jobs we have to teach them what's out there in the scientific information highway and not limit them to theological alignments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can't be a real saint unless you can be parted out like an old car in a salvage yard. It's what Jesus wanted when he founded his church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/3341/the_labor_movement_teachers_unions_and_catholic_social_teaching.aspx\n\n\"While one can laud, for example, the desire and activities of teachers unions that promote students and their families, serve immigrants, and advocate for economic justice, the union leaders and their allies are tragically promoting anti-life and anti-family initiatives as part of their activism. As significant players in public education, they are encouraging cultural perspectives that reject the values of a great number of Americans, including Catholics and other people of good will. This was not always the case in American education and the union movement.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do more web searching.\n\nThere is lots of information on the internet.\n\nSome of it is even true.\n\nFate intervened with Pettersson. After fleeing Sweden to avoid having people yell \"Killer\" at him as he walked the street he was murdered in the USA over a woman. The circle of death, what goes around comes around, ...\n\nReligious Wing Nuts thinking that their imaginary supernatural buddy told them to kill someone is the Root Cause Issue here, Christian, Moslem, Sikh, Tamil, Solar Temple, Heaven's Gate, ...\n\nClaiming that you mistook the Swedish PM for a Drug Dealer sounds like a typical Reasonable Doubt waffle used to downgrade a murder charge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This man is an inspiration to all True Catholics. He does not hesitate to attack all who do not hew to the proper interpretation of Catholicism, emulating the teachings of Jesus in so doing, as interpreted by 2000 years of Church Tradition. He will lead this Church into the future, perhaps smaller, but purer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Although it is true that Hillary Clinton has not built her campaign on the issue of abortion, her stance is not a mere \"error.\" Abortion has been the Invariant of her Policy Odyssey; and given that abortion is the apple in the eye of the Establishment and the sacrament of its Cult of Money, abortion ties HRC to the Establishment and makes her their darling. The Religious Right has, on the other hand, definitively lost the Culture War, and this means that pro-life no longer implies anti-feminism, puritanical sexual morality, and authoritarian manipulation imposing puritanical morality. The ground has been cleared, so that the real battle for Life can begin. The cause of Life is a social cause. Life cannot be pitted against choice, and thus Life's battles will not be decided by authoritarian trickeries. Final victory will belong to the cause of Life when it becomes the feminist, democratic and profoundly Christian thing that it, in its inmost soul is, and always has been.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have not answered my questions about the great commission or the parables, Did you read the website I directed you to? If all is predestined why are you even bothering to argue with me? Why do we deal with the great commission. You are saying we are not born with free will. That we are some sort of robots. You are saying there was no need for Christ to die. Why would he need to die for robots that were predestined for goodness? Again you take the prayer where he was clearly talking about the 12 and make it apply to every one. Again, you are taking verses that clearly refer to a mutual choosing and apply it to every one. If predestination is a given then there is no reason for works. As John clearly states faith without works is clearly dead.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "American Catholic social teachings are in conflict with the actions of Jesus and his disciples as recorded in the bible. All acts of charity that appear in the gospels are hand-to-hand and face-to-face. There isn't a third party, godless, bureaucratic government that is placed between the need and the loving and giving acts.\n\nThe U.S. government has no Constitutional authority to be a charitable organization. And, as a charitable organization, government fails miserably by consuming 73% of the available dollars in overhead. Catholic doctrine of subsidarity and solidarity have the idea of delivering aid at the community level correct and Catholic charities, churches, hospitals, and schools serve more people than any other organization in the world.\n\nBut, when the Church works with the government to provide more, we undermined faith, family, and the Church in the U.S. The outcomes of the last 50 years are proof. Jeremiah 23 is a good lesson for today's Church leaders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am pretty sure you are right--most Knights know of and approve of the inordinate political clout, ballot advocacy, and political/cultural stances taken in their name and in the name of Catholicism as they day-to-day serve in heroic ways. \n\nI think we have to agree, though, that the question is this: is that part of the problem or part of the solution in a polarized Catholic world. And NCR, I assume, is trying to answer that question as it also serves in courageous ways.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Catholic Community & Food For Lane County are providing healthy food, doesn't that free up the use of the Oregon Trail Cards for unhealthy food?\nI'm sure you must know any private grocery stores can provide food at a lower cost than a stand alone system of government stores located in multiple locations staffed by government employees - why not just advocate for greater restrictions on the Oregon Trail Card?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another way of looking at it is that he is being vague to avoid doing the hard things his job demands.\n\nMy correspondents in Argentina noted that was characteristic of his career there, both as rector at a seminary and as a bishop.\n\nAs Paul VI demonstrated, waffling while the Church awaits an answer leads to folks taking diametrically opposed views until it is really to late for the Petrine role to remedy the dichotomy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When did Jesus place anything on the tongues of his disciples at the Last Supper? He said \"TAKE and EAT\". The Vatican does not distribute Communion in the 'normative manner'. They still have the concept that priests are the only ones 'holy enough' to touch the consecrated hosts. Sadly, some of them [with their superior attitudes] are far from being holy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is that much different from those on the liberal side who act as if the lay people can\u2019t read Scripture properly without assistance from so-called Scripture scholars? In my opinion, these have replaced the priests for liberal Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A passionate speech, indeed. \n\nBut I am patiently waiting for the day when Bishop McElroy will speak with the same passion on behalf of the tens of millions of Christians who have been ruthlessly driven out from their ancestral homelands in North Africa and the Middles East by Muslim men and women, who as the good Bishop rightly points out, are also children of God. \n\nI am patiently waiting for good Bishop McElroy to speak with the same conviction to the plight of the Christians - innocent men, women and children - who are merely tolerated as second-class citizens in their home countries and often persecuted and slaughtered by Muslim men and women - also children of God.\n\nI am not speaking against anyone. I am speaking for everyone, and I expect Bishop McElroy to do the same. If he cannot do that, he has no credibility, he better keeps silence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CristoVerdad,\n\nMany, including you, have jumped to the conclusion that because people are attempting to minister to those who do not match your binary view of sexuality that they are endorsing homosexuality. I sympathize because I once felt that way. Then God put me into a ministry on the streets of New York City where I often had contact with the openly homosexual, transsexual, drag queens, etc. My fear in trying to understand how to minister the Gospel to them was that I would be condoning their behavior. Then God sent me a converted homosexual whose testimony taught me the practical mechanics of the Gospel and how God redeems. \n\nJust as salt must be mixed into food to change how it tastes, it is impossible to redeem those trapped in sin if we are unwilling to mix with them and let our lives be examples of redemption. That mixing gives us understanding that God uses to make our ministries more powerful. So, please! Stop complaining and start learning how to redeem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words... the guy can still be a servant of the risen Christ but his worthiness fails to meet the superior standards set forth by the most holy, imperial Roman church... now I get it!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "that's a pivot... the opening assertion that the true Catholic view is different than the one presented here. Laudato Si, on Care of Our Common Home...isn't really wall street journal fare. Your premise was that NCR is missing the mark... your refutation sources are missing the mark.\n\nsay good, night gracie", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We all must agree with St. Paul, the last apostle and first to publish that without the witness of the resurrection, all the moral teachings are folly. Kaspar would agree. Bishops are heirs to the apostles not by some unbroken line of succesion but because their main duty is to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus and of ourselves (the second promise is as important). Those who seem to deny the resurrection are merely affirming that it is not the zombie apocolypse, it happens on another plane of existence. Jesus did not walk the streets of Jerusalem in a glorified body all day, although he did appear to people in the streets, especially on the road to Emmaus, legend having that be to his brother James, the first pastor of the community in Jerusalem and the first pastor martyred for his witness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mercy comes first from God. The Holy Spirit spurs people on to action. \n\nSome respond well, some don't, some with great inconstancy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is the responsibility of the state to ensure the security, the safety of citizens, particularly the most vulnerable. It is the church's responsibility to ensure the safety and security of children, as per Jesus proclamation to let the children come to Him. \nThe church has abrogated that responsibility and has not sufficiently reformed itself to ensure the safety of its children. The state, in many instances, has stepped in. Clergy and all citizens should have a legal obligation to inform public authorities of child abuse. If priests prize the \"seal\" over the injunction of Jesus, let them go to jail. Willingly or otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Various sources in Rome and Australia told America that the cardinal has been like a lightning rod for discontent and has been a controversial and somewhat unpopular figure in Australia for a long time. They believe that some of the accusations against him are motivated by dislike and anger with the church and that he is so identified with the church in Australia that the vitriol that existed at the moment is often vented in an almost vicarious response. These sources also agree that given the widespread and justifiable anger over the sexual abuse of children and minors...it would be fair to say that the public want scalps, and the cardinal\u2019s would be the biggest and most high profile one. For many people, it is the one they are after. This climate, of course, raises the crucial question as to whether he can be given a fair trial.\"\n\nhttps://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/06/29/cardinal-pell-professes-innocence-sex-abuse-charges", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part three of three) \u201cThey called the Church together and REPORTED what God had done with them\u201d (Acts 14:27). That is what NCR does, REPORT. Thank you. \u201cMay my mouth speak the praise of the LORD\u201d (Psalm 145:21), especially on this blog, where the Author of holy truth can be recognized. \u201cPeace I leave with you; my peace I give to you\u201d in the context of the agony associated with speaking truth to power, even the power of the K of C. Liturgy of the Word, Reading 286, Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter I", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Until one of our own got elected Pope. There are a whole lot of people my age who are now bishops who are spirit of Vatican II types.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Physician trained at a Catholic Medical School, I can tell you, had she had problems with bleeding prior to delivery or an incomplete spontaneous abortion, she likely would not have good medical care at a Catholic Institution. Had she had a life threatening problem durning the pregnancy, she would be much better off in a non Catholic Hospital that does not allow a religious person to practice medicine without a license and so many Catholic Bishops attempt to do. The is why Catholic Medical Care West changed their incorporation and got rid of the Bishops from their hospitals. They are now called Dignity Medical Care, because to stay under the preview of a Bishop such as Olmstead in Phoenix is completely unethical and puts the lives of women on the line because of a Bishop attempting to practice Medicine without a license. Same goes for end of life care..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is the USCCB so quiet on this? They are normally ready to roll at a moment's notice (with or without the facts, alternative or otherwise). In this case, cutting off off 24 million will just mean the poor revert to their old ways of using the ER as their primary care doctor. Since they have no money, they skip out on the tab leaving the hospitals, Catholic and otherwise with unpaid bills. Too many unpaid bills and the hospital folds, denying care to everyone whether or not there is insurance (think St. Vincent's in NYC!!!) With ACA at least the hospitals are getting paid for the services offered ... and we all know how fond the bishops are of inbound government cash.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) The People of God are NOT\" being torn limb by limb from its Head.\"\n\n2) What is happening, is that the old institutional concepts of church---led by hierarchs---who have no connection to the people for whom the laws are being made---is falling by the way-side. The hierarchy, especially the Curia and Diocesan bishops need to make a sincere examination of their own consciences, individually and corporately. \n\n3) People are rejecting the old pagan concept of God---of an old, white man, long beard sitting on a throne---ready to hurl his wrath on all. This is NOT at all the concept of God that Jesus displayed to us.\n\n4) We are called to a relationship with God---not to be jumping through hoops to appease this 'angry God' that was so much on the agenda of the last two pontificates. \n\n5) This is the Age of the Laity---and nothing is going to promote the concept of \"church\" unless the laity are consulted and engaged in a major way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "North Korea and the U.S. are, technically and officially enemy, at war but fighting ceased with an armistice agreement. It is today the only country still at war with the U.S., and likely will be for another century. \n\nNK sends nobody except officials to the U.S. So why this guy went there? There is a hint from previous American visitors. They went there to try to convert the North Koreans into Christians. Never mind the Koreans have their own religion for a thousand years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And, what moral context does DNA-linked symbiosis, evolving consciousness, give to theology? To female/ male mutuality/ complementarity/ subsidiarity? To Priesthood? To Eucharist? To common ecological responsibility?\u2014Sylvester(pat)steffen \u201cNext he smeared the medicine (of theology) on his eyes (for ecological matters), and it made them smart. Then, beginning at the corners of Tobit\u2019s eyes, Tobiah used both hands to peel off the cataracts\u201d blinding the Faithful to the ecological needs of earth (Tobi 11:11-13). \u201cPraise the Lord, my soul\u201d (for this opportunity to participate in creating this earth that you hold in existence (Psalm 16:1b). As Mark puts it regarding understanding the Messiah, \u201cThe great crowd heard this with delight\u201d (Mark 2:37). Would the faithful hear the Catholic Theological Society of America with the same vigor and enthusiasm. Liturgy of the Word, Reading 357, Friday of the Ninth Week of Easter I.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sure, but then by your logic, then we can keep schools open on Christmas, Easter, etc. and ask the Christian students to convert to another faith as well since they can't make it to church. Sound reasonable to you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What does \"acting in concert\" mean? In concert with who? What are the 'special charisms'? Do you really think that ordination is magic, that those ordained get turned into a 'holy Harry Potter\"? (I doubt that.) Or do you throw in this stuff, to justify your conclusion?\n\nIt is not because they 'act in concert', but because they 'act in concert with Christ (the head), i.e., with the mind of the Church. Which is, unfortunately, at times very different from this or that individual or group of clergy's mind, no matter how much they are acting in concert.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is an act of God, uniting us with and through the Trinity. Tenets and creeds are attempts to express the mystery of that, but they are clearly secondary to the action of God.\n\nSacrament is a Latin term for what is known in Greek as mystery. They exist not because of the tenets and creeds that define them, but because God gives them to us. \n\nFellowship is a translation of another Greek word, koinonia, which was clumsily transliterated into communion. It arguably conveys the sense of koinonia better than the transliteration.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The sad reality is that if such a movement ever \"succeeded\", they would take over and immediately turn around and look at each other and start asking the hard questions of governance and immediately go at each other. The Atheists would go at it with the Christians. The isolationists would go at it with \"warring peacekeepers,\" the poor at the rich, etc...\n\nAnd why is it that all these groups so love the Constitution that we have so changed over time and which version is it they love? I mean after all it is just a mundane \"how to\" manual on governmental order. The real meat of ideology is in the Declaration and yet we don't ever hear of Declarationists but always Constitutionalists. Is the movement based on fundamental rights of free men or on order and procedure? I'll never understand that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I heard it mentioned on TV yesterday that Bannon is a Catholic. Must be uncomfortable for him at his KKK rallies. :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That sounds like the perfect worldly solution!! And as with all the worldy solutions it wont work! You think it would stop the bickering?? You must not been a long time in this world. Just look at the Protestant splits! NEwsflash: Due to the effects of Original Sin, man is incapable of living in peace, and even within The Catholic Church which has the fullness of salvation in the sacraments! Just look at us now! There will always be arguing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At the time of the last Synod in Rome, Pope Francis quoted St John Chrysostom who said: \"The Church and Synod are synonymous.\" Synods are 'of' the Church by nature. We need to ask, why are many if most local bishops treating a synodal Church as optional?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Law made mistakes, but the Boston pedophile scandal was put in place by liberals like Cushing and Medeiros.\n\nMedeiros deserves more blame: he was aware of the problems, but was too concerned with selling-out Irish Catholics by supporting the NAACP and ACLU's money-making forced busing debacle.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree, the concept of a system of checks and balances is one of the essential concepts of the church. Thus, we have the laity checked by the sovereign governance of the clergy, and the rule of the pope and bishops balanced by the obedience of the laity. As always, your comment is directly on point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Were that provable, the discussion would have ended a half century ago.\n\nI am very familiar with the \"written documents\" and, no, there is no agreement that they mean what you purport they mean.\n\nThe complete lack of any of these clerics in not only the Catholic Church, but both the non-Chalcedonian and Chalcedonian eastern churches, seems odd if the facts were as you allege.\n\nAs an aside, since bishops were unmarried East and West, where did \"women married to bishops\" come from?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"They concluded\" -who is this \"they\"? And, \"they\" have been making \"discoveries\" and changes for 2000 years - creating sacraments and figuring out what dogma and doctrine are, what good and evil are. It has all unfolded, and not always perfectly.\n\nI don't care if John Paul II taught \"the Church has no authority\" - there are theologians who don't agree and it doesn't make sense. He is presuming because Jesus didn't select a female apostle that \"proves\" anything. It is a presumption - that is all it is. If Jesus gave the power to \"bind and loose\" to the Church, then they have the power, if you believe in that sort of thing. \n\nCircumcision, beards, and marriage are no more \"red herrings\" than the presence or absence of particular genitalia. All of that is of the body, not the spirit. God made men and women both, spiritually and physically, Jesus came for both, and He is/was not a misogynist. This should not be about the body - but about the spirit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It would probably be helpful to consider this in context in a good translation.\n\nUsing Young's Literal Translation, we find that Paul begins with \"Am not I an apostle? am not I free?\" and then states all the freedoms and rights he possesses.\n \n\"4 .... have we not authority to eat and to drink? 5 have we not authority a sister - a wife - to lead about, as also the other apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas? 6 or only I and Barnabas, have we not authority - not to work?\" and so on.\n\nIn other words, Paul had the very same choices everyone has. But he chose not exercise them:\n\n12 .... but we did not use this authority, but all things we bear, that we may give no hindrance to the good news of the Christ.\"\n\nto dedicate himself to the spread of the Good News. As do priests in the Latin Rite.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Tea Party was part of a common anti-intellectual movement that has popped up from time to time in the history of the USA. The populist, anti-Catholic, anti-immigration Know-Nothing movement appealed to common WASP working men in the 1850s. It's appeal was largely irrational and a hodge-podge of beliefs. These anti-intellectual movements burn out quickly because they usually end up hurting the very people they supposedly champion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If theology is the study of God and religious belief, then it would seem to make sense that those who pursue this study would have influence on the teaching of the Church. \nI disagree with you that theologians want to control the Church, but I believe that we ought to listen to theologians. Most bishops, sadly, don't pursue the study of theology beyond undergraduate school. From what I understand, most have graduate degrees in canon law. It would seem to me that they would find it useful to listen to those who dedicate their lives to the study of theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, Ebes64, but I rejected that premise a LOONG time ago. I myself have never been a Roman Catholic, but having studied/still studying this religious institution/system for over 25 years and counting, I've discovered nothing about the claims made by this man-centered religious construct that gives it any viability whatsoever,at least theologically speaking. And I would remind you: despite the lofty,hubristic claims that Roman Catholicism makes about itself, as a man-centered religious construct you aren't above ANYONE'S valid criticism when warranted; your claims aren't written in stone,as it were. If you think that no one should be able to push back against your concocted historical data and pseudo-theological theories and speculations, build yourselves a website that ONLY Roman Catholics and your sympathizers can have access to. As long as the public has access to these blogs and posts, stop your whinings and refute our contentions. Christian Faith doesn't end with YOU.---PEACE", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These comments are loaded with weasel words. \nSuddenly everybody is in favour of freedom of speech.. Suddenly everybody is in favour of freedom of religion, freedom to criticize any religion, freedom to be an atheist. I never knew we had so many supporters of free speech in this country. All the folks who criticized the Charter of Rights have disappeared. Pretty soon the Christians will be marching in the streets holding hands with Muslims, Albertans holding hands with Quebeckers, all in support of freedom of speech. Thank you Justin for being so successful at promoting understanding and tolerance in Canada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great set of goals.\n\n\"evangelization; sacraments, prayer and worship; discipleship/formation; social teaching; marriage and family; young Catholics; stewardship; and vocations and leadership formation.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LOTL, have you considered that the reason why so many people who are not of the 1.5% of Catholics who are ultra-conservative, FTTM (Faithful To The Magisterium), Cappa Magna admirers, read and post in NCR?\nIt's because they are largely shut out of the diocesan media - as is anyone who is not one of the above 1.5%.\nDiocesan media often claim to be independent, but most of them are tightly controlled by the local hierarchy and/or stacked with Opus Dei members.\nA theologian once wrote a scholarly piece about Reconciliation for a diocesan newspaper. When it was published, however, it was so heavily censored and reworded that it looked like a parody of what he had originally submitted for publication. He threatened to sue the paper for defamation.\n\nA diocesan paper experimented with a \"letters to the editor\" section, but dropped it after 2 weeks because letters similar to comments on NCR started flooding in.\n\nDeny the mass of the people a voice, and they eventually revolt, like in 1776.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hay remember when Kennedy got elected and it was the end of the country because he was a Irish Catholic? Then when Reagan got elected it was the end of the country because he was a actor? Good times.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bro, in terms of healing, have you checked out this Sunday's readings? The timing of the second reading I think could not be worse. Many US Catholic priests and Bishops who supported Trump will probably use it to tell those who oppose Trump to pipe down and get in line. The message should be the opposite!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"\"I was beseeching Jesus and Mary, St. Peter and all of the saintly popes who are buried there to do something to rectify the confusion and turmoil within the Church today, a chaos and an uncertainty that I felt Pope Francis had himself caused. \"\n- It would seem that those raising these concerns to the level of that of ArchbRaymond, once chaplain to the Knights and Dames of Malta, all write in similar manner on the 'confusion' of the faithful.\n- No one has the whole corpus of christian thought natally instilled, confusion is a steady context for the growth in awareness of faith, tradition, and scripture of each man or women.\n- This over abiding concern seems overwrought in that those raising the concern seem unwilling, or unable, to consider that they themselves are confused simply because they now are made to be uncomfortable by the realization that nothing is as neat and tidy as their theological fantasies of certitude which baselines confusion for people like Weinandy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a believer, just not the same as you Grumpy! But I accept your decision not to communicate with me with a smile on my face. So, I get the final word! Right? I didn't call Jesus a \"false prophet.\" Matthew illustrated it and I just called attention to it.\n\nMy \"Damascus Road\" experience is past history, the light that guided me from your church and your outlook.\n\nWhy are you a contributor to this website? That is the real question. If you can't have a civil conversation with \"unbelievers\" why bother? You can theologize with yourself without the stress of disagreement by conversing with your reflection in your bathroom mirror.\n\nOK, I'm having way too much fun. So I will sign off with these words. I respect you and your outlook. I'm pretty sure we could do coffee and or a round of golf and enjoy each other in spite of our brain storm differences. Christ spent most of his intellectual currency helping people love each other, teaching how to get along well. \nSee, I believe!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a brutally honest and troubling report by the National Catholic Reporter that should wake us all up to contact our legislators and tell them to cut it out. We do not want a Dictatorial Theocratic Government under the likes of Trump and the US Bishops et al.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As pointed out in comments below, Jesus did not seem to follow his own advice. As in the parable of the prodigal son, for instance, calling his father: 'father'.\nWhile Jesus taught us to call God our 'Abba-Father' who art in heaven, we do have to have a biological father before that even begins to make any sense for us.\nI wonder what he called Joseph?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In my opinion, and many other Catholics, he was the lesser. Proof Biden would have won- the God given common sense we all receive at birth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You miss the point.\n\nThe Church does more than \"exist in the world\"; it is in fact the mystical Body of Christ in the world.\n\nWe need to get what's called \"the order of charity\" correct. Priorities, in other words.\n\nWere we more focused on how we injure the Body of Christ, with our indifferences, with our cynicism, with our stopping short of dying to ourselves every day in the image of our Master Teacher, with our infidelities and endless pursuit of \"self\", we'd have no worry at all about \"our cultural standing\" in the world. \n\nOur Church would instead be so attractive - because it would ever more be a vision of Jesus Christ - that conversions would be happening by the hundreds of thousands daily.\n\nAnd not just new baptisms, but our own daily conversions...turning away from the smaller (or bigger) sins, and beginning again with God - \"converting\" more and more into an ever more perfect image of His Son. \n\nNext to these huge ideas, the social sciences are but wet and soiled straw.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's seek the Lord with all our heart to heal Barrow. Then, please support Sunday school and teen church ministries. Those who have a relationship with Christ, and are learning God's word, are less likely to do things to hurt themselves and others, do unlawful things, and use intoxicants of all kinds. A huge THANKS to all ministers on the North Slope! Tell pastors, Sunday school teachers, youth ministers, and others how much you appreciate them, and then ask how you can help them reach and teach more young people for Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There were few Roman soldiers stationed in the boondocks where Jesus was from. Of course, since much of Jesus's life is a complete mystery, who knows how much contact he may have had with the imperial class. Jesus spoke Aramaic; as for Latin and koine Greek, who knows. Mel Gibson notwithstanding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quite true. Some Episcopal parishes have also been successful seceding from the Episcopal Church hierarchy. And in one instance, for example, a whole diocese -- diocese of South Carolina -- successfully seceded from the Episcopal Church and took all the property with it -- some of the best churches in South Carolina -- with the backing of the civil courts. The Episcopal hierarchy was not happy about it, but they lost their case in court. This has never happened to the Catholic Church here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for explaining your comment, Violet. In my opinion, Mary didn't replace anybody. The Gospels aren't mythological. Mary will not disappear. If you believe that the Gospels are mythological, then you and I have no more to discuss. Meanwhile, thank you again for taking time to explain your comment to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "bottom line , Allan Ross, is that Catholics also pay taxes in proportion to the money spent on Catholic schools\n\nrest assured you non-Catholic taxes are going only to public schools, which get more per student than Catholic schools\n\nCatholic-phobia?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Swearing loyalty to the Queen is a symbolic act, Layla4 and not a practical action measurable by practical results. There are many Canadians averse to swearing the oath because of personal, family or community history - Irish Catholics and Acadians among them. If they're not already citizens, they have to get over it in order to become one (see recent court cases upholding the oath requirement), but it's understandable why they don't do it with enthusiasm.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Cupich has made the point that respect for other persons begins with speaking about them in the terms they use for themselves:\n\u201cWe have always wanted to make sure that we start the conversation by saying that all people are of value and their lives should be respected and that we should respect them. That is why I think that the terms gay and lesbian, L.G.BT., all of those names that people appropriate to themselves, should be respected. People should be called the way that they want to be called rather than us coming up with terms that maybe we\u2019re more comfortable with. So it begins with that.\u201d\nSource: https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2017/07/18/chicagos-cardinal-cupich-saying-gay-lesbian-and-lgbt-step-toward\nReferring to a person who identifies as gay or lesbian as a \"person with same sex attraction\" is the rough equivalent of using the N-word for a person of color. Anyone, gay or straight, would want to avoid a parish where that sort of language is used.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When the priesthood is still taught as having the power of heaven or hell over lay Catholics, I don't see how that power dynamic which propels children and their parents to compliance/silence/ cooperation will change for the better when the Vatican will not even look at their theology of the priesthood...or any theology attached to it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It would be wonderful -- wouldn't it? -- if the clergy, especially bishops, could shift to listening/learning mode. In the process of composing their social justice pastoral letters in the early and mid 1980s, the American bishops devised a process for listening to persons who knew more than they did or who knew things they didn't know or who (gasp!) disagreed with them. It was this listening process (not the content of the letters) that drew the ire of Pope John Paul. Bishops listening? Bishops learning? Unthinkable!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fortunately it was a \"weak solution.\" If it were stronger, the results could have been dis-figuration, scarring, and even blindness, since it got into the eyes. \n-\nThe fact that they \"forgive\" their attacker says a lot about them.....who, unlike Trump-haters, chose not to hate. \n-\nJesus says to \"love your enemies.\" This they do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry for using a Catholic term here, of all places.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anti-semitism was pretty rampant in Christian countries prior to ww2. However, It was Canada's PM Mackenzie King who personally met Hitler and praised much of what was going on in Germany prior to the war. - No other leader, with notable exceptions, was quite so direct.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Before we celebrate Martin Luther, we should acknowledge that his (and Calvin's) misguided understanding of the \"total depravity\" of the human person has done more to deform the portrait of Jesus in the gospels than just about anything else in history. By imposing their own self-understanding on the gospel, they led generations of human beings -- especially sexual beings -- to believe they stood condemned before God and could do nothing to help themselves. The idea that Luther was entirely right and the Church entirely wrong is based on an uncritical reading of the documents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think we should \"be drawn to God\" not mere mystics. \n\n\" live the truth of our own existence is to be a saint\"\n\nhuh?\n\nTo be fully idnetified with the will of Christ, to be fully merged with the heart of Christ...to love wiht the very heart of Christ...that's getting close to being a saint.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So now that Pope Francis has solved this problem, there is a little issue in the US politics that I'd like him to solve. Can he get right on that now?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Given the role that the Bishops played in encouraging Catholics not to vote for Hillary. What are their plans, if any, to protest against Trump and Republican policies that run counter to Catholic Teachings?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is funny how many liberals want to ban saying Merry Christmas but want the holiday off with pay and give gifts and put up decorations. What exactly are you non Christians celebrating then if not Christmas? Have a Merry Christmas UltraMachoPuppy!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yale is mostly self-contained. Few students have cars and public transportation options to Hartford are limited. Students who wish to escape are most likely to take a train, either south to NYC (they could also go to Bridgeport, although I never heard of any doing so when I was a Yale student myself) or north to Boston, with the possibility of stopping in Providence, RI.\n\nAnd, incidentally, the St. Thomas More Center for Catholic students and faculty at Yale apparently has a strong program. I have no current personal experience of this but read about it in the newsletters they send to alumni/ae.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Committee has had issues with the Girl Scouts since they were open to all girls and did not discriminate. In addition, they taught the girls to be critical thinkers and independent. Both of my daughters are beneficiaries of the GSA program. The Boy Scouts will likely subordinate the girls' programs to those of the boys making the program more reflective of the desires of the bishops and other similar \"thinkers\" who believe women should be subordinated to men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's apply some intelligence to the matter, let's apply the Catholic principle of subsidiarity before lynching Trump.\n\nWhy did the local police chief not provide greater segmentation between the factions?\nWhy did he (maybe it was a she) not stronger crowd control and dispersion measures?\nWhy did the mayor know and when did he (or is it a she) know it.\n\nand what about the Democratic (and want to be the presidential candidate) governor do?\n\nI think the democrats benefit from such incidents. \n\nI think we need to look at the comm traffic between the police chief, the mayor and the governor before trying to tar and feather Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. My gripe with Vatican II is that it unintentionally precipitated the current sorry state catechesis among First World Catholics. So much superficial change occurred that people began to think that everything could be.\n2. You don't seem to be able to distinguish between disciplines and the Moral Law which is absolute and cannot change.\n3. The old man with the beard is an artistic depiction of God as a father figure. We know He is not an old man no more than the Holy Ghost is a bird. To suggest that people believe this is to insult their intelligence. The tradition still holds good today unless you can suggest another way of depicting God, a blank space perhaps?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "foreshorten3\n\nThank you for sharing those interesting statistics. As you suggest the Church is rapidly changing. About 25 percent of Catholics have abandoned the the Church. Although this figure looks grim the Church has actually grown because of the influx of Spanish speaking Catholics from Mexico and Latin American countries. As of 2015 they represent 28 percent of of the total Catholic population. . This is up from 8 percent in 1975, Of particular interest almost 50 percent of younger Catholics (18 to 29) are Hispanic..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church taught -- and acted -- that slavery was morally acceptable at least in some cases. That is he tradition of centuries. JPII taught that slavery was intrinsically immoral in ALL cases. Thus, JPII was overthrowing tradition, and, by YOUR criteria, was wrong to do so. \n\nThus, your blather that the pope is a slave to tradition is clearly wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The issue is not whether Christ is present to sinners. He is. Thank God, as we are all sinners. Rather, the issue is the meaning of his presence. For that we go to the famous scene in John's gospel. Jesus rebukes the adulterous woman's accusers and extends mercy to her. Then he tells her to go -- AND SIN NO MORE! There is no contradiction between his forgiveness and his command. As with the woman, so with all of us. I guess, come to think of it, that by commanding the woman to change her behavior and reform her life, mean old Jesus was a.......rigorist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Assigning a specific sex to God is incorrect. God is neither male nor female. Using \"him\" to refer to God is a remnant of the sexism that the institutional Church should abandon.\n\nGregory of Nazianzus, in his Orations, 37, wrote \"Perhaps you could be foolish enough to suppose God male because the word is? [He means that the word 'theos' is masculine in Greek.] Or the Spirit neuter because he neither begets nor bears? Or even that God cohabited with his own will [feminine in Greek], according to the old myths, to beget the Son -- which posits the androgynous God of Marcion and Valentinus?\" Marcion and Valentinus were early Gnostic leaders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OMG, I've crossed swords with a top scripture scholar! Oh wait a minute, the \"Heos hou\" argument is just copied and pasted from any number of traddie websites in order to argue the 'perpetual virginity' of Mary.\n\nIf you are a scripture scholar, perhaps you might like to use the same methodology you show above and give us your thoughts on the word \"always\" as in - The poor you will have with you always. Oh wait another minute! That would completely destroy the argument the traddies use to justify ignoring the poor.\n\nThe early father's didn't even have a copy of the NT to refer to when waxing eloquent about faith, and the ones that did - from the 4th century onwards - managed to completely ignore it and turn early Christian communities away from Christ and set the basis for the power obsessed hierarchy we have today.\n\nMary's ghost appearing at Lourdes is true though. Especially believable was the 3rd secret given to Benedict which was: \n\nPlease resign!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are priests and lay people who devote their whole lives to biblical exegesis or hermeneutics. You can criticize The Pope and The Church on this matter when you have a degree in either and have spent your whole life studying this issue. Roman Catholic theologians, in good standing, don't agree on this issue, even to this very day. It is NOT set in stone. What you want is for nothing to change. You want ONE thing in this world to be unchangeable. It's a matter of security. Life can be very scary and frightening and painful. And The Church has offered, to the lay person particularly, security. However, nothing is permanent. The 10 Commandments are a great way for society to live in (somewhat relative) harmony. We simply can't have people stealing, cheating, lying, committing murder, and we can't have the breakdown of the family unit. Kids need intact homes, WITH A MOTHER AND FATHER WHO LOVE EACH OTHER. But The RCC can and will change with the times, or it will not survive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ORS,\nCorrect me if I'm wrong, but I believe \"kooks\" is a bastardization of \"Kukes\" as in Ku Klux Klan, the notorious right-wing Christian terrorist organization. \nSurely, you've heard about Bob Mueller' s criminal investigation of the Trump family's connection to the Russian oligarchs in hopes of getting financing on shady real estate deals in NYC and Moscow.\nVladimir Putin supposedly has a dossier on Trump and is using it to his advantage. Once a KGB agent and captain, Putin is determined to restore the \ndisbanded Soviet Union to its former \"greatness\", much like Trump's \"Make America Great Again\" slogan.\nApparently, you haven't heard some of the name-calling directed at Bernie Sanders. \"Commie\" and \"pinko\" are some of the milder terms. The current epithet is \"anti-fascist\". Just read Charles Hodges letter in today's herald where he calls the Anti-fascists \"Anti-American human waste\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, clitorectomy is not mandated by Shari'a. Never was. Only males are required to be circumcised. Was not practiced in the time of the Most Noble Messenger Muhammad (Saala Allahu alayhi wa Ah'liihi wa Salaam) or his contemporaries, or for many centuries after his departure. Female \"circumcision\" is a regional cultural tradition practiced mostly among African Christians.\n\nBut your inability to substantiate your own claims on the current topic forces you to engage in the sorry tactics of deflection and Muslim-bashing. Says far more about your credibility than mine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great cartoon. Unfortunately, there are too many topics not worth discussing, infallibility being one of them. Granted that Pope Francis has urged the leaders - cleric and lay - of the Church to speak their minds, we shouldn't waste time talking about doctrines when the issue is how the Church walks humbly with God's people, how the Church expresses the love of Christ for God's people, how the Church responds to the needs of God's people, how the Church helps God's People discern how to follow and stay on the path to holiness, the path on which all of us are called.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Social Conservatives should be concerned. They have been here before, hoping that an Evangelical Christian Prime Minister (Stephen Harper) would finally fulfil their goal of allowing serious discussion of social issues and even legislation to address some of their concerns. Of course, Prime Minister Harper forbid his MPs to even raise such issues. Social Conservatives should have been incensed at such betrayal. But like lemmings into the sea, they continue to cling to hope in the Conservative Party. Andrew Scheer talks the talk but still has stated that He would not introduce anti-abortion legislation. So here you go again, Social Conservatives. Don't hold your breath. Because Scheer already has your votes, he is now in a position to ignore you just like Stephen did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Mark and Alexandra,\nI'm a Catholic and a sinner in need of God's mercy and am grateful for the Sacrament of Confession, which I go to as often as I need to ask Jesus' forgiveness for sinning against Him and my neighbor (brother or sister). I try hard to attend the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass daily, pray the Rosary, kneel before Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament and in so doing praying for those who have either asked for my prayers or for whom I have promised my prayers. Mark, I do not know what you mean by conservative Catholics are somehow in control of God's will. But I am talking about Jesus' words Himself about marriage: \"A man shall leave his mother and father and cling to his wife and the two shall become one flesh\" and Jesus also said, \"If you want to enter life, keep the commandments, 'Do not murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness and love your neighbor as you love yourself\". Mark, I have gone to Confession for not being charitable in thought, word and deed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The appropriate rebuttal to what I said would have been --- had it been true --- that Weinandy did not simply relay what Jesus said. But you did not take that tack. Instead, you said that \"life is more complicated\" than to fit into holes dug by theologians, apparently oblivious to the fact that Jesus was a theologian of the very first order. So, if Wienandy is merely relaying what Jesus said, and you reject what Weinandy says because \"the shape of life does not conform to theological holes,\" then it's obvious where that leaves you with respect to what Jesus said. But Jesus didn't come to fit into one of your holes, nor did God make you for that reason. \n\nYou say, \"You can be a robot if you want to. But I don't think that is what God wants from you or for you.\" But doing God's will is never robotic. Like it or not, we have choice. And contrary to what you suggest, what God wants is for us to do his will.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The pope was lapped by Trump on this one. What a mess.\n\nTrump offered to help long before the Vatican woke up that its earlier statement was a bad half measure, failing to see the EU and British government gross over reach on this case. \n\nThe Vatican failed to defend the rights and duties of parents, until the pope got hammered in the social network by conservative Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The guy reforms, so the extent that he never sins again. For 40 years. No wait, he become a Christian too. No wait, he goes ever further and becomes a priest, and serves the Lord and people for 40 years.\n\nNone of this is good enough for progressive Don.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Egad! That old falsehood? Thomas Jefferson did not \"scratch out\" passages in the Bible. He cut out all but the words of Jesus. I hope you are more careful when you throw darts than when you throw barbs on this board.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But Jesus was not a conservative....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "thank you Bishop Tobin for stating so eloquently.\nI apologize for the statements that lack charity and Christ-like attitude on the boards towards you.\nWe shall know them by their fruits.\n\nThe Church is doing a wonderful job under Pope Francis in repackaging the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray for him and all bishops daily.\n\nUnlike NCR, the Church is financially maintained by donations because members have faith in the Church. If NCR relied solely on their subscribers, they would not survive one print edition. I have to disable my ad blocker on my browser to access NCR because they have a ton of obtrusive ads to generate revenue, unlike the Church.\n\nPeople lack Faith. This is nothing new. Let the Spirit guide the Church. If only NCR did likewise and relied on their subscription fees, then they would have standing. For now they are hypocrites slinging rocks at the Church, all the way refusing to support NCR financially to rid the publication of revenue ad sponsors\n\nBlessed Lent Bishop T!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, thanks for the link. Stein's story was a terrible tragedy among millions of terrible tragedies. One thing I had forgotten was that she was thought of by some as a \"feminist\" scholar. I'm curious to know more about that, since what I've read of her views on women was lockstep with the magisterium.\n\nThe fact remains that Stein wasn't executed for professing her Catholic faith but for being a JEWISH convert to Catholicism. She was arrested because she was JEWISH. In terms of being a Catholic, hundreds, if not thousands, of Catholic clergy perished in Nazi concentration camps. What distinguishes Edith Stein from any one of them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Try again, the IRA, Red Army Faction, Red Brigades in Europe were all Soviet Union / East German funded and armed anti-capitalist, anti- Western terror groups whose members followed Maoist and Soviet doctrines. No members followed, attributed or believed in any sect of Christianity. Which terror attacks on random members of populations of which US cities were carried out by those US groups??", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed, I would be worried about Jesus if He was interested in ordaining only males simply because of their genitalia...\n\nThat being said, PERHAPS (whisper it quietly...) maybe, MAYBE, being a male or female goes beyond simply having a certain type of genitalia?\n\nMaybe...\n\nBeing male or female impacts how you relate to other people? How you express love? How you fundamentally relate to God? How you care for others? How you communicate? How you image God to other people? How you offer your life to others? How you think? How you react to situations? How you understand yourself in the context of reality?\n\nLet's give Jesus a little more credit and entertain the thought that living out the Gospel as men and women is equally beautiful, equally, fruitful, equally possible, but still has fundamental distinctions which make some ministries in the Church suitable for males and others for females.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "President Trump is againt support abortion, and trying to defund planned parenthood. Obama, well.\n\nIs Notre Dame Still Catholic?\n\nBy inviting Barack Obama to deliver the commencement address and receive an honorary degree at Notre Dame, the Rev. John Jenkins has polarized the Catholic community nationwide\u2014and raised a question. What does it mean to be a Catholic university in post-Christian America?\n\nAre there truths about faith and morality that are closed to debate at Notre Dame? Or is Notre Dame like London`s Hyde Park, where all ideas and all advocates get a hearing?\n\nTo Catholics, abortion is the killing of an unborn child, a premeditated breach of God`s Commandment \"Thou Shalt Not Kill.\" The case is closed for all time. Any who participate in an abortion are excommunicated. Catholic politicians from Nancy Pelosi to Joe Biden who support a \"woman`s right to choose\" have been denounced from pulpits and denied Communion.\n\n\nhttp://www.vdare.com/articles/is-notre-dame-still-catholic", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your interpretation of what I said indicates that you see nothing after death? Do you not agree that Jesus said that death is just a waypoint in life? I for one believe in what he preached. Chaput in this book he published in my mind and others has with knowledge turned away from God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have often contemplated that the presence of EP Benedict is serving as break on what Pope Francis might really want to accomplish. I suspect the dissenters take a certain amount of motivation knowing that Francis is not about to disrupt Benedict's legacy and that has given them a freedom they would never have exercised under Benedict himself. The whole thing is a weird situation in the history of the Church....and really is a theological and logistical conundrum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My name is Terrence, and if you can not get that right I doubt I would waste my time talking to you. I read about thirty publications every day(a retired, old, white, guy) and see many articles from females bashing males. It seems that white, hetereosexual males are fair game for all to attack. If they happen to also be Christian, well, that is the only religion that can be disparaged without consequence. I have aged out of the gender wars and deplore both misogeny and misandry. Your denial that the latter exists is not helpful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Frances, I want to tell you that I appreciate the respectful conversation. I know that matters such as these involve deeply held beliefs, and the fact that we don't agree does not in any way reflect any sort of animosity. I have a lot to say on the subject, which will take more than one post, so I will add them in order.\n\nPost 1:\nYou say you side with God. Yet the teaching of the Church, found in the writings of the Doctors of the Church (Aquinas, Liguori and others), the catechism of the Council of Trent, and papal bulls and encyclicals throughout the ages, is that Capital Punishment is not only just and moral, but that it is the duty of the state to enact where crimes warrant it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "D.D.\n\nAs we are incapable of asking a question for which we cannot imagine an answer, are you thinking of the Protestant answer, 'the priesthood of all believers'?\n\nOr, some would say, \"The Holy Spirit is the vicar of Jesus Christ.\"\n\nOr, Seventh-day Adventism traditionally declares that every symbolism that construes a human as a symbolic mediator of salvation to other humans constitutes an anti-christ.\n\nA one-word answer to your question might be: directly\n\nPerhaps you are thinking of the non-biblical notion of 'headship' in more practical terms, like who signs the check to pay the parish mortgage, who picks the music for the worship service, who reads the scripture, and so on. \n\nWhile 'headship' is understandably a contrived answer to a question the bible doesn't ask, for what congregational need do you find \"headship\" meaningfully practical, D.D.?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another traditionalist who erroneously believes dogmatic teachings invented by men Trumps the teachings of Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Flagged. (\"Little Horn\" refers to the Antichrist.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "After reading comments, before making a comment of my own, I'll have to say what they taught in catholic school, we have to make a choice between right and wrong. now this illegal Mexican has his karma back into his face. that is the heavenly spirit has made it right of a wrong he (and we) make. Only this illegal can feel sorry for himself. no one else can. we can only read about it. as we live ours, he has to live his.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you didn't use 'gutter' to mean depravity.\n\nYou might consider granting that same benefit of the doubt to Pope Francis regarding his door sign. It would be charitable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for this thoughtful and fact checking article. I wish with all my heart that the GC was not making this \"their hill to die on.\" We need so desperately for our church to be talking about another hill - all hands on deck - ALL - to share about the hill Christ did die on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A well formed conscience would be in complete harmony with Church doctrine.\"\n\nThis is the tripe that the traditionalists and men who run the magisterium push. It requires that you have other people do your moral thinking for you. The two historical examples of that particular way of thinking is Stalinists of the 1930s, who followed the Party Line without question; and Adolf Eichmann, who followed the orders of his superiors without question. Neither is a good model to follow.\n\nWhat the magisterium is asking for is a sin against sloth. Sloth is generally thought of as laziness, but the Latin name of the sin, \"acedia\", means \"not caring\". The magisterium is telling us not to take the care to make our own decisions, and this is wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would agree with you, although I would have nuanced it.... \n\nBut all citizens and newcomers, for better or worse, still have to deal with our natural or civic religion, our \" one nation under God\" Pledge, our \"endowed by the Creator\" reference in the Declaration of independence, our currency's \"In God we Trust,\" our presidents swearing in protocol -- on a Bible, whether Lincoln's or their family's bible, etc. To comprehend this requires some understanding (literacy?) of our civic religion. Most Americans like this religion because it manages things comfortably for all faith communities, for the state, and for the unaffiliated. \nAnd although Americans don't need this to practice good citizenship, few citizens get in the way of doing away with this religion because they realize they haven't much social or cultural momentum to gain doing so. Things are often what they seem in America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Minnery and Bienvenue fail to frame the issue which according to PP is STD's and unplanned pregnancies among, not just teens, but all women. \nWhile I don't have children in school, I'm like many Americans that pay property taxes and income taxes so I have every right to expect that our children enrolled in public schools receives the message that PP subjectively delivers that empowers women. \nI don't care what Jesus has to say about marriage, I just want teenage girls, parents, young women and old to have access to factual information so that they can make an informed choice. This isn't about marriage or the church, it's about empathy and choice!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would alter your last line to,\n\"Trump is more a guy who is willing to indulge the ultra-right's worst impulses if it's useful to him.\"\nI don't think Trump is far-right ideologically. Trump has no ideology, beyond the advancement of Trump. Even his support of his family is nothing more than advancing Trump.\nWhen he was in liberal New York, he was quite friendly to GLBT people, for example. When he needs conservative Christian support, he throws GLBT people under the bus. He knows that doing so will keep them happy. He doesn't actually care about GLBT people one way or another, but throwing them under the bus is an easy way to keep the conservative Christians happy.\nI think ultimately he's the same way about race. There's allegedly a quote of his where he stated that if he ever ran for president, he'd run as a Republican because its base was easier to capture.\nSo, he goes from praising Obama to attacking Obama.\nUptight whites are part of his base, so he plays them like a Stradivarius.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ohh.. The usual suspects. They are all associated with the We Hate Vatican II set, the Lepanto Institute, Lifesite News, etc. Really, someone should do an investigation of how these types and the alt-right interact. I betcha there are ties there.\n\nJust a few of my favorites. \n1. Reverand Hunwicke - He came over from the Anglican church because he is a sexist and didn't want to have a lady bishop as a boss.\n2. Peter A. Kwasniewski - The college he teaches at is only slightly more legit than Trump University. He has been asked to leave multiple colleges for being a disaster. \n3. Dr. Joseph Shaw - Read his blogs if you want to see some passive aggressive whining. https://lms.org.uk/chairmansblog3 And be sure to stay for the women and feminist hate that would even make the red pill guys blush. Dr. Shaw needs to learn to make his own sammiches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, I think you are seeing way more than is there. I do not see a \"loaf perched on her arm\" and the more I look at it, I am not even sure if there is anything laying on the rocks to the right of the cross, just the color of the rocks. As to how \"healthy\" Jesus looks. I have seen very few crucifixes and paintings of Christ on the cross where he looks as beaten and torn up as He would have been in reality. It's just the nature of the artwork.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"To teach with such a seemingly intentional lack of clarity inevitably risks sinning against the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth\". \n\nI would suggest that Fr. Weinandy check out the guy who launched this project, what with his sometimes confusing parables. As far as that sin against the Holy Spirit, the only explanation I've ever heard that makes any sense is that it is the failure to forgive. In fact, when we pray The Lord's Prayer, we give God carte blanche to forgive us in the same manner as we forgive others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe it's fair to say he refers to western civilization, founded basically on Judeo-Christian values, with most laws based on English common law. We became a country of western culture & a heritage of eastern Europeans. The indigenous tribes did not assimilate into the gene pool in any significant way in N. America (In C. Am. of course they did, since a mere 160,000 Spanish settlers eventually intermarried with about 8 million \"indians\"). In N. Am. they were, unfortunately, herded, isolated, moved, and systematically killed. They were considered savages - a culture which was viewed as primitive. A blot on our history to be sure, but the gene pool became predominantly European.\nIt's neither unusual nor unreasonable for many to want to retain our identity, our culture, our norms, our laws, our values - which many believe are largely responsible for our success. You may call them nationalists or even palio-conservatives. You may not call them wrong, for that is opinion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This magazine spends too much energy following the latest news on Cardinal Burke. I am no fan of his, but I don't think the average American Catholic pays much attention to him, or is influenced by his opinion. The regular articles criticizing him are actually giving him more exposure. I think we should all follow the Pope's lead and ignore.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will tell the people who run Catholic Social Services in my diocese that you say they are in the wrong business.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelization. That's the remedy. Most Catholics have been heavily sacramentalized, but not evangelized. I'm Catholic and I've seen this over and over.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of two) \u201cThe angel of the Lord will rescue those who fear him\u201d (Psalm 34:5). It is not necessary to be too smart either: \u201cThe angel said to him . . . `Put on your sandals\u2019\u201d (Acts 12:8). \u201cFrom now on the crown of righteousness awaits me (and Cardinal Pell in prayer) which the Lord, the just JUDGE, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance\u201d (2 Timothy 4:5). This is the time to remember, \u201cWhatever you (Peter) bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven\u201d (Matthew 16:19), even the most dastardly of sins. Liturgy of the Word, Reading 591, June 29 - Saints Peter and Paul \u2013 Mass during the Day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm surprised there isn t a picture of a shirtless Justin standing next to the Pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholicism 101: To be Catholic one must be in communion with the church as a community of faith, that is both historically discernible, and present (living) sacramental and institutional reality. This community was established by Christ himself who has preserved it in truth and who instituted an authoritative hierarchy. \n\nThose who advocate for leaving the \"...old ecclesial frames and opt for listening to the stories of one another's lives\", are no longer in communion with the Church and therefore are no longer Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gerard I agree with that you say, I wanted to place a like star to your comment but could not, because I do not agree with this part of your comment \"the best thing to do is Get out\". Continue to pray for change, it may still come.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesus said to her, \"I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She is unhappy that converts to Catholicism actually take the religion seriously.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A pious Catholic\". . . advancing no rights for women or the LGBTQ community. What a great idea. Gotta love those pious folk....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right now my taxes pay for all children and adults of poor families to receive medical care. If a child showed up on my doorstep with pneumonia, I would pay for them to get medical help - regardless of where they were born or what papers they had. So, to answer your question, I would agree to increase my taxes to pay for ALL children to receive medial attention. It is the Christian thing to do. Would you turn away a sick child?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. Christ is alive.\n2. Christ is God.\nHe recognizes all of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That truth is based on the tapestry of Roman Catholic sexual teaching which sees all sexuality as an inferior thing of the flesh, the wicked thread of the tapestry being the belief in Priestly Continence. It is a denigration of sex and women. Remove that thread and what you say about homosexuality, married priests, female priests, et al falls into a ball of yarn. The purpose of sexual morality is not some divine ideal but wholeness in this life. A sexual ethic that sees celebrating Mass as incompatible with health sexuality is warped and neither whole or holy. It is pietistic and not in a good way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wrong! Christianity is strictly the teachings of Christ, and comes from the word \"church\", meaning \"assembly\" or people gathering. Christ did not create a political system, it is rather Europeans that distorted Christianity by incorporating it in their countries the way it suited them. This is the same as distorting Islam by incorporating it into local traditions in places like Africa and the \"stan\" countries, where it would not have been possible to spread the religion if it did not suit the local violence.\n\nIt is true that Islam is a complete way of life when compared to Christianity, but the correct Islam is the one that reached Spain and built civilizations starting from Damascus and Iraq, allowed other religions in Palestine to manage their own affairs, and gave the woman the right to divorce a man. It is not today's Islam that calls others \"infidels\" then demands a place to pray in the \"infidels\" schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the real Jesus is closer to Bernie Sanders, than Ted Cruz.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find a disturbing sense of patronizing superiority in this article. As Christians and Catholics we are called to care for the poor and the vulnerable. An essential element of our call is that we reach out to those with different life experiences than our own with humility, and based on our common humanity. Chapter 7 of the Gospel of Matthew begins. \"Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.\" The author evaluates two human beings in terms of their external appearance and finds them wanting. The \"scary stranger,\" the \"brother I would never claim,\" the \"sister I would never own,\" the young woman in leggings, and \"the blanket man,\" each of these people deserves love and a welcome that does not judge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Easy: Many Catholics have forgotten that they are only one or two generations from being immigrants themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1 of 2\n\u201cIf you love Me, you will keep My commandments.\nSo \u201cfor this reason a man will leave his father and mother (continuing the creative process) and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh\u201d. (The Truth of this statement can be seen in any offspring they may be blessed with) And this visual Truth defines marriage as OPEN to the Creative process in their sexual union, \u201cSo they are no longer two, but one flesh\u201d\nHis Words of Truth, the essence of Love\n\u201cWhat God has joined together let no man put asunder\u201d\nThis is not a mere \u2018rule\u2019 it is His Inviolate Will incorporated into the Church\u2019s on-going teaching of Sexual Morality, as it draws us into harmony with His Love, for the benefit of all mankind; to teach anything otherwise (Not hold Inviolate alter \u2018One iota,\u2019) is to \u2018diminish\u2019 our Fathers Word (Will) before mankind, and steal from innocent children, each ones individual birth right, the love, of two biological parents male and female.....\nContinue", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin, (continued)\nOne woman, Maryann, who died in November of 2013 and I prayed the Rosary together often and we often shared our Catholic faith and yes, even our sinfulness. Once when talking about pre-marital sex, she said to me: \"Juergen, when my husband and I got married (she was 83 at the time she told me this and had gotten married in her early 20's - her husband died 9 months before her, but he had been living in a nursing home for about two years at this time), we were both virgins and when my husband was only 33 years old (they had three children at this time) he had a very serious stroke and for many, many years and during this time sexual intercourse was not possible. He was paralyzed on one whole side of his body.\" She told me that it was not easy for them and through their Catholic faith and being very avid Rosary prayers - they learned to offer up the gift of sexual intercourse. Maryann said that she had often said to her teenage children (back in the day) (continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The crisis of church is a struggle of conscience. Church theology is transitioning from dominion worldview to 'Eucharistic Worldview' consistent with the universal bonding of all life. Eucharistic priesthood obliges all in conscience in the same way. Of Nature we can all say in the same way, \"Ite, Missa est!\" http://www.secondenlightenment.org/Eucharistic%20Worldview.pdf", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you serious? Keep taking the pills and have a lie down. I hope you're pulling my leg! You got me there for a minute! And that Andrew Sullivan guy had so many credentials:- English/American AND Catholic, we must believe his word now!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those Irish Catholics at it again, no doubt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Those who want clarity rather than rigor, mandated orders rather than calls to discernment, thoughtless compliance rather than thoughtful analysis . . . .\"\n\nSome want cleaner, fairer logic. To say that clarity is opposed to rigor is ill-thought out. Indeed, clarity is a high-placed virtue; it allows communication. Rigor is sometimes needed to achieve clarity. \n\nNext you talk about \"mandated orders\" versus \"calls to to discernment.\" When Jesus said there was to be no divorce except on grounds of unfaithfulness, and that those who divorced and remarried were guilty of adultery, was he not clear, and issuing an order rather than a \"call to discernment.\" Why, then, is Burke criticized when he repeats what Christ says? And called Pharisaic to boot! Some people just don't like what Jesus said, and they call those who remind us of what Jesus said \"Pharisees\" and \"rigid.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "many animal species- are we dogs? I have nothing against gay people but like Last Patroit pointed out, it is Christians and the Bible that are singled out and not muslims. I believe in letting God judge and not hating but often wonder about no words against the Quran.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Speaking of Animal Farm and ideological purity, hey, if Mr. Ibbitson says elections are won in the multicultural suburbs of Toronto and Vancouver, it must be so. (lol). \n I've noticed that immigrants and their children vote for the government in power. They feel obligated. Maybe in 2027 they'll be interested in voting for Singh.\n But you make a good point. Just because a guy with a turban and beard is in the running, does that mean Chinese immigrants will vote for him?\n And Quebecers? Forget about it. They had enough of religion with the Catholic Church to last them several hundred years.\n But, hey, gotta drum up some interest in the next election.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How does science determine what is right and what is wrong? Through science mankind has learned over the centuries to constantly improve methods whereby man can destroy himself. The decision upon whether that is a good thing is not within the remit of science. You put your faith in scientific knowledge, I put mine in the moral teaching of Christ's Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, he was fully masculine, but what matters is that he was fully human, not that he was masculine. And what about the divine \"feminine genius\"?\n\nThat Christ incarnated as a male is revelation, but that his masculinity matters as much as his humanity, and excludes femininity, is revelation filtered via the lens of patriarchal gender theory.\n\nWhen did Christ commanded the Church to ordain only males to the priesthood? When he chose 12 male apostles during his public ministry to patriarchal Israel, *before* the resurrection? See John 16:12. Did he confirmed this choice *after* the resurrection as a timeless rule? Would Jesus, in today's church, choose 12 males to represent the patriarchs of the 12 tribes of Israel? Why should we assume that he would make the same choice today? \n\nSorry, I recognize the inconvenience of reconsidering the matter, but it is a bizarre assumption. Don't worry, the Church will come to a mind on this in due time, no new revelation needed. Peace!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"church leaders still don't understand\"?? It is the pope who \"shielded abusers and mistreated the abused\" in Buenos Aires. The first papal action was to appoint Pell and Errazuriz to his Council of Cardinals when both had many previous years of national headlines for their aiding and abetting child sex abuse. Currently, there are at least 15 active bishops accused of complicity with abusive priests who have no fear of being disciplined http://www.bishop-accountability.org/bishops/enabling/index.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your comment Tridentinus \nYes we all have to answer individually \nBut controlling minds can and must be held to account on the physically plane, not to hold them to account, would be to collude with evil.\nModern Catholicism appears to be confusing \u2018love\u2019 with the Love (Will) of God.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Way back when I was in 2nd grade, we learned about mortal and venial sin. The nun who taught us explained that although probably none of us had committed a mortal sin, we should remember that our soul was like a white piece of cloth, and sins were like black splotches on that cloth. She said that a mortal sin would make the entire cloth black, but many smaller sins could do the same job. \nIt would seem to me that some of those Trump-voting Catholics might have wanted to consider the fact that, while not labeled a \"baby killer\" (though no one will ever know if he paid for any abortions for girlfriends), perhaps his multitude of offenses might be just as bad as Hillary's alleged \"support\" of abortion. Unfortunately, neither the hierarchy, nor the clergy, nor those voters seem capable of that kind of calculus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Congratulations to the Cardinal Newman Society. They are true defenders of the faith handed down from the Lord Jesus Christ who told us that God made us male in female in the beginning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"He doesn't offer a methodology for individual salvation any more than we can light the world by ourselves. \"\n\nOh..so when Jesus said (and says to each one of us in each Communion): \"I am the way...\" he was just using jibber jabber?\n\nThis article tries to \"de-particularize\" the salvific action of Jesus, dullying His personal invitation to follow Him. Instead, she wants us to think it's a big group grope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you think that Jesus wasn't a community organizer? How did we get a church developing from him?\n\nDuring Jesus' time, his followers called themselves a 'company'---but 72 initial members [men and some women] did constitute a \"community\". Jesus called and attracted people. That's a community organizer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "newsreader, you do not speak for all of us. I agree with Bill and his suggestion agrees with Gospel teachings from Jesus Christ himself. \n\nMatt 23:9 9And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ was given the death penalty. He was innocent.\n\nAt no point did he suggest that Pilate did not have the moral authority to condemn him to death. Quite the reverse. He confirmed that within this world Pilate DID have that authority and that His Kingdom was not of this world but the next world.\n\nHe could have been sacrificed outside of the law. Strange that He chose to be executed within the law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"They [The so called Dreamers] live in constant dread that they will be deported to their parents\u2019 homeland, countries many do not remember.\"\n.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................\n\nThe authors ignore a silent question: Why do the Dreamers \"dread\" residence in the countries which make-up their parents' homeland? \n\nThose professing humanitarian concern for the Dreamers should discuss the historic corruption and bad government stimulating the desperate migration of people from Mexico and Central America. Leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, the most potent historical cultural force in Latin America, should address the Church's agency in Central America's historic socio-economic inequalities, and its responsibility for redress to end desperate migration and the production of scared Dreamers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps no one in English-speaking world has a better grasp of the Vatican bureaucracy than TR. His current column is an excellent historical distillation of the bureaucratic office of cardinals. TR speaks of Francis changing the system and its impact on future centuries. What change? Accidental at best, nothing substantive. Clerics are essentially brainwashed; not going to raise questions, pursue substantive theological investigation, like why believe in an anthropomorphic god? They would never accede to the top if seriously questioning Catholic belief. Cardinals are about defending Catholic culture not theological inquiry. They have all the answers. Questions are meaningless. There are no new ones to the indoctrinated. \u201cHe who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions.\u201d (Confucius) Refuses to hear even the questions.\nWhatever cardinals selected only between Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Accidental nuances. Inbred males.\nPopes come, popes go; the curia remains.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh this is disconcerting. In a time I where there are many families- mothers struggling with sometimes three part time jobs, no paid sick time or employment bennies,substandard housing and the threat of worse to come-Heidi what in God's holy name are you thinking. So many families can not imagine a plane ride.Other families are spending their vacation time in hospitals or at home caring for children,parents, or spouses because our nation whose major evangelical leaders prayed and laid hands on our so called leader refuse to follow the golden rule and support paid family leave.\nThere is nothing wrong with rest and relaxation. Jesus did it - but writing about something enabled because of high SES ,family money, or privelged luck requires a different substanstansive viewpoint.Rather what can the family do together to help the country and the world?\nHave a letter writing day for all the generations, phonathon, active charity-like personal care bags for women in shelters. Please tell us!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Glad you guys are in the podcast world! And I think this was a good first effort....\n\nI noted that I am a fan of a number of political podcasts particularly Pod for America and Pod for the World, staffed by Obama speech writers and other serious national players....and I am used to hearing clever and seriously informative podcasts...which are also entertaining....\n\nThink you guys did well on content but light on entertaining...some personal vignettes, some humor...etc makes the \"medicine go down\".... \n\nI was thinking as I listened that all the commenters were very properly brought up, very serious catholic school students...\n\nWill follow this and see how it shapes up!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "[Pete Vere] Vatican II was a very traditional council. In fact it restored the Eastern Catholic Tradition that had been severely Latinized for decades and reinvigorated dialogue between East and West. In fact, the only area where Vatican II really broke with Tradition was that Eastern Orthodox bishops (to my knowledge) were not invited to attend as full participants as they had previous Councils in West (including Trent and Vatican I). I would encourage anyone who thinks differently to study (Melkite) Patriarch Maximos III and his great leadership he provided to Eastern Catholics at the Second Vatican Council.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Max. Good points, all. Don't forget Ember Days.\nIn Matthew, Jesus is not quoted to say \"If you fast...\", but \"When you fast...\". To me, this makes fasting a requirement and not merely a pious practice. I think Vat. II was right to allow people to \"voluntarily structure\" the fasts but, somehow, through the years, that was translated to \"fasting optional\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Uhmmm, maybe because Catholic families stopped having 10 kids, women could enter the work force in many more occupations, and the bulge in vocations was a statistical fluke that had never happened previously and will never happen again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What...on...earth.\n\nFreedom of association? That sounds like something Kellyanne Conway's ancestors would say about Jim Crow laws. \n\nThe problem you again fail to see with your \"well just go to another baker\" argument is that if you decide discrimination is okay there might not be another bakery. If everyone in your town is a Christian you might not be allowed to do business anywhere. This is exactly what the civil rights movement was about. You obviously think it's no big deal because you're not gay. But that just shows your lack of empathy. You think gays can be chased out of town under the guise of \"freedom of association\". And then you turn around and say \"I'm not a bigot\". You just don't think bigotry is bad because you're not the victim of it in your version of a freely associated society.\n\nYour post literally scares the hell out of me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a woman convicted of a capital crime could claim a delay in her execution if she were pregnant; a woman who did so was said to \u201cplead the belly\u201d. In Ireland on 16 March 1831 Baron Pennefather in Limerick stated that pregnancy was not alone sufficient for a delay but there had to be quickening. (To be able to feel the movement of the foetus)\nThe plea (Pleading the belly) was available at least as early as 1387 and was eventually rendered obsolete by the Sentence of Death (Expectant Mothers) Act 1931, which stated that an expecting mother would automatically have her death sentence commuted to life imprisonment with hard labour.\nA comment by The Catholic Church points us to ultrasound and to the irrelevance of quickening nowadays\ncontinued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is unreasonable for someone with a modern education to believe in supernatural beings and powers. Every time the christian zealots take it to court in the USA the court rules that teaching superstition instead of evolution and science is not only unconstitutional but harmful to modern USA society, which depends on scientifically and technically trained knowledge workers and on citizens voting on public policy issues.\n-- \n\"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.\"-Seneca, Roman historian", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. I misread the bit about sliding from optimism to pessimism but I don't accept that I slid from optimism to pessimism either or that I mangled Aquinas. He says that presumption and despair are sinful, do you dispute that?\nSeattle Catholic never mentioned eternal salvation, he simply referred to \"life after death\" which can be either eternal salvation or damnation. I am sure you would agree with me that the latter would most certainly not be \"a better experience than life here on earth.\" \nFrom what SC wrote I got the impression that he believed that after death eternal salvation was a foregone conclusion otherwise why would he be looking forward to the afterlife.\nI hope this clarifies that I was referring to 'the afterlife' and not 'eternal salvation'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All you people who call yourselves Christians and voted for the orange-tinted man, how do you justify your vote?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I forgave my abuser years ago but it is is still a great burden at 74. A seminary. I was 10. He was the Father Superior. My education ruined. The other priests didn't want to know. They still don't. God forgive them as well. I don't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I basically only asked for people to state what religious belief is being violated. To date no one really has done so. God did not forbid homosexuality in the ten commandments nor did Jesus say anything about it. In case you don't know God and Jesus are at the center of Judaism and Christianity. \n\nAs to your other points, the Bibe consists of a bunch of books written by God? Just not true. They may have been inspired by God, but they were still written by Man. What was written was strongly influenced by societal pressures of the time. As a result one needs to be careful about interpreting it. \n\nRomans was written by Paul was it not? Hardly Jesus or God, but some Roman hippie who got converted to Christianity. May be inspired by God but obviously was influenced by conditions of the time. \n\nAs for your last question, convenience is probably what was lost. Yes another baker could always be found but does one have to travel a thousand miles to get it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"The present continuous fixation on women's ordination was \"clerical,\" he added.\"\n- Well, Gianfranco, one can not speak about the diaconate in anyway without acknowledging that one speaks of ordination to the clerical state. Thus it is no surprise that anything dealing with ordination has a clerical aspect.\n- However, what is hoped for is that the reception of women to the clerical state will help to diminish if not abolish 'clericalism' in the church. 'Clericalism' a grave matter, aka - serious sin, is rampant in the Vatican City State, the Holy See, and most particular churches even as we read NCR. It is also hoped that said ordained women avoid drinking the kool-aid of clericalism -- for then nothing will change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most US bishops systematically invite Catholics to vote GOP under the delusion the Roe/Wade might get overturned. Last I heard Trump was the \"nominal\" GOP candidate. \n\nWhere you been hiding Utilitas?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, the Church also calls it the Sacrament of Reconciliation. While I use the term \"confession\", I rarely hear it called that in parishes. Usually the use the other term. Pope Francis used the term confessionAL, where the Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation takes place-whether it be a private space or an enclosed, small room.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This law is about religion, but not in the sense that this editorial makes out.\n\nWearing a niqab or a burka is a choice that a small minority of Muslim women make. Some would argue that it is a choice forced on them by men in their families, a form of patriarchal violence. But, it is not about religion, or freedom of religion. There is nothing in Islam generally that requires such head coverings. It is a choice, free or otherwise.\n\nThis law is about religion though, the religion, almost a cult, of secularism. It is as if Quebec society, having loosened and thrown off the yokes of Catholicism and the Roman Catholic Church, must now find another state religion or ideology to somehow buttress or collectivize Quebec society and culture. The law, then, is not about \"accommodation\", but about fear, somehow fear that the \"other\" if allowed to publicly exist (i .e. not show a face), will eat away at Quebec as a peoples, a modern society, even a nation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus said of the priests of his time--\"You lay heavy burdens...but refuse to carry them yourselves\" and it's still true today. Jesus rejected that then, and that condemnation stands.\n\n Priests take a vow; many break it and sometimes they understand they can no longer sustain it and ask to leave the priesthood. Does the Church cut them off from communion because of it? \n\nSustaining a marital relationship requires the commitment of both to grow together--that is a difficult calling although many are still fulfilling it--there are marriages celebrating their anniversaries of of 50-60-70 years and more found in the pages of newspapers today. \n\nCommunion with God can exist on a purely private spiritual level. But to deny communion for people struggling and failing in a marriage cuts them off in a way from their parish community. That's inhuman.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of two) At a time like this, it is well to remember \u201cThe Lord is compassionate toward ALL his works\u201d (Psalm 145:9). \u201cAs you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, rooted in him and built upon him and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving\u201d (Colossians 2:6), though never forgetting how the prison system is racially skewed. \u201cEveryone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all\u201d (Luke 6:19). The idea is to help heal individuals, as Mary Ann McGivern is doing, but, even more importantly, it is to help reframe institutions with more Christ-like outcomes, particularly in matters involving race. Liturgy of the Word, Reading 438, Tuesday of the Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time I.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't it a sad commentary that Cardinal Wuerl was at a White House event that supposedly guaranteed religious freedom, but was unwilling while there to actually exercise his religious freedom to publicly defend universal health care, a core social teaching of the Catholic Church? What does it mean to have religious freedom if one's unwilling to actually exercise it? That seems to be a critical question for the U.S. Bishops to now be asking themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I beg to disagree with you on that point! The history of the church proves that popes who try to 'change everything that they want' either get poisoned or become so hated that nothing that they say/write is acceptable. We live in a society that is much more opinionated than any other society in history---no matter what the pope does----he will not win/win everything. The most that Francis can do, seriously, is cause people to think and reflect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Republican who voted for Hillary, I never believed that Trump would win. But I should have known better after watching Trump basically wreck the GOP all the while driving out voters in ways never before seen.\n\nSteve Schmidt was spot on last night: the old left-right politics in this country are dead & gone. The axis is no along economic & class lines. I do not believe we can work toward the common good unless & until conservatives in this country are able to encounter & engage with minorities, or the left (including \"social justice\" Catholics\") can encounter & engage with whites economically left behind. And dismissing them as moral retrogrades isn't sufficient.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joan, I think you have a perfectly valid interpretation. However, I wondered why the rocks were in the picture and speculated they might symbolize a shattered Easter tomb. I thought the Jesus on the cross looked remarkably healthy despite bleeding into the cup, so perhaps time is altered in this moment that is portrayed, with both death and resurrection now concurrent, ever-present, happening in an eternal and dimensionless moment. Per Hebrews -- Jesus is the 'one and only' sacrifice, so each Mass is not an individual sacrifice but a microcosm?? of this one event that extends forward (and backwards) in time indefinitely, but is also outside of time?? You could interpret the image as Jesus is the High Priest and a Mary receives the gifts. (Did you notice the loaf perched on her arm?) I suppose there are other images in the Missal. I wish I could view them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Food for thought from America Magazine on this event.\n\n\"Francis revealed today [note article date was 22 Oct 17] that the cardinal had sent him a letter on Sept. 30, 2017, in which Sarah thanked the pope for 'Magnum Principium' and provided him with his commentary, which the cardinal had already sent for publication in L\u2019Homme Nouveau the next day.\"\n\nLater, regarding Francis' 15 Oct letter to Sarah: \"Pope Francis asked him explicitly in his letter 'to provide for the dissemination of my reply to the same sites' on which Sarah\u2019s commentary was originally published. He also asked Sarah to send his letter 'to all Episcopal Conferences' and to 'the members and consultors' of the congregation that he heads.\"\n\nWhile I may wish Francis had a chance to handle this quietly and internally, I don't think Sarah gave him that chance. Sarah's actions were deliberately provocative. Francis made sure no one involved remained confused about CDW's limited role in liturgical translations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\nOf course, you are absolutely right. Ironically, that proposition was apparently taught more clearly and less ambiguously in the 1950s than it is today. One result of the radically authoritarian papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI is confusion among putatively \"conservative\" or \"traditional\" Catholics about this basic fact of Catholic teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great argument; the problem is that people do not believe Christ judges their sexual lives, and really that is what the rigorists wish to control and always see as sinful. Loving someone whom God has placed in your life is NOT sin in most people's experience--hence that is not something for which they feel compelled to seek forgiveness. God Bless Pope Francis and all who seek to build up the kingdom of God by welcoming all his children to the supper of the Lord.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just as we see *white privilege resentment with the Trumpster base*; so we see traddie privilege resentment with the anti-Francis base and Republican Catholics such as Chaput.\nCome Nov. 8th it is too bad we won't be able to say to Chaput - *You're fired*", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My original posting that I unintentionally deleted: \"Hillary drew boos too. Plus, while she had an opportunity, she never apologized for her campaign's anti-Catholic remarks that leaked out a few days earlier.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Francis is trying to do is make our church a more pastoral one. Francis wants a church that is not so quick to judge. He is looking for pastors that reach out with love and understanding rather than condemnation and judgment.\"\n\nSo did Saint Pope John Paul. He just didn't believe it was \"pastoral\" to condone or ignore sin or to encourage those in \"irregular situations\" to compound their sin by self justification and abuse of the sacraments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "BTW, here's another reason for the Australian bishops to wake up, and very quickly!\nCheck out these Youtube videos from the Sydney University Catholic Society, a club which was heavily backed by George Pell, and now by Archbishop Anthony Fisher as THE club for Catholic students:\n1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvqrHLN6fWk\n2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93Gq0aSvPko&t=78s\nIn the second one at 0.30s, you will see our friend Card. Raymond Burke!\nDifficult to escape the impression that Vatican 2 has never happened in the mind of this uni society.\nNo wonder that most Catholic students stay away from it in droves, AND that they would be reluctant to identify themselves as Catholic.\nYet, as I said, a society strongly supported by Pell and his protege Anthony Fisher. \n\n(A search of Youtube will also show similar pre-V2 processions at U.S. universities as well).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...no matter the size of the incoming classes or first professed religious, it never covers the number of religious who retire....\"\n\nYes, and reaching out to sources in the Jesuit order and Holy Cross at Notre Dame, you see that. JESUIT MAGAZINE provides excellent data. Since 2000, well over 100 Jesuits have been ordained in the American Provinces. 50 years ago, that number would have been 400. In Holy Cross, Notre Dame, since 2000, 52 Holy Cross priests have been ordained in the US (and 43 abroad). 50 years ago, that number would have been at least 100 or 120 ordinations of Holy Cross priests in the US. Anyway, it isn't like there are no vocations coming to these communities. And that was my point: though lay groups will continue to recruit more, religious communities will still attract a number of young people who opt for a traditional religious community or communal living in Christ. Indeed, both these religious communities have a critical mass of young priests for service.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Nine Catholic organizations, including five religious orders and an archdiocese in Italy, plan to divest from fossil fuel corporations in an action timed to send a message to the upcoming G7 summit.\"\n\nThis is a highly significant and urgent event that we who claim to be religious should attend to. We in fact do not adequately appreciate Biblical Geneology and original Sacrament except we have some background sense of 'The Evolution of Symbiosis'.\nThere is so much more to divine investment in life than represented in the human condition and present-day theological understanding. The sanctity of life extends to deep ecology, to the existential inter-dependency of DNA-linked global life, what in full context is critical to understanding and enabling Eucharist in 'The Naturalis Sacramentum Ordinis'. A sustainable environment, ecological holism, are real-world aspects of Sacrament, of Eucharist, now and always.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the CEO of Under Armour. \n\nDonnie is driving off just about every decent person. He's got the nazis and evangelicals on his side, though.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I don't believe for a second that Christ would want to be connected in any way to this Gold and Glitter church either.\n...it is so far removed from what I believe he intended.\n\nAs for the Spiritual aspects, there are none to be found among the Lost Shepherds(pope to priests et al). Their foundation of faith(for lack of a better word) is FEAR. And at this point in time their fear is Paralising.\n\nSo Tomas, get out from the Limits of the walls the church has built, Breath in the Fresh Air and Know that God is Everywhere.\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a story! Here is my personal response: Daddy appointed me over 30 others more capable. Joe Miller won the primary and I said I would support anyone who wins the primary as long as it was myself. I used RNC money for a write in campaign and was even invited to debates as a write in, sorry to the other write ins. I got half of the votes Scott McAdams, democrat, should have got because I made promises to Alaska Natives and unions that I knew I couldn't fulfill. I am still a US Senator even though I don't deserve to be based on all my dishonesty in my past. I am a Christian but have been evolving on my positions on abortion, homosexuality and transgender. Even though planned parenthood has performed the majority of abortions in America, I will vote to completely fund them as some women(and their male partners) can't afford a few bucks for condoms or other contraceptives. I am proud to be a Republican in name only but am evolving into a democrat. signed, Lisa", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We don't know this. For some reason Jesus picked male disciples..and the Church respects this decision and action by Jesus..and Jesus wasn't shy about tuning people's understanding and practice on many matters....just think of how he corrected the \"divorce\" practice.\n\nNot so with the priesthood. He picked males. \n\nAnd for 2 thousand years....the Church has continued that tradition....the way the Catholic Church works is that the past always gets of vote on matters such as these.\n\nThat creates continunity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christmas time is about celebrating the birth of a human sacrifice. Who was also God. Who required himself to be sacrificed to himself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Two things: I wonder if God is as concerned about sexual matters as you appear to be.\n\nSecond, after three increasingly difficult pregnancies, the last of which was literally life-threatening, my wife was told by her doctor that another pregnancy would likely kill her. When we told my mother-in-law that I was going to get a vasectomy to ensure she didn't get pregnant again, my MIL insisted we talk to her pastor about it. This priest said that the Church taught it would be better that my wife die than I get a vasectomy. In this case, following the teaching would have caused death.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ha, ha, ha! That was a good laugh, thank you U.N!\n\nCanada is the country that offers the best opportunities for a black men/woman/trans/bisexual in the entire World. \n\nCompletely ridiculous! \n\nPS: How about investigating the rights of Catholics in Saudi Arabia/Irak/Afghanistan/etc for a change! Or the rights of Caucasians in Zimbabwe!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Everything written in the Gospels reflects the experience of new Christians after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in some way, shape, or form since that's the air they breathed. But that doesn't mean that everything we always thought we knew about the Pharisees (or anything else in the Gospels, for that matter) is wrong. When Jesus himself is recorded as having provided ample and consistent criticism of Pharisaic behavior I think we can all safely follow in his footsteps despite your meager attempts to undermine his words with assertions that are specious at best. As for your suggestion that the Pharisees were somehow more \"liberal\" for being slavish in their devotion to rules and regulations, well, that's just daft. As a liberal I do not accept that.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Reading all these comments on assless chaps made me laugh. Seriously tho I'm a Christian, I wouldn't take my kids to the parade and I wouldn't be standing out there screaming hateful, hurtful words to anyone who did go. It upsets me when I hear about Christians making bad choices like that, it doesn't really represent the Christian community well, it's not kid friendly, and you can't share the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus by screaming hate and hell speech ugh! And I wouldn't want my kids seeing some dude running around in chaps and a thong. Butts, boobs and whatever else should be for adults not kids. I wouldn't let my kids look at anyone running around showing their ass lol Anyway everyone is allowed to make their own choices, some choose to be hateful, some choose to be almost naked, some choose to show their kids adult situations. If you don't like it..... don't..... go..... super simple :) if your Christian then pray for the ones who do. You owe me two cents ;)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why is it a silly argument? If I was a baker and some christian guy wanted me to write something on a cake that was derogatory towards gays, I would refuse to do so. Are you saying I should be sued for standing up for homosexuals? Should I be sued because I won't tolerate bigotry?\nThe Little Guy", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So lets not give funerals to bishops who eschewed child molestation and child rape and also bishops and other clerics responsible for laundering mafia money through the Vatican Bank. So the Great JP II should never have even had a Catholic Funeral much less elevated to sainthood. We all have great faults including most popes and most clerics. Perhaps one of the worst scandals is when a Bishops wants to deny one group of people a funeral particularly when he is using the poor sexual theology of RCC...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am reading into your support for sexism the clear statement that your claim to be a Christian is dubious at best. My reading is more valid than yours, because your support for arbitrary discrimination is stated quite explicitly.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Great post! Thanks for what you wrote, Carolyn. \nSadly, many of the commentators here are truly NOT Catholic...like the TV doctors are not true doctors, maybe they play one, (a Catholic), on TV! They are NOT pro-life, and do NOT know what they are talking about when it comes to the Catholic faith or pro-life issues. Worse, they support the corrupt Hillary Clinton. She should have been turned away from the dinner, especially after the expose of the e-mails showing the attempt to subvert the Catholic Church. Sadly, Clinton has lied constantly and is favored by the largest abortion provider, (aka baby killer), and baby parts supplier in the country, namely Planned Parenthood. Cd. Dolan should apologize to all Catholics for allowing Clinton to attend the dinner. God bless Trump.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Are you telling me that you have been in a Muslim place of worship. Or maybe you've lived for a period of time in a Muslim community. Or is that you have a close Muslim friend maybe. How about a friend who has lived in a Muslim community. \n\nThere are rapist, murderer's, genocidal maniacs with Christian backgrounds, sitting in American jails. Should we brand all Christians as murdering rapist? \n\nSpend a couple minutes thinking about what other things would concern a Middle East citizen so much that they would sacrifice their life? \n\nI do know the Christian faith well and if you believe that All Christians love their enemies as they would be loved, you're not looking closely. \n\nIt is a noble saying though, wonderful and wise. Maybe you should try it with your own perceived enemies... like Muslims. Or maybe you aren't a Christian, I shouldn't assume that, sorry.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The hypocrisy is worse if what your saying is true. Democrat Christians allow God to be removed from the platform in the name of politics.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Security is not MY buzzword.\n\nThe belief that a woman's face is immodest and should be hidden in public is the issue, as it should be for anyone with a modicum of feminist values.\n\nYou want to defend the right of women to \"self-oppress\", as Wente put it? Fine, then argue that. \n\nBut please stop the hypocrisy of denouncing conservative Christian beliefs as misogynist, while not only defending extremist Muslim beliefs that a woman's face is immodest and should be reserved for one's husband, but praising the women who agree and act accordingly as \"courageous\".", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "...\"Another example of something that doesn't exist. An inauthentic Catholic.\"....\n\nSo good to heat that 'inauthentic' Catholics are non-existent !", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why is the failed 4th estate still not calling the Bundy and friends group what they are?\nThe are \"RIGHT WING CHRISTIAN/MORMON ANTI GOVERNMENT TERRORISTS\".\nIf a muslim group had done what they did the ending would have been very different and the headlines would have used the scary \"terrorist\" word.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There's a fine line between Christianity and religious extremism. There is no such thing as \"one true church\". There's thousands of religions that claim they're Christian. In America we're suppose to have a separation of powers between religious groups and the government to ensure that everyone's rights are protected. There's hate groups and cults that claim they're Christian. America is a dangerous place when the klan is in power. They claim they're Christian. Just because you claim to belong to a fine upstanding organization does not make you a good person. Trump has proven that by trying very hard to destroy the health care system and keep \"evil\" drugs out of the hands of sick people. Greed is not a Christian value. I'm surprised that Trumps picture isn't in the dictionary under the word greed.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Now the muslims know how it feels to be a christian in their countries. Big difference is that christians in eastern countries are quite happy to be left alone. Muslims come to Christian countries demanding and getting. God alone knows why. Money , housing and they also want their own laws which is mainly used for butchering women.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"What if it was a child molester?\"\nThen you would be a priest and be covered?\n\nHowever, the catholic church has harbored 1000s of these ppl", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "My vrsion and version of the Gospel square with: 1) what Jesus told the Apostles regarding their arming themselves; 2) what Augustine and Aquinas taught regarding just war; 3) what the Catechism teaches reagrding the right of self-defense; and 4) what human nature tells you regarding your right to live. As for your claim that we're supposed to be building a kingdom here, Jesus said otherwise. \n\nGo ply your false and fraudulent moralizing to those silly enough to believe you. Don;t forget to thank a soldier for your freedoms.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Are these 'riled up religious people' \"silly\" then?\" In terms of the effects on politics, yes, just as are those here riled up on the other side. As I said, I don't think it makes much difference in the end.\n\nThe only concern I have is about the principle of free speech, which is faring badly these days, on both sides of the border.\n\nI don't think there are many Christian pastors who advocate some citizens \"surely put to death...like the Bible says\", but that is a red herring anyway. It would fall under \"incitement to violence\", not \"endorsing candidates from the pulpit\", which is what the law under discussion is about.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is not a Christian nation of any denomination despite the best efforts of the right-wing Evangelicals who do not consider Catholics Christians. From it inception as a republic in 1789, it has been a SECULAR Republic. There is no state religion. There must never be a state religion. IMHO any religion that has to resort to the power of a unit of government to survive, deserves to die a quick death.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "He was an atheist who hated Christians.\nHe might as well have been ISIS.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"The RCC is the US is in decline.\"\n\nUS Christianity in general is in decline, according to the polls and contemporary research. As a nation we used to be 95% Christian, but now are barely 70% (Catholic, 21%; Protestant, 46%; Orthodox, 1%; and Mormons, 2%). But more than ever -- in a period of decline, secularism, etc. -- we need people committed to living out the \"evangelical counsels,\" radical Gospel recommendations to follow Jesus in communities committed to poverty/community living, chastity and obedience/service. Some CC religious communities are more successful in fleshing out these communitarian imperatives (the heart and soul of the religious life) than others. But whatever their \"success,\" their witness is important today, in an increasingly materialistic, violent culture. There will always be people opting for this life, however. If St. Francis (Franciscans), St. Dominic (Dominicans), St Teresa (Carmelites), etc., had not been so \"foolish\" for Christ's sake, we should be so.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"anti-semitic\"\n\nCriticizing Israeli policies is as anti-Jewish as criticizing Canadians policies is anti-Christian or Saudi Arabia's is anti-Muslim.\n\nBy abusing that term you only devalue its meaning and effectively undermine the battle against genuine anti-semitism.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Are you daft?\nThe baker has said all along that his Christian conscience is what caused him to make the decision he did. His attorneys have argued \"freedom of conscience\" from day one.\nMy opinion of what the Bible says is irrelevant.\nBut it was a great way to deflect from my comment.\nYou want freedom of conscience for Christians but not against them.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Well said! This understanding is sadly missing from popular religion in the U.S. and the \"Evangelicals\" who promote uninformed civil religion rather than Christian discipleship.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's interesting how much the christian right and so called extremist muslims have in common.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This article reminds me of a quote by Democratic pundit Paul Begala - \"I\u2019m Catholic. We\u2019re taught that sex is a dirty, vile, disgusting act that you share only with the one person that you love the most.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This has yet to go before the supreme court. It is one thing to deny service when ordering a slice of pie, it's an entirely different issue to force others to cater events they find offensive. The only purpose in doing that is to be an obnoxious jerk, in your face. Furthermore, you failed to address the blatant double standard, and why liberal businesses pulling the same are not being fined into bankruptcy, only the Christians are singled out. amazes me how you remind me much of those you condemn. My grandma was a devout Christian, and yet you slur her as radical right wing fundamentalist when in truth she was a blue collar democrat. you may as well use the N word against her, gary.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Looks like the Irish have decided to give up the organized superstition that is the catholic church. Amazing that people will react like that when you rape their children. The Irish now recognize the church has no moral authority, no shame, and no power over them.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"I am curious, how do you reconcile internet trolling with christian/catholic ethics? I mean, does the golden rule not apply to the internet?\"\nYou are the last person here I would expect to be asking that question! \ud83d\ude09 \nI don't care whether you are Mr H or not, it is you who seems to have this fixation with those whom you allege post under more than one nick or should that be nic?\nRegarding your last question asked purely out of 'curiosity' of course, as I am not a troll I wouldn't know. If you claim to be a good Catholic then you will know the answer yourself. If you do not claim to be a good Catholic or even a Catholic at all, I question your motive. It is quite common for lapsed and non-Christians to 'throw the Bible' at Christians when in their eyes the latter fall short in the practice of their Faith.\nIncidentally, I have never claimed to be a good Catholic, I don't know where you got that idear from.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"but we don't spend a lot of time concerned about gay weddings\"\nThat's why you and other conservative Christians are busy defending bakers and others who use their Christian beliefs to deny goods and services to gay couples in defiance of the law.\nAs far as I'm concerned, the Dark Ages were followed by the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Secular movements.\nYou overlook that Mr. Bonora said \"the rest of us\". That is, the people who are not conservative Christians.\nConservative Christians want to reimpose their moral code on the rest of us. They want abortion banned despite the fact no woman has to undergo one involuntarily, they want to be able to show their moral superiority over gay couples by refusing them goods and services, they denounce the teaching of evolution because it's not biblical, and they want store clerks to be able to refuse to sell women contraception in order to condemn such women.\nYour side can't stand the fact that the USA is a diverse secular country.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Also Remember Catholic laity are amongst the most supportive of civil marriage equality.\"\n\nIf so, then this \"Catholic\" laity is facilitating one of the worst violations of Catholic teaching and promoting one of the greatest hoaxes on mankind, which is that the sexual union of two gays can be a \"marriage.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Rubbish. \n\nThis bill singles out one aspect of a minority religion/culture and bans it from the public space. This bill would have been a perfect opportunity to remove all religious symbols from publicly funded buildings. If there was any intention to promote religious neutrality in Quebec, that's what they would do. \n\nThe way it is, this bill is simply a tool to remove freedoms from a select and minority segment of the population. \n\nIncidentally, France has exactly the same hypocritical approach to \"religious freedom\" that Quebec does, ie: freedom from other religions. Which is why there have been so many Islamic attacks on France in the past 5 years.\nNorway is an incredibly religious (primarily Christian) country with a Conservative party currently in power, and Angela Merkel of Germany is the leader of the Christian Democratic Union Party of Germany. \nSo it's easy to see why these 3 countries may also favour Judeo-Christian ideologies above all others.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "In this society gay people are still on the margins. While gay people can be married in all fifty states, thanks to last year's Obergefell Supreme Court ruling, a ruling Donald Trump has promised to overturn, we can still be fired for being gay in 28 states, and Trump has already hired people who hope to increase that number. Of course gay people can be fired from their jobs in all fifty states if you happen to work for a Catholic institution, such as a church, school, hospital, or charity. I'm guessing Donnelly College won't be addressing THOSE people who remain on the margins, all thanks to Catholic teaching. So, on the margins we gay people find ourselves, and there we shall remain - at least within Catholic Christendom. But how nice for the poor immigrants - at least they'll get some attention from Donnelly College. With Donald Trump as president, they'll need it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "While I agree with the necessity for a free press in any society, there needs to be some kind of self-policing by the profession to keep obvious scumbags (plenty of them to go around in journalism) from publishing any garbage they choose to run their \"other\" mouth about. There is too much \"peeping tom\" stuff, too much blatant character assasination and too much opinion being masqueraded as fact. While you folks demand total freedom to publish any kind of trash you choose, you reject any control as censorship and unconstitutional. With freedom comes responsibility. How are you going to insure that, Brett? There needs to be limits to the shield law. Maybe your profession should be the ones to lay down the law. Where are you going to draw the lines? Are you going to protect journalists from irresponsible activity just like the Catholic Church or the Honolulu Police have done?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, sure, for Catholics, DT is a just right man for being a president since they've used to see Pope F stand by the C. Pell, C. Law, B. borrows, C. Mahoney. Well, DT should catch up since Catholic clergies proudly stand with Pope F when they promote raping children!\nHow about U?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Those ultra conservative, power seeking Fundamentalists partnering with the Evangelicals in this country, are the Jihadists of the Christian religion. Under President Trump they are succeeding in their goal to impose their ancient, enslaving and cruel dogmas and doctrines on the rest of us including those of other religions or no religion. Their goal is similar to the ISIS group who want to establish their Muslim Caliphate over he whole world. This needs to be prevented. I hope something is in the works to protect us all from a Theocracy. Those Fundamentalists do not understand that what they consider their rights are taking other people's rights away from them by legislating their .on them. That is against our Constitution. It is a serious and imminent danger that needs to be dealt with right now", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cI like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.\u201d \n-Mahatma Gandhi", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Oh my, my, I feel great reading a letter of Marie Collins responds to Cardinal Muller!!!\nWhat is wrong with these prelate\u2019s casual attitude of deceiving people?\nIs truthfulness matter to them at all? They certainly do not represent Christ! \nThey represent corrupt clergies which we should get rid of!\nCardinal Muller, consider resigning for the sake of Catholic Church!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ridiculous. Secular critics would be as appalled at a Muslim theocracy as we are at a Christian theocracy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "C'mon now Enrico, that is as bad an argument I have seen yet... the gospel in a nutshell is love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Do you honestly believe that our Lord wants his people to go around pointing fingers at everyone who doesn't perfectly uphold the letter of the law? Would you wish that upon yourself?\n\nTo claim that a merciful view of the gospel is \"dogmatic\" is inconsistent with the overarching gospel message and simply doesn't hold water. And how you can fathom for one second the possibility of Jesus being \"a sadistic maniac deceiving everyone into misery and gleefully awaiting the moment to cast everyone into hell\" is beyond me... in fact, it seems you have gone out of your way to cast our loving, merciful Savior--even if \"our\" understanding is a little off--as one who possesses Satan-like qualities... I do hope you were being facetious.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Like said many times, never has been about abortion. If the GOP it would keep then in power, they'd sacrifice goats to Satan on the steps of the capital or the White House,. Instead they prefer to sacrifice the health, well being and a woman's freedom to choose. That is all it has ever been about. And if the get this, who knows what they will go after next. Birth control? LGBT? Muslims? Latinos (even the ones who are citizens)? Non evangelicals? (Face it conservative Catholics, they hate and distrust you as much as they do us gay people.)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "80% of Cheetolini voters ID as 'christian'. There was low voter turnout, a large block of Bernie voters didn't vote or voted 3rd party. There was a large block of Republican voters who voted for Cheetolini out of habit of voting Republican and simply to vote against Hillary.\n\nCheetolini will do enough damage in 4 years that the Dems will benefit to win another close one, and meanwhile, the more liberal children of Republican adults will enter voting age ... that doesn't bode well for the old school racist, sexist, xenophobic 'religious' Republican party. You'll have to shift left or meander off into oblivion ... \n\nNo one is fooled by 'christian Republicans' anymore I should hope. Wolves in sheep clothing ... small 'c' because you are super fakey, pretty evil people.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Intellectual is an insult for a Bible thumper", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What you are saying, McHale, is \"The First Vatican Council tells me that the magisterium does not change teachings, and I will not let historical fact change my mind.\" That, sir, is flat out stupid. It is the same attitude of the young-earth creationists, who say \"Genesis tells me that the universe was created six thousand years ago. I don't care that astronomy, physics, geology and even chemistry say otherwise, I go with my ideology, not mere facts.\"\n\nYou, sir, are a bigot, and you are perverting the noble Christian religion to support your bigotry. But then, what you hold is a caricature of the Catholic faith, so why shouldn't you hold a caricature of Christian tenet about loving your neighbor. \n\nYou pretend that I am a bigot, and blasphemer because I take \"love your neighbor as yourself\" seriously. Just as you call me a heretic because I do not accept your delusions.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "But in respect to the protection of children, over and again I've witnessed professional Catholic apologists trying their best to re-write history. This happens on a daily basis, and is presented on the radio and online to thousands of people who likely don't know the true history of the sex abuse scandal. Half truths and outright lies are presented by the people who clearly care more about the church's reputation than about making sure that children are safe from predators.\n\nI'm sure these apologists are groaning about the pope keeping this issue alive.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Fair point. But not only Islam - but also many branches of western christianity who do not consider women as being equal.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Well, there are two billion of us, and a few thousand of them, so I think we have to be careful when assigning blame. Far, far more laypeople, including Catholics, have molested children than clerics have, but we tend to focus only on the clergy.\nI don't believe in a hierarchical church, but I think we let ourselves off easy when we blame them for just about everything.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately for your position this \"nonsense\" is based directly on what Jesus taught, as well documented at Vatican II in Lumen Gentium and the other treatises on the Church.\n\nThose who did not like the outcome, who pine for the Episcopal Church to dwell in their Catholic parish, write nonsense like \"(t)hese later day scribes and Pharisees need to read Matthew 23 every night before bed to see how they measure up.\" pharisaically to their fellows in the Church who actually adhere to what it teaches.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hundreds of thousands of Hawaiians who are Christian know that stones are not sacred. Christ is and Christ alone. Stop making the ignorant bow to strones while the rest of you go about your regualr business.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The future of the Catholic Church in this country is becoming more and more Hispanic. That is one of the reasons so many white Catholics jumped on Trump's racist bandwagon.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Who said deport Muslims? I want NO MORE Muslims to be let in. In our nominally christian country, we prosecute rapists. In too many Islamic countries, they prosecute rape VICTIMS. Seriously; you and Pope Francis must live under a rock. Open your eyes.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I only got the email notification which said something about Smug. I believe in full disclosure - just so all our presuppositions are on the table. Yes I am a white, Christian, conservative male - just the type you most likely spent most of your years persecuting. You use a clearly isolated incident with the EPD, and ignore the hundreds of thousands of good things they do. Pretty pathetic if you ask me, and the taxpayers are paying you for this as well. SAD", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How interesting! The self-proclaimed \"largest Christian university in the world\", with a specific fundamentalist approach to Christianity, will have as its commencement speaker someone who has bragged about assaulting women and being unfaithful, who lies non-stop, who has made countless racist statements as its speaker. Is he to serve as an example for the graduates?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's funny to see Dems/liberals so out of touch with \"Christianity\" that they try to use it in defense of transgender? What part of the bible was that?\n\nAt least you're slightly better than some of your brethren who think joining the military is a constitutional right, or even funnier, \"human right.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Shame, indeed! But Christians don't think laws apply to them. You know, \"religious freedom\" and all. \"Render unto Caesar. . . \" Oh, never mind.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Magisterium of the Catholic Church needs to realize that it has lost its moral credibility on sexual matters decades ago. Humanae Vitae demonstrated in graphic terms the appallingly poor judgment and hubris of the teaching Church and its contempt for the Sensus Fidei Fidelium as over ninety percent of Catholic adults rejected the teaching as either being of the Faith or as binding on Conscience. This catastrophic loss of moral authority and persuasiveness has compounded itself by staggering proportions with the utter disaster of clerical sexual abuse of children. \n\nThe hierarchy of the Church, apart from its magnificent track record of Social Gospel teaching, should shut up on matters of sexuality and sexual morality for at least five hundred years while it does a lengthy silent retreat, meditating on its own moral congruence and accountability to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What drives me to defend Muslims? Easy. I am one. Wife, kids and grandchildren too. I WILL defend them, by the Will and Grace of Allah Sub'hanahu wa Ta'ala.\n\nAs for defending Salafi extremists like the Da'esh (\"ISIS\"), I don't. I'm Shi'a (the original \"sect\" of Islam). Their stated goal--straight from the lips of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is to kill all the Shi'a. I have a problem with that.\n\nThey were my enemy before you ever heard of 'em. Same for al-Qa'eda, the Taliban, Boko Hara'am and every other foul outgrowth with the Wahabbi movement that's been armed and funded by the western 'powers' over the last 120 years or so. Those murdering clowns are \"Muslims\" like the KKK are \"Christians\".\n\nDifference between you and me is that I know my faith and the history of its followers from the inside. What you know, or think you know, you get from TV and fuel it with your own preconceived notions and a heap of willful ignorance and arrogance. If you wanna learn, ask. If not, I'm busy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And: here we go again!!!!! \nWe finally got rid of Bush, but now we have Trump - another troglodyte. Another one who stinks of Trickle-down economics and believes in 'the divine right of kings - British kings that is. American Catholic Church hiararchs (bishops, archbishops and cardinals - 98% of them) also believe in the same - as church history proves. \nIF Trump does not follow GOP ideology and instead does good for the American by not ignoring/using them to enrich the Super Rich and big corporations and does not USE the American people/workers in order to defeat Communism/Socialism/anti-unionism then he will do great good for workers and their families and be a decent prez. BUT if Trump turns out to be a loose cannon then he will be a grave danger to America and the entire world similar to or even worse the Dubya Bush pf the very dangerous Bush klan!!!\n\nTime is on our side and time will reveal all. \nIt is very interesting to note that the American Catholic hierarchs wanted Trump .", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Lame, positively lame. You occationally do better than this. Bill Tammeus certainly knows the difference between nuns and sisters as you would know if you read his previous work. The polyester pant suit thing gives you away as a fervent consumer of right wing Catholic propaganda. HRC could afford much better material than polyester and did.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Gee How could that Be...??? beautiful downtown MOUNTAIN VIEW???...Where the Chronic Enebriates Mingle with the Chronic Care Patients..Gee How could that Be..??? What with Catholic Services Dumping Somali's in with the rest of the Below the Poverty Line Population..\nMountain View isn't a Community....It's a Deposit Box for the Human Refuse of Anchorage, that Anchorage doesn't want to,.. or Cant Deal With.....Enuf Said", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Same here; a recovering catholic. No pedophilia though, as broad-brushed above >pfft<", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Often conflicted - frightening to think or more to the point realize how off the wall our bishops are - they were certainly in Trump's corner. They keep putting up this silly stuff about Hillary being a baby killer and if one voted for her that you would go to Hell. Puleeeeeze! None of the bishops appear to be Christian much less even Catholic. They are careerists who like the lavish lifestyle of big din dins and sumptuous vacate and hanging with the monied crowd. They wouldn't know a sheep if they tripped it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Untrue. The Muslims may have treated non Muslims as second class citizens, but they left them alone. It was the Spanish Catholics that destroyed every since Inca and Aztec temple, and forced every Aztec and Inca to convert, on the threat of death. The Catholics also wiped out Islam and Judaism completely in Spain, Portugal and Italy during the Inquisition.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I don't agree that the people you're responding to Sky 'don't have the ability to make fine distinctions'. Christian & Jewish fundamentalist groups do indeed discriminate against women both in their rituals & in everyday life. Having to sit at the back of a bus because a person is female is very much a part of every day life. Being forbidden to have an abortion or even to practise birth control as also going to affect one's day to day life.Just because these are practices of Catholic or fundamentalist Jewish or Christian groups does not mean they should be ignored.\nIslam if practised faithfully very definitely has serious consequences for female members. More so than most other religions.\nYou called Dante 'very ignorant....' & mayconnie unable to 'make fine distinctions'. Those are very condescending remarks.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Pete Kelly's primary career has been in some form of state employment, pure, unaldultered socialism according to him. That which he claims to oppose is all he has practiced. As other comments have noted, he will collect a handsome retirement check and health care benifits for life through the socialistic system he claims to oppose. All the while claiming fealty to christianity. Isn't there something in that creed that denounces hypocrisy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hillary's actions over the course of the last 30 years are utterly revolting by ANY standard, let alone a \"Catholic\" standard. Enforcing the no fly zone in Iraq, the Balkans, Kosovo, the ongoing bullying and intimidation of Bill's victims, the visible psychotic glee she exhibited over the tortuous death of Khaddafi, the negligence and subsequent apathy in Benghazi, are you guys aware that more civilians died as a result of Clinton practice and foreign policy than then did under both Bush's combined? ...While you guys are clamoring over colorful words by an animated personality, you are ignoring these despicable and real actions of his opponent. At least a Trump White House would be a empty canvas. The Clinton portrait has already been painted, and it's utterly despicable.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Cerberus 2.0 Algorithm predicts wipe out of White Netherlands by 2060 if immigration models stay the same.\n\nPoliticians are opening borders at any costs to maintain population growth to pay for everything.\nThe consequences are the death of white population.\n\nIf the Dutch population model is the same as Canada which it is - White Canadians will be gone by 2070 or so.\n\nAs all you gaze at your navel and slobber over your liberalism.\n\nWhite Christian Canada will be wiped by immigration by 2070. \nYour great grand-kids will be raised in concentration camps\nIf these people will kill their own imagine what they will do to us?\nI think a Chinese immigration model would be preferred. At least the Chinese wont kill us.\n\nYou might want to to read this\nhttps://gefira.org/en/2017/06/05/cerberus-2-0-predicts-the-disappearance-of-the-dutch-population/", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I saw the hypocrisy in Catholicism and organized religion in general 16 years ago, and I left. You can argue these points forever, but as long as you sit silently in the pews your message will never be heard. Get up and walk out. There are many ways to live a true Christian life outside of a Sunday sermon. This religion is concerned about numbers and contributions. Let them feel your disappointment.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Completely hypocritical. Russia is simply a politically correct target. Notice how we don't have a similar list for China, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, etc. \n\nEven the media is afraid to point out the glaring hypocrisy of a \"feminist\" PM ignoring the abuses of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and others and their treatment of women. What about the treatment of gays? religious minorities? \n\nThe government and media feel comfortable criticizing mostly Christian and european Russia, but feel uncomfortable targeting Saudi and others.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "When religion ruled the world is now known as The Dark Ages.\nReligion also spawned The Inquisition, Jim Jones, and every offender that has to-date cost the Catholic Pedophile Ring over TWO BILLION DOLLARS (in the U.S. alone) in court settlements for sexual assault -- that figure does not include out-of-court settlements or situations where the victim is dead.\nThen there are \"honor killings\" in the name of religion, as well as female genital mutilation and murder of accused homosexuals. A staggering number of national genocides are in the name of religion.\nYou are flailing.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's the bishops, you dufus, the bishops or didn't you read the article. NCR has NO power. It's only an online magizine for peoples opinions -- YOU included!!! \nThose are the bishops who put Trump in the presidency. \nWhatever Trump does is on t e heads and souls of the American Catholic prelature -- including the destruction of the death and destruction of the ME, Europe and of America and our families. \nIt is the American Catholic prelates and the likes of such as the Koch bros that have driven the dumb ignorant GOP and their fear mongering, war mongering religion mongering GOP and it's stance on American Exceptionalism and Trickle-down economics that have nearly destroyed our families including the born and the unborn!!! \nDaddy Bush said publicly that poverty IS one of the greatest causes of abortions!!! That poverty is due to Trickle-down Economics. Or as daddy Bush called it voodoo economics. \nTrickle-down is the Catholic prelates answer to Fatima. It is badly misused.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trump's ascension was a direct result of Tea Party, evangelical, and white backlash against disorderly Blacks, Mexican immigrants, a decline in sexual mores and rise of gay marriage. It has been harbored and nurtured as anti Obama and anti woman (especially Hillary Clinton) hate. But most important, it has fostered a hate for the poor, the disabled, the homeless, the sick, the aged, and anyone else in need. These needy folk have been disowned as \"unworthy\" of our concern and suffering from self-inflicted troubles. There is then no mercy - it is their fate until they pray themselves up from their own boot-straps.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You are funny. We only need to fear Muslim people? I'd fear the ones with the belts, but why don't you look up some of the major violent episodes that have happened in the last couple of decades. Many were perpetrated by christians. I find that people are people. I've had Christian clergy rip me off. We have heard about the catholic issues with little boys. \nChristians scare me. So do any fanatical religious people. Christians want to ruin our education by teaching made up crap instead of facts. I could go on and on.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"I am wondering, however, if those students will protest the nearest Planned Parenthood abortion clinic. \"\n\nWell, I wonder if people shouldn't protest the nearest Catholic church because at one time Catholics burned \"witches\" at the stake, or because Catholics at one time owned slaves, or because Catholics at one time brutally tortured suspected heretics to get them to \"confess\". \n\nIf you want labels to last forever, the Catholic Church doesn't have a chance. \n\nDrop the stupid thing about Planned Parenthood and eugenics. Planned Parenthood today isn't about eugenics just as the Catholic church of today is about burning witches as the stake, torture, and slavery. \n\nMSW, you had something valuable to talk about and then distract from the focus by saying stupid things about Planned Parenthood. Get your head on straight.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "At today's Inauguration ceremony, other than acknowledging \"one God,\" the invocations, benedictions and, most notably, Trump's first address to our nation and the world as President, clearly proclaimed \"America First!\" Relying on God's protection, perfect blessings (and death to radical Islamists) will emanate from \"the city on the hill,\" in the name of Jesus. \nAmen! Inshallah?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Tell your nonsense point to the people who had the guts to listen to Trump's speech in Poland. Amazing grace and strength, command of history.\n\nSilly article.\n\nNot a Catholic point in this article. Back page of Slate.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Women who vote to take away other women's cancer tests when they know those women can't afford to get those cancer tests elsewhere are not supporting life but the death of their sisters. \n\nMany Catholic women put our current women hating president into office, knowing that he bragged about how he criminally molested women and abused teens at his pageants by intentionally entering dressing rooms when underage teens were naked. \n\nThere is nothing right about any women supporting other women while those women attack the freedom and life saving health benefits of other women. If the women are nuns attacking the poor women of our communities due to their own personal agendas without concern for the women they are hurting, why should others be concerned about them losing their benefits? At least these women voted for the jerk who took away their funds.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Because a good, loving Christian is the nightmare of any soulless, atheist liberal.\"\n.\nNo, loving Christians don't bother anybody.\n.\nOn the other hand, the fear-filled, paranoid, xenophobic, uni-lingual white evangelicals, who often enough have trouble finding France on a map, are a menace to public safety generally.\n.\nTo be concerned about this plague, it doesn't matter whether a person is an atheist, agnostic, or believer in any faith; and they don't need to be liberal.\n.\nAll that is required is an ability to think.\n.\n______\n.\n\"We shine the light of Truth on your lies, forcing you to confront the emptiness of your existence.\"\n.\nThis is a good example of why the US needs single payer public health care, with coverage extending to mental health facilities.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "NO Trump Hater, snowflake, anti God. God Almighty made Male Adam and Female Eve 1000s of years ago. Your position is a LIE straight from the Devil and You speak from your master - you once wrote that 'Jesus was YOUR Savior', Surely not speaking like it. God Loves ALL but God HATES the SIN (which this is) God will surely Judge YOU and ALL of us. Repent before it too late", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Okay, let's talk about race and crime.\n\nIt's very likely that there's a serial killer currently active in this town. Care to take a stab at the ethnicity of the overwhelming majority of serial killers? \n\nOr what about the white kid from a conservative Christian family who shot the girl he liked and the guy she was sleeping with in Mountain View?\n\nOr the white home invader in Independence Park? \n\nThe majority of non-white people in this town, by a gigantic margin, committed no crime yesterday. I saw and interacted with several of them, didn't feel the least bit threatened.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "AT, please explain how I \"persecute\" Christian, conservative, white males. I'm retired. BTW, can you follow the money? Here is a hint, poor people don't have the money.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So, freeheels, it's okay with you if people are slaves so long as they are white and evangelical?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Poor sick children you will have always, but Cardinals are only here for a brief time, to paraphrase Jesus in support of spending money on those chosen to lead Jesus' Church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mercy isn't so much the first virtue one identifies with Roman Catholicism. Historically, the RCC in effect unmercifully enslaves people-thinking to its institutional legalisms.\n'Roma Aeterna' is as corrupted and corruptible as any human city. Personal conscience has too much been torqued to self-identify with institutional indoctrination. Cultural mind-enslavement effectively derails the track of mercy. Pope Francis has a very different vision of personal church. Interpersonal relationships qualify authentic religion, authentic church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "He literally called for a holocaust of monotheists on his Facebook page. He's very anti-religious. A nutjob for sure, but not a Christian nutjob.\n\nNot only that, but he doesn't even seem to think he is white. He identifies with Native people and causes. He stood in solidarity with Standing Rock and demanded Portland be returned to the indigenous.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"What we have here is a failure to communicate\" on account of one individual being exclusively focused on and enamored with his own thoughts (using that term in its broadest possible sense)--said \"thoughts\" being as articulate and coherent as a derailed runaway train. You posted these questions:\n\n\"WHY IS THIS A STORY NOW?\" It's a part of history and--good, bad or indifferent--history matters. Sometimes we can learn from it (present company excluded). \"WHAT\u2019S THE CONNECTION?\" To what? \"SO CHARLIE...(W)HAT WOULD HAPPEN IF CHRISTIANS REFERRED TO HOMOSEXUALS AS THE \"GAY LEFT?\u201d As this question is addressed to Mr. Wohlforth, I'm not obliged to answer it. \"WONDER WHAT THE LEFTISTS WOULD SAY??\" Ditto. I'm not a 'leftist'. I neither know nor care.\n\n\"WELL, I JUST SAID IT.\" You're always saying something. Problem is most of it is bakwa'as (that's Urdu for lumps of green, steaming, odoriforous matter that periodically drop from the south end of a northbound male bovine mammal).", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I spent a good amount of time arguing in the comments section of the National Catholic Register that the smearing of Alinsky is a pure absurdity and stupidity of the highest order. Alinsky was a friend of Jacques Maritain and greatly apprectated by him. Alinsky was the Lech Walesa of capitalist/materialist America. He was neither a communist nor a socialist. He might not have been a saint, but he was no devil either. He embodied much of the social doctrine of the Church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This article is diabolical and heresy. \n\n\"It's way past time that the Catholic bishops reconsider their position(s) on LGBTQ relationships \u2014 in light of the accepted psychological understandings of same-sex love.\"\n\nCatholics believe sodomy is a sin precisely because sexual intercourse is oriented toward the production of new life (whether or not it achieves this is irrelevant), as well it's \"psychological\" link to bonding. Love, as Catholics understand it, means fully giving of oneself on all levels of human fulfillment. Gay relationships are incapable of achieving this because no biological orientation exists. Therefore, studying the \"accepted psychological understandings of same-sex love\" is irrelevant to any biological orientation. Also, church teachings do not change on the whims of public opinion. Please stand up for what Catholics believe in. Our church was founded on a rock and a cross. I beg of everyone to carry their crosses and defend church teaching. Do it for God.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Nathan,\n\nLife is beautiful. It's death that sucks. The Bible is where I find the stories of Jesus. In Him I find hope for a hopeless situation. I take the bible as authority. All I'm saying it isn't a book about equality. I don't think the followers of Jesus ought to be striving for equality. That isn't why He died - to make us all equal. He died to save us - while we were yet enemies.\n\nIn the bible you have story after story about God choosing and envious people rebelling against God's choosing. In a word, rebelling against inequality. I assume you know the stories.\n\nThat's the only problem I addressed. I'm not okay with the problems sin creates. My prescription is; \"first do no harm.\"\n\nHere is my point - Striving for equality is not going to solve any problems, but it will create many.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The operative term there is \"of late\". Historically, Catholics seem to prefer burning at the stake to beheading.\n\nThe vast majority of terrorists in the US are white male Christians. Why don't you get incensed about that, RD?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It would be nice if the self proclaimed true catholic believers just said adultery is against the Church's moral teachings, especially given scripture mentions heterosexual adultery far more times than it does homosexual activity, but for some reason, they just have to take the male homosexuality bait. It gets soooo old.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing will truly change until the Church comes into the 21st century with its' teachings on human sexuality. The basic message I received growing up in the Catholic Church and attending Catholic schools was that sex equals sin. Masturbation was a sin. Sex before marriage was a sin. Homosexuality was a sin. Extra marital affairs was a sin. The only sexual act that was not a sin was sex between a man and a woman united in holy Matrimony. And even in that case, a child born was born with \"original\" sin. When the Hierarchy saw that many of its' priests were engaged in sexual activity with children how did they see it. Of course, they saw it as sin. Nothing has really changed in the Churches' teaching in the last one hundred years regarding sexuality. If you molest a child, you simply go to confession and have your sins forgiven and go out and sin again.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As expected, a white, male, radical Christian NRA member bent on eliminating the BLM movement.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That is just silly.\n\nChristians owned slaves at the time Thomas Jefferson wrote those words. \n\nHe did write his own version of the bible, but there would have been no reason to do so over slavery. The Bible in its current form was already being used to justify slavery.\n\nFail on trying to come up with some clever false argument to try and discount the idea of separation and state.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You keep running from a simple fact, Bill. It takes faith to believe, all mankind is born in sin, void of faith. faith is a gift from god, unless God gives you faith it is impossible for any to believe of their will. Their will is a slave to sin. Your ignorance of the Bible is profound, Bill.\n Romans 3 addresses this well. it profited not to be a Jew, Bill. Read it. there is none that doeth good, there is none that are righteous. You keep calling your god a liar, Bill.\n Then there's Romans 9, which explains to you why you are clueless of your own religion. First, we have god hardening Pharos's heart, imposing his will over man. POOF there went free will. Every read; THY WILL BE DONE, Bill? Romans 9 goeson to explain you are nothing more than clay, a robot, Bill, created for gods pleasure to do with what he wills. Paul brings up the obvious...if man cannot come to Christ...why then doeth god find fault? because if god wants to it you for destruction, he is the creator.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I.e., every Catholic parish.\n\nAs both sides know, but only one side admits, \"gay\" is a very loaded political term.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Good column Margret. You describe very well the mood of the late '60s in both the U.S. and a sympathetic anti-war Canada. One of the students in my dorm in 1970 was a brilliant, young American boy who was deathly afraid he would be drafted to fight in Vietnam. He wasn't a draft dodger and would have served the military even though all his Canadian friends urged him to stay in Canada if his number had come up. He wasn't drafted and later became a Catholic priest. It is excruciating to think this gentle soul could have gone to die in such a stupid war.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "John Baloney is what every Alaskan will be living on if you with your efforts give Saudi Arabia the Alaskan oil market if HB 247 becomes law!\n\nDon't be Saudi's fool and let this oil glut manipulate the market to run every oil company out of Alaska.\n\nLet\u2019s stop supporting the Middle East oil producers and buy our oil from Alaska and support American values!\n\nThe American gasoline consumers should send our money to Alaska and stop sending our wealth to the Middle East to buy oil!\n\nIt is sad but true, some of our money is used to buy their oil clearly goes into the hands of Isis that hates Americans!\n\nThese Middle East terrorist truly cut off Christians heads if they don\u2019t convert the teachings of the Koran! Read the news!\n\nI love Alaska and it can help our nation keep our nation supplied with oil! The United States welcomes all good people!\n\nLet\u2019s give our oil money to Alaska instead of the Middle East and Isis.\n\nLet\u2019s Fill TAPS,\n\nLet\u2019s double the PFD,\n\nLet\u2019s make America great again!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"The secrecy of the confessional is drilled into all Catholic children and of course into all priests. To betray it is considered the worst crime imaginable, comparable to desecrating the Eucharist.\" \nSo the worst crime imaginable is desecrating a consecrated host. Protect the pedophile priest with the seal of confession. Desecrate the bodies and souls of kids. \nAnd this is Holy Orders?\n\nAW", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I had to rate this comment (\"sorta\" and \"yes\") but strongly disagreed and came to look for it. Christianity and Catholicism, of course, have great art. But you dismiss the Greeks? To say nothing of Hindu and Chinese traditions that are less familiar in the West. Shame for your narrow-mindedness!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "@jerry69, here is some spin from an 1855 letter of Abraham Lincoln's:\n\n\u201cAs a nation, we began by declaring that \u2018all men are created equal.\u2019 We now practically read it \u2018all men are created equal, except negroes.\u2019 When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read \u2018all men are created equal, except negroes and foreigners and Catholics.\u2019 When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty\u2014to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.\u201d\n\nKnow-Nothings refers to the American Party, which didn't want Irish Catholics fleeing the potato famine to enter the country. People thought women were held against their will in Catholic convents and that priests systematically raped nuns and then strangled any children born as a result of their union.\n\nSee the comparison?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I make no claims to be an expert on any religion.....in fact, as an agnostic, I readily admit I don't have answers to such questions. I do, however, find it rather sad that folks to claim to follow the teachings of a savior, can, at the same time, be so condemning of others as are right-wing fundamentalist Christians. Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You may have missed this, but the Christian right wing, left wing or centre has not been consistently killing people in the name of their religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He's just plain revolting and so was that comment.....I find it almost impossible to believe that reputable Christians support Trump and these appointees.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I said, the Catholic Church allows only married couples to have sex, and they have to pretend they are doing it for \"reproductive purposes\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Congress did not design the pledge. It was created by a christian preacher. It had no \"under god\" in it. That phase was injected in the 1950s fascist Republican CONgress along with the terrorism of HUAC and one other time when Republicans demonstrated their incompetency in governing and fascist policies which the nation is still paying for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or the police photos of her being incontinent in the street...what an upright EXAMPLE for America's youth! The Christian 'dominionists' at their best!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With the exception of his position on homosexual issues, Trump's ideology appears to be strikingly {Traditional} Catholic. FDR, the 33rd degree free mason, and his New Dealers initiated the nanny state which, quite obviously, completely contradicts the Church's theory of governance via subsidiarity. His \"protectionist\" philosophy squares nicely with RERUM NOVARUM and the theory of distributism . His immigration platform is closely aligned with Aquinas' thinking. His support for law enforcement, and the rule of law in general {as opposed to the leftist penchant toward rioting and anarchy}, is a welcome change from the prior administration {just ask the residents of Ferguson, Baltimore, and Berkley}. So just what, exactly, are Catholics supposed to \"oppose\" here?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe Pizza-Gate is up next.\nLike the Catholic church but with Haitian orphans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I invited you to my church this Sunday would you come ? I am sure you would not find any \"Christian Taliban\" lurking in the pews.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would say that most people in today's world take religion with a grain of salt. That includes Muslims and non-Muslims. I sincerely hope this is the case, especially with the Bible's Old Testament. \n\"If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her ... and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid: Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: And the damsel's father shall say ... these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. ... But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die. Deuteronomy 22:13-21\"\nIf Christians took this literally, chances are that most of us would not exist!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's easy. Republicans love the \"People of Israel\" when they're in Israel. It fits in with their apocalyptic Christian eschatology. Next door, not quite so much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Mr Trump is clearly a tool.\"\n\nYou hit the nail on the head there! \n\nSince when did Jesus ask his church to seek \"power and influence over the government\"? You really have no idea whatsoever about Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bottom line is this isn't only a payback to Newt for his support, it is a slap in the face to Pope Francis and to all progressive Catholics. The right-wing Catholics will not criticize this appointment because they love the in-your-face attitude of Trump even to our own Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A lot of heartless people here, some of whom probably profess to be Christians. For shame. We are all human beings. I feel for these kids.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you implying Christians are NOT doing this ? If so, you are not looking very hard, and I hear very little public outcry from the Muslim community when these mass murders occur.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This fatwa issued by the Quebec government is, supposedly, about ensuring state neutrality over matters of religion.* Quebec has forbidden veiled Muslim women from receiving government services, supposedly because the veil is a mark of their religious beliefs. Surely you see the explicit discrimination?\n\nA Catholic priest dressed in religious attire can receive government services in Quebec. A Jew wearing a yarmulka and a Sikh wearing his turban can receive the same. Ditto for a Buddhist monk in his robes. But for dark reasons they won't admit, the Quebec government will not provide government services to Muslim women in veils.\n\nRead it and weep. Quebec's law isn't about security, it isn't about women's rights, and it isn't about secularity. It's about discriminating against Muslim women. \n\n*Bill 62 : \"An Act to foster adherence to State religious neutrality...\"\n\nhttp://www.assnat.qc.ca/en/travaux-parlementaires/projets-loi/projet-loi-62-41-1.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The title of this article is misleading.\nNormally the day of reckoning is defined as the time when one is called to account for one's actions, to pay one's debts, or to fulfill one's promises or obligations......This definition does not apply to the so called \"One Holy Catholic Church\" and the horrific rape of children and the life shattering effects from said rape and the betrayal caused by the cover-up and ruthless treatment towards victims.\n\nThe sickening example of the \"Catholic Church day of reckoning\" was on display during the Milwaukee bankruptcy and the cold and duplicitous actions can be seen in Guam. The new archbishop, Michael Byrnes speaks with forked tongue as he spends millions on legal efforts to overturn a new law giving victims a day in court at the same time saying that victims come first and should be compensated fairly. (As the AB spends the fair compensation)\nFrancis should resign in shame and this organization should be shut down and leaders charged using RICO.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The republican base have traded Christian ethical ideals for the schadenfreude philosophy of American fascist mythology.The golden rule is fake news.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I realize that it is \"out there\" and take pains not to comment on things about which I know naught. But it is the Globe spamming the public with article after article which, in one way or another concerns Muslims. You would think they would see some obligation to have some educational component to their articles. You wouldn't, for example, expect to see in the Globe an article \"Little Boys Sexually Abused By Christian Church\", you would expect to see \"Little Boys Sexually Abused By Catholic Church\" because the difference is important.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The one who can't let something go is YOU, RD. You have a burr in your saddle which insists that my inability to forgive those who bullied me separates me from Christ (indeed, you have gone so far as to say I do not believe in Christ, which shows remarkable arrogance on your part). Of course, it doesn't. I would point out two things: Your putting hurt in scare quotes says that you don't believe that I really was injured by the bullying. Thank you for confirming my suspicions that your sympathies are entirely on the side of the bullies.\n\nSecond, I suggest that your self-righteousness is far more damaging to your relationship with Christ than the difficulty I have forgiving someone who has actually injured me. My feelings towards that man do not affect you in the slightest, yet you insist on bringing it up repeatedly.\n\nLet me deal with the demons in my soul. You should have enough to do dealing with your own shortcomings than to wag your finger at me and mine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I got your opinion as well. Endorsing abortion is always intrinsically evil, as well as Satanic Worship, Child molestation, and murder. Would you not agree or do you still stand by your erroneous statement that nothing is always evil? On the other hand the belief and worship of the Holy Trinity and the devotion to our Blessed Mother Mary, are always intrinsically good. I could provide numerous other examples if you would like. You obviously don't believe that the Catholic Church is the one true faith, if you did you would have no trouble understanding my views. God's truths don't change over time, and they surely did not change only in the 20th Century and beyond. The Holy Spirit is the same today, 2000 years ago as well as the future. I welcome all members of the Protestant Church to convert back to the true Church, its teachings and the true Eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting - just putting this out there. \nJohn's inherently nasty comment IS considered civil. And he wrote it twice, it passed twice....but when I point that out - my comment is considered not civil?\n\nJohn wrote \"Thank you for proving that your claim to being a Christian is a complete sham.\" That's civil??? Later he posts another comment - \"As I said previously, your claim of being a Christian is a complete and utter sham.\"\n\nI reply again.....\nApparently?\nSo is yours.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The term \"Christian terrorists\" is an oxymoron.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't believe these are \"exclusively\" Christian principles or vales.\nAnd in the face of an immoral travel ban, removal of health care for millions in order to increase the wealth of a tiny minority, and deliberate action to endanger trans students in schools, I'd say modern-day \"right-wing (Christian) principles\" leave a lot to be desired.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "TQ, what \"fierce orthodoxy\" trumps caring for the least ones?\nNot to champion abstractions, theories, interpretations but flesh and blood persons.\nChristianity was supposedly unique in elevating the person, no least the least, to priority over the Law.\nRCC is more Judaic than Christian in its current practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That which becomes the Body and Blood of Christ maintains every accident of what it was before the consecration. Its reality has completely changed. If you wish to adopt the non-Catholic/anti-Catholic approach to the rest of the sacrament to that core Catholic belief, you may wish to add another \u201cHow gullible we are\u201d. I hear that a lot from the Jack Chick crowd.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether he is an illegal immigrant is irrelevant to the fact that he was convicted of a crime. Legal immigrants are convicted of crimes, as are children, and citizens who were born here. White people are convicted of crimes, and so are black and Hispanic people. Asians commit crimes. Republicans commit crimes. So do Democrats and independents. How about chefs? Do chefs commit crimes? Yep. How about cops? Christians? Yep. The list goes on. Duh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know what the differences are between Christians and atheists?\n\n1) Atheists deny the existence of all (roughly) 2,000 deities on the planet. Christians deny the existence of 1,999 of them.\n\n2) Atheists don't believe that anyone is damned if someone believes differently than they do. Christians are so sure that all non-believers are damned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, you are a little too far off the partisan deep end to make a constructive contribution to the conversation. Trump and his staff are anything BUT Leninist/Marxist or Fascist (Again, go to your library), and Muslims can come and go all they want from and too this country. No one has banned them (again, read the Executive Order). The only people that can't freely come back and forth across our borders are citizens, residents, or travelers (Muslim, Christian, or otherwise) through seven specific nations that do not have adequate vetting processes in place. Quit the rhetoric, get the facts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't believe it is accurate when he says they're obligated to provide religious accommodation. They're obligated to treat everyone the same. And it's worth noting they kicked Christian prayer out of the schools. So out with the Christians, in with Islam. Yeah, what did you expect was going to happen?\nThis is not going to end well!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, so you focus on one gender relations distinction that most Judaeo-Christians agree on but many Muslims disagree on. But you ignore the host of gender relation distinctions that Judaeo-Christians disagree on. But I see the real truth about your argument here. You don't like Muslims and don't want them in Canada. Everyone is fine as long as they are Judaeo-Christians and enjoy our art and music. Why didn't you just say you were racist against Muslims and we could have avoided all this wasted time with you pretending it was about multiculturalism?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have mentioned the speech by Bishop Long of Parramutta Australia elsewhere in this string, but want to bring you a bit of it. You are so on target in your comment.\n\n\"Just like the early Jewish Christians, we are told to take heart and discern the way of God in times of crisis. The metaphor of the death of the old temple worship becomes relevant for us as we witness an emerging church from the ashes of the sexual abuse crisis and its lightning rod, the Royal Commission. Our churches may not be destroyed like the temple in Jerusalem. But in many ways, the death of the old way of being church is already evident for all to see: our reputation, moral credibility and trust capital are effectively destroyed in the wake of the sexual abuse crisis along with the vestiges of the old fortress, insulate, triumphalist, clericalist church. But let us not be afraid of the death of the old just as the burning in Malachi\u2019s prophecy is followed by the new dawn.\"\n\nImagine that honesty in a U.S. bishop", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My first thought was that this was a Christian Right radical that did this. After all, Timothy McVeigh was Christian, not Muslim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I couldn't agree with you more! Truly, the Vicar of Christ. I recall Gandhi saying, \"I like your Christ. I don't like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.\" Gandhi would surely state that Francis is a Christian! God, protect him!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Father Andrew Greeley often wrote about the \"Gay Mafia\" in the Catholic hierarchy. Glad you recognize it and will work to remove those bishops from the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bible was written by people and it wasn't dictated to them by some deity so it is far from perfect and that is why there are all sorts of conflicts and flat out falsehoods. (What the Romans, Greeks, Norse, Hindus, Aztecs, Maori, Druids, Incas etc got it all wrong, but the Christians hit the bulls eye?) The Bible's authors did not know much about anything. They knew virtually nothing about geology, biology, physics or chemistry. They did not know what stars were. The had no knowledge of atoms, gravity, cells, viruses, bacteria, genetics. You say the Bible is perfect but then allude to a passage that needs some interpreting. There are quire a few such passages and no shortage of people willing to provide very different interpretations. On balance you seem to set a low threshold for perfection.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes and further on that point DD, Ted seems to hang much if not most of his approach on his view of the 5th and 6th Trumpets. But the thing is, there is no \"official\" SDA position on the Trumpets. In fact, today's premier official SDA theologians, such as J. Paulien, argue the 5th Trumpet is secular-atheism and not Islam:\n\nhttps://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/2012/01/the-seven-trumpets-of-revelation\n\nTed seems to apply Uriah Smith's original view, that put a lot of emphasis on the 6th Trumpet being the Ottoman Empire, and linked to Dan 11. Yet Smith's approach, which once dominated Adventism, was effectively scraped when the Ottoman Empire collapsed in 1918. \n\nBut assuming the 5th Trumpet is \"Islam\", yes it could mean Muhammed and all \"Muslims\" are part of a false, evil religion. Or it could mean Muhammed was genuinely called by God, as a prophet in the mould of Balaam, with a godly mission to punish the apostate Catholic-Byzantium \"Christian\" empire.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lets not forget it was religious bodies who ran the residential schools. Lets start with religion first. If you want to find the single greatest source of hate...its religion. Sir John A's views pale in comparison to the damage they have done.\n\n1 - lets get rid of the Catholic School Boards in Ontario.\n2 - lets tax all religious institutions.\n3 - lets ban all religious prayers or blessings from public ceremonies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't know what is in the hearts of the Pope's dialogue partners, just because they nod their heads and are all sweetness and smiles around him. We already had the spectacle of the Imam invited to the Vatican to give a prayer in the Vatican and he prayed for victory over the infidels and publicly denied that God has a Son in the Vatican gardens. Would Muslims take well to the Pope proclaiming Jesus Christ on their \"turf\"? How do you know how Muslims elsewhere view our attempts at appeasing them? Just because you see from your perspective, oh look how nice the Pope is doesn't mean others don't see it that way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Islam is as much a political movement as a religion.\" That's a ridiculous simplification, leading to an absurdity. \n\nThe Islamic faith is present in almost 200 countries on the planet, including Canada. So where is Canada's political party based on Islam? Where is the US-based Islamic party. France's? Great Britain's?\n\nIslam has no more to do with politics than does Christianity. To be sure, some Muslims are political just as some Christians are political. But in neither case are their fundamental beliefs political.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you have to quit acting like an English composition teacher.\nYour arrogance is showing. Nobody comments on your English composition.\n\"What immigration EOs has Trump drafted?\" Are you nuts? Trump signed an immigration EO within days of being sworn in banning people from certain countries from immigrating but allowing Christian immigrants from those countries to come in.\nThat was struck down.\nHe's signed other immigration EOs as well concerning enforcement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"CE\" for either \"Common Era\" or \"Christian Era\" is a standard usage among historians, and is universally used by Jews, who have bad memories of Christian antisemitism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can see the anti-Christian haters will enjoy what had happened here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Taqiyya is the Islamic practice of deception. Muslims are permitted to tell falsehoods to infidels, Jews, non-Muslims to defend Islam. Taqiyya is as basic to Islam, as charity is to Christianity. Taqiyya is a moral duty. No other religion has such a thing as Taqiyya. It is anathema to western thought, and so it is hard for non-Muslims to understand that it actually exists and is used regularly against western culture and political stability. \n\nThe worst part is that the police, and liberal media like the Globe, are now giving us taqiyya, doing Islam's dirty work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My goodness such language! Shame on you! The kiki in your feel good music class may hear your micro-aggression and be triggered. \n\nOpen your CHRISTIAN bible to Revelations 6.8 and you will see your future foretold.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I doubt a Christian or even any other religion will be given the same platform to state their reasons why they believe there is a God\" - 1. The Daily Maverick allows a diverse range of opinions and I'm sure if you so wish to prove the existence of the almighty they would let you. 2. We are literally forced to consume religion (usually Christianity) from the moment we start attending school. The status quo is such that God simply exists and anyone who tries to suggest otherwise is crazy or a horrible person - a social outcast. Sounds very much like the social justice warrior stance - \"You disagree with me? This is not a debate! You are wrong! And also a vile human being\" etc. The amount of religious practice in daily society that atheists just have to swallow is ridiculous, but only the feelings of the religious matter, apparently.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One comment about Muslim men; where they need to be called out; and I hope the Globe and Mail has the guts to not censor this....because if they do I will let it be known in every lecture hall that I attend and in every other news source in the world that they deleted it: In every high school and College and University and in the bars in the Western World you have a lot of Muslim men/boys out chasing Jewish and Christian girls and woman, hankering after them....but if Jewish or Christian Men/boys go after their daughters or sisters, then it is either impossible or nothing but trouble, big, big trouble...so for Abdul or Hassan.....can my son show up at your door and take your daughter out to a party.....because for over 20 years plus, I aint seeing that much that way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If we have things your way, no one who believes that marriage is between a man and a woman and does not wish their property to be used for a same l-sex commitment ceremony can even sell apples at a farmer's market. I get that you wish to punish people who don't believe you do, but even if I was not a believing Catholic I would think that goes too far. It's definitely not a live a let live point of view you have.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I just posted your picture in the church (just like the post office) as one of the most wanted criminals of the church...but in your case for being a reasonable and well thought out christian! :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope. Neither should they. One can support a Pope as an improvement over previous popes without supporting church teachings that contradict Gospel commandments such as with the ordination of women. It is always sin to hate and discriminate like with racism or sexism and the Church Magisterium can't make what Christ has declared sin a righteous form of behavior. Most Papal Loyalist agree abortion is a sin & against church law but they don't see how church law & civil law need to be the same since they have different goals. Our treatment of baptized Christian Church members who are homosexual has been repugnant - Do not condemn else you will be condemned is in the Gospels spoken by Christ. Papal Infallibility is supposed to be utilized only when the pope is reciting scripture or a dogma, it does not specify anything a pope says is perfect or that popes can't sin which Pope Francis admitted to soon after election by identifying himself as a sinner. Who claimed God can't judge us?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Uh-Huh - - - please consider the over 60 Sharia Courts that are now operational in England. Who 'brought' them to fruition? Christians? - - - Consider if Christianity is better or worse that Sharia. This could be our future as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"White Catholics were very narrowly in favor, 50 percent-49 percent.\"\nHow wonderful! Really something to be proud of -- in the true tradition of Jesus who always said that those who worship differently ought to be cast out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First you find a master or the master finds you, or maybe you study and learn and one way or another you become enlightened then you become a guru and teacher others, like Jesus. \nSome people just don't become enlightened, as you say maybe in the next life they will, they certainly shouldn't parade around like a pope or priest, that is just fluff and ego. That is why i say there are no really master or teacher for Catholics, Muslims or Jews because their whole idea is wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From the time that Georgetown and the Jesuits sold slaves, including a 2 month old baby, in 1832 it took them 170 years before they were shamed into admitting this. That is not a track record that anyone should be proud of, no matter who is trying to defend them. Thomas J. Reese, SJ, did not discuss this until it was front page news (he was not the leader here but rather a follower). They are not the only Catholic organization that owned slaves. Since Catholicism is the largest religion in the U.S. this bit of history needs to be put on display in an African American museum in DC. If the Catholic Church and the Jesuits end up with egg dripping down their faces well so be it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My point about free cake was just an example. You claim he is such an awful person but know nothing about him. I can claim you are an awful person because I find flaws in your posts. Is that fair? As to him being an awful Christian, I think the Bible states that we are all imperfect. Why do you hold this guy to a higher standard than the Bible does? You may not like his actions, but you are off base in your statements. I am a conservative but I am fine with gay marriage and would attend a gay wedding if invited so I don't agree with his decision, but I don't look at him as a horrible person. It's not like he is the only source of wedding cakes so they can easily go somewhere else and get their cake made.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It is up to the Mohammedans to tell you what are human rights. \n\nIf I recall the Arabs screaming in my ethics seminars at university, they seem to have different ideas than we Christian Europeans.\"\n\n--\n\nLike the Christian Nazis?\n\nOr the Christian Spanish, Portuguese and Italian fascists?\n\nHow about that fine Russian Orthodox Christian,Vladimir Putin?\n\nLots of ethical shortages among European Christians, if history is to be considered.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "no more stereotype Christians than I do Muslims or Buddists or whatever. I do condemn the actions of individuals who use their religion as a basis for ill-treatment of others. .....and yes, indeed, I do feel there are Christians (just as there are Muslims) who justify their mistreatment of others with their religious beliefs.\n\nAs, Paul, I've said many times before. I don't really care what you \"believe\". I care how you ACT toward others and the world around you.\n\nBTW: Your comment regarding the diversity of the Christian Church is ironic. In fact the group of individuals I've seen demonstrating the least acceptance of the diversity of the Christian Church is the hard-core, fundamentalist \"fire and brimstone\" right-wing Christians who REFUSE to accept that anyone can be a \"true Christian\" unless they agree with their specific beliefs regarding Christianity.\n\nAgain, I neither condemn or mock \"Christians\" as a group. I do condemn using Christianity as a bludgeon. Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clinton foundation has helped 9 million with lower cost aids drugs. Oh wait, I forgot, the right wing Christians think these people deserve to die. My bad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Everyone else seems to be moving along with the church at this very exciting time.\u201d So Wuerl said\n\nThey are? How does he know?\n\nWhere does the Catholic intelligentsia get its info on what Catholics think? There are no Catholic opinion polls. \n\nWhat we have is the trads saying \"this is how Catholics see it\" and the progs saying \"no, everyone sees it like this.\"\n\nMeanwhile, Catholicism still loses more members than it gains at a higher rate than any other denomination,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Members of the \"Religion of Love\" (Catholics and Protestants) slaughtered each other until not that long ago. \nFor many centuries, Sunnis and Shia coexisted, with many even inter-marrying. The theological schism erupted into open warfare only following the 2003 US destruction of Iraq when armed thugs began blowing up each others mosques.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fine, rid all evidence of Christianity from Canada. Just remember, this must result in all religions being expunged from the public school system. No more prayer rooms for certain members of society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "99.9% of Canadian muslims have arrived in this country since the late 1960's and most since the 1990 and yet they have so so many grievances you'd think they were residential school survivors. Islam seems to have a built in grievance and victim culture used to advance its political agenda. Muslims are not victims, they are 15% of the world's population, and form a majority in 55+ countries, restricting the rights of non muslims wherever their majority is strong enough to do so. They have conquered vast territories just as the European Christians did during the Colonial era.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pro-life harassment and terrorism has been a feature of American society for decades. Americans tend to makes excuses for and look the other way when it comes to right-wing violence. If you wrap yourself in the flag or kill in the name of Christianity you become a folk hero. Fascism and the Bible (at least the ignorant interpretations of it) go hand in hand in the United States.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "hey there are hundreds of bank robbers on the loose right now, accused of stealing billions during the 2007 and 08 stock market crash....some of these guys made bank off some poor little old ladies retirement and not only are they still on the loose but I hear their pretty well off financially , and protected by the financial and political system, and no Im not a liberal Im a conservative Christian sick of all the hypocrisy", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: \"Mr. Trump started lying right out of the gate\"\n\nBut ... but ... but the good Sister Sarah Huckabee says, \"the President is not a liar\".\n\nShurely they can't both be lying. \n\nCould they?\n\nI mean, that's called bearing false witness, and good Christians would never do that.\n\nWould they?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't Gary, you are simply making up your own definitions to suit your worldview. Marrying homosexuals has never been a sacerdotal responsibility of any Christian Pastor - I would challenge you to find any instances of this occuring and perhaps you will change my mind. Obviously you are forming your own opinions based on your choices and attempting to revise history, which has been a key platform of the homosexual movement since it's beginning. And furthermore, you have no idea what view is held by billions of Christians, so don't pretend you do. Your puff piece propaganda sounds good in the media, but contains no substance or factual information whatsover. And furthermore, these \"Christian\" Churches who are marrying homosexuals are simply doing so because they are the \"Church of what's happening now\" not the Church of Christ. I have no problem with you referring to them as Churches, but will not allow you to attach Christ to it, this is not \"my\" view, it is validate by history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You display an appalling lack of understanding of Christianity and the role of Jesus of Nazareth in fulfilling and completing the incomplete ancient scriptures. There are countless examples of Jesus teaching that the old ways of \"the Law\" were wrong and were superseded by his teachings.\n\nChristianity is by definition Jesus. You will never find Him exhorting his followers to engage in the violent extermination of non-believers, as you will find Muhammad doing in the Quran.\n\nYou also have your timelines conflated but no matter; carry on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Over the years we got rid of the Lord's prayer, any reference to God in the classroom, even Christmas in the public school system. There is no possibility, never mind opportunity for Christians or Jews to even mention religion anywhere in the schools. Yet here we are allowing Muslims to worship in public school property, encouraging their religious leaders to indoctrinate them against secular values that are paramount in a non-denominational public school system. Let the imams do that in the mosques, on the students' own time! Why do we let this happen? Why do we preferentially accommodate the Muslims and no one else? We should not allow this for anyone! Enough of this nonsense already.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Freedom\nLet Christians help by speaking out and identifying these radical elements within their community.\n\nUS Presidents and Vietnam, George Bush and Iraq, Tony Blair and Iraq, Jean Chretien, Stephen Harper and Afghanistan......\n\nMuslims did not start this series of events by attacking \"the West\". The US financed the takeover of land in Palestine and armed Israel. Arabs retaliated by attacking embassies in Africa...and on and on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So if Evangelical Christian bakers can refuse to bake gay marriage wedding cakes, that means that gay bakers and florists can refuse to serve at weddings for conservative Christians. Yes? Do you think they will go for this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The commandant at the troll farm just gave a thumbs up to Pandora as an example of how to change the subject from an HR personnel adjunct problem at a nothing college. to how to split the Catholic Church e.g pope against Kennedy ,,, Trump vs the rocket man.. ???", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except that both Christianity and Islam (and only radicals) call each other infidels. Love and sanity is the most healthy mental state. It's radicle for anyone to assume that to be a form mental illness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course. The number of killings by ISIS/al Qaeda members from the Mideast is also paltry compared to killings by white Christian 'Murcans. You forgot the flow of guns from law abidin' 'Murcans into the illegal market, arming the nation's criminals. It's no wonder Mr Turnip is worried sick about terrorists getting into the country, because they sure won't need to bring any guns with them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The media has dragged the Catholic church, kicking and screaming, to account for their disgraceful inaction when their priests rape and abuse children. It is because of the media that this has come to light at all. The media has been the moral compass in exposing this dreadful state of affairs. The church has lost its credibility when it sought to not cause scandal and to move abusers from parish to parish. The secular world has shown the way to the Catholic church. I do not know if Pell is innocent or guilty. As an Australian, I am confident that the Australian legal system will give its best shot in establishing the truth of the matter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't it a bit ironic that Catholic Churches ring the Church bells on Patricks day to welcome destroyers into the country, and, right on cue one such savage kills our people in London. The clergy are complicit! They step up to the pulpit and pray for 'world peace' as if they are dimwitted beauty pageant contestants. The clergy have despised their noble birthright and sold it away for the sod pottage of social-work. 'Preaching' enviromentalism as incompetent 'scientists'; they make themselves fools addled alongside 'global warming' hot-shots who have been ridiculed for decades. [even 'global-warming' has had to have been changed to 'climate change' because the 'scientists' are always repudiated by the evidence...which contradicts 'warming']. [Or, 'cooling';...because in fact the nature of it is CYCLICAL; driven by the sun][indict me for mortal sin of 'climate denial', or, call me Capernicus]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "President Trump has consistently attacked and demonized Muslims for purely political reasons, and thus has shown himself to be an opponent of religious freedom, except for his won xenophobic base of course. Republican policy on Capitol Hill has also been consistent in its determination to strip the poor of health care, enrich the already wealthy people with further tax cuts, and a general intolerance of visible minorities. Indeed, since Trump was elected, hate crimes against Muslims and Jews have spiked sharply in America. One wonders whether these so-called evangelical leaders who declare themselves to be presidential advisers have told the President that his conduct has generally been the antithesis of Jesus' teaching and ministry in which we are instructed to care for the sick, welcome the stranger, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and so on. If these evangelical leaders have called on the President to change his ways, I must have missed it - if not, why not?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, you've misrepresented his point. Why does Mr Trudeau have nothing to say when Christians are persecuted and even killed in Muslim nations?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not true, Jerusalem was Jewish 2000 year before it was seized in bloody massacre by Islam's genocide armies. . The entire middle east had been Roman and then Christian 500 years Muhammad married his 6-year-old bride. It was Islam and Mohammed who invaded and destroyed centuries of western states. Constantinople, Syria, and Jordan were all Christian and the Crusades were failed attempts to take back what was rightfully western from the forces of bloody conquest and death.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Winters. \n\nI'd be more concerned about your own soul, then trying to discredit CM.\n\nIf you actually believe what you wrote in this article, then you are the one who doesn't understand true Catholicism. You say they are uncharitable? Do you not believe that God is a just judge? \n\n1 second after you die it's too late. If you are in unrepentant mortal sin... you go to hell. This is what the catechism of the Catholic Church teaches.\nNCR's definition of charity in many of its articles seems to be to encourage folks that sin is OK. God understands. God only understands if you repent, and only is \"charitable\" this side of salvation. 1 second after your dead it's too late.\n\nAll you have to do to see that CM is on point is read the catechism of the Catholic Church, the saints, the early church fathers & the gospels.\n\nI'd be recinding this article and going to confession if I were you. You will be directly responsible for mis leading Gods children. \n\nGovern yourself accordingly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Church Militant? Hardly any more militant than Immaculate Heart Radio, which is the Catholic media channel my car radio is stuck with.\n \n\"Attack attack attack\" -- that accurately sums up much of the IHR programming. Hours spent daily telling protestants they are fools, and telling young people that yoga classes are Satanic. \n\nAnd everyone wonders why Church attendance keeps plummeting.\n\nI'll say this for Voris: He only takes a modest salary, and doesn't insist on the plump 6 figure payouts that IHR's staff of apologists demand for themselves.\n\nBut hold on, MSW wrote this piece? MSW, why not disclose your salary to the public, given that it comes from the pockets of other Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ryan, the news is reporting that the shooter is a prominent Christian who taught bible classes. Although, I would take any news right now with a grain of salt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed. I will stipulate that Barack Obama was not perfect by any means. But, Obama was better than good than any of us will ever see in our lifetimes. \n\nMSW and his brother hierarchs are just disappointed that President Obama hasn't aided them in maintaining their ever more limp political hegemony over women's bodies.\n\nAnd like many of his fellow whitelash Catholic voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio who only mirror most hierarchs, MSW's disappointment with President Obama allowed their racism, misogyny and fascism to overwhelm any moral revulsion for the p _ _ _ _-g _ _ _ _ _ r-in-chief. \n\nAfter all, for MSW voters - especially the Catholic ones, they couldn't let all those girl cooties to contaminate the Oval Office.\n\nPretty disappointing performance, MSW. Dontcha think?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your interpretation is erroneous, but you are welcome to it. You really want to use Buddhist meditations to get your theology on Christ? Where do they get off analysing our scriptures, anyway? I just love the arrogance of modern scholars and theologians toward our faithful brothers and sisters of ancient times, it's so easy to dismiss them for their lack of humility. \nLastly, if Christ was not divine while on earth, how did he heal so many people?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Faith is Apostolic. \"Catholic Social Teaching\" in the modern age draws upon condemned \"Liberation theology\" and Marxist doctrine more so than the Apostolic Faith.\n\nYour miserable ilk would call Thomas Aquinas a cafeteria Catholic were her alive today, and rest assured he would be condemning your modernist beliefs as pure heresy if he was.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem is that in Canada many laws are based on Christian mythology not logic. We all know that homosexuality is forbidden by Christians. Freedom and rights are not on the agenda of the State.\n:\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zejD0UkMGGY", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Christian religion has killed at least as many as the Muslim religion. \n\nAnd you do recall the Crusades started in 1095 by Pope Urban II and \"the final pivot of Christian\u2013Islamic relations was marked by two seismic events: the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453 and a final conclusive victory for the Spanish over the Moors with the conquest of Granada in 1492.\"\n\n400 years of killing each other doesn't leave either as \"The Religion of Peace\".\n\nAnd the \"30 Years War\" where 6 million Christians and Catholics were killed by each other in the middle of the Crusades doesn't help either of them look too 'loving'.\n\nThe Nazi Belt Buckles issued in the Wehrmacht said \"Gott Mit Uns\".\n\n\"God is with us\".....\n\nShould we add the 9 million holocaust dead to the Islam side or to the Christian side? \n\n\n(Actually, the Arabs hated the Jews enough that some of those on Hitler's side are entitled to a little bit of that action.)\n\nBut I do agree with you about Taquiyya.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is only one Qur'an, so there is only one islam. And that Qur'an claims it's the immutable and Perfect Word of God Himself, so it is not to be changed or altered by anyone in any way, ever - and those who try, are to be murdered by the other, \"real\" muslims just for trying! (Sura 4:89) All muslims must by definition believe the exact same things, they are not to deviate from Muhammad's words at all, ever. Muslims who differ are either in error or hypocrites, according to the Qur'an itself. And Sharia is also no different in any different places, since it is only the set of principles and rules extrapolated from the Qur'an: islam is not \"cafeteria Catholicism\" it's all or nothing (Sura 2:85). There is nothing whatsoever to pretend that any form of \"universalism\" - where everyone will be reconciled with allah - exists in islam, which specifically & in great detail promises ETERNAL Hell for all unbelievers, & at least a temporary Paradise for the believers. NO INTERPRETATION ALLOWED!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church says it \"profoundly respects\" homosexuals, but it will not admit them to seminaries. Clearly, the claim to have \"profound respect\" is a lie. Not only is it a lie, but since this is the Church, it is a lie in the name of Jesus.\nIs lying in the name of Jesus part of the strategy for becoming a smaller, holier Church? It is certainly the kind of thing that contributes to the goal of \"smaller\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right!!! So let's all us white Christians march on the capital singing \"Onward Christian Soldiers\"!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Black-hearted, please. Leave Black Catholics out of it. \"For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord\" (Psalm 89:2) Liturgy of the Word, Reading 282, Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter I Only the Lord is absolutely good and absolutely worthy of trust.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Justin is a devout Catholic, it's no wonder he believes the earth is flat and only 6000 years old.\n\nIf he's into cupping, perhaps he's into other forms of fakery. Has he burned any witches at the stake recently?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And we laity, like ATF above, need to stop treating sexism as though it is somehow different and not as bad or as harmful as other discrimination. Bull! Sexism causes more evils in the world than even racism, in large part because it attacks half the population. We need to start demanding our church get rid of the misogyny we hold against all women in our laws and traditions, and we need to make our priests & Bishops and Cardinals and Popes recognize this hate as hate, and no less than racism! We need to make them more uncomfortable with keeping these laws than getting rid of them. We need to stop making excuses for them.\n\nI can't tell you how many priests have tried to explain to me it isn't really hate. I tell them a tree is known by its fruit. Sexism causes more global evils & many of the same exact global evils as racism, ethnic hatred, and religious hatred, which we call hate. So if its fruits are the same or worse, its fruits prove its substance as a tree-per Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dogma is credal, gay marriage is not in the Niceane Creed last I checked. Neither is mortal sin (a concept that has evolved from the Book of James to Vatican II). Gay civil marriage and support for it is not a moral issue at all unless you consider defending equal justice undner law and preventing the tyranny of the mob (even religious ones) to be a matter of morality, which I do. The question is, why don't you? Not a stupid question. The natural law reason of Fagothy ended in a tie (meaning it could go either way, 335-340). He had to refer to Theism to break the tie, which essentially means a loss on reason and a win for authority (if authority wins such arguments, most real philosphers say no). Put another way, if all things being equal, reason is permissive (which Fagothy could not say in THE Catholic ethics text), then the Magisterium is in error on this issue and therefore capable of error on all issues (which is why Humanae Vitae is such a failure).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As someone raised as a Catholic, I'm perfectly content -- happy, really -- to see a reduction in the numbers of active Christians in Canada. One only needs to look at the religious supporters of the likes of Trump and Harper to see why religious influence on society is not benign.\nI'd love to see the same trend toward lapsed religious participation take hold among Muslims in Canada.\nRabid religiosity of any stripe is not healthy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I too am a Catholic theologian. I'm a bit surprised that you use the term, \"sovereign state\" given that in Catholic teaching and theology, this has always been a bit suspect. \n\nI agree that \"chain sponsorship\" is not the best policy for immigration, and that part of the bill is acceptable. Limiting refugees in the way this bill proposes is reprehensible, from a moral point of view, and is completely contrary to Pope Francis's teaching. It's also ridiculous to limit unskilled laborers. I don't see too many middle-aged white guys looking to pick avocados.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are we talking about the same Hilary Clinton? Name me a SINGLE abortion restriction she has supported. Of the CATHOLIC criteria one is to consider when weighing candidates, that is a non negotiable. Her \"support of gay marriage\" mocks God's design for matrimony. The article isn't talking about character flaws, but who will be defend the \"dignity of life\". Hilary is just fine with slaughtering life in the mother's womb. And speaking of \"damnable lies\", HRC's penchant for lying borders the pathological. The Donald might lie about how many girls he bedded as a bachelor, or how many touchdowns he scored in high school, but she repeatedly fabricates about matters of national security.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Columbus was on a gold finding mission and he made sure to get funding and approval from the Spanish King and Queen before embarking.\n\n\"Finding\" gold requires labour and Columbus soon enslaved, beat, destroyed families, forced conversion to Christianity and simply stole the goods from the Indians he \"found\" on his gold fishing lands. \n\nAll with the approval of the Catholic Pope.\n\nThere is in history, little to recommend Columbus.\nExcept as lies told by those who benefited from Columbus and the ongoing myth of his greatness.\n\n(Hey reviewers - you may not like this post but it is history and it is not uncivil. Play fair.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is much more incredible that Vatican II critics and \"The Pill\" blamers were never taught about confounding variables. \n\nJust FYI: I have not read the documents since 1966 when, as a senior in college, I had to do so. I bet I would find I did not like some of them today. However, this business of not looking at the whole culture is, sad to say, uninformed in terms of how to determine causal effects. On many topics, the Church does not want to employ sociologists (No, I am not one. Just a minor) to research its own laity in terms of how many really do believe this or that, or, to try to determine the \"why\" to a lot of questions. In my opinion, it needs a Catholic version of PEW to understand its own members.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your name says it all\nMuslim lover much\n\nanyway to answer tour questions \nThey had English\nHard working\nDidn't take 10K a month cheques from the government but worked immediately upon arrival\nChristian\nNon terrorists\nDidn't come from midevil countries where any non-men were treated like pigmies...\n\nthe list goes on.\nAny other questions", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All too familiar. As it happens, I restrict my reading on early Christianity to scholars. But it is typical of traditionalists to both disparage the academy wholesale and presume their interlocutors are uncritical consumers of junk.\n\nQ still has its defenders. So what if the arguments shift back and forth? That is the nature of scholarship. Only rigid authoritarians are discomfited by it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Today Pope Francis is in the news for suggesting that he's open to the idea of [heterosexually] married priests, a development I would personally welcome. That would channel the natural sexual energy of men (and hopefully one day women) into a healthier, more integrated life, thus eliminating the need to seek out sexual release elsewhere, triggering the rightful accusation of hypocrisy. Of course, gay priests would, like all gay people in the Catholic Church, still be left out in the cold without the benefit of sacramental marriage, so even with married priests we would still be reading lurid tales of gay extracurricular activities among priests on pages like these and be titillated and outraged all at the same time over the hypocrisy of it all. Until we as lay people keep petitioning for married priests, deacons, and even bishops (Anglicans have them, why not us?) we shouldn't be surprised to read stories like this one in the news. The burden is on us lay people to demand change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just blame born again American Christian fundamentalists . They get blamed for everything one way or the other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"held at the Canada Christian College after introduction of motion M-103 in Parliament. As the camera spans a boisterous, overwhelmingly Caucasian crowd, a middle-aged, bespectacled woman comes into focus. Grinning, she raises her right arm in what appears to be a lingering Nazi-salute. Four Conservative leadership hopefuls appeared at this event.\"\n---\nThere you have it: Christians, Caucasians, Nazis and Conservatives lumped together by the proponents of the motion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...put hoods on and went with torches to ...\" rectories. \n\nQuite right, Mary O'Malley. The KKK targeted Catholics (spelled with a \"K\"), African Americans and Jews. (I won't publish the repulsive \"K\" names for the latter two targeted groups.) Shame on our Catholic leadership. Symbols of bigotry count! They are almost as timid as English Catholic bishops who fear protesting against the burning of an effigy of the pope on Guy Fawkes Day in England. The latter (as do all religious and political leaders there) simply look the other way, believing in time, people will come to their senses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is definitely good news. Evangelicals are rather cultish and extreme, not to mention hateful toward anyone (including other Christians) who don't fall in line and behave as they prefer. I have quite a few family members who have been sucked into evangelical Christianity and they all give me the creeps. Such a load of brainwashing. \n\nMainline Protestants are accepting and preach love and inclusiveness, but I suppose more people are catching on that any form of religion is just fables and man-made BS.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have looked at the Breitbart site. It was really painful to see all the hateful, racist, aggressive, derogatory messages there. It is sad to realize that in a developed country there are adult people who can bring themselves to write such things. \n\nI am very familiar with Islam's connection with the Old Testament. Both the Quran and Bible brings the most absurd stories, and to some degree the two books overlap, especially in the oldest parts. Most people are not really aware of how bad the bible is. Here is a good place to read both the bible and the Quran:\nhttp://skepticsannotatedbible.com\nhttp://skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump has put racial and religious bigotry into action. And his \"Christian\" white supremacist supporters applaud.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Child abuse, sexual or otherwise, was a pretty widespread practice all over the world, wherever adult males had power over children. It just happens that the Catholic Church was the major institution in that position in the west, and as a result has been under the kind of intense scrutiny lately from social reformers as the west has become more secular.\n\nOther institutions where adults have authority and power over children, such as sports or boarding schools, have also had similar abuses, without religion being involved.\n\nAnd abuse of children in many other societies is also widespread where adults have power over children, it is just not discussed or even recognized as such.\n\nTrying to blame it on religion as such is simplistic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with most of your post but more equal is not enough. We must demand totally equal and same treatment for women, starting with women ordained equally in priesthood as men & made Cardinals immediately or we are all guilty of the oppression of women which breaks Christ's greatest commandment & makes our church weak. \n\nWomen do not deserve less than men in any area, including rule or ordination in our church, in any amount. This is the equivalent of stating black men should be treated more equal to white men in our church (we bought and sold black men only 200 years ago in our church) instead of we must morally and immediately ordain and treat black men the same as all other men in our church.\n\nSexism is hatred & as long as we allow its example in any form, we teach a hatred that produces violence, poverty, slavery, illiteracy, child abuse & rape on a global scale. This is a human dignity issue not a culture issue, despite what our church teaches. We owe women full equity now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You triggered a memory of a Washington Post magazine article of a man in suburban WDC who had his whole house wired to hear Rush Limbaugh in every room around the clock. And he was \"a devout Catholic!\"\nYou'd think if he was \"a devout Catholic\" he might have the house wired to hear the gospel in every room around the clock. But, no!\nHe got more of a rush from Limbaugh than the gospel, eh?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's a compromise suggestion. Stop shifting the blame for homophobia on to governments and other religions and acknowledge the central role of the Catholic Church in creating homophobia with its centuries long discrimination against and condemnation of the LGBT community, including burning LGBT people alive. Then eliminate the homophobic comments in the Catechism. Remember the Church has a long history of being on the wrong side of scientific findings. Time to wake up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "BS It is a complete Trick to deprive 50 Million people of healthcare. If the poor and those without healthcare get sick, then it is a death sentence. The Republican Party has been lying about his for decades. THEY HAVE NO WORKABLE PLAN!!! Republicans want to \"repeal the Affordable Care Act and then figure out their plan\"...Don't let them bamboozle you. Once Republicans repeal it even if they could do that, they will just put it on the back burner like they have since 1900 when Teddy Roosevelt proposed universal health care. They have no intention of replacing it with a workable plan...that is the dirty little secretConservatives have been blocking universal health care ever since 1900. It is disgraceful and shocking that the Catholic Bishops have allowed themselves to be suckered and used by the Republican Party in dismantling the American Health Care System. RomneyCare adopted in Mass in 2006 covers everyone, saves money, is reasonably priced and delivers high quality services.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey Jim Voyce: with Jeff Sessions and many other Trump good 'ol boy appointees, our so called separation of church and state might end up being a white southern christian theocracy, instead.\n\nEspecially ironic as our POTUS really has no truly professed religious leaning except for his worship of himself and his two top trusted advisors are JEWS (Jared & Ivanka)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reverse discrimination IS discrimination. Period. \"Reverse\" is superfluous.\nDiscriminating against white Christian males, for example, is discrimination. And against the law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jim,\n\nThe Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth, was published as ninety essays in eleven volumes between 1910 and 1915. To describe it as anything other than a pugnacious rearguard action in reaction to the sweeping acceptance of higher criticism is silly. To describe it as the rise of Fundamentalist Christianity is simply a confession someone has read neither The Fundamentals, nor American History.\n\nOf course Adventists agreed with most of the ninety essays. Of course they didn't agree with everything; who did? Apart from the essays on the inerrant nature of inspiration, predestination & dispensationalism, there is little for an Adventist to disagree with. Connecting Adventist WO to The Fundamentals? No basis in history. \n\nIf Jiggs Gallagher is a good reporter we know its Valentine.\n\nWho is denying Adventist women were important and did important work? They obviously held no ecclesiastical office like Elder. Valentine is being blatantly dishonest - no other word for it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That description of orthodox Catholics is straight out of the kindergarten.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's my take as well. Francis knows he has a potentially bigger problem with the same commingling of Dominionists and authoritarian Catholics in Latin America and parts of Africa. The best way to get global media exposure of this trend is to aim the cannon at the US.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Substitute \"black\" for \"gay.\" How does that sound? \n\nFrom all my experience with gay friends and a family member, I am convinced that people are born with a particular sexual orientation, thus created by God to be the way they are. (Facing all the historical hatred and discrimination, who would choose to be gay??)\n\nThe Catholic Church doesn't need to compromise. It needs to pay attention to almost fifty years of scientific studies on homosexuality. \n\nCurrently, the Church's position on the subject is as ridiculous as its treatment of Galileo. \n\nUsing a verse in a 3,000-year-old document to understand and legislate on human sexuality is in the same category as all those Catholics --including clergy-- who supported and justified slavery and Jim Crow because of Paul's epistle to Philemon.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know you despise bigots, ToTL, you have often spoken against them. I know you are a Christian.\n\nAll I said is that Trump didn't speak against the Bigots initially. Then he backed off yesterday. Today, he blames everyone as though the bigots are the same as those who despise bigotry. All I said, and I think it is true, is that as president, Hillary Clinton would have had no problem telling white nationalist bigots, the KKK, and the American NAZIs to stand down. Trump won't do it, Hillary would have done it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I were God I'd do a lot of things differently, too. As it is, we have only a few things to cling to, in this life, and one of those is that There is a God, and the other, He is in charge of His Church. The handling of A.L. is atrocious on Francis' part. Either Malta is correct and Philly wrong or vice versa.\nRe \"eternal\"; that's really a Mormon-thing - Catholic is indissoluble except in death.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's monstrous that this is happening to girls anywhere at all. Although this article focuses on Christian girls in Pakistan, the fact is that girls in many parts of the world are at risk of horrendous mistreatment and abuse. One of our major allied, Saudi Arabia, treats women horribly. \nWe need to fight for the rights of women worldwide. The abuse of women falls on a wide spectrum. Although all religions call for the respect of women, this is often not implemented in practice. Like many, I believe that not recognizing women as truly equal is, in many cases, leads to the persecution of women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Arne Erickson: \nYet sadly polls indicate most Alaska Natives will blindly vote for Hillary Clinton.\n\nIt was not the Federal Government who abused those children growing up in that era. they were abused by \"Christians\" in religious schools (Moravian Chilren's Home) where they were forced to speak and understand English on their very first day in school by God Fearing \"Christian\" teachers. These Catholic, Moravian, etc teachers were sent here by their churches to \"save\" the \"Savages\" from themselves. I went to Bethel Territorial School in Bethel, Alaska, where I was outright told by a male teacher I was inferior to white people. Spent my rest of my school years proving him wrong at every opportunity I got. I've lived with racism all my life so I WILL not vote for a RACIST Republican. The Clintons by their actions have proven beyond any reasonable doubt they are caring people who are willing to help everyone who needs help and Represent ALL the people, not just the RACIST whites.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Sigh) There never was absolute unity in the Catholic Church.\n\nWe are not, never were, and never will be a doctrinal monolith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These attacks on Archbishop Chaput are disgusting and disturbing.\nChaput has alsways had a strong pro immigration and anti death penalty stand. Just because Sean Winters gets his check from the Hiltons does not justify these attacks. Like I said many times before abortion is the modern day eugenics in places like NY, where black infants in the womb of their mother have less chances to survive to age five than children in Sub Saharan Africa. This is praying that the developing world church, in particular from Africa saves us from NRC Hilton Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which you will counter with nothing meaningful except a tirade whereby you will bore us with paragraphs filled with absolutely no examples of why life has not been devalued by liberal policies. You will insist that conservatives want to take us back to a time when gays were abused even though most really weren't because it's all you have. You will drag us back to Jim Crow laws that most Americans didn't observe. You will ignore the 40,000,000 fetuses that were murdered and magically prove that it has no bearing on how all life has been devalued. You will defend the emptying out off mental hospitals while blaming it on Reagan. Finally, you will insist that all white men who commit mass murder are Christians because we are a Christian nation even though we aren't. Do i have it about right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let me get this straight. We have to use a proper title for Cardinal Sarah and Pope Benedict XVI, but we can call Pope Francis \"bogogilo Jesuit?\" Hmm.\n\nYour liturgical history in your earlier post is also faulty. Prior to Vatican II, there were multiple usages of the Roman, or Latin, Rite. The Dominicans and Carthusians, for example, had their own. Many dioceses also had their own, especially in France. Although they started to abandon them in the 19th century. Toledo in Spain and Milan continue to use their own rites, although Milan's usage is much more widespread. How could this happen? When he instituted his Missal, Pius V allowed any usage or rite that was 200 years old to continue. Rome didn't have a history of imposing its own rite on other places. So you see, \"THE MASS was (NOT necessarily) the SAME in every country.\" Then there are the various Eastern Catholic churches who use completely different rites than the Roman Rite, and yet are completely Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know, Jesus railed against the Pharisees because they were hypocrites. They lived by the \"letter of the law\" doing things like declaring their wealth korban (dedicated to the temple after their death) so that they didn't have to provide for the upkeep of their elderly parents. He didn't condemn people like the rich young man who came to him saying he lived all the commandments; in fact, the Scriptures say he looked at him with love. Jesus said he did not come to abolish the law. The Scriptures tell us the true Christian is the one who loves his brother and keeps the commandments. How is it loving to \"accompany\" someone who is living opposite what Our Lord himself preached? The one who divorces his or her spouse and married another is committing adultery.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is completely backwards. Pope Francis should urge Trudeau to have the Liberal Party of Canada apologize to residential school victims. Through most of the the period that residential schools were in operation, the Liberal Party of Canada was in power as the government of Canada. Without government policy under a succession of Liberal governments the Catholic Church would not have been involved in residential schools. Blaming the Catholic Church is a pathetic hypocritical attempt to deflect the blame from the Liberal Party of Canada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Had a lil chat with my spirituality today, love is the answer. Hate is SO destructive. Racism, bigotry, narcissism - Jesus wouldn't vote for that, Obomba.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "After three years all that has come from both Pope Francis and the O'Malley Commission is talk and more talk. In point of fact that's all that has come from the Vatican since these horrific crimes have been reported. There's not even a process by which to investigate and, if necessary, punish Bishops who are not dealing with sexual abuse/assaults in their dioceses, to say nothing about a missing process for dealing with Bishops who are accused of being sexual predators themselves. I believe Marie Collins that there is not a true commitment by the Vatican, including those \"don't use my name\" Vatican sources, to deal with reported sexual abuse. The lack of progress by the Commission and unwillingness of some Vatican offices to even write a simple letter of acknowledgement to sexual abuse victims speaks volumes. It is crystal clear that protecting their own is far more important than holding accountable and punishing those men who abuse/assault/rape children. It is unconscionable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Who want to worship God with the child rapist organization?\"\n\nYes, no doubt, all 1.2 billion Catholics -- the whole global church (including employees of tens of thousands of schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, clinics, etc.) -- are child rapists in your mind. No doubt, too, because criminal corruption in Nigeria is everywhere -- with public officials diverting public funds into their private possessions (affecting the lives of millions of poor people) -- all Nigerians are corrupt. And because the Protestant organization, World Vision, provided the Islamist movement Hamas with up to 7.2 million a year (for five years), all evangelicals are corrupt. And, likewise, all Americans are slave masters because we allow 57,000 people to live in bondage, according to the Global Slave Index. But does it occur to you: making the crimes of a few intrinsic to the whole is a bad principle? My God, my IQ is over 150 and I'm trying to make sense to you! God help us! I'm sure you mean well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Far superior\" - based on what metrics? \"Open Hearted\" - when I was a teacher I could not even get a job interview at a Catholic School (as a result of being non-Catholic - even worse actually, an atheist) but I would like to see what would happen if the situation were reversed and a Catholic teacher were denied an interview at a Public school. \n\nThe only thing the Catholic school system appears to succeed at occasionally is creating the next generation of closed minded bigots (you being a prime example) who can look at themselves in a mirror and think that because of some supposed divine providence that they are vastly superior in all respects to those in humanity that do not share in their system of beliefs and/or governance. People who think like that tend to have names like Pope Gregory IX, Jefferson Davis, Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, al-Baghdadi, and Trump. Maybe someday you will be famous (I really meant to say infamous) enough to be included in that list of fine people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am sorry to hear that you were homophobic and hope you have overcome it. As a Catholic I am not and have never been homophobic so I have never had the need for such an examination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What you have to understand consenting adults enjoying a nice BJ in the Oral Office, I mean Oval Office is WRONG!! \n\nTouching kids, women, etc ... A-OK! Modern 'christians' 101 ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Could you explain what exactly it is about the Traditional Latin Mass that you have such a problem with? This Mass produced nearly every great Saint in history. It is a PRICELESS and INVALUABLE TREASURE which cements us with our origins with the Apostles and throughout ALL TIME. Surely this invaluable tradition should not die out. \nWouldn't the most reasonable compromise be to mandate that at least ONE, JUST ONE of the Sunday Masses said in every parish throughout the world be the TLM, and then you can have your silly undignified clown Masses done however you like. Maybe you can even have married priests since this isn't compromising doctrine, dogma, or theology. This seems to me to be a very reasonable compromise. If you disagree, what do you think is so wrong with it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, well, this is a board which locked out its elementary teachers for a week rather than submit the outstanding issues to binding arbitration, as proposed by the union.\n\nThis board spent over half a million dollars more on administration than allocated by provincial funding, while cutting programs and laying off teachers in order to balance its budget.\n\nThere's more, anyone interested could easily investigate. How different this board is than other boards, Catholic or otherwise, who knows. The Ministry of Ed in this province does not want to know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As long as there are politicians who can use the abortion issue to get votes, and as long as there are Catholic and Evangelical clerics who can use the abortion issue to gain a loyal and paying following, abortion will be a political issue.\nIn this particular election, it is likely that for many white Catholics and Evangelicals who voted for Trump, the abortion issue was a convenient, self-deluding cover for Make America White Again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Folks....Trump isn't going anywhere. White Catholics put him in office, and we aren't aligning ourselves with the race slop pushing for his removal.\n\nGet used to 7+ more years of As The Trump Turns. You can't get rid of him, he's like a tarrbaby that sticks to ya all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hate in this country reside on the left. The hate for Trump, legal gun owners, Christians, and conservatives. Could it be that white nationalist and the kneeling NFL players have more in common then not in common, the attention to \"social justice\". Because the country was founded by white men, white men in the country are automatically guilty by association, which also is much of the problem with blacks in the country. White men are rich, okay, other then white men like the Kennedy's many of the white men who own NFL teams earned their money.\n\nAaron Courtney tried engaged in dialog rather then protesting. Hate is the protesters who want to quell dialog, rather then engage in it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see that Fr. Feeney was excommunicated for and obstinately holding an overly rigid view of the phrase in question. I haven't been able to find any evidence that the statement itself has been suppressed however. I could be wrong of course, but I would like to see proof. \n\nMy main point in quoting the phrase is that those who obstinately and knowingly deny the Gospel cannot be considered for sainthood. There are of course those who remain ignorant of the Gospel or have a deep seated indoctrination against it, but for those who freely reject it \"they have already been condemned because they did not believe in the only son of God.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With Trump about to kick the \u201cChurch of Climate Blame\u201d in the junk today, expect much wailing and gnashing of teeth among its true believers and their green energy scam fellow-travellers.\n\nMusic to my ears\u2026", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A mosque is supposed to be a place for prayer, meditation, reflecting on sins, expiation, moral uplift.\n\nToday it is a terrorist cell.\n\nIn 1979 I found myself working in Montreal. A clean-shaven imam celebrated my marriage.\n\nFast forward 2009 latest assignment I visited the place with a cheque in pocket. Shock - long bearded men, sermons spewing hate against polytheists (read Christians). I returned downcast with cheque firmly in hand.\n\nIn 2007 I and an African American Muslim in San Diego found ourselves near a mosque at evening prayer time. Again, the post-prayer sermon was nothing but hate.\n\n1989 murderer of 14 women in Montreal had an Algerian Muslim father. Globe and Mail reports that killers in Quebec mosque shouted \"Allahu Akbar\" while shooting.\n\nExtreme vetting a la Trump not a bad idea - for sake of us Mohammedans who are for peace.\n\nIslam, once a religion of peace. Saudi money is transforming it into a mental sickness. And we gladly sell them arms to kill Syrians and Yemenis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a pathetic piece of literalist thinking!\n\nYou seem incapable of distinguishing between the date when a certain piece of thought happens to be written and the theological understanding that underpins that thought.\n\nVatican II is full of good, solid theology that is \"pre-Vatican II\" chronologically (because of the objective it set itself of returning to sources includes Scripture, the Fathers of the Church, and ancient liturgical traditions). \n\nLet me out it simply for you (and this for the second time): it is not \"chronology\" that counts in characterizing your way of thinking as \"pre-Vatican II\". It means, among other things (but for me the most flagrant) that you seem to be stuck in 1950s style personal piety. Vatican II invited us to embrace an ecclesiological vision of our baptismal vocation. I hear no echoes of that in your comments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jeff Sessions will probably go down as our greatest Attorney General (him and Ed Meese).\n\nWhat a wonderful show of Christian ecumenism: a good old-boy from Alabama, a Southern Protestant, working with white Catholics to dismantle the attacks on the Catholic Church and Catholics: crime....affirmative action...racial quotas...diversity nonsense....forced busing.....slum housing in white neighborhoods....etc.\n\nTrump hit a 5-run home run when he picked Jeff Sessions as AG.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except they won't be gone - the system replenishes itself. The new club will have men, certainly some women, and even 'people of colour' and non-Christian religions. But the club will still have the same rules. Social class is a sustainable, renewable resource.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Last month's Economist has an article about the collaboration of the Russian Orthodox church with the same clique of Evangelicals led by Franklin Graham. Mercifully, cooperation appears limited to the Russian church and simply magnifies the social prejudices held jointly by the oligarchs, the Russian clerics, and the US fundies. Graham is the main driver here, but the Russians seem to be lapping it up and are always anxious to talk about the \"imposition of the homosexual way of life\" on everyone else. To its members, this is a coalition made in heaven; however, they are totally out of step with the views of most Americans, including religious ones . . .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hopefully, a priest isn't a devil. But I agree with you about Christ being able to confer grace through women as well as through men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am amazed that it has taken this long for NCR to do a profile on the Knights of Columbus. Being from the Midwest, I must register a protest. First, I never heard of them before going to work for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1993. They were no where to be found in the suburbs of Chicago. Rather more affiliated w/blue collar Chicago area parishes. \"Blowhards\" of a type who represent the more conservative practice of East coast Catholicism. They were begged to assume financial responsibility for the catastrophe that was originally referred to as the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C., to which you refer. A total failure! Six paid staff fired summarily on a Friday afternoon in January 2003. I know whereof I speak, as I was one of those who lost her job. Carl Anderson is typically a smug male East Coast Catholic snob, pulling strings, w/bishops kow-towing all around. Thank you for drawing attention to this small minded and fanatical Catholic group.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most of all, their failure to live up to what I see as the call of Christ. What I see all too often is a Church that colludes with the dispossession of the poor or jingoism becomes just one more instrument of the state. A Church that goes mute in the face of massive militarization practiced in the name of national defense abandons the God of love for the preservation of the civil religion. A Church that preaches the equality of women but does nothing to demonstrate it within its own structures, that proclaims an ontology of equality but insists on an ecclesiology of superiority. A Church which sees covering up pedophilia in the clergy is acceptable behavior.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Weather this child had pubic hair or not, it was purely and simply (attempted) rape. Drunk or not --RAPE! When an adult attempts to have sex with a minor it is RAPE no matter what age the minor is. The age of consent has been raised most appropriately to keep more experienced men and women from taking advantage of our children. Age of the child is not the important part, it is only an attempt by church officials to nit pick. Rape is Rape, no matter what the age. It is statutory rape for an adult to have even consented sex with a minor. There is a bit of a problem when one person is 17 and the other is 18 and that is why sometimes the whole situation must be taken into consideration. The most important thing though for Catholic Clergy and laity alike to accept is that Rape is Rape and it is illegal and immoral and unethical to quibble about by Clerical authorities. Report all Rape to the police and never the Bishop...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cynical AG Chin insists on referring to Trump's EO as a muslim ban because he knows it sells with emotionally driven progressives. It most certainly is not a muslim ban, although it's not a bad idea. The religion of Islam is in dire need of reform but I don't hear any progressives calling for that. Last time I checked there is no other major religion that routinely kills innocents to further a world domination cause. Nope, not Christians, not Bhuddists, not Hindus, not even atheists or even whacky astrologists are beheading, suicide bombing, burning alive and or killing this whom they disagree with.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This guy is just a continual anti-Catholic rant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Naming a football stadium after Rob Ford would be a direct slap in the face to high school football in general and the Toronto Catholic District School Board in particular. \n\nIn 2013 \u2013 even before Ford admitted smoking crack - they fired him as coach of the Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School football team. The Board didn\u2019t make its reasons public, but their considerations would have included:\n\n* Ford hired an assistant coach using an assumed name, knowing he had a criminal record (according to court records). \n\n* On the way back from football practice with a City employee he had convinced to be another assistant coach, Ford downed a mickey of vodka in two minutes (according to an affidavit). \n\n* The head of the High School parent council (who had voted for him) said: \"All I want him to do is stop slagging our school . . . It is hurtful to the kids. He has to stop using our school and our students \u2013 putting them down to make himself look good.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rhyner believes that because the upset, and crying, three year old, little girl interrupted the Christian church service, someone should physically assault her by striking the little girl on her bottom with their hand. After all, isn't that exactly what Jesus would do?\n\nI can't even begin to think of what kind of nightmare it would have been to be one of Rhyner's spawn. You couldn't buy enough hours of therapy to compensate for that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The one thing the Church isn't and never will be - is a democracy.\"\n\nThat explains why no Catholic will use artificial birth control.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Neko, yes the thought police bumped that post.\n\nI was simply stating that the Church has had lies at the core of its being for decades/centuries. I've put a more detailed comment on another thread but put simply here, many, many priests, bishops and Cardinals consecrate the bread everyday in the full knowledge that they are practising gay men. Yet they ban other practising gay people from the Eucharist.\n\nSo ridiculous is the situation that we have the likes of Benedict and Burke dressing up like drag queens while condemning homosexuals. The gay community don't even get angry anymore, they just howl with laughter at them. \n\nIf such a huge lie is attached to the Eucharist then they will lie about anything, as they have done.\n\nGay teenagers show more courage than these men. However, the truth will always trump lies, eventually. Ordinary Catholics do not require perfection in their priests, but they do demand honesty. One day they will get it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The silence from Christians is deafening, from turning away refugees, as you know the jesus was a refugee, to taking funding from programs that helped the same class of people the jesus helped and died for, in order to give the same funding to the same class of people the jesus despised.\nI recall Trump perfuncterally said he was Christian, even went to church a couple times, then unchristianly doing unjesus like things to others less fortunate than he.\nI never heard of the jesus groping women's genitals and bragging about it, you? But anyway, I am not a Christian by choice, I believe that religion got bastardized by the same ones who got him put to death, as todays Christians worship money and power, not what their jesus worshipped. Todays Christians making it into their heaven, makes as much sense as the Mideast terrorists going to their Islamic heaven with their 72 virgins after committing mayhem and slaughtering so many innocents.\nNow about the deafening silence from Christians???", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a bunch of drama queens. And why not? The power of these religions lies in convincing others\u2026but mainly themselves\u2026that they are morally relevant. Gay marriage is just a token sin to make up for the reality that religion has no power except through money and politics\u2026and it is money and politics that rule us all. So these deluded Evangelicals must kiss up to big money and big politics\u2026and that precludes pointing out the real sins of money and politics---the obvious evils of economic exploitation and wars-for-profit. \u201cGod\u2019s imminent punishment\u201d is just the religious way of explaining away the inevitable consequences of the gross evils of incessant exploitation and warfare. Pretending that their god is primarily angry about gay sex is a delusion. The token \u201cmoral\u201d role in society of these religions is that of unofficial Sex Police\u2026the political equivalent of dog-catcher.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My brother felt that he was being insulted from the pulpit. This priest, as well as other so-called \"Catholics\" rejected him because of his homosexuality.\n\nBut then, to a lot of traditionalists, Matthew 22:39 reads \"And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself, unless the neighbor is LGBT, in which case you should cast him out!\" I prefer the original.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For every great grand parent that landed in Plymouth or Jamestown, I have three who were germanic or nordic. The English ones probably considered the German Catholics to be interlopers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Women are never going to be ordained in the Catholic Church. Sorry to dash your hopes. \n\nWhat about \"This is to be definitively held\" don't you understand? Even Pope Francis confirmed that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The baker is a bad Christian. Jesus would serve them. The baker lieD when he signed his business application that said he will abide by state law. There are at least 15 bible verses about how bad lying is. Matthew 5:17-20 says you can not pick which parts of the bible to follow. This guy is picking and choosing like nobody\u2019s business.\n\nHe has served divorced people and all kinds of sinners, yet he only rejects one group of sinners. What is that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know what the sort of hatred that Yiannopolous preaches can do. As you know, my grandparents were sent to Auschwitz because of fascist antisemitism. My daughter-in-law has personal experience of racism. My brother has similar experience of homophobia. I know gays who were fired from their jobs by hierarchs in the Catholic Church because they contracted civil marriage.\n\nI oppose all bigotry of this kind. I do not believe it should have any voice in the public forum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's get more Catholics into the USA so we can finally get abortion, birth control, and divorce banned. And then we can start burning the protestant heretics at the stake. It's ironic that the same people who rant about Columbus and genocide are in favor of open borders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words, you agree that Christ being male is more significant than his being a human being. Which simply shows your support for the institutional Church's misogyny.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's really almost laughable -- as if the institutional Church ISN'T \"enclosed in ideology.\" Ideology has smothered any kind of practical application the very pragmatic Jesus left us in His Gospel: love God, love and serve one another, especially the poor. The real message couldn't be any clearer, couldn't be more devoid of ideology. \n\nThey fail as shepherds, guides, models and teachers -- what a waste of education and all the respect and reverence they constantly seek.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those 20+ non-Roman Churches believe in everything the Magisterium teaches and reject everything the Magisterium rejects on matters of Faith and Morals. Thus they believe in the Trinity, the Divinity of Christ, the Redemption, etc whilst rejecting the ordination of women, sexual activity outside of marriage, homosexuality and same-sex unions, contraception, abortion, euthanasia, etc. They have the same Seven Sacraments, essentially the same Liturgy differing only in externals and the same unity with the Pope.\nThis Vatican II Rite which you propose could never in a million years be in union with either the Roman Church or any of the Eastern and Oriental Uniate Churches, it would be just another Protestant church calling itself Catholic as the Episcopalians do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Naturally I rejoice that you espouse the truths that the holy men who guide us all are preserved from error by divine intervention. But I have deep concern about your sympathy with the \"poor, courageous bishop...\" Shirley he does not understand that bishops are instruments of God himself and thus divine in every action? That includes those that might seem criminal to the uneducated. That he would even question the thought processes of the ecclesiastical brotherhood when performing their duties is an anathema in our eyes, and most importantly the eyes of Christ ... (and the five top sock puppets of NCR).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've told this story here before, but it continues to be illustrative...\n\nI was going through in-country training in Vietnam with the First Cav. On my right and on my left were young men with many of the same moral questions about killing (and being killed). Soon, very soon, they--kids--would head into the jungle with their M16s some never to return; others to return as different human beings. We were called to join with the chaplains of our respective faiths. Amid all this, the stern warning from our Catholic chaplain was--and this belongs in a bizzaro war novel-- \"don't succumb to the moral evils of.....masturbation.\" True story.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another good thought out article. It is sad that the ones frothing at the mouth against people of color, have no interest in reading this. Racism is an ugly reflection of a person. One thing the racists do not think about... as they loudly ensure everyone knows that they are god fearing christians, who go to church every sunday to pray for their salvation. They forget their jesus was a refugee, fleeing a despot, propped up by the Imperial Roman Empire, which had invaded and occupied that region, to leech like parasites, off other peoples resources and lands.\nAs a Native I see America as the modern Imperial Roman Empire, invading and occupying other countries to allow our government to bribe the dictatorial puppets we are propping up, to allow foreign corporations to o in and steal their resources and lands.\nI brought that up to show the parallels between the Imperial Roman Empire, America and the rest of the colonial governments who subjugate people of color to steal from them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, R.D.? What topics would you like to see? Let me guess:\n\n1. Trump: the most Catholic president ever.\n\n2. Breitbart.com: the real news!\n\n3. Opus Dei is the heart of the Catholic Church.\n\n4. Social justice is for atheists.\n\n5. Why the current pope is an anti-pope.\n\n6. Cleaning your garage will save your soul.\n\n7. Global warming is a hoax.\n\n8. Cardinal Ray Burke: your next REAL pope.\n\n9. Josemaria Escriva is the model for manly priests.\n\n10. The sex abuse scandal: why it is the laity's fault.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I never said \"rabid Roman Catholics.\" It was a sleazy tactic on Marty's part to insinuate that I did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The ACLU did what the ACLU does and that's defend the Constitutional rights of ALL people, something the right is unwilling to even consider. \n\n 'Silly little rally'. Is that what you thought about Black Lives Matter, that they just held 'silly little rallies'? Or is that dismissive remark only reserved for white supremacists, neo Nazis and armed right wing militias and their political views? They came loaded for a confrontation and made sure they got one, one of them even using a car to mow down anti protest pedestrians, always condemned as an act of terrorism when done by others.\n\nTo be perfectly clear, I wasn't painting 'all Trump supporters' the same. I was specifically singling out White Christian Trump supporters who have maintained total silence when it comes to the alt right and their hate agenda. Until I hear white Evangelicals and conservative Catholics condemn their fellow alt right Trump supporters, I will continue to use the word despicable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Catholic arguments rationalizing the existence of evil assume Original Sin. Even if the mythical Adam and Eve represented a pivotal event introducing evil into the world, would a just God condemn generations in perpetuity to suffering because of a primal rebellion? Ludicrous. Yet, this is literally the foundation for many an apologetic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus said, \"Say 'Yes' when you mean 'Yes,' and 'No' when you mean 'No.\" Anything else is from the evil one.\" (Mt. 5:37) \"Remain in my words and you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.\" (Jn. 8:31-32)\n\nTrump's is driven not by the truth, but by \"The Art of the Deal,\" focusing on self-promotion. As witnessed by his 70-year curriculum vitae, he will make no public admission, much less any confession that his sole desire is to be the best dealer in town, in the nation, in the world, at any cost!\n\nTruth is about covenant and fidelity no matter what the cost. Neither the Church nor the faithful should \"make a deal\" with truth, or with Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is not fit for the Presidency. Nor is Clinton. But your posing an equivalency between Trump and Clinton on actual \"life\" is glib. Hillary has supported partial birth abortion. Now, let's grant this much: Catholics can't really expect everyone not schooled in Catholic thinking to believe in ensoulment from the moment of conception. Got that. STILL, who in his right mind believes that killing a child just a few days short of birth is different from killing a born-alive baby? Yet, this is what Clinton supports. And she will appoint a Supreme Court who sees it her way. Granting that Trump would be the worst President ever --- and I do believe he would be --- how could we justify electing Clinton? We would be horrified if asked to vote for a President who would authorize the enslavement of, say, 3,000 black people. Such a person should never be elected, no matter what else. How, then, could we vote for Clinton, given her stance on partial birth abortion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some victims of the Christian Hysteria at Salem were also pressed to death, crushed by heavy weights put on top of a wooden surface over them.\n\nFive died in prison from poor feeding and disease, awaiting trial.\n\nhttp://www.witchcraftandwitches.com/images/salem_corey.jpg\n\nReading the trial testimony now we have a different interpretation of a guy testifying that a female tavern owner magically transported herself into his bed at night. No need to say that the devil magically transported her into the guys locked home.\n\nThe modern explanation is that he was having dirty dreams and that the problem was entirely in his own head, nothing to do with the woman, nothing supernatural.\n\nMy family tree includes victims of the Christian Insanity at Salem.\n\nhttp://historyofmassachusetts.org/salem-witch-trials-victims/\n\n\"many of the accused witches were outspoken women\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lol I thought that you wanted to know how to see better....you know how to see the Christ in your neighbours and your self...and I simply said,\"imagine that you are a speck in Jesus' eye\". Wouldn't you just love to be aligned in how Christ sees!!! Wow if you think you are bigger than Jesus and can see better than Jesus..then my hats off to you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Colonials living in a colonial world, built on the theft of Native resources and lands, and the genocide of the Natives to accomplish the theft. The Donald Trumps and George Bush's depend on the stupidity and lack of intelligence from their easily led followers who will follow them off the cliff, losing the union clout against the neo con corporations, shipping choice high paying jobs and industries overseas to cheap labor and to slither out of paying taxes, and invading and occupying weaker countries so our political prostitutes corporate masters can go in and steal others resources and lands. We pay the trillions the corporate minions use to fund terrorism creating policies for profit of a few. For ones who claim they are fervent Christians and claim they have the right hand of their jesus, they are doing the most unjesuslike things to their fellow man with their policies of self enrichment that is part of their capitalism.\nIf the Trump had 4 bankruptcies, what will happen to America", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I did not say that. J.Bob said that in the comparison he makes, \"Maybe these `walkouts' would be the ones who walked out on Jesus.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First the church gets rid of abortion. Then birth control. Then divorce. And then it will be time for the torture and burning of the protestant heretics. That's why my grandfather used to say \"We have fought the Catholic Church for 400 years!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I left Catholicism as a literal child because it was unpersuasive and gormless even to a ten-year-old, I stayed away because of the deviant criminality and the sick hold it had on people, thanks to a tradition of institutionalized threats, guilt and fear mongering. Later, of course, I noticed the way Natives and women and out gay people were abused and oppressed by this curiously all-male hierarchy of Catholicism. Nonetheless, I certainly understand the desire for acceptance and fellowship a church/temple/mosque can provide. I just can't bear the other costs of being involved in a monotheism for the sake of what a social club could provide. About the only benefit I retain is a Jesuitical approach to debate and a deep understanding of the jokes on \"Father Ted\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What you're proposing here is juvenile rhetoric. What are \"Canadian values\"? Kelly Leitch's list includes words like \"tolerance\" but many of her supporters are a long, long way from demonstrating any sort of tolerance of immigrants. How about the guy who slaughtered half a dozen people in a Quebec Mosque? Was he demonstrating \"Canadian values\"?\n\nHere's the thing: a free country is a free country. It isn't MORE free for white Christians. It's equally free for everyone. So, if your argument is to ban non-white non-Christians, then you may be demonstrating what you believe to be Canadian values, but you are no longer upholding the laws of a free country.... so again I ask my earlier question:\n\nWhat problem are you trying to solve?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll stick with hijack. It is the same as homosexual men and women going to Mass with their rainbow attire, flaunting it before a priest at Communion, and hoping they are denied reception so they may play the victim.\n\nDid Christ know what He was doing or didn't He?\n\nThe third option may be to find a different church. I am not asking you to leave, but if you don't like the teachings of this club why would you want to stay a member? There are other Christian denominations which have what you want.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"So if their politics are right you are all for women priests.\"\nWrong. This is an ignorant statement! You clearly don't know the difference between Catholic teaching and politics. The Church is against abortion and homosexual behavior and I expect any seminarian, male or female, also to be in line with Church teaching. After reading your views above, I'm glad you couldn't be ordained because you are very heterodox in your views, and my view has NOTHING to do with your gender.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Two of my three sons are \"nones\". My middle son has left the Church because his first marriage broke down. He refuses to get an annulment because he truly believes that if he were to say that there was a flaw at the beginning of his marriage, he would be lying. He is remarried, and since the institutional Church calls him a raging adulterer, he says that if they won't accept him, he won't accept them.\n\nMy youngest son left in solidarity with his uncle, my younger brother. My brother is gay, and feels that he has been rejected by the institutional Church. I cannot say that he is wrong to feel that way. My son says that since the Catholic Church is rejecting gays, it is being hypocritical in calling itself Christian.\n\nI do not blame either one of my sons for doing what they did.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I find it near impossible that a true Christian could be a republican. Republicans have abandoned their values and are today frauds. I am talking the national level. I think there are a few good republicans in Hawaii.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The rule is rather simple. When paraphrasing acknowledge it as such, when using quotations acknowledge the proper source. And don't assume anything, I didn't imply you are an \" idiot \". Rather I point out as motleycrew, \"Sharia law\" is seriously problematic throughout the world. That just as \"Sharia law\" is 180 degrees from the Law and Gospel teachings of Christianity, the Muslim faith is 180 degrees from the Christian faith. \nIn short, your attempts in failed comparisons between the two are silly, the reflection of an educationally untrained individual in religious studies. Do not to take it personally you are not alone in your quandary. Which is why individuals are very stupidly calling others \"racist and bigots\" for their rejection and objection to \"Sharia law\". \nIf you really want to educate yourself in the complexity of religious studies and I hope you do/would Northwest Christian University is darn good stating point.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Gates I find your letter disgusting and offensive, but par for the course since Predisent Lord of the Flies became potus. As our once great nation sinks into the swamp of hate, lies and deception, I will not sit silent but speak out against the \"Trump Effect\" sweeping our country. \ntRump said that we should torture and kill terrorists families to keep us \"safe\".\nIf this is what the citizens of a \"Christian\" nation believe, then we are no better than any radical Islamic terrorists.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Taqiyya is the practice Islamic deception. Muslims are permitted to deceive infidels, Jews, non-Muslims about their true beliefs and intentions, in order to defend and conceal jihad for Islam. Taqiyya is as basic to Islam, as charity is to Christianity. No other religion has such a thing as Taqiyya. It is anathema to western thought, and so it is hard for non-Muslims to not simply understand that it actually exists, but to grasp the degree to which is it used against them.\n\nThe worst part is that the police, and liberal media like the Globe, are now giving us the taqiyya voluntarily, doing Islam's dirty work.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, the Feral Europeans infested us before they went to North America. Our pushing 'em back--for a while--led 'em to seek alternate trade routes to the east, so you're our fault, in one respect; and even more because the Umayyads and Almohadins were so corrupt, lazy and stupid that they allowed the crazy Spaniards off their leash (who let the Catholics out? Roof! Roof, roof, roof, roof!) They handily defeated the sorry remnants of Muslim Spain and then swarmed the world like locusts. Next question.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Your bizarre phrasing aside, those who prefer to live in a world free of organized religion want Judaism and Islam to fade away along with Christianity.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, this article is demeaning, insulting, and in incredibly bad taste. Won't be reading WW again until you write a similar \"funny\" article about a Christian event.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I said before that CI (Catholic Institution) survives mainly on the support from women, CI clergies commit two strikes against women:\n1.\tCI clergies raped her children!\n2.\tThey are incurable misogyny openly for over twenty centuries!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "From Collins Dictionary of Law: SLANDER, torts. The defaming a man in his reputation by speaking or writing words\n\nYou slandered me, RD. You refuse to apologize, while simultaneously calling for humility. Now, if you want me to drop this, you will apologize, or else I will take every opportunity to remind everyone that you are a lying hypocrite who pretends to follow Christ, but feels that the most Christian thing he can do is clean his weapons and clean his garage.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Radicalization is taught at home, around the dinner table, as the family enjoys mom's good home cooking, while the grown ups discuss destroying Israel, eradicating homosexuals and the evils of dirty infidels It is drilled into young minds with every tale of glorious martyrdom for Allah in every mosque in every city around the world. Extremism for Islam is taught the same way Christians are taught about Jesus and his message of mercy and forgiveness. It is not at odds with the teachings, but is central to the religion.\n\nIn all other religions liars go to Hell. In Islam liars got to Paradise.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why isn't she being charged with hate crimes? She said she wanted to kill white Christians. That\u2019s pretty hateful. Last time I checked, even white Christians had rights.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "LMAO! I'm sure christian nutjobs praying in islamic countries at a public school(!) would be murdered if they did this", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why do we give another Muslim a chance to lecture to us Christians and Jews that we are all wrong about the peaceful intentions of Islam. Wake up people before it is too late.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"All Islamic suicide bombers and terrorists who die during the commission of an act against the United States are on notice that their remains will be gathered and the remains/bodies fed to pigs, no exceptions. This will immediately cancel their ticket to paradise.\"\n\nGot a better idea. Just give them all a Christian burial.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Anyone who thinks that two men or two women masturbating, sodomizing, or fellating one another constitutes \"marriage,\" and calls himself a \"Catholic,\" is living in a web of fantasy too deep and dense to be unraveled by any natural means.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If thinking people really believe the nonsense that is written in the post by Tony V, we are in trouble from much more than the scary \"power-hungry judiciary\" and those terrible \"Communists\" and the frightening Muslims who, for some incomprehensible reason insist on sticking to their faith. (It's curious that some believe that Muslims should renounce their faith, but would probably fight with anyone who would suggest that Catholics do so.) \nGood grief! Pogo was right. The enemy IS us!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Feeding christians to lions needs to be a thing again.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I totally agree, but each successfully captured the much of the Christian vote for their own nefarious ends. And they stuck with Harper like crazy glue.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps a little 'far afield' from our topic, but you remind me of a particularly ignorant anti-Muslim screed by then-UAA student Daniel McDonald five years ago. The \"Northern Lights\" ran my rebuttal in its entirely, and my challenge for McDonald to respond. Alas, he was too cowardly. But I find this excerpt relevant to your posts:\n\n\"Your argument is merely a more circumspect retelling of Kipling's 'White Man's Burden'--it somehow always becomes 'necessary' for you civilized, secularized 'Christians' to invade, kill, enslave and dispossess other peoples in order to maintain 'stability' in a dangerous world--in so doing you fall into the logical fallacy of confusing military 'superiority' (and the economic largess derived there-from) with cultural, ethical and spiritual superiority. You are of course wrong as hell. All that can honestly be conceded to your arrogant assumptions of 'superiority' is that your society is superior at killing. And that's always a TEMPORARY situation.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The word you did not mention was \"radical\". Also, the belief of the \"afterlife\" for a muslim has also created the radicalization of the Muslim religion in regards to the terrorism we see today.\nThat is why being a muslim CAN be misconstrued as bad. \nBad apples everywhere, whether it is Muslim, Christian, Budist, Republican, Democrat, Straight, Gay, Black, White, Conservative, Liberal.......", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If they were white Christian males, they would of been arrested on the spot.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You told the truth? Laughable. That's what I said? Another lie. John Hobson, you are absolutely a liar. I NEVER said \"only those who can pay for it should get healthcare.\" What I said is that \"healthcare is a service, not a right.\" AND I said, \"We, as a generous people who recognize our Christian duty, have a responsibility to care for those who need emergency care.\"\nThose are two quotes of mine that actually say the exact OPPOSITE of what you have falsely claimed I've said. It proves YOU ARE A LIAR. And then you continue your dishonesty by assigning an evil motive, greed. The most evil of people have something in common; no matter if they are racists, murderers, rapists, abusers or even child molesters. They start out as liars. That's what you are John Hobson. A LIAR. \"Lying John Hobson.\" I want you to imagine it's Donald Trump calling you \"Lying John Hobson\", because it will irritate you all the more. \"LYING, John Hobson!\" Or is it Hodgkinson?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Southern Baptist Convention, which had black preachers even before the US Revolution, might be astounded to discover that they foster segregation. But there are only 15.29 million of them; how many of them have you 'met'?\n\nIt is \"the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 15 million members as of 2015. This also makes it the second-largest Christian body in the United States, after the Catholic Church. Must be all those Catholics that are racists., Huh? All 68 million of them in the US? \n\nYour narrow, bigoted (and racist) viewpoint has to ignore at least 150 million Christians to justify itself. \n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Baptist_Convention\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "God is NOT the problem. Religion is not the problem. FUNDAMENTALIST religion IS very much the problem. \nIt does not matter whether it is fundie Islam or fundie Catholicism or fundie Protestantism. Fundamentalist religion is deadly and destructive!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "good point. call us back the next time we get a Christian shooting tourists in the US or Canada, or calling for authors' heads to be cut off or...you get the point", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Deeper question -- do HUMAN RIGHTS really exist? Could they just be an illusion of the devil? Are HUMAN RIGHTS merely a secular atheist's summary of Christian theology to be redefined at-will? What's the end-game of promoting \"gay marriage\" as a noble human right and likewise dismissing opposition is \"hateful discrimination\" ???", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, a Trump supporter. He seems to have a lot of those among South African whites, but I can't work out why. The new world order according to Steve Bannon will not benefit us in any way. In fact, it will make it much, much worse. Remember that you are a citizen of a black African country. Trump is not bothered about your lot. He will react to the South African government. He will not save Christianity from Islam or Satan or any other threat either. His constituency voted for \"America First\", not white people or Christians first. \n\nThe man is at best a narcissist, at worst a lying psychopath, who has no concept of how to govern Upington, let alone the most powerful country in the world. And he has this stupid idea that you can govern through twitter. He just can't stop campaigning! Yes, he and his aides were probably stupid enough to consort with the Russians. They have so little knowledge of international affairs and the law, that they probably did not even realise it was wrong.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Church does not need priests who practice sodomy, just as she does not need priests who practice fornication and adultery. The Church does not need priests who experience deep-seated lust for men, just as she does not need priests who are constantly lusting after women. The Church does not need priests who buy into the gay lifestyle, just as she does not need priests to buy into a playboy lifestyle. \n\nI think that is pretty much what is meant by \"practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called \u2018gay culture.\u2019\u201d", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "From Lucas Thein: \"So, Christ is a white supremacist? You're an expert on theology and Christianity has been overrun. It's funny how racist you're being while supposedly attempting to call out racism.\"\n\nTo all white christians: Jesus was not a white guy as shown in American churches. He looked more like Obama and probably thought like Obama. Gonna lynch him when rapture comes???", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, since Benedict's 2005 rule, I'm sure ss-attracted men have stopped applying to seminaries. Just joking.\n\nIf you were ss-attracted (or generally confused about your orientation) and wanted to be a priest, how would you be likely to interpret the \"deep seated\" qualification? \n\nI would bet you'd interpret it as loophole, and still believe yourself not disqualified from a priestly vocation.\n\nWhy do I think so? I think so because Benedict's new rule isn't new at all. The church has always been \"legally\" against accepting \"gay\" men as priests. And yet studies have confirmed that thousands of priests are gay men.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No, it was right-wing evangelical hypocrite blowhard Jimmy Swaggart that was related to Jerry Lee Lewis.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "@ convert: Your response to Victor Victoria sounds pleasant enough, but the sad truth remains that while the title of the San Diego bishop's letter was \"Embracing the joy of love\" it should have continued with following disclaimer: \"except if you're gay, in which case no love for you.\" That's the real world in which gay Catholics still exist and will continue to exist as long as current church teaching remains. You can use all the pretty, flowery language you want to cover it up but it's still basically lipstick on a pig.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "In reality his nomination was lost to the certain knowledge that if any sign was given by the Vatican to gays outside of the closet, all hell would break loose inside the clergy ranks. I'm not referencing out gay priests, I'm referencing closeted gay cardinals and bishops who couldn't deal with a Vatican 'open' to any gays. It always comes back to the all celibate male clergy and their reasons for accepting ordination. \n\nI am always amazed at the average pew sitter's inability to understand why this Church can't move forward on the clergy abuse crisis. For once, it's only partially about the money. For too many practicing Catholics it's about the sacramental magic and their own soul and avoiding hell. Hence the official Catholic line from prelates like Wuerl about the Gingrich's: \"They both went to confession.\" As long as the 'confession card' can be played by adulterous heterosexuals, gay Catholics don't stand a chance versus the hetero norm.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Here we go again, Mike Brooks expressing his fear and loathing for homosexuals and obsessing about \"sodomy\". His \"Ergo, any 'gay'-friendly parish is Catholic-unfriendly.\" is one of the nastiest comments I have read in this thread.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That's mostly Irish Catholics. They are genetically predisposed to abusing.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "To cont. - For the record Alexandra you don't have to support this sexism. It is a choice and that seems to be what you refuse to recognize. Supporting gender segregation in our church is harmful to all women. Obviously, allowing married men to be priests in the Ukrainian Church did not result in justice for women so maybe we should try things with our priorities being on justice. Try curing the harm of misogyny in our church, instead of seeking to increase it, or cont. running away from it, or postpone dealing with the sin & evil. I don't understand why you can't see that this priority is harmful because that is not an opinion but a fact. Rules which degrade groups of people by treating them less than other groups Always cause grave harm - That is why hate crimes are illegal. It really only takes being honest not being a rocket scientist or other kind of genius. Labelling is wrong when the labels are not accurate-so please make them inaccurate about you. The choice is yours.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Bill Clinton's economic conservatism did not occur in a vacuum. You will recall Newt Gingrich's \"Contract with America\" and the fact that Republicans obtained a majority in Congress in 1994. Obama is also an economically conservative Democrat and also faced a Republican majority in the House. Progress will be made when the Republican party is fully repudiated and the Democrats take over the political center. The Republican party is showing its true colors in Donald Trump. With the Republicans, you've got a range from \"weapons of mass destruction\" Dick Chaney to \"deport all the Mexicans and Muslims\" Donald Trump and their followers range from misogynist Christians to knuckle dragging white supremacists. Mentally stable Americans really have only once choice--making sure the Democrats win so that the Republicans LOSE. To not repudiate Republicans would mean that Americans are a fundamentally defective people--like Republicans.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There are many variations on the Ten Commandments: Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:1-24. Which one do you want?\n\n\nThe truth is that what is often taught---was the EASIEST understanding of anything. But that does not make it the BEST understanding.\n\n\nMoral teachings, as all teachings and laws, are for the people. If they do not benefit the people, they are NOT good teachings or laws. Any teaching or law that treats, encourages, permits actions toward others that demeans their basic humanity--is not good and should be abolished. The very fact that the hierarchal church doesn't do a disciplined, medical/scientific research on the nature of homosexuality---but practices exclusion, retaliation, and winks at vindictiveness against members of the LGBT community, is evidence of this We have abused other groups of peoples as well: the Jews, slaves, women. Today, the official church has made members of the LGBT the new lepers in our society.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "TomQuinn: Please spare us all about your righteous \"moral issues\" ... we all know that you and your \"evangelical compatriots\" supported Trump because finally you have someone who will vulgarly speak in public all the fascism, racism and misogyny in your hearts. Papa Francesco offers us a season of \"mercy and forgiveness\" while you and your kind greedily conspire to take healthcare away from the poor so that you can have your tax cut. Jesus had a few choice words for you and your ilk: \"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are whitened sepulchers, beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead bones and decay.\" (Mt 23)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Let Islam be Islam in Islamic countries. Let Christians be Christians in Christian countries. Only a fool thinks that Christianity and Islam can coexist. One will be crushed by the other. A wise man would keep the two separated. A fool would welcome the mixing, then bemoan the inevitable terrorism. \n\nJust an FYI --- there is a wall, gate and a gate keeper at Heaven. Inviting murderers and rapists into my home is foolish and if they then attack my children I would be partly responsible and I would NOT have shown Christian charity!!! \n\nIf you wish to condemn me, then also condemn Lot and the Angels of the Lord who stood behind Lot's massive locked house doors, while the mob at Sodom were outside demanding to be admitted. See how that works out for you.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "kids will watch porn, they will watch people getting hurt doing stupid things, they will watch subjects that go against your core beliefs. suck it up or raise kids that will disappoint you in a few years. a broad experience of knowledge and education is essential for development. i couldn't dance, sing, go to parties or movies or read books, except the bible of course. i create mischief but it could have been worse had i obeyed my parents dictates. i think eighty percent of kids that 'experiment' with forbidden subjects turn out just fine, better maybe for having done it. those screens can also answer every question, instantly, parents shy away from. knowledge is power and lets hope kids today get a lot of it to counteract the problems we adults are leaving them with. kids, everything you want to know, need to know, should know, dont want to know or every wondered about is in the palm of your hand. use it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"In turnabout, Toronto Star calls for prioritizing Yazidi refugees, criticizes Trudeau government\" \nA year after slamming the former Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, for prioritizing the Yazidis among other most vulnerable minorities in the Middle East for resettling in Canada, the Toronto Star determines that the \u201cYazidis are among the most threatened minorities\u201d \nhttp://en.cijnews.com/?p=43163\n====\n\"Disgusting\": Trudeau scraps Harper refugee policy, will \"absolutely not\" prioritize persecuted Christians, Kurds, Yazidis\nhttps://www.therebel.media/_disgusting_trudeau_scraps_harper_refugee_policy\n===\nWho could forget Mohamed Fahmy crying foul or the dead boy on the beach face down and the Harper government being falsely accused of denying his entry??? \nYes the racist Harper was an effective game, a game that cost lives !!!!!\nSHAME !!!!,\nIt will not be forgotten..", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'll skip the statsbattle (suffice to say if you actually carefully practice NFP it has a 98.7% effectiveness rate of avoiding pregnancy), the utter stupidity of the claim people who aren't directly experiencing something in their lives can't assert truth about such realities, and just go to the heart of the issue. \n\nI'm married. My wife and I are 30 and 29 yrs old respectively. Our physical attraction to one another is just as strong as it was when we were dating/newlyweds. Everyone who is married knows that marriage does not equal the constant satisfaction of all sexual desires for both parties at all times. Our selfishness/egoism, antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is often times exquisitely demonstrated in our sexual relationships. Contraception is particularly insidious because it is a mutually agreed upon selfishness, a real \"You get yours and I'll get mine and we'll be happy together\" scenario. It's an avoidance of surrender to God and the natural order of love.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Not nearly as dumb as claiming the Deity's Name isn't \"Allah\", or foisting homosexual King James as some kind of \"religious authority\". (Sigh) again--here's how it works:\n\nAllah & Allahumma (Arabic) = Alah & Alaha (old Aramaic) = Elah & Elohim (Hebrew).\n\nThose Semitic Names have likewise been translated as Olah (Zulu), Khuda (Farsi), Bogu (Russian), Dieu (French), Atu'a (Samoan), El Dio (Spanish), Hotheos (Greek), Astvats (Armenian), Bog (Hungarian), Xwede (Khurdish), Gott (German) and...GOD (English).\n\nArabic CHRISTIANS have ALWAYS invoked the Deity by the Name ALLAH. So did the Messiah (alayhis-Salaam) when he (allegedly) cried out \"Eli, Eli lama sabachthani!\" from the cross. The Greeks transliterated \"Allah\" as \"Eli\".\n\nGlad I could help. Anything else you wanna know about the Scriptures and/or their languages, just ask. Or, you can adopt the standard \"evangelical logic\" so succinctly described by Bill Watterson: \"Why expend effort learning when ignorance is instantaneous?\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Think Cardinal Burke? I think not. Think instead that pederasty is common among homosexual male culture and then think homosexual \u201clobby\u201d in the Vatican.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is a racist sympathizer.\n\n He single-handedly used his wealth and fame to perpetuate the lie \u2013 wholly racist in nature \u2013 that President Obama was not born in the United States.\n\nHe has declared his intention to deport millions of law-abiding Muslims, ban immigration of Muslims, and has called Mexican immigrants drug dealers and rapists.\n\n He openly accepted the support of avowed white supremacists during his campaign and has done virtually nothing to distance himself from these groups and their political aims since.\n\nThe neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups that marched in Charlottesville are similarly transparent in their purpose. \n\nThey believe in the supremacy of white European Christians over, well, everyone else. \n\nIn particular, they want to eliminate Jews and Blacks, and Latinos, Muslims, LGBTQ folks, feminists (perhaps women, generally), Catholics, and many others. \n\nThere is no mystery here.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Clergy sexual abuse and rape of innocent children world wide is still happening and why any Catholic, who cares about protecting the innocence of children, would listen to the hierarchy of the Catholic Church is beyond me. Pope Francis protected sexual predator clergy when he was an archbishop in Argentina, according to the bishop accountability website. I know those at bishop accountability. They have integrity and just want to create an objective log of information. Catholic bishops have been taught to lie to the faithful so convincingly that some gullible Catholics are still believing these men who seem to have no conscience about lying to us.\nAs a practicing Catholic, I attend Mass daily, and desire a personal relationship with God. Sadly, our pope and bishops are full of liturgy and lacking in integrity. Please watch the movie SPOTLIGHT, to understand better the sexual abuses of children by the Catholic hierarchy.\nSincerely, Dr Rosemary Eileen McHugh, MD, MSpir", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm glad that the GOP controlled senate has decided to make it clear that they are just a white identity death cult. That is where their base of white supremacists is. With Sessions, we have a Klansman in charge of the Justice Dept. Police will be encouraged to murder unarmed minorities and the mentally ill. Obama tried to stop that. They hate anything Obama did. The GOP just put a judge on the Supreme Court that will stop our death with dignity law. Republicans seem to enjoy watching people suffer. Ironically, they remind me of the Romans watching Christians killed in the Colosseum. That counted as sport too.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a Christian and I understand that there are other religious holidays or agnostic or atheist beliefs in December. It is inclusive to say; \"Happy Holidays\" or \"Have a great winter break!\" Instead of assuming \"Merry Christmas\" speaks to all. Donning a black face is insensitive and stupid. I am, however, protective of a person's right to be racist and wear whatever offensive costume he or she wants at a private party. Shame on her, but she is allowed. This reminds me of Molly Ivins protecting the rights of the KKK to have their parade. This is freedom of speech, right or wrong, sensitive and inclusive or insensitive and exclusive.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder how many men would have gone to war and now lay in European graves defending Canada's freedoms had they known a hysterical tide of anti--christian, anti-conservative phobia was to overtake the country and it would now be governed by traitors and cowards. Face it, the Aga Khan now runs Canada and what the Aga Khan wants, the Aga Khan gets. Goodbye Canada. We need a Donald Trump now more than ever in our history. He won't be coming.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "To support the LBGTQ community - give them FREE TUITION for life! Not a room for party!\nThis is a targeted Christian bullying and bashing - did the Islamic, Hindu, school get the same notice?\nHypocrites! Just picking on the most beaten people! - you've lost my vote.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As long as you are fine with an Imam coming here and doing the same thing. You know like saying Christianity is evil for all the death they create, and for giving females too many rights etc. etc. If you agree with that than at least you are not being a hypocrite.....so tell me your initial reaction to that?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It is the left that remains silent when radical Muslims throw gays off of rooftops, burn women who refuse sexual relations, slaughter Christians, commit \"honor\" killing of women, stone adulterers, blow up women and children in terror attacks, etc. It is the left that celebrates the \"right to choose\" which has resulted in the destruction of over 50 million innocent lives here in America even though Pope Francis has called abortion an \"absolute evil\" and a \"horrendous crime\". It is the left that bankrupts small business people if they don't bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple even though such a \"marriage\" was uninmaginable 20 years ago. It is the left who has destroyed the humanities and has made academia an ideological reeducation camp. It is the left who are the thought-police waging an inquisition on anyone who fails to subscribe to their prevailing protocols and reigning orthodoxies.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "One who lives \"in the shadow of the Cross\", as seems the post you responded to, lives an empty Christianity, one that begins with a half-truth. Beginning with such half-truths leads inevitably to religious and spiritual sickness. We see the evidence, don't we!\nThe cross is so overshadowed by the light of resurrection that to see it any other way is devoid of grace'iousness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the key components of the Rwandan genocide was hate radio that polarized the nation and then called upon one side to kill the other. We have hate radio in this country along with hate TV and hate web pages. How much worse would be a civil war in this country where the population is many times larger and much more heavily armed. All Christians must stand up to hate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those theologians write/wrote for TODAY'S people to understand that they must be both modern and Catholic. Since neither JP II, Benedict nor most of the bishops were able to teach that----they did.\n\nFar from being rogues---they provide ongoing, challenging, interesting stimulus to THINKING Catholics as to how to live as Catholic/Christians in today's world. Sorry to say----the crew that you're defending are/were AFRAID of ambiguity, afraid of admitting that there are questions that DESERVE examination and often new answers. Instead, we had decades where when new moral or ecclesiological questions opened---people like Burke believe that it is a sign of weakness, lack of faith, and/or of yielding to the world's ambiguity and relativism. These theologians had the courage to present these issues to the people when the hierarchy just wanted the people to remain forever in a devotional state and simpleminded.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"From what you write, I don't think you can recognize leadership qualities unless the person is wearing a Roman collar.\"\n\nSo, despite my indication in two prior comments that I am only addressing those represented in the article, you continue to try to foist a clericalist stamp on me. Give it up. \n\nRegarding your first, you must be correct. The CTU is just a greenhouse for leadership. I won't let the fact that of the ~4,000 it has graduated in the last fifty years, none of its lay alumni/ae are notable in either the Catholic Church nor society at large. They must be leading in secret, just as the non-signing members of the faculty are doing. And when the current staff leaves, students will still be assigned new \"leaders\" based upon the courses they take. That's how leadership really works. If you can't get people to follow you, get them assigned to you.\n\nIt's not a commission - its an advertisement; they signed their names to a newspaper ad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Michael's historical summary is most interesting. Wonder just how much of the Church politics during that early era was shared with our Catholic ancestors. Am anxious to read the \"piddling\" agenda for this year's conference. If any of our own concerns are included, now's the time to send a letter to our bishop pitching our own pros and cons including our prayers for a successful session. Did that once and received a nice, hand written note of appreciation. Perhaps those days are over.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Despite Catholic abolitionists asking for an official pronouncement that chattel slavery is immoral, the Pope and the Holy Office refused to do so. Thus, they clearly did not believe it to be immoral.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While we're still laughing at Frank's post to you, you should also note that \"no religion\" doesn't mean \"atheists and agnostics,\" - that encapsulates those not reporting a specific denomination preference. Which in case of Chicago should be taken as \"Catholic- light.\" Ever been to Chicago? It's a Catholic town and its Catholic influence is undeniable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In a place that is welcoming so many people from so many corners of the world, it is imperative, while respecting differences, to bring everyone under the same tent. The schools are where it happens. Kids from everywhere come out of them as Canadian as can be. Why do we insist on hiving some of them off into a whole separate system\"?\n\n- You completely missed the boat on this issue. The Catholic system is a better system to work, grow and learn in. Plain and simple. Before casting judgement maybe you should ask the people who work in learn in this environment. You really can't compare the difference between the two boards. The Catholic system is far superior and open hearted to the politically correct disgustingly corrupt an inept public board.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not a military dictatorship, Assad is a civilian. Besides, the Syrian government (or \"Assad regime\", if you like) is a secular entity, there's no use of bringing up religion here. But if you want to go down this road, Assad's secular regime might be the reason he still has support among a lot of Syrians (whether Sunni, Shia, Druze, or Christian), because they know what the alternative is and they've seen it run the show in Eastern Aleppo.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rubber bands weren't invented yet, so it had to be nails.\nWhy do you still insist on believing that everyone here is Christian?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm an atheist and I have a lot of atheist friends. I'm not remotely offended by \"Merry Christmas\" as I would not be offended if someone said \"happy holidays\" or \"happy hannukuh\" and I don't know a single one of my atheist friends who would be offended either. We say it right back. We celebrate Christmas too, but as a secular holiday with pagan traditions, not as a religious holiday. \n\nI think the only \"Christian persecution\" is in the mind of Lynn, as I'd bet the farm that she has never, ever heard from an atheist that they were offended by the use of \"Christmas.\" Maybe she could do us all a favor and not get offended when someone uses \"happy holidays\" as that seems to be her real issue. \n\nAnd if Lynn really wants to talk about currency and the Pledge, let's go back before the McCarthyism era when \"God\" was not part of the Pledge or US currency at all. \n\nAlso, this time of year was the Solstice pagan holiday until Christians moved Christmas to this time of year to get more converts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have no problem with a Muslim hijab, nor a Sikh turban, nor a Christian cross, but a niqab or burka is a step too far. Some accommodation is needed by immigrants to this country as well. Requiring them to show their face in public is not too onerous. If they really can't then they need to stay inside their own homes. If their religion and families require them to be that cut off from society that they cannot have normal Canadian interaction face to face, then I don't see much difference. The Koran asks for modesty. That can be attained by a hijab - which is what the majority of Muslim women have worn through the centuries. Only male dominance and subjugation of women is gained by a burka. If the women wearing them believe they have more freedom (from male looks) in them, it speaks more to the misogyny allowed and encouraged in their own culture than to religiosity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "this is how real Christians act.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many years ago I stayed a week or so at the women's Dominican monastery in Chicago to attend the world parliament of religion conference. I attended mass at a Catholic church within their ground. I was so impressed because they seemed to have half white and half black parishioners. I thought that was an ideal situation worshiping God together. I used to attend Cathedral parish messes, I noticed the African American parishioner seemed so natural and sincere in worshiping God. I appreciated their unique beauty of worshiping God! I hope you give it a try again!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, it's high time that Catholic bishops condemn the white racist mob that looted and destroyed Ferguson. I want those white nationalists called to justice. \n\n...what's that?.....OK, well, there has to be a town somewhere where a white mob of Alt righters destroyed a Black community. \n\n....what's that?.....there isn't?\n\n.....A \"dog whistle\"? Well, that will have to do! Bishops, do your duty!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have no doubt they wish they could draw us all back in and most of all, draw our wallets back in. But they want it to be solely on their terms, which is unacceptable for many of us now. \n\nOf course all of us pay the price of their recalcitrance. Rather than being able to foster the Catholic social welfare doctrine and working to bring as much of it as we can it into mainstream political discourse, the bishops have driven off the potential messengers of the good news.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At one point 10% of the Roman Empire was Jewish. Judaism laid the groundwork for the conquest of Christianity. Completely irrelevant. The nation being comprised of anthropological diversity is not an issue you race-baiting troll.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Deflect much? A great example of whataboutism. \n\nIf you think Trump is some sort of a god fearing christian, I have aluminum siding for your car. He was so determined to stand up for America he dodged the draft. Now - he was not alone in so doing but that sorta puts the lie to the \"Standing up for America\" thing. Oh - that's right - he still has all his stuff made overseas. MAGA, amirite?\n\nJust in case you missed it, Obama is no longer in office. HRC was not elected. Will you ever get over them? maybe not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do Catholics still prevent their own from being buried in a Catholic cemeteries if they die at their own hand?\nJust curious....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What we do know for certain is that the Syrian citizenry is largely Sunni with Druze, Christian and Kurd minorities as well. The Assad family represent an Alawi minority of about 10%, who rule the country through a military dictatorship. Please explain to me by what logic the 90% who are not Alawi are happy with that situation, no matter what some of them may say to the microphones of 'Russia Today'. Now go back to your RT stations and keep lapping it up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Faustian bargain strikes again amongst professed \"uber-Christians\" with no concern for long-term consequences in the quest for political power and wealth. It would be ironically comical if not so terribly sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. northrup: A little info for you from \"The Christian Post\": In a survey released Monday that was sponsored by the pregnancy center support organization Care Net, researchers from the Christian research group LifeWay found that about 70 percent of women who had an abortion self-identified as Christians, while 43 percent say they attended a Christian church at least once per month or more at the time they aborted their child.\" It seems, Mr Northrup, that you don't speak for all Christians. Indeed, many Christians are pro-choice; including that 70% of women who had abortions. Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can our Pope prioritize the celebration of Martin Luther over the celebration of a Catholic Mass to his flock in Sweden?\n\nSimply by concelebration of the Eucharist with Lutherans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Was dougco a better district in 2007 or now? The slate the DP is endorsing is the reason for the problems they discussed in this op Ed. The Blaine amendment does not have a documented history of implementation due to anti Catholic bigotry in this state and the concept of the state funding playground equipment at a church is vastly different than an exclusive and expensive religious education funded by state and local taxpayers. The DP should abandon the sinking ship, they have been wrong on every education op Ed with consistency, so go promote another standardized test, the readers have lost faith in your ability at objective journalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So maybe \"Jesus Christ would not have supported\" sanctuary cities and \"would point out that illegal aliens are sinful, hateful people,\" and would presumably have supported, say, internment camp cities or something like that instead?\n\nAn odd take on Christianity, that's for sure.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who cares about yoga? People have all sorts of weird personal devotions that are silly to others, if the Church can encompass the charismatic Catholics it probably can encompass yoga as long as it is completely refocused towards Christianity or just exercise. \n\nAs long as it is not snuck into the liturgy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "PM Imad Mohammad Deeb Khamis, who was appointed 22 Jun 2016, was tasked by Assad to, at the time, reinvigorate the Syrian economy. Since then, his Baath party along w/ Hezbollah from Iran and supported by Russia have been mostly successful in opposing and eliminating the Jabhat al-Nusrah. He was seen in many Western viewpoints as \"someone who could be reasonable\" since his background as an elec engineer has worked in his favor, both politically and governmentally. Basically, he keeps the lights on, the TVs on, and pretty much anything that needs electricity. Since Assad was duly elected, and his parliament gave him the authority to appoint a Prime Minister, I tend to want to allow him to remain. Not just because he is an Allawite from Latakia (meaning a Christian) but that the alternative is worse. Islamists cannot be allowed to get a stronghold of regional influence anywhere in the world. They said they will not stop until all are converted, or dead. I believe them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First: let's be clear with the terms. by definition, a women is pregnant as soon as conception happens. Contraception, by definition, prevents conception from happening. \n\nA women does not become pregnant when implantation happens. She is already pregnant when that happens. This means that a drug that prevents implantation is by definition an abortion inducing drug--not a contraceptive drug. \n\nSecond: Any institution that operates under the name \"Catholic\" cannot provide services that are contrary to the Catholic Faith. The only way to change this would be if the institution becomes secular. Given that the US Constitution is supposed to protect the Church from government intrusion, we should not have to do this and we will refuse to comply with any law that forces us to go against our Faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't consider 60% of bankruptcies being a result of the inability to pay medical bills a function of liberty. America can do better.\nAs a white non christian I don't feel the right is speaking to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "HI!, DonInKansas\n\nThank you for your response, you initially gave me a star (Positive reaction) but then go on to give a negative reaction in your comment, is this based on reading my article A Bond of Divine Mercy.\nOr are you just distressed by the generally opinion of some Christians.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I love the line \"St. Michael\u2019s ..... is one of a dozen religious colleges affiliated with a major Canadian university. It is one of the few, however, where the heathen world is only a few steps away.\" \n\nI take exception to calling the UofT students \"heathen\". Humm. When you consider heathen as adjective as used) is a synonym for \"unholy, barbarian, barbarous, uncivilized, uncultured, primitive, ignorant\" the word has quite derogatory connotation. I find the liberal intellectuals (often atheistic or agnostic) to be a lot more civilized than the Christian and or alt-right (especially in the USA) who often love guns, have no issue with being racist, disrespectful of the constitution, & disagree with social welfare etc. Just who exactly is more civilized?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My God. This is your justification for abortion? That it is consistent with the survival of the fittest? You can't have been raised a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your post is a blatant LIE.\n\nIt was less than 10 years ago that a serious effort to have sections of sharia law adopted in Ontario was rejected, at the last minute, by a suddenly frightened Liberal provincial government.\n\nIn a well publicized survey of 100,000 British Muslims less than 4 years ago, there was significant support for adoption of some, or all, aspects of Muslim/Sharia law. The highest percentage support, at more than 50%, was in the 18-30 male demographic, with most of those people British born.\n\nGo ahead and pretend this is about race. \n\nThis is about freedom and liberty. Fragile concepts, still works in progress, even after 1000 years of struggle centered in the Anglospehere.\n\nModern Islam cannot co-exist with Liberal western democracies until it undergoes the same painful transitions that were imposed (yes, imperfectly at times) on the Christian churches.\n\nComplete separation of church and state. Render unto Caesar...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is the denaturing of love so much on the Catholic agenda?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't see progressives doing much to gather people into the Church the way you see other Christian groups spreading their message. And these groups don't water down what they believe in to make it more palatable, hoping they will increase their numbers even more. Maybe we need to relearn what we've forgotten. Saying, we believe all this stuff but it's not important that you try to live your life according to it is pandering and who would respect being pandered to?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, at least some Christian's law. \n\nYou can look at some basic Christian values, without the label, and they seem like reasonable ethics for a civil nation. You don't murder, you don't steal, you treat your neigbbor the way you would like to be treated, you honor your spouse (which is a civil contract as well), you help the sick, the poor, women and children. Don't point out bigotry while failing to recongize you own. Those who are not of your faith should still be treated with respect and compassion.. it's a pretty long list if a person is willing to look past some of the sanctamonious individules who believe only they are 'the chosen' \n\n Are any of these things inherently just Christian values? You might also say those are sectarian values adopted by the Christian church Who cares about the source of inspiration, when the values are so similar in intent?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"So, the clerks who wrote the final draft of the US Constitution included \"A.D\".\"\n-------------\nThe \"Founding Fathers\" could write. And they didn't write \"AD\" as you hope. They wrote \"in the year of our Lord...\" which doesn't refer to Mohammad, Buddha, or the Apostle Paul.\n==================\n\"at the time, because that was the thing to do, it was done by Christians without thinking.\"\n----------\nSo you would have wrote that? Because you are a non-thinking non-Christian who does what everyone else does? It was written that way because a good many (not all, but most) of our Founding Fathers were Christians and that is the way they dated important documents, to signify that \"the date\" was \"truly\" \"in the year of our Lord....\"\n-\nBy the way, keep it up. I love - love - comments that allow me to respond with references to God, Jesus, and the Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By whom?\nHow many centuries later?\nThe history of Christians and the Jews in that time period is not very pretty. Except for the Scandinavian countries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any Evangelical/Catholic alliance is seen by Evangelicals as merely the short-term use of Catholic influence to wage a culture-war battle. \n\nAnti-Catholic bias will return after the battle -- whether won or lost.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The point of view of the Roman Catholic church should not be relevant here. Many faith groups disagree, and are happy to welcome, even marry, gay couples. \n\nNo, he question is not what happens within the walls of the church--that has been decisively answered. after all, the church is free to refuse marriage to divorced people although they are perfectly free to marry civilly. No divorcee is suing a bishop to marry in church. ( Indeed, the church has found a way to coexist in the civil polis with those in marriages it considers invalid. So why are the gay couples any different?)\n\nThe question is how to co-exist with all those happily married gay Episcopalians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My grandfather was killed in the holocaust. Speech has nothing to do with actions. Don't worry, I don't turn the other cheek when smited, I leave that up to the Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don\u2019t think Jesus is asking me to give up praying for the dead or attending Benediction in order that all may be one. \n\nWhat do you propose our separated brethren should give up to move us closer to Christianity? Or is it a one sided proposition?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why am I not surprised to see NCR praising and celebrating a march in which women demand free abortions and contraception? Does anyone at NCR believe anything at all? Or do you just keep the word \"Catholic\" in your title as sarcasm or irony?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" Once a religious institution (Protestant, Catholic, Seventh-day Adventist, etc.) makes a pronouncement about \"The Truth,\" writes it down, defends it for years and years and centuries, etc. in public, it is almost impossible for that religious body to admit that they made a mistake.....\"\n\nYes, Dr. Taylor, and this is why it is imperative for every individual to carefully examine every issue and not simply say, \"Well, the church has said.....\"\n\nWhen Paul said, \"Prove all things, hold fast that which is good\", he included his own statements of faith. And commended the Bereans who \"search the scriptures daily, whether (what Paul said) was so.\"\n\nSo, as I said in the beginning, if you don't believe in the testimony of EGW and how she interpreted the bible, hit the road. She is the \"classic\" SDA and non-negotiable in her definition of what SDA's believe. Just as Paul is of the Christian faith. Those who reject Paul soon reject Christanity. Or, try to twist Paul to say what he did not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If ever there was an example of situational ethics or \"cafeteria Catholicism\" it is seen in how some \"conservative brethren\" and, to be honest some on the progressive side, pick and choose when mercy is to be applied...to be conditional...to be ignored...or to be mocked. \n\n\"Mercy is not looking the other way from sin...... BUT THAT BEING SAID (followed by an unconditional, fawning defense of St. Pope John Paul's moral leadership and management)\" is frequent from those who decry Pope Francis's talk of mercy and of Mercy in an other sectionj of the cafeteria. \n\nThere really WAS/IS an ends-justifies-means rationale used in defense of JP II's non-handling of Fr. Marciel. Am I wrong? \n\nI was taught that \"intentional ignorance\" is sinful, and the strategic \"avoidance of scandal\" is the most un-Christian cover-up motivation of all. \n\nBut we do have to ask, is \"at-any-cost avoidance of clerical scandal\" an OK CATHOLIC motivation for giving a \"holy\" rationale for painting over rust?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is the premise here? Is it that Islam is a \"peaceful, peace loving religion\"? It, along with \"peaceful Muslims\" are being victimized by nasty Christian/Post Christian Westerners?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately, white people have no monopoly on bad behavior. Human nature is self-serving, greedy, and violent, regardless of skin color. You're outraged by injustice. I am too. But how far do we extend our sympathies, and what kind of reckoning can we insist upon? History is like quicksand. The Catholics and the Jews (most of them white, by the way) experienced discrimination and violence in this country. The Irish were treated like animals. But go farther back. The Iroquois committed genocide against the Hurons. Are the descendants of those Iroquois culpable? Muslim Arabs conquered the Middle East in the 7th century (which was Christian at the time) and colonized Spain. Should the Spanish resent the Arabs still? The Romans, the Saxons, the Vikings, and the Normans all conquered and colonized Britain when my ancestors were peasants there. Should I hold a grudge against their descendants? Unlimited resentment poisons the soul.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You mean the Christians who have been bombing in the UK for decades?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Cupich is hardly someone I would regard as an orthodox Catholic on this and on a number of other issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian conservatism at its finest :(", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, the nun was well intentioned but sadly misinformed. \n\nI would argue that God could understand a Catholic becoming a Protestant, an atheist, a Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, etc. What God cannot understand is people who claim to be \"Catholic\" yet do not believe and profess the Catholic Faith--not to mention are actively dissident. In other words--people who claim to be Catholic yet want the Church to become Protestant or otherwise preach, teach and profess a liberal, secular, humanist, atheistic Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am trying to respond and to communicate a diverse Catholic population. \n\nOr would you rather the Anglos people draw up walls around themselves speaking their private argot?\n\nDo you shout at Mass when a Spanish song is song...\"stop showing off\". \n\nThere's really no true respect for diversity here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I had no idea Mike Pence was an Evangelical or creationist. His Wikipedia entry barely mentions the subject. The portrait opens with the story of Pence's ancestors--Irish Catholic immigrants and capital-letter \"Democrats.\" One sentence is given over to the subject of his conversion and there's one more reference buried at the end of the entry. No mention of his creationist views. This is probably intentional as the Wikipedia entries of top-profile politicians are always managed to some degree. \n\nSeems like Trump is taking care of his Evangelical base through cabinet appointments of conservative Evangelicals so he needn't pretend to have a religious bone in his body. Smart move for Donald Trump's a--. Dumb move for the country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We also need the House and Senate (comprised mostly of \"Christians,\") and our \"Christian president\" to get off their collective bottoms and reach bipartisan agreement on immigration law reform. What we have now and the heartless way it has been enforced in recent years is unconscionable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What do you expect? It's the Catholic church. We left the church here in Hawaii years ago when we had young boys. Surprised that people still belong but Bishop Larry Silva must be doing something to keep them there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You seem to be an intelligent and fair-minded person. Do you see this essay as bringing us together or driving us further apart? This is not an olive branch to people who may see things differently - it is clearly a declaration of war designed to demonize and marginalize a large segment of the American Catholic population.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A majority of Catholics disagree with you, as you can see the results of the last election.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church from its institution by Christ during His time on earth is now being likened to 'the dark side' in Star Wars. Can anyone take this seriously, at all?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are those the only two choices? If someone is not muslim then he must be christian?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings....a very good evaluation by Father Reese! The contrast between Bible referring fundamentalist christians and koran referring isis fundamentalists is very clear! Neo Con Catholics this is your wake up call! Are you listening Paul Ryan?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspect there is a political motive here. By attacking Catholicism at its core theologies, it can split Catholics--and thus, split the Catholic vote. The goal here is to create conservative-voting Catholics. They take a loose reading of \"subsidiarity\" and run with it. They know they don't have to win the theological arguments... all they have to do is generate enough doubt to create an impression of a conservative-friendly Catholicism.\n\nLook what they did to the Protestants and Evangelicals when the \"religious right\" was created. There is an atempt to do something similar to Catholics. Entire denominations are still reeling from the painful wounds that movement inflicted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your point also doesn't make sense as there is no symbols in Muslim world analogous to Christian cross. I.e. there is no symbol like that and face covering is not analogous symbol thus you are comparing apples to oranges.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the main idea is that God wills health and wealth for his people and that faith, self-empowerment and donating to these churches will bring on the goods (and, with the Dominionist-inflected sects, power).\n\nI'm acquainted with some Christians who more or less subscribe to the Prosperity Gospel, and I'm scandalized by it. It's obviously a vehicle for bad actors to soak the credulous struggling for security and dignity in a capitalist economy, and, of course, its overriding values are not of the Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Scare-mongering? Zealous Christians become pastors and missionaries - Zealous Muslims become terrorists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have a government built on bribery and corruption, with the politicians not even hiding that they have to be bribed in order to get any legislation crafted and voted on. A gov't no different than Imperial Roman Empire, who needed to invade and occupy other countries to leech like parasites off others resources and lands.\n100 million Natives were slaughtered in this hemisphere and when we foist the same policies of colonialism on the Mideast, the MidEasterners start foaming at the mouth and along comes 9/11 and our forever self inflicted war on terrorism.\nDonald Trump, McConnell, Sullivan are crooked and corrupt and represent the so called Christians, who have gotten their tickets on the hellbound train. And I hope they take a lot of their supporters with them", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll be honest and answer your question: No! \n\nDo you really think yoga by an ultra-Catholic in 2017 can \"invite in\" DEMONS. \n\nAnd what do those yoga demons do to threaten your faith? As you advise Pope Francis, no ambiguity please.\n\nHow little you respect the minds and bodies of Catholics. How great faith you have in the power of non-Catholic demons. \n\nUsing \"poses\" a problem for you? If I hit drives and putts using his poses, I don't \"invite in\" Jack Nicklaus. Oh that I did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was in 1985 when a lawsuit was filed under the Charter of Rights that the lords prayer be removed by non christian and atheists. Ironically, here we are today, 30 years later and accommodation is made for prayers back in schools. Perhaps we should keep schools religion free. Keep it at home and there is nothing to dispute. Easy fix.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There was nothing divine about how the Jews were written about in the Gospels. They were clearly cast as the bad guys in the narrative and the author felt justified because Jerusalem was already destroyed. The truth is in Acts, both in how the-early Jesus movement considered itself part of Judaism and in how it was persecuted by the priests (not the people). When you translate the Bible it becomes real and can be analyzed using scriptural scholarship, which is why the Church resisted translating so that everyone could read it. Knowledge is power, and the power shifted when everyone owns the story. This issue was dealt with in L.G. It is the height of being a reactionary to oppose her on this. Between Vatican II and the Pope and your sad band of reactionaries, I will go with the Holy Father.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "it is not just about sexuality...and you can tell i am at least a formerly good catholic because the word makes me cringe. it is about health. it is about economic survival. it is about public safety. it is about housing. it is about epidemics and ruin of the environment and global warming and deforestation. it is about watching your children starve while you keep being told to have more. it is about abusive mothers and fathers being preached at to have more while they can't treat their present children decently, regardless of their economic status. it is about the haves having to support a geometrically increasing population of have nots. it is about circumstances that lead people into desperate grabs for water and lebensraum. it is about bad politics that breed off human suffering. it is about almost everything wrong with the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To the extent government has ANY business in healthcare, Catholic institutions should not be compelled to engage in mortally sinful conduct.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...but not a very good Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Brandon, that's because organized Christian groups do nor commit murder or other war crimes. This is why the establishment media never supports Christian victims of human rights violations. There are articulate Christian writers who write in defence of war-crime victims, but their voices are never presented by the corporate media cartel (including the G&M).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What you wrote is so dispiriting. I just can't understand how the plight of the poor could be outside the ambit of anyone who claims to be Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words...Jesus died for the human race, and yet his blood is absolutely worthless...unless the sinner gives him permission to save them.\n what cracks me up is you just quoted a text that shows not one 1 sinner chose to come to Christ as is taught and believed by 99.999% of Christians today who preach you must choose to com to Christ of your \"free will\" because god didn't create robots.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Har!\n\nNote that \"trunews.com\" (whaddat?) quotes The Guardian as a credible source:\n\nhttp://www.trunews.com/article/too-late-for-drs-but-not-for-jesus\n\nAnd then calls for divine intervention in the same article:\n\n\"Luke 18:27 \"Jesus replied, \"What is impossible with man is possible with God.\" Prayer over this family and the precious baby is much needed right now. \"\n\nAnd their mission statement:\n\n\"We believe Christians need and deserve their own global news network to keep the worldwide Church informed, and to offer Christians a positive alternative to the anti-Christian bigotry of the mainstream news media\"\n\nGetting your information directly from the lord, are you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is another conservative, evangelical Christian who won't be voting on Tuesday.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From the article; \"For me, one of the big problems with Catholicism is it is often more interested in being Catholic than it is in being Christian.\"\n\nI have been saying just this for a number of years now. I have tired of the front-pew-sitting, guilt-ridden, blindly-obedient, complain-about-every-perceived-liturgical-slight, know-it-all, Super-Catholics. \n\nThey seem to be too busy following the rules of Catholicism instead of being Christian in character and actions. Their time is spent in the confessional, the pew, and following the rules of this, that, and the other. They spend very little time actually helping anybody, AKA The Golden Rule. They are often so possessive of \u201ctheir\u201d church and \u201ctheir\u201d Sunday circle of friends, they do not extend a friendly welcome to new parishioners, guests, or even current parishioners with whom they are not familiar.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So why aren't you using Old English? That is clearly where your mindset is. \n\nYou want to use a word whoseeating has changed. If you want others to believe you don't know the English language, go right ahead. Let the rest of us speak modern English. \n\nAnd let the rest of us hold to the true Catholic faith, the one you reject.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Has anyone every heard of resentment of Orthodox Christians, or Buddhists, or the Bahai, or Shintoists, or Hindus? All \"foreign\", minority religions, and yet not a peep about them...or from them.\n\nDid Orthodox Christians complain because their Christmas and Easter isn't publicly recognized, only the mainstream Christian dates? Or Buddhists or Hindus or Shintoists about their religious holidays or customs? No, they just went ahead and celebrated their own privately. \n\nDid any young Christian Orthodox people, or Hindus, or Buddhists, etc., complain of feeling \"alienated\" because their holidays were not publicly celebrated and affirmed as equal to the mainstream culture's holidays? Nope.\n\nWhy do some religions accept without resentment that they are minority religions, while others demand public recognition and adaptation by others in all kinds of ways?\n\nMaybe Sheena should reflect on that, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Close to 100% of the good southern Christians of the Confederacy supported slavery. They were wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a Roman Catholic women, called to priesthood, in my youth, by God Almighty, and denied my sacred right to fulfill my vocation, as my sacred right to the same sacraments and opportunities, as my brothers have, was denied me, without any legitimate reason supported by any Gospel of Jesus Christ. These Gospels represent accepted scriptural dogma by the Roman Catholic Church. \n\nWhen our church treats lesser unfounded doctrines or traditions as more important than its own Dogma like the Great Commandment of Jesus Christ to treat all others the same and with equity, it is proper Roman Catholic Christian Behavior to refuse to support that treatment and even fight against the hatred and abuse of any group of people, in our church, as a matter of Human Justice and Sacred Human Dignity. \n\nI know who I am, and if my church wants to continue to claim it is a christian church, then I will demand it act like one and drop its sinful sexist behavior and poor attitude of heart towards women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is for individuals to do, not the government. It is how individuals are to lead their lives. Jesus also converted a tax collector into a disciple. Maybe we can convert the IRS into Christian disciples and then we won't have to worry about changing the tax code.\n\nSatan is pretty knowledgable about the Bible as well. He too twists God's word to meet his agenda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr. Reese,\nHave you experienced Christ inner voices or Holy Mary talking to you at all?\nIf you never heard Christ inner voices at all, don't you wondered why not?\nAfter all you are a formally ordained RC priest!\nJohn 4:24 \"God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.\"\nHow did you lead Catholics to God who is Spirit when you are not in the Spirit yourself?\nAs a lay women, I experienced numerous times heard \nChrist talking to me and Holy Mary appeared to me and tought me how to pray the Rosary.\nThat is to point out how hyporcricy for CI refuses to ordain women as a priest!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, I'm not in any \"we\" with MSW, except for sharing membership in the human race. \nI'm not sure that there is a \"Catholic left\" as such, anymore. I think that it's more some members of the Left who still consider themselves Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I was confirmed in the Roman church, I professed, \"I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims to be revealed by God.\" As a Lutheran, I profess the exact same thing. I believe that the Lutheran Church teaches the Gospel of the undivided Church and that the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church subsists within the Lutheran Church.\n\nI don't see evidence that Trent qualifies as a Council--certainly, the Eastern Church doesn't see it that way. By the same token, a decision limited to the bishops of the Eastern Church about the Augsburg Confession doesn't speak for the undivided Church either. Luther called for a genuine ecumenical council because he trusted his reforms were from the Holy Spirit, but none was ever held.\n\nListen to what the Pope says at the Lutheran mass this month--I bet you'll hear that Trent is no longer in force and that no infallible decisions have ever been made about Lutheran sacraments or ordination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for clarifying that, Michael. As both a Catholic and a member of the Kansas City chapter of the Cumbaya Club, I don\u2019t want any confusion. \n\nWhile we\u2019re on the subject, I encourage everybody to come by the Cumbaya Club this Friday. We\u2019ll have a Doobie Brothers cover band and $2.00 draws. Plus, the nachos are exceptional. See you there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well well, buddy.\n You must have forgotten George Dubya Bush. He was some kind of born-again Christian. He said God told him to attack Iraq. How much more bizarre can you get?\n You see why we need to finish the revolution that started in the 1960's. Because when miscreants like Ronald Reagan, all the fanatic religious evangelists like Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority, Brian Mulroney in Canada, attacked everything the boomers accomplished in the 60's and 70's, most of them were married and unfortunately did not fight back. Generation X was too timid to carry on with the move towards democracy, equality, inclusiveness, and an economy that works for all.\n Thus all the elitist institutions and corrupted dysfunctional democracy we are burdened with today in North America, with all its religious divisions causing so much trouble, drifting ever further to the right wing where militarism, corporatism, fascism, and religion march in lock step keeping the people down.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"So instead I follow gospel criteria.\" Would that the anti-immigration pro-Trump Cafeteria Christians consider that THEIR mandate as well. \n\nYour comment is perfect. Or as my mother would say, \"Half in jest--all in earnest.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When was the last time a Christian blew up a truck in a crowd or blew themselves up in a crowded area? When was the last time a group of Christians hijacked planes and killed THOUSANDS of people at one time? All religions have and have had extremists but nothing to match the pace of Islam. \n\nYour comment sounds mostly like you are deflecting the truth in a vague attempt to justify the actions of the Death Cult.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This can't be said often enough. How much bandwidth has the Catholic press committed to this appalling phenomenon? As far as I know, next to none.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Vatican needs to ponder on the aftermath of encouraging Catholics to demonstrate and then telling them to risk their lives to protect their priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have seen a great outpouring of support for our brothers and sisters who have been impacted by the discrimination against their faith. Many who have protested have shown their Christian belief in aid to our neighbor, no matter their faith. The protesters were also not all Christian but persons who see our Constitution as a protection of all faiths and the right to subscribe to none.\nSince this publication is Catholic, the emphasis on a report would naturally focus on what Christians should do as their faith directs.\nI am impressed at all those who came forth immediately to voice outrage against discrimination of those of the Muslim faith and insist that we welcome ALL here irrespective of religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thoughtful article.\n\nMerit-making really has another name: pride, & perhaps vanity.\n\nPride is putting one's security in oneself, the ability to control events, the outcomes, etc. \n\nVanity is putting one's security (sense of worth, well being, etc.) in the opinion of others, what others think of you. Reputation.\n\n(Sensuality is another defect. It's placing one's security in the things of this world. Food, drink, sex, \"experiences\")\n\nBy virtue of original sin, people will have these struggles for life at some level. They can be and need to be tempered, but in some form at least one of these (\"the dominant defect\") will be popping up until we die.\n\nSo the practice of \"rectifying\" our will is a helpful thing for Christians to do, occasionally examining the why of our behavior. Why do we do the things we do?\n\nThe rectified will does things for the love of God and the true good of his/her neighbor. \n\nThis actually makes life much easier. The hard to do become the \"hard and sweet\" to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "one point missed in this conversation is unless you are roman catholic you cannot be hired as a teacher so discrimination is allowed in this case\nis this right", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The fact that throughout the Apostolic Age and into the early Church there were persecutions by Roman and Jewish authorities in no way counters argument of influence. Unfortunately, triumphalism is not countered by the argument of the crucifixion of Jesus or the deaths of the Apostles but can find its support in the fact that Christianity survived and thrived after such. This is not an argument in support of triumphalism, however, but evidence of the Triumph of Christ.\nYes, all had influence, which survives both in Scripture and in the body of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's face it, the Church is \"one, holy, catholic, and apostolic\" but in our already/not yet is still, in addition to the four \"marks\" and for cultural reasons that are not dogmatic, a PATRIARCHAL institution. But the patriarchal phase of salvation history is passing away, and we must keep praying and working for the Holy Spirit to overcome the vexing resistance that keeps delaying the inevitable \"transition in continuity,\" thereby compromising the mission of the Church. How can the Church promote \"integral human development\" when 50% of the baptized are excluded from becoming successors of the apostles due to gender? See the following:\n\nReligious Patriarchy is an Obstacle to Integral Human Development\nhttp://pelicanweb.org/CCC.TOB.1703.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When Bishop Conley speaks of being unformed, he means unbrainwashed. When he says faith, he means loyalty. Land O Lakes did not destroy scholastacism, reality testing did. The Church thought it could say natural law with a nod and a wink toward papal authority and an educated Catholic laity would simply agree. You can have reason or authority. You can\u2019t have both in same sentence. Faith is the courage to chase reason where it takes you, not to bracket it with the Magisterium.\n\nModernists are not to blame for the Church\u2019s lack of creativity and stubbornness in dealing with the Eden myth in a world where evolution shows that there was no golden age of human perfection. The modern university did not doom the old thinking to irrelevance. It may be its salvation if you look at original sin as blame rather than an incident of disobedience and the Passion as a divine vision question to feel our human emptiness rather then an act of retribuation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I could not agree with you more. The RCC clergy has become the Pharisees Jesus fought against. I have always wondered what Jesus thinks about what His church has become. I usually think He would weep as most of us do. Francis has the habit of saying something will be done and then forgetting about it. Same, same as I see it. I am finding it harder and harder to remain a practicing Catholic. I see no hope in anything changing. It makes me sad as I am sure is has made Marie sad. She saw that nothing was or could be done for sexual scandles or for the protection of children. And don't think the same thing is not going on. The same players are still in the game. A priest is serving time in a federal pen near here. He still holds Mass and consecrates the host. Our letters written of this crime to our current bishop have gone unanswered. He has learned nothing and is still a serving priest. Yes, Jesus is weeping.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In some circles, Christianity for example, a death in a dysfunctional society diminishes me as much as a death in a peaceful, prosperous society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would remind you that (1) cardinals are bishops with only one special function - the election of a pope, so they should be viewed in the light of the world wide \"college\" of bishops, (2) there are a growing number of bishops (and a few cardinals) who are - relatively speaking - young for the role of a leader (just as in corporations, government, medicine, and so on). Cardinal Blaise Cupich as well as Cardinal Tobin (of NJ) are good examples among many. Centuries of tradition - as wrong as it may be for a modern Church - have not allowed a lay person admitted as a cardinal and that change is not on the horizon, same with women who we first need to have admitted to full clerical orders. (3) And just what analogy would you suggest the pope use in his homily to a group of men - who have given their lives to service of the Church and of God - other than the grandfather comparisons? I am certain +Francis knows full well that cardinals are not biological grandfathers!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course, most of them will not, because they are just as conditioned as are all of the RC clergy to believe that God somehow made males superior to women. \nAs to the people -- it probably depends. Many are very conservative, as are many of those who attend RC churches. Others are more open. \nWhen other denominations decided to accept women clergy, tere was resistance by some and then gradual acceptance, to where it is no longer an issue. All of this happened in a relatively brief period of time. It would be the same in the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is his agenda? And why do liberals focus on cuts but never on accountability. Is it because they don't mind tapping the taxpayer or printing money as needed? Cutting budgets COULD just mean being better stewards of taxpayer money. Does that idea confuse or bother you? But, but, but... Murica... Trumpite...good Christians...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Austrailia has a phenomenon of \"Professional Catholics\" who go through the motions so that they can teach in Government Funded but Church controlled schools.\n\nhttp://www.ad2000.com.au/_professional_a_l_carte_catholicism_and_its_papier_mch_schools_march_2007", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have to wonder how many of those calling for further punishment have actually heard a shot fired in anger? Bergdahl should never have been in combat in the first place but still got sent, he spent five years in the hands of the Taliban, he\u2019s lost all access to military benefits and medical care, his employment prospects are next to zero and some of you want him to suffer more. And I bet you call yourselves Christians into the bargain.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some Muslims feel that way. Most do not. As one Muslim I know put it, the attitude of most Muslims towards ISIS is the same as most Christians towards the Westboro Baptist Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unless you are going to assert that Roman Catholics are not Christians, the IRA were very definitely Christian, and not at all communist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are always so worried about \"scandal of the faithful\" aren't we? It was worry over scandal that led the church to sequester mothers and babies in \"homes\" in Ireland where little ones died in shocking numbers and were denied proper Catholic burials despite being baptized. We were so worried about scandal of the faithful that molesting priests were moved from parish to parish. We were so worried about scandal that the Vatican's charity Pete's Pence was rarely audited and when (shockingly) vast sums were found missing or spent for personal gain little attention was paid and barely any investigation was conducted. Scandal and cover up, over and over. Hypocrisy. \nNow comes the part where someone will post that the Anglicans are taking in catholic strays and that I shouldn't let the door hit me...Or that some other clerics from some other sect are equally guilty. Save it.\nI don't care what the others are doing, Jew or Greek, slave or free. I care what we are doing and I'm not leaving.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is a serial adulterer, just like Trump. \nGingrich was having an affair with wife #2 while married to wife #1. Callista is wife #3. They had a multi-year affair while he was still married to wife #2. \nHer qualifications are is that she is Catholic and that Trump needs to throw a sop to Newt for supporting him. Newt imagined himself in a power job in this WH, but he must have stepped on someone's (Bannon? Kushner?) toes, because it didn't come through. Francis is of zero importance to Trump, because the savvier members of his team realize that the US bishops mostly ignore Francis, and EWTN, also opposed to most of what Francis stands for, is also a cheerleader for Trump. American voters are far more influenced by the bishops and right-wing Catholics media like EWTN than they are by the pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Will the K of C \nSupport all the children born to women who cannot afford them?\nWill it provide the funds for healthcare for all those who will be denied?\nWill it feed the children when funds for food are cut, school lunch programs are curtailed?\nWill it help provide housing for those who need it?\nShelter for the homeless?\n\nNo? Then why do they consider themselves pro life? \nIt is so easy to tell others what you think they should do. It is a real Christian that helps and supports others.\nI don't hear or see many real Christians these days.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OMG How many Christians of so many different sects have you met? Not all Christians see the bible as the same. The bible has been re-written and interpreted billions of times but remains for most of the faithful to be the \"word' of God and the story of Jesus his son, but the rest of the story can be all over the map depending on who you talk to.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I learned that material when I was in grade school, which was a very long time ago. What does this have to do with the vitriol directed at Christians or answer my question? Where is the connection to the state? Is the state paying for this or subsidizing it in some way? Is the state coordinating the events?\nLee, I enjoy reading your comments because you write well and intelligently. I may not agree with you about much but you do bring a bit of sanity to the debate. With that said, Do you believe that christians have no right to be involved in politics or can be allowed to have a political opinion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Im not saying that the owner would be judged. Im speculating that in this particular case the employer cannot be forced to provide based on his personal belief. The user of such services would be judged by God just not in association with this entity. People are created equally and can make their own choices- no one is stopping them. Now the law of the land is a point of contention. The far left has a war going on Christianity- snipping away at religious freedoms- here is someone who says no and is willing to back it up with all his being. Comparing Sharia Law to Christianity is a coveted liberal mantra. Words & reality are 2 different things. The Koran is full of culture that in reality goes against every moral fiber of US civilized society. The State does not have jurisdiction over business entity's except by regulation which are disappearing rapidly. There is no personal moral code chunked at the voting machine. You may be the first to own this dysfunction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a cynical remark! There was no need at all to read this report as you seem to have. As for \"the state of religious liberty in the US,\" from a conservative Christian perspective it's rarely been better, what with the election of their candidate to the presidency, and then his illegitimate seating of Neil Gorsuch. The only laments are coming from those who want to go on mistrusting, disliking and persecuting certain people whom our society has rightly judged deserving of full equal rights, then tearfully claim their mean prejudices are a genuine form of Christian practice. Yuck.\n\nRe religion in Pakistan, it should be noted that neither the Muslims nor the Christians are behaving in a way their respective religions teach. Basic Islam teaches the honoring and protection of women. And Christianity can never condone the rejection of one's own abused daughter. \"Honor killing,\" and sexist attitudes related to it, are all cultural monstrosities, with no place in any great world religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic church is great at making high sounding declarations and statements regarding this or that issue. What do they accomplish? NOTHING. If the Bishops, priests and the orders of nuns and other religious would get back to basics and stop trying to save the world, we would all be a lot better off, including the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the universal truths that Sr. Mary Adelaide, my sainted sixth-grade teacher, told us: Evolve, or die! \n\nIt is a stark choice before us Catholics: Either we reform and renew our priesthood from parish to pope, or the Catholic faith and culture will never make it to the end of this century.\n\nIf you think this is hyperbole: North Africa - from Alexandria to Marrakesh, once was the spiritual greenhouse for Christianity that nurtured the nascent church. Don't say it couldn't happen to Roma, as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cristo now you are making me chuckle. You fundy's have drawn up some crazy conspiricy that likes to label anyone who disagrees with you as a \"Jesuit\". You wouldn't know a Jesuit if it hit you in the face. I'm not one but I know some good ones. Like all Christian groups there are good ones and not so good ones everywhere. Just like there are lovers and haters everywhere. So sad you are such a hater. I'm afraid it is you who have been unmasked in this conversation. There is no love in your hard heart. Only hatred and condemnation. As did the Pharisees of old, you are completely missing the point of Christianity. I'm sad for you. Inside your hostile shell a fear of others lurks in your soul. I hope Jesus can reach you with his love someday. Best wishes in your journey.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Francis will continue to ignore his promises of complete transparency. The Vatican proceedings will be secretive, besides everyone knows Catholic clerics are incapable of committing crimes they make mistakes or sins that can be wiped away with a speedy sign of the cross and some rapid \"Our Fathers\". If found guilty the archbishop may be penalized by having to drink only white wine with his steak dinners. \nFrancis continues to promote and protect dirty bishops. Wesolowski was free to download scores of kidde porn and roam around Rome under Francis' \"house arrest\". Francis showed how much he cares for our kids by letting this dangerous pedophile loose while implying he was under some kind of constant supervision while awaiting trial.\n\nWill we ever learn? \nLetting this organization investigate and punish itself is beyond moronic.\nFrancis will continue to promote and protect dirty bishops. Francis had almost 4 years, not one bishop held accountable nor one child safer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "History has taught us time and again, through brilliant scientific thinkers like DaVinci and Einstein, that continuously questioning the establishment and current systems of belief, is just good science.\n\nThis questioning and curious attitude has resulted in huge new advancements in particle, astro and quantum physics. As just one example.\n\nBut questioning the current scientific establishment on global warming, gets you immediately shamed, silenced, marginalized, attacked, denigrated by some of the most intolerant and closed minded people on planet earth. You are now branded along the same lines as someone who doubts millions died brutally in WWII. Question the Catholic church in DaVincis time, you're branded a heretic. Sound familiar? \n\nSo the actual question you want answered is, why do followers need to blindly follow and believers need to faithfully believe? The over-the-top climate change alarmist crowd is no different in mindset and approach then DaVincis church was.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing Changed between the old and new testaments. Jesus said he came to full-fill the law and he fulfilled every prophecy of the old testament. The old testament law exists to show man that he can not redeem himself, only the blood of Jesus (God came as man) can redeem and full-fill the Law. All good works of man are filthy rags to God. And BTW the Law has not changed, nor will it....................Sodomite Marriage is a sin against a holy and perfect creator. Those engaged in it must acknowledge their sin, repent and come to cross of Jesus or they will not inherit the kingdom of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am afraid Pence confirmed the unattractiveness of certain aspects of his newfound evangelical faith. He gave the combined image of the Pharisees\u2019 tendency to say one thing and do another with Lucifer\u2019s cool, calculating smoothness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The US Catholic bishops will never recover their credibility until they renounce and remove any of those bishops who voted to exempt themselves from their own charter in Dallas, 2002 USCCB meeting.\n \nSome two-thirds of our 2002 bishops were guilty of covering up. None quit (but +Law fled).\n\nThus their weakness, their silence on hard moral truths (unpopular here, sure, but still true), and their shilling for taxpayer funding because, as Bp. Kicanas admits, voluntary donations \"tanked\" after the scandals.\n\nThey will never recover as long as they hide the truth. They blame \"money-hungry lawyers\" while going to the government cash cow for more, fawning in the lap of their paymasters. \n\nIf we won't give voluntarily, by golly, then they'll make charity mandatory!\n\nThis is indeed the Age of the Laity \u2013 our bishops have abdicated their role but not their office. How many souls will be lost due to their malfeasance?\n\nPrayer and fasting on our part is only answer, alas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The one who sounds like a \"raving Protestant fundamentalist\" is you, \"Faithful Catholic\". You take Jesus calling only men for the apostles, and leap to the conclusion that this means women cannot be ordained, as if the one had anything whatsoever to do with the other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well Alvin, we aren't \"One Nation\". We are currently horribly divided. And having you christian god in the mix only makes things worse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't reject Vatican II, just the way the Church has implemented it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Elagabalus, while I share your assessment that B16 may well be homosexual (indeed, I defer to your superior judgement on this topic!), and while I share your observation that having Gorgeous George in his entourage is \"conveenient,\" I am inclined to the assumption he is a non-active, closeted gay -- in your words \"denying his own nature.\" \n\nWould it not make more sense that B16's choice of language like \"intrinsically evil\" arose from a self-denying rather than active experience? That is not rhetorical -- I really am asking. We're reading tea leaves here, obviously, but given how B16 \"set the tone so low\" for contemporary discussions of homosexuality in Catholic circles, I really think pondering where he might be coming from is important.\n\nI fear this comment could get voted uncivil. I can only beg evaluators to note that raising delicate matters for serious reflection is not uncivil -- its just delicate, not unkind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Acceptance of the teaching of the Catholic Church by its members is what makes them Catholics. There has been a name since the 16th century for those who 'protest' against that teaching.\nThe 'dissent' of the people must always be disregarded.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is right Luke and they could have changed that when they partiated the constitution but chose not to. \n\nYou see our founding fathers were all white and Christian and so was the the population at the time so my theory is that was specifically put in place to protect future generations. They probably foresaw the likes of Pierre Trudeau and said, \"We have to protect our Christian values and ensure that future generations keep the faith.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Kruse says that though he claims his Catholic identity, being associated with the institutional church has been a challenge among his peers, especially in the St. Paul and Minneapolis archdiocese, where the sex abuse crisis and fervent campaigning against marriage equality by former Archbishop John Nienstedt \u201ccut deep wounds\u201d and \u201ctriggered pain and disgust\u201d among many Catholics.\"\n\nNienstedt was a train wreck for that archdiocese. Unfortunately, the new AB has made only excuses for his predecessor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's put out a roll call of those in the WH that need to be removed - not only Steve Bannon but Stephan Miller and Sebastian Gorka and others. This could have all been prevented but no the Roman Catholic powers that be in America went beyond and full throttle with a one issue theology. They repurposed the wonderful social justice and intellectual thought and writings of the church for an A,B,C religion. Putting themselves with those that in decades past actually put hoods on and went with torches to priests' rectory's. They forgot who and what their memory was - almost deliberately.\nWoody Gutherie was a tenant of Trump's and there were very serious issues in the way back days of Fred Trump. Rich does not mean right. We is as important as I.\nThe story of Matthew the Tax Collector can be informative.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see Gorsuch is already having an impact. This can't be good.\nAll a person has to do is proclaim their religious feelings are hurt, and they can deny services to a gay couple?\nWhat's to prevent conservative Christians, who refuse to see Islam as a real religion, from denying services to Muslims?\nWhat's to prevent a Jewish-owned business from refusing to sell to a Hindu couple or person because the owner perceives Hindus as worshiping false gods?\nWhat's to prevent a white business owner from selling to an inter-racial couple?\nNo, IF Gorsuch is in support of the baker, I suspect the SCOTUS will find a way to narrow this to gay couples only, so that religiously uptight people can once again show their superiority over gay couples.\nThat's what this baker and his supporters are about: Power.\nThey would be appalled if a gay business owner discriminated against conservative Christians, but they want conservative Christians to have the absolute right to discriminate against gay people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's all that matters. The non-heretical answers to the dubia are: no, yes, yes, yes, yes. The Pope's refusal to respond to the dubia convicts him of heresy. The Four Cardinals will formulate the appropriate response to a heretical Pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"... including the growing number of religiously unaffiliated people \u2014 care about our internal battles over the fine points of theology? Close to zero. \"\n \nWhere Are all these theologian who argue over 'the fine points of theology' who keep their mouth shut about the clergy rape of children? What do they know about anything when they do not know the spirit of God is living in all these clergy raped children?\n\nI really don't care if one is protestant or Catholic, what is the use of your faith in God when you just rather keep silent about Christian raping God in children? \n \nClergies are obstacle for me to worship God now. I thought that someone has to teach children and the spiritual children the rudimental teachings of the spiritual truth. \nHowever, if I have children now, I would not send them anywhere near the clergies who rape children and the clergies who stand silent while the clergy sex abuses of children are going on!!!!!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I_Therefore_I_am,\nYou took the post out of context. The original post that I replied to intimated that all followers of Islam did these things. That is not only a bigoted statement, it is factually untrue. It is not bigotry to condemn and/or oppose violence or the mistreatment of women, but it is bigotry when one implies that all followers of Islam behave in this manner. They do not. I would also add that many societies around the world are also guilty of similar crimes, including some Christian societies. I wouldn't support generalizations against all Christians for the terrible acts of a small minority of radical Christians anymore than I would against Islam or any other people on this Earth for that matter. Condemn the acts and the people who commit them, but don't claim that all of Islam is guilty for the actions of the few. That is wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "His understanding of religious liberty is that he, as a Catholic white American has the right to impose his religious beliefs, like being against contraception and abortion, on the rest of us. That is against the Rule of Law which ultra-right Republicans like him claim to support. They also claim to support Liberty and Freedom for all, except women and their families, and that is everybody.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think a lot of commentators miss the point by talking about allowing women and married men to become priests (which I support). The issue is enormous attrition. For every one new Roman Catholic, three are walking away. Obviously, the current model is unsustainable as evidenced by this enormous attrition. Any able business person would readily understand that there isn't a supply problem (more priests), there is a demand problem (more members). Fix the product!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Demand equity in all things. You need to debrief culture and spirituality themselves of latent paternalistic arrogance and contempt for gender equity. That doesn't just mean ending wrongful discrimination against women, but includes protection for all genders other than cisgender male, which lack protection and still are harassed by cultish psycho men and their collaborators. Much of the problem is that you haven't managed to focus your sights on the groups disparaging you the most-- some faction of men hidden away in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism who subscribe fully to the Abrahamistic notion that women should defer to the primacy of men on all sorts of spiritual and cultural and social values. Well, it's an affront, isn't it, since God is obviously female. Stand up for your spirituality, found a body of faith that openly worships a female God and establish your foothold before we regress into feudalism any further.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic moral teaching is done by starting with a premise: For example, the \"natural end\" of sexual intercourse is procreation. One then logically goes from there to a conclusion: All sexual intercourse must be open to procreation. The problem is if the premise is flawed, then the conclusion must be wrong. \n\nMSW is correct when he says that moral teaching must be rooted in dogma. He neglects to say that it must also be rooted in reality. All too often, it really isn't. The argument that women cannot be ordained is rooted in the flawed assumption that women are inferior to men. The argument of Humanae Vitae is rooted in the flawed assumption that the natural end of sexual intercourse is procreation. \n\nAdded to this is the assumption in the institutional Church that knowledge of a subject is not actually necessary when coming to a conclusion about it. Thus, we have had synods on marriage and the family not a single married person participates. The teaching on sex is made by the celibate", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems many Liberals and socialists in Canada dont really believe in gender equality, human rights, female emancipation, LGBT human rights, and free speech for all people after all. They vehemently denounce any defense of that sort of stuff because Muslims don't want it. If it were Catholics rejecting gay rights that would be an entirely different matter for the left. They want two contradictory moral codes in Canada, where as Conservatives want one. How does Islamic FGM fit into Ontario's OHIP coverage?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So again you are claiming when a women is beaten up it is her fault? Amazing. And again you are blaming the evolving concept of what a family is, even though the facts don't back up that assertion at all. What you postulate is a narrow christian interpretation of the roles and rights of women in society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find that the few actual conservatives that exist tend to not vote for the Republican candidates put forward today. The world in general, and Americans in particular, have a poverty of language in describing political affiliation (starting with the very concept that there is a linear spectrum running from \"Left\" to \"Right\"). \n\nWe live in an America where \"Conservatives\" aren't conservative, \"Christians\" are hardly Christian, and \"Liberals\" are passionately anti-liberal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is the dialogue here between Ms. Mack and Brother that is proof of the awesome (?!) fact that men and women in the Church talk to each other without restraint. Wow!\n\nIf this is a first, is it the possible explanation for so many mixed marriages in my Dad's family all the way back to the mid-1800s?\n\nBack in the early 1960s, despite the many restrictions on women's dress and curfews, etc., we who attended Catholic colleges were, however, able to talk to men without restraint. Little did I know that this was so incredible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Its important, but it can't be solved in electing Republicans and seeking a criminal solution through the states, which is unconstitutional, or by overturning Roe (which would overturn all privacy law and federal supremacy over the states on equal protection and due process). I go back to increasing the child tax credit until it becomes a living wage level thing. Very Catholic thing to try for - which the Republicans hate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"As a teacher, all of these are infallible as to Pope\u2019s demand for absolute obedience of all catholics\". False. Read up on papal infallibility, say with Wikipedia (not a catholic friendly source). Also, maybe read up on the catholic magisterium, and learn the basics of the structure of catholic doctrine. It might help with understanding the teachings you misrepresent, as well as how those teaching are structured and came about. You don't have to agree with something to have knowledge about it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Penguins then. Anatole Frank wrote a book about very near-sighted priest who, beholding so many assembled together, thought they had come to hear the gospel and then proceeded to baptize them all. Penguins do not costume human flesh. And some of them are now good Catholics. . .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's a big hunk of spiced luncheon meat. The election of Mad King Donald has legitimized the expression of pugnacious ignorance for many. Claiming to have some unique insight into scientific questions on ideological grounds by those who know nothing about such subjects has become a sort of cult, like the people who can tell you what God thinks or what Jesus would do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I went to 13 years of catholic school, and my sophomore year, our religion class was basically reading the entire bible cover to cover. I very distinctly remember that being when I finally realized it was all made up. Best religion class I ever had to take.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings...Well if you can believe those percentages about fallen away Catholics, perhaps then if the reforms from Vatican II would have been implemented and not deformed by John Paul II and Benedictus we would have a more inclusive and diverse Church with many more members than presently! I pray daily to St.Pope John XXIII that he guide the Holy Father with his reforms.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why worry about how the Church defines anything? Simply call yourself Catholic and life as you wish to.\n\nThe two biggest \"alt\" Catholics right now are probably Andrew Sullivan and Milo Y. Both are gay, but both have partners and reject the Church's unreasonable live-as-a-celibate rule.\n\nPeople with gender-whatever, be Catholics if you wish to. We are all equally unwelcome here, equally unable to achieve holiness as the Church defines it in its 10,000 rules.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Progressive Catholics want the rest of us (if we are white) to be ashamed of America, ashamed of democracy, ashamed of ourselves. I'm not buying any of it. Neither do most Catholics.\n\nThe irony is that they don't realize that the liberation in their beloved liberation theology is a big heaping plate of American capitalism. That is what all people want, along with law and order. \n\nAnd sorry, but borders are an essential part of law and order.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed, if I am not mistaken, many of the married priests who \"converted\" to Catholicism did so because of their disagreement with the ordination of women in the denomination they left. I long to see married deacons or married men refuse ordination until equal opportunity is open to their wives and daughters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Finally, Steve Bannon is the power behind the most powerful man in the world. He believes in a \"Judeo-Christian\" Holy War against Islam, and he speaks as a Catholic. Where is the NCR reportage and analysis of this Catholic faction and its supporters in the hierarchy? (And I don't mean by MSW, who is more of a political opinion aggregator and anti-abortion activist than an analyst.) Are Catholics willing to sacrifice their sons and daughters, and the sons of and daughters of non-Catholics, to a clash of civilizations crusade?\n\n\"Steve Bannon's Islamophobic film script just one example of anti-Muslim views\"\n\nhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/03/steve-bannon-islamophobia-film-script-muslims-islam", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because several posters here are advocating withholding of support for their pastors or haven't you noticed?\nAgain regarding the nuns because the typical NCReporter poster's response to, pre-Vatican II, Irish nuns, laundries, etc, = automatically guilty of any and every heinous crime you can think of. \nThe prejudice on this site against orthodox Catholicism is appalling.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Responding to a two day old comment? Sounds like trolling to me. I, however, was merely stating the proper level of support for the cardinal that all Catholics should have.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In that case, the choice not to believe _also_ requires faith.\n\nIt is not possible prove that the witnesses who recorded their testimony in the Bible did not see what they say they saw. Many _discount_ that testimony because they consider it to be impossible, but that isn't proof, that is assumption. That requires faith, by your own definition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Busybody guide to getting offended by O Canada:\n\n\"native land\" - reference to oppression of first nations\n\"The True North strong and free!\" - cultural appropriation of Inuit cultures\n\"God keep our land glorious and free!\" - sign of religious intolerance\n\n\"Car ton bras sait porter l'\u00e9p\u00e9e,\" - open jingoism\n\"Il sait porter la croix!\" - sign of Christian-eccentric intolerance", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would like to think that we Christians are devoid of church politics but, alas, not true. Part of the Reformation was a power struggle between the national and international churches. This has humanity written all over it. Even today, all Christians would agree with Christ's commandment to \"love one another\". Unfortunately, from there human nature creeps in with turf wars, self righteousness and pride.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "#1. The Pope is preserved from error by the Holy Ghost whenever he speaks magisterially on matters of Faith and Morals. So such a situation would not arise.\n#2. For the sake of argument, if he did proclaim a false, heretical doctrine he would immediately cease to be pope de jure as a heretic cannot be pope.\n#3. Any Catholic who was aware that the pope's teaching was heretical yet accepted it would be guilty of the same heresy as the pope. Embracing an heretical doctrine simply because it was held by the pope would be no excuse. Of course, anyone who was unaware that doctrine was false could not be blamed for acccepting it.\nWhat you are describing amounts to papolatry.\nI don't know why you made that vague reference to Pius IX, if it is relevant point it out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You ask about white evangelicals and Catholics -- \"What were those votes all about?\"\n\nI suspect, unfortunately, they were about 1) intense dislike (in many cases outright 'hate') for Clinton, and 2) tacit approval of bigotries by the powers-that-wanted-to-be.\n\nAnd both reasons were the result of either 1) encouragement from the pulpit, or 2) a multi-generational failure of the pulpit to define Christianity for everyday life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We agree that Christ is God yes? Then why would he have corrected the mosaic practice of divorce, and making marriage a bond of two beings becoming one flesh joined by God. Who has the proper authority to rip such a being apart? God or the Pope?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You asked about the passage in Timothy. So, I wrote \"For 1 Tim 2:12\". I did not say that I agree with everything Witherington writes. However, as for the \"saved in childbearing\" passage, there are numerous different interpretations about that, even among Adventists. \n\nWitherington gives you one that is rather widely held by conservative Christians, and has been so throughout Christian history. I tend to agree with him on that one. I do not accept the interpretation of some among us, who argue that women in general need to bear children in order to be saved (yes, there are people who think so). That is works-oriented doctrine of salvation, and as far as I'm concerned, total rubbish.\n\nYou wrote \"The doctrine of equality is rooted in man's imagination, not in scripture.\" to Monte. That is not true. It is based on pre-Fall condition as described in Geneses 1-2. Subordination passages relate to marriage domain in the post-Fall condition, not outside it. Contra some anti-WO people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A Church that proclaims \u2018\u2026 in Christ there is neither male nor female\u201d as part of the inspired Word of God in Holy Scripture, and then organises itself on the basis of gender, clearly hasn\u2019t got the message it proclaims. St. Paul had no trouble following Jesus in thought, word and deed by including women in his ministry. Indeed, St. Paul names a female apostle. The suggestion that the Church has a \u2018vocations crisis\u2019 only masks the tragic fact that the crisis is the hierarchy\u2019s inability to comprehend the reality proclaimed by St. Paul, namely that \"in Christ there is neither male nor female.\" Perhaps more young people would \u2018hear the call\u2019 if the men running our beloved Church followed the example of St. Paul. And it help to allow our priests to, like St. Peter, enter into the holy state of matrimony.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Roman Catholic Bishop Richard Williamson is an anchor of authentic catholicism in the confusion of this modernist apostate \u2018vatican\u2019. He simply preaches in continuity what the Roman Catholic Church has always taught and believed before the infestation of modernist revolting pedophiles. He still preaches the discovery, at the turn of the last century, of \u2018\u2019THE PROTOCOLS OF THE LEARNED ELDERS OF ZION\u2019\u2019; these are the protocols of COMMUNIST INTERNATIONALISM which some people today refer to as GLOBALISM. The most accurate reference to the agenda is found within the PROTOCOLS themselves: \u2018JEWISH WORLD PROGRAM\u2019 .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In theory, perhaps, but there's been an ongoing debate in the gay community regarding \"outing\" people and people's own personal decision to come out or not at work, to friends, family, etc. I think the general consensus is that people should be allowed to make that decision for themselves, and I agree with that. In the end it's a very personal decision. And as long as the environment remains hostile, it's understandable why some people like priests would not want to risk having members of their congregations attack them verbally, or report them to the local bishop, which would surely happen in almost every case, putting their livelihoods at risk. Would you have the courage to do that? If I'm being honest with myself I'm not sure I would. I'm lucky to be surrounded by supportive people in both my work and personal life, but that's not really true for gay Catholic priests. For them, every parishioner is a potential land mine waiting to explode in their face.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "American citizenship is the process in which one gradually increases the number of people included in the term 'we' or 'us' and at the same time decreases those labeled 'you' or 'them' until that category has no one left in it.\n\n\"But as human beings are problem is, Men are often biased in their judgment on account of their sympathy and their interests.\" \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t George William Norris\n\n\u201cThe distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I Am Not A Virginian, But An American!\u201d \u2015 Patrick Henry\n\nThis could be said, \u201cThe distinctions between Democrat, Republican, Jew, Christian, Muslim, or my race are no more. I Am Not Just One of These, But An American!\u201d \n\nI've lived and worked in many great and wonderful countries but never so happy to be back in American and to call my self nothing more then an American! No matter what I read in the papers or see on the news!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not all deniers are religious fundamentalist Gary - at least I think that's where you get the 6,000 years part. I hope you acknowledge that millions of Christians accept the science of Global Warming and their faith drives them to respond to it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Muslim, Jewish, Christian and religiously unaffiliated protesters gathered across the street from the White House Oct. 18 to protest the latest edition of President Donald Trump's \"Muslim ban,\"'\n\nThis is the latest red meat tossed to Trump's racist base. God Bless these protesters for speaking truth to power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny how all the GOING NO WHERE politicians like Rudy, Christie, and some guy from Creswell are getting spring boarded into Pres Elects circle. Also I found it fascinating that republicans voted republican no matter what, JUST BECAUSE. Down in the bible belt they are saying Amen to the new president so, how can your Christian belief allow you to vote for such an individual? I guess even the KKK use the bible to their own agenda. Wait a minute! Where's Steve Bannon.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is a light shining on the Catholic church without him the church will revert to its medieval reactionary darkness", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The very name, \"Lepanto Institute,\" lets one know that these self-annoited guardians against \"heretics\" and \"traitors\" believe they are the only thing standing between the RCC and the apocalypse. Why do I get the image of a bunch of Catholic Dana Carvey's Church Lady?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catechism says otherwise. So what?\n\nIn his Sound of Sheer Silence blog at http://soundofsheersilence.blogspot.com/2017/10/quick-hitter-why-pastoral-discretion-is.html Michael Boyle writes\n\n[I]t is up to the priest to decide whether or not these people [i.e., LGBTs, the divorced and remarried] are allowed to continue to operate in the church context, and on what terms. The suggestion that the people themselves, that divorced and remarried people or LGBT people, are able to determine their own status and their own situation before God without the need for adjudication by clergy is beyond the pale. \"Theory\" and \"intellectual integrity\" are really place holders for \"the unfettered discretion of the priest.\" This unfettered discretion is really the best of all worlds for a priest--it allows him to be seen as merciful and kind when he wants to cut people a break, and when he wants to hammer people for whatever reason, he can deflect blame onto \"the rules.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Compare Guam with what we saw in Paraguay, a couple of years ago.\nAllegations of sexual offences - But emerging (conveniently?) in a local Church that is beset by rivalries and conflicts over what seem, sadly, to be the usual things:- the power of 'movements' or special groups; the control of the local seminary (and who owns the property); and liturgical preferences.\nThe unusual feature in Guam is that the 'movement' is lay-controlled (the NCW), and the liturgical preferences are 'progressive' rather than 'traditionalist'. But otherwise it looks like the same old power-play between people who hold rival views of what it means to be 'Catholic Church'.\n If only this were a straightforward trial of someone for his alleged pedophilia.\nI mean no disrespect to those who have had the courage to bring their accusations, after so many years. I seek only to make the point that these accusations aren't happening in a vacuum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a shot across the bow of the counter-revolutionary Church that would kidnap us all. It hopes that by ignoring change in the culture, it will go away; with wives being submissive to their husbands, women forgoing contraception and any desire for priesthood, we will all confess every pure thought every Saturday and go to Latin Mass every Sunday and that science will pull an Emily Lattella an say \"never mind\" regarding Darwin. Sounds silly when you put it that way, doesn't it?\n\nHis Eminence needs to either remember his promise of obedience or retire and the Holy Father needs to be a bit less subtle in changing doctrine and overturning bad proof texting on divorce, Communion and the Eden myth. the nature of the teachings of Leviticus and the salvic nature of the Crucifixion.. The Dubia Cardinals are correct that we need clarity, but they won;t like the answers. God is not the Ogre that they make him out to be. Morality is to make us more human, not angelic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bullies need our prayers. We should not be afraid of them, and we should support the Church in the currently unfolding process of discernment regarding issues of human sexuality. The most pivotal is the issue of apostolic succession and the *assumption* that it is contingent on masculinity:\n\nReligious Patriarchy in the Judeo-Christian Tradition\nhttp://pelicanweb.org/CCC.TOB.html#CHRONOLOGY\n\nIt is time to recognize the irrelevance of religious patriarchy after the redemption and the resurrection. All other issues of gender relations can be clarified when, and only when, it is recognized that the sacramental economy of the New Law is not intrinsically patriarchal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes of course, the publication of a theory of just war will prevent things like Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, not to mention the genocides in Rwanda and the Balkans. As soon as it is published, we can expect the 1.2 billion catholics to rise up and force its application. No, this is just an academic exercise that will produce no change. The people who wage war will do so on their own terms with their own justifications, as they always have. \nYou miss the point about the contrast. Whereas the church does not have a military and cannot stop war, it does have bishops protecting pedophiles and it can stop that. The church has one commission busy generating a nice little document that won't change anything, while another commission does nothing even though it could change an injustice. One might conclude Francis is more concerned about appearances than making a real difference.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Albeit in a small population county in California, I was a county elected official. Although my platform was my own, it conformed nicely to the Catholic Bishops 1986, Social and Economic Justice. At the time, I didn't feel it necessary to mention I was a weekly Mass attendee, only that I was a member of the music group at my parish. So whether a politician speaks at churches or not is, in my opinion, irrelevant. What is their platform? What do they speak about the most? Does it conform to the highest ideals of whatever faith we have? That is what is important.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The perpetual virginity of Mary is pushed because, as we all know, sexism is nasty. Certainly that is the attitude that many of the Church Fathers took.\n\nWhich simply shows their utter lack of knowledge about it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have read that book. I have also read St John of the Cross, Thomas A Kempis etc....etc...etc. I have a great love of interior prayer.....but..........I would never dream of telling another person how to do it. You pray as you can...not as you should. Interior prayer is a grace just as the ability to sing in tune. Many people are far better Catholics in the parish than I am. Many people are far too busy working, raising children and doing works of charity to read pious books or spend long periods in prayer. I am a bit of an introvert I love all the monastic books .......it doesn't make me better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are quite right. It is a 'clerical' way of putting it. But that's the expression that is used: 'Reduced'! That's why he whole system of dividing Christians into those who are 'clerics' and those who are 'mere laity' and non-cleric is so harmful.\n\n'Clerics' end up thinking they are special and privileged and 'above' 'mere laity'\n\nIt is just long standing custom. It is not a necessity. There is no reason why those who hold offices in the Church - whether Deacon, Priest, Bishop, Cardinal, or Pope \u2013 cannot be part of 'the laity', just as they were in the beginning.\n\nIf we really are serious about eliminating 'clericalism', the only way is to first eliminate the system of dividing the people of the Church into those who are 'clerics' and those who are 'not clerics'. All the offices could remain the same. They could be held by 'lay' people, not reserved for those who are 'clerics'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Monica, insightful as usual, especially -- \"an infantile understanding of God and an infantile religion\". I think this is the image of church that folks are walking away from. Its pretty much what I grew up with, and what I walked/ran/jumped away from in Viet Nam. Quite a few folks, not to mention priests, still hold on to it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can't tell you how hurtful it is that our church rejects me for the heinous crime of being female so I can't answer my vocation from God while I watch churches close for a lack of priests and read about how our hierarchy floated known pedophile priests around to unsuspecting flocks any of which I would have praised God for the opportunity to lead as a pastor. Women in our hierarchy would have lessened our abuse rate and would have made the priesthood less appealing to pedophiles. \nDo you know what it feels like to be hated by bishops more than they hate pedophiles? even though you have done nothing wrong but admit to God's calling you to priesthood in your church. It is pretty awful. \nI have great compassion for you brother and I will pray for you. We need you to stand up for change if you can find the strength with Christ to remain. Fighting back helps me to heal - It will help you too maybe.\nGod and we need us to fight to make a Just church!\nPeace, \nYour sister in Christ,\nNora", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You either missed the significance of the following connecting argument or you didn't want to deal with it.\n\n\"Concerning the first dubium posed by the four Cardinals in November to Pope Francis, the question that is being posed is whether or not someone previously validly married, and who now is living with another partner, may be absolved from sin without having to live as brother and sister, and therefore may also receive holy communion. This is in contrast to the teaching of Pope St. John Paul in Familiaris Consortio, 84, Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, 34, Sacramentum Caritatis, 29. Whereas Amoris laetitia (hereafter AL) 305, footnote 351, seems to abolish the teaching, and allows for freedom of the second couple to have intercourse for the sake of a long-term faithful \u201cinvalid marriage\u201d that has children to raise.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"One of Macron\u2019s biggest tasks is to keep Catholics onside,\" and asks: Can a liberal Catholic now save France?\u2014Dennis Coday \u201cAll you nations,\u201d especially France, \u201cpraise the Lord\u201d (Psalm 117:1a). \u201c . . . and began to speak to the Greeks as well\u201d (Acts 11:20). The next thing the Faithful will know, the USA is included as well. \u201cBut you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep\u2019 (John 10:26). Whoops. Liturgy of the Word, Reading 280, Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter I the Statue of Liberty gift of the French to the United States and the world is about living together in shared, rather than competitive, experiences. Therein lies the present hope for the survival of humanity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It isn't universal, of course -- few things are -- but a parish we were blessed to stumble into a few years back amazed us. Masses are packed. The pastor and his associates preach urgently and lovingly. They celebrate Mass reverently (and, now, ad orientem). Confession lines are jammed. Parish life bustles. The altar boy corps is numerous, and young men stick with it through high school. The school is booming. \n\nAnd, blessedly, there are three young men of this parish now in formation for the priesthood for our diocese, which in turn has 45 seminarians. \n\nThese things all work together because Christ is at the center of parish life. He is the end in sight, the only plausible way forward.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The exposing of abuse by Church clerics and the explosive revelations of how the Church hierarchy tried to deny, hide, and stifle testimonies of this abuse\u2014even by bribing or threatening victims or by using power and money to string out and deceive the victims with legal ploys and labyrinths\u2014has done the Church great and irreparable harm. But there is another, possibly equally damaging facet to this piece of Church history: By making visible and clear the Church's attitudes toward control, abuse, and manipulation, it has allowed members to reinterpret their own Catholic upbringing and to identify in it incidents and themes that have been damaging over their lives that they previously were only slightly aware of. The voices within of shame, self-belittlement, and unnecessary guilt for being a normal human being: these too have been exposed, and our recoiling response to them is to see the Church as capable of horrors and harm even in its teaching\u2014something to protect ourselves from.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So...Catholics who disagree with me on the issues aren't allowed to promote their views? I don't agree with or support KofC, but they can turn to the documents of Vatican II to find direct support for their positions on abortion, LGBT issues, and religious freedom. \nI expect people to promote their understanding of Church teaching and not to suppress my attempts to do the same. I've always understood that as the essence of Liberal thought.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is long since past the \"if\" and well into the \"yes, they have it wrong\" point. And that is true not just on LGBTQI people and issues. \n\nI think part of the reason they say and do nothing to address bullying of LGBTQI children is because the don't want to break ranks with their Evangelical brothers in presenting a united front in the politics of the issues. Both Evangelical leaders and Catholic leaders look stronger together than they do separately. Catholic bishops have that nauseating habit of publicly saying \"Catholics believe\" when they actually do not speak for the majority of Catholics in this country on many issues concerning law and society. \n\nThe bishops have long since given up on the humanity of the issues affecting our LGBTQI brothers and sisters, including LGBTQI Catholics, and sold out to the power political games-playing on the issue.\n\nAre our bishops shepherds or wolves?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If we use the family as an example of how to treat people who are different we are on the right track. Our Church must take every good expression of parents treating their children and increase by 7fold the goodness we apply in acting as representatives of The Father, Son and Holy Spirit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because NuttyYahoo claims that the Bible and religious claims are relevant in solving legal disputes in the 21st Century.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A person born male wants to live as a female. Fine. But no one is obliged to accept their self redefinition. A transsexual is a person who emotionally and psychologically feels that they belong to the opposite sex. Not all transsexuals undergo hormonal and surgical treatment. \n\nWhat \"fear and loathing\" have the Cardinal Newman Society expressed by upholding Catholic teaching in this area?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My first post was deemed uncivil for some unknown reason. I'll try one more time - One religion is the true faith. The Catholic faith believes in the seven Sacraments, most Protestant Churches only believe in two. Which one is correct? Any Christian group that does not recognize the importance of our Blessed Mother obviously is not the one true faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't doubt that this \"new\" interpretation is mainstream; it's just not Catholic. \n\nToday's scholars are no smarter or more enlightened than those who interpreted the scriptures hundreds of years ago; indeed, the farther we go in time, the more disconnected the scholars are from what the intentions of the Gospel writers may have been. \n\nTo suggest that these interpretations are new is just silly; symbolism and spiritualism are nothing new. These interpretations were surely considered and rejected by scholars long ago, and nothing has changed to warrant revisiting the Church's long-held teaching on these matters. New is not always better or more correct, but that's a common misunderstanding of progressives. They think that they're so much smarter than everyone else and everyone who came before them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A much better answer than allowing Deacons to run things or throwing Deacons at any parish. Any diocese can do this anywhere in the world by just allowing both lay men & women to be empowered to do all the same things that Deacons do, which is already perfectly allowable under church laws, if any Bishop wishes to have trained lay leaders do these ministries instead. This means lay leaders baptizing, Leading & preaching & proclaiming the Gospel & giving homilies at Eucharistic Celebrations with previously consecrated hosts, officiating at weddings & funerals. In S. America many diocese have had both trained lay women & men doing these things for decades. \n\nWe need to stop prioritizing by what will make mostly white, wealthy, men in our church happy, & instead ask what is the best mode of operation for the health of individual parishes, what truly represents justice, & what will make the church not only heal but also grow & increase in the future.\n\nAND WE MUST DEMAND WOMEN PRIESTS!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True, and I meant to add that this 'unreformed' culture may also apply to those, both cleric and lay, who have come from developing nations to western cultures and who seem to be becoming the higher proportions of Catholics in their new countries. It's a worry and I do think we will see some repercussions of this aspect down the track especially in regard to adult abuse. Indeed, I have a number of such stories already. I do hope that one day, the approach to clergy sexual abuse will combine both child AND adult abuse, and general clergy sexual activity so the whole issue, including mandatory celibacy, psycho-sexual maturity, homosexuality of clergy and in the Church, and all broader related (Catholic) sexual issues and activities, and, indeed, the real nature of human love in all its forms (see Fromm - The Art of Loving), not just emotional, Hollywood erotic love, so domineering today, can be tackled more fully, openly, comprehensively, maturely and humanly. We shall keep at it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I understand the confusion. While Muslim is a term used to describe those who subscribe to a religious set of beliefs, Islam is an ideology that's stepping into taking the place of governing law with legal courts. What we must do as a society is recognize to what we are responding and why. As late at 2008 the House of Lords declared Shariah incompatible with human rights for a reason. Their history is not one of peace. It is one of pure blood spilling by killing more than 270 Million - yes I said 270 million - people for not being Muslim. For - not - being - muslim. The Christian crusades.... 1 - 3 million. https://youtu.be/t_Qpy0mXg8Y\n\nToday, Islam is being used as a tool to brutally knock out nationalism throughout the EU - We have lost Paris, much of France, Sweden now the rape capital, England has 155 Shariah courts, Italy is on the verge of a civil war, and Germany... Greek Isles are no more. No go zones in the US...\n\nThe NWO movement - Where's your outrage?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll be glad to so so. The proof is in the their dubious interrogatory.\n\n\"We have noted a grave disorientation and great confusion of many faithful regarding extremely important matters for the life of the Church.\"\n\nHow many Catholics are gravely disoriented and greatly confused over AL? That's right: zero! They turned their dubia into a big lie to discredit Good Pope Francis. They should be excommunicated for confusing the faithful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Natural Law, this import from ancient Greek philosophy is at the root of RC moral theological problems. It assumes that sex is mainly about making children and that there is a natural dominance of males. Natural Law theory, for that is only what it is, infects and damages much about Catholicism. \nIt is one reason why \"Catholic Church officials still dither and wring their hands over whether long partnered, now even married, same-sex couples are living in sin, a matter long settled in the minds of most American Catholics. \" \nThe other reason is that the quoted argument deals in social acceptance instead of theological discourse. The writers do not propose any theological basis for their position, only this social acceptance. For a real discussion rather than just a rallying of supporters, the writers need to come back with a theological alternative to Natural Law as a basis for the formation of conscience. The writers are not offering any theological challenge to the status quo.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lela, Sadly, the evangelical \"leaders\" have stood firmly behind Trump and they are still making excuses for him. Shameful for a party that claims to hold \"family values\" in such esteem. They talk the talk and hold others to rigid religious standards, but let their values slide when it comes to Trump? Duplicity and hypocrisy of the worst kind. Jesus is weeping.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are funded by Catholic tax payers, not by all taxpayers. Educate yourself. Furthermore, the right to have separate schools for Catholics was originally granted in Upper and Lower Canada under the British North America Act which goes back to the establishment of Canada as an independent country. It is very disturbing to see you promote the idea that constitutional rights should be taken away because you do not agree with them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What really p*ssed me off about that translation was the fact that ICEL (and by extension all the Protestant churches who use ICEL texts in their liturgies) was not only not consulted for their input but were actively snubbed. It was as though the ecumenical gains made during Vatican II were wiped away with the single stroke of a pen.\n\nThey say that people who pray together stay together. We used to pray the same prayers during the mass as our Protestant brethren. Now we're on our own (liturgically speaking) thanks to B16's selfish \"my way or the highway\" imperial approach to governing. And that's a shame, considering that Jesus' last prayer on earth was that we all might be one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems to me that Archbishop Chaput just does not know how to evangelize those who are not on the same page as he. It might be helpful if he took some lessons from Pope Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Collins does not understand Francis' purpose in setting up the commission. She thought the commission was going to change things. Did she not realize that a Pope, elected by Bishops, would never take steps that might lead to a Bishop being punished? Now the commission, headed by a cardinal and staffed by religious lapdogs can get busy doing nothing and people like Pandora can point to it, like they point to the voluntary, seldom implemented Dallas Charter, as proof the Church gives a flip about protecting Children. The bishops know they were chosen by the Holy Spirit to lead the Institution created by Jesus Christ. That makes them almost gods in their own right. They answer to no one but God, and He hasn't been seen around the Vatican or any Diocese office lately, if ever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seems like the Mexican priests should talk to the Catholic prelates in America as they put Trump in the WH.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "first off, I stopped reading this halfway and your students probably stopped listening to your long winded lectures all about you. You sit here and preach about religion and what one guy says 11 years ago, but he has not been convicted of, or has evidence against him for anything beside right to free speech. Trump's language is that of any man in the country. You forgot to mention all the rash, immoral, and unethical, things the Clintons have done. I also thought it was against the Catholic religion to have an abortion? However, Hillary believes abortion in 9 months is acceptable, but yes you failed to mention that. I am Catholic, I am a women, I am NOT offended by the things men say, because I am strong. Also, women say the same things about men. Men are not the only guilt party. Get the facts straight before using your religion against people. There is a separation between church and state for a reason and you are the prime example.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "....which condemned hatred for the Jews and rejected the accusation that Jews are collectively responsible for deicide in the form of the crucifixion of Christ.\nRadical traditionalists are not the same as Catholics who call themselves \u201ctraditionalists\u201d \u2014 people who prefer the old Latin Mass to the mass now typically said in vernacular languages \u2014 although the radicals, as well, like their liturgy in Latin. They also embrace extremely conservative social ideals with respect to women.\n\u00a0\nActive Radical Traditional Catholic Hate Groups in 2016\nCatholic Counterpoint\nBroomall, PA\nCatholic Family News/Catholic Family\u2028Ministries, Inc.\nNiagara Falls, NY\nChrist or Chaos\nWest Chester, OH\nCulture Wars/Fidelity Press\nSouth Bend, IN\nFatima Crusader, The/International Fatima Rosary Crusade\nConstable, NY\nIHM Media\nRichmond, NH", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It remains a concern that among those who are entering the seminaries are not necessarily the youngsters with the brightest minds or most authentic callings. Where are the future Leo Suenenses and Denis Hurleys, or Hans Kungs and Yves Congars, or Karl Rahners or Thomas Aquinases? Are they being attracted to the Catholic priesthood? Or are they finding their calling elsewhere ... in academia or industry, etc? It seems that the previous two pontificates, which served to scythe down the flowering of the second vatican council, cruelly silencing creative theologians and with them the voice of the Holy Spirit, has led to a clerical culture of mediocrity and self-serving careerism. Pope Francis can only appoint new bishops from among today's priests. How many healthy young men are being attracted to this vocation? How many healthy young women are being denied access to their true calling? Perhaps the pool of excellent candidates is too tiny for the project of resuscitation to be realized?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I've read the original ordinance and the petition. I have also read the Bible. All of it. More than once. I didn't find any exceptions for the requirement to treat others with love and kindness, regardless of their sin. My original comment was less about the actual ordinance than it was about the language and outright hatred spewed on this comment string in the name of Christ. Some of it is just plain mean. None of us are without sin. Let's get our own house in order.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Adolf Hitler's mother was a Roman Catholic. He was baptized as a Catholic as a child.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The last command Christ gave Peter was to \"Feed my lambs (children), Tend my sheep, feed my sheep.\" (John 21:17) This last command to Peter, the head of the Church, is known in military parlance as the \"Prime mission.\" this, ABOVE ALL ELSE, was the prime goal of the Church. When you let evil run rampant among the innocent in the Church, you aren't carrying out your mission. Pope Francis has proven himself quick to act in the past by restructuring the Vatican bank and ostracizing some prelates, but seems to be \"unmotivated\" about child sex abuse. He isn't carrying out his prime mission.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you even suspect that clergy pedophilia and cover up is happening right now in in Catholic dioceses, you have a legal responsibility to report it to civil authorities. Make that call. Right now. Do not delay!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Contd\n\nAs for your stating that the charism of authority given by Christ to St Peter and all his successors and the bishops in communion with him has been enjoyed by them from day one, there is, with respect, a certain naivety in this. It confuses investing of authority with proper exercise of it. History shows that under successive popes and bishops terrible things were done in the name of Christ through abuse of this authority. Which is why divine authority to teach and preach cannot lie solely with the bishops, since denial of this would entail implicit moral acceptance of past (and present) abuses of episcopal authority...and a denial of the need for Pope John Paul II to have apologised, in the year 2000, for the grave moral offences of the papacy and episcopacy in past centuries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Offer it up\" may have been a little corny, but there was wisdom behind it. There is grace in the idea that we can connect our sufferings (in big and little ways) with those of the human family. I think that's part of what Pope Francis is calling us to, to help us get past our western insularism and understand that the path to Christ inevitably leads to solidarity with the poor and marginalized of the world.\n\nCompare that to Trump-era America, where the ethos is \"Screw the rest of the world as long as I got mine.\" No redemptive suffering for this bunch, just incessant anger.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you really believe that the pope is on the other side of this and is not a part o the cover up? Look at his record pre pope. No reported cases of criminal sexual abuse when he was head of the church in his country. He should tell us how that was possible. Shuffling criminal priest and gagging victims is my guess.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe we are talking about moral laws as noted in the Bible, not laws enacted by the state.\n\nMany times in the Bible SS relationships are classified as abominations, & not tolerated by God, such as Lev 18:22. Nor did Jesus, Mat 19:2-9.\n\nI don't recall any exceptions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are inventing Biblical teaching to suit your own prejudice. For the most part, marriage in the ancient world of Palestine and in the days of Jesus' physical presence on earth was all about ownership of property, lines of inheritance and the recognized status of the land-owning, ruling class of a carefully defined economic and ruling class of men. The Bible DOES NOT teach marriage as being between one man and one woman in a covenant of exclusive, spiritual, and legal mutuality as well as an expectation of sexual fidelity. Those definitions came much, much later well after the death of Jesus. And as for the quotes from Mark, you may want to do a little investigation into the context(s) in which His comments were made and the cultural practices - both Jewish and secular - of the times. Marriage - and that includes ssm - as we know and practice it today were not in existence at the time of Jesus or Mark or Paul. It is not the homophobia of Jesus we are concerned with, but yours.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the single man that was mentioned is able to find work in Egypt (he states he has had to refuse work due to the impending approval to come to Canada), then what on earth are we doing bringing him here?\n\nRefugees are those with no options and little hope.\n\nThey need refuge, a hand up. Fair enough. The Christian thing to do (sorry to offend many of you).\n\nThat guy does not fit the bill.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The garbage dump outside the city walls. Isn't that also where Jesus was crucified and buried? We do make our own Hells through sin and the sacrifice of the cross allows us to escape that suffering because God came to experience it with us. As for the pluck out the eye verses, Jesus was using hyperbole to make fun of the moral extremism of his day, the focus on the particulars of the law rather than on the love of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A child will complain their life is 'dour' when they are not allowed to engage in some desired activity because it is contrary to their good (physical or spiritual). Putting limits on ourselves to focus on the good to which God has called us, is in fact the whole point of the Christian Life. The 'dour' life you are referring to is really a call to holiness, which all Christians are called to. You are focusing on the one single aspect of a relationship to which homosexually inclined persons are prohibited from engaging in because it is contrary to the natural order of their own bodies, and therefore contrary to God's plan for Sexual intimacy. As Christians, there are all manner of things we are prohibited from doing. Married men are prohibited from lusting after other women even in their own thoughts. I too could complain to my middle aged wife (like me) that she is making my life 'dour' because I cannot view pornography of younger woman, It would be childish though.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "During her campaign for president, Hillary Clinton referred to many of Trump supporters as being a basket deplorables. I happen to be one of those deplorables who helped elect President Trump. Deplorable or not, I consider myself as being a spiritually healthy Catholic; that is, I have not been contaminated with the disease of Liberalism. That day, January 20th 2017 brought a devastating blow to Liberalism in secular America. I await the day when loyal Catholics can say that the vile and pernicious contagion of Liberalism, has been cured in God\u2019s Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, just like it happened post Vatican II when the Church couldn\u2019t cope with the influx of converts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can appreciate the sincerity of your comment. As a person who has dealt with the contradictions of being both gay and Catholic for nearly half a century, I can tell you that it is a heavy cross to bear. But we all have our own witness to make, and mine is to counter what I consider to be the psychologically, mentally, and spiritually abusive nature of Courage's approach to what you call \"ministry.\" \n\nIt is not ministering to people to tell them that because they are attracted to members of the same gender (as occurs in every species of the animal kingdom) they are therefore to deny themselves the one thing that all human beings crave in our inmost being: profound intimacy with another human being that is at once spiritual, mental, and yes, physical, because we are all enfleshed beings - we apprehend the world around us according to our five senses. To force some people to give up even the prospect of a healthy, mutual, life-giving love in all its wonderful forms is just plain cruel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, the current Pope is at least more open minded and willing to make his Church to progress a little bit. Which, in the case of the RCC is much more complicated because of it's size and the traditions of ca 2,000 years. But the man appears to be willing to catch up with the times we live in.\n\nOur \"Pope\" is the opposite, he is trying to make us go backwards. All we can expect now is pure manipulations and votes based on politics. If they are reviving the issue, as it appears to be the case, it will be another chaos triggered by the GC. They don't stop, do they?\n\nIn trying to figure it out, I often wonder, \"What is this bug that makes so many males so needy to discriminate against women?\" I just don't get it!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If NCR provided articles that were actually Catholic, encouraging people to live genuinely Catholic principles and morals instead of (quite the opposite) being so unabashedly, progressively political about everything, they might get support from people like me who see them for the anti-Catholic organization they really are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, not an isolated incident. You need to read about the violence in Berkeley and elsewhere, where Leftist think their political opinions give them the right to use violence. You need to check out what Kathy Griffin did in the name of \"comedy.\" and the reports of death threats against Trump and those who support his party.\n\nthe above comment was rated uncivil. This is what I mean by the fingers in the ears reaction of the progressive Catholic. \n\nWell, I posted it again anyway. Trigger warning!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, criticizing things like Sharia Law, ISIS genocides of Christians and other minorities, the hangings of homosexuals in Iran, the mass sexual assaults in Cologne, Germany by muslim migrants, the stoning of adulterous women, Islamic terror attacks, and the beheadings of infidels is now being considered 'Islamaphobic' by the Trudeau government? Liberals will be gone in 2019.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AT: Does this mean that you will now openly oppose Mr Trump, a man who, in his every action and comment, is the antithesis of those Christian beliefs you profess? On the other hand, maybe I'm being unfair to Mr Trump and his actions and comments are representative of Christian values. Could you clarify this for me. Thanks, Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Orobator's words on better including women in the church have been backed by rather substantial action.\nSeveral years ago an international theological group called Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church secured funding for seven African women to pursue doctorates at African Catholic universities.\"\n\nGod Bless this wise and courageous priest. It is leadership like this that will bring women from the Third World to demand their rightful place in the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "westslope, yes, you are responsible for the injustices perpetrated on your fellow americans. your writing indicates you approve, by your non-denial of the truth and the facts of the injustices inflicted on your fellow americans since our country was formed, most by your religious beliefs, you are surely guilty. you enjoy privileges not afforded any american that is not rich (compared to poor), white, evangelical christian and male. you cannot escape the truth so you hide behind the babbledcock you and other christians expouse. denying others the same, exact same, rights you enjoy, is a crime against others, and if you read your bible, against the very god you claim to follow. anyone, anywhere, can get the truth from the internet about anywhere, anytime. you cant hide the facts from people that want to know the truth. as i told ruben, google your religion and let me know if you can find one, just one, fact to support your claims that jesus is the son of the living god. just one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The sad part is this is not going to affect in any way business as usual in the RCC.\"\n\nYou are right and the reason for this is that people don't make the connection that the flawed, entrenched, deviant personalities who cover up such abuses are very much similar and like-minded to the RC hierarchy throughout history. Ask yourselves a very pertinent question my friends... does the Lord entrust the Holy Spirit with such \"hierarchs\" to impart sacred, 'infallible' doctrine to the masses--never mind their dereliction of duty for shepherding the flock and witnessing for Christ?\n\nIf the answer to this is \"no,\" what does that say about the veracity of \"magisterial teaching\" (MT) concocted and espoused by the very same (i.e. like-minded) hierarchs throughout the ages?\n\nAnd a final question I will raise: Do you see a connection between certain \"obligations\" required of said MT and the preservation of wealth, power and control within the Vatican city-state? If so I hope you will think twice...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It IS exhausting, but when those egregiously-wrong issues remain present in the institutional Church, it's worth remaining at least tangentially connected in order to speak up and fight their existence. \"We\" often wonder why more of \"you\" do NOT speak up and work for correction of institutionalized misogyny, relying on 12th century theology and all theology developed only by men, the anti-Gospel exclusion of baptized LGBT Catholics and failure to hold accountable hierarchs known to have aided and abetted child rapists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wouldn\u2019t be offended and would offer a defense for my faith in Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to the bible, Jesus' death was engineered by God and thus, was suicide. The entire sacrifice was planned from the beginning. Jesus, as one of the persons of the Trinity, planned his own death. Suicide by Roman, as it were. Further, the teaching is that Jesus chose to surrender his life, declaring his work completed. Thus, suicide.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, the NYT is a fiercely anti-Catholic paper and would print anything true or false to discredit Catholicism. Cardinal Burke stands for orthodox Catholicism whereas Pope Francis is claimed by the progressives and political left-wingers so would be more to the paper's liking. Cardinal Burke also is not too concerned with politics.\nBannon is almost totally concerned with politics and after 3 marriages will hardly be too bothered by Catholic Dogma and Doctrine. Of course, he would look for political allies to bolster his clout, however, there is no evidence that Cardinal Burke endorses his political views or is in close contact with him.\nNeither is there anything to support your contention that Burke wants to get rid of Pope Francis, there is no mechanism for a start. Many bishops throughout the world have issued guidelines re: AL contrary to what the Pope seems to endorse do they all want to overthrow the Pope? I doubt it,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.\"\nThere is a great wall of separation between church and state, which works because good fences make good neighbors.\nThere is no god, no established religion, and no religious test for public office in US Constitution.\n\"With or without religion good people will do good and evil people will do evil, but for good people to do evil... that takes religion.\" \nStop persecuting gays and transgender citizens. Period!\nThe church, of course, may continue its traditional orthodox \"love\" towards their gay and trans neighbors.\nRemember this the Bible contains no specific condemnation nor prohibition of slavery, but we now know that slavery is wrong. Today's is the same with the gays and trans human beings.\nLive and let live, and let whatever gods there be judge. But if you do judge, you yourself will also be judged.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know too many \"devout\" Catholics who seem to think that to glorify suffering is a magisterial teaching, a \"divine command\" if you will. I do also agree with your statement that it is truly a sickness, perhaps a derivative of the the \"sin of scrupulosity\"--as another poster alluded to. And, sadly, I have seen a fair amount of those who \"fail\" in their scrupulosity end up in the mental ward as you suggest. Sad really, but I do think the pathos of Catholic \"suffering\" is ending due in large part to Francis the reformer and his penchant for preaching the true gospel of love, mercy and compassion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like all legal systems, canon law provides for exceptions where the general rule is not appropriate. The Code of Canon Law uses the Latin word \u201cnisi\u201d or some equivalent 1300 times, indicating that an exception is about to be made. In 1622, Pope Gregory XV issued a general decree requiring everyone to denounce to the bishop or the Inquisition a priest who solicited sex in the confessional. In 1842, Pope Gregory XVI provided an exception for those living in the lands of \u201cschismatics, heretics and Mohammedans\u201d, the repressive regimes of the day. Further, in 2011 the CDF asked all Catholic bishops\u2019 conferences to send in their child abuse protocols for checking. If they are approved under Canon 455 they become canon law for those regions \u2013 as happened for the United States in 2002. Such protocols can be tailor made to cover all the variations that you mention. Canon law has borders if the Pope wishes to create them. This is an unconvincing excuse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Being fully God and fully human, I suspect any children would have only carried the human aspects. But that aside, the Bible does contain reports of infertility and difficulty conceiving -- if Jesus was married, his wife could have been unable to conceive, or God may have otherwise ensured no possibility of Jesus siring children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In my mid-century primary school as well, unruly boys were constantly being given \"the strap.\"\n\nIn my expensive Catholic private high school, the rooms where the nuns would receive the parents had beautiful architecture and expensive, elegant furniture, but behind the scenes, the actual classrooms, the dormitories and cafeterias and the nun's living quarters were bare-bones and spartan, and the discipline very strict. \n\nWe went from classroom to cafeteria in silent rows and were punished for talking. Our report cards were publicly handed to us and discussed in class, and bad students were humiliated publicly by the Mother Superior. On the last day of school, we were made to get down on our knees to scrub the wood floors. It was supposed to teach us discipline and humility. \n\nMy mother sent me there because her own experience in a similar place was \"the best days of my life\". I hated it. Some loved it. Different folks like different strokes....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it hard to understand how the Irish government could build a national maternity hospital and turn it over to a Catholic order of nuns to run. I know there have been promises made about providing all legal services, but why believe that? \n\nI don't know Ireland. Is there some reason that the government would again turn over care of women and children to an institution that is still suffering a terrific loss of trust from their abuse of children and women, not just sex abuse of children, but the physical abuses, too, of children and the horrific abuses of women in the Magdalene laundries. \n\nWhy turn another major government service over to them again when the past says they don't do well with it? And, sorry, but the government doesn't oversee things very well, either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks but I cannot accept the compliment. I am not posting under another name. Congratulations on finally managing to tone down the nastiness in your post so it could actually be posted. But really, do you have anything to do besides knowingly posting false accusations and personal attacks. What about the exchange of idears and discussion of things? Sigh. Is this really how a Christian should behave?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "also the Anti Christian Liberal Union or the{ACLU] as we call it, they should be prosecuted under Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations as we know which is the {RICO] act. that's another low life vermin in this country besides the media and the press. throw them all in prison.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Methinks Bishop Braxton doth protest too much vis a vis Catholic presence in the displays in the museum. The Catholic Church are \"Johnnie come lately\" when it comes to ministering to the African Americans in the USA. Indeed, there was a great deal of institutional racism in the US Catholic Church until very recent times.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...his particular Church....\"\n\nTechnically, it should be his particular Churches -- all 24 Catholic Churches, according to Vatican II documents. The \"Roman or Latin or Western\" Catholic is just one of those Churches, albeit the largest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is the meaning of a petition, but a protest!\n\nMake abortion not a sin\nMake adultery not a sin\nMake sin not a sin\nMake no sacraments\nMake 50 sacraments\nGet rid of St James's letter in the NT\nChange Jesus to a be a transvestite plumber, not a carpenter\nMake Moses a woman. \n\nWhat is a petition?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Drdave,\n\nIt is difficult to explain well, in these restricted comment sections, what has brought us here. \nI will try to explain what I know:\n\nI was called to priesthood in my teens, left our church crushed & my self esteem in ruins, due to this rejection. I left our church & returned when God led me back as I decided to marry. \n\nThis sexism, and that is what it is, feels like being told God thinks you are less valuable as a person, and unworthy, dirty even, and this belief is not shaken by our complimentary gender teachings which are not founded in any gospel or supported by science. \n\nJesus commands no one should ever treat anyone (women too) differently than they wish to be treated. Jesus called 12 Israelite males as apostles (no gentiles) to fulfill a blood promise to Abraham & fulfill the law & prophets. Males represent lineage because they pass down their blood. Gentiles have the wrong blood so our clergy do not meet this standard either.\n\nComment back if you seek more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "St. Paul's letter to Timothy regarding the qualifications of a priest mandates a married clergy: \"For how can a man who has not learned to manage his family manage the church of God.\" The Roman Catholic church has been in error for over a thousand years by not abiding by this message from the Holy Spirit. The result has been a plethora of priestly predators and scandals which have weakened the trust and faith of believers. When the Lord returns, will he find faith on earth?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps those who 'love' Pope Francis don't know him as well as some of bishops and clergy do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For someone that claims to hold a Masters degree you sure seem pretty dim. Maybe your education was in Libtard feminist studies in the 13th grade equivalent education at UH? LOL\n\nAllah is the Arabic word for God, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Christians also believe in God, right? LOL", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lynn Willis - I agree, there were southern sympathizers in the North, however, \"the farmer and the lady\" were residents of Pennsylvania making casual observations and statements. You falsely insinuate that I don't view slaves and, I guess, descendants of slaves as human beings. Only the KKK is responsible for what they bring to gatherings. At gatherings, the KKK brings Christian crosses and US flags which do not stand for racism and neither does the Confederate flag. For instance, the Sons of Confederate Veterans and Daughters of the Confederacy organizations completely disavow the KKK and exist to perpetuate the truth about the war and the good name of the Confederate soldier. \n\nSaying that I lie is false and reduces your argument to zero. There isn't any logic to your comments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of three) Wonder if all that could have something to do with the clergy sex abuse crisis, as well as defective seminary formation!\u2014PetrusRomanus2 and I wonder whether it has anything to do with the sanction of the Association of American University Professors under which the administration of The Catholic (Pontifical) University of America has been operating since 1990. That censure handicaps RCC hierarchy updating itself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi, Monica, Before we leave this subject - again! - have you seen anything in print that offers a Critique of Catholic teaching on sexuality from the perspective of a married woman? I would be interested in informing myself more on this subject. Being a man, and not knowing any women interested in discussing this topic, I would appreciate it. Thanks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Baptism has never been the major issue about ordination. The church today allows Deacons to baptize, for example. It is the Eucharist and the idea of the \"persona Christi\" that is the limitation for the ordained priest.\n\nPR Chris", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nice try again but all an educated person has to do is point out one flaw or contradiction and your whole premise falls apart. You mention Cyprian but what what your RCC sources fail to mention is that when Stephen, then bishop of Rome attempts to wrestle control in the 3rd century, Cyprian called a council of 87 north African bishops specifically to deny his bogus claims of authority. RCC authors neglect to tell you that Cyprian believed all bishops were the successor of Peter together, representing one united \"episcopal throne\" (On the Unity of the Church 4-5). Instead, they quote his comments about Peter as though he meant the bishop of Rome. So to him, and to all the bishops of north Africa, there was no pope, not even 200 years after the apostles. \n\nSorry to disappoint you TC but you have indeed been sold a bill of goods by clever Roman apologists, still trying to wrestle \"mind control\" of the masses-- albeit significantly harder for them to achieve in modern times... good luck!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If catholics wanted a POTUS that cared about climate change, they should not have voted for Trump.\nHe said he didn't believe in it and his cabinet choices give a clear indication that he is more interested in his business buddies then the air or water we have to breathe and drink.\nYou got what you voted for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without complaining. As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another.\u2026' (1 Peter 4:8-10)\n\nYou know well that your Catholic clergies rape children; do you still attend mass? Do you boycott them too? If you don't, then surely you are discriminating against just LGBT people?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do not understand the reason for your confrontive reply, particularly on a Catholic website. I suppose your own demons bring you to us this way. While I see no useful reason to be drawn in to your attempts to demean and devalue Catholics, I see that your understanding of our Church is quite flawed, or purposely skewed by intent. BTW I noticed that your statement of \"Won't Almighty God protect His presumed spokesman?\" to be strangely repetitive of the crucifixion accounts in scripture of people, at the site of Jesus on the cross, challenging Him to save Himself. Jesus is indeed the Lord and Our Savior, and He has taught us that Charity is above all other things. I will keep you in my prayers, Athanasius, that it may be so for you. And, God bless Pope Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tom does not seem to have any idea of history in Mississippi. Attacking black churches is part of the heritage of white men in the South. Thank God there were no children in church like in the 1960's when white racists attacked black Christians with bombing of black churches by white Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've been wondering how many years will have to pass before the Christians give up on their fable that some guy will come back to save humanity from evil. I guess they're not quite there yet...maybe another 2000 years?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<\"Tradition is a living reality and only a partial vision would lead to thinking of 'the deposit of faith' as something static ... The word of God cannot be saved in mothballs as if it were an old blanket to protect against insects.\">\n\nGreat soundbites for consumption by the mass media, but is this the opening salvo in a revision of the Catechism - or yet another personal opinion of Pope Francis who has confessed he's not big on theology?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Polygamous relationships and homosexual relationships are both forbidden by the Church. Accordingly, the funeral mass can not treat participants of either as if they were in any way similar to Christian spouses.\n\nPolygamy is generally associated with male dominance. Male homosexuality, on the other hand, is an expression of the ultimate male supremacist blasphemy: that God erred in thinking that the man He created needed a woman.\n\nPolygamy, at least, is based on the first commandment God gave mankind, not on a sin that cries out to Heaven for vengeance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Speaking as a democrat, I would like to reassure Christians/Catholics that I did not hate you. \nI find it repugnant that some republicans are trying to get people to change political parties by saying that democrats hate people of any religions. \nIt's also very hypocritical, only one American political party has tried to ban a whole religion from even entering our country.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I would have more respect for the pro Xmas folks if they actually followed the advice Jesus gave them. Most Christians can justify killing someone. How is that Christian? Who did Jesus kill? I'm an agnostic because I've found no religion that can't find a way to justify rape, robbery, and murder.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Tush, Mr. Smith. \n\nNo Christian has been granted the license to read the Bible for himself or herself and interpret it as he/she sees fit. The Bible is rightly interpreted within the context of the Church's Tradition. Protestants, who believe that they are individually granted the imprimatur to interpret the Holy Scriptures according to their own lights, are in grave error. The whole counsel of God, found in the Bible and inthe rest of Sacred Tradition, does not & never can support the perversion of matrimony that is now called \"gay marriage\". There is no cherry-picking involved here.\n\nFurthermore, you presume a lot when you accuse me of having been raised with homophobia. I have never been afraid of people who claim to be homosexual. Therefore, I am not now, nor have I ever been \"homophobic\", despite your accusation. God does not create gays; \"gays\" decide for themselves to indulge their own lusts. Any sexual sin that is committed by gay people is their own responsibility, not God's", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"What a revolting human being he is.\"\n\nBut yet he is the darling for the self labeled GOP \"Christians\".", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Who cares, meanwhile Gay/Lesbian/Christian genocide is going on in the Middle East. Crickets from the mainstream media. (denver post)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christians get Trump. Catholics get Pence. Jews get Kushner. Atheists get Bannon. Muslims get banned.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What a perfectly 'christian' thing to do ... more of the SAME Fear and Loathing from 'christian' Republicans.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trump's speech was for those who believe in traditional morality. Those who support abortion and those who have used the ACA to impose a pagan belief system ae the true enemies of Christianity. You cannot have unity with those who follow the works of Satan. The hollywood elites who follow the teachings of the devil were in full display yesterday. The baby killers were out in force and of course the National Catholic Reporter is true to form in its subversive message by criticising a pro life President. Disgusting that these so called Catholics are in fact heretics. Michael Sean Winters you are a disgrace to humanity and you are not a true Christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's not logic that he parked, it's Christian values. \nFor these neo-con right wing so-called Christians, Christianity is about imposing your family values on everyone else. The issues that these \"Christians\" care about are who you have sex with, how you get married, how you have children, what private parts are under your pants. \nChrist cared about the poor, the sick, the sinners. These \"Christians\" don't.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Orthotoxic faux Christianity NEEDS to be warred against.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As I said, Riel, if you are stupid enough to consent to Muslim, Jewish, or Catholic tribunals, as with any other type of arbitration, you deserve what you get because that is your choice. This is Canada, not Saudi. No one is forcing you to use faith-based tribunals. \n\nHowever the buck stops when the ruling contrasts with our laws (public floggings, persecution of gays, etc). It's really very simple and pretty well summed up in the article.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The article calls Muslims as Invaders in Spain and Christian conquerors, what a shame! this is what brainwashing is called!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This reaction by the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests leaves no doubt that a huge percentage of our priests are gay.\n\nBetter that they just come out of the closet, and declare they having feelings for men. \n\nThis will accomplish a number of positive things:\n\n1) It will show the world that Catholic priests can be honest about sexuality.\n\n2) It will show that Catholic priests really don't have a hangup about being gay and Catholic.\n\n3) It will serve as an example to gay people that there is no shame in declaring yourself to have ss attraction.\n\nIt's time for these priests to stop pretending. By staying in the closet, they are sending a message that they cannot be honest about who they are and how they view sexuality.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It is illegal to discriminate against gays. A church membership is a not a get-out-of-jail free card to let you slander and bash gays all you please, motivated by ancient superstitions. Surely, it would also be foolish to teach children to be bigots. The obsolete Catholic religion is no longer a legitimate excuse to harm people who did nothing to you.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I love it when a response contains \u201cignorance\u201d and/or \u201cignorant\u201d.\n\nI would be pleased to engage in a Church history duel.\n\nThe Church has never taught heliocentrism.\n\nYour dislike of Catholic teaching does not make the statements in the Catechism \u201cignorant\u201d.\n\nThe Church is growing. It is not going to try to appeal to people by doing an \u201cEpiscopal Church\u201d and refitting the ship of Pilgrims on their voyage through life to suit your particular viewpoints.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "When it's a white christian we call them crazy and a-political, when they're not we call them \"terrorists\" or \"religious fanatics\".\n\nThe motive here was pretty clear, and also driven by an anti muslim ideology.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cThis is absolute proof that SNAP will smear whomever they feel like at any time they feel like it.\u201d\nIt is not necessary for anyone to try to smear anyone in CI (Catholic Institution) clergies. \nStart from Pope F. all CI clergies already proofed that they hide and condone clergy raping children all over the world and they still promote and stand by the clergy rapist. \nPeople are giving up on CI clergies now. It used to have a few hundred posts on the Accountability articles. \nTo think CI clergies rape Christ immanent in children!!!\nCI should have some shame on the state of criminal & d*vilish immoral corrupt sex abuse culture!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Another conservative family-values politician goes down again. Interesting how almost all of these conservative family-values people eventually get caught with their pants down. At least he was only a Baptist Deacon and not a Catholic priest or Catholic Bishop sexually molesting innocent little boys.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And comes now Donald Trump being welcomed by major evangelicals of America, most if not all racists themselves, some even member of the Ku Klux Klan, to embrace and cheer each other on. Holy cow!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Leroy and Quinn, look at her support from convicted felon Tom Anderson. A guy who took bribes from a guy who was having sex with an under age Native Girl. But hey, they're both Christians, right?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Kindliness is not a word we associate with our president\"\nNo, more likely the word is some combination of hate-filled and hateful. \n\nThis President's message and worldview is consistently the antithesis of Christ's teachings. If it wasn't for the fact that Trump has no problem appearing so uninformed, intemperate, and downright stupid to the public it would be easy to conclude that he is the Anti-Christ. Presumably the Anti-Christ would have more sense than to constantly allow his ego be the major barrier to achieving his agenda.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I say that you are ignorant when you make statements such as \"Loving cited clear specific words in the [14th] amendment itself dealing with race\". Given that there are NO words in the amendment dealing with race, you show that you do not know what the amendment says. That is just one example of your demonstrated ignorance.\n\nYou said that it is the obligation of all Catholics to obey the magisterium without question. Adolf Eichmann believed he had the obligation to follow the orders given to him without question. Thus, your attitude towards the magisterium and Eichmann's attitude towards his superiors are IDENTICAL. You don't like being shown that you are following in the footsteps of Eichmann. That's just too bad, it is still a fact. A fact that should cause you to say, \"Perhaps I have the wrong attitude with respect to how I follow what I am told.\" I also point out the fact that letting others make moral decisions for you is abdicating your moral responsibility, and is a sin of sloth.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Here are standards you accept,\n.\nDemeaning to woman repeatedly\nThreatened violence against others again and again \nIs an adulterer at least twice we know of.\nIn his own words molested and assaulted women.\nIs self righteous.\nUsed foul language often\n.\nHas shown no remorse for any of these actions, has not been apologetic, is shameless, shows no regret.\n.\nWhat is hypocritical is calling yourself a Christian and believing and accepting Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or any person who repeatedly sins without shame, which you justify because it fills your agenda, not Christ's, yours. I know with a wink and a prayer all is forgiven and repeat. I don't think that's the way it works, except it does with your standards. \n.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "He can't order private companies to do that but in your world BC can stop private companies from building a pipeline - see the hypocrisy? Equalization per se is not in the constitution - better get a copy and read what it says. Catholics do not teach \"anti-gay stuff\" they teach catholicism just as your friends teach that middle eastern religious stuff, you know like killing infidels or stoning women or female genital mutilation.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hirono the rich Buddhists is rich like the rich white Christians who are multi-millionaires in Congress. They have everything and there motto is \"just a little bit more.\" The only thing they have are evil powers and they secretly want to be exactly like God.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, some say that it is silly and ridiculous for Catholics to determine, despite being nothing more than laity, however devout, that they have the authority to decide who is and who is not a member of the church. Perhaps those who do these things should try reading the catechism more, or consult with the God Ordained Clergy, who alone have the power to eject people from the Church, and hence condemn them, rightly, to eternal torment in the pits of Hell. I do hope this comment is well received and provides some guidance and insight where it is so evidently needed.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"To serve, care, share with others is following Jesus.\"\n\nA little more than that. Remember Matthew 28: \"But Jesus came and spoke these words to them -- ' All power in Heaven and on earth ha been given to me. You, then, are to go and make disciples of all the nations ad baptize them n the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you and remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.'\"\n\nWithout following this mandate of Jesus and so many others, we are just fugitive dreamers, pathetic.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "To the White Nationalists (Supremacists) in Wasilla: Upon Rapture you will all see a Black or nearly Black Jesus. Then what?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Now, I'm sad for you, because when man fights for an unjust cause, he should not be memorialized. He should be called out for his unjust fight. \n I am glad that you are serene in your thoughts that your ancestors did the right thing. But what they did was neither right or the Christian thing to do. To put your economic worries over Gods law is defensless.\n Jesus Christ was a brown man, would you have enslaved him too/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I assume that it has roots in Pagan tradition. Of course I don't know for sure. Possibly a reform of what had once been actual cannibalism, as we know human sacrifice had been in the area historically. Jews had a prohibition against drinking blood, so Jesus never said, 'drink my blood.' References to 'your' celebrations in Jude 1:12 -- 'your love feasts.' The Pagans had celebrations of the 'sacred marriage' with real sex, recalling the sacrificial death of the young lord whose blood was beneficial; for example, fertilizing the soil (in many mythological stories), with the lady, his incestuous mother/bride weeping over his death. In the earliest stories, she kills him. This horror was continued in the Roman Catholic tradition of Mary Priest who presided over his crucifixion, a belief finally banned by Rome. In the Hebrew Bible, is this Pagan ritual like imprinted hosts and cup? \"We were making cakes impressed with her image and pouring out drink offerings to her\u201d Jer 44:17-19 continuing", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If you even suspect that clergy pedophilia and cover up is happening right now in in Catholic dioceses, you have a legal responsibility to report it to civil authorities. Make that call. Right now. Do not delay!\"\n\nConveniently for the Church, not in all States ordinary citizens, not to mention Bishops, have a legal responsibility to report suspicions of clergy pedophilia cover-ups.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rik, \nNeither you or I or anyone else here is clairvoyant and knows what is in Donald Trump's heart. None of us knows his most private thoughts, all though he does tweet what's on his mind frequently, we still can't judge whether he is repentant or unrepentant. Not 100% Which is probably why Jesus also said a Christian has to love even our enemies. Trump's words have at times been un-Christian and at other times he will need to actually have to order to kill our enemies, just like Obama did and every other President before has. The Bible says that the governing authorities are God's sword to keep order and punish wrongdoing. At times even the 'authorities' have done evil (Hitler, Roman Empire come to mind) And it is then that God uses other nations to subdue and break lawless nations apart.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the clarification. I figured the C had to be either Catholic or Christian, but beyond that I was baffled.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any examples. Here in Victoria BC it is the other way around. Catholic and other Private schools exclude students who they deem to be a problem or who need more resources.\n\nI even heard one of them arguing with classmates at the YMCA. His take was that he had decided to quit a Catholic School for the private system. His classmates gave him the reality check that he had been expelled.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right, it is not prejudiced to say that some pregnant women choose to carry their pregnancies to term amidst difficult circumstances. But it IS prejudiced to imply that their fortitude, or whatever the relevant virtue is, is something that society can reasonably expect of all pregnant women. The above editorial has to do with laws regarding abortion, so I assume your participation in these comments means you wish your own opinions and values to be reflected in our laws. And with regard to legal matters, your reference to those heroic (or whatever) women does not look relevant.\n\nIf you think that \"dominion\" thing in Gen 1 supports the idea it's OK to kill nonhuman animals to serve human needs (or really, tastes), you're like the great majority of Jews and Christians over the ages. That idea is not a good or just one, but that's not my point, which is that you are inconsistent in speaking of \"life\" as God's gift, but narrowly apply that to just a few (viz. human) living creatures.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "yjin117: you confuse individuals within an institution for the institution and the institution for the ideology. If a teacher molests a student is the entire school corrupt, ought we close the school? If a politician steals or rapes, is the entire government corrupt and are we to do away with the government? If the government leaders are corrupt are we to do away with democracy all together? \n\nThe ideology of the Catholic faith is intact, just as the ideology of education or democracy. It's a faith based on sound theology and truth. A rouge priest no more can taints that than a bad president taints democracy.\n\nRemember that the claims of the Church as Holy is in it's teaching, in it's guidance, with Jesus Christ as the head. Not all members are holy, and never have been. Remember that Judas Iscariot was an apostle, hand picked by Jesus Christ; he ended up being a thief and a traitor, not because Jesus failed, but because Judas had free-will, just like the rest of us.\n\nBlessings", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I there is a way of cheating the Libs know it all about . Imagine a self-proclaimed Christian spending all those tax dollars to spend a family Christmas in a secluded muslim compound. Go Figure !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the majority of those on a city council are Christian, will the prayer always be a Christian prayer? If a Muslim or a Buddhist attends a city council meeting, can he/she also say a prayer of that faith? Here is the worst part for me: If a Satanist requests a prayer to Satan, should that be allowed? \n\nWouldn't it be better if there was a minute or two of silence so each could pray as she/he sees fit, or simply be silent out of respect for others who do want that moment of prayer? This could be what it means to \"respect\" religion in the public square: allow a brief time for those present to silently pray their own prayers. Amen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Editor! Editor!\n\nThis article is worse that a Junior High-level essay. Disjointed sentences, unconnected paragraphs, and thoughts that make no sense.\n\"Nature is the way we Earthlings describe the cosmos; heaven is the way we Christians describe nature and the cosmos.\" So \"heaven is the way we Christians describe nature and nature.\" (?!?)\nMatthew points to the worship of an Incarnate Christ, not a \"cosmic Christ\".\nWhat is \"nature plus matter\" given that \"Nature is the way we...describe the cosmos...\"? \nFrom beginning to end this article is a hot mess.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm anti abortion but then I don't care once the spawn has popped out into society.\n\n~Your local \"Christian\" conservative", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity in Europe was introduced with overwhelming violence in every way from the beginning. First, it was an attempt by the Byzantine eastern Roman empire after the fall of Rome to reunite the western and eastern remnants. Three hundred years later, Charlemagne was viciously and ruthlessly violent in establishing Christianity in the west. Conversion was established by force under Charlemagne. Thereafter, Christianity was associated with continual violence and warfare, as Europeans fought among themselves for land and domination, all the while blessed or excommunicated by the church.\n\nIn this way, \"God's will\" was indelibly chained to violence, force, and insane intellectualizations about it all, or \"stories.\" It is why, after 1600 years, Euro-culture discourse still demands a universal, god-like perspective in our understanding - this is how everyone is everywhere all the times under all circumstances - and presumes other universal knowledge no human can actually know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You believe that Christians made themselves feel offended, but that's just your opinion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let me guess. You think it's just fine for Jerry Falwell and Roy Moore to inject their religious comments into our politics......even though Francis is infinitely more learned and accomplished in the Christian faith, and the US Constitution, than a truckfull of evangelical hucksters? Or Donnie, Article XII, Two Corinthians, Trump?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because I am replying to a bizarre argument linking Bernardo to Christianity, that's why.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you are quite immune to facts. Islam was a very tolerant religion in the 7th century - their empires had Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. Whereas Christian Empires forcibly converted every subject to Christianity - in North America, Latin America, Africa, Philippines, Spain, Portugal and Italy. Jews and Muslims had to convert or die during the Inquisition.\n\nHave you heard of the Mughal Emperor Akbar? Probably not. He was the richest emperor in the world from 1558 to 1605 (his contemporary, Queen Elizabeth 1 of England, was poorer than any of his provincial governors). He was very tolerant, and encouraged religious debates to find the best in all religions. In comparison, Elizabeth was a religious fanatic.\n\nThe problem that I see is you think you know all about Islam by watching a couple of Hollywood movies and maybe a documentary or two. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Walt Bonora made a false statement that needs correcting. He wrote that \"When the Christian right speaks of religious freedom- they want it for them, but not for the rest of us.\" To begin with, the Christian right is part of \"us.\" The pledge says that we are one nation. Freedom of religion applies to everyone. Same with freedom of the press, to assemble and the right to bear arms. He also conveniently forgot that the Dark Ages was followed by the Reformation. The Church is populated by humans, not deities. We are feeble and frail and apt to fail, as proven throughout history. But today's Church is feeding the poor, digging wells in Africa and healing the sick by bringing doctors to the needy worldwide. But we don't do good because ours is a Christian nation, because it's not. We are pro-life because it is right, but we don't spend a lot of time concerned about gay weddings. That impression is put forth by the same media that is obsessing about Trump colluding with Russia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh my goodness! You think you're talking to someone who doesn't know what the Principle of the Double Effect is or how it works. Trump was a pro-death candidate who has become a pro-death president for the reasons I've already articulated, and to which you still haven't responded. (To be fair: he's a much worse president than even his opponents anticipated. He pretended, during the campaign, to care about health care; as president, he doesn't even pretend.)\nThe opinion of the \"eminent theologian\" regarding John Kerry's status as a Catholic is beyond useless -- it's meaningless. Donald Trump is a hypocrite who pretends to oppose abortion but advocates policies that promote them. To support him on pro-life grounds is to participate in his hypocrisy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our Senators approve tens of billions in taxpayer entitlements free to Israel to fund and subsidize their own American paid for, Israeli government run National Health Insurance Program, free to every Israeli from birth to death, but because the politicians corporate sponsors have bribed them, refuse to allow the same thing for Americans. Billions and billions more to other foreigners to fund terrorism creating activities, again on behalf of their corporate sponsors.\nWhat kind of Christianity do these holier than thou legislators worship, along with their supporters, if the jesus they say they pray to, lived and breathed to help the sick, weak, diseased, infirm, poor, hungry and the dying, yet the politicians are busy defunding the health and social programs that help prevent the unnecessary deaths of over 50,000 Americans a year, egged on by their supposed Christian supporters?\nWhere do the souls of the these corrupt Christian politicians and their followers go after they pass on?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Having read over 100 history books and bio's on the evolution of fascism though WWII, I have \u201cseen\u201d evil take root before. I know how it looks, thinks and feels. It\u2019s the supremely well-educated who serve up lofty explanations for serving as enablers of evil, and the not-as-well educated who just believe \u201calt- facts\u201d, aka lies, and want to denigrate \u201cothers\u201d different than themselves. What we are seeing now has been played out before---to the near-destruction of the good in our world. America was mostly a savior-nation in WWII. Now we are the oppressors--enablers aiming to make incompetence, persecution and cruelty seem normal and desirable. \n \nI don\u2019t want to end up with a political system like Russia\u2019s. As such, I have little use for the enablers in our midst. It\u2019s not looking good for the Christians who gave him power through their votes. I am engaged in a struggle to forgive. I also will march.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do you square it with your own Christian values when the POTUS fails the 7 Deadly Sins?\nMove over God, there's a new deity in town. Folks, let's all give a big hand to Mammon! He's currently golfing at Mar a Lago getting briefed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are tough questions\u2013answers about the relationship between homosexuality, ephebophilia, and the sexual abuse crisis in the Church during the 20th Century.\n\nHowever, they are distinct from the broader question: Whether a person who experiences sames-sex attraction ought to be barred from priestly ordination and/or making profession in an institute of consecrated life that involves long-term same-sex community life?\n\nIf the answer is generally \"yes\", it makes sense to screen such a person out of the beginning of the formation process, during his application to seminary or first few semesters therein (depending on what is realized and when), or during her or his candidacy\u2013aspirancy prior to canonical entrance into community.\n\nTo understand why the answer ought to be \"yes\", one needs to dig more deeply into the meaning of sexuality. Please refer to the late Fr. Quay's fine book, \"The Christian Meaning of Human Sexuality\" (Paul Quay, S.J., Ph.D.): http://j.mp/QuayMeaningOfSexPDFscan", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LGBTQ rights and interests\n\nWhat of Christians and their rights and their interests? People are not disposable just because they are inconvenient. Would you be so outspoken to Muslim schools teaching antihomsexaul doctrine from the Koran? Certainly not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Given the wealth and power of the Knights of Columbus ... and what I have been learning about their Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson, given what happens in my own diocese and parish ... my experience is the K of C ... particularly Carl A. Anderson and the Supreme Council through their local councils and media empire which includes Crux, The Catholic Register and EWTN - it seems the understanding of \"culture of life\" as narrowly defined by the Knights is what prevails ... no matter our actual teachings. They cherry pick our teachings and the statements of the various popes to further their own American capitalist imperial agenda ... no matter the teachings of Jesus or church. \n\nWe could be such a beacon of hope if the K embraced a culture of life/love that actually enabled a culture of life/love that enabled all God's Creatures to have life with dignity for the full continuum rather than perpetuating the culture of death that flows from our development mode enabled by their \"charity\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is happening with administrative policies at The Catholic University of America is neither mercy nor compassion. Just because Pope Francis uses a peer-friendly title, does not mean that is does not exercise Monarchical Pontifical authority, as Raymond Arroyo and his minions at EWTN point out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Monogamists have sex for pleassure. Roger Staubach once remarked that he enjoybed sex as much as Joe Namath, he just did it with one person. The Neo-Platonic bent of Humanae Vitae is what offended married Catholics so deeply. That kind of asexualism needs to be rooted out of Catholic moral teaching, along with celibacy, sacred continence and ordaining only men. They are all fruit of the same bad tree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It\u2019s no secret that Catholicism has never had Indigenous peoples\u2019 best interests in mind.\"\n\nThat is patently false and I stopped reading this diatribe right there, with this response: compress it firmly and place it where photons don't go.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sounds to me like the old Jansenist heresy of the Arnaulds and Mother Marie Angelique is repeating itself. What the extreme \"right\" of both Protestant and Catholic have in common are the peculiar views of Augustine that everything done outside their circle is automatically evil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Who would believe the Church if she did an about face?\"\n\nI can promise you that when/if the Church (whoever that is??) ever does an about face and takes a more compassionate, inclusive, field-hospital approach (as PF has admonished), the Church has potential to earn back enormous amounts of respect and credibility the world over. \n\nI can't promise this will lead to increased numbers but would be far better to mimic gospel imperatives than to insist on adhering to failed/failing \"imperial\" traditions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You didn't remember to Google \"Catholic left,\" did you? It told you about that for your edification, but you're lazy. Should've known. Anyway, . . . \n\nNow, having shown two provable acts of senility in one post --- a first for you --- you're trying to conceal them by \"educating\" me as to why the \"Sign of Peace\" immediately follows the \"Our Father.\" How clever. But again, Jim, we weren't talking about shaking hands at the \"Sign of Peace.\" The subject was holding hands at the \"Our Father.\" Remember? \n\nBTW, I never said that the \"Our Father\" and the \"Sign of Peace\" were not part of the same introductory ritual of the Communion rite. Remember? So where the basis for saying that \"for [me], that is a non-essential element\"? Did you dream that? Snap out of it, Jim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The same place the Protestant churches get theirs - the human race.\n\nIn one midwestern city a priest of the Episcopal Church was convicted of selling drugs out of the rectory.\n\nIn another a Lutheran pastor was defrocked after moving in with a parishioner's wife.\n\nAnd so on.\n\nIf Jesus had Judas Iscariot it should be no surprise the occasional turnip appears in the basket.\n\nIt is not a \"RCC\" problem particularly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My daughter is 13 and she would not wear a thong. If her shrink thought the pill would control her moods, she would be on it, as her mom was. So far, so good. She is not really hyper-sexual. If your kid was, would you simply stay in denial or deal with it safely (or wait until he asked you for money for an abortion for his girlfriend?)? Things are not so different from when we were in high school. My girlfriend senior year had already had a kid, which she gave up for adoption as she had been adopted. She was not the only one in our Catholic High School and there was not a lot of pairing off in our year and many who did are still married with grown kids and grandbabies. My siblings tell me there were few births, lots of abortions and we got a note about the girls in one of their classes having an outbreak of cervical cancer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Ontario we have an entire separate school system for the Roman Catholics. They don't pay tuition anymore. I don't see what your point is. So, you favour diverting property tax to religious schools and the province subsidizing the shortfall? It does seem to be your analogy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bravo! The catechism...the catechism: black OR white; left OR right; all differences are absolutes, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You still haven't been able to refute the fact that Muhammad was a warmonger, unlike Jesus Christ. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Muhammad, which provides references for the fact.\n\nWhy do Muslims have to revere and emulate a man, which the Quran itself claims was imperfect, instead of Jesus, whom the Quran says is perfect? Muslims place Muhammad above Jesus in reverence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope and his liberal friends supposedly champion \"mercy\" but show none for those whose only crime is holding to age-old Catholic doctrine. They claim to favor \"dialogue\" but refuse to engage in it with anyone who disagrees with them. They preach tolerance and love but regularly employ insults and vitriol against those who raise questions. They are attempting to overturn 2,000 years of Church teaching by means of winks, nods, and footnotes, and arrogantly think they should have a free pass in the implementation of the project. They will not provide substantive, honest replies to the Filial Correction because they have none.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Many Catholics\"...who? And what do they believe? Are they all the sort who do not believe what the Church teaches and would switch to Protestantism? Or are they faithful and orthodox Catholics?\n\nFeuerhard could have interviewed a few for this piece. But he did not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You miss the big picture, Jesus, Our Lord is God, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Do you accept that Jesus is God or do you regard Him as an an itinerant preacher in latter day Palestine?\nJesus offered Himself upon the altar of Calvary for the sins of many so says the institution narrative of the Mass. He offered Himself, therefore He is the High Priest. He offered Himself, therefore He is also the Victim, the only unblemished, acceptable offering to the Father on behalf of mankind; the contrast with the paltry sacrifices of the Old Law, doves, fowl, lambs and bullocks. Here was the most perfect man of all mankind to take upon Himself the sins of the whole world, past, present and future.\nForget about gender, in the scheme of things which I have outlined above, gender theory pales into insignificance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The GOP doesn't offer change. One need only look up the word \"conservative\" to conclude that the conservative movement doesn't embody change. Conservatives are drawing all kinds of conclusions based on one simple fact: Dem's didn't get out and vote in the presidential election, and shame on them. And their candidate STILL won the popular vote by 3 million +. Dem's also need to wake up to decades of effective gerrymandering by the GOP; the Carolina's and Georgia are prime examples of that, and it's present here in Alaska too. The fact is, the Dem's are still more aligned with the youth of the country, and with minorities and women, two ever more important voting blocks. Old, white, Christian, male won't cut it in the long term - all the Dem's have to do is wait for them to die. There is no conservative revival. Just disorganization on the left. And there certainly is no \"Trump era.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Father Mathew or Robin (he uses both) Vadakkacheril, from Kerala, India, was arrested for the rape of a 16-year-old earlier this year. He impregnated her too. The local Christian publication blamed \"temptation\" as well as the victim for forgetting the high station of the priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No we are not saying to anyone, including gays, that \"you can join us.\" The Church is not a country club, where you join the membership. In our baptism we are joining Christ in his death and resurrection, and by the function of that event/act we become (members of ) a community---and not the other way around.\nAnd, sorry to disappoint you with bad news, but yes, joining Christ is a one way street. You either transform/conform to Christ, or you did not join Christ. Trying to form God into your image and likeness and not to allow to be formed into God's image and likeness is the worst form of idolatry in any religious practice. Good luck to you ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While that is certainly true, it seems a pity that Mr. McElwee did not include this part of the pope's response to his question (Catholic News Agency transcript): \"Please don't say: 'the Pope sanctifies transgenders.' Please, eh! Because I see the covers of the papers. Is there any doubt as to what I said?\" The question becomes \"Does the title of Mr. McElwee's piece cast doubt on what the Pope actually said, contrary to the Pope's own specific request?\" The answer to that seems to be \"yes, the title of the piece does indeed cast doubt on what the Pope said.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a born and bred New Orleanian, a Catholic, and a conservative, I have to say thank you to my co-Yats, Jake Berry and Mitch Landrieu. Jake especially, living in the Carrollton section, knows what it's like to ride downtown on a streetcar and come to a rail-screeching, 270-degree crawl around Lee Circle before heading down Carondelet towards Canal. Like me, he got to know and love Lee Circle, a landmark revered for its beauty since long before either of us was born. Jake probably saw Lee Circle --- not just the statue of Lee that sat atop the tall, elegant pedestal, but the entire circle --- as one, integrated piece. But Jake also knows that this piece of beauty was not just a sculpture, but to most black New Orleanians, a monument to military genius employed on the side of oppression, a symbol of defiance in the face of good. To most black New Orleanians, his statue was reasonably seen as the equivalent of a statue of Hitler or Stalin. \ncont'd", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Postscript: Maybe you have heard this, but many believe that anti-gay sentiment of the likes we see over there today was whipped up through steady incursions of American Evangelicals into Russia. Various charities and Christian clubs like CoMission traveled there starting in the late '90s, all of them carrying the message of \"traditional values under threat.\" The irony, of course, is how sky-high the abortion rate is over there . . . looks like they dropped the ball on that one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seems like a fundamental concept of Christianity would be to aid those in distress. Yet the conservatives don't think that should apply to healthcare.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, the fact remains that we should have a secular pblic school system...no mini mosques, no catholic separate govt funded schools...no religion in public schools!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Catholic Church and the USCCB had not for all practical purposes endorsed Trump for president, it is highly unlikely that we would be at this place. But restrictions on people's private lives, same sex marriage, abortion and birth control override any other considerations. Have to emphasize first principles after all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is that being done? Especially as it often takes lawsuits to get the rights of Christians respected? Especially when it comes to education.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, Christianity has failed. Two thousand years ago Christ proclaimed the institution of the Kingdom of God, a kingdom of justice, peace and love. Look around the world today and tell me where you see it. We failed and are continuing to fail. Show me the love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A real \u201cWonder Woman\u201d\n\nWe see God\u2019s Will in the action of Kapiolani, take from the link below my post @ 17\nKapiolani was a great chieftainess who lived in the\nSandwich Islands at the beginning of the twenthy century. She won the cause for\nChristianity by openly defying the priests, of the terrible Goddess Peele. In\nspite of threats of vengeance she ascended the volcano Mauuna-Loa than\nclambered down over a bank of cinders over 400 hundred feet high to the great\nlake of fire (nine miles round) Kilauea the home and haunt of the goddess, and\nflung into the boiling lava the consecrated berries which it was sacrilege for\na woman to handle\nhttp://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2013/10/has-pope-francis-a-major-blind-spot-regarding-the-role-of-women-in-the-church/\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But Mr. Gingrich is a convert. Like St. Augustine, Mr. Gingrich had a very colorful sexual history before his conversion. But so far as a Catholic, he is a faithful husband. Have we pretenses to foretell something differently?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They work in the Archives, not the CDF. Reactionary is the better word, as in longing for the days when Rigali or Pius X had their networks of informants. That is fascism, not Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Will Mr. Spielberg ever make a movie about the crimes of the Bolshevik revolution against Christians? or the crimes of the Holomodor against Christians? Or the Jewish terrorist activities of the Irgun? I think that he's a great director and should do it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes all that from a person who openly supports sharia law and multiple wives !!!\nNot sure if your version of history can be taken with any level of credibility.\nThe Christian aren't the ones lighting people on fire and throwing them off roof tops, beheading opposition, creating rape camps as witness under the name \t\nIslamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Proud: I've known Catholic Nuns who wear head scarfs. Also orthodox Christians. All this time I had no idea they were un-American.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I may be wasting my time here. But I'll just remind you that the history books are also full of the persecution of Christians by secularists amid secularist silence. This article has nothing to do with the miserable excuse we have for a president. It is a reflection piece, suggesting that we ALL need to fight against religious bigotry and yes that includes the right not to participate in ANY religion. But if you expect anyone to defend your rights with respect to that, you really ought to develop a little more tolerance yourself. You appear to me to be the same person you despise, but by a different name. You want Christians to be less hateful, yet your post has a very hateful tone. It might be more effective if it was more instructive and less condemning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Frankly, I doubt that freedom has ever strengthened religion. Religions typically come into existence and become strong and resilient in times of of oppression, loss of infrastructure, loss of land, etc. Religions like western Christianity certainly grew and established themselves along with the rise of western nations, but they have become religions that cannot really survive without protection.\n\nReligions are what bring people hope when nothing else brings hope. When government and other forms of power are on your side, your religious community will tend toward a social club or worship club or what have you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As well as those bishops and clergy there are those who keep picking at the 'child abuse sore' making sure that it won't heal. They think that by keeping the Church as a global pariah they will be able to bring about the protestantisation of the Catholic Church.\nMost reasonable Catholics accept that the scandal is now, for all intents and purposes over. Of course it will never be eradicated completely, given human nature but it will never reoccur on the post-Vatican II scale.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"They May Be Democrats,but so What\" ___Exactly my Point! So as Democrat you can honestly tell me you voted for Trump?\nHaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! \nAT&NA Boots I love It! Yes indeed we are nation of laws,which these two individuals fail to decipher. They said it themselves, it was based on what Trump said during the Campaign. Pay attention Boots. This is NOT a exclusive \"Muslim Ban\", because Christians from those countries (Obama's Picks) are also suffering.\nPOTUS Trump is well within the realms of executive power. Whether you want to admit it ...or Not.\nAt least you have to give Trump credit (I doubt) for being patient with these liberal Judges,at least Trump is allowing them continue with this charade,unlike your Hero Obama who completely Ignored a Judges decision and did it his way. Remember that?Or did that completely slip your mind. Pay Attention Boots.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a Catholic site. The proper terminology is \"nun-dual consciousness\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I \"*realize*\" is that Muslims do this because of *their* God, and *their* hate-filled religion.\n\nWhat I \"*realize*\" is that you cannot honestly be attempting to compare any other faith with Islamist extremists. Yes- \"*some Christians used to terrorize*\" : That was called \"*The Crusades,*\" and it was over 700 years ago.\n\nWhat I *\"realize*\" is that looking at polls and data, the overwhelming majority of Muslims are either terrorists, extremists, jihadists, or support and sympathize with one or more of the above. Additionally, the vast majority prescribe to and support sharia law and mindsets in total opposition to what the freethinking, Judeo Christian Western world believes in.\n\nThat is what \"*I realize.*\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's a pretty fair assessment. As a gay person who (somewhat regularly) attends mass, I can only articulate my own reasons for adhering, however tangentially, to Catholicism. I don't think the gay community as a whole is the least bit interested in doing the same thing, however. If I were still living in Boston I'd still be attending mass at the Episcopal Church of the Advent. If I were still living in New York I'd still be worshipping at the Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin, both Anglo-Catholic shrines. As it is, where I live currently, the Episcopal Church scene is awful so I go to the local Roman Catholic Cathedral where mass is done beautifully and the sermons are pretty good. But I'm a relic from bygone era and a creature of habit. Most gay people have fled the churches so this discussion is largely academic and is happening without a significant gay presence. In the end, it won't really matter what churches decide to do about gay people because we'll largely be gone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just as there are Catholics who do not go to church every Sunday or obey the Pope, or otherwise follow their canon; just as there are other Christians and Jews that also only show up for religious holidays or funerals, so do people of the Muslim faith. So you cannot tar them all with the same brush.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Try to read before posting. The drunks who were non-believers DID start their own group; then the Christians tried to suppress them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another self-entitled Christian upset that Santa is overshadowing Christmas, Cry me a river. Christmas was a pagan holiday long before being hijacked by the church. People like this make other people of faith look bad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a Catholic website, so I guess questioning the Divinity of Jesus on such a website can be considered insulting. If I posted on a Black Lives Matter website that there is no such thing as racism in this country would that also be considered \"creative in my thoughts\" and anyone that disagreed with my statement was bashing me with a club?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Coptic Christians need relief too. There's a concerted effort to wipe them off the planet. I don't know why their plight doesn't get more air play....then again...yes I do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Fundamentalist and Evangelical Christians call themselves pro-life.\"\n\nMy, my. The CHURCH is pro-life. Yes, many so-called Catholic women disagree. They are at great variance with the Church they claim to respect. And if they directly support or obtain an abortion, they're in grave sin. \n\nBesides, of what logical relevance is it that \"fundamentalists and Evangelical Christians call themselves pro-life\"? They also believe it would be wrong to break into your house. Your statement is a complete non sequitur. If you think your pro-abortion stance requires on some semblance of logic, you must either abandon your position or find a credible premise for it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Someone had to make it political. That's not the pressing question, nor does it have anything to do with this article. Believe it or not, not all Atheists hate Christians or attack them. We simply agree to disagree. I have been to many, many, many churches and religious institutions, and I have talked to just as many followers of those religions. Belief is complicated, and so is political affiliation. To assume that all Christians in the US hate and detest Carter and Sanders is your first mistake. The second is assuming that Christians have to embrace Christian candidates solely because they share religious beliefs. People have free will and can vote for anyone they wish.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not bad news for Catholics who regard themselves as traditional. Cardinal Wuerl is basically very orthdox.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A story about EWTN some of you may find interesting. I used to listen to their radio programs at work about 6 years ago. One of their hosts, possibly Teresa Tomeo, took live calls from listeners. An older man, obviously a devoted Catholic called in very disturbed about the Priest/child abuse scandal. At that time reports on the evening news were almost daily. Was he upset at the Priests who molested the children? No! He ranted and raved about the news media and Press being responsible for the whole scandal! At no point did Teresa Tomeo point out to him that it was Priests that had molested children and they were responsible, not the Press. She just egged him on and blessed him and told him what a great Catholic he was! I couldn't believe what I heard! Where was all that Catholic teaching about taking responsibility for your actions and confessing your sins. One of my cousins is a Priest. He warned me not to listen to EWTN! After that incident, I took his advice!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So now that you have mentioned it - who are all of the Christian Right evangelists that have called for the death of gay people? You say 'all' so I presume you have knowledge of several, more than a few, many.... I'm looking for examples to back up your statement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You mean \"Gehenna\"? What is \"Gehenna\" exactly? And all we know is what the evangelists thought Jesus said about \"Gehenna.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, Pres. Trump's comments mirror that of many a destructive leader in history. The words spoken attempt to create division, between East and West, between Christian and Muslim and create enemies of anyone that doesn't conform to Trump's interpretation of 'Western Ideals.' Maybe its time to be reminded that justice, equality and humanity are the foundations of democracy and of the 'West' and that fanning the flames of fear through division, hatred and mistrust has the power to undo it. In the words of the late former SA Pres. Mandela: \"peace is the creation of an environment where all can flourish, regardless of race, color, creed, religion, gender, class, caste, or any other social markers of difference. Religion, ethnicity, language, social and cultural practices are elements which enrich human civilization, adding to the wealth of our diversity. Why should they be allowed to become the cause of division and violence. We demean our common humanity by allowing that to happen.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The pope \"urges all within the church away from the selfish fragmentation that is at the root of environmental degradation and toward a conversion of openness to others, both human and non-human,\" said Hillis, adding that a dialogical church is \"a countercultural one that rejects the dominant culture's prevailing individualism.\"\n\nExactly. the climate denial movement sponsored by the fossil fuel lobby is a product of the atheist/materialist philosophy of Ayn Rand. It is the duty of Christians and all theists to reject greed to save our planet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The school in question wasn't there because it was Catholic. They just used it as a legal back door to keep their local school open.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Probably not - But I don't expect perfection from our human government (which is not a Christian Enterprise, not controlled by Christians).The religion of Darwinism is more responsible for wars than Christianity, Christianity holds human life in the highest regard, Darwinism puts it all to chance and meaninglessness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This refers to companies that provide health insurance as part of an employee's compensation. They ARE paying for it through their labor.\n\nThe rest of your post highlights the real issue that the right has with contraception and abortion, it's about punishing women for engaging in sexual activity. \n\nMy theory is that right wing \"christian\" men don't like the idea that sex is mutually pleasurable rather than just pleasurable for men because then they have to question why their wives merely submit rather than enjoy sex with them. \n\nOh and the vast majority of married and monogamous women in the workforce use contraception so are you demanding they \"keep their pants zipped\" within their marriage?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think it shows how the well-financed homosexual propaganda movement takes advantage of the Catholic propensity for mercy and forgiveness. It's shameless and a testament to how manipulative and immoral people who have adopted a homosexual identity can be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A \"good Catholic education\" fails miserably if it teaches that receiving the Eucharist and other sacraments is unnecessary. Being a good Catholic goes far beyond being \"a good person.\" Trouble is, many Catholics who came of age in the past 40 years seem to have grown up thinking that being a \"good person\" is enough. So I disagree that what you're seeing now is \"a good result of Catholic education.\" By Catholic standards, it's dismal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Case in point, two comments I made this morning have been deemed \"below the civility threshold\" and have disappeared...\n\nThey were simple statements of fact in answer to another comment. Here is one:\n\n\"The number of Muslim terrorists in the West is much larger proportional to the proportion of Muslims, than the number of Christian terrorists relative to the population of Christians.\n\nNone of the ones you mention btw, mentioned religion as their motivation. Which \"Christian fundamentalists use their religion as a motivation for mass killings\" recently?\"\n\nThe other was:\n\n\"The same people who tell us being afraid of Islamic terrorism is \"irrational\" because it is so rare we have a better chance of getting killed slipping in the bathtub, etc., are displaying irrational fear of the probability of another Bissonnette, which is even less likely. \n\nMaybe we need a new term, \"Islamophobiaphobia\", or \"Bissonnettophobia\"?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Is the Pope a Catholic?\" has now become a serious question.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now you're the one quoting the bible. I thought that was what fundamentalists did? The reality is that Jewish weddings in the time of Jesus were carried out by the respective families.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, no surprise. The Catholic bishops in India act just like Catholic bishops everywhere. \n\nHere is another opportunity for Pope Francis to act. He could update Canon Law. He could initiate an investigation into who else knew about the actions of the priest or those who were covering up the incident - including the bishop himself and the local head of the religious order of nuns who participated in the cover-up and farther up their reporting or coordinating internal church structures. He could send someone to chew out the bishop, the nuns and the nuns superiors.\n\nIsn't there some universal church requirement that dioceses have in place a program to prevent child sex abuse and some outline of how such an incident would be handled? Does this diocese have such a plan? If not, why not and something else the pontiff should address.\n\nWe all know that \"zero tolerance\" in the Church is not defined and doesn't mean what we think it means. I wonder what it means this time?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's it. I've had it! ARREST any SJWs who speak for or carry a sign calling for harm to the President, Christians, Republicans, Conservatives, or ANY of their supporters.\n\nAnd PULL the BROADCAST licenses of ANY NETWORK or shut down any THEATRE or WEBSITE that airs, streams, or PORTYRAYS violence against political opponents!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" The Catholic Church offers ethical advice covering countless aspects of moral conduct. \"\nLip Service.\nWhere are the removal of bishops for tolerating clerical sexual abuse of children by priests up to and including the likes of Pell ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Church and state do not belong together in the secular country we live in. If a school is publicly funded then religion of any kind has no place there. I'm not catholic, but for some reason my tax dollars are paying for catholic schools. I totally agree with the author, Canada's identity is at complete odds with this practise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We \"defend\" the office of the POTUS because that is what the Bible says to do. You may find his behavior AT PRESENT distasteful and annoying, but since his inauguration, I am not aware of a specific action that would demand a Christian to consider immoral. As far as his past sins, we all have them, and we probably all ask to be forgiven of them in some sense, or perhaps we don't. But we will not \"condemn\" Trump for private sins he has committed in the past, or even in the present as that is between he and God. If Donald Trump committed an act similar to Slick Willy, I am sure your demands for outcry would be met, but at present Christians are behaving just as they are told to.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very good article: A Jesuit reflects on the impact...\" Good in bringing a perspective for Catholic hierarchy to view what has been learned from the Australian investigation into child sex abuse and in many other state and national investigations.\n\nBrennan helps make some important point: \n* \"The Catholic Church has had a problem with child sexual abuse and it needed state assistance and community pressure to acknowledge publicly the extent of the problem and all its ramifications.\"\n* \"You [referring to the members of the Royal Commission] have far more experience pastorally on these things than even all these learned professors and bishops I am surrounded by will ever have.'\n* \"Even Rome needs to accept that a more transparent, accountable and inclusive hierarchy would have spared many children the horrors of abuse.\"\n\nWhile the faith has much to give to people and societies, the Church needs to also understand what people and societies have to teach them. It is a two way street.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would suggest that the very notion that the priest is 'another Christ' is blasphemy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right-wing extremists, left-wing extremists, Christian extremists, Muslim extremists... Lest we forget: they're all extremists. I don't think these guys (and gals) realize how much they share in common with Islamic Jihadists.. they both feel that their traditions and way of life are being threatened into extinction by the forces of (what they believe to be) a globalized world. Crazy has no political spectrum or religion; they just seem to have the loudest microphones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I quoted the words in your book; how anyone interprets those words is always interesting and never the same.\n\nNone of your book, either Old or New testament, apocrypha, commentaries , or whatever. was originally written in English and certainly not in any English used today. \n\nYour book was subject to numerous changes by early 'Christians', 'Catholics, 'Lutherans', various synods, Ecumenical Councils etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. to the latest version last year by someone or another. \n\nAramaic, Hebrew, and Greek are the most common tongues as I understand it.\n\n'The Word of God' is a 'translation' at the very best and primarily designed to meet the desires and increase the power, prestige and wealth of mortal priests, bishops, popes, ministers, charlatans, and other ne'er-do-wells, over the centuries, at worst.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very astute observation and one that clearly demonstrates your command of the english language and reading comprehension. The poster clearly intended to accuse you of being a jerk by saying the priest was a being a jerk. Most people would not make that connection, but your discernment often approaches the rarefied level one would expect of a priest, or, dare I say it, a bishop. More importantly, your posting demonstrates to a fine degree the proper conduct and approach a True Catholic should take when dealing with disagreement. We cannot afford to be soft. As Jesus taught \"do unto others.\" and \"the best defense is a good offence.\" As always, I admire your exhibition of the Catholic Ideal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think I posited in the comment that there were \"notable exceptions.\" I think those comments are petty & distract from the message. I also took it to be more a reference to character in Brideshead than to anything personally at you.\n\nI would also add that I was happy to see many of the commenters here rightly criticize Mr. Winters' comments about the personal life of the founder of the Acton Institute earlier this week. Those were beyond the pale, & unnecessary, for someone who wants to police Catholic dialogue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear sir you are not a Christian. Jesus would not recognize you as anything other than an Orthodox believer that simply does not get his teachings; you are akin to George Bush calling himself a Christian before he goes and murders a million Iraqi's. Christianity is never found on the right where intolerance, guns and wars reside. And to support anyone of those makes you un-Christian so please stop considering yourself a follower of Christ the same as ISIL should not be considered adherents to Islam (they are right wing fanatics).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) There was a flurry of responses immediately after the shooting concerning possible new gun safety regulations. Even a few Republicans seemed willing to consider some minimal change. Now, two weeks later, there is mostly silence. It is a scenario that has been repeated too many times to count.\u2014Pat Perriello as if the National Council of Catholic Bishops would do anything to disturb their relationship with their misogynist friends in the Republican Party. \u201cThe Lord has made known his salvation\u201d (Psalm 98:2a), which does not rest on either \u201cartificial\u201d means of birth control or aborting one-cell human zygotes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I absolutely adore the way the left proudly demonstrates their ignorance. Guess what MushyWaffle . . . charter schools are PUBLIC schools, supported by your tax dollars, not private or religious schools. Guess what else MushyWaffle. A K-12 education in the Catholic schools in Denver costs roughly the same per pupil as a K-12 education in the DPS system and a good percentage of those Catholic schools are populated with students from the poorest neighborhoods in Denver attending the schools on scholarships provided by the Catholic community. Those students in the Catholic schools outperform their public school counterparts from the same neighborhoods in every metric. Education is the key to escaping poverty, but so-called liberals don't want these underprivileged minority students to escape poverty despite their rhetoric to the contrary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, yes: \"the rules.\" \n\n-- A \"serving Christian\", not just in a formal or official way? -- Are you freaking serious????", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics in Philippines obey the church. That is why the Philippines has a higher birth rate than its Muslim neighbours like Malaysia and Indonesia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is disheartening to see a believer trying to conform with worldly ideas that run counter to the Gospel. Jesus described an ideal in which a man and a woman abstain until they are joined as one flesh before their entire community, then selflessly support each other for life, and bring children into this loving atmosphere and instill a yearning for this same ideal into them so that one day they do the same. An unwanted child would never enter into the picture. For a Christian, or anyone, to fall short of this ideal and take the consequences of that choice out on the unborn is wrong. We are to accept the consequences of our sin, of which I have plenty of my own. If you look through scripture, you will never find a straight definition of when life is considered to start. The point of the Gospel is not to lay down the law as some of the Old Testament did for the Jews. But does anyone really think abortion gives human life the dignity Jesus expects us to give it? .......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a question of extent. More Moslems still take the Koran literally than Christians do the Bible, or so it seems.\n\nOne example is Muslims still banning menstruating women from prayer. I doubt even the most fundamentalist Christian community would now abide by that bromide.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bingo. Does questioning Catholicism or Christianity make me a racist or just a logical human being who thinks and reasons?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anybody who clings to religion is trying to fill a vast emptiness and find some meaning in the unknowable. Just how are Christianity and shooting people related anyway? Jesus sure didn't go around with weapons and telling people he was there worst nightmare. I find it strange the vast gulf between some professed Christians and what Christ actually stood for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's almost satirical. People who are actually trying to figure out where the universe came from are being held back by religionists. Be they First Nations Hawaiians or white conservative Christians - it really kills me to see scientists held back by people who believe in fairy tales. The sacred objects on that mountain are the telescopes that show us the universe's true secrets, not the rocks under them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure that Mr. Rushdie is a practicing Muslim at all, and what he was doing was satirizing the sillier manifestations of the belief system in his novels (much as Jews and Christians might about their own religions). For this he was accused of being an apostate, had a fatwah declared against him, and went into hiding for his life for years. I remember that even the former Cat Stevens (who converted to Islam and acquired a new name) supported this fatwah. \n\nSo calling him Islamaphobic doesn't really make sense - he's just satirical. And for this he nearly lost his life. (Excellent writer, by the way).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For evangelical leaders the election of GWB was the epitome of everything they wanted in a president, and what they insisted the country needed to restore \"morality\" to American life. For all the talk about this being a \"Christian nation,\" very few, if any, American presidents referenced Jesus Christ in speeches, etc. Even God was sometimes given a neutralized \"Creator\" description. \n\nYou know, another little \"fun fact\" is that Obama invoked Christ MORE than GWB. DJT has thus far rarely referenced God or Jesus...and when he does, it seems to embarrass any and all believers, as it ought.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I must disagree. Forgetting the stone age slaughters (proven by recent archeology), canibalism and other ancient examples of \"human nature\", let's face the imperfections of humanity before Christianism (time to think was based on slavery and worse in the greek-roman world, just to mention one improvement in the last millenia), and, during some centuries of Jewish-Christian dominance, to torture and to kill by fire the \"herectic infidels\" was also considered \"normal\". So, \"human nature\" has changed -- and is meant to keep changing. Is not a linear progress, but it will keep happening until the end of times. If not, I would buy at once a ticket to Mars.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At the heart of Catholic teaching is the belief that if we get sexual and family relationships right the world will become a more loving and safe place. Briefly put, the Catholic teaching on sexual morality centers on sexual activity being an act of self giving love, intended by God to bring children into the world and permanent marriage is directed at raising them in a stable, other centered environment where individual needs and desires are sacrificed for the good of one's spouse, one's children and one's own parents and extended family - and ultimately the wider community. Selfish expression of the sexual desire and seeking one's own pleasure, are separated from God's design for our happiness and well being and undermine the basic building block of a peaceful world. \n\nTo simplistically caricature these teachings as a \"primitive religion of punishment/appeasement\"just misses the point completely and is disingenuous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You should talk to campus Christians then...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is\u00b7lam\u00b7ic\nis\u02c8l\u00e4mik,iz\u02c8l\u00e4mik/\nadjective\nrelating to Islam.\n\njust as:\n\nChris\u00b7tian\n\u02c8krisCH\u0259n/\nadjective\nof, relating to, or professing Christianity or its teachings.\n\na cult is as a cult does.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't have to be a pacifist to love life so much that I would be willing to lose my own to defend it; especially when its for those whom I love. As a Christian, that's includes a very large group of people.\n\nAlso, except in very rare (and often only theoretical) cases, I do not support the death penalty at all. I do; however, vehemently oppose it when it's being perpetrated on innocent unborn humans in the womb for any reason.\n\nAnd that includes when the \"child\" has to pay for the crime of their father who committed rape or incest against their mother. Punishing the innocent for the crimes of the guilty is injustice at its worst!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are two separate issues in this otherwise well written article:\n- The antagonism expressed towards Muslims as a group relates to the matter of terrorism - in particular suicide bombers. Such religion based action is incomprehensible to westerners brought up in the Christian tradition, and feared.\n- As for burial segregation - note the many instances of ( older ) cemeteries dedicated to Christian sectarianism: Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist ...... Even within this larger grouping sectarian belief systems prevent any semblance of communal integration.\nReligious belief systems seem to have no rational resolution - being based on faith based logic not subject to evidence based outcomes.\n\nI once lived in a small farming community based on a local village of approx 400 residents - we had 5 (that is five) small churches dutifully attended each Sunday by a \"Christian\" community that did not \"love one another\" .........", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, sadly I agree BROohthor, I consider myself a Catholic swing vote. I usually vote for the candidate or the issues they support. So I have voted Republican in the past quite often, however, after this election, I don't know if I can stomach them any longer. The obstruction they have caused in the House, and the weak candidate they have supported have ruined my view of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right you are. \nConsider Pope Francis. He doesn't seem to see much of value in the Catholic Church. He never talks about it's intrinsic goodness. He goes on about how the church has to change. Obviously he thinks it's pretty foul. \n\nWhy bother?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe he left a future door open for case-by-case analysis of non-Muslim refugee claimants...\n... as a balance to the Obama administration's policy that led to a headline of \"Federal Judge Asks Why Obama Administration Isn\u2019t Admitting Christian Syrian Refugees\"...\n... a topic I do not remember every reading about in the Globe and Mail?\nFrom that article: \"Ten percent of the Syrian population is Christian and \u201cyet less than one-half of 1 percent of Syrian refugees admitted to the United States this year are Christian.\"\nGiven the much larger refugee numbers taken in under Obama, the new case-by-case Trump policy for Syria would probably have to run for decades before it could correct, on a per capita basis for Syrian refugees in recent history, for the massively pro-Muslim anti-non-Muslim approach reported during Obama's reign...\n... well, reported in some venues, that is...\n\n... by the way, where do I find your post condemning Obama for strongly favouring Syrian Muslims over Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey Fred, lets start from the beginning. Are you aware that the first letter in ISIS stands for \"Islamic\" State - that's why its not called C(christian)SIS or B(buddhist)SIS..\n\nLet me know when you're ready for the next lesson. \nGod bless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, I extrapolate that because Jesus was Jewish and attended ceremonies at the temple and performed rituals (like Passover seders) that he was supportive of ritual. \n\nRitual is how humans preserve important messages and acts, from the most primitive to the most sophisticated. Here, you'll understand this, I'm sure: College graduation ceremonies. Why not just mail out the diplomas? Or why not just take classes anonymously, since what is important is the knowledge, right? Those silly mortar boards and gowns, the speeches, the singing of the alma mater, the procession; wouldn't it be equally as good if people just studied independently?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know who can or can't be \"called\" and Evangelical Christian as I am in no position to judge a person heart, but mass/serial murder is such an egregious violation of Gods commands (in many ways), I don't care what he did, he can be safely and should be considered an apostate (false convert), Jesus himself said, Matthew 7: 21\u201cNot everyone who says to me, \u2018Lord, Lord,\u2019 will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, \u2018Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?\u2019 23 And then will I declare to them, \u2018I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.\n\nAnd these are those who appear to be Righteous and not serial killers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course it is not a liberal v conservative issue, I will explain.\nIn the eyes of the progressives Pope Francis can do wrong. One can almost hear the cheers every time he berates orthodox Catholics for their 'rigidity', 'Pharisaism, etc, every time he demotes or publicly humiliates orthodox members of the Curia, Cardinals Burke and M\u00fcller and Cardinal Sarah.\nHowever, he becomes their whipping boy when he fails to hold bishops 'accountable for allegedly covering up for child abusers. Fair enough, you might say.\nHowever, a quick look at the targetted bishops and one sees that there are very few progressives amongst them. Mahoney seems to be teflon man compared to bishops such as Finn and Nienstadt who were hounded out of office and have been hounded ever since.\nProgressives have no real interest in the victims here, in fact they are grateful for the scandal because it gives them another stick with which to beat Christ's Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The scimtar of islam is the seat of anti-christ [1 john 2:22] which has co-opted the nations in the west, and, now even the vatican. These are flooding into Ireland strategically; logistically utilizing a surgical military precision. Even as muslim countries continue to dictate political demands; threatening to activate terror cells within the west. Erdogan for example declares it will not be safe to walk the streets in Europe, the very same day Ireland was ringing Church bells celebrating the terror in London. [visualize a Ireland in a few years with cascading terror events; and, torture dungeons established for online horror]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Radical fundamentalists are the gateway to terror and terrorism. It does not matter whether the leader is a Moslem, nazi, fascist, communist, Roman Catholic, American. The only real diifference is the time it takes and the opportunity to get there.\nIt is a grave error, a deadly mistake, and reprehensibly misleading to excuse one , deny the reality, because s/he does not espouse the ideology of another. \nThe confluence of radical fundamentallist leader, few rabid ideological opportunists , and suprisingly small mass of virulent, unquestioning \"followers\" - these constitute the maelstrom of terrorism.\nWhen we become the enemy we seek to destroy the real enemy has won.\nCan one imagine that one day, historians might reflect on the role of the Catholic hierarchy contribution to the demise of American freedom and its consequences.....?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Resist the temptation to throw out a whole means of communication because of misuse.\n\nI mean I don't blame all Catholic brothers for the sexual sins and abuses of some (not small) number of brothers from the Congregation of Christian Brothers. There are many other fine Catholic brothers.\n\nWhipsawing conclusions based on a subset of cases is not the act of a calm and well developed intellect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps not, but nuns can be cloistered, and never have contact, even with their family, and when bathing must keep some of their clothing on. Why hasn't bill 62 gone after these absurd, religious rules? \nOh, I get it: nuns are Christian, so it's all OK!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic religious sisters expect that they be allowed to practice their religion without discrimination.\n\nSurely Muslim women should receive the same freedom.\n\nIt would appear (as noted in the many comments) that white males are the perpetrators of this violence against these women.\n\nThen again, white privilege, as well as male privilege, gives them the right to subject Muslim women to these acts of misogynistic and racially charged cowardly violence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Aaaaaa1023 has it exactly correct. Those on the far, hard right are the meanest of all. In their view they are thinking, \"I've got mine and the hell with everyone else.\" And, yet, these same extremists are the ones that pretend to be Christian. \"Pretend\" is about the only attribute one can assign to their so-called Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, just the opposite of what you are saying here is true. It was Christian Churches that have led the way in fighting things like slavery and discrimination against homosexuals. The entire Abolitionist Movement movement before the Civil War was first created and supported in churches.\n\nAnd not one single US church ever endorsed or supported the KKK in any way. You are re-writing American history to fit your own personal make-believe fantasy. The KKK itself was extremely bigoted against both Catholics and Jews.\n\nAtheists like Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong have exterminated millions. And it was Muslims who were responsible for the horrific Armenian Genocide that took place during WWI. \n\nThe monstrous number of innocent civilians that have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq in recent decades has been primarily due to Muslim vs Muslim violence. The number of civilians that have been killed by America's military in those nations is very, very low.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For people who believe that education is the answer, the above bit of obfuscation poses the question: Do the people pushing SB89 really think that Planned Parenthood, or any women's reproductive health service, are marketing the abortion of fetuses as a \"product?\" Or are arguments like the above just a bit of political connivance on the part of so-called \"christian conservatives\" who've gotten a little too used pulling the strings and levers of the political machine?\n\nGiven the author's track record, I'd say the latter---But there are people out there who do believe these falsehoods, and would much rather have an ineffective program like abstinence-only education pushed in our public schools as the only sex \"education\" alternative. \n\nAs a father of a teen daughter, a product of Alaskan public schools, let me say this clearly: Planned Parenthood's real \"product\" is education---By far the best anti-abortion effort out there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You claim you want to have a serious discussion and yet you continue to post untruths like this: \"You still want conservative Christian businesses to be able to refuse service to any customer -- as long as the customer is gay or a gay couple.\" I've said it many time and it is still a mystery, you actually believe that putting words in my mouth is a good debating technique.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians constantly try to force their beliefs into law. They call it \"religious freedom.\" They seemingly can oppose or break a law and claim religious belief as the reason. Just like the cake baker. And yes, it is no different from Sharia law, just a different name on the religion. Terrorism is another good example.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...undermining your boss!\"\n\nTo the best of my knowledge, Cardinals like all Catholics have one and only one \"boss.\"\n\nThough it should not be necessary to spell it out any further the Boss / el Jefe/ el Numero Uno or whatever other secular designation you might wish to apply is Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.\n\nGiven my age, I have no problem that a Cardinal of our church might not only undermine but even betray Him. \n\nDitto a bishop. \n\nDitto an on-line poster. This one included.\n\nSince we seem currently to be discussing Cardinals however, would you care to list the Cardinals who have been guilty of undermining the true Boss? \n\nIf not quite \"since time immemorial\" (since I fear the list might be long) then let's just say recently. Specifically perhaps in the 15 or so months since the publication of Amoris Laetitia? Or, to spread the net ever so slightly wider, since autumn (fall) 2014 and the opening of the 1st session of the Synod on the Family?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Will DT become the \"last president at prayer?\" He seems aligned with Paul Simon's song line, \"church service makes me nervous.\" If he goes to church, for a photo opt, he may use the time to tweet. The iconic image of \"Washington at prayer\" will hardly be replicated by a DT. He seems not even to be a booster at his public rallies with any rousing \"God bless America\" tag line. He may put that latter day tradition on the shelf. He may only attend a Prayer Breakfast if at his hotel. And his family is mixed, now with Ivana becoming an Orthodox Jew due to her husband Jared. Does Barron attend Sunday school? Melannia was born in overwhelming Catholic Slovenia where her Communist parents did not subject her to the RC sacramental rituals of initiation, noted by RC relatives. The religious factor doesn't seem to be a trump card with DT! \"The Faith Factor\" with DT & Co. is to have his political appointees also serves as his religious proxies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How would the U.S. handle the vetting from countries that don't? Would we just ask them, \"Are you terrorists?\" \"Are you Christian or Muslim?\" \"Are you planning to assimilate as Americans?\" Many refugees get moved halfway around the world to a foreign culture because they have no other choices. We need to find other choices for them such as safe zones in nearby countries--some very wealthy--with similar cultures. Why are you only dumping on Republicans (repubs) for not adopting? I know many Democrats who are pro-life. Do you have any statistics about Democrat adoptions? I know the McCain and Romney families have adopted. My point was that some people want other people to do all sorts of things; they just want the government (taxpayers) to pay for it. At age 74, it would not be wise for me to adopt, but I would generously support an orphanage if it wasn't a government-run orphanage. Sadly, many people who oppose orphanages/children's homes are stuck in the Age of Dickens.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "if we are such a democratic country, why do we continually have to pass laws to give equal rights to so many non white christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a born and bred (until age 22) Nutmeger, I think a factor may be the decline of \"Yankee\" prejudice against the traditional Catholic ethnic groups. As a child, in the 50s and early 60s, my family and I were subject to regular instances of subtle and overt expressions of disdain. (The most glaring of the latter was a neighbor who invited everyone in the neighborhood except Irish-Americans to her Fourth of July celebration, when the local fife and drum corps played on her lawn. Since we lived next door, and the wall between our properties was low, we could still enjoy the concert but it was pretty clear who was being excluded.)\n\nIn this atmosphere, Catholics were forced to stay with their own group, unhappiness with the Church or no.\n\nIn the 60s, young people largely abandoned these attitudes and Catholics were considered the same as everyone else. Catholics thus became more willing to evaluate the Church on its own merits, which, institutionally, were not very strong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part four of four) \" And, in the winter of 1977, the Vatican issued Inter Insigniores, declaring its \"inability\" to ordain women because women lacked a \"natural resemblance\" to the male Jesus.\" Cited by Michael Watkins. Concerning this, I rhetorically ask, \u201cAnd where are they looking for this \u201cnatural resemblance\u201d and that ends that argument.\n\nThe church will never ever change their stance on womens' rights.\u2014Rosamw That is what all the monarchs said, before the French Revolution. The post-Constantinian Church has never honored human rights that included the right to be rational.\n\nWhy do you not include the whole Roman Catholic Church in your question? Some of us in the Domestic Church, recognize the ruse. \u201cthen the glory of the LORD shall be reveled, and all people shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken\u201d (Isaiah 40:5). Liturgy of the Word, Reading 182, Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent I", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jimbob wrote: \"But why can't Christian women, with their understanding, minister to other women without being pastors?\"\n\nThe inference appears to only affect women as non-pastors. Why can't Christian MEN minister to both men and women without being pastors? Why should either be limited to ministering to their own sex? Men as pastors have been ministering to 2,000 years to both, why not both as pastors with the same responsibilities and ordination??", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The following reveals the true callousness and arrogance of this organization.\nThis so called church and its leaders have heard countless heartbreaking stories of victims of clergy rape and the destruction those evil acts have caused fellow Catholic Children. They have all heard about the leaderships hurtful response to those who egged for help from church leaders. Most victims were abandoned and betrayed again and again.\nIf hearing those stories directly from the victims does not cause leaders to want to sincerely change nothing will. \n\nIs this church really a church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why not adopt the Catholic Church's approach, and hold no one responsible? Another loyal catholic using the Church's approved arguments to support child abuse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why then did the Catholic Bishops support and advocate his election? I for one will never forgive them.\nThey are obsessed with birth control and abortion, let the whole world be damned. Don't listen to them anymore; they have proven themselves to be unreliable moral guides.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Delta County Christians have a long history of anti-Constitutional acts, especially in their schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have known legalistic Christians like this and they are miserably, unhappy people. No fruit of the spirit there.\nSo, Grisham, please, please, please point out in the Bible where our December 25th holiday is a celebration of the birth of Jesus. Go ahead and search your Bible, I will wait.\nWhile you are doing a study of \"God's word,\" I would suggest you take a few minutes and review what Scriptures say about hurting the young hearts of children. You might also want to refer to the clear instructions about helping those who are poor and suffering. \nNext time you go to a mall, how about setting up a foot washing station for those tired people and get on your knees and provide some humble, caring service. Slap a piece of duct tape across your mouth and wash their tired feet and listen to their hearts. You might find that in this process you make the transition from a Pharisee to a follower of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good point. It's obvious that the Catholic Church wants to make contraception illegal again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ordained? Not in the Roman Catholic Church. Not women-priests at all - in fact, they've been excommunicated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gosh, you think Muslims around the world haven't all figured that OUT?! Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And all the Apostles except St. John and Judas died as martyrs for their belief in the risen Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our previous Muslim President Barack Hussein OBama who was pro-Muslim, anti-Christian, anti-police officers. Another \"common sense\" deed by President Donald Trump in removing the ban of Military weapons to our police force. The criminals had more powerful and better weapons than our law enforcement thanks to that liberal muslim Obama.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trid means \"'The ACP is a dissident group of priests who' disagree with ME!\"\n\nThe referendum was on gay civil marriage. The people of Ireland have every right to ignore the Church on that subject.\n\nThe Catholic Church in Ireland has a well-earned rotten reputation. Do I have to mention Magdalene laundries, the Ryan Report or the orphanage at Tuam (to name just three)?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" JP claimed that islamists worship the same God as Christians\" \n\nWhich is true.\n\n. JP denied that that the Old Covenant had been broken.\n\nAs did the Apostle Paul.\n\n JP, by way of approving the Balamand statement, rejected the notion that the Orthodox need to be converted.\n\nBig deal.\n\n He claimed that non Catholic sects have saints.\n\nDietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran, was a martyr, killed by the Nazis for his Christian stance.\n\nBenedict claimed that Jews are not excluded from salvation {barring invincible ignorance, they certainly are, sans conversion}. He further stated that a \"Jew, and this is true for believers of other religions, does not need to know or acknowledge Christ...in order to be saved\".\n\nThat is what Vatican II taught -- do deny it places you in heresy.\n\nNope, what you demonstrate, McHale, is that you reject authentic Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a non-participant looking in from the outside, the LDS (Mormon) church seems to me to be the best-structured as a social service organization. \n\nThe non-payment of clergy; the volunteer work parties for those needing help; the requirement of the able-bodied to help themselves to receive help; the 10% tithing; the requirement to have at least three-month's worth of food for family self-sustenance in the event of an emergency; the two-year mission requirement and the missions for those who have reared their children and still want to serve are the high points of their social service that I have noticed. \n\nTheir historical theology and other beliefs are no stranger than many other religions with which I am familiar and clearly superior to the fanatical Christians or fanatical Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 3\nby permitting all her children no matter what state she may encounter them at the crossroads (Difficulties) of life to partake of the Bread of Life (Holy Communion) and in doing so live.\nFor RCs please consider reading my article Divine Mercy and Humanae Vitae. See link\nhttp://www.v2catholic.com/background/2015/04/2015-04-04Kevin-Walters-Divine-Mercy-and-Humanae-Vitae.htm\n\nScott, \nOur civil discourse should not diminish rather be enhanced by two human beings striving to follow their own consciences \u201calong the way\u201d with the bright lamp of Truth (Jesus Christ) guiding our footsteps. We will most probably never meet but I am sure that if we did so it would be with mutual respect in Christian fellowship.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More fake news. This is not a ban on Muslims and even Christian immigrants have been detained. This is about insuring the vetting process works which we all know it doesn't because the San Bernardino murderess should have been caught had vetting worked.\n\nThis display is no different than the Occupy Wall Street protest. A bunch of liberal kooks that make a lot of noise. The real silent majority are the people who elected Trump for what he is actually doing instead of empty promises.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are right. I've made a similar point under today's article relating to the Australian commission.\n\nI don't think that Bishop Bill Morris - who was more or less forcibly ejected by Benedict XVI from his diocese (Toowoomba) in 2011 - would agree that the Church is \"alarmingly decentralised\". Morris felt the full, immediate and rapid force of 'head office'.\nMorris had stepped out of line, by asking for a discussion of priestly celibacy and women priests. He had also taken generous steps to compensate the victims of clerical sex abuse.\nSo in this situation, the Church allowed its bishop no independence, and it took drastic central action, to remove Morris.\nBut when it comes to clerical abusers, or to suggestions of 'cover up' - it seems to be a different story. Here, the parishes and bishops and Rome can play a game of 'pass the parcel', as to where responsibility (if any) lies. And bishops can trot out the odd excuse that their priests are not to be thought of as employees.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's overwhelming evidence that men are brutal, selfish, greedy and murderous too. So what? We live in a fallen world where sin and degeneracy of all sorts exist. The mission of the Church is to convert men and transform their lives through Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is what we get when Sister gets it right, the Vatican gets it wrong, and the Catholic right-wing lacks discernment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "--The Catholic Church effectively gives tacit approval to divorce with what has become the charade of annulment. In their 2002 book, \u201cCatholic Divorce: The Deception of Annulments\u201d, Joseph Martos and Pierre Hegy state:\n\n\u201cBecause the grounds for annulment have become so broad that practically anyone who applies for one can obtain it, many observers now regard annulments as \u2018virtual divorces.\u2019 After all, the same grounds for divorce in a civil court have \u2018become grounds for the nonexistence of marriage in an ecclesiastical court.\u2019 (Page 23) To add to the deceit, many couples who receive annulments do so believing that their marriage was, in fact, sacramentally valid \u2013 that the marital bond did exist but that, over time, it began to break down. These couples, understandably, choose not to disclose this part of the story to marriage tribunals so that they can qualify for an annulment.\u201d\n\nIn other words it is a chuchy game of \"nudge, nudge, wink, wink\"--", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ALL I CAN SAY IS THANK YOU BISHOP BARRES!\n\nMaybe this bishop didn't overlook anything but realizes that if a change should be made, it must be to support human justice & the human dignity of women. Women who have been called to priesthood for the last 2000 years have at least for the last 1600 to 1800 been denied ordination due to pure misogyny alone. Allowing married men to become priests would, while we are still not ordaining women priests, create gender segregation & the subjugation of all women under all men in our church. This should be fought against by every Catholic as a matter of basic Christian Gospel Morality. \n\nGod does not desire that we gain greater access to Holy Eucharist thru greater abuse of the human dignity of all women. In fact this excuse to hurt women more than we have already, for this purpose, is an abuse of this sacrament & sinful.\n\nWhen God say repent or I will leave you without, the response should be to repent not show God we will just abuse more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even if you're right, and it's closer to 6000 than the 3200 the government sources indicate, that's still 6000 people over a CENTURY OF OPERATION, and the overwhelming majority of those people died because of disease outbreaks in the school, not some plan to mass murder them like the Nazis created. My critique of 'hyperbole' still stands. We're talking schools, not concentration camps, Christian churches that are still operating in Canada, not the Nazi Party, and an attempt to enculturate, not eradicate.\n\nHere's the TRC:\n\n\"The Commission has identified 3,200 deaths on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission\u2019s Register of Confirmed Deaths of Named Residential School Students and the Register of Confirmed Deaths of Unnamed Residential School Students.\"\n\nYour comparison is still ridiculous.\n\nAs for the name ... I'm actually Swedish-French-Welsh-British, not German. I use this name online as a reference to a WWI Austrian rifle my father willed me from his collection.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's a certain irony when a religious person says santa is fake and a construct of man. Then he thumps a bible, the crowd mutters amen, and he says BELIEVE or be DAMMED!\nI guess some people don't get the joke.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Forget the other candidates. What about Mike Pence? This is a guy who came out of nowhere, and (should Trump win) will be a heartbeat away from the Presidency. Should Trump lose, Pence has leapfrogged to the top of the contenders list for 2020. The term \"Christian Taliban\" could be fairly applied to Pence - he has extreme social conservative views.\n\nPeople used to joke that Trump was a Democratic plant to blow up the GOP. But it's becoming more likely that Trump was a Tea Party plant to make everybody else in the GOP (including Tea Partier's like Cruz and Pence) look \"moderate\" by comparison.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fukumoto needs to start aligning with the RINO/DINOs in the Democratic Party of Hawaii. \nLogically, it makes no sense to believe that the DPH is \"cohesive.\" There are major and minor factions, all jockeying for influence, sway and dollars. I'm sure she can find a significant number of faux-DPHers to align with, and with whom to sing Kumbaya.\nThe DPH has anti-abortion, anti-gay rights Christians, and well as flaming Liberals, and Marxist Socialists.\nAll in the `Ohana really does mean ALL.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church found slavery, throughout history, to be repugnant:\nhttp://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/julyweb-only/7-14-53.0.html?start=1", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a person who sees not a speck of scientific evidence for the existence of any god(s)...\n\n... I see that a fundamental difference between Islam and Christianity is that, when pejorative mud slinging arises against the latter on these boards, the editors do not sweep in to shut the board down (\"comments closed\") or delete/censor half of the posts...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I find interesting in this squalid little tale is how seriously some people take these websites and bloggers of the fever swamps of the Catholic Right Wing, including Catholic colleges. Of course, Franciscan University at Steubenville is one of these \"churchy\" schools where one has to wonder what kind of education students are getting there. I doubt that 50-60 credits of theology will get you far in today's tech economy. This episode also gives the lie to that sector of the Catholic commentators that trashed the Civilts Cattolica article that broadsides wing nuts like Church Militant, on the grounds that they were marginal actors with little following. How's that idea working out after the Bratten Weiss firing, or non-renewal, or whatever you want to call it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no situation in which Jesus approved of violence.\nHis followers, after an extended period in which they were faithful to his teaching and witness, began to compromise with it. The \"time between the times\" turned out to be a lot longer, and more difficult, than the first Christians anticipated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "those are the 2% that do help Christians its the other 98% that hate America and want to see its Judeo Christian values that this country was founded on destroyed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let us forget that \"fact.\"\n\n\"the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found that the average time it took between a victim of Catholic sexual abuse being abused and reporting it, or seeking redress, is 33 years.\"\n\nIOW, the abuse that was brought to light started many years earlier. If it was news in 1980, it probably happened in the 1940s. While that is the figure in Australia, there isnt much reason to think it was different elsewhere. The accusations against Maciel in the 90s were for abuse in the 50s, though there is evidence of later abuse. It simply isnt true that abuse began with the generation ordained in the '60s, it is closer to the truth that it began coming to light with that generation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you know anything about politics, pal ? Rand Paul was one of Sessions best friends and allies in the Senate. He was NEVER going to oppose him.\n\nSessions is A-OK for Catholics, esp. white Catholics. He shares our contempt for left-wing race slop like the Congressional Black Toilet and the NAACP.\n\nFinally, white people -- including white Catholics -- are fighting back for their civil rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, my goodness, Tri, you're on a roll. Why are you always so angry? The Curia is in need of serious reform, and anyone who is honest knows it...and that would include Francis, who knows evil when he sees it. The Irish episcopate didn't \"lose\" the nation...the Irish clergy's emphasis on rules and beating people over the head with fear and an horrific Jansenistic morality did the deed. I know this because my husband of 38 years was born and raised in Ireland and has always been a practicing Catholic, but the stories he tells of the fall-out from the Irish priests' judgment and condemnation would make your hair curl. He says how grateful he is to me for setting him free from some awful fear of a retributive God Who is just waiting to \"get you.\" We have a loving God whose love is boundless, but you can't control people with love, so you turn to fear. Francis' priorities are mercy and love which invite us all to the Kingdom's Feast. Christ is our light, not darkness. Francis gets it!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those Hawaiians who complain about cultural appropriation are outrageously hypocritical. The Hawaiian culture is the one that has profited most greatly by engaging in cultural appropriation. Before Europeans and Americans came to Hawaii, the Hawaiians totally lacked the following things, which they eagerly embraced and APPROPRIATED into their culture: The wheel, pottery, written language, Christianity, constitutional law, representative democracy, horses, refrigeration, indoor plumbing, cars, radio, TV, guitars ... Hawaiians are the biggest, most fast and aggressive cultural appropriators I know of.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It took hundreds of years for tolerance to prevail in Christianity, and even that has not been complete (the 1994 massacre of Tutsis in Rwanda was often led by Catholic Priests and Nuns; the 1995 massacres in Bosnia were led by Christian Serbs).\n\nAnd when it comes to anti-Semitism, Germany, Russia, Ukraine and other European countries scores leagues ahead of the Arabs. Thomas Friedman said that if all the Jews in 1940 lives in Arab countries, there would be 6 million more in the world today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church is elite, but it must never become elitist. \n\nThe Chaput cry for smaller and lighter implies there are \"authentic\" and \"inauthentic\" Catholics. Be careful. Very careful. There is a hint of McCarthyism in any plea that \"you are not our loyal kind, so you must go.\"\n\nAl Smith would be startled to see the anti-Catholic movement coming from within the Church itself: what this country needs is fewer Catholics!!!!!\n\nHistory has show this to be immutable: the loyalty test you impose today will be used against you tomorrow, using your very own words. \n\nBe careful about declaring there are \"our kind\" of Catholics and that the others should leave the family. And be very, very careful about deciding who should make the decision.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"At what stage does the minority religion become significant? 5 percent? 10 percent?\"\n\nDepends on the society's history. How deep does the religion's roots go in the society? Does India or Bengladesh or Indonesia celebrate Confucian holidays? Christian Orthodox? Shinto? Daoist?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First and foremost Christians? Where in the bible did Jesus Christ condemn homosexuals? He's probably shaking his head every time he sees people using his name to promote discrimination against a certain class of humanity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Corrections: (1) Those claiming the Messiah's \"tolerance\" for homosexuality argue based on a negative. What he SAID was: \"Think not that I come to destroy the Law\" (Torah) \"nor the Prophets\" (books of Exekiel, Isaiah, etc.), \"I come not to destroy, but to fulfill. Until heaven and earth pass away\" (look around, they're still here) \"one yot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law, until all as been fulfilled. He who breaks the least of these commandments, or teaches others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven.\" Homosexuality is explicitly prohibited in the Torah, which I'm told is CHRISTIAN as well as Jewish Scripture.\n\n(2) All kinds of things contrary to authentic Islamic tenets occur in the middle east. While Qur'an likewise prohibits and denounces homosexuality, it doesn't differentiate between that and any other form of unsanctioned sexual behavior by unmarried persons--for which the punishment, per Qur'an isn't death, but (non-lethal) flogging.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gestation is typically a function of body size, not because pregnancy is hard. Animals don't time their pregnancies to make life easier, humans excepted, and that is generally a function of economics, not difficulty (witness Catholic families of the past or inner city moms). \n\nSex and sex drive exist for one reason: to create offspring. Because it feels good, psychologists like to find \"scientific\" reasons to make sex without reproductive intent something more than just guys being horny but it's not. Many marriages survive for decades without sex after the kids are born.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Former Catholic here.\nHave no oxen in this pasture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What the author fails to appreciate is that even 150 years ago, John A was held in low esteem by natives, metis, Catholics, francophones and liberals, among others. It's easy to find this in the written record at the time. In the 1867 election his party only got 34% of the vote, and much of it was despite him, because of George-\u00c9tienne Cartier and others. What is novel now is that those opinions are no longer being dismissed. He was not a widely respected man in his own time, but his image was brushed up by the Orange Lodge, his allies, and Tories who had few successes, and later by a need to emulate the worship of founders in other countries. He was an embarrassment to the country, then as now, and it is claiming otherwise that is revisionism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But if you are a Catholic, you will have people nattering at you about your sexual relationships.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you don't explicitly renounce the Abrahamistic elements of biblical psychotic male exploitation and genocide, than you are a criminal-minded terrorist by ideology and may deserve to be given no quarter in civilized society. That book contains profound wickedness that the modern world rejects as anachronistic immorality. Generally, you're better sticking with the Christian bits in the new testament and treating the old testament as interesting poetic anecdotes complementing a more scientific understanding of the actual factual history that they would mythologize just so. Whether we're looking at Nimrud's society, the Midianites, the Assyrian Empire, or whatever other group, it's all describing wrongful atrocities and world destruction the likes of which would generate Nuremberg Trials if attempted ever again and caught.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "oh my ..... it was just a matter of time that the Palestinians would be burdened with the Christian crime of the Holocaust ...to put their thumbs on the scales of justice. .... No one is voting against Jews living in Israel ...this was a vote about Israelis living in Palestinian occupied territory....!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And what of all of the U.S. Catholics bishops who sinfully hid and denied the criminal abuse of minor children? The days of \"Ecce Sarcerdos Magnus\" as the bishop is rolled down the middle aisle are over. What of THESE notorious sinners who lied under oath and caused MASSIVE, MASSIVE scandal to the Catholic Church in America. Requiem Mass for these thugs??? The Church continues to be a scandal. Add hypocrisy to the list of sins. It's filed under Pride, one of the 7 Deadly Sins.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And yet, the US continues to have the highest murder rate in the developed world, and a high percentage of its population that are racists. It seems that European Christian culture and norms might best be avoided.\nAs far as the mythological melting pot, have you ever visited a large US city where you'll find many diverse cultural groups from Italians to Latino, to Korean and Chinese?\nThey apparently don't melt easily in the States either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm talking from first hand experience as I have attended numerous non-denominational services, while at the same time remaining in contact with my Catholic roots. I can tell you there are several non-denoms in my neck of the woods that are truly thriving. I highly doubt that you have this perspective so your argument is based on hearsay at best.\n\nMy assertion that the RCC may follow suit is also based on experience (and reality). As in this very article, what in essence will result from a consolidation of several parishes into one large one? You guessed it -- a large conglomerate of sorts fashioned after the Protestant \"megachurch.\" A decline only happens when and where church leaders fail to live up to gospel standards... educated masses simply do not well tolerate false piety and/or hypocrisy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I would give him the benefit of the doubt. The settlement was a bit steep, granted, but it is a drop in the bucket of the federal treasury. Of course, there are those Conservatives and Trumpists who will blow on about the white Christian victims of terrorism, but if the conservative Republican US government so desired, it could compensate them too. No sign of that happening though.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There has been a problem so far with the present admin., and what it has allowed or presssured LE to do in respect to vetting posssible Muslim terrorists. Fort Hood being an example. Every candidate is going to say they will protect the U.S. from threats foreign and domestic...what else can they say? But given how very hard it is to vet religious extremism from immigrants without giving weight to their land of origin and cultural indoctrination, and the track record of terrorism in countries that tried to be good Samaritans, and that one candidate wants to allow thousands of immigrants from Syria, then I think there is reasonable doubt about whether this NCR columnist can so boldly assert that to be Christian and American means one must follow a very liberal immigration policy, no matter what.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic sexuality rule one is continence. The tree is poisoned. I am Catholic by my baptism and affirmation of the truth of the resurrection. There is nothing Credal about sexual teaching and it is absolute hypocrisy to think so. Seek absolution for your uncharitable views.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kind of a refreshing piece, but it falls short.\n\nThere are two failure elephants in the conservative room. He only acknowledged one - the right-wing fear-mongering media (Limbaugh, Fox, etc.).\n\nThe other elephant is social conservatives. The evangelicals. This group has hijacked the conservative agenda and focused it on unrelated topics such as abortion, gay stuff, and willful ignorance of basic science (evolution, climate change, etc.). This 'christian' group endorsed Donald Trump - enough said.\n\nThe republicans recruited and nurtured that evangelical puppy, and now that it's turned into a 120 lbs snarling, biting, smelly, defecating mongrel sleeping on the furniture, they don't know what to do with it. \n\nIt's one thing to recognize the problem. Fixing it is another matter. For the sake of the country I hope they do, but I'm not holding out any hope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"No one gets to tell us how to tell our stories, or how we choose to do it.\"\nWhat I get from your narrative is that you don't stay in Motel 6 when you do speaking engagements and that you name drop. Oh, and that you're transgender. \nI don't doubt that transgender people have monumental struggles. Try as I might, I do not understand it. Whether the kid at TacoTia looks at me and assesses my gender is not going to make the food taste different. \nThere are so many people who have \"coming out\" stories: a white woman falls in love with a black man, gays and lesbians, atheists in Christian households, the boy who doesn't like football, Rachel Doezal is white...\nThere are as many individual stories as there are people to tell them: first loves, spectacular careers, tough childhoods, that secret abortion. \nChoosing when and how to tell our stories applies to everyone. Not all of us find our stories riveting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's nice to hear that the author would go to Mass regardless of its \"form\". I'm not surprised he found the EF difficult; after all, we're most comfortable with what we're used to. I think I probably had the same reaction the first few times I went to the EF, having been deprived of it for the first 40+ years of my life.\n\nThese days I struggle to attend the Novus Ordo with my family and go to the EF whenever possible. There are 2 main reasons: (1) the Novus Ordo (and its calendar) are inferior, and (2) Pope Paul VI had absolutely no right to presume to change the Mass and impose his liturgy upon the church--that was an act of sheer Ultramontane arrogance: the \"spirit of Vatican One\".\n\nBut wouldn't it be nice if we stopped trying to impose our own personal worship preferences on other Catholics? Let parishes offer both the Tridentine Mass and the Bugnini-Montini ritual, and let people go where they will. My bet is they'll go for the quickest option.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no such thing as \"the Holy Father's teaching.\"\n\nThere is Catholic teaching. Sometimes, it is restated by the HF. Sometimes he is only expressing his opinion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reading this article, something snapped into place: one of the irritants I have with the way the church has long handled these cases. Here's the line:\n-----\nChurch officials said in a statement issued after Wednesday's (Oct. 18) release that they hope the disclosure along with the recent publication of a list of clergy accused of sexual misconduct will serve as an additional step in healing for survivors, their families and parishioners.\n-----\nI find it disingenuous of the church to wait until it is FORCED by a court to release records, to then turn around and try to make it sound like they hope the release of these records helps the victims. If that were a true statement, then why would the church not have released these records long long ago? It would have been better for them to make no statement at all. Yet, once again, here we are with the church fighting victims, the laity and the public until the last moment possible, and then acting like they are doing the right thing...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not being a conservative, I can only offer you this observation.\nThere is not a conservative party anymore. They have sold their soul to the Republican extreme right wing Christian party.\nAnd no, I am not with you. I find your suggestion to repeal health care with nothing disgusting and deplorable. I have a son with a serious pre existing condition who depends on affordable healthcare to live.\nI have friends and other relatives who have health issues and need health insurance.\nImprove the ACA don't repeal it!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry but the Catholic Church is a business like any other and if you don't believe me, go visit the Vatican bank. The bible was used as a tool to justify the will of the church including chastity among priests and if you dig a little deeper you'll find that their motivation was to MINIMIZE COSTS.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not being hostile, it's a fair question. - I believe the Muslim ban is unconstitutional as it's based on religion. Trump said Christians would get priority. The only reason Trump picked those countries is because they're Muslim countries where Trump has no properties. Those countries have never sent terrorists to this country. In contrast, many other Arab countries, like Saudi Arabia, had terrorists attack us on our soil. 15 of the WTC attacjers were from SA. But Trump has business interests there and so naturally, they aren't on the list. \n\nThe list isn't based on logic, they are based on religion. Based on this fact, I'm confident that the EO will be found to be unconstitutional.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He's very anti-Christian in fact.\n\nI posted tons of proof, but the moderators deleted it.\n\nI guess spreading lies about \"Christian terrorists\" is OK, but spreading the truth clearly refuting it is not?\n\nWhat a world we live in...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LoL,\nIf your feeling financially threatened you know whom to blame. I can guarantee that it is NOT Pope Francis. \nThis economic mess began with the Catholic church hate for Communism, Socialism and unionism. Fatima, 1917, cancelled Pope Leo, Rerum Novarum, 1891. Then you can blame the Koch bros, then Pope John Paul II and his pal Reagan and the establishment GOP for it all.\nPope Francis is trying to clean it up but only having some success. When the American Catholic prelates get the popes message -- probably never - then maybe...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This bishop Tobin, far more than his Newark counterpart by the same surname, contains vast knowledge as to why people leave the church, after all he's the reason why many in Rhode Island have already done so! Of course it's amazing he had so much time to pen this article, when he already has a full agenda of hunting down and firing gay employees, denouncing Democratic candidates, stonewalling on the release of the names of predator priests and disparaging the holy father. What a true Catholic bishop, in every sense of the word.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"There's no evidence that the Koch's oppose Catholic social teaching.\"\nThat can only be said by someone without the first clue in the basics of the social teaching of the Church.\n\nP.S. Did you notice how Benedict XVI acknowledged, in an encyclical, that Marx's analysis was correct?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Il Duce Trump and the \"new\" Republican party have adopted the identical platform of the Know Nothings of the 1850s. Blaming all of the ills of the nation on immigrants, catholics(Islam today), and all colored foreigners except slaves. From that base came KKK, legal segregation, and other exclusionary movements followed by the \"Southern Strategy\" of Nixon. Ideology plaguing the nation since its founding by British white, male, citizen, slaveholders. Racist, ignorant ideology rearing its ugly head led by the ultimate \"quisling\" regurgitating the same old language.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The United States of America is not a Catholic nation. Abortion and homosexual marriage are legal. If those items are not your choices, then feel free not to have an abortion or to marry a person of your own gender.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Liberal means tolerance & that's nonexistent for the Left, so I'm changing my moniker to NotAllEducatedCatholicsAreLeft. The Left comes from affluent, privileged backgrounds & has contempt for the masses, no understanding or association w/them. That's why I like/value Donahue's Catholic League. He defends the goodness of Jesus Christ, which is what religion/Catholicism should be about, not politics. (You have a looney nun boasting civil disobedience.) Catholic no longer means pedophile. The Catholic Church no longer attracts vultures looking for $$$. That's an end left to the SUPER RICH Left, the likes of Hillary Clinton, whose positions, Pay for Play have handily netted her & corrupt oversexed husband, who preys on interns, over 1/2 BILLION$. Western Civilization is dying. Nothing unites it, not religion, not Americanization, not ethnicity, (that divides it more). You've got some crazy apologist elevating Blacks over Whites. When the Totalitarians/barbarians N Korea or Iran), take ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'Reckless'? It ain't recklessness; it's transphobia. 'Hatred', in other words.\n\nJesus wasn't co-holding the pen when this one was written.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Witness,\n\n\"Why anyone vigorously defend an ant mound?\" Good question. Doing that is a stupid waste of energy and a distraction from the tasks God has actually told us to do. Arguing over WO isn't one of them.\n\nYou speak of teaching truth. Why would anyone want to know truth if it is presented in a repulsive manner by people whose snobbish and egotistical attitude leads them to demand that others submit to them without a hint of God's love to be found anywhere in it? That isn't how Jesus taught, but is the spirit of Satan so you should not be surprised so many youth are leaving the church. \n\nYou speak of teaching the ways of Jesus. If you want to persuade me to accept your views, I suggest you begin studying and modeling the teaching method of Jesus. Stop arguing, speak specifics instead of riddles and let Him replace your spiritual egotism with words that draw people to Him instead of driving them away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Republican party also needs to distance itself from the Christian Taliban. That's right. Being fiscally conservative is an idea that has traction. Bigotry and utilizing government to impose one set of moral beliefs not so much. I do consider myself very conservative. So conservative that I think in many instances, government is overstepping its bounds. It is enacting and enforcing laws that are totally intrusive to the concept of personal responsibility/freedom. Cynthia Thielen is one Republican I think gets it. In her district, a Republican candidate who advertises her bigotry runs against here every time. Cynthia wins handily every time. I think Republicans would do rather well if they were more the party of fiscal responsibility and personal freedoms.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...too often have embraced the most xenophobic and anti-intellectual tendencies....\"\n\nReactionary white Catholics (having fewer children, among other things) generally make up a demographic generation that is vanishing. Today, half the Catholic population, heavily Asian and predominately Latino, is in the far West, South, and Southwest. There will always be white Catholics of Irish, German, Polish, Italian, Portuguese, British or French backgrounds, but they will be a minority overall, especially as the US continues to grow browner and less Euro-American. Catholicism's most universal quality will continue to be its diversity, even in the US.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good points, but I'm having a hard time believing that a \"new model of church\" is the answer. It's a known fact that Catholicism, like most mainstream protestant denominations, is having a hard time attracting and retaining millennials. The majority of my Catholic family and friends don't go to Mass because they hate organized religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "no they didn't, you just wish they did, but use that as cover to ram your chosen god down everybody's throats while supporting the worst evils known to man and those who errantly have the powers to inflict them upon society on a mass scale. your bunch reject those of other faiths and beliefs, self righteously crucifying such as Muslims, but mirroring the worst which those hiding behind that faith commit, you just haven't gotten to severing heads as a show of force, yet. this nation was not founded by Christianity and it wouldn't matter if it was, if it had been it would have been denounced and rejected completely. we're a country founded on freedoms from tyrannical oppression, including religious dogma which fake Christians wish to eliminate and are getting their way far too much. get your religion out of our faces and stop destroying lives and this entire world so we can have a chance of getting along with each other. if there was a loving god he'd have stopped such BS long ago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pretty much the same types of comments are hurled at republicans and the NRA in the comments regarding articles n the Vegas shootings. Why do those get a pass and comments directed at other specific groups do not? Because we have been and are being indoctrinated. The double standard is obvious, if you care to open your mind. The underlying theme is always the same: conservatives = bad. Alt-right = bad. Nationalism = bad. White people, particularly males, = bad. Western civilization/colonialism = bad. Western traditions and religion=bad. Diversity, the far left, ANTIFA, anything non-white, any religion other then judeo-Christian = good. The message is unrelenting. I'm actually a centrist, voted NDP the last federal election, but I find myself defending the right of centre more then I care to.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Okay, how about this: \"Everything that's wrong about Amoris Laetitia, but we're afraid to mention: a Critique of Catholic teaching on sexuality from the perspective of a married woman.\" \n\nToo subtle? I need to work on being less subtle....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A man who impregnates a women against her will is a rapist. If a women lives in fear of rape, they could justifiably use Contraception. I am not talking about extreme cases like these--but typical liberal you are--you always have to bring up exceptions, then try to make the rules by the exceptions. \n\nI am talking about your average, run of the mill woman who works for the Catholic Church. The Church cannot provide her with free contraception. She will have to access that through other means if she wants it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Scriptures tell us that His/Their name is Yahweh Yahweh Elohim. Exodus 33:19 \u2013 \u201cAnd He said, I will cause all My goodness to pass before your face. And I will call out the name of Yahweh before your face ...\u201d Exodus 34:6 \u2013 \u201cAnd Yahweh passed by before his face and called out: Yahweh Yahweh Elohim.\u201d Deuteronomy 6:4 \u2013 \u201cHear, O Israel, Yahweh our Elohim is Yahweh echad.\u201d The word \u201cechad\u201d is plural, signifying more than one Yahweh. Had only one Yahweh been meant, the word would have been \u201cyachid\u201d which is singular.\nThe first Yahweh is the Father, Yah Yahweh, whom we pray to as our Father, who art in heaven. The second Yahweh is the Son, Yahshua Yahweh, also known as Yahshua Mashiyach, or Yahshua (Yah is salvation) the anointed/Jesus the Christ. Elohim (Gods) is a uniplural noun (collective nouns are similar) which signifies unity in oneness. This concept is the Jews \"stone which causes offense\".\nJesus said that only the heavenly Father knows when He (Jesus) will return.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I think I have tried my best to argue for common sense among my friends, especially my Catholic friends who voted for him anyway...because the Bishops told them to.\"\n\nPerhaps they voted according to their consciences - against the \"culture of death\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If there is treachery, then you can bet that Comey, Mueller, Holder, Lynch, the Clintons, and Obama are part of the treachery.\"\n\nThe seven signs you're in a cult:\n\n1. Opposing critical thinking\n\n2. Isolating members and penalizing them for leaving\n\n3. Emphasizing special doctrines outside scripture\n\n4. Seeking inappropriate loyalty to their leaders\n\n5. Dishonoring the family unit\n\n6. Crossing Biblical boundaries of behavior (versus sexual purity and personal ownership)\n\n7. Separation from the Church", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "cont. It also suggests a choice. You can choose to believe or not believe. Like I said my God and my Jesus gave us free-will. Did yours? Or are you just an automation going through what you are dictated to? Are you really just some sort of robot that is pre-programmed? Have you read what Calvin did in his life? How he burnt people at the stake if they did not believe exactly as he wanted them to believe?\nI prefer to believe in a Jesus who gave me free will. I ask you was Jonah one of the elect in the Old Testament? Did God give him a choice on going immediately to Ninevah? If he did not, where do we get the story of the large fish (whale to some)? \nYes, predestination is in the Bible, but then so is free-will. I truly do not see how you can read the Bible and not see where people are making choices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know what a \"Holly War\" is, unless you just don't like holly. But if you're talking about the Crusades, they were started by the Muslim's conquering Christian lands in the middle east, and the Pope begging England for help. We didn't start them. Native tribes were neo-paleolithic savages when Europeans came to America and tried to help them out of their storage ways. They only lived for about 30-36 years, tops. Protestant/Catholic wars were not Holy Wars either, just two factions fighting. And Enola Gay? Really? The Japanese didn't bring that on themselves? Christianity teaches ONE thing. Love one another as you love yourself. I don't see a problem with that. The Muslims on the other hand, believe that EVERYONE that doesn't believe exactly as they do, is an infidel, worthy only of death. But you don't see the difference do you? That's because you're so smart.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In terms of influence with Trump, this guy is dead on arrival. He is political convienence decided on by others, probably reluctantly by Trump, and not someone Trump will likely listen to. They are too different. Pence's past use of campaign funds to pay for his house mortgage and wife's car payments might also hurt him. The only hope of Tea Party types and Evangelical Christians, is if Trump is elected then dies in office.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Francis is a communist, and communism requires the destruction of religion. What is religion but a series of laws and rules to help people understand their faith and the distinctions between their faith and others? The idea that we should all live in peace and harmony is as old as history; Jesus didn't introduce that concept, contrary to popular belief. But how that is to be accomplished has many different perspectives, even among those in a given religion and hence the reason that standardization is required.\n\nWhen one destroys religious law and rules in the interest if kumbaya unity, something inevitably takes the place of standardization. That something is the State, and that's how fascism arises. Religious law and the freedom to believe what one wants (by switching religions) is what protects the people from fascist government.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity has come under intense criticism for decades but no PM defended it.\nIt was considered free speech.\nWhen Islam comes under criticism it's called Islamophobia.\n\nWhen Aboriginals come under criticisms it's called racism.\nWhen whites are blamed for everything wrong it's called free speech.\n\nDouble standards?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is disingenuous for anyone at NcR to position themselves as defenders of authentic Catholicism, as NcR has been officially condemned by their bishop for \"crusading against the Church's teachings\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A Catholic does not \"abandon\" a saint and the greatest pope of at least the last 500 years. And science does not Trump faith--try a little St. Thomas {since you are so critical of POTUS's reading habbits}", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry. When a Bishop suggests--post-election--that Hillary Clinton's \"negatives hinted at real corruption\" but that Trump was \"just a sinner,\" Vatican City, we have a problem. (This also suggests why we seem to hold fortnights of prayer for freedom every other month but we never seem to be able to have even a day of prayer for victims of priest sex abuse.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Abortion is legal because the justices on the SCOTUS wanted it to be-period. \n\nWho is forcing gays to live promiscuously? Who is telling gay people they can't commit to each other? People do not need marriage to love and commit to each other. \n\nThe site does not give me enough words to reply to the rest of your post. I will just have to ask a question: if you believe all that, why are you Catholic? See--if the Church actually taught what you want it to teach, I would leave. I would not stay with a Church that proposes things for belief I believe are wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bible does not support pedophilia in any way. In fact, it condemns it saying that a girl must be passed the flower of her age in 1 Corinthians 7:36, \"But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry.\" Jesus himself also said that people who harm kids should be sunk to the bottom of the ocean.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sounds like typical liberal, resorting to name calling, if anyone is a bigot its you against Christians, I'm not a Christian or a bigot, I do have several gay friends that are really embarrassed about gay pride parade and all of the fuss, they don't want it and have a good life, its the liberal agenda pushing it, if you think anyone will change their minds by the government saying it will be so, think again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Envy. \"Political\" \"ideological\" \"divisive\" \"strident,\" \"acrimonious\": of course, nothing the N\"C\"R is about could ever be described that way? \n\nNow that the N\"C\"R has fired its big guns, I truly hope Crux will launch its own investigation of N\"C\"R's funding, its sources, and its many other activities. For example, what connections, if any, exist between the N\"C\"R and groups advocating for legal abortion, or extreme LGBT groups, trial lawyers invested in clergy abuse claims, SNAP, or the women's ordination movement? Does N\"C\"R get funding from any organizations that might be termed anti-Catholic?\n\nInquiring minds want to know!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LOL, my comment about confession and Hell was deleted for not meeting civility standards. LOL, really? You can't suggest Catholic teaching on a website that is about all things Catholic? What a joke.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis is enamored with the Castro boys. Well, one is finally dead, but Pope Francis is quite cordial with the remaining one, Raul. Read this article. Know that Pope Francis wants this for us all.\n\n\nhttp://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/03/airlines_flee_castros_island_hellhole.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Ash, there is now a slaughter attack by Islamic supremacists every 3-4 weeks. Coptic Christians bombed at Mass in Egypt, a German sidewalk market, a French boulevard, etc etc.\nIt just keeps coming now. Slaughter after slaughter after slaughter. Month after month, year after year. Men, women, children, teens. \nFor 15 years now we Westerners and Christians have looked to you liberal elites to protect us. Your solution-we must be tolerant after every attack. If we only show the Islamic people of the world our tolerance, the killers that emerge from their religion will grow less and less. Lets allow a million of them in! Only a racist would disagree!\nBut the slaughter accelerates, scale grows.. Month after month. Year after year. A slaughter attack every 3-4 weeks now.\nSo you assure us that more tolerance is the solution. And you are disgusted at the popular, growing distrust of your elite solutions.\nYou and your class are like the aristocracy before the French revolution. Useless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The content hasn't changed\"\n\nI'm looking forward to the redesign, but some change of writers would be useful, too. An independent paper reporting on Catholic issues is worthwhile but writers who are silly (Perrillo) or reactionary and nasty (MSW) are not. And getting a couple of Douthat types--orthodox but critical--in the mix would be a leap forward. A dissenters-only policy keeps NCR from being anything better than Rorate Caeli or 1 Peter 5.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neither socialism (or communism) nor capitalism are focus of Chinese these days. You rarely hear people talking about, no one have interest in it. (yes at the end of Soviet Union, two sides emotionally argued over them).\nChinese are against neither, or for neither. They want both if they can. Or just say they take whatever they can from both.\nThere it is a post-ideology world. If you ask some guy on streets today: protestant or catholic, which is better? He probably have no clue, and that is Chinese regarding capitalism or socialism. It is not 300 years ago Europe any more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reading some of the comments indicating disagreement about the views expressed by Pope Francis and the decrees of Vatican II I cannot help thinking that some of the problems go all the way back to Vatican I and a clear understanding of what constitutes an infallible teaching. Some people seem to feel that any statement made by a bishop or monsignor in the Vatican is infallible while the other extreme is the gang who feel that only those formal statements by the pope to which they unanimously agree can claim infallibility. Francis seems to hold that the sensus fidelium is a relevant factor in the process. Others seem to point out that infallibility refers only to doctrinal pronouncements addressed to all the faithful, not to approval or disapproval of conduct by individuals.\nIf we can clarify what the dissenters mean by the teaching authority of the Church we can skip a lot of silly debates.\nBill Keane", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sad to say, a number of the hierarchy have become so cynical of humanity, that they fear neither God nor humanity. As young seminarians, of course they did. They truly wanted to serve God and God's people.\n\n Unfortunately, when their talents were discovered, they were put on the 'clerical ladder'--and guided by a bishop mentor. The aspiring hierarchs heard stories from older priests and bishops. They became more misanthropic with each promotion.\n \n\nI remember the comment made in the NCR about 5-6 years ago by the chief exorcist of the Vatican. He believed that there were cardinals walking about in the halls of the Vatican, who no longer believe in God. They 'act' and dress for the part of high churchmen. But it is just acting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Bible\n\n\"Jefferson wrote that \u201cJesus did not mean to impose himself on mankind as the son of God.\u201d He called the writers of the New Testament \u201cignorant, unlettered men\u201d who produced \u201csuperstitions, fanaticisms, and fabrications.\u201d He called the Apostle Paul the \u201cfirst corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus.\u201d He dismissed the concept of the Trinity as \u201cmere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus.\u201d He believed that the clergy used religion as a \u201cmere contrivance to filch wealth and power to themselves\u201d and that \u201cin every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty.\u201d And he wrote in a letter to John Adams that \u201cthe day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your comment; I assume you mean prof relating to the original picture by Sister Faustina\n \u201cPaint a picture according to the vision you see and with the inscription: \u201cJesus, I Trust in Thee.\u201d\nI desire that this picture be venerated first in your chapel and then throughout the whole world.\nShe acted immediately in singular (pure) intent; no one else can paint this picture, as no one else can SEE what she saw. The picture she painted, sketched, (no matter how badly) must be venerated and no other, to do so knowing it is not the painting commanded by God *(His Word is inviolate)* is to commit blasphemy\nRevelations given by the Saints are not binding on us, only (worthy of belief) we do not have to accept them.\n When Gods Word is accepted by an individual in a revelation it is only binding on them, but once it was accepted by Gods holy church on earth and given to the laity, it became inviolate (Binding) to all, for all time.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Was He a mere mortal man with fear and trembling acting only \"in persona Christi\" and not as our Lord, re-presenting to the Father in an unbloody way His once and for all time sacrifice?\n\nIf not, why would you raise these questions? \nThe idea that either form of the Roman Rite should be a play-acting of the Last Supper is not to be found in Sacrosanctum Concilium nor anywhere else in the teachings that emerged from Vatican II nor, for that matter, in the tradition of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A dysfunctional family is one where the children don't take care of their parents when they age. Don't help them afford health care. Are you understanding the more demanding and Christian understanding of a functional family?\n\nA functioning family is not one that waits on the government to provide for their every need. \n\nIf your wife is over 65, she's not benefiting at all from Obamacare.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The sources of Islam in the US are different. South Asian Muslims there are more educated, and from a less hardline religious regions. Indian Muslims, for example, have very often taken part in Hindu or Sikh or Christian festivals in India. They have many non Muslim friends, and are better integrated. They have a cultural and linguistic identity outside Islam.\n\nWhen I lived in the Middle East, there was a lot less exposure or acceptance of other religions.At best there was indifference. But even there the exposure to other religions was growing. The one notable exception to all this is Saudi Arabia, which is a cesspool of the region in terms of religious tolerance, gender equality, political freedom, and every other socio-political measure. They have done more large scale and long term damage to minority Muslim communities, by funding wahhabism, than ISIS or Al Qaeda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you as vocal in defending, for example, a Michelle Duggar for risking her life and health in producing 19 children and counting, for her \"sincerely held religious beliefs\"? It's her choice.\n\nOr the right of Catholics to teach their own beliefs rather than government-mandated sex-ed in Catholic schools?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We could start to experience real unity which we have never known. We would have enough priests instantly. We could call back so many of our young women who left because a sexist church is not a healthy church for women - or for men for that matter. I pray this prayer everyday. We could actually attack poverty globally with a much stronger arm. Sexism causes global poverty and violence. We could attack confidently the evils of sexism in the world without looking like complete hypocrites. We could finally honestly pray God forgive us and heal us as a people from the flawed beliefs which set us out attacking our own people. \n\nPope Francis could do it too. He has the authority. No bishop can invalidate a priest validly ordained by a Pope since there is no higher authority than him in our church and this exclusion of women was never a dogma or infallible - it never qualified.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. In the past, gay men were disproportionately attracted to the priesthood because main stream culture rejected them and forced them into the closet, and the priesthood is a rather cushy closet. Currently the percentage of priests that are gay is somewhere north of 50%, and about half of them are sexually active. This phenomenon will not survive this century for two reasons: (1) More and more gays will acquire the freedom to live outside the closet, and marry rather than become priests, and (2) a married priesthood and women priests will allow the Catholic priesthood to become more representative of the population in general. Oh, and the married priesthood with include gay married couples. \n\nBoth of these changes are absolutely inevitable, as the false theologies that prevent woman from being ordained and the clergy from marrying evaporate as the prejudices that spawned them die out. Guaranteed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jane, what are YOU doing working for the Archdiocese of Chicago if you don't like a group of loyal Catholics ? How long have YOU been a dissenter and an underminer of Catholic teachings ?\n\nThe only smugness I see is a smarmy liberal elitist who thinks that the Catholic Church needs to serve liberals and anti-Catholic elites.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's hard to imagine how NCR can be any more shrill.\n\nI have to wonder what's going on in their editorial offices....the mood there must be a darkness of Dantesque despair.\n\nDoing it all it can to encourage Catholics to be angry. What is NCR going to coyly suggest next?\n\nProbably pondering a Guy Fawkes solution, and busily working up a Catholic rationalization for such \"social action.\" \n\nFrankly, given NCR's horrid depictions of life in America, I don't doubt it at all", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sigh. You're such an absolutist, Prog. Unable to see the that things can be shades of grey rather than a simplistic black or white. \n\nYou claimed that the French were not white, Anglo Saxon, or Protestant. I pointed out that there were in fact Protestant Hugenots among the French Colonists. I did not say that they were ALL Protestants just that they were not ALL Catholics. \n\nWhat I was actually doing was poking fun at your vague claim that, \n\n\"We\" are the predominant majority of Canadians\nand \"we\" are those who founded and built up this country\n\nNow are you able to elaborate on who you think \"we\" is? Are you able to get back on track with the actual discussion topic? Or are you still going to get distracted by something shiny and go off on another tangent? \n\nAnd in regards to your question about naming one Hugenot church? Here's five. Seriously, you can look this stuff up yourself you know. \n\nhttp://erq.qc.ca/nos-eglises/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are many practicing Catholics on every reservation, many of them descended from the group baptisms of whole tribes (which precept was followed there?). Some of the actions of Catholic missionaries are what broke the Native American spirituality and some of that has since helped buffer the bad effects of that action, just as Native American spirituality does. Religion can act in more than one way, including Catholicism. It was not all good, and the harm also moves through generations. Not to mention the sexual assaults of those acting in the name of the Catholic religion enacted on native children in reservation boarding schools... \n\n\nAnd the idea that counting precepts tells you anything about the New Testament is actually funny! That's just your modernism rearing its ugly head, and then fighting again with your anger. If you could read posts without your continual spin, you would have to acknowledge that I only asked a question. But, alas, you can't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh better, much, much better. \n\nAs for \"We have kicked God and Jesus Christ out of our ... schools.\" it has been a good thing indeed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In 1957 I was born and living in New York State and being raised in a small town as a strict Catholic. At my first communion I received a Girl Scout doll dressed in a Brownie uniform from my Aunt and sponsor at my communion. I lived to be a girl scout from then on and could not wait to join and participate and get my uniform, earn badges and march in the local parades on holidays. The meetings were held in the basement of a non- catholic church. No religion was involved. One day my mom told me that I was sinning and I had to stop the troop or I would be excommunicated at the age of 8 and go to hell. This was according to the Catholic Church. I never got over the unfairness of the Catholic Church bullying me as a small child. I quit the church when I turned 18 and so did all of the teens in my extensive family who were Catholic. This was common in the 1960's and continues as the Catholic Church continues to be more outdated in each passing year. The Catholic Church is the real loser.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While it may well be true that some little monsters engage in renovations as an exercise in clericalism, this article is not convincing that the renovations are a front in the liturgical wars. \n\nThe only example of a \"bad\" renovation is St. Jude Church.There is no altar rail and it does not look to me as if the candles separate the sanctuary from the people. As to the marble floor, it is not stated what was replaced and it may well have been decided that marble was the most practical alternative, from the viewpoint of maintenance or otherwise.\n\nI am inclined to think that the disagreement Mr. DeSanctis has with some other church architects/ pastors is more aesthetic than liturgical. All buildings need to be renovated periodically to maintain their structural soundness and, in doing so, it is common to modify some design elements, something certain to meet with the disapproval of some.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This writer assumes that Catholics are monolithic and all have the same views. I know an equal number of Catholics who approve of same sex marriage legislation as I know Catholics who oppose it. Likewise for abortion. I once spoke about this with an old Catholic man who had actually studied in a Catholic seminary, had left few steps short of becoming a Catholic priest, had a religious wedding, and had 3 children all raised as Catholics. The man said: \"I am against these things for me and I hope that they will not happen for my children. However, I am in favour of laws allowing them for those who have different believes. I have seen too many back alley abortions and too much misery for closet gays. People must be free to have their life as they feel that it is right for them\". My many Catholic barbers have expressed the same views. My Catholic colleagues in Montreal have substantially said the same thing. Of course I met also those who vehemently disagree. Catholics are not monolithic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was religion that justified slavery. The Confederates for example would quote bible to defend the practise and to fight a civil war over it. The bible condones slavery throughout, old and new testaments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And yet no one is panicking over the \"alienation\" of young conservative Christians or Jews or Hindus, etc., and asking how society can change to accommodate that type of sexual conservatism. \n\nIn the case of young white Christian conservatives, the response is, \"Tough, get used to it!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic Social Services is trying to make itself look good at the expense of the American tax payer, I'm not fooled, an American tax payer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I write as a Canadian with access to doctor and hospital care free when I need it; part of the population has access to drug and dental care paid for privately or as a benefit from the employer. Canadian rates of spending on health care are less per person than in the US, and everyone is covered for the fundamentals; nonetheless our system needs reform too. I am also a graduate of Loyola College in Montreal.\nIf Fordham wishes to carry out its Catholic mission, I suggest that the university consider working with others to develop an ethic (which exists in Canada) that each of us owes his fellow citizens support for public health care accessible to all. Nowhere is the lack of this ethic seen more clearly than in the race to remove coverage from the poor through the gutting even of the limited benefits of Obamacare.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Saint Michael, with his heavenly hosts, conquering all Catholic right-wingers while showing them the divine Mercy they would deny to others. Coming soon to a church near you!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks Motley. I agree on all your points. Bigotry would be pre-judging our Muslim fellow citizens with the assumption that they take Sharia law literally, would commit the barbarities we read about elsewhere, or want them to be legal here, or are guilty of doing things that are illegal here. I hope nobody does that kind of pre-judging based on religion. I don't know you and I have no reason to assume you do.\n\nI don't think we can blame our Muslim fellow citizens for barbarities elsewhere any more than we can blame our fellow Christians for the Oklahoma City bombing or the crimes against gays. I hope you agree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, your timing is a bit off. AL had some ambiguities which led bishops in different cities to have opposite interpretations of it. This is what led to the 4 cardinals' request for clarification--the dubia. \nThere's nothing wrong with asking for clarification. \nThere's an issue that may have gone unnoticed; it wasn't mentioned in the article. It appears that parts of Pope Francis' Amoris Laetitia directly contradict Pope John Paul's II Familiaris Consortio. Did you read both of those documents? I did. They DO APPEAR to contradict each other. I wish Pope Francis would clear it up. \nSince Christ is eternal, Christ's Truth is eternal, so the teaching of Christ's Church should not reverse itself. I am NOT pitting the \"Pope from Poland\" against the \"Pope from Argentina\" (who, by the way, CANONIZED the \"Pope from Poland\"). That would be absurd, but since there APPEARS to be a contradiction, it's just another reason we know that clarification is needed!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please go on. I recall something about the Donner Party and the Donner Pass. I recall the Kennewick man when the \"scientists\" were trying to link Caucasians in this country 8,000 years ago, to justify the theft and murder the Christians inflicted on the Natives in this country. The same policies of theft and murder Adolph Hitler studied up on when he began the systemic slaughter of millions of people. Which by the way, does not come close to the slaughter of 100 million plus Natives here, starting when syphilis infected Christopher Columbus stumbled on these shores, instead of perishing like he should have.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...competent intellectuals these days who are willing to pretend to believe....\"\n\nBut an \"accusation\" isn't proof that competent intellectuals -- systematic theologians, for one -- don't assent to transubstantiation, the Virgin Birth, etc., on faith, as part of the mystery of faith, faith seeking understanding. Likewise, for informed Catholics, the absence of \"evidence\" is not necessarily the evidence of absence forever (as in the \"evidence\" that Peter never went to Rome). But there is a point of no return trying to make Revelation (and Catholic belief) into what I has never been -- devoid of a contextuality of faith, reason and tradition (as De Lubac notes). Newman, too, insisted that the character of faith (using analogies from ordinary experience as scaffolding, as it were) supplies the conditions for its own meaningfulness, its own truth, for faith's apprehension. But why make any single issue intrinsic to multitudes of competent theologians not close to any one way of thinking?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I appreciated Daniel Kempton's remarks as they did give me a glimpse into the mind of someone intelligent, well-educated and Catholic who still voted for Trump. What I'd like to know is this: Knowing that Trump is of poor character, why does Kempton believe anything Trump says? Also, if Clinton is generally more supportive of Catholic goals (helping the poor, providing healthcare to all citizens, striving for world peace, etc.) doesn't Kempton realize that she would likely have saved more lives, born and unborn, than Trump? Also, surely he must know that there are no laws forcing anyone to commit acts contrary to his or her religious beliefs. I respect his point of view but I'm perplexed by them. Practicing Catholics follow Christ and that is not Donald Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's be clear here: no one is DENYING anything but money to anyone. That is, no employer is denying anyone a job because they user bc. Nope, all they're doing is refusing to pay for it. And if the insurer wants to independently offer bc to employees apart from the employer, then it can do so.\n\nEmployer-provided insurance days have come and gone; the need to entice employees with goodies no longer exists as it did in the early part of the 20th century when there was a worker shortage.\n\nAttacking religion and morality is what is dividing society; don't blame the religious, Catholicism is 2000 years old. Recreational sex, open homosexuality, gender-bending, etc... are all new, divisive perspectives, barely 60 years old, and only recently accepted by a significant portion of the population.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Given the history of rampant sexual abuse of children that the Catholic Church kept concealed until recently, I do not understand how any decent person can continue to be associated with this organization, in any way. The \"reforms\" of Pope Francis are insignificant: they do not fundamentally change how the Church operates. It remains a secretive hierarchy of sexually repressed old men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "cont'd\nYou say: \"To see Jesus with only one eye, as a rule giver, without seeing that 'love of God and neighbor' are the font and measure of every rule, is to run into the ditch of idolatry.\" But Jesus clearly WAS a rule-giver. It is illogical to say that because we recognize that, we think of Jesus \"with only one eye, as a rule giver.\" Your logic fails again. So, incidentally, does your faith; but that's totally up to you. \n\nIf to follow the God-given rule against divorce is to see Jesus solely as rule giver, which is wrong, then by your logic, Jesus did wrong by giving us the rule in the first place. LOL. You do make sense, though, if you deny that Jesus was God, or that he said what is shown in Scripture on the point. But so far you haven't denied either. \n\nYou seem to think there is a contradiction between loving God and following Jesus' rule on divorce. By assuming this, you attribute self-contradiction to Jesus himself. Amazing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow - have you ever even been to the Waldorf school? I have three children there, and there has been no discussion about not letting children read books (my 8 y/o could read at a higher level than most 5th graders when he was 6) and nothing about black crayons (your example of the blackboard is inane - how could you draw in black on a chalkboard?) and nothing even close to Aryan ideals - in fact, I am Jewish, and the school has been incredibly open to us and incorporates many non-Christian teachings into its non-religious curriculum. You are entirely misinformed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, Kevin, but the vast majority of people are given the gift of sexuality in order to use it in relationship. For an entire group of Christian gay adults--and we don't really know how large this group is--lifelong celibacy is an unrealistic and cruel option. Unfortunately, the Church's myopia about the meaning of sexuality (and I use the word *meaning* on purpose because the Church doesn't control meaning; only two people in a relationship do) results in regulations that have nothing to do with love or intimacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul they are the same. Which is why there is no truth in Islam or any other religion that denies the sovereignty of Jesus. Jesus, himself said he was God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No bishop likes to talk about vanity, it cuts too much to the quick. It is why Jesus gave example of the washing of the feet, and not just for annula commemoration. Of course, humility should not be considered a lack of courage and it took courage to ensure all partners, married or not, gay or straight, but it would have shown more to challenge the Church more directly on this. Christ would have. To go with the meal by the sea, sometimes the meal Christ must serve the apostles is crow. Bless the bishops who served up this latest portio for the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have counseled my peers to remain confident and hopeful. These swings of the pendulum are tough to live through but are largely self-correcting, just not in our lifetimes.\n\nAs this article illustrates, those who reject Humanae Vitae and so on did not reproduce, or if they did their offspring had zero interest in orders, and so the incoming generation are the offspring of those Catholics many posters look down their noses at. It is rather poetic justice.\n\nThe zanier the opinions, the lower is the probability their next generation will be seen in a Catholic parish, as the folks about which this article was written are finding out.\n\nUnfortunately one needs a rather long life-span to see it all work out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gropin' Donnie is a fine example of Evangelical Christian. The way those folks interpret the Bible, 2000 years ago there was a guy with blonde hair and blue eyes named Jesus who walked around the Middle East, terrifying the brown people into submission. Don the pussy-grabbing, draft-dodging white knight is the modern incarnation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Behold! What happens when a powerful German cardinal appointed to CDF by B XVI does not agree with the infalliblt Catholic right ring and its h*r*sy hunters! By golly, there IS Laetitia in Amore! Amoris Laetitia is not only good teaching, AL is prophetic as well!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, RD? On the article on the Catholic Theological Society of America, you attacked the article because it had a picture of a group of women. Now you are attacking this article about men. Would you prefer an article on transgendered Catholics?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Priests in El Salvador found guilty of sexually abusing minors are \"suspended from their priestly duties.\"\n\nWomen in El Salvador who may have miscarried but are suspected of having abortions are thrown in prison.\n\nCatholicism is warped by misogyny.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is so much \"gray\" area between admitting unrepentant sinners to Holy Communion, and excluding them. I can't believe the Church had this whole mortal sin thing so wrong for 1900 plus years!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That of Francis is a challenge to the Gospel. That of Chaput is a sad, \"whine\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sure.\n\nThe Catholic Church - or \"pure catholic types\" - rounded up a transsexual who has reputation and awards for reporting on LBGT issues, talked her into going undercover for years, and then popped it up after most the suits are settled.\n\nTime for the \"Twilight Zone\" theme.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul VI was an active homosexual who was compromised by the Freemasons very early on in his pontificate on the issue of cremation. During his 15-year reign as Pope, he also promoted many homosexual clerics to the Vatican Curia.\n\nhttp://padrepioandchiesaviva.com/Paul_VI_Beatified_.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The issue of abortion will always be a tricky one for Democrats. While I personally do not favor abortions in general, I am in favor of keeping it legal in order to save the life of the mother. According to the bishops who have an absolute zero tolerance stance on abortion, that makes me \"anti-life,\" which I don't feel is the case, and neither do most Democrats. So expecting Democrats to change their party platform to outlaw all abortions in every instance simply isn't going to happen. In the meantime Catholics should acknowledge that throughout Catholic history there has been debate about when life officially begins. The notion that life begins at conception is rather recent - happening officially at some point during the late 19th century, if I'm not mistaken.\n\nAs for Russell Moore, I must say I'm rather impressed. He's shown that sticking to his principles as a Christian is more important than keeping his job.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In her defense, O'Connor ripped up the photo of John Paul II because the scandal of priests abusing children was ongoing in Ireland but had yet to be revealed in its full extent in North America and elsewhere. Much of the anger against her was from Catholics in NA who did not know the larger context of her actions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't say there were no articles about social justice, there are but the articles which seem to elicit the most comments are generally about sexual morality, matrimonial issues, contraception, homosexuality and feminism.\nThe articles and comments about social justice are more political than religious. Most writers and posters here seem to be Democrats and are intent on conflating Democratic social policy and economics with Catholic social teaching as though it were impossible to be a genuine Catholic without being a Democrat or further to the left. There are differences of opinion on how Catholic social teaching is put into practice.\nThe primary Commandment is to love God and we do that by keeping His Commandments one of which is to love our neighbour as we love ourselves and the rest of them which He has revealed to us in order to effect our salvation. \nYou say love is all there is but you must be careful that this love is not just mawkish sentiment or niceness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"\u201cWe Europeans must really take our destiny into our own hands.\u201d(c)\n\"She also publicly declared that Germany suffers not from \"too much Islam\" but \"too little Christianity\"(c)(Wik)\nDidn't Merkel open up the doors of Europe to a sea of migrants in order to gin up the population of Germany to work due to a declining population... millions invaded Merkel's Europe, who do not give a dam about Europe's Westernized ethos..\n\nMerkel has been Chancellor of Germany for approx. 12 yrs now & has devolved into a nerdy righteous windbag whose political tenure is over. The pontificating righteous persona can only fly for so long -- Holy Dr. Merkel needs to step down - asap.\nBy the way -- how many female German citizens & German schoolchildren have been viciously victimized due to the Merkel's trite selective personal morality?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He gave them his daughters and they turned around and raped him. If you think the Bible is misogynistic, then you misread it. It is highly supportive of women. Especially considering the time in which it was written. How many female heroes does it have, even in the Old Testament? Were not men punished for mistreatment of women? Who did Jesus have as his first witnesses to his resurrection? How does Paul suggest men treat their wives? Is that suggestion of Paul's one of the things from the Bible that is not to be taken literally? Do you say that Jesus is not alive today? Is Jesus a liar? Do you think that people that take the Bible literally are also not looking for the Spirit of the Bible (BTW, He is also known as the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity.)? It is also a timeless document if it is taken literally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It will be interesting to read the comments after CSU's glorified high school team is in the midst of another 7 and 6 season, the stadium is half empty and the administration is looking for a bail out from student fees and taxpayers to pay the bonds. I am sure after the inaugural season fans will be stampeding in to see CSU v. Abilene Christian. \n\nBottom line - as long as the University is never allowed to tap education funds or get a bail out from the State to pay off the stadium I could care less what goes on in Fort Collins. But if either of those things happen people should go to prison.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, he doesn't. And, since he follows Grisez, I would not align with his thinking, period. Nor would most catholic moral theologians. Germain is old school and outdated. \nAh yes, he writes like a scholar - if only you could.\n\nAnd another troll above - yep, still only a few dozen...and no, there were more SPPX signers than just three. So, you know three of the signers personally - and this certifies your/their opinion how?\nRetired - well, merely citing this - whether they are up to date of not is a valid question which you fail to entertain. more assumptions.\n\nYep, numbers mean nothing - it is a logical fallacy argument. But, hey, you and the other trolls started with *numbers*; not me. You appear to be defensive and argue about ridiculous side issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Capital punishment eliminates the criminal. That is the Muslim way. Criminality is defined by their theology and supersedes any man-made law. Failure to acknowledge that is also subject to the death penalty. Not, like Christian theology, 'Old Testament' belief superseded by Christian thought but, active, current, mainstream Muslim theology today. And Saudi Arabia has been funding madrassas throughout the world teaching just that Wahabi belief system. There is a theological reason that so many of the 9/11 murderers were from Saudi Arabia; they were raised in that belief and were also rebelling against Saudi Arabian government for not following it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anti-Christian hate and violence was in Islam long before Canada existed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tri, even Archbishop Vigneron of Detroit, who is by no means a progressive, disagreed with the presentations of doctrine and dogma on Church Militant which is why it is no longer calling itself 'Real Catholic TV'. You and I are not going to change each other's opions' of Michael Voris. I find him a hypocritical fundamentalist, principally promoting his own pure Catholic self, and you see him differently. In a somewhat rare event, a conservative Catholic bishop and I have the same opinion. Miracles do happen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Taking out the pews may be a good idea--after all, pews were borrowed from the Protestants, who introduced their use for decidedly Protestant purposes, and most of our Eastern brothers do not use them--but not to turn the nave into a prettified rec center and space for profane entertainments, as the author proposes here.\n\nJudson is ostensibly a free church/Baptist group. The \"senior minister\" author doesn't give a damn about the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and doesn't mention it once here. Could a Catholic author not be found to write about this subject instead?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What did Jesus say? Who knows. We know what written by some guys and later translated by some other guys under the rule of King James. \nAs with historical works, a book or movie that contains dialog, it's imagined by the author. \nBible thumpers are some of the most frightening people I know - usually the first to cast a stone - make it a big one.\nPeople who do good works, who treat others with kindness and respect just because, they have my respect and admiration.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The unique structure of the Swiss Catholic Church -- no archdiocese, all six dioceses immediately subject to the Holy See, diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Switzerland (current nuncio to Switzerland and Liectenstein being an American, Archbishop Thomas Gullickson), and the oldest national episcopal conference in the world, dating back to 1863 -- all suggest that popes could have been on top of the sex abuse crisis for decades! But NO! The church is still unsufferably slow in taking responsibility for abuse problems without pressure from legal systems. Maybe this is a sign that a national church that reports directly to the Vatican through it bishops and dioceses is beginning to change for the better!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because it is what gets taught in general in Catholic High School Marriage class and in pre-Cana. Also, most Catholic families have a gay sibling, child, parent or cousin who is gay who they would like to meet a nice and settle down with. When you relate the matter to your own family, suddenly Catholci gay marriage sounds essential. There is no doctrinal rebutal for the experience of the faithful. Or the gay priests who are most likely blessing civil gay unions privately. That last part is what has the hierarchy scared to death.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You might be surprised.\nLondon ON is a hotbed of religious Conservatives, and Kelly Leitch now represents the original Reform riding.\nGary Goodyear in Cambridge.\nRural ON in general.\nThere's a broad swath Mennonites and Amish.\nEvangelicals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "https://www.firstthings.com/article/2005/10/development-or-reversal\n\nThe Church has always taught that everyone is made in the image and likeness of God, and that therefore treating anyone as less than human is intrinsically immoral. This applies to the unborn, to the living, to what a society might call a \"slave\", to workers, to prisoners, to everyone.\n\nColossians 4:1 and Ephesians 6:5-9 have not been expunged from Scripture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think living 73 of my 75 years as a \"faithful Catholic,\" 16 years of absolute Catholic education, a trial as a member of a religious community and 28 years living under draconian marriage laws, plus 35 years of leadership in music, liturgy and homeless service programs qualifies my self-consideration as Catholic. \n\nThat I can no longer support misogyny as a certain principle, condone the lack of accountability by supervisory clerics regarding the global child sexual abuse nightmare, support the exclusion of people born as LGBT, and refuse to live a spiritual life more centered around a 15th century male-dominated theology and institutionalization to the detriment of the Gospel shouldn't DISqualify me. \n\nIt's a matter of conscience. Those realities I mention are, by any standard, in opposition to Jesus' life and words. Respectfully, if you don't see these problems as relevant in 2017, maybe you need to look deeper than the Baltimore catechism's rigid definitions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alas, so true. Many here are \"nones.\" But perhaps we loyal and true catholics must ask why there are so many nones. Did we properly catechize our children? Did we fail to demonstrate how our devotion to the Ancient Rituals and Rules of the Church made us good people worthy of being emulated? For if we act like everyone else, how can we claim to be superior to the progressives we criticize? Of course, we are better, but do we show it? But then we know we are successful when we look upon our children, attending church, studying catechism, and memorizing the necessary latin, as you, no doubt, know so well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A very interesting article, clearly laying out the views of some of the folks who oppose the TMT. But I find the term \"Haole science\" rather odd. Does this mean that science as practiced by, say, Japanese or Pakistanis or Egyptians or South Africans is somehow an ethnic enterprise? Does it mean that an Englishman's discovery of penicillin or the discovery of the cause and modern treatment of the Black Plague by a scientist in Viet Nam should not be applied to Native Hawaiians who are suffering from terrible diseases? Or is this an essentialized view of life in which there is no common humanity? Is this any different than some true believers in faiths such as Christian Science who allow their sick children to suffer without \"Haole science\" medical attention? One can respect the views presented by people who oppose TMT, but not the racialization of such important issues. Let us discuss these matters with civility in Civil Beat.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was with you until the last sentence. I was mandated Lay minister after extensive study and demonstrating I had grown beyond kindergarten spirituality, I served in a mission parish in an isolated area, it was OUR church, I never saw myself replacing the priest but I brought the eucharist to people, I led reflections on the scripture, I conducted a funeral... it was answering a need not having a title. We were Alive!!! then directives came from higher up, our bishop retired, J-P then Benedict changed the rules and lay ministers were no longer in favour, even less women ones, now ordained deacons were the way to go. Fine with me. But it did not fill the needs of our isolated mission parish. I don't agree with your description of the ministry, it is masculine yes, but the white priests are the rarity where I live, the ordained are coming from Africa, India, the Philippines in our diocese", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus did mention that the 10 could be boiled down to 2 .\nHe also gave us the 8 Beatitudes . Not that much attention is paid to them ! \nSeeing how little we truly loved ourselves he added \" love one another as I have loved you !\nWhy we forget Paul's lengthy discourse on the powerlessness of the 10 commandments to do anything but convict us of sin ( letter to the Romans ). is beyond me .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religion is not an excuse to discriminate. Never has been. The baker is a terible Christian, Jesus would serve the sinners. Maybe take some time to preach, what do they call it, \u201cTestify\u201d?\n\nAnyway, the baker\u2019s opinion that he is taking part in a gay wedding by making a cake is ridiculous. No baker took part in my wedding. She, or he(?) was not invited. I never actually saw them. It was a business transaction. The business offered a service to the public. The service was a business transaction. There was literally nothing religious on either end of the business transaction.\n\nHow is it forcing a baker to decorate a cake? He would do the same thing for two heterosexual people.\n\nWhat if only one of the gay people showed up at the bakery and ordered the cake? Let\u2019s say the other man\u2019s name was Chris. What if the baker did not know it was a gay wedding and made the cake?\n\nWhat is the difference?\nIt is not hard to make a wedding cake.\nYou want people to be able to legally discriminate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Burke's motivation is that he likes to tell people they cannot receive Communion. That is the motivation of many of the people so obsessed with this. They view the Catholic Church as their country club and don't want the riff-raff to think that they've been invited to the club. These are also the same people who treat the parish as their own little sorority and get in catfights about the parish bake sale and picnic and write letters to the chancery about the Advent Reconciliation service and liturgical dance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is the hypocrisy that gets to me, if you really followed the faith:\n\n1. you could never carry a gun as Jesus was a pacifist and promoted peace and love and turn the other cheek.\n\n2. You could never judge homosexuals as Jesus taught to not judge others and to love one another. Judging others while you have a plank in your eye. At NO TIME did he speak about homosexuality.\n\n3. You could not vote Conservative as they are the party that believes in helping the poor the least. And Jesus was ALL about the poor and critical of the rich (whom the conservatives also support).\n\n4. You cannot feel anything but love and compassion for all immigrants and should seek to help them.\n\nSo tell me do you follow these principles or only the ones Jesus NEVER taught that seek to judge others and keep young people in the dark?\n\nFor the child struggling with gender identity or homosexuality do these teachings hurt or build the child up in love? So simple the teachings of Jesus (and in a good way :)).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am afraid of heretics and heresy.\n\nI did not say that you read \u201cSituation Ethics: The New Morality\u201d, I said \u201c(b)asically you\u2019ve absorbed Joseph Francis Fletcher\u2019s \u2018Situation Ethics: The New Morality\u2019.\u201d\n\nAnd you\u2019re not alone in these discussions. Fletcher is one of the heretics and situation ethics one of the heresies that have permeated some quarters in the Catholic Church.\n\nA goodly number of the saints would laugh at your belief that we are not bound to follow divine commands.\n\nWhatever your reading material, your theological constructs are just left of \u201cwhoopee!\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...predictions of the decline of 'white Christian America' may be premature\"?\nI guess the alternate way of looking at it is that 81% \"white Christian America\" IS gone", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not true. Almost by definition evangelicals seek to actively promote their view of religion by knocking on doors and by knocking heads. These are very powerful fringe elements of mainstream religion. They come as Christians, as Muslims, as Jews. They rob humanity of it's diversity by proclaiming that their views are God-given.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a pompous attitude?\n\nWhy do people demand the Church do what she cannot do, become what she can never become, then become frustrated when the Church remains the same?\n\nDoes it make sense to stay where you aren't happy? Does it make sense to remain part of an organization you can't stand? I mean what--do you like pain and misery?\n\nYou have thousands upon thousands of Protestant churches to choose from--churches that have high church worship, churches that have low church worship. Church that have conservative theology, churches that have liberal theology, heck--even churches that don't believe much of anything. Why not go and join one that strikes your fancy? Why remain Catholic--when you are so unhappy? Why remain Catholic when you know deep down the Church is never going to become what you want her to become?\n\nThe difference between a dissident Catholic and Protestant is that the Protestant has integrity. \n\nHelp me understand.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Serge, am I a \"right wing fascist\" simply because I am a faithful Catholic? As a Catholic, I respect freedom of religion for all Americans except Muslims who are bent on world domination & the killing of \"infidels\" like me. Feinstein's comment goes beyond the bounds of common courtesty & evaluation a candidate based on their professional qualifications. And, I get very testy about the number of communists-in-democrat-clothing that I see in our government!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If a non Muslim, CHristian or Jew said she / he doesn't want to be buried beside a Muslim, that would raise hackles of outrage. But, the people of the town is saying, \"We are all equal in the eyes of God\". The Muslims are saying \"Oh no, we are not\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ty- nothing I said was \"disrespectful,\" if you're asked to prove the source of your stats- that's not tantamount to being attacked. You have no evidence to support your faux-numbers. Sorry- that's how debate goes.\n\n\"most terrorist attacks are not carried out by Muslims\" --yeeeaaah, you can keep saying that all the day long: it won't make it true unless you actually have something to back it up, and refute the stats you've been given showing you're wrong.\n\n\"Jews?\" \"White supremacists?\" Is every single news organization big and small just refusing to cover all these horrific stories about Jews and Christians blowing up cities and buildings?\n\nI can't be the first person to have trouble taking you seriously, can I?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're not going to get any politician MORE divisive than Justin Trudeau. He pits east against west (\"\"Canada isn't doing well right now because it's Albertans who control our community and socio-democratic agenda.\") pits the entire country against Quebec (Because \"Quebec is best\"). pits Christians against Muslims (\u201cChristians are the worst part of Canadian society\u201d) Just google the quotes and read them and weep for Canada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Turkish government is so serious about campaigning abroad, why not go online or via television to all the expatriates.\nIt's all about beating the drum and having a focus on anything other than the real issues.\nMaking yourself the defender of the faith as it is, east vs west, christian vs muslim.\nA real bunch of hooey.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you not understand that if you think it's okay to discriminate then there is nothing stopping an entire city from denying services to gays, Christians, or any other group the \"in crowd\" doesn't feel morally obligated to serve? We have laws that you cannot discriminate based on race. It's kind of absurd you think we should be allowed to discriminate based on sexual orientation or how much \"in sin\" someone is or is not. That is not freedom.\n\nAll anyone is asking the baker to do is make cakes for the general public. If he doesn't like the fact that some members of the public are gay then he shouldn't make cakes. Nobody is knocking on his door forcing him to make offensive cakes. The only offense in this entire situation is his opinion of the customer. As you stated, the customers were offered other services - they were good customers he had no issue with. He decided \"I cannot serve you because of who you are\" and that is the problem. It's no different than \"we don't serve blacks here\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here are quotes of some verses in the Qur'an, the holy book of the religion of Islam.\n\nQur'an (4:89) - \"They wish that you should disbelieve as they disbelieve, and then you would be equal; therefore take not to yourselves friends of them, until they emigrate in the way of God; then, if they turn their backs, take them, and slay them wherever you find them; take not to yourselves any one of them as friend or helper.\"\n\nQur'an (9:30) - \"And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!\u201d\n\nThere are many verses in the Qur\u2019an that call for jihad (struggle) and there are about 100 verses in the Qur'an that call for the destruction of Jews, Christians and non believers (infidels). \n\nDon't you think Muslim fundamentalists use those verses in the Qur'an to inspire Muslims to kill non believers?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only false equivalence is on your side. Christians have killed and terrorized throughout history in the name of God. You know it. Stop pretending.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A lot of unknown wording to me. crypto-Talibanis? theocratic people? antichrist-worshiping Fundamentalist faux-Christians? Could you explain who these people are? And where can I find them? Example please.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"and then I found out some of the awful things that Catholic Charities ends up supporting here and there\"\n\nSuch as? In my town Catholic Charities fully funds literally the only agency in town that feeds hungry people and houses homeless people. If it weren't for CC people would literally starve to death. So please, kindly spit it out what you think they're supporting that's so awful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please don't try to cover your bigotry in a cloak of Christianity. It is invisible and we can see right through it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have no problem with Muslims. But I have a problem with their way of \"fighting\" against our way of living. I have a problem with the fact that even a \"secular\" Muslim will pick a fit when his/her son/daughter gets involved with a Christian (or Jew, or Buddhist)... I have a problem with asking for special accomodations to allow him/her to pray while at work. Even if Coran allows not to pray in special conditions. Or with the fact that they do not adapt our culture and want to impose theirs - no music classes, no mixed swimming classes.\nIt is absolutely clear that the \"others\" will start pushing back - if he is allowed to pray 5 times a day, why cannot I refuse coming a Sunday to work because I have church? Or not work on Fridays because I am Jewish? The \"when in Rome do like the romans do\" doesn't seem to apply to SOME of the Muslim community.\nUnfortunately, even if the MAJORITY of Muslims are good people, the FEW \"bad\" Muslims are going to make the front pages. With all the fallout.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You'd better watch out if you don't claim Christianity unto yourself like they do. It is true that people harbor resentment over people whom they view as different. It's the only reason I can think of why they hate gay people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is exactly what you expect to happen when you let unvetted Christian immigrants into the country. They reproduce over generations with the sole aim of killing others when you least expect it. \nOf course, I'm not serious, but that's exactly the type of comment we'd get if the shooter was Muslim.\nYes, guns do kill people, no matter what the NRA propaganda machine tells you. It's time to have that conversation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First:way to improve the lives of Muslim refugees is for them to forsake Allah and the Koran. If Muslims reject Islam and all that jihad stuff, and convert to Christians, Jews, or even become agnostic or atheist, they and we would all be better off.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Aloha Mr. Aalto. The Supreme court delay was not unique to Republicans. It was done by democrats as well. You can research that if you wish. True we need to shrink our military. Trump has said he will and wants our allies to step up to the plate and use their defense budgets to fill any voids. Remarkably, The president who won a Nobel Peace prize shortly after assuming office was the only President to preside over 8 years of active War, but that is another issue. We differ significantly on free health care. I believe that people MUST insure themselves for what they think they are worth and budget their income accordingly. Your perception of improving life in the Arab world is interesting. It glosses over the fact that the Arab world is fundamentally moslem. Moslems STRONGLY believe in the Qur'an as you know. A popular requirement of Allah can be found in Qur'an 9:111 \"Kill Jews and Christians if they do not convert or pay Jizya tax. WE are on the same wave length regarding robots etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not once has Trudeau ever mentioned the slaughter of Christians in the middle east by Muslims.... http://www.civitas.org.uk/press/christianity-at-risk-of-wipe-out-in-the-middle-east-warns-new-civitas-study/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So Muslims in Europe are more likely to be anti-Semites than non-Muslims in Europe, but there are more non-Muslim anti-Semites in Europe than Muslim anti-Semites because there are way more non-Muslims in Europe than Muslims. As a result, European anti-Semites are more likely to be non-Muslim than Muslim. That's hardly news or statistically interesting. \nWhat would have been interesting are statistics about European anti-Semitism in the post-war period from the 1950s to the 1970s in comparison to 1990s-2005 and to today. Anti-Semitism was rampant in Europe in the 1940s, and not just in Germany, and it didn't suddenly disappear when the Allies conquered Germany in 1945. As for Canada, I have occasionally heard vaguely anti-Semitic remarks from very elderly in-laws---I'm no spring chicken myself--and at first attributed this to their distant East European origins. However, when I challenged the remarks, I found the source/reinforcer to be the contemporary United Church of Canada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most mass shootings are committed by home-grown white males, many of them Christian-affiliated. This is true of both the US and Canada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "STAGE 2 .....continued\nHighly visible assassination of critics aimed to intimidate opposition.\nTolerance of non-Muslims diminishes and greater demands are placed upon \nMuslims to adopt strict Islamic conduct.\nClandestine amassing of weapons and explosives stores in hidden \nlocations in target non-Muslim society.\nContinuous and covert attacks and challenges against target non-Muslim \nsociety leaders and religious symbols.\nOvert disregard and rejection of target non-Muslim society's legal \nsystem and culture.\nEfforts to undermine and destroy power base of non-Muslim religions such\n as Jews, Christians, Hindus or Buddhists in target non-Muslim society.\nEfforts to destroy the social structure of the country and bring the \ndownfall of non-Muslim government.\nUse of Islamic gangs in campaign of fear and terror against Jews, \nChristians, Hindus and non-Muslims to reduce their populations and \ninfluence in the target non-Muslim society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When you look at Christianity from the perspective of a recovering Christian atheist (and with Jews as family), you see it very differently. The right wing Christians and Evangelicals co-opt the Jews and their history. Mary was a Jew and came from a sect that pronounced unmarried pregnant women virgins. Joseph was also a practicing, devout Jew and Jesus was a rabbi who had his Passover meal before the Romans killed him. The wine of Passover was turned into blood and the unleavened bread was turned into flesh. Ugh. Perhaps context of history is in order here instead of the made up revisionist history of these right wing Christians that makes it OK for a man in his 30s to make advances to 14 year old girls. To dismiss Roy Moore's transgressions 2000 years later when we prosecute men for making sexual advances on underage children just shows how absolutely corrupt and corrupted Christians and Christianity has become. Does Kevin Spacey get a pass too?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora, as usual, you missed my point entirely. I keep getting asked by rightwing trolls when I am leaving the Catholic Church because I disagree with its current teaching on the ordination of women. That is, of course, an absurd question. I was also repeatedly told to leave the country when I vocally opposed George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq to seize weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist.\n\nI was just holding the mirror up to the trolls.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pederasty and homosexuality are TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THINGS! Stop pretending otherwise. It is obvious that you want to display your fear and loathing of gays, which simply demonstrates that Christian love is no part of your religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your videos are of the Pro-Palestine riots in 2014. The Avenue de Flandres camp was dismantled in 2016. You said, \"Paris is lost\" and then show a political protest from 3 years ago and a temporary camp from a year ago. How is this \"lost\"? Sure, there have been problems. But I also see laughable videos on alt-right sites that show student protests in Paris as \"Muslim riots\", soccer hooligans as \"Muslim riots\", Iraqi Christians racing up Christmas trees as part of their festivities as \"Muslims attack Christmas trees\", so I'm not too impressed with the evidence compared to my own eyes. Paris \"lost\"? Nope!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The 18 countries which currently allow transgender citizens to openly serve have militaries that function. So why would the same not happen in the U.S.? The same logic was used when Don't Ask Don't Tell was lifted - the U.S. military will fall apart. Guess what? It didn't. Stop perverting Christianity and love of country for your own closed minded hatred. Evolve, for God's sake.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Eliminate religion in publicly funded schools period. Including Catholic. Including Muslim prayers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In one sense, Pell have received punishment already without he realizing it.\nHe eliminated God's presence from him! What could be more severe imprisonment then locked in his own evil self EGO! LOLOLOLOLOL!\nSooner or later, he will have to back track every evil deeds he have accumulated if he ever wish to realize his true being in God!\nI am so astonished at the level of CI (Catholic Institution) clergies spiritual ignorance! They seem to regard God as a story book figure like a giant 'Paul Bunyan' of some sort and they acting like a spoiled & greedy five year old brats! Is there anyone who is serious about living God???????", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which is why Christianity is more about relationship with Christ and less about following religious tenets. I'm always glad when I can separate the \"opiate\" of religion from the reality of relationship.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed. How is it pro-life--or Christian--to have these views of women, cheat your workers out of wages, boast about avoiding income tax, and ban an entire faith group from the country?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Poor progressive Catholics, soundly defeated, and talking to each other about how much their defeat hurts.\n\nOh my gosh, I love this forum!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And gives money to Hamas who's charter calls for the obliteration of Israel. And celebrates our \"diversity\" by attending mosques that call for death to Jews and Christians. This is political posturing. Oh, and the real work putting CETA together was the result of years of negotiation by the Harper government which by the way received no acknowledgement", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islam is clearly beyond reproach to self-titled \"progressives\" (just read M-103) whereas Christianity and Judaism are fair game (because it's 2017). M-103 is the beginning of the OIC's Cairo declaration that aims to silence any critical analysis of Islam under the guise of fighting \"Islamaphobia\" (which means what exactly?). Canadians can worship any God they want, including pasta strainers - it's a free country - just like all religions are open to critical analysis, including humour and satire.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's no such thing as reverse racism, there's just racism and this student is a racist. If a white Christian student attacked people based on their heritage they would be censored and punished. What's good for one is fair for the other. Don't let her use her minority status to push her offensive views.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The rise of anti-semitism both in the US and in Europe is correlated with the invasion of the moslem hordes.\nOf course there always some degree of anti-semitism from local elements but what you see in recent years is different.\nThe moslems hate the ideals and values of the West, and Christians but hate the Jews the most. Unfortunately, due to political\ncorrectness, the controlled drive by media in reporting these stories, never ever attribute these acts of anti-Semitism to any group\nother than to report the increase of these kinds of incidents. When you fail to identify your enemies, you will never be able to\nstop them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, you failed Christianity. Congratulations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Get a life man. Why is it that the religious thing bothers you so much. Did anyone say atheists is not allowed to say they are happy to be atheist and is willing to help others? I have never had a hard blow when a atheist belief banged against my face. Wonder if it hurts? Why does it bother you if Christians want to help others. Are you so jealous of their believes that you had vomit this in a news article.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Spot on, Hugh. This Sunday we'll hear at Mass about a nasty little man stuck up a tree who is really a glorified thief. Rightfully, Jesus tells him to get lost, that his behaviour automatically excludes him from his circle of friends and thereafter Jesus goes off to share a meal and stay with some proper religious people. \ud83d\ude0b\n\nIt really astonishes me at times that otherwise sane, intelligent and good people sit Sunday after Sunday listening to these beautiful stories about the actual Jesus - not the transubstantiated version - welcoming those perceived to be sinners and obviously relishing their company. Yet they continually just don't 'get it.' They ignore Jesus completely in preference for a form of legalism. It's a Catholic version of the Nuremberg defence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesus picked male disciples\"\n\nGood point. But actually, he picked Jewish male disciples. I don't think my priest is Jewish. Would I be a better Catholic if I went to the synagogue?\n\nOf course, the local synagogue has a female rabbi. Maybe she doesn't know that Jesus allows only Jewish males to lead the people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alceste - it's possible that the dog whistle is working a bit differently.\n\nThe vicious Harper brain trust stirs up White Christian Fear that they are being sidelined by Immigrant Hordes of Muslims - and Scheer can stand and grin like a harmless Keebler elf while the Conservative Harper Party prepares to reap the benefits of the divisions, hates and fears they so love to stir.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, Jesus is the Son, a part of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit which are one and the same. Jesus said he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. So, you need to be careful what you say, or you could very well wind up in the everlasting fire for all eternity. Don't ridicule God! You will be condemned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because everyone in the West is a Christian?\n\nMost leftists like you are atheist!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So know we know how the Clinton brain-trust feels about Catholics. We were mocked for our supposed \u201cbastardization of the faith\u201d, we have \u201cseverely backward gender relations\u201d and we chose Catholicism as a cover for our bigoted religious beliefs. I wish they were honest enough to say it to the print media or in front of a microphone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What about the Christians that ISIS kills in the name of Islam; until Islam condemns this from \"all\" its Imams , then I have no pity for them", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Will: The promoting of illegal action, of course, is not protected speech. Benefits of tobacco? Let him/her talk and \"bury\" them with the evidence regarding the use of tobacco. Child pornography.....clearly promoting child pornography is not protected speech. A sermon from the Westboro Baptist Church? Protected speech...whether we like it or not. \n\n\"Are you a \"liberal\" in that you're \"willing to accept or respect\" these ideas?\" There's a difference between \"accepting or respecting\" ideas and respecting and accepting...and supporting the First Amendment... and allowing ideas which are not violations of the law but which one finds deplorable, to be heard. \n\nInstead of censoring the voice of racism and white supremacy, let's \"take them on\" and defeat them with the rational and moral argument that they are WRONG. I have every confidence that we both can and must do just that. Gary crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What Catholics? In what way? Is this from a man who believes that discrimination, slander, foul/sexist language, and building walls between nations is what Christianity/Catholicism is all about?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If there is a basis for thinking that Abp. Chaput wants to return to a \"Constantine-imposed Christendom,\" it is not evident in what you wrote. Don't fell bad, though, the Civilta Cattolica far outdoes you with its outlandish statement that Catholic conservatives and Christian fundamentalists espouse Manicheism. Among many other things, Manicheism doesn't assert literal belief in Genesis, or even an all-powerful god. But it does help to further modern Jesuits' disdain for conservatives to call us Manicheists. An old-line Jesuit would never have been so rhetorically challenged. How far they have fallen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "J. Mertens wrote: \"Trump's comments are neither unique nor isolated. He did not invent violence against women. Rather, his crass language and cruel sexual innuendo is forcing our nation to confront what too many American girls and women already know. In insidious ways, rape culture, sexism and misogyny already infect many elements of American life.\"\n\nWe also need to identify sexism and misogyny within the Catholic Church as the abusive behavior it is... and then to ask why some professed Christians in our own church (laity and clergy) would vote for a man who manifests these traits and brags about them. What sort of Christian witness is that within our own house, never mind the nation and the world?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sexual acting out by an uptight, right-wing Christian? Say it isn't so. Maybe Mr. Trump can urge people to pray for Mr. Moore. After all that's what he recommended instead of gun control measures after the church shooting in Texas. Good old useless prayer as a solution for not addressing real problems.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Romans tried to marginalize Christianity too in the hopes that it would fade away. When that didn't work, they tried genocide. When that didn't work, they tried assimilation, which only seemed to work until the Reformation. It's really hard to marginalize God ... Creator of the Universe. But keep trying. Christianity seems to grow best when persecuted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, In asking the Grand Chancellor to resign, the ex-Grand Master was ACTIVELY DISOBEYING the Holy Father. Your argument is utterly inane, and deserves contempt.\n\nWhat is particularly fascinating is that the alleged ultra-\"orthodox\", ultra-montane posters here are anything but. They reveal themselves to be blindly loyal to Burke, not the Holy Father; slaves to ideology rather than set free by faith.\n\nI quote for you, Trid, from Lumen Gentium (22) \"But the college or body of bishops has no authority unless it is understood together with the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter as its head. The pope's power of primacy over all, both pastors and faithful, remains whole and intact. In virtue of his office, that is as Vicar of Christ and pastor of the whole Church, the Roman Pontiff has full, supreme and universal power over the Church. And he is always free to exercise this power.\"\n\nNow that you don't like the pontiff, you sample the cafeteria! How ... hypocritical?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do we know he wasn't GOP mole planted in the Sander's camp?\nAfter all, he didn't kill anybody, but he sure has given the right something to scream about.\nAnd why aren't we calling him a Christian extremist terrorist?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most Christians I've known (not all) aren't that big on stuff found in the Bible that they didn't self select to use as a weapon against someone else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just how do you study a faux phenomenon created to elicit votes? Hate crimes against Catholics and Jews were just as statistically prevalent but no study for that. Of the over 1 billion muslims on the planet there are actually many who share the same distrust and wish to place distance between themselves and any notion of radical Islam. Are they also suffering from \"Islamaphobia\"?? The constant, and make no mistake it is constant, media sympathy campaign designed by the activist left and swallowed en masse by the naive liberals and MSM is alarming in its width. What a glorious day it must be for the liberal cabinet to go to work each day knowing it is not just fostering class warfare not only economically but also socially. Sunny ways my friends. Sunny ways.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He only stopped making the cakes because of FORCE applied by people like you. \nAlso again, you must not be watching the same shows I have been. What have late night hosts been saying? Almost any prime-time show portrays conservatives in a negative light and have been since the 70's at least. I admit there have been a few exceptions. like \"Touched by an Angel'. But for every one of those there have been a dozen \"All in the Families', or do you think that 'All in the Family' did not demean conservatives?\nA gay marriage to you may not be obscene, but to a conservative Christian it is. Just like eating pork is to a Muslim or eating a cow is to a Hindu. Now you want to force some people to do an action that is obscene to them. Until you accept the fact that a 'gay marriage' is as obscene to them as a pedophile wedding would be to you, you will not have a clue as to what is going on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can any decent human being vote for a person who believes and supports women who kill innocent children? It is beyond comprehension. Joan Chittister you are not a 'sister' of Christ to the most innocent and vulnerable in our society. Do you actually believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Please tell us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now this, unlike demonizing those who believe current immigration practices to be harmful, is what Catholics are called to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian religion, like too many, based on torture, terror, death, and destruction. Created to generate maximum fears in other humans from childhood for those who disobey the religious dictators. A collusion between the secular Roman Empire Monarchy and a self-installed Pope controlling all literacy to create a state religion for maximum control of the illiterate. A compilation of myths and dogma from the existing animus and multi-god religions dominating pre-history. Joining the one god religion of Jews to ensure dictatorial rule and a link to the selected pre-history eliminating the Greek democratic concepts as heresy. Easter and the bunny robbed from the animus believers to celebrate the spring, new birth of the natural world with every aspect related to a god-spirit. 2000+ years of lies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If only they'd done the same in this article's counter \"An open letter to white Christians who voted for Donald Trump\". Jesus ate with foreigners?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In this age, image the global Christian outrage if so called \"Christian\" extremists and terrorists were torturing, enslaving, and slaughtering thousands of innocents in the name of God.\n\nMuslim outcry over a single event like the killing of the French priest or this latest bombing are token at best. One must wonder where the publicly expressed collective outrage is within the global Muslim population?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No its about safety. He said until a vetting process can be established and most Muslim countries are not included in the ban only the most dangers that even Obama had concerns about. I am agnostic personally. If Christians started blowing up places and shooting up night clubs with the same regularity I would feel the same about them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In November 2012, Ryan said:\n\u201cAnd in these critical battleground states, it\u2019s going to make the big difference as to whether or not people are worried about where America\u2019s headed, worried about whether we\u2019re going to reassert our Constitution, or whether or not we\u2019re going to go down the path the president has put us on,\u201d Ryan said speaking on a Faith and Freedom Coalition tele-townhall with thousands of voters across the country.\n\nHe continued, \u201cIt\u2019s a dangerous path, it\u2019s a path that grows government, restricts freedom and liberty, and compromises those values, those Judeo-Christian, western-civilization values that made us such a great and exceptional nation in the first place.\u201d\n\nHis Facebook post is ridiculous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Liesite, the shame of Canadian Catholicism, is not owned by EWTN.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, and Jimmy Carter has choice words about Israel's illegal occupation in the Holy Land, of Palestinian Arab land, CHRISTIAN and Muslim. Episcopal Arch Bishop Desmond a Tutu, who spoke at St.,Andrews a few years ago, compared Israel's Apartheid as worse than what he experience in South Africa. I think of the obscene wall that surrounds Bethlehem. The obscene check points that even Jesus couldn't pass today. Joseph and Mary would not be able to travel from Nazereth to Bethlehem today just as PALESTINIANS are denied freedom and justice. Yet this \"CHRISTIAN Church\" 's focus is who can marry who. So absurd!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... super fakey 'christians' = modern day Republicans\n\nAll talk no substance!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rick, the Koran and the Bible are equally the products of their times. The difference is that modern Christians are free to take what they will from their scripture and disregard the rest. Muslims are not; any questioning of the scribblings of Mohammed is seen as blasphemy and is regarded by many as punishable by death.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the Pope indulging in his favourite pastime, denouncing Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "its really simple, racist, bigoted, closed minded, white evangelical christian males saw a last glimmer of hope to make every one of us toe their bible thumping line. fifty seven percent of the 535 congres-people that were elected are evangelical christians, just as the koch brothers and other super pac supporters are. anyone that doesn't think this is about continued rich, white, christian, male domination needs to do some research.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Talk about rewriting our history, to lay claim America was built on Christian principles is ridiculously absurd. Christians soundly reject equal inalienable rights, and have historically persecuted, prosecuted, and killed people who reject their religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I seem to remember that DHS considered the threat from home-grown Christian Identity type terrorism to be the bigger problem. \n\n\nThis of course caused all kinds of #triggered butthurt snowflakes to blame that (accurate) assessment on the incoming black president. The hand-wringing and poutrage was rather amusing to watch. \n\n\nAnyway, I still think that assessment is correct. It is not politically correct, especially for the Faux audience, including Donnie. But that doesn't change reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LOL! The National Catholic Reporter is worse than a bad joke. No self-respecting Catholic even takes you clowns seriously. Come on, you're neither 'Catholic' nor a 'Reporter'. What you are is a heterodox mouthpiece for the Left. Please, dispense with the sham of pretending to be Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Make birth control more expensive for poor women. Restrict access to abortions. And then whine loudly about all of these welfare babies bankrupting the country. The \"logic\" of Republicons.\nIt has been shown that free contraceptives combined with education dramatically lowers the number of abortions. So by this move we can conclude that the conservative christian right want to increase the number of abortions in our country. \nFrom grabbing vaginas (because he has the power) to peeping in on naked adolescents (because he has the power) to wishing he could bang his daughter (because he has the power) to making contraception less available (because he has the power) - this man is a true hater of women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope the \"god\" James believes in doesn't need human sacrifices. The vast majority of Christians can justify killing somebody..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are mistaking Evangelicals for the radical Islamists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, you have made it quite clear that you don't give a shirt for anyone outside youself and ypur family. You pretend that your indifference is pleasing tp God, which speaks of both your arrogance and your rejection of Christ. \n\nYou don't like me interpreting what you write. Too bad that your immaturity shows itself in that way. Bit then, we all know that you preach jumility, but omly for othets.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are obviously not a Christian. Or Jewish, Muslim, \n\n\n\n\n\n\nBuddhist,Hindu, or any other faith that comes to mind. Egoistic, perhaps? Loving you some Ayn Rand?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When it comes to 'Catholic Identity' of any Catholic Institution, we must follow the Principle, \"First, DO NO HARM\", to the faith. That means the Catholic University CANNOT be promoting, supporting or engaged in activities which undermine the established teachings of the church on Faith and Morals. Consider the hot button of Homosexuality. The University could have some sort of campus ministry to people who have a homosexual inclination, so that they can understand the Church's clear teachings, and learn to integrate the teachings of the church into their lives. This ministry to homosexuals could NOT promote homosexual marriage, or an active homosexual lifestyle. Conversely, If there were a Business Club on Campus, it would have to absolutely reject the exploitation of peoples at the altar of profit. So a true Catholic university does NOT fit into 'Liberal' or 'Conservative' camps, but promotes all the truths of the faith, regardless of political alignment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Three of the four (all but Trump) are putatively Catholic. \nWhen Giuliani was launching into a tirade about Bill Clinton's sexual misconduct on Meet the Press, echoing Trump's suggestion (with no evidence) that Hillary was not a faithful wife, Chuck Todd challenged Giuliani. The exchange went like this:\n<>\nSo ... infidelity is ok for Catholics, by Giuliani's lights, as long as they confess. This is an anti-Catholic canard I remember from my youth: You Catholics can do anything you want as long as you tell the priest on Saturday. If a Democratic politician had said this, +Chaput and the Republican Bishops' Conference would have been up in arms. But the 'pro-family' crowd let Giuliani get away with it. Deplorable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the contraceptive mandate shows that former P Obama was not militant pro abortion. Contraception is the best way to prevent abortion. The fact that the Catholic church does not agree is fine, no Catholic woman nor Catholic man should use contraception. Same with abortion.\nAbortion rates went down during his term. He is bound to enforce the law of the land and a majority of Americans think abortion should be an option.\nBoth he and Hilary stated the same, safe, legal and rare.\nOf course he was respected around the globe except for Putin, Trump's best buddy.\n\nThe biggest narcissist on that stage today was Donald Trump. \"Never, ever let you down\"?\nSomebody is going to be let down. Don't make promises you can't keep. \nYou keep thinking the right person was elected. \nBut many people think that speech was a warning. Did not reassure me in the least. Nor a lot of people around the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't really know much about the history of the Catholic Church, do you?\n\nExtreme traditionalists like you are required to be ignorant of history to maintain their fantasies. Either that or be prepared to lie. Neither ignorance nor dishonesty serve you well, nor do they serve God.\n\nThe dogma that freedom of religion is \"an insanity\" has been reversed by Vatican II. That you reject the Council places YOU in schism with the authentic Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course this is repressive, having to put a black blanket over your head, with two slits cut out for eyes. Those ladies comply or get rejected by family, friend and community. No double talk lefties and libertarians. These people are forced and not free to make decisions. Wonder if it was white male Christians forcing women to do this,if then the Liberals would then say it was repressive. What a messed up parodoxical Canada we have now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ teaching go one step further, we let go of our ego and there are no one is there to be offended. However, what can be done with Pope F. and Vatican prelates and bishops who do not repent about clergy sexual abuses of innocent children?\nIn Australia, there were fifty some clergy sex abuse victims killed themselves.\nPope F. promoted largely responsible prelates & acting as though they could care less about the victims death at all. What is going on in CI (Catholic Institution)? Are they all 'dev!l' in clergy outfit? Is it Catholic's duty to forgive 'dev!l'?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Radicalization is taught at home, around the dinner table, as the family enjoys mom's good home cooking, while the grown ups discuss destroying Israel, eradicating homosexuals and the evils of dirty infidels It is drilled into young minds with every tale of glorious martyrdom for Allah in every mosque in every city around the world. Extremism for Islam is taught the same way Christians are taught about Jesus and his message of mercy and forgiveness. It is not at odds with the teachings, but is central to the religion", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All perpetrated and demanded by fundamentalist christian ideology of female subservience to the demands of males not only in the family, but throughout society. A sexual predator, misogynist, woman-hating creep is now the Fuhrer of the United States. Thanks to the institutional failure of the country especially the religious claiming exemptions for its own criminal activities along with financial support for a secular government. All women are now fair game for any creep especially the \"business\" people who can emulate their Furher in thought, word, and deed. The nation descends into the darkness of servitude to the old white male dictatorship as they destroy the nation and much of the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even though I view Mr. Phillip's personal beliefs as ignorant, narrow-minded, and primitive, I have to agree that he should have a choice what artistic projects he decides to work on (but only as a small custom shop). As an agnostic and freelancer, I wouldn't want to be forced by law to work on Christian music, though I probably would if the pay was fair and the client was friendly. \nI say let the cause and consequence dictate how his small business (as a freelance artist) behaves. If he wants to discriminate against certain people, that's his business; go elsewhere and leave it to Karma (or whatever) to shut him down (or not) eventually. \nHowever, when it comes to large corporations who have a monopoly on things, or even just grocery stores, gas stations, companies that deal in things that everyone needs, etc., that's where the law should step in. If there was only one giant food company for everyone (which would be terrifying and dystopian) discrimination would be fatal for many.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't hear about the Christian thing with Shockley is he a member of your church? Wouldn't surprise me that someone of such low character was passing themselves off as a Christian.\n\nSecondly I didn't condemn the D- Party, what I wrote was \" Seems the Democrats in Oregon have some real dark horses in their barn yard\", \"some real dark horses\" speaks to individuals as opposed to saying ALL D-Party members are dark horses. Gee I would hope they not all lairs like Obama, Hillary, Kitzhaber, Bean and Shockley but maybe I'm wrong? I really like Eugene City Councilor George Poling and he is registered democrat.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yet another specious attempt at moral equivalency between Christianity and the other religion not to mention the members of the Catholic clergy and the general Muslim female population.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another misguided Pew \"study\", but clearly it leads the dull some around by their nose.\n\nIf Catholics and Christians are Americans, they are so only to serve God, in this clime and place.\n\nOne can't be a very effective American from God's eyes if one isn't bringing others to Christ through an ever more generous life modeled on Jesus Christ.\n\nThe purpose of being American is to serve God. The purpose of being a French woman is to serve God.\n\nCitizenship is a great good, only if it serves God.\n\nThis article and the silly Pew survey reveals shallowness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope is no guru, no teacher, no master; he is just a figure head, a political leader. Christianity is a dead religion, there are no teachers because Jesus died 2000 years ago same with Islam and Judaism, no teacher no one to guide the disciplines.\n>\n\nPeople are raise 'catholic' they become adults and assume they are pious, spiritual, religious but they are not. They are egotists, it requires real self work and self discovery. The same with the priest, they study, they practice then suddenly they think they are enlightened. No one becomes enlightened by simply reading one book over and over again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's not pretend Christianity in the US has a clean history. The KKK's killings and intimidation, segregation, anti homosexual equal rights legislation, anti interracial marriage legislation, slavery, and the cruel excommunication actions (due to such terrible things as being an atheist, not being of their particular religion, etc), have all been terrible legacies of Christianity in the US. The Bible has been used to justify all these things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Difference Between Donald Trump & Pope Francis\n\nKing Herod sent his men to kill the baby Jesus. Joseph was warned in a dream to flee with Mary and Jesus and go to Egypt. When Herod's men were in hot pursuit, they approached the Egyptian border. Standing at the border were Donald Trump and Pope Francis. Donald Trump yelled, \"You terrorists can't come across the border!!\" Pope Francis protested by saying, \"Heh! Herod's men are refugees, too! Let's welcome them. It's the Christian thing to do!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but this is pathetic and a typical atheist response. A huge part of the actual work and donations have come through faith-based organisations. I am sorry Ivo and gang, but your anti-Christian underwear is showing. Your attack on people of faith for the actions of one person is just as bad as the actions of that person you highlight. You are not aware of what people of faith are really doing because you are not looking. And all the sycophants singing the same hymn as you might well ask themselves why exactly the beliefs of others bother them so much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Uh....CHINOs - Christians in Name Only.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I write the following comments without intending disrespect to the author:\n\n1. This was a military decision, not a decision based on ideological social justice aims. Military readiness runs up against 'inclusiveness' all the time and many people are excluded in spite of their willingness to serve.\n\n2. The author (and commenters everywhere spouting the \"viagra costs more\" talking point) should think of medical costs on a per-capita basis not on a overall total basis. The per-capita medical costs for 'transgender' individuals are far higher than the *average* per-capital medical costs per person in the military. This is a fact and it is relevant to a decision about who to allow to serve. \n\n2. It is factually wrong and ideologically weasally to paint all opposition to the transgender movement as being evangelical in nature or rooted in Christianity. In fact, opposition to the movement (as well as support for it!) can be found in the scientific community and across the religious spectrum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently that just what Jesus would do. Man I am glad I am not one of these christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indigenous people aspire \"to commemorate the victims and survivors of residential schools\" by erecting a sculpture at Toronto City Hall. Meanwhile, the organization principally responsible for the abuses of the residential school system is still allowed to run provincial schools in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta at the expense of all taxpayers. Many residents of these provinces don't agree that their money should be spent teaching, for example, that gay people are depraved (as it says in the Catholic Catechism). But politicians (including a prominently gay one) continue to subsidize the church anyway. Eliminating segregationist separate schools would be a really important monument for future generations to marvel at.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are many faithful, good, retired priests at Villa St. Joseph.\n\nAnd the Church houses them with the predators the Church protected. A shameful way to treat those who served. But, fully in keeping with Jesus' instructions to protect the reputation of the Church, using any means necessary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just like Jesus said, \"Screw those guys that can't pay for health care. Also thanks for the loaves and fishes, but I have no idea what all you guys are gonna eat.\"\n\nI mean just like Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@ BROohthor, \n\nDo you not even have decency to respond rather than displaying a sneaky sad sticker. Sad to see a man wearing the mantle (Brother) of Jesus Christ hiding (running away). \n\nkevin your brother \nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll solve this problem. Deport Ezra Levant to an ice flow, take Kellie Leitch's doctorate away, and refuse re-entry to Canada for Kevin O'Leary. Tax all churches to the point of non-existance and remove all forms of secular teaching from the country. Shutdown the Office of Religious Freedom and cancel charitable status to all think tanks and political parties. The Conservative leadership race can have no more than three contenders, Michael Chong, Lisa Raitt and Maxine Bernier (to satisfy Quebec). The rest, deported for un-Canadian behaviour to Ezra's ice flow. Evangelicals - shut up!! There.. proble, solved!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".\n\nTrump?\n\nTolerance?\n\n-----\n\nUh-oh.\n\nWhoops!\n\nIt seems that Trump's Senior Advisor Steve Bannon's protege, Breitbart editor and alt-right icon Milos Yiannopoulos, is exactly the kind of \"pervert\" that Trump, and his Republican/conservative/evangelical/alt-right hypocrites rail about and love to brand with the \"Hollywood\" \"Leftie\" \"Soft-On-Crime\" tags.\n\nThe outspoken, high profile, alt-right Breitbart editor, a frequent supplier of racist and sexist rhetoric, has been banned from the high mass of American conservatism, the Conservative Political Action Conference, and simultaneously dumped by his book publisher for comments endorsing adults having sex with young children.\n\nhttp://money.cnn.com/2017/02/20/media/milo-yiannopoulos-cpac/index.html\n\nhttp://money.cnn.com/2017/02/20/media/milo-yiannopoulos-book-canceled-simon-and-schuster/\n\nAnother one bites the dust.\n\n\"Tolerance\" and \"Trump\" should not appear in the same sentence.\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Masturbation was a sin. Sex before marriage was a sin. Homosexuality was a sin. Extra marital affairs was a sin. The only sexual act that was not a sin was sex between a man and a woman united in holy Matrimony.\"\nsy\nCorrect teachings, one and all. \n\n\"If you molest a child, you simply go to confession and have your sins forgiven and go out and sin again.\"\n\nSexual activity with a child is and has always been regarded as a very grave sin by the Church. Were you never taught that repentance and a firm commitment of amendment is necessary to validly receive the sacrament of confession? Indeed, one of the fears being voiced about Amoris Laetitia is that it undermines these core aspects of the sacrament.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bipartisanship, that has been missing for a couple decades. My way or the highway. And both sides blow smoke and say it's the other sides fault. Both sides are beholden and bribed to their corporate sponsors, on whose behalf, both sides cause hardship, suffering, bankruptcies, and needless and senseless death to innocents in the world. Since they all claim to have the right hand of their jesus, I would have to say, they will be hardpressed to explain to their lord, why they want to get rid of refugees, immigrants, and others displaced and affected by American policies of greed, capitalism and colonialism that is the norm for America now.\nWhat we have is a Congress of ethically, morally and legally challenged scumbags in office, most who should be doing time in federal prisons for their corruption of collusion and conflict of interest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Given the situation in the U.S. today, with Catholics such as Steve Bannon in leadership roles where they foster, or at least do not oppose, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-Jewish, anti-gay, anti-Black, anti-feminist sentiments and actions, this movie might be quite relevant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can't be Catholic and support pro-abortion Hillary. Your smear of JBS, which has had Jewish leaders from day 1, demonstrates astounding historical ignorance. Most real conservative and Republicans players, including Phyllis Schlafly and Barry Goldwater, stood by JBS despite the lying left's smear campaign and the deranged attack by CFR liberal Buckley. Your smear of Breitbart, which always publishes accurate information or publishes a retraction if it makes a mistake, is equally repugnant. Let's see if you have the same courage to apologize for your obvious mistakes (or lies). In the meantime stop pretending to be Catholic while bearing false witness and shilling for the pro-abortion candidates.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That I \"attack the Church and that it teaches\" is a complete and utter LIE. Apparently, you disagree with the magisterium on the Seventh Commandment. \n\nI disagree with the magisterium when I believe that it is teaching wrongly. I also regularly disagree with YOU, but despite your arrogant pretensions to the contrary, you do not represent the magisterium. \n\nNow, I would expect an apology from an actual Christian, but I know that you have neither the grace, nor the balls nor the honesty to give me one. But we both know that you lied.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You gotta love the bias here. Trump picks an extraordinarily gifted black man who saves the lives of LITTLE CHILDREN to look over the housing of those less fortunate in our society and the media want to portray him as a loser because...drum roll please...he has no experience in government! If Carson knows how to re-start a child's heart, he can figure out how to restart a fat bloated bureaucracy. And then they talk about his kooky christianity while at the same time want you to let in Syrian refugees who have been religiously persecuted.\n\nThe left is so wetting the bed and it is beautiful to see!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gerson just called Trump a fascist and MSW endorsed this. I agree. Sadly, he is not a hands on fascist and his toadies are more true believer than he is, hence the fortnight of confusion just experienced.\n\n The Vatican Insider is correct. The popes from Piux IX to Benedict XVI mostly stressed their assumed authority over our ability to reason, which did not actually prevent error but merely ordered us to ignore it. They did not succeed. Birth Control is still not the evil they think it is, rather the need to use it shows the evil of capitalism (which Benedict at least got right). Interestingly, in condemning relativism they became relativists - operating on authority when reason went the other way. Francis seems to ignore the use of the term, which some find unnerving, some find illegitimate, some claim as implicit and some (of us) find a relief.\n\nThe former pastor of Surfer's Paradise? Right on braugh!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I never stated the apostles wore anything extravagant, but despising someone for aesthetics seems silly.\n\nAgain this strikes of a pentecostal attitude, that would see house churches as the ideal. We have had clerics from all walks of life, should we restrict it only fishermen? \n\n\" It seems like you, as many of the rad trad types, think that Jesus laid down every trapping of the Mediaeval Church and it was all set in stone for eternity.\"\n\nThere can be no fruitful discussion with these stereotypes clouding your mind. I am not a strawman.\n\nIf we believe Christ is the same God as the one who led the Jews during the exodus, than he is the same God that commanded an extravagant temple, specific clothing for clerics, and an ark adorned with images of angels. \n\nI am not saying all clerics should look like the cardinal, nor am I saying all churches should be works of art, I am saying there should be room in the church for both.\n\nAs for nitpick theology, what about the Nicolatians or Ebonites?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm the Principal Science Officer for The SAFIRE Project - 60 years old with 7 grandchildren. After watching them decline in their academic studies in both public and Catholic schools. By grade 4 they didn't know how to read, write or do even basic math! It was time to help and pulled them out and put them in a private school. \n\nNow governments want to dictate these schools must be focused on the sex/social ideologies and not the prime objective of getting kids ready for the real world. \n\nSex ed in early primary grades - they steel their innocence. The \"pleasures of anal sex\"... what?!? When i was a young man there were three primary STD's - now there are over 2 dozen of which girls suffer the most from this promotion of sexual activity. Approximately 30% of the girls in the Toronto GTA suffer from some form of STD - yes that is correct! Many of which are now robbed of the ability to have children. But they don't teach that! \n\nSex, sex, sex, sex and more sex\nEnough is enough!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did Jesus mention abortion? Homosexuality?\n\nNope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"He who looks on the priest sees Jesus. He who sees Jesus sees the Father.\"\nSo the children raped by priests saw Jesus when they looked upon their rapists? Jesus might disagree with you on that point. Interestingly, Jesus never told his apostles that those who saw them, saw him. Sounds like a false teaching created by men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sure Trump follows a similar philosophy. He exercises his conscience, commits objectively evil acts and is culpably free of personal guilt because self proclaimed pro life Catholics and 81% of Evangelicals voted for him thereby absolving him of his sins.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "_\" the decision to anoint Clinton as the candidate long before the primary had even started.\"_ -- McCardle\n\nWho is this babbler?\n\nMcCardle's rambling boils down to ... what? A lot of people don't like Hillary Clinton? You mean a lot of Fox-indoctrinate dimwits? You mean a bunch of extremist evangelicals who have lifted up Trump, one of the most un-Christian characters anyone can imagine? You mean the Koch brothers? Putin?\n \nAnd in case McArdle missed it, Hillary Clinton actually _won_ by over 3,000,000 votes because she worked her tail off during the campaign and has a long history of service that a lot of people admire. McCardle thinks Clinton should have feigned a \"serious health issue\" instead because she might not be the \"winner\"? That's a helluva principle for picking a good leader.\n\nPlease, it's one thing to publish criticisms of Hillary Clinton, but let's have the paper and ink used for someone with an intelligent and cogent perspective.\n\nThis piece is GIGO.\n\n-- Paul", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"\"The Church steadfastly opposes all unjust discrimination\"\n\nUnless, of course, unless you are LGBT, in which case the institutional Church embraces it and practices it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He didn't \"win\" the campaign. He and his fellow Republican traitors manipulated the election system in key states for years prior to this election. The Republican Governors and other officials in control of election processes in select large electoral voting states went on a rampage of purging the rolls of those minorities and Democratic-leaning areas. In addition the Republican legislatures passed voter restricting laws denying voting to select groups based on the destruction of the Voting Rights Act by the Scalia Treasonous Catholic Court. Required reading for all voters should be: The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast. A treasonous conspiracy by the ultimate traitors to overthrow the governing system of the U.S. and place a Fascist Tyrant in charge to carry it all out. Blatant and traitorous and they are getting away with it as the submissive populace led by the cowardly elected Democrats succumb to hate and fear just like 1930s Germany. Seig Heil!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Burke was a seditionist who directed a Catholic governor of his state to sign a bill she considered unconstitutional and which any lawyer with a decent law degree would do the same. He also took Devil's Advocacy to an extreme in opposing the Pope on the Synod on the Family and continued to oppose after Amoris Lat. He loves giving interviews to the right-wing press. He is a symbol for the Pre-Vatican II Church, without realizing that any pre-Vatican II Pope would have squashed him like a bug.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Icon: Over my lifetime I've been exposed to the hypocrisy of right-wing Christians. It's one of the things which reinforces by agnosticism. How can folks believe in a merciful god and, at the same time, be as nasty as these folks? It's truly beyond my comprehension. How can self-proclaimed Christians engage in pedophilia? How can the Catholic Church accept such behavior from clerics and \"hide\" them in other Dioces where they continue their behavior? How can \"good God-fearing Christians\" actually vote for and defend a man as morally degenerate as Donald Trump? \n\nI know no one will answer these questions. Instead, they will launch ad hominem attacks against me for asking them. I understand that......really what else can they do? But really, let me ask again \"How can anyone claim to believe in the moral values of Christianity and, at the same time, support a man as vile and morally corrupt as Donald J. Trump? I simply can't understand....help me out on this one. Thanks, Gary", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's also certified in the archives of the Anchorage Daily News, Alaskan and federal court records and like sources around the world. This kid is too young to to know about the endless lawsuits against the Catholic church for the sexual crimes priests have committed in Bush Alaska and everywhere else. Getting brainwashed by an organization with a long history of sexual abuse is not commendable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I consider myself a fairly liberal individual. I believe in equality for everyone and equal rights for women and homosexuals. I don't want any religion to have any say with respect to any laws of Canada ever. I simply don't see Islam agreeing with any of my core beliefs I listed above. \n\nLet's be honest. If this was a group of fundamentalist white Christian males from the deep south insisting through intimidation and violence that their women wear niqabs, and that it was OK to kill gays because that's what God demands, and that death is the only suitable punishment for leaving the church, the same liberal elites would be up in arms to have every last one of them deported. But because they are brown people from the middle east they get a pass because \"it's their culture\". Enough already. It's time that liberals fight for what they are supposed to be all about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The term \"dispossessed\" has interesting meaning here. \n\nMost would automatically think of material dispossession - i.e., home, job, finances, etc. Now we know that some of the Trump supporters are low income or disenfranchised people, but we also know that his supporters average an annual income of 72k per year, USD. That's not chump change. \n\nSo perhaps it is dispossession of another sort that bothers them. Like not being stationed at the top of the social hierarchy anymore, simply by virtue of being white \"Christian\" Republicans. The world order now visiting their neighbourhoods has changed the face of their country forever and they are struggling to keep up. Watching the behaviour of some of them at Trump rallies, they struggle to stand upright.\nWonder how this dangerous dynamic would change if they chose instead to not see themselves as victims and reject Trump's selfish manipulation of them. Sad!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Glad the Holy Father, Vicar of Christ, is learning that aiding and abetting sexual predators is bad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In 1988, two young American men beat to death Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian graduate student. Mulugeta\u2019s only crime, according to them, was his skin color. \n\nAs it turned out, these men were members of the White Aryan Resistance (WAR), a white supremacist group founded by neo-Nazi and KKK grand dragon, Tom Metzger. \n\nMetzger began his racist career in 1979 by patrolling the U.S./Mexican border in San Diego as a private citizen stating he was concerned about illegal immigration. \n\nWhen he began hosting a television show aimed at white nationalism, his anti-immigrant stance quickly became an anti-anything not white, Christian and male. Additionally, he sponsored a rock concert for Aryan youth which is how the Seraw killers were introduced to his racist gutter spewed antics.\n\nThe Southern Poverty Law Center sued Metzger using the vicarious liability concept and won.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most Catholics personally do not BELIEVE IN OR USE abortion and have NO choice about others USING IT because it is not a democratic issue. There is no abortion law, it is entirely constitutionalized. Until there is a federal bill to change when the unborn are legal persons, the views of Catholics don't matter, nor do their votes on the issue. Only REPUBLICAN CON MEN say otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "HV is obviously wrong, bot on sex and on life. The current doctrine on original sin, which relies on the disobedience of some lost set of first parents rather than really looking at the Eden myth critically and seeing that the original sin is blame is ripe for correction. The fetish that Asexuals have for proving that scripture shows that Jesus was one of them, rather than a working Rabbi with a wife is deliberate fabrication. None of this is reform of practice. It is all doctrine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Pope meets with Archbishop Chaput and the rabid Republicans in the Chruch\u2019s Pro-Life and Organization for Marriage offices, he may as well take it one stop further and meet with the rest of the conspiracy of hate. He met with Trump. He can\u2019t do worse. If Obama paved the way for anti-Christ, he has now certainly arrived in the White House.\n\nJesus came to dine with sinners, not the saved. He should meet with these guys and bring in Al Gore to talk to them about the environment. It would be blessed torture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If this woman (she is doing adult things) were 18 instead of 17, no one would care. If you think she is an innocent child, I would have to say no, she does not appear to be innocent. Nevertheless, no priest should consort with prostitutes except, as Jesus did, to forgive and heal them.\n\nThe nonsense about sexual abstinence by priests goes way back to Samson, who allowed a whore to cut his hair, and lost his strength. It's total garbage. Purity of mind can certainly admit human sexual roles. But if priests were allowed to marry, that might solve 90% of these \"problems\" of priests abstaining and then sinning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For Catholic leaders who are seduced by that carefully-written letter (which was no doubt composed by a staffer), when Donald Trumps says \"On life, I am, and will remain, pro-life,\" they might want to consider both the fact that for a very long time he wasn't, as well as his recent statement that he didn't understand why we don't use our nuclear arsenal. Any bishop that values life on Planet Earth ought to think very carefully before being seduced by this serpent's tongue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God has spoken that apostasy shall not overcome the Light [prevail forever]; but, we are in the midst of great crisis. The children of Christian civilization have repudiated the foundation for Blessing;...Law and [B]order. The Truth of Liberty and Freedom has been transformed into liscence. And now the walls have fallen for uncultured hoardes of uncivilized savages to rape, rob, and plunder. A plague of devouring locusts sent for judgement to destroy the blessings. JOEL 2:3\nWhy do the clergy cast off all fear of God?...holding to a servile sycophantic cult-like addling, mesmerized by this messiah of apostasy like rats after the pied-piper.\nThe Mighty God judge with fire the judas-clergy aiding and abetting this globalist criminal enterprise.....or, better yet, let fear have her imperfect work. Proverbs 9:10", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regardless of how wrong handed Repub policies may appear. It's quite a stretch to assert that their proposed policies will cause children to starve. Ridiculous hyperbole merely weakens your argument rather than reinforces your point. As far as christians go, the ones I know provide direct support to the needy via charity and volunteerism (as Jesus commanded) rather than rely solely on the gov't to inefficiently and ineffectively intervene. Lift some of the the tax burden and they would be able to afford more than the $390 billion donated last year. BTW it spelled Medicaid.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most of the time people married to each other (or not have sex,) it is recreational. What do you call it when your priest masturbates or when your pastor has an affair with a married or single woman. Yes they are braking their own vows. However, recreational sex is a profound need for most all adult humans. It is a source of a bonding for people in love, it is simply relief if they are not in love. The ideas that the catholic \"positions of dogma\" on sexuality, love, reproduction and family has any validity is what is in real question. Long standing Deprivation does not lead people closer to God. It leads to people that are ill! Certainly this is true of the schizoid personality traits celibacy causes in the truly celebrate clerics. In the non celibate cleric it causes false guilt. Those that really are celibate and are good people, are good not because of celibacy but inspite of the fact that they are abusing their own needs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ever since the Gospel writers had Jesus condemn those who would lead one of these little ones astry the sexual abuse of children has been a problem in the Church (at the time there was no such thing as dogma). Modernism won the arguments on scripture scholarship being the sole province of the Holy Office and on Evolution and the Eden myth. Liberalism is considered cooperation with corporations. There are much more leftist movements advancing in and out of the Church. Even your insults are out of date.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Having sex outside of marriage whether one is fornicating or committing adultery is a objectively a mortal sin. The use of a contraceptive barrier whether physical or chemical during intercourse is objectively a mortal sin. The use of condoms is absolutely forbidden by Humanae Vitae under any circumstances so please show where you think that the Encyclical allows this.\nDo you really understand what the Catholic Church teaches concerning sexual morality?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only \"Nut Job\" is our deranged orange POTUS. \n\nLadies and Gents, you are witnessing the end of Trump, Thank You Jesus!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Being welcoming toward gays is not --- or at least, should not --- be a liberal vs. conservative issue. As with most other things, there is the Catholic position --- neither conservative nor liberal. Simply the Catholic position. On whether a parish should welcome gays, the answer is clear: the Church teaches that we are all sinners, and precisely because of that, all of us need the Church, her teachings, and her sacraments. To welcome gays is not at all to accept or condone gay sex. The Church's position on that is also clear. But for those who are truly Catholic and seeking the way of Christ, the Church should always have open arms. Maybe the better question is whether gays, knowing the Church's position, will seek salvation guided by the one true Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I, too, struggled with the same issue. Why/how on earth would a 'race-bating, misogynistic, bigot' be invited to and given a platform at Catholic charity event, which in and of itself is questionable (rich white people in white tie or expensive evening gowns)?!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great article but you can't tell this story without the context of virulent anti Catholic sentiment in Upper Canada. Just read the Globe founder's views eg \u201cIrish beggars are to be met everywhere, and they are ignorant and vicious as they are poor,\u201d George Brown", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. Correct, there is no constitutional right to immigrate. However, once you allow someone to immigrate or seek asylum, they have constitutional right to due process. \n2. Trump's ban is much broader than Obama's and has been hastily implemented, i.e. DHS and ICE given incomplete and conflicting instructions.\n3. The executive order has an exemption for religious minorities, i.e. christians, thats a religious test.\n4. That's paranoid blather. Radicalized muslims are a much smaller subset than muslims that have no intent to harm americans. We need to discern between these two even if it feels better just to lump them all together. Its like in war where you need to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants even if it would be easier just to kill them all.\n5. If you change \"muslim\" to \"terrorists\" I would agree.\n6. Correct but you are basically repeating yourself (see #1) \n7. More paranoid blather (Well, you said 6 again but we know you mean 7)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Daniel N. Russell - Wow. Really? Jesus healed the sick for free. That's true, as far as it goes. Jesus was also God incarnate and He hung out with some highly successful fishermen and could turn water into wine and multiple a child's lunch to feed thousands. He didn't need to work a job to eat. He didn't need to work a job to keep a roof over His head. He didn't have a wife or children or a mortgage.\n\nWhen someone who has clearly never real the Bible makes a doofus comment like that, I just have to reply. You have NO idea what you're talking about, so please just stop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The same liberals who are freaking out on Donald Trump for his moral relativism in suggesting white nationalists and counter protesters were equally to blame for events in Charlottesville will now invoke a boatload of moral relativism defending Islam as no different than other religions. It IS different. Jews, Hindus, Christians, Buddhists and atheists are not routinely committing atrocities like this around the globe in the name of their faiths or lack of faith. Islam is institutionally sick and needs to be called out long, loud, often and unapologetically for serious reform. Irshad Manji got this right many years ago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right. Pope Francis is so like the Taliban. What silly comparison to make. Maybe the reason why there isn't women priests isn't the Pope himself but because of 2000 years of Catholic Dogma combined with John Paul II's statement shutting down debate on the issue. \n\nThis is 2000 years of rigid tradition he's inherited and it's not easy to change that all at once. While he has not been perfect on this issue, he has advanced an important conversation on women being deacons which has not happened in 1000 years. He has endorsed feminism in Amoris Laetitia as a \"movement of the Holy Spirit\" to break down patriarchal barriers. \n\nAnd while you may not listen to him, you aren't representative of the opinions of all women. Particularly poor women, and women of color living under the poverty line for instance who have a high opinion in the slums because of the work he has done in these areas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Leave Black Catholics out of it.\"\n\nYou are shifting the meaning of the metaphor. That metaphor has nothing to do with the color of one's skin, much less one's religion. \"Brown priests\" of Nazi Germany were black-hearted to compromise the Gospel as are Imams today in the Middle East who exploit the tensions there to attack everything about the West. Nancy is just as black-hearted, making sub-textually the sins and crimes of a few intrinsic to the faith-integrity of everyone in the church. Maybe a better metaphor for Nancy would have been \"white-fanged\" to best express the center and excess of her anger. \nAs for you -- Raymond J. Jirran, Ph.D. -- you need to go back to English 101 and attempt to acquire a literate knowledge of metaphor. A metaphor like an big onion should have successive peelings of meaning. Not one! No doubt when W. Stevens says \"a man and a woman and blackbird are one\" you conjure up images of miscegenation. Or think a black hole is some kind of black ghetto. Sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am they, them, those. \nI suppose you learned to spew your hatred while attending Sunday School? Is it in the Bible, to cast the first stone or to condemn others as thyself or something like that? Who do you think God will punish more harshly, you for seething hate or me for loving a person of my own gender?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The arrogance of American foreign policy is far beyond breadth taking. It is actually stupid. \n\nIran signed a major agreement on nuclear arms and trade about a year ago. The agreement sponsor is the UN, major powers on the table including U.S., EU, Russia, China. Today all parties are satisfied with the agreement with all terms in full, verified compliance. Except the Trump administration. Why is Trump not satisfied? See, he wants Iran to have the right 'spirit'. Maybe kiss Trump behind and beg for mercy like a child. Hail Trump as Overlord of the World. Or even convert to Christianity? \n\nWithout the right 'spirit' what will Trump do? Invade Iran? Actually I love to see that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My last sentence---\"The sexual abuse scandal was caused by homosexual priests\"----is ABSOLUTELY TRUE!!!!!!!!!! Go look at the facts. There is no denying it, though you and others like you try to. You say, \"The fact is that many in the hierarchy are gay. If the Church actually got rid of all of its gay clergy, we would be left with very few.\" The reason for the large number of homosexuals (not \"gay\", homosexuals) in the hierarchy is because the seminaries in the 60's and 70's were allowing in as candidates men who were not qualified to be priests. Who are you to determine who is qualified to be a good priest?????? The rule against allowing homosexuals and those with homosexual tendencies is a GOOD rule, a USEFUL rule, a HEALTHY rule. If it had been followed, the Church would not be having the problems it is having today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why not direct your comments toward the one making silly and erroneous accusations?\n\nYou know...the one who falsely claimed \"She pretends that discrimating against our LGBT brothers and sisters is Catholic doctrine and should be a civil right\" or.....show me where I ever ever said such a thing?\n\nOr where anyone has ever been \"prevented from worshipping.\". Or where anyone has been denied medical care. Or where I ever claimed to be living the perfect Catholic life.\n\nOr...more to the point - perhaps reconsider who exactly is being sanctimonious here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only thing that matters to Trump voters is to have a white male as President instead of a woman or black person. They want a while male who will protect them from Black Lives Matter, immigration, feminism, GLBTQ, Islam, etc. They are willing to let themselves and their families get sick and die in order to have their white male protector. Many have made Jesus into their white male protector, with President Trump as His vicar on earth. As long as their white male protector builds a wall between them and the infiltrators, and does it in the name of Jesus, he can do whatever he wants with health care.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Pride\" is a vague term. So much of Catholic school, for example, featured bashing kids for feeling justly happy with themselves and their talents and insights under the guise of fighting \"pride.\" Even among Catholic adults, you see this accusation hurled against people who think clearly and see things needing improvement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not really. If you think one man can change 2000 years of practice and an institution like the Catholic Church overnight you're dreaming and have your head in the sand. The Pope is already facing institutional resistance within the Church itself over his attempts to reform it so I'm not that surprised by this. \n\nEven Pope John XXIII who presided over Vatican II couldn't change Catholic Dogma overnight. Pope Francis is making the changes that he can within the confined of the structures that he is operating in. Social Conservatives are gonna hate the fact that he emphasizes mercy. Social Liberals are gonna say he's a liar and attack him for not changing dogma or bringing about the changes they want as fast as they expect. \n\nI just pray for him in terms of the daunting task that he has to face and the difficulty of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church teaches that:\n\n\"the Catholic Church teaches that universal, affordable health care is a human right \u2014 a teaching cited by Dewane in his letter \u2014 \"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some people need attention any way they can get it, and lots of Catholic clergy are included. Disruption and friends often flow from anger and the frustrated desire for control -- here again lots of Catholic clergy appear -- Ray Burke is a \"good\" example!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no spreading of any Catholic faith, clearly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am afraid Kaine didn't improve the attractiveness of the Catholic Church or faith. He gave the combined image of St Peter's impetuosity with Judas's self-seeking motives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cool. Creationism is 100% anti-science.\n\nI never mentioned Christians. You did.\n\nIm all for studying different cultures, but not for teaching their myths as scientific facts in school...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"All Christian denominations are one -- are 'the church'-- because they are united in seeking to follow Christ.\"\n\nSuch an over-devote expression of unity -- spokes in a single common wheel -- implicitly suggests that all believers must pretend/aspire to sentiments of mutual confidence and unity which they do not feel. Just as nations differ in civil and constitutional legislation so do churches differ in doctrinal expressions and canonical customs -- if only for good order and confessional integrity, among other things. Unlimited \"unity\" doesn't work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1968 was a loss of innocence. While some know of the dysfunctional asexuality of Catholic sexual teaching, most ignored it. Vatican II openend up the gates of free thinking because it changed so much. People no longer feared damnnation as a result of disobedience, which was unhealthy anyway. Humanae Vitae sealed the deal. Repudiate it, especially the sexual orthodoxy, and people will flock back to the Church. Also, more afternoon Masses on Sunday. People work too hard to have to get up Sunday morning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is absolutely correct that the media is not an official part of the American government 'checks & balances'; and the Trump Administration manipulating the image of the press and complaining about it like they have is unprofessional, at best. Unfortunately, there is no law that says they have to like press coverage - even if they constantly cause their own negative coverage, there is no requirement for them to support media. \n\nThat's okay, because the media isn't the main problem in this country; and our deep divisions are so much easier to heal than we realize: Christians & ex-Christians Prove God Exists by Debunking Salvation: Science & Spirituality Reveal the Real Jesus Christ http://hub.me/akagx", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What nonsense. The Liberal (and liberal) stance on these issues has nothing to do with personal beliefs and everything to do with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Supreme Court decisions. Whether the person holding beliefs that run contrary to those two foundations of Canadian society is a Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu or Buddhist is irrelevant. They can dislike gay marriage, abortion and LGBTQ people as much as they want, but any attempt to impose their position on society will be struck down.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have to pull Scripture together, to understand what God means by \"all your hearts, mind, soul, strength\" \"be perfect as My Heavenly Father is perfect\" \"to love others as our selves\"....to etc.\n\nGod's desire for us is very clear...He wants us to be like Him, to be united with His will.\n\nHe gave us many talents...he doesn't want us to bury them..to not work for him..so many Gospel passages set this \"stretchy\" criteria of love. \n\nGod gave us our intellect...for a reason...to love Him and serve His children.....so we must look at our faculties as being lent by God to do great things..to \"solve problems' for His people...tob become doctors, morticians, teachers, engineers, accountants, bus drivers....each of us solving many many problems for others every day...with a Christian spirit of cheerfulness, a spirit of service, and great generosity. \n\nGod gave us animals for a lot of reasons..but clearly to eat. He gave them for our use.\n\nthis doesn't mean we waste His resources.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The implication that we are rich, heartless people who want illegal immigrants deported despite the fact that they are our gardeners, house cleaners and nannies in certainly insulting and shows a complete lack of understanding about how the middle class lives. It's disappointing that a priest would talk about his own parishioners this way.\n\nAlso, is it too much to ask that illegal immigrants to consider their actions' effects on the people of this country before they come here or when deciding whether to leave? I would say Christian charity demands they do so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was referring to the author of the article. He has no business meddling in Catholic Church affairs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clearly the Apostles didn't understand Jesus at first. Then, when Christ explained what they were to do they embraced His request, His demand and went out and did as He asked. Unfortunately, many priests and bishops today have not. And, as such, bash the Pope who clearly is acting as Jesus did and would.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As for the super apostles, which is really a kind of humorous chapter in Corinthians - it is so clear these people have really ticked Paul off! So we see Paul's defensive and more human side in this spot, I don't believe they are the 12 Apostles. It seems these apostles are other evangelists which have gone to some of the churches Paul has started and kind of told them \"Paul is old hat now and you should follow us!\" Some of the people have been persuaded with this new kind of Christianity that is not quite the same thing Paul is teaching and he finds this dangerous. I believe super apostles is what the community was describing them to Paul as and this is something Paul finds a bit hurtful and he feels he is competing to gain back his respect and their loyalty. I don't quite understand what the 24 thrones in Revelations is referring to but that book is dicey since it is prophesy that has not been thoroughly fulfilled yet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I only know one, perhaps two, of the editors/writers, but I am pretty sure that Fr. Reese has never advocated \u201cfiltering out\u201d, calling others \u2018self-righteous and self-centered\u201d, and so on and so forth. None of that is Christian, it is simply angry and judgmental.\n\nJohn 13:34-35\n\nI changed my screen name after a phone call in the very early morning/late night, from someone nearly as acerbic as yourself. Lesson learned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With all the press that the death of Hugh Hefner, North Korea and now Harvey Weinstein are getting, I had no idea she died till now. May she RIP. However, SNAP has proven to be a disgrace. Barbara and David were riding on the backs of fame and just were about getting that lawyer's money. SNAP has proven to be nothing but a front for several alt-left, anti-Trump and anti-Catholic tones. Its Alinsky-style approach has reared its ugly head. I cannot judge Barbaras soul but can only hope God spared her. God bless", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Uh...the Catholic Church has already concluded that human biological evolution and evolutionary theory do not inherently contradict Christian teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When you underpay workers, import illegals to work under the table, flout safety laws, pay at a much lower tax rate than the middle class, and buy elections all while maintaining fabulous wealth, i'd say you owe a bigger percentage to the government. Please stop with the myth that the government is trying to shut down religion. We live in a country with over 38,000 Christian sects, not one of them in danger and most of whom use contraception.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether Paul wrote Hebrews is entirely relevant to your offer of Hebrews as evidence that Paul thought Jesus was God. Just to refresh your memory, that's how this subthread kicked off.\n\nSo your argument is: \"The Catholic Church says so.\"\n\nLet's just say I'm underwhelmed. By the way, I never denied you were Catholic. A bizarre accusation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\n\nYes, the basis of Francis\u2019 self-reported anger in the interview to which you refer us, is for the same reason \u2013 the Commission has been set up to answer the first question, not the second.\n\nHowever, Joshua McElwee remains correct in the quotation that you dispute: \n\n\u201cFrancis' openness to studying the possibility of women serving as deacons COULD represent an historic shift for the global Catholic church, which does not ordain women as clergy.\u201d\n\nMore background is required. \n\nThe CDF has commissioned two prior studies of the female diaconate. The first answered the first question in the positive\u2014historical female deacons received the sacrament of Holy Orders exactly like male deacons. \n\nThe CDF did not like this answer, so they refused to publish it. Instead they picked someone known to hold the opposite view, to write a second report, and, wonder of wonders, that study said female deacons were not real deacons. The CDF liked that answer, and so they had it published.\n\n(cont.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are only Christian as long as they don't have to put any effort into it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time... So the LORD said, \"I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them...Then God said, \"Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.\"...At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.\"\n\n Are you applying the same standards to the Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings..........it seems to me that the real players in this Trump administration will be Pence and Ryan! I'm calling out Ryan as a Ayn Rand devotee, and Pence as an ex Catholic turned right ringed Evangelical as not the two that need to lead a divided country ! Pence I'm sure will be like a Chaney to Trump....running the show behind the scenes in conference with Ryan! Very dark days ahead for not just Catholics ........but the whole world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As Frances Robinson put it very well--there was no Apostolic teaching [coming from Jesus] that only men could be priests. There WERE NO priests in the Age of the Apostles. Christian communities [celebrated the Eucharist---the Meal] in private homes and they elected their leaders/presbyters themselves. Often the presbyters were women.\n\nIt was only after the days of Constantine, when Christianity became a state religion---that churches began to be built. It was then, that men and men only were selected to be priests. \n\nThe trouble is, most of the seminaries really don't teach Church history---because the directors don't want any seminarians asking questions about ordained women in early Christianity.\n\nAs far as JP II's seminary education, it was conducted in the basement of Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieda rectory---during the Nazi occupation of [Krakow] and all of Poland. Sapieda was class-conscious and a descendent from Polish nobility, also acted JP II's mentor when he became bishop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks, Ty. I for one (our Constitution for two) advocate we tolerate religious freedom so long as those that practice do not violate others rights. This is to not provide esteem to any or all religions, but it is so that we don't have to live under \"Sharia\"-esque law whether it comes from Muslims, Christians, or any other faith. Separation of church and state came about for the odd reasons (it was actually to protect the church from state interference), but it stands because it is fundamental to our stability as a people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OD does not support right wing authoritarian regimes in it's official statements. OD members, like Honduras's Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga support right wing authoritarian regimes with their actions and then help load these governments with OD members. It is a constantly repeated pattern starting with Escriva and Franco. Someday Ed, maybe you will pass all the loyalty tests and get to be high enough up the food chain to be part of the real exciting stuff, where you get to sell your soul for the cause of establishing benevolent Roman Catholic dictatorships.\n\nBy the way, did you know that it's being reported in Italy that SSPX will be joining OD as Personal Papal Prelature? I guess OD will have to share that limelight.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The one thing that talks the loudest in this denomination and its affiliated agencies is MONEY. Why should MSW or anyone be surprised or upset about this .... it's a time-honored Catholic practice.\n\nRead Gianluiggi Nuzzi's \"Merchants in The Temple\" and be prepared to cringe regularly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, you finally show your true colors. It is not the part of a faithful Catholic Christian to invite another faithful Catholic Christian to walk out the door. We do not ask others to leave. Indeed, how could we? We are all baptized into the Body of Christ and no one and nothing can destroy that membership. By the way, the Lutherans share the same baptism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry, I was too busy sifting through \"progressive\" posts critical of evangelical christianity.\n\nYou were saying something about M-103, I can't keep up, your post keeps disappearing.\n\nStrange coincidence I'm sure.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religion... if we're a Christian you'd be yelling this at the top of your roof.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very, very dangerous territory this. We need to be aware of two dangerous trends: Christian dominionism and Christofascism, both of which are heretical and play into the right wing, conservative camp. There is no such thing as \"Christian government\" - it is a very insidious construct and we seem to have already forgotten that the Apartheid regime considered itself Christian. It's religion was a heretical calvinism: it had all the trappings of the Christian religion but was rotten to the core. Let us not make the same mistake again. Where the kingdom of God attempts to play the role of the kingdom of Caesar, The kingdom of Caesar always devours the former.\nIn addition, there is the assumption that Christianity trumps all the other faiths in the land: Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, African religions. This is an arrogance which flies in the face of multiculturalism and religious tolerance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chinn is a Christian and active in this church-- he even sings in the choir.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A faithful pledge of lifetime celibacy/chastity doesn't lead to a sex act at all, so there isn't really a comparison here. There is nothing sinful about refraining from sexual activity (especially activity we as Catholics/Christians are supposed to engage in anyways.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Prior to the ACA, Catholic church self insurance plans offered contraception. I worked at a church for over 10 years. I think the church dislikes Obama more than contraception.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I struggled first for years with anxiety that I couldn't live up to the standards of the institutional church, and after awakening from that, with anger that the church isn't living up to my standards. A wise advisor pointed out that I was being a bit perfectionistic to expect it all to fit together seamlessly, on my terms. I had to laugh because he nailed it! Perfectionism is one of my worst faults! This relationship between my individual experience of God, and the collective understanding of God that we call religion, is bound to be messy and confusing at times. I have found peace by accepting the incongruities, having patience with the unknowing, the cognitive dissonance, that is part of an adult faith life. Acceptance, sitting with the uncertainty and lack of resolution, trusting that God is there despite the confusion, is my definition of faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with utilitas. Being a good Christian does NOT mean we must endanger our country by having open borders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many of the Catholic Church's values have to do with helping the poor and suffering and being nice people. They certainly do not revolve around the rubrics or obsessing over other people's sex lives. And I will stay because it annoys people like you so much that I remain.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1 of 2\nJesus tells us,\n\u201cThere is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day\u201d.\n.\n'Not one iota' \nThe inviolate Word of God\n\u2018You shall not commit adultery\u2019\n\u2018But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery\u2019\n\u201cFor this reason a man will leave his father and mother (continuing the creative process) and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh\u201d. (The Truth of this statement can be seen in any offspring they may be blessed with) And this visual Truth defines marriage (as been OPEN to the Creative process) sexual union, \u201cSo they are no longer two, but one flesh\u201d\u2026\u2026 let not man put asunder\u201d\nThou shall not steal etc. \nWe all fall short of His inviolate Word (Will) so how do we create a union of believers, in our human weakness, so that the world may see proof of the divine origin of Christianity, in giving credence to the belief .........\n\nContinue", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No thanks, Chaput. I have often tasted the Christianity of these \"more zealous\" Catholics and a more vicious, narrow-minded, cruel group of people it would be hard to find. Compare and contrast the lives of Dom Helder Camara, Oscar Romero, Pope Francis and... Chaput. \nI rest my case.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus surrounded himself with women. Paul also profusely praised the good works of his women coworkers (Romans 16) Some sexism taken from The Jewish tradition was applied to appeal to order and tradition but that was contrary to Jesus's egalitarian message and practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How surprising that you could not provide one simple explanation for removing the Tabernacles from the Center of the Altar. Your comment clearly shows the actual reason. To slowly diminish the belief in his actual presence present in the Eucharist. Communion in the hand and removal of kneelers have performed this task very well. \nYes, I believe Jesus is physically present, body, soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist. He is present in the Tabernacle. \n You don't believe in the most important belief of the Catholic Faith, yet take the time to call others that actually profess the faith as Fundamentalists. Why would any serious Catholic take your advice or comments seriously?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or decline is the wages of sin. The older generation chose to act like Episcopalians rather than transmit the faith, meanwhile the Episcopalians were flirting with UCC-ism, the UCC with UU, and the UU with atheism. If the Catholic faith is what we were taught implicitly in the '80s there is no reason to bother. \n\nMaybe that is the Spirit at work. The consequences of sin are God's law and natural, not some gratuitous punishment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islam is the only religion right now that has violent conflict within its advocates and over religious dogma. That amply supports Doug's point and militates against his fears.\n\nPerhaps Catholics vs. Protestants in Ireland came close to being a Christian example of a violent battle over dogma, but it wasn't really that. \n\nProtestants didn't want to be part of a state that included Catholic inspired laws like those on abortion and birth control.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"theirs is an exhausted project. It is time for the Church \u2013 and the polity \u2013 to move on.\"\n\nThe reason the neocon / theocon project is exhausted isn't because of the tiredness of certain responses to the Civilta article but rather because their decades-long collusion finally culminated in the election of one Donald J. Trump, the very antithesis of anything remotely Christian. It was easy to avoid the soul-searching when George W. Bush was POTUS - his breezy \"wear it on your sleeve\" brand of Christianity was easily bought by the masses and was never questioned. Now we have someone whose \"values\" mostly consist of lying endlessly and expanding his own financial portfolio, usually at other people's expense. So it's no longer feasible to avoid the long-overdue soul-searching regarding the merits and pitfalls of jumping into bed with Caesar. More than anything or anyone, Donald Trump has shown where it eventually leads - no place any true Christian should ever want to go. Yet here we are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Gingrich marriage highlights the sheer hypocrisy in the RCC. It was Wuerl himself who received Newt into the Catholic church, after he had obtained (one or two) annulments. He had affairs with wives 2 and 3 for years before divorcing and remarriage. The conservative Catholics who are angry with Francis about his ideas on divorce and remarried people being eligible for communion are simply fine with serial marriages by adulterers as long as they toe the line and get annulments, as many as needed. \n\nThis seems a way of pacifying Newt, who seemed to expect a big job under Trump, after not offered the VP slot. Trump can use Newt's wife to fill a job that he thinks totally unimportant, and maybe even get Newt out of town. Callista will wine and dine in Rome and effectively do nothing. Flipping birds at Newt and Francis at the same time.\n\nI wish it had been Bannon. Bannon is a danger to our republic. Getting him out of town would be a service to the nation. Callista - harmless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am rather surprised that some commentators find fault with other equally catholic cultures (Christmas treees are also of pagan origin). I suggest a broader openness to the traditions of the world, most of which have theologies and prayer practices older than our own, e.g., Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, as well as the philosophy of organism in Taoism and the ethical standards of Confucianism (Which Matteo Ricci wanted to substitute for the Old Testament). The sad alternative is to remain enclosed in our \"mare nostrum\" faith/culture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Catholic I am required to believe that Our Lord did indeed establish His Church upon earth and that the Catholic Church is that Church. The true followers of Jesus Christ belong to the Catholic Church and it is to them He promised the Holy Spirit is what I am certain of.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Though, not a Catholic Church, the article would be remiss not to mention the Chapel of the Transfiguration in Grand Teton National Park. One can only be inspired as one sits in what would be one of the seats. Looking to the altar, one sees, through the large glass window, the Grand Tetons.\nJust imagine how powerful is the message that would come at the Consecration seeing the great wonder of God in the background.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marty, the CCC is not obedient (and never has been) to Jesus' express and clear teaching on love, especially love of enemy.\n\nFor a Christian, God is the author of Natural Law. As God is love, then Natural Law rests upon this universal and unchanging dynamic.\n\nKilling someone in war, against his will, would not respect this dynamic and would, therefore, have no appeal to Natural Law for justification.\n\nThere is no such thing as controllable war; it does not always proceed according to plan. This is established fact, particularly in the age of mechanized and digital warfare. Non-combatants inevitably are killed, including children, even those in the womb. Those who accept the theory of Just War cannot divorce themselves, either intellectually or morally, from this so-called \"collateral damage\". A peculiar position for the Catholic Church, given its uncompromising teaching against abortion on the ground that human life is sacred.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not here, its in McCullogh's book, Christianity, the First 3000 years. He covers its evolution all over the world. It is an interesting book, especially the part about some of the Khans being Christian - and not converts when they were in the west.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The ONLY things Bernie has in common with Christ...Jewish and male.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dennis Coday, I recommend you take note of the lunacy espoused here--some of it violent--and consider in the future how to manage articles about the shared roots of Christianity and Islam. You could consider having No Comments for future such articles. Respectfully, Sarasi.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How very Christian of the nurses of St. Joseph's", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not an accident that western countries are the most advanced in the world. They evolved from Judeo-Christian roots. Just because they no longer burn witches in Salem doesn't mean certain cultures should be granted a 600 year grace period to civilize. Compare the west to the 57 members of the OIC - no freedom of expression, no gender equality, no freedom of religion, no freedom of sexual orientation, no freedom of the press. Western cultures shouldn't accommodate cultural practices that are only common in countries that treat liberal freedoms with violent contempt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Both are hotheads, both make off the cuff controversial comments, both are egomaniacs.\nI don't think either will 'blow his stack'. The meeting isn't for the pope to correct Trump any more than he would correct Castro, Abbas, or Obama.\nThey disagree on many issues. Unfortunately Trump is more Catholic than the pope on those issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The majority of U.S. immigrants are Christian - check the Pew report on this.\n\nSlavery ended hundreds of years ago. But the vast majority of slaves became Christian.\n\nActual white supremacists make up on an extremely tiny percentage of Christians, and even if that is disputed, I don't believe there is evidence that non-whites in the U.S. turn apostate because of the existence of the whatever remnant of the KKK still exists. \n\nIn general, people convert or stay in a religion because of many factors.\n\nTrue, many people are likely leaving religion because they dispute how \"accepting\" it is. But that's a matter within the purview of the religion itself. Trying to tie Christianity to white supremacy seems a real stretch.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The concept that there were Seven Sacraments/Mysteries from the earliest days of Christianity, is false. Questions over the nature of the humanity and the divinity were discussed for centuries.\n\nQuestions over the nature and relationship of the Holy Spirit were also debated [we owe the clear teaching of \"three Cappadocians\" for that]. \n\nThese are major foundational DOGMAS that were still discussed even after the Council of Nicea [325], Council of Constantinople I [381], Council of Ephesus [431] and the Council of Chalcedon [451]. But discussions/controversies still continue in the Christian church about the nature of Jesus Christ---so the Council of Constantinople II [553] and the Council of Constantinople III [680-681] were called.\n\nSacraments, nor their number were discussed here---because the numbers were not central to our faith. \"The communion of saints' is not necessarily the Holy Eucharist, but the unity/community that were essential to the Faith of Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Steven, I think it is not quite correct to say \"In the Middle Ages Catholic priests were immune from criminal law.\" My understanding is clergy were subject to the criminal law component of canon law rather than to secular courts?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Give me a break Father. When will you apologize for your own disgraceful way of besmirching the Catholic Faith?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you don't think there are left and right Catholics, then you probably haven't been paying attention.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "same with many of the Eastern Catholic clergy outside of the major cities. they work elsewhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wouldn't turn away anyone who wants reception into the Catholic Church. \n\nI don't think talking to others is a bad thing, but I do think a kind of ecumenism where \"everything you believe is sacred and everything we believe is negotiable\" is a huge problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It means what I said, not what you interpreted my words to mean. We converted these people and thus have taken a responsibility for their welfare since 1972. This country has deeply supported faith based programs since Reagan and this is one of the results of that. Obviously we didn't force them to become Christian, but we do not shirk from our obligation to support them when they are systemically murdered for their faith. The Lutheran mission is deeply rooted in this, so blame us if you need to blame somebody, but don't try to act like the US didn't have a hand in the issues that are occurring all over Africa. Whether for politics, resources, or religion, we are deeply connected to the African continent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"St. Paul never proposed that two believers got to divorce and remarry.\"\n\nYes, but he never proposed that a baptized person get to divorce and remarry either, if his first spouse is an unbeliever. Yet that is precisely what the Petrine privilege allows for, first introduced 1600 years after the words of Jesus and Paul!\n\nMost translations of Matthew 5:32 don't say \"unless the marriage is unlawful.\" The Douay-Rheims, following Jerome's Vulgate, has \"excepting for the cause of fornication.\" \n\nSo the traditional catholic position is:\n\n1. Divorce and remarriage is ALWAYS adultery. No exceptions.\n2. Matthew seems to allow for an exception in the case of adultery, but that's based on an incorrect translation that persisted for centuries even in standard catholic bibles.\n3. We do allow for the Pauline privilege. OK one exception, but it's in the bible.\n4. We also allow the Petrine privilege. OK, two exceptions now, but hey that's an uncommon one.\n\nNot so simple anymore.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is patently false. Since I am not here to give tutorials to those not well versed in basic Catholic teaching,\nI will bid you farewell and pray for you on this sunny day!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catechism of the Catholic Church \u00a71867 (Article 8.V): The catechetical tradition also recalls that there are \"sins that cry to heaven\": the blood of Abel, the sin of the Sodomites, the cry of the people oppressed in Egypt, the cry of the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan, injustice to the wage earner.\n\nSee also 1 Timothy 6:17-19; James 5:1-8; Amos 8:4-7, among others. None are very kind to merchants, the wealthy, or \"job creators\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ok, apparently, by your comments you are a non-Catholic opinionating about Catholics and the Catholic Church. Got it. \nSo, if you are not Catholic, you do not understand the purpose of the Mass, which has been going on since Christ's Ascension into Heaven. I do not have the time or space here to explain it to you but there are plenty of resources online to give you a complete or more accurate understanding of it than I can.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And I understand that it was the same for early Christians as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Both my statements above are proved by our discussions here, in the past few days and weeks.\nFor example, on my 'press citation' point:- You claimed that the 'US non-Catholic media' only wrote about Cardinal Burke, and you stated that none of that media had bothered even to mention the '13 Cardinals letter' (prior to the 2nd synod) because Burke wasn't one of the 13 signatories. It then took me about 5 minutes online searching, to turn up the fact that that the New Yorker had mentioned the 13 Cardinals letter. I stopped looking at that point, having proved you wrong. I gave you my findings, and/but you then came back with a comment along the lines that one press source wasn't enough. Well, yes it was. \nAnd so on.\nI am well able to prove what I write.\nBTW, I have not made an 'ad hominem' attack on you. What I have been doing, is to criticise your method of 'reporting' (too partial), and your 'analysing' (based on biased sources, and too speculative).\nPS - You said you were done?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "End CATHOLIC BIGOTRY, end separate (Catholic) school funding......let's treat all denominations EQUALLY.......they all get funding for their schools, or none do........that's kinda what EQUALITY is all about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "makes total sense, if churches make profits. Your local neighbourhood house of worship, be it christian, muslim, jewish or whatever is usually a pretty hand to mouth place.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no confusion at all. The 'ordinations' of these women were neither valid or licit; they remain what they were before, laywomen. \nThe excommunication is because the whole process pretending to confer a Sacrament, Orders, and masquerading as a Catholic priest are regarded as sacrilege.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I grew up Catholic. When JPII was on TV, I remember hearing he was popular with Catholic youth, but durned if I ever saw any evidence of it beyond those papal rallies. \n\nWeigel: \"\"Why are the growing youth movements in the Church those that have embraced the symphony of Catholic truth in full?\" For some reason this quote bothers MSW a lot, but how is it not true?\n\nI'm not sure of the depth of any Trad youth movements, but there's no denying they do exist. But I can't say I've ever even heard of a Progressive youth movement anywhere in the Catholic world. (Can MSW name any?)\n\nThe Francis Effect is responsible for many good things, such as an overall increase in public appreciation for human rights and Christianity. But it clearly isn't producing renewed interest in the Church itself. Certainly not in the young. \n\nAs for MSW's abstruse ideas about a healthy cult for JPII, etc...I need the secret decoder ring.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good piece. Quinn seemed to be a cleric who evolved from a hardline cleric to a softer version.\nUnlike many prelates who remain faithfully hardened. Company men truly. \nCatholic women served a need in their narrow world then. With Catholic women being emancipated they do not need a rigid structure to share their gifts. As not all women are emancipated from patriarchy, so not all RC women either, and will drift into cult-like groups that acquiesce to clerical hierarchs.\nI thought it sadly bemusing that priests were assigned yearly to regular & extraordinary confessors to each convent, What sins might these kept women be committing? But there was never any yearly assignment of priests to rectories hear priest confessions. Priests didn't sin, or so we thought, until the pedophile dam burst!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cWe cannot have any unity as long as there are those who truly believe that they are sole possessors of the Truth -- and that includes the Catholic hierarchy.\u201d\n\nPart 1.\nIt is unbelievable, anyone who thinks that they are sole possessors of the Truth! Anyone who thinks that do not know neither God nor themselves. We humans don\u2019t possess the capabilities to know God in his entirety. What we know about God maybe truth but never the entire truth. \n\nGod's spirit is immanent in all living for God's spirit is the sole spirit and life energy in this universe. He is drawing all living to himself by His Spirit presence according to what each is capable to respond. \n\nIt is not the aim of each religion to sacrifice half of differences to become one religion. Each religion must be true to their spiritual heritage, for that is the source of their power and gift to the world. We need to find a way to share each others true spiritual heritage to enriched by the other religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Women without health insurance don't have the choice. And, women who live in areas where the only hospital she can get to is a Catholic hospital don't have a choice. \n\nFor millions of poor women, not having money means no health care and no contraceptives that work for them. Insurance creates the ability of people to make personal health care and moral choices. A religious faith should work by persuasion and conversion, not coercion and manipulation. And that is what denying women health care that lets them make their own choices does - it manipulates people into being forced to live by a morality they did not choose. \n\nMoney should not give that power to anyone and certainly it should not be how the bishops seek to bring about what they think is moral behavior. They seek coercion and the use of power over people rather than persuasion. That is not Jesus' way. \n\nCatholic bishops should not have the power to coerce where they cannot convert.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I completely fail to understand is why the celebration of the Mass is perversely used as a cudgel by Church authorities on BOTH sides of the issue. Hasn't the world handed us enough problems without the Church looking to add more? And to cause scandal and rancor even around our central act of worship? Is there any evidence that Catholics in the pews are clamoring for yet more liturgical \"fine tuning\"? Stop tinkering, and leave us alone already!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians and Mudley. Ja Well No Fine!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We'll be fine.\n\nThe Church will be fine, especially if we don't too narrowly construe it in institutional, hierarchical terms.\n\nThe USA will be fine, especially if we don't too narrowly conceive of it as a merely political reality.\n\nLike the myth of the Post-Christian West, the decline of the Church and fall of the USA are as fanciful as the notion that God is Dead.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Andrew MacDougall must be pining for the good old days when Christians could make Birth Control part of the Criminal Code of Canada, and make Divorce all but impossible for most Canadians in failed marriages.\n\nAs late as 1961 Toronto Pharmacist Harold Fine was arrested, charged, and convicted for selling Birth Control. The Glory Days of Church Officials telling Politicians what is a crime and what is not a crime are long gone, thank goodness.\n\nPioneering Planned Parenthood caseworker Dorothea Palmer was repeatedly charged, but no prosecutor could find a jury to convict her. One zealot grabbed Palmer off the street and dragged her toward an alley, saying that he was going to show her what it was like without birth control. A well placed kick fortunately eliminated his zeal.\n\nhttps://cs.uwaterloo.ca/~shallit/bc.html\n\nhttp://www.cpha.ca/en/programs/history/achievements/04-fp/history.aspx\n\nhttp://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/looking-back-on-the-birth-control-movement", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cNo, progressives don;t want merely to develop doctrine, they want to change it \u201d\n\nYou can;t know what isn't true. So you can;t know that progessive Catholics think doctrinal development aims to reverse [Church] teaching.\n\nTake the example of capital punishment. I don\u2019t know anyone who would contest that the Church has taught that capital punishment is allowed in some cases. We also teach that Jesus was a victim of capital punishment. It is not hard to imagine that Jesus on the Cross might inspire the Church to repudiate the way he was killed, ie oppose capital punishment. This would change Church teaching on capital punishment because there is an implicit conflict that has not yet been resolved. Development would lead to abrogation of \u201csettled\u201d teaching. \nThat has not happened yet, and may never, but I am pretty sure Newman allowed for that type of change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nobody knows why Stefanini was rejected by the Vatican. It may have had nothing to do with his predilections and it may have had nothing to do with him.\n\nHowever, if the Vatican simply decided it would be inappropriate to have an ambassador who simultaneously calls himself a Catholic and suggests he thinks acts of grave depravity should be condoned, it would not be surprising.\n\nTo my knowledge, Callista Gingrich is not in favor of legalizing polygamy and has never suggested that adultery is not morally wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Waddell opened his letter above by stating that there cannot be freedom from religion because that would restrict the religious speech of the Christian. Few would have much of a problem with Christian speech, including me. The problem is that certain people who call themselves \"Christian\" believe that their right to religious speech includes the right to harass, intimidate and encourage violent acts towards women by using inflammatory speech. \nI can tell you that if I am seeking healthcare and someone begins to aggressively proselytize me, verbally harasses me, or attempts to interfere in my ability to access medical care, or assumes that he has some role to play in the private relationship I have with my physician, then this person is courting serious violence. I carry a firearm and wouldn't hesitate to use it against someone who is threatening or intimidating me. I'm just like the vast majority of men. They would never put up with a total stranger interfering with their health.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, last night, and today! This feeling must be something like the bliss Aquinas felt!\n\nSome wonder how a Christian can enjoy heaven when others are in h/ell.\n\nI wondered about that. Now I know -- it's actually rather easy!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Shorting and raiding pension funds is a game which Catholic officials have learned to play, very well, across the board! These games do not inspire confidence in patients and pew-dwellers alike. It gets pretty grim when institutional leadership treats employees like indentured servants, especially when the retired archbishop lives in luxury.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is it always us that have to change for the separated brethren and not the other way around?\n\nWe need live our our Catholic faith unapologetically, Mass stipends, indulgences and Benediction and all. You think our separated brethren worry about what practices of theirs we find offensive? \n\nIf they don\u2019t wish to become Catholic, at minimum, respect us for who we are and our distinctive practice of the traditions handed down to us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words being an orthodox Catholic, thank you for pointing this out. \nNow can you give us your version of Catholicism and show us where it follows in an hermeneutic of continuity through 2000+ years. Or are you saying like Luther that the Church lost her way between the Apostolic era and the 16th century and that it has again lost its way in the current era since when, Vatican IImaybe?\nUpon what authority do you base your opinions apart from upon your own personal feelings? Do you think that you are absolutely right and everyone else is wrong?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, director of the Vatican Observatory, said the question of life beyond Earth is \"a question of faith.\" While there is no definitive proof yet that extraterrestrial life exists, \"our faith in the fact that life exists is strong enough to make us willing to make an effort in looking for it,\"\n\nIn Catholicism, a concrete act of faith would be related to matter of which there's no evidence, and which actually repels our intellect. For example, faith in the Trinity. \n\nBut scientific \"faith\" that life may be discovered on other planets has nothing to do with religious faith. Rather it's a surmise that's built upon revealed empirical evidence -- in this case, the sheer number of planets where conditions for life are materially possible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "DD,\n\nSome people take verses like Luke 24:27 that describe a particular moment of intense instruction and think that is all they are supposed to do. By doing this they make the Gospel appear impractical, even worthless, because they can't show others how it has changed and improved their lives. The story of the Sheep and Goats in Matthew 25 illustrates what Jesus wants us doing and deluging people with Bible verses is not found on those lists. \n\nMy particular complaint was with how certain people were using long Bible quotes to accuse others of sinful behavior when their responses made it quite obvious they had no experience with either the love or power of God in their life because they had no testimony about encounters with Him. In contrast, I am seeing God doing wonderful things and if I can get my current book project finished, you'll be able to read about some of those things and celebrate His greatness with me. You will be amazed!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lieb: Much better for Texas and the Old South Confederacy led by the Oil Monopoly and their Fundamentalist Christian preachers to tell you how to live as they do and have done for decades in Alaska.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Allie, if you are a Christian, why then are you scared of so many places and certain types of people that you might have never been to or never met...? You sound scary to me....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many Christians do you know ? 10 ? 20 ? 50 ? There are millions of Christians I don't understand how you can use the word \"most\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not a religious guy, but often I find real wisdom in religious homilies. I believe the Christian \"Lord's Prayer\" says something like \"forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us\"........ In my \"secular humanist\" world that message makes real sense and is an appropriate reference in the context of Ms. Shurtz's actions and the response from much of the University community. \n\nHow about us all thinking about our own mistakes and the forgiveness we've likely received from others. If we do, we should be able to extend the same forgiveness to Ms. Shurtz. If not, then, in my view, we are surely all lost. regards, Gary", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. This is a re-manufactured \"psalm\" which illustrates the extreme disorder in the minds of those who inhabit the Catholic right wing! And they like to think that they alone can be saved!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Considering Christians with traditional values are so few, they should be a protected class.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings....You are so right on Scott! Thanks for speaking for us millions of Catholics who feel the same way! Blessings to you for first and foremost for being a Christian!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you are authentically confused, and sincerely believe that the translated credo is is saying that Christ was incarnate for males only?--not importing some distaste for standard English from secular movements that have us calling meeting leaders \"chairs\" and letter carriers \"mailpersons\"?\n\nAre you aware that the Church went over this decades ago when the NRSV and RNAB were rejected for liturgical use? \n\nAnd that the data show that Catholics by and large don't request or require an artificial, neutered language? (https://adoremus.org/2007/12/31/Catholics-Favor-Standard-English/) The language has been stable in the last couple of decades, would you claim that although Catholics weren't confused then they are confused now by translating \"homines\" as \"men\"?\n\nMoreover, not applicable to \"for us men\" but to \"Sons of Israel\" and similar constructions: neutered language was found to violate the principle that translations must preserve both connotation and denotation of the original.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Looks like all the Muslim civilians the US has murdered over the past 16 years don't count. I wonder why. As the Christians say, \"First remove the plank from your own eye, then you see clearly enough to remove the speck from your neighbor's eye.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Vin diagram of those who are pro war, and claim to be pro life, to support the troops, claim to be Christian, and claim that the athletes who are silently and peacefully protesting racial injustice actually hate the flag and the troops, is basically just a single circle.\n\nWonder if these people understand that war kills fetuses, the troops they claim to love, and is the exact opposite of what their messiah preached? Probably not, thus the sheer cognitive dissidence it takes to hold these beliefs simultaneously is staggering. \n\nFear is a terrible thing, and using fear to gin up the anger is downright immoral.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish your comment was true but it's not. Liberal Catholics have bought his window dressing hook, line, and pedophile priest. The need to believe in his so called reforms is too strong a filter to see the total truth. Lots of authoritarian figures live a scaled down life style because they either don't care, or because maintaining a higher life style is judged not be worth the effort. They have bigger fish to fry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pan, those of us who were in Catholic colleges or high schools during the late 60's and all through the 70's most certainly were required to read the documents of Vatican II. At least give that much credit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently his little porker daughter is already practicing the squint as well...(or is that the look of Christian compassion?)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just imagine how much further many so called third world countries would be if not for Christians proselytizing their religion, pillaging natural resources and taking humans as slaves. I think the world would be a more peaceful place right now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's hilarious about this podcast is how one-sided it was. If NCR was really interested in 'dialogue', why didn't they include among the guests anyone who has an alternative view?\n\nAnd since I'm one such person, I'll voice it here. The basic questions are: \n \n1) are there certain positions/ideas that are so discordant with Catholic teaching that reasonable people can agree that such opinions are 'not Catholic'?\n2) should a Catholic institution invite someone to proclaim and promote such views, especially if that someone is ostensibly Catholic (perhaps even a priest or bishop)? (Note I said 'promote', not 'debate', because that reflects the format for the events that were to involve Fr Martin et al.) Does sponsoring a dissenting cleric (viz. 1) cause scandal or confusion? \n\nIf we can answer 'yes' to both questions, then the next question is: does the proposed speaker promote non-Catholic teaching? (And remember we're talking about speeches here, not debates.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I understand and am familiar with these pro life v. pro choice arguments.\n\nThe point is, it doesn't matter if I'm for or against your argument about the nature of personhood, or if the Catholic church is for or against it. What matters is that I, you, and the Church have a right to our views on the matter, and also the right to promote those views in the political sphere.\n\nI honestly don't understand your position. Are you arguing that Catholics shouldn't hold political office, because their pro life beliefs don't agree with those of Bill Nye?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Francis Sullivan's remarks of McElwee's article more than adequately addresses your second point. I hope Pope Francis reads this. It might be a game changer:\n\"We have never really appreciated that the decisions our leaders made in order to facilitate and cover up actually broke the heart of what it meant to be Catholic,\" he said. \"And we need to go back and fully confront that.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Party affiliation\" in Hawaii is a joke. The Democratic Party of Hawaii runs the gamut of Socialists to DINO (Democrats in name only) Capitalists, Liberals to Christian Fundamentalists, Pro-Life to Pro-Choice, and on and on. There are secret and not-so-secret committees, alliances and allegiances. Politicos seeking office join because they know it's quicker, easier...not because they truly believe; therefore, it's not one big happy family. It's more about the power base, control, human capital, cache and cash of politics than anything else--just like any other money-driven, power-hungry human endeavor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I actually chuckled when I read this gem (something I've known for a long time):\n\nDiscussion on Eucharist and ministry led to a new document in 1978 on \"The Lord's Supper.\" Catholics and Lutherans agreed: Celebration of the Eucharist doesn't \"repeat\" the sacrifice of the cross or add to its salvific value\n\nCan't help but wonder how many of the trads understand this....\n\n\nI think the comments on Canon Law are not only spot on as they relate to Catholic/Lutheran relations, I think the problems with Canon Law continue to wreak havoc in the RCC itself. Why is it so difficult to hold a bishop accountable for the abuse scandal? Why is it so hard to change Canon Law? I think the point is that it's time to take a very hard look at things in the RCC that keep it tied up in knots. Rapproachment with the Lutherans could well give the RCC just that chance, if those in power want the chance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This little book is causing conniptions in the right-wing Catholic blog world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Meetings between Catholics and Muslims are a perfect opportunity for Catholics to promote conversions by politely, respectfully but honestly explaining the truths of their faith. I believe many Muslims could be faithful Catholics, if only given the chance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelization is difficult due to problems the Church hierarchy created for the laity in decades past.\n\nThe Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. The Protestants don't have it and don't care. They just pass around our book with some modifications they made in parts they didn't like. A partial evangelion. We spread the good news, the full evangelion, and that leads us back to the Eucharist. At some point an enquirer must come to Mass.\n\nBut parishes where we can take friends or enquirers to Mass without shame or embarrassment are few and those where the Mass reflects the beauty of the Gospel and draw people deeper into the mystery of Christ's life, death, and resurrection are fewer still.\n\nThe circle closed in on itself, the emphasis on \"gathering\" over worship and sacrifice, the lack of awe and reverence, and the deliberate ugliness that resulted from disobedience to Vatican II 's teachings sabotage evangelism. At most parishes we don't treat the sacred as sacred.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you saying that the Catholic church was in no way involved in this school and that others just slapped the label \"Catholic\" on it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with your concerns and I'll add another. Catholic colleges are already struggling to maintain viability in a competitive market and some have tried to gain an advantage by branding themselves \"more\" Catholic than others, which usually translates into a certain brand of unchallenged orthodoxy and less academic freedom.\n\nMy fear is that as Catholic colleges feel more pressure to secure their share of the market, they'll double-down on this niche-type thinking. This will put more pressure on those Catholic universities that try to maintain a truly Catholic (as in intellectually free) tradition. Ultimately, it will put the authentic Catholic academic tradition, which has been among the Church's most significant gifts to this country, at risk.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think it's not for us to decide who is \"authentically Catholic\" and who is not. The desire to define the limits of authenticity flows from a rigid, insecure, and immature understanding of life that needs constant reinforcement. Whether it happens on the left or on the right, it is fundamentally meaningless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Buddhism doesn't belong to a monolithic block of people who all think and act the same way any more than Christianity or Islam or any other major religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How far will Catholics like fr. Daly go in putting Rome's directives over that of U.S. law and common sense?\n\nPerhaps that's something to fear, what with the Church's history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ideally one would leave their colored lens at the door when they try to learn, but the fact is that is impossible. You may not have christian colored glasses but you have colored glasses (read Thomas Kuhn) and I doubt you would make it through the Middle Age of the Great Books very smoothly with those anti-christian views.\nAnd as a Graduate of Gutenberg I can with confidence say that despite most students and all the Tutors being christian, they do a really good job of leaving Christianity out of most of the discussions. The first goal for them when reading a book is to understand what the author is trying to say, using the book we are reading and the context of when and where in history it was written. We know Christianity was not on the table for Aristotle, so why would we discuss Christianity when we are reading The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle? \nAnd not all Christians throw Darwin out just because it doesn't line up with what they think the Bible says.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gallup June 2015:\n\n\"WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As the 2016 presidential election field takes shape, more than nine in 10 Americans say they would vote for a qualified presidential candidate who is Catholic, a woman, black, Hispanic or Jewish. Less than half of Americans would vote for a candidate who is a socialist.\"\n\nWhere does that put a Jewish Socialist candidate?\n\nIf you throw in the fact that 60% of the Jewish electorate is Democratic and 29% of the Jewish electorate are Republicans, Bernie's chances are even more interesting depending on who the final Republican candidate is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Know your stuff? Not really! Better re-check your resources and pick up on \"the rest of the story.\" Particularly why both priests you name, after their ordinations as Roman Catholic priests, elected to leave the RC church for Orthodoxy/ Old Catholic. These ARE fascinating stories, and you don't even scratch the surface here!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a non-US citizen, I was appalled that the overwhelming Christian bias at the inauguration ceremony. It made a mockery of the US's supposed constitutional separation between religion and state. It sent a message of \"you don't belong\" to millions of US citizens of other or no religious affiliation. \n\nIt was an appalling display of insincerity and abuse of religion for political purposes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religions have been responsible for a lot of deaths. To be fair, the greatest carnage has been caused by atheists and self proclaimed god's , i.e. Mau, Stalin, Hitler, (some 16th century Popes) etc. I agree with what Gandhi said about Christians, \"Your Christ I like, it's your Christians I don't like.\" The label Christian is over used. These were exceptional individuals that were like Christ. The average person that identifies with that label gives that label a bad reputation. JC said Love God and Love your neighbor. I've had a hard time finding the second part in Christian Churches. The evidence suggests that Love is a very misunderstood word. JC taught about choosing to be unselfish, which is the basis of love. Based on what's happening more in the world, it's apparent that people including Christians are confused about love are choosing to be more selfish. Sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know what Augustine actually said, but somewhere I read it as, \"Receive, O Christian, the mystery of what you are.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The treatment in 2015 of disgraced Cardinal Keith O'Brien (formerly head of the Catholic Church in Scotland) suggests that it's very unlikely that a Cardinal will ever lose his title.\nO'Brien resigned (or was required to resign) from \"the rights and duties of a Cardinal\", but he was allowed to keep his title. Even now, he remains styled as 'His Eminence'.\nResigning the rights and duties of the role: this would include losing a vote in any Conclave to elect a future Pope.\nBTW, I don't personally agree with this generous treatment of disgraced prelates. But this is the way the Church operates.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kurgan, you and many others here keep saying the Catholic bishops (overtly or tacitly) endorsed Trump.\n\nWhy do you keep saying this when there's no evidence? \n\nhttp://reverbpress.com/religion/bishops-encourage-catholics-reject-trump-everything-stands/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the late Andrew Greeley's book The Making of the Pope 2005, he wrote that we need a Catholic Church that listens. I am glad Pope Francis is taking his advice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Duh---can you name any Catholic Church with the words \"Memorial\" as part of its name? Of course this is not a Catholic church. Does that mean that what is being written is totally irrelevant? Considering the fact that some bloggers on this site seemed to have never read either Decree from Vatican II \"The Decree on Ecumenism [Unitatis Redintegratio]\" nor \"The Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions [Nostra Aetate]. When they write of anything about Protestant or non-Christian religions---they seem to think that these people are aliens from outer space. \n\nActually, we have more in common with the architecture of Judson Memorial Church than we do with churches that insist upon building new churches with benches and kneelers.\n\nSt. Peter's in Rome----and many of the grand basilicas of Europe don't have pews in them, either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An Assault on Western (white-Christian) Culture, based on hateful notions that Western Culture is morally inferior is a form of racism. All forms of racism are evil. It stereotypes a whole race and prejudices (unjustly) the mind against a race of people, who have no moral responsibility for the wrongs committed by ancestors. Incidentally as far as injustices and slavery are concerned you will find that all races, particularly peoples of Sub-Sahara Africa, have long and horrific histories of slavery. Not to mention what Muslim Blacks throughout Africa have done with respects to the enslavement of Europeans and Africans and others. \n\nIf these injustices exist within America's Criminal Justice system, exist, then they have to be dealt with directly. And it is the legal and democratic systems, which are a product of white culture,that allows these issues to be rectified. Racism against whites does not solve anything. \nAbsent white culture there would be no such thing as rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right now there is not even an hour of religious education on which parents can extend upon or even reinforce. My kids would come back having learned essentially nothing, because all of the social teaching that they were getting from their \"teachers\" was obvious to them because they were brought up with parents who had already taught them those things from birth.\n\nThe current generation of new parents are products of this post-V-II lack of education; even if their kids learned something about their religion, the parents would be unable to engage with them about it.\n\nOur parish priest thanks the parents - almost begs them to come back - for bringing their kids to mass. Unfortunately, he says nothing compelling during his homilies that would make those kids want to return on their own someday. \"Oh, you witnessed someone being nice to someone else the other day? Wow, how great it is to be a Catholic.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am sure Hitler, Stalin and others believed in and were comfortable with their moral system as well, you are in good company. Doesn't sound like you have much value for Christians, and I am not a Trump fan, didn't vote for him but will submit to his leadership. i just find it fascinating that someone would judge another person to be disgusting based on their own self righteousness, it doesn't make sense. And by the way: You are the relativist, not I.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remember when the christian faith rejected that the earth was neither flat nor the center of the universe? Tribalism is threatened by creation, as they have endowed that to a separate end-of-life savior god. Responsibility can never be a part of that fairy tale equation. Evolution is truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cathedrals as centers of Deism - not places of Christian worship. \n\nReminds one of the \"Cult of the Supreme Being\" established in France by Robespierre during the French Revolution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When a progressive cause is silenced with a ban, NCR publishes a story decrying a curtailment of free speech on the American campus.\n\nBut when a violent mob shuts down the free speech of a gay Catholic at UC Berkeley (as happened last week with Milo Yannapoulis) NCR won't even bother to mention it.\n\nMy conclusion is that NCR sides with the thugs who use violence to stop the free speech they don't like -- and so do comboxers who react to this post by banning it from the forum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Afrikaans will be the language of Western European Resurgence.\nThe Afrikaans People have a glorious history and they have been persecuted like no other...\nAfrikaners epitomize human achievement, beauty, and steadfast Christian Values.\nMay God Bless Afrikaners everywhere...the fact that some hate you is a testament to their own depravity...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Morally acceptable\" does not have a universal meaning among Christians or Catholics. Bishops have been known to make unacceptable \"moral\" choices, as they have been doing repeatedly in the clergy sex abuse scandals and cover-ups. That's why voters need additional input in forming their consciences beyond what the bishops are offering.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the great exchanges in the Fourth Gospel comes when Jesus says he came to testify to the truth and Pilate asks in response \"What is truth?\"\n\nWhat the evangelist means is that truth is not the criterion we use to determine how we will speak and deal with one another. He means that we shape our lies so that others will accept them and give us the response we want -- including their political support. After Pilate asks his question, he says to the crowd \"I find no guilt in this man.\" \n\nThe evangelist's point, which is often overlooked by pious exegesis, is that neither he nor the people could long survive if they had to speak the truth. Crowds cheer for the politicians who tell us the lies we want to hear, until we don't want to hear them any more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"There are differences in some of our beliefs - well documented differences - but so be it. I don't have a problem with it...'\n\nAnd yet your every comment reveals how you relish the differences, because that is how you manage to think you are \"Catholic\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The issue at Peel raises questions about religious accommodation and how much influence a secular school board should have over prayer.\"\n\nI disagree. The issue is how much influence a religion can have within a secular state school system. The answer should be none. The curriculum and timetable should be the same for all students. \n\nIf different religions wish to set up a separate school system they should be free to do so, as long as they meet national standards of education, but they should not be supported by public money. The Catholic system unfortunately has been \"Grandfathered\" in, but there is no need to expand the separate system further, and I would have no issues with slowly phasing out this anomaly if it were politically possible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's what John doesn't yet understand. Let me try this again, if not for John, then for others who might be curious what the Catholic Church teaches about suffering, pain, and intimate union with God (see Salvivici Doloris for some very beautiful writing & teaching on this matter). \n\nSt Paul is talking about deep & intimate unity with Jesus Christ, in fact a total and trusting abandonment into His care, and a oneness with the will of God. His motives are our motives.\n\nSt Paul is \"rejoicing\" in the sufferings that God is allowing for the good of others.\n\nHe is imitating Jesus Christ, even in suffering. \n\nOne can't do that without a ready presence (influence) of God, a lively interior life.\n\nAs I said, John doesn't yet have the integrality of Scripture needed to fit such matters together, how \"happiness & pain\" are not at odds. \n\nHow one can actually rejoice while suffering. \n\nJesus sang the Psalms on His way to Calvary. So can we, so should we if we want an ever closer union.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mexico and other South of the border nations aren't lands of Christian community? The Catholic church doesn't exist there? \n\nThe claim that this issue is about Christian values is a huge canard. This crusade to bring poor people into the U.S. began in 1965, with Kennedy, as a means to change America's demographics and flood the democrat party with new voters. It has nothing to do with \"Christianity,' but everything to do with politics and leftish ideology. And for certain American bishops, it's also about building church membership numbers and revenue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...question. It was not made loudly, but it did work on all the Catholics for Obama sites. Catholics voted for Obama those years in the same proportion of the general population. We will see if we can revise this line of argument for the next election and make Catholics MORE likely to vote Democratic again.\n\nIn matters of electoral politics, if the Church really wants to have influence, it will ask us first. The bishops can no longer speak in our name without doing so (especially if the Johnson Amendment is repealed - for right now, the Church cannot speak as a group at all except sideways). Simply have a meeting where we can make our arguments and then vote, preferably by secret ballot, on whom to endorse. We used to elect bishops, so none of this Church not being a democracy thing is relevant. It started as one and did well. Of course, the arguments may change some minds, which is the last thing the bishops want, since Truth has a liberal bias.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some fundamentalist Christian religious group must be responsible. Who else could it be?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regrettably, many are not the exemplar of christianity that you are known to be, and will pick and choose bits and pieces of dialogue to depict virtuous men, like the good Archbishop, as arrogant and selfish and devoid of anything resembling Christian love. As if his wardrobe alone was not enough to establish him as a paragon of christian virtue and one chosen by the Holy Spirit for leadership in the one true church. Fortunately, the clergy have people like us to defend them, so when the mainstream attack courageous christian leaders, they are answered. Thus, for example, when people criticize bishop Finn as a convicted criminal, he can count on you to demand details, parse the criticisms, point out error and debate context. Intellectually honest to the finest point, you inspire all true catholics. Do not be intimidated!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is not found in Genesis 1 that God \"gave us animals.\" As for giving to eat, it says explicitly there that the plants are given for food to both human beings and nonhuman animals. Direction to kill and eat animals does not come till after the Flood, in the covenant with Noah.\n\nNo doubt the nine billion chickens who are slaughtered for food in this country every year love being exploited, made to suffer, and put to death \"with a Christian spirit of cheerfulness, a spirit of service, and great generosity.\" That makes it all better, doesn't it.\n\nFortunately, with respect for our intellect and our conscience, we are encouraged to set aside such an interpretation, and the disgraceful seizing of a license for cruelty and injustice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hmm...not sure that this is the right strategy. Afterall, according to the latest Pew Research, Jews and Christians are more educated than atheists. Also, when it comes to provincial test scores, religious schools per capita outperform their secular counterparts. Maybe adopting a secular education approach is leading to a race to the bottom? But don't let facts stand in the way of an obviously emotional and baseless argument by those who claim to champion facts, but disregard them when they are not convenient..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are paid with everyone's tax dollars, including Muslims. Our human rights laws allow reasonable religious accommodation for EVERYONE including Christians, Hindus, Jews, etc. The Lord's Prayer was banned because it was the school imposing religion on ALL students. This is completely separate from some Muslim kids (not all) praying quietly in a separate room, by themselves. \n\nThere is no hypocrisy here at all. There is a lot of misinformation going around, a lot of ignorance, and a lot of armchair warriors who don't understand the issue at all, insisting that their misinformed views be given equal weight. Sorry, it doesn't work that way. Canadian values and laws are built on informed, well-rounded, and universal standards. If you don't like that, feel free to protest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "None of the Twelve were women. Half the witnesses were, according to Paul. Couples who had seen the risen Lord made evangelical journeys to preach. Whether they baptized or celebrated the communal meal is unspecified. Renouncing Baptism is Apostacy, but it is not the consequence of disagreeing with the Church on either natural law or practice issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True enough, but that's the risk that comes with freedom of conscience. People sometimes choose poorly.\n\nAs for the negative effects you listed, I hold the U.S. bishops largely responsible for that. This is what happens when you dumb down the breadth and depth of Catholic moral teaching to a handful of simplistic platitudes and continue to use a childhood model of pedagogy on Christian adults.\n\nThe problem isn't the Tradition. It's the current custodians of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I lament that so many now choose to ignore the basic decency of not speaking ill of those who have just died. There will be plenty of time in the future to discuss the life and legacy of Cardinal Caffarra. For now, can't we just come together to commend him to God's loving care? Is that not the most basic, Christian thing to do?\n\nEternal rest grant to him, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon him. May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1905; Saskatchewan and Alberta\nNo constitutional guarantee was given to French Catholic minority of these new provinces, while the federal government did not show no will to protect these rights, any more than it did at school conflicts in New Brunswick and Manitoba. \nThe \u00ab School Act \u00bb of Alberta imposed English as the ONLY language of instruction.\n\nIn Saskatchewan, the \u00ab School Act \u00bb of 1909 made English the ONLY language of instruction, but allowed limited use of French in primary schools.\n(1927; the Ku Klux Klan in the province of Saskatchewan campaigned against teaching French, wearing the religious habit and the presence of crucifixes in schools.)\n(1929; a third law of Saskatchewan yet abolished the French in schools that Act adopts the 1918 and shed.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, I didn't realize you weren't a believer. What are you doing on an \"Adventist\" website? There's no point discussing this with you, since your worldview is entirely different from the Christian one. There is no common denominator, especially when you call Jesus a false prophet.\n\nI hope that as prophecy fulfills before your very eyes, you'll have a \"Damascus Road\" experience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What makes you think that your understanding of God is not making God in YOUR image and likeness? \n\nIt seems that your understanding of God is like that of the Jewish Pharasees. You fail to understand that we live in an atmosphere in which new questions [and new situations] cannot be answered with same old answers. This is the stance of fear. It cannot accept any ambiguity about anything. It is a fear that leaving any moral or ecclesiological question open is a sign of weakness, lack of faith, and/or of yielding to the world's ambiguity and relativism. \n\nNobody on this earth has an instant access to the answer of every new moral and doctrinal question. If that were the case, there would be an answer to everything. \n\nBut there isn't. And your description of baptism as conforming to YOUR concept of Christ----is an idolatry of the worst type.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We accept refugees not because THEY are Christians, but because WE are Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suggest you read 'The case for Christ\" by Lee Strobel or watch \"God is NOT dead\" before you make your unwarranted claim that there is no God. I agree that no Christian is perfect and yes and most are the biggest breakers of the Ten Commandments. That does not make any of their statements less true. In fact, their failures might be the very reason that you might want to follow what they say. I do not know one Christian that would promote a theocracy under anybody but Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, and many have moved on...out of the Church following your path of discarding everything the Church had given us that existed pre-1962. \n\nYou don't even really live by Vatican II as there is never a substantive response when presented with text from Vatican II that directly contradicts the liberal Catholic line. The liberals just did a bang up job of wrapping themselves up in the Council and appropriating it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, the distortion of Christianity goes back to the beginning of it. \n\nThe writers would do well to take a substantial course in the History of the Church.\n\nThe early 1900s saw a \"social justice\" distortion of Christianity, around \"Catholic Action\". These folks got all lathered up over social matters and forgot that importance of the Sacraments and the interior life. \n\nSo this article is another in a set of lightweight articles (itself) attempting to politicize Christianity. It's guilty of its awkward complaint!\n\nWe need the writers to do more homework before they write such gross distortions of history. Fake news.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cPlus, they are able to minister in intimate situations where a man would not be welcome, \u2026..\u201d\n\nWilliam, that is a good point. But why can't Christian women, with their understanding, minister to other women without being pastors? It would be the same as any lay person ministering to others and witnessing for Christ. I'm not a pastor, but as I come in contact with people, whether in the workplace or on the street, I love turning our conversation around so I can witness for Christ.\n \nIs the motivation of some to become pastors financial, or a genuine desire to minister to others? Even so, do some feel more comfortable witnessing for Christ by carrying the name \"pastor\"? After all, not many openly ridicule pastors for being Christians, it's expected of them, whereas laity, when they mention Christ, are looked upon as weak or Bible-bashers. \n\nI think those genuinely wanting to know Christ feel more comfortable speaking with Christians they come in contact with than pastors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then you are not a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Conservatives dare not condemn Islamophobia, because it is the raw meat upon which they have been feeding their base.\n.\nSo they try to play a farcical \"freedom of speech\" game that is just as dishonest, and just as suffused with Islamophobia.\n.\nThe motion is about condemning the use of racial or religious scape-goating for political ends. It has nothing to do with curbing freedom of speech, and everything to do with shaming the leadership of the Conservative Party - who vey much deserve to be ashamed of themselves.\n.\nPeople have been injured and killed because of this dishonesty by the Conservatives. It is long past time for them to be called out on it.\n.\nTimothy McVeigh wasn't a Moslem.\nCharles Manson\nJim Jones\nLeon Czolgosz\nJohn Wilkes Booth\nJohn Brown.\nThe Fenians.\nThe FLQ\nThe Ku Klux Klan.\nThe NRA.\nMarc Lepine.\n.\nLots of terrorists and religious evildoers.\nNone of them Moslems.\nAll of them, nominally, Christians.\nShould we now ban immigration by Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 2 \nAt Vatican II, there was a very different 'play-book'' used. The vast amount of scholarly work carried out by eminent Catholic theologians over a number of decades leading up to Vatican II provided enough evidence to the bishops that there was a solid justification to embrace the major shifts in Church doctrine and practice. One of these areas is found in \"Gaudium et spes\" [approved on December 7, 1965, by a vote of 2,309 to 75]. which stressed the limited competence of church leaders in the life of the church and in society. There is a humility in the description of church leadership that leads to a recognition of the need for a greater role for the laity and a shared sense of responsibility for the development of ecclesial and social life [GS 43]. \n\nThe papacies of JP II and Benedict---were marked by revanchist policies where the major reforms of Vatican II---collegiality, subsidiarity, and synodalism were pushed away, rejected, or 'double-talked' out of existence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Members of the Catholic Church have an even greater obligation to recognize the value of welcoming newcomers, Francis said. \"We can see the peaceful integration of people from other cultures as a kind of reflection of its Catholicism. A unity which accepts ethnic or cultural diversity constitutes a dimension of church life, which in the spirit of Pentecost is open to all \u2014 open to embracing everyone.\"\n\nI am glad to see Pope Francis stand up for refugees. The fanatically anti-immigrant fervor that helped propel Trump to the White House is the 1850s Know-Nothing mentality come back to haunt us. It reappeared in the 1920s with the rebirth of the Klan. Now it is back again and more powerful than ever. A Christian's duty is to welcome the stranger and stand up for the least of our brothers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because sainthood is not a granted honor in the Catholic Hall of Fame, open only to candidates in good standing of any particular faith. Or did St. Peter maybe build a wall to keep out Presbyterians and Jews? \n\nA) All Catholics are not saints.\nB) All saints are not Catholics.\n\n1. A)\n2. B)\n3) Both A) and B)\n4) Neither A) or B)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But that's not your church, is it? Your church is something called \"The United American Catholic Church\"...if I recall, your church was created in 2002, right? \n\nUnless you left that church, too?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's the \"special privilege?\n\nMaybe you don't understand the purpose of Opus Dei.\nOpus Dei exists to provide additional formation to ordinary lay people who want to pursue holiness and do apostolate in the ordinary world. It has no geographical boundaries...because \"ordinary people\" are living everywhere!\n\nIt doesn't exist to run parishes, preach, prepare students for First Communion, teach in Catholic Schools, do mission work, like various respective religious orders do. \n\nIts priests aren't religious priests....they're secular priests...but everyone was first a member of Opus Dei. They had a calling to live out their life with a certain spirit of holiness and apostolate.\n\nIt's sort of flip flopped compared to what you're perhaps used to. The lay don't exist to serve various activities of the priests.\n\nThe priests exist to serve the lay, as they return for more help and direction and formation in order to better live out holiness in their ordinary work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A never-spoken-about problem with Muslims is their inbreeding as a result of their long and deeply-ingrained practice of marrying first cousins \u2014 a practice that has been prohibited in the Judeo-Christian tradition since the days of Moses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope.\n\nhttps://cruxnow.com/global-church/2016/12/24/knights-malta-pope-stay-internal-affairs/\n\nThink about it by comparing it to another soverign catholic instiuttion, a private Catholic school. A private Catholic school is sovereign in its administrative decisions. \n\nThe only oversigtht the Church, including the pope has with this sort of school is whether its Catholic related teaching..including on matters of faith or morals is in line with Church teaching.\n\nThe Church can't put its nose into the administration of such a private Catholic school, that is to say a non-diocescean school.\n\nthe lay order of malta...same thing. \n\nIt does'n't fall under the governance/rule of any Congregation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"no other topic is more important for the life of the church,\"\n\nMay anybody explain to me, who \"the church\" is? Only the clergy? Or all the catholic people?\n\nAngelika Oetken, Berlin-K\u00f6penick, Germany", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What do you base your assertion that parents choose religious schools based on academics? I my anecdotal experience is quite the opposite, that they choose those schools because of the religious tenets that are the foundation of everything the schools does. I doubt that, say a Catholic parent with a kid in a struggling public school would drop their kid into a Muslim based school that required prayer a couple of times a day because they had good teachers and academic outcomes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with Belinda, where is this Springfield? If they decline the application because of prejudice, then The Church Of JESUS CHRIST Of Latter Day Saints will just use the supplies somewhere else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are seeing an ever-expanding flight from reason in North America. Both Donald Trump and \"post-modernist\" academics are part of it. The current attack on biological gender reminds me of nothing so much as the traditional Christian rejection of sexuality, another biological fact, as sinful, preferring the social constructs of lifelong virginity or monogamous marriage. \n\nAnyone who believes in the \"blank slate\" concept of human nature - another denial of biological facts - should read Stephen Pinker's excellent book The Blank Slate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm pretty sure that the author is, in fact, a non Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi! Scott\n\n1) Generally Roman Catholics would say I received the sacrament of Reconciliation/Holy Communion not \u201cI participate in any/all sacraments of my choosing\u201d We do not participate in the Sacrament of Confession/ Reconciliation we receive forgiveness through it.\n\n2) Previously you said \n\n\u201cI've consulted with several parish priests over the years who support the *responsible* use of contraception, I trust they have employed the same God-given ability of discernment as you and I\u201d.\n\nNow you are saying \u201ccontraception was not the sole purpose of our meetings but the topic invariably came up\u201d \nNo priest would recommend/advise sterilization (the snip). \n3) In reply to 3, The Church has always maintained the historic Christian teaching that deliberate acts of contraception are always gravely sinful, which means that it is mortally sinful if done with full knowledge and deliberate consent (CCC 1857). This teaching cannot be changed and has been taught by the Church infallibly. \nContinued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Would you have said the same thing about the other religions? Christianity has a pretty ugly past. But they grew out of it, right? You don't think Islam can too? Terrorism and ethnic cleansing isn't unique to Islam. If you can't accept your neighbors, make them welcome and feel invested in the community you feed their prejudices. Even if Islam is the most talked about, they aren't they most frequent source of violence in the US. Obviously Americans shouldn't be throwing rocks around our glass house.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's the point of a Church that forgets the commission it was given by Christ himself to proclaim the Gospel and make disciples of all nations (in short, to evangelize) and instead exists for its own sake or as a social welfare organization?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "McHale means, of course, Another true Catholic who properly believes that social justice is the dogmatic teaching of the Catholic Church.\n\nMcHale, you don't have to remind us that you reject the authentic magisterium. We are all well aware of your schismatic views.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin, (continued)\nIt is not the committing of sins that condemns irrevocably. It is the continuous lifestyle of sin that indicates a person has not experienced regeneration through faith in Christ. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who you turn to for inspiration as well said: \"If you would know whether you have made a good confession, ask yourself if you have resolved to abandon your sins.\" If we do not abandon our sins, perhaps, we are not yet truly repentant (like St. Bernard said). A way forward for those entangled in sinful situations is: Praying the Rosary a few times a week, kneeling before Jesus at Adoration a couple of times a month, attending daily (or as often as possible) Mass and going to Confession every couple of months has awakened my conscience, knowing I am a sinner in need of God's mercy. These are spiritual tools to help those entangled in sin to move forward (by avoiding sin). The tax collector filled with Jesus' grace wants to please God, not the devil. (continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Comments have been posted like: \"Are Christian intervenors heard?\" and \"How many Christian church organization will be granted intervener status?\"\n\n..........................................\nHere are the groups initially excluded, now included:\n\nCanadian Council of Christian Charities\nCanadian Conference of Catholic Bishops\nCanadian Association of University Teachers\nLaw Students\u2019 Society of Ontario\nSeventh-day Adventist Church in Canada\nEvangelical Fellowship of Canada and Christian Higher Education Canada (jointly)\nBritish Columbia Humanist Association\nCanadian Secular Alliance\nEgale Canada Human Rights Trust\nFaith, Fealty & Creed Society\nRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver, Catholic Civil Rights League and Faith and Freedom Alliance (jointly)\nWorld Sikh Organization of Canada\nLesbians Gays Bisexuals and Trans People of University of Toronto (LGBTOUT)\nUnited Church of Canada\nStart Proud and OUTlaws (jointly)\nWest Coast Women\u2019s Legal Education and Action Fund\nBC LGBTQ Coalition", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More & more not buying what the Constantinian Catholic Church is selling.\nThe biggest obstacle to the challenging message of Jesus is this incarnation of church.\nUnless this form of church gives us power and wealth it will become increasingly meaningless to people.\nThe need is to separate the gospel from this church!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What are you trying to say?\n\nWe have plenty of Muslim MPs. And who is attacking anyone for Christian beliefs?\n\nThis is about policies, voting patterns, promises to supporters, etc. \n\nI.e., it's nuanced", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So then we do not send criminals to jail. Where does it end? Refer Rudi Giulliano's broken window policy to get some peace into the streets of New York. Finger in the dyke and so on. The Catholic Church, if I have it right, says; give me your babies and before age seven I will give you a life long Catholic. Go figure.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, quoted in the article, is not well positioned to speak to this issue. The most serious abuse in residential schools was perpetrated by the Roman Catholic church, which continues nonetheless to enjoy an enormous subsidy from all the taxpayers in Ontario (at least, and possibly in Saskatchewan) including Jews, Muslims and atheists. Where other churches have to fund their own Sunday schools, this church has entire systems at its disposal to teach not only religion classes, but mathematics, physics and chemistry \"through a Catholic lens.\" Mr Wall said he would invoke the notwithstanding clause of the Constitution to ensure that as many Saskatchewan children as possible would be attending these faith schools in defiance of a superior court ruling to the contrary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You must not read Shultz's stories very often. If you did you'd find it odd that a reverend would nearly always defend sin and opine backwards from the teachings of the Bible . While the Bible is seen differently from different eyes , most Christians see it about the same . Except for Shultz, so it appears . Plus , he never touches topics he's knows go counter to liberal , if it feels good do it , readers. He seems driven to defend their thinking on issues vs Christian values . Again , I just don't get it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A poorly catechized Catholic is someone who rejects teachings of the Church as instructed in the CCC", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I understand that the Inuits of Alaska are in need of some Catholic leadership. Preferably, somewhere that has limited access to the outside world. Maybe, a few years there would be beneficial to both Cardinal Burke and the remaining Catholic Church. In this way he can lead the conversion and enlarge the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The redistributed wealth would have gone to other US citizens. With millions having no health care coverage, lousy schools (look at their PISA scores; Third World countries like Vietnam score better), high crime rates, etc, some wealth redistribution will be helpful.\n\nAfter all, isn't charity a Christian requirement? Most of his voters identify strongly with Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop Stowe hopes and prays for a culture of encounter to ensue so we can become fully engaged with those who want to live a Catholic life and who love the Catholic Church. The Church calls everyone to live in chastity, a difficult path for everyone. We muddy the waters when we segregate people into various categories of mortally sinful behavior. Chastity is the crux of the matter", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"For every 1 you think you could find, I'l find 10 to the contrary\" = refuting.\n.\nMucky- you either agree with that fact that our Founding Fathers made us a Christian nation through their Judeo-Christian paradigm, or you don't. The fact that you haven't refuted a single one of my quotes means you either agree with it, or can't refute it-- which one is it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've long disagreed with the Catholic Church about many things and still consider myself a Catholic. Just for the record.\n\nBut I'm certainly not going another round of your favorite game \"You're not Catholic!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Konocerned need I post links to the Republicans statements to prove you are more interested in getting your slam in than accuracy or facts? For it would not be difficult to post hundreds of statements by Republicans indicating they are running to preserve Christian values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I respect you disagreement. You don't believe in it therefore you are not part of the Church. What I am trying to understand is why people within the RC are trying to change its theology into reformed theology. Why not simply become a reformed Christian as yourself? \n\nI am assuming you are protestant based on your name.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like many conservatives, you apparently do not know why the government got into social welfare. It's because private charities could not help everyone who needs help. That is a fact. That you don't like the government helping the poor shows, AS I SAID, that you would prefer that the poor not be helped. Which is not a Christian attitude.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Some people who read Mr. Anchordoquy's letter might be confused as to whether he supports or is against 'birth control coverage' being 'Mandated by The Government'\" \nYep, his letter wandered between conflicting viewpoints.\nCompanies were covering birth control until conservative Christians threatened to boycott those companies, so they dropped it.\nObamacare tried to restore women's contraception coverage. I think the mistake was to mandate that the coverage be provided at no cost, instead of at the same cost as generic or trade-marked drugs of similar status..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If small but traditional Christian denominations who blah blah blah were to provide the same rationale as the Editorial Board then yes I would say the same thing. This isn't a matter of who stands for the national anthem and who doesn't. I don't care if someone stands, sits, kneels, or runs off to Tahiti during the national anthem. What I do care about is the rationalization if they don't stand...especially when that rationalization is at odds with the facts. That's what I addressed in my comment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have regularly seen \"Christ chose only men to be apostles, therefore women cannot be ordained\". The logic of the argument is identical with \"Christ chose only Jews to be apostles, therefore gentiles cannot be ordained\". Both are of the form \"Christ chose only members of group to be apostles, therefore non-members of cannot be ordained.\" If you accept the first argument, then logically you must accept the second one.\n\nJPII actually gave no reasons for denying ordination to women, other than \"because I say so\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This Syrian family looks like a nice Christian Family, now that's a breath of fresh air :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pretty silly diatribe.\n\nWhen a religion dictates a public policy position, it is impossible to distinguish between rejection of that position and of that religion, unless those who practice it are willing to separate the two.\n\nIn other words, its not an attack on Christianity. It is a rejection of Christianity's right to impose its beliefs on everyone else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Emmett,\nWe have a LOT of work to do, and it will take a long, long time to reconcile the many ways that racism continues to divide us and perpetuate the social sins that happen every day. But we are not doomed. God is speaking, and we need to listen. Fr. Massingale actually did list some steps that the Catholic Church can take (go to YouTube, look up racism and the catholic church), but the more important question is what are we going to do? We could pray. Listen with an open heart and mind. Read (e.g. \"Just Mercy\" or the examples below). See the face of God in everyone. Start conversations in our own church, family and friends -- for example, watch Fr. Massingale's YouTube or read a book about racism together and then talk about it. Discern specific things our local churches can do. You may have other ideas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Liberation theology is only a problem when it leaves God out, thus mirroring capitalism. To get society where it needs to be, the Church needs to be integrated into social services and education, which should be integrated into the workplace. This is why my book on socialism started with a chapter on Christian Humanism, which overcomes the pietousness of the right and the reflexive atheism of the left.\n\nHow we consume goods is a moral act that is best done in a cooperative setting. That firms make these decisions for their employees is implicit. Employee-owned firms need to make it explicit, because to control the means of production you must first control the means of consumption (and distribution).\n\nWhile the behavior of individuals in the system, both the masses and the wealthy, are important, the vital point is that we must go beyond such consideration to a cooperative model or the problem of luxury remains.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are a lot of self identified Christians who do not want a theocrat running the country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Satan has also been saying \"Discriminate against women and gays! Tell everyone that this is part of the Christian message.\" That alone will drive many from the Church, and fill Satan with glee. Along with \"Tell outright lies such as 'the magisterium has never changed a teaching.'\" Nothing will please the father of lies quite as much as lies coming out of the institutional Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "how about we give every set of parents $11,400 per child to allow them to determine where they want to send their kids to school. The public system or the Catholic system or any private system they want as long as it meets provincial standards. \n\nwe'll see then whether the real issue is about how archaic the whole thing is or how protected the whole thing has been...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've never heard of the \"moslem\" religion.\n\nMany religions practice(d) animal sacrifice, including Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Christians, LDS and some sects of these religions still practice them. I know of no law that forces a member of any of these religions to perform these animal sacrifice rituals, and certainly not the Anchorage Equal Rights ordinance. No medical care givers are required to perform abortions against thier will, under the ordinance or under any law that I know of in the United States. \n\nYou're resorting to your typical scare tactics, because that's all you got.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bannon? Christian? Nominally, maybe. By behavior and action? Seems questionable at best.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Democrats give away the Rust Belt by alienating Catholics\"\n\nThe dims give away the entire country by bitterly clinging to gun control.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where did you get the 1700's being when the Catholic Church was formed? I don't think you'll find a fellow atheist who has completed Jr. High World History will join you on that. The major tenant of Christians is original sin (and continued sinners after conversion)- there is no claiming of purity of soul.\n\n I think you are a self-created messenger who has not studied World History, American Government or Comparative Religions at the Jr. High or High school level- I say that as a former 7-12 grade social studies teacher.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I disagree, Mary. Trump's ideological purity test is an excellent idea and needs to be expanded. I want to see each U.S. citizen be required to answer the following questions correctly: \n\nAre you a Christian? Do you believe that women should be imprisoned if they have an abortion? Should all (white) Americans be required to carry a firearm at all times? Are rich people rich because they're simply better than you? Is climate change a hoax?\n\nIf you fail to answer 'yes' to any of the questions you will be rounded up and sent to re-education camps in Texas and Oklahoma.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thoroughly Catholic teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And that's what we should base our Christianity upon? Would Jesus care about that? After all, Jesus was a socialist [he fit most, if not all of the categories].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, a minority of priests might do just that. Until their bishop orders them not to after complains are made. \n\nA minority of bishops might do just that. The majority of bishops soft peddle the issue. When was Joe Biden told he would be denied communion for his support of abortion? When was Pelosi told that? When was any \"Catholic\" politician told that--by the USCCB? (Bishops as a whole?)\n\nWhen were the bishops as a whole as tough on \"Catholic\" politicians who support abortion as they are on any politician who happens to think the federal government needs to reduce spending and lower taxes?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I seem to remember that during WWII, French and Italian convents, monasteries, priests, bishops and even the Vatican hid those wanted by the Nazis. If the church does not stand up for the powerless, then it no longer follows Christ and no longer has a right to exist. Quo vadis? Said Peter to Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And good examples, too! Thank you. I don't bring any particular expertise to these issues, and I definitely come at them from the West. I think we in the Roman Church have been anxious for Christian unity since even before the Council -- the Graymoor Friars have been at this work for more than a hundred years. I think there is a Gospel imperative to pursue it (\"That they all may be one, Father, as I in you, and you in me: that the world may believe that you sent me.\") I take your point, and I agree that we can't be facile about this in spite of what sometimes seems to be the urgency of it. \nI think we can and should seek unity, but not at the sacrifice of principles. I think, too, that sometimes we have to accept that unity is not in the cards. I think, for instance, that it is long past time for the Roman Catholic Church to let the Lefebvre group go its own way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With more than a billion followers, the Catholic church is the largest global organization the world has ever seen. To carry out its work all over the world, it depends on workers who get salaries that are almost stipends AND it depends upon volunteers. If the ordinary worshippers stop believing in what they are doing, the whole think collapses. Francis knows this. If he cannot reconcile theory AND practice, the church could be emptied out everywhere. People read, they communicate on social media, they have experiences themselves, within their families and know of others' experiences. The past official teachings were not to be questioned. But they couldn't be obeyed either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To be accurate, we are a secular nation, founded on Christian principles, but we are not in any sense a Christian nation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What Blasphemy you speak. Change to be modern? This will never happen. Christianity and other religions evolve but this one is stuck hundreds of years ago. It is not progressive religion. You have to wonder how many people would chose this voluntarily if they were not forced into it. You are right the rhetoric is always that others are not accepting of them. They never have to change, everyone else needs to change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Anglican Church does not necessarily qualify as \"Protestant.\" I realize that. The problem is that within the Anglican Church one Church might have a very high theology of the Sacraments, whereas another one might have a very low theology. If you belong to an Anglican Church that has almost an indistinguishable theology of the Sacraments from that of the Catholic Church, then, quite obviously you will see the priesthood similarly to how we Catholics see priesthood. \n\nIt is difficult, I realize to talk about what \"Protestants\" believe because there are so many sects that believe contradictory things and varied things. However, in general, Protestants and Catholics do not see what it means to be clergy in the same way. They are very different. This is what people like Bill forget when they write articles like this. He is looking at the priesthood through the lens of his Presbyterian Faith, not realizing you cannot impute Presbyterian theology onto Catholic Sacraments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I definitely don't lump all Christians as being the same. It's a huge, diverse group of people. I can't, for the life of me, understand why evangelicals in such huge numbers voted for Trump, but whatever. \n\nRegarding your pastor, I have respect for any pastor like yours who openly admits to a congregation that religion does not automoatically correspond with morality. I know from experience that some preachers tell their congregation that you have to believe in god to be a good person. This is bothersome to me as it creates distrust or even hate of atheists, which is undeserved, and also is a cheap way of keeping members - through co-dependency, instead of simply a desire to have faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is very good that governments in Ireland and Australia (Catholica.com) and other countries are demanding that commissions investigate these horrors. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the Trump administration is going to investigate the U.S. Catholic Church, but one never knows. Worldwide national investigations of Roman Catholic Church policies will hopefully drive the Vatican to recognize its need for a non-partisan investigation before its credibility falls to zero.\n\nAs you say, Seanog, \"This was the period of maximum power for the Roman Church in Ireland. The Hierarchy were the dominant power, in an emerging young nation and strongly influenced all new legislation with moral implications.\" Power, hierarchy, dominance...these are all characteristic marks of the Roman Catholic Rite/Church.\n\nThe Vatican II Rite/Church sees power in Scripture, Liturgy, and governance through a very different lens. https://ritebeyondrome.com/picture-the-possibility-of-a-vatican-ii-rite/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Eliminating the Catholic boards would not be a budget silver bullet, but there would be some savings. This may be a small example, but its relevant. Toronto French public and French Catholic schools share buses. That is...in the morning, the bus drives through a neighbourhood and picks up the Catholic kids, drops them at school and then goes back to the same neighbourhood and picks up the public school kids and brings them to school. Sometimes the schools are only a few blocks away and have less than 150 students each.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Christian Right is neither.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's start with the Catholic moral positions that are in fact completely unethical.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".\n\nSkookumPete writes:\n\n\"the Koran and the Bible are equally the products of their times. The difference is that modern Christians are free to take what they will from their scripture and disregard the rest. Muslims are not\"\n\n--\n\nYour post betrays a dearth of awareness of both Christianity and Islam.\n\nThere are many Christian denominations whose members are not \"free to take what they will from their scripture and disregard the rest\" but take a literal interpretation of the bible. \n\nMany evangelical and fundamentalist Christian denominations would fall into this description.\n\nAnd there are many Muslims who are, indeed, \"free to take what they will from their scripture and disregard the rest\".\n\nHere:\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_and_progressive_Muslim_movements\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Reform_Movement\n\nhttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/23/reform-muslims-stand-up-to-take-on-the-ideology-of-islam.html\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think what we are seeing is less a clash between right and wrong than a clash between an Old Testament worldview, in which the survival of the people trumps individual rights, and a New Testament worldview in which individual rights (and responsibilities) are primary. The former worldview, dominant in the largely evangelical south, sees life in us-vs.-them terms and sees justice in terms of an eye for an eye. The latter worldview, dominant in sectors where large immigrant populations are present, sees life in we're-in-this-together terms and sees justice as defense of individual rights. Each group appeals to the Judeo-Christian scriptures to support the idea that they're doing God's work on earth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Surely, you jest!! Jesus, non-violent to the core, would want us to be 'relentless warriors' and defenders of the One True Church??? What gospels are you reading that state this is what \"Jesus would want us to do\"? Jesus was, without a doubt, a progressive and a modernist of his time. Why would he be wanting anything different at this point in history?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "rockydays: In terms of actual numbers, however, I believe those who identify as non-religious form the fastest growing group. And among Roman Catholics, who form the single largest religious community in this country by far, many like myself are what are called \"cultural Catholics\" who identify with the religion primarily because of family history but hold largely laissez faire views on social policy. Most mainstream Protestants, who outnumber fundamentalist Christians in Canada, likely hold similar views. As such, it's probably fair to say that a solid majority of the Canadian population broadly supports moderate secularism. This could pose serious problems where secularism collides with the attitudes of more recent arrivals who are attached to conservative religious views. We've had a small-scale glimpse at this conflict in the dispute over the updated sex-ed curriculum in Ontario. We'll likely see more such conflicts in the future.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I say make both forms widely available and let people vote with their feet. How can people reject what they don't know or are unaware exists? The EF is one of the Church's best secrets. \n\nObviously having 99% OF only parishes (many not celebrated reverently) isn't keeping people in the Church. If God uses the EF to keep/draw people to the Church, would that be a problem? Why did Mass attendance decline so much after the OF was imposed on Catholics?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They can, but they don't necessarily need to be. If we accept that Jesus was a devout Jew of 1st century Palestine Who came to us because He loves us and desired to teach us The Way, we can also accept the fact that once He had absented Himself from this earth His followers would put a mechanism in place to contain what He taught. These followers, being only human, as He was not, were bound by the cultural and political constructs of their time. They organized, canonized, and demonized based on their knowledge and perceptions. True, they were (and are) guided by the Holy Spirit, but Her guidance does not preclude any error, only material error. \nThe structure of the institutional church, and all its doctrines, rituals, and rules are subject to change, modification, or suppression based on enhanced knowledge and wisdom. The eternal truths, the church's dogmas (that is, Creedal statements) are unchanging but even they can be more fully understood and believed by His followers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kieran Tapsell probably understands this issue better than any other English-speaking Catholic. He knows both the civil and canon law.\n\nAs I've written before, nothing will change until a bishop -- better still, a cardinal -- goes to jail for obstruction of justice in one of these cases. If Cardinal Pell is indicted, as now seems at least possible, will the Pope protect him, or not? Either way, the shock waves will reach far beyond Australia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Kenney and Federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer should take note from fellow German Conservative (Christian Democrat)Leader Angela Merkel shortly facing an election, have been inching their party's policies to the centre. Slash and burn and tampering with acceptable popular social polices is not too popular with the German Voter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe someone said there were only two people in history who were true Christians - Jesus and Francis of Assisi.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Constantine when he decreed Catholicism would be the State religion of the Empire.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am sure an ex-Buddhist or ex-Muslim or ex-Methodist or ex-Episcopalian would say the same --- \"free at last\" -- to put their former co-religionists to shame, as it were, by the disclosure of his or her bravery, conscience factor, scheme of merriment, etc. But committed Muslims or Methodists (or in this case, Catholics) would see it differently -- that the disclosure is due to the ex-religionist's frailty, limitation. You take the limits of your own field of vision (of Catholicism) for the limits of committed Catholics. Or why come back on a Catholic post to \"post\" your \"enlightenment\"? I notice on a Buddhist site or Episcopal site, you rarely if ever see an ex-Buddhist or ex-Episcopalian, respectively, post his/her abandonment, his faith demission, her abjuration publicly. If one leaves a religious community, one moves on, with the light or daybreak of the window left behind filled by someone else, some convert. But move on, Karen. Enjoy your \"freedom\" on us, by remembrance. Bye, bye", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And I recall that, rather late in his life and for one more time, Rev. Schillebeeckx insisted to an interviewer that in the theological field of Christology, it was the BIRTH of Jesus that is the core, the central event, of the Christian faith, and that Easter would never have been possible without it! Somehow, Catholicism (and most all of Christian churches) switched the two many centuries ago, so that we have been left with liturgical confusion. Christmas is the start of our Journey to the Cross.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed! Even Bill's fellow bishops and B XVI were extremely careful in avoiding labeling Bill as a her*tic! They settle for standard \"retirement\" lingo. Of course the right wing of the big Catholic bird has tried to label him as such (the H word) , but unsuccessfully. The difference between Bill and other JP IIB XVI bishops is that Bill has the courage of his convictions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for the laughs.\nThat's the funniest thing I've read all day.\nJust because the Republican Party panders to the worst fears of the Christian right doesn't make the Republican Party pure.\nThe GOP is NOT God's Own Party.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kwasniewski, and the rest of the \"Wyoming Catholic College\" faculty, are all from the University of Dallas. WCC does not appear to be accredited, and has only 150 students.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cry would be the correct option. Can you imagine if this huge crowd marched to the Union buildings on mass. Won't happen. These are Christians who live for heaven why would they care if the wrong person is in the Union Building their future is in heaven not here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some public schools have events for those - you just need Catholic students / parents to request it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Hans Kung. Since Vatican II you have kept the hope of progressive Catholics alive. Repentance and reconciliation are exactly what Jesus would do. It's time for Catholics and Protestants to unite as the Christians we all are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is beyond your intellect to understand that when the Bible plainly states not one of the race of Adam chose Christ, all rejected him, it means exactly that. It is beyond your intellect to understand it is impossible to be a slave to sin and have a free will. It is beyond your intellect to understand that when the Bible plainly states IT IS NOT OF THEM THAT WILLETH, it means exactly that.\n You read Romans 9 where it plainly states your god hated Esau before the world was formed, having not done good or evil, and yet this is beyond your intellect, and conclude your god loves Esau equally of Jacob, and died in vain for Esau's sins, whom your god clearly stated he hated. \n It is beyond your intellect they are not my elect. It is the bible, you have no faith in, that plainly states Elect, Predestination. Words you blot from your bible. It is beyond your intellect to understand that in every aspect of your faith you call your own god a liar, Bill.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Surely you must know someone in an \"irregular situation\" within the Church -- friend, acquaintance, maybe even offspring or siblings? Just curious, what would you say to one of these \"objective sinners\" if you observed them stand up to approach the altar for communion?\n\nI'm sure you know this happens on a regular basis anyway, just curious what (if anything) a traditional-minded Catholic would be inclined to do faced with such a calamity?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Groulx is TODAY the intellectual giant after which PK Peladeau-Quebecor names its Think Tank, dedicated to the spread of lie-based propaganda. Yet Groulx wasn't any 'historian', he was an uneducated country cleric with ultra-right-wing views of Quebec, and an amateurish interest in social archeaology, which he constructed into a national-Catholic myth. Yet there are hours of fake Groulx-type 'history' broadcast on Peladeau cable and normal channels, and printed in their mass-circulation dailies. That's what Monsieur Lagac\u00e9 calls \"Qubebeckers' hatred of falsehood.\" Not really. It depends on what lie you wish to call the truth. Lagac\u00e9 is as shallow and as phoney as Groulx.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess I missed the news about Catholic parents lobbying their school board to support the formation of gay straight alliances. Hopefully some do but that doesn't exonerate the boards who block the formation of these support groups.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We celebrate Easter because Jesus (Christ) died for our sins.\n\nJsesus told his followers, the Christians, to love their neighbours and to do unto others as they would have others do unto them.\n\nAmong the faiths, Christianity is the best of all. Isn't it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jews are an ethnic group also-- this is why someone can say that they're half Jewish but you never hear anyone say that they're half Catholic. Even DNA test results come back with Jewish breakdowns (I'm 26% European Jewish according to mine-- my grandfather was Jewish).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry Father Reese but on this one your missed the key point.\n\nIn addition to the valid legal reasons offered by Glaze my donut is that any compromise is a statement of agreement with bigotry. \n\nIt is a statement against Charity.\n\nYour compromise would continue to allow Catholic schools like the one in Colorado to expel a child because the Gay parents were, 'living in sin.' \n\nThis is the same (but only possibly to a lesser degree) as saying that children should be kicked out of the country because one of their parents committed a terrorist act.\n\n (see continue following)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"With regard to contraception and abortion, we are favoring a conservative Christian viewpoint over all other religions.\n=======\nDid I miss something? Has everyone missed something? Because \"contraception/contraceptives/birth control\" and \"abortion\" are still legal. And they have been for decades. Nothing has changed the \"legality\" of those things....yet perhaps....but they are still legal.\n-\nThe only thing that has changed is the government's willingness to use \"tax dollars\" and/or a \"Government Mandate\" to \"artificially create\" a demand for services and products that the \"free market\" should create and supply all on its own.\n-\nBesides, the only way you, peterpi, could ever \"honestly\" suggest that \"the government is favoring Conservative Christians\" \"now\" is if you are forced to \"honestly admit\" that under the Obama Administration....the government didn't....and was hostile to certain religious values....and the pendulum has swung back to \"neutral\" now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These fellows seem sincere, motivated not by loyalty to that vile thing (the institutional Church), but by compassion and some sort of justice for the victims.\n\nTo be honest, I'd more or less given up getting a sense of Christ through the Catholic episcopacy. \n\nI hope my raised hope isn't misplaced. Time will tell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not a religious person; certainly not a Christian. But to Mr. McKee's letter, I say, \"Amen!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Blaming this terror incident on Islam is akin to blaming the IRA bombings on Christianity.\nJust as the actions of the IRA were a perversion of Catholicism, so goes ISIS.\nBut i'm swimming against the tide here, mob rules.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your response shows what's wrong with NCR -- it's become a home for Catholics who have no tolerance for anyone who isn't a Catholic leftist.\n\nIf people wish to fund such intolerance by financially supporting this org (and the bloated salaries of its top officers and writers), they are free to do so. But they should be under no illusions that this website isn't heavily biased and intolerant of any dissenting opinions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Franciscans offer the theory that Jesus' life, death, and resurrection was not Plan B. He didn't come to save us; He came because He loves us. He would have come had no human ever sinned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have told me, in as many words, that women are not second-class citizens in the Catholic Church. Since they are being blocked from ordination because they are women, it is clear, that, in fact they are. Especially since many posts in the institutional Church require that the holder be ordained.\n\nNo, the correct term for your belief that women are not second class in the institutional Church is \"delusion\". Denying reality will always diminish your argument and position.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Luis - thank you for the link. The article is fascinating and I hope it gets a wide reading. You might find an additional audience at catholica.com.au. \n\nYes, we must move on from the male/female divide, \"how secular/religious patriarchy makes integral human development practically impossible.\" We need to realize that: \" What really matters for the Christian faith is that God became human, in the flesh, not that he was incarnated as a male.\" \n\nWe need forums where what you and others have written about a new vision of who we are as God's people - can come together. I am thinking about writing by Tony Equale, J. A. Dick, David Timbs, Mike Rivage-Seul, John Shelby Spong - those who challenge thinking on big questions of finding God, who we are as God's creation, why God made us, and where we are going in evolution.\n\nThanks, again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK. The story has a priest in it but that doesn't make it Catholic. Why's it here?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My major complaint about the critics of Amoris Laetitia has been that the complaints ignored what Francis was saying. The demand for clarity from Rome contradicts AL\u2019s assertion that not every issue needs to be settled by the Vatican. Addressing that explicit teaching would be the honest way to address AL, instead of just asserting the Pope has to intervene.\nWeinandy does address a similar issue, to his credit. I think. There is a passage in AL where Francis talks about the errors that have been made in presenting doctrine. \u201cWe also need to be humble and realistic, acknowledging that at times the way we present our Christian beliefs and treat other people has helped contribute to today\u2019s problematic situation...\u201d Francis does indeed accuse doctrine of being \u201cdead and bookish.\u201d Weinandy acknowledges this accusation, a real step forward. Now he just needs to address how doctrine promotes the \u201cunitive\u201d dimension of marriage, or how it makes marriage attractive or desirable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump just stopped American tax dollars being used to promote abortions around the world. Sounds a lot more Christian than his opponent. Keep in mind you absolutely cannot be pro abortion and be a true Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Purcell, meanwhile, parried a number of tough questions from Judge Clifton, who appeared unconvinced by the states\u2019 argument that Trump\u2019s order violated the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from favoring one religion over another. Pointing out that only a small fraction of the world\u2019s Muslims population was affected by the order, Clifton asked how that could be construed as discrimination against Muslims. 'I have trouble understanding where we\u2019re supposed to infer religious animus when in fact the vast majority of Muslims would not be affected,' Clifton said.\"\n\nSo by Clifton's \"logic,\" if Drumpf had long been bad mouthing Catholics and saying that he was going to \"have to find out what's going on here,\" and that he was going to keep Catholics from emigrating to the U.S., and then if he wrote an executive order one day, to keep anyone from Vatican City from traveling to the U.S., it wouldn't be necessarily be \"anti-Catholic,\" because most Catholics don't live there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"#3 explains the problem perfectly. They tend to think they know what's best for everyone.\"\nNailed it for Christians such as Thor and others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would add the Mormons to your list, as they are experiencing a tremendous amount of challenge from their under-forty/fifty members as well, on all the same issues they share with Catholics and Evangelicals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry - you repeat a myth and meme that has been proven to be incorrect. \nIn fact, CARA, PEW, Vatican surveys have all documented through valid research gathering that the liturgical changes energized and retained catholics in the western world. Expansion in the second/third world continues to happen (so much for your incorrect over-generalization)\nWhat that research does prove is that Humanae Vitae decision created the context that began the exodus; the clerical/episcopal sexual abuse scandal increased the exodus; and gender insensitivity. \nFinally, you appear to not understand that councils lay out principles that a committee implements. But, documentation (i.e. vernacular) shows how quickly thousands of bishops who attended and voted at VII, returned home, listened to their people, and asked for vernacular permission from Rome.\nNo one who understands translation theory would agree with your last sentence - nor does Francis and almost all of the curial liturgy office.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is indeed a scriptural mention for Christians gathering for worship on the first day of the week \"Sunday\" in Acts 20:7 \"On the first day of the week, they gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord's Supper. Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your first paragraph is the usual misrepresentations of what I have written so I will disregard it. I'll just point out that to misrepresent what someone says or writes is not being honest.\nIf you prefer to follow the \"sages of the Talmud\" rather than the teaching of the Catholic Church, so be it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More Catholic inequalities visited upon a fine country!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Canada is a country based on Judeo Christian values. Whether you are Christian or an atheist, this is a fact. The Western nations of this world are also all based on Judeo Christian foundations. \n\nWe have had immigrants come to our nations for decades and decades. These are immigrants with different religions, different beliefs, etc. and they have for the most part melded well into our society. You than have Muslims, not all, but quite a few that come to our nations and DEMAND that we start not just accommodating, but changing our society to meet their Islamic beliefs. I want to emphasize, NOT ALL muslims are expecting this but enough are and it is starting to make Westerners push back. \n\nWe do not want to become Muslim nations, if you are immigrating here expecting to change our nation into an Islamic state than go home. If you are coming here for a better life and not to change ours, than welcome to Canada and I will support you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yep- Singh, whoops, I Mean \"Fact Checker.\" LOL You can make believe a title for yourself all you want: The FACT is that Moses on the East Pediment of the SCOTUS building, and the 10 commandments are engraved in wood above the justices. Snopes (not valid) doesn't refute this.\n\n*\"You claimed that Congress begins every session with a Christian invocation. This is a false claim as Muslims, Jews, and Hindus have done so as well.\"*\n\nNope- those are GUEST Chaplains, I invite you to look up the difference, \"Fact Checker.\"\n\n*\"first \u201con the front\u201d of the building, now \u201ccarved\u201d somewhere inside. Which is it?\"\n- BOTH.\n\n*\"if you have a picture, please share it.\"*\n\nGladly: Moses is in two places, and the 10 Commandments are DIRECTLY on the inside of the bronze gates to the building itself:\nhttp://www.americanchristianhistory.com/tencommandmentsoak.jpg\nand on the lower, interior panels of the Courtroom doors:\nhttp://www.americanchristianhistory.com/tencommandmentsbronze.jpg\n\ncome back anytime, Singh", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In your reaction to my response to this comment you chose \"Disagree\".\nDoes that mean you and Marty disagree with my assertion that \"God is not Catholic\"? \nJust curious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "===========================\n \"Many felt that it was difficult to live as a Muslim in a hostile environment that left them feeling stigmatized and/or marginalized.\"\n======================\nCanada is secular society with a few cultural Christian traditions. Ms. Khan wants to cite this a the cause of radicalization with the cure being federal government intervention. \nThis avoids dealing with uncomfortable issues peculiar to Islam. The most unique being that Islam comes packaged with a full political system module that creates inherent conflict with any non-Muslim receiving country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Comment, \nTridy is not a \"conservative\" catholic, he is a reactionary thinker. All good conservatives understand that change is necessary but they want to consider the many ramifications before going about change. Reactionaries only want to return to the totalitarian thought of the past. There idea is that they know THE TRUTH when as finite beings we can only gather bis of truth as we grow as a society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is there just one god? Did god exists before Jesus was born? Did Jesus, the godly entity, exist before Jesus was born? Did that Heavenly god go-away after Jesus was born? When Jesus lived, was there more than one god? When Jesus died was there just one god again? \n\nThe whole point of the Trinity is that Yahweh (OT) is the SAME conscious entity as Jesus (NT) - so that there is only One god. The entity that was Jesus is the same entity that flooded the earth drowning countless numbers: vis Yahweh=Jesus, otherwise there was more than one god entity, for a while, while Jesus was around. But that can't be, because there is only one god? ?? ??\n\nThe god to whom Christians pray - Jesus, is the SAME god to whom Jews and Muslims pray - Yahweh (Allah) - the one to whom Abraham spoke. It has to be, how could god (Jesus) not exist before he was born from Mary's womb?\n\nSee how simple is the concept of the Trinity?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The pope has created anarchy in the Catholic Church.\"\n\nReally, R.D.? The church doesn't look that much different now the it did five years ago. The only difference is that our new bishops are not chosen by Ray Burke.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"Researchers report a growing U.S. Muslim population \u2014 increasing from an estimated 2.35 million in 2007 to 3.35 million people of all ages today \u2014 with almost 6 in 10 born outside the U.S. The vast majority of Muslims living in the U.S. (82 percent) are American citizens.\"\n- This study imputes the importance of civics classes in public and sectarian schools, and strengthens the case for impressing on the young and immigrants the importance of the US Constitution especially as it has an impact on supporting freedom of religion.\n- It will be a good thing if men and women of good will: Muslims, Christians, Jews and other religious groups begin talking with the citizens and religious leaders of those countries, recently torn apart by civil and religious wars, about the importance of religious freedom, ethnic diversity, and multi-cultural harmony.\n- Countries were the attributes of religious, ethnic, and multi-cultural harmony enliven society are good models or guides.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is nothing remotely anti-Catholic in these emails. They are the unvarnished remarks of people who were not writing for publication -- but they reflect a realistic and factual analysis of political realities: that the leadership of the Catholic Church in the United States (not the church itself, and not the vast majority of Catholics) has often associated itself with neo-conservative politics and Republican politicians, at least since the late 1980s. Some bishops have been egregiously active in promoting Republican politicians, and these have diminished the authority and credibility of all of the bishops. For Democratic candidates to fail to take note of these facts and account for them would be political malpractice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Meanwhile, in other news, the G&M has discovered that the pope is a catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the few things I actually agree with dissident Catholics on is the poor handling of the sex abuse crisis by the pope and bishops. \n\nJPII I think was too old and infirm to get a real handle on the crisis which happened towards the end of his papacy. Regardless he should not have given Law that cushy job in Rome. Benedict XVI I think simply didn't get it. He did not understand that what people wanted was for him to hold bishops accountable--something he was not doing.\n\nPope Francis talks a good game---but he is short on substantive action. Changes to Canon Law are all well and good. Meaningful and substantive action means removing bishops who cover up abuse or do not report it--and making sure people know why the bishop is being removed. Like Benedict, I am not sure Pope Francis gets this. I guarantee you that if just one bishops was removed---that would take care of the problem. The other bishops would be put on notice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do Christians know that they're right when they bring a child up in that faith? \n\nIt's normal for parents to teach children their own values. The trick is to be open to their choosing the polar opposite when they get to be teenagers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The theology is different. You're too dense to tell the difference. Don't take my word for it. See what Bugnini, the principal designer of the Novus Ordo had to say about it: \" . . . We must strip from our Catholic prayers and from the Catholic liturgy everything which can be the shadow of a stumbling block for our separated brethren that is for the Protestants.\" (Annibale Bugnini, L'Osservatore Romano, March 19, 1965.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"More Islam is what the world needs. More Muslims to spread the Caliphate for Allah. Damn those Christians who stand in the way. Onward Muslim soldiers. Onward as to war !! Allah Akbar.\"\n\nThat is what we are not supposed to talk about no matter how many times it is proven to be true.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hillary has strongly supported Planned Parenthood - in spite of it's abortion mills and it's illegal selling of baby parts. And in spite of it using TAX money from a majority of people who strongly feel it is against their moral beliefs.\nPlanned Parenthood does not offer women 'choice'. \nThey push abortion for $$$ and women are herded in and out like cattle as fast as possible.\nPlanned parenthood has killed millions of children, period.\n\nIf you want to help women - talk to them and encourage them to have their kids. Many good Christians will stand by them thru their pregnancy, and offer moral support. There are many people and agencies that will pay for medical expenses and continue to assist and buy supplies for the mom after the child is born. Most of these agencies are totally funded by donations. They offer strong moral support. If that isn't enough - adoption is a beautiful alternative.\n\nWhy do I have to defend basic pro-life issues on a so-called Catholic web site?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for you response Beverly\n\u201cA open, honest discussion with a sense of safety, respect, and equality can develop true, loving, and merciful relationships.\u201d..\nI think that applies to inner circles, as in club culture, not out in the real world\nA comment taken from another poster on the ACP Site, in regards to the laity\n\u201cThey have long ago ceased to engage in any active way with the parish because of years and years of their voices being ignored, of slights and injustices and a lack of respect shown by the Church for adult thinking minds. A total lack of any structure for the engagement of all believers, in facilitating a real communion of hearts and minds, is responsible for this defeatist mentality. We need more vibrant communities and we will only achieve them when there are proper democratic structures in place\u201d\nFrom my own experience if you have a complaint stone walling is the name of the game, as in lies and deception.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not very familiar with CRS . My understanding is that it was founded by the US Catholic Bishops Conference. This article says it receives most of its funding from USAID (60%). Is it legitimate to ask why the US Government has been funding most of the relief efforts of the US Catholic Church? This isn't the custom in most countries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you implying that there were folks who committed terror attacks in name of Catholicism in the 1800s on the scale of modern jihadis because that is the only way the prejudices against Catholics and Muslims could be remotely analogous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's no such thing as a \"Christian left\", Mr. Winters. You're either in Christ or you're not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If these new emails prove nothing but the fact that the investigation has been reopened ushers in a Trump presidency, how will Comey feel then?\"\n\nUh, like he did the job that was entrusted to him? That is -- law enforcement, and not culture warfare.\n\nReally, must everything be a zero-sum in this election? Forget enforcing law and order, all that matters is that Hillary must be elected? (I swear, the zero sum thinking of the leftish Catholics just as lame as that of the trads, who vote only for the abortion issue and nothing else).\n\nYou must understand, MSW, that the job of law enforcement is often based on investigating likelihood of wrong doing. \n\nThe emails in question from the Weiner laptop are not the same emails that the Clinton IT team worked over -- no, these emails are unscrubbed, unvetted, unexpurgated. Comey knows this, and likely has seen evidence in the 650,000 he found disturbing enough to warrant this further investigation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "PART I / Regarding: \"Consideration of a change in structure for the papal commission comes as the group has in recent months faced public questioning of its effectiveness in stopping future abuse of children and vulnerable people in the Catholic Church.\"\n- At this point, the World Court, Interpol, all the countries with whom the Vatican City State has a treaty, and the United Nations need to jointly establish oversight of the Vatican City State and how the city state implements its laws against abuse and rape of children and young people.\n- They especially need to monitor how the Holy See, an international non-government agency, in effect, implements its own laws and rules against harming children and young people, especially clerics not only in the Vatican City State, but in the local churches throughout the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is just so sad that people are so obsessed with keeping others from God. I really don't understand why people who are supposedly happily married are so obsessed with keeping remarried people away from the Sacraments. It seems like this is more about the Elder Brother Syndrome than anything else; they are upset that the remarried people are getting what they think is a \"pass.\" I don't understand because the Church already gives them a \"pass\" on areas of their lives that aren't perfect. Why are remarried people different?\n\nAnd this really needs to change. The annulment tribunals and Catholic Church's stance on remarriage are one of the biggest factors in making people ex-Catholics. I've heard nothing but complaints about this. Francis is just trying to introduce a bit more love, flexibility, and humanity into what is a bureaucratic process.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr. Berrigan took the Gospel seriously, taught it faithfully, lived it consistently. What if everyone followed his teaching? What would we have then? Peace?? His life and ministry point us forward to the time when the work of building the Kingdom will be complete and the Son will hand it over to the Father; but they also point us back to the time when the earliest Christians shared everything in common and eschewed violence and military service. We live in the \"time between the times\" (the time between the First Coming of the Lord and the Last), and we find our bearings by reflecting on where we've been and where we need to go. Father Berrigan helped, and helps, us to do that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting question. Hypothetically, a female Muslim or Hasidic Jew could petition for equal rights within the mosque or temple, or a Catholic woman could sue for the right to become a priest.\n\nWouldn't that put the cat among the pigeons?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, beg to differ. Your solution is to turn the clock backwards. It would continue to leave 40 million uninsured (not counting undocumented). This violates catholic social justice. \nYes, guess Congress could set up criteria so that chronic care can be covered by Medicare/Medicaid - you do know that those are gov't health insurance plans? (your statement makes me wonder if you even understand the issues and questions?) \nYour statement is the ultimate - all in it just for me.\nBTW - one recommended fix to the PPACA is to broaden the limits on financial subsidies; strengthen individual state and federal exchanges (which Trump is not doing) - why some counties are losing insurance carriers. PPACA is built on three legs - Trump is cutting out two legs and saying the PPACA is failing - a false statement. Premium increases in exchanges are offset by subsidies. \n\nhttp://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2017/feb/01/paul-ryan/paul-ryans-damning-claim-affordable-care-act-obama/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know about Rogue Catholic, but, yes, I would say that is too many meetings. Sounds like the life of an elementary school teacher. However, my thought would be that some of those meetings could be delegated, if one needs a pastor at all of them, anyway. Many more people show up for town hall meetings -- all of us who have been turned off - or away from not just priests, but the laity who constitute the \"in crowd.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2) SOME Christians are so sure. The noisiest ones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 2\nE2, on the other hand, appears to me to be an alliance of \"elements of Catholicism\" with \"elements of fundamentalism\" based on shared certainty about values of rejection, of opposition, of rejection of socially controversial, disputed moral propositions. It is at its core an alliance of convenience against others. The movement does not envisage rapprochement among its members; rather both sides agree not to acknowledge or face or confront what they actually feel about each other. The Catholic element (conservative Catholics) do not relinquish for one moment their rejection of the core beliefs of the Fundamentalist element; and vice versa. Of particular importance in assessing E2 from a Catholic perspective is that a very significant portion of fellow Catholics (progressive, liberals) are as much the target of E2 rejection and enmity as a subset of secular ideologies. Not sure, but suspect something similar is the case on the other side. Therefore, E2 is not Church to Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First: N.B., the expression is \"rein in,\" not \"reign in,\" as the rider of a horse does when he/she wants the horse to slow down, vs. \"In order to reign in Saudi Arabia, you first of all need to be a prince of the House of Saud.\"\n\nAnd then: It surprises me that some zealous Christian visitor to Saudi Arabia has not tried by now to provoke an international incident by making a loud public show of preaching or worshiping or proselytizing.\n\nAnd then: A strict, inhumane puritanism or asceticism is a style of religious practice that appears now and again in different societies. History shows that it may be sustainable in small, self-selecting communities, but rarely in entire populations for very long.\n\nFinally: I shall never understand religious practices that demand obedience to rules, and encourage the condemnation and punishment of those who do not obey. This includes some versions of Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"And if SCOTUS sides with Masterpiece Bakery, the conservative Christian viewpoint will prevail over other religions in matters of how the law treats gay people.\"\n=============\nAnd if SCOTUS rules against Masterpiece Bakery, you really and honestly think the ruling would \"side with true justice, the American way, and everything that is great about being an American?\"\n-\nNo, because even I will admit that regardless of how the SCOTUS rules, it is going to make some people really happy, and it will make some people really sad.\n-\nBut that doesn't bother you anymore than it bothers me.....\"as long as we are the ones who are happy and not the ones who are sad.\"\n-\nSo cut any \"we can all win if SCOTUS rules the right way\" ideology....because we are not \"all\" going to win. Someone is going to lose.....and you want Conservative Christianity to lose.....and Atheism, Secularism, and Humanism to win.....one \"religious\" ideology to lose and another \"religious\" ideology to win. \n-", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No space bar at home laptop.\n\nThe Father and the Son are One. There is an interesting scene in the Christian movie The Shack where the main character berates Papa (the Father, played by Viola Davis) for requiring the death of Jesus. She points out that she was there with him and shows her wrists. Very moving.\n\nThe Passion was not to satisfy God's vengeance. It was to end Man's isolation from God by God experiencing what man feels in that separation, the despair of My God, May God! Why have you abandoned me?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a sad state of affairs when we Catholics are so disinterested in the suffering of Christians in other parts of the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For Catholics at least, forgiveness means burying the hatchet not leaving the handle handy to use at a later date.\nA dossier is kept on every priest, diocesan and religious order something Richard has omitted to say....\nAnd any dealing the faithful has had on record is not exempt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What kind of work does CCODP do? I have never heard of this group. Also, I like to hear of other Catholic Charities I can feel good about giving to. Lately, because I don't agree with supporting the politics of Pro Life and I don't support continuing the permanent diaconate, especially at 65-70,000 a year per diocese, I don't feel comfortable giving to the actual Catholic Charities Appeal anymore. I feel good about giving to St. Vincent DePaul, and I planned on devoting more funds to this charity just because I know it has helped people in my community and does not lecture on any political stance while it does so. So let me know what specifically made you a strong supporter of CCODP. I also support LaSalette Brothers and Nuns and The Paulist Fathers. These charities I feel better supporting and recommend others support too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the columnists at the Daily News asked to do an interview with me and I agreed. Her name was Jill Porter. Jill found out that the priest who molested me died in 1988 or 1989. That was a relief. He was still not around molesting altar boys. Since that time, I have not received one correspondence from the Catholic Church. Despite the fact that there was a full page article about the abuse and the pain that followed, I have never received one ounce of support.. I don't believe I have ever heard of one story of an effort by the Catholic Church to reach out to possible victims who may have been molested by Catholic priests who they know molested children . I agree that children are sexually abused by people from all walks of life. What pains me most is not that I was molested but that the Church that I was baptized in, went to school and Church to for all of my youth, has failed victims almost one hundred percent of the time. There has been virtually no effort to heal the victims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As JohnD1 notes, Palestinians have recognized Israel's right to exist since (at least) 1993 and Arafat.\n\nThe new demand from Zionists/Netanyahu is recognition of Israel as a Jewish state which will deny rights to Arabs, Christians and all other non Jews within Israel as it now exists and on the lands it seeks to control.\n\nIn their greed, Zionist sow the seeds of their destruction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right. Paul Ryan somehow was allowed to believe -- by Catholic teachers? -- that the supremely cold, competitive, anti-social arch-libertarianism of Ayn Rand is consistent with Catholic Christian values. How in the world did that happen?! It's not an unimportant issue, because evidently a lot of fairly well educated American Catholics are sympathetic to all that \"dump the common good, trample on social justice\" propaganda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These theologians suffered the ire of a pope[JP II] who didn't understand [no appreciation] of Western understanding of Vatican II and the status of the church in the later part of the 20th Century. \n\nThe doctrines of the Church are not a set of statements on which theologians work in order to extract further understanding from them. Rather the lived experiences of all the members of the Christian community is the source and norm of theology. The theologians that were listed adhered to the concept of \"sensus fidelium\". After all the Church, is the community of ALL the baptized. JP II and Benedict were totally unable to comprehend that. And thus, these theologians were either silenced, censored, or investigated. The unjust treatment that they received was a disgrace---and marks the complete failure of JP II and Benedict to understand the balance between the prophetic, priestly and kingly tensions in the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That was about getting \"religion\" out of the schools. No Christian (or non-Christian, for that matter) has ever been \"forced\" to recite The Lord's Prayer. Reasonable people don't like that this religious accommodation is going to be disrupting class-room time and instruction for the \"non-believers,\" as well as taking away much- needed physical space where that class-room instruction takes place. What are the \"non-believers\" supposed to do while half the class is away reciting prays?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Some liberal churches don't even believe that Jesus is truly God.\" That whole concept was what led up to formulating the Nicene Creed and all that it means in the first Four Ecumenical Councils from 325-451 AD.\nThe topic discussed at the Council of Nicaea was \"Is Jesus truly God?\" That was where it was decided that Jesus was 'of the same substance---one in being with the Father.' The Greek word [homoousious] was used and we have, since Advent 2011, been using the word 'consubstantial with the Father' [which is an English translation of the Greek term].\n\nOn the other side, at the Council of Chalcedon [451], the Church had to accept that Jesus was not only 'one in being with the Father,' but was truly human as well. Jesus had/has two natures----truly, fully human and truly, fully divine. Those Christians, who didn't accept that Jesus was truly human, then became the Monophysites---and their church communities still exist today. Some of them are possibly conservative churches :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Causality of a school's influence on the beliefs of its students is difficult to prove?\n\nThe political leanings of America's professors are not difficult to discern. Their party affiliation is public record:\n\nhttp://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/oct/6/liberal-professors-outnumber-conservatives-12-1/\n\nAnyway MSW....why voice your contempt for the few conservative Catholic colleges? How is that helpful?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Cont'd)\nIn quiet faith, let us welcome Jesus as our mentor, as a resource rather than as a \"front\", barrier, or concetrized, boxed and sealed but rather as \"open\". God so loved us that He sent His only-begotten. That love that God sees is His image and we must re-find that image in ourselves (as Jesus did) if we are to really join the Christ we profess. We sorta have gotten it backward. \nSo back to the opening: civility is the \"how\" of mutual interdependence, that makes sacred space possible. It ranges from accommodation, to community, to friendship and the intimacy of love. \"Sacred space\" in individual churches is learning how, safe, so sacred can be possible. Discernment relates because is helps us understand, weigh, contextualize; to distinguish between emotion, presuppositions, bias, fabrications and prevarications, external influences and judge (as Wordsworth defined poetry: emotion recollected in tranquility). \nMaybe it should avoid the term \"ecuminism\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This entire article is a blatant proselytizing effort to promote christianity as the only response to the tragedy. The mixing of public school sports and christianity to the exclusion of all other points of view begs the question whether this is a public school or a religious institution. Christian missionaries imposing their views on the community during this tragedy is one more example of hijacking every event for religious purposes. This is a human tragedy absent any relation to religion. No religious claims will alter the pain for the families reacting as humans. Is the public school curriculum now providing christian dogmas as part of the education in violation of law? The state education system needs to take a hard look at just what kind of education is being imposed in this community.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mucky, Find below: notice while hundreds of quotes of the Founding Father's declaring their Christian faith are available via a magical tool called \"Google,\" I have selected the most explicit when it comes to showing the Founders used this Christian faith as the model to make our country:\n\"The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.\" - John Adams\n.\n\"In the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior. The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity\"- John Quincy Adams\n.\n\"I call on the [state of Massachusetts] to pray that we may with one heart and voice humbly implore His gracious and free pardon through Jesus Christ.\" - Samuel Adams", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are correct, Kurgan, that the rosary is a useful form of repetitive meditation. The twenty mysteries of the rosary cover the life of Christ from his Incarnation to his Ascension, with an appendix on the ultimate conclusion of Mary's life. Personally, my devotion to the rosary was energized by Pope St. John Paul's 2002 encyclical which added the Luminous Mysteries to the former three sets.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He answered, \u201c\u2018Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind\u2019 and \u2018Love your neighbor as yourself.\u2019\u201d (Luke 10:27)\n\u201cThe fullness of the law is love.\u201d(Romans 13:10)\n \nI\u2019ve been stuck on this Jesus teaching, I don\u2019t know how long? I think I will be stuck on this teaching till my last breath! \n\nThe entire CI (Catholic Institution ) clergies are not worth a dime until they show some love for the clergy sex abused children instead all these unbelievable cruelty, specially C. Pell!!!\nC. Pell declared his innocence? How on earth a Vatican prelate who was responsible for fifty some sex abused children\u2019s suicide can be innocent? LOLOLOLOL!!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have thought long and hard and deeply and with a god conscience I can say I have come to the conclusion that the divisions in Christianity are arbitrary. For the sake of charity and good will one will want to obey the authorities when in a house of worship and in public if one is a Christian he or she will want to let his light shine, as it were. \n But after an examination of the recent scandals plaguing the Church and the strife within it over discipline and dogma I am certain that to be authentic one must ask the clergy to take responsibility for their actions (!) in the area of faith and worship. If the faith is defined in such a way as to have an unbending and uncompromising tradition, so interpreted, it is fair to ask those in authority to affirmn were they asked to, that they believe what they do is the best way they can answer to call of the Gospel, given what they know and what they have learned and what they believe is an expression of faith in that best expresses", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll let you in on a little secret, its the Church, and not the individual, who decides which theological note is assigned to a particular teaching. I find it quite humorous that someone who rejects a good chunk of the Church's magisterium to throw out the \"cafeteria Catholic\" bomb. Then again, honesty and self assessment has never been the strong suit of the modernists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is what is actually in Exodus. Many Trad Catholics are literalists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with you completely. I too see Pope Francis working hard to modernize radical power-seeking political Catholics, Protestants and other such religions so they can do what they were really meant to do which is to be inclusive of all human beings no matter what their differences are. No two people are alike even to the point of their fingerprints and even voiceprints. The creator created all of us the way we are. That is why I am a Unitarian Universalist. Our congregations include every religion and non-religion under he sun. We celebrate all human beings and their right to worship or not, any way they wish. It makes for very interesting encounters and opportunity for learning about other cultures, beliefs and philosophies, etc. It is a very culturally rich and enjoyable environment. That is what religion should be where we all love and try to help one another if we can.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Mark,\n\nNo credible source involved in predicting future energy use by type agrees with your timeline.\n\nIn their holy book Christians define faith as believing in things for which there is no current evidence. It's interesting how diverse religions often have common principles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our mutual history since the Reformation's beginnings has been shameful. The real issues were not theological but more about power and governance and freedoms. The Catholic counter-Reformation was also full of disciplines and rigor mortis in our development of theology, social thought and a return to absolutes that were insisted to be divinely attributed. Our final act with the declaration on infallibility closed the door on discussion, argument and even association with our Protestant family, leadership or communities. We have indeed met the enemy: it is us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My parents didn't indoctrinate their kids - they didn't force feed their life perspective or beliefs onto us. I just carried that parenting style on. \n\nMy spouse was brought up in a Catholic family - indoctrinated at school and home with religious perspective but rejected a lot of the teachings as an adult long before we met. My spouse's parents wanted our kids baptized Catholic and my spouse refused.\n\nIn our family, we discuss current events and give our opinions. We raised them to think and analyze - always treated them as individuals. If we indoctrinated our kids, why would our oldest vote Conservative, the youngest NDP, while we're Liberals? The standing joke is that we cancel out each others' votes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There most certainly is an institutional Church. Let me restate what I said some time ago. There are two Catholic Churches. Sociologists divide organizations into two types, the Gesellschaft and the Gemeinschaft (it was a German sociologist who came up with these terms). A Gesellschaft is a formal organization, with officers, written rules, etc. A Gemeinschaft is an informal organization. The hierarchy runs the Gesellschaft, but the Gemeinschaft is the Body of Christ.\n\nBTW, has RD changed his username again?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This non-Catholic simply asks -- what more is expected from the Catholic Church by this Federal Gov't ?.. \nWasn't it the 'Federal Gov't of Canada' that removed Cdn Aboriginal People from their First Nation homes & delivered them to these 'religious prisons'..\n\nTherefore, seems Trudeau Jr. is once more grandstanding; wonton showboating with sleazy Trudeau Liberal Voter-Block building bs.\n\nHere we go again. Pure Vote Mongering..\n\n(c)\"Fifty years ago, the Canadian government granted First Nations people the right to vote in federal elections without losing their treaty status. ... In March 1960, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker [Progressive Conservative] pushed the voting rights legislation through Parliament\"(c)(Wik)\n\nQuestion is -- will the Pope speak Latin, Spanish or Italian to Trudeau's French first language skills?\n\nOr does Trudeau only use the 'French' when obviously 'insulting' Quebec's English-speaking population during a 'town-hall mtg.', in particular 'female audience members'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Germany we have almost no candidates for the priesthood today.\nBishops amalgamate parishes into anonymous administrative structures.\nThey import priests from foreign countries whose homilies are not understood by the locals. Catechesis is a linguistic problem. Not to mention the cultural divide. But due to ordination they have the magic power to bring Christ on the altar on sunday. And that is what counts (for bishops). Small congregations in villages around our town are served by lay ministets from the central parish ( volunteers, male and female, married, probably having sex!).\nPeople there accept them and some from the city who want to here a good homily from time to time join them on sunday morning, driving out of town.\n\nMy bishop explained to me why women can not be priests: The priest acts \"in persona Christi\" and because Jesus was a man, a woman can not be a priest. \nFollowing that logic only male circumcised Jews can be Roman catholic priests.\n\nOMG", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The truth is the truth whether you care less or not. And to be honest: I don't care about your view either; I only care about the Lord Jesus' view. That's the difference between orthodox and non-orthodox Catholics. Non-orthodox Catholics are focused on what people want, while orthodox Catholics are focused on what God wants. That is at the crux of all of these arguments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is behind the Episcopalians' demise since they do everything you say the Catholic Church needs to do to survive?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are, but nevertheless Catholics are losing more.\n\nhttps://cruxnow.com/church/2015/05/12/pew-survey-percentage-of-us-catholics-drops-and-catholicism-is-losing-members-faster-than-any-denomination/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Imagine, the Vicar of Christ behaving like a normal human being, even buying his own clothes. How much things have changed since Jesus and the 12.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Paul was proud of his Jewishness.\"\n\nSo is Roy Schoeman, that does not mean he is not a Christian author.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have some very good neighbours who belong to a Christian sect that also calls for women to dress modestly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am Catholic - not Protestant.\n\nI fail to see your point. Do you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One can use rational inquiry to think entirely about spiritual matters. Grace, Sin, love, angels. \n\nAnd angels themselves are pure spirits. No intersection with material matters. \n\nChristians can use the material to raise the value of the material to the supernatural order. In fact, we should.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you consider yourself Catholic in the first place?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And here I was under the impression that they all wanted separation of Church and State? It's ok to have the government adopt Judeo-Christian principles as long as it supports one agenda and not the other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If one Muslim person entered last year, two entered this year, and four the next year, then you will see an annual growth rate of 100 percent.\n\nBritish Muslims generally tend to be from Mirpur, in Pakistani Kashmir. It is a regressive part of Pakistan, and they have carried their culture over. Along with the segregation they faced in the 1960s (\"Rivers of blood\" speech by Enoch Powell, or the \"Tebbit\" test), the ill effects of those decades are showing up now.\n \nAs I have pointed out earlier, the highest homicide rates are from Christian countries (Disclaimer: I am neither Muslim nor Christian). Perhaps you want to worry about that fact? There are plenty of real issues to worry about, compared to the opinion of British Muslims on Sharia. I don't spend all my time worrying about the opinions of the Amish in Alberta or fundamentalist Mormons in British Columbia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True, but the church treats non-Catholic marriages as non-sacramental, so they already recognize the distinction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed, one could argue that any purely Western Council that is not equally Catholic and Orthodox can only deal with discipline and practice, not dogma or orthodoxy. The only way to speak for the whole Church is to have the whole Church present on equal footing. The sound you hear is McHale's head exploding", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's the MSW effect. Global cooling on Progressive Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Prayer and Piety have their place and should not be scoffed at, because in its truest form, Christianity is beautiful and has a depth that sustains one. However, that being said, Buchan conforms to Americanised \"Christian\" Fundamentalism, a form of Christianity that has it's deep roots in the founding of the USA. It goes right back to the Puritans and form of Protestant Christianity that came over from the UK. American Christian Fundamentalism is anti-intellectual, it has a dark view of Eschatology, considers poverty to be the result of laziness and the result of sin, and is very much based on the idea of the American Dream. This form of Christian Fundamentalism views the Bible in a Literal sense. It is Anti-science, anti-psychology/psychiatry; frowns upon modern translations. And it is a big proponent of the Prosperity Gospel. Buchan ascribes to Pentecostalism, which teaches that God performs miracles and healings through his chosen servants - ministers - who are wealthy indeed", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is the entire People of God striving to fulfill the Two Great Commandments. Nothing there about who can be buried with a Catholic mass. \nWhat is truly astonishing to me is that some of our sheep herders are so tone deaf and so morally bankrupt that they think they're spreading the Good News by violating the second of the Two Great Commandments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "hmm. Not sure of it's purpose other than to insinuate that Christianity is somehow being suppressed in school and by the liberal establishment and that bringing your Bible to school some sort of brave act of civil disobedience. National and state standards actually require the teaching of the major religions. Either way it's time for Focus on the Family to stop their imaginary Christian victimhood and start acting like real Christians instead of the right-wing political front group that they are. I'm thinking they're hoping for some sensational situation like a kid getting in trouble for bringing his/her bible to plaster on Fox\"News\" for political purpose.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suppose I should ask what the corresponding numbers were pre council, but that is alright.\nThe comparison is Spain today, with 20% mass attendance \nvs pre council, with an admittedly totalitarian government that took power during a bloody civil war precipitated when the Church supported side lost.\n\nI don't have much problem saying the Church is in better shape today in Spain. But I'm not sure what you mean by \"more Catholic\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought Bannon was Catholic!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think my reply was very logical and clearly reasoned, and I am not using any slogans or complicated rationalizations. You may want to look at this chronology, which is a simple timeline of ecclesiastical events and succinct critical comments:\n\nhttp://pelicanweb.org/CCC.TOB.html#CHRONOLOGY\n\nIf you find anything that is historically inaccurate or dogmatically erroneous, please let me know. When time permits, see also the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#1577, #1598) , St John Paul II's Theology of the Body on the proper versus improper understanding of analogies (e.g., #33.3, but the word \"analogy\" is mentioned in the book 139 times), and Amoris Laetitia (#54, #156). \n\nSorry, but suggesting that there can be no meaningful dialogue, without seeking further clarification, is not conducive to better understanding. Please remember, that the faith is always the same but the source of ever new light (cf. Mt 13:52).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A Catholic gitmo?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hola, Old Abuelo\n\nThank you for your response Old Abuelo, to date, over a period of several years I have never received either a positive response or a negative one relating to the True Image of Divine Mercy an Image of Broken Man , at times I have felt as if there were a conspiracy of silence at work, but have dismiss this as I know what I am saying bears witness to the Truth and it is the Truth that forms the basis of all true Christian endeavours; therefor I have concluded that many are tied into an image of perfection (not truly open to the reality of our own fallen human nature) which leads to hypocrisy.\nYou have described an analogy in two bookends I have interpreted this as \nMercy cannot be codified and there in lies the problem you cannot separate love of God and His law from love of neighbour as to love (Be obedient to) His law (Will) is to love ones neighbour. \n\nContinued 1", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for that Christian-like expression of Love, you see it's in you, there's your proof! The desire to become more, don't see it as defeat :) Know I am fine flying at my lofty heights not knowing or being able to prove everything! Namaste, salaam aleikum, shalom, God bless my brother.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some thoughts:\nLeadership in the Christian Community, according to Christ, is not a leadership of power but of service. The role of the leader is to do all he/she can to insure the faithful have what they need to follow Christ. That they have become \"powerful\" is a contradiction and that \"power\" does not come from God. We surrendered it to them and it is time to have them give it back. The shortage of priests is not a shortage of vocations but a shortness of sight.\n\nChrist told Peter, \"Whatever you declare bound on earth shall be bound in heaven; whatever you declare loosed on earth shall be shall be loosed in heaven.\" The leadership of the Church is very good at binding but poor when it comes to loosening. There is good reason to believe women were present at the Last Supper and the command \"do this in memory of me\" was addressed to them as well as the men. The prohibition against ordaining women is the product of human culture and not the will of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A big problem is this: The Gospels weren't even started to be written down until 50 years after Jesus died (and MANY RC biblical scholars in good standing think that The Gospels were written not by Matthew, Mark, etc., but by the community of Matthew, the community of Mar, etc.). By that time (50 AD) all the Epistles (primarily Paul's) had been written down. And there is good reason to think that The Gospels were written in conformity (to a greater or lesser extent) with Paul's epistles and, consequently, among other reasons, there is good reason to think that not everything in all The Gospels is factual. So trying to find out exactly who Jesus was -- the Jesus who never ever called himself The Son of God (Paul did) -- becomes difficult. I'm trying to 'cut to the chase' on very complicated matters -- but you get my drift, I'm sure.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So catholic thought stopped at Baltimore with a genetic trace back through Trent to Aquinas. Scary. We should be thankful that NASA and medical progress track through (ugh) secular.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "hi alwayspuzzled - touch\u00e9.\n\nOf course, modern Catholic Social Teaching dates back only to Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum in the 1890's - well past the centuries of colonization (and which dealt with workers' rights and dignity). So far as I know, the U.S. bishops didn't begin weighing in on the issue of undocumented immigrants until it became a big issue in this country. About 10 years ago the bishops of Maryland (at the time O'Brien in Baltimore, Wuerl in DC and Saltarelli in Wilmington) issued \"Where All Find a Home.\" It's a wonderful read if you want to look it up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yea, that seem right. I can't imagine Jesus' disciples going very far from home. They only spoke Aramaic and perhaps a bit of Greek (but Paul went to the Greeks). The only story I find interesting is that of the Malabar coast Christians, who claim the apostle Thomas. As I remember one can trace their claim back to around the seventh century, before which there is no evidence. What do you think of the present TV series about Jesus? Somehow it bothers me to translate NT narratives into speculative archeological TV events. Something about them medium and the message?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Chaput want to be relevant, he can excommunicate Catholic business owners who don't pay a living wage (varying with family size) - starting with Catholic institutions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bigotry is not a Christian virtue. I keep saying that your claim to be a Christian is a sham, and you keep giving me evidence that I'm right to say it.\n\nYes, I'm sure that when businesses were told they had to serve blacks, you screamed in indignation. Many of those racists claimed that their racism was based on their religious beliefs. You display EXACTLY the same mindset.\n\nAnd clearly you have borne a grudge for many years (something that you claim is wrong to do) because you once experienced a minor piece of racism at the hands of some blacks. Now, I agree that they were wrong to treat you as they did, but it should have made you consider the evils of racism. Apparently, itonly made you resentful -- an attitude you also say is wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought that Trudeau was Catholic, not an Islamic convert. It does not matter because he is a poor substitute for a real leader. He should declare himself on a full time holiday and allow a real leader to correct his mistakes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The four cardinals WANT a one-size-fits-all teaching from Francis. This is NOT the way to approach people who come with their marital problems. Secondly, what personally do any of these cardinals have to do with any Catholics who have marital problems? THEY aren't the parish priests---who are usually the ones faced with their parishioners' problems concerning the sacraments---especially matrimony.\n\nSecondly, what is written in Amoris Laetitia is clear enough for high school seniors to understand. I understand that a marriage course in at least one Catholic high school had the kids read it, discuss it and compare it with past practices. They found it clear and in discussing what HAD BEEN the practice---- they found this document to be \"cool.\"\n\n\nAs 'kag1982' noted---in the real world, apparently Amoris Laetitia doesn't seem to be raising eyebrows on a parish level. This is nothing more than four cardinals acting like the neighborhood busybodies. Francis was right to ignore them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How interesting that Father Reese and a number of commentators focus on how Catholicism is presented as opposed to how the Church's members treat children versus how ministers and laity of other denominations do so. I am writing of behavior other than the most obvious -- the sex abuse.\n\nWhen one has a Protestant or other non-Catholic parent, one also has grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who are not Catholic. One goes to weddings and funerals in churches of other denominations. Differences are not confined to dinner table conversations, if any, or how Catholicism is presented. How the kids are treated by the extended families and their friends and ministers can have an impact.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If a Latino Catholic read only the statements from the bishops, they would wonder if the church was really willing to stand up for its own parishioners. But, when they encountered the powerful statements from Cupich, Tobin and others, they knew that if the Trump administration is going to go after them, then the administration will have to come through the Catholic Church's leadership.\"\n\nMany of the Republican bishops have put all their eggs in the Trump basket because they think he will repeal Obama care as well as appoint anti-abortion judges. Their silence on the issue of immigration is telling.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are female and on your parish council. I called for more parishes to be like yours. Ergo, you agree with me.\n\nI didn't say worship at Protestant churches instead of or in protest of worshiping at a home Catholic parish--I said worshiping with fellow Christians in our families adds vibrancy. Far too many Catholic children later leave the Church because they were told \"You can't go to church with your own daddy\" or \"Mommy's church will hurt you.\" That's how cults behave. It's also why families leave.\n\nHaving the Reporter available with other printed materials is, I repeat, a good idea. So would having the Register available with it. Education is a key component of a vibrant parish. Or do you disagree?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Abortion is taking an innocent childs life, in the US or anywhere else. Adoption is the answer. How can you, Lisa m run as a conservative catholic republican be for abortion? This \"evolving\" attitude you talked about years ago, I guess means you are evolving into a liberal democrat. You might as well change now, we will still have 51-49 majority in the US Senate!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"Adolf Eichmann\" shtick is yours, not mine. It's part of your name-calling model of \"discussion\".\n\nYou did not demonstrate that I rejected St. John Paul II's \"Evangelium Vitae\".\n\nWhat you demonstrated is that you did not read it correctly.\n\nYes, the Catholic Church is not an Orwellian dictatorship. That is because God is not Big Brother and the Church is not Oceania.\n\nThe Church is however hierarchical and it does teach with such authority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isolated countries, like Saudi Arabia, might live in our past. Like the Crusades? Where \"Christians put heads on sticks to frighten the locals\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You need to read up on the IRA from the 1960's. They were all anti-Western, anti-Imperialist, anti-capitalist Maoists funded and armed by the Soviet Union. None of their political aims, justifications or Doctrines included or mentioned anything about Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\nThe Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church (ARCC) has been working toward that goal since 1980. Here is a link to their website:\nhttp://arcc-catholic-rights.net/index.php", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 2 of 2\nAt this time, Students for Life complained to same principal that other students were trying to silence them. They also challenged him to \"acknowledge the Catholic Catechism's teaching that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.\" This brou-ha-ha was also played out in the college mouthpiece. No evidence that principal ever ceded to this demand. \n\nIn the wake of these incidents, a bit of a crisis developed that went all the way up to the archbishop, with some claiming that \"pressure groups\" were trying to redefine Catholic values at St. Mike's. This time the brou-ha-ha is published in Catholic Insight. In response, a statement on University of Toronto's acceptance of sexual diversity is issued by U of T's president, a St. Mike's alum. \n\nFootnote: one month later, same archbishop refuses to confer a doctorate on a nun whose thesis was on the spiritual contributions of lesbians. Sr. gets her degree--conferred by the chancellor instead. Freedom wins.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The first century Church was communist, so no. What it requires is a wise cooperative (non-governmental) socialism that habitually adjusts salaries and housing to family size so that every member, worker or dependent, has the same standard of living or taxation on the rich for subsidies to workers with large families so that everyone has a comfortable income, again, regardless of family size. That last bit is Catholic Doctrine. Castii Connubii #119-122", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This blog does not present the time, the place nor the venue for a Bible lesson to someone who doubts that there is a Divine Creator.\nBill O'Reilly is not active in the Republican party politics. Dennis Hastert is serving his time for his decisions he made ten years ago. Bill and Hillary Clinton, Anthony Weiner and Harvey Weinstein are all present day active Democrats.\nChristians are not hypocrites. They are weak people just like everybody else. All will fall short. Keep in mind that Christians have put themselves in the position to be attacked and tempted by the principalities more than their secular counterparts. Why attack a person who's already on the team?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your comment Magari\n\nYes it is true that we all get glimmers of revelation and hopefully they encourage us on our spiritual journey.\n\n I suppose only time will tell if vison came from God, as it can be said of St Francis that his did, while he was praying there, he heard Christ on the crucifix speak to him, \"Francis, repair my church.\"\n\nIsaiah 55:11 \u201cSo is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it\u201d.\n\n\u201cShould we be out in the street telling everyone the message\u201d\n\nYes if it gives a purposeful message to mankind or the Church.\n\nI would ask myself does the message serve and give direct Glory to God. \nDoes it bearing witness to the Truth \nDoes the message resonate within my own heart?\nDoes it draw me closer to our Father in heaven\n\nI have written a long reply to Jay Edward which may give you some clarity in what I am trying to say.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would probably have to disagree with the bishop's assertion \"...\"builds on the incredible progress the Catholic Church has made\" in the area of sex abuse prevention...\"\n\nYes, the church has put prevention and screening programs in place, as well as training. It has also spent millions lobbying against extending statutes of limitations for victims, an millions more on attorneys who attacked victims harshly in courtrooms and the press, typically only to settle rather than to face a judge and jury.\n\nAccountability, transparency: nope. Tribunals for bishops? nope. A Commission that actually means something? nope. Changes to those elements of Canon Law that are most needed to fix some of this? nope.\n\n\nProgress? yes. \"Incredible progress? hardly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't see that she is saying Jesus did not treat his disciples differently. That's not what the sentence you quote says. To \"put on an equal footing\" might involve elevating some, while lowering others, and perhaps leaving some where they were, which would be different treatment for each. She also goes on to speak of the disciples and their quite different and privileged relationship with Jesus, noting that they had the opportunity and humility to ask for explanation, and emphasizing the difference in their treatment in a manner that seems to harmonizes with your cited verses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Pope is not there to think aloud and share his personal opinions..\"\nUnfortunately, NCR allows YOU to do exactly that.\n\n\"Please exercise more prudence, Pope Francis.\"\nPlease, please, take your own advice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "lol\nChristians are being violent persecuted in the middle east, and the governments doesn't do anything.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The K of C on the local level doesn't know what their leaders are doing. It's just like most Catholics don't know what their bishops are doing. Bishops are supposed to be shepherds. But many live like the nobility of long ago.\n\nThe K of C's leadership operates just like any other 'secret' society. In fact, that's why they and other Catholic secret societies [like Opus Dei] were begun. \nIn the late 19th & early 20th Centuries, Catholic men who were professional, were invited to join the Masons. So the K of C was the Catholic alternative. So men just like their 'secret societies'. The higher up in position a man goes, the more little secrets he knows. \n\nI suggest that you lay too much weight on influence and money. In Matthew's gospel---Jesus throwing out the money-lenders, disrupted the Jewish priests' status quo and their collaboration with the Romans. Many early Christians also fled to the Desert during the Persecutions---to live an ascetical life---sans influence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MacLean isn't the only one finally putting this stuff together ... and it extends way beyond the USA and Canada. See also Jane Mayer's Dark Money and Arlie Hochchild's Strangers in their Own Land.\n\nGiven the resources of the Knights Supreme Council, perhaps they could do an analysis of the methods identified and documented by Mayers and MacLean and the lived realites documented by Hochchild ... using our Catholic Social Teachings as the criteria for evaluation if what is going on is consistent with our actual Official Church Teaching.\n\nGiven their professed great love and appreciation for him, I suggest they use St. John Paul's encyclical Centesimus Annus - and Benedict's Caritas in Veritate.\n\nLet us not forget that in 1971, before he was a supreme court judge, Lewis Powell was corporate lawyer and sent his \"memo\" (on line) stating that - among others things ... the greatest threat to \"American Enterprise\" - meaning unregulated capitalism - was among other places - coming from pulpits", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi! John\n\nI do not know the rights and wrongs of your ongoing quarrel with Heartbreaker, but it can be seen by all, that you are very upset about this.\nHe/she is obviously aware of this and is quite prepared to leave you in this state of distress, and also appears to want to antagonise you with his/her responses, rather than attempt to reconcile the situation between yourselves, his/her action speaks for itself. \n \nHeartbreaker (Is this a pun) appears to have change his/her name on one (or more) occasion/s you use your own name which gives you more credibility on the site.\nPersonally on the site I have found you to be open and honest in your own beliefs I recommend that step back and look at the overall reality of this situation, forgive him/her and move on.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, Teresa. The promises of a messiah in the Old Testament have been fulfilled in the New. Did not Christ say He did not come to do away with the Law but fulfill it.\nAnd don't we need to learn by the mistakes made by Israel?\nDon't pay attention to the Old Testament and you miss out a lot of what God wants you to learn.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus taught us to call God Father. God revealed Himself to be Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He did not reveal Himself as Goddess in any text of Christian revelation. If calling God \"Father\" is good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At the Durham Catholic District Board the administration offices within the schools have air conditioning and the School Board Building has air conditioning. However, the air conditioning within all the classrooms is turned off. The excuse given, every year, the AC is not working/broken. In my class the temperature would get between 91 to 95 degrees. Students cannot learn in this physical environment. It is time to eliminate school boards. Where is the money going? Not in the classroom?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course the Church is monarchial, with Jesus the King as its Head.\n\nThere are processes in Canon Law for \"complaints\" if one is denied rights provided by law.\n\nThere are no channels for the kind of kvetching that, say you for an example, do.\n\nThere is no channel to call a cardinal names, complain you don't like a teaching, or petition for repeal of one or more of the Ten Commandments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Slick, but empty. \n\nChristians have to live in the world, so have to live somewhere and somehow make sense of their culture and their faith.\n\nOh sorry, that's just what Vatican II says, so, of course, that won't count. Whereas the first line of a hymn will.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have kids in a Catholic school do you Prog? Or are you just in favour of needless duplication.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another reactionary who doesn't understand that 'social justice' is based on the Gospel teachings of Jesus, especially found in the Gospel of Matthew 25:31-47 [The Judgment of Nations]. This teaching is part of the heart and soul of Jesus' own ministry. It was also a recurring theme of the Old Testament Prophets [Amos, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk and Jeremiah].\n\n\nSecondly, social justice has been taught by the Church down through the ages, but began to be especially pointed out in the Encyclicals of Social Justice beginning with \"Rerum novarum in 1891---through Vatican II's \"Gaudium et spes, 1965 and Dignitatis humanae, 1965; the Roman Synod: Justitia in mundo, 1971; and looking at the U.S. Bishops Pastoral Letters; The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response, 1983 and Economic Justice for All, 1986. There are more---but space doesn't permit their entry here.\n\n\nEvery one of these documents are based on the Word of God and church teachings----and NOTHING TRUMPS that!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems we've focused on 'worship' as Christians and have ignored discipleship. The Beatitudes challenged then and now. They require more of each of us than the strength and courage to press \"submit\". The Beatitudes ask \"who are you prepared to die for?\".... serious stuff the Beatitudes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill, you and I are going to disagree on what constitutes anti-conservative Christian laws. For example I consider public accomodation laws to be the legal embodiment of treating others as you would like to be treated. That some sects of Christians would retreat from this is a bit baffling. \n\nAs far 'Muslim Prayer Rooms' go, I think prayer, of any kind, is a good thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It should be amazing that our local \"radical fundamentalists\" constantly deride any negative observation on Trump. They support him, his positions and \"accept\"(?) his more than obvious vices, contradictions, and perversity. These are the Roman Catholic \"purists\" of the hierarchical, absolutist, (mind-bogelling) view that RC \"truth\" began with Jesus in history and has never evolved, can never change or be nuanced by time, intelligence or culture. Yet....these obsessive compulsive traditionalists can't avoid the fact that just about every tradition, value, myth about their occupant for the their Office of President is of no account to the man and is being rejected, contravened, disparaged or ignored.\nThe fact that more than 3million more of those who voted, did not support this view than did seems no longer relevant.\nI used to think that North Korea was the scariest nation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What would Coady or Tompkins think as well as the dedicated clergy that started this Catholic university?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This battle goes back 50 years, ever since Fr. Hesburgh was desperate to remove ND's Catholic \"stigma\" so the school could win the respect of the \"real\" universities. Ralph McInerny, ND's most prolifically-published author ever, credited the move to \"the vulgar lust for prestige.\"\n\nThat lust still looms hard and heavy on Fr. Jenkins's shoulders. His lawyers before the 7th Circuit made a distinctly lackluster performance in the first place. As far as ND is concerned, Humanae Vitae died the day Land o'Lakes was born.\n\nND now is all about money. They publicly and proudly covered up the sexual assault on Lizzie Seeberg (who committed suicide when receiving no support from Fr. Jenkins or anyone else). Football rules. \n\nLike Bill Clinton, they didn't deny it, just swallowed hard and moved on.\n\nTo top it off, the Sycamore Trust (solid alums) reports that an. ND dean recently told a public gathering that \"fifty years ago ND was mediocre.\" Just in time for my 50th reunion! \n\nLaugh? Or cry?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are probably right- although my limited experience with the Catholic system in Ontario has been positive. They do follow the provincial curriculum- and the amount of indoctrination is very slight.\nAt least that has been our experience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, Gene---but the Evangelists themselves used Disciples interchangeably with Apostle. In fact, both Mark and John DO not use the word Apostle. More often than not, these two use the term \"the Twelve\". The other two Evangelists Matthew and Luke use the word \"apostle\" freely.\n\nBut Jesus had 72 Disciples, and many of them were with Jesus as much as the Twelve were. \nPhoebe was a deacon [she was not a deaconess].\n\nAnd what about Paul? In his letter to the Romans, he refers to his relatives Andronicus and Junia \"who are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was [were they among the 72 who initially followed Jesus?}. And Junia was a woman---and an apostle.\n\n\nJesus wasn't the one restricting women from joining \"the company\" or from being an apostle. There was NOTHING restrictive about him. It is the conservatives---who get \"weak in the knees\" at any thought of changes in the church [as if it had not had MAJOR changes in its 2000+ years]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For Catholic bishops and ardent lay Catholics, admitting contraception is the best way to reduce abortions is not a feel good strategy. For other 'pro lifers', it's not a make money or any kind of election strategy in their congressional districts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Jesus was displeased with Fr. Weinandy's \"tempting,\" He chose a peculiar way to show it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@The G&M monitor= why \u201ccensured\u201d this comment ?\n-\nAfter the establishment of the Canadian Federation (1867), the English speaking several provinces attended helplessly to the adoption of several LAWS and regulations, anti-Catholic and anti-French in English Canada, especially in that regard to denominational schools outside Qu\u00e9bec.\nAnti-Catholic and anti-French attitude drew its source, among others, the fact that many of the Loyalists who came to Qu\u00e9bec after the American Revolution of 1775 (Eastern Townships/ Ontario and Western Provinces) were \"Orangemen\" convinced. Orangemen advocated an anti-Catholic and anti-French doctrine, inspired by the reconquest of England in 1690 by the Protestant Prince William III of Orange.\u2026\n\t\nAnd Paf ! Problems started across French Canada EVER SINCE !\nAnd Clancy & his ROC friends are a perfect example of that \"merdier\"!\n(need more Clancy ?)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did Mary die before Jesus became the Christ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a difference between \"reasonable accommodation\" for students during the secular school week, and entire separate religious school boards with mandated religion in their curriculum.\n\nNobody is suggesting that Muslim teachings be part of the public school curriculum.\n\nIf Christian or Jewish (etc.) kids want half an hour a week to pray, they can have that as well under the current rules, in public schools.\n\nThere is a difference between forcing all kids to recite the Lord's Prayer, and letting kids get together as they wish, to pray.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These are all narrow moral views that many Catholics and non-Catholics don't agree with so therefore they should not be what a country that espouses freedom of all religious beliefs should be basing its laws on. \n\n90 % of Catholics have used or are using birth control and Jesus never taught against using birth control and forms existed in his day. The church has changed its teaching in the past on various things in order to correct its errors, and will need to change its laws on birth control too and on the exclusion of women from same ordination as men as this too has no backing in any teaching of Christ but breaks Christ's command to treat all others the same with no exceptions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The last part made my day: \"My heart goes out to you.\" Okay, Christian sentiment, fair enough. But then, Ms. Lackritz's real emotions and feelings are expressed and laid bare, \"I'll be watching for you.\" \nIs there a more un-self-aware place than Eugene?\nUnfortunately, I think this is \"exaggeration\": she nowhere mentions any injuries; certainly, if it transpired as she relates, there should have been significant ones. But, it couldn't have so transpired, could it? If bikes and cars were headed west, just how does an overtaking car pass between the car being overtaken and the bicyclists? Answer: it doesn't and it didn't. This appears to be a poor attempt at car driver-shaming (the elite car, the un-hippy-like driver's appearance, powerful engine, etc.).\nPersonally, I wish to complain about the shocking proliferation of aged lycra-covered bicycling bodies that should be loosely clothed in parachute material: leave the lycra to the young and buff, for God's sake!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you include the Orthodox and the Romany as Catholic. Rome is only a part of the whole. The othe Great Patriarchies have NEVER acknowledged Roman primacy. It was an Aryan backwater when Chachedon, Ephesus and Nicea happened.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The evidence is all around you in nature. While nature itself tends toward disorder and deterioration, there exists a universe that works on scales grand and microscopic. Left to its own devices, it is easy to see, nature would rot and stray and fall apart. That it does not suggests that there is something behind it that we do not see. That is not iron-clad proof of God, but it is evidence ... whether you accept it or not.\n\nThe evidence also exists within me. Whether or not you accept my experience as valid, I have a relationship with God through my Savior Jesus Christ. He speaks to me through the Bible, through other believers and through nature. I know that to be true because I have lived it for almost 40 years.\n\nYou don't have to accept that evidence. You are allowed to be wrong. There are consequences for that sort of arrogance, but since you don't believe in God anyway, you believe you won't mind spending eternity without Him. You're wrong about that as well and will regret it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By turning over the money changers' tables he disrupt the Temple System of sacrifice. Jesus taught that God did not need sacrifice the change mind of God about people, but he came to change our mind about God. Therefore, Jesus did not die for sin by a mythical Adam and Eve. He died to show us there is life after death.\nJesus had no intention to create a church but to show us that we can access the Divine without priests and sacrifice. His disciples today are called the People of God and that is the Church. It includes all who follow Jesus such as Catholics, Protestants, and Others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sheema Khan: \"The cultural values surrounding women, critical inquiry, freedom of expression and freedom of conscience in many Muslim countries are often at odds with prevailing Western norms.\" Yes, and if you choose to live in Canada, adopt Western norms. If you do not like them, feel free to leave\u2014no-one is forcing you to stay here. Canada's values come first and foremost\u2014they are what made this country great and what good men and women fought and died to protect. The more you haul out the specious platitude that \"diversity is our strength,\" as the PM does at every opportunity, the more you actually encourage division. (And, by the way, that was not a Nazi salute at the Canada Christian College, but rather a Christian worship gesture.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The other unfairness comes when a teacher or even a janitor is looking for a job. If you can't produce the right church documents or if you are of the wrong faith then you can't teach math or sweep floors at a Catholic school. How is it constitutional for them to even ask? Imagine asking this for any other job outside of a church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I echo Matthew and the other posters when I declare that stories like this are what's lacking from the Alaska Dispatch. Christians expressing faith and locals coming together around that is a beautiful thing, especially during this season of Christmas. There are countless people and organizations like this and waiting to be heard-- Keep this kind of journalism going and these kinds of stories coming, ADN!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I'm no fan of artificially-reconstructed, baroque-style liturgies, complete with birettas and lace, I think it's important to note that no one knows what Jesus thought about the liturgical practices in the Temple of Jerusalem or at his local synagogue, only that he observed them, probably to a T. The argument that liturgy should be humble because Jesus was a humble carpenter is one I'm not sure works. But that's just my opinion. There are many out there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus hung out with society's outsiders, to be sure. As a matter of fact, he was the quintessential homeless man, for he hadn't \"a pillow to lay his head\". But the same Jesus performed his first miracle - at his Mother's bidding, by the way - at a wedding in Cana of Galilee, thereby tacitly approving of marriage between a man and a woman. That is what Jesus did. Bob, you might want to spend time with a Bible to find out who Jesus was and how Christians are expected to emulate him before you make trite remarks like yours above.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Layla - \"The following is part of what Mr. Martin had to say: \u201cI rise today in support of Bill C-38, the Civil Marriage Act. I rise in support of a Canada in which liberties are safeguarded, rights are protected and the people of this land are treated as equals under the law. If we do not step forward, then we must step back. If we do not protect a right, then we deny it.\u201d\n\nMr. Martin, a devout Roman Catholic, was challenged by the Bishop of Calgary, Frederick Henry, who was in favour of excommunicating Martin for his plan to legalize same-sex marriage. Henry said that the prime minister\u2019s politics clashed with his religion. The Bishop went on to say, \u201cYou\u2019re either with the Church, or you are not.\u201d\n\nMr. Martin considers his beliefs a personal matter, but believes strongly in equality, including equal marriage. The gay community is thankful that this prime minister realized the need for equal marriage in this country, in spite of his religious affiliation.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Liberals were caught flat footed by Scheer's victory. They had been excitedly preparing to smear the more controversial Bernier.\nIf appeals to Catholic bashing is the Liberal's first reaction it only serves to showcase their lack of ammunition. So I don't share the author's concerns.\nPersonally, I am much more interested in watching Scheer take on JT.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She was not a daycare provider but was in her devout Christian mother's home. There is so much we don't know. Possible good woman down.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you think the prayers of the Rosary and meditating on the life of Our Lord and Our Lady are a facade, and that people pray it out of expressing a \"traditional marker\" that is very sad and you should meet some Catholics who actually do pray the Rosary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a crying need for such an analysis of OS. \n\nPope John Paul II's argument against women priests in both \"Mulieris Dignitatem\" and \"Ordinatio Sacerdotalis\" is based on the premise that Jesus felt \"free\" to defy social convention, but chose only males to be apostles anyway. The pope's supposed proof is Matthew 22:16 (saying that Jesus shows \"deference to no one\"), but those words were spoken by Jesus' ENEMIES as they tried to trick him and goad him into attacking Roman taxation. Proof from the mouths of Jesus' enemies?!! OS quotes an earlier anti-woman document (Inter Insigniores) to say the most important gift is love, and then closes by making mention of Luke 22:32 in which Jesus tells Peter that when he has turned back to the faith after making a mistake, he should strengthen the other disciples. So is it a mistake to set aside love in favor of misogyny? Did JPII intentionally make a very weak argument -- '12 apostles were male' and intentionally point to 'love'?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mark, it takes me awhile to get to other articles from the one or two I review and comment on every couple of days. So I'm glad you got to this first. Your views are, to me, spot on and I agree. I also am of the opinion that being a member of OD does not somehow render a person as somehow defective in their faith. There are a number of things about OD I find to be like a cult, but not all fit that radical of a position. Yet, as you say, what's done is done. Since it is okay with Pope Francis, then I see no problem with it (it's not that big of a deal, really). May God bless Msgr. Ocariz in his role as prelate (it's not a new ministry for him, as he has been auxiliary vicar of OD).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sounds pretty simple and explicit to the rest of us. The example is dress, but the principles are all the same. You state that EGW spoke to men and women, she did. Just because some do not hear or listen does not create a false proposition, no different than in \"The Scriptures are plain upon the relations and rights of men and women\". \n\nYou mention the prime and perpetuating cause.\n\n\"How wide the difference between those schools taught by the prophets of God and our modern institutions of learning! How few schools are to be found that are not governed by the maxims and customs of the world! There is a deplorable lack of proper restraint and judicious discipline. The existing ignorance of God's word among a people professedly Christian is alarming. Superficial talk, mere sentimentalism, passes for instruction in morals and religion.\" PP P594\n\nIs this your light for HIM to others; or something else? Maybe customs of the world?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, it's not my opinion: it's Jesus' commandment that the \"Church\" (the bishops...who are not the Church) are disobeying. What is this commandment? You should know by now, since I think we've had this discussion before. It's pretty fundamental, T. . Jesus puts it almost on a par with loving his Poppa. Any bells clanging yet?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have no problems with religious hospitals and hospices, filled with great people doing great work.\n\nBut you only have to glance briefly at history to see numerous examples of these wonderful institutions inflicting and prolonging horrific pain and suffering on their patients because 'it is God's will'. \n \nReligion fought antibiotics tooth and nail, pushed hard against insulin, and many are still trying to stop vaccines of all types. Think of the lengthy and still ongoing religious fight against women's health. Remember when Catholic bishops went on TV telling parents it was a sin to give their girls the cancer-fighting HPV vaccine - that wasn't a one-off. In lots of countries religion fights to keep abortion illegal even when the woman's life is in jeopardy. \n\nHistory has taught us that taking religion out of medicine makes our hospitals more ethical, not less. And the less say my priest has on my end-of-life decisions, frankly the more right my decision will be for me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a straight Catholic woman living in community with two gay women, one of them also Catholic. We are all professionals with more than a hundred years of service to the community between us. I know nothing of their \"bedroom activities\", as Tom Z sums up their identity as gay women. They are not interested in having anyone know anything about their \"bedroom activities\". Asked about their lives, they speak of the essential work they do in the community (we are a social worker, a doctor and a lawyer) and the loving home life that fills and heals their hearts and souls, allowing them to serve the community the next day. For people like Tom Z, they announce their \"bedroom activities\" when they introduce themselves as a family. For me, when they identify themselves as a loving family committed to serving the community, they announce the beauty of family and the shared joy of serving the community, EVEN the people who reject them. They are the most Christian, generous women I know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "BTW---the official church does not teach that humanity is \"continually in a state of sin.\" I suggest that you examine your own understanding of the teachings of the Church. \nSecondly, you need to understand that the \"qualifications\" [if I can call it that] for Mortal Sin was set extremely high by the church. It is extremely hard [one really has to try] to commit a mortal sin. This was done for good reason.\nDo you believe that people who eat/ate meat on Friday are in the same category of Mortal Sinners as those who coldly calculate Mass murder and commit it? Do you believe that people actually choose to commit sin OR do they act on the spur of the moment---because of the situation---and don't think it through? People can sin, yes, but constantly commit Mortal Sin? NO! \n\nI am Very Catholic. I attend Mass daily and receive Communion. I also regularly receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. And I am a verified teacher within the Church. But I don't believe in what you're saying", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is there case sample of harm done to Catholics with use of this law, or is this anti-Catholic idea just here say?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"But Ontario boards, both public and Catholic, are legally required to provide religious accommodation when it is requested.\"\n-----\nso the Human Rights Commission folks say\n\nquestion\nwhat is the LIMIT of this accommodation?\n\nShould all schools be forced to build little chapels, temple and mosques within public schools as \"religious accommodation\"\n\nit is only a matter of time before activists ask for them", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Acceptable bio-ethic-science today assures us that there is \"until only between the 12th to 14th week of gestation adequate substantive matter present to sustain a human personality\". Before this time the life that is present is biological but not human. [\u201cagere sequitur esse\u201d (\u201cactions depend upon what one is\u201d) or (\u201cbeing something\u201d makes capable \u201cthat kind of action\u201d) is an axiom of philosophy]. That means that: Although many bishops (e.g. the USA Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference) \"favor\" a vision of \"personhood\" (i.e. human persons beginning from the moment of conception); nevetheless science, common sense and \"sound Catholic morality\" do NOT consider possible the existence of a human life from the moment of conception.\nNor does the DNA in the zygote make it \u201ca being\u201d just as acorns, even though having the DNA for it, are still not oak trees, and just as rooster-fertilized eggs, even though having the DNA for it, are still not \u201cchickens\u201d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The headline (Mixed marriages lead to fewer Catholic children) is catchy, but misleading.\n\nLet's consider what happens using two groups of men and women. Half of each group is Catholic, the rest are non-Catholic. When two of the Catholics marry, 62% of the time the children will be Catholic. But when two of the non-Catholics marry, the likely that their children will be Catholic would be nearly 0%. So, on average, just 31% of all the children would be Catholic.\n\nWhen two Catholics marry a non-Catholic rather each other, there are twice as many marriages with a Catholic spouse. According to the Pew survey, when Catholics marry Protestants, 29% of all the children would be Catholic. If we change Protestant to no particular faith, 32% of all the children from the two marriages would be Catholic. So in the end, the total number of Catholic children would be roughly the same (and almost certainly within the margin of error) with or without mixed marriages.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's be brutally frank here Dromig10.\nMary is the first and most sublime priest. She said with fullness of will, efficaciously and at the invitation of God: This is my Body; this is my blood. She gave us Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cMy feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a\nfighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded\nby a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and\nsummoned men to fight against them and who, God\u2019s truth! was greatest\nnot as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian\nand as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord\nat last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the\nTemple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was his fight\nagainst the Jewish poison. Today, after two thousand years, with\ndeepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact\nthat it was for this that He had to shed his blood upon the Cross. As\na Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have\nthe duty to be a fighter for truth and justice...\"\n\n-Adolf Hitler, speech in Munich on April 12, 1922-", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is starting to get a bit spooky. My grandfather was a Lutheran minister and I have a cousin who also was, but is no longer practicing. During my youth, I was exposed to different churches - my mother said that she didn't care which church we attended, but I know she meant, so long as they were Christian and not Jehovah Witnesses, Mormon nor any churches involving snakes or \"speaking in tongues\". She had a sister that went over to Seventh-day Adventist and she made fun of the sister about that, but mom still loved her sister. BTW, the latest Noah movie is a hoot. I found much humor in it. I especially enjoy the creature that was fighting off the people trying to get on-board. I have yet to decide if Genesis or Revelations is the most ridiculous, but they are both really far-out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God is not the author or immigration law, nor is there anything in Catholic ethics that demands obedience to unjust laws.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Like it or not, Catholic hospitals cannot do things contrary to the Faith. People are aware of this. If they don't like it they should go elsewhere for their healthcare.\"\nMulti-billion dollar businesses aren't organs of faith. Ascension, Presence, etc. aren't little charity hospitals run by pious nuns. That is the deal. Catholic health systems are so large that they might be the only option that a person has.\n\n\"As for the rape: what I am saying is that as long as the drug given is contraceptive in nature and not abortion inducing, if the woman was pregnant it would not matter.\"\nEmergency contraceptive prevents implantation. That is one of the ways it prevents pregnancy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Mass is the only thing keeping me in the Catholic Church at this point. It's a beautiful thing.\n\nAnd...what JoeZ said.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting. I come from an evangelical background, always felt I was getting milk. When I converted to RCC I finally felt I got some meat. The vast repository of spiritual wealth from tradition to the saints has left me more than satisfied, often times I feel like a gluton for spiritual works, so much so, I remind myself that I must stop to smell the flowers - and then I read St. Therese of Lisieux.\n\nTo see the church as an institution is like seeing a university as nothing more than an institution, and missing the wealth of knowledge and traditions embedded in history.\n\nYet, our doubts and deep seated fears are not to be so easily dismissed. As we walk through this valley of death, a dark night will descend upon our soul... such a night is when we ought to seek rest, take a deep sigh, and know we are not alone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "cwg,\nGlad to have you back\nAlthough I still do not feel as you and the Acton Institute do. \nAlso I think Trump may just finally settle at least some of these questions about the intrinsic value of money and the GOP worship thereof. For me it is truly amazing how the GOP mixes patriotism, religion and money with Trickle-down economics of the ancient British variety with the devastation of human life. \nNo doubt Trump will be a very interesting prez if we survive. \nThe American Catholic hierarchs certainly wanted him to win the election. Now we'll watch how soon they will repudiate him and/or excuse themselves. \nIF Trump does good things for the American workers and their families it still will not excuse his nasty way of winning the election. But at least the people will be better off.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It certainly should not be! I fully agree with you!\n\nThat is why \"Catholic\" politicians should stop politicizing it. They are the ones who support abortion, not the bishops.\n\nBy the way--our Faith of it's nature as something that is public is political--because it impacts our political decisions. Faith and politics cannot be separated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nowhere in the documents of Vatican II was it mentioned that Mass should be celebrated with the priest behind the altar, facing the people or that the 'ad orientem\" practice should be abandoned.\nIt is astonishing that a Catholic would describe the Tridentine Rite of Mass as something from the \"ash heap of history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"been created with an appearance of age.\"\nMaybe, but you have no observation to base this on. Conjecture, as you'd put it. Not science. Also, what a deceptive God!\n\"you do not know when dinosaurs existed, which are simply reptiles that grow their whole lives\"\nWe have lots of observations about when they existed. Do you have contrary observations?\n\"we have forms of them today\"\nYes, they're called birds.\n\"a pre-flood earth where things grew exponentially and much longer (like the Bible says they did), is reasonable\"\nYou have no observation for this, and it is not reasonable. Possible? Sure - but I'll withhold believing that until you can support it with observation, not stories.\n\"As far as you being a 'Fundie' you have never experience true regeneration, obviously, or you would not have 'fallen away'.\"\nThis is a metaphysical logical fallacy. Impressive!\n\"Christianity does not squelch science\"\nAs I've candidly pointed out, I agree. But bible-babble \"Dr.Dino\" conjecture is not science.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No mercy, nothing but political pandering to some vengeance rights, so-called \"closure\" and \"final justice.\" So are we feeling redeemed yet?\u2014Mike Evans\n\n\u201cBlessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!\u201d (Psalm 119:1ab). Again, \u201cThe way of truth I have chosen\u201d (Psalm 119:30), as an academic. \u201cJesus answered and said to them, `This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent\u2019\u201d (John 6:29). \n\nClergy from most of our mainstream religions seem to agree since they remain silent over such barbaric sentences, even in cases where there is obvious remorse and exemplary prison behavior.\u2014Mike Evans\n\nAh for the guillotine, that most painless, though gory, means of execution. \u201cbut they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he (Stephen) spoke\u201d (Acts 6:10). The Faithful need such wisdom in this mater of the death penalty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For the Left, questioning immigration trumps being on the left on other issues.\n\nAnd it is necessary to describe him as \"christian\", even though he was actually an atheist, in oder to be\n\n able to characterize any criticism of Islam as \"racist\", rather than ideological.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lord Acton was correct!\"\n\"Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.\"\nThe church simply can't go on like this.\nAs I have said several times, a future iteration of Catholic Christianity will be one without clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'Faithful Cathoilc': that's your username/moniker. Are you sure it's appropriate? What are you being faithful to? Yes, I know: Scripture and 'Tradition'. But none of this amounts to a hill of beans if it collectively is not being faithful to God's teaching. \n\nThe uncomfortable truth, for dogmatic and conservative theologians (and for people like you), is that S&T has, for the most part, never been faithful to God on the matter of dealing with personal enemies. Finally and thankfully, a pope is awakening to this historical fact (and, similtaneously, implying the historical fallibility of S&T).\n\nFor us as Christians, the issue has to do with what Jesus himself teaches about it, not with anything else. You, surely, as a 'faithful' Catholic (which presumably means you count yourself as a follower of Jesus) can see this, can't you? Can't you? Well, no, you can't, actually. Because you have dismissed his teaching as a 'Red Herring'.\n\nWhat a strange 'Faithful Catholic' you are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Muck! Yes, actually they were! Some were Diest, which absolutely qualifies, as they still considered themselves ardent followers of Christ and his teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus turned the other cheek when he was struck but when he saw others being punished, as the woman who was about to be stoned, He intervened and when he saw people being ripped off by money-changers in the temple He even used violence to drive them out and prevent them from harming others. What you are asking is for us all to look aside from evil and do nothing to intercede when we see it harming others. That is not Christ-like.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I love how the liberal Catholics look at governance of the Church as a strictly secular political exercise. The unspoken premise being that Francis will pick Cardinals who will owe him the favor of picking a pope in his image because he will stack the deck with cardinals who agree with him. No realization that the Church doesn't belong to the pope, he is only Christ's Vicar on Earth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He could have chosen to surrender his membership in the Society of Jesus and remain in Congress, but he did not, as noted above.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny that you should mention Jerry Falwell. Earlier this week students at Liberty University posted a letter online that stated \"not only is Donald Trump a bad candidate, he is actively promoting the very things that we as Christians ought to oppose.\" The next day Falwell was questioned about this letter. After a lot of pressing he finally said even if the allegations were proven \"we as Christians were taught to forgive sins.\" This by a person who thinks Clinton is a liar and basically the antichrist. What I remember from Sunday School, no where in the Bible do you get to pick and choose who you get to forgive for their sins. You are either a forgiving Christian or your not. I love your analogy about 30 pieces of silver. Seems very apropos when talking about Falwell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It would be superb if Catholic muscle could get behind some local reforms to help mitigate such disasters in the future as well . . . like working to prevent building on the flood plain and supporting the right of prospective home buyers to know exactly what the flood risks are through flood gauges (something Houston realtors have fought against). Flores has been outspoken in his support of Laudato Si, saying, \"People of good conscious need to ask, \u2018What kind of the world are we going to leave the children?\u2019\" DiNardo, not so much.\n\nThese storms are only going to get worse and more frequent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh dear, I remember many years ago one of our priests was asked help a local Protestant Church when their Minister was sick on Sunday. That is not mortal sin, it is Christian service.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I could not help but notice that the essay fails to cite any sayings of Jesus or any teachings from scripture. The oldest reference in the essay is from 1975. It says nothing about a Christ-centered church but focuses on contemporary concerns. Is this about Christian life or the Church of It's What's Happening Now?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is confusing. Some pieces are missing. I received an email from you (?) and replied. It may have been a computer malfunction, not sure NCR/Civil is censoring anything. Let's continue the conversation here. If the system fails, please try again rather than emailing me directly. This dialogue is about the great mystery of Christ and the Church, but my faith is that Christ suffers when any part of his body suffers. Do not despair. The power of the Holy Spirit will enable the Church to outgrow the ancient patriarchal bubble. God loves agnostics. Let us keep praying and loving the Church as best we can, and never lose hope. Peace!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "IRT Frank Lutz: To which god are you referring? Let's remember that there is just as much proof that the gods of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, and the Hindus exist as there is for the Hebrew/Christian/Moslem god. So don't try to force your mythology on others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The point of dialogue is to clarify these truths and explain them; not question them repeatedly until one gets one's own way.\"\nThat is not what happens in many cases. Faced with the choice of following Jesus or worshipping a Church, many people with no interest in worshipping a Church, stop questioning and just walk away, going wherever Jesus leads them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought we allowed other Catholics to disagree with us on this site?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like the Holy Father, Cardinal-designate Tobin understands that turning away Catholics in need of healing (the divorced and remarried, married priests, even pedophile priests, and other 'sinners') can only ultimately backfire on the church's right wing. One way or another . . .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rick Wicks is correct. The biggest problem is the massive numbers of white christian fundamentalists who know what their brothers and sisters are up to before it happens and remain silent. White Supremacist terrorists roam through the nation assaulting, intimidating, disparaging all non-white and non-christian people. From the Bundy Nevada armed terrorists to the South Carolina church and police murderers, the nation is awash with the rising tide of fascist, racist, Nazi, Aryan terrorists encouraged and led by the falsely elected German-heritage neo-fascist and the entire Republican party. All poised to reestablish the Old South Confederacy to overthrow the Republic only a few hundred years after the 1st try. Rhyner leads the Alaskan pack of white terrorists spreading throughout the nation with every post to the comments section as he praises the new Hitler and demands all non-christians convert or die. The ultimate torch bearer for the White Knights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one is hero worshipping anyone. He is not the greatest influence, but one of the greats. No one is \"the greatest\" (well, except for Christ and the Scriptures). Do you know the history of his thought on the Donatist persecutions? The church never accepted all of Augustine's theories about things. The Confessions, addressed as a prayer to God, can hardly be thought of as narcissistic. Who refers to A. as \"the father of the inquisition?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mike, Hindus are polytheistic, they have more than one god, they have many gods which is cool. So it's astonishing that Tulsi mentions \"God\", which is usually a reference to the Judeo-Christian-Islamic god. It makes many people very uncomfortable with her claims to Hinduism, her religious leader, her place of worship, her staff and inner circle.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is much more than a struggle over health care policy. It is a struggle for the soul of America between those who champion a culture of death and those who proclaim a culture of life. Pope Francis has noted that health care is a right, and it\u2019s clear to all but the wilfully blind that the attempt to kill \u2018Obamacare\u2019 would, quite literally, kill thousands of people each and every year, year after year. Any reduction in the already inadequate levels of health care provided for the poor would simply be an attack on the \u2018right to life\u2019 of American citizens, and on the precepts of Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. Let us pray that those working to reduce or eliminate public health care in America and so sentence thousands to death for the crime of not being rich fail, and that America can move forward affirming the right to life for all its citizens.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Boston was always considered a very \"Irish Catholic\" base and yes I would expect that you got a strong taste of what it was to be an Irish Catholic. I have no doubt about that. Both Cushing & Spellman were household names & faces from the newspapers here in Ireland at the time. Limitations of space here prevents me from describing an all embracing church across the country. Priests were on every type of social committee and saw it as their right to govern and prescribe. It was a suffocating atmosphere that was presented as holiness and concern; to protect the moral fabric of the country. In reality it was the domination of the people of Ireland by the hierarchy aided and abetted by conservative Catholic politicians.\nThe exposed clerical child sex abuse scandal and cover-up, shook the population to the core. The Assoc. of Irish Priests are in effect in \"push back\" mode being fully aware of how the Irish people reacted and they are endeavoring to influence the hierarchy towards change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "cartoon; Episode 11\n\u201c...the British passed the \u2018Qu\u00e9bec Act\u2019 of 1774 and expanding Qu\u00e9bec's territory to include Labrador, \nIle d\u2019Anticosti, Iles-de-la-Madeleine, the Great Lakes and...AND\u2026expanding to...Ohio Valley \n(much of what is now southern Ontario, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota-\nYes Sir ! nothing less)\n-+ it re-established the French language rights (got it Canada ?);\n-+ Catholic faith; \n-+ French civil law...\u201d\nIt\u2019s (almost) \u00ab a State into a State \u00bb, oui ? It also began what was to become a tradition in Canadian constitutional history, the recognition of certain distinct rights, or protections for Qu\u00e9bec \u2013\nin language, religion and civil law. \u201cQu\u00e9bec Act\u201d (an Act for making more effective Provisions for The Government of the Province of Qu\u00e9bec in North America) was a British statute which received royal assent 22 June 1774 and became effective 1 May 1775... \n(more to come)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or \"Catholic divorce\" - that is, annulment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At a time when Steve Bannon is \"bonding\" with Raymond Burke, who together may coordinate efforts to discredit Pope Francis among American Catholics, it's encouraging to see that there are many Catholics who understand their faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ to include standing with Standing Rock, supporting the Mni Wiconi movement (\"Water is life\"), and comforting the water protectors.\n\nAs for Mark Schmidt, who sounds like a paid employee of the fossil fuels industries, we should prefer to hear from diocesan spokesmen a much more full-throated encouragement to Catholics to take good conscientious climate action. He should also be told that \"low-income people\" suffer out of proportion the ill effects of fossil-fuel-related enterprise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like Catholicism?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agree that at the federal level the RC was not dominant, and 80% of the WHOLE USA was not RC. However, RCs were concentrated in the NE and some parts of the mid-West, and the church was dominant in the society. I grew up in suburban Boston in the 50s and 60s, and AB ( and later Cardinal Cushing) was next to God. He and the church were very influential politically. I knew the name of Cushing, but I didn't know who was the governor. I also remember how politically influential Cardinal Spellman was, both in NYC and at the national level.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The crucifixion was violence against Jesus, not violence by Jesus. \n\nYour last sentence translates to \"I wish the pope would agree with ME.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The foundation of the Church is the gospel of Jesus Christ; that Jesus died for our sins and God through his love, mercy and grace saves us from the penalty for our sins through our faith in Jesus Christ. Where the gospel is being preached souls through God\u2019s Spirit are being added to the Kingdom of God. In liberal churches the gospel of Jesus Christ is no longer being preached. If the gospel is not being preached how can people respond?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "SAD - like so many on the Catholic right wing who are pro-birth, you are unable to understand the basic Roe v Wade arguments and the constitutional points that SCOTUS laid out in a 7-2 decision and now 40 years of case law on Roe v Wade.\n\n- Roe v. Wade grounds constitutional protections for women\u2019s decision wheth\u00ader to end a pregnancy in the Due Process Clauses. But in the four decades since Roe, the U.S. Supreme Court has come to recognize the abortion right as an equality right as well as a liberty right. In this Essay, we describe some distinctive features of equality arguments for abortion rights. We then show how, over time, the Court and individual Justices have begun to employ equal\u00adity arguments in analyzing the constitutionality of abortion restrictions. These arguments first appear inside of substantive due process case law, and then as claims on the Equal Protection Clause.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can predict that Pope Francis is gonna be attacked in the commentary on this for just being a celibate patriarchal man who shouldn't be talking on these issues and is a part of a plot to control women's bodies and for not fitting into the neat Western North American culture warrior paradigm people expect him to. \n\nI have disagreements with the Catholic Church and Pope Francis in it's traditional views on Gender, Sexuality and other issues. However from what I have looked up under Pope Francis women's issues have been discussed and given more prominence at the Vatican(Cardinal Turkson's meeeting of popular movements is one major forum). You combine this with his openness on female deacons and his praise for feminism in the Joy of Love and there is some progress being made, however slow. \n\nHonestly decades from now i think people are going to look back at Francis's papacy as the moment when the seeds of much needed changes were put in place.....whatever our current cynicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Years ago I came to the conclusion that the pro-life movement was more about being anti-women than truly caring about the unborn. That is when I started to view social justice in an entirely new light. Yup, I am a pro-choice/pro-lifer. Abortion is merely a symptom of greater societal and global problems. Taking away a woman's right to choose will not change the problems that bring women to choose abortion. If pro-life really wants to end abortion, start \"curing\" the societal ills. So much of what I hear coming from the radical pro-life groups is closed heart and hateful rhetoric. The bible isn't their personal bully weapon. My advice to them, if they truly do care...open your heart and your mind will follow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's see:\n\nI don't have the five dubia in front of me, but IIRC, the answers would be that the Church will always teach that there are moral norms which may never be disobeyed; that all persons who engage in sexual relations with someone other than than the husband or wife to whom they are validly married are adulterers; that adultery is always grave matter; that all persons who are conscious of mortal sin must not receive Communion; that all persons who are publicly known to be engaging in grave sin must be denied Communion.\n\nIf the Holy Father teaches what the Church has always taught, then he is a Catholic. If the Holy Father teaches anything other than what the Church has always taught, then he is a heretic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's something that many progressive religious folk just don't understand: \n\nThe Left, as a whole, doesn't like you guys any more than it likes Republicans.\n\nWhy? Mainly because the Left really, really, does not like Christianity in any form. Even a very liberal and progressive form that vows allegiance to the Left's main talking points.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Odd that there was no mention of Pope Francis agreeing the translation \"for many\" is more accurate and appropriate.\n\nhttps://cruxnow.com/vatican/2017/11/03/pope-francis-sides-benedict-says-christ-shed-blood-many/\n\nWhy is that, do you suppose?\n\ud83d\ude01", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I take you haven't read Mein Kampf as it is all about criticizing the Jews. And the Final Solution isn't mentioned in it. And Islam doesn't preach the extermination of the Jews. Indeed, Jews were often safer in Muslim countries than in Chrisian ones. \n\nI am well aware that certain Imams in lands occupied by the British hoped to be liberated by siding with the Germans. The Irish Republic also cozied up to Hitler, but I don't see Ireland trashed by the Conservative Party on a regular basis. I guess that doesn't pay as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Technically \"no\", even were she male. The Catholic Church does not recognize Anglican Orders as sufficing for Catholic Orders. Anglican converts who enter the ordained ministry have to undergo Catholic ordination or submit documentation of ordination from a valid source, usually the Old Catholics.\n\nThe two Churches' view of the sacrament of Holy Orders do not line up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To paraphrase Sylvester(Pat)Steffen below, \"exploitation never no more\". The Jesus I am acquainted with is in no way similar to the coven of Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John doesn't need help...and he didn't call you a name. You make amazingly strange statements like \"you would like to remove all Bishops who adhere to Catholic teaching.\" As we know from 2000+ years of Church teaching, we've been wrong before and we'll be wrong again. The gorgeous thing is that humans in power in the Church can ere hideously (and have) - and please, if you don't know Church history well enough to know the truth of that, just let it be...but the Church is both human and Divine, so Church usually manages to pull it out at the end of the day...one of my greatest comforts. I can't imagine why those who think as you do always want to say that someone is \"spinning\" the truth. No, we understand that what we knew yesterday may not be what we know tomorrow. I don't mean dogma, of course, that is unchanging, but other teachings may be left behind as we learn new things. Can you possibly be open to that, or does it really have to be 1953 all over again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remember, Eastern Catholics are hated this much too and Comrade Patriarch would love to see them forcibly reunited to his church. They could be next.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It occurs to me that liberals can be authoritarian, too.\nThat said, I don't think the US bishops, as a group, were hardliners about HV, especially in the ten years that remained to Paul VI. (JPII changed everything, including the makeup of the hierarchy.) The US Bishops' pastoral letter responding to HV, 'Human Life in Our Day', was a moderate affirmation both of the teaching of HV and of the conscience rights of married couples. There were many priests who wrestled with HV as confessors, and many bishops who tried conscientiously to help them do it. I knew one very conservative priest who left ministry because he thought HV was wrong, but he could see no wiggle room for himself as a confessor. Many people remember or know about Cardinal O'Boyle's confrontation with the Catholic University theologians. I don't think O'Boyle was representative of the US hierarchy. I think it's important to note that he was acting not as Archbishop of Washington but as Chancellor of the University.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Republican assault on the governing system of the nation continues, state by state. 2 fascist conservative Republican Governors attempting to impose dictatorial polices as part of the dismantling of all democracy and freedom under the Constitution and its concurrent state Constitutions. The Maine Governor has declared himself above all law answering only to his christian god. Christie is an out and out crook selling out his own aides who carried out his criminal actions. Two peas in the Trump pod of Republican traitors to states and nation. The faces of evil of this traitorous cabal calling itself Republican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nathan,\n\nI think you believe the preponderance of NT 'evidence' shows the early church at that time did not select women as deacons, elders, overseerers or apostles. I also think you take Paul's reasoning for not appointing women at face value. In other words you distort neither the text nor its meaning to arrive at your conclusion. Christian liberty and grace alone are sufficient to allow for a change in practice to accommodate the current cultural need. You depend on biblical evidence to arrive at that conclusion. Its to the facts you say, 'so what?' You don't say 'so what?' to the law. You argue the law (or spirit of the law) permits us, here at this time and place to ordain women as elders. \n\nThat is not how Adventists arrive at doctrine, but it is a legitimate hermenuetical way to arrive at Christian doctrine. \n\nI know you don't say, 'so what?' to the bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I attend a progressive parish now. I didn't in the past. I grew up with conservative Catholics. I was bullied by them for no reason. I literally know all of your tricks. You guys really cannot pull anything past me because I know fundie Catholic speak.\n\nAnd how people are treated is the main reason they leave the Catholic Church. As someone who spent quite a bit of time grappling with Catholicism, I can tell you that is how I left. \n\nAnd unlike your personal attacks on me, my comments are Civil because they are about public figures. If you are a bishop, you are subject to criticism. Don't like it than don't be a public figure. And I have no use for women who snidely bully others while hiding behind a false pretense of religious piety. \n\nAnd this has been flagged as well. Ugh. I preferred the old system where we could just block trolls and ignore them until they went away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cPope Francis is fighting against ideology.\u201d What about patriarchal ideology? As long as the Church remains a patriarchy based on patriarchal gender ideology, it is hard to imagine that the Church can be prophetic in dealing with a man who is the personification of patriarchy. That we have elected this repulsive demagogue as president is bad enough, but even worse is the fact that most Catholics continue to acquiesce with the male-only priesthood, the most divisive religious institution in the world: 50% of baptized humans are fit to image Christ, 50% are unfit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Sadly, I don't see an Ecumenical Council....\"\n\nThe value of an Ecumenical Council like Vatican II is the number of things it explains --theologically, traditionally, politically, spiritually, etc. It's a covered dish, as it were. Anyway, it's the Catholic way of doing things, listening to the Holy Spirit, changing things, developing dogma, teaching. On the other hand, Protestant churches -- free of tradition, setting a reduced price on tradition, as it were, so much smaller demographically (and often acting like national churches, a federation of churches [like Lutheran and Anglicans churches], etc. -- do things differently, so differently. I am sure, too, Vatican III theologians -- representing all the different 24 Catholic Churches, but primarily the Latin/Roman/Western Church -- will hear in retrospect the world of Orthodoxy in their sessions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You certainly are:\n\n\"In the beginning ELOHIIM created the heavens and the earth...\" (Gen. 1:1). The \"--iim\" suffix doesn't mean 'plural' as in more than one. Semitic languages also have 'plurals' of reverence, exaltation and magnificence.\n\nThis linguistic form was later adopted by European Christian monarchs for referring to themselves (I always considered this blasphemous). Today it's called the \"royal 'we'\". When Queen Elizabeth says \"WE want a drink of water, she doesn't mean herself and somebody else.\"\n\nAs one scholarly Rabbi from among my Jewish cousins put it, \"...it denotes the multiple Magnificences of the ONE.\" God refers to Himself this way in Qur'an as well, only in Arab it's \"--iin\" rather than \"--iim\". Same meaning. \n\nAs I said earlier, you're simply wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "cathy, just where do you think the hawaiians came from? migration is a staple of civilization, always has been, always be. the reasons may vary but the facts remain. people move around. there is a limit to what people will do, not what they can do. we are taught bigotry, racism, intolerance, inequality and apathy from birth. maybe its time we taught compassion, inclusion, cooperation and respect. there are 1200 churches, 600,000 professed christians and 7500 homeless in hawaii. i wonder why jesus doesnt seem to care either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin (continued)\nthe Sacrifice of the Holy Mass and pray the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy at the hour of Mercy (3:00 p.m. when Jesus died). Yes, through Jesus death and Resurrection, we have been set free (the chains that attach us to sin/our sinful natures have been broken). It is our choice to rejoice and be glad and not remain stuck in our sins but rather to break free and pick up our crosses and follow Jesus (He has already shown us the way). The sin of impurity affects oh so many of the people and it is the one sin that so many are in need of purification (Confession, Purgatory) because we do not ask God's forgiveness through the Sacrament of Confession mostly because of our embarrassment. (I know, I was there for years!!!) One thing I forgot to mention (because I know it is not to be taken for granted) that Evelyn went to Confession within a week of our discussion outside of Church on the Feast of the Sacred Heart. The Priest told her that if she were to ask forgiveness -continue", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I take it that you are not a Catholic priest, then.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis is doctrine, drawn from the Church\u2019s ordinary magisterium, which itself is infallible.\n\nThere is simply no way to square women as priests with any coherent theology of the Eucharist.\n\nAs the Anglican Communion, the continental Old Catholics, and others show the communions which ordain women drop all pretense of the mystery of the anamnesis of the One Sacrifice, practice open communion, and eventually permit lay celebration of the Eucharist.\n\nIt is a direct effect of the \u201crationalizing\u201d tendency which your entire argument exhibits.\n\nBtw, OS says the Church lacks the power to ordain women, which does have something to do with the future.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The non-Catholic kind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The rules about Fast and Abstinence have become rather academic in the Church nowadays. About 80% of those Catholics still regularly going to Church are over 65 years old and so are exempt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was always a bit of a mystery to me why Fr. Brown came to be such a lightning rod for the right-wingers. He was, exactly as you say, a careful, moderate scholar who made enormous contributions to Catholic theology and biblical studies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have the same question. The prospect of Bannon having a key role in the upcoming four years is terrifying. But I did not see anything except a couple of allusions to the Catholic church in that article. He did seem quite confused about history though, in his summary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a diabolical proposal to suggest or invite Catholics who disagree with Church teachings to leave or to refer to their leaving as an imaginary loss.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nor secret knowledge, no. (Nice rhetorical fluorish, btw.) But when only 3% of Spaniards rank religion among their top values, and weekly Mass attendance is less than 20%, I'd question whether Spain is more Catholic than before Vat II.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hawaii goes its own way once again as we have NO Christians in our congressional delegation. Has that ever been true of any other state?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Shielded Christians from who? \n\n\ufd3e\u0361\u0e4f\u032f\u0361\u0e4f\ufd3f", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm reminded of a relative had a nice dog once. Unfortunately it contracted cancer and grew an immense tutor. Being of the Christian persuasion this relative allowed the dog to suffer right until the end rather than have it put down - despite getting a 'replacement' dog in the meantime. No amount of discussion could persuade her to do the right thing and stop the dog's suffering. How is this different?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Although I appreciate this effort by Providence, I find it interesting that Catholic Social Services was not a grant recipient considering that their programs at present are the biggest players in the homeless fight (although Bean's Cafe did get a grant). I'm curious what's up with that especially considering that Providence is a Catholic organization.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's in Romans, isn't it? Or is it Corinthians? I know its a fundamental teaching of Christianity. Pray tell, how would Teddy's slogan bring about peace in a region that has been a battleground for all of recorded history?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course. It is the superset of the subset of self-defense.\n\nBoth are based on the natural law, which was supplemented by not replaced by the Gospel.\n\nCatechism of the Catholic Church:\n\n2309 The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous consideration. The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time:\n\n- the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;\n\n- all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;\n- there must be serious prospects of success;\n\n- the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. \n\nThe power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.\n\nThese are the traditional elements enumerated in what is called the \"just war\" doctrine. ....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would say that the answer is complex and varied. CBS did an article on Christians in Palestine a while back. Some leave because of economic reasons \u2013 no opportunities and too much difficulty crossing check points into Israel. Some say because of the lack of security. Others say they feel like they are our collateral damage and are being forced to take sides .\nIn one article less than 3% said they left because of religious extremism. Why anyone would want to move to Israel is beyond me . If I were a Christian I don't think I'd move to Israel. I don't think Jesus really like going there either (Judea), in fact he referred to it as his his place to go and die. I think he preferred the Gallillee.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only faith under assault here is Christianity; everyone is welcome with open arms and allowed to say or do as they please. Mr. Trump is trying to stop this one-sided, liberal nonsense by keeping these people, predominantly Muslims and illegals, out. What is the good Miss Rosenblum going to say if we let a bunch of this radical Muzzies in here and they start blowing up buildings or killing people? How is that going to pan out? The prez says close the borders, so close them, and our state needs to get on board and quit being mired in the liberal past.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wholeheartedly disagree Jessica. Unprocessed trauma does not just evaporate. \"It's been addressed,\" you claim. I challenge you to provide evidence of how the systematic effort to extinguish Indigenous cultures has \"been addressed.\" While the Catholic Church is making an attempt to investigate the allegations of abuses in its institution, the BIA school system has not. Generational trauma is real, and I believe that it is one of the root causes of much of the drinking, drugging, and other self-destructive behaviors we see in families affected. It's not about a grudge. Please be respectful to those who have survived this experience and compassionate in your response.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At the end of the day, islam, christainity, hinduism, judaism, any religion that has gods or idols or made up stuff is simply that...a made up story. Does anyone actually believe Moses parted the Red Sea or there was a burning bush that spoke, or that jesus rose 3 days after dying? I wont' make any reference to Allah because apparently you can't. But seriously, we're talking about whether your fairy tale is better than their fairy tale. \n\nTime to get in the 21st century if you ask me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You raise the usual false dichotomy. There are two sexes but we are all one in Christ. In Christ there is no male or female.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nations and civilizations have a right to maintain their cultures and belief systems.\nIf the Pope feels so strongly about this issue, then why doesn't he give to the refugees the empty convents, schools, seminaries, and churches, all over Europe, due to the collapse of Christianity, so they can live in dignity.\nHe doesn't do this, does he?\nThe Catholic Church should also have to pay taxes to help support all the unwanted and poor children born because birth control and abortion isn't available in so may places around the world because of the Church.\nThe pope needs to start walking the talk, and stop telling others what they must do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR has not yet reported that Cardinal Dolan with be participating in the Trump inauguration (apparently with a reading), along with six other members of the clergy. I am not a total resister and understand that it is appropriate to pray for a new President, However, I think this strengthens the association between Roman Catholicism and the Republican Party. Couldn't Cardinal Dolan have suggested a less prominent bishop?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Parents should be able to raise their children in accordance with their personal faith. Who funds that is a different issue. What is fundamental here is that Catholic Parents have a right to expect their children educated on sexuality from a strictly Catholic perspective. Its called religious freedom and is constitutionally guaranteed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will take a stab at your question. Without civilization humans would essentially live in the jungle where actions will be decided on the basis of sheer power and naked whim and desire. Humans over the centuries used religion as part of civil society not just for the creation of deities but more importantly as a basis on which to create moral codes on how to live so that people can live together peacefully and harmoniously. The same ideas on how to live would exist with or wirhout religion but the religion provides a sense of authority behind the code. As societies evolved they took these ideas from religious codes and evolved them further into secular laws with the power of government behind them as the source of authority. For Judeo-Christians you can start for example with the Ten Commandments. Modern society can be argued to have evolved \"beyond religion\" as far as the state is concerned but still for many there is at least a partial religious element to their value system.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That'll never happen for all kinds of reasons--it's too simplistic. \nAnd if that did happen, you'd better believe I would stay out of that hospital! \nBesides some of the people wanting these services are baptized Catholics anyway.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a little confused by the people attempting to shame Republicans on DACA by arguing that punishing children for the sins of their parents is cruel. \n\nThat's basically the core concept of Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's becoming an offense-taking competition. The historical reality is that our forebears did not always see things the way we see them. Ryerson was a Christian, first and foremost. He apparently saw this commitment to include disseminating his beliefs widely, including indigenous populations. This had historical consequences, both those that we consider good, and those we now deplore. Erasing history by expunging references to those who held those beliefs will not change history - it will only impoverish our understanding of it.\n\nI personally dislike proselytising in particular and religion in general. That does not mean that I want to deny that it occurs and occurred.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The median age of US Catholics in 2014 was 49. Fifty percent of that population was under 50 years old; seventy-nine percent was under 65. If they can't kneel anymore it's because they've forgotten how. (Pew, 2015, America's Changing Religious Landscape)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Back in the day\", as it were, persons who entered new marriages subsequent to annulments were asked to celebrate the new marriage in a low key way and to live their Catholic and sacramental lives without drawing attention to themselves. The reason profered was usually that the couple should avoid giving scandal. We liberals sometimes interpreted those guidelines harshly, thinking that the church was treating the couple as \"second class citizens\". However, another way of understanding the guidelines was that they were an attempt to respect the feelings and sensibilities of the innocent victims of the failed marriage(s). The Gingriches hurt a lot of people en route to their eventual marriage and reconciliation with the church. Cardinal Wuerl's participation is a text book example of the sort of scandal the old rules tried to contain.\nI mentioned elsewhere that Trump, Giuliani and Gingrich bring a total of nine wives to the Republican family values party. Bannon brings three more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One more point. The Pew referenced study has this to say about Catholics attitude toward abortion: \"...among Catholics, 53% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases and 44% say it should be illegal.\" This is not far off the general survey results that 57% of adults believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases and 40% say it should be illegal in all or most cases. In 20 years, the approximate 60/40 split has wiggled up and down a bit but not really changed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin, (Continued)\nThe Priest told Evelyn that if she were to ask forgiveness and receive absolution for the sin of impurity, she would have to understand that she would have to do all in her power to live chaste. Jesus' mercy and grace comes with the intention of truly being repentant and sorry for sinning. Evelyn said she was and upon confessing she told me it was such a feeling of having a heavy burden taken off her shoulders that she had been carrying for a very long time. This was my experience as well. You come out of confession on such a high that you want to jump as high as you can with pure joy! Kevin, the Church does not put stumbling blocks in front of people to go to Jesus with a contrite and repentant heart. I told Mark here about a week or so ago - both Peter and Judas denied/betrayed Jesus but how they reacted afterwards was the determining factor of their faith/trust in / love for Jesus - Peter cried when he say Jesus and did not even want him to look at him (continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trid , Jesus did not leave anyone out of his salvific love . How could he and remain our loving savior ? Even those who are officially members of his body must remember his words \"Not everyone who says to me ' Lord , Lord ' is entering the Kingdom \".\nPersons who do what is right according to the best of their ability and do not intentionally rebel against God according to their lights are members of the Body .\nThis is catholic teaching repeated over and over ; and yes denied every so often by card-carrying Catholics !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There can be no doubt that Our Holy Father remains as committed to protecting minors as he has ever been, and nothing demonstrates the strength of his commitment more than tangible results that have been produced by this commission. The commission's website does an outstanding job of listing all the many things done by the Church throughout the decades of abuse showing that the Church was opposed to the abuse being committed by its clerics with the support of the bishops and the Vatican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am very disappointed that people have the audacity to tell individuals the appropriate time to protest. Rosa Park taking a seat was not the appropriate time, Abraham Lincoln decision to abolish slavery was not the appropriate or popular time for some people. Certain individuals are still missing the point. This is not slavery they or any group have a right to protest peaceably.\nThis situation is very sad. If you call yourself Christians you still have miss the point. \nGregg Popovich made really good points.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Aside from the fact that we make law appeasing religious zealots regularly, you miss the point. As well, what christians are asking that the state get out of the marriage business? If anything, it's the opposite. Religious persons of all flavors want state support. So let's not.\n\nTake religious marriage away from the state. Nobody is harmed. Nobody is prevented from getting married by the state because the state simply doesn't do marriage. Civil union is a secular institution, a nice safe sandbox for the state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here we go again, the Boston Globe, drunk with its previous success at Catholic-bashing, is having another pop at the Church.\nWhy pick on priests when out in the world one parent families abound? Where amoral, feral males go around from one woman to the next siring children without a care or thought of what they are doing leaving the taxpayer to support them.\nThere are millions of children through the world who haven't a clue who their father is, that is the real problem but tackling it won't sell newspapers. There is more money to be made in exposing the odd priest or bishop who strays.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Privacy? Let me first point out that there are already laws against being a creep in the bathroom. If someone is peeping on you or assaulting you it is already illegal. As it stands right now a transgender person goes into the bathroom that corresponds to their phenotype. They go in, do their business and leave, (hopefully after washing their hands). If they assault anyone, they get arrested. I'd like for you to explain to me how carding people at bathroom doors or checking their \"REAL\" sex is going to increase everyone's privacy. Or how much less confusing it would be to send women into the mens room because that's how they were born. As to the gay marriage issue, there are a ton of rules laid out in Leviticus which Christians constantly ignore. Unless you think women should be sent away to the woods when the are menstruating, maybe you should stop trying to hold everyone to the \"word\" of god.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have always used Ebes64. I have a poor understanding of liturgical reforms? Care to answer my original question - What was the actual reason for moving the Tabernacle and why you prefer it off to the side? It was done specifically to lessen the importance of the Eucharist, so as to appease other Protestant groups that believed differently than the Catholic Faith. That is the simple truth and appears to have been achieved . To clarify your above comment, you believe in transubstantiation? \nI will never forget one of your comments made about two years ago when a person commented about a book that posited that our Blessed Mother fled the crucifixion due to the fact she was afraid, and was not present at her son's death. You had the audacity to recommend others to read such sacrilege. From that point on I knew you were spiritually lost. You appear to be highly intelligent, but somehow have lost all common sense in regards to our faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's nothing particularly wrong with being comfortable with your own moral values. Were I not, I would change them. IMO, there are, in fact, few people more self-righteous than fundamentalist Christians....folks who are so sure their beliefs are the \"way of the Lord\" and all others are lost unless they \"see the light.\" Now that gets rather tiresome.\n\nI value others and work to live a decent, compassionate life. I realize that's not \"good enough\" for hard-core Christians who require \"belief.\" That's fine with me. Your buddy Trump claims to be a Christian.....look at his values and actions...if this guy represents Christianity, those are the foundations which are swaying.....best regards, Gary", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent point Pandora! I think we find the Unchanging Church thrives the more it retains the ancient traditions it instituted in the Middle Ages.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seems to me that We the People of God have been making that decision even before Vatican II got underway. But getting the Catholic hierarchy to accept that as a fact, then change their dogged dogmatic ways has not worked! Not even with Francis as pope!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe Greeley's novels weren't pornographic, but they're not literature. A reviewer from the Chicago Sun-Times said that \"Cardinal Sins is enough to give trash a bad name\". Here are some good Catholic novels that I've read:\n\nDiary of a Country Priest \u2013 Georges Bernanos\nSilence \u2013 Shusaku Endo\nThe Cypresses Believe in God \u2013 Jose Maria Gironella\nBrideshead Revisited \u2013 Evelyn Waugh\nViper\u2019s Tangle \u2013 Francois Mauriac\nThe Samurai \u2013 Shusaku Endo\nMouchette \u2013 Georges Bernanos\nUnder Satan\u2019s Sun \u2013 George Bernanos\nThe Unbroken Heart \u2013 Robert Speaight\nThe Mandelbaum Gate \u2013 Muriel Spark\nTh\u00e9r\u00e8se Desqueyroux \u2013 Fran\u00e7ois Mauriac\nWoman of the Pharisees \u2013 Fran\u00e7ois Mauriac\nPostcards From the Volcano \u2013 Lucy Beckett\nLove in the Ruins \u2013 Walker Percy\nMorte D\u2019Urban \u2013 J.F. Powers\nThe Wheat That Springeth Green \u2013 J.F. Powers\nAn Instance of the Fingerpost \u2013 Iain Pears\nThe Dry Wood \u2013 Caryll Houselander\nLying Awake \u2013 Mark Salzman\nThe Island of the World \u2013 Michael D. O\u2019Brien\nMariette in Ecstasy \u2013 Ron Hansen", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Neko,\n\nJust because many people followed Jesus during His public ministry and believed He rose from the dead after His crucifixion did not (nor does it) mean that these faithful people who put their trust in Jesus and not those who publicly screamed out for His crucifixion were not persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and yes eventually martyred! In the same way it does not mean that because Christianity is the dominant religion in the United States that people who remain faithful to Jesus' teachings, which have been made known to us by God through Holy Scripture do not presently or won't suffer in the future. It is true that up until same sex marriage was not legalized in the United States, Christians were not publicly persecuted in the United States. Since the legalization of same sex marriage, Christian bakeries, Wedding Halls, County Clerks who issue marriage licenses and Catholic schools throughout the US have been persecuted (in the form of lawsuits/legal action/imprisonment).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Taqiyya is the Islamic practice of pious deception. It can take the form of concealing the full truth (omission) or telling non-believers only what they want to hear (concealment). Taqiyya is as basic to Islam as the Ten Commandments are to Christianity. Taqiyya is the \"Fifth Column of the Islam\", to protect Allah, Muhammad and the Koran from skeptics and critics. . It is anathema to all other religions. It is hard for non-Muslims to understand that it actually exists and is used regularly to convince us that we are the problem as is this columnist attempt to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Cardinal Burke likes to fret about lax Catholics causing scandal, but in his case, as in that of Fr. Feeney, it is sometimes the most extreme Catholics who cause the worst scandal.\"\n\nGreat column, MSW.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"she left it after 22 years \"with a heavy heart.\" \" Even her words are cautioning her to seek the new world that is opening up to humanity at large. If she changes her entire reading and conversational and work repertoire to real world activity even more --- \"rethink her values. She said it awakened a dormant spirituality in her life that made her sensitive to the marginalized\" even more life will become ever more clear. . \"Rethink\". It works! But we need to entirely rethink Catholicism, faith. moral agency, and the anthropocene era that is upon us. This is not Catholic religious orders, incomprehensible spirituality of long standing, hierarchical allegiance that has reached irrational proportion. APPROPRIATE READING, STUDY, AND ACTION IS OUR TASK.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I am sure Pope Francis would totally be in favor of a Catholic group with connections to the fringe nationalist politicians in Europe who he has railed against. \n\nAnd why were the ADL and other Jewish groups were so angry and vehemently opposed to Bannon's appointment if he isn't dangerous? At the very least Bannon has mainstreamed the alt-right in America. http://www.adl.org/press-center/press-releases/miscellaneous/adl-statement-trump-appointment-priebus-bannon.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/#.WDcko_krLIU Sorry, but there is no place for neo-Nazi haters in my America. Why Europe wants to relieve the hatred that led to WWII is beyond me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part3\nThe social doctrine of the Catholic Church (166) recognizes the necessity of the state to act within its power for the common good and includes \"basic health care.\" One of the problems with the ACA (and the current plan) as I see it is that it conflates \"health care\" with \"health insurance\"; the two are not the same. Basic health care should be affordable on its own, with health insurance available for catastrophic events - this should also be affordable and include the provisions eliminating the pre-existing condition and lifetime maximum limits, among others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"These people\" have a well-established track record of victimizing others. Just ask some of the many Christians who have had to flee the Middle East and other predominantly Muslim regions. Unfortunately, many more Christians can't tell you anything because they have been slaughtered for their faith. Their killers and sympathizers play the victim card when called to account for the crimes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think that Canada will fall apart if those two bills are not approved. \nThe first is a sop to political correctness rather than an attempt to improve the wording. Yes, an amendment to the national anthem requires parliamentary approval. But is that the only wording change that makes sense? How many times must we repeat 'we stand on guard for thee'? Should there be an official reference to God (a Christian term) in a secular and multicultural country?\nThe second uses a legislative bullhorn to tell judges how to become more sympathetic. Are judges incapable of determining how to improve their behaviour and listening to public opinion?\nLet's get real. If those two examples are used to condemn the Senate (without looking at good bills that have passed scrutiny) then perhaps the Senate is doing a good job.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is distressing that some posters break into conversations with bullying and harassment. I am sure they believe in the veracity of what they post, but then, as we all know, what one believes and what actually exists can be two quite different things. No doubt some believe it is christian to be uncivil and throw around threats, but that doesn't make it so, now does it? Perhaps the same lack of civility and hostility towards christian values drives these posters to use aliases to disguise, or shall we say, attempt to disguise their ongoing conduct. Perhaps they fear the CC will catch on to their act? Who knows? But I, for one, value the humor and inherent fantastical charm of your postings, so as always, have a blessed day and keep up the funny!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indifference to the health of the soul of others is a sin, which is fundamentally what you're suggesting.\n\nWe should be infinitely concerned with the health of the soul of others because GOD is infinitely concerned with the state of the soul of others. \n\nWe should \"convert\" every day to have more and more the heart of Christ.\n\nOur goal should be to love with the very heart of Christ.\n\nDrawing back and drawing \"walls\" around ourselves is not at all in line with the Gospel message.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Bishop Tom. Yes, the faith that comes from the revelation of God that Jesus is the Anointed One, that faith that springs from the heart touched by God's grace, is indeed the rock upon which Jesus build's his people. What a comforting (strengthening) message for the people of God in St Philomela, Detroit. Your love for them is so evident in your words. Again, thank you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a gay person and lifelong Catholic, I have long been bewildered as to why some people consider the mere tolerance of gay people (and think about what that means: \"tolerating\" someone) is enough to send them over the edge and off to another, less tolerant church, as has happened among other Christian denominations. \n\nWhen one considers that the origins of homophobia in the Judeo-Christian tradition stem from Leviticus, a book largely devoted to Jewish ritual law which most Christians and many Jews mostly ignore, it is curious indeed as to why the one particular issue of homosexuality is enough to have some people raving that it alone is \"the sin that cries out to heaven for vengeance!\" as though they were discussing murder. \n\nAs an old gay person I no longer care what the Church decides to do about people like me, but I do care about the young people who will be forced against their will to listen to homophobic sermons as I recently endured this past Sunday when the theme was love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really? Well, the funny thing is--if the bishops have no credibility to preach on moral doctrine because of the sex abuse crisis, it seems to me, they also have no credibility when it comes to speaking on Catholic social teaching either.\n\nThus, when Pope Francis tells us here in America that we need to throw open the borders, not care about national security and welcome refugees, I will dismiss this arrogance with \"Until you fix the problem of sex abuse, hold bishops accountable and protect children, you have no right to tell me anything about refugees, the poor or anything else.\"\n\nThank you for you post. Just as you have good reason to dismiss the bishops teaching on the moral demands of the Gospel, I now have those same very good reasons for dismissing the bishops teaching on social justice. \n\nWe actually agree on something: the bishops have no right to teach and preach about anything until they fix the problem of clerical sex abuse and cover ups.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of two) With part one of two in mind, above, a response to the rhetorical questions above: the reason your family were among the halves involved the truth of garnering goods and services within a politics of determining who gets what. The contest between Hillary and Donald is a basic problem. In a very real sense, it takes being well fed, well educated, and well connected to be in solidarity with the poor, i.e. to offer a meaningful preference for the poor. In the final analysis, \u201cthe Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want\u201d (Psalm 23:1) from the Responsorial Psalm from the Liturgy of the Word, Order of Christian Funerals, Part III: Texts of Sacred Scripture: 13 Funerals for Adults: Responsorial Psalms #1.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your conjecture is your analysis of my feelings and motives. I experienced leaving the religious life and the seminary so I know what I am talking about. You didn't leave so you can only imagine what it might be like.\nAgain you surmise that I consider myself to be a good Catholic by \"giving my consent to demonstrably poor leaders,\" because of the office they hold: wrong again. I respect authority when it doesn't contradict the teaching of the Church. I have certainly no respect for prelates such as Kasper, Daneels, etc despite the offices they hold. Archbishop Chaput on the other hand consistently upholds the same Catholic doctrine I was taught in the 40's and 50's and continued by V2, that makes him an excellent leader in my book.\nI am sad that you saw fit to include the 'barb' that my post was designed to convey the impression of humility. Is that not akin to sticking the knife in and twisting it. I count myself very fortunate not to have a pastor like yourself.\n.............", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi, Josh - I took a look at the site. I recognized a rather narrow interpretation of tradition that makes magisterial teaching the criterion of all truth. I found it about as intellectually defensible as the idea of a \"spirit of Vatican II\" that allegedly supports whatever cause one wishes to espouse.\nI think we live in a time when the intellectual presentation of the Catholic faith is at risk, and essays that bait one side or the other are equally vacuous. - Monica.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True Christian stance ? A true Christian stance doesn't support , condone or celebrate sin. Nor does it encourage parents to expose and condone their kids to it. It lovingly tries to get people to turn away from it. Plus--going into locations always looking for an exit strategy in Alaska where this hasn't happened doesn't sound paranoid to you ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They couldn't even meet for a one week council our of fear of having to go through a Vatican 2 style revolution/reformation, how on Earth would anyone imagine a desire to unite with Catholicism in its current liturgical state. The Orthodox liturgy have changed very little, they simply cannot recognize the new Roman rite. The only chance for reunion is if we get closer to each other, either by them also going through a reformation/revolution or us rolling back all the changes that do not have origin beyond the 60's.\n\nEven then it may not be enough, I can't imagine them accepting either of the Vatican councils without them being defined as local councils for the Roman rite exclusively.\n\nEven then why should they, look at the fruits of the change in the dominant RC countries, the importance of Christian faith is decimated compared to the East, where only Poland is the exception.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is the most moving and eloquent expression of the Catholic pro-choice position I've ever read. And from a man! And a priest! Yes, yes, I agree. Thank you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Finally, the catholic clergy are seen taking a public stand and speaking against racism, against violence. Catholic clergy have not been seen leading publicly since the 60's civil rights demonstrations, except for abortion rallies of course. Seemed like there was only one sin in America worthy of public outcry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Uh, exactly where, precisely, did the Life Site article print false information about Miss Weiss? You do not cite one example and neither does Shea -- he just blabbers on about guilt by association. It seems that not one fact in LifeSite has been proven to be false. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Also, any teacher who tried to use Lolita as a text at a Catholic college should not be teaching there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is very interesting to me a graduate of a Catholic Medical School, where I was taught in the 1960's that pedophillia was not a treatable condition, that so many Catholic Bishops sought out psychological treatment from a minority of psychologists who attempted treatment. Most of these \"treatment centers\" have fortunately been closed as useless. Some have admitted their mistake and attempt to treat other psychological problems. Yet Bishops even today use the idea that they were misled by psychologists. Too bad they did not consult with the women Catholic Social Workers trained in their own institutions about these problems. It could have headed off this scandal. Yet Bishops were willing to pay to keep these specially ordained men in the ranks. They were willing to stand up for their own clergy before they were willing to protect our children. Some of these same men are still powerful today. FIRE THEM NOW!! yes the shout is purposeful...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The priest who said the funeral Mass was approached by the woman in question who told him that she was there with her lesbian marriage partner.\n\nHe did not leave the altar and did not refuse to go to the graveside.\n\nIt turned out that she and her mother, who was daily communicant, were alienated, that she pulled the stunt specifically to put a known orthodox priest into the situation, that she had left the Church some time previously, that her brother - a known anti-Catholic attorney - was in on it with her and immediately notified all his press sources to spin the matter against the priest and the Church.\n\nThe priest in question correctly observed Canon Law which required him to refuse her communion, he left the archdiocese on his own volition - he had been visiting from another country - and was not removed by the archdiocese.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.\"\nBorn Again Christian \u2013 my true allegiance is not of this world and my faith informs everything that I do. Limited-government Conservative constitutionalist \u201ctea partier.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church has always incurred the opprobrium of the 'world' ever since the time of Christ. nothing new here. It is the hatred of those who claim to be its members, the fifth column which it ought to take seriously.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Protestant's errors were leaving rather than working within the Church agaisnt the abuses (5th columns are alway more successful) and trying to change Dogma for brand identification, especially regarding the Real Pressence. This time, the trads can leave.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My question is why do so many Catholic church leaders support Donald J.\nTrump? Many priest do also. Racism is a social justice sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From the Canadian Encyclopedia:\n\n\"Cemetery operations in Canada come under provincial jurisdiction. Cemeteries are owned by private corporations, nonprofit trust companies, churches, synagogues and municipalities.\"\n\n\"Religious preference leads people to be buried in different cemeteries, e.g., Catholic, Jewish, Protestant (of various varieties), interfaith or nondenominational. In the past, people of minority races and of \"disapproved\" ethnic origins were forced to be buried apart from others\".\n\nhttp://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/cemeteries/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am saying the Rosary almost daily to bring more compassion to this issue and stop the war on the defenceless unborn. As a practicing Roman Catholic I cannot say how difficult it is to see Catholics, Randy Delorey, Kelly Regan & Stephen MacNeill allow these changes without some discussion on the future social impact on our society. I believe in separation of church & state but this is going too far in my opinion. I am sure many will 'respectfully' disagree. Adoption is an alternative.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great article.\nI do take exception to Mo Brooks. I did and do lead a good life and was injured while working as a nurse. I have used my insurance a lot!\nMost people cannot help that they get sick or injured; Mr. Brookes is equating people who are poor as bad people and not having healthy lifestyles.\nIs that a christian way of thinking?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder if the people who accept the prosperity gospel can see Christ in the least of their brothers and sisters? Jesus uses that in his only description of the final judgment. Nothing about commandments, church attendance, vigilance of sin, or doctrine. It was about seeing Christ in the poor. That means also loving, caring, and helping the poor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are given intimate union with Christ because he sought the full experience of our humanity in his despair on the cross. Some even now say that it was not God that demanded satisfaction on the cross, it was us. I would not put it that starkly, but there is some truth to that sentiment. Give up the theories of salvation from St. Ambrose. They are flawed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So Ryerson thought a particular way in his time. I agree that it is so important to understand the time and why he and others thought the way they did. The good he and others did in our history should be examined as rigorously as the mistakes and problems encountered over the actions and thinking of the time. Yes, Ryerson thought of a seperate school system for a group of people. We see remnants of those thoughts in Ontario today so does the idea in general work? After all, Ryerson did not set up or operate the residential schools. More recently, all Ontario governments have maintained and supported the Catholic separate school system and also advocated for and implemented separate black-centric schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Burke will be the next Pope. After all, he is standing for Christ's position on divorce. PF1 is supporting the Pharisees' position. It's really that simple.\n\nI cannot believe they spent 2 years on a Synod on the Family, with all that time & effort with no pastoral efforts actually being done on behalf of the challenges Catholic families face in our secularized society.\n\nInstead the entire effort of the Synod can be distilled into whether supporting Christ's position vs. the Pharisees' position is correct. It should be obvious. I feel sorry for PF1, he has backed himself into a terrible position being against Christ's direct Gospel words. No wonder he's not answering the Dubia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The state is under NO compulsion to reflect Catholic teaching. Good God Almighty!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well Chuck I'd also say that there is something, maybe not irony though, in the stark difference in our posts. You see I was responding directly to the two previous posters and commenting on their specifics of their posts.\n\nYou on the other hand are making a strawman argument that attempts to vilify progressives - whoever you seem to think that is - despite the fact that no one here is \"self-titling\" themselves as such.\n\nWhat is ironic is the pearl clutching, near hysteria in your post making it seem as if the end of western civilization is nigh. I don't have to agree with women wearing veils to see that doing so does not mean we are endorsing it or teaching those values in our schools. If you have concerns about women showing their hair or not then you need to spend some time in an Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood. And finally, if you're worried about a religion not being compatible with Canadian gender equality values, then you might want to speak to your local (male) Catholic priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "WHITE Catholic women...not ALL Catholic women. And I believe it was 53%...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "doctrines, themselves, can be rigid and narrow...or more tolerant and flexible.........I'm a secular humanist and know Christians who share the values,moral outlook I hold......... be happy to discuss all this stuff w/you anytime. I find it a very interesting topic. regards, Gary", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For Christians there are pools that pay well, with small deductibles, with low premiums. 'bamacare has extremely high premiums, and very high deductibles. Why can't the insurance companies do something about their high costs? Because they don't want to. Notice the AMA is against the repeal. Notice someone is setting the high fees associated with our care. Why not pay according to the Medicare fee allowances? We are being taken advantage of. And the gov't (us) can't afford all the subsidies for the inflated premiums.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you an American before you are a Christian?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the problem with your analogy is that it is not the one used by Christ for the Eucharist. In the gospels, Christ refers to the Eucharist as body, bread, flesh, blood. I cannot find any reference to fruits, and I cannot find him saying that his own sexuality is essential for the Eucharist. I cannot find any such teaching in the Trent definition, or in the CCC, or in the TOB. In the TOB, Part I is a general theological anthropology that applies to humanity in general, and therefore to all the sacraments. Part II is the application to the sacrament of marriage, but this does not mean that Part I is not applicable to the other sacraments. If you really believe, with certainty of faith, that maleness is intrinsic to priesthood, you may be a victim of the vexing conflation of patriarchal sex/gender theory with our current sacramental theology. Sorry, but I DO NOT believe, with certainty of faith, that Jesus' maleness is essential for the redemption, let alone the priesthood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, I'm from the northeast, now living in exile in an extremely red, Western state for 20 years. You'd think I would've lost the capacity to be shocked and horrified over all that time, but that would not be right. There were people I met at that parish who argued vociferously that Harry Potter books were tools of Satan, and others maintained that you could not vote for a Democrat and be a Catholic at the same time. Other parishes have not been much better.\n\nYour situation is a thorny one. Is it possible to find an Anglican community where there is genuine devotion without the extreme rightwing attitudes?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you think the Catholic Church fits the classic definition of a sect then you are obviously unaware of the classic definition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My parents both emigrated to the US from Lithuania. I am first generation Lithuanian/American - but like you, my surname is Irish - Patrick. \nThis came to be when my father was processed through Ellis Island - they Americanized his Lithuanian surname - Patrickanas.\nMy first name however is truly Lithuanian.\nJust as an observation - the ancestral religion of Lithuania was and is the religion of Nature - Pagan. \nIt is still practiced internationally today as Romuva with witch I identify\nhttp://www.historyextra.com/qa/religion-lithuania-pagan-conversion-christianity\nThe list of Lithuanian Pagan Gods is poetically romantic.I also identify with Aitvaras which is what my mother called me when as a child I misbehaved. And she was Roman Catholic. \nhttp://www.historyextra.com/qa/religion-lithuania-pagan-conversion-christianity\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aitvaras", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Translation: I think what Jesus said on adultery still matters, receiving Him in a state of grace still matters, and eternal salvation still matters. \n\nTelling people that heroism isn't for ordinary Christians, that Jesus' teaching is just too hard for you, and you have permission to disregard it is what really constitutes looking down on someone. I would not appreciate being told one of Jesus' commandments didn't apply to me because I just was incapable of doing any better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Give me a link to a medical, genetic or other scientific research paper that identifies a 'gay' gene. It's also possible for heterosexual males to have 'female' genetic markers. In fact all of us do. We got 'em from our mothers. So until you can show me some quantitative data confirming the presence of a 'gay' gene and its actual LOCATION in the human genome, you're in the same boat as the Christians concerning their various squabbles about what Jesus (alayhis-Salaam) said and did, and what he meant by it all. In short, you BELIEVE in the existence of a gay gene, and that's all you got. Prove me wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "oh Allan oh Allan\n\nthis country was founded on Anglo-French Judeo-Christian principles\nwith the Queen as Head of state, who is also head of Anglican Chruch\n\nthe country is still predominantly Christian Western heritage\nby immigrating here immigrants have no problem with that\n\nbut Allan seems to have a problem", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well...let's be a little more accurate here....\n\nAbout 100 students walked out of graduation exercises attended by 3,200. Actually....reports have said \"some\" and \"a few dozen\" - including CNN. Not an exactly a massive defection. Mr. Pence received a standing ovation. Those students that walked out were aided and encouraged by several left wing ideologically aligned groups, and planned well in advance after repeated contact by these groups...which included Planned Parenthood and the Indiana Reproductive Justice Coalition.\n\nNot exactly all about Catholic Social Teaching.\n\nYour report of Notre Dame's exercises also falls far short of accuracy.\n\nWhy?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The existence of only one God can be known with certainty through reason alone, therefore it is rational. That Jesus Christ is the same Person as this one God can be known without faith. He fulfilled all of the prophecies in the Old Testament, said He was God, and performed miracles that only God could perform, There were many moral miracles as well. That the gentiles were converted to Catholicism from paganism is beyond reason as they were living a life of pretty much doing whatever felt good to them and then became Catholic and we all know that there is a lot of rules that go along with that! They were pretty much signing their death sentence at the time and many were martyred. Furthermore, we can know that Catholicism is that same religion due to even more miracles throughout the ages, such as the Miracle of the Sun that took place only 100 years ago and which was witnessed by over 70,000 people, many of whom came to mock the prediction that the Fatima children made 3 months ahead.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your cynicism is understandable considering the way the modern church is portrayed. If you are curious about the ministries of Kauai Christian Fellowship on Kauai & Beyond, check out the website. Or even better come by in person if you're on Kauai", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Divorce is so much more prevalent among people with less education and less money,\" said Julie Hanlon Rubio, a professor of Christian ethics at St. Louis University. \"That's not a virtue issue; it's just easier to maintain a marriage and have a family when you have money and everything that comes with money.\"\n\nThe only woman who ever asked me to marry her said never even mentioned love. She said, \"My dad will give us a lot of money if we get married.\" Historically, marriage is an economic bargain more than a love match. For many it still is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry but these are different books , so not everyone is a \" person of the book.\", In fact Christians are not people of the book but of \"the faith\". Apparently you don't even know your own religion; if you even have one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Philippine President Duterte is taking more steps to assure that women have access to birth control. It is ..ironic?... that someone who I would hope would not be supported for some of his views is someone I hope the Philippine people support for other views. Duterte is right on birth control for poor women. Getting access to birth control for poor people has been a long, long battle in the Philippines. Even though it has been widely supported by most of the very Catholic Filipino people for decades, it has been fought by the Catholic bishops. And they have been winning that battle until the last few years.\n\nI think, in the long run, that bishops are going to lose even more respect and trust because of how they want to exercise power within a democracy. I am certainly sick of the \"culture wars\" here and I fear their tearing at the fabric of equality in the public spaces. \n\nI think bishops are right on some issues and wrong on others - sorta like Duterte. That is a sad comment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Blah, blah, blah. If Obama were so great, Clinton would be our president. People in the Rust Belt, democratic strong holds, made their voices loud and clear. Let's make America great again because Obama's policies destroyed our economy, weakened our resolve to fight terrorism and our efforts to restore respect for America's values and priorities. Middle class, blue collar Americans were tired to being lectured to by the leftist President, and they decided to give Clinton/Obama and their party the boot.\n\nNow, we know NCR editors, like others in the media, are so in love with the Democratic Party but more Catholics voted for the Republicans than in any other time in history. Maybe it is NCR or their writers that are out of touch with mainstream Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The commandment was a property crime, not a purity crime. Nocturnal emissions, (the closest thing mentioned in relation to masturbation) required taking a bath. Sounds about right. \n\nWas Jesus obedient to the lawful authority of the pharisees and the scribes? He was said to be without sin, not immune to it because of his divinity (that would have been really cheap grace). You need to rethink the concept of obedience. You conflate it with loyalty, not truth.\n\nConscience comes from many sources, including reason. It includes the right to call foul when the Church claims a monopoly on reason, especially when in doing so it avoids evidence.\n\nRemember who is writing the checks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So \nIs an act of humility too much to ask?\n.\nIf this were to happen a Transfiguration would occur within the Church at this moment in time that would resurrect the true face of Jesus Christ, a face that reflects Truth and humility before all those she is called to serve in love and compassion. From this base one of humility before God the Church can proceed to tackle many of her on-going problems/dilemmas as it would permit the Church to give access to the Sacrament of Holy Communion (Spiritual Food) to all baptised Catholics who for whatever reason apart from the sin against the Holy Spirit, who presently cannot receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation the means to do so.\nSee full details in the link\nhttps://acireland.ie/amoris-laetitia-the-joy-of-love-reviewed-by-aidan-hart/#comment-10034\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marvin, there has been no change in US law or enforcement with regard to border crossing by students without legal residency documents since the Trump administration began. Kent schools have had students without such documents for years, and this issue has never been raised. \"Undocumented\" students are have always been aware of the issues of border crossing.\nYou may choose to believe what is not true: that there has been a change in national policy and the School Board is re-acting in accordance with the best interest of students. But when you do so, from an orthodox Christian standpoint, you are choosing to sin, making an idol of a particular political perspective. I would have thought that wasn't part of your convictions, but perhaps I have mistaken you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, we can only hope they teach us to properly revere the ritual, the traditions, and the worship of saints, which are the foundations of Catholicism. Oh, that and Jesus, where his teachings don't conflict with tradition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the meantime, in Canada our government is unable to or refuses to define Canadian values. What BS.\nWell in my family we are about to celebrate Christmas like we have never done before. \nBe bold, be brave, just say \" MERRY CHRISTMAS\" like we used to. We do still have that right. Christian or not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My, my! Yet another Tory Fundamentalist who thinks they have cornered the market on Christianity. Newsflash, MacDougall: The mainstream Protestant Churches aren't anti-abortion or anti-same-sex marriage. And the Catholic Church has been told by Pope Francis it has been too focused on social conservative issues and needs to move on to more important issues such as poverty and climate change.\n\nIt's not an anti-Christian message. It's the reminder that the Conservatives are now a party of Hidden Agendas. Harper didn't enrage the opposition until he won his majority. He had been governing as a small c conservative in minority, but moved swiftly to the far right when he had his majority. Which is not what middle of the road Canadians had expected.\n\nScheer is just Harper with a smile. And that smile will be there until he wins a majority. Then it will turn into a sneer of contempt. Scheer is not about building bridges or healing wounds or finding consensus. He's a social conservative.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Would not Fr Emil Kapaun, a Catholic priest and US Army chaplain, who died in 1951 in a North Korean POW camp, not be the first US martyr? His story is not too dissimilar from that of St Maximilian Kolbe. Kapaun, like Kolbe, put his fellow prisoners needs before his own. He was recognized as a \"Servant of God\" by Pope St. John Paul II in '93. It seems that his cause is sadly discounted because he was a military chaplain who was more highly decorated by the US Army than by his own Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So why is this attitude to open discourse (as in openness to the ideas of Vatican II) so little evident among certain Catholics in the US?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Attend services?\" Protestants have \"services.\" Catholics have the Holy Mass. BIG difference. As for less men attending Mass, that is the fault of the corruption in the church post Vatican II. But things are changing for the better. There is a counter-revolution going on and the fruits are to be seen everywhere if one looks. New orders of priests and nuns, traditional in thought and construct, are replacing the withered and corrupt orders which are fading because they have no vocations. The Church which will emerge will not be the church of new ways ministries or women priests, rather a return to being the Church Jesus Christ founded.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really?\n\nSo these parishes do not have congregational meetings where they pass out the financial information to the parishioners who attend? I grant the statements might be more generalized so as to give the average person--without a background in accounting the ability to understand them--but they communicate salaries, etc. \n\nStop pretending you don't know what I am talking about. You know full well what I am talking about. It is common knowledge among everyone that Protestant clergy are paid far more handsomely than Catholic priests. \n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "WestJeff, you advocate \"Enough is enough. We need new leadership.\" I'm not a wealthy white Christian but these kinds of incident surely make me sad as well. Sadness is hardly a ridiculous response. So what exactly would your new Board leadership do to remedy racist ignorance and hate?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, is that all?\n\nThe problem is--which Jesus are we to follow? The Jesus as interpreted and understood through the lens of liberal, secular, atheistic humanism, or Jesus as interpreted and understood through the lens of the Catholic Faith?\n\nWhy is the Jesus as understood and interpreted through the lens of liberal, secular, atheistic humanism the better way to go?\n\nMy point is that we can all agree that following the Jesus of the Gospel is the way to go. The disagreement is in how to apply and understand what he taught.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very Christian of him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words the entire liberal socialist re-creation of society in the past 50 years is a total failure of self destruction of our own society! My grandparents lived through the most horrific 2 world wars and the great depression, yet by our Faith in Christ of our Judeo Christian ethic of governance and community, and self sufficiency of parents mentoring children into worthwhile skills of survival, were their success! Now we have generations of incapable, spoiled, entitled, self absorbed less than adequate people who cannot cope with what is nothing of really anything difficult in comparison! The great generation worked dusked to dawn, survived winters hoping not to starve to death, and disease with no real available immediate health care, and before even the most simplest of medications such as antibiotics existed! Stop the arrogant ignorant \"snowflake\" urbanite useless whining!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian realism is a foreign policy perspective that originated with Reinhold Niebuhr, the famous moral theologian and public intellectual who was really a titanic figure on the American scene from the 1930s into the 1960s. The essence of Christian realism\u2014which is very much at odds with anything that smacks of utopianism\u2014is to appreciate that there is evil in the world to which we must respond but also to appreciate that our own motives are likely to be less pure than we may fancy them to be. It\u2019s not simply that the motives of the other guys are suspect but we ourselves should always be mindful of the extent to which our own motives [may] be subject to question.\nAndrew Bacevich", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nobody cares any longer about what 1970s new church, used to be catholic, confused nuns do or say in their old age.\nBack to your zen yoga class, dear sisters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In wasn't referencing two years ago. I was referencing this past Friday. The evidence is in a two hour meeting in which Lavrov reported Trump accepted Putin's denial of election interference. Lavrov has not been directly refuted by Tillerson. The pudding in which to look for proof is the fact Trump and Putin agreed to create a joint 'cyber security' effort. As Rubio tweeted today, that's like starting a joint chemical weapons effort with Asad. Lyndsey Graham tweeted this is one of the dumber concepts he's ever heard.\n\nTrump has essentially given Putin a pass so Trump can magically make Bannon's Breitbart wet dream of a 'clash of civilizations' in which the Judeo/Christian white rises up and once again takes HIS place as lord of all. Unfortunately, the population numbers indicate Trump can't do it on his own, and Europe won't help him, and so that leaves Putin. I'm sure this all just stokes you no end.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK, since most religions, including Christianity, require people to wear clothing, then perhaps the \"secular\" government of Quebec should outlaw the wearing of clothing.\nThe point is, people should have freedom to wear what they want, when they want. If someone who is Muslim believes that wearing a face covering is essential to their personal modesty, in almost all cases there is no harm in that. When there are specific cases where there is a conflict between the needs of the society and the wishes of the individual, they should be carefully circumscribed to minimize the incursion of the interests of the state on the personal freedoms of the individual.\nWhat's next in Quebec, mandatory hot pants for nuns?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure where Pope Francis would see a need for a correction given his understanding of the development of conscience. Those who are involved in this dissent can be said to be operating in the light of their own consciences. Why would Francis need to correct them? It would seem somewhat hypocritical if he did. The issue isn't who is right or wrong per so, it's who has the right to claim they teach the full truth. Pope Francis, like many thoughtful Catholics before him, doesn't strike me as someone who is ever going to claim he has the full truth. Obviously, some other people feel they do have the full truth, but as individual Catholics we have the right to consider them to be minus some truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dialogue....\nWhy, except to give catholics a propagandistic sense of \" feeling good \", would Beijing engage in anything but a sham meaningless \" dialogue \" ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Traditionally, in order for a papal teaching to become normative, it has to be \"received\" by the people. In a world addicted to social media, conferences are not the best means to promote understanding and reception. Buying national media time, producing simulcasts with Q & A from the audience, and, of course, a Facebook page, etc., might work. It's important to keep in mind that the great majority of Catholics couldn't tell you what's in A.L. or why they should read it. As long as that's the case, pastors can ignore it with impunity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's unfortunate that a putatively Catholic news magazine such as this continues here and there to engage in agenda-driven biblical proof texting on the topic of immigration. And it's sort of understandable given the general biblical illiteracy of the commenting catholics here would do the same.\n\nSo here's a thoughtful counter-point to the bad NCR habit of proof texting.\n\nhttps://thefederalist.com/2017/03/07/stop-prooftexting-refugee-policy-misapplied-bible-verses/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mo, good thoughts. IMHO much of what is presented as doctrine has more to do with the institution protecting itself than wth Jesus and the Gospel. Jesus never said we are fallen. We celibate males don't have your experiences that you described. Personal experience beats theoretical or book learning every time. Each of us is an image of God, and this does not include being \"fallen\". IMHO we are exactly as God creates us to be, with all our messiness. Book learning is neat and orderly, real life is not. From its origin, which was to prevent church property from being passed down as personal property, celibacy is about power and control, not about Jesus or the gospel. What I see, especially these days with so many confessions, is many folks, certainly not all, who still take part in church life see God as a threatening judge, and following Jesus as obeying rules that have little to do with him. Often they do not want to discuss seeing things any differently. Others have just left.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's fake and what's real? Indeed, it is a big mystery, so all we can do is choose \"facts\" that support our existing positions and disregard everything else as unreal. But, as Catholics, we can always look to our Clergy to tell us what to believe. This greatly improves upon the messy business of thinking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What will also add to substantial changes in the US Church is that it was announced last Wednesday that Cleveland Bishop Richard Lennon has resigned his office, due to serious health problems including vascular dementia, effective immediately. This is a blessing for Cleveland, and will offer Pope Francis another opportunity to bring the national Church into line with his pastoral vision. I note, too, that this resignation bring the chancery vacancies in America to a total of eight (8) - so we are going to soon see, I pray and hope, a very different USCCB. The prayers of Cleveland Catholics have been answered. O Lord, we thank thee.........", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Separation of church and state is to protect the church from the state. part of my religion is to treat others in the manner I wish to be treated - this practice should not be kept to my self. You don't understand my religion and that is ok, but you also have no right to tell me or an atheist where and how we can practice our beliefs. You will have to tolerate people who have different beliefs than you if you want to live in a free nation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is an ancient tenet of the Catholic faith that enough pseudo-theological mumbo-jumbo can transform the meaning of a word into its opposite.\n\nFor example, burning witches at the stake can be considered \"saving\" them; \"conscience\" can mean mindlessly doing what the Pope tells you to; \"service\" can mean a huge wine cellar bought with paupers' nickels; the \"dignity\" of women means treating them like barnyard animals; and, an EWTN favorite, \"freedom\" means only the ability to do what the Church says to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ivo your response was rather predictable thank you, so you've read the Bible several times, try studying it instead, search for answers and you'll find them, read the Scriptures like one would a novel and yes I could almost agree with you. You state that they \"Christians\" perfectly illustrated why You do not believe in a God and disapprove of religion in general, well if you're going to base your belief or non belief on the actions of other humans, you have it wrong. I can also see that we will go round and around on this so I wish you well and will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Cheers, James", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are not talking about the nature of God here or transubstantiation, we are talking of opposites, good and evil. Scripture and Tradition tell us that the Trinity exists, that Christ has 2 natures. We have Our Lord's word that His Body and Blood become actually present at Mass. These are mysteries which have been revealed to us which we accept through the gift of Faith not initially through reason.\nWhat we don't have is any revelation whatsoever that something can be both good and evil simultaneously. \nAs far as the nature of light is concerned I believe that scientific observation has established this and being no scientist I accept this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Herriman, like many Catholics, are in the schizoid tradition. \nArticles describes New O. as \"a deeply Catholic city\" but then goes onto to note this slave center, later segregation center, if not a hotbed of racism, where persons of the mythical \"mixed blood\" couldn't marry?!\nDeeply Catholic as supportive of inhumanity?\nThe Catholic \"virtue\" of cognitive dissonance is alive, well, and thrives!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Knights need to get back to its original purpose for existence.\"\n\nWhich is what? To be Catholic, by adhering to Catholic teaching? If only the NCR could do that.... especially since it has \"Catholic\" even in its name, while the KofC does not....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "from Berig in Rochester, NY\nkudos Canada for opening your doors to refugees from Syria, you are the more Christian nation for having done so, war is evil, so contrary to the gospel, as for our intervening in every global conflict, let the old world take care of itself, our ancestors came to N. America to rid ourselves of ancient animosities and disputes, why would we send our children back into those same self-inflicted disputes?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ms. Notley believes that the Government of Alberta should decide what may, and may not, be taught in publicly funded Alberta schools. What in the world does Mr. Kenney believe? That Catholic bishops should decide?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The title sort of gives away the plot doesn't it? A critically balanced piece? Did Bergoglio bestow the name himself in a burst of humility? Or was it Vigan\u00f2 - surely a guarantee of balance (not only did Bergoglio create the new Secretariat for Communications and put him in directly as Prefect, he also put him on the Congregation for the Clergy and the Congregation for Catholic Education - and even the Italian Bishops Conference! - all this without any significant pastoral experience). No \"smell of the sheepfold\" there - right at home with the ros\u00e9 and a light lunch overlooking the Mediterranean. Still, at least Wenders will do a good job.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is true, a grain of salt. I immediately think of Thomas Merton, St. Catherine of Siena (was she the one who wrote such great mystical treatises and held the head of a recently beheaded prisoner in her lap?), St. Therese of Lisieux, Julian of Norwich, St. Francis.\n It is a very Protestant idea, actually-they are often coming up with a new understanding of Scripture and then letting everyone know on TBN how the church got it wrong until now. However, if he means the ultra-conservative Restorationists then he is right. \n I find Scripture full of references to the active participation of God in our world and in history. The idea is nothing new. It is the essence of the Judeo-Christian tradition. What is challenging for anyone with some historical and theological background is the Filioque clause in the creed and how that led to the great schism with the Orthodox church which in turn led to the Reformation. Any reformulation that does not take this into account is incomplete.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your comment has nothing to do with the topic of approving a Muslim cemetery in Quebec. There are always those who appear in the blogosphere pushing their Islamophobia with \"did you read about\" comments. It's a big world and anyone can pull out comments about anything off topic and push it in an axe-grinding fashion. Perhaps you could comment about crazy gun toting Christians in America for example and then paint all Christians with the same brush.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelicals vote Republican, while Muslims don't. That's the difference. Indeed, liberals and Democrats do not care for Christianity. But we're going to need a citation to support believing that Democrats are trying to elevate Islam over Christianity. And you can't provide the citation because it doesn't exist. As an atheist, I know they're all full of it, Christians and Muslims, but Muslims aren't trying to push their religion on me and others. Christianity? Well, that's another story. Perhaps you forgot the cake decorator guy whose case has made it to the Supreme Court. He is pushing his religion onto others by his refusal to provide services based on his religion. No Muslim has refused to decorate a cake and had the case end up at the Supreme Court.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\n\nhttps://twitter.com/emmyrossum/status/797682851382755328\n\nYou know, I've been thinking. Maybe I SHOULD devote more energy to understanding the oppression of white Christian Americans. I get that in the Catholic Church it's about fetusus and the tyranny of having to inform the government you're opting out of the hideous evil of birth control, but what about some of these other Trump voters? They complain liberals look down on them, and maybe it's on me to feel their pain.\n\nLooks like it's time to finally get around to reading Mein Kampf.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry but you appear to be a bit confused here. Allow me to clarify.\n\nThe words in question in this discussion are from the Nicene Creed recited at the Catholic mass - \"who for us men, and for our\u00a0salvation...\", a phrase that some alter without respect to the Roman Missal.\nThis creed is also recited in the Eastern Orthodox liturgy and in the liturgies of all of the Protestant sects that use the creed.\n\nThe Church continues to use the same wording from the creed approved at the Council of Nicaea which read, \"Who for us men, and for our\u00a0salvation, came down and was\u00a0incarnate\u00a0and was made man.\"\n\nThus the eternal God, speaking to us through His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church has provided us with an eternal truth expressed in language that will not and cannot be validly changed by anyone on their own volition. \nAs such, Aramaic is irrelevant to this topic.\n\nOr as Canon Law says, \u00a0\"no one may on a personal initiative add to or omit or alter anything in (the liturgy).\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems that you, L of L, and certain others are perversely obsessed with what other people might or might not be doing sexually. All of that clamor tends to drown out the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. That says more about the professed 'righteous Catholics' jumping the gun on the Particular Judgment than those whom they condemn based on speculation. Only our Lord knows the heart and he is far better qualified to deal with the spiritual needs of humans. Guard your own perverse thoughts... The only repenting you need to concern yourself with is your own! I won't engage further with those whose only purpose coming here is to argue and condemn others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The author cautions against a too narrow interpretation of \"Come to me, all you who labor\" & then proceeds haplessly to do just that. \n\nJesus wasn't talking about labor movements, or even necessarily work for hire, He was talking about all human activity of the children of God focused on doing the good.\n\nThat labor may include \"work for hire\", it may mean house work, the work of family life, it may mean volunteering, it may mean any human activity.\n\nWe were put on earth to labor, to work, to subdue the earth (and ourselves, that is our tendency toward self focus, selfisheness, seeking of comfort, etc.). It says so in the Bible.\n\nWe should reflect perhaps this labor day on how well are we \"sanctifying\" all our human activity, including paid labor. \n\nWe should have a bigger view of labor than what the US national holiday was made for.\n\nChristians should always see things \"bigger\", through supernatural eyes of faith\n\nHow well do we convert our work into prayer, into intimacy with God?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "first off, I stopped reading this halfway and your students probably stopped listening to your long winded lectures all about you. You sit here and preach about religion and what one guy says 11 years ago, but he has not been convicted of, or has evidence against him for anything beside right to free speech. Trump's language is that of any man in the country. You forgot to mention all the rash, immoral, and unethical, things the Clintons have done. I also thought it was against the Catholic religion to have an abortion? However, Hillary believes abortion in 9 months is acceptable, but yes you failed to mention that. I am Catholic, I am a women, I am NOT offended by the things men say, because I am strong. Also, women say the same things about men. Men are not the only guilt party. Get the facts straight before using your religion against people. There is a separation between church and state for a reason and you are the prime example.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clearly \"the National Catholic Reporter\" is also a misnomer, like \"Catholic University.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "KR, your comment is not visible, but it might be later. An employer not giving a raise so the child can thrive is much more proximate than the actions of any Catholic politician who had no influence in either legalizing abortion (which was done judicially) or maintaining it as a right. In any patriarchical model, the business owner is responsible for not only the workers but their families. It is not a one-off relationship unless the person is doing daily labor. If they really can't get a new job or do a second one, the employer owes a living wage to the worker, and by living, Pius XI and all the Popes and the Lord mean family.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My neighbor burns leaves and rubbish in the backyard, sometimes he throws rocks over the fence, other times he comes on my property when i'm not there, one time i caught him looking through the window. Should i really love him? What is the logic in that? And guess what, he's a Christian!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The historical Jesus was the illegitimate son of a teenage Mary and his father was unknown since Mark 6:5 claims that Jesus was \"the son of Mary,\" not \"son of Joseph.\" Jesus wasn't the Messiah (i.e. Christ) who would sit on the throne of his father David because lineage was traced exclusively through a human father (Luke 3:23-31) and Jesus, according to bible mythology, had no human father. Jesus believed he was a prophet (Matthew 13:57, Luke 4:24), came only (Matthew 10:5-6, 15:24) for \"the lost sheep of the house of Israel and to them alone,\" and repeatedly claimed (Mark 9:1, Luke 9:27) the end of the world was imminent 2,000 years ago. OOPS. Jesus identified 4 paths to the fictional eternal life (matthew 19:16-19, Mark 10:17-25, Luke 10:25-28, 18:19-25) not requiring acceptance of his divinity. The final absurdity is the belief that two gods sitting on two heavenly thrones (Hebrews 12:2) with two wills in conflict (Mark 14:36) is one god and monotheism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sure he was not! However, he never spoke about it. Quite the contrary, he spoke frequently, loudly, and clearly against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. And if there was one action by Jesus in his public life that could be deemed as having happened seemingly \"out of rage\", it was against the money changers. That makes me wonder how the calculated trampling of the public good for profit will be judged. It shouldn't look good according to Matthew 25...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Catholic Church is, however, of the opinion that we cannot yet speak of a consensus such as would eliminate every difference between Catholics and Lutherans in the understanding of justification.\"\n(Official Catholic Response to the Joint Declaration)\n\nThe response points out that the condemnations of Trent still apply against Lutheran doctrines. Catholics believe in an interior transformation through the infusion of God's grace by the sacraments - a renewal and sanctification of the interior man. We also believe that man has to cooperate with God's grace. Lutherans believe God imputes grace, covers sin and that grace is irresistible. \n\nAs one Lutheran stated: \"In fact, the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification is a fraud. It was a sell-out by revisionist Lutherans to Rome.\"\n\nhttps://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2010/03/a-betrayal-of-the-gospel-the-joint-declaration-on-the-doctrine-of-justification", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We must give the man chosen by our Bishops the benefit of the doubt. At least under his reign we will see the end of religious persecution, especially the widespread and extreme persecution of Roman Catholics in the US. No longer will FEMA be allowed to prepare concentration camps for Catholics. Christians will be allowed to say \"Merry Christmas\" again, without fear of the the retribution currently meted out whenever anyone uses that phrase. Our Courageous Bishops will no longer have to worry about pernicious changes to statute of limitations laws that might put them in jeopardy for brave actions taken to defend Mother Church from Scandal. Under the leadership of the Bishops' Chosen One, this Nation will again return to its Christian roots and, hopefully, lead the West in a new Crusade against those who oppose our Christian Ideals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This author displays over several installments a serious inclination to his own form of racism.\n\nNot fitting for a Catholic publication. No hint of charity. \n\nGarcia is as vicious and ill-tempered as they come. \n\nJudgmental.\n\nNCR is just fanning the racial embers by letting him continue to publish here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But common law marriages were not sacramental. The 'abuses' that the church addressed were not the poor who had common law marriages, but the hierarchy who wanted their SONS to inherit 'well-heeled' parishes and to promote a 'family line' [called nepotism] in keeping those churches in \"the family.\"\n\nSorry, but the TRUTH is God---and God is not a possession of the Catholic Church nor of any other church or religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Moore\u2019s point is that the Democrats should be in striking distance in 2018. Let\u2019s hope so, but better than President Pence, let\u2019s impeach both of them and have President Pelosi.\n\nI can see how a billionaire would be Paula White\u2019s prosperity gospel savior. He is certainly not mine. This does show how right Spadro and Figuero are about American politics. I wonder how well they understand Roe itself? We need someone to explain it to pro-life Catholics.\n\nIf Trump keeps it up, Jamie Raskin\u2019s sanity commission will pass both houses. We need to find something to demand his attention in the Situation Room enough to keep him indoors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you don't even live in Saskatchewan you should not criticise. I know of examples here where children switch to the Catholic system. If children can't be handled by either system there is a special program to handle high needs children that require additional resources until they are back on track. I am certainly aware that the public system here will expel children if they are a problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi, Monica. I'm not sure how to convince NCR of anything, but I would imagine their argument would be that they are a news organization and not an advocacy group (evidence to the contrary notwithstanding!) I'm guessing they'd feel the need to tie such a forum to some kind of Church document, conference, papal statement, synod -- in other words, something going on in the Catholic world. But who knows?\n\nSad to say, but my expectation would be that such a forum, if it were offered, would quickly get derailed by the usual suspects. There are very few issues about which people are more entrenched, opinionated and defensive than human sexuality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where did Jesus say tell the government to confiscate your neighbor's cloak to give to the one without? Rather, He told us to give up our spare cloak. Reasonable Catholics can disagree on issues of taxation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AnnieO: it's a rephrasing of the biblical line (can't remember from where) that if one is not living out the Christian life a committee from the community was to visit to the person back on the right track.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "6. Amidst, therefore, such great perversity of depraved opinions, we, well remembering our Apostolic Office, and very greatly solicitous for our most holy Religion, for sound doctrine and the salvation of souls which is intrusted to us by God, and (solicitous also) for the welfare of human society itself, have thought it right again to raise up our Apostolic voice. Therefore, by our Apostolic authority, we reprobate, proscribe, and condemn all the singular and evil opinions and doctrines severally mentioned in this letter, and will and command that they be thoroughly held by all children of the Catholic Church as reprobated, proscribed and condemned.\n\nHubris much? He is protecting us from ourselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are in a presidential general election where debates are followed up by focus groups and massive polling to determine the \"results\" of a given debate....\n\nIn addition, massive and I do mean massive, polling is occurring nationwide regularly (see Real Clear Politics or Five Thirty Eight for detail).... \n\nThese efforts are scientifically developed and complex (and not always right) but they do weigh the sample population in a balanced manner....politics uses these techniques,,,marketing is a major player...just about everybody who wants data uses these techniques....\n\nNCR has selected 7 folks several times to get the Catholic (in this case millennial) opinion....I don't believe they have used scientific selection processes....if they have...I wish they'd mention it.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus had two fathers.Who am I to object?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some people are beginning to wonder whether the Pope is a Catholic or not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe these \"walkouts\" would be the ones who walked out on Jesus, when they didn't like what He said. John 6:60-70.\n\nLike these students are unable to handle counter arguments against their self righteous opinions.\n \nTo coin a old comment, \"Results of expensive American education\", Charlie Chan.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting. Obviously borrowing from Buddhism. Of course, Christian prayer and meditation upon Scripture can produce similar \"mindfulness\", self-control, and spiritual healing promoting what the Apostle Paul referred to as the \"fruits of the Spirit\" - \"Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control\". The author is certainly at liberty to emphasize their Buddhist based strategy. Just saying that other faiths include similar practices and strategies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a sporadic columnist for a Canadian based Catholic newspaper. They and I got a very intimidating letter from a Mr. Nussbaum, an American \"religious liberty\" lawyer ... basically wanting to censor the newspaper and have them cancel my column - and all I was asking is that the K of C and EWTN honour Catholic Social Teachings ... not cherry pick re: what constitutes \"pro-life\"; why is inter-generational justice/environmental issues not part of their pro-life agenda; and why is not the full \"seamless continuum of life with dignity ethic for the full continuum\" for all God's Creation not part of their \"life- agenda\". \n\nAs for the above article - I really wish people - particularly columnists - would stop confusing the terms \"political\" and \"partisan\". Whatever we do is political ... however it is not necessarily partisan. To me - the K of C are not only very partisan ... they are very ideological ... both of which are against our church teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a specific question being asked and ignored by Pope Francis. Namely: whether or not his recent teachings exhibit continuity with previous teaching? Do the recommendations in chapter 8 of AL square with the historical teaching of the church? Are bishops in Malta and Germany who are admitting those who are divorced and remarried without an annulment to communion correct or those bishops, almost everywhere else in the world who are not?\n\nDissenters under Pope Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI were dissenting against long standing and clearly defined teachings of the Catholic Church concerning birth control, abortion, homosexual relationships and the ordination of women. On the other hand, \"dissenters\" against Pope Francis are seeking clarity in the face of ambiguity and confusion and the way his teachings are being interpreted by heterodox priests and theologians in contradiction to Catholic teaching, in the name of \"mercy\" and \"love\". \n\nThere's a big difference.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So what? You didn't specify you meant the state based Communism that existed under the Soviet bloc. Communism is simply a theory of social order. By itself it is neither innocent nor guilty, not does it have to be the \"godless\" variety everyone got so bent out of shape over in the 1950s and 60s. \n\nI think the quote is accurate. Some real communists do think like Christians--that is, real Christians. The ones that think it is wrong for you and me to have more than we need when others have less than they need. It shouldn't have to be compulsory to share. We're Christians. Aren't we?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It isn\u2019t. If it were the streamlining of and expansion of the marriage tribunals would never have taken place.\n\nThe Catholic Church is hardly being nosey - you can do any blasted thing you want without informing it or genuflecting or even passing by a parish or chancery. Lots of Catholics and former Catholics do exactly that.\n\nWhat you can\u2019t do is blow off the entire teaching and announce it should comply with your particular wishes forthwith.\n\nThe Church didn\u2019t marry the ex-spouse, the party did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My goodness, this is so politically motivated. Scalia only represented a sliver of Catholics. There is clearly an agenda here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are brave to come to the defense of liturgical dance! It's a very divisive subject I suppose. You either like it or don't. Perhaps if it was not integrated into the liturgy as such but a before or after thing? Or an individual parish could be asked (anonymous ballot) if they wanted it. For visitors, it is always easier to have a Mass which follows the rubrics for obvious reasons. I live in Japan where dance is (or can be) part of Shinto ritual but I cannot see it happening in Catholic churches - partly for that reason.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What you have so clearly written , mountain dweller ,is good theology that has long been taught within catholicism. So sad that these days it appears to have been neglected .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AFT, I agree with your assessment. Here are two interesting principles that have to do with Christian self-identity and human values. 1. \"Who we are is what we do with what we have\". 2. \"Always and everywhere and without exception, people are more important than things\". In our human frailty, these concepts are difficult to accommodate, but well worth the try. I am 70 years old and have personally encountered only a handful of people who seem to have incorporated these principles into their lives and I must admit that as much as I have struggled to do so I have not yet succeeded. I have discovered though, that love, compassion and kindness are like yeast in that a very small amount can affect the whole rest of the batch and raise it up beyond all expectations. This idea calms my dispirit and brings me hope that I can change and if I can change myself, maybe I can become some of the yeast for the rest of the batch.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I don't recall Him saying to the Samaritan woman \"continue to live with the mam who is not your husband. it's Okay...\" Jesus did SEND her as an apostle to the people of her town. She did speak to them, and got them to come out to hear Jesus. Of course she was a heroine. Jesus came for people like her. She may have become a great disciple of Christianity, perhaps along with her fifthth husband---maybe even the other four.\n\n\nApparently you have forgotten the many times that Jesus referred to Samaritans in a positive manner. What about the parable of the Good Samaritan? He was portrayed to us as a hero by Jesus and has been so down through the centuries. Or how about the ten lepers? Only the foreigner came back to thank Jesus for the cure. \n\n\nWhy should Singles LEAVE their current situation? The Single state of life is and has been a recognized and a legitimate VOCATION within the Church. Why isn't it being given more pastoral attention, in its own right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please take note, Francis.\nYou have yet again upset R&R and her belief that everything irrevocably set in stone (and that the CCC is the last word on Catholic teaching).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have no problem with this. Just like I would not want to hire an environmentalist to pump the gas in a gas station I theoretically own, I would not hire an anti-abortionist if I theoretically ran a Planned Parenthood location, and I would not hire a Satanist as my Christian church outreach director. \n\nThe last thing I would want is to have a vegan stare at me as I order bacon doughnuts with a holier-than-thou attitude most tend to display at us omnivores and treat my doughnuts with absolute distain. \n\nYou are required to test the product. Period. So you have to eat meat and meat products, period.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If there's anything that should come out of this debacle it's that the two boards should have been communicating all along.\n\nIf you're the public board, you have to know that the only reason the Catholic board was receptive to this behind the back scheme was because the were literally out of the loop in the district. You work WITH them, and ensure there's compromise, and then they don't have the motivation to stick it to you.\n\nIf you're the Catholic board, you have to know that the public board has long term plans that don't involve you, because you haven't had a school there in years. You have to know you're screwing up their long term planning with this move, and that you're going to tick people off and generate a legal challenge. Why not approach the public board when you first get that call from those parents and keep it above board?\n\nNow, if this ruling sticks, that Catholic board will be the impetus for the removal of separate funding, province wide. Congrats!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Be careful - 'thinking for myself' without much serious prayer, and respect for Christ's founding of the Church - can lead to the most dangerous of all pitfalls, the sin of pride, which is the reason Satan was cast from his high loft.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholicism has been my religion since I was born. Yet I never felt the need or the conviction to think of it as THE ONE true religion. I just never felt that at all necessary, and, for me, it risked great arrogance even to go there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Canada does not permit polygamy. Muslims are forbidden to be polygamous, as are Mormons, as is everybody else. There's only one standard.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...John Boehner back in 2010, on his way to becoming speaker of the House, talking to Politico about his agenda on President Barack Obama's first-term agenda:\"We're going to do everything-and I mean everything we can do-to kill it, slow it down, whatever we can.\" \nYou can see how this goes: When it's your party doing the obstructing, a good Catholic boy like Boehner can practically turn the whole thing into one of the seven sacraments. At the same time...Mitch McConnell, now treated like the common-sense prince of Washington, said this to the National Journal: The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term President.\" \nNot find a way to work with Obama on getting people back to work, continue to pull the economy out of the sinkhole that Obama inherited from...Bush; or find ways to lighten the load for the middle class...or small businesses. No.The only vision from the party that now has the run of Washington was to say no...for 8 years.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These Canadian writers need to brush up on their US History. US since it's formation with the 13 Original Colonies does not endorse or enshrine in Law any aspect of multiculturalism or multinationalism. US, like many countries in Europe, Japan, China, Russia, are a 'melting pot' and any newcomers need to accommodate themselves to the dominant culture. In the US, the culture is based on European laws, values, the English language and the dominant religion of Christianity. \nOnly a few countries in the world adopt the bizarre State-mandated and State enforced policy of multiculturalism and multinationalism where every culture, no matter how misogynist is considered equal. As PM Trudeau said, Canada is the first post national state that stands for nothing.\nI would wish no country in the world a worse outcome such as to be described by Trudeau, being post national and standing for nothing.\nUS enforces it's immigration policy for the benefit of the US no matter what 2 Canadians desire", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wm. Abbott,\n\nOh, but we ARE following the model of the Roman Catholic church whether we like it or not because that is where we got our concepts of ordination and clergy as a separate social class. \n\nThe Holy Spirit is central to everything in Paul's writings and ministry so any assumption the Holy Spirit was not involved in those appointments is believing he did something very different and out-of-character.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed it is and here is a marvelous activity for the whole family:\n.\nOnward, Christian soldiers, \nmarching as to war,\nWith the cross of Jesus\ngoing on before!\nChrist, the royal Master,\nleads again the foe;\nForward into battle,\nsee his banner go!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Um... he's wearing the scarf & doing the ISIS one finger hand signal. He also said he was being mind controlled by ISIS. So maybe he was crazy, but he definitely stated he was doing it for ISIS. If he was carrying a Bible and wearing a cross I'm pretty sure you would not hesitate to assume he's Christian. If he were wearing a yamika & carrying a bag of kosher lox & bagels you would probably assume he was Jewish until more information was given to prove your original assumption wrong. Are you done virtue signaling with your anti-logic yet?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Respectfully CHRISTIAN MANNHOOD, in a world where people say and do many things for many reasons, one thing is clear, accusations are nothing more than accusations, till they are proven. Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Clinton have paid off women accusers in the past, and to me that taints them, but they'll say it was less costly. I like this case because it must be proven, even if by a lower means of proof in a civil trial versus a criminal trial, preponderance of the evidence versus beyond a reasonable doubt.\nThere are people, both genders, who seek the rich and powerful for their personal gain as a deep pocket being the motivation for accusation. Also, with men it is much easier for them to be so trapped, which is why I admire Mr. Pence and his manner of carrying himself concerning women outside his marriage. That kind of honor is most rare today.\nIf Mr. Trump is so found at the conclusion of this case, then so be it, he brought it on himself whatever the penalty may be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your remark indicates you know nothing about the parade.\n\nLGBT persons were ALWAYS permitted to march in the parade. But the parade was never intended to be a conduit for personal agenda - it has always been intended to show pride in our heritage as Irish Catholics. ALL Irish Catholics - not separated by \"I'm gay\" or \"I'm pro-life\".....in fact...do you know there was also a dress code? No face-painting? The message has always been to honor St. Patrick and our heritage as Irish Catholics....\n\nIn fact, the ONLY political statement ever allowed in the parade was \"England - get out of Ireland\" (with apologies to our Brit friends here :-) ) But now, of course, the parade has been hi-jacked to become a mess of personal and political agenda, losing the character of what was intended. Follow the money - and the threat of NBC. \n\nUnless it can be reclaimed. Otherwise - it will be just like every other parade - a hodgepodge of political and personal agendas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...reject transgender identity.\"\n\nThat is sad. Fortunately, more Catholics -- the least noisy -- are not bothered by transgender people, whether Catholic or non-Catholic, and accept them as fellow human beings. Reminds me of the saying, where the river is deepest it makes the least noise. Why miss their existence as witnesses to our humanity and diversity?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many fail to recognize the military victory at Lepanto was actually God's way of saying he supported European Christianity. Some might even argue it was a product of better equipment and tactics. But then, maybe it was God who suggested the use of iron cannon balls over stone?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just asking for your evidence that the Catholic bishop's org did indeed trump for Trump.\n\nWhere is the ev, Kurg?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Archbishop Chaput's message is clear; The Catholic imagination in America is being culturally appropriated and transformed by secular liberalism\u2019s contempt for the sacred and the supernatural.\nAnd because Chaput is fearless and candid, he names names. Finally to thrive, and even possibly to survive, American Catholicism is going to have to re-imagine itself as something different and separate from mainstream American culture. Then, perhaps, we can speak truth to power \u2014 not suck up to power, not whine about power, not submit to power \u2014 but contribute to a pluralistic America the gift of our diversity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe that the Catechism is a reliable compendium of Catholic teaching. I trust it due to its having been reviewed for any errors, by the Pontifical office of the Church. I have never had reason to doubt any of its contents. If you've noticed any discrepancies, I'm willing to consider what you've found.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "http://www.dailywire.com/news/8611/trump-campaign-chief-bannon-and-cohorts-rip-hank-berrien\n\nAlso, Breitbart has done some nasty hit pieces on Paul Ryan's Catholic faith including one about his children attending a parochial school. My understanding is that they had a reporter up in Janesville nosing around the kids' school and basically stalking them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The crisis is about evil men who entered the priesthood under false pretenses and used its auspices for access to teenage boys. The bishops' prime culpability was ever letting such perverse sickos into seminaries in the first place. A better after-the-fact reaction by bishops could never undo the sins of the priests and the damage they caused, both to the targets of their lust and by extension, all faithful Catholic people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The issue is that plenty of the issues have nothing to do with religious freedom. Abortion is first and foremost a human rights issue and there are plenty of atheists who would agree with me.\n\nOn actual religious freedom, there is often a double standard. Catholics are told to keep their religious views to themselves and yet at the same time the very people telling them to do this viciously attack the Church for not getting with the times. One only has to look at Canada where certain bible verses are now considered \"hate speech\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I note that the secular media is hyping up Pell as a close adviser of the pope. While technically true, it misses so many levels of complexity and context.\n\nPell, a darling of the the Catholic right, owes his elevated status in the church to the misjudgements of St JPII and Benedict, not to Francis. One of a pope's main tasks is to hold the Church together -- a task that the previous two popes did not manage very well. In pursuit of this duty, Francis has sought to give the Catholic right some representation in his cabinet, in the person of Pell, and also assigned Pell the theologically neutral task of dealing with the finances. However, I doubt that Pell has significantly influenced any of Francis's reforms that do not relate to finance. As a climate-change denier, he certainly did not support Laudate Si.\n\nEven though I do not like Pell, I pray that he will be exonerated of the charges.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Today, I am going to be celebrating both Christmas and Hanukkah. I am affirming both my Christianity and my Jewishness. So \"Happy Holidays\" is an appropriate greeting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic Answer Forums just posted about a 10 year old GIRL having a baby because India denied her an abortion. Now India is Not a Catholic nor Christian country but most anti abortionists want the SAME thing to be true in the United States. The forum is also decrying the fact that Down's Syndrome births are almost 100% absent in Iceland because Women there, when pre natal exams indicate a fetus with Down's Syndrome, the Women choose to abort it-as IF these so called \"Pro Lifers\" are going to PAY, OR enable governmental policies that PAY or support lifelong care of Down's Syndrome born children if abortion becomes ILLEGAL in the United States?\n\nEven at the age of 61 with NO children and past child bearing myself, I can never countenance compromise with such hypocritical and implacable enemies as exists in the Forced Birthrer Movement who want the same draconian LAWS against abortion as exists in the Republic of Ireland, Paraguay, Chile and so forth. Just say NO to theocratic rule!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is good to see the harsh oppression of (Christian) religions is being ended, after all these many years, here in the USA.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's hard to be so Right and so Righteous all the time. Maybe she got suspended for her vigorous demonstrations of the Christian virtues of self defense and condemnation? The holy are so often persecuted. Sigh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm quite serious. I have a masters degree in theology, with a concentration in Church history. Behind the question of \"worthiness\" of the celebrant of the Sacraments was an ecclesiology that believed that the Church was a \"society of saints\" more than a \"school for sinners.\" \n\nThis was a tension in the Church at that time. Roman persecutions having ended, there were those, like the Egyptian hermits, who believed that the Church had gone \"soft.\" Only the hard-core believer, willing to offer his/her very life for the Lord was worthy of discipleship. They lamented how \"secular\" Christian had become (Sound familiar?) \n\nThe rigorists (i.e., Donatists) were often allied with the Arians, presenting Christ as the \"super-human\" who, by sheer effort and heroic self-denial, served as a witness for all Christians. For that reason, Athanasius was happy to use St. Antony of the Desert, hero of the Egyptian monastics, as an ally against the Arians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\nEven that is overstating the restriction placed on Father Curran. The Vatican declared that he could not teach on a pontifical faculty. He wanted to stay at Catholic University and proposed that he would teach social ethics -- not sexual ethics -- in the school of philosophy, not in the school of theology. Cardinal O'Boyle did not allow it. He could have taught at any Catholic college or university in the world, other than on a pontifical faculty. No Catholic institution hired him, or even offered him a position (as far as I know). \nFr. Curran has been for many years, and at the age of 83 continues to be, professor at Southern Methodist University. He is, and since his ordination in 1958 has never not been, a priest in good standing of the Diocese of Rochester. Pope Francis should make him a cardinal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That might be true in the US but not in Canada. \n\nOur Constitution entrenches government funding of denominational schools (minority Catholic or Protestant schools as the case may be) in certain provinces as part of the Confederation bargain. This would be unthinkable in the US model. Adler v Ontario (AG), [1996] 3 S.C.R. 609 S. 93(1) of the Constitution Act, 1867 requires the Ontario government to fund Roman Catholic separate schools fully.\n\nPrime Minister Stephen Harper observed that separation of church and state is an American constitutional concept and does not apply to the Canadian constitution. He went on to say that separation of church and state in Canada has meant, traditionally, that the government will not interfere with religion.\n\nWe do provide reasonable accommodation for religion as with the 2006 SCOC kirpan case - Multani v Commission scolaire Marguerite\u2011Bourgeoys.\n\nIn Ontario the Human Rights Code specifically mandates reasonable accommodation at S. 11(2).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Helping people deal with God in their grief is indeed a ministry.\n\nI remember asking a priest about one of the last \"terms\" in a Catholic \"end of life\" directive.\n\nThe key part of the term was \"Insofar as possible, I wish to die at home or in a home-like setting\".\n\nI asked the priest why?\n\nAnd he smiled, and said \"Oh, it's not for you, it's for your loved ones...helping you die takes great energy, They may have to take \"turns\", with some people in the bedroom with you, while the others outside re-gain their strength. In a home like setting there is more space, perhaps a living room. Here, your family can reflect on your life, and their own life, perhaps there is need for reconciliation among some famly members. This sort of reconciliation - deep, unhurried conversation - can best happen at home or in a more open environment, far less so than a small, perhaps shared hospital room. There may be pictures at home to help remember family life. \n\nYour last act can be reconciliation!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like any business I think its almost impossible to own and manage a company without having a basic knowledge of the type of business it is??\nOne past owner I think forgot its a radio station not a church?\nYour basic ownership is the FCC ..\nor the federal communication commission .\nI was a full time worker at KORE for an off and on period ...I have said in the past agreeing with a friend . the format of the month club?\ntrue the format stayed gospel but not very consistent from praise to contemporary ?\nI proposed to the then owner my idea ?\nPraise to begin the day , then change to a more contemporary sound?\nit wasn't in his mind a good idea>>>\ndon't get me wrong I m glad KORE will return to the air....sadly but great Christian programming is going to be missed bUT?\nI guess nothing lasts forever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reform of the 'Church' will be only superficial until Women are recognized as full Christians and admitted to Holy Orders. Synodality means nothing when 'synods on the family' include only 'celibate' bishops as voting members. 'Cafeteria Catholics' are those who deny the full membership and leadership of half of humanity. We cannot be oblivious to the obvious!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well of course that august Council ended more than four and a half centuries ago. Thankfully, however, the Decrees and Canons of the Council of Trent are still binding upon Catholics today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems to me that there is a history that goes all the way back to the early Church. The persecution the early Church suffered resulted in a sense of always being under attack, which persisted even after Constantine made Christianity the official religion. That sense of being under attack, combined with the belief that the Church should be the primary and at times the sole arbiter of truth and salvation, resulted in a sense of the right and indeed the obligation to be the institution that ruled or at least ordered society. That worked until the Reformation. Vestiges of this continue in this country in the attitude of the bishops that if a society makes decisions counter to Church teaching, or if people are vocal in their disagreement with an aspect of those teachings, this constitutes a persecution. If you believe that it is your duty to ordain how society is, then any dissent is seen as persecution. Hence the Fortnight of Freedom and other manifestations of a siege mentality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am wondering as I stated in my comment about outrage at the left's outrage at the lack of general support for the parliamentary motion but the apparent selective lack of such for Christians. I thought for most ppl it would be fairly clear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They associate with a bishop of the Pius X Society, which is borderline sedevacantist. They are hardly eminent. They are farther to the right than Church Militant. Better to associate with historians such as Garry Wills and Diarmund McCulluch than this crowd. They are hanging their hats on traditionalist proof texting that does not hold up if you read it without trying to prove what was essentially Catholic branding on divorce and receiving Communion. If that traditional misinterpretation falls their objections fall, as they should. One does not need a Roman collar to read and interpret scripture, indeed, lay theologians do a better job because they can be objective and are not necessarily bound to uphold the brand. That branding is about separatism, not truth and certainly not about either God or love. Love should be our brand identity, not obey or God the Ogre will get you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought that was for Anglicans? Aren't Catholics supposed to think of Jesus?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know why you're complaining. Republicans are doing everything they've been promising for years now, especially behind the scenes and under the radar while the media go chasing after Trump's daily outrage. I should think you would be very happy with the direction things are going under complete Republican control. Taxes on the rich are being slashed (at the poor's expense of course), Muslims are being vilified, Christians will soon be given preferential legal treatment at the federal level, plans are afoot to roll back every initiative from the Obama era that helped LGTB people, addressing climate change is out and oil drilling along the entire Gulf Coast is in, cabinet positions have been filled by people notoriously hellbent on destroying the very departments they have been asked to lead, the ACA is being dismantled, and last but not least, Trump is cozying up to one of the world's most authoritarian leaders with the hope of turning America into Russia. What's not to like?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "have taken their last breaths (but our souls live on in eternity till we receive our new bodies). If I say \"Jesus, I trust in You\" then this means, I trust in Jesus' abundant graces (which He gives out of love for the repentant sinner) to turn away from the sin / from offending God. Jesus invites all to His fountain of mercy but we have to act upon that belief. Trust involves a turning back to God, a real conversion of our whole lives to God, repenting of our sins. Trust means we let God be God, instead of trying to be God ourselves. We agree that God can write the script of our lives, instead of insisting on our own way. It means we believe and act on what we say when we pray the Our Father: \"Your will (not mine) be done on earth as it is in Heaven.\" When we trust in God's love and mercy, and approach Him with true sorrow when we offend Him, He fills us with such an abundance of graces that these graces cannot be contained within us, but rather are radiated into other souls. Continued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Historically, the land of Palestine was populated by a people known as the Palestinians. Palestinians have always been religiously diverse, with the Muslim majority maintaining friendly relations with their Christian, Jewish, and Druze brethren.\n\nAt the turn of the 20th Century, a new Jewish nationalist ideology called Zionism was developing. Zionism called for the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.\n\nDuring this time, increasing numbers of Jewish Europeans immigrated to Palestine, causing the Jewish population to grow from a tiny minority to 35% of the population.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God gave us His word through the actions of His Church, resulting in a whole, closed canon of Scripture.\n\nGod calls priests through the very same Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"No wonder it's harder and harder for Protestants to run into nuns and get any sense of what they're about.\"\n\nSo when nuns were more numerous & in habits, did you \"run into them\"? And did you \"get any sense of what they're about\"? Seriously?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a former Catholic, but I don't lambaste the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mohammad is Allah's manifestation as is Jesus Christ, Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, and other prophets. Remember that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're describing every friend I have had over the past 70 years, and very close to describing me, although I'm hanging on by short and ragged fingernails. We all made it through (joyfully) the transition post-Vatican II and reared our families in active faith, but the hypocrisies and ugly underbellies of clericalism following the child sexual abuse, along with the institutional Church's positions regarding LGBT people, misogyny re women's ordination and the reactionary reigns of both JPII and BXVI did us all in. None of our children have remained Catholic, although we all sacrificed to provide Catholic educations for them. I no longer feel I have abandoned the RCC but that it has abandoned all of us in its self-worship of the institution. It is 500 years out of date intellectually, especially in light of science and human science information.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Will this affect all clergy, bishops, cardinals and pope emeritus?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Expressing \u201cprofound grief\u201d and \u201cfilial devotion,\u201d Catholic clergy and lay scholars from around the world have issued what they are calling a \u201cFilial Correction\u201d to Pope Francis for \u201cpropagating heresy.\u201d\n\nThe Filial Correction, in the form of a 25-page letter, bears the signatures of sixty-two Catholic academics, researchers, and scholars in various fields from twenty countries. They assert that Pope Francis has supported heretical positions about marriage, the moral life, and the Eucharist that are causing a host of \u201cheresies and other errors\u201d to spread throughout the Catholic Church. \n\nThe correction was delivered to the Pope at his Santa Marta residence on August 11, 2017. No similar action has taken place within the Catholic Church since the Middle Ages, when Pope John XXII was admonished for errors which he later recanted on his deathbed. . . \n\nhttps://www.lifesitenews.com/all/today#article-breaking-62-scholars-correct-pope-francis-for-propagating-heresies", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Make celibacy optional for diocesan clergy in Brazil? Why not try it! (Of course, marriage will rule out their being made bishops some day. In line with Orthodoxy and our own Eastern Catholic Churches -- and even with the recently created Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham [for former Anglican bishops and priests] -- married men aren't ordained bishops. Instead, candidates are drawn from religious communities/orders like Pope Francis's community, the Jesuits.)\nBut Brazil seems like the perfect place to start making celibacy optional for diocesan clergy or diocesan candidates for the priesthood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the point Christian Manhood is trying to make is that the same people that ranted and raved about Obama, the Clintons, Sanders, and other Democrats being socialists are some of the biggest benefactors of socialist programs...such as farm subsidy payments.....and none of those people cite the Constitution. As a matter of fact, those same people will vehemently disagree with and disparage someone that cites the Preamble to the Constitution when defending the notion of socialized health care. Heck.....many of them bash public education as an evil socialist function.\n\nIn other words......\"Socialism is OK for me, but not for thee\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, actual Catholics like us are a bit unusual for the normative readership of the National (cough) Reporter. Most of the posters on this forum, even if technically members of the RCC, should take their behinds and fill the empty seats in Protestant churches. Then, their behinds could find a proper fit, and the Protestants would experience a growth surge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi William, I have an interesting observation. You have judged me as of the devil on a non essential (WO) and made it a salvational issue. The other thing you have judged me on is testing your doctrine by scripture. Which you call blasphemy. I know that you might have been heated up in the moment but you must think how silly it is to make WO and and taking your writings as cannon as the test of faith. You should save that kind of rebuke for those that deviate from essential issues like the nature of Christ or the Trinity and the like. And as fare as my church, we don't drive people away as a matter of fact our church seats about 800 and we have to have three services to handle all our members. We have had over 100 baptisms this year and our worship team is awesome, all young people. We have coffee in church if we wont and snacks. In other words are church is hospitable and kind. By the way the paster doesn't call anyone of the devil if they think different on non essentials.\n\nDave", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Striving for equality within the body of Christ is hardly Paul's prescription here, more like the opposite.\"\n\nActually Paul is speaking directly to the question of how to achieve equality in Christ. But the method he espouses is radical to the human spirit.\n\nThe way to strive for equality, according to Paul? We should each empty ourselves and adopt the attitude of a Servant. We should esteem our fellow believers Higher than Ourselves.\n\nIf we all did that, there would indeed be the equality in the Body of Christ that Paul describes in Galatians 3:28.\n\nAnd then James explains why the believers of his day, and of ours, fail to achieve this ideal. It is because of our selfish desires for dominance and power and gratification. These desires exist within ALL of us, regardless of gender or ethnicity or social status. A very tough message but all too true.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You sound as though the church is to serve our worldly life but our life is to serve God, right?\nHowever, more accurately speaking: as, consciousness grows in men, Nature becomes conscious of the immanent power within her. The world in a real sense is the \u2018becoming\u2019 of God. The Church is Man become conscious of his destiny as a son of God.\nThe Church is about God and to teach us how to become a son of God and not a place to help us feel better about our 'worldly' life. \n\"Making New Year's day a Holy Day of OBLIGATION is a great example of missing the boat.\"\nReally? In Orient, New Year's day is a holy day, for this day the whole family clean house, make the new clothes, cook feasts, and the whole family get together to bow in thanking to elders for last years labor of love for them and to each others! To Catholics, God is the elder to thanking him for His loving care for us the whole pass year seems so reasonable to me! \nInstead you want a new year's eve party, amazing!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The accusation that the Church has erred is convenient....\". It may be convenient but that does not make it so for everyone. To assume someone chooses to disagree with the church just because it's easier suggest that you're not really talking to the people who you refer.\n\n\"The corollary is that if the church can err...\". Exactly, you can never be sure. The level that one is sure is found in a prayerful relationship with God. It develops over time with commitment to God. The Church's rules are there as a means, not and end.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's wonderful to see how Everett, together with other agencies such as Catholic Services, is trying to do something about the homeless problem. These underserved people need help, much of which seems to go to refugees, a (growing) group of people that neighborhoods welcome with open arms! The homeless population seems to be the last group of minorities that are still shunned. According to the article, it appears that the group of homeless people will be provided with additional services to help them out of their current circumstances. Again, I applaud Everett and the community at large for their efforts to help this group of people, who deserve it just as much as any other group in need. After all, this is America, where we should take care of our own without exception.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chaput is also a candidate for the (Vice)-Presidency of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and was the number two man on the slate of ten candidates. He may not have had to lobby very hard!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many times Jesus quoted the old testament, saying \"It is written...\" and correcting or clarifying it, saying \"... but I say unto you.\" For Jews the old testament is the final authority. For \"Christians,\" Jesus is. If you are a Christian, Harry, remember that whenever you find conflict between the old & new covenant. Jesus advocated living as one, but you're right that many advocates of one-world-government are not interested in oneness, but in control over all by themselves. I would not want to be ruled by any of the world figures present today, be they Trump or Putin. \nPower corrupts, whether in city hall, or the White House, or the Kremlin. George Washington was right that \"government is not about service -- it is about power.\" Only when men have the heart of service to all that Jesus spoke about will we have a chance at world peace. Unfortunately not even Christians, who profess to call \"the Prince of Peace\" are willing to refuse to fight in war, even against other Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The whole idea that Catholic hospitals can disregard laws enacted to help the working person and the working poor (look at some of the hospital wages) is immoral. That the Becket group filed a friend of the court argument and was probably partially funded by the K of C is also immoral. Makes me want to avoid Catholic Hospitals from here on out. Good Lord, what is the Church thinking?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, what you drink every week is transubstantiated into the Blood of Christ, under the appearances of wine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether Clinton holds to the notion that, \"a fetus is not a person before birth\" is irrelevant. A Catholic understands that human life begins at conception; and for that reason, is compelled to consider the moral implications of supporting a candidate for public office who holds the opposing viewpoint. The death penalty, on the other hand, is not in itself intrinsically morally wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With the term 'readily' I meant 'willingly', even if it took a couple hundred years. He wasn't the 'enemy' based on the fact the Church actually supported his work. I invite anyone interested in Galileo's relationship with the Catholic Church to read up on it themselves and they'll realize that the Church's actions were not unreasonable for the time when heliocentric beliefs were not only considered heresy but also subject to ridicule from most astronomers during his time. \n\nAs for the 'dying during imprisonment', lets be fair: he wasn't exactly chained to a wall in a dungeon surrounded by rats. He was permitted to live quite comfortably while under house arrest, free to dedicate his time to his studies and to receive guests. He eventually died from illness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'easier to manage', 'secure', control'; all manifestations of a Church in crisis and far removed from the original call of Christ to his followers that they build the Kingdom - not a Church, not a monarchy and not a patriarchical clerical elite. Ratzinger has much to answer for. He has created a polarisation within the Church and indirectly given 'power' to miscreants only too ready to tell tales on priest (what they have written or said). The result is personal misery, disappointment and anxiety in the lives of the accused who will never know the content of the communication the malevolent inadequate passed on to the CDF. The climate of fear and suspicion felt by truly genuine priests matches that of the tactics of the Gestapo and the Stazi. Same modus operandii. So much for the Kingdom and the Beatitudes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is NOTHING charitable about Raymond Leo Burke. He has been a member of the hard core of the curia that defends all the barriers erected by John Paul II and Benedict XVI with respect to a series of problems that have emerged in the relations between the church and contemporary culture. These problems have to do with the way life in a relationship is understood [marriage and family], with the role of women, and the function of the priesthood.\n\nBurke has clashed with more than Pope Francis, as well. But Francis is very much aware that pastoral challenges require answers for TODAY. These answers do not come from the authoritarianism and moralism demonstrated by Cardinal Burke.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What AL tries to say but not say is way looser than what the Orthodox do with their economia. Under that, the person causing the divorce doesn't get to remarry and people only get three marriages. The grounds are narrower than \"whatever you and a priest discern about your lack of knowledge and full consent\". It still a departure from the Gospel teaching of indissolubility. \n\nAnd someone else brought up that AL is just as likely to help an abuser who divorces and remarries recieve Communion than an abuse victim. We've all been to a Mass where a liberal priest says \"everyone is welcome to the table!\" even though this is not what the Church teaches, you think priests really have the time to get everyone to discern? In practice they will just wave everyone through.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I can only tell you how I feel, John. I am pro life in All situations. I don't believe in abortion or capital punishment. As a Catholic we have to defend the most vulnerable in our societies. Women can be the most vulnerable in some situations and we have to defend them at any cost. The answer can never be death to a child. There is always a better way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rockchalk\nI agree: was probably a bit too caustic in my words. The fact that the church even CAN have a small handful of \"expatriated bishops\" running around is troubling to me. \n\nAs to the children, I've no idea if this guy fathered a kid (just extrapolating on his \"excuse\"), but like you, I wonder how many woman with children fathered by priests are out there. If a priest or bishop fathers a child, I think they should do the honorable thing: quit their job and support that woman and child. In particular, for bishops I think Canon Law should require it automatically as leaders of the church. I suspect most of these kids and their motors are in an unnecessary poverty (be it monetary or other). Every day of the cleric's life is an act of profound selfishness if he's not left, and taking full care of the woman and her child. That those who try to teach others about morality, ethics and spirituality can do this just calls into question the whole system they support.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The phrase \"family values\", as we all know, has been used previously to deny rights to the LGBT as though denying rights to one group somehow supports the rights of another (zero sum). Nice to see this phrase interpreted from a Catholic perspective instead of a political one whereby support for all types of families is a win-win for all. Afterall, Christ's love is limitless and synergistic; it is not conserved as in the Physics of energy and mass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Michael.\nYour tilting at windmills. The Right (like Chaput) have been feeding at the trough of the Far-Right for so long that they have totally forgotten that such a thing as other thoughts by very well meaning others and that nuance ever existed or have a right to exist. The last two popes promulgated this and believed it themselves. \nThose who live by the book (code of canon law) are always that way, aren't they. the are people who care about \"things\" rather than people. They are NOT people who care about people. Christ cared about people. Those people like Chaput will kill others for god (lower case \"g\") even despite the fact that God said: \"Thou shalt not kill\".\n \nAnd-- their existence is made ever richer and glorious by their struggle to defeat all others who differ in any way. These culture wars are their reason for living. If one exams their backgrounds one will discover the source of their living by the book and it's attendant anxiety.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"You condemn women seeking abortions because you believe that good women would never want one. You consider yourself to be above that sort of thing.\"\n\nI don;t remember saying I condemn women who seek abortions, but truth be told, I have less than a scintilla of respect for those who do, as well as for women who support them. Catholics --- you know, people you love, like the Pope --- regard abortion as the taking of human life. So don;t play the \"You don;t respect women\" game on me. It's about as lame as the rest of your posts. I respect women who respect life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are misrepresenting my position here, William. I don't dismiss Biblical evidence with an insouciant \"so what.\" I take sacred text extremely seriously. \n\nI first of all assay the evidence offered to see if it is really of evidentiary value; then I weigh it against conflicting evidence to determine what reasonable inferences can be drawn; and finally, I have to decide whether those inferences are so compelling as to require me to reach and publish a verdict. If I don't find the evidence clear and convincing, or if I don't sense that the Holy Spirit has a dog in the fight, I have a hard time getting worked up over the issue. \n\nThat doesn't mean I am dismissing the evidence. It simply means that, as I get focused on evidence about which God is not calling me to reach a verdict, it gets harder and harder for me to make out and follow the evidence of the footprints of Jesus on the path He has placed me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a time and a place for views to be aired and a mall is not one of them. He could have asked to have an area where he could have done a presentation on the Christ child and the wise men coming to visit and how the time really was in the spring time if he wanted, but how we celebrate Christ' birth now by singing songs such as Silent Night, O Come All Ye Faithful and Joy to the World, Just to name a Few. There are also stories of how Santa first visits the Christ child (storybooks of course) but Santa also kneels at the side of the Christ child's manger bed. He could tell how Santa and the reindeer are the secular stories that are shared for those who may not be able to have Christ teachings taught in their homes but many homes teach of Christ and also have Santa Claus. These homes know that Santa is a good person who loves children like God does and wants to make children happy by giving gifts like His son received gifts. When children are older they are ok with the truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Segment 1:\nBy singling out Joe Biden and Tim Kaine, and linking them to \"silent apostasy,\" friar Charles Chaput, OFM, Cap., has \"publicly apostatized\" the rule of life Francis of Assisi gave his family. Franciscans are called to rebuild the church by going from the Gospel to life, becoming \"troubadours of the Great King,\" showing both sinners and \"holier believers\" how to go from life to the Gospel.\n+Chaput says, \"Losing people who are members of the church in name only is an imaginary loss,\" forgetting Jesus' words, \"When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me; I guarded them, and none of them was lost.\" (Jn. 17:12)\nSpeaking from the chancery, Citizen Chaput has relied on purloined emails to blast the alleged \"contemptuously anti-Catholic\" sentiment of Democrats. He cautioned that Pope Francis' use of the word \"accompany\" has been misused and too often means \"accompany someone over a cliff...\" He implies that inclusion can be a for of lying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Correct, but estates have been stolen many times before a secure system was implemented, and taxation secures the rights of families in that transfer. Everything from not recognizing a catholic marriage document, to denial of estate transfer due to the heirs not being male, to crooked bankers and politicians foreclosing illegally on paid for land, the transfer of wealthy estates has long been an opportunity to seize what is not theirs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not really. According to Ipsos researchers, the bulk of Catholics, 45%, called cultural Catholics (i.e., attend church mostly for family events such a baptism, marriage and funerals, pray and believe they share Catholic social values) VOTE mostly conservative, a factor that ought to be considered. \n\nInterestingly, Mr. Macron, the president elect and self-identified Catholic, this Easter chose to visit a Paris shelter run by Secours Catholique (French Caritas International). He noted: \"The values defended by Secours Catholique match my ideas of the common interest. Being Catholic means defending the poor.\" Would that our President felt that way.\n\nMacron could be described a cultural Catholic -- but on the left, inspired by Vatican II and very supportive of Pope Francis' agenda for the poor. \n\nBut to suggest that the nuances of French Christianity are much ado about nothing is nonsense -- as if all strands of French Catholicism -- Le Pen's or Macron's -- are varieties of indifference.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether or not women care about it (and they do), it's the principle of the thing. Gal 3:28 describes life in Christ as a spiritual transcendence of earthly estate. The church as visible expression of the kingdom-in-process is, of course, a monarchy every bit as political as any other human institution. By denying women entry to the priesthood the church effectively ignores the essence of Gal 3:28, among the most sublime in the Christian religion.\n\nThere really is no excuse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Skewed sample, partially, as it were. O stats!! Much higher percentages of adherents have left other churches that permit policies that the CC doesn't permit. For example, according to Pew Researchers, the retention rates of Methodists and Pentecostals are 47%; Episcopalians, 45%; and Presbyterians, 40%. In raw numbers, of course, ex-Catholics are bound to be higher (since the CC is the largest church in US), but percentage-wise, its retention rate (60%) is a lot higher than most churches. If one factors into this mix converts (2.6 of all Americans) and immigrants (7.4%), the CC is relatively stable. Not surprisingly the Pew Report of 5/12/2015, notes that, precisely: \"The estimate that the number of [adult] Catholics may have declined by as little as one million comes from subtracting the low end of the 2007estimate from the high end of the 2014 range.\" Basic stats 101.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Violet - I will give my two cents (and I am no theologian. I have no degrees. Just one who can't put down scripture and was called to priesthood in my youth and fights for justice now.) I will try to address each of the parts you wrote as I believe they are all important sections. \n\nAbraham with Sarah (God views them as one complete creation, from what I read, though this does not indicate they have specific responsibilities in marriage due to gender) firstly are promised that his offspring will be the chosen & exceptional people. God keeps his promise and so we see David sing of the promise from God to him that his offspring too will be judged by his own blood: Ps. 122:4-6 -To which the tribes go up, even the tribes of the LORD-- An ordinance for Israel-- To give thanks to the name of the LORD. For there thrones were set for judgment, The thrones of the house of David. Here in psalm & in small spots in Kings we see this promise to Samuel and it carries on into the Gospels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Boy do we have some angry people here. I have an interesting experiment for everyone. If you cannot answer yes to 6 or more of these questions, I challenge you to try to achieve those you cannot answer affirmatively in the next 30 days:\n\nCan you name one great thing about Blessed Oskar Romero?\nHave your children ever attended public school (not Catholic School) for whatever reason or do you see this choice as equally acceptable as any other?\nCan you name one good thing a President with whom you generally disagree has done?\nDo you know personally a veteran of the Iraq or Afghanistan wars?\nDo you know the USCCB's position on the repeal of Obamacare?\nDo you attend weekly Mass?\nDo you believe that life matters - black, brown, white, American AND Puerto Rican?\nCould you explain the controversy over the footnote in Amoris Laetitia?\nDo you know directly one foster parent?\n\nYou don't have to answer me and I'm not saying you are a bad person. I just think our society is generally polarized.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Point #4 of the Norwegian Unions section where they list possible outcomes that could result in anything but unity in the denomination... I have to say that this is unmitigated gaul.\n\nThey wrote...\n\nThe Church will split. The affected unions may sever connections with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. A domino effect may take place where many other unions leave the Seventh-day Adventist Church. \n\nThe notion that they are threatening to leave the church if they do not get what they want is the most striking language on this subject that I have seen to date; coming from persons holding considerable leadership positions. If such a statement could be made about \"leaving\", I question whether or not they are \"all in\" while they are currently \"in\". How have proponents of WO gone from \"there's no clear prohibition in the bible against WO\" to \"We'll leave the church if we can't have this\"? This is a byproduct of unchecked rebellion. Fall Annual Council, time to take a stand!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find that it demonstrates a clear lack of understanding of the liturgical practice of receiving communion. It's picking and choosing on her part, as well; she disagrees with Jesus about calling God \"Father\" but accepts the particular method of distribution she imagines happened in the Cenacle? \nJesus didn't set the standard for distributing or receiving Holy Communion, the Rite does. Would anyone try to take communion in the hand at a Byzantine Rite service? How does that form of communion square with the Last Supper? How does the Maronite's? Shall we all recline at table or other such nonsense?\nI have no problem with the indult. I choose to receive on the tongue though I needn't here in the US. If the priest in Rome moves for the tongue, one should have the grace to accept it that way.\nSomeone else made the point that, at Vatican masses especially, receiving communion on the tongue ensures its consumption v someone palming the Host as a souvenir.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, actually, Eastern Catholic bishops in the US did not ordain married men for many years because of the incredibly fierce opposition from the RC clergy and hierarchy. After Vatican 2, when Josef Slipyj was released, he started pushing for the canonically granted independence of the Ukrainian Church in such matters, and he started ordaining married men. At first, they were able to serve as priests only in parishes that were under the jurisdiction of Slipyj. It was not a pretty struggle, and the RC hierarchy did not give in easily.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"Bishops Accountability [sic]? They're impartial and have a desire for real justice?\"\n- As a source of information meeting it own stated goals, yes. Bishop Accountability collects public material as it applies to the rape of children and molestation of young people by clerics in an even handed way. That is, it does not give preference to any clerical office, or civil jurisdiction in its collection. If the material is public, and it applies to the purpose of the Bishop Accountability database / library it is captured.\n- The linked article is from the secular press in St. Louis, the archdiocese to which Burke was moved. It points to the fact that at the time of Burke's translation to St. Louis he perceived his role as episcopate was to preserve the patrimony and wealth of the local church to which he had been assigned / called (LaCrosse). No doubt, today, his viewpoint and actions will be different and more careful of the body of christ; we pray.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And all those millions of Catholics who believe in contraceptives, civil gay marriage, women priests, and all these discussions on so many \"settled\" subjects, including infallibility? You are saying they are not Catholic? \n\nMuch is being called into question. The issue of the \"authority\" of bishops and popes is being questioned around the world. Being Catholic is no longer tied to something like accepting that \"infallibility is a dogma of the Church\". Not even calling oneself \"Roman Catholic\" is tied to accepting a doctrine or dogma of \"infallibility.\" \n\nIt is getting interesting to be a Catholic. We have to use our minds - not to memorize and be able to spit back out what is learned by rote. No. We have to think, use sources of information we never used before, be willing to doubt as well as be willing to believe. Recognize new knowledge, new ways of being community. Pretty exciting stuff!\n\nTri, being \"Catholic\" is not either/or. It is both/and.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Perhaps it is too simple to understand, or many don't want to accept it, that many fundamentalist Christians (as is true of zealots in any cause) have as their real objective, to exercise control and domination over others.\" Are you including as \"zealots\", in a partial list of issues that evoke strong emotions, proponents of gay marriage, gun control, forced birth control included in company provided health insurance, those demanding removal of any religious symbols such as the 10 Commandments from public buildings, mandatory minimum wage increases and those advocating removal of any Confederate symbols in your list?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Brother, perhaps you can tell me \"who\" in particular is privileged? And in what way.\n\nIs it the numerary member of Opus Dei who then becomes a priest? Most Opus Dei priests because they were first numerary members have had a professional career as well. \n\nThey are scientists, engineers, professors of various types, lawyers, even MDs. When they become priests, they put most of that work behind them in order to serve the Church with total availability. \n\nIs it just the straight numerary/unmarried members? As I said most numeraries STILL work in the world...they are doctors, scientists, researchers, lawyers, engineers, business people. Thyey turn over their pay to Opus Dei, and most spend most of their evening and weekend time providing formation to members of Opus Dei or to friends of Opus Dei. What's the privilige here?\n\nOr is the married members?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps God does change, Burt. Perhaps people's understanding of God changes. I have a hard time believing God tells anyone on this planet what it thinks, personally. Something changed between the Old and New Testament. Was it Man or God?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bingo, Jade. \n\nHis election win first emboldened the Tea Partiers. Then, as it became increasingly clear that the old saw \"be careful what you wish for\" was coined especially for them, they started spinning so hard that they are on the verge of becoming a renewable energy source. \n\nHence, they see this Christian guy as a crazed alt-lefty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Church has survived 2000 years, and is stronger than ever.\"\n\nThat would explain why parishes are being closed and property is being sold here in the US. The Church is \"stronger than ever\" because it is becoming much smaller and much holier. After all, Jesus said to go make disciples of all the nations, but not too many disciples, because He wants a smaller, holier church that is not - definitely not - a democracy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"God says a woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear woman clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.\" Just look at how fashion has changed throughout history to appreciate how ridiculous this is. In Biblical times men never wore trousers. So does God hate every man wearing a business suit?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where does the Bible say we are equal?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. Of the many ways that marriage brings human beings to a sense of joy and fulfillment children are certainly foremost. Seeing children, and then grandchildren, come into their own is a marvel. And to see that blossoming compromised when parents are absorbed and divided by other challenges is very distressing for all. Indeed -- as even the Old Testament prophets said -- \"the altar weeps.\"\n\nThe church has always known this. Family is the most fundamental of human realities. But we are just human beings. The Incarnate God is more capacious than we know. There is a very human difference between the indissolubility of marriage as a rule enforced by the church, and family as joy of the Gospel. Reality as experienced does not conform to our human idealizations. God's creation is much richer. We must deal with that richness as it is, not as we idealize it to be. God's mercy is not an afterthought in response to sin. It is a bridge to the fuller reality that Jesus preached.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And given that the bishops until now have largely lived lavishly, I could argue that they have no credibility when they demand that we welcome refugees and be mindful of the poor. Many bishops continue to live lavishly. \n\nIn other words--the bishops were deficient in their living and following Catholic social teaching just as they were deficient in following Catholic moral teaching--therefore I can ignore them and tell them that they have no right to tell me anything about caring for the poor until they get their own houses in order.\n\nHere is my point: instead of blaming your dissent on Catholic moral teaching on the bishops, why not just man up to the fact that you dissent?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have an idea for helping the \"common cause\" the Knights seek:\n\nMr. Anderson: Please donate to the National Catholic Reporter what you donate to EWTN--no more, no less. \n\nIf money distorts or drowns out the voice of the faithful, as the good professor says, we must assure that there is a faithful UNIFIED voice more so than a purchased UNIFORM voice.\n\nAnd I could be wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ATF - Optional Celibacy equates to Gender Segregation so all Catholics should fight against optional celibacy unless we are allowing also female married priests.\n\nGender Segregation, like racial segregation, acts like the enslavement of one group of people by another. It is extremely harmful to those who are gendered out of the sacrament you wish to open to all married men who have had no injustice paid to them. \n\nThis would be a grave act of evil & harm to all women, esp. those called by God for priesthood. Optional celibacy would create a far greater example of Catholicism as sexist and woman hating Church. \n\nJesus would not ever tell us to seek greater access to any sacrament by increasing our abuse against the human dignity of any group of people. It is the devil who tells us these kinds of lies.\n\nWe must see the wrong we have done against women & change it & then ordain perhaps male & female married priests. \n\nSometimes the evil act lies only within the order of our works.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is Joe Livarchik with the Issaquah/Sammamish Reporter. Unfortunately, we cannot post their contact information. You might have success contacting Eastside Catholic School.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well I'm a Catholic, and I prophesied that Trump would probably win the election, and why.\n\nAlas, I was a voice crying in the wilderness...and apparently still am.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You justify the wrongdoing of the GC.\n I really do not need to say any more because Jesus has said \"By their fruits ye shall know them.\" Matthew 7:16", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cBy clericalism I mean an elitist mindset, together with structures and patterns of behavior corresponding to it, which takes it for granted that clerics\u2014in the Catholic context, mainly bishops and priests\u2014are intrinsically superior to the other members of the Church and deserve automatic deference. Passivity and dependence are the laity\u2019s lot. By no means is clericalism confined to clerics themselves. The clericalist mindset is widely shared by Catholic lay people.\u201d\n\nRussell Shaw, \u201cNothing to Hide. Secrecy, Communication and Communion in the Catholic Church\u201d (Anyone who knows anything about Shaw knows that he is FAR from a fuzzy-wuzzy librul!)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your scientific theories are as secure as trying to put into me that I would agree that Downs Syndrome children have no souls. Last I heard, they they do have functioning cerebral cortices and minds. IQ is not a determinate of who or what has a mind or a soul. As a neuroscientist and one that has taken more than simple embryology, you simply are pushing your hypothesis without any true observation or proof of truth. Your ideas about neuro-electric energy are simply not observed. I, as a Catholic, do not at all like abortion, but we must not try to guide people by using false scientific concepts. This would be as bad as authoritarian religious ideas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic rules for fasting are rather simple \u2013 one can have three meals; and as long as the two lesser meals combined do not equal the mount of the main meal, a person is observing the 'fasting regulations'.\nIt doesn't take much ingenuity to figure out that the only real problem might be 'in-between' snacks. A person could actually eat ll they wanted for breakfast and lunch \u2013 and as long as they consumed more at the other meal, they would still be technically 'fasting'.\n\nDieting would be more challenging!\n\nBetter idea would be to figure out some new 'virtue' one would like to acquire, and for 40 days set about acquiring it and making it habitual.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do believe that the Church has a \u201ctreasury of merit\u201d that can be used to loose people from the effects of their sin. Don\u2019t you? There are many edifices built on that treasury, eg indulgences, purgatory, the meaning of suffering. If I wanted to be vexatious I would have asked if Jesus had his fngers crossed when he said \u201cwhatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.\u201d\nRepentance is the preferred path to a holy life, but sometimes it is the love of others that guides people on the path to Christ. Sometimes it is the love of the Church, reaching out with forgiving mercy, that starts someone on the path to repentence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An example of shrinking God's word to the thousand or so words that Jesus spoke.\n\nJesus was present and notably performed His first public miracle at Cana.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yep, clear as day TC... Jesus intended Peter as the first pope, and he commanded that he and all future popes are to dress as Roman emperors and dictate to the masses via fiat, and to kill, rape and maim whomever tries to upset their imperial kingdom. Does the term Pontifex Maximus ring a bell with you?\n\nTradCath + phony bill of goods = SOLD!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't believe that I suggested that doubt is the opposite of faith, quite the contrary.\nIt was Tertullian to whom the quote is originally ascribed and given as if from a heathen (Apologeticum, 39, 7). \nReligion, in the sense I use it, is the virtue of religion derived from that of Justice. The Church is absolutely necessary to the salvation of the world (though not as Fr. Feeney would have had it) though sanctity is a grace extended by God to all that accept it, whether Christian or not. Mass is the duty of the baptized Catholic in right relationship to that virtue. Any hindrance is to sanctity is on the part of the people of making up the institution, whether cleric or lay, and should not be held against a liturgy, poor homily or otherwise, properly prayed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One on hand, I am certainly for women priests. They operate in many places of the world that have nobody to administer sacraments or pastor the people.\n\nOn the other hand, I am for married male priests to be encouraged first. Consider the fact that Pope Francis is walking a tight rope now. Because of A.L.---we have cardinals trying to pin him to 'mistakes in his teaching'. If he were to vigorously pursue 'women priests'---he'd be declared a her---tic and his papacy would be also declared null and void. Married male priests WERE legitimate until just after the year 1000. Many if not all the Twelve [except John] were married. This can be done.\n\nWill there be problems, YES! Catholics aren't used to supporting a married clergy. Permanent deacons in America are usually newly retired and have a pension. But a married priesthood, with a young priest, his wife and young kids? This would be both a new set of problems and solutions for Catholics to use to grapple with and to grow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You still don't get it. You haven't provided an iota of logic or evidence, just a smear \"ut solet.\"\n\nOpus Dei - the Prelature itself - doesn't in any way support \"right wing authoritarian regimes\".\n\nYou offer no proof.\n\nA married member who happens to already be in government...perhaps as some under secretary of the Treasury is not \"Opus Die supporting an authoritarian regime\"..it's simply a Catholic who is trying to influence for the good from inside.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's based on Saint John's teaching about sin that causes death:\n\n\"If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that.\" \n\nWhen before Pilate, Jesus answered: \"You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.\"\n\nThough Pilate knew that Jesus was not guilty of any crime deserving death, he nonetheless weakened and turned the Savior over to the Jewish mob. The text clearly indicates a greater degree of culpability and sin on the part of Caiaphas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting interpretation.\nThe ruling is not related to any province or region other than Canada, and last time I checked Ontario was part of it.\nThe capital of this country is unwilling to provide public schools system, but the Catholic church build them before the subdivisions are up. Using our money.\nTime to expand religious freedom beyond the Catholic church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I have read about her is much more focused on her very extensive (and generally unrecognized) work in the civil rights movement, with much less emphasis on her gender identity.\n\nAlso, it is misleading to say that the Episcopal Church \"proclaimed her a saint.\" The Episcopal Church does not make saints in the way the Catholic Church does. It has a book, \"Holy Women, Holy Men,\" containing brief biographies of people considered worthy of special admiration, including many of the traditional saints, and not necessarily limited to Episcopalians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do you suppose one might explain the difference in treatment by Catholic University of Mr. Koch and Fr. James Martin?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...just under 2/3rds of parishes are staffed by third world priests....\"\n\nOregon_Longhorn: It's an ad hoc pastoral invention to deal with clergy shortage, but not a long term remedy. Eventually bishops will have to deal with it. They can't keep poaching, provisionally detouring from the route Pope Francis suggests they take, irrespective of one of them being the first Conference to suffer \"ignominy\" and throw in the towel. \nSadly, the current crop of US bishops are \"victims\" of this mess, not leaders who can take themselves -- and the faithful -- out of it. \nI thought by now the richest church within Western Catholicism (i.e., German Catholic Church) would have done something by now, moved ahead -- given all their resources to support a married diocesan clergy -- but they don't want to touch the problem either. Maybe the Brazilian church will break rank, \"suffer\" ignominy, as it were. Who knows! We'll see.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The USCCB never issued any statement directing or even suggesting Catholics vote for Donald Trump.\n\nIf Hillary lost the Catholic vote, she has only herself to blame.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jay has a unique view of the Constitution based more on Catholic natural law teaching than history and precedent. If you want to make a moral statement, hire Jay. If you want to win, hire someone else. Such is the naivete of the right-wing legal community (all the way up to Scalia).\n\nPeople who live by the shore in poor countries are poor and will die in flooding. U.S. beach goers are richer and can live with plan B. The same is true with property in fire zones. In the U.S., warming triggers an insurance payout. In Asia and Oceana, it means death.\n\nThe question is whether suburban Atlanta is looking like the Northern Virginia suburbs and how embarrassed people are about Trump. Abortion was not an issue here, so it portends nothing to 2018, although the redistricting case may have more to say about that election than this race.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "you can't challenge the facts I cited so you try to be funny and post a horrible statement about Our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST,,May HE have mercy on you", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jo, starting churches is not about money if the leadership is Godly. It's about bringing more people to a relationship with Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Steven, is it not helpful to continue the dialogue? My experience has been that people tire, and accept a resolution that stops short. Fit it within the rubric of indissolubility if you like, but a rule that denies communion to those divorced and remarried without an annulment is a resolution that stops short. It is for the benefit of the community, not the justice of God. The dialogue should continue, and Francis is wisely continuing a dialogue that was in danger of being stillborn because of an overemphasis upon doctrine.\n\nSo anything that continues the dialogue is helpful. The problem is the community, lost as a prodigal in the wilderness of the law. Francis is taking a helpful step in emphasizing the pastoral to which doctrine is in service. I would suggest another step is in order. The community of the people of God should limit enforcement of doctrine to that which is truly necessary for good order in the community, thereby giving more room to teach and learn God's reign.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know, you are doing a lot of speaking for Jesus. You know he had no intention for nations to declare themselves \"Christian?\" How do you know that? How do you know Jesus did not intend for sovereign nations to have rights? \n\nSir, if you don't like Mexico then put in any country you want. How about England? Ireland? China? Japan? Russia? How about the Vatican? If I go to these places without proper documentation, you think they will just leave me alone if they found out? Also---let's look at Mexico. What would happen if I went there without proper documentation? Why do they get to enforce immigration laws but we don't? Can you discuss this without references to racism? Racism is when we don't like people because of their skin color or ethnicity. I have made no references to keeping out people because of their skin color or ethnicity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The door imagery is quaint, but I had rather they had focused on the Pauline letters which reveal (darn those translators) that in the early Church, the apostalic witness was delivered by married couples who had seen the risen Lord. Only when these many had died did Overseers (you say bishop, I say pastor) take over that role of witness. It was later that a separate priesthood evolved to assist these Pastors and women were left out. Whether they presided, like men, over Agape meals is a matter for research and speculation. Because a Church in hiding did not record these events individually, we may never know and it does not matter. This fight is about the nature of change in the Church. There are those who are preservationist or reactionary who don't see the Church as ever changing. Others recognize that it is ever changing and always has been. It is an old fight that will never be settled, although ordaining women would likely be a tipping point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Love is most appropriately honored by imitation. We love and honor Jesus by doing as He did, loving one another as He told us to do - what is - being (E)eucharist to one another in the Sacrament of Natural Order.\n('right as grain', as ecological life is in nature)\nhttp://www.secondenlightenment.org/Right%20as%20Grain-1.pdf", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Deeper spirituality through personal prayer, familial conversation with God. 15 minutes or so a day, perhaps jump-started with that day's Gospel passage. \n\nDeeper spirituality through a daily examination of conscience, done in the presence of God, reconciling our intellect, with our will, with our appetites and body. \n\nDeeper spirituality through reading 5 minutes of the New Testament every day, putting your self into the \"scene\" of each passage, becoming one more character in the scene. \n\nDeeper spirituality by meditating on the Passion of Jesus Christ, perhaps using a good set of meditations of the Stations of the Cross.\n\nDeeper spirituality by re-living the life of Jesus Christ from the perspective of His Mother, Mary, using the Rosary.\n\nDeeper spirituality by a good Confession, prepared, sincere, abandoning, with great trust and faith. \n\nDeeper spirituality by going to Mass more frequently, and putting more love into our participation at Mass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity is supposed to be following Jesus, trying to act as he did and following in his footsteps. That means doing as he said, and not as other writers in that book opined. Also, the Old Testament has nothing to do with Jesus or Christianity. Jesus instituted a \"new covenant\" or religious act, at the Last Supper.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Speaking as a white Catholic, I am convinced that we, as people and as a church, need to examine our consciences and allow God to transform us and move us toward reconciliation for the past and present racism that affects the lives of God's beloved children every day. With God's compassionate love and care, I believe we can be reconciled for the terrible sins of racism that continue to divide us to this day. I understand that some white people may prefer to point fingers elsewhere, but reconciliation means listening to God in our own hearts, speaking about the truth that is often hidden in plain sight.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the comments here are one-sided. I, for one, am pleased to see you calling out the democrats and, by extension, standing strong behind the republican party and Mr. Trump! Just as you have been a steady defender of the clergy, even when others turn on them for every little criminal act or display of hypocrisy, so too you have been a staunch defender of the only party with true catholic values (the GOP) and the only candidate who represents the true spirit of the Catholic Church, (Mr. Trump). Keep up the good work and we can make America great again!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This man made his living off the God of the Bible whom he did not believe in. That kind of says it all about Tom Harpur. The internet is full of answers regarding the Bible and proof of it's authenticity.\n\nConfess your sins to Jesus and invite him to come into your heart and to forgive you and to be your Lord and Savior. Your will find and know Him and love Him..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The high-brows and academics completely miss the point - but poll after poll shows that Canadians get it. It's not an attack on religious freedom. It's a line in the stand on what it means to live in a democracy. Religious \"accommodation\" is just that - we'll do something for you if you'll do something for us. As an example, devout Christians have been asked to accept abortion and homosexuality though it's against some interpretations of their teachings. Both are now for the most part, enshrined in our Human Rights code. Is it so much to ask that a small step be taken to lower one's veil when dealing with government? Modern, mainstream Muslims overwhelmingly reject the archaic notion that women must be shielded from view. Canadians get it. The apologists don't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I disagree most strongly with your assertion that Jesus did not agree with \u201cprogressive concepts of Justice.\u201d Indeed, Jesus was a radical progressive on justice issues during his time on earth, and remains so today. One only needs remember Jesus\u2019 radical re-interpretation of the (Mosaic) Law recorded in the Gospel of Matthew \u2013 the so-called \u2018you have heard it said \u2026 but I say to you \u2026 sayings. \n\nTraditionally, the Law was interpreted to mean one should \u2018hate\u2019 and \u2018kill\u2019 one\u2019s enemies \u2026 on wealth, Jesus said it was hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. In short, Jesus scandalised the authorities of his time by \u2018reversing\u2019 what had been understood, incorrectly it seems, as the Law. Our Lord said that instead of the traditional interpretation of the Law, we should love our enemies, return good for evil, and give our wealth away. Jesus also included women in his ministry, and St. Paul names a female apostle. \n\nJesus was radically 'progressive' on justice issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The survey would have been more interesting if there had been open-ended questions, probing WHY respondents gave the answers they gave. E.g., what is it about Catholics that Orthodox laity don't like?\n\nAlso, most Americans are not in a position to understand where those objections come from, even to having a RC person marry into one's family (or vice versa).\n\nThis conversation doesn't take place on a doctrinal level anyway. There's lots of bad history, and RCs have more often been the ones to behave badly, starting in 1204 CE if not earlier.\n\nThere may be hope, not for full reunion, but for a not mistrustful renewal of acquaintance. Recent popes have spoken of the acceptance of the Orthodox date for Easter, which probably most RCs wouldn't mind. Orthodox are already welcome to receive Communion in RC churches; it would be great to negotiate a return deal.\n\nBut then, the Orthodox still look awfully backward on so many issues, e.g. scripture studies. RCs do NOT want to be bound to that!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, but He did say His followers would obey the spirit of God's laws and not just the letter of them. I find it interesting that people who are \"well-versed in theology\" want to make a letter-based argument that \"Jesus never said ...\" on this issue, but ignore His teachings that Christians would obey the Law. And then there are the NT writers who knew Him intimately and wrote strongly against all forms of sexual immorality, including homosexuality. Again, you want to do the law-based argument and say \"well, we're not forcing you to have actual sex, so bake the cake.\" Yet, that's not what Paul advised about the sexually immoral church member in 1 & 2 Corinthians. He said flee sexual immorality, don't even be seen to condone it. Do you think that while Paul was talking with Jesus on the road to Damascus, he might have learned a thing or two that you who are \"well-versed in theology\" are unaware of?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Liturgical dance is the epitome of all the efforts which have been put forward to put the people's focus on anything but God in the liturgy. We can do all the mental somersaults we want to justify how this is somehow God-related, pertaining his beauty or some under-used form of praise of him, but the bottom line is that people are no longer directing their hearts and minds to God in the liturgy with such distractions. Use the church as a performance hall outside of Mass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My sentence doesn't indicate a belief that a church is a social club; only that it can devolve into such - a place where people congregate for social reasons vs the mass. I've seen it happen.\nI'll say that we are in full agreement on Jesus in the Eucharist who brings us together.\nFrom a parishioner, below, the article did miss the fact that the Mass is, in fact, centered on the Eucharist. It is a \"big four\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sweden is a lovely country. I went to Stockholm, and had a good time there. \n\nAnd civilization didn't end in the Middle East in the 7th century. In fact, Sweden was dominated by barbarian Viking tribes in the 7th century. As were the UK and other northern European countries. These countries became truly civilized only in the 14th century. \n\nAnd Arab countries like Iraq, Egypt and Syria were centers of civilization during those years. Let's not forget - Christianity is a Middle Eastern religion too. It is not a European religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "George,\n\nAlong with your study opposing the ordination of women, how about exploring the scriptural basis for ordaining men, too? There is no scriptural basis for ordaining anyone, so you are defending a human practice that history shows us was part of a false system of worship. So, why are you insisting on defending a false teaching? More than that, Rev. 5:10 talks about Christ making the redeemed \"kings and priests\" before Him. Are not the redeemed both men and women?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are completely correct and spot on when you pointed out the Catholic Church removed the statues, crucifixes, kneelers, Altar Rails, and confessionals. Those things are not found in Catholic churches anymore. And the revelation that the bishops and popes were engaging in a conspiracy aid and abet pedophiles certainly didn't help, given these are the same people that make up the infallible Magesterium...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"That said, the persistent story that the Vatican is shielding Law from prosecution in the U.S. is completely false. \"\n\nThat said, the persistent story that the Vatican DID SHIELD Law from prosecution in the U.S. is completely TRUE.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While getting rid of marvle rails, let's add marble, silver and gold and soaring glass structures that speak more to Babel than a community of belieivers. . Let us comsider going to the rivers and streams like our rural Baptist peers did in remembrance of Jesus' baptism in the Jordan. No practical? Try a simple pool! Some of our churches are just too encrusted with glittery distractions, including Burke-style costly dress whose reams of fVric could make many a colorful outfit for poor children. Create a gathering space of the faithful with the chosen presider as one among them, rather than a church triumphant whose focus is the elevation of clericalism. See St. Vincent's parish community, Albany, NY as an excellent example of a spacious gathering of active faithful people,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I love how you help me make my point by asking great questions. One Christian principle that we live by more than any other nation is doing unto others as we would have others do to us. We do more to help other nations than anyone before us. The principle of giving motivates us to give generously both home and abroad. It was the principle that all men are created equal that pushed us to be one of the first nations to abolish slavery.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is the way Pope Francis chose to mark the passing of the cardinal: \"HO APPRESO CON TRISTEZZA LA NOTIZIA DELLA MORTE DEL CARDINALE CARLO CAFFARRA. DESIDERO ESPRIMERE A LEI, ALL\u2019INTERA COMUNITA\u2019 DIOCESANA DI BOLOGNA E AI FAMILIARI DEL COMPIANTO PORPORATO LA MIA SENTITA PARTECIPAZIONE AL LORO DOLORE. PENSO CON AFFETTO A QUESTO CARO FRATELLO NELL\u2019EPISCOPATO, CHE HA SERVITO CON GIOIA IL VANGELO E HA AMATO INTENSAMENTE LA CHIESA... \nMy translation: \"I learned with sadness of the death of Cardinal Carlo Caffarra. I wish to express to all of you, the entire diocesan community of Bologna, and to his family, my heartfelt participation in their suffering. I think fondly of this dear brother in the episcopacy, who has joyfully served the Gospel and intensely loved the Church....\"\nNot a word about their differences. Says something about both men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The poll explains, at least in part, why there seems to be no great national importance given to celebrating the Reformation. Most German Catholics and Lutherans have buried the hatchet, as it were (and hopefully have forgotten where they buried it).Of course, there are/were celebrations (when I was there this summer), but they all seemed so muted. I am sure Luther's anti-Semitism doesn't help, the drop of Protestantism (self- identified Protestants to 28%), the rise of the non-affiliates (to 24% of the population), the poll growth of Catholicism (to 42%, among those polled), and a general awareness that their are much bigger national, continental (immigration, terrorism, for example), and international issues to face, among other things, have contributed to the ecumenical muting or toning down of a major celebration. Only Pope Francis's visit to a Lutheran church in Sweden got national attention. Hopefully something big will happen in October, but I'm not holding my breath.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My father had to convert in order to marry my Catholic mother. He'd been a Baptist but not a practicing one. He became a very devout Catholic and insisted on church attendance in our home to the point where he actually got into a physical altercation with one of my older teenage brothers who had decided he didn't want to go one Sunday. \"As long as you live under my roof, you'll go to church!\" he declared as he dragged him by the hair and stuffed him into the car. Needless to say, that brother is now an atheist and there is only one Catholic left in the family and his family only goes when they feel like it. I think one can carry religious strictness too far sometimes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't believe that we are saved by faith in Christ? The Apostle Paul taught that we are: \"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God\" -- Ephesians 2:8", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, you are the one with the weird definition of multiculturalism, when you actually favor the melting pot!\n\nWhere did you get the idea I don't accept Philippinos \"in my categories\"? On the contrary, they are an example of successful integration into the mainstream culture, maybe precisely because they share that basic Judeo-Christian culture. \n\nI base my opinion on what I see today: teenagers born here who have never heard of Noah and the Ark, etc. Who grew up watching TV by satellite from \"the old country\", and know all about Bollywood stars but have never heard of Hollywood ones, never mind Canadian ones. Who struggle with reading because they haven't learned the basic vocabulary of their new language. Etc.\n\nThat is very new, and not good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. This law is God's will, and French catholics must submit to it, or deny the teachings of Paul.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why just the Catholic Church in Mexico??, it should be The Catholic Church, World Wide.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you. These are new protest signs I am quite sure.\n\nMaybe if there was better enforcement of immigration, there'd be fewer illegal immigrants working in the US, under the constant threat that their employer would turn them in or out.\n\nThey compromise and work for next to nothing..so the \"comfortable class\" can go snobbily to Trader Joes to get their fruit at ridiculously low prices.\n\nBut these hearty consumers will \"rebalance\" their guilt by buying \"fair trade\" coffee at their Catholic Church, which provides a false economy, crowding out the citizen store owner down the street from the Church, who has to pay labor, lights, marketing. \n\nThis is how the guilt-gluttony balance is maintained by many armchair SJWs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Okay, you do a good job of articulating what you believe isn't a solution. So what is? Assuming you are a Christian, do you not believe we have an obligation to respond to the suffering of our brothers and sisters? What do you believe the proper response should be regarding the suffering of refugees?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I'd far more trust Dorothy Day and others who lived the dregs, and those who truly suffered.\"\n\nYou sound like a Catholic Worker recruiter or \"venerable\" with many, many grievances! Fortunately your grievances don't serve as a substitute for your efforts to press \"them to offer parity,\" as a substitute for hope, for resolution. Every university, of course, rests on the grievances of others -- of some sort -- including ND ( and Harvard, Georgetown, Brown, etc.). \n\nWhich side would Dorothy Day be on? I am sure she would first put to shame the University Administration by the disclosure of her own faults and sins in seeking justice. She would never be self-righteous. She would also probably pray with Fr. Jenkins -- and for him -- in a dorm chapel, and there, remind him that those better than her were far more deprived in the world than she was, but that their worse deprivations would not/could not lessen her own resolve to press the school to offer parity. \n\nBut Dorothy Day was a saint.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, surely St. JP2 was slightly more astute than that!\n\nSurely, (1) he started with the conclusion women can't be ordained because that was not in the Tradition as he new it. (2) To this he added the delusion he was taught in seminary that the content of Tradition has always been the same, and in principle will always stay the same. (3) Then he sought out reasons, \"proof texts\" to explain his conviction, and voila, 12 male apostles became a signal from Jesus as to what must be, forever. \n\nThe 1960's scriptural commission conclusion that there were to scriptural impediments to the ordination of women was ignored. I figure that is because JP2 had deep convictions about V1, so deep that his assumed the Spirit's selection of him as pope, was the Spirit adopting his theological instincts, scriptural expertise be dam*ed.\n\nOn second thought, that's just a long winded way of saying , You are right, John!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One reason is fear and anger from people who see Civil and Human Rights as some kind of finite good like a pie. They're afraid that if someone else gets some, they'll somehow get less. Which of course makes no sense at all. \n\n Another problem is the misinterpretation of the Bible by generations of Christians and a mule-headed unwillingness to rethink anything based upon modern science. For example, Blacks were considered inferior and worthy of slavery for centuries based on Genesis 9:20-27 where Canaan and all his descendants were cursed to be slaves because of the mistake of Canaan's father, Ham, at seeing his father's nakedness. Of course we now know that this wasn't directed at blacks, (Canaan's skin color isn't even mentioned!) but as a justification for the Israelite invasion of the land of the Canaanites.\n\nIn the same way, Biblical texts about male on male sex in the Bible are misinterpreted as modern Biblical studies and science prove yet many refuse to see that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, a fine country, but your point is.....? Catholic inequalities?? I suppose the answer to your offbeat comments are to be found in your screen name here. Avenger indeed?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Trevor,\n\nHow can Adventist Today help make its commenting system feel more embracing of you, personally? \n\nLike life itself, none of us ahead of time had any idea we would find ourselves where we are, experiencing Christianity in the presence of Seventh-day Adventists. \n\nAnd here we are. \n\nNow what?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll look over this link. I don;t pretend that the conservative movement hasn't had its share of extremists, so-called friends that you'd rather were enemies. But you seem to think, as many do, that to say \"conservative\" is tantamount to saying racist. I reject that deep in my bones. As a conservative --- a near-perfectly rounded man both spiritually and philosophically --- I know that Jesus was a liberal in many ways. He was the perfect liberal, in fact, and he is to be emulated in those ways. He was also a conservative in many ways. As a Christian, I try to follow what he demands. For me, that means working my butt off for the poor and disabled, seeing the person rather than the color of his skin, trying to be cheerful and fun or funny to working people behind the cash register --- people of whatever race --- just trying to connect and spread some basic love. Giving some money to the guy who looks like he won;t spend it on whiskey. Gin? Ok. Whiskey, no.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The rough-and-tumble, bigoted ethnic Catholics of the 19th and 20th centuries weren't created in a vacuum. They were largely the product of the ill treatment they received at the hands of the WASPs who dominated American society at the time. When underclasses perceive they have no place in polite society, they tend to become extra impolite. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.\n\nThe real coming of age for the children of immigrant Catholics was World War II. The time spent playing poker on the transport ships and hunkered down in the foxholes side by side with Baptists from Alabama and Jews from Brooklyn was the closest this country has ever come to a true melting pot. And one can only wonder how much further the state of civil rights in this country would be had the armed forces been fully integrated then.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When a serious problem exists, serious dedication and sincere actions, make it obvious that those in charge deeply care.\n\nThe Australian Government created the recent Royal Commission investigation in 2013. \nThis has shown how much they care about, value and want to protect their citizens.\nThis has shown that the truth matters to them, The horrors that happened to the victims are important to them\nThis show their genuine commitment to find out why this happened, who and what factors are responsible. What must be done to make sure this never happens again. They want to make sure that victims of these crimes are properly taken care of.\n Pope Francis refused to provide the documents requested by the Royal Commission. \n\n\n......................Can you say that the Catholic Church really cares about its own victims ?.....................", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\nI agree with you about this. But I didn\u2019t always agree with you. I reclaimed the Sacrament of Penance as part of my spiritual life about twenty year ago, but I understand how and why the Sacrament has suffered so much under the weight of the magisterium\u2019s lack of credibility with regard to human sexuality. Sure: many couples (the vast majority) rejected the teaching of Humanae Vitae; but for many of them, there was a sort of cognitive dissonance: if the church was so utterly out of touch with the reality of their experience of human sexuality and marriage, so central to their experience as Christians and as human beings, what did it have to contribute to the rest of their spiritual journey?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church was not wrong. The Church decided Jesus admonitions about protecting the flock were no longer as important as protecting the Institution. Canon Law, mandated by the infallible Saint Pope. Regarding moral authority, Jesus Christ Himself gave the Pope the moral authority and the Pope decided it was moral to protect the Church, so there is no need to discuss punishing the men chosen by the Holy Spirit to lead the Church. Your analysis implies that the Pope can be held to a moral standard by others, That is wrong. He sets the standards.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Today, Jul. 17, 2017:\n\nShabwa, Yemen - A Muslim suicide bomber kills 8, injures 3\nAhmad Abad, Afghanistan - 3 shot to death by Sunni Muslims\nMaiduguri, Nigeria - 2 killed, 5 injured by 2 Muslim suicide bombers\nal-Arish, Egypt - 5 killed, 11 injured by Muslim Jihadists\nMaiduguri, Nigeria - 8 killed, 13 injured by Muslim female suicide bomber\nHayatabad, Pakistan - 2 killed, 4 injured by Muslim suicide bomber\n\nSorry, couldn't find any Christian, Hindu, Shinto, Judaism, Buddist, Catholic, or other religious-based terrorist attacks for today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thats a tiny issue, Muslim nations refuse birth control, and so does the Catholic Church. Another odd issue is in Nigeria (New York Times) ran an article about this issue in 2016 spring and it is part of the culture to have lots of kids.\nThat means you are more of man-(regarding Nigeria) when u have lots of kids!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wyoming Catholic College is in candidacy status by the Board of Directors of the Higher Learning Commission.\n\nThis status provides the benefits of accreditation to the candidate while the accrediting institution monitor its progress; credits are accepted at other colleges, universities, and graduate programs (both public and private); they will be recognized by insurance and other employer programs that require an \u201caccredited\u201d status.\n\nClearly then it is NOT \"only slightly more legit than Trump University\".\n\nThe faculty bears zero correspondence to your description:\n\nhttp://www.wyomingcatholiccollege.com/academics/faculty/index.aspx\n\nand we have been through this before.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I was young, the principle of \"equal rights for all/special privileges for none\" was espoused. Seemed reasonable then and even more so now. When Kevin Pillar is Pillar-ied (pun intended) for making a homophobic comment, athough I do not condone his words, I have to wonder why then it is acceptable to make comments that are derogatory to women or even Christians without corresponding penalties assigned. Or are some minorities more special than others? Equal Rights for All/Special Privileges for none still works for me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What does \"very\" liberal social policies mean? Most social policies are in line with the gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why? The -one-true-church crowd are usually proponents of rigid and outdated doctrine and elitist triumphalism. Dominion theology, in other words, which will NOT work in this modern age, nor should it... (yes, we live in a MODERN AGE--quite obviously--just like each civilization that has gone before us.) \n\nYour choices are to adapt to the prevailing ecumenical spirit, schism or form your own church, or just plain get out of the way. The wheels of reform were set in motion at VII (actually 1517 if you want to be technical) and the reformed church simply has nothing to gain by employing heavy-handed, imperial-minded strategies of yesteryear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are quite correct I do not describe myself as a conservative, I claim to be an orthodox Catholic for whom the gift of Faith enables me to believe without doubting whatever God has revealed. I believe with all orthodox believers that God has revealed sufficient of Himself fhrough Scripture and Tradition for me and the rest of mankind to be saved without any more revelation. The Church teaches that Revelation ended with the death of the last Apostle.\nYou speak of Truth as though it changed from one generation to another. You don\u2019t seem to understand that if Truth changes then it cannot be Truth because at some stage it would have to be false.\nThose who advocate \u2018changeable Truth\u2019 usually do so in order to justify behaviours which are offensive to the Law of God. It is, alas, an all too common human failing best known as self-deception. Whilst it may be relatively easy to deceive oneself, it is impossible to deceive God and that is what will ultimately matter in the final analysis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We must imitate Christ in every aspect of His life. Of course this is true, especially in his total self-gift for the true good of others.\n\nWe must die to our self as Scripture tells us repeatedly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Discrimination in any form is not consonant with the teachings of Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Abortion and Prudential Reasoning\n\nThink the issue of abortion is black and white? ... think again. There is a much more nuanced conversation taking place within Catholic intellectual circles.\n\nhttps://www.linkedin.com/pulse/abortion-prudential-reasoning-stephen-devol?published=t", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, I'm a Catholic who knows himself to be a sinner -- and am being called a rigorist and Pharisee for holding the now radical view that there is even such a thing as sin. Francis and his liberal friends, on the other hand, evidently believe they have evolved beyond any need to heed Christ's command to Sin No More. As for \"sadness not disdain,\" uh, have you actually heard or read any of the man's regular tirades against those who disagree with him?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ms. Schenk: Apart from the self-righteous tone, your article is rather presumptuous. You can not indict a man for your estimation of what the future holds. Wait until Mr. Trump actually has a chance to do something and the consequences of his actions can be seen. \n\nYou stated: \"Will we stand and defend the values that make us Christian or will we decide it is just too much trouble?\" Did you stand against Hilary and Obama and their pro-abortion positions? Did the values you referred move you to resist the secularism and anti-Christian presumptions inherent in everything that Obama and Hilary believe. Did you ever consider that the socialism represented by the left is against the teachings of the church and confers on the state unlimited power over the lives of everyone? Did you stand against policies that have caused innocent Americans to suffer from the loss of jobs and crime, due to a lawless approach to immigration?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We owe much of our concept of hell to St Jerome. When Jesus mentions Gehenna (sp?) He's referring to the garbage dump outside Jerusalem. Devil's horns, fire, and pitchforks came much later.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Berrigan taught others to shirk their Christian moral duty to protect innocent people against deadly attack by unjust aggressors. He was no prophet. He preached a false Christianity. He taught a foolish Christianity --- that it was wrong for this country to have an army --- and was thereby a detriment to the Church. \n\nAs for the \"If a man strikes you on the cheek, . . .\"\n5:38-42 The plain instruction is, Suffer any injury that can be borne, for the sake of peace, committing your concerns to the Lord's keeping. And the sum of all is, that Christians must avoid disputing and striving. \n\nI don't disagree about that. But Berrigan wasn't talking about \"suffering any injury that can be borne.\" He taught absolute pacifism --- allowing others to suffer not just a slap on the cheek, but deadly aggression.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You may quote from as many sources as you like; as many newspapers or other media as you wish. \nBut the important thing (the skill), is to be able to separate reliable sources from unreliable sources.\nAny subsequent analysis (based on source reports, of course) has to start from an open-minded approach to the reality of things, rather than from a pre-set agenda.\nFor people with pre-set agendas will always find what they are looking to find.\nTurning to the three sources that you have now quoted to me:-\nWell, we've all recently seen just how \"ceremonial\" the position of Cardinal Patron of the KofM is! That is, not very. For Burke found a way of using it for his continued attack on the Pope. It may be of no interest to you, I do not know - but, in case you've not spotted it, the Catholic hierarchy (and some laity) are currently fighting a real battle, with real consequences (such as whether condoms may ever be used by a major charity which has important and real work to do, worldwide).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CREATION THEOLOGY and The 'Naturalis Sacramentum Ordinis':\n'NOVOGENESIS, the book';\n'METAGENESIS, the book'; and\n'THEOGENESIS, the book'.\n\nPardon me for being self-referential!!! But the subject matter of the books seems precisely to fit the thesis of this article: finding God where God is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem is Most people consider themselves\"moral\". I'm sure that the people in the crowd at the 'sentencing' of Jesus felt that they were very moral in their condemnation of a man who spoke the truth and made most feel uncomfortable, as they shouted in unison, \"Give us Barabbas\"!\n\nI believe this Presidential Race is Our Nation's \"Barabbas Moment\". And No, Trump is not Jesus, but the principles are the same. \n\nWhat this Race is really all about is, Do you want an 'America First'policy? ...or a stronger embrace of Globalism? \n\nDo you want the USA to Lose even more of it's sovereignty?\nDo you believe our Borders should Not be secure?\nDo you want \"Sanctuary Cities?\nDo you want trade deals that are not in the best interest of the Country?\nDo you want to further 'gut' our military?\nDo you want to abolish The Second Amendment?\nDo want to keep NAFTA, which has been disastrous to our businesses, and jobs? Or any other 'Bad deals'? \n\nIf your answer is YES, then Vote for \"Hillary\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Elizabeth. Yes... God in the face-to-face somehow corresponds to the chasm of the broken bread in the Mass and esp. in the distribution. Even beyond the symbolic! It is a special moment of Eucharist in my opinion [and many others\u2019 too]. I\u2019m old-fashioned in some ways [I consider myself to be progressive, even Leftist] but if someone wants to remember someone at mass and money is stipended and given to the poor [and we skip all the purgatory fears] then Jesus [in the poor] has been served again in the name [soul] of the deceased and a good thing has been done. It won\u2019t alleviate troubled consciences [afterall\u2014we live out the purgatory into which we\u2019ve put deceased members] but it might help the grieving and strengthen us to do more service for the Kin-dom. Thanks for your remarks and ministry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think that religious liberty is insanity is what Gregory XVII wrote in Latin, nor do I think were he alive today he would chose the exact words he chose in that time and place.\n\nWe were created by God to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and be happy with Him in the next.\n\nHe founded a Church through his Son Jesus Christ to provide the means for all men to accomplish this purpose.\n\nIf you know these things, you would have to be out of your mind to avoid his Church.\n\nAnd that, I think, is what Gregory XVII was communicating in words appropriate to his milieu.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't mind someone calling the pontificate of John Paul II a mixed bag. (I am a Legionary of Christ; thus I am aware of what might just be regarded as the most flagrant of the errors of judgement of John Paul II : that with regard to our founder.) Still I value the thought and the charity of this great and holy man. I look at him as a friend. But I do think that the real inheritance of John Paul II needs to be protected from the superficiality of some of his admireers; the controversy around Amoris Laetitia bears this out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The business has been around for 125 years, so there something to say for that. However the paper itself is controlled by an ideology and selective news. News isn't reported as news, as in objective. Here's the story, you make up your own mind about it. Case in point the Las Vegas shooting, where's the story, what's happening, who covering up what, why, and how? Or who's not covering what, why, and how? If the shooter was a Christian with ties to talk radio would the story have vanished so completely? DP, for the next 125 years, try honest, objective reporting, like it was the first 75 years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "American Catholics aren't politically confused. They just have diverse views like the rest of the electorate. And that's good.\n\nCatholic moral teaching -- and I'm not talking about the political biases of some of the hierarchy but the actual teaching -- expresses principles but doesn't dictate how individual citizens should live them out. Authentic Catholic tradition encourages individuals to exercise personal conscientious discernment when they vote. Is it any surprise that different people come to different conclusions?\n\nThe greater concern would be if we were all voting in lockstep. That would be a sign of mindless acquiescence rather than prudential judgment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin, (continued)\nBelieving that through Jesus' suffering, death and resurrection, we are no longer prisoners to our sinfulness - we can choose not to continue to sin and receive Jesus in the State of Grace! A big part of trusting/believing in Jesus, is knowing that He freed us from the chains that bind us to sin. Once slaves to sin, we become obedient to God out of faith. We are no longer slaves to our sinfulness but rather we become slaves of righteousness. Jesus' grace drastically alters our lives. \"And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.\" (Galatians 2:4). Grace strips you of your idols and sinfulness, beginning the process of making your life reflect the righteousness that was declared for you on the Cross. Grace doesn't cover up the sinfulness in your life, it shines a spotlight on it and gently prompts change because of the price at which we were bought! (Continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree, Cael, about everything that you have written. While I understand the point of view about wanting movement, I know that what seems like forward movement is often a sidetrack and/or an attempt to draw attention away from the real issue, here, the equal treatment of women in the institutional Church. I think that this Pope is masterful in making small changes that serve only, or mainly, to preserve the status quo.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No doubt at all; reprehensible. We all have a moral compass to which we must adhere, and what I wrote was not meant to absolve the bishops and cardinals. But, there also was a culture, and a church insistence of hierarch's peril of sin by exposing church to scandal. Those bishops ignored law, did not protect vulnerable children, were lying deceivers, and should have been jailed...the children suffered from bishops who were solely interested in climbing the hierarchy ladder.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Baptism is essential only to the \"sacramental system,\" not for entry into eternal life. The Catholic hierarchy does not appear to understand the significance of that fact! If the bishops did understand, we would be seeing a very very different church!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And there it is.\n\nWhat is the truer nature of the Church? Mystical Body or political body? Are they equally so?\n\nI wonder what Jesus thinks...who could we ask?\n\nLet's ask Pontius Pilate! (John 18)\n\nOr the Pharisees and Herodians in the Temple (Matt 22)\n\nOr Judas after his little spat with Jesus over use of money (John 12)\n\nOr the mother of James and John (Matt 20)\n\nOr maybe we can jump ahead and read the last 10 or so chapters of Revelation and see how the destiny of political bodies shapes up compared to the Church?\n\nYep...really wonder what Jesus thinks about the nature and purpose of the Church and how much we should care about who is exercising power in the political sense...a mystery we might never solve!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We all enter the Church through baptism just like all the cardinals, bishops, priests, deacons, religious, laity, sinners and saints, liberals and conservatives, everyone - we all come in through the same door, so to speak. No one can \"un-baptize\" us. I am saddened and scandalized by the presumption of people who suggest others remove themselves from the Body of Christ (or that the Church should remove them) as though this were even possible. As a priest and bishop, does he understands the gravity of what he is suggesting? Not only for the injury directed at the those to whom he is suggesting this, but to us all? Would the church he envisions be the Church of Jesus Christ? Very sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Kevin! \nI surely will join you every Friday 'to pray and fast'!\nDo you know it is Christ in you who is guiding us to do this! \nThank you God for answering our prayers!!!\nI used to fast on Fridays until I retired and miss Fridays so often that I just fast one meal everyday now. Now we have a prayer commitment, I will try harder to remember Fridays. God bless God!!!!!!! :-)\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is utterly heretical. From Vatican I's Dogmatic Constitution DEI FILIUS: \"For the doctrine of the faith has not been handed down as philosophic invention to the human mind to be perfected, but has been entrusted as a Divine deposit to the Spouse of Christ to be FAITHFULLY GUARDED and INFALLIBLY INTERPRETED. Hence, also, that understanding of its sacred dogmas MUST BE PERPETUALLY RETAINED, which Holy Mother Church has once declared; and there MUST NEVER BE RECESSION FROM THAT MEANING {Wait for it, modernists} UNDER THE SPECIOUS NAME OF DEEPER UNDERSTANDING\". And can you please show me where the Magisterium has declared it a DOGMA that the Church in Ireland is to reject the \"priority {whatever that means}\" of a homosexual companion? In other words, you reject actual dogma, and then whine about some non existent dogma. That would not even constitute a disciplinary rule, let alone a De Fide teaching. How do you expect to be taken seriously when you simply make something up?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No sorry your wrong Irvine.......the scriptures are coded to open their treasures to the sincere seeker.....not the academic who thinks with his years of study he can just understand....thats the beauty of the bible...it opens itelf up to the simple and hides itself from the academically proficient.......once on the path of denial then God allows one to be led by their own reasoning which is devoid of the essential element of the HS and divine insight.......it will be as though they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them. For this reason, God will send them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie........", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The law drove him out of the Church. Apparently you think this is a good thing.\n\nNo. the Sabbath was made for man, no matter what the God you have made in your own image and likeness says.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's see what you left out of Canon 212:\n\nCan. 212 \u00a71. Conscious of their own responsibility, the Christian faithful are BOUND TO FOLLOW WITH CHRISTIAN OBEDIENCE those things which the sacred pastors, inasmuch as they represent Christ, declare as teachers of the faith or establish as rulers of the Church.\n\nThey have a right to make their statements. They did this two years ago. Their pastor and bishop did not see it their way. There is a canonical procedure they can follow, although with the picayune complaints I cannot imagine them getting what they apparently wish.\n\nCan. 223 \u00a71. In exercising their rights, the Christian faithful, both as individuals and gathered together in associations, must take into account the COMMON GOOD OF THE CHURCH, the RIGHTS OF OTHERS, and THEIR OWN DUTIES TOWARD OTHERS.\n\nRoman Catholic Women Priests is not Roman, is not Catholic, nor Catholic priests. All participants in their ordinations have been excommunicated.\n\nF.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah yes, Burke is a good enough lawyer to declare that the survivors in Guam who wanted to testify could not be accompanied by a lawyer, and clever enough to know that people who have been through the additional trauma of appearing unaccompanied before a board of severe imposing men asking very difficult answers might back out. And since a number of them did back out for self-preservation, that should take care of the accusations. Clever, very clever. Christian? What does that have to do with anything?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The elements of bread and wine are not acting. They are acted upon.\n\nThey are, however, the same elements that Our Savior used in the first Eucharist.\n\nChrist Himself was male. He is also our High Priest. The High Priests were male.\n\nThe Mass itself is the anamnesis of his sacrifice. Read Hebrews.\n\nIt may help you understand why the ceiling of a traditional church is often a dome painted like the heavens.\n\nI would also consider reading something, preferably from the Eastern tradition, on the iconic values of all of this as Christ\u2019s sacrifice on the cross and his continuing eternal offering of that sacrifice to his Father are made really present during the Eucharist.\n\nAll of this was sorted out long ago, so your Zwinglian analysis is a bit off-putting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed. And I think that this is what Pope Francis is really after. He wants to make an example of Burke just to remind all the cardinals plotting against him who is in charge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, the gospels portray several non-Catholics in heaven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm so glad Pope Francis won't allow himself to be drawn in by these pseudo-Christians just eager for a photo-op & a headline.\n\n\"On June 23, 2014, Kenneth Copeland, along with James and Betty Robison and other evangelical church leaders, met with the Pope in Rome at the Pope\u2019s request.\" The Story Behind Brother Copeland\u2019s Papal (http://kennethcopelandministries.org/the-story-behind-brother-copelands-papal-visit/)\n\nWoops! Michael Sean, call your office.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Immaculate Conception was not a new revelation.\n\nThe Catholic Church teaches that revelation concluded with the death of the last Apostle.\n\nThe dogma arose from the Tradition of the Church, which consistently held that the Theotokos was at the time of Our Savior's birth free of sin, which was and remains reflected in the hymns and prayers of the entire Church, even of our separated brothers in the east.\n\nOn this matter the Church has consistently held that women cannot receive ordination, and it has always, everywhere, and without exception held attempts to ordain women as null and void and treated the recipients as non-clerics.\n\nIn the case of the Immaculate Conception the teaching arose in the ordinary magisterium infallibly and was made dogmatic in 1854. In the case of ordination the teaching arose in the ordinary magisterium infallibly and may well become a dogmatic pronouncement if the unwillingness to accept it continues to be an issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And we all know what Jesus thought of money! He wasn't very popular with the money-changers in the Temple. Nor did he consider the money on the altar to be holy. The altar was and because of that---the gift on the altar [including gold] became holy.\n\n\nGod doesn't bank the money that the Church receives. People do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alaska has a false economy. It's time for a readjustment. The PFD along with generous social welfare programs have been a \"siren call\". We have more unskilled workers than jobs. Organizations like Catholic Social Services make plenty of money resettling third world refugees - who are placed on public assistance while many First Alaskans continue to struggle. \n\nIt was tough enough moving my family here 30+ years ago...when things were \"good\". Worked two to three jobs for over a decade - sans any public assistance save the PFD. Until we could afford insurance, if a family member required medical attention, paid out-of-pocket. With a little negotiation, prices were always reasonable. We never joined the \"conditioned\" throngs, in the emergency waiting room, any time a child had the sniffles. Yes, thankfully, catastrophic medical issues never arose (odds clearly show they won't). \n\nNext time ur in line at Costco C4 Urself what disabled/SNAP dependent folks are buying and driving.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The sword of the Gospel. Yeesh!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Latin Mass in Charlotte is at St Ann Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, Pope Benedict began the Church's push to advocate for environmental care, in official magisterial teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course...it would bring the Roman Catholic Church ever do much closer to Protestantism - which seems to be desired by many here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought the proposed theory that Mr Bell presented was infallible by definition. If one fails to do GOD's will, then they fail. Pretty simple and the BIBLE is the source.\n\nIs your intent not to harass and intimidate Mr Bell and everyone else then? Are others incapable of standing for HIM or Mr Bell? Did you wish to exclude my opinions simply because I am female? Maybe you should practice what you preach or figure out what you are going to preach in practice before you start?\n\nAre you unable to look at statistics within double blind approach yourself? Do you always need someone else to think for you? Maybe listening to others may have always been the problem all along?\n\nNow I am nowhere near my father, but I do hold a degree in advanced mathematics, heavy with statistics, and an IQ within the top few handfuls. Since you seem to wish to listen to so many others, maybe I can help? Do we have to start by substantiating HIM or are some things a given?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for a thoughtful response. Having no official theological expertise, I'll hazard the view that the Mainline churches implicitly accept the earliest councils, but not the concept that conciliar views are sacrosanct. The triumph of the monarchical Papacy model within your own church has also put conciliarism in the shade and infallibility though rarely used has deeply wounded it.\n\n As to sola scriptura, it certainly once had great purchase even in the mainline churches, and remains the lodestar of faith. However, within the Mainline there are, in Lutheranism and Presbyterianism, confessional statements. Anglicans have scripture, tradition and reason, and the BCP. These adopt dogma long held within the church, and in the case of Luther a ringing defense of Real presence against Calvin and Zwingli who took a spiritual presence only view. Today, the evangelicals (an amorphous term) are closest to the sola scriptura model, and dismissive of fixed prayer and liturgy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Consider it by way of the following analogy:\n\nThomas Robb is an ordained southern Baptist minister. He's also the Grand Dragon of the KKK. Would you consider it logical, accurate or just to attribute Robb's hateful spews to the Messiah (upon him be Peace)? Or even the southern Baptist church as a whole? I wouldn't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was raised a Catholic. The church seems a bit late on a lot of issues. Condemning the Nazi genocide of Jews during WWII. Ordaining women priests. Birth control. Letting priests and nuns marry. The list goes on and on. At least this pope is an advocate for addressing poverty and inequality in the developing world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump would not have been elected without the 52% of Catholics who voted for him. The American Bishops all too often, as you say, emphasize paragraph 34 of the document while neglecting paragraph 35. They have helped to create \"single-issue\" Catholic voters. ('Yes, we care very much about social justice issues, but in the end, abortion \"trumps\" all.\"). It would be good for them to remind Catholics, too, of a basic tenet of Christian moral theology: The ends do not justify the means. So to vote for a man like Trump in the hope of obtaining an anti-abortion Supreme Court appointment, for example, violates that principle. Should Trump carry out his promises to his base, millions of Americans - and people around the globe- could suffer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Why is \"Catholic identity\" almost reflexively assumed to be a conservative thing?\"\n\nBecause two popes spent three and a half decades making sure that's the case, that's why. Duh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know you guys are discussing AL and it's impact on divorced and remarried specifically. But just to broaden it out a bit, AL and indeed the Papacy of Francis has made an incredible impact on the lives of people like myself. We've been dragged before Bishops for years for preaching the gospel, for preaching mercy and kindness and forgiveness.\n\nThe message hasn't changed for us. But now we can speak and act in a safer environment. Yes, it's going to take a long time for the message to filter 'up' to many of the People of God. But it's a welcome beginning.\n\nIt is the most beautiful thing to sit before a Bishop accusing you of what you said in a sermon on a Sunday and be able to respond, \"Yes, I DID say that on Sunday. Francis said it the previous Thursday!\"\n\nAL has had an impact on parishes where priests are 'listening.' We can say to our communities - No more finger pointing! No more judging! No more whispering and gossip! \n\nThose who have been stigmatised now at least have a chance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To be fair, \"debating the budget on the merits\" means presenting both sides of the issue so that a rational debate can take place. All this article does is state our case. It doesn't look at the views of those who have different budget priorities, many of whom are also Catholics. We don't \"encourage people to enter the debate\" by presenting only one side.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, in essence, Santa has a far greater right to the holiday than any affiliation with Jesus. Well played sir.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Talking in the church unless absolutely necessary is rude to people trying to pray and disrespectful in front of the Blessed Sacrament. \n\nTalk to God before Mass. \nLet God talk to you during Mass. \nTalk to your neighbor after Mass. \n\nThe vestibule and parish hall are for fellowship and chitchat.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Given 'Stats' of the last 30 years regarding our Canada's growing population, it seems 'This is just the Beginning\u2026 '\"\n\nActually, Forest, if you want to extrapolate the stats, Canada will become a country of Tagalog-speaking Roman Catholics and Evangelicals much sooner than it becomes majority Moslem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed Jesus never discriminated against anyone. You are presuming that not ordaining women is discrimination.\n\nWhen it comes to the gifts and Graces of God, no one can claim a right to them. No one has the right to ordination. No one has the right to an office in the Church. God calls whom He desires. God is under no obligation to call women to Holy Orders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think these Australian bishops (from all I've read) have been honest, forthright, sincerely apologetic and genuinely repentant for the system they inherited and inhabited without necessarily know its true scope until this inquiry. Go back a few years to the real-time horrors of Pell & friends' administrations, and your remarks are valid. The fact of SO many related victim suicides (actually ONE suicide is more than enough) shows the very real evil. Hopefully this will be a new beginning (if there are any Catholics remaining in Australia).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is that the same bible that doesn't mention dinosaurs? Thanks for the morning chuckle!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course we cannot have these kinds of debates and expect to get anything done. Just as we should not discuss theology, but rather should believe what we are told by the Vatican, and obey, so too we should not debate foreign policy, but rather should leave it to the President and the Generals. We can not be bound by the \"Constitution\" any more than we can be constrained by the \"Gospel.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Church is going no faster, nor ay slower....\"\n\nYou are right, Gene1935. According to Pew Researchers, the CC (Latin/Roman/Western and 24 Eastern Catholic Churches) will grow from 1.2 billion to 1.5 billion by 2060, only a few decades away. (Islam, however, is expected to double that number. )", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I suspect that Christ's divinity has a greater purpose than supplying you with an evasive answer.\"\n\nWhat \"evasive\" answer? I am not prepared to make definitive statements about what languages Jesus used on a day to day basis, let alone what languages he used at the Last Supper. Are you? You are insulting without actually offering anything.\n\nOK, smart guy: I am prepared to offer you $1,000 when you demonstrate conclusively precisely what languages Jesus used (a) day to day, (b) in in prayer and (c) what languages he used at the Last Supper -- and, importantly, HOW you know.\n\nWe do know that the Jewish Scriptures were published in Hebrew and in Greek, in Jesus' time and place. We do know that Aramaic was the everyday language. And we do know that Latin speaking people lived and traveled in the Holy Land. Beyond that, we are surmising.\n\nBut since you claim to be so smart, and know for sure, please demonstrate it. Your answers have not demonstrated it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The members of the Irish and Italian gangs (all Catholics) certainly created terror. It was not called terrorism back then. But you can google \"Irish gangsters\" or \"Italian gangsters\" to read about the havoc these good Catholics wrought.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're woefully short on your understanding of MLK. First, he advocated \"militant non-violence\". He espoused the belief that violence meant the message was completely lost. Second, MLK consistently expressed the belief that people would be judged by their character and not the color of their skin. All people. Finally, and most importantly, MLK expressed the Christian belief that people can change and find redemption. \n\nToday, we have outreach efforts to gang members who kill, rob, and engage in unlawfulness. Similarly, people who embrace racist ideologies are morally lost. MLK always stated that people are morally equal. He believed in engagement. \n\nConsequently, violence is always wrong. Engagement to bring people away from fringe elements should always be the goal. No one has a right to engage in vandalism or destruction of property because they mistakenly believe they're morally superior to everyone else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is time to recognize the irrelevance of religious patriarchy after the redemption and the resurrection:\n\nReligious Patriarchy in the Christian Church\nhttp://pelicanweb.org/CCC.TOB.html#CHRONOLOGY\n\nExcept for the will of the Church, masculinity is not a requirement for apostolic succession.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, that is my actual birth name...I have a couple of monikers I employ on these sites,to wit:Athanasius and Protestant Gadfly.(I am a tremendous fan of Athanasius because of his unwavering stand during the Arius controversy.)---So...there you have it.Any other questions? PEACE IN CHRIST JESUS, ALWAYS !! \ud83d\ude0a\ud83d\ude0a\ud83d\ude0a.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"While it has been nearly two years since its publication, I think it is time for the church here in Vermont to study, ponder and begin to implement much of what the pope calls for\" in the document, the bishop said.\nPray God all bishops across the U.S. come to the same conviction and implement study of \"Laudato Si\", diocese-wide. A universal theme for CHURCHES UNITED.\nHooray for Vermont to lead the way!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Golden Rule existed LONG before Jesus, so it was an ethical precept, not a religious one. What does our \"help,\" or meddling, have to do with Christianity? That all men are created equal did not apply to slaves, because they were not considered people. Mr. Johnson, do you just make this stuff up as you go along?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please study the facts:\nGrant Gallicho - https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/elizabeth-johnson-responds-committee-doctrine (beautiful take down of the officious Weinandy)\n\nRev. Anthony Ruff - http://www.praytellblog.com/index.php/2011/04/20/sr-elizabeth-johnson-cardinal-wuerl-and-fr-raymond-brown/\n\nAnd Weinandy's story - really, so he prayed twice in St. Peter's. So, because it is St. Peter's, does that make his prayer more powerful, significant? and he ran into an acquaintance and that suddenly becomes a *sign from God*. What is this, an exercise in charismatic Catholicism? What's next? Geez, what if Francis said that he prayed at St. Peter's three times and also had a sign from God - so, which God is correct - Weinandy's or Francis?\n\nMe thinks his four complaints are sour grapes, sounding like a three year old stomping his feet and having a temper tantrum. Suggest private penance and isolation in an abbey for the rest of his life so he can clear up his own confusion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not \"a church.\" The Church. The One. The Only. Accept no substitutes, this is the Real Deal, from the tip of the Pope's infallible miter to the bottom of the soles of Saint Peter! Just ask your local priest, he'll explain it all to you, and remember, Membership has its Privileges. Non-Members will not be accepted into Valhalla! No exceptions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now imagine how much more money would be in the public system if there was no Catholic system in Ontario.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In \"church maintenance\" I include those who assist with Masses and coffee every Sunday, which is typically a surprising 30 to 60 people, plus a few more for religious education. That's good, but in our tiny parish it sucks up most of the talent and energy that might otherwise be available to, as Pope Francis has asked, go outside the church doors. We do some outreach such as feeding the homeless and helping refugees, but it's a small percentage of the money and effort put into running the church for our own benefit. Our priorities seem to be \"bass ackwards\" compared to what we read in the Acts of the Apostles.\nThe priests are working full out, so any progress must come from laity organizing change and new efforts, with or possibly without the priests' and bishops' support.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That certainly reduced the polls to meaninglessness, with \"all\" and \"most\",\n\n48% of Americans call themselves \"pro-life\" and 45% \"pro-choice\". (Gallup)\n\nAmericans who profess no religious identity are heavily pro-choice, at 80%, followed by liberals and Democrats, among whom pro-choicers outnumber pro-lifers by at least 2-1.\n\nThe strongest pro-life skew is among Republicans and conservatives, of whom about two-thirds are pro-life. Slight majorities of Catholics, Protestants, non-whites, Southerners, and seniors are also pro-life.\n\nBut when SPECIFIC procedures are posed to those polled, even a majority of \"pro-choice\" Americans favor banning certain procedures, banning certain reasons for abortion, and banning abortions outright after a certain point in the pregnancy, which belies the \"64%-32%\" black and white fiction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Before praying the Angelus prayer Sunday, Francis reflected on the day's Gospel reading, in which Jesus is approached by followers of John the Baptist and asked if he is the savior John had been preaching about.\n\nJesus replies: \"Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised.\"\u2014Joshua J. McElwee This is the time for some of us to remember, \u201cMake firm the knees that are weak\u201d (Isaiah 35:3), particularly in the snow.\n\nMore importantly for yellow-dog Democrats, in this era of The Donald, \u201cLord, come and save us\u2019 (cf. Isaiah 35:4) and have mercy on those in the Middle East and on us for whatever our responsibility may be in international affairs for what is happening there due to machinations of the United States of America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most Catholics have to be told what to do by the clergy. That's why they are Catholic: no need to think, just do as you are told.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic conversation? No! Your disagreements are YOUR disagreements, not mine! That's why I generally do not \"flesh out\" material for dissenters --waste of time!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "lol....ok, get this. Because of my catholic school environment I did a lot with church music and, during my free private time I taught myself rock music. When I graduated high school I had enough musical skill to get a scholarship to a music school. After one semester I transferred to the geology program and have been a geologist ever since. Pretty funny given what a geologist studies....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting book - but I don't think -as far as I can tell since I haven't read it - highlights the common core of former,silent, or grim and bare it females in the RC.\nAll of these women great and wonderful as they are wield some sort of power that the Church has to acknowledge even without doing it in a full hearted way.\nI can't with a fully informed conscience of Catholic education from preschool on to two graduate degrees attend liturgies on a regular basis. I take from my mother the teaching of spiritual Eucharist.\nThe issue of changing church community works but only for awhile.\nThe Dali Lama believes that respecting your cradle religion is necessary- as do Ego Psychology folks like Rubin Blank who say we have to deal with the parental cards we have been dealt with. \nSo how to reconcile?\nI take it breath by breath and hope for a horn that will break down walls and instead afterwards build bridges.\nReconfiguration is the only path to Ressurection.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually those who have read my comments for years on this forum got my point. Men tend to organize things in terms of straight line hierarchies, and the argument for the 'vertical' conceptualization of God in regards to humanity, is a male concept. Women deal in communities not hierarchy. Jesus was a community mind, not a hierarchical mind. Men don't want to see that. I have written more than once that Jesus came to teach men how to be more like women because men have lost sight of the teaching in Genesis that both sexes reflected the image of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why won't the Church officially support a claim to religious freedom when a Catholic objects to paying taxes to oppose war, or local taxes that might pay for imposing the death penalty or a kid claiming conscientious objector status in the military?\n\nThe Church draws a line in the sand on the issue of religious liberty ONLY for abortion and contraception.\n\nSomething is not kosher here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW seems unusually bitter and territorial. \n\n\"An ad during the show featured Bishop Robert Barron, auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, encouraging people to subscribe to the National Catholic Register. Barron took a swipe at the rest of the media before bestowing his blessing on the Register, which is owned by EWTN. I wonder if the bishop thinks Edward Pentin's articles from Rome are good for the church or not. I wonder if he thinks Msgr Charles Pope's attacks on the pope, which are published at the Register and which I have highlighted before, is an example of the kind of evangelization the church needs.\"\n\nHe seems to try to write above his educational level; he was a terminal Bachelors...in poly sci, even. And he's a visiting \"fellow\" at CUA? huh?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your comments don't make me \"uncomfortable.\" I'm inured to the sensationalism of the Catholic right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill Kilgallon, a member of the PCPM, told the Royal Commission that one of the areas he would like researched is the extent to which non dismissal and retention within the monastic or clerical community affects recidivism. At the moment there is no evidence except its historical failure. Brother Payne, the Professional Standards Officer of the De La Salle Brothers, told the Royal Commission that even within a monastic community where supervision is arguably more effective than for a diocesan priest, it is an \u201cis an extraordinarily difficult practical managerial operation,\u201d and he was not satisfied that retaining them was a solution. Non dismissal smacks of the clericalism that was evident in the 1920s when the Vatican negotiated Concordats with sympathetic Catholic countries so that convicted priests would spend their sentences in monasteries and not jails. The Church now admits the victims have not been listened to. On this issue, the evidence is that nothing has changed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A conclusion you are able to draw because you only operate on the level of the principle of \"doctrine\" ... with no room for pastoral discernment.\n\nYour closing question sounds rather like what Pharisees might have said of Jesus ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't say passive voice; I said they are passive with respect to the one praying; they require no action on the one praying. They are requests to, not demands of, God.\n\nI'm also no linguist, but you seem to take a big leap from \"thy will be done\" from our \"desire, want, wish, hope\" to a requirement of us to actualize God's will for Him.\n\nIf what you say is the case, should not the prayer say may We do your will and may WE bring your kingdom, especially to distinguish it from the other requests which are pleas for God to act?\n\nWaiting for the magical appearance of God is what Jesus spoke of: Recall the panic in the boat when the storm came up; Jesus told the apostles to have faith, not freak out. Because God takes care of us (Matthew 6:26-34).\n\nGod is the creator, the king. We are his subjects. We love Him and have faith in Him. We are individual seeds that grow independently; some plants will survive, some will not, but not because the plants form an alliance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can you possibly blame Hillary Clinton--a wife who did what Catholicism tells us she was \"supposed\" to do and stay married to her husband whatever his mistakes--for her husband's philandering? This is just one example of the double standard and pervasive sexism that helped undermine Clinton's candidacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently Cardinal Mahony and the Episcopal bishop were golfing buddies, so can't have any \"sheep stealing\"...which nobody ever complains about when it's Catholics going over to another religion. If the parishioners of St. Mary of the Angels wanted to be Catholic, the golfing relationship between the Cardinal and Episcopal bishop shouldn't have been an obstacle. \n\nThankfully Archbishop Gomez is more tradition friendly but after all the legal battles and all that has changed over the years who knows if St. Mary's will still join the Ordinariate?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Having Irish Catholic ancestors, I wanted to share some observations regarding the words FATHER and MOTHER. My parents were born in America in the early 1900s. Apparently, the word FATHER was traditionally reserved for priests, whereas the word MOTHER was proper for female parents.\n\nIrish Catholics usually seemed to prefer \u201cdad\u201d, or less often, \u201cda\u201d. I knew kids who used the word \u201cpop\u201d, but none seemed to be of Irish descent. Some of my Protestant friends used the word \u201cfather\u201d to address their male parent, which seemed weird to me as a child.\n\nMy mother and aunts usually used the word \u201cmother\u201d to address their female parents. Although my mother would have liked me to do the same, times had changed and I insisted on caller her \u201cmom\u201d. She endured this generational shift, but did make it clear that calling her \u201cma\u201d or \u201cmummy\u201d would be disrespectful.\n\nIncidentally, during my early childhood, our pastor was called \u201cMonsignor\u201d, which seems to be equivalent to \u201cMy Lord\u201d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There has been division in the Church for the past 2,000 years. At some points in the past you could actually be executed for being on the opposite side of an issue. To try to wipe out all opposition betrays a lack of trust in the Holy Spirit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And yet this guy is saving lives in the name of Allah. Maybe he even keeps saving lives because he will be rewarded for it by God. So which is it? Are you saying he's not muslim because he's not encouraging people to kill or doesn't feel the need to kill?\n\nHow long are you going to pretend muslims have a collective intelligence instead of each their own personnality and beliefs and behaviors good and bad, just like any christian, atheist, jew, sikh etc?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u2611 I used Wikipedia. My attempt to use a generally acceptable source\n\u2611 \"stated in the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report\" Yes the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change did say that, didn't it.\n\u2610 \"the scientific consensus as of 2013\". There is a difference between a \"scientist\" and a \"climate scientist\". That is how to create a \"scientific consensus\". There is a deep pocket, the developed countries, U.S.\n\u2610 \"it is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century'\". Look at this \nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleoclimatology\nThat is the actual record. Describing \"observed warming\" since \"the mid-20th century\" (only 67 years!) is deceptive and manipulative\n\u2611 The comparison of Christian Fundamentalists to Paris Climate Accord Supporters was intentional. Both rely on \"expert testimony\". It is called Argument From Authority\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority\n\"a fallacy\" \"wrong subject\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you think the question turns on a supposed contest between being a Rastafarian and being Catholic, you miss the point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do not conceive of the Church as amorphous but I do not believe that there is such a thing as structural sin. It is only individuals who commit sins, individuals within structures, organisations and institutions and it will be those individuals who will be judged individually not the institutions. To say the Church sins implies that it will be judged as an institution which opens up the ridiculous possibility of the whole People of God, with which you equate the Church, being found guilty and condemned.\nI don't see God as quick to condemn, Gods forgiveness and mercy is extended to all who repent of their sins and seek to do His will. You make these accusations and judgements of me simply because I disagree with your particular concept of God which is not a Catholic concept. The only relationship with God we can have is through His Church, we cannot separate God from His Church which is what you are attempting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a mother, and religious sister, I understand and support celibacy. I know had I entered religious life while my son was still dependant on me, I would not have been free for ministry. My first obligation would always be, as is right, to my son. If it were a choice between job security or going to the margins where the church is called, I rightfully would always need to choose for the welfare of my family.\n\nMy very cynical take on this is this is more about men doing all they can to protect the all male clergy rather than looking deeply at what is needed for the people of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Note the primary reason cited for this massive downsizing and cruel abandonment of communities is the shortage of priests not the needs of the people. The church has enormous resources in lay ministers, women, deacons and non-celibates. The Holy Spirit is shouting: time for a change and a new flourishing church", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"occasions of sin\" is putting it lightly. \n\nFrom our illustrious Church Father Tertullian \"women do you not know that you are (each) an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives ... the guilt must of necessity live too. You are the devil's gateway: you are the unsealer of that (forbidden) tree: you are the first deserter of the divine law: you are she who persuaded him whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack. You destroyed so easily God's image, man. On account of you\u2014 even the Son of God had to die.\" (from his writings on the Apparel of Women)\n\nnot exactly a feminist, no wonder we are messed up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It depends on the community we are talking about. The disciples were a community attacted by the teachings of Jesus. He taught them a way of life centred on love of God, the community, and even the enemy. He later died for the community to show that it continues after death. He was an amazing organizer as the community is still alive 2000 years later.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do think we need to move from a spiritually based on rules to a more mature spirituality of love. Jesus spoke about a Reign of God based a consciousness of compassion, kindness, caring, and sharing. This theme will find its shocking climax in the realization that \u201cthe mystery is Christ within you, your hope of glory\u201d. This development of love consciousness is the true Second Coming of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no essential difference between a bishop and an archbishop.. as far as Our Lord not being into such, as the number of His followers expanded some form of administration became necessary. What could be more fitting than it should be those who had received the grace of Holy Orders, the charism of carrying forth the teaching Christ bequeathed to His Apostles, the Bishops, (overseers). The divine institution upon earth, the Church needs to be be administered through a hierarchy in order to preserve its unity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...Toronto was still very much a British colonial town. Even as the country celebrated its nascent nationality, the Union Jack was raised all over the city, Captain Woodhouse of the Lord Nelson led a feast for the poor, and groups of men sang Rule Britannia...\"\n\nThis is not Canada ...with a bunch of \u00ab Loyalists \u00bb Orangemen. \nThere is no place for a bunch of Ku-Ku-Klowns in Canada.\nAfter the establishment of the Canadian Federation (1867), the English speaking several provinces attended helplessly to the adoption of several LAWS and regulations, anti-Catholic and anti-French in English Canada, especially in that regard to denominational schools outside Qu\u00e9bec.\nAnti-Catholic and anti-French attitude drew its source, among others, the fact that many of the Loyalists who came to Qu\u00e9bec after the American Revolution of 1775 (Eastern Townships/ Ontario and Western Provinces) were \"Orangemen\" convinced\n\n\nAnd Paf ! Problems started across French Canada EVER SINCE !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"At the time, Bishop Wieslaw Mering of Wloclawek accused Boniecki of \"spreading confusion among the faithful,\" and representing \"a wolf among sheep, rather than a shepherd.\"\"\n- The phrase, 'spreading confusion among the faithful' clearly is a totem.\n- We need only to look at ArchbRaymond; removed from LaCroix, pulled out of St.Louis, dismissed from the Apostolic Signatura and other organizations of the Holy See, now a superannuated chaplain of the Dames and Knights of Malta; who uses 'confusion among the faithful' as a totem for rallying the pure catholic church crowd', to understand that 'the game is afoot'. \n- Forsooth, when have the faithful ever been not confused. Indeed there is no time that confusion is not part of the growth in the Lord Jesus Christ. Confusion is a sign of paying attention by Christians, and not of cud chewing 'pay pray obey' pew warmers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just who's doing the spinning to meet their needs? \n\nThe church is indeed here to \"guide and teach Christ's message\", not to indulge modern man's desires.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was probably the Trump's speech in Poland that triggered it's release at this moment. MSW is once again not crediting the true influence of this movement. It has nothing to do with numbers of adherents, but who they are and the influence they wield. People should Google Fr James McCluskey OD for more insight into the conservative Catholic dream of a theocracy. While they are at it the could Google Eric Prince, a close relative of Betsy DeVos and the past CEO of the black ops company that was called Black Water, but has changed it's name a number of times since Prince founded it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not the behavior one would expect from a man named Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree things are a mess. But I'm optimistic. (At the moment, I find all this \"#Me Too\" stuff cheering.) While I doubt that either of us will see the world at large conform to our preferences any time soon, fortunately, with God's help, it's available to us, to be the change we wish for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not blaming anyone for anything, due to lack of information. I think if the writer is going to use his experience as justification to upend the Catholic Church, he should explain what happened. I doubt that you could explain it either, even if you just choose to accept what he implies as a matter of faith. I do not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Angela Merici, whose Company of St. Ursula was formed of lay women, living at home and not in convents, not cloistered, not in habits, not under the control of men in the church...until after she died and her community was forced to change to a monastic, cloistered, habitted community of nuns. AND they weren't a teaching community from the start--that's part of the myth. The ministry was more one of presence and serving where needed. Teaching came later. \nI'd include Angela, who believed women could lead their own lives and dedication to Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspected it was the former, thank goodness, based on your usual comments. I wish our radical religious leaders stopped taking the Bible literally Even Jesus spoke in parables. The Adam and Eve story is just a myth. Religions have to evolve along with the rest of society.Your comments and those of others indicate that those Bishops need to realize this and evolve along with the rest of us if they want to perpetuate their religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You ask, \"How is it that you conclude that because I do not subscribe to your \"rule\" interpretation of what Jesus said about marriage therefore my approach \"is the opposite of humble obedience, the opposite of love of God?\"\n\nBecause: \n1) As to whether Jesus' pronouncement is a rule: \nWhen an authority says you may not do X, unless Y, that is a \"law,\" a \"rule,\" if you will. You are obstinate in denying this. God does not enact statutes; he tells us his law through Scripture and through Jesus himself telling us what to do and not to do. No reasonable person can deny that Jesus' pronouncement on divorce is a \"rule\" or a law or a commandment. \n\n2) As to the content of the rule:\nMine is no \"interpretation.\" The rule's meaning is plain on its face. You refuse to say what Jesus intended to say about divorce, evading for the third time now. This is not good faith argument. That's the least of it. You're neither humble nor obedient. \n\n3) The rule is Jesus', not mine. \n\ncont'd", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I'm sure NCR denounced them as disloyal to the Holy Father.\"\nWhat 'disloyal to the Holy Father' could mean?\nThe Holy Father should be a nameless, opinion less, servant of God who wait in silence for God's command! \nWe, Catholics are to worry about being disloyal to God only! \nThis is not 'The Holy Father's' kingdom but God's kingdom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great Mokantz! Rethinking the notion of \"saved\" is long, long overdue. It has been so used and abused that it is meaningless. From the mindless Baptism - to avoid purgatory, to the rapture experience of the whatever, the restricting of salvation by constructing a \"narrow gate\" of institutional membership does a disservice to the Creator as well as to our faith in Jesus. I frequently suggest - and it really haunts me with joy - that Jesus broke the bounds of space and time, even in the telling of the story of redemption. He instituted Eucharist of resurrection before he died; He died later and elswhere; He rose even later and elsewhere from both. I recall the lines from a play about a latino martyr: \"Jesus Christ yesterday, today and tomorrow\". Mankind existed and exists well beyond the \"fence\" of Catholicism but well within the yard of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are Christian intervenors heard in cases involving LGBT issues?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"DeSanctis, 60, said many Catholics he knows just move on to another parish when the zeal to re-renovate modern design comes to their parish. \"\n\nBye, Felicia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So observing Jesus' teaching on adultery is like swearing an oath to Hitler? Did the Cardinal really make such a blasphemous remark? Wow.\n\nI wonder if Blessed Franz J\u00e4gerst\u00e4tter felt his conscience required him to swear the oath to Hitler if the Cardinal would advise he follow his conscience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe, the translators didn't have it right. The letters of Paul predate the Gospels. \nThe authors Mark and Mathew were relying on sources that did not know exactly the words of Jesus as handed down decades later (40-60 years).\nBased on Jesus' teaching everyone was included except the Pharisees who separated themselves from others. Jesus considered that sinful. Maybe the \"many\" excluded the Pharisees?\nThe Pharisees were the ones who were doctrinaire and plotted against Jesus. Jesus was compassionate as God was compassionate. We are forgiven as we forgive others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1.\nReligious liberty needs the state more than the state needs religion. This I believe. That does not mean that are not intimately related to, one another. Nor does it mean that either is as they should be or will not conflict.\nThe state is the organization of people of common destiny organized for order, security, and common function. It is the \"civil\", \"civility\", civilization: the common good.\nIt should be no surprise that both state and religion have a common root (for the Christian, it's \"man created in the image and likeness of God\"): people in communion, in community. In this sense \"secular\" is as holy as church.\nAs a Christian, I would summarize this relationship as the companionship of Aristotle and Jesus. Another tradition otherwise. \nPaul not only summarized Jesus message in the most sublime challenge anywhere (Cor.I,13) but he paraphrased Aristotle's sublime text of 500 years earlier, on the essence of ethics, politics and the state (The Nicomachean Ethics). Amazing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree the Word is Jesus and we should follow Jesus and the Trinity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings.....here is another Cardinal that is out of touch with the Sheep! Over 80% of American Catholics use birth control! Humana Vitae was never accepted by members in the Church. His message it mute.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": " I want the Gospel challenge to love and care for all of my brothers and sisters on the journey. \n\nIn my local church it is the people who gravitate toward the TLM who put a lot of time and effort into keeping the food pantry going, visiting the shut ins, trying to bring the English and Spanish language Mass communities together. Of course, they are doing it without self promotion so you probably haven't heard about it. \n\nCatholicsm is not about either/or, it is about both/and.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "some of the ones posting on here as faithful Catholics are really schismatics, who deny the pope is a true pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"On the other hand, a campus Catholicism must be respectful of other faiths.\"\n\nBirds of a Feather.\n\n\"Reads well \u2026 if you could get some endorsements.\"\n\n In looking to satisfy a publisher\u2019s requirement that I obtain the endorsement of a recognized religious expert before they would consider publishing Pain, Pleasure and Prejudice (http://boreal.ca/Koran/PPPContent.htm), the then Rector of Ottawa's Saint Paul University arranged for me to meet with an eminent European theologian and guest lecturer who had written extensively on Islam and the Koran.\n\nHe asked if my book presented the Koran and the Prophet in a positive light.\n\nI said \"no, not always.\"\n\nHe declined to even glance at my manuscript.\n\n\"There was no point,\" he explained \"the Bible also contains questionable passages, and for him to endorse a book that offered even mild criticisms of the Koranic text was to invite retaliation in kind, which would only benefit the enemies of religion.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish Kathleen Wynne would wear a burqa. That will actually display her affiliation with the very people she is most earnestly trying to woo. When was the last time she was seen in a Catholic church,because she wanted to be there, and not just for a funeral.? That, and it would improve her looks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do wish belief systems, whether religious or political, would not draw such hard lines. We have to learn to live together, especially as cities grow. It would be unacceptable for stores or restaurants to reject customers on the basis of religion. Similarly, cemeteries should accommodate all dead people where families can choose a religious burial. \n\nRe: \"Even in death, we find no peace.\" Even factions within the SAME religion can't agree, so some segregated cemeteries have been established. A female friend of my parents moved back to a part of the UK known for its hard Christian division -- in a phone call, she told my parents the two factions used their annual parades to aggravate each other, and she had forgotten how disruptive & potentially dangerous that could be after living in Canada for 30 years. In the Middle East, Sunni, Shia & Alowite don't want to share common ground. People who share ethnicity, culture & language are DIVIDED by religion, causing harm, even wars.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Using your logic, lt would appear that when B.Obama was at ND, there was even more reason for a walkout. Look at B. O's record on human life, such as infanticide & abortion. What would Jesus say to that?\n\nSo which \"policies and actions which directly contradict Catholic social teachings and values and target vulnerable members of the University's community\" is V.P. Pence endorsing? \n\nDoes opening the borders to anyone, who would probably take jobs from unemployed black youth help? \n\nSounds like the \"walkouts\" haven't learned much at ND, especially not wanting to hear a different opinion. Or, \"My mind is made up, don't confuse me with facts\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So why do we still have cemeteries exclusively for Catholics or Jews? Seriously, this information isn't hard to find.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I seem to remember the late Fr. Andrew Greeley, who described himself as a \"statistical sociologist\" in one of his books making exactly this point. In fact, I recall that he said that the bishops did this once, learned that most people in the pews thought sermons were poor, that church hierarchy were uninterested in them, and were generally lowly regarded. But they liked \"being Catholics\". The bishops never again sought out the PEW surveys for such opinions. Easier and safer to just ask a selected group. The fact that the hierarchy has shown no interest in finding out why people leave has been dealt with on this site specifically before.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"You must remember that we are not talking to Catholics on this site.\" Setting aside the argument that to reject a fundamental moral/doctrinal/dogmatic teaching of the Church is to cease to be a Catholic (I agree with you, btw, Tridentinus), there are revelations of this in this thread. Over the years that I've followed the articles and comment section of N\"C\"R, I've assumed that a great many people posting here are Catholics, but this thread shows that a bundle of them have walked out, largely to the Episcopal Church, or to some other ecclesial community that attempts to preserve an outward vestige of the Catholicism. I think it goes to show what my nephew said to me once,\"OMG, Uncle John, ignore the comments section in ANYTHING!\" I'll go away from this thread saddened on one level, but reassured on another: This is not the Church posting here (and to forestall any foaming at the mouth, neither Tridentinus nor I are the whole of the Church, either).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"For the holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by his revelation, make known some new doctrine, but that, by his assistance, they might religiously guard and faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of faith transmitted by the apostles.\" -Vatican I", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Being a good Christian does NOT mean we must endanger our country by having open borders.\u2014xswzq9 Being honest requires recognizing that what distinguishes the United States of America in the Americas is welcoming everyone, especially \u201cGive me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.\u201d As Matthew 6:33 puts it, \u201cBut seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well,\u201d which seems to account for the great wealth of the United States, despite back-sliding.\n\n\u201cBlessed the man who fears the Lord\u201d (Psalm 112:1b). \u201cI have learned the secret of being well-fed\u201d (Philippians 4:12). Never forget, \u201cthe children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than the children of light\u201d (Luke 16:8). Liturgy of the Word, Reading 490, Saturday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time II.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He gets Jesus you say... but from what I've seen he's either dealing a double hand or ignorant of the governing body of the church and the decisions they make in relation to the laity on a personal basis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article mentioned parishioners who left St. John the Evangelist Church in Waynesville for the Church in Exile, but there are more who left who attend the neighboring parish, the church about 45 mins. away or the basilica in Asheville. About half the parishioners have left St. John's including myself. The Bishop in Charlotte is a disgrace. He obviously has no concern for his flock. He has never met with our committee, even after they responded to all the obstacles they had to jump over trying to get an appointment with him. He is populating our diocese with these priests who are anti-Vatican II and he is driving good Catholics away from the Church into other religions. Is this good for the Catholic Church? If he believes there is no schism in the church (restorationists v. Vatican II adherers) he is truly delusional. Fr. Riehl ruined a wonderful church community at St. John's and the bishop does not care.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course, I realize, as do all Traditional Catholics, that Jesus was more about Logic and Law than emotion. But if I were to indulge in the progressive misunderstanding of Jesus, I cannot help but think He laughed at Peter when Peter sank after running out on the water. Of course, I might then wonder if Jesus didn't pick the emotional, sometimes reckless, but honest working man as His rock for a reason. Which could then lead to the heretical consideration that, starting with the oh so well educated Paul and continuing through 2000 years of oh so well educated experts in canon law, theology and whatnot, things have gone a bit awry. Naturally, as a True Catholic, I would never go down that avenue of speculation. It is not Bishop-approved.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gregorian Chant can be really dull if you're not familiar with it. And it has the added attraction of being in a language the majority of Catholics don't know.\n\nPolyphony requires a well-trained choir, and also is in Latin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am 100% against abortion. I have no problem with using pictures of aborted children to convey the truth that abortion kills. But it is a sacrilege to use an altar, consecrated to offer sacrifice to God, for such a display (assuming the \"miserable table\" as Luther called it, is actually an altar). If the story is true, then this priest needs his head and his catechism examined", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I foresee a great move to isolate America from the rest of the world---as President-elect Trump promises to 'make America great again.' The isolationist policies will seek to:\n\n1) cut trade with China and other trading partners both in the east and mid-east. Americans will go to Walmart and be shocked at the price-hike on clothing and other items as a result.\n2) there will be a 'freeze' on any action to protect the earth from further eco-damage. Trump considers\n any ban on drilling for oil/gas, mining for coal because of potential harm to the planet as a HOAX.\n3) pull out of NATO and allow nations in danger from Russia/China to 'fend for themselves'\n\nTrump doesn't want to be president. He wants to be an American dictator and will ruthlessly hound any Republican/Democratic who opposes him. \n\nProgressives---Catholic or otherwise---need to gather and fly beneath the radar and just leave subtle, quiet messages with friends and neighbors as to the dangers America is in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Holding hands is like a halftime show or commercial break in the Mass. \n\nThe Holy Eucharist has been consecrated and is on the altar, the Great Amen has been sung, we are about to \"dare to say\" the prayer Jesus taught us, then chant the Agnus Dei, then kneel and (echoing the words of the centurion in the Gospel, and the priest in the older form of the Mass: \"Domine non sum dignus...\") declare our own unworthiness, then finally to receive the Eucharist if we are so disposed. \n\nBut between that Amen and the Agnus Dei, let's ignore the Blessed Sacrament for a moment and hold hands like hippies and have a kind of dime-store, chinese-knockoff communion. No thanks! \n\nWhen I was growing up this was imposed on us one Sunday in the late '80s at the prompting of some laity who didn't think too hard about it or realize that they were desacralizing the Mass. It is good that this practice is fading out and that our sense of the sacred is returning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As far as my own experience goes with Catholic comboxes and whoever is editing them, you're correct. I was quickly banned by Crisis and the other NCR for merely offering a contrarian comment or two. However, if Catholic conservatives tend to be extremely sensitive on religious matters, progressive Catholics are equally so on certain political hot potatoes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is NO teaching from Christ that the priesthood is reserved for men. Indeed, when Martha complained about Mary ignoring her 'traditional role' in to sit with the disciples being instructed by Jesus, Jesus declared that 'Mary has chosen the better part.' Scripture also records that the woman of Samaria was the first evangelist. You misrepresent Jesus, and that's just remaking God in the way you want Him to be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are using government figures that are close to ten years old. As a frequent commentator here on matters Catholic, you might already be aware of the Vatican's statistical yearbook, which will pare down the figures you've seen by half and then some. And remember, you've never accepted the sources I have provided you from time to time, Knowledgeable commenters here will know exactly what I am talking about. You may discover it as need be, if you so choose!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again, Motley, how many instances of such punishments can you cite that took place in the USA? None. But remember the Salem witch trials in good old America, by good old Anglo-Saxon Christians. Remember the hundreds of years of horrible murder by Christians in Europe, over European religious law and doctrine. Certainly those were medieval times, but the Muslim nations in which such atrocities take place are medieval societies.\n\nI have known or met a hundred Muslims in the US, mostly immigrants and refugees from Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan; US citizens from Egypt, Pakistan, Lebanon and India; and students with visas from Lebanon, Iran, Pakistan and India. Most were \"observant\" to one degree or another, but all were peace-loving. Now contrast them to our so-called Christians who, in this century so far, have participated in the gruesome slaughter of over a half million Muslims in their own homes, children women and the elderly along with fighters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "where Earth Day precedes Divine Mercy Sunday, an alignment of dates that has inspired some to use it as an occasion to live out Pope Francis' recent message on mercy toward God's creation.\u2014Brian Roewe St. Mary Church in Vermilion, Ohio, has a deep devotion to Divine Mercy., praying the chaplet daily, either before or after Mass. This article should buttress their devotion. Thank you.\n\nIn the final analysis, \u201cO Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!\u201d (Psalm 8:2ab), EARTH. \u201cyou are the children of the prophets\u201d (Acts 3:25). \u201cTo all the nations\u201d (Luke 24:47). Liturgy of the Word, Reading 264, Thursday of the Octave of Easter I", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So by your definition, anyone who sins isn't Catholic or Christian? Really? Pointing at the faults or sins of others is easy excuse to not follow Church teaching (which is certainly your right). The Church is much more than individuals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a basis of course that ISIS was the one that issued a declaration that they will infiltrate the west. Remember, in times of war the duty of the leader is to protect its citizen first. How would you explain or apologize to those families in US or in Canada that will be a victim of terrorism....sorry !!!! No ! When it come to public safety, we cannot take any risk.\n\n Now as christians, we know our duty is to save and help people and maybe both can be done at the same time. Safe zones within the middle eastern countries and of course they must put a stop to the war. Trump is calling for strong vetting and temporary stop to assess current policies and strategies that i think is logical", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, BROohthor. We sometimes disagree, but I respect your intelligent expression of ideas. Your love of Jesus and us fellow sinners comes through with great clarity. God bless you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...toward a missionary impulse. We cannot let this hour of grace slip by. We need a new Pentecost! We need to go out to meet individuals, families, communities, and peoples to communicate to them, and share the gift of encounter with Christ, who has filled our lives with \u201cmeaning,\u201d truth and love, joy and hope! We cannot passively and calmly wait in our church buildings, but we must move out in all directions to proclaim that evil and death do not have the last word, that love is stronger, that we have been liberated and saved by the Lord\u2019s paschal victory in history, that He calls us into the Church, and wants to multiply the number of his disciples and missionaries in building his Kingdom in our continent. We are witnesses and missionaries: in large cities and the countryside, in the mountains and jungles of our Americas, in all the areas of shared social life, ... \u201cAreopagus\u201d settings of the public life of nations, in the extreme situations of existence... \n\namen", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Jesus comes from God. He also changed our understanding of God. He didn't come to die to change God's mind about us, but our mind about God as Love itself. His parables such as the Prodigal Son confirm it. He tells people to pray \"Thy Kingdom come\". Yet many do not understand that in the synoptic Gospels he talks about it 120 times. It was his primary mission, Kingdom of God. Instead the RCC has focused on doctrine and obedience to the Church instead of the will of God.\nCan you answer your question honestly?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God certainly didn't MAKE Mary pregnant. You attribute a human act to God? In Luke's Gospel, the Angel Gabriel asked Mary if she would be willing to be the Mother of the Savior, thereby respecting her freedom to assent or dissent. There was no visitation in human form to MAKE Mary pregnant. If you believe in God, and accept that He can do anything regardless of our capability of understanding His actions, then you have your answer. If you don't believe in God, however, I respect that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everything starts somewhere. The Bible starts with God creating the heavens and the earth. Does that mean God intentionally omitted what was going on prior to that? What is God trying to hide eh?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I said Jesus condemned her ACTIONS. He did. By instructing her to go and sin no more, he condemned her actions as...SIN. You confuse sin with crime. The men charged her with a CRIME. She could not be justly punished for the crime but her eternal state was still in jeopardy and Jesus addressed what could be addressed, FOR SHE HAD SINNED. Jesus actually elevated the DEMANDS of the Law HIGHER than the criminal portions cited in the Pentateuch. Thus one can be guilty before God of murder and adultery for desires, not just actions. That principle even exists in the Decalogue in the condemnation of coveting. God is not mocked, and He judges and will judge all of us for our sins both of the heart and actions. As for the crime, I have no reason to doubt that Jesus would affirm the punishment of a criminal for crimes committed, which He made plain when he offered no argument to the just confession of St Dismas, but did absolve him of sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For the Church all that is needed has been taught clearly by Jesus of Nazareth more then 2000 years ago. It needs no other moral system then that. Sadly, the magisterium has become apostate at times in making the opposites the rule of Church laws. If we stick with the \"moral system\" taught and reflected in the Gospels, we cannot go wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus understood what the word \"adultery\" means. It does not \"include all abuse.\" That's absurd, and it just illustrates the lengths to which some \"Catholics\" will go to have Jesus conform to their own way of seeing things. As if Jesus said, \"If you love me, let me conform to you,\" rather than, \"If you love me, keep my commandments.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cBenedict XVI told us well: the Church does not grow by proselytizing but by attraction.\"\u2014Pope Francis \u201cHe has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak\u201d (Mark 7:37), those deafened and muted by the sexual cover ups. Even so, \u201cBlessed are those whose sins are forgiven\u201d (Psalm 32:1a). \u201cthe man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God among the trees of the garden\u201d (Genesis 3:8) as does the cover-up hierarchy among the secular trees of justice. The Church needs attractiveness. Liturgy of the Word, Reading 333, Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time, Year I", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remember, these are just accusations, and the accused are innocent and sinless until tried and proven guilty, all appeals are exhausted and all True Catholics have analyzed the evidence to conclude that guilt was proven beyond any doubt whatsoever, including any unreasonable doubt. Plus plaintiffs lawyers, mainstream media, attacks on the church, it's all in the past, everything has been fixed, blame the gays, and so forth. I believe that covers all the comments normally made by those who defend the abuse of children in an effort to defend the hierarchy of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am advocating that the Church change to recognize new revelations of the universe God created, new understanding of humanity and nature, of how we can live together, of how we need to nurture our Mother Earth rather than conquer it. God lets us grow in understanding - it is a part of evolution. We are not perfect, are not all God intended us to be, not only by sin but also because God's evolution is taking us some place. \n\nMuch of what you think is God's will is human attempts to decipher the infinite. What we should not do is freeze that understanding as it came to be in a particular time as if it would be true for all time. Jesus taught us God's love is infinite and we are called to love one another. The rest is open to translation. \n\nThe Church has spent 2000 years developing doctrine and understanding. It is a big mistake to think they always got it right or that what was right for one time is right for all time. Culture evolves, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic prelates have never been in the habit of replying to letters from lay people like yourself, even when it would be in their best interest. They let their silence speak for them! And your \"form letter on cheap paper\" says exactly what these prelates are thinking! There will be no hope of Justice in the church until they are gone! So, keep up your good work!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If anything, the poor have rejected the liberation theology preached by Latin American priests and have flocked to its mirror opposite, the prosperity gospel of the Evangelicals. They really are different sides of the same coin of a distorted Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In terms of the Chinese Head Tax, probably not right (don't know enough to fully comment), but how is that different from current extreme vetting of refugees and migrants from the Middle East??? This time its a security issue, whereas at that time it was probably more of a \"do they have enough money to support themselves\", which is arguably reasonable in a country that couldn't grow much food back then. What about the now Entrepreneurial Class Immigrant that has to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars and create jobs to stay. Isn't that worse???\nThe author states that \"Racism is part of human nature and will always be with us\" and that may be true in the sense that humans always fear and distrust those that are different from themselves. But, is that fear itself racism, or how one responds the real issue??? True faith can help as exemplified by Jesus who loved the outcasts of society. Love is the calling of True Christians. Choosing others before me. That is what made NA good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Totally agree with your assessment of the purpose of power/authority according to the Gospels. I am totally open to the idea of women being the heads of Vatican dicasteries and other important ministries at macro and micro levels in the Church. I would welcome women being in charge of Vatican financials, special commissions, and many other things.\n\nOn a more personal level I really have powerful women parish ministry leaders to thank for my own personal relationship with Christ and the Church. Without my female high school youth minister's vision, outreach, and care I probably would not practice my faith today.\n\nThat said, the relationship between ordained ministry and \"authority\" in the Church is mostly accidental. Only at the level of bishop does governance enter the equation as specific duty in Holy Orders. Nevertheless the overwhelming dynamic of ordained ministry is not leadership but the making present of Christ in the sacraments for the salvation of souls.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Under JPII the Magnificent and B16 a whole apparatus of traditional groups and sites emerged. Their energy was harnessed by the likes of G. Weigel et al. They are a minority of Catholics, even of those who would be practicing Catholics. But they wield their righteousness like a club against any and all \"enemies\" of the True Faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but there really was once a concept that stressed \"Blind Obedience\" in both seminaries and convents. It has nothing to do with life being fair or not. Exactly how gullible do you expect people to be today? Unfortunately, some of our hierarchs expect people to be very gullible.\n\nIf people are dedicating their lives to a way of life----they cannot take or make vows if they don't understand what they are being asked to do.\n\nAnd the authority setting up this Blind Obedience, is not God. The apostles were married. In the early church, bishops and popes were married. The gnostic heresy got into the Church [popes believed certain aspects of it] and it became a DISCIPLINE in the church. It certainly was not a mandate by God. Jesus himself could have been married, as a young Jewish man, then widowed. We have nothing to prove or disprove this [right now].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, in a way, yes \"the mass is a communion of God and His people\" but it is not about us at all except in what is owed God for everything, including our \"self.\" Thanksgiving is one of the four kinds of prayer and a prayer is directed to God alone; God does not thank us as He lacks nothing in Himself. If Jesus is God, and I believe that He is (and I believe that you do, as well), He is more than a Buddah or a guru to \"follow.\" His unmerited gift of Himself on our behalf makes His immolation all the more worthy of worship, where the focus is not one another - that is for later - but on God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit alone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks to all of you for participating in this discussion. A number of comments asked about my use of the term \"the institutional church\". My reference in using that term is Avery Dulles, S.J. and his book \"Models of the Church\". He said, and I agree, that a helpful way to look at the church is by identifying 5 models of the church: institution, community, sacrament, herald, and servant. He insisted, and again I agree, that each of these models are significant aspects of the mystery we call Church, the People of God as Vatican II preferred. There needs to be a balance among all 5 models. My observation is that the institutional (visible organic structure, doctrine first, male hierarchy, etc) is still too dominant, to the detriment of the other 4 models. So, to those who tell me to leave, I say, \"No, thanks. It's my church too\". I want more balance, with a heavy emphasis on community (Gifts of the Holy Spirit spread throughout the community.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On the contrary, affirming it. \n\nRecall the reason the Church advises those in a state of grave sin to refrain from presenting themselves for communion and (to avoid scandal) withholds it from those whose grave sin is manifest. \n\nIt isn't because the Blessed Sacrament is reserved as a reward for the good and withheld as a punishment for wrongdoing. We're all not worthy. Think it over, and if you're unclear on the reason for the Church's practices see 1 Cor 11:29. And then think back to Judas. Some people are unfamiliar since (now scandalously) this verse is omitted from the lectionary. But don't think for a moment it isn't the Church's teaching or a hard truth about the relationship between ourselves and our Lord.\n\nThe lesson here: be careful about setting the written Gospel against the Church's discipline.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics had been were taught that living morally was fulfilled by obeying the law, either the 10 Commandments--divine law or the commandments of the Church---ecclesial laws]. Thomist theology included the 'natural laws' that flowed from observation of the created order, expressing the moral teaching of the Church on sex, contraception, homosexuality, and social justice. Breaking that law made the action sinful, and the offender liable to a whole slew of punishments [which the Church drew from the Bible or from Natural Law], seen as appropriate punishments to curb bad behavior.\nCatholic theology has moved from this legal model of understanding moral life and sin. The 'Crime and Punishment' view is deficient in many ways. The demands of being a faithful follower of Jesus, living according to the vision and values of the gospel, challenge us in ways that can never be adequately prescribed by law. The Bible is a record of God's graciousness to us, not a collection of do/don'ts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(continued #2)\n\"But in this very important meeting for your Movement, I wanted above all to meditate with you on what I would gladly call the spirituality of Auxiliary of Priests. Like all spirituality, it bases its foundations on convictions of faith, is embodied in specific obligations and, through a dynamic of evangelical activities and particular human qualities, participates in the witness that the Church wants to give to Christ the Redeemer of humanity.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Apostles didn't attend Roman Catholic Mass for large periods of their lives.\n\nYou do not wish to be associated with a large percentage of your fellow Catholics - including priests and bishops - if your posts over the years can be believed.\n\nYou have absolutely no right to write your last two sentences.\n\nLuke 15:11\u201332", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, um, has everyone forgotten WHO began the emphasis on Rules? It seems like most of the posters here believe a bunch of white men sitting around in fancy robes just made up a bunch of stuff to enslave people with rules designed to make them suffer. If you start by throwing out the Catechism, will you end by throwing out the tablets of Law given to Moses, too? If you don't believe God inspired His people, how can we \"know\" God at all? Doesn't anyone care about pleasing God anymore? This all seems to be focused on pleasing each other. The early Christians yearned for the chance to show their devotion to God through suffering and self denial. Has everyone lost the concept of sin?!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) Your comments are not correct. Prior to Vatican II---ALL the religious training of Catholics was nothing BUT the Baltimore Catechism. No training in Sacred Scriptures, Liturgy was nothing but a mumbling priest rattling off a liturgy to himself---with his back to the people, lay people were treated as beggars coming to receive the 'crumbs from the table' that only the clergy had the right to receive.\n\n2) We have discipline in the military. That is not what filial relationship with God is about.\n\n3) I prefer Rublev's Icongraphy \"The Trinity\" as an excellent depiction of the Trinity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Something tells me that if the money were spent to advocate against Prop 8, you would have had no problem and would certainly not have felt the\nmoney was wasted \ud83d\ude01\n\nYou seem to have a problem with the fact that the Knights were supporting Catholic teaching. That's the real issue here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Could St Elizabeth's not work in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity to build a dorm on the land provided? \n\nOr are their Christian beliefs not in line with each other?\n\nI'm afraid the homeless issue will be the one thing that DEFINES Hawaii in the near future.\n\nBTW - that photo of the little girl pushing a loaded pram across the street is just so utterly sad. NO little kid should have to grow up that way in an allegedly all powerful, #1 economy \"super power\", developed country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Until Pope Francis complies with two United Nations Committees\u2019 demands to impose mandatory reporting to the civil authorities under canon law, this latest statement is just more smoke and mirrors. Canon law still imposes the pontifical secret on all information about clergy sexual abuse unless the civil law requires reporting. Francis is the senior member of the Italian Catholic Bishops Conference which announced in 2014 that Italian bishops would not report such allegations to the civil authorities because Italian law did not require them to. Cardinal O\u2019Malley stated in February 2016 that quite apart from civil law obligations, everyone in the Church has a moral and ethical duty to report such allegations to the civil authorities. But when the Pontifical Commission\u2019s Guidelines were published in December 2016, that statement was not there, but compliance with canon law was. The Church\u2019s response is still too late because Francis won\u2019t change canon law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are all, individually and collectively, the Body of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First of all, the overwhelming majority of the Catholics in the pews aren't American. Second, it was the overwhelming majority of white American Catholics, who bothered to vote, that elected Donald Trump. The overwhelming majority of non-white American Catholics voted against him. People were voting their skin color and not their religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, NCR is vibrant! It's that scintillating MSW charisma that's sparking a Catholic revolution in this country. We haven't seen the like of it since the days of Fulton Sheen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fair enough Dennis. However, underlying your argument is that \"profit\" is a monetizable benefit. In the case of the non-profit organizations, profit is measured in other terms, i.e. advancing their cause in measurable ways.\n\nIn the case of the Catholic Church, the \"objective of profit\" are souls saved, as in \"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?\" Without this particular objective of profit the Church has no raison d'\u00eatre.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why not join one of any number other churches that would be more than happy to ordain you? I don't understand. Why do you want so badly to be ordained in the Catholic church, especially when you think it is so sexist and discriminatory? Should they also drop celibacy vows? How about including married people? Why discriminate against them when marriage is a sacrament? Point is, if tradition and orthodoxy don't matter a wit to you, then why not join a church that has your same beliefs? It's not just that you want something, it's that you want someone else to stop being who they are so that you can have what you want. I love the Catholic church precisely because it is unique in tradition, orthodoxy, and historicity. If it loses those I would no longer have any desire to be Catholic, I would just find a church that makes me feel the best about what I believe. If I want to be part of the Catholic church it is me that should conform, not the church. That's the whole point after all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The mother of all the virtues is the discernment that enables good judgment.\" Let's be careful to discern and distinguish what's what in the very complex institution we call \"the church.\" Yes, it is \"the church of God,\" and many of its core beliefs, teachings and practices can be called divine and trustworthy. At the same time, it is an institution led by men, some better, some worse, some wise, some foolish, all imperfect and subject to weaknesses of many kinds. So it's no surprise that some things come out wrong.\n\nHuman nature is indeed a very important subject, and that includes sexuality as a part of it. Christianity has a distinctive concept of that nature, and of what a truly pious or saintly relationship of the human with God should look like. And it's fine to leave it there, without too much detail, But alas, people's need for exactness, and the security of authoritative answers overcame their good sense. With discernment, one might see this, still trusting the church in much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You might think that peterpi but that is clearly not based on anything in the bible. Our salvation is based exclusively on accepting that Jesus Christ is our lord and savior, that he died on the cross for the forgiveness of all of our sins, and that three days later he rose from the grave. It has absolutely nothing to do with good works or leading an exemplary life and that is exactly the point; so that no one can buy their way to salvation. It is through God's grace and mercy alone that is achieved.\n\nIf God was 'just' as you suggest, then almost no one would ever achieve salvation. We are human, therefore we all sin. Our words, actions, and thoughts are constantly sinful and Jesus Christ died on the cross for each one of us; for all past, current, and future sins of mankind. There is no justice, there is no exemplary living, there is no price that can be paid. Faith in Jesus Christ alone gets you there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On the Sunday after the election, I moved from the Catholic Church in the Lincoln diocese to a United Church of Christ Church. I needed to be in a place where the progressive values which come from my relationship with Jesus could be lived out. Any progressive directions from Vatican II or Pope Francis are completely overwhelmed by the conservatives in the Lincoln diocese and in America generally. Fortunately, as the Church teaches, the Church of Christ can be found in \"ecclesial communities,\" and they can offer sanctification and salvation. I think the fruit of my \"ecclesial community\" shows we are open to the Spirit's leading in a way many Catholic churches are prevented from being. Thank God for the Reformation!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But cannot be fully appreciated for all its cultural and socio-economic nuances unless followed immediately, like it was, by American Bandstand where the dances {including The Twist} were declared \"lewd,\" \"demonic,\" \"lust-provoking,\" and \"near occasions of sin\" by the Catholic trads of the time, including our parish priest. Now they would be called \"wholesome\" (unless yoga is involved, of course).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not all Christians agree with GBS Motley. We do not display a flag in my church (except vets day). Jesus made it clear that he had no concern for human kingdoms. 'Pay Rome, it makes difference'\n\nThose who sought human power killed the man, including those who 'did what the were supposed to' per the collaboration of the Jewish heirarchy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Disclaimer - Mark was our parish pastor (first non-Jesuit) for six years. Worked with him on addressing the Hispanic needs/presence in our north Dallas parish - liturgy, school, sacraments, family religious training, etc. and setting up encounters so that anglo, long time parishioners understood and welcomed Hispanics.\n\nMark donated and financially supported my high school youngest to do a summer program via Dallas diocese in Honduras. She learned about poverty, Spanish (she is now bi-lingual), and came back with a totally different outlook on poverty, culture, etc. \n\nMark currently supports significantly and powerfully local and state efforts via Interfaith organizations (IAF Texas) in El Paso, San Antonio, Austin, Valley, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, etc. IAF Texas will be using Mark's pastoral with its institutions - in excess of 100 catholic parishes. The TX Bishops are actively working in Austin now with special session of legislature and Democrats pushing back on SB4.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What you have referred me to, Kevin, is an extremely overbearing, preachy attack on the Catholic church that focuses heavily on charges against Cardinal Pell -- a narrative that is likely false through and through. At least he is entitled to such presumption until the witnesses against him surface and face daylight. A couple have, with no credibility. His courageous decision to return home to face them is a mark of innocence. As is typical of such twaddle, the article pins priest sex abuse on \"clericalism,\" rather than lust on the part of men for young boys, which IS the cause of the abuse itself and by extension, the coverup. As I knew would be the case before I even clicked, you wove Trump into it. Pious dissidents really need to create a new bag of tricks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First - all of this stuff about Macial and Farrell is way off base. Farrell left that order decades ago and he should be praised for that. But, IMO, he is a careerist bishop.\n\nTo be fair, many in Dallas have and will continue to praise what Farrell did - and rightly so. My criticisms have to do with the reality that he was here for ten years - what did he really accomplish when it comes to building community? He works in what I call a traditional manner - focus on money, stewardship, bricks and mortar. That is all fine but my criticism is that this should support the mission of the church; not the other way around.\nYes, he bought an expensive home and excused this by saying he needed a place to meet privately with wealthy donors - that says a lot. Flying around - he has been the financial USCCB person for years and involved in Vatican committees. He uses his financial template for the USCCB - fundraising and bricks/mortar. That approach had it upside down.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Segregation in Catholic parishes in the South. While some clergy marched with Dr. King, most did not make waves. They did not violate the culture but in rare cases. They did not lead the movement, except in Washington, but some did follow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a very interesting observation. Could you please elaborate. \nI was under the impression that the canonical process for selecting bishops has never been changed since well before V2, and remains unchanged today? That is, the current ordinary sends three names to the nuncio, who investigates and forwards his info to the congregation for bishops which selects and forwards that choice to the pope for confirmation?\nWhat did change, as I understand it, is (1) only the guidance give by each pope to his nuncio and the congregation, and (2) the abnormal practice of JP2 and B16 to reject the names on the \"terna\" in favour of others, just vitiating the last vestige of local input into the process.\nAm I wrong?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "JK \u2013 wow u have your religions mixed up. Sharia law comes from the Koran not the Bible. Also please read our founding documents, the Constitution and Declaration of Independence for starts, and let me know if u need any help finding the Bible references.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dumb Barack Obama Quotes and Gaffes\n\n\"What I was suggesting -- you're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith...\" --in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, who jumped in to correct Obama by saying \"your Christian faith,\" which Obama quickly clarified\n\n\"I'm here with the Girardo family here in St. Louis.\" --speaking via satellite to the Democratic National Convention, while in Kansas City, Missouri, Aug. 25, 2008\n\n\"Hold on one second, sweetie, we're going to do -- we'll do a press avail.\" --to a female reporter for ABC's Detroit affiliate who asked about his plan to help American autoworkers\n\n\"We're the country that built the Intercontinental Railroad.\" \u2014Cincinnati, OH, Sept. 22, 2011\n\n\nWe can go on and on if you want AK Snowman", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church modified that indissoluble thing in the first three centuries. Pauline privileges and such.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A good place to start would be the Catechism of the Catholic Church and then just take it from there in small, easy steps..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "America was founded on the concept of freedom of religion, the ability of people to believe and practice whatever religion they choose, or none at all. In constitutional terms, this means protecting people from religious beliefs or practices imposed on them by the government or people acting through the government. The constitution protects us from the imposition of sharia law, it also protects us from the imposition of christian beliefs and practices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ the perfect man was not destined to die in the same way as Adam before the Fall was not destined to die. After the Fall without access to the Tree of Life sickness and mortality became to lot of mankind. Whilst mankind had no power over death Our Lord did and overcame it by raising Himself from the \u2018dead\u2019.\nYes, the Eucharistic Sacrifice, the same Sacrifice that He offered upon the Cross the following day was established in an unbloody manner before His death, the selfsame unbloody Sacrifice that is is offered every time He offers it through one of His priests at Mass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why would the activist bishops want more Latino Catholics in the U.S.? They know these Latinos are here illegally, and they know they have home countries to go back to. Why is it so important that these Latinos take residence in the U.S., rather than in say, their home country of Mexico?\n\nThe answer is votes, and power. If the bishops get their dearly hoped for immigration \"reform\" (translation - -total amnesty and instant citizenship for 20 million Latino illegal aliens), then that will make a huge difference for the political power of the U.S. Catholic church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many of these urban dioceses treated \"Catholic\" as an ethnicity and the Church as a denomination for so long that they had no chance of keeping the younger generations. Moves like this look like more of the same defeatism, a management of the decline, making sure somebody is around to turn out the lights when the last one leaves.\n\nWhere is the return to mission? And given that the vocations crisis is a self-inflicted wound, why no actions to heal it by adopting best practices from dioceses that are doing better?\n\nEven something as simple as inviting a vital and growing religious congregation to buy a building and take over a former parish (as Bernardin, of all people, did with the Subiaco-Cassinese Benedictines from New Mexico) would be a good start. Surely there are Dominicans or Benedictines or ICRSS or Canons Regular available to send six men to Pittsburgh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John: Great piece. I, too, recall those days when Sister and Mom told us to \"offer it up,\" usually to reduce the sentencing of those suffering--literally--in purgatory. Quid pro quo. But there was a darker side. \n\nNaive elementary Catholic school students, highly motivated and philanthropic, actually SOUGHT suffering to \"offer up.\" At Sister's direction, they self-devised \"mortifications\" to offer. And some (many?) naturally deduced that the more suffering one does, the more they could personally free souls from purgatory. \"It hurts so good\" was the psychologically unhealthy directive. \n\nAnd, sadly, personal suffering became an objective and even a goal. Sister even rewarded those who found new ways to suffer. There were mortifcation \"points\" that related to pain, fasting, illness, etc., clearly indicating the more one suffered, the better liberator of souls he/she should become. \n\nIf you didn't have suffering to offer up, you darn well better get some! Agony, not ecstasy, was holy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether Crhistian symbols are on allowed on campus would depend on whether it's a Christian school, or a public school where students of various religious beliefs, or non belief should not feel intimated by overt Christian symbols.\n\nWhether they espouse the bigotry and endorse the cuts that hurt our nation's most vulnerable as do the faux Christians of today's GOP, who do not follow Christ's teachings. \n\nAre you really pretending the Trump \"Christians\" do not practice bigotry against gays, are not racist, do not want to integrate their personal beliefs into our laws (our own jihad), and don't support the guy who lies consistently, and brags about groping women?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was strong in his condmemnation of the pharisees, and he spoke clearly about the betrayal of Judas, but he died to save all of us without exception. Thus he regarded no one as definitively lost. If he was fierce he was fierce in mercy in the defence of mercy, against those who belittled mercy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Knights cannot give Pope Francis \"Burke's scalp\".\n\nRaymond Cardinal Burke is under the authority of Pope Francis, not the Knights.\n\nAnd the Knights are not under his authority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is part of a ploy to divorce, in the perception of the greater public, Christ from His Church, to divorce the hierarchy from the lower clergy and the laity. \"We follow Jesus not the hierarchy, we are the Church not they.\" Divide and conquer.\nNone of this existed prior to Vatican II except in the rarified atmosphere of 'academia theologica'. Their dissent was largely contained during the papacy of Pius XII: amongst the laity there was virtually no dissent at all. We all went to Church, to Mass, Confession, Benediction, devotions as our parents, grandparents and their antecedents had done for hundreds of years and more. Catholicism was at an all time high in the modern world. Alas, the non-conformists came into their own after he died.\nThanks to the web a small number of dedicated activists are able to vociferously push an agenda aimed at 'reforming' the Catholic Church of today along the lines advocated by Luther, Melancthon, Bucer, Calvin, Oecolampadius, Zwingli, Cranmer, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How sad Gilbert Valentine distorts and revises Adventist history to suit his/your/the current political agenda advocating WO. At least my2centz identified the right genre: fantasy. Notice though, no woman ever held the honorific title \"Elder\" which is the only title of consequence in Adventist ecclesiology. \"The rise of Fundamentalist Christianity in the 1920s\" is a statement totally detached from reality, let alone Adventist history. Sad is right!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The European Catholic Church buried men with full pomp and ceremony and with multiple relationships all the time. Only the second relationship was the official mistress, not a second wife, and in some circumstances the second relationship was the gay lover. This is Morlino's agenda being enacted, not the Church's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So what? My point stands. A fraction of the electorate does not constitute \"the American public.\" Period, as Minister of Propaganda Sean Spicer would say.\n\nYou claim \"The American public does not wish to fund contraceptives for other countries.\" Sheer speculation. Since Americans support accessible contraceptives domestically, it's probable their support extends to funding availability of contraceptives internationally. Fact: Most Americans aren't right-wing Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The US Constitution recognizes the preexisting right of people of faith (or no faith) to practice their faith according to the principles of that faith and the dictates of their conscience WITHOUT interference from the government.\n\nAs a Christian, I am told in very strong language to \"FLEE sexual immorality\" which includes far more than homosexuality. Like the Corinthian church members, I can't say \"Well, I'm not doing it myself, so it's okay for me to approve (or seem to approve) of another's sin.\" NO, IT IS NOT! The Bible is clear that it is not. I can ignore what the world does outside the doors of my home and the church, but I am responsible for my own walk with Christ and answerable if I present a false image of God's standards.\n\nIt's all there in 1Corinthians, by the way. What you folks do outside in the world is not my concern. What you do in my church or force me to participate in is very much my concern.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stopping the processing of refugees for 120 days is mean-spirited and anti-Christian. These are people who have been thoroughly vetted and who have been waiting patiently for years. It's kind of ironic that this comes from the crowd that talks so much about \"waiting\" or \"getting in line\". What is the point of \"getting in line\", if the line is going to be yanked out from under you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you EFC1127A for your response \n\nYes obviously the first marriage will always remain in effect, in God\u2019s eyes, if you read carefully what I have written you will see that we are in agreement. But I am approaching the matter through the eyes of Divine Mercy as His Mercy is given in the present moment as in an act of perfect contrition (friendship with God based on trust (Faith) as it \u201cunites us to God\u201d)\n\nRepent \u201cchange direction\u201d, we always approach God in the present moment our circumstances can be dire but we can be confident that we are never turned away.\n\n\u201cI imagine is experienced by saints who have so perfected themselves that they are able to slip the shackles of their senses and experience pure spiritual oneness with God\u201d.\n\nWe cannot perfect ourselves as Christians we can only serve the Truth as defined by Jesus Christ as He is in harmony with that oneness \u201cTruth\u201d the essence of our Father in Heaven, \nif we do this we will see \n\nContinued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In my way of thinking, Jesus may have existed. He was a good man going around washing peoples feet etc. Was he the son of God through a virginal birth. Nope.\n\nOr he was killed(murdered) because he was irritating the Roman establishment.\n\nThere is this huge gap from when he got floated down the Euphrates river and then poof, there he is again. Was he raised by wolves or what?\n\nJesus was just a nice guy with a big mouth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not so. I am quoting Jesus's words to you. \nAnd I have put the words that you quoted, into their proper context. \nIf there were room here, I'd quote the whole of Matthew, chapter 23 to you. I suggest that you read it and ponder.\nBTW - Where do you get the idea that the Pharisees \"picked and chose what they wanted to follow\"? In reality, the Pharisees focused on every single small point of the Law, but they missed the whole reason for the Law. As Jesus says here, for instance:- 'Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay your tithe of mint and dill and cummin and have neglected the weightier matters of the Law-justice, mercy, good faith! These you should have practised, those not neglected. You blind guides, straining out gnats and swallowing camels!\"\nJustice, mercy, good faith - these are the important (\"the weightier\") matters.\nAnd you still haven't told me how many people you know who have plucked out their right eye, or cut off their right hand?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have your answer Burke, Christ's teachings are not black and white laws but are living and adapt to every situation. Still too vague? Read the gospels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh Yes - It is always Anecdotal, I can only speak about what I have seen, unless there is more research out there that is acceptable to the omnipotent Icon66. I am sure there is, but debating with you is not on my list of priorities, Christian Health Care Ministries, for one, will flourish, because there will be less waste, less fraud, less frivolous claims, such as \"Gender Reassignment Surgery\" etc. etc. etc...Don't believe it, fine, I really don't care.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cthree political activists who live and try to work in political systems that are rigged and corrupt.\u201d\u2014Dennis Coday. \u201cDemonstrate your faith\u201d in the electoral process in the United States when you win \u201cto ME without works, and I will demonstrate my faith\u201d in the electoral process in the United States when you lose, \u201cto YOU from my works\u201d (James 2:18) by voting. From the Liturgy of the Word scheduled for the School Mass, today, Friday, October 21, 2016 at Saint Mary Catholic Church in Vermilion, Ohio. James 2:18 is in Reading 131B, Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time B.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your comment Eliane\n\nI have made quite a long comment to Beverly in my post above perhaps you would consider reading it; also my Post @ 3 in the link below, any comment would be appreciated. \n\nhttp://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2013/10/st-mark-has-a-message-for-people-on-the-margins/\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cracks me up - people should familiarize with language commonly used in political discussion of days past before declaring that the present 'loss of civility' is a new trend. Animals, animal traits, and animal and human body parts and waste products have often been fairly common in political debate, as have slurs referring to profession, economic class, ethnicity, etc - not just by supporters, but by office seekers as well. Race [skin color] and religion were not often mentioned simply because non-christian, non-anglo individuals had 0 political influence and were inconceivable on any ballot, until comparatively recently.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately, there are very few examples in either the Old or New Testament of 'good' marriages. In fact, I challenge anyone on this list to name even ONE couple in the O.T. or N.T. that had a functioning, stable, respectful marriage. By that I mean:\n1) Entered into the marriage willingly because they liked each othet (even if the marriage had been 'arranged' by their parents.\n2) Had only one spouse at a time, and was faithful to that spouse.\n3) Had children the 'old-fashioned' way, without the aide of angels, servant girls or miraculous 'old age' pregnancies.\n And don't even get me started on the lack of married couples on the roster of saints in the Catholic church. St Augustine, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Rose Hawthorn, were married or had children out of wedlock. But none were happily married. In fact the ONLY person who seems to have been happily married was St Thomas More -- but for the life of me, I can't remember his wife's name!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's putting quite the happy face on Ayn Rand. She believed, fundamentally, that selfishness is moral and selflessness is immoral.\n\n\u201cMy philosophy, Objectivism, holds that...man, every man, is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.\" [August 1962 edition of The Objectivist Newsletter]\n\nThat is the exact opposite of Christianity which regards community, selflessness for the sake of others, and self-sacrifice as noble ideals worthy of emulation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope would not personally own\nit would be Church", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our understanding of what Jesus taught us continues to evolve, as new knowledge about biblical exegesis continues and as our knowledge of life and the universe grows. That is why it has taken 2000 years to develop doctrine to where it is now and to discover that not everything Jesus was teaching us was understood all those centuries ago. For example, Adam and Eve both had mothers and fathers, the sun does not circle the earth, slavery is evil, but charging interest on loaned money is not necessarily evil. We also took quite some time figuring out what the seven sacraments are and what the priesthood is. Perhaps there are more sacraments yet to be realized. And, we should recognize that we are still working on that \"priesthood\" thing - maybe it is time to go back to the earlier thinking that priests could marry and adopt a new recognition that women can be priests and lead services, as they sometimes did in the earliest church.) \n\nBig mistake to think we always got it all right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exposure to Canadian Secular Education make the children of immigrants less prone to following the superstition of their parents.\n\nYou also give immigrants too little credit. Many have come to Canada to escape Theocratic oppression. They are eager to exert their Right to Freedom From Religion in Canada.\n\nSikhs in Canada bring tables and chairs into Temples, finding themselves slashed in the head (recorded on video) by the \"Ceremonial\" Kirpans of hardliners. Sort of like the Catholic reaction to Martin Luthor and other protestants.\n\nCanada is being very slow about extraditing the conspirators who had a young woman killed after she refused to go along with family wishes about who she would marry. That is tied up with youth not falling for the Old Time Religion of their immigrant parents.\n\nhttps://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/strangling-victim-who-died-in-india-feared-her-family-extradition-hearing-told/article12179112/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You might try the following link, where a SPLC \"hate list\", the influenced one to attack FRC offices, with murder in mind, who shot the security guard:\n\nhttp://dailycaller.com/2017/08/17/cnn-posts-same-hate-group-list-used-by-family-research-council-shooter/\n\nOr their designating the Ruth Institute, a Catholic group that works to prevent family breakdown, a \"hate group\".\n\nhttp://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/sep/5/southern-poverty-law-hate-map-listing-costly-ruth-/\n\n\nReminds me, to donate to the Family Research Council & the ADF.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We don't even know if Jesus actually said these things, and if he did, we can't be certain what he meant.\" I mean sure. If you don't have faith that Sacred Scripture is divinely revealed, I'm not gonna argue with you. That depends on your personal act of Faith. \n\n\"You didn't say 'I think this is what Christ meant.' You said, 'This is what Christ meant.' How about a little epistemological humility?\" Remember when you would start every sentence of a school paper with \"I think...\" and you teacher said its already implied you don't need to mention it every time. Its obviously implied what I expressed is my view of the matter. However, I am not a relativist/skeptic who thinks everyone has their own opinions and no one can make claims on whats true. I am making a claim about the passage and what it means. It is obviously my view and anyone is welcome to challenge it.\n\n\"The story of Mary and Martha could be eschatological...\" Sure, there are many ways you can interpret a single passage", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You accept that Jesus preached the reign of God. And, of course, taking Jesus literally is not necessarily alien to that. But, I would suggest that taking Jesus seriously is more important than taking him literally. You treat as a simple command a teaching on marriage that is much more powerful, and much more connected to the primary thrust of Christ's teaching, than you are willing to recognize.\n\n\"God doesn't give us inconsistent commandments.\" True. But that's not the question. The problem is not God, it's us. Human interpretations can and do embarrass the church by making God appear inconsistent, as St. Augustine appreciated when he cautioned against interpreting God's Book of Scripture contrary to God's Book of Nature.\n\nFinally, your history is mistaken. Indissolubility has never been the simple rule that you prefer. Consider Paul's handling of the pagan couple, one of whom converted. Or the Council of Ephesus, which prescribed a period of penance. A rule is not enough.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for posting the link to the video presentation of Abp. Coakley's brief remarks to the conference which was preceded by Carolyn Woo's presentation as the outgoing director of CRS. It actually was Carolyn Woo who received the long, standing ovation at the end of her emotional address. Abp. Coakley gave brief remarks after her, and he was interrupted by applause (seated) after his statement that \"...the CRS is a Catholic organization from start to finish.\" His brief followup to Ms. Woo's presentation was met with applause but not a standing one as you have correctly stated. I again want to thank you for pointing out the link to the video to hear Carolyn Woo's words and to see that the bishops of the US strongly support the work of CRS.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, thank you. You are the first commentator on the Kurtz statement to note that the language Kurtz uses of \"demeaning\" women falls far short of the reality that Trump admitted to. Further, not a single bishop, to my knowledge, spoke directly to the Access Hollywood tapes or the subsequent instances of sexual abuse. Where was the outrage from them? My daughter and many of her generation have left the Catholic church because they don't think the hierarchy has any ability, or even any desire, to understand how the world looks from a woman's perspective. They just want to control a woman's body. This is just one more example that women will now cite to me. I'm no longer sure they are wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Abortion, contraception, etc objectively are either right or wrong and are exclusively moral isssues. Catholic Social Teaching extends into the sphere of politics. At present the polarisation is between capitalism and socialism. Whilst all political systems require some form of coercion, capitalism imposes the minimum.\nRemember the 'cup of water' has to be freely given in Christ's name and not extracted under threat of sanction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I speak with the authority of a reasonable member of the Catholic Church. One who understands the meaning of the phrase \"hierarchy of truths\". Do you really believe that the teaching on the ordination of women is as significant a part of the Catholic faith as the divinity of Christ? If so, why isn't it mentioned in one of the creeds?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "His motivation? Well he was active in politics until the DNC pushed out his man, he then immersed himself in what his local official was doing, which is exactly what our local folks are doing, voting lockstep with the GOP. Maybe he saw the loss of clean water and air, healthcare and tax giveaways to the rich as anti American since it looks like pay to play like many another Banana Republic where everything is rigged against you, maybe he had a Black friend whose family had been treated like this since they were dragged to the land of freedom where the rich had everything and the poor had nada. Perhaps he was decended from the indentured class that only got food enough to survive on and cast off clothing from dead people for 7 years of slavery. Maybe he had 58,000 of his peer group killed in nam for no reason, or had friends that were disabled vet's that couldn't get decent medical care from another silly and pointless conflict.\nMaybe he tried to live like a real Christian....powerless", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, discussion is not possible. Just as the Church does not dialogue with those in error, just as the man supported by the US Bishops for president does not discuss what he means, so too those of us loyal to the Traditional Church and the epitome of christian values in the White House do not discuss. I suggest you read the following, and then post a brief essay, double spaced, setting out what you have learned...\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM9Bynjh2Lk", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, the Register says that it supports the Church. Of course, the writers there regularly blow off the social teachings (yes, I have read it, more than once), but you conservatives like to pretend that the social teachings don't count (\"prudential judgment\" is the term you use). It's how you justify your version of Cafeteria Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, usually identified as the National Council of Churches (NCC), is the largest ecumenical body in the United States.[1] NCC is an ecumenical partnership of 38 Christian faith groups in the United States. Its member communions include Mainline Protestant, Orthodox, African American, Evangelical, Josephite and historic peace churches. Together, they encompass more than 100,000 local congregations and 40 million adherents.[2] It began as the Federal Council of Churches in 1908, and expanded through merger with several other ecumenical organizations to become the National Council of Churches in 1950.[3]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. Science posits that the virgin birth of Jesus is impossible. \n2. Science posits that the physical resurrection of Jesus is impossible.\n3. Science posits that all miracles performed by Jesus are impossible. \n4. Science posits that God, deities and the supernatural are not possible. \n\nMy question to you is do you believe in the above? Is Jesus the Divine Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, performer of many miracles, was crucified for our sins, died and descended into HELL, who on the third day was physically resurrected and ascended into heaven, to sit at the right hand of the Father? Science can not answer those questions, only faith and belief in the supernatural can. I personally find the logic of atheists clearer in their complete disbelief in religion, what puzzles me is those that use science as a reason to dismiss certain beliefs of the faith, but not others. It is all or nothing in my book.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "History can be slippery, but it is evidence based. We don't believe in Socrates simply as an act of faith. However, there is very little evidence for the reality of many religious figures. For instance, the only evidence that Jesus Christ existed is stories written long after his reported death. Roman Empire records don't mention him at all. Mohammed, on the other hand, most certainly did exist. There are A LOT of contemporary records, many written by his enemies, proving that. \n\nThat, however, is human religious figures. Of God, or Gods, there is no evidence at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't your comment concerning illegal residence and being good citizen a bit of an oxymoron? \n\nCan a good citizen break the law and not be held accountable for it? \n\nNo. \n\nWhat needs to happen now because of tremendous neglect on the part of our elected officials and Christian charity? There must be a pathway to citizenship for those who, although here illegally, have broken no other laws. Those who have? Deport.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We are in a struggle for the soul of America..US Catholicism\". \"The soul is a set of meanings and values that informs a way of life.\"\nThe two heraldic notions seemed contradictory. In rereading, the key is \"struggle\". \nIs the struggle domination, armed with ideology disguised as \"doctrine\" or \"party\"? Or, is it the Christ informed/infused civilization?\n\"Radical fundamentalism\" is not isolated; it's a sickness spectrum\". The intrinsic evil is exploiting the sickness, in failing to seek to heal. \nThe syndrome in all of us (leader and follower; cleric and lay) is an inclination for superiority that exploits, diminishes and excludes \"other\". It is a \"leadership\" that demands subservience to what is really \"I\" in vitriolic steadfastness; gathers panderers to share in the plunder and, by others, fear or to satisfy the lust for gore. \nThe \"struggle\" is civility, empathy, compassion, intelligence, value; the person within community, nation, church. Redemption in process, in progress.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The suffering servant is vey human. If you take the Gospels together, you can place the passage in John where Jesus gives care of his mother to the beloved disciple right before he call out in despair. In this act, he abandons his divine origins, which he originally learned from his mother (and she kept all these things in her heart) by severing ties with he a his imminent death. Likewise, he tells John (or Lazarus), to care for Mary, not to go out and baptize all nations, thus abandoning his Church as well. Total emptiness, just like that of the sinner in a world of blame. We know this is the sacrificial act because after it occurs, John states that Jesus took the fruit of the vine (I thirst), thus signaling the beginning of the Kingdom of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What do you mean? Do you not know the kind of man Finicum was? He and his wife primarily made their living by being foster parents to 11 children, who they then exploited by using them as free labor to work their ranch. You support a man who engaged in child abuse?? My goodness!\n\nAnd just look at what he did to his poor wife, leaving her all alone to now manage their ranch. Catholic Charities took all of their foster children away from them after the occupation at the refuge started. So she lost her primary source of income, and all the free labor they had for the ranch, all because of his insanity. Obviously, he cared nothing about her welfare. You support a man who abused and mistreated his wife? His forced his poor wife to have 11 children, telling her that it was immoral to use birth control.\n\nThese are very dangerous, mentally ill people, who pose a significant threat. Our government needs to put all of those who supported the Malheur occupation under surveillance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because all protestants follow the \"prosperity gospel\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So I guess forced conversion, introduction of diseases decimating populations, and the capture of indigenous people to serve as slaves was all just fine, huh? This is what Columbus thought of the native Americans: \"They \u2026 brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things\u2026 They willingly traded everything they owned\u2026 They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features\u2026. They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane\u2026 . They would make fine servants\u2026. With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.\" While the 3 million number is debatable, the egregious acts he committed and his condescending perspective of these people because of his assumed religious and cultural superiority is just \"him being a man of his age?\" That's like the Christian who says the Earth \"was created 5000 years ago.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you read the article where it talks about the lady from Quebec who converted from Catholicism to Islam and chose to wear a burqa? Did you read how her husband (whom she met and married after she was already wearing a burqa) tried to get her not to wear it for her own safety but she refused to cave to hatred?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Congratulations. You're at least getting closer to an intellectually honest argument, and not telling us that Jesus meant \"adultery\" to include all manner of marital offense. But are you really so willing to write off the Jesus of the Gospels, the only Jesus we know?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree: resurrection is not resuscitation. Which is why the accounts are so diverse and often ethereal, since they are saying what cannot be said. Even the terms uses for resurrection are also used for awakening, which is how Ephesians 5:14 understands it: \"Sleeper, awaken, arise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you.\" Once that is said, it is best to refrain from saying things that cannot be said, focusing instead in living a gospel life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I had a similar reaction to the Roman Catholic church. As an adult, while I do not agree with many of the beliefs of the Catholics, I have a greater appreciation of the liturgy and what it symbolizes. \nAlso, here are two truths that each side of the church has to learn. The right has to learn to be less legalistic and more inviting. The left has to learn that there are indeed absolute truths and that not everything is permitted and excused.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or the rich lawyer who was told to give all he had and follow Jesus. Not many from the Napa Institute could do that one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So your view is that even though 4 out of 5 of the clerical abuse cases were that of men raping boys, these priests doing the raping were all straight men?\n\nTell me, why don't we see evidence of straight men in other areas of American society displaying a prurient interest in boys?\n\nIs there something about being a Catholic priest that turns straight men into lusting for boys?\n\nWhy not try to answer these questions, instead of simply trying to delete them from the forum?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Disunity since Humanae Vitae? \n\nYou might open the Bible and note what Paul says about \"savage wolves\", Act 20:29, distorting the truth. And through far more wolves then you can count, have come & gone since then, the Church still stands & grows. \n\nBut the emails show the carefully calculated & deliberate attempt to divide the Church, by a political party, and some very wealthy & influential people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joan, childhood sexual self-experimentation is a perfectly normal way that a human being discovers what brings him/her pleasure or pain. This is a universal behavior engaged in by all people at one time or another in their lives. I am not judging you, but you yourself said that such activity is \"intrinsically and gravely disordered.\" By your statement you have therefore said that all humans are intrinsically and gravely disorder at one time or another in their lives. My other comment is directed at anyone who can influence children in a potentially, and yes, I said potentially, damaging way by teaching such negative attitudes about sexuality. Again, this is just one of many factors in psychosexual development. What did Jesus say about all of this? He said nothing! I hold to my belief that the church needs to re-think it's negative, shame inducing approach to this subject. If a child's first experiment with sex is seen as shameful what can that guilt develop into later in life?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing in this publication provides the kind of in-depth, detailed analysis of the sort the Brookings Institution study you referenced does, nor is it meant to - for the simple reason that it's not that kind of publication. To reduce everything that doesn't rise to that level of detail, even when discussing \"complex geopolitical issues\" (which fall within the purview of NCR's mission) to \"tabloid summaries\" seems unnecessarily harsh and dismissive. If I were seeking that kind of analysis I'd be looking elsewhere. That's not what I'm seeking here. Thankfully what I seek I very often find: interesting discussion about a host of issues related, however tangentially, to Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, not necessarily. The Canadian Government with the full cooperation of Christian churches spent years abusing children of the First Nations. I suppose you and others of your ilk do not consider residential schools as hotbeds of sexual and physical abuse. How about Mount Cashel then?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cruz has said he's a christian first, American second; identifies all our rights as coming from God and not \"man\", is a dominionist (look it up), and has made plain that if elected he will govern primarily from christian principles and the Bible, doesn't believe in the separation of church and state; and in short represents all too many who would rather wad up the Constitution and secular government and throw it away in favor of some sort of man-made Kingdom of God on Earth, with all the vast machinery of the American military at its disposal---Kinda scary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Lord is an all knowing and forgiving God. He will direct your steps in your desire to find your roots.\n Psa 37:4\nDelight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.\n Psa 37:5\nCommit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, I am sorry - I am a Catholic. \"They\" refers to the councils of the Church, the constant tradition of the Church, ecumenical councils right through Vatican II, all the non-Chalcedonian and Chalcedonian churches.\n\nYes, I understand that you \"don't care\". What I don't understand is why you think I should care that you don't care.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well I would expect you to stick up for someone who left the Catholic Church since you did exactly the same. You are of course welcome back but it might be an idea - now that everyone knows you walked out - to calm your jets on the pontificating about Church Teaching to those who remained faithful. It leaves you wide open to being criticised for, amongst other things, guilt transference.\n\nOh, and try and communicate now and again with fellow parishioners. Jesus fed the five thousand not just one 'special' one sitting separately in the corner with a face like a burst couch. It honestly isn't a scandal for you to do that. And to cheer up a bit. \n\n(And btw, when the Prodigal Son returned, he didn't blame his father and lecture him on where he went wrong. It would be a good parable for you to read. Or perhaps a complete waste of time.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your response monicadeangelis\n\nYou may say that I have conflated lots of complex moral issues (I accept the amateur poem bit) but I believe we are on a downward moral spiral that will eventually lead to a culture of death. I have read many of your posts on the site you are very well educated in comparison to myself, surely you have the intelligence to see that this downward spiral cannot be contained.\n\n I do not have or seek the moral high ground this perception is a reflection of your own heart, as I am a flawed human being and truly know it. \n\nThankfully the churches moral teachings are still true to the Gospels and she holds them for the benefit of all mankind, thank God.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Sarah was given a job to do by Francis, himself. There were plenty of heterodox prelates he could have chosen but it was early days and he didn't want to be accused of turfing good Catholics out of of the Curiaall at once so he appointed Sarah but craftily sacked the rest of the Congregation leaving him Prefect in name only. Since then he has continued to humiliate this Cardinal, perhaps hoping he will resign.\nHe has destroyed the St John Paul Institute using the same underhand tactics. He has humiliated Cardinals Ca\u00f1izares, Burke M\u00fcller Brandm\u00fcller, Caffarra, RIP and Meisner, RIP and many others in the Curia with his Christmas rants, Cardinal Sarah is in excellent company. If he is wise he will stick to his guns until Francis has no choice but to make another martyr.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hardly any is back-channel. Asking the Nuncio to have Reagan declare the unborn as Vatican residents was, as was my expereince at NARAL, but most of it is based on published reports, like the getting rich on pro-life donors by Vigure and their attempt to use the personhood movement at the state-level to bring back its base, which was fading at no action. Trying to get both Clinton and Obama to call the movement a fraud was real. Obama did and got the Catholic vote. Clinton forgot and lost it by a huge shift. The PBAA as a stalking horse is appraent from the RTL Amicus briefs, and Jay Sulkolov never got back to me on using the 14th Amendment to justify the Act, which he did not want to do, so instead Kennedy used the Commerce Clause. The associate I worked with on the other side rejected the same approach to overturn the act because it did not cite the proper authority, but they figured correctly that the Court would simply use that authority anyway to keep the Act.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People, Including Catholic Popes, Bishops, clergy and laity, have interpreted all kinds of things as if they were Gods Truth. We were officially told by the Catholic Church that slaves should obey their masters. This was told people with the whole force of Catholic Authority. Many conservatives on this board attempt to say that the Church did not teach the centrality of the earth in the Universe and that man was the central creation on earth, yet Pope JPII officially apologized for it. Lutherans were in fact excommunicated for their objections to church teaching that in recent times were agreed to by the RCC. Lots of mistakes by Catholics and others about what is God's truth are made by false interpretation of what is truth. Your pretense of not understanding is of course a pure denial technique because you seem to see your dogma as always completely and wholly true. This is simple naivety, or delusion or even worse manipulation of truth inspired by the Spirit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, I do, too, Anon. It's just this bandying about of the term \"Christian\".....\nAnd as for Pence -- it's interesting that there is no hue and cry from the guardians of all things Catholic to have a man who stands for everything that is contrary to the social teachings of the Church to speak at the commencement. It kind of gives lie to the idea that they care about anything but pelvic issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe we should stop offering prayers in these public forums since it is clear that very few people actually understand what the point of offering a prayer is ... to ask for God's guidance in the proceedings. If we actually did that, there'd be a whole lot of laws that wouldn't pass simply because we'd know they violated God's guidance.\n\nAnd, ultimately, if I look at this from a Biblical point of view, having a Satanist open the meeting is being very honest about who really controls government ... and it is not God.\n\nWhen Satan carried Jesus to the pinnacle of the Temple and offered Him all the kingdoms of the world, Jesus did not correct him and say \"You don't own those, My Father does.\" Why not? Because other places in the Bible tells us that Satan is the \"god\" of this world. He owns the governments -- which might explain why so many are tyrannical and evil, even the ones where we're given the illusion of choice by periodic voting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now, now, Ellamae. You are right. Even a perfect hermeneutic does not come near doing what is right. The hermeneutic doesn't glorify God. \n\nBut it is the method we use to understand God's revelation through the scripture. \n\nIt makes no sense to read the bible looking for the answer to the question which you have a predetermined answer for already. \n\nThe question is, did Jesus, Paul, the NT Church ordain women to leadership? Did they offer a rationale to explain their actions? How has the divine revelation been understood in the past? \n\nTo hermeneutically explain away the plain meaning of the texts concerning WO lays a foundation to explain away all the distinctive Adventist teachings, which up until the present have been pretty consistent hermeneutically. \n\nI know 'hermeneutic' is a fifty cent word, but it works precisely at the task of explaining the stakes involved in how the questions are both asked and or answered.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jim,\n\nYou are correct; both Jesus and Paul offer examples of avoiding unnecessary offense. They both also offered categorical examples of just the opposite. Compromise and accommodation are not two terms I'd use to define either.\n\nPatterson's point is certainly not that those opposed to women's ordination have bent enough. He battles on - women must be ordained to the gospel ministry. It doesn't matter how often the church collectively says 'no'. It doesn't matter how accommodating church policy has been to his unbiblical doctrine of equality.\n\nThis is a question only the authority of scripture can answer. And Patterson's argument ignores that fact.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, we have covered this before. I would like to add the following:\nThe Church's attitude to women is a problem for anybody who feels women are equal to men. I think Jesus Christ was a feminist and continues to be. \nLGBT may be a seen as a sin to the Church, but it is for many in their community not a choice but a gift of God. In other words, not a sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One may easily simplify the Torah, but such simplification of Catholicism is not possible. The complexities of the faith and tradition require lengthy study of many texts, preferably in the original latin, and constant reference to the catechism. To be a true Catholic, and thus a true Christian, one must spend rigorous hours of study. Perhaps after study there may be time to do a little something for one's fellow man, but even to adequately understand what it means to love one's fellow man requires much study and exercise of the intellect. Of course, as a default, one may always simply obey all commands made by the nearest member of the clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gentleman - It is YOUR logic that leads to your conclusion.\n\nIf we claim to base our theology on Scripture at all, then our interpretation, understanding and application of Scripture makes a difference. \nTrue, the very reason we call ourselves \"Christian' is because we put a trust we call FAITH in the words of the Gospel writers that \"The Word is God, and the Word was made flesh and lived among us, And we saw his glory: the glory of the Only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth\".\n\nThat's precisely why we need to be concerned that we teach and believe in the truth as we know it today, and are willing to improve on our understanding of truth when required by the evidence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some clergy and laity seem to have difficulty distinguishing the difference between 'certainty' and 'faith' ...and/or between 'uniformity' and 'unity'. The pope's exhortation reflects what occurred at the two synods, and that the prelates often had to agree to disagree... unity without uniformity, based in faith and not certainty... if one wades through and reads all of the paperwork cranked out. Clergy and laity with an intolerance for ambiguity of any sort are nearly apoplectic trying to nail the synod results down into hard and fast rules. That cannot be legitimately done without nullifying the meetings and results themselves. It is what it is.\n\nMy sense of it is that a need for absolute certainty etched in concrete rules stems from a fear of otherwise losing faith... faith that is a gift from God and not the result of a mandate for children. Pope Francis is treating Catholics like adults.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think it was clear that Francis wanted nothing to do with someone who put up \"social walls.\" There were many Catholics who were single issue voters regarding right to life issues. That this group, including all Church officials, would allow themselves to believe Donald Trump on this or any issue is disturbing. A person who cannot respect women, people of other faiths, the disabled, the poor, other ethnicities, etc. ..... couldn't care less about the lives of the unborn.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or this: have you seen it? \"How nostalgia for white Christian America drove so many Americans to vote for Trump\"\n\nPost reporter went to Andy Griffith's real childhood home of Mount Airy, North Carolina, and the found the natives restless for a vanished world. The only industries are a granite quarry and the tourism generated by Griffith and the sweet paternalism of Mayberry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Admonitions that women MUST wear head coverings are posted in the vestibule of the SSPX church in Paris. Just FYI.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesus didn't start a church....\"\n\nJesus sent the Holy Spirit, His proxy, as it were, to found the church that his disciples hadn't quite come to terms with earlier, especially before his Death and Resurrection. But they -- Peter, James in Jerusalem, etc., -- were ready to people their community with names, faces, teachings, etc., once Pentecost rolled around. Thus the birthday of the Church is Pentecost, when Christ's followers were rekindled, as it were, to spread the Gospel to all nations. The distance or time between/among the Three Persons of the Trinity, however, was left to us, not to Them. The Trinity -- in unity with each other -- was in sync with this foundation from the very beginning, as St. John's Gospel proclaims: \"In the beginning was the Word,\" the Word that carries the length and depth of time and eternity with it and isolates us, as it were, with His foundation of Love to renew the face of the earth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They leaked information that was there, they did not spread lies like social media did. They did not mess with any voting machines. They released true emails. Why was that information there? Why do people keep putting stupid things in emails? This is not new. Isn't advocating illegal aliens to vote influencing an election? Isn't flying to rallies in Marine 1 to stump for one candidate over another influencing the election? Using the power of the most powerful office in the world to get votes for one candidate influencing an election? How come Obama is just finding out about Russian hackers? He was tasked with protecting us for 8 years. Why is he cramming so much bad foreign policy into 3 weeks? Pissing off world leaders right before leaving office. The only country in the Middle East which does not persecute Christians is Israel. These are cosmetic gestures which have no real value other then to impede Trump in his first months in office.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know what you mean when you talk about a financial interest in Baptism. Baptisms are typically free. Sometimes people give an offering but they are not required to do so. \n\nAs for \"Dogmatic\" Jesus is pretty clear: \"Unless a man be born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.\" (John 3:5) This is one of those verses that is unclear only to lawyers and Scripture scholars.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe you do not understand the standards by which the bishops measure political positions. Donald Trump has said he is pro-life. Therefore, he is pro-life and pro-catholic, regardless of his current or past actions, or, for that matter, regardless of whether he actually does or doesn't oppose legal abortion. What matters is that he is a man and he has paid service to the one issue chosen by the bishops to rally the faithful. The bishops recognize the inherent veracity of Trump because he, like them, is a Man, and Jesus was a man, as was his Father. It is all very clearly based upon the gospel. We, as laity, particularly those who have the wrong set of chromosomes (you know who you are), should not worry too much about all this, we should simply follow the leaders. It's what Jesus would want us to do. Just ask your local priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pence remained a gentleman and Christian, somehow sidestepping the cow-paddies so easily placed in his way; a difficult act considering his running mate. I only changed party to Repub (from independent) to vote against Trump. \nTo the commenter who would get rid of the GOP, Newton's second law would predict the end of the Dems too. Someone generalized that Dems do the wrong things for the right reasons, and Repubs do the right things for the wrong reasons. Maybe need them both. But Hilllary and Donny may be the exceptions that prove the rule.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "dennism, why do you torture yourself ? Why torture yourself into staying? Why not just move on. Join another church or church community if the \"exclusively male hierarchy is itself\" so bad, abusive, theologically inconsistent to your mind, conscience? Reading your post is like scanning a moment of terror? Why do this to yourself, inhale such toxic smoke of \"animosity,\" especially if others are -- millions of other US Catholics -- not bothered at all as you are, actually like the church? It just seems so counter-productive and unhealthy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I totally agree prayerful reflective actions speak louder than words. \n\nI also echo the statement - given our Catholic Social Teachings which for over 100 years have stressed the need to transform our societies so all God's children have life with dignity ... why have our Catholic leaders - both lay and religious - not been visibly on the front lines promoting social justice within our communities?\n\nWhere are the legions of Knights - led by Supreme Knight Carl Anderson given his 2016 endorsement of Mr. Trump - on the front lines advocating social justice so we can co-create authentic inclusive cultures of life with dignity for all as per our OTC?\n\nTo help mobilize people in every parish, perhaps the Supreme Council could finance education and training seminars for clergy and lay as they do on other issues as well as organize marches as they do with the March for Life - while ensuring all this is covered by EWTN and other parts of the media network they help to finance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's more nuanced than that. Trump certainly appealed to racist elements in the US. This doesn't necessarily make him a racist, but it most certainly makes him an opportunist politician. I personally don't see a whole lot of difference between Real Estate businessman and most politicians. Most are trying to sell themselves to particular audiences in order to 'win'. Trump also sold himself to Evangelicals, Mormons, and conservative white Catholics. I doubt many people really think his personal moral worldview is compatible with any of those constituenies. The question is, why did those constituencies buy his line of bs? The answer is abortion and Supreme Court justice appointees and that is really quite sad. It says we don't care what a piece of moral work you are as long as you give us control of women's bodies just like you think you control women's bodies....only differently.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Festing obeyed the Pope when he was asked to resign; I call that obedience.\nThe religious vow of obedience does not include the option of only obeying those orders which one found personally reasonable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, many biblical scholars agree that when Jesus said that he was referring to his disciples. But aside from that, thank you for not hyphenating \"nonprofit.\" That alone puts me in the spirit of giving. :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholicism is different than other religions - however if you're a modernist, you might not think this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My point was-----that 'doctrines' were not taught for 2000 years. You just pointed out that this is correct.\n\nPeople aren't 'attacking initially held Truth.' The question is----Who is the Truth for? And is it the Truth---or a truth that is not able to be lived by 'EVERYONE\". And do you think that Jesus doesn't know this? Do you think that Jesus doesn't care for the people who can't abide by this so-called 'truth'?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The more liberal, metaphoric interpretation is, I'm quite convinced, the correct one. If it makes people less inclined to belief, that's fine with me.\nIn the past, for odd reasons, I \"had\" to attend one of these newer, evangelical places, something called The Vineyard. Instead of a choir, there was a \"worship team\" -- essentially, a rock band. There wasn't a liturgy (I'm an atheist, but certainly admire the poetry of the liturgy) but instead a Pastor who opened with a joke and \"shared\". The there was an altar call - people coming forward to get \"saved\". The theology was terrible -- pure fundamentalism. Only Christians go to heaven -- everyone else is banished to hell. Homosexuals are \"deceived\" or \"trapped\" by Satan. Women should submit to their husbands. Once, \"Pastor John\" even said that karate is a deception of Satan! There was absolutely no gravitas or sense of mystery. If that's the option to declining numbers in mainline churches, well, pardon the pun, but God help us!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is practice, not doctrine. In the early Church, each city had one overseer or pastor. When communities grew the pastor governed all gatherings rather than creating new overseers for each one, keeping a monopoly on the Eucharistic sacrifice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry dear the Bible says many things to many people. You really don't understand what it means to know someone in the Biblical sense do you. Anyway read Matthew 22:20-22 and Mark 12:17. God loves you dear but he doesn't know you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The call for a smaller, holier Church, sounds very much like a neo-Donatist movement. The parable of the wheat and the chaff in the Gospel according to Matthew also seems to teach against such a Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Will the Pope say \n\"Who am I to judge?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And here is the second segment of this article on Catholic bishops and presidential politics....Sorry I couldn't put them both together....\n\nCREW also alleges that some bishops \u201chave cautioned that voting for Democrats would not be faithful to Christ and would endanger the soul.\u201d\nBut the complaint zeroed in on Illinois Bishop Daniel Jenky, who, the liberal activist group said, \u201cpreviously compared President Obama to Stalin and Hitler.\u201d\nCREW objected to the fact that the traditionalist bishop of Peoria, Ill., is \u201crequiring every priest in his diocese to read a statement accusing the administration of an \u2018assault upon our religious freedom . . . \u00a0simply without precedent in the American political and legal system,\u2019\u201d according to the complaint.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus went out to teach the Kingdom of God and the Beatitudes. They provide provide the foundations to go out to serve others in need, such as the poor, hungry, sick, and the refugees. \nJesus invited sinners to transform them with love at a shared meal. \nThe Mass, sadly, excludes many such as divorced/remarried, and the LGBT, that Jesus would include.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What about Brazil? Millions of Lebanese Muslims and Christians moved there, and have integrated well. So have Europeans, Japanese, and others. In fact, they didn't have to put their Japanese origin citizens into concentration camps during World War Two.\n\nThe fascinating part of the USA and Canada is that warring nationalities of Europe could come here and not fight with each other. While their compatriots were fighting brutal wars back in the home countries. The UK, France, Germany, Russia, Poland, Spain etc were involved in wars where over 200 million died over the last 200 years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are many things that can make Mass more meaningful and prayerful; many that can distract from the experience; and a lot of room to disagree about which is which.\nOne of the post-Vatican II innovations that I appreciate less over the years is concelebration. I recognize that there are times when it's appropriate and meaningful. However, a priest-friend tells me that he rarely concelebrates, and never just because he doesn't have a scheduled Mass on a given day. Instead, he sits with the congregation and 'concelebrates' in the same way they do -- as a member of the priestly people of God.\nFor me, concelebrated Masses tend to emphasize what I regard as the church's single most important deficiency: the failure to ordain women. The more concelebrants, the more glaringly obvious is the lack of women. I suppose this is equally obvious at any and every Mass, but I notice it more at concelebrations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I understand where you are coming from. However, I remain in the Church, despite all its warts, for deeper reasons. I believe that evolution is directed towards some terminal \"Omega Point\", that humanity stands in the front line of this directed evolution, that the Christian phenomenon--led by the Catholic Church--is in the very vanguard of this directed phenomenon. I cling to the Church, even though I am distressed at its reactionary leadership, because I trust that the Lord is using it as an important vehicle in drawing creation to its intended consummation where \"God may be all in all\" (1 Cor 15:28). I want to collaborate with that plan of God, albeit in the most modest of ways. Of course, this is all a matter of faith. Hopefully, I am not entirely deluded!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for highlighting another side of the issue. May I try to add a note of clarity (and keep it brief)? The fact is that true dogmas of the Church (and there are really only three- the rest is doctrine which is what has changed at times) are not changeable. The divinity of Christ, His Death and Resurrection, and the Assumption of Mary are dogma and not subject to interpretation nor alteration. Doctrines are the layers and layers of Church laws or Teachings that are undergoing questioning now. Doctrines have changed: one good example is the law that lay Catholics were never offered the Cup at communion, starting in 1416, and remained unchanged until Vatican II. And another one is that no pope was formally declared as being infallible in teaching until 1870.\nThis is why the doctrinal purist have fallen into such disrepute. You can read all about this in many volumes and on-line via a Google search. Disregard that \"unchanging\" blabber...it isn't true.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Orthodox are considered \"Sister Churches\" to the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church recognizes ALL of their sacraments---including ordination to the priesthood and the Eucharist as VALID. I am using the plural in referring to the Orthodox churches because their leadership comes from the Patriarchs---who are the successors of the Apostles, other than Peter.\n\nInformation from Unitatis Redintegration---Chapter Three [The Decree on Ecumenism---Nov. 21, 1964].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jane, I certainly agree with you on Michael's historical outline. I doubt, very much, that any of our Catholic ancestors were privy to anything discussed in the early years of the 20th Century [certainly not before that time, either]. Actually---in the late 19th Century, Rome highly suspected the Catholic Church in America [while observers saw the American hierarchy as being the most submissive in the world]. There was actually an \"Americanism\" controversy that occurred after Pius IX's death. This was related to its fear of \"Modernism.\" \"Modernism\" was a label Rome had given to a movement among Catholic theologians to update Catholic scholarship. In particular, Catholic biblical scholars were applying certain new methods---developed by Protestant scholars---to study the study of the Bible. These scholars wanted to know historical context in which the Bible was written so that they could better understand the Bible on its own terms.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "WELL, that diocese had better beware, Trump, the GOP and the Catholic church are coming after them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really?\n\nWhat do you make of the disciples who left Jesus after he scandalized them with his teaching about eating his flesh and blood? He taught something that they didn't like. They left him. Did he beg them to come back and do some soul searching? Did he apologize for offending them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When you talk of ultra-conservative bishops or just ultra-conservatives, these are purely political labels. Conservative and ultra-conservative Catholics are simply orthodox Catholics. Orthodox Catholics are those of us who were taught our Catholicism prior to Vatican II.\nWe were instructed that the Faith and Morals as taught by the Catholic Church was inviolable and unchangeable. Along came V2 and overnight the Mass changed considerably; that which could never be changed; changed. With the New Mass the Catholic Church shot itself in the foot: if the unchangeable Mass could after all be changed beyond recognition then every other 'unchangeable' dogma and doctrine was also up for debate.\nVery few Catholics were aware of what went on at V2 but the reordering of Churches and the new Mass signified that a sea change had occurred in Catholicism: Modernists were in the ascendency: a new broom was 'sweeping clean' thousands of years of Catholic belief.\nIn heaven nothing has changed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bernie is, as far as I know, still kicking. I think the timing of the article is probably related to his role as one of the founding members of the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests, which is holding their annual conference this week in Atlanta. If so, the article could have done a better job connecting the dots on that.\n\nStill, no harm done in hoping he'll \"rest in peace.\" I'm sure, at his age, he'll welcome any wish for rest and peacefulness. I know I would.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Little Jacinta Marto, one of the three shepherds of Fatima was I believe 7 or 8 yo when the apparitions occurred at Fatima. She clearly believed in the divinity of Jesus. I recall one of the readings in Mass last week mentioning how it was important to be like a child when it came to matters of the faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The South was built on slavery yes, but the US is more than the South, and the Civil War the one of the first examples ever of a terribly destructive war being fought to liberate someone ELSE, something the US as a whole would do later in Europe, Korea, and tried to continue doing with much less success in Vietnam, Iraq, etc.\n\nWhich other culture ever fought wars to help other people, on moral principle (besides Revolutionary France)...?\n\nIt is the same Judeo-Christian morality that forms the basis for the SJWs today, fighting for other groups at the expense of their own. Not something many other cultures have done. One example might be the Vietnamese intervening in Cambodia to stop the Khmer Rouge...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A monogamous, faithful couple (married to one person for life, and open to the fruits of their unity) and a faithful, sacrificing celibate priest share and live FAR more an understanding of God's definition of love than the majority of married adults!\n\nWhy should the Church take instructions from people who have chosen not to live such self-gift, who've had multiple partners, who do adultery, who seek sex outside of their union with their spouse, who reject God's gift of fruitful love?\n\nRemember the goal of marriage isn't 'marriage' or sex..it's heroic love. \n\nAnd the Church uses Jesus's own self-gift as the benchmark. \n\nIt doesn't use Eros.\n\nSplitting the gift of marital intimacy isn't full self-gift.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Website for Celestial Church of Christ: egliseduchristianismeceleste-nonofficiel.org", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, first, this has been the constant tradition of Christianity from the beginning. You see it in many places in the New Testament. In Matthew 19, you see Jesus referring to those who are \"eunuchs\" for the sake of the Kingdom -- i.e., celibacy; and Saint Paul encourages it as well. And you have the example of Saints Peter and Andrew, James and John who, when Jesus said, \"Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,\" it says they \"left everything and followed him.\" So the Church didn't invent this; it comes from Christ and the example of the Apostles.\n\nI'm reminded of the story about Chesterton who said if he found a fence across the road, he wouldn't tear it down until first he discovered why it was there. I'd suggest the same thing with celibacy; first understand *why* it is part of the constant tradition of Christianity.\n\nAnd you raise a problem with how we handle the diaconate... (continued in another comment)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article reminds up of Jesus' words , \"Physician heal thyself\", and the need for personal virtue. Who would argue against this? \n\nBut the quote and the Catholic point about virtue reminds us that personal reform and goodness come first; not only in terms of personal salvation but also with respects to society. A good society depends upon good people. \n\nThe above underscores a great divide which separates many in the Church. Liberals seem to place social relationships and structures above matters of personal virtue and belief. They stress the \"systemic\" nature of sin, and downplay personal responsibility. They see social activism and fixing the \"system\" as the way to \"salvation\". In this scenario they attribute almost church like attributes to the state and confer upon it amoral superiority. \n\nSin is thought of in terms of Social attitudes regarding certain social categories (women, aliens, blacks, gays etc...), and true sin is downplayed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regardless of how anyone feels about this issue, it may be a moot point. As the author stated, religious observance was a condition for confederation. Religious schools and teaching further ended up as part of the constitution, with parts in both the 1867 and Charter of Rights and Freedoms. While this article may be great for discussion on the place of religion in schools, there is little chance of change (constitutional change requires parliamentary action and at least 7 provinces for some matters and all 10 for others). As a result of catholic school funding and recent court cases, Ontario taxpayer dollars are also going to other religious schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The 1960's stats represent the anomaly of a time period where larger-than-ever numbers of women entered religious life. This has been discussed many, many times in NCR and other publications, along with the changes in the Church and our culture that has led to the present situation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oddly, science has now shown that white people are mixed with neanderthal DNA (an inferior species). Only those who have never left Africa are pure homo sapiens. Modern science also shows gays are born that way after epigenetics in the womb, which if you add a religious spin to it means that God created them that way - both for the sex and for the natural companionship. The same area of study shows that the people who are really comfortable being priests, asexuals (they never let gays be bishops, no matter how chaste) have a sexuality that does not desire human attraction. They have \"pure\" relationships in a platonic sense and assume this is true for everyone. Their lack of empathy has messed up the sexual morality of the Catholic Church since St. Paul, who was likely asexual. The three great asexual hoaxes are the celibacy of Christ, the immediate return of Christ and the perpetual virginity of Mary, wife of Joseph.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I agree that there is overwhelming theological rationale for ordaining women deacons, priests, and bishops immediately, I must say I am unaware of unambiguous evidence in our past of women ordained as bishops or priests (tantalizing tidbits of the possibility, to be sure, but nothing definitive). I do agree there is overwhelming evidence of women ordained as deacons, above all Byzantine evidence, but that is another matter. And even with that diaconal evidence, the fact that women deacons had ministries different from male deacons, and the fact that the evidence is Byzantine, have provided finger holds for deniers prejudiced against women and/or Orthodoxy.\n\nPlease point me in the direction of the \"evidence and research\" sufficient \"to sink a battleship\" re episcopal and priestly ordination of women. I am a voracious consumer of such things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hell, the had the whole NATIONAL PARTY at their disposal. And let us not forget that evil thing called Christian National Education. And now that the Dominee (and Mevrou Dominee of course) is not the most important people in town any longer, they squeal \"religious prosecution\" when their world view is questioned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) In your lexicon---murder and failed marriages as sins are equal. Was Jesus' actions, in giving us the sacraments----based on reason? Or are sacraments gifts of God's life given FREELY to us by God? Who put the restrictions on the reception of the sacraments---Jesus or the official church?\n\n2) In reality, John Hobson's understanding of the Sacraments is closer to the mind and heart of Christ, rather than are your concepts.\n\n3) You don't know the real meaning of 'pagan'. Pagan does not mean 'a God-less world'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One can defile a sacrament. \n\nThe Eucharist is defiled by, in effect, spitting on it. That's what happens when a person who is in mortal sin defiantly and without repentance for the mortal sin takes the Eucharist. \n\nYou reject this because you reject what Jesus said regarding divorce and adultery. Whether there may be actions that defile the Eucharist even more than receiving the host in defiant mortal sin is not the question.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The archbishop seems very myopic. In democracies, numbers matter. If our numbers shrink, our ability to resist evil in society will also shrink. \nWhat is the archbishop doing to bring fallen away Catholics home? I never hear any creative ideas from him on that front. \nIf I was an archbishop, I'd be out there talking to ex-Catholics about why they should give the Church another chance even after the abuse scandals. Sadly, I suspect our bishops won't go near that kind of work because they are afraid of what they might hear from people. \nArchbishop Chaput wishes a smaller, more \"loyal\" Church. What he will probably get is a Church where most Catholics care about the Pope and their parish -- and nothing in between.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not a political choice,_it_is_constitutional. 90% of abortions, by the way, are by suction, not dismemberment. I would ban the latter and insist on induction (and baptism). What did those children ever do to you that you insist they be born and starved? What did they do to you that you would use their deaths to get Republicans elected while not actually doing anything to stop their deaths?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good comment Gene Johnson! My own perturbation on the topic has been with me most of my life. I have to admit that when thinking of my own family; I can admit that it would be great if somehow I can have reunion with those who've passed away, yet I know that it is unlikely as a possibility. \n\nThe conclusion I came to years ago was that contrary to Christian doctrine, man actually created a god in his own wishful and often arrogant imaginary image, and not the other way around. \n\nSpirtual feelings are a way of describing emotional feelings that tie us to our most ancient ancestors, who, like us today, gazed at the volume of sky and wondered, how and why? A fact of life, is that some questions may never be answered. Still, some claim they know the answer, and the conflicts that result, arises over and over.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is it necessary for the blogger to deprecate the majority of the Roman Catholic Church in order to express an opinion? This blog dismisses over 50 years of theological and pastoral development on the role of the laity in the church, and completely ignores the highly competent and equally trained lay ministers who continue to serve faithfully. FYI clergy are not the only ones trained in seminaries and graduate programs of theological education, just ask the laity with degrees including, but not limited to the Masters of Divinity, the Masters in Pastoral Studies, Master of Arts in Theology, the Doctor of Ministry, PhD in everything from biblical studies through theology, STL, STD, JCL, JCD. We are not a mindless rabble incapable of discerning effective spiritual and pastoral leaders. We are the Church!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My husband's cousin just got remarried after a 10 year marriage and divorce. I was surprised to see the second wedding was at a Catholic Church. My husband said, \"that would be an easy annulment to get since the first spouse wasn't Catholic and they got married at a Lutheran Church.\" Seems bizarre to me that two baptized Christians taking vows in a church, attempting to live them for 10 years and having children together amounts to nothing in the eyes of Canon Law because of the location of the ceremony.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm just in awe that the ongoing of serial genocide of more than 16 million people, perhaps many millions more, is defined as, \"mistakes were made on both fronts.\" Where do such people come from? That's rhetorical. \n\nThat Christian nation was such a marvel of emulating Jesus, wasn't it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While we have a duty to help those that need it with their \"physical needs,\" those physical needs are grossly inferior to the individuals' spiritual needs. As Jesus said, \"the poor will always be with you.\" \n\nBTW... \"Poor is a subjective term, a millionaire, living on a street full of billionaires, is \"poor\" buy their standards. I all reality, there are no \"poor people\" living in the USA; the US's so called \"poor\" are in the top 10 standards of living in the world. Their biggest healthcare problem isn't starvation or malnutrition, it is obesity and all the ills that come with it - from diabetes to arthritis. \n\nYou're not \"loving God's children when you ignore their spiritual needs to take are of their earthly needs. Nobody will go to hell because we have \"poor people\" but many will go to hell because peoples' spiritual needs were never met.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Half of my family is Roman Catholic and the other half is Eastern Orthodox. The members of my family who are Lithuanian Russians of Eastern Orthodox (EO) faith, they are very anti- Pope Francis and anti-Catholic. If they are any representation of most EO believers, then the Vatican has a lot of work to do mending fences with EO Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An interesting and important question. I think we can conclude, given the devoutly Catholic nature of the Knights, that all eggs laid are strictly unfertilized. They therefore are allowed (insert reference to canon law here) to be used in omelets for the justly acclaimed breakfasts held in the Main Maltese Hall.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Shhh, don't confuse them with facts...\n\nJust like with Jesus, its much easier for them to celebrate the idea of the man, and ignore what he actually stood for...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "However, did the \"idol\" of Jesus' mother climb down and join the real people?\nThat's was idols are: lifeless expressions of ideology. And \"idolators\" are....?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To whom/what do I look as a valid representative of the Magisterium?\n\nThe man in the mirror?\nThe head of the theology department at Notre Dame?\nThe Credo?\nThe Bible?\nMy parish priest?\nMy experience and education?\nOnly ordained clergy?\nEncyclicals of Pius X?\nMy spouse?\nThe CDF?\nOfficers of the Church (names/titles)?\nDesignated males?\nTheology of the Body?\nAmoris Letitiae? \nCanon lawyers?\nOur bishop?\nThe Pope?\nEWTN?\nThe faculty of Franciscan University of Steubenville? \nThe USCCB?\nMy parents?\nAll of the above?\nSome of the above?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Correct. There might be some gay couples who want a church wedding but many probably don't want that. Lots of straight couples would prefer destination weddings or weddings where they have control over their ceremony. There is lots of frustration among straight couples about the restrictions on the Catholic ceremony - i.e. no custom vows, restrictions on music and readings, no additional personal touches (i.e. not allowing a special poem), etc. I've even heard of issues using things like the wedding march.\n\nMany gay couples would be fine if their marriages weren't treated as \"sinful,\" if they weren't denied the Sacraments, and if they weren't fired from their jobs. Oh and if the Catholic Church stopped campaigning against civil marriage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All those Catholic Pro-Life voters who supported Trump to get an anti-Roe Justice probably got played. (Even in the worst case, Gorsuch would be the one vote for that theory). The abortion issue is a fantasy. It should be banished from presidetial politics because it gives us Presidents like Trump and Clinton. Confirm him quickly, lest the right wing does to him what they did to Myers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have you seen pictures of aborted children? Not a peaceful end for them. As Catholics, we believe life begins at conception. I will pray for you that the Lord opens your mind and heart.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1), within our form of government, one's \"religious freedom\" may have to stop where another's \"religious freedom\" AND civil rights begin. Businesses that serves the public have no more right to refuse a customer due to sexual orientation than they do refusing to serve someone because of their race or religion. Religious institutions that accept taxpayer money have no right to discriminate based on gender or sexual orientation. Private corps and non-profits using tax $ should not be able to efuse to provide contraceptive coverage to employees hired for their expertise, not their religion. \n\n2) while the church does not operate according to popular vote, it must heed the voice of the Holy Spirit. Some Catholics fail to grasp that the Spirit speaks through the entire church - not just through a handful of celibate males. In regards to HV, the celibate males are refusing to listen to the Spirit. They are not \"the church\". See \"On Consulting the Faithful on Matters of Doctrine\" - Newman", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If all Christ's commandments are wrapped up into two, then it follows that if we break ANY of his commandments, we fail to keep one or both of the two greatest commandments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's all anecdotal. There have been seminaries with larger than average percentages of homosexuals - Milwaukee under Weakland for particular example - but these have been offset by diocese like Lincoln with zero tolerance. The high estimates come from the homosexual community, reasonable estimates seem to approximate the overall Catholic percentage, which is not \"so many\".\n\nThomas Patrick Doyle is completely unreliable.\n\nThe teaching on the ordination of women and the immorality of sexual relations outside of marriage are irreformable no matter how you characterize them. The Church leads people to reform their lives, not the other way around. Your opinion of that is of no consequence.\n\nGenerally theological high church Anglicans have exited the communion. Yes, there are some liturgical high church - bells and smells - communities who accept the notion of women priests, but they are a minority quickly fading away, just as they did among the continental Old Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excommunicating Mussolini would not have changed his policies. And excommunicating Hitler would have exposed Catholics in Germany and the occupied countries to persecution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God doesn't \"own\" us, and nor do we have our bodies \"on loan\" (as someone else had suggested - to whom I replied). There is nothing in the Catholic faith which supports what he and you seem to think about the alleged 'loaning' or 'ownership' of the body.\nWe have everything from God. Life (including our bodies) is a gift from God. If we live as God wants us to, with the Spirit within us, we may be said to belong to Him (and to be with Him) still. But this is nothing so crude as any talk about 'ownership' or 'lending' of bodies.\nGod is 'fit to judge' (as you put it) because He is God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think what Pope Francis is really trying to teach us is that a well-formed conscience trumps doctrine and that mercy calms fear. Too bad the cardinals don't \"get it\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the context of making college available: \u201cChrist, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge\u201d (Colossians 2:3), except that is generally not the approach of the academy to wisdom and knowledge, mainly because of the constant attack of the institutional Church on Modernism. Modernism is the approach to reality that prioritizes truth over politics, including Church politics. \u201cIn God is my safety and my glory\u201d (Psalm 62:8). Who\u2019da thunk it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He had his credentials removed for speaking the truth about the church. I for one wanted to read him to see what the church was so desperate to stifle .... it is a very good read.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This guy has been out of touch with Francis, with the people, with reality. Now he's shown he's even out of touch with the message and mission of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think this is a pretty good reflection. I think that in order to understand Pope Francis's view of mercy we need to understand his reading of Jesus. In the Gospels we see Jesus taking two approaches when it comes to the Law. On the one hand does emphasize adherence to the law saying \"Whoever disobeys even the least important commandment and teaches others to do the same will be the least in the Kingdom of heaven\"(Matthew 5:19). So Jesus is clear that adherence to the principles of the Law is required. At the same time Christ in his application of the Law emphasizes mercy as seen in the woman in Adultery(John 8). \n\nIn the same way when it comes to Pope Francis, he emphasizes adherence to Church doctrine. But he also emphasizes mercy in his application of Church doctrine. This approach may no be satisfying to either conservative or liberal partisans, but on the face of it it does seem to be the most faithful reading and practice of Jesus's teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for this insightful and positive article. The sentence that really impacted me was the reference to \"the church that Francis is inviting us to be\". I believe that this is the church that God through Pope Francis is inviting us to be. That seems to be the way that Jesus approached people. I pray for the church to move in the direction of acceptance of people where they are as they search for a deeper relationship with our Lord.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You've scored an intellectual own-goal. Since God-knows-how-long, the Holy Spirit has been saying: \"Thou shalt not...kill.\" Yet you, and your kind, have repeatedly approved killing other human beings. Your \"elder brothers\", the ancient Hebrews, did the same. And how! All of that bloodlust and bloodletting in the OT, against the express wish of the Spirit. And then all of that bloodlust and bloodletting in New Testament times, right up to the present day, against not only the will of the Spirit, but against the clear teaching of Christ.\n\n\"Don't you see how absurd your position is?\" Well, T. ? It is not the Holy Spirit that has changed its mind; it's just that you, and your kind, are too arrogant and proud to listen to it. Always have been. And probably always will.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. I am Catholic. And when a Catholic uses the word \"formal\" he/she is using precise language. Not everything a loquacious pope says is authoritative teaching.\n\n2. Yes you do. You accused me of being racist. Now put forward the evidence. \n\nOf course they are looking for money, even more money, and ongoing sources of money.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The point I made was clear. A poster said that Christ \"replaced\" the Ten Commandments. I said that the Ten Commandments were \"wrapped up in the other two,\" meaning they were subsumed by the other two. And indeed, the Oxford Companion to Christian Thought says that. \n\nWhat is it in what I said that even suggests that I think ll of the Ten Commandments have equal weight? Your saying that is completely unfounded. \n\nAs far my being a Pharisee, well, that's humorous, considering that the closest I've come to being a Pharisee is to repeat what Jesus said to the Pharisees, i.e., that divorce is impermissible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another one of those lies always being trotted out in Jesus name, Amen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, I met my real woman about 34 years ago, and she's the only woman that I've ever given my intimacy to.\n\nI don't see any charity in your point. It's just a personalized snap. Picking on me and my wife, sizing up our marriage (32 years this summer, many children, no estrangements, all solid kids who know that their identity = child of God, all still Catholic).\n\nWish this place would turn a corner, but it seems to attract people who like to make personal insinuations and snipes.\n\nClassic example. One could be talking about a scientific point such as what functional MRIs show and an NCR troll will say..\"I bet your FMRI shows that your brain wave is flat lined....\".\n\nThis is what NCR has sadly become.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I think they're mostly still coming in from the Southern border. : ) \nWill the bishops care if they are a smaller percentage of Catholics?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was quite civil. As well as correct. Tridentinus has said, in as many words, that his opinions are congruent with the teachings of the magisterium, and also that anyone who disagrees with the magisterium in any jot or tittle is ipso facto not a true Catholic. Hence: Anyone who disagrees with him is not a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Winters, you may be interested in reading two books which were recently written about the St. Benedict Center in New Hampshire. The NH group broke away from the Still River group in the late 1980's. Both books are available on Amazon. The first \"Deliver Us...a religious cult vs Richmond, NH.\" The second \"Lead Us Not...the true story of the first religious discrimination lawsuit in NH.\" Both books are well researched and heavily documented. It is also interesting to note the group in NH has no canonical affiliation with the NH Roman Catholic Diocese or the Universal Church, (stated on the NH Diocesan website.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not sure where you are writing from, but catholic morality does not see providing contraceptive or abortion coverage as remote, Hobby Lobby won its case in the Supreme Court, and the case of the Little Sisters of the Poor v Burwell left the Supreme Court when the justice pointed out to the Government that they had no reason to compel the defendants, which were primarily Protestants, to violate their consciences by cooperating in providing contraceptive coverage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Pell is presumed innocent until proven guilty and entitled to a fair trial.\n\nI am Australian and I don't agree with you at all. There are different views here as well, and I have read that Pell actually was one of the first to do something about child abuse. Pope Francis appears to be a warm-hearted and empathetic Pope - I don't understand your statement about him.\n\nAlso, there are many good priests and cardinals but, unfortunately, they don't usually make the news, partly because of anti-Catholic and indeed anti-Christian bias by the media.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Natural law theory is a rational argument based on the existence of certain undoubtable truths, such as \"Do the Good.\" Deductions from that maxim lead to a moral conclusion. In the case of LGBT, the deduction has climbed down several steps. \n\nThe truth of the conclusion depends on: 1) The validity of the deductive argument. But it could be logically flawed. 2) The facts. But new facts might arise. 3) The adequacy of the perspective used. But a better perspective might appear. \n\nCatholic moral argument is usually based on an Aristotelian hypothesis called an \"unchangeable substance.\" It underpins every reality but cannot be directly seen, an explanation of continuity in the midst of change. An invisible underlying substance decrees our sexual behavior, and it must be respected, or the act is \"unnatural.\" Taught by Fr. Don Gelpi, S.J., I have moved to a philosophy which questions logic, accepts new facts, and adopts an historical perspective based on shared systematic inquiry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it has been reported that executives of the Catholic Health Association earn several hundred thousand dollars per year, with their chief executive earning well over one million. Since CHA has been active in promoting causes in the political sphere, should they, too, be subject to the limitations MSW suggests?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You embody this:\n\"In the wake of Donald Trump\u2019s election, the news is flooded with reports of abuse, assault, and harassment, largely of minorities, by jubilant Trump supporters celebrating the ascent of their candidate, a candidate who campaigned by appealing to white heterosexual Christian supremacy.\n\nOver the past 48 hours, women have been assaulted for wearing the hijab, property has been defaced with swastikas, LGBT Americans have been threatened, and African Americans have experienced election result-specific harassment by fellow Americans touting the election of Donald Trump as the dawn of a new America, apparently one where they consider that the ugliest of racial and social animus to have the seal of presidential approval.\"\n\nWhy hasn't Trump denounced this behavior? For that matter, why haven't his supporters? Oh, right: They're the ines doing it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No coherent theme? Perhaps, what pulls it all together is the question the article asks: \"What does it mean that so many in the FOX legions who count themselves faithful Christians adopt a set of \"rights and wrongs\" that undermine personal well-being and the common good?\"\nIt doesn't hurt us personally to question our own self-righteous convictions to see maybe if somewhere some of our own convictions have been railroaded? just a little bit? maybe? And yes, i question myself.\nI believe the process of trimorphic resonance can well serve us all. Everything remains in process.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But Pope Francis still hasn't revoked \"Apostolicae Curae,\" which declared Anglican orders null and void. And given the schisms and broad ruptures within Anglicanism today -- with Anglican Gafcon missionaries from Africa sending missionaries to England to \"rescue\" the Church of England's move toward recognizing gay marriages (it already recognizes gay unions among Anglican clerics); its concept of degrees of Eucharistic sharing, its full interchangeability of other Protestant ministers, etc., etc., etc. -- I wouldn't hold my breath that Francis will change things, modify the depth of his ecumenical reflections on Anglicanism. Faithful Catholic is on target, not least because the Anglican Church can't get its own house in order in England.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Limbo, as I understand it, is not a doctrine but a theological opinion.\nI suspect that the custom of Baptizing infants came about through the work of the Apostles and those who followed in their footsteps, since Scripture was not codified for the first three centuries following Christ's resurrection. Polycarp indicated he'd been Baptized 86 years (Martyrdom of Polycarp) and Justin Martyr describe those of have been Christian from childhood; these are immediate post-apostolic witnesses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The adherents of those branches of Western Christianity don't condone \"honour\" killings, stoning people to death, beheading people, forced marriages of child brides or tossing gays to their deaths from the roofs of tall buildings or hanging them from construction cranes as is the practice in Iran. It's also worth noting that the Christian prophet, Jesus Christ, was not a pedophile like the founder of the crescent moon death cult.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think as time passes we humans on earth will gather with different religions and cultures to do what is called \u2018dialogic dialogue\u2019 to distinguish it from the dialectic dialogue in which one tries to refute the claims of the other. We will do, Teilhard calls center to center unions. Throughout the process, the individual elements do not lose their identity, but rather deepen and fulfill it through unions, discovering what is most authentic in each other, releasing creative energy toward a more complexified form of religious consciousness. Christ of the 21st Century\nCatholic religion with its narrow and self serving attitude of superiority over all other religions on earth can\u2019t contribute/survive to the global consciousness we humans are living on earth in 21st century.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Your first paragraph is total nonsense, you know it, everyone knows it.\"\nNope. Those are actual \"visions\" told me by far right Catholics who are into the Fatima thing.\n\n\"The \"meat\" of God's Laws are about loving God by keeping His Laws after that we are enjoined to love our neighbour as ourselves.\"\nIf you forget about the whole love thy neighbor part, then it doesn't matter what laws you follow. In fact that is one of the huge points of the Good Samaritan Parable.\n\n\"The rest of your post demonstrates by your use of terms like 'far right' that for you there is little or no difference between politics and religion.\"\nSebastian Gorka traffics in hate, which is definitely against God's law. He is involved with Hungarian neo-nazis. And yet EWTN does a puff interview with him? Doesn't that seem wrong to you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reason why I left the Church is not because of the lack of faith in God but the lack of faith in the Church and one way of thinking. I really feel you do not have to belong to a religion who basically want to control choice like who should marry (like only other Catholics ) or how a family deals with how many children they have by using birth control to have a relationship with God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the more interesting, but least proven, ideas in history is that good results from good people allowed to do good things -- an idea not found everywhere in the scriptures, old or new, and one specifically challenged by the authors of Job, Qoheleth, and other protest authors of the Hebrew tradition. Plato certainly portrays the death of Socrates as a betrayal of the same idea by the good people of Athens.\nThe Hebrew tradition explicitly recognizes that God can bring forth good from bad people, as in the case of Cyrus the Great, often considered a messianic figure. And the New Testament is replete with stories of good people who either did evil or whose good works were not met with tangible success.\nI'm no apologist for Mr. Trump, but I think the question whether any good can come from his administration is not easily answered in terms of Christian faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one is attempting to paint him with anything, he has defined how he is perceived by his own voting record and statements. He has opposed gay rights women's reproductive rights, assisted dying and action to combat climate change.\n\nHe has also said he will cancel the CBC news department so presumably we can a get our news from the Rebel since his campaign manager sits on the board of Rebel media.\n\n This is the second article in the Globe today trying to claim that opposition to Mr Scheers neanderthal policies are anti Christian..\n\n Now that is truly shameful.\n\nYes for years voters would switch from Liberal to Conservative, I was a member of the P C Party of Canada myself. But this is no longer the PC Party,it is the Reform party and is as different form the PC Party as chalk from cheese.\n\n There is no doubt that the Conservative Party of today is much closer to the values of Ezra Levant than Bob Stanfield.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus himself explained it , \" .... they know not what they do .\" And asked his Father to forgive us .\nYour take on humanity presupposes human perfection . The fallen angels are said to have totally comprehended their act of rebellion but not us . \nOur condition is a mitigating circumstance whether you like it or not . Not an excuse , a cause .\nHumans can and do sin but probably not as frequently or seriously as some might think .\nThe focus is best placed on how are we to be healed of the woundedness which grips us rather than how much punishment needs to be meted out .\nGod , even when we were his enemies loved us . God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that the world might be saved by him .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr Thomas Doyle was sent to the Azores as he was a reserve Officer in the USAF, a military chaplain at the time and the Azores was one of his postings which included Indiana, Florida, Oklahoma, Ramstein (Germany) and N Carolina. Was he banished by the bishops to all these places?\nThe Catholic term prophet is 'teacher' not someone who foretells the future, a clairvoyant or 'fortune-teller'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kurgan - do you have any proof that US catholics face a situation where we \"need a political leader who will fight for their freedom to practice and enforce Catholicism as they define it\"? Are US Catholics' freedom to practice being constrained or limited in the US? Sorry, your other point is unconstitutional -we have separation of church and state and thus no leader may *enforce Catholicism as they define it\" - geez. (btw - very few current US bishops are \"great men selected by God himself)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah yes and I assume you would propose that we need an even more intensive campaign of \"cultural re-programming\" to undo the previously unjust regime of \"cultural programming\" that apparently the bishops and myself espouse.\n\nHow do you imagine the original \"cultural program\" regarding sexuality and gender came about? What eminent sociologist will you cite to explain how my way of relating to my son as his father which is completely different from the way my wife relates to him as his mother is simply a cultural construct that we have been brainwashed into?\n\nAlso, I'd love to see you explain to St. Catherine of Siena that her way of relating to Jesus Christ in the mystical betrothal she experienced was just a \"cultural program\" that infiltrated her prayer life. \n\nOr better yet I'd love to see you call her a kook as I imagine that's what you really think of her.\n\nThe \"gender is what we make of it!\" brigade...lovely bunch.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The shortage of priests in Youngstown oh,is a microcosm of the whole RC world. Forget about married priests and women priests and just get together and do Eucharist-\"where two or three are gathered together in my name,there am I\". Take turns giving homilies. The religion of \"love God and love ones neighbor\" is not complicated science,even if it is hard to do. This watching of the glacier like Church melting and falling into the ocean is a boring pastime. We need action to save the Eucharist. Forget about saving the Vatican museum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lumen\nYou have so many different things, and this discussion is getting so buried, it's difficult to pick one item.\n\nI'll just say, that in my own view, unless we are honest and deal with our official Church Biblical teaching, we are straying from truth we know, and become irrelevant. Scripture Studies and Theology have to work in tandem. \n\nYes, we are challenged to re-examine our theological assumptions once we accept that the Genesis Creation stories are given by God as a 'myth' literary form. \n\n- What we call 'fallen' nature, is simply 'human' nature.\n- Just possibly God creates humans through an evolutionary process.\n- Each person is responsible only for their own sins. We don't 'inherit' guilt, even if we do inherit the world our ancestors gave to us, and our children will inherit the world we pass on to them.\n- Everyone is 'conceived' and born without 'original sin' because there was none\n- Jesus redeems & saves us from our own sins. \n\nMuch more, but that's a start.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The concept of \"intrinsic disorder\" has a certain internal consistency within the system that gives rise to the term. Precisely because it does, it underscores that it is not only, not even so much, the church's teaching about homosexuality that needs renewal and revision, but rather the church's entire understanding of human sexuality. The good news is that the theological, anthropological, sociological, and scientific groundwork is already available; the bad news is that the current teaching is entrenched within a larger framework that claims, incredibly, that the church cannot change its teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your response, Life of the Lay\n.\nI have read many of your post and you cannot be faulted on your conclusions within them. You have also today given me a good response but rather \u201cthan up the inclined plane\u201d \nI would say take the low plane of humility, the same one that Jesus takes as seen in my Post , as it bears witness to these words of His\n \u201cTake my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls\u201d\nYes \u201chumility is the \"opposing virtue\" of the vice of pride\u201d.\nBut it is much more than that, as the fruit of true humility before God will create within us a fluid compassionate/humble heart in relation to our neighbour and in this state, one of ongoing self-awareness of the intricacies of our own fallen nature, we gradually see that we do not want to judge our neighbour because in doing so we judge ourselves and these words bear witness to our now new found \u2018heightened\u2019 self-awareness\n\n1 of 2", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for asking. I am a former student of his, when he was rector at St. Josaphat Seminary, and teaching part time at Catholic U. I took his 2 semester course in Oriental (Eastern Rite ) canon law. He invited his students to seminary celebrations, notably the patronal feast of St. Josaphat on November 13. The divine liturgy was followed by a Ukrainian food festival! Yum! All this was before he became auxiliary bishop in 1992. He was one of the very best law teachers I've ever had! He was much like your parents -- encouraging and teaching both.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"And the Hispanic community is very large and expansive in Connecticut....\"\n\nI think that is implied, Hazel Gutierrez. 33% of the state is still Catholic. So among that percentile, one will find Hispanic Catholics. I know, also, that the coastal towns have quite vibrant parishes -- Guilford, Madison, north of New Haven; and those south, likewise, certainly in the summer months (a lot go south, however, in the winter months -- like family, friends I know there). But there is still a critical mass of Catholics in the state, making it the largest church/denomination in the state. Like nationally, all the churches are hurting, especially mainline (but evangelical churches were never popular here)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bishops love and care about the poor. Of course they do. Jesus loved and cared about the poor and the bishops are living images of Jesus. \n\nAnd the bishops love and care about immigrants. Of course they do. The collection baskets won't fill themselves, and mass attendance among true-born American citizens is right up there with French Canada and the Czech Republic.\n\nBut the bishops don't get to write Congressional bills. They have to compromise. The poor people and immigrants are just not as important as defunding Planned Parenthood. \n\nSo poor people and immigrants had to be thrown under the ecclesiastical bus. Because nothing is as important as making women produce babies, babies, babies, like Mary.\n\nThe poor and immigrants will just have to unite their sufferings with Our Blessed Mother of Sorrows. And they better not stop putting money in the baskets while they do it. Jesus would be very angry if they did that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for an excellent column. I lived in London, Birmingham and the Midlands during the IRA bombings in the seventies and early eighties. I vividly remember moving bags to the kerb that were left in my pub. There was no panic, no hysteria - quite different from these days really.\n\nAnd as you so correctly observed, there were over ten times more deaths due to terrorism at that time.\n\nYet nobody called for closing the Irish border, or spewed hate at Catholics and the Irish, for example. No massive security nets, monitoring of the public, strip searches at airports etc. I remember when they took out the lockers and litter bins from the Tube - an annoying inconvenience, as I used the Tube many times a day, seven days a week. But there was no rabid fearfulness and bigotry like there is today.\n\nI wonder why it's so different ....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read Imbelli in First Things on this (MSW links to it today), as well as Evangelii Gaudium. When you become pope, we will ask you your opinion on whether this heresy or not. As it is, this is an observation of how the Church really does business and has been for at least 30 years and probably much longer than that. Heresy, by the way, is not a spiritual issue. It is all group dynamics and best explained by sociology. The sociology of the Church has changed since your ideal time. We are not shifting back just because you object. If you enjoy feelings of superiority, don't let me keep you from your fun, but realize its all about you, not the Church. The Church is fine but you are depriving yourself of its unity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you had made the same comment about a certain other ideology, it might have been deemed \"uncivil\". Anti-religious bigotry is given free reign by the media as long as it is anti-Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You speak as if if wrestling with one's same-sex attraction is a bad thing. If they are resisting the temptation to engage in same-sex acts, then they are good Catholics. Father Martin could learn from them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religion and politics via social media is becoming more polarized and alienating. Consider this too. A sizable number of millenials are raised in homes of divorced and remarried parents (many being the product of a second marriage). The church\u2019s teaching that their parents are technically \u201cadulterers\u201d is not a way to sweep off the welcome mat. \n\nAs for politics, the youngsters can\u2019t understand why all the adults on social media (much less the two running for president) are hurling threats and anathemas at each other. Catholics are condemning each other to hell for voting the wrong way, and political leaders are insulting the voters. The \u201clife ethic\u201d is not consistent in either party and many folks, especially the youngsters, are seeing the hypocrisy. It\u2019s enough to make me want to pack up and head to the beach on Election Tuesday; Sundays too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's just it, Tri - it is from your younger days (and that is quite some time ago, is it not?) and there has been since then a great deal of development in Catholic thought and practice that releases us from such prejudice. That is, if we choose to walk that path with Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If only more Catholics raised in the 60s, 70s, maybe 80s understood what actually happens at EVERY Mass, they'd re-think how they spend their time griping and pining away for \"peace\" somewhere else. Searching & searching, like the rich man who went away sad.\n\nAt EVERY Mass we witness our own redemption, as Jesus's own gift to His Father becomes truly & really present to our senses & our faith. His entire life becomes present to us. It's there in the Mass that we can \"love God beyond reason\" (beyond our intellectual reach). \n\n\"Lord my intellect can only get me so close to you because it's really puny and full of prideful ideas (many selfish ones, if I'm honest), and I want Your help to get me closer.\"\n\nWe need to learn how to attend Mass well, as if it's our first Mass, our last Mass and our only Mass. \n\nThese 'wanderers' remind me of the Jewish people, always looking elsewhere...\"no, I had a different savior or way in mind...\"\n\nAlways looking elsewhere, but always sad in a way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, only country music or church music should be allowed, right? Because we all know that those two genres of music have nooooo violent undertones or language suggestive of harming anybody. Get real. I think there might be a couple of songs in the religious arena about nailing that Jesus fellow up on a giant cross. But oh, that's not violence, that's religion. And I know Miranda Lambert for certain has quite a few songs about harming cheatin' wife beatin' men. So does Carrie Underwood. That's just a couple of country stars, but there's just too many to list. The point is that even if this doesn't scream of racism as some people have suggested, it screams of personal bias against a particular type of music, and this woman does not promote only her likes, she's supposed to promote for the general masses. If people don't want their kids exposed to \"violence,\" then they might consider not going to a rap concert, maybe turn off their TV and take away all video games.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This, for me, adds to my perception of the astonishing and viral \"end-justifies-the-means\" mind-set that has been widely adopted among the so-called \"pro-life\" far rightists. I have experienced locally the half-truths about Catholic teaching circulated by LifeSiteNews and CatholicVote and it saddens me that these propaganda mills are not throttled down by the bishops' conference. Perhaps this phenomenon is in reality a careful contrivance by which our hierarchy insists that \"Catholics are not single-issue voters\" out of one side of their mouths while in effect supporting that very notion by their tacit silence during the 2016 presidential campaign. This does not spell moral authority--particularly alongside the other debacles the American church has gotten itself into.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're wrong that the bible says that taken in it's entirety. (is this Original Sin in your thinking) \n\nThe bible is full of contradictions. Some people get around that by just believing what fits their own moral code. You can probably find it somewhere in the bible,( slavery, homosexuality, violence, children for sex, mysogeny, genocide, infidelity). Others, like myself, use lot's of sources, multiple written interpretations, multiple people, multiple pastors or just folks who like to study the bible in small groups. \n\nJesus provided his followers with often vague and hard to understand conumdrums. Jesus did not write new scripture, he wanted people to wrestle with faith, not be an obedient sheep in a flock,(which was good for the powerful religious elites) \n\nBut that's just me, I have to have faith that matches my God given character. We are not all the same and NONE of us can fully understand the complexity of a God that goes beyond our contraints of space and time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church has the authority to reform rites and practices. For example any reforms of the Missal cannot change the fact that the Mass is a sacrifice.\nI don't understand what you mean about the condemnations of Protestantism being hollow or the superiority of Constantinople. If you are going to make such bald assertions you should explain what you mean by them.\nThe only prayer to St Michael I know of was never a part of the Mass, it was said after the Mass was over.\nThe Missal of St Pius V is still in use.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tom Roberts missed reporting anything on the growing crisis of church & state in Ireland regarding the Tuam baby scandal.\n\"Infants were taken from their mothers and sold, starved, trafficked, and in some cases denied life itself, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said in relation to the Tuam buried babies scandal.\" Yet NCR is underreporting an issue that affects RCC morality.\nIn these latter days, it boasts of the care of the unborn, the family, motherhood, but this ghastly record reveals how anti anti-child, family, mother it has been. \nThis can only further accelerate the demise of the RCC in Ireland and elsewhere.\nC'mon, NCR, more indepth reporting and analysis! One would think a progressive Catholic publication would be upfront in this far from resolved moral implosion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So...you oppose universal healthcare then. Like leave the poor and the ill and the disabled to rot while the top 1-2% live in luxury and have penthouse type hospital rooms when ailing? And just what constitutes a \"Just Society\" in your view? And how does the Gospel imperative of Love Thy Neighbor fit in for you? Just wondering, Dromig10...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "America just had its Weimar Republic test. It flunked the test. The democratic institutions of the Weimar republic were too weak to stop a demagogue once he was in power. Catholics, and all other citizens, must prepare for the burning of the Reichstag moment. No doubt it will come not long after Jan. 20.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In response to Trump,\" a TOP Vatican official - Pope Francis\u2019 right-hand man - Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said \u201cpoints of dialogue\u201d between the Vatican and Trump include peace and \u201cinternal [domestic] subjects such as religious freedom, Catholics\u2019 commitment and attention to the most vulnerable bands of society.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have great respect for Tom Reese but in this case he is lining up with all the never-Trumpers in predicting nothing but ruin in the years ahead. While Mr. Trump clearly lacks many of the attributes we would desire for a president, and exhibits defects that arouse embarrasment, he is far from the first leader to be widely castigated, especially by those who clearly didn't vote for him. The Catholic Church and its bishops should not be among those evaluating his performance according to the tired old categories of liberal, progressive, and conservative. I am among those who pray for his well being that through him God might manifest his power, might, and justice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or is it that many liberals don't get it?\n\nWhy is it always the clergy and the Catholic Faith that needs to change to accommodate liberals? Why don't liberals ever need to change? Why don't liberals ever have to be challenged to think outside the box? \n\nWhy are the modern trends and whims of pop culture always assumed to be correct, while the Catholic Faith is always assumed to be wrong, or dated? Why is it that it is always the Catholic Faith that has to conform to the values of the world and never the other way around?\n\nIf we are just going to adopt whatever fancies pop culture of a given time and believe nothing, why be a Church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Some forms of Yoga recommend \"emptying one's mind. But this recommendation is antithetical to what the Church teaches.\"\n\nWhat spirituality books [Catholic] have you been reading? Centering Prayer [a valid and approved method of contemplation] highly recommends freeing the mind from distractions and emptying it. Do you even know the difference between meditation and contemplation?\n\nIn Benedictine spirituality, often beginners are taught to quietly hum one musical note to keep the mind clear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are not the Church anymore than Pius IX was Tradition.\n\nYou are the Church--so long as you retain unity with the Church. When you profess a different Faith than that which the Church professes, you loose your unity with the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Sr. Francine and salutations to the Divinity within you. I also feel Jesus is teaching us to discover the face of God in everybody\u2019s face in all our different states of mind and affairs because that brings peace, compassion and love to us all. We are in the midst of pure consciousness so God is with us all the time in our most depressing times and in our most ecstatic displays of acquaintance with Him. The recollection that we are in pure consciousness makes every action an act of worship and in this sacred space we achieve love, peace and integrity. This is the purification that cleans and shines our mind, the mirror that reflects the beauty, kindness and love that is in our soul and our mentality can help our spirit by being compassionate and nonjudgmental. \nhttps://www.amazon.com/John-J-Kuykendall/e/B018AK0WKY/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Was it Benedict 16 who said \"Pius X was pompous windbag. I regret every minute of my time wasted reading his jibber jabber. I should have spent that time doing the work Jesus commanded his followers to do.\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I posted earlier that perhaps the Pope wan't to see if he was the opposite of Jesus.\nThe post got censored.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LofL: Are you aware that there is considerable expert opinion that the \"beloved disciple\" was more likely Mary Magdalene, and not the apostle John? After all, Mary Magdalene was the first to proclaim the resurrection - not Peter, James or John.\n\nYou should recall, LofL, that the Johannine gospel did not take its present form [which has come down to us] until well into the 2nd century B.C.E. The Johannine gospel was definitely NOT an eyewitness account of the crucifixion and resurrection.\n\nBesides, all of the Synoptic gospel accounts of the crucifixion and resurrection that have come down to us were produced by the disciples of Paul - who it should be remembered was NOT an eyewitness to either events - never saw Jesus until he was blinded on the road to Damascus.\n\nThe Johannine gospel was written to prove to Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. The information the authors provided was that they might \u201cbelieve that Jesus is the Christ; and that believing you might have life is His name.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They support Trump because it's expedient to do so. Trump's attacking the people they want attacked. These people ultimately think they're only beholden to their imaginary god, not to \"earthly\" laws. They are America's version of ISIS. Obviously, the U.S. is a developed country so the ooga booga-ness of the evangelical far right looks different than the fanaticism of the Middle East where people are generally are generally very poor and exploited. What it looks like here is this: \nhttps://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/29/us/30abortion-clinic-violence.html\nhttps://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/abortion-clinics-report-threats-violence-rise-n719426\nAmericans have allowed these people to force their views on American women. Everyone can work to stop what they're doing. \nOr we can start doing to churches what they have done to American women. Americans have a choice. Respect women's privacy or we'll tear this country apart, starting with the churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Its been over 50 years since I read 'A Path Through Genesis' by Catholic Bible Scholar, Fr. Bruce Vawters. The Church has been teaching us for years that God inspired the authors of the Genesis Creation stories to write them as 'myth' forms of writing.\n\nI wonder how long it will take before we apply what we know Biblically to how we talk theologically. If 'Adam and Eve' and their 'sin' never existed in reality and are a 'myth' story, then we need to radically re-think our notions of 'original sin' and how we talk about it.\n\nOfficially, the Church agrees : The Creation stories of Genesis are not intended to be taken as 'factual'.\n\nAnd if the Genesis authors could say \"man is made in the image of God\" it is only because they had first created a concept of God who was very much 'in the image of man'!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The degree of partisan-political capital and financial wealth the NCR has amassed and the influence it exerts within the church, and in shaping the Catholic narrative raise serious questions for the future Catholicism in the US.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yesterday's loyalists were loyal to the Magisterium, and still are today.\n\nYesterday's dissidents were not loyal to the Magisterium, and still aren't.\n\nFather Reese's ire at a good priest, Father Weinandy, clouds his intellect because it weakens his assertions\u2013 although he probably considers Canon Law to be rigorist (viz. N. 750-753).\n\nChrist is the living way, the truth, and the life. No pope is. Deo gratias!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are funny: \"The people who have worked with her are best suited to evaluate her methods\" This includes prosecutors. Again, your history regarding Ms. Perlow and the recording of the Catholic priest is just flat wrong. The lead prosecutor suggested to record the meeting, the DA (Doug Harcleroad) approved it, and Judge Brian Hodges signed the order. Please provide us your revisionist history regarding how Ms. Perlow was part of the act of the recording.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the issues that is causing so much damage to the Roman Catholic faith and to many faith traditions is to not realize that many of our beliefs, traditions, rituals are embedded in the viewpoint of a particular culture. The Christian Jesus that we think we know is the Jewish man as described by other Jewish men who thought through their own cultural lens, who's writings are interpreted by men living in a Roman culture using cultural philosophies of Greece and Rome. \n\nWho is Jesus and how is what he said and did interpreted to someone raised in Eastern traditions? What would beliefs and rituals look like if the first to expound and expand on the writings of MMLJ had been Asian, or Native American? \n\nMaybe we all need a cultural relevant basis for belief and faith; and therefore many faiths in the world. But, the particulars of the faith are not nearly as important as the Golden Rule, as how we treat each other. Don't think God would have a problem with that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The art shown above reminds me of when I visited the California Franciscan missions years ago and saw some of the crude, extremely bloody (some might say gruesome) religious artwork the people made hundreds of years ago. The thought that struck me then was that the harder the life of the people, the more intensely they relate to the image of the suffering Christ. People need to make sense of their pain and the fact that death is their daily reality. They need to know that God is with them in their suffering.\n\nI think that's also why Ash Wednesday resonates so deeply, even for those who never otherwise darken the door of a church. There's something about that stark reminder of mortality that feeds the soul, especially for those of us living in a contemporary culture that sells us a lot of soothing lies about perpetual youth and vitality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, over 20 million Hispanics and over 6 million converts (from Protestantism), according to Pew Researchers. But all churches, even the Southern Baptists (dropping from 23% to 17% this year), are experiencing declines while the \"Nones\" continue to increase. At least for now. We are simply catching up to parts of Europe!!!! We could in another decade drop from 70% Christian to 60% Christian (like Germany). But they deal with the change quite well (at least I was told that last week while there). Only the UK is shocked at how quickly Christianity has dropped, with the dominant church -- Anglican -- falling by 50 % in just under two decades. The \"Nones\" there now number 53% (with those self-described Anglicans numbering only 15%). So we needn't be alarmed!!!!!!!! American \"Nones\" are only 23%. That is NOT 53%.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "IRT \"Provide help, not \u2018tough love\u2019\"\nActually Mr. Kappos, not quite \"nuff said\" as of yet. You establish the rule of social charity and aloha with which we certainly all agree, but I don't believe your Waikiki home ownership is any reason to quit thinking. Charity is not free. Even for the Christ, a donee was inherently expected to \"pay it forward,\" somehow. Donees become \"individually accountable\" BECAUSE of the gifts received. It's the donor-giver that is charitable, not the donee-receiver. While the donee is blessed by the donor, the donor is instead blessed by \"Society under God\" to which, in turn, the donee becomes accountable I think what the author intended was that welfare and entitlements are not free, but instead require individual accountability. I see you as agreeing to the charity but MIA concerning the flip side of the \"yin/yang\"...the issue of individual accountability.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the issue here is a question: what is the difference between a humane approach to complex issues and an endorsement of the status quo? Some of us think the gospel requires us to err on the side of compassion, others that the same gospel requires us to set limits for human behavior, and still others something in between. \nI don't think any one side is responsible for all the fear. I think \"fear\" is what we call the other side's insistence on their own positions. The underlying problem is, the gospel often gives us guidelines, not specific answers to specific issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Looks like the left arm holding Trump\u2019s head is fatter and longer than the right arm\u2014 perhaps \"Chris\" needed to get it in shape to hold Trump\u2019s head, (especially if he had to pose for a long time). Also the left leg looks busted with odd foot issues. The hands seem too small to me; etc. etc. But most folks don\u2019t notice in Michelangelo\u2019s Florentine Deposition Pieta that Christ is missing a leg, or that the Virgin Mary is massive in Michelangelo\u2019s Saint Peter\u2019s Pieta. Here, it seems the artist intentionally used his visual and messaging tools, including composition and provocation. I\u2019m not sure if the ding in the upper right corner of the canvas is necessary\u2014 might as well paint on a good canvas but the imperfection adds a trendy element. All the negative commenters responding here show how the artist succeeded with provocation, satire, humor (?), execution, (and \"execution\"), and emotion\u2014negative commenters may not realize it, but they are cheering wildly for art. Good for them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your point concerning the immaturity and false piety of those posting inappropriately in emergency forums is well made. This lack of humility and self-awareness reflects badly on Christians.\nHowever, your reasoning around the non-existence of God, and the logical flaw of a good God allowing suffering does not really hold water. You of all people should know the logical difficulty of asserting the non-existence of God (this observation does not constitute proof of His existence). On the evidence before us, belief in a Creator is as reasonable or more reasonable than the alternative.\nAs to the existence of evil being glibly ascribed to \"the devil\", it would be more accurate to say that it flows from the free will with which we were created (suffering as a consequence of \"natural\" disasters is a more subtle debate). Although evil is, well, evil, the gift of choice and free will is incomparable. God chose not to spare us from suffering, but He was willing to share in that suffering.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If academia and publishing \"long ago\" changed over then why are there academic publications from the last few years with titles like \"Magnesium metabolism in man\"? You are gaslighting me and the rest of us by not acknowledging this when confronted by it, merely repeating your position as though stridency substitutes for argument.\n\nMoreover it is the height of nonsense (and a defecit of charity!) to claim as you do that whatever opinion I express is the \"most important thing\" to me. Rather than engage nonsense (what am I supposed to do, say \"no it's not the most important thing\") I'll just leave it at that. I've demonstrated you to be incorrect on a point of fact and you have been unable to respond.\n\nAs an aside: That last bit is even more wildly off the mark since I ordinarily pray, singing with my fellow Roman Catholics, in Latin, \"propter nos homines and propter nostram salutem...\". Do that often enough and when at a translated Mass these are the words one hears in one's heart.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. I loved it when the archbishop stated that the Girl Scouts had no ties to the Catholic Church. Neither do the Boy Scouts [but no archbishop is reported to consider severing ties with the Boy Scouts].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You forgot one, self-righteousness. One of the worst traits any of us can display. The Pharisees in Jesus' parable would \"thank God we are not like all these other sinners\" Luke 18:9-14", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Capuchin Fr. Thomas Weinandy begins his letter to Pope Francis saying,\n\"I write this letter with love for the Church and sincere respect for your office.\"\nHe then admonishes,\n\u201cYet, Your Holiness, a chronic confusion seems to mark your pontificate.\u201d\nThe highly regarded and accomplished theologian states his justification:\n\u201cI decided to write Pope Francis a letter, which I intended then to publish unless he adequately addressed the issues I raised . . . . I find it significant that not only did the Lord fulfill my demand for a sign, but also did so in, what I believe, a very significant manner.\u201d\nThe learned friar seems to disregard the first Rule of the Friars Minor:\n\u201cThe rule of life of the lesser Brothers is this, namely to observe the Holy Gospel\u2026 Br. Francis promises obedience and reverence to the lord Pope Honorius and his successors canonically entering office\u2026 let the rest of the brothers be bound to obey Brother Francis and his successors.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are hopelessly wrong, of course. We have multiple reports of women acting as priests in the early church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is true what objectively conforms to reality; objective understanding is life's faith-quest (fides quaerens intellectum).\nNo matter how fervently we believe, if what we believe has no evidence of corresponding with reality (and/or does not conform with reality), we may well be deceived in our belief; of course, subjective truth, informed by trustful communication, is that which we believe to be true on evidence as we understand it. A lot of misinformation has been transmitted within various religions, including Roman Catholicism - the faith of my belonging.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Comment 3 \n\n[continued quote] \"taking into account the changed and changing facts on the ground,\u201d he said. He also said that the Plenary Council will discuss the role of women: \u201c\u2026we\u2019ll need to ask how to include lay people \u2013 especially women \u2013 not just in the management of the Church (as we already do here on a large scale) but in the governance of the Church.\"\n\nThis must have been interesting discussions with not just Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, and Gallagher, the Vatican\u2019s foreign minister equivalent. Not mentioned by Lamb in his article, there were also meetings with Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops; and Archbishop Giacomo Morandi, secretary for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. I am sure the issues of roles of women, roles of laity, authority of bishops, and the secrecy of the confessional were high on the agenda.\n\n Oh, to have been a fly on the wall.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hahaha.\nSpirits are notoriously difficult to understand. They speak in riddles. The Holy Spirit spoke through Baalam\u2019s beast of burden. Nathan spoke in parables to David.\n\nMy question is how do you know what the Spirit has taught with such certainty, that you can identify what is a contradiction? If Francis does not think there is a contradiction, why do you? And I am not asking with a tone of \u201cyou don\u2019t know\u201d but of curiosity about how you can be so certain of such a fuzzy thing as \u201cwhat the Church teaches.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the four cardinals genuinely believe that they are rendering a service to the church. I recognize their sincerity and their love for the church. Moreover, their questions represent the thinking of other members of the church.\n\nHowever, I think it is a mistake to think that Pope Francis has not answered the cardinals. His silence IS the answer. Quod scripsit, scripsit. Much ink has been spilled, many words have been expended (not a few by Francis himself), commenting on 'Amoris laetitia'. Francis has endorsed the response of the bishops of Argentina. He need say nothing more; he ought to say nothing more. In the end, these four cardinals do not seek clarification; they demand capitulation. Francis can\u2019t, won\u2019t and shouldn't do that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, Monica. I speak of divisions so deep in this nation and its culture that it is possibly too large already for Americans to acknowledge. Your reply suggests that you, too, have succumbed to the Fantasy Industrial Complex serving as Opium for the American People. Everywhere outside the US governments and indeed entire populations of countries and major cities all over the world are convinced that the US can no longer be trusted. The emergence of Americhristianity bodes ill for the US, which, to this very day, refuses to acknowledge and integrate its Dark Side. You may want to read the interview with Murray Stein about Donald Trump, which I find very compelling. Link: http://chironpublications.com/keep-calm-carry-interview-murray-stein-donald-trump/. We need inner calmness, sturdiness, rootedness to carry on against the strengthening winds of violent nationalism, including Americhriatianity, non of which have anything to do with Jesus Christ and his Gospel. Laugh at your peril.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Dennis: I think we probably agree on the Holy Spirit and the role of Advocate / Paraclete; neither a simplistic stability a whimsical free-for-all. The Spirit guides and teaches as and when the need arises but new doctrine, a la Mormonism, is antithetical to that guidance.\nWhile I agree that theology is foundational to teaching, in the early ages, at least, it was driven not by Scripture but by the praxis of the faith passed on by the Apostles. The Trinitarian Dogma is pre-Canon and is supported by Scripture vs being derived from it. As the Church gained reprieve from persecutions, thoughts of God's nature (especially of Christ) became of greater concern but if you ask even a fairly well educated Catholic whether Christ has two wills or one, I would suspect most do not know, though I suspect they know that an answer exists and where to go to get the answer.\nRe REALITY, not even all n-Ps agree on its nature. I see n-P and Aristotle's philosophies as both / and v. either / or.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Mike,\n\nI don't want to start a debate here - like Ivo also pointed out, there are better ways or communication mediums to talk over topics like these (over coffee for example).\n\nI think it boils down to what your definition of \"good\" implies. The bible points out in Romans 3:23 \"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God\". Only God is perfectly good. God is love, and because someone like you or me can sometimes give without loving, but cannot truly love without giving, He paid the highest price by sending Jesus to die for our sins (which separates, or blinds us from Him) - hence, a loving act because He doesn't want to punish us. \n\nGod created man. period. Ever since sin entered the world, man (people) tried to become his/her own god; man (being part of the created world) wanted to become God (the creator).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You write: \"I think that there is no way that the institutional Church can determine whether or not an apparition really occurred. \"\n\nIf any experience of the divine (visions and other forms of private revelation) is aspiring for wider reception, it is assuming a certain prophetic role by addressing the community. \n\nProphets in the Jewish-Christian tradition are never self appointed. The prophetic voice is such because it has been recognised as such by the community (that always involves a certain institution). \n\nTherefore the community, the institutional Church not only can, but has to either recognise it as such or not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I'm sure the Sanhedrin and Papal Inquisition thought that way too. The facts are is that the GC decided to go one way due to third world influence despite the fact that the TOSC that the decision was based on was at best, inconclusive. Unions that were ordaining women were doing so BEFORE the official vote. The GC should have realized that local unions have authority to enact policy that fits their geographical area and culture. Now the GC due it's insistence on strict adherence to dogmatic policy has painted themselves into a corner and instead of backing down, insist on following through. It is a power struggle, nothing more. This is Medieval Catholicism and Pharaseeism at its core.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Part of the problem was that under the papacy of St. John Paul II, the Vatican was reluctant to defrock young priests, even if they were abusers, and sought to avoid scandal at all costs.\" quoted from the article.\n\n\nDoes this sound like the good works of a \"saint\" dear Pope Francis? A Pope who when he was confronted with it protect various church leaders, even giving them rewarding jobs back in Italy (Law) for defending the church, and facilitating the abusers? A Pope who said it was an American problem when it was a world-wide problem?\n\nHow about you Pope Francis, didn't the U.N. asked to see the church records on the abuse, to see the extent world-wide, the hundreds of thousands of abuse cases and how the church dealt with them? What did you do and say to the U.N. Pope Francis? No, we won't share the records, the church will handle it internally!\n\n\nHow would the letter of Revelations read, if directed to the Roman Catholic Church today dear Pope Francis? Worse than the other 7?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Okay... the readership at CM represents a hideous abomination of not just the Catholic faith, but any faith. How's that? \n\nIncidentally, you appear to not understand the meaning of the expression \"speaks volumes.\" Do you need me to explain that for you as well?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't know what the fuss is about, the tradition(Rule) says that \"the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking\". The individual has the only input into the truth of her /his desire to stop.\nAn AA group than can not restrict membership to anyone and honestly call themselves an AA group.\nThat includes Groups for just christians, women, men, and of course Agnostics. This of course requires a little common sense, and open mindedness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, he would probably gain more converts if he did say that because surely some Lutherans are as weary of PC blather in place of faith as some Catholics are. But instead he will do his best, as always, to diminish Catholic practice and probably overtly condemn attempts at inviting conversions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If we believe our God will not be present to us sacramentally unless a priest recites certain prayers...\"\n\nThat, by any definition, is a shaman or a medicine man and is a far cry from the \"Royal Priesthood and Holy Nation\" in 1 Peter.\n\nMaybe this is what it will take for Catholics to embrace the Priesthood conferred by Baptism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John, you know that a \"good\" \"Catholic\" always sees things like this and instead of trying to right the wrongs, we are supposed to \"offer it up\" for the poor souls in purgatory. Besides, these things are being done by \"good, god fearing men\" and therefore it really can't be wrong, we just aren't privy to the truth about how it all will turn out. we are confused and just have to trust them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) Among the new members of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments appointed by Francis are: . . . Paterson, N.J., Bishop Arthur Serratelli. Serratelli is the one responsible for the current translation of the illiterate 2011 Missal, currently in use. Beginning in Advent 2011, I began sending Serratelli comments at http://www.western-civilization.com/CBQ/Personal%20Notes/Personal%20Notes.htm challenging the appropriateness of the illiteracy. From watching the career of Serratelli, it seems he is regarded as the brains of the hierarchy in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul: For those who do NOT make it to Gods new world, the Bible states, Genesis 3:19, \"For dust you are and to dust you will return\". \n\nIn the Bible when everyone dies they go to the Grave which many translate as Hell. Ecclesiastes 9:5, \"For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all, nor do they have any more reward, because all memory of them is forgotten\". Ecclesiastes 9: 10, \"Whatever your hand finds to do, do with all your might, for there is no work nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom in the Grave where you are going\".\n\nYou are dust in the Grave awaiting God's judgement...................", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those who would obey canon law in defiance of Jesus Christ's own words and allow children to suffer should not pretend to be qualified to serve the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This isn't an issue of celibacy, Pandora. Nor is it an issue of homosexuality. But then, you know that and you only posted to start the usual game of hijacking a discussion which is inevitably critical of the Church hierarchy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "https://www.crosswalk.com/family/finances/debt/what-did-jesus-actually-have-to-say-about-money.html\nhttp://blog.bible/bible-blog/entry/5-things-jesus-said-about-money\n\nMoney is mentioned often throughout the bible and most of the time it involves a warning about corrupting you soul/spiritual values, for personal enrichment.\n\nYou share this moral value with a lot of Christian's Gary, *Needless to say I despise the gold chained evangelist who seek personal fortune by promises that God Wants you to be rich. It's a gross distortion of Jesus bible and just give's justification for those who say many church's do NOT deserve tax abatement - and I agree. I can get Pastors license with 25 bucks and a stamp.\n\nNow why would Republican planners not be interested in taxing ultra wealthy evangelist who have incomes/wealth in the millions of dollars.\n\nhttp://www.etinside.com/?p=539\nSeriously, their income is tax free? (Check how Robertson is using tax deductible donation)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Continued)\n\n\"I would think most NCR writers would be asking for clarity\" = is a faulty assumption that most others are unclear about AL. Not so. The NCR writers, as well as those who comment on those essays and reports, are quite explicitly clear, having read AL in its entirety or at least condensed versions of it. It is unfortunate that you perhaps are unclear about that.\n\n\"We had two Popes who enjoyed teaching and clarifying Church doctrine\" - an understatement if there ever was one about the papacy of St. John Paul II and then Benedict XVI Emeritus. They were both over-controlling, doctrinally rigid, and put the interests of the institutional clericalist church above it's members who were not ordained. They loved the Church, to be sure, but so did St. John XXIII and so does Pope Francis, but those two unlike the other two love the people of the Church - the Children of God, male and female equally - first and foremost. They understand/stood that the Church exists for all of us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"No. Jesus .......................\"\nA wonderful demonstration of why dialogue with REAL CATHOLICS is pointless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"Why would any Protestant organization want to have anything to do with the RC damaged goods, beyond the occasional \"Let's be friends\" photo-op?\"\n- Luckily for all of us, Protestants do not identify 'church' with clergy.\n- So, while they hobnob with episcopal leaders, the goal is to heal the church -- not consider whether the episcopacy a la the Holy See is meritorious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was deeply touched as I watched six deacons lift the archbishop from the floor of the sanctuary and carry him from his cathedral church on the journey to his final resting place as both saints and sinners looked on. The story of a life well-lived is by necessity complicated. The story of a life touched by a real and immediate encounter with the risen Christ is more so. For Archbishop Quinn, time passed into eternity just like his mortal remains passed through Manfrini's great bronze portal of the risen Christ. We saints and sinners who remain await our final encounter with the Light born of Light, Jesus, redeemer of the world, Who is yesterday, today, yes and forever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's approach this question from the perspective of hermeneutics. Does the truth of the Gospel exist in what actually happened during the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus? If so, we are immersed in an historical-critical project from which we may never emerge, but in that view it would be difficult to argue that the historical Jesus showed anything like a preferential option for the poor. \nThus the second question: does the truth of the Gospel exist in the stories told by the four canonical evangelists, which have been considered revelation almost since the very beginning? If so, those who get to tell the story also get to shape it. History shows they have often shaped it to fit their contours. \nFinally, does the truth of the Gospel exist in a dialectic between Gospel and those who hear it, so that one informs and reshapes the other? If so, then Liberation Theology, though not perfect in its methods, has a better chance of leading us to truth than the historical church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If CM represents Taliban Catholicism, what does NCR represent? Dhimmi Catholicism?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We ought to stick with our Creator's definition of healthy sexuality, namely that which is between one man and one woman, who are in a lifelong marriage covenant, held together by authentic, Christ-like love. Teach our children the same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And I'm confident you cheer that God has steered the Church to Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Surely, Cardinal Pell would not have thought he'd celebrate this year's Peter and Paul Consistory with the worldwide publication of the news he has to answer child abuse charges back home. The chickens come home to roost, and the cardinal has no other option than to take (that is: Pope Francis has no other option than to grant) a leave of absence and face the proceedings. It is now up to the judicial process in Australia to establish what happened, and to provide justice by means of fair process for all and everyone involved. I suspect this is going to be not the first and only case. Too much skeletons are still hiding in another closet: Cardinal M\u00fcller, Peter and Paul 2018? I, for one, fervently hope so. Pope Francis is wise to let Australian Justice take its course. But he also must act more forcefully and no longer allow Vatican stonewalling to occur. If he doesn't, he himself and the Catholic Church at large will lose good will and credibility around the world. Hora est!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Would there be the slightest fuss if some nun with a veiled face wanted to board a bus in Quebec? The question answers itself.\"\n\nLOL! Does it? Um, no. You obviously know little about Catholicism or Quebec.\n\nFirst, not only do nuns not cover their faces, it has been decades since they wore the traditional habit with the full veil and skirts to the floor. They adopted a more normal habit in the 60s, precisely so they could better relate to the population. A wide smile and open face is part of the image they want to convey.\n\nBut even that hasn't been enough to get the Church back in the good graces of the population, and religious orders and priests tend to keep a low profile.\n\nQuebecers are proud of having gotten the Church out of public institutions, and see Islam as Catholicism on steroids.\n\nWhich does not mean they are not attached to their culture, which was based on Catholicism, just as secular Jews or secular Muslims can still be attached to their cultures.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did any news network interview Christian (sarc) on who he voted for President? Just wondering.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes I am, but Jeremiah wasn't. Try to practice more humility by not speaking for all Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Ideological colonization\". An interesting characterization. Isn't that what our \"legitimate teaching authority\" does continually? We, at least older Catholics, have been ideologically colonized, in many respects outrageously. Even Pope Francis seems to agree that a sensitive and personal reflection and discernment is legitimate for a person conflicted with his/her sexual identity. So to escalate (so to speak) from an individual to a communal - professional education - is to reduce the communal stereotypes and distinguish the \"nature\" and the \"nurture\" which our teaching authority itself seems to have identified as one and thus \"colonized\". This, in principle, would reduce the distress of youth on the one hand and, on the other, reduce the exclusion of those in distress over sexual identity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin, my brother in Christ, I understand that all people respond in different ways to Jesus' call to pick up our crosses and follow Him. I agree, but when anyone of us (anyone of us) goes to Jesus with true sorrow in their hearts for sinning (Sacrament of Confession), God who is merciful and loves all of us so much, will plant a seed in our hearts and souls that will inspire change/transformation in us, so that we are truly saddened when we sin against/offend God or our brothers and sisters. He will plant this seed in our consciences! It will start to become more and more impossible to offend God and not become sick to our stomachs until we have gone to Jesus and our brothers and sisters begging their forgiveness! I guarantee you that Jesus will always accept our apology, even when our brothers or sisters do not! \nLastly, let us remember that \"act of (perfect) contrition\" is only an act. God sees through our acs and our hearts. If our motivation does not meet what is needed Continued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John 14:6 Jesus said to him, \"I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. He actually condemned the \"spiritual\" pharisees. You missed His teaching, you are right that you can be spiritual without His blessing, but what good would that do you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\n\nI did not. Your quibble is not with me, but with the Word of God in Hosea and in Matthew. \n\nI asked a rhetorical question, to which the prophet Hosea gives the answer, putting it in God\u2019s own mouth: It is mercy I desire, not sacrifice; and I quoted Jesus, who affirms Hosea\u2019s insight, and recommends it to us for our meditation. The priority of love and mercy over law and sacrifice in the Gospel of Jesus simply could not be more clear. Many other concerns are valid and important, but in the absence of love and mercy rooted in the Gospel, they are social work, not ministry.\n\nThe question for the church is how to realize in the life and ministry of the church the priorities Jesus gave us. In order to do that, one must begin by acknowledging the priorities -- not fudging them or trying to explain them away. Pope Francis is helping us to do that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Sorry, but no planetary fluidity.\"\nThe earth changes shape. It is elastic, as is gender. But I certainly agree with you that for Real Catholics truisms don't have to actually be true. I am sure Jesus said that somewhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is the Fr. Z ordination story - it really is a scandal:\n\nFormerly a Lutheran, he says his conversion to Catholicism was set into motion after hearing a piece of sacred polyphony on the radio. He felt called to serve as a priest and eventually was ordained a priest in Rome by Pope John Paul II on May 26, 1991.\n\nHe got sponsored in Rome and the bishop of the Italian Diocese of Velletri-Segni - note how this skipped over any typical process of formation, input from seminary staff, etc. He has never completed his MA/PhD degree - says that his current radio/internet work leaves him no time. Pushback has led his current sponsor, Diocese of Madison, WI to assign him to parish work (at least some of the time). Madison bishop is the ultra right wing, Morlino.\n\nhttp://novusordowatch.org/2014/01/sad-case-zuhlsdorf/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agree 100% that the current situation is blatantly sexist, and the church needs women to occupy the same roles and positions as men, making equal contributions to the mind and governance of the church. The Gospel has been distorted because women have not been allowed to preach at Mass or contribute equally to theology.\nBut I also believe the current priesthood and episcopacy need to be reformed beyond gender composition-I would not see success if we develop Princesses as well as Princes of the Church. I see it in the business world: women break the glass ceiling, but the corporate culture remains patriarchal, and change is not meaningful. We need egalitarian servant leaders, brothers and sisters in solidarity with one another and the whole Church.\nI complained to a friend recently about the ladies at my parish who fall all over themselves giving the priest compliments and attention. Her wise response was, \"He is just a man. I value him, but not more than I value my own self.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While eliane cleverly distracted you, mjmchale displaced you at #1 on the humor chart. Established church, Joe McCarthy, and silencing heretics. Hard even for you to top that comedic treasure.\n\nEn garde, time to polish up the old epee. Maybe two epees, one in each hand. Enjoy!\n\ncheers", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings....All you Tradie's got the market on slanderious assertions! All the nasty attacks on the Holy Father in the sites like Church Militant, Rotate Carli and Eponymous Flower to name just a few! Pope Francis is the Vicar of Christ and you should respect his reforms guided by the +Holy Spirit+. I will pray for you Tradie's!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My wife and I have often talked about how, both of us being raised from infancy in Adventist churches and attending Adventist schools, and then a lifetime pastoring churches, we really have no friends and few acquaintances who aren't Seventh-day Adventists. It's not because of any fear of them, but because we are socially immersed in the church. Thank you, Winona, for talking about this!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't agree. The Vatican, the pope, cardinals, bishops, need to hear about it when people either don't agree with a teaching or just have trouble living it. At this point, this teaching on contraceptives has been rejected by a vast majority of couples who have access the contraceptives to help them plan when to have children and how many to have.\n\nThere are people for whom NFP and the whole teaching is just fine and even just right. But there are many for whom it just doesn't work. It is especially true now with so many women working because they must - to help the family have enough to eat, a place to sleep. It is also true that many families limit the number of children so they don't have more than they can afford to feed, clothe, shelter and educate. To ignore that doesn't make sense when there is a choice that can be made. \n\nNow, too, women want to combine a career with a family life - and they can if they manage their fertility. Too many good reasons for contraceptives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just because someone voted for HC doesn't necessarily make them an Catholic-hating, socialist, abortion-crazed, money-hungy, do anything for power type of person.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To the contrary, you have already lost. Neither you, nor anyone, else has come up with a reason why women can't be priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, not any of the Popes they may have met. I'm talking the serial adulterer Newt Gingrich, the Catholic militant who just happens to be much more of amoral mercenary Eric Prince, and his militant Evangelical Charter School booster of a sister, Betsy DeVos. Lots of moneyed interests in all those 'Christian' GOP connections. Funny how Jesus had no money.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A member of the Vatican diplomatic corps serving in Washington has been recalled to the Vatican where he is involved in a criminal investigation involving child pornography, the Vatican said. Apparently, the Vatican only acted after the civil government acted. \u201cBlessed be the name of the Lord for ever\u201d (Psalm 113:2). \u201cThis saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost\u201d (1 Timothy 1:15). That does not mean Paul was messing with pornography or covering up what had been happening. \u201cBut one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation\u201d (Luke 6:48). That \u201cwithout a foundation\u201d looks like what is happening at the Vatican diplomatic corps. Liturgy of the Word, Reading 442, Saturday of the Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time I.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John Lennon famously wrote: \"Whatever gets you through the night, It's all right ... Don't need a sword to cut through flowers.\" \n\nI feel the same way about the traditional liturgy: whatever rocks your boat. Yet, I would hope that the same tolerance and compassion we Catholics have for our traditional brothers & sisters would be extended to those of us who yearn for women to be ordained to the full priesthood.\n\nThose hierarchs who have advocated for the traditional liturgy [chief among them Raymond Burke] cling to a dark past in the church where women and children are objectified. On the other hand however, the future beckons ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "PR I pretty much agree with you about the protest but wish they could have found another way to express it... as one of the interviews of an \"other\" student said...\"Hey this is our graduation we worked really hard to get here\"\n\nMy grandson graduated from Georgetown this weekend in an absolutely great ceremony....and the Convocation a few days before is one I'll never forget! But Georgetown is a class act, initiated by Congress in 1789, with worldwide student body, many of whom will serve in the foreign service or government....less than half are catholic, another 30% Protestant 6 % Jewish and the balanced mix of many faiths...all of whom are very respectfully treated by the University...I am so very glad this grandson went there!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "international(.)la-croix.com/news/a-trump-bannon-presidency-and-neo-americanist-catholicism/4632\n\nA Trump-Bannon presidency and neo-Americanist Catholicism \n\nThe need to rediscover the global Church teaching of \"Pacem in Terris.\" \n\nMassimo Faggioli\nFebruary 6, 2017", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People like Trump couldn't be more obvious, sucking up for money and future financial guarantees while stiffing the American public. Getting us bad press all over the world with our blind support of an Israeli regime that is two degrees shy of a 'Seig Heil'. The resemblances to South Africa's Apartheid system are uncanny, yet Americans are willingly turning a blind eye because it doesn't match their image with this Christian white-washed 'God's People' thing they managed to fod off on the public here. Not to mention that in every statement, the Israeli's and their benefactors here in the States do all they can to make it seem as if their problems are ours. This is purposefully done and is a skillful PR move on their part, which they have mastered the last 30 or so years. Unwavering support for a country like Israel is not in America's best interests, and isn't that what we should be striving for anyway? The rest of the world sees them for what they are, why can't we?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He really just sounds like Christ in his confrontation with some of the teachers of the Law over their legalism. They were much interested in the legalistic form of religion rather than it's heart. And he was very harsh with them calling them a \"brood of vipers\". Francis is just using Christocentric and prophetic language here to confront those in the hierarchy who think the forms of religion is more important than the heart of faith which is justice, mercy and love. \n\nTradition, law and Dogma aren't bad things in and off themselves because they help us understand the faith and keep it stable. Traditionalism, Legalism and Dogmatism are though and can become forms of idolatry in and off themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We've been told that we, man, and American, is responsible for climate change. Now it's Christians, that's one way to absolve one's self, and the rain forest that's is responsible, oh and Trump. It's becoming clear that climate change IS A HOAX, because with every post, climate change, changes. It's hurricanes, now it's wildfires, it soon will be snow, or rain, or no snow or no rain, or, or, or. If climate change is, then how is it that a weather person can tell us the weather pattern, base on the time of year?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There were never enough supporters to persistently vote for Republican policies because all they were going to get is a pro business--tax cut mantra. This required then to bring different interest groups into the party. You now have the establishment, the Christian right, the Freedom Caucus, pro-lifers, neoconservatives, Libertarians, fiscal hawks, national defense hawks and some moderates.\nMany of these visions are incompatible with each other, so one of the factions will always be trying to stymie the other.\nWith a President who has no idea how to proceed with any of them, all we're going to see is more dysfunction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You still have your grandchildren learning that the type of behavior was a result of an action, he would have gotten worse, instead its something better. It may take your kids a lifetime to be greatful of Christ because technically they don't deserve it any more equal than the next man who draws a gun on police. It does show ungratuity and the father was sick. It is my place to say that if they didn't get enough benefits from innocence, they shouldn't receive it due to their fathers guilt. If their lives have been ruined, they can apply for that like anyone else. Otherwise it was selfish and I'm sorry you need revenge against.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why does a religion (RCC) also operate as a city-state, with ambassadors, hangers-on and flacks? And, please don't answer that it is about history, the Italian princes, dukes, etc. That was trashed when Italy unified. My concern is having Ambassador/Cardinals like Eugene Pacelli (later, Pius XII), prancing around Europe circa 1928-34, negotiating with a certain dictator in Germany to \"protect\" the Church. No other religion has the gall to believe it is to be granted diplomatic status! As last week's Gospel described, in one of Jesus' most notable comments, \"Give to Caesar that which is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.\" Why did the RCC go so wrong?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reason that there are very different views in the Catholic Church (or in any institutional religion) is that each of us is at a different stage of spiritual growth. \"Stages of Faith\" by James Fowler and \"Integral Spirituality\" by Ken Wilbur are two books that speak extensively on this topic. Growing our souls and establishing a personal relationship with the ever present God/Yahweh/Allah/Mohammed/Buddha expands the inclusivity of our souls and widens our circle in regards to all of humankind and creation. Both of these books explain why some folks cling so tightly to 'their' religion and others are able to move forward.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a great philosopher--my mother--often said in lectures at the dinner table academy--\"It's a sin not to use the brain God gave you.\"\n\nYou seem to advocate a slothful, risk-free intellectual existence, where \"abandonment,\" not the rigor and pain of the search for new knowledge and new understanding, will suffice. \n\nI agree that intellectuals should also smell like sheep; elitism values arrogance over humility in any office, from the bishop's to the professor's. \n\nI could be wrong, but you make education sound like controlled basic training more than like risky exploring. You are way off base when you claim the intellectual life is \"ruminating about abstractions largely distant from the love of God.\" \n\nResearch is a part of, not apart from, knowing. \n\nYour put down of Unitarians calls me to ask you to pray with me: \"Lord, make us mindful of the needs of others. Lord, make us needful of the minds of others.\"\n\nAt what Catholic research universities would your views be supported?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now, you're getting a bit closer. Good.\n\nThe authority given to Church isn't total, perfect. It can clarify what God gave us in Revelation, but it can't go against, can't reverse what has been given, at any age. \n\nThanks for typo help, that sort of public help is always a sign of something.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It wasn't so long ago that Anglican/Episcopalian congregations also heard St. Paul's dire warning about unworthy reception of communion, recited from the BCP by the priest near the beginning of the Communion service. It has faded away in modern times. Yes Wesley is near universal in Christianity today except in the pop song mega-church evangelical places, and Anglican hymnody is not just in those Anglican rite places you folks have set up, but in Latin rite services too. It also works the other way, with Allegri, Palestrina, Mozart, and \"Holy God we praise thy name\" sung (where the voices and training resources allow) in Anglican and Protestant places. Let us pray twice in praising God in song.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cheers! Profile in Courage. Here's someone who was paying attention during those religion classes on Catholic social justice. But where is the esteem Archbishop of NOL.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If...as Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis I have repeatedly stated...women have a particular, unique and necessary charism for the Church it absolutely cannot be \"channeled\" appropriately, authentically, efficaciously, either -\n-from a state of exclusion and diminution\n-through male interlocator(s)\nWithout women being an intrinsic element of the fullness of sacrament, conversation, authority, service, magisterium with men the Church does not, cannot reflect or represent the fullness of the Creator's Word.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you fons&culmen for your comment\n\n I should have put this extract with my original post. From the article above\n\n\"The life sciences tell us that the building blocks of what we call morality are actually found \u2014 presumably they were selected for \u2014 in nonhuman social primates,\" he said. \"Science gives you an account of what otherwise looks like magic:\n.\n \"Why do we have a moral sense to begin with? How did we develop it?\"\n.\nI believe that this moral sense emanates from a divine spark within us; the link in my post above deals with consciousness/divine spark.\n\nAlso see the article below; taken from my post.\n \n\u201cYes we are indeed the dust of the earth but these experiences pertain to the spirit and have nothing to do with the flesh\u201d.\n\n\nhttps://international.la-croix.com/news/the-inspiration-of-nature/5498\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You want people to pray the rosary in the sanctuary? The sanctuary is reserved for the Mass and very few other things, not private devotions. Typical practice is to stay out unless one has good reason and then to enter with the utmost reverence. And, whether the altar is freestanding or built up against, the wall the space is ill-suited for devotions.\n\nI can see praying the Rosary at the sanctuary rail, if it is present, but not in the sanctuary. And I can't think of a church where praying private devotions in the sanctuary is allowed. Keep it in the nave.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The difference here is that The Lionhearted One is a micro-manager who fired a bunch of long-term employees and brought in his own \"company men\" and made policy accordingly. He also spent a lot of Archdiocesan money fighting for his \"pet\" causes and flying around the country to crusade against \"evil\" gay civil unions and setting up little covens of the uber wealthy to have his back...no gossip here, just the truth. Catholic San Francisco is a village, and he is an incredibly divisive wedge in the village. Pan, I know you always defend the hierarchy, which you are certainly entitled to do, but they are not always as holy and above board as we might be entitled to expect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If anything, attitudes that are \"Spirit of Vatican II\" drive us away. Young people are interested in the traditions of the Church this generation has worked so hard to suppress. Give us the full Gospel and teachings of the Church, don't condescend to us and tell us it's too hard to be a Catholic in today's day and age! We were created for more than to just meekly submit to the spirit of the passing world! When we see our elders being half-hearted about following Catholicism as a life path, young people think, \"what's the point?\" Go big or go home!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd not be too sad were the dinner to be discontinued. I say that for two reasons. To begin, it may well be time to recognize that the political culture has changed in this country. While it's easy for partisans in this cycle to point to the \"other guy,\" the truth is that this culture has been on a downward spiral now for a while, as the campaigns get ever less civil. For their part, the media not just soaks all that up and reports it as \"news,\" the media in some cases actually tries to add fuel to that fire, all in the name of ratings. And this leads to my second reason.\n\nThere was certainly NO shortage of audio and video clips from the year's event. But in only a FEW of those clips was the purpose of the dinner even mentioned in passing, and I can't remember ANY that linked the event as being a Catholic charitable event. I would think that one goal of the event would be to bring a spotlight to charitable work. So maybe it's time to move on, and find a better way?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sister Schenk: As a Catholic, college graduate, white woman who presumably attends religious services at least weekly, how do you feel about exit polls that show that Trump won the vote of white women (53-43), white college graduates (49-45), Catholics (52-45) and voters who attend services at least once a week (56-40)? Are these all country mice, to be analyzed in an extremely condescending manner? Or can we safely dismiss 53% of white women as racist, sexist, homophobes? Perhaps life is actually more complicated than people with your worldview see it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Jesus invited the \"unholy\" people to repent and spread the good news. His appeal to the \"holy\" religious people of his time was largely ignored. So, if Chaput wants a smaller, holier church, I say it will be counterproductive. It amazes me that our hierarchy has lost the basic message of the gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you consider priests in the same position as apostles? Should we be addressing our local parish priest not as \"father\" but as \"apostle\"? \n\nBeing a priest was not Mary's role -- and I suggest our priests are certainly not chosen for sinlessness, our Church wouldn't be in the position it is now if our priests/bishops/etc were sinless.\n\nWhat do we really know about the apostles, based on the limited documents and traditions that have survived to this day, assuming those writings didn't have some other purpose/message/inspiration or haven't lost or gained something in translation? In any event, being sinless doesn't appear to have been a precondition for being selected.\n\nMary Magdalene remains the \"apostle to the apostles.\" Paul seems to have referred to Junia, a kinswoman, as being among the apostles. The hierarchy has the choice to resume naming women among the servants of God known in this life as priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do realize there are women in the Church. And there is a place for women in the Church. Generally, it is a second class place. \n\nThe honor accorded Saint Mary is miserly at best with great emphasis on her lack of divinity, her supposed meekness, her inability to get to heaven except by means of an 'assumption,' and her dispensation from original sin as if she would have been tainted otherwise. Not very inspiring. If a Church tries to limit women, then no one should be surprised if women look elsewhere for spiritual fulfillment. \n\nThe artwork depicting Mary is great (except for those pieces that have her meekly looking at her feet like an awkward teenager). I would guess that there is more true spirituality in the great art than there is in all the writings by popes and bishops. NCR had an art contest for the millennium. Too bad Mary was not included in that commemoration of the nativity of Jesus. How can you have a nativity without Mary? Time for another contest?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, most of the posters here will not be pleased with me when I challenge their thoughts on this report. You can rip it apart all you want, but it misses the point, as far as I'm concerned. Reminds me of the Pharisees who constantly looked to discredit Jesus in the Parables He used, and which they did not even understand. If one thinks back a little bit, it becomes clear then that Pope Francis uses \"family\" language to describe the roles within the Church (the caring, nurturing mother, for one) which is culturally consistent with the world he grew up in and came to the Chair of Peter from. If a group of elderly men - +Francis included, and the emeritus pope down the lane a bit - find a renewed sense of belonging and worth, then I am all for it. How wonderful that this pope can think enough of this often resistant and oppositional group of, yes, men to bolster their sense of worth. Is it not what we all say, on numerous occasions, we want? A pastor with compassion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church has shown ample interest in helping them. What LGBT wants, though, is not ministry, but an acceptance of their conduct, and they leave the Church when they don't get what the Church can't give. Good riddance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In respones to the Gospel, the Church should be prophetic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have you guys thought about contacting the Nuncio or even sending a letter to the Vatican (Pope Francis) about this? I know that the Wisconsin parish tried this and it didn't work but the new apostolic nuncio, Pierre, is more pastoral and in line with Pope Francis' vision for the Catholic Church. It is a long-shot but might be the only card you have left.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can only speculate like anyone else. The Messiah was generally expected to be a warrior or a priest, but the gospels portray Jesus as the Messiah who's neither a warrior nor a priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You tell us that you are amongst the 'Catholics' (upper-case C) who \"understand their faith\" and who are \"orthodox\". Meanwhile you believe that \"most catholics\" (lower-case c) lack 'understanding' and 'orthodoxy'.\nBut your own comments here prove that you are mistaken.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Automatically? No. The Mainline Protestant churches have had married clergy, including married bishops, for generations. It doesn't lead to stable numbers necessarily-the Mainline Churches have been shrinking for the past 40 years.\nAre you talking about ordaining married men or allowing already ordained men to marry? The first you're already doing win the Maronites and Byzantine Catholics; the second, especially if you then allow these married priests to become bishops, makes reunion with the Orthodox more of a problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed, I wholeheartedly agree. I taught Asian religions for twenty years at a liberal arts college; 200 students per year, which amounts to some 4,000 young men and women. Every such college had a similar program and I estimate there are over 100 such colleges. So the number of people who have learned about other religions has increased exponentially since the 1960s. All of which means we do live in a multi-faith culture, where people are much less likely simply to accept the givenness of any single tradition -- as shown by the excellent article by Frank Clooney a few days ago. The intramural fight between liberal and conservative Christians seem to me rather parochial and even silly, since that hardly addresses the deep questions a plurality of religious traditions presents to any thoughtful person.\nDoes your moniker \"Yjin\" suggest some Asian connection?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There were numerous, so called, Infancy Gospels. None were ever recognized by the western churches as canonical, but some of the Eastern Churches may have at times. However, they were the source of many \"traditions\" about the lives of Mary, Joseph, Jesus, etc. Do you remember how many statues of St. Joseph show him holding what appears to be a hollyhock stalk with blooms? That comes from some of these, I think James. The Feast of the Presentation of Mary into the Temple is another one that comes from an Infancy Gospel, again I think it was James. The story of Joseph being an old man is from these works as well. \nThey make some very interesting reading and some them truly are quite old. \n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Infancy_Gospels", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If we all received the education we need and deserve, we would not elect a Donald Trump. That education would also tell us about winter solstice and Saint Nicholas. It would also educate about Mithraism and Zoroastrianism from which the early fledgling Christian religion did much borrowing. http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/who-is-st-nicholas/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"[Cardinal] O\u2019Malley said Catholics are called to support the right of all workers \u201cto organize and be represented in the marketplace and in negotiations by an institution, the union, which gives workers leverage and a voice\u201d against the pressures of business owners and free-market forces.\"\n\nFinally, a bishop who doesn't take his marching orders from the Republican Party.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Unless a grain of wheat falls...and dies\" (John 12).\n\nFrom \"In conversation with God,\" Fr Francis Fernandez\", reflecting on Matt 11.\n\n\"We should lose our fear of sacrifice...for it is a loving Father, who knows what is best for us, who wishes the Cross for us. He always wants the best for us. Close to Christ, tribulations and difficulties are not oppressive, they are not burdensome; on the contrary, they dispose the soul to prayer, to see God in the events of daily life. Through sacrifice we raise ourselves up to the Lord; without it we remain at ground level. With voluntary sacrifice, with sorrow offered and borne patiently and with love, we unite ourselves firmly to the Lord. It is 'as though He were to say: All you going about tormented, afflicted, and weighed down by your cares and appetites, think nothing of them; come to Me and I will refresh you; and you will find a rest for your souls that your preoccupation with your troubles takes away from you (St John of the Cross).'\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem with the Church's \"don't ask, don't tell\" policy is that it basically encourages people to live a lie. People of integrity who make conscientious decisions that run contrary to the Church's official position are put in an impossible situation.\n\nJesus said the truth sets us free. The Church added \"but sometimes it'll get you fired!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is hoping that he continues to elevate more like these to both the red hats and the episcopate. And just as he is miles to left from Benedict, so may the next pope be miles to the left of Francis. There are many more injustices yet to be fixed in the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The fact that such a question is being argued is proof that AL deserves to be ignored at best. I read it as a not-so-subtle way to undermine Catholic teaching on chastity because that is what it does. It also ultimately gives a green light to \"marry\" as many times as one cares to, and to do so under any forum, religious or civil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"\u201cMy daughter is dead, and I don\u2019t want anyone to feel what I feel, to lose your 17-year-old daughter \u2026 Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hispanic, whatever,\u201d he said, surrounded by more than a dozen friends and family in his apartment.\"\n\nAgreed, and it's really sad. But the MSM and groups with an ax to grind think otherwise. I don't even want to speculate at what happened after she was kidnapped and the police won't tell, but seems the perp would well qualify for the death penalty. Rest in peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well Miss, these people ain't Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for the clarification Colkoch I ref back to \n\n\u201cI hope you are including their gay offspring in this sentence because they also have received the gift of life... and for whom the Church teaches lifelong celibacy which, according to your reasoning, deliberately denies them from offering any child an opportunity at life, thereby putting them in a perpetual state of sin.\n\nMy statement; The greatest gift we have received is the gift of life, given by God, through the action of our parents, refusing to fully partake in His creation by deliberately denying another the opportunity of life.\n\nDeliberately denying (Artificial Contraception) while partaking in His Creative plan, that was what I was trying to convey.\n\nDid you read my article A Bond of Divine Mercy?\nI believe it shows empathy for LGBT Children and their parents \nand a possible way forward for some.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The difference is that Pope Paul was reaffirming the constant teaching of the Church. Today the letter is pointing out deviation from the constant teaching of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I repeat, you appear not to have read Francis carefully, for you have now confirmed his position. Francis said bishops must have mercy and kindness as per Jesus in the Gospels; and you said he was \"badly mistaken;\" and now you say bishops must have both, kindness and mercy, and orthodoxy. \n\nDo I have to draw you a picture?\n\nFrancis says the human body has arms.\nVal says NO, the human body primarily has legs\nDennis says Val hasn't read Francis carefully--in fact Francis is correct.\nVal says humans have both arms and legs, but Dennis and Francis are still wrong. \n\nDoes that help? Do you now see the logic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, \"...illumination...by his Word and Spirit\" can be stymied by ill-will, intransigence, self-interest (and in the case of women misogyny) of authority and the perversity or disinterest of non-authority. One can only have faith in the ultimate \"illumination\" on so many levels. If one believes that post-Resurrection God works through Christ-ian humanity what will \"tip the balance\" - \"legitimate teaching authority\" or \"the faithful\" (member and dis-membered)?\nPope Francis and the disintegrating church are softening up one end of the fulcrum. Until \"we\" man with women stand for total peership in equivalent torque I doubt anything will happen.\nThat will be the Spirit illuminating.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Orthodox view is that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, as it says in the Gospel of John. Various Roman arguments for the Holy Spirit proceeding from Jesus also have been put forward, including the idea that as the Son has all that the Father has, he also has the quality of having the Holy Spirit proceed from him also. (Specious argument.) Another view is that the Holy Spirit originates with the Father and then also proceeds from the Son. Either way one is quibbling over words. The first 7 E.C. were the tradition the Orthodox chose to remain faithful to, seeing the Filioque as a departure from their teaching. \n These definitions, apart from Scripture, are problematical as they can limit one's encounter with the Spirit to what one imagines coneptually, instead of n encounter directly, beyond concept, which is the essence of the mystical, another word that may confuse for some instead of clarify. \n The Spirit in the human person is the spiritual church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The definition of heresy has been historically refined ad infinitum starting with Christ Himself. Catholicism has been the anvil on which the hammer of theological determinism has arbitrarily forged the present outcome. It filled a multi-century vacuum of authority because the voice of God is so muffled it can only be heard by licensed ears and relayed by ordained mouths. That's an inconvenient reality which multiplies the dilemma of Adventism today and the \"threat\" to Adventist education.\n\nSola Scriptura is the last refuge for Adventist-orthodoxy fanaticizers, their version of the Pope. They imagine, hope, there to be what has never been, concrete, unmistakable, God Ex Cathedra Speak to mankind.\n\nWhy did the divinity schools of the Ivy League and most old colleges \"liberalize\"? They had no choice. Their survival depended on it. And so for Adventist schools now.\n\nThere is no clear dogmatic voice from God, only imagination, interpretation and speculative consensus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These are such hard cases. In the end, something like \"religion\" is the only counterbalance to the power of the state. Religious liberty protects this counterbalance, this freedom from absolute state power and absolute majority rule. Abortion is clearly a religious issue for many people, and forcing them to pay for abortions is, for them, a genuine loss of religious liberty. But, in the end, it is probably more society and less the state that determines these issues. As religion in general and Christianity in particular declines in the US, the infringements on religious liberty will seem more and more easy to justify, the claims for religious freedom less and less persuasive. Both state and society will be further integrated into a larger order that will be materialist, secularist, consumerist, efficient, data and algorithm-driven, and generally neoliberal in its values. Abortion will not be an issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Shamrock sign riddle and rhyme.\n\n\nLeprechaun search on the way to Church\nNothing found stony ground\nThe Leprechauns gold you cannot hold\nDancing through the night but staying out of sight\nStepping stone he moves alone\nToadstool seat small and neat\nSharp as a pin he knows every thing\nGarden gate he will wait\nMilk and cream in the morn will not be seen\nPointed toes every mother knows\nPointed ears every mother fears\nRiver and stream sometimes seen\nBrook and nook take a look\nLeaf and bush, if shook\nDell and dale know his tale\nMouse and mole know his home\nWasp and bee him they see\nClergy and church do not search\nShamrock sign riddle and rhyme\nFiddle and riddle no quibble\nGreen his colour earth his mother\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Pandora for your helpful comment\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One cannot help but note that the protestations were not made by the other poster name. Nonetheless, all factors being equal, the issue raised, and the question begged is simply, why? And should not a True Catholic adhere to the admonition to tell the truth at all times? Although, we have seen, the leaders of the Church consider this rule to be more of a guideline, to be applied depending upon the circumstance. In any event, I am glad we have reached an understanding and the situation has been cleared up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where are you getting this information?\n\nThe Arian heresy actually didn't impact the Western half of the Church. In fact most of the heresies primarily effected the East. \n\nRome didn't believe Jesus was God? That is a vague statement. Specifically what are you talking about? Are you talking about Liberius who arguably signed on to the Arian Creed? What specifically? If so--he did that under threat of persecution and so cannot be taken seriously.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I imagine the inner workings of all the dicasteries, commissions, conclaves, departments, groups (including espresso and brandy bars) as the inside of a golf ball: hopelessly entangled in infinite bureaucracy with NO hope or thought of ever finding the beginning or end. \n\n\nJust as Jesus wanted His kingdom built.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is hazing a single mother somehow a moral act? Doesn't she have enough consequence in her life without piling more of it on in a spirit of spite and judgement? Also, wasn't Jesus Christ's mother said to be fourteen years old when she bore him out of wedlock?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Give this kid a civic participation badge, and someone should look earnestly into impeaching Sen. Vicki Marble, R-Fort Collins, if the allegations of inequitable anti-social demagoguery in front of a vulnerable population like children have merit. Honestly, though, this kid is lucky in a way. Now maybe he can join a group that subscribes to a more Enlightenment Age approach to its thinking, values, and frame-of-view.\n\nIf there was any doubt the Boy Scouts of America harbor a polarizing and enslaving ideology, events like these serve to remind us that the organization attracts individuals to it who would subvert the organization and the children in it into some star-spangled Hitler Youth. It doesn't \"represent the organization,\" but the organization seems to turn a blind eye to it. We know this playbook well, and it falls short in all the ways pedophilia in the Catholic Church did. There should be institutional zeal to drive out predatory evil, be it sexual or ideological and political.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you think \"let no man put asunder\" is \"line-drawing\"? Granted, it can be seen as line drawing. But not if the Gospel is taken as a whole. The people of his day -- in particular the Pharisees -- were all about drawing lines and satisfying the requirements of the law. Why follow in their footsteps? Jesus was not about giving the keys to the kingdom to those who followed the law, and then lording it over sinners. Luke 11:46. Jesus was about something radically different. Turning people in a different direction -- beyond the habits of the law -- was very difficult, and remains so. A change of direction does not often come from logical argument imposed from the outside. It must come from within. Jesus used every mode of communication at his disposal to jar the law-based mind sets of his listeners. \"If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.\" Without using these precise words he also said, \"if line-drawing causes you to hinder metanoia by a sinner, pluck it out.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pontifical Commission on Birth Control was a CONSULTATIVE commission which was, officially speaking, a commission of the Vatican Curia, and topheavy with cardinals, bishops and priest-theologians. Members of that commission produced not just one report, but three -- a majority report, a minority report, and a majority response to the minority report. [All three reports were published at the time, and prior to the publication of Humanae Vitae, right here in the National Catholic Reporter!] The commission chairmen, Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani, lobbied long and hard for the acceptance of the minority position (no change in church teaching), which is essentially what happened. Thus, Humanae Vitae on birth control reproduces a clerical/minority report, which wreaked more havoc and did more damage to the Catholic church's credibility than the simple passage of time alleged here. Of course Montini could have rejected Ottaviani's intervention, but that's another story, for another day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...\"dogma of the Immaculate Conception.....tells the believer that Mary is merely human and subject to the contamination of original sin; this stain only removed by Father-god\"......\n\nYes, of course. According to Catholic teaching over the years, Mary also is 'subject' to it, but 'saved' from it, by the Sacrifice of Jesus. \n\nOf course now that we have begun to understand that God inspired the Creation stories of Genesis to be written as a myth literary form, we really need to do some re-thinking about our notions of 'original sin'. \n\nSince 'Adam and Eve' are only mythical people, they never existed, historically. Neither did their 'sin'. There was no one to commit a sin' to inherit. So it follows that: of course Mary was conceived without 'original sin' And she is the model for us all. EVERYONE is conceived and born without 'original sin', because there WAS no original sin.\n\nAnd, of course, Mary is not supposed to be made into 'the great goddess'. She is as human as we all are,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis has wise words that stand up to the godless materialism of our present day. We should all heed him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am English and not really privy to the Baltimore Catechism. I was brought up on the Penny Catechism as were all Catholics of my generation. \nAs far as Bible are concerned, the Latin Vulgate and the Douay-Rheims translation are the only credible versions.\nFrom what I have read of the Baltimore Catechism, it is consistent with the Catholic Faith, especially these days.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since following the lead of Barack Obama, the Dems have lost the House, Senate, Presidency, control of several states, and even the Supreme Court. About 1000 seats nationwide. It's really time for the Dems to stop shouting, stop the violence, to put down their signs and guns, and honestly evaluate where they are. Some of us would like more than one choice at the ballot box, but in their current state it is impossible for any serious Catholic to vote Democrat.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Eucharist is between Jesus and the person. The community is incidental.\"\n\nBut we eat the Body of Christ that we might become the Body of Christ ... that me might Re-member Him (who has been dismembered by our sins ... especially the egregious ones, such as judging the divorced & remarried and cutting them off ... the hand cannot say to the eye I do not need you!) ... the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, not a bunch of individuals in relationship with Christ and not with each other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Article Headlines- \"Trumps draws booes at Catholic Charity Event.\" You get the clear impression that Trump is booed, rejected by Catholics, right? Yet the author fails to mention Trump's very accurate (and quite appropriately humorous) observation at the beginning of his talk, noting that this dinner allows candidates' staff to mingle socially. Then, pointing out at the audience, he continues, \"Yes, I see some of those working for Hillary - the Times reporter, the CNN reporter, the Washington Post reporter!\" It's sad but true that the press have given up even pretending to be fair and open-minded. However, someone with even a modicum of honesty and self-respect should report that the negative reaction could just as easily have come from her staffers whose emails show a rank scorn for both Trump and the Catholic Church, not necessarily from \"Catholic\" diners.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are those of us who are \"cradle Catholics\", who choose to remain Catholic and who believe that the institutional Church is wrong about that and should change. In other denominations, women worked for change. We are doing the same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course you are right, no need to gnash teeth at all. If Pope Francis is determined to create a Church in his own image and likeness then he will have an implacable foe in the Holy Spirit.\nChrist promised to be with his Church until the end of time. Many monks, priests bishops and even the odd pope or two have sought to thwart His Will yet have never prevailed, nor will they ever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In light of the fact the church accepts married Protestant clergy who wish to convert it appears the medieval property laws are receding in the hierarchy's concerns.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Loving v. Virginia case, which struck down miscegenation laws, was consonant with the 14th Amendment, and quite predictable, given the text of the Constitution. You have not shown the error of my statement that the framers of the Constitution never DREAMED that the Amendment specifically intended to relieve blacks of racial discrimination would be used to REQUIRE the States to alter the universal definition of marriage. \n\nYour \"delight\" with the S.Ct.'s decision is consonant with neither the Constitution nor Catholicism nor Christianity. Your delight is with the result of a rogue, lawless decision. That's not American.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "William,\n\nI somehow can't imagine I would have the same experience contemplating Moses standing before God at the burning bush. You seem a good deal more enthusiastic about your adequacy for the calling than Moses did. I sympathize with Moses.\n\nHere is the difference between me and thee. Nobody will ever ask me to stand at a baptism to be honored for my part - twice. There will be an argument. The Holy Spirit does not testify of Himself and he certainly doesn't testify about Bill Abbott. The Holy Spirit of God Almighty and Bill Abbott proclaim one thing together: Jesus Christ is God Almighty, the Holy One of Israel, risen from the dead.\n\nI don't keep a brag sheet on the good I do for others. I count it but dung. But I witness and minister to sinners for the sake of Jesus Christ daily. I do it under compulsion. He loved us while we were yet sinners. I can do no other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The President of Ecuador sounds like a very kind and generous man. He should have become a Catholic Priest because his philosophy of government is complete fantasy. He has no business running a country if he believes that climate change payouts, tax collection reform and governmental disability payouts are what makes a country work. \n\nCommunists and Socialist should be called out for their lies and historic failures instead of getting praised for the pablum and self-righteous speeches they make. Trump did just that at the UN reminding the world of Venezuela... another Socialist totalitarian basket case.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A priest is there to serve his people. He is there to wash their feet, metaphorically speaking. So, yes, that priest who refuses the rosary being said or refuses the music that gives comfort for the relatives for a dead loved one is suffering from clericalism. Clericalism is where a priest or hierarch puts themselves on a pedestal. They want power, they enjoy all the trappings of being 'Father' or 'Bishop' by being fawned over by their flock. They enjoy pomp and dressing up in lace and the medieval vestments of a royal court, or they enjoy being thought of as flouting the rules. Whichever side they adopt, they want the centre stag. They are far from the simple carpenter of Nazareth. Humility is not the main characteristic of their demeanor. So clericalism can be seen in both the \"cutting edge\" priests and the trads. \n\nWhen Catholics pour forth venom and hate towards the leader of their faith, it is wrong, full stop. How can this attract the unbelieving world towards faith?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps a more authentic way to probe this topic is through the term \"white privilege\". I listened to a presentation made to USCCB by Sister Thea Bowman in 1989. Though dying of breast cancer and in terrible pain, she began her address describing the experience of being an African American Catholic by singing \"Some times I feel like a Motherless Child\". This is not an easy to listen to speech. What is important though is that it was 1989, and how little has changed. So for that alone... listen all the way through. Look Sr. Thea Bowman up in wikipedia and find the scope of her efforts though slowly dying. I believe she would say \"Church, we gotta do more than issue another statement, suggest an action plan, and adjourn for lunch.\"\nh t t p s : / / v i m e o . c o m / 1 2 3 7 9 7 1 6", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As the saying goes.....to each his own, however we as a Community are happy to share ourselves with the members we see, for in them lives the Lord by right of their Baptism. If they are not members, we wish them to join us....you know, evangelization.\nOur parish offers many opportunities for silent prayer and meditation, Bible study, and gatherings for those with special concerns such as bereavement care, work making blankets for the homeless, our busy food pantry, etc., basically something for the interests of many, since we all have different ways to serve our spiritual needs and those of others.\nOne Sunday our bishop stopped by unannounced and could not get over the welcome he received from each person he met. Many did not recognize him as he looked like a regular priest but was he impressed with the greetings coming his way.\nEucharist means giving thanks in Greek and it is acceptable to use an article preceding it or not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A review of Winter's columns over the last year: He's chastised the Knights of Columbus, everyone who voted for Trump (more than a couple of columns on that), most of the other Catholic opinion websites (even the moderate ones like the other NCR) for not being authentically Catholic. He dunned the Catholics who worked with Evangelicals, and now New Ways Ministry. Many words, little research.\n\nHe's written that he's totally for illegal immigration, and also written that the traffickers who make illegal immigration possible only exist....because of Republicans. \n\nAnd of course, Winters has written much about climate change and how he's very much against it, and we should do something about it, immediately. Some of these columns on ecology might have been written while MSW was flying on a gross polluting jet to Europe for yet another very important conference.\n\nSurely NCR can do better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the lesson, TUC (I mean it non-sarcastically). I guess I see biblical words used in very different ways from kindness and love by some, so I should amend my statement. The hateful rhetoric comes from some people interpreting religious texts in their way. Maybe the Bible is only good, but it has of course been used by terrible people in history and continues to serve that purpose today by some. Hence my wish for a strong separation of church and state. I know plenty of religious people (hey, some religious people are among my best friends, as the saying goes!) and have been awed by the strength of purpose it gives to some and how it generates good works. But like all human institutions it is often corrupted so that tempers my enthusiasm quite a bit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thank you sir for your op-ed of fresh air and sanity. I lived in that apartment building between the borough building and Planned Parenthood. Have I got a story about those apartments, but I digress. For years as the group of protesters would be gathering by Planned Parenthood they were visible out my living room window. That prompted me to throw on my boots and jacket to go over there and do a one woman protest all by myself, so glad those other women are doing counter-protests.The evangelical dominionist Christians took over Soldotna and I believe Francis Graham caused part of it, his organization poured tons of money into that area. At Safeway my threats to pelt the crazy Chritianists with produce did not stop them so I would then yell for the manager and say, tell him to bring some duct tape. They bullied people in public places. Saying the word 'Christian' there is code for I'm in the clique. If you are not a Christian you are mobbed which was just a part of the apartment story.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Kurgan, I know of no Catholic who believes any priest who raped a child was shepherding their flock or living up to the noble calling of the priesthood. \n\nAll Catholics believe as I do: to say that such a person is a disgrace to the priesthood is an egregious understatement. Anyone who abuses a child--and especially a priest, should be castrated---then put to death.\n\nPriest child abusers prove only that the priesthood is not immune from such evil people. They do not prove that the entire concept of the Catholic priesthood has to be redefined to be more Protestant. Protestant clergy abuse children too--or didn't you know that?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "... as a lifelong, mid 40s, atheist, i've known my whole life Republicans/super fakey 'christians' are indecent people. They simply want to call the shots, and select winners and losers. Like good 'christians'.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "She brought her religion and her ignorance into question for yelling at top of her lungs about Christian values, yet was willing to go on record with slander towards another candidate with only second hand gossip from Jerry Prevo. \"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor\". This for a political position. She has shown herself to be a hypocrite. Still, like Sarah she craves the spotlight swinging her hair and doing foot in mouth dance. Granted I'm no fan of the Mayor, but I have no respect for her biased opinions.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christians who support Trump are the most mind-boggling to me. I just don't see how they square the circle between Trump and their moral foundations. \n\n\u201cBeware then of useless grumbling, and keep your tongue from slander; because no secret word is without result, and a lying mouth destroys the soul.\u201d (Wisdom 1:11)\n\nIf that is the case, then Trump's soul was utterly destroyed decades ago.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic (that is, Universal) church is the entire Body of Christ. No one can be kicked out, and no one need dread damnation for doctrinal dissent.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Call it what you want but over the last sixty years, the terrorism in this world has been committed by MUSLIMS!\"\nAnd yet I'm still more likely to die at the hands of a white, christian extremist than a Muslim.\nOr lately, a cop.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"You must support the Broncos or I\u2019ll beat you up,\u201d sounds very similar to the phrase, \"you must convert to Christianity or you will go to hell .\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The anti-Christ is supposed to be a sort of \"reverse twin\" of Jesus Christ, as if Lucifer became flesh and tried to become the Savior of the world. And Trump is certainly proclaiming himself to be the only possible Savior.\n\nWhile running for president and claiming to be a Christian, Trump announced plans to extend his vice operations by building a new $100 million dollar Las Vegas casino. Casinos make money via gambling, selling liquor, risqu\u00e9 shows, and having waitresses parade around in skimpy clothing. They also increase prostitution. Is any of this \"Christian\"?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sigh .... Another attempt to put your own spin on someone else's comment. Not even the Pope, himself would boast that he is a 'good Catholic', would that mean even he is denying his religion?\nYou take everyone here and I mean everyone for a fool by your clowning around. Parodying orthodox Catholicism one minute then attempting to come down as a 'progressive' the next, which persona are we to believe is the real Kurga or should I say nic? There is an old saying, \"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.\" Perhaps added to that should be, \"In the end you fool no one.\"\nAs for the mute threat (second time you've threatened it this week), why would you close your ears to those who you delight in mocking and deriding? Mute me if you must but I will still be privy to what you post.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I think it's important to recognize both sides of the \"hate\" handshake -- those websites and organizations who target anyone that lives outside of their own ub\u00ebr-conservative world, and those who respond to their ridiculous demands by complying with twisted accusations that bear little resemblance to the actual truth. Living in their own small-minded world is one thing, but being able to influence institutions is quite another. There is certainly nothing either catholic or Catholic by these unholy campaigns.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "People do that because there are \"Christians\" who openly advocate violence against gay people, and if you have any grasp of history, it is easy to see where fundamentalist religions take these kinds of issues. Just as it's easy to see where most extremist/reactionary movements go. \n\nPlus, Jerry's been promoting hate in this city on this topic for a long time. He more or less built his little Baxter Road empire on anti-gay bigotry and it works for him. If Christians don't want him to be their spokesman, they should speak up and drown him out.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trump? \nIt's like the crazy christians didn't get the anti-christ they long for in the previous U.S. President as prophesied, so they elected their own handy version (pun intended)to hasten the rapture! Ascending unto the golden cloud while waving goodbye to the heathen neighbors with a \"told ya!\" smirk would seem to be the goal.\n\nAnd then add a bold dash of believing science involves elitism and/or beliefs. \nBehold: The New Tribal American", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm just happy I'm not Christian and I'm not gay. Sheesh.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You are making it up again.\nGaudium et Spes 87 specifically excludes any form of population control which is against the moral law. It also says that consciences must be rightly informed so that they are aligned with the teaching of the Church.\nTo say that there is more to Christianity than social justice does not exclude it. To suppose that keeping the Commandments no longer pertains to salvation is patently ridiculous.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "But it's more than the fact that they led a rebellion. That rebellion was based on the concept that one portion of humanity is inferior to others, based on the color of their skin. And the statutes were put up to honor that concept. They were erected in places where the popular opinion of those in power was that \"Blacks had to be put in their place\" and kept there. I just can't comprehend how anyone who claims to be a person of good will, let alone a Christian, could be in favor of retaining these statues to honor the proposition that white people are superior to blacks.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trump was elected by white Evangelicals and white Catholics. I do not think either group merits the designation 'Christian'.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "But what about all 'dem PEDOPHILES?\" \nYes, it is a joking matter, quite funny. When God called you to be Catholic, did he suggest you also try out Christianity? By the way, Finn is a convicted criminal.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Wow,\n\nAn even more pathetic and transparent deflection attempt at moral equivalency between the general homicide rate and religiously motivated terrorist attacks. Just how many of the homicides in those Christian countries do you think were motivated by religion?\n\nWhy jihadist apologists just love to double down on specious straw man arguments like this?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's rich in hypocrisy that you maintain such hatred for Islam and yet work for Emirates in a Muslim country. As pathetic as that is, your understanding of Islam is even more sad. \n\nThe hijab is no more a \"symbol of female oppression\" as the head coverings worn by orthodox Jewish or Christian women. Why is it any different?\n\nAnd how exactly do you suggest that the author \"deal with\" the \"attrocious medieval societies that produced it\"? Want to lend us your time machine? Perhaps while we are there, we can also deal with the crusades, the holocaust and various other genocides committed in the names of other religions as well.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sigh, more misrepresentation.\nRidiculous, orthodox Catholics have always protested that the World looks upon the Church as a branch of the social services. It's you lot who have bought into this perception not us.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "One thing I know for sure, Christianity doesn't prevent white racism. The most segregated time of the week in this country is Sunday morning. Heck, when black folks invite white folks to join them in prayer, they are risking their lives. White folks are still producing people like Dylan Roof in the 21st century. I can't think of any time when black folks murdered white folks while they prayed in church, to make a political statement about race. I do remember several times white folks murdered black folks while they prayed in church during my lifetime.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Can only be described\"....again, why always frame every issue in that Manichaeistic, my way is absolutely correct, their way is absolutely evil manner?\n\nJust because Christians disagree with you on certain matters doesn't make them Un-Christian. Gee whiz, even a crusty old reactionary geezer like me knows that much.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic immigrants massacred huge numbers of indigenous populations, millions in fact. Does that count, or does it have to be Americans of white descent to count?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What Catholic social teaching do the kids need to know? It's good to encourage illegal immigration,while ignoring the fact that doing so also encourages traffickers who rape women and pack people into deadly trucks?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "<>\nShame on the U.S. Catholic bishops. Shame on them. They place themselves to the right of probably the most reactionary president in U.S. history and continue to advocate and practice hostility to the civil and human rights of LBGTQ persons in the work place. Shame on these hypocrites! \"Religious leaders\"? They are neither religious nor leaders.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, you voted for the narcissistic liar whose attitude towards women is \"grab them by the p*ssy\", the man whose knowledge of American history would shame a tenth-grader (Andrew Jackson opposed the opening of the Civil War 16 years after his death). But hey, you're a conservative, so you can be expected to support a man who clearly despises the Constitution (he wants to abolish Freedom of Speech because the mean old newspapers are being mean to him.)\n\nYour sneer at Pope Francis shows that you prefer war to peace, which is also part and parcel of American conservatism -- pseudo-patriotism is preferable both to real patriotism and to Christianity.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The article says \u201cWe still believe that Masood acted alone on the day and there is no information or intelligence to suggest there are further attacks planned,\u201d said Neil Basu, the Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police who is also the Senior National Coordinator for UK Counter Terrorism Policing. \u201cWe must all accept that there is a possibility we will never understand why he did this. That understanding may have died with him\u201d.\n\nOh please, give us a break. If Masood was Muslim or a convert to Islam, all he had to do was read the many verses in the Qur'an that call for the destruction of Jews, Christians and non believers.\n\nThat would have been enought to influnce and incite him to attack, maim and kill non believers especially if he had already had trouble with them.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Wrong. If a government official preaches about Christ s/he demonstrates a prejudice in favor of Christianity in violation of the Establishment Clause.\n\nOf course government officials do this sort of thing all the time because American government is suffused with Christian religiosity.\n\nYou wrote:\n\n<>\n\nYou invoked the same points routinely deployed by those who claim the United States is \"a Christian nation.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You have no authority over my spiritual choices and your opinion was neither asked for accepted. Leave the judgement to God as most devout Christians would understand. \n\nYou don't care an iota about my spiritual life or me. You just want to use your smarmy insulting comments to belittle others. That's being a good Trumpet and following the scripture of the self absorbed. Maybe your prayers will reward you with a gold plated condo too.\n\nUnbelievable, I expose a deep emotional experience and you insult me. What a low life.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Its to bad that the first prayer at the mosk on fridays is about killing all Christians, Jews, etc", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trump has no moral core, except advancing Trump.\nHe's telling evangelical Christians everything they want to hear, and throwing gay people under the bus, because he knows as long as he spouts the right words, conservative Christians will follow him -- right through the gates of Hell.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The only people I know who voted for Trump are ALL white men AND women, rich, educated, high income, multiple property owners with vacation properties here in Hawaii, and on top of this, proclaim a devout religious orientation - including 'Christian' and evangelical and Mormon . They want to keep as much of their high annual incomes as possible, get rid of immigrants, and go on professing their absurd hypocrisy for their \"Christian\" and moral ethics. They are certainly not among those being portrayed as the lower class, disenfranchised, uneducated whites that the news media puts forth as Trump supporters. I have reached the sad conclusion that this nation is just packed with people up in arms that their me-only entitlement claims don't mesh with the concept of 'We the people...\". Trump and his Stepford women fit that pretty people image to a T. What has been unleashed by this mindless hypocrisy and self-service will devour rich and poor alike.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You wrote:\n\n<>\n\nOooooh sleazy, \"Faithful Catholic.\" Were you separated from Pandora at birth? Let's get something straight. \"Misspoke\" (\"perhaps!\") doesn't quite describe it. There's no \"perhaps.\" You grossly inflated numbers in your zeal to attack Obama. \n\nYou keep making wild allegations without a shred of evidence. Put up or shut up.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I do believe you made up the part where Hillary \"finds Bernie's supporters as deplorable.\"\n\nAnyway, Hillary is right. Many of Trump's supporters ARE deplorable. But for Christians, no one is irredeemable, not even the KKK, the American Nazi Party, anti-Semites, misogynists, xenophobes, and various hate-mongerers and captives of the Father of Lies. There's always the possibility of repentance and renewal.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Oh it will change Mr. Scott. My daughter isn't going to live in a dystopian, male supremacist society. We women are going to TEAR THIS COUNTRY APART, starting with the churches, if the women-hating policies supported by the Right come to fruition. There will not be any kind of normal church life anymore. If Christians do not take their hands off women's bodies we're going to put our hands on their churches, not their physical churches mind you, rather on the area surrounding their churches that is public property. It will be an offensive carnival of condom distribution, sex education and general mayhem. There will be no peace anymore for them to partake in the activities that make up \"church.\" Their churches will become POLITICAL spheres. And we will work to take their rights away. Some will likely engage in violence which will be an unfortunate consequence of Christians forgetting their obligation to their fellow citizens. I guarantee it will be ugly and people will be armed.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church is NOT a denomination. It is the Bride of Christ. THE CHURCH. Every other Christian sect is a denomination. And incidentally, every other sect broke off in some way, from the Catholic Church. Its silly to think that any \"denomination\" has a better understanding of Christianity then the church started by Jesus Christ and handed down through time by an unbroken line of succession. Do you really think that the MAN that started your religion (Luther, Calvin, Knox, etc.) knew BETTER than the Catholic Church and its history? No, those religions are created in the image of some man, the Catholic Church in the image of Jesus! Silly and dangerous to worship anywhere else.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And Christians kill and discriminate in the name of their god as well. The problem is extreme religion of all types.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I also applaud Ab. Chaput. But why call this a a progressive issue? This is the response anyone should have to racist hate. It's what any Christian, any reasonable person of any religion should have to Nazi rhetoric.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"The times demand it. Our Gospel demands it,\" said Murry, who will chair the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism. \"Recent events reveal yet another reminder of what can be traced back to the original sin of the United States: racism.\"\n\nThey had better do a more meaningful job than the Vatican committee on priestly sexual abuse. Also, how many of the bishops who will serve on this ad hoc committee voted for the racist Trump?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "UC\" I'm glad you're content with your faith. I have no problem with that. It's your business. \n\n\"Select your own destiny?\" You are really warning me and every other \"non-Christian\", \"believe as I do or be damned to eternal hell.\" i.e....my way or the highway ...with apologies to AC/DC...the highway to hell. \n\nThere are far more non-Christians in this world. As with Chirstians, some are wonderful people, some are creeps. Your belief, as presented, is simple. if you're a Christian-creep, you go to heaven; if a good person, even a really good person and have done nothing but good in your life, BUT you're a non-Christian, you will go to hell. Sorry, I'm not sure there's a god, but, if there is I'd certainly hope he/she/it has a bit more compassion than that. \n\nYes, \"I'll select my own destiny.\" If there's a god and a Judgment Day, I'd rather be in Hell with good non-Christians than in Heaven with Christian-creeps...and, believe me, there are plenty of both. Gary Crum", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sure, I love my friends who have chosen to engage in sex acts with the same sex over the opposite sex. But I love them in spite of that sinful choice of behavior. I would never attend one of their parades because they are conflated celebrations of love and same-sex sodomy. \n\nBut sign me up to attend a Courage parade, because it is a noble thing to resist one's temptation to engage in gratuitous same-sex acts and acknowledge that deep, true Christian love with an opposite sex partner is possible even for those who feel sexual attraction for the same sex.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I assume it is. The Royal Commission\u2019s role is to identify factors in institutions that contributed to the sexual abuse of children. It found that easy forgiveness in confession encouraged recidivism. The Commission recognized that the Catholic Church is not the only religion that has this problem, but the evidence mainly came from Catholic case studies and those who treated such priests. A civil reporting law and a canonical prohibition of absolution can work together to discourage this use (or abuse) of the sacrament. A civil reporting law is useless if the confessor doesn\u2019t know who the penitent is. A canonical prohibition, if widely publicized, will be much more effective because the abuser will know that it is pointless going to confession if he knows that absolution will be refused until he hands himself in. That\u2019s why a change in canon law is so important.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Time to bring back fundamental Christian values to satisfy the right-wing bigots who can't tolerate differences? \nHow about this one? \n\"A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed\" \nDeuteronomy 22:13-21. \nA Judeo-Christian value straight from the word of god. Oh.... He changed his mind, right? Haha, I was just kidding, he says. \nMy point is that there is insanity in all religions. It is not what people believe that defines them, but their actions. Discrimination based on beliefs is wrong.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "as pathetic as the DNC and the D party is overall, anybody willing to pretend there was ever a viable alternative with republicans is as laughable as thinking this new mega grifter based admin. has the country's best or even least interest in mind and hasn't cared to pay the slightest attention to the blatantly obvious for many years and just voted with blind emotion fueled by a determined ignorance of realities and decency. the evangelicals proved to be the most pitifully deceitful. \n\nthis election was simply a last gasp hope at extending by a mere handful of decades the final collapse of this once promising national experiment that ended in '63 with JFK and has only gotten worse. now with the looming kakistocracy (a form of government in which the absolute worst persons are in power) we've completely sold out and betrayed 1/2 million honorable US troops that fought with their lives to stop those such as Trump and his minions during WW2. shameful doesn't begin to describe these minds.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "IRT ShopOHolic, because the liberal democrats objective is to destroy the Christians and religion to get approval for same-sex marriage and homosexuals as a civil right. Auwe. But, President Trump has made many of the necessary changes to reverse the policies of Hawaii born ex-president Obama and move America in conformation to the Constitution as envisioned by our Founders. Imua.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So, by that token you have studied history and are fully aware of the terror, torture, empire building, murders, and subjugation that the christians have wrought on the world as well. Weren't the crusades nothing more than the christians engaging in the same type of activities on muslims for centuries. \n\nReally seems like about the only good that comes out of religion is a reason to fight someone else because their beliefs are different. And it cuts both ways. My religion is the only one that is valid in my eyes, as yours is the only one that is valid in your eyes, as Islam is the only one that is valid in the muslim's eye. \n\nThrow into the mix the complete muck-up the US has made of the middle east since the 60's when we armed so many of our now attackers trying to fight the scourge of communism. We can continue to paint this as an issue of a religion that wants to \"destroy christianity\", but that is akin to trying to describe an elephant to a blind man by describing only the trunk.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How Francis has \"treated\" Christ is what is truly \"shameful\".", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelicals don't give a fig about the Jewish people - they think they're all going to hell. They just want front row seats in Jerusalem when they bring on the Apocalypse, no doubt with Donald Trump's considerable help.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Definitely NOT. Besides your ignorantly equating Christianity and Islam as being equivalent or the same when they are not, one, people indulging in their private sexual predilections, that does nothing but give them cheap thrills, is not the same as religion, particularly Christianity which is the foundation of civilization in Europe and the United States. Comparing what people do with their wing ding or other body crevices with Christianity is highly asinine. Two, there is no civil right to engage in any sexual behavior you want to engage in, based on nothing but just because you feel like it. Necrophilia, pedophilia and bestiality must be allowed also based on that.\n\nBut why the cherry picked hatred of Christianity and Islam? Buddhism and Hinduism are ok, but Christianity and Islam are not? Based on what do you make that distinction? Is that based solely upon whether some let you do whatever you feel like doing and some don't? That would be a myopic, self absorbed basis.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Here I am a Catholic for 45 years.\n\"I assure you, as often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me.\" (Mat 25:40) We can understand from these words that God is immanent in all of us.\n \nHowever, CI (Catholic Institution) clergies do not believe God is immanent in all of us or they just don\u2019t believe there is God at all. Since they condone clergy rape of God in children!\nOr CI clergies do not believe God is omniscience, since they try to hide clergy sex abuse of children.\nSo in that case what is the use of discussing LGBT are sinful or not? \nNo matter which way you looks at the clergy rape of God in children compare to same sex marriage of LGBT peoples, LGBT are angels, don't you agree? \n\nIf you are interested in following Jesus teaching as you claims to be, by all means try to teach CI clergies why raping God in children is grave and grave sin even Jesus will not forgive but put heavy millstone around rapist neck and throw them to the bottom of the sea!!!!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I see that Trump's old Travel Ban died today and his new one is against travelers from Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.\n\nI hope all those Muslims from Venezuela and North Korea aren't inconvenienced too much!\n\nAccording to the CIA, Chad (it's in the middle of Africa) is: Muslim 52.1%, Protestant 23.9%, Catholic 20%, animist 0.3%, other Christian 0.2%, none 2.8%, unspecified 0.7% (2014-15 est.)\n\nIt also has more than 300,000 refugees from Sudan and almost 70,000 from the Central African Republic. \n\nOregon needs to start drafting a new lawsuit if it is going to keep up with the other Democratic-controlled AG's in their anti-Trump fervor. \n\n I look forward to seeing their anti-North Korea ban arguments!\n\nSince he continued Obama's drone attacks in Yemen and our fighting in Syria, the arguments against those areas will also be interesting. \n\nIt's sort of a given that you don't have to let people in from countries where you are shooting at them!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "In your interpretation of Church teaching, you say: \"The greatest gift we have received is the gift of life, given by God, through the action of our parents, refusing to fully partake in His creation by deliberately denying another the opportunity of life, is sinful.\". \nA gay Catholic is unable to comply with this idealistic mandate about providing for another to have the opportunity of life....unless that gay person was to enter into a heterosexual marriage, but that too would be a life of perpetual sin because the very fact they know they are gay mitigates against the validity of the sacrament. Your advice, perpetual celibacy, is a choice that purposely denies another the opportunity at life. In your understanding of Jesus, LGBT are dam-ed if they do and dam-ed if they don't. It's hard to see where any parent who believed as you do would see an LGBT child as a blessing. Maybe that's why so many of our LGBT children are depressed, suicidal, and lucky if they aren't homeless.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"And don't worry, my standards are the same for everyone.\"\n\nAnd yet you use the derogatory terms \"thumpers\" and \"holy rollers\" for Christians. I guess I dont want to hear what you call Muslims or gays or blacks or women if your standards are truly the same.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Just to state the obvious: Even though the author takes the Pope's retelling of the joke about the 'woman-like' young priest with the saturno as indicative of \"a disturbing resentment of women and gay men who seek to serve the church,\" neither group was the obvious primary intended target. Instead, the butt of the joke were really young trad priests. I generally agree that repeating the joke was ill conceived. Immediately upon hearing it, I remembered an article I read here, in which Fr. James Martin told a gay audience that a way to seek better relations and bridge-building with the Church would be to refrain from making jokes about the vestment preferences of traditonalist priests. I guess Pope Francis didn't read the article.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So we all suffered from a bad case of papalotry before 1962, that is truly pathetic. And you would know what music would be \"in keeping with the carpenter from Nazareth\" because.....? Your grasp of history might be worse than you grasp of theology. There have been significantly more people killed/wounded in the twentieth century from armed conflict than when the confessionally Catholic state was the norm in the western world. As for papalotry, it appears most of the modernists on this site were badly infected with this virus at exactly the time Francis was elected--but that's probably just a coincidence.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As opposed to the \"Christianity\" of a Clinton White House? Infanticide, homosexuality, expansion of the welfare/nanny state; sounds awfully \"Christian\" to me. And did you ever consider how many people lost their healthcare under the disgenuously named \"Affordable Care Act\"?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Dunthorpe: Such a pleasant, respectful post.......First, I'm heterosexual and have been married 54 years, so your nasty little quip regarding \"the gay left\" is rather wasted. However, monogamy is just as common, perhaps more common, among same-sex couples today as it is among different-sex couples, so your statement is also inaccurate. But, keep up the nastiness, it defines your character. \n\nIf you, Crispina or any other \"Christians\" have evidence of Hillary Clinton being a \"serial killer\" by all means present it to the proper authorities. Also remember Trump isn't just an \"adulteror\", he's also boasted of his sexual assaultive behavior..... my best regards, Gary", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Religion should have no place in the education system, period. We should have gotten rid of the Catholic school board decades ago. We are paying the price for our tolerance which has been stretched to the breaking point.\n\nAll this Religious Accommodation does is create stress and resentment in the population. Religious accommodation actually causes the hate and resentment that it is supposed to erase.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "My point is this. Seemingly every time an issue like this comes up all the Christian haters come out and start throwing their ridicule at them. Yet no one says anything about Islam and their treatment of gays under their religion. Nor do they throw the ridicule at Judaism. \nGuess Christians are the easiest of targets. \nPeople want to be gay then fine. Don't try to force me to accept it and don't go around flaunting it. Even the laws of nature dictate it is not normal.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Archdiocese of Mexico City calls the U.S. \"terrorists,\" because we enforce our border.\n\nThey should take care of their own backyard, and maybe Catholics in Mexico wouldn't be turning to devil worship in mass numbers.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "HILLARY SAYS.....\n.\nthis is the same Hillary who said Benghazi killings were because of a darn Christian film maker\n- Had no other cell phone\n- Had no other email server\n- Said Anthony Weiner (not Anthony's Weiner) was a solid (not erect solid) guy\n- Only used the email she said she didn't have for emailing Bill-E-Bowy\n- Said she gave ALLLLL those emails she said she didn't have to the FBI\n- ...and on and on and.....onnnn...\nShe was the worst candidate in modern times, 0 credibility, and for the sake of the DCN needs to move to Iceland and shut up. \n-", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "They excell at thinking about & focusing on what benefits themselves first & foremost so they can screw over everyone else. Selfishness on steroids. Why do you think they elected trump? They want the government & their brothers & sisters in Christ to take care of them while pretending that they don\u2019t love socialism& pretending to love Jesus.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "excellent. I have a moral objection to hiring straight people and Christians. Time for them to go!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am going to definitely file away all your comments defending Milo's 'free speech'. It is jaw dropping and mind boggling how you, and many other conservative Catholics, have claimed a flaming gay male espousing every single thing you castigated all gay men for espousing, as your very own. My how tribalism makes for strange bed fellows.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "They mass execute Christians in Syria, Egypt, and Ethiopia to ethnic cleanse the ME but we are not supposed to notice or be offended. But we are expected to be offended if a Muslim woman has to identify herself at airport customs.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously, you need to do more research. \nWhites were starting the wars. \nWhites took native children from their parents and put them in boarding schools to turn \"heathens\" into Christian's. They killed the parents who tried to protect their young.\nThey moved tribes off land that they wanted, and killed ones who wouldn't go. \nThey brought their diseases in, too. And killed more. But the eradication of Natives was not all by disease. \nIs It any wonder there's still ones who hate whites? \nNative Americans were treated as bad, if not worse, than slaves.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The male, celibate Roman Catholic hierarchy has a simple view of sex. The only way it can be \"justified\" is procreation. Augustine's view that any married couple who has intercourse without the explicit intention of procreating is sinning still informs the magisterial view of sex. Of course, this sometimes leads to remarkable view, such as the possibly apocryphal story that some idiotic moral theologian said that masturbation is worse than rape, since there is a possibility that rape can result in procreation.\n\nThe unmarried men who come up with these teachings don't have a clue about the place of sex in marriage, and don't seem to want to learn. They have a \"theory\" about sex, and don't let reality bother it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You are correct. Everyone is perfectly \"free\" to be heterophobic, a racist against Caucasians, a Christian hater, anti-Israel or whatever. Go for it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Right, just as the Vietnamese retaliated on Christians attacking Buddhists by sending Buddhists suicide bombers on American soil...only fair!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "< I haven't lost that repugnance of absolute male domination in what we claim is Christ's own Church.>\nI hope you never lose it -- until at long last the church reforms.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, you are probably right. Things in Africa have gone from bad to worse for gay people, thanks mostly to American evangelical homophobes like Scott Lively exporting their hate to foreign shores.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic intellectual Ross Douthat recently wrote that hippies (60s permissiveness) are to blame for everything that went wrong in American culture, including the church's sex abuse scandal. Apparently our Dads were right all along, and also Pat Boone, who warned us about that Rock and Roll \"music.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Well the Catholic Church partnered up with Mormons, right Evangelicals and Orthodox and Hasidic Jews (all of which hate Catholicism with a passion) to try and squelch gay marriage in the USA, so it's choice of bedfellows is quite broad. Where money and power are concerned, the church has never shown much morality.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If folks like Culture Guard (the name is risible) want \u201ctraditional values\u201d (you know like hatefulness, bigotry, ignorance, prejudice-ahh the good old days) they have the right to homeschool their kids or send them to private school.\n\nIn a pluralistic democracy however, we are going to be INCLUSIVE. That is where our society is going. I realize that it is confusing for simpletons to think out side of the binary (good/evil, right/wrong, boy/girl) and yet conceptualizung ambiguity is a hallmark of emotional intelligence.\n\nOh and BTW, I am a devout Catholic, send my kids to private Catholic school but I have no issues whatsoever accepting LGBTQ kids. My God is a god of LOVE. \n\nFunny, come to think of it, my God was killed by people who couldn\u2019t get past the \u201cGod/Man\u201d binary. Figures.\n\nSo anyone who claims \u201cChristianity\u201d as their inability to accept these kids is a hypocrite. Period.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The right's vision of America is based on greed, disdain for their fellow Americans (except for the rich), pseudo-patriotism and egotism. Should the government help the poor? No, that money is needed for tax cuts to the rich. The poor are poor because they make poor choices (like not having a father who leaves them $300 million).\n\nWhite privilege, misogyny, racism, homophobiaare core American values. White Christian males are to rule! Rights are a zero sum game -- any rights you get reduce my rights. Christians are simultaneously the majority in the country and relentlessly persecuted. Why, there is a farmer in Michigan who can't even refuse to serve gays without there being consequences.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I agree. George Orwell is a far, far better read than politically bent, anti-Christian authors like Atwood. You also nailed it Ms. Wente with the new totalitarianism that has essentially replaced communism in the modern world - nations like Saudi Arabia, fueled of course by its overly aggressive, violent, and incredibly hateful form of Islam called Wahhabism.\n\nFunny how blind progressives like Atwood got terribly side-tracked thanks to their petty elitist provincial views. Attwood could also have written about the real live totalitarianism of her time - that of the Soviet Union, Cuba, Red China - but didn't. Atwood needed to fabricate something from her own imagination and as a Canadian liberal elitist, it was far easier to distort reality and lay it on a make-believe form of future Christianity. Meanwhile, totalitarianism ran rampant in the 20th Century thanks to fellow atheists like Stalin and Mao, but hey, that just didn't fit with her illiberal anti-Christian narrative.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I find that quietly living a life in Christ is much more effective than proselytizing. I think many Christians are missing that and come off as HUGE hypocrites with the affect that other people are turned off. I am also reminded of Jesus' admonition to not be a zealot. Zealotry is just as bad as any other sin and anyone of any faith, including atheists, need to be careful of their zealotry.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So, as long as the rest of the world can get away with hiding child sex abuse then so should the Catholic Church?\n\nTHAT is what you call leadership? What it really sounds like is some spoiled child who wants to set fire to cats because the brat saw other kids do it and IT'S NOT FAIR if his parents stop him when other parents didn't stop the other kids.\n\nIt is childish and cowardly to hide behind \"other people do it\" and \"it's not fair.\" Did you get away with that with your parents when you were a kid? Did you allow your children to get away with that? Did you weigh your own child's behavior by judging it on what other kids were allowed or did you have a standard to teach your kids what is moral?\n\nWhat do you think the bishops are teaching people with their attitude of \"I don't have to if others don't have to?\" They are saying this isn't about moral behavior or that moral behavior is defined by law and until the law decides it isn't immoral. They have abdicated moral leadership.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Here we go again, a man who walked out of the RC Church, brought his children up in the Anglican Church, calling good Catholics heretics. Breathtaking arrogance.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Living a LGBTQ lifestyle is sin. The Bible clearly addresses the issue. God teaches to love the sinner but hate the sin. As a result, the sin cannot be condoned by society. A LGBTQ lifestyle is not to be enabled and glorified. The individual is to be treated with respect, but societal accommodations simply enable the behavior and endanger the rest of society. Males and females do need their privacy in certain situations. LGBTQ behavior crosses the boundaries of that privacy, because it is scientifically impossible for humans to fully change sexes. Society cannot let people simply act in any manner they wish, for it will cause a slow deterioration of that society. \n\nIn general, people do not like to be told what they can and cannot do. It is sad that a law like this has to be put in the books. It is sad that right is becoming wrong and wrong is becoming right. Laws forbidding marriage between the same sex and rights to privacy are far from bigotry, for It is simple consequence to sin.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You must be a Republican. Swirling black hole where your heart should be ... Hatriotism!! Praying hard to the money gods while calling yourself a Christian, but we all know by now today's Christian is a 'christian'. Super fakey!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Is this a manifestation of PC gone completely rogue, or what? \nI would hope that everyone would be disciplined enough to take the time to read the koran, listen to reasonable advocates & opponents & decide if islam is in the least bit compatible with Christianity. It is not!\nFurthermore, objectively look at the lack of tolerance of other faiths in islamic countries, abuse of women, beheadings, & on & on.\nWhomsoever promoted, allowed, or supported this travesty should be court-martialed.\nThe malevolent influence of our recently made X-president, has apparently infested & taken deep root in our gubmut, even in our military, which he so feared & disliked. \nThis takes the cake for self-defeating absurdity.\nWake up, Americans!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "With all your hysteric comments about \"white supremacy\" and us being the most violent nation. Remember this: Black men are primarily responsible for that. They are only 3.5% of the entire population and yet they commit 52% of the Homicides!!! They are 40 times, not twice, not triple, not 10 times, but FORTY times more likely to commit a violent crime than white men. Look it up on the DOJ data. Further Muslims have killed way more Christians than the other way around, do some research Charles.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Feminist theological ethics\"? Don't recall seeing that in the Summa, at Trent, or in any catechism. Just more modernist Jesuit {redundancy?} nonsense.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sounds like the words \"legal immigration\" still have no place in your vocabulary. And 20 other countries built walls are now trying to stem the invasion from the Middle East by Islamic hordes who never even consider assimilation. The refugees of war and military age with no wives or children continue to invade, as has the onslaught by Islam on Christian lands, for the last 1,400 years. I am thankful for my relatives who fought these Islamic animals for over 250 year in the land of the Dragon.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"REDEFINING\" marriage is a hoax which certain Catholic bishops, \"Catholic evangelicals\" (like Mike Pence) and a variety of \"strict constructionists\" have tried to perpetrate all over the USA. You have bought squarely into that faux argument. That's more than sufficient to warrant calling such individuals \"homophobes,\" because that is EXACTLY what they are!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Its funny watching the left twist themselves into knots defending religious views that literally oppress women.\n\nThis is why the left cannot be taken seriously on almost any matter. The same hypocrites who ranted and raved about Donald Trump were silent about Harvey Weinstein. They have marches and wear ribbons and talk about women\u2019s rights and then say we have no right to step in when a religion oppresses women on what they can wear or do. \n\nMeanwhile if a Christian says women shouldn\u2019t be allowed to have an abortion they go ape**** protest and riot saying and I quote \u201cno one should be able to tell a woman what to do with her body\u201d. How the F is this any different?\n\nThe selective and hypocritical morality of the left should be ignored as it is nonsensical and illogical. The ban should stand, otherwise what the law is saying is all religions are equal, except for islam which will get an exception every time. Thus the beginning of sharia law.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Man oh man am I glad \"bible thumping\" is not part of Canadian federal politics. \n\nEvangelicals are as bad as sunni wahabbis.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Dang, original comment wasn't civil enough. Basic thoughts. It's funny you bring up the pleasure of sex as the Pill eliminates ovulation which is generally speaking the time of greatest sexual desire and fulfillment for women. \n\nAlso, I'll give you a more palatable example of the intention question for moral action. White lies. They are often glossed over as morally acceptable because the intention is to save someone's feelings and make them happy. Doesn't change the reality of me looking stupid in a shirt with a stain on it after I ask my wife if it looks OK and she says \"Yes, dear\" just because she doesn't want to hurt me. Same exact logic in contraception and nuclear war. \n\nFinally, you obviously have a much different outlook on happiness, human nature, the body, and sex. Fine. Just don't mistake it for Catholicism. It's in complete discontinuity with the entirety of Catholic history and the Scriptures.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's the law. You can't discriminate against a couple solely because they are gay or lesbian.\nAnymore than you can discriminate against blacks or Roman Catholics or disabled people.\nIf skinheads want meat from a kosher butcher, and they are polite customers, they have every right to be served. If they harass the butcher, that's criminal behavior.\n\nIt is amazing how many people were fine with civil rights laws -- until they included gay people.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Many of the trolls complaining about a female doctor are semi-professional complainants who can be traced through a myriad of anti-BBC tweets, posts and rants. They are the same people who complain UKIP aren't given a fair hearing (for our overseas friends - the racist group has been pretty much promoted by the BBC through their failure to scrutinise the 'party' to the extent others are held to account); these are the people who complain if they have heard something they might not lim has been shown on the BBC; the people who rant and froth when an alternative comedian pokes fun at the the ruling Conservative party, Queen, flag, Christianity (even though they without a Christian bone in their bodies), complain when a favourite presenter is scaled for punch out co-workers; complain if the ways of the country are presented on TV.\nSome fans may feel uncomfortable at having a female Doctor even if they are happy to see one when they need antibiotics.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Only the GOP extremists believe in God -- what a ridiculous comment. Seems the right-wing extremists wouldn't vote for Christ Himself, calling Him too socialist.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Facts:\nsince V11:\nMass attendance below 20% world wide...in come countries like France it is below 5%\nSignificant reduction in the number of priests and religious, especially nuns (although a good thing, as mot liber non Catholic order will cease to exist in 10-20 years)\nMass apostasy from the faith..most Catholics don't know the basics of the faith..couldn't define transubstantiation, name the Commandments, corporal or spiritual acts of Mercy, recite basic prayers at Mass, a loss in belief in the Real Presence\nMost Catholics have the same views as most secular atheists with regards to morality and a whole host of vile practices accepted by the broken society at large, like abortion and gay \"marriage\"\nClergy sex abuse whose root cause, unnatural sex addiction, was allowed to grow and is not discussed\nYup the fruits of VII..something to be really hopeful and full of pride about..I just don't get how those that should be shepherding us don't see the disaster in front of their noses", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "For those who may be unaware:\n\n\"But the proper reaction to crimes committed against homosexual persons should not be to claim that the homosexual condition is not disordered. When such a claim is made and when homosexual activity is consequently condoned, or when civil legislation is introduced to protect behavior to which no one has any conceivable right, neither the Church nor society at large should be surprised when other distorted notions and practices gain ground, and irrational and violent reactions increase.\"\n\nFrom LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ON THE PASTORAL CARE OF HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS (1986)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is a disgusting approach to Downs Syndrome children. \n\nQuo Vadis?\n\nIt doesn't take a lively imagination to see where these trends will take us. \n\nAs Cardinal Sarah said earlier this week: \u201cOnce again today, more than ever, revolutionary ideologists want to annihilate the natural place of self-giving, joyful generosity and of love. I want to talk about the family! Gender ideology, and contempt for fertility and fidelity are the many slogans of this revolution. These new revolutionaries are worried by the generosity of large families. They ridicule Christian families, for they embody all that they hate...Christian families everywhere must be the joyful spearheads of a revolt against this new dictatorship of selfishness!\u201d", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Not just Christian, but joining a bigoted Conservative Baptist church as an adult and then being wishy-washy about whether he believes/doesn't believe the\nfundy positions (gays sex is sin, co-habitation is sin, women must submit). I like Wheeler, but if you can't support Wheeler, Schor is the smartest and most qualified after the top two.\nSarah Iannarone was chosen by Charlie and Nancy Hales to cause trouble for Wheeler. She speaks in jargon, supports unlimited tent camping and is basically Hales Lite. Her inability to understand the implications of state law prohibiting city rent controls is shocking. I love they way she pretends to be an outsider when she was recruited by Hales.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If black Catholics read these comments will they be buoyed by the comments of many supposedly white RCs here?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Transgender\" is an adjective, not a noun - as in, transgender people, or trans woman, or some such.\"\nAs in Americans, Democrats, Liberals, Republicans, or Christians -don't forget gays, lesbians, or LGBT - or is transgender completely different?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can appreciate Pope Francis wanting there to be both justice and mercy for priests who sexually abuse children and vulnerable adults. \n\nI do wish I saw as much effort put into a concern for both justice and mercy for the victims who are overwhelmingly laity. \n\nLay people. You know, the ones who are not \"insiders\" - priests or religious. There seem to be all kinds of ways the church wants to assure those on the inside are treated fairly. But there is no concept of how the laity are to receive justice and fairness from the Church when an \"insider\" mistreats an \"outsider.\" There are repercussions to the insider, but any restorative justice is entirely at the whim of the bishop and nothing in Canon Law compels him to act. The Catholic lay person might as well be Methodist for all the difference it makes.\n\nWe need a Bill of Rights of Catholic Lay People that becomes part of Canon Law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will never refuse prayers from anyone. But I wasn't as much disparaging your character as I was your logic. You can't logically argue that we should believe the Da'esh are \"Muslims\" just because they claim to be without accepting the equally absurd argument that we should accept the Christian Identity Movement's claims that they're \"Christians\" just because they claim to be. And the fact that every time I prove you're wrong at some point in our discussion you attempt to extricate yourself, as you did when you wrongly accused me of supporting the Da'esh, suggests that your own arrogance won't allow you to learn if it contradicts your preconceived notions. I neither know nor care enough about you to assail your personal character--I WILL point out your poor logic and expressions of willful ignorance, and not apologize for that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And most distressing of all, the insult troll who pretends to be a christian and justifies the hatefulness and insults with their religious beliefs. An example for study is found above. Sigh. Such may be unreachable, but perhaps with prayer they, like some of the pharisees of Jesus' time, will come to abandon the hypocrisy and hatred with which they debase their faith...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Planned Parenthood shooter, Christian.\nDylan Roof, Christian.\nMcVeigh, Christian.\nLDS Texas group of Pedasts, Christian.\nCatholic Church, Christian.\n\nDo you need me to continue or are you planning on repudiating every Chrisitan that commits a crime/sin?\n\nChristianity teaches love and so do Islam. \n\nChristianity has been perverted to also cause violent, this has happened to Islam as well. The difference is that the jihadi Muslims are actually doing something about it, while the Christians are trying to out-breed(see Quiverfull). \n\nMake no mistake the Christian side has been raising up an army, they just are in control so there is no need to lash out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks again for all your research. Apparently, it was the \"Aryan\" Christians killing the \"Slavic\" Christians. And how many times have you heard the tired old excuse that the German people supported Hitler because their paper currency was worthless because of the \"Jewish Bankers\". Even today, you hear the same thing from the alt-right about the \"Tri-lateral Commission\" and \"International Bankers\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Evangelicals are not good Christians. They made their bargain with the Rs and Ronald Reagan in the 80s. Reagan got a captivated audience that was willing to listen and be influenced by charismatic \"Religious Leaders\" about the conservative Republican agenda, and these same followers sent those leaders their hard earned money so the likes of Falwell and Robertson could live very comfortably. In return, the leaders got a party in government power that would push their value system. Religion and Christ really have nothing to do with it. They aren't so interested in morals and Christian values, unless you call power and profit motive alone a Christian value. These Evangelical Leaders are selling a product, one they can not make or build or hold in their hands. But it's a business just the same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How wonderfully tolerant, caring, kind, loving and Catholic of you to feel such remorse over the murder of unborn children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We don't have a problem with religion, we have a problem with Islam,\" Fillon countered in September. \"Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Buddhists and Sikhs don't threaten our country's values. It's only the fundamentalist surge inflaming the Muslim world that is a threat to our society.\"\n\nRefreshing to hear some honesty for a change from a politician regarding radical Islam instead of the usual na\u00efve religion of peace/all religions are equally violent pablum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Against what? Murder? How do you stop someone from steering their car into a crowd? How do you stop people from having a desire to kill? How do you stop people from changing religions? How do you prevent some weak-willed, violent-prone kid from being talked into doing something stupid?\nOver the years in the US, there have been over a hundred incidents of mass murder, claiming hundreds of lives. I don't see you wailing and moaning over that. Why does it only matter when the killer is Muslim? Do you think Christian bullets can't hurt you?\nViolence will happen. Murders will happen. You can't prevent them without illegally taking away our democratic rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mark, I think mocking a bunch of people who preach politics in the name of religion isn't hatred, as you claim---Just scorn and mockery. If this more aggressive brand of \"christianity\" would stop trying to ram their religion down everyone's throat, for their own personal profit, you might see less of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church in India is going to be a tough nut to crack. This is a Catholic community honed by centuries as a religious minority to be aggressively mistrustful of civil authority. \n\nIt's also a Church that has historically enjoyed to the max the perks of clerical privilege. More than a few U.S. parishes have had clashes with imported Indian priests accustomed to being deferred to by the laity.\n\nThe stonewalling coming from the hierarchy in India should surprise nobody. My expectation is that they will come around to taking child protection seriously only when they are dragged, likely kicking and screaming, into it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For those who don't know, it was Muslims that cruelly persecuted St. Josephine Bakhita.\n\nOur Lord referred to people of his day by their cultural affiliations. \n\nHe did more than that, actually. He often judged them by those affiliations, by their geography even.\n\nWhy did Jesus do that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What was your point in mentioning Christianity ? The post you replied to didn't mention religion at all. \nChristophobia at it's finest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good to receive from the community, support for deadly attacks against any human being.\nHopefully the muslim community in turn will support the families of christians annihilated in Egypt, the atrocities committed by other muslims in Manchester.\nSpeak out and aloud against islamic extremism. Thank you neighbor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I want to thank Bishop Tobin for illustrating exactly why so many people have left the Catholic Church with his smug and odious column....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Washington Post, CNN, AP, NYT's, should any of these be considered 'newsworthy'? No, they shouldn't. They are nothing but sensationalism rags, rants on 'unnamed sources', and when asked to call these sources, 'they're not answering our calls'. They, as with the DP, continue to obstruct and delay, with Russia 'investigations' with our new Good American President, when our country is under attack by globalists, and muslim radicals. Who, by the way, were even the cause of the Christian Crusades, it was the muslims back then also.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: \"ya you want to be gay, be gay\"\n\nIt isn't an optional choice. either one is or one is not attracted to others of the opposite (or same) sex, and nothing on God's green earth has ever changed that.\n\nBut, it's mighty 'christian' of you to 'allow' other people to \"be\" ... themselves.\n\nRe: \"but no right to force public schools to segregate such groups\"\n\nIn actual fact, they are ALLOWING people of different groups (gays and straights) to intermingle. What a concept. And, it's the OPPOSITE of \"segregating\" the 2 groups.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The vaccination rate is a good point. Is this a product of the Waldorf method or a result of the philosophy of the parents who choose Waldorf?\nWe don't blame Christianity for believers who deny their children medical help as they wait for divine intervention.\nBut you are right. The parents (and maybe staff) need more \"education\" in this area.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are no \"wounds\" in American society. Those who voted for Trump didn't do anything \"deeply destructive\" to you or anyone.\n\nThe only wound seen here is people who have no respect for U.S. immigration law, and are so upset by losing the election that they spice all their columns with absurd hyperbole.\n\nWanted: journalists. Catholic online newspaper. Must understand basics of journalism. Must not be crying selves to sleep every night because of the election. Must be willing to report news without trying to alienate Catholics on political lines.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about up-dating your theological premise. Unfortunately, you see humanity as constantly being in sin and shame. It is as if Jesus had never come, never redeemed us. I guess to traditional Catholics, the life, death and resurrection has absolutely no meaning. Traditional Catholics remain in their sins.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's a bunch of B.S. Only when it fits into their belief and lifestyle system. Like being white and evangelical.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When declaring that \"filth like [rape] lies very close to the surface of our so-called Christian society\", rape statistics are *extremely* relevant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"But Liberals were unwilling to compromise when the Conservatives asked them to change \u201cIslamophobia\u201d to \u201chatred for Muslims.\u201d\"\n These are two different things. Islam is a religion. Muslims are the people who follow this religion. I wish our politicians could at least agree on what these things mean. I can hate Islam and not hate Muslims, just as I can hate Christianity but not hate Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...and free-market zealots and/or Christian zealots who believe that the father, son and holy ghost are all one person and referenced god when they dropped atomic bombs on innocent civilians? You really can't reason with zealots.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ISIS and Islam in general had a plan all along.\nSend millions of refugees to over populate Christian countries.\nThe Muslim communities now fund all politicians to get the open muslim immigration mandate on the slate.\nAsk for an accounting of your politicians contributions. I found every one of my MLA amd MP's got funding for their campaigns from Muslim groups.\n\nThey are on the take. \nNot unlike Jughead who spent the holidays with a Muslim billionaire at a secret retreat to discuss expansion of Muslim immigration strategy.\n\nThe political strategy these groups have is clearly working.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'During the debate, Ms. Khalid said she\u2019s been asked to remove references to Islamophobia in the motion, but refused. \u201cWe cannot address a problem if we fail to call it by its true name,\u201d she told the Commons.'\n\nIn that case, is it no longer indelicate for a politician to point out that an atrocity, for which a group like ISIS has taken credit, exemplifies \"Islamicist extremism\"? That sounds like as true a name as you can give it.\n\nFurther, if this motion is to be passed, should we also condemn any disagreement with fundamentalist Christian groups (especially criticism that uses inflammatory words such as \"fundamentalist Christians\"), including those with kooky ideas, as \"hatred against Christians\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The fact that Margaret Sanger promoted birth control as a means to promote one race and control birth in other races, does not mean to me birth control is bad. It means her ideas about race are bad. Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan were important in promoting the ideas that women have more to give to society than clean floors, cooked meals, and babies. They made a difference in changing attitudes about women's education, employment, fair wages, legal rights. We can't talk about what shapes our society without talking about the tremendous change in the position of women in society today versus just 100 year ago. They may have had some bad ideas along with the good, but that does not dismiss what they helped accomplish.\n\nThe Catholic Church, many bishops and popes, defended slavery for centuries. If Margaret Sangor's name is to forever be sullied, why not the names of Catholic popes who defended slavery? And lets not speak of the guilt by association of bishops and child sex abuse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The number one problem is the refusal of the Catholic Church to take real action!!!!!!! \n\nFor over 40 years Tom Doyle has been continually setting an example for the Catholic Church to follow.\nOver 40 years ago Tom Doyle gave the bishops a heads up about the harm done to victims and the church.\nMany, many \"commissions\" have said the same things over many decades.\n\nThe Catholic Church has had over 40 years to figure out how to act like a church. \nThe Catholic Church refuses to reach out with loving concern to victims and chooses to fight them at every turn.\nThe Catholic Church refuses to come clean and continues to conceal dirty and dangerous secrets\nThe Catholic Church refuses to punish leaders who have been complicit. It rewards those who cover up with promotions.\n\nThe Church REFUSES to act like a church associated with Christ.\nHow many more decades is their refusal acceptable to those who fill the pews?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That gay persons are objectively disordered is an idea, an ideology. That gay love-relationships are intrinsically evil is a cruel lie ... and an idea, an assumption of an a priori allegedly self-evident \"truth\" which is anything but. Once catholic priests genuinely accompany gay persons, only then will the taboo collapse and the real truth emerge into the light of day ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about parents \"and\" schools teach sex education plus easier access to contraceptives. Oh, I forgot the pope is against contraceptives so Catholic Schools and Catholic Parents will not be providing contraceptives or even talk about them. \nSchools can and do teach fertilization and fetal development as part of sex education. I can talk to both sides having attended Catholic grammar school and public high school. How about schools teaching sex education so when students grow up they can teach their kids about it intelligently?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"... our only recourse is to remove our Children from a secular ideologically focused education system.\"\nTeaching safe sex is not ideology.\nIt is like teaching kids to wash their hands.\nThis comes down to reason versus medieval, backward beliefs that sex is somehow bad.\nThe state needs to protect children from fanatical anti-science Christians and Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agree on that level.\nI am an agnostic, atheist, general unbeliever in any \"religious\" belief system. But I found the Sikh philosophy interesting and my techie was quite amenable to rational debate of their value system. Other experiences: the worst were the so-called Christians - the only true biblical God etc. Any visit to the Vatican and Rome will quickly disabuse anybody - who looks at the material wealth and implied political power - from the original preaching of Jesus Christ ( as a person ). I also think Judaism deserves respect as a value system. As for Islam - NO separation of church and state .-( Hinduism ..... too convoluted.\nSikh philosophy may be an improvement over historic misguided Christian missionary zeal embedded in our culture. \nOf course NO religion should influence government policy explicitly. But we still have a separate Catholic School system .-(", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "EWTN started with a simple and laudable goal to evangelize. It got subverted and prostituted by far right- wing ecclesial and political actors. It has no credibility outside about 15% of Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, \u201cIt is written, \u2018My house shall be called a house of prayer,\u2019 but you make it a den of robbers.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You cannot take my points to task in content, so you take me to task personally by means of an incoherent comparison, whereby you suggest that my mere Christian objectivity makes me a \"theocrat\" on par with Islamic jihadis. (The hyperbole drips - LOL!) The reality is, you despise me and the people with whom I stand (Christian Right, is it?) far more than any murderous terrorist. \n\nIndividuals that substitute argument with labels and prejudices, instead of content-for-content rebuttals, do so because they have no content, or else it's so very desiccated (and freeze-dried from the '60's/'70's). Now, I don't expect to get any STAR reactions to my comments here, because this is a site where open-minded, tolerant folks like you can pretend that you're arguing for truth against a world of fascists. You can have the last word, because a rebuttal with your profundity is not worth any more of my time as a \"Christian Right theocrat.\" ;)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John Adams was a complete heretic by Catholic standards. A Congregationalist by birth, he would eventually abandon belief in the Trinity and the divinity of Christ. Though a \"church-going animal\" Adams famously exclaimed in a letter to Thomas Jefferson:\n\n\"Twenty times, in the course of my late Reading, have I been upon the point of breaking out, \u2019This would be the best of all possible Worlds, if there were no Religion in it.'\"\n\nHe would later backtrack that \u201cwithout Religion this World would be Something not fit to be mentioned in polite Company, I mean Hell.\"\n\nIt appears he was ambivalent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "jerry69, had to watch the entire 22 minute video of the resistance chicks, who are a couple of right wing, trump loving, clinton hating, born again christian radicals that think cnn is the voice of isis and the (actual) devil. the only bright spot was the gabbard interview just after she returned from syria. they love her, other than that, they are nuts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So the children graduating from Catholic Schools have actual knowledge that the Catholics Imaginary Supernatural buddy is a fraud and public School Grads do not?\n\nPrivate Schools do better because they can refuse or expel problem students, or ones that require more resources.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All the values you have cited are mine too. You must be a secret Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If someone lies, it is proper to say that he or she is a liar. You don't like this. Too bad.\n\nYour \"millions of Catholics believe\" is an example of the logical fallacy of the Appeal to Popularity.\n\nWhen the magisterium taught that slavery was morally acceptable, it should have been followed without question. Also when the magisterium taught that women are inferior to men, that was also truth. When the magisterium taught that freedom of of religion was \"an insanity\", you would have accepted it. When the magisterium taught that all non-Catholics were damned, you would have said \"Yes!\" And now that the magisterium teaches the exact opposite on all of these, it also teaches objective and eternal truth.\n\nNo, the only way you can do this piece of double think is by lying to yourself or by ignoring historical fact.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again, 3% of PP funds go for abortions. If you are right that in Texas and elsewhere \"It is not ordinary health care that anyone objects to,\" then those states are literally throwing the baby out with the bath water. In many communities women, and poor women in particular, have no option other than PP for health care before and after pregnancy. Those state legislatures are the same ones who refuse to take Medicaid funds to extend health care to their poorest citizens. Now they want to take away neonatal and prenatal health care away from those same poor women. If there is a just God sitting in judgement at life's end, those political hacks will burn in Hell. Or to put it in a more secular way, those state politicians are killing poor people to satisfy a self-righteous but significant segment of their voter base, so-called evangelical Christians.\n\nTo call abortion \"a convenience\" is to trivialize human reproduction, a life-shaping event that should be a woman's choice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pro-birthers have been making much of their factoid that an aborted foetus feels excruciating pain. But I wonder if they feel likewise about displaced families (children, especially!) and their excruciating pain, which not infrequently ends with death! What about Catholic bishops, and president-elect Trump?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All the other religions, Christian and non-Christian, somehow manage to support their clergy's families.\nWhy are only Catholics unable. And there is always the possibility of men with ordinary jobs carrying out essential priestly functions. When in a desperate situation, some unusual measures may need to be taken.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No sir, I want justice. A person who kills someone for the fun of doing so, a person who kills for no reason other than the joy of killing, a person who kills in cold blood, merits a punishment that fits the crime: a life for a life. This isn't rocket science, sir, and I am not going to allow you to turn in to rocket science. \n\nVengeance would be demanding the life of the killers family and friends, and taking their life while forcing the killer to watch--then taking his life.\n\nThe above being said: I am not saying the death penalty is absolutely necessary to ensure justice. I am saying that it isn't incompatible with Christianity or the pro-life position. I am also saying that Pope Francis is incorrect to suggest that the death penalty involves an intrinsic moral evil and that his predecessors were wrong to apply it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another smear from a revisionist. Conservatives (there may still be a few left in the Republican Party) agree with the sentiments of Martin Luther King that a man should be judged by his character and not the color of his skin. Democrats consider Blacks as a voting block but not as individuals. Conservatives are against carving out special rights or privileges for any group since equality of citizenship is essential to a free republic. Democrats divide the country into grievance groups and promise special favors to each when elected. Democrats wear business suits today, not sheets, but their prejudice is on display every day. If you doubt it, just ask them what they think of white Christian men... including our country's founders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Jewish vote has an influence in American politics, but on the settlement issue very little. A strong majority of American Jews do NOT support Israel's illegal settlement policies. It's only Orthodox Jewish-Americans that do. They number about 600,000 people out of about 6 million Jews in total.\n\nIn American politics, the overwhelming support for Israel's illegal settlement policies come from Christian fundamentalists. There's maybe 90 million of them, and they are even more religiously motivated on the issue than Jews.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "European Catholics (like most Europeans) were anti-Semitic for any number of reasons, not least because of the charge that Jews had killed the Son of God. NOSTRA AETATE of Vatican II, which called for a recognition of Judaism and rejection of all forms of anti-Semitism, changed all that, long after Maximillian Kolbe volunteered his life in a concentration camp to save the life of another inmate. Polish/European anti-Semitism, however, shouldn't nullify the fact that Poles suffered terribly at the hands of the Nazis (and Russian Communists): one fifth of the Polish Catholic clergy died and six million Polish citizens -- half of them Catholic and half of them Jews. At 220 wartime deaths per 1,000, this was proportionally a greater loss than any other country in WWII.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Europe was full of anti-semitic Christians killing each other till 1945. And yet in the Americas the same Europeans and Jews lived peacefully together for centuries.\n\nThe former homelands have nothing to do with it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This attack has been the best thing to ever happen Muslims in Quebec and Canada . Now they can leverage it for decades to come on guilt ridden white Canadians and politicians to get what ever they want. Permission to build Mosques where ever they want? Sure!! Separate seats of buses and subways to keep them safe from from murderous Christians? Of course! Separate school rooms? Sharia Law and their own police officers? Their own streets? Prayer rooms in all publci buildings? Their own public housing? Their own public servants ? No politician will dare say no because they now have proof they are more special than you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW, again with the Civilta.\n\nWhat's the beef? A progressive Catholic cries \"gotcha\" at Trad Catholics, because the Trad Catholics are in some ways politically allied with Evangelical Christians (mainly on abortion), and this is wrong on the grounds that any Catholic alliance with protestants is anathema....because it conflicts with traditional Church teachings on the meaning of the mass, and because the Catholic church is the only true Church?\n\nProtestant Christianity is a \"corrupting influence\"?\n\nProgressives deriding Trads, because the Trads aren't Trad enough. Wow. I've never seen such a silly political argument.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How sad that Francis verbal support of women is totally hypocritical. He needs to live it. Once he gets the courage to declare that ALL sacraments are open to ALL baptized Catholics, regardless of gender, then he might be listened to outside the church. As it is, his words are without real meaning and nobody will take him seriously. To justify their own misogny, some will point out the fact that the Catholic church is now among the world's most prominent institutions, including religions, that continue to discriminate against women. Pope Francis - I'm sure you have heard the truism that actions speak louder than words. I hope at some point you will actually set the example you counsel others to take, honestly recognizing that \"When women have the opportunity to fully share their gifts with the whole community, the community ends up \"transformed\" in a positive way.\" Many of the dysfunctions of the Catholic church are rooted in its patriarchal, male celibate, misognyst culture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Taken from my article A Bond of Divine Mercy in the link below, perhaps some may consider reading it. \n\nThe Church teaches that the only option open to a gay Christian is celibacy and if they should sin they are in exactly the same position as all of the unmarried, the sacrament of penance is available to them and in this regard, they are treated equally.\nFor young Christian gay adults, the options appear to be stark, live a single celibate life. As Christians we consider this to be a gift from God. Obviously Homosexuals have the same needs as heterosexuals for a loving sexual relationship, to impose celibacy upon any one, either a heterosexual or a homosexual person would create an intolerable situation within their heart, which would only serve to increase the desire for companionship and sexual intimacy...\n\nhttp://www.v2catholic.com/background/2015/07/2015-07-25Kevin-Walters-a-bond-of-Divine-Mercy.htm\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump cited the 9/11 attacks as the reason for the ban and 15 of the 19 perpetrators of 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was not on the list. \n\nTwo points:\n\n1) Saudi Arabia's absence completely obliterates Trump's assertion that the ban was necessary because of \"9/11\" while at the same time lends credence to those who accuse Trump of Christian favoritism. \n\n2) It seems like more than just coincidence that no country that Trump does or has done business with, including Saudi Arabia, is on the banned list. And once again in the span just 16 days it seems that another Trump's decision was heavily influenced by his personal business dealings. \n\nThe hypocrisy here is breathtaking because Trump and his supporters spent nearly 2 years screaming \"crooked Hillary\" and \"lock her up\" but the average Trump supporter, when faced with a blatant abuse of presidential power couldn't care less.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ezekiel says that Sodom's sin was \"She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me.\" It seems to me that many Christians have never learned this lesson.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no longer the societal pressure on people to be church-goers. 50 years ago it was expected of people to attend a church. Advancement in business, politics, etc, could be impacted. Without that force in place, people start asking themselves why they are going, and decide to stay home. Considering the level of hypocrisy in the Episcopal Church, its no wonder they are in the same boat.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "SNORT! He appears really sincere if you rely on labels and promises, but if you have ever been molested by a priest or you are not naive you know what christian sincerety can mask", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Recorded history? Arab? I think human's have been fighting since human history...thinking Crusades. But complicit and power around soil has made us make A LOT of bad choices and the nation-building from both Americans and Europian forces has been the driver of much of the conflict. Middle Eastern oil matters because of price and what it means to our allies. And the new view of Islam as apolitical fourcecrather than a religion is similar to the White Christian Nationalists that current infect little d's brain.\nThe Muslim ban is all about Jeff Sessions and a Steve Bannon...we must not take our eyes off the real threat they present. And Sessions is the intellectual driver of using fear to foment enough hatred to lean down a path last seen in the 1930's...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So we have another terrorist attack--by a white nationalist French Catholic extremist who idolizes Trumpy the KKKlown. I make no bones about despising the French. They slaughtered 1.5 million Algerians for the \"crime\" of wanting to be free of French tyranny. They've murdered my folks since the Crusades. They helped the Zionists acquire nukes. And they bequeathed us Vietnam. May this little creep get his just desserts from some Muslim prisoner while his guards are looking elsewhere. Ya'Allahumma 'aamiin!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"\"(T)here was a particular kind of Catholicism that was uniquely American. They combined the worst prejudices of the worst Americans with the worst of being Catholic.\" \n\nThis author, if that's the word, manages to malign Catholics and Americans in one sentence. And NCR publishes it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At least the Christians in the US today are less likely, from a statistical point of view, to do mass murders than the followers of the \"Religion of Peace\" in the US.\n\nMost of our mass murderers are just crazy; they haven't been told by Imams in Syria or Iran or Libya or Yemen that we deserve to die and killing even one of us guarantees our winding up in heaven!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can see the possibilities of one being a follower of Christ, believing He is our Savior and staying in the Muslim culture, even being called a Muslim. Such a person shouldn't be expected to be a baptized Adventist, of course. In places where religious liberty does not exist there is no other choice. We are not the judge. But to say this religion is not without its problems is unrealistic. There are many versions of it, some more objectionable than others. Catholicism, in some societies (and I've met Catholics who believe this), has as a goal of world or Christian domination. It is the same with Islam. While we may just want to spread the gospel, there are some religions who want the whole world converted to their particular view of the divine. How Islam wants to do this is a matter for its various groups (some through population growth) and some are quite violent and seek to recruit the young. Religious liberty is out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Catholics can't depend on their \"church\" for direction but rather follow Jesus and look at what Jesus would do.\" \n\nLaughable. So-called non-traditional Catholics --- there used to be only one kind: Catholics --- don't really care what Jesus would do. They follow John Lennon: \"All you need is love.\" Lennon's notion of what love dictates is further detailed in \"Imagine\" --- ah, yes, a hymn to Roman Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, they were publicising their disagreement with the teaching of the Catholic Church. How were the police to know what they would do next?\nThe world's media would have put any disruption of a Papal Mass on the front page; you know that as well as I do, you know the value of publicity and their sole aim was to gain publicity? \nYou agree with them, with their aims and would perhaps approve of such a demonstration, that is your right. It is also the right of the Roman Police and the Vatican Gendarmerie to nip such a demonstration in the bud. That is the issue here, not whether 'ordaining' women is right or wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with you but Trump's resignation would also be good. However, if that happened we would be stuck with Pence who would try to run the government like some kind of pseudo-theocracy (note it would be \"pseudo\" since he is a pseudo Christian).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Friedrich Nietzsche\u2019s famous aphorism about the death of God was a diagnostic remark, not a celebration: \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHuman society was going to have big problems in the 20th century, observed the melancholy German, \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u2026because, as he observed, even people who claimed to be guided by Christian morality didn\u2019t actually believe in it anymore. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYou couldn\u2019t come up with a more spectacular example than Donald Trump and his sanctimonious supporters on the Christian right, of course, but the real problem is even bigger than that.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThere are facts out there about how Trump was elected in 2016, \n\n\u2026but some people will never accept those facts even as they become aware they are, in fact, undeniable facts.\n\n\nIt's not just God that's dead, but reality itself. \n\nAnd of course, ...irony is dead too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That young Evangelicals are no longer accepting the authoritarian party line is the best news of the year.\n\nAs long as Republican activists and scholars are essentially craven, the Kochs and their money will always have influence.\n\nTrump and the Freedom Caucus are a function of FoxNews and CNBC. The propoganda drives the politicians.\n\nThe Catholic vote reflects more than guides the rest of the electorate. The pro-life Catholics who include immigration and economic justice are likely to vote Democratic. The Catholics who think abortion is the key issue are also likely to be anti tax Republicans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You,of course, have every right to place your children in private school. I'm guessing you've chosen a private school which reflects your own personal religious views of the world. That, of course, again is your right. You state \"Truth and Fact have no place in Government Education.\" In fact, it seems you're basing your perception of \"Truth and Fact\" on religious faith. Faith, in fact (no pun intended), is belief without evidence. Belief in the existance of God, god or gods, for example, is an article of faith. Belief in the absolute non-existance of God, god or gods is, as well, a matter of faith. Neither is based on any demonstrable Truth or Fact. \n\nAcross the world there are dozens of religions, many of whom claim their God is the only God and condemn all non-believers to hell. Many Christian churches are among this group of religious exclusionary elitists. Each of these religions condemns the rest of mankind to hell....what a compassionate world view....... gary crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you kidding me? Are you really a Christian? Have you ever read your Bible. Mankind refers to the human species (that means women and children too!) and is mentioned plenty of times in the Bible. Please dude, I honestly don't mean to be rude, but stop letting the world brainwash you so much that you can't even read a word for its true meaning.\n\nWhat fpretoors is trying to convey is 100% accurate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We don't know why self-identified Catholics voted the way they did. How many Catholics simply did what the bishops all but told them to do is a mystery.\n\nIt seems Catholicism is a tribal marker first and foremost.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, \"Silence\" is about Japan? I thought it might be about progressive Catholics who are fond of calling millions of Americans fascists and racists on the internet, but in the real world, keep Silence on how they think their neighbors are jackbooted cross burners. \n\nOr about MSW's status. Either one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The RCC is simply an institution bent on profit and power.\"\n\nThere is a special place for those who malign the Church that Catholics hold dear, and a special ignominy in being once a Father of Church and saying such things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And now in Australia a car bombing in Cabrera with gas tanks, blowing up Christians, . the same weapons they tried to use to blow up Notre dame in Paris this summer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The danger in government supporting one religion (Christianity\"\n-\nThomas Jefferson: \"There should always be a wall of separation between Church and State.\"\n============\nThus the irony of history. Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, had sex with slaves, and had children with slaves.\n-\nAnd the last thing Jefferson preferred was to have a bunch of Northern or Southern Christians advocating that \"slavery is wrong\" and undermining his, then, Constitutional Right to own slaves and treat slaves as his personal property.\n-\nSo Jefferson wrote a letter, advocating for a \"wall of separation of Church and State\" so that his \"Constitutional Right\" to own slaves should not be infringed upon by \"the Church\" and \"Christians\"....and turn any anti-slavery rhetoric that was coming from the Church into anti-slavery rhetoric in The Government. \n-\nAnd Liberals still use his \"wall\" phrase today, when he meant it to defend slavery against busy-body Christians.\n-\nOh, the irony. Liberals are so funny sometimes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We should have NOTHING to do with racism, just as we should have NOTHING to do with the Culture of Death, with which racism is esentially linked. When Steve Bannon tells us that he is an economic nationalist and not a white nationalist he is supplying us with a distinction without a difference. Economic nationalism is just a fancy terminology for the closing of your heart towards others, and has anti-Christian consequences. Caveat emptor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"Cardinal Newman Society\" gets all the attention and awe that any mindless mechanized puppets in the pews thoughtlessly give them. \n\nIf we start the day by reading briefly from the four Gospels, and saying some quick well-thought prayers, we will be open to a real and charitable embrace of our fellow Christians, however they appear and seem to be -- old and young, hurting or victorious, gay or straight.\n \nTry getting someone to smile who seems to be hurting. If you are standing in a group, and you don't notice anyone preoccupied by some pain, you aren't paying enough attention. See whether you can detect someone who needs a real friendly greeting, and -- without meddling too much -- find out what's bothering them. With that kind of charity for others, you will pay no attention to Cardinal Newman Society types. \n\nI never say anything charitable about the CNS when the topic arises. And I do know how to put them down. I am now a care giver, and put my energies there. Period", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You noticed? Or antisemitism, Or white supremacy, Or sexism....Or civil rights, in general? Catholic hierarchy including Kurtz, Vigano, Lori and Cordileone have been involved with groups that are associated with hate groups, noted by the SPLC....that specialize in the discrimination of a \"group\" be it Jewish, or black, or female, or gay or Muslim or whatever. And attempts to PROTECT these groups.\n\nSomething the USCCB is NOT doing.\n\nYou are better off with the SouthernPoverty Law Center, the Anti Defamation League, Amnesty International, et al....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neighborhood activists pitch an absolute fit that someone would attempt to sell them concept food from an era associated with foreign (ie: white european) cultural hegemony brought by ship and musket\n\nBut unless someone messes with their free parking, no one says a damn thing about oppressed locals' continued adherence to the Christian religion; spritual hegemony brought to them during the exact same period", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't deceive yourself about Nancy, the ex-Catholic. She's about as lost as a hunter who blows a horn of wrath. Her best defense here is her offensive offense. Among ex- Catholics like her, my only desire is that we may be better strangers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Of the 26 officers cited for the Jesuit massacre by the U.N. Truth Commission, 19 were graduates of the U.S. Army's School of the Americas, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.\"\n\nYour and my tax money paid to train the murders who massacred six Catholic priests, their housekeeper and her daughter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. Epigenetics. 2. Most gays self identify as children before any sexual activity. \nYour belief on divine law is based on the pietousness of asexuals, not reason or evidence. It is stoic, not Christian. To be Christian it must show God as humble of heart, be easy to follow and a light burden. It should certainly not drive teenage boys to suicide for having to chose between being true to themselves or true to God. God does not ask for such nonsense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Shutting down religion altogether would mean closing all the churches, mosques, synagogues and temples, and banning religion. No one is going that far. My preference is a form of secularism meaning all govt employees refrain from showing any religious identity. This means, for example, an elementary school teacher cannot wear a burqa in her classroom. Next. I would say it is unacceptable to have one's face completely covered in public; so I would also be in favour of a burqa and niqab ban, such as in many European, and even in some majority-Muslim, countries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have no idea why this is offensive to anyone. She is an evangelical Christian and would like the entire world to become Christian so they can, by her understanding, ascend to heaven. That is what she means by \"being perfected.\" Ahmadinejad wants Israel to be wiped off the map by nuclear weapons. Most people understand the difference.\n\nI am a raving atheist but I understand that my Christian friends are genuinely concerned for my soul. I don't share that concern at all but I understand that that concern is an act of love and only a fool like Deutsch would be insulted by it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So making Catholics expectedly bitter is sweet to you? You are more bitter than bitter, and will remain in your remains. In the same place as Jesus? No, he ascended.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The fact that it was taken for granted means that 266 popes have been in accord up until the present day. The movement for womens' ordination is about 50 years old compared to the 2000+ years the Church has been in existence.\nFor this reason recent popes have felt it necessary to knock it on the head.\nThe true Catholic Church will never ordain women to the priesthood, you know that because of your dating of the year 3000, you might as well as have said infinity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AT: Just to be clear: Crum didn't state....Crum presented the results of a study by a religious organization. That study showed that 70% of the women in the sample who had abortions \"self-identified\" as Christians. I did not state \"the majority of women who got abortions were Christians\" It would be extremely presumptuous of me to say who is and who is not a Christian. That, in fact, is the whole point of my post. You presume to define who IS and who IS NOT a Christian with the contention that those women who had abortions and self-identified as Christians were, ipso facto, not, in fact, Christians. I can only shake my head in wonderment that someone could assert their right to judge whether another person is a Christian or not. Do you realize the monumental presumptuousness of your position? Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you realize that the Democrats have 57-43 lead over the Republicans in registered Christians? Nearly all Hispanics are Catholics, and nearly all blacks belong to some demomination of the Christian Church, as well as an equal percentage of the whites.\n\nThat's all you have to say about these facts? A \"frowny face?\" Been caught with your pants down, haven't you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, predominantly white christian america is afraid of being invaded and colonized by another race, and/or religion. Welcome to my world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is unhinged. Christian charity deamans we get him the mental health care he needs, take away his twitter account, get him a TV that does not get FoxNews and find him a nice place to retire, say the federal penitentiary at Allenwood, so he can spend more time with his children. We can visit him if we like, as Christ commands in Matthew 25.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was told when I was in Kodiak from 1971 to 1975 that prostitution was legal there up until 1959 (statehood). I recall a married, christian woman giving me the opinion that prostitution had its use in that it took some of the pressure off of non-prostitute women in a town where men were the very larger majority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can't be serious, marytherese!\nAre you a Catholic?\n\nDo you realize that Jesus was a \u2018minority\u2019, a darker skinned Middle Easterner, not a \u2018majority\u2019 white European?\nIf you think racism is right thing to do, and want to keep \u2018white supremacy\u2019, why bother worshipping Christ? Well you are superior to Jesus, since you were born with a white skin. \nYou must be created by 'white' pagan God then since you have 'white' skin different then Jesus's darker skin, right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "See. Why has it? Unless you are a divorced Catholic, it doesn't concern you. Perhaps this is a time to focus on your own failing rather than being a nosy Nellie and focusing on the lives of others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly! The correct response to the abuse of children by clergy is to attack the media for reporting it! Cardinal Law taught us that. And of course,everyone is doing it, so the Church should not be scrutinized until everyone is perfect. Until then, as Jesus said, it's OK to harm children, if others do so as well. I think that is in the Bible...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The pharmacist true to his Catholic conscience doesn't force the woman to commit any act, unless you call it \"forcing her to commit an act\" to go to another pharmacist with little inconvenience. But rather than have that, you WOULD force the Catholic to commit an act: to dispense contraceptives, something gravely contrary to his conscience. Your moral logic is a farce.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Surveys in the U.K. Daily Mail show that no more than 3% of people here identify as homosexual. This might suggest that homosexual priests are likely to be few and far between. However, the vast majority of cases of 'child-abuse' were homosexual encounters (between priests and pubertal and post-pubertal teenage boys). This means that homosexually inclined priests are more likely to abuse children. This is not the same as saying that in general, homosexuals are more likely to be child abusers.\nIt seems to me that for homosexuals, becoming a Catholic priest opens up opportunities to encounter teenage boys or before this scandal, did in the recent past, hardly a calling from God and thus justifying the ban.\nAny priest with homosexual inclinations who has remained celibate and not communicated his sexual preferences to all and sundry need not feel insulted in the slightest. He is to be admired for carrying his cross in silence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm saddened that you've posited a hair-brained notion that I've denied the Trinity. Rubbish.\nThe 2nd Person of the Trinity, Jesus, is our high priest, as St. Paul reminds us in his epistle to the Hebrews.\nThe Catholic priest acts in persona Christi.\nChrist, who rose from the dead, raised others from the dead, healed the sick, walked on water, cured the blind and deaf, went about his Father's business on the Hebrew Sabbath in contravention to the prevailing rules, fed thousands with mere scraps; is the same Christ who ordained only men. Had He desired to ordain women He would have done so. He gave us a different example and tradition and I'm sure He had His reasons, none of which included any sort of patriarchal control or sexism; undoubtedly He was above all that, and had He desired women priests, he would have made it clear to us. He was not bound by then current socio-political restraints.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Your reliance on the old testament is a sure sign of desperation.\"\n\nLOL! Then I guess Jesus was frequently desperate. He frequently quoted the Old Testament, as when he explained his position on divorce. \n\nJesus didn't rely on force, because he knew that he had a mission to fulfill and knew he mustn't obstruct his Father's will. But he did tell the Apostles to arm themselves. Did he mean by this that he wanted them to go out and kill people, as you in a blaze of silliness suggested? Of course not. But he did intend for them to protect themselves. Why else tell them to go get swords?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My first thought was to ask, is \"Cohen\" your real name?\n\nThere is no good \"Catholic perspective\" on the Edgardo Mortara case. It was Pius IX being antisemitic, and kidnapping a Jewish boy on the unsupported word of a Catholic who was employed by the family as a maid.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vast majority of Catholics in the pews? He probably means the majority of Catholics who regularly support abortion, homosexual marriage and euthanasia, or the main readers of NCR. I doubt those are the very same Catholics (~22%) who regularly go to mass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And vice versa though...where are the defenders of the niqab? Why are they not also here, defending the religious right of Catholics to their beliefs?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One important distinction. What any citizen supports or opposes on the issues of either abortion or gay marriage are immaerial to their existence. Neither provision is a matter of legilsation. Electoral politics has no effect on either and to say it does is a fraud. The Supreme Court will never give abortion legilsaion or marriage prohibition back to the states. To do so would essentially bring back Plessy v. Ferguson and its tyranny of the white mob, although in this case it would be the Catholic mob. Not even Catholics have to support that. Indeed, to do so would violate the Magistarium of Vatican II. Dignitatis Humanae.\u201d This declaration was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on December 7, 1965.\u201d The only way out is to have Congress redefine personhood under the 14th Amendment, as I have been saying. Of course, doing so would end the issue and the pro-life movement fraud that one must vote pro-life (Republcan) or be a pro-abort.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...The problem is irresponsible choices.\"\n\nSince you bring up the topic of irresponsible choices, I'd like to point out that the majority of \"white\" American Catholics voted for Donald Trump. May I ask you to indulge my curiosity: Are you one of them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic moral teaching = speculative and wrongheaded (on many levels)\nModernism = germane to EVERY civilization\nSex abuse scandals = privileged, diabolical, clerical culture and mandatory celibacy (i.e., misguided sexuality)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, great we really have our team now! They're right in line with my very extreme devout evangelical views. It's reassuring to know the hate for latinos, Muslims, and transgender people is still alive and well. Now hopefully we can get this abortion thing turned around....and, uhhh what else is important to us? It doesn't matter Trump is very white and likes Jesus more than the Democrats...that's what someone said, right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't like Catholic parishes but love the knights?? Pretty wacky otherwise...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think we too are the people who, on the one hand, want to listen to Jesus, but on the other hand, at times, like to find a stick to beat others with, to condemn others. And Jesus has this message for us: mercy. I think \u2014 and I say it with humility \u2014 that this is the Lord's most powerful message: mercy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\nOf course he does. He's guilty of pastoral malpractice and he 'promulgated' the policy in a cowardly, backdoor maneuver by way of a Vicar General who issued the policy on his own initiative, but consistent with the mind of the bishop.\nBut in a larger sense this pathetic bishop is not really the problem. The problem is this: the evil policy he has enunciated is consistent with canon law, and canon law is consistent with the official teaching of the church. That's not to say that the law and/or the teaching require the bishop to do violence to GLBTQ persons and their families, but they allow him to. I don't think removing the bishop would accomplish much, unless the pope, minimally, enunciates a pastoral policy to guide bishops around the canon law, or better yet, changes the law.\nUltimately, though, we must acknowledge that the teaching and discipline of the church about human sexuality is desperately in need of reform. That's the real and urgent issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Racism exists.\n\nPigmentism exists.\n\nAnti Semnitism exists .\n\nThere is no such thing as Islamophobia...an overwhelming and irrational fear of Islam, a belief system ( I've seen a lot of phobics over the last 50 years, not one case of a phobia related to a religious belief system eg Buddhismphobia , Amishphobia or Christianity phobia).\n\nMuslimphobia, an overwhelming irrational fear of a Muslim would be more logical....but these days, what's so irrational about that?\n\nMiso indicates fear as in misogynist, a hater of women...so Misomuslim or Muslimmisia would indicate a hater of a Muslim.\n\nMisomuslimism certainly exists....many followers of one religion hate the followers of another ( eg Hindus/ Muslims in India).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Going to the margins is what nuns/sisters/women do. Priests live a life of luxury and never have to dirty their hands. They have their needs met by parishioners who do their bidding. The bishop does not want to upset the status quo. I was a parish administrator for ten years and have witnessed this first hand.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I judge behavior. If I could be a deacon per our laws but black men couldn't because instead of being sexist our church was racist, and I sought out ordination to the deaconate even though it is racist - what kind of person am I? \n\nEvil shows itself forward from inside a person through how they are willing to treat or ignore other people when they could be a voice to help them. We are called to stand up as Christians for equal justice, equal and same treatment, including equal ordination criteria, as a matter of upholding equal and same human dignity, despite what it may cost us for doing so. When we are not willing to do that because we want what we want more than we care about others then we show ourselves not fit for any leadership role in the church. \n\nAll the evidence is clear. Originally, the bishops were considering ordaining women deacons when they started ordaining male permanent deacons. None of the male deacons spoke up for their wives or their sisters so we have none.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: Sexual harassment:\nWhen a segment of society is excluded and diminished in a public way, it is existentially inevitable that they will be harassed and abused. There is no need to repeat the vivid examples, current and historical. The Roman Catholic Church culture and teaching is not alone, or solely responsible for these conditions with regard to women. It has been and still is a significant factor in creating, sustaining and maybe worse, rationalizing these conditions from Genesis through Augustine, Tertullian up to and including Popes Benedict XVI and yes, Francis I. The subservient role of women, the hate/fear and its root in their biological structure, labeled as an intrinsic \"perversity\", because of its impact upon libidenous men has justified institutional exclusion and diminution and reinforced the socio/cultural environment of misogyny. \nOur church has a moral and intrinsic obligation in truth to acknowledge, repent, reform it words and alter its actions. Jesus calls.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"After all, the Catholic Church officially regards health care as a human right alongside food, housing, work, education and transportation. Pope Francis has voiced this sentiment, especially as it affects the poor. \u201cHealth is not a consumer good but a universal right, so access to health services cannot be a privilege,\u201d he said just recently in May when meeting with Doctors from Africa.\"\n\nThe bishops backed the clown in the Oval Office even though he spends much of the time golfing and denying reality. They want this oaf in the hope he would do their bidding. Trump's only concern is lining his pockets, passing out jobs to his equally unqualified cronies, and harassing the pretty wives of foreign heads of state. The bishops got the president they want and deserve.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are these the modern day Pharisees and Sadducees that Jesus so often condemned?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In order to understand the term \"islamophobia\" we must also understand Islam's own misogyny, homophobia, hatred of Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Europe, America, democracy, dogs, free speech, human rights and everything else not permitted (haram) by Islam.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not the same thing at all. You are dealing here with commercial entities trying to protect what they view as intellectual property they created. Disney is not taking a stand to defend from appropriation all of western culture, just that darned black rat. The French government or its commercial agents do not stop you from using the \"method champagnoise\" to make bubbly wine. (or the shape of the bottles or the colour of the labels). As a commercial and sourcing matter they ask you not call it champagne. (The folks who own and run the \"Olympic movement\" are vile and corrupt - feel free to have at them). You would do better here to compare the collective defense of a particular set of views about shared symbols (the Bible, the cross, etc...) to the Catholic church's (far more violent of course) reaction to the Reformation. Remember that the Catholic church lost. (And yes that is not a perfect case for comparison, but no worse than yours).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Roman Catholic church is about Unity in Diversity. Protestants, Adventists included, don't have a central human authority to arbitrate disagreements. We have to arbitrate them ourselves. The GC can't do that, neither can the Unions. It isn't like you settle anything if you get your way. Monte's argument is exhibit \"A\". \n\nWe will have to persuade each other if we are to remain united. Or we have to separate. You all think the change in theology and doctrine concerning WO is biblical. I do not. Fine persuade me . I listen respectfully to sound arguments. \n\nThe problem is the pro-WO believers largely think Equality is a biblical doctrine. For them, equality is a component of righteousness itself. It is very difficult to persuade someone their basic premise is false.\n\n I think the story of bible is, start to finish, a story about inequality. It is a story about God choosing whom He will choose. The inequality between men and women is part of my basic premise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you believe that about secularists (whoever the heck they are) because you define \"diversity\" as including (or even celebrating) those who would discriminate against others based on some quality. For example, when we are commenting on the cake bakers and the gay couple, you (or your identity at the time) wrote that you would be fine with a shop keeper discriminating against Christians or gays or Jews or blacks or whoever because, you know, freedom and honoring diversity. \n\nOne can honor diversity but still push back against bigots.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you still upset that a majority of Catholics voted for Trump?\nIt's time for you to get over it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for your courteous response. Generally speaking it is a speculative answer. We have had one miscarriage at 16 weeks, one relatively easy pregnancy for our first child, and a slightly more complicated one with our second child although there was never an alarming possibility of death for my wife or child. And yes my wife and I are blessed with a complete agreement on these matters having received our formation in the same places. Obviously not all couples are in the same situation. \n\nCertainly the call to continence is not one which is heard very frequently in the current age. I would say that from all sides of the debate about such matters in the Church, even the \"conservative\" position, continence is rarely mentioned for fear of communicating that the Church thinks sex is dirty or strictly useful for procreation. It is a shame as continence in marriage has strong precedent in the lives of Catholic couples throughout history. \n\nOf course, the Holy Family is always before us...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm really really worried about some people here. There are dangers in hyperventilating. \n\nHyperventilating Catholics can't do good apostolate; it's disruptive. \n\nIt's not calm.\n\nIt doesn't attract in the right way. I mean every day when I glance at these aureate-colored pages, I want to go grab a bucket and throw cool water on the editorial \"hair\" that's on fire all the time.\n\n\"Perpetual outrage\" is not befitting saints. \n\nOh..don't get me wrong..it's probably good for your weekly click count....but it's not good for the Kingdom of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Try comparing likes with likes. The Christian equivalent of Mohamed is Jesus of Nazareth. Show me where Jesus exhorted believers to hunt down and destroy infidels. Show me. Waiting......\n\nFor that matter, why don't you show us where Buddha or Krishna did likewise. Go ahead.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your comment is based on a silly and incorrect premise--that Vat II was somehow about the 70s and that we who think it got the Church moving in the right direction are looking backwards. We are, but not to the 70s. The whole point of the liturgical reform of Vat II was that it was going back to our roots, that is, remaking the Church back to its original intent as it was in the early Church. If you don't see that, you misunderstand what the VatII liturgical reform was about.\nSomewhere along the way, certainly before Trent, but amply illustrated by the worship style that Trent epitomizes, the Church lost its proper focus on the Eucharist as sacrifice AND meal and on Jesus present in the worshipping community. Instead it got stuck on rubrics, elevating the priesthood to some sort of special class, a dead language, and worship of the wafer. In that way, the so-called \"new Mass\", now nearly fifty years old, is back to the way the early Christians meant it to be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have come to believe the pro life movement is just a pro fetus movement. Most of them believe in the death penalty when it should be common knowledge that we have never been able to provide equal protection under the law in this country for all citizens. Hundreds of innocent people have been found on death row over the last 20 years. Virtually all the red states have the death penalty. They don't mind killing people once they can breath on their own. Of course, this country was built on killing people for profit. Just ask an Indian. That is still going on. Those good Christians don't seem to have a problem with that. Pollution kills. It kills mostly poor people that can't get out of the way. Flint comes to mind. Those Trump voting white Christians are silent on that. Of course, they don't support paying taxes for proper safety nets for poor children and their families. So what happens to them is God's will? Sunday morning is the most segregated time of the week and they like it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nonsense. You have no idea of Jesus' teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So far Mexico has not been invaded by militant Islam.. When 2-4 million Muslims drop in, (it will happen) what will Mr Fox do with the new comers who piss on Mexico's Hispanic / Aztec, Catholic history culture and society?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anti-Semitism is a sin. Racism is a sin. The heart of the \"ism\" is \"I, self, me\". It is ego-centric and ego is another way of saying \"easing God out\". \nI am always so embarrassed by \"catholics\" engaging in such behavior. What rank ignorance of the Gospels. What a sad state of affairs when priests, supposed men of God, standing in for Christ (?) act out this ancient calumny. \nWhen Christ was asked what is the greatest commandment he answered \"Love God above all others and love your neighbor as you love yourself.\" \nWhen asked who is my neighbor? He responded with the parable of The Good Samaritan. The meaning of course is that everyone is your neighbor. Christ did not say except for that fat guy, or that weird girl or the L,G,B,T or those perfidious Jews; which of course would have excluded all of his friends and family, including his Blessed Mother.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Far, far more laypeople, including Catholics, have molested children than clerics have, but we tend to focus only on the clergy.\"\n\nThat is because the motive is to politicize the Catholic Church into adapting to the fads of the left, and has nothing to do with concern for molested children. Not one bit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm all for separation of church and state first off, get that out of the way.\n\nThe issue of LDS really being Christian is a different thing entirely. The other denominations you mentioned have differences in doctrine, sometimes major, but have a common thread in some interpretation of the same bible. \n\nWhile the Mormons claim the bible, their true doctrine is in the book of Mormon and in on going revelations from their prophets. \n\nThey use the word Christian, but the God they worship is a man become god. Their goal is to become a god in the same way they say he did. Ultimately each \"saint\" hopes to have his own planet surrounded by his wives and progeny. \n\nInstead of being a different interpretation of the bible, the book or Mormon states that you are a fool to believe that all you need is the bible. \n\nGrabbing a bible, naming your group \"christian\", then creating your own doctrine doesn't make you christian. No matter what underwear you wear or how polite your kids are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Gay Marriage\" is the great Heresy of our Age \u2014 a debate raging in the UMC, Episcopal/Anglican Churches, the Roman Catholic Church et al. \u2014 we faithful must have a DEEP understanding of all the issues involved: same-sex attractions, the LGBTQ political agenda, transgender ideology, and the anthropology of the family. A brilliant talk on Homosexuality is made by the Rev. Paul Scalia (Antonin\u2019s son) of the RC Diocese of Arlington \u2014 I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this video -- it adds depth via logic & reason. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUXqgpbua9k", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"White Males\" specifically GOP \"White Males\" gave women the right to vote, feed the slaves, and passed the amendment so they could do the same.\n\nDemocrats blocked, kicked, screamed, and fought every inch along the way: Hillary kissed and endorsed as her \"mentor\" one of those individuals not too long ago.\n\nSusan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King, and other prominent civil rights leaders were and are pro-life, Christian, and GOP: sorry to burst your bubble, Marcus, but your version of history is a dog that \"just don't hunt!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"spiritually dead people\"--that's pretty pathetic AlwaysThere--claiming others have no spirituality, do not accept truth, have no innocence, blah, blah, blah, etc. Your claims regarding the spiritual choices of other people are bogus. Your espousal of Christianity does not make you superior either to non-believers or to other kinds of Christians, Muslims, Hindus or people of any other faith. You are not like little children because children are not naturally religious--that's something that has to be drummed into people, usually using fear. Your claim to \"chosen\" status is the same claim people of other faiths make but obviously cannot prove. \nFor there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.\nEcclesiastes 7:20", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Face it motleycrew, the US has its own Taliban, they're just white Christian \"tribalists\" as some have pointed out. They voted for a strongman who encourages and condones men grabbing women's genitalia against their consent, who brands designated\"others\" and instigates violence against them and who is personally corrupt just like the leadership of these other extremist groups who have the backing of certain disreputable governments. The US has its own crazy extremists it's just that instead of going to the mosque and being radicalized, they attend church on Sundays and live in places such as Clay, West Virginia or in the north woods of Idaho-- America's versions of Waziristan.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Canadian branches of of those churches are NOT participating in the reconciliation process. Nice job of the catholic church in getting their people to spread more of their BS across our glorious nation. Pay your share of the financial settlement or shut the FU.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are a number of icon in our Catholic house. Along with the Lady of Kazan & the Black Madonna, there is my favorite, the Holy Trinity, by Andrie Rublev \n\nhttp://www.tretyakovgallery.ru/en/collection/_show/image/_id/70", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, much ado about nothing. I consider this article just more anti-Church attacks. It's not like these priests were doing something truly heinous, like mistreating and starving children, then dumping their corpses into a septic tank. That sort of hing would make one question the moral authority of the institution, but not a few errant priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Conservative Christians are making the biggest noise. Businesses owned by Orthodox Jews seem to serve whomever comes through the door.\nIf you serve any straight couple who comes in, you have to treat gay couples the same way.\nShould people opposed to serving inter-racial or inter-religious couples because of their religious beliefs be forced to sacrifice their faith-based principles to serve them?\nThere is a solution:\nAbolish all non-discrimination laws for private businesses. Every business is free to serve or not serve whomever they please. No exceptions.\nBut some people don't like that idea. They like civil rights laws, overall. They just want the religious freedom to discriminate against gay people -- and no one else. Because gay people are immoral.\nOther people are immoral as well. However, if a straight couple walks in the door, the morally uptight don't know how that couple is immoral. But, to the homophobes, two men or two women visibly display their immorality upfront.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're a regular Christian martyr.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This administration has made it almost impossible for Syrian and Iraqi Christians to come to this country. Syrian Muslims are welcome but not Syrian and Iraqi Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Demon possession? You are posting on a site that caters to liberal Catholics. I am anxiously awaiting Civil Comments to add the blocked comments feature. Demons, for God's sake! Your comments would be more seriously considered on Fr. Zed's site. Talk about narcissistic looneytoons. I cannot take your comments seriously.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did Jesus choose St. Paul as His Apostle or not?\n\nYou have a problem with the canon of the New Testament, which even Protestants accept.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right. It would seem that to see the recognition of division of opinion within the Church along with the need to catch-up with reality and contemporary thinking as anti-catholic is akin to bigotry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And so the first Trump inspired terror murders happened within a week of his inauguration. In Canada of all places. \n\nTrump will brush it aside as a minor incident done by a obviously deranged Christian. Will Canada? \n\nNot reported is the actual first Trump authorized military murders in Yemen. And you don't even know the U.S. have ground force in Yemen doing firefights, without authorization by Yemen government. You know, that country Trump just banned. \n\nI call for Canada to cancel all, ALL, military cooperation and agreements with the U.S. Are we brave enough?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You seem to be confusing the issue with your Hobby Lobby example. Hobby Lobby not selling ghosts and goblins is not the same as a cake artist who sells wedding cakes to straight couples, but not to gay couples. What if he refused to sell wedding cakes to black couples? Or mormon couples? Or catholics? Hobby Lobby isn't selling ghosts to *anyone* and so they aren't discriminating. \n\nThis guy sells wedding cakes. He should sell wedding cakes to anyone and everyone who walks into his store. That's it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You better watch out, you better not cry, Vatican Curia! This Pope wants to get things done that actually HELP people! You could be replaced by community organizers, stoop laborers and the jobless!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Amen brother - Equal ordination and access to all sacraments without restriction is a human dignity issue and human justice issue and not the culture issue our church pretends it is. Deacons won't cut it-we need to start ordaining women priests & not ordain married men until we are ordaining women priests. \n\nProgress cannot include Gender Segregation.\n\nMary Magdalene is a Catholic Wonder Woman in that she is the Apostle to the Apostles - now officially even. She also preached the Gospel just like the other apostles did which is why there are 2 Gospels of Mary - These were not written by her but by the people who learned about Christ from her-just like the other Gospels. \n\nOur church has treated women horribly after the first hundred or so years after Christ & things got very bad after Constantine chose to take over the Church. This resulted in a sexist church, run by men, and the destruction of any documents, poss. scriptures & Gospels that put women on the same level as men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Insightful, finally...I used to respond to such badly formed Catholics by", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Non sequitur? Not in the least. You asserted a criterion (\"attacking virtually every Christian value\u2026\u201d) for excluding a presidential candidate from the Al Smith Dinner. My question stands on its own; it does not relate to Clinton.\n\n\nDonald Trump is a vulgar boor who has built his presidential campaign on xenophobia, racism, misogyny and nativism. He ridicules women, mocks the disabled and attacks racial, ethnic and religious minorities. He's pretty much the textbook definition of a fascist. He\u2019s a serial adulterer and accused rapist and molester. The question is: Using your criterion, does he get invited to the dinner?\n\n\nNot for nothing, but: Her pro-choice voting record and policies notwithstanding, Clinton has done more to reduce the number and the rate of abortions in this country that Trump ever has or ever will.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh dear, what has happened here? Pope Francis, the darling of the progressive and liberal catholics is taking a hammering from them on this site. I am astonished at such disloyalty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bishop stated: \"Although the official Democratic Party Platform vigorously pledges to \u201cstand up\u201d for Planned Parenthood, fund abortion nationwide and around the world, vows to \u201coverturn\u201d state and federal restrictions on abortion, proposes cracking down on pro-life sidewalk counselors, and affirms abortion as a \u201ccore\u201d right...\" \n\nSince the above is indeed a part of the official platform of the Democratic Party. And since Hillary supports this platform, no Catholic can vote for Hillary. To do so is to cooperate with evil. \n\n It is that simple. And since voting is a willful, reasoned and premeditated act, which includes the opportunity of Catholic voters to become fully informed on the subject, there can be no claim of \"invincible ignorance\" to mitigate against personal culpability. \n\nTo vote for Hillary is a sinful act. To encourage others to vote for Hillary is a sinful act. May God have mercy on your soul!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Speaking of \"Fake News,\" forget Fox and CNN. The fake news that really impacts the Catholic church comes from the growing cottage industry of highly paid professional Catholic Steubenville media pundits. \n\nWhen the truth gets in the way of the church's reputation, these apologists simply cannot and will not tell the truth. Examples of this are legion.\n\nJust this morning, a 20 minute segment on Catholic radio about the history of the church's sex abuse scandal. The apologist began with the howler that \"the Catholic church doesn't protect priests from law enforcement.\" Never mind the hundreds of revealed cases where that was precisely what the church did.\n\nAnd just yesterday, on another Catholic media site, a noted blogger was strongly declaring that abortion causes cancer, and there is a secular conspiracy to keep this from the public.\n\nAnd a radio priest warning that American Catholics will likely soon be murdered, as in Mexico's past.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Republican Party, supposedly, is a Christian supporting Party. How does it criticize a woman who remains married (you do understand \"for better or for worse?\", I hope) and loyal to her husband---- as opposed to a serial liar, multiple-married cheater? \nWe are not electing Bill C, though his approval ratings are higher than Reagan's. \nWhere was the outrage about Hillary's comments before yesterday? It is all posturing. How could you and Trump supporters remain behind him if you really cared about women? Sorry, but timing is all. For the past year, his attacks on women, all Muslims, American servicemen, Latinos, and others has been just fine with you. \nSaying nasty things about women who attack one's spouse hardly equates with sexually assaulting women, as Trump admitted to doing. \nIt takes a very strange person to overlook a lifetime of action. Hillary: helping her fellow Americans her whole life. Trump? Helping himself for his entire life thanks to a rich Daddy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well a yeah... a lot of people don't trust Catholic Priests/Monks; especially those who were once \"young boys\" under their so called religious guidance. Not saying that they are all like that; this guy might be legit but that whole history of Catholic Priests casts a long, dark shadow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes! This is the crucial point. \n\nThe concept of Tradition is central to Catholicism, IMHO, but it is an utter abuse of the concept to argue that what we did in the past is the sole norm for what we can do in the future. The fact is that Tradition is inherently evolutionary...it has always changed. Indeed the powerful insistence on Tradition + Scripture (vs Sola Scriptura) at and after Trent was precisely to justify theology and practices NOT directly evident in scripture. Ergo, beyond scripture, there is change.\n\nSo, in scripture we have Jesus violating the conventions of his time in relationship to women, and although this may have continued in the very earliest Church, rapidly the shared Hebrew, Greek, and Roman culture of male leadership settled in as the natural way the universe is designed.\n\nGod know it took us a long time to grasp male/female equivalence, but we are there now. The Spirit's pull is clear; resistance is ULTIMATELY futile. Until then, chauvinism and pain reign.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am sorry your experiences with your church is being disrupted.\nWe will never forget the Catholic Church supported Trump.\nIt will be a black mark for them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...as long as those \"Catholic values\" don't include assistance such as Medicaid, SNAP, health care and social programs designed to assist the mentally ill, disabled, those with overwhelming college loan debt, and others who simply don't have the wherewithal to live with dignity in America. Trump does seem to fit rather well with those bishops who value church funds over compensation for child sexual abuse victims, those who participate in high-level Republican organizations, those who have lied and maneuvered their way through the law if it suits their advantage, and those who seek adulation instead of Gospel values. \n\nGiven all that, it's not much of a stretch from one group to a misogynistic egomaniac.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is NO case for killing a human child in the mother's womb. To say there is a Christian Case for Reproductive Justice (permitting a mother to order the execution of her unborn child) is an oxymoron.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Nonetheless, it is going to reasonably seem to many readers that this truly valuable work could probably be done by an organization that DOESN'T kill millions of defenseless babies every year.\"\nHere is where you accused PP of murder.\n\"Moderators - a gentle reminder. Likening my perfectly civil comments to those of a terrorist is not, in fact, civil. Comments like Raz Lemmons' should not be approved.\"\nHere is where you tried to shut down opposing views.\nYou are a hypocrite because you claim to be a Christian and care about human life yet support the destruction of the largest single women's healthcare provider in the country to serve your personal beliefs (Largest single provider. Yes I am aware the entire healthcare system if taken in aggregate provides more services. The point you think is so clever above is irrelevant and disingenuous).\nDo you need me to quote any more of your own comments back to you or are we done?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but this is not why Evangelicals voted for Trump. Hillary's policies did not line up with Evangelicalism in the slightest, which is why she did not receive the Evangelical vote. Democrats made it extremely evident that they were trying to make Evangelical beliefs seem backwards, bigoted, and sexist, and yet they were surprised that Evangelicals didn't show up in droves to vote for Hillary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, the typical blah, blah, blah about Mary not being an apostle. Do you traditionalists ever tire of the same old meaningless arguments. \n\nChrist NEVER taught \"women cannot be ordained\". That teaching is solely from men who believed that women are inferior -- they still believe it, but they pretend they don't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Archbishop Fisher appears to think we have only just come to the realization \"as Catholics we hang our heads in shame\". \nMaybe so for the Johnny come lately's, the rest of us have been doing so since the founder of BrokenRites became the public voice since the early 1990's and not only for the abuse of children but vulnerable adults, male and female.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you\u2019re confusing foolishness with sarcasm. Yes, I recall the Missal. Have you not considered that any mode of worship that requires a translation may not be ideal? If the vernacular was good enough for Jesus at the Last Supper, it\u2019s good enough for me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marriage was a contract between families to consolidate land, slaves, and forces, and had nothing to do with God until the church of the day wanted a piece of the wealth. You sound like the bishop that wants his pieces of silver before he gives a blessing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gary - as a self professed secularist, who are you to speak on behalf of \"Christians\"??? Americans voted for Trump based on his campaign rhetoric and it remains to be seen if he will deliver.\n\nWait til this story unfolds ..... Breaking: \u2018Complete Panic\u2019 at Highest Levels of (garycrum's) DNC Over Kim DotCom\u2019s Seth Rich Announcement", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alas, why are you such an angry man?\nThose for whom I performed Schabbes Goy never accused me of bigotry, they gave us boxes of matzos which I love in return and Christmas and Easter presents. \nWhat gives you the right to accuse me of bigotry when they didn't? I would also have you know that my wife, not a Christian, regularly lunches with several Jewish friends from her school days with whom I am also acquainted and very friendly.\nDespite this you call me anti-Semitic. Answer the question, does it sound like I am anti-Semitic?\nYou need to get a grip.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Brilliant and great find EG; well done! Unfortunately I suspect, the lessons of history are lost on the ignorant, racist, xenophobic deplorables who often visit this site to espouse their hatred of anyone who is not white and Christian, as well as any fellow American who doesn't share their myopic world view. Such folks in our country have hijacked the Bible and the true teachings of Jesus (eg. \"love thy neighbor as thyself\") much as radical Islamic terrorists have hijacked the holy book and teachings of Islam.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then the powers-that-be should let remarried Catholics receive communion, perform funerals for LGBT people who married their partners, open the Church to women as humans capable of leadership, and get off it about sex and contraceptives. There are a few other things that could make a difference - one is accountability of bishops to the Pope and to the faithful in the diocese. Another would be true synodality that includes the faithful in the management and oversight of parishes and in discussions about the development of doctrine. \n\nThe hierarchical/patriarchal church is full of those who consider themselves \"elite\" and they run the church out of the elitism they claim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So very true. Interesting how the religious tracts can be interpreted in a multitude of ways. Give that The Christ associated with Mary of Magdala for many years was He \"thereby tacitly approving of\" prostitution?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You absolute vacuous, toffee-nosed, malodorous pervert! Subtly, humility and unity? Coupled with an appeal to the Church's intellectual tradition? Irony meters the world over exploded seeing those words come from this, this Cloaca Maxima of the American \"Catholic\" press. The total inability of the left to see its reflection in its own mirror never ceases to amaze me. I have almost no use for CM but the fact that MSW and the Reporter have focused their sites on them suggests CM may be a voice worth hearing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Muslim teacher, does this mean I can now discriminate against my Christian students? Sweet. Damn infidels. My religious beliefs come before any job I have. I need special protection to discriminate against those who do not believe as I do!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "O, the great Sharia terror! Figure it out: some Orthodox Jews and some Christians use their traditional values in arbitration regarding family issues; why shouldn't Muslims? The typical response is that Sharia will allow men to beat their wives and stone their daughters...which is completely misinformed, paranoid rubbish. (Sharia has some awful elements, but also includes obligations about giving alms to the poor and protecting widows and orphans.) Nothing that violates Canadian law or the Charter would ever be allowed. This horror of Sharia just doesn't fly in this context.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Saul: this is a real problem. Last summer I grew a greenhouse full of the stuff (as did many of my neighbors) right out by the main road with the doors open for ventilation. Passers by could see right into the greenhouse. This really upset the Christian rednecks who reported me to the police who just ignored these busybodies. \n\nI live in the unorganized borough. The legislature is full of a bunch of creeps, such that they seem to have made our practices tenuous, much to the delight of the Christians who advocate the continuation of state sponsored violence. Seems that the Thou Shall Not kill means unless they want to. Cretins!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How many times do you have to hear, the redundant term; \"radical Islam terrorism\"?\nWhat difference does it make, what you call it? We have radical Christians, we have good Christians. We have radical Muslims and we have radical Muslims. Feel better now?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As a practicing Muslim, I can confirm that is complete nonsense. The dispute is about our weekly Mass, which happens to be held on Fridays; Jews have theirs on Saturday and Christians on Sunday. \n\nOur weekly Mass cannot be rescheduled for any other time of the day. It never has, it never will. Even non-practicing, agnostic Muslims know this. So please take your ignorant assertions elsewhere.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Let's call out Trump for what the latest video truly showed him to be, a sexual predator. It's hard to believe that any Christian, especially Catholics with the terrible legacy of scandals caused by sexual predators in the priesthood, could still consider Trump worthy of the title of leader of the free world.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "After years of talk without meaningful action, who can possibly continue to pay attention to church hierarchs, including Pope Francis and Cardinal O'Malley, when they seek to assure us how serious they are about fighting clergy sexual abuse and about how much they care about victims of this abuse. Let them actually do something about the problem and let them start by removing present bishops who were guilty of playing musical chairs with clergy sexual predators. Until that happens, I'm not interested in their hypocritical assurances.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We agree then. Although Trump says he is a Christian -he is far from it - just another lie from the bully.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yawn,\n\nYet another specious attempt at moral equivalency between Christianity and the other religion not to mention the members of the Catholic clergy and the general Muslim population.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "regurgitating the same crap, gary. the fact remains this has yet to go before the supreme court. the fact remains, and why you keep running from it, the law is not being enforced equally, Christians are being singled out, a bigoted double standard, and one you have gone on record condoning when it comes to liberal bigots; predictably claiming their is a deluded difference.\n Furthermore, you now change the subject running from the fact you posted a bigoted statement mirroring the racists you condemn. You made a slur on all Christians, and slung it exactly like racists who use the N word.\n What you are failing to understand, either willingly ignorant, or intellectually bankrupt is the fact, ordering a custom cake from a Christian baker for a homosexual event is the equivalent of ordering a Muslim caterer to barbecue pork. This isn't an issue of discrimination, it's an issue of asking them to sin against their god, and in an obnoxious in your face manner.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Heading to bed shortly so I will award my poster of the day on what has been a very uplifting day to be a Catholic. The honour goes to R and R for his timely reminder from the words of Jesus that when we \"mean 'yes' we must say 'yes' and when we mean 'no' we must say 'no'. Anything else comes from the evil one.\"\n\nWith absolutely no demonstrable self awareness he then goes on to post Burke's five questions in full, so verbose that he needed three full posts to post them up. \n\nI think Burke is stupid, arrogant and supercilious, but evil? Even I wouldn't go that far.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Republican/Trump purges continue. First, purging voter rolls of those unworthy black, hispanic, democrats, non-christians to rig the entire election process. Next, Trump's election and Congress Republican control to prevent any government functions at all. Next. fail to fill all of the vacancies for the positions necessary to actually operate the government. Next. Purge all scientists from all departments to be left empty to accomplish the same thing. Time for a Revolution.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am a fan of Michael Voris though he would not return the compliment. I am a former Catholic, now a Bible believing Christian. And I respect Voris even though he is very deceived by Rome. But unlike the writer of this diatribe, he is faithful in his defense of the Catholic Catechism. He interprets church doctrine down to the letter of the law and abhors all you hypocrites who play fast and loose with RCC dogma. He is more admiral for his heroic efforts in confronting you fake Catholics. Both sides in this dispute are wrong, but Voris is at least being honest and no respecter of persons, while his Catholic critics are a bunch of cowards that don't believe your own teachings. I laugh at your pain. You have it coming.\nChat Conversation End", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Islamic fundamentalists assassinated innocent Christian's and others in Europe; see Charlie Hebdo.\n\nA Christian fundamentalist assassinated innocent Muslim's at a mosque in Quebec. \n\nOne murder is one too many. Protectionist policies are good for now.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Petrows ..................the shooter was just as white and just as christian as Trump.\n..............Was the gun Russian ?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Typical hypocritical Christian organization. They don't pay into society for some unknown reasons. They are a business yet pay no taxes. They live above the laws and skirt them to achieve selfish gains all in the name of imagination. \n\nGlad their true colors are exposed, not that it will do anything or open peoples eyes to reality.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "AGREED! \nalso a very dangerous move for both our nation and the world. \nFundamentalist evangelicals as well as fundamentalist Catholics are a very dangerous and even deadly bunch. \n\nWhy? \nThey do NOT know when to stop. Please recall the Vatican (Pius XI and XII) alliance with Hitler and the Nazis. A great many people died or were severely damaged due to that alliance which made it easier for Hitler to wage WWII. \nIt takes a family three generations to recover from such a devastating and/or deadly event. That is why I call the Pro-life and Family Values movement a Pro-death and Family Destruction happening.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Brain washing children with religion should be illegal. At the very lease the state and church(es) should be separated. I do not want to fund religion with my taxes.\n_\nIt is huge lie. What they are saying is if you are raised a Christian/Muslim/Jew then they will be holy, they will be spiritual. They tell child that you do not need to do any work on yourself. You don't need to explore your real self, your inner conscious.\n_\nThis is the lie. Following a bunch of rules does not make you spiritual. It is convenient because Jesus/Moses/Mohamad are all dead. There is no one to tell them to do the inner work. It is huge scam that create narasists people, what we have now in Canada an excess of.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You obviously don't know much about being a Christian. Just because I am a Christian does not mean I am to sit down and shut up. I am allowed to speak of my God. I did not boast of knowledge, or worldly actions, I did not try to call anyone out and claim they were boasting or needed scripture discernment..\nAs for your quote from 1 Corinthians 3: 21 \nboast in men. Cf. v. 4; 1: 12. Paul, Apollos, and all others receive no credit for the building of the church. all things are yours. All believers share equally in God\u2019s most important and valuable provisions and glories; human boasting, therefore, is ludicrous as well as sinful.\" \nYou see, I did not boast, I did not claim I did anything or changed the election by my power, that my friend would be stupid and boastful. I simply stated that we Christians prayed, that our God has the power to fulfill His will. \n \nI am allowed to claim my God hears and answers prayers, because my God has said it is so.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "But don't forget, this is the same woman who stumped for \"baarbaric cultural practices hotline\" so one wonders if she's just learned to couch the message in nicer terms. And then, what do we do about Canadians like my brother-in-law? He's a \"born again in the holy spirit\" Christian, and isn't tolerant of other religions -- he declares they are \"deceptions of The Enemy\", and that their practitioners will all burn in Hell. He's pretty damn misogynistic, and positively chews the scenery if anyone mentions \"other\" sexual orientations. He'd flunk such a test. Perhaps we shouldn't allow born again Christians from other countries to immigrate to Canada? Clearly, this is just dog whistle stuff. \nPublic schools, by the way, don't \"indoctrinate\" kids. You'll find all kinds of opinions and people in them. That's why my brother in law homeschooled his nine brats.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Slandering Christians is not only ok, is bonton.\n\nYou are encouraged to associate (clergy) child rapists with Christianity, but associating innocents murdering jihadists with Islam will be hate speech in not a distant future.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims and liberals excoriate us about Islamophobia, but we should bear in mind Islam's entrenched racism, xenophobia, intolerance, homophobia, misogyny, anti-Semitism, hatred of Christianity, Europe and America, destructive iconoclasm, and even Islamophobia against each other. Ancient tribal wars between Kurds, Shiite, Sunni, Wahhabi, Druze and other Islamic sects, ISIS , Taliban and Al Quada are the root causes of most of the wars and social chaos happening around the world today. It is worse than anything expressed in the west, even by Trump \n\nWe would all be better off if we learn the word \"Taqiyya \" and how to recognize it when used on us.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not calling you any names. When Burke told grandparents to shun their homosexual children lest the grandchildren not come to hate and fear gays, you supported him. When Paprocki excommunicated married gays, you supported him. No, as I said, your support for homophobia is well established.\n\nYou support the \"teachings of the Church\", which in your understanding include \"you shall reject gays, for they are manifestly sinners\". In other words, you want to believe that homophobia is a Church teaching.\n\nI simply state the facts about you. You don't having these facts stated. Too bad. I care more about the truth than I do about the feelings of a homophobe, especially when that homophobe supports her views by perverting Christ's message.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Feminists have embraced Islam? That's as silly as claiming that feminists have embraced Christianity or other patriarchical religions.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "1965 was the year LBJ signed the voting Rights Act. Too bad white Catholics voted for the most blatantly racist presidential candidate since George Wallace.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Youtube\u2026.LOL\u2026.that's funny. The people I fear the most on this planet, and those who have committed the most heinous crimes against humanity are\u2026..white Christians. You need professional help.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I guess you missed the Pastor burning Obama in effigy, or the non-stop birther garbage, or even the \"he isn't a real American or Christian\", or whatever other crap they felt might stick that day. As for kids, they spent a ton of time musing about whether or not the kids were his, so, yeah, unfortunately, the Rs really did a ton of this crap.\n\nI absolutely agree that kids should be completely off limits, as I said in an earlier comment on this article.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic bishops wanted Trump. SO now they have him. And yet, they want us to support and just go quietly along with him and them. \nSo sorry, but no thanks!!! \nI will take a wait to be proved wrong. So far I'm NOT wrong. \nThese bishops wanted Dubya Bush and got him. So once again we see just how far the bishops are WRONG, from Reagan to Bush to Trump. The death and destruction Bush and the bishops have waged on America and most of the ME and much of the rest of the world is totally EVIL. \nThis evil is hanging around their necks, just like their pedophiles and the popes and bishops who protect them.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I can't wait until the 555-foot Washington Monument is toppled, brick by brick, because Washington was a racist slave owner. I can't wait until the Jefferson Memorial is bulldozed over, because Jefferson was a racist slave owner. I can't wait for MLK's statue to be destroyed because he was a racist who only advocated for blacks. I can't wait until all references to Jesus are removed because some people don't agree with Christianity. So I guess we see where this destruction is going?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Skin Heads, Neo Nazis, White Supremacists, Christian Identity, and all the other racist groups are Trump Trash, and the infantry and ground troops for Bible Thumpers, Evangelicals, Catholics, etc., who do not denounce racism. Trump resisted denouncing these groups because they supported him, campaigned for him, and voted for him. So I say to all the so called \"Christians\" who still support Trump; your brothers and sisters are Neo Nazis, Skin Heads, KKK, and other White Power racist groups. Just what GOD is it you said you worshipped?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe you can give me a history lesson. Certainly they weren't angels and, as is the case of Jefferson, some probably didn't go out of their way to promote abolishment of slavery. But am I imagining things when I say that they put in place a system of governance and rule of law for freedom and equality that ultimately led to abolition of slavery? Isn't that what we are celebrating with memorials of them? What are we celebrating with a memorial of Lee? Killing blacks and fellow whites to sustain slavery and white rule? Don't you think there's some difference there? Now if we follow your train of thought, why are there so many memorials and monuments to Christian faith? Isn't that religion responsible for more horrendous deaths and horrific acts than any other?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What percentage of native americans on reservations are practicing Catholics who follow at least the 5 precepts of the Church?\n\nSee, it helps to work with \"criteria\"....these help sort out emotionally generated writing...basically slicing apart silly retorts.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The church presents celibacy as a charism, a gift, given to certain members of the believing community as a witness oriented to the kingdom of God in which women and men will neither marry nor be given in marriage. \nThe Sacrament of Orders celebrates and confirms the call of certain members of the community to celebrate the sacraments of the church with and for their sisters and brothers.\nThere is no logical or necessary connection between the two. A person gifted with the charism of celibacy may or may not be called to Orders; a person called to Orders may or may not also be entrusted with the charism of celibacy.\nThe discipline that links the two -- that requires celibacy as a condition for orders -- artificially shrinks the pool of candidates for orders, and it disfigures the charism of celibacy. \"Mandatory celibacy\" is an oxymoron, if celibacy is understood as a charism.\nEnforcing celibacy on a widowed deacon is simply, incredibly stupid. The bishop ought to be ashamed.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"\"\"\"\"The people of Scotland should have the right to choose between Brexit, possibly a very hard Brexit, or becoming an independent country able to chart our own course,\u201d Sturgeon said earlier in the chamber.\"\"\"\"\n\nScotland was an independent country a long time ago when they were invaded by a savage English Army who showed no mercy or quarter. Lands were taken away from the rightful owners, many of who were put on ships for the new world and many murdered. The Highland Clearances were a disgrace. For 10 years after Culloden Moore, these English loons raped and pillaged the Highlands.\nLet's not forget the million Catholics in Ireland they let starve to death.\nScotland needs to break away from English control once and for all.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Funny, because I haven't seen you post that about Catholic nuns. Hypocrisy much?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "C'mon...SOME people on the left. Or maybe us old school lefties are more reasonable than young hotheads. But it is true that the \"alt right\" are certainly just as loaded up with venom now, and they've been around longer than the term...Ann Coulter, Ezra Levant, Rush Limbaugh...insulting people, shutting them down, labeling people (how the American ones especially love to call people \"commies\"!) \nI think the problem is less about politics and more about a general loss of civility, gullibility (on both sides) and a lack of empathy for why others think as they do. My late father in law was exactly the sort who's get bashed by the \"Marxist\" left -- white, Christian, \"homophobic\", \"misogynistic\", conservative, and really, he was all those things -- but he had a heart of gold. (Mind you, he had no patience with Ann Coulter when he saw her on TV one night...turned to me and said, \"That woman's NOT a conservative...that woman's just a fool!\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Larry, I don't think many Christians are truly Christ like. I don't hate \nChristians. Another example: Lynching parties in the South were made up of Christians ...we could say, Christian extremists. They joyfully and with pleasure hung blacks. These were not Muslims. And, I know that the vast majority of Christians are caring and nonviolent. But, there are the radicalized of any group. And, Christians are not immune to that.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This sort of sexual, physical and mental abuse has been going on for hundreds of years when the Black Robed Jesuits first came to this land. It was their duty under God, to take the heathen out of the savage native people. It hasn't changed in all those years and it won't change any time soon! I was born and Baptized Catholic until I got old enough to know better. In all fairness though, the Catholic messengers are not the only Religious folks guilty of such atrocities. I guess it just comes with the territory and it has to be handled on an individual level. If you don't like something, then don't participate!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No, I'm basically laughing at all the tiki torch alt-right \"white genocide\" tears on this thread like above when you feared \"tan\" people would go the way of the buffalo because of those pesky Latinos and East Africans in Holyoke. I'll bet your grandpa was all up in arms about the swarthy Italians with their unassimilatable Catholic religion, their foreign language, their scary criminal ways, their \"ethnic\" garlicky food, and their allegiance to the Roman pope. Back then the cryababies called it \"invasion of the papists\" and they wrung their hands just as vigorously as you guys are on this thread. Same with Jewish immigrants. Same with Polish immigrants. Same with Irish immigrants. Same with Vietnamese immigrants, same with....\n\nGuess what? The country survived and was made stronger by those immigrants too and \"white genocide\" or \"protestant genocide\" or \"anglo saxon genocide\" or \"hamburger and hot dog genocide\" didn't happen then either. But keep up those alt-right tears and fears.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The CBC also hates Christians, especially white male Christians. But they love Muslims.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Wow I needed that! I miss John Stewart and his ability to pull out reality from media...and I want to create a top ten list of stupid things little d had said. Your take on the collective little d only need to add his answer, when asked by George Stephanopolis, \"what have you sacrificed?\" This was of course in response to Mr. Khan's comment that \"he had sacrifised nothing, ...and no one.\" The d's answer is on line in many places but his first response was to sort of cough and stutter...see no one has ever asked him, or of him. When he finally engaged his mouth, he said, and I paraphrase, yes I've sacrificed, I'm created thousand of jobs... Now most fourth graders, certainly any Christian child, knows the meaning of sacrifice. Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross to save our souls, might be an answer. When we think of a parent whose child had died, it's time to stop making excuses! His other comment was that the wife should have spoken...read her comments.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Stone age beliefs? Hate speech against Catholicism isn't uncivil, apparently.\n\nHow can loving parents, even Catholic parents, support their gay child (who may be going through some very difficult times) if they don't know what it happening with their own kid? \n\nYou assumption of Catholic parents as incapable of supporting a gay child is absurd.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "John, holiness isn't their priority. They wouldn't know holiness or spirituality if Jesus himself explained it to them. They have a fettish for 'religiosity' which is a different thing altogether. \n\nFr Stan and many more like him who put their necks on the line were labelled 'communists' or 'Marxists' by LOTL, Tridentinus, Pandora, Marty and the rest of them. These individuals actively fought against courageous men and women who sided with the poor. They did everything in their power to discredit them and disown them. They are doing it all over again with their rejoicing over the election of Trump. They have blood on their hands, these 'murderous brethren.'\n\nAll Reagan had to do was finish each speech with, \"And God bless America..\" and that lot swallowed it hook, line and sinker.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No one has suggested support of Trump illegal. That's just another idea unhinged from reality, similar to Christians and whites being poor, oppressed victims who need the KKK and nazis to stick up for them.\n\nPlease don't leave. We enjoy the laughs.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Haven't met a Catholic couple yet who fails to use birth control. Anyone remembering or knowing how 1960s teaching on birth control by Pope Paul was handed down knows how arbitrary it was and how it was contrary to commission formed to study issue. Institutional Church continues to demonstrate how inept it is in dealing with matters of sex-----------all matters of sex from sexual abuse of children to matters of conjugal love.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "They hire christians all the time, who are statistically more likely to be murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and criminals than any other group. The suicide rate is because of degenerates like you that seem to think you have a right to dictate what other people do with thier lives, not because of being trans in and of itself.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Pshaw. We know all women are liars and men (at least white christian ones) don't beat their families. We all know justice is swift and accurate.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Church teaches that the practice of homosexuality is seriously wrong. Almost the entire world taught that until recently. The Church also teaches us to respect and love those who try their best to bear this cross. So why all the hatred on the Catholic left?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Paul,\nI'm not concerned with my success rate on changing minds when I join an evangelical church. Were I to join some local evangelical churches it would be for entertainment purposes only--my own. I spent many years attending church thanks to my then-evangelical parents who have since grown up intellectually and so no longer attend such church services. No, in addition to entertainment I would be effectuating perfectly legal revenge. I want hard-right evangelicals to fear women like me. Let's just say I want for them the very same fate that they have served up for American women. I want to give them them back their ugliness.\nI guess I'm sort of an \"eye for an eye\" sort of person because I'm tired of their garbage being foisted on women and I'm going to take it to the next level.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Harry,\nIt is obvious that many of the Charlottesville white nationalist supremacists (Neo-Nazis) with marching permits consider themselves as Christians.\nThe leftist agitators are not excused for their lawlessness either. I don't understand or accept their stupidity. David Duke and his henchmen would wipe out the leftist agitators immediately if they had control and the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center among many other groups who oppose their regime.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "and your excuse for the founder? the invasion all around including europe? russia and germany and china were not christians; the crusades was to relieve israel of invaders. those that hate israel, are cursed, according to the God of the OT. but then, you don't know that god.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not aware of Jesus forming close friendships with or condoning the behaviour of adulterers or homosexuals. Can you provide citations?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Confusion scripturally for Christians isn't a very good sign at all and we have to get back to both feet on the ground.......A tool of the \"devil\" so they say.\nPut both confusion and contradiction on the table before us, we need the insights of angels....the good ones of course..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Why don't we teach statistics in high school? It is easier and a lot more useful than calculus.\" There is an AP course in Statistics and I would bet that most Jesuit high schools offer such a course. To properly understand continuous variables, such as the normal distribution, you actually do need calculus. Regarding the two courses as complementary, rather than in opposition, may be the rational approach.\n\nThere is today no such thing as a \"Catholic vote\". There is a \"Latino Catholic vote\" and a \"white Catholic vote\" and the two are very different. White Catholics vote like other white people. Latino Catholics vote like other Latinos. Ethnic identity seems a much more accurate predictor of voting behavior than does Catholicity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So much here to think about. I'd like to highlight something near the end of the article: \n\nFr. Reese ends the article noting that this particular issue seems to fall through the cracks when various advocacy groups look past their agreements and focus on their disagreements. THAT, IMHO, may well be the problem of the day in our society. If one is a conservative, liberal, libertarian, Catholic, Black, Muslim, Jew, millennial or boomer, that's all we need to know about that person. We stop there, discussion over. The end result, we ALL tend to be fed a steady diet of fear. No wonder so many in the Western world fear Islam. With all this fear OF Islam, that same fear stokes liberals who fear rights will be pulled back instead of expanded, fueling conservatives who fear that liberals are giving away or spending our future, fueling even more fear that begets more fear....\n\nThese problems are VERY real. I think Fr. Reese has it right. The fix is to focus ad develop what we agree on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would like to believe that many of the posters at this site are not Christians. The hateful, judgmental,\ncondemnations disqualify many for that title. Think about what God is like, all loving, all forgiving, all merciful, and then try to imitate those qualities . Then, you will be Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evidently you are unaware of Professor/Judge Noonan's book on Catholic annulments! Check it out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where? In our last conversation.\n\nI have asked before and ask again, what is your definition of \"conservative\" then, if wearing a hijab doesn't qualify? \n\nThat is like saying you aren't a conservative Christian unless you are part of a Bountiful commune, or a Duggar-like \"Quiverfull\" type, even wearing 19th-century dresses with bonnets doesn't count, let alone being a garden-variety Evangelical...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's a legitimate question, one theologians have debated for years. An intriguing study if you have that interest. Short answer, we believe God is just & merciful, & while He has not revealed exactly how that would work, there are passages in the Bible that indicate He's got that figured out and the plan is fair. We're told that people who lived before Christ but believed in the Hebrew God (Abraham, Moses, David) are judged based on what they did with the knowledge they had & were given salvation based on the faith they showed. We're told that those who were not given specific revelations about God did have knowledge of a higher being & will be judged based on what they did with that. Recorded interactions between Hebrews and non-Hebrews in the Old Testament indicate this, & many systems of deities known from secular history also indicate this kind of knowledge.\n\nI'm not trying to convert you :-) just trying to answer your questions. I wish you well, also.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pronouncing moral judgment on the deceased \u2013 and yet elementary justice demands that he who is to be judged should have a hearing \u2013 the dead, white Christians and indigenous, are powerless to defend themselves, whatever they are accused of.\nAssembling evidence to judge those no longer alive as both prosecutor and judge -- but there is not spokesperson for the defense.\nThe folks in charge of the residential school system did not have the standards of the present. Honestly, beyond the self-satisfaction of the self-appointed judge, what do we learn except that moral standards have changed? No figure of the past will meet the standards of the present.\nIf each generation is free to measure its predecessor morally, using the criteria now accepted, no one will escape condemnation. We must be judged by the moral criteria we know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The definition of a Christian Church is the called out (by Christ) universal body of of believers who obey his teachings. Furthermore I have been attending Christian Churches for more than 25 years and have studied qualified teachers and Pastors on Ecclesiology , So I wonder why are you more qualified to make this judgement than I or the thousands of others who have studied and written on this subject? You are simply an angry agnostic who hates God and Christians, and this is just more of your liberal spin. I am not alone on this issue and stand with many, apparently you believe you are an expert on everything. Jesus said: Mat 7:22-23\u00a0 On that day many will say to me, \u2018Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?\u2019 \u00a0(23)\u00a0 And then will I declare to them, \u2018I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.\u2019 This is the Jesus of the Bible, and not the one who is a figment of your imagination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What was taught by Catholic theologians and ethicists for centuries. It fits what is taught about gastrulation in embryonics. Until then, the mother's DNA (and we can infer her soul) guide development until gastrulation, when the father's DNA is finally active in development. I don\u2019t believe in abortion after gastrulation, although the Church did not condemn it before quickening until Pius IX.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People - - Whether you like it or not, and we know a good swath of you don't, Christianity is a bedrock of Western Civilization. And the progeny of Western Civilization includes baby Canada. What gods do you think the French and English were praying to when they were scouring these lands for beaver? I mean furs?? Why should we, in the scope of 2 or 3 generations, throw the baby out with the bath-water? MY OPINION: The New Testament is a superior document to the Quran in almost every way, whether inspired by an existing god or not; why the \"#%&-Christ\" (so called modern art) is okay with most modern Christians but pencil-scribblings of 'you-know-who' incite mass murder and mayhem...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Government redistribution? \n\nSo not only writing from the Christian Left, are you now advocating Marxism?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm delighted that ordinary Catholics in America are discovering that Francis as a pastoral Pope, from reading \"Amoris Laetitia\". \n\n\nSadly, there are anti-pope posters all over Rome [as reported by CNN and other news sites] decrying Pope Francis as not being \"merciful\". They state that Francis \"doesn't listen to the Cardinals,\" that he is \"trying to 'decapitate' the Knights of Malta', etc. \n\n \nIt is ironic that the Cardinals who criticize Pope Francis the most---seldom have demonstrated any mercy to the people of their archdiocese. That the FOUR dissenting Cardinals have demonstrated no desire to pastorally assist and journey with couples whose marriages failed, is obvious. As far as the Knights of Malta are concerned---the Pope was badly represented by Cardinal Burke.\n\n\nThe slanderous posters demonstrate that these \"red birds\" will not hesitate to go to any extreme to regain their pompous authority. Maybe Pope Francis needs to remodel how cardinals remain cardinals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's interesting that you can use the phrase \"Christian Religious Right Wing nut\" and it is allowed to stand. Replace the word \"Christian\" with the name of almost any other religion-ideology and your comment would vanish. Of course there's no double standard here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can you please define what you mean by \"Clericalism?'\n\nIs the following \"clericalism\" from your view: A pastor refuses to pray a Rosary with a grieving family at a wake because he views the Rosary as medieval superstition. The family requested traditional musical at the funeral of their loved one because their loved one liked it--but the pastor refuses because he does not allow that old fashioned 50's nonsense in his parish. His parish is \"cutting edge\" and such dreadful music will affect his reputation for being \"cutting edge.\" \n\nAs for the trads and their criticism of Pope Francis, (which I grant is wrong) what about the hate and venom directed against previous popes by the leftest Catholics--? Did you criticize them also?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If it is truly a \"Faustian Bargain\" who is in which role in this situation? \n\n\"According to traditional Christian belief in witchcraft, the pact is between a person and Satan or a lesser demon. The person offers his or her soul in exchange for diabolical favors.\"\n\n\"It was also believed that some persons made this type of pact just as a sign of recognizing the devil as their master, in exchange for nothing.\"\n\nWhich one might actually be the 'wily peasant'?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Error\", being an intangible, has neither rights, duties nor anything else. People have rights, even people in error. \n\nOne problem is what happens in a theocracy if a person is deemed to be in error, and persists in his or her opinion? Such a person may well be declared an enemy of the state, and as such, burned at the stake or have something equally unpleasant happen.\n\n McHale, as well as rejecting the Catholic Church's teaching on freedom of religion, apparently also rejects the Church's teaching on the primacy of conscience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can you please tell us which Muslim-majority country anywhere in the world has a constitutional democracy that grants full rights and freedoms to its Muslim citizens, let alone its non-Muslim citizens?\n\nCan you please tell us the last time widespread rioting broke out because of cartoon depictions of Jesus, Moses, Buddha, or any of the Hindu gods?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Victims don't report because of this. This is victim shaming and blaming by convervatives who feel morally superior and as a result feel entitled to push their agenda regardless of the victims in their path. Your idea of what God expects of Christians has gone off the rails. Listen to yourselves, claiming a smear campaign when you yourself have no inside knowledge. Does God want morally bankrupt Christians running around victim blaming in His name? I think not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It really is amazing to me how tRumppp fails at every single test of leadership he is given. This was clear by the way he bullied during the primaries -- but somehow, we always hoped that circumstances and the gravity of the presidency would cause him to rise to the occasion. But he is simply incapable. He is exactly every horrible thing we saw him to be -- and nothing more. And its further shocking to me that evangelicals read so much holiness into him... The other day I read a term to describe Roy Moore which also fits tRump perfectly: Antinomianism: a person who maintains that Christians are freed from the moral law by virtue of grace as set forth in the gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The first failure of the \"Moral Majority\" was to assume Christians were the only ones who held the moral high ground. \n\nNext, how does their collapsed as a movement have anything to with what the President has done or what Secretary Clinton might do? So, as a Christian, you're saying you'd rather fewer Americans had access to affordable health care, or you wish his efforts raise the standard of living for more people be limited to the one percent, or is it the tolerance of other beliefs, ideas, or preferences that offends you? \n\nI just don't get it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a not-insignificant difference between religious imperialism and suicidal extremism. Muhammad and his political heirs were conquerors, sure, but they were also nation-builders and city founders who saw themselves as cultural successors to the Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Romans, Christians, Jews, etc. On average, they were also more tolerant of other religions than their European contemporaries and modern Islamic theocracies. The biggest difference in my eyes is that modern extremists don't seem to be interested in conversion at all, only destruction - the fact that Muslims themselves are by far the biggest target of extremist violence is evidence enough of this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe they do, but it's a hard case to make.\n\nProtestants don't believe in the Eucharist\nDon't believe in Sacred Tradition\nDon't believe in the Pope\nDon't believe in the same Bible\nDon't believe in exegesis / Magisterium\nDon't believe in the same Sacraments\nMost have a different understanding of grace.\nDon't understand the Mass.\nDon't understand how Redemption in the same way.\nHave a hard time with \"space and time\" of Jesus's salvific work (they try to put Jesus in a time box)\nThey don't believe in the Catholic understanding of suffering\nMost Protestants have a defective understanding of the temporal world.\n\nThey do believe in reading and knowing the Word of God; but they believe in private interpretation.\n\nIncreasing they do share things with some strains of Catholics\nChurch hopping\nThe homily/sermon is all\nMaking up their own moral criteria (contraception, abortion, divorce)\n\nSo in a SMALL sense this article has a point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Protestantism has done more to destroy Christianity in the West, than any other movement, in church history. It started with the fact that Protestantism contained the seed of not only its own destruction but the destruction of Christianity per se. We now call this seed \"secularization\" and its recent offspring \"secularism\".\n\nWere is not for the Protestant Reformation the church would have maintained its unity and advanced the internal movements of true reform that were already at work by the early 1500s. \n\n The false doctrine, expounded by the reformers, of justification by faith alone, resulted in a shallow religious faith. The idea that each individual may interpret scripture for himself, has served to make of Christianity and morals a \"do it yourself\" project that now has \"legitimized\" every erroneous notion related to faith and morals imaginable. \n\nProtestantism has left the West lacking in belief and heart. It has stripped the West of its very soul.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder how many were \"clinging to their Bibles\" as they voted?\n\nOne of the challenges of the 'elites' is that 73.7% of the US population claims to be Christian.\n\nWe agnostics, athiests and none of the above have to be added together to even get to 18.2%.\n\nIf Democrats like Obama want to disparage over 70% of the population, they are really going to have to work to get majorities!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As the traditionalist Catholics here understand, this situation would not have arisen under other popes because Saint John Paul II the Mighty and his Beloved Apostle were on top of the abuse situation. They realized that the important thing was the Greater Good of the Church, not the lives of victims, and so, moved by the Holy Spirit, they strove long and hard to maintain the cover up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I rather doubt there is any firm scriptural basis for excommunicating someone or any theological basis for it. If 'nothing can separate us from the love of God' and if the body is One, then how can any person be excommunicated? For sure the person doing the excommunicating to another does not look good. He looks un-Christian. Jesus said, 'treat them as you would a tax collector.' Recall that Jesus dined with tax collectors. I wonder when the Pope will dine with the women priests.\n\nI am thinking now of the split between Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The leader of each faction excommunicated the other. See where that gets you? Like a thousand years of disunity. Now that the women priests have taken the lead on reform, there is a big opportunity for the official Church to step up and act adult and dialog and incorporate the reform.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Woo woo\" tends to be a phrase used in reference to the Christian God. Ie the \"woo woo man\" sent Jesus to earth for his pleasure.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The attackers were people presumably brimming with the love of Christ\" are digs at the righteousness of said Christians over the righteousness of others. Implied in the article, the righteousness of unbelievers is more righteous because their good deeds are done on the basis of being truly good-hearted and so on, rather than on the basis of (alleged) fear of a deity or looking good to others. \n\nIf you can't see how that's self-righteous grandstanding in itself, or the irony in Ivo writing this, then you might be deliberately ignoring it. At any rate, the point of Jesus' quote is not to point fingers at others but to look at yourself and realise *we all do this*. Heck, there's a sense in which I'm doing it right now. We all put our righteousness in front of others - the article is a case in point.\n\nThanks for saying at least I sound intelligent :) As to Jesus dying, I'm merely pointing out that Ivo misses the point of it, not that he has to believe it just because I do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "WRONG! Toronto, and the rest of Ontario need a secular public school system and a private religious school system not subsidized by the taxpayers. It can also include a private non-religious system as it does today. People should have the choice of sending their children to the free public school system, or pay for the private systems and get a credit for the expense. This is similar to many successful systems in Europe and does not ban people, Jews, Muslims, or Christians, from sending their children to religious schools. This will also encourage a badly needed correction in the useless Ontario public system, and I say this from experience as a father.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The first link didn't work, but I read through the second, and there is absolutely NOTHING in it that contradicts my points, which are taken from age-old Catholic moral teaching. In fact, the Newman/Ratzinger link directly supports my argument. Ratzinger expressly says that conscience only receives its \"rank, dignity, and strength\" from an individual's \"commitment\" and \"obedience\" to \"objective truth.\" Objective truth. That's precisely what I've been talking about here. Listen, I have an idea: send the link to Francis and his liberal friends in the Vatican. They appear to be in great need of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "4) Your concept of God is transactional----'Follow the rules---that's what you need to do to be saved or sanctified.' Establishing a relationship with God implies an actual change of consciousness---of knowing that God has invited us to participate in his life---in his oneness.\nThe Eastern Church has had this idea way before the more pragmatic West.\n\n5) The Church was much more democratic in its earliest days than today. From the APOSTOLIC TRADITION, a work attributed to Hippolytus---who insisted that every bishop is to be chosen 'first of all by the people' and then by the assembled bishops. Jesus did not found a church to be an imperial monarchy. That sad form of governance came as a result of the medieval age. By the way, Protestants are Christians, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But not yet very Christian......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Piano2 will have to make up his or her own mind. All people who challenge the status quo are challenged. Likewise, not all people who say they are Christian really are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually Jesus didn't found any specific \"religion\" but he did give us teachings and a simple model of church to emulate, what Rome has taught throughout the ages is (in many cases) diametrically opposed to our Lord's admonishments... good luck with your \"ism\" nonetheless, I suspect you will be needing it!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's a hot one my Catholic friend. Is it possible to hold a bigotry against any and all religious beliefs? You'll hear some more about Christian liberalism from me in the future. I'm sick of being typecast with conservative evangelism simply because I chose to call myself Christian. I believe in helping the poor. I believe in the gift of intelligence and scientific knowledge, I believe in forgiveness. I do not turn from a humanitarian act simple because a person is not of my tribe/religion. I think money is in fact the root of evil/self-centeredness that biblical wisdom mentions more times than any other topic outside of Love. \n\nModern American liberalism has abandon the support of main line Christians that worked hard to stop child labor, that worked to overturn capital punishment, rode the busses to bring full citizenship to all Americans and the right to vote, that stood in line to oppose the many wars of property and wealth that our government has initiated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is adherence to Catholic belief and practice really just a matter of intelligence and catechesis?\n\nI don't think so. \n\nWill letting women be priests, and 86ing the rules on divorce and other matters relating to sex make any difference in church attendance?\n\nI don't think so. I don't think it would make any difference whatsoever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So then anyone that wants to refuse service to you because you are a Christian has a right to do so then, correct?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Speaking of size, I wonder if the split of the Catholic vote for Trump/Clinton (something like 52%/45% or so) is a reasonable measure of the conservative/progressing divide in the Church? Utterly terrifying if it is!\n\nI am not aware of any stats that have attempted to quantify this split in the US (or anywhere, for that matter).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"new congress overwhelmingly christian...\" What does that mean?\nPolitics go berserk when religion goes berserk; religion is about the values that guide people in how they relate to each other, to all other. If today's world picture teaches us anything, it teaches us how horrifically impoverished and unhelpful our religions are.\nAmerica is in for a religious/ political education over the next four years. Our politics today punctuate how impoverished we are in our religion.\nTime to wake up and reset values. Churches! Are you up to it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reke Ahmed and Shaista Aziz? And your comment? Distorted perspective and preset agenda at its natural, unadulterated form. When a reader points out violent massacre of innocent Christians in Egypt, you can only turn to accusations of 'hate speech' . Obviously, there seems nothing in the form of intelligent response other than resorting to knee-jerk reaction of repeat inanities and oft-repeated terms that make no sense even its propagators.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I never voted for Harper and the main reason was that he was \"alleged\" to be under influence of a religion I did not even have fact, only rumour. I will certainly not vote for someone who \"wear\" his religion in public. Any religion whichever it is, don't belong in politics. regardless of the quality of the person, itself. If you do it for one, you do it for all. In this case, it's a pretty inclusive religion. What about the next one? Muslim, whit sharia? Catholic whit a return of school that refuse other religion? Christian, that wants crusade? \nPersonally, I will not give one inch of space for religion to take place in public space they always tend to stretch it to mile's once taken. And unfortunately, Mr Singh represent that, the chance for a religion to take back space in public space, that we as a society took away from them. Sorry, Mr Singh, I admire your involvement, you are qualified and of value, but what you represent is again's my public beleif.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Question: how much of this attrition is due, even in part, to the Catholic clergy sex abuse crisis, its coverup by bishops and superiors, and its extensive aftermath? Do bishops even want to know?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "False.\n\nBigotry is based on ignorance, opposition to Demboski is based on common sense and decency. The majority in this nation still identify as Christian, and most manage to play well with others and avoid extremist ideology. Demboski has only her mouth to blame for the backlash.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do not see the value in postings such as this. The unique juxtaposition of attacks on other posters with claims of being the victim of harassment is simply put, quite bizarre. The phenomenon of claiming to be a follower of Christ while behaving so has been noted by others, elsewhere, although perhaps their views do not merit consideration by caholics? Is adherence to catholicism something separate from following Christ? Rather an unfortunate attitude, really.\n https://newspring.cc/articles/are-you-a-christian-internet-troll\nhttp://thecommunity.anglican.ca/tech/11167/dear-christian-trolls-of-the-internet/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the do nothing bribed republicans will continue to raise money from their corporate masters to keep the status quo of modern day Tammany Hall. Their claims of being the only true christians with their religiosity brings the question of who do they worship? If their jesus christ was here now, he would most undoubtedly ask them from Trump and McConnell on down, why do they worship things exactly 180 degrees opposite of what the jesus christ lived and breathed to do. Money, bribery, cronyism, in bed with the money lenders, and using the jesus's name to invade and occupy other countries so corporations and the politicians cronies can rake in stolen profits off stolen resources and lands, or profits off selling the wares of destruction. It brings to mind that the jesus lived in a occupied country with profits going to Rome, quite like what the neo cons have turned America into, a government bribed to invade and occupy on their behalf.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "77% of Canadians self-identify as belonging to the Christian faith. Repeatedly playing the anti-Christian card is not a smart political move considering the majority of voters are themselves Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great article, Ivo, although in light of your assertion that \"rational discussion of religious belief is impossible\" it was a pity that you chose this forum to denigrate Christianity; it took the edge off an opportunity to make a very valid point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This has been and will continue to be about culture. Immigration (mass or otherwise) always is.\n\nThe Muslim and Judeo-Christian cultures are like oil and water. A few decades of 'globalization' can't and won't change that. The only issue at this point is that western society has 'matured' to a point where political (in)correctness drives the day, rather than trying to protect a people and their culture from upset. So now we have people who value little apart from the generous social net of their now adopted homes, upsetting the apple cart.\n\nThe sheep here that bleat on about multiculturalism need only diversify their inputs to sources overseas. Youtube videos of the carnage left behind by these so called refugees and you will see a peoples true character. Look on in horror as you witness a muslim mob in a Swedish mall hang from and destroy the centre Christmas tree for no good reason....(your belief in things religious aside). It's all about culture people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2/2\nYou misunderstand Romans (no surprise that): Paul taught (much as Jesus did: Render unto Caesar ...) that Christians should accept secular (pagan) authority over them -- not that they should seek it, accept it, or exercise it themselves. God could and did use the pagans for his purposes. Christians were under their authority, and in light of the expectation of the imminent return of the Lord, they were not to resist that authority; God was using it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You've sat in A/G services and you still reject Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And what in your warped imagination is \"conservative Christianity?\" Are they Christians who want to conserve Christianity as it is explained in the Bible? And if you know as much about the Bible as you think, you surely know there is no such thing as a \"good Christian.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a good article. It addresses an issue of national concern from a different angle and provides a more in-depth look into an area in which most of us are not familiar - how Catholic post-secondary education is funded. Stories that let knowledgeable people (like college administrators) tell you about the nuts and bolts of their job and still address important issues are few and far between.\n\nI assume this kind of journalism takes a lot of work, but the end result is worth it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Chaput doesn't want a Church that draws all sinners to God through Christ, and accompany them in their journey , why doesn't he leave. He could ask his perception of who are the holiest of believers, that is, those who hold most true to the most conservative wing of the church, and join the Lefebrites? They're even more conservative enough to think that Chaput is a flaming liberal! How dare this man judge the soul of every Catholic who differs from him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, read Matthew. Anyone who read that NT gospel, and didn't notice Jesus' message on Providence providing material help to the believer, has a very selective way of reading scripture.\n\nWhat irony that this media source is filled with well-paid professional Catholics. O, tell us more about how wrong it is to mix God with $.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quite the opposite - I didn't fail at all, smart guy. The original article mentioned \"Christian retreat\" under the main headline, and I immediately knew there would be hateful, bigoted, snide comments. I didn't necessarily know it would be the very first one. Congrats!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As an organized religion, Christianity has spent 2000 years trying to neutralize everything Jesus said about life in this world (which was and is dangerous to the status quo and the people benefiting from it). \"Don't be an asshole\" would be just another one of those aphorisms and parables that Church fathers starting with Paul twisted into something meaningless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, Pence is pandering to the uptight Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God has spoken that apostasy shall not overcome the Light [prevail forever]; but, we are in the midst of great crisis. The children of Christian civilization have repudiated the foundation for Blessing;...Law and [B]order. The Truth of Liberty and Freedom has been transformed into liscence. And now the walls have fallen for uncultured hoardes of uncivilized savages to rape, rob, and plunder. A plague of devouring locusts sent for judgement to destroy the blessings. JOEL 2:3\nWhy do the clergy cast off all fear of God?...holding to a servile sycophantic cult-like addling, mesmerized by this messiah of apostasy like rats after the pied-piper.\nThe Mighty God judge with fire the judas-clergy aiding and abetting this globalist criminal enterprise.....or, better yet, let fear have her imperfect work. Proverbs 9:10", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fred, I went out of my way in prefacing that to say I'm not saying all christians say that about Muslims. What I did say was that a group which contains, and in some ways panders, to christians has been saying it for years without being called to task for it.\n\nAs for terrorism, you're right, but I also included the \"extremism\" element in there. Not all extremism is violent extremism (ie terrorism), but can be things like calling for the death of non-believers, etc, which elements of exist in all religions, in all parts of the world, for as long as religion has existed as a thing. Also, there has been Christian terrorism in the US and there weren't calls like what I laid out, so the point does stand really.\n\nSo let me clarify and pose the question more clearly: Why is it okay for people who call themselves Christians to say another religious group is responsible for fixing that groups vocal fringes, but it is unacceptable for it to be said to Christians about their own vocal fringes?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For the same fabricated reasons self-proclaimed \"Christians\" do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Koch Brothers Catholic? When will we ever get American Catholic Leaders who actually follow Jesus, not Koch or Reagan. Jesus said, \"Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's,\" but Jesus did not add, \" Take what is God's and give it to Caesar as well!\" That's what so many of these political Koch Brother Catholics do -- no understanding of the gospels, the Sermon on the Mount, or Church Social Teaching. And they wonder why the young keep turning away from the church -- how can you worship political positions when you ignore the son of God?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I lived in that Church you unjustly malign for at least 25 years and never lived in any fear. When I did wrong, I knew that I had done wrong and more importantly I understood why I had done wrong on account of the catechesis I received .\nToday there is no catechesis, secular values have replaced Christian values. The greatest tragedy for Christianity is that Christian values have been debased not only by atheists and unbelievers but by Christians themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting how wrong the RCC was about the selling of indulgences as it parallels our wrongful thinking about sex and relationship. A story of power vs Christ like thinking. Most of Luther's thesis were admitted as correct by the RCC in about 1999. How long will we take clergy to update a poor theology of sex and relationship?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So what? I never claimed to cut it as a Christian, and any Catholic is well aware of the imperative to act for love of God.\n\nYou have no room to throw stones. None.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He did say more. Here is an extract from the Catholic News Service:\n... the pope asked tens of thousands of pilgrims May 12 to reflect on \"which Mary\" they choose to venerate, \"the virgin Mary from the Gospel\" or \"one who restrains the arm of a vengeful God?\"\nIs the Mary they honor \"a woman blessed because she believed always and everywhere in God's words or a 'plaster statue' from whom we beg favors at little cost?\" he asked ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And that is a left handed compliment to the Catholic Church. The fact that dissidents refuse to leave the Church and join liberal Protestant churches, and that this website refuses to drop the Catholic name all point to one fact: they know implicitly that the RCC is the real deal. They don't want to be Protestant, because despite what they claim, they know that the Protestant Church isn't the real deal. \n\nThe only way they can generate interest in their publication is by associating with the only Church that really counts: the Roman Catholic Church. That is cheating--but it is a bit of a left handed compliment to the Catholic Church. This is also a left handed compliment to the American way: they want to make money. The way to do that is to market a publication that is clearly not Catholic as a Catholic one. Despite what liberals claim, they like capitalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you don't understand that there most certainly are \"left\" and \"right\" Catholics, you haven't been paying attention. If by \"orthodox Catholic\" you mean \"someone who follows the magisterium like a 1930s Stalinist followed the Party Line\", then you reveal yourself to be a right-wing Catholic. Extra points if you also say \"the magisterium never changes teachings\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Has there been no violence in the name of other religions, Christian, Hindu or others? Obviously history shows us that there is no end to violence until the perpetrators are enlightened. I would like to suggest that any religious belief that has been manipulated by figures of authority that promote hate towards the 'other' in society is the problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We have had this conversation more than once. The reason is that Jesus Christ Himself forbade divorce.\"\nAnd I think that we are focusing on the letter of the Law rather than the Spirit. Who is being harmed by an abuse victim remarrying? Unless you want to argue that the abuser is the victim, then no one is harmed by the remarriage. \n\n\"Money has zero to do with obtaining an annulment. I have walked more than one person through it. What obtaining annulment has to do with is establishing the reason for the nullity of the marriage.\"\n\nI am going to laugh now. I've been dealing with the Catholic Church for 35 years. I went to Catholic schools. Of course the wealthy don't have to play by the same rules the rest of us do. I saw that all the time when I was in school. So I doubt that the tribunals are somehow indifferent to money and power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have no idea if it's a lack of access to birth control in Syria or if it's more likely their culture and religion that is the reason why they have so many children. I suspect the latter but I remember a slogan from the 1990's. \"Replace yourselves, only have two children.\" It was of course all to do with the fact that our planet can only support so many people. Because of political correctness was this slogan only aimed at white/Christian countries?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Radicalization is taught at home, around the dinner table, as the family enjoys mom's good home cooking, while the grown ups discuss destroying Israel, eradicating homosexuals and the evils of dirty infidels It is drilled into young minds with every tale of glorious martyrdom for Allah in every mosque in every city around the world. Extremism for Islam is taught the same way Christians are taught about Jesus and his message of mercy and forgiveness while they enjoy a turkey dinner. It is not at odds with the teachings, but is central to the religion", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The conservative Catholic \"temple guard\" wants to run the liberals out of the Catholic Church and this is one of their tactics to do so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a pop song you can listen to, online, called \"Agnostic Jihad\".\n\nAnd you can go to a website called \"Agnostic Jihad\" that talks about all religions being human constructs (\"Agnostic Jihad: Stubbornly Refusing To Define The Undefinable\").\n\nYou can buy published books with the titles: \"Christian Jihad: Two Former Muslims Look at the Crusades\" and \"Christian Jihad: Neo-Fundamentalists and the Polarization of America\" and \"America's Secret Jihad\" (about mostly the slaughter of black folks by white folks in US history).\n\nSorry, but if there can be Christian Jihads and American Jihads and agnostic Jihads, in works of popular culture, then no, merely using the word \"Jihad\" is not the same as using the word \"Muslim\", which definitively identifies a religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "P1:\nMonica, I am confused about the focus of this conference. Exploring the Palms, Ezekiel, and mercy in the Hebrew scriptures strikes me as a very different theme than exploring the \"roots of Yahwism;\" unless, of course, this is a huge gathering with multiple sections?\n\nI can certainly see how discussion of current research on the origin of Yahwism could be conceived as threatening by many, both Christians and Jews. I presume you mean, and presenters will be exploring, challenging new ideas largely from archeologists suggesting that the Hebrews did not enter Palestine in huge numbers as invaders, conquering the Canaanites and destroying their cities (as the scriptures, taken literally, would have it), but rather smaller groups drifted into Palestine from the east bringing a devotion to Yahweh picked up from the Midianites, and these small groups of Hebrew immigrants made common cause with rural Canaanites overthrowing without particular violence the culture of urban Canaanites.\n\ncont.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear me.. You really don't think that the press won't applaud Pope Francis finally giving Ray Burke and the \"alt-right\", neo-traditionalists in the Catholic Church the public smackdown that they deserve. LOL. Frankly, I think that connecting Burke to more nefarious far right nationalist politicians in Europe and America is the best angle. There is more Steve Bannon photo ops out there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, mchale. The problem was that Vat II was the opening to bring the Church into the real world, not dream land of the past the leaders tried to live in. JPII and BXVI refused to go through the door that the Holy Spirit showed to those at Vat II and that tens of millions of Catholics all over the world saw and experienced as Vat II unfolded.\n\nJPII and BXVI tried to close the door on the Holy Spirit speaking inside the patriarchal/hierarchal structure of Church. Of course, that doesn't really work, not in the long run. And, there were some inside that structure who did not close themselves off to the Holy Spirit and tens of millions of the faithful who continued to listen to the Spirit. \n\nDoctrine developed over 2000 years and will continue to develop. Our understanding of creation and the Creator grows. Confusion and ambiguity are conditions of being human. God is not orthodoxy. Let Him out of the box you think you have Him in. He doesn't fit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Going back is the only way forward for an apostolic church, we must keep the faith the apostles had, anything else would be a betrayal of all the saints and martyrs and Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's why there were Christian immigrants also detained at the port of entry? Because they were Muslim? Please follow up with your inquiry as to who it was that designated the 7 countries as having terrorist ties. I'm eagerly awaiting your response.\n\nJust because the countries are predominantly muslim does not make it a muslim ban. Especially when the countries selected were named by the Democratic President Obama as being the biggest threat to our country. You are the delusional one for trying to blame Trump for what Obama's administration designated as a threat. You might take your own advise and start thinking critically!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "james, james, james! rich,white, christian men have caused just about every problem the world has ever had. the sooner everyone gets 'their' god out of public life, the sooner peace will reign. in the 1920's, battered women didnt just suddenly appear, men didnt just suddenly start beating their wives and girlfriends (and kids). righteous men had always done it. tell girls they dont need men? absurd, the problem is that there are no 'men' around anymore except, apparently, guys with views like yours. oh, this has nothing to do with democrats. it has to do with rich men, white of course, and their control over all of us, our education, media and political life. if you think a single person in hawaii has any clout over anything, id love to hear about it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK, as a non-RC I probably should be as quiet as that Milwaukee Catholic cemetery. But I respectfully disagree with the two stated objections to Card. Dolan's program. My view is also influenced by legal training and background. Let me add, I hold NO brief for your prelates and how this horror has been handled by your church or in fewer instances, my own church.\n\nConfidentiality in settlements, while not the norm in all litigation, is hardly extraordinary, particularly in sexual abuse cases. Many victims sue as Jane or John Does and their names and details are never disclosed. It also occurs in product/drug liability cases for other reasons, and in domestic (divorce, etc.) litigation. A settlement of a legal claim necessarily involves the alleged wrongdoer getting a release before payment, of all pending claims and waiving any further legal actions by the releasor against the releasee based upon such claims. That is standard legal procedure, and if an insurer is paying, it's mandatory", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure what your point is. I don't think a nun's habit is required by the Christian bible, either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neither Pence nor Trump served their country when both had the chance. Pence is the worst kind of Christian, one that publicly and continuously trumpets his \"faith;\" I wonder if he ever read the New Testament and read the opinion Jesus voiced of those that do so?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't worry, this Catholic Institution will be dismantled before all other changes!!!\nYou don't graft a new branch to a dead rootstock!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is how the conversation has gone: I stated Christianity can be skewed to justify all sorts of ill behavior. You said \"well anyone who does that just doesn't understand true Christan theology\" to which I replied \"If there was a true Christian theology there wouldn't be so much division\" to which you tried to justify what inclusive, I assume true, Christianity looks like. I assume that's your measure of what makes a theology Christian or not...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The first line of the act reads: \"Prohibits the federal government from taking discriminatory action against a person on the basis that such person believes or acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that: (1) marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or (2) sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.\". You will have to decide if that is just or unjust yourself. For me, it is unjust, as it allows one to discriminate against another based on religious belief. It would allow a so-called \"Christian\" to refuse service to anyone who doesn't meet their criteria.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't say, \"As Catholics, we are so ashamed.\" \n\nIt's not Catholicism that caused this to happen, and the abusers didn't abuse because they were Catholic. Be honest -- as people in a position of power, you abused that power as you abused those in your care. Be ashamed because you and those like you enabled abuse, tried to hide it, ignored it, put a hierarchy and a clerical system above human beings. \n\nThose human beings are or were Catholic too. They have nothing to be ashamed of \"as Catholics.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islam has been murdering for centuries, and now you want to say 'moderate' and 'radical'? NO, ALL are radical. The Christian crusades were in response to Muslim warriors, back 1000 years ago. Until the British 'found' their oil, they were killing one another over a water hole, Has nothing to do with 'moderate and radical' it HAS to do with Islam.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cont.\n@ ScottG\n\n\u201cIf you truly want to understand where my heart lies in this matter please consider reading them.\u201d\nhttp://www.v2catholic.com/background/2015/03/2015-03-07Kevin-Walters-a-Church-of-mercy.htm\nFrom the link above\n\u201cConfession for Catholic\u2019s of my generation was like taking a bath, it was natural, Trust was given unreservedly; sadly all priests are not Christian, as I can verify\u201d \nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know what happened to your response to my question below - From the little snippet I saw, it was fine.....\n\nBut. To reply to what little I did see - yes. I worry for our priests, too. Many of the \"angry\" priests and former priests that post here appear to be older. I don't know if that has any bearing. I can tell you that I know a great many priests - some among my best friends - who are not disenchanted with all things Catholic and are dedicated to service in the name of Christ. I also know many Seminarians and newly ordained, and they are full of life and desire to bring the word and Church to many. \n\nThey are subject to sites like this and comments such as many post here, and mostly take it with a grain of salt. But - they are saddened and pressured by the secular world, just as we all are. Some of the most vicious remarks come from those who claim to be progressive Catholics, who try desperately to harm young, faithful priests. I can never figure that out. Pray.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rudy Giuliani can hardly be held up to be an exemplary Catholic.\nWhere would you draw the line? What about murder, theft, adultery and all the proscriptions of the Ten Commandments? What if someone confesses to homosexual activity in a jurisdiction where such behaviour is against the law and viewed as equally criminal to child abuse? \nShould we be obliged to confess speeding offences and turn ourselves in in order to receive absolution?\nWhy would a priest confess to a brother priest to obtain absolution when he knew perfectly well that his own disposition would preclude him from receiving that absolution whether his confessor granted it or not? If a paedophile priest believes that he can obtain absolution and continue to molest children then on top of his paedophilia, he has a serious mental problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Monica, I respectfully disagree with your pessimistic post. Violence is, like most things, a learned behavior. The majority of adults never commit an act of serious violence in their lives. Creation myths, including the Judeo-Christian, try to explain the inexplicable, but they are simple starting points. In our tradition, after the Resurrection, Christ says, \"Peace be with you.\"\n\nAs for Newtonian Law, it concerns inanimate objects. People are a lot more complicated. Also, the seemingly definitive Newtonian Law has been surpassed by much more difficult findings of 20th century physics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We would like to say that as Catholics \u2014 a church with nearly equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans but many common agendas because of our social justice tradition \u2014 could play an important role bringing healing to society, but regrettably, Catholics seem as divided as society in general.\"\n\nCatholic Social Justice has been hijacked by the political left. The concepts have been separated from their scriptural roots and stripped of meaning. In doing so, they have jettisoned the basic fundamental human right for the most vulnerable in our society - children in the womb, the sick and the elderly - by embracing the creed of the \"culture of death\" and moral relativism. Catholics should stop being fooled by this. Clinton was shown to be an enemy of the Church and religious freedom, not a friend. \n\nOnce the Democrats oppose abortion and euthanasia, and begin to promote personal and family moral virtues, Catholics can then start to support them and more of their social policies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Liberal Fascists are at it again.\n\n\"The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States\"\n\nUnless you are a Catholic looking to be a judge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...have changed since the Reformation.\"\n\nYes, I'm familiar with that declaration and am sure it has \"changed\" for you -- for the better, revealing exactly that side of the ecumenical divide you want to appear. But, as I said earlier, it is good you have moved on, according to your conscience and understanding. No point being an unhappy Christian in the CC. I am sure Lutheranism will not postpone your happiness any longer or new found salvation and will give you secure ground to walk on as a committed Protestant/Lutheran Christian. It is not my cup of tea, as it were, not my \"theology-in-progress,\" but I wish you the best.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Hobby Lobby, the court said that not only is a corporation a person (see Southern Pacific Railroad vs Santa Clara County), but under some circumstances it is a person with religious beliefs. Moreover, the religious beliefs of the corporation supersede the religious beliefs of the employees. This case went against actual religious freedom, in allowing an employer to insist that the employee must abide by the employer's religious beliefs.\n\nThe whole deal with Zubik is that the Catholic bishops are trying to do the same thing: Insist that their employees abide by the religious beliefs of the bishops, whether or not the employee shares those beliefs.\n\nAll that the plaintiff in the Zubik case needed to do was sign a form saying \"we are not going to have contraceptive coverage in our health plans\". But this was too onerous for them. Because, after all, Catholic bishops believe that \"religious freedom\" means \"you have to do things our way\". Freedom for us, not for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, you don't believe the human race stemmed from the first foreparents of mankind (one being male and female)? \n\nMoses writing Genesis is not what I posited in the argument/statement. Perhaps you are trying to demerit the Catholic Christian view on the Narrative in saying \"Moses did not write.\" From a study I've taken, none of the Scholars (Catholic/Christian) said Moses wrote Genesis. In both Christian and Jewish traditions there are writers who are nevertheless not even the center/focus/toledote/emphasis of the events/writings. Which does not disqualify the event/account from being true. You're drawing on the angle of presumption that all Catholic scholars view Moses wrote Genesis, which is an error.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great quote, Muck!\n\nHere we once again see Jefferson defend his Diest beliefs of following Christ without Church dogma, liturgy, and Christian denominations which he felt took away from/distracted from the True teachings of Christ, which would also say are central and fundamental to a better society.\n\nGreat post!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mormons don't believe Jesus is Omnipotent the Son of God and also one with the Father and the Holy do they, and also the Holy Trinity? Do they baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and The Holy Spirit? I don't think so but that is exactly how Jesus and the Apostles prescribed it. Just saying. We can certainly be decent and ecumenical but on some major basic tenets of faith we don't agree. So I would be highly doubtful of visions of Joseph Smith when he started a religion, 1800 years after Christ began the Church with the appointment of Peter, the first Pope. If his vision was authentic, the religion certainly distorted the main basic tenets of Christianity over time.\nOn the other hand, visons or apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was the Arc of the New Covenant and whose faith and great Amen began for us on this earth the coming of Jesus Christ, make much more sense in the overall scheme of things. Any apparition cannot be against the Gospel", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, because Christ instituted a priesthood.\n\nThe institution was at the Last Supper.\n\nThe theology is based on the letter to the Hebrews, part of which is incorporated into the Roman Canon.\n\nThe letter to the Hebrews, of course, also points out (not denounces) the inefficacy of the Temple sacrifices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll leave it to you to sort out what the first comment in this thread was trying to convey, then. Jesus spoke of non-violence in the individual sense; not sure what he felt about just wars, but seeing that so many people became Christians that way, it seems like God's plan to me.\n\nI always conflate humanism and pacifism; not looking for a debate on that. Pacifism was the more to my point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis is NOT an infallible definition of a revealed truth. It is an \"apostolic letter\" addressed to the bishops, not to the entire Church. It is entirely written in past and present tense, and says NOTHING about what the Church can or cannot do in the future; so it is \"definitive\" with respect to the past and the present, but cannot possibly be definitive about the future, since it says NOTHING about the future. My conjecture is that it was an exercise in double talk, to buy time given that the old doctrine about only male flesh being \"proper matter\" no longer makes sense in light of the TOB, but they had nothing better than the *new* (since 1976) doctrine about the 12 male apostles for CCC 1577. But there is a difference between the patriarchal priesthood of the Old Law and the sacramental priesthood of the New Law.. The 12 male apostles were chosen while Jesus was still working under the Old Law. After the resurrection, the New Law starts. Study the TOB!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Christians gave Him Sunday, the Jews gave Him Saturday, and the Muslims gave Him Friday. God has a three-day weekend.\"\n\n-- George Carlin", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Monica...think this bishop is doing more than just writing a letter: \n\n\"The bishop calls for a moratorium on the detention and deportation of nonviolent migrants. He also announces the establishment of a new scholarship fund for migrant children to attend Catholic schools. He announces a directive to all pastors and principals that government agents are not to be permitted on church property in any enforcement action without a warrant. He is setting up a commission to continue applying the Gospel vision he outlines in the policies and parishes of El Paso. To those outside the border communities he says, \"Come and See!\"\n\nNow, he is not organizing a strike....but it IS a step in the right direction.....\n\nI'd like to see these border bishops get together...McElroy et al and work out a uniform strategy....think it would be more effective than just one bishop!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agree. The distinguishing characteristic of Catholic Left is that it is indistinguishable from the Catholic Right. Both support government handouts for Catholic men, tax loopholes for Catholic men, set-aside ecclesiastical sinecures for Catholic men and babies, babies, babies, and rosary-praying for Catholic women. The only difference between them is that the one group calls themselves \"John Paul 2 Catholics\" and the other calls themselves \"Papa Francesco Catholics\" (with an affected little roll of the r in \"Francesco\" to show how intellectually precious they are.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would suggest that not only are Catholic colleges/universities are involved in this concept. Catholic\ncollege/university presidents should gather with presidents of Christian colleges and formulate questions to present to the newly elected President after Monday.\n\n\nThere must be a meeting of minds on this issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pauline and Petrine privileges are not exceptions. They only apply to marriages where one or both of the spouses are not baptised, what are termed non-sacramental, natural marriages. If an unbaptised spouse decides not to live with his/her spouse because he/she is or becomes a Christian then the Christian spouse is permitted to contract a sacramental marriage with and only with another Christian. If the unbaptised spouse is content to live with his/her Christian spouse then the marriage cannot be dissolved. Presumably the spouses in a natural marriage are not joined together by God.\nIf there are no scriptural reasons for the indissolubility of marriage why would Our Lord choose to go against the status quo.\nThe binding and loosing power is Christ's guarantee that the Holy Ghost will ensure that God's Law and the Church's teaching will never diverge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Go to the Christian Science reading room for \"a quiet place to sit and read\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's interesting to know that probably 1/2 of the people who blog here claim that they are no longer Catholic. Good to know. I don't want people of dubious or no \"faith\" setting the agenda for people of great faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nor did Presidents Obama and Reagan. They had no official religious affiliation or churches, but both of them attracted religious voters, like Trump. Ironically, all three of them overwhelming won over the plurality of Catholic voters during their campaigns.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll agree with just one of your statements:\n\"The Catholic vote elected the President.\"\nMusic to ears.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. There is a huge difference between me and a Joe Biden type Catholic: the areas of teaching that I am dissenting on are areas where dissent is permitted--because they involve prudential judgments.\n\nAreas where Cafeteria Catholics dissent on are areas where there is no freedom to dissent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "GBA: I pose what I consider to be a very relevant question: namely, How can anyone who professes to hold Christian values and truly believe \"character counts\" support a man of Trump's clear decadence and immoral character? Seems an altogether reasonable question....let me ask it of you as well. BTW: I don't have enough hair to have a \"bad hair\" day. best regards, Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If we Catholics know what our Catholic Scripture scholars teach us, thenwekow that God inspired the authors of the Genesis creation stories to use a myth form of writing. \nIt's past time that our Faith begins to take our resent day Scripture knowledge into account.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is it, do you suppose, that John's comments attributing false comments to Cardinal Burke , making judgments and calling him names is not only deemed civil by posters here, but lauded?\n\nAnd a comment reminding John that I have provided the exact quote he has falsely interpreted numerous times in order to suit him - is not?\n\nI mean really! I know it's Cardinal Burke and all...But does that mean we are allowed to misattribute comments to him and give it our own spin? Is that Christians in our eyes now?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. deHaas, I don't agree with you that the White evangelical vote was lost before the election even happened. Democrats do have something to say to White evangelicals and White Catholics, like myself, and we are more than just blindly committed to some sense of Republican orthodoxy. Democrats must reach out to Catholics and evangelicals, not because they necessarily want to, but because we vote and we refuse to be treated with disrespect. What am I to make of a party that has so much to say spending valuable time at their national convention inviting Ilyse Hogue to discuss her abortion? This is almost as bad as President Trump's surrogates suggesting that an enemies list is being kept. This is unity?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe you should tell us what you are so angry and we'll give you answers. Do away with the \"accommodating\" factor, we are here to stay, i.e to live and die in peace. If not in St-Apollinaire, we will have a cemetery elsewhere. Where do you as a Christian want to be buried? And why would that right be denied to Muslim, Sikh or Jewish Canadians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is the use of the term Catholic, but many Catholics would argue in court that they have as much right to the trademark as the hierarchy. It would be an interesting case. Generally, the hierarchy goes after individuals, ordained and avowed, to persecute such operations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our latest antisemitic trolls echo the sentiments of Pius IX toward his critics. He associated Jews with revolutionaries and \"freethinkers,\" and dismissed one distressed Catholic who appealed to the pope to return Edgardo to his family as poorly catechized.\n\nPlus \u00e7a change.\n\n(These factoids culled from Garry Wills' \"Structures of Deceit.\")", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Danno, I have been listening off and on this week, and at times in the past. This investigation is a thorough and thoughtful process. This past week has been especially interesting - because it is getting down to really seeking what bishops and heads of religious orders have learned and what they think can be done within the church to address the culture that allowed child sex abuse to become a scourge and to be hidden by those in charge. I think far too many of the big guys still think all they have to do is say \"sorry\" - and ignore a real look at how the world-wide Catholic Church and world-wide religious orders all behaved in the same way.\n\nThe change that is needed is huge. It is not just tweaking canon law here and there, but changing their own minds and hearts on issues that JPII and BXVI promoted - power sharing with laity and women.\n\nToo many current bishops learned to keep their minds and their mouths shut. But some good ones are coming out now, with Pope Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...Francophone majority wishes to extend it active discrimination against people of minority religions...\"\n@The G&M monitor= why \u201ccensured\u201d (again) this comment ?\n-\t\nFreedom of Expression in this case means that I have the right to \"criticize\", \nto \u2018interrogate', to 'condemn' ALL religions and without \"infantilized\", \"discredit\" them as far.\nYes ! It\u2019s LOUDER here in Qu\u00e9bec because \u201cbig-mouth\u201d Grande-gueule Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois will NEVER let another religion come replace Catholic Church and implant itself stealthily on its territory. Anglo Canadians & Newcomers should understand the Qu\u00e9bec reality on religion;\n\u00ab \u2026Catholic Church agreed to largely STEP OUT of the HEALTH and EDUCATION FIELDS in the 1960s\u2026 \u00bb\n(more to come)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those are good questions. I suspect the economic one gives pause to some in \"positions of authority\" along with fear of not having enough followers to keep them in a \"position of authority\" in the manner to which they have become accustomed. The impact of a true, worldwide schism -- not just a small handful splintering off without taking significant assets with them -- would be catastrophic, I think, both for the Church's missions and for countries with large Catholic populations and for leaders of government, society, or business who have essentially thrown their lot in with the Church or those they see as its representatives. I suspect the impact would put the Reformation and Counter Reformation to shame, economically, though hopefully not as bloodily. \n\nBut I also suspect a continuing drift away and personal missions while staying formally committed are more likely than formal schism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the Documents of Vatican II---we already recognized in the late 1960's that members of Christian communities are 'united' with us and in worshipping One Lord, in One Faith, in One Baptism.\n\nWhat Francis asks of Catholics in no more vague that Jesus telling his disciples to \"Baptize all in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit\". How to do this---Jesus left up to the knowledge and common sense of those doing this. Since Christians ARE baptized already with a baptism that the Catholic Church recognized already---what else is there? \n\n\nWorking in non-Christian lands---again, the Documents of Vatican II recognize the many elements that unite non-Christians to Christians. For any pope today to act like an army general issuing orders to the \"troops\" doesn't recognize the world in which we live. It isn't like Palestine back in the First Century.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that Francis pope should not meet with Christian evangelicals. As a political pope he is much better off having photo ops with Mark Zukerberg and George Clooney, who are on his political wave length. He should not risk watering down the message and import of his papacy by accepting in his presence people who do not fall in with the United Nations-EU values he has worked so hard to promote. Let the Holy Father not be distracted from his mission and that of the people who worked so hard to elevate him to the papacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Diocese of Rockville Centre is blessed to have him.\n\nI think the response the Bishop offered was perfectly pastoral and appropriate in tone. The only problem you could possibly have with it is that he did not jump immediately on the bandwagon...he had the temerity to say he'd pray about it. He is the Bishop of close to 2 million people who identify as Catholic....not just those who agree with the preponderance of writers and posters here. \n\nBy the way - I am constantly amazed at how many claim to jump on the caring for immigrant ideology - yet discriminate at will against foreign born priests, claiming they don't adapt to the language and culture well. Double standard much?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've really come to think the whole \"first round\" of sacraments ought to be changed. Instead of infant baptism, kiddie communion and penance, and teenage confirmation, the sacraments should be organized together at some age of maturity, a deemed age of ability to make a spiritual commitment -- somewhere between 14 and 17, I think would be reasonable.\n\nAt that point, when the young person is committing to his/her faith, begin with reconciliation, admitting we are human and we make mistakes and we sin, but wish to receive forgiveness and be part of God's people moving forward. Then baptism, the waters of repentance. Following that, cleansed and committed by choice, the first sharing of the Eucharist. Having formally joined the Christian community by sharing in the sacraments, have confirmation, for spiritual strength going forward.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The idea of original sin does not seem to be a very workable idea to explain the problem of evil. It makes God look incompetent to have a 'fallen' creation. Useless theory and unknown before Christianity.\n\nI think the various Mary's in the Gospel are designed to be replacements for the Great Goddess. They are fragments of Her and represent various attributes of her in tradition, such as mother, bride, weeper, anointer, etc. Because the Jesus story has Pagan themes -- dying and rising young lord and his holy mother -- the Pagan audience needed to be clued in that Mary is not exactly the same as the Great Goddess, quite different, in fact quite diminished. So we have her saying, \"I am the handmaiden of the Lord (male god),\" and subjugating herself to him. But when she says, \"My soul magnifies the Lord,\" that could be taken to mean she is a Christ. Creature birthing the one through whom all things were created. Paradox. Human as we all are, birthing . . . what", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If anyone needed proof that Steubenville or LifeSiteNews are Republican organizations rather than Catholic, this is it. That they are leaders in the movement is also no doubt. Connect the dots and consider banning these people from parish life, i.e. no more Pro-Life Action Committees. They are Republican front groups and not in line with Catholic Social Teaching, which demands public action for the poor and families.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Too many right-leaning Catholics are just worried that children are born. Without the means to support life---life doesn't last very long. Substantial jobs, housing, adequate food, clothing, access to medical/dental care, opportunities for education/training, care in old age are a NECESSITITY----not a luxury. These are the social-justice issues for today. As they were in Matthew's Gospel 25:31-47. These are the very issues that Jesus is going to use to judge all nations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There it is, the universalizing about torture, killing and violence that are \"universal\" in the world. I won't deny that Native cultures had warfare or violence. But to assume that it was all equal is to deny the extraordinarily violent history of Europe, where for 500 years(!) tens of thousands of \"witches\" were tortured and burned alive. The Inquisition, another religiously-inspired psychopathic endeavor, that also lasted centuries, killed at least 5000 people. Followed by more of the same, religious wars between Catholics and protestants, more torture and burning people alive on a large scale throughout Europe. Then, there was the infamous religious persecution of people in science in Europe. \n\nThe Christian church has not in the least improved \"Natives.\" But we sure wish it would improve you. That would be helpful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I went to one of Provos Sunday church services and I must say it was one of the most hate-filled and fear mongering churches I have ever attended. I grew up with a strictly Catholic home and not even they implemented the amount of hate ABT has for Muslims and the gay community. Truly freighting considering the amount of \"believers\" we're at attendance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rona said \"We have many Christian fanatics in the reform party, so we have a lot in common with the Donald.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think it is a major problem for Catholic theology. In a former life when I was known as Jesuitical, I expounded upon this. Since evolution dismisses the Fall as historical, and DNA tracing of the human genes verifies that there was NO first couple, there are derivatives to this; no Original Sin, no need for the Immaculate Conception or Baptism, or redemption due to the Fall. The church knows this but knows not what to do about it. It has already ceded that the Bible is metaphor/allegory, but is unable to dismiss a major tenet of its faith, and all the negativity of unworthiness cascading from Original Sin...whew.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I haven't much time, Dennis. But in a nutshell, as it were, they would prefer Francis lift the ban prohibiting/precluding divorced German Catholics from receiving Communion than lifting it for divorced Lutherans (or non-divorced or ex-Catholics). Rome won't let them (fearing heavy criticism from the Eastern European Churches). So why should they fight for Lutheran inclusion/intercommunion when their own current Catholics are denied access to Holy Communion (owing to their divorced status). Bye", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These are certainly valid criticisms from your point of view. However: \n<> is off-base. There are plenty of devout Christians who do not share your apparent views on these issues, and they are no less Christians than you are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure if God is up this morning and reading the ADN comments. But if He is, He will no doubt give your comments due consideration. And He may then realize that it's really not about war, and poverty, and hate, but how we can manipulate every commentary into a Obama vs. Trump diatribe. Or conservative vs. liberal. Or Democrat vs. Republican. That's really what good Christians should be focusing on.\n\nBut perhaps He is just too busy to notice, being endlessly petitioned to call the winners in football games and other such important matters these days.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Patriot prayer=Brown shirt Christian soldiers marching for Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I just can't believe the lack of knowledge, education, and understanding among so many people on here. The real issues at hand are being muddled over people dragging in politics and religion. This law has nothing to do with either of those things - it is about how to provide the best sex education to our children. Arguing about Christian morals and values, left wing vs. right wing, parenting styles, etc. is doing nothing productive whatsoever in having actual discussion about this law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CommonWetDreams.org is a completely lame citation.\n\nTry some hard facts instead, It was desperate and huge turnout by white evangelicals in the \"firewall\" states that put Trump over. \n\nThese fanatics were hardly going to vote for Sanders, who was even more aligned with the \"Black Devil\" in the White House.\n\nClinton won the vote of the lower income segment and all race/cultural minorities. Sanders wouldn't have done better.\n\n-- Paul", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, it's not, but you already knew that.\n\nNiagara Catholic, dysfunctional.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps it is important to approach the gospel not as an ideological position, but as the pedagogy of the people of God, a Christian paideia. The gospel is not a source book for theological viewpoints that would squeeze its meaning out into propositions, but itself an embodiment of the practice of truth that flolws into compassion and mercy. Otherwise, we will keep fighting over whose viewpoint is preferable, when in fact no viewpoint captures the truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I have come to understand in 3 years of posting here is that \n\n1). Many, many posters here are NOT Catholic. They are members of other faith traditions or people who have left the Faith for whatever reason. They seem to have a desire to belittle and dismiss those of us who are Catholic.\n\n2). There are those who are CINO - and would like to have the Church bend and change to their will and set of beliefs.\n\n3). There are those who appear to simply want to destroy the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely! This is much more Christian and Christ like. Jesus would be proud.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They didn't say it was a Christian Nation though it is based on many Judeo-Christian precepts. They did not say religion has no place in government but that government has no place in religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, majority Muslim nations took hundreds of thousands of Christian Syrians together with Yazidis and others. What Trump has done is racist and obviously to cater to his racist Christian conservative republican base. You clearly fit that mold well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Christian, I certainly do not support Mr. Trump's various un-Christ-like behaviors. However, many of his political positions certainly support Christian values far more than his opponent's values did, and have a greater likelihood of producing a more free, prosperous and strong America where Christian values can flourish. So I voted for and support many (not all) of the policies of Mr. Trump. Those who assume my choice and support to be un-Christian might want to consider which party has in its platform a plank supporting the killing of nearly 60 million American children and counting since 1973 (https://www.democrats.org/party-platform#reproductive-health). My Christian values prevent me from voting for any candidate or party who supports that and wants to use our taxes to continue it by repealing the Hyde Amendment. All Christians should disavow government supported abortion. Support live birth and adoption instead.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right, I've never seen overweight Christians and Christians don't get diabetes and don't succumb to alcoholism or get lung cancer from second-hand smoke. Sounds like Christians (the ones in AlwaysThere's imagination, at least) don't really need healthcare coverage because they're practically divine!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now please don't make the assumption here that the important issue lies in the use of the correct names, as the Sacred Name movement holds. It is rather in understanding the correct relationships between Father, Son, and Spirit. The Father, Yah Yahweh, is supreme, yet grants all power and all authority over all which is created, to the Son. The Son, Yashua Yahweh, the creator of the heavens (the universe) and the earth, is equal to the Father, yet obedient to Him, sub-servant. Spirit is their essence, what they are. Spirit is unapproachable light, different from matter and energy; greater.\nHPWells: I suggest that you have the right to follow your chosen religion, but please stay out of ours. Us \"pagen Christians\" have enough variance within our own belief structure, and don't need outsiders meddling, adding fuel to the fire. And you have the written Torah? We have Torah written in our hearts. Even better! We do by instinct, what you have to be forced to do by Jewish law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The hatred Fr. Martin faces, as he so rightly pointed out, is the same hatred faced by LGBT. Ironic that these haters often consider themselves Christian, or even for that matter defenders of Christ. Nothing could be further from the truth.\nDialogue in Christian charity is needed and Fr. Martin's book is an example of an effort to fulfill that need.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Dogmatic\" is a secularist's perjorative, not a Christian's. The Church has dogma necessarily, and out of love, so that all generations and nations may be taught the Gospel.\n\nA bishop who is not dogmatic is unwilling to do his job, depriving the laity and his brother priests of Christian teaching, and should resign.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...Pope Benedict. He announced his resignation during the Year of Faith. That was probably the biggest act of faith that he left us as a legacy to the church.\"\n\nWrong. Totally wrong. Benedict's greatest gift was Summorum Pontificum, because it is the building block on which to reconstruct the Catholic Church after Bergoglio & Co. succeed in removing Catholic faith and practice from the visible landscape totally, not with a bang but a whimper (or should I say simper). Brick by brick the church already is being rebuilt under what Benedict left, poor as that is. For Cupich and all double-talking Pied Pipers, enjoy your New World Order United Nations-affiliated multi-theistic \"religious\" entity. I will not be there with you, thanks be to God, but I will pray for you from the Catholic remnant, or if you will, from the peripheries. I hope you will dare to venture there some time. \n\n(Challenging, yes. Uncivil, NO.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reason the immoral minority has such a difficult time understanding the importance to Christians of living their lives guided by a set of bright line values and absolutes is because most of them have never had one that wasn't subject to modification, change, and abandonment the very first instant it becomes a burden or interferes with their pursuit of their hedonistic value free lifestyle.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While agreeing with a lot of what you have written, I think it is only fair to acknowledge that the spirituality of 'the old order' does appeal to and inspire and help a lot of people, young and old. I sense that Francis is concerned also for those for whom Christianity is utterly irrelevant in any meaningful way, and for whom the finger wagging approach is not regarded as loving but rejecting. There is really no 'one size fits all' - we all come from very different histories, none of which are perfect and God meets us where we are and draws us to 'Him'self in ways in which we can relate. The idea that Faith is the keeping of a set of rules rather than a deepening relationship with the Living God does not sit well with me, but I recognise that it sits well with many others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A lot of the Syrian refugees are Christian.\n\nIt is Christian fundamentalists who hate refugees. Funny, because Christianity started with two Middle Eastern refugees named Joseph and Mary", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So holding hands is an expression of solidarity against the Church hierarchy? Oh, my. I never dreamed there was such a good reason to oppose hand-holding. So the Our Father is sort of an Operation Wall Street, a protest against the Church's 1%ers. Interesting. Thanks for affirming my reasons for opposing the Catholic left.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sounds like more evidence of the War on Religion. He should have been acquitted once his defrauded spouse clarified that 'Old School Catholic Marriage' encourages hiding assets in order to 'protect' the family. \n\nHe should use the next few years to write a book detailing how the Government unfairly targeted him because of his faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, rituals are important (and very easy to mock), especially when a message involves things that we find uncomfortable to talk about, like sin; or when important things have happened that are difficult to comprehend, like transubstantiation. I'll leave it to the psychologists and theologians here to explain why. But that the oldest and most followed religions have rituals and large, ornate places of worship is no accident. \n\nThat Jesus was a Jew who taught in the temple suggests that he was supportive of ritual. The last supper was a ritual of Judaism and Jesus' new religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A truth well written. The reality however, is that the Church, a nonprofit institution under a charter of incorporation, agreed, by signature, not to practice discrimination against the people of this country, because of race, creed, or religion, etc. We christians do not deny these truths of our faith, but we also know and agreed to the laws of this land. What we believe is not what is being challenged here. It's what we are imposing on the free people of this country. Like it or not, it is still the greatest country to live in!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AT\" based on your posts, I read you as a very conservative, fundamentalist Christian.....regards, Gary", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...\" Anyone who is unhappy with the teachings, practices and beliefs of the Catholic Faith\"......\n\nActually, 'Anyone who is unhappy with the teachings, practices and beliefs of the Catholic Faith', should work to contribute to making it better if they are truly Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny how liberals run from Christianity when abortion and other sins are on the table, but have no problem misapplying Christian principles when it suits their agenda.\nWe as a people feel compelled to enshrine rights in our laws because we recognize the philosophical concept of unalienable rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ors,\nAs Jesus said, \"blessed are the poor in spirit, the kingdom of heaven is theirs\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know this is probably hard for you to follow, but the difference here \u2013 stay with me \u2013 is that nobody is requiring the entire student population to participate in Muslim prayers. The reason the Lord's Prayer was removed from public schools was because non-Christians were being expected to say the prayer.\n\nIf Catholic kids want to pray while at public school they should also be allowed to do so.\n\nMuslims aren't turning public schools into religious buildings. They're just asking for the right to practice their religion which is protected by our Constitution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "what you see in Canadians is the Christian values which comes from our Christian bibles and churches and what we were taught in our homes. read the ten commandments and its all in there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dennis: No problem. I had a fellow survivor tell me in a post that he wishes he had suffered memory lost after he was abused by a priest at Father Judge High School in Northeast Philadelphia. He was anally raped on a routine basis by a priest who had befriended him. He was a gay kid. A gay kid in a Catholic High School back then was at the mercy of all those good Christian boys. The way I responded to him was that he never forgot what happened to him. He knew why he felt the way he did and why he acted the way he did. My life was a complete puzzle. I had no idea why I felt the way I did and why I acted the way I acted. Recovering the memories connected all the dots. I do believe that forgetting what happened is a way of avoiding the pain. I was never asked whether I had been sexually abused. It was not a subject brought up in polite society. But I was in recovery. I had been seeing a therapist for two years. The subject of sexual abuse never came up.We talked a lot about my family.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "continue,\n \nHowever, we have to see this as clearly as we can: \nWe got introduced to God and the Christ spiritual teaching whatever degree. \nWhatever the spiritual wisdom institutional clergies have not attained, they can\u2019t give us. IOW, they have done all they can/are.\nThat does not mean it also ends our spiritual journey. The universe is before us, or rather that we are in it.\nIt is each one of us work/duty to relentless pursuit to understand, fully live in it, love in it, transcend in it, embody the universe in us, i.e., being \u201cYou are a priest forever in the manner of Melchizedek.\u201d, united to God.\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...we find no peace\"\n\nThe question is : Can we find no peace from you? There are other places to build your cemetery. Normal people of all other faiths and ethnicities would look elsewhere for a pleasant place to bury their dead. You want your cemetery in the middle of an established largely Catholic community. . It is a portent of mass Muslim influx to St Apollinare. You are preparing for a perpetual law-fare war on others to get the land you want. Imagine how Israel feels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Denglish, do any western democracies have a \"State religion\"\nsort of like Saudi Arabia and Iran and other \"Islamic republics\"\n\nAny \"Christian republics\"? Buddhist republics? Hindu republics?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Moe. I am not mocking prayers. I am a Christian and an active member in my church and my community with regard to service and spreading the Good News. I am mocking the reaction of our administration and those who are quick to offer \"prayers\" over a crisis that needs much more than a Psalm. You misconstrued my comment entirely. I am happy you enjoy target shooting. I also understand the Second Amendment and your choice to own a weapon, either as a hobby or to protect your home and loved ones against an intruder. I do disagree with your perception, however true it may be for you, that an individual has a right to possess weapons designed to kill a large amount of people merely citing history. That argument is tenuous and is getting ripe for dismissal. Just ask the family members of those slain recently in Las Vegas and now the people of First Baptist if this monster deserved to own weapons of that caliber. Let me ask you: Do you feel Mr. Kelly should have possessed a AR-556?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, thanks, Jay, I appreciate the response and the link. The article certainly demonstrates a correlation between countries where liberation theology was active and Catholic converts to Pentecostalism. But causation? Hard to say.\n\nMy sympathies incline to Xavier Rynne's view of the matter. Liberation theology acknowledges realpolitik and the Christian imperative of releasing the poor from oppression. I find it close to the gospel. Pentecostalism not so much. The article describes Pentecostalism as \"authentic spirituality.\" What is \"authentic spirituality\" and why would Catholicism not inspire it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In all fairness the same argument should be applied when considering voting for Mrs. Clinton as well. Educated Catholics should know what our Lord and Savior Jesus teaches about the sanctity of human life and His commandment \"not to kill\". In simplest terms it means thou shall \"not murder\", which means no one should ever take an \"innocent life\".\n\nMany people will argue and debate, as well as pervert, this commanded teaching and Truth to justify their own ends but those who support abortion have no case to do so whatsoever.\n\nA human being developing in the \"safety\" of his or her mother's womb is completely innocent of everything except original sin and unless we want to corrupt Christ's teaching of the Truth even more than many already do, then no faithful Christian of any denomination can support or vote for any one or group who actively advocates for such killing! According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, supporting abortion in any way's a grave sin also!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no conflict within the Constitution here. This decision is only about funding non-catholics to attend catholic schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately our church has become an organ for spreading bad news instead of the good news that Christ taught. Learning to follow Christ is not meant to be the present-day mine field the Magisterium has created.\nOur professional religious instructors need to devolve back to the teaching method employed by Jesus but adapted to modern times. After all, Christianity is not about \"doing away with the old law but fulfilling it.\" In other words, Christianity is not about establishing a new set of laws but to teach/learn a new way of living.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cAs long as You are not angry with me, I do not mind\u201d has to be the most delusional thought of all time... that he or she speaks directly to god, knows god's opinion and that god sanctions their behavior. \n\nuntil all of us, Christian, Muslim or whatever realize that this is nothing more than a fantasy we will not \nbe able to move forward.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I assume you're referring to Matthew 15:21-28. I disagree with your interpretation there, but I suspect I'm being trolled anyway, so I'm not going to argue with you on it. The point is, he still took compassion on her and healed her. What about Matthew 28:19, what about Matthew 8:5-13. What about Peter's vision of the animals?\n\nWhether or not Jesus focused on ministering primarily to the Jews or not, the fact is, he DID, even as exceptions to the rule, minister to the Gentiles. Further, the gospel is intended to be spread to **all nations**.\n\nBetween that, and Jesus' example of primarily compassion, healing, love, and acceptance, even as he administered correction and direction to those who erred, I'm confident in taking the understanding from scripture that there is nothing 'satanic' about attempting to make the world into a place where people are not unjustly killed, tortured, degraded or mocked simply because of their genetic makeup.\n\nSorry, I just can't see your perspective.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Amid this pile of thoughts is the rather odd notion that we should \"build a kingdom\" that is \"not a monarchy.\" I am curious as to what system of theology makes such a thing possible,\n\nI am also curious, in light of last Sunday's gospel, why we should not be about building the church that Christ said He was building following Simon's confession of Jesus' messiahship.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the United States, violence directed towards abortion providers has killed at least eleven people, including four doctors, two clinic employees, a security guard, a police officer, two people (unclear of their connection), and a clinic escort; [I 1] [I 2] Seven murders occurred in the 1990s.\nAnti-abortion violence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-abortion_violenceWikipedia\n\nAre you seriously comparing a very very small number to the massive amount of killings perpetrated by the Muslim terrorist? Take a bit of time Gary and look at the sheer number of Muslims who while not part of the violence do in fact support it and then with an open mind look at Christians and what minuscule percent support violence. You really want to again make the comparison?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How to square \"his campaign manager sits on the board of Rebel media\" and being Christian I wonder? I guess we'll find out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thinking we can add anything to Christ's suffereings is all ego. Realizing that Christ suffered because we suffer is what provides our salvation, not some blood debt from an original act of disobedience that didn't really happen. Picking our crosses has to do with building the Church (remember Jesus as carpenter), although in the days of the early Church, that often meant martyrdom, a witness to Jesus, not to mortification. Let the Shia do that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pence? It's probably best to keep the nuclear arsenal out of the hands of a born again Christian who thinks Armageddon would be a good thing. Of course with Trump in control of the military it's just as scary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An Earth created by God, could have easily been created with an appearance of age. Once again you do not know when dinosaurs existed, which are simply reptiles that grow (along with many other animals) their whole lives, we have forms of them today, and a pre-flood earth where things grew exponentially and much longer (like the Bible says they did), is reasonable. As far as you being a \"Fundie\" you have never experience true regeneration, obviously, or you would not have \"fallen away\". Plainly and simply, you and people in your camp are doing the same thing I and other Christians are guilty of doing and that is attempting to prove your worldview and presuppositions - there are thousands of Christian Scientists you can read if you are so interested, I don't expect you to, but the resources are out there. Christianity does not squelch science, it enables it, which is demonstrated in many cases.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've always thought that nuns wear their habits on their souls. Most Roman Catholics (or former Roman Catholics) can spot a nun a mile away. Whether or not they wear a habit is no one's business but their own, as they decide within their own order (within any given order some may wear a habit and some may not).\n\nThe only ones who care are \"civilians\" who seem to feel that it is necessary for them to pass judgement on everyone else's business.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, maybe you should have watched the dozen House of Commons committees over the past year on the immigration file. There, you'd have learned that yes indeed, the vast majority of the Muslim refugees from Syrian were NOT in harm's way, but were safely ensconed in safe zones in half a dozen middle east countries for YEARS. They were NOT in harm's way at all. And you'd also have learned these facts:\n\n-the UNHCR, the body the libs relied on to screen our refugees from Syria, were staffed full of racist muslims, who carefully screened out any Yazidi or other non muslim groups whose lives WERE on the line\n\n-the cost of bringing the refugees was TWO BILLION tax dollars\n\n-the cost of Harper bringing in 23K Christian Iraqi refugees (did you even know he did so?), was NOTHING, as they were not government sponsored, while the cost of the 1200 Yazidi, just announced today to bring to Canada, government sponsored, is 32 Million. See a pattern here?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So are you saying that Paul is simply a Christian version of primitive (presumably pagan) religion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Puerto Rico could encourage businesses to hire by eliminating mandatory $600 Christmas bonuses, 15 days of paid vacation and severance payments (two months pay if you work one year and six months if you work more than 15). Instead, Governor Garc\u00eda Padilla wants Congress to extend the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and Supplemental Social Security Income to the commonwealth. Yet expanding the welfare state will likely further reduce its labor participation rate.\n\nBut Catholic economists typically see no problems with welfare state policies, and have no clue about how wealth is generated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to this study, the main reason people have left is that they no longer believe in what their church teaches, whether protestant or Catholic. This loss of belief is often ignored by Catholics, as people cite the scandal, the hot-button doctrines of the day, the liturgy and several other things, contributing factors but not the fundamental one. \n\nThere is a difference between losing belief in a institution and losing belief in God. That distinction is often lost in these discussions. The study shows that the majority of \"nones\" believe in God, many pray. \n\nIt is doubtful that having someone wish them Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas caused anyone to lose their belief in the doctrines of Christianity. Also, I am unaware of laws that forbids people from mentioning God in public. God is mentioned in public all the time in the US. But there are places where it is not permitted - public schools for example. Once again, it is doubtful that this causes loss of belief.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not a theologian, I do not claim to be totally knowledgeable in the workings of the various councils I do know that we are all Christians, we believe in the same Jesus Christ and we are family. I am sad to see Catholics are not more engaged, for the most part, in a local dialogue with their local Lutheran brothers and sisters. Lutherans want to build bridges Catholics seem not to care.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Its called murder regardless how you recklessly define it. \n\nHave you ever picked up a King James bible or attend a Christian church?\nThe institution calls it murder as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and let us not forget it is Christians who founded this country\nwhether you like it or not\nif you don't like why did you immigrate in the first place\n\nbe grateful to Christians of the Age of Enlightenment that they give all faiths religious freedom\n\ncannot say the same of the Middle East", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is ok for people to say things about other groups because of free speech - it's not unacceptable. If you're looking for examples of churches condeming others, probably a hard road to travel as Christ taught against condemnation but more on focus on our own actions. Christianity in America doesn't have a spokesperson. \nThat said, I've heard plenty of condemnation for hate groups like Westboro Baptist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree Judith.....though I do believe it would be nicer to have mixed cemeteries as that would do a nicer job showing we are all one under god. So if there were Christian cemeteries that refused to bury Muslims I would be appalled. But I am not always comfortable with cultures coming here and thinking they should have separate schools, cemeteries etc.....Not sure if that is the issue here and my regrets to these folks. However, let's not forget the issue swings both ways. Do they require to be buried separately and if so, then I would begin to disagree...same as if Christians refused them burial space.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Spirit in the human person is the spiritual church.\u2014Robert Helfman In this sentence \u201cthe human person\u201d is in the singular, but the Church consists of persons in the plural. The Mystical Body of Christ has a place here too, but not so much with the Orthodox.\n\nThe Nicene Creed said every Sunday at Mass contains the Filioque, from which you demure. Pulling that from the Creed is a sticky wicket, if that is what you mean to do.\n\n__\n\nThe harm done to the church in silencing theologians is, at present, incalculable.\u2014Robert Helfman I\u2019ll buy some of them, i.e. I agree. As a result, we are stuck with us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When we look back at the cultures of the past we find the arts are a significant part of history. The statuary of Rome and Greece tells us far more than simply there were artist. We see the monuments of Egypt that gives us insights into the daily lives of that era. The art works at the Vatican provides us with a history of the significance Christianity had along with stories of those who did in the name of their faith. Across the US our parks and monuments to those who served in battle tells the story of a commitment by our citizens to defend the nation.\n\nThose who see no value in the arts would be satisfied to let future generations view our abandoned land fills as what America was.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not only did you not know this was a Protestant website, the staff of NCR does not know this is a Protestant website, nor do many of their readers! \n\nThey are under the delusion that this is a \"Catholic\" website just because the name \"Catholic\" appears in the title of the publication.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I feel sorry for you. Truly. What do you live for my friend? One day when you wake up and you realize that none of your precious dreams or goals have brought you happiness and peace, try opening up the Bible and see what God is really about.\n\nI find it sad that in this age of science and critical thinking, so called \"informed\" people are so easily brainwashed by the world. They just believe the lies about Christians, about God, about their precious evolution. They accept assumption for fact. Do some research, you're a critical thinker I assume? Or do you just believe any lie you're told?\n\nWe didn't pray for the magical removal of Zuma like Rebecca Davis will have you believe. We prayed to ask Him to help His people change. Be more loving. Be like Jesus! So in turn we can influence people for the better and be a nation for Jesus! \n\nOr do secularists not want people to be loving and caring towards one another? Would they rather we follow in our animalistic evolutionist behavior?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill: I don't scoff at your beliefs. They are yours and you are clearly sincere in them. I must add they are irrelevant to me. I'm interested in how people treat other people and the world around them. If your religion helps you be a better person, that, to me, is great. However, I do find it a bit \"off-putting\" that many religious individuals (Christians and others) have the ultimate \"my way or the highway\" attitude; either you believe as I do or you're going to be damned to eternal hell. Gary, agnostic and secular humanist, Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that elements of the Truth are found outside of the visible boundaries of the Roman Catholic Communion. I also agree that the graces of salvation are found outside of the visible boundaries of the Roman Catholic Communion. \n\nThat, however does not mean that Truth is relative, or that all religions are equally valid expressions of Truth.\n\nI also fail to understand why you are even bringing this up, because I don't see what it has to do with the Sacrament of Baptism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, we are stoning adulterers every day. Leviticus had its purpose and it was not a universal sexual and moral code. It was national separatism while in exile. A fine act of resistance to build a Judaism that archeologists now know never was before the exile. The myth of reading the law in the desert was a copy of what happened in the Book of Nehemiah. You need to find a local Catholic college and take a History of the Old Testament course before you quit spreading nonsense. God help your students if you are teaching one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It isn't just in the USA. There was a fad for various Family / Heritage / Christian right wing nuts to run under Fringe Party banners here in Canada. One of those party banners featured a party logo with the vertical bar of the christian cross shortened to nearly the same length as the horizontal bar, and right angled hooks at the ends of both the vertical and horizontal bars. \n\nEven a non visual thinker should be able to get the message from that choice of logo, not that far from the Nazi swastika.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would like to hear that answer as well. I once heard it described as a form of repetitive meditation, but that was from a non-Catholic and I am sure that answer would not be sanctioned by the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have come to see in the historical record that the Church's leadership is nearly always more comfortable with the autocratic (Catholic) theocrat than democracy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for this post. I just finished reading a recent book from Orbis: EMPIRE BAPTIZED (How the Church Embraced What Jesus Rejected 2nd-5th Centuries) by Wes Howard-Brook. The Church in those centuries opted for the religion of empire over the religion of Creation. From my perspective this is exactly what has happened to the U.S. Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mike Pence: \u201cI\u2019m a Christian, a Conservative and a Republican. In That Order\u201d\nhttp://www.lifenews.com/2016/07/21/mike-pence-im-a-christian-a-conservative-and-a-republican-in-that-order/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic schools are NOT funded by Catholic tax payers, but by all. Apparently you are the one who needs to be educated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lela Markham is a pen name. A tea-partier Christian trolling for attention and venting disapproval.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope. He said that younger pastors with a conservative faith (and approach to the Bible) were growing. He never made the leap which you have made which is to suggest that pastors and congregations with a more liberal approach did not have a faith which was \"deeply held\" and which was therefore \"merely social\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God and/or a belief in God is irrelevant to the running of this government, and ought to be irrelevant to whether a candidate is qualified for political/appointed/civil service office or not.\nFurthermore, not all Christians think like you or Mike Pence or FoF.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Barack Obama saved this country from another Great Depression while inheriting a disaster in foreign policy from the Bush/Cheney regime. Obama has faced sabotage at every turn from the Republicans who put party before country. He has outraged those who want the United States to be a Christian theocracy. Historians will rate him as a very successful president.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Elaine, no, it doesn't. Most of the readers of this website wish and are pretending it does, but the Church still firmly proclaims that marriage is indissoluble. While Amoris Laetitia has problems, it did NOT give the National Catholic Reporter crowd what they wanted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "you realize that the catholic system has a far better record on kids that graduated with actual knowledge over the public system?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"commoner\n\n1 hour ago\n\nYes....and he had the nerve to say (quote)....\u201cPeople in Hawaii don\u2019t know how to process a Muslim other than what they see on TV,\u201d he said.\"\n\nChin himself is stereotyping Hawaii's citizens! What the he!! LIKE the Holy Donna Brazille who used Christianity for her defense with Megyn Kelly, who by the way admitted just recently she did in fact email Hillary's Camp the questions for the debate, the SA and maybe Chin is using Christianity for what he's done going against the Presidents Ex. Order.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religious people are trying to force their way of life onto others. That's why the law about Separation of Church and State was created - to stop these frothing at the mouth christians from force feeding everyone around them their own beliefs. \n\nIf you can't respect the Separation of Church and State, then stay the hell out of the State.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kerry's speech, though true, is meaningless now and sounds like sour grapes.\n\nLike every president before him, Obama pampered the Israelis and enabled their destructive policies. He did it to maintain his own hold on power by appealing to the fundamentalist Christians in his own country. (US Fundamentalist Christians are even more supportive of Israel's West Bank settlements than are American Jews.)\n\nObama gets no points from me for speaking up when it takes no courage to do so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do your own research, AlwaysThere. There have been quite a number of in depth articles on Trump's record with regards to contractors, menial laborers and other types of workers who have worked on his projects over the years. \nLet me be blunt with you. I only engage in discourse with you because you're exactly the kind of fundamentalist Christian that makes me want to puke--the kind I wouldn't hesitate to demolish either rhetorically or, if necessary, otherwise. To me you represent everything that makes the U.S. the backward country that people in other countries laugh at. Frankly, I laugh with them. I debate with you entirely for for my own amusement and, from an intellectual point of view, I have not an ounce of respect for you. By comparison with you, I consider motleycrew a serious thinker, then again, that's not saying much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank God for balanced Catholic media like NCR, America, and Commonweal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Probably only two people watching this thread, but I want to mention that the second youtube link of Carrier speaking on the historicity of Jesus is just fascinating. I learned a lot about the early church, and the making of the Christian myth. So many wars and bodies over the ages over differences in myths.\nWe humans are just weird.\n\nHugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Michenor had a line in \"Hawaii\" about the Christian missionaries who went to Hawaii to \"do good\" and they all did real well. It ain't no different for Oregon politicians. Thrice failing the bar, and never able to practice law in Oregon, Wyden ingratiated himself the Grey Panthers and became a congressman. He is now worth $12 million to $30 million, depending on the filed forms and year. And all the rest of the Oregon delegation are millionaires now. They got themselves elected to \"do good for Oregon\" and they have all done really well, personally. There is not a Samaritan among them. They do what they need to do to get re-elected, and to do good. They all have done really well. 8 years President, and BH Obama leaves office at least $10million better off than the day he was elected. He did well. He did good. How about the poor? \n\nAs for the poor: get elected to public office and never worry about money again, unless, of course, you have some Jim Weaver in your makeup.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have you chronicled these attacks? I'm interested in how you know your attackers to be \"christians\". How do you know they weren't secularists?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Might the crux of this debate be the reluctance on the part of our unmarried bishops and priests to recognize the right of Catholics to think and make conscientious decisions for themselves? The bishops know very well that most of the faithful have not accepted the teaching of Humane Vitae that all uses of \"artificial\" birth control are intrinsically evil. If we were to exclude from communion all couples who may make use of the pill or condoms, there would be far fewer communicants. In truth, everyone who wishes to receive communion examines his or her own conscience prior to partaking of the Body And Blood of Christ. Some may take this obligation more seriously than others but they do it nonetheless. What AI does is bring into public discussion the practice of internal forum (confessional) solutions which have been going on for a very long time. I wonder if some bishops would prefer that this practice be rare and always kept absolutely secret?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul Winkler commented: \"So are you saying you do not want a secure America? In addition, are you saying that Trump is destroying this country because he is attempting to ensure terrorists cannot readily enter the US?\"\nNO PAUL, we are saying that Trump and his \"White Nationalist Christian\" advisers are trying to keep people who are not white out of the U.S.A. This has nothing to do with terrorism - the countries that have sent terrorists here are NOT ON THE LIST. It's a racist thing Paul; call it what it is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The big thing that really propelled the furor of sex abuse issue was the reluctance to quickly deal with many of the 200 or so true pedophiles of the second half of the 20th century. These pedophiles abuse were serial abusers of thousands of small children and very young teens. The larger group of situational abusers who may be involved with a single or maybe 2 adolescents over a career is something that goes on in all churches and secular orgs and is the more difficult thing to assess. I have read of this problem in Protestant Christian churches in the periodical \"Christianity Today\" and the various opinions about what to do with it and what slack can be cut for the offender.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Rdp46!\n\"I think we are discussing something quite different in what we mean about Ego.\" I thought so too. I respect the studies of psychology field. I have a few Jung's books. Thanks for your introduction on the good books on Ego. \nA few times I had to give up buying books on psychology because I did not know which one.\nI hope you did not think that I was trying to win our discussion. \nMany posters seem interested in discussing an alternative ways to worship God as a Catholic lay community. I would be interested in contemplative community, not an intellectual one. \nThanks again.\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How any educated Catholic could vote for Trump is beyond me. He is so manifestly unprepared and unfit for the office of President that it would be recklessly careless about the future of the world as well as the USA to cast a vote for him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article takes an odd swipe at Nones by painting them with a Trump brush. The author doesn't explicitly mention that these individualistic Nones with no moral prescriptions are not who broke for Trump in the voting data. This seems an important piece to have considered before pejoratively characterizing a group for a leader they did not support. One might actually argue the majority of Catholics and Christians who did vote for him, and Church leaders who were quite silent in their opposition, add one more decisive, moral, and \"religious\" reason so many are disaffiliating.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did it occur to Ms Aziz that Christians, Atheists and anyone else from these 7 countries are also banned temporarily. It probably did occur to her but why bother with the truth?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The census of 1939 in Germany listed the following; 54% Protestant, 40% Catholic, 3.5% believer in God, 1.5% non-religious, 1% Jewish. In total over 95% of people living in Germany were Christian. In 1933 there were approximately 45 million Protestants in Germany which at that time was 67% of the population. In 1937-38 Germany annexed Austria which was a large majority Catholic. \n.\nIn 1939 with the annexation of Poland Catholics were persecuted along side German Catholics in Dachau, 2720 died there including 1,034 priests.\n.\nCatholic schools were shut down in 1939 and the Catholic press in 1941. The German government took over many churches, monasteries, convents and church properties for the public interest. The Nazis attempted to eradicate the Catholic Church in areas outside Germany, mainly Poland to a smaller extent Slovenia and Austria.\n.\nWhoever wrote \"Christians don't do this kind of thing\" doesn't know their history!\n.\nChristians were fighting Christians!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A beard moves with a man's facial expressions, it doesn't hide them, as does the niqab, burqa, etc. A beard does not make it impossible to identify someone.\n\nFirst we started by defending women against misogynistic patriarchal religion.\n\nThen we started only doing that with Christianity and gave other religions a pass.\n\nThen we started actually defending the misogyny as feminism if it came from non-Christian religions.\n\nThen we will start pressuring all women to dress \"modestly\" so as not to offend the religious sensibilities of some communities.\n\nThe we will start seeing women being assaulted for not being \"modestly dressed\" in some neighborhoods, and blame them for \"asking for it\".\n\nBut we're men, so...who cares?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If somebody is using Catholicism to support hateful views, we absolutely have a right to distinguish those views. Similarly, when ISIS carries out attacks in the name of Islam, moderate Muslims unquestionably have a right, but not an obligation, to separate those actions from true Islam. That is not insecurity or immaturity, it is protecting a key part of one's identity. It's not meaningless to me when an Imam comes on TV to educate the public on what Islam actually teaches and call out ISIS for what it is. I certainly don't believe the Imam has a duty to distinguish his religion from these fanatics, but I appreciate it and don't see this as some meaningless expression of insecurity. I bet you don't either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see numbers of 1st world women who happily describe themselves as conservative Christians, women who have advanced degrees and rewarding professional lives, and an admirable degree of independence and self-determination. And they seem to value these things, to take legitimate pride in their achievements, and to see them as significant aspects of who they are. And I wonder, how do they think it came about, that such things became possible for women? Is it nothing more than coincidence, that the advent and maintenance of reproductive choice is so strongly correlated with women's access to education, careers, etc? Do they think that their conservative traditions were advocating for the past 150 years for them to have the lives they now enjoy? \n\nYou write, \"Destroy that culture... and anything is possible.\" I suggest that there may be things you value greatly, that only become possible once \"that culture\" ceases to have a controlling grip on society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My comment was posted in reply to some people challenging whether the Church needed reform. I thought it would be useful for them to know that it is part of the Church's teaching that the Church needs reform. \n\nOf course, the quotations from Vatican II have to be set in context. Part of that context was pastoral sensitivity \u2013 a felt need to tone down the expression. But the more important part of the context is theological. The quote from Lumen Gentium is in paragraph 8: the previous seven paragraphs have set up the Council's vision of what (or really \"who\") the Church is. The need for \"reform\" is a consequence of acknowledging that the Church is the People of God, in other words, the baptised.\n\nThe fact that the second quote about \"reform\" comes in the Decree on Ecumenism confirms that behind this assertion is the foundational vision of the Church as the People of God/the baptised. Why? Because we have to take into account that it is not just Catholics who are baptised ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes I consider myself a Christian. I'm not asking for the unjust treatment of anyone. To elevate the rights of one group over another is anti-Christian. I believe American citizens and legal immigrants that follow the rules have a right to be protected. Letting people cut in line is wrong in every religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So if non-Catholic students cannot be funded in a Catholic system does the reverse corollary then apply - can a Catholic student in the public system be funded???? There are likely just as many Catholic students in the public system being funded as there are non-Catholic students being funded in the Catholic system. Perhaps the whole issue is mute in the end.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know any devout Christian who advocates against health care for all people; I know some who think government programs are not an effective way to make it happen.\n\nI don't know any devout Christian who advocates against help for the poor and elderly; I know some who think government programs are not an effective way to deliver the assistance.\n\nI don't know any devout Christian who advocates against public education; I know a lot who advocate in favor of improving public education.\n\nAlmost nobody on either side advocates for equality for all Americans; almost everybody agrees people who choose to do bad things should be discouraged and people who choose not to do bad things should be encouraged.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An unfortunate headline, except for Trinity and Hobby Lobby. These lawyers also defend Christians who violate law on religious grounds. On some issues they do OK, although on contraception the Administration rolled over after the whole War on Women stunt. Their greatest overreach was in enacting the Parital Birth Abortion Act to force the SCOTUS to reconsider Roe (which was entirely unsuccessful). The only benefit to that saga was to get Trump to mention it and have Hillary answer to rile her base rather than continuing the Obama meme that the law should be adjusted, but there is a law already and that the movement itself was all about elections and not about the unborn. Her epic fail on that question gave Trump pro-life Democrats.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Add Cardinal Sarah on liturgy, apparitions of hell at Fatima, Chaput on modernity's evils, and why Notre Dame and Boston College are anti-Catholic but Steubenville is elite higher ed, and you have the \"other\" NCR's menu.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really? Every single conservative is a Christian (I assume that's what you meant) who believes in a literal interpretation of Genesis? I don't think so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A currently well-known Catholic writer and speaker, Matthew Kelly, would encourage people to \"become the best version of yourself\". If we believe that we are all made in the image and likeness of God, then we honor our Creator by becoming the best selves we can possibly be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quite true. However, if several people whom you didn't know turned up on your doorstep asking to be let in because they had nowhere to go, would you let them in?\nIf you did would you tell them that they could stay indefinitely and you would provide for them? Would you allow any of their relatives who turned up at your door to enter and enjoy the same conditions?\nAssuming that you let them in initially as an act of Christian Charity pro tempore and they continued to depend upon you, how long would it be before you told them you couldn't support them anymore and they would have to leave.\nIt is very easy to use \"God is love\" as a mantra rather than answer the basic questions above, let's hope you will do the latter.\nThe above scenario is a microcosmic scenario of what is happening in the U.S. and W. Europe. We have no way of discerning whether an immigrant is friend or foe but plenty of experience of those who were foes, especially lately here in Europe", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesuit Fr. Timothy Kesicki, president of Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, said more than 1,100 educators in Jesuit colleges and universities have signed a letter to Kelly urging him to fight for DACA.\"\n\nIt is good to see that there are still Catholic clergy that will stand upon for what is right and not take orders from the Donald Trump and the Republican Party.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and christianity?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wm Abbott wrote: \"Slavery on the face of it is unjust. It violates the golden rule. The bible communicates the injustice of slavery magnificently. The abolitionist movement was distinctly Christian.\"\n\nThat the Golden Rule was being violated didn't abolish slavery. Slavery continued until there was political success in outlawing it\u2014and against opposition from many claiming Biblical support. So, no, it is not true that \"the doctrine of equality pursued politically has an unhappy history.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have you studied American history? Many of the first public schools, in that they were open to everyone, in the West were started by nuns or other Christian missionaries. Not to mention hospitals, clinics, homeless shelters, orphanages, group homes, etc were started by Christians. Why the animosty towards Christians? Because a very small number want to teach topics you don't agree with? Schools study a lot about various cultures already. You seem to have only one grievance though.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "it's past time to dismantle the old relics of the past and start anew, with a bigger better coalition of those who share our western values and the ideals of capitalism. Russia is a lot like america 1950s era, very christian and family orientated, i see why libtards would hate that. Russia will make a better friend than enemy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Declaration on the Way\" is heterodox, vague, and false ecumenism. It picks and chooses statements from Lutheran communities around the world. There is no unity among Lutherans, so the documents released by different Lutheran churches undermines its credibility even as an accurate report of what Lutherans actually believe.\n\nIt refers to the Lutherans and the Catholics as \"ecclesial communities\". The Catholic Church is the only Church established by Our Lord. All other religions are \"ecclesial communities.\" \n\nThe Declaration discusses Catholic and Lutheran views on the Church and the Eucharist, even though both have a distinct and mutually exclusive understanding of what the Church or the Eucharist is. iT pretends divisions don't exist and dilutes the teachings of the Church for false unity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I take it you would not feel you had been to Mass then unless it was conducted in English, a language you understood. What about if you could only hear Mass in say, Spanish, Portuguese, French, etc, would that detract from the efficacy of the Sacrifice?\nI remember many, many years ago travelling from Rome to England over the Feast of SS Peter and Paul. A Mass in Rome before starting out, a Mass in Paris on the Feast Day itself, and the conventual Mass the next day in the U.K., absolutely identical apart from the readings and propers. \nNowadays, one has no idea what to expect when going to Mass in a 'Catholic' church for the first time. Like the Anglicans we have become 'High Church', Middle Church and 'Low Church'. Middle Church, however, means anything goes.\nThis dissimiltude seems to be dependent upon the orthodoxy of one's pastor and his Ordinary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is that like saying since I saw Timothy McVeigh on TV that I knew a Christian?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've moved to another ecclesial community where the Church of Christ subsists:\n\nIndeed, the elements of sanctification and truth present in the other Christian communities, in a degree which varies from one to the other, constitute the objective basis of the communion, albeit imperfect, which exists between them and the Catholic Church. To the extent that these elements are found in other Christian communities, the one church of Christ is effectively present in them.\n\nUt Unam Sint", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree. Small, at best. I see much deeper issues with the Catholic \"brand\", if you will. We are fixed on being \"pastoral\" when we are, again, a stranger in a strange land - mission territory among cynical \"nones\" or neo-pagans who believe they know the Christian message already. We need our shepherds to also be willing to fight the wolves, not see them as shepherds with \"alternative methods\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's true that Carter lives out his Christian faith. He is a very good man.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And that is a VERY important distinction. The Pope is the Vicar of Christ and when he speaks ex-cathedra he is infallible. Christians believe in Sola Scriptura - or Scripture Alone. Thank God for Martin Luther.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually Barney Frank & Pete Stark were atheist congress members. \nNot clear about the atheist woman saying: \"nobody can tell me what to do.\" My religion tells me to love my neighbors, not to kill, not to steal. I think those are good guidelines. I am a devout Christian. So is my husband our best friend & 2 very close friends are atheists. We enjoy each other's company, watching movies, going to poetry gatherings, eating together. I don't understand what the big deal is about \"having to find community.\" The whole world is one big community, especially if you are able to befriend people who are different from you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "JESUS indeed is the very one who knocked Paul off the horse.\nJESUS indeed is the very one who commissioned Paul to go to the gentiles.\nThis is basic to Catholic teaching.\n\nAlthough you wish to argue everything, I still wish you peace in the new year of grace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I became Catholic because of Richard Rohr and Pope Francis. I have never been under any illusion that the church reflects these spiritual masters or others like Thomas Merton but I still believe Catholicism must be doing something right because tbe three of them and Fr. Keating and mysics throughout church history are all Catholic. Not one are Protestant and though our church fails so so much, I hold out that there is still hope for a nondual Christianity to emerge within it from tbe laity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If that is the case I completely misunderstood. I thought he was saying the the translation he preferred was KJV ...\n\nBut since ALL \"Catholic\" editions of the Bible contain the \"apocrypha\" ... it would seem to back up my supposition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"This is what church believes and teaches. Can it help? How?\" \nIt can help, Dennis, to realize how and why the Roman Catholic Church continues to believe and teach this way...despite the great event of the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council back in the 60's:\nhttp://churchandstate.org.uk/2015/01/opus-dei-influence-rises-to-the-top-in-the-vatican/ Definitely a blow-your-mind article.\n\nAnd as for what we can do about it, see https://RiteBeyondRome.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sample needs a remedial course in catholic moral theology. SAD!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As long as we continue to have a 'clerical system' that divides Christian pople into a special 'class', we will continue to foster 'clericalism'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More than 80% of the country identifies as Christian, but go ahead and cling to your persecution complex in the face of all evidence to the contrary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very strange tone to this comment, as if you are the all-knowing teacher and I am a recalcitrant student.\n\nAnd, please sir, allow me to use my own method. If it is you I am challenging, then it is your words that are the object of the \"work\".\n\nYes, to deny the divinity of Christ would be a heresy. [Does the author you criticise do this explicitly?]\n\nHowever, it would also be heresy to deny the humanity of Christ. [Using the same kind of simplistic approach as yours, then some might judge your alleged \"correction\" as falling into this error.]\n\nChristian faith requires maintaining a delicate balance of recognising both Christ's divinity and humanity. Within understanding this balance, there is room for asking questions about Jesus' own self-awareness of what it meant to \"Son of God\"; and for exploring the Church's evolving understanding about what the expression \"Son of God\" means.\n\nNot, I suspect, an exploration, that interests you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In American law the Catholic Church is not a business. As a religion, it may require adherence to its tenets as a condition of employment, and it may fire individuals who publicly violate those tenets.\n\nThe Church is under no obligation whatsoever to employ individuals who are opposed to its beliefs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a very good editorial and it's right as far as it goes, but it ignores the Church's wealth. Nothing changes when bishops and archbishops who control assets that are valued beyond some third world countries, swear allegiance to popes. Obedience and loyalty to the system is exactly how they got to control and benefit from those kinds of assets. Pope Francis was part of that process and was elected by others who also rose to those pinnacles of asset control just as Francis did. In reality, Francis has spent far more time cleaning up asset control than worrying about his clergy sexually abusing children, and that was true when he was AB of Argentina. This seems to be the one glaring fact most Catholics just cannot process....including NCR. Pope Francis is not going to change the fundamental issue of clericalism at the heart of the clerical abuse scandal because he has reached the pinnacle by conforming, not confronting, the culture that ultimately put him where he is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trudeau and Scheer are both practicing Catholics who are not about to touch the abortion debate so no difference there, and I suspect that neither of them would openly support an abortion within their own family circle so no difference there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whisper's Sister,\n\nThe word translated \"ordained\" in the KJV simply means \"appointed.\" Jesus made His appointments under the direction of the Holy Spirit, just as early church leaders laid hands on individuals to appoint them to new ministry roles after He made it obvious that He had chosen them. Nowhere in the discussion of spiritual gifts is there any mention of God giving any gifts on the basis of a person's gender, so watching to see God making it obvious who He wants in what role, whether male or female, is obedience, not interference.\n\nThe modern concept of ordination is a tradition rooted in Roman Catholicism's teaching that it elevates a person into the clergy class and entitles them to rule over the common people. That concept is not found in the New Testament so that is why it is not scriptural. We are disobeying the Holy Spirit when we fail to recognize how God has equipped individuals to minister for Him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Stole Fees\" are not universal. Many dioceses have done away with that. \n\nThe wedding and funeral \"fees\" are due to the fact that organists and staff have to be paid who \"work\" the wedding or funeral--especially if it is on a weekend. Does not justice demand that the employees get paid? But those fees are not universal either. It also depends if the parish has a cemetery. People have to purchase plots. \n\nThe fees do not belong to the pastor. A small portion goes to his stipend--but the bulks of the fees goes to pay the cantor and organist. Qualified musicians are expensive, sir. Like I said, however the practice is not universal. You will tend to see the fees more in the North East, less in the South. However, if a person is poor, the fees are often waived. \n\nAs for John 3, how does it present a problem for Christian Baptism? Only a Scripture Scholar or lawyer would try to claim that the passage does not refer to Baptism--because they often miss the obvious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ED, many people see the false premises in Catholic Moral teaching when it comes to sexuality. Even my grandmother a prevatican II republican and daily communicant often expressed how naive the popes, priest and bishops were about families and sexuality. This is not a new issue...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chris, this happened centuries ago with the reformation which is one reason why Christian extremism is not a huge problem today. Don't deflect from the problem at hand.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Both he and the Catholic Church teach the \"fundamentals\" of the faith. This makes neither a \"fundamentalist\" in the sense it is bandied about as an insult. Saint Paul called people to conversion and repentance, through the grace of God. He didn't say your \"lived experience\" is where God wants you to be. He called for radical change of such \"lived experiences\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop Helmsing looks very small in retrospect. The Catholic Press Association names NCR best Catholic newspaper almost every year.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Michael - The problem is a priest can't start drawing his own lines of fact and theology and still call himself a Catholic. The Creed mentions \"He ascended into Heaven,\" among other biographical acts. He should find another Church or create his own.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I fully agree we shouldn't cherry pick passages to support our bias. But then, who of us thinks he's biased?\n\nAnyway, if the \"Woes to the Unrepentant Cities\" verses \"shouldn't be taken literally\" because Mathew is given to put words in Jesus's mouth, then why should Matt 25;35 be taken as a literal endorsement of free and open immigration?\n\nAnd if we can't discern the voice of Jesus from those who wrote about him, then strictly speaking, we are always guessing what is and what is not authentic \"Christian social teaching.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think I would disagree with this statement in the article:\n\"Being a Christian means not only believing that a God exists but also a host of complicated and sometimes very specific moral, historical and philosophical claims,\" Sullivan told NCR. \n\nI would submit that believing in Jesus as he son of God is what it means to be Christian. All that other stuff is what it means to be a Catholic, a Lutheran, an Episcopalian, a Baptist, etc...\n\n\nThat said, I am deeply encouraged that this school is providing a forum for a discussion between faith, reason and (hopefully) science. I've long felt, and I suspect I will until the day I die, that the world today is primed to have that discussion, especially between religion and science. It's not the general public that gets in the way: it's organized religion. How often, for example, did Benedict seem to welcome that discussion, only to immediately try to begin the discussion by placing limits on what could and could not be discussed?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is the international headquarters for YWAM, Youth with a Mission. It is a Christian organization where young people raise their support and get trained 6 months and then go on missions 6 months. This is sad because even staff must raise their support. I had a friend who was staff at their Maui location.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He's not an evangelical he's a Catholic. Just the facts, ma'am, just the facts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I take that to be your own personal opinion. Catholics follow Christ\"s and the Church's teaching on the indissolubility of marriage and why it is indissoluble.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In San Francisco, one of the wealthiest of the larger cities in America, the poor sleep in doorways and makeshift encampments because \"there is no room at the inn\" for them. The Christian churches, including the Catholic Church, have spoken out and taken action to alleviate this suffering, but only the resources of government are large enough to address it. Demand action now!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AT: I provided a direct quotation from a study done by a religious organization. That study showed that 70% of the women in the sample of women who had abortions had \"self-identified\" as Christians. I don't need to \"clearly imply\" that the majority of women who got abortions claimed they were Christians. Surely you realize that 70% represents a \"majority\" of that sample group. You are perfectly welcome to question the study. But, your quarrel is with the organization conducting the study, not with me. You may, indeed, know women who are \"self-identified\" as Christians and would never have an abortion. I would never claim otherwise. Your statement is rather clear: \"Gary - a \"self-identified\" Christians is meaningless. Just because a person goes to church does not make one a Christian any more than going to a football game makes one an NFL player.\" You're saying that these women aren't \"real\" Christians, regardless of how they \"self-identify\".....you presume to judge them. GC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've never been much for the pageantry and fetishizing of symbols. Probably because I was raised by Christians who viewed such displays as bordering on golden calf kind of idolatry and actually close to blasphemy. Probably why I don't mind wearing the flag, even though that technically violates the \"codes\" established for such pageantry, etc. I happen to /like/ the flag, but I don't accord it the same magical properties others might.\n\n\nIf I was returning from such a conflict, I doubt it'd bother me, in truth. If I DID react emotionally and irrationally and someone ended up dead, I sure hope a jury would convict. To not do so would be to encourage lawlessness and vigilantism and general thuggery.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you think religion is a suitable cover for bigotry?\n\nWould you support a Christian cake-baker who refused service to an interracial couple based on her beliefs?\n\nWhy or why not?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The missionaries practiced \"ethnic cleansing\" in converting heathen's into Christians, and yes, that even occurred here in the islands, as they broke the language, broke the culture and converted islanders to followers of christ, yet I don't see anyone taking issue with them............doh!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everyone has a home in the Roman Catholic Church. That's why Christ established her.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians, along with people of other faiths, have a rich history of persevering in the face of adversity and discrimination. I'm sure TWU law students won't be deterred by it in this case. Any employer that would discriminate against TWU students based on the school's community covenant is someone they wouldn't want to work for anyway. How a TWU graduate will interact with other coworkers or clients is the sort of thing a fair-minded employer would judge through an interview, along with the student's work history..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you claim to be a Christian after writing a piece like that!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, that's a relief....Catholic Priest affirms science. (Not a surprise, the Vatican has an observatory). The sky-is-falling fear is anti-science evangelicals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims trace Muhammed to one of Abraham's sons just as Christians trace Christ to one of Abrahams' other sons.\n\nSame God. \n\nMore moderate Muslims refer to Jews and Christians as \"People of the Book\" because of that.\n\nHere is a PBS source on that.\n \nhttp://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/faithpeople.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm certainly not endorsing Sharia Law.....far from it. \"unhealthy obsession over hell\" not really, I'm just amazed that people like AT condemn others to Hell for their failure to hold the proper beliefs. Sharia followers and fundamentalist christians can get together.....leave me out of it. Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It certainly isn't logically valid given it ignores the New Covenant in Christ's blood and the authority given to Peter and the Apostles to lead the People of God into all truth. \n\nTry this: Jesus only appointed Jewish circumcised males. Jewish women were not (and are not) ceremonially circumcised on the eighth day of their life. Therefore, they are disqualified from the priesthood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well Bob, maybe you can get your Muslim friends to help? \"Christians\" like St Vincent de Paul, Catholic Charities, The Eugene Mission, The Salvation Army, et al are already slammed with helping unfortunate Amerians. What are you secularists and Islam doing to help??? huh?\n\nA: Nothing.\n\nFYI, the CBO missed big league on OBAMACARE, which destroys their credibility. And yours.\n\nhttp://www.investors.com/politics/obamacare/the-cbo-report-is-wrong-about-obamacare-webhed-the-cbo-gets-it-very-wrong-on-obamacare/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Such a shame that they feel that way, since nothing could be further from the truth, John, although I guess that I can speak only for myself, and I'm a non-Catholic at that. I think that almost everyone who opposes abortions cares for both the victim and the child. \n\nMy wife and I adopted our amazing and wonderfully unique daughter through a Christian care and adoption ministry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Thomas Aquinas College does as well in southern New England as it has done in CA, that will be quite extraordinary. In the US NEWS and WORLD REPORT, TAC rates #53 nationally after Williams College (#1) in the National Liberal Arts College rankings, just behind The College of Holy Cross (#32), the only other Catholic college in the top 60 category.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What makes you think I'm a Christian?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...we Ukrainian Catholics....\"\n\nQuite right, Alexandra1. Vatican II's \"Decree on Eastern Catholic Churches\" (Orientalium Ecclesiarum, Lat.) acknowledges that the Eastern Catholic communities are true Churches -- all 23 Churches -- and not just \"rites\" in the Catholic Church. \"To be Catholic,\" notes theologian Richard O'Brien, \"is to be in full communion with the Bishop of Rome and as such an integral part of the Catholic Communion of [24] Churches,\" of which the Ukrainian Catholic Church is a component and integral part.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even at it supposed height in the 1950s, Christianity in this country was a mile wide but in most places an inch deep. It persisted because it had no competitors. A poll of adults who considered themselves Christian showed that over half could not name a single book from the Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "100,000 Canadians died in ww1 and ww2 to create a country which will always and proudly be based on Western Christian values.\n\nRefugees and others from countries in crisis need to stay in those countries and defend their values or get rid of their corrupt leaders. Canada has no obligation to accommodate any offshore nationals and their non Western values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is excellent, Christian in the best sense of the word. Someone complained that if loving your neighbor were all there were to being Catholic then everyone doing that would be one. \n There is evidence in the Scriptures that everyone who does the will of God is acceptable to God and enters the Kingdom and only those whose love was small or nonexistent find themselves excluded. \n While on might not include everyone of good will in the community of practicing Catholics these is no reason to exclude them ultimately from the Heavenly banquet. \nI hear Martin Luther King in the above, and hymns and Gospel melodies. And are those Afro-American Christians who prayed for Dylann Roof any less among the blessed than any Catholic saint, living or dead? Their witness is a living testament to the power of the Gospel. May God bless them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "R&R you are conflating Catholic social doctrine with institutional organization. You are either confused or deliberately obfuscating. Catholic social doctrine is civilizational reason advanced with Christ's intelligence and His call to go beyond. The Church institution is as you suggest \"owned\" by by the \"right\" as you suggest. For many yrs, if not centuries, the Church espoused, as you state, an \"alt-right\" world as well as church view. After partnering monarchical world view the church espoused \"benevolent despotism\" which has proved ridiculous and now it has - in \"words\" if not deeds moved to democratic view- for others but not them,\nThe \"argument\" you use is precisely why the Church - claiming its social doctrine as \"Catholic\"but acting otherwise is divisive and lacks credibility because it teaches one thing and practices another. \nThank you for being a \"model\" for the problem rather than the solution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LifeoftheLay, you may be surprised that there are a lot of pro-life people here, they just disagree with HOW to reduce the number of abortions. Believe it or not, abortion is down under President Obama! Perhaps because of healthcare options, or other programs that help the family. I happen to be one of those that do not impose my beliefs on others in a pluralistic society. We also have freedom of religion, and not everyone agrees with Catholic views, for example a Jewish family, I have read have different opinions on when life begins. If we value freedom of religion in this Country, we need to accept that there are other ways to encourage birth than to change laws. A candidate that supports the family, maternity leave, pre-school programs, healthcare, etc... will ultimately help reduce abortion. Isn't that your goal?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, but the theme of both articles seems to be about the overall status quo of women leadership (lay or religious) at Catholic institutions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John, reflect on the meaning of the following word, and through that generous act of humility - of opening up - you will gain more understanding about the Catholic Church's teaching on EVERYTHING, not just the distorted view you have picked up by 3rd hand sources regarding the full purpose of marital intimacy and conjugal union. \n\nHere's the word: Atonement.\n\nEverything we do should be a happy and trusting and an abandoning act of atonement.\n\nAtonement.\n\nAt-ONE-ment. Unity, with God and His will. Faith in God. \n\nNow tell us: How is contraception an act of atonement?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Portland has the largest Unitarian Universalist congregation in the country, too....but then again UUs are not really Christian, either (you can be a Christian and UU but you do not have to be Christian to be UU)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Not\" all Christians, not \"Now\" my typpo", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm glad you noticed this article was about abortion. Most would not have that level of discernment. And of course, we know that Mr. Trump. the candidate supported by the US Bishops and their Priests. to whom we should defer in all questions, has always been a staunch opponent of abortion and a paragon of the Christian Virtues taught by the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've known and admired Barbara since the mid-1980s, and remain very grateful for her friendship and support of the Catholic Worker Archives here at Marquette. Nina Polcyn Moore, close to both Barbara and Dorothy Day, wrote me a few years before her death that \"Barbara is absolutely magnificent, so wise, balanced and sensitive to the church she loves.\" I concur!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I admire your imagination. Let me try to reply.\n\n1) Hawaiians weren't Buddhists or Catholics, so the behavior of modern Buddhists and Catholics probably isn't a good model for the behavior of the adze makers and other Hawaiians who traveled to the mountain.\n\n2) The top of the mountain including the adze quarry is above the tree line, so no huts. Transport costs for timber were prohibitive. People took shelter in caves to get out of the weather.\n\n3) Shrines are typically found outside the caves, often on high spots so their uprights are silhouetted against the sky.\n\n4) There are no midden piles in the quarry. Archaeologists have recovered scant food remains.\n\n5) The piles are waste from adze manufacture at the largest traditional quarry in the world. You can see them clearly on Google Earth.\n\n6) In my experience, the mountain has an unusually high proportion of shrines to other feature types.\n\nThus, the claim of sacredness seems completely plausible to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How could that be personal? It's not. If you interact with people using stereotypes to guide you, is that wise? \n\nHow do you know your kids are 'all still Catholic'? Just wondering", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Layla, why do you hate Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I was little, us kids were warned about the \"Ding-Bat\" that had a large ball of bone on the end of its tail, and sat on limbs of big trees, above game trails. It would swing its tail and knock out anything walking under it, then swoop down and drink its blood.\nWhenever we played in the woods, we were always wanting to see a Ding-Bat. So we would look up before we walked under a big tree. While looking for them, we would often spot a Widow-Maker, which is a dead limb, that could fall at anytime.\nThis was our parent's way of making sure that we would look up often enough, and avoid walking under Widow-Makers.\nThe tale of Santa serves the purpose of teaching us that there is someone, and also many others, who know how to give, without expecting anything back. We eventually outgrow the story, but never the lesson.\nSanta isn't on par with the Christian belief in Jesus, but both teachings render valuable services to our children. And the one doesn't appear to detract from the other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The early Church found it's way because those first Christians had the passion that flowed from their own intimate experience of Christ. Without that passion, they never would have had the staying power to grow the movement.\n\nThe question for this generation is how do we sustain a church that has become unwieldy and, in some ways, detached from the passion of the first disciples. Some are looking for their passion in forms and traditions while others are seeking to recapture the original revolutionary spirit of the early Church. I'm skeptical that those two paths will ever merge.\n\nPope Francis seems convicted that the salvation of the Church lies in communion with the poor and that anything that gets in the way of that can be jettisoned. I think he's right. And the good news is that none of us needs to wait for somebody else, least of all the hierarchy, to take the lead.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You were responding to MY comment---not Nora's.\n\nSince you know so much about Canon Law---you should recognize The Catholic Bill of Rights\nfrom cannons, 208, 211, 212 #2, and 212#3 [The right to recommend: the right to advise pastors regarding the good of the church, and to participate in public opinion and informing the faithful].\n\nSecondly, Nora isn't the only one on this site who is completely fed up with reactionary priests. She, and those DIRECTLY effected have EVERY right to object publically. This is not Communist China.\n\nThirdly, I doubt if you even know anything about the Roman Catholic Woman Priests movement [which is not just in the United States, but in other parts of the world, as well. \n\nFinally, I don't have the time to do mind-reading to determine what you agree to or not agree to. Say what you mean and mean what you say.\n\nYour post gets an F", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where are the Christian services for holy days like Ash Wednesday? Why are only Muslims 'accomodated'? The Public School system is supposed to be free from religious instruction. There are plenty of islamic private schools these kids can go to.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you are \"no Christian\" then why are you quoting the Bible?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks, jwc, for this very good example. Any use of altar rails that does not exclude God's People is highly commendable. Are those being baptized in the pool fully submerged? Just curious. It would be the very early Christian practice: baptized into Jesus' Death and Resurrection. Happy Easter!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religion is a tool that can be used for good or evil but the primary purpose is cohesion. If we judge religion solely on the basis of its adherents Christianity would probably end at the bottom of the list (WWI, WWII, the genocide of the Jews, etc. etc) and perhaps Buddism would appear at the top. Religion itself does not cause evil acts. People choose to use it for their own purposes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Elaine, I receive the following notification from Civil Comments:\n------\nWe wanted to let you know that Elaine Steffek has replied to your comment \"How about we start by following the example of Jesus heal...\":\nChristian attitude is one thing. There is no right to health care in this country. Please don't confuse the two. When you do, you get th...\n-----\nBut when I follow the link, I can not find any your reply. I was about to write to CC about this new snafu, when it occurred to me that perhaps you had deleted your comment???", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Dolan were a faithful bishop, he would not have allowed Hillary in the room, at least not until she disavowed her direct connection to deliberate fifth-column attacks on Catholic people and the undermining of our faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many MSW essays have there been about Obama's manifold mucking about in Afghanistan?\n\nNone. Suddenly, MSW has discovered Afghanistan! \n\nProgressive Catholic political apologetics depends much upon who's president.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was raised in a fundamentalist Christian cult and we still threw apples, rocks, and snowballs at cars in my neighborhood back in 1965, what is so unusual about that? \n\nMy cousins did it back in the 1960s too, even though my aunt had been raised in that same cult, and my cousins used to throw stuff at trains too. \n\nIn fact throwing stuff at cars, trucks, and trains is quite common childhood behavior, which almost all the time ends harmlessly. \n\nI don't see charging the younger kids as adults. In Michigan anyone age 17 is always charged as an adult and that has been the law there since the 1960s. \n\nThere has been the inference made by the one kid's lawyer that the oldest boy was a bully and the younger kids were scared not to go along with him. \n\nI don't see 2nd-degree murder either but certainly reckless manslaughter would be appropriate. \n\nHow about about giving the 4 younger kids probation and making them each pay 25% of their income to support the victim's wife and son?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As usual, I'm afraid, you engage in selective reading. THIS article is certainly about social justice. There have been many others as well. If people are concerned and are discussing an issue, it behooves the \"official\" church to look at the issue---and to remember that Catholic social teachings cannot be kept in a vacuum. If the old teachings no longer apply---they must change. Social teachings refer to society and must encompass a society that is truly JUST, RESPECTFUL of ALL, and seeking PEACE within our society for ALL.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well done Donald. Keep writing, good to bring a fact based person in.\n\nI would point out, going a bit further, that not all Christians are the same. You and I may agree on the teachings of Jesus being non-violent, compassionate, and accepting of other faiths, but we do not represent all Christians. When I can turn on the TV and watch Roberts preach the necessities of war and his clear use of American wealth being our real source of power, then he's not internalizing the same values as I do. Pat Roberts is not alone, count the 'Guns, country and God' signs that seem a huge distortion of Jesus teachings.\n\nReligious language may as well be french to those who were not raised in a church environment,. It's up to Christians to reform their own house and in particular American Christians who often see their wealth as a birthright as an American. Not exactly the equality of all people in the eye's of God.\n\nI understand the anger of non-Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I don't discount the threat of Muslim extremism, it might be instructive to review our history, from the Pilgrims on, and our treatment of the Godless heathens we found here. Then there is the matter of slavery, and the Apostle Paul's seeming endorsement. I do believe that American slaveholders, in the South and elsewhere, constituted quite a large group of Christians committing terror in God's name, and not so long ago. With the follow-on of Jim Crow terrorism until quite recently. One can make the case that this was economic terrorism that actually perverted religious principles for its own ends. But it's often difficult to make the distinction.\n\nDylan nailed it in \"With God On Our Side\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Abrahamic God, the one shared between Jews, Christians and Muslims. I'm not saying that I agree with the wording but I know what it means as you probably do too. Also, in case you're just taking a shot at PET, his Charter was based on Dief's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another option for affordable dependable health care for families and individuals are fast growing healthcare sharing ministry programs like Christian-based Liberty HealthShare and Catholic-based Solidarity HealthShare. Programs like these are recognized and classified by the ACA as 501(c)(3)non-profit. Unlike traditional commercial insurance, they are exempt from State insurance regulations and ACA's individual mandate. Innovative programs where responsible Christian families and individuals, or organized denominations holding common ethical/religious beliefs, pay very low monthly rates. Care is monitored by healthcare professionals, and pooled funds shared for medical costs via advanced well-coordinated online electronic payment process. Rates stay unbeatable due to low admin costs, unlike commercial insurers paying skyrocketing HMO executive salaries! Members access any hospital or doctor they choose. Overall, in my opinion, much more attractive than Marketplace products.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course, the whole problem has been resolved, in fact, there never was a problem, and if there was it was a long time ago and it's all better now. The defenses of the bishops are infallible and far more palatable than the truth. Naturally, all loyal catholics will utilize these defenses, rather than take a stand for protecting children, or calling for justice for past victims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And it didn't convert anyone not already Christian, did it? It just educated everyone on the basics of Christian beliefs.\n\nNow no one gets educated on the basics of any religion, except Muslims on Islam.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Otherwise, protestations to the contrary notwithstanding, the Catholic Community does become a social club that rises or falls with a change in pastor.\"\n\n\nNow, I really like my current parish, but, would I go there to be with a group of people--many of whom I don't know, and some whom I do but don't like--if it weren't for Jesus in the Eucharist? I don't know about you, but a social club is, for me, something that is meant to be social and fun. I wouldn't join one that had the people in it who are in my parish necessarily. It is Jesus in the Eucharist that brings us together even when, for instance, our church politics are totally different to the point of verbal daggers. It is Jesus in the Eucharist that encourages us to stay together and to practice love and forgiveness. I just don't see where I would consider it a social club if it was as much work as \"parish\" is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They can't achieve a conjugal union. It's impossible. So they can't be married in the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LG # 25 says that a position is part of the ordinary infallible magisterium if the teaching has been taught as a \"definitive\" part of Catholic teaching (not that the bishops and Pope have to get together and say \"this is definitive--we have taught it for a couple of centuries but we REALLY mean it\" -- that would be a quasi-extraordinary definition that even some of our Trinitarian and Christological formulations have not been subject to--and yet nobody would say they are open to dissent in conscience by good Catholics). The Church's teaching on contraception has been consistently taught by ALL Christians until 1931; it was taught definitively by the Church since, affirmed in Humanae vitae, reaffirmed in Evangelium vitae, repeatedly repeated by John Paul II, Benedict .... It is ordinary infallible teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our traditional religions were formed in worlds that seemed to their inhabitants \"enchanted,\" that is, imbued with spirits who controlled people's lives. The Christian theology of the Spirit reflects the same idea, namely that our lives are conditioned by spirits. \nWe no longer live in a world that takes religious spirits for granted. The people who wrote the gospels knew nothing about the universe, the subatomic verse, or even genetics and human fertility. Their time-conditioned ideas about these and many other questions often make little or no sense. Neither do the institutions that preserve them.\nI'm personally not interested in religious freedom that preserves pre-medieval ideas about a world we understand much better than the evangelists did. I think religions should be required to defend any of their ideas that have the potential to impact people negatively and, if those ideas prove unsubstantiated and harmful, the religion should be limited, as has happened many times in history", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your quote above that \"the one holy catholic and apostolic church is no more under this Pope\" is respectful? Please look in the mirror. Also, translations of the mass have always been up to local bishops. The mass in Greek was decided by the local communities in union with Rome. The centralization by Benedict and JPII was done because it could be, due to technology. This uniform liturgy that you want is only recent in history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Jesus was suppose to died that day, Dave Corzine. Part of the divine plan so I was told once. Without dying, how can you have resurrection and ever lasting life as the Christian faith implied? If Jesus did not died that day, there would no Christianity. Everyone had a part to play so they say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Faith without work.\n\nWhich one carries the most risk?\n\nAs a Christian, you must always go with that one!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No; refusing chemo is not an automatic death sentence either. For someone of the Christian faith it is still possible for God to heal. Both are risky endeavors involving possible loss of life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, if you truly believe that about Jesus, I assume you have found yourself a more suitable religion in the meantime.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is it that taking on unaccounted numbers of refugees, distinctively \"Christian\". Christianity does not place on any nation an absolute, unqualified moral obligation to allow the entry of refugees. A country may legitimately consider any number of issues respecting the entry of any category of refugees. If a country refuses to allow the entry of certain categories of people onto its shores it has not deprived anyone's rights, nor has it committed an injustice. The refusal not to allow certain people entrance is in no way an immoral act. These are prudential matters and you may disagree with a specific decision, but you cannot claim to do so on \"Christian\" grounds. \n\nIt is wrong and unfair, to burden any nation with the stresses and costs associated with the imposition of alien nationals. We have seen what liberal government policies respecting immigration has produced, in Europe, and if America wants to stop it, it has every right to do so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A Catholic, by definition, accepts that Catholicism is the one true Church. To a Catholic, one who calls himself Catholic but tries to undermine the one true faith via \"heterodoxy\" does something rather close to heeresy. The latter, when committed by someone who claims to be a Catholic, and who attempts to persuade others from the faith, is an affront to the faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because Pope Francis did it because there were so many unpastoral types in the US Catholic Church and he had to find someone who reflected his vision for the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Either one believes Christ and has faith that the gates of hell cannot stand against Him, or one does not. Why do you think Christianity has faltered or faded in parts of this world? Do you believe Christ will let belief in him disappear from the world? \n\nI don't. \n\nHis kingdom is not of this world, what he overcame is not of this world, and we have to think beyond worldly terms.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Saint John the Evangelist,\" might have disagreed with you. \n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Evangelist\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.\n\n\"They are called evangelists, a word meaning \"people who proclaim good news,\" because their books aim to tell the \"good news\" (\"gospel\") of Jesus.\n\nEvangelism is the preaching of the gospel or the practice of giving information about a particular doctrine or set of beliefs to others with the intention of converting others to the Christian faith.\nThis term is not restricted to any particular Christian tradition, and should not be confused with Evangelicalism, a common term for a wide range of \"Evangelical\" Protestant churches and groups.\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelism\n\nThe Constitution of the United States allows 'true wackos' to believe and promote what they please. Do you deny them, or yourself, that right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not really news. Most every religious community, of both men and women, have had (both historically and in recent decades) affiliate lay groups who point to the future of religious life in the Catholic Church. It seems that vowed religious, much smaller than what we even have currently, will be more contemplative, and the majority of members will be what this article describes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reading this article about this cardinal, I could not help but think this man is a perfect example of Christian virtue, clearly a follower of Jesus Christ. It is no wonder he found favor with the Saintly JPII and his successors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Christmas is a Christian holiday for you, go and enjoy your holiday.\nIf it is a secular holiday for you, go and enjoy your holiday.\nFor some atheists like me, it is a time to enjoy the lights and the music and the food. \nDefiantly, I have learned to love Christmas, excluding the extreme marketing aspects. When I see those Christian absolutists, who say that Christianity is the one American religion, I shrug. Makes no sense to tell them of deism and the founding of America. \n\nHugh Massengill, Eugene", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Puff piece. I don't believe the U.S. bishops conference has embraced Pope Francis message of a merciful, collaborative, synodal church. They still think \"religious freedom\" means the right to control the personal lives of those who work for them, including how they act in their roles as citizens of a democracy. \n\nA couple of scary lines: Catholic agencies are to \"strengthen their core services on the path to deepening the understanding of what it means to be Catholic.\" And later: \"...strengthen Catholic identity among the laypeople.\" Bishops have a very narrow view of what Catholic identity means - subservience, obedience to rules and the \"tradition\" which no longer works in the modern world. This is pulling into a ghetto mentality, refusing to work with other organizations on a common issue if that other organization also supports something they consider non-Catholic, like gay marriage or condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS. \n\nTrying to recreate power structures a la 1500?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, come one. The mayor of Calgary is Muslim. Do we hear anything about how his religion is going to destroy Calgary? Just because someone has a belief system doesn't mean that their belief system is archaic and anti-progressive, particularly Christians. There are just as many Christians who believe in progressive ideals, probably more then the ones who are stuck living 5 thousand years ago. Just because someone is devout doesn't mean they want to destroy the environment or ban abortion. Geez, can the abortion debate ever go away? It's legal. It's not going to be overturned. Talk about fear mongering! This author doesn't even understand the faith, that is obvious by his comments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the primary thing to blame is social media etiquette, and people's (everyone; not simply Christians) inability to use whatsapp groups properly. It seems that the author uses this as ammunition to push the agenda of his anti-religious views (I find it funny that he says \"I don\u2019t like to write about it (religion) for the same reasons\"). \n\nAs a Christian, who believes in the creator of the created (like a building being proof of the existence of a builder), I cannot persuade Ivo to turn to Jesus; however, it is my prayer and wish that he comes to know God personally like I have. Us humans are fallible (evil/sinners) by nature, and unfortunately there are many luke-warm Christians or even Christians who misrepresents Jesus, where others might get hurt or offended. It's very sad to see, but the bible tells us about this and everything that is wrong with the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The share of Americans who identify as white and Christian...\"\n\nIdentify as white?! Bad grammar or bad logic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the links! I'll check them out tonight and get back to you.\nI'm not a theologian either btw, but that shouldn't bar us from sharing our thoughts on theology. After all our beliefs at some point must be formed from something, whether that cause be experience or reason, otherwise we would just be going through the motions without sincere desire for life eternal . \n\nEspecially within the Catholic faith where theologoumenon is limited compared to other forms of Christianity. \n\nFor me personally, if the Church got something as central as the sacraments wrong, then how can any of its other claims be taken seriously", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't mean to imply that Trump voters are all racists and fundamentalist christians, nor do I mean to equate the two, necessarily; just that these two groups add a meaningful boost to his voting base, and are those pushing some of the most aggressive agendas. Their participation in Big Tent politics have propelled republicans to majorities in the house and senate, and made the difference in Trump winning key states---along with disaffected blue collar workers who are neither, of course, and probably comprise the vast majority of Trump's support. With these latter there is common ground across political divides, beyond the manipulated ones of dems vs repubs; with racists and religious extremists, however, there is very little room for compromise: They are radicalized by their own belief systems, and will fade away only as those beliefs fail to withstand the test of time. Civil rights on the other hand are real; environmental concerns are real, peace is real, and attainable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When we live on the 'path of Christ' we are on the correct path.\nSome say it is hard and narrow. To me that path is neither hard nor narrow it is the easy path to live. It's the only one that makes sense to me. It is a loving path, one that gives to and for others. Never taking from others. Like Pope Francis, that is how the church is supposed to be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't know of one divorced Catholic who has received an annulment???? Please. Come on, kag...then I would suggest you don't know any divorced Catholics who have openly and actively pursued an annulment. That it takes time, honesty, commitment and patience is a given. Do you not know anyone like that? And the Pope is NOT advocating open Communion for all divorced and remarried without annulment...you may want to reread his comments.\n\nAs far as questioning how Ebe's comment got through? It's not hard to figure out. It was civil and merely pointed out that many of your comments are putdowns of others. Was calling him a \"nosey Nellie\" mannered and civil?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some of the strongest statements by the Apostles and by Jesus are the teachings that Christians treat refugees and immigrants well, as the Bible says-- treat them as well as you would treat one who is native born or a citizen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Women in the Church were validly deacons, presbyters and even bishops. Your understanding of the history of the church [of 2000 years] with differing situations and needs---is lacking.\n\nWomen are created in the Image of Christ, just as men are. If they are not, then, Jesus did not redeem women. There is NO ontological difference between men and women. Christ, \"truly became one of us, [all of us] like us in everything except sin.'\n\nGod is three in one, unity in difference. Human beings in being created mirror this divine procession of love in being more than just one---male or female. All human beings are the divine image, and the sexual difference has something to tell us about God, ---the variety of God's attributes shown in each and every human being. At baptism, females are anointed with Chrism as are males. And females are anointed with Chrism as 'Priest, Prophet and King'---the words are not changed for women. There is no ontological difference in our common priesthood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Kurds were promised a referendum on independence in the Treaty of Sevres in the Turkish part of Kurdistan and Mosul, but not Kurdish Iran. Armenia was promised independence, not just a referendum, and its borders drawn up by President Wilson, and the Christian Assyrians were promised protection, in part from the Kurds who played a not insignificant part in the Armenian and Assyrian genocides-- thus the reservations about the Kurds. However, the Turks under Ataturk never agreed to the dismemberment of Anatolia (or the loss of Mosul), refused to sign, and fought to make sure the Treaty was never enforced. America turned its back on Wilson and Armenia and the Treaty, and Britain and France declined to go to war with Ataturk to enforce the Treaty. Canada played an important role by refusing to support Britain (the Chanak crisis once taught in Ontario schools) in enforcing the Treaty. So it was replaced by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the modern Middle East was created.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It has dominated the websites. First the Greek Bishop and now Bishop Schneider, who's next, I wonder.\nI doubt if the majority of Catholics have even heard of AL it let alone read it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm with you all the way AFT. The psychological fall out from the exposure of the clerical abuse scandal, made me question my faith very deeply. Eventually I realised that all the problems were centered on the institutional church. Coming from the background as an \"Irish Catholic\" that grew up in the 1940's/ 50's ; pre-VII; the hierarchy dominated Irish life, as a very powerful & influential force. We were \"institutionalised\" and unquestioningly endeavored to follow all the rules blindly. \nFollowing the exposure of the abuse scandal; in despair to find out \"why\" & \"how could they\"; I accidentally analysed the last 200 years approx of the church, from the Vatican to Ireland. As a result of the \"litmus test\"; my faith in the credibility of the institutional church collapsed. Their claims to infallibility & direct spiritual guidance from above, were laid bare; as were their conclusions & decisions. They were very flawed & that brought me back to basic Christianity. Lumen de Lumine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Light and fresh air from the world? If anything, we Catholics should be looking to Christ for that light and fresh air. \n\nIf anything, we need a breathing mask in the form of sanctifying grace to conquer the putridness of the world, the flesh, and the devil to make it safe to Our Heavenly home.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Richard. Yeah, \"Christ-Mass\" was appropriated by the Christian religion to celebrate the birth of their savior; one of the early PR moves of a nascent church in the Roman Empire, where the birth of Mithra was widely celebrated on December 25th---A national holiday, if you will. It was also the birthday of Attis, son of the virgin Nana---and Osiris, and Dionysus---Ever hear of them?---no few of which were born of virgins and died as martyrs. Go figure, huh? \n\nThe world didn't start with Christianity, believe it or not, nor did human civilization; and many were celebrating winter solstice long before it was cool.\n\nHappy Holidaze", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stephen,\n\nWhy are you so intent on decrying one candidate for his offense while totally dismissing or overlooking that the other is a serial liar? That's because you're a liberal. OK, I've got that. But you also claim to be a Christian and God wants us to both tell the truth and defend it while exposing falsehoods. I would love to see you do that, but I'm not holding my breath.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, someone said christians would be known by their actions. I suggested one who claims to be a christian would act in accord with the values of the claimed belief system. You responded you were pulling for me, indicating you believed I was identifying as a christian, while continuing to act in a manner inconsistent with the claimed belief system, thus indicating you implicitly deny the label of christian. It appears you did not understand so I hope this explanation clarifies. But do you not consider it incumbent upon christians to reflect christian values in all they do, including posting anonymously on internet websites? If so, where is the turn the other cheek and do unto others demonstrated?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know my tricks? So you think it is fair to attack public figures, but not private figures? That has to do with being sued for slander, not what constitutes good manners, as you pointed out the importance of in your earlier comment. Are traditional Catholic mothers not private figures? If your comments are considered civil, then mine are as well. Have you ever considered you are part of the problem as well? Flagging the truth does not change the facts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"At this moment, as a proud representative voice of the Catholic and political left, it is clear as day that the political left has lost the ability to explain itself to a majority of the American people. I often say that there is no problem that would not be made better if given the leaven of Catholic social doctrine.\"\n\nMaybe the \"Catholic and political left\" explained itself too well and its quasi-socialism and moral relativism has been rejected by the people. Perhaps you should focus more on Catholic moral doctrine and not just on your own narrow interpretation of her social doctrine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why does the university invite such a narrow minded man to campus? We are a Notre dame family with many graduates from both ND and st. Mary's.? Catholic means universal!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chaput is looking for the United States to be run like the Holy Roman Empire...led by a politician who endorses the Catholic Church as the only way of life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Gospel calls Christians \"not to build walls, but bridges, not to repay evil with evil, but to defeat evil with goodness (and) offense with forgiveness, to live in peace with all,\" he said. \"This is the church. And this is what Christian hope accomplishes when it takes on the strong and, at the same time, tender features of love.\"\n\nThe Gospel and Trump policy simply do not go together.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "skyofblue,\n\nYep, that's what I thought. Your linchpin to what you regard as culture is Judeo-Christianity, art, oh, and the Beatles. Well, sorry to break it to you but most people across the globe grew up familiar with Western art, music, literature, Beatles, and had a rudimentary understanding of the Bible. They watched Hollywood movies and TV after all and have for at least a generation. You don't seem to want to fit Filipinos in your categories but they are predominantly Christian, and are very familiar with Western culture. The same can be said about many colonized people from the Caribbean, most of Africa, large parts of Asia, most of South America, most of the Middle East, and all of Europe. So, according to your definition, pretty much everyone on Earth fits into your monocultural definition. Maybe that's the problem. You are accidentally saying monoculture when you mean that Montreal was always a multicultural society. That's okay, we all mess up words sometimes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Found this to be a good, unbiased review of Cardinal Coccopalmerio's \"pastoral reflections\". \n\nhttp://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2017/02/important-francis-surrogate-to-answer.html\n\nAt least we have this:\n\n\"The Italian canonist also stresses the Church \u201ccannot possibly\u201d give the sacraments to those who, despite being in grave sin and having the opportunity to change, do \u201cnot have any sincere intention\u201d to do so. This is why, he continues, Amoris Laetitia says that anyone who \u201cflaunts an objective sin as if it were part of the Christian ideal, or wants to impose something other than what the Church teaches, he or she can in no way presume to teach or preach to others; this is a case of something which separates from the community. Such a person needs to listen once more to the Gospel message and its call to conversion.\"\n\nThe rest is, in my opinion, muddled .....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The rght wing has never been kind or gracious when losing to any left-of-them candidate, which they automatically call 'Liberals', even when the winner is obviously center-right or center-left. I hope they understand that turnabout is fair play, when they have been so reprehensible to people like the Obama's, who have been the epitome of grace and style these last 8 years in the White House. Trump won because the racists are out in force, already my wife and I are seeing this. A person who my wife has known for years was offended that a prayer was not 'Christian specific' and said, 'Isn't that what this election was about? So we wouldn't have to pray with [sic] Muslims, Buddhists and others?'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Kevin,\nJesus came into this world to suffer and die for our sins so that we would no longer be prisoners of our sinful natures. We were all (except for our Blessed Mother Mary) born with original sin. We cannot overcome our sinful natures without the help of our Lord Jesus and our Blessed Mother. On Saturday, May 13th, the Catholic Church is celebrating the 100th Anniversary of our Blessed Mother's appearances (from May 13th to October 13th, 1917) to Lucia, Francesco and Jacinta in Fatima, Portugal. Our Blessed Mother asked the children to pray the Rosary daily for the salvation of souls. I am amazed at how many Catholics say they believe in God and trust in Him but they refuse to trust His Words (Holy Scripture) and instead of trusting in the Lord with all their hearts, they lean on their own understanding. Our world has many opinions on everything. God gave us the Bible as a guide to lead us on our spiritual journeys because He knows we cannot do it by ourselves. We need God.TBC", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic church is the largest charitable institution in the world. Ignorance runs rampant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At least Christians and other non-muslims know who not to vote for in 2019.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Donnie, AA isn't \"Christian\". There's no mention of Jesus anywhere in AA literature. There's is reference to \"God\", i.e. a higher power, but no Jesus. Members are free to figure out Jesus on their own time, but they won't get anywhere until they figure out how God works first.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's NOT happening. It was a point - a conjecture based on political campaign fantasy - in an email between the HRC campaign staff. It would be wiser if you would read the whole story before letting your sense of alarm get pulled. There was never any serious discussion about doing anything, and eventually the Republican campaign emails will be revealed and I will bet that we will see how that staff have done far more in actually influencing Catholic bishops to support their candidate. Please don't make the mistake of hooking yourself onto chatter talk: it only makes a murky political scene even more difficult to understand.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure if AA should even be associated with Christianity. After all didn`t Jesus Christ turn water into wine at the Wedding at Cana so all attendees could get well and truly plastered.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most of them. The Confessions, though, are enough to make my point. At one time I quoted Augustine \"at the drop of a hat\" as the saying goes. If he is the greatest influence on Western Christianity would you agree that he is responsible for many of its missteps? The East does not share the West's adulation. Though the East overdid it with the problematic Athanasius. Hero worship is always a treacherous path.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No need to assent to either teaching... read scripture, pray, discern, repent and make your best moral/social decisions based on your well-formed conscience. It's really as simple as that, unless you prefer scrupulosity in one form or another.\n\nTo paraphrase your own expression, no one is holding a gun to your head to accept Catholic social teaching, are they?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He's a good Christian, you understand? We will know later today if it is Constitutional, after some more \"so called judges\" hear the arguments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "most of the Senators that voted against her attended private schools and so do their children,,,,, what are you anti-christian or envious that her family is so generous and philanthropic and successful?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta (Latin: Supremus Ordo Militaris Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani Rhodius et Melitensis), also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) or Order of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order traditionally of military, chivalrous and noble nature.[5] It was founded as the Knights Hospitaller circa 1099 in Jerusalem, Kingdom of Jerusalem, by the Blessed Gerard, making it the world's oldest surviving chivalric order.[6]\n\nThey ARE a \"lay religious order\" \n\nWiki", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those laws relate to Anglican churches and cemeteries, not Roman Catholic ones. They were formulated in the 19th century and are now widely regarded as obsolete.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm just saying there are two sides to this immigration issue, but that the author of this essay is saying that there can only be one way to look at it, otherwise one is un American and un Christian.\n\nI don't think it's unreasonable to differ with the author, because I believe there are two sides to most issues, and moreover, I believe people who disagree with me don't deserve to be pegged as un christian and un american if they don't vote as i do.\n\nPeace out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The devil is in the details\" ... No one is forcing a child to go to a Catholic school. The case is sadly, about money. Today, if a Muslim child chooses to attend a Catholic school, the money/funding follows them there. It has nothing to do with the original intent of protecting the right to a Catholic education. But now, the Catholic schools will lose Muslim or atheist children to public schools, along with the funding for that child. Only children with a baptismal certificates, the \"official proof of Catholocism\", will be able to attend a Catholic school. (Do kids even know what baptism is anymore?). Want to know what works? When a government invests in education: when they make every school and every teacher so good and hold them to such a high standard, there is no need for private schools; when respect, compassion, tolerance, hard work, humility... the best value of humanity are part of every child's day. See FINLAND... top marks in the world across the board.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope very recently on Hitler: 2 parts\n\npart 1 \nIn an interview that lasted more than an hour with Spanish newspaper El Pais and conducted just as Donald Trump was being sworn in as the 45th U.S. president on Friday, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church warned against the rise of populist leaders like Adolf Hitler.\n\n\u201cHitler didn\u2019t steal the power, his people voted for him, and then he destroyed his people,\u201d Pope Francis noted. The pope explained to the paper that he worries about the rise of populism in the United States and Europe.\n\n\u201cIn times of crisis, we lack judgment, and that is a constant reference for me,\u201d he said. \u201cThe case of Germany is classic,\u201d he continued, adding that Hitler gave them a \u201cdeformed identity and we know what it produced.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AT: I don't claim to be an expert \"on everything.\" I do find topics interesting and seek to know more about them....thank goodness for Google...otherwise I'd have to live in a library. \nYou have your own very narrow definition of Christian and Christian Church. You also exclude thousands of Christian Churches and millions of Christians as not being \"true\" Christians. I simply provide you with the widespread definitions of the terms. You choose to reject those definitions and condemn those millions of Christians to hell. I looked up \"Ecclesiology\" (In Christian theology, Ecclesiology is the study of the Christian Church, the origins of Christianity, its relationship to Jesus, its role in salvation, its polity, its discipline, its destiny, and its leadership) Obviously, you have studied authors and scholars who represent your view. That's not unusual to adopt the views of those you study. But, it important to remember there are other views..held by billions of Christians. GCrum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So just to be clear. If your over 50, a mail, a christian (I think Harper is) and a Canadian Conservative you should automatically apply for American citizenship and leave the country. \n\nReally? Do you remember when Trudeau said after he won the election \"our opponents are not our enemy, they are our neighbors\".\n\nRead the comments of his letter regarding the negotiating tactics, they have merit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a classic non sequitur from the birthers' press, and you can catch gobs of it from the Catholic hard right sites where you hang out! In spite of your tacit advice, I'll be voting for Hillary-Kaine, the winners of Election 2016!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"...\u201canother kind of opposition, which is just imposing one\u2019s own view, which is ideological opposition.\u201d - i.e., those exercising their right and even duty under Canon 212 to manifest to their sacred pastor their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful.\"\n- Good point.\n- This canon is about dialog between a pastor / minister and the person(s) he / she serves (including parish administrators). Where there is dialog 'imposing one's own view' can not have traction.\n- As is often the case style shapes substance; for instance, dubia are useful in situations that do not require dialog but require a yes/no type of answer. Indeed that seems to be CDF's level of response to dubia. Presumably dubia are sent to the CDF after dialog ends and a clarifying response is useful. However the format of dubia does not attend well to pastoral issues for which definitive responses aren't true facts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't mean to be disrespectful to the Catholic religion, but if the nuns really wanted to \"protect the Earth\", they'd push for better access to birth control in third world countries. This would have a much greater impact on the environment than what they are currently doing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's some pre-Vat II theology: \n\nLuke 10:27 \u201cHe said in reply, \u201cYou shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.\u201d\n\n\"Take up your cross, DAILY\"\n\n\"Deny yourself\"\n\n\"pray always\"\n\n\"rejoice always\"\n\nself-empty.\n\nAll SOOO Pre-VAT II!\n\nThat Jesus. How pre-Vat II He was!\n\nWhy does the left react with such projectile reflexes to these sorts of points from Jesus?\n\nThey parrot \"don't judge\" (without understanding the fuller and proper and more demanding meaning), but with any point that encourages us to live our Christian life, heroically, sacrificially, totally, trustingly, with abandonment, they characterize it as \"pre-Vat theology'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Beautiful article. I am not a Christian but messages from Matthew about Jesus/Love really resonate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Christian Constitutional Conservative I tried hard to get a man of principle nominated. I gave money until it hurt. Forced myself to make phone calls to strangers on the eve of primaries in multiple states. As you pointed out Trump doesn't represent Christian values, Constitutional values, or Conservative values. He was pushed hard by the DC establishment, the media, and low information nationalist voters. I am very angry at these people for putting their selfish agenda ahead of the good of the country. Since Senator Cruz dropped out, I feel like the election is already over and America is sentenced to another 4 years of darkness, deceit, and decline whether it is Clinton or Trump. Both candidates are lying, self-serving, New York elite big-government progressives with little regard for rule of law, constitutional freedoms and the Christian values that America was founded on. The only difference is one wears an R and the other wears a D.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because the promulgation of Humanae Vitae proved there would be no meaningful lay involvement in the development of doctrine. The talk about more lay involvement was double speak and in the end the clerical establishment intended to keep total control over the sexual lives of lay Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was cool with your comments till the last sentence. Who is telling Christians what to do, and what makes you believe all faithful Cristians are identical in their belief?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have followed your conscience and had the courage of your convictions which is more than can be said for some.\nIf the Augsberg Confession was fully within the teaching of the undivided Church, why was it rejected by both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you just assume my privilege bro?\n\nSorry you feel the need to persecute this Christian fellow making his cakes. You both need to be more accepting of others imo", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From the article; \" .... struggle to live the Christian ideal of marriage and family life, the chief task of the church's theologians ... \" \n\nI believe the use of the generic \"Christian\" to be telling. The \"Catholic\" ideal of marriage is somewhat different from the generic Christian ideal. The generic Christian ideal generally does not condemn nor ban divorce, remarriage, or birth control, and offers an unfettered path to their communion rail -- in short, full acceptance into the community. More and more of the generic Christian communities also recognize same-sex marriages.\n\nThe Catholic ideal of closeness ends prior to the Eucharist -- from that point on the Catholic leaves the divorced person to return to his/her spiritual loneliness. And because this is true, it is wrong to characterize this Catholic attempted closeness as \"Christian\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mucky- you either agree with that fact that our Founding Fathers made us a Christian nation through their Judeo-Christian paradigm, or you don't -- which one is it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I love Pope John a lot but lets be real. Scientific research on the topic was more developed than suggested going all the way back to the 1930s. And yet Pope John took a pretty hardline against Homosexuality. He for instance in 1961 signed a Papal document banning gay seminarians from the priesthood. Compare that to Pope Francis's position saying \"who am I to judge\" when asked about gay priests in the Catholic Church. \n\nPope John declared the absolute indissolubility of marriage when it came to divorce. Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia by contrast has taken a less rigid approach to the issue of marriage. \n\nI agree with you that the Catholic Church needs to change on subjects like this. But we are talking about a 2000 year old institution, with 2000 years of entrenched dogma with 1.2 billion followers on several continents that don't all have socially liberal attitudes the way liberal Catholics in america do. So Francis's task is much more difficult than is let on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At the Knights of Columbus, we seek to fulfill our responsibilities as Catholic citizens by becoming active in the political life of our local communities, voting during local and national elections and speaking out as individual citizens on the public issues of the day. To understand these responsibilities, the Knights of Columbus looks to the Second Vatican Council, which identifies the mission of the Catholic faithful to build a society consistent with Gospel values when it states, \u201cBy reason of their special vocation, it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God\u2019s will\u2026. Thus especially by the witness of their life resplendent in faith, hope and charity, they must manifest Christ to others\u201d (Lumen Gentium, 31).\n\nI don't agree with the Knights on every position, but I don't think that precludes them from pursuing their goals or paying their executives as they see fit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For what it really is, women in Muslim faith must cover up (no similar rules for the guys) because it is their fault if they are rapped, used and wasted. This is the reality of the Muslim teachings, not a lot different from the ancient Greek philosophers, Jews or Christians; it does not matter. Women are less than men really just property to be used, worked or traded and now is the time to bring an international major initiate to forward this reality and these dress rules would be the first to crash. To bad in Quebec it is all about being French; and not about the reality that it is ok to speak out and help the millions of oppressed women in the world today.\n\nWhen I was working in the middle east I asked the girls, (18 to 28 years old) in my classes why they would wear this outfit. They were smarter, at least worked harder than the guys. They had some awareness and , they said; \"it is just easier to be out and around because the guys do not bother us\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi! EFC1127A\n\nYes EFC1127A spot on \u201chumility and obedience lead to the joy of having our own will completely identified with God's, so that what he wants, we want\u201d but obviously it is a difficult path to follow to reach (Maintain that state of being) in trust and follow all aspects of His Will. \n\nMany on the site act in good conscience; we are both in accord on the indissolubility of marriage, many find this hard to accept in that this teaching is for the benefit and protection the family unit especially the children. Sadly many Christians have divorced and now live with a civil partner and in doing so have separated themselves from the Church and it has been forecast that this trend will continue into the future especially in the West. \nWith no way back many live without Hope of reconciliation with the Church", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Scott,\nI can certainly agree with you, with your 'head vicar' and with John Hobson. Unfortunately, Tridentinus writes as if Vatican II had no Decree on Ecumenism nor a Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions. In NEITHER of these two documents is the official church drawing a \"line in the sand\" or put up 'dogmas and doctrines' for people to accept or 'protest against' [Protestants]. It is as if dogmas and doctrines are the means of salvation for all of humanity. \n\nIn the Decree on Ecumenism, the first chapter states that Salvation is not limited just to Catholics, nor, for that matter, just to Christians. The work of Ecumenism is the work of the Holy Spirit for people all over the world. There are many issues that all peoples can agree upon with Catholics--promoting justice for all peoples, promoting the needs of societies world-wide, issues of peace, and concern for the eco-structure of our common home---the earth. All are invited with respect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The 'institutional' church of any religion is just that--an institution. It provides traditions to give folks a 'map' to navigate through the chaos of life.\nWe are all on a spiritual journey to union with God, the Great 'I AM'. Each of us follow our own course (highway, country road, bike trail, hiking, riding a train, etc..) You find great comfort and security in the orthodox teachings of the RCC. I, too, am a cradle Roman Catholic but I find great comfort and security along the mystical/contemplative road of the RCC. It is an ancient path with a deep and lasting spiritual tradition. The four criteria that Tom listed are the guideposts, the mile markers for we who are journeying along the contemplative path. We are no less nor more ''catholic'' than another. The only truth we need to justify is being true to the Great 'I AM' that we encounter along our journey.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) Where were the Catholic bishops? They did manage to release a statement saying that \"the loss of affordable access for millions of people is simply unacceptable\" \u2026 but hard lobbying? Organizing a base? Not noteworthy, if they did it at all.\u2014Maureen Fiedler Here is the difference. For the bishops, politics dominated truth and they backed away from Sister Simone Campbell Network vigor. For the Sisters, on the other hand, truth dominated politics and they took their chances as Christians have been doing since the time of the crucified Messiah.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are a clear and present danger if you are Catholic and teaching against church doctrine. This is called heresy and leading other Catholics into heresy is sinful. Provided you are a blatant and self proclaimed heretic they shouldn't have even offered you the Eucharist until you repented.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Parents should be able to raise their children in accordance with their personal faith. \"\n.\nAnd that equates to public funding of schools in what way?\n.\nThere is a special catholic way of teaching math?\nA special moslem way of teaching geography?\nA special bhuddist way of teaching English literature?\n.\nIf you want to raise your children according to your faith, that's great: Take them to church on Sunday (etc.,), or not - it's all up to you. Your choice.\n.\nBut you have no right to expect the public to subsidize that nonsense.\n.\nWe should also remove the tax exempt status of the various religious institutions. The public should not be subsidizing religion through the tax system.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Voters DO make their votes count, each and every election. That's precisely why we have so many Democratic politicians -- we ELECT them. \n\nIf you want to change that, try telling the local GOP to put up some viable candidates -- no teahadists, no kook-Christians (real ones would be OK), no 1%-ers. If they can field a few decent candidates who actually care about most of us, they might actually win some elections.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right again. It does contradict that baptism. Contradicts Paul, too: his declaration (somewhere in 1 Cor, I think) that we 'share' the one spirit. This commonality characterised the early Church, but got lost soon afterwards, especially during the imperialisation of the Church under Constantine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The majority often doesn't give thought to the minority.\"\n-------\nAnd who do you give thought to, peterpi? Yourself? Your beliefs? Your ideology? God? Jesus? Their beliefs? Everything you write is about \"you\" expressing \"your\" beliefs, your ideology, your faith, your trust, your words.\n===========================\nThere were very few Jews in the country at that time, but they either didn't complain or they taught their kids at home or through the synagogue.\nThere were very few Roman Catholics at that time, and they knew not to complain.\n--------------\nYou're right. There probably weren't many Jews, Catholics, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, or even atheists then. So a \"Government of Mostly Christians\" that governs a \"Nation of Mostly Christians\" does what it does best: Teach Christianity that made this Country, first, independent of England, and then, eventually, a World Power virtually second-to-none.\n-\nUntil recently. The US has been on a downhill slide for about 44 years or so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neither candidate of the two major parties obtained 50% of the popular vote.\n\nI don't see your assessment of either the President-elect or those who voted for him as either Christian or productive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi a.ndy, I'm not sure what % of Christians do not view the creation story as literal truth.\n\nI do know that the Christians who do believe in a literal understanding are quite politically influential and have fought for a awhile over such things as plaques in the Grand Canyon contesting the time line of geologists and claiming god made the canyon. \n\nI find that problematic, to say the least.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, you are correct - it is a \"kind of military person\". It is a rank in the military - I think below a sergeant. However, a second meaning is to do with the body or physical form - hence 'corporal' punishment, or bodily punishment. Interestingly, there is a third meaning: it is the cloth which the 'plate' and 'chalice' are placed on during a Eucharist service in Christian churches!\nAnd, yes, a synonym for 'corporal' is 'corporeal'. You are correct. :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The needs listed are all important. That being said, PIMC only provides some reproductive needs, the ones Catholic doctrine choose to provide, which include messaging via counseling. PP is not just for birth control. There are many reasons a woman would choose PP instead of PIMC and I believe they should have that option. \n\nIt is not my place to create a hierarchy of people's needs. How can I rate a value on another's personal situation? It is the responsibility of the community at large to voice opinions and the council to respect whatever direction the community feels is important. Let's just hope decisions are made based on facts, not proven falsehoods, as one council member cited.\n\nI didn't take the time to research but I'm willing to bet Planned Parenthood does not have anywhere near the resources of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just as Freedom came to the slaves more than a century ago, equality will come to women, in the Catholic church and everywhere else! Justice demands nothing less!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "continuing . . . Rome banned the devotion to Mary Priest in 1926, but similar strains continue, such as Mary Co-Redeemer. \n\nIn the Roman Missal with Catholic liturgy in English there is an illustration opposite the page with Eucharistic Prayer I. At first glance, you\u2019d think it is just another crucified on a cross with a Mary alongside. But look closely and you see she has her hands raised up and in her hands is a chalice or tall cup of some sort to catch the Holy Blood that spurts from Jesus\u2019 right side. This is the same gesture the priest makes at Mass holding his chalice high. Is this Mary Priest? \n\nI like to think that the blood-red candy canes on the Christmas tree (derived from the Goddess' Tree of Life) are just an aberration and that most of the past was rather less violent, as one Sicilian put it to me, WE are God's holy fruit. That would be more to the point than all this talk about blood and sacrifice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bible says to obey the law and not steal things. Thus, keeping these people out is very Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "....\"Francis\u2019 urgent task is to change this elite, clerical culture\"....\n\nEven if 'the clerical culture' did not cause the abuse, it is the primary reason for the coverup; If abusing 'clergy' are 'the church' then 'the church' has to be protected. And law-suites and recompense to victims hurts 'the church' and its image. \n\nTrue, we have a long history of dividing the Catholic Christian community into those who are 'Clerics' and those who are 'laity'.\n\nThe question is \u2013 is such a division a necessity??\n\nThose in 'hierarchical' leadership positions could be 'laity'. They were in the early church. It took a few centuries before positions of Elder, Bishop or priest were reserved to a specialized 'professional' class designated as 'clerics'.\n\nAll offices and functions in the Church could be assigned to 'laity'; and be temporary jobs for as long as a person is willing, able, and capable.\n\nSome still may abuse their power & position, but they would not be 'the church' quite so much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CCDenver I assume is an affiliate of the Catholic Church, Dude. Check your virtue signaling quips at the door while you double check your source of non government largesse.\n\nhttp://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/24/catholic-church-collects-16-billion-in-us-contract/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...And Irish Catholics were dispossessed of their land and threatened with genocide in the name of a Calvinist God. It is unfortunate that Christians still cannot come together through their common faith in Christ to promote justice and healing to a broken world. That should be the goal of this year's commemoration.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hint: they ain't Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps Trump takes the Catholic Hierarchy in the USA as being the only version of \"true\" Catholics he needs to concern himself with...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So Richard, when you are mayor and close the few truly Christian shelters, meal providers and food banks, then what is your low-cost policy plan to fix the problem?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Every totalitarian state which has come into being since the French Revolution has made it a priority to eradicate Christianity. France, the USSR, China, Indo-china, N Korea, Iraq, Cuba, etc have all persecuted and discriminated against Christianity and all turned out to be beautiful havens of freedom, peace, tranquility and justice in an otherwise hostile world didn't they? They even had to build a wall across Europe to stop people seeking refuge in the Soviet bloc. \nBe careful about what you wish for; destroy Christianity and you destroy civilisation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What Christians do is simply part of what the human race does. What the human race does is part of the sum total of what nature does. Evolution doesn't mean animals are morally obliged to kill the weak. Neither are we. In fact, in biological terms, saving the weak could save us a species.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus wants us to deal with Him in and through the natural realities that God allows.\n\nThe Catholic Church has beautiful teaching on palliative care, care that helps us steer clear from addictions.\n\nBut this teaching isn't read nor understood by the snideful, cynical, dismissive crowd. \n\nIf more Catholics, for instance, actually understood what \"fasting\" is for, what it does for us, there'd be far fewer addictions of all sorts. \n\nAnd there'd be much more happiness and joy in the world. \n\nThere's beautiful teaching on such things....but \"pride\" and cynicism\" crowds out the profound truth of this teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So true. 'in the person of Christ' came to mean 'in place of Christ' a long, long time ago :(", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I teach the History of the Catholic Church. Sorry, buddy---but people like Ambrose of Milan or Augustine of Hippo NEVER went to Confession. And considering Augustine's early life---he probably would have benefited from it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Jesus's time the kingdom was expected to be established on Earth, and Jesus's followers were exhorted to anticipate the reign of God by comporting themselves according to the Way (that is, \"making the world a better place\"). As time passed and the Parousia failed to occur, the kingdom relocated to the heavens.\n\nIt's amazing the way self-identified Christians enervate the gospel of its vision for justice and the end of suffering in this world. So much more comfortable to domesticate Jesus as the heavenly, blue-eyed chair of the Republican National Committee.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I absolutely agree. But let's remember that Ontario has 4 publicly funded school boards. Its public and catholic \"times two\". There is a corresponding french board for each english board. While I think publicly funded french education is reasonable, it certainly does not need to be provided by catholic and public board.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The courage and risk of love \"beyond reason...far beyond rationality\" is a wonderful way to put it. Thanks. \n\nBut... \n\nWhy, then, amid Catholics called to go beyond reason and rationality in our loving are there so many institutional, objective, prescriptive, rules-based, legalistic, restrictive, rational, codified \"mandates\" that mitigate against--indeed often preclude--\"going beyond\" the rational and the temporal? \n\nOur intellects may be puny, but our individual capacity to love can be \"irrationally\" expansive. Yet we arrogantly do so much to regulate and neutralize going beyond reason. The Church I know says \"love rationally.\"\n\nThe can be no rule book for loving beyond reason, yet so often we try to rein in--by prescriptions (even doctrines sometimes) and regulations-- how we optimally love God and our fellow human beings with the brakes off.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I doubt whether the majority of bishops questioned it. It was brought up by Cardinal Kasper so the bishops had to discuss it. The Pope should never have allowed it to be on the agenda especially as it had been reaffirmed by one of his recent predecessors.\nAny Catholic who is divorced and remarried is deceiving himself if he thinks he is not committing adultery and thinks that adultery isn't a mortal sin. The 'settled' teaching going back to Apostolic times (1 Cor 11:27) is that one should not receive the Eucharist unworthily. The Church has consistently taught that this means not being in a state of grace or to put it another way in a state of mortal sin. Any Catholic who values his Faith would know this. If he doesn't then it is doubtful that he would even care whether he was in a state of sin or not.\nMy standard for determining settled doctrine is what has been consistently taught by popes and councils down the centuries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"He's a rather fanatically devout Catholic himself.\" Bannon? I'm curious. How do you know that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ha, ha...Ok, you just go right ahead and 'believe' that theory if that's what turns your crank. Yes, the same theory your neighbor came up with isn't all that much different than my own. So I guess your imitation of my theories could be considered a compliment. In fact 'imitation' is the highest form of a flattery, so I've heard. Either way I still stand by my theory. and proves I must be getting under somebodies skin and if I am, that's just priceless. \n.\nHitler was mesmerizing to Germans in 1933. He subverted Christianity and replaced it with a Cult of eastern mysticism mixed with Nietzsche and quite a bit of the 'occult'. I'll say it again, Hitler was no Christian and the Germans who believed in him paid a terrible price for their leaving Christian faith, in large numbers and following the doctrines of Nazi demons.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your own example proves you wrong: http://www.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/gender-identity-disorder/overview.html You \"chose\" to be intolerant of others happiness, that doesn't make you a Christian, it makes you a person very insecure with themselves so has to finds fault in others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Daniel R. Kempton - \"I am unaware of a an argument in Catholic teaching that such early abortions are somehow acceptable.\"\n\nSteven Shea - So turning this country into a Catholic theocracy is the goal?\n\nMarty E - Outlawing abortions does not create a \u201ctheocracy\u201d. \n\nSo, Steven, you have no problem with the outlawing \"such early abortions\" or with his bringing his own religious beliefs to bear on the issue?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The self-styled orthodox pick and choose like everyone else, and neither of us is an exception. And your \"backup documents\" reflect your own choices, values, whatever. Which is why the self-proclaimed \"orthodox Catholics\" don't get a lot of traction around these parts! From your posts here over months if not years, you have people seriously wondering whether you have ever passed a theology course, anywhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah. So the catholic priests have some company.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The only interpreter of the Natural Law is the Catholic Church instituted by Christ.\"\n\nI would translate that as \"'Natural law' is whatever we say it is.\" Which shows my major objection to it. If someone doesn't have an actual argument, they cry \"natural law!\" and hope no one notices that no argument is being given.\n\nAnd at least some of the time, is IS used by the magisterium to mean \"what is found in nature\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "to continue: the tragedy of schism and and division and strife and in our day polarization comes about from clergy and their authority either within the church or among churches being a source of contention. If you can imagine a Catholic King having Protestants doubting the Real Presence roasted over a fire and raised again and lowered to produce the greatest agony possible while enjoying dinner inside a church where he recently escorted the Blessed Sacrament in procession you have an example of the extremes to which this can go. \n If this were arbitrary and the Holy Spirit within us is the true priest in the absence of Jesus on earth who is our High Priest in Heaven (Hebrews) then for charities sake, obey your pastors and love the Lord-but know that you have the same Lord dwelling within you and no-one in authority over you has any more special sacramental power than that given for the sake of convenience to allow a congregation to have integrity it its spiritual life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora17,\nIt,s not my job to go around correcting everyone who is either unfriendly to others or to correct those whom use attacks and/or bomb dropping as their primary method of discussion on this site. \nIf/when you do that it is up to you to either apologize or to correct oneself. IOW, it is your job to see to it that you USUALLY act in accordance with the wishes of the site owners and sponsors. \nIF you make the mistake of using strong declarative language that causes others to not be able \nexpress their thoughts, or even disagree with you. That IS why the site owners have rules which are meant to discourage that kind of expression.\nYou may be caught in that mode of aggressive expression for some different reasons. Could it be because you are a rigid trad Catholic. And who made you that way -- probably your father or husband OR did you make yourself that way?\nAre you an aggressive person because you are a Republican and learned that behavior from GOP operatives. \n\nYou decide.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was responding to Gary (and others) and the letter writer. I believe Christians would be slow to act in this situation, given to patience and give the man a chance. Read the response in its context, it may make more sense. The Bible give fairly clear instruction on matters relating to governing authorities. Christians are not called to be rebellious, contentious, activist etc. I can share some Biblical instruction on this, but.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The terms \"conservative christian\" and \"thought\" are mutually exclusive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently you feel that DOCTRINE [made ages ago] is more important than the people who are living here and now. Jesus took the whole concept of the Sabbath laws [which were and still are related to the observance of Third Commandment] and stated that the Sabbath was made for humans. It was a definite collapse of orthodox Jewish understanding which put doctrines above the people and their human needs.\n \n\nALL DOCTRINES were made for humans and if those doctrines are keeping people away from the reception of the Eucharist, The Bread of Life, those doctrines need to be revisited or changed. Doctrines are not sacred. But Jesus, ministering among the people, and the people being able to receive Christ in the Eucharist, their Divine Doctor----this is a Sacred Relationship.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pat has said the Church has had the idea of doctrinal development from the time of Cardinal Newman. You could at least give a similar source for your assertion that the moon is green cheese. It probably doesn\u2019t even have to be as comprehensive as Newman\u2019s Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, but you shouldn\u2019t just assert baseless positions!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Trump voters of my acquaintance focused - solely, it would seem - on abortion. Great. If Trump follows through with his pandering to \"the Catholic agenda\", perhaps some babies will be born who otherwise might not have been - to TrumpWorld, with its misogyny, racial profiling, ethnic exclusion, disability mocking and all sorts of other delightful characteristics of the Brutal Society. Heaven help us all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...miss divine wisdom.\"\n\n\nNothing has a more threatening look to someone like you than reasonableness and balance, when it is not on your side.\n\nAnd spare me your \"divine wisdom,\" like a package of squeezed lemons floating on a river of \"righteousness.\" You forget that we all possess wounds, our own wounds, however deep or hidden, elsewhere on the Body of Christ, on the same Body that proclaims the Gospel of forgiveness and reconciliation at a liturgy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's extremely nervy of Dems to even fantasize about influencing the Catholic Church. I hope the murky political\nscene is not too difficult for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\", ALL I have to do is post quotes that I \"think\" I \"might be able to find,\" -- REFUTING the fact that our founding fathers made us a Christian nation under the Judeo Christian paradigm, correct. That was both explicit and implicit in the post-- the most casual reader, exercising the most basic of critical reasoning skills would have gathered this. There is no possible way you can be this deliberately oblivious -- NONE of the quotes you tried to find refute this fact. You agree with this fact, or you don't-- which is it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From the article:\n\nIf the Catholic community in the United States is to survive as a coherent community, it will require leadership able to imagine new forms and structures to sustain the church in this new reality.\n\nI would suggest that at least one more step is required: any such solution will require the voice of the laity in such decisions about those new forms and structures. That voice needs to include ALL of the laity, male and female, married and single, active and not. What we are (sad to say) once more talking about here is what truly comprises the church. I continue to believe that until the ENTIRE church can begin to act, to think and to consult as one, it will remain just as shattered, just as dysfunctional as it is today. And as it enters a period with as deep of challenges as we already know it will face, it can no longer afford the old \"tops down\" model.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A grave mistake by the Bishop, this could end up like the Eastern Catholic Ruthenians that were mistreated by Latin Rite bishops and ended up leaving in huge numbers for Orthodoxy. \n\nI cannot see how Choking the ordinariate will do any good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part three of three) Theology hasn't yet achieved its wholeness, methinks.\u2014Only God is perfect, only God is whole.\n\nHow does new theological understanding not continue to process along with new consciousness?\u2014New theological understanding continues to process along with new consciousness in the academy and with such journals as the Catholic Biblical Quarterly and Theological Studies.\n\nGod bless you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that this trend demands ongoing attention and analysis, but I would suggest that the scandal, and church positions on some of the \"hot button issues\" may be playing a bigger factor than the question's answer would suggest. For the younger nones, they may be sincere that these were not THEIR motivating factors. But I suspect that what we're seeing in the loss of the younger, is that they've grown up in an environment wherein their parents and extended families have not been supportive of being Catholic. The reasons for the loss of that generation may well be the scandal, and those church positions. Stated differently, perhaps the survey folks were asking the right question, but to the wrong generation.\n\nThis problem is likely to grow, for with each non-church marriage, the \"none\" position propagates into future generations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One can't help but wonder what the world would be like if the catholic clergy sex abuse scandal had never happened. I've long been convinced that The Crisis took out many of the \"best and brightest\" in the US and around the world for generations. This fact devastates me for many reasons. Many reasons. I suspect the world might be, would be, further along the evolutionary chain by now, but maybe not. We were silenced. We were almost stillborn. Our hopes, dreams and potentials smothered, not at birth, but sometime further up the chain. I hope there is still hope for us, each and all, but often I doubt it. That's when I've learned to stop everything and start praying to some God who's actually paying attention. That and trying to talk about it here, among people I have never met!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can certainly agree with you up to the middle of your comments. Then, there is a departure. \"Priests and religious should be held to higher standards....\" Yes, the official church HOLDS them to higher standards. 1) Priests are not only trained to serve at the altar, but to have a deeper spiritual life. Unlike Protestant ministers [and I know a number of excellent Protestant ministers], their whole formation is different. Protestant seminarians go to school and then go home each day. Catholic seminarians live at the seminary and gather to pray the Divine Office, pray the rosary and other devotions, engage in spiritual reading, and have conferences in spiritual life directed to them. Do you do that when you were in your late teens and early twenties? \n\nAND the official CHURCH ordains priests----with a special sacrament of service called Holy Orders. Religious also are laity, but in a special category called \"Consecrated Life\" and they have the same routines as seminarians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to the Vatican Insider article by Andrea Tornielli: \"American cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, Patron of the Order of Malta, had firmly requested Boeselager\u2019s removal, asking the Pope to back such a move, in an audience which took place in November 2016. Francis had prepared a letter addressed to Burke, calling for respect of Catholic morality. He also, however, urged for the problem to be resolved through dialogue within the Order itself. It is not clear whether the heads of the Order had been informed of this letter but the Grand Chancellor, the Order\u2019s second most important figure was removed anyway, despite the Pope\u2019s request for the issue to be resolved otherwise.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Gang of Four were not aiming for \"open discussion\" of the faith. They were sniping at Francis because he apparently does not go along with their strict and merciless view of the law. They believe that the letter of the law gives eternal life, and that man is made for the Sabbath. Francis is both wiser and more Christian than they.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It appears to be settled in the Catholic theology of orders that Holy Orders consists of deacon, priest, and bishop. All three receive an indelible mark by the sacrament, all three are included in the clergy unlike the women of old. However, the deacon is not \"sacerdotal\", able to perform sacrificial functions. Clarifying that was the purpose of Omnium in mentem.\n\nThis was accomplished by revising Canon 1008 and adding a third paragraph to Canon 1009:\n\n\"\u00a73. Those who are constituted in the order of episcopate or presbyterate receive the office and faculty of acting in the person of Christ the Head, while deacons receive the power to serve the people of God in the diaconia of liturgy, word and charity.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...has been found wanting.\"\n\nSome individual Catholics, some Catholic institutions, dioceses, \"national\" churches, as it were, colleges, universities, secondary schools, hospitals, etc., fair better than others regarding the autonomy of the individual conscience, in cultivating that autonomy (to report abuse to the police). That disparity or difference in kind is to be expected in all institutions, including in public and private schools, the entertainment industry, and especially in families, where sexual abuse is highest, widespread. Hopefully the Church in the western world will get even better at it, at reporting abuse, and will serve as an example for elsewhere. (I am not that hopeful for families, however, where I think abuse is getting worse and worse, globally.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"....The Conservatives committed Canada to a serious scientific endeavor which clashes with Mr. Harper's reputation as a fundamentalist Christian and climate change skeptic. Good luck with the project regardless of where it ends up being situated....\"\n.\n.\n.\nPerhaps the \"reputation\", created and repeated by some, is just clashing with truth, reality, etc...\n\nRepeating it won't make it true, or keep a falsehood alive, either....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I keep thinking that the rapture will be coming soon and the people not raptured out will suffer seven years of tribulation. I've heard differing opinions of when Jesus will return but when he does come he will be taking care of the over population issues and bringing raptured Christians back to inhabit the new earth. If you believe this then you won't need to be concerned about the future issues of Alaska. \n\nHas anyone seen the movie Soylent Green? Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IKVj4l5GU4. It's kind of scary! \n\nI think I'm in kind of a funk tonight. Sorry for the depressing comment. I sometimes wonder if I should move from Alaska. I'm 64 and have limited income. Alaska is so expensive as some have pointed out. I considered moving to Belize or Costa Rico, but gave that up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you really think a pope or any Catholic for that matter, would desire the number of practising Catholics to shrink?\nPeople leave the Church for the reasons Faithful Catholic gives below, they think they know better than the Church because the lure of the 'world' is too tempting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yup...reposting rejected comments again. Stop the personal attacks...and people won't feel it necessary to reject your comments as uncivil, thus requiring the constant riposting. Hardly conduct becoming a good catholic and devout christian...sigh...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Try the American Solidarity Party whose platform has a consistent life ethic and follows Catholic Social Justice teaching regarding immigration, care for the poor and vulnerable, and environmental issues. https://solidarity-party.org/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I went to a Catholic High School grades 9-12. I excelled in sports in Football and Basketball and started in both as a Freshman thru my Senior years. We had a Priest who taught History class and he was a sports nut. He would attend most practices etc. Everyone liked this priest as a teacher and just generally as a nice guy. When I was a Sophomore he asked me after Friday's practice one day if I would come over to his room for a Pepsi and talk sports. I said , sure. I got there and in a priest's room which is like a 10'x10' room, they have room for a standard size bed and usually a small table and single chair. We SAT down on the bed and talked sports for approx. 10 minutes, then he put his hand on my knee and started going Up Hill towards my, \"BUSINESS\". I let a Right Hand \"Knuckle Sandwich\" go to side of his face, knocked him over the bed and knocked him out for 15-20 seconds. I called my Mom and Dad, we met with the Principal. (cont.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While Romero would say love with the heart of Christ, stay close to the sacraments, etc., in my opinion, he would also caution against burying our heads in the sand. In his words, \"The church must propose an education that makes people agents of their own development, protagonists of history, not a passive, compliant mass, but human beings able to display their intelligence, their creativity, their desire for the common service.\" The Church's mission is \"to uproot sins from history, to uproot sins from the political order, to uproot sins from the economy, to uproot sins wherever they are. What a hard task!\" (Romero, Jan. 15 and 22, 1978 sermons.) To do this requires awareness of the present and the past: \"the gospel demands of today\u2019s Christian more commitment to history.\" (Jul. 16, 1977.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with that statement entirely, but in the literal sense, not the sarcastic one. It is difficult to make the case that someone likes Catholics if she points to Tim Keane as a good example of who we are. We could be proud of him after his mission work, even when he was running for Governor, but he flipped from his former orthodox positions when he needed to fund his Senate campaign. Regardless of whether you support his former orthodox positions or his current ones, nobody is rushing to give him an award for the courage of his convictions", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a general statement about Pope Francis, I go to articles from Argentines who know Pope Francis, Jorge Bergoglio. They state that none will understand him without an understanding of Juan Peron, the Argentine political strongman of the 1950's. Pope Francis was/is a Peronists. Peronism seems to be difficult to fit into North Atlantic political classification. Seems it can be shape shifting and may come in various flavors. Maybe somehow the politics has overlapped the theology or pastoral approach. And these guys seem to be correct. I can not classify Pope Francis except to just say he is a Catholic Christian. Some here will try some box fit, but it will not work as something will evolve to contradict or disappoint. \n\nHe is an enigma to almost all of us. We will have to accept and leave it.\n\nhttp://www.ticotimes.net/2015/08/02/you-cant-understand-pope-francis-without-juan-peron-and-evita\n\nhttp://thefederalist.com/2015/09/08/pope-francis-ushers-the-second-coming-of-peronism/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How very Christian of you, Tri. Do you have a gospel citation for it? Wow...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR is the most politically outspoken Catholic media site - - luridly so -- exclusively promoting the platform of the DNC, and continuously raging at the platform of the opposition. \n\nBut the prospect of religious folks getting \"too explicit\" in their political views makes NCR \"cringe.\"\n\nThe media really does consider itself a priesthood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Western European civilization has been invading and conquering lands in the Middle East since the 11th century under the guise of protecting Christian holy lands. Then it all became about the glory of empire and expanding territory. Now it's about oil. The west has been meddling in the middle east for over a 1,000 years so I think many Islamists have a ligitimate reason for hating Western Civilization.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CTA is Catholic because it understands very well that 'the tail does not wag the dog.' Only after defining the CHURCH as the ENTIRE people of God, \"Lumen Gentium' defines the specific roles of the bishops and of the laity in the life and mission of the church. \n \n\nChapter 4 of Lumen Gentium addresses the laity's character which is 'the special vocation of the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and ordering these in accordance with the will of God,' so that \"the power of the gospel may shine forth in the daily life of the family and society\" and \"so that the mission of the Church may be more able to meet the particular needs of the modern world\" [LG 31, 35, 36]. To that end, \"in accordance with the knowledge, competence or authority that they possess, they [laity] have the right and indeed the duty to make known their opinions on matters which concern the good of the Church,\" and pastors \"should willingly make use of their prudent counsel\" [LG 37].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My goodness, you're correct here dragon. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam worship essentially the same god and share many of the same prophets. Isa ibn Maryam (Jesus, son of Mary) appears in, i believe, something like 93 verses in the Quran. The three religions are referred to a \"Abrahamic\" religions after the prophet Abraham.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would have expected better from Catholic publications than branding one another as \"inauthentically Catholic,\" whatever that means. I think if either of these authors were to spend a few days in, for example, rural Brazil -- the largest Catholic nation on earth -- where many Catholic communities have taken on the trappings of evangelical churches in an effort to survive without clergy, they might seek to work together instead of tearing apart what remains of the US church. \n\nMy best guess is that the US Catholic Church will be a distant memory by the end of this century, precisely because its message has devolved into infantile debates about who is more Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry to hear about this. Mormon Church down the Street, Catholic Church on the highway and many other churches in the area. Get your prayer teams going and seek help from above. Project will go much faster.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yours was a very extreme Lenten fast indeed, the likes of which I have never heard of any Catholic doing, at least in the modern church. If you feel it was of benefit to you, good. It must certainly have been a strong bonding experience with others in the group, at least if those others were good, reasonable people. Odd, though, given how much self-effacement and compunction is involved, that the fast doesn't include telling others that you've done it among the things to be given up.\n\nOdd too that even consciences that are \"very alert,\" and shrink from condoning cruelty to animals, nevertheless are as if blinded, and fail to see that the very situation of exploiting enslaved animals, ending in an unwilled violent death, is inevitably cruel, no matter what the \"humane slaughter\" propaganda says.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bring back the Lord's Prayer. \n\nBring back Christianity and the teachings of Jesus into the schools. \n\nThat is the only way to balance the Muslim determination to bring the teaching of the Koran and mohammed into our school system.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think we are in agreement, Bob. It is not easy to follow Christ. Far easier to make up a list of rules and just follow them. The 'love' part is indeed the costly part and that cannot be legislated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"When consudering Catholic religious vocations...\" one should not be wilfully ignorant of the institutionalized child molestation and abuse that the Catholic Church has pepetrated and sanctioned for centuries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The issue is a practical one. Most Catholics wouldn't know where to turn if they were told by a pastor that they didn't have grounds for annulments. It is the same deal with children being refused the Sacraments because of their parents' \"irregular\" situations or couples being refused marriage because they are co-habitating. I believe that this isn't allowed under Canon Law, but I doubt that many Catholics are going to know that they can challenge any denial. They are just going to leave the Catholic Church. One good, practical reform would be an easy process of appeal/ complaint for such situations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sisters Lea and Consilia are quite right to mistrust and dislike that sheep-and-shepherd imagery that early on became traditional in hierarchical Christianity, not least in the common title \"pastor.\" And I hope it has struck at least some of us, at one time or another, as very odd, to use that imagery to refer to a supposedly loving relationship, when in fact the literal pastoral relationship was all about the deadly exploitation of the sheep by the shepherd.\n\nThe threefold commands of Jesus to Peter, \"Feed/tend my sheep/lambs,\" are found in chapter 21, the final chapter, of the Gospel of John, considered an appendix added to the final edition. We should note that this gospel was written by and for a community who considered the non-hierarchical Beloved Disciple as their leader in the faith, and not Peter or the \"apostles.\" So the Peter-material in 21 should be understood as a friendly blessing of those Petrine, non-Johannine Christians, without being an endorsement of Petrine ways.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, indeed, what Catholic parishes really need is their own organization. It could be called The Helpmates of Our Lady of the Groveling Doormat. They could earn a badge for learning how to scrub the sacristy floor and a badge for learning how to iron the altar boys' lacey aprons and a badge for learning how to empty bedpans at the Retired Priests' home. They could nurture the parish babies every month while the devout parish mommies were getting soused at the sodality cocktail party. And as a special grace, at the biennial meeting, they could be allowed to prostrate themselves and kiss the parochial vicar's venerable shoes. That's the sort of organization His Grace could really enthusiastically recommend for young Catholic incubators, oops, I mean women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is our official French-English duality an anachronism? Would you dare write about abolishing that? \nAnyways Catholic schools are completely subverting themselves by differentiating themselves from public schools according to their commitment to/'lens' of 'social justice', defined in a distinctly secular way. You won't hear or see the word Christ in many 'Catholic' schools even though relationship with Christ is the reason for being Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Given that religious limitations apply only to religions aside from Judeo-Christian beliefs, it's difficult to argue that a niqab/burka ban is anything but ethnic sterilisation, and a push back against multiculturalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I posted earlier that the Augsberg Confession was at the time rejected as h*retical by both the Catholic Church and the Orthodox.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do not see how your posting advances the discussion of idears. If one has something supportive to say of Cardinal Burke, then that would be appropriate, for example pointing out that, as a Cardinal, he is a Prince of the Church, and was selected by none other than the Holy Spirit to lead the One True Church. I would expect a Traditional Catholic would take this opportunity to make this point, rather merely lashing out with snark.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ted some legitimate points but I never said Muslims were better than we Adventists - some probably are. I would say:\n\n1. A Saudi cleric, reading the Qu'ran through the lens of the Haddith would no doubt agree with you re the Trinity and Jesus. I suspect an \"insider\" Christian missionary reading the Qu'ran through the lens of the Bible might disagree.\n\n2. Re those Qu'ranic passages:\n\na. The Qu'ran is possibly attacking Medievil Christians who sought to formulate precise definitions of God, often using Greek philosophical concepts. \n\nb. The Qu'ran itself denies strict monotheism in some places. As Islamic scholar Mona Siddiqui says:\n\ni. 'The Qu'ran was the uncreated, eternal speech of God, and that the Qu'ran on earth, in the form of a book, is the earthly manifestation of God's eternal word. (Surah 85:21-21)' (cf. John 1:1-14)\n\nii. 'God's oneness is not about numerical oneness; it implies everything in creation is subservient to him'. Jesus denounced His equality with God (Phil. 2:6)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is that an assumption, or a confession your part? Sigh....\n\nIn any event, I didn't set any boundary excluding anyone who claims the title \"christian.\" You may do so if you see fit. LOL.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Catholic women tried to run an organization that involved excluding men from our proceedings, dressing up in funny costumes and giving our leaders titles like \"Supreme Duchess of the Order\", one of two things would happen:\n1) We'd be told to stop playing pretend and embarrassing the Body of Christ with silliness, and start acting like adults.\n2) Or we'd be accused of witchcraft.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So 14% of sexually active women that claim to use birth control to regulate menstrual cycles and minimize cramps and clear their acne are not contraception? \n\nIf you want to contraceptive, go contracept. Just don't call yourself Catholic. Go become Episcopalian or something.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why would the Church canonize a non-Catholic, let alone a non-Christian?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm intrigued by this new attack on Christianity by referring to it as a fable. Very clever. Intellectually void, but very clever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR might speak for a lot of Catholics that aren\u2019t practicing, but not most of those who are seriously committed to practicing the Catholic faith. Some might be seriously committed to a vision of \u201cCatholicism according to NCR\u201d but most of the passion resides with the conservatives...which is why NCR has trouble rousing the troops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is right - the Catholic church has stone age beliefs. When a child is ready to come out to their parents they will. Not all parents are going to be loving and supportive - especially religious parents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A state lottery would solve our rail cost problems. Even a simple scratch-off lottery ticket would eliminate the extra cost that we are stuck with. Unfortunately, I believe the Catholic church and other charities object so we have no lottery like almost every other state. It's doubtful that our politicians will stand up to them which leaves us and our children with the bills for the rest of our lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For me, the central issue is the hotly debated texts from Paul (in 1 Corinthians 11 and 14, and 1 Timothy 2), which seem as directives applicable only to the specific problems in Corinth and Ephesus at the time. We would never attempt to place a female Pastor in the Adventist church in Tehran (if we still have a church in Tehran!) There are situations that culturally inappropriate for many things that are not inherently unbiblical, but just not smart for the furtherance of the Gospel.\n\nAs has been stated many times here, Paul\u2019s actually theology on this is that there is neither slave nor free, nor Jew nor Gentile or male or female in Christianity. \nPaul\u2019s actually preference was as Jesus\u2019, men and women both working in ministry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one in the Church should be subservient - even to Christ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...actually Adam is extremely Christian. Sometimes Christianity isn't the answer..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Pence is so in tune with Catholic values, why did he leave the Catholic Church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My discernment is that patriarchal religiosity is a diabolical malignance that destroys the \"unity in diversity\" of humanity as an image of the \"unity in deversity\" of the Triune God.\n\nPatriarchal Gender Ideology and the Reign of God \nhttp://pelicanweb.org/CCC.TOB.html#PGT&TOB\n\nThe male-only priesthood is cultural heritage, not divine law:\n\nReligious Patriarchy in the Judeo-Christian Tradition\nhttp://pelicanweb.org/CCC.TOB.html#CHRONOLOGY", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know that you disapprove of people looking at doctrines and deciding for themselves whether or not to accept them. I keep saying that your model is Adolf Eichmann, because like him, you accepted what you are told without question. For obvious reasons, Eichmann is a bad model to follow, and reasonable people reject it.\n\nYes, actual Catholics do pick and choose which doctrines to accept and which to reject. We understand that some doctrines are central to the faith, and others are not. \"Contraception is evil\" is relatively minor compared to \"Jesus Christ is both God and man\". Many Catholics reject the first, because the reasoning behind it has major flaws (and that reasoning was done solely by unmarried men, who automatically have an incomplete -- if not wholly wrong -- idea of the place of sex in marriage); but no Catholic would reject the second. The second is one of the pillars of the Catholic religion, the first is on the outskirts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You directly posted to me that you rejected the Church as it presents itself, and had decided to attend a parish of the Episcopal Church. That provides no framework within which I can discuss Joseph since the source is Tradition rather than Scriptures.\n\nIf you have an interest in the topic, I would begin with:\n\nhttp://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08504a.htm\n\nTo be clear, no Catholic is bound to believe anything about Joseph except as recounted in the Gospels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good. And I'm not a hater but the Christian \"right\" has tried to take us back to the old Anglo Saxon glory days and I, for one, don't find much glory there....well except for the white Christians.\n\nAnd today's \"Christian\" is more a preacher than a follower. They like to preach it, but when it comes to acceptance, forgiveness, tolerance and compassion they are sorely lacking. You can't pick WHO you have acceptance of, who you forgive, who you have tolerance for, or who you are compassionate to. It is all encompassing, you accept, forgive, tolerate, and have compassion for ALL people. NOT just those of the same color, religion or pay grade. Today's typical Christian likes to pick and choose which parts of scripture they want to follow or twists the Word to fit their own form of \"Christianity\".\n\nThere is a reason the founding fathers were adamant about the separation of church and state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, I think Fr. Pantuso's comment might be true: \n\"On the down side, I don't think Catholics are ready to financially support a married priesthood...\" Our loss if not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The conference was free (to my surprise) and open to the public. It's just that few people showed up.\n\nhttp://events.bc.edu/event/amoris_laetitia_beyond_veritatis_splendor_and_familiaris_consortio#.WdwqnFuPIdU\n\nI call it a failure of marketing; but such events aren't going to be promoted on most Catholic media, which only allows advertising of \"Elevate\" conferences and other money making ventures. \n\nOne attracts more Catholics with culture warfare than with progressive Chautauquas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@ScottG\nThank you for your comment \nI think I belong to a different age to you Scott. I was not offering to debate with you privately only give you information relating to my personal family circumstances (lived experience) over the last difficult forty years. On reflection I think that the trust I would have given you would have been a mistake.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity, The First 3000 Years by Diarmaid McCullogh. It was very secret. The point is, persecution did not make it thrive on the blood of martyrs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Orthodox would love to be in union with Rome. In fact, Fr. Thomas Hopko gave a short list of requirements in order for union to become a reality: http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles6/HopkoPope.php \n\nThe first requirement is that the Pope \"would have to confirm the original text of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Symbol of Faith and defend its use in all the churches, beginning with his own. At the very least (should some churches for pastoral reasons be permitted to keep the filioque in their creed), he would insist on an explanation that would clearly teach that the Holy Spirit \"proceeds from the Son\" only in relation to God's saving dispensation in the world. He would make certain that no Christian be tempted to believe that the Holy Spirit essentially proceeds from the Father and the Son together, and certainly not \"from both as from one (ab utroque sicut ab uno.).\" \"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ann Loades is not the author. She is the editor. She did not write the chapter with the footnote of the speech that you prefer to pretend is not real. Some people will go to great lengths to avoid seeing that which they don't wish to see. The speech is apparently also referenced in the Christian Century according to the footnote - a Protestant publication far removed from NCR. be found.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clinton's abortion position is the main reason that many Catholics and other Christians support Trump. Clinton emphasizes women's reproductive rights while ignoring the rights of children in the womb. The Catholic church teaches that these babies have souls and are just as human as you who are reading this. And there are millions of them. Yet Clinton wants everyone to regard them as nonentities with no more rights than a block of wood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not fixated with gender at all, I only reply to those who are fixated upon it themselves. Nearly all the progressive contributors here seem to be obsessed with matters involving either sexual activity (contraception, abortion, homosexual activity, same-sex marriage, adultery, etc) or feminism and gender issues.\nYou misread St Paul when you claim \"all are apples\". It is obvious that the Apostle is saying, it doesn't matter whether you are Jew or Greek, etc, salvation won by Christ's sacrifice is open to all. The message here is that despite the vicissitudes of life here on earth, which we must bear, eternal life with God is possible through Christ and only through Christ.\nThe Apostle's concern was not with man's or woman's earthly plight, it was with their eternal existence.\nWhat you mean by my \"delusion of grandeur\"? I cannot guess save that it is phrase which might sound good to progressive ears.\nBTW, 'colour' is the English spelling, American English is not the lingua franca.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"29. Nothing in this Charter abrogates or derogates from any rights or privileges guaranteed by or under the Constitution of Canada in respect of denominational, separate or dissentient schools.\"\n\nI don't see how that gives Catholic schools the right to opt out of standard curriculum, especially if that means misinforming students about the fact that marital rape is a crime. It's not like section 2 of the Charter will protect them from criminal prosecution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought you fancied yourself as a \"libertarian,\" but the more you post the more you sound like a right-wing reactionary with fundamentalist Christian tendencies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder if they accept catholics now? If not, they are missing out on a good market for recruiting, as any number of posters here demonstrate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You wanna live in a theocracy, no problem. Just not gonna be here, that's all.\n\nCatholic--or any other types--schools, they are schools 1st, the catholic part is much less important. When that message is understood, then we can move on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I read this book in the '80s, I thought it was a silly, unrealistic dystopian fantasy that could only really appeal to hardline feminists. None of the characters, including the abused women, inclined you to root for them. I still think the same way. The storyline seemed to be the projection of some sort of puritanical Christian sect sprung several centuries into the future, and I saw nothing around me at the time that made me think that this was where I or my female descendants would end up. And even in terms of societies repressive towards women historically, this novel made no sense.\n\nAs for anything to do with Trump as president of America? I see no connection whatsoever, just as I didn't with 1984. People should read a bit more history, actually read the novels they're talking about (in context of their times), before spouting this tripe.\n\nIn any event, I have no interest in watching this particular series.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The headline is wrong. \n\nThe headline claims: \"Trump bars Muslims from seven countries from entering U.S.\".\n\nWRONG.\n\nTrump is banning EVERYBODY from seven countries from entering US, be they Muslim or Druid or Christian or atheist.\n\nThis is what, the third time in three days that we have had these \"alternative facts\" headlines? (Previous two were on alleged (make-believe) abortion response by Canada to Trump, and Trudeau's (make-believe) ending of cash for access).\n\nWhat is going on with the headlines, Globe and Mail?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When my friend with terminal cancer was attempting to get the prescription to end his life, here in Eugene, he endured a great deal of anxiety because it took several weeks to find a physician who would actually write the prescription.\nThe honest physicians told him they were concerned that Peace Health would revoke their hospital privileges, as has happened in many areas dominated by Catholic church affiliated hospitals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic Charities and Catholic health have political clout too, but both stick to the policy side rather than electoral politics, unlike the Knights. Also unlike the Knights, these organizations have staying power (although CHA leadership is not young either). The Greatest Generation and Korea generation are dying off and it will decimate the Knights. What rises out of the ashes is yet to be seen, but a more liberal remainder may just be more welcoming to a larger swath of Catholic men and maybe even Catholic men AND women. \n\nAs for the salaries, they reflect the capitalism their generation defends. They are consistent. My hope is that will also die out with time and effort. You can\u2019t simply kill capitalism with generational die off. Indeed, it may be defending capitalism which is the core of the Knights social agenda, which is only window dressing to keep the masses voting Republican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Students have long brought bibles to school. Honestly, this sounds a bit like a Christian persecution fable. \"You kids be rebels and bring your bible to school!\" Nobody cares, as long as they keep it within the time/place constraints. Pray all you want - it won't help with your Trig test though.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Roman Catholic Church has failed victims of clergy abuse in so many ways. Changes have been made. Most of these changes are still being fought by many in the Hierarchy. For me, a victim , the biggest failure is the refusal of those in authority to take responsibility for their part in what has being going on for many, many years. They continue to see victims as the enemy. We are not the enemy. We never have been. We are innocent children whose lives have been altered in ways that most people cannot even fathom. Until the Church begins to treat victims with the care and concern that they deserve, the crisis will never end.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity completely dominates the American political system already! Just wait until an Imam makes an anti-Trump political statement from the pulpit, let's see how Trump handles that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Man, you're in deep.\nSo, the clerks who wrote the final draft of the US Constitution included \"A.D\". Like you say, everyone included A.D. at the time, because that was the thing to do, it was done by Christians without thinking.\nThat is not an endorsement of Christianity.\nThat is not a declaration of Christianity as the official religion of the United States.\nThat is not an endorsement of God.\nAnd it certainly isn't an endorsement of a particular branch of Protestant Christianity that didn't even exist at the time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"But once it is widespread, it will be, and should be...\".\n\nShould be?\n\nYou have a long way to go before making a compelling argument for why the state should provide the degree of care for infants that you embrace.\n\nYou might just as well say \"university should be free for all students, the way it is in some European countries\".\n\nThat sort of statement is not compelling of anything.\n\nAnd the easy rebuttal to your earlier statement is to propose that society would be best served by having only public schools and abolishing the religious schools (Catholic, Muslim, etc), a move that plenty of folks support.\n\nHow far would you get, though, arguing that society would be best served by abolishing the raising by families of their own infants, that all infants must be handed over to the state for raising in daycares by paid workers? People bristle at such a thought because it is over-reach: Daycares are an option that work well for some and not for others, and those who use them should pay.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You mean separation of church and state American style, wherein Christians and Muslims are treated equally with Jews, right (well at least before Trump started \ndelegitimizing Muslims & Hispanics)? It's such separation, in practice, not mere words, that protects all regardless of religious faith. Moreover, such separation supports human dignity and social justice, accords positive rights rendered by negative yield and would most certainly give pause to those participating in BDS due to Israel's discriminatory practices against certain Jews, Muslims, Christians and women. Any theocratic construct of governance is after all discriminatory by difinition, hierarchical too. Just look at Saudi Arabia for a similar example of theocracy but with an added autocratic hierarchy or Iran (less autocratic though). Yes, I agree with your separation of church and state but also in evolving standards of decency achieved by nation states as they mature.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks, John, for reminding me of a source I am sure helped me come to realize that non-Christians, and even cafeteria Catholics, have a home in God's heart. I looked it up. One of my favorite lines: \"Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience.\" \n\nI do believe God wants to be known and heard. He is not hiding. He comes to all in ways He can be found.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John Kass is a world-class pertomane. If you don't know what that means, it's French for someone who's confused about which orifice he's speaking from.\n\nKass doesn't understand the Religious Test Clause. It was enacted against an immediate background of the British Test Acts, which restricted public office-holding and other political privileges to members of the Church of England (later broadened to other Protestant churches). The Americans were specifically repudiating such an a priori disqualification. The questions asked Barrett were not any sort of legal disqualification. They were about whether her personal views and values would improperly influence her legal conclusions--after all, various spokesmen of the Catholic church have said that Catholic officials who favor legal abortion should be be excommunicated. What was critical to her confirmation was not her religious faith but her ability to follow the secular law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Dialogue is not a dirty word; it's our word\"\nAs a public servant, I recall vividly being followed in a large group presentation by a wise man. He began his with these words: \"Beware of well-intentioned bureaucrats.\" He was right of course. A \"light\"...even a dim, itty-bitty one... in a field of darkness is as much or more a warning of what lies unseen, in opposite, in opposition, as it is a beacon.\nLet's be real. \"Dialogue\" is not the mantra of the Roman Catholic Church. It may be rampant in its diplomatic corp for mutual institutional advantage, or with justice systems, with its people as pawns. It is certainly not the \"word\", \"spirit\" or mantra of successive Popes since John XXIII, of hierarchy.\nAbsolutism, infallibility, legitimate teaching authority, compliance and submission are more properly \"our words\". Ask anyone.\nAgreeing with Cupich is a radical shift. Following him - and Pope Francis - a trepidatious pilgrimage about which we have little understanding or standing. \nI'm in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you want all that--namely a wordly Church and a Church that values the things and values of this world, a Church of Hollywood and pop culture, rather than God's values, a Church that is basically the religious wing of the Democratic/Green Party, then go join a Church like that. \n\nHave you ever heard of the \"Old Catholic Church?\" They might be who you are looking for. They have the high church ritualism of the Catholic Church, but the value system of the Democratic party. They would probably love to have you. Another sect you might consider is the Unitarian Universalist Church. They don't really believe in anything. They let their members believe whatever they want--and everyone goes to heaven no matter what. \n\nStop demanding that the Catholic Church be something she cannot be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ also said that feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked and healing the sick were necessary for salvation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well Grantduc, you put on frowny face but didn't answer the question. What difference does it make to anyone except the student and their parents? BTW the parents of Catholic school students (Catholic and non-Catholic students) pay property (school) taxes just like every other parent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Michigan farmer didn't follow the law or what the church teaches us when he didn't follow the law so he is paying the consequences.\n1 Peter, Chapter 2\n \nChristian Citizens.*\n13\nBe subject to every human institution for the Lord\u2019s sake, whether it be to the king as supremek\n14\nor to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the approval of those who do good.\n15\nFor it is the will of God that by doing good you may silence the ignorance of foolish people.\n16\nBe free, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil, but as slaves of God.l\n17\nGive honor to all, love the community, fear God, honor the king.m", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re deletion: Just to be sure I understand, Trid, you submitted a comment, and I was sent an email notification BEFORE it was evaluated, and then it was judged uncivil. Is the correct? If so, this is a very great surprise to me...I thought that notification of replies were sent after a message was judged civil and published. Another possibility occurs to me -- your message was judged civil and published, and only then did I get notified; and subsequently your reply was flagged and deleted? Although an insignificant in this instance, I really would like to understand exactly Civil Comment works.\n\nRe arch-heretic. No, I also have recollection of you ever accusing me of being a heretic, or, to the best of my recollection, saying directly that I am not a Catholic; and for this courtesy I am grateful. On the other hand, surely we agree that from your perspective, I am a heretic in as much as many positions I take in this forum explicitly disagree with the current episcopal magisterium.\n\ncont", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm glad you found a connection.\nI wasn't reared as a Catholic and the practice's of prayer I learnt as a child remained within me.\nThe words of one that stayed with me in particular is from the song In the Garden [He walks with me] the version by The Hargroves and the nearest rendition I can locate on youtube; you may like to listen to it and then you might understand a little what I mean.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because of a lack of authentic infancy narratives, we can only speculate about what things Mary kept and reflected on in her heart. Luke tells us that she wondered how the pregnancy would come about. Matthew tells us that Joseph took her into his house. The actual nativity is regarded as miraculous, setting aside practical considerations like the arduous journey to Bethlehem days before delivery, the absence of women at parturition, the need for purification and circumcision.\nMary \"the simple woman of Nazareth\" was God's favored one before we we dubbed her \"Theotokos.\" Her child, though laid in a manger, was God's beloved Son before we anointed him \"Christus.\" Both Mary and Jesus were created in the true and humble image and likeness of God among us. Humbly, Mary said, \"I am the servant of the Lord... Do whatever he tells you.\" Jesus said, \"I have come not to be served but to serve... I have given you a model... Love one another.\"\nFrom the Gospel to life, from life to the Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You say you described the situation to these 70 parishioners but from the tenor of your comment it would seem that you yourself are biased. What you describe is 'papalism' or even 'papolatry' as you say that the parishioners thought that the pope was infallible in matters of Faith and Morals.\nDid you ask them if this infallibility only applied to the current pope and that the infallibility of previous popes died with them so that the current pope could contradict his predecessors?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Founded in 1981, EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) is dedicated to teaching the truth as defined by the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church. In keeping with the Holy Father's call for a New Evangelization, EWTN's mission is to communicate the teachings and the beauty of the Catholic Church and to help people grow in their love and understanding of God and His infinite mercy. EWTN Global Catholic Network airs family and religious programming from a Catholic point of view in English and Spanish. Providing more than 80% original programming, EWTN offers inspiring talk shows, entertaining children's animation, exclusive teaching series, live coverage of Church events, and thought-provoking documentaries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This comment pre-supposes that people are made to follow the \"rules,\" whereas the Jesus of the New Testament puts it the other way around. Cardinal Wuerl is on the right track here, in spite of claims of \"ambiguity.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I disagree that healthcare is a commodity. We can't shop intelligently for it because we don't know out future and the future of those we love and are responsible for. I can't shop for it like I can for a refrigerator, letting price decide what I can or cannot have in a particular model; I am not afforded the ability to shop around for an illnesses and pick out only the ones I can afford And how dare you say that 'covering pre-existing conditions is welfare' - especially in a Catholic publication. Obviously no one you love has given birth to a child with manifest disabilities or have a spouse that has heart disease or diabetes or had a child with a severe mental illness like schizophrenia. We are talking about real people with serious problems that finally got some attention in the ACA. I am sorry but that statement was the most un-Christian comment I have read in this publication EVER.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Galatians 3:28 was not written in ignorance of or blindness to people groups. Paul repeatedly writes about people groups throughout his epistles, and clearly set an example of targeting specific people groups to reach people with the gospel and to plant churches among specific people groups. The point of Galatians 3:28 is that in the Christian fellowship we should strive for equality among people groups, not to be blind to the fact that various people groups exist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is an assumption on your part and is unfair at best. Just how has he \"shown his support\"? OR has he merely offered Church teaching on certain subjects?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul - Please tell me where I stated any of these things you accuse me of. As a matter of fact I am certain my best work is not good enough, and therefore I need a savior - who is Jesus Christ, who paid my penalty for sin, in order that I may receive the gift of eternal life. Notwithstanding, there are those in the Church who may \"look\" and \"act\" like Christians who are in fact not Christians, that is what the Bible teaches. What is the ultimate goal of faith and what is the mechanism that activates it ? Christianity teaches that our \"statuses\" are to put other first and elevate them above ourselves, so I am not sure where you are getting any of this. \n\nThe ultimate demonstration of love is to share the truth, especially those who are deceived who claim to preach the truth, but are in fact not.\n\nPlease share with me what I am teaching that is out of context.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "May 14 readings is from Acts & how deacons got started.\n\nThe 'model' followed is good one, even today.\n\n1. The people (Geek widows) reported a problem\n2. Apostles acknowledged the problem & Apostles defined it as being beyond their competence & 'job description'.\n3. Community was consulted & asked to select trusted lay people t o do the job.\n4. Everyone came to an agreement, so greek-named 'deacons' were appointed by the Apostles.\n\nOf course, they were 'solving' the wrong problem. ACTUAL problem was they thought the world was about to end and experimented in 'Christian communism'. People sold all they had & gave it to 'the church' for the Apostles to distribute. That's why the Apostles got in over there heads & had to neglect 'preaching' in order to distribute the common goods. And why Paul had to take up collection from his Gentile churches to bail out the Church in Jerusalem.\n\nLessons for us today?\n\nAre we 'solving' the right problem? Maybe our problem is something self-caused.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The teaching of the Catholic Church confirms the insight of the Buddha. A Catholic Christian is obliged to do what you describe: \"study a teaching, pray for guidance, and make up his or her own mind.\" Having done that, and having arrived at a judgement of conscience, a person is obliged to follow that judgment even if it is objectively wrong. The Catechism of the Catholic Church at #1790 puts it this way: \"A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself.\" Strong stuff.\nEven the most conservative reading of the Catholic tradition affirms the supremacy of conscience. To reduce conscience formation to blind obedience is to strip conscience of any meaning or value. You're right: this is the work of adult believers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great point Alexandra and that is a real problem that persists in the Roman Catholic Church today and needs to be addressed with loving words and more importantly with compassionate and inclusive deeds!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When it comes to those who head major groups, like religious orders, large lay groups (like to KoC) and prelatures like OD it is indeed \"Catholic news,\" I think. There have been other such \"announcements\" here on NCR - one I recall is the leadership of the LCWR, and another the new superior general of the Jesuits. Not to worry. Some of us like to keep up with those wider Church events.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is much I could add about the priest involved. I could provide links, but don't wish to take the time to retrieve all the information. It may also be an act of chrisitna charity to bypass the opportunity. I read Guarnizo's statement when he originally gave it. If you wish to believe in his sincerity, then feel free to do so. The incident occurred at a local parish and there was a lot of coverage at the time.\n\nMs. Johnson is not alone in being Buddhist and Christian/Catholic. Many christians are buddhists, as are many Jews and others. Buddhism is not a religion in the classic sense - there is no god, no creator. But, there is a religious dimension. There is a good introduction to the subject here - \n\nhttp://www.pbs.org/thebuddha/blog/2010/may/6/buddhism-religion-gary-gach/\n\nOne notable Catholic Buddhist is Robert Kennedy, SJ - a priest in good standing, and not only a Buddhist, but a roshi (master). Fr. Kennedy receives communion. He also consecrates the eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"As a church, we believe the stronger the bonds of family, the greater a person's chance of succeeding in life. The RAISE Act imposes a definition of family that would weaken those bonds,\"\nAs a Catholic theologian, I have no problem with the RAISE Act. Catholic theology does not demand that we grant unlimited immigration sponsorship opportunities to adult siblings of American citizens. The RAISE Act protects children and spouses; it just does not encourage chain immigration and also recognizes that, given the economic incentives that drive immigration, a sovereign state has an interest in attracting economically qualified and viable candidates to its population and citizenry. Don't see how that offends Catholic principles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Mr. Trump is a master of the con and will say anything without personal conviction to get support for his political direction. He didn't have any use for religion for the first 69 years of his life and now people assume he is a Christian because he uses the words \"God\" and \"Jesus\" in his speeches?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fortunately, Bishops need not bear any crosses, since they wear miters not crowns. Wearing a miter means never having to say you're sorry, never taking responsibility, and never facing consequences. Catholic Tradition 101. Its what Jesus intended when he chartered the Church and handed the first franchises out to the Apostles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings.....If Mr. Novak admired the likes of Thatcher and Reagan.....that makes me want to say....If your a Neo Con you cannot be a Catholic!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The FBI considers the Southern Poverty Law Center is a horrible reference! a heavily politicized organization producing inaccurate and biased data on \u2018hate groups\u2019 \u2013 not hate crimes.\u201d It accuses the SPLC of \u201cproviding findings that are not consistent with trends found in the FBI statistics.\u201d It considers Christian groups as hate groups also because of their support of biblical teachings... They have a $250 million bank account raised off of people's fears~\nhttp://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2014/03/26/fbi-dumps-southern-poverty-law-center/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The schism has been with us for the last 50 years papered over by successive popes since St John XXIII. AL has caused as much controversy as HV but whereas the latter provoked very little overt criticism from cardinals and bishops, those who opposed it largely ignored it, AL has triggered a revolt amongst the Colleges of Cardinals and Bishops.\nPope Francis's response has been autocratic. Perhaps because he comes from South America he favours a dictatorial form of governance. Asked to clarify the Church's teaching upon the indissolubility of marriage, he ignores it, instead in his latest interview he lashes out against those who asked the questions and at the same time reiterates his constant criticism of faithful, orthodox Catholics.\nContinued ......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So when Matthew (chap. 16) included \"And I tell you that you are Peter (rock), and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it\", in his Gospel, was that just idle talk?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"... there are communists who think like Christians.\" ??? \nA summary of the body count of Communism, largely, of the poor:\nChina 73 million\nSoviet 58 million\nKorea 3 million\nCambodia 2.6 million\nAfghanistan 1.7 million\nVietnam 1.6 million\nEthiopia 1.3 million\nYugoslavia 1 million\nCuba 73,000\nGermany 70,000\nCzech 65,000\nPoland 22,000\nShall we, Americans, remember the poor in the way that the \"Christian\" thinking Communists did? Did Pope Francis just suggest that? I think my brain must be scrambled.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well.... I have yet to read any comment, twenty as of this writing, in support of the DOE, Bayada, or the manner in which this case is being handled. Before anything goes forward.... DOE or otherwise an assault and battery case should be initiated with the Honolulu Police Department. They have primary jurisdiction. Similar situations with the Catholic Church and Jehovah's Witnesses as they attempted to prevented pedophile investigations from going forward. A board of inquiry in Australia finally got the Jehovah's Witnesses and we all know what has happened to clergy that protected pedophile priests. Certainly, this matter does not rise to the level of pedophilia but it still appears to be a criminal violation against a defenseless child. Witness Arron Hess seems credible and the State of Hawaii seems incredible. Four or five years ago, at Kahala Mall, I saw a wheelchair ridden child being physically poked and hit. That ended quickly then I called the police.\n\n/s/ Roddy Duterte", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"he sparked a backlash from Catholics who saw in his appeal a stealthy effort to change the church's sexual doctrine.\"\n\nWhere's the stealth? I always found Martin's effort to change doctrine blatant in-the-face with no nuance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chapter 8 in \"Amoris Laetitia\" is a deeply confused and troublesome section riddled with ambiguity about conscience, objective sin and subjective culpability, and is open to heterodox interpretations. It is disingenuous of Cardinal Wuerl to claim otherwise, especially in the light of the recent theoretically private correspondence between the Pope and the bishops of Argentina. \n\nThe doctrine and discipline of the Church is that marriages contracted by Catholics after divorce and without annulment of the first marriage, are adulterous, objectively gravely sinful and constitute a bar to reception of the Eucharist. A position reaffirmed vigorously by Pope Saint John Paul. \n\nFrancis has set forth an ambiguous compromise which speaks of re-integrating these Catholics, without saying how, and contains two footnotes giving a nudge and a wink to those wanting to overturn Church teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes I am aware of this sort of encounter in my own local area. Yes E1. But those sorts of encounters are not what this article is talking about, nor what we have been discussing as E2.\n\nI must confess, that I find such encounters somewhat stilted whenever I have been involved. Personally, I see much less hope for such E1 ecumenism as long as Fundamentalists remain tied to literal reading of scripture. \n\nBTW, the issue of how to approach scriptural studies is a profound unified among Catholics, mainline Protestants, and Orthodoxy. In many seminary type situations, students for ministry of any denomination are free to attend classes for credit offered by professors of any of the other groups. This is not the case with Fundamentalist Bible Colleges. \n\nBut you are right, pro forma E1 Catholic-Fundamentalist encounters do occur.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have little argument with MSW's notion that we are a dogmatic religion, because I do not believe that doctrine is in itself a bad thing. Every human organizing structure has them, be they called dogmas, rules, guidelines, bylaws, expectations or laws. But there is, for sake of this discussion, a real problem with Catholic doctrine that is the cause of so many leaving the Church, or (much healthier in my book) staying and discerning what doctrines are useful and not. BTW - it is what has been going on for the entire history of the Church and St. Peter's hasn't been consumed by hellfire. The Catholic Church, through its centuries, has created such a mess of its doctrinal anthology, made it so complicated that even theologians are challenged in deciphering it, and refuses to even review those that are clearly absurd and pertained to a certain ancient time period, as if every word was written on Mount Sinai. Most of it is man's doing, for man's satisfaction and not for God's purpose.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder if part of your \"hard time with the church these days\" is its role in creating the conditions for what we see in public, politics, and, yes, in church?\nThere was a move in religious education in the 60's that began to incorporate the process of human maturation rather than the virtually exclusive imposition of \"ought\". It it didn't survive the traditionalist resistance and by the era of John Paul II etc., it seems profoundly denied. \nThe true Jesuit concept of \"discernment\" and \"spiritual advisor\" so in tune with the ancient concept in Celtic spirituality of \"Anam Cara\" (soul friend) incorporate the essential elements of intelligence, fact, reason, personal honesty, moral and personal state of maturity, question in challenge, in communion, in community.\nNeither church nor institutions in general have been able to cope with the evolution of civilization.\nChurch needs to save - not its ideology - but rather its humanity.\nWow, doesn't that sound like what Jesus was up to?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly, let's drop the political ideology that the Bible Thumpers push in order to inject religion into the classroom and force their evangelical beliefs down the throats of all those who believe in the separation between Church and State. Parents who want to send their kids to non-public should be free to do so. And what happens to the vast majority of kids whose only choice will be always be limited to public schools?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Taqiyya is the Islamic practice of deception. It can take the form of concealing the full truth (omission) or telling non-believers only what they want to hear (concealment). Taqiyya is the Fifth Column of the Islamic Faith, to protect Allah, Muhammad and the Koran from skeptics and critics.Taqiyya is as basic to Islam as charity is to Christianity. It is anathema to all other religions and philosophies. It is hard for non-Muslims to understand that such a thing actually exists, and is used regularly to convince us that we are the problem and they are the hapless victims, as Ms Khan does here. It is considered Islamophobia to expose taqiyya even when it is obvious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop John Arnold of Salford is quoted as saying \"that while there are a number of priests of retirement age still in ministry and others approaching retirement in his diocese, 'I do not think it is justified to claim that there is a 'shortage' of priests.'\n\nHe may be right in an interestingly twisted kind of way. In a November 2015 article in the Catholic Herald, Arnold is quoted as proposing cutting # of parishes, going from 150 to 75 due to a Catholic population which has \"dispersed and declined\u201d and \"because of the falling numbers of priests. \"\n\nThe article says \"there are 150 priests in active pastoral ministry in Salford (including nine not in parish ministry and 11 outside of the diocese).\" 150-20=130 available for parish work. But, 23 are already past retirement age. So, Arnold was really dealing with the problem of 130-23=107 priests which should have been available in a 150 parish diocese.\n\nHe solved the problem: fewer parishes. Voila, there is not a priest shortage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps. There is just one problem: Most Catholics who attend Mass every week are conservative.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"First both police and the military are a chosen course of career.\"\n\nHonorable careers that you denigrate as morally wrong and contrary to Jesus' teachings.\n\n********\n\"We are seeing a huge suicide rate among returning military.\" \nFrom which it follows that being in the military is morally wrong?\n\n*******\nIrrational = supersizing, etc., etc. \n\nYes, that is irrational. But the only threat that I implied would exist is the threat to our security from not having an army or armed police. If you think that's supersizing, you have your hear up your . . . chimney.\n\n********\nAs for Trump . . .\nYou're trying to convince the wrong person. I never liked him. He's not the issue here. You defended absolute pacifism. I responded, and you tried to change the subject.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a grim day. Time for us to be who we sat we are. Christians known for our love. Because when the people who voted him in see the emperor has no clothes they will need their neighbor's love and support. The emperor never did have any to give.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It takes a village to start an anti-violence initiative, with professionals from Catholic Social Services to Rome giving a hand to Chicago's Cardinal. Like poverty, the answer is education and for many that education should be paid. Pay high schoolers and they don't have to sell drugs for money or get a dead end job.\n\nAfter Obama, having Trump to pan is a boon to late night comedy. Everyone gets a turn.\n\nFox News is not that different from the other Fox entertainment properties. Their family values emphasis has always seemed hollow to me. Their preference for blonds and old men gives them away as just another dirty joke.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Should we be afraid of islam and its tenets ?\nIs this fear unjustified ?\n\nLike yesterday when another routine bombing in Pakistan killed 70 + innocent people by an Islam sect that sees us as infidels (http://www.news.com.au/world/asia/isis-pakistan-bombing-at-least-70-people-killed-hundreds-wounded-after-bombing-at-shrine/news-story/8aa6b43f38edee430c366fcc63f0a3b8 )\n\nThis of course is not an exceptional occurrence but more or less can be expected on a weekly basis across the Islamic world.\nWhy have 99 % of other religions including Christians and Jews been driven out or slaughtered within the muslim countries of the Middle East.\n\nWhy are terrorist attacks by muslims a regular occurrence in Europe despite the fact that Europe has absorbed millions of muslim refugees ?\n\nIslamophobia has a basis in fact .\nTo deny its existence and to provide special exemption for it, in a secular state, is the cutting edge of censorship.\n\nIt must be rejected at all costs..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Senator Murkowski, you were fortunate and wealthy enough to go to a private school, Monroe Catholic. Why shouldn't the \"least of us\" be able to do the same? Shame on you for choosing the NEA over parents and kids.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Only with the heart of the Gospel, God's mercy, can the church find new life\". . . well, for a year, anyway....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bsp. L David Brown and Bsp. Maurice Dingman were close collaborators who had me join them in western Iowa to give a presentation on Sacrament at a parish event. I was active with the National Catholic Rural Life Conference under Director Fr. Leonard Kayser. Both bishops were very supportive of my inter-faith/ science perspective. This goes back to the 80s if my recollection serves right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, if the Catholic school board receives any public funding, or is granted any accreditation by the province for its students (such as high school diplomas), the province absolutely can tell them they won't teach certain things and will teach others, such as proper sex education. If they don't like it, they can feel free to close down the school boards, to be replaced by purely secular organizations", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bubbles, \nSo, you do believe in Satan. Very good. It is a hot and very 'big' place. It'll have to be to hold so many lost souls who refuse to repent and get saved. Only through Jesus Christ is their any hope for you or any of us. Being 'saved' doesn't mean you won't sin, it simply means you don't practice it anymore. Some one can get drunk a few times in their life without becoming a drunkard. You are exhibiting signs of clairvoyance again as you seem to 'know' all Trump's sins even though there isn't an iota of proof of most of it. Come on!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK, at the risk of sounding uncivil let me illustrate to you how you sound:\n\nPetrus, you are OBVIOUSLY a shill for SNAP! I bet you are on the payroll and I bet it's at least $1.99 an hour. You must hate all Catholics and even a few lapsed ones. Your arguments are full of holes and obviously a frivolous attempt to attack Pope Francis. Don't ask me for any evidence to back up my claims. I'm not going to tell you! Na, na nya na na!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When the government announced it was sponsoring a large number of Syrian refugees I looked into the matter on behalf of my church who would surely have sponsored a family of the Syrian Christian refugees. It would have been a good fit for them and for us. We have had a large network of individuals who could have supported a family easily. But sadly the government's position was if our church wanted to support the refugees it had to be a private sponsorship meaning we had to pay for the whole year. Being in a financially difficult spot at the time my church couldn't take on that financial responsibility. It's too bad though because had the federal government paid for a family and let my church take care of them they probably would have jobs and much improved English at this point. It is in the government's long-term financial best interests to let churches and any other group of Canadians do this and support newly arriving refugees. I hope they learn from this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Per Wikipedia bio:\nSt. Maria Goretti, born in 1902, killed @ 11 by a Catholic neighbor, for resisting rape. In 1950, canonized as Virgin & Martyr.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jim, read the article before commenting!\n\nPhiladelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput used a weekly column to excoriate a \u201cscheming\u201d Hillary Clinton\u2019s presidential campaign for anti-Catholic bigotry on Thursday.\n\nThousands of hacked emails by Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta have embarrassed Mrs. Clinton since last Friday and revealed her key allies talking about ways to ignite a \u201cCatholic Spring.\u201d Documents obtained by the nonprofit WikiLeaks show Mr. Podesta and Sandy Newman, president of the nonprofit group Voices for Progress, mulling ways to end the \u201cmiddle ages dictatorship\u201d of the Catholic church.\nArchbishop Chaput blasted the exchange, as well as another by John Halpin of the Center for American Progress that labeled Catholics \u201cseverely backwards\u201d on gender relations.\n\nBy Douglas Ernst - The Washington Times - Thursday, October 13, 2016\n\nThis is only parts of the article!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm interested to see how trump will respond when the next white american guy goes on a shooting rampage. These events happen more often, but I hear little about registration of white christian men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What does this sad news mean for the faithful Catholic layperson (or cleric)?\nWhat's a good Catholic to do when faced with this sort of regular gossipy story from NCR?\n\nLet's listen to the other side for ideas; let's in fact listen to Uncle Screwtape:\n\n\u201cBe not deceived, Wormwood, our cause is never more in jeopardy than when a human, no longer desiring but still intending to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe in which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.\u201d \n\u2015 C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters\n\nWe, thus, remain faithful, we obey fully and completely the teaching of the Church, especially when there's no desire to do so, and, yes, when there's no trace of Him, when we feel forsaken...we cheerfully and confidently obey. \n\nWe ask St Peter what he learned on the boat and in the water that stormy night.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Controversies about issues of human sexuality certainly precede Amoris Laetitia, and will continue as long as the patriarchal gender binary remains normative in the sacramental life of the Church. The \"binary\" is reinforced every time Catholics go to Mass and must endure a patriarchal liturgy where the divine feminine is suppressed by the male-only priesthood. As long as the Catholic liturgy remains patriarchal, there is no way in the world that better understanding of gender issues can be attained in light of the Christian faith, and more and more people will drift away as they recognize that the body of Christ is not a woman with a male head. This is an issue that must be faced head on, gradualism will not do and is simply prolonging the agony. Next year is the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae. Why should the Church keep using the patriarchal binary as an artificial contraceptive of priestly vocations? Why should the Church keep aborting female priestly vocations? WHY?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In response to the Gospel, the Church should be prophetic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cWhere there\u2019s a will there\u2019s a way\u201d\u2014CathyT Those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, Abba. \u201cFather!\u201d The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. N.a., Order of Christian Funerals: Including Appendix 2: Cremation: Approved for use in the Dioceses of the United States of America by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and Confirmed by the Apostolic See (New Jersey: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1998) 215, Reading 5, 13 Funerals for Adults, New Testament Readings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know nothing about Catholicism? Apparently you are unaware of the pronouncements in MIRARI VOS, IMMORTALE DEI, QUANTA CURA ( to name just a few} re \"religious liberty\". Perhaps just as striking, you are apparently even less cognizant of the dogmatic pronouncements in QUANTA CURA and VATICAN I {Pastor Aeternus} directly condemning the notion that dogma can be changed or \"reversed\", even under the ruse of some \"deeper understanding\". Bad enough to reject or disregard dogmatic teaching, perhaps even worse to not know what the teaching is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Denver Post attacking Christianity - again.\nIs that all you have left DP?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about this then - why are we not talking about South Sudan at all? Where they are trying to impose Shariah law on Christians so they are at war?\n\nOr where global corporations take Nigeria's natural resources and give the people nothing?\n\nWhy are we not talking about the decline of women's rights in Canada as religious groups who don't believe women should have rights grow in number and influence?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics who believe soil is life have a different set of beliefs than those who believe soil is dirt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Referring to Marty Haugen and David Haas, whose style of Church music seems to dominate Catholic life at the expense of more traditional hymns.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You wrote, \"It says in Matthew 1:24-25 That Joseph married Mary, but had no union with her until after she gave birth to her son.\" \n\n\"However, in 1889 Pope Leo XIII wrote in his Encyclical \"Quamquam Pluries\" \"that virgins can look to him [Joseph] for their pattern and as the guardian of virginal integrity.\"\" That statement infers, I think, that Joseph did not consumate the marriage. Many Christians, believe Joseph was a virgin. There is not any proof text in scriptue tha Mary did not remain a virgin after giving birth to Jesus. Christians believe Mary was a virgin all her life. That is the basis of the doctrine. It comes down to the belief that that Jesus was conceived in the womb by the Holy Spirit, consequently he and Mary were without sin.\n\nYet in the verse quoted above there is this statement, \"but had no union with her until after...\" That can be understood in a straighforward way or not; it can be understood that they sex without intercourse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis doesn't seem to have problem with it. You may have a personal opinion of Steve Bannon but there is no need to foist it on other Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who decided you are the sin police and get to interpret the Bible for everyone else? I didn't see any big cloud over your house and hear God say, \"Ms. Amylou, you are now in charge of interpreting the Bible for Me.\" No, you are trying to decide how others should live based on your biases and what you believe in. It is time for you to recognize that you don't know everything and are not the \"end-all\" for interpretation of the Bible. I know I'm not, but I am quite satisfied in how I interpret it for myself. That means I care for others and do the best I can to help them without forcing some \"religion\" upon them. Your beliefs are the the reason there are many many different Christian sects. That doesn't mean yours is the only right one. Based on the numbers and the odds, yours probably is right on some things and not on others. It is all interpretation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She's one of the staunchest pro-abortion reps in Congress, voting against banning partial birth abortion (even with a proviso allowing it to save a woman's life).\n\nShe needs to reconcile her liberal and anti-child views before being given a halo by a catholic news org.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Petie, then why not just answer the questions in a Christlike manner?\n\nP.S. When the Pharisees asked Jesus if they could divorce their wives, He gave them an answer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cNine-in-ten Americans say they celebrate Christmas, and three-quarters say they believe in the virgin birth of Jesus,\u201d says a Pew Research poll. That number is 96 percent among Christians and 80 percent among non-Christians.Dec 23, 2013\n\nSo, we don't dare say the name of a holiday that 90% of Americans celebrate. Got it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"... those who were so accustomed to bossing everyone else around in the name of the Lord are in a foul mood.\"\nI just love this talk!!! :-)\nI refrain from preaching to my grown up children in thinking that I do not know what Christ is doing in their lives. How I live my life should be enough sermon to them, I think.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ffscatter - that you want to believe Jesus didn't exist so that you don't have to deal with His teachings about how to reconcile with God has no bearing on his actual existence, and that you won't carefully investigate these issues, given what's at stake (your soul and eternity), is a type of insanity. Simply Google \"Pope Leo X quote 'how well we know what a profitable superstition this fable of Christ has been for us and our predecessors.' \" - it's very likely a false quote or false attribution, and the same will be found if you Google and research \"Eusebius quote 'it is an act of virtue to deceive and lie, when by such means the interest of the church might be promoted.'\". There are multiple 1st and 2nd century references to Jesus' existence by sources hostile to Christianity - who he was/is is the issue to be dealt with, but trying to say he never even existed doesn't work. And even if the above quotes were true, the Bible itself repeatedly warns that there will be false Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "DC, You're really a one trick pony. What was the name of Volgograd before it was Stalingrad? Oh, it was Volgograd and before that it was Sary Su. Should the name of THE major WWII European Theater battle also be renamed? I like how you mix and match your history. Should Istanbul be renamed Constantinople or go back to Byzantium? Should the minarets around the Hagia Sophia be torn down? After all, it was THE Christian Church at one time. Come to think of it, why would the Russians or Turks even care what you and I think they should do? I tell you what, lets meet in Philadelphia, Jordan (I mean Amman, well maybe Ain Ghazal) and discuss this over some Camas Prairie Tea.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks Dennis. You've made my day. My congregation is large and congenial enough; however, after a 20 year lapse, I was simply surprised at how much sharper the divisions between the extreme orthodox believers (who doggedly pursue and proclaim these indulgences) and the rest of the congregation that is sort of a mixed bag of those still sentimental about some pre Vatican devotions and the Vatican II Francis folks who dare not proclaim themselves at the early \"old folks\" Mass. I have noticed, as well, that there is a militant and almost manic anger emanating from the orthodox quarter which is very disturbing. As for my non Catholic friends, whom I value very much, I try never to thrust my Catholicity on them; but neither do I hesitate to invite them to social events at the Church. If they ask, I'm only too happy to share my faith and my enthusiasm for Francis with them. Again Dennis, thank you for your input.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I base that statement upon Hooded Claw's accusation that I was faking humility. Perhaps you didn't notice it in his post. I tried to give an honest account of the reasons why I left my Order and how I felt at the time towards the Church and subsequently changed my attitude. He dismissed this out of hand and as I said accused me of seeking to portray myself as humble. Would you expect a pastor with 25 years of experience to treat you like that?\nHe also in another post likened an unborn child to 'a boiled egg'. This led me to doubt that he was a even a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fox News says: \"Archbishop Jose Luis Escobar Alas says the girl Delgado started abusing when she was 9 is now 43 and the statute of limitations on the crime has run out.\" http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/12/18/el-salvador-church-fires-3-priests-for-sex-abuse.html?refresh=true\n\nA BBC article of 27 Nov 2015: \"The Church was forced to act after the government of El Salvador warned that it would name the priest. Secretary of Social Inclusion Vanda Pignato informed the Catholic Church in October of the results of the government's findings, La Prensa Grafica newspaper reported.\"\n\nAlso in BBC article: \"Father Jesus Delgado sexually abused a young girl over an eight-year period during the 1980s, the Church said in statement. He is willing to meet woman, who is now 42, and ask for forgiveness, reads the statement.\"\n\nI would like to think the Vatican acted because they had serious allegations against these priests and took them seriously. But, I have my doubts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And your notion of \"the Church's traditional teaching\" is selective and anachronistic. It's telling that you would reference Gregory XVI rather than a pope of the 20th or 21st century. No serious Catholic leader has spouted the kind of nonsense you espouse for better than 150 years.\n\nI'm well aware of your positions so I won't argue with you, but I do think other posters who aren't familiar with you should understand that you don't accept Vatican II as a legitimate ecumenical council. I'm not sure if you are an actual, open sedevacantist, but for all practical purposes you think like one.\n\nI hope you find your way back to your beloved 19th century, Michael. You'll be happier, I'm sure, and this board will be a bit more peaceful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "if i missed he essential part, why don't you tell me what it is?\n\nFr Cole says:\nCanon law quotes Canon Law saying everything proposed by Magisterium must be accepted and held. (With some qualifications that are not relevant here)\nJP2 taught A\nF taught B\n\nFr Cole asserts B=not A and asks What are we supposed to hold as true?\n\nLogically, he should ask how can we hold both as true, since canon law says we should hold both as true. Instead he asks how do we choose between A and B? That question is excluded by the canon; if you don't hold both, you are not Catholic, according to the canon.\n\nThe usual solution is to accept that the current Pope knows what the earlier Pope said, and the current teaching somehow accords with what the earlier Pope taught. B=/= not A, a contradiction according to Fr Cole, accepted on faith in the Spirit's guidance.\n\nTell me what I am missing, what is incorrect. I am happy to be corrected.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Only in an emergency situation, like in danger of death or where a priest or deacon or other church appointed witness is not available for an extended amount of time. Otherwise a church approved witness is required for validity. For Eastern Catholics, a priest is always required for validity, period.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I did not say I was disappointed that the film did not explore O'Connor's Catholicism! I was sorry that the two books, which do explore these themes, were not included. Please reread the review. Thank you!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You go Willy! My non-christian, non-main stream religious prayers are with you.\nLet's end the invocations now and force the assembly get some real work done.\nHey, instead of giving my hard earned dollars to a bunch of religious fanatics maybe we\ncould grade the borough roads more, Just a thought.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican II does not reject Catholic teaching, nor does its spirit. Be that as it may, St. John Paul was a counter-revolutionary, attempting as Pope what he could not do at the Council. He only got so far.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whoa, wait a minute. Now \"TheAlliance Defending Freedom, a Christian conservative nonprofit group providing legal representation to the borough in the ACLU case. \", trumps the First Amendment and prevents a representative from communicating with his constituents? What the hell is Navarre thinking? \n\nThis invocation nonsense has gone on far too long and squandered more borough funds and representatives time than it deserves. My property taxes went up 61% this year to pay for this kind of nonsense. If the borough clerk has the time to keep track of approved religions, then we have too many borough employes.\n\n Pray for us all, but do it at home before you show up at a Borough Meeting!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nice try, attempting to be a corrective commentator! But it doesn't work. \"...a piece of bread into a god...?\" The Eucharist is shriveled to reflect \"a god\" of sorts (not Christ), a negative self-evaluation of the mystery itself. Ha, ha! Wares from her comic arsenal against the Eucharist! \nIf God meant the office of priesthood for a woman, that will eventually happen. But you don't \"punish\" with impunity or make fun of the Rite or Celebration itself because its presiders \"punished\" you or continue to \"devalue\" you. Talk about deadly nourishment for a cause! \nSad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I really don't care where he stands with other Protestants. \n\nThe details of the story are important, and certainly as important as the teaching. There were likely many prophets preaching what Jesus preached before Jesus came. Do you think social justice and peace were new concepts that Jesus taught? \n\nJesus was different precisely because he performed miracles, was crucified, rose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven. This proved not only that he was God, but that there were things that could happen far beyond our wildest imaginations. Without those acts, you have just another prophet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for your reply, Noel.\n\nI think you know I am not besmirching Irish people in general. I am quite directly criticising the Pro-Life Irish Catholic Establishment who in recent decades have been exposed as having behaved quite wickedly, even criminally, towards huge sections of vulnerable Irish citizens, all in the name of God. And attempted to cover up their evil behaviour.\n\nI am saying that it might be understandable that people who were perceived to represent that group might not be welcome. But by all accounts they did turn up and there were no problems.\n\nJust an aside, I've never attended a pro-Life march, are groups who promote contraception allowed to join in?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm guessing from that comment you don't know the history of catholic religion/schools in this country. Context is everything, noh?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fairness has nothing to do with it. Voters get to consider whatever they like, including race, gender and, yes, religion. Sadly, the right to vote isn't always accompanied by the ability to vote wisely.\n\nThat said, religion isn't relevant in American politics anymore, except in the most cosmetic way. Throughout most of his public life, Donald Trump was an unabashed moral train wreck, but none of that mattered to the Evangelicals (and Catholics) who voted for him. Jerry Falwell, Jr. and Pat Robertson may say they believe Trump's a sincere Christian at heart, but what they really care about is that he supports their issues.\n\nBesides, what does it really mean to be a person of faith in public life? That's a serious question that calls for deep, prayerful reflection and charitable dialogue. But such conversations can't happen in a political forum because politics, by its nature, is adversarial and dumbs everything down. That, more than anything, is why religion and politics are a bad mix.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic pantheon of saints is kind of a water-down version of Hinduism where devotees have their own favorite god. Kind of like a placebo, no? \nEven when saints like Christopher were declassified as saints, devotion remains unabated.\nAnd despite the recent Vatican edict against scattering one's ashes, there is a very robust business in selling body parts of saints as relics to insure closeness to the object of one's devotion.\nInteresting, while Protestantism has its heroes, and person of exemplary virtue & witness to gospel values, there isn't the fetish to create a peculiar devotion to 'em. The reformers did turn on the out of control RC obsession with the saint trade. We might learn ecumenically from their witness and devotion to Christ bearers. A way we can all celebrate Reformation Sunday.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All of the polls show that Trump won the Catholic vote.\nHe received 52% and Clinton received 46% of the vote.\nWhether the Catholic voters were white or black, orange or purple, green or blue, Trump won a majority - 52% - of the Catholic votes cast.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Xmas as a major holiday is now a cultural celebration not a religious one, which is why so many non-religious and non-Christian people celebrate it, and some fundamentalist Christians object to the way it is celebrated.\n\nIts major rituals today are not religious, they do not refer to Christ and you do not need to believe in any dogma to enjoy bright lights, Christmas decorations, tinsel, Santa Claus, Christmas carols, buying and getting gifts, Turkey and eggnog or the Buche de Noel or whatever particular foods are associated with it in any particular culture, the traditional movies, etc.\n\nYou have to be a pretty intolerant fundamentalist of some kind or other to object to its general celebration, and I don't think our society should bend over backwards to accommodate fundamentalists of any stripe at the expense of the majority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "BROothor, I can see that you have completed the \"romance\" stage of your vocation; and you have been hit with the reality of the situation. Perhaps you have hit a low ebb in your vocation . Please do not lose hope. Yes you now have the elements in the correct sequence of events but drop a line between the abusing priests/religious and the institutional failures. You are part of the 93% priests/religious that were not involved, except some perhaps stood silently by knowing what was happening. While the abusers were the 7.5% approx; the cover-up involved \"80\"% of the hierarchy from the Vatican down. They were the decision-makers, who in the cold light of day; opted to protect the institutional priorities and not the victims.\nYour vocation is still valid and necessary to society. It may be an uphill struggle for you but hang in there. Just keep doing what you are doing and ignore the hierarchy. Their credibility is gone; yours is still intact. Do what Jesus calls you to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Someone appears to struggle with a little thing called nuance. What you say is akin to:\n\n\"KoC is a perfectly 'good' Catholic organization, let's just ignore their extreme right-wing politics and influence on church attitudes and protocols.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But do not forget that Hawaii's private schools are a diverse lot and many are affordable to middle-class parents. Even working class parents. There is impressive work being done at our Lutheran schools, our Baptist Schools, Catholic Schools, etc. They are relatively low tuition and do a solid job. Punahou is ok but it is not affordable and hence it is irrelevant to most families out here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Mark for your response \n\nMark I am an uneducated man leaving school before my fifteenth birthday unable to read or write to-day I would be classed dyslexic. It is fair to say that you are very knowledgeable in regards to Catholic doctrine and other subjects I often have to spend time researching terminology that you use (Filique) etc\nI had given thought to many of your comments and came to the conclusion that I had to ask you (Not demand) these questions for information so that I could define parameters.\n I believe in Jesus Christ \u201cThe Word made flesh\" my faith defines the parameters I can work (respond) confidently to your statements, as they come from personal reflections on the Truths found within the living Word (Gospels) and are faith based not knowledge based. I know virtual nothing in regards to great thinkers like Thomas Aquinas etc . I was not trying to Judge you.\n\n\"gift of life, God's gift,\" I assume this refers to nonhuman \n\nContinued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Judges are to look at the law as written, not prior or contemporaneous statements. Pres. Obama put the same countries on his list that he wanted to require add'l vetting. This is because these countries have little or no record of the activities these \"refugees\" may have participated in. These 7, now 6, countries are also unstable and do sponsor terrorism. Trump did NOT stop other Muslim majority countries refugees from entry into the US. Christians, Sihks, Jews, Shintos, Confucians, Hindus, even atheists appear to coexist with others of a different faith system. Not so with a sizable portion (NOT ALL) of adherents of Islam.\n\nI am glad Trump, Ryan, McCarthy, Mulvaney, Pence and others failed. RINOCare was a dog of a bill.\n\nYou must look to the written law as proposed. ALL politicians lie. The only principled group is the Freedom Caucus. A prior bill was passed in 2014 in both Houses. The FC is part of Congress that took control back from the Dems. They want their words made into law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Additionally, from the Catholic angle....\"\n\nYes, and Ossoff did lose. And now Catholics -- at least from one angle -- have one more member of Congress -- Karen Handel, who is Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't take Matthew 25 as an endorsement of open immigration, only as an endorsement of our call to recognize Christ in our brothers and sisters. Good people can disagree on how best to do that in any given situation.\n\nAnd I know I am biased, as does every other honest person. There's nothing wrong with having biases. Sinfulness lies in the willful indulgence of them.\n\nFinally, discerning the meaning of the Scriptures and Catholic social teaching is a communal responsibility of the Church, not an individual exercise. That's part of what I love about Catholic Tradition. Read the documents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your comment Juergen\n\n.\" It is our recognition of being a sinner, needing God's mercy, forgiveness and grace and being repentant/changing our sinful behaviors -not remaining in sin that we receive God's mercy.-----------------\"\n.\n\n\nIn this parable that is not been conveyed\nWhat the Pharisee said shows that he trusted to himself that he was righteous but his pray was not accepted he was full of himself to such an extent he looked down on others.\nThe tax collector (Collaborator) accepted himself as a sinner before God, a continual sinner in his state as a Tax collector before God, he remained one he depended totally on God mercy, nothing else, but still went home justified.\nHe did not change his behaviour he was entangled within his state. \n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But the US has declared itself a Christian State. Read the phrase on your money! And it hasn't made a difference whatsoever except to those too tender to handle others' odd beliefs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...the ENTIRE international community recognizes that East Jerusalem is under Israeli occupation?\"\n\nTo paraphrase Sartre, the world is a pool of vomit. So-called \"East Jerusalem,\" along with Judea and Samaria (what the dejudaizers and historical revisionists misleadingly style \"the West Bank\") are the very cradle of Judeo-Christian civilisation. Your post simply demonstrates the cynical and duplicitous nature of international politics (as well as the continuing toxic influence of antisemitism). Furthermore, the last sovereign entity to exercise undisputed control over these territories was the long-defunct Ottoman Empire (which ceased to exist a century ago).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This church has had an unhealthy relationship with violent corporal punishment via such infamous groups as the Irish Christian Brothers, Jesuit Brother .... 2 that leap out to me immediately.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's another view which would challenge your reading of that particular text:\n\nhttp://blog.compassion.com/the-poor-will-not-always-be-with-you/\n\nThere is also the argument that Jesus is referencing Deuteronomy 15.11 \"For there will never cease to be poor in your land.\" That text goes on to say, \"Therefore I command you, you shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and the poor in your land.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The biblical instructions for \"rebuking\" a fellow Christian is far different from criticizing in a public forum to non-believers, so you might want to read up on how that's supposed to be done, if that's what your intention is. :-)\n\nOtherwise I think we are in agreement that he should be free to practice his faith as he sees fit. I think the requirement that he practice his faith as the government mandates, at the risk of fines and losing his livelihood due to his religious beliefs, when the basic harm is hurt feelings, is problematic, and would appall the Constitution writers who put those rights in the 1st amendment precisely to prevent what they saw happen in Europe to people who didn't follow the state's guidelines for religious belief and practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's try answering this again - \n\nYou have no idea about my \"privilege\" or lack thereof, nor do you know one bit about how I welcome people. Your response is disingenuous at best, relying on stereotypes that you yourself claim to decry. The young people with whom I am privileged to work are not fearful or disappointed. Questioning? Certainly....but not the things you claim. \n\nI ask you again. You presented yourself as a Roman Catholic Womenpriest at this panel discussion? Did you acknowledge that the Roman Catholic Church does NOT recognize you as a priest? that you are excommunicated? Do you explain the teachings of the Church or do you just castigate them because they don't fit your \"privilege\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tell me Blase.... you going to \"dialogue\" with Neo-Nazi's and the Klan, many of whose opinions and beliefs are 100% in agreement with white ethnic Catholics on welfare, crime, racial quotas, immigration, etc.....not to mention in conformity with the Catholic Church herself? \n\nOr do you just want the Catholic Church to \"dialogue\" with left-wing slop that has the support of the anti-Catholic liberal elite ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course a person can be both scientist and theologian, however, I doubt if this hypothetical person could get a scientific article published in a peer-reviewed journal containing theology as part of the discussion (let's exclude archeology from this hypothetical arguement). \nI do not believe theology is a science. It does not use the tools of science and is adverse to evolving theory. Strange how often a theological/ethical argument concludes something that is factually not true. I can think of a couple of example:\n- homosexuality is a natural orientation in many species\n- overpopulation stresses the resources of our planet resulting in wars, famine, disease and environmental decay\nHow does theology use these facts?\nHaving said this I consider myself Catholic basing my personal ethics on my religious beliefs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Zarqa Nawaz, your argument is very weak. You've already stated that a cemetery you dealt with had told you that if you had made your needs known for a quick burial, they would have gladly accommodated. So why the need for a Muslim-only cemetery when it's simply a matter of Muslims making advance arrangements for burial with cemeteries in their area, no different than anyone else who has specific wishes upon death? Why is the segregation required? This is a multicultural country, we exist above the ground together and we can exist below the ground together. In today's Canada, this doesn't fit and you haven't presented a sufficient reason why it should. We have Catholic and Jewish cemeteries for the same reason we still have Catholic schools in Ontario - remnants of a bygone era that will be around until their time is up and will fade with time also. A Muslim-only cemetery is regressive and reinforces divisions, not a multi-cultural Canada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "India has pretty much zero Confucians, or Daoists. Or Shintoists. \n\nAnd the Jews have been part of Canada and the USA for 150 years. Surely that is a long time. What is the reason that their festivals aren't celebrated? Hannukah instead of Easter?\n\nI think it is a colonial hangover, where western culture and Christianity were thought to be superior to everyone else. The Jews faced tremendous anti-semitism, and so many of them today have one foot in Israel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't understand, PhiProf. Why would a decision by Donald Trump affect your attitude towards the Church? There are many reasons for rejecting Catholicism, but I must say this one is seems a bit weird to me. Can you help me out?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The pathway to unity will probably require an all-encompassing, inclusive council of primates/patriarchs of the entire \u201choly, catholic, and apostolic church\u201d.\n\nWhile living in Bulgaria, I encountered a widespread perception that the Russian Orthodox church has become the Third Rome, displacing Constantinople, which had previously been the New Rome. There appears to be a lot of eastern church history behind these notions of leadership (i.e. \u201cfirst among equals\u201d). \n\nA year ago, four of the fourteen patriarchates (i.e. Antioch, Bulgaria, Georgia, and Russia) boycotted the pan-orthodox council assembled in Crete by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Hence, his effort to hold a modern council could not come to full fruition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why would any self respecting scientist limit themselves to the physical world? What is science afraid of?\n\nThe fact that the Catholic church has been instrumental in many great scientific discoveries is proof enough that religion and science are indeed not mutually exclusive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jayne,\nThank you so very much. You said it perfectly and beautifully. \nPope Francis is NOT so much of a by the book pope. He is way-far more Christ-like than the BOOK people who always sem to be loaded with hatred for everyone who is NOT them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...came V2 and overnight the Mass changed considerably; that which could never be changed; changed. With the New Mass the Catholic Church shot itself in the foot: if the unchangeable Mass could after all be changed beyond recognition then every other 'unchangeable' dogma and doctrine was also up for debate\"\nStunning - the ignorance and fear. Liturgy has changed throughout church history - what do you think the Council of Trent did or Gregory the Great? So, the 1960 liturgy is the exact same as the 1st century church celebrated? (oh yeah, it wasn't in latin back then)\nDoctrine has changed throughout church history - DUH?? think slavery, evolution, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yawn, you remind me of the folks who claim that Abortion should be billed to the woman, even if she was raped.\n\nThere is no debate about Abortion on Demand in Canada. The only debate is who should pay, and in what circumstances.\n\nMost Canadians understand that the Catholic church encourages Abortion, by teaching that an Abortion in 1 Sin, but that each Birth Control, even the Placebos for women who can't remember when to start and stop taking the, is a Sin of the same Magnitude, just like having sex using a Condom to prevent STD if you are on the pill.\n\nArithmetic according to the Vatican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "jane, got some dates mixed up? you have proof of 'They knew the son of God, and the teachings of the gospel before the missionaries came'? or, hawaiians before the tahitians came? lost me there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 2\nAs it has been for many Roman Catholics who have left the Church in their humility because they knew that they could not live up to the standards set within Hunanae Vitae, bruised, angered, and frustrated, I want to weep, the pain of reject of themselves in their own eyes before God. \nYou rightly state that many RCs practice artificial forms of contraception as for some HV is now hidden under a self-justifying conscience.\nI am advocating to RCs that it would be better for those who use contraception to be honest by acknowledge the Truths within Humanae Vitae in that they cannot live to its demands. If they were to do this at this moment in time they would automatically bar themselves from the Sacraments of Pence and Holy Communion I have proposed a way forward for the Church to embrace (Those who cannot receive the Sacrament of Pence)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There were so many problems with the Dutch Catechism- didn't Rome have to tell them to put teachings in it that they had omitted? Did the Dutch comply? And no thanks on Richard Rohr, but now I see where you get your ideas from, unfortunately. And regarding your comment about me being Biblically illiterate, you do not know me at all. And do not assume that all of your sources, even if from the clergy-in fact-especially from some of the clergy-are correct in their views and ideas. Some of the worst offenders of Christian Truth are from the ranks of the clergy. You are simply a typical example of the common NCR fan, posting the same, old tired modernistic heresies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other news, 43 Egyptians were killed in two separate bombings of Christian churches, bombings for which IS claimed responsibility.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From CARA's website:\n\n\"Eucharist and Belief in the Real Presence\nNine in ten weekly Mass attendees (91 percent) say they believe that Jesus Christ is really present in the Eucharist, compared to two-thirds of those who attend Mass less than weekly but at least once a month (65 percent), and four in ten of those attending Mass a few times a year or less (40 percent). Among Catholics attending Mass at least once a month, the youngest generation of Catholics (born after 1981) has similar beliefs about the Eucharist as Pre-Vatican II Generation Catholics (born before 1943).\"\n\nSo there are in fact Catholics who don't know about the Eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe Christ didn't address it because in His mind it was understood that it didn't matter who someone married.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"The bishops and clergy of the Catholic Church must, repeat must, engage in sustained preaching and catechesis on the Church\u2019s teaching about migrants.\"\n- Were that this is done without confusion.\n- A migrant is a person in transit (farm workers, travelers, academics are examples of this). An immigrant is someone who has come to stay. Refugees can become immigrants, or they could return to their nation of origin at a later time. Asylum seekers are in effect seeking permanent residency outside the usual channels of immigration establish by US law.\n- Fairly, both groups have a right to justice and dignity.\n- The issue is, and the hierarchy of the church state this, that the civil laws are to be respected, that is, not ignored.\n- So, at minimum, the clergy of the Catholic Church should be ensuring that those being deported are not abused, or bereft of the law, and that the clergy of the Catholic Church of the receiving countries are ready to aid those returning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our bishops are not constrained by Jesus' views. They have 2000 years of tradition and that tradition teaches the importance of protecting the church from scandal, and maintaining the power and glory of the church on earth. Harm to children may have been something Jesus would oppose, our Bishops, and our Holy Father, have other priorities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Monica's point is that we shouldn't jump to conclusions about what the historical Jesus would have had to say about contemporary socio-political situations. The \"woe to you ...\" passage from Matthew 11 that you seem to be citing is a case in point. \n\nMost Scripture scholars believe that the unfavorable comparison of the three Jewish cities (Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum) to the three Old Testament cities of Tyre, Sidon and Sodom was just another example of Matthew's predominant theme of God's extension of the covenant to the Gentiles. It shouldn't be interpreted literally or, worse, as proof that Jesus approved of the blanket condemnation of whole groups.\n\nWe should form our convictions about such things as immigration and compassionate outreach to refugees from prayerful discernment and reflection on the whole of Christian social teaching. But cherry-picking isolated Scripture passages that seem to support our own preconceptions and biases is never a good idea.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fine, if you believe that. It's just not Roman Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've got no particular love for the Catholics, but why does GSA even need the Catholic church or it's approval? If the Catholics want to boot GSA and not host GSA events and activities, that is their prerogative. Just as I might choose not to buy girl scout cookies, the reasoning behind a diocese severing ties with GSA is irrelevant. If they want to believe something and be wrong (gee, it's not like THAT'S never happened before), let them. Take your meetings and functions somewhere else and move on. Just be sure to remember their attitude when the offering plate comes around.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your Holiness Pope Francis,\nMay God grant you the peace, joy and comfort you bring to others. \nLike most Americans you are very concerned about the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor and you sharply criticize this growing economic inequality. You decry an \u201cidolatry of money\u201d in secular culture and warned that it would lead to \u201ca new tyranny.\u201d excesses of capitalism. You strongly criticized the economic theory that discourages taxation and regulation. You wrote in the papal statement \u201cSome people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting.\u201d Your life and words reflect Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Being a Catholic for the first 44 years of my life, \"889\" and its following paragraphs in \"The Catechism of the Catholic Church\" makes little sense to me, and what you write makes even less sense. As Catholics we were taught that in all matters of faith and morals, when speaking \"ex cathedra\" the Pope is infallible. And by implication--- the basic dogmas were infallible. You state \"the Pope is not infallible.\"\nThen you state that several Catholic doctrines have never been declared infallible, but follow that saying they ARE infallible.\nThe fact of this matter is that those doctrines you [by your own \"infallibility\"] declare as infallible are false in light of the preserved Word of God in scripture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Total banning and reduction to the point of privacy is suppression.\n\nI invite you to travel to a country that has *actual* martyrdom on a daily basis. It won't be Christians, but close enough for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not surprised by the election results. We saw similar response in German 1932 elections after the Pope forced the German Bishops to read the Vatican's prohibition of Nazi party membership for Catholics. The protestants reacted to \"Vatican Interference\" in the German election by coming out and voting for Hitler. Hitler received 90 percent of the protestant vote but only 10 percent of the Catholic vote. I anticipated the Bishops' column would result in more votes for the anti-Catholic side.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have heard from many of these Cardinals that the sexual abuse scandal (mistakes) and it's cover-up (more mistakes) was over decades ago. \n\nThose guys in the red hats and even cardinal Dolan say that the Catholic Church is the safest place on the planet for children and has been for decades. \n\nEven the rock star pope, Francis, (he washes feet and drives a Fiat just like Jesus) said that no one has done more than the Catholic Church, but it still gets picked on.\n \nBeing the safest place for children for decades......... \nI would think a part time person maybe someone to spend an hour a month to answer the handful of letters that might trickle in throughout the year would suffice.\n\n\nI hope you are well Alexandra1, you are a very special person. I keep you in my thoughts and prayers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And not only the free market will have failed in order to warrant more coercive statist solutions at the federal level, but so too will our families, our parishes, our dioceses, our NGOs, our municipalities, counties and states have failed. But these are not abject, absolute failures. It is difficult to precisely guage the immense good accomplished by such as Catholic charities and relief services, St Vincent DePaul, United Way and myriad charitable organizations of all faiths. So, by the time federal interventions are warranted, both free market forces and charitable outreaches will have failed at some margin. There's a beautiful story to be told & there are great strategies to be emulated in meeting fundamental needs, in meeting the demands of justice. Political solutions seek justice, a moral imperative. Charity exceeds those demands. Our Catholic social justice walk (outreach) and talk (doctrine) are superlative! I'd like to ramp up its media coverage & storytelling, pedagogically.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does his world include Saudi Arabia., Kuwait Dubai, Qatar, UAE and other Islamic states, or is it just Christian based European and western nations he is mad at.?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Scary that this is what passes as an exemplar of Christianity on NCR!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The little guy with the mustache cared about ethnicity, not religion. \n\nPassing a \"Christian values test\" was never an option. He didn't care whether someone was a religious believer or an atheist, what mattered was ethnicity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The film does explore her Catholic faith in an depth manner.\n\nwww.beataproductions.com\nUncommon Grace: The Life of Flannery O'Connor\n\"This film traces the people and events that shaped her remarkable career, as well as the important role that Catholicism played in her writing. Featuring expert commentary and rare photographs, Uncommon Grace will give you a new appreciation for this highly celebrated, yet often misunderstood, storyteller. \"\nhttps://www.amazon.com/Uncommon-Grace-Life-Flannery-OConnor/dp/B018HEW22Y", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "58. We call upon the Pope to issue an apology to Survivors, their families, and communities for the Roman Catholic Church\u2019s role in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of First Nations, Inuit, and M\u00e9tis children in Catholic-run residential schools. We call for that apology to be similar to the 2010 apology issued to Irish victims of abuse and to occur within one year of the issuing of this Report and to be delivered by the Pope in Canada.\n\nReport issued in 2015 - deadline missed - go Gomer, go.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rompecorazones-ED, You just compared your ideas to that of the loving God. God is not reactionary. Your ideas are what I was referring to as reactionary. Your attempt to turn around what I said is an amazing attempt to hide your own malicious criticism of the author. You called it superficial journalism, I pointed out that perhaps you are projecting your own superficiality into the issue. I have had 22 years of Catholic Education and have read most of Aquinas. I also have read Freud and just as Aquinas and Newton, all were great intellects of their day. Fortunately, the world has come a long way since these men lived.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1 of 3\n\n\"Focusing on what unites us as Christians\" ...\n\n\n\u201cYou shall love the lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your entire mind\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u201d\nAnd this should be understood in that the \u2018essence\u2019 of Love is Truth, as true love of neighbour is encompassed in the serving of the Truth, His Divine Inviolate Word (Will).\nThe cross of Jesus Christ for us Christians is far more than a symbol of \u2018love\u2019 as it symbolizes His Love given in obedience to His and our Fathers Will, in the serving of the Truth.\nIn the early fifties when I was a young child the vast majority of Christmas card depicted themes from the nativity, nowadays they are almost non-existent (This might not be so in the USA). \nI wonder why have I never heard within a sermon, encouragement given to use this medium to help keep alive the Christian message?\nIn the early sixties we were encouraged to incorporate a small a gold cross into our clothing that was held in place by a long pin that......\n\ncontinued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rules have their place. Simple and clear rules can be helpful. But Jesus came to fulfill the law, not to preach it. Mark 1:15. Let me be blunt. It is very human and very understandable for the community to establish rules. The rule of indissolubility is an understandable affirmation of marriage, particularly in times when the institution of marriage us under stress. But to see Jesus with only one eye, as a rule giver, without seeing that \"love of God and neighbor\" are the font and measure of every rule, is to run into the ditch of idolatry.\n\nEven the church has been tempted to this idolatry. But at every point -- on the brink of idolatry -- the church has instead responded to the Spirit, as Jesus said it would. Read history. In the last post I cited the Council of Ephesus. At Trent, the Council refused to condemn the Eastern Church, which followed Ephesus. There are more recent examples, not the least of which is Chapter VIII of Amoris Laetitia. Take heart in the Spirit!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We should all be concerned about the new strain of nationalism, which is premised on exclusion and the notion that the greatness of America flows from our ability to impose our will on others. We are opting for a false patriotism that might tickle the ear of some, but is ultimately illusory.\n\nAmerican Catholics should understand this. We are, most of us, no more than a few generations separated from forebears who were unwelcome when they came to these shores, but were still inspired by the ideal of a land of freedom and inclusivity. It would be shameful for us to now become willing participants in the dismantling of that ideal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jack,\nAbsolutely. I would never ask a person in distress if they had medical insurance before giving first aid or taking them to a hospital. I wouldn't ask if they were Christian, Muslim or Jewish. I wouldn't ask if they were a Republican or Democrat. I would help them, period. Sometimes you have to hurt those you help. Although they may be comfortable lying on the street in a certain position, moving them will cause pain, the end result is to get them well. Likewise, helping people to see the spiritual truth can cause some temporary pain. The end result though is even more lasting than the temporary help one can offer to someone in physical distress, as it can mean their eternal soul. Jesus said, \"I desire mercy, not sacrifice\"\nI voted for Trump. I do not, nor will I ever worship him. I worship Trump's Creator, God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a thoughtful article. I like what she has to say. My only \"addition\" would be that, deeper than family, those with whom we share faith are as necessary to us as the heart in our body. How we treat others outside of the confines of mass represent who we are as Christians. This article is a good reminder of that, for me, and the fact that I often fall well-shy of the goal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Appreciate the reference and am starting to read the story of Ham. Like many stories in the Bible, it is confusing and I can see why it has had many different interpretations over time. I am at the stage of : How can anyone take that story and give it a \"literal\" interpretation?\n\nIt is not just Catholicism or Christianity that has to deal with finding a balance on religious beliefs and individual conscious, freedom, opportunity. The Islamic world is in turmoil over it, as is Hinduism in India. I don't know enough about other religions. \n\nGlobalization and instant/ mass communication has put people of different faiths, backgrounds, cultures in each other's neighborhoods - literally and figuratively. We either have to learn to live in respect of differences or give up on globalization. Well, another way would be for the once glorious industrialized/advanced and civilized nations to reconquer the world and send in the Christian missionaries to subdue other cultures and religions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the United States, the Orthodox churches are usually populated by the elderly. Few younger people attend. In Europe, that is not the same problem. The cultural ties in Europe---are more important to the people than the 'theological-babble' of theologians. But in the U.S.---the multi-cultural, multi-religious mix that America has---has made the bias less strident. But here, too---why would the Orthodox even care to change things? The sins of both the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches have festered since the early days of the Christian communities. At least the meetings between popes and patriarchs are 'polite'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Open your mind a little. People have been moving around the globe for centuries. Refugees just want a safe haven from terrorists and despots who really do not practice a religion. Their homes and lives are destroyed, and they want to come to a safe place where there may be some compassion. Maybe they are coming to the wrong place? If you perceive this to be a \"Christian\" country, then why not be compassionate. Even an old athiest like me has some compassion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also, it may be of interest to US readers, - being a federal set up too - I often hear Americans listing their loyalties, (Pence, I think, publicly proclaimed he was Christian, American, Conservative, in that order.) \n\nThe Swiss are Swiss first. They all absolutely value their democracy, often holding referenda on important issues. They don't have to wait on a new government to change things. Any outside body which attempts to interfere with that will get sunk.\n\nThis happened when Benny attempted to impose an ultra conservative Bishop in the diocese of Chur against the will of the Catholic people. On the day of the Episcopal ordination, thousands of Catholics turned up at the Cathedral and blocked the entrance. The Bishop 'elect' was driven away and the ordination cancelled. Benny then had to create a new diocese in Litchenstein to dump the poor guy. \n\nThe US Catholic Church should be doing the same. Sensus Fidelium rocks in Switzerland.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World\", May, 2004, Joseph Card. Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with the approval of Pope John Paul II. \nAmazing literalism given his \"reputation\" as a great scholar.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I discerned God's will for me to be Catholic, I was very pleasantly surprised when I discovered that the Calvinism I previously embraced was simply warmed over Augustine with a few tweaks...and that there is PLENTY of latitude in Catholic teaching on free will for predestination, foreordination, and God hardening or softening man's heart according to His Sovereign Plan. And...when St. Paul admonished the early Christians to \"(pray) For kings, and for all that are in high station: that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all piety and chastity....\", Nero was in charge. When St. Paul said: \"LET every soul be subject to higher powers: for there is no power but from God: and those that are, are ordained of God....\", Nero was in charge. \n\nDo you disagree with the Spirit driven words of St. Paul?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Deep within their conscience human persons discover a law which they have not laid upon \nthemselves but which they must obey. Its voice, ever calling them to love and to do what is \ngood and avoid evil, tells them inwardly at the right moment: do this, shun that. For human \npersons have in their hearts a law inscribed by God... the more a correct conscience \nprevails, the more do persons and groups turn aside from blind choice and try to be guided \nby the objective standards of moral conduct. \n\nYet it often happens that conscience goes astray through ignorance which it is unable to avoid, without thereby losing its dignity. This cannot be said of the person who takes little trouble to find out what is true and good, or when conscience is by degrees almost blinded through the habit of committing sin.\" (Vatican II, The Church in the Modern World)\n\nChurch doctrine consists of objective standards of moral conduct - God's laws which through real sloth, ignorance or sin, we overlook.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Was Jesus Catholic first and progressive second, or the other way 'round?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"To be or not to be, that is the question.\"\nRemains the enduring question, no?\nFor Christians there is an afterlife, no?\nWho wouldn't want to leave this \"vale of tears?'\n\"Vaya con Dios?\" Or, vaya con hombre?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Vatican's communication office disputes that Holy Father Francis agrees with this story in the Jesuit newspaper. I'm sure that Holy Father Francis doesn't want to insult the sheep - 53% of American Catholics voted for President Trump - and we are the Church's most faithful sheep. Once again, Fr. Reese illustrates his liberalism. You would think that devotees of Vatican II would be happy to see Catholics and Evangelicals working together. I am a charismatic Catholic and I have worked and prayed with Evangelicals for decades. Our diocesan bishop and my parish pastor join us in ecumenical prayer and meals on a monthly basis. Too bad, that Father Reese is behind the curve. History is on our side, and so is the Holy Spirit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic Universitys are not always the best choice. I remember when President Obama was encouraged not to speak at one---Notre Dame I believe it was.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When was the last time that you attended a baptism. The baptized individual is anointed on the crown of the head as \"priest, prophet, and king.' The commissioning that occurs in baptism and is completed in confirmation, confers baptismal priesthood or \"the priesthood of all the faithful\". The community of the baptized IS the priestly community. As priestly people we represent God to the world and bring the concerns of the world before God. It shares in the one priesthood of Christ that is laid out in the Letter to the Hebrews and reprised at length in \"Lumen gentium.\"\n\nThe baptized layperson is NOT LESS PRIESTLY than the ordained; it is simply that he or she has not added to the baptismal priesthood the particular responsibilities of servant leadership that denotes the role of the ordained. And the ordained minister presides at the Eucharist because he is called to be the servant leader of those, the laity, whose task it is to sanctify the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We do have the capacity to annihilate each other ... however I disagree we have always done it. some cultures have done it, others found ways of forming functioning confederacies between disparate peoples ... wouldn't it be awesome if - given our capacity to self-destruct in a few ways in our historical moment - nuclear and environmental devastation but two of them ... that we enter into authentic dialogue with all cultures on a plane of mutual respect. \n\nfor example - the Incas had roads every bit as awesome as the Romans with very sophisticated agricultural practices from which we could learn so much. Their roads were to ensure all within the confederacy had food should a crop fail in one part but not in another. A huge mistake of the last Inca was trying to make the Christian Europeans go away by giving them all the gold for which they asked.\n\nHe couldn't understand their fascination with it as they could neither eat nor drink it. I wonder which social order pleased the divine/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a further point of information on this topic, I recommend reading J.D. Vance's memoir, Hillbilly Elegy. While not specifically Catholic, it does show what economics does to break up families (especially white, working class families).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You mean the god who won't allow you to wear mixed fiber clothes, demands that rebellious children be stoned to death, directs you to take the wife of a man you killed as a slave, won't allow anyone with a physical deformity approach the alter... that god? I see you failed to mention Christ in your rant. You know, the Christ that directs you to turn the other cheek, love your enemies, don't seek wealth, throughs the money-changers out of the church, give away your worldly possessions to those who ask... You don't sound like a Christian to me. Not sure why you are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any Catholic who feels they have a true vocation should be evaluated for the priesthood. It should not matter what what race, ethnicity or gender you are. WE are all equal in the eyes of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I heard of one young man, raised thoroughly Catholic, who stopped going to church because he's \"angry with God.\" The reasons for his anger aren't clear.\"\n\nThe most intelligent objection expressed and the reasons are very clear. It's the theodicy problem and our atonement theory. Social justice and women's right and sexual morals are mere superstructure to our contemporary faith issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As far as I can recall Mrs. Clinton inserted the issue of abortion into her candidacy, very frequently and very clearly. But that was not the only reason that most Catholics voted for her opponent. Many voters voted AGAINST Clinton, rather than FOR Trump for valid reasons other than abortion. So too did many non-Catholics concerned by her dishonesty, her lack of concern for the security of our country and her weakness in representing our nation in negotiaitons with other powers. \n\nDon't blame the bishops for her defeat. She achieved that on her own!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"On Nov. 30, McElroy called Trump's promises of massive deportations a \"grave evil\" in which \"the church can never acquiesce\" and suggested that a new civil rights campaign may be necessary.\"\n\nGod Bless these brave bishops for putting the Gospel ahead of the trendy politics of hate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lets cut access to birth control, propose a budget that cuts over a trillion from Medicade (which pays for half of the births in this country) and fight every social assistance program from food stamps to subsidized school lunches. How on earth do Christians think this is what Jesus would do?!?\n\nPolicy that will lead to more hungry children is unethical (16+ million food insecure children in this country.)\n\nPeople can blame the parents all they want, that doesn't mean that it is ok to let kids starve.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dictionary definitions do not control the church. As any true catholic can tell you, for example, mercy often means brutally condemning miscreants, for their own good, so they can be saved. Love, similarly, is not some emotion, but a coldly intellectual decision based on study and implement of doctrine. As with mercy, it may often require harsh words and condemnation of those we love for failing to adhere strictly to the teachings of the church. Thus, we see many loving and merciful bishops being mistakenly viewed as bitter and hateful because of their righteous denunciations of all who fail to live up to dogma, doctrine, ritual, tradition, and all the other many things Jesus ordered us to obey when he established his church in Rome. So to answer your question, yes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a wonderful initiative, but we should encourage one another to go beyond the limitations of both Pope Francis and Bishop Coyne (excellent fellow, evidently, and I am very glad to hear this report about his plans for his diocese), and put anthropocentrism aside. When we talk about \"Creation,\" in the context of a commitment (a commitment the Catholic Church has not made, in spite of some rhetorical professions) to *true* pro-life values, we should understand we are committing ourselves to care for all living creatures: animals, plants, fungi, and the various microbes. Bringing considerations of justice, love, and peace to our daily choices of what to eat is a very good foundation for this Year of Creation. Let's do what we can to avoid complicity in the cruel exploitation of fellow sentient creatures trapped in the food industries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fair enough. But in reviewing what I could find of Pell's actions, I don't quite see what you're alluding to here. \n\nLet me put this another way: Pell's words and actions strike me as no worse than any other high ranking prelate of the time, and I'm including JPII and Benedict. To my limited knowledge, the abuse scandal was public knowledge for many years before any high ranking Catholic dared to offer non-defensive, compassionate comments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I understand what you are saying. That is why we rely on the Church to filter out the moral and revelatory content from the chaff of the times and mores.\n\nPointing that out to someone who has already rejected both the Church and its teaching is not a particularly productive approach to discussion.\n\nThe primary message from the slaughter of the Canaanites appears to be that the land is a gift from God. We do not know whether they slaughtered everyone - the history of the Samaritans seems to indicate that they normally did not.\n\nThe Jews rose morally in degrees, not in an overnight act of the Almighty, as Jesus\u2019 corrections on matters such as divorce illustrated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bandwidth/frequency ranges and the Big Bang Theory are not pseudo science. The idea that science is open to the miracle birth of Jesus, and that the gift of life which proceeds when we receive in Baptism doesn't mean it cannot/doesn't/didn't happen. Or do you believe man is the only intelligible subject who can communicate through an unseen/invisible channel in frequency ranges with receptacle instruments, but no Divine Creator could do so without one on the basis of the receptivity of one's heart/soul to His Divine plans of Salvation? Is man greater than God?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know why the Church selected St. Jude as the antidote to Santa Muerte. The article also does not tell me how she is connected, if at all, to pre-Christian belief in Mexico? Is this an indigenous belief resurgent, and thus, bound to be popular? Why isn't St. Mary a more viable alternative than St. Jude for the people? The Lady at Guadalupe has been popular, I suppose she is similar to indigenous belief? \n\nNCR held its art contest before the second millennium and called for drawings to celebrate \"the arrival of Jesus among us,\" and published many of them in \"Jesus 2000,\" Dec 24, 1999. But not one image of Mary except for a blue-robed woman at the Last Supper? Few of the feminine. \n\nNCR, just beyond belief how you could have a 2,000 year celebration of the Nativity without even a nod to Mary. I am still amazed 17 years later\n\nMaybe the people of Mexico want Her in the picture. \n\nBut a saintly guy with a wooden club appeals to some no doubt -- hierarchs like the idea of a club?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Doukhobors, who you may recall have something of a history of clashes with authority, have religious tax exemptions. The Unification Church, known colloquially as the Moonies, has managed to get religious tax exemptions. Hare Krishnas have had religious tax exemptions. Christian Scientists have tax exemptions. Do you need more, or are you just going to say \"those aren't cults either\".\n\nDid Lev Tahor's sect apply for a tax exemption? If not, they most certainly didn't get it. It isn't automatic; you have to ask.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It is divisive by definition. In one part of Toronto, most of the Portuguese kids may go to the Catholic schools; in another, it may be the Filipino kids. They are bundled with their own kind. It would be far better for the social health of the city to see everyone mixed in together in a single secular, public system.\"\n\nThis is a geographical reality, not a result of having two education systems and suggesting otherwise is dishonest. Liberal Canada's multiculti fetish does not end in an even peppering of cultures across the country, in case it's escaped the writer. Cultures tend to segregate themselves. Hence Chinatown, etc. For the \"mix[ing] in\" ideal, you'd be seeking the melting pot model of our southern neighbours.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Ingenious\" or not, Thomas saw it, and the Council of Trent said of those Catholics who do not believe it, \"Let him be anathema.\" Yes, they talked that way, but we get the point. There is direct Scriptural support for Thomas' view. When Jesus was at Capernaum, he told his followers they must eat his flesh and drink his blood. Not believing what they'd heard --- it sounded like cannibalism to them, as it did to Calvin --- many disciples asked, \u201cHow can this man give us his flesh to eat?\u201d According to John, \u201cFrom that time on, many of his disciples broke away and would not remain in his company.\u201d (John 6:66). Jesus did NOT say, \"Wait. Come back, you misunderstood me. What I really meant was. . . .\" No; he turned to the Apostles and said, \"Do you want to leave me too?\u201d Peter answered, \u201cLord to whom shall we go?\" So they were not surprised or disbelieving when he later said, \"This is my body.\" The Eucharist is a sublime, holy communion with Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but I do think that we have a larger church for the imperfect aka sinners like all of us. You then go on to list some. A small church for the perfect would no longer be Catholic. We should all aim for perfection but we can only do so if we don't pretend that we are an elite who have already achieved it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Speaking as a Philadelphia Catholic, if Archbishop Chaput spent as much time defending our undocumented brothers and sisters as he does on the issues of religious liberty and culture wars, he would have a the red hat by now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jim,\n\nI went and took a quick look at it just now. I copied FM Wilcox quoting James White from the 1919 minutes: \"Every Christian is therefore in duty bound to take the Bible as a perfect rule of faith and duty. He should pray fervently to be aided by the Holy Spirit in searching the scriptures for the whole truth, and for his whole duty. He is not at liberty to turn from them to learn his duty through any of the gifts.\"\n\nThat sums up my thoughts on the \"co-founder\" of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (as Monte is want to call her) and it sums up her husband's opinion also.\n\nAll that stuff in the bible about man being first, about man being the head of woman, about how Paul didn't suffer a woman to have authority over a man, about Jesus' unwillingness to choose women for His service. I can't make it go away and neither can Angel Rodriguez. Sophisticated rationales are not a substitute for the plain word of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A reasonable and justified policy which is wholly in conformity with Catholic teaching and Canon Law. \n\nPersons who enter \u2018same-sex marriage\u2019 or civil unions plainly manifest their public opposition to infallible Church teaching that restricts marriage to one man and one woman. Giving public scandal to the faithful involves \u201can attitude or behaviour which leads another to do evil\u201d (CCC 2284). Such services will give the impression the Church approved of the deceased\u2019s homosexual lifestyle.\n\n\"Assuredly, the word of truth can be painful and uncomfortable but it is the way to holiness, to peace, and to inner freedom. A pastoral approach which truly wants to help the people concerned must always be grounded in the truth. In the end, only the truth can be pastoral.\u201d (Cardinal Ratzinger)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My bishop, who seems to be a good man, told me that he is \"waiting for the Holy Spirit\" on this issue. Don't know what that means. But the writing has been on the wall since 1979, when vocations to the priesthood began to collapse. Since then, we have had several different vocation recruitment programs, with scant results. Right now, the \"John Paul II priests\" are in charge of the effort. Twelve seminarians, three in college. One left within two weeks. This is not exactly the \"vocation boom\" EWTN radio brags about. The bishops seem willing to let this go on, and on, and on. Waiting for the Holy Spirit sounds a lot like the Jews who are waiting for the Messiah.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "WOW!\nI hope for the sake of others.\nYou never try to become a LEO. As your investigative skills are surly lacking. You surmised that I am not a Conservative, because of my previous humorous post. You sir, are sadly mistaken. I am a US Army Veteran and a LEO veteran. As well as being a Conservative/Constitutional Christian, and NRA Life Member for 40+ years. Now that I expressed my reply. No hard feelings on this end.\nTake care, be safe.\nGod bless\nGriz", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you think an average product of the Catholic religious ed classes could answer the objections to the Catholic faith posed by an average Protestant evangelist?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I gave no figures, someone else did. Now you are getting confused as to who is posting what.\nThe only figures I have seen are 250,000. You do not provide any figures so I assume you don't know what they are. Also you never explained why the laicisation of a former Papal Nuncio bears any relevance to the number of Catholics in Kazakhstan, I presume you can't explain that either\nIf you are attempting to prove people wrong in what they post here it would help your case considerably if you were able to furnish some proof of what you assert.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings....it seems the Church cannot get it right within the confines of its social justice teaching! Pope Francis should be setting an example of Christian Solidarity in this very real life issue for ALL CATHOLICS! I will pray to St. Pope John XXIII that he will guide the Holy Father more closely along with the grace of the +Holy Spirit+", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe Jesus. There was no institutional church only disciples. Jesus taught us that we don't need a Temple because we can can have a direct relationship with His loving Father as He did. (By the way he turned over the tables at the Temple to disrupt the Temple system and that act cost him His life on earth. Jesus became our Temple not the Church). Jesus gave us followers individually the Holy Spirit and that includes non-Catholics, Jews, and others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" Blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of God . \" And as Joseph Campbell might have said , But what does that mean ? ... After all Jesus had that enviable cloak and hob-nobbed with the well off at quite a few dinner parties . It is clear that our Heavenly Father never called any one into being for the express purpose of living a life miserable in any way . I think the ball is in our court : we can all be happy together or unhappy together . I am my brother's keeper .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We don't control our bodies beyond what God has given us ability to, we decay and die beyond our choice. Yet he can make us eternal. When Christ returns to judge he will separate those who will sit on his right side to be resurrected body and soul, and those that will be cast out, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Erroneous autonomy is the erroneous belief there is such a thing as a Catholic who can have a private relationship apart from God, The Ordered Communion Of Perfect Love, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, and remain in communion with Christ's One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church; one can know through both Faith and reason, that a Catholic cannot be autonomous and in communion, simultaneously.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is knocked out, so he has no experiece of anthing. Let him die, which is permissible if not mandated by Canon Law (does not apply to him, probably not Catholic) and he will experience Christ immediately. Assisted breathing is not intubation. Intubuation hurts. It is unnatural and such devices are considered optional life support by the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Lynne for your comment\nYes Lynne, sadly the Star of David is used by some to mark out Jews for persecution, even today, so what you say is correct and this has often come about through bigotry and envy due to their giftedness as a race, and success in commerce and the arts.\nYou seemed to have missed point in that the Star of David does not confront evil, as does the sacrificial image of the Cross that bears witness to the serving of the truth by Jesus Christ be-fore our Fathers inviolate Word (Will) as the image of the cross confronts evil, and in doing so often antagonizes the sensibilities of innate knowledge known within the human heart.\nI hope this helps you, if not say so, and I will try again.\nI was hoping someone would have commented on the type of Christmas cards they send or receive. \nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reality is that \"organizational\" decentralization may stop at the bishop. However, Christ-ian \"decentralization\" does not stop there. It passes on to the individual conscience. It is the bishop role to ensure that the individual is informed and formed and then the individual with his/her knowledge (which is not limited to that of the bishop) in her/his discernment comes to judgment. If hierarchy is incompetent and/or irresponsible in its \"teaching authority\", even if \"legitimate\", the sad reality is dissent, decline, abandonment (of institution). If I leave the church, if I am \"dis-membered\" do I abandon my baptism, my incorporation in Christ? I say no.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Correct them as we are told to do in scripture, not harshly but with understanding. My mother in law is in an irregular situation, and does not commune. Fact is that if Christ wanted us to continue with divorce as a practice, like that prescribed by Moses then he would have said it?\n\nIf people truly understood purgatory how passions are purified, and the Eucharist as God in the flesh and blood they would understand why communion to those in mortal sin, can actually be harmful in this life and the next. Every time I read the gospel of Matthew specifically chapter 10 it reminds me that personal sacrifice is needed to be like Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no place for a bunch of Ku-Ku-Klowns in Canada.\nIn the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century an English \nthree Canadians was a member of the white supremacist organization Anglo-Saxon, WASP equivalent to the United States (\"White Anglo-Saxon Protestants\"). \nFour members have been Prime Ministers of Canada;\nSir John A. Macdonald (father of \u00ab Canadian Federation \u00bb of 1867\nbut not \u00ab Father of Canada \u00bb which is Sir Samuel de Champlain in 1608 ), \nSir John Abbott, \nSir Mackenzie Bowell (a past \u00ab Grand Master \u00bb (?)), \nand John Diefenbaker. \nIn 1927 the \u201cOrange\u201d movement gave birth to a more intolerant and racist group, the Canadian Ku Klux Klan, which had its deepest roots in small towns in Saskatchewan because of the \"yellow peril\", but also because of the blacks...Jews...Catholics...\n(The \u201cKu Ku Nest\u201d in the province campaigned against= teaching French + wearing the religious habit + the presence of crucifixes in schools.)\nHard to \"swallow\", eh Roland ?\n(more to...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This evil scandal rolls on with no end in sight. The clerics simply don't care about it. Their conduct gives the lie to their claim that the church is of divine origin. What is the point of having \"ontologically different\" clergy who neither live nor believe what they preach? What credibility do these men have? The hierarchy are becoming nothing more than a nuisance. The slow implosion continues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In further comment where are you getting crafty? \n\nI did not ignore any of your statements but merely pointed out that they are not all factual statements. I also pointed out what Jesus Christ taught regarding the ideas of temptation and that he held the individual who chose to lust responsible for his sin of concentrating on sex instead of God during worship or any other time. Jesus did not tell men to push women away to protect their chastity nor did he push women away from himself. Mary Magdalene was called at the time, Christ's constant companion. This is because she traveled with him and the 12 constantly.\n\nYou need to take on a gentler tone with people Trad. There is nothing wrong with people supporting their debate with scripture, Gospel & OT. If Exodus supported what you claim, then you could cut and paste the scripture stating that clearly. You can't do this because it is not in the scripture.\n\nIt is not my job to prove your argument - that is your job & you haven't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Franky. this \"Barrabas\" story sounds like a WHOLE lot of guesswork, speculations,and theorizing,and has such I wondering at its practical application,if any. I thought you Catholics had stopped manufacturing so-called\"saints\"...?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "cont'd \n\nAnd then I read: \"As theologians in recent years explore new perspectives, specifically gender theory, said Beattie, the moral certainties and sexual binaries in traditional theology dissolve and new ways of thinking are ushered in.\" And once again it strikes me that the drive for women priests is not led by the type of holy, wise, intelligent women I would gladly recognize as priests (were it not for Rome), but rather, by women and men --- but mostly women --- who regard sexual binarity as having been \"dissolved\" (as the writer put it) by the \"new ways of thinking [that have been] ushered in.\" Ushered into a post-modern faux Catholic Church maybe. As NCR well knows, any Church can call itself Catholic. (There is --- get this --- a \"Reformed Catholic Church.\") But the unmistakable aim of such people is to destroy the one true faith, the Church that Christ Himself gave to Peter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh if we could get our Priests and Bishops to listen! Things would change in a hurry. It's still I'm the closeth thing to God on earth that you will ever see! Yes, Father, yes Father, yes Father Bishop. Once they are on their pedestals they can do no wrong. What Father wants, Father gets! What happened to Vatican II reforms that said the lay of the Parish formed the Parish Council and governed the operations. The Priest was responsible for Spiritual, Sacraments etc. Now Parish Council is advisory only, and the control still is in the hands of the Priest. Decision making, finances and all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "-- \u201cFaith persists; obedience does not.\u201d (Andrew Greeley, Chicago Catholics and the Struggles Within their Church)\n\n\"A great deal of faith is in waiting, expecting more than in doctrines and practices. Waiting for things to come clear. \" (Paul O. Williams, \u201cAn Ambush of Shadow\u201d)\n\n\"Maybe they should also pray for a full-blown crisis of faith. Crisis can allow the Spirit of Pentecost to rush into the collapsing ruins, hover over the chaos to bring about a new creation and incidentally clarify the priorities of life. (Laurence Freeman, OSB, The Tablet, 9 July 2011) --", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a goofy thesis...Trump may not get an invite to many places, but will get an invite to many places. \n\nSo what.\n\nWho cares a whit about Notre Dame and this non-story.\n\nAnd let's hope - no let's pray - that he also doesn't get an invitation to Georgetown. He shouldn't stain his presidency there either.\n\nTheir era of \"objectivity\" is long over. ND/GT are more partisan than they are truly academic, or Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I read Monica, I rarely comment on her posts. She appears to be imbued with many of the latest best sellers, in some conflict with the Church, and enamored of some theories which I consider half-baked. Obviously she is an intelligent woman, but I don\u2019t see that she and I would have a great deal to talk about.\n\nI have no interest in sticking my thumb into the eye of the Creator, or his Son, by heading down the path of Christianity being just one more \u201ctraditional religion\u201d, entertaining the zany notion that \u201cChristian theology\u201d teaches \u201cthat our lives are conditioned by spirits\u201d, or supporting the notion that \u201creligions should be required to defend any of their ideas that have the potential to impact people negatively and, if those ideas prove unsubstantiated and harmful, the religion should be limited\u201d, the last of which is straight out of China and the former Soviet Union.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Depends on what you mean by chastity and whether you delineate a long term sexual relationship by an unmarried couple (common law marriage) from a series of one night encounters. Also, there is the question of whether sexual pleasure is an end in itself. If chastity means no oral sodomy or manual stimulation of a female partner to orgasm, whether full or partial, I will have no part in such chastity, which is neo-platonic with an asexual bias, with nothing to do with authentic Christianity. My point is that being celibate and chaste in clergy comes from either an escape from unwanted homosexuality (self-loathing) or natural asexualism, which like homosexuality, is an orientation in and of itself. Such an orientation has its own proclivities and ideals which have no empathy for what the rest us experience. It is not just-chosen or taught, it is hardwired. I don't want diagnostics hard wired for aloneness linked to my system, which is most certainly not wired that way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I represent you accurately, which you do NOT do to me. Your \"you disagree with most of the teachings of the Catholic Church concerning Faith and Morals\" is a LIE. I agree with most of the teachings on faith and morals. I doubt you will retract your lie, because straw men are always easier to deal with.\n\nYou have said that anyone who disagrees with the magisterium on anything is not really a Catholic. Of course, as I correctly said, you actually mean \"anyone who disagrees with ME on anything is not a Catholic\". You claim that your opinions and the teachings of the magisterium are identical, which I have disproven in the case of who is to be saved.\n\nYes, my judgments are those of a reasonable man. I judge that the teaching on contraception is twaddle, and it is; I judge that the sole reason for not ordaining women is sexism, which is also perfectly reasonable. That you disagree only shows your unreasonableness.\n\nI notice that you have not addressed what I wrote. You won't or you can't?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any pope who strives to remake this church into the image and likeness of God deserves our prayers, encouragement and undying gratitude. Too bad doing so has to be something to be identified as a difference from the actions of some other popes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You ignore Catholic teaching that consciences must be formed by the Word of God, that one may never do evil so good can result, and a number of other principles on Catholic teaching on conscience. \n\nOne is culpable when \"a man 'takes little trouble to find out what is true and good, or when conscience is by degrees almost blinded through the habit of committing sin'\"\n\n\"[A]ssertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience, rejection of the Church's authority and her teaching, lack of conversion and of charity: these can be at the source of errors of judgment in moral conduct.\"\n\nAre these not Catholic teachings on conscience?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The irony of Marian apparitions is that the alleged messages from Mary are usually extremely dire. They invariably refer to a Jesus is who beyond furious with humanity -- all of humanity. \n\nThe only Marian messages I find uplifting are those from Medjugorje, though those too are sometimes dire.\n\nI guess the Fatima apparitions and messages are respected by most Catholics as being the most authentic. But I have strong suspicions about the Fatima story.\n\nStill, I find something quite enthralling about Mary and the apparition stories.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "YES, CAEL! We must re-examine all the way back to Adam and Eve, the supposed \"fall from grace\", and the idea that Jesus came to \"redeem\" fallen mankind. And, somehow, we need to figure out what is \"tradition\" and what is \"sacred\" because what we now consider \"sacred tradition\" is all mixed up with some un-sacred cultural practices that may have reflected the ethos of the time, but is not really something required by God for all time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I hope you don't mean to be offensive. A woman priest is a priest, not a \"priestess.\" Sorry to see that you are so deeply invested in patriarchal gender theory.\n\nThe priest acts *in the person of Christ,* not just in his masculinity. Therefore, it seems to me that the icon of Christ must be a baptized and ordained *person,* male or female. The hierarchy of the Church will be a better icon of God as a Communion of Persons when it becomes a communion of persons, male and female. The sense of the faithful is not buying the \"divine male\" stuff. It goes contrary to Galatians 3:28, Acts 15:28, the CCC, the TOB, pastoral needs, integral human development, integral ecology, and the signs of the times.\n\nThe patriarchal era is passing away. The Holy Spirit will guide the Church during the transition, in perfect continuity with apostolic tradition. My crystal ball says that we are going to have Roman Catholic women priests and bishops, and the first Holy Mother, before 3000 AD! :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reason I reject this is because the life of grace depends upon the Mass and the Sacraments. Catholics depend upon the priesthood for the offering of the Mass and the conferal of certain Sacraments, If women cannot be ordained then they cannot offer the Mass nor confer the Sacraments reserved to the priesthood nor in the case of ''women bishops' maintain the apostolic succession without which the Church would cease to exist. In such a situation whether Christ was our Saviour or not would be immaterial.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not aware of any significant body of social scientists who believe that, for instance, sexual orientation is anything other than innate. You can get serious arguments among biologists as to whether it is genetic or congenital, and if both in what proportions, but it appears to me that only very conservative Christians believe that it can be changed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I quote:\n\n\"Progressive Catholics may continue to assume that conservative Catholics are all intolerant, racist, and misogynistic.\"\n\nThe Professor deserves thanks for his literal (albeit unintended) permission to assume that so-called conservative Catholics are not only intolerant and misogynistic, which is obvious, but also racist, which many hoped was no longer the case. Of course it's not fair to paint a large group with such a broad brush. Nevertheless this writing provides a revealing bit of evidence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There was no problem with the forum for the last 2 years. What ruined the forum was MSW's obsession with the political season, manifesting itself in countless fire-breathing editorials that classified everyone who disagreed with his political views as biased, racist, foolish, immoral and ignorant. \n\nMSW'S lead encouraged some forum participants to go and do likewise, with constant posts that painted those on the other side of the political fence as biased, racist, foolish, immoral and ignorant.\n\nThose of us on the other side of the fence felt we had the right to explain that we didn't appreciate being spoken of this way. This only resulted in compounding the posts from those who disagreed with us, and it seems also, countless appeals to the NCR staff to censor the forum.\n\nNow we see the end result. The forum has been neutered.\n\nI find this extremely regrettable, since the previous NCR forum was one of the last truly open Catholic forums. Now it's gone. Thanks MSW.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Recently, a new friend of mine lost her father. I had never met him, but wishing to express sympathy in a Catholic way, went to arrange a Mass for him. Signing in and being slightly out of touch with such things, I asked what the normal offering (stipend) was. The secretary replied, \"Anything you want\". Naturally, not wanting to appear El Cheapo, I was pretty generous. I attended the Mass. My friend was unable to. After reading this article I think my time and my money would have been better spent lending a sympathetic ear to my friend while breaking bread together at a local restaurant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bishops supported Trump.\nWhite Catholic men supported Trump.\nThey got what they voted for. They knew knew what knew what they were getting.\nThe sad thing is, they got it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Charging Rev. Curran with the \"H\" word? Wow. So far as I know, he was censured and forbidden from teaching Catholic theology but I don't recall the Vatican or the American hierarchy ever hurling that accusation. Is your charge specific to his views on HV? If so, I'm pretty sure even Paul VI stated that the encyclical wasn't infallible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the biggest example is the constant use of his office putting forth regulations and promoting legislation that restricts abortion. True, for Catholics, abortion is evil. But not all religions feel that way. To me, restricting access to abortion is a type of religious restriction that maybe shouldn't come from the government. He also withheld funding to Planned parenthood because one of their clinics in Kansas provides abortion services, even though 95% of what they provide is health care for women. That is one way he is restricting religious freedom, by forcing his own views on the whole state. When I see him go to communion, I about throw up in my mouth because he is so horrible in my eyes (personal opinion R & R). I happen to play the organ at the church he attends most of the time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You assume everyone who is concerned with the welfare of children is a Christian - a compliment of sorts I guess. I saw no mention of God or Christians in the article, only those who are concerned with the idea that our children should be exposed to depravity at an early age. Do you think it best that they learn of these topics from the pen of an artist and an admiring teacher rather than a caretaker or family member ? Life is short, let them be kids.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"diakonos is best translated 'male servant' not helper\"\n\nNo, it is not. Rom 16:1 talks about a woman, Phoebe, who is \"diakonos\" (masculine!) of the church of Cenchrea.\n\nGreek \"diakonia\" means:\n(1) service rendered in an intermediary capacity (mediation, assignment)\n(2) performance of service, specifically an engagement in preparations for a social event (service)\n(3) functioning in the interest of a larger public (service, office)\n(4) rendering of specific assistance (aid, support)\n(5) an administrative function (service as attendant, aid or assistant)\n\nGreek \"diakonos\" comes from \"diakonia\", and means:\n(1) one who serves as an intermediary in a transaction (agent, intermediary, courier)\n(2) one who gets something done, at the behest of a superior (assistant, attendant, aid)\n\nIn Christian context diakonos came to mean \"a minister\" or \"a ministerial assistant\". Apostle Paul calls himself and Apollos \"diakonos\" (1 Cor 3:5). Even Jesus is called \"diakonos\" (Rom 15:8).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read the article again. The Catholic School Board said no such thing. You and Notley make quite a pair in your rush to judgement. And she was wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The basis for Catholic teaching on sex and reproduction stems from the divine and natural law and are completely unrelated to \"an era when lots of children were needed to assist with the family's economy\".\n\nGaudium et spes [87]: \"But there are many today who maintain that the increase in world population, or at least the population increase in some countries, must be radically curbed by every means possible and by any kind of intervention on the part of public authority. In view of this contention, the council urges everyone to guard against solutions, whether publicly or privately supported, or at times even imposed, which are contrary to the moral law. ... Men should discreetly be informed, furthermore, of scientific advances in exploring methods whereby spouses can be helped in regulating the number of their children and whose safeness has been well proven and whose harmony with the moral order has been ascertained.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wait Tony, let me ask the pharmaceutical companies. How about vaccinations do they treat an active disease? You say you are a doctor but medicine is as much about prevention of problems as it is about treating problems. It is much more risky to carry a pregnancy 9 months than it is to take BC pills. So Tony when you believe that bishops and priests have the contraception issue right perhaps you are indeed violating the medical ethics of what it means to be a physician. Some Bishops even take it a step further when they attempt to define what is and is not a spontaneous abortion in a catholic hospital. This is the reason that I advice my catholic family and friends to not have a baby in a RC hospital and do not go there for a life threatening disease as the Bishops attempt to practice medicine without a license. The morality that you support has nothing to do with good medical ethics...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just what good would come from the Knights giving funding to the paper that is (de facto) Pravda for what is now a rump faction supporting dissident post-catholicism of Weakland, Dearden, Hunthausen, Bernardin, and Co.? \n\nThat stuff doesn't bring people to Christ, not even to its distorted idea of what He is and what His gospel was! It's as sterile and failed as the formerly-\"Mainline\" protestantism it imitates. Even if there was some good in the Knights funding an oppositional paper, throwing money at aging Boomer dissidents is throwing it down a hole.\n\nShenanigans like the sex abuse scandal recently reported in Minnesota show the continuing need for an independent paper, but its ideological commitments mean NCR doesn't meet the need!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anselm was wrong. Any God who did things for his own honor is no god at ll. We now know that there was no original sin of disobedience, but rather a natural state of blame. Jesus sacrifice was a vision quest where in his suffering he abandoned his view of himself as divine (as told to him by Mary when he said Woman, this is your son) and as savior (This is your mother -not baptize the world in my name). This had him call out in despair and then seal his sacrifice with wine (I thirst) whereupon he passed out and died.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "subsidiarity fails to provide living wages to families, which is required by Catholic doctrine, so social action is justified", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Republican lawmakers will not be seen defending migrants. They fear the alt-right Trump voter the same way they feared the Tea Party when they refused to cooperate with President Obama. It is the potential primary challenger they fear more than the voter (and the libertarian donors that back them).\n\nThe Democrats are a different animal. The last time they brought in a Churchman to do Catholic Social Doctrine, FDR was President. I don't expect them to do so when out of power. The Democrats are no longer the Catholic party - especially given the Bishops' focus on doing the impossible on abortion - overturning Roe and sending it back to the states (that is more a jurisdictional position than a pro-life one). The Democrats get out the vote on this issue, so don't expect them to tell the kind of truth that makes it go away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, is rather brilliant. His days as a drama teacher have not been wasted. Imagine sitting in Tehran or Mogadishu and watching the funerals of attack victims, all Muslims, at two funerals, one in Montreal, the other in Quebec City attended by thousands of Quebecers and Canadians including the prime minister, the premier of Quebec, and mayors from Montreal and Quebec City along with Christian, Jewish and other clergy. The images of the two funerals are very powerful. Only those who are nasty and negative (I don\u2019t have to spell it out) would be doing Canada a disservice by not acknowledging the profound effect these images are having on the Islamic world. Canada is safe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, \"subsidiarity.\" If you don't know what to do, trot out a fancy word from Catholic social thought: \n\n\"Just as it is gravely wrong to take from individuals what they can accomplish by their own initiative and industry and give it to the community, so also it is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a greater and higher association what lesser and subordinate organizations can do.\"\n\nHow about this? It's gravely wrong to ignore the letters of abused Catholics when they made the leap of faith to write to you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps I should add that I consider myself a Jefferson Catholic - believing in the morality of Christ's teachings without the belief in miracles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I access \"Distinctly Catholic\" I only find MSW's feature articles, not his daily roundup.\n\nWhat happened? And PUHLEEZE make the type style for the comments LARGER! Not all of the readers are 31!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With all due respect, Serge, anyone who has seriously studied Mediaeval Christian philosophy/theology would hardly characterize it as \"Biblical literalism\". Quite the contrary, it was very much a mish-mash of Biblical and Classical Greco-Roman thought. Plus a whole lot of mysticism and superstition and anti-Semitism mixed-in for good measure.\n\nDr Taylor started this series discussing \"world-views\" which should not be conflated with \"church politics\". Admittedly there is some connection, but neither one is the sole nor even the primary driver of the other.\n\nAnd to lump Ted Wilson, Ed Zinke, any Pope, and Charles Hodge, into a single \"world-view\" bucket, is simply ludicrous. Even Wilson and Zinke do not see eye-to-eye on important theological questions. One is left wondering whether all of those who have publicly taken stances the author disapproves, really do look the same to him?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Scripture uses the notion of self-gift as the definition of the love that Jesus had for us!\n\nIt's not my invention.\n\nIt's what love is. The image of Jesus on the Cross is the very model of the love we must have for God, and for others.\n\nThe \"do this in memory of me\" phrase has a much higher meaning. It wasn't just His reminder to us to \"remember to do the meal\"...but to love as He loved us to the end. \n\nKenosis. (emptying of the self, or emptying of the tomb). \n\nIf we strive to empty ourselves out every day - out of love of God - a funny thing happens...either we fall asleep at the end of the day early very happily exhausted, or God gives us graces to continue loving!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reason for focus on chapter eight is that it seems to be a break from instead of a development of Church teaching, not only on the specific issue of Communion for divorced/remarried living who live more uxorio but for moral theology in general. \nThe article speaks of seminary formation but I can't tell if any US seminary theologians were present.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But Jesus was not white. Poor comparison. You're not understanding my point of view. What I am trying to say is you were taught one way and others were taught a different way. Just as there are different versions of the kumulipo and different versions of the bible doesn't mean you are right and they are wrong. It's as though a Christian telling a Mormon that they are wrong. I was not taught that Pele was nice. I grew up with the knowledge that Pele was to be feared, she owned this island, she created this island to be what it is today. Are you gonna tell me that my Kupuna taught me wrong because you believe different?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the present case it seems pretty clear that Premier Wall is turning to it rather than exercising his right to refer the case immediately to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal for ideological reasons. He says it should be used sparingly, but the truth is quite different.\n\nFeeling free to pick and choose when to over-ride Constitutional rights and freedoms is a dangerous road to go down. It's a far cry from that guy who called it \"an ugly boil on an otherwise beautiful document\" with no reservation or limitation. \n\nOne premier may override the Charter to permit expansion of the Catholic school system; the next government leader may use it to deny assisted death to men and women suffering irremediable pain but who are not near death. It was a good thing that governments were reluctant to use section 33. They should do more than pay lip service to that reluctance today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem is that he does have followers and if you plough back through articles upon Amoris L\u00e6titia since it was published they are numerous especially among the theologically erudite.\nWe have here the spectacle of a Pope hiding behind a theologian of little reputation outside the Catholic backwater of Argentina.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Painting over rust? Is that like whitewashing the outside of a tomb? Good thing Jesus never condemned that kind of conduct, or else Our Holy Father and the Bishops might be in trouble if they should meet Him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, and many regions and some states are 34%, 36%, and 41% (Rhode Island) Catholic. Catholicism is largest, most evenly distributed faith in all of US. Most denominations in the US are under 2%.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I basically agree but I believe your comment needs to blame us - the Roman Catholic Church rather than the poor people having the children. Women in poor countries have begged charities to give women who want free birth control this help & only more secular charities supply this help now.\n\nWe must demand our church change on this sexist & environmentally harmful, war causing stand against giving out non-abortive free birth control to poor women in poor countries who want this help.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a bit surprised that more readers haven't responded to this, especially since it was aired on PBS last Sunday. As an author on the subject, and former music minister of three parishes, I try to seek out new compositions that have something to say about our incredibly rich Catholic tradition, that have the ability to bring us a bit closer to the transcendent. Although I only heard the parts of this beautiful mass broadcast then, I can safely say there are myriads of people who will indeed find confirmation of faith and deep consolation upon hearing the work. Hopefully a recording or video of this performance will be made available, and perhaps stir enough interest to prompt full performances here. If you hear of one GET TO IT! But first let everyone else know where and when. God has blessed Mr. Edwards, and through this music he has blessed us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "G&M moderators don't like what I've written - so I rewrite and paraphrase: CHRISTIANITY IS A BEDROCK OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, OF WHOSE PROGENY INCLUDES CANADA. THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH WERE CHRISTIANS. READ THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE QURAN AND SEE WHICH ONE GETS YOU WHERE... & get over it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a Catholic News Agency article.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know that Europeans are not the only colonizers, and that every people on this earth, at one time or another, colonized or attempted to colonize other regions? When Islam swept through Asia and North Africa that was colonization, when the Incan empire reigned over what is now South America,that was colonization, when China expanded into Vietnam (and ruled them for 1000 years) they were colonizing it. So, when you say that millions died in Asia, most of them died at the hands of *other* Asians. Same thing in Africa. How do you think Mali developed into an Empire with client states? The Egyptians expanded into Nubia over 3500 year ago. The Ethiopian Christian kings of the Zagwe dynasty? All colonialism, all before a white man even dreamed of another continent across the Med.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some positions are irreconcilable, particularly when religion is as politicized as it is in the United States, and the debate concerning the division between church and state transcends the various theological tensions beleaguering the Catholic Church.\n\nMSW's conflict with de Souza concerns the very features of reality. If we don't share a common reality, there's no common ground.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We may disagree if we are \" now in a good place\" as Cardinal Wuerl has stated, but I am happy to see that he says we can now focus on the transformative element. The Church may move slowly, but hopefully we can move forward together and more inclusively. This will take a lot of work, and direction from the hierarchy, and even humility to be open to a new way of governance. I think Pope Francis has a vision of this, but does he know how to get us there?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was a populist leader. He wasn't followed by the Jewish priesthood [who maintained ties with both Herod and the Roman governor]. Jesus was not accepted by the Pharasses, & Sadducees either [they were the observers of law and tradition---most often their own traditions, rather than being concerned with the Will of God].\n\n\nMost of the revanchist bishops/clergy and restorationalist laity----would have been in the crowds on Good Friday yelling for the crucifixion of Jesus. He chose simple hard-working followers. Jesus wore simple clothing. Usually walked to where he was going. Jesus sought out the sick, the sinners, the poor, all those considered 'conceived in sin'. He asked for no profession of a creed, nor acknowledgement of Jesus as the Son of God. He did not care if those asking him for cures, were Jewish or not. He practiced \"Table Ministry\" where sinners were welcome---not spurned.\n\nYes, following the Jesus of the Gospel IS the way to go. But what 'lens of the Faith?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is it, I wonder, that Ibbiston doesn't like? Is it that Trumps agenda is Christian or is it that it's Conservative? Hmmmm...\nI also disagree with Jimbo5 below. Most of the world, even most Canadians, are religious. Why shouldn't religion and politics mix? We need to keep Church and State separate but for most people politics and religions go hand in hand and each governs the other. It's part of the human condition except for a small, smug, misguided fraction of the human race who practice secularism and think that they're better than everyone else", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Love the private Catholic School student, Lisa, explaining how the most expensive and worst performing public system in America needs protection from reform", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "5/6 Jesus is telling the disciple with the sword that his mission is not worldly, that He is destined to suffer and die, and his disciple is not to engage in a battle to the death now but is destined for a greater mission.\n\nThere is no doubt that Christians are counseled to charity. What they are not told is that this voids their obligation to their nation or families. This was a matter of great debate among early Christians, with pacifism a significant belief among them.\n\nHowever, the state retains its duties, powers, and authority which preceded Christ, just as Christ did not void the law on fornication which was already in place. The state may raise armies, pass laws, enforce laws, establish prisons, none of which an individual may do, because men live in societies and these functions are necessary to them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Offering a prayer at the spot where three shepherd children reported seeing Mary in a field 100 years ago, Pope Francis asked Friday that humanity might have the courage to choose a culture of encounter over a culture of conflict and would \"tear down all walls.\"\n\nGood Pope Francis tells Catholics to reject fear, hate, and xenophobia. That is just the message we all need right now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, too much dogma rests upon a literal interpretation of this text (which, incidentally, has much older pagan roots). Very few theologians are prepared to address it in the light of the Incarnation but follow the traditional teaching of the Fall. [I do recommend Elizabeth Johnson's book 'Quest for the Living God' (which now also has a slightly different title).] Catholics are no different from literalist Protestants when it comes to this passage - it is as if the revelation of God through the Exile (leading to Genesis chapter 1), the Restoration, and the Incarnation have never happened. Much more comfortable to be locked into these comfortable, culturally based, misogynistic norms. \nUntil we, lay and ordained, are prepared to open our hearts and minds to the FACT that we have had it wrong since beloved Aquinas (and probably before him) - and to the Spirit who is Holy, we shall continue to flounder in this mire.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill: Those freedoms do NOT include using public money (schools) for Christian indoctrination. Often those conservative Christians don't understand this. Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Amoris meant to give priests and bishops more latitude in dealing with the remarried. That latitude is seen as ambiguity, which bothers the Trads to no end. The reality is that, unless Communion is just a symbol, remarried Catholics and others who receive Communion when told not to experience for themselves in their encounter with the Lord whether they receive rightly or not.\n\nI suspect that Lifesitenews is listening to a few Curia staff who think that their jobs may be in jeapordy if they continue to obstruct. That is not a bad thing. Send them home to retire.\n\nUnless someone knows Trump is faux pro-lifer, I suspect the Trumpsters would think that this quote honors their leader, although he is more reactionary than conservative, although some would say that these two are the same thing, much to Gershon\u2019s chagrin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That, of course, is a matter of \"internal\" Church decisions. However, it's extremely presumptuous for you (and, if they contend as do you) to assert that \"Christian Churches and Christians CANNOT AND DO NOT sanction same-sex marriage.\" Obviously, thousands can and do. You only counter-argument is to contend that by doing so they are, ipso facto, not TRUE Christian Churches....an argument I expect you to make. I feel your position is the height of presumptuousness.\nGo to the link I provide and see the very long list of Christian Churches which sanction (bless) same sex marriage. regards, Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, yeah, and I fly the confederate flag because I love my proud southern heritage. Never mind that it was a battle flag in a war to preserve freaking slavery.\n\nYes, there are people who are attached to the crucifixes and stuff because of \"heritage\". They do exist. Their heritage is just about as valuable as that southern US slaver heritage. Remember what you said about the Catholic church being oppressive? Well, was it or wasn't it?\n\nThere are also damnsure people who are attached to the crucifixes for religions reasons. And if there were no such people, there wouldn't be enough of the \"culture\" people to keep the things on the walls.\n\nFurthermore, personally worn symbols of \"active, personal faith\" deserve a whole lot more leeway than government-endorsed expressions of attachment to either a religion OR a traditional heritage of religious oppression.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess as a practising Catholic he (Trudeau) and a lot of Catholics think it is about time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus wasn't a Christian. He was Jewish. He had no intentions of establishing a different religion -- we have St. Paul to thank for The RCC. And there is good support to think that The Apostles truly believed that The Second Coming would occur in their lifetimes, so they had no real interest in establishing a church, although it certainly seems that they were interested in 'spreading The Word'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are on target for another evolution in Christian thought. They tend to come about every 500 years. Unfortunately it takes the magisterium about 400 years to recognize the evolution because it always sets itself back about 2-300 years with it's predictable self preserving reactionary backlash.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am unaware of D M Neuhaus. V. interesting person. Unique.\nYes, he should do a tour of Poland now and engage the hierarchy especially who are like the American hierarchy supporting the nationalism of our so-called president. \nThe universalism of Jesus' message has been compromised.\nIt is subverted to defend nationalism.\nCatholic no longer mean universal to tribal Catholicism.\nA poem that greatly impressed me, by a woman New Zealand poet,\n\"Nationality\" this line especially,\n\"Oh ye, with frontiered hearts, conceive, if you can,\nit was not only life he gave up but country for man.\"\n\n\"Frontiered hearts\" is a profound phrase. \nAre most hearts \"frontiered?\"\n\nWhether an RC or not, being catholic is the hope of humanity.\nTo put humanity, the planet, before one's tribe or nation first.\nAs Shakespeare says, in another context, \"Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why? I lived 80 years of laicity under 5 bishops both in Europe and in North America, I have known the highs and I have known the lows, today I find spiritual nourishment with ecumenical judaism. The bickering in the Catholic (Universal?) church is exhausting", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "James Joyce would disagree with remnant thinking: \"Catholic means here comes everybody.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"However, with Donald Trump's electoral victory, no one can say for certain what U.S. refugee policy will look like.\"\n\nI believe we have a pretty good idea what his refugee policy will be. It won't be pretty. In the 1920s, with the resurrection of the Klan, America closed the doors to the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. We have reached another such moment. Trump was elected on a campaign of xenophobia and open ethnic and religious hatred. Now that the demons of American nature are trendy again, the summer Christian and sunshine humanist may shrink from our ranks. Nonetheless, we must all hold ourselves accountable to do our Christian duty as American citizens.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, this column quickly devolved from the superficial (yeah, Scheer's not buff like Trudeau) to the current right wing obsession with bashing Muslims and pretending Christians are persecuted in Canada.\n\nHere's the level of comment it deserves; could someone call Mr. Keebler and see if one of his Scheer elves is missing?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez, the Cardinal from Honduras, is also on Pope Francis' council of Cardinals. He remained silent or...quietly supportive of the Honduras Coup that led to this debacle in Cumayagua. Although his Wiki entry is slanted and leaves out a whole lot of political machination, it will give readers an idea of just how much of a authoritarian right wing Catholic Rodriquez actually is, and yet he sits at the right hand of Pope Francis. It is little wonder that Hondurans have given up on the official Church. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Andr%C3%A9s_Rodr%C3%ADguez_Maradiaga", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Such as....AA emphasizing one must \"let go absolutely\" (implication being they'll return to drinking if they don't). It's a false teaching; an impossibility. Understood in its Christian context: Reinhold Niebuhr emphasized we are never entirely free of original sin. That means one cannot let go absolutely--there will always be some degree of self will, sinful nature, etc. remaining. Yet AA old-timers pretend they are walking their talk as it is written in the first 164 pages of the big book, that's why they're \"happy, joyous and free\" while the neophyte isn't. By the time they get to \"We are not saints....we claim spiritual progress not perfection\" it amounts to little more than a hollow epigram.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nathan Phillip Sq is a secular public space. The turtle sculpture is a native religious artifact, an idol if you will, giveing natives preferential religious status. Would a Catholic Crucifix the same size as the turtle be permissible in the square? Most certainly not: progressives and natives would never tolerate it. Therefore natives ought not get special treatment they would deny others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\nBut in your earlier post, you asserted as justification for the Vatican's rejection of Mr. Stefanini's nomination: \"The Vatican regularly rejects Catholic candidates whose public status is at odds with Church teaching.\" Since that does not describe Stefanini's situation, do you have some other theory about why his nomination was rejected?\n<>\nWhat point (if any) are you trying to make here?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unless the West reasserts itself, there will be no \"us\". Unless we reassert our identities and religion and language and culture, they will cease to exist. There is some evidence that Western, first-world civilization is finally waking up, but there is a LONG, LONG way to go before we should sleep soundly with confidence for the world our children will inherit. \n\nThe irony is that, as left-wing as the Netherlands is, is the culture that Wilders is working too preserve is in many ways just as big a threat to the survival of Western civilization as are the millions flooding into Europe and the United States; the low-marriage, low-birth, post-Christian model is dragging down basically every country where it has been embraced.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I just love how the people who claim the US is a Christian nation when it comes to pelvic issues turn right around and insist the US not become a welfare state when it comes to economic issues. That's such a neat mental trick. I think it's called compartmentalization.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The evangelicals are the least of our consern.\n\nThe wikileaks drip showed that the vast amount of media colluded with the Clintos administration, a media that like to present itself as a non partisan news organization. \n\nMedia is now regarded as one lower than a cockroach, steganographers for the ragging left to put it blunt. \n\nIs anybody surprised people are now looking at alternative sources of media.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Erase your doubt in my case. I say Notre Dame was fully in the right in both cases. And the same would be true if it were Biden and Trump. To be a great Catholic university you should first be a Catholic great university. And a great university must be about great education not great indoctrination. On the Right or on the Left.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a member of the Anglican Church but I have a tremendous amount of respect for the Catholic Church. I think that on the issue of women's ordination though this is where I have the strongest disagreement with the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church's own Papal commission stated their was no reason to oppose women's ordination. One of the most famous New Testament Scholars on the block(he's Anglican) who's also a Conservative theologian N.T Wright has made the case for why ordaining women is Biblical in his commentaries. \n\nOn this particular issue though I think going for married priest should be the first goal because it seems to be the easiest hurdle. Ordaining women in the Catholic Church seems practically impractically impossible right now because of Pope John Paul II's Papal decree in 1994.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"it is nice to know that at least one Dutch bishop is a Catholic.\"\n\nBut, Tridentinus, Willem Eijk is not just a bishop; he is Primate of the Netherlands, in a country that is nearly 50% non-affiliated and only 34% Christian (10.6% Protestant [all denominations] and 24.4 Catholic). Thanks heavens for the Muslims, nearly 5%, who believe in God, anyway. And the Hindus who believe in many gods as well as the Buddhist communities. But the Netherlands is not a very Christian country. Eijk, a smart, very educated person, is up against a huge secular/agnostic/non-religious block.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sin City endorses Trump. His evangelical supporters must be psyched!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Shame your history and geography books don't go back and out far enough..... the crusades started in 1065 to push back the Islamic hordes that were over running the Christian lands\u2026. This is a good (better) parallel\u2026. Let Trump do what he was voted in to do... independent judges have no place in a democracy.... next thing we will have the over liberalized media calling the shots... groan.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, more nails as he commits more Constitutional criminality by his decisions. Scalia is dead so he can't drive any more. Gorsuch is likely even worse as his entire history is based on decisions allowing religion to prevail over all other aspects of human rights. He is a pure theocrat and agent for Corporate over worker or individual rights. He will expand the worst of Scalia even more. Christian terrorists now occupying a majority of federal governing positions in all branches of government. The perfect means to install anti-human laws. The worst is yet to come.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I think that is where it is going. Similar to the Orthodox, who add to Tertulian's notion, expand upon it. In his book, ORTHODOXY, Orthodox Bishop Ware notes: \"For Orthodoxy, the validity of ordinations does not depend SIMPLY on the fulfillment of certain technical conditions (external possessions of the apostolic succession; correct form, matter and intention). The Orthodox also ask: What is the general sacrament teaching concerning the inner meaning of the apostolic succession and the priesthood? How does it understand the Eucharist?\" etc. This is very similar to Cardinal Kasper's understanding. To compound matters, it is hard for Catholic ecumenists to know exactly which voice speaks for the Anglican Communion, given its brokenness among bishops, etc. Some Anglicans bishops don't accept lay presidency; others do (in Australia). Some don't accept gay civil unions among clergy; others do. Some don't accept women bishops; others do. Same with other moral and doctrinal issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In a way, Protestants (46% of the US population) are also overrepresented (with \"55% and 58%, respectively\"). But \"Nones\" are highly underrepresented. My hunch is that the latter trust \"Christian\" Congress-people (Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox) and other religious leaders to do their bidding, as it were.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fundamentalist Christianity is not an innate condition of birth. Like a political party, it is a matter of personal choice to claim to believe in the supernatural. The public already gives to much deference and financial support to superstition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I welcome the new efforts, but doubt they will lead to administrators having to bid in open auction for their jobs based on price, with all qualified applicants able to bid. There are always two sides to exploitation and unless the beneficiaries of it are examined, it will simply shift the pea in the shell game.\n\nOne wonders whether the religious leaders are working with the control board or around them in trying to get more aid. I suspect the former.\n\nSilk is on point in a way that hits tax reform as well as health care. Both efforts are reactionary, so of course they would be based on a conservative religious tradition. Sadly, quite a few Catholics also buy that line. Sadly, Speaker Ryan seems to be one of those that seems to as well, so don't expect any moral correction from him to the author of this mess.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can we cite the CCC as a work of Catholic fiction that calls upon the reader's imagination?\n\nOr am I confusing \"imagination\" with the more traditional-minded: \"Complete submission of the will and intellect?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, of course. It doesn't surprise me that the French Church would look the other way for some reason or other. However, I don't think he would be living comfortably in the US Catholic or Canadian Church. In some churches, it is not certain that everything is uncertain.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Achild is not alive before the first breathe of life,, read what the bible really says about this G-d fashioned Adam from the minerals of the earth, but he was not alive until G-d breathed the \"breathe of life into him\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You live in a very religious country where faith is enshrined within our highest democratic doctrines. We currently have a PM who is a devout Catholic. \n----------------\n\n????????????\n\nI have seen several photos of this current PM in mosques and temples\n\nbut never in a Catholic church?\n\ndevout Catholic? who supports abortion and assisted suicide?\n\nFeminist humanist perhaps but devout Catholic ??????", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tacky is in the eye of the beholder . I LOVE folk music AND I love the simplicity of the \"new\" Mass. Yes, I am college and graduate school educated and yes I took music apprec in college. I like classical music. BUT FOR ME, the Latin Mass brings back a lot a very bad memories. I happen to like SOME of the \"Protestant\" hymns. They meant and mean more to me than a bunch of meaningless Latin chant that I had to memorize as a kid and sing at a Mass I was forced to go to. I go to Mass NOW, NOT because I HAVE to, but because I want to. A lot of young people also think PBR is good beer, too. So what do they know? I grew up during the supposed \"Golden Age\" of American Catholocism and I wouldn't go back to that time for anything.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your comment bobtr900 , I am most grateful for the encouragement\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This essay is wonderful, but the label \"Catholic left\" seems to fit in with the left-right split that is polarizing America today. Liberal, conservative, moderate mainstream ways of thinking are being forgotten in favor of European style far right and left wing ideologies. Can we at least have a \"near right\" and \"near left\" sensibility that brings people together rather than driving us farther apart?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just because a \"system\" has worked one way for an extended period of time is not a guarantee that it must continue thusly.\n\nI worked with the CA Catholic Conference many years ago and it depended on WHO was in leadership, WHAT was accomplished....I was trained as a lobbyist by their social welfare lobbyist and donated a salary for two legislative sessions to expand that lobbying. And we promoted a lot of local (diocesan) political support for that legislation.... \n\n In fact the bishops lobbyist very frequently asked at the local diocesan level for specific political response. This is a common practice...used by many.\n\nOn the other hand if you have an obstructionist leadership that is not supportive of active political intervention..but rather prefers a very slow and indifferent response at the national level.... than the ad hoc committee structure is your baby....\n\nIn many ways it's the difference at the national-local level of political response between NETWORK and the USCCB!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm very happy that our Pope talk to them about saving our planet. And I wish that they will cooperate about saving our planet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Debate of falsehoods without the foundation of the existence of the individual who, supposedly, created them is moot. No Jesus, no debate. All subsequent such \"debates\" are merely exercises in circular logic starting with a false premise and supporting it with equally false facts. He didn't exist; therefore any teachings and claims cannot be supported without identifying the true sources of their existence. A whole industry of \"scholars\" has existed since the Roman Empire era to \"debate\" to falsely portray an original false creation. Christianity is nothing more than a compilation of previous human-created religions from pagan to animus to one god(Jew). All incorporated into dogma and rites to con groups into joining. If that doesn't work, slaughter them militarily until the remainder submit. The entire illegal legality of \"Christian Discovery\" created by another Pope to give judicial justification for the conquest of all others in the world. The existence level negates all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Colkoch to not try to stop this horror you so well describe .....is just plain wrong!\n\nI think NCR should do special articles on the groups providing \"actions\" like NETWORK, I think the USCCB should be notifying every bishop in the country that each parish bulletin this weekend should have action alert phone numbers listed in the bulletin so that nationwide Catholics could express their thoughts to their elected officials on these matters...\n\nThis is far to serious to ignore...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree. But I also note that groups giving large sums to NCR and Co. are not subjected to the same scrutiny on these pages. Conrad Hilton's biography seems to indicate that he only became noticeably Catholic very late in life and some of the people and causes he supported were not conspicuously in line with VII.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"notion of 'saved'\" needs not to be rethought but to be found and studied where it is published: \n\" Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: [I Cor. 15:1-4.]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If she were willing to settle for the Supreme Court she could convert to Catholicism or Judaism. At the very least, be an ex-Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More Obama Christian quotes:\n\n#13 \u201cThose opposed to abortion cannot simply invoke God\u2019s will\u2013they have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths.\u201d\n\n#15 \u201cYou got into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing\u2019s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it\u2019s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren\u2019t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.\u201d\n\n\n\"Cling to religion\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I remember Susan from my days in the graduate department of theology at Marquette U. She is indeed a good scholar and a devoted Catholic. She gave me good guidance about what to write about for my Ph.D. dissertation. Congrats, Susan, on the new book.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(1/3 part post)\nInteresting that the GC summary document cites the Acts 15 Jerusalem Council as the model for representative voting on unity statements concerning the whole church. Interesting I think because that early council succeeded because it recognised diversity, and even more so it valued and promoted the beauty of the simplicity found in the NT gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Give a little credit to the converts, too, (6-7 million of them; 2.6% of all Americans) from Protestantism (according to Pew researchers). They are larger than either the Filipino or the Vietnamese congregations. According to the evangelical magazine CHRISTINITY TODAY, \"10% of Protestants are former Catholics and 8% Catholics are former Protestants.\" \n\nAnd though everyone picks on the French CC, still two-thirds (66%) of the French self-identify as Catholic, compared with the UK where barely 15% of the UK population self-identify as Anglican (the state church). If the trend continues, the English CC will outnumber the established church membership.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you feel so inclined, I'm unable to include the link/s to my references you may like to add them below for the sake of clarity for readers, I always stand to be publicly corrected. \n1. The Vatican Decree Prespyteror ordinis \n2. ABC's PM for Tuesday 15t August Catholic Church to lobby governments on Royal Commission recommendations [on the seal of confession]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus didn't limit Himself to individuals. He announced His mission publicly, and that of His followers.\nLuke 4:\n18 \u201cThe Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord\u2019s favor.\u201d ... 21b ... \u201cToday this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, but the only thing that seems to really matter to those with particular different bits of male flesh is those different bits of male flesh. \n\nIs there something in Redemption that is different because Jesus was male? Or, let me put it this way: Would Redemption have been different if the same Spirit which is Jesus came in the body of a woman? Are males more redeemed than women because we call God \"Father\" and Jesus His \"Son?\" \n\nWonder how folks would react to this question: Could a female Jesus have redeemed males? Would that be acceptable? What reaction do people have to the idea of a Redemptress rather than a Redeemer. Would we think differently about Mother Mary and her role in our faith if her holy child had been a female?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most scholars agree that Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet.\n\nWhat does being apocalyptic mean, Kurgan? What is an apocalypse? \n\nIt's not Springtime in Paris, is it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is pretty funny and, sadly, accurate. Apparently, this publication is actually capable of including articles that actually reflect Catholic doctrine and values....as opposed to that reflected in the dribble above.\n\nhttp://www.crisismagazine.com/2015/notre-dame-must-take-exemption\n\nMARCH 30, 2015\nWill Notre Dame Continue to Betray its Catholic Identity?\nPATRICK J. REILLY\n\n\"...At least with regard to the Obama administration\u2019s mandated insurance coverage for sterilization and contraception, it can be said that Notre Dame has gone through the motions, filing a lawsuit that it continues to pursue in federal court\u2014even as it undermines its own case by simultaneously complying with the mandate. But on marriage, the University has seemed delighted to expand its spousal benefits, touting its \u201crespect for diversity\u201d and support for \u201cGLBTQ families.\u201d\n\nJustifiably, some Catholics have charged the university with willfully compromising its Catholic mission....\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: married priests. \"Each diocese is allowed up to two active married priests, according to the Pastoral Provision Office, which facilitates the Vatican\u2019s policy. The restriction came several years ago after a number of dioceses sponsored four or five candidates, causing concerns that it might appear the discipline of celibacy was being relaxed.\"\n\nGood grief. Stop with all this concern about appearances. It can be explained and it is a path the Church will have to take if there is to be a Church in the future. Who is being protected here and at what cost?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My comment had absolutely NOTHING to do with any if the things you mentioned. Not one.\n\nNor do you know much of me at all...what \"privilege\"? My response tells you nothing about how you would be welcomed by me. Nor do you know a thing about the ministries I serve in.\n\nMy response? If you claim to be a priest in the Roman Catholic Church, you are misrepresenting yourself...for there are NO women priests in our tradition. In fact, you would are excommunicated. Do you explain when you participate in the types of panel discussions?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm pretty sure the bible said we shouldn't name colosseums after crackheads.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the 1950s affiliation with a church community was at an all time high in the U.S. So much so that atheism as a movement was considered dead by at least one observer, and we mandated that \"under God\" must be added to our pledge of allegiance and \"In God We Trust\" to our currency. Now people who claim \"None\" as their religious affiliation are trending, and religious communities are left scratching their heads. But is it really any wonder?\n\nWe live in an information age fueled by data and technology. We have instant access now to libraries and news media around the globe. We search for reliable data that is current. Success often depends on making good decisions based on trustworthy information. Even yesterday's news may be too old, let alone news from a couple millennia ago.\n\nIt is sad to lose a beloved community. As an atheist I miss that in my life. The need for community is still there, maybe even greater now than before, but the focus must change to remain relevant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since Judaism, Christianity and Islam all read, literally, from the same book, it's all based on pre dark age thinking. That's not the point - orthodox in all those religions cover their heads in reverence to god. Obeying men is obeying god in all the orthodox versions of those religions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wholeheartedly agree with Danno. You make a difference, Kieran Tapsell. I know very little of canon law (more of civil law, owing to my family). But I'm pleased you remind us again that at least the Catholic Bishops Conferences of US, England and Wales, Australia and Ireland wish \"to impose mandatory reporting under canon law irrespective of whether there are civil reporting laws.\" Why the episcopacies of non-English speaking European countries (and Vatican) don't want the same thing puzzles me. Though there are a lot of differences between European Civil Law and US/English Common Law (owing to differences in legal practices, values, institutions), I always thought the Church had one homogeneous legal tradition of canon law acceptable to all. It appears non-English speaking European Catholic churches (as well as African, Asian, Latin American) give Canon Law a Civil Law twist (i.e., caution), whereas English speaking churches give Canon Law a Common Law, more literal rendering?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Come now Groucho, don't be such a grump! I say what I do because I do know the Scriptures. As a born SDA and a past preacher for it, indoctrinated I was! Sorry, the facts I enumerated above contradict your interpretation. Facts do matter.\n\nKey texts open no locked doors. They just are oblivious blah blah blah when compared to reality. \n\nNow I recognize the legitimate function of belief, faith, as a utilitarian dream-castle in the sky. For those in need it is legitimate medical marijuana for ego support. And it operates well as lubrication for coping with life vicissitudes. \n\nMy point is to invite you to discuss the facts of Messiah never showing, ever in history, even when promised by a plethora of Scriptural prophecies. Even Jesus was disappointed by having all who heard his voice die without Messiah. \n\nAnd dialog with me as to when people will be good enough to want him bad enough to show. Obviously millennia of horrible suffering doesn't do the job.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe the relevant Bible phrase is that they will know we are Christians by our love. If \"they\" don't get that, then all of the rest of these problems come into play. The good bishop here wants people to stay in church because God wants it that way. That's awful nice, but I think the people who leave are not compelled to stay because that love we are supposed to have isn't very compelling.\n\nNow, as a parent of adults, let me advise the bishop that their experiences will count for them more than mine will because they have been raised now. They should and will make the decisions for their own lives, and that God remains God during that process. If they don't feel loved (respected? listened to? led? challenged?), they won't be there. The onus is on us, not them. And bluntly, \"You are wrong and you should do what I say,\" is not how you love an adult. It is how you love a small child. Tobin describes well how to empty a church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only \"ontologically different\" in priests and others is blindness to the working of God. The real priesthood is found in all of us when we are Baptized. Holy Orders was a man made institution occurring several generations after the death of Christ. We need leaders in our church but we do not need people who believe themselves \"ontologically different.\" Protection of children was far more important than a false \"ontologically difference.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Benny? Comparable case? No.\n\nFirst terms. Natural rights are rights with which we are endowed simply by being. Canon Law is positive law, laws which are made by legislation. Different things.\n\nSecond, process. In 2006 Morris released a pastoral letter that called for discussion of the ordination of married men and the ordination of women and also suggested that the Catholic Church consider recognising \"Anglican, Lutheran, and Uniting Church orders\".\n\nVatican officials then attempted to reconcile Morris with the Church's teachings.\n\nOn May 1, the Apostolic Nuncio announced that the Pope had \"removed [Morris] from pastoral care\" of his diocese.\n\nOn May 13, 2011, the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference (ACBC) issued a statement, stating that they supported Pope Benedict\u2019s decision to remove Morris due to \u201cproblems of doctrine and discipline\u201d.\n\nThe Holy Father gave Bishop Morris five years to conform. There was zero question Bishop Morris was in conflict with the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are a lot of things that people say Pope Francis said, which he didn't say. Like for instance the notion on the internet that he allegedly said that the Transgender community is like nuclear weapons. When you actually check his statement that turns out to be a wildly inaccurate report. \n\nI suggest that instead of just relying on second hand sources, people just go to the primary sources, namely the Vatican pages such as Vatican Radio or the Holy See's official website where the publish full transcripts of the Pontiff's remarks rather than relying on media driven sound bites.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part Two) Father Robin Ryan continues: \u201cWe must let go the church of the 1950s\u2026 That was the glory days of Catholicism with the Knights of Columbus and the use of the rosary. There are now opposing tendencies that we see; one that is a progressive perspective and the other being a traditional/ conservative perspective. I believe there is plenty room in between. Plenty of room for the truth, and I believe, there is truth in both perspectives\u2026\n\u201cPeople need to know what we believe, but we need a healthy balance between \u2018anything goes\u2019 and one that says everything the church thinks and does is unchangeable\u2026 The vision of the church Pope Francis provides gives us clues as to how the church is to move forward\u2026\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The war on Christmas, and Easter is just fact free news...in god we trust...all cultures celebrate this time of year in a variety of fashions such as solstice, harvest celebrations, and the start of the New Year. Jesus was born in the Spring. Nothing wrong with celebrating the son of god, we are all the son's, and daughter's, of god according to Christ. Of course it could be Sun of god too as the return of the light is the real reason for the season...it's called winter. It's science. Jesus was born in a manger because they were registering, or something...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are waiting in the corridors, silent like mouses -- as well as several other \"catholic denominations\" -- pulling the strings, I imagine, and sharpening their knifes. Be afraid, very afraid. They have a world web of money and power. That controls even big banks. For instance, Santander, the 6th biggest, who is in the hands of the Bot\u00edn family. The owner was tremendously sucessful during the Franco's regime, and the founder's wife, from OD, was made a Duchess by the Spanish \"Caudillo\". Add to that the Neo-Caths, Communion and Liberation, the favourite of Pope Emeritus, and many others. Surely, they have \"good\" connections in high places.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus didn't tell the people they must demand Caesar force themselves into giving their spare coat to the one in need, but to do it freely out of love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The suit alleges that SNAP solicited donations from the attorneys to whom they refer survivors. SNAP chair stated \u201clike all nonprofits, SNAP solicits and accepts donations from anyone who believes in our cause.\u201d\n\nHas the Catholic Church ever accepted donations from the attorneys who represent them in legal proceedings? We're talking about $millions changing hands between the Catholic hierarchy and their phalanx of attorneys and public relations consultants.\n\nShouldn't the Catholic hierarchy disclose how much money their million-dollar attorneys kick-back to the church? We have to assume that all that expensive legal representation doesn't come without great cost. It would be good business for the attorneys to keep \"priming the pump,\" just saying' ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, Atoday has abandon the Christian faith and opted for politics. Not really surprising in light of the fact many who profess to be Christians are more loyal to their political party than Christ and the Christian faith.\n\nAnd wouldn't you know that the liberal forums are all for Hillary and the \"Social justice\" agenda as opposed to responsible freedom that demands that people work, and as Paul says, \"Those who don't work, don't eat.\" And \"a man who will not support his family is worse than a heathen.\"\n\nIn modern America, any responsible candidate who would run on traditional values could never be elected president. You must embrace the Gay agenda, the women's lib. movement, abortion, and any other evil in the American life if you have any hope of being elected to any political office. And your politics must transcend your religious convictions. And this applies to more than a few so called \"believers\" as well, even in the SDA church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Trump has to follow his conscience, but no one should think this is directed by any god or religion. Christians can hail him all they like, but nothing this man does, think or says is, in any manner, Christ-like. What are \"Christian values\" these days? Hate and judgement?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And not only that. The gospels were not written by the contemporaries of Jesus. They were the result of the passing on of oral tradition, and were the attempts by the writers to pass on the message of the Way to the people of the time and place for whom they were written. To pretend that these are the direct, exact quotes of Jesus is disingenuous at best.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(ONE)\nYes there is every reason to invite you to step back, since you have once again refused to refrain from leaping ahead to the magisterium and only then looking back at what the pericopes say.\n\nSo let me be be pedantic in my clarification. Acceptance of the two pillars of revelation does NOT negate the option of intelligent distinctions. There is a distinction to be made between the scriptural exegetical meaning of this or that pericope (roughly, the meaning placed there by the inspired author as understood by the original readers), and the interpretation that the episcopal magisterium may give to those same pericopes. \n\nAnd in our time, you and I and every Christian has choices to make concerning our role in attempting to actualize the plaintive plea of our Lord \"that we might be one.\" Mindful of the fact all Christian traditions accept scripture as inspired, I suggest it is sound eccumenical practice to be very sensitive to the distinction between exegesis and magisterium", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is missing in this commentary (totally understandable in the context of the French elections) is to stand back and note how the traditionalist schism (Lefebvre and SSPX) was far more political than theological. They manipulated the Tridentine Latin Mass as a respectable \"flag\" to rally far right wind sympathisers.\n\nSo, for example, want to find the most anti-Semitic literature available in Europe? Go to Mass in the SSPX church in Paris, and it's all there. \n\nSomething that helps explain the \"Catholic\" support for the National Front.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is some intense cynicism! I applaud you for taking your incredibly warped notion of the Church to its logical conclusions which necessarily includes calling into question the sanctity of everyone the Church has historically proposed as holy!\n\nWhat's so great or holy about Jesus, then? You do realize the \"male hierarchy\" is the responsible body for writing, transmitting, and preserving eeeeeeeeeeeverything we know about the man except for a couple of brief references in Josephus and some Roman historians, right?\n\n<>", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great that you were \"only\" sexual harassment Ms Wente. But you actually are presuming and generalizing here. Your friends may not have divulged what wasn't \"relatively harmless\" if it had occurred. Like me - I finally told those that didn't see it of my sexual assault back in college. I wasn't \"especially vulnerable\", I was 19, sober, in car for a spring break parade. Two young men elected to pull my bra until a strap broke and tear t-shirt until it ripped below my breasts. All because they catcalled me to flash my breasts and I refused. I reported it, but not a priority to the cops! I found out lifelong friends had been raped. I didn't know. S0, no outrage machine hashtag for many; a chance to let go of shame and self-blame. Yes, even those of use that aren't actresses, models, athletes, law enforcement or Catholics. #MeToo hashtag won't solve it all, but it's a start. Why don't women report? Look no further than comments minimizing harassment and hijacking topic. Many don't listen", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you really believe that \"whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven\" means that the Church can get people off-the-hook for sins they haven't repented, or are you just arguing to be vexatious?\n\nAnd if you do believe this what does it mean for questions of free will, death, judgement, heaven, and hell? And did Christ have his fingers crossed behind his back (\"just kidding! My friends will wave their hands and it'll all be OK\") when He called sinners to repentance?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the issues like birth control, homosexuality, divorce and remarriage are too important NOT to leave them to the successors of the apostles.\n\nPeople can stay Catholic even if they disagree with the Church. My post concerns those who complain and whine and moan about how the Church needs to change. If people can disagree peaceably and at least respect where the Church is at, that is one thing. For those who are openly hostile to church teaching--that is quite another. Someone who is openly hostile to Church teaching should consider leaving the Church and joining a Protestant church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was not a supporter of the effort to delegitimize Ryerson until I read this article. 500 years ago, 150 years ago or today, cultural genocide - ie: convincing people that their traditional belief system is wrong and forcing them to believe that a man was god and they should worship him etc... is WRONG. It's always wrong. We have known this since Christians started doing this aggressively 1700 years ago. Missinizing is always always morally reprehensible even though most people doing it truly truly have the very best of intentions - they want people to 'go to heaven', be kind, charitable, educated. But it's wrong. Eggerton Ryerson was a likely a good man and not 'Anti-indigenous' but he - and generations of Christian missionaries from then and now-are guilty of cultural genocide. They may not acknowledge it but it's a lesson and a discussion the world needs to have. Being a white Christian is not a crime. Trying to convince a non-Christian to become a Christian IS and always has been", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God I miss having President Obama in the White House; a man of conscience, faith and good will...\"\n=============\nTrump is no \"standard bearer\" of conscience, faith or good will, but when it comes to \"God.\" I thank you for the lead in.\n-\nObama defended upping the use of unmanned drone-missiles by ten-fold or more to estimates that run into the thousands.....with \"collateral damage\" of innocent life being lost that also was estimated to run into the thousands by \"unbiased\" human rights groups. \n-\nObama defends 60,000,000 abortions; defends sexual immorality; and defends same-sex marriage.....things that no one of real \"Christian\" faith could ever do.....considering that Jesus defined sexual immorality, proclaimed what a marriage should be, and prohibited murder. (Or did you \"forget\" John 1: 1 -4?)\n-\nTrump is hardly the \"Christian standard bearer\"....but neither was Obama. I wish Obama had been replaced by someone better, and I hope Trump will be also. Perhaps Jesus will come back \"soon\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part One\n\nMark, I was thinking of the following exchange:\n\n#1. Kag1982: \u201cIt seems like the opposition to Pope Francis is centered in the UK among the far right traditionalists and former Anglicans there. I suspect that it might be class envy. The upper-class far right British types don't like the fact that the pope is a Latin American slum priest from a working class Italian immigrant family.\u201d\n\n#2. Emigree: \u201cSounds plausible. The UK is a class society, wrecked by a certain kind of Etonians. Now the island is a rather pickly situation, isn't it?\u201d\n\n#3. Tridentinus: \u201cThat is nonsense, where do you get such bizarre ideas from? There is hardly any opposition to the Pope amongst Catholics in the U.K. and the number of former Anglicans is infinitesimal. How many \"upper class, far right British types\" do you know? I bet that Pope Francis's \"working class Italian immigrant family\" was a lot better off than the \"working class Irish immigrant family I was brought up in.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Doubters\n\nI Corinthians 15:52 states: \"Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last Trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.\"\n\nThe last Trump. It's in the Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When they got rid of the \"No meat on Friday\" rule, another penance was to substitute replace giving up meat, but the people just heard that meat was now allowed on Fridays and not the part about an alternate penance. Catholics are still obligated to do penance on Fridays but most priests fail to teach this to their people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with you in some respects, but it's also possible that the meaning of Jesus' terrifying death followed by his resurrection is a spiritual signpost towards confronting our own fears of death, and towards giving up our selfish ego-identities, and judgement of 'the other'. \n\nThe Easter story suggests that death is not an ultimate reality or something to be feared above all else, and that the 'truth that will set you free' is a truth that makes our own deaths pale in the greater light of Existence/Truth/God. In a sense he did die for our sins (as in 'because of our sins' - of ignorance and blindness), and to show that bodily death was less important than this great Truth. \n\nThe parts of Christian theology that make his death into an atonement, accepted as 'payment' for other people's sins by a judging God sitting on a throne, seem off base to me. As does the requirement to believe in 'bodily resurrection'. But then wiser people than me through history seem to have believed it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't like the behavior, I would not want my children to emulate them - which of would really not be a problem for any decent parent. But I don't know their story, I don't know how they got to that point, I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing in the same circumstances. They are still people. \n\nI'm trying to leave my Christian thinking out it, but it does shape this response. I can leave out the religious words but that doesn't change the impact of compassion and forgiveness, on my thinking. I have no illusions that I live up to the ideal. \n\n*I'm not a fool either, I don't spend time hanging out in the square, and the temper tantrums are common. It's a personal choice to avoid groups that are 'edgy'. Self preservation instinct. I wouldn't walk into a group of angry NRA protestors either. Neither probably a big risk, but why test the theory!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I left the Novus Ordo for the sedevacantist traditional real pre-vatican 2 catholic church and never looked back. WE are the real church in exile, not the various shades of novus ordo heresy. This article was vague and tendentious. It also implies that only \"new\" priests are traditionalists. That is demonstrably false. The rebellion against vatican 2 has been continuous and therefore the priests in that rebellion are as old as anyone around in some cases, and just out of the seminary in others. This article lacks rigor,, candor and is basically a clarion call to all protestants in catholic clothing. You know who you are, so why are you in a church you hate? Because you were born into it? You accept none of its doctrines and dogmas, eschew its traditions and rituals, and yet you remain. Why? Being born a catholic is not sufficient to BE a catholic. You have to believe in the doctrines and dogmas of the church to be a catholic. It's not a birthright.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, Bob Bell, hardcore Republican: The Electoral College system has now twice allowed a few states to determine the Presidency. All of it made possible by the massive infusion of billions of dollars from conservative billionaires and their corporations(Now citizens per Scalia). The ALEC organization formed by the Koch family and other Oil billionaires after Nixon's resignation hijacked state goverments one legislature at a time. Joined with the same group funding the national televangelist fundamentalist christian traitors(Prevo,Falwell) to brainwash the electorate. Small population western states with oil connections were the easiest prey as history shows.(Alaska,Montana,Wyoming,North Dakota, etc.) Other \"liberal\" states(Washington,Oregon) were gridlocked by minority Republicans and Democratic traitors. Republican-governed states purge voter rolls. 40+ years Success!\n2nd, Lars and Jeanne: Every word truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The man was heroic, standing alone courageously. Not only did he suffer from a devastating false accusation, he suffered from cruel isolation and maligning from his cardinal and bishop peers. I wonder why the Catholic Right never gave him its Thomas More Award. He deserved it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When then Bishop Wuerl came to Seattle, the supporters of Archbishop Hunthausen were aghast that someone would come to \u201cspy\u201d and criticize Hunthausen. Wuerl\u2019s comment at the end of the \u201cinvestigative\u201d stay; \u201cI find no fault.\u201d My wife worked with Wuerl at the time and found him to be a kind and thoughtful person. Now she may have been a little prejudiced, she was a big fan of Hunthausen, but her dealings with Wuerl were some of her better memories of that era, especially compared to some of the paranoia by some of the more rabid Hunthausen fans. Once again, he proves that point and our personal expectation of him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Anti-elite intellectual\" is such a strange phrase. You are anti intellectualism? That's rich.\n\n\"If I followed the media I would hate Trump like you\" So you're pretty much saying that if you informed yourself you might realize why people are upset and concerned? It's not because of Trump the man - it's because of the administration's POLICIES. \n\nI believe that over political correctness is a bi partisan issue. I think we need to be respectful and accommodating of people and realize that not everyone is a straight white Christian. But it doesn't matter who you are the absurdity and censorship you see on campuses for example is abhorrent.\n\nI am someone who focuses on issues - which is precisely why I am so upset! His cabinet picks are absolutely awful from every policy perspective I'm aware of. He's put unqualified people who are often enemies of the very mission of the institutions they're now in charge of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_Donald_Trump#Cabinet_members", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Clinton Foundation is a \"charitable\" organization that gives about 10% of the money it raises to charity. My personable rule of thumb is to never give to a charity which fails to give out at least 85% of its donations. It isn't hard to find many excellent Christian charities that equal or beat that target of 85%.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From G&M article:\nhttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/2016-news-take-the-quiz/article33407113/\n\n Question 13:-- Which European politician said, on a visit to Canada in March: \u201cI\u2019m having a hard time finding a leader in this country willing to stand up for the issues I\u2019ve been advocating in the world\u201d?\n\na. Heinz-Christian Strache of Austria\u2019s Freedom Party\nb. Marine Le Pen, leader of France\u2019s National Front Party\nc. Nigel Farage, then leader of UKIP in Britain\n\nAnswer: B) Marine Le Pen. \u201cA multicultural society is a society in conflict,\u201d Le Pen said in Quebec City.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Okay - you actually stated in the neighborhood of thousands (\"how many priests have served at any point in this Archdiocese over that span a time? Thousands.\"). Now, behold, you revise to 1,000-2,000.\nI can live with that - it still means that the archdiocese saw an abuser rate of more than 4%. What is insignificant about that?\nBTW - your math is still off.....(my numbers included religious priests) retirees, etc. you can't get to 10,000 and probably not even 2,000. You cite 200 parishes - but, in reality, at least 50-100 of these now do not have resident priests - they are mission parishes. DUH!!! Anyone who works in the Church knows that.\nHere you go - much more data than your wild statements: http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dsnfe.html\nSo, fix your assumptions and you will never get to *thousands*", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a 4th degree Knight of Columbus (aka the \"Patriotic Degree\"). The recent election is a source of distress for me and many Catholics but Sr. Schenck has reminded ALL Catholics that \"Today, we are called to stand our ground and let God's holy, creative Spirit hover over us and do her work within us once again. Then we will know how to come to the aid of suffering peoples in the U.S. and around the world.\"\nWhile many were caught up in the personalities running for Office we are reminded and MUST remember (as Sr.Schenck states) that \"no beleaguered movement for social justice has ever succeeded without suffering, solidarity and sacrifice.\" I plan to keep fighting the \"good fight\" and pray that we all do the same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sr Margaret Farley RSM\nFr Jon Sobrino SJ\nFr Roger Haight SJ\nFr Marciano Vidal CSSR\nFr Jacques Dupuis SJ\nDr Reinhard Messner \nFr Anthony De Mello SJ\nFr Tissa Balasuriya OMI\nVasula Ryden \nFr Andre Guindon OMI\nEdward Schillebeeckx OP\nFr Charles Curran\nLeonardo Boff\nHans Kung\nThe Catholic Theological Society of America\nFr Jacques Pohier\nBishop Bill Morris\n\nAll of the above - and it is by no means a complete list - were attacked/sacked/excommunicated while Ratzinger was head of the CDF or as Pope.\nWhere did this 'clean up' get Benedict and his smaller, purer Church? What did it achieve?\nFor NOT going down this route and behaving like a tinpot dictator, for attempting to 'convince' rather than bully, I give Francis an A+. (One of the above described Francis as \"living amongst wolves.\" That should be taken into account while Fr Reese hands out the midterm grades.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "chaput is about 20=25% native american, potowotomi tribe. He was raised in the midwest in a city and is not a cultural Native American. Many milllions of people in the US have Native blood, but being born, living on the rez and struggling with the ongoing challenges of the tribe, belongs to those who are in tight knit clans, family groups, and work together. That would not be Chaput. There are some Native Americans who are christians, who Dr. Tinker, a full blood Ute at Iliff School of Theology, calls 'nominal christians'... and there are some tight knit communities of Native people and catholic people who are close as fingers in a mitten for decades now, but that would not be chaput's bailiwick.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joan - I've been saying that for a very long time and, no thanks to me, NCR has recently stepped up to the plate with its new format and some new authors. I think Michael is their Vatican trivia guy and he's never going to stop dueling with people the rest of us have never heard of, but he's now offset by new authors who write from different perspectives, e.g., women! I do think he should stop portraying his essays as addressing the nexus of religion and politics, though, because he can't help seeing it from the perspective of a single white male who believes, apparently sincerely, that today's Catholics care about what popes and bishops say and do. - Monica.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Context. The important moment was when Jesus asked his questioners for the coin used to pay the tax. Possessing such a graven image makes one unclean.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why are Lutherans so much smarter than Roman Catholics??? Lutherans don't seem to have any problem recognizing the Celebrant as standing in the role of Christ??? \"Take and eat. This is my body, given for you\" \"take and drink, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin\" They come in order to receive the True Body and Blood of Jesus, no matter the gender of the celebrant. They trust in the Words, not the physical form of the one wearing the Chasuble.\n\nI would think someone would object to their bishop...\n\nPr Chris", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Better Merkel than the Leftist guy I suppose\nThough Merkel took in 1 million refugees and endangered the civilization and heritage of Germany and the West\n-\nHer party is\n\n-\n\nThe Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic[2][8][9] and liberal-conservative[2] political party in Germany.\n\n-It is the major catch-all party of the centre-right in German politics.\n\n.\n\nThe leader of the CDU, Angela Merkel, is the current Chancellor of Germany.\n\nWikipedia", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I live in the Arlington diocese and have been following this for a while. In today's Washington Post, there is the behind the scenes article by Maria Santos Bier, the woman who \"discovered\" this mattter. This is the link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/how-i-discovered-my-childhood-priest-was-in-the-ku-klux-klan/2017/08/25/c8ff3ff4-88e6-11e7-961d-2f373b3977ee_story.html?utm_term=.39c68fe89427&wpisrc=nl_buzz&wpmm=1#comments\n\nAnyone who knows me from my posts, knows that I am not an apologist for the Roman Catholic Church; however, I have real difficulty with how see exposed this. She explains in the Post article that she had been one of his parishioneers. As I stated to her, why didn't she contact him first before approaching the diocese? Wouldn't basic charity call for her to contact him directly?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(to be continued) \"And he gave some as Apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, until we all attain to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood\u201d oh well, what can be expected from the one, at least avoiding keeping one\u2019s feet in the house, but admonishing to keep one\u2019s mouth shut, hair covered . . . moving right along \u201cto the extent of the full stature of Christ, so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery,\u201d in a Presidential Election, \u201carising from human trickery from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming\u201d (Ephesians 3:11-14). Liturgy of the Word, Reading 478, Saturday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time II.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, the time frame fits....\"Yeats incorporates his ideas on the gyre\u2014a historical cycle of about 2000 years. He first published this idea in his writing 'a vision' which predicted the expected anarchy that would be released around 2000 years after the birth of Christ.\" Hopefully he isn't another Nostradamus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have faith, Christ promised not to abandon His Church. Those who are currently leading the faithful astray will pay a terrible price in the end.\nChristus vincit!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Given what the ANC has achieved in SA, getting them involved in the Israeli-Palestinian process promises only one thing - disaster. They have no credibility to suggest to anyone what to do. Given that they also promote progressive internationalism (their own words) they arguably have their own agenda and can not possibly claim to be a disinterested party to such a process. One thing though, isolate the Holy Land and the ANC alienates themselves from millions of SA's own people who practice their Jewish or Christian faith. Not that the ANC hasn't done so already.... nothing that can't be rectified as soon as the ANC is in the dustbin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When one's peers say you're tied for third place in the shallow pool of Catholic journalism, you either make changes quickly or you drown.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is certainly plenty to analyse in the phrase \"failed seminarian\" as used by Tridentinus. Whether he likes it or not, it is quite revealing. Also revealing is the way he claimed I'd not understand because I'm probably not even a Catholic. When I revealed that I am not only a Catholic but also a priest, then he claimed I wouldn't understand because I never left. \nI am reminded of the saying - The trouble with extreme self righteousness is that, no matter what you say or do to such a person, you merely prove them right.\nIn any case, he's not here to discuss or even convince. He's here to disrupt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Personally, I happen to like the the Latin Mass, and ad orientem. The priest does not have his back to the parishioners, he is leading the parishioners in the Mass. It is indicative that it is a all worshiping together, not just the priest putting on a show for the congregation. I grew up Methodist, and then became a Baptist before becoming a very devout Anglo-Catholic. We have a Latin Mass every Saturday. I love the beauty of the Latin Liturgy. Many churches I have attended seemed more concerned with \"production values\" than actually worshipping God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are a fair number of climate change deniers in Canada, although you're right that there aren't many anti-evolutionists. However, you're trying to rewrite history. The Catholic Church did indeed convict Galileo of heresy for asserting that the Earth revolves around the sun, rather than vice versa, leading to the famous public recantation and muttered \"il se muove\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have a subscription to NCR but while Future Church still has a far too powerful hold on the type of articles and their bend on certain issues, especially, equal ordination, I will give nothing extra. I need to see a lot more articles on supporting women being ordained Priests rather than articles supporting women being merely ordained permanent, voiceless, Deacons, or articles on women getting \"greater roles\" nonsense.\n\nI feel Future Church's quest for Gender Segregation, thru it's constant push for optional celibacy for only married male priests, is unethical, extremely sexist and hugely harmful, on a global scale, both in our church, as it can only result in women being subjugated to all men, and outside our church, while it has us giving an example declaring all women as less sacred than all men. \n\nSo I agree with you on this - it does matter what influence these kinds of online Catholic newspapers allow from other special interest Catholic groups, when it comes to donations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a long ride. It start with the Christians, then the natives, then the Jews, now the amazon women of Toronto, every group needs special identity and special right$$$ in Canada. It is an endless waste of time and money.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 of 2\nThe Church is at a watershed moment in her history as it could be said that the Emperor (Leadership) have no clothes as the garment/image of authority (\u2018father\u2019) has been shown to be an allusion but that is only part of the story as many of his followers (Laity) colluded with his vanity, if they had not done so, he would have soon come to his senses, we had to wait for the innocent voice of Truth to expose his and their hubris.\n\nPlease consider continuing reading this theme in the link below also my Post @ 3 in the link that I have given in my response to Eliane.\nhttps://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2017/10/not-just-george-pell-is-on-trial-michael-kelly-s-j/#comment-92076\n\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's good, because there is a whole subset of Catholics who are perfectly fine with this. Franco in Spain would be one example.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This situation needs to be resolved. Soon the Knights of Malta may be called upon to lead a New Crusade as the USCCB's man in the white house moves to spread Western Christianity. Time to go back to their Traditional Roots, a course that would serve the Church as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cIf the teaching of doctrine does not develop [how it is approached] it is dead.\u201d Another meaningless sentence which cannot pass parsing. Who says it is dead? You. What do you mean by dead? You don\u2019t say.\nHere\u2019s a piece of doctrine, \u201cThou shalt not bear false witness.\u201d How should one approach this teaching save to say that according to divine Law \u2018one should not tell lies\u2019? Show us how you can develop that doctrine by a different approach in order to similarly conclude that one should not tell lies. \nOr could it be that far from reinforcing a teaching by approaching it differently the aim is to reverse that teaching under the guise of development?\nMethinks this is what doctrinal development ultimately means to the \u2018progressive\u2019 Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus asked us the love others as God loved us. I guess you don't understand God's Love? Or, you love your $$$ more than God?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not quite correct, I'm afraid. The research from the 1930's to the late 50's that you cite were the old studies of psychoanalysts that were entirely pathology-centered, and did not use the scientific method in their studies. All the so-called research was skewed according to the \"ideology\" of the author. And BTW - you are pulling the discussion off of where it was placed, it seems to me - and that is within the context of our current sociocultural situation. We are, of course, the National Catholic Reporter (meaning the US) so there is a built-in predisposition to thinking and talking in view of that. While I am well aware of the differing views of other countries and cultures, forgive my cultural bias. The view you express would make for a wonderful other discussion. I hope it happens!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More clerical articles, Cardinals, Rome, Bishops, Deacons.\n\nFor a mostly dissenting news organ, this place does over-focus on clerical matters. As it accuses clerics of being - well, clerics - it spends all its ink on clerical matters. Odd.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please Trid, the head vicar of my parish acknowledges the existence of man-made rules within the RCC... would you accuse him of being a \"Catholic dissenter\" as well? \n\nIt is not convenient to cite the paradigm shift of the Constantine era, it is historical fact. Providing one can own up to this (such as most of us do), there is no real shame in this, if for no other reason than not repeating past mistakes. In summary, theological overreach should not be held up as a paragon of virtue, especially when there is clear and convincing evidence to the contrary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus did not come to separate us from the natural world. Jesus was the reason for Creation in the first place. It was Love [the Love of God for the Son] that sparked the creation of the world. \"For God so loved the world...\"\n\nIt is those who still live in the ancient Gnostic-split of natural vs. supernatural---who see the natural as only a painted back-drop to the work and action of God---which they believe is only concerned about the supernatural. God created humans as material-spiritual units. We are not complete without concern for both aspects of our humanity. Jesus spent much of his public caring for the needs of the hungry, the sick, the poor. As disciples of Jesus, we are also called to make all of creation TRULY GOOD, by modeling ourselves after Christ and walking in his Light.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many times you have accused people here of not being faithful Catholics; of not being 'orthodox'. \nAnd yet your own disagreements with the Church of Rome are well-known.\nThe inconsistency is noted - except by you, it seems.\nA day or two ago, I wrote that you preferred the SSPX. Someone then proceeded to accuse me of 'calumny' (because he wrongly thought that the SSPX were 'in schism').\nI was actually making the point that - albeit at different ends of the spectrum - we were both in the one Church. \nYesterday, on another site, you wrote: \"The SSPX is likely to be eventually recognised as the true Church whilst the false Church occupies the Vatican, the Cathedrals and Basilicas.\" You also wrote: \"I do not attend SSPX churches, mostly on account of its geographic availability... I am not a sedevacantist so, the SSPX is the last hope for orthodox Catholics who wish to continue following their religion.\u2028\"\nAnd today, I see that the SSPX is close to returning to full communion. What then?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Although the first post concerning Dr.Mirus may not be the most telling example, it demonstrates once again the divisions and \"parties\" within your church. In this season of ecumenical good-will between RC and Lutherans in Sweden and Anglicans in the Rome event, it is not only we children of the Reformation who must deal with factions within each church . Perhaps it's not as negative as it seems.\n\nI'd like to suggest this provides a template for how adherence to essentials, the Creeds, the Lord's Prayer, the Councils of the undivided early church, and the more recent theological statements of doctrinal confluence between Rome, Lutherans and Rome-Canterbury can lead us onward. The old argument about divisions within Protestant churches being a total stumbling block rings less true when one considers that the +Chaput version of your church is very unlikely to materialize. Hence there is at least de facto diversity. There is but one Christ Jesus, all else a dispute over trifles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pharmaceutical companies are in the business of making money, not moral decisions.\n\nMy wife was a charge nurse in the neo-natal unit of a world class medical center. She gave birth to our children in both secular & Catholic medical centers. The latter was always preferred, if possible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I really respect the Mexican Catholic leadership that has called these discoveries to account. I am at a loss as to why they were and are voices crying in a wilderness. Why is the concern about this released under a letter written by an Auxiliary Bishop of Monterrey and not a Cardinal in the Archdiocesan See of Mexico City? Politics once again silences the powerful in the Church, including Pope Francis. Here in the States we have the Cardinal of Washington DC posing for a Photo Op with President Trump over a completely useless religious freedom memorandum. We are being asked to follow a morally bankrupt leadership trying to keep their financial bankruptcy a long way off.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Romans there is a reference to apostle name Junia. The church later tried to change her name to that of a male. \nOrdination as you see it didn't start historically until later. The Twelve were invited by Jesus, not ordained.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think I was not clear. I meant, the internal forum could be used to resolve the issue of remarried-divorced CATHOLICS allowing them to receive the Eucharist regardless of canon law--which was the \"impediment\" you suggested was stalling formal discussion with Lutherans about inter-communion among Catholic and Lutherans. And with that issue resolved on the Catholic side, would that not provide the context German theologians require to actually begin the talks with the Lutherans?\n\nWhere I live (Canada), inter-communion is quietly practices among Catholics and Anglicans and some other Protestant denominations. Especially so at retreat houses that have Protestant and Catholic clients on retreat at the same time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You really need to consider researching before speaking!\n\nGreek Orthodox priests can be married. This one is. Go back to the date of his conviction in the R-G and you can see her picture. \n\nCelibacy in the Catholic Church did not start with Samson. \n\n\"In the earliest years of the church, the clergy were largely married men. C K Barrett points to 1 Cor 9:5 as clearly indicating that \"apostles, like other Christians, have a right to be (and many of them are) married\", and the right for their wife to be \"maintained by the communities in which they [the apostles] are working.\"\n\n\"The earliest textual evidence of the forbidding of marriage to clerics and the duty of those already married to abstain from sexual contact with their wives is in the fourth-century decrees of the Council of Elvira and the later Council of Carthage.\"\n\nSamson was long dead in the 4th Century!\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerical_celibacy_(Catholic_Church)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A short lesson in botany: apples are not oranges.\n\nThe proper comparison is Muhammad's Quran and Jesus of Nazareth's Gospels. Nowhere does Jesus exhort his disciples to destroy non-believers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As the esteemed poster knows, one need not read a Bishop's writings to agree wholeheartedly and without reservation in whatever the Bishop wrote or says. The laity are not called upon to understand the sublime workings of the Bishops' minds: they are, after all, guided by the Holy Spirit. No, our role is to do as we are told and attack, mercilessly, those who dare question the Bishops. In this, the poster is doing exactly what Christ called upon Catholics to do, as understood by the Princes of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know? \n\nI don't believe I have EVER seen you say one thing positive, pleasant, or pro-Catholic. Nothing hopeful or even anywhere near remotely pastoral.\n\nEver.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"And the rest of us, the vast majority of Catholics in the pews? We love the pope and we are with him.\"\n\nYes, I've always admired that pledge of fealty on the masthead of the NCR since its founding!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those of us who were young parents during and after Vatican II remember the delightful freshening that took place in the Church. We also remember the experimental excesses and the backlash that followed. Our own parents were horrified by changes they could not fully understand. Now, we are in that position and can only hope that further decisions on the liturgy proceed smartly & cautiously with due sensitivity to the needs of all members of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The average person would take a media agency with the name Catholic in its title to be pro-Catholic. The vast majority of opinion pieces, blogs, news stories, features, and comments here are profoundly anti-Catholic. The contributors, laity, clergy, theologians and sisters are almost invariably dissidents from the Catholic Faith seeking to persuade their readers to reject the Magisterium as they have done.\nSeveral bishops have asked it to drop the word 'Catholic' from its title because it is misleading to no avail yet Church Militant when asked to remove the word Catholic from its original title by the local bishop did so gracefully: like NCReporter CM is not a house organ either but it complied.\nThe KoC is a Catholic organisation which supports the Church and its teaching. It would be hypocritical of it to donate to an organ which in the main rejects that teaching and judging by the articles here rejects the KoC, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As father of a transgender male, I am genuinely glad Stowe is trying to move the giant stone up the hill. However I've had enough of waiting for the Church to become more humane in its teachings. It finally hit me a few months ago: Why in the world am I sticking by a church that, as a matter of policy, considers my son hell-bound for simply being who he is? I now feel like a moron for telling myself the Church was still worthy of my support since it does other good works. But other churches also do as much, if not more, social good than Roman Catholicism, and a couple of them are welcoming to the LGBT community, as in the Episcopal Church. Guess where we're headed? We attend a Jesuit parish in Charlotte, NC, that for years has done its best to do right by LGBTers, but in the end, that's not enough - not when the local bishop is old-school, pre-Vatican II conservative, and our new pastor, unlike previous Jesuit pastors here, is scared of him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So the Catholic Church has no confidence in the three little shepherd children? I seem to recall a huge Basilica built on the site as well as the two younger children being made Saints this year. Pope Francis dedicated his Papacy to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. \nClearly Cardinal Caffarra believed in the apparitions as well as Sr Lucia's writings. I can posit that the other three Dubia prelates also believed in same. In 1984 was there a great concern over marriage and the family? How about today in 2017? The Fatima prophecies related to an apostasy in the Church. Was this a problem in 1917?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was easy to do when the Bible was in Latin and few coujld see how bad their proof texting was. Nor did most realize that the sexual ethics they were taught was Neo-Patonic and not biblical. My question is how can you read the same scriptures and not come up with the same conclusion I do. You privilege tradition over basic reading comprehension.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In terms of historical contexts, you're comparing apples with oranges. Jesus would have almost certainly taken those considerations into account. Or at least, I believe he would have.\"\n\nYes, of course he could have taken into account historical context. But he didn't. He gave a single reason for his commandment not to divorce, and it excluded historical context. \n\nSeems like people just don't like what Jesus said, so they try to change it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "i love our current pope. long may he reign (so to speak!) and i agree with Marx that '''' as catholics \u2026 loyalty is substantial for the catholic faith.'' my response is that first and foremost we are christians, followers of Jesus Christ\u2026.. not whomever might be currently filling in the sante sede !\u2026 we are nothing if we do not recognize the presence of Christ in our daily life\u2026 in our daily personal prayers\u2026.in our daily decisions (large and small) hopefully made in the presence of the Lord. the rest is just politics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please, don't invoke the Lord. You're the exact opposite of what Christ taught regarding the poor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religious leaders shouldn't 'fast' to protest.\n\nReligious people should fast to draw closer to Jesus Christ, in union with Christ's own suffering and in union with His love for all people, and each person.\n\nThis is why God gave us the ability to fast, a will to strengthen and \"give to\" various intentions. \n\nA 'rational will' separates us from the animals. \n\nI will accept the Cross Father to be in union with Your Will, \"not my will but Your will\". This was Jesus's example of how to use the will to suffer for some great good. \n\nAt bottom what they're doing is essentially this:L They're just playing noisy games; \"if you don't do this (or stop doing this..)...I will barely get hungry [and maybe loose a few pounds for summer time!]and then we'll take photos of us and then you'll be sorry because we will shame this and that person, and of course Trump too\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is the third or fourth such over-dramatizing \"gloom and doom\" pure-politics NCR article written by a religious or cleric in as many days. \n\nIt lowers further my respect for these want to be political religious!\n\nThese articles are really beneath our intelligence and what should be our unshakeable Christian confidence in the providence of God. \n\nfRANCIS would chastise NCR for continuing their gloom and doom prophecy; it reminds me of the silly apocoleptc Protestant-based Left Behind series.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "52% of Catholics, not 60%, voted for Trump.\n\n48% of Catholics voted for Hillary Clinton who was an enthusiastic supporter of abortion \"rights\". Pope Francis has called abortion an \"absolute evil\". So, those Catholics who voted for Clinton supported \"absolute evil\". Spare us your self-righteousness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Original sin in not an error. At least up to the present time the Church has not taught error. But Pope Francis is doing his damnest to change that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ignoring someone is not outwitting. Christ often responded with a question as most rabbis but at least he responded. Ignoring a question is simply rude and disrespectful, especially when they are co workers. \n\nImagine you and four colleagues asking another co-worker questions regarding a new building plan and him simply blowing them off.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think pro-life Catholics who support Trump and apologists for the institutional church (often the same folks) have committed the \"sin of rationalizing\" about FREEDOM they so often assign to others: Ends Justify Means. \n\n\" We must always focus on the long-term greater good in our conscience-driven decision-making,\" say folks telling us to support Trump and the hierarchy. Imagine if a young couple said that to the bishop in defense of using contraception or a divorcing couple said that to their parish priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, Jesus is God. \n\nSecond: If we take Jesus command literally--then we cannot refer to our earthly Fathers as Father or Dad. Jesus also told us to call no one our teachers. This means we cannot call our teachers teacher! \n\nThird: \"He who sees me [Jesus] sees the Father.\" He who looks on the priest sees Jesus. He who sees Jesus sees the Father.\n\nThe role of the priest is to make present the mysteries of redemption through the celebration of the Sacraments. Because the Sacraments, in particular the Eucharist are spiritual sustenance, the priest is providing for his people as a Father does. That is why a priest is called \"Father.\" Biological Fathers provide for their off-spring, priests provide for their spiritual children--with the spiritual things of heaven. \n\nThis is not rocket science.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure why you find my conclusion odd after you made this initial snarky remark:\n\n\"Quite so! And the message of Christ unadulterated is in latin, requires medieval-era clothing, and demands full belief in all the adulteration piled upon Christ's message by the Church over the centuries.\"\n\nand then this:\n\n\"Create a ceremony worthy of Jesus' teachings? We need to create a ritual? Jesus endorsed the yet to be created rituals because he taught in the temple? He also taught in the fields and in people's homes.\"\n\nAre you being obtuse intentionally? \n\nMaybe if you replied with an opinion instead of asking questions that may or may not be rhetorical I could better understand your position.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, J. Bob. When my ancestors came to this country they were despised by nativists who believed Roman Catholics couldn't be \"real Americans\" because they were loyal to a foreign pope. This was before the anti-German and anti-Chinese hysterias of a later date. Also, the Democratic Party didn't become the progressive party until Franklin D. Roosevelt became president.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly, JPII effectively denied the 'power of the keys'. In addition he denied the action of the Holy Spirit to function as Jesus taught the Spirit would function in that the Spirit would teach other things the Apostles were not yet ready to hear. JPII gets his way on the ordination of women only be denying the very scriptural verses were are to believe give him the power to make his statement. He and the Church had/have the authority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the first place, there was no \"Inquisition\", there were many inquisitions.\n\nIt was common for people to petition to move their case from the state courts to the courts of the inquisitions because they were fairer.\n\nA good book on the topic would be Rodney Stark's \"Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History\". He is a sociologist of religion.\n\nHe writes \u201cThe standard account of the Spanish Inquisition is mostly a pack of lies, invented and spread by English and Dutch propagandists in the sixteenth century during their wars with Spain, and repeated ever after by the malicious or misled historians.\u201d\n\nHe does a splendid job of dismantling the \"Hilter's Pope\" and associated slurs, which today alone on this very blog I have read repeated by self-described Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Priests and bishops who had fallen away ACCORDING TO THEM.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The contemporaries of Jesus did get to know him better after the Ascension . We , too are post-Ascension disciples . \nTheir witness speaks volumes . May I add to thinking and deliberating... prayer ? The Spirit that formed Christ in Mary of Nazareth 's womb is yet at work to open us to who he is , today , for each of us . And because Jesus is yesterday , today and forever we have in our frail way an open door into who he was to all whom he met 2000 years ago . \nAt least these are my thoughts on the matter , Neko .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thomas also has a some things in his writings that completely undercut the Church's position on abortion. Of course, those parts of his writings have been ignored in total since Roe v Wade. Ensoulment questions are no longer germane to the discussion which is why limbo, a poor construct to begin with, went by the wayside under BXVI in favor of ensoulment at birth. Baptism no longer applies to the heavenly vision.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neither the Vatican nor any of its bishops owns the title \"Catholic,\" even though some of then act as though they did! Your \"impressions\" are just that -- impressions, which typically lack a foundation in reality. Your impression that The National Catholic Reporter \"openly crusades\" against \"the organization it is named after\" is ludicrous and then some! There goes another windmill . . . .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If one wishes an immersion education in the classics and Catholicism, the degree is hardly worthless.\n\nThe main issue with colleges today is that you can graduate from one with almost no notion of how we arrived at where we are today unable to read and write English proficiently.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When Jesus admonished Peter - \"Get behind me Satan\" - was He being cold and uncaring? Thinking in \"black\" and white\" terms? All Peter wanted to do was to protect Christ from suffering and spoke from his heart. Yet, Jesus rebuked him. Peter's intentions were genuinely focused on Jesus. Peter had much to learn about thinking as God does.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Christians don't do this\"\n.\nEmperor Karl (Charlemagne) in 782 had 4500 Saxons, unwilling to convert to Christianity, beheaded.\n.\nBattle of Belgrad 1456: 80,000 Turks slaughtered.\n.\nCrusades; Jerusalem conquered 7/15/1099 more than 60,000 victims (jewish, muslim, men, women, children). [WW37-40], Battle of Askalon, 8/12/1099. 200,000 heathens slaughtered \"in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ\". [WW45]\n.\nThe list is longer than my arm!\n.\nHarry 904 states, Destroying evil is actually \"showing love\" to ones enemy as well as \"your neighbor\".\n.\nWhich is evil, the ones being killed or those doing the killing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is what we state in the Creed our belief about God, or is it Jesus' belief about God?\n\nIs the Book of Revelation ALL that we can possibly know about God and the end times?\n\nIs John the Apostle the composer of the Book of Revelation or is it John of Patmos, who is another person?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have actually seen communicants smear the blood of Christ on their sensory organs as described by Saint Cyril and hold to a 12 hour fast? To me it seems that communion in the hand was chosen and later justified by cherry picking one single quotation out of context. \n\nSt.Leo was a contemporary of St. Cyril how was his promotion of communion on the tongue and forbidding laity to touch the host a historical aberration.\n\nOr what about Saint Eutichiano who also forbade the laity of ever touching the host? He pre-dated Saint Cyril by 100 years.\n\nIs it not more reasonable to conclude that the rites of Rome and Jerusalem were different, and that the 5 chapters of the mystagogal catechesis was meant for a different audience than the 18 other lectures, some scholars believe it was meant for the newly ordained?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well that's kind of the point of the designation of sainthood. And the point of the Catholic Church as a whole. It sounds absurd, St. Paul told us as much himself. But I believe it anyhow. \n\n\"The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.\" 1 Corinthians 1:18", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing in this article shows evidence of Ambassador Hackett conveying to the Obama Administration the Vatican's interest in rights and respect due unborn childen or natural law. If some initiative on behalf of the unborn occurred , Father Reese does not report it. In his years as head of Catholic Relief Services, Ken Hackett was relentless in appeals for donations to CRS. Diplomatic exchanges between the US Administration and the Vatican should be a two way dialogue on a broad range of moral issues. Ambassador Hackett's tenure seems characterized by a lot of \"pick and choose cafeteria diplomacy\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John, I have been over this with you on numerous occasions yet you have singularly failed to show where Jesus Christ in His day condemned slavery. Until you can explain why Our Lord tolerated slavery and St John Paul II condemned it, I will ignore your ceaseless repetitions of you opinion on this issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That headline reads so oddly. The fact that one of the wounded is Catholic? It would seem incidental to the story and NCR's decision to cover the story and CNA's decision to produce the report. It reads like a declaration of provincialism. \"One of us\" injured....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not a bad reflection except for the confusion & heresy in the middle.\n\nHe says: \"...Jesus is convinced God [[sic: Jesus is God!!]] is present right here and now in everything we do, every person we encounter, every situation we face. We don\u2019t have to go to church, say another rosary, attend another Bible study, or even think holy, pious thoughts. We can\u2019t do anything to make him/her present. Our task is simply to surface, recognize and, like Jesus and Matthew, proclaim that presence. The question is, 'How does one surface and recognize God\u2019s presence?'\"\n\nA point that would clear up the author's confusion is to acknowledge that Our Lord isn't really present everywhere. No, sadly, He's not. He's not present in our mind sometimes, unless we act to bring Him into our thoughts.\n\nWe often \"go to Church\" (for an afternoon visit) to bring Him more into our mind. Or, we use some other 'act'/\"pray\" to bring Him into or mind: a rosary, aspirations, bless ourselves. The will acts! He enters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many here have taken their comments from Trump's playbook: each time Trump has been accused of something, he immediately diverts it to: \"But look at Hillary and all her crimes.\"\n\nIt's the same as children, when accused of something by a parent, replies: \n\"But look at what my sister (or brother) has done that is so much worse.\" Never facing the accusation or even admitting it, but tossing bombs on the other person. Might as well return to the common Christian defense: \"But it wasn't me, the devil made me do it.\" No personal responsibility for one's actions at all.\nTypical juvenile behavior. Responsible adults will take responsibility for their own behaviors and let others do the same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are actually witness to an historic cultural confrontation and clash taking place in the USA. On one side we have the fulsome expression of the post-Nietzsche ethic of narcissistic, larcenous greed which, ironically, often espouses an ersatz, evangelical religious creed as cover. On the other we have the fading framework of Judeo-Christian values which has been the foundation of most of our institutions for the past few centuries.\n\nAs one example of that, we have in Canada a government structure in the Westminster Parliamentary mode that, as a condition of operating properly, depends on the \"honour\" of its members. Except \"honour\" has long since vanished from the scene, leaving us with a sort of \"winner takes all the spoils\" autocracy.\n\nUltimately, this must inevitably degenerate into an \"everyone for themselves\" ethic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "W Abbott,\n\n(Part 2)\nIt is one thing to celebrate how the Holy Spirit has led you in the past and quite another to be celebrating how He is leading and using you now. The Holy Spirit gives gifts to all who believe to equip them for specific ministries. Just as there are many parts in the human body, there should be many different gifts and a ministries in the church. I am amazed by how He coordinates that mix of ministries to work in harmony and make them effective at drawing people into saving relationships with God. So I have several questions for you:\n\n1. Have you discovered the particular ministry God wants you doing?\n2. Are you doing it?\n3. Are you seeing the power of God guiding and empowering you in it?\n4. Is the church being made stronger and growing as a result of your ministry?\n\nMy answer to all four question is a resounding YES! If your answers are affirmative, I would love to celebrate with you about how God is leading.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In terms of what was taught to the faithful, little changed. Yes, there were grand arguments on Christology and fights and schisms based on fine points of meaning, but the teachings found in the Gospels and what was communicated to the Church went along with little, if any, change. \nThat's why I used \"teaching\" v. \"theology\". \nEven Canon of the mass had no significant change, in the West, for the 700 years prior to Trent that we can trace (the Boniface Canon, for instance). The Tridentine removal of various forms of Western liturgies was much more about standardizing (thanks to the Franciscans) than ridding the West of something truly aberrant.\nI stipulate to the Advocate, but not on the subject of wholesale change. Something truly dogmatic (not merely what one believes is dogma) cannot change if it is guided by an unchanging God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Receiving Communion in the hand is no longer simply the result of an indult. It is a canonical option that is the choice of the communicant, not the minister. I hope mature Catholics in Madison will continue to reverently receive communion in the hand. I also hope that a higher authority in the church will admonish the bishop for calling this practice into question. He never has anyone place communion on his tongue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It took 4.6 billion years for the earth to become hospitable for life. When humanity finally evolved to the point when they could be called 'homo sapiens'---there were more than just a single couple living. There was NEVER a time when there was a perfect garden paradise, or talking animals. \n\nGod so loved the world, that he wanted to become PART of this world and the humanity that people it. That is why Jesus came in time, \"to pitch his tent among us.\" We had developed enough to understand that we can cooperate with God---to bring about 'God's will and God's kingdom of peace, love and blessing to all of creation---to our brothers and sisters. Jesus shared in our human nature, which God created as good. Jesus brought blessing to us from his Incarnation. There was NO ORIGINAL SIN. God loves us so much that God \"became man and dwelt among us.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed, no different than taking Benedict Arnold's word as a mouthpiece for the Continental Congress.\n\n{I can just see it coming, defenses made for both pro-Abortion \"Catholics\" and for Arnold...}", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "skyofblue,\n\n1) The native reserves reside in Montreal which you depicted as a monoculture. It never was; 2) yes, a common culture can extend far deeper than laws, institutions, and national documents. My point was that it simply does not extend any further across Canada which has always been diverse society with diverse values and beliefs; 3) Not even Judaeo-Christians agree on gender relations in Canada and shared cultural references can be quite sparse between Greeks, Russians, Ukrainians, Italians, Scots, and the French. My wife was born in the Philippines and she laughs at the same jokes as me, and agrees on most cultural issues, does that make her culture the same as mine? Here's my challenge, Skyofblue, list 10 distinctly Canadian cultural aspects that define what is a Canadian that are only shared by Judeo-Christians and not other unassimilated cultures across Canada without listing laws, institutions, or national documents. Best of luck. lol", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yep, no doubt Burke considers himself to be a player and hoping to outlive his nemesis, but he acts more like a willing kamikaze pilot if all else fails. It is an explosive gamble that has potential to take a lot of his ardent followers down with him. Typically the folks with large egos view themselves as immortal, and above life's twists and turns that only apply to other mere mortals. If our Lord wants Pope Francis to have a long and healthy life as pope, well, Ray Burke is out of luck. He can't fight (or explode) the Holy Spirit :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspect he wanted to tell us about the \"Lepanto Institute\" and its egregious harm. It also revealed, to naive me, the \"spiritual\" and \"mentality\" roots of some of our more vitriolic and un-Chhristlike participants. Worked for me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a mortal sin for a Catholic to actively participate in a non Catholic \"service'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You would likely be most interested to learn that Pope St. John XXIII once remarked of the Communists of his day, to the French journalist Henri Fesquet -- \"Truly they [the communists] are the enemies of the Church. But the Church has no enemies.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The gospels portray Jesus as encountering the Syro-Phoenician woman and the woman at the well of Samaria In both cases he is portrayed as showing discrimination.\n\nWe should open our homes and hearts to others because it's consistent with our Christian and American values, and stop trying to remake Jesus in our image.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He made us free. I like it that way. The divine rehabilitation work was Christ, who experienced the apartness from God endemic to the human condition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe the Church should embrace the mystical body of Christ, not leave most of it at the door.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please note that the reporter works for Catholic News Service (not known as a \"progressive\" Catholic website), not for NCR.\n\nIt is interesting - and revealing - that you seem to think it better to simply ignore the story, rather than to report it.\n\nWhy is that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, there are few Catholics of old who had the opportunity to learn about Vatican II, and also few today who even know about Vatican II as the great gift of God it has been to the Church in the past 50 years! https://ritebeyondrome.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Speaking from Ireland I can tell you leaving the EU is pretty far from our minds, we know where our bread is buttered. Our agricultural sector is going to have to pivot away from the UK, fortunatley food and drink demand is exploding globally and we should be able to do this in time, albeit with some short term pain. Dublin is already reaping the rewards of Brexit, a simple search of news sites will show that. \n\nAs for Northern Ireland and reunification, I think most people view it as an aspiration, but if you were to ask people do we really want to police the place and throw money at it like the British do and most people are wary at least. \n\nThere seems to be some delusion that EU immigration will be replaced by Commonwealth countries, it is partly right, just it will be coming from the wrong commonwealth countries. instead of europeans from christian, liberal backgrounds largely sharing the same values. \n\nIreland will do just fine in the EU", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/09/09/relatively-few-u-s-catholics-skipped-annulment-because-of-cost-or-complications/\"\n\nAnd people who have attempted the process after the #falsemercy Annulment \"reforms\" feel that it is just as bureacratic, burdensome, expensive, and time-consuming as before. I've heard complaints in the past year. \n\n\"B. It is the Church\u2019s job to provide with the ordinary means to salvation. Endorsing error is not providing comfort or consolation.\"\n\nIt is the Church's job to be an open and merciful mother, not to place additional hardships on people that make them hate God.\n\n\"C. Then don\u2019t go to a priest. Do whatever you want.\"\n\nHow are you going to get your kid baptized then? How about if you just want to attend Mass, register with the parish, and be left alone? It is called MYOB. People should try it rather than being Mrs. Kravitzes. And this includes priests. Unless the person asks, his/her marriage is not the priest's business.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The inability or unwillingness to make necessary and useful distinction turns this topic into an emotionally charged, divisive argument that political forces love to exploit on all sides. \n\n\"Refugee\" is not the same as \"migrant.\" These different words need clarification and a consistent use. \n\nIf there is a law, it should apply to all equally. Why are those living south of the US border treated differently from those who have to cross an ocean, and only after years of waiting (and in most cases never) can migrate to the US? \n\nA religious ideal for providing hospitality for an alien is categorically different from the law that regulates how this hospitality is to be exercised, after taking into account the rights and responsibilities of all.\n\nCatholic social teaching requires the same effort to address the root-causes of a social problem as to satisfy the present immediate need. \n\nNone of these distinct issues have been addressed in this article. As such it is wanting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anti-Semitic comments have never come from the SSPX although some comments did come from an SSPX clergy from whom shortly thereafter the SSPX disassociated themselves. \n\nIn regards to the founder of the SSPX, Archbishop Lefebvre may have been excommunicated but unjustly so, which is why Pope Benedict lifted all excommunications on SSPX bishops during his papacy. All SSPX priests, while not having jurisdiction in an archdiocese, are validly ordained Catholic priests and their Masses offered therefore also valid. Rome and the SSPX have been in talks for a number of years now as they hopefully move ever closer to fully reconciling. Pope Francis himself has made strong gestures recently in helping to move talks forward ... there seems to be no real story here except about a land acquisition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pence, Ryan, McConnell, King and dozens of other leading Republicans prance about their country touting their Christianity and family values. But when it comes to putting words into actions ........ ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Theology is not about angels dancing in pinheads; and theology has always been and remains the foundation of teaching. What the Church taught through the ages has changed, developed, evolved as much as and in tandem with theology. \n\nIt is not true that the Trinity and Natures of Christ are found unambiguously in the NT (although they can be read back into the NT, as they have since the early Councils). Theology and teaching on Who God is, and Who Christ is, evolved in tandem. \n\nIt is not true that our faith seen through the eyes of Aristotelian philosophy of the Thomists is my identical with our faith seen by the Fathers of the Church through the eyes of Platonism (actually, neo-Platonism). The Eucharist is superb example. Both Platonist eyes and Aristotelian eyes proclaim the \"real\" presence, but the meaning of REALITY assumed by those verbally identical proclamations hide a chasm of difference. \n\nI'm glad we concur on the Advocate; but her role does not mean simplistic stability.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As always Sheema an excellent piece. The world is a better place with you in it. Know Thyself is one of the greatest maxims out there and you always appear to be doing just that. \n\nLet's all recall racism and intolerance has been here since day one with humankind. In Canada, the French, the Catholic, the Irish were held in low regard for decades and decades, after that the Italians, the eastern Europeans were looked down upon, black people came next, Jewish people (esp Montreal); after many years they became a part of the national fabric (despite what BLM says), I am forgetting some I know but things take time, and immigration should be made slow to reflect this. And almost most importantly all our children should attend the same schools. There should be no religious based schools during the week and that schooling should be kept for the evening and weekends. Only way we will integrate is through our children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Despite 214's : \"no, certainly not\", the answer is YES. \n\nChristian intervenors were on the original list, and also among the extra groups allowed in yesterday's revised decision. \n\nSee the full list of additions in my comment above.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe the letter should be sent to all members of Congress and the White House and the presumed new Vatican ambassador.This is not just a religious concern this is and has been a moral issue of humanity and what should be a time of human ascendency is sadly stuck in immoral treatment and concern for those not rich,not blessed by a god of prosperity.\nThink of what happened while Moses was talking to Yahweh- mass amnesia of hope and wallowing in fear and thus worship of a gold calf . Loss of the ability to have for love of one another - to see each human as a carrier and symbol of God and in the RC tradition Jesus.Each human not those at high class charity events or at a large fancy cathedral. The Jesus and Mary of the streets, the prisons,the detention centers, the hospitals and nursing homes.\nWe have been given many role models. So many have turned away, blinded their eyes, put clay in their ears. Heaven weeps.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, no GDB, little to young or maybe old for that. My and my family are actually Bible believing Christians, have great groups of moral friends and family, don't participate in a lot of partying but can certainly share a good glass of wine or craft beer (bunch of Italians in the group). :) My kids as are my nieces and nephews pretty good kids, magnet schools, Christian universities, mission trips within and outside of the US, so don't worry too much or feel sorry for them, they are fine and make their own decisions some smart some not so but we all do that and hopefully learn and grow from it. As to Cannabis, it has too many values medically, and should fit in a category with your wines, beer, cigarettes, and other legal substances and should be taxed and those moneys benefit states, schools, health institutions, educational systems, and whatever else the state wants to put them to. Rake it in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yup. I have Amish and British Ancestors from before the Revolution, and Ancestors on the Northern side of the Civil war. People in my family history were imprisoned or executed during the Christian Insanity at Salem. What started out as a literally Revolutionary Society dedicated to separation of Church and State is now a very Reactionary Society serving the 1%. Trump is a Prime Example of that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The RC (Republican Catholic) Church with its Opus Dei and KofC in action with its empowered Hierarchy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "$150 Billions only? Perhaps even more.\n\nOn the downside it could plummet local birth rate even further. Corporate Capitalism (CC) does not like marriages, family, children - bad for the bottom line.\n\nIn the pursuit of money the CC West is handing over the future to the immigrants with different values. A peep into the kindergarten shows the race imbalance. \n\nSaid Jesus - the meek shall inherit the earth. The below replenishment Caucasians are already fleeing the cities. And even in the countryside the bulk of health care workers today are those with oily skin and names like mine. The writing is on the wall.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I never met Dorothy Day, but did try to see her in New York when I was a student. I do know a family whose friends and relatives were heavily involved in Catholic Worker ministry in New York. They say Dorothy Day \"protested as much on her knees as on her feet.\" My post attempted to convey that connection between prayer and listening; she also didn't believe in false dualisms -- us against them, which dualisms capture the emotions by denying rational distinctions and gradations (in a person's growth and social awareness). She was a very holy woman, but was also as smart as she was holy, which gave her so much rational balance and charity in her zeal and quest for justice.\n\nAnyway, I wish you the best in your quest for justice. I am sure she would walk beside you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is Reagan all over again, without the capable handlers or the electoral experience. Could this have all been an act? It is possible, but not likely. Is he mentally ill or just amoral? We will see. If the latter, we may have Pence using the 25th Amendment disability in office provisions as a safety valve.\n\nTrumps supporters know about and don't care about the irregularities in the campaign or in Trump's character. He is their savior - from what we are not sure since most of the programs they decry often benefit them directly. Authoritarians cultivate their victims that way.\n\nWhat the Catholic left should have done was to double down on the child tax credit and to explain why abortion is not going anywhere in the Supreme Court - nor should it. Pluralism does not get you there and calling out the pro-lifers as another scam was the essential act that no one took (because it makes it harder to gin up NARAL - who would go for HRC anyway).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Church did its job and taught its parishioners and their children appropriately, there would be no need for politicking from the pulpit, the Catholic issues would be clear. In my church, the priest mentions abortion once a year when a pro-life speaker is scheduled. Church teaching on what marriage is and homosexuality? Never directly mentioned, deferring to talking about being nice over addressing clearly what the Church teaches and why.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seeking for equality with God is certainly Satanic.\n\nGalatians 3:28 is talking about the Body of Christ. Seeking for equality within the Body of Christ is not the same as seeking for equality with the Head of the Body who is Christ Himself.\n\nThere are other other NT passages that bear upon this topic, including Philippians 2:1-11 and James 4:1-8.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: Asheville, N.C. woman priest ordained\n\n\"Eltzroth said, she now plans to to start a Catholic worship community in the Asheville area.\"\n\nLucky Asheville. \n\nWhat JPII wrote about women priests may be according to Tradition, but it is not infallible, no matter how much BXVI tried to make it so. JPII's words are only the most recent; not some final revealed \"truth\" but an interpretation that made sense in its time. \n\nThat is no longer true. Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene as the Risen Lord. That is more than enough indication of His intention with respect to men and women being the bearers of the Good News and empowered to lead communities in living out their faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mokantx: I think you are exactly right. In some matters, the Church should consider modeling itself like a publically traded corporation with an elected board of directors who have some input regarding day to day operations and the authority to hold management accountable for their decisions. It would be a much stronger and engaging Church if the hierarchy would recognize that the laity are stockholders in the organization who are entitled to representation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem for the church today remains what it's always been: is the institutional church needed for one to follow Jesus? Community is important as a means to support each other, but is it necessary for somebody we don't know to fly in from out of town and define what our community must be? How much of what we see in the institutional church has been set up to support our individual efforts to follow Jesus, versus to support and sustain an almost cultic caste of men?\n\nWe can ask these kinds of questions rhetorically, but we can also ask them sincerely, and search for answers n our hearts.\n\nThe institutional church is in trouble. Because the bishops have convinced themselves that they cannot change an inferred negative they see in the life of Jesus, they now must face a reality wherein they could find themselves thinking Jesus either erred, OR that he will send some kind of deux ex machina to fix the problem. That can't be comfortable for them...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're doing good work! Understanding Catholic marriage laws and how they mesh with civil laws is a daunting task and in many respects does not produce clarity, if only because it can't! But whatever you can pick up by studying the history of marriage, particularly in canon law, will, I believe, give your collective efforts a big boost! It's not easy, but I'd predict that you will learn a lot while you're having lots of fun! The two CLSA commentaries on the 1983 Code of Canon Law are useful resources, if not indispensable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican II council teachings say that _______ is the \"source and summit\" of the Christian life.\n\nFill in the blank, then tell me what place the \"ancient rituals\" have in the Church. But it takes a total lack of understanding to oppose charity and liturgy, so maybe you should think it over a few times first.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ms Ann must not be aware of that pesky little document called the US Constitution which does not reference the Bible", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey, wow...you mean highly educated, skilled, English-speaking \"can-do\" Christian (or at least, agnostic) white, Americans can't just drive across the border and take up residency? You mean they are strenuously \"vetted\"?\n\nPlease, someone tell Ms Leitch, the Conservative concerned with maintaining Canadian \"values\" that she doesn't need to worry much any more. Immigration policies appear pretty stringent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Sr. Sheila Kinsey of the Wheaton Franciscans said her religious order has long considered the \"root causes of violence\" in society and that it became necessary to end all investments in fossil fuels. \"\n\nGod Bless these good Catholics. This country just fought a multi-trillion $ war to control Iraqi oil fields. The quicker we end our dependence on fossil fuels the better it will be for everyone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not impressed with the Cardinal. Not Christ like one little bit. Retirement beckons. Early if necessary he is not doing his job Doesn't he care about children. Obviously not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lot's of faux Christians decrying the humanitarian treatment of Khadr here. Yet these same trolls, especially ones from the West claiming to be patriots, would come on this site and criticize China for its alleged mistreatment of its citizens.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It can't be all bad when a seminarian is saying, \"How can we go out and get people to fall in love with Christ?\" \n\nBy standing up for your sisters whose vocation is still in chains. Use your voices to demand justice for all in our church and demand a complete end to all forms of sexist hatred immediately. \n\nNo one is going to believe you love Christ while you support the abuse of the human dignity of all of your sisters called to your same vocation. Conversion must begin at home before it can take place outside.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Charlie Curran will be back... mark my words. He's a good Catholic and will be brought back to good graces just like others who were banished... padre pio, sr Faustina, etc... who were sent aware and the resuscitated", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Astonishingly, five out of six reactors up to now, it seems don't think that the pope should support the Catholic Faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If one offers a Degree in Wiccan Studies at a Catholic Institution, something is wrong with the College claiming to be Catholic. Same goes for YOGA or any other practice that is forbidden by Catholic teachings. Are they going to offer a PH.D. course in Planned Parenthood next?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "i just posted the lines form 'Onward Christian Soldier' and it was deemed below threshold. \n\n\nwow\n\nspeaks volumes doesn't it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Has any read Love In the Ruins by Walker Percy? I wonder if the USA isn\u2019t heading toward a society like he described. Especially the Church in America... a hyper American Catholic Church, extremely conservative, with Americanism almost an article of the creed, where the church has broken Union with the Roman Pope and returns to the old Latin Mass. where those remaining in union with Rome are a tiny remnant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sure that Pastor Ogden is making a positive difference in the Walla Walla University Church. Perhaps I'm reading into the title of her comments, \"Hope Never Dies\" more than she intended. But, in the end, what exactly do we need to \"Hope\" for? Her list is an excellent set of suggestions. The last part of the last one is very interesting: \"Allow the people of your church to meet Christ before they meet criticism and strict rules. Humility will go much farther for the kingdom than any \u2018club rules\u2019.\" This is all to the good. But is it realistic in the \"typical\" Adventist Church to expect that type of environment to flourish? Pastor Ogden makes sure that it exists at the Walla Walla University Church. I know that it exists at the La Sierra University Church, and at the Loma Linda University Church. But when students go back to their home churches, what do they typically find? What does the data tell us?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church most certainly does not regard those things you mention as 'non-essentials'. That is what distinguishes it from Protestant denominations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read the US Constitution...it does not specifically call for the separation of church and state. The organization of a church is a legal incorporated entity under US law, given tax breaks for their nonprofit activities. They cannot use their resources to influence, promote, and encourage/influence the laws of the land. Specifically, discriminate against any citizen of America. Their membership, as individual citizens, can! The bible teaches: \"...leave to Caesar, what is Caesar's.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church has budged on the indissolubility of marriage. It now says according to Amoris Laetitia that two people living in an adulterous relationship which is gravely sinful can be full members of the Church, fully integrated into the life of the Church which includes reception of the Sacraments. It won't be long, if it isn't happening already before the divorced and remarried will be allowed a second Church wedding on the grounds that it is being pastoral to grant this.\nThe Church cannot have two teachings, one official and the other unofficial which contradicts the official stance.\nScience cannot reveal what is moral or immoral. The Church teaches that sex outside of marriage is gravely sinful therefore homosexual activity is always gravely sinful as the Church also teaches that a marriage can only take place between a man and a woman. Science has nothing whatsoever to say on these issues. I'm not sure what you mean by the \"expansion of the circle of sympathy\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Certainly both can be wrong, but obviously only one demonstrates the kind of strong masculine leadership this country, and the church for that matter, so desperately needs. No doubt this recognition of the need for a strong man at the top, brooking no dissent, vanquishing all opponents, and expecting his followers to obey is what drives our bishops to support, implicitly or explicitly, the only candidate that exhibits these qualities, the only candidate who reflects Jesus and the values of the church as expounded so beautifully by so many bishops over the years of brutal oppression by the current administration.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No they don\u2019t. Baptism of children follows inline with the state of birth which is necessary for the Salvation of the Soul wherefore the fall took place. Thus, which we know that Christ was a male babe born through a woman, \u201cborn under the law.\u201d From which a divine hotspring of a miracle through the Announcement of an Angel, Gabriel. Now, if you dispute, science does not/cannot. Two indicators (science wise the miracle virgin birth): A.) The Big Bang Theory shows even with miniscule particles expanded into the Universe and all things created, which still holds place in the account of Genesis. B.) We know that from hertz/frequency ranges in bandwidth with no visible characteristic can be heard and scene through receptive instruments. You say nature cannot do this process without man? Sure, the Angel provided by the Creator, did. Thus, science cannot dispute the things she employs as well. Which means the state of the Priesthood follows inline with the state of one's birth/origin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Huff post 2015\n\"But churches can\u2019t be solely responsible for feeding poor women, children, seniors and disabled people. We also need strong government programs. In fact, all of the food churches and charities provide to hungry and poor people in the United States amounts to only about 6 percent of what the federal government spends on programs such as SNAP and school meals for students.\n\nThe Hartford Institute for Religion and Research estimates there are 335,000 religious congregations in the United States. If the House\u2019s proposals to cut SNAP by $133.5 billion and $36 billion are enacted, each congregation will have to spend about $50,000 more annually to feed those who would see a reduction or loss of benefits. Some congressional leaders are essentially saying that every church in America \u2014 big or tiny \u2014 needs to come up with an extra $50,000 to feed people every year for the next 10 years to make up for these cuts.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I give talks to parishes in our diocese on this topic (how to sanctify death and illness), and countless Catholics have come up to me (after I explain how we are called to sanctify even death and illness, and how to do it) and they say \"I've been a Catholic for 20-30-40-50 years, and this teaching you've given us is some of the most helpful material I've ever been given\". \n\nThe \"load\" is not unbearable, at all. It may seem unbearable, but it's only our lack of humility that makes it seem so. \n\nWhen we move pride aside, there's more room for intimate union with God.\n\nIn fact, the purpose of death and illness is to bring us closer to God, and everyone around us!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin - perhaps, but I doubt the interview gained DJT even a single vote that he didn't already have. I would tend to think that the EWTN audience is composed almost entirely of older Catholics of a very (if not extremely) conservative religious and political bent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Richard R. Gaillardetz, for this grounding of the actions Pope Francis has taken back into Vatican II and away from the politics of personalities that seems to be overemphasized in so much news these days. \n\n\"Vatican II taught that the bishops shared with the pope 'supreme and full authority' in pastoral service of the universal church.\" The current crop of U.S. bishops makes me uncomfortable with them actually acting as a collegial body and with pastoral service. Some of them appear to be more in the line of mafia enforcers than shepherds. We can only hope Francis can make a difference in the long run by 1) encouraging bishops who may have been too fearful to really be shepherds under the axe wielded by JPII and BXVI and 2) appointing bishops who are less concerned with enforcing rules and more concerned with walking in faith with people at all stages of their faith development.\n\nThe Church has taken 50 years to really begin to implement Vat II structurally. Far to go.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Mass commemorates the Last Supper when Jesus took the cup and said to drink his blood...not the crucifixion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cThe gate is narrow that leads to life\u201d, The Holy Spirit prompts us to serve the Truth if these prompts are not acted upon there will be no light above the straight pathway of spiritual growth causing us to wander onto the broad highway of spiritual destruction (Relativism).\n\nYou have been gracious enough to read my article and you say \u201cI agree with your conclusion that divorced and married who humbly approach the Eucharist should not be denied communion\u201d given that the church has taken indissolubility as God's law. Is not what I am advocating in my article a way forward for the Church to ensure spiritual growth for all her children no matter in what state, place or time she encounters them at the crossroads (difficulties) of life? \nYour response to this question would be most appreciated.\n\nContinued 2", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ok... I hear you. But! The presidential campaign is only one item on your ballot. No you won't be able to go in a pop one button and be done. You will have to move through the whole ballot and choose those you can vote for. I have been where you are. I remember weeping in the polling booth.But not for the reasons you describe.\nI saw that I had lived to see every oppressed minority make it on to a presidential ballot. An African American - A Woman - A Catholic - A POW/Veteran.... I felt like a Mom asked to choose between her children as to which ones she loved best. I voted the rest of the ballot, contest by contest. \nStaying home and not voting really isn't an option because it dishonors all those who gave so much that I may vote. Even if you only vote for one contest on your entire ballot.... you can do that! I've been pained by the voting against rather than the voting for style of voting. So if there is only 1 vote for situation I can find -- then that's the only contest I vote in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bad guy in the movies acts BETTER than this DB the Republicans elected out of ... spite for fellow USA citizens?!\n\nThey claim to be Patriots. And Christians ... BIGLEY WRRRROOOOONNNNGGGG!!!!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I agree. I think most rational people have grown tired of Hobson twisting and distorting any idea that is contrary to his opinion. He seems to need to \"distort it\" to then \"demean it\".\n\nTo say that pain is not evil is not to say that it is good and of itself.\n\nPain is a natural reality and therefore it needs to be sanctified in some way.\n\nThis is not to say that one most seek pain or tell others to seek it.\n\nInstead it is, rationally, to look at the wide middle ground of pain, and to say \"what can be done with this pain, other than to immediately douse it with some form of pill\".\n\nCan I not find a deeper intimacy with Jesus Christ even in my little pains? Can I not \"give Him\" a different part of me today, in this case my pain, which is part of me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Economic refugees or economic migrants exist all over the world and there are many trying to get by in Mexico.\n\nWe became friends with a family while on a holiday there a few years ago. The couple had a baby and another coming. The town was full of wealthy tourists living in \"time shares\" and enjoying the beaches and warmth. The father in this family worked from dawn to dusk, literally, selling tickets to time-share gatherings, He had to sell so many a day in order to keep the 1-room windowless place they called home. He worked at a restaurant and bar in the evening and received no pay at all, just the tips he was given. He was grateful for this \"job\". \n\nThe Catholic Church that my daughter and I attended on Sunday passed around a tupperware dish....there were 2 - $1.00 bills put there by tourists and the church was packed. I suppose that's why tourists prefer \"all-inclusives\"--no need to face reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reading this article and the ensuing (and largely predictable) commentary, I am struck yet again by how many \"rules-driven\" (aka \"legalistic\") people fail to grasp the consequences of Goedel's Incompleteness Theorem. It is impossible to formulate a set of logical propositions which are both complete and consistent. If you want consistency, you must sacrifice completeness. All lawmakers and law-enforcers need to understand this limitation of human logic. \n\nJesus Christ repeatedly pointed his questioners back to the underlying principles, rather than allowing Himself to be trapped in the minutiae of interpretations that sensibly will vary from case to case.\n\nDr Patterson has shown us one serious contradiction in GC Working Policy. There are probably others. In these cases the wisest course is to remove the contradiction, and permit lower-level entities to determine the appropriate action on a case-by-case basis.\n\nHas God tasked us to resolve all contradictions in this life?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Monica, insightful as usual. Some folks say that without access to priests salvation is impossible, since only priests have access to God and can get folks to heaven. IMHO this is bizarre to say the least. I know a lot of folks who are much closer to Christ and more Christ-like than I am. If access to priests is such a requirement, then a lot of good folks don't have a chance. This does not seem much like the Jesus of the gospels.\n\nPope Francis has spoken out against clericalism, and he said sometimes it is the people themselves, not just priests, who will not let go of it. While we might need some form of priests, in the sense of leading in prayer, etc, we do not need the clerical caste. Many small groups choose their prayer leaders themselves in different ways, and it seems to work well. \n\nIMHO the basic question is what does it mean for me/us in my/our particular circumstances to be a disciple of Christ. This is a good question always, but especially these days.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Their censures raise issues about whether they were reputable Catholic scholars.\n\nSince heterodox views on the biblical revelation that God made them, Man and Woman, underlie much of the discord in the Church and have already wreaked havoc in the Protestant churches, even the Holy Father has noted them as a problem.\n\nWhat Raymond Cardinal Burke espouses is that the biblical revelation means what it says, consistent with Scripture and Tradition, and trying to call a teaching a rule is the path to chaos.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Margaret Sanger and her views are far too complex to receive a shorthand treatment here or anywhere else. While I couldn't care less whether there are Catholic Girl Scouts, I very much care that women in general, and Catholic women in particular, have access to contraception and reproductive health care without interference from the church or ideas imposed on them by people who have no stake in the issue. \nIn this case, the girls excluded from Girl Scouts will now grow up alienated from their church and wondering whether their bishops have anything more than a skewed view of sexuality to offer. Instead of addressing this issue with adults who could challenge his views, the bishops picks on vulnerable young girls, which is going to yield the same results for the church as eugenics did for society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It isn't as easy as you seem to think it is. Part of the problem is the continuing anger and disillusionment that has come out of the sex abuse scandal - both priests and bishops have been knocked far, far off their pedestals. Part of the problem is an attitude of treating adults as children - grown up couples are not supposed to make their own decisions about birth control; a woman in a dangerous pregnancy is not supposed to make a choice for an abortion if her own life is threatened, loving LGBT people are not supposed to have the fulfillment of a married life. Women have been and continue to be barred from inclusion in major discussions and decision making on fundamental issues, including discussions of doctrine - a synod of marriage was just completed with no women included in the actual decision making.\n\n Jesus needs to live in the heart. Many do not find Him in the \"Sacrifice of the Mass\" or believe only a priest can bring the \"real presence\" to worship. It isn't laziness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You speak bunkum ... Pope Francis agreed to no such thing, nor with any such person. Fr James Alison gives us some real insight into Pope Francis' strategy ... http://www.thetablet.co.uk/features/2/7164/love-in-a-changing-climate", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "from above--\n...ends Communism and totally kills off Socialism then and only then will this endless hatred start to end. When the CC finally kills off the government and rules America is when it will pronounce the end to it's hatred toward the rest of us the 270 million of us. \nThe cure is to form two separate nations and two separate Catholic Church's. We who follow Christ's teachings and the laws of God. And they whoi follow the religion of GOP-ism. Then they can hate, kill and wage war. While we ignore THEM!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I like the message in this one.\n\nAnd I like Brother Leo, but some things about his characterization bother me. I've spent a good amount of time in monasteries, and monks are VERY knowledgeable. He's a tonsured friar, but he seems to know NOTHING. \"Can I wear a cross?\" Of COURSE you can wear a cross - you're a friar! Who ever heard of a friar wondering if it's okay to wear a cross? You don't know unless you ask the Pope?\n\nAnd why would Francis tell him not to play with his rope belt? (which he would almost certainly call a \"cincture,\" not a \"rope belt\" but that may be for the sake of the reader. )", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously you didn't read: Although he apparently had two convictions for driving under the influence, the last one occurred 14 years ago, and \u201ceven the government conceded during the immigration proceedings that there was no question as to Magana Ortiz\u2019s good moral character,\u201d Reinhardt said.\n\nBut hang him high as he is Mexican and we need to build a 50 foot wall to keep them out. Its good that you are not a Christian. \n\nI think we should probably build a 50 ft wall around the big island as another line of defense against them. What do you think Dragon?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Believe me that most Catholics reject Burke's extremit form of Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, I'm sure NCR would never run an article where we told Presbyterians how to manage their affairs. But the other way around is fair game for them. I'm sick of being told my Catholic traditions are no good and that I need to ditch them, and frankly stuff like this makes me want to hold on to them even more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Before March, 2013, during the thirty five years or so, the papacy and the Vatican curia had slipped into a state of selective amnesia. To assist the process, a demand for a total, unilateral, passive and blind obedience to the Wojtyla-Ratzinger papacies was intensified. The Vatican spin doctors cosmeticized this and so the expected attitude of groveling had to undergo an upgrade to Christ. This served as another example of coded ecclesiastical dialect for loyalty to the pope and [HIS] personal Magisterium. Most of the JP II 'new ecclesial communities' had defined their existence along those lines. They seemed incapable of distinguishing between the person of JP II-Benedict and Jesus Christ. They proclaimed loyalty to the pope and his magisterium with such cultic overtones that they demonstrate little or no concept of the centrality of the Gospel. Jesus Christ, the Reign of God and the mystery of grace and mercy were all trivialized beyond imagination.\n\nGod bless Pope Francis!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Canadian Constitution allows Catholics in Canada to run separate Catholic schools in Canada if Catholics want to pay for and fund them.\n\nThe Canadian Constitution doesn't say non Catholics have to pay for and fund separate schools for Catholics in Canada.\n\nSo why should non Catholics have to fund separate schools for Catholics in Canada?\n\nMaybe people should look into that.\n\nAnd, if Wall will use taxes from non Catholics to help to pay for and fund separate Catholic schools, will Wall use taxes from everyone in Saskatchewan to fund separate schools for people of other and all religions?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With the Catholic Church in Germany flourishing so bountifully, I think the entire world should sit up and listen to its clergy. They are clearly on to something extraordinary!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It should be very helpful for them. Here in the USA they get little attention.\n\nFolks who read about their remarkable charity work will be interested in supporting and/or joining them.\n\nPeople who have been looking for another underdog to support in the fight against the Vatican usurpation of power since the Catholic sisters wrapped up their \"poor me\" campaign will want to help them man the ramparts.\n\nI can't really see any downside for them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Its a lot more obvious meaning than some kind of concern by Jesus for doctrinal purity, since there was no doctrine and that kind of abuse was rampant in the ancient world. He would not have prescribed that kind of penalty for doctrinal disputes, since he was a master at initiating them with the temple priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians didn't hang signs that said what you allege..... Bigots did. Anyone who runs a business should be allowed to exclude those who CHOOSE to fit a category that the owner doesn't wish to serve. Banks don't serve those who carry guns. Many business won't serve inebriated people. This is what choice and rights ate all about. Utopias only exist in people's minds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus Himself was pre-Vatican II. And I used primarily His words, as did LG.\n\nLOL.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course. Yes I heard that at Mass today too.\n\nJesus had a wider definition of poor than you do and the sjwers do.\n\npoor in spirit\npoor in friends\npoor in hope\npoor in faith\npoor in love\npoor in material goods\npoor in health\npoor in generosity\npoor in humility\npoor in use of initiative\npoor in outlook\npoor in the spirit of service to others\npoor in supernatural outlook (seeing events with only human eyes..e.g..seeing suffering only along the temporal plane, etc.).\npoor in self-control\npoor in obedience to God's will\npoor in the spirit of sacrifice\npoor in forgiveness\npoor in self-forgetfulness. \n\nThere are lots of poor all around us, ourselves in many ways, today/now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 2\nHow do you propose we \"educate\" people? Well I certainly don't propose making up committees. Like I said, the Church has failed to do it's job in the last half century. Our bishops need to be outspoken and as vocal as the Left-proclaiming the Truth to those who will listen. Really caring about the salvation of souls and not about their own self-image and popularity with \"the world\". For those going to Mass, then our priests need to put aside the \"feel good\" homilies and start speaking the Truth. Parishes that have reading material in the Church or in a parish store need to make sure that what they have to offer is truly edifying and enlightening regarding spiritual growth, prayer, holiness, morality, Church history and Scripture. Solid teaching and truly Catholic catechesis for children and the RCIA, not the watered-down, materialistic, worldly \"catholicism\" that's been peddled far too long in far too many dioceses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ellamae, you say, \"Now how do you witness to neighbors who seem \"perfect?\" Why should you witness to them or anyone? There are countless ways to live one's life, Adventism is just one. There is no obvious benefit for changing from one to another church. There is no reason to belong to any church.\n\nIt is an egotistical aberration to steer someone to your way of thinking. Adventism isn't special, has no unique attachment to deity, is one of a million belief systems. Enjoying your faith is fine. Thinking it rates above all the rest, not so much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was certainly a victim. He could see your sins and my sins as if they were happening on Calvary. \n\nJesus's suffering wasn't simply mystical....and His Father can still see it underway, with NO diminishment of time. \n\nDon't impose our limits of time/space on God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Simply reacting to abuses by the Moron is not enough to expand democracy. There efforts should start in the workplace. Occupy Capitalism!\n\nRight-wing evangelicals love the certainty of authoritarianism, hence their love of Trump. Luckily, the structure of government restricts Trump from actually doing all he wants on their behalf.\n\nIf you have a personal flag, you may as well see if anyone salutes.\n\nIf PPUSA has polling data that shows that their campaign will bring out the vote, even though the issue is largely settled, then they should go for it. They think it worked in 2012.\n\nHating the poor stops paid training programs, larger child tax credits and a $15 minimum wage. Attitude is important, but so are solutions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Blah blah\" yourself! Benedict is a traditionalist. Or are you trying to claim that those of us who are church historians don't know the difference between a pope who wanted to turn back the clocks of the church to the days of 1910 as opposed to a pope who recognizes the weight of an Ecumenical Council which has more authority than any pope---because of the assemblage of the world bishops. Ratzinger was hired by Cardinal Joseph Frings of Cologne as a theologian [periti] during Vatican II. He didn't work for Karl Rahner.\n\n\nAnd Karl Rahner is one of the most respected theologians of the 20th Century. So take your comments and blow them out of your ear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God speaks as much through you, if not more so, than the Trad hierarchs. It is your responsibility to speak the truth you are given, especially if doctrine is at odds with the truth of yesterday's gospel about the humble heart of Jesus and the ease of his yoke. The current teaching is bad proof texting. It can be changed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\nIt is. Unfortunately, not every moral wrong can be addressed in civil law. There are so many instances of Catholic clergy making horrendous personnel decisions that I think we need to devise a system by which a pastor cannot hire or fire, even to/from volunteer positions, unilaterally. The People of God should have a voice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only good thing about the Indians is they traded Rocky Colavito to the Tigers and Rocky is my all time favorite Tiger ever. Even my mother liked Rocky, as he was a good Catholic boy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since when did the Holy Spirit communicate substantial changes in Church doctrine in obscure footnotes buried in the longest Papal document ever written?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The British Black and Tans were comprised of veterans of Wirld War I. Not all had the personal and family resources to help them cope with life after a horrorific war. Many were causing trouble and the British government thought they had found a solution for them and \"the Catholic \"\nproblem . What came after were layers upon layers of violence that like in so many instances in human history ricocheted for centuries.\nSee the move -\"The Wind that Shakes the Barkey\"\nAlso there never arose a great advocate like Ghanaian out of Ireland. I always wondered though \"The Informer\" may partially explain why.\nNonviolence also needs to raise its head out of the sand and look and acknowledge and act on the root causes of racism and sexism in all areas and all groups of people.\nPax Christi had great low cost quarters for travelers in Europe but where were they when the Confederate statues were put up and in the racism of Roman Carholic parishes?\nNot pleasant to see but until we require 369 vision tru", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Y'know, this manifestation of the incessant \"poor, poor, pitiful Christian\" argument overlooks that if a Muslim were questioned during the course of political appointment, questions concerning Row v. Wade would CERTAINLY be emphasized. The vast majority of us are opposed to abortion-on-demand. This is firmly grounded in Qur'anic doctrine, far more explicitly stated than anything in the bible:\n\n\"And kill not your children in fear of poverty--truly Allah will provide for them and for you; indeed their killing is an horrific sin.\"--Qur'an 17:3\n\n\"And when the girl-baby, buried alive, is asked for what crime she was killed, when the (hidden) records are revealed, and when the sky is stripped away, and when hell is ignited and Paradise brought nigh, a soul will then realize what works it has sent (before).\"--Qur'an 81:8-14\n\nThe childish complaint \"you liberals aren't as mean to Muslims as you are to us\" doesn't really hold water. The \"liberal media\" demonizes us far more than Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These sisters want to do what Jesus would have them do. Good, practical concern for the plight of others. It should happen across the world in all convents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When Jesus said, \"Let your 'yes' be 'yes', and your 'no' be 'no'\", he was speaking of the taking of oaths. See Matthew 5:32-37.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wise clergy will leave well enough alone. Must congregations forget the ideas from the sermon or homily five minutes after the preacher has finished speaking. If clergy lace their sermons with political \"support of or arguments against\" a given politician the congregants will remember only that the clergy spoke against their chosen politician. Those who agree will not react since they are the \"choir\" to whom the preaching is directed. Those who will feel spoken against will drop their contributions either in full or in part since they will no longer feel like welcome members of that congregation. If Johnson is rescinded there will also be pressure from the 'right-wing' to force clergy, particularly priests, to preach for the GOP. If they do not preach as 'directed' they will be called out to their bishops. I can't imagine any priest wants to either divide his congregation or be called out by influential (big wallet) parishioners.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus is a perfect example of someone who embraced the secular. He didn't go to other rabbis to find his followers, he went to common folks, in fact, the most lowly (some would say the least worthy). Why is that? I think these lower classes understood what is most important in life more than those who were living soft lives. After all, they had nothing of value but each other. But this is exactly what Christ valued most, the love we share with each other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for mentioning that article. Bannon is reaching out to the pope's opponents in the Vatican. (He's also reaching out to far-right political parties all over Europe, but that's a separate topic!) That Bannon dislikes Francis is no surprise. I am, however, appalled at discovering that Trump's Rasputin is Catholic.\n\nHere's the link to the article Mike mentioned.\n\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/world/europe/vatican-steve-bannon-pope-francis.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To continue this, and what I mean by sacramental, when I say Jesus made Presbyters at the last supper. When he said to all present, not just the Apostles, that they should take & eat of his sacrifice & all do this in memory of me, he is making all who take part willingly, all who are present into presbyters (or priests) & this is sacramental priesthood because the sacrifice of Holy Eucharist is necessary & the willingness of the disciples to take into their bodies-his sacrifice, do make this a sacred or sacramental priesthood. We turned this sacrament into a more legalistic and clerical based priesthood later on and then made it into an exclusive men's club which it was never intended to become. At least I see no basis for the sexism in what Christ put forth in any of the Gospels. As Gospels were not written by Christ but written by Jewish converts who knew the importance of making sure the Apostles were known to have all been present to fulfill prophesy, they concentrated on this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My God Almighty is the same God that formed you in your mother's womb. When this same God of the Bible that created heaven and earth will finally get rid of evil and evil persons who no refuse to turn to God of the Bible. This earth and heaven will eventually be destroyed for a new one. Only born again chridtian saints will live in the new earth and heaven. By the way God says the new earth will have no sea or ocean.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those who want to stand during an entire Ukrainian Catholic Liturgy always have the option of doing so, I guess. I have never seen anyone told that they may not stand. However, I don't understand how standing improves participation.\nIt's the prayers that compose the Liturgy, and participating in that prayer -- through chanting or recitation -- is what constitutes participation in the Liturgy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are correct. It has nothing to do with penance. And nothing to do with God. Note the threat to the victim. It is a good thing the pope doesn't actually have any authority over the absolution of sin. Is it a prerequisite to being named pope that one is a soulless devotee to legalisms, or do they all relinquish their souls after the election?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I commend Pearl Rohrer for her response to my letter. However, I must add that her response proves my point when she writes: \"Greek \u201cmiseo\u201d does translate to English \u201chate,\u201d but the meanings of these two terms, as understood and used by people of each time, are different.\" and then adds: \"Troublesome now: whether we love like Christ, not whether God opened the door to hate. Opening that door is Satan; Jesus bids us only to love.\" The work of Satan to lie and deceive in spiritual warfare is most accomplished whenever the words of Holy Scripture can be successfully changed in their commonly understood meanings. When inspired-by-God meanings are replaced by inspired-by-Satan meanings, the Holy Spirit's task becomes more difficult. Jesus said: \"Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.\" (Matthew 12:32) The love Jesus defines for us has an eternal edge to it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Short answer: when Jesus comes again.\n\nNext.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" The nicest people .. are usually very tough on those who would exploit .. the most vulnerable ..\"\n\nThis makes the Pope's exceedingly stern rebuke of the Nigerian priests in question, including references both to mortal sin in not following the Pope and to the danger of scandal arising from this all the more intriguing. And troubling.\n\nI have no problem with a pope who alludes to mortal sin or who calls Catholics to obedience or who wishes to avoid scandal. How could I ?\n\nBut, it is hard to ignore that this unprecedented (for Francis) rebuke is directed at priests on an impoverished continent over what even in the internet age counts as \"a quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we know nothing.\"\n\nWould Francis have reacted similarly in say a German diocese?\nMight C Kasper's very low opinion of the African church have been important?\nIs this the only, or the most serious, scandal facing Catholicism?\nHow come mortal sin figures here but never in 200+ pages of Amoris L ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What on earth are you talking about that if she were 18 or older, she couldn't have given birth to the messiah. Not all \"scholarly\" studies are all that accurate or \"scholarly\". Example: Catholic church teaches Joseph was an old man and Mary a young woman, maybe only 14. The Catholics taught this because they were determined that Mary remained a virgin all her life. As though she was too holy to have ever had sex. So naturally Joseph was too old to be interested in having sex with his wife and Mary remained \"holy\" enough to be the \"Mother of God\". She was mother to the physical body of Jesus the savior, not the actual Mother of God, He doesn't have a mother. And scripture clearly teaches that Jesus had younger brothers and sisters. The Catholic church states that they were actually cousins and that it wasn't unusual for people in those days to call cousins siblings. Scholars coming up with \"facts\" that fit their own opinions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Context is very important. A Jesuit Theologian presented a series of lectures on the Gospel of Mark and spent the first lecture strictly on the context in which Mark wrote his gospel. The destruction of the Temple being an example.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God calls both men and women to priesthood and always has. Men chose to be biased and sexist around the 3rd century and exclude women from leadership. Women were presbyters in the early church which were the only priests we had along with male presbyters. Which makes the bias, only, against women the thing that is man-made. The sacrament was never meant be sexist or biased against a person's flesh. As Jesus said treat all the same and with love - that includes women. Also Jesus told us the flesh is nothing but the spirit of the person (which has no gender or race, etc.) is everything. Jesus told us God shows no partiality so we should not judge each other's value for ministry based on their flesh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Eroded fiduciary trust between priests and parishioners who consider the priest as \"another Christ\";\" Is there still any doubt that the patriarchal notion that only males can image Christ is a cultural aberration that actually obscures the person of Christ as Word made flesh?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely, MikeAA. \n\n'The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away'! It was the Vatican who FIRST permitted the Knights of Malta to be established. The Vatican can revoke their charter to exist in connection with the church. If the Knights of Malta want to exist as a secular group----running a casino, teaching boating safety, etc.---fine. But they should not have any chancellor nor a 'spiritual patron' assigned from the Vatican. I am sure that Chancellor Boeselager's services can be easily utilized in another capacity. And if the charges against him were totally untrue---Boeselager should, not only pursue but be encouraged to pursue legal action against the Knights because he didn't commit any SIN [crime} and his name was tarnished. Cardinal Burke, I'm sure, was called into the Vatican to hear his account of this whole action---since he was present.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not in a hurry to read this book. High price is because it is affiliated with university publishing house. If it were published for the masses, it could be available for a 1/3 of the price. From the review, too much in-house squabbling. This is what the newbies have in common with tradition of RCC. \nLike Southern Baptists, they multiple by dividing. This seems the paradigm for Christians in toto. The Christian scriptures have no copyright. Get a copy, start a Christian church. Franchises are free.\nThe peculiar emphasis of this book are those Christian churches who seem enthralled by apostolic succession. Ironically, Jesus wasn't that kosher. Only an honorary rabbi.\nHe emphasized worship in spirit and in truth (Jn. 4:24) and wherever 2 or 3, boys and girls gather. (Mt. 18:20). \nThe human search for tribe, belonging, community is the constant tradition, apostolic or otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reforms were hoped for by the cardinals themselves, lending their opinions to the voices of many church folk who found the Vatican bureaucracy entirely light years beyond Byzantine. It may be that in some of the pages of Canon Law there are little rules, nothing much in themselves, which end with a reference to another entry, and so on and on. Creating thus a nearly impossible program for any reform to discover, nearly impossible to understand, and for those desiring an internal reform a charge down a narrowing corridor with no gate, just a wall, at the end. It would explain incrementality\n\nIt was a few years before my time, but Pope Pius accomplished some fantastic changes during his years: things liturgical, the Divine Office, various usages, and of course, the restoration of the Great Vigil of Easter to its proper place. Maybe we'll find a liturgical historian who wrote about how Pius got from A to Z with those projects and what the price was in time and papal sweat equity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Furthermore, if I don't stop posting and give this forum a break, shame on me. This article is so \"out there\" that I don't know what the heck I am doing here. \n A private moment? GAH! What about the fellowship of the Holy Spirit (this is part of the liturgy)? What about prayer? Does only holding hands make community happen? AAAAAGH! \n Pogo (Walt Kelly) great political satirist and cartoonist had our erstwhile swamp crittur say; WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US. For the record the word agnostic is not used in this sense either. What about proper English usage?\n I'll tell you what the problem really is: upper-middle class Catholics not willing to step out of their comfort zone. You boasted of your status so I know whereof I speak.\n I know of a highly competent professional (retired) who thinks it proper to pray MY FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN for private prayer. EEEEEK!\nAAAAAGH! GAH! Lucy and Linus redux. May God have mercy on us, everyone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again you start by asserting a contraposition. sigh. If you look at the question without assuming that contraposition exists, you will resolve most of your difficulties. That's what M\u00fcller meant by looking at it objectively imo.\n\n\"M\u00fcller Is the Pope's doctrinal voice, he cannot speak on this issue against the Pope, he has to support him or else resign.\" And yet you say he has spoken against the Pope on this? (technically you've said FOR the 4 cardinals). My only claim here is that M\u00fcller supports and always has supported the Pope and the teaching in AL.\nAmong the 4 cardinals there has been at least talk of speaking against the Pope on this issue, of \"correcting\" the Pope. Are they resigning?\n\nI don't see the proposed alterations as particularly relevant. If I knew what they said, it might be. Otherwise it is just the normal operating procedure.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agree - both MSW and Garnett have a tendency to argue for the *old* culture war battleground and act as if catholic values are tribal and even cultic. Garnett's scoring makes little sense given his skewed bias - he had obviously made up his mind before the debate started.\nFunny - at dotCommonweal, M. Boudway writes:\n\"Tim Kaine won the night on debater's points. This is partly because of his professional formation (for better and for worse, he sounded like an experienced litigator), and partly because he had the better points to make.\"\nBoth need to review what K. Briggs has just posted - highlights:\n\"As that establishment continues to lose sway in a more secular, pluralistic culture, those who were so accustomed to bossing everyone else around in the name of the Lord are in a foul mood. Their \"rights\" have allegedly been violated.\" (e.g. Evangelical Right - close to a tribe or cult)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those who see Francis' choices for cardinal in liberal/conservative terms completely miss the point. He isn't interested in mundane politics but in getting back to the roots of the Gospel -- the \"poor Church for the poor.\"\n\nIn order to do that, he's slowly correcting the historic imbalances in the College of Cardinals that had Europe and North America over-represented and the poorer nations of the world grossly underrepresented.\n\nIf you want a glimpse into the pope's mind, pay attention to what he told Cardinal-elect Mangkhanekhoun: \"... the strength of the church resides in the local church, especially the church that is small, the church that is weak, and the church that is persecuted. This is the backbone of the universal church.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think, as a pretty rare animal being a priest abuse survivor at age 11 and then a 44 year Catholic School Religion teacher, that the key to solving the abuse crisis is not better training, better screening, removing celibacy, eliminating gays, etc., but rather reforming the theology of the priesthood. The idea of \"alter Christus\", the forgiver of sins, the consecrator of Eucharist, the \"priest forever, ONTOLOGICALLY superior being\" must be returned to \" servant of the servants of God\" or the potential for clericalism and all forms of abuse will remain because it is virtually impossible for any believer, especially a child, to say no to someone who is perceived to be, essentially, God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pat,\nI suggest folks watch a TEDx talk given by Peter Kennedy about St. Mary's in Exile, a church formed by former Catholics that is very inclusive of women, LGBT, homeless, people of no faith or other faiths. The theme of the talk by Kennedy, a former Catholic priest, is \"what you do is more important than what you believe.\" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkjQHXQ5rng&t=600s \n\nAnother source of food for thought is a booklet by Fr. Eugene Stockton titled: Reflections on Parish Reform. http://www.catholica.com.au/gc0/eds/pdf/ReflectionsOnParishReform.pdf\n\nNeither one is a theological discourse, but both present ideas and viewpoints about how a community of faith can be organized differently than the current Roman Catholic parish. I think Stockton still overly exalts the priesthood in his vision of how faith in community can be realized (the ordained priesthood \"as a personal sacrament of the priestly people\"), but it raises the question of a future for the \"ordained priesthood\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The comment got through because it was civil.\n\nChrist was a Priest, made so by his Father before time, destined to reconcile God to Man, and to leave a Church with a priesthood in the order of Melchizedek. As Priest He offered Himself as a Sacrifice to the Father.\n\nThat priesthood, in its fullness in the bishops, holds true authority as Christ founded a hierarchical Church.\n\nIn the Eucharist the altar, the church, the accoutrements, and vestments represent the best we have - be it St Peter's Basilica or a plain table at mess - as the anamnesis of the one Sacrifice is made present in our time and we are lifted to the heavenly realm.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Elaine, denial runs hard and deep!! The elitism of fundamental Catholicism does nothing to help those poor people you so aptly describe, but to deny that priest do/have fathered babies in \"your city\" is the height of pure denial--- a defense that most see through very quickly when it comes to catholic theology of sex and marriage. When the Catholic Bishops quit living in the mud, perhaps there will be less mud to throw.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please, find time to learn from this kind and gentle heart... I share this with you. It is from his time in captivity.\n\nHe once said of his confinement that he was happy there, as it was God\u2019s turn to speak and for him to listen.\nHe also devised the following \u201c10 Rules of Life\u201d:\n \n\u201cI will live the present moment to the fullest.\u201d\n\u201cI will discern between God and God\u2019s works.\u201d\n\u201cI will hold firmly to one secret: prayer.\u201d\n\u201cI will see in the holy Eucharist my only power.\u201d\n\u201cI will have only one wisdom: the science of the cross.\u201d\n\u201cI will remain faithful to my mission in the Church and for the Church as a witness of Jesus Christ.\u201d\n\u201cI will seek the peace the world cannot give.\u201d\n\u201cI will carry out a revolution by renewal in the Holy Spirit.\u201d\n\u201cI will speak one language and wear one uniform: charity.\u201d\n\u201cI will have one very special love: the Blessed Virgin Mary.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh yes I know, and the Ukrainian/Ruthenian Churches would be much larger in the USA had the Latins not been so bigoted and pigheaded. The OCA pretty much got its start and numbers with refugees from the Slavic Eastern Catholics. St. Luke's Byzantine Catholic Church in Sugar Creek, MO was originally a Ukie Church. In its many years of existence it went back and forth between Catholic and Russian Orthodox 3 or 4 times. There are old photos in the parish hall from those days. How many other parishes did the same?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like Jesus's Life, every human life is an iteration, a 'sending forth' (missa) of life; in Jesus' Words we too are instructed \"as I have done, you also must do\".\nThe sacrificial aspect of every life is a commemorative necessity of Eucharistic participation enabling the vital spectrum of life on Earth in transformation, in transition.\nOur individual lives are transformational events of Eucharist, iteratively commemorating and re-enacting the unity spectrum of life inside the Naturalis Sacramentum Ordinis - the Words of Jesus re-echo conscionably and inclusively in self-reflective consciousness.\nThe Mass, in its last words of commission, speaks to us personally about our own lives, \"Ite, Missa est\". We are \"missa\".\nIndividually and personally we are included and commissioned in Eucharist. It's what every second of our existence is about! Inclusion allows for no isolationist rhetoric, as in the arrogant dominion cult of male pretense. Mother Earth is inclusive of all life.\nITE! MISSA EST!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except that Jesus addressed not the physical deficiencies of the community (as the bishop do, ad nauseam), but rather the spiritual deficiencies of the individual. He correctly surmised that once a person was brought into a right relationship with God, then God would provide the rest. How completely opposite from the bishop's crusade of community agitating for open borders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've been a Habs fan since Christ was learning to skate, and I like seeing the Leafs doing well. If the Leafs don't win it tonight it will be inexcusable -- Habs are missing Markov, Gally, Gallagher, Pateryn, Shaw and, for what it's worth, Desharnais. But I don't buy the \"back to back\" thing; the Leafs have young legs, and these are well-conditioned athletes. If the Habs can win both of a back to back, as they just did, the Leafs should be able to as well.\nBy the way, for all those posting a couple of days ago that the Leafs have been to the post-season more times than the Habs since '93 -- you're wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Diane - I did not say that and did not mean to imply that. Those who believe are certainly capable of doing good things in some sense, but are still affected by the sinful (imperfect) nature we all have. I respect a person who is honest about unbelief, and I admire your honesty, but believing something does not make it fact. I believed vehemently these men were under Union Protection, but might be (and probably am) wrong. As a side note I thought this behavior to be so outlandish and stupid that only a person under Union protection would do something like this.\n\nBack to the point - We all place our faith in something, I place my faith in the God of the Bible, you place your faith that the God of the Bible does not exist. God is referred to a \"he\" in the Bible, but is described as being \"Spirit\" so the gender pronoun as we understand it would not apply to him. I respect your honesty and willingness to listen and thank you for defending my right to speak on the blog.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True enough. the Gospels don't claim to tell us everything, and they are passed down memories written down later But they are the only record we have of Jesus, his actions, and his words.\n\nAnd the gospels records have Jesus saying rather explicitly that he was 'Son of God' and that he was calling God his Father in a very special way, though he taught us to call God 'our father' (Abba), as well.\n\nI find it difficult to understand where you find any basis for your claim that 'Jesus never said he was son of God'. It's there in the Gospels over and over again that he said exactly that, and that the Gospel authors understood him to be saying that.\n\nIf you don't want to accept what the Gospels say, that's up to you. But they are the only record we have -- incomplete as they my be -- for the words and actions of Jesus. \n\nThe rest of your opinion is merely your opinion. Prove it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "History told me that go argue with history. Christ is never mentioned anywhere in history outside of your religious text.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"That Mass must always be celebrated in the vulgar tongue is a view that is anathema under the Council of Trent.\"\n\nSo what? Liturgical development did not come to a sudden halt with the Council of Trent. Currently, the standard language of the Roman Rite is whatever the vernacular is. The majority of Roman Rite Catholics have no problem with this. That you disapprove is mildly interesting, but scarcely normative.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think we need to remember that ever since Vatican II ... our teachings have been stressing that we need to do more than give from our \"surplus\". Given some people's problems with Pope Francis, let us look at a passage from an encyclical from the one so many of Francis critics call \"great\" - St. John Paul II - 1991 Centesimus annus (58)\" It is not merely a matter of 'giving from one's surplus' but of helping entire peoples which are recently excluded or marginalized to enter into the sphere of economic and human development. for this to happen - requires above all a change of life-styles, of models of production and consumption, and of the established structures of power which today govern societies\". The American arm of the Vatican's Caritas Internationalis is Catholic Relief Services. However, unlike the Caritas Canada - it has no education and advocacy function. We need to change our societies at the root ... according to our teachings so that all may have live with dignity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In support of your first sentence, please provide support\n\n- that the Catholic Church, the Orthdox Communion, or the Oriental Orthodox have ever ordained women\n\n- that any women ordained by schismatic sects outside these communions have ever been recognized as clerics in orders", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Luis, however I am no Classical Latin scholar, only Vulgar Latin which the Church uses I'm afraid.\nAs far as masculinity being necessary for ordination to the Catholic priesthood, I don't think for one moment that the fathers attending the Council of Trent would ever have considered for a fleeting moment that a woman could be ordained to any order, major or minor. Hence there would have been no reason whatsoever for masculinity to be stipulated, it was simply taken for granted.\nAs well as this, the Council of Trent was convened to refute the errors of Protestantism and the 'ordination' of women to any form of ministry was not one of those errors at the time. Protestant ministers were going to be men for the next 450 plus years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I know what you mean. The easy part of self-deception is for the intellect to to supply arguments in the hope of causing the will to reject some Truth. There are numerous publications, numerous theologians and philosophers priests and prelates out there who will plausibly tell you what you want to hear.\nFor me self-deception means ignoring that niggling little voice in my ear which is warning me of what I am doing until in the end it becomes too loud to ignore and my conscience has no alternative but to surrender to the truth.\nThe consciences of others seem to ba able to accommodate error and conflict with equanimity.\nGod bless you too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelicals are looking for a government ready to delegitimize the establishment clause. \nThey want control. \nTheir relationship with Trump is so immoral, yet so predictable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Two key words that grab my attention in this quote are \"superficial\" and \"Conservative.\" Evidently there are many who have a surface relationship with God and who are more cultural Adventists than true followers of Jesus. Every day I pay that my experience will go deeper than that. Without God's grace and forgiveness, I am one of those.\n\nElsewhere Ellen White talks about leaders in the church who are afraid to venture out and try new things. They are perfectly content to continue in the ministry paths they know and are comfortable with. In this sense they are conservative!\n\nIn business, White said, \u201cMen will invest in patent rights and meet with heavy losses, and it is taken as a matter of course. But in the work and cause of God, men are afraid to venture.\u201d (Evangelism, p. 62-63)\n\nWhether it be WO or other cutting edge ventures in outreach, it currently appears that our greatest opposition is from within our own ranks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have tried to contact Cardinal O'Malley personally, but his Boston websites don't seem to provide a link, so I'll simply state it here. We no longer believe you, Your Eminence. There's a reason why all of your abuse survivors have left the commission, and I don't believe it's all on them. Cardinal Mueller bears a lot of responsibility, and I believe Pope Francis needs to back up his words with concrete actions to support the commission more than he has done so far. I am so ashamed of my Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that clergy should be willing to pray at ceremonies for elected officials if asked.\n\nWithout having the details, it is impossible to know for sure, but what seems problematic in this case is that Cardinal Dolan may be playing a supporting role to Paula White. Apparently, she is giving the invocation and Dolan and one of the others will do readings. We don't know who choses the readings, let alone what they are. \n\nIn this situation, there is considerable potential for Cardinal Dolan to be embarrassed by his association with the self-declared pastor of a church she and her husband founded. None of the Christian clergy (except Dolan) are associated with large or mainline denominations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well I had a baby Baptism in the Catholic Church. I would have been the fourth of 4 brothers but two were premies who died at Birth. I think the Catholic Church thinks I'm Christian. My Catholic father died when I was two and I don't remember ever attending a Catholic Church. I was an alter boy in a Episcopalian church. My last church was an RCA church. I visited Quaker church's and my first girlfriend was Quaker.\n\nIn char", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed. I grew up pre-Vatican II with wonderful priests in the parish, who worked their tails off helping people , visiting sick, counseling, etc. They were kind and compassionate. They said the Mass in Latin and wore vestments at the right time, of course, but their life was not about playing dress up, it was about serving the people as Jesus said to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pray with Dreamers Week of Action. \"Twenty national-level faith leaders, including Social Service Sr. Simone Campbell of Network, Presiding Bishop and Primate Michael Curry of the Episcopal Church, and Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism have made statements ...\"\n\n\"...the largest Catholic advocacy day of the year when more than 1,400 students of Jesuit colleges and universities who are participating in the Nov. 4-5 Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice are to visit their representatives in Congress.\"\n\nAnd the U.S. Bishops have supported this effort by ?????????????????????????????????????????", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quote: I'm calling out Ryan as a Ayn Rand devotee, and Pence as an ex Catholic turned right ringed Evangelical as not the two that need to lead a divided country !Unquote\n\nThat is as correct as your previous call out that Secretary Clinton will be the first female President of the United States.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I said your animosity has led you to rush to judgement.\nSince when has upholding the Catholic Faith been a problem?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clinton, it is the \"facts\" about reproductive health that keeps a lot of young people from getting in trouble. In my day of the late 1960's no one would have the \"talk\" to me. When I was 12 and I learned some horrifying \"science\" from my own dimwitted peer group. It was evil that kept me in a state of suffering for my teen years and it was from not telling me the real deal that caused me my anxiety. It took me a long time to over come this as a young adult and learn that sex is a natural part of life. It would have helped if someone told me that earlier and it was the fault of my Catholic religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Depends why they were doing it\n\nIt's not like I've never seen large groups of Catholics", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So a group of laypeople petitioned their bishop to do something bold and his response was to deflect and repeat the party line. Stop the presses. That probably happens hundreds of times every day in dioceses, big and small, around the world.\n\nMandatory celibacy is a discipline. It isn't dogmatic. If it would serve the needs of the People of God to change it (and I believe it would), it'll be changed. Personally, I think it's inevitable.\n\nBut I wouldn't expect the Bishop of Rockville Centre (or any other diocesan bishop, for that matter) to lead the charge. You don't get that gig by being an innovator.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My interest in this stirring movie arose from a 2014 visit to Nagasaki where I attended a talk by a survivor of the Aug 9, 1945 atomic bomb blast. The elderly Japanese gentleman mentioned that local Catholics could not understand why or how Christian Americans decided to drop the \u201cFat Man\u201d bomb on them. The blast\u2019s epicenter was the district of Urakami, where St. Mary\u2019s cathedral and Catholic community had been located. \nOn hprweb.com, I subsequently read an interesting article by Br. Anthony Josemaria, entitled \u201cThe Catholic Holocaust of Nagasaki--- Why Lord?\u201d His article helpfully discusses recurring waves of persecution and suppression of the Christian religion after it had been brought to the Kuyshu region in 1549 by Portuguese missionaries led by Fr. Francis Xavier.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, ye of limited understanding . True Jesus never overruled Exodus, but mercy and grace are also extended for living.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh puhleeze. Any discussion of he-said, she-said to prove which is more hateful is futile. We all can find hateful examples on all sides.\nAs a generalization though, Leftist are by far the most hateful of all.\nMost colleges skew left (fact); most colleges don't invite, disinvite, or downright protest and harangue conservative guest speakers. (fact).\nThe Left always labels as \"haters\" anyone who propones objective standards, particularly when it is on the Right or Christian side. Yet they themselves are intolerant of opposing views.\nNeither side has a monopoly on hate, intolerance, or high-horse. But the Left by far has a lot worse record on this than the Right does.\nCase in point: A heck of a lot more protest rallies and marches just went down this weekend because their gal lost the election. No where near as many marches (I can't thik of a single one, actually!) ever happened after Bill Clinton's, Jimmy Carter's. or Barrack Hussien's inaugurations. COMBINED.\nSo get off ur high-horse!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cThis move toward ecclesial democracy\u2026\u201d and then, \u201c\u2026may be an excellent time to discern anew where the restless and generative Holy Spirit may be leading us on this and related matters.\u201d\n\nThe Holy Spirit is consistent with the Father and the Son. In the Council of Nicean Profession we make at Mass, \u201cthe Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father and the Son. And with the Father and the Son, is worshipped and glorified. He Who has spoken through the Prophets.\u201d When Judas Iscariot had rendered to the sad and terrible state of killing himself \u2013 seeing no mercy for his sins and transgressions \u2013 that opened the first Apostolic office (i.e. Bishopric) for a successor: Acts 6:1-7. Thus, not a mere ecclesial democracy. And since God, the Third Person filled these men with prayer and the laying on of hands, a Consistent Tradition had been elevated/held by the Church for every successor. The Holy Spirit would not lead anyone astray from that time and long honored Tradition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for both your comments, mountain dweller.\n\nI think we need to respect these differences in how faith is experienced and expressed. There is a place for the church will pews firmly attached to the floor, with space for adoration of the Eucharist, stained glass windows, the quiet of a few people scattered in a large space. This is how/where holiness is found for some people.\n\nBut I would like a church like Judson Memorial. I am inspired to explore faith by discovering how others are inspired by different rituals, different ways and experiences of acts of kindness, by dance or by bringing music into worship or experiencing music in worship. \n Or, saying grace with my family all around me - which is also \"church.\" Looking off the back deck of my house into a tree filled space that looks as if it curves into a forest - that can bring me peace, too, because I am reminded how close God is. \n\nWe don't all \"find the Spirit\" in the same way. Catholicism needs to allow room for that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know, Caiside, that it's not like playing telephone. But people who wrote in the early centuries did not hesitate to put words into the mouths of noteworthy persons to make a point or to pass on a message. The focus on exact quotes did not exist like it does today. It seems to me that it's much more important to pay attention to the general message than to focus on supposed quotes. Scholars like Ehrman question the idea that the sayings of Jesus were passed on with any special accuracy. The earliest writings that we have are translations of writings that that are lost. There is just no way to know what specific things Jesus may have said. We know in general and surmise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican II was also for Bishops which is why they have \"The Decree on the Bishops' Pastoral Office in the Church\" and for priests, which is why they have \"The Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests;' \"The Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests\" and \"The Decree on priestly Formation.\" There is also \"The Decree on the Appropriate Renewal of Religious Life.\"\n\nThere is a need to grow [to experience conversion] for everyone in the church. Not just the laity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In Catholicism, a concrete act of faith would be related to matter of which there's no evidence, and which actually repels our intellect\"?\nI though I remembered a couple of Popes actually affirming that \"faith builds upon reason\". Sounds kind of heretical of you. \nTrying to sound intellectual and informed sometimes backfires - as in using faux data to promote a point, eh?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a good quote...\n\nto say that God wants us to love right where are....is right out of the Gospel!\n\n\"who is our neighbor...\" they asked Jesus...and He gives us the example of whoever it is that you run across on the road that you're already on!!\n\nGlad you're picking it up. \n\nSo glad you picked that example!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You make some good points. Could you direct us to where you have offered the same analysis, caution, and warning to the editors of, say, the independent National Catholic Register and EWTN who DO claim promulgation of the Splendor of Truth that all should accept, not merely \"one view\" that can be considered along with other views, as you (correctly to me) recommend as the integrity-based way to go?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Parker abandoned Il Duce Trump when he disrespected her own catholicism. The only stance for her to, finally, reject the candidate selected by her fellow conservatives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have much to learn from our Brothers and Sisters in Christ. I recall my own childhood when I lived in terror of dying with a mortal sin on my soul. The nuns dutifully told us how important it was to receive forgiveness through the words of absolution from a priest. It all seemed so mechanical to me. We also knew that those people, unfortunate enough to belong to another Church (all heretical) would be condemned to hell, no matter how exemplary the lives they lived. On one hand, there is a loving God who loves us, cares for us, and wants heaven for us, but on the other hand, that same God would send people to hell because they belonged to the wrong club. What if our own parents were Lutheran, or Reformed, or belonged to any other Church? We would be condemned simply because we took the faith of our parents. \n\nOur individual theology was skewed to justify our observance of the \"right\" way. Many people leave the RCC because they are disillusioned with their childhood Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The same comment would equally apply to the National Catholic Register.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No question big money needs to be removed from politics. But what about the rabid, war-mongering elements in our \"security\" agencies, pentagon and bureaucracy? And what about the \"Evangelicals for Trump\" and other religious-political allies of big money and big war politics? Those siding with Israel for religious reasons...in addition to the economic and military considerations?\nSome of these things are already in the Constitution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You said, \"[M]artyrdom did nothing for the Church in Japan when it was closed to foreigners. The Church disappeared.\"\nHow did we get from there to \"tak[ing] the place over\"? The Church in Japan survived and grew, with traditions, including the Rite of Baptism, continuing. There existed a thriving underground community of believers. In yet another variation, the same example is being made in China.\nPerhaps you didn't mean that unfortunate choice of words (\"did nothing\" and \"disappeared\"). Had you simply corrected it to \"went underground\" or \"into hiding\", that would probably not engender any disagreement. Disappear can mean both \"vanish\" and \"cease to be\". But martyrdom did \"do something\" for the Church in Japan, just not in the same form as in the West.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As someone who promotes and volunteers for Women's Ministries, I thank you for drawing attention to this. It is not some \"political social issue\" we should ignore any more than health and other contemporary issues. It is part of our witness as a church and as Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, \"gripped\" rather than (and preferably) embraced.\n\n\"Gripped\" alludes perfectly to the controlling nature of past (and present?) institutional Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bottom line: this particular farmer's market has an anti-discrimination policy. This particular farmer knew about that policy when he agreed to sell his wares there. He violated the terms of that policy and now the other farmers, who also signed off on that policy, want him out. That is their right. He should be no more surprised by the unwelcome he received after refusing service to customers on the basis of his personal prejudice than gay people who work for the Catholic Church after they get fired for getting married at City Hall. Right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An early Christmas gift from a surprising Nigerian Jesuit. Of course, our church while magnificent, is, especially now, somewhat lopsided. We see that more clearly in our modern half empty churches. That perception may be the only upside in a clearly dying church. What would our homes, our families be without the mother's presence? And what sacramental \"sign\" does a man have that a woman doesn't? We will surely vanish from too much theological theses emanating from the minds of all those brilliant minds through the centuries. Death by a thousand abstractions was not Jesus' goal for the church he founded.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perfect. If a business or a church is operated by people who are in favor of this type of legislation, it's obviously somewhere that doesn't need my attendance. It makes my decision on where to take my money that much easier. Just another plan to create hysteria amongst the ABT crowd in time to get them out for some other pseudo- Christian mayoral candidate like Dan Sullivan.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since you are posting continuously in opposition to the Church, its teachings, its interpretations of Scriptures, and report no longer attending, I am puzzled at what \u201cHJ preceded my return to the church\u201d is supposed to communicate.\n\nJesus was not a Levite, He was a kingly priest fulfilling the promise of God to David that a priest would arise from his line that was not a Levite.\n\nIf you believe that Jesus was circumscribed so thoroughly by his times and mores that He could not fulfill his divine mission and communicate what was necessary for our salvation, I have to again wonder what \u201cHJ preceded my return to the church\u201d is supposed to communicate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does the Vatican have a position on alcoholism and the tendency of some to have this disease? How does the availability of Communion wine increase this disease? Given to children? \n\nDid Jesus drink wine? He was perhaps a Nazorean sworn to not drink wine (Acts 24:5 footnote \u201cNazoreans,\u201d and Mt 2:23). In Mk 14:25, \u201cI will never again drink of the fruit of the vine,\u201d the word \u201cagain\u201d does imply some previous drinking of wine, but not necessarily in that setting which was the Last Supper (also Mt 26:29). Maybe Jesus took some wine before he became a follower of John the Baptist, who did not drink wine (Lk 1:15)\n\nAt the Last Supper Jesus offers a 'cup.' What was in it? By the way, Jews did not drink blood, so we know it was not actually blood. On the cross, Jesus was offered vinegar/wine which he maybe did not actually swallow -- texts not clear. Was this vinegar from grapes or some other fruit? Yes, wine would be a typical drink at Passover, but John has Jesus die before Passover\n\nNRSV", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is the Bible the truth? Is it the Word of God expressed through man? Is the Bible supernatural? Does it prove itself? Is Jesus God? Did Jesus die for your sins and if you believe what should you do to receive forgiveness for your sins?\nWith the internet one can find answers to these questions about the Bible, Jesus, history, and many more. It is a Book of Books like no other with the stamp of God on it from Genesis to Revelation!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I sought free, unbridled passion, ecstasy, pleasure, and comfort in the loving arms of the father of my children, the grandfather of my grandkids.\"\n\nOnly in the Catholic Church would that be a \"confession.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This bishop needs a day job but who would hire him?\nHow many persons willing to die have a scintilla of interesting in last rites?\nOne could argue Jesus put his own life in jeopardy.\nHe could have prevented his death, no?\nDid Jesus say, \"I lay my life down of my own accord. No one takes it from me!\"\nHow often is that a text for preaching?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, it is true. Sometimes not doing X is not just unjust, but profoundly so. If it is (as Jesus made clear) morally correct to love one's enemies, then it's converse (not loving one's enemies) is clearly immoral.\n\nIf it is moral to feed and clothe the poor, then it's converse (not feeding...) is clearly immoral, too.\n\nThere is some conduct which has no morally neutral ground: one MUST love one's enemies; one MUST feed and clothe the poor. There is no moral defence for omission here: for neutrality, as it were.\n\nI didn't mention the Fifth Commandment; I mentioned the Gospel, in allusion to Jesus' teaching by word and example. If Jesus is the only supreme and perfect revelation of the nature of God (and I believe he is), then his example throws light on that commandment: intentional and deliberate killing of another, against his will, is wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin, (continued)\nwhile going to Holy Communion while living in sin (impurity). Even though I had gone to Confession a couple of years prior and started living chaste, my conscience did not let me forget that I had never confessed to going to Holy Communion (receiving Jesus, the Bread of Life) not in the State of Grace. When I confessed this, the Priest said to me, \"How good God is, that He sees to it/prods us/our consciences to confess all our sins. I have no doubt that because since my confession of impurity (which was very emotional / with lots of tears) that I had started praying the Rosary, going to daily Mass, and adoring Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, that my conscience became very, very sensitive. (Mary's prayers for me too!!!) Kevin, yes, I agree that \"Anyone who goes to Jesus will not be turned away, but they have to go to Him with contrite and humble hearts, ready to trust in Him. What does this trust involve - (continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But Santa is Christ-centered, whether people know it or not. Although it may seem Santa is secular, it's the principle of his character -- to be a giving, generous person -- that is based on what the bible instructs us to do in life. Be good neighbors, give to the poor, be kind to one another, bless people, share and give generously, etc. Santa represents goodness and kindness, what is wrong with that? No need to traumatize a child at a mall. by age 10 or so, they find out that Santa isn't real, but the concept of Santa plays out in their parents, family, friends, etc who give gifts out of love. This guy is creating a battle when there's really no need to fight the belief of Santa in our culture. Black Friday, well, that's another something horrible that could be rallied against, but not Santa.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspect that the bishops may not be willing to take a serious look at why people are leaving the Church. If they did take such a look, they would have to face the question, \"Are we doing something wrong?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that one point you are overlooking in modern Catholic thought in the USA is the insistence of our Bishops to make our elections a one issue choice. Nothing matters except Roe v.Wade and the poorly educated follow and put Mr. Trump into office. Highly influential in my lifetime was the GI bill after WW11 which allowed innumerable Catholics to obtain a college education and break out of the ghettos. And the breakthrough election of JFK in 1960 gave Catholics a vision of rising a little bit higher than being a policeman or a bartender. Vatican 11 was \"indeed a breath of fresh air, but JP11 made every effort to close the windows by his selection of many of the Bishops and Cardinals that we live with today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Key language in the letter from the bishops:\n\n\"We recognize that the law has brought about important gains in coverage, and those gains should be protected. The Catholic bishops of the United States will examine health care proposals in greater depth and from various perspectives in the days ahead. But we note for now that a repeal of key provisions of the Affordable Care Act ought not be undertaken without the concurrent passage of a replacement plan that ensures access to adequate health care for the millions of people who now rely upon it for their wellbeing. Particularly for those who would otherwise be required to use limited resources to meet basic needs such as food and shelter rather than seek medical care, the introduction of great uncertainty at this time would prove particularly devastating\"\n\nThe whole letter to congress: http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/health-care/upload/letter-to-congress-from-bishop-dewane-re-aca-2017-01-18.pdf", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sir, that is just fine with me.\n\nIf it is----what was the phrase you used---- \"skewed sense of morals\" was it? \n\nWell, sir, if it is a \"skewed sense of morals\" to take the commandments seriously, than I gladly plead guilty. You see, anyone can follow the commandments when it does not matter. Anyone can be pro-life when it does not matter. Real Christians follow the commandments--when it DOES matter--and when it COSTS something, even life.\n\nBy all means--please---bring this up in future conversations. Whatever floats your boat dude. I would be disappointed if you didn't. Just make sure you accurately present my position and do not take it out of context.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Leander H. Perez and two other prominent members of the church of New Orleans, Jackson G. Ricau and Mrs. B. J. Gaillot Jr., were excommunicated by Joseph F. Rummel, Archbishop of New Orleans.\nAgain: Should the bishop issue a decree of excommunication for divorced/remarried Catholics?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My home diocese of Manchester, NH Bishop Matthew Brady had a priest that was referred to the Servants of the Paraclete at Jemez Springs. The director, Father Gerald Fitzgerald. told Bishop Brady that the priest in question was dangerous and shouldn't be allowed back to parish work and this was in 1957!\n\"[W]e have adopted a definite policy not to recommend to Bishops men of this character.\" Father Fitzgerald, informed Brady in September 1957. \"We feel that the protection of our glorious priesthood will demand, in time, the establishment of a uniform code of discipline and of penalties. We are amazed to find how often a man who would be behind bars if he were not a priest is entrusted with the cura animarum [care of souls].\" [SOURCE: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/04/22/one-dioceses-early-warning-on-sex-abuse/11e93a46-54fc-446b-a37c-cab06c8207bd/?utm_term=.9f85311fba87]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don, there were also Opus Dei members that were killed for opposing Franco. I don't think it's safe to take R.D. as representative of O.D. any more than it's safe to take him as representative of Catholicism. \n\nI know a few O.D. guys through my wife's work, and they strike me as coherent, kind, honest, and reasonably self-aware. They have a kind of humility and moral caution that is not to be found in RD's remarks. Yeah, they tilt conservative on various matters, but not beyond the scope of love and reason. \n\nAnyway, I just wanted to put in a word for my albino assassin buddies. Like everything else, O.D. seems to be a mixed bag.\nxo", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Imagine if all Catholics got to go on a mission at 18 like the Mormons do...a real mission to actually make disciples and not merely a social justice thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Part of what may have compelled the former president was Trump\u2019s insistence that the executive order mirrored what the Obama administration did when it stopped refugees from coming into the U.S. from Iraq for six months.\n\nThe fact-checkers have sided with Obama on this dispute, noting that Obama was vocally critical of any ban on refugees that prioritized one religion over another, as Trump\u2019s does. \n\nAfter some Republicans called for only Syrian Christians to be allowed into the U.S. in the wake of the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, Obama called such potential policies \u201cshameful.\u201d \n\n\u201cThat\u2019s not American. That\u2019s not who we are. We don\u2019t have religious tests to our compassion,\u201d he said at the time.\"\n\nExactly. To say America - and the world - misses President Obama is a vast understatement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Gospels are filled with Jesus' parables of mercy trumping \"justice.\" The fact that the Earth even continued to exist after the Crucifixion is example enough. Justice itself is a human construct; mercy is of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They have \"a voice\". \n\nAnd the states also have a unique and separate voice.\n\nI realize some people don't accept the Catholic principle of subsidiarity - and thus, don't really understand the idea of \"states\", but they live in country that gives \"states\" their own voice, in addition to the people in those states. \n\nTexans fly the state flag at the same height as the US flag, denoting something important about their heritage and culture.\n\nThere are some people who would prefer to \"hammer down\" such diversity among the states, but gladly these people aren't in power at the moment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neko, I agree, and if I might, I would tender the exception that the 'gospel is divine'. It is a VERY human book reflecting the time and the ages in which it were written. God did not write it, and we have no written words from Jesus. In fact other than the encyclicals of Paul, and at least six are disputed to be his writings, we do not know who wrote any of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It sounds like the Gospels would make good bedtime reading for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Happened to me as well. I was given a comment to rate that had nothing to say about the article, but instead quoted from the bible and exhorted everyone to follow jesus. I rated it as a bad comment but it WAS civil. I got the suspension threat for that. Had to laugh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is that? Using capitalism to purge the immoral from our society...Ha! It's impossible buddy...I refer you to the Gospel, not ALEC ideology", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "George Tichy said, \"More than anything else, the LGT heresy is the biggest danger threatening our Church.\"\n\nYou may be right, George. But the real problem is not because there is no last generation of believers and a theological issue about this group. The problem is that the present LGT ministry is totally bogus in their affirmations about this final group.\n\nThe basic foundation of their error is they all deny the doctrine of original sin, and this sets the stage to claim if someone is not deliberately sinning, they are, ipso facto, sinless. Neither the bible nor EGW claim you are sinless if you don't violate your conscience and do the will of God. \n\nBut their doctrine is even more evil than that, because they claim Jesus is sinful by nature just like us. What it boils down to is this, They simply deny that a sinful nature constitutes a person a sinner. They have seminars and sell their garbage to unsuspecting church members who haven't considered the meaning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian, take a look at the large fire map. The fires aren't just in central Oregon. The largest one is in western Oregon. I was in central Oregon over the weekend and the air was better than here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very good comment!\nHow dare you use the truth and actual occurrences to expose the real Francis.\n It is amazing that when one looks at the facts, Francis appears to be the protector of his fellow bishops. How many Catholics still believe the Pontifical Commission was more than a delay tactic to allow many complicit bishops to avoid accountability by retiring with dignity. Francis could give a rip about the victims that were sacrificed by the men he protects. Francis would rather have the victims carry the shameful burden and pain of the church that abandoned them then hold a bishop accountable", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem here seems to be that while we claim to have a legal system that speaks of justice and rehabilitation we have a vocal portion of society that believes in punishment and revenge. Quite how this accords with the Biblical concept of \"Vengance is mine\", sayeth the Lord and the teachings of Jesus is something we might want to reflect on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joan: It is indeed past time for the laity to become more involved with how the Church is run. It is past time for the patriarchal /monarchial system to be overturned. The question becomes how to get this done. Can it be done from the inside? Is that even possible? Can we expect those on the inside with all the power to voluntarily give up even a little bit of that power? Historically, that has rarely if ever happened. Myself, I have given up on the idea that change will ever come about from within. If change is to happen, it must happen from sources outside the Church. Most of the changes that have occurred within the last thirty years have come from outside the Church. The lawsuits against the Church, the changes in Statutes of Limitations, the work of organizations like SNAP have moved the needle very slightly. Even today with the very little that Francis has accomplished, there are calls on the right for his resignation. The Catholic Church has changed very little in its' history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you're right that this is not something most Catholics think about, and that there are many more topics that could appeal to folks not caught up in the wake of Vatican II theo-politics. There have always been folks who prefer to worship God in their own way, and I don't particularly care what they wear when they do so. \n\nI'm pleased that people want to pray in any language, but to spend an entire essay on the tenth anniversary of a papal document seems to reflect a narrow understanding of the issues confronting Church and gospel in our time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Relax, there's already a plan in place. We can just use Trumps travel ban as a starting point. First of all we need to keep these American Terrorist in their own states while the extreme vetting is taking place. We can then extreme vet people that have religious connections to these known American Terrorist (Christianity for example) we can also extreme vet States where these American Terrorist are known to often come from...That alone has cut your 300 million people down to a more manageable number...Now we just need to implement it, then fine tweak it and we might save A LOT of Americans...Unless that's too much work for you, if that's the case and Americans aren't worth the effort, then nevermind...#MAGA", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People need to check out Christian Healthcare Ministries. Although they are not insurance, they actually do pay. The rates are something you can actually live with, and you don't have to pay fines through the Obama care if you enroll in this as your healthcare program.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For you, Jesus would have been more merciful to let Moses' word on this subject in place. \n\nGod does forgive sinners, if they repent their sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"... the Church isn't simply what people in the West wants. It's what the Church community as a whole wants as well.\"\n\nActually the Church is about the Gospel and what God wants for us - eternity with Him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not going to keep going over this point. You have a very narrow view of what constitutes leadership. The people who signed this AD were not people who just signed the AD. Folks who attend CTU---obviously do KNOW the signers---they have name recognition, not only among the University community, but with others as well---and that makes their names recognizable as leaders---- more than the names of passers-by on the streets. \n\nAnd you did insult CTU. You stated that of the \"4,000 who graduated from CTU in the last 50 years, none of its lay alumni/ae are notable either in the Catholic church or society at large.\" That is also an insult those graduates whose names and ministry are notable in their arch/dioceses, or in their ministries as wonderful examples of Catholic leadership.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's face the essential motives that NCR is so irrationally frothy and fixated over the Knights (how many articles, now in Spanish?) is that it's an orthodox leaning male oriented organization of long tradition.\n\nIt does great service to the Church at all levels. \n\nIt holds no position or cause at variance to Church teaching. None.\n\nIt is faithful, attracts, and it gets things done.\n\nThat's why NCR is pesking around.\n\nAnd that's why readership of NCR is plummeting based on web metric analysis.\n\nIt's become so \"the same\" day in and day out. Tiring and vindictive and anti-male.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Winters is wrong again.\n1. The Eastern Orthodox Churches permit their liturgies in the vernacular language right beside their traditional liturgies in Ancient Greek and Old Church Slavonic; Vatican II did not follow this route and that's why there has been so much friction. The Eastern Orthodox never had these liturgical divisions because they handled everything much more wisely.\n\n2. Changes in the Catholic liturgy required a smart pope who knew how to introduce a more modern liturgy right beside the Tridentine Mass. Sadly, Pope St. John XXIII and Pope Paul VI lacked this insight; Benedict XVI did not; what was a valid Mass for four centuries (the Tridentine Mass) is still valid today.\n\n3. EWTN is the most powerful Catholic news outlet on this planet (with 250 million viewers), and it is controlled by laypeople as Mother Angelica intended, so that the hierarchy has no power over it. \n\n4. I'm sure the pope and bishops are afraid of EWTN's power; they are not afraid of NCR.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sad places, indeed, compared with St. Monica's in LA with 7,000 a weekend, all ages, or Holy Martyrs. When in FL, good lord, lots of young people there as in Charlotte!! Of course, making attendance -- all ages -- in the North intrinsic to the South/West/Southwest or vice-versa is not fair. Attendance (all ages) varies according to the pastor, liturgy, preaching and music. Also, the South has a large religiously engaged sub-culture that the CC plugs into. This is missing in other parts of the US. So Southern/Western Catholicism is only one slice of US Catholicism as a whole, but it rapidly becoming the most populous part.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<\"We do seriously believe some pretty odd things which contradict faith and reason.\">\n\nSuch as (wooden statues excepted - Catholics don't worship these as graven images)?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find that in the Nicene Creed, when we repeat it in English, we lose sensitivity to one of the issues that stands out in the Latin rendition of the Creed. In English, we have one word for \"man\" . In Latin, there are two words often translated \"man\": homo (human) and vir (male) By doing this, we lose track of the important significance. \"For us [men] and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.\" Was made man...homo...human, like us, like all of us. NOT was made male [vir]. \n\nBut it seems like the church wants to say that the translation should be male, not human. And that eliminates 1/2 of the human race--all who are homo but not vir. How do we recapture that Jesus is like ALL of us...including the women? Is it really the characteristic of vir that is determinative of identity with Jesus? or his maleness? We need to protest harder.\n\nPr Chris", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, they aren't the One and Only True Church, Unchanging, Inerrant and Eternal. After all, if Jesus had intended for women to have a leadership role in the Church he would have spent time teaching women, but you don't find any examples of that do you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just before announcing that he would not be putting forward any policy during the leadership campaign, Kenney attacked Alberta's school curriculum as fostering \"politically correct themes like oppression and colonialism and climate change.\u201d Subsequently he endorsed the Catholic school boards' proposal to refuse to teach that condom use can reduce STIs. Extreme enough?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I appreciate your upset at not being the center of attention after such a long period of dominating discussions and running people off you don't care for.\n\nThe first issue referred to Fr. Francis (Francizek) Hodur, who founded the Polish National Catholic Church in 1897:\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franciszek_Hodur\n\nThe second to Father Alexis Toth who led thousands of Ruthenians into the Russian Orthodox Church as a result of conflict with the primarily Irish episcopate:\n\nhttp://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/4790/fr_alexis_toth_bishop_john_ireland_and_the_grace_of_reconciliation.aspx\n\nBelieve it or not, I know my stuff and am shocked that as a priest you do not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kind of like how all aspects of the bible are still 100% relevant today, right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps it might be a good idea to see, listen & understand how the other half lives. It is a bit different then noting different Catholic \"languages\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A monkey could win for the PCs in NW/G. Now we have an evangelical zealot with six weeks of PolSci 100 under his belt, making him an expert and reminding me, unfortunately, of Pierre Polievre.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is another viewpoint about Francis and Reform:\n\nhttps://www.commonwealmagazine.org/letter-rome-122\n\nKey - So-called Vatican II Catholics should not lose heart, though. Burke is only conveying the suggestions the C9 have made to the pope. It is still up to Francis to accept, reject, or modify them. He can also circumvent the Roman Curia and curtail its power by bolstering the authority of Church entities outside the Vatican; for example, the national and regional episcopal conferences and the Synod of Bishops \n\nFrancis used the occasion to repeat, once again, the importance of his 2013 apostolic exhortation, Evangelii gaudium. He said it was an up-dated version of Paul VI\u2019s exhortation from 1975, Evangelii nuntiandi, what he called \u201cthe most important document after Vatican II.\u201d\n\nThat, in and of itself, should give hope to Catholics longing for changes in the way the Church carries out her mission in this post-modern age.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fostering unity in the body of Christ could benefit from applying St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body, suitable extended to all the sacraments and ministry/ordination.\n\nThe Theology of the Body is a biblical exegesis of the unitive complementarity (communio personarum) of man and woman; it is not a patriarchal gender theory of complementarian sex/gender stereotypes.\n\nThe Catholic faith is that the Church is \"one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.\" To keep insisting that the apostolic mark of the Church is dogmatically patriarchal is patently absurd.\n\nFor the new evangelization, we need women deacons, women priests, and women bishops. Canonical exclusions, such as Canon 1024, constitute an obstacle to unity and must be removed.\n\nFor your consideration:\n\nAppeal to Pope Francis ~ English\nhttp://pelicanweb.org/CCC.TOB.120.html#english", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Monica, I agree. There are a few people I will no longer respond to and I tend to leave my comment and call it a day unless the subject absolutely requires clarification. For one thing, I don't have the time to get into most extended discussions. I also miss our posters who would provide detailed comments--sometimes mini-essays, like Joseph. I learned a lot from various posters on Disqus. \n\nMy sense, additionally, is that being in a constant state of exitation and outrage, either over Trump or anti-Trump, is being fueled by articles here that tend toward that direction and less toward the deeper commentary on the history of Catholic social teaching and the nature of the moral priority to \"welcome the stranger.\" Even if these things are controversial to some people, I wish to hear more about this stuff than I do people's experiences at various marches. I am glad people are marching all over the world but I have a good handle on why. I seek something different here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is Rome the same Rome that it was before 2000 or before 2010? It is not. There are more immigrants, peoples from different cultures and religions living there than ever before. Just as Argentina is not just home for peoples of Hispanic, Native American or African descent. Neither is Rome. Let's stop trying to put Francis into an assembly line of that expects them to behave alike and follow 'tradition', when 'tradition' is not what we need. We need TRADITION like going back to what Jesus wanted Peter [or his successors] to be---not the usual spiel of titles that you listed for this pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe we just haven't seen or heard anything that would warrant the tiniest approval. I kno I haven't, except his stance on gay marriage. \n\nIf you're so displeased with the editorial direction, the content and even comments we anonymous folk make, why do you persist reading NCR? I know you wouldn't find me over at Catholic.com or even the gulag of groupthought on Reddit's \"/r/catholicism forum. \n\nBecause it feels so good when you stop beating your head against cyber walls?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cont.....\n\nThe network's current chairman of the board and chief executive officer is Michael P. Warsaw. A majority of the network's funding is from viewer donations to which it advertises 100% viewer supported, which keeps it from advertising secular or non-Catholic programming. Its traditional plea for donations is \"Keep us between your gas and electric bill\".\n\nThe EWTN network also contributes in the publication of the National Catholic Register newspaper, which was acquired in January 2011, and the Catholic News Agency. The network maintains a web presence through its primary website, EWTN.com, and it also has a dedicated commerce site, EWTNReligiousCatalogue.com.\n\nAs of 2017, it is led by Michael Warsaw, who was named a consultor to the Vatican's Secretariat for Communications. (note - not mentioned above by commentor)\n\nIts programming reached more than 250 million homes in 140 countries and territories & had annual revenues of $52,640,778 in 2015.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chicago is the see city of a Ukrainian diocese, whose eparch (bishop) recently passed away. Its cathedral is gorgeous -- my late cousin used to attend every Sunday, even though he was Latin rite Catholic. I have been blessed to have several good friends among the Ukrainian clergy, including the late Bishop Walter Paska, whose knowledge of canon law equaled (at least!) that of Ray Burke! I stand in awe of your knowledge and appreciation of your Ukrainian Catholic tradition!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A reactionary justification. Ad Orientum took the people out of the Mass. The prayers reflect it. Of course, the new order is to be more like a seder, although a full lamb dinner is not included (that would be reactionary). Re-latinizing has no hope either. Adding prayers or responses to more link the Eucharist with Calvary would be good. While I can see the logic of saying My God, My God, Why Have You Abandoned Me to an Ad Orientum elevated host, and I thirst to a similar chalice, There is also a logic to doing so face to face, especially so we don't miss our cue and because WE are the body of Christ, not the statue above the Altar.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Catherine, On rereading your post, I think it deserves a better response. I can appreciate your view but disagree. It is shocking, I agree. However, to visualize the scene, the fact, in its stark and vivid reality provides us with a learning moment regarding the depth of Jesus' Incarnation into our reality. The act of faith becomes so much more real and astounding when the scene is rendered real in its sad brutality. The utter pain of a mother experiencing her son's brutal execution. The treatment of the master; the utter failure of the master's mission. The immensity of the resurrection to follow. Jesus really was at that point a cadaver, nailed to was little more than a dead tree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.\n\n Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. \"\n\nApostle Paul in his letter to the Christians in Rome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It cannot be a reference to Raymond Cardinal Burke as he is not a Knight. He is the Patron, an ambassador from the Sovereign Vatican City to the Sovereign Knights of Malta.\n\nCardinal Burke\u2019s only voice is of moral suasion due to his representing the Holy Father.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, since you don't KNOW all the Catholics really well [including those who are angry with the Church], maybe stating their points of difference with the Church HERE on this site is the only way that they can express their feelings. \n\nJust remember, different people have had different experiences with official members of the church. Some of those experiences have been wonderful and life-giving. Others, have had really poor experiences---and often at times that they were vulnerable to intense feelings---sickness, death, marriage break ups, etc. Just as in any family---there are differences of opinion. But that is no reason to leave the family.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who's this \"we,\" Michael?\n\nNobody cares about the Catholic left, which is another casualty of the public face of the Catholic Church, the Catholic right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do we define ourselves - as Catholic Americans or American Catholics?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus did not ordain anyone and the church does not deny this. We did not even start ordaining any priests for hundreds of years after Jesus rose and all the apostles had long passed on to heaven. So find that chapter and verse in the Gospels (which you can't) or admit you are wrong. By the way Jesus never picked any gentile apostles either so by your standards all of our clergy since Peter are invalid. Jesus picked the 12 original male apostles due to their ability to represent the 12 tribes of Israel with their blood lineage - this is stated in two gospels. They were called to be judges for Israel not priests and not one of them was even a Levite. Presbyters, elders, deacons, and apostles led the early churches and women were in all of these groups.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was in ruin, figuratively and literally after WWII in Europe. Pope John XXIII recognized that fact as one of the reasons for calling for Vatican II. The global Church always has been about far more than the Church in the US which at the time was at it's pinnacle.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, simply not true! The majority report showed a far greater and much more accurate understanding of \"artificial\" birth control, which the majority response adroitly pointed out, and that in the face of the minority's clerical chant of \"NO CHANGE.\" And Bishop Charles Herman Helmsing's \"severance of support\" doesn't even begin to tell the story -- in Helmsing's own words: \"In fairness to our Catholic people, I hereby issue an OFFICIAL CONDEMNATION of the National Catholic Reporter.\" He did live long enough to regret his words.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Steve Bannon was the chief architect of Trump's scorched earth campaign strategy. He didn't invent Trump's viciousness but he certainly honed it, and he is more responsible that anybody for the cancer of lies that won Trump the presidency and continues to guide this administration. \n\nExtolling whatever modicum of religious virtue he might possess has a \"Hitler loved his dog\" feel to it. In the end, it really doesn't matter. This man is largely responsible for the destructive state of polarization in the body politic, and that will be his primacy legacy.\n\nBesides, anybody who thinks Bannon's Catholicism had some kind of tempering influence on Trump is fooling themselves. When it comes to religion, Trump is influenced only by those Evangelicals who flatter his ego and excuse his excesses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting, too, is that Mormon college grads are so high, the highest, with 85% attending weekly services compared to Mormon high school grads -- 66%. Evangelical Protestants are high, too, with 58% going weekly compared to 55% high school grads. Black Protestants are similar -- with 59% of college grads going weekly to 52% high school grads doing likewise. Among Catholics, 45% Catholic college grads go to church weekly compared to 39% high school grads. This suggests -- all the more -- that Christians should be for universal education of some sort.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, Jesus gave us the sacrament of confession because he understood our sinful nature, but you have to go and sin no more, and keep on trying no matter how many times you fail. Jesus gave us the Eucharist so we can grow in strength with him, but you have to be in a state of grace to receive him. What is the point of receiving the Eucharist, the real presence of Jesus Christ, if you can't even be bothered to change your sinful ways? St. Paul even said that this puts your soul in real jeopardy because only God knows the time and the place you leave this earth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Otavini (sic) had a farm, ee-aye-ee-aye-oh,\nAnd on that farm he had a cow, ee-aye-ee-aye-oh.\nWith a moo-moo here and a moo-moo there,\nHere a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo-moo.\nOtavini (sic) had a farm, ee-aye-ee-aye-oh.\nAll popes since Pius XI have upheld the teaching contained in his Encyclical, Casti Connubii or as you term it Consorto Cunnubii (sic). An easy and forgivable mistake to make save for the spelling 'Cunnubii' which might suggest another etymological root.\nCardinal Ottaviani undoubtably did play a part in the promulgation of Human\u00e6 Vit\u00e6. As Pro-Prefect of the Holy Office he was bound in duty and conscience before God to prevent the Pope from putting his name to an heretical document. \nOttaviani's intervention amongst that of others, did not put papal authority in jeapordy (sic). That authority was virtually destroyed by the cowardice of bishops and clergy worldwide who failed to back the Pope, the Holy Office, Scripture and the Tradition of Christ's Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again I am in agreement with your points about women being capable leaders. \n\nHowever, I challenge again the idea that we as humans just serve with our brains and our hearts. Completely false. The ultimate act of service from Christ Himself on the Cross is a TOTAL gift of Himself in and through His flesh. Mary's ultimate act of service in making her entire bodily existence available for the Incarnation is only possible through her uniqueness as a female. Her ultimate fidelity shown by standing at the foot of the Cross is a precisely maternal/feminine act as acknowledged by Christ's recognition of her as mother to John. \n\nIn a nutshell, women are of course capable of fulfilling the roles of those in Holy Orders. It goes deeper than that though in acknowledging the specific roles of men and women as male and female in salvation history. \n\nFinally, how exactly do you know God has other plans in view? What makes you sure of it based on Divine Revelation?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If we are to go back in history, can we get rid of the reference to God? I would like to see a separation of church and state, and references to a deity offends atheists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As organizations, we have been moved by the courage of high school and college students, parents, professional athletes, and others in local communities large and small who have taken a bold stand for racial justice. We support your commitment to justice and thank you for taking nonviolent action that has sparked important conversations about our struggle to recognize and value the dignity of each and every person in our society.\u2014Stephanie Yeagle quoting Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta\n\nWhat is missing are the academics and any remorse for causing the Association of American University Professors to censure his administration of The Catholic University of America for refusing to listen to professors before firing them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can these people ever be successful in their bigotry if they run away from the reality that they are bigoted. \n\nSuccessful bigots don't reject bigotry but wallow in it, insisting that \"nature\" or \"nature's God\" dictates the bigotry - the other is \"sinful\" or \"sick\" or otherwise defies the Deity himself - that all \"good men\" must become bigots because God himself has decreed the bigotry.\n\nThey do this because bigotry is inherently irrational and has no basis in logic (from: logos - reason, the word).\n\nPeterpi has this dead-right: there's nothing \"special\" about equality - especially in the filthy, money-grubbing, profit-seeking world of commercial exchange. Did Jesus not attack the money-changers in the temple? Thus how does this baker manage to twist money-changing into a temple of God? \n\nStating that equality is special is just Alice in Wonderland adventures in speaking nonsense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I remember my history lessons, Cornwallis's order extended to men, women and children, whether involved in the attacks or not. All the while, of course, parading about and claiming to be representatives of \"civilized Christianity.\" \nAs for your second point, I think it was Fukuyama (?) who said that colonizers quickly forget that they are colonizers, but the colonized can never forget that they were colonized. \"Getting over\" 300 or so years of being colonized isn't a meaningful option. \nMy family has been in Canada for about 300 years, and I am descended from slave owners. Before you make some inane statement about my being \"self-loathing\" or something like that. I'm not. I bear absolutely no personal responsibility for the atrocities committed against Aboriginals in Canada. But only someone with no knowledge of Canadian history can deny the reality of what was done and in many ways, continues to be done. You can't \"get over\" what isn't struggled with, even the unappealing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was a socialist...lol", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I must agree withTCPete. Where is the out rage ? Dems using\ngovernment to influence Catholic Church teaching......how is\nthis possible?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"That \"no\" is not acceptable to Donovan, to Women's Ordination Worldwide, and to countless hosts of other faithful Catholics. They are standing at the door, rapping, waiting to take possession of their church, praying for an angel to break the locks and fling open that door.\"\n\nIt is solid examination of the church like this that has made me an NCR subscriber for years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 1\nThere are many reasons why the medieval development of the altar as wall with a tabernacle as its center piece was not fortuitous. \n\nThe most important has to do with our conception of the Eucharist as PRIMARILY (1) sacred food and drink, or (2) an object of adoration. \n\nThe essence of Eucharist in scripture is sacred food. Jesus confected the Eurcharist at the Last Supper at the dinner table, and commanded us to both eat and drink. For most of the first thousand years, our churches faithfully conveyed that original divine intent with an altar that was instantly recognizable as a dinner table, to which bread and wine were brought, and from with the body and blood of Christ was distributed as sacred food and drink in the form of bread and wine. The original scriptural word that was adopted for a church building was \"ekklesia,\" which means \"gathering\" and which came to be understood as the \"place of gathering.\" Its Jewish predecessor was the synagogue (essentially same meaning).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jimbob7,\n\nOh, what a logical string you have put together! If we're going to be freed from our \"handicap\" regarding Acts 5:32, then we must consider all that Jesus said and Paul wrote about the working of the Holy Spirit and that is why I vigorously disagree with your conclusion about women in ministry. I see a God who is not limited by human concepts, who cares more about your willingness to be empowered and used by Him than your gender. A God who uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and does things you've never imagined. A God who is using female pastors to minister to people male pastors are incapable of ministering to effectively just because they are male. \n\nThe works of God are refuting your conceptual limits about women as leaders in the church, so I wish you would quit fighting God and preventing others from doing the work He wants them doing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believed, and still believe, that the Knights of Malta are not a religious order, are not under the legal jurisdiction of the Holy Father, and that the organization could therefore legally send the commission packing and the Holy Father would be powerless to do anything about it.\n\nI also understood that Fra Matthew Festing was in a very difficult situation since he had also taken a vow to support the Church and the Holy Father.\n\nHe has resolved the conflict he was in personally.\n\nI pointed out that a \"victory\" by the Holy Father could prove Pyrrhic, which may still prove to be true.\n\nSince I archived my posts and the exchanges, and you did not, it is no surprise that you believe I was \"proved wrong\".\n\nAnd given your style, and Mike AA's, it was no surprise that both of you quickly ceased posting on the discussion and switched to presenting that case.\n\nI hope it made you feel better.\n\nAnything else?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Based on Jesus' words, as recorded in both the bible and Qur'an, it's more accurate to characterize him as a moderate, who taught the avoidance of extremism...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can't have it both ways. Either you believe God admires those who speak from their conscience or not. If so neither you or I or any church can judge whether God agrees with the protestor or not. Jesus, a known protestor, said \"Judge not lest ye be judged\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gleaned from the article: the institutional Church does not know how to minister to black people and/or to young people and is struggling to even listen when representatives tell it what's lacking. \n\nDoes the institutional Church really know how to minister effectively to women, the very poor, single people, the LGBT community, immigrants, divorced/remarried people, to those who have been (permanently) alienated by the child sexual abuse nightmare...etc. \n\nI know in many, maybe even most, parishes people are ministered to, and they do their own ministering to their community in turn. But, I have to wonder given the creeping numbers of former Catholics now \"nones,\" exactly who really is the focus of parish outreach and service?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The heart of what Sister Maureen has to say is this: \"Such a club could serve as a forum for dialogue on LGBT issues, and it was clearly meant to do that.\"\n\n\"A forum for dialogue.\" Imagine a space where Catholics can speak to each other on any subject, explore ideas outside of the boundaries of pre-set limits. Imagine dialogue not limited by Catholic DDT - dogma, doctrine, teaching. That can come and add to the subject being explored, but first there must be a telling and listening, an exploration of reality, of life as it exists and is experienced, and is known. And then, after some clarity of what is real, it can be better seen how Catholic DDT is to apply. \n\nPerhaps we can also see how Catholic DDT needs to be reformulated so that it deals with what is truly dangerous or bad without poisoning what surrounds it, the rest of the human and natural ecosystem. Life is more complex and interrelated than Catholic DDT anticipated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You gotta be kiddin! I'm from New York and belonged to very \"progressive\" (yes, they do exist). Catholic parishes. Each was always packed to the rafters every Sunday to be challenged by the pastor -to be witness to and for Christ. \nScores joined outreach programs and active, vibrant, thriving ministries far beyond \"altar servers, women's sodalities, and ushers\" to minister to God's rejected and unwanted.\nWhen a more conservative pastor arrived, gone were some of these ministries. Gone were the challenges issued from the pulpit to live the Gospel. Gone was the absolute conviction that God loved me even though I was a sinner. Replacing it- the use of the pulpit to rail against gays, the divorced, birth control, planned parent supporters, women's ordination supporters, and on and on, and on. The stampede from the parish could be heard for miles.\nSorry, Without the progressives in the church, most churches would be either historic museums or sold off for condominium development.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God the Father is saving the world through His son Jesus Christ. \"how one understands...\" doesn't determine salvation. God determines salvation and God is determined to save the world. There are no limits to His saving power. \"Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.\" Heb. 7\n\nWe avoid the \"Cox Brethren Dilemma\" by not joining the Brethren church. The Brethren Church was, I suppose, is, congregational. Every gathered congregation is responsible for its doctrine and its elders. Just like the Amish and Mennonites. You got the Beechy Amish and the New Order Amish and the Old Order Amish, and the Schwartzentrooper Amish and the Nebraska Amish, (Nebraska Amish live in Pennsylvania - long story) and lots of other Amish too. I'm wild Amish myself.\n\nWe have our California Adventists, and if Monte gets his way, it will no longer be figurative.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You were objecting to my saying that one needs to have a well-trained choir to do Palestrina. Now you seem to be agreeing with me.\n\nMy wife comes from a small town in Wisconsin. Whenever I heard Garrison Keillor give the News from Lake Wobegon, my mental image was Princeton, Wisconsin -- Princeton has a river, not a lake, and German Lutherans and Polish Catholics instead of Norwegian Lutherans and German Catholics. I have attended mass at St John the Baptist in Princeton many times. Having the choir of that parish attempt Palestrina would not be a challenge, it would be a disaster. It would be like having the Princeton High School choir attempt Boris Gudenov.\n\nAs I said, your actual objection to music like Schutte's is that you, personally, dislike it. My musical tastes don't really run to it either. (My favorite pieces of religious music are the Kyrie and the Gloria from Mozart's Great Mass in C.) But I do not insist that my personal tastes should dictate what others perform.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act \"of 1996. (IIRIRA)\nI.N.A. Section 222(G). You know John I asked you before how many american lives are you willing to sacrifice and you never answered. Now with the FBI reporting they are actively investigating radical muslim terrorist in all 50 states I ask you the question again. How many family members and friends do you include in this number. Notice they said \"Radical Muslim\" Not Hindu,Christian or Buddhist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"No sympathy for the Friar.\" To be honest neither do I. But I also didn't have any sympathy for Elizabeth Johnson and yet she was made to be the ultimate victim of \"hierarchical church oppression.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, that's not true. Because you only get your news from liberal sources, you have no idea how large Christiandom is in the World. Take Brazil for example, it has a large evangelical population. Don't go by polls and don't go to web sites with a liberal bias. There is factual info out there from unbiased sites that will tell you how large the Church really is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin, (continued)\nOf course one should go to Confession as soon as possible (immediately) if they are sins of the flesh: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing). People die suddenly, without the opportunity of going to Confession and sometimes people are no longer conscious for some time before dying. We should seek God's mercy in the Sacrament of Confession now, when it is available to us. I have written before that Joe and people in his situation - engulfed in habitual sin (like the organist at my Church) have to choose between Jesus and remaining in their sin. The choice of course is always theirs. God will not force but He is so very happy when we choose to live in His light rather than live in our own darkness. He wants us to want to please Him and not our selfish desires! You have mentioned making a public act of repentance before the Divine Mercy image. (continued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is just a matter of time. Integral humanity is male and female. An exclusively male priesthood is not integrally human, like the Incarnate Word. Ecclesiastical patriarchy is not a dogma of our Catholic faith. Consider the following:\n\nReligious Patriarchy ~ Annotated Chronology of Key Events\nhttp://pelicanweb.org/CCC.TOB.html#CHRONOLOGY\n\nBy the power of the keys, the Church does have the authority to ordain women as soon as a Pope decides it is time. The patriarchal phase of salvation history is passing away. Never say never. We are already on our way to \"Tipperary.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My wife and I are participating in a seven week Trinitarian spirituality group led by a Protestant layman and Jesuit priest, with a mix bag of participants.\n\nLast week, the Protestant layman waxed eloquent with a wild and exciting theology of the Trinity's mystical involvement at the very core of our lives with nary a reference to scripture; and the Catholic priest concluded with a few anchoring references in scripture. \n\nI could hardly contain myself with laughter when I recalled that it was the Protestants Reformation that invoked sole scriptura against free wheeling Catholic doctrines un-anchored in scripture. \n\nIf this a typical example of ecumenism in practice, this unity thing will definitely end well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I just wanted to make sure that we were on the same page. I agree with you, Faithful Catholic. As I said about eight years ago on here, I think women should step away from all ministries in the Church based on your interpretation, which is pretty all-or-none in its scope. I've always presumed by that that I need not be concerned with teaching others what the Church teaches. Works for me. Feels free and easy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just to be clear, you're agreeing with the Church, I just happen to also agree with it.\n\nJohn T Noonan is a much better judge than he is a Catholic theologian.\n\nhttps://www.firstthings.com/article/2005/10/development-or-reversal", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No great los, especially if they were teaching JPII, the great enabler's views on family....mommy in the home cooking and making babies, daddy going to work and coming home to make babies, the kids memorizing their Baltimore Catechism and being good little soldiers for Jesus and ready to fight the Commies when they come.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You seem unwilling to engage in serious conversation, AnnieO. \n\nCan you answer the first question: Did Trump indicate he WOULD take people's oil? If so, please provide evidence. Otherwise, Jesus would probably advise against bearing false witness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you are right about the issue of Burke actually able to serve the Pope in good faith!\n\nChurch history would clearly suggest this is not an unique problem.....\n\nMy instinct is to put in a really tough delegate who understands he's stuck with Burke...and IS the Popes man and the KM must understand that the Pope is in charge and chooses the leadership/delegate and Burke is merely an accessory whose papal \"connection\" is minor.\n\n\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess because above person's imagination is incapable of envisioning women as a solution for the very problem he laments. Better the Church suffer sacramental loss in great swaths of the world than ordain a woman.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You'll do nothing, Bishop Mcillliberal. Nor will SD Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The laity IS the Catholic Church. The Hierarchy are more akin to the pharisees or modern day politicians. This group of leaders look after their own self interest. They indeed show little concern for the common man or in their mind, the serfs of the church. However, the laity IS truly the Church and they are beginning to stand up for their own ability to reason and understand what God wants from us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "See my reply to Jesuitical.\nIt is quite understandable that being nailed to a cross for 3 hours Christ realised he was going to die so commending His spirit to the Father is hardly suicidal.\nThe Jews and the Romans like Judas all had free will and could have refused to act as they did. They were not God's puppets. Whilst God knew how they would act He did not, could not predetermine it.\nSuicide is a mortal sin and Jesus Christ being the perfect man could not commit even a venial sin. I don't understand what your motive is in trying to portray Our Lord as just an ordinary bloke like you or I.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "3 of 3 \n\nIs it not in the self-knowledge of our own individual need of His \u2018continual\u2019 Mercy that induces within us a humble heart, as a human heart of self- abasement before God leads to a tender compassionate heart towards our neighbour?\n\nPlease consider continuing reading (see my post in the link below) the theme on humility that accumulates in this question\nIs an act of humility too much to ask?\n\nhttps://acireland.ie/amoris-laetitia-the-joy-of-love-reviewed-by-aidan-hart/#comment-10034\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Vatican II could be rolled back AFTER Popes John XXIII and Paul VI's call and support for the worldwide Second Ecumenical Vatican Council...YES, Pope Francis' reforms can also disappear or be greatly diluted.\n\nIf the 20+ years work of The Pontifical Commission for the Revision of Canon Law to implement Vatican Decrees was largely turned back with Pope John Paul II and \"The Authentic Interpretation of the Code of Canon Law\" in 1984...YES, Pope Francis' reforms can also disappear or be hugely re-directed.\n\nIf Pope Benedict XVI could bring out the medieval papal garb and set the stage for a return to Latin in the Roman Catholic Church...YES, Pope Francis' reforms can definitely be disappeared.\n\nAs for all of Pope Francis' new leadership appointments, they can be likewise be made as hierarchically ineffective as many cardinals, bishops, priests and theologians worldwide were made during the reigns of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.\nAnother way perhaps?\nhttps://RiteBeyondRome.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why so focused on FAIR? Life isn't fair. Focus instead on \"does it work\"? Based on a scan of years of news clippings, Toronto's public system is highly dysfunctional compared to the Catholic system. And if TCDSB teachers and students were forced to cross over and merge into TDSB, the cost structure (taxpayer burden) would be tens of millions more p.a. because its not a zero-sum exercise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not all Catholics are willing to turn a blind eye to obvious flaws in the institution, which is what most of our \"complaints\" reference. I personally have to wonder about Catholics who DON'T complain about misogyny, exclusivity, clericalism, unaccountability, financial mismanagement and the theology (discerned and developed only by men) that was vastly more relevant in the 16th century than the 21st.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From the article:\n\n\"Critics argue a secular school system should not accommodate religion. But Ontario boards, both public and Catholic, are legally required to provide religious accommodation when it is requested.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sick? \n\nYes, it is sick to think that people would kill a child simply because of a disability or deformity. \n\nWho are we to decide what life has more value? I know several families with Downs children. Those children are beautiful and kind, loving and trusting. My own cousin was having twins - and was advised to \"terminate\" one because there seemed to be a problem. They refused, and gave birth to a perfectly beautiful child...and a perfectly beautiful child with cerebral palsy. Both have proven to be great gifts in all our lives - and her parents can't believe what the doctors would have taken away from the world.\n\nThese children and their parents can teach many here a thing or two about acceptance and true Christian love and charity. \n\nAnd let us not forget the children who were encouraged to be aborted because of suspected problems - and there were no problems at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you or are you not basing your interpretation of the Bible based on Calvin, because that is his theology, one he tried to force on the residents of Geneva. In a twisted way you are right about Jesus shedding his blood in vain. I do glory in the works of Christ as He is the one who heals us and provides a way to God. My works are nothing. At best I can only be a vessel. I did not give Jesus permission to save me. All I did was accept what was freely available. Now my Jesus does not hate his creation and make them into robots. My Jesus gives free will and choice. We can choose that salvation or not. My Jesus did not create people predestined to go to hell, as yours apparently did. My Jesus loves the entire world. I am not so about your Jesus. \nJohn 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.\nNotice it does not say whoever of the elect, or part of the world, but the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have to agree that Jerome's attitudes were far from healthy. Perhaps he had some kind of mental problem. The problem of most (if not all) Christian churches -- including the Roman church -- is that people who we recognize (today) as having some severe problems are revered as \"fathers\". \n\nI would love to see some of these \"fathers\" revised out of their hallowed position. I don't think I will live long enough to see that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The one thing Newman was crystal clear about was that development of doctrine did \u2018not\u2019 mean its abrogation. Advocates of doctrinal development on this site are almost to a man in favour of a reversal of Catholic Moral doctrine. If I were to give a source for saying the moon is made of green cheese it would be untrue the same as someone giving Newman as a source that doctrine can be reversed.would be spreading an untruth.\nMy comment was meant to illustrate this and to your credit you almost got it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Two days after writing a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, using the expression \u201cbuilding a wall of separation between Church & State\" Thomas Jefferson attended his first church service in the House of Representatives! He continued doing that for the next seven years. One Sunday, he walked to worship services when Ethan Allen approached him and asked, \u201cWhich way are you walking, Mr. Jefferson?\u201d \u201cTo Church, Sir.\u201d \u201cYou? Going to Church, Mr. J? You do not believe in it!\u201d To which Thomas Jefferson replied,\n\u201cSir, no nation has ever yet existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man and I as chief Magistrate of this nation am bound to give it the sanction of my example. We want \u201cthe word of the Lord to be glorified\u201d and government to encourage religion while we encourage obedience to the government.\nThe Constitution & God are interwoven. Why swear on the bible to tell the truth before testifying in court?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Insofar as the Mass is a Sacrement, one would say \"confected\". As it is a sacrifice, it is \"offered\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I keep returning to the discovery that we cultivate worship of Jesus Christ, but not so much discipleship.\nWhen pressed about the Scripture challenging a woman to be submissive to her husband, I replied... \"it is simple! Don't marry anyone who does not remind you of Jesus!\" Perhaps that is also discernment for vocations to priesthood and religious? It seems some days that everything Jesus taught about the Scribes and Pharisees are themes that are true today, in my own behavior, attitudes and decisions. Still I recognize them more quickly in others and miss my own. And it is also true that tax collectors and those on the margins will be getting into heaven before many of us \"righteous\" ones. I keep getting turned toward the Beatitudes as a formation, as discernment... as mystagogy for the anawim. Sitting in the slow learner row even now at my age, I am just beginning...\nShortly, the cadre will be up checking NCR. If today you hear his voice, harden not your heart.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I wrote the other day, National Crisis Reporter seems to have given up on good journalism for hyper inflammatory essays bewailing our president causing the end of the world. \n\nI predict that the Antifa wing of the Catholic Church will eventually advocate physical action for the sake of returning America to \"justice.\" We have seen McElroy call for Catholics to \"disrupt\" society; we have Cupich saying \"we got the president we deserved.\" And then there is the drumbeat of essays like this one -- barely constrained from calling for the progressive faithful to cover their faces in black and take to the streets.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would venture to say that you, as a semi-sociopathic prison guard, when asked about your day at work will respond with some glee about how you got to deal with Christian. As a saner/more normal human being who happens to be a prison guard, I would bet big bucks that having to handle this guy will do a lot to make you look for a different line of work. His hair looks good though, I wonder what conditioner he uses. And oh yeah, one of your wishes has been (self) granted: you will die in prison. Whether you're happy or not remains to be seen. For what it's worth, no one here on the outside is going to care one way or the other about your happiness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't object to a small voucher for a poor inner-city kid that would help with transportation costs for that kid to attend a better public schools.\n\nI do oppose vouchers to help an upper-middle class kid go from Highlands Ranch HS to Valor Christian or Regis just to be on a better football team.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know this a hoot to all the commenters, but your not far off. It's their parents who went off the rails. It's society that tells people their own way is the only way. You can laugh at those who sacrifice their secular inclinations to learn why the Church teaches what she does, and tries to live it. But those are the people who don't poison their spiritual lives with bitterness against the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many people on this site claim they have the right to disagree and believe what they want when it comes to Catholic moral teaching. When it comes to Catholic social teaching, all of a sudden we have to pray, pay and obey. We have no right to dissent from Catholic social teaching. We need to obey Pope Francis and do what we are told.\n\nI have always wondered about this double standard. Why should I accept Catholic social teaching when liberal dissidents do not have to accept Catholic moral teaching? Why should I obey Pope Francis when liberal dissidents disobeyed Pope Benedict and JPII?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "conclusion:\nOn the 50th anniversary of the beginning of Vatican II, in Oct. 2011, Pope Benedict XVI declared the period from Oct. 2012 to the Solemnity of Christ the King at the end of Nov. 2013 a Year of Faith:\n\u201c...a good opportunity to help people understand that the texts bequeathed by the Council Fathers, in the words of John Paul II, 'have lost nothing of their value or brilliance. They need to be read correctly, to be widely known and taken to heart as important and normative texts of the Magisterium, within the Church's Tradition. ... I feel more than ever in duty bound to point to the Council as the great grace bestowed on the Church in the 20th century: there we find a sure compass by which to take our bearings in the century now beginning.\u201d\n\"You have been told, O man, what is required of you: only to do the right and to love goodness and to walk humbly with your God.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, difficult to make sense of this story. Something seems to be missing? Written in a hurry? Coming from a news service may be a clue of being more of a superficial than substantive inquiry of the nature of this conference. As you & Littlebear bare something wrong with lack of a Jewish scholar to give a presentation alongside Christian presenters. If Jewish scholars were to have a conference on some aspect of Christian scripture, Christians would consider it serious scholarship to have a Christian presenter. When only one side analyzes a subject without input from other vested group, something lost in translation? Seems like a conference sponsored by the Trump School of Theology, no?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You cannot refute the veracity of the reports, so you attack the messengers. If you read my blogs as you claim, you would know the information I present is as well documented as my comments. Re: Sodano. See the numerous articles in NCR by Jason Berry and multiple authors pre-2013 on Sodano's influence with JPII in Latin America. Whether Bergoglio and Sodano got along AFTER Bergoglio climbed to archbishop and cardinal, JPII depended on Sodano for advice on which Latin American priests should be elevated to bishop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry that your church disappointed you so much, Nora. God still has a purpose for you in your life. I read this parable again yesterday;\n\n\u201cThe kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and in his joy he went and sold all he had and bought that field.\u201d\n\nThe kingdom of heaven is salvation, the field is the world, and the treasure hidden in the field is You. The man is Jesus. He looked down upon the world and saw You. Such was His joy when He found You that He buried You away in safety until the time that He could come into the world Himself to save and redeem You. When He finally came into the world as a man, He gave up everything that He had in order to buy back the world because He knew that He had buried and kept You, a treasure, safe within it,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Rural Colorado\u2019s white population is declining, and minorities are transforming the region\u2019s culture and economy\"\n\nGood. Embrace the virtues of diversity. It is a strength, not a weakness.\n\nLike most of the rest of the states and the US as a whole, Colorado is overwhelmingly urban and diverse and becoming more so every year. The country is not becoming whiter, more rural, or more Christian. Those days are over.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A priest is a man who has received the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Protestants have no concept of a Sacramental System. Even those Protestants who have \"Sacraments\" they use the same word but mean very different things by the word. For Protestants, Sacraments are no more than \"Ordinances.\" They do not cause and signify the graces of redemption as they do for Catholics. \n\nBecause a priest has received the Sacrament of Holy Orders, he has been configured to Christ in a special way that enables him to celebrate the Sacraments, in particular the Eucharist. He is called \"Father\" because through the reception of the Sacrament he relates to the people he serves in the manner of \"Father.\" The priest is their head and shepherd.\n\nAs I said, Protestants have no concept of this. For them, there is no ontological difference between the minister and the congregants. The minister just has a formal commission from the sect and a calling from a particular congregation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More alternative facts, from a usual suspect! The priest in question has flagrantly abused his people, and is entitled to the same sort of deference and obedience as a predator -- none whatever. And fortunately, there are many people in both the Catholic community and the broader civic community who recognize the abuse for what it is, as well as for what it portends. Ditto for the case of the canon-lawyer bishop. Not healthy situations!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Amoris Laetitia is very clear in its doctrine and we can read into it all of Jesus' doctrine on marriage, all the doctrine of the church in its 2,000 year history.\"\n\nM\u00fcller said the pope is asking the church at large \"to discern the situation of persons who live in an irregular union ... and to help these people find a way for a new integration in the church according to the conditions for the sacraments.\"\n\nWell, there's really no problem then and Pope Francis shouldn't have a problem answering the 4 Cardinals and confirming the teachings of Pope Saint John Paul.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW will not address the substance of the letter but will merely psychologize (in the cheapest fashion) and invent bad motives for its authors and signers. This is the ugly anti-intellectual or perhaps anti-reason strain in contemporary Catholicism manifesting itself yet again and leading those who engage in it into the sin of reviling.\n\nContrast it with the letter itself, which clearly does the exact opposite, examining the ideas communicated by Pope Francis but not speculating regarding his motives or culpability.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's follow Jesus the Savior, the Creator, God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And by the way... \"no one is going to..... make you go to church on Sunday. You can thank the Christian founders for that.\"\n\nNo one? You never met my late mother.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Saw the film \"Radical grace\" on CBC here in Canada. Really inspiring and interesting story. I admire what Sister Simone Campbell and Sister Christine Schenk have done in their work. And lets not forget Sister Jean Hudghes who tragically passed away who the film was dedicated to. \n\nI agree with this article. Pope Francis has certainly taken steps in the right direction and is doing the best he can under the confines he's operating under to make the issue of women's rights a more prominent one in the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not without the-CDF enforcing it. We now know how it evolved from the Sumeric myth. It did not come to us from Moses. Now that we can read it for ourselves, we can even distinguish what it means as allegory. The sin happened before the apple was eaten. It came in the snake's temptation, that you shall know good and evil. Evil was not eating the apple, it was in wanting to know the good and evil of others, which is reserved to God. That Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent (and serpents have been on their bellies for billions of years, not the 70000 the story indicates - call it a clue) underlines the point. Sorry you cannot believe something you were not taught by the Church. That is about you, not me. It is still truth, by the way, but truth about blame and eventual forgiveness, not as much of us as by us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think my point is that none of us is so entitled to be the arbiter of Catholic thought that we get to ridicule those who think differently. I think we can be critical without ridiculing one another.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Personally, I think that Transubstantiation should be quietly dropped. It ties theology to Aristotle's Physics, which is where the whole \"substance and accident\" thing comes from. To have dogma depend on a specific school of philosophy is not, IMHO, a good thing. \n\nI would rather we say that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, and leave it up to God just how it is done.\n\nCalvin took that quote about eating his flesh and said that Jesus meant it symbolically.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Someone said, \"Jesus picked males because in his culture women would not have been accepted (though he had women who traveled with him and worked with him). Because Jesus rode a donkey, we should all ride donkeys . . . . \n\nJesus did NOT conform to the status quo of his culture - ON IMPORTANT ISSUES. \n\nJesus spoke with the Samaritan woman at the well AND asked her for a drink. That was taboo! \n\nJesus - a spiritual authority - dined with tax collectors and prostitutes. Again - taboo in his Jewish culture.\n\nJesus' disciples didn't follow the proper cleansing ritual before eating. Taboo too.\n\n . . . . . . On down the line.\n\nJesus wore sandals - cause that's all he had -there were no Gucci slippers available.\n\nJesus DID NOT have to pick only men for his apostles - but He did. Whenever there was an important issue to deal with - Jesus always SET the standard - regardless of what others would think!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Blessed Pope Pius IX did not shut himself in the Vatican, he was made prisoner there because he wouldn't accept the theft of the Papal States by the Kingdom of Italy in 1870.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course not. I am saying that a city with long historical religious significance is one thing. A big mountain of lava is an act of nature, explained before science as an act of the mythological Pele. Hawaiian activist pull out their sacred, ancient gods, creation myth cards when all else fails. The rest of the time, they are Protestants, Catholics, other religions, or of no religious persuasion at all. Ashes of both of my parents are scattered in Waipio Valley on Big Island. If someone wants to build something where there ashes were scattered--all over the valley by air and in the river--I have no objections. The ashes are their earthly remains. They are not there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Is it really such a grave sin, if a nation does not want to disappear? Does it have the right to protect itself?\"\n\nProtect itself from what? And what do you mean by a nation disappearing? Obviously the real estate is going nowhere so that leaves what exactly? Some vague sense of national identity? Based on what criteria? Skin color, religion, language? What? And who gets to decide? You seem to forget that the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants who once ran this country were afraid \"their country\" would be sullied by mixing in \"dirty Irish Catholic blood\" into the gene pool, never mind Italian, Polish, or African. So we've been down this road before. Many of us learned the lessons of history - namely that this nation's greatest strength is its cultural and religious diversity. It's deeply disconcerting to find that there are still those who obviously haven't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Yet in those two years, the appreciation for this document among the Catholic faith community is not entirely evident.\"\n\nAre we talking about the Catholic faith community throughout the world or just the Catholic faith community here in the U.S.? Because it seems entirely evident to me that the half of American Catholics who voted for Trump have a vested interest in ignoring both \"Laudato Si\" as well as any empirical evidence that affirms the truth of man-made climate change, all so they don't have to confront the truth that they have enabled the continuing destruction of the planet vis-a-vis their votes for Republicans, who are all in bed with the oil & gas and coal industries. The other half who voted for Clinton have no representation in the episcopate so it's as though that half of American Catholicism didn't exist. Perhaps that's why Catholic attention to LS is not entirely evident to this author.\n\nPeople routinely ignore that which they'd rather not confront. No mystery there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps you should really study the teachings of Jesus. It requires an understanding of the Love of God and God's Love for us. The Main message of Jesus was the Kingdom or Reign of God. It is not a set of beliefs or doctrines that the church teaches will lead to salvation. The Kingdom is a Way of Life. Pope Francis is challenging the Church to move towards Jesus. He is a Jesuit after all! To follow Jesus requires living a life of love to God, family. friends, neighbors, strangers, and even enemies. Love is a verb. Jesus showed us that it means to care, share, help, heal, forgive, and transform ourselves to be God in the lives of others. \nYou can follow Jesus or your will. Your free choice!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As the priest shortage continues it is becoming more obvious that celibacy has trumped the availability of Mass and the Eucharist to the people of God in the minds of our church leaders. Unfortunately, given the intransigence of the last 1700 years there will be no hierarchical movement to change this during our lifetimes. Judging from the past, the future will simply bring more of the same as more and more of the laity feel that their spiritual needs have been minimized by a Church seeking to continue its grasp on sacerdotal control under the guise of the questionable \"holiness\" of celibacy as opposed to the \"holiness\" matrimony. The unspoken and unbroken barricade is not celibacy, because there are married priests. IT IS CONTROL and the refusal and lack of faith and trust in the Spirit to let go just a little of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That did not happen in Charlottesville. It was the action of one angry man. It was not an organized rally called to bring together racists, neo-nazis, skinheads and other whites whose whole platform is hate - directed towards millions of other AMERICANS in this country. Those who don't see the difference are morally blind. The question is - are they willfully morally blind? All who take this view, Trump and his supporters, need to spend a whole lot of time examining their consciences. That's not just a Catholic thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joseph Tobin is the real pastoral deal--in word and in DEEDS! The same can be said of Blase Cupich in Chicago.\nThe parishioners in the anti-girl scout diocese can BOYCOTT the Sunday collection in their parishes and buy Girl Scout cookies instead!\nToo often the laity in situations like this act like \"lemmings\" instead of like CHRISTians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW believes that he alone should dictate the priorities of the Bishops' Conference. He writes as if he speaks on behalf of Pope Francis. Worse, he belittles good men who are just trying to do their best in serving the Church. And he does so, angrily. Immigration Issues are not black and white. Good Catholics can and should debate the pros and cons of how to best care for those who have immigrated to the United States. Attacking bishops and then declaring them political pawns of President Elect Trump underscore MSW's need to examine his conscience of how he writes about bishops with whom he disagrees. Sometimes his words comes across as outright mean spirited and unprofessional even for a journalist, but for a practicing Catholic, his views sometimes appear to be uncharitable toward those bishops with whom he views as Republicans. Tolerance of diverse views is also a Christian virtue. Maybe Cardinal Cupich needs to remind MSW about being more kind and accepting of those he so opposes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus does mention everlasting fire, wailing, knashing of teeth. That can\u2019t be put on St. Jerome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When Quebecers finally shucked off their Catholic religion in the 60's and 70's, it was way too late to dismantle every cross in the province. There's a church in every neighbourhood. But the attitude of people is these crosses are mere relics of a repressive era and symbols of a bad time.\n Similarly, in the US south, there are many statues and symbols of the Confederacy but they are not accepted as rightful ideology.\n\n Separation of church and state is a European idea about 500 years old. It was a major turning point in the slow move towards democracy. It is necessary for democracy to survive and thrive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you have just described what a women hating man thinks and believes. There is nothing in science or scripture where different roles are mandated for different genders - no list of jobs for females verses males. No one wants their freedom to do whatever vocation they feel called to do in their heart, whether in the world or in church, hindered based on their flesh which is the only thing gender effects and only then for procreation and nothing else. All races, ethnicities etc have real distinction in their differences - using these differences to oppress and rob people of the right to do what God has made them physically capable of doing is evil and an attack against that group's human dignity. \n\nYou play polite but polite hate is still evil and sin and I don't think you are innocent of the wrong because you claim to not understand the wrong. It is not complicated - Jesus commands you and I and our Bishops TREAT all the same as we wish to be treated or we sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read between the lines, Joan. Sometimes historical research can occur only by circumstantial evidence rather than direct proof, in other words, 'by deduction from known facts'. \n\nIt is a reasonable assumption that Gelasius rejected the book because of its very subject matter. Had he accepted the doctrine of Mary's assumption, then why didn't he declare this? He never did. And he must have known that declaring the book apocryphal risked, among Catholics in general, an equal judgement on the book's topic. The fact that Gelasius appears to have made no distinction between the book and its content suggests his utter disbelief in the doctrine itself.\n\nThese ideas of mine are reinforced by the fact that Pope Hormisdas, in the following century, declared that anyone who taught this doctrine was a heretic.\n\nAnd your comment (that I had no idea why Gelasius declared the book heretical) does indeed imply that you know the answer to this. How else could you reasonably say of me what you did?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mark,\n\nWe risk steering people down the wrong path when our decisions/advise do not include Jesus' mercy, Jesus' love - being sure that they will please and glorify God. In cases of a woman being pregnant as the result of rape or incest, I understand that despair, confusion, hurt, pain, etc. set in but there is a way that it can be turned into something good. We have all heard of the stories of young women who have been kidnapped/abducted and became pregnant from their assailant. They have come to love their children - it was their child/children who helped them through the horror they were experiencing. In despair, these women could have did something to harm the life of the child in their womb and perhaps there are cases where some did. I am not blaming these women, but I am saying in general, there are no situations that when our reaction is to glorify God, that He will not bless us and award us either here on earth or in eternity. The same for women seriously ill during pregnancy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have posted this comment elsewhere. Perhaps you don't realize that the Queen's position of head of the Anglican Church is ceremonial, and that the United Kingdom is not a theocracy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"\"Is it normal that in the face of someone's pain, our attitude is to close the doors?\" the pope asked. \"\n\nAgain, Pope Francis, you would come to realize, quickly, if you stopped closing the doors to your sisters who have been called to priesthood, & stopped ignoring their agony, tears & pleas for you to re-install actual equality & justice to the women in our church, & chose instead to open your ears, to dialogue with such women yourself, that there has not ever been, in our past, or present, a vocations crisis. What we have now & have had for most of our church's history is a Misogyny Crisis. \n\nChoose to follow the Commandment to love your neighbor as your self and treat her & ordain her equally a priest the same as you, & suddenly our vocations crisis disappears! This crisis would end overnight, if you also chose to ordain married women & men to priesthood too. \n\nNot even Jesus can cure a deaf & blind person who chooses to be deaf & blind. It is Time to choose differently!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You sound surprised that a \"right winger\" like AB Chaput would strongly oppose racism. What lies you have been told!. You apparently have no clue that conservatives --- and especially conservative Catholics --- are intolerant of racism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"No women in their right mind would prostitute herself for career advancement.\"\n\nYes, I do stand by that. This idea that women are willing to prostitute themselves so quickly is male fantasy. No sane self-respecting person (woman or man) would willingly allow their body to be used and defiled, jeopardizing their career, health, dignity, etc., for \"career advancement.\" That is called prostitution. It is a well known fact that many prostitutes have been sexually abused as children, robbing them of their self-worth and self-respect. Folks just want to make a living in a fair playing field. Unfortunately, the sexual victimization of women happens all over (not just Hollywood). It is pervasive and needs to be exposed. Men need to step up here and stop the abuse of power. It is unChristian to the core.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Entirely human. His divinity was not biological. He was wholly human and wholly divine, not a hybrid like Hercules, et al. Indeed, there was likely a great deal of discussion in the early Church to not have him appear as a poor man's demigod. Romany legend is that when Mary, Martha and Lazarus landed in France, Mary and Jesus child miraculously brought them to shore - of course, this legend is probably untrue because of the name given to her in the legend - Sara Cali. Sara Cali is actually the Hindu goddess of death, so this is an appropriation of myth rather than any kind of factual account. The interesting point, however, is that she was known to remain a virgin and was their only child. No descendants here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you not know your own PM?\n\n\u201cFor someone to start questioning my own faith and accusing me of being a bad Catholic, is something that I really take issue with. My own personal faith is an extremely important part of who I am and the values that I try to lead with.\u201d- Justin/ globeandmail.com\n\nJustin uses his religious values to base his leadership decisions on. Nice isn't it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Over the years Mr. Shockley operated his property management company I did some business with him. I have friends who did a LOT of business with him. He was always a personable, affiable, \"Christian\" gentlemen. \n\nIt seems he was also a thief, operating a Ponzi scheme with clients' money and the deposits of tenants in those client's rental properties. Somehow he managed to keep things hidden until he had defrauded those folks of 3.5 million dollars. I'm guessing he will lose all his assets and spend some time in Club Fed. He seriously damaged or actually ruined many of those who trusted him with their business. They, of course, will recover little of the money they lost. I have no idea if Shockley's \"errors and omissions\" policy will help them.\n\nMeanwhile, I hope the governmental agencies responsible for holding manage companies accountable have developed policies and procedures to protect clients and tenants from future scams such as Shockley's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well - God is sovereign over life and death, that is clear in the Bible. That DOES NOT make the parents choices in this matter right or wrong. That is not contradictory to believe that. I personally believe they were wrong, but do not know what they think.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@duali says \"... it was Scots who fought with the French in Quebec against the English who urged them to ensure they had language rights...\"\nWhere did you get that ?\nQu\u00e9bec is \u201cofficially\u201d French speaking since 1774-\n(but we all know that it is since its foundation in 1608) \nso why are YOU crying for then ?...Who\u2019s LATE here ?...\nand who\u2019s got & MAKING a problem with it ?...\nThe past & present MINORITY of the Ghetto Anglo Montrealers (7%) of all of Qu\u00e9bec is to blame here for not consciously recognize the \u201cQu\u00e9bec Act\u201d (an Act for making more effective Provisions for The Government of the Province of Qu\u00e9bec in North America) \nwas a British statute which received royal assent 22 June 1774 and became effective 1 May 1775;\n- it re-established the French language rights (got it Anglo Canada ?);\n-+ Catholic faith; \n-+ French civil law...\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is so important to THANK God for Pope Francis. It was God's love of his people that did this. Then we must start praying NOW that the church moves forward and not backward. We must also start making it known that we will not stand for a pope that is not pastoral ever again. We must pray that God protect the 'good' shepherds and that he brings down His enemies. Underneath all that lace and silk, God knows who his true disciples really are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It could be sooner than 3000 AD, or it could be later, but I am sure it will happen before the Lord returns in glory. I just doesn't make sense for the Lord to return and find that the Church is still trapped in the patriarchal culture of the Old Testament. By the power of the keys, the Church is entrusted to mediate all vocations. Our Lord promised that the Church would do greater things than he had done. After the resurrection, St Matthias was chosen by the Church, and all successors of the apostles have been chosen by the Church. Why is it that a woman cannot be ordained to ve a successors of the apostles? 2000 years not doing something is no justification for never doing it. Old habits die hard, but it is not a matter of faith. It is cultural, a new issue that the Church had never considered before, but the Holy Spirit can get the Church out of this prison. We can see the process unfolding...\n\nhttp://pelicanweb.org/CCC.TOB.html#CHRONOLOGY", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have a strange way of interpreting the Church's teaching. The Pope declared 'in order to remove all doubt' that the Church does not have the authority to ordain women. If in the past and at present the Church does not have this authority, where is it going to get it from? I asked this of you previously but you didn't answer.\nThe Power of the Keys is the guarantee that the Church will never teach anything which is contrary to the law of God regarding Faith (which includes the Sacraments) and Morals. According to your interpretation the Church would have the power to declare something which is a matter of Faith and Morals to be true in one century and untrue in the next. The Power of the Keys does not give the Church carte blanche to invent truth according to the signs of the times. The Church defines truth for all time.\nI doubt that continuing this discussion is going to be very productive as neither of us is likely to retreat from our positions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They crucified Jesus for standing up for the truth when the powers that be did not want to hear it. Just because a view is unpopular does not mean it is wrong. A good percentage of the Church was Arian at one point and yet the Church stood against it and prevailed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You've tried really hard in this piece to find some negative aspect to the KOC but came up empty. The tone is clearly anti-KoC, yet everything you write lauds their work: support of Catholic news outlets, rescuing Papal centers, helping Little Sisters of the Poor, underwriting the March for Life, defending religious liberty, promoting Catholic values.. etc. You cite these things as if they are bad! Sounds like you'd rather see groups who promote Catholic objectives be poor, unorganized and non-influential. But that's what I'd expect from NCR.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.\u2026 ' (Colossians 3:2-4)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Over the last fifty years, the Hartford Archdiocese has imploded. From 1965 to 2015, Connecticut\u2019s population grew by 30%, and the number of parishes grew by 9%. Over the same period, the number of Catholics declined by 27%, mass attendance declined by 69%, nuns by 78%, priests by 65%, seminarians by 88%, parochial students by 81%, marriages by 76%, and infant baptisms by 74%.\n\nThe decline in the number of Catholics is lagging all of the other statistics, but will inevitably fall in line with them. Currently, there are 3 nuns for every priest, whereas fifty years ago there were 4. The erosion of parochial education has been, and will continue to be, a challenging deficiency in the Archdiocese\u2019s evangelization of future generations. \n\nThere have been several comments regarding religious education, implying that evangelization of youths ought to be a parental duty. Given the Church\u2019s hierarchical and magisterial structure, how can that happen?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@purgatrix. Let me see if I understand your post. The inherent suggestion here is that the Catholic Church\u2019s youth, content with its rigid teachings on sexual issues, are not leaving the Church. And, you know this because, if our youth were bailing on the Roman Catholic Church, they would certainly find their solace in the Protestant churches and the evidence for this would be clear in the bulging numbers of ex-RC youth jockeying for pews in those churches. But, this hasn\u2019t happened largely because the Protestant churches have pandered to youth, i.e. gone soft on teaching about sexual issues, resulting in an exodus of their youth and near extinction of their Churchrs. So, how come these youth aren\u2019t breaking down our doors in their search for firm answers, both spiritual and sexual? Instances of youth participation in many parishes is currently about as rare as clean drinking water in Puerto Rico.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"You must become a Samaritan,\" he said.\n\"His letter was delivered by Cardinal Peter Turkson.\"\n\nThis could be a historic moment in the history of 21st century Roman Catholicism. Either the church can go along with the growing xenophobic and openly fascist trend or it can be counter cultural and stand for Gospel values.\n\nIt will be even more historic if Turkson is elected the next pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And excommunicating the Le Pens (after the election of course) or better yet backing up the local bishops in France doing it would be a similar move on the right side of history. As would have Pius XI or Pius XII excommunicating Mussolini and Hitler. It is a tool that the Catholic Church has to deal with people who are spreading hate and who are actually harming the world through their extremist hatred. I think the far right populists are that scary and evil and need to be dealt with more harshly than the Church just ignoring them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "additionally i was impressed by archbishop chaput's wise appreciation of the irony of the situation. in the past, catholics were accused of lack of fidelity to the united states, and taking political orders from Rome. however, in this case, it seems there is an outside influence from Moscow seeking to effect the outcome of the election.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have an equivalent saint, St. Paul who persecuted early Christians, in our Christian history.\nIt is not always the perfect ones who does the will of God, I noticed. \nWe do the will of God when we smile and say a simple kind word to a lonely kid on the street!\n \n' There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, \u2018Son, go and work today in the vineyard.\u2019 \u2018I will not,\u2019 he replied. But later he changed his mind and went. Then the man went to the second son and told him the same thing. \u2018I will, sir,\u2019 he said. But he did not go.\u2026", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A \"glimmer\" of hope. Of course as Alexandra notes the bar is low, but who can argue with \"servant leadership\" and \"...fall in love with Christ\"? Transitioning of culture, especially from a \"cultish\" culture of ideology, revived and reinforced so forcibly by the John Paul/Benedict era is not \"instant\". Maybe the \"ears\" are learning to hear, albeit weakly, so the need for us to continue to shout - especially women and for women and so on must continue unabated. \nQuestion: if priesthood is really about \"ontological change\", why all the formation?\nThe change, is it not some ethereal \"ontological\"; it is the \"falling in love with Jesus\", the real Jesus and the affirmation of that readiness to be and share.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Jesus' death on the cross was never meant to be a blood offering to appease the anger of a vengeful Father. Surely you recognize that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr. Reese makes an especially good point about changing the culture of the church as an organization. He has further implied an additional factor of checks and balances when mentioning separation of the judicial from the legislative and executive functions. Having three separate governing bodies in the church could help to reduce the corruption and heavy-handedness of the last two administrations. \n\nToo many times we Catholics have been willing to accept past weaknesses in church governance. It is time we got it right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since Robin's father is pure Haole and her mother is 75% Hawaiian/25% Filipino, according to Aunty Elsie Kaahaaina (upstanding role model of integrity & devout Christian), then Robin Danner had to have lied on her homestead application. These are the typical kinds of weak arguments and rhetoric I see about Danner. Meanwhile, the woman is analyzing budgets, building commercial kitchens, creating local jobs and developing solar projects. Which do you see as more helpful to the Hawaiian community? Your rant about her blood quantum or her work in the community?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I dont know ur income level or if u work or r disabled but u can go to catholic social services and ask for help. U can also call 211 to find out if there r other programs that might assist u. CSS helped my brother with his deposit but he was homeless. also if u have okay credit and can afford to make a small loan payment u might check on getting a small bank loan. Just a thot. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a college student that's much more religious than my parents. I went to a Catholic high school but public grade schools. From my perspective, going to a Catholic schools does nothing for students' faith. If anything it weakens it. The reason for this is twofold: one is the poor catechesis in so many schools that focuses on \"social justice\" rather than the core teachings of the Church, second is simply the fact that it is school. Because Catholicism is homework, it automatically becomes an obligation. \n\nThe solution would be one of two extremes: either to intensely educate kids about the deep theology and thinking behind Catholicism, or take a hands-free approach and try to plant a seed of curiosity about the Faith which will blossom with maturity. The second option is closer to my own experience, but also riskier.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't.....\n\nBUT it was Francis who said \"pray about it, inform yourselves and vote\"...Francis didn't say who to vote for and was on public record as saying \"building walls is not Christian.building bridges is.\"...a clear allusion to Trump and said at a critical Trump time.\n\nI think, though not very well stated that the author is attempting to co-relate the abortion issue with a catholic vote for Trump...a product of a LOT of clergy that have not take to heart Pope Francis's message and dutifully regurgitate the USCCB pelvic culture warrior stuff we have come to expect from them....\n\nFRancis also indicated early in his papacy that he did NOT want a culture war motif, theUSCCB didn't get the memo.\n\nBOttom line....until catholic voters mature to a point where obnoxious guys like that cleric in San Diego are seen for what they really are...relatively brainless bullies....and until ALL Catholic voters are developmentally mature enough to make mature conscience votes...it will be a mess.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I do yoga and was a Girl Scout (and leader), my far greater concern is the silence of everyday Catholics on the administration's rhetoric and treatment of immigrants and the poor, especially people of color. Jesus is clear on what is expected of us in the familiar Matthew 25. We have become a country of exclusion, gated communities, and mass incarceration. As Catholics, we know a God of mercy, who came only for sinners, and is the ultimate giver of second chances. Jesus said we would see Him in the poor, the unwanted, the strangers in our midst. Have we become too frightened to meet Him?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Last week the USCCB held it's first ever Catholic Convocation in Orlando. One of its purposes was to listen to the voices of American Catholicism. It hoped to begin the healing process of Catholic polarization in the USA. These disputes over the OF and the EF are exactly what they were trying to heal. The Church is a big tent. There is room for Charismatics, Blue Army of Fatima, Catholic Worker, Miraculous Medal Novenas, OF and EF. The more important issue is that we all hold the same Catholic Faith. These other things are more on \"emphasis\" than substance.\nOur country and world is polarized. Must Christ's Church be so? Let us unite and lay down our swords and egos at the foot of the Cross. What a mighty force for good would the Catholic Church be if we would glory in the same Faith and have unity in diversity.\nGrant this O Lord!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"AL conflicts with 5 points of prior Catholic teaching. AL conflicts with tradition...both can't be true.\"\n\nRD, you keep saying that but have shown no evidence to back it up. Your charges are as empty as a Trump campaign promise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Er, I most certainly, most definitely and most categorically did not say that 'Freser thinks sinlessness the only pre-condition for not exercising the death penalty'; these are your words, not mine (and not even Freser's). Scroll back and read my post again, carefully this time. I used the word 'sinlessness' in reference to Jesus alone.\n\nIf you're accustomed to read the Gospel as poorly as this, then no wonder you put it down with such extreme notions as supporting the death penalty!\n\nAs for giving dissidents a hearing, why... if they speak l*es to truth? Would you, for the same reason, give Satan a hearing? He, too, is a bit of a 'dissident'. (Or so I've heard.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe it is indeed about numbers. As evidence I offer the closings of Catholic schools due, in great part, to fewer nuns/sisters, and the closing of parishes due to lack of priests.\n\nFewer professed personnel means fewer of everything ordination is supposed to make them uniquely qualified to do; sermons, doctrinal teachers, staff schools, lead parishes, administer sacraments, etc, etc ...\n\nAnd all of it tied to them working for less than lay workers --- the money \"numbers\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 of 2\nself-righteousness, as possibly we underestimated the generosity of Jesus Christ in our own personal salvation; as to attempt to embrace our Father in the Truth of His Inviolate Word (Will) can only be done in humility (Self-abasement before Him)\nA faith that does not embody this consistent \u201crealization will be sterile\u201d, comparable a stylus stuck in the grove of a record as the heart will not hear/absorb the full transforming message of Spiritual enlightenment that is the on-going transformation of the human heart.\nI know this from personal experience because my own heart was stuck in a grove over many years\n\nIs it not in the self-knowledge of our own individual need of His \u2018continual\u2019 Mercy that induces within us a humble heart, as a human heart of self- abasement before God creates a tender compassionate heart towards our neighbour?\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trid,\nTo answer your question directly, no: I believe you're wrong. Your argument is the old \"pay, pray and obey\" mentality, designed to keep people in line, without requiring those in charge be held accountable. \n\nLet me try it this way: let's ASSUME that HV is in fact a church doctrine. Were that the case, and knowing that 85% of Catholics have not accepted the teaching, disagree with it, would it not make sense for bishops to make this one their number one priority in the church? What bishop would want to face his maker, knowing that they did very little to try to convert those many millions of Catholics who died on their watch, and went to hell? Would it not have been better for those people to have NOT been Catholic? Yet, HV came down to a relatively weak defense, in the late 60s and 70s, and all but dried up since.\n\nTo your point directly, if the Holy Spirit loves the church, what are the odds She will allow 85% of Catholics go to hell? Your \"distinction\" doesn't fly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Due to the Bishop's Framework used in most Catholic High Schools the teaching of World Religions as a separate &in depth course has all but disappeared from many school curricula, except as an elective. More independence needs to be given to schools to explore the beauty & even the conflicts with all World Religions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Back in the 80's a man named Thomas Day wrote a book called \"Why Catholics can't sing.\" It garnered a fair amount of attention at the time. When he described attending a midnight mass at a major urban cathedral at which hardly anyone bothered to open their mouths and sing \"Silent Night\" he wrote, \"I realized then I was witnessing a cultural breakdown of monumental proportion.\" Some things never change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah...the difference, we should always be working at creating, constructing, betterment, soul matters, right near us, \"within 40 feet of us\" should take up 95% of our prayer, sacrifice, and work. \n\nHow utterly warm and simple and \"fruitful\" our life would be. Christ in our midst helping this or that person right near us, through our constant conversation with Him, our never ending and always beginning again Yes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "3/6 .... Rather, Jesus zeroes in on our actions and attitudes toward others. He offers no platitudes about how outsiders should be viewed. .... The exhortation is underlined by three concrete examples. First, if someone strikes you on the cheek, then offer him the other. Probably, given the context of religious persecution, the slap refers to exclusion from the synagogue. .... Second, Jesus gives the example of someone stealing one's outer garment. He advises letting them have the undershirt too! The point is that one should not seek revenge but remain exposed and be willing to take even more risks.\u201d - IVP New Testament Commentary\n\nThis exhortation deals with one-on-one relationships on the part of the disciples as themselves. It does not address the disciples as citizens of a state, which He already addressed with his \u201cRender to Caesar\u201d admonition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Priesthood isn't just about \"presiding\" at worship. That is a Protestant notion of ministry. \n\nThe form Sacramental celebrations have taken have indeed changed over the centuries, sometimes because of cultural considerations. The essence of the Sacraments have not changed. The Eucharist was always the Eucharist regardless of the form the celebration took. \n\nYou said that the Bible was written by \"men.\" My point about the Bible being Theopneustos was that God is the primary author. Whether God worked through men or women to write the Bible does not impact the message or contents of the Bible because what was written is what God wanted written.\n\nWhen you said the Bible was written by \"men\" I took you to mean that the Bible is not credible when it talks about the genders due to \"patriarchal\" influence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not a peep from the National Catholic Reporter about the scandal concerning Our Lady of the Atonement in the San Antonio diocese, just as there wasn't about what happened to St. Edwards in Newark, CA, which is a closer parallel but where the roles of the \"hermeneutic of continuity\" and \"hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture\" advocates were reversed.\n\nIt isn't as though what is going on at OLA is secret--the scandal is big news at every other Catholic news source.\n\nApparently here at NCR this kind of thing is only bad, or even newsworthy, when increased reverence in liturgy and obedience to Vatican II is what is being forced on the people heavy-handedly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding:\" Didn't he have his credentials as a Catholic theologian cancelled 35-40 years ago?\"\n- Kung's theological and scholarly credentials, his ordination, and his faith were not cancelled. \n- Thus, still plenty to learn even if one does not attend to his position on infallibility.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church's authority is based on acceptance of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and the Scriptures as reliable sources of his ministry.\n\nIf you accept those, you're logically compelled to accept the authority of his Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's comforting to moderns to think this way --- that \"The only sinners Jesus seemed to reject were the ones who thought there were not sinners i.e. the ones who followed the rules aka the Pharisees.\" Comforting, because moderns don't like following rules. They don't like being told what to do. \"Rules\" are often disparaged on this progressive site, because it is thought that NO ONE has the right to bind us, and rules bind. Indeed, here, respecting God's rules marks you as Pharisaic. So out with the rules, and let's all just be compassionate, and we'll all get to heaven. Compassion is essential, but that's not all that Jesus or Scripture demanded. He said, \"If you love me, keep my commandments\" --- obey my rules. \"Conform your actions to my Divine will.\" Too authoritarian for a lot of progressives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most Catholic don't watch EWTN.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just another op-ed piece to show how peace loving the Muslims are, with the underlying appeal to our \"white guilt\" and plea for \"understanding, forgiveness, diversity\", the commonly used code words to create Islamophilia. This is right out of the Muslim Brotherhood manifesto: make the West accept us, feel sorry for us, love us so that we can infiltrate them, dominate them, convert them and impose Sharia Law all over the world. This is no conspiracy theory, just another aspect of the seditious plan that we westerners have been ignoring at our own peril: jut read the Muslim Brotherhood manifesto in this court document: https://clarionproject.org/muslim_brotherhood_explanatory_memorandum/\nand dear censor, before you are even tempted to remove this post, read it again: it is just an opinion, not inflammatory, just a counter point to Sheema Khan's, who suggests that Christians and Jews are responsible for Islamist extremism. Thank you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I simply do not understand why it matters which language we celebrate mass with!\nDo you think God only speak in Latin? Do you know that God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnibenevolent? \nIt matters how we celebrate mass with our sincere heart moved with love for God!\nWhen you do not know what celebrant clergy are saying in mass, your heart less likely to move for God.\nTo me it is like the teenage kids who wish for the name brand blue jeans out of vanity to insist using Latin.\nSome times, Lord talk to me on my thought at the moment when I haven't yet verbalized my thought.\nSome times, Lord convince me something in couple of seconds that I can't believe without hours of convincing talk. \nWhen you experience God's love for you, then you understand how much God loves other people.\nIt is true to believe that God created this whole universe just for each one of you that include all other practitioner of none Catholic religions! So, lets move on from these childish talks!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly you're mistaken. Although I can't speak for all religions, faith and reason for the vast majority of Christians are not mutually exclusive of science, hence there is no 'cherry picking'. \n\nOfcourse, I recognize that there are denominations which adhere to more literal interpretations of events as described in various ancient texts, which may not be compatible with specific scientific theories. On the flipside, scientists are also not necessarily unified in their theories, many of which are in fact contradictory or biased in some way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Strange premise in this interview:\n\n\"Life is made by tension. And because life is made by tension, if there is no tension there is no life.\"\n\nYou can see this everywhere from the \"go make a mess\" comments to the constant emphasis on allowing controversial ideas to be discussed openly that tension is Francis' modus operandi.\n\nI get the biological and political factoids that support this principle most famously put forth by Hegel but is that a Gospel perspective? Is that Jesus' opinion of how to give life? \n\nI always thought the Gospel was rather clear: unity gives life. Communion gives life. Loving self gift to the other gives life. Jesus Christ who is life itself came to draw all men unto Himself that they might have life.\n\nI get also that Jesus is Himself a sign of contradiction. Men's hearts clouded by sin tend to reject such authentic love. But did He intentionally sow discord as a means of giving life to the world? No!\n\nWhy govern Christ's own Body in such a manner?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some folk say she was super popular while governing Alaska. What most didn't see was that pretty face, a different face, a face that wore ivory earrings, who was totally clueless. A walking clueless governor who relied on friends and Jesus thumping to get her through the next governmental drama. Like why does one have to have new wiring in the governors mansion, just for her tanning bed? tisk tisk how annoying to have to deal with. \n\nThere is a reason why she received so many ethics charges against her. I believe some of them were just for jokes sake. Just to watch her twist her little bible in a knot. Then there were some just to shed light in her carelessness cluelessness behavior. \n\nThen she quit. Which is fine, if you can't handle the job, then bye bye. \nShe is a quitter. She will always go down as Alaska's First Woman Governor Quit. \n\nI'm thankful Jesus answered my prayers on her. phew.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "C. B. talk about \"Feminization\" of the Church! \nWho could take seriously, a clergy who prancing around in $36,000 clergy outfit made out of red silk and laces? He likes to show off himself instead solemn sacrifice of Christ on the altar! \n\u201cTake nothing for the journey, He told them, \u201cno staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no second tunic.\u201d (Luke 9:3) What happen to this Jesus teaching?\nThus our Lord asks, \u201cAnyone who wishes to follow me let him forsake himself (ego self).\u201d (Matthew 16:24) \nThe unknown author of The Cloud of Unknowing writes: \u201cThis foul, wretched lump called sin is none other than yourself and though you do not consider it in detail, you understand now that it is part and parcel of your very being and something that separates you from God. And so reject the thought and experience of all created things but most especially learn to forget yourself\u2026\u201c. \nC. Burke needs to work on forgetting himself first!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. I have no idea if Orange Lodges are still anti-Catholic or anti-French in the 21st century - I suspect they're more of a community social club like the Legion - but they certainly were. In Northern Ireland they are anti-Catholic to this day.\n\n2. The Orange Order in Ontario campaigned full-out for the hanging of Riel, a French-speaking catholic, making the issue one of the biggest political and religious - not legal - conflicts in Canadian history. Sir John A complied, famously saying \"He shall die though every dog in Quebec bark in his favour\" -losing Conservatives the French Canadian vote for decades.\n\n3. French language education was banned in Ontario by Regulation 17 in 1912, precisely *because* francophones from Quebec were moving into eastern and northern Ontario. It was a shameful period of Ontario history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The commentors here and elsewhere who dwell on Matthew 19 do not seem to even be aware of John's Gospel story of the woman caught in adultery. Yes, of course there are standing problems with the authenticity of the text -- which is hardly a surprise in any event. However, that story is soooo like the Jesus who heals, and loves the sinner, and offered his life as a ransom! \"Neither do I condemn thee; now go thy way and sin no more.\" (Once I heard a judge sitting in his courtroom dispatch a case using those very words! And I'm proud to say of him that he was once a student of mine.) How interesting that these commentors do not want to elevate this teaching from John to the level of law, as they do with Matthew 19!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If ship-jumping started with the progressive changes to the Church put in place by Vatican II 50 years ago, why do you think that even more extreme forms of those progressive changes will fix the problem? Isn't that just more of the same except in degree? If the Church follows such, eventually, she will be an empty ship as you say the jump rate is staggering. Why come to mass at all if its not a necessity. It's boring! We've already seen that making the the Mass 'entertaining' to fill the seats can not possibly compete with the non-denominational protestant mega church \"services\". Protestants will always do easy-believeism worshiptainment mercy Jesus WAY better than Catholics. I mean they only have to pray one prayer, ever!! The more Catholics get a taste of worshiptainment mass the more they leave for the Mega church with it's on campus coffee shop and in-house Barnes and Noble, amazing music, creative youth activities and 'one prayer and that's it for life' liturgy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dejain says... \"Trying to mandate how everyone else lives is perilously close to hubris.\"\n\nThat's precisely what SB3391 is doing by forcing Christians to compromise their beliefs. Not a single Republican voted for the bill which was written by Planned Parenthood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your comment rdp46\n\n\n\u201cWe all have our own ideas of what God may or may not will\"\n\nHis Will is made known to us through His living inviolate Word \n\n \u201cI am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me\u201d.\n\nAnd we know the Truth of this statement if we have faith in His Word and incorporate it into our own will and then do our best to live it.\n\n\u201cIn everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the prophets. Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.\u201d\u2026\n\n\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Abortion is not murder. \n\nRemember how we've talked about how I used to be an evangelical? I know you believe I must a backslider and was never \"truly\" an evangelical, but whatever. Abortion was the nail in the coffin for me. I was raised in church and told my whole life that abortion is murder (with examples). I held onto this even after I had left the church into my 20s. It took some patient people explaining to me how misguided I was until I realized it. \n\nYou can have whatever opinion you want about when a life begins (Hobby Lobby not wanting to buy Plan B is extreme, but it's their opinion). However, the image you have in your head of abortion doctors ripping living infants out of the womb is a fairytale. There are very rare and extreme (I'll add disgusting) cases where this has occurred but it is statistically insignificant when it comes to these discussions.\n\nWhen the infant is viable abortion is rare and is performed to save the mother's life. Denying this right is atrocious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Yet Dr Taylor persists in weaving his \"neo-Mediaeval\" mantle for Ed Zinke. Why?...\"\n\nJim, I take Dr Taylor's references to the Mediaeval church to be mostly by way of analogy as to the power of that Church to control the thinking of the populace then, and the GC, coupled with EGW, to manage how 'good' SDAs should think. Surely he would never imagine it could mean anything more than that?\n\nI think the problem lies in the way that SDAism is more aligned with OT Judaistic thinking, plus Mediaeval/RC literalism than with the thinking of the NT at its mystical heart.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When you read about Jesus, get to know the Jesus I know, you know he is on the side of The people out in the temple court who just want to offer their sacrifice, their service their spiritual gift. But the money changers demand too high of a price. They turn the gift into a burden, they look at that spiritual gift and say, sorry, you can't pay the right price so your service is not accepted. But my hero, Jesus, looks at this mess, and he tips over the tables, he cracks his whip, the money changers run away, those evil men trying to keep the people from their simple sacrifice, those power-hungry keepers of the temple court, find they are no match for the purity and nobility of my Jesus. And the people come inside, the children are blessed and the mothers are recognized. My Jesus is on the side of the people called to serve. Not on the side of those keeping them from serving. It is plain to see if you know this Jesus!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think this article \"shrinks\" Christ in any way at all. It presents Him as Our King and our Redeemer and seems to me to be wholly consistent with our faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'The last item (information sharing), said McCormack, would \"help break the secrecy and silence in the church.\"\nYes Ms McCormack, that would help enormously. What would be the decisive move to 'break the secrecy and silence' would be for Pope Francis, the Church's supreme legislator, to excise from Canon Law the 'pontifical secret' which, among other things, binds bishops and other senior religious leaders not to report paedophile clergy to civil authorities in jurisdictions which do not have mandatory reporting laws. In those countries which do have mandatory reporting, the Holy See has granted dispensations to local bishops but the concession is that they 'may' report not 'must.' \nUntil someone explains to Pope Francis that he presides over a internal legal system which elevates Canon Law over the teaching of Christ, the Church's own best moral teachings and intuitions then all the protocols and procedures will continue to amount to nothing but smoke and mirrors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good article, kids need to play as many sports as they can, the select/specialization aspect is about money and parents hiring private coaches who tell the parent\nthere kid is the next big superstar so that the parents will keep writing checks. Recruiting is a huge issue, I believe Wiaa rules are very specific about the fact that you can't recruit for athletic purposes, yet I see 6ft 3 inch 240 lb freshman linebacker at east side Catholic and many other 250 lb plus freshman and sophomores on their roster, it's a joke and creates a very uneven/unsafe playing field. A separate private school league should be put in place, then let these teams have their own recruiting wars and beat up on each other. What happened to the good old days where on Friday night you and your buddies from you neighborhood played they kids from another near by neighborhood, there were great games and rivalries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The safe thing, clearly, is never to name anything after anybody. James McGill owned slaves, so we\u2019ll have to rename his university. William MacMaster excluded non-Christians from the university that bears his name, so that will have to be excised. Winston Churchill, a man of his times, was quite racist in many of his views so lots of name changing to be done there. Oddly, Queen Victoria harboured unfortunate views about women (vehemently opposed to suffrage), so there are schools, colleges, even entire cities and Australian states to be renamed.\n\nLet's just use numbers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is a very strange attitude that respect and dignity for women is of lesser importance. Nothing is more important than following the command of Jesus to love your neighbor as yourself. Have you considered that in those places where people are starving, those are the places where women have no birth control, little education, second class status, etc. The status of women there is a cause of that poverty and starvation. It is going to take a long time? Better get started then. It should be important to you to have a Church that is not at variance with the New Testament. Protestants have women priests and women ministers and did not find it to be of lesser importance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"HRC and her mishandling of this has really given her a major problem I do not wish to get involved in, despite the best efforts of her team to drag me in.\" Colin Powell, quoted in Politico. \n\n\u201cI didn't tell Hillary to have a private server at home, connected to the Clinton Foundation[.] [T]wo contractors . . . took away 60,000 emails[;] she had her own domain.\u201d Colin Powell, quoted in Politico. \n\nAnd yes, Hillary would be more competent . . . more competent, even, than Obama --- in taking this country where it should not go. Trump is unsuited for the Presidency. Clinton would be worse. I, unlike you, don't have the hubris to call this anything other than my personal opinion. But one thing is sure: She will take this country where the Founders never envisioned us, and where no Catholic should feel comfortable. Yes, yes, I know. Of what relevance are the Founders anymore? And some \"Catholics\" will feel very comfortable with her.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes....but then woul you agree that the use if the word \"Catholic\" in the title may be a bit misleading? Especially since, as you say, NCR is NOT affiliated with the official \"Church\" or her teachings?? One might suspect given the title, that they are so affiliated.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't care what evangelicals do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I represented is the position of the Pontifical Biblical Commission. If you want to remain at the sixth-grade level of the Catechism, you are certainly entitled to do so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dave (or whatever curious screen name you are using today),\n\nOh, so WO is suddenly a \"non-essential?\" Your persistent opposition to it made it seem that you thought it was the biggest, baddest devilish deception of the decade.\n\nIf your church is doing as you say then it appears they are paying no attention to you because the \"I'm right and you have to see things my way\" attitude you've been displaying here is the Number One reason our youth have been leaving the church. On the other hand, maybe you are having an impact and there would be a lot more youth attending if you weren't so insistent that others agree with you.\n\nIf you don't want to be vigorously opposed, stop mistaking theological ant mounds for mountains that you feel you must defend. Then please find the ministry God wants you doing so you can be helping the church grow faster.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Political power is ruthlessly acquired in exploitation of nature...\"\nWholeheartedly agree. \"Power\" is acquired by means of exploitation. \nAnother way of expressing the teaching of Jesus might be: exploitation, never no more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's stay with Saint Luke's Gospel, but I could easily provide 20 other passages just within the NY on how Christians should and must deal with suffering.\n\nStaying with St Luke:\n\nLuke 14:27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple\n\n9:23 Then he said to them all: \u201cWhoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the Orthodox and Eastern Catholics have it correct, all initiatory sacraments at the same time: baptism, chrismation and eucharist all celebrated together.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a fascinating bit of news, re: crucified left to rot on their trees! It got me thinking of my studies in Christology, and what came to mind was that it is possible that, with His physical corpse decomposing in the Cross, Jesus the Christ could still rise from the dead, and appear to His disciples. That's the topic, now discuss among yourselves......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a graduate of a Catholic Medical School in the early 1970's, I recall being taught by several internists and oncologists at this medical school that when a terminal cancer patient wants pain relief they order 10 mg of IV morphine whenever the patient requested it. Perhaps this idea was very good medicine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apostasizing? Sure, blame the victim. \n\nYes, evangelicalism is making great strides in Latin America, but the responsibility for that belongs solely to the Catholic hierarchy who sided with the wealthy and powerful through countless generations. \n\nPeople go where they feel cared for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So are conservative catholics now ecumenical?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus is physically present only in the Eucharist. Your comment regarding a priest showing reverence for \"left over hosts\" as you put it, seems to show a complete lack of respect or belief in the true physical presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. If that was the last straw for you and caused you to leave the faith, I don't think you truly believed in the sacraments in the first place.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bible says that you should not covert another man's wife, but Christians have violated the 'law' millions of times. Let's face it, there are religious laws, then there are real life behaviors. Christian certainly have plenty of text to send their soldiers off to slaughter innocents in war. Christians most certainly do steal, like, cheat, philander, ect... Muslim are human as well.\n\nI love having a spiritual life, but I deeply resent others saying that my life perspective just doesn't fit their image of God. To me, its the ultimate arrogance of humans to let themselves think they have any chance of understanding the mind of what has to be univerasal God, unconstrained by time or space.\n\nI'm fine with mystery and if my faith is delusional, well, I've tried to follow it with a loving heart and good intentions. I believe in a spirit world, but I'm not expecting to confirm in factually within my lifetime. I hope I get a second chance! I can wait for an answer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure what article you are referring to...this article was written by a woman, Phyllis Zagano. The catechism, though it may strictly teach that divorce and remarriage is prohibited, was written by men and is or was their interpretation at one point in time, ultimately a time that people lived much shorter lives and women were property of their husbands with little or no rights. In addition, women were often a part of arranged marriages and were expected to remain chaste even under domestic abuse and the philandering actions of their husbands. And frankly, Jesus even said that divorce was not allowed except in the case of adultery. I wonder how many divorces are the result of adultery? What Francis has said is that those who have been divorced and remarried, especially when children are involved and some length of time has passed, maybe, just maybe, they have been punished enough and may gain strength by given access to the Eucharist, the source and summit of our life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Think positive, READ THE BIBLE, I like what cats and dogs do to there offspring that's deformed,,,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don'tcha wish! This Pope, Francis, possesses canonical authority over the Knights and Dames, over their organization, and over the cardinal-patron. Francis also has plenary authority over the investigation he has ordered. And Francis IS a cafeteria Catholic from the beginning of his papacy, and even dines there daily!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where in the gospel does it say that Joseph had relations with Mary, after the birth of Jesus?\n\nThe gospel is silent as to any relations, after the birth of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus said if we love Him, keep His commandments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am surprised by the Catholic vote, if the newspaper reports have it right. I did not think bishops had that much influence over lay Catholics - do you think it did affect many Catholic votes - or was it more the issue of jobs and the overturning the establishment that Trump promised?\n\nCan you write comments at your local newspaper? Somehow, Catholics who do not agree with their bishops need to make it clear to the politicians that the bishops do not speak for all Catholics. And other Catholics who do not necessarily agree with their bishops may take courage from having some speak out and say \"I don't agree with the bishop.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not if its on a Catholic institution's dime.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "appears to have made an impact on Benny - he resigned and objectively, his papacy will be remembered as *failed*.\nTo my points:\nhttp://www.noisiamochiesa.org/Archivio_NSC/attual/Allen.Kung.26.9.05.htm\nKey - In a dramatic gesture of reconciliation, Pope Benedict XVI met Sept. 24 with his former colleague and longtime nemesis, Swiss Catholic theologian Hans K\u00fcng During a four-hour session that stretched over dinner, the two men essentially agreed to disagree on doctrinal matters. The pope offered warm praise for K\u00fcng's efforts to foster dialogue among religions and with the natural sciences, while K\u00fcng expressed support for the pope's commitment along the same lines. (note - citing *respect* for each other....not sure Weinandy's letter is respect).\nMoreover, Kung and Benny met.....Weinandy's track record is to work in secret and make judgments. No dialogue; violates natural law; etc.\nOn the surface, you raise an issue but it is apples to oranges when you stretch to Kung/Benny.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So severe Downs children have no souls? Conveneint. Neuroscience cannot define the soul, but it can prove that it is not what we think of as consciousness. It has to be something else and be at the cellular level. Aristotle said it had to guide creation. Oddly enough, what guides creation starts at gastrulation. It is the neuro-electric energy that stops entropy (until we die). It starts from the differentiation of mesoderm and progesses. As I said in my article, that does not settle the legality of abortion, which relies on different things, especially the impact of the state on all first trimester pregnancies and miscarriages. It should, however, guide Catholics away from abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Righteousness by faith means to believe the biblical doctrine, as it is written, is the faith of Jesus. To be one with Him in Truth as He is with the Father. \n\nThat righteousness is His and can be ours by grace. If the church doctrine isn't according to the Bible, it is because there is no light in it. \n\nDo not think that the law was abolished, no it was established, once and for all on the cross. The baptism is a confession of faith in Jesus, His justification. Internalizing His teachings sanctification, a lifelong process of daily prayer and seeking God and His Word in truth. Someone saved will do His will by the Holy Spirit - but salvation is not obtained by works.\n\nHere are the patience of the saints, they keep the commandments and the faith of Jesus. In God is no shadow of turning, the renewed covenant is like the old, only that God will write it in our hearts so we will live it, instead of merely trying to obey it - which without a renewing of our minds - is not possible for man", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But our theology is not based solely on Scripture - it never has been. The logic that leads to no Church begins with a denial of one of the very fundaments of Christianity - the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sin. Paul's writings echo those of Psalm 51 and recognize a basic flaw that for which Jesus is remedy. God did not create that flaw (why would He?).\nNo Original Sin, no need for Jesus the God-Man. No need for Jesus, no need for the Church. The Church defined Scripture so, minus the former there is no latter.\nWe put our faith not only in Scripture but in the Authority that defines it; the Church. Prior to Scripture's codification, however, people put their faith in the preaching and teaching of the Apostles and their successors.\nThe \"truth as we know it today\" is not in conflict, that I can see, with the truth that the Church has always taught. And I'm 50+ years a scientist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are coping well with a frustration I have encountered with some posters on this site, confrontation with whom I will assiduously avoid ongoing. \n If what you are saying is not understood even should it invite insight, recollection and contemplative wisdom it is a relief nevertheless to observe these comments as I am relieved of the burden of feeling singled out as the subject of subtle and not so subtle suggestions I leave the church, even should by views be orthodox by generally accepted standards of orthopraxy.\n Not to forget the accusations that I am a heretic, an apostate and that I have forsaken God and by implication am bound for hell in a hand basket. One need only consider the source. \n Love covers a multitude of sins, and if the collective mind of the Catholic is not consistent, it is argumentative, opinionated and at times intractable. In retrospect it all seems funny. If laughter doesn't cover a multitude of sins, it can be a saving grace nonetheless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis/Holy Spirit 1---Burke, et al--0.\nGO POPE FRANCIS1", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When Christian conservatives rally their troops at the voting booth in an attempt to repeal gay civil marriage which in no way affects them personally, you'll forgive me for not sharing your view of them as \"good, decent, and patriotic Americans.\" As long as they continue to work tirelessly against people I know and love (which they are) I will most certainly continue to doubt their goodwill, which is sorely lacking where LGTB people are concerned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Christian Liberal, I run into this all the time. Somehow to the Evangelical, this country is not Christian enough and will be punished by God for not supporting their view of Christ. This includes abortion rights, which Jesus never said anything about, the blind support of the theocratic nation of Israel to freely steal lands from and murder Palestinians, and 'Blue Laws'.\nWell I have news for them, there is no agreement on Christ's message, other than you cannot get to heaven except through Him. This is a personal religious belief and has nothing to do with the running of our government and society. It is true that many of the Founding Fathers of this country were Christian, it is not true that they believed their way was the way for everyone, nor that our government should be run as if it were. I pray these hard-line Evangelicals see the truth of Love in Jesus' message and quit pushing all these hateful laws which exempt others from living their lives as they see fit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the church is so steeped in this culture of silence, of not \"rocking the boat,\" that those traits have become a cancer on the organization. \n\nI too am angered, and extremely disappointed by this story. That a Cardinal O'Malley can be a leader of the Archdiocese of Boston, and NOT understand the anger, and the need for the church hierarchy to address this stuff is beyond my imagination. Sadly, it calls to question in my mind, his motives, and his beliefs about all of this. \n\nI cannot help but recall the Gospel story about Jesus cleaning out the temple. I just can NOT imagine a Jesus that would get angry and take action over \"money changers\" and commerce on temple properties, but who would be willing to sit back and take is slow when it comes to child abuse. I don't even want to believe in such a Jesus. Nor do I. \n\nFor a church that calls us to a change of heart, church leadership seems completely unwilling to adopt the same standard for themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The extent of the dumping of children's remains at the Bon Seccour mother and baby home in Tuam, Co. Galway has reignited the whole issue of religious orders making a just contribution to the cost of the sexual abuse scandal of religious orders, which has cost the Irish taxpayer \u20ac1.5B . Institutions have only paid 13% and had agreed to pay 50%. The Irish government is now planning a request for a direct intervention from Pope Francis; to instruct the religious orders to pay-up. There is a head of steam building up that may surprise the Vatican. A legal and moral battle may follow.\n\nThe children's remains were dumped because they were born out of wedlock and that was a very grievous sin against RCC morality. They were not fit to be buried in consecrated burial grounds. The poor mothers were untouchables in the eyes of the church; to be outcasts. So much for their Christian values preached from the pulpit.\nArchbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has stated that institutions must pay.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "6. The faith of Christ is in opposition to human reason and divine revelation not only is not useful, but is even hurtful to the perfection of man. -- Ibid.\nResponse: Faith and reason are compatible, as long at the Curia listens to reason and evidence.\nThe Ibid in QC was referring to correspondence or other encyclicals. This is not about faith but about epistemic matters - therefore not doctrinal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oops and Miss Ann, and others had it right. For the uninformed, Natives are ranked below federal prisoners as far as health care delivery. As we fight over health care, remember our christian crooks in Washington are cannibalizing our infrastructure, and health and social programs for the sick, weak, poor, diseased, hungry and the dying, the same kind of people the Christian jesus helped.. And sending the trillions overseas to fund America's colonial expeditions to change governments worldwide to ones bribed to allow oil and mining corporations to go in and steal others resources and lands, creating terrorism by terrorizing the local Natives who get terror and murder in exchange for the theft by propped up dictatorships. Or by invading and occupying countries to allow the sale of military weaponry and supplies and to profit the oil and mining companies. \nWe spend trillions and foreigners profit, we sacrifice our kids as security guards and we weather the terrorist attacks they don't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The parish priest is actually supposed to understand pastoral work. Sometimes they learn it mostly on the job and they certainly are supposed to have colleagues to talk with and supervisors to learn from, just like everyone else with vocations and jobs that call for discretionary practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is certainly not the first time I've encountered the court's opinion. I thought it was pretty well established.\n\nAnyway Christ said not to make a display of religiosity. So there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "#8. \nThese first four steps are an ascent, a mastery of the past. At the top of this ascent, the theologian had best be also a mystic, for it is here that they must encounter the Divine, be converted, grasp what is next, and move the Tradition forward. Get it right, and the Spirit wins, get it wrong, and, as Jesus has promised, another false prophet is born.\n\nThe last four steps for specialties are pedagogic. The Traditions as brought forward by a theologians new Insights is conveyed to the Holy People of God. \n\nSince doctrinal evolution is continuous, so this cycle of 8 specialties if continuous, but this cyclic action move the Tradition forward. \n\nSo Method is simple, IF you understand the foundation if the first half of Insight. The text reads fairly easy, but therein lies the problem. Without that foundation, it is readily misunderstood.\n\nMuch more here than you asked for, and you weren't asking me! But there it is. Method is tough if you don't start with Insight. \n\n", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, the history of Lane County is replete with the activities of the Ku Klux Klan, one of whose core beliefs was anti-Catholicism. \nFrom the Oregon Blue Book\" Chapters of the Ku Klux Klan formed in Tillamook, Medford, Eugene, and Portland, as well as many other towns. Robed Klansmen paraded in the streets, ignited crosses on hillsides, nailed American flags to the doors of Catholic schools, and intimidated African-Americans.\"\n \"The Klan, FOPS, and Scottish Rite Masons sponsored a bill, passed in 1922 in the general election, to compel all children to attend public schools. The overtly anti-Catholic measure threatened to close all parochial schools and military academies.\"\nOregon Encyclopedia\n\"by 1923 Oregon Klan leaders claimed 35,000 members in more than sixty local chapters and provisional Klans. Hundreds of other Oregonians joined the Women of the Ku Klux Klan, the Junior Order of Klansmen for teenagers, and the Royal Riders of the Red Robe for foreign-born Protestants.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well that would depend upon your definition of what being a Catholic entails? Presumably that definition is exclusively your own.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I feel the same way. I want to vote YES because I think state recognition of a union should be available to all couples - if it's available to heterosexual couples, it should be available to homosexual couples. It's a civil right. But the 'conversation' we're having here is so one-sided, so bitterly prejudiced against those not in favour, that my rational mind is being overwhelmed with resentment and desire to punish! I don't worship a sky fairy! I do have a right to an opinion even though I'm a Christian! I'm not an evil bigot! And I'm going to have my revenge by voting NO! (I'm not proud of this).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and the mother and father and siblings have no say when it comes to next of kin questions if the child is partnered or married to another of the same sex. Catholic hospitals have finally come around to that view instead of excluding the spouse and hoping for a death bed confession.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, that's not quite precise. He was allowed to be picked by the Holy Spirit. Just as the Holy Spirit allowed history's few bad popes to be picked.\n\nHe..the Holy Spirit..can draw good out of anything.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another question. MSW is always very critical of pro-choice politicians, especially Catholic pro-choice politicians. I'm wondering what a Roe v Wade overturn would look like in MSWs world?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why aren't young men who grow up at modern churches pursuing vocations to the priesthood? If they did, it would help balance out those men who grow up at more traditional parishes. \n\nI grew up at a parish inspired by Marcel Breuer's Abbey Church in Collegeville. Out of my confirmation class of 125, only 5 of us have continued to practice the faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's what they are really trying to say:\n\"Hey, you little piss-ant queers, why is this so hard to understand? We detest you. You are sinners. We know this because it\u2019s in the Ten Commandments and because of all the things Jesus said personally about you. It\u2019s right here in our Bible. Yours is the worst sin of all\u2014even more abhorrent than that of murderers, adulterers, liars, cheaters and thieves. We will gladly do business with them, but not with you. While we are in business to make money, we don\u2019t want yours. If we hate you, discriminate against you, demean and belittle you, punish you and harass you enough, you\u2019ll change your ways. We know this because look at how we\u2019ve been able to reduce your numbers, even just during our lifetimes. Then, and only then, will we have a society in which everyone behaves the way we think they should, in accordance with our religious beliefs. This is called \u201creligious freedom,\u201d and is worthy of action by lawmakers.\"\n\nThat wan't so hard now, was it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Natural law is greater than even Canon law. \nWe cannot make a canon law that conflicts with natural law.\n\nMarriage was created by God \"from the beginning\".\n\nAs Jesus tells us in St Matthew's Gospel. \n\nPope Francis isn't \"going back to the Gospels' at all...in fact some commentators are totally perplexed that he refuses to wrestle with Jesus's own words (and his correction to Mosaic law) in St Matthew's Gospel.\n\nHe ignores it!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus said \"Rebuke the sinner\".\n\nBegin to resolve these marvelous lessons of Jesus Christ, vs. suppressing one and over-repeating another.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Been there. Done that. As I recall, Pope Francis encouraged all the Church to discuss women deacons, not just a select few.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cThe (sexual) stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone\u201d (Psalm 118:22). \u201cThey laid hands on Peter and John (hmmm) and put them in custody until the next day\u201d (Acts 4:3). \u201cSo the disciple whom Jesus loved (really) said to Peter, `it is the Lord\u2019\u201d (John 21:7). This is a matter of church politics versus social science truth. There is no need to insult one another about what is \u201cnatural\u201d and what not in order to figure out how the Creator expects the Faithful to deal with what the social sciences are uncovering about human sexuality. Liturgy of the Word, Reading 265, Friday of the Octave of Easter I", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gay couples adopt or have life other ways. No 50 year old couple is \"open to life.\" Again, you are conflating celibate poetry with Canon Law. It was tried in all the marriage cases and it failed miserably. It only works in the world of Catholic Relativism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "60% of white Catholics voted for Trump, 52% of all Catholics voted for Trump. (pewresearch.org)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, we have all the clerical people of the Church and all the religious of the Church who make that commitment. Does that mean they all keep that commitment? For God to say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When 6 million Afghans fled after the Soviet invasion, thy went to Pakistan and Iran. No one was refused entry. India took in 9 million refugees from Bangladesh in 1971. Turkey has 3 million refugees fro Syria. Jordan has 2 million refugees, and Lebanon has 1.5 million.Heck, even Kenya has 1 million Somalis. \n\nAll these countries are much poorer than Canada and the US. Religious Christians in the US and Canada oppose refugees. Ironical, since Joseph and Mary were refugees when Jesus was born.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God does not call women to the Priesthood. He calls men to the Priesthood. Being a Priest is not a right, it is a duty. May you be Anathema for your insidious and heretical ramblings, Jaime.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to MSW, it is right and just to despise everyone who voted for Trump. Likewise, is it even most righteous to despise veterans.\n\nWhat an Independence Day message. Progressive Catholicism, feh!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems to me that the Church latched on to just one of the 'sayings' about 'marriage' and made that the absolute rule, without considering other sayings.\n\nWhat did Jesus actually say about divorce? Matthew's version? Matthew 19:9-10 \"whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.\u201d or Mark's, no allowance for exceptions. \nOr Paul's 1 Corinthians 7:15 (BBE)\"But if the one who is not a Christian has a desire to go away, let it be so: the brother or the sister in such a position is not forced to do one thing or the other: but it is God's pleasure that we may be at peace with one another.\"\n Is \"God's pleasure that we may be at peace with one another.\"grounds for divorce?\n\nAnd what exactly is this abhorrence of 'adultery' all about? Is that an unpardonable sin? Why?\n\nIf the church has this 'power to bind and loose' then the church's rules ought to look more to 'loosening' and 'forgiving' than to 'binding' and 'retaining'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hoping that these fellow Catholics can help us to more deeply appreciate and love the Eucharist, the Mass, and Our Lady, which so many dissenting/faux elitist Catholics have lost, and with that loss, their joy and humility.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I am following your logic you are making the claim that all Christians are called to fulfill Matthew 28. You're correct. Men and women, married and unmarried, ordained and not ordained, doesn't matter we are all called to be missionaries\n\nHowever you are making the false equivalency that the Matthew 28 commission is IDENTICAL to the ordination of the Twelve. You also seem to indicate that those commands (teach, make disciples, preach, baptize) comprise the entirety of ordained ministry. Key aspects, sure, but not exhaustive.\n\nThe Scriptural foundation of ordination lies NOT in tasks and commands issued by Jesus to be fulfilled by all His followers but by the consistent identification of \"the Twelve\" as set apart (to the point of individually naming them) in a very clear way by each of the synoptic Gospels and Acts. Of particular importance is the inclusion of ONLY the Twelve at the Last Supper and institution of the focal point of ordained ministry: the Eucharistic celebration.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pius XII would be six popes back from Pope Francis if you count John Paul I.\n\nI realize the magisterium doesn't teach creationism. Yet Catholic creationists exist.\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Catholic_creationist_organisations#The_Kolbe_Center_for_the_study_of_Creation", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing uncivil below.\n\nRespect the diversity.\n\n\"...enormous differences with Pope Francis..\"\n\nFrancis is not God and not the Church.\n\nThe pope has created anarchy in the Catholic Church.\n\nCharity doesn't demand that Francis pick at US Catholic conservativs from afar through Sperado's nearly unintelligible writing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Israel is not \"occupying\" Gaza. Israel is not even IN Gaza, since 2005. Israel is regularly attacked by Gaza. Israel provides water and electricity to Gaza, when Gaza pays for it. Who else provides that to an entity it is at war with?\n\nIsrael has no responsibilities to Gaza any more than Egypt does. Yet it actually provides more than Egypt.\n\nAnd you use the term \"Palestinian Israels\". You might want to learn your history. Before 1947, Arabs, Jews, Christians, Greeks, Armenians living in British Mandate Palestine were all \"Palestinians\". The predecessor to the Jerusalem Post, an English-language newspaper owned and run by Jews, was called the Palestine Post. When the state of Israel was formally created, its citizens were Jews, Arabs, and others. So if you want to call those Arabs Palestinians, why not call the Jews Palestinians too? The term could be (and has been) transferred to Arabs not in Israel, which is fine.\n\nGo visit. You may learn more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Canon law does not invalidate marriages where there is no objective chance of conception, Canon law is not forever, it does change, but in this case it does not agree with you. Ever since it was acknowledged that sex for pleasure was licit in marriage, and from then on conservatives have been rolling a bolder up hill against the inevitable. Analyzing how younger people, including Catholics, feel about this issue has not changed that trajectory. Since the Church cannot fail, it will have to change, as it has for 2000 years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank God for all of these people who take the Gospel mandate seriously. One wonders--if the folks crossing the border were a little less brown and a little more white (like folks who cross the northern border), would people be demanding a wall?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The more deeply the institutional church gets into its conflicted criteria for priesthood the more sense the priesthood of baptism makes. A person is a person, is a person, is a person, before God and man.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "David, you are correct in that God might not care what plays ....but Rome is not God. I'm not quite sure why you infer that my argument is of the evangelical right, I do not hold with either. I do firmly believe that it is time for our church to ordain married men and women. I do not feel constrained in saying it, despite what Rome has ordered.\nOn a separate note, perhaps the church could use some of its \"wealth of teaching on human dignity \" and protect our children better and cover up less.\nThe last word is yours.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wait. Are you the mirror? Is he holding the mirror, since he replied to your request that he examine himself? What are you trying to say?.\nAs a postmodernist, I would expect a mirror to be handy, so he can examine his own assumptions. As a Catholic, I would expect one to be handy, so he can examine his behavior. \nIOW, i hope your comment was meant as a compliment. I cant really tell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would not make the mistake of confusing things being dealt with via canonical means, as suggesting it is legalistic. The Canons are how the Church has traditionally expressed its pastoral guidance to clergy and the faithful, and they are infused with both Scripture and mercy. \n\nIn a way, the Canons are a sort of accumulation of the pastoral wisdom of the Church. That does not mean they always remain relevant or appropriate in new circumstances, but it does requires a humility when dealing with them. As Pope Francis has said, theology is best done on ones knees, in prayer and humility.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your post is full of errors.\n\nI have read the Quran (not an easy task). It does not \"demand that its followers lie, cheat, steal, maim and kill all infidels.\" It enjoins God's followers (not Muhammed's--he is merely God's messenger) to observe a high level of personal morality. Islam was born in a tribal society in which conflict was a given. Hence God prescribes various rules regarding conflict. They aren't all consistent (the work as a whole is full of confusing passages); some require tolerance and even protection of \"infidels,\" some encourage war against them.\n\n\"Sharia law\" is not found in the Koran. The concept of a reasoned legal system based on the Quran and the Hadith arose only after Muhammed's time.\n\nIslam is unquestionably a religion \"as religions are generally understood to be.\" At least, all comparative religion scholars so regard it. Every religion, including Christianity and Buddhism, has sanctioned violence and unethical conduct toward (perceived) opponents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You disagree then with Pope St John Paul II when he solemnly declared that the Church did not have the authority to ordain women. He made this declaration in order \"to remove all doubt.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Fraancis has referred to the Mass as a memorial and spiritual food. Book One of the documents of Vatican II refer to JESUS' sacrifice of his body and blood at Calvary and the memorial we celebrate of this event. \n The \\English had the virtue of simplicity, wherein grace may be found.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While the current Catechism came out after your ordination, the basic principles were in place long before it:\n\nhttp://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c3a1.htm\n\n1979 The natural law is immutable, permanent throughout history. The rules that express it remain substantially valid. It is a necessary foundation for the erection of moral rules and civil law.\n\n1980 The Old Law is the first stage of revealed law. Its moral prescriptions are summed up in the Ten Commandments.\n\nIt is the cultic laws of the Old Testament that were superseded. We do not engage in ritual cleansing, Temple sacrifice, or observe kosher.\n\nIn addition Jesus superseded Mosaic marriage law in part.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus tell you that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well the fact is that Jesus and his acts get twisted every which way people want to believe them for their own personal interest. That's not much of a foundation. If you want to continue the analogy, if the Church is the foundation, then Jesus is the material from which the foundation is made.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank heavens we have a courageous bishop fighting for freedom of religion, one of the founding principles of this great nation, and one which was always supported by the church. Let us not forget how often Jesus preached of the right to freedom of religion, or how often the church fought for this right down through the ages. The candidacy of Mr. Trump is completely in keeping with the needs of the US bishops, and by extension, all US Catholics. Take, for example, Mr. Trump's demands that new laws be passed to muzzle the press when they print things they should not. If only such laws had existed just 25 years ago, before the press caused such harm and scandal to the church and loss of respect for the bishops with their wanton publishing of articles about the abuse situation. Many other examples of how Mr. Trump and the Bishops are in perfect synchronicity may be found without much effort.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The person who most represents the values of the Catholic Church didn't get elected...if you consider social justice: Laudato Si, gay/LGBT rights, minimum pay, social security, Medicare, Medicare, health insurance for all, affordable education including k-12 and college, skilled job training, apprenticeship programs for plumbers, electricians, etc., safe water initiatives, etc., etc., and so forth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My version of the bible suggests that Christians who are forced by law to bake wedding cakes for people they disapprove of should (a) be happy about it and (b) bake two. (Matthew 5: 39-42).\n\nPerhaps Mr. Minnery's version reads differently.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The evangelicals gravitate toward Catholics due largely because of perceived power an influence of our church in the political sphere. Power is what the evangelicals want more than resolution of cultural issues. If we were not influential we would be easily ignored as just another 'cult'. The symbiosis of conservatives from other traditions making common cause with Catholics ostensibly over certain cultural issues keeps those issues front and center and gives them more outsize influence than they would otherwise receive. This alliance is one of the reasons for the protracted culture wars. Without this alliance perhaps we could have been able to find common ground and work together for the common good settling some very divisive issues in the process or at least making peace through tolerance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Between Fr. Martin and Professor Bratton-Weiss, I am disturbed at the increasing furor of the ultra-right not just in our country, but within the Church. I am more disturbed at the number of everyday Catholics who are justifying or shrugging their shoulders at these aggressive actions. I don't see much difference between right wing Catholics and secular right wingers right now. One bright spot is Chaput (didn't think I'd ever be saying that!), who twice this month has defied partisan politics to speak out on behalf of justice. His actions are a reminder never to write anybody off.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At His last Passover, it is said that Jesus instructed those with Him to do as He did, and he rolled up His sleeves and washed their feet. He served them. He took the place of one who gives to others. If all, both female and male were called by the Church to serve the Community, this could only bless that Community more.\nWomen given their civil rights have served in so many ways in civil society with the benefit to that society. Why could the RCC not have the wisdom to see the possibility of the same benefit to all?\nIn Baptism we women put on Christ, we too then should be able to serve.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suppose one can start by asking, where in the Bible, say NT, does one find exclusions?\n\nWe know from an early 2nd century secular document, that women slaves were deaconesses.\n\nFrom history, it's more a cultural issue, rather then generalization of the segregated south.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. \"Pope Francis is not a gentleman and has many times made pejorative comments about those he considers traditionalists.\"\nDeeeuuuh. Pointing out the flaws in a blind traditionalist attitude is not un-gentlemanly (what a quaint phrase) is not pejorative, it is part of his pastoral duties.\n\n 2.\" If you really believe that 'the vast majority of Catholics in the pews' love Pope Francis, why are you so angst over Fr Weinandy's letter?\"\nBecause one reactionary is a reactionary too many, especially because he can play on his former position to reinforce his opinion.\n\n3. \"If his letter is so obviously absurd, why does Mgsr. Strynkowski bother with a rebuttal in a Jesuit publication?'\nIt is called courtesy, because the author of the letter as a former-employee reflects on the USCCB.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This edition of NCR contains essays and comments calling for the ordination of women: a development I support although it directly contradicts papal teaching. In that case, good Catholics argue that papal teaching must be interpreted within the context of scripture and the evolving needs of the church.\nWhy do we have the right to question papal teaching, but others don't? I don't want to live in a church in which people can't disagree, do you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A dear friend, a priest of over 40 years, says the top three faults (he calls them sins, but I won't) with the Church are: clericalism, sexism, and legalism. You hit the trifecta with your response.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm also from MO. 7 years ago, when it became clear to me that God wanted me to be Catholic, my 1st response to Him was : \"But what about all 'dem PEDOPHILES?\" And then I saw for myself the actual dynamic in many different parishes and how that dynamic contrasted quite dramatically from the exaggerated hyperbole presented in the com boxes here. It was very eye opening for me. \n\nFor many years, the procedures have been in place in the Church for -lay people- to root out and stop abusers dead in their tracks. In the Ratigan incident, those procedures were not followed by at least 6 people before Finn knew of the matter. Dealing with those breakdowns on the lay level is where real resolution and healing takes place, but I'm forced to assume that is near as salacious as the head of a sitting bishop.....so.....the mob mentality must be maintained.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The statement, \"history shows,\" or \"has shown,\" is immediately suspect. It is on a par with, \"everyone knows,\" end of discussion.\nIt is so convenient for Catholic dissidents to locate pre-conciliar Catholicism to the days of Constantine as though there was a paradigm shift during the reign of that Emperor. They can therefore claim that up until the mid-sixties the Church was entrapped in a captivity resembling that of Israel in Babylon, as Luther claimed in the 16th century.\nThe Council of Trent did put down \"lines in the sand\" for the simple reason that without those lines Christendom would have descended into a moral and liturgical morass, a doctrinal free for all: cujus princeps, ejus religio could have descended to, cujus episcopus aut etiam parrochus, ejus religio. We see what the result of that was in Protestantism, 40 thousand different denominations, none of which can agree with each other.\nFinally, who decides whether the rules are man-made or of God, just you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"EWTN, if it wanted to, could do great damage to the bishops and the pope.\" \n- Sister Angelica, the founder of the carmel and its EWTN ministry was called to task and had to recant her criticism of ArchbRoger of LA in 1997 and the archdiocese. Of course had she not done so her carmel would have been suppressed and EWTN would then be taken off the air.\n- It seems that EWTN plays with fire when they forget that the next step after a dubious recant is all Catholics and certainly all bishops informing their comjunities that EWTN does not represent catholic believes.\n- Perhaps at first there will be little effect but over time its credibility will be so diminished that the only funding it will find is that of cat food producers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump knew he would get the Evangelical vote, but he really wanted the LGBTI vote.\nThe Evangelicals (not to mention certain Catholic bishops) are solidly welded onto the Republicans, so Trump knows he can go against their inbuilt hostility to LGBTI with impunity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have never claimed to be neutral Don, I'm none partisan. Not all democrats have to hold the same opinion on every issue, nor do all Republicans have to believe the same on every issue,\n\nYou seem to feel that only you believe have a pure belief. I can't be Christian unless I believe exactly as you do. I can't be independent if I agree with Democrats on one issue. Or I'm wishy washy if I agree with Republicans one issue but not another.\n\nYou view the world as black and white and I don't. I may change my mind if I learn or experience something new.\n\nSay what you want Don, but you don't know the the lives of others and your judgement isn't perfect. That's true of me too. My image of God loves the poor, the sick, the uneducated and the brilliant, rich and the wise and even the tax collector. I try to do the same, but I'm hardly perfect. \n\nPolitics isn't everything.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Abp Chaput strikes me as representative of the Church before Vatican II, more of a rule-lover than a reacher-out... I hope I'm wrong about that. I like to think that the Church represents Christ reaching out to the poor, the sick, the hungry, the child, the elder, the mournful ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There may not have been doctrine about chattel slavery in America. There does not have to be to condemn the Church's inaction. Legalism in the face of such things is cowardice. In this case, no doctrine was as bad as wrong doctrine or worse allowing bad proof texting regarding scriptures on slavery, which were underlined by the belief that the end was near and all slaves would be free anyway. Bad proof texting is not doctrine, but it can be part of it, like those regarding receipt of Communion when you don't believe it is real (mortal sin was not a thing in ancient times) or reading too much into Mark regarding divorce, if you wish to be relevant to this article. Sadly, bad proof texting can become traditional doctrine, which does not render it less bad. Bad proof texting adds authority to bad doctrine and usually no one had the courage to object. Post-Vatican II some of us are willing to clean up past mistakes, which include not ordainig women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 1\nJay would you please pay a little more attention to my words so that you are less likely to misrepresent me. My initial remark was that \" I harbour a secret desire that one day a pope will suggest we begin systematically moving closer to 'our separated brethren' in practice... \" \n\nI am clearly talking about a possible future project, a common project, a project initiated by the Bishop of Rome \"a quiet program of gradually dropping those practices, not by decree, but (1) by education and (2) by attrition.\"\n\nClearly it is a desire for gentle invitation for all Catholics to willingly do something in unison as a gesture of good will. \n\nYou are expressing your disinterest in participating in such a gesture of good will. That's just fine, although you would find it rather difficult to continue with the three examples I mentioned, since they require action by clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Priests, bishops, cardinals and popes are all no different than anyone else. It is only Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who is perfect. Don't look to anyone else but Him for your salvation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which is why the NCR added the following statement to Tobin's submission -- [Thomas Tobin is the bishop of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island. This article was first published on the website of The Rhode Island Catholic, the diocesan newspaper.]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And sometimes the bishop just doesn't want to know. I suggested parish audits--some priests would welcome them--especially when a pastor is reassigned. They just didn't want to know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tobit is irrelevant.\n\nMaleness is not a limitation of the human condition, it is part of it. Our glorified or condemned bodies will be male or female.\n\nIn order to assert that maleness is not essential for his priesthood, you have to have a theology of the priesthood which supports that. In a couple of decades of discussing this with you, last over at America, you have been unable to provide one.\n\nSince God the Son is only relevant to the priesthood in his Incarnation, in which He sacrificed Himself and became High Priest, his maleness is completely relevant, not \u201cas incidental as the color of his eyes\u201d. That error stems from your misunderstanding of the priesthood.\n\nSo, to proceed you need (a) a coherent theology of the priesthood and (b) an explanation of what the priest does at the Eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelical churches teach the Bible. They attract Catholics who report they wanted more focus on moral teachings. When people are told that what they're doing is good enough, just be \"nice\" is it a surprise they go elsewhere where they feel challenged. The mainline churches will continue their decline.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings....very good historical narrative on the sequential attack on Holy Father Francis and his pontificate. This filial correction group is not guided by the charism of the +Holy Spirit+. Pope Francis is the Vicar of Christ........and the+ Holy Spirit + is gracing him with wisdom in needed reforms! Blessings to Holy Father Francis as the Feast Day of St. Francis Assisi approaches .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Rule and Raven,\nI believe most Catholics, lay and cleric, assume that a properly formed conscience is always in harmony with the teaching of the magisterium and, therefore, a man in a same sex marriage is living in a state of sin. I question the assumption. For one thing, I believe the entire cosmos is theophany and that the sciences can tell us as much about the will of God as can Scripture. What we read in the Bible is an account of how people have interpreted revelation and that interpretation is conditioned by what they already believed as taught and understood in their own cultures. As our scientific understanding of humanity deepens through science, I believe we have to accept that past understandings do not represent the \"Will of God\" as much as the understanding (or misunderstanding) of humans. It is high time to review the magisterium's understanding in light of modern science as well as developments in the study of Scripture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One thing continually struck me as I read the article. When the Catholic hierarchy in the US chose to align itself with the Republican party because of the party's anti-abortion (i.e., the party is emphatically NOT pro life) it becomes very difficult to take the high moral ground on issues where the Church and the party don't agree. Separation of Church and State works both ways and this is a fair example of why it does.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Got it! Your understanding of Roman Catholicism is sin management and gatekeeper.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I love the expression, 'institutional Church'.\nThe implication is that there are popes, cardinals, bishops, priests and deacons willingly mired in a swamp of evil. Then this hierarchy's sole intention is to lord it over the much larger body of virtuous lay people, pure as the driven snow and grind them into submission.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We open this discussion because we are barred structurally due to our gender from Catholic decision-making.\"\n\nThis is the source of all these problems. A church that has clergy restricted to a single gender breathes with only one lung. Many of the church's most pressing problems won't be solved until we have an inclusive clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"This is why the distinction between Catholics and secularists is relative. Secular people are not a rigid block.\"\n\nif you create an anti-denomination of Secularists, you cannot act as if all secular people belong to it. You have to treat it as the small, minuscule group that it is, and treat it accordingly. They are not a threat to our civilization until we give hem power beyond their numbers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It is not up to our hierarchy to determine or decide who is naturally allowed to be called to any vocation, based on their flesh.\"\n\nYou do not understand basic Catholic belief.\nYou believe the Church is just another HUMAN organization, with decisions being made strictly on a natural basis, guided by -'flesh'.\n\nThe Church is guided by the HOLY SPIRT.\nThe Church has survived 2000 years, and is stronger than ever, in spite of 2000 years of persecution, misrepresentation and attacks.\n\nChrist said to Peter: \"Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it\" (Matt. 16:18). \n\nAnd you are wrong, it IS up to the hierarchy to determine or decide - through the guidance of the HOLY SPIRT - who is allowed to be called to any vocation.\n\nOnce again, the Church is not, never has been, nor never will be - a 'democracy'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Anne, the crime was horrific. But, did killing Gray make it any less horrific or did it add to the horror? We have no need to kill people, no matter who they are or what they have done, in order to protect society against them. Christ instructed us to forgive in order to be forgiven. Next time you say the Lord's Prayer, pay attention to what you are asking God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Says who? \n\nAs the greatest Catholic theologian of the 20th century once wrote, \"People must be given the opportunity to give shape and form to the church which shaped and formed them.\"\n\nDissenting voices from within the church are so necessary for the health of the church. Only the insecure fear such voices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Democratic governance structures merit serious consideration for Church administration. Let it not be said of us, \u201cLuke is the only one with me\u2019 (2 Timothy 4:11). With the vivacity of Cardinal Dolan, \u201cYour friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your Kingdom\u201d (Psalm 145:12) and that splendor includes how the Kingdom that is the Church is governed. Importantly, \u201cThe LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who all jupon him in truth\u201d (Psalm 145:18). Again, \u201cGo on your way; behold I am sending you like lambs among wolves\u201d (Luke 10:3). Liturgy of the Word, Reading 661, today, Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time II, Feast of Saint Luke, Evangelist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And what would Jesus do app?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But it is the case that you also \"favour your own personal interpretations of Catholic teaching\". \nAnd that you understand \"the teaching of the popes and councils including Vatican II\" in ways quite different from the Church's understanding.\nDon't you see what this means?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ said, \"Love thine enemies.\" Is there a similar verse in the Koran?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... 80% of Cheetolini supporters consider themselves Christian. Hm. Who knew Jesus was such a war lover!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And it's not just with regards to the priesthood, the threat also pertains the women's ability to birth children. Here's the dual message: Women birth babies, they do not birth the Eucharist.................and this is in spite of the fact there would be no Eucharist if a woman had not birthed the Eucharist with zero male help. God does both incarnations and the male Church can't accept their own teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump may get re-elected because the so-called family values Christians, so-called fiscal conservatives, and the so-called \"party of ideas\" have sold out their ideals to cape for a thrice married racist perpetually bankrupt fraudulent segregationist p- grabber who barged into dressing rooms at the Miss TEEN USA pageant to ogle underage girls. How quickly Republican values have morphed when the lecherous racist elitist Manhattan cum Hollywood TV star with the R next to his name has absolutely NO values. It's as if the entire Republican party has enrolled at the fraudulent Trump University.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, sound the alarms before everyone falls asleep on account of boredom. Get back to your Bible. And shine those buckle-toed shoes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's interesting to hear about other denominations and their worldviews. I applaud forward-thinking churches that are open to new light from the Holy Spirit. As Jesus told his disciples, he would send the spirit to lead them into all truth. Perhaps Dr. Geldbach most closely aligns with that view. Do Adventists not belong to this group?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What secular \"Catholic\" Democrats fail to understand is that the Church can quite legitimately oppose both Clinton and Trump. Having held its ground on the imperative, non-negotiable, moral issues of abortion and homosexuality, it can legitimately oppose Trump's position on the economy, immigration and his foreign policy. Clinton and the Democrats couldn't be influenced by Catholic moral theology, because of her fixed ideology, but there is hope Trump's excesses can be influenced. President elect Trump is already demonstrating a capacity to be conciliatory. Get behind your President and the American democratic process.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you act as though you are in a war. You are an excessive bunch of people, unable to control your own greed, your own emotions, your own sexuality, your own tongues. It's becoming more and more difficult for you to be you in civilized society, so you reject it and our democratic freedom. That's what the shooting was about. That's what your rhetoric has been about, though of course not as violent. You are as uncomfortable in a decent America as you are in decent Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 3\n\nAnd in this knowing/seeing ourselves as we actual are before God we would call out continually\n \"God be merciful to me a sinner\"\nTo dwell (live continually) in His Mercy is to walk in humility before/with Him and is the greatest gift we can receive as it incorporates Faith Hope and Charity (Love of God) and leads us to eternal life in Him. \nTo receive His Mercy in humility guarantees spiritual growth and that is why I am advocating that Joe should be permitted to receive Holy Communion.\n\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree completely. We have really started abusing religious liberty which could end up biting us in the rear end & all other religions too. We have a conservative weighted supreme court at the moment but that is not likely to last forever. This abuse could end up with a later liberal court deciding to push for taxation of any religion which has so brutally broken the lines of church & state, like ours has with its clear campaigning for its religious rules to become laws of the nation, at the clear cost of justice for women who are due same treatment & healthcare as male citizens. To be funding expensive Viagra & not be funding cheap birth control for women is pure sexism.\nThis is one more instance where I point out to fellow Catholics how misogyny in our leadership & ordination practices has led to greater misogyny & harm to women in the world & around our churches. Sexism in the world most often has its seedbed in religion. We must demand we ordain women priests & end the hate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, it is the patriarchal gender ideology about \"only males can image Christ\" that is alter Christus mythology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The passages detailing the genealogy of Jesus set out in St Matthew's Gospel make it clear that Jesus came to us in a different way than all of the others listed between Abraham and Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Katie Kieffer writes,\n\"As a Catholic, I honor the Church\u2019s history of furthering the advancement of human knowledge. Yet Pope Francis makes the mistake of embracing the fake science of man-made climate alarmism\u2014while pontificating to you and me about \u201cfake news.\u201d In what world does she live?\nMs. Kieffer, man-caused/ aggravated global warming is not \"fake\"; it's for real, as will become clearer with time.\nEven millennials can be captured in rightist political thinking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More PC drivel. The Renaissance wold never have happened if this guy and people like him ran the world. They usher in a new Dark Ages. He is superstitious and believes in magic, not of religion but of gender: feminists will cure all that is wrong with the world just as Christians thought the Bible would do the same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are HUGE swaths of the very devout Catholic world which have not brought their horrors into the light, even as we in the US mark almost 15 years from the Boston Globe exposures. It's not only the hidden victims and their families who have kept silence (to me understandable yet profoundly sad), but the clerics involved, particularly bishops, who have not yet admitted their guilt and collusion. Australia's Royal Commission seems to have done some good; maybe that's an example for every country -- although I don't know that I'd trust our Congress with its propensity to fall on the sides of money and influence. The institutional Church wants us to believe in the Gospel and, often even more, in the institution's exalted leadership, but who is left that can trust in its version of truth?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"How could so many Roman Catholics and so many evangelical Christians \u2013 80 per cent of the latter, it seems \u2013 vote for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton? How could a quarter of the Jewish vote go Trump? How could any woman vote against Hillary, let alone 53 per cent of white women?\"\n\nHow? Because 'freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression' is one of our 'Fundamental Freedoms.'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The anti-TMT protestors do not speak and protest for the majority of people in Hawaii who support the TMT project. They do not have a religious monopoly on what is considered SACRED. Catholics and Protestants fought, battled, and destroyed millions of each other and devastated Europe during the Thirty Years War of Religions back in the 16th century, trying to force and impose their religious beliefs on each other. The US Constitution enshrines the Separation of Church and State, to prevent the blood baths and genocide that previously occurred in the past between different religions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission\n\"The potentially far-reaching case asks what should win when the conscience rights of small-business owners who object to same-sex marriage clash with civil rights protections for the LGBT community.\"\n\nThis is a case of \"two wrongs do not make a right.\"\n\nThe Cakeshop people have about as much \"Christianity\" in them as the man in the moon. Why? Didn't Jesus give His second Commandment as: \"Love your neighbor as you do yourself.\" Did Jesus put any conditions or legal exceptions in that Command? No, He did not. These Cakeshop people are operating out of a position of hatred for those folks who are different. These people are small \"c\", claim to be Christians, but their actions put a lie to that claim.\n\n((CONTINUED))", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have an idea; I'm not joking here!\nMaybe we should have a formal schism like in 1054.\nBUT: An amicable break up!\nThe Cardinals and bishops and laity who disagree with the Pope can separate.\nThis way each Church can have its own teachings and liturgies.\nThe constant fighting would also end.\nThe Church's properties can be divided up fairly, according to who follows whom.\nA new pope for the orthodox people can be elected.\nThe Vatican can be divided up between the two popes, just like the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. While one pope is using the St. Peter's for official business, like an outdoor Mass, the other can be at Castel Gandolfo.\nWe could have the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church (Francis) and the Pope of the Latin Catholic Church (Whoever is elected). Francis may be deposed because the Catholics in the new RCC may want a lot more changes than he is willing to go along with, like women priests and bishops.\nWhat does everyone think?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is furious about being passed-over, you are correct. He was rightfully certain when given Philadelphia that he would be made cardinal by his beloved Benedict XVI. Both of them loved rigidity, the pomp and ceremony of the \"old\" Church, the richness of a bishop's life, tradition because nothing new is good, and felt that they were admired both in- and outside the Church. +Chaput has done an outstanding job of saving his diocese from certain ruin: he's worked exceptionally hard in doing so and is to be admired for it. But the grounds of US Catholicism has changed considerably over the past 25 years, and the Church is no longer the same. +Chaput and his papal cohort have been rendered rather ineffective in their understanding and practice of their ministries, and are unable to make the adjustments required. It is their own fate, and by their own doing. +Benedict had the means and ways to escape it all: +Chaput is stuck in Philadelphia instead of Rome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Imagine that, a Catholic institution doing the Catholic thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There was no such thing as a \"priest\" at the time of Stephen. In fact, presbyters were not instituted in the Christian Church until the early 2nd century.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When Obama appointed his two Catholic liberals as ambassador to the Vatican, conservatives were silent. Now it's your turn to be silent. By the way, Holy Father Francis is a progressive like William F. Buckley was a liberal. The Holy Father has affirmed ALL Catholic Church teachings, if you haven't received his email lately.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We aren't collectors, we are storytellers\"\nThe \"storytellers\" are the ones whose words are recorded in the Bible. The Christian biblical canons of both the Old and New Testament were generally established by the 5th century. The only other \"storyteller\" was Muhammad (c. 570 \u2013 8 June 632) We are now collectors, stewards, transcribers, translators, transposers, hermeneutists, exegetes or listeners. We are not \"storytellers.\" We are the ongoing story that's going on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apples and oranges! The Methodist experience is NOT similar to our recent Catholic closings and consolidation of parishes. Typically, in the Catholic version, the reason for closure is the extreme shortage of Catholic clergy to lead individual parishes. Note that the \"tipping point\" for Methodists' viability is 175 people, far fewer than most Catholic parishes that are closing or being consolidated under some \"grouping\" arrangement. Death of a parish does not automatically breathe new life into the remainderment. Often suffering and resentment linger for many years and even generations later.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Through reading Church history my dear fellow. He like his successors, St Pius X and Pius XII was a man much maligned by liberals and modernists as he cleared them out. I don't know why you say I am devoted to him, well I do really and it is not working, I have great respect for him, though and his successors whom I named above.\nAlas, around 50 years ago the door was left ajar and they have sneaked back in and are causing havoc again but at least we know that they can win. They should know this themselves for Christ promised that, \"the gates of hell would not prevail\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What other points of doctrine should change? Should belief that Christ was actually fully Man be optional to make the Church more \"liveable\" for Gnostics and monophysites?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is God incomplete so It needs an \u2018offering\u2019 from us? Is Grace intermittent or constant (like gravity)? \u2018No one can be separated from the love of God\u2019-- are we One with God or not? Is the relationship a given or something that fluctuates or needs improvement or negotiating (offering)? Are we already a \u2018temple of the Holy Spirit\u2019? Is the Word already incarnate in us since \u2018the beginning\u2019 (before time began Jn 1:1). Maybe we are the Christ (members of It) -- no chance of not being part of It, any more than a fish can swim out of water. \n\nActually, God is unknown to us. I am not wedded to a theology that does not adequately explain suffering and has no solution for it. Thanks for your thought-provoking views Dennis. I don\u2019t imagine I have a personal relationship with a god any more than I have a personal relationship with gravity or with the sun that shines.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cassie ...we had really good luck with those Jesuit and Christian Brothers schools and the kids picked either high school or college catholic schools for their kids (actually the kids picked the colleges) but no one is enthused about Trump or sexual abuse ......or church support for Trump...the general consensus is its a disgrace....\n\nI like the pope...i think he's antideluvian on women's issues but I like a lot of his inclusiveness and general approach and think he has an impossible job...I was really proud of him when he spoke to Congress!\n\nI think we are going to need his voice of reason in a Trump world....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But you have moved from saying it \"does become\" a social club to it \"can devolve into such\". Difference that either \"does become\" or \"can devolve\" into BIGLY DIFFERENCE. Yours is an example of one as explained by one person. \n\n\nWe will be left where we begin, although you believe the author should be critiqued for not saying that Catholics are centered on the mass and I believe the author assumed that we knew that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My friend \u201cPapa\u201d Troy Collier, founded Youth Challenge, that works like 85% of the time. See http://www.youthchallengehope.org Papa died two years ago, but his ministry continues. He sends his charges somewhere in Pennsylvania after their initial intake. His methodology is Christ-based in prayer, which is why it works. Jesus is the alternative strong enough to take on the opioid crisis. His ministry is a proven track record of over thirty years. Based in Newport News, Virginia, t is worth checking out.\n\n\u201cand to send them (Youth Challenge) to you along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have dedicated their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ\u2019 (Acts 15:25-26). Recognizing Youth Challenge, \u201cI will give you thanks among the peoples, O Lord\u201d (Psalm 57:10a). Always remember, \u201cthat whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you\u201d (John 15:16). Liturgy of the Word, Reading 289, Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter I.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you are correct, the primary, maybe sole, cause of poverty in this area is failure of the poor to have weddings in the Catholic Church. It's all very simple.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No surprise here. For centuries the RCC in Mexico (as well as many other places in the world) has peddled Devotionalism and Cheap Religiosity in place of making disciples and building authentic Christian communities in the way St Paul did. Couple this with cozying up to the powerful and well connected to use religion as a cudgel to ensure social control, and you get just what you are seeing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So WO has grown to be more than an ant hill and more important to many than HIM?\n\nWhy do some wish to push such repulsive, snobbish and egotistical attitudes on everyone else? Why should Churches be forced to accept and pastors ordain any individual, well less entire classifications? Simply because others feel something they cannot justify within BIBLE or Prophesy? \n\nMost of the youth have grown up watching these and like situations. All of the youth have experienced bullies in the sandbox. They understand they were cast aside and not given time, because of those fights in the sandbox. This realization does not create justification, but only understanding in Love.\n\nEnlighten us. When did CHRIST preach WO? CHRIST did teach a lot about the Father and stated Scripture many times, for it is written. Did I really speak badly of you, or is your own conviction simply trying you? I did not call you repulsive, snobbish, egotistical or in satan. Is that how CHRIST taught?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"... the cardinal-designate said the first step in sharing the pope's consistent message of mercy is to reflect on how we have been recipients of mercy in our own lives.\"\n\nThat to me is key, and it is one aspect of the Year of Mercy that I think has not been emphasized enough. Extending authentic mercy to others must begin with recognizing our own brokenness. Otherwise our \"mercy\" can too easily become self-righteous and condescending.\n\nThat's why, I believe, some of the best and most pastoral priests I've known have been recovering alcoholics. Their ability to stay grounded in their own ongoing need for healing gives them the grace to be agents of healing in the lives of others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems that you are good false descriptions of other groups perhaps you are projection what you believe as real orthodox catholicism to the state the it is you who are \"little more than abstract neoplatonic philosophical-theoretical theorizing.\" As the late Lenard Cohen was saying in his song poetic work \"Anthem,\" \"Forget your perfect offerings, there is a crack, a crack in everything and that is how the light gets in, that is how the light gets in.\" What you call Orthodoxy to so many is little more than flatus with windows and the doors sealed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My understanding of this (and I don\u2019t know Greek), is that the case ending makes it impossible to tell if this name is female or male. This has nothing to do with an 'accent.' However, Ehrman not only alerts me to this issue of Junia/Junias, but explains that \u201cwhereas Junia was a common name for a woman, there is no evidence in the ancient world for \u2018Junias\u2019 as a man\u2019s name.\u201d The King James Bible (~1611 CE) has Junia as a woman. So does the Catholic NAB on the Vatican website. Here is the Catholic NAB: Romans 16:7: \u201cGreet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives and my fellow prisoners; they are prominent among the apostles and they were in Christ before me.\u201d The footnote lets you know she is a woman.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Socialism comes in many forms. It can democratic and autocratic and in between. I would even say Jesus was a socialist. He cared for the poor and said that we would be judged by our treatment of the poor, hungry, homeless, and sick. It was his only comment on what basis we would be judged. \nI think your understanding of giving \"a cup of water\" in Christ's name to gain a reward falls short of our need to do it because of our love for God and for others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Am i missing something?\nor, IS the prevailing injustice in the RCC, still, it's second-class treatment of women with respect to priesthood, leadership?\nWill there ever be women priests? bishops? popes? The injustice of religious/ cultural classism in the RCC roots in the injustice of its institutional lock of calculated sexism; (as Eve was created to serve Adam, so, religious women are to serve religious men).\nRoman Catholicism has yet to reckon with this deeply ingrained social sin that is totally without rational/ religious justification.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course he qualifies as a martyr! Why do you think he was in Auschwitz to begin with? \n\nBecause he was a Catholic priest involved in media evangelization. Because he hid Jews and Polish refugees in the monastary. \nHe was released once from prison, and went right back to his work...which is when he was arrested again and sent to Auschwitz.\n\nHe died for living his faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course you can have a dialogue on absolute. It is the only thing truly worth having a dialogue about! Me and a muslim friend have inter-religious dialogues regularly. We both have different beliefs about what is absolute. And guess what? We don't kill each other over it. We talk about what we agree on, what we disagree on, we learn from each other and ultimately come to understand our own tradition better through encountering theirs. I become a better Catholic; He becomes a better Muslim. This is only possible, however, if we both profess what we believe and do so without fear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So Bush, Clinton and Obama became president because the nation is as you described top heavy with fake Christians etc. etc. etc.?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"For another thing, conversion at sword-point, mass-murder, burning alive have been and are Christian bailiwicks, not ours. Islamically speaking, we're prohibited from all three\"\n\nApparently you're not prohibited enough, Islamically speaking. And yes, I understand Christians have behaved brutally in the past. There's no end to what religiots will do to other humans in the name of their god, or gods.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "John, character limits here militate against that idea. And all debates need not proceed so formally. Most of the moral arguments against gays in Canada are rooted in Christian dogma. Let's go with love and acceptance as defined by the New Testament then. No mention of homosexuality there, and J.C. amazes with his pleas for us all not to judge one another and to love. Tormaine suggested gays were a perversion. I pointed out what was likely the usual religious hypocrisy on view. Besides, sorry, but the seeking of common ground part is over. Christian society had its fun for 2,000 years persecuting gay people. It's over in Canada. There are laws now and equal rights. The parades, and my remarks here, are simply clean-up work as people who care about human rights continue to push for full, cultural acceptance and to challenge stuff like what Tormaine said. I'm pleased his/her comment didn't meet civility standards. The younger generation in Canada are fine with all this. Time to move on.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church was deservedly condemned for transferring pedophile priest to other churches, rather than defrocking them and supporting criminal prosecution. It seems Governor Brown has adopted a similiar approach. \n\nEvery employ of the OHA who was aware of this smear campaign had the opportunity to \"whistleblow.\" Every individual had the opportunity to say \"hey, this is wrong!\" \n\nWhen the plan became public, Saxton \"had to go.\" However, it seems Crowell, who played a key role in drafting the plan, was rewarded with a newly created $100K job tucked \"out of sight\" in Eastern Oregon. \n\nIf the Catholic Church ever accepts women to the priesthood, Ms Brown might have a future as a Cardinal or other official, working to hide those pedophile priests. Brown's actions disgust me. IMO, two things need to happen: a)Crowell needs to be fired as she should have been initially and b) we need to find someone (D, R, or independent) with some actual integrity to be governor. Gary Crum", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If you are viewing the posts to the above article. my Post with 18 comments is not been displayed it can only be found by repressing/reinstating (Most reactions or Newest first) and then ensure that it is initialized \n\nThe Church teaches that the only option open to a gay Christian is celibacy and if they should sin they are in exactly the same position as all of the unmarried, the sacrament of penance is available to them and in this regard, they are treated equally.\nFor young Christian gay adults, the options appear to be stark, etc\n\nTaken from my article A Bond of Divine Mercy in the link below, perhaps some may consider reading it.\n\n\nhttp://www.v2catholic.com/background/2015/07/2015-07-25Kevin-Walters-a-bond-of-Divine-Mercy.htm\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "An Evangelical Christian Mass Murderer - Now that is one of you all time comedic (and desperate) posts....MUTE is on !", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Islam did not send the man into the church to kill the priest. That was his own twisted mind. If you think it was Islam, then you have to blame the Christian churches for Roof shooting people at Bible study.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A few questions for the Christians. Why do some Christians use the old testament to justify or judge behaviors in other people? The New Testament is our book. \n\nYou do realize that the old testament is shared with not only with the Hebrews, but also, Islam, whom many of you show so much hate for? Along with hatred of lbgt, nearly anyone who is different from you? \n\nFunny, I remember the New Testament being about loving they neighbor, loving the sinner-- hating the sin, teaching by example. And not one line of it says, we can justify abominable actions by using the stories within.. \n\nI know that there are many people that warp the teachings of the Koran, by using them harm and kill others. But I think that some Christian, in their own way, warp the teachings of the bible as well.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Except right wing Christians and Evangelicals don't represent the entire spectrum of the Christian faith. In fact, I would call their behavior very un-Christian; faith is a very broad spectrum. I'm sorry your personal experience caused you to turn off, but rest assured that there are millions of caring, unjudging Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There are so many Christian sects because the bible has so many ways it can be interpreted, so humans just pick and choose what suits them best.\n\nYeah, I know it's about pleasing that god. I'm saying this baker isn't because he's working the Sabbath, and the bible specifically says not to do so.\n\nChristianity in a nutshell: When you screw up, just act like you're pleasing your god and ask forgiveness, and it's all good. Pretty weak, if you ask me.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Thank goodness for that. Now if the could only remove Catholic from their name and all would be well.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "When will the media stop referring to these people as \"Christians.\" It is documented that President Reagan stated to his inner circle \"They're a pack of mad dogs, every once in a while you have to throw them some red meat.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm saying that the Christian church is full of members, all sincere in their efforts to understand and embrace a value structure based on their sense of God (which I refer to the mythology of God, not because it's false, but because it will always be unprovable).\n\nThere is great variety of belief in the Christian church. I don't have a litmus test for who qualifies as a Christian and who doesn't, it's not my place to make that judgement. I hope my faith shapes at least some of my social values, but I don't need a flag, or a cross, to justify my opinion. To give credit to my readers, I try to let them know my motivation.\n\nAs you've noticed, I do have an opinion. I will argue for my beliefs. I don't claim perfect knowledge. I don't claim to speak/write only the truth. I am an imperfect human being, full of mistakes, that believes grace and forgiveness are qualities of both god and the human species. \n\nIf not, I'm screwed! :-)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Even now evangelicals and conservative Christians are among Trump's staunchest defenders.\n\nJesus wept.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Kelly refused to answer questions about the cut Wednesday morning.\"\n\nYa don't say... \n\nPete's not beholden to you, citizens. He answers to a higher authority. God? No, silly! (I don't think anyone is accusing Pete of being a good Christian at this point.) The oil industry! Don't like it? Buy your own politician.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I don't dislike Christians in general. I know plenty of great people who attend churches in Denver. But they attend progressive, open-minded churches.\n\nThe evangelicals have been \"at war\" with their fellow Americans for decades. Evangelicals in my own family condemn Christians who don't believe exactly as they do and claim most Christians will go to hell. And they they just seem to be addicted to religion and totally dysfunctional. The evangelicals are a problem, similar to how Muslim extremists ruin that religion.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"But there's plenty of evidence that he's in spiritual and economic harmony with the disastrous and idolatrous \"prosperity gospel.\" Among the charlatans who preach this twisted message that God wants you to be rich is Paula White, who has become a close spiritual adviser to the president-elect.\"\n\nThe prosperity \"gospel\" is the latest fad among evangelicals. Since it fits in better with right wing politics much better than Christianity, it is no surprise that far right wing politicians and plutocrats like Trump surround themselves with its adherents.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "They will make the fatherland great again, they say,\nby weeding out the non-Christians and \"dangerous\" ethnic people,\nby slashing aid to the elderly and care for the poor, and by building the greatest military the world has ever seen.\nThey will publicize government-sponsored lists intended to demonstrate the \"criminality\" of the ethnic other.\nThey condemn revelation of inconvenient facts as merely the continued plotting of the L\u00fcgenpresse.\nAnd they brag to their admirers about the inspiration for all those plans, not being the least bit shy about doing so.\nCall it what it is\u2014and call Republican support for their plans what it is, as well.\nTrumpism = Fascism = Republicanism.\nThe right adopted Trump and his agenda, all of it. The Fascism, the Racism, the Nazism.\nThat's what winning looks like.\nYou're a winnner.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Bill, I gagged on your letter. Take this sentence as a gag-inducer: \"The very reason Christians want their free speech ungagged is to be free to discuss anything, anywhere, as others can.\"\n\nAnd Christians can't do this now? Others can, but Christians can't? Hogwash.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Growing some skin is what matters. Why are liberal snowflakes forever making up excuses for radical Islamic terrorism? President Trump promised to stamp out radical Islamic terrorism, while Mr Rozar doesn't want to offend the murderous scum.\n\nChristianity is mocked and desecrated in this forum on a regular basis and there are no violent reactions. Why are radical Islamists coddled and protected by the left?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "More disgusting is a religious organization, I believe in Texas, is providing the legal expenses so the good Christian \"soldiers\" who sit on the Kenai Borough Assembly just keep marching off to a show down with the ACLU on their dime. If not they would be done for since if it was our \"dime\". This religious organization contributes money and assistance when it comes to issues of the \"protecting\" Christian religions in our governments. I would think that such activity as this, taking money from a religion and a government using it to support a religious issue in their favor would be so against the constitution. Worse too, Texas messing in our local small town politics.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How Christian! - Now ignoring the sexist hatred shown to all women called by God to ordained priesthood is courageous! These groups are just great! No injustice has been done them, they chose to marry instead of seek priesthood or keep their vows to God but they definitely deserve to be ordained before the women called because it is truly just that we teach women's organs make them less human, worthy and sacred than all men in our church. \n\nYes-There has never been a vocations shortage. Women have been called throughout history to ordained priesthood but were denied.\n\nI am not against optional celibacy (this is the most ridiculous idea in this article: that married male priests are not an example of optional celibacy because they are old? are they going to refrain from sex too?). \n\nHowever, no one in our church should support this change until married women are being ordained priests too, as that would result in gender segregation, a graver injustice to women than doing nothing.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This editorial is \"time capsule\" material--a well-done expression of where the Church in America \"was\" in July 2017: \"distortion for political purposes.\" \n\nI wonder what our immigrant great grandparents would think of the Church today, so conveniently cozy with those fundamental religions that mocked, demeaned, and degraded them for their Cult of Catholicism, blind obedience to Rome, statue worshiping, anti-American, and anti-democratic ways. \"Small price (TrumPence?) to pay for a few votes on 'cultural issues\"? \n\nAnd I wonder what our ancestors would say if they could observe the validation of religious elitism and wealth evidenced by the Napa Institute?\n\nThe folks at Napa tell us American Catholics have been too-easily co-opted by a hedonistic, self-celebratory culture. I guess they are right. But it has so little to do with sex, drugs, and rock and roll.\n\nWhat do you do after you dumb down morality?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Obama was elected by a big majority and was a highly popular president among the majority. Obama is an objectively admirable person who acts through his Christian morality. tRump appeals to a shrinking minority and it baffles me how people who are probably not horrible people, like tRump is and has always been, support him. I don't agree that most of his supporters are deplorable so that I wonder how you can look past his immorality, racism, constant lying, blaming, inflaming hate, division and incompetence. He is an embarrassment to our country. You seem like a good person, Como, so why do you insist on looking the other way from the truth of who tRump really is and unfairly (and stupidly) vilifying Obama or Hillary.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I feel sorry for these victims but don't you think maybe we should put a moratorium on Muslim Immigration .\nAfter all, I don't see attacks on Christians and Jews- there must be a reason , let's find out !\nMaybe Donald Trump is on to something - Let's give him a chance !\n He is only protecting his own borders - You don't have any legal right to go to the U.S. !\nIf our P.M. is going to accept any one the U.S. won't , then how much trust will we get when travelling through\n the U.S. ?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cIf a teacher molests a student is the entire school corrupt, ought we close the school?\u201d\nWell, in CI (Catholic Institution) it is corrupted from Pope F. down to most/all prelates and bishops join in hiding/enabling child molesters. Look what Pope F. stand by even now, C. Law from Boston, Australia C. Pell & B. Juan Barros, in Chile are still working/supported by the CI. Clergy sex abuse of children and hiding/enabling these crimes has been going on for centuries. CI is carefully managing/condoning these clergy sex crimes by forbidding clergy from reporting sex crimes to police by the Canon law for heaven\u2019s sake!!!!!!!!!!!!!! \n\u201cThe ideology of the Catholic faith is intact,..\u201d Yes it is in CCC, Bible, living Christ Spirit immanent in people as well as in all these sex abused children. We need to eliminate these supporters of sex abuse clergies, that is all!\n \nThey are raping Christ immanent in children and you want them to keep raping Christ?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Really, I think that conservative bishops (except for some fringe ones like Burke) don't pretend Vatican II never happened. They just try to reconcile the \"People of God\" with the hierarchical Church in a way that seems strained.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Many of us out here in reader-land believe your religion is a waste of time. When we have to sit through yet another round of prayers to your God or even any God we are insulted and given the feeling that our elected officials are not as interested in our issues as they would be for a Christian or other main-stream religion.\n\nSo, yes, if I could disrupt that foolishness without getting arrested, I would.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You are born a Muslim, you are not born a Christian. You can reject Islam, for fear of your life, after you reach the age of accountability. You must purpose to become a Christian. It doesn't happen just because you walk into a church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How do you know homosexuals are not patterned by other homosexuals? \nAs for \"pretending\" to know what the intent should be for every sexual act: I am not \"pretending\"to know anything. I am basing my position on divine law, both natural and revealed. The Church affirms the truth of these two aspects of divine law. And since the Church is \"pillar and bulwark of the Truth\" (1 Timothy 3:15), what I say is not \"pretense\" at all, but the truth of the matter. \n\nCan I assume you are a Christian?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yep, this is thanks to Bush-era nonsense put out there as red meat to the Christian Taliban. IIRC, this is hardly the only case like this.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Okay, its got to be said. Yes it is both ridiculous and paranoid to seriously suggest that a society such as the one portrayed in the \"The Handmaid's Tale\" could develop out of a culture based on Christian values and principles concerning the sanctity of human life and beliefs that sex should rightly be being confined to life long marriage for the procreation and rearing of children. Destroy that culture, as we are doing, and anything is possible.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't say anything about anyone being Catholic. I said that the notion of total war -- total destruction -- is incompatible with Catholic teaching; and it is. I described President Trump as a virulently anti-life president; and he is. I asserted that LSN is not a pro-life site but a platform for the pseudo-religious alt-right -- and it is manifestly that.\nI didn't say anything about anyone being Catholic. Why did you bring that up?\nIf you are unfamiliar with Catholic teaching about war, it is easy to find it. (Hint: The Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Compendium of Catholic Social Teaching.) If you know the teaching, your comment is inept and disingenuous.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "a right wing rag is your source for unbiased \"news\" was it page 2 or 3 that told of the clintons eating christian children for breakfast and burning wax coated christians for funsies? only in anonymity, or on FOX news, can one cite such a eyes closed source over and over in ridiculous statements.\n\n what the heck kind of MD are/were you? did you bleed people to rid them of the evil spirits in their bodies? or cups them to produce copious bleeding?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's a Catholic school, John! Following Catholic teaching. Don't be ridiculous. When you choose to attend a Catholic school, you probably should expect that. No one forces any student or teacher to attend there.\n\nNo one is telling anyone or dictating to anyone how to live their lives. They can have their abortions and birth control - the school just isn't going to pay for it. It has not been denied them or blocked. They have access to both.\n\nAnd I am not opposed to freedom of religion. What a silly and again patently untrue thing to say. Why do you do that?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"It gives the message that the primary purpose of marriage is sexual satisfaction...\" Wrong. Such a judgmental statement is in ignorance of how anyone and everyone chooses to marry: it is out of love, and one way that love is expressed is through the intimacy of sexual union. Terms like \"Divine Will\" and \"attempts to overturn the long-held Judeo-Christian concepts of marriage...\" are smokescreens for the oppression of others. The concept of marriage changes a number of times before Jesus was born, so which \"long held\" concepts are you referring to? And is not the Church's traditional view of marriage as being for procreation? That involves having sex, does it not? So, once again, you reveal for us quite well the inconsistent, and discriminating position of the Church in its outmoded and self-serving approach to marriage, to partnership, and to love and union. We've heard it all before, and it still makes little sense, just like celibacy and creeping infallibility.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"So, as we stumble through a toxic debate over immigration, perhaps we should not be surprised. We have still not come to terms with what exactly was wrought by the assimilation of the Catholic immigrants who came to the U.S. over a century ago.\"\n\nDon't recall any of those Irish Catholic immigrants running people over with a car and stabbing people with a knife.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hey Michele, just a couple of things. Didn't Stephen try to steer things so only Christians from Syria got in? This came up in the last campaign,\n\nAlso, why didn't you run as leader? I think I know why. Does the word Titanic come to mind? But don't feel bad. You can wait. Hell could freeze over, you know. It's possible. Yes, it's darn possible. Someday (sigh)...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Killing indigenous people through state-sponsored terrorism and war, along with the systemic psychological violence of the reservation system as a means of political oppression and cultural suppression, was indispensable to making America a great industrial civilization. So, when so many Americans today (and yesterday) are prone to glorifying this country as fundamentally a Christian nation -- whose \"greatness\" they are eager to attribute mainly to their religious \"values\" -- but are now terrified by the influx of immigrants who might do them harm, they should remember that violence, terror, and immigration (by Christians) are what made America \"great.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "They should all be given long sentences and thrown in prison like they did during the crack epidemic, but of course that situation involved a bunch o black and brown people, so now it's treatment, sympathy, and a public health emergency. You got to love America...that great \"Christian\" Nation. Unbelievable!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The point is that the day after lgbtq rights, open borders, open bathrooms, free PP etc are all realized, the Left will then target mainstream religion as its enemy. How do I know this? Because it's already happening. The Left is profoundly anti-religion. You might cite the Left's apparent defense of Muslim rights as proof the Left respects religion, but this has zero to with any appreciate of Islam, and everything to do with the Left's view of \"race\" (brown good, white bad) and antipathy toward Christianity.\n\nUltimately, the Left only appreciates atheism. Every progressive Catholic should know that when they side with the Left, they are siding with forces that would prefer the Catholic church ceased to exist.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Bubbles, you are at it again. Making up false allegations and attributions, putting them in your story line, and then using them to forward an unrelated conclusion. It is your assumption that the President says and does what you allege without any basis in fact, and then you accuse him of not being Christian. Not only is yours a farce of an assertion, it is not congruent with your story and you are being hypocritical.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We need to stop giving major institutions unabashed praise all the time. We are supposed to call all men and women in uniform heroes. Well, we have many cases recently where Naval officers sold secrets for bribes of liquor, prostitution, what have you. We have the Army now trying to institute a major mental health program for officers because there is such a crisis of competence and ethics among them. We could go on about the number of times there is a gun death of a civilian and an ex Marine is called the culprit (including going to New York City to kill a black stranger in the cause of white supremacy).\n\nAnd Christians steal, cheat on income tax, exploit their employees, shoot their wives and children, support wars of aggression, and don't mind telling lies to get us into these wars. Their pastors don't call them out any more. Study religious texts, find your own religious belief....and if you must join something, join the Quakers or the Unitarians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, we deserve to be chastised, and who better to do it than a child of Britannia? Although, it seems there wasn't such arrogance when the brits came begging for aid after their incompetence and cowardice before Axis aggression lost them most of their empire, not to mention all the equipment they abandoned when they ran away. Of course, that was probably because Britain is a protestant country. If only it were run by Catholics.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It has been a bee in my bonnet since I found out about it in articles in the Post Outlook section and America Magazine just after the turn of the Millennium. It has been in my book and on my blog post on morality ever since.\n\nSo, on the subject, what is your justification for priests avoiding procreative sex with their wives (which we have in the Catholic Church) besides the fact that in ancient times, they could not shower beforehand? Was it or was it not the fact that congress with a woman rendered a priest impure for the sacrifice? Be honest. How can that not be the key question regarding whether sex itself in an impurity aside from procreation? How is it not the whole tap root for the perversion of morality that comes out of Rome on these issues?\n\nI must have misread the America on anathema, it was Rome that anathemized non-continence. Not a point in your favor. \n\nPius condemned secret societies in QC, especially the Masons, who were the backbone of Italian nationalism.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So by your argument people convicted should just give up on life, because nobody wants somebody who made a mistake in life? Pretty harsh, with that argument we should just kill everyone ever convicted of a crime because they have no future and it's just wasting time and resources to keep people with no future in jail or out on the streets. I say the streets because if everyone shared your attitude there would be nobody to rehabilitate, no jobs, no new careers. Where do you expect people to go after they do their time in prison? Very un-Christian of you.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The author is still trying to direct communications for the CPC.\n\nI see no evidence that the Liberals would be any more favourable to anti-gay or anti-choice Muslims than Christians. The author gives no examples of toerating one but not the other. Being tolerant of headscarves, for instance, is not the opposite of being tolerant of gay marriage or abortion. \n\nKudos to Scheer for saying he would not open the gay marriage or abortion debates. However, he won't have my vote unless says he convinces me he will be guiding policy with science and facts rather than beliefs. I don't want to see Canadian scientists muzzled again.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "But, but, but ... Christianity is different! The Crusaders who slaughtered Jews in Medieval-era Germany weren't \"really\" Christian! The Spanish Inquisition officials and executioners weren't \"really\" Christian. The Protestants and Roman Catholics who bombed and shot and committed other violence in Northern Ireland weren't \"really\" Christian. The members of the KKK aren't \"really\" Christian.\n(Yes, I've heard that argument, sadly.)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Half way through the book and a lover of his poetry for many years, the point is not is he a Catholic poet, but is he someone with a Catholic background still trying to deal with the present reality of the world. He is having to deal with a clergy whose point of reference is hundreds of years out of date. How does one be Catholic in the face of such stupidity? So much of Catholicism is mired in the limited language of the past. So one becomes something else. Much more difficult. He is interested in the world and human relations. Like Jesus. Fr. Tom Gumbleton and the poet would understand one another immediately.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The author of this piece must really be writing satire. No one could be this delusional.\n\nTrump sets such high standards for Christians to follow. Thrice divorced. Married to a woman who took her clothes off for money. \n\nAnd then there is Trump's bragging he can grab women by their \"puxxx\". His multiple filings for bankruptcy... And now a long list of lies he told to his base to get elected.\n\nYeah, real Christian values all right...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Re: \u201cWhy would they have invited this person in the first place, knowing that he\u2019s said these things about Muslims, knowing that he\u2019s said these things about the LGBTQ community?\u201d \n\nSadly, the answer is because today's 'christians' LIKE to hate. They've become the opposite of what Christ preached. Plain and simple.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Meanwhile, Trump supporters are assaulted on the streets of DC, and NCR doesn't report it, doesn't care.\n\nPerversely, NCR keep promoting the lie that \"barbarism\" is sure to come from the side being assaulted by progressive.\n\nSome Catholicism.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I would like to recommend that the readers beware of possible non-Catholic trolls in the comments below. No FAITHFUL Catholic can vote for Hillary Clinton because she is in favor of abortion at every turn, including PARTIAL-BIRTH abortion as a Senator, and again SPECIFICALLY in the debate. Abortion is a non-negotiable.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously didn't tickle you enough as you still managed to string a couple sentences together. \nThe statistics don't match your prejudices Rhyner. \nNo consideration necessary. Collecting garbage isn't a high end job. Nothing wrong with the work but I try to encourage my kids to \"dream\" a bit bigger. Getting a solid education is the foundation for this. Higher education also provides one with a platform to think critically, engage with others that don't look like you, and with a luck little and determination provide a means for a career requiring more than GED and CDL. You may not hurt people physically but your relentless attacks on non-whites, non heterosexuals and non Christians certainly have consequences. Why can't you live and let live?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Please do pull out the Scripture where Jesus is quoted as saying gays need to be bullied and reviled. Most Christians reject your Taliban style ignorance in favor of the love and inclusiveness of Jesus' message. I pray for your lack of compassion and empathy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "He is being totally facetious. He flits about this website mocking orthodox Catholicism by pretending to be more orthodox than anyone else.\nI feel that although you and I would be in profound disagreement on ecclesiology, it is only fair to warn you that this poster is holding the Church up to ridicule for his own amusement, mind you you may appreciate it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Donna \"The Good Christian Woman\" Brazile is trying to get in front of this before it becomes public knowledge. She wants the world to know the Clinton campaign hijacked the DNC and the money flowing into the DNC...holier than thou Barry Obama left them 24 Million in debt...and Wasserman Schultz was the worst chair the DNC ever had. The poor good cheater Christian woman is behaving like a victim.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Just how are\"Christians \" in the United States being threatened? One can't count Dylan Roof's massacre because HE was looking for Blacks; the church members were a soft target as opposed to going into an inner city. The reality in America is that whether to refuse to supply services as public vendors to some people because they are not 'straight ' OR harassing Women going into a PP clinic ( not knowing that they might be getting something besides artificial birth control or an abortion), OR using doctored and illegally obtained media aka Dalieden that inspires the a 'Christian ' like Robert Dear to commit mass murder aka Domestic Terrorism, these so called \"Christians\" attack EVERYONE ELSE. Trump is just a manifestation of their dreams of a' Christian theocracy ' put into office.\n\nBy the way, the late Jerry Falwell was, like his co religionists, an Israeli Firster , so Jewish people are special to them.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The SDA church has turned into a wimpy sissy religion as the false gospel has emasculated the spirituality of the church. Men refuse to do their duty and now hope to appoint women to do their job.\n\nThe activities at the highest level of government show this fact to be true and even obvious. We have set the stage in all of Christanity for the RCC to simply step in and show some stability in every area of government, from civil, church and home. Protestants in general have abandon the bible and so has the SDA church.\n\nRome has always considered Protestantism as some \"off shoot movement\" with no stability or sound understanding of truth. Adventism was to be the true anchor for bible truth, but never matured past kindergarten spirituality and is now falling apart.\n\nThe result is obvious as discipline will be forth coming when Rome gets control. Something a wimp spirituality can not do. Rome will pervert discipline and authority, but stability will be established even if it is false.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Lisa Murkowski and Katie Couric, what a loser duo. Both delivering the NEA / AEA teacher union talking instructed talking points. Murkowski is a hypocrite. She and her boys attended private Catholic schools but now deny the same opportunity to children and families in the poorest ghettos of America. Betsy Devos is an advocate of school choice and educational freedom! Choice is the issue here. If the local public school is good (and many are), parents will keep their children there. But if the local public schools are poor, inferior, and dangerous- why cannot poor families have the same choice Murkowski took for herself, and her boys?!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Actually it would be more accurate imho to say that whites who CALL THEMSELVES Christians are the main threat.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You say so because you seem to be unaware of how downright insulting and unchristian it is to call someone a liar, a fool and a hypocrite to their face just because they disagree with your views. Such behaviour is the height of rudeness and ill-mannered.\nMillions of Catholics from the Pope down disagree with the views you express here, saints through the ages have believed and taught that the Magisterium should be obeyed without question. Do you consider them all liars, fools and hypocrites too?\nMost civilised folk who cannot resolve differences of belief agree to differ, they don't launch into tirades of abuse against each other or liken each other to Nazi war criminals. Every time anyone posts a comment here which you don't agree with you label them liar, fool, hypocrite or all 3 and even worse.\nNCR changed to CC precisely to root out such abusive commenting.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So we should ignore the thousands of young girls and teenagers who were sexually abused by Catholic priests because they don't fit into your hateful, bigoted narrative of the sex abuse crisis. Those priests who molested young girls are part of the hetero lobby who we all know who prey on young girls and innocent teenagers. You cite false facts to support your hatred and ignore one entire group of humans.Your obvious anti gay rhetoric is also anti women.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "uh huh, and Acts 13;48 shows us that the ones that believed were ORDAINED to salvation, predestined to election before the world formed, Rom 8:30 and Eph 1;4-5, two texts you keep running from. you reject all the texts that plainly state not one of the race of Adam chose Christ, all rejected him. You have spent the day calling your god a liar.\n The only reason I have spent the day showing just how profoundly ignorant of the bible and your own religion you are, is to drive home the absurdity of the op-ed letter above. This is why religion was booted out of public schools.\n you make a mockery of grace, and glorify your works. Bottom line, you think the difference between you and me is not gods work, gods grace, but hat I am too stupid to accept the gift while you were smart. so smart you think the blood of Christ is absolutely worthless until you give god permission to save you. Your god is so vain he shed his blood for those that parish in hell, and lied when he said he wont lose one.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You appear to be describing \"Jesus, the ultimate drug addiction\".", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Don't worry, in my life time this corrupt CI (Catholic Institution) will close Vatican for good!\nRemaining Catholics will worship God in their homes/private spaces and they more likely take turns married man/women to celebrate Mass. They will try to avoid a single men if at all possible! Now the single men will have a chance to be united to God instead sexually rape children and vulnerable adults! Now that will be a good news for you! LOL", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There is no God, Jesus didn't exist.\n\nThe fool says in his heart, \u201cThere is no God.\u201d\n They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;\n there is none who does good. - Psalm 14\n\nYou are full of bitterness Hughe and there is only one man who can deliver you, and it is the man Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:10-11 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Department stores don't say \"Merry Christmas\" anymore and it is a \"War on Christmas and Christian persecution\" - Trump and Fox News. \n\n2 White men walk into 2 separate Christian churches and kill multiple people one of them 5 years old....\"well that is the price of freedom\" - Bill O'Reilly \n\nWhen Starbucks won't put a Tree on their coffee cups National Outrage... \nWhen actual Christians are being killed in a church...\"It is so sad, but nothing we can do about it\"\n\nIt is terrorism, plain and simple.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic hallucinations - seeing Mary in tortillas to whatever the imagination can conjure! Why is this a peculiar RC mental condition?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "They certainly weren't invited by the Chinese government. They were invited by House Christians as opposed to state-sanctioned Christianity.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "In Paolo Sorrentino's first episode of \"The Young Pope\" he has the bishop and cardinal breaking the seal of confession from the get- go. The young pope even tells them to break he seal so he can hear the secrets/sins of his subordinates. \nWhen Ronald Reagan sent CIA Director William Casey to the Vatican it was for help in the intelligence department. Seems that Pope John Paul II's Vatican had more intelligence on the planet than the CIA and KGB combined. How did they come by all that intelligence? \nPerhaps Father Brennan and Bishop Hart feel emboldened by their public statements of support for secrecy for child rapists confessing their crimes. They will even go to jail over the pedophiles, so brave they are. Are they still trying to get us to believe that men who cover up for pedophile priests care a hoot about confessional secrets? \n\nAW", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It take 2 to make the kids. You just assume the woman does not want the child. Also familes cannot afford 10 kids anymore. Or are married couples not allowed to have sex unless they are willing to have children they cannot afford. Or maybe Catholic's should be not responsible and have tons of kids and let everyone else pay for them. The problem with the Church is that it is out of touch, it has covered up scandals and you don't need the hypocritical Church to have a relationship with God.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why does the National Catholic Reporter call millions of Americans \"evil\" for voting for the current president?\n\nMichael Sean Winters should be fired, TODAY.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And yet, these people who want gender equality are the same people who call half of America white supremacists, fascists. i yi yi...\n\nThe good news is...another win! Carrier isn't moving to Mexico.\n\nIf this nation had elected a candidate for the sake of \"gender equality,\" no wins, no Carrier, more people out of work. How lucky we are that the U.S. does have a democracy, even if there are some who can't appreciate it. \n\nAnd given they can't appreciate American democracy, their ideas about a Catholic democracy are probably half-baked.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "They will make the fatherland great again, they say,\nby weeding out the non-Christians and \"dangerous\" ethnic people,\nby slashing aid to the elderly and care for the poor, and by building the greatest military the world has ever seen.\nThey will publicize government-sponsored lists intended to demonstrate the \"criminality\" of the ethnic other.\nThey condemn revelation of inconvenient facts as merely the continued plotting of the L\u00fcgenpresse.\nAnd they brag to their admirers about the inspiration for all those plans, not being the least bit shy about doing so.\nCall it what it is\u2014and call Republican support for their plans what it is, as well.\nTrumpism = Fascism = Republicanism.\nThe right adopted Trump and his agenda, all of it. The Fascism, the Racism, the Nazism.\nThat's what winning looks like.\nYou're a winnner.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "With the exception that some of the \"white, Christian, straight males\" may not have been so \"straight\" as they appeared.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "At least in that they continue the traditions of the Church, as Saint Pope John Paul II the Great was a firm believer in protecting pedophile clergy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes it was based on THEIR lies of their understanding of the Gospels. They used GOD and twisted HIS words to justify their colonalism as today for no taxes and political clout. But.... that same Bible tells us of consequences of abusing any of HIS words and commandments. Nasty stuff ahead for these organized religious liars.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, more \"Catholics\" who read Matthew 22:39 as \"And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself, unless the neighbor is gay or transgendered. Those people you should loathe.\" And they have the chutzpah to claim that theirs is a Christian attitude.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing shocking here. A bunch of rich men, gathering in all male-exclusive clubs to promote sexism and control over women's rights and bodies. We should demand this disgusting sexist group of men either start allowing women knights so maybe they can find cause to stop hating their wives and daughters and mothers and everyone else's too - or no longer support them as a group at all.\n\nThese men are controlling power hungry laymen. There is no need for any charity to be sexually exclusive. Absolutely none. Our church is killing itself over its sexist and clerical and too conservative policies already. We don't need more harm done to our church by this nasty group of sexist men.\n\nThey also wreck constructive outlets for Catholic Dialogue as they turn them into useless ones. They destroyed Crux. We don't need more of this junk. We need to dump them as a church, and every other sexually exclusive group.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I have a problem with the relevance of it all. When the press focuses its attention on a decades old allegation that may or may not have happened, the public's attention is diverted away from where proven abuse is actually happening in the present right under their collective noses.\n\nCase in point: While the press and SNAP were drooling all over themselves over the 2008 settlement involving dead priests and 30 year old unproven allegations in KCMO, they collectively IGNORED the largest clergy abuse sex scandal in Missouri history happening in the present at the First Baptist Church in Grenwood, Mo., just a few miles away. I find that duplicity disgusting.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Am I to assume that you think all Muslims are trying to enact laws like that? \n\nI am aware of laws that exist in Saudi Arabia and Iran. I'm not ignoring that. What that has to do with Muslims in our communities I am at a loss on though. You seem quick to bring that up. Same types of things happen in Russia from Christians, am I to assume all churches are somehow in cahoots with beating up gay people?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "For the next four years it will be comatose, but it will regain consciousness and will be passed in time. Face it, the religious nuts are dying out. Most young folks today think gay people should have the same rights as anyone else. As more peop,e openly declare themselves as nones, agnostics and atheists, they become more angry about the right to discriminate against other Americans using the name of religion. Denying any person access to public goods or services is evil, even when done from supposedly \"religious\" reasons. Remember, it wasn't all that long ago Catholics were discriminated against for religious reasons and these supposed \"religious freedom\" laws could bring those days back. Be careful what you wish for, as these things can easily bite you in the butt.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Pruitt is the worst danger to the nation's environment since James Watt. Driven by Republican ideologoical fealty to billionaire barons and claiming Christian Fundamentalism as above all secular laws. He never should have been confirmed and should be removed from office immediately as refusing to function in a secular manner and a threat to the lives every occupant of this Continent. Time for a Revolution from these dictatorial traitors.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "People are being true to themselves and walking away from something they don't believe or something that has left them because they can't fit the right mold. If someone if a young man or woman who is gay or lesbian, the church teaches that the only we for them to be accepted is a lifetime of celibacy. And those that have been badly hurt by abuse and have been brutalised in Catholic institutions can not be expected to want to stay. It wasn't Catholic teaching that drove them away, it was abuse. \nMy parish is thriving, it is fairly liberal and people that are remarried at welcome too, even if they don't take Communion. And they give a lot to Parish life. I attended a funeral today, the idea of the mention of Purgatory would have been insulting if it happened. Especially when people often have dementia at the end of their lives, but have been devout all their lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You would take Aquinas over me every time? That's sad. \n\nWhy don't you cease relying on others' divine ontology and form your own? You're ex-Anglo-Catholic. You should know, therefore, the vital importance of forming a personal relationship with Christ. \n\nWe \"cradle\" Catholics were raised to rely more on clergy than Christ. So Protestants had a distinct and beautiful advantage over us. Are you really going to throw that away? Besides, I wasn't relying on myself, but on Scripture: that Jesus was tempted in every way that we are but without sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your request for me to read other people's minds looks like an attempt to redirect from me shedding light on your apparent prejudice and bigotry towards Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We are made in God's image insofar as like Him we possess intellect and will\"\n\nExcellent point. If intellect and will are the only attributes we share with God, then genitals are spiritually and sacramentally irrelevant. So why have the Holy Oligarchs turned the Church of Jesus into a phallus cult?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since there are a number of competing versions of a Christian god and the \"one true faith,\" it's apparent people are making up god and religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In principle everything you say is correct. In practice we do have a mostly Christian calendar but in name only (with some pagan holidays in the mix) where, for example the vast majority of kids look forward to Santa coming and NOT celebrating the mass of Christ. The modern Canadian society is a secular one - and thank 'god' for that. Most importantly this type of set up with muslim prayers in secular schools in other countries has lead to many divisions within the schools and communities. In the worst cases - and there are so many in Europe - the 'Sharia' gangs have developed and the mal-effects on the freedom of girls and women and non-muslims has been terrible. This religion, like all others, needs to be defanged and bent toward the service of Canadian society. We must always watch out for liberal ideals being coopted by non-liberals to further their own agendas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is the exact thing Thomas Merton was talking about \"From now on, Brother, everybody stands on his own feet.\" at Bangkok just before he died. I apparently have relied on the CI (Catholic Institution) way too much. My horror, grief, and outrages lasted about three years.\n \nCI is apparently too busy with other things, perhaps with power and money, to tend this sexual abuses of children!!!\nI, IOH, can't wait for them. I am not strong enough to ignore the impurities in CI. I will have to work on my inner transformation, i.e., purity of heart some other ways.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I never ever want to hear the catholic church complain about funding to Planned Parenthood again. I don't want my tax dollars to support religion !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We witness the big cracks opening ever wider in all US Christian denominations, including the Roman Catholic Church, as the ugly, violently ultra-nationalistic, white supremacist, authoritarian law-and-oder-or-else cult of \"Americhristianity\" is being born. The progressive Evangelical Pastor John Pavlovitz coined the term in November of 2015, in his very inspired blog \"Stuff That Needs To Be Said\", which I invite everyone here to read frequently. I think the time has arrived for all Christian churches to issue a joint and unequivocal statement condemning \"Americhristianity\" as deeply anti-Christian and a severe danger to the very foundations on which not only Christianity but every democratic society is built, including the American Republic. The odious rise of \"Americhristianity\" also provides the unique opportunity for ALL Christians in the US to engage in the process of serious examination of conscience as individuals and as community, as Pope Francis tirelessly urges us to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good observation. Many of the Christians who obviously don't want to let nature take its course in this case are the same ones who advocate letting nature taking its course when it comes to assisted suicide.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anyone want to guess how long it will take the president to start calling this sort of thing what it is, \"radical white-Christian terrorism\"? . . .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Leviticus:\n\"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.\" Chapter 18 verse 22\n\"If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.\" Chapter 20 verse 13\n\nUnclear on basic biblical teachings while you promote Christianity, but you think you know all about Islam ....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I stand by my original comment...sometimes Christianity isn't the answer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's all stand up for the Palestinian Muslims who follow Islam with its verses that call for the destruction of Jews, Christians and non believers; who have a covenant to destroy Israel; who have recently stabbed and maimed or killed innocent Jewish civilians in the streets; who sent terrorists to kill Jewish Athletes at the Munich Olympics; who sent suicide bombers into Israel to blow up and slaughter innocent Jewish civilians; who have kidnapped innocent Jewish people and who keep lobbing missiles from Gaza into into Israel to try to kill innocent Jewish civilians.\n\nDoes everyone feel better now?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unbelievable. Do these \"christians\" not know that their religion is based on IMMACULATE conception. If you don't know what \"immaculate\" means, look it up. That's not what Roy Moore was up to with a 14 year old.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religion and sound public policy - oil and water. One should respect a person's religion but one should not be governed by it. Nor should any canon law be taught in our schools be it Catholic, Islamic, Jewish, or The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster - although I must confess the latter has many sound tenets.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is nuts, the time for political correct has long passed, we buy oil from both side of the Muslim civil war, they send the money to there Sunni of Shia friends, next thing we have a world awash in Muslims. The Sunni Muslim do not go to the rich Arab states, the Shia Muslim do not go to the rich Persian state, we must ask why. Myself as a Canadian, I would take all of the Syrian Sunni and Christians, we have lots of room in Canada and lots of money, but we accept a few thousands. Look if Syria does not want them, Arabia does not want them, Iraq/Iran does not want them, we can take them all in Canada. As the years past and they respect our laws all will be fine, if they claim or want some nut bar belief from their previous life we ship them back and all there family to Syria (or where ever they came from) where they will be happy. Family is important to these people and we must replace the young nut bars payment from the Muslim state with an proper consequence, ship the family home", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read the Bible some time, particularly the Old Testament! I recall a certain Minister in Florida preaching hatred against Musli,s and destroying Qurans. No, Imam's should not be preaching hate against Jews but bear in mind that is NOT the norm. There have been examples of Synagogues loaning their premises to Muslims and Mosques doing the same for Jews. It is not hatred all around but you are certainly doing your best to stir some up!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about because over 60% of the population identify as a denomination of Christianity, Catholic being the most. Or the importance of having choice for your children's education? Or how about acknowledging the values and the integrity that a religious upbringing can instill in kids. Christianity contains many of the individual values that make up our cumulative values, the 10 commandments for example. If there is demand for Catholic schools, or even just the choice, and clearly there is demand for both, then why should resentful, leftist centralized decision makers be able to simply remove the choice? Honestly, the arrogance and closed mindedness socialism of the left blows me away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am also Catholic and I find what Podesta said to be disgusting. Regardless of Party, most politicians won't tell you how they really feel/believe. My entire family in Iowa is Irish Catholic and they blindly vote for Democrats, without knowing what that person stands for. BTW, I have an aunt who is a nun and taught Catholic school for 50 years and she also voted Democrat even though I showed her that those she voted for supported abortion. Many Catholics vote lockstep, like their parents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With YOUR \"Catholic\" attitude, protestants will DEFINITELY find any ecumenical discussions a waste of time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An interesting angle on this is to perhaps not view the group of 'evangelicals' as a discrete subset of the US population but to overlap that (Venn Diagram) group with ~white nationalists / far right / conservatives. Noting the list of states of inter-racial marriage, the states with the lowest % are, aside from a relatively isolated part of PA, all in the South.\n\nMy take on this is that many (not just Christians) used their religion to justify their domination and appropriation (theft) of others' lands based on race, ethnicity and faith / religious beliefs. Just look at the Dominionists of today who promote Manifest Destiny v2017 (Bachman, Palin, Perry.. and vp Pence, along with a multitude of evangelical preachers- Dobson, Hagee, Robertson, Graham jr; revisionist 'historian' David Barton, and many others). \n\nhttps://www.thedailybeast.com/dominionism-michele-bachmann-and-rick-perrys-dangerous-religious-bond", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So we have three folks here,( at least), that find it to be okay behavior to insult not just Christians but anyone and everyone who believes in God. Great going old soul, hugh and icon, you have managed to insult every Christian, every Jew and every Muslim. You have managed to insult every person in the world who believes in God. Bottom line here folks, what any one else believes, what ever their heart tells them is true, is not mine, nor is it your business. Believe what you choose to, just please try and understand we have the freedom to believe what we want, the line is drawn when those beliefs result in actions infringing on others safety. Try a bit of diversity, both in thought and deed, after all, from what I hear the left is all for diversity right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have less and less hope that America will turn this round without some major catastrophe shocking society into action. I thought 9/11 might have been that moment. But it wasn't. \n\nIt is patently obvious to every other country in the world that America needs to take immediate action to get guns out of American society. My God, we've had enough vigils in my European parish over the years for the latest US school massacre, never mind the daily toll of 'mundane' murders which must be equivalent to a plane crash - every week!\n\nHow can a country in which its citizens are 'tooled up' to the eyeballs even think of calling itself 'Christian'? \n\nIf they can't see something so obvious, how are US citizens going to combat the less visible evils like global warming, etc.. (you all know Trumps list.) \n\nBtw, serious question, would American Catholics take a gun along to Mass? Would that be thought of as acceptable practice? (Yeh, yeh I know they wouldn't at the SSPX Masses....)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity \"requires\" quite little from\n\"politics\" to flourish.\n\nA better word would have been culture.\n\nNow 'justice' demands that our culture and politics not work against the good.\n\nJustice is not being done when politics and the culture encourage and support the killing of 3000 plus innocent babies every day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here are the stats on religions: Christianity 2 billion; Islam 1.2 billion' Hinduism 786 million; Buddhism 362 million; Tribal religions 225 million; Sikhism 23 million; Judaism 14 million... World population: 7.347 billion......so there are also about 2.4 billion who don't identify with a religion. Of the 7.,3 billion, you, as you state your religious dogma, condemn 5.3 to hell for not believing as you do. Good people? bad people? Somewhere in between people? makes no difference....either they believe \"in Christ\" in just the way you do, or they're damned to Hell. Your Christian Compassion doesn't exactly overwhelm me. How can you, whose beliefs condemn the majority of the people on earth to everlasting Hell, criticize Islam for \"condemning people\"? Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Their is no Islamic Jesus and what there is, us a complete fraud. Islam holds a confused vision of the Jews, Jesus and His teachings. One cannot dispute a narrative they do not understand in the first place. Islam cannot explain sin, how we acquired sin, what removes sin, who Jesus is, why he came, why he had to die, why he rose from the dead, yet they claim to know Jesus and have valuable insights. They have no clue whatsoever who Jesus is or who the Father is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Douthat - you fail to highlight how he uses a logical fallacy to try to divert attention. Thus, he inserts a comparison of eucharist for divorced/remarried after a process to Canada and euthanasia. \nFirst - these are completely different questions and issues\nSecond - his view of eucharist ignores the history of catholic tradition and sacrament understanding. For hundreds of years, eucharist was a sacrament of reconciliation and mercy - it is not given just to those who are *perfect*.\nThird - kag1982 hits another Douthat knee jerk. He is a convert (use this term for him deliberately) and thus is threatened by John XXIII's desire to address the greatest scandal - Christianity's divisions as scandal. Douthat sees this as black and white; church makes right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just another Theocrat ready to finish off the definition of citizen to mean only Corporate or Christian. All others not allowed to participate in elections, practice birth control, receive healthcare, practice any other religion or any other restriction contained in Catholic/Christian dogma. The end of the U.S. Constitutional Republic killed by the Republican traitors with the long-time acquiescence of the Corporate DINOs. The Beacon of Democracy dying slowly, but now speeded up by the traitorous acts of Republican officeholders in local, state, and federal positions gridlocking the process through election voting roll manipulation and outright denial of voting rights to citizens. Seig Heil!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm impressed that you took the time to read it! I think the author on page 3 was trying to contrast God's kingdom with worldly kingdoms that rise and fall. Christianity wasn't first, but its staying power has been strong. A belief system has to have a foundation or its just an opinion. For Christians that foundation is the Bible, which we trust is at the very least a morally accurate representation of God's will and his activities on earth in the person of Jesus. If you don't believe that premise, then I can see why people quoting it would be an annoying and ineffective argument. Taken in proper context though, you might find it enlightening. Homeless housing at church- I've read that many with the space have tried and run afoul of local zoning laws. And consider if it would be harmful to the church buliding's primary mission - being a place of worship, with activities all week not just Sunday. You will find many Christians at work at your local salvation army", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If it feels good, do it.\" Whatever this belief is, it isn't Catholic. Nothing about picking up your cross and following Him. \n\nWhy should you tell someone risk eternal hell fire for momentary pleasure in the grand scheme of things?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Being a white \"Christian\" means never having to say you were wrong. So they think...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with what you say here about how V-II changed the church's message. As is see it, that was essentially the end of Catholicism, replacing the Catholic message of salvation with a message common to most Protestant sects. Given the hundreds of Protestant sects out there already (many failing miserably), I can't imagine what kind of model would emerge that could be considered \"Catholic.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Self-reflection does not mean introspection. Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and other religions ask followers to look inwards to meditate on their own character and soul. This has nothing to do with self analysis. That may lead to questions about Islamic Suprematism and that is apostasy, which is punishable with death. This is only a call to arms against those who criticize Islam for what ever reason.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is nonsense. Palestinians are about 30 percent Christian (Jesus would have been a Palestinian if he was born today - Bethlehem is in the West bank).\n\nRadical Islam was born in dictatorships like Egypt and monarchies like Saudi Arabia. It was the Afghan War in the 1980s that fuelled radical Islam. Osama, Ayman, etc made their name fighting the Soviets, not the Israelis. The PLO is a relatively secular organization - Yasser Arafat's wife is a Palestinian Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims in Pakistan have been attacking and killing Christians and burning their churches. Now Muslims have bombed and killed Coptic Christians in their churches in Egypt. \n\nBut the Christians in Pakistan and the Coptic Christians in Egypt haven't been attacking Muslims so why are Muslims attacking those Christians?\n\nWhy are so many followers of Islam, the religion of peace, purposely attacking, bombing, maiming and killing innocent civilians in many countries around the world?\n\nWhere do so many followers of Islam, the religion of peace, get the idea they must purposely attack, bomb, maim and kill innocent civilians in many countries around the world?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ISIS does not acknowledge the Catholic Calendar and considers it offensive to all Moslems.\nTry to focus when u are reading or consult a doctor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to Trudeau and the globalists because I am white, Christian and middle class \nthis is not my country anymore", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is why what Daniel R. Kempton did (and other conservative Catholics like him) is so \"deplorable\": http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/opinion/threats-of-an-anti-muslim-holocaust.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Moore is the same so-called \"christian\" that said this, \"\u201cHomosexual behavior is a ground for divorce, an act of sexual misconduct punishable as a crime in Alabama, a crime against nature, an inherent evil, and an act so heinous that it defies one\u2019s ability to describe it.\u201d He claims it's the same as bestiality. Look up the rest of his nice \"christian\" comments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So they are OK as long as they stay in the closet. \n\nGays in general don't give two hoots about the Catholic Church's stance on marriage. What they want is CIVIL marriage. No, you are another one who is anxious to point to the sins of others. Your Phariseeism is shining bright.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a ridiculous thing to say about a church which has committed some of the most heinous acts throughout the history of mankind. \n\nNewsflash TQ: \"Holy Mother's\" teachings consist of more than what she writes down on paper... it is how she acts that \"teaches\" common people most commonly... get a clue will ya, if unsuspecting seekers (of God) come to NCR and see your posts they will be sure to be scared off by your insidious, Taliban Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This time they called themselves \u201celevate\u201d, last time it was \u201creform\u201d, before that it was \u201cchoice.\u201d Their goal is to fund Christian schools with taxpayer money. Their worst action was to undermine our public schools in the hope of getting taxpayer\u2019s support for Christian education. \nYes, the teacher\u2019s union is on one side, but so are educators, scientists, non-religious and taxpayers. \nThe last time they \u201csnuck up\u201d on us. We have to remain vigilant. The DP endorsed the pro-voucher crowd, either through ignorance or they really do believe in religion over science.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration has already stated categorically that he will not open Canada's doors to Christians. That would be religion faith based immigration policy and against our secular moral standards. He said just a couple of weeks ago that Christians don't face the same dangers as other legitimate refugees. He will however welcome all Muslims fleeing Trump's persecution in the US.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Christian hysteria in Salem was just 325 years ago.\n\nhttp://www.history.com/topics/salem-witch-trials\n\nReading the court testimony with a modern eye claims that women used satanic magic to transport themselves into god fearing men's beds at night to have relations with them has a much simpler explanation. \n\nThe sexually repressed Christian men were having erotic dreams, and any blame should fall on them for including the women in their dreams, not on the women who were unknowing involved in the men's nocturnal fantasies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In fact, violence of ANY kind is not denounced by All Christians, All Jews, All Buddhists, All Shintoists, Confucians, Zoroastrians, Pagans, Animists, or those who ascribe to ANY religion.\n\nSo in effect, your statement, besides implying your own personal anti-Muslim bigotry (which you exhibit at every opportunity), is meaningless. This is a civil forum. Please refrain from your uncivil, bigoted comments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Faith, Religion, Doctrine and Theology.\nThose four concepts have been responsible for billions of unnecessary deaths for thousands and thousands of years. \nCatholic, Christian, Islamic, Shinto, Aztec, Mayan, Incan, pick one of those or a different one. It doesn't really matter; they are all the death-bringers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So rail against abortion and when a young girl chooses not to have an abortion they turn on her anyway. According to Christians a women is not allowed to have an abortion but if she is unwed and carries it to term she is on her own and handed a big fat scarlet A. \n\n\"We do believe in forgiveness, but forgiveness does not mean there\u2019s no accountability.\u201d - We forgive you, now GET OUT!\n\nWhy doesn't everyone sign up to be Christian? It sounds nice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well written article Mr. Winters. I would also like your thoughts on why so many Catholics voted for Trump. Are they so blinded by their Pro-life agenda that they fail to see how many more will die from Trump's possible mishandling of our military power, Nuclear Weapons, Foreign Policy, Global Warming, and race wars? If Trump acts as he has promised, the few lives saved by outlawing abortion will pale beside the thousands of people slaughtered by Herr Drumpf!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Considering that the Catholic Church didn't recognize religious freedom until the Second Vatican Council, it is late to the party. The irony is that a nation founded by deists and Masons, the very people the church condemned, created a country where the Catholic Church flourished once it got past those Protestant nativists who said Catholic immigrants were an existential threat to this nation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You may think that, but you are mistaken. I did not say that the \" only reason people in the global south are accepting Christianity is because of \"fear of hell\" or that some how they are just ignorant\". That's something that you brought into the conversation. \nIt's fine that you disagree with me. What's not fine is that you choose to accuse me of \"pumping\" bias and Eurocentric stereotyping.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CTND...\n\nCatholicism never taught that pedophilia and sexual abuse by priests or anyone else was permissible, those who were guilty were careful to hide their acts from the authorities and their parishioners. Whereas shariah specifically teaches a lot of behaviors and values we today deem \"barbaric\". Instead of deflecting, how about speaking out clearly and telling Canadians which of those values and behaviors you disavow?\n\nFor example, you should be encouraging action against those imams that preach hate instead of protecting them like the Catholic Church protected child abusers. You are guilty of the same impulse to protect one's own instead of denouncing them, it's the same phenomenon.\n\nAs for shariah...what, you need it to get skinless boneless chicken thighs?? As for adultery, the difference is that as much as anyone disapproves of adultery, no one is clamoring for anything close to stoning, not even Ivana.\n\nAnd none of this has anything to do with \"racism\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The emails Mr. Dionne refers to were four to five years old, as he makes clear. Mr. Dionne has put the \"controversy\" in perspective. Here's a clue - the emails discuss conservative Catholic opposition to ACA contraception requirements. Many Catholics use contraception, sometimes in conflict with orders from their diocese. If you don't like it, dogs, tough.\n\nYou lack the cognitive ability to follow a timeline, just as you misunderstand the use of hypothetical comparison.\n\nThe WikiLeaks come from Putin, who wants Trump in office. These particular leaks refer to conversations around the early requirements of the ACA, which Clinton had no part in. Putin wants to associate anti-Catholicism with Clinton, when it isn't even implied in this conversation, which didn't involve Clinton. Putin thinks you're too dumb to figure that out, and here, E.J. Dionne, who is Roman Catholic, is helping you out.\n\nGive it another shot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@Oldgit\n\u2018The Orange Order\u2019 was very important in Canada and has exerted considerable influence on Canadian political and social life to such an extent that he got involved at the heart of linguistic an religious conflicts that have changed the history of Canada (ever since and even nowadays). \n (CORNE DE BRUME)\nQu\u00e9bec (aka Canada) does not need any lessons to receive from RoC and here\u2019s WHY there are Anti-Catholic AND anti-French in Canada (meaning anti-Qu\u00e9bec) what a farce those \"Loyalists Westmount Rhodesians\" are...small-minded, blinded, ignorant, racist, fascist and on and on... \n\n1864 (before Confederation); Nova Scotia \npassed a law on public schools, the \u00ab Education Act \u00bb, which made English the only language of instruction.\n1871; New Brunswick\nthe \u201cCommon School Act\u201d which stated that the public school was now \"neutral\". In these schools, it was forbidden for teachers to teach catechism and wear distinctive religious symbols\n(more to come)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clowns are now seen as violent and deviant, Democrats \"stop hate\" by beating Trump supporters, Christians are called evil, terrorists are called justified, and being successful is now deemed greedy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I very much question R & R's definitions of what makes a person Catholic, Christian or ethical. I also question what he means by \"good conscience.\" Seems he means that for a person to have good conscience, he or she must agree with R & R when this persons statements show that his idea of Catholic is fixed in a non evolved mummified belief system that does not take into consideration that human thoughts continue to evolve each generation through the workings of the Holy Spirit that is here for all of us until the end of time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reason Christians \"screw it up\" is because we are all sinners, which is why we need a savior in the first place.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lets not forget the shooting at Planned parenthood last year, done by a catholic. Religion has nothing to do with peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First off, in my form of Christianity, we are not supposed to fear God the way you mean. Respect, yes. Fear, no. Remember, I have said it is about relationship.\nNow as far as the rest, I know a black pastor of a storefront church that freely admits that if you had lighter colored skin, you did not want to be in his part of town after dark when he was growing up. As far as current events go, every time a white person is excluded from anything based on their skin color, they are demeaned. Or is this just true for minorities? Promotion of other races is inherent in affirmative action. Spitting I am sure occurred a number of times but I will have to get back with you about a specific time and place. One spot I would believe it happened would be against a police officer at one of many liberal \"protests\" that tend to get out of hand.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At least in some instances, their bigotry IS their religion, at least in their own warped understanding. The KKK was founded by \"Christians\" who found the basis for their bigotry in their religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no cherry picking here. The judgments that Christ has made against the Jews in Revelation are a separate topic.\n\nThe Qur'an states that there is no compulsion in religion; and yet, Islamic history is about putting people to the sword if they do not accept the religion. So just because you can find a nice text re Christians does not wash clean the fact that jihad has killed an estimated 60 million Christians and that Christians to this day are in subjugation in the Ummah.\n\nMuhammed is a false prophet. It is inconceivable that a follower of Christ would also follow a false prophet.\n\nRevelation 9:2 reveals to us that the religion of Islam comes from the abyss -- where the demons feared to return when they asked Christ to cast them into the swine instead.\n\nNebuchadnezzar also did God's work in the Babylonian captivity. If this made him righteous, then why the need for his conversion?\n\nWe are not Muslims, no matter how subjectively you desire to define Islam.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Given their long history of disseminating deceitful propaganda...\" \n\nPot meet kettle... There weren't even 6 million Jews in all of Europe making it impossible that 6 million Jews weren't killed by Hitler. In fact the most current research on the \"Holocaust\" now has that figure at under 1 million or approximately the same number as the number of US casualties... Or another way to look at it is that Hitler killed about 2% of the 60 million Christians and Orthodox Russians that were killed by the Bolshevik Jews in the early 1900s during the real Holocaust...sorry just sick of revisionist history being stated as though it were fact. You are correct about a Hitlery Presidency", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Colby Cosh?\n\nPlease.\n\nAs for your parsing and picking between Christianity and Islam, it's quite apparent that, while you may not \"hold a brief\" for Christianity, you certainly do have a bald prejudice against Islam.\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, no matter how hard the Democrats attack the Catholic Church. No matter how hard they push 3rd term abortion on demand with taxpayer funding, Transgender reassignment surgery, etc, they will still have the 100% full support of Pope Francis. The Democrats are aware of this which is why Catholic Democratic politicians are celebrated in the church and can act with complete impunity, (and they do).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Compare the Tridentine Mass prayers to the Novus Ordo Mass prayers. \n\nIf you want to claim the TLM clearly communicates the understanding of Mass at one point in history, you can also say the Novus Ordo communicates the understanding of the Mass circa 1970, when it was promulgated. How arrogant to think Catholics didn't understand the Mass (as much as one can with our human intellects) until 1970!\n\nIf we understand the Mass so much better now post Vatican II than pre, why is it most Catholics choose to sleep in on Sunday mornings? If they really understood the power of the Mass they would want to go as much as they could.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The left doesn't seem to have a problem extending the courtesy to Muslims. I'm not sure exactly when the last time a large group of Christians formed together for the purpose of annihilation and terror in the name of their religion was, but I think its been awhile. Like in the thousands of years ago. Allowing exemptions for deeply held beliefs is not the same as a Theocratic takeover of the government.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bible contains the same type of teachings. Here in America, the Cult of Christianity also murders. They even go into churches to murder dotors. They also bomb medical clinics.\n\nAll religions are cults. All religions have mentally ill followers. \nOnly Muslims killings are given the front page media coverage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have just returned from Rome. I directly asked Pope Francis and Vatican officials to issue an apology to all Canadians for the abuse inflicted on men, women and children by Catholic clergy and religious, and for the Church's role in covering up such abuse. Prime Minister Trudeau and several members of his cabinet were aware of my trip to the Vatican. \n\nWhen I was 12 years old I suffered physical and sexual abuse at the hands of several De La Salle Brothers of the Christian Schools. It took over 30 years for the abusers to be brought to justice.\n\n In 1989 I asked the Pope for an apology and was greeted by silence from Rome. This year I was received by Vatican officials and my request for an apology is under consideration. \n\nWhat I fail understand is why Prime Minister Trudeau is unwilling to ask for an apology for all Canadians who suffered at the hands of Roman Catholic clergy and religious, and why he refuses to acknowledge the incredible cost we have all paid for the damage done.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They ARE failed states. War-torn and hopeless. That's why people are fleeing them. \n\nMore accurately, though, this is a 'religionist' policy. Observably so. It discriminates against Muslims and favors Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What about the Christian or Jewish judges? Are not wearing some religious symbol under their frock?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ya Right: The Taliban are not known for beheadings. They prefer the old testament punishment of stoning. They are religious fundamentalists who believe that the laws in their country should be predicated on old testament principles, and liberal, secular influences should be suppressed. In that sense they resemble christian fundamentalists on the Kenai Borough assembly. Nothing ridiculous about the comparison at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He never denied assaulting all those women. The real question is why a self labeled Christian would support the sex assault artist?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for illustrating so adequately how to compose a hate-filled, intolerant message, couched in seemingly Christian language.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks, dennism. That \"if your faith is strong...\" as Bishop T. Tobin explains it is really not about faith in Jesus, it is about faith in the Catholic church: how it worships, what it teaches. The Church has a mission to bring the good news of Jesus to the world - to teach what Jesus taught. What do they do when the way in which they bring that news doesn't work, when neither the words nor the rituals which should evoke love doesn't work? ...when huge numbers of \"believers\" don't believe every thing but aren't free to discuss their disagreements? \n\nI think many of those who aren't participating simply don't find Jesus there, don't believe some of what is taught is really what Jesus would say, don't find spiritual growth. \n\nPray, pay, obey doesn't work any more. So, it is time for the Church to seek what does work, not to hold onto a past that has stopped working.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why did local bishops one after another keep asking it to remove the word 'Catholic' from its title? I understand that Church Militant changed its name at the behest of the local Ordinary without a fuss because it is not affiliated to the Church why not the Reporter if it genuinely supported Catholicism?\nTo brag about winning press awards is ridiculous, usually it is done to order, buggin's turn. Who dishes out these awards anyway and what is their competence?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At a Catholic fundraiser dinner tonight Trump and Hillary were the guest speakers. During Hillary's speech she said, \"Of course Donald is as healthy as a horse. Just like the one Putin rides around on.\" Hillary's comment brought the house down while Trump's snipes at Hillary received boos.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus never said anything regarding due process of law. Neither did Paul, although he used legal tactics to good effect. The concept of due process is not bible based. You are incorrect. But then as a new convert to Catholicism, your worldview is probably badly clouded by the brainwashing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fair post Ali and try your best to ignore the haters on the boards...they denounce everything. Many Canadians believe there should be no separation period and no new Catholic or Jewish ones should be built either. The preference would (if burial is necessary) to have them multi-denominational as that would best reflect Canadian values. Plus segregation is anathema to God. Your turn.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since I have not stated that I had an authority to excommunicate or investigate, can we put those aside?\n\nAs any Christian has, I certainly have a right to admonish within my capacity and authority.\n\nYou seem to be admonishing in the post to which I am responding, eh?\n\nSinners have two canonical legal remedies to their situations in irregular marriages - obtain an annulment, cease engaging in sexual relations.\n\nThe word \u201cintermeddle\u201d appears to be freshly coined.\n\nI boast of nothing - as Aquinas said, it is all straw and I am a poor and wretched sinner.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh yes, those poor, poor Christians! Friday when the ban happened Trump did an interview with the CHRISTIAN BROADCASTING NETWORK and promised special consideration for Christians, so please, spare us the poor little Christian tears. These REFUGEES have troubles and have seen things that you and I can only guess at. Be thy brother's keeper, indeed. \n\nMuzzies? You said that. Muzzies. But Christians need extra protection. \n\n1. Read a wide variety of opinion by many different U.S. and foreign writers.\n2. Repeat. \n3. Turn off Fox News. \n\nShame on you, CherryAnn!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is possible that Burke's motivation is that he likes to tell people they can't receive communion. But there is also a good reason to insist the Pope be clear about what he means.\n\n\nThe analogous secular principle is government by law and not by man. It's a historical fact that the most stable and equable way to tell people what they may freely do and what they will be sanctioned for doing is to have clear, public, uniformly-enforced laws. \n\nTelling people that their priest or bishop can choose to be a nice guy if he finds them sympathetic and doesn't think their situation will scandalize the ambient culture is neither just nor equable. It means some people get a pass and others get denied and nobody ever knows why which person is permitted to do what is forbidden to others. \n\nIt's also a gigantic temptation for the priest or bishop to become a tyrannical little monster; and if there's one thing the Catholic Church doesn't need right now, it's more tyrannical little monsters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What single religion are you referring to. There are religious differences in Islam, Buddhism and Christianity. Differences so great that that people did not see it as the same religion and killed for it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clearly Mr. Pence's views are more in harmony with the Catholic Church's teachings on homosexuality than these gay groups.\nIf Obama could speak at Notre Dame, then Pence (and Trump) should be able to speak there also.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Christian mythology is more compatible with \"Flat Earth\" thinking: pointing UP to Heaven and DOWN to Hell, for instance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What you write shows little sympathy. Your call to just \"offer up\" one's pain is easily seen as saying \"just suck it up, no matter how bad it is\". When I wrote that my wife has an incurable illness that is killing her by inches, you offered nothing in the way of sympathy, just your standard pietism. You say that those who are bullied are \"playing the victim\".\n\nShowing some sympathy for those who are suffering would be nice. It certainly would be Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, but you DID say that. You think my marriage rights should be taken away from my family, based off your god (or more likely, you're simply hiding behind Christian extremism to support your bigotry). And plenty of Christian churches are just fine with my marriage. What if my god said your heterosexual marriage shouldn't be recognized by the government and you should be stripped of any marital benefits? Who's god wins then?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is sad how our \"pastors\" have made Eucharist a \"repeat\"; how many of us succumb to it, and how many/often the selective traditionalists have thrown it out as a sacred sword to slay.\nPoor Jesus in eternal torture and pain. Many focus their piety on the Eucharist being the Crucixion. Poor Jesus, and a poor faith that hangs itself fully upon suffering and death.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the people of Iraq under Saddam Insane and Libya under Daffy Gaddafi and Syria under Assad had just a humongous bundle of human rights (except, of course, for the ones buried by the hundreds of thousands in hidden mass graves and the Christians and the Jews and the gays and the women, etc., etc.). \n\nIt is such a shame those dastardly Americans and their allies intervened to deprive the citizens of these countries - who had flourished in prosperity and peace under the gentile and benign leadership of the aforementioned dictators -of their democratic rights and freedoms. And it is all the fault of the evil Americans and their evil allies that these countries have been totally destroyed.\n\nAnd of course the West should have just kept their heads in the sand and allowed the aforementioned dictators to destabilize the ME, acquire WMDs and the means to deliver them, thumb their noses at the UN resolutions and threaten western liberal democracies.\n\nDoes that sound insane?\n\nIt should.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul: Please take a look at my many previous comments regarding Christianity. I think you will see that I note and emphasize that there is a great diversity of Christian belief......from generous, compassionate and understanding to \"Hellfire and Brimstone\" I am well-aware of the diversity. My wife is a very active member of Unity of the Valley Church in Eugene and I honor the compassion and humanism of that Church and its members. I also remember attending a marriage of a gay couple which was \"picketed\" by a group presenting themselves a Christians and condemning the couple to Hell. Yes, indeed, there's real diversity in the Christian religion. I have no quarrel, nor do I mock, anyone \"seeking a pathway to peace and reconciliation with our social an natural word (world?).\" \n\nStereotypes of Christians? Hardly. I know Christians who are great, understanding, compassionate caring people. I know others who are bigoted, nasty condemning individuals. (cont)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On this issue, the Church has not yet given us anything dogmatically. See my Appeal to Pope Francis, and also this:\n\nCommon Declaration of His Holiness Pope Francis\nand His Grace Justin Welby Archbishop of Canterbury\nRome, 5 October 2016\nhttp://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/6219/0/pope-and-welby-unity-plan-tries-to-bypass-female-ordination-problem\n\n\"Yet new circumstances have presented new disagreements among us, particularly regarding the ordination of women and more recent questions regarding human sexuality. Behind these differences lies a perennial question about how authority is exercised in the Christian community.\"\n\nIn other words, this is not about any doctrine of the faith, let alone any dogma of the faith, but simply about WHO IS BOSS. So, 1000 years after 1054, and 500 years after 1517, another pathetic display of patriarchal MO. Patience... :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It all depends on what you deem the essential issues. I have read people in this very blog say that the refusal to ordain women is on a level with the divinity of Christ. I have come across similar statements with regard to contraception. There is a regular contributor here who has said that anyone who disagrees with the magisterium in any way should leave the Catholic Church.\n\nWhat annoys me is the remarkably arrogant types who say essentially, \"If you disagree with ME, you are not really a Catholic.\" Archbishop Chaput seems to be one of those.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now c'mon, Shar....this is a bit over the deep end, and I suspect you know it but it serves your outrage to keep it up, perhaps? Look, for you and everyone else, monasteries and other houses of religious men and women are not in any way to be used for punishment, containment of the errant, or for forced silence or work. That is a defamation of what those facilities are all about. From the monastic houses in the mountains of Spain and the Middle East and in the United States, to the convents and men's religious residences everywhere, they are houses of freedom, of prayer, of religious communality, of imitation of the life of Jesus of the Gospels. If there is a bona fide need for separate residences for clerics/religious guilty of abuse, then let the Church establish them with appropriate staffing. But that is not the job of religious houses. Let's leave that idea where it belongs - in the trash bin of reactive ideas of no useful purpose. On behalf of all religious, I thank you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And so is every Catholic I've ever seen. However, as an excommunicated, cultural Catholic, I prefer to eat from the end of the cafeteria where the foods are all freshly cooked and constantly renewed, not from the end with all the stale, old and often spoiled things that the right wing cafeteria Catholics prefer to dine from. That stuff will kill you, body and soul.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry isn't the president TRUMPELTHINSKIN starting World War III by labeling Muslims as the problem like Hitler did in Nazi Germany and saying that he's going to protect all the Christians that sounds like a religious war to me maybe you guys can hear it but it's plain as day to a lot of people that read it this is a religious war that has been started by \nTRUMPELTHINSKIN", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Melania told Matt Lauer \"I read it once over, and that's all because I wrote it with as little help as possible.''\n\nSo either she plagiarized Michelle Obama, or she's a liar. And while I admire your Christian charity, Trump has always been an a**hole, and Melania appears to have been a gold digger. Rather I feel compassion for all the people who do and will suffer because of Trump and the GOP's inhumane policies through no choice of their own.\n\nAnyway, Melania's enjoying a little internet love for her public snubs of the Donald.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Muslim has become a race\"\nSorta like Catholics are a race? Right. Or is that so the 'race card\" can now be tossed in the ring as well?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm glad he's a father and married and a faithful Catholic. Let him not be a hateful homophobe and he'll wind up perhaps being Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe so that Cal has been pushing his faith but the problem is that you lumped all Christians into a single sentence of ridicule. If you would have used lets say all people of color would that opinion be a fair judgment in the same context that you judged Christians ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "the elephant in the room is 'evangelical christians'. they are directly responsible for four hundred years of systemic racism and bigotry, all of the past and present hawaiian kingdom's problems, and the wars in the middle east right now. stop pussyfooting around it. if evangelical christian parents spent as much time teaching their kids equality, respect for 'all' others, compassion for the poor, empathy for the weak and marginalized, math and science or piano or uke, or anything, as they do jesus, what a wonderful world this could be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bishops who covered up and moved the abusers knew their careers would be over unless they did exactly that. One exception was Cardinal Wuerl when he was Bishop of Pittsburgh, when he opposed the Vatican and refused to reinstate a priest abuser.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They disagree with YOU. You are trotting out your own version of Cafeteria Catholicism, saying that you can disagree with the social teachings.\n\nSupport for women's ordination perfectly legitimate, saying that no Catholic can dispute the papal stand hows the shallowness of your argument. Supporting gay CIVIL marriage is a matter of civil liberties. The official stance on abortion is simplistic. First, it is based on the OPINION that a blastocyst is a fully-fledged human being. Second, I keep asking a question which, to date, every single one of you \"pro-lifers\" has dodged: In the case of an abortion to save the life of the mother -- and yes, it is a rare occurrence, but it does happen -- you anti-abortionists say it is immoral. So how is a dead fetus and a dead mother morally superior to a dead fetus alone. Would you care to answer this one, or are you going to duck it like the rest of them?\n\nNo, YOU have set up standards for who is a Catholic, which is hubris on your part.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "His letter really is the definition of intolerance, a basket full of deplorables no? I would propose that far more Americans identify as Christians than \"Liberals\". That's a lot of hate and moral superiority from the left. Nothing new.......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More social injustice goes on in families and marriages every day than in a month \"out there\" by bad guy governments. \n\nThe first cell of society is the family, as the Catholic Church properly teaches.\n\nNo healthy families? No justice by faceless burecauratcs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Calling a Catholic prelate who teaches Catholic teaching a homophobe is name calling.\n\nWhat you see is really not at issue.\n\nWhat is at issue is your name-calling.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You obviously are not a Catholic. Good luck with your Protestant views.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's face it, a minimally astute bureaucrat would have at least agreed to acknowledge victims' letters. They would have gained a modicum of credit by showing a minimum of respect. AND, in addition, they/Muller would have a) been consistent with the supposed \"subsidiarity\" - which he stupidly gave as reason for refusing thus contradicting himself - AND, b) would have \"covered their whatever\" by offloading further responsibility for to the local Bishop, as per P. Pilate, \"washing their hands of the matter\". \nEverything else Muller wrote - especially the fact that he put it in writing - seems to be a personal effort to dig himself and his cronies deeper into the very hole that they dug for themselves. \nThis wee comment on \"bureaucratic\" incompetency - is merely an addendum to the incredibly more important comments on the lack of ecclesial integrity revealed by Ms. Collins and comments below.\nPoint: add incompetence to systematic and systemic abuse. \nJesus has left the building.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I did not leave The RCC for any reason other than college made me, a previously very devout Catholic and a daily Mass attendee, a non-believer -- and I've never regretted 'losing my faith.' However, when the scandal first broke, I wrote a Letter to The Editor of The LA Times, and The LA Times published my letter. In my letter I reminded readers that the vast majority of RC priests are good priests and, secondly, that the classic profile of a pedophile did not at all fit a gay man/priest. //// Somehow -- I guess I was very stupid -- I really believed that The RCC would step up and do the right thing. They didn't. And the Chancellor of the diocese that I was in, and who was a good friend of mine, had a severe nervous breakdown over the continuing coverup and was in an a medical institution for a year. It's now -- what -- 15 years later, and this 'stuff' is continuing and The RCC is still playing dodge ball. This all is so shameful and criminal that there are no words to describe it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am encouraged by the visit and I don't trust what comes out of Poland and the Ukraine with respect to the visit. \n\nI am just learning about how the Vatican was used by the CIA during the Reagan administration (according to declassified CIA documents) to help fund supplies to Solidarity in Poland. In the 1950's the K of C Supreme Council was instrumental in getting the words \"under God\" into the American Oath of Allegiance to the Flag and that is also when \"In God We Trust\" was put on American money. \n\nCan you imagine the uproar if any country today put \"In Allah We Trust\" on their money! \n\nAlso in the 1950's, the USA didn't allow the vote on the referendum to unify Vietnam for fear the Vietnamese were not going to vote the way they wanted them to. \n\nAt the time, the president of South Vietnam was Catholic and people - to get USAID and promoted in the S. Vietnamese military - it helped to be Catholic ... in an overwhelmingly Buddhist country. \n\nI think we have to be careful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read abuse tracker today about the disgusting australian cardinal who is kept to this day in a highly visible position in the vatican. i can barely stand to be a member of the same church he and the new yorker are not just in, but leaders of. there is so much rot at the very top.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Over six months into his presidency, Trump retains an over 50% approval rating amongst Alaskans, one of the few states where the electorate has failed to recognize this prodigious disaster. This thuggish creature is clearly both a pathological liar and seriously mentally ill. He threatened to punish all those in Akaska because Murkowski displayed some independence and concern for her constituents, even as Sullivan and 48 other Republican senators rolled over and played dead. Evangelicals are particularly apt to continue their support for him, even though his entire adult personal life has been singularly devoid of morality. He claims the Bible is his favorite book, even though he is unable to quote a single line from it, and has probably not read any book at all in the last 50 years. This sort of slavish allegiance to the party of the obscenely rich has caused Alaska's economy to crumble, yet his constituency's fantasies about him persist. \nCan anyone here help explain this conundrum?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Abhor the sin, but honor the sinner! I'm discussed with the church and its covering up of the sinners, especially the clergy. Just last week it was reported that 100 Catholic clergy on Guam were arrested for the raping of young people. The Guam atrocities had been concealed for more than 50 years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LGBT Catholics who approach the sacraments in good faith should have the same expectation everyone else has: to be welcomed to the community and challenged by the Gospel. Like everyone else, some LGBT folks will accept the challenge, while others won't. But it's not for me to decide that question in advance. Neither is the challenge solely for LGBT Catholics. Only a blind person could fail to see that there's at least as much \"disorder\" in the heterosexual community as there is anywhere else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you owe me a direct answer to the question I asked earlier: 'Should a bomb drop on the collective head of the next, full episcopal conclave, would you consider that the Church had ceased to exist?'\n\nI believe you would consider such a thing, in part because you typically misapply the word 'Church' to the Magisterium of the Church. Which is why I reminded you of Jesus' words: 'Where two or three...'. This means that bishops are not necessary for the Church to exist. The church (or assembly) intimated here by Christ has none of the imperial grandiosity, arrogance, vanity and authoritarianism of the Church of Rome. \n\nThe bishops are not the Church. And if everyone of them dropped off this mortal coil this very moment, the Church would exist, as long as those 'two or three' continued to gather in his name.\n\nBtw, God doesn't 'demand' anything of anyone; he is more gracious than that. It is we humans who demand.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. No First Adam, no Second.\n\nThat said, there are still certain dynamics of the Catholic conception of the moral order that still resonate (with me). Humans are clearly both capable of appalling evil and a longing to be delivered from it, thereby appealing to a transcendent moral authority. The amazing thing about the Christ story is that it interpreted a failed prophet as a divine savior, upending the conception of power as dominance. The gospel is vigorously anti-exploitation and anti-dominance (and anti-suffering: in the kingdom, all would be fed). In that sense the gospel is divine, since humans are basically animals with big brains hard-wired for dominance and violent conflict.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "William, well said, we share this sadness: \"My heart is heavy with the deaths of two very heroic men from this act. May they rest in peace.\"\nHowever I find it hard to believe you wrote \"This was nothing but a heinous act carried out by a deranged, mentally disturbed individual.\" You think ideology and the social climate had no relation here? His fondness for Nazi material is irrelevant? The huge nation-wide spike in hate crimes isn't a factor?\nWhat do you mean by \"deranged mentally disturbed individual?\" You've discerned he's mentally ill and will be found \"innocent by reason of insanity?\" \nAnd what's deranged? Weren't many of the Nazi leaders, especially Hitler and Rudolf Hess, \"deranged?\" In fact, isn't most of our behavior a mixture of our inner mental state and social context?\nThe challenge,as I see it, is to find a way to oppose this wave of angry hateful rhetoric without trying to deny the free speech these haters are exploiting to mobilize the unstable like Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ex-priests is the point here. Since when has the teachings and doctrines of the Catholic faith relied on public opinion? Some say it's influences may have crept in following the disaster of the \"Spirit\" of Vatican II, but all the falsehoods of same will be overturned, hopefully in the very near future. Personally I blame some of the large gay-priesthood,(those not chaste) as you put it, for the issues we are currently facing in the Church today. A priest living a sinful life needs our prayers. This was a main point of the messages of Our Blessed Mother at Fatima.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Having said that, I may find this the final attempt to make clear why I found Penny Lernoux's book such an important read. The facts show that JPII could behave in ways that shamed and intimidated bishops and priest that had any ideas of their own. He all but decimated the church in the Netherlands. But for protest on the part of concerned catholics lay and clergy some would not have been reinstated without embarrassing and humiliating strictures. He opposed liberation theology in the Third World. \n And he preached economic justice referring to the parable to Lazarus and the Rich Man-great men are often men of even greater paradox. What is important is to assess realistically their legacy so that the people of God, lay and clergy together may mover forward in wisdom and truth.\nAs long as we are brainwashed by false narratives we cannot learn to tell the true one, which is our salvation. Forget Franklin Graham. There are religious paths to hell. WHAT BECAME OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Upon reflection, I would add that Pope Francis is indeed a \"son of the Church,\" in all of its confusion, secretiveness, and periodic breaking through of its real sexual distortions (both hetero- and homosexual). In my years of clinical practice with priests and religious, I have met many who are homosexual (no \"practice\" needed) and have lived the life of denial and repression as the Church expects them to, and the resulting depression, addictions, and suicidal thinking that are the daily struggle for most of them. If all of them left the Church, we would have 50% less priests and bishops and 60% less religious over the past 50 years (my estimates based on available findings). If these statements of the pope are to be taken seriously (and I see no reason why they should not be), then we will only continue to push young Catholics out and further away from our doors, and be the home of the highly rigid and disturbed candidates that wreck havoc on the Church in often unseen ways.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, that is very true. I already dealt with christian pedophiles acting as community leaders (I was not a victim, others were) and now I am supposed to go through ground hog day of another religion that hides it under script, not English therefore fool the public of Canada, except the few that can read script.. and preach that script.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those town halls were held in Republican strongholds. \n\nNow, don't tell me: the \"lefties\" kidnapped all the Republicans in Colorado Springs, Greeley and the \"Christian\" university in Lakewood, bound them, gagged them, hid them, and then took their place. And spouted lefty concerns like access to health care, having a decent human as president, and demanding that our senators represent us. \n\nGot it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No doubt the image will confirm the pope's \"anti-Christ\" status for some.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora17 - you repeat a discredited meme about Soros and catholic progressives.\n\nRead: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/30/george-soros-catholic-useful-idiots/\n\nKey from this biased reporting source: \"The $650,000 also helped seed PICO and FPL efforts to shift \u201cthe priorities of the U.S. Catholic Church to focus on issues of injustice and oppression.\u201d Geez, does sound like someone responding to the call of the Gospel and not unlike the founder of the Knights in the 19th century (appears C. Anderson has strayed from the original charism and mission of their founder). And the one time financial amount is a small fraction of what is documented and spent by the KofCs.\n\nAlso, the *fake news* organizations that spout this alleged Soros conspiracy are Breitbart News, Lifesite News (owned/operated by EWTN); Donohue's ridiculous Catholic League; Glen Beck; etc.\n\nYour comment would be rated - *Pants on Fire*", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...position of power over lay Catholics\". What happened to that 'servant' thingie?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, it is an \"insidious strand\" of \"anti-Islam prejudice\" that leads Canadians to have \"an obsession with Muslim women\u2019s face covers\" and an attendant \"patriarchal impulse\" to want to have face covers not be a part of Canada.\n\nUm, no. \n\nI think there is diversity among Muslims and among Muslim-majority nations, just as there is diversity among Christians and Christian-majority nations.\n\nWhat do I mean? Plenty of Canadians object to the anti-condom and anti-abortion and (males-only straights-only) leadership trends with conservative churches, and would like to see those trends fade away. That is, they prefer more liberal approaches of some United and Presbyterian Churches. \n\nDo all those objecting Canadians have \"anti-Christian prejudice\"? No. They have cultural preferences. Are they guilty of \"racializing\"? Again, I don't think so, religion is not race. \n\nMany overseas Muslims and Muslim countries are okay showing faces. It is not racist or hateful if Canadians favour that approach.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree it is sad and unfortunate, but as a white Christian Canadian The Muslim community needs to take a more active approach as getting their story out and improving their image when the Islamic Terrorists kill innocent people. How many innocent Christians, minorities are unable to find peace because their family, friends and community have been slaughtered by Islamic terrorists. There is bad blood and the Muslim community needs to be more active in flighting and destroying these causes. The first step is to stop taking funds from governments in the middle east who support and fund these terrorists - IT IS IN YOUR HANDS.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Malheur protest seems to have cause a great deal of emotional distress amongst the anti-gun crowd and the drive by media. The Christian, conservative, Caucasian Malheur cowboys got more negative press than the radicalized Muslim shooters in San Diego did. Prejudice is rampant in America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Homophobia is not \"authentic Catholic teaching\", no matter how much you want it to be.\n\nBurke is a homophobe, as proven by his own statements. Pandora and you support his homophobia. Why is that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Straws? That the Church is \"one, holy, catholic, and apostolic\" is what we profess in the Creed. Assuming that it is also \"patriarchal\" is not a matter of faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The guy was a British citizen. Clearly he was a bad lot but he was a BRITISH lot, brought up there and subject to influence by the general population. You are avoiding the hard question \"Why does somebody born and bred in a country decide to attack his fellow countrymen?\". Why does a mass murderer, empty-ump generations a white, nominally Christian person decide to kill a lot of people? There are hard questions and you can't avoid them by denying a matter of fact.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Moderate straight white Christian males must come out and openly condemn this act of terror.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW says Bergoglio is not scandalizing people. Proof: Bergoglio is popular.\n\nDoes MSW even know what \"scandalize\" mean?\n\nA Catholic can LIKE Bergoglio and be scandalized by him at the same time.\n\nExample: Joe wants to commit sodomy. The Pope leads Joe to think that sodomy is not a sin. Joe LIKES the Pope, AND he is scandalized because he is led to commit mortal sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mike, you're ignoring the fact that despite a common baptism we do not have a common ordained ministry. To think otherwise is absolute hogwash.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't even understand this letter. Of course Trump's speech is protected. That's not the question here. The question is whether the president's travel ban is motivated by religious discrimination. Donald Trump has provided relevant information to help answer that pressing question. I'm sure Trump stands behind his rhetoric that singles out one particular religion for stigmatization and persecution by him and his Republican party which, as all evidence points to, HAS an official religion--a bastardized version of Christianity--while at the same time forcing bastardized Christianity on everyone else but especially American women. \nMaybe the Republicans and the groper-in-chief should acclimate to accountability. Americans might grow a spine and give Republicans what they deserve. Mind you, I'm not counting on it, but it is possible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you even aware of what life is like in El Salvador? Drug cartels fight other drug cartels. Murder of men/boys of one cartel and rape of their women by other rival cartels is a daily occurrence. This goes on in other Latin American countries like Nicaragua as well. And these two countries were where many of the refugees coming through Mexico to the U.S. were from.\n\nNOW, the ARENA government leaders want to put women, who seek abortions [many who were force-raped and became pregnant] into prison? While in prison, they could be raped again [by their jailers] and nobody would know of it. It's what happens in these countries so often. If El Salvador was like Poland, the women would be out in the street threatening to go on strike. But that will not happen in El Salvador.\n\n\nUnless the women of Notre Dame and other groups raise the cry of UNJUSTICE and denounce the RETRIBUTION being brought against women---this barbaric presentation of a pseudo-Christianity will continue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If any dirtbags do ANYTHING to hurt this president there will be hell to pay in this country for decades, or until Christ Himself returns.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Trump\u2019s position on climate change also ignores science. His choice to head the EPA ignores science. His anti gravity hair-do ignores science. As long as he gets most of his support from the southern fried, born again, honey boo-boo wing of the republican party that\u2019s not going to change. The Bible is the Holy Word of God and since it doesn\u2019t discuss climate change we really don\u2019t need to worry about it at all. Because jesus. Because we\u2019re making America great again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are talking about Canadian domestic violence, aren't you? Why did you fail to mention the rape and sexual abuse of little boys and little girls in the hellish milieu of Residential Schools run by so-called Christians under the aegis of the Canadian government? There is no normalization of Mr. Alexander's behaviour, no matter how hard you try to rationalize it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clearly in the land of dogma and glory, we would all do that and the USCCB would be leading the charge on the snow white steed of righteousness. BUT, what the sanctified bishops have learned is with the ACA Catholic hospitals are stuck with far fewer indigent patients who never pay; the costs of whom they used to have to write off (and raise the fees the fees for everyone else to cover their unpaid expenses). Now with more of the bills being paid through ACA mandated insurance, they have more scratch for other worthy endeavors such as hunting down and firing gay employees who are civilly married, fighting contraception and lecturing on the evils of divorce, etc. AMEN!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no sensationalism, nor is there any copious amounts of tort $$$ involved when the case involves a small Baptist church on the outskirts of the metro. Add to that, this same Baptist church offers no real threat to the ideology of the newspaper, whereas the Catholic Church is a constant and visible thorn in the side of that same newspaper. Never mind the FACT that the Baptists (and a whole host of other organizations) have a much bigger that is more relevant to our time, and I'm FORCED to conclude: duplicity, hypocrisy, willful ignorance, disingenuousness.....all agenda driven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I take it by your remark: \"You misuse the word \"hate.\" Refusing to accommodate sin is an act of love...\"\nthat you think LGBT people are committing sins by their way of life. Obviously you don't know or have rejected the scientific research evidence that has proven that Genetics are the basis for people who are LGBT. Contrary to belief by some who hate, yes, I meant hate, these people are born their way; it is not a life style choice and those who think it is wrong are badly mistaken. Even when talking about gay priests, Pope Francis said: \"Who am I to judge.\" Judgement is reserved by God the Father to Himself so neither any of us nor the clergy should be in that business. Scientific research should rule in this matter and the Catholic Church doesn't have a winning record on science if you remember Galileo and what the church did with him that was wrong on all counts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'In the sense of what these mass murders\u2019 espoused political beliefs/philosophies are, they\u2019re pretty much ALL completely outside the normal mainstream of belief. That is, they don\u2019t seem to espouse Republican or Democratic (or Libertarian or Green, or any other political party) ideals. Rather, the single biggest commonality is that they are political extremists. They come from all varieties of extremism: radical white power, nativists, neo-Christian Biblical absolutism, Islamic fundamentalism, and even complete loony things which aren\u2019t categorizable.' from Quora........ Please note that those \"true believers\" are from both the right and left.....there are extremists of all political and religious beliefs. .....and, indeed, there's nothing quite as scary as a \"true believer.\" Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since when does deprivation cause a person to be holy. The idea that even priests should not marry or remarry if their wives die is a cause of the very poor theology coming out of The RC church about marriage and sex. JPII encyclical is a case in point. He certainly did not have either the scientific or psychological knowledge to write about this subject. Too bad the members of the episcopacy believe they are some how omniscient and omnipotent when it comes to even rules. They aren't either. The Apostolic requirements of the church is fulfilled by baptism not holy orders. So it only take 2 present for ANY baptized person to preform Any sacrament. The episcopacy only pretends to be little Caesars. They are really monarchs without clothes. Much of the laity has recognized just how disrespectful these men that run the church are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow I hoped in Eugene I would see more positive comments on this article. Obviously I was wrong. Millennials are legitimately terrified. Donald Trump wants to destroy us. LGBTQIA+ are terrified. POC are terrified. Any religion besides Christianity are terrified. Obviously all of you have no idea what it is like to watch the country elect someone who not only is supported by the KKK, but wants to get rid of you, your friends, and your family.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If we're going to just make things up as we go along and call it authentically Christian, than I'll opt to become a Mormon. They have a truly vibrant family and faith culture. And Mormon women are incredibly good looking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That you defend the Zionist apartheid regime while admitting your ignorance of any of the issues I raise speaks volumes. And that's all I expect to hear from you. Facts are to you as sunlight to a vampire.\n\nNor would I get too smug about the Messiah's warning in Matthew chapter 7 if I were you--he directed it at those who call him \"Lord, Lord...\". Neither we Muslims nor our Jewish cousins do that. Just you Christians.\n\nAlso consider:\n\n\"Justice and ONLY justice shall ye follow, if ye would live long in the land YHWH gave you.\"--Deuteronomy 16:20\n\n\"And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you; when ye make many prayers, I will not hear--your hands are full of BLOOD! Wash you, make you clean! Put away your evil doings from before Mine eyes, cease to do evil; learn to do good. Seek JUSTICE, relieve the OPPRESSED, do right by the orphan, plead for the widow...\"--Isaiah 1:15-17\n\nTHAT's how to get your sins washed white as snow, Ya'masahiin (O \"Christian\").", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Never underestimate the power of indoctrination of children, or of those with childish minds. This is what keeps the Climate Change deniers going and it's what keeps Islam and Christian Fundamentalism going, and many other doctrines that are based on superstition or fantasy. The scientific method is the answer. Nonsense like this Flat Earth business is easily disproved. Even cave men knew that the world was round by looking at lunar eclipses. Think, people, think.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus is punishing Texas for Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks (NOT!) for censoring my previous replies, Motley. I have made a clear distinction (which you have not) between Muslims in America and Muslims in the conflicted areas of the Middle East. We don't have beheadings in America. Those who kill gays are typically Wyoming drunk cowboys, like those who strung Matthew Shepard on barbed wire in freezing weather after beating him severely. Are you going to censor this post, too?\n\nI have been very clear in separating the 1.6 billion peaceful Muslims from the hundred thousand extremists. The comparison of medieval cultures is apt. Maybe that's beyond your comprehension? At any rate, we have fewer than ten Muslim citizens who have killed for Sharia reasons. On the other hand, our \"Christians\" have brutally murdered half a million Muslim children, women, and old men in their own countries. You are an apologist for those murders.\n\nI suspect you have nothing to do but sit at your computer. That's your problem, not mine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another bit of ad hominem on your part. First, no anger, but originally there was a period of dissonance and righteous anger upon discovering the scandal of OD's status and unwillingness of too many in the Church to investigate. Don't be afraid to encounter that yourself.\n\nBut let's address the issues again. Getting back to the original topic of Oscar Romero, it is really a non-issue if he had a positive view or even friendship with particular priest members of OD. I don't judge them or any fully-committed lay volunteers like you who intend to encourage others to virtue, etc. Romero's perceptions at that point, like any other representative of the Church, do not constitute an endorsement of every unseen action. \n\nPlease investigate the readily-available information about OD's problems. The vast majority is not \"anti-Catholic\" or ridiculous DaVinci code fiction. Most of the others who appear to be fallen away are indicative of residual psychological damage and scandal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I am called upon by Scripture to make a correction of your erroneous interpretation of the Faith. You, like the Pharisees in the time of Jesus, need to be rebuked.\"\nWhat utter arrogance, especially from someone who rejects and denies most of what the Church teaches on Faith and Morals!\nWho says my interpretation of the Faith is erroneous, you? Who are you to make such a judgement? I can see that what was in your stocking on Christmas morning wasn't very palatable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John, both Ireland and Australia officials dived into the investigations and gave no quarter to the Catholic Church in laying out the truth about what happened. But the Irish Church doesn't seem to think any organizational/structural change is needed. They appear unfocused, uncoordinated - bemoaning that today is not like 50 years ago but lost as to any idea what to do about it. I don't know if Diarmuid Martin doesn't see a need for change or he is stymied at getting any cooperation from other bishops.\n\nColeridge is at least talking about some of the kinds of structural change that are needed - more lay people and women participating in governance. He talks about the problems of the prima donna clerics rather than those who really serve. He has some of the right words and there is at least one other bishop who is more open to change than he is. I have a hard time imagining other Aussie bishops going along - but Coleridge is saying some of the right things. Dare I hope?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's how I freed myself from Christianity, but too many people have been told from birth that God is real and has a plan for all of us. When I hear adults says that, I ask them about starving children in third-world countries. Why does God plan for some some women to be raped and some men turned into rapists? The standard reply is \"God moves in mysterious ways\" and \"God allows all of us free will,\" but if God has a plan doesn't that negate the free will part?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The majority of Catholics are blissfully unaware that this discussion is even happening.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is an unfair character assassination on your part. It is equivalent of accusing a Catholic of having an abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Father Martin is encouraging dialogue with the Devil. This is how evil prevails, and one only need look to the scriptures in which Satan appears and tries to \"help\" people.\n\nClearly what Martin is doing is trying to divide the Church as others who have gone before him have done already. The Church already teaches that those with SSA should be loved as anyone else. But the Church teaches that their acts are sinful. But Martin doesn't talk about that even though that is the real issue at hand. If there is contempt for those who identify as homosexual, it comes not from the \"homosexual's\" attraction, it comes from the acts that he adopts in his homosexual identity. \n\nAs a Catholic, Martin should be focusing not on those who understand that same-sex acts are sinful; he should be focusing on those who engage in the sin. How about \"Courage\" and other groups who seek to HELP those with same-sex attraction? How about helping kids avoid adopting a homosexual identity?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On the topic of priests molesting children, there is a distinct tendency in Catholic progressive journalism to redact the gender of the children abused. \n\nPointing out the fact that victims were male gets in the way of fr. Martin's \"building a bridge\" crusade.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Your equating a deeply held Christian religious belief as \u201charboring \u2026 prejudice against same-sex couples\u201d is logically wrong and insulting.\" \n\nThere are plenty of progressives who harbor a deep animus to Christians and Christian values. They believe government is secular and its purpose is to require everyone to live by \"secular\" values. They place no value on religious freedom or traditional religious views. \n\nDiann Rice of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission blamed religious freedom for slavery and the Holocaust at Phillips' hearing. The Post calls traditional Christian views \"prejudice.\" Either way, the purpose is to undermine religious freedom and values and replace them with \"secular\" values--by legal force, if necessary. They do not take a \"live and let live\" attitude--theirs is closer to \"live and let die.\"\n\nJustice Roberts warned legalizing same-sex marriage would curtail religious freedom. Turns out he was right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lynn and other enlightened Americans. Do you remember recent day posts from commenters like \"Rosie O'Donnell\" who asserted, and I quote: \"Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslim\". Well, \"Rosie\", you and other deplorables who think like you have already been discredited, but here is yet one more example of how wrong you are and how the hatred you sow plays out in the real world. I, and perhaps others, would like to know if you identify yourself as a God loving Christian who truly believes in, and practices, the teachings of Jesus? If you so claim, perhaps you might benefit from a remedial tutorial in what the Bible really says and what Jesus actually did to follow the word of God. Ultimately, love and respect for one's fellow man will triumph over anger, ignorance and evil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims and Liberals excoriate us about Islamophobia, but we should bear in mind Islam's entrenched racism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, anti-Semitism, hatred of Christianity, Europe. Israel, and America. Islam's destructive iconoclasm is destroying historic treasures across the ME. In just one year Notre Dame in Paris has had three close call bomb threats. The danger never stops. They even have Islamophobia against each other. Ancient tribal wars between Kurds, Shiite, Sunni, Wahhabi, Druze and other Islamic sects, ISIS , Taliban and Al Qaeda are the root causes of most of the world's wars and social chaos today. It is not Islamophobia if we do have reason to worry. We should worry about the taqiyya.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gays have given so very much to the Catholic Church. It's time we recognized their contributions.\n\nhttps://www.lifesitenews.com/news/u.s.-bishops-report-reaffirms-link-between-clerical-abuse-scandals-and-homo", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently, you didn't read it.\n\nAgain, your complaint is \"Waa! People here do not see things the way I do!\" \n\nIf you are not aware that the Catholic Church is an institution, then you are even less aware of the real world than I had previously believed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Catholic school boards in Alberta want to teach their own set of sex education principles (and drive more young people away from the Catholic faith), they should really take a principled stand and refuse to take public money. The last gasp of the intolerant has begin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your response and for stating your position. In the spirit of charity, I'm now going to do the same.\n\nAs a faithful Catholic who not only supports and defends the human right to life at all stages of development (i.e. conception to natural death), even when it costs me money like it has for the past 2 years for not belonging to Obama Care, I also support and defend Religious Liberty, which includes the right to practice it in almost all dimensions of life, natural conception (and the openness to it), and women's rights to be free and equal in dignity, value, and worth to name a few.\n\nGiven that, the current Democratic platform and party has forever lost my vote unless they change their ways but that doesn't mean I'm a died in the wool Republican either. Honestly, I've been researching and struggling for months now to try and find if there's any way that I can in good (Godly) Catholic/Christian conscience vote for Mr. Trump. The lessor of two evils is still evil!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously this election proved that the US Bishops are no longer to be ignored, they selected a candidate that exhibited the virtues they seek in a leader, endorsed him in ways ranging from coy to blatant, and he was elected. Sexism really is a nonissue, as the Bishops have long acknowledged that women have no role in leadership, not looking like Jesus and all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For you maybe but not for Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "frank, im 75, white, broke, not poor, athiest and i grew up with racism, intolerance, gender biases, religious bigotry, white entitlement and all the other great things that made america great, for guys like you. it gave nothing, then or now, to its poor. where did you ever get the idea that diversified investments are something anyone can do? you have to make a little more than a living wage to have enough leftover to 'do it'. go to mcdonalds, do you think those seventy year old people just love working at mcdonalds? reagan, clinton and bush gave us what we have today, not obama. you are a spoiled, pampered, very uncaring, old, rich, white entitled, male, with a 67% chance of being a born again christian. thank you pew research.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "YOUTUBE.COM Empire Files: Chris Hedges & Abby Martin, \" Trump, Fascism, & the CHRISTIAN Right.\" \" Christian Right is not CHRISTIAN. Trump is not Christian, his personal life makes a mockery of family values. This is an Ethics Free Administration. Inept. Bent on looting the country. Demonization will grow. Black Water, mercenary forces will be used against \" we the people\". Just as at Standing Rock.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "cont\nAlexander Solzhenitsyn famously wrote: \u201cYou must understand. The leading Bolsheviks who took over Russia were not Russians. They hated Russians. They hated Christians. Driven by ethnic hatred they tortured and slaughtered millions of Russians without a shred of human remorse. The October Revolution was not what you call in America the \u201cRussian Revolution.\u201d It was an invasion and conquest over the Russian people. More of my countrymen suffered horrific crimes at their bloodstained hands than any people or nation ever suffered in the entirety of human history. It cannot be understated. Bolshevism was the greatest human slaughter of all time. The fact that most of the world is ignorant of this reality is proof that the global media itself is in the hands of the perpetrators.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not going anywhere. You do not set the terms of my relationship with Our Lord or with the Catholic Church. I don't know who you think you are, little man, but you have just shown how small is your own faith. Sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And I find the arguments by dissident Catholics about changing because Church teaching is so passe quite tiring, boring and old as well.\n\nDid the dissidents not get the news? The 1970's called. They want their theology back.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "what I need to see is that the church is finally taking this seriously enough to actually DO SOMETHING about it, not do nothing commissions, not sweet talking but do nothing cardinals and bishops, actually show us that you mean to change things! expel the religious, deacons, priests, bishops and cardinals who have committed these rapes, covered for these rapes, transferred the perps, allowed them to escape to other countries, etc, etc, etc. until then, nothing that comes from the Vatican will be nothing more than empty words.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The operative question here is not anti-catholicism, it is the religious test clause of the Constitution, which she broke badly. It is now the duty of McConnell to begin an ethics investigation to determine if she broke the constitutional ban, and to suspend her from all committee work until she is either cleared or brought up on Senate Charges.\n\nLike that's gonna happen. Folks, we are so badly screwed up, I'm not sure we can ever get back to the Rule of Law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everyone knows it was the Democrats who loved slavery and the irony is it's still the Democrats who've kept blacks subservient starting in the 60's by making them slaves to government assistance. This is something any honest Democrat openly laments. \nBut, to the point of my post which you ignored. Get rid of all of American history especially the statues because everyone in government either owned slaves or was friends with someone who owned slaves. Right because in the 21st century you're guilty by association even if it's 200 years ago.\nAs for the bible, it's the only reason we have the greatest nation the world has ever known and slavery and even civil rights are a success because the majority of Christians made sure it either ended or was granted. Poo Poo on Christians all you want but there would have never been a successful black abolitionist without a white one regardless of what you learned during black history month.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church now hates women because it does not believe Jesus included them in the priesthood? The person most beloved by the Church other than the Holy Trinity happens to be a woman, Our Blessed Mother Mary. She is the Queen of Heaven and Earth. I would also estimate there are more women Saints than men. You can devote your life to Christ as a Sister or Nun in the Catholic Church is you desire, but apparently that is not important enough. Talk about clericalism in my opinion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cIt\u2019s been very clear that Pope Francis himself is wanting to directly experience what racial and economic exclusion [is], how that has been experienced by marginalized groups of people around the world. And not only how they experienced, but how they are organizing to address it and to overcome it,\u201d he told NCR.\n\nYou must be kidding! PF has done nothing but confirm the exclusion of women and gay men from the clerical profession of the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many who have left the RCC, especially women, left in despair, because they know that the RCC SHOULD be the leader of the christian world. It alone has the numbers. So the RCC matters to those who care about women, about seeing an end someday to the harm done women every day, harm done simply because they were made female, in God's image. In the US and Europe, the harm done to women may not equal the harm done to those who are not white, harm that comes to them because of their skin tone. But the harm exists. The RCC sets the example for all christianity - and the example it sets is that treating women as second-class is OK. I too left the RCC, and now attend an Episcopal church, one with a female priest, as well as a male priest. There I see true complementarity in the church, in the liturgy, in the homilies, the living example of what God tells us is God's nature - God made them male AND female in GOD'S image. The RCC denies this through its teachings - a slap to God's face.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"That claim appeared to irk the judge, who pointed out that the federal workers took the girl, against her wishes, to a Christian pregnancy facility for counseling and also informed her mother about the abortion. Both steps potentially violated the girl\u2019s constitutional right to privacy and other protections, Chutkan said.\"\n\nYou god damn republicans are something else.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "When Trump boasted about his perverted sexual predations, the right fell all over themselves to excuse it and attempt to normalize it as 'just how the boys do'.\nEven the self-proclaimed and self-styled 'righteous' evangelical extremists decided they'd just go ahead and accept Trump and hold him close, never mind their Christian hearts might go all aflutter.\nUsed to be, for those self same evangelicals, even one divorce would summarily disqualify a candidate, but today, with Trump, they don't care if he runs through wives like some people do the number of new cars they might buy. And the boasting and admitted perverted sexual predation? LIke Trump didn't boast and admit his crime.\nSexual perverts should pay for their crimes. Period. As one, as a society we should condemn them and not allow them to escape punishment.\nBut, if you're a right winger, you only act like you're outraged if it's not a right winger caught in their perversions.\nNo better example of the right's hypocrisy", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "CCH Barack Hussein Obama did call himself a Christian but his deeds against Christians will be judge by Almighty God before this Muslim President is toss into hell.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "She has been charged with uttering death threats but despite her saying she was trying to kill white Christians, she is not being charged with a hate crime. That sounds pretty hateful to me. No doubt lots of the people she associates with believe she was right.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If you are going to start naming terrorists, those lists should include all the Christian extremists who have done more damage on this continent than any other religious sect.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Anyone else tired of tearful board members? This is ridiculous. Wealthy, white, Christian board members crying crocodile tears has done nothing to effectively ameliorate any variety of tension. Enough is enough. We need new leadership.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So you are saying that married gays are on the same level as mafiosi. I would say that there is a difference in kind, not degree, between a person in a same-sex marriage and a mafioso. Gays do not harm others, the mafia does.\n\nNo, R&R, once again, your fear and loathing of homosexuals is on full display. And to claim that your homophobia -- and that is the correct term -- is based in your religion is a perversion of the Catholic faith.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I don't know if poor without healthcare turns Cruz on, but I do know that Cruz is another right-wing Christian with dirty secrets in his closet.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Except, of course, for the niggling fact that Muslims AREN'T in \"power\", let alone \"gaining power\" in America.\n\nExcept, of course, that Muslims aren't trying to turn America into a theocracy, let alone a Muslim theocracy. Dominionist 'Christians' want a theocracy so bad, they wear it on their sleeve. (N.B. the Pence quote in the article.)\n\nLike I keep saying, facts are not your friends.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Again, here is proof positive that the Catholic Church does not \"walk the walk\". For all of the writing and talk about the rights of workers, the Church chooses to stiff its employees wherever possible. Shame on the Church!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "it's never going to be past time for the murder of innocent children to be disassociated from politics. What is clear is that Pat Perriello is disaccociated from Catholic teaching, the Moral Law, and science.\n\nIt's past time for progressive policy to wind up in the trash bin of history.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Why be Catholic?\" because (C)catholic means universal, and we are all evolving even as all nature does continuously, including consciousness of the essential relatedness of all life, so, we Catholics must remain open to what is authentically catholic, universal and transformational.\nTraditional Catholicism (Catholics) is (are) self-obsessed in belief that it (they, we) own truth-understandings in a way no other religion (church, people) does. We vigorously assert we are exclusively correct in our 'owning the Light of Truth', that is, we arrogantly affirm we are the TRUE 'Lucifers'. Hmmm.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Most Muslim nation prohibit Jews or even Christians from holding public office. They are the true apartheid states because they are utterly discriminatory and xenophobic, not Israel.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "what good have the millions of fake Christians ever done for anyone?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"In the wake of Donald Trump\u2019s election, the news is flooded with reports of abuse, assault, and harassment, largely of minorities, by jubilant Trump supporters celebrating the ascent of their candidate, a candidate who campaigned by appealing to white heterosexual Christian supremacy. \n\nOver the past 48 hours, women have been assaulted for wearing the hijab, property has been defaced with swastikas, LGBT Americans have been threatened, and African Americans have experienced election result-specific harassment by fellow Americans touting the election of Donald Trump as the dawn of a new America, apparently one where they consider that the ugliest of racial and social animus to have the seal of presidential approval.\"\n\nWhy hasn't Trump denounced this behavior? For that matter, why haven't his supporters? Oh, right: They're the ines doing it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That is part of it. Hollywood has a habit of making conservatives, and especially conservative Christians look like idiots, while putting liberals in the best possible light. This has been going on for decades. It is the same about the causes.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know why I have a problem with EVERY hierarch in the U.S. Catholic Church but I do. These clowns have been watching nuns get paid $1 a day for running schools, universities, hospitals and social service agencies for over a century. These same nuns have cooked and cleaned and washed the underwear of these hierarchs. Some of these nuns slept in the attic of some of these places where they worked. Why don't the hierarchs just keep their mouths shut and clean up the messes that they have created.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "These foul bast@#ds traffic in blatant lies and outrageous conspiracy theories and pretend to be Christian. My god but we are in the midst of some dangerous times. When people can no longer separated the wheat from the chaff we no longer have a democracy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes! I knew the white Christian PATRIARCHY was behind this somehow! I'm going to go whip myself in penance for being born an evil white devil. Then I'm going to quit my job and send my kids to an orphanage (and pets to the pound) so I can make meals and do housework for these people and help them parent their children! All decent virtuous liberal white people will join me. The rest of you are RACISTS!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Nonsense. People are still free to say the pledge (you just can't force them to - some religions, like JW and Quakers, object to swearing oaths). Fourth of July still has fireworks, parades and picnics. No one has banned Christmas, & if you want to wear a hair shirt you are free to do so. Only people I ever heard who actually objected to Halloween are a bunch of killjoy Christian fundamentalists. Who are, ironically, the same people who once banned Christmas (17th century Massachussetts, look it up)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "hodad, what do you call those Christian lynching parties in the South. They were home grown terrorists inflicting horror on innocents: black men, black women, black children, and black pregnant women. These fun Christian terrorist people were around since before the Civil War.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Making this political as in lefties are the real culprits, no...righties are the real culprits is a mistake. These nefarious deeds happen on both sides of the aisle. And yes, you can say that a lot of lefties are hypocrites. True enough. But so are many of those on the right. Think Christian Evangelicals and the RC Church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps Justin could put a good word in for Coptic Christians too. Their elimination continues.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Where are the good Republicans standing up for sanity, decency and justice? Does such a creature even exist?\n\nAnd when Trump appoints his new Supreme Court judge - a virulently anti gay bigot and founder of the \"Fascism Forever\" club at his private Christian graduate school - you can guarantee that decades of social progress in the US will be reversed at the stroke of a pen.\n\nNext week, I have a group of US clients visiting. Two are American born Muslims, two are gay, four are Christian Quakers, two are Mormons (one a bishop) and the other two are atheists. They all work closely together for the same company, and have done for years. They are Democrats and Republicans. And they all get along together wonderfully.\n\nWhy even mention this? Because it shows that real Americans are not bigoted bullies but decent caring people. Donald Trump is an aberration, a festering boil on the backside of American politics. He does not represent anyone other than than those who are just like him.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A person who believes in complete nonsense like all Muslims, Christians and any other of the over 4000 religions in the world. Someone indoctrinated with garbage and incapable of intelligent thought. \n\nEducation is the only solution. In the meanwhile civilized people should not give an inch to any religious nonsense. \n\nI fixed your correction for you.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately too many people see giving someone on the bottom rung of the ladder a leg up as somehow discriminating against someone higher on the ladder. The sad thing is that many of those same people who see it as discrimination also are self identified Christians. I wonder how they reconcile those 2 things.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Scarier how people like you hate. Each group that has been hated has become part of Canada, from Irish Catholics, to Jews to Sikhs,etc", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I find it odd that people think they can negotiate with a religion that wants to cut your head off because you're a Christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It is a trick answer Roy, which religion DOESN'T say there will be some punishment after death if you don't drink the Kool Aid? \n\nAnd do you really have to go back a thousand years to the Crusades? Are you saying that to compare the modern day violence of Islam to Christianity you have to go back to the 1100s? Ipso facto, Islam today is where Christianity was a millenia ago? If I were a liberal, I'd say you were racist!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I hope that this will be a good time to move away from only victims of Catholic priest predators and include other ministers, school teachers, scout leaders, coaches, and others in positions of trust and authority who have abused children in their care.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There's much in your message to take issue with. In no particular order:\n1) My statement was about white supremacy in general, not the Charlottesville event specifically. White supremacy, by definition, promotes the belief that Caucasians are superior and should enjoy rights denied to others. It is, unequivocally, unconstitutional.\n2) \"...sick to death...,\" \"...virulent left-led programme...,\" Such verbiage suggests you agree with these pseudo-victims who are actually upset about a perceived loss of white privilege. If so, I find that disappointing.\n3) \"...memory of the Confederacy...\" The Confederacy is a matter of historic fact. It's not going to be forgotten. But memorializing the heroes of the Confederacy is as offensive to African-Americans as it would be to memorialize the Luftwaffe to survivors of the Blitz.\n4) \"...wider aim of eradicating Christianity...\" Sheer nonsense.\n5) \"...it certainly wouldn't be a Clinton...\" The election is over. Clinton lost. Move on.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Tolerance as long as you are not a woman, or gay, or non-Muslim (I am sure they are welcoming to non-Muslims in Canada, but Christians are persecuted in Muslim countries).", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Not. The relevant data do not back up your claim here. Plus, the Catholic church has plenty of non-offending (so far) gay clergy. And the \"rule\" prohibiting gay clergy is, de facto, unenforceable!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims and liberals excoriate us about Islamophobia, but we should bear in mind Islam's entrenched racism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, anti-Semitism, hatred of Christianity, Europe and America, destructive iconoclasm, and even Islamophobia against each other. Ancient tribal wars between Kurds, Shiite, Sunni, Wahhabi, Druze and other Islamic sects, ISIS , Taliban and Al Quada are the root causes of most of the wars and social chaos happening around the world today. It is worse than anything expressed in the west,", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How could they be successors of the Jew and Christians/ There were, and still are around. The tried and keep at it,.. to wipe out Jews and Christians. I fail to see your point. They were slave traders and cultural eradicators!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This monster was an atheist who attacked Christians online, according to his classmates and acquaintances on social media.\nHe was stopped with a good guy with a gun-- a man who single-handedly stopped him from killing even more people.\nHe was already barred from owning firearms, being a convicted domestic abuser and bad conduct discharged from the military.\nHe nonetheless passed a background check, meaning government and the laws on the books were not being followed.\n.\nThese 4 facts fly in the face of the Leftist narrative of more laws, government, and that Christians aren't victims, but victimizers.\n.\nNevertheless, within minutes, and without any facts, Leftist politicians and their Hollywood elite supporters took to attacking the GOP, the NRA, and Conservatives.\n.\nUntil government looks at mental health and we are no longer scared to conduct \"see something, say something,\" out of fear of being called \"bully,\" or \"racist\" by the left-- this will continue.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So are you saying the IRA and KKK are not organized groups? Before you suggest IRA is a nationalist group, their goal was no different than Al Qaeda's - to remove the military presence and occupation of a much more powerful empire with a different religion. Religion was the main cause of strife in Northern Ireland. KKK is more about race, but it is not the Star of David they burn. They may seem totally unlike the Christianity you know, but the same holds true for moderate Muslims when they view Al Qaeda. Unless you believe once race is better than another (i.e. you are racist), it doesn't stand to reason there would be no Christian extremists. KKK is not the only white supremacist group that claims to be Christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "rangerMC, you forgot to include at least half of the 60M trump voters that are not potential radicals, but, as charlottesville shows, are actual white, christian radical terrorists. a radical terrorist is a radical terrorist, period.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We should rename Toronto's Jack Layton Ferry Docks . He too was racist. He was a white man who used Asian women as sex objects for his sexual appetites. He was found in a brothel with an Asian woman, even though he was married to Olivia Chow. It is no different from what white Catholic priests did to Indigenous people at residential schools. But the moral standards of the politically correct left, he offends me so he has to go. \n\nJack Layton doesn't deserve memorials, despite him being sainted by trade unions and the left. Of course they will be outraged if Jack Layton's reputation is sullied in any way, but they have such qualms about inflicting the same indecency on the memories of other perfectly fine people.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "White Supremist is racism pure and simple, and it represents a frontal assault on the Christian gospel, a denial of human dignity and a subversion of our democracy. The racist doctrine claiming that whites are superior to all others is diametrically opposed to biblical Christianity and the Constitution so many patrotic Americans have given their lives to protect. For Trump not to recognize this and his failure to double down by calling it for what it is undermines this country, the party of Lincoln, and his presidency. There is no justification for Trump's failure to stand up and be counted with our other leaders of this country that have come forward to denounce this evil racism for what it is. Today Senators Rubio, McCain, and Hatch had to stand up against this White Supremist terrorist attack as Trump failed to have the courage to do the what was right. I pray our President can somehow right this failure and realize what it is required to defend our democracy!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'll just stick with John Climacus, Avila or de Sales, thank you. Stupid sayings like, \u201cThink of the sign of the cross; it\u2019s a mudra. It\u2019s a hand motion that opens us up to grace,\u201d are the reasons people questions practices like this and whether those who promote these actually know what Catholicism teaches. Prior to suggesting something is in line with Catholic thought, a better understanding of Catholic thought may be in order.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As if the anti-Christian church comments aren't bad enough. Clinton democrats are showing themselves to be mentally unhinged as they are coming completely off the rails. Fire bombing a republican headquarters and now they are spreading racial hatred and threating to kill an American who happens to be black. \n\n\"In the message, which Utah Republican Party Chairman James Evans has become the target of racist and threatening calls, he played for The Salt Lake Tribune, the caller said: \"You might want to tell that lying n----- James Evans that he's lucky he's not being lynched right now.\" [Salt Lake Tribune]", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Islamic Jesus will in the last days will appear in Syria near Damascus and take his rightful place BEHIND Imam Mahdi, he will help spread Islam. He will then abolish the tax leaving the only 2 options for non Muslims being submit to Islam or die .", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hey my fellow Christian person, I'm happy to pay for healthcare like Jesus commanded us as soon as we make abortion illegal and outlaw homosexuality. Oh yeah I forgot this isn't a Christian nation unless it's convenient to commies.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm an agnostic these days but I have been Baptized twice. I've met millions of Christians on three continents. Many of them are nice people. I find Lutherans in Scandinavia to generally be humble. One thing I know for sure, Christianity in this country does not prevent racism. The most segregated time of the week is Sunday morning. Most white Christians like it that way. The KKK is a Christian organization.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A conversation on \"Christianity\" simply because you call yourself one? Not a lot of people see that from people who self label themselves as a Christian. So that is what is funny. \nNo. I just find it funny that you think that just because you, and so many other self identified GOP Christians \"proclaim\" & self identify to be a Christian, that others view you exactly opposite. trump is wildly popular with you people. That says it all. A racist, white supremist sex offender.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Bakwa'as (that's Urdu for the steaming, odoriferous nitrogenous material that periodical drops from the south end of a northbound male bovine mammal)! I'M on the bloody \"watch list\", and I've done NOTHING except express my opinions in print! In SIXTY-TWO YEARS all I've got on my record are bloody automobile FIX-IT tickets! All I do is work and pay income tax, and spend my free time overindulging my grandchildren as much as I can! THIS guy did nothing except purchase some rural property, something you Christians do every day without thinking twice about it! And you got a bloody ASSEMBLY PERSON publicly HARASSING him for it with UNFOUNDED accusations! I seriously doubt Brother Gregory is \"stockpiling weapons\", but if I were him I'd be seriously considering it!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "More reason not to send your children to a faux Jesuit university: Gay students at Georgetown, not content to have a gay pride group on a supposedly Catholic campus, now say other students have to pay a price for opposing gay marriage.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Is \"more butts in the seats\" the goal of the Gospel? I'm not sure. IMHO many folks are already living gospel values without having their butts in the pews. It might be worthwhile to get to know them and their values and work with them to develop even more their values that already are gospel values. IMHO the focus needs to be on how to live the gospel here and now. The purpose of the requirement to \"go to mass\" on Sundays originally was to keep folks in contact with a believing and praying community that shares their values. These days many folks already have such communities without labelling them as such.\n\nI believe Jesus meant it when he promised to send the Holy Spirit to teach us to \"observe everything I have commanded you\". Much of what \"diehard\" (and I use the term respectfully) want to enforce and impose has nothig to do with what Jesus commanded his followers, but focuses on control by a few, keeping folks in line, and the good order of the church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Here we go again, endlessly on celibacy! I am committing at least a venial sin to comment.\nFortunately, there is a YUGE number of gay priests than others wise, so the number of priest children will be on the low end. TY, Jesus! \nFor an institution that touts family it is just a marketing promo.\nRCs have lived with cognitive dissonance in knowing many priests had wives and children and compliantly acquiesced to \"don't ask, don't tell\". Folks understood human need not to be alone even if the hierarchy didn't believe the Genesis revelation. And with a monogamous relationship, less chance father would be a sexual predator. Meanwhile in South Sudan ...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Most people could stomach these Liberals speaking on behalf of the Muslims. What is of concern is their lack of interest in the treatment of Christian groups like the Coptics, or Yazidi, Kurds, or African Christians in places like the Sudan. Where was the outrage over Christian women and Children being thrown overboard by Muslims while migrating to Europe? If Liberal want to start banging pans, it would be prudent to speak for everyone. It would shut me up for one!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "According to the main insurance companies of mainline Protestant churches, all denominations register about the same data in regard to the crime of child sexual abuse among clergy and lay people. The problem in the past, however, was that CC bishops moved predator clerics from parish to parish, assigning them arbitrarily to these parishes, without alerting parishioners (and often times even the pastor) to the danger, to the predatory nature of these clerics. That was horrendous.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Okay, first: WTF?\n\nAnd second: Seriously, WTF?\n\nAre you related to that Jeremy Christian guy from Portland? You sound a lot like him. Just sayin'.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, I assumed since you said you are a former teacher you knew the definition of \"regurgitate.\" You REPEATED the same tripe, and I pointed out yet again the US Supreme Court has yet to rule on this, and so your point is mute. that you are incapable of understanding that is not my fault.\n You use a slur in the exact same manner a racist uses the N word, in your case it is \"right wing Christian homophobes.\" I FUBAR your strawman argument you use to justify your bigotry, referencing the fact this isn't an issue of homophobia, it is an issue of religious beliefs, and no different than a Muslim who doesn't eat pork for the same religious reasons. Your deluded strawman argument is not only an insult to intelligence, gary, but an example of just how ignorant of the golden rule you referenced. \n I had posted a link on another post, CC has deleted that link while the post remains.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Do these people have a clue how absurd this is? You'd have to believe that suddenly Christians would accept the imposition of government mandated extra-marital intercourse, that slavery would suddenly become legal and popular again, women would lose the vote, and the 1st amendment would be abolished. Oh, and men, Christian and secular alike, would accept a regime where only the elite were allowed to have sex. You also have to believe that Trump, Congress, the military, the courts, and law enforcement are all religious fanatics that still somehow have decided to reject 2000 years of religious teachings on marriage, tenets that are held by many Jews and Muslims as well as Christians. \n\nIt's science fiction, people, and not particularly good science fiction.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The fact that you need to consult a web site in order to locate those measly 200 or so gay-friendly parishes out of a total of 17,651 Catholic parishes in the United States is a statement in and of itself. I'll say no more.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Speaking of unholy alliances, why do rightwing Catholics support an amoral philanderer conman like Trump?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, c'mom, Paul. I very much enjoyed your comment. It was good for a giggle. However, I'm cursed with PC-itis, and feel guilty about such giggles. I then feel compelled to apologize, and, were I Catholic, I'd likely say a hundred \"Hail Mary\"s. \n\nAdditionally, (and in a serious vein) I worked with developmentally delayed students and find jokes about \"idiots\", \"retards\" etc insulting to them. \n\n It's a struggle going through life so damn PC. Moreover, at the same time, I've always been a fan of the \"under-dog\", a Red Sox fan, and voted for McGovern. I think those things go together. I also \"take-in\" stay dogs and give money to panhandlers. \n\nregards, Gary", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is an article about Islam.\nAs an atheist, I don't believe in the bible.\nChristians who espouse those beliefs are also not right.\nYou need to crawl back to your hole in lala land.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Surprising to hear this from Benedict, i.e., the Pope. Benedict is still alive and pontificating. The Devil infiltrated the Church in the 1960s, the priesthood is dominated by homosexuals, and the false Pope is destroying the Church from within. So sad.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Catholicism certainly. They were expert terrorists.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"The institution claims that it can't ordain women PRECISELY because God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, according to the testimony of the Gospels and the earliest traditions did NOT include women amongst the original 12 ordained men.\"\n\nIt is a little difficult to believe that Jesus placed much value on the spirituality of male genitals, but if the bishops say so, it must be so.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No, adam and eve never existed. Simple DNA analysis establishes the human race is not descended from two ancestors. The old testament is not a factual story. The church does not claim it to be. Jesus wasn't born because some mythical man ate some fantastic fruit.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Bannon is at the very least egging Burke on because he wants Pope Francis gone. It is all connected. The alt-right doesn't want a voice like the pope who calls them out on their hatred. And of course, this is connected to KOM investigation because Pope Francis cannot let Burke continue to plot to depose him. This goes beyond differences of opinion on Church matters because Burke is actively trying to get rid of the pope.\n\nAnd if there isn't any Russian involvement, then why is there Russian troll bots showing up when I click on hashtag #PopeFrancis. That is just odd.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Imagine a U.S. where the law allowed exceptions for every religious tenet. The Bible says that homosexuals should be killed. Do you think lawmakers should be consulting the Bible (or the Koran) before they pass laws? The U.S. is not a theocracy. However, the Islamic State is. Maybe this baker should seek to live with them.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Christians who have cast their lot with Donald Trump have made a Faustian bargain with the Devil, and it will surely come back to haunt them. Trump is a Christian in name only, and the Christians who lavished him with their votes and continue to lavish him with their support would realize this if only they would open their eyes and ears to the truth that he's a complete charlatan. But that will never happen in their hermetically-sealed echo chamber. And so they will continue to delude themselves as they willfully cast a blind eye on his abuses of power, his utter disdain for the poor and needy whom Jesus championed, his blatant favoritism for his own billionaire class over everyone else, and of course his demonization of everyone who is not white and Christian. People who actually read the Gospels have no problem figuring out what Jesus Christ would make of Donald Trump, which makes me wonder if these Trump-supporting Christians are reading from a completely different book.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Catechism is wrong.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That word \"fullness\" when used in connection with Catholicism needs to be retired. I'm sick of hearing it. Every year during the Good Friday liturgy when we pray for the Jews \"that they may attain the fullness of redemption\" it makes me cringe. As if anyone can make the claim of having \"the fullness of redemption\" with any degree of authority. Then you hear some Catholics say that we possess the \"fullness\" of the faith, as if any single Christian body can make that claim as well. It reeks of arrogance, which is not considered a Christian virtue, last I heard.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mercy for a thing\u2014the Earth. That is Contrary to nature, reason, and common sense\u2014 preposterous. Check the word preposterous in a thesaurus and you will find absurd, crazy, excessive, fantastic, foolish, impossible, and no less than twenty eight other words, all of which can be applied to \u201cMercy for the Earth.\u201d \n\nWhat will be next? Will Earth Day become a holy day of obligation for Catholics? Uh-oh, I just might have given a Liberal Catholic an idea\u2014or, perhaps not; their erroneous pseudo-reasoning is so preposterous that I\u2019m sure it\u2019s already in the works.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So in this case, \"compromise\" means liberty for the baker, not for the customer. In other words, as I said, liberty for me, not for thee.\n\nGiven that the baker's idea of \"religious liberty\" means \"the liberty to discriminate against gays\"; I would say that the Christian religion, which does NOT say \"love your neighbor, unless that neighbor is LGBT\", would call on him to serve the customer.\n\nI believe that to practice arbitrary discrimination is a far greater sin than being homosexual. I see no difference whatsoever between a baker who would not bake for blacks and one who would not bake for gays. Both are perverting the Christian religion by claiming that their \"religious liberty\" would be damaged by doing so. Both bakers are bigots, \"justifying\" their bigotry in the name of religion.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And, so it seems from my readings from the Jewish Bible, which Catholics fondly refer to as the Old Testament; prophet's prophesies are 'doomsday' warnings if God's ways are not adhered to, disobedience to his commands persist, following disasters will fall upon you. Now, is Trump on the list of forecasted warnings...is there such a specie as a 'Catholic prophet'...that I would like to know about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Predictability\" as a tool generally favors conservatives. It typically means that everything stays THE SAME, even when they need to change. For many conservatives, both Catholic and non-, the Catholic church is and they think ought to be the ultimate refuge of the predictable and of the \"Catholic way.\" For centuries the hierarchy of the Catholic church has been far more predictable than prophetic -- not a good omen for the next four years of Trump-ism and Trumponomics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One only has to get a Bible and read what Jesus said and did to know that most of what the so-called 'religious right' says is a grotesque caricature of Christ at best, and outright lies at worst. \n \nIndeed, in 1965 Pope Paul VI promulgated Gaudium et Spes in which our church declares that \u201c[They miss] the mark who think that religion consists in acts of worship alone... who imagine they can plunge themselves into earthly affairs in such a way as to imply that these are altogether divorced from the religious life... \"This split between the faith which many profess and their daily lives deserves to be counted among the more serious errors of our age\u2026 Christians who neglect their temporal duties jeopardize their eternal salvation... \nThe best way to fulfil one\u2019s obligations of justice and love is to contribute to the common good according to one\u2019s means and the needs of others, and also to promote and help public and private organizations devoted to bettering the conditions of life\u2026\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A witness from the Church is necessary for the marriage to be valid (distinguished from licit) in the Church.\n\nThe Church accepts that a couple is married, but if they weren't married under the witness of the Catholic Church, their marriage must be validated in order for them to receive the sacraments. \n\nOf course, the Church's impetus is \"union\"...not just conjugal union, but larger communion with the Church. Most Catholics don't really \"get\" the fuller meaning of union/communion. They just don't get it.\n\nOur union with God is manifested for instance in whether we sin, whether we obey the will of God, whether we are validly married, etc. Even when we give money...agreeing to support the church is an act of union. And that's why such support is one of the 6 precepts of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is one Church, with visible & invisible aspects.\nLike a person, with a body & a soul.\nLike a Sacrament, with physical & divine \"matter\".\n\nPriests didn't begin with the disciples; they had existed in the Jewish faith for a long time. God used this aspect. Priesthood was perfected as a result of Jesus's own example of priest and victim. \n\nIf more people understood what the Church means by \"common\" & \"ministerial\" priesthood, they'd be less focused on \"priest\" topics. They'd be less \"clerical\" in their mindset. Yes, many here are \"clerical\" because they think wrongly that everything centers on the cleric.\n\nBeyond \"understanding\" what the distinctions and demands of each (the commmon and ministerial priesthood) are - if these same people focused on living heroically their own common priesthood they'd have no time, desire or energy to wax on about priests. \n\nThey'd be very happy and very tired b/c they'd be offering themselves as priest and victim in their ordinary life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, 12th night, for adding this quote. In my comment above, I didn't get to carry my thought out all the way to its conclusion, due to character limits. We have projected all our discomforts about the nature of God and the world we inherited, onto Eve. And therefore, by association, all women are objects of the projection. This quotation is the premier example of a Christian theology that is unwilling to accept mysteries, paradoxes and confusion (remember that is of the devil!) and has to create a scapegoat. The resulting suffering is legion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actions speak louder than words.\nIf religion remains locked in the culture of male dominionism, which i believe our Roman Catholic Church is, this identifies the roadblock we have yet to get 'beyond'.\nMy sense is, we have a long way to go yet.\nWhat i find encouraging is the realization that if we get science wrong, it's likely we get religion wrong. Religion is beginning to give science its deserved standing in our conscious sense.\nThe Creator is still creating; we are yet an unfinished agency/ agendum of The Divine in Creation - the Naturalis Sacramentum Ordinis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you wade through that entire link? Lot's of stuff in there. Ultimately Christmas represents what we believe today. I doubt Jesus was born on the 25th, but it seems a good time for Christians to celebrate a core event of their church. I think those who do not believe in the mystical side of Christianity, may still embrace a lot of Christian morality without understanding it's roots. Jesus (or as we would call him today \"ThornyHead\" or \"EarDoctor\") was fully human, by scriptural account\n\nI'm friends with hundreds of Christians who have sat in church on Sundays, hearing the same recitations of scripture, yet coming to very different conclusion. IMO the 'one way' believers are fooling themselves if they think they have a united Christian church that stands behind them. \n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_denominations\n\np.s. I love Christmas trees in all shapes and sizes. I'm the kid on the stairs on Christmas morning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fundamentalist and Evangelical Christians call themselves pro-life. There are many more Catholics who support women's rights to their Reproductive Health care coverage that includes affordable, effective contraceptives and abortions if and when those fail. Women do not belong to pro-lifers who impose their punitive beliefs on all women through legislation. The Republican Majority for Choice, represents 70% of Pro-choice Republicans. The Pope empathizes with women who cannot obtain affordable contraceptives and safe, legal abortions when they need them. Unfortunately, radical Christian pro-lifers consider pro-choice Catholics not true Catholics. Women US. citizens born in this country according to the 14th Amendment are protected by the same Constitution you are. They do not belong to pro-life religious leaders or their followers. The Pope recognizes this and asks followers to accept that Women are autonomous. Militant Christians are the obstacle to peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "but where was Speaker of the House Paul Ryan? Where was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell? They ARE the problem. AS are the USCCB and the last two popes who knowlingly and deliberately despite world wide warnings chose to start this for their own selfish reasons and those of a great many other prelates in America. \nThe endless hate for people from Catholic and prelate misanthropes is so totally revealing. \nWe know them by their deeds!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe 20 years ago a Christian theologian (maybe Tom Driver?) said that the most rapidly growing religion in the world was not Christianity, not Islam, not any of the old and mainline religions.\n\nThe fastest growing religion is belief in the saving or redemptive power of violence. I believe this is true. Much of what claims to be hard right Christianity is no more Christian than Donald Trump is Republican. It's just a place to hang their hats. The true belief in many who call themselves Christians, Jews, or Muslims is that violence sets things right in the world. Part of the legacy of the 20th Century, perhaps.\n\nBy the way, I'd suggest the children's book \"Three Tall Trees\" by Prince Edward Islander David Weale, if you can find it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Logical fallacy. You might as well have asked, \"Is the pope catholic\"?\"\nSo, what you're saying is that McVeigh was Islamic? I didn't know that. I thought he was an all-American nutcase,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dennis Kucinich accompanies Tulsi Gabbard to Syria, where they met with leaders of Christian churches, hundreds of Syrians, and Assad himself. \nTake a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Nn4Sh44ZqQ\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zY8k1BAIzo\n\nTulsi Gabbard has been advocating legislation that would HALT US supply of weapons to any forces in Syria, and an end to US efforts toward regime change.\nDemocrats and Progressives almost unanimously condemn Gabbard's efforts.\n\nHillary Clinton is on record, as early as 2011, in demanding that Assad should go.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Huh. Good point. My first reaction was, \"Yeah, it is different.\" But then I got to thinking... and I tried it. Which went kind of like this: \"I'm an American\" - check. \"I'm a Christian\" - check. \"I'm a transgender... American;\" or \"... Christian...\" - it doesn't work\n\nIt's true that language evolves over time, and maybe someday I'll get there. But right now, for me - yeah, it is different.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "America's worst enemies are the far-right Christian fanatics who want to take us back to the 30s and 40s. Since 9/11, most terrorist acts have been committed by such.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gorsuch is a born and bred fascist from his upbringing by his mother, the infamous Anne Gorsuch, the Reagan EPA head who was forced to resign in disgrace after criminal collusion with Oil companies. He attended a private Catholic school run by Jesuits where he created and headed a club called: Fascism Forever and a dedicated acolyte of William Buckley and many other Conservatives. His entire career has been to defend Fascist and Chrisitian religious dogma over the human and civil rights in the U.S. Constitution. He is a loyal defender of Scalia and all of his traitorous rulings. This appointment would destroy the nation's governing system represented by the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights. The final nail in the coffin of freedom and democracy in the former \"Beacon of Democracy\" overthrown by a Fascist Republican Corporate Oligarchy Conspiracy never seen in past history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, I was not suggesting that Matthew 28 and Mark 17 mean ordination and the missionary commission are identical. But Matthew and Mark both report that only \"the Twelve\" (all men) were present at the Last Supper, where Christ said \"do this is memory of me.\" Likewise, both report only \"the Eleven\" (again, all men) were present when the commission to preach, teach, and baptize was given. So they have something in common, the fact that Matthew and Mark do not report women being present at either of these events.\n\nHere's what my logic tells me. If \"the inclusion of ONLY the Twelve at the Last Supper\" means women must be excluded from ordination, then the inclusion of only the Eleven when the commission was given means women also must be excluded from teaching, preaching and baptizing.\n\nIf the absence of women requires their exclusion, it requires it whenever they are absent ... not just when it delivers the desired conclusion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Firs of all, I find 'progressive', 'conservative' designations and labels not only useless but harmful. Pigeonholing somoene like that is the first step towards dehumanising, and creating grounds/justification for future abuse. \n\nBeyond that, Ratzinger together with Kung and Lubac, were all leading, cutting-edge theologians at Vatican II, who were instrumental in articulating many of the Council's teachings. So, you certainly cannot call Ratzinger \"conservative\" (whatever that means), when he praised Teilhard in his \"Introduction to Christianity\" in 1968. The fact that he retained his admiration for Teilhard, only shown his consistency.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A very well-written essay, which raises some very important points about the life of the church today. \nBasically it says we should redefine the Catholic understanding of human sexuality and overthrow the magisterium while we are at it. Piece of cake.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hello:\nThank you for writing this article. I would like to encourage our Catholic sisters and brothers who believe in freedom of religion, to speak out loud and clear supporting Muslims and Jews rights here in the U.S. Catholic outspoken solidarity is extremely needed right now. The hate has been here, and now it is being fanned. Hate crimes have increased. Don't wait for your neighbor, or co-worker, or local firefighter, or a child's teacher, or the hospital's doctor need to register their religion in a database. Please be pro-active.\nSpeak out now. Thank you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course it is nonsense if you disagree with the Catholic Church and are no longer a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A Muslim follower of Islam just attacked, shot, maimed and killed many innocent people in a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey.\n\nThere many verses in the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, that call for the destruction of Jews, Christians and non believers. \n\nFor decades, Muslim followers of Islam have been attacking, maiming and killing innocent, civilian non believers in the Middle East, in other parts of Africa, in Europe, in Australia, in Asia and in North America.\n\nScholars say Jews, Christians and Muslims are all people of the Book, the Holy Bible. They have the same God of Abraham. Jews call that God YHWH or Yahweh, Christians call that God Jehova or Lord. Muslims call the same God Allah (peace be with him). \n\nWhich group is following God's will properly? Is it Jews, Christians or Muslims?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I missed that argument. In my mind \"confect\" is potentially a very useful word in discussions about the Eucharist among Catholics because it can be construed, fairly, as neutral to the differences of opinion among progressives and conservatives. The word is seldom used in modern English, and when it is used, it tends to mean making something by combining ingredients. But the etymology is not that precise--it comes from the Latin \"facere\" (to make, create in the most generic sense possible) with the prefix \"con\", in this case an intensifier, stressing the act of making/creating. I would guess that the sense of making from ingredients comes from the \"con\" understood as the Latin \"cum\" = \"with.\"\n\nThe point is one can read \"transubstantiation\" in rigid Aristotelian metaphysics or read other philosophical sense into the Eucharistic action of the liturgy as confection.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am saying it is not at all a paranoid fantasy to say the churches of old have been stripped bare of all the sacred icons and equipment mandated by Jesus, and as a result the next generation will be secularized by the socialist government of this country, and this not delusional nonsense, oh no, not at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "> \"So why are we suspicious of pious worshippers from different faiths?\"\n\nWell, I don't know why YOU are suspicious. I am suspicious because there's recent enough experience of how bad it was when life was ruled by pious worshippers of the Christian faith, and I don't much expect the others to be any better.\n\nThe quiet revolution was a revolution against a quiet tyrrany. Before that, there was plenty of noisy tyrrany.\n\nGod is not and never was on your side. One would hope that would be true even if God existed. But the NOTION that God is on your side is not the least little bit helpful.\n\nAnd stop making noise in the middle of the night. It's rude.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Police and fire are liberal, as are building codes, highways, rural electrification, Christianity...sheesh! Human rights, the golden rule, women as people, children as children, kindergarten...there\u2019d be more if not for the ruling class. Of course these are conservative too, National parks, schools, canals and bridges....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We simply can't hold women responsible for anything, or narrative of rape culture might collapse and expose modern feminism for prudish moral-shaming regression that would make Catholic Church proud.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You make a good point. The cross should be banned from government offices.\n But Christianity is hard-wired into Western people for 2000 years. Western culture is about Judao-Christian ethics. Quebec has done well in removing the most oppressive anti-democratic aspects of Catholicism while maintaining the ethics.\n In Canada there's a church in every neighbourhood, sometimes two or three churches in every neighbourhood. This could be why religions have maintained so much power. If it were up to me they would all be converted into youth hostels, community centres, assembly halls, and union halls.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article is well meant but offering women better voice & vote alone is not enough. The insult to the humanity of women exists in that we won't ordain them priests & bishops & make them cardinals. This example of sexist hatred alone is enough to prove Catholics believe women are less sacred people than men. The Gospel teachings & commandments of Christ outright deny & oppose such beliefs but if we the people, of the church, will not demand equal ordination, then injustice & the diminishment of the human dignity of all women in the world & in our church will continue. Sexism directly causes poverty, violence, terrorism, slavery, child abuse, genital mutilation, & many other horrid results. It is always a belief based on ignorance & fear which ends in hatred & the stripping away of sacred & vital things from women. Many clergy try to call sexism something other than hate but to them I say, a tree is known by its fruit & the fruit of sexism is the same as all other forms of hatred", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You remind me of the Muslim kid who asked me about Henry the VIII - \"he was a good guy, right?\" \"What makes you say that?\" \"Well...he was a good man, right...he wanted, like...he had 4 wives, right...?\" Sigh...\n\nUm, no. Polygamy is the system that was prevalent when inequality was accepted as normal. The richer a man was, the more wives he could afford.\n\nThe Greeks' strong democratic principles and desire for equality among citizens made them reject polygamy in favor of monogamy. The Romans admired Greek culture and adopted Greek monogamy. The western world inherited monogamy from the Romans, not the Bible.\n\nIt goes hand in hand with a more egalitarian social system. The fact it is better for women was not a factor, but we know now that in practice it is. \n\nBut you are right that polygamy is an aspect of Islam many are not willing to give up, and is a common feature of the parallel Muslim society in Germany:\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTIjbiIiUuI", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not news. The answer is and always has been: let priests marry.\n\nAs long as The RCC holds itself up to be 'the one true church founded by Jesus Christ (God)\", it will continue to cast a huge shadow which will continue to make its presence known. Like The US, which believes that it is the greatest country on earth, and yet it is one of the most violent nations in the world (both internally and around the world). (Carl Jung's writings re The Shadow are very much worth reading.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, you're delusional. If it is a ban on people from those predominately Muslim countries with exceptions for Christians then it is a Muslim ban - though I realize that Critical thinking is required to come to that conclusion. Second, I have no idea if Obama identified those as terrorist supporting countries of not - and I will check that out. Still, none of those countries named were the home countries of people who committed terrorist acts here and none of the countries from which individuals who committed acts of terrorism in the US were included in the ban. Again, think critically.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Episcopal Church is dying and is schism in the United States. The two reasons given for the decline are the ordination of women and the blessing of same sex marriage, In my area, there is one Episcopal church for three towns. In my own parish, a gay man, a former member of the Episcopal church made his profession of faith and is now a Catholic. I wonder how many of the 67 percent you quote are practicing Catholics or are Catholics by baptism and have not entered a church in years?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Are Voltaire, Burke, Mill, Locke and Jefferson now on a banned list of authors?\"\n\nGood question. Years ago, while at university, I read some of Voltaire's (translated) writing that included his scathing views on the major monotheistic religions, particularly Christianity and Islam. Could the tender politically correct eyes and ears of today survive exposure to such ideas? Voltaire was a rationalist. Nowadays, it appears that's gone out of fashion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, a lack of information, request for explanation, qualify all comments, cast doubt without foundation, these are the proper tactics for Christians whenever anyone accuses a cleric of abuse, even if the accusation is proven in a court of law. Pope Saint John Paul II, the Great, wrote the playbook on this, and we as True Catholics must follow his lead, don't we, Pandora?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "BLAME KAAIHUE FOR STIRRING UP THE POT, HER CAMPAIGN STRATEGY WONT FLY IN HAWAII, PROMOTING CHRISTIANITY BROUGHT OUT ALL THE CHRISTIAN HATERS FOR GOD TO SEE. THATS WHAT SHE ACCOMPLISHED.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that some sex abusers are married but that does not mean that those who get no sex at all will not be inclined to abuse women and children more than if they were in a committed relationship with women or if they are gay, with men. Men do tend to be promiscuous, unfortunately. I still maintain, that no sexual abuse should occur among clergy once they have committed themselves to celibacy in the name of Jesus, who by the way, did not require that of his followers. You are absolutely right that there is a misogyny problem among the clergy and Fundamentalist and Evangelical Christians who seek to control society by controlling women's reproductive lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Certainly there are people who call themselves Christians who do not act very Christ-like at all. No disputing that. But yours is a blanket statement where some characteristics of some members of a specified group is applied to all members of the group categorically.\n\nYou may not realize it, but this is the very foundation of prejudice and bigotry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One case. Hardly a trend. We could spitball all day with one off cases like this with almost any organization of people. Pick your topic and we could find extreme examples until we're blue in the face. Until I see a movement the size of evangelical Christians I have no need for alarm and can assume most Muslim communities are peacefully practicing their religion and obeying the law. Should any individual who happens to be Muslim do something illegal then I'd trust our justice system to work. But I don't see a Muslim-majority political party acting to change laws. I'd be just against them as I am evangelicals pushing their religion through the government.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a Christian.\n\nI follow the laws on the land; I swore an oath to the Constitution when I was on active duty. \n\nIf you're going to use this instance to twist and contrive and bash Christianity, perhaps you should read Romans 13: 1-7 before you post again.\n\nIt's funny how the alt-left tries to bash religion when they don't get their way. Practicing personal accountability and mercy are NOT mutually exclusive. Grow up!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a step in the right direction -- with a lot of stepping ahead of them -- beyond an either/or binary suggestion. The English Bishops are simply refusing to accept bullying as it is today, as it surfaces in Catholic schools. Hopefully, the booklet won't just be a wall of words, as it were, a convenient dispatch not to be taken too seriously by Catholic administrators, faculty, students and parents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "there are many offended snowflakes on ADN every day. my comment was pointing out that this article brought out more than usual. \ni agree 100%, the genesis of the offended masses from my experience is exactly as you stated. good patriotic Christians offended by anything not sanctioned by the pastor last sunday.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "are Christians sinners? yes. are they being made in to being more Christ-like? yes. how do i know this? because just like Paul, i can say 'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.' am i perfect? no. but i do desire to follow my Lord and Savior, and to be made in to His likeness. i can also say: thank goodness my kids weren't like me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Although what you say about life before oil is true, most of the advances that have been made have been the result of systemic changes not just in Alaska but in the country at large. Growing up in Fairbanks, I contend that the population and attitudes of Alaskans had a dramatic change after oil was flowing and we had many people moving here from places in the country that have very different values that what pre-oil Alaskans had. These new emigrants brought those values and morals with them. And please understand I am not presenting a bigoted viewpoint. Many of these people have generous Christian values that they practice in their lives, but we are not so fortunate with some of the others who have moved here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John..........a few years ago a convicted Nazi war criminal was denied a Catholic funeral in Italy. He had a role in the slaughter of over 300 Italian civilians including a priest. Although, he attended Mass every day he was unrepentant to the end of his life claiming that he was just following orders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you saying that Trump was right to support Strange because Moore is an \"extremist Christian nationalist?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hillary is a better Christian than you and you should try not to lie so much in the future.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do we even need permanent priests? The early Christian Church did not think so, instead nominating someone from their community together to preside at the particular Eucharistic gathering. Might this not become the case again in the future with groups relying on thepromise of Jesus \"where two or three are gathered in my name, I will be in their midst\"? If this arrangement existed, we would see the end of the clerical caste and the emergence of a wide variety of ministries to serve the community. As an aside, I also question the need for/aproptiatness. of large scale Concelebrations Mass as illustrated in the picture at the head of this discussion. Surely, as someone has already pointed out, this serves only to show the difference in status of clergy and laity. A single presider would be much more appropriate with everone else members of the one community. A cynical.view might be that conclebrstion has to do with Mass stipends.....surely not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It makes no difference why they were first developed. What matters is the intention of the person involved in the act. That much should be obvious.\n\nWedding rings, Easter eggs and Christmas trees are just a few of the many customs of Christians that had pagan origins. Does that mean that these things should be prohibited because they smack of idolatry? Of course not.\n\nThere has to be some room for common sense in discerning appropriate practices. Otherwise, we allow ourselves to be governed by panic and superstition rather than authentic Christian principles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is symbolism about the royalty that needs to go. They can't be Catholics, and can't marry Catholics. Plus they head the Anglican Church. Violates the Church and State separation.\n\nThere are many problems that are even less important, but get addressed. Either way, it is a matter of time before Canada becomes a Republic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is all well and good for a theocracy, or for citizens of Vatican State. But the U.S. is not either and Catholicism is not the majority religion, nor the religion of the Founders, and not even the ideology of every single Catholic. You are correct in all you write - if you were describing the theological position of the Church. But this discussion is about the social and political aspects of the American public, and so, you miss the mark. It is not at all democratic (i.e., participating in a democracy) to use the sole issue thinking you do. It is insufficient for making informed choices about the benefits of and for the entire country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis rightly challenges the ingrown mentality of so many pre-Vatican II clergy, bishops and cardinals. In return, they refuse cooperation and dialogue with him and now resort to pulpit and public denouncements of his theology and message. This is a truly sad development targeting a holy and prophetic leader of the Catholic Church. His message is heard world-wide and has drawn many to reconsider their previous antipathy towards the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can't speak to every megachurch, but a lot of Catholics who are drawn to them say things like they are taught to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ there (why aren't they getting this in their Catholic Churches, you can't get more personal than recieving Jesus in the Eucharist). They say things like they weren't encouraged to read the Bible when they were Catholic (why, when the Bible is the book the Catholic Church compiled). People don't know simple things like why Catholics pray to saints or why Catholics have Confession and they know Catholics are easy bait for conversions since they don't know these things. \n\nAnd just as bad as the prosperity Gospel (you're poor because you aren't right with the Lord) is its mirror opposite, liberation theology (you're poor because you're oppressed).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd say good, maybe we're growing out of that fable, but instead much of what's happening is we're just getting Christian imports from 3rd world countries, and that's arguably not good. A lot of those countries are a couple hundred years behind in their fervent belief of that religion. Oh well...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope it does get better. However, I live in Australia and I would say 90% of the baptised Catholics no longer attend church. They have quietly walked away according to church records. Australians are not very religious compared to the US. The schools are still popular because they give a 'private' education at a fraction of the other private schools. The prime minister you referred to (Tony Abbott) is no longer prime minister. He was deposed in favour of Malcolm Turnbull (non Catholic). Tony Abbott is no great loss as he is very pro ++ Pell and his ilk.\n\nOne good thing to come from all of this is that clericalism is disappearing. Just two of my four adult kids send their children to Catholic schools and they are completely on the ball and watchful re possible abuse. \n\nAustralian bishops will do what Rome tells them to do regardless of the Commission's recommendations. They are 'Company' men. The one hope I see for the Aussie church is Bishop Vincent Long (see NCR article).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well isn't that special.\nMs Khan talks about colonizing invaders, perhaps like the Muslims who invaded Christian territories in the 7th century - like Spain. \nLike the Ottoman Turks hold took a million Christians as slaves. They were forcibly converted to Islam and became the elite troops of the Ottomans, the Janissaries and also galley slaves on their boats. \nAnd she conveniently forgets that the Aryan people also moved into the Middle East making Ms Khan a \"white\" person.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, Adolph Eichmann, God rest his soul, surfaces again in your posts: you seem to have a fixation upon this unfortunate person.\nYou have culled from Aquinas quotes to bolster your erroneous beliefs regarding conscience. Vatican II speaks also of conscience:-\nHow then do we form a right conscience? Catholics seek to inform their consciences according to reason and revelation as guided by Church teachings. They believe that by \"their faith, aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth, the People of God, guided by the sacred teaching authority (magisterium), and obeying it, receives not the mere word of human beings, but truly the word of \nGod.\" (Vatican II, The Church (1964), \u00a712)\nDo, you reject this teaching of the Vatican Council, I doubt if St Thomas would?\nTo have an erring conscience can be sinful insofar as the effort to inform it is cursory.\nReading the bottom line is often a way of saying that this is my personal take upon the issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, NO death penalty -- that will drive the Republicans crazy!!!\n Repib Pro-lifers love to incite and then torture and kill on the battlefield -- then rant about which oil countties are trying to kill them and take away Repub American Exceptionalism their Constitution, their freedoms and liberties, etc,etc!!! Repubs offer these complaints even after they have attacked those oil countries. \nYet -- Repubs just NEVER see the connection between attacking others and others attacking them. \nWe should start with the Catholic Neo-cons and The Heritage Foundation, The AEI, PNAC-ers, Donohue, BUchanan, Heaton, Monoghan, Jeb Bush, Newt Gingrich -- thrice married-- and how many more, Millions of others!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Your judgment and version of Christianity, among hundreds, trumps everything.\"\nSpot on!\nAnd Trump played Robert and Christians like him like a Stradivarius. Trump is a modern-day Elmer Gantry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yo AT, I'm down with your post but there really isn't any such thing as Christian Jihad. Jihad is an Islamic duty, love is a christians duty. Muslims Jihad orders they kill or convert all infidels. Christianity teaches to love ones enemy as thyself.Islam is still seeking revenge for Hagar and her son Ishmael being banished from the palace of Abraham.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is it wise to provoke Christians like that ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Traditional Catholic MO:\n\n1) Establish church presence based upon memes of \"ancient and divine\" Roman authority\n2) Enmesh church into local culture and politics\n3) Catechize the faithful in \"apostolic\" traditions (although clearly many of them are not)\n4) Hoodwink adherents into believing the infallible nature of magisterial teaching (\"Do Not Question God!\")\n5) Do \"good\" things in the community to maintain airs of virtue and irreproachability\n6) The table now set, a breeding ground for abuse is fully established\n\nSorry if this seems harsh but it is time to \"out\" the authoritarian MO of religious indoctrination. We are quick to speak out against the dangers of other cult-like behaviors, what about RCism? Of course not everyone involved in religious life is guilty of this mindset but how many times must history repeat itself before victims have sufficient foreknowledge to stop making such inane remarks as reported in this article, to wit: \"I'll be Roman Catholic until the day I die.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your \"reasoning\" is flawed at best, juvenile and irrational at worst. The principle of Double Effect leaves absolutely no doubt that Trump was the better candidate{ lesser of 2 evils, in the secular phrasing} from the moral perspective. Back in 2004, eminent Dominican theologian Father Basil Cole--in response to a question put to him from the Under Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith concerning candidate John Kerry's status with the Church re the senator's support for abortion, answered thus: \"For ANYONE {my emphasis} to maintain a right to abortion piggybacks on heresy and becomes part of its darkness. If a Catholic publically and obstinately supports the civil right to abortion, knowing that the Church officially teaches v. it, they commit the sin of heresy under Canon 751. {And}Provided the presumptions of the law, penalty, and imputabilty are not rebutted in the external forum, one is automatically [Latae Sententiae} EXCOMMUNICATED under Canon 1364.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For those who claim this is a Christian nation and claim to be Christian, read Matthew, Chapter 22, Verses 34 through 40. After you read it, go back and read it again and again until not only do you understand what Jesus commanded of you, but until you put his commandment into practice. If you cannot do so, or willfully refuse to, please do not call yourself a Christian because regardless of what ISIS is or stands for, Jesus did not condone what Ms. Peterson is suggesting. As for me, I am Christian and faithfully try to follow all of Jesus' teachings; this doesn't make me better than anyone else as I fail somewhere along the way each day but try with Grace to go forward and amend myself daily.\nMay God have Mercy on all regardless of whatever beliefs they may or may not have.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I love it when RD sneers. He truly shows the caliber of his Christianity when he does that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I subscribe to NCR primarily to learn about Catholic or Christian-related events. This is especially so for international events. However, all but 3 of the articles listed have no obvious connection to Christian events and provide information I can easily get elsewhere. I would really like to see the international briefing focus on church-related events such as the persecution of Christians abroad or positive developments in the African, Asian and Latin American churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If there is any hope for feminist women in the Catholic Church, it is in the formation of a Vatican II Catholic Rite/Church in union with Rome.\nhttps://RiteBeyondRome.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is good to speak out against racism and hate as Barbara Melamed writes. I am wondering how much she speaks out against Israel's racism and hate toward the Palestinians, CHRISTIAN and Muslim? Does Barbara speak out against US support of Apartheid ISRAELS cruel occupation? I do!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lumping together \"westerners\" on this issue is bizarre.\n\nThe ones most worried are the militant atheists who despise any religious beliefs, including Christian ones. They are the most intolerant of any religious beliefs, and their numbers are growing.\n\nLess rigid atheists and gnostics, or people with moderate religious beliefs themselves, don't automatically reject others with religious beliefs, on the contrary.\n\nThat may seem incomprehensible in the non-western world though, a conflict between a very strong, militant atheist group, and a moderate middle...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "History - first a tragedy, then a farce.\n\nWhen Mohammed died so did his Medinan Republic with rights for all, replaced by Kaliphate where power was Tribal.\n\nPower corrupts. Kaliphate morphs into monarchy. A new Kaliph would eliminate his 20 or so siblings that MBS does now.\n\nKaliphate/monarchy - an enterprise of gore, glory, conquest, and colonialism, was bad for all - Muslims, Asia, Europe. Smack in middle of Silk Road, Kaliphate controlled trade with oppressive Tariffs (Arabic word). \n\nCrusades to free trade failed, then 100 Famines in Europe around 1300AD starving Christians to half. Finally, Europeans found new routes to Asia, new lands too.\n\nSunni muscle/Jewish finance kept Europe fighting till Balfour's silver bullet - Israel - broke this cartel and pit these allies on other for ever. No war in Europe since Israel.\n\nCartel withheld world progress for 1,300 years. Now, Netanyahu and MBS with US neocons - bad news for globe. China, Russia, Iran will never allow an encore.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pause to consider: Unless you have access to priests, your relationship with Christ is impossible. Indeed, your salvation is impossible.\n\nLike it or not, salvation in Catholicism is absolutely based on access to priests. \n\nIf one wants to argue that's not true, then they need to explain why priests are necessary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The false Jesus described in the Qur'an is a muslim who was not the son of God, didn't die (at all, much less for everyone's sins) and will return to murder the remaining Christians and break the cross over their heads. The Qur'an says:\n\nChristianity is wrong (sura 5:14);\nJesus is not the son of god (suras 19:35; 4:171);\nThose who believe Jesus is God's son are accursed (9:30-35; 19:88-89; 37:151-152; 61:6);\nJesus was not crucified (4:157).\n\nFurther, Christianity teaches original sin, guilt, free-will choice and personal responsibility; while islam teaches (abuses its victims with) the exact opposite: that there was no original sin, and no free-will choice because allah is a slaver who is behind your every action, such that when, like Muhammad, you commit a crime, then if you got away with it, it was never a crime at all, since allah caused you to commit it and let you get away with it. But if you got caught, only then was a crime, because that was allah's will, too. Islam is a crime.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, the FN should certainly change its name to National Socialists just so they would be truth in advertising. \n\nAnd I dunno but over 66% of French voters decided that Le Pen's platform was one of hatred and voted for her opponent. And while Le Pen was \"pretending\" that she wasn't promoting open racial hatred, she was demagoguing immigrants, Muslims, etc. Here is one of her attacking Pope Francis in April. https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2017/04/17/french-presidential-hopeful-slams-pope-francis-welcoming-migrants/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspect it was a kitchen/cooking fire. Some people say it was caused by a faulty refrigerator. But Muslims are determined to blame Christians for this tragedy as if London is an extension of Mosul. In many ways it is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anti-Christian rhetoric is allowed, no problem. \n\nPost an image of Mohummed, or criticize the extremists in the mosque? ... BIG problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It doesn't matter what specific religion she is. It does matter that the Constitution trumps god's law. Ms. Barrett understood this line of questioning and stated her answer with this in mind. The issue was not with her being Christian, but that her religious views may cloud her judgement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That just boggles my mind. \nIt was the Us Catholic prelates who put Trump in the WH!!! So now are they waffling?? Seems so. \nIt was the Us Catholic bishops, the Right and the Koch bros who nearly decimated the iddle class as they fought Communism, Socialism and unionism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "it sounds as if they were taking their Catholic faith seriously. aren't Catholics supposed to make a stand for justice and freedom and the rights of all people?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do a little homework, John. This has been in litigation since May, 2012. To be canonically in sync with the bishop, the local Ordinary, and Catholic teaching ND has articulated why it is opposed to the Affordable Health Care mandate's insistence that ND pay for contraceptives... No brainer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've met plenty of that type of Christian. It's amazing how God has decided THEIR church is the only true one.\nOTOH, I've met lots of more charitable Christians who don't judge others based solely on their particular denomination or sexual orientation or etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with the other poster here. Canada can go first--get rid of public funding for Catholic schools (an extraordinary accommodation paid for by persons of all or no faith) then maybe Canadians can start telling Muslims to relent on requests. Muslim taxpayers literally help fund Catholic schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You had me up until \"Christian society.\"\n\nCanada is a secular state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religious liberty was NOT at stake. Religious liberty was a timely excuse to thrust a dagger in a strategy of killing Obamacare by a thousand cuts. The foundation of the case was not religious liberty but a corporation's legal status as a person. Hobby Lobby is a terrible decision, introducing arbitrariness and imponderables into the system and ripe for abuse.\n\nLittle Sisters is simply the non-profit version of the challenge, though the case ultimately concerned the Sisters' rejection of the government's accommodation based on the Catholic Church's degrees of mediate material cooperation. (One wonders if the church has ever before in the history of the US brought such refined scruple to bear on public policy.)\n\nYour obscurantist verbiage notwithstanding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "jane...none of those people were Harvard educated Presidents...they are members of the community, living and working and succeeding within the local community of their neighbours..white, black, Asian, gay, straight, male, female, Christian, non-Christian, born here, not born here...it's repeated thousands of times throughout the nation\n\nwhat the proponents of white privilege can't stand, is that all of those people, as diverse as they are, living within the same proximity as their neighbours and appreciated by a wide diversity of identifications, didn't need their help and neither do they appreciate being spoken to as though they are children....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesus demonstrated what the \"Will of the Father\" is....but these folks don't get it.\" So the bishops and orthodox Catholics don't get it but you and people of like mind to you do? Apart from you yourself who says that you \"get it\"? Are you claiming that you are in receipt of some sort of divine revelation to which the rest of us are not privy to?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is to say that the life and teachings of Jesus will become paramount and the sway held by the institutional church fade as Christianity goes through a rebirth and renewal process that is in keeping with the activity of the Holy Spirit in the world and the health and vitality of the Gospel will remain ever vibrant, relevant and meaningful. Doctrinal differences will lose their meaning and carping over theological trifles no longer divide the pure in heart. So some say. \n I say wait and see. This might be the case. Those who hide behind their rigid forms as an automatic confirmation of the validity of their point of view have already lost the battle and left the field. In the end, should the country survive this, and I believe it will, honor, integrity and truth will prevail. Time will tell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I disagree because I don't think there exist any more than a remnant who know the differences between Roman Catholic faith and Bible faith.\nRe: The article itself I find it a bogus attempt at \"Catholic Apologetics\"\nby spurious attacks such as in the opening paragraph:\n\"Illicit trade in antiquities\" and \"questionable scholarship.\"\nHow many Bible believers have ever heard of \"papyrologym\" I ask?\nWhat can be the meaning of a \"King James Bible world view\" when Catholic versions are virtually word-for-word, except for the addition of the apocrypha.\nI think the thrust of the book is the same old same old apologetic that says one cannot simply take the Bible for what it says, or doesn't say, but must have an official interpretation from a priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This shouldn't be a surprise. But the question should be asked, how many also do not know the Faith? \n\nMany of us who went through religious ed. in the '80s or '90s were not really taught what the Church teaches. Moreover,the Eugene Walsh/Rembert Weakland/Oregon Catholic Press version of the Mass obscures the sacred action to the point where it's not clear that Mass isn't a Protestant prayer meetin' with a symbolic meal tacked on, so even those who went to Mass every Sunday may not have a clue. Some of us were fortunate enough to learn the faith as adult reverts.\n\nSo can we blame apostates for lack of faith? If felt banners, sappy St Louis Jesuit music, the C.C.D.'s busywork in place of religious ed, and (most importantly) Christ with a de-emphasized cross coming to save Man who does not sin (Confession by appointment only!) are Catholicism, no.\n\nAnd maybe we can expect it; if Mass and religious ed. are practical sins against the 1st Commandment, then apostasy is in some way right!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Patrick. What I believe in is the Constitution. It's for all citizens not just christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "UC: I certainly don't question your motives or sincerity. Like most devout Christians, you want what is \"best\" for others and believe sharing your Christianity is your duty. I do not fault you for that. In fact I appreciate your concern. \n\nOne of my criticisms of many religion is each one's belief that THEY are the way; that other religions are simply wrong and adherents to those other religions are \"lost.\" Most lump those other religion-followers with those of us are simply \"non-believers\" and we're all destined for some version of hell. \n\nAs I've said many times, I simply don't know if there's a god. To believe there is, is an \"act of faith\" and I simply don't have that faith. If it turns out there is a god, perhaps I will be punished for that absence of faith.. However, I've never reacted well to threats and, eternal damnation is perhaps the greatest threat one can receive. \n\nMy regards and I appreciate both your civility and your conern. Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have disagreed with you frequently, but never have I disagreed with you more. You have spiritual self-focus and spiritual impact exactly backwards. \n\nThe question IS \"Am I doing enough?\" It's what we DO that counts. \n\n\"I didn't do much for others, but I sure prayed alone a lot--and darned well too, if I say so myself,\" would be a horrible legacy.\n\n\"I fed you.\" \"I loved you.\" \"I served you.\" \"I cried with you.\" \"I married you.\" \"I sat with you.\" \"I held your hand in the darkness.\" \"I donated to you.\" \n\n\"But did I do enough?\" That's EXACTLY what a Christian should ask. Why don't you think so?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am relying on what information I gained from research in the theological library at the Mount. Current investigation of Orthodoxy has some Orthodox addressing the issue of Mariology in depth in a manner I find eminently rational. They consider the infallible dogmas as innovations-what the Inquisition called \"novelties\" when looking into St. Teresa of Avila. \n The issue is not whether the Filoque can or cannot remain but why we can't get along better, if we can't agree that we all have the same Father and Jesus our savior. \nI am avoiding discussing the moral issues that plague churches generally as I stay out of that arena. \n I would like to see the church in Rome set an example of invoking the Holy Spirit in prayer, not just ritual incantation, before asking Mary to intercede. I am sure she would approve. She was a listener as Pentecost, as were the Apostles. \n There are the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John where he says the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "huh? you cannot complain of sectarianism then also want religious belief protected from criticism, mocking etc my friend. No, the fear or dislike of Islam is entirely normal, just like hating the lie of Christianity.\nUntil you understand secularism means no one's religion matters to anyone but to the INDIVIDUAL, you will be perpetually lost.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very good article. The recently deceased Papal theologian Cardinal Cottier remarked regarding the supposed opposition between doctrine and mercy (such as presently is posited by the critics of Amoris Laetitia) that there is for the Christian no possible opposition: Mercy is doctrine. I have written rather extensively about the controversy regarding Amoris Laetitia. I am presently reading the document, slowly as Pope Francis has advised. It is wonderfully rich in sound doctrine. It is a good thing to know and love your faith. And that applies also of course to the Social Doctrine of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nice twist of my words. But I do like the opportunity you give me to explain what it means to be, as Jesus put it, born again. John 1:12 says you must believe. Romans 3:23 says all have sinned Romans 6:23 talks about the free gift of God. I John 1:9 says we must confess our sins and Revelations 3:20 tells us that Jesus is waiting for us to knock so that He can open the door to salvation and enter in. Becoming a Christian, believer in the one true God, doesn't happen when you walk into or attend a church. You aren't born as a Christian. But if you become a follower of Christ, a Christian, you strive to be holy. Do Christians fail at times, yes. Do they automatically go to Help, no. \n\nSo, this leads us to Crusaders and others who go by the label Christian. Going into McDs doesn't make you a hamburger. You conveniently want all a Christians to fit your mold. God didn't send the Crusaders and though some were true Christians, it doesn't make Christianity nor them bad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks. I am guessing those later theologians, for the most part, are 20th century. I say that because the online Baltimore Catechism I found makes no mention of \"in persona Christi\" (as far as I know), and so this \"in persona\" clericalism was unknown among Catholics generally, despite the one sentence in Aquinas, and who knows what he meant really. After Pius XII wrote about \"in persona\" (Mediator Dei 1947), there was Vatican II, and several of its documents and of course the Catechism are rife with this \"in persona.\" I'm betting that while Vatican II was progressive, nevertheless there was this ugly current of clericalism that was introduced at that time. And now the young traditionalists harp on this \"in persona\" as if it was something Jesus had envisioned. No, it is just a recent emphasis by Pius XII. Just as infallibility is very recent. Seems like these should be the subjects of a Synod and a thorough housecleaning. Who wants to worship priests? Who needs an infallible pope?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Assuming your comment to be spot on, if this blog \"a liberal paper that backs reform for the Catholic Church\", why are you silent about the frequent blatantly anti-Catholic posts?\n\nAnd, if it is an open discussion, who beyond the ownership of the blog - which is provided gratis to those who post - would be entitled to characterize other posters as \"trolls\" \"miscreants\"?\n\nNo one compels you to read anything, let alone something that is \"arrogant and BORING\".\n\nSo, skip those parts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One may well ask, \"What then?\"\nApart from the difficulty of getting to an SSPX Church another reason for not attending is that having once left the Catholic Church under Peter, I am wary of making the same mistake again. There is a Tridentine Rite Catholic Church in the locality and if I could I would gladly go there but it is much further away than the SSPX one.\nIf things continue in the Church as they are at the moment and the unofficial schism is ever formalised then I will once again have to make a choice.\nIf the SSPX returns to full communion, I fear that it might suffer the same fate as the F.F.I., the Knights of Malta, the treatment of Cardinals Sarah, M\u00fcller and the dicasteries and institutes whose members have been replaced by others more amenable to 'reform'. I'm also suspicious that Summorum Pontificum may be repealed along with Liturgiam Authenticam.\nI suppose I have always taken comfort that in the final analysis there was a safety net.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If \"the Vatican is open to a less intrusive role for the pope in the Eastern churches than in the West\", then Rome could start immediately with actual actions by removing the yoke it imposed on the Eastern Catholic Churches. As it is, Patriarchs, heads of Churches with the same rank as the pope, minus the Petrine ministry, answer to a cardinal.\n\nAs a matter of fact, which Orthodox Church would like to find themselves in the same position? If anything, the status of the Eastern Churches under Rome is the surest fact on the ground that keeps the Orthodox away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rohr makes this very puzzling assertion regarding the Incarnation: \"\u2018Incarnation is already redemption,' and you do not need any blood sacrifice to display God's commitment to humanity. \n\nOnce God says yes to flesh, then flesh is no longer bad but the very \u2018hiding and revealing' place of God.\" Rohr is saying that the crucifixion of our Lord was not necessary for redemption; that the Incarnation already brought about redemption. This is made more evident in this passage from his critique of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, supposedly taking the teaching of John Duns Scotus as his justification: \"As many of you know, I am a strong proponent of the Franciscan understanding of the redemption, based on the teaching of Blessed John Duns Scotus in the 13th century. He did not believe in any \u2018substitutionary atonement theory' of the cross: Jesus did not have to die to make God love us, he was paying no debt, He was changing no Divine mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you believe in science, then i would suspect that you have a good handle on ratios, and statistics as well. You understand that 23% of the world population is Muslim, that's 1.6 billion people compared to 2.2 billion \"Christians\" of varying sects. It just so happens that the percentage of the worlds population resides in extremely impoverished and violent regions which increases the likelihood of engaging in violent behavior. The reality is, they could be Budhist and, given the same tumult they are constantly exposed to the results would be the same. \n\nYou might be tempted to say the regions are violent due to the population's religion, but the reality is they have been violent for thousands of years predating the present religions.\n\nIt is also socialy acceptable to track and report on violent acts brought on by Muslim individuals and place less emphasis on violence perpetuated by other groups, so there is an inherent bias when it comes to the perception of a violent demographic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know why anyone would vote for president because of some biblical mandate. We are a secular society and as a Christian, I acknowledge that. Jesus also acknowledged it when He said to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's. We are not electing a Pope, but a president and this childish attempt by liberals to shame Christians who voted for Trump is ludicrous to say the least.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope. You originally wrote: \"for every one you think you might be able to find, I'll find 10 quotes from our founding fathers all supporting the notion that they made us a Christian nation under the Judeo Christian paradigm.\"\n\nThere was no requirement that I refute your quotes. You added the requirement after the fact, when you realized you were trapped, and could NEVER fulfill your part of the challenge. \n\nThen you launched into a long string of diversion, deflection, and misdirection, all in an attempt to extricate yourself from the trap you ensnared yourself in. \n\nSorry Larsy, you're still 69 quotes short. Have fun Googling!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many of the Republican divorce club will be sitting next to Newt in the front row? . . . like fellow thrice-remarried-after-divorced Rudy Giuliani, Rupert Murdock and Roger Ailles (not taking up much space any more), or fellow Christian three-timers, Rush Limbaugh and \"Pastor\" Raphael Cruz? Or will there be a special place of honor for four-timers Steven Bannon, Morton Downey, Jr. and Congressman Bob Barr (the author of the \"Defense of Marriage Act\")? See http://WhatWouldJesusThink.info/familyvaluesparty.html for more on the \"holier than thou\" party.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pierre Trudeau was a practicing Catholic. Tommy Douglas was an ordained minister. Mulroney, Chretien, Martin were all raised Catholic. I don't know if they still went to church. \n\nSeparation of church and state doesn't mean that all leaders have to be atheist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Pope Francis, I suggest just wait a while .... the polls show that these even Christians themselves are beginning to see through and so abandon their support for Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AND ... Catholic schools don't have \"Dogma\" classes, they have \"Religion\" classes or Religious Education. Maybe get a thesarus and find a NEW word.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "lol ah so the Church and state must be separate yet the liberal writing this article seems to want his big government to meddle into what the schools are teaching regarding sex education. Notice how this only works when the majority were once Christians but as soon as the majority embrace secularism, let's toss that notion out the window.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Deflection.\nSome Canadian 'traditions' needed changing.\nFor example Christian praying in classrooms, in government meetings.\nDemocracy demands all are heard.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Canadian Muslim's should admit that teachings of Islam include \"Do not take Jews and Christians as allies \" the Qur'an 5:51 !\nIslam is either a Cult of Violence OR a religion that promotes hatred !\nI don't want someone who , in another country would be treated as an inferior, telling me what I should feel about Islam ! Islam is completely incompatible with our Judeo / Christian Values !\nIf you want to promote more peace in the world , start with the Middle East . Just look at what Muslim Refugees are doing to Belgium , France and the UK !\nDo you think we want this in Canada ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lee Mayhan, a lot of vague statements but I am basically talking about the faith and belief of Islamic Koran that controls the lives of most Muslims here and every place else. Islam is a theocracy at its base level and teaching of the Koran is considered to be the foremost of that faith. Do you disagree with me on that? You think like a Christian and many Christians' belief are based on their comfort zone. Muslims who claims to be Muslims. don't think that way at all. Despite of their public words, their belief in their faith is strong and that could be a call for admiration. Koran really do considered homosexuals to be blasphemous toward Allah. You can't deny that so why are we debating this issue?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, heaven help us. I\u2019m not a bible-thumping Christian, but even I know that the idea that Joseph hadn\u2019t consummated the marriage is, um,sort of central to their Christmas story. That, and the fact the Bible never mentions Mary\u2019s age.\n\nOh Lord, please save us from your confused followers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...to find good married couples, and draw priests from that pool,,,,\"\n\nMokantx, I think Pope Francis had that in mind when he encouraged bishops earlier this year to consider that option for the diocesan priesthood. (Remember, the pope is a member of a religious order, is not a diocesan priest.) But bishops across the board seem hesitant. So they quite bishop-like, as it were, pause, delay, demur, doubt, scruple, boggle, waver, vacillate, prefer to stay in suspense, etc. -- all of them, thousands of them -- five, six thousand -- the world over. They must -- in their global and national episcopal conferences -- have THEIR reasons not to take up the pope's suggestion. Who knows??? Is it that they don't like the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic model -- married priests but celibate bishops? Is it for monetary reasons -- with parishes having to support the wife and kids of priests? Is it for fear that some priests might wind up having to divorce (as some Protestant pastors have had to)??", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"a history of anti-Semitism, which helped pave the way for the horrors of the Holocaust, an uncomfortable truth the current government declines to acknowledge.\" What a complete lie like most of the content in this article. What paved the way to Holocaust in Poland was the fact that Poland was over centuries generous enough to Jews that it became the largest settlement of Jewish diaspora. During the Holocaust there perished six million of Poles, half of them of Jewish ethnicity, half of them Catholics. Germans build concentration camps in Poland, first to liquidate Polish elites and resistance. Only two years later, they started to implement \"Final Solution\" against Jews from around Europe. Now when comes to modern times, current government, formed by a first conservative party in power since 1989 is attempting to clean up corruption of post communist liberal governments and stand up to neocolonialism by EU. It still has support of majority of society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hans K\u00fcng got his \"ticket punched\" because he rejected a de fide component of the Catholic Faith (Vatican I and Vatican II) and dug in when queried.\n\nPeriod.\n\nYour assessment of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger is belied by his gracious invitation to Hans K\u00fcng to visit him in the Vatican when he was elevated to the papacy, and receive a long conversation and a lunch \"on the house\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The church left the classist views of people during Vatican Council II. It recognized THEN, what changes had been going on in the world since the cultural catastrophes of WWI and WWII. Society and culture CHANGED far more than anyone could have anticipated. The traditional Western European [and American] understanding of marriage [as a preindustrial agrarian arrangement that viewed both children and family as economic] rather than as emotional units has gone.\n\nThe 1930's were filled with Catholic writings that attempted to help couples understand marriage in their chaotic world. Many of these writings came from Europe: In France, Abbe Violler published MARRIAGE [1932], THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MARRIAGE [1936] CHRISTIAN LAW AND MARRIAGE [1936]. In Germany, Dietrich von Hildebrand, published MARRIAGE [1936]. In 1935, Herbert Doms's book ON THE MEANING AND END OF MARRIAGE was published. By the time of Vatican II, the concept of Companionate Marriage had been going on for 40 years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And as I had answered before, your facts come from a church view that has no hierarchy of importance. It sees everything as DOCTRINE. Everything is not doctrine. Some items are doctrinal teachings. Some are theological clarifications, and others are spiritual meditations. The Baroque church saw that hanging onto the past for everything is important. The church is not immutable. If it were, it could not correct itself after many scandals in the church: schism between Eastern and Western churches, the Western schism\n[2-3 popes at one time], Hundred Years War---one Catholic nation against another [but involved many other Catholic nations as well], selling of indulgences, etc.\n\nThere is a fear to let go of past practices and teachings. We are called to a 'novus habitus mentis\"----a new way of thinking, being and acting in PASTORAL APPROACHES. We need to deal with the people of today with mutual love, respect and commitment to the highest ideals of a disciple of Christ----TODAY.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Say what?! \n\nLet's just consider the Pauline privilege. Paul explicitly invoked the command of Jesus against divorce before contradicting that command with his privilege. The only way that passage can be understood is that Paul construed the divine prohibition against divorce as applying to Roman pagan marriage. He is very clear that if the pagan spouse is willing to remain in the marriage with the Christian spouse, then the Christian spouse may not divorce. If Paul regarded Jesus prohibition of the marriage as only applying to two Christians getting married (what we centuries later came to call sacramental marriage), then there would be no reason for him to overrule the Lord with his privilege. \n\nGiven current canon law, a spouse in a civil marriage is totally free to divorce, get baptised, and then marry a Christian. Paul presumed otherwise. Our rejection of civil marriage is unPauline \n\nBinding and loosing has NEVER been construed as you construe it. Come on Trid, your know better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since when does an \"Old School Catholic Marriage\" justify tax evasion or wire fraud? \"Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God, the things that are God's\". I am not Catholic and pay taxes. If I have to pay the taxes of Catholics because they are in an \"Old School Catholic Marriage\" (since the Government still needs the money and will get it from those who pay), isn't the government forcing me to subsidize Old School Catholics? If being in an Old School Catholic Marriage is a defense to paying taxes and being in an Old School Lutheran Marriage means I have to pay taxes, isn't the government establishing the Catholic Church as the preferred religion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To my knowledge, the Canadian Constitution allows Catholics in Canada to run separate Catholic schools in Canada if Catholics want to fund them but there is nothing in the Constitution that says non Catholics have to pay taxes to help pay to fund the Catholic schools. \n\nIn Ontario, however, Catholics and non Catholics pay taxes that are used to help fund the Catholic schools. \n\nI wonder if some people in Ontario will use the decision in Saskatchewan to challenge the system in Ontario. \n\nI wonder if the Saskatchewan case will go to the Supreme Court of Canada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Spoken like a true history bluff. Sorry, the Christian religion founded by Christ IS Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you actually believe that it would have been rejected if it were a Catholic cemetery?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once upon a time, giving freely to the poor expressed Christian charity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Contd ...\nI told you where Ilearned my Catholic Faith, a Faith distilled from 2 millennia of the teaching of the Apostles, the early Christians, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, of popes and councils right up to the present day. I do not see that, as is commonly believed, anything was changed substantially by Vatican II as the Canons of previous Councils are still in force and this latest Council can only be interpreted through what has gone before. Any perceived changes are only cosmetic and ought to be judged upon their efficacy in promoting the Catholic Faith or abandoned insofar as they prove to be detrimental to the good of souls.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are they still bashing Tolkien, or did they finally figure out he was Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another situation resulting in Catholics becoming 'nones', 'dones', or members of other denominations.\n\nAnd the institutional Church is itself responsible. Smaller (by anybody's standards), and Purer (by only their standards), is one step closer. \n\nI blame nobody for walking away -- even running away -- from such treatment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"\u201cWe\u2019re happy to see the parishes moving toward solar power to provide clean energy for themselves and perhaps others in need,\u201d \"\n\nPer the Sacramento Bee \"More than 10 million California adults - or almost 30 percent of the state's population -- identify as Catholic.\" Such a large Catholic population supports a large state-wide building infrastructure - churches, schools, rectories, etc. that collectively representative an enormous amount of roof area under the control of the Catholic Church that could be utilized for solar power generation.\n\nCalifornia Catholics have a great opportunity for a new social justice initiative in the spirit of Laudato Si by instituting a program that would apply credit from the utility companies for solar power generated on Catholic infrastructure rooftops to the electric bills of the poorest in the state. By negotiating at the diocesan or state level with solar equipment providers and utilities, economies of scale would maximize the benefit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hopefully the Pope can hand down the same sentence on this man the way he was righly about to hand down on the Vatican envoy to the Dominican when they were about to give him prison time in 2015 before his death. \n\nThis whole thing is tragic not only because of the crimes being committed against children, the most vulnerable people in society, which is despicable. But it turns attention away from the Church's mission of preaching the Gospel and it's works of charity. Despicable people like this individual will now receive more attention than the thousands of priests and nuns around the world who do good work on issues ranging from justice for the poor, to helping those in prison, to the work of peace and ending conflict globally. They damage the image of Catholicism globally for the same reason ISIS and Al Qaeda damage the image of Islam globally even though neither group represent the overwhelming majority of Catholics or Muslims or the teachings of each faith community.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "i don't get, why the bishops still discussing the possibility of giving Holy Communion to civilly remarried couples...\nPope the highest authority in the Catholic Church said that they can receive It then they can. We don't need to discus it anymore. It will bring a lot of wounded people back to the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly. It is about some Catholics and conservative Christians wanting Christian dogma to be the law of the land. Sadly, it isn't the parts of Christianity about kindness and compassion. It is the parts emphasizing prohibition and punishment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"An entitled generation thinks that when they attend Mass they're doing God a favor, when, in fact they have a sacred obligation to do so, and that it's offensive to God if they deliberately choose to ignore him!\"\n\nOr maybe the idea of a God who takes names at the church door just doesn't make sense to them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's intimate union.\n\nWe are offered a way of intimate union with the Trinity, and every Christian who has ever lived and will ever live.\n\nAs St John Paul II taught all space and time collapses on the Eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And they call themselves Christian. So much for American Exceptionalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus made quite a few claims that are crystal clear on conversion and salvation, one would not need to be a \"protestant\" to believe those. I don't know how one can share a \"private\" interpretation with another person or how you can attribute a \"private\" interpretation with the millions/billions that have been saved in the last 2000 years. The 5 Solas were \"reclaimed\" from the corrupt Catholic church where the phrase, \"when a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs\" (among others). Surely you are aware of that, right ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These were almost the identical questions asked of John Kennedy, our only Catholic president, when he was campaigning for the presidency. Ms. Barrett's response was nearly identical to his - that her faith will not interfere with her duty as a judge. Isn't that the right answer?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rick Taves1: I think your missing the point here. The Catholic school system is quite prepared to accommodate the non-Catholic students in these small rural communities. But it appears the public school boards in some small communities and rural areas feel threatened by the loss of their students and funding to the Catholic system as this steadily erodes the viability of the public system. I think the Saskatchewan government is doing the correct thing by putting the immediate needs of the students first. That being said, governments across the country should examine the continuing viability of maintaining parallel publicly-funded, religiously-based school systems, especially in areas where enrolment numbers can't justify doing so. Quebec and Newfoundland have wisely chosen to change this. Personally, and philosophically, I favour a secular school system, and I'm a Roman Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since delusional/dishonest would be an accurate description of just about any VP pick that Hillary would choose, I just left it alone. Besides, it has been obvious that Christians are the most inclusive and tolerant of the progressive agenda of almost any of the worlds religions. I am not saying all but most of them are very opposed to anything progressive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Instead of no public funding Catholic schools \nout of spite and jealousy\n\nyou should lobby for public funding for your faith school, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh\n\nlet there be equality for all\nCatholics would support you in your lobbying as Catholics are fair\n\nwhy should only Atheists have schools", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What you say, ScottG???!!! This Jay Edward is Catholic? I'm new here and wow! The first comment I read from him (her) gave me the impression he (she) is not Catholic..or Christian for that matter. He (she) must be the embodiment of \"Catholic in name only.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reason \"there is no channel for official complaints to be heard or recognized\" in the Catholic Church is because it is not a democracy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Harold, Harold, Harold... be serious! Did you deliberately miss Timothy Layton's point? Are you trolling? This has nothing to do with mathematics! All Ricky Gervais (quoting the original author of those words) is saying is that if a Christian can deny 2999 gods then he is virtually no different from an atheist who denies 3000. In other words, a Christian IS an atheist in respect of 2999 gods, so how can they find fault with someone who denies JUST one more. Hope it's clear to you now. Keep well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Christian conservatives are going to have a hard time rationalizing their support for a serial fabricator\"\nNot really. They were taken over by, or morphed into, multinational corporations themselves.Teachings of Christ? Give me a break. Power and money. Because what else is there?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No argument here. \n\nI would be comfortable being called agnostic because I have so little regard for religious mythology. The idea that human's can intellectual or emotional fully grasp the 'the truth' of a universal being transcending all space and time, seems more than a little vain.\n\nI prefer 'Christian' because I have a real fondness for the person of Jesus. I believe he challenged the established church (I like the anti-establishment radical), and he offered nonviolent path to happiness. The fact that a church grew from his life is testament to the strength of his message of love, humility, grace, forgiveness. The growth and behavior of organized religions seem very incongruent with my love for Jesus.\n\nThe bible was modifed thousands of times by early scribes applying their own interpretation of what was meant. 'Inspired by God' I can hope, but there is no doubt the bible was written by very fallable humans. I like the Quakers use of meditation and self revelation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pointy head progressives and academics? So being educated is bad? You realize that Charminade is a Catholic School don't you? Hardly a hot bed of radicalism. you might have a point if this was at the UH, but I haven't seen Charminade as a leftie center.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bars to \"free speech\" apparently only happen when a progressive campus group runs into problems with the administration.\n\nBut when actual mob violence shuts down a conservative Catholic, NCR is silent.\n\nNCR's silence shows just how much it really values free speech for all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All the Christian fundamentalists' heads likely exploded after reading \"For 4 1/2 billion years, it has circled around us...\". After all, the true believers \"know\" that the earth is only 6,000 years old and they're all voting for Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ontario has the most resources to its disposal to introduce a universal childcare program like Quebec. If Ontario stopped funding Catholic schools and transitioned to a 2 school public system for English and French - it could net upwards of $1B+ in savings on administrative and staffing costs. That $1B+ combined with existing childcare funding can be reinvested into a universal childcare program for children ages 1-5 (before they hit JK) with a sliding scale where the poorest pay almost nothing while the rich and middle class pay fair fees. Excess school buildings as a result of school mergers could be converted into public child care centers where necessary and others can be sold off to developers to be rezoned into new residential housing (another urgent Ontario need). How can Ontario cry poor when it comes to childcare funding when the Taxpayer is already funding a redundant public education system? Childcare should be classified as an education program not a social program !!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You didn't realize you were naming teams associated with Baltimore?! \"Colts,\" latterly moved to Indianapolis, are thought to have been named with a reference to the great horse race of the region, the Preakness. The \"Ravens\" (who I think are the only songbirds after whom a football team is named; but cf. their fellow corvids the Blue Jays, and also the Cardinals and Orioles, in another sport) are named for the title character in E.A.Poe's famous poem; Poe died and is buried in Baltimore, though he was from Boston and lived longer elsewhere, e.g. NYC, where he wrote \"The Raven.\" A truer name for a Baltimore team, with cultural reference, might be the Doggypoophages, nodding to Divine in John Waters's \"Pink Flamingos.\"\n\nRe Catholic ghetto and media: Whatever a serious, committed Catholic thinks, says, or does, as an expression of his/her faith, should be fair game, and all the better for breaking out of the enclosure of traditional subject matter, perspectives and attitudes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately until people like Sr. Schenk &groups like Future Church, Assoc. of U.S. Catholic Priests & now Voice of the Faithful can find their Gospel Christian Hearts within themselves to stand up bravely along side groups like Women's Ordination Conference, and Call to Action and not only imagine but demand a Just and Righteous Church for all members from our leaders, by demanding women be ordained to priesthood and equally to men, this is just more blah blah blah. Talk is cheap & these groups push for women to be only ordained to permanent voiceless deacons. They are also pushing for complete Gender Segregation as they want men only to have optional celibacy for priesthood. \n\nSr. Schenk don't you owe the women of this church, to support their human dignity, as a priority ahead of mere increased benefits for married men, especially since supporting married men being ordained priests first will cause even greater misogyny in our church & delay women being ordained to priesthood?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "as it should have been Jeff... as it should have been.\nposting anything not containing the 6 or so words sheeple have deemed offensive should be fine. censorship is un-American! \n\nits very ironic that some offended christian flagged a sunday school song when the true context of the song wasn't to their liking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No - Pandora did NOT ask if Mr. Kennedy was a catholic. I asked if Mike considered him non-catholic because of Mike's comments about catholic morality. He apparently took issue with the continuance of MAD, apparently considering it to be against catholic morality - I reminded him that Mr. Kennedy was the first proponent of it.\n\nThe price we all pay is when someone interprets our remarks for us...therefore, you are not answering my question at all, merely what others have spun it to be to conform to their agenda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes but the \"God\" squad in America won't allow that. \n\nAmerica ... the land of the not so free unless you are a right wing nut case with ties to fundamental Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm Christian so... but seriously, government welfare has nothing to do with religion. If they object let their local religious house shoulder the burden of their bad decisions not the taxpayers. And no, it wouldn't take some new agency, just new rules for the existing ones. The procedures can be covered under medicaid and we can be hopeful that such a policy would shrink the already massive welfare machine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, I would never find myself supporting Mr. Trump. He has said and done too many vicious in-Christian things during and before this campaign. Sad day for us when USCCB again chides Catholics to ignore so much wrong for one right-and recall, Mr. Trump used to be pro-choice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would like to see some of these folks try to picture growing up non-Christian in this country. They could then see what being a minority is truly like. Whether it is the school teachers making jokes about being a different religion to the school that was fine with teachers failing you for taking a day off for a non-Christian holiday, or in the case of a friend of mine, mocked because she wasn't allowed to celebrate birthdays.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've switched to Judaism from Christianity, but needs to have A Rabbi officially convert me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Such a long, intense reaction needs a long intense discussion. I would love to sit down with Ivo and listen and talk (I am a Christian but the picture painted by Ivo does not fit me and many other christians at all). With one condition: the remark about him (by whom?) at the top of the article \"He is seldom wrong\" should be deleted. That attitude is not good for sincere discussion. I hope he is also a good listener. Henk Gous", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "TWU may indeed limit their membership to Christians but they must still comply with the human rights of their students.\n\nHere's another fact for you to consider: the provincial bar associations are private organizations. As such, they can admit or grant accreditation - or not, to whomever they chose.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"[R]elevant to the moment\" is the KEY tem in your worthwhile post that goes to the heart of the point. For anyone to assume that Aquinas (for ne) is the final word on anything is \"worshipping at he ash heap of history.\" It is being very stuck in the past (which is quite comfortable for those who cannot cope with the stress of the present) which is often a distorted and romanticized fantasy of what it really was. This is the difficulty of the radical traditionalist - such as \"Faithful Catholic\" (not really faithful at all) and other similar posters - and then they preach but are incapable of useful discussion with others who have different insights. Your post captures it so well, fons&culmen, and I thank you for it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The link leads to an article where Pope Francis is illustrating by example themes from the Gospel, such as Lazarus and Dives, and the letter of St. James where faith without works is dead (no conflict with St. Paul in my view). In essence he is saying that to be rich and go to mass everyday and care nothing for others less fortunate than yourself is not a sign of redemptive behavior, or a dead faith and someone with this kind of pride does not please God with religious works. This is a common theme in the writings of the Prophets. Jesus said, \"Go and learn the meaning of these words, \"I desire mercy, not sacrifice\". \n A Catholic blog wrote about this article showing how Pope Francis is in keeping with Church teaching. My criticism of the editors of the NCR is my last-revulsion and disgust are unpleasant feelings and I would rather let them go their way in peace. The article on liberation theology would not meet criteria for a High School essay.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And as the Catholic Bishops said, \"REPENT, REPENT, I wonder what they meant?\"\nSecrecy is what allowed this horrible soul murdering scandal to progress all over the world. It is so bad that many will never believe what a Bishop says again. Many of us quit giving to anything that the money goes to a bishop in any form. When my sister found out that her parish collections were in effect taxed by the Bishop, that was enough for her to give her money to better causes. The RC leadership remains in shambles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not a Muslim ban.\nSyria population is 10% Christian .\nIn case you have not checked the facts, those Christians ...the most persecuted group in the Middle East ....were placed in the back of the bus by both Obama and now by Trudeau.\n\nAs for corporate Canada, perhaps they see thru this fake hysteria and feigned indignation by the liberal elites", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marriage existed long before the Catholic Church--Abraham was married to Sarah before God first called him and before the covenant between God and Abraham. And marriage is for here on earth (see what Jesus said about the woman with 7 husbands) that in heaven there is no marriage. And the Church recognizes that it's the two spouses who perform the sacrament.\nMarriage is not an ideal. It is a path of emotional and spiritual growth (oftentimes very challenging)--at the present time in the Catholic Church limited to laypeople. But Jesus is the Bridegroom (Jn. 3:29)--and a Bridegroom is vowed to marriage. What does that mean?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I find I can be justly critical and still want the best for Christ's church\"\n\nThe question at issue is whether or not there is any overlap between \"Christ's church\" and the RC hierarchy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The years of war and the recent tragedies in Syria are heartbreaking.\u2014NCR Staff. \u201cThough I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength . . . I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth\u201d (Isaiah 49:4 and 6). \u201cBe my rock of refuge, a stronghold to give me safety, for you are my rock ad my fortress\u201d (Psalm 71:3-4a). \u201cReclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified\u201d (John 13:21). Liturgy of the Word, Reading 25, Tuesday of Holy Week I. It seems no better to be here in the USA or there is Syria. God is in charge, in the final analysis. Let the faithful, then \u201csing of your salvation\u201d and pray \u201cto be a light to the nations\u201d (I", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Presumably you'll be asking Christians and Jews to also renounce similar passages in their holy texts as well?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians claim to know the one true god by divine revelation, yet you call me arrogant for not believing that for which there is no evidence. Suit yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yup, we need to talk about cars! More specifically, when do we get cars that are fully operational using sustainable, clean energy sources? What can we do to speed the phase out of fossil fuel burning engines that pollute God\u2019s magnificent Creation? Do we love Creation as much as we love our cars? Pollution is a moral challenge. Canada\u2019s Bishops have made explicit what far too many Christians try to ignore, namely that \u201cThe current ecological problems are essentially witnesses for the prosecution, testifying that we have violated the laws of life\u201d (Our Relationship with the Environment: The Need for Conversion, Pastoral Letter, 2008).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John F: I'm sure it was appreciated by the conservative Christian demographic. I think it was also a bit of \"high-dollar\" evangelism on the Green's part. I have no problem with that. As you say, it's their money and certainly the RG can use the revenue. I enjoy our local papers (both the RG and the Weekly) and would like to see HobbyLobby run the same ad every week or everyday......it doesn't bother me in the least and, as I stated, both papers would appreciate the advertising revenue. regards, Gary", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great - but priest of what, exactly? \n\nFor sure nothing remotely Christian.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Fr. Rush, for recalling the legacy of Fr. Schillebeeckx. His entire corpus -- especially his work on the church and on ministry in the church -- stands up well. Bishops and pastors would do well to ponder Fr. Schillebeeckx's study of the centrality of the Eucharist in Christian life, and the right and duty of the Christian people to celebrate it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi! Tridentinus\n\nFrom my article (see the link below), that offers a possible way forward, in humility for the divorced and those now living in a civil union. \n\n\u201cThe act of making a civil marriage (commitment) to another partner outside of the church cannot be reconciled by the Church and to try to do so is to flaunt Gods law (Will) before His face, as the Christian marriage bond is unbreakable. We the laity and clergy can show compassion and must do so, but only God can show Mercy on someone who by their own free will has knowingly separated themselves from God\u2019s Holy Will\u201d.\n\n\u201cThe Eucharist is not a reward for the perfect, but nourishment for the soul and should not be denied to any baptized Christian who looks for Mercy from a God of mercy\u201d.\n\nPerhaps you would consider reading it.\n\nhttp://www.v2catholic.com/background/2015/02/2015-02-21only-God-can-square-the-circle.htm\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mike when you do a little digging you'll find out that the option takes money out of poor districts and puts it into affluent districts further marginalizing the kids that live in poor districts. When people wake up and realize that the rich want nothing more than everything they want your power your water your air your transportation your schools your very Souls. Rich white Christian males have passed every law in our country since 1779 and they will pass every law in the 115th Congress. The time may come when you get a knock on the head if you don't bow down when the ruler passes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unpastoral for you means a not a squish on Catholic doctrine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. I will not confuse Catholic Traditionalists with any facts -- complete waste of time!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes and yes. I'm Shi'a (my wife and I are the only ones in Anchorage so far as I know), and Sheikh 'Ali has been my beloved friend for nearly a quarter-century. Raised Catholic in Buffalo, NY, from a devout family (was a former choirboy), but Allah had Mercy on him, IIRC, during the Vietnam war. He's a highly respected scholar among Shi'a and many Sunni both here and abroad. He's a close friend and compatriot of Al-Ayatulllah al-Qazwini, who until returning to Iraq about three years ago was the only Ayatullah living in the US. His sons are still here, two of whom are friends of mine. Allahumma saali alaa Muhammadan wa alaa Ah'lii Muhammad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am proud of her and respect the guts that she showed to stick it out and do her best to make a difference for children.\n\nAlthough I have been critical of Marie Collins for ;\n1) Giving a false legitimacy to a delay tactic, The day of prayer for victims was akin to a kick into many of our groins.\n2) Not supporting Peter Saunders. When being considered for membership on the Commission, everyone knew what they were getting with Peter Saunders. I feel he was betrayed for telling the truth.\n3) After repeatedly begging her for help, Letting down the Milwaukee victims being re abused in It's 5 year assault on victims that they labeled a bankruptcy. It has been a year since the Milwaukee bankruptcy has been final and victims here are doing horrible. The emotional betrayal has left victims like scattered wreckage that most Milwaukee Catholics feel fine looking away while stepping over us.\n\nI respect her and her choice to protect her credibility while Francis continues protecting clerics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's this goofy revisionist narrative among people like you that there were 1900-some blissful years of consistent Catholic doctrine following the Apostolic Age, and then (cue the sinister music) Vatican II wrecked it all! Oh, that villainous Angelo Roncalli and his needless council!\n\nTheological evolution has been happening all throughout the history of Christianity. Vatican II was simply the culmination of it. People like you just refuse to acknowledge that fact.\n\nOkay, I've had enough of this. Moving on. Peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic colonization was exactly what I was raised with--even the service providers had to be, ideally, Catholic. If the plumber or the corner store owner was a Catholic, bonus points. Films and books had to be Catholic-approved. It was a total system that gripped you from the time you could talk.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your comment is false.\n\nI defend the FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT to wear any article of clothing you wish, as long as it's not so outlandish as to cause harm to others. On the other hand, I do not defend the tenets of Wahhabism. I likewise defend the right of nuns to wear a full length habit, however I do not defend the views of the Catholic church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Good Senator regards enforced, by violence, Christian Indoctrination as one of those good things. Reasonable people can come to different conclusions beginning from the same facts. Deciding that was a evil thing, not a good thing, is not an unreasonable conclusion to arrive at.\n\nThat sort of 18th century world view is one of the reasons that the secular majority of Canadians have concluded that Religion causes more harm than good.\n\nThe irony of sending children to a school run by folks who set out to force them to believe in an imaginary supernatural being is huge.\n\nIt is unreasonable for someone with a modern education to believe in in supernatural being and powers. Unfortunately there is still much work to be done in that regard.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not going anywhere, and I think you will find very few women who care what you think. Go become whatever you want, but you sure aren't a good Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Bensadoun might be more familiar with Maimonides than the Christian New Testament:\n\nhttp://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/45907/jewish/Eight-Levels-of-Charity.htm", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The worst of all offenses to Christianity are those who are so confident in their total righteousness that they believe they are sinless, as they point fingers at others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"One of the big problems with Catholicism is it is often more interested in being Catholic than it is in being Christian. When an issue arises, clergy and laity look first to church teaching, church rules, and practices rather than looking to the Gospels for direction. Sometimes it seems we almost forget that we are called to follow Jesus and not rules derived by theologians.\"\nBravo! Such a simple explanation as to why so many Catholics, including me, have left the RC Church. We were looking for a more Christian body in which to worship. One that is less judgemental. One that is more forgiving. One that is more compassionate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I did a quick word search, which you can do with the search bar at the top.\n\nI found the word \"Islamophobia\" has been used in hundreds of articles in this paper over the years.\n\nAnd I found that the word \"Christianophobia\" has been used in zero articles in this paper over the years.\n\nAnd that becomes pertinent when you consider some of the hateful (roll eyes), dangerous (roll eyes) and unacceptably outrageously derogatory (roll eyes) statements of the pastor, that journalists insisted be brought to our immediate attention:\n\n\"Blacks, WHITES, Latinos, and EVERYBODY else, could avoid most police shootings if they simply listened to police.\"\n\n\"In a recent three-year period, Planned Parenthood killed nearly one million babies in the womb\u2014what a tragedy. TAXPAYER dollars, withheld from American paychecks, should never be used to fund a Hitleristic organization whose conduct many see as insidious.\"\n\nHello? \n\nUm, that's called free speech, Globe and Mail. \n\nNot hate speech. Free speech.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh it matters, and NCR is faithfully and proudly Catholic. \nI meant only that YOUR attempted slur will not well constructed. ;-}", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope. It began when the Catholic bishops became politicized.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'\nIt's clearly very simple.\n.\n\nIf people support Trump,\n\n...that means they don't hold with Christian ideals.\n\n.\nThe support of Trump is incompatible with the tenets of Christianity.\n\n\n.\nIt's that simple.\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The New Testament did in fact borrow much from first century science, i.e., from Stoic and Middle Platonic physics. That enriched their first-century teaching, placing Christ at the center of the cosmos and heaven above the outermost sphere. But there are no spheres and there is no cosmic center for anyone (whether Christ or Zeus) to occupy. My conclusion is that we have to abandon archaic cosmology, just as we do the Household Codes (men, women, slaves). Teilhard tried to update Colossians with his evolutionary theology, but no scientist took him very seriously. Better to look to modern cosmologists and speak of the gospel message than argue that ancient physics still somehow is valid.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Human Mary wasn't good enough for the Church, so they made an idol of a goddess, dressed it in fanciful stories, then claimed through infallibility that all must believe the fantasies. Thus, they dishonored Mary, and blasphemed by telling people it was not enough to believe in Christ: Christians must also believe Mary's corpse was taken physically to heaven. And now stunted little men run about worshiping the Mary Idol and saying silly things about women. But, since they are infallible and hold the keys to the kingdom and can lock us all out, we'd better just play along. We don't want our dissent to go on our permanent records, after all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That you don't believe in donating to the tremendous amount of good works the Knights are involved in? The noted Christian Relief Funds? Hurricane and flood disaster relief activities? Food programs? Outreach? Social ministries?\n\nOhhh...that they're conservative. I'm sure the millions of people they've helped can understand your concerns.\n\n*smh*", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"In spring and summer months, those daylight hours of fasting must seem endless! Granted, there is typically a grand meal after sundown, called an iftar, but people are really hungry at that point, not having eaten all day long.\"\n- Christian fasting that occurs when daily caloric intake is much less than usually required by a person for at least a 24 hour period and typically the food that is consumed is more basic than usual. Then there is fasting which means that there is a delay in consuming the days caloric requirements until a set time an evening during Ramadan.\n- Typically, the fast at the end of a Ramadan day is the second type of fast -- delaying the usual caloric intake until sun sets (a predawn snack is ok for some). As with Christians the degree of fasting is mitigated for those who have to do manual labor in the physically trying circumstances -- such as when harvest falls during Ramadan. It is also mitigated for pregnant women and women who lactating.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trid, when you say that one must agree with the magisterium 100% if you are to call yourself a Catholic, most people here would say that you are wrong. As you know, I reject Humanae Vitae. I think that that not ordaining women is both unjust and sexist. Yet these disagreements do not mean that I reject the Catholic Church. I subscribe to the creeds in toto, for example. If I were to reject the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, then one could reasonably say that I had rejected the Catholic faith. But saying that my getting a vasectomy was the moral thing to do doesn't even come close.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Meanwhile, the various tribunals of the Roman Catholic church are busily dissolving many perfectly valid marriages! Have you told the tribunalists about this scriptural pericope?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Grew up fearing authority and repressing my own natural God given judgement. Part of it comes from my upbringing. Most of my family's strict and narrow way of thinking and behaving comes from the old, manipulative, and controlling Church. Now I need to reprogram and heal myself from the harm done. Not an easy task at an older age. Thanks for a comprehensive and objective summary of the recent Catholic history. May the Holy Spirit strengthens and continuous to direct courageous pope Francis!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Women of the 21st Century have proven themselves to be competent in every field of endeavor. Pope Francis will fling open the doors for women eventually. He has already antagonized some ultraconservative Roman Catholics with his liberal ways so he will play it safe for a while longer and do what Jesus did and treat women as equals as soon as he feels the moment is right..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True. Freedom of and from....if your rabbi, priest or imam preaches hate, please leave the congregation. If your fundamentalist views makes it possible to deny the science behind climate change, the basic physics of a greenhouse, then please remember that God gave you faith and free will. If you are unclear about the reason T. Jefferson cut his bible to focus only on the things that Jesus was saying, so as to learn to be a better leader, please check it out...it's a really good read. Radical fundamentalism is scary, creates radical permission to demonize and hate. Of all strips! On the right and the left. Centrists rule!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are right. The constitutional rights in these cases are those of citizens or legal residents. For example, if I am a citizen or a legal resident and a Muslim the ban may intrude on my rights because I cannot bring in my wife because of religious reasons or lack of procedures\u2014 due process\u2014 for her to join me because the ban is absolute\u2014 even if she is a Christian or we are both Christians. Much of the constitutional argument focused on whether there was a non-religous reason for banning people from the six countries and no other countries . The first ban was badly written because it seemed directed against Muslims and not terrorists and many countries producing terrroists were not included in the ban.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I used to hear my Russian and Lithuanian relatives curse the communists for what they did to the Christians in the Soviet Union, and curse FDR for giving eastern Europe to Joe Stalin at Yalta.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see you're trying to play this newfound game of yours called \"let's google the founding fathers quotes in Christianity.\" That's really adorable. Your first quote is from the treaty of Tripoli, and those words were only said in order to secure a trade with Muslim countries. It was only done purely out of coercive methods and does not reflect the true or real sentiment and beliefs of our founding fathers. Try again. Spoiler alert: for every one you think you might be able to find, I'll find 10 quotes from our founding fathers all supporting the notion that they made us a Christian nation under the Judeo Christian paradigm.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "REAL Catholics? We are all different. Are you the Catholic police?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics are persecuted in India (as, in many instances, are Muslims), but that is a lame excuse for not wanting to insist on a zero tolerance policy (and the immediate removal of derelict clerics and lay people) in all CC parishes and schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly. It is the marriage partners themselves who bestow the sacrament. The priest acts as official church witness. If that is the case, marriages witnessed by SSPX priests (or even those witnessed by anyone else) are all valid, though the ones without RCC priests may not be canonically licit. As for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, it is God Who extends pardon, not the priest. God forgives us as soon as we sincerely ask for pardon - no witness is required. We go to confession not to receive forgiveness but to show solidarity with the Body of Christ and to acknowledge the damage we have done to the People of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How would you have any idea what is Catholic? You left, remember?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But it defunds Planned Parenthood.\n\nWouldn't a Catholic magazine give thanks?\n\nIs this news magazine less than what I thought it was when I came here?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kukailimoku, instead of treating all of us like we are kids that need your strong, guiding hand and compassionate heart, tell us how our kids get a living wage job that will pay enough to rent a decent apartment so they can get out from under this system set up by rich, white, christian men and maybe our (non-independent minded, weak, take-care-of-me-daddy, can't move out on my own) will be able to do just that. we are all interested in listening to your plan.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Petrus,\nI agree with you that it is very likely that Christian intolerance is causing many to see Christianity as less than important. However, what I find puzzling is why, today, anyone would believe that any particular faith, or lack of faith, would be part of the definition of being American.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't understand why the dubia have a problem with Pope Francis' perspective on divorce and remarriage, but have no problem that until the middle of the 20th century the Popes had never formally prohibited Eastern rite Catholics from practicing ecclesiastical divorce and remarriage and continue to receive Holy Communion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've attended church about half of my adult life, falling away for periods of time because the Church often seemed to represent little of my own feelings toward the teaching of Jesus. Yes, I've read the bible cover to cover, found the old testement mysogonistic and brutal and saw the entire church turned upside down by Jesus teaching in the new testament. \n\nIt really wasn't until I stopped judging others sitting in the pews, that I gave myself the freedom to listen to the Spirit and bath in the light. Meeting Quaker families early in my adult life showed me that spirituality can come from quiet and humble people. \n\nI could never accept the creation mythology and fortunately my last pastor never put any emphasis on it.\n\nI don't let Christians or atheist define my spiritual life. While I'm a person who like words, I have no word's for my spiritual moments. It's hard to trust one's intuitive side when most of my life is based on rationality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because it is written by and aimed towards Catholics?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While a freshman in a Catholic private school, during religion class the nun SR Mary Truthfulness repeatedly said that the 'mass is the PERFECT unbloody sacrifice of the lord. Over and over again she said the mass is 'perfect unbloody' sacrifice of the Lord'. At the back of the class a hand was raised, which happened to be mine. I asked; sister did I hear correctly that the mass is perfect, the perfect unbloody sacrifice of the Lord...mind you, no one dared ask any questions in that class. She peered over her granny glasses and said; yes Walter I did. To her I responded; sister if the mass is as 'perfect as you say, I should only have to go once'. Immediately, without hesitation she responded; \"my dear Walter, the mass is perfect, you are not\". From that point I had the most respect for her...I thought in my errant youth I had her nailed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are just over 5,100 Catholic bishops in the world. When did you poll them and can you share your results with us?\n\nMillions of lay Catholics have never even heard of Amoris laetitia, let alone formed an opinion about footnote 351.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The term mortal sin had not been coined when Paul was writing. According to Wills, this passage referred to eating at the Agape meal, although MSW does not seem to like the book where this analysis takes place. I agree with LSN on one thing, the long-misunderstood doctrine on Communion and sin needs more formal reconsideration rather than pastoral adjustment. Too many feel too guilty subjectively on what is not sinful at all for most. Catholic divorce should also be codified. Sometimes one spouse hurts another or two spouses hurt each other in ways that cannot be mended without having to claim that marriage was somehow invalid.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus left a Church to guide us, not a book.\n\nAs for being on one side of that balance or another, I think we all find it easier to associate with one mindset or the other. But we're also all continually challenged to strive for that balance. Those who find that being Catholic lines up well with their natural inclinations are probably missing something.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't always agree with Cardinal Wuerl, and I don't fully agree with him in this instance. But I think Donald Wuerl is a good priest and a good bishop. I think his experience in Seattle was an important part of his growth as a Christian, a priest and a bishop. I think that like so many other people of that time, Bishop Wuerl discovered in Raymond Hunthausen an exemplary Christian, priest and bishop. Wuerl's appointment to Seattle as an auxiliary bishop with ordinary jurisdiction in five specific areas of diocesan governance had the effect (and I always suspected the intention) of humiliating Hunthausen; but Wuerl was humbled -- never humiliated -- by the faith, the dignity, the kindness, the graciousness and the serenity of his Archbishop. I\u2019ve always admired Wuerl because I think he had the humility to learn from this experience and to become a better person and a better pastor because of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe it's a place for Don to go to laugh at others, as a gesture of progressive Catholic dialogue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chuckle! Get with the 21st century, mate. No more sheep - we're minions!\n\nThe corollary is that minions with opinions have never been all that popular with the Catholic powers that be.\n\nNeither of us is likely to be holding our breaths, waiting to be treated as an \"equal\" by the clerics. Dunno about you, but I'm past caring.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LifeoftheLay, On the first point I agree with you. Catholic self-funded money -- Catholic rules. If those rules are to treat Catholics only, then okay.\n\nTo do that would not leave a favorable view of Catholicism in the minds of the public, but such a rule is acceptable. Their money -- their rules.\n\nUnderstand, this is NO federal or state or local tax dollars -- not for salaries, equipment, research, recruitment, advertising of services, land, buildings, uniforms, media access, internet, labs, utility bills, income tax deductions, travel, conventions, workshops, training, food and janitorial services, transportation --- not one red cent of government largess. EVERYTHING self-funded by the adherents or supporters of Catholicism.\n\nOn the second point I disagree. No government enforcement of such rules as no federal money would be in need of being audited for proper designated use.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh...but we do. Reason tells us so much. \n\nYou're taking a rather fundamentalist / rigorist approach to knowledge of Jesus.\n\nBut God gave us much more than the few words of Jesus we have. He also gave us much more than all of Scripture, which also reveals His nature, and His will for us.\n\nHe gave us our reason!\n\nThis is what Catholic fundamentalists such as your comment represents miss.\n\n- We know that Jesus was perfect man and perfect God. He possessed all the human virtues in their most complete and perfected state.\n- We know that Mary and Joseph prayed a lot..every dinner conversation with Jesus was of the most intimate form of prayer imaginable.\n- We know how \"attractive\" Jesus was...his human and divine nature drew people to Him, so curious and in awe were they..lots of Scriptural examples.\n- We know that Mary was full of grace, and Joseph as a just man, and had a bit of reputation as a craftsman.\n- Reason tells us much, that your fundamentalism misses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With comments like this, it is difficult for me to believe that you stand for the Christian values proclaimed in your avatar Mr. Campbell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Calvin badly misread Augustine. that is pretty much a given in Catholic historical theology. That he had read Augustine, as well as the Franciscan school is also obvious. It is also totally irrelevant to my comment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Blocking worked well, on Disqus. \nI decided to block only one person. It was someone who was very obviously trying to dominate every discussion. To impose his authoritarian views. And he was succeeding. By blocking him, every thread suddenly became lighter, cleaner (in every sense), easier to read and use. More Christian.\nHe is still with us, though now he is mostly using another name.\nDo not worry about the quality of the discussion once someone has been been blocked-out. If we think it's better (and it will be), then that'll do for us.\nBring it on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I respectfully disagree with you, Fran. I have long contended that the weakest link in Catholic school education, today, is religious formation. Most of the Religious who USED to teach there are gone from the schools. Teachers in Catholic schools, most of the time, didn't receive Catholic high school education themselves, nor did they go to Catholic colleges/universities. Many of them have only had 8 years of religious formation.\n\nThey come to teach in Catholic schools, right after college, to get a job---then move on to public schools to get more money [to pay off their bills]. They don't teach religion because they WANT to. Our parish catechists ATTEND every course that the Diocese requires and more. They read constantly [and I know what they are reading]. They choose to be catechists and to assist the youngsters in their religious formation, willingly. And many stay on for years. \n \n More kids are in parish programs because families can't afford Catholic school tuition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bible class? That would have been the Catholic school system. Why were you even there given your adversity to Bible class?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I haven't been in touch with C&L for a few years, but there was a time not too long ago when they were considered a reactionary group in Italy that questioned the orthodoxy of others and challenged higher criticism in biblical studies. Their focus on \"the event\" of the Incarnation seemed to preclude critical reflection and required members to focus on a personal relationship with Jesus not unlike that espoused by many Evangelicals. There are good and sincere people within many groups who find an approach that brings them closer to God and Church, but we have to be careful not to recommend any group without examining it in depth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "After the 5th or 6th time I said \"you've got to be kidding?\" while reading this column, I went in search of the back story. Wasn't easy, but this in the New Yorker is a long long read but takes one through a person's journey navigating the Belgian process.\nhttp://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/22/the-death-treatment\n\nHere is quote regarding the religious order mentioned above...\n\n\"Ren\u00e9 Stockman, the director of a Catholic organization, Brothers of Charity, which says that it runs a third of the psychiatric institutions in Belgium, told me, \u201cThey are using our Christian vocabulary in a new context. They say they are \u2018saving\u2019 people from their bad lives, through \u2018mercy\u2019 and \u2018compassion.\u2019 I cannot accept that.\u201d He sees euthanasia as a failure of both psychiatry and medical education. \u201cAny questions about ethics\u2014they say, \u2018Oh, we need a specialist for that.\u2019 They are not learning to reflect morally on what they are doing.\u201d What changed?\n\nJust going to tag this one outta my pay grade.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Schools kicked God, the Bible, prayer, and Jesus Christ out of the schools.\n\nThey have now allowed Islam into the schools because of a culture that refuses to assimilate. This same culture also refuses art and music to be taught to their young.\n\nWe are told to accept this very culture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great response! Sadly, this the ncronline site seems to attract these Catholic Regressives, as if they are being called to ministry here!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mike Pence has positioned himself as a principled ideologue and supporter of the Tea Party movement, noting he is \"a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order.\u201d This from a man born and reared in an Irish Roman Catholic Democrat family, who as a young adult was inspired by JFK and MLK, volunteered to work for the Democratic Party and voted for Jimmy Carter in 1980.\nWhile in college, he became a born-again Christian thanks to the common-sense conservatism of Ronald Reagan.\nWhen asked by Chris Matthews if he believes in evolution, Pence answered, \"I believe with all my heart that God created the heavens and the earth, the seas and all that is in them. How he did that, I'll ask him about some day.\u201d In a 2002 statement on the floor of the House of Representatives, Pence told his colleagues \"... I also believe that someday scientists will come to see that only the theory of intelligent design provides even a remotely rational explanation for the known universe.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There wasn't a problem with young Catholics until they started eating meat on Friday.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A recent news item on international communication as it is today:\n\nAT&T faces the many hurdles that all companies have in its endemic corruption and bureaucratic inefficiency. Iran works on a calendar different from the West's, with different months and a Thrusday-Friday weekend. There is the possibility of opposition from conservative clerics and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who could end the arrangement in a flash if he felt it was inappropriate.\n\nWhen West only considers its work week and calendar, it forgets that half of the world neither operates on the same calendar or work and they have their holy days just as majority of the Christian world in the West.\n\nThis should caution the certainty that a day given only to the Israelites, a very small group of people in Palestine should influence the entire world to observe its holy days and festivals, given only for them and applicable on one time zone--something totally unimaginable some 4000+ years ago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, we are all sinners. \n\nWe must respond to with truth in charity to our brothers and sinners. We must not condescend to them by pretending that Jesus didn't mean what He really taught, and we must not let them give into despair encountering Christ will lead them away from their sins and that and that He gives grace to those who sincerely seek to fulfill His commandments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Guess what ... there is a clique of US Catholic clerics who think they have some kind of right to impose their interpretation of Scripture and official Church texts.\n\nOne major example, the history of what came to be the published English translation of the CCC. \n\nAnother example, the literalist Vox Clara translation of the Roman Missal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A lot of people don't know how to use Whatsapp groups. And what you've said about the timing and inappropriateness of Christians undoubtedly happened, and is an example of how some people need some help in the social skills department (myself included).\n\nThat's all fine to bring up - a healthy rebuke and appreciated. But statements like this: \"...only without promising that a supernatural being would grant them everlasting life if only they abased themselves enough\" simply shows that you haven't really grasped the fundamentals of this religion, Ivo. The whole point of Jesus dying was precisely so that people wouldn't need to 'abase' themselves to be approved, but are forgiven and saved as a free gift. \n\nUnfortunately, a lot of this falls into the trap of self-righteous grandstanding in the same way that some of those Christians were showing their righteousness to the world. Outside of that, I enjoyed the article and took it to heart.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Spirit can only 'reveal' the amount of 'truth' that humanity, individually and collectively, is able to comprehend at any given time.\"\n\nYeah! Fundamental insight, Leo! \n\nRather obviously the core difference between traditionalist and progressive Catholics is the concept of development of doctrine. And your insight goes to the core of the matter, for it explains why doctrine must develop; why what our ancestors understood the Spirit was revealing to them is always going to different from our understand of the same Spirit. It is not the Spirit who changes, but us.\n\nIt also reveals, I suggest, something that progressives overlook. It is not enough to simply change our theology--we must explain how the new emerges from the old, for it is always the inspiration of the same Spirit that lies behind the old and the new. If this or that piece of new theology can not be shown at some deeper level to grow organically from the old, the odds are increased that the new is somehow off kilter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Classic rejection of a works-based worldview, that one can control this or that. Religions with mystic traditions (e.g. Catholic, Pentecostal, Sufist etc., possible the 12 steps/traditions) affirm that trust in something other than self-will, by letting go of the impositions of the past and need to control the future, incarnates a rebirth or higher connection. \n\nIt is ineveitable that people will turn to these systems in a secular, atheistic society as neither can bear the weight of existence. Where once religions/spirituality helped us endure a life of suffering, it helps endure a life of paranoia and neurotic overload.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gotta love those so-called \"christians\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "or, you know, a woman who divorces after her husband admits to a six year affair with a \"devout Catholic,\" while she's undergoing chemotherapy and laid up in the hospital.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In 2008, Barack Obama's campaign team accused Hillary Clinton's beleaguered staff of mounting a desperate dirty tricks operation by circulating a picture of him in African dress, feeding into false claims on websites that he is a Muslim.\n\nObama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, described it as \"the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we've seen from either party in this election.\" Obama spent much of the campaign stressing he is a Christian, not a Muslim, and did not study at a madrassa.\n\nThis isn't the only evidence to suggests the Clinton campaign was behind many of the questions about Obama's origins. \n\nClinton's 2007 campaign manager Mark Penn circulated a campaign strategy memo in which he suggested attacking Obama for not being \"fundamentally American\" and targeting then Senator Obama's \"lack of American roots.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. That's because Catholic teaching sees no reason to label oneself in terms of a sexual attraction that is intrinsically disordered.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let me restate your first sentence to more closely mirror the truth: \"I can read the document in context and if I agree with it, I will accept it as part of the true magisterium; but if I disagree with it, I will claim it is not part of the magisterium\". That is what you actually do, while hypocritically proclaiming that you follow the magisterium in all things. You are just as much a Cafeteria Catholic as you claim I am, you just aren't at all honest about it.\n\nYou REJECT what EV says about capital punishment: \"It is clear that, for these purposes to be achieved, the nature and extent of the punishment must be carefully evaluated and decided upon, and ought not go to the extreme of executing the offender except in cases of absolute necessity: in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society. Today however, as a result of steady improvements in the organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically non-existent.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you think that White Christians should be the majority in this country? Our founding fathers specifically stated that it was not established as a \"Christian\" nation. That's why they left \nEngland.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the compliment, Mokantx. Some of my thinking is getting a boost from what I am reading about events in Australia. The bishops conference there has called a national plenary council for 2020 and I think they are struggling with both how to create listening structures and the roles of lay people in such a council. \n\nJohn Warhurst has an excellent article in Eureka Street on this: Church democracy and the 2020 Plenary Council. Arch Coleridge \"wants all voices to be heard, including the disaffected as well as the actively engaged.\" But the Church lacks practice and structures in which lay voices are heard, in which discussion is allowed, and both parties (hierarchy and lay) lack any practice in operating together in an ethos, a culture of mutual respect and honest dialogue. The article is here: https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=54037#.WbyENsalnq0 The comments are also good. \n\nCan you imagine U.S bishops calling for a national dialogue among Catholics?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another question is\"Is Canada a Christian nation\" do the population decide that or the courts?\nChristmas, Good Friday and New Years Day are all stat holidays. 2017 is based on Christ\nAD being after death and BC before Christ. Moslems have their own calendar based on their prophet. I believe it is 800 ad after the death of their prophet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Could concerns not be raised about other Christian candidates? Absolutely. But the concern of this article is not policy, but tone and decorum. When it comes to language, Mr. Trump is in a league of his own. \u201cIt is out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks,\u201d Jesus said.3 Let speech befit the call. We, as Christians, would do well to summon any Christian leader to a higher standard. This includes pastors (especially this one), teachers, coaches and, by all means, presidential candidates.\n\nAll of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where were all the haters of liberty when Hussein Obama talks of his \" Christian faith\" ?\n Or do they just figure Hussein Obama is lying about that as well ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Probably doesn't even work there, maybe he spends so much time here to keep from thinking about the OD brainwashing. When I was about 18 I picked up a copy of The Way to read. Even though at the time I was the uber conservative \"more Catholic than pope\" type, I could see through the sacred bilge and holy tripe. Too bad JPII did away with the Defender of the Faith or Devil's Advocate in the canonization process, who knows what dirt could have been dug up on Josemaria and I am sure there was a lot. You don't go to bed with dogs like Franco and not end up without fleas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Voice of Truth, a monthly newsletter by our lay action (pro-life) committee came out this week. The topic was Freedom of Religion under Attack. It goes back to when Lord Baltimore declared freedom of religion for Marylanders (especially Catholics) when we was granted his colonial charter in the seventeenth century. My Puritan ancestors were actually granted the same rights for themselves, but not for dissidents, in Massachusetts Bay. My ancestor was the constable in charge of enforcement and his son, a Quaker, was in charge of rebellion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A close friend, from Greece, told me that the Orthodox teach that they are the \"one, true, church\". Why would they wish to submit themselves to the Roman pope, who leads a church that does not recognize this \"truth\"?\n\nI know little about the Orthodox in Russia, Europe and elsewhere - only of the US diaspora. There are several Orthodox congregations (Russian, Syrian, Serbian, Greek) within a few miles of my home. If all are like my friend's (Greek) church, culture is the main tie - of paramount importance - not theology. Plus they have married priests, accept birth control, and the divorced/remarried can receive communion.\n\nUnifying christians under one roof may not be best for christianity. No christian denomination has everything \"right\"- yet all are \"the church\". Christians can learn from other christians. The RCC refused to reform when needed - hubris - and now it's centuries too late to forge the thousands of pieces into a seamless whole. Hubris is still the RCC's main sin", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why a zero-sum reckoning? Is it not better to resists intolerance and racism wherever they arise? Among Christians beheaded by ISIS terrorists. Among Rohingya Muslims driven from their homes by Buddhists in Myanmar. At synagogues, churches, and Mosques defaced by unknown bigots? The Nazi symbols on the side of a barn in northern Vermont last month?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Gee's recommendations were to be applied to the public school system as a whole, they should involve a totally secular system independent of all religions -- Protestant, Catholic, Muslim , Hindu, etc., etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nice off-topic rant. You managed to get in both MSW and progressive Catholics, neither of which are the subject of this article. That's a two for one!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe in the principles of dignity, solidarity, and subsidiarity (the 3 pillars of Catholic social teaching)\n\nWhat's missing in your comments are logic, principles, & an understanding of how the human virtues work. \n\nYou think the federal government is the best answer, the first answer, & the last answer. \n\nI see the dual value of \"capillary action\" fueled by individuals making choices out of love of God, the Holy Spirit working through the individual hearts.\n\nYou prefer surrogate decision makers with the Alinsky playbook in hand, robbing one set of people to noisily addict other people to an invisible paycheck. So that one day they too will genuflect at the altar of government, voting for a new savior. \n\nWe just differ that way. \n\nThe limit of our charity is, in fact, the sum of our self-gift. \n\nGod expects no more from us in aiding the poor than that. \n\nThere is no love or charity in forced giving. It robs the Holy Spirit of the Yes He so greatly desires in individual hearts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is remarks like those by Chaput that make me grateful I ran from the Catholic Church a few years back. It also reminds me why I believe that all organized religions should be taxed because of their political propaganda. Fortunately, I believe in a merciful God, who through grace provides me with guidance and strength through Christ Jesus outside organized religion. I guess Archbishop Chaput missed the part in Scripture about \"Judge not, less ye be judged....\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please, as Heinbecker states, there are more Christian than Muslim member states.\n----------------\nThere are countries with Christians but they are not Christian countries\nin the sense that countries with Muslims may be Islamic republics\n\nthe Organization of Islamic Conference has 57 members\n\nthere is no equivalent Organization of CHRISTIAN conference\n\nHeinbecker should know better as a \"diplomat \"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pat,\nSo sorry but the church really does tell Catholics how to vote and the Trump election was no different than the Reagan, Bush, Bush elections. \nPlease recall that the church has been playing politics for 1600yrs, ever since the time of Constantine. The church, with it's 1600yrs of playing politics is the best politician in the history of the human race. That despite the fact that Christ said: \"my kingdom is not of this earth.\" \nThe religion is not the problem, it IS the people who run the church that ARE the problem. GOD is NOT the problem the single issue voters are the problem, in the USA as well as the most of the USCCB. And they have been wrong with Nixon(anti-communism, anti-socialism and anti-unionism and as being for godless, souless, predatory GOP Capitalism. Their Capitalism values money, power. Trickle-down economics and greed far over the value of people. THEn they ask why is there no Pro-life and Family Values!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As for some snags I've heard about the annulment process, here are a few ones:\n\nFirst, some dioceses require you to start your petition at the parish level. You cannot just call up the Tribunal, fill out the paperwork, and send it in. This is a barrier especially for lapsed Catholics. Many parishes won't help you with something like an annulment until you register and some lapsed Catholics don't want to register until they are certain they can receive Communion.\n\nSecond, there are bad exes, lack of witnesses, or hostile witnesses. This is the biggie. It takes lots of time and effort to go through an annulment and not everyone is willing to help. This is especially true for non-Catholics.\n\nThird, wide variations in the amount of paperwork, fees, and customer service. For instance, there are some dioceses that assign people advocates they can call while others only allow them to follow up on their petition in writing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I really loved your comment as I was thinking the same exact thing. To look for the goodness in every human being, means looking for the goodness in Donald Trump, my president but definitely not even close to my favorite human being. Bishop Gumbleton's comments reemphasized to me how difficult living a Catholic life is sometimes. It's sometimes hard to pray for our enemies, but I feel I must in the hopes that they too succeed in helping society. Excellent reflection!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is Sunday the day of rest in India? Christians only make up 1 per cent of India....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not sure what formation some Catholics missed that has led them to the defective idea that unless one's hands are waving in the air one doesn't know the Holy Spirit!\n\nThe false teaching is sadly reinforced with this article.\n\nIt's also an egocentric and mere physical and emotional view of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Correctly phrased, when the Church teaches it must be listened to, and when it teaches with authority, it must be assented to. Making distinctions between teachings, disciplines, and opinions is not Cafeteria Catholicism nor is it rocket science, as our recitation of the Creed at Mass demonstrates.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's some formation that people here have REALLY missed.\n\nThe Church as no temporal aim; it simply seeks the salvation of all souls, not just Catholics.\nThe State's only aim is the temporal common good of all mankind.\n\nAs the Pope has told us the Church is not an NGO.\n\n\"Distinction of ends\" and \"harmonization of ends\" as the Faith teaches.\n\nThe lay role in this harmonization is larger than the visible Church. \n\nOur job is to harmonize the ends in the ordinary channels of human work, which includes the government.\n\nThe clerics can't do this.\n\nIt's our job...the neighborhood groups we belong to, the HOAs, the town councils, the town halls we attend, the voting we do, the financial support we give, the letters to the editor that we write, the offices we perhaps run for and serve in.\n\nToo many lay here misunderstand the Church in relation to the State, particularly their role in both the Church and the State.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great news! Let's hope it's only the beginning of our clergy standing up publically for our moral social principles. Archbishop Dolan - When will we hear from you? There will be a peaceful action in support of DACA tonight in NYC. Starts at Columbus Circle and going on to trump tower. Will you add your voice, Cardinal of the Catholic Church, leader of Manhattan's Catholic Diocese?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Allie, \n\nWhile it is true that the Ali'i supported the kapu - especially Queen Kaahumanu and Kamehameha II- it cannot be said that every Hawaiian did. I wonder how many Hawaiians had a broken heart over 1820, especially the working class who were just trying to get by and trying to make sense of the new order. I don't deplore the Protestant Christian values the missionaries brought to our islands- what I deplore is the taking away the choice for people at the time to not to live by traditional Hawaiian values if that is what they chose. Falling in love with someone of the same-gender relationship went from being an accepted part of Hawaiian society before kapu, to being illegal with possible arrest, prison time and social outcast; all within a very short space of time, and without a lot of public discussion or a vote. A lot of broken hearts and broken spirits.................", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First of all I apologize for not trying to answer your request to provide some proof of a Divine Creator. As a Christian trying to live up to the Life of the Person I believe in and after researching my references for a short concise tangible answer to your request I think I have come up with some proof that you can ponder on your own....\n1. The earth gets its day by spinning on its axis.\n2. The earth gets its month by the pull of the moon rotating around the earth.\n3. The earth gets its year by travelling around the sun.\n\nQUESTION.. Where does the earth get its 7 day week from? A lot of people, Christian and Secular, believe that it is the Seven Days of Creation.\nAs for your statements and names chosen by you of possible foibles of weak people tempted by principalities trying to live up to the Life of the Person they believe in. I say again,\n\nAll are weak and all will fall short.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do laypeople have any means to fight such issues with the clergy? I'd be really interested in the steps that the laity could take within the Catholic Church to get such a problem priest removed. Is there anyway to fight through Canon Law?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd love to see a study of Catholic parish closings.\n\nThe study would look at the \"vitality\" of parishioners' interior lives!\n\nTo get at this dimension, we could use reasonable proxies: Compare \"closing parishes\" with \"non-closing parishes\", using the following metrics...\n\n- Number of daily Masses\n- Earliest starting time of the first daily Mass (if it's after 8:30, that parish is in danger of needing to be closed). \n- Hours a week that Confession is offered.\n- How many days of the week other than Saturday is Confession offered.\n- How many Marty Haugen songs are sung each week? (negative indicator)\n- How frequently is Confession mentioned in homilies, in a positive sense.\n- Is the sanctuary open all day long allowing people to visit Our Lord.\n- How frequently is the Sanctuary used to pray the Holy Rosary as a community?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(continued #1)\n\nNow. From the Vatican website....\n\"Let me tell you my first impression, seeing you so numerous, coming from many countries in Europe and even from Madagascar: women have their place in the Church! In chapter 16 of his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul thanked a dozen women for their dedication and zeal at the service of the first Christian communities. Who could count the women of our time engaged in the responsibility of catechetical, charitable and other activities on the parish, diocesan and even national level? And this on every continent. Be happy and proud to belong to this line of women who dedicate to the work of evangelization the best of themselves, and so often an authentic holiness.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The decrees of Trent are the summation of what the Church has always believed from the beginning articulated from time to time over centuries when they came under attack as they did at the reformation. Trent created no new doctrine.\nI don't know enough about relativity, evolution or climate change to have any hard and fast opinion about them nor am I that interested in them.\nLike Trent, Vatican II created no new theology. The Church has always supported ecumenism converting heathens and inviting heretics and schismatic back into the one, true fold. Dumbing down doctrine and praxis and adopting the errors of Protestantism is false ecumenism.\nI don't know whether churches other than the Catholic Church have access to the Holy Spirit or not. I am only certain that the Spirit was promised by Christ to the Church He founded, which is the one, true Church lead by the Pope, the Bishop of Rome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jews are believers in GOD, and that's fine with me to have CHRISTIAN believers in our American politics. GOD BLESS AMERICA and GOD BLESS HAWAII TOO!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is patently false. And really! How dare you!!!\n\nTell me...since you are so civil and all....how is that remark remotely Christian?? Or honest? \n\nBy the way....I guess Truth is what YOU say it is??", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, obviously, you just want the \"unhired help\" to do so. Many of those good Catholic wealthy people conservatives adore so have always had \"hired help\" to raise their children. I guess we can agree that it doesn't always work out either way....:-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have see yourself up against Catholic teaching and Holy Father Francis. Period. You can pretend you haven't, but you have.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's a thought: If Catholic (or other) organizations refuse to abide by the law they should also refuse to take federal funding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Linda Hogan, another co-chair of the network, presented the pope with the network's volume on feminist theology, titled Feminist Catholic Theological Ethics: Conversations in the World Church. Hogan co-edited the book with Nigerian Jesuit Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator.\"\n\nI am glad to hear of the work of this organization and of Pope Francis interest, and that work is being done on the issue feminism and Catholic theological ethics. Interesting that there appears to be no need for a counterpart study on masculinity and Catholic theological ethics. \n\nIt would be interesting and informative if NCR could have a series of articles that focus on what is being written on feminism and ethics by Catholic affiliated theologians and organizations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think there is a basic problem in discussion about \"Catholic Identity\". \n\nWhat is it? \n\nHow is it to be defined?\n\nAbove all, surely it is not a fixed identity, but one that must be continually forged/reshaped in response to the surrounding culture ... to which the history of the Church bears ample evidence (for both moments when that bold reshaping enriched the Church, and for the moments when the Church impoverished itself by retreating from the world).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They pray every day in the Catholic system!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is all true IF a person is properly grounded in Christian morality. Most Christians in the modern world are left to take care of that on their own, as strong catechesis is frowned up. Even by some popes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cFor my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,\u201d\ndeclares the Lord.\n\u201cAs the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways\n and my thoughts than your thoughts.\" (Isaiah 55:8-9) \n\u201cGod is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.\u201d (John 4:24)\nSt. Thomas Aquinas \u201cPrince of Scholastics and Doctor of the Church\u201d likened his work to straw. \nCI (Catholic Institution) clergies are in PhDs, intellectual, spirituality.\nIn spiritual realm, understanding God in intellectual way is a beginner. \nThat is lot to do with it's insistence on men only clergies.\nThey see they are man, yet have not seen God's spirit in them or others yet!\nAll I can say is:\n\"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pink hats, \n1. Suggested by P***y Riot, the ne'er do well group that desecrated an Orthodox Church in Moscow. Points on hats are supposed to represent a cat's ears, i.e. \"p***y,\" and to relate to Trump's comment about grabbing women's p***ies. \n\n2. Or the points are horns. In western traditions, cuckolds have sometimes been described as \"wearing the horns,\" an allusion to the mating habits of stags, who forfeit their mates when they are defeated by another male. Horns are a symbol for a male whose wife has committed adultery. \n\n3. Symbol suggesting a color revolution, a specialty of George Soros, one of the main funders of this \"spontaneous\" event in DC. Sexual degradation is frequently used in some fashion in such revolutions, because degrading ones moral sensibilities makes them easier to dominate and control.\n\nedit: an automatic system censors the word \"p***y,\" which is ironic inasmuch as Catholic women seemed to have no problem wearing the symbol for same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Incredible to see so many comments hand waving this, imagine if Catholics had made a fake Muslim or Jewish group with the singular mission of undermining their faiths, this is in effect what these politicians have done. Kyrie eleison, that Catholics should care more for politics than their faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LOL\nBoth Islam and Christianity are different religious groups' attempts to understand God.\nYou simply believe in Christianity. It doesn't mean Islam is any less valid.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"The various essays [Remaining in the Truth of Christ] all struck a common theme: The church's teaching on marriage is \"irreformable,\" based on the words of Jesus in the Gospels, and unchanged for two millennia of Christian life.\"\n- ArchbRaymond, dismissed as head of the Apostolic Signatura, superannuated and then resigned as chaplain to the Dames and Knights of Malta, illustrates the primary difficulty of being ahistorical while discussing tradition, faith, and doctrine. Indeed, the two weakest links for his, and other like-minded, position is ahistoricity and a presumption that church law completely encapsulates all that may done.\n- It is true that a marriage is a gift from God. But it is not true that all marriages are from God. That is, folks make mistakes.\n- Also at risk via ArchbRaymond's position is the nature of the Eucharist which is food and medicine. These aspects teach that Jesus came to save broken people and that we are all broken.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A \"Christian's\" choice of association, whom they will sell to or serve a meal to, ends with the application for a business license.\nA \"Christian's\" right to judge others ends at the front door of their church and/or home.\nChurches forfeit the right to discriminate against anyone as soon as they apply for a non-profit status.\nChristians are instructed to \"come out from amongst them\" ... to live a personal life according to the Life-Force of God, as exampled by Jesus. They have not been instructed to coerce the rest of the world into following their beliefs.\nThe real Christian church has few members, which are scattered far, with few in between. The mainstream church became apostate, over 1800 years ago.\nYour arguments are with the apostate and worldly church, which the real god has nothing to do with. His path is narrow, and few travel on it.\nWhenever you meet a real Christian, you will be able to tell, as they will not judge your life choices, and they will quietly live a godly life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And most conservative are 'constitutionalist'. Do you know when this was added to our money? It is most certainly not a product of the founders. Even if it was, it does not say a Christian God. It could just as easily meant the Jewish, Muslim, or other monotheistic God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians love to think Trump is a Godsend. Satan was an angel at one point and look at how that turned out lol", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump and many of his Christian supporters fail to follow the teachings of Christ as laid out in the Bible about the treatment of aliens, immigrants, and refugees. The Bible says that God commands that we treat immigrants and refugees as if they were citizens. There are many Bible pasages you can quote on this. Here are just two of them: Leviticus 19:33-34 and 24:22 \u2013 When the alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.\u201d Ezekiel 47:21-22 \u2013 The aliens shall be to you as citizens, and shall also be allotted an inheritance. There are many more as this was a consistent teaching of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pew Research has done extensive polling on this subject. They ask people whether they're registered as Democrats, Replicans, and Independents, and ask the what they're religious affiliation is. \"Registered Democrats to are Christians are \"Registered Christians.\" There are also registered athiests or registered no religious preference. Sorry if you aren't bright enough to make that connection.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mandy- exactly- sort of like those that use science, biology, and logic to declare that we are clearly human beings from conception. (shhh, hint: those are Christians you're talking about).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "[no leader in history had been treated more \"unfairly\" by the news media and Washington elites.]\nI guess Trump never heard, or saw any of the political cartoons during, the yellow journalism period.\nOf course, this doesn't even get to the question if any other President in history has created so many self-inflicted scandals in so little time in office. Also, it doesn't mention how Trump loves to honor himself and his actions rather than those who the event is supposed to honor when he speaks at commencements.\n[Trump used this speech to describe his coming foreign trip, which his new national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, said would focus on a message of unity to the Muslim world.]\nAfter he wrote two travel bans, the first of which, IIRC, facially established preferential treatment for Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm happy for your contentment with 1574 and all that. I'm sorry that your are so upset that after Lepanto the Catholics didn't kill all the \"infidels\" (and other like-minded who now populate the church).\nLittle story (I think it's true). As the Lepanto thingie was coming up the Pope ordered all religious houses to say the lengthy \"Litany to the Saints\" daily for success against the \"infidels\". Around 1963, four hundred years plus later, the Vatican got the news and allowed the houses to say \"amen\" to the Litany.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, faithful Roman Catholics do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "None of our sons for the priesthood until women and married men can be ordained. Lay folks should use the one thing they have that priests by design can't do: procreate themselves.\n\n[No cash donations in the especially the collection basket on Sunday, either!] \n\nIt would be better for this present all-male feudal priesthood to die-off FIRST. Then the PEOPLE could call who they need to minister to the community. The change would be gradual - I don't know if it would happen fast enough to keep the Catholic community together and functioning in the future.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This crisis is just a logical conclusion of many bad ideas introduced and parrotted (and followed) over the last 30-40 years.\n\nPain is evil. \nPain is not natural.\nPain should be lessened immediately with drugs. \nIt's inhumane or odd to suggest that one should put up with little pains a bit more, delay a bit the seeking of pain relief.\nIt's ridiculous to think that God allows pain to happen for ANY reason at all. \n\nFor example:\n- to teach us various realities (to care better care of our bodies, to avoid over-indulgence, to maintain good hygeine, avoid over-exertion, to not ignore the demand for rest, variety, etc)\n- to teach a new way to draw toward the humanity of Christ (unifying our little pains with His pains; God designed a way for us to do this). \n- to help us re-assess our life, our direction, to reprioritize. \n\nSo little by little we started popping aspirins, motrins to avoid or speed away realities, and over time some of us have \"given in\" to the heavy use of addictive drugs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".\n\nI have relatives who claim to be Christians who voted for Trump, \n\n...though God told them clearly not to, but my relatives aren't good at Aramaic. \n\n\nGarrison Keillor", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not that he doesn't put these family issues at the center of any of this hundreds of editorials. It's that he doesn't mention them at all. And his omission of mentioning family issues indicates not only a vacuum of personal interest in these matters, but also a lack of concern for basic Catholic social teachings. \n\nWhy can't msw relate to these basic Catholic social teachings? I think it's obvious. He simply isn't built that way. \n\nAnd he should be honest about that, instead of pretending.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sheila: Sometimes I feel like I am one hundred and fifty years old. Those who did not suffer what we did recall their childhood as mostly happy times. As I have said many times: I suffered from every abuse one can imagine growing up in my not so happy home. The only one I missed was sexual abuse and I had to go to the local Catholic Church for that not so wonderful experience. A place that should have been a refuge became more of the same, only worse. In many ways that was the worse part, a place that one expected to find some healing became a place of more pain. I try to tell my story as often as I am able. What I have found is that the more times I tell it the less power the abuse has over me. If it helps others on their journey, so much the better. Thank you for responding. It makes me feel better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thinking is hard. OK, I'll try to help.\n\nSomebody said, \"The reason young people are leaving the Catholic Church is they don't like its doctrines on sexual morality.\"\n\nThe contrapositive of this is, \"If young people didn't dislike the Catholic Church's doctrines on sexual morality, they wouldn't be leaving.\"\n\nA counterexample is, \"Here are some churches that have different doctrines on sexual morality, but they are losing young people like there's no tomorrow.\"\n\nTherefore, it's not the doctrines on sexual morality. Young people are leaving their churches for other reasons. \n\nThink about it. It's really quite simple.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've never heard Catholic liberals care this much about everything the pope has to say until this papacy.\n\nAnd yes, conservatives had issues with things like the Assisi gatherings and JP2 kissing the Koran.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Do the Catholic kids need somewhere to pray regularly?\"\n\nI guess so since they built them a WHOLE SCHOOL SYSTEM.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, that's the truth of the matter!\n\nI'd think the number of Catholics who give infallibility any credence is fast dwindling, but who knows.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Few people have the type of experience you describe so it cannot be depended on as an antidote to people leaving formal religion.. \n\nMy question to you is about your understanding of the result of Christ's call. You seem to imply, and I may be wrong, that Christ's call inevitably leads to church membership, perhaps in your mind, to Catholic church membership. I am not sure if you are Catholic or not.\n\nAnother view is that God calls us, that we are all on a spiritual journey, seeking God, even without knowing it at times. Each path may be different, as designed for each person. So some may, like your daughter, sit in a church to talk with God. Others may sit on a riverbank and do the same thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... showing some real 'christian LOVE' ;)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bible says we reap what we sow. It would be karmic justice for those opposed to pruning the trees along that section of road had one come down on their car, with equally tragic results for their loved ones. If their child's school bus was similarly struck would they be so defensive of leaving the trees as is? I wonder if they were dependent on that highway for their livelihood, as many are, would they be patiently waiting so they could get through to work, or if they had received word a loved one was hospitalized and close to death? These are the people that are truly thinking and speaking as children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The search was really quite short - the narrative of the Last Supper and Hebrews.\n\nThe authorship of Hebrews is irrelevant and the notion that \u201cit presents a christology that is a backwards look in time\u201d is one of the argumentative bon mots that a certain school of publish-or-perish biblical \u201cscholars\u201d like to write articles describing.\n\nThe theme of Hebrews is Christ\u2019s redemptive act as the High Priest of the New Covenant, and it is incorporated substantially into the Roman Canon.\n\nMany Catholics, myself included, find terms like \u201cChristianity's priesthood cult\u201d offensive projecting, as it does, a contempt for the their beliefs and their Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi, Marc, if CO2 traps heat and warms the world to harmful effects, then definitely Christians have a call to work for a better path. But does it trap heat? The following video shows it happening; you can see it for yourself.\nAlready we have increased CO2 in the air by 45% since pre-Industrial times, and carbon isotope analysis confirms it's primarily from burning fossil fuels.\nNo need to fear, though. There are plenty of clean energy options available. In the long run, they are actually cheaper than burning fossil fuels. Even in the short run they're cheaper, if you consider the health costs of fossil fuels.\n\nhttps://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DSeYfl45X1wo&ved=0ahUKEwiq3ufwjtfVAhVQ4WMKHUBODKEQo7QBCCswAw&usg=AFQjCNGXKZsvBqNozYA8F0ARDmMb2JejNQ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AL conflicts with 5 points of prior Catholic teaching. AL conflicts with tradition...both can't be true.\n\nif the pope won't answer these questions...the burden is on the pope to explain why they don't.\n\nrefusing to answer these reasonable questions from senior cardinals isn't acceptable...and he will be corrected formally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately, the well organized economic block called Christianity, is once again using their full court press to marginalize \"others\". It's really all about control, and using the social engineering dominance created by religious flock mentalities to control the economic order, so that Christian leaders can keep control of the economy. It's organizational psychology 101.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201c \u2026 plays Christian music throughout its stores.\u201d\n\n===\n\nLast time I was in a Hobby Lobby (Mrs. Facie favors their holiday and garden decorating fare), I was grooving on the tunes. But I didn\u2019t know the Temptations and Three Dog Night were \u201cChristian\u201d acts. Although its possible Jeremiah the bullfrog had some mighty fine sacramental wine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I am much happier....\"\n\nA voice is a second face. What would we do without the voice of an ex-Catholic, concealed behind a nostalgia for sorts for \"the old country,\" but compelled to tell us how \"much happier\" she is in her new church! I always wonder -- to what end? Out of love? To \"save\" us? To gloat over her \"happiness\" -- she's so much happier -- squander it with self-satisfaction? \n\nSounds also like one consumed with \"happiness\" in her new congregation but does not want to produce it in her former one? I m not sure. What does that mean? That we should feel envious, with envy being a kind of praise for her? To what end? Nancy has to tell us! One thing's for sure: the \"happiness\" of former Catholics -- who feel compelled to tell us of their \"happiness\" in a Catholic post -- is the only thing that can multiply by division, separation, partition into moveable promotional parts. lol. I don't know if it takes off the edge of \"happiness\" or putative envy of sorts, but it is funny.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, WOW. I can only watch a few minutes of that kind of advertisement before I realize I would not relate to whatever product they think they are selling.\n\nI have to hope that the Sydney U Catholic Society also has worship and fellowship that would appeal to someone not quite so into ....um... all the fancy stuff. \n\nIt takes all kinds, Red. I don't \"get it\" about processions and Medieval golden garbed royalty parading through the streets with fancy formed gold vessels protected by canopies held by solemn faced acolytes. That appeals to some people.\n\nI hope there are other videos somewhere of them working on building or repairing housing for a desperate family, or showing their commitment in a food kitchen. You know, the real encounter with Jesus kind of event that would appeal to other kinds of Catholics. Those \"other kinds of Catholics\" do still count, don't they, at places like Sydney U?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church is the Church founded by Jesus Christ. There is no such thing as the \"Roman Catholic Church\", this was a term invented by Anglicans so they could claim to be Catholics too (Anglo-Catholics). There is the Roman Rite and 24 other Eastern rites in the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not dismissing the fact your community helped you; good for them. I'm taking issue with the fact you seem to be demonstrating a sense of unearned superiority over nonreligious people (which isn't a very Christian thing, as I understand it ... pride --> fall), and a hefty load of other prejudgments about nonreligious people.\n\nSo, why don't you do more to help your friends at church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is what you are saying, is, you want someone else, ( government ?) to foot the bill. \n\nDidn't Jesus note that the individual is responsible, to help the poor? Seems that is Christian.\n\nSo how much % of your gross income, or time, goes to charity? Isn't that what is asked at the Last Judgement?\n\nWRT Medicate & SS insolvency, why not read the fund trustees report, & why they project to insolvency. Simple economics, less $'s in, more $'s out,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi yjin\nWonderful news, who was it? Did you ask them to join us ? Will they commit their name on to this page to form a gathering of committed Christians in pray and fasting and in doing so draw in others to bring about change within the church?\n\nBlessings\nkevin you brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The first Christian writer to suggest the Immaculate Conception was Gregory of Nazianzus, circa 375. It was debated for centuries -- Aquinas rejected the idea (Summa Theologica, III, q 27, art 2).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...in establishing a church.\"\n\nThat works for Unitarians or whoever -- who reach out theologically for the ultimate vacancy of biblical thought, not on the scale of early Christianity. But for Catholics (and most other Christians) who assent to the early church councils, the unity of the faithful was established at Pentecost, after Our Lord's Ascension, and was later fleshed out in the councils and in the planting of churches all over the known world. That ecclesial scale might not meet your fancy, Frances; but for most believing Christians, Christianity without the early Church councils gives the Trinity a shrunken head with no face; and compels the Risen Jesus and Holy Spirit to surrender to shadows on some half-opened Sinai, mountain. The Incarnation, however, enables Christ to feel compassion for all of us entangled in his redemptive history, which started at Bethlehem, continued at Calvary and the empty tomb, and is ongoing in each one of us caught up in his living church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"What does it mean for us\"?\nResurrection consciousness teaches that the transformational dynamic of life is Trinitarian, how Christians are to understand Divine Presence as WORD/ LIGHT/ LOVE, ever informing/ enlarging faith/ hope/ love in human consciousness; Trinitarian dynamic is here-and-now, personal, communal, socially communicative in evolving consciousness, in our personal lives. Hurt and pain are inevitable.\nDivinity consciousness resurrects in good-faith openness. We are called, particularly in this Resurrection Time, to present our personal hurting consciousness to divine possibilities and to expect miracles of change to happen personally and socially.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With all due respect to Neil McCarthy...the fact that Rev. Roberta is using our space does not mean her call is illegitimate. Maybe it simply means that the United church who has some rocking incredible women ministers is much more inclusive than the Roman Catholic church is. As a former Catholic priest who wrote often in support of women's ordination, I scratch my head as to how the Catholic church can continue to believe its words that women cannot be ordained. You are denying your own church communities the sacraments by looking past this gift in front of you. You may need to ammend the Catholic catechism also to say \"There are seven sacraments for men and six for women in our Catholic church\". That would be much more honest. Rev. Jeff at Dunbarton-Fairport in Pickering.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is simply mind-boggling that any man with a heart, let alone a Christian man (I count myself in the former, not the later, BTW) would think this wasn't his problem. I have traveled the world around, and if you don't see this problem, you are simply not looking. . . and apparently this \"not seeing\" is a problem for Jesus.\n\nMatt 25\n41\u201cThen he will say to those on his left, \u2018Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.\u2019\n\n44\u201cThey also will answer, \u2018Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?\u2019\n\n45\u201cHe will reply, \u2018Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.\u2019", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You misunderstand and distort Catholic exegesis. \n\nCatholic teaching DOES take the parts of the Bible that we were intended to be taken literally, literally! Parts that were intended to be taken allegorically are taken Allegorically. \n\nJesus was born, baptized, died, rose = literal events.\n\nIt's more complicated and beautiful than you state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He's advertising for his group...and not clarifying that they are not in \"Communion\" with the Roman Catholic Church. His avatar shows him in a Roman collar. Some here believe he is a Roman Catholic priest. \n\nPope Francis has said there is little chance of reconciling with this group. Don't you think it \"rude\" not to point these things out?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Platform of the Know-Nothing Party\n\nThe basic premise of the party was a strong, if not virulent, stand against immigration and immigrants. Know-Nothing candidates had to be born in the United States. And there was also a concerted effort to agitate to change the laws so that only immigrants who had lived in the US for 25 years could become citizens.\n\nA lengthy residency requirement for citizenship had a deliberate purpose: it would mean that recent arrivals, especially the Irish Catholics coming to the US in great numbers, would not be able to vote for many years.\n\nKnow-Nothings organized nationally throughout the early 1850s, under the leadership of JAMES W. BARKER (RUFF, RUFF, RUFF), a New York City merchant and political leader. They ran candidates for office in 1854, and had some success in local elections in the northeast.\n\nIn 1856 former president Millard Fillmore ran as the Know-Nothing candidate for president. The campaign was a disaster.\n\nTrumpty was born 150 years too late.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "wow , you got all of that from their letter ? I have to wonder why your letter was allowed , quite something to accuse someone of bigotry for supporting Judea Christian values?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If your car isn't running, do you chose a well groomed mechanic who speaks nicely, or a greasy one that can make the vehicle perform? \n Should we elect a person who refuses to utter the term \"radical muslims\" & vows to admit thousands of islamists to the country, as she apologizes for American Christianity - or the one who is motivated by protection of our own citizens.\n Voters need to see past the relatively immaterial smoke screens in this election & focus on what's best for America. The Supreme Court will be loaded by whomever wins the presidency - THAT will set the future course for the USA for generations.\n Rough-cut & un-burnished as he is, Trump is for America First, Hilary would relegate us to a 3rd world country status.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fond memories of the Christ we were taught about are fine, but the idea to suffer is joyful is part of a sadomasochistic process that we Catholics must be careful about. It is in fact a mechanism of clerical elitist control. I too don't know if the clergy should be purely democratic, but I do know that its elitism is as Leonard Cohen says, \"murder.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thankfully, my \"learning of the Catholic Faith\" was not locked in chains as you had, forced to swallow the ethereal concepts of middle ages-bishops who had a seriously deficient education in theology, philosophy, and the sciences. Your \"learning\" is likewise so deficient, as you spout rote catechism lessons and are woefully limited in your knowledge of theological developments since the 1400's. My beliefs are entirely consistent with what the Church teaches, but are not always in line with its rules and centuries-old thinking that has now been betrayed as being applicable only to that period. The Church has been wrong in the past with such notions as Original Sin, it is wrong now on certain points, and it will be wrong in the future. For many of us, the advantage we have now is that through study and prayer, we can correct those errors from centuries ago. I well know that you are not among those who strive to make the teachings of the Church better, and will not be in the future.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Its really this simple: Despite what the modernists and heretics claim, the Catholic Church officially and dogmatically teaches that Adam and Eve are our first parents, and that all mankind is traceable to them. If you don't believe that, fine, but that is heresy. Moreover, don't tell me that is not the Church's position, or that \"science\" has disproven Genesis because it simply isn't true.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. Something like 68% of white Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Allie, he may be right in the sense from a humane standpoint. But, that does not hold water against our laws that govern how an immigrant enters our country whether they are Muslim, Catholic, Buddist, or believe in some other form of supreme being. The fact that Chin placed upon his disregard for rights in the form of Terrorism and called them Muslims is the tragedy. We live on an island of tourism and his point of \"affecting the state's tourism\" is about as valid as the travel ban having the same effect on tourist visiting the moon.\nHe had no right injecting a religion into a ban meant for keeping terrorist OUT of our country. That IS what it is, a defiance against our POTUS because he misunderstands the intent of a ban and renames it racial or prejudicial profiling. THAT IS THE INJUSTICE-and you can't see it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not worried that VP Pence is a strong believer in God. I just responded to this post: \"Pence would be competent, and he is a true believer, which when it comes to religion, is kind of terrifying.\" I would say for at least 60% of the 70% Christian majority in this country, not too terrifying!\n\nI want a strong President with ethics who is for American's first and foremost.\n \nWe have one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 1\nGreat, I am in perfect agreement with your first two paragraphs!\n\nThe logical follow on should be:\n\nAlthough we Catholics are convinced that our position against abortion is correct and extremely important to us, and even though we are horrified by any and all abortions, we have also formally declared in V2 that we will respect the conscience of all others. Therefore, even though we know the secular view that sees the fetus as not yet fully human is incorrect, we are restrained by our own principles from attempting to force our convictions on others by attempting to make our view the law of the land in pluralistic societies.\n\nOn the other hand, we will do everything in our power to reduce the frequency of abortion. For example we acknowledge we ought to be at the forefront of the movement for explicit sex education about contraceptives, and also of the movement to ensure that everyone, no matter how poor, has access to contraceptives, in order to reduce unwanted pregnancies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What are your criteria for a story's Catholic essence, sufficient to merit its being published by NCR? I would say: Whatever may be of interest to a Catholic, as Catholic, perhaps deserves to be shared with this readership. I agree that Father Berry's priesthood is irrelevant; and Catholic layfolk are at least as interesting as any clergy or religious.\n\nIn the case of Father Berry, he was a creative, inspired individual, held in high regard by many (within a rather limited circle), and beloved by many too. I heard him speak at Columbia in the late 80s, and his answer to a quibbling question of mine changed my life. So for me he will always be a most worthwhile person to read and talk about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's easy to be a \"good christian\" when you can just sit around and condemn those who are born different from you. Nothing required except to mimic the pharisee who thanked god for not being like the tax collectors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The real test of a Christian life-style is a willingness to \"walk-the-walk\". One does not need be a professed Christian to do this, nor even be a member of a specific denomination. Generic Christian goodness is every bit as effective and redeeming as one dictated by a specific denomination.\n\nAnybody can \"talk-the-talk\", an action that takes no real effort nor comprises discomfort or sacrifice.\n\nActions do speak louder than words -- always have, always will.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sarasi, it is the same story told in country after country. The Church hides the truth and hides from the truth when it comes to protecting the reputation of the priesthood. \n\nThe Australian Royal Commission and the investigations in Ireland, Canada, and some other European countries have shown all this lying and cover-up is a cultural problem within the Church, an outgrowth of clericalism, a protection of the \"inner circle\" against any hint they aren't pure as the driven snow. If we know that priests rape children, how can we trust they \"image Christ\"? If they hide it how can we believe they bring Christ into the world, how can we believe they are teachers of what is good and must be believed in what they teach? \n\nWe can also see the same thing happen in other religious organizations, universities, clubs - the inner circle protects the insiders of the institution. The Catholic Church behaves no better than any of the others. That blows my mind and it hurts my heart.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Catholics in the United States of America are a rich part of our nation's history,\" Trump said. \"The United States was, and is, strengthened through Catholic men, women, priests and religious Sisters, ministering to people, marching in the Civil Rights movement, educating millions of children in Catholic schools, creating respected health care institutions, and in their founding and helping the ongoing growth of the pro-life cause.\"\n\nI betcha he didn't know any of this until the moment he read the speech handed to him by one of his minions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So far, responses to this absolutely challenging and realistic issue, not to mention religiously daring article, by a woman, except for Sarasil 's excellent comment, manage to skirt or avoid entirely the essence of this subject. I am hoping that someone will soon discuss what women's equality represents to Fundamentalist and Evangelical Christians and why it has so far been so feared by them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think part of it stems from a need for validation...If the Church changes to agree with the progressive or non-Catholic way, they can say \"See? I was right along...\"\n\nWhy else would so many who are not Catholic here or who want to call themselves Catholic, but do pretty much what they want demand Catholicism change?? and not them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And by following that advice, the Christians eventually saw the Roman Emperor declare Christianity to be the preferred State Religion.\n\n\"Constantine the Great\" (306\u2013337 AD)\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great_and_Christianity", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic teaching:\n\n\"The Church teaches that abortion or euthanasia is a grave sin. The Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae, with reference to judicial decisions or civil laws that authorize or promote abortion or euthanasia, states that there is a \"grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection. [...] In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to 'take part in a propaganda campaign in favour of such a law or vote for it'\". Christians have a \"grave obligation of conscience not to cooperate formally in practices which, even if permitted by civil legislation, are contrary to God\u2019s law. Indeed, from the moral standpoint, it is never licit to cooperate formally in evil. [...] This cooperation can never be justified either by invoking respect for the freedom of others or by appealing to the fact that civil law permits it or requires it.\" \"\n\n(Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, according to you, what is the point of Christian initiation, by which, according to Paul WE become the Body of Christ?\n\nIs it not thanks to this presence of Christ in his body the Church, that we have the presence of Christ in the Eucharist?\n\n(P.S. I took the trouble to check out your CCC references ... I bet you didn't bother to check out my reference to Augustine's Sermon 272)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yep. But I am surprised that there hasn't been one post on either a wedding forum or a divorce forum or the like commenting on how they got an annulment quickly due to the new reforms or how a priest suggested that they could receive Communion. I actually think some sort of formal survey or a story trying to figure out if either has made an impact on remarried Catholics would be interesting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lazze Faire Capitalism will only take us to anarchy because the god of this economic belief is a narcissistic self-god of mammon and things. Koch's ideas are truly not Christlike and The Catholic University that censors its best theologians for not being doctrinaire enough in the not so long run becomes a stimulus for both social and religious anarchy. In this Koch doctrine, trickle down is fine -- meaning the wealthy soak up more and more of our resources decreasing the middle class and increasing the number of serfs. This doctrine is nothing more than a return to feudalism. And it ends when the Queen losses her head. It portends a very bloody future if it continues to grab hold of the American dream.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And there folks is your war on Christmas. Not from the liberal lefties, but from the far right ultra Christian weirdos.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Anti-Christian card? What kind of deck is MacDougall playing with? \nOh, the American Neo-Con deck, which identifies Christianity NOT with caring for the poor healing the sick and forgiving the sinners, but rather only telling other people who to have sex with, how they can marry, and how they can have kids. \nThe problem isn't with Trudeau playing an anti-Christian card, the problem is that this ethos, promoted by the religious right, has nothing to do with Christianity at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Take your \"challenge\" and go pound sand. \n\nI was responding directly to the article and it's nasty implication that only those on the Christian Left are doing the Lord's Work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I love how that conservative Christian, Mike Pence can lie...lie....lie...but I think you can, because there is confession. But honestly I'm just guessing cause I'm not sure how that really works", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the gratuitous insult, but I think the world of my Irish ancestors. I'm pleased you think they didn't kill any Americans, but I'm not certain that's true. After the Know-Nothings started burning Catholic churches my ancestors built walls around their churches and posted armed sentries. I hope they didn't pick off any Know-Nothings but I'm reasonably certain they were sorely tempted.\n\nMy point is that the fears that drive you were the same ones that drove the Know-Nothings back in the mid nineteenth century. Substitute Muslim for Catholic, and six (used to be seven) Muslim ban countries for Ireland, and the rest is the same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ahhhh...so he was exercising his Christian ethos in a place of government?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If all you got is \"nuke 'um\" as a strategy, it suggests to other states that the only way to deal with the US is to attack with nuclear weapons. If you were a Christian, you would be aware of the notion that he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword. Matt. 26:52. A one trick pony is very predictable and easy to defeat. International relations is very complicated. More complicated than health care.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I may, the normal rule for substituting the pronoun was followed. You referred to \"the right-wing Catholic blog world.\" AnnieO referred to this antecedent noun phrase in her response comment when she said \"they.\" \n\nSometimes it feels as though you stir up more trouble than is actually brewing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\n\nThis is what passes for Catholic conservatism in France. We can only dream.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you point is?\n\nMaybe this meditation from St. Caryll Houselander will buoy your flagging spirit:\n\"Do not let my heart be moved by pity for the painted Christ on the wall while it remains a stone, hard, insensitive to Christ suffering alone in the ugliness of shame and disgrace in the outcast, the shunned, the forgotten...\"\n\nA prophetic Christ is foremost the good shepherd on the side of the least ones. Like the 11 million immigrants here in jeopardy for their lives because of this soulless president and his ilk, many of whom claim being Christian Catholics like Paul Ryan, more disciples of Ayn Rand than the one who got hung for solidarity with the least ones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So no Christian can criticize any religion for preaching violence, because Christianity was once violent?\n\nThat's taking the \"let the one who has never sinned cast the first stone\" injunction a bit far, don,t you think?\n\nWhich religion was never violent? Does that mean no one can criticize any religion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"moral theology flows from catholic social justice theory - not the other way around and moral theology does not come first.\"\n\nCitation needed.\n\nMoral theology is based on applying systematic theology to what man has to do to achieve ultimate beatitude. Social justice is part of that as it is part of the virtue of justice as it specifically applies to distributive justice, but all that is a subcategory of moral theology. To claim moral theology flows from catholic social justice theory is like saying the earth sciences flow from geophysics.\n\nI think what is going on is that \"Social Justice Catholics\" are often accused of moral relativism. This is because they often come to the same conclusions as moral relativists. But the charge of relativism is false, as the reason why they come to those conclusions is because they are over emphasizing a small slice of Catholic teaching to the point it eclipses other de fide teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I provided history. I'm not sure where you get that the Church teaches that the Gospels were written by Catholics - the Gospels were written by early Christians. Perhaps either I was unclear or you misunderstand. To which \"history\" do you refer that disagrees with what I said.\n\nWhere do you see Church teaching diverging from \"history\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It would not surprise me if Steubenville let her go; they have done the same to students who were not \"Catholic\" enough for them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps rather than \"left\" or \"right\"; \"conservative\" or \"liberal\" labeling ... we might want to look at our Catholic Social Teachings. \n\nFor over 100 years, it has been calling for us to ensure we have inclusive economies - ones that enable all to have life with dignity. \n\nFor over 50 - and affirmed by Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis they have called for an overhaul of our social structures so that all within could have life with dignity for the full continuum - and that economies/development must the common good of all. \n\nInteresting that these teachings, which are part of our Official Teachings of our Church - is not our \"go to\" place for us as Catholics to prayerfully discern our reactions to such social challenges. \n\nTo me - we need critical informed examination as to why these teaching have not been taken serious.\n \nGiven these teachings, we need critical examination as to why we have not been on the front lines led by clergy and K of C in full regalia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "PART I\nRegarding: \"One of the more controversial statements in the Land O'Lakes document is its assertion that \"the Catholic university must have a true autonomy and academic freedom in the face of authority of whatever kind, lay or clerical, external to the academic community itself.\" \"\n- Though this sentence from the statement is hyperbolic, essentially it captures what the Catholic education system world wide and specifically in the USA had to endure. \n- That is, the notion that church authority was narrowly focused on the episcopal dictates either in the local diocese or from the Holy See. Sadly, as history often illustrates, bishops in the USA before the \"Land o'Lakes\" statement, then and now, are ill equipped to singularly evaluate institutions of education. Often these same men impose expressions of Catholicity that speak more of heavy handed marketing and episcopal vainglory.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is what our Catholic, Church appooved, Biblical scholars have been teaching us for over 50 years.\n\n\nWay past time we revise the way we talk about 'original sin' and 'fallen nature' etc. \n\nOne area where the Holy Spirit is inviting us to grow in knowledge and grace...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly Thrym. \nIt is high time that we remove Christianity from the school system, but we should also be doing more to accommodate other faiths so as to be more welcoming to our recent arrivals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With all that training and intellect what was the point? Devout Christians would think him an apostate, and agnostics and atheists would think him halfway home but chasing his tail. Seems more like a Buddhist to me in a Joseph Campbell kinda a way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you say she's unqualified ? /S Afterall :\nShe has no education degree.\nShe has no experience working in a school environment.\nShe has never attended public school or state university.\nShe never put her own children in public school.\nShe believes that public school teachers are overpaid.\nShe supports for-profit education.\nShe advocates funneling money out of public education and into for-profit, Christian-based education?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Prior to Trent Catholics weren't bond by form. Literally no one outside of nobles married in the Catholic Church. And the Canon Law Code of 1917 introduced something called the Petrine Privilege.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh good. So when a right-wing nutjob learns that a leader of the right-wing nutjob movement is a pedophile, the response is not to reject pedophilia and that leader, but rather to embrace pedophilia and justify it.\n\nConservative christian family values at work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't disagree from a macro view. But the true Christian Church (I do not have the time or ability to trace all the lines of history) would have a more consistency.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would love to see the community of theologians get serious about what we are learning from science. All too often however, what I come away from an article like this, is the impression that theologians are really focused on putting rules and limits on scientists, rather than truly reexamining what we believe.\n\nI was taught that the Church believes mankind to be at the top of God's creation. The only \"chink\" in that position seemed be the existence of angels ( sort of a \"safety valve?\") \n\nToday, we're told that even the most restricted/conservative set of numbers and assumptions would suggest the existence of rational, intelligent life on millions of planets. So what might \"only son of God\" mean in that context? Was the physical assumption the first stage of the teleportation of Jesus to a planet circling a star in the Galaxy MX-352 (made up name here...)\n\nI continue to believe that the fate of religion as we know it hinges on the ability of theologians to pivot, and not build fences.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I honestly don't think so. The anti gay Christian groups [there are many Christians & churches who welcome gays] fought civil unions which would have given gays many protections without marriage. That tells you their problem with gays is not marriage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll add that I do not reject the church honoring Edith Stein. She was obviously a remarkable individual. I agree with the author of the America piece that she should have been considered a Doctor of the Church. That would have been a fitting tribute to her accomplishments and fervent commitment to Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Note it was not \"Christian conquerors \" who removed the Muslim forces but they took back LAND THAT WAS INVADED AND STOLEN BY THE MUSLIMS.\nThat is some biased and false reporting there. Muslim Conquerors is far more accurate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity has so twisted the story of God, that it is easy for me to see how you would come up with your conclusions. From the \"Living Faith\" of the early church, it has degenerated into a religion of doctrines, based on false assumptions. Near to superstition and witchcraft actually. It is my belief that on that day, God will understand how some have not accepted Him, because of all of the contradictory teachings and preachings of evil persons who chose to worship the little god of their own hearts.\nI believe that there is a real creator, and that the universe is not the product of a cosmic accident. I hate the uncertainty of \"accidents\", and prefer that no matter what happens to me, that there is some purpose, some meaning to it all. That my life and death will not be an obscure \"accident\" in the cosmos.\nThe hardest part for me is in believing/trusting that someone capable of creating the entire universe, out of nothing, would care a whit about me. But that is my hope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "American values include earning a living by working in or investing in or owning a business that provides quality goods or services at affordable prices, treating each other with compassion and respect, being willing and able to make our own decisions and be held accountable for their consequences all with out having to be told to do so by a higher civil authority. We all should practice these values in the hope that others may profit by our example rather than forcing our values on others. If we are Christian the scriptures counsel us not to judge others lest we be judged by the same measures or standards. The scriptures also advise us to examine and correct our own faults and thus not be hypocritical when offering to help others with theirs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually I do know quite a bit about India.\n\nWhile nobody defends the Inquisition, it was a short period in one small region of Europe. Trying to make it representative of anything to argue about the present is misleading. There were atrocities all over the world for all kinds of reasons, and there still are. How about focusing on the present? Where are there still atrocities being committed on a huge scale? Not in the west.\n\nAnd I have celebrated Eid with Muslim friends, and Holi in India, and saw Christians celebrating it in India. A little girl told me, after throwing colored powder on me, \"We are Christians, but...\" she shrugged... And why not? It's a fun holiday, and celebrating it won't transform anyone into a Hindu. \n\nI would have no problem celebrating Diwali and Holi here either, but the issue is OFFICIAL holidays. There are now too many religions in Canada to make all of their holidays official, and other than the various Christian ones, they are all tiny numbers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once the left is done using liberal Christianity for its own means, it proceeds to laugh at it...this is something liberal Christians can't or won't get.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Diktats from the pulpit and the threat of law will not inspire people to holiness or lead them to take a seat in the pews.\"\n\nWell, they have their work cut out for them. The people are not ignorant. Some of the moral formulations do not pass the reasonable test and the people know it. Most Catholic families no longer nurture two or three children to become priests or nuns because, uh, that may be all the kids they have. Bottom line: if they don't change, the bleeding will continue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It does not matter. Most cannot. Those who can don't choose to do so. I cannot and will not force them to kneel. That's not Christian!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the entire basis of the article is flawed, to be honest, and reeks of yesteryear.\n\nI'm female. I'm Catholic. I'm educated. I'm also towards the bottom of the 99% and partially disabled. And I did vote for a woman, it just wasn't Hillary Clinton. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein because she was the only candidate I felt represented my interests. Hillary lost my vote so many times during the election that I couldn't begin to count them all, but it would have been at least once a day, sometimes twice. Unlike a lot of voters, I dug deeper than the nice noises she made during the debates, and found a candidate so corrupt and morally bankrupt that I could not in good conscience give her my vote. Hopefully the Democratic party comes to its senses after this loss and runs a sound candidate in 2020.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not going to judge the validity of being a Rastafarian over a Roman Catholic, that is what the First Amendment protects. So I must agree with David's comment you shared and leave this discussion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very interesting article, and comments. My attitude toward the \"mainstream\" Muslim religion, was formed by my African History prof. During the early Middle Ages in Europe, the Arabian subcontinent, he said, was largely dominated by polytheism and animism. Mohammed, a trader, who had contact with Jews and Christians, was greatly impressed by their monotheistic beliefs and at one point had a mystical experience involving the angel Gabriel. He began preaching a monotheistic faith in one all powerful God based on a succession of great prophets beginning with Moses and including Elijah and Jesus. Allah is the Arabic \"name\" of YHWH, the nameless One. Muslims differ from Christians in considering Jesus a prophet rather than the Son of God. However they believe that He will be happy to explain to Christians in Heaven why Muslims are also present in great numbers. Sadly, Christians have killed Muslims and Muslims, Christians over the last thousand years. .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is it the \"complicity of our culture\" that God wants immediate and continuous amendment of, or the complicity within each of our hearts?\n\nHow generous a probing of our thoughts, attitudes, and actions do we make daily in our evening examination? Do we even spend 2-3 minutes a day mindful of God's nearness to us in order to review the day?\n\nWhat went well, what didn't go so well, what will I ask God's help with tomorrow? How did I pray; how did I work and serve others; how was my smile? Was it quick, ready, generous, constant, sincere?\n\nDo we first focus \"over there\" relieving ourselves from deeper and more demanding self examination, or do we focus on our own discordant life, professing to be Christian but side-slipping ALL of the commandments and the beatitudes?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Has happened in the States. As for harassment, you are probably correct although various sectors of Christianity have had their fair share of incidents. Perhaps it is because our society has been founded on christian principles, and so there is a cohesion within society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope that people can start to avoid or forget many stereotypes. Also there is the problem of names. \"Protestant\" is something of a negative term since it is defined as an antonym. Another historical replacement term should be \"reformed\", which is not so hostile. I see the day where the main Christian bodies still exist but people float between them without hostility are contempt. And excellent example of such to my thinking is Vice-President Elect Mike Pence. He has sometimes called himself an \"Evangelical Catholic\". He never disowned his Catholic roots, even being formerly in some lay ministry as a Catholic. He says he had some needs so he went elsewhere, looking for support for more intimacy with God that he craved. I do not think the term \"protestant\" would appeal to him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Keep dreaming.\n\nForced contraception will NEVER happen in Christian America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's try this one more time.\n\nBy your own definition--\n\nAD HOMINEM: \"Proposition X is wrong because Y who wrote it is a pinhead.\"\n\nMARTY: The proposition that Paul believed the end of history would occur in his generation is wrong because \"Christian textual critics, who have little in common with Christians except they like to denigrate the Faith with clever textual punditry.\"\n\nSimply absurd.\n\nYou wrote:\n\n<>\n\nPaul believed the eschaton would occur in his lifetime. He wasn't referring to the mini-apocalypses of our own deaths, but to a divine cataclysm that would reorder the cosmos. He appears to have been mistaken on that score.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity and religion often have little to do with the Christ, the anointed of God.\n\nJesus Christ owned nothing, had no formal education that we know of, and was homeless. Having little to do with politics or earthly affairs, He hung out with common people, including drunks, tax collectors, and prostitutes... a far cry from today' religious leaders. He said, in many ways, \"My kingdom is not of this world\". Exposing the religion of his day, he was crucified by it's leaders\n\nA true Christian, by scriptural definition, is one who has, by simple faith been born again and indwelt by the spirit of Christ. One does not become a true Christian by going to meetings, growing up in a religious family, or doing good deeds. One becomes a Christian by believing that Jesus Christ, now the life giving spirit, is not only the \"son of God\", but God himself.\n\nIf His spirit operates in you, He will guide, even nudge, you into good deeds and acts of kindness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians go to Church to find a sense of community and belonging.\nThe last thing a pastor should do is divide his congregation...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is nice to know that at least one Dutch bishop is a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Too soon to tell if Pope Francis' effort are actually having an effect on Catholic culture. \n\nTo put it another way, Francis is clearly having an effect on how non-Catholics perceive the Church. But I haven't seen any signs that Francis has had even the slightest effect on changing the thinking of anyone in Catholic media.\n\nWhen Francis became pope, I thought Catholic media pundits would follow his lead. They haven't. They have their own idea of what's proper Catholic culture, and they simply do not care about Francis' message.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of all the world's religions, Christianity has the best art. Of all the branches of Christianity, Catholicism has the best.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jay, I would take up your criticism with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops who regularly make recommendations for Schutte's music at Holy Mass and for special liturgical occasions. Equally, our Archdiocese Office of Worship recommends Schutte's Mass of Christ the Savior for all large gatherings as it's universally used. I attended a Papal Mass a few years ago where his music was used with over 3 million youths. You may not care for his music and indeed you have a right to your opinions but the official Roman Catholic Church, in the English speaking world seems to take a different view than you. I believe there is a place for many styles of music in our diverse church as long as they are accepted by the USCCB.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Has the Roman Catholic Church repudiated The Papal Bull \u201cInter Caetera,\u201d issued by Pope Alexander VI in 1493, and which is the basis for the so-called \"Doctrine of Discovery\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If those who disagree with Francis are \"hard-hearted Christians,\" does that mean that those who disagree with him about women are also hard-hearted? Or is it possible that our viewpoint has some merit Francis hasn't seen? And if that's true, at least in theory, does it mean that those who disagree on other issues may be equally sincere?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I read stories like this, I can only wonder why I stayed Catholic for as long as I did. In fact, I wonder why anyone remains loyal to this church. I'm sure folks have their reasons, but for me, what finally drove me out of the church was the sense that by my presence in the pew, I was sanctioning and colluding in this sort of institutional behavior. Obviously, the ties of a lifetime are not easily broken (I still read NCR, for example), though I'm glad -- and also sad -- to have made the effort to move on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop Sheen, and many other, echo a Cardinal speaking to Napoleon. Douthat_relates:_During a frustrating argument with a Roman Catholic cardinal, Napoleon Bonaparte supposedly burst out: \u201cYour eminence, are you not aware that I have the power to destroy the Catholic Church?\u201d The cardinal, the anecdote goes, responded ruefully: \u201cYour majesty, we, the Catholic clergy, have done our best to destroy the church for the last 1,800 years. We have not succeeded, and neither will you.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know the difference between an atheist and a Christian is?\n\nA Christian has read part of the Bible, an Atheist has read the whole thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seriously, you are comparing this government with Iran's? Get a sense of proportion.\n\nEven the most conservative Christian evangelical government would be nowhere close to a conservative Muslim one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Mark,\n\nBecause the National Catholic Reporter is a Catholic newspaper, I am responding here as a Catholic, who (and I am grateful to God for this) was given a very strong foundation in the Catholic faith. Because of this strong foundation, when I sinned (and especially in my late teens in the area of chastity/impurity), my conscience let me know (I was very much aware) that I was sinning against God. It took some years (because of my embarrassment and shame for which I felt on my own - no one said anything to me to make me feel that way) before I went to Confession and confessed my sins of impurity. I cried in the Confessional for a long time. What I had forgotten to Confess at that time was the fact that I had received Jesus in the Holy Eucharist while not being in the state of grace. I did confess this later and am happy I did. \n\nI never said that the grace and strength that God gives to anyone who seeks Him with a humble and contrite heart when faced with suffering/difficult TBC", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What that conveniently ignores is that \"of territory that the terrorists view as their homeland or prize greatly\" no longer means the country the terrorist is actually from. It means any Muslim-majority country, i.e. it is based on religious grounds, not political ones. \n\nSomeone officially American, or German, or Belgian, or French, or Tunisian, etc., actually identifies more with people of their religion in another part of the world, based solely on a common religion.\n\nImagine if Christians or Buddhists were to commit acts of terrorism in their own country or another in support of other Buddhists or Christians in a totally different part of the world based solely on a shared religion....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"The number of women serving as presidents of U.S. Catholic colleges has skyrocketed in the past 16 years \u2014 up 137 percent from 2000 to 2016, according to the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities.\"\n- That this is a marvel depends on the base line, in this case - years 2000 - 2016.\n- If extending the baseline to 1920 then the number of women presidents is seen to be a large number as the women's catholic colleges were lead, you guessed it, by women. \n- It seems the uniqueness of women serving as presidents in these days is that they are usually lay women, that is not consecrated women religious, and that they serve in universities that are now co-educational.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What good is this pope's popularity if it doesn't lead to people becoming Catholic or joining the priesthood? Is the pope's popularity an end in itself?\n\nDidn't Jesus tell us we should expect to be hated by the world on account of Him?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For me - a big part of the problem with Christians and Roman Catholic ones in particular, is that we are taught and we repeat it at every mass ... that we are not worthy. Yes ... we say God is Love; and to Love God is to be Love and Loving ... and I suggest ... that need to begin with embracing our being beloved children of the Divine. To me - we are loving our neighbours as ourselves ... and that is the problem - because we do not have a healthy love of self and embrace how God made us and others. We are taught self-loathing ... and that gets reflected in all our relationships ... including with God and neighbours ... particularly if they are slightly different to us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not in the least. You used this situation as an ad-hominem on Christians... Your words not mine. But I will challenge you on calling me heartless when you don't understand the difference between grace and accountability.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's your \"Christian conservative\" side coming out again Roy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Speaking as an Anglican here this is pretty saddening. Kmowing the Popes point of view he has seemed willing to work with those who don't always agree with him. \n\nSo even though he doesn't agree with female ordination to the priesthood he was willing to work with and even have a joint liturgy with Anglicans that included female deacons as well as priests. \n\nUltimately I don't expect him to change Catholic dogma on women in the priesthood though it does seem changes are likely in the area of the Catholic deacons", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, I have not exonerated him in my own mind. However, there is something in the human psyche (is that the right word?) that makes us secretly glory in the 'fall of the mighty'. Mind you some of this glorying is not secret at all, qv. the comments here. I am aware that Pell is a larger than life 'hate' figure in Australia and has been pursued by hostile media there for sometime. It would seem that there is a campaign to 'get Cardinal Pell' partly on account of his perceived personality and partly 'to get at the Catholic Church' by landing such a 'big fish'. What I am saying is that he has been undergoing a trial by media and it is going to be difficult to discern whether this will influence the outcome.\nThe taking down of a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church might be too much of an irresistible temptation for a secular jury given the extent of the 'abuse' there and the hatred whipped up by the media. At least he will have his day in Court.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians are obligated to support any action taken by the nation of Israel. \nJapan felt it necessary to start the war because the embargo on oil would render its navy unable to operate in 6 months. But that was completely different.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John, I judge that I'm about 7-10 years older than you.\n\nI was an altar server, pre-Vatican II; I served as a lector, post-Vatican II.\n\nI attended Catholic parochial schools, a private Catholic prep school, and a Catholic university.\n\nLike you, youth lends itself to optimism, but the ravages of the Church which happened after Vatican II were sad, very sad, indeed.\n\nI'm not cynical, but much wiser now. I now realize that fairy tales are for the young.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" And the drama is strictly in the minds of the cross-examiners who demand yes and know [sic] answers from the Pope and accuse him of heresy.\"\n\nWhat is the \"neither Yes nor No\" Catholic answer to the following:\n\nDoes God exist?\nDid God create the world and the people in it?\nWas Jesus Christ God?\nWas Jesus Christ fully human?\nDid Jesus Christ institute 7 sacraments?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a secularist and have no taste for any particular religion. But religion should be afforded more credit than you give it. Consider Canadian history itself. The Temperance movement had a particularly Christian flavour to it, and it was under the guidance of religion that the Temperance movement won voting rights for women in Canada. Or how about the Social Gospel movemment of western Canada, which used Protestant teachings to rally labourers and farmers to unionize, winning them better working conditions. Or the famed Tommy Douglas, who was a preacher, also influenced by Social Gospel, whose witness of suffering eventually kicked off a personal crusade that after a decade led to the formation of social programs like medicare?\n\nI am not affiliated with any religion, but as a device, it was more than just a coping mechanism, and you don't have to be a person of religion to sincerely appreciate that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed that the syllabus is obsolete. However, St. Pius X's errors of modernism remains. However, thanks to Tyrell, the historical critical method has been intertwined with modernism in the English speaking Catholic world. The works of Marie Joseph Lagrange is sadly either not in English or out of print.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The history of the Catholic Church shows indeed that women at various times underwent ordination ceremonies. Popes, Councils, numerous Synods and bishops continually condemned the practice as an abuse and most times declared the churches who carried out these ordinations, heretical.\nIt is doubtful that anyone who advocates the ordination of women has a sufficient grasp of Catholic Church history and ecclesiology or Catholic doctrine and dogma full stop (period).\nIn my experience those who dissent from the Catholic doctrine re: ordination dissent from a good number of doctrines concerning Faith and Morals, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CathyT didn't say God was a fairy tale, please go back and re-read what she said. You seem to really have it in for Protestants, as if there were no need for the 16th C reformation and beyond. Institutions such as the RCC are always in need of reform (siempre reformando) as popes throughout the ages have aptly demonstrated... and further, based on Jesus' two greatest commands, who is to say that living a \"good life\" full of Christian virtue--love, care, compassion for others, etc.--is not sufficient to please and honor almighty God? An argument can easily be made to suggest that when one gets bogged down in the minutiae (i.e. literal interpretation) of scripture that is when we run into trouble--reducing the infinite/spiritual realm into the finite/temporal to meet our human demands for clarity and certainty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a peculiar article. I've been to dozens and dozens of AA meetings in support of various family members. The \"God\" things was more a notion of a higher power, whatever one interpreted that to be. It was NEVER \"Christian\" -- notions of God or higher powers are in just about every major and minor faith, everyone from Jews to Wiccans to New Agers. The one thing I did notice in AA, was that the people who admitted they were powerless over alcohol and opened themselves up to the idea of a higher power (or the Universe or whatever the hell you want to call it) faired better than those who didn't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, it's an interesting question how much resemblance the Gentile Christianity that survived has with the Jewish Christianity of the first generation. I don't think even St. Paul thought Jesus was God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...threw off the office of the Patriarch....\"\n\nAlthough the Orthodox still regard the Bishop of Rome as the \"Patriarch of the West,\" Benedict dropped the title to make the Bishop of Rome (his office) more accessible to the Reformation Churches of the West, especially Lutheran and Anglican. I think Benedict was more ecumenically practical, too, realizing that being (in the words of Orthodox Bishop Timothy Ware) \"first among equals\" and an \"elder brother,\" meant nothing to the Orthodox then and would get Catholics nowhere, especially since Orthodox still regard Catholics as \"intruders\" in their \"canonical territories.\" (After all, \"Orthodox were there first.\") The Russian Orthodox just haven't evolved. (Orthodox thinking is somewhat similar to thinking of some Muslims who want to re-establish a Caliphate in parts of their \"canonical\" Europe, especially southern Spain, appropriate churches there (former mosques), and replace current occupants -- \"intruders\" - with Muslims.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "PS Melania is Catholic and so she confirmed following visit with the Pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are mistaken, as so many progressives are. True Catholics, like Pandora and I, realize we are not restricted to the teachings of Jesus and the gospels. We have 2000 years of tradition, and the teachings and examples of the One True Church to guide us. When attacked, a true (traditional) Catholic knows that a response must be made, and it must be disproportionate, so the attacker learns to never, never, never, disagree with a Traditional Catholic. This may not be what Jesus wanted, but He's not here, is he? We follow the lead of our Bishops now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good. So we shouldn't have US Catholic dioceses praising religious bigotry. You agree with that, yes?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's pray that Wisdom, Understanding, and true Christ-like love---reign in this situation. Three cheers for the Loretto Community---whose immersion in wisdom, understanding and Christian love has inspired and moved them for more than a decade.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Conservative Christians were all for 'Religious Liberty' when it only applied to them but, the first time THEY are discriminated against by someone who feels they can't, in good conscience, serve THEM, there is going to be hell to pay! They will have a hissy fit like no other seen before!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I\u2019m with you 100% Little Bear. I might also throw into the soup the following ingredients:\nHave the US of North America \u201cCatholic Bishops\u2019 Conference\u201d::::: \n1)\tun-hitch itself from the USA Republican Political Party, which according to Noam Chomsky \u201ctoday is the most dangerous organization in the world for the future of our planet, Mother Earth.\u201d\n2)\t Stop \"favoring\u201d a vision of \"personhood\" (i.e. a human persons beginning from the moment of conception), because science, common sense and \"sound morality\" do NOT consider possible the existence of a human life from the moment of conception.\n3)\tConsider a more scientific vision of Birth Control for today\u2019s Catholic Population", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For Catholics, we do not take the bible literally, we do manage to apply the gospels to our modern lives even if it disagrees with formal church dogma. Most, if not all, Christ's teachings dealt with how we should treat each other and ourselves not with a host of don'ts. This is the basis of ethics for most Catholics.\nAs Americans, a subset of these ethics are basically the Preamble to the Constitution, \"establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.\" Governance ethics will be based on these assumptions. Our laws are the codified ethics that follow from these assumptions.\nChrist's teachings are not codified but are arrived at within each person's well-formed conscience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And equally obvious that you don't really want a Christian or even a humane society or country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As that really what you think? Do you recall this little communist entity known as the Soviet Union controlled half the continent? They weren't exactly simpatico with the Catholic cause.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The author neglects to mention that the Orthodox Church is composed of many churches, many of which have difficulty cooperating with each other.\nRegarding the Ukrainian Orthodox laity (I cannot speak about others) -- most have no clue to what \"filoque\" refers (by the way, the Ukrainian Catholic Church has dropped it from the Creed, with the permission of Rome) and many know little about doctrinal concerns. Most of their reluctance has to do with what the Catholic Church stands for in their minds -- and that is material for a book.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "all abrahamists should be viewed 'as one'.\n\nchristianity, islam, and judaism...all three are equally repugnant death cults based on wildly varying interpretations of bronze age middle eastern goat-herder mythologies which are simply irrelevant in the modern world. \n\ntheir constant, deadly, mindless internecine squabbling represents an existential threat to humanity itself.\n\nother than that, i have no problem with them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please explain as a Catholic why it is difficult to define the divinity of Jesus?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am well aware of Catholic beliefs. And I know and teach HOW they developed. The fact that Jesus came was NOT to free us from any Original Sin. That concept came largely from Augustine. Because he was one of the most brilliant minds of the Western Church, his thinking was adopted as a teaching of the Church.\n\nThe official church knows very well that the universe was created in billions of years and our own planet in about 4.6 billion years. THEY know that there was no Original Sin as well. But their whole theological house of cards is dependent upon this concept of 'the Fall of the Human Race'----that the church would have to start from scratch all over again with re-doing basic theology. So they just keep on with this 'mythic tale'.\n\nI certainly do believe that God began Creation. But it did not occur as the first chapters of Genesis have it. Of course, Genesis was written in the pre-scientific era. The official church needs to confront this fact.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The notion of \"better kids, better morals (etc)\" is a fallacy and a myth.\n\nI know people who teach in the Catholic system and its really not different. The single biggest determinant of the character of schools is the demographics in the area in which it resides.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If someone was married in a civil or Protestant ceremony or otherwise not following the rules of the Church (e.g. if there was an impediment) there are two ways to regularize the situation. The usual is a convalidation, in which the couple take their vows again witnessed by a priest or deacon. \n\nRadical sanation (\"sanatio in radice\" for \"healing in the root\"), a retroactive validation and retroactive application of any dispensations, without renewal of consent, is also available and more appropriate for certain situations. As I understand it--and I'm not a canon lawyer--if there is no impediment a convalidation can be done by the parish priest but a radical sanation is from the bishop and reviewed by the diocesan tribunal.\n\nThese are often done when one or both of the spouses returns to the Church and wants to present himself or herself for Communion again. A marriage between two non-Christians is presumed valid so it is not necessary for conversion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Heterodox means holding non-credal beliefs on God or the ressurrection of the body. There is also clerical and anti clerical, a variety of polarities on sex, some undistinguished (like asexualist v. healthy sex drive) and the usual corporate libertarian v. catholic worker divide. While I would love to exclude the libertarians, the hierarchy loves their money. The current ones are the Trads v. the Monetarists. The extent to which the Trads have lapsed into Sedevacantism is the extent to which they have become Apostate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps this will make Catholics finally recognize that Trump and his supporters are not really Christians. I find it impossible to imagine a Christian making remarks like this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is not \"allowing\" Christ to call women, it is recognizing that Christ may already be calling women and married people, and accepting them to be taught, trained, and tested, and allowing them to serve as priests. It may well not resolve the priestly vocation scarcity, but it will demonstrate to God that we humbly accept those he sends us, and he may well then take the time to nudge a few more into this vocation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are the Mystical body of Christ, the Actual body of Christ is in the Blessed Sacrament, here on Earth, that is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another excellent article, and a good discussion too. Thanks. \n\nI lived for six months in a town which had a Cathedral and a Franciscan Friary. The Cathedral drew a lot of its Sunday congregation from tourists (its a very fine, ornate building.) It was mostly half empty for each of the Sunday Masses, however. It was run by diocesan clergy.\n\nThe Franciscan Friary, on the other hand, was standing room only. I don't think there was a difference in sermons. You'd hear traditional and modern viewpoints expressed in both churches. The liturgies were very alike, except for one thing. The Cathedral had the normal offertory collection, and often times a 'special' collection after communion.\n\nThe Franciscan Friary had no collection at Sunday Mass. These guys announced when the electricity bill came in and told the congregation how much it was. Paid! They did this with everything and led lives trusting God and his people.\n\nPeople, Catholic or whatever, will support 'faith' when they see it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Use all the methods at your disposal to dispel the fact that this murderer served in the military (honorably or not). If you work diligently enough, you can convince yourself he isn't Christian either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sean my book explains quite graphically why any ambitious Democratic politician who is Catholic must be pro-choice: the party demands it. Moreover, while the cliches--culture warrior vs Francis effect--offer needed relief from long overworked conservative vs liberal, they remain ideologically freighted nonetheless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AnonAJ,\n\nYou are right on target! What the U.S. Bishops need to do is Dialogue with each other. It seems that when they get together---they just talk about inconsequential matters. What is so confusing to American Catholics, is that when they need \"mercy and understanding\" in dealing with their marriage problems, they have to deal with the attitudes and understanding of their arch/bishop FIRST. It's all about the hierarchy----not the people who NEED understanding and a merciful attitude.\n\n\nLet's hope that we get more cardinals like Joseph Tobin---who would also let the Pope know what is going on in the U.S.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Probably the aversion described in John reflected contemporary tensions between Jews and Christians but could apply to the time of Jesus's ministry as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Do you understand? \u2026Life is life and you must take things as they come. \u2026We must be attentive, not saying all are the same. \u2026Every case: Welcome it, accompany it, study it, discerning and integrating \u2026This is what Jesus would do today,\" said the pope.\n\"The tradition of the Church has understood the sixth commandment as encompassing the whole of human sexuality.\" (Catechism of the Catholic Church #2336)\nThe pope is asking the Magisterium to acknowledge what the laity knows from experience: we are still discovering the theological and anthropological aspects of human sexuality, and there\u2019s so much more to it than adultery.\nPaz y Bien, Rolando, OFS.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"From the Christian perspective, \"human life\" = \"immortal life;\" and to use traditional theological language, understood as immortal, human vs animal life comes into existence with ensoulment. The immortality of human life does not come into existence as the result of the evolution of homo sapiens, but is a unique creative act of God in each and every instance of each and every human person.\n\n\"We have no revelation as to when ensoulment occurs, so over 2000 years, theologians and philosophers have attempted to infer when ensoulment occurs on the basis of whatever biology was available to them in any given century. With the modern discovery of DNA and the fertilization process, in our time the Church faceted on conception as the biological moment when ensoulment seems likely.\n\n\"Relatively recent information to the effect that as many a 75% of fertilized eggs are unable to implant and are thus thus naturally aborted is beginning to raise doubts about this assumption.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is a spurious argument. What you are saying is that prior to Constantine the Church was pure and apostolic when in fact since Apostolic times schisms and heresies abounded during the first few centuries after Christ. Couple that with the lack of communication and the savage persecutions which regularly occurred, it is not surprising that the Church in the 4th century was fragmented. Constantine unified the Churches under the authority of the Pope. \nHave you heard of the 'kairos' the opportune moment? Then Constantine came upon the scene when God willed it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "+Charles Chaput (R-PA) is a political hack in service to GOP candidates. It is beyond disingenuous -- it is dishonest -- to claim otherwise when he is attacking Democrats both in general and in specific, by name. However, I doubt that +Chaput has much influence. Catholics who have made their peace with voting for the GOP nominee, a racist, fascist, know-nothing buffoon, don\u2019t need the permission of their archbishop to do it; they\u2019ve already decided. Catholics who have decided that they can\u2019t do it are not likely to change their minds because the archbishop signals that it\u2019s ok to do it; they will be offended by the clumsy politicking of their bishop. I sympathize with the idea of seeking to revoke the tax exempt status of the diocese; but I think it is far more effective for Catholics to withhold their Sunday offering, divert it to the candidate or charity of their choice, and notify the archbishop, their pastor and the nuncio that they have done so and why.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It would be humorous if it were not so disturbing how so-called traditional orthodox eschew \"other-than-Roman-Catholic\" persons, denominations. Of course they do not hold to \"all\" that we hold and to talk of \"apostolic succession\" and \"valid/licit orders\", Sacraments, \"Henry VIII, Luther, and fellow congregation founder/leaders as somehow \"intrinsically dis-ordered\" is uncivil AND unChristian.\nAs to Eucharist, one can and does ask: if God is & Jesus lives, everywhere, in/of all things then how is it that \"only we\" can access Him and his \"amazing\", redemptive grace? Some of us have even quoted, sort of, Vatican II \"testifying\" that Protestant Churches are not Churches!\nBrothers and sisters it matters. Do you really believe that God the Parent, Jesus the Word and the \"Holy Spirit\" are not \"big\" enough to include all in the same embrace of redemption as \"They\" did and do in creation? \nWe are simply unworthy heirs of a grand tradition, a grand tradition that has gone terribly awry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to the church it is, but instituted by Jesus, I don't think so. How would I think so, because there is no Original Sin. There are other alleged derivatives of Original Sin, which also ought to be dismissed. The only matter that I am in agreement with Ken Ham; if Genesis is not accepted as historical other issues be holding to Christianity fall also. There are consequences which must be addressed but are not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And who, in the post Christian era, \"polices\" government?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I wrote--- few realize that the Christian churches today still abandon/twist/ignore the gospel Paul was preaching [I Cor. 15:1-4] to his churches in Asia Minor [ancient Turkey area] in the 1st century. Hope? The gospel is there for anyone who will believe it!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part Two-b) We believe God established an Apostolic Church with the authority to lead on His behalf.\u2014Rule and Raven\n\u201cFor you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light\u201d (Ephesians 5:8).\n\nI believe the greatest resistance from within the church to Pope Francis comes from priests, bishops and lay Catholics who are all about the rules and regulations.\u2014Jon82\n\u201cBut the leader of the synagogue, indignant that Jesus had cured on the sabbath [sic] said to the crowd in reply, \u201cthere are six days when work should be done. Come on those days to be cured, not on the sabbath [sic] day\u201d (Luke 13:14). \n\nReflections from Liturgy of the Word, Reading 479, Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time II.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Was the Prince of the Church referring to the abdication of the US Bishops to their moral witness when they participated in the child abuse and rape scandal? Because I, as a true, traditional catholic, would disagree that was an abdication of moral witness, being as it was the policy authorized by the saint and it protected the church's reputations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you don't see a decline of the Church (all Christian churches), you're not paying attention.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Aren't there already many married Catholic priests-the Maronite and Byzantine rites already ordain married men to the priesthood and have for several hundred years.\nFor a \"progressive\", Jamie is not even Eurocentric-she doesn't even manage to get beyond the perspective of the German and Irish Catholics who make up, and fund, \"progressive\" Catholicism. So provincial.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Totally impressed and in agreement with Just Maybe's perspective. Wow! Must we continue to use umpteen candles by the altar because the secular miracle of electricity had not yet been performed in the middle ages. And must we continue to use endless puffs of incense in a modern hermetically sealed modern Church edifice despite attendant watery eyes, coughs and other secular allergic responses among the laity even though incense smoke fails to rise as well as it did in unheated medieval churches.\nAnd must we close our ears to the renewed editing of Our Lord's use of the word \"Cup\" at the Last Supper because some Vaticrat considers that designation far too secular and thus not as appropriate as the more recent alternative term \"Chalice\" which Jesus apparently overlooked during the First Consecration thus warranting this subsequent editorial Improvement by our Church's non-secular experts.\nOh how we could build on JustMaybe's excellent initiative", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, yes, yes! The good sisters came through once again. The majority of our bishops tried to kill the Affordable Care Act from the beginning. They threw up road block after road block, appealing to religious liberty issues which did not exist. These good sisters, however, saw Obamacare for what it is, an historical event supported by church since 1919. Adjustments are needed, but not repeal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@bobtr900\nThank you for your comment bobtr900\nYou are very fortunate I pray that it will always be this way for you. \nYes The path (Way) is narrow (Strait/honest) and this honesty points/leads us all in the Way of TRUTH, (Jesus Christ), and is to be held high like a lamp over injustice (Dishonesty) by neither turning left nor right and in doing so confronts the reality of the situation, this can be very difficult as often we have to confront evil actions (Collusion) in those we care for and if they happen to be powerful will often lead to a bloodbath.\nThe serving of the Truth never takes from others as it endeavours to embrace/enhances them.\nsincerely \nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "FYI, they are not per se \"Catholic\" Knights - The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta. The roots of the current organization lie in what was an actual Catholic religious order, but the current organization and the bulk of its members is and are not Catholic religious.\n\nThe present charitable organization has reestablished ties with the Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Chivalric Order of Saint John of the Hospital at Jerusalem, the German Protestant branch of the Knights Hospitaller, which is the center of Protestant continuations of the Knights in Germany, Austria, Finland, France, Hungary, and Switzerland, with the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in the UK, the Swedish Johanniterorden i Sverige, and the Dutch Johanniter Orde in Nederland, and formed the Alliance of the Orders of St. John of Jerusalem.\n\nThis allows them to further their charitable efforts more widely and efficiently.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unitarian Universalists believe that each person is free to search for their own personal truth on issues, such as the existence, nature, and meaning of life, deities, creation, and afterlife. UUs can come from any religious background, and hold beliefs and adhere to morals from a variety of groups or religions. I do not think that not believing in the Trinity applies here as much. It may apply to a particular Christian Denomination, because as you can see Unitarians consist of all religions and beliefs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would disagree with the idea that Paul imbues his Greek with peculiar meanings. He borrows them from the Septuagint, if necessary.\n\nMost Bible translators are not Greek scholars, and unfortunately, it seems, do not follow closely enough the latest research done by Greek scholars. I have read several academic papers, in which theologians admit that, and wish Bible translators would consult Greek scholars more often.\n\nWay too often even theologians writing commentaries say something like \"this puts the emphasis on ...\", when any competent Greek scholar knows that is simply not true. This became evident to me when I did studies in Classics while writing my PhD in New Testament Studies.\n\nThe \"order of creation\" argument is a fallacy. You can read TOSC papers to know why, especially one written by Angel Rodriguez, the retired BRI director of the GC.\n\nMay I suggest that you read both letters to Timothy and make a list of all those things Paul says are wrong in the church at Ephesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think the article went far enough on the New Testament or evangelical Christians, or what the hell they call themselves today. \nFrom what I got while Christianity was being beaten into me to forcibly assimilate me into the civilized colonial capitalist society, the white mans jesus came to save the poor, sick, diseased, weak, hungry and the dying, the less fortunate. He punted the money changers and money lenders in collusion with the temple priests, out of the temples.\nI see todays Christians ideals and actions and, worshipping as 180 degrees opposite of what their jesus preached. Today the \"evangelicals\" and their Christian compassionate conservatives are defunding health and social programs that help the sick, weak, poor, hungry, dying and the diseased, and giving it as entitlements to the same kind of richest, corporations and money lenders and money changers that their jesus kicked out of the temples.\n Justice is to have them find out their god is a black man when they die", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "[Spoiler alert: for every one you think you might be able to find, I'll find 10 quotes from our founding fathers all supporting the notion that they made us a Christian nation under the Judeo Christian paradigm.]\n\nOK. You're on!\n\nI posted five founding fathers quotes, now you come up with 10 for each of them \"all supporting the notion that they made us a Christian nation under the Judeo Christian paradigm.\"\n\nThat means 50 quotes. You better get Googling. \nI'll wait.\n\n(Spoiler alert: You won't.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...amounts to an unforgivable sin.\"\n\nI am sure you speak for yourself, 1Little Bear. Well said. I am sure people like you will continue to use a hatchet to remove the evil that some cleric-criminal has internalized, be he a bishop and priest. Fine. That is where you are at. There are only Blame-all and Praise-all clerics in your world. But for followers of Christ, who try to be, no sin is unforgivable. \"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.\" Forgiveness is the core belief of Christ. One has to forgive today simply to make it as a Christian. I was abused sexually by a friend of my family, but I have forgiven that person. It has me a stronger within. The Gospel teaches us that to understand your abuser is to forgive her or him. I believe that. When Dr. King says, \"Throw us in jail and we shall still love you, bomb our homes and threaten our children, and we shall still love you,\" I believe that. One pardons in the degree or scope that one loves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any source to which you go will tell you that dogma, in the Catholic Church, is something which is considered to be divinely revealed. It is declared by councils as being incontrovertibly true, or by the Pope, speaking \"ex cathedra\". \nThe prohibition against the ordination of women, which is included in canon law, is NOT dogma.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Haiti has needed help for many generations. That it needs help again is not anything new. And help with the current crisis will be next to useless without a massive multi-decade multi-generational infusion of leadership, money, infrastructure repair, ecological education, health maintenance, education, etc, etc, etc, ----- Haiti is a mess and has been for a long, long time.\n\nPerhaps the Vatican can supply the above listed items for this, an overwhelmingly Catholic populated nation. It would be corporal and spiritual acts of mercy acted out for the world to see. The RCC surely has the funds and, I suspect, the means to access the needed expertise. \n\nI am not in favor of benevolent dictatorships or church/state coalitions, but either or both might be Haiti's only way out of their mess.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And centuries ago, the church condoned slavery and had the Spanish Inquisition. Since it was the church doing it, I suppose that made it right as well. Give me a break.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems the meanest critics of Catholic universities are some Catholics who can never answer this question: \"Which of your choices are considered by objective peer-reviewed professional metrics both great Catholic universities AND Catholic great universities?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No.\n\nAt Mass, we become witnesses to our own Redemption.\n\nThat's what is underway at Mass. And that is why a Mass isn't a mere \"service\" or \"family event\".\n\nWe must see much much bigger, with the eyes of God. \n\nNo wonder there is so much self-focus and complaint and lukewarm attendance: Catholics are truly ignorant about what is going on at Mass. There is no love, no gift of self, in the image of Jesus, happy to suffer for us, and willing to share more of his intimate divine life with us...but that means we have to touch the Cross. We have to cheerfully put up with - what were Pope Francis's words used the other day? - o yes \"banal modern church music\".\n\nWe have to cheerfully listen to even the sugary music of [Haugen, Shutte, Foley, there are really not that many] , and love God - through our suffering, as He did for each of us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Secrecy is the Catholic thing. Priest-penitent privilege is the constitutional law thing. You are mixing up the two.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There was a time in Hawaii's history, when real property owners, would just throw away burial bones found on their property.\n\nIn the late 1960s, I remember watching a TV news story, whereby a real property owner told the reporter, that he owned the land, could do whatever he wanted to it, and he was a God fearing Christian.\n\nHe bundled the bones with some cord and threw them out with the garbage.\n\nIn today's era, there appears to be a problem, with time & how much money that you must pay for the survey, and the people involved.\n\nKawaiaha'o Church still has a long running legal & political problem. If anyone, just puts a shovel into the ground, it opens up a legal & political Pandora's box.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting Reuters article...feels more like a Catholic media piece....personally, I deeply hope that Francis has many more years..and his reported style of acting is a huge and negative comment on the Curial functioning we have come to expect.\n\nIt is also effective!\n\nI especially like the mid level management positions occupied by Francis's assistants.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "50 years. It's pretty late already. \n\nAs ye soweth, so shall ye reap.\n\nSpeaking of my own experience, religious instruction in the Catholic Church was pretty sad in the 60's and 70's. I can sum it up in one phrase: \"You've got to love minorities!\" Nuns pushed that line constantly. It wasn't enough. Intellectually challenging? I think not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Amoris Laetitia isn't easily reducible to tweets, or even answers to a single question: Can they or can't they?\" he said, referencing the question of whether divorced people who have remarried without receiving annulments might receive Communion in some circumstances.\n\n\"It's a whole, I think, rich and challenging ... process of forming conscience in the light of the Gospel and the tradition of the church,\" said Tobin. \"I think it would really be a mistake to just try to reduce it as a sort-of bite-sized response to a couple of very concrete questions.\"\n\nThat sounds like a \"No\" to divorced and remarried people receiving Communion. He's correct that accompaniment of people in objectively sinful situations is about (re)forming conscience in the light of Christ's words and Church teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A\"faithful catholic\" does not mock, decry, sneer at persons of other religious persuasions. Might reconsider or adopt a moniker more appropriate, as say, \"disdainful catholic\", \"whitened sepulcher\", or \"unchristian Catholic\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Human\u00e6 Vit\u00e6 is a doctrinal document of the Holy See and therefore magisterial. Catholics, along with the rest of the world may ignore it at their peril.\nCatholics believe or they ought to as Catholics, that such teaching as contained in Human\u00e6 Vitae is magisterial and therefore binding upon them. Catholics also believe that according to Christ's promise He will be with His Church until the end of time. He sent His Holy Spirit to guarantee this promise. As far as doctrine is concerned the Holy Ghost prevents the Church from teaching error, miraculously if you you like.\nThe abuse issue is of a different nature, it is purely administrative and legal dependent upon how individual bishops and their Curi\u00e6 tackled it; some wrongly and some correctly the intention behind both was the good of the Church.\nPopes and even Councils do not have the Holy Ghost whispering in their ear how to govern the Church, He only prevents them from contradicting the Word of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thinking over all the interactions Jesus had with others in the Gospels, could anyone picture Jesus telling someone that since they are confronted with \"overwhelming life challenges\" they need not follow the Gospel and put into practice His teaching? Rather, would not Jesus transform such a person with His grace in order to be able to follow the Gospel? It sounds like the bishop has a bigotry of low expectations and does not believe in the transformative power of Jesus Christ to free us from sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is it that the Conservatives simply cannot grasp that every Canadian has the right to the benefits and protections of the Charter of Rights?\n.\nThe Premier of Alberta has correctly grasped that the Constitution applies all across Canada. Apparently the Catholic Schools in Alberta have not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except that certain Traditionalist and Tridentine Catholics are seen and heard to dissent when the pope called Francis says or does anything that does not fit THEIR moral \"standards,\" or their dogged, dogmatic expectations. It's their own standards, culled from The Catholic Catechism the Great, and the archives of EWTN that control.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ROFL! The influence the theocratic Christian right and their social conservatism weilds on today's GOP makes it miles away from anything libertarian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The greatest gift we have received is the gift of life, given by God through the action of our parents, refusing to fully partake in His creation by deliberately denying another the opportunity of life, is sinful and this sin is known innately by all of mankind.\n \nHow can the Church restore the full value of her teachings which have been rejected by so many over the last five decades through human weakness? Would it not be better to be honest by those who use contraception and acknowledge the Truths within Humanae Vitae in that they cannot live to its demands through human frailty?\n\nPlease consider reading my article Divine Mercy and Humanae Vitae. See link\nhttp://www.v2catholic.com/background/2015/04/2015-04-04Kevin-Walters-Divine-Mercy-and-Humanae-Vitae.htm\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rep. Ryan was helped with government assistance after his father passed away very early. You would think this would have shaped him to be far more compassionate to the unfortunate among us; but alas he has swallowed the Republican line all his political life. So sad he wears his Catholicism like a badge of courage while forgetting the call of the gospel to do for the least among us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Fr. Michael Crosby for what you had to say about the racial prejudice!\nLiving in the US for over 40 years as an Oriental Catholic women, I experienced the most \u2018majority\u2019 clergies including nuns practice racial prejudice knowingly or unknowingly. \n \nThe religious and lay Catholics who practice racial prejudice failed to get over their ego self since they boast themselves better then \u2018minority\u2019. \n\nWithout losing one\u2019s ego, well the \u2018union with God\u2019 is water under the bridge. Why settle for your home made false ego when you can have God. \u201cAnyone who wishes to follow me let him forsake himself (ego self).\u201d (Matthew 16:24) \n \nWell, I don\u2019t know how many Catholics desire to be united to God, however that is Catholics ultimate Goal. Why bother with your puny home-made EGO when you can have God? \n\"When you lose your ego, you are instantly in union with God\" said Fr. Thomas Keating. \nWhen you have God, everything God\u2019s is yours since in LOVE all things are shared.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think it is widely accepted that the Virgin Birth, the Bride and Bridegroom, and the resurrection of the young Lord are all pre-Christian motifs. Judaism had bread in their ceremonies, but even drinking wine was banned for certain types of their worship; drinking or eating blood was prohibited. I'm not sure which of my posts you are objecting to. This page puts Persian Mithraism at Tarsus in Paul's time and says he was catering to the 'Gentiles' there by incorporating elements of that religion such as drinking blood (http://jdstone.org/cr/files/paulandthepaganreligionofmithraism.html). Others dispute this point. Mithra's birthday was celebrated December 25. I've never heard of Jews 'imprinting' their bread with pictures, certainly not designs prohibited by their First Commandment against graven images. Whereas Jeremiah 44 clearly records imprinting on the Pagan bread. Maybe the bread and wine were already familiar to Pagans as these were whom Paul preached to, but who knows for sure?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Doesn't, actually. \n\nBut Iran's electoral system is interesting and has far more built in checks and balances than many other systems. Certain number of seats reserved for Jews, Christians & others for e.g.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The point of the 77 time 7 does not indicate the number of times we are to pardon. It simply indicates that we are always to pardon another.\nCatholic teaching needs to evolve. As our knowledge of the universe expands and deepens, out understanding of the Truth expands and deepens. Some things that appeared to be \"true\" before -- such as the idea that the sperm is the human being in miniature and is placed in a womb to grow -- are revealed not to be true. Catholic teaching that s based on outdated science needs to change. \nToo many of the men who are making decisions about what is \"Truth\" and what is not are not being honest with themselves and, certainly, are not being intellectually honest. The fact that so many reject certain of their \"teachings\" might indicate to them that there may be a problem with their perspective. But, sadly, those who decide simply become more entrenched in their view.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When the episcopacy and clericalism pull themselves out of their own muddy enviornment, perhaps we will be able to discuss how they might help us. As it is we have a very dark clericalism running the church and there will be Endless articles until that changes.... Or perhaps there will be so few who support these men that we will once again receive our sacraments from the laity as those who followed the Way of Christ did for generations after His death. Holy Orders is a man made structure as is the hierarchy and clericalism. They have not kept up with either progressive attempts at more spirituality or their leadership roll and badly need repair. Too bad you can not understand this ED.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course you\u2019re not \u201cchallenging\u201d anything. To do that you would outline your proposition, compare and contrast it to mine, and then establish the authority of your position by referencing the Church\u2019s teaching documents, \u201cmodern Catholic theologians\u201d, and so on.\n\nWhat you\u2019re doing is stating that you have a personal opinion. Period.\n\nAnd you have every right to state, and every right to hold it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Better\" can be meant in a number of senses. Contemplation is \"better\" in that it is \n analogous to our final end, that is, contemplation of God Himself in beatitude. This is echoed in Augustine's \"restless heart\" where Augustine finds contemplative rest in \"seeing\" the Divine. However, I think Our Lord is here getting at something else. His words do not mean that the contemplative life is a \"superior or \"better\" vocation or that those who choose a practical vocation are \"lesser.\" Our vocation is ours in an intimate, personal sense. It is what is \"better\" for us to do with our own life! Marriage is the best vocation for one called to be married. Religious life is the best vocation for one called to religious life. Christ is here defending the contemplative life, Mary's vocation, from attack by those who would say \"Do something useful with your life!\" Its not about the superiority of the contemplative, but about defending it as an authentic way to live out the Christian life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Mass has been ruined by too much singing.\n\nJesus did not start a supper club.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish that the bishops would put in the same energy into pushing for immigration law reform as they have previously put into culture war issues. Despite the fact that CLINIC exists and does an excellent job, many Catholics are woefully ignorant about the realities of immigration law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let me assist you. It was by Karl Rahner, given in his address at an American University on the occasion of his 72nd (I think) birthday. His speech was entitled \"A courageous, new, worldwide theology.\" It is set out in full at the end of Richard P McBrien's book, 'Catholicism.'\nHe also states in the speech that he looks forward to this new theology which will not simply turn the pages of our \"familiar friend, Denzinger\" but will break new ground, listening to the wisdom from the East, hearing also the cries for freedom in Latin America and listening to the sound of African drums beating.\nA wonderful piece of work. Such a theology also, he claims, will not demean those who have \"gone before us - whose grateful children we are...\"\nUnfortunately, we got Ratzinger instead. Personally, I wasn't very grateful about that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The majority of democrats have sent the message Faithful Catholics Need Not Apply", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rev. Julia Seymour sounds like a nice person. I thought the same about how Jesus Christ was described in Sunday school. This idealized behavior keeps the people agonizing over morality\u2026and in line! Meanwhile, the rulers, businessmen, politicians and priests who actually control things figured out long ago\u2026if they ignore religious teachings and screw over the people\u2026that \u201cGod\u201d (or circumstance) would make them wealthy, powerful and \u201csuccessful.\u201d With beautiful trophy wives and fine, healthy children (except for inbreeding). And behold: The people will not only work for but die for the rich in their wars for profit, plunder and power. The people will envy the rich and powerful\u2026worship them\u2026elect them to high office without regard to their morality or aptitude\u2026simply for being rich and powerful. And the religions will be right there with the rich and powerful\u2026as they have always been since they learned where the power really lies. It takes an apostate to be moral.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Didn't much help the indigenous people of North America that only a statistically few Christians out of all the Christians were the ones who hunted them down, put them on reservations, and took their children away. It's a package deal, they all come together.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jay, the issue that began our dialogue was you pointing out a nominal irony (liberal against ecumenism), and my reply distinguishing the standard use of \"ecumenism\" since V2 verse a very different notion of ecumenism identified in this article. \n\nYou have not wondered off into an attach on standard V2 ecumenism (E1) and a defense of the non-standard variety (E2), but you have mushed it altogether so it is very difficulty for me to isolate what you are on about. \n\nSo how about we talk only about E1 for the moment.\n\nIt's foundation is the cry of Jesus that We might be one! Do you agree that this is a powerful sentiment of Jesus that implicitly condemns the relationships between Christian Churches prior to V1? Yes or No.\n\nIf yes, then we will surely differ as to what caused this historical differences to emerge and become fixed in concrete. But side from causes, can we at least agree that E1 is a direct attempt to deal what Jesus laments? Is fostering good will among Churches a good thing", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was thinking of the Treaty of Tripoli, which says \"the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excuse me. Pointing a finger at others is unhelpful. The 'dire straits' of the Catholic Church are bigger than universities. All are equally obliged by the moral call of 'hypostatic union', that is, to be 'joined in understanding' - understanding our moral, Eucharistic place in the Naturalis Sacramentum Ordinis.\nIn common conscience, this moral call obliges everyone - to strive to be more 'godlike' in understanding. Churches need to rediscover morality in the context of global wasting, if humankind is to reverse self-destruction and be facilitated in Call to Com-munity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem is much more than the catholic/public split. The systemis all over the board.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have a point. There is 1 bishop for every 9,000 US Episcopalians; among US Catholics, there is approximately one bishop for every quarter of million Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ascended to heaven, required belief under the Creed. Do you think we could vector out from the center of the earth through the location of the ascension and thus locate heaven? After all, its in the creed, so heaven must be \"up\" from the point where Jesus ascended.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, the Archbishop has said he sorry, so now it is time to forget about this and move on. Mistakes were made, but it's all in the past and the church is not complacent and everything has been fixed. After all, there is a commission in the Vatican, hard at work on their website that chronicles the Church's long history of protecting children. Hopefully the clergy of Australia can recover from the harm done to them by this scandal and the Church will do a better job in the future controlling the laity when they try to cause scandal to the Church by holding clergy to a basic minimum level of decency.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 3\n\nIn his first interview as pope, an interview Francis gave to the editors of several international Jesuit publications, Francis was asked about this in coded language that every Jesuit would have recognized as referring to these Rules. He replied that there Rules were non-problematic for him, and by implication for all Ignatians, provided one understands \u201cChurch\u201d as defined by V2 in these Rules\u2014that is, as the Holy People of God, clergy and laity. Effectively, therefore, one is invited by Ignatius in our modern world, to bend over backwards to think in harmony with the WHOLE CHURCH, and the episcopal magisterium is only one (very important) component of that whole. That dramatically transforms the meaning of these Rules in our age of complex theological controversy. Effectively, one must not only consider the magisterium, but must also attempt to discern the thrust of the Spirit in the modern Church, and be obedient to that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can you all even see what \"conservative Catholics\" are doing from your perch high upon your moral mountaintop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Michael, based on your summary, I think the authors generalize about conscience way too much and give Europeans too much credit for superior conscience-formation. As a Catholic growing up in Europe, I can't say I witnessed an attention to conscience that was, according to your summary, less present in the US. For one thing, it's very dangerous to generalize about \"Europe\" and assume that what is true of Germany, for instance, would also be true of Italy or Poland or, for that matter, European Russia. One could make a good case that post-War Europe was conditioned more by competing political ideologies than by principles of conscience. I also question the idea that conscience in the US was made to suffer by American attitudes toward the war. If anything, I have found the American people to be more guided by conscience than my European friends. Having said that, I also have to say the authors may have done their homework better than what is reflected in this essay.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As we all know, right wing Catholics play identity politics all", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought this was a good letter. The author acknowledged each side of the issue. Because the writings of the Founders are varied and open to interpretation, the author chooses to move to a different proposal: We need a nation that allows freedom of religion and freedom from siding with any particular religion.\nOwens then goes on to note what happens in many countries where there is no separation of church and state. It's always surprised me that those who want a nation founded on one religion to be a nation of that religion, ignore the wide variety of religions we have, including the various takes on Christian religion. \nDoes this nation need a religion sanctioned by the government? Some people believe this is the only way to remain protected by the God of that religion. Ironically, adopting that religion means accepting this view of God that would forsake his followers for no longer being followers. To me, that just seems vengeful and based on superstition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic church says free healthcare for all is a fundamental human right? Where does the Church say this?\n\nIf the Church does indeed say this, I guess it means I can walk into any Catholic hospital and get totally free doctor visits, prescriptions, the whole medical meghilla no questions asked. Not a chance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"poor confused Protestant author\"\n\nDo you think you could be a little more patronizing? You and I both know that the average Catholic in the pew doesn't know the technical difference between a nun and a religious sister either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are engaging in a religious activity nowhere sanctioned in the New Testament. As I understand it this is a development over time that made human, especially clerical actions more important than our cooperation with the action of the Holy Spirit in and among and through the People of God, lay and clerical together. \n A careful reading of the Vatican II documents and statements of Pope Francis will show that the reform involves a return to the actions and words of Jesus as the basis for the mass and our common liturgical celebration. \n As an adult convert it was a long learning curve to become knowledgeable in Church history, the meaning and reasons for the Reformation, the split with the Eastern Orthodox, the development of hierarchy and theology and the meaning of the Vatican II reform. And REFORM is what it is about. \n You are resisting the Holy Spirit, in my view, as is everyone at EWTN, which I may assume you watch assiduously. May God bless you in spite of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah there it is. The double whammy of shaming the Catholic piety of MILLIONS throughout history accompanied by the elevation of sexual fulfillment to a \"need\" which must be satisfied at every turn. \n\nSpare me of the \"when did Jesus ever talk about the Rosary or when did he ever say anything about contraception\" stuff. Just be honest with yourself. Catholicism is what it is. It's REALLY difficult to accept. It's even more difficult to actually live out. If you don't want to adhere to the Church's perennial teaching which is incapable of change because it belongs to the revelation of Christ Himself through the Church then just cease to be Catholic.\n\nGive up the \"by golly I'll bend the Church's teaching to my will so I can stay Catholic the way I know it's meant to be\" bit and just own up to reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure where you are making up your stats from? The land in question was won in a War that was started by the Arab states. The question is getting peace, boycotting and sanctioning the State of Israel would not get Hamas or Hezbollah to believe in the right of Jewish or Christian people (or Muslims who practice differently then them) to exist or live in the middle east. Its not a solution, its just a way of trying to provoke another holocaust. The fact of the matter, is the only solution will be when both sides have leaders who want peace (similar to the peace between Egypt and Israel) and that is clearly not the situation now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pastor - or better yet shepherd, is an ancient image of the leader of a Catholic community. I even think Jesus may have used that image! I don't think most people here (myself included) have a desire for the church to be more Protestant, but rather to recapture the sense of the early church and not the triumphalism that became dominant post-Council of Trent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a perennial attitude problem in the church. John Paul II stated that women needed either a husband or Christ as a spouse to be complete. Augustine said that woman did not image God unless joined with her husband.\nFunny thing is, when I read the Creation story in Genesis, it was the MAN who was incomplete, whose life lacked purpose and meaning, who was alone, until he had woman as a partner.\nI propose the following attitude adjustments to Catholic thinking:\nMen and women equally need each other-not at all times and in all places in their lives, but they do need each other.\nThis need is not limited to sexual or spousal interactions, but requires friendship, professional, spiritual and co-worker relationships.\nAbstract femininity (\"Mother Church,\" projection of idealized femininity on Mary) is not an acceptable substitute for needing real women in one's life.\nThose who are served (usually men) must humbly recognize their dependency on those who serve them (usually women).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fran\u00e7ois Jourdan, French islamologue;\n\u201c...Islam is very frozen for many centuries and basically lack of freedom - today,\n it must be said clearly that we cannot build a society of one religion, Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist... or atheist. \nThis phase of human history is now overtaken by religious freedom and human rights. Secularism requires not the ban but the discretion of all religions in the public space as other citizens have the right to have another way of life. \nThis isn't the Koranic trend where Islam does not consider itself as other religions and must...DOMINATE !...\u201d\nSo, He said;\n\u201c...Secularism requires not the BAN but the DISCREATION OF ALL RELIGION in the public space...as others Citizens have the right to have ANOTHER WAY OF LIFE\u201d, \noui ?\nIslam does not consider itself as OTHER religions and MUST... DOMINATE !...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My comment was in answer to Betty Clermont's elaboration of Wesolowski's misdeeds. Everyone knows what he was accused of but never convicted in a criminal court because he died before he had the opportunity to clear his name.\nHis canonical trial and subsequent laicisation was a different matter as it was held under Ecclesiastical Law.\nWhen someone has died, his misdeeds should die with him and rather than subject his memory to further scrutiny, we should be calling for prayers for their soul. Surely that is the Christian thing to do?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please tell me where I \"judged\" anybody ? I am simply stating what the Bible says, and in case you have forgotten, it says Many will say Lord Lord....How about reading it again. This discussion stated with Crum stating that the majority of women who got abortions were Christians, to which I said just because a person claims to be a Christian that does not make him or her one. I am not saying every person who has an Abortion is not a Christian either, I am sure the opposite is the case. Paul claims to be a Christian, yet he refuses to believe in any of the five Sola's of the reformation, the primary one being Sola Scriptura (or by Scripture alone), if you disbelieve that you are not a Christian. Christ exalted God's word - Matthew 24:35.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For me, Summorum Pontifucum was the worst thing that has happened to our Roman Catholic Church in the last 20 years, along with Benedict being selected Pope. It allows people who want to live in nostalgia and the past to do so, rather than moving forward in faith as we were all called to do at Vatican II. God bless those who pine for the past, but I will go back kicking and screaming. Keep your chapel veils, your all Latin Masses, your ad orientem worship and fiddle back vestments. I want the Gospel challenge to love and care for all of my brothers and sisters on the journey. I pray I have the kindness to care for those like Eliane who love the old ways, they are my cross. Long reign Pope Francis and may Cardinal Cupich be his successor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem in Saskatchewan was the Public School Board initiating a lawsuit against the Separate (Catholic) School System and the Gov. of Saskatchewan because they lost some mostly elementary students, who were not baptized catholic when the Separate School System opened a school in a small town to avoid a 45 minute bus ride each way (Sask deals with large distances). The Public School Board as aggressor started that lawsuit 14 years ago and has spent over $6 million dollars doing so. I'm disgusted with their lousy stewardship of taxpayer's money and putting the children and parents behind their political ambitions. As they have stated: \" lower enrolment means fewer dollars for their Public School Board\". It's a sick way of that Board to spend public money.......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hillary Clinton is not anti-Catholic. Those emails which the Republicans dubiously claim are anti-Catholic were written by other people. \n\nIf you want to diminish the number of abortions, then support contraceptives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No degree enables me to read minds. I know MY answers, I asked YOUR answers. Why are you dodging my questions? I already provided a link showing three Christian churches built before Constantine. \n\nYour turn. Please answer my questions. If you don't, the inference will be obvious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why would anyone want to put on a musical about Pius X? The guy was a fundamentalist who set the Catholic Church back decades. There are so many other interesting saints that one could write musicals about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish I'd have read your post before writing mine. Until we recognize that Jesus became HUMAN and that human is THE criteria for our identification with him, we will have these issues in the Church. If all males are identified with Jesus automatically. No matter how tall, how heavy, which nationality or ethnic membership, languages, etc. Why is it so hard to understand that male and female, we are all human. And that humanity is what is critical.\n\nDoes anyone think that if Jesus had been female [\"Anna\"} , and had created all the uproar that got Jesus crucified, the Romans would have been deterred by the fact that \"Anna\" was female, and that they would NOT have crucified her as a result? And if good enough to be condemned like the historic Jesus was, why not good enough to live like Jesus and follow--and model him?\n\nPr Chris", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Harming the church\"...before agreeing with that claim, I'd like to know is how many Catholics stand with the Gang of 4, and how many with implementing AL. \n\nIf we have to depend on Catholic media (progressive or Trad) to tell us the answer, then we are just guessing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I never mentioned left or right.\nMy comments are not about what I think, they are about challenging you to spell out what constitutes being \"in Christ\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've done hundreds of hours of bible study, almost all with many people at the table. I can tell you with complete confidence that there is NOT one common reading of what most biblical passages mean. \n\nIf you can give me the verse you are referring to that would be cool, but it will NOT represent everybody's image of what a church should be. Reality says the Christian church has great diversity of both ideology and common practices/traditions.\n\nI will not impose my belief on you Always, nor will I insult you because you may not believe as I do. \n\nYou can get explanations of scripture if that meets your needs. For most people Sunday sermons, by a very human pastor, is enough. A church can show love and compassion and still disagree on the details of theology.\n\nDo you think churches that don't match your expectation, should not be called Christian?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Having been stuck fulfilling my Sunday duty at Our Lady of Guadalupe near the convention center I know what you mean about liturgy in your area. Maybe I should screenshot this and send it to the local clerics.\n\nSome of the doctrines you preach in your private catechism are rather different from orthodox Christian doctrine. Why preach them at all if the difference does not matter? But as I see it breakaway sects are always boasting their institutions over the Church. An oppositional posture and oppositional way of defining themselves drips from their literature, their websites, and (often) in person. SSPX is like this. You may not see it because it's like water to a fish. But every bit of it is the boasting of one institution over another. And it's why I use the word \"sect\" as opposed to \"denomination\" or \"church\".\n\nNoting that you are promoting a sect is useful in the discussion because what may be OK for a sect may not work for a church or even a mere denomination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2nd col 6;17-18 is very clear; BE YE SEPARATE SAYETH THE LORD, means exactly that. Surreal how s many Christians fail t grasp their own religion, having said that...I fully agree with the point of the author.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please go to a few of your favorite gospel pericopes for how Jesus interacts with people . At a certain point he decides to speak to the general population in parables. It is ultimately the eye , the lens through which one looks that makes all the difference . \nAs bishop of Rome Francis 'job is to make use of the authority entrusted to him . \nNo , I am not saying he refuses to do his job rather when the job gets very burdensome he carries the weight just as Jesus did and Francis accepts the approbium that comes with his decision .\nSome of the brethren are presently refusing to be confirmed in faith . They are self righteous but can repent of it !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That was not clear from either your first comment (\"The Gospel and the Catechism ...,\") nor from your reply to my first challenge, which seemed to be prepared to elevate the Catechism higher than the Gospel (\"Jesus left a Church to guide us, not a book\").\n\nWhat's more, describing them as both \"useful\" seems to continue the ambiguity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a retired Catholic Priest you of all people know what our faith teaches, that Abortion is an intrinsic evil that can never be considered. It does not matter what my conclusion is, but what God's final judgement is and the Church is very clear on that judgement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thou Shalt Not Kill -- simple Commandment by God himself-- get use to following directions, Christians. Thanks!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I pray that we can each encounter Jesus through our interactions with others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let me see, I concur with 1900 plus years of dogmatic tradition--consisting of three DE FIDE pronouncements and the universal and ordinary magisterium's constant teaching, while you hang your hat on the words of a \"purely pastoral\" {Pope Paul VI's qualification} document {Lumen Gentium} which claims that non Catholic cults can be a \"means\" of salvation--and I'm the one in schism?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"their demands for a special treatment\"\n\nA bit ironic that, since this is taking place in Quebec. And given that there are exclusively Catholic and Jewish cemeteries in Quebec and throughout Canada, the special treatment you complain about clearly doesn't unique to Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course! Sorry.\n\nJesus as Lamb of God was a Johannine innovation, and the Mosaic law required a Passover lamb with unbroken legs.\n\nExodus 12:46:\nIt shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the animal outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.\n\nBut yes, the Romans did break the lower leg bones during crucifixions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some churches (including Catholic churches) have rented pews to families and to individuals, and some churches have actually sold pews to their congregants, transferring ownership from church to congregant. And even apart from these developments, some attendees act as though they own the pew or their preferred portion of the pew! And similar attitudes prevail in some church parking lots! To begin at the very beginning -- a very good place to start! -- it's all God's space. And open floor plans and moving furniture around every now and then is a powerful reminder of that simple fact. Thank you, Rev. Ms. Schaper!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The person who drove into the monument is a christian! \"I\u2019m a firm believer that for our salvation we not only have faith in Jesus Christ, but we also obey the commands of God and that we confess Jesus as Lord,\u201d he says in the post. \u201cBut one thing I do not support is the violation of our constitutional right to have the freedom that\u2019s guaranteed to us, that guarantees us the separation of church and state, because no one religion should the government represent.\u201d\n\nDo you also condemn the christians who vandalize atheist and Satanic Temple monuments?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please pardon a statement of the obvious but the length and difficulty of this road should prompt us to devote more effort toward moving forward. The best example locally features a series of meetings between members of a non-Catholic congregation and of an Islamic center. Both the pastor and the imam routinely have to tread patiently and prudently amid numerous challenges. For example, no surprise but both groups include a few very vocal members who feel compelled to assert their deeply held views in a way that divides rather than that seeks common ground, goals, and understanding. We as Catholics can do more and the example of Jesus will serve us well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The unspoken is that immigration today is really a moral imperative, not driven by economics but by the every oozing sore of white liberal guilt. Liberals are loathe to admit that Canada, a country admired the world over, was built on a foundation of christianity and this drives the elitist arm of the left to distraction. Most Canadians view of multiculturalism consists of a trip to a festival and the whitewashed drivel on the CBC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oops, too late. No matter, reputations are of no import to the Vicar of Christ and the Princes of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "highconcept,\n\n That's right.\n The young are always idealistic, always want change, always want to express themselves freely even if they're just making drunken fools of themselves. \n That's what university is for.\n In the Reagan-Mulroney era, when universities became like MBA mills grinding out corporate drones - that was the time to worry the young had stopped being young. It was the saddest of times, a time of vitriolic anti-liberalism, fueled by Christian evangelism, that almost destroyed university controversy and a pivotal time when the concept of \"liberal democracy\" took a severe hit.\n Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, North America has been pushed ruthlessly to the far right by complete corporate takeover of government. The inevitable consequence is the corporate establishment extremism of Donald Trump posing as the fake savior of the oppressed and dispossessed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My intent was to demonstrate the dishonesty of the US media. Such a big deal over the KofM which previously was treated as an unimportant charity until the \"boogeyman\" Burke was dishonestly portrayed as a decisive protagonist. This was not confirmed by the three KofM officials who gave their own narratives. \nCompare this entire KofM episode of little importance to the complete media blackout - except for a few Catholic websites - of the pope's continuing efforts to reconcile with the anti-Semitic SSPX, \nBy the way, Burke is now using the notoriety the US media gifted him with in order to get involved again in politics. He met with Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy's populist right-wing Northern League, last week. http://www.lastampa.it/2017/02/03/vaticaninsider/ita/news/matteo-salvini-per-unora-e-mezza-dal-cardinale-burke-P7l3sobwvsEIXYFpEkVPYL/pagina.html Salvini is Trump's biggest supporter on the continent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The fervent christian conservative masses, believe anything spoonfed to them, denigrating anything connected to progressives, democrats and critical thinkers. Lying is the norm, and is unbelievably accepted in politics, used by republicans, denounced by democrats, who gain control of the media, then go on to lie, denounced by the republicans, who go on to win with lies, denounced by the democrats and so it goes.\nAmerica's ideals today, are no different than Imperial Roman Empire back when todays Christians jesus, was murdered at the request of the jewish temple priests who were in bed with the money changers and money lenders, as the jesus was a danger to the temple priests corrupt practices. Today America invades and occupies, other countries, so the capitalist system of corporations can go in and legally steal their resources, using our government to slaughter the Natives in the civilized manner of theft and murder. And as a result of our corrupt politicians, we are where we are", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You cannot continue to rest a case. Once you rest your case, you have concluded.\nWhy they remain republicans is complicated. I know some who are trying to fight the current trends. Others remain because they buy the fear being peddled. Some feel they have no choice because the democrats take positions they oppose and then declare that all who do not support those positions are evil and bad. When the other side declares your side evil, people tend to entrench. Personally, I don't see either side as being particularly devoted to the ideals expressed by Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"\"I think you know Cardinal Burke. His special attention was on adherence to church teachings.\"\"\n- This sentence is very charitable while at the same time pointing to the flaw in ArchbRaymond's perspective; that is, he did not adjust to his role as chaplain and papal representative to the Knights and Dames.\n- Boeslager clearly points to the sad fact that ArchbRaymond, removed from St. Lousi, dismissed from the Apostolic Signatura & other roles in the Holy See; now chaplain to the K&D of Malta, sacrificed his charge, the K&DofMalta, for his own purposes. These purposes do seem to be more political than charitable.\n- It is good that episodes such as these are transparent -- it is one way to counteract the scandal of epsicopal secrecy. Now, if all of ArchbRaymond's episcopal supporters would bravely declare their own names....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think Speaker Ryan has any grasp of what Christianity means.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To say that Matthew 15:4 proves that Jesus supported capital punishment is to ignore the context of that chapter. He wasn't affirming the death penalty. He was quoting the Mosaic law to show the inconsistency and hypocrisy of the Pharisees.\n\nTaking an isolated snippet out of Scripture is easy and anybody can do it to \"prove\" anything they like. But the preponderance of what Jesus said and taught in the Gospels clearly showed an ethic of mercy. It is unmistakable for anybody willing to take an honest look at the whole of the Gospels.\n\nBut, since you claim that Matthew 15:4 is clear teaching on Jesus' part, let me ask you this: Do you believe that we ought to put people who dishonor their parents to death? If you don't, then isn't it inconsistent to use that passage to try to support capital punishment for reasons Jesus didn't name?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are right on target. Francis makes ambiguous statements and people read into them what they want to see. This bishop, like all true catholics, recognizes that nothing has changed, nothing has ever changed, nothing will ever change, in the church. Change only brings confusion. Certainty, endless unchanging certainty, that is what Jesus taught and what the church has always taught.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I shouldn't be forced to have to cover the missing taxes from organizations like Prevo's church that declare themselves as non-profits, but in the meantime spend lots of money fighting abortion. There are people who oppose medical services as not being the will of God either, should we bow to their wishes and not offer any medical services to anyone? As a Christian I am infuriated by other Christians who do not really understand The Lord's message and want to impose their way of life on the public.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Erin, the missionaries actually arrived in Hawaii soon after Hawaiians overthrew the oppressive kapu system. The missionaries often worked quite hard to protect Hawaiians from exploitation and disease spread by whalers and other visitors. Contrary to your claim that the missionaries \"broke the language,\" they actually recorded the Hawaiian language in written form for the first time and promoted literacy in that language, thus helping to preserve it and empower Hawaiians to record their own thoughts, traditions, and aspirations. Yes, the missionaries sure looked down on much of Hawaiian culture, repressed its more sensual aspects, and used language to promote a dour form of Christianity. But they also viewed Hawaiians compassionately, as threatened people worth \"saving\" and educating to better cope with a changing world.\n\nHawaiians are free now to repudiate any religion at any time without fear, unlike in the kapu days, which really weren't so great for everyone.\n\nMerry Christmas!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Canute , of course, was a Danish Viking prince who conquered England uniting England with Denmark who was regarded by his courtiers to be all powerful.\n\nHe attempted to teach his couriers the limitations of secular power in the face of nature , by having his throne placed in the face of an incoming tide at the Wash....the tide came in despite his commands and he and his throne had to be withdrawn.\n\nHarland Bluetooth ( King Canute's grandfather) was a pagan( by modern logic a race) who by converting to Christianity changed his race.\n\nHarland Bluetooth's father , Gorm , was evidently of race A and his son changed from race A to race B by switching his belief system....odd how genetics works.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The irony, of course, is this is probably the best qualified group of judicial nominees in the history of the republic because they were pre-vetted by outside legal consulting groups. They are conservative jurists, but by and large, they are not ideological crusaders (contrary to what some Democrat senators may try to tell us). These are exactly the kind of persons we should want on the federal bench: intelligent, educated, and experienced, with deference to the Founder's original intent regarding the Constitution, and the intent of the U.S. Congress to federal law. They are Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish; women and men; white, black and Asian; but above all else, they are well qualified, and have not been nominated to fill quotas of identity group politics. The Democrat senator have no valid reason or rationale to oppose these nominees . . . except these nominees are not the usual bunch of ideologically motivated liberals who were nominated by the previous president.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Satan aka Samaul aka Lucifer aka The Fallen aka The Adversary aka the leader of Nephilim goes way beyond basic Christian teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is 2017. The influence and significance of Catholic and Protestant faith communities is dwindling rapidly. There should be one publicly funded education system. It should be non-denominational. Every taxpayer should be required to contribute to its operation. Any parent that chooses to send their child to an alternative school should pay for that chosen education.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Charles: you present both facts and opinions......Your historical facts are, unfortunately, all to accurate. With Manifest Destiny as our guide we moved those indigenous people who were \"in the way\"....those who refused to be moved were killed. After all, they were \"savages\" and refused to adopt the ways of Christian civilization. ...and, yes, we still bear the scars of centuries of slavery... our history is marred with indecency to \"others\".....others who are \"less than we are\".,.so that indecency doesn't really count. \n\nWe need to learn from the past...not ignore it, and not \"whitewash\" it. thank you for your post Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Christianity of New Way's Ministry is suspect with such a list being published.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW just couldn't resist having a pop at bishop Fellay. First of all, he is not in schism as the Pope has held that SSPX Masses (nuptial Masses desired by the spouses) are valid and licit and that Confessions to an SSPX priest are also valid and licit. So much for MSW's charges of heresy and schism. SSXP priests may also witness marriages on behalf of the Catholic Church if the local Ordinary permits them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What you write here is simply more of the Augustinian theology that in particular precedes Vatican II, and that, as Avery Dulles described, \"views the Church as far removed from a sinful world, with the Church as an island of grace in a world given over to sin.\" What a negative view that you attempt to spread over everyone! Even theologians such as Ratzinger and von Balthasar allowed for a greater openness to the world then you do. The \"tensions\" between the regressive reading of \"Amoris Laetitia\" and the embracing of it is rooted in that old battle for meaning between neo-Augustinians (against) and neo-Thomistic (for). In that light of understanding, AL is completely consistent with the aggiornamento of the Council, and is what +Wuerl is reinforcing. No one finds it \"confusing,\" really. It is the code word for resistance coined by Cardinal Burke. We know all about it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny, the description \"privilege-seeking, narcissistic, money-serving, pseudo-religious individuals who consider themselves apart and above the structures of Catholicism\" sounds almost exactly like someone who was relating he knew several members of this Order of Knights and some other posters who consider themselves apart and above the structures of Catholicism.\n\nBurke, btw, is not in the Knights. He is \"Patron\" to the Knights - the ambassador of the sovereign Vatican to the Sovereign Knights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wanting to do that isn't following the Bible (but, it seems Durand's equally concerned about atheistic fascism violating the Constitution...). Jesus told Christians to share the message of forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God through repentance, his lordship, and faith in his payment for our sins for us, but never wanted it physically or legislatively forced on others by his followers (Luke 9:5 \"If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.\u201d), and did not want moral behavior (not involving types of assault, i.e. murder, rape, theft, etc) enforced through penalties, an example being his getting a woman caught in adultery out of a death sentence (though he also warned that that type of behavior, continued (and really not just that, but a whole life spent violating all the Ten Commandments in thought and or action, and rejection of God), could land her eventually in hell, but aside from a warning, she walked free..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We have as much evidence for the actions of ancient Biblical figures as we do for ancient historical figures.\"\n.\nUh, no. Not so much.\n.\nThere is certainly Archaeological and textual evidence that many individuals identified in the bible existed as a matter of historical record corroborated by other sources. True enough.\n.\nBut the converse is not true.\n.\nThe bible gives no information on 5000 years of Chinese history, or Indian history, or Japanese history, or Norse or Gemanic history, or the history of the Americas, or of the history of Africa, and the people who lived in those places.\n.\nIt does not even cover the pre-Christian history of Troy, Athens, Sparta, or, largely, Rome.\n.\nThe actual historical record, incomplete as it may be, is vastly greater than the sagas of one set of tribes in the fertile crescent recounted in the Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Will wonders never cease? Mr. Sorensen has written something entirely reasonable and factual. He said \"What we should know for a certainty is this. Once you take a position and defend it publicly, it is almost impossible to admit you are wrong and \"repent\" and change your mind.\"\n\nThis is true with individuals. It is even \"more true\" with religious bodies. Once a religious institution (Protestant, Catholic, Seventh-day Adventist, etc.) makes a pronouncement about \"The Truth,\" writes it down, defends it for years and years and centuries, etc. in public, it is almost impossible for that religious body to admit that they made a mistake at the beginning when someone thought up such a bright theological idea. \n\nIMHO, like those who created some early Roman Catholic theology, those who created early Adventist theology made very some poor choices. Trying now to correct things like the Investigative Judgement doctrine is now almost impossible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's avoid another 100 posts about abortion. Can we, at least, acknowledge that both medical science and most religions in the world do not view the start of life in the same way as what is articulated here. Add to this that even catholic politicians must govern in a pluralistic society and aim for the common good - not the position of the catholic church. Would recommend that folks go back a few months and re-read what Cathy Kaveny wrote at dotCommonweal - essentially, too many catholics have an almost *cultic* viewpoint when it comes to contraception or even abortion and that cultic viewpoint violates Dignitatis Humanae from VII.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All popes from St Peter down were infallible, Vatican I simply confirmed this fact.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pray in front of the crucifix or imagine Jesus walking toward Jerusalem, he said, and \"ask for the grace to have the courage to follow him up close.\"\n\nPope Francis is saying the most old school \"take up your cross\" talk. Why aren't the rightwing posters who swarm this website posting here in praise of Pope Francis?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is what the UN said, when someone took Ontario funding of Catholic schools, but no other brand of superstition, to the UN. Fund them all or better yet fund none.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ND should acknowledge the absolute moral authority of our Bishops, and invite the man they endorsed as most representative of the values of the Catholic Church to speak to them. To do otherwise implies that the Will of the Bishops may be discounted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I couldn't agree with you more. When I see pictures of poor Syrian refugee children I feel ashamed that as a Christian nation we are not doing more to help.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read the article in the Morning Briefing of today about what Christians go trough in Egypt and then compare that to the USCCB's whinging about alleged threats to their \"religious freedom.\" As I said elsewhere: what a crock of spit!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can't really think of a penance that is equivalent to giving up meat, so just give up meat. \n\nI think there was a good intention in making the penance something the individual thinks up, but the execution was lacking. \nWe also lost the aspect of giving up something communally which was bad for our sense of a shared Catholic identity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The author makes a great point that one way (possibly the best/only way) to defeat racism is to get to know each other. However, much of the rest of the article is based on a cursory understanding of Christian and Catholic history. For starters, confusing dislike of Irish immigrants due to race is erroneous as it had little to do with race and instead with their Catholic religion. The author acknowledges such, but doesn't clarify that it wasn't racism but rather \"religion-ism\". Frankly, the mostly protestant people of early North America had good reason to be fearfull and distrustful of Catholics as they had just recently escaped the political, pseudo-religious iron thumb of the Cathalic church in Europe. The rooting out of heresy by the Catholic church started in the late 1100s and waxed/waned and persisted until the mid-1800s. If people had escaped from nearly 600 years of persecution for their religious beliefs, its fairly understandable that they would react less than favourab", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Considering all the \"lame\" popes there have been over the centuries, perhaps it is time to rethink the validity of the papal office itself. On the whole, a Church founded on Peter's confession makes infinitely more sense anyhow.\n\nAdditionally, curious why Cyprian warned 87 bishops at the Council of Carthage (3rd century) that none should set himself up as \"bishop of bishops\" --in response to then Bishop of Rome Stephen's claim to have supreme authority over other bishops from apostolic, catholic churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a Catholic. I belong to the Church founded by Jesus Christ Himself, who told it to go out and teach all the nations, and promised to guide it into all truth by giving it the Holy Spirit.\n\nIn the history since we have seen not dozens but literally hundreds of pied pipers who have said what you're saying, and other fanciful things, and the results have universally been \"less than satisfactory\" at best, and catastrophic at worst.\n\nYes, you are entitled to your opinion. No, I will not be joining you. Good luck with whatever it is you think you are doing and I hope it works out for you in a positive way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You do realize that being called a Protestant is not an insult, don't you? We Christians are called to unity, a state which does not require uniformity. Jesus has given us Two Great Commandments, to love God and to love our brothers and sisters. Nothing about dogma, nothing about doctrine, nothing about rituals, rules, and rites. Just love. That's all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At the age of fourteen, I promised God that I would give the merits of any good that I did for Him to use for others' benefit. And I ceded away all my \"eternal fire-protection\" at the same time. I didn't know much about theology at aged 14----but I do now. I did the right thing then. I rest on the mercy, forgiveness and love of God. My family and friends KNOW this. At my funeral, I want the priest to do all to comfort them---I'll be fine.\n\n\nYour ideas of God are that He is a 'quid pro quo' god. Your god is nothing but a supreme, eternal agent of the IRA who tells us \"I'll only forgive you, when you've earned it.\" That's not forgiveness---that's a mental construct of someone who has not pondered the words of the Lord's prayer. \"Forgive us our trespasses AS we forgive those who trespass against us.\"\nJesus demonstrated for us over and over again. Two-thirds of Jesus' teaching is directly or indirectly about forgiveness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ted there is a lot in there so let's unpack it:\n\n1. The Qu'ran also says nice things about Christians, and the sort of Christians Muhammed was dealing with are the sorts of Catholic-Byzantium Christians Adventists traditionally taught were in Babylon. The NT says some horrible things about Jews too if you cherry pick. \n\n2. \"Muslim\" and \"Islam\" literally mean in Arabic to be submissive to God. Technically, Adventists are Muslims. And what exactly is a \"Christian\"? Who says a \"Muslim\" culturally cannot also be an \"Christian\" at the same time? \n\n3. Your approach seems akin to a Christian supporting Jews-for-Judaism against fellow Messianic-Jews. Your approach reminds me of Acts 15 where some said it was impossible for Gentile-Christians to be part of \"Israel\" without full conversion to Judaism. \n\n4. Re the Trumpets, Rev 9:4 suggests these Islamic invaders are not evil but doing God's work: \"The locusts were not to hurt these pure commandment-keeping people\" (Amazing Discoveries)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A reference to cellulite I am sure. Point is, abortion was not only allowed, it was mandated if adultery was suspected. Joseph was actually within his rights to disown Mary publicly, make her drink the bitter waters to abort the Christ and have her stoned. He did not do so, but it was within is rights under the law. Jesus did not abolish the law until he destroyed the temple in three days, but he echoed that act of mercy given to him in his dealings with the woman caught in adultery. People assume they pulled her out of bed, but she may have just been pregnant. Like fighting Eugenics from the Papal Throne, there is a huge difference between stopping mandatory abortion and criminalizing it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many Jewish citizens of Israel can enter Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE Libya, Yemen Syria Lebanon,? None, unless on diplomatic mission . How many Christian are allowed into Mecca? None at all. . Trump is just returning the favour Muslims have practiced for centuries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Surely they have Catholic hospitals in Mexico. His Excellency has access to lots of money, and can simply fund the child's treatments himself, after the family does the right thing and moves back to from whence they came. \n\nHis Excellency has the dough. He shouldn't be trying to finagle a way to have other people do his acts of corporal mercy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who knew that Carlson was such a good journalist. Too bad he did not follow up and ask who the promise to cut taxes on the rich was made to. The answer is the donors. Ryan would call them job creators, which is odd considering his family\u2019s business was state road paving.\n\nFake news is necessary to keep the right wing masses distracted from the fact that they are supporting a tax and health care reform agenda that makes and keeps them much worse off, even if that agenda is particularly and increasingly ugly. It hardly appeals to the better angels of their nature. It also distracts from the deep personality flaws of der Leader.\n\nJoe Kennedy shows that the best socialism is the Christian kind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are lots of poor.\n\nthose poor in desire\nthose poor in contrition\nthose poor in gratitude\nthose poor in humility\nthose poor in fortitude\nthose poor in generosity\nthose poor in faith\nthose poor in formation\nthose poor in hope\n\nyou seem to shrink the message of Jesus down to a little proof text, and worse, to shrink the demand on God on us to nothing at all. God demands from us because He wants to give us great and real dignity. Not oprah level accolades.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There should be a path to citizenship for people like her.\nThere are many 'Christians\" in the USA but little Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And this kind of thinking right here is a major problem -- Westerners thinking the rest of the world should just be like us, and leaving them alone wont cause them to infiltrate us at a vulnerable time. It will not happen in our lifetime. That is a fact. Although, if we are putting blame out there for disrupting a culture in such a heinous way, we can trace it back to the Christians. Evil MFs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a lifelong Catholic making the shift from young adulthood to whatever comes next , I see Bishop Tobin's prescription to young adults leaving the church (more faith!) seems based on his own frustration and negative attitude towards that population, and towards those leaving the Catholic Church in general. Jesus certainly expressed this frustration, as Bishop Tobin quotes from Luke 18.\n\nHowever, in the very next verse in Luke, Jesus begins the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, which he addressed to \"those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else\" (Luke 18:9). As Jesus spoke of the need to acknowledge one's own sinfulness to receive justification and place in God's Kingdom, so must all of us as Catholics, both as individuals and as Church - Bishop Tobin included. In castigating an \"entitled generation\" for their supposed lack of faith, Tobin places himself as the Pharisee rather than modeling how true humility can better serve God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 of 2\nWhen we embraced within our own hearts His Inviolate Word \u2018Truth\u2019 it should induce humility, if it does not we are not been honest with ourselves.\nJesus walks before us with the lamp of Truth held high above the spiritual path of transformation and calls to us \n\u201cTake my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart\u201d:\n\nI believe the way forward for the Church is in trust and humility, where we all can be as one, before our Creator.\nPlease consider continuing in the link and links within\nhttp://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2017/10/15-october-28th-sunday-in-ot/#comment-91945\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Shame on you and those who think like you. Most un-Christianly! Hatred and racism is illegal in Europe. Maybe we should add that to the Bill of rights. It is already in the gospels or have you people not read it there?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have no need to read articles. I am a True Catholic. I do as I am told by the US Bishops, and when they do not speak, I do my best to do what I think these Courageous Men would want me to do, although I prefer it when I do not have to think.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Johnson: \n\nI am no surrogate for the Ark of Safety Christian Fellowship. As a matter of fact, although I attend church services at least once a week, I would never consider attending services at the Ark, and not because it would be a long drive! Rather, that is because the Ark of Safety is one of thousands of by-products of the Radical Reformation, which followed the Magisterial Reformation, which itself started 500 years ago this year (in 1517). \n\nMartin Luther and John Calvin retained some of Sacred Tradition in their theology, but the radical reformers jettisoned most of it, adhering only to the Holy Scriptures, although they started to read them by their own lights. It is their faithfulness to the Scriptures, though sometimes skewed, where their theology and that of the ancient, undivided Church of East and West often overlap.\n\nI am no scholar, but if you must know the bone fides of my education, I hold bachelor's and master's degrees.\n\nShisaisama", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The U.S. government cannot initiate any registry of any religion. We already have a registry of sorts in our immigration records and in the IRS list of tax deductible organizations. Why would the USCCB be involved in that and what could it possibly say within its competence?\n\nI generally advise organizations and people to obey the law and, if they think it to be a bad law, to work to change it. Anyone has a right to contest an administrative order, and that includes Catholic colleges.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The first Kingdom of Israel was established about the 11th century BCE, split about 930 BCE, and was conquered around 634-641CE. \nThe Jews in the region have lived under foreign rule until the UN General Assembly considered \u201cthe question of Palestine\u201d at the end of WWII.\nIn 1947, a proposal was made by the General Assembly of the UN to replace the British Mandate with \"an independent Arab State, an independent Jewish State, and the City of Jerusalem ... the last to be under an International Trusteeship System.\u201d The Jewish Agency, representing Jewish community, accepted it. The Arab League and Arab Higher Committee of Palestine rejected it. \nWhat resulted is what one side calls \u201cthe two-state solution\u201d and the other side sees as \u201ca two-state intrusion.\u201d The evasive fantasy dream is compromise and cooperation Contention and conflict are the on-going realities. Tragically and perhaps even fatally, the combatants are the children of Abraham, Jewish, Christian and Muslim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's what lies behind the crucifixion of Christ - the rejection of God and His revelation by a vociferous . crowd manipulated by those with an agenda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is hardly irrelevant to a discussion about an article by a Catholic priest to Catholics about what position the American church and American Catholics should adopt in the way of compromise on an important issue.\n\nBtw, the USA is not a secular anything.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Because people who disagree with us are all Bad\". Seriously? While there is some excessive ad hominem attack in there as per usual for MSW, his basic point seems unassailable: this is a Dubia Part II publicity stunt and powerful evidence in support of Spadaro/Figueroa's general observations. These brothers and sisters in Christ are just playing games here and using the Pope to try and raise their profile and $. Whether the HF should still take them up on it might be a slightly closer question, but this is ultimately not that big of a deal in life of the universal church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really - cutting edge - probably not given the current USCCB Republican/Evangelical tilt.....they do worry about their careers. (think Theology of the Body (joke); abortion focus; same sex marriage focus; fortnigh for freedom (joke)\nAlso, much of the experts doing this work are not ones to seek the limelight or put their work into tweets\n\nBoston College - read anything by Cathleen Kaveny\nhttp://www.bc.edu/church21/about/issues.html\n\nSMU - Charles Curran (yes, he is way past retirement age and has emeritus status)\n\nCharles Camosy\n\nJohn Carr (note - he is not a Reverend)\n\nRev. Daniel G. Groody, an associate professor of theology at Notre Dame University, said the wall would lead to a loss of life as migrants are forced to find other ways to escape poverty across the border.\n\nMuch moral theology discussions now happening via ecumenical/interfaith\n\nAlso, catholic moral theologians are trying to move away from the decades long JPII pre-occupation with *pelvic issue* as the moral centerpoint", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh I don't know...some of the most beautiful art, architecture, music etc all came from religious Europeans and most contained religious subject matter. The problem is Islam's fundamental tenents that lead to craziness. Christians went through a reformation centuries ago but I fear Islam never will.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Insular for sure. Surely we have a right to expect more creative thought and high level reflections on major social change.\n\nSurely the first thought ought to be that teriary education of all sorts have now become more or less essential for everyone. Just as the decision was made by our ancestors that an educated population benefited everyone, just like fire and police services, etc., so the state taxes ought to pay the cost for education up to secondary graduation, so now the time has come to for the very same reasons to extend this to all forms of postsecondary education.\n\nThe role of Catholic educational institutions within that future is a further relevant question. My preference would be to see Catholic postsecondary resources used more effectively by becoming federated colleges or theological faculties in secular institutions rather than self-standing universities.\n\nIf such thoughts are to big for administrators, then institutional death may not be an entirely bad thing????", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow. Thank you for sharing this. It is so helpful and (graceful) to hear the struggles of a family that many times mirror our own family struggles. Phew! I am glad I am not alone.\nSo sad though because in my heart I don't think \"the great falling away\" had to happen. This happened to Mary Reed Newland's family. Her books on families and the liturgical year are used by some Catholic homeschoolers and families whose views are skewed toward traditionalism.\nThis is a sad commentary on the inability of holy female voices being unable to be heard by \"The Church\". The offspring of loving, caring women who brought creativity and love to the worlds around them had such a hard time because their mothers' words were not only not listened to they were ignored and rejected. And I am including her so many mothers and strong non mothers as well!\nI wanted to cry for David! So, so unnecessary!!!!!!! Thanks again.\nWe can do better than this!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The opening line of this opinion statement is a broad based intolerant smear at Christians with no substance. Using terms like \"appears to be a lingering Nazi-salute\" is outrageous and has nothing to do with the Muslim families referenced in this article. \n\nNice try, but the authors true hatred of anyone she disagrees with gives her permission in her own mind to tar them with a broad brush. \n\nThis is no different than saying something like \"100 Christian families died when a church was set on fire in Pakistan and on the other side of the Country the local Iman encouraged everyone to join ISIS. These 2 stories are not related, but tied together as a smear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I recall Jesus instructions to his followers included: be academics, hole up in a school somewhere, engage in esoteric debate, produce nothing but writings to be read by other academics. These men should be heeded as they most represent what Jesus wanted Christians to be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1 - A notion that \"freedom of religion is 'an insanity'\" was never a Catholic dogma.\n\n2 - In context that phrase itself in the original language made complete sense in a way completely compatible with Vatican II. There is one Church and it is the means of salvation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I took his video as being against Trump, and therefore wanting Catholics to vote against Trump... \n\nHe talked about Religious freedom, of ALL faiths... that is the opposite of what Trump has talked \nabout. \n\nNow, I am an ex-Catholic, and an Atheist... but, I took his message as a positive \nmessage against Trump, and in support of Hillary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many Roman Catholic theologies are there? Is Cardinal Cupich on the same page as Archbishop Chaput? Using periodicals as examples, you have the theologies of America, the Reporter, the Register, Crisis, and Our Sunday Visitor. The ELCA is in full communion with the Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, the UCC, and most mainline churches. I bet that this web of ELCA communion partners is more in agreement than the Catholic church. I'd rather be in a Church that allows other churches to have their own identity and still be in communion with each other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 of 2\nCommencing in Rome by recapturing (Staging) the original ceremony by displaying the present self-serving blasphemous Divine Mercy Image an image of Clericalism, then remove (Destroy) it publicly and re-place it with the true image an Image of Broken Man and in humility venerate it in a symbolic way that cannot be misunderstood by mankind, then re-enact this action with the help of the bishops throughout the whole Church (World).\nThis act of humility cannot be feigned as it bears witness to the Truth and would go a long way in healing so many wrongs wrought by the church. From this base one of humility new structures would be formed based upon Truth and justice for all of her children both male and female. \nIf my proposal were to be accepted the Church would then be able to show the true face of Jesus Christ, a God who is just and merciful, at the same time, a loving God, who holds us accountable to the consequences of our actions. \nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, a Pope who continually berates Catholics who follow the orthodox teaching of the Church, who year on year publicly goves a tongue-lashing to his Curia, who encourages dissent from the Church's teaching yet is ruthless with those who don't agree with him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought Christmas was just the Christian version of Solstice, which pre-dates Christ and celebrates the return of the sun. But hey, that's just astronomy or whatever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If a priest is told something, even in the confessional, that could stop a murder, rape, or molestation of a child, to me, it's his Christian duty to reveal it to the police.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If that were true, we'd be seeing a \"Francis Effect\" for the last few years. Catholic churches filled to overflowing because of the new Pope's progressive message! Didn't happen. In fact, Francis has produced zero uptick in church attendance.\n\nSo your theory doesn't really work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These kinds of bible studies like to wallow in the myths of the OT, and extrapolate conduct from those myths. If the NT is studied, it is only Paul. Jesus is a concept, not a guide to conduct. He is invoked, but prayers are to the angry and vengeful god of the OT. Jesus' teachings are filtered and altered as necessary. I've been through some of these studies. They are not christian. They are their own religion, adopting Jewish myths as fact and supporting conduct abhorrent to the teachings found in the gospel. Prosperity gospel is a subset of this religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How brave, to show the world that you can't bear to listen to the Vice President, who is by all accounts an honorable man.\n\nAnd this is happening at one of the foremost Catholic universities. They should all get a little snowflake symbol appended to their diplomas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why, the Catholic church has been a good friend? This is exactly the sort of forward thinking people have been demanding from Islam, and, when it actually arrives, they STILL complain?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope Spielberg will follow this up by making a movie or two, or more, on the Righteous Gentiles who either traded their own lives for the lives of Jewish mothers and fathers, or who hid thousands of Jews in their homes at the risk of losing their own lives. Maybe he could do a film on Don Aldo and the Franciscan friars, sisters, Poor Clare nuns, and residents who hid and saved hundreds of Jews in Assisi. Perhaps he could travel to Le Chambon and do a film on the French Hugeunots who allowed their population to double because of all the Jewish refugees they welcomed and finally saved. How about doing a film on Pope John XXIII who, as Vatican diplomat in Turkey, issued thousands of baptismal certificates to, and saved the lives of, a significant number of Eastern European Jews? I am by no means diminishing the horror of the story of Edgardo Mortara, but I'm tired of one sided stories.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the main reasons that the Reformation/Counter-Reformation became so divisive and so deadly is that the leaders of the secular power structure in Europe at the time used the divisions in the Church to further their own secular ambitions. And of course, many of the Shepherds-in-Chief were part of the Church's power structure and the secular power structure at the same time. This is something that probably needs to be continually guarded against to this day, if Christianity's institutional brokenness is ever to be repaired.\nOn the other hand, the Body of Christ probably does not need institutions in order to thrive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joan Chittister is an individual citizen telling us who she would support and vote for. The bishops are the leaders of large group of Catholics divided among themselves. The bishops made no effort that I can see to represent their entire constitency or to find and foster common values. Instead they chosen one value over all others and suggested there was some obligation of all Catholics to vote not hat one value.\n\nDo you see the difference?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like Dick and Jane, the BC is a place to start to learn the basics. Not too many four- and five-year olds are ready for \"The Anatomy of Melancholy\" or \"Fear and Trembling\", just as none too may Catholics are ready for the documents summarized by the BC or even the current catechism. The catechism is a summary of the faith, not its sum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Under the U.S. law, there may be a right to use birth control, but there is no right to force the Catholic Church as an employer to pay for it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mass is a participation by Catholics in the most holy and solemn sacrifice of Golgotha where silent worship, reverence, and remembrance of Our Lord's suffering on the Cross, His death in expiation for our sins, and His joyous resurrection are celebrated.\n\nMass is not a hospitality fest or a meet and greet. \n\nAt its conclusion, Catholics may socialize at coffee hour.\n\nContrary to what our culture teaches, it's just not all about us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Why did you vote for Trump?\" Apparently the answer is \"abortion and all things abortion related.\" OK, I get it. You don't like abortion. Are there other things you don't like, things your Catholic conscience simply cannot support? Sure there must be something. \n\n\"The mainstream media, including progressive Catholics, think we are \u2014 like President-elect Trump \u2014 intolerant, racist, and misogynistic.\" I'm not that interested in what others think. What do you think? If you vote for a racist are you racist? If you vote for a misogynist are you misogynistic? If you promote Islamophobia, homophobia, xenophobia, are you culpable for all those things? You should at least consider the possibility that in your zeal for purity on the abortion issue you voted for a candidate who is seriously, morally stained on other issues and by casting your vote for him you take on a part of his moral deficiency. You could have cast a protest vote, or refused to vote at all, but you didn't. You voted--badly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"To be clear: Every bishop is concerned about religious liberty, as they should be, as all Americans should be. The question is whether the histrionic approach to the issue is truthful or helpful.\"\n\nTraditionalists seized upon religious liberty not because they care that much about religious liberty but because it provides a backdoor for tackling their Top 4 or 5 Sex Topics. What is scandalous is that they believe they have a right to impinge upon the civil liberties of others by making decisions for people outside a Catholic religious framework.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) As an undergraduate, I knew enough to know jargon-laden gibberish when I saw it. Sociology, in particular, has obtained an even stronger reputation for jargon-laced BS over the past 40 years. I'm surprised you don't know that. \n\n2) What literate people say about legal writing being crammed with legalistic jargon is generally true.\n\n3) Ideally, softer sciences teach in a way that leads us to God. I recognize that in a pluralist secular society, state-run universities cannot do that. \n\n4) I agree, chasing the almighty buck is not a God-centered life. Which is why I said that since the main meaning of life is more important to a Catholic than a bridge, it would seem that \"a well-taught, Christ-centered philosophy degree is more valuable than an engineering degree.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I like that it combines a traditional Hawaiian practice with solid Christian principles. It is worth a try.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can't say what criteria Jesus used in choosing the apostles. I do know that the institutional Catholic Church discriminates by not ordaining women. I do not confuse Jesus and the institutional Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With no disrespect to the mother of God, the myth of Immaculate Conception only came about when St. Augustine sexualized original sin by misunderstanding the Eden myth, which talked about blame more than disobedience. He also was likley badly chatechized on the origins of the Book of Genesis. His work was to support a platonic sexual ideal that haunts us to this day. If original sin is blame and not disobedience (there were no \"first parents\" who went from Bushmen to some golden age of human perfection), the doctrine is not necessary. Platonic sexuality is not necessary, indeed, it arises from the take over of the Church by people who would now be called Asexuals. Not holy, just different. This also kills the necessary claims to that ideology that Simon, Jude and Salome were not Mary's other children or that Jesus was not married to Mary Magdalene and prior to his ministry, the rabbi of Capernaum. Assuming his asexuality was wishful thinking by Aces.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have many \"inconvenient\" sayings of Jesus. This saying was based on the fact that divorced women had next to no options after their husband kicked them out of the house. Most divorced women had no means to support themselves EXCEPT to go into prostitution. But too many people, who don't study the social history of the times [which also shaped the writing of scripture], don't seem to understand that the official church taught many addenda to the Divine Teachings. The Church permitted folks to kill, to steal, to lie [it all just depended on the circumstances]. \n\nHow has Newt Gingrich [now a Trump ally], been able to break up with his first wife [while she was being treated for cancer] and while married to his second wife---had an affair for eight years with Callista Bisek, a devout Catholic, before marrying her in church? Now she is about o take up the post of Trump's new ambassador to the Vatican. Not to be outdone, Steven Bannon divorced all of his three wives as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "After 40 years of the U.S. Bishops teaching that there is only ONE issue, abortion, the Catholic stops listening to the Gospel as soon as they hear the words \"unborn child\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "EWTN thinks Catholicism is a reality TV show. Of course they like Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Only people power can protect our democracy from Trumpism\"... yes, and unfortunately grassroots people, accustomed to millennia of religious/ political dominion, are not able to claim their birthright. Maybe the time of change is now with Roman Catholicism making an about turn from dominion theology under pope Francis, facilitated with communication being inclusive, instantaneous and global.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Social justice issues would be harder to advance without such activism by Catholic nuns who are personally front-and-center; identified as individuals by name and face. The nuns are to be commended and emulated.\n\nAnd social justice issues would be even better off if the Catholic bishops would stop hiding as a group behind press releases and position papers. They come off as cowardly, uninspired, unsure of the moral issue involved, and protective of their individual privileges of social status and relative wealth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They will have to move outside the Church to find youthful catholic opinions, useful ones, anyway.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The first paragraph speaks the truth. That paragraph seems incomplete, though. \n\nIt should finish with -- \"The voices of the priest and bishops are marginalized because it is pretty well accepted that, as a group, they do not have the courage of their convictions. It is further expected that the bishops and priests will follow-the-money. And the moneyed class is now in total power; presidency, congress, and the courts -- all with the blessing of the majority of religious-affiliated citizens, including the majority of Catholics.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis also could be indirectly reminding American Catholics, especially white Catholics who voted for Trump in great numbers, to remember the poor, not to forget them. After all, according to Robert Jones, chief executive of the Public Religion Research Institute (and author THE END OF WHITE CHRISTIANITY): \"...the wall of white Christians held.\" That same article in today's N Y TIMES (11/12/16) continues: \"White evangelicals make up 26% of the American electorate, and 81% of them voted for Trump....Catholics, who make up 23% of the electorate supported Mr. Trump over Ms. Clinton by a margin of 52% to 45%.\" White Catholics, however, voted for him in far greater numbers (\"67% to 26%,\" according to the article). Ralph Reed, of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, adds: \"There is no way he [Trump] had a chance without the pop of that Catholic vote.\" Sadly, the Democrats underestimated the anger of many white Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To continue: this is a cause celebre for me, a prophetic (!) mission, to make the point that the editors and contributors at the NCR are betraying a tragic ignorance of church history. The actions of JPII even early on in his pontificate were so arbitrary and authoritarian, so uncivil, if you will, that great damage was done to the episcopate the effects of which contributed in no small way to the polarization of the church. \n There was such a thing as the PEOPLE OF GOD. The liturgy was designed so that the laity could, in their participation, share in the priesthood of Christ. There was supposed to be a sense of collegiality where the Bishops could share their gifts with the church and the world-urbi et orbi. The chair of Peter was to be a brotherly overseer, an enabler, the first among equals. JPII came on like a bull in a Chine shop (cliche) and began the process of what became the RESTORATION of Papal supremacy, with tragic results for the spiritual health of the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a reason why the bishops don't talk tough to Catholic politicians who support legalizing abortion. It's because abortion was not legalized by Congress. It was legalized by the U.S. Supreme Court striking down state laws criminalizing abortion. The only way to again criminalize abortion is to change the composition of the Supreme Court, a slow, indirect process since Justices are appointed for life. This is the reason why, although I am socioeconomically liberal, I vote for Republican presidents who are more likely to appoint pro-life justices. - whenever I can justify such a vote. (lI voted Democratic in the last election.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Along with Pope Francis visiting Fatima, \u201cthe word of God continued to spread and grow\u201d(Acts 12:24). \u201cO God, let all the nations raise you!\u201d (Psalm 67:4) as the author of all truth, even on this the first full day for the fired F.B.I Director James Comey. \u201cMay God have pity on us and bless us; may he let his face shine upon us. So may your way be known upon earth; among all nations, your salvation\u201d (Psalm 67:2-3). \u201cFor what I say, I say as the Father told me\u201d (John 12:50). Liturgy of the Word, Reading 281, Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Easter I", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mark,\n\nWhen I said, \"Catholics trusting in Jesus' Word (Holy Scripture/Commandments/Statutes) and not man's understanding, I was referring to Jeremiah 17:9, \"the heart is deceitful above all things, who can understand it?\" In other words, our sinful natures cannot be counted on. Man today thinks he is either equal or perhaps even better than God - he relies more on his own understanding rather than relying on the Word of God. In Proverbs 3:7, it says \"Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.\" We cultivate God-trusting hearts by meditating on Holy Scripture, going to Holy Mass as often as possible (not only on Sunday) and receiving Jesus in the Holy Eucharist in the state of grace, asking God's forgiveness, mercy and grace through the Sacrament of Confession, by kneeling before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and by asking our Blessed Mother to pray for us by praying the Rosary (especially helpful for those struggling with the sin of impurity (sexual sins).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is your basis for knowing about Christ ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mat Su CONservative government in its finest examples. The haven for anti-government, anti-tax, anti-everything except their own government pay checks and pie-in-the-sky government-funded schemes. Modern Hole-In-The-Wall criminal gang enclaves combined with Old South Fundamentalist Christian Plantation mentality stuck in the 18th and 19th century mindset. We cheat everyone else and pass the savings on to ourselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also, I see no Tory or Conservative talk about how Western interventionism and wars were responsible for 4 to 6 million Muslim casualties since 2001, and 7 to 9 wars started and 2 coups launched by Western nations against nations such as Ukraine and S. Sudan. The fact is we are responsible for displacing nations and no Western leader can be brought before the ICC or any international body for destroying nations, using illegal substances, invading nations illegally, annexing land, calling for regime change, massive genocide, or any other illegal atrocity. \n\nMost of the people on here are fine with genocide as long as it is not Christians or their preferred minority group.\n\nFrankly, all groups deserve protection including Muslims killed by groups that the West funded through the Gulf States and the Saudis.\n\nAlso, people should speak out against the Rohingya massacre because it has been going on for years and people have been turning a blind eye about this issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "EUCHARIST, PREVISION & PROVISION\nIn understanding Love\u2019s universal altruism, we need to understand the grounding of Eucharistic insights in the wisdom of Isaiah, of Joseph (of Egypt) and Jesus.\nThe Divine Insight of Pre-Vision is the insight-stimulus for Pro-Vision. God has no hands but human hands, no insight but for eyes and minds of prevision and provision. Jesus\u2019 Universal Call to Eucharist is stark: \u201cThis is My Body... as I have done, you also must do!\u201d\nThe Wisdom if Isaiah understands all \u2018flesh is grass\u2019; the insight wisdom of Joseph was motivated by prevision to the action of provision, that is, to secure grain in times of plenty against years of want.\nWisdom consciousness applies for all time, for all people. No excuses for 'conflicted religions over Prevision/ Provision of Communal Eucharist in the Naturalis Sacramentum Ordinis.'\nhttp://www.secondenlightenment.org/Adult%20Faith%20Study.pdf", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I \"get\" the Christian perspective on this story, but these teens need to learn birth control, not abstinence, and parents who place their sons and daughters in abstinence-only environments such as Heritage Academy's are setting their children up for possible tragedy. Sure -- many, many teens will abstain. But the reality is that more than a few will not. Across the planet, among all religions, \"social conservatives\" who couch their views in terms of religious doctrine usually end up twisting that doctrine beyond recognition. Christianity is about forgiveness, judgment by the Holy Father, not man, and helping others in the times of their greatest need. See any of that doctrine in this sad story?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, all true. The grievance industry is thriving because that is where the $$$ are. Take away race-based perks and you would see the industry disappear.\nMost Hawaiians (all are part Hawaiian actually largely without exception) are doing as well or better than other ethnic groups. They are never discussed. And there are tens of thousands of Christians among the Hawaiian population. Check the West Oahu churches on Sunday. Again.. they have little or no voice. Neither does the enormous and growing Hawaiian middle class. Lot of shibai out there so be careful. As for OHA, shame on them. No part-Hawaiian should be shelter-less. OHA has managed to extract hundreds of millions of dollars in its endowment from taxpayers. Let them start using their money to help Hawaiians. Every Hawaiian could have shelter if OHA did its job honestly and transparently.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Government does not have the right to tell or force Catholics to comply with with a health care plan that defies our religious values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your letter was impressive and truthful, unfortunately when clergy abuse happens the first act is to assemble a team of lawyers, PR specialists, and accountants to reduce and or eliminate damage to the reputations of the church and leaders, reduce exposure to liability and to execute accounting maneuvers to appear poor. \n \nMany archbishops are also lawyers. In Milwaukee archbishop lawyer Listecki showed how he could get real value for his education. He was able to beat up victims and spend 26 million dollars much of which went to his Catholic good friend and head lawyer Francis LoCoco on a five year protracted bankruptcy scheme. The broke archdiocese got to keep over 200 million in shady trust funds and did not sell one property, Many victims got 2grand before lawyer fees.\n\nHollow apologies are sickening when Pastoral action is abandoned along with the victims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued \u2026\nI don't know how you came across this website, perhaps by chance like I did some years ago, because it has the word \u2018Catholic\u2019 in its title. I am a cradle Catholic yet I was appalled by what I was reading here. \nNaively, I once believed that Catholics throughout the world believed in what the Church taught, alas I was mistaken. Mind you I had naively ignored several warning signs within my extended family that this was not so. I am at least grateful to NCReporter for waking me up to the fact that my relatives beliefs and behaviours were not untypical of modern Catholics.\nI am often asked why I post here on this website since I am in so much disagreement with it and its regular posters. The reason is because of people such as yourself who may come across this site may think that the articles and comments here are representative of Catholicism and at least I can give evidence to the contrary. May God bless you and your endeavour.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mayor Moonbeam hands off Reverend Graham: I'm Agnostic and firmly believe were it were not for the idea of an omniscient Christian God dictating the sanctity of life to us Catholic and Church of England post-war damaged British kids there would be fewer of us having fun reminiscing about post-war England on Facebook.. I shudder to think about what might be going through the minds of Shia and Sunni Muslim war-damaged children schooled in the so 'said' but definitely 'not written' peace loving virtues of Islam. My point, Canada is a country that for decades has funded Social Development at home and when possible around the world. The future social costs of M-103 are a step back in the continuous development, regardless of who was in power, of decades of intelligent and progressive social research on the freeway to a sophisticated inclusive Canadian society. At the very least, this motion should be voted down for all of Canada's children regardless of their parent's faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, the good old conservative cry of \"If you disagree with ME, you aren't really a Catholic\".\n\nConservative Catholics sup just as eagerly at the cafeteria as everyone else. We liberals are just more honest about doing so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The JBS was very prominent on the campus of Jesuit Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, when I started there in 1958. MU is also the founding home of the Catholic League, the under the aegis of Virgil Blum, S.J. He was convinced the Catholicism was under siege on many sides, but was nowhere as nuts as Bill Donahue of today's CL infamy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This sort of 'historical revisionism' in the service of partisan politics accomplishes little except to make the revisionist feel good about him/herself. The injustices rooted in this nation's inherently white supremacist social, political, economic, legal and educational institutions predates the EXISTENCE of either the Republicans or the Democrats, and both parties are equally guilty of implementing them.\n\nHaving said that, there are the exceptions that prove the rule--one of the only two truly GREAT white Americans was a Republican--Thaddeus Stevens. The other, the great Christian martyr John Brown, rightly dismissed politics as 'talk-talk-talk.'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A couple of things come to mind. One is that, today, many children in families where both parents are Catholic are choosing not to remain Catholic. Which begs the question: How much is this about parental influence and how much is about societal and generational influence? Millennials are less inclined to be \"joiners\" anyway, whether you are talking about churches, political parties, civic clubs, etc. \n\nAlso, parents pass along to their children the values that are most important to them. There was a time when Catholics were less inclined to marry non-Catholics precisely because it was perceived as a potential problem in raising children. Those for whom raising their children Catholic were more diligent about dating only within the faith. It probably is still that way, the difference being that there are just fewer of those people today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Acceptable bio-ethic-science today assures us that there is \"until only between the 12th to 14th week of gestation adequate substantive matter present to sustain a human personality\". Before this time the life that is present is biological but not human. [\u201cagere sequitur esse\u201d (\u201cactions depend upon what one is\u201d) or (\u201cbeing something\u201d makes capable \u201cthat kind of action\u201d) is an axiom of philosophy]. That means that: Although many bishops (e.g. the USA Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference) \"favor\" a vision of \"personhood\" (i.e. human persons beginning from the moment of conception); nevetheless science, common sense and \"sound Catholic morality\" do NOT consider possible the existence of a human life from the moment of conception.\nNor does the DNA in the zygote make it \u201ca being\u201d just as acorns, even though having the DNA for it, are still not oak trees, and just as rooster-fertilized eggs, even though having the DNA for it, are still not \u201cchickens\u201d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's nothing vicious at all. If the mothers are Catholic you would never know as history has proven, even if married with husbands in the background.\nIt's a wise child who knows their father and only a mother knows.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can even begin to comment on reference to the Bible for defense, and I'm a Christian, but I will, wow, I would Judge Moore, what does the ten commandments say about a 32 year old man dating a 14 year girl?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have a Muslim friend who joined AAA about 10 years ago and has been sober ever since. He has no problem with the Christian message which he does not buy into except to the extent that like in Islam it provides a spiritual dimension to their struggle. And, has he points out, it's not the religious message that is most important in saving you from your addiction, its the people you share your affliction with.\nhttp://boreal.ca/Iran/SohrabBar.htm", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Annie, the Pauline privilege concerns only marriages contracted between non-Christians or between a Christian and a non- Christian. To this day such marriages are considered to be natural marriages and not sacramental marriages; the couples not being joined together by God therefore divorce is possible.\nThere are strict rules on this. Natural marriages cannot be considered dissolved on the say-so of one spouse, both have to agree to the dissolution. In the situation of a baptised Christian being married to an unbeliever, the baptised Christian can only remarry (in favour of the faith) another Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "David H. Lewis: A gem of truth countering the 2000 year old propaganda created by a collusion of a Pope and Roman Emperor to gain control over a mostly illiterate populace. A compilation of other religions' myths and ideology to create one religion for the Empire. Out of which came all of the host of christian sects and Islam in the ongoing drive by madmen to elevate themselves over all other humans. Using the power of Invisibility to scare sufficient numbers to frighten all into subjugation to the point of slavery while the appointed rulers bask in wealth and privilege. The same pyramid structures ruling our national economy and now the government led by the billionaire barons of inherited wealth atop the Republican Terrorist Traitor Party soon to drive the nation into the ultimate apocalypse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A reader of the Scriptures of course should be open to many suggestions with regard to how to interpret a particular passage. But that reader should also understand that Johannine literature is tricky; the theology is peculiar (the only sustained \"high christology\" in the NT), and so is the vocabulary that supports it.\n\n\"Truth,\" as in John 18.37, as quoted in the article, followed by Pilate's \"What is truth?\" in the next verse, and even more clearly in \"And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free,\" 8.32, refers to the Johannine community's particular insight regarding Jesus (and not at first shared by other Christian communities of the first century), that he is the Word of God who was with God in the beginning and is come into the world.\n\nIf a reader wishes to apply these verses to other, more generally accepted meanings of \"truth,\" he/she is free to do so, but is advised to proceed with caution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I take it that you are specifically attributing your assertion \"Crammer's book of Common Prayer was pretty much just a translation of the Catholic Sarum Rite\" to Adrian Fortescue, \"The Mass: A Study of the Roman Liturgy?\" \n\nHaven't read Fortescue in decades, but this notion strikes me as absurd. \n\nI challenge you to provide citations. The book is available on linefor easy electronic searching.\n\nTen minutes of my research revealed that, quite to the contrary, Fortescue expresses the view that the ordinary of the Sarum liturgy was essentially the ordinary of the Roman liturgy with a few variation in the order of things (in the second edition [1914] please see page 202ff.) More to the point, on page 205, footnote 1, Fortescue expresses the exact opposite view--the the reformed Anglican liturgy is not related to the Sarum rite, which had become wide spread in England just prior to the Protestant Reformation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your comment is true but incomplete. This format does not support writing a book. I documented the most disgusting details in a blog post entitled \"The Defamation Of Jesus Christ\". \n\nIslam denies his paternity, deity, crucifixion, death & resurrection and considers him unqualified to intercede for sinners. It also has Mary, Mother of Jesus Married to Muhammad in Jannah.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is your Vietnamese boat refugee issue working out? If it is a problem for Australia, we will take them. From a macro perspective, they have become fine Canadians. Perhaps, it is my Christianity, which I do not regard as a weakeness. I will give comfort to those who wash upon our shores.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But thank goodness Americans are God-loving, God-fearing, neighbour-loving, church-going, Christians who believe in the Ten Commandments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is Christians, themselves who need to look at their beliefs and teachings. The beliefs and teachings are TOOLS to use. If the tool is inadequate, it must be either: 1) replaced with a better tool or 2) adapted to the needs at hand.\n\nAccording to you, sadly, it is the tail that is supposed to wag the dog.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One would think a Year of Mercy wouldn't be so controversial in the Catholic Church, the one that says it represents Christ on Earth. In the Gospel, remember those, Jesus shows mercy to sinners repeatedly. Why is it that so many Catholics then don't want signs of mercy today?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're like many people...you don't understand why God gave us a will, a body, and an intellect: To harmonize all toward a more perfect expression of our yes to God's will. You've concluded that we're largely just our appetites and passions.\n\nI'd explain all this to some Catholic who is truly curious about what this all means for us day to day. \n\nMedical treatment within prudent measures is definitely in line with God's will; it allows others to use their intellect and will and body to serve others, in an ever more perfect manner. \n\nThe number of Catholic inkhorns around here is truly stunning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fair enough, Paul. I appreciate your generally reasonable debate of the issues without tossing in personal sideswipes. It is not my intention to typecast you, but I do make assumptions based on what I see from your comments, which is certainly not everything you post I'm sure, so I certainly could be off in those assumptions. As for me, I am not a member of any party, but am clearly conservative (which used to be called classical liberal), degreed in science and business, and Christian. None of those are in conflict with each other as some assume they are. I find that people of all political affiliations mostly want the same things, but vary significantly on how we can achieve those things for the most people. The biggest problems come in dealing with the common human conditions of self interest and shirking of responsibility. Liberals and conservatives have vastly differing approaches to even recognizing, let alone dealing, with the social problems these create. Thanks for the debate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wishful thinking.\n\nMatthew Festing was left between a rock and a hard place: capitulate to the Holy Father and violate his oath to the Knights; defend the rights of the Knights and violate his oath to defend the Church.\n\nAs a faithful Catholic, this was what he believed to be his only sword with which to cut the Gordian knot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is easy to criticize. NCR is often criticized as not being Catholic enough. I \"unmuted\" to see if some others were critical. Yes indeed! One was critical of the article for not pointing out the shooter was at a Bernie Sanders event. I watched Sanders addressing this issue and condemning violence and saying that he never met this person. I think Bernie has a better memory than Jeff Sessions. See, it is easy to be critical! But I think I am on the mark. (tic)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The answer is simple Trid... those who insist and believe in the absolute purity and infallibility of magisterial teaching believe (and therefore \"act\") in a manner that is contrary to the laws of nature. Given that we know ALL things change and grow with knowledge, maturity, etc., and that includes the Body of Christ, His Church. So as Catholic Christians we are either wedded to the laws of nature (based on reality and Christocentric thought) or Natural Law theory which is an outdated philosophy based on black-white thinking and does not comport with our understanding of modern human behavior. The sad truth is, black and white thinking causes war and division and has little to do with loving God and neighbor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Federal Bureau Prison population percentage by religion:\n\nhttp://wp.production.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/files/2013/07/rNyTbDJ.png\n\nPercentage of US population who are atheist:\n\nhttp://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/06/01/10-facts-about-atheists/\n\n\nIn summary:\n\nAtheists comprise 0.2% of the federal prison population.\n\nProtestant and Catholics alone make up 75% of the federal prison population, which doesn't include the other Christian religions.\n\nAbout 7% of the U.S. population are atheist.\nAbout 70% of the U.S. population is Christian.\n\nConclusion: By the actual numbers, you're much more likely to have weak morals if you're a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For centuries canon law became more and more dominant even when it conflicted with the Gospels and even when it ignored that Jesus didn't command people to perfect obedience but told Parables that led them to puzzle over their meaning--and to think! \nPope Francis is putting the Gospels first again and calling us to think, to renew our understanding and above all renew our relationship with God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words, the Church is irrelevant in this world, what counts is our own 'personal relationship with God'. Many Protestants would agree with you there.\nThe modern heresy is the notion that Christ's Church has departed from the teaching of Christ and the so-called 'institutional church' has become the enemy of Christ. \nThe New-Church claims that Our Lord would have whole-heartedly endorsed modern, secular, moral values and behaviours, abortion, same-sex relationships, euthanasia, cohabitation, etc, in fact everything that the True-Church had condemned for over 2000 years. They believe that the Holy Ghost has lain dormant for centuries and suddenly woke up in the 1960s and realised that the Church was on the wrong track up to the mid 20th century and hurriedly invented the New-Church which rectified it all.\nMartin Luther et alii proposed the same arguments in the 16th century.\nChrist's Church, however, despite all this is still with us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In France, the elections read like a 3-way Sanders - Clinton - Trump fight. The difference with the U.S. is that the voters at large get to pick the finalists, not the party voters.\n\nIt could make sense for the anti-Merkel vote to move left. Since no major party would align with the AfD, Germany needs the Social Democrats to out-poll the Christian Democrats, at least to the extent of being the dominant party of a \"grand coalition\" of SD-CD.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about this? Catholics (and everybody else) are free to follow their individual well-formed consciences. That says it all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Although all baptized Catholics are part of the Mystical Body of Christ, we are not all part of the Magesterium, which this article seems to claim we are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the eucharist is magically transformed into the body of Christ, wouldn't it be gluten free? This article suggests the faithful don't really believe in transubstantiation, after which the bread and wine only retain the appearance of bread and wine but literally become the body of Christ. The Romans believed the early Christians were cannibals because of this belief.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus did not have his back to the disciples at the Last Supper. They saw Jesus, his face, heard his words. \n\nThe geographical/liturgical Jerusalem has nothing to do with it. Catholics are from all over the globe. They should be able to LOOK, SEE, and HEAR what is happening at the altar. As far as the priest making the Mass about himself----the altar is the table of offering, of sacrifice--which the priest kisses as he first approaches the altar at the beginning of Mass. All who approach the altar, bow to the altar---not to the priest.\n\nYour comments about the priest's appearance is stretching it. Only the Hindus believe that the highest form of union with the Deity is to be completely 'subsumed' like a drop of water in the ocean. The priests PRESIDES as a complete human person and we, the congregation, as complete human persons bring WHO we are to the TABLE. Jesus never stated that all who \"do this in memory of me\" must be \"subsumed.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your article confirms the duplicity of the catholic left, esp. the woman who intentionally avoided answering the priest's calls and then being \"shocked\" that she was only told at the last minute she couldn't sing. What a hit piece- no pastor can excommunicated parishioners. I bet he simply asked them to stop living in a public way that is contrary to the faith they profess by participating in the weekly Eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have run into Catholics, recently, who have had it with the church leaders shoving their agendas at us. The separation of religion and state protects both religion and state so it needs to be respected. It is not the church\u2019s job to make any country\u2019s laws.\n\nI met a women coming to work today who rescinded her pledge of more than 1,500. She sent her Bishop a letter that she is so angry how our church's pushing of sexism likely helped Hillary to lose this last election, she just felt she was not going to pay her diocese this year the amount she had recently pledged.\n\nI am with her! If you want change too - write- restornow @ mail.com (no spaces) help us to set up grass roots groups to act for change.\n\nWe need to end our example of sexism, in our church, immediately, and ordain men and women the same. Our example results in more sexism, poverty and violence in the world, and that has been proven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I like it that way. I like the way that the church has roles for men and for women, different roles. I woudn't want to go to a church with women as priests. Maybe it's a bias, but I wouldn't go to a church with women priests or deacons. You have to remember though that I wouldn't go to a novus ordo mass either. The novus ordo does not speak to me as a catholic. I am not saying that it is invalid, like the radtrads.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That would be news to Christ, who made statements such as \"...upon this rock I shall build my church\", and who gave authority to Peter and the Apostles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't care that he left religious life and got married. That, indeed is between him and God.\n\nI have a problem with his demanding that the Catholic Church become something it can never be--not his leaving of religious life and marrying. You see, it is one thing for someone to leave religious life and marry--and leave it between their Conscience and God. It is quite another when that same person tries to impose their liberal, secular, humanist, atheistic ideology on the Church and demand that the Church change to accommodate their those views.\n\nJust because a priest or religious leaves religious life or priesthood to get married does not entail the Church should change her teaching on celibacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The amount of money devoted to opposing certain laws has been a minor portion of the USCCB's budget. \n\nTheir job is to advance Catholic teaching, both among people and in society itself.\n\nTherefore, as does any church or advocacy organization, they have every right to oppose \"state laws granting 'full rights' ....to LGBTQ citizens\".\n\nThe fact that you're commenting on them doing it seems to indicate it was not done \"in a clandestine manner so as to try and escape public scrutiny\".\n\nThe reference to \" Church crimes in which they have been complicit\" doesn't add a whit of support to your assessment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The media doesn't lead! \n\nNo wonder so many front page articles have appeared in the New York Times this year, subject \"Trump! Russia!\" They weren't leading us, they had the evidence. Uh, somewhere, someday....don't hear much about it now, do we?\n\nLeading is what the media does best.\n\nAnd this article is another example. There is simply no evidence that Chaput is any different from Francis in substance or tone. Both have made ample statements critical of society. It's silly for anyone to categorically claim that Francis' critical statements are all justified, while those of Chaput are somehow \"whining.\"\n\nBut MSW never has anything good to say about non-liberal Catholics. That's not impartial journalism, that's leading.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately, wrong. Sharia is what your imam declares it to be, just as for a Jew Halacha is what your rabbi declares it to be, or for a Roman Catholic the Pope, speaking ex cathedra, declares dogma . You decide the extent to which you accept that. There are literalist imams and literalist ribs (the Lubavichter rebbe and the Satmar rebbe, may they rest in peace, come to mind.) While it does appear to be true that extreme literalists imams have gathered a following than have extreme literalist rabbis, that is a question of degree, not of fundamental difference. Islam and Judaism have divided themselves into several groups, Shiite and Sunni for example, based on the teachings of respected imams for Islam. Ultra-orthodox Jews, modern orthodox Jews (Mr. and Mrs. Kushner) Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist Jews.\nWhile Islam incorporates many extremes, so do Judaism and Christianity; in most cases followers reinterpret Scripture to make adherence to those extremes unnecessary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I, for one, applaud Bishop Garcia Stiller's decision to assert control over the parish in San Antonio. These former Anglicans must learn that when you are a Catholic, you Obey the Bishop. They should have known when they joined, the Roman Catholic Church is Not a Democracy. When the Bishop commands the people to jump, they are not to ask how high, but to jump, jump, jump, and be punished if they do not jump high enough. Jesus founded this Church so people would be led, submissively and in total obedience by the Bishops chosen by the Holy Spirit to command the flock.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "--Some information complementay to this article:\n\nhttps://www.dropbox.com/s/rrkhdbkv5tr403m/Constitution.pdf\nThe Original Charleston Constitution\n\nhttp://www.patheos.com/blogs/mcnamarasblog/2009/11/the-catholic-lay-congress-of-1889.html\nThe Catholic Lay Congress of 1889\n\nhttp://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/page/545\nAmerican Catholic Lay Groups and Transatlantic Social Reform in the Progressive Era--", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and one could ask you the same question, why do you and the other ultra right wing Catholics come here? answer that and you would have the answer to your question.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those of us who follow the pope and the magisterium ARE the \"authentic Catholics\". Others, who believe the Catholic Church is a democracy that needs to cater to their particular preferences are NOT authentic Catholics but are merely protestants who call themselves Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\n\nThe Women's March was not \"fueled to a large degree by the abortion issue.\" You guys should quit lying about this.\n\nNCR is under no obligation whatsoever to present the conservative point of view. If that is what you crave, the Catholic blogosphere, much of it dominated by fundamentalist converts, is at your disposal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "--\"This, I take it, is the essential difference between adult education and a school. A school is a place for training. A University is a place for discussion. In school we try to get a child to believe the fundamental things that society recognizes as true and important. In a university we try to carry on a continuous critical discussion. (That incidentally is the reason why there are good arguments for having Catholic schools in a non-Catholic state, but none whatsoever for having a Catholic university.)\" [Herbert McCabe, Faith Within Reason (London: Continuum, 2007), 22]--", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who's trying to make you change your mind? It's the Word of God - not a matter of private conscience. \n\nAs the then Cardinal Ratznger said:\n\n\"If a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment \u2026 he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities\u2026 to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to\u2026have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about\u2026 applying the death penalty.\"\n\nHowever, it contradicts Scripture and Catholic teaching to assert it is always and everywhere wrong regardless of circumstances. And Pope Francis appears to have done so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Intercommunion doesn't sound like reunification, or am I missing something (title: Lutherans and Catholics chart path to unity)? I do not see our faiths \"unifying\" until these differences are resolved. Personally, I see the Lutherans as evolved catholics and pose the question, Why would Lutherans want to give up the growth they have achieved?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good. It's about time that there is some legal push back on this issue. It's bad enough that we are locked into funding religious education because of a decision made 150yrs ago, but for the government to condone forcing students to attend Catholic school, even when they are not Catholic, is unconsciouable. It's high time that we get the archaic mumbo jumbo out of the public funded schools. It only leads to more demands from every other religion for equal treatment, and who could blame them. Religious education and worship can be done outside of school.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic MONEY? Should be begin with TRANSPARENCY. Beginning with the Vatican on down, where it comes from, where it goes, where it gets invested. Until then, I don't see that any official has the right to address this issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He's not just a leader of Roman Catholics but of ALL Catholics in communion with Rome. Including Eastern Catholics. There are 23 Catholic churches of different rites and traditions all in communion with the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. Please update article to reflect this. There are a lot more Catholics in the Catholic Church than just Roman. Certainly Roman is extremely valuable and important and wonderful too, but so are our Eastern Catholic faithful. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Catholic_Churches", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I prefer and shall continue to call priests \"father,\" which is a very nice custom. But thank you for your kind attention to Catholic matters. I hope you open your mind and heart to conversion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tax money has followed the student in Canada since 1774, when the Quebec Act was passed. It doesn't matter whether your child attends a district run school, a Catholic school, a Christian school, a Muslim School, a private (non-sectarian) school, or any other type of school.\n\nThat said, since tax money is involved, Canada also demands accountability for its use. For example, in Alberta there is a set of provincial standards that every school must meet. There is a model provincial curriculum they may follow. There are recommended textbooks, student, parent, and teacher guides that are all aligned with that curriculum. There are provincial assessments in grades 3 (optional), 6, and 9. And every school's results and value added is published annually and widely disseminated. Oh, and Alberta's PISA scores are among the best in the world. Note also that the province's demographics (free and reduced percentage, ELL, rural, etc.) aren't very different from Colorado's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the interests of accuracy, could we change the headline to read \"Catholic scholars overreact to Trump's election\". Professor Schneck's comments in particular were reminiscent of what Senator Kennedy said about Robert Bork. The same cadence, the same unfairness, the same lack of Christian charity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We all appear to be in agreement that humility and obedience should grace our attitude toward God.\n\nHow is it that you conclude that because I do not subscribe to your \"rule\" interpretation of what Jesus said about marriage therefore my approach \"is the opposite of humble obedience, the opposite of love of God\"?\n\nIf you can wade through Parts 1 through 7 I would ask you to reconsider your conclusion, and grant me the same presumption of journey integrity that I grant you.\n\nI would add one point to what I have said in prior posts. As a matter of scriptural interpretation, I subscribe to the view that the Gospel writers were speaking to particular communities, expressing some forty to sixty years after the events and based upon oral tradition an account that was intended -- by the Gospel writer -- to maintain and strengthen their faith in the Good News preached by the Risen Christ.\n\nIt is important to consider the continuing presence of the Spirit. \n\nHave a happy and blessed Easter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. You need to defend the assertion that not ordaining women to the priesthood somehow makes the Church patriarchal.\n\nThere is a reason that God created men and women. There is a reason humanity is male and female. Complimentary does not entail inequality. Differences in function do not entail inequality in nature. That they do are assumptions liberal dissidents make but never prove. It is almost as if they think it is as obvious to everyone else as it is to them. Well, to me it is not obvious. \n\nJust because you liberal dissidents are insecure with distinctions in the body of Christ, just because you are insecure with your Baptism, does not entail everyone has to be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have one comment about this article and it's really not about the article. It's about the comments themselves. I find few of them offensive and wish there was someway I could report the comments. Maybe there is and I just don't know it yet. When we were using Facebook comments could be reported. Unfortunately our comments are approved by other people commenting that don't care about decorum. I just don't think typing in all CAPS which is considered yelling is necessary. We can all share our views without stepping on the toes of others that don't agree with others. There is one particular person that I find very offensive. He YELLS a lot. The person that he mostly YELLS at is being very calm and confident. I like calm and confident and actually I don't really like his politic but sincerely appreciate and welcome his opinion. The one that YELLS a lot makes me ashamed that I consider myself more of a liberal. I am also a Christian. Thanks to all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "or their own. He needs to try Loyal Catholic. He probably thinks it is the same thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stop trying to speak for the catholic church. You're embarrassing yourself", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The notion that we Americans need to get back to a place where we are able to articulate and understand the things and values that set us apart from non-Americans did not start during this Presidential campaign, and it's stunted for you to imply that. Our series of values, what we hold to be the pursuit of truth, our Judeo-Christian paradigm and founding, and so on: these things are the best of the world and can be made even better, if we start by first identifying those differences.\n.\nFor example, unlike what America's founders and those who support freedom espouse; Cultural Marxists, Leftists, and those who espouse evil doctrine like intersectionality and the glory of the State are clearly in direct opposition to the things listed above. They deny truth in favor of identity politics, they make values subordinate to feelings, and only care about what they are owed (European value system) instead of framing things in terms of freedom, good, and evil (United States value system).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, not all children who were forcibly taken from their families, kept in barely adequate housing and in many cases given barely adequate nutrition, punished for speaking their native languages, prevented from returning home for 50 weeks out of every year, made to assimilate into a foreign culture and indoctrinated with Christianity .. no, not _all_ of these children suffered abuse in the residential school system.\n\nGood to know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When the Pope asks Tom Doyle to take charge, then I will believe he and the Church are serious about solving this \"problem head-on.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Especially alt right white trump supporters.\" Nice attempt at marginalizing someone you disagree with. Will it help move our conversation along if I marginalize you with a label so that you are lifted up to a place where we can be on even footing? Hmmm... Let me think. How about \"It's hard to take a conversation on Christianity seriously from a progressive, Hillary supporting, member of Antifa.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You just don't get it. My retirement and benefits wasn't free---it was earned . Free is when you do nothing to get something. Earned is when you work many years to get what you receive . Money came out of every paycheck of mine to pay for what I get today. My point addressed the larger issue . That issue is that far too many feel they are OWED their next meal , owed free medical benefits , free college etc. Nothing is free----someone has to pay for it . This might be costing taxpayers something---won't the dentists time be considered a tax write off , meaning they will pay less to support America ? it's not against Christian values to ask the strong and able to help themselves . The Lord helps those who help themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is a feature, not a flaw. It is what Catholic Social Teaching calls the option for the poor. A Jesuit Priest helped FDR put it in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have read some parts of 'The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature' by William James.\nI experienced some mystical graces since when I was a young girl.\nI remember sitting in my home alone and some man's voice told me that I was never alone but He was always with me. I looked around and there was no one but me. That happened a few times. Some times I get this insistence without hearing the voice. \nMy mother did not practice any organized religion. I became a Catholic, when I married a Catholic husband. Our parish an adult formation minister lead me to an imagery prayer and Lord showed me how He was sitting on a big rock and watched me, a toddler, playing with dirt in the middle of farmers field. That was what my mother told me how I played with dirt, wonder off, and got lost during the Korean war time escaped to country & was no baby sitter available.\n\nI read some retired Catholics still not sure about the existence of God and I do not know what to say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was raised, in a Christian home, to love all sinners, no matter how heinous their crimes. I know this is a difficult concept for non-Christians to grasp and I won't try to explain it to you. On to politics ...\nSeizing money wired to Mexico? At present there is no legal way to do this. Let's shelve this idea until there is legislation in place and the banks are willing to forego the fees they now collect.\nAssuming such a law were passed, wire transfers would stop, but the money wouldn't. It would just move through different conduits. Result: No money for the wall and no money for the US financial industry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don F.,\n\nAs I've thought a bit more about your reply, I have remembered the words of one of my mentors whose counsel went something like this: \"While the First Amendment may protect you from paying damages to a person you have harmed with a false, misleading or incomplete story, your words were still libelous.\" \n\nSomething else he taught me was: \"You don't have to like someone to write fairly and honestly about them. It's just a lot harder.\" \n\nAs Christians, we are called to a higher standard of honesty and fairness than the world. We should be loyal to truth and respectful of what impact our words have on others because we must face the judgement of God. I think that includes calling something libelous when it is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anti-semitism is the most prevalent religious prejudice in Canada, that is a fact. M-103 is a flawed motion, it is about silencing any criticism of Islam under the guise of fighting Islamaphobia. There are no sacred cows in Canada and no religion is beyond reproach, that includes critical analysis, religious satire, and comedy. M-103 is a precursor to criminalizing criticism and satire under the guise of fighting \"hate speech\". So South Park and Family Guy can satire and ridicule Christians and Jews but as soon as Muslims enter the equation it's \"Islamaphobic\"? Islam warrants more \"sensitivity\" because of the offense generated by comedy and satire? Canadians can worship any god they choose (including pasta strainers) - it's a free country but gender equality and free expression are not a function of \"cultural relativism\" so there is nothing \"Islamaphobic\" about pointing out the regressive practices of countries governed by Islamic law. Case and point: Iran's morality police.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A few things: I never indicated Jesus was merely human. He was not. He was/is both God and man. Next, God never \"used\" the Jews or any of His children. Good fathers do not use their children. When Jesus became Incarnate it was necessary for Him to be embodied in a gender (male) and an ethnic group (Palestinian Jew). Being human requires gender and ethnicity.\nI too would like to see another (perhaps better) defense of the difference between the institutional church and the Church, the People of God. Care to give it a shot?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, they could have voted for literally any other candidate in the primaries besides Trump. It was the conservatives, including many evangelicals, who put trump to the top of the GOP ticket.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On another thought, I am sure there are many married men who are Deacons in the Catholic church who would want to joint the ranks of Priests. To not allow this to happen is not honest since some of the men Jesus picked as his Apostles were married.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By the logic of your argument, Churches should only enjoy the right to freedom of speech and (expressing) their religion if they pay for it?\n\nSo does that mean impoverished people and those living solely off community or government charity, and who don't pay taxes, should forfeit their rights to freedom of speech and religion? Of course not, because all basic or God-given \"rights and freedoms\" are inalienable and have no financial cost at all. Also, as long as Churches don't exceed the significant limit of 5% usage they are well within their Johnson Amendment rights to weigh-in on politics.\n\nWith the modest salaries of Catholic priests who provide homilies to their parishioners, and the abundantly low to no cost of posting electronic opinions, I would highly doubt that any priest or Church is violating anything in that regard. Also, America is not secular as you claim but it is open to all people of Good will, and we'd have no idea what that means w/o God writing it on our hearts!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The NCR tax statement is completely opaque as to where their money comes from, and what salaries they pay their staff.\n\nSo NCR refuses to be open about their finances, yet thinks it has the moral right to demand answers from other Catholic orgs.\n\nPar for the Prog course.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I concur with Ms. Perriello - the Johnson Amendment did indeed do churches a favor. If Christianity can no longer compete in the marketplace of ideas on its own merits (I believe it still can), propping it up through the agency of governmental favoritism won't help.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Burke is a has-been, mostly because he created confusion by making up a power to deny Communion to Catholic politicians who refused to go along with the pro-life movement\u2019s conspiracy to fool Catholic voters into supporting Republicans when in fact the issue is decided and the then-bishop\u2019s urging of a state constitutional officer to violate her oath as essentially sedition.\n\nde Souza seems to be unaware that it is cutting a document that takes time. Letting the opinions of many have a free airing takes little time at all if you have no desire to distort. There was no formal doctrinal change in A.L., (some on the left would have liked there to be) but instead pastors were free to exercise mercy. Perhaps de Sourza suspects that the entire concept of formal magisterial teaching on every matter has gone out of style. I would not mind such a thing at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Another line of criticism that has emerged over the weekend, though not one leveled by de Souza, and which must be debunked at the start of this conversation is that the left does it too.\"\n\nAs a liberal Christian, all I can say is, \"I wish!\" Not since the sixties and the Civil Rights Movement have we seen any real degree of grassroots cooperation between the religious left and the political left. But that's just the sort of thing you'd expect to hear from people who support Trump. Trump, after all, is the master of deflection and the laying of any and all blame squarely at the feet of his opponents without ever assuming any blame for anything himself. Since Trump's election was more than likely the catalyst which ignited this discussion in \"Civilta,\" I suppose Trump's done Catholics a backhanded favor of sorts. Of course, I would have much rather had this discussion without having to resort to such measures. But here we are nonetheless. May this long-overdue discussion continue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi MainlineP,\nYes it is at a young persons Mass, unfortunately. Not that many young people attend nowadays - the clerical abuse crisis has seen to that.\nApparently there is a blanket copyright fee paid by the Diocese for all hymns used.\nMost Catholic churches don't seem to draw the line at Protestant hymns - Wesley's hymns are sometimes used. I agree that most Hillsong stuff should be avoided due to their fundamentalist stance.\nThe BBC's \"Songs of Praise\" once played the whole version, but in subsequent performances omitted the lines\": \"I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross\". Maybe a prelate from the Anglican Church had a word in their ear.\nThe local parish that uses the full version is run by a very conservative priest who gives sermons on, among other things, the rules pertaining to who can receive Communion. He even mentioned the warning of St Paul about non-Catholics getting ill or dying if they tale Communion (a literal reading of 1 Corinthians 11:29).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"There's got to be more to leadership than writing encyclicals and giving speeches.\"\n- You made a good analysis.\n- There probably is more to leadership than writing encyclicals and giving speeches. \n- JPII's leadership was certainly 'more'. However, it certainly left a mess and unleashed the pure catholic church crowd and 'the smaller and purer church'.\n- Being a pastor like ArchbFrancis of Rome means that leadership is from the midst of the people of God, not ahead or above them -- which is often the paradigm of leadership. The locus of his leadership could explain why the standard norms of leadership such as exhibited by JPII are no where in sight.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know, LG. Just having a bit of fun. This whole thread has got me in a goofy mood. I\u2019ve had the same conversation over and over with more than a few folks.\n\nThere are a lot of people, it seems, who want Pope Francis to roast Cardinal Sarah over an open fire in Times Square. In a spirit of Christian charity, of course.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or, you know, it's been the belief of Christians since the beginning. To quote St. Justin Martyr:\n\n\"For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh\"\n\nYou do know that most of your beliefs are contrived from the \"Spirit of Vatican II\" from the 20th century, right? From things that aren't even in the council documents?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am so very glad that you are here to explain to people that they are not members of the Roman Catholic Church. So many people don't realize they have been kicked out, and it is good of you, and Just and Right, to do so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Editorial standards seem to be getting lower. The author is making childish mistakes as though he doesn't know the topic. First in setting \"rules\" against \"people\" or pastoral care as though the \"rules\" (which is a kind of silly word for Church teaching about morality, as though Christianity is Islam or Judaism) have nothing to do with the care of souls. \n\nAnd next concerning canonization. Does the author simply not know what a saint is and what it means to canonize one? That a saint is not a folk hero/celebrity \"good person\" (not that the two mentioned even make it into that category) or even an exemplary Christian but someone who has attained the Beatific Vision. And that canonizing someone is a declaration that he is definitely in that state. Which is why it is (or used to be) a long and cautious process, so long that Albert the Great wasn't canonized until about 1930!\n\nThese are not matters of opinion but of fact. \"Why does the Church have rules?\" \"What does \"saint\" mean?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They have no stake in the answer. They are retired pastors. Their right to a response or an opinion is equal to mine - indeed, it is inferior because as a divorced Catholic, I have skin in the game. They are simply grumpy old men. Members of the Church without portfolio.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I always wish the best to the Nones I know (both in family and among friends). The nothingness or nullity they got out of the Catholic tradition (or superficially or genuinely thought they \"had\" in the first place) is only lessened to oblivion. Bye, bye. Their nullity or none-ness is probably better on the long run for both communities (of the faithful and of those who have left). The Nones now have a new identity fixed like an eternity above their professions. Great. Those who stayed have the Eucharist (among other things) from far, to close by, to elsewhere in grace everywhere. And both are satisfied. All's well!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who is saying that all places of the globe have to have the same laws IMPOSED on them. By the way, 'dennism' is not a she, but Dennis, a he and one of the editors of NCR.\n\nYou don't speak for most Catholics at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only way to evangelise is to teach the Catholic Faith in it's entirety\nApostle Paul was effective as an evangelist and he certainly didn't do that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was trying to say that the way you're outlining this issue about conscience is one sided, and therefore it doesn't work. \n\nJust flip it over: Can I argue that secular, pro choice people are denying the rights of conscience of prolife Catholics when they vote for pro choice candidates and policies? \n\nAs Chaput wrote:\n\n\"Vatican II can never be invoked as an alibi for Catholics ignoring grave public evil or failing to act on their faith in the political sphere. That's a distortion of the council's message. It also misreads the U.S. Constitution. America's Founding Fathers did not say, and never intended, that religious faith should be excluded from civic debate. They intended one thing only: to prevent the establishment of an official state church. A purely secular interpretation of the \"separation of church and state\" would actually result in the \"separation of state and morality.\" And that would be a catastrophe for real pluralism and the democratic process.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora has already established she and the evangelicals have an ecumenical interest in supporting the president who so closely represents their beliefs. Since those beliefs have nothing to do with Christ, it is easy for them to find common ground.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The owner of the Canada Free Press is not anti-Catholic , she is a devout Catholic and excellent author with credible contributors. If you read the whole article you will find that the author is Ron A. Y. Rich. Mr. Rich is a self-described liberal with common sense and an open mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, late last year the pope actually installed Piero Marini, Annibale Bugnini's secretary in Vatican II, in Cardinal Sarah's Congregation for Divine Worship. More here:\n\nhttps://eponymousflower.blogspot.com/search/label/Archbishop%20Piero%20Marini\n\nFirst Things indicates that Marini and Roche are heavily involved in the rumored project to develop the prototype for the Ecumenical mass for both Catholics and Protestants.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I strive to illustrate, by the authority of God's Word, that though liberals/progressives\noppose traditional Catholicism [and the Word of God]; traditional Catholicism in-turn opposing liberals/progressives\nfails to harmonize Catholicism with the Word of God, as Chaput attempted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In my opinion, a Catholic baker, florist, photographer, caterer, etc., who refuses to provide services to a gay wedding doesn't have a legal leg to stand on (or a supposed church teaching to hide behind) if they also provide services to other weddings that don't meet the standard of Catholic teaching -- such as a wedding in which at least one of couple is divorced.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "before we judge, close your eyes and imagine this...that child you are so anxious to deport....is yours. back off haters. this is not your issue. those kids are not responsible for what their parents did when they were kids. i havent checked but im sure there is a 'passage' in the bible that says they are; because that's the only rational (?) explanation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the early history of the Church, the Apostles and early followers of Jesus were married. And a number of them, including Peter, would take their wives with them on their missions to cities and areas where the Gospel was proclaimed. We had bishops and popes who were married in succeeding centuries. Celibacy is a 'discipline' of the Church which can be changed. It is not the 11th Commandment of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will, indeed, read \"Evangelical Catholicism\". Thanks for the clarifications. It used to be that one could walk into any Catholic Church in the world and know what to expect. I guess the word Catholic (or universal) needs to be changed and adapted to the Prelature & Ordinariate mentality. Just for the record, I love Francis and all he is trying to do and sense that you do too. Cheers!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think religious leaders need to speak up about misogyny, racism, sexism, et al in clear terms.....I don't hold much hope for the US RCC....but do think the Protestant world....the national council of churches etc....should be heard from a LOT....those Nuns on the bus...and Francis\n\nAlso think ecumenical groups that include non Christian folks as well need to be heard from...\n\nThink the secular media needs to examine its conscience and provide time on media to these issues...CNN has had a track record of periodically taking on special issues....really think this issue is \"special\" and terribly importantly!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ATF,\nFor me, one of the key problems the church faces is that it continues to try, via it's rubrics and rituals, to not only idealize everything, but also to separate our rituals from real life. Something akin to a \"bubble\" is to be created once we enter a church, and in that bubble, we're asked to think of life in the abstract, to pray prayers that somebody else made up, that are \"universal\" in nature and intent, and that may or may not have anything to do with life outside that bubble for many, if not most, who attend. \n\nI'm not knocking the concept, but I'm suggesting that to revitalize the church, it's gotta do what Jesus did: come down off the pedestal, and meet people where they REALLY live. Making New Year's day a Holy Day of OBLIGATION is a great example of missing the boat. How many Catholics see that as a burden, rather than a celebration? Maybe a new year's eve party might make more sense and foster a community?\n\nThe church has the space: it needs the imagination...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny, it appears the Catholic faith is being attacked by the Protestant author. I could not care less what he thinks about matters of the Catholic Church. He should worry about his own Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Since the priest is the icon of Christ the High Priest, the statement \u201cthe priest must be a human body-soul, male or female or intersex\u201d is not only not supported, it is contradicted.\"\n\nNot so, because all human beings -- male or female or intersex -- are body-souls, like Christ. \n\nI am questioning the *patriarchal* theology of the priesthood. See the dogmatic definition on the institution of the priesthood of the New Law by the Council of Trent. It does NOT mention a masculinity requirement. Link:\n\nhttp://www.thecounciloftrent.com/ch23.htm\n\nCan you find, in this definition, any mention of masculinity being intrinsic to priesthood?\n\nAs long as you are presupposing that *patriarchal sex/gender theory* is natural law, we cannot converge, but let's keep listening to one another lovingly and praying for understanding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) Then what is QUANTA CURA?\u2014mjmchale The so-called Syllabus of Errors issued by Pope Pius IX in 1854.\n\nNeuman's canonization renders PASTOR AETURNAS \"unseemly\"?\u2014mjmchale. Probably. Vatican I issued Pastor Aeternus in 1870. The RCC canonized Cardinal Newman in 2010.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A good summary, but there is a little more nuance related to Cardinals. They were originally the principal clergy of Rome, back 1000 years ago. They have gone through many changes over the years, but always retain that association with Rome. New cardinals are assigned to parishes in Rome (or dioceses in the province of Rome.)\nWith the codification of Canon Law 100 years ago, only priests could be named as cardinals. For different reasons, St John XXIII made it a policy that only bishops would be cardinals. This expanded the international representation in the curia, but also pushed the the episcopal office on even more full time Roman officials. The priests who have been named as cardinals since then have been illustrious theologians - Congar, Dulles, Grillmeier, etc.- who were already over 80 and so ineligible to vote for Pope. Francis has named a few bishops (not Arch-) that adds new wrinkle to the next conclave.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no denying that the United States of America, unlike its parent, does not have an established Christian Church and that all are free to refrain or participate in religion as they see fit.\n\nThe text in question appears in Article 11.\n\nAccording to Frank Lambert, Professor of History at Purdue University, the assurances in Article 11 were \"intended to allay the fears of the Muslim state by insisting that religion would not govern how the treaty was interpreted and enforced. John Adams and the Senate made clear that the pact was between two sovereign states, not between two religious powers.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The sorry event of the bad direction taken in Catholic education also deserves revisiting. Reference: FALLEN ORDER, by Karen Liebreich. http://www.karenliebreich.com/books/fallen-order/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suggest you look at the Knights of Columbus Supreme Council Executive. Did you know they have a \"lobbying\" arm - Catholic Citizenship and Public Policy? Take a look at their policies ... and then what we have been hearing from bishops and others ... which actually are not consistent with the totality of our Catholic Social Teachings ... of JPII; BXVI or F.\n\nCarl Anderson was VP in charge of it for 10 years before becoming Supreme Knight ... after being avery highly placed and well connected libertarian political operative for Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina then in the White House of Ronald Reagan. \n\nI am beginning to wonder if it wasn't he who facilitated the connection between William Casey - head of the CIA and the Wall St. Financier co-founder of the libertarian Manhattan Institute and JPII. \n\nAnd if he wasn't somewhat responsible for JPII apparent double standard between how JPII treated politically involved priests in Poland and Vietnam ... and those in Nicaragua.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't need google to define the Catholic priesthood for me, thank you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It was especially brilliant of Cameli to point to two moments in the Gospels when Jesus addresses the subject of marriage. The first, found in both Matthew and Mark, shows Pharisees trying to catch Jesus in a bind, an almost perfect parallel for the dubia. The second, in John's Gospel, shows Jesus meeting the woman at the well, and his interaction illustrates the kind of accompaniment Pope Francis wants the Church to mimic. Jesus saves his anger for the doctors of the law but showers the sinning woman with kindness.\"\n\nAgain and again we see Good Pope Francis in the role of Jesus, while Burke is the pharisee trying to entrap him. Like Jesus, Good Pope Francis is outwitting his tormentor at every turn. The pharisees put one-dimensional legalism ahead of mercy. Jesus puts mercy first. Do these modern day pharisees serve the code of canon law or the Gospel?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God didn't send His Son to redeem us. God sent Jesus because God loves us. God loves all of creation. God saw that it was good. And God didn't give us intellect to allow us to make differentiations. God gave us intellect so that we could know Him and know/love all His creation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many Catholics today are accustomed to the Church being ruled by a strong man, the Saint. One must wonder if that has lead many Catholics today to be enamored of strongman leadership and thus a tendency to flock to Trump's banner and worship him with the same devotion they extended to the Saint? Despite Mr. Trump's failure to exhibit any of the Christian qualities taught by Gospel and the Church, they rally to his support and mock those who oppose him. Conduct he would approve, but is it in keeping with the teachings of Christ? Perhaps in the minds of many Catholics, those questions don't matter, as long as their leader is winning....sigh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's certainly some popular and rather superficial \"reformation\" of who Luther is and who he became after the reformation. \n\nA mere two years after he hammered his complaints on the door, he commented on the division that he had created....and we see it still today, where everyone has become their own authority, their own pope.\n\nMartin Luther said, again, just 2 years after his act of division: \"There are as many sects and beliefs as there are heads. This fellow will have nothing to do with baptism; another denies the Sacrament; a third believes that there is another world between this and the Last Day. Some teach that Christ is not God; some say this, some say that. There is no rustic so rude but that, if he dreams or fancies anything, it must be the whisper of the Holy Spirit, and he himself a prophet.:\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Why can't Christian MEN minister to both men and women without being pastors?\"\n\nThey can, Elaine, as I mentioned, (not exactly in these words) I don't need to be paid by a church to witness for Christ or minister to other people's needs. \n\nOf course there is a difference when it comes to women and men as far as the \"church\" is concerned--the former are considered servants and the latter masters, at least that's the case where Christ is not present.\n\nBy the way, it wasn't Jimbob who wrote the quoted piece--just to clarify.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thirty pieces of silver is about right. Destroying the world out of greed and hubris is low and stupid on a cosmic scale. The Bible has some very interesting things to say about the \"desolation\" of the earth in the end times, things that look remarkably like what is occurring in the world now, with storms in the sea that cause men to faint in terror; with mass die-offs of animals including the birds in the air, the beasts in the fields, and even the fishes in the seas; a time when \"knowledge will increase\" and the people will \"go to and fro\" (be highly mobile); a third of the trees will burn; and other things equally eerie. \n\nIt's nice to see a Christian perspective that includes respect for the creation, something sorely lacking in most Christians because it isn't taught. When a person puts these things together with Jesus' teachings on how to live, it's pretty obvious to me that we don't live with the world as we should, and as we need to, for sustainability.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have to ask, do people really think mercy was absent from the church for 2000 years before Pope Francis and his exhortation?\n\nWhy is there such a disdain for the Church's past, where Catholics have faced similar marital problems in all the centuries of the Church's existence. \n\nI can't help but see an almost similar attitude towards the Church's past found in protestant circles that adhere to the idea of the \"great apostasy\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How come you can use the \"Jesus never taught card\" when it comes to capitalism, but progressives can't use it when it comes to pelvic issues? I smell a cafeteria somewhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In virtually every comment you make here you attack the Church and what it teaches, why? Because you consider your opinions on ecclesiology, morality, interpretation of Scripture, etc to be infinitely superior to what the Church teaches and has taught over the centuries.\nThe Church has always had problems from both without and within. The challenge from without has always been there from the days of the early persecutions and these have strengthened the Church, 'the blood of the martyrs ....' . Whilst secular society basks in moral relativism, the Church over the last 50 years has done nothing to counteract it, rather it has acquiesced in it.\nThe signs of the times indicate that most people want a life of ease, comfort and affluence and that traditional (Christian) morality has become a formidable obstacle to this end (God is missing but [certainly] not missed).\nAnyone of us who disclaims responsibility for this acts like Pilate washing his hands of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Was Jesus into branding/rebranding? He just bravely spoke the truth. Of course that got him into a LOT of trouble. Lived Christianity has a way of doing that. Seems to me that fear and a need for approval drives so much of what many of us do, including bishops.\n\nI like to take solace in the presence of leaders like Cardinals Cupich, Tobin, Gomez-- and I'm sure there are many others like them. With luck and the Holy Spirit maybe some of them will be elected to speak for the whole body.\n\nAnd I loved Fr. Reese's comment that maybe the best help for the bishops' reputations would be for Pres. Trump to start tweeting about them!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Under your logic, any taking of innocent human life is subject to individual decisions, rather than the inherent respect and protection it deserves. That is not Catholic because it presumes an authority not given to mankind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Sect?\" I guess you're not a Catholic. That's good to know. I guess most of the naysayers here aren't Catholic. Good! That means we steer the ship. Great!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the more controversial statements in the Land O'Lakes document is its assertion that \"the Catholic university must have a true autonomy and academic freedom in the face of authority of whatever kind, lay or clerical, external to the academic community itself.\"\u2014Mari Benevento This helps explain the administration of The Catholic University of America being under censure from the American Association of University Professors since 1990 . . . for not giving a professor even a hearing before firing him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I like that phrase \"a parish is not a... franchise, but part of the body of Christ.\" But one still needs to work out the relation between parish, priest, faithful. We need each other. I worked in Holland for many years and we had to close different parishes. There the parishes exist densely packed in the urban areas, and it was generally accepted that some churches must be closed, and that there must be new forms of collaboration. With regard to the Church buildings we moved from short-term capitalist thinking, to long term, sanely \"conservative\" thinking: i.e. giving new dignified functions to Church buildings when they must be closed. Closing churches is no fun. Sometimes it must be done. But one has to go on thinking: all I do is in service of the Body of Christ. I disagree with those who say the Church is dying in northern Europe. No, the grass is growing, children are being born and baptized. The old triumphalism has disappeared. But life springs eternal in the believer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's the story of how Trump met with the pastors of two major Presbyterian churches in New York. \u201cI did very, very well with evangelicals in the polls,\u201d he bragged. When the pastors told Trump they weren\u2019t evangelicals, he demanded to know, \u201cWhat are you then?\u201d They told him they were mainline Presbyterians. \u201cBut you\u2019re all Christians?\u201d he asked. Yes, they had to assure him, Presbyterians are Christians. The kicker: Trump himself is Presbyterian.\nHe doesn\u2019t read books or even long articles. \u201cI never have,\u201d he told a reporter last year. \u201cI\u2019m always busy doing a lot.\u201d As president, Trump\u2019s intelligence briefings have been dumbed down and loaded with maps and pictures because he can\u2019t be bothered to read a lot of words. He\u2019d rather play golf.\nAfter nine months in office, Trump has given no indication that he has the capacity to be president.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Church were to fire all employees who might be deemed sinners, there would be no one left. Gays are being singled out for firing. This is discrimination and unchristian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not in Christianity and not in Judaism. The notion of a female \u201cpriest\u201d in Judaism was abhorrent as they were surrounded by nations whose \u201cpriestesses\u201d were basically whores.\n\nI am a Catholic, so your crystal ball would be considered occultism.\n\nSince the revelation concluded with the death of the last Apostle, I have to follow St. Paul\u2019s advice and hold fast to tradition.\n\nIn addition you have no theology of the Eucharist and cannot explain how a female is iconic of a High Priest, why if she is we cannot use corn, rice, bananas, and tomatoes.\n\nThere just isn't anything there that you've presented that seems to comprise more than your general impression that a female priest would be swell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article is fallacious, pure and simple. I have listened to Michael Voris for years and have yet to hear one thing that is contrary to the Magisterium. Since journalism is about stating facts, can Mr. Winter please provide one single example when Michael Voris has said ONE WORD contrary to the Magisterium. The National Catholic Reporter is painfully unaware of it's reputation in much of the Catholic world. Rock on Michael Voris. And by the way, NCR, are you aware of the skyrocketing number of viewers that this apostolate has? Please, as Dear Abby would say, wake up and smell the coffee. Read all the comments here and see what the pulse really is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Priests are not just people who have been formally trained in theology and pastoral care, been vetted by the denominational authorities and given a commission to act on behalf of the denomination, been giving a calling and then also act on behalf of and represent the people of the particular church that gave you the call.\"\n\nWell then FC, who/what are they then? I hope your answer will not invoke medieval magic-like qualities, but I suspect it will.\n\nIncidentally, here is the google definition for you: An ordained minister of the Catholic, Orthodox, or Anglican Church having the authority to perform certain rites and administer certain sacraments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The problem is people who ask questions but aren't open to the answers.\"\nThat should also include you, yourself, sir. \nWe are not living in the 19th Century---and Vatican II was to bring the Church to the point where it would FACE many legitimate questions raised in the 19th century. And in a certain sense, it did. It didn't deal with questions that were right in front of the Council---that effected Catholics and indeed, people beginning in 1968 on. \n\nI don't believe that you are open to what the Church says. The Church must always move [not be stuck with 'catch all answers' from past centuries that don't deal with current questions. God' name is \"I Am Who Am\", not, 'I Am Who Was.' And please remember that the Church is not just the 4% who make up the clergy and hierarchy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Will Christian groups get a room in any school school to conduct their their prayers session to Jesus, and Bible study? Certainly not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but Original Sin never occurred. The Jewish people never believed in Original Sin, and Jesus did not grow up with its concepts in his mind. Historically Original sin never occurred----because the evils that were to have come into the world because of the sin of Adam and Eve---all were in existence before a human ever walked on this planet. Sickness, suffering and death are not the punishment of sin, but the price of living on this earth. Whatever we can do to relieve sickness and suffering for others, brings us among the blessed.\n\n\nJesus came 'at the proper time' to teach and show us how to make Holy God's Name and to work with God 'to do the Will of God.' Whatever we can do to make the world more blessed[good], to help and assist others to be better fed, healthier, to be safer, to reach their potential, to know and experience God's love and ours---is bringing about God's Kingdom and doing the will of God. This is what Jesus taught us to pray for in the Lord's Prayer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "what do you see Trump doing differently? More drone attacks? What do you call normal? How does this not incite more attacks given almost all attacks have been by those born in the country they attacked? Or are you buying the canard that the attacks were by refugees? Given none of the countries on the list have attacked the US, but those that have such as Saudi Arabia are not on the list? Allies against ISIS such as Iraq and Iran are on the list. Does this include Yazidis from Iraq? Armenian Christians from Syria?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, the way things are heading, little may change in the next 2,500 years.\n\nThe opulent minority will continue to oppress the poor majority.\n\nUntil the idolatry of the worship of the accumulation of capital is destroyed, there will be no change.\n\nIt's not that God has been forgotten, rather that we have forgotten the message of Yeshua, that Jew who \" ... showed us how to love ...\". \n\nAs Thomas rightly says \" ... we must now show the world what love means ... \".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Real learning starts when you are faced with an event that makes it absolutely evident that we don't know sh-t. Science is getting very close to that watershed moment, most Catholic theologians are not even close.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is that in some way surprising?\n\nI understand it is not the sort of behavior YOU would engage in, but he is after all a loyal Catholic priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the pope has pretty much given it the green light. The Eastern Catholic bishop's in a the USA did that. There were rules in place that did not allow for the ordination of married men to the priesthood, but the bishops just started ignoring the rules and followed their own traditions. Rome just shrugged its shoulders and now they do it openly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't say Church Militant didn't hold itself out as the defender and protector of Catholic dogma and doctrine. It stinks because it is selective in what it emphasized as Catholic dogma and doctrine. The doctrine it chooses to emphasize is used to separate Catholics who support it's view as being superior to any 'other' Catholics. It's very good at using doctrine to define subsets of 'others'. That's why I think it stinks. It's an internet version of a whitened sepulcher. It is not alone in that mission. Life Site News, EWTN, and Fr. Z are all competing for the same audience and the same money.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Had Eisenhower allowed the elections as mandated by the Geneva Accords when the French were defeated to go forward in 1956 the people of the country would have voted to unify and Ho Chi Minh would have been elected President. Instead at the height of the Commie fear/McCarthy era in America Eisenhower simply appointed the Catholic and totally corrupt Diem family to power. Then in 1962 or so we assassinated him and began propping up a series of \"elected\" yet no less corrupt presidents that never gained the support of the people. Not saying that the VC were noble warriors at all but in wars terrible things happen just as happened in our Revolution when the \"VC\" of the day were our own revolutionaries. Ho Chi Minh was beloved by the Vietnamese of the North as well as the South and one way or another the result that came to pass was inevitable. We had no business being there other than pure hubris. It backfired big time. Viet Nam is a trading partner in spite of al the death/ destruction", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So here's what I don't understand. Some folks are calling Donald Trump racist. He's against letting illegal aliens staying in the US. Illegal aliens are not a race. He says we should put permitting the immigration of people of the Islamic faith on hold. OK, people of many different races are Muslims. If you're a liberal, you probably should not like the tenets of Islam; no tolerance of gays, lesbians, Christians, people of the Hebrew faith or any other religion that is not Islam. As far as they are concerned, women are property. He has suggested we not allow Syrian refugees into the country. News flash! Syria is a country, not a RACE. I was taught that Mexican was a nationality and not a race. Was that incorrect? So if someone can give me an example from Trump that he's racist, I'm all ears.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your rant reminds me an old joke about various people in heaven. As the newly arrived were given a tour of heaven the various religious groups were pointed out. Then the guide said for everyone to remain very quiet for a quick peek into the next room. \"Why\", asked one member of the group. \"Because this is where we keep the Christians and they think they are the only ones up here,\" was the reply.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A great man and a real shame that he had to leave Canada to develop his talents.\n\nPerhaps Mr Urry's life is a demonstration of the limits placed on Canadians before 1967 as so brilliantly shown in Doug Saunders' article on the main page of the Globe site (why can we not comment on it? Would it upset too many old school Canadian Conservatives that cling to the idea that Canada is somehow \"British and Christian\"?). Saunders' piece rates up there with his analysis of the situation in the Moroccan ghettos in Brussels and what Canada can learn from it, particularly in terms of housing affordability.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thankyou for this superb article about Fr Orobater. I had the opportunity to hear him speak at a Theology Conference in Chicago a few years ago, and more recently when he spoke at a Woman's Conference in Rome. I seem to remember him saying that he has 22 siblings, since his father had many wives. It is so refreshing that he has a wholistic view of life, which he got from his deeply African culture. I hope the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church are listening. It is really difficult for those indoctrinated with the Adam and Eve story, where woman is an accessory to a man from the beginning, to unlearn that myth and see the wholeness of God's Redemptive Plan, by accepting the more likely scenario as also found in the Book of Genesis, where God created woman and man at the same time and as EQUALS IN GOD'S IMAGE! God's Plan has been frustrated from the beginning, probably partly because of cultural issues, in my view.\nSincerely, Dr Rosemary Eileen McHugh, MD, MSpir", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with your comment, MarkWilliam. Cardinal Wuerl is clearly a supporter of Pope Francis, and even against Cardinal Burke and archbishops such as Philadelphia's Chaput. Those who support Pope Francis will not fault him (Wuerl) for not mentioning the laity; those who oppose Pope Francis will not \"buy\" the continuity argument.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW misunderstands the authors use of \"total\" and it shows through the full paragraph that he gave to criticize it. \n\nGo to Jesus, and listen to Him. From St Luke's Gospel: \"You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself\"\n\nTotal self-gift, until our last breath. \n\nIn other words, putting our freedom to its greatest good and use. \n\nI think MSW often tries to over-intellectualize matters.\n\nWe are just children. God knows this. MSW doesn't.\n\nHe doesn't quite 'have' C&L, or the essence of the interior life with God.\n\nIt's a \"total\" love affair with God. Lively, torrid, very close. Striving unity...an infinite magnet and a teeny tiny magnet, rushing to each other, with us always always always beginning again each morning and hour.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I just want to make it clear, it is not Oom Angus that is pulling the people in numbers, it is the Spirit of God. God is real and He loves to speaks to His people and when He speaks we are compelled by this love to obey.\n\nSecondly, the gathering had ownly one focus, to turn to Jesus for our leadership, in our own lives, our families, our place of influence and our nation. God promise that if we, as His church, will turn from our sinful ways , then He will come and heal our land. \n\nOur trust is in a living God, who is both merciful, holy and just. We be believe that He holds our very breath in His hands. That He is a Good God, who wants to show mercy, but who has to be just, because he is Holy .\n\nHis invitation is there for all Mankind, but we have to play it by the standards and principles of His Kingdom. He wants everything of us and we as followers of Jesus is more than willing to give it all to Him, .... because He is worthy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a Catholic. I believe it is the Church founded by Christ Himself and commanded to go forth and teach all nations. I believe it is protected by a teaching charism. I believe it cannot error when it teaches on matters of faith and morals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have read the Gospels and I know that the devil loves the vague, gray areas. We are to admonish the sinner, not condone the sin. There is such a thing as objective truth and Jesus is Truth. He did not come to abolish the laws, but to complete them. Matt 5:17\n\"In the presence of God and of Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his kingdom, I give you this charge. Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. \n2 Timothy 4:1-5\n\n The Truth will set you free.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You may have a point. But, just as the Church (despite the more, as it were, egalitarian ecclesiology of Vatican 11) remains kerygmatically and administratively hierarchical, then so, too, must responsibility \"for the shape the church is in\" currently. In other words, the bulk of that responsibility falls squarely in the collective lap of bishops and priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"provided conception has not yet taken place. Once conception takes place, what would be the point giving a women contraception? Wouldn't contraception be moot? Oh, right--you mean Catholic hospitals refuse to perform an abortion... And why does that bother you? \"\nHow do they know that the women is pregnant if she comes to an ER after being raped? Do they test her cervical mucus to make sure that she isn't ovulating?\n\n\" The hospital will not do a direct abortion, instead they will cut out the effected tube, saving the life of the mother, but nonetheless leading to the death of the child.\"\nWhich is less effective than giving a woman abortion drugs in some cases.\n\n\"Catholic hospitals will not script birth control--but women do not have to go to Catholic hospitals to get scripts for birth control now do they?\"\nIf you read the story, you will know that the woman was never told they wouldn't do a ligation until she was in labor. She had no choice because she wasn't informed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"More women and men students who support women's Equal right to their Health Care coverage will apply to this University.\"\n\nYou have more of a chance of getting into ND if you are a legacy applicant (and Catholic) than a supporter of Equal right Health Care coverage. It's very selective, accepts just under 19% of its applicants,and is rated 17 in the nation after Princeton (according to the US News and World Report). It is quite secure.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope NEVER said \"in order to remove all doubt.\" It was the CDF, in a \"Responsum ad Dubium,\" who made this statement over a year *after* \"Ordinatio Sacerdotalis\" had been published, trying to suppress legitimate doubts about the implied dogmatic character of the letter.\n\nI DID answer your question: Matthew 16:19, 18:18, gives the Church authority to teach the truths of the faith. I also gave you a quotation from Fidei Depositum that shows that the Church by no means presumes she *already* has full understanding of the truths of the faith. What else do you want?\n\nYou write, \"The Church defines the truth for all time.\" BUT, about the male-only priesthood being normative under the New Law, NOTHING HAS BEEN DEFINED, so we are going in circles. \n\nTRUTH is timeless, but the Church's understanding of the TRUTH is *work in progress.* It took 1500+ years to *define* the 7 sacraments! Sorry, I accept the HIATUS, but do not accept ecclesiastical FAKE NEWS as a divinely revealed dogma.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The SPLC is a 'hate group'. It encourages people to 'hate' those who disagree with its left-wing, socialist aims or who preach traditional Christianity.\nIt is noticeable that Antifa which fits the FBI definition of a 'hate group is not called out for being one by the SPLC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This would be the finishing touch on a plan that was initiated during the Reagan years. During his two terms in office, we began to see Jerry Falwell at the White House and on Capitol Hill with increased frequency. The legitimate media learned that Falwell was beginning to sit in and, later on, participate in cabinet meetings and meetings with members of both Houses. This was a red flag that the neo cons managed to dismiss in the name of \"spiritual guidance\". Now, president Trump has forged an Unholy alliance with the Faux Christians and is ready to part the Red Sea (pun intended) to pave the way for their dream of a Christian caliphate. Muslim \"extremists\" will be the least of our worries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<\"God not only acts through the lives of individual people, but through the historical processes of peoples and nations. Even the most complex and intricate ones.\">\n\nWell, yes, that's Catholic theology 101. \n\n\u201c[T]he more recent documents of the Church bring together the demands of truth with those of love in a very balanced way. If at times in the past, love shone forth too little in the explanation of the truth, so today the danger is great that in the name of love, truth is either to be silenced or compromised. Assuredly, the word of truth can be painful and uncomfortable. But it is the way to holiness, to peace, and to inner freedom. A pastoral approach which truly wants to help the people concerned must always be grounded in the truth. \n\nIn the end, only the truth can be pastoral. \u201cThen you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free\u201d (Jn. 8:32).\u201d\n(Cardinal Ratzinger; 1998)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That was my immediate reaction, too....\n\nAs far as the Mike Pence issues...it is odd, is it not, that most articles don't point out that less than 100 persons walked out? Well over 3100 students graduated. Also rarely reported, but well documented by video is the fact Mr. Pence received a standing ovation by the attendees. \n\nAnd lest we forget, it is interesting that this well-planned in advance \"walk-out\" was supported and aided by Planned Parenthood and the Indiana Reproductive Justice Coalition. Perhaps Catholic Social Teaching was not the only item on the agenda?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Children are not children until they are born. Women end pregnancies.\nAbortion is not murder. Please refer to endingawantedpregnancydotcom and you will read tragic cases that the right wing will never acknowledge.\nIf you believe that pregnancies resulting from rape should continue to birth, then you believe in another form of slavery for women. Women have the basic human right to choose the father of their future children and select the best timing. I feel very confident that Jesus is more understanding and has more empathy than ultra pious men do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Forget the Bible you need some serious help. You have convinced yourself that that the Dunno is the second coming of Christ? You are someone that shouldn't have an assault rifle with a high capacity magazine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marriage was meant to be 'permanent' in Jesus' time because He knew: (1) The vast majority of people, at that time, didn't live very long. (They knew nothing about sanitation and nutrition.) (2) Men could divorce their wives but the women couldn't divorce their husbands. And, whether or not that is a fact (it is somewhat debatable), an absolute fact was and is that divorced women were condemned to a live of abject poverty if they didn't remarry. Jesus was protecting women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Was Jesus really silent about war? Offhand I recall one or two verses in which he expressly condemns violence against the person.\n\nEven if (for argument's sake) I accept that Jesus' was silent on the subject of war, we are left with his bellowing on love. And boy! Did he bellow, especially from the cross, surrounded by his killers and tormentors. Far from calling on his Father and disciples to come to his defence through violence, he prayed for his violent killers, a lesson to the world that violence is to be dealt with in God's way, not in the way of humankind.\n\nAs for the Law and the Prophets, Jesus came to fulfil only what was good in them; not all in the Law and the Prophets was good. It's why Jesus refused the bloodlust of those calling for the stoning of the woman caught in adultery.\n\nNo matter that ignores the express and clear teaching of Jesus is \"settled\".\n\nThe fundamental right of humankind to life justifies one thing: respect for it, its preservation.\n\nWhat examples?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "O'Malley is committed to furthering his career. He's in good with Francis and is doing a stellar job of making sure his commission does nothing that might result in a cleric being held accountable for abusing a child. The other cardinals will appreciate his effective duplicity. With luck he can parlay it into a higher position, maybe even Vicar of Christ. Most importantly, he is doing God's work, improving the reputation of the Church and keeping the membership numbers in as good shape as possible. Jesus may not have endorsed whitewashing the exterior of tombs, and He seemed to feel harming children was bad, but fortunately for the good cardinal and his brethren, centuries of tradition have reversed Christ. Harming children is acceptable, provided one not get caught, and the tomb gets a fresh coat of whitewash regularly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article is disingenuous and misleading. Current Catholic and non-Catholic Biblical scholarship recognizes the human element in the writing of the books of the Bible. Pseudonymous writing, for example. Second Isaiah, for another. Then there is the debate as to whether all of the epistles of Paul were actually written by him or some instead attributed to him. None of this detracts from the power os Scripture or its spiritual meaning. A merely literal reading does violence to the text. Today's Fundamentalism is a reaction against Modernism and intellectual trends of the Enlightenment. It is a relatively recent occurrence in salvation history, \n I have in my possession a video of a consortium of scientists, one of them a Catholic religious who got together to discuss the issue of science and the Bible and to make the point that having faith in God and Scripture is not incompatible with science. I am disappointed with the lack of sophistication displayed by the writer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus cautioned religious leaders about imposing burdens on others:\n\"They tie up heavy burdens [hard to carry] and lay them on other people's shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them.\" Mt. 23:4.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church's rules on marriage reflect the rules laid down by Christ. You don't reject his rules on account of him being single, do you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think some Catholics go along with errors of the Church because they really see \"CYA\" as a valid and aspirant spiritual strategy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Um, the only Catholics putting forward \"diversity of views\" and \"prudential judgement\" on capital punishment are American. Successive popes, the world's bishops in union with each pope during his papal reign, and orthodox Catholics everywhere outside the United States of America (aka sensus fidelis) are pretty much unanimous in opposing capital punishment as retributive or restorative justice. (Of course there is a valid argument for self-defence, but these conditions are not met in modern developed countries which have the capacity to safely imprison serious and dangerous criminals).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You claimed -- falsely -- that these \"allegations\" are \"unmitigated and unsupported nonsense.\" You are admitting here that you have absolutely NO basis for your shrug-off statement. Steven Shea is right, and you are not. Best that you do your own research before posting any more of your own \"unmitigated and unsupported nonsense\" here, or anywhere else. That would be a poor reflection on the Catholic ultra-right!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus wanted his+yoke to be easy and his burden light. Paul talked about the importance of Love, not heroic deeds in 1 Corinthians 13. When Jesus said to be perfect-as the Father is perfect, he was speaking of the Father's perfect love, which truly takes the grace of God to do with a full heart. Holiness is not compliance, it is love. Complaince is easy, love is hard, as it sometimes means speaking the truth when obedience is the easy thing to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The young girl's immorality - the fact that she is human? She acknowledged her human weaknesses by coming forward last January. The good Christians of Heritage want to throw stones at her? I don't get it. Her life is going to be difficult enough bringing a new baby into this world and caring for the child for the next eighteen to twenty years. Heritage wants to punish her?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ironically, because of the very nature of the mentally ill, they are probably the least likely group to do any follow through that would help them become more functional - heck, they may have hopped a train somewhere long before their next \"appointment\". the meds maybe sold on the street or just tossed. it's very sad because so many could be functional. \nbut the way they do live on the streets directly impacts that immediate area for the worse. I really see no respect for much. when something is always given to you, it has little worth. some of these folks are very savvy and know how to work st vinny's, catholic services, hwy 99 warming center...even greenhill. they tell their same, sad story, get a voucher and are set for as long as they keep what ever it was that they got. I don't mean to be cynical...it's just what I've seen.... \n safe, temporary shelters are hard to come by and is about as low as low- income housing on the \"to do\" list for the city", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dream on, Michael. But a church, \"His church,\" without a site, oversight, finances attached to it, is meaningless, especially for organizing the non-obvious -- inter-generational worship, passing on the gospel, sacraments, etc. People -- with a Holy Spirit apiece, each with his or her own Spirit -- who leave are often hemmed in, imprisoned within the circle of ideas, Gospel ideals, which they conceived or which were current when they began their exit, but can go nowhere with them -- practically speaking -- short of joining another church, another institution, social unit. They have to incarnate, pass on these ideals somewhere. Ultimately, your \"His church,\" -- seemingly \"intentional\" -- is only another scheme of institutional improvisation (over time) under a different disguise. I'll stick with reforming what I've got and worship at Notre Dame (Paris), Cologne Cathedral, St. Patrick's, and my local community -- if only to remind myself that the CC must always be in reformation mode.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which are greater--canon law and traditions? Or the Gospels? Pope Francis is going back to the Gospels. Some things need to be reexamined and understanding needs to be clarified but Jesus faced the same issue--and Isaiah spoke of this conflict also. When human rules are in conflict with the Holy Spirit it's we humans who must correct ourselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing at all uncivil here....just an alternative viewpoint that got censored by NCR the first time around.\n\nScandals get censored even here. \n\nI think if the Catholic Church published the lay's own scandals, it would be a very good thing.\n\nWe'd have less of an air of detached contempt and superiority over \"rome, the awful bishops, and the institutional church\".\n\noh..wait a minute...they couldn't do that...that wouldn't be good, fair, comfortable. That would be humiliating, injurious to our precious reputations, insulting, and illegal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the scope of the human race, that caste system is imposed by Christianity on all of humanity. Nobody is stopping them from believing? Reality is. How did the guy in eastern China on 400 AD know about Christianity? The internet?\n\nThank you for replying. It confirms I've made the right decision to be Buddhist. I wish you the best in life and your belief.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah- Forcades really puts herself right out there. So did Farley and Elizabeth Johnson. What gives me hope is that The Catholic Theological Society of America keeps recognizing the work Farley and Johnson did, even though they got slapped down by PTBs in the Vatican. \n\nI think part of what is valuable about Iglesia Descalza is that it brings a viewpoint from South America and Spain, the Spanish cultures that so influenced Francis. And, the issues there: some different and some the same. They have rebels, too, and not just Forcades. \n\nThere is also good stuff coming out of Ireland - read the association of Catholic Priests website. Good stuff from Australia - from Catholica, Eureka Street, John Menadue's on-line \"Pearls and Irritations\". \n\nThere are resources I wish NCR could tap into more, even if it just to reprint what is appearing in other sources, with enough commentary to get a conversation going. You, LittleBear, Monica and others could lead the way in discussion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "His hands are full with the priests :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you think that I should have the right to refuse you service because you're a Christian or because you're a straight male?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And that has nothing to do with Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems to me that Pat Perriello sets the bar very low.\nThe fact that he celebrates an interest in social justice as being something remarkable is a sad commentary on the current state of US clergy. Commitment to social justice ought to be a given, a bottom-line requirement.\nIncreasing the number of clergy, without addressing the reasons that people are leaving the Church will not do much to improve the future of the Church, unless the goal is to have a Church that consists only of clergy. But since clergy in the Catholic Church are only male, it stands to reason that concept has little future -- unless, of course, they will all be obligated to marry to give birth to males who will continue to fill the ranks of the clergy......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There was a time when the Episcopal Church was known as \"the Republican party at prayer.\" Those were the days ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" history could have turned out very differently.\"\n\nHow do you suppose \"history\" would have developed in Germany? If Hitler had not taken power, who would have? What would that person/group have done? There had been a dozen or more elections during the short Weimar era, and none of those elections produced a leader able to solve the problems besetting Germany.\n\n\n\nIn 1920 NSDAP published its 25 Points Program. Jews were mentioned twice: \"No Jew may be a citizen . . .\" and the intent to combat the \"Jewish materialistic spirit.\" \nhttp://www.hitler.org/writings/programme/\nUpon taking power and throughout the Third Reich, the same 25 Points remained the NSDAP program. \n\n\nLeo Strauss, guru of the neoconservatives, was a young ideologues in pre-Nazi Germany. He was an acolyte of Carl Schmitt, one of NS's idea-men.\n\nAre the 25 points hateful? Useful? Some good some bad? Analyze them on their own merits - in tune w/ the best qualities of Catholic intellectual development.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The former. It would follow from your offering that the Church position is that Eve was responsible for \"...getting Adam to sin, meaning to have sex with her.\"\nAs Prefect of the CDF J.Card. Ratzinger wrote to all bishops that \"God's definitive words to the woman after the first sin\" was that his desires will by yours etc., and \"He shall rule over you\"- thus literally not figuratively. The document refers to \"...in the church and in the world\".\nIf you read Ratzinger, he \"teaches\"(with papal approval) that God created women - before the first sin - to prevent Adam from a \"sterile\" (not to mention \"baneful\") encounter with himself. So, the primary purpose would seem to be reproductive and at the initiative, prerogative of the man.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus/god", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Whatever is not worth doing, is not worth doing well.\"\n\nGood one. Reminds me of an old witticism by George Will, on the supposed superiority of aluminum baseball bats: \"Longevity is no virtue in something that shouldn't exist in the first place.\"\n\nThat said, your statement that \"Jesus' 'living presence' . . . is so amorphous as to be . . . the inspiration for . . . incredible harm\" is unprovable, and thus, by your own lights, not worth much. Jesus, even just reasonably well understood, is goodness itself, and therefore, cannot be the inspiration of evil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Delusional delusional delusional...this papacy is the culminating disaster of the breakdown in the faith started by the misapplication of VII...objective evidence tells us the faith the church is a shadow of its former self after VII and the final nails in the coffin are being put in place by PF and his minions like Cupich who do anything but defend doctrine and only speak of cheap mercy and delusional doublespeak...the barque of Peter is heading for the rocks and only Jesus can save us as we are being shepherded by egomaniacal power hungry wolves in sheeps clothing...God have mercy on us, Our Lady and St Joseph please pray for us, St Michael the Archangel defends us", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, one of the issues the current archbishop appears to have is that the parish became a magnet for Catholics who wanted a more dignified liturgical experience, and ran a top-notch grade school with orthodox catechetics. So they attended it.\n\nArchbishop Flores was aware of all this and had no problem.\n\nIt reminds me of the attempt years ago by the St. Mary of the Angels Anglo-Catholic parishin Hollywood to unite with the Catholic Church. Archbishop Roger Mahony would hear nothing of it since the presence of a traditional parish in the midst of remaking the archdiocese into a new image capped with the construction of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, featuring a $1 million cathedra, would create \"pastoral issues\". Locally the cathedral is known as the \"Taj Mahony\" or the \"Rog Mahal\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bob's statement \"When we the peoples challenge the church we help to keep it on the path of Jesus Christ and OFF the path of godless, soulless, predatory Capitalism.\" \n The German Catholic Faith is almost in complete apostasy. Cardinal's Marx and Kasper would refuse communion to a parishioner for failing to register for the Church Tax, but would not refuse one for any other reason, including those in mortal grave sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, biggest is a value judgment, and since you've indicated an exit from our Mother and Teacher, that discussion is a dead-end.\n\nIf abortion is murder, the mere numbers (although they are high) would also be of little use to someone who consider fetuses medical waste, thus another dead-end.\n\nI didn't attribute \"\"rabid Roman Catholics\" to you and you misconstrue the quotation marks.\n\n\"Quotation marks may be used to send a message to the reader that word or phrase is being used in a special way, for example sarcastically.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First---God is a PERSON, who relates to us and we to God. Jesus did not tell us that the greatest thing is to OBEY the Divine Law. Jesus told us that the Commandments are governed by a LOVE RELATIONSHIP [You shall LOVE the Lord, your God and you shall LOVE your neighbor as yourself]. \n\nVatican II docs., especially 'Guadium et spes,' begins each of its discussions of five particular areas in part 2. Each of the five problems treated in part 2 begins with a characteristic present in the modern world. \n1) On the family---begins with marriage and the family n the modern world\n2) On the culture--contemporary circumstances----we are in a new age in human history\n3) On socioeconomic life---human domination over nature, greater mutual dependence among all, more frequent government intervention characterize our modern age.\n4) On political life----there is no way that the election of Donald Trump provides any\n moral certitude.\n5) Fostering peace---there's no certitude here, either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings.....Blessings to Holy Father Francis for his wise use of discernment combined with mercy to bring forth the new evangelism so needed in a Church stagnated by doctrine!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Lea Jones for helping to clarify a major issue. The claim that a single questionable finding could overturn years of careful scientific research is astounding.\nBack in the 1870s a great UO science professor, the Rev. Thomas Condon, proposed that there need be no conflict between Christianity and the new science of evolution. He felt the strata of the layers of rock told him the same story as the pages of the Bible, a magnificent , complex creation. \nCondon, like Lee and Schweitzer, would not have agreed to this \"two competing philosophies\" concept being brandished yet today. \n[Though he eventually came to respect Prof. Condon, in the beginning Mathew P. Deady thought Condon was a lightweight who shouldn't be dabbling in science but should be preaching the Bible instead; he famously complained that with Condon, \"Christ and him crucified is entirely subordinate to \"The Rocks and Them Stratified.\" ]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've read this entire thread now. Your thesis is that we are to blame for the abusers, that if we had followed the rules more closely that this could not happen in God's good church. \nI am one of the abused. It has colored my life and my faith. I have been the chair of the abuse committee in my diocese. You are furthering abuse with this (nonsense). You, yes you, excuse the abusers with this Jansenist caricature of the works of a loving God. Stop. Do not further the abuse that so many have undergone, that so many have courageously shared for the benefit of God's people, with this unwarranted magic. You really should know better, and if not you need to take that to prayer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, as I understand it a laicized priest (or deacon) should never be permitted to distribute Holy Communion, since they are forbidden to exercise their priestly ministry (except for hearing a deathbed confession).\nIt may seem overly technical but it isn't really:\nYou might think that they can be extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, but only a layperson can be that. A laicized priest (or deacon) is NOT a layperson, they remain ordained. Therefore their act of distributing Communion would be a forbidden exercise of their priestly ministry as an Ordinary minister of Holy Communion (not extraordinary).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You wrote \u201cpublic institutions do not claim to be founded and directed by God\u201d roughly within an hour of writing \u201chow does the Gospel imperative of Love Thy Neighbor fit in for you?\u201c to another poster.\n\nTheologically an organization cannot \u201csin\u201d, so whatever \u201cthe Catholic Church ... refusing to admit its sins\u201d means, it is a construction of your own.\n\nThe Church teaches that societies are natural to Man and, under the Natural Law, government has certain duties and obligations which individuals do not have, and corresponding rights and privileges to accomplish them.\n\nOur American view is schizophrenic since Jefferson wrote that \u201c..... all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights ....That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men\u201d, and then in the 20th century SCOTUS began to avoid speaking of natural rights.\n\nTry tackling that without a personal attack inconsistent with your \"vocation\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The unknown author of The Cloud of Unknowing writes: \u201cThis foul, wretched lump called sin is none other than yourself and though you do not consider it in detail, you understand now that it is part and parcel of your very being and something that separates you from God. And so reject the thought and experience of all created things but most especially learn to forget yourself\u2026\u201c. \n\nIt is to work on racial prejudice for the benefit of your own spiritual growth and not so much for others!\nThe racial prejudice is mostly from self boasting and hating others you consider less worthy than you. \n \u201cAnyone who wishes to follow me let him forsake himself (ego self).\u201d (Matthew 16:24)\nYour EGO self replaces God's presence! Therefore EGO is enemy # 1 for Christ followers!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Each time I \"compose myself\" and acknowledge that I am in the presence of God it becomes just a bit more clear that the mercy of God is penetrating my being. Even in my sinfulness, in my belief and unbelief, God's will for my love becomes more clear and lovely. Like a mother's warm poultice it is \"drawing\" away my fear, guilt, idolatry, my disdain in the face of the merciless, like puss from a boil. \nI get the 2+2=5 metaphor of mercy. Simply, like the mercy of God, it does not make any rational sense at all. It is somehow founded upon the civility, friendship, love of Aristotle's wisdom, the 2+2, taken beyond, not only to a new level in Jesus' redemption but also in the companionship with God in creation unfolding. We can contemplate but never understand. We have to just listen, learn, accept and enjoin, hopefully.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jay, \n\nI'm simpatico to the NCR program and I would not tell you that. Also, I'm sure I'm not the only one here who wouldn't. Yet, I would and do find it offensive when I have been told to go to where, in the minds of some traditional Catholics \"I belong\". Since we both have received the same insensitive instructions from others, let's agree not to do what we find offensive to those with whom we disagree and let's be aware of and acknowledge the many who don't do this. Isn't this a good place to begin?\n\nPax Christi,\n\nJohn David", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For me, hymns can reassure or inspire. \"Oh God, Our Help in Ages Past\" reassures me, while \"How Can I Keep From Singing\" inspires. I do like Melissa Nussbaum's suggestion of the Taiz\u00e9 \"Wait for the Lord\" for the communion hymn, but would hate having it repeated Sunday after Sunday as she proposes. Once every couple of months is enough. Perhaps she would also enjoy Fr. Chang's song, comprised solely of the verse \"Thank you, thank you, Jesus\", repeated. Very beautiful, in small doses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One has to look at this in the light of history. Ireland had inflicted on itself Jannsenist clergy escaping from revolutionary France. Maynooth seminary was created to train priests by the British government. \nThe Irish church was always the most reactionary it was a major supporter of the Ultramontane view of Pius IX. \nIt was they who blessed the local fascists as they were transported by the Nazis to fight for Franco.\nArchbishop McQuaid's advice and imprimatur was sought by the Devalera on the 37 constitution. Were women essentially were reduced to a second class citizen.\nIt is only since the generation who have availed of free second level education that the abuse of children,the madeline laundries came to the fore.\nThe scandal of Bishop Casey's son and others broke the faith of the ordinary laity in Ireland. \nChange needs to happen in the Church universally. A married clergy there is nothing in the gospels barring this. An enhanced role for women even ordination. Why not now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nobody seriously believes God experiences \"anger\". Saint Paul actually taught that man unaided by grace and without accepting a freely available union with Christ would fall short of God's perfection and be unable to meet Him face to face. And, yes, shock horror, that includes sins of misdirected desires of the flesh and inappropriate use of the gifts of creation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Foreshorten,\nSometimes, you really do make a great setup/straight man. Your vision of \"church\" is pretty clear based on your post. If you can reconcile that with the many examples of a Jesus who really was so much more 'open' than the church seems today, just stay in that space if it makes you happy.\n\nYou're right, I'm not on the radar or \"horizon\" of the bishops. Using your model, I'm guessing most of the world isn't either, because they aren't full blown \"catholics.\"\n\nTo the degree that bishops think that way, and can be even remotely comfortable with that position, I think I could then feel my post was spot on.\n\nAs to my current spiritual life, you make a lot of assumptions, for someone who knows me only from what I post here.\n\npity...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because those people don't leave other people in peace and my membership in the Church is as valid as yours last time I checked my baptismal certificate. Prophets never leave the complacent and self-righteous in peace. The book of Ezekiel is quite clear on that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pray tell, who were the disciples and the Twelve present at the Last Supper? Were they not \"people\"? Remember, Jesus NEVER imposed himself nor what he did or taught upon the people. The official church is starting to get better with communications [to the people ---out there], but they still have a long way to go.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hmmmmm.... You think that discrimination is not \"a bad thing at all\". That appears to be a view that is often held by those who discriminate against others; however, it's not exactly a Christian perspective.\nWhat you have manage to pack into those few sentences assumes much and combines ideas that aren't clearly related. It's more a declaration that any invitation to dialogue.\nI am very glad that your views are in the minority and that we no longer live in a world where women are relegated to the lowest paying jobs. Even if the Catholic Church will not treat women as equal to men, most of secular society in the US does. No matter how much some may wish it, time cannot be turned back.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He needs a new and stronger message.\n\nHow about telling us the more central and painful truth: The root issue is the idol of self, the love of self.\n\nPursuing money is just one form of love of self, that is pride.\n\nPursuing and defending our reputation can be just as damaging as pursuing money.\n\nVanity, wanting to be consulted, etc.\n\nFrancis wants to stay popular and so he cleverly tap dances around giving us the real medicine we need to draw closer to Christ.\n\nHe bores me with his cheaper (and ever trendy) version of the Gospel.\n\nRailing at the \"pursuit of money\" lets 99.9% of the people off the hook, letting them cast stones.\n\nThat's not being a good father, just a populist one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity is about learning to materialize our interior life, learning to be with God in every moment - through the material matter we're dealing with at each and every moment.\n\nLearning how to put more prayer into every thought and action; thousands of glimpses and encounters with Jesus Christ during each day.\n\nThat's what Christianity is about it seems to me.\n\nChristianity is a torrid love affair with Jesus Christ. \n\nOur vocation should radiate outward and people should sense a closeness with God even though God may never be mentioned. \n\nHe is drawing all things to Him through our loving Yes.\n\nYes I will give.\nYes I will serve.\nYes I will obey Your will.\nYes I will follow the Commandments - I will make them mine.\nYes I will deny myself, cheerfully out of love of You, for the great good of my bride, that You gave me, for my children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Sarah's loyalty is to Jesus, not a pope who can't even be bothered to kneel every time he is in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist because as he himself confided to one of his sycophants: \"the word of God is going to be more important than the Eucharist\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He had sort of an \"open house\" on Saturday and let people passing by view it. The exterior is a medium brown stain with a green metal roof. It's a nice home, I've watched it being built over the past year as I walked by, I peered through his parent's backyard fence, but really enjoyed watching it go up. It's a nice home and very aesthetic to the eye. \n\nI've noticed a new tiny home by the Catholic Community Services building at 10th and G Street recently, too. I don't think tiny homes are a fad, but a good solution for independent, affordable living. The lifestyle of a tiny home is not the solution for everyone, but for many, it's a great one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The translation more accurately put, Secular is anyone who chooses to actually do as Christ was purported to have commanded in the Gospels, ie treat all the same & the same as you want to be treated. \n\nAnyone who stands up for the human dignity of women & girls by demanding they be treated and ordained the same as men is Secular in our church's labelling. Also anyone who does not judge or condemn LGBT is labelled Secular along with anyone who believes women should have the legal right & accessibility to birth control. Anyone who believes criminalizing abortion does more harm than good or simply feels it is the wrong approach to this moral issue is labelled Secular.\n\nJesus taught Love God first & prove it by loving all of your brothers & sisters the same & prove that love, by treating them all the same, as each other, & as you wish to be treated. Do not judge or condemn. Teach, live a right example yourself, don't take rights & freedoms away from others sacramental or otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This has nothing to do with religion per se but everything to do with convenience. The children in the small town (Theodore) didn't want to suffer through a 30 - 45 minute bus ride everyday to a public school, each way, away from where they live....... Instead they opted to attend a local Catholic school...... Nothing wrong with that - the parents are in agreement ad it's all funded by the same government..... One additional note, these areas are very rural and generally speaking in the middle of nowhere....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Although I'm disappointed about Francis' continued blindness on most aspects of women's right to full participation in ministry, I think this is wonderful - (from the article):\n\n\"There is a \u201csinful habit of the church to look too much at itself as if it believed it had its own light\u201d -- what Bartholomew called an \u201cecclesial introversion,\u201d the pope said. Divisions are born when the church looks too much too itself and not to the real light of Christ, which the church reflects like the moon does sunlight.\n\n\u201cLooking at Christ frees us from this habit and also from the temptation of triumphalism and rigidity,\u201d the pope said.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Says Matthew Brower, exec. dir. of the Montana Catholic Conference: \"...regardless of whether or not legislation restricting abortion passes and becomes law, there is absolutely nothing that prevents every one of us from taking concrete steps to reduce abortion by offering assistance to mothers and fathers in need.\"\n\nWell, yes, there is something that prevents taking concrete steps to reduce the number of abortions: blocking access to effective birth control so that an unwanted pregnancy doesn't occur in the first place. You know, like insurance coverage provided to employees of Catholic hospitals, universities, charities, and from Little Sisters. Or, defunding Planned Parenthood which will remove access to not only affordable and effective birth control, but will also limit access to other forms of health care for women. \n\nGot that said. \n\nAnd, yes, offering assistance to already pregnant women may also allow a woman to choose to carry through with the pregnancy. Good idea.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I was pastor of a parish church with a conservative order of nuns running the parochial school, I had a frequent debate with the principal. Her contention was that sacraments were for people who followed Church teachings very closely. (She passed over* children for First Communion if their families didn't attend Sunday Mass regularly. That's one example.) I said people never come where they're not wanted. If we didn't find a way to welcome people to the altar or the Baptismal font, they could never appreciate the richness of the Gospel. As a matter of fact, we never missed the chance to baptize a baby no matter the parents' circumstances. I'd see some of them in church after that.\n\nImagine the principal's surprise and anger when children she pushed out of the parochial school came to the sacraments through our Religious Ed department. Most of them continued to bring their parents to church after that. We need the biggest net we can find.\n\n*yes, I used \"passed over\" deliberately.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yip, the Church's iron grip on dietary requirements may have loosened somewhat but don't be fooled, there are still many Catholics in Hell over the meat rap.\n\nIncidentally I know of one Protestant country where everyone eats sausages on a Friday, including Catholics! They do it mainly as a quiet little protest to tell Rome to keep their noses out of people's personal pantry. (That is not a euphemism, btw.)\n\nI don't think they are sinning though. I've tasted the sausages and my guess is that there is not enough meat in them for it to constitute a sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sister ran out of room before mentioning this point from Sunday's Gospel..\n\n\"Jesus said to his disciples:\n\"If your brother sins against you,\ngo and tell him his fault between you and him alone. \nIf he listens to you, you have won over your brother.\nIf he does not listen,\ntake one or two others along with you,\nso that 'every fact may be established\non the testimony of two or three witnesses.'\nIf he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. \nIf he refuses to listen even to the church,\nthen treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Saint Cecilia Catholic Community\": \"Catholic\" in what known sense of the word? Neither in communion with Rome nor theologically orthodox nor aspiring to be universal like both Rome and the Eastern churches.\n\nThis is a congregation in a sect. Why mislead people?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "hawknbee: Most Canadians do identify as being Christian although I suspect only a small minority identify as being social conservatives. Mainline Christianity maintains a more solid presence in Canada than in the U.S., where Christian Evangelicalism and other conservative Christian sects are far more influential than here. Roman Catholicism is easily the single largest Christian religion in Canada, but in general Roman Catholics in the West tend to hew far more to the progressive side of the social agenda than do many other Christians. In a 2015 Pew Center study of attitudes toward homosexuality in the U.S., for instance, 70 percent of Catholics indicated their acceptance of homosexuality, the highest ranking among members of any religious community. My guess is that mainline Christians in Canada are likely to view criticisms like that made by Adam Vaughan as being directed at socially conservative Christians rather than against all Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The overwhelming majority of military personnel honoured by this cross (and not \"structure\" -- too shy or ashamed to spell 'cross'?), were indeed Christians. So, they have the right that they be remembered by their preferred symbol. If other military personnel, with different faiths, wanted to be remembered by their preferred symbol, so be it. Do it. But if they don't do it, that does not authorise the state to deprive them form their preferred religious symbols they want to be remembered by.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"This we can agree on, catechises has been terrible for a long, long time. I however don't think it will be better with moral ambiguity. \"\n\nThe issue I had with the Church was the Church of No under JPII. I like moral ambiguity and think there should be more of it. I feel like Evangelicals are taught how to have a personal relationship with Jesus, which is something that is sorely lacking in the Catholic Church. I thought Catholicism was more about reciting the rules and the things that you couldn't do than it was about a personal relationship with God. The God I grew up with seemed like a cold and distant dictator who I should be scared of, not someone I should want to talk to or have a relationship with.\n\nAs for gossip, the whole issue is that Benedict want the Church purer and smaller so people in parishes took him at his words and ran those who were \"sinners\" out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is hypocritical to say that one follows the philosophy of Thomas Merton and then becomes a reader or advocate for the National Catholic Reporter. Merton if he were alive today would condemn the NCR as a heretical publication that is twisting the minds of its readers to believe in Liberalism ahead of Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics can use prudential judgment on environmental issues, but abortion is ALWAYS immoral and wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cont.....\nIn the 1960-70s, seminarians had to be in the top of their classes academically in order to even be considered for admittance. \nThose standards have been gone for years.....for the first time in history, clergy are not as educated as us, pew sitters.\nc)\"... parishes do not usually entertain the kind of fundamentalist harangue you would get at some evangelical churches...\"\nBeg to say otherwise - as you say, *do not usually* .......but, in reality, too many newly ordained have the same rigid and ideological evangelical approach that you condemn here. For us, pew sitters, it often comes down to luck of the draw and who the bishop decides to appoint.\nd) \"...laypeople are more likely to bring secular considerations to bear on their decisions and, just so, introduce concerns and considerations not proper to a spiritual decision....\"\nWhat nonsense - again, with the false secular/sacred division. Guess what - clericalism is the Achilles Heel of the US Church....why assume....TBC", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are the theater of the universe, and the universe is getting a real drama. Downing says: Fear and the threat of change are powerful motivators. Nope. Bible is my motivator for sticking to the \"pole.\" Cuture is changing; fear and threat is in being out of step with culture -- being a peculiar people, so to speak. \nDowning says: When an inconsistency is evident in these matters, little surprise that people, especially the younger among us, vote with their feet. I say, This is happening in all churches -- even liberal churches. I also attend a very large Baptist church on Wed nights that bemoans the same. The SDA have some of the strongest \"younger people\" that exists in churches today with Advent Hope and GYC groups. Therefore, my opinion, that this article is unfair and unbalanced reporting of reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelization of women, millennials, Hispanics, nones, etc. (No old European white males?)\n\nWill that include the good news, the sheer wonder of God becoming human, becoming a helpless child, growing through puberty into adulthood? Knowing what it means to be a refugee, to be hungry, to leave family, to have friends, to have a friend betray you? How we are to treat one another? What it means to see death coming and to know fear and despair, but at death's door, to forgive the ones killing you -- even though they haven't asked for it and don't know they need it? The awe of the resurrection, the certainty that God remains with us, always and everywhere? That the Holy Spirit came to give comfort, strength, and courage?\n\nThere are times it seems to me that some translate evangelization as finger-shaking in people's faces declaiming along the lines of \"God hates condoms and you're going to h*ll if you don't hate them too.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My Catholic Faith has little or nothing to do with regular attendance at an irrelevant outdated liturgy designed to keep people feeing unworthy and guilty while contributing hard earned monies for the maintenance of the patriarchal hieraarchy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Liberals.\n\nThe article is one giant euphemism for \"The future looks more hopeful because priests are more liberal under Pope Francis.\" \n\nAs for me--I was happy the Church was finally starting to get over the 1970's. Unfortunately the election of Pope Francis set the clock right back to 1970. \n\nWhat I have noticed among seminaries and seminarians is that they tend to adopt whatever trends the Pope adopts. Hence, a conservative pope means more conservative seminaries and seminarians. More liberal pope means more liberal seminaries and seminarians.\n\nI wish they would just be who they are and not worry about being trendy. Just because the pope has certain preferences in theology or pastoral care does not mean everyone has to adopt them. This goes for liberal and conservative popes. Priests and bishops should be their own people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sometimes (perhaps, much of the time), the request for a Mass may have little to do with the Mass itself, purgatory, or other theological and eschatological concerns.\nWhen my wife passed away, we asked that, instead of flowers, people donate to a cause of their choice. A couple members of the family requested Masses for her. It was, for them, a traditional way for Polish Catholics to pay tribute to her life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a good, moral proclamation by this Pope, refreshingly unambiguous and rightly apolitical. Let the nations (Caesar) figure out how to achieve peace among themselves, and let the Church be a guiding light for them. Notice he did not say, \"Who am I to judge,\" when it comes to what is the right and moral act. People will do what they do, the Church can only try to help them do the right and moral thing by taking a strong, unambiguous stance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Sisters. While M. Williams can't comprehend that Burke and the KoM are not of much importance and that this was a \"power play\" by the pope on the \"sovereign nature\" of the KofM are equally true, you totally grasp the significance of the pope's action. Add to his direct interference in the KofM and (only) women's monastic orders like the Benedictines, (https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/francis-mandates-wide-changes-contemplative-women-religious-requests-revision-all) also, in October \"the Loretto sisters were summoned to Rome to explain alleged 'ambiguity' in the order\u2019s adherence to Church teaching and its way of living religious life although the order\u2019s visitation was formally closed in 2014.\"(www.lastampa.it/2016/06/10/vaticaninsider)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"This kind of anti-Christian sneer...\" I think the author confuses Christian with conservative. As a Christian, the pope has endorsed same-sex marriage, divorce, and married priests. Wow, that's Christian, actually Catholic. To me Christianity is much more tolerant than even the Pope. And much more open to progress than many of the socially conservative politicians around the world.\n\nLet's not bring religion into the political debate about a party who is retrograde in terms of it's social awareness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Martin, I agree entirely. Jesus is also our model for our actions and prayers (Our Father). Just as the Father of the Prodigal Son is our example for mercy and forgiveness. What I like about Pope Francis is that he is a follower of Jesus in actions. I wish I could say that for other Popes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Caring for the poor and the environment are progressive talking points?\n\nAs a social progressive I suppose I have to thank you for the wonderful compliment. I really do appreciate it. I think Jesus will too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ' s presence in His Church, the Mystical Body is not the same as His presence in the Eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The educated liberal Catholic and the Warren Court ended the cultural power of the Catholic Church in the events in and around 1959. See the book by the same name.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To have perfect love for each other means we also have to root out sin. It's not an either/or. It's \"both and more\". Please don't shrink the Gospel down. It's magnificently and lovingly demanding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course, as our Holy Mother Church, speaking through the Holy-Spirit chosen Bishops, has often said, everyone does it, it's not fair to hold the Clergy to some kind of standard when it's such a common crime (or in the clergy's case, \"mistake\"). And yes, including 18 year old kids messing with 16 year olds is the same as an adult male abusing a 10 year old. Its all the same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good article but you stop short of addressing the real agenda. It's social engineering by the central banking oligarchic elite to divide society and make it easier to control.\nAside from conditioning the public to accept the policing of their thoughts, pushing feminism, confusing gender roles and subjugating men serves to make men and women no longer adhere to their biological imperatives, to no longer compliment each other. This leads to less male/female relationships, less marriage and ultimately less families. Families form the social backbone of society and destroying the family is the ultimate social divide and conquer strategy for the elite, they cannot tolerate devotion to family before the state.\nLess or broken families leads to less parental influence over children, this means the state via pop culture and even actual foster care can raise the kids by proxy and brainwash them.\nThey cannot tolerate devotion to God before State hence the attack on Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I mostly agree with you, Mike, but it also needs to be said that laicization is strictly a canonical matter. It has nothing to do with the law of the land. Even if Shanley had not been laicized, Cardinal O'Malley would have no legal authority to force him to live in a treatment facility or to submit himself to monitoring.\n\nAlso, your statement that \"laicization is not intended to protect families or communities\" is a bit misleading. The purpose of laicization is to state publicly that a person is no longer to be considered a priest and no longer in an official relationship with the Catholic Church. It's up to the public to make proper use of that information.\n\nGod knows the Church -- and especially the Archdiocese of Boston -- made tons of mistakes with priests like Shanley. But once those priests are convicted, the proper role of the Church is to laicize them and have nothing further to do with them. In all fairness, that's exactly what SNAP has been asking for all these years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everyone thinks that the Pope only became infallible in 1870. Now there I have made the mistake you made by saying \"everyone thinks\", you said \"everyone agrees\", same thing. I should have said that, some, many, or most people think. \nIf the only two infallible doctrines are the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption, what about the rest of the Church's dogmas and doctrines, are they all fallible, liable to change and or revocation? Come to think of it, is the teaching of Vatican I on Papal Infallibility itself, infallible? If not then how can we say that the two Marian dogmas are themselves infallible? We could go on and on, is the Canon of Scripture set in stone or liable to revision?\nYou consider my position absurd, fair enough. I cannot understand your position, not so much on OS but on deciding which teachings you accept or reject and why. It smacks to me too much like the 'cafeteria', tailoring one's religion to suit one's lifestyle rather than the other way round.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not addressing this specific point directly but I can say, being from the deep south with memories of the Jim Crow days that in Catholic areas African Americans were treated much better than in the Protestant areas. Still are.\n\nThe Washington DC area (Georgetown) was southern pre-Civil war. Slavery had a place for and could usually carry the marginal non-productive people before the welfare state. This issue is not as one-dimensional as you are lead to believe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're right. The church is not a democracy but it is a Mystical Body which functions best when the head is connected to the body. The Pope is not infallible unless he is connected to the wisdom and truth of the total Body of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed--ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Jude 1: 4 Jesus never said anything was unconditional", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I must have missed the huge crowds of young folk & people of different ethnic, religious, and racial backgrounds coming together to cheer on whatever old dude, bleach blond, fundamental Christian, or businessman the party put forth to tell them that burning more fossil fuels is the best course of action because, although they aren't a scientist, they know all the scientists in over 200 respected professional organizations devoted to science are wrong; they should be happy with less than a living wage and no benefits because, well, \"trickle down\" and \"right to work\" of course; that healthcare and a post-secondary education is something that should be limited to the wealthy, if not the very wealthy; that more unregulated guns make more people more safe; that voting is for rich folk; that anyone who doesn't fit a romanticized 1950's Leave it to Beaver stereotype is less than human and should be ostracized, etc, etc, etc...\n\nYep -- surely didn't see that. \n\nYou have read the GOP platform?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Supersede the bible?? Whatever follows is an interpretation and application of biblical teaching. The Catechism can in no way replace Scripture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oops.\n\nThe ITC is the international Theological Commission, a group of theologians from around the world who are nominated by the Pope to assist the Congragation on the doctrine of faith. The cardinal in charge of the CDF is the chairman of the ITC, in this case William Levada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For all of you claiming to be Christ's followers on this site, who repeatedly make pro abortion statements, I will keep reminding you that abortion is a sugar coated word for killing babies. PERIOD.\n\nAs a Christian I forgive and encourage those who have all ready fallen.\nThere is hope. There is repentance and new life! \n\nJesus wants us to nurture life in EVERY circumstance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for the compliment! Jesus is idiosyncratic in His way of Godlikeness. We should all strive to be idiosyncratic like Him!\nDon't we all have our individual particularities? It would be mindless and deadly dull if everybody thought the same, did the same. Religion is live, dynamic, complex like life. Maybe the problem is institutional expectation that everybody thinks the same, believes the same... with self, particularly male selfness, at the center and in control. \nYou're surely not deadly dull as to your beliefs, self-confidence, etc, etc...(?)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't have to remember. I can see it. It says:\n\n\"What folks? God's mercy is infinite. How can a guy come close to that? Francis is just trying to get this through people's heads so they can be comforted and healed by its grace and power.\"\n\nHow would I know whether anyone's in hell? \n\nSt JP2:\n\n\"Eternal damnation remains a real possibility, but we are not granted, without special divine revelation, the knowledge of whether or which human beings are effectively involved in it. The thought of hell \u2014 and even less the improper use of biblical images \u2014 must not create anxiety or despair, but is a necessary and healthy reminder of freedom within the proclamation that the risen Jesus has conquered Satan, giving us the, Spirit of God who makes us cry \"Abba, Father!\" (Rm. 8:15; Gal. 4:6).\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a cohort of conservative lay Catholics who seem to be very obsessed about excluding other people from Communion. Unless they are remarried themselves and have had to use the awful annulment tribunals, I am really confused about why they are so upset about this topic. It is almost like they enjoy labelling and excluding others. \n\nAnd I certainly hope that Pope Francis is scaring the bejeezus out of the ultra-conservative bishops in the Curia as well as their allies in the Vatican. They are the Catholic equivalent of school yard bullies and neighborhood gossips and have been allowed to harm too many people for far to long. I certainly hope that Pope Francis stands up to them and puts an end to their decades long reign of terror.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just like the theological discourse JPII and Benny allowed? Jesus more than maligned the religious leaders of his time. He rightly called them far worse than Francis has called Burke and co. These people do not give a jot about theological discourse. They want Francis out and are doing what they can to discredit him. He is correct to call them out on their 'worm' like tactics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly!\n\nI lived on a block with 56 catholic kids on it...on Sundays if you wanted to go to a different mass you just stood outside and got a ride with someone....AND the pastor posted the weekly contribution by name of every family....he preached constantly about money as well...no one liked him much. Going to Sunday mass was simply a fact of life...had nothing to do with faith.\n\nToday's youth..who often leave the church before they are in their early 20s if CARA is right ....don't live in catholic enclaves...probably have not attended catholic schools..have had some spotty Religious Ed....and are not there on Sunday mornings.\n\nThe social reinforcement is absent, as are the shame and guilt factors....if Grandma wants a catholic wedding it may occur...but that's about it for the Nones.\n\nI think that meeting these guys where they are....I like that Theology on Tap deal is a good thing. I like ecumenical social justice projects....Habitat for Humanity type deals....(cont)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus refused the wine once He knew some apothecary was in it to kill Him. That is Biblically present (Matthew (27:34.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"Marriage ministry needs to be done by married couples because priests have \"no credibility in this area,\" Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, told a church gathering.\"\n- You think! Especially unqualified are most presbyters ordained since the pontificate of JPII. Unqualified chiefly because they do not know that a grounding in philosophy and church teachings (read, 'what did JPII / Benexvi say') does not a wise man filled with charity make.\n- Permanent might be a good resource if they receive appropriate academic training in marriage and counseling, and if they do not advocate 'wives, be submissive to your husbands' malarkey as has been know to happen when the deacon couple come from the pure catholic church crowd, or a conservative group of charismatics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ATF, this is so on point as to be chilling. I think prior to the eruption of the scandal publicly, the church was already struggling in many ways. Paul VI's rejection of the voice of the laity in his issuance of HV tore a rather large rift between the bishops and the laity. Sad to say, the episcopal culture doesn't allow for a \"backing down,\" much less a \"we were wrong\" coupled with an apology. So we've now had 3 or so generations of Catholics who have pretty much rejected the church on this one (typically 85-90% in studies), yet the bishops plod on as good company men. In doing that, they project an air of superiority, and even contempt. That was going on BEFORE the scandal, and the emergence of women to a new place in secular society. \n\nThe work that's needed is indeed foundational. I too don't see change happening within the existing structure. The best chance they may have MIGHT be a new Council, but prep for those often takes decades, and they don't have that kind of time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe, invite your \"perky\" young ones to your house AFTER the activity to discuss candidly the event. Corporations call it, an after action review. What was good, what was messy, what never to do again. All of that kind of thing is way behind me in my own long ago. Now, I find more in the contemplative community. Let me give you the link to last Sunday's Liturgy from a Benedictine Monastery. The homily grows right out of Scripture. Very Humbling.\nhttp://www.saintjohnsabbey.org/videos \n\nNative American women have the concept of elder woman. I think of Mary and try to imagine how she would have 'eldered' the apostles and the disciples. Jesus at 33 would make Mary a 40 something at the time of Pentecost. I spent years silently pondering her Holy Saturday. Now, I'm pondering her post Ascension. So many women need her quality of bearing witness. \n\nI read to hear how other denominations are responding. Latest subscription, The Quaker Journal. And then there is the Mennonite Magazine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thank my Pastor for telling me that a Jewish boy needs to learn 613 rules to become a man. And Jesus gave us just the two that you are questioning? Jesus is the Son of God as you state. Yet you serve the church not the Son of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "so then, mass in Aramaic while reclining at table then? just like Jesus Christ himself instituted it? \n\n\"the times change, and we change with them.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Petrus stated: \"People were created by God to live according to His design for their own wellbeing and for the common good. These \"rules\" were indeed made for man and it's one of the jobs of the Church to teach [them].\"\n\nTo which you responded: \"\"Which is the diametrical opposite of what the Jesus of the New Testament actually taught.\"\n\nWhat part of Petrus' statement could you possibly argue with? That people were created by God to live according to his plan? That God had a plan for mankind? That his plan was designed for our own well-being? That God's plan, if followed, furthers the common good? \n\nWhere did Jesus teach \"the diametrical opposite\" of what Petrus says?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How? By [when carefully studied and \"rightly divided\"] showingthe traditional/professing institution of \"Church\" is apostate from the scriptures.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would agree with you, especially in regard to leaders and all Christians \"leading by spiritual example.\" That's the bottom line, Shar_M. I was in three countries in Europe the last week and a half. One can't help noticing how secularism has taken over there, especially in northern Europe, despite churches doing all they can to accommodate the population. The Anglican Church in England, for example, has bend over BACKWARDS trying to accommodate their flock -- allowing same sex civil unions among their clerics, openness to contraception, women bishops and priests, etc. -- yet still keeps crashing (hemorrhaging at more rapid rate than any other European nation -- dropping by 50% in just two decades). Even with their 26 unelected bishops sitting in their legislature/Parliament -- at the very top of the power structure -- they haven't been able to stem the drastic decline.\nSo what you say counts: holiness, spiritual example, simplicity, honesty. All the other changes don't seem to work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Coal needs to be aborted and the coal miners taught new skills preferably renewable energy skills. It would certainly be healthier for the people in coal country.\n\n As for basing one's reason for voting for a scary, egotistical money maker on abortion is just as scary. Catholics have been using birth control forever and have learned to make their decisions between themselves and God. I guess its called eliminating the middlemen. Poor people don't have the same options but they need options. Planned Parenthood allows women who have long been taught to put everyone else first, an opportunity to plan a descent life and health for themselves and their families. \n\nHow Mr. Kempton can equate a vote for Trump with saving populations the world over is quite indescribable. Trump has people in the South working full time trying to protect people seen as different by the low life he has stirred up..... people are wearing safety pins to let others know they are a safe harbor. God help!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, that is what I am saying. What significance at all does it matter if if she is black, white, yellow, brown or male, female, lgbt or whatever? Do we need to know if she is Christian, Muslim, Atheist, Jewish ect ? Is she a dog owner and is she the first aSSembly chair to drive a vehicle made in Japan? Does not matter at all unless ADN is trying to stir things up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Given what we already know about Trump and that he is still President elect - I wonder if it will matter to his voters one bit.\n\nBut overall I agree, Trump and his administration are surely compromised by potential blackmail. Looking forward to what the Russians may have on anti-gay advocate and manscaping professional Christian politician Pence, as much as Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yet in Genesis when God created man out of the dirt, he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the Man became a living soul. There are two other references to being the soul. There is absolutely no mention of the killing of a fetus being a sin or even wrong actually there's no mention of it at all. In either the old or the New Testament. A good thorough read of both the Old and New Testament will give you the same information.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mahatma Gandhi paraphrased Pope Francis' comments many years ago..\n'The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.\"\n\nThank God for Pope Francis and his courage to speak truth to power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\nI thought we already moved on. But ok:\n\nIf we reduce the relationship between bishop and priest to that of employer and employee, the least we ought to do is tell the priests, although I suppose most of them have figured that out. And having figured it out, they should leave while they can, or at least have a survival plan in place (a place to live, enough money to live on), because they have to know that once accused, guilty or not, they have no home or family in the church, contrary to what they were taught in formation.\n\nBut SNAP says they should.\nI won't re-state my argument, unless some part of it is unclear. Otherwise, we'll return to \"agree to disagree\" status. Peace (again!)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are right, Bob, that the TOSC summarized three different positions. \n\nThe GC President's committee that originates the GC agenda is made up of the top Division and GC officers. This group considered the TOSC work and the reports from similar panels from each of the Divisions of the church. It reported that it unanimously agreed that found no biblical or Sister White prohibition for ordaining women to the ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist church. \n\nThe church has never voted otherwise.\n\nOn the basis of this unanimous finding the committee proposed to the SA General Conference to delegate to the Divisions when and how to implement women's ordination in their territory based on cultural implications locally.\n\nThe SA vote rejected Divisions being delegated this responsibility. \n\nThis report describes the current GC leadership's attempt to reclaim authority from Unions in all matters ecclesiastical. The implications seem momentous on purpose.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From the article:\n\n\"He overlooked it [celibacy] and put his own issues first,\" said Kuta.\n\nThis is a symptom of the deeper problem in the church. It may well be that the Bishop believes he can't make that change, or doesn't believe in it. But that \"talking past\" what the laity is saying gets to the core of so many of the church's issues. Until bishops can accept that there can be wisdom in the counsel of the laity, the church will remain vulnerable to more scandals, and will be less and less relevant to the younger generations of Catholics.\n\nThere's simply no excuse for substituting the bishops priorities for those of his flock. I doubt seriously a bishop would be happy if he took his car in for an oil change, and got it back without the oil change, but instead had new tires installed (and billed...)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think you have to be a journalist or a rocket scientist to realize that what you're saying is true but the point being- it hasn't done us any good against him has it? Breitbart Alex Jones 4chan - you don't think they speak with forked tongue? Even Evangelicals distort the truth of the Bible so?????", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interlocutor is a great word. But who are we talking about here? Charles Foran, Donna Bailey Nurse, Mark Medley or others. Boyden himself said his father \"was the British Empire's most highly decorated medical officer in that war.\" It's in that Globe Q&A article. But the claim is inaccurate. You only have to google it. And remember the Quill & Quire article also includes the line: \"There is M\u00e9tis in Boyden\u2019s ancestry, and his father\u2019s Irish-Catholic family history also has some Micmac in the mix.\" Boyden has since retracted both Metis and Mikmaq ancestry. I guess that's the fault of the interlocutor as well, is it? To me it's just Boyden creating his own reality. He said \"I am my stories.\" But the truth is he's just a White Irish Canadian from Willowdale who went to Brebeuf College where he was taught by the Jesuits.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those big city parishes were like small towns, the kind in which I was born, raised and enculturated. When I used to ask people from Chicago, Boston, Philadephia, etc. what part they were from, Catholic or not, they always identified by parish.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Steven Graydanus is my favorite Catholic movie reviewer and he finds the movie intriguing.\n\nhttp://decentfilms.com/reviews/silence2016\n\nI did a brief search for Catholic movie reviewers that pan the movie. Couldn't find any\n\n...wait...let's check Crisismag.....ah, of course, there it is!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you have just explained \"platonic idealism\" for we uninitiated, revived in our time and demanded by Pope Benedict XVI. Unlike you I do knock the concept, it is the imposition of useful metaphor as dogmatic reality and counter-incarnation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no Canadian culture. It does not exist. Canada is a fine product of European culture, based on Judeo-Christian tradition, principles of Magna Carta, and cultural values which European immigrants who settled this country brought along. Canada was built on European model, by European design, and by, largely, white people (Europeans). Like it or not, this is true, and any more or less educated immigrant and Canada-born knows it. \n\nImmigrants come not just to Canada but to all white countries - because of our societies' efficiency, primarily. Canada is a \"new\" country which is an extension to Europe. Culture matters. The British introduced infrastructure, system of governance, and language to India, but no, India did not become just a warmer version of the UK. Race matters too, otherwise we would not be discussing it so often and to such an extent, with political forces playing their games around it. \n\nWhy we have to embrace becoming a third-world country is beyond understanding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) \u201cPalestinian group sues Fordham\u201d\u2014Shireen Korkzan Those of us in the \u201cgeezer\u201d generation remember a significant number of migrant Palestinians as Catholic. I wish the article had said something about any Catholic Palestinians associated with the suit. Are these Palestinians equivalent to \u201cthe Hellenists complained against the Hebrews\u201d (Acts 6:1). In our Jewish relations, \u201cLord, let our mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you\u201d (Psalm 33:22). \u201cIt is I. do not be afraid\u201d (John 6:20), \u201cthey wanted to take him into the boat, but the boat immediately arrived at the shore to which they were heading\u201d (John 6:21). Sounds as if somebody added a motor to the boat. Liturgy of the Word, Reading 272, Saturday of the Second Week of Easter I", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wasn't this post removed once before? Don't see any vile hate at Christianity or Jesus Christ. You, on the the other hand, are called out for your misogyny, racism, homophobia, and general BS.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I first left The RCC when I was 19 -- majoring in philosophy and minoring in world religions (now \"comparative religions\" at colleges/universities) did that for me. But I couldn't admit it to myself and certainly not to anyone else -- too much guilt. After all, I had been devoutly Catholic, going to daily Mass from the time I received my First Communion until, well, I continued to go until my first child was two months old. At 20 I married a Catholic man. I raised my children Catholic (and I am glad I did). And it wasn't until my early 30s that I could actually say out loud that I was no longer Catholic. And I became very suicidal for about 6 months. Thank goodness, I started therapy counseling with a very liberal RC woman who was The Director of Adult Formation at one of the largest RC parishes in Southern CA. (To be continued.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remember that he is innocent until proven guilty, has exhausted all appellate remedies and even then he's probably an innocent victim of the media, lawyers, anti-catholics, etc. Fortunately, the Church, in keeping with its goal of protecting children and zero tolerance, refused to lift his diplomatic immunity and removed him from the country where he was potentially subject to prosecution, and has him safely within the confines of the Holy City, under the Protective Arms of the Holy Father. Perhaps a suitable position can be found for him at the Curia. Maybe Francis could appoint him to the Commission on Abuse, to fill in for the recent departures?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's a thought...why don't \"we\" stop writing on forums with contempt and disdain, let alone active animus and abrasive speech? Why don't \"we\" recognize that God loves every single person as much as He loves our own little self? Why don't \"we\" recognize the presence of Jesus in every person \"we\" address in this forum? Hmmm?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hello AnnieO!\nThank you for your courteous reply. I mentioned sixty years because I became a Roman Catholic in June, 1955. \"Cry rooms\" came ten or twenty years later. Many people carried a Latin/English \"St Joseph Missal\" to services, so it was not hard to follow the priest. There WERE rather short \"Golfers' Masses\" in those days, but a 6:30 AM Sunday Mass in Bensalem PA today can be offered in 29 minutes, with almost the entire (large) congregation taking Communion. Another feature of Mass many years ago was the lack of loud talking in church before services began. Once services started, people were silent. If their minds WERE on other matters, they made a good job of appearing to be attentive. One thing that has remained the same: people then and now become restive when a homily is actually a request for money. Our recollections of the Latin Mass are obviously quite different. Have a wonderful day. HJ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that the timing of the incarnation involves '\u03ba\u03b1\u03b9\u03c1\u03cc\u03c2, but I see no reason whatsoever to identify then current philosophy as a component of the auspiciousness of that era. \n\nWe can easily identify, IMHO, four distinct philosophical world views through which revelations has migrated. (1) The Hebrew thought structures were, of course, the philosophical context of revelation conveyed to us by the OT and it was also the thought milieu of Jesus own pronouncement. (2) The seven early Greek councils that developed and defined core element of our faith re-expressed revelation in neoplatonic terms. (3) The great theological synthesis of the high middle ages translated and developed all of that into scholastic Aristotelian philosophical terms. (And the neoplatonic and Aristotelian world views are about as diametrically opposed to one another as any two philosophies can be!). (4) Finally, today, we are in the midst of perhaps the most dramatic transformation of theology as evolving.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your comments make me skeptical that you are actually seeking some answers. We have definitely learned how to make children safe from predation at least while they are at church or religious ed or youth events. As to what the larger community has done to protect children from predation by parents and other relatives, or teachers or coaches, I can't say. I frankly don't see any extensive interest from the general public to put the focus on these vile acts. Without defending or mitigating any abusive act against children by clergy, it would be nice if once in a while it was acknowledged that more than 90% of the clergy did not engage in such acts dating back to 1950. It would also be just if commentators on these pages would acknowledge that church leaders--clergy and lay--have pursued the mission of Christ in many areas of life over that long time span. I have been among the biggest critics of many wrongs in the church, but my faith persists as does my service.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting idea. I'm reading now about the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Qumran community that produced them. While there is no certain proof that John the Baptist and Jesus were actual members, there are striking similarities between the Scrolls and the preaching ministry of both that it seems more than likely that Jesus was aware of the Qumran community's opposition to the Temple priestly elites and their Pharisee supporters - which we know from the Gospels Jesus rejected.\n\nI don't think that Jesus ever conceived of a \"church\" with all the hierarchies that are implied. But, Jesus did announce a new \"kingdom\" as depicted in the Beatitudes. After John's beheading, Jesus embraced the very same memes of \"prophet and king\" that animated the Qumran community. Priesthood seems more a creation of several Jesus-movement generations later in Rome and Greece by believers needing to ritualize the kerygma.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the last conclave, the non-Rome based Cardinals formed a bloc to make sure no Vatican cardinal won.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Combine the two ideals and you are beginning to get the idea. The male head-of-household and woman obeying her man ideas are often misunderstood. As I have stated in another post men are not supposed to be brutes and dictators. To understand what I expect for husbands and wives, read Ephesians 5:22-33. For the husband part of it pay special attention to verse 25, noting this part \"just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her\". This section is too often overlooked by both conservatives and liberals. If the husband loves his wife in this way, there should be no problem with her obeying him because he is taking her wants and needs into account.\nI do agree that there are a lot of people out there that should not be parents. As I said your ideal is part of my ideal. \nA few other things, although it does sound great, it does not have to be two children or a house in the suburbs or a dog. It is supposed to be a husband and wife with their kids loving each other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Whether they are the voices of the poor, or black or Latinx, or feminists, or LGBT Catholics, NCR is singular among other Catholic media outlets for the range of voices it includes in its reporting and its commentary. \"\n\nThis is why I have been a subscriber for decades. NCR gives points of view one doesn't hear in the mainstream media or the mainstream Catholic media.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Until relatively recently, both Europe and most of North America were considered the bulwark of Christianity, No longer! Non-Christians have become numerous not only through immigration as well as importation through slavery, but also through conversion, like right in the USA! And the non-whites among them have posed quite the challenge to the white-supremacist types! For their part, many Christians have been slow to unwilling to accept their brotherhood and sisterhood with non-Christians, or those Christians who march to the beat of a different drummer, or the \"nones.\" Perhaps that non-acceptance is a factor that makes Christianity less important, or even less than important.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe it's because when we picked up our newspaper we read this article with this glaring statement, pretending to be a fact: \"Scripture\u2019s ancient historical record tells of hundreds of eyewitness accounts who saw and encountered Jesus risen from his grave.\" Biblical scholars refute this. People are free to believe what they will but there are no factual records to support these beliefs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I have noticed...is that many posters who are entirely sensible about Canadian politics are totally unhinged when it comes to US politics, and vise-versa...\n\nWhat a difference a country, or politician, etc., makes, I suppose..it is interesting though, that fanciful rumor can look totally plausible, or easily seen through, depending on the colour of ones' glasses...\n\nWhy someone who can spot the \"Harpers' wife is about to divorce him/Harper will declare martial law and seize power if he loses\" for what it is, can't see the \"child slavery in a pizza palour/Seth Rich\" stories as unhinged lunacy, or that someone who can put the obvious dots together on \"Manafort, Flynn, Trumps' sons openly talking about Russian money\", falls for \"the Conservative party of Canada will declare a Christian Theocracy\" is something that a professor somewhere needs to study...bigly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those of you who think matters of religion and school have always had a happy marriage in Canadian history will be interested in knowing that federal elections have swayed over issues concerning the overlap of school and religion.\n\nPerhaps you'd like to read about The Manitoba Schools question which centred around Roman Catholicism and schools in Manitoba and had a decisive effect on the 1896 federal election.\n\nOr maybe you'd be interested in how difficult it was for a largely secularist government to deal with Mennonites in Canada during the early 20th century, with their zeal for German language education and their hyper-pacifism..\n\nMatters concerning religion, religious accommodation, prayers, language, and other aspects deriving from cultural differences have rarely mixed well with politics.\n\nDon't be surprised to see protests erupt from this prayer debacle and don't expect the protests to wane off pretty soon. This is just a side effect of a policy called Multiculturalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Eastern Orthodox would never have the hubris to create a brand new liturgy by committee. Instead, their traditional liturgies are translated in the vernacular (and the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom is from the 4th century, even older than the EF yet this Liturgy is deemed suitable for the Eastern Catholics.) Why can't Catholics who prefer the TLM get the same deal the Eastern Catholics get with their liturgies? And if Latin Mass devotees are so small in numbers and insignificant, why so much kvetching about us?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"TOP DOWN\" model is necessary to the church and is a reflection of the church's self-understanding of the nature of its authority and function within the church community. Democratic or congregationalist models of church governance are incompatible with Catholicism. \n\nChrist appointed and gave authority to a clearly defined group of followers--the 12 apostles. He did not leave the question of authority to the community so that the whole community might at a later date determine its internal organization and formal constitution. Even as the holy spirit decended upon the community at Pentacost, this authoritative structure as it existed among the 12 was already recognized and operating. \n\nWhat does it mean to say that the voice of the laity needs to be heard in decisions. Do you mean the 1 billion souls that make up the laity. What possible good could come from such a mixture of people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God who wrote this? There's like a \"hundred\" fallacies here. Despite all these fallacies totally purposed to garner anti-trans support through deception, we know exactly who we are, no confusion necessary. (This fiction, however, shows who the truly confused are). Gender freedom is American freedom and no closet will ever imprison us ever again. God is about truth, never deception, and disliking our truth through lies is \"bearing false witness\" my Christian brethren. It really is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A hestiating endorsement for Zatoichi. I would be remiss not to point out the somebody has to regulate spending and meet budgets. It's clear that Trillium was an 'investment' not a reforming way to practice and administer medical care. If it is under government auspicious, cost control, maintenance, quality control, and innovation would still be required functions.\n******\nI'd point out those the profiteers includes numerous investors that are themselves the Medical Providers. Nice work, guaranteed customers, little to no control of cost of treatment and then they collect a second time as primary investors that sold at a ridiculous price thanks to your lack of treatment.\n\nTo use an old saw, love of money is the root of evil. (grounded in Christian teaching, 1 Timothy). It doesn't have to be of course, but there is no doubt that money can corrupt ethics. Again, NOT universally true for all wealthy people, but to deny it would be an act of willful ignorance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Last Supper has been capitalized and politicized in institutional control-interests, in ways that hardly seem Jesus-like.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right on. I think that when we get frustrated with the pace of change under Francis, we retain an implicit assumption that Francis ought to act as all previous popes since V1--use the universal jurisdiction over all things Catholic granted the papacy by that Council to make things happen.\n\nThis interview, better than many other stories in NCR, explains the grounds for the slow pace--Francis adopts the ecclesiology of V2, and according to that ecclesiology it would be wrong for Francis to simply impose what he believes is correct. Above all on matters of doctrine, he will not move forward on his own, and as the two synods on the family made perfectly clear, he can only muster more that 50% but less that 2/3's of episcopal support for even the simplest of reforms. It must have shocked him that the bishops would not agree to a simple exercise of compassion re communion for the remarried Catholics actively practicing their faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is NOT a country club. It is the People of God, ALL the People of God. Religion is not about rules, it's about relationships. We, all of us, are undeniable members of two relationships/families: we are all God's children and we are all brothers and sisters. We don't need to apply and we can't be kicked out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus take the wheel. What am I reading here?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If we have faith enough to believe Christ is present to us through a wafer, shouldn't we have faith enough to believe that the same Christ is also present to those who need forgiveness? It would seem that the former proposition requires the greater leap of faith -- and yet we make that leap all the time. Why is it so hard to make the lesser leap?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your correct ! However I believe that the 70's were the first time that the \"internal forum solution \" was suggested to be applied to divorced and remarried Catholics receiving communion by so many theologians !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The volume of boos hurled at Donald Trump was unprecedented in the history of the Al Smith Dinner, and Hillary's campaign didn't make \"anti-Catholic remarks.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Time to elect a whole new group of Bishops who get the message.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "....\"So when are these given times when we are able to comprehend the degree of truth we are capable of?\"....\n\nEven the Child Jesus, according to Luke, \"grew in wisdom and grace\"\n\nSo should we all. \n\nI, as an individual, seem to keep learning more as I grow and study and learn. The whole world has more knowledge available every day. So does the Church. Hopefully every day we are capable of understanding and knowing more every day of our lives.\n\nIf not, we are probably dead.\n\nSo every day is a precious \"given time\" for the Holy Spirit to lead us to a greater appreciation of what is the fullness of truth.\n\nAt least that's what I find, the longer I live.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was quoting the Word of God.\n\nHe was winding people back to the His original intention for marriage- as He says - not so from the beginning. \n\nMarriage is a foretaste of the union He wishes to share with us not just in the hereafter but today/now.\n\nReconciliation - the Sacrament - is union/communion.\nThanking someone is an act of union.\nSaying sorry is an act of union.\nEngaging in marital intimacy - bringing all our gifts into this act - is an act of union with God and His will, which is expressed in Word and in our bodies. \n\nLet's_set_aside_affectations;_affectations_distance_us_from_others_giving_in_to_a_vanity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I just came across another open letter to the pope:\nhttps://billditewig.wordpress.com/2017/11/02/dear-pope-francis-thanks-and-no-one-is-confused/\nThe writer is:\nDeacon William T. Ditewig, Ph.D., \nArchdiocese of Washington, DC\nCommander, USN (ret.)\nProfessor of Theology, and former Executive Director, USCCB Secretariat for the Diaconate and Interim Executive Director, USCCB Secretariat for Evangelization\n\nThe letter is short and should be read in its entirety, but a salient passage is this one:\n\"May I suggest that those who make that claim are using that language of 'confusion' to mask the truth: that they just disagree with you.\n\"Your writing and teaching are clear: you desire the Church to be an adult Church. By this I do not mean a Church only FOR adults, but a mature People of God, Mystical Body of Christ and Temple of the Holy Spirit.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The official position of the Catholic Church with regard to voting is exactly this: If you vote for a candidate because the candidate is in favor of abortion, then it is a grave sin. If you vote for a candidate IN SPITE OF the fact that they believe in abortion, it is not. It is allowed. Secondly, you have failed to understand that NOT voting for Trump does not automatically mean that the person in question voted Democrat. There are more than two parties in American politics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspect the Executive Director of Courage is not highly motivated to endure the wrath of uber Catholics for daring to share a stage with Fr. Martin and engaging in dialogue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great deal of institutional racism in the US Catholic Church? Compared to whom?\n\nSure you could find some. But historically the Catholic Church had great influence aiding African Americans in many areas and this goes back centuries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hmmm.....\n\nWhy is it the dismissive post Mike was responding to - you know, the one where Kat called many Catholic beliefs \"fairy tales\" was not questioned by anyone?\n\nI think asking the poster offering such commentary is open for question in order to clarify positions. And I don't think the question asked was rude or worthy of your comment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "EB,\nAccording to Popes John Paul Ii, Benedict XVI, the USCCB and the GOP we are un-Americans and un-Catholics. \nWhile Pious Paul Ryan and Scalia the skunk are true Americans and true Catholics -- hmmm. Sounds like the conservatives arcctuially the reactionaries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At first I thought author was Tobin of Newark! As article unfolded rather surprised where it went. \nWould be interesting if Newark's Tobin did a take on Sotelo's article.\nLike the mosquito in the nudist colony, \"I know what to do but where do I begin?\"\nTobin asserts church is a divine institution! We were taught in seminary, Christ, divine, church, human, and the failure's of the institution was due to its flawed humanity, not the divine Jesus.\nHis emphasis on getting people into church because of a divine command is problematic.\nThe Constantinian (Roman) CC slaps a mortal sin on a member for inexcusable excuse not to attend.\nEach week missed, slapped with another! Need only one mortal to be thrown into hell.\nWhat's the point for adding more? Sent deeper into hell? \nMethinks Tobin is thinking of the collection.\nTakes a lot of money to maintain clerical culture - ecclesiastical welfare.\nWould Tobin, priests do eucharist for free, supporting themselves? \nShallow catechesis, Tom!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic doctrine begins Divine revelation in scripture and is aided by the application of reason and logic to creation. \n\nThe premise behind Natural Law is that the universe is a rational system with a purpose. The purpose of each thing is given to it by God. God\u2019s entire creation is imbued with Divine purpose. By examining the world carefully - by uncovering the essential nature of things and the laws determining what each is for, we can discern God\u2019s plan and intentions. To thwart the natural functions that God has given is to act against God\u2019s will. \n\nYou want to base morality on the shifting sands of experience and the uncertainty of inductive probability? A reasoning that is inherently uncertain and only deals in degrees to which the conclusion is credible according to some theory of evidence. \n\nGod's commandments were carved in stone - not sketched in sand.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus did not condemn the woman. \nDoes that mean he condoned the sin? Either that, or she did not sin to begin with.\nDoes that mean he ignored the sin? Either that, or she did not sin to begin with.\nDoes that mean God will not punish sin? Either that, or she did not sin to begin with.\n\nI am not really sure how to read the story, No one in the story condemned the woman, so I am not sure I should now. Perhaps it means she will not be punished, but her guilt remains. It just seems difficult to see her as an example of a guilty person.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, there are just too many Pell-protege bishops among the Australian hierarchy for any effectual change to happen anytime soon.\nAnd the 2020 Plenary Council will be useless unless there is a good cross-section of the \"laity\" represented. That will be difficult given that already 85% of Australian Catholics no longer attend Mass regularly.\nThere are sunday masses where the number of people under 70 years old can be counted on one hand! The future of the Catholic Church in Australia looks bleak if the JPII bishops don't get their heads out of the sand.\nDr Bob Dixon has presented statistics which can be interpreted as foretelling a drop in Mass attendance to below 9% by 2020 (and that's only 13 years away). \nSee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0VBTzT5yqE&feature=youtu.be\n(Video address by Dr Robert (Bob) Dixon to the St Thomas More Forum, Campbell, A.C.T., on 26th April 2017).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some of us, long since gone from this church geographically, have true sentiment that at least this building and property continue to enrich lives and serve its community. I remember when we built this new and magnificent house of worship. I remember the old brick church building in downtown Kent. My dad was an Elder and served on the building committee. My grandmother brought a lot of history and significance to this church. Her Great-Grandfather, George F. Whitworth, organized and founded this church. I was baptized in this sanctuary. I got married in this sanctuary. My older sister was memorialized in this sanctuary. Anyone can tell I have a fondness for Kent First Pres. I pray the Seattle Presbytery and the community continue its legacy of service", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Couldn't they also arrange a time for Catholics to pray on Friday's too? Would that address the concern?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As baptized Christians, salvation is connected to our participation to the work of spreading and living out the Gospel, more than in conformity to the rules and regulations of a cozy and conformist community. \n\nGod is love, and God is unique---like no other Being. We learn love through the reciprocity of our human condition, through being in relation to others who are different from ourselves. We cannot learn anything from those who are just the same as we are. This is true in relationships between friends, husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, members of the church.\n\nThis is how God created humanity and Jesus, who became human, was not a carbon copy of any other. \n\nDiversity is not worthless. People who are alike---as if made on an assembly-line, are too one-dimensional. It is not the one-dimensional who are prepared to be united head and heart in discipleship with Christ. It is those who are able to proclaim the coming Reign of Christ for today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because people have an inherent right to confidentiality and privacy. It has nothing to do with conservative Catholics trying to protect themselves. It's about not letting the State take control over every aspect of our lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ATF, \nI like what McElroy is doing out there, and I sincerely hope it takes root and expands. I'd not place TOO much emphasis on the \"vote\" by the laity however, at least not just yet. I could easily imagine a scenario wherein the laity's wisdom and experience of the Eucharist leads to a call to allow people now officially \"banned\" from the sacrament, to be included. That could put the bishop at odds with Rome should he \"accept\" that kind of a vote in his diocese. I'm pretty sure \"rules\" would win out.\n\nAs noted in the talks addressed in Michael Winter's post yesterday, Cdl. Wuerl has pointed out that before the church can make headway on the \"rules\" it teaches, it must first find a way for people to encounter Jesus (in the church). These days, that's a tall order to fill it seems, made especially difficult by that focus on rules. That's why I think the local synod is a great start in the right direction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I live in the northeast, as does one of my sons. I have been following discussions on modifying the annulment process. On the whole my family, including those who attend weekly mass, give little credence to proposals to simplify this process. Sometimes valid marriages fail and as long as the Church cannot accept this and move on its statements will be considered silly. Ditto statements on birth control and homosexuality. The Church can remain firm but will have to accept a smaller Catholic world. Of course, there are a number of practicing Catholics who just ignore Church teachings they don't approve of and continue to live what they consider a fine, acceptable Catholic life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First of all, I walk in company with a person who deals with same-sex attraction every day: myself. And you simply prove how we're going to go on and on and on talking past one another: You, for example, surely and evidently believe that a life \"lived well and faithfully\" can include to some degree same gendered sexual/romantic relations, whereas I am going to continue to say that those desires and the actions toward which they are ordered are inherently an indication of the opposite, of NOT living well, nor faithfully. You mention \"the majority of Catholics in this country,\" something that to me has no meaning, as I don't see how my belief, or yours, renders something true or your disbelief, or mine, makes something untrue. And I already think I belong to an inclusive Church, a Church open to \"whosoever will.\" For you, dialogue has to include the possibility of an openness to committed homosexual couples. For me, \"accompaniment\" can't be divorced from a call to chastity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can we end the discord at this present moment in time and bring about a consensus.\nIs an act of humility too much to ask?\n\nTaken from my post in the link below;\n\nPope Francis says we need be a Church of mercy and so we do, but more\nimportantly we need to be a humble Church, as Gods Mercy received in humility\nguarantees spiritual growth, which wells up into eternal life.\n.\nThis is a missionary call instigated by our Lord to\nthe whole Church to Evangelizing through the action of Humility, a disarming\naction in its honesty, that embrace all in its simplicity, as we encounter our\nbrothers and sisters who stand and seek\ndirection at the crossroads (Difficulties) of life.\n.\nhttps://international.la-croix.com/news/at-the-heart-of-the-resistance-to-pope-francis-on-ethics/5436\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican II indicates that a teaching can be infallible if defined so explicitly by a Pope or if taught consistently and universally by the Church over the centuries. The Church's teaching on contraception fits the latter criterion, as John Ford, Germain Grisez, et al., have shown. Since, I Cor 13:13 notwithstanding, for the Episcopate the greatest virtue is not necessarily love but peace and quiet, they were happy to get Cardinal Ratzinger and the CDF off their backs by getting Curran out of CUA and exported to Southern Methodist. (Notice, the Bishop of Rochester hasn't had a pressing need to use Fr. Curran's pastoral services in his diocese, as another commentator suggested Weinandy should be sent to do). I prefer to take I Cor 13:13 seriously, and if love is what matters, then yes, if Curran wants to promote contraception, he should be fraternally corrected (as he has been since 1968) and, if he persists, then truth about real marital love may mean we should use the \"h\" word.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God bless those that help those to overcome drugs and drinking!\nPlease join me in prayer for young Kellsie Green. we pray she is at peace in heaven with our loving lord and savior Jesus Christ! We pray for her friends and family in this time of sorrow. Let's pray someone starts a fund to investigate jails that abuse and kill beautiful young and all souls like Kellsie. Amen!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We'd all benefit by reading up a bit more about the role of the Church and the lay, boundaries, roles, etc. \n\n3 good sources would be: Lumen Gentium, Christificdeles Laici, and Dignitatis Humanae, Marvelous documents, beautiful and clear writing. \n\nThe pope has no jurisdiction in matters of personnel for many types of \"Catholic\" organizations. \n\nPoint us to the actual cannon law or Church teaching that makes the connection you're trying to make. \n\nNo amount of copying latin from something found using google will help.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Da Skier is in da wrong here...nobody is attacking Catholics.\n\nIn any case, if Catholicism gives meaning to your life where there wouldn't otherwise be any, then more power to ya. But please don't try to jam your personal morals down anyone else's throats and I won't jam my personals moral down yours or anyone else's throats either. Deal?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So far this morning, we have an article about an obscure Vatican dicastery and a day-late announcement that Le Pen came in second in the French elections. It's as if NCR doesn't know where to turn to find out what matters to US Catholics these days. Aren't they concerned that sites like Commonweal and America are threatening their market share?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Truth about what? That these 'red birds' believe that they and they alone KNOW the Mind of God?\n\n\nThe ideas that are defended by Burke, his buddies, and some posters on this site are those of another era in the Church, called the Baroque period. It began after the Council of Trent, ran until after the French Revolution, was replaced--briefly by the Romantic period, and then after WW I---the Baroque came back until 1955. This is the only church that most folks born before 1950 knew. JP II and Benedict tried to bring this period back. They are reactionaries and they wanted to bring a RESTORATION of the church that they knew as kids. So are Burke and company. They are afraid of the ambiguity of preaching the gospel in a pluralistic world, afraid of complex difficulties facing the work of church life and ministry today.\n\n\nThey can 'wish upon the star' all they want. But time and history will not retreat before them. Nor will the Holy Spirit [Who is not lazy or sleeping].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Scripture is scripture, not doctrine. Doctors of the Church, like Augustine and \nAquinas produce doctrine. I know in the old days it was all conflated, but it is not supposed to be now that we think for ourselves, as Jesus intended.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely!\n In Italy about 80% of the population identify as Catholic, about 50 million people.\nIn Spain about 70% of the population identify as Catholic, about 40 million people.\n\nDo you have some secret knowledge that questions that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With all respect, there is more to it than that. Neither Hillary or Trump are stewards of morality, and as I see it, Hillary is quite worse. I believe that Catholics who voted for Trump voted for him because they saw him as the lesser of two evils. As I see it, the Democratic party is moving more and more to the left at a dangerous speed; we see that a large bloc of the party advocates for socialists policies. Hillary become the emblem of all those beliefs. She touted--as all democrats do--more big government programs, which stifle the liberty of our nation. The left has completely gone crazy, they exacerbate race tensions, have an strong distaste for capitalism, and they are so hung on identity politics. All their policies merge into a regressive doctrine, not a progressive one--as many of them like to believe, so it makes sense that many Catholics chose to vote Trump, conservative and or libertarian values seem like the better alternative to creating real progress.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Had Jesus, with emphasis and no equivocation, not said that marriage was indissoluble, period, so clearly that his disciples wondered why anyone would want to marry that argument might work. And then, to make things even clearer, He said \u201cIf you love me, you will keep my commandments.\u201d\n\nThat spears through the heart of \u201cthe spirit of the law rather than the letter. We need to judge the situation and context ...\u201d.\n\nBtw, lying is always sinful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...the Orthodox Church has no official catechism--not because nobody bothered putting it together but because we don't believe the truth, which continues to be revealed, can be reduced to a systematic formula.\"\n\nAnd, \"...one Roman Catholic pope's decision to usurp the conscience of the Church by shutting down all discussion of women priests? In the Orthodox Church you can talk about such things freely...\"\n\nSeems there is a thing or two the Roman Catholic Church could learn from the Orthodox Churches. Of course many Roman Catholics don't go along with the idea of the perfection of current dogma and don't shut down their conscience on the whim of a pope.... I think many Orthodox ideas are practiced in the Roman Catholic Church even if the officials of that church pretend otherwise.\n\nThanks, Sarasi1, for helping us understand some fundamental differences between Orthodox and Roman Catholic beliefs, which is really food for thought....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have always found Holy Week and Triduum liturgies to be powerful and moving -- even back in the 1960s when I was growing up. I think most Catholics fail to understand what Good Friday is all about -- the spirituality of the liturgy that day is framed by the use of St. John's Passion narrative and the veneration of a cross (NOT a crucifix). Having a decent English translation of the presidential prayers (which we do NOT have, at present), also helps.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When addressing those in attendance the priest faces the people. When praying, he faces God. Now, prior to the consecration, Christ is physically present only in the tabernacle - at least in those churches that still have tabernacles. So, by your own reasoning, facing the people with his back to Christ in the tabernacle, the presbyter is being rude to Christ. Does that sum it up?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree, Rose. I came of age in what might be described as the zenith of Marian piety -- the 1950s -- but even then we were taught to distinguish between public and private revelation, and to understand that private revelation is not binding on Catholics.\nThe church consistently refuses to affirm the legitimacy of the Medjugorje 'apparitions.' This is something less than an affirmation that they are a hoax -- although the position of the local bishop seems to come pretty close to that. You are right about the huge backlash that looms over the Medjugorje situation, not least because of the huge industry that has grown up around these claims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is so sad and disheartening that instead of changing the church would rather die then allow married and widowed priests or women to be priests. The fact that the vast majority of priests are now elderly and many sickly, adds the complication of suffering and not being able to properly feed the church community through the celebration of the Eucharist. Many more will leave the Catholic Church and become members of other Christian churches if they are not fed within the Catholic Church. The shortage of priests is at more than a critical stage and can no longer be ignored by the Vatican. I implore the Vatican to make positive changes to the priesthood to keep the celebration of the Eucharist and our Catholic faith alive in the future.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I am sure you are correct, and the odd correspondence between the Oriental Orthodox - including the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church who separated in 451 - 1200 years before the Council of Trent - and the Orthodox Catholic Church, the second largest Christian church, separated since 1051 fully 500 years before the Council of Trent, in having the same seven mysteries (sacraments) is one of those chance occurrences we observe like things falling down rather than up more often than not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remind us again what you contribute to society? I assume you also attend church and can recite what Jesus had to say about the poor....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We are over four and half years into this pontificate and yet this pope can still surprise us. He surprises us by his refreshing return to the simplicity and joy of the Gospel and he surprises us by his conviction that St. John Paul II was right: Vatican II is \"a sure compass,\" guiding our church on the path of reform and renewal.\" \n\nThen let's get on with it! With respect to both the author and NCR, this is one more article rehashing many other articles reporting on an action involving institutional process...not the Gospel nor the Kingdom that Jesus (remember Him?) spoke about and promised. Liturgy is important, yes, but there are many reforms necessary to more closely align Church policy and practices with the Gospel, some involving grave harm to children, others involving grave exclusionary historical injustice, still others negatively affecting families and relationships. \"Process\" is only soup -- can we move along to the entree, please, where reform and renewal really occur?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These are dogma and articles of faith, not history.\n\nThe historical Jesus is obscured behind the gospels. The gospel writers were heavily dependent on the Septuagint to structure their literary, theological narratives. The Church takes the gospels somewhat at face value, which requires quite a bit of cognitive dissonance. The furtive, apocalyptic exorcist of Mark is not the voluble, divine emissary of John. As Schweitzer famously remarked, when we go looking for the historical Jesus, we find only ourselves reflected in the quest.\n\n<>\n\nI await when all your pious prayer reaps the least little berry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" We really must take our fate into our own hands.\u201d She said the time when the continent could rely on others, meaning the United States, was \u201cover to a certain extent\"\n\n\"Merkel told representatives from her Christian Democratic Union's youth organizations that Germany would be increasing its military spending to 2 percent of GDP, in line with an agreement that NATO states reached in 2014. The country currently spends around 1.2 percent of GDP on the Bundeswehr.\"\n\n\"To meet that target, Germany's defense spending would have to rise to some 60 billion euros\u00a0 ($65.8 billion). The current planned military budget for the year 2020 is 39.2 billion euros.\"\n\n\"But Germany's political opposition isn't happy about the prospect of a dramatic rise in defense expenditures. And Merkel's partners in her governing grand coalition, the Social Democrats (SPD), aren't exactly enthusiastic either, feeling themselves reminded of the Cold War.\"\n\n\"SPD leaders criticized what they called \"NATO saber rattling.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The sins of the fathers (and mothers) are not visited on the sons (and daughters).\"\n\nThat's a Protestant view. The Catholic view is based on this passage from Exodus 20:5\n\n \"You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me . . . \" \n\nThe Bible is divinely inspired text that generally explains WHY and not HOW. Biblical history points to only 2 instances where the human genetic pool was corrupted and altered forever, given our current understanding of human genetics. \n\nFirst, by original sin (Genesis 3), which effectively shortened the lifespan of human beings, from immortal (in paradise) to 1,000+ years old (the Fall) to the current 120+ years old. And second, by the Nephalim (Genesis 6) -- the lead theory of bible scholars: fallen angels mating with flawed human beings -- which probably explains all the genetic anomalies that we see.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe the \"conversion\" was more human, closer to the real journey of creation and of individual evolution. Jesus gave her reason to listen; he broke through her fixation on her \"individual\", her Samaritan divisive truth to listen. Jesus the emancipated Jew was \"different\" from the usual. He seems to have opened a wedge in the Samaritan defensiveness expressed in usual reciprocal disdain.\nJesus was not the typical Jew who disdained Samaritans. The woman was, maybe shaken a bit; surprised and curious? The revelation of \"husbandry\" whether literal and/or allegorical, referencing the successive conquerors, elicited the nascent good will: commonality of spirit and truth the underlying commonality we can find. Commonality of spirit and truth, the higher level of adherence to good will and civility that allows difference to be secondary to what we share.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Relativism is not bad math, it saying that morality depends on which group you are in or your circumstances. Kind of like saying if your lead, the Pope, says something, than it must be true even though the facts say otherwise (say on gastrulation or evolution).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well Tony if you are pushing for the practices and beliefs of pre-Vatican II we are not likely to agree on almost anything. \nAs for biology indicating roles in humans-that is nonsense & already proven by science to be nothing more than false stereotypes made by men to restrict women's opportunities in the world & in religion. Women lead as well as men and men are as nurturing as women when they are not shunned into being dis-attached macho men. God does not state men and women have different roles to play in Genesis when he makes Man - male & female. Jesus commands all Christians treat everyone exactly the same way they want to be treated or they sin. So that includes same sacraments.\nAlmost all animals that mate for life, both genders share the responsibilities of raising young equally & hunting & preparing their home. Responsibilities are not divided by sex. In fact we identify species by sharks, or ducks, or snakes-not that creation is female ducks & that one is male ducks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cedar Park Christian finished 5th in the state in the 1a division.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have you ever thought that the reason you get such responses to your posts is that you go out of your way to post aggressive, caustic and demeaning comments. You continually pour scorn on, disparage and insult anyone who posts orthodox, Catholic beliefs rather than engage in reasonable dialogue.\nYou hardly ever put up any of your pet opinions up for discussion that is why no one argues with you over them. Your response to the issue of receiving Communion on the tongue was that you would knock their teeth out if anyone tried that on you. Why would anyone discuss anything with you when you drag arguments down to that level?\nIf you post ad hominems then don't be surprised if you are treated to them yourself in return. If you want to engage reasonably with people you disagree with here sort your act out first.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "His choice is not at issue. He is too young to realize the total effect of his decision, but it is his. I am only pointing out the fallacies contained within the structure he has decided to give over his life to. He will no longer be a free human being. Many have come before him and eventually discovered the reality of the true nature of the church heirarchy as opposed to the propaganda. He has a long way to go before he is ordained. Whether he can survive the process is still to be determined. There is nothing natural about Roman Catholic priesthood or nun life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not so. Not at all. As in every other region of the Universal Church, it really is a matter of what a particular pope is looking for at the time. Conservative popes appoint conservative bishops/cardinals. It is open to great change. Your argument is not reflective of the realities of the hierarchy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The world already has its Savior. His name is Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your response Life of the Lay\n.\nYes \u201cin the right way and at the right time\u201d but also the measure (Standard) you use, as this statement implies condemnation on anyone who makes a formal judgement on another.\n\u201cFor with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you\u201d\n.\n \u201cWe all fall short of His inviolate Word so how do we create a union of believers, in our human weakness, so that the world my see proof of the divine origin of Christianity, giving credence to the belief that the Father sent the Son into the world to save sinners\u201d Not the self-righteous.\nIt is said we are justified through faith but I am sure you agree that we are justified, declared righteous, at the moment of our salvation. Justification does not make us righteous, but rather pronounces us righteous. \n1 of 3", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I agree. Catholics immediately after Vatican II were used to doing what Father said, so whether they liked it or not meekly accepted the changes foisted upon them without consultation. My own experience was that there existed an undercurrent of resentment towards the New Liturgy and the re-orientation. The expectation was that the vernacular would be the dignified translations of the Latin found in the bi-lingual Missals but instead we got the modern paraphrases.\nThe upshot was that most became neo-Catholics, small 'c' conservative but accepting the changes. Others in quite large numbers fell away, became 'nones' because the Church they once believed could never change had changed and logically as it had changed must have been wrong. The question then arose that if it had been wrong for centuries what guarantee was there that it had got it right now? If the liturgy could change so rapidly and radically so could the age-old dogmas and doctrines.\nContinued ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reason why the parish began and people come to the church in the first place, is because they come to the Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist. That is the reason why any Catholic comes to Mass over the week-end.\n\nBUT, in addition to the basics---this parish is thriving because the people demonstrate that they have taken to heart the Word of God that they listen to and the Body and Blood of Christ, whom they receive, gratefully, into their hearts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. No one is forced to become a priest or a nun (at least not in the last century) and celibacy wasn't a religious requirement, it was imposed as a condition of employment by the church to save money (single men and women require less to live on),\n2. I haven't seen a habit wearing nun in 20 years. The church has relaxed it's dress code considerably for nuns in the last quart r century.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is you who has rebelled. Almost everything you post upon this site, leaving aside the acerbic, personal abuse you dish out, is a rejection of the Catholic Faith. If you are a priest then I suspect that you are more circumspect in your parish, either that or your parishioners and your bishop all suffer from Alzheimer's. \nUnder the anonymity of your pseudonym you have the opportunity to let rip on here and suffer no consequences.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The lie is saying \"Cardinal M\u00fcller has persistently come out in favour of the four Cardinals until today...\" when he has consistently supported the Pope. He believes that the teaching you describe \"that couples living in adulterous relationships should not receive Holy Communion\" is fully consistent with AL. You cannot assume that he is supporting the position of the 4 cardinals just because he affirms that position. He is pretty explicit about being on the Pope's side when he affirms that teaching.\n\nThis is actually the point M\u00fcller was addressing when he said people need to look at the issue more objectively. Affirming \"that couples living in adulterous relationships should not receive Holy Communion\" does NOT mean he is supporting the cardinals, but some people assert that it does mean that because they are inclined to identify that position with the cardinals instead of with the Pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Finally, these many years later there is a bit of spotlight on the role of the Constantinian (Roman) CC in the Rwandan genocide.\nSomeone here contends JPII spoke out vigorously against it. Spoke, perhaps, but didn't act. All talk and no action.\nHe had papal nuncios in Rwandan; inexcusable that under JPII reign there was no concrete action. For starters, remove pro Hutus bishops, clergy. It didn't; like pedophile bishops, to remove one collapses the bishop's house of cards.\nFor all his love of travel JPII never went to the most Catholic country in Africa, even after the genocide. He didn't want the spotlight on failure of church's complicity. No need to obfuscate Clinton's failure with RCC's. JPII wasn't a good shepherd to his brothers & sisters of the household of faith.\nSame reaction Francis won't go to Argentina; revisit his role in the \"Dirty War.\" \nPoliticians both, not shepherds who go immediately to one in jeopardy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not ashamed of the Traditional Latin Mass, nor am I ashamed of other traditional Catholic devotional or liturgical practices which have sustained our forebears in the faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bible convinces you that you don't have to go to Church.....\n\nReally? how?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Situational ethics do not apply here. My ethics are strong and impervious to the situation at hand. Conservatives used a sinner (Trump) to accomplish their goals. We understand that we're all sinners, period. Pope Francis is a sinner, like all of us, and the Church is using him to accomplish its goals. President John Kennedy was a sinner and the nation used him to accomplish its goals. God often uses us to accomplish His goals, and we're all sinners. No difference.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anti-Christian persecution is one of the areas \u201cwhere Pres. Trump and Pope Francis can do business,\u201d US Vatican reporter, John L. Allen Jr., stated. (The others were the \u201cobvious\u201d issue of abortion as well as the anti-transgender \u201cgender theory\u201d and \u201creligious freedom\u201d to discriminate against LGBTQ persons) \u201cPope Francis repeatedly has referred to what he calls an \u2018ecumenism of blood\u2019 and also stressed there are more Christian martyrs today than in the early era of the Church,\u201d Allen wrote. On Jan. 28, the pope said \"Modern martyrs exemplify true Christian unity\" referencing in particular the kidnappings by ISIS. The pope has never acknowledged that many more Muslims than Christians have been killed, maimed and raped by ISIS, \u201cWestern wars killed four million Muslims between 1990 and April 2015,\u201d and \u201c11 million Muslim-on-Muslim killings between 1948 and 2013.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suppose if the only pastoral tool one has is a rigoristic legalism, then, every \"irregular\" situation is going to suspiciously look like a disciplinary canonical nail.\n\nIn reading the dubia, indeed, the conclusions of Burke's arguments were not merely contained in his premises but in his conceptual definitions. Even stipulating to 1) virtually exceptionless norms that bind, which 2) no conscience can legitimate, and to 3) objective situations of grave habitual sin, which 4) no intentions or circumstances can transform into a subjectively good or defensible choice, it doesn't follow that 5) new guidelines have been established that allow communion to be given to Catholics in irregular situations, whether divorced-remarried, contracepting, LGBTQ or others.\n\nThe dubia questions aren't apposite to Amoris, which changed no moral doctrines, church disciplines or canons. Amoris did compellingly reaffirm that the pastoral has primacy over the legal, but that's as old as a Jewish Carpenter!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It should be remembered that religious liberty did not become official church teaching until the Second Vatican Council. To many people religious liberty means liberty for their own religion. Anyone who truly believes in religious liberty believes in it for all religions and not just one's own.\n\n\"From an estimated 1.5 million Christians in Iraq at the time of the U.S. invasion in 2003, the population has dwindled to an estimated 150,000.\" More proof, if any was needed, that the Bush/Cheney administration's invasion of Iraq was a disaster even more for the people of Iraq than it was for this country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't think so? Reminds me of the story, \"first they came for the Catholics but since I wasn't Catholic, I didn't care. Then they came for Jews but since I wasn't a Jew I didn't care then they came for me and there was no one left to speak up for me.\" Shortened the story quite a bit but Deadbeat Trump will keep doing what he and his ilk wants until people stop him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whatever version of Luke 2:52 one prefers, it tells us that Jesus changed - he grew, matured, advanced, - not only before God but before God and man. Interesting. The incarnate, redeeming Jesus, link between God and man evolved.\nWhen my children and grandchildren were babies I didn't think that I could love them more. They grew, changed and I found that I loved them more.\nThat is the \"dance\" the liturgy of life. \nTo contend that the \"body\" of Christ, the companionship of Christ, its \"dance\" doesn't change is to defy the intelligence God gave us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that's right. Fr. Brown published a major study, 'The Birth of the Messiah', in which he reviewed the biblical evidence for (among other things) the Virgin Birth. He reached a very traditional, even conservative conclusion about the doctrine, but apparently his critics didn't approve of his method, which was not limited to but certainly included historical and literary criticism. I re-read 'Messiah' last Advent, and found it as rewarding now, or maybe more so, as when I first read it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is notable that the decadent, sensationalist, depraved \"Hollywood\" so much the antithesis of our godly church has taken notice of sexual abuse, harassment and even the lack of access to prominent women roles as \"persons\", producers and directors. Even more \"curiouser\" they seem to be doing something about it. \nIs this evidence of further deterioration of morality and depravity ascribed to them? Or, is even \"Hollywood\", at least somewhat, repentant for its misogyny, sexual utilitarianism and moving towards inclusion and \"peership\" of women and thus centuries ahead of the \"one, holy, catholic and apostolic church\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By your logic, when a child calls their male parent \"Daddy\" or \"Father\" that is patriarchal. \n\nHere is a news flash for you: the Catholic Church is not Protestant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Quaker meeting houses (like the one Hickenlooper attends and that formed the basis for the framing of the US Constitution and its antecdents) were intended as temporary refuges against the abusive and exploitative Catholic and Abrahamic laws and legal fictions, including \"virgin birther\" legal fictions. \n\nIf you impose these abusive laws & legal fictions, you are not a refugee, you are a fugitive. Eventually you have to go and do the hard, and likely painful, psychological work of asserting yourself for the reform needed in these Latin American countries (like \"documenting\" a decent sovereign constitution). Especially in the case of Mexico or Honduras, where more than 10% of the citizenry is living in the US illegally, that is enough people to obtain reform peacably. Any Quaker will tell you so.\n\nHickenlooper (descended from colonial Philadelphia) himself has issues with being stuck in the ideology of the 1600s - most people from this background have moved from this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Doubt if any biblical criticism is on the agenda. Probably a fundamental, literalist interpretation. Can rationalize anything, bible included.\n\"Drollinger noted that Session's will apply what he learns at Bible study to his job.\n\"He'll go out the same day I teach him something and I'll see him do it on camera and I just think, 'Wow, these guys are faithful.\" Sessions hardline toward immigrants, marginalized folks, for openers, etc. are applied biblical teaching? Scary!\nMichelle Bachmann is on BOD. \nTheir proclaimed mission: \"Capitol Ministries strives to proclaim Christ to governmental leaders and teach them His Word. We seek to fulfill the biblical mandate to evangelize and disciple all those in the political community: elected officials, staff and lobbyists.\"\nImagine if their was a Koran Congressional study group with the same agenda, wouldn't Christian fundamentalist be up in arms that Muslims intend to subvert and impose their principles on all government officials?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I particularly like your term \"pre-Easter religious patriarchy,\" which is where they are at. I don't believe God gives any churchmen authority; rather they usurp it. But God is with us all -- Immanuel.\n\nLuis, the chauvinist prelates \"eat and drink without discerning the Body,\" and they fail to \"make everyone equally welcome\" (see 1Corinthians 11:29&33 TNIV). They fail to discern that the 'Body of Christ' is One, despite the different qualities of individuals such as gender. Paul says they eat and drink judgement on themselves, and says be \"more discerning with regard to OURSELVES\" (11:31). They harm themselves and others, but they do not and cannot harm the 'Body of Christ' of which all are members, because IT is a glorious risen body and therefore not perishable. Discerning the Body (per 1Co 11) is far more important than adhering to chauvinistic rituals and chauvinistic structures.\n\nOf course, if the Body is only a transubstantiated wafer, then no problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When every preacher and church starts paying their share of property and income tax then maybe I would consider them as viable collectors of voters to hear them. Do not use GOD to fill your coffers then point at others as sinners. As for sinners, those are any who do not follow all GOD's law, not cherry picking to keep pot stirred or suit your purposes. We all have missed the boat. Especially self-righteous men who call themselves \"called\". I think we were freed from the false prophets by CHRIST when he said two or more who come together in HIS name. Don't need the religious right. Don't need preachers and mega churches taking huge tax breaks on the backs of the poor and working class.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why would we look at a wall? Does not God's spirit also dwell in each and every human being. Again, in the liturgy, the altar represents the table of the Last Supper where Jesus sat with his disciples and shared a meal.\n\nIf the table was to be a CROSS of SACRIFICE, it would be shaped as a cross.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jake, that's one way of looking at it:\nthen i read the last line: \" In this enterprise, the path of Christians towards full unity is a great sign of the times and a response to the Lord\u2019s prayer 'that they may all be one.\u2019 \u201d\nIf we think of \"rebirth\" more wholistically, as ecologic process, totally inclusive ('full unity') of earth-life in its transformational trajectory, then 'path toward full unity' only makes sense in the inclusive understanding of earth-life as holistically 'one' in (E)eucharistic inclusion.\nThe 'sign of the times', of biological ignorance and cultural insensitivity, compels a much bigger and more inclusive worldview than Christianity presumes in its small-world, Biblically-sourced worldview.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your response Beverly \n\"You say \u201cThere are Phrases in Scripture which can not be deceived/ misrepresented: \"I AM\", \"Follow Me\", \"My sheep know Me; I know them; and they Follow My voice.\" Jn 10: 26-28\u201d.\nI had to look up jn10; 26-28. \u201cbut you do not believe because you are not my sheep\u201d \nYou have totally failed to address my response to you and appear to have given me an overall personalized implied response that is difficult to comprehend, please feel free to speak openly, as in direct talk, as Jesus Christ taught us to do so.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Val, me thinks you did not read what Francis wrote. His description of the Jesus of the Gospels is bang on, and he merely suggests some bishops have similar priorities. \n\nIs it your view that bishops should not emulate Jesus????", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because it is true, because the Holy Spirit - promised to the Church to guide it in all truth to fulfill the command \"Go forth and teach all nations\" - led the Church to incorporate into the canon.\n\nIf Jesus is God, and the Word Incarnate in a Triune God, and Man is fallen and awaiting redemption, it makes complete sense for Him to breach the veil of the heavenly Temple and offer Himself as our High Priest to the Father.\n\nHe described Himself as a priest by referencing all those OT scriptures which you suggested no one was familiar with.\n\nNo, He did not provide a four-page theological manual in English for us to cram for the test.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Surely you know this is the National *Catholic* Reporter, not the National Protestant Reporter. Orthodox Catholics don't read \"literally\" Biblical stories whose literal reading stretches credibility, but instead read them for the truth the contain.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No it doesn't say that.\n\nJust last week you were telling us with chapter verse what HV said, and then I showed others that it said nothing of the sort. Your summaries of Church teaching are utter distortions, but it's the intention that soils them even more. \n\nMatthew 19: \"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.\"\n\nAbortion and contraception rob God of delight. \n\nHe will never have those lives freely give themselves to Him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am using sacrament in the same way as you. For example, LG 11 describes ordination:\n\nThose of the faithful who are consecrated by Holy Orders are appointed to feed the Church in Christ's name with the word and the grace of God. LG 11\n\nThe preaching of the Apostles is parallel to feeding with \"the grace of God\" which I assume means administering the 7 sacraments. The bishop preaching is a sign of God speaking to us. The hierarchy all flows from Christ, through the disciples, to us as it says in LG 5.\n\nI see this as an explanation of the sacraments being instituted by Christ, and not terribly controversial. I cannot see where you get the idea that tenets and creeds precede the sacraments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "PLEASE - let's drill down on the description of *academics* - meaning what? None of these folks are published or recognized by the top Catholic schools of theology. Some, in fact, could not keep jobs in even conservative catholic universities.\nExamples - any list with Peter A. Kwasniewski, Ph.D. (Philosophy); Professor, Wyoming Catholic College or any teacher at Steubenville means little. Look up Wyoming Catholic College - not even accredited; right wing panderings, etc. (note - philosophy; not theology)\nYou will only find writings by this list in far right wing propaganda organs - Latin Mass society; EWTN; Register; Wanderer, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Magnificant in St. Luke. The story of Jesus in Nazareth where his brothers are mentioned by name. Act, where his step brother James is mentioned as the leader of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope has a nondual consciousness from the following quote from the article.\nHe \"drew upon decades as a pastor in his native Argentina, learning there are no perfect marriages or family situations\".\nNondual consciousness is a much more holistic knowing, where your mind, heart, soul, and senses are open and receptive to the moment just as it is, which allows you to love things in themselves and as themselves. (from Monday's CAC Daily Meditation)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, R.D? Constructive criticism, whether it be of the Catholic Church or the United States government, is the very picture of love. Who did Jesus repeatedly reprove to his face? That's right: Peter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except that I don't. You mis-read. \n\nIn fact, I submit to the Church's teaching as an act of humility and obedience.\n\nCatholics submit to the will of the God, expressed through revelation and formal teaching of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neither do I. Being faithful get's harder and harder. I am just able to establish a deep connection with Jesus: who expelled those who only loved power, money -- and fresh \"meat\"? -- from the temple. But, believe me, it is really hard! Is a sort of \"via crucis\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just an FYI - I was not advocating for private schools (vouchers); I attended our local Catholic schools (and no, we were not rich!) which did not take any money away from the public schools. I was advocating for the teachers I had and all the other teachers at private schools that do an excellent job.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The sacred and holy My Personal Space! It was preached often by Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesus did not respect the Pharisees or the Romans...\"\nRender unto Caesar what is Caesar's and render unto God, that which is God's.\nClearly Jesus teaches us to respect the civil law. However, He also calls us to do for the least of our brothers. Leaving aside your characterization of \"pious bunkum\" there remains a curious paradox.\nI think that I am better off erring on the side of doing for the least of my brothers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "His substance is a quaint defense of the pre-Vatican II authoritarian Church. John Paul and Benedict tried to bring it back and Francis is taking it apart. The hysteria of Pius IX and Pius X about the authority of the Holy Office and the Papacy has proven true, the Church at large has learned to think for itself. Voris and company miss the old ways. The Index died in Vatican II and Catholic theologians who can't get a mandatum from the local bishop shift to a non-Catholic college. When the CDF bans a book, it increases sales. No wonder Voris is a raving loony.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Empirical proof God chose Trump for president rather than Satan choosing him? Thought not. The Lord may work in mysterious ways, but appointing a man denied the Kingdom of Heaven by Jesus Christ himself (Matthew 19:24), who violates the will of God through his sordid marriages (Mark 10:9), who has admitted to appalling sexual depravity outside of wedlock and whose defining character trait, beyond a child-like tendency towards temper tantrums and disgusting ego is greed . . . well, that seems implausibly mysterious.\n\nMore logical to accept that the 2016 election in general was proof of Satan ascendant in the world, forcing a choice of President Snowflake or Shillary onto America or, at the very best, to see Trump and Clinton as a tribulation inflicting on America for decades of wickedness both in personal affairs and inflicted on the world.\n\nRegardless, the Easter season is perhaps not the ideal time to celebrate the concept of knuckling under to evil like a slave.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sigh....\n\nThe point in my referencing slavery is this: we impose moral values all the time by way of the law. The only question is whose moral values? Would anyone argue that we should not impose our moral values on white supremacists? \n\nAs for support for the poor: I am not suggesting that we get a right of conscience to avoid paying taxes for whatever. At the same time, we have to be mindful of the fact that everyone has rights, not just the poor. At some point we are going to become Greece if we don't get control of government spending. It does not matter who is at fault for the situation we are in. We are in an unsustainable situation. \n\nMy overarching issue is this: why are the bishops talking tough on Catholic social teaching and calling out politicians on this--especially those who are Catholic, but they refuse to do so with abortion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I doubt very much that most Catholics have ever heard of the Knights of Malta, and care less about the pope's relationship with them\n\nIt almost seems that you want a schism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It also overlooks the fact that men and women share a common baptism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have just admitted that you didn't read Dionne's column; or you didn't understand it. None of the named participants in the e-exchange, was Clinton. The exchange took place years ago at a time when Clinton wasn't running for office. Assange got the leaks from Russia, where Putin is doing his best to get Trump elected. The discussion involved Roman Catholic interference in implementing the ACA, which mandated contraception for women. Conservative US RC's opposed, and still oppose, contraception for Roman Catholic women.\n\nThis is what you are arguing against. Pathetic!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah yes...just throw around the H word. I happen to be pro life, but I believe there are better ways to get there. When we offer mothers healthcare, preschool programs, family leave that is paid, tax breaks for children etc....then more women will feel they can afford to have children. As far as your statement, there is the Catholic side and the wrong side... I hope you don't hang out with a lot of people from other faiths. They may disagree with you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately, the Holy Spirit hasn't always been able to force all in the hierarchy to listen, so at times the Holy Spirit's whispers have been not just ignored, but deliberately contradicted by men with their own agendas, to the detriment of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "it does not matter, Ontario has a constitutional right for funding catholic schools. get over it", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then it wouldn't be Roman Catholicism, would it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely! Both JP II and Benedict were to frightened to permit the Constitutions and Documents of Vatican II to become operative. Neither of these men were comfortable with having the laity have any voice [or God forbid---authority] within the Church. They were formed by life under both Nazi and Communist oppression. But the official church in Central Europe, which operated in secretive actions, was what they were accustomed to having. The Church [official church] made its pronouncements as benevolent dictator----and the simple people obeyed. Anyone highly educated who made any objection was criticized, and silenced. This concept was best observed in Ratzinger's statement that Catholics are simple people and \"bishops should protect the faith of these little people against the power of intellectuals.\" [Allen, John, POPE BENEDICT XVI] p. 130.\n\nSadly, the world that JP II and Benedict imagined was barely true in the late 1930's of their youths. Today, it's just a memory.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only people he sent to Hell were the rich man who ignored Lazarus and the self-righteous who did not recognize Christ in the hungry, thirsty, naked, uneducated, imprisoned etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't you understand that according to Holy Scripture and thousands of years of Tradition, homosexual behaviour is gravely sinful? It is through this very behaviour that that homosexuals estrange themselves from the Church.\nThe Catholic Church has bent over backwards to reach out to homosexuals in the hope that they will repent of their behaviour in the same way as it does to all sinners. It has to stop short, however, and always will in not condoning the sin, whatever the sin maybe. \nThe bottom line is that one cannot be a practising homosexual and a practising Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I have said in other contexts, one of the main problems in developing moral doctrine in the Catholic Church is that ignorance is considered to be no problem. The attendees of the synod on the family were exclusively unmarried men. JPII, despite apparently never having had a really intimate relationship with a woman, wrote Mulieris Dignitatis -- \"The Dignity of Women\"; similarly, his Familiaris Consortio -- \"The Fellowship of the Family\" shows his complete ignorance of both women and the part that sex plays in marriage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well that is not acceptable because it is fundamentally sinful to exclude women from priesthood when Christ gave no license for us to do so. If we allow optional celibacy and are not ordaining women that is gender segregation which is a less just church than we have now. Orthodoxy does not equate to better or more Christian. Until all churches stop the hatred against women and all discrimination practices and return the sacrament of Holy Orders to women and choose to no longer condemn LGBT, we fail to be the kind of Christians Christ would own as his disciples. He commanded us to treat all the same and with love and to not condemn anyone unless we wish to be condemned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You need to know that broadly similar, but perhaps less extreme, treatment is also meted out to mere lay men who dare to challenge \"priestly\" authority. \n\nIn the eyes of this \"authority\":\nthreat number one = lay people.\nthreat number two (and so aggravated) = lay women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anti-Christian?\nGet onto YouTube and enter \"Poh\u0159eb prezidenta V\u00e1clava Havla \u010d\u00e1st 3 - Funeral of President Vaclav Havel - Part 3\", and at 2:25 you will see Bill and Hillary Clinton at a Mass.\nNow, Marytherese, you need to find us a shot of Donald Trump at Mass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The American Heritage Girls is a far right Evangelical Protestant organization designed to mold girls into compliant housewives. If you will go to the website, you will see a heavy emphasis on \"home economics.\" The rest of the emphasis is on a conservative Christian values and a white socially conservative Christian version of history, current events, etc. This isn't about molding girls into leaders and free thinkers; this is about molding them into compliant Christian helpmeets. It reminds me what the GSA probably was circa 1950, not what it is today. However, that is why Lepanto Institute and company like it; they want women to be barefoot and in the kitchen and to get back to their idealized version of the 1950s.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "FACT CHECK... the article was written by Republican, Rep. Kevin Cramer for North Dakota,\nCramer is under \"advanced consideration for a Trump Cabinet Post\"...\u201cI will tell you this: He was interested in talking to me about a possible Cabinet post, specifically secretary of energy,\u201d Cramer said, noting that Trump asked what Cramer would do if he were offered the post -- would he stay in the House of Representatives or join the administration?\n\nIt was posted by Mary Ann Hackett... on the organization website that is not to be construed as an Illinois Catholic Position Statement... rather read it is a job application essay offered by Kevin Cramer for a cabinet position.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@la narine 1 says \"...Quebec is easily the most overtly racist province in Canada...\"\nBase on WHAT ? On Bill 101 ? \nIn Canada, Qu\u00e9bec is \u201cofficially\u201d French speaking since 1774-\n((but we all know that it is since its foundation in 1608) \nso why are you crying for then ?...Who\u2019s LATE here ?...and who\u2019s got & MAKING a problem with it ?...\nThe past & present MINORITY of the Ghetto Anglo Montrealers (7%) of all of Qu\u00e9bec is to blame here for not consciously recognize the \u201cQu\u00e9bec Act\u201d (an Act for making more effective Provisions for The Government of the Province of Qu\u00e9bec in North America) was a British statute which received royal assent 22 June 1774 \nand became effective 1 May 1775;\n- it re-established the French language rights (got it Anglo Canada ?);\n-+ Catholic faith; \n-+ French civil law...\u201d\n(more to come)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In his speech, the pope said millions of people are being forced to flee their homelands due to \"conflict, natural disasters, persecution, climate change, violence, extreme poverty, and inhuman living conditions.\" They're forced to flee. These are the people that become refugees and migrants. Pope Francis remarked that \"indifference fueled by populist rhetoric in today's world, fans the flames of rejection that threaten the rights and dignity of migrants and refugees. Faced with this kind of rejection, rooted ultimately in self-centeredness and amplified by populist demagoguery, what is needed is a change of attitude to overcome indifference and to counter fears with a generous approach of welcoming those who knock at our doors.\"\n\nPope Francis is being too nice. Instead of saying \"populist\" he should use the term used in the 1930s: fascism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "because so much of what you try to pass off as doctrine and theology is amusing, or rather would be, if so many didn't consider adiaphora like this as more important than what is actually recorded in the Gospels about Jesus and Mary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A party that now defines itself as protecting a \"right\" for a mother to abort her child, to end with great prejudice the fully unique, fully \"identified\" life within her. \n\nAnd catholics defending it, nastily too. Just as some did the democratic party during slavery days.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. The USCCB's disposition toward and white Catholic support for Trump would seem to be a major issue for a Catholic publication. Maybe I missed the drill-down?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you know that the Church is complicit? If one priest, bishop or even pope commits a sin it is not the Church which has sinned. The Church cannot sin, only individuals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelicals deliberately putting themselves in harms way? The only government action should be a call to pray for them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ideally it would be no tax money...don't see how that can happen. hate to stop these folks....my husband would have been raised an Albanian Christian...pretty tough row to hoe in Albania. My Italian uncle was shipped here in 1910 ? about 8 or 10 he was...his parents being killed in a car wreck in Italy. (in 1910!) not one relative would take him in - no money. they stuck him on a boat to America and 40 years later he's working at western electric doing engineering. with a huge family. thank god - I loved them all so much...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By the mid 2nd century, the four gospels, Acts, Revelation, Paul's works & a significant number of pastoral works were recognized in the canon.\n\nMy point is the gospels & epistles were being circulated around the Roman empire by the end of the 1st century", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really? In your post below, you write \"Read Scripture.\" To save you the trouble, here's some: \n\n\"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.\u201d (Matt 5:23 -24). \n\nSeems that Jesus is saying that the primary and most intense apology should be to the one harmed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a Eucharistic Minister (yes, I prefer the old descriptor). As I distribute communion I like to recall the words of St Augustine. He sometimes said (when offering the Host), \"Remember that YOU are the Body of Christ\". I try to see Jesus in the face of each person who approaches me. We are each of us members of the Body of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A lot of traditionalists claim that doctrine does not change\" because that is EXACTLY what the Church dogmatically teaches {see PASTOR AETERNUS from VATICAN I}. Traditionalists, form their consciences according to such teachings, while the modernists appear to be more inclined toward \"attitudes\", emotions, or just plain personal interpretation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So why did Jesus tell His followers to sell their cloak and buy a sword if all use of a sword was prohibited? Abusus non tollit usus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesuit James Martin wrote a book titled \"Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life\". He too is convinced that Jesus had a sense of humour.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only error in judgement taking place, or more accurately that already has taken place, is the unconscionable institution and ratification of the Johnson Amendment that un-Americanly (i.e. in opposition to true and justified freedom) muzzled all priests and ministers of True Faith from guiding their flocks politically from the pulpit. Politics is how people on this Earth relate to one another and we can not do so effectively by limiting people of Faith from being who God's helped them to be.\n\nGiven that, I laud the clergy who are alive enough with the fire of the Holy Spirit to take the courage needed to speak up and out based on their fully formed beliefs. Such love in the face of persecution from the government and those within it who hate the Truth, and by effect Him (Jesus, the one True Son of God), is commendable.\n\nThe truth is that legalized abortion is completely obscene because it condones murdering completely defenseless and innocent children in the \"safety\" of the womb!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John's gospel is not a literal account of the life of Jesus, but a theological treatise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Catholicism has nothing to teach non-Catholics, and we have everything to learn from non-Catholics, what is the rationale for being Catholic? I find it quite strange.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the usual suspects have signed the letter, and of course the usual snooty condescending reaction arises from the usual NCR crowd. FYI, when someone disagrees with you, that's not \"hate\"--that's disagreement.\nI can't comment on Amoris Laetitia because frankly it's so badly written I haven't managed to slog through it. It does contain outright errors, such as its claim that the church opposes the death penalty, which is absurd. Whatever Francis's gifts, writing clearly is not one of them.\n\nAnd that's exactly what the 4 cardinals and other are asking for--clarity. That's neither heresy nor dissent, actually.\n\nIt's funny how those who pretend to want 'dialogue' moan about 'divisiveness' when they actually get it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The ARENA party is more a Pro-Death party. It's history is drenched with the blood of thousands of Salvadorans killed and maimed by its murderous death squads during the war in El Salvador in the 1980s.\n\nTheir co-founder Roberto D'Aubuisson, was a notorious death squad leader named by the UN-created Truth Commission For El Salvador as having ordered the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1980. His squads hated the Catholic liberation communities that were empowering people to organize for things like better wages and decent drinking water. They slaughtered countless catechism teachers, ministers of the word and a number of priests. I have studied this period for a novel I've written.\n\nAnd BTW, anyone who was truly \"pro-life,\" including Pope Francis, would make sure poor women had access to birth control so they wouldn't have to choose between a pregnancy and their existing children starving.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Ryan, in particular, has been advocating for the privatization of Medicare for years. It's important to remember that, by his own account, his political, economic and social thinking is rooted in the atheistic materialism of Ayn Rand. At one point, he was trying to cloak his ideas in the mantle of Catholic social teaching. I don't know whether he's still trying to do that, but I do know that Ayn Rand's philosophy of rational, radical individualism is irreconcilable with Catholic social teaching, which is rooted in the common good.\nI think your word of caution is timely and important.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It does not make a difference to those who are steeped in dead orthodoxy (such as the Catholics and many Lutherans), but for those alive in Christ it makes all the difference. I am not a good person, Eric, that is why I need the Righteousness of Christ attributed to me, Christ made atonement for my sins, which is the heart of the Gospel, the central message of the Bible, and the reason Christ instructed the Church to partake in communion - as a remembrance of him, nothing more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican II is a Council of the Church. Most of its teaching is perfectly compatible and in continuity with the teaching of previous popes and councils. Where it fails is its ambiguity in certain areas. This has led to fanciful and erroneous interpretations of its documents which in turn has led to the current confusion over what the Church actually teaches, e.g. the attack upon the indissolubility of marriage now going on.\nFor you and all the rest of you, progress means overturning doctrines, dogmas and practices you don't agree with or just don't like. You are attempting to syncretise Church teaching with secular values. This most certainly was not the intention of the Fathers of Vatican II, well most of them anyway.\nDevelopment of doctrine as Newman pointed out, does not mean abandoning it or standing it on its head.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And utilitas believes the civil law is paramount. He probably regrets the protests against Jim Crow laws. He has decided to follow Trump rather than Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We all are aware that celibacy originated in a manner not at all laudable....protection of money and property. The Christian Community accepted married presbyters and bishops for roughly half its existence and then \"money\" became preferable to normal living for our ministers.\nMarriage is a SACRAMENT but celibacy is not.....good reason to foster the merits of a sacramental life not one that is out of the norm. Ministers should be of both genders and permitted to marry before or after ordination when they have found the person they wish to share their life with. Remarriage permitted also for anyone whose spouse dies. \nIf marriage is TRULY a praiseworthy vocation it should not be dismissed or distained by the Church for its ministers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ahhh - \"do not be ashamed of your traditions.\" \n\nBut, if you bring your own beliefs into a country that believes differently, isn't that \"ideological colonization?\" Well, maybe \"ideological colonization\" can only work when it is the powerful imposing their own ideas on the less powerful, making acceptance of something bad a condition of receiving something really needed, like food, medical care, education. \n\nOh, wait. That is what the Catholic service groups do - they decide what \"good\" services they will include in helping people and what they won't include because it is \"bad.\" And they can do that because they have what the poor people need. \n\nI wonder if the Pope understands that he supports \"ideological colonization\" when he picks what is \"good\" and what is \"bad\" and doesn't really leave it up to individuals to make their own choices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"..... and at the same time realizing, yes, that there is an importance to respect the laws of this nation as well as to provide security on the borders.\" While other churches and civil governments are offering sanctuary, not one Catholic institution that I know of has done so\nled by their bishops who on several occasions since Trump's election have stressed \"the law.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Do not stop him, for anyone who is not against you is on your side.\" \n\nDiscernment is required to judge who stands with the Jesus and His Church - and who doesn't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Walter, how about Michael Moore at the physical level rubbing our noses it what is visible if only we would open our eyes; and Noam Chomsky on the psychological level pointing our minds to examine the deeper motives and delusions operating beneath the surface to cause what Moore points to; and Francis on the spiritual plane insisting on the presence of Jesus in those who suffer in the reality Moore and Chomsky delineate and inviting us to help those in trouble.\n\nWe have no lack of prophets today, but we, like ancient Israel, prefer Donald Trump as our saviour. Our Babylonian exile is upon us.\n\nMaranatha! Come Lord Jesus!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It appears that Cardinals Burke and Chaput are more in touch with Catholic people than the pope is. If they would not be \"at home\" at Notre Dame U, that is because the old U long ago abandoned its Catholicism for $$$, or in other words, sold its soul. And I am sure Francis would happily embrace and sing the praises of Southern Baptists if they would have him or even if they wouldn't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clericalism is a two sided problem.\nNCR and its followers are quite clerically minded. It's how they think: rome, pope, vatican, bishops, parishes.\n\nThat's clericalism.\n\nScreening out fragile priests saves us eventual scandal.\n\nClericalism isn't really the problem, by the way, it's lack of interior life within all sorts of Catholics, only a small percentage of them are actual clerics. It's mainly a lay problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The early Church thought Nero was the Antichrist. He was a bad guy, for sure, but not the Antichrist. Many others were assumed to be throughout Church history and Europe nearly ground to a standstill when the year 1000 AD approached. Every modern President, including Donald Trump, has been labeled the Antichrist. There are 2 billion Christians worldwide and each one of them probably has their own idea of what the \"End Times\" may look like. Jesus said to look up and rejoice as your deliverance draws near. \n.\nWith all the other terrible crimes going on in the world that could use punishment its rather laughable God would single out southerners for taking down their statues. No, He's not punishing anyone, yet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Florin, do you read Genesis in the original language in which it was written? If not, you are reading a translation of a translation several times and as the translators interpreted and a you interpret when you read the final translation of your Bible.\n\nOtherwise, why are so many sincere Christians around the world not all united in the exact same understanding that you have? Is your interpretation the only possible correct one? What skills do you bring to that claim that may be unlike millions of others who read the same book?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catechism is a compendium of Catholic dogma and doctrine arrived at through Scripture and Tradition. There is nothing in the Catechism which contradicts Scripture and Tradition and vice versa.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ATF, I think that saying that the archbishop was being \"led by the nose\" actually gets him off too easily. I know that archbishops are busy, but they have the responsibility of educating themselves. Today, with the internet, it is incredibly easy to do that. Had he wanted to do so, the archbishop could have found out that there is no relationship between GSA and Planned Parenthood. He could have learned also about GSA goals and standards. The people who run Heritage Girls appear to be conservative Evangelicals. They don't agree with the Church on everything. It's curious that it's the pelvic issues that count, not the other ones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wouldn't that require a time machine? To whom would someone who adopted \"pre-Vatican2 Catholicism\" look to fulfill the Petrine role?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like most English-speaking Catholics I pray in modern English. In modern English, a ghost is a spook. That is why, since 1964, the English liturgy has used 'Holy Spirit'.\n\nIn 'Romeo and Juliet', Act II, Scene vi, Juliet addresses Friar Laurence as 'my ghostly confessor'. That was 400 years ago. Time to move on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill,\n\nHave you never ready your Bible and seen how Jesus introduced the disciples to the Holy Spirit early in His ministry? How He promised that all who claim to be His followers would be led by the Holy Spirit? How the Holy Spirit would lead us into ALL TRUTH? How the Holy Spirit would give gifts to all who believe and never said He would give some gifts to men, but not to women? Why do you not believe the words of Jesus and the apostles? If you can't believe their plain and simple statements from scripture, why do you claim to believe in God?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I couldn't agree more with the understanding that humanity is about man and woman together, not isolated from each other; and this is so in body as well as soul: \"The body, in fact, and only the body, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine.\" (St John Paul II, TOB 19:4; cf. 96:5)\n\nQuestions:\n\n1. How can the patriarchal (exclusively masculine) priesthood make visible the divine \"feminine genius\" in Christ as head of the Church?\n\n2. If the Virgin Mary brought us the Incarnate Word in her own body, as flesh of her flesh, why is it that the redeemed body of a baptized woman, of the same flesh, is not \"proper matter\" for priestly ordination?\n\n3. Isn't canon 1024 an artificial contraceptive (perhaps even an abortifacient) of feminine priestly vocations that keeps making Christ partially invisible as a divine personal subject?\n\nMay the Holy Spirit guide the Church to overcome the patriarchal gender culture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I AM A CANADIAN, I PAY OVER $70,000.00 PER YEAR IN INCOME TAX TO CANADA, I AM MARRIED TO A SOUTH AMERICAN WOMEN, I HAVE BEEN AWAY FROM CANADA FOR 9 YEARS AND RETURNED HOME TO CANADA IN MAY 2016 ''''WITH MY WIFE AND STEP SON '''' WE OWN A HOME IN CANADA, WE ALL SPEAK ENGLISH, WE ALL GO TO CHURCH (CATHOLIC) as a regular canadian who says i cannot return to my HOME AND NATIVE LAND WITH MY WIFE,,(WE WERE MARRIED IN CANADA) had to sign i would support her for 5 years, my step-son for 10 years,, no welfare for them,, we own a nice home, live as a normal family,, I AM A CANADIAN AND PROUD OF IT, MY WIFE CAN HARDLY WAIT TO BECOME A CITIZEN OF CANADA,, --NOW MARRIAGE FRAUD,, IF CONVICTED A FINE OR $10,000.00 FOR THE CANADIAN SPONSOR OR 5 YEARS IN JAIL,, THE FOREIGN WIFE OR HUSBAND '''IMMEDIATE'' DEPORTATION '''' AND CAN NEVER RETURN,, I AGREE WITH THOSE WHO ARE FED UP WITH THIS TAX DRAIN,, BUT THERE IS ALSO GUYS LIKE ME WHO ARE LEGIT\nDON' THROW OUT THE BADY WITH THE BATH WATER,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's a disease in many people...\"I'm frozen until I have a pope or president I like\"...and all problems that result after that point are attributed to \"I don't have a pope or president I like\".\n\nThis disease is a strain of a broader \"clericalism\"....all thought and comments and hopes and worries are somehow tied to this \"leader\".\n\nCatholics need to wake up and realize that God is waiting for them to love Him very much...with our \"all\" at every moment of every day. And that's all He asks of us. \n\nHe doesn't ask us 99.99999% of us to go to Washington or to Rome...but instead is asking us to live the Gospel right where He put us, fully and completely and heroically, and not fall back into the sad habit of complaint about Rome or Washington. To do so, gives these stricken people a sad and fleeting consolation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cOpus Dei\u2019s free reign within the Catholic Church began after it helped install Karol Wojtyla as Pope John Paul II and then re-capitalized the bankrupt Vatican after the 1980s scandal which culminated in the murder of \u2018God\u2019s Banker,\u2019 Roberto Calvi, by hanging under London\u2019s Blackfriar Bridge .... No group played a more significant role than Opus Dei in aiding the American-backed destruction of liberation movements in Latin America in the 1980s.\" wrote Martin A. Lee, co-founder of the media watch group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). http://www.motherjones.com/politics/1983/07/their-will-be-done", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What do we really know of Jesus.?The bible was supposedly written by men who had never met him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ending the traditional anonymity of the confessional is also in the sights of the progressive Catholics. \n\nhttps://theaimn.com/breaking-seal-child-abuse-confessional/\n\nYou'll soon see a piece by MSW or someone else here about why it makes sense to \"break the seal.\" Mark my words.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My belief is irrelevant. It is the Church\u2019s teaching that is relevant. It teaches that women cannot be the recipient of orders, and it disciplines those who teach or act otherwise up to and including excommunication.\n\nYes, both men and women are full members of the \u201cChristian Community\u201d. No, that does entitle everyone to ordination, even all men. That is why it is not a matter of justice - no one is entitled to ordination.\n\nLumen Gentium explains the difference between the common priesthood and the sacerdotal priesthood. Folks who advocate for your position act as though it was never written and it\u2019s content non-existent.\n\nPaul\u2019s comment has literally nothing to do with the priesthood.\n\nThe notion that the sexes are interchangeable is actually a Gnostic one, since our physical bodies are illusions.\n\nGod was the author of the genders. God made them, male and female, and our differences and complements are iconic of some truths about the Trinity.\n\nNo, the day will not come.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good observation John, I have met Nigerian immigrant Christians that aren't too crazy about white folk, they come from the old country where their churches are 19th century fundamental and due to the homogeneity of the country, segregated by history and culture, they are firmly anchored in their flavor of Christianity. These changes in America could result in a shift from Prosperity Christianity to a more radical Fundamental Christianity that might even compete with radical Islam in extremism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The complaint about ongoing dialogue is difficult to understand Surely on one here is opposed to a free and open exchange of ideas, otherwise why wold one be posting at all? After all, non one is required to reply, unless the requirement is imposed from within, perhaps by an obsession issue, or is imposed from outside, maybe by the Spirit. It is unfortunate that some, usually modernists and progressives, perceive frank and open discussion with which they disagree to be persecution, however True Catholics and Staunch Traditionalists are more willing to engage others in the marketplace of ideas. Perhaps it is the need of some to have the last word that produces ongoing conversation in which they claim to have lost all interest but there is no real way to tell what compulsion produces conduct in a venue such as this. Nonetheless, one must hope that consensus will be reached if those engaged are doing so in good faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of two) \u201cGod created man in his image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them\u201d (Genesis 1:27). Keeping females from dancing, though male celebrants may dance the liturgy, is another reactionary attempt to roll back Genesis to before females were recognized as fully human. As far at the liturgy is concerned, \u201cLord send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth\u201d (Psalm 104:30). \u201cMary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb\u201d of illiterate liturgy. \u201cHe is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. . . . then Jesus said to them, `Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me\u2019\u201d (Matthew 28:1, 6, 10). Liturgy of the Word, Reading 41ABC Easter Sunday: The Resurrection of the Lord: At the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wouldn't feel too sorry for her. Every good Catholic girl knows money is the root of all evil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rerum Novarum - issued 1891. Quadragesimo Anno - issued in 1931.\n\nYes. More than 120 years for the first and more than 80 years for the second, which sought to further that discussion on subsidiarity. \n\nIt is about right for the Church to start now making sense of these ideas in how the Church runs itself. It takes a while. I suspect another couple of hundred years before some future Council comes up with \"as the Church has always taught\" and we see substantive change in inclusion of lay people and women. \n\nNot sure if there will be much of Catholicism left in the developed world by then. Not sure if the parts of the world in which Catholicism is now growing won't be in the same cycle of decline we are in now. Educate people and then you have to treat them as educated, aware, thinking, adult. That is the trick the Church hasn't yet learned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, your fear that you are going to be persecuted if Clinton wins is over the top. And you know it.\n\nJohn,\n\nAs I said in my first post here, I am praying to remain strong and steadfast in my faith, no matter what I come against/am faced! I do not want to deny Jesus or His teachings. I am totally aware that I cannot do this alone and therefore try to receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist at daily Mass (not only on Sunday), to kneel before Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament at least once a month, to pray the Rosary at least a few times a week and to confess my sins and receive Jesus' abundant forgiveness and mercy in the Sacrament of Confession/Reconciliation. A Priest once told me in Confession when I confessed my sins of sexual impurity - \"pray the Rosary, it is a good weapon against the sins of sexual impurity\". The Rosary has helped me remain chaste - until I get married!\n\nWe're all sinners in need of God's mercy. Let's help lead one another to Jesus and not down the wrong path.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Public revelation. The Bible as written without asexual myths saying she had to be perpetually virgin (never says that) so Phillip and Jude (Thomas), who like Jesus, were named for the Maccabees by the same mother are turned into nephews.\n\nThe Immaculate Heart devotions are private revelation and really have nothing to say about her sexuality.\n\nSaying Mary had a sex life is not attacking her, it is letting her be real. It is attacking the asexuals who have been assuming that their sexual quirks are natural humanity for far too long.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We don't attend Mass to feel good, hear cool music or relevant sermons. We go to worship God - not one another. If the Church gave the go-ahead on contraception, abortion, homosexuality, divorce, and women's ordination, do you really suppose attendance would increase? And, if it did, so what? \n\nPeople are losing faith in Christ and His Church. Ultimately, our salvation is in God's Hands. There are reprobates in every generation. God's grace and the gift of faith in Christ, is freely offered. Not everyone accepts these gifts, or is granted the gift of perseverance in the face of the Church's human failures.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What makes you think the problem is about elected or appointed officials? This is the profound error made too frequently.\n\nIt's a lack of holiness and happy struggle in family life in the first place that kicks the can down the street for a food fight among elected and appointed. \n\nFrom \"Bright and Cheerful Homes\" written by Father Urteaga:\n\n\"We need homes like that of Lazarus and Mary, like the home of the parents of James and John. The more Christian your home is, the more similar it will be to the home at Nazareth, our model in everything. Study it. Contemplate it. Pray about that dwelling which housed that blessed family. Watch its inhabitants. Learn from them. Try to imitate them, asking yourself in every moment: Is this the way St. Joseph would have acted? How would our Lady do the things I'm doing? The more parents resemble St. Joseph and the blessed virgin, the more their children will resemble Jesus the child.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The usual Catholicism bashers are in attendance with their \"likes\", I see. Our ever-\"shameful\" Church, full of \"disciplines\" and \"rigor mortis.\" You have every right to say what you do, but why do you pretend to be Catholic? Or are you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, there are very many real Catholics who do both.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If AL can not be justified through Scripture and Tradition of the Church, the only place we know the voice of the Holy Spirit can surely be found, then it would not be of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While homosexuality and gender dysphoria may have been occurring in nature during the pre-Decalog epoch, the human concept and understanding of sexuality was still evolving from instinctual animal behavior.\n\"Adam\" decided that \"this one shall be called 'woman,' for out of 'her man' she was been taken.\"\"Eve\" became the \"mother of all the living.\" Sexuality, animal and human, was focused on procreation and survival. (Gn. 2:23, 3:14-20)\n\"The tradition of the Church has understood the sixth commandment as encompassing the whole of human sexuality.\" (Catechism of the Catholic Church #2336)\nChurch teaching has emphasized the indissoluble bond of one man and one woman, but the essence of the injunction against adultery still considers monogamy and heterosexuality as \"property rights.\" The Church defines and confines the right to \"suitable partnership\" to man with one woman for life. Death extends the survivor's right to another \"suitable partner.\"\n\ncont'd...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The question is, can left-wing populism really beat right-wing populism?\"\n\nMaybe. Maybe not. But then where will all that big corporate money go? One of the two parties will be bought out. Then the other party will do the same to compete. And the snake will continue to eat its tail.\n\nTrump could start to drain that swamp by appointing justices who would do away with Citizens United and allow campaign finance reform to take place. But he won't. He'll hand those appointments over to the evangelicals so we end up with a theocracy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It has an impressive website that lists all the things the church has done to protect children, dating back to before JPII. A very good response to all those who thought the Church was aiding pedophile priests. Turns out the Church has had the whole thing under control all along. With that view of history, the commission really has little left to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey go wild with your store or whatever business you can come up with. You can chase away all the mainstream Catholics you want. There will always be somebody who can provide the same service for less money and certainly less trouble.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Do we rejoice in our...sufferings?\"\n\nCertainly persecuted Catholics -- and there are many today -- would agree with you on that. Monsters which only visit our dreams are daily realities to them, written rarely and reluctantly in our own narratives of suffering.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Laicization is easier to understand if you think, not in terms of priesthood and sacramental ordination, but in terms of the clerical state and clerical status. Laicization at least assumes the validity of ordination, but definitively removes the authority of the cleric to act as a cleric would except in emergencies and other closely defined instances (like teaching in a Catholic school, college, university or seminary). The only other status that church law recognizes is the lay state, hence a man [sic] who has lost his clerical \"privileges\" is said to be \"reduced to the lay state,\" to obviate any consideration of the laicized man exercising clerical or priestly functions without further action by the Holy See.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We tried to make you be like us and, in so doing, we helped to diminish the sacred vision that made you who you are\"(??)\"Thus, we demonstrated that we did not fully understand the gospel we were trying to preach\". Wow.\n\n'The Gospel' is: Jesus Christ died to pay for sins which allows every person, as a born enemy of God, to repent and become a child of God at the time when the individual fully accepts this payment and relies on none of his/her own merits. \n\nHere Rev.Karns drags culture & education styles/methods into a different 'gospel'-which isn't \"the Gospel\" nor Christ's biblical mission. When I'm long gone as an educator, nobody-especially those generations later who were not in the classroom -can genuinely 'apologize' for (accusations of) how I taught lessons or disciplined students! \n\nWith sin, meaningful apologies come from those individuals who are sorry they've sinned to those sinned against. This is cowardice toward those teachers accused, and diverts from God's Gospel work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 of 3\nIf we struggle with love/forgiveness of others, it could be said that this rigidity stems from our own dishonest ungrateful hearts as this attitude emanates from self-righteousness, as possibly we underestimated the generosity of Jesus Christ in our own personal salvation; as to attempt to embrace our Father in the Truth of His Inviolate Word (Will) can only be done in humility (St Bernard-Humility a virtue by which a man knowing himself as he truly is, abases himself). \nA faith that does not embody this consistent realization (Need of His mercy) will be sterile, comparable a stylus stuck in the grove of a record as the heart will not hear/absorb the full transforming message of Spiritual enlightenment that is the on going transformation of the human heart. \nI know this from personal experience because my own heart was stuck in a grove over many years", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... had a thrilling conversation with a holy roller at DIA a few years back. He had flown out to Colorado from Kentucky for a week to be preached to about dinosaurs not existing, earth is flat, all sorts of whacked out stuff. Painted my neighbors house a few years back, she blathered on about the same jive PLUS had some sort of weird portal painted in the upper corners of one of her bedrooms. Both claimed to be Christians.\n\nTrump being elected has proven at least to myself there are more whackos and weirdos out there in the USA than I previously wanted to admit. Sad for the USA. ;(''''", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump voters are as knowledgeable about American history as Trump is. That is why they trust him. They resent the rest of us with good educations. Trump was quite proud to praise his \"poorly educated\" followers. Too bad the \"poorly educated\" will suffer the most in the next 4 years. Of course, Trump couldn't care less. If the GOP have their way, most poor people will only get healthcare in the ER. BTW, that is the most expensive way to provide healthcare. The GOP in general don't think all lives matter. That goes double if they are not white. Why have good healthcare if you believe that it is not a right? The irony is that most Republicans think they are Christians. They better hope He doesn't come back too soon. That could cost them access to the \"pearly gates\" when He asks what they did for the least of us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Richard, you really should run for office!! You'd fit in really well with the current (hopefully changing soon) Legislative majority -even though you collect a union-calibrated pension. Tell me, if all Churches stop helping (\"enabling\"), can they still call themselves Christian? What should they do instead? Attack gays? Demand schools teach \"Creationism\"? What do you want the Mayor & Assembly to do with homeless who refuse to die immediately? Jail them ($50-60,000 year)?--- Ever volunteer at a shelter Richard? Meet the homeless kids aged out of foster care,? Homeless kids from horrible homes? The mentally ill with no alternatives? Walk the mile rRchard - walk the mile...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Ukrainian Catholic Church is one of the constituent members of the universal Catholic Church, as is the Latin rite Church, known as the RC Church. \nSo I am a member of the universal Catholic Church just like you. The positions of the universal Church affect me as much as they do anyone else who is a member. There are certain rules that are different, and our Liturgy is markedly different, although certain core parts are very similar. \nHere is a source, if you choose to educate yourself: http://ugcc.ua/en/.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My first thought was repulsion at the idea of our President in the Vatican,then I laughed remembering the many Popes who were much more similar to him then Francis.\nWe all need to create the time of gathering together after the skeletons are numbered and then buried. I am really hoping there will be a change in our government and in the church sooner rather than later!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is your question sincere or are you inferring that the lowly laity--progressive minded Catholics in particular--cannot possibly be imbued with the Holy Spirit?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "' . . . do not count as a real Catholic, baptism and confirmation notwithstanding [ . . .] (a)s for you, I have no such assurance.\"\n\nWait a second. Mr. Helfman, why is Pandora not entitled to the same consideration you give to yourself, that is, a baptized and confirmed Catholic is a Catholic?\n\n BTW, I think you are right, if one is baptized Catholic, you are Catholic from then on. I can't stand the \"you're not a real Catholic\" line of argumentation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We all must support NCR in its vital mission to spread the Catholic faith and to expose those corrupt actors, both clerical and lay, who would do it damage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps before you set out on that rant you should have checked this Sunday's gospel passage and the final sentence I was referring to - Joseph did not have marital relations with Mary until after Jesus was born.\n\nIt's there in black and white and the whole of the Catholic Church throughout the world will hear it this Sunday. Are you suggesting that the Holy Family were using some form of contraception?\n\nYes those apparitions to the lowly. I chuckled to myself the other day when a poster quoted Our Lady of Guadeloupe. It was what must have been a five minute speech in real time, complete with very complicated imagery and wording. Obviously, the \"lowly\" had a dictaphone handy. \ud83d\ude01\n\nYour argument so far is based on the opinion of some primitive men who were wrong about a lot of other things, and a ghost.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your comment Kurgan\nThe words given in my post refer to the direct inviolate Word (Will) of God. \nWe can only bow down in humility before them, not to do so, is to create your own Idol, from my comment in the link \n\u201cHe wanted to be accepted on his own terms, as he was, in his own/self-image (ego)\u201d\nhttp://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2017/10/15-october-28th-sunday-in-ot/#comment-91945\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "re rule of law and the constitution not god: \nThat's why Our Lord God gave us free will that we might choose to be his hands on earth. My hands, in all I do while awaiting judgment, will protect the unborn, the elderly and infirm, the poor (whom Christ said will always be with us) and the neglected and abused. With God's grace I can hopefully make a difference. \nI had no illusion that a woman who has no regard for the most innocent could be trusted with any decision of importance in this regard.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great. Start your own school then. Just don't expect to have public money support it in the way the public and Catholic schools are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quebec untangled this 'knot' after its entire society had been pervaded by Catholicism. If Quebec could attain secular education, the rest of Canada could do the same ... although that would take 'political will'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marty, I did not offer my, or any other, interpretation of Jesus' teaching on love of enemy; there was no need, since the teaching is unequivocal , and since Jesus' life itself is one, impeccable lesson on how to treat others , including enemies. \n\nIf what you said about the CCC is true, then it must instruct Catholics to do exactly as Jesus did. But it does no such thing, since it does not teach unqualified love of enemy. On the contrary, it traditionally has permitted the killing of enemy, either on the galows or on the battlefield.\n\nI did not say that Natural Law is a dynamic; I said that the love from which it issues, and on which it depends, is dynamic.\n\nIt is contradictory to say that \"the fundamental right of men is life\" while defending the taking of human life. If life is a right, then logically, it may not be taken.\n\nNo; the Church's abortion teaching is based on the sanctity of human life. Life ex-utero is sacred, too, and therefore may not be taken.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see we are in complete agreement. Those pesky social teachings, not to mention all that stuff about loving one's neighbor, doing unto others as you would have them do unto you, that we may disregard, as Faithful Catholics, we must focus more on the Rules, the Rituals, and Returning the Latin Mass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I might be able to help. The Church's traditional definition of a martyr is somebody who's killed specifically because of their Christian faith. \"In odium fidei\" basically means \"for hatred of the faith\" -- in other words, people who are killed because their murderers despise Christianity.\n\nSome have argued that people like Oscar Romero, Stan Rother and the women killed in El Salvador don't fit that definition because they were killed (purportedly) for stirring up social unrest, not because of their faith. What Pope Francis is saying is that these people are indeed genuine martyrs because it was their faith that compelled them to serve the poor in the first place, thus putting their lives at risk. \n\nFrancis just wants the Church's official understanding of martyrdom expanded to include situations like these, and his proclamation of Oscar Romero and, now, Stan Rother as martyrs is his way of trying to establish that precedent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There really is no need for theologians any more. At most, their job should be to study everything ever spoken or written by Pope Saint John Paul II the Magnificent, and his chosen Disciple, Benedict 16, and explain how we, the laity, can best obey those teachings. There is no need to open the Bible or pick out statements attributed to Jesus--The Saint said it all, closed all doors, and solidified all we can ever know or understand of God's Will and Nature. All that is left is obedience, penance, monetary contributions and of course, Obedience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that the merciful pope should live with them and have the curia make sure they are on lock-down.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The headine also misled me...I thought of my new parish priest who was a business major prior to heading to seminary. He is \"rebranding\" the parish with updated letterhead and Facebook page, \"marketing\" the priesthood to young men...the whole thing makes me cringe, isn't that what Jesus cleansed the temple over, turning the people's house of worship into a marketplace?\nThis article presents another problem, that the celibate male priesthood is becoming unsustainable, the people suffer for lack of creativity and vision. The hierarchy is part of the problem, but I observe many lay people who feel comforted with the idea of an authority figure making all the rules and decisions for them. A lot of Catholics, lay and ordained, do not want the challenge of expanding their vision, challenging themselves with self transformation and organizational transformation. Parish closures, loss of community, is the price we pay.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 3\n\nIMHO, Richard Gaillardetz has perfectly understood this long term strategy of Francis. If he can establish the principle of collegiality in practice, (1) by establishing the collegial right of all bishops to speak their minds freely, and (2) by decentralizing real authority to regional collegial synods, as he has now done with liturgy, then Francis will have left us with a much deeper reform that all the stuff we yearn for. \n\nIf Francis lives long enough to give us a majority of pastoral bishops replacing our current majority of super-Orthodox light weights, then the reforms we yearn for, may well follow VERY QUICKLY for our grandchildren. \n\nYou and I will have to cheer from the other side, but rejoice we shall. Guaranteed, for the Holy Spirit can only be resisted for so long. She always wins, sadly often only in the long term.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A now deceased priest in our diocese was once loudly BLASTED by a parishioner for not telling people to join hand during the Our Father his first weekend in the parish. \"You've set this parish back 25 years in its spirituality!!\" The priest responded, \"Actually, ma'am, your yelling, your anger and your lack of charity has done more to accomplish that.\" As for the unity rationale, St. Paul tells us that what unites us to Christ and each other in the Body of Christ is partaking of the one bread and one cup -- in other words, Communion. My guess is the hand-holding gesture began in churches where Communion is celebrated infrequently.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I applaud the bishop's call for him and his brethren to lose some weight. By becoming smaller and lighter, the bishops would certainly help dispel the image that bishops are overfed princelings more interested in their own well being than anything else, which, of course is certainly not the case. Bishop Chaput is a prime example of an exemplar of all that Jesus wanted his church to be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW - good thought but the choice of Conley - that is like a punching bag. Who else could take over Lincoln and actually exist in that backwards diocese?\n\nMandatum - this could be a separate topic....not sure that is was appropriate and it was often implemented by folks like Conley to undermine LOL and as a loyalty test. Yes, as you say, not in the spirit of LOL but lots of things have both unintended and intended consequences. \n\nCatholic universities need thinkers, researchers, etc. who may, for ethical and moral reasons, not apply for a mandatum.\n\nSecond, yes, universities are businesses - and their budgets are theological statements. You merely repeat an old, and tiresome truism. Let's focus on those finances as expressions of our mission, values, etc. (your comment misses the mark by a mile)\n\nThird, yes, lay boards can focus on big donors but that has always been so. You missed the positive in lay boards by using a logical fallacy - begging the question/assuming the negative", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1.\nSadly, our Catholic Church is a victim of its own complicity as its own alt-right. If, Catholic social thought is to become a legitimate instrument to preserve and enhance \"liberal democracy\" it must first meet the credibility and consistency tests:\n1. How correspondent or consistent is the institution with Christ's \"medium and message\". Not.\n2.Catholic social thought is in its essence a progression of intelligent reflection of and articulation of evolving civilization. As \"Catholic\" it has benefited from the \"organized\" intellectual development, but, it has also been and still is a divisive factor associated with an ideology rather than the human race. \n3.How in the name of all that is good and holy can \"Catholic\" social thought endorse liberal democracy and the equality of persons when it is hierarchical and, let's face it misogynistic. (There is no other way to explain - with a modicum of credibility - the exclusion and diminution of women \"..in the church and in the world\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Luke was a more social justice Gospel for the Gentiles. It had actual hunger and thirst instead of for holiness It also had the Magnificant. Mary's social justice warrior list of gripes. Whether Simon (the Zealot), Jude and Jesus were brothers or cousins, to be named for the Macabees during an occupation shows they were more than humble peasants or middle class craftsmen. They were radicals. Jesus just channelled that into a different kind of kingdom not of this world, yet meeting its needs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow chuck ! I'm very saddened by your brash,insensitive comment ! As a mother to a mentally ill child who came from a stable loving Christian home but at one time ended up homeless and missing and desperately needing help or a place to go , I am so thankful for someone to step up and help these unfortunate ppl who are someone's sons or daughters and need our help . A lot of these people are not well enough to hold down jobs . That does not make them animals left to roam the streets. And Anchorage is one of the most dangerous places to end up homeless !! I hope to one day see an end to the many homeless people I see each and everyday here who need us to care! I do!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. \"Prescinding from what his divine knowledge meant in terms of languages ...\"\nI suspect that Christ's divinity has a greater purpose than supplying you with an evasive answer.\n\n2. It is safe to presume that the ordinary everyday language of Jesus was Aramaic. We can also surmise that if Joseph was a tradesman, then to deal with customers, Joseph \u2013 and so Jesus \u2013 would have knowledge of the ordinary language of the Empire, namely Greek. \n\n3. The real discussion should be There is a tradition that there was an anterior Aramaic version of the Gospel according to Matthew. However, the only early extant scraps of the New Testament we have are in Greek. Latin as a language of the Church comes much later ... Tertullian, for example.\n\n3. There clearly were buildings that Christians used for worship ... but they were not buildings whose sole purpose was prayer/liturgical celebration which is what the word \"church\" (in its architectural meaning) usually designates.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not everyone has miscellaneous bible passages memorized, so you might have quoted 1 Corinthians 15:1-4\n\nNow I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you\u2014unless you have come to believe in vain.\n\nFor I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Alt-Right puppet master Bannon you say? \nAnd then there is Burke the would be puppet master of the Catholic Arch-Right.\n\nAnd lo and behold, these two appear to be engaged in a mutual admiration dance of sorts, at least according to Jason Horowitz at the New York Times:\n\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/world/europe/vatican-steve-bannon-pope-francis.html?_r=0", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And, leaving the woman one tube short.\n\nOne of the things that people need to do is to not support Catholic hospitals where ever they have a choice of hospital. Hospitals compete against one another for patients and if the non-\ncatholic hospital closes, women's health care goes out the tubes. Women will not have the choices of care and their lives will be placed at greater risk than they would face in a non-Catholic hospital.\n\nPeople who live where only a Catholic hospital is available need to write their local, state, and national representatives, senators, and other governmental leaders regarding limitations imposed on access to all forms of care because the local hospital won't provide it. .They need to also be active in speaking up in local and state media. And if one woman suffers due to lack of care, delayed care, or God forbid a woman dies because a case is mismanaged trying to save a fetus that doctors say has no chance, then there needs to be a public explosion of outrage", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Utilitas, if you wish silence for prayer or meditation, come when the building is empty. Then you will find the quiet you seek.\nAt the assembly in our parish for the Eucharistic celebration we do talk, know each other by name, welcome the stranger to our group and truly sing, pray out loud.....in other words truly celebrate. All who gather at our Church Community enjoy the happiness of God's presence among us and share that joy with each other. Finally we go in peace at the end of Eucharist wishing to share that joy with all we meet in the world. \nOur gathering is so special that to miss it would be for us a sadness indeed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The last time two Russian and German leaders got together was in 1939 - Hitler and Stalin. Trump and Putin the modern version with very possibly the same results. Any Democrat would have been crucified for even hinting at such behavior by the red-blooded, patriotic, flag-waving, christian Republicans. Of course they fly the Star and Bars now, so now fascist leadership is okay to reinstall the plantation system.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "May Cardinal Caffarra rest in the Peace of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus already told us what He thinks on the subject of remarriage after divorce. I've had innocent victims of divorce in my family (not abuse) and encouraging them to commit mortal sins is not something that remotely has crossed my mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catechism I was taught from instructed the children who die without Baptism went to a place called limbo! Right or wrong, a)that it did, did not; 2) that it was mistaken, or not?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have a right to disagree with the Bible, but don't distort its teachings. What Paul wrote is as much a part of the Bible as the rest of it, Old and New Testament, and doesn't disagree with any of it when you understand it all as a coordinated whole, and not by picking verses here and there out of context. Jesus clearly did not teach that we are saved by following the law (Google \"Matthew 5:18 commentary\" if that's one verse you're getting at, https://www.gci.org/bible/matthew517 for example); we get right with God, forgiven, through faith in Christ's finished work on the cross that paid the price for our sins, but, genuine saving faith will have as part of it a conviction of the ugliness of our sin and the need to turn away from it - repentance (required by God; you can't ask for forgiveness and then continue doing those very same things), and Christ's lordship, without which we can't live a life pleasing to God. A right heart with God also will result in an outflow of good works.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hoffman von Rumerstein says that Cdl Burke demanded Boeselager's resignation whereas Boeselager in a personal statement says that it was the Grand Master Festing who demanded it.\nCommunications' director Ajroldi di Robbiate backs this up by asking how Burke would be involved as he had \"no voice\" on the internal decisions of the leaders. The Knights also appeared to be backing Festing until he capitulated to the demands of the Pope that he resign. What brought about this sudden volte-face? Did the Vatican issue some sort of threat to bring this about? Did the friendship between Cdl Parolin and Boeselager have anything to do with it and was the Pope simply backing his Secretary of State who had exceeded his authority?\nThere's more to all this than meets the eye. Will we ever know the truth?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So bosses can say You owe me and the Church says you d?. Go ahead, make Marx's day. Thing is, like Marx, this pope and Christ are with the workers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He made the news and provoked strangers to think about him. That's more activity than most of our deaths will generate. In any case, their will be a resurrection for all of us. Trust in Christ, His atoning death in the place of His followers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Couldn't agree more with your last sentence, Elagabalus. I recently attended Roman Catholic services out of state. The homily should have been about love, but it was a hate-filled political rant against liberals. Hate for gays, hate for aborters, even hate for his \"sick\" seminary (this is scary.) He revealed his soul. He can't be bridegroom to the church while the love between men is in the open. I have never heard such concentrated hatred. I felt pity for all the young Catholics in attendance. This is happening all across the United States. I also can't stop thinking of all the young who become homeless when their new world's understanding conflicts with their parent's & priest's worldview.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From which we extrapolate we should be theologians, living in study and contemplation, while leaving the poor to feed the poor, the sick to tend the sick, and of course the dead to bury the dead? This is exactly the type of nonsensical twisting of gospel used throughout the years to justify behaving as one sees fit while pretending to be a follower of Christ. This type of \"reasoning\" has been used to justify burning heretics alive for their own good, awarding bishops coats of arms, or covering up child abuse by priests to protect the church from scandal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So why was EWEB so irresponsible as to get itself so deeply in debt? SUB ( Springfield Utility Board ) has never had any such debt problems.\n\nSo after this $27.1 Million in debt is paid off, how much debt will then remain? That is an important figure for the public to know, and Christian has left it out.\n\nDoes not seem like a good idea at all in the long run to sell off a renewable energy generating resource, that has virtually a zero carbon footprint.\n\nThe story that needs to be reported here is how did EWEB manage to get so badly in debt that it had to do this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's refreshing to see such hate at the top of the comment board. Mark, we're you snoozing when your pastor preached on Matthew 25: 35-40?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is, indeed. But we should also keep in mind that Mr. Boraas teaches community college anthropology; not theology or history. Had he instead opined on our societal rules and norms, and how they are shaped and molded through the Judeo-Christian paradigm, it would have been a little more helpful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Loyalty to Christ and His Church, I would say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly many of the people who voted for Trump will be taking the hit in their wallets. It's clear from the immediate aftermath of the election that crony capitalism and its perks for the wealthiest Americans is high on the agenda.\n\nClearly the option for the poor, the working poor, and the lower and middle classes, wasn't high on the bishops' agenda when they all but implored Catholics to vote for Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one is saying the U.S. should be Denmark because it can't be. But the U.S. should be more just, and there is nothing wrong with advocating for justice, which isn't contingent on love of country. It's the American way. Not to mention, The Way of the Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why was it necessary to bring Fr. Sirico's sexuality into the discussion in order to refute his ideas about economics? That entire paragraph seems designed to taint the man in order to undermine his thinking. I think Sirico replied to Pope Francis respectfully, which is what is expected of any Catholic who disagrees with another.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The example of Jesus' healing shows God's mercy. No harm in following His example.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is your story and that of your son that needs to be heard not just with our ears, and listened to only with our minds, but with our hearts. There is so much more we know now than was known in the past, when all the \"rules\" were decided. We know much more about creation, genetics, evolution, life, and humankind. There are millions of Catholics and people of all faiths who know now that our thinking has been distorted on many aspects of human sexuality, but especially in how we treat LGBTQI people. I am so tired of the pat answers that ignore the reality, the real life experience of very good people. God Bless you and your son. Just know there are millions who support you both and want a change in attitude in the Church and in society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You seem to be replying to Monica here? The identity of the beloved is tied to John 21:2, 7, 20-23 as we learn the beloved is present. The final clue is verse 24 which could mean the beloved is the author of the Book of John or one who contributed to the book. However, the name of the book (John) is not necessarily the name of the author or a contributor. I was trying to say that the identity of the beloved may in fact change throughout the Book of John as a sort of guessing game for the reader. Apostle John is a possible candidate for the beloved, but John is not named as someone specifically \"loved\" by Jesus, as is Lazarus. There are plenty of contradictions among the books of the Gospel, and I suppose many are intentional as a device for allowing the reader to gain awareness. 'Sower's Sevens' (from number sets) suggest to me that the four books of the Gospel were under the control of one party early on, so John passed through the same shop as the other books at the same time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I duly noted that you did not dispute the fact that (1) Jefferson owned slaves (2) that there was an \"anti-slavery climate\" in both the North and the South that was growing at the time Jefferson wrote his letter about a \"mythical wall\" that first appeared in that private letter and is the one the SCOTUS quoted (3) the \"anti-slavery climate\" was \"mostly\" (but not entirely) Christian in both England and the States and that (4) Jefferson penned that \"wall of separation\" to keep the Church at bay and out of Governmental Affairs when it came to his (Jefferson's) Constitutional Right to own and keep slaves.\n-\nInstead, you did what you and liberals usually do: You throw up a bunch other stuff that neither addresses or refutes what I wrote. \n-\n\"The Wall of Separation\" was used by Jefferson to get and keep the Church out of his (Jefferson's) Slave-Owning Business. \n-\nThus the \"wall\" that Jefferson used to hold onto slavery....you want to hold on to as well. The Irony is...funny.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not you lay preacher friend, but I will note that you label him as \"lay\" and felt comfortable in teaching him. Why?\n\nI can use \"for it is written\" and present opinion, but I am not a preacher nor would I want to be. GOD sent others to watch over me and do that, actually because of those like you. I can teach children and the younger, which is greatly needed because of the failure to rebuke the lack of, by those like you.\n\nI am currently researching the Melchisedec Priesthood within relation to destroyed twin cities and forward to the Priesthood of CHRIST. In Hebrews 5 I see CHRIST learning through suffering. I see those that take the honor , those that should be teachers, but still on the milk and those without the ability to discern both good and evil. Then I see those unable to understand the move unto perfection in the next chapter and still want to teach.\n\nBut I see GOD smile and wink at such. HE knows who will listen, that gives me comfort and confirmation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's going to take hours and hours to peruse all the news articles about von Freyberg, Burke's demotion in 2014 and statements by KofM officials themselves regarding the issues between Festing and Boeselager. I'll qualify that statement about the 13 cardinals to refer to non-Catholic media. My point was that it was covered by the intra-Catholic media as would have been the whole KofM story if the name of the boogeyman Burke been mentioned. Good luck.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here goes a creative digressing of walking the walk in one the most \u00a8liberal\u00a8Muslim countries ( ...) - Morocco ( not just hanging out in certain chi chi oasis in Marrakech and Casablanca\u00b4s neighbourhoods please. Here goes some advice, suggestions actually: do you wear a cross? Better to wear it demurely - inside. Not outside ...Are you crazy enough to sit on any of those cafes, and start a conversation about the \u00a8sacred\u00a8 king of Morocco, rights of the ( Christian) Church in Morocco? Proselitizing? \u00a8Oh we allow churches in Marrakech and Casablanca, in Tanger; they were built by the European colonial powers. And that is what is. And if you are a Shia Muslim? Be quiet. There is something that is called reciprocity, amigos. A secular society respects your religion or lack of. What is all the fuss against uncovering one\u00b4s face at government office and other societal services please? Think. Think. We live in interesting times. But freer than in \u00a8liberal\u00a8 Morocco in many ways. Thanks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is also a lesson that the church needs to learn. When the autocrats lose touch with the common folk and in fact suppress the common folk, they lose them. I think Francis is trying to reverse that after the two previous pontificates, but is it too little too late?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you--\n\nNow, if you don't mind, can you please explain to me what this has to do with anything? I don't know of anyone in the Church who claims the tradition of calling priests \"Father\" goes back to the apostles. \n\nJust because a practice is not revealed truth and can in theory change--or has changed--does not entail it should change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wombat: I get your point. But the effect of political diversity among Catholics turned out to be not just not good, but cause for alarm.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know many Muslim, Christian and Jewish women cover their hair as a symbol of their devotion to the Lord, yes?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish NCR would run more columns, written by professional writers and scholars, on church history, moral philosophy, and the theological conundrums presented by the explosive pace of scientific understanding. As you know, I agree Michael Sean Winters' publishing schedule is ridiculous. NCR should hire a political analyst to do politics and let MSW concentrate on the intersection of Catholicism and political culture. Global Sisters should be reincorporated into the main site. Personally I don't make it over there because I get bogged down in the features on the NCR home page.\n\nI do appreciate identity politics when it's well done. (Jamie Manson is excellent.) The church's sexism and homophobia is a persistent source of alienation for young people, and NCR should could continue to hammer away at these issues. Of course NCR's \"accountability\" coverage is also excellent. Still, why should a 21st-century person care about the Catholic Church? NCR could do more to address this question.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But abortion is the issue that (pardon this) trumps all others. I've talked to many Catholics and evangelicals in my red state who are unhappy with voting for Trump, but \"how could you possibly vote for Hillary because she wants babies killed.\" And please pardon that harsh statement, but I'm quoting. I feel that the pulpit was instrumental, that I know of multiple local parishes who were told in code that the Trump vote was defensible despite his gee-whiz problems, where the Hillary vote was evil no matter what. Trump can be saved, but Hillary can't. Sigh. So everything else Trump becomes normalized, to our shame and our detriment.\n\nI do hope that this end of year rehash is the last we hear about Hillary. I am sick to death of Trump and his ilk leaning on I'm-not-evil-Hillary to whitewash his failures. I'm determined to praise Trump when he does good things. I haven't considered praising him yet, and I wonder if I'll get the chance to prove myself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The command is implied by Jesus' choice of apostles. He didn't do that willy-nilly, or discriminatorily. He did it for a reason: complementarity. Don't get mad at traditionalists for this. Get mad at Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps, Tri, the upshot of a failure to work in the implementation of Vat II is \"schism, strife, dissent, factions, polemics, ...\" \n\nIn other words, maybe all this was going to occur with or without implementing Vat II. Being female, I really do want to see a lot of change in how the church considers issues that affect families and women. Women work now, have careers now, get advanced degrees now, participate in decision making, have growing influence in politics. And yet, the Church sidelines women. I think we have also learned a great deal more about humans, creation, evolution - and we need to deal with non-heterosexuals as equally beautiful creations of God \n\nWhat I do believe is the process of change is messy and we are in the process of change. If the church does not change it will fade into a cult like sect, not the tool of evangelization that is their charge from God Himself. Whatever you may think about how things have changed, they have changed. The past is gone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Steve,\nAGREED!!!\n\nBut convincing the USCCB to follow Francis is and will be impossible. Instead of the path of Christ the USCCB has clearly chosen the path of selling itself out to the GOP for thirty pieces of silver. \nThat's not for me, I know where I stand that is to follow the path of Christ not the path of earthly powers like Reagan, Bush, Bush and now Trump!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The John Paul II argued that in a \"culture of death\" it was morally contradictory to execute murders was because the murder of children in their mother's wombs was sanctioned. However, he never claimed capital punishment was \"against the Gospel\", which it demonstrably isn't, and, therefore, intrinsically evil. He recognised it was a matter for the prudential judgement of civil authority. John Paul thought that capital punishment was in practice best avoided but this was a non-binding prudential judgment.\n\nPope Francis cannot reverse Scripture or his predecessors on such a matters. He is bound to binding interpretations. There a mountain of evidence from Scripture, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, Popes, Saints and theologians, and Catechisms and other Church documents, that shows conclusively the legitimacy of capital punishment. \n\nAnd since you ask, I am against personally against the death penalty for the reasons given by John Paul and not Pope Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Meaning no disrespect, but this is the most condescending post I've read on NCR in a long time. The Church didn't consider him \"past his prime\" at 87 but now, at 89, you do? \n\nWho would have guessed that John Paul II would be more compassionate than Francis toward this man?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, nothing is changing. The pope does not have the authority to undo church teaching at will. The papacy does not work that way. You have the papacy confused with the SCOTUS. .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe that all of us- at one time or another in our adult lives- prefer to be 'told what to do and what to think' rather than wander about in the wilderness and find our own answers--which can require a lot of work, prayer and experience. This preference in the context of the ' clerical parent child relationship' always allows us the luxury of blaming someone else when things do not work out as we wish.' (more trumpian than christian. ) Francis is a superb leader / parent /pope. he gives us the guidelines..the rationales\u2026 but as always from the beginning of time, we as individuals are responsible for our own choices. I will miss Francis when he is no longer the papal teacher, parent and his wonderful example..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps Notre Dame has realized that the people are ahead of the Church here. Practicing Catholics who accept the Church's teaching on birth control are few and far between and it has been that way since the late 60's and usually without any fanfare. They do not accept the teaching and reject the dogmatic foundation that the Church has based its teaching on. This is not and cannot be put into the issue of abortion. The stiffneckedness of the Church here has caused a lot of loss of practicing Catholics and if we could be honest, it is part of the reason that so few under 35 are seen in Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul is talking about salvation in Gal. 3, not church offices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sure. Many tradition-oriented Catholics worship tradition, many of them facing East!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The BNA's guarantee of Catholic school (only) funding has finally come into conflict with the Charter's guarantee of \"duty to accommodate\".\n\nCanada: choose.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of two) The problem is the influence of Church politics on truth versus the influence of truth on Church politics. Coming at this from the Black Apostolate, the influence of truth determining Catholic politics looms larger than the importance of Catholic politics determining what to accept as true.\n\n\u201cOnly after Moses called to them (with the truth) did Aaron and all of rulers of the community (with the politics) come back to him\u201d (Exodus 34:31). \u201cHoly is the Lord our God\u201d (Psalm 99: see 9c). \u201cWhen he finds a pearl (of scientific truth), he goes and sells all that he has (in a development of Catholic identity) and buys it (the new insight)\u201d (Matthew 13:44-46). Liturgy of the Word, Reading 403, Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time I.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".....\"Team of Bibles\"..... The Bible seems to be given such prominence in the title. I would direct Mr Ibbitson and his readers to google why the Bible is true, supernatural and the Word of the only true God. It's quite fascinating and surprising to non believers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, when you say \"a Catholic perspective\", if you mean there may be other \"Catholic perspectives\" ... then yes.\n\nOtherwise, then probably no ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Communist period left Poland's economy devastated. It will take decades to repair the damage, particularly in agriculture which is still dominated by tiny inefficient farms.\n\nThe UN has several programs for prenatal and postnatal care, and these operate in Poland as well as the rest of the world.\n\nAs a Catholic I cannot support abortion for \"economic reasons\" or \"serious disabilities\", so I will leave that for others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Hollywood again. Pre-Vatican II priests knew the most important thing to the Church was proper ritual, in Latin, the language of God, wearing the proper vestments. People think that priests should care for their parish, and engage in all that touchy feely stuff, which is really hippie nonsense. The job of the Church is to teach the Rules, all the many Rules, necessary to avoid an eternity of hell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is not the fact that priests have been excommunicated lately, it is the fact that the threat of excommunication is still there today. The orders that Pope Pius XI issued back in 1922 remain in enforce today. I believe I read somewhere that some Bishop threatened Tom Doyle with excommunication because of his work on behalf of victims. In typical Tom Doyle fashion he said bring it on. He knew more about Cannon law than almost any Bishop. There have been more priests coming forward lately to report their fellow priests. That is very late in coming but certainly a welcome sign. I do believe that if you polled Catholic priests, the vast majority would hold Cannon Law supersedes civil law. That needs to change. If Francis truly believes in justice for victims, he needs to overturn what Pius XI put into effect in 1922.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who says I don't? I accept whatever is written in the Gospels. However, I fail to see the relevance of this to Christ's ordination of the Apostles as priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of two) \u201cOpen our hearts, O Lord, to listen to the words of your Son\u201d (See Acts 16:14b), not a bad idea that \ud83d\ude0a. As Jesus puts it on this day of transition, \u201cthen (i.e. after 10:00 a.m. Central time this morning) every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of Heaven (that is us, though, admittedly, some of that instruction has not taken very well, particularly with those who disagree with me \ud83d\ude0a) is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old\u201d (Matthew 13:53). Liturgy of the Word, Reading 404, Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time I.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yet, Scripture does not - and can not - be the only source of theology. After all, even the bible is finite in its scope and content. Otherwise, we are left with content, thinking and understandings confined to the first century and before. Scripture is the foundation from which our faith, and thus our theology, develops. God's Revelation is Infinite, and so is our discovery of God's creation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"within the lifetime of the Apostles themselves gentiles were being ordained.\" That is one of the really impressive things about the Church and its Tradition. It is always happy to improve on what Jesus did and said.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\nFair 'nuff. I was anticipating.\n\nAcquaintances, not friends. If they were your friends, if you were theirs, you would know this about them.\n\nWhat doubt? What benefit accrues to them as a result of the doubt?\n\nI gave you a hint about my age when I said I was working fifty years ago. Do the math -- you'll be close. And yes, of course, I've changed my mind about this and many things over the years.\n<...how a core teaching of the Catholic Church can be rejected>\nThe core teachings of the Catholic Church are found in the Creed; it's preposterous to describe the teaching about birth control, homosexuality etc. as \"core teachings.\" \n\"...can claim to be a Catholic.\"\nI don't claim to be a Catholic; I am a Catholic. So are most of my gay friends, even the married ones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We're going to need a clearer understanding of \"atonement\" here. How can one \"atone\" for a \"legacy?\" And what is a \"legacy\" and to whom does it belong and on what grounds? Can secular citizens in 21st century Eugene atone for or \"reckon with\" what was done to Catholics by 1920s and 1930s KKK members in Oregon? Do contemporary Catholics have to atone, too? If I joined the UO last year, do I have to atone? It's hard for me to make sense of that language. I absolutely agree that the University of Oregon should have a continuing commitment to inquiring into its own history and educating itself and others about that history. I also believe very strongly in continuing contemporary inquiry into current policies and practices to discover biases and prejudices and discrimination and unfair treatment. I understand the educational function of considering the names of buildings. I suspect, though, that it diverts attention from forms of bias and discrimination that affect us more directly now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And it did in two ways: the Temple was destroyed, which brought about the end of the old dispensation and Temple cult; they died, and so the end came for them.\n\nYou\u2019ll read things like \u201cThe first generation of Jesus followers believed the Day of the Lord was IMMINENT. The theology eventually adapted to an ever-delayed Parousia.\u201d out of the current post-Christian textual critics, who have little in common with Christians except they like to denigrate the Faith with clever textual punditry. In other words, Christianity is a effectively a hoax.\n\nPish posh. Sure, some percentage of early Christians believed all sorts of things, but that was never the content of the faith. If you stick to the Apostles you won\u2019t find them writing that the End was imminent but that their own end was imminent, at a time and place no man knew.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But, as stated in \"Animal Farm\": \"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.\"\n\nThat's Catholicism and you can take it to the Vatican Bank!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish there was more emphasis on latin and more commitment by these new fathers to bringing back the ancient rituals that are the most important aspect of christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yea remember the religious exemption a few years ago a certain church was using for the homes they claimed the church owned but did not . I think all tax exempt properties should be audited every other year for qualifications.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Impeachment is coming. When the GOP realizes they could lose the House in 2018 they may very well start impeachment proceedings specifically to keep their majority in the House. Plus they aren't going to object to the ascendancy of one of their own in Pence. Trump's favor-ability ratings among independents and white Catholics who voted for him have eroded by more than 10% since April. Politics being what it is, those numbers speak a whole lot louder to the GOP than the 'fake news media'. So, Trump's Russia problem, however it's phrased, is not an empty argument.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your words are there above you are \"scandalised\" at the thought of being connected in any way to the parishioners of your 'latest' parish. Snobbery! By your own admission you have been living in a state of mortal sin for long periods of your life yet you have the audacity to come on here and make caustic comments about the Catholic credentials of palpably decent people\n\nI once related an incident on here which made it obvious that I was a priest - once! You pounced and have never shut up about it since, mocking practically every post I make on here with the repetitious \"huh! Calls himself a priest!\" As if I was somehow continuously boasting about it. It's a lie. \n\nI do not respond to your posts, not even to mark them 'like' or 'dislike', but you follow me around this board making the same catty comments after every post of mine. You have never once quoted Church Teaching to argue a point with me, just ad hominem after ad hominem. Another lie.\n\nPeople can now see you for what you are", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, it probably means you're young and in front of a Catholic priest. LOL", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was clear about the universal application of His teachings on marriage - as in clear from His response to His disciple's claim it was unreasonable. He made no qualifications but reinforced His points. How does \"greater diversity and pluralism\" apply to Catholics, who presumably accept the teachings of the Church, and want license and Church approval to set this teaching aside because of \"lived experience\"? \n\nIndeed, God's law is made for our happiness and not rote imposition or blind compliance, especially if such man made \"rules\" were unreasonable. But, how is plucking a few stalks of grain on the Sabbath or performing works of mercy, comparable to willful and ongoing adultery in direct contradiction to Our Lord's explicit command?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very secular, owing much to the \"Enlightenment\" and little to Christianity. Does a virgin birth \"make cognitive sense\", or a resurrection and ascension? Does the concept of an eternal hell generate \"feelings of light, trueness (sic), goodness, joy and love\"? \n\nPerhaps one should ask whether they are consistent with the totality of scripture and reason, rather than being appealing and making us feel good.\n\n\"Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn \u2018A man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You like the Latin Mass (I assume you mean in the Extraordinary Form) - and you have it.\nWhat you also have - for it runs throughout your comment, despite your nod towards \"a minority at the NO\" - is an obvious contempt for the Ordinary Form of the Mass, and for most Catholics who participate in it (i.e., the great majority of the world's Catholics).\nHow do you think your attitude will strike young people who may have an interest in finding out more about Christianity and Catholicism, but who may wonder why you view your fellow-Catholics and their liturgy as:- 'banal'; 'pedestrian'; 'dumbed-down'; by implication 'irreverent' and 'undoctrinal'; mostly un-serious in the faith; singers of 'lame songs'; and 'casual'?\n\n'See how these Christians love one another' - Tertullian.\n\nI am not sure why you should think that a committee of the 1560s should be so much better than \"a committee in the 1960s\". \nThe origin of parts the Ordinariate liturgy is a lot more recent than you probably think.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mokantx, I may have misunderstood you, but one must understand that pedophilia is not only a sin but is a crime, and is a punishable crime, the punishment is jail for the majority found guilty. The Church, God Bless her (the institutional side of it) doesn't seem to want to fit in with our society and its Laws. Because they have their very own Law...the Code of Canon Law. \nOur times are not straightforward, they are messy and I feel deeply for Pope Francis. We need to pray.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So it's a gender thing. The patriarchal Church holding women down, yawn.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Climbing the cross means loving others as they are, as Jesus did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic Social Teaching, even while affirming the right of sovereign nations to regulate immigration, nonetheless also teaches us that all people have the right to emigrate when they are unable to provide economic security and safety for themselves and their families. While most immigration to the U.S. is currently from Asia, the rhetoric of the Trump campaign was focused solely on \"Mexico\" - code for Spanish speakers, despite the fact there is actually net out-migration to Mexico.\n\nPeople do not leave their countries for frivolous reasons - they leave because they are desperate. Catholic Social Teaching affirms that we are to remain focused on the dignity of the person and the welfare of families. Because U.S. immigration quotas are low, desperate people cannot and will not wait for a Visa that will never come.\n\nYour point about road signs is ludicrous - I've driven in Italy and other countries where I do not speak the language.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Says the FORMER Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article is an invitation to listen to an objective opinion that might just help Catholics see ourselves in a new light and enhance our outreach to the world. That world is no longer suffering in silence, but screaming out in agony ! Hannibal is at the gates ! We need to be establishing common ground for cooperation. Principles are the beginning of a solution not the end of one. The drawbridge has been lowered and all comers are hospitably welcomed in to reconcile differences and commune. We are not restocking the moat with alligators.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Unless the Catholic Church does everything Episcopalians do, she will become irrelevant in the eyes of the world!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican II erred in that pronouncement. Once a baptized protestant reaches the age of reason, he is obliged to convert to the one, true Faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems the KoC only support Catholic media outfits.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"When adults are learning to read, nobody hands them a pre-primer that a young child uses in learning to read.\"\nPerhaps, neither are they handed an article from Lancet or JAMA, however. \"Dick and Jand\" was an analog anyway. Replace it with whatever learning tool you prefer and my statement about learning the basics stands.\n\"Neither the Baltimore Catechism nor the Catechism of the Catholic Church are the Living Word of God. They are not Sacred Scripture.\"\nGlad we agree; as I said, they are summary not the sum. They are timeless to the extent that they impart the kernel of the true faith, even without the deeper explanation of why it is true.\nCanon Law is not a summary of faith - I don't even know why you are bringing it up. Does it surprise you that some laws change and some do not?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm 76. When I was 8 years old I learned about Columbus in Catholic school and wondered why people thought he was such a hero. His navigation was terrible. He miscalculated the distance from Spain to China and bumped into America by mistake. He enslaved an entire population of a million indians and killed almost 900,000 of them trying to find gold. His king had him shipped back to Spain in chains for the crimes he committed. When he finally tried to get back to Hispaniola, the Governor refused to let him land his ships and he almost died. He was shunned by everyone of his time. Might as well put up a stature of Hitler.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think progressives \"soft pedal or hide hard teachings\". We tend see the world non dualistic terms (not black and white). We would rather embrace mercy, compassion, and forgiveness to others instead of condemnation. That is following the example of Jesus and Pope Francis. They transform people with love not rejection.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Sir, this person constantly says that everyone who voted for the guy voted for the KKK.\n\nHe has explained his feelings very clearly.\n\nJust in case others who are checking out Catholicism read this forum, I'm just pointing out that not all of us share his extreme views.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absurd indeed, such a view. The Church does not exist for the people, the people exist to serve the Church. Jesus died on the Cross to create the Church, with its Traditions, Rites, Rituals, Rules, Laws, and Bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I, too, had a chuckle at George's response to Swetland's proclamation that he intended to become a Catholic. Having given a similar response to a young man at RCIA last year, I can only add the injunction that God does not command anyone to believe, only to love. So-called belief without love is fraud.\n\nWhen Swetland concluded that \"The gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and it does not admit of exceptions\" he climbed a mountain. That's the way it is.\n\nThe fact that Swetland is continually challenging his own assumptions implies he's a good listener. His defense of Islamic immigrants implies moral courage. His pro-life position goes outside the box, transcending the abortion debate: \"If we're really serious about being a pro-life church, let's be pro-life and get to the bottom of the question.\"\n\nThe bottom of the question is mass murder on a scale so colossal it's hard to imagine. It's about time someone rang the bell on this.\n\nGreat article, Tom - many thanks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cont 1\nonce it was accepted by Gods holy church on earth and given to the laity, it became inviolate (Binding) to all, for all time.\n\nI have proposed that all those who cannot receive the Sacrament of Absolution for whatever reason apart from the sin against the Holy Spirit should be permitted to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion in fellowship with all baptized Catholics.\nAs I believe the Church has been given the means to permit them to do so through the true Divine Mercy Image an image of Broken Man. But to date I have not shown how this can be reconciled with present Church teaching on the Sacrament of Absolution so I will now try to do so.\nPlease consider reading\nhttp://www.acireland.ie/eucharist-and-the-mass-teresa-mee/#comment-9869\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi foreshorten - just for the record Anglo-Catholics as Episcopalian and Church of England people (lay and ordained) call themselves, do not consider themselves theologically 'protestant' and many are still opposed to the ordination of women; after years of debate the General Synods (involving 3 'houses' of bishops, priests and laity) eventually had a 60% majority in each of the houses for the ordination of women. The practicalities were fudged in the UK and that is something that they will have to work through (TEC were not as hidebound and led the way) - they are still working with the fallout as the 'evangelical' (protestant) wing are still very much against the ordination of women (because women must not teach men, not because they cannot administer sacraments) and, now, gay marriage. \nThis is a complex issue and will tear the Catholic Church apart. \nPapa Francis is in a lose-lose situation but it seems as if he has unlocked the door, eve though the key is still in the keyhole!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi! Gerard,\nThank you for your comment\nI try to see trials as an opportunity to bear witness to the Truth and grow spiritually, rather than see them as personal conflict with individuals within the church.\nIt can be difficult to do this when we see, so much hypocrisy, but we have all been contaminated by the negativity of evil in some way or another. I have found that if you use positive thoughts, in that many will not have been through the difficulties of life that we have had to contend with, and in this knowledge practice feelings of compassion towards others either in regards to their blindness or in regards to their own often unseen suffering, some of which could be far worse than our own. \nJust a suggestion Gerard if you go to the link below and see my posts from the 5 June with other posts, you are welcome to join with us, if you so wish.\nhttps://www.ncronline.org/blogs/spiritual-reflections/forgiven-forgivers#civil-comments\nSincerely \nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nobody in their right mind wants a truly democratic church. Such a church would twist and bend with whatever's going on in society at any given moment and, ultimately, become a disaster. But what we have now in Catholicism -- a stale system of inbred thinking by overly cautious old men who, generation after generation, replicate themselves -- is no day at the beach either. \n\nThere has to be some way to bring the fresh air of scientific learning and societal development into our understanding of doctrine. If we don't, the RCC will go the way of the dodo. It's inevitable.\n\nBy the way, are you aware that your new avatar resembles a swastika? Was that intentional?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. However, when I was in my teens most Catholic parishes had 3 priests in their rectory. There were more churches than we currently have too. \n\nHaving more clergy means you can start to go out & Evangelize in great strength.\n\nEvangelizing has not been the Anglican's strength as a religion & they had counted on the birth rate to keep them in growth. Instead, they ended up having the greatest decline in birth rate over the last 25 years. They have also been dealing with schism issues because they didn't just decide to let their traditionalist go one way & the main body of their members go another progressive path so it has been dealing with constant changes & infighting. They seem to be straightening out now and they seem to realize they need to evangelize more. This may help them to grow since many Catholics have already gone to this church to get away from sexism & homophobia. \n\nOrthodox churches are losing people faster than we are so they need to dump the sexism fast too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...ideas that were counter to Roman Catholic orthodoxy.\"\n\nThose words sent chills down my neck. What century is this?\nQ. Where shall the church/mosque/synagogue be placed at university so as to be separated from classes that are based on the maths and sciences?\n\nA. Unless that classroom is for religious studies or religious philosophy the University has no place. Keep it out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Didn't God tell you that only popes who allow child abuse and mafia laundering of money in the Vatican Bank get the fast track so that we can all emulate fear and greed!! Mary is/was truly the saint who walked amongst us. Unfortunately our popes only want to preserve their power and are often very reactionary. Time for the People of God to recognize that we have a very poor leadership structure. We need a synod of the laity to clean up this structure and elect our own leadership. The clerics could be invited as observers...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Burke is the head of the Human Dignity Institute and he is the only American prelate who is on the board. No one other than Burke would know what Breitbart was or who Bannon was, especially in 2014. Breitbart tends to anti-Catholicism but they do shill for Burke quite a bit. And I suspect that there are connections between Breitbart and Lifesite News/ Lepanto Institute. \n\nAs for Pope Francis, I agree with you that he isn't liberal. But there is no doubt that he is on the side of the poor and the refugees. Bannon and the alt right's hatred of Pope Francis has to do with his advocacy for tolerance and inclusion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's a news flash - the Church is the entire People of God, of which only less than 1% is the hierarchy. Many/most of the entire People of God have recognized the bigotry and misogyny of thinking of LGBTQ folks as intrinsically disordered; they have also acknowledged their right to marry the person they love. In addition, they realize that there are no scriptural, moral, or logical reasons why women cannot receive all of the Seven Sacraments. These Catholics do not intend to embrace the Protestant faith; they intend to stay in the RCC. Their goal is to \"Keep the faith, change the Church\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes hold the couple responsible for using Birth Control and hold the RCC Bishops responsible for abortions when they interfere in the medical professions responsibility to prescribe these devises. It is time for RC Bishops and fundamentalist catholics to stop attempting to practice medicine without a license....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I strongly suggest that you look at the parishes in the U.S. that have Jesuits as pastors, and they do baptize.\n\nAs both archbishop in Buenos Aires, and as pope, Francis has baptized individuals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would never say \"all Catholics believe\" about anything. \"Most\" or \"Many,\" yes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm certainly not a right-wing Catholic.\nI'm a former Catholic who is Unitarian.\nPolitically, I stand for freedom.\nSadly, people would rather be serfs today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is only messy because you\u2019ve conflated two issues.\n\nJesus had no problem at all pointing out and condemning sin, and withholding forgiveness from the unrepentant. He was not Santa Claus.\n\nFrom the Catholic perspective the primary human rights involve freedom from attack or persecution for orientation. From the Catholic perspective there is no right to same sex marriage or to compel others to violate their religious beliefs by participating in same sex marriages in any way.\n\nFrom a civil law standpoint, the issue of rights and whether they are violated are a matter of the law, first the Constitution, then statutes.\n\nSo there are two discussions: what should a Catholic advocate for in the way of laws; what are the laws and what should they be?\n\nThe two may not be in synch.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gee, Monica, I dunno. Burning cookies is some pretty serious stuff. It looks like the all-knowing God knew in advance you would seriously repent of your heinous actions, ao \"he\" stepped in and miraculously made the burned cookies turn out well anyway. You probably ought to do some sort of prayer and penance at least.\n\nIMHO salvation is like the kingdom of God that Jesus said is among us. It is a way of living here and now, and has nothing to do with reward or punishment. I agree with you on the God of revelation, and also on the vacuous notion of salvation and the need for priests. I get more help from the folks than they do from me, but that might be just my problem. I think we priests serve a functional need for some folks, while other don't need us so much. For several years my spiritual director was a buddhist nun. I was coming back from a stroke, and learned a lot. \n\nBut then if we limit salvation to only after death, the Gospel doesn't impact our daily living so much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You wrote that Callista Gingrich should be rejected because her public life is at odds with Church teaching. I replied that that is often reason for rejection, as in the case of Iribarne, but that in fact her public life is unexceptional.\n\nI do not have a theory why the Vatican rejected Stefanini. However, I can't help noticing that the fact of his homosexuality seems to have been widely known. This suggests he was not living a chaste life and keeping his personal struggles with temptation to himself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I agree with some of the Cardinal's comments, it is apparent that he is viewing big picture through Rome-colored glasses. Take, for example, his following statement: \"Look, we've just had 30 years of synods focusing on the teaching,'\" said Wuerl. \"'We know we're in a good place. Let's now focus on the transformative element.\" The church is is a good place now, really??\n\nAt mass a few weeks back I looked around and noted the average age of parishioners had to be 65+. Of the couple hundred in attendance there were only a handful of kids at best, most of whom were too young to discern for themselves if \"recent\" church teaching matches up with their core values and beliefs. Is this an indicator of how the last 30 years of \"teaching\" has landed us in a good place? \n\nWhile I agree with the current emphasis on the transformative element, one has to wonder what sort of \"teachings\" would lead the cardinal to believe that the church is in dire need of spiritual reform and repair.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, that is some wild ad hominem. Apparently you think textual criticism should be subject to theological orthodoxy. Category error.\n\nIt's clear St. Paul and the authors of the synoptic gospels believed the eschaton was imminent and the Messiah would soon return.\n\nPaul of Tarsus, writing some fifteen years or so before the fall of Jerusalem:\n\n<>\n\n1Cor 7. 25-31\n\nI'm quite sure the Catholic Church recognizes St. Paul as an apostle", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "......\" How can the U.S. government justify a religious fundamentalist government in Washington and condemn the one in Iran?\".... It's called democracy. It's called the power of prayer to the Creator, Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has called on President Donald Trump to ease the \"onerous\" contraceptive mandate\"\n\nThere two points to be made here:\n1. The bishops and clergy of the church need to get themselves out of the bedroom. To use or not to use is a matter entirely up to the husband and wife; not some bishop or priest.\n2. The president of the U.S. and all the politicians need to get out of the business of making contraception a political foot ball.\n\nThere are as many reasons to use or not use contraception, but neither the clergy nor the politicians don't belong in this issue. God made sex and reproduction and the desires for both and the individuals involved should have this as their own private matter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marijuana use is itself a symptom with a deeper cause. Like any other obsessive behavior it is often an escape mechanism for other stresses in life. Identify and deal with those stresses and you have a chance to deal with the substance abuse as well. Raise your children up with good Biblical morals, respect for parents and elders, and an open and forgiving attitude so they are never afraid to talk with you about their problems. And expose them to the Bible and its wisdom rather than using it as a bludgeon to show them how bad and sinful they are. Leave room for the Holy Spirit to do his work, and pray for your kids and those of others. Even then, some kids will not listen. That will be on themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for this nicely written personal testimony/apologia. Many of us have been putting what begins as an intensely personal \"feeling\" under pressure and seeing the same results. That a large number of thoughtful, self-aware, well educated, and well-lived Adventists whose families have been part of the church for decades\u2014over a century, for some of us \u2014reach similar conclusions brings up nagging questions: Who gets to tell us what an Adventist is, to begin with? To what degree is this an issue of self-identification? What process, politically, or culturally, has been at work when leadership loses sight of outcomes and privileges the means to get there? What do we mean by \"inclusiveness,\" and what is at stake, really, when we allow boundaries to shift? Also: What has happened, here, when a thoughtful, intelligent person is obliged to write anonymously, lest social and family support\u2014never mind a paycheck\u2014 seem to be at risk?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that separate from the issue of abortion, church leaders should see what's happening in Ireland as a hard example of what their leadership of the church in recent years has done. The influence of the church, its effectiveness in society, and even what it teaches has all been diminished by the way bishops have handled society, the laity, and themselves.\n\nIt's not just the abuse, nor the billions the scandal has cost the church, nor their failure to accept personal accountability. It's the laundries, the orphanages, the homes, rings and imperiousness. It's the bishop bling's, Cardinal laws, and the sense of a double standard. Ultimately, it's the sense that they don't care what the laity thinks (or needs), that the bishops look past us...\n\nWhen you live and govern long enough from the position that you're above the rest, and yet try to dictate the morality of others, sooner or later, people will walk away.\n\nWill they learn, or care, or even see?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus had problems those who believed they were sinless or the ones that think they are just, the priests and the Pharisees. He accepted ones you call the wicked or think they are sinners. I think you should read the Gospel of Jesus again. Jesus talks more about the Kingdom of God than anthing else. He is not referring to the RCC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right, Donald Trump will save the Catholic Church. Too funny!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And I saw nothing there to get worked up about. Most of the Catholics I know say these things all the time. Chaput et al need to get out among the sheep more and hear what the real folks in the pews are saying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why wouldnt jesus know latin? It was the language of the occupiers and it would behoove him to know what they were saying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You wrote:\n\n<>\n\nJesus was revered as the Messiah, a favored son of God and at least semi-divine from the earliest days of Christianity. Constantine did strong arm the bishops at Nicaea into rejecting Arianism in favor of \"consubstantiality\" that conceives of Jesus as co-equal with the Father. I guess my quibble is that it wasn't an abruptly demarcated transformation, but more an official sanction of a certain theological tradition.\n\nI agree with you that Jesus didn't consider himself to be God. I think he believed himself to be the Messiah.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This essay is proof that rifts between religious folk have more to do with politics than theology. \n\nThat is, MSW tells us he only likes those Evangelicals who agree with his political views. The rest are anathema.\n\nThat being so, his faux outrage over the cooperation between Catholics and other Christians is simply more of the usual pot and the kettle.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I 've done a lot of reading on this the past couple of days. An article in a journal on Marriage says that the divorce rate peaked in 1980 at 40% and that it has declined since then. There are a number of factors that complicate figuring out the actual rate, economics, education and culture are but a few. Likewise, Stephanie Coontz, who has written extensively on the marriage and the family has recently written that marriage is evolving based on the people involved. As a court clerk, who handled marriages, I can tell you that more and more couples have opted for a quick civil ceremony rather than a church wedding because they felt that they were merely an expensive luxury to ratify what they believe already exists in their hearts. This includes a number of Catholic couples who told me that they would convalidate IF and when they decided to have children. The current conventional wisdom seems to be that a marriage certificate merely legally validates what the couple already believe", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thought I corrected this bit of confusion and misinformation from Elo-isa long ago, but perhaps I simply intended to do so and then lost interest.\n\nI'm completely at peace, Elo-isa. But like JC himself, I don't tolerate well those who profess their Christian faith to excuse their ignorance, and their failure to (quoting a more secular source) \"afflict the comfortable (e.g. LP and MB) and comfort the afflicted.\" \n\nSo \"pray\" tell, Elo-isa, WTH does this quote from you above mean--\"I read here that you (sic) minister in Iowa recommended you.\"--and where is the \"here\" that you claim to have read this fiction? \n\nI mean, really, at least wannabe posers LP and MB were capable of finding and reading my FB page--and then congratulated each other on how clever they must be --but you apparently did not even bother to do that. \n\nSo I have to ask: in your mind, is your preceding statement \"fake news\"? Or is it an \"alternative fact\"--aka a figment of the poverty of your own imagination? :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I read McElroy's remarks and saw the playback (where there was audio). It is wrong to characterize this as an anti-Trump event as it would have happened anyway. Sadly, there was no audience participation, which may have broadened the opinions expressed. There is a place for liberty in Catholic thought - without human freedom we are moral automatons. That is not virtue, it is moral tyranny.\n\nCarson does not have the self-respect to realize that he is getting the \"black seat\" at the cabinet table. That lack of self-awareness disqualifies them (as well as the lack of experience in housing). He should be at HHS, not HUD, except that he is fringe either way.\n\nIf the Spectator says something, I believe the opposite. Francis is charitable, but sometimes the Truth hurts. The right wing is never comfortable hearing the prophetic voice. Reactionaries hate prophesy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin, (continued)\nI do not want to end without saying that because I lived through emotional and physical abuse growing up, I know it attributed to my becoming addicted to sex and drugs, which lasted about 5 years (I am grateful to God that I did not lose my job - we all know when our addictions start affecting our professional lives - the downward spiral is even faster). But going to Confession where I let the tears flow and flow and flow (honestly), and asking Mary to transform my prayers so that they would align with God's will (praying the Holy Rosary) and going to daily Mass and Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament (where I get down on my knees before God and thank Him for all He has given me and continues to give me) and praying for and having many pray for me as well as having Jesus lead me to others like myself who are so wrapped up in a sinful situation that they don't know how to get free! I have learned that a starting place is knowing that I am sinning and (continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes to baptisms and some aspects of funerals. But NEVER marriages. \n\nIn most Western democracies, a state licence is required for anyone officiating at a wedding, including all Christian ministers. Bishops, priests, and deacons acquire those licences as a matter of course so that the Catholic wedding rituals are recognized by the state as well as the Church. Now it is true that Granny Smith could acquire a license to perform secular marriages, but she may not officiate at a Catholic sacramental marriage. \n\nDo we disagree?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't even know what it means when people write or talk about the \"faith\" of those who agree with cutting health care and food stamps for children and who believe that we ought to cut benefits to the poor and ill. This is a faith in what? In the Gospel of Prosperity?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\". To stand in defense of truth and righteousness when the majority forsake us, to fight the battles of the Lord when champions are few\u2014this will be our test.\" 5T 136\n\nBut Dan Jackson says, \" Remember his special highlighting of \"Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.\"\n\nNo doubt the majority is with Dan Jackson, at least on the surface. And the non-committed at this time will no doubt join this group. True Christanity is being trivialized on many issues and you can be sure the Sabbath will fall into that group.\n\nThose who support WO trivialize the clear biblical mandate that supports male headship. And in fact, attack church authority as defined in the bible as many claim there is no ordination advocated in scripture.\n\nWhile various forms and meanings attached to ordination are not biblical, it is wrong to abandon a bible principle simply because of the abuse of that principle. This is the norm by liberal agendas and spirituality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd be curious to hear how fellow Catholics square praying the rosary with our Lord's instruction to avoid vain repetition of prayer, \"as the heathens do?\" (Matthew 6:7) I certainly mean no offense if one finds value in this form of prayer, it is more of a curiosity in that it seems contrary to scripture. \n\nAs for Fatima... sorry, does not even pass the straight-faced test to me!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's begin with what is homophobia:\n\nhttps://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/homophobia\n\nThe comments you cite do not fulfill that definition, your high dudgeon notwithstanding.\n\nWhat his statements prove is he is concerned about exposing youngsters to immoral behavior, as a Catholic prelate he believes that behavior is immoral, and that's about it.\n\nGiven that you call everything or everyone you disagree with something, there's nothing more to it than that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "BROother, I guess they have seen photos of him being prayed over, and also that he prays with an evangelical woman named Paula White? I think her name is. That is their proof. I have told them that his actions and words do not seem changed since his born again moment...that he attacks immediately once attacked. He is vindictive and defiant, not turning the other cheek...but nothing works, so as you say, I give up. No one can be forced to use common sense. Unfortunately, sites like Brietbart and other conservative papers have been their main source of information. This morning some Republicans are walking away...so maybe there is hope?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are most fortunate....when I worked at Catholic Charities decades ago I was involved in helping folks access those programs and we had to depend on the programs themselves as no \"private sector angel\" was available.\n\nI worked with Legal Aid, Legal Assistance for Seniors, attys who donated pro bono time and I am sure that guys like these would love access to \"private sector\" assistance....please feel very free to share that data if you wish with your Catholic Charities folks.\n\nI was quite sympathetic with your list of travails...I know the programs are tough to access they were then and are probably much harder now, and I suspect reduced in scope and funding.\n\nI do encourage you if you have helpful info to share it with Your Charities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's time to take the Republican party's woman-hating, terrorist activities back to the place from whence they came--evangelical churches. I look forward to attending the services of as many of the local evangelical churches as I possibly can. I could become a regular church-goer, if you know what I mean and probably you don't. Come to think of it, I might just get a few of my friends to do the same. I recall church services being yawn-inducing but I'm sure my friends and I could liven things up a bit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Francis has been called much worse by the so called \"orthodox\" Catholics, who want their church back! Too late now!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It also falls prey to a reductionist view of Christ Himself presented in the Gospels as \"a man\" working \"signs and wonders\" but whose divinity is the result of later writers' \"re-interpretation.\" Ambiguity also surrounded Kasper's treatment of Christ's claim to be the Son of God with the Resurrection and Ascension being questionable historical events. True, \"Jesus the Christ\" is affirmed, but not without some equivocations that obscure the Gospel writers' simple faith that Jesus is God.\" \nThere are numerous articles on the Internet regarding this issue. Try reading his books. \nIf a Cardinal in the Catholic Church questions the Transfiguration, The Resurrection, The Ascension, and the numerous miracles detailed in the Bible as myth, not fact, I think a judgement of apostasy is right on the mark.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well in German you would be saying \"Nein! Nein! Nein!\" I guess altruistic fancies of an altruistic race that the one who developed the discovery for the speed of light (E+MC^2 - Albert Einstein) defected.\n\nWhen the Church refers to Jesus as the light, that's on the fact man fell into darkness through disobedience. Thus, sin = darkness. That exile working to bring man to his nihilistic standpoint (absence/Nietzche's pride/joy) from God, is why Jesus came by the Holy Spirit. When the Angel announced onto Mary of Jesus's birth, the nine months for the babe in utero wasn't at the speed of light. But the work of God bringing about His Salvific plan of justice through a Virgin full of grace. Working to save man from his sins, Not augmenting his DNA. Thus, to save all souls - including the German people and Adolf Hitler from sin. But catastrophically they rather felt they could become gods themselves/a super/master race through science/technology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "my, my Graham, aren't YOU glib... sounds like you could barely stiffle the giggle for the interview... \ud83d\ude11\n I'LL give you a reason for the lie\n IF we really were on a small little planet spinning in space, we could say \"Look! We have limited, depleting resources we need GOVERNMENTS' (Latin gubernare \"to direct, rule, guide, govern- ie., mind-controllers) to control, restrict, manage, resell, and confiscate the limited resources to their financial advantages. on the other hand, \nIF the world is an infinite plane containing vast amounts of land beyond both the south AND north poles, then the PTB who set this hoax system up (Jesuits and the Church's deliberate manipulation of the world's population 500 years ago...)Said another way: if we KNEW there was more land HERE, that it's not REALLY out in space like our governments and 'scientism' artifice, even the ice wall we call Antartica couldn't hold us back. It is entirely possible to walk to Mars, and the Navy has KNOWN IT SINCE 1948", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a pretty impressive piece of counter-Catholicism, not atypical of the academic take on faith that Chesterton loved to poke fun at, such as why churches have spires.\n\nThere are a few factual issues, such as the Roman belief in an afterlife, with either the Fields of Elysium, the Plain of Asphodel, or Tartarus to be tortured by the Furies until such time as one's debts were paid in full, which sort of gums up \"(t)he ... Roman gods could only mess with you in this world\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can you say that abortion is contrary to the common good of women who chose that option based on their circumstances? You generalize to suit yourself.\nJesus looked at each individual sinner or not and helped/healed them. The Spirit of Jesus continues to help these women. He does not condemn or abandon them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really? Just how, exactly?\n\nShow us one instance...just one...where the Pope disagrees with Church teaching. For that is what Archbishop Chaput upholds. \n\nJust one, now....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, R.D? So it is the victims of sexual abuse by priests that are the problem? You have confirmed everything suspected about you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"For I do not do the good that I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do...this I keep doing.\" \"What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?\" \"Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If we're really at the point where a thrice-married man (HETEROSEXUAL THOUGH!) and confirmed adulterer is considered a defender of Catholic values, then I give up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The point Kenney is making is that Notley is being purposely confrontational. The Catholic board, as far as i have read, have not said how they want to teach sex ed at all. Notley is suggesting that they will be gay bashing etc...\n\nThe challenge is how do we treat religious people who as a matter of their faith do not agree with a total liberal attitude towards sex ie. you are whatever gender or neither a boy or a girl, and you can have protected sex at any age etc...\n\nPrior to confronting the Catholic School board, let's hear what they want to teach. Clearly if they dont respect gay rights and the rules of mutual consent of Adults then Notley should deal with it - but to do so now in such a public and confrontational way means its more a PR political stunt then reality. She is scapegoating a group (religious Catholics) to gain political points.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wrong. It's about not losing one's total confidence in God, that he is with us in every moment and struggle. \n\nI'm convinced most progressives here have no idea what is meant by \"interior life\" with God, or \"partaking in the life of Christ\".\n\nNo a clue.\n\nTo them the Church is an institution, not an aspect of our love affair with God!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Archbishop/Cardinal Ritter exemplified many of these \"broad brush strokes\" both in St. Louis and his previous (arch)diocese of Indianapolis. In both places, Ritter integrated Catholic schools, as well as St. Louis' Catholic hospitals. Those initiatives garnered significant opposition, which in the end melted away. Ritter was a man ahead of his times, and in many ways, his church, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The UMC is now on the verge of learning that LBGTQs have a home in their church, thanks to Bishop Oliveto and many others who have \"defied\" church traditions and rules. Some day, perhaps, we will see the Roman Catholic church on the verge of a similar discovery!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think it's a feather in the cap of the Progressive Catholics that Murkowski and Collins have fought so long and so hard every step of the way against this hideous attempt to deprive millions of Americans access to (relatively) affordable healthcare. As another poster saliently commented, why are the bishops not screaming to deprive communion from those who would deprive the poor of access to quality healthcare?! Let alone who would countenance building walls between nations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But they didn't keep control over the sexual lives of lay Catholics. The lay Catholics simply ignored them. I don't think I ever heard a sermon on contraception and I'm an old man. \nMost Catholics never wanted to be involved in development of doctrine or anything else. They just want to go to Mass on Sunday and get on with their busy lives. True, there are those who do want involvement and make themselves known in publications like this one but they are a tiny minority.\nI remember in my parish immediately after Vatican II, the ones who got involved were mostly liberal professionals, teachers, social workers and the like. The old men who took the collection still took it but played no further part in the running of the parish, read no lessons or distributed Communion, that was the privilege of the better educated elite.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kurgan says: \"catholic conscience is not some internal or emotional mechanism. Our conscience is provided to us by the church\".\n\nSorry Kurgan but this statements proves you have no idea whatsoever what \"conscience\" means in Catholic theology or any philosophy or even in any dictionary. Your understanding of the concept is virtually the opposite of what in means in a dictionary or philosophy or theology. The best sense I can make of your post is that you are being sarcastic.\n\nAre you being sarcastic or serious?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Christ comes before country or party.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...\"Laicized priests are not permitted to distribute holy Communion\"....\n\nAdmit I'm not sure about what 'the rules' are about that. Though I know that in many parishes the local pastor uses 'laicized' priests as catechetical teachers, communion ministers, and many other roles. The parish priests seem glad for any help they can get.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If anyone thinks that the Card. Burke's of the Church don't carry a lot of sway - they are sadly mistaken and do a disservice to dismiss the pervasive and perverse patriarchal conservatism that dwells malignantly at and slightly below the surface. Whether it is expressed in liturgical regression or not it is operative. \nPseudo-liberals are are the life-blood of the antediluvians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well the Church did spring anew from the tomb.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hansen, the ordination of women as deaconesses or elders is never subservient to the ministers or other officers of the church, because they are never less important in their roles to the church's overall function. This is the point I was making but which you totally missed; therefore, it was not a strong argument contra my position, but pro. \nI'm not arguing that women have served the church at all.....my point that you missed is that women have been ordained to the pastorate in the past and should continue to be. No where in the Bible does it say, \"Thou shalt not ordain a woman to the pastorate of My church, for in the day thou dost, it will be to the spiritual detriment of the congregation.\" Just because God gave the 10 Commandments to Moses over 2,800 years ago, doesn't make them any less important today, does it? Your final statement is invalid; God will use women He chooses, when He appoints them, in whatever time period, regardless of male opinions to the contrary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They don't belive in the Trinity, but the do believe in the same God. I suppose you aren't familiar with the Epistle to the Romans. Read chapters 9 through 11, which wouldn't make sense if the God of Israel was not the God of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Rev. Dr. Linden Bowie, president of the Missionary Baptist State Convention of Missouri, who had sought Catholic leaders' support in the days leading up to the verdict, thanked (St. Louis Archbishop Robert) Carlson for his leadership\u2014Cheryl Wittenauer So, the good archbishop had to be asked. At least he responded.\n\n\u201cBearing with one another through love\u201d (Ephesians 4:2) is what Bette and I did, and what is happening in St. Louis, realizing we would never intentionally hurt one another. Matthew 9:13 puts it well, \u201cI did not come to call the righteous but sinners,\u201d leaving room for Bette, our loved ones, hidden racism in all of the Faithful, and me. \u201cTheir message goes out through all the earth\u201d (Psalm 19:5), with the hope the Faithful will not end with a nuclear holocaust. Liturgy of the Word, Reading 643, Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist: Feast.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neither his words or his action have been taken seriously. Not much mentioning about Francis' good deeds since his election, especially among the clergy. Indeed, the media have discussed much more about Francis than the priests did. Priests seem to be \"offended\" about Francis spoken opinion about them particularly their lifestyle. About the laity? Catholics are taught to obey, if their pastor doesn't talk about Francis, they have no reason to raise any question.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a nice story but why is it under \"Eco Catholic\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I just saw the (NCR) article refering to Pope Francis audience topic today: \"Never underestimate the courage, faith and wisdom of women\". Trump's TV replacement, Arnold S, in attendance, so it has a US flavour. He evidently focused on the biblical Judith, her heroic faith, wisdom, and courage. He evidently didn't refer to the specifics of how she demonstrated the courage part: after ingratiating herself, she cut the throat of the debauched threat to Israel, General, Holofernes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Truth is a burning fire it looks not at man\u2019s desire \nPopes cower before it denuding power \nBishops it mocks Priests defrock \nLeaders stand in disarray it\u2019s all relative they say \nBut honest it is not integrity is the loss \nThe denial of goodness to make it dark is to lose ones heart. \nTo look into the living flame is to know ones shame \nTo bend ones knee is to be set free \n The spark to become a flame in every mortal frame. \nWe are to become as lamps \nWe look within and acknowledge our own sin \nWe bow are heads as by the Master we are led \nWith cleansing grace we start to see His face \nThe air becomes clear as we relinquish fear \nLove and clarity of thought \nIs what are suffering will have bought \nAs we stand by His side His Peace (Will), will reside \nWe no longer struggle alone as The Master leads us home. \nBefore the break of the new day \nAre lamps will light the way. \nSuffering and blood\nFor those who would serve the Truth\nThe essence of Love\n\n\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: It's not adultery\n\nMr. Molitor:\n\nCounterpoint: Yes, it is. Is Spouse A married to Spouse B? Yes. Is Spouse A engaging in the marital act with New Person C? Yes. Then it is adultery, engaging in the marital act with someone not one's spouse.\n\nFrom the example mentioned in the article, one cannot tell certain factors which would make the subject more or less sympathetic, but the basic reality does not change. The woman in the good Cdl.'s example is presumably Catholic, and presumably got married outside the Church. She knew when she started that she was acting contrary to the reality of the first marriage; for whatever reason, that did not stop her. What if Actual Wife repents and asks to come back?\n\nThe basic nature of marriage - a free, faithful, total commitment to the other spouse, leading to children in the ordinary course - - is so well and easily understood, particularly when the couple takes vows that, you know, actually say that is what (oops, to be con't.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaTAopeh76g \nYes, the first video involving Fr Gruner and Putin I found, and how shocking. Putin is not in favor of abortion or same sex marriage or its agenda. All Fr Gruner is concerned with, as I mentioned earlier, is the Consecration Of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Fr Gruner was simply Pro life, Pro Family and Pro-Catholic. If Putin happens to believe the same then so be it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is fine exegesis of the \"render unto Caesar\" incident in Matthew. However, Mark and Luke also report the exchange. I think a composite of all three brings us closer to knowing exactly what transpired. In that light, you may consider minor alterations in your view.\n\n\"If Jesus said, \"Pay,\" he implicitly acknowledged the legitimacy of the Roman occupation, pagan rule over God's people.\"\n\nMany Church scholars since Eusebius say the question was designed to trap Jesus however he answered. This is wrong. His enemies knew Jesus would never endorse Caesar's tax, nor any tax collected by force or coercion. Luke's account is clear: the only answer his enemies expected was, \"No, don't pay!\" Then they could hand him over to Pilate for execution as a \"tax denier.\" (IRS term) Indubitably, \"repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar,\" means give him nothing that isn't his. And what belongs to God also leaves nothing for Caesar. No wonder Rome's chief tax collector for Judea murdered him. (seeLK 23)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As far as I know, ALL Catholic bishops visit every one of their parishes as time and opportunity permit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Though of course there's not 100% agreement, including among Catholics, nevertheless Southeast Massachusetts and Cape Cod are homes to many people who love nature and wild animals, and understand that human beings have a responsibility to look after the well-being of wild animals and their ecosystems. The piping plover, and other shore birds, certainly deserve our care and affection -- which means resisting the demands of those who feel entitled to using the shore as a place for them to frolic, in as destructive a way as possible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The missing element in Tom's replay is that Jesus was infinitely happy to empty Himself for us. \n\nTom either has a rather flattened and stale understanding of God's love, or he needs to sort of construct a sad strawman of the Church's actual teaching in order to be able to elevate himself and have something to write about. He wants to distance himself, because it builds a following.\n\nJesus instead greatly desires to \"rush in\" to save us from ourselves, hourly, even if it is humiliating which is very different from what Tom is doing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree. Bringing up Sirico's past sexual history in the beginning of this article came across as an intentional setting of the stage to underscore the 'non Catholicity' of Sirico's arguments. It most certainly violates the commenting code we are supposed to honor.\n\nAs to the topic, libertarianism is not much more than an organized justification for personal elitism. Hence, I'm sure it plays very well in Napa Valley. Catholicism also has a history of creating it's own libertarian elitists. It's also called clericalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus. Defensive, much? My comment was directed at the author of the article, who, I assume, wrote the headline.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are wrong on this one, but as stated, I cannot deal with this in 500 characters. here is a short 3 minute refutation\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPLJ88ZaHxU\n\nPBS is not representative of Biblical Christianity", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Council of Trent was not an ecumenical council. It did not include bishops from the Eastern Church. It was small and limited to a select group of bishops which the Pope chose because he only wanted those bishops who agreed with him.\n\nIn 1530, when the Augsburg Confession was written, it was completely in line with the theology of the undivided church. There was nothing heretical about it. Calling a \"council\" of selectively chosen bishops in 1545 who were there only to oppose the Lutherans can't produce infallible teaching. Plus, there was no definition of what was and was not infallible teaching until Vatican I.\n\nAnd--the Joint Declaration on Justification has thrown away the anathemas at Trent. Plus, Declaration on the Way has shown that much of what Trent said was based on misunderstandings and was time-bound.\n\nAfter reading Declaration on the Way, what do you see as a mortal sin in someone moving to the Lutheran Church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's really remarkable that progressive and trad Catholics have no middle ground on which they agree. Each despises the other as theological or social heretics.\n\nFor the progressives, \"social justice\" and the environment are all that matters. For the trads, abortion and sexuality morality are all that matter.\n\nOf course, progs and trads will dispute this. But if it weren't true, then we'd see trads voicing their concern about prog issues, and vice versa -- it simply does not happen! Peruse the various prog and trad journals -- it's like you're reading about two different religions.\n\nWay to be \"catholic\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Eternal Son of the Father a product of His time? That's some low Christology you got there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought you chaps were all for divorced and remarried, \"fallen\" women and allowing them to receive Holy Communion? I thought you'd be delighted. Mind you, I don't think Pope Francis would refer to any woman as \"fallen\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@ AnnieO \n\nthank you for your comment\nYes another hazard for the wild canaries, living on the edge of a large City I do not see an abundance of wild life, the next time I see a film that includes information in regards to the State of Iowa I shall take a special interest in your home state and think of you, AnnieO\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why not, Peter? Let me start with \"We hold these truths to be self-evident..\" In other words, our nation is founded on self-evident basic rights which include life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Access to health care is an existential need, like access to food, and no nation constituted on self-evident basic human rights ought to leave out access to health care, which otherwise is limited to those who can afford it. Universal health care also is an ethical and moral imperative sunk deeply in the foundations of all Abrahamic religions; healing was a fundamental work of Jesus of Nazareth, as you likely are aware. Feeding the masses, and healing the afflicted. Jesus did these as an example to all of us.\n\nFrom a practical standpoint, universal healthcare makes economic sense because only a healthy culture is productive. It makes social sense because a healthy society is a more inclusive society and a happy society.\n\nI'm interested to read your case for the opposite premise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You stated \"Don't focus on marriage, don't focus on sin, don't focus on virtue or vice, don't focus on the Sacraments, don't focus on parenthood.\" Exactly whom do you think both Cardinal Cupich and Fr. Pfleger are dealing with? Catholics of the North Shore? \n\nPfleger's parishioners are not necessarily Catholic or even church-going Protestants. They are manly Blacks, but also members of other minorities in a poverty-infested, drug-infested, gang-infested area. Speaking like the 'law and order' High Priests of Israel at Christ's Trial---won't do anything to turn anybody around. As far as your \"dogeared Alinsksy playbook\" goes---those ideas are as dated as last week's bread. It's easy to condemn a Cardinal who won't sit in his chancery like a Baron [too many of our bishops do], but who is trying to get people together to talk, to plan something that might work FOR THEM. Are you re-resurrecting yourself with a new alias?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agree with your direction. BUT, suggest the main point of the NCR editorial is that Anderson and company have donated to partisan political institutions and, even more, states that these partisan positions are *catholic* - thus, aligning catholic church and a specific political or partisan party. The editorial appears to accept promoting different ideas but (not unlike Citizens United concerns) not when significant sums of money are utilized to justify partisan politics. (it then no longer is about the church). As Francis said well - catholics/human beings are political but we are not partisan. Have seen no commenters provide documentation that shows NCR donating or aligning with one political party. IMO, NCR sticks to issues rather than supporting a political party or party platform. Anderson's donations call that into question.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh dear, citations please? Posting unfounded allegations is so disappointing, not what one would expect of a person who represent the Traditional Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis may feel restrained by Scripture and Tradition from having women priests. But there are three other significant positions in Church governance which have no sacramental or liturgical role, and which canon law says cannot be filled by women. Bishops have supreme legislative, executive and judicial power within their own dioceses with canon law being their only restriction. Canon law permits the delegation of executive power to vicars general and episcopal vicars, and judicial power to judicial vicars, but Canons 478 and 1420 require all of them to be priests. Canon law permits women to be chancellors but their role under canon law is to take care of the bishop\u2019s curia records and archives. The prohibition on women performing important administrative and judicial functions without a dispensation from the men in the Vatican is pure clericalism, which Pope Francis has often condemned. He can change this with a stroke of his pen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great reflection for this holy season and new church year!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And yet NCR chief writer Michael Sean Winters flies to Europe on a super polluting, climate-destroying jet, for a whimsical conference in Italy.\n\nYet, NCR is appealing to Catholic readers to do whatever they can to save the planet.\n\nThis sure makes sense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, that's the truth these men do not want to expose - it IS an earthly power structure, created by men.\n\n Jesus did not ordain priests, nor did he create a hierarchy, nor did he tell his apostles and other disciples that they are \"ontologically\" superior to others. He did say the last shall be first. He did warn the Pharisees and Scribes about their \"religiosity\", showing off their fine robes and tassles, he did tell all of us to go into our rooms and pray privately, he did warn about praying in public so all might see how devout and holy we are. \n\nThe church completely departed from the gospels around the time of Constantine. Some men, notably Ignatius of Antioch essentially creaated the hierarchy, even though the with-hindsight folk say Peter was the first \"bishop\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sending your children to Catholic school is a choice, just like any private school, not to the exclusion of a tax payer funded secular school. I expect a fully secular learning environment for my children. If parents want their children to participate in religious ritual, they have the right to pull them out of class for that purpose.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even in the question of how to translate pro multis in the words of Institution/words of consecration, Pope Benedict did not give a one-size fits all response. He said that the translation in \"for all men\" was more of an interpretation than a translation. that the translation in the new versions should respect the letter. That leaves one with a problem to work out. I love the title of the Motu Proprium of Pope Francis: Magnum Principium. It is about a great principle, which is about Inculturization and about the Incarnation of the Word. Pope Francis is thinking ahead. There are times when the Church does the conservative thing, but there are also times when the Church confronts us with the radicality of the Gospel, that the Gospel really is a revolutionary force that renews our thinking with the light of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"all the baptized are ministers.\" We need priests to show us how to do this. God bless Fr. Massengale.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the light of the global status quo of humanity and the results of recent elections in many countries including the United States, the \"church\" reflects more as pathetic than prophetic.\n\nToday, being an undocumented Middle Eastern non-Christian, Jesus would again find \"no room at the inn\" not only in the Middle East and in Europe, but most especially in \"Christian America.\"\n\nWhat is the response from the pulpit, from the pews and from the peripheries? Is anyone other than God listening? Is anyone other than Jesus suffering? Is there anyone who can say, \"I am the servant of the Lord... Thy will be done\"?\n\"You have been told, O man...\" (Micah 6:8)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As for our resurrections, I believe they occur right away. A glorified body and the leftover husk can certainly coexist, especially because the husk can be obliterated without damaging the possibility of a later life in Paradise. We know we will be like him and that he is described after the resurrection, although we won\u2019t \u201dcome out\u201d publicly. The Gospels writers said that some saints rose with Christ and were seen, so we need not wait for the last day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your response rdp46\nYes we now know that the cross is unconstitutional as it has taken a court case to acknowledge that it is so, but the Cross has stood there for over ninety years and I assume it was erected with the consent of local authorities at that time and maintained by them since its erection. I assume that it was continually accepted by the majority of local citizens and is now an established landmark know by young and old. \nOne could almost say it is historical and part of the local culture\u2026. \nNevertheless the court action to have it removed aligns itself with my ongoing observation stated in my post above, in that the promotion of symbols of Christianity in the West, are been discouraged, and gradually been expunged public consciousness. \nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus recited the Lord's Prayer when asked how to pray; no mention of what he did with his hands, so I suppose it doesn't matter.\n\nPersonally, I find holding hands very distracting because of the physical sensations: colder, sweaty, grip strength, etc.... If you're praying - and I feel this way also about singing the responses rather than reciting them - you should not be distracted.\n\nI love the one-on-one feel of me and God in Church. I am as comfortable in an empty Church (maybe more so) as I am in a packed Church. I'll catch up with you after mass, right now I'm engaging with God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But the \"sensus fldelium\" \"listening sessions\" whatever else--is not going to lead to a liberal, secular, atheistic humanistic Church. That is what I am trying to say. The Catholic Church can do everything you want--and it will still be Catholic. It will still teach what it currently teaches. Abortion, gay marriage, birth control, homosexuality, sex outside of marriage, divorce and remarriage will all still be condemned and women will still not be ordained. \n\nAs long as you understand that...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Colkoch for the clarification,\n\n\u201cRefusing to fully partake in His creation by deliberately denying another the opportunity of life, is sinful.\".\n \nI was referring to contraception.\n\nDid you read my article A Bond of Divine Mercy?\n\nhttp://www.v2catholic.com/background/2015/07/2015-07-25Kevin-Walters-a-bond-of-Divine-Mercy.htm\n\n\nI believe it shows empathy for LGBT Children and their parents\n\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelicals are on the same page of Pope Francis if we're to believe what we see when kneeling in an auditorium of hundreds seeking a blessing from the pastor with Cantalamessa standing beside him with his hand stretched out over him. \nThey're pretty impressed by his stunts as one called them in an interview.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Having seminarians trained as they were before Vatican II is a good thing. As for depending on my church the Church is Christ and Christ is the Church. We can't separate the two. Satan has been hard at work these last 100 years and especially these last 50 to spread confusion and ambiguity, but he won't win over in the end. Our Lord promise us that much. I just want our priests and bishops to do what Our Lord told St. Peter three times. Feed My Sheep.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When St. Paul instructeded Christ followers to pray for their civil leaders, Nero was in power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But here's the real problem: \"The number one reason they listed; people will need to take responsibility for every facet of their health or pay a premium.\" Yes, they will need to take responsibility because they will have no choice. I look forward to websites devoted to do-it-yourself home surgery!\n\nMaybe what was meant was that insurance has and is growing worse with its unaffordability, high deductibles, second-guessing doctors, services paid at absurd \"reasonable and customary\" rates, endless fussiness about what will be paid for... so many reasons that put the patient in the quandary of making their vitally important medical decisions not on benefit & merit, but on skewed \"Can my family afford this?\"\n\n I think you are inappropriately interpreting that comment out of context to serve your personal agenda of \"blaming the victim\". I was wondering what caused my wife's cancer, but now I know! Apparently being a PhD-toting Fulbright Scholar devote Christian is not enough.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm afraid that Archbishop Sample's pastoral letter sounds much like teachings from Joseph Ratzinger's \"Conscience in Truth,' found in 'Crisis of Conscience', ed. John M. Haas [New York: Crossroad, 1996], 2.\n\nJoseph Ratzinger was concerned about consciences making erroneous judgments and thus, people's consciences needed to be submissive and under the authority of the Magisterium.\n\n\nHowever, both Vatican II documents 'Gaudium et spes' art. 16 and 'Dignitatis humanae' art. 3 state that the conscience is where God and the person meet. The conscience has primacy, because of its relationship to the Divine, as the \"most secret core and sanctuary of a person.\" The mystery of divine love is that basis for the claim of the primacy of conscience.\n\n \n\nLet the Archbishop demonstrate where tradition has been \"unbroken\"---and I'll show an archbishop who doesn't know church history. For the powerful, moneyed classes---there was a way out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A free press and the right of assembly are stronger than you-know-who thinks they are. \"\n\nNot sure why you think that MSW. You-know-who was elected president, and you in the press, try as you might, couldn't do a thing about it.\n\nThe really funny thing in this curious piece, is you saying that higher-ups on both the Left and the Right see you as an important spokesperson of Catholic America. Why you believe that is beyond me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus did ordain priests at the Last Supper, when he gave the Apostles the power to change bread and wine into his body and blood. It seems you need to deny this in order to avoid the fact that Jesus chose only men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The common is parochial...Eastern Catholic rites throughout the western world have long had married priests supported by parishes. \n\nThere is another practice found among Eastern Catholics in North America that should be more widely known and seriously considered as a measure for dealing with priest shortages in RC parishes. Some married Eastern Catholic priests are part-time priests--they are fully employed in some capacity or other, and serve smaller communities of faithful on a part time basis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is good to see the church has afforded itself the benefits of its Year of Mercy. Of course, as Tradition tells us, being clergy means never having to say your sorry. Perhaps now Francis can praise the bishops of Rwanda for their courage and sympathize with them over the harm they suffered as a result of clergy participating in the genocide, before being reassigned elsewhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I skipped the gay marriage issue only because I ran out of characters.\n\nAt the present time, our SACRAMENTAL theology of marriage does appear to presuppose a man and a women with a view to procreation. I can conceive of a distant future when that could change. \n\nBut this is not the question on the table for Catholics at this time. In terms of today:\n\n1) I utterly reject our current magisterial teaching that homosexuality is an intrinsically disordered state, and that gay sex in immoral, and thus gay marriage as the context for immoral gay sex is, therefore, immoral. \n\n2) I totally support gay marriage as a secular institution, and am totally ashamed of Catholic resistance to governments legalizing gay marriage.\n\n3) Given the above, I would very much like to see secular gay marriages in Catholic churches with the addition of an appropriate blessing. \n\nBut VVV, I don't understand why you addressed your questions to me? They do not appear to have arisen out of any particular comment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What Would Jesus Do? Pack heat, baby! Because, as any good bible thumper will tell you, when he said \"he who lives by the sword dies by the sword\" (Mt. 26:52) that had nothing to do with guns. Nope, nothing whatsoever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Mariam! The more we are different, the more we are the same.\nFaith is about allowing and resolving conflicts of differences. Faith differences open us to new possibilities of understanding. \"Truth\" individually, isn't always perceived as Truth universal - yet, an open mind to real differences can bring resolution. Actively open consciousness is distinctive of humanity, of vital 'religious' awareness.\nWe are Catholic when we facilitate understanding, and intentionally accommodate to the Others' Truth - which calls us all to engage in trustful communication, informed consciousness and committed conscience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most of the \"spirit of VII\" protest/tendency springs from a disposition that \"I/we deserve more\".\n\nMy thinking is: I don't deserve to be brought into deeper unity with God, and I am constantly overwhelmed with a deep sense of gratitude and gift that God through His words and Church have brought us so many ways of increasing this divine unity, this reconciliation, this communion: The Mass, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the ability to pray, the grace of charity when I try to serve God for the right reason, and a uniting fertile family life.\n\nAll is an inestimable gift. \n\nMass in this or that language? \n\nOk, but I deserve none of it and can't bring myself to demand it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Being polite has its own risk that's for sure. I'll go with 'past performance is not a garauntee of futur results'\n\nI was a baby when baptized in a Catholic Church. It was my father who was raised Catholic and he died just before my second birthday. My mother never took us to Catholic Church nor have I gone as an adult. Just saying...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course, Groucho, the church has never once voted not to ordain women. The votes were always only about timing, never about whether women were qualified to be ordained. \"Not now\" is not the same as \"not biblical\" and therefore \"not ever.\" \n\nThe church has remnants of his history guiding it. Jesus did not come on October 22, 1844. The door to heaven did not shut October 22, 1844. The church established Union Conferences to confirm structurally that the men serving as General Conference officers did not have personal authority over the work of the church in congregations and in conferences.\n\nWomen's ordination is like God's grace when it flooded the Seventh-day Adventist church 1888. Grace arriving in 1888 was essential to reorganizing the church in 1901. \n\nElite top-down authority is anathema to the gospel, whether in Catholicism or Seventh-day Adventism, or the church in Acts 15. Leadership in Acts 15 was uniquely on the right side of history by yielding to the Holy Spirit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He's a Jesuit, much akin to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ; he might yet expect opposition even to consolidate more against him.\nTo many in hierarchy, the word 'evolution' is anathema, akin to apostasy. Science and the people are with him. His insights of transformation will prevail and endure. Thank God for Pope Francis!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Michael, don't think the princes (we need to eliminate that regal obsolete term) have gotten the message from Pope Francis about serving others. It would be a positive gesture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My heart breaks when I read of such pain on the part of parishioners. I feel so blessed as I haven't experienced anything like this. Without being judgmental, I just wonder how the love of Christ and of one's parishioners could lead a priest to such a place. How can we witness of Christ's love when the Church is not living it? This is a very serious issue as we are called to live the Gospel as a whole Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The doctrinal issues are: \n\n - the role of conscience and whether it can overrule settled Church teaching (it can't);\n - whether grace can overcome all human situations, no matter how difficult (it can), or whether it is morally okay to accept sin because it's impossible to do better (it isn't) or may lead to suffering by others (it isn't);\n - whether sins such as adultery and homosexual sexual activity can continue unrepented and without any attempts to amend one's lifestyle without personal culpability (they can't); and \n - whether access to the Eucharist for those publicly manifesting persistent serious sin will damage the faith of others through scandal (it will).\nPope Francis refuses to commit himself to clear answers. It's not dissent to call him out on this. And, in case you didn't know, no Catholic is obliged to accept novel teachings from a Pope, especially if \nthey are personal opinions expressed to the media or are contained in obscure footnotes he can't recall writing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Jesus I follow says \"Repent and believe in the Gospel\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really? I could have sworn I read something about our Lord telling Peter that he was the rock upon which His--Jesus'-- Church would be built. Maybe I was dreaming.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only reason this issue keeps popping up is because there are people on the left who are quite clerically minded.\n\nThey can't seem to understand the lay vocation, at all.\n\nIf they did, and if they knew how to pursue Jesus in their lay vocation, they'd give not a moment to this silly topic of deacons. They'd be too busy trying to sanctify their lay life, deepening their love of Jesus Christ in the secular world, not the clerical world. \n\nInstead, they see everything in terms of clergy and religious.\n\nInasmuch as NCR constantly gripes about clerics...it's actually a very very clerical news site.\n\nLike the tick of an old clock these topics cycle through NCR again and again. \n\nLet's have 3 protest signs and an eco article by the end of the week please.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "William,\n\n\"Pity the unhappy souls...\"\n\nWho is less happy, the victim of injustice or the the professed follower of Jesus who is failing to follow His example of one-to-one ministry that actually relieves the suffering caused by injustice? \n\nOne of the most pitiful scenes I have ever witnessed was seeing long-faced, unhappy Christians going to help someone in need who was much happier than them. The Christians would tell you with conviction that they had \"the truth\" and you should be following their teaching, but their demeanor could have left you thinking they were instead delivering the news that a loved one had died. In contrast, God-loving believers relieved my times of suffering by reaching into my darkness and brightening my life with the joy of their relationship with God. So, if I have a choice between railing against a perceived issue of political injustice or ministering to an individual, I'm going to focus on the person.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 of 3\nOur righteousness comes from placing our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. His sacrifice covers our sin, allowing God to see us as perfect and unblemished.\nThe Pharisee in the temple saw himself as righteous and was condemned. \nMatthew Henry from the link\nhttp://biblehub.com/luke/18-10.htm\n\nThe Tax Collector in the temple\n\n\u201cHe owned himself a sinner by nature, by practice, guilty before God. He had no dependence but upon the mercy of God; upon that alone he relied. And God's glory is to resist the proud, and give grace to the humble. Justification is of God in Christ; therefore the \u201cself-condemned\u201d, and not the self-righteous, are justified before God\u201d.\n\nHere is a link https://acireland.ie/a-cosmic-spirituality-for-a-new-theology-teilhard-de-chardins-evolutionary-journey-to-omega-christ/#comment-10074\n\n\nthat connects to several other links where I have attempted to arrive at a way forward for the church to permit all Catholics,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apologies, it was Edwin Pentin over at the National Catholic Register. And, yes, being a blog, it receives comments.\n\nhttp://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/vatican-cardinal-some-in-irregular-unions-can-receive-the-sacraments\n\nIt's a good, balanced article. Perhaps you should follow the link and read it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Lack of respect\"? Kind of like so much of the post Conciliar Church's \"respect\" for 2000 years of magisterial teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"all the hard sayings of Christ\"\n\nIt all hangs on that. Is a particular passage a hard saying of Jesus or is it a hard saying of a second century copyist who decided that even if Jesus didn't say it He should have?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just out of curiosity . . . where is the line of when you think the U.S. should have stopped being a Nation of Refugees and Immigrants? In your opinion, should we have stopped before the 1600's, when religious refugees fled Europe and settled in what is now the U.S.? Should we have stopped before the 1860's when we wanted Chinese immigrants to build our railroads? Or stopped in the 1880's before Catholic and Jewish immigrants and refugees arrived through Ellis Island? Or stopped accepting refugees in the 1970's from war-torn countries in Asia? . . . Or do you just want to stop helping refugees today? Half of whom are children whose parents have just been killed - dying and being persecuted from entering America . . . When it's conveniently Muslims that we would be excluding? Kind of odd to all of a sudden forget we are all immigrants, or close descendants of immigrants, when about 2% of our country's population is indigenous to this land.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sham:\n\"Womens'\" marches/movements/agendas/causes/fights/whatever-you-want-to-call-it are not for women at all. They are only for Leftist women.\nRepublican women would not be celebrated there, Right wing women would not be celebrated there, Christian womenwould not be celebrated there, etc etc etc.\n\"Womens'\" march my left foot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That certainly was the practice of Popes JP II and Benedict who censured, disciplined, investigated and/or silenced reputable scholars such as: Hans Kung, Charles Curran, Andre Guidon, Jacques Dupuis, Roger Haight, Jeannine Gramick, Robert Nugent, Leonardo Boff, Jon Sobrino, Marciano Vidal, John McNeill, Todd Salzman, Michael Lawler, Elizabeth Johnson, and Margaret Farley. \n\n\nMany of these have been censured or investigated for their views concerning official teachings on sexuality and gender. The question of AL is what is the extent of bishops'\nknowledge of the actual LIFE of the laity. And what is the bishops understanding that lay Catholics not only CAN MAKE up their own minds when it comes to their lived lives and their faith, but that they MUST make up their own minds. \n \n\nWhat Burke and his group propose is not a living tradition, but merely traditionalism's moribund truisms, quaint moralisms, and calcified doctrines.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no right to discriminate against anyone based on their sexual orientation. \nJesus taught us to love one another which means showing kindness, respect, etc.\nThe Church and their most ardent followers seem to disregard this foundation of their faith since they only see the sin in the person and not God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"The U.S. Catholic bishops swiftly rejected Trump's action. A joint letter from the bishops' committees on family life and religious liberty called the order \"deeply flawed\" because \"it creates new forms of discrimination against people of faith.\" \n- The question that the church has to consider is how to rid the episcopate of gays, bi-sexuals, and transgenders?\n- The first step will be for those near and dear to each episcopate to vouchsafe each man's hetero proclivity. For those others, that is, for those for whom no-one will vouchsafe, then the church will have to use secondary indicators of non heterosexual proclivities: love of lace; lust for the bling of the realm; willingness to spend money on rococo decoration for all that they survey; etc. \n- Of course, unless the episcopate extends to lBGT employees the same benefits that the church extends to them, then civil governments need to withhold funds for church charities, and suspect claims of religious liberty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. GTFO of Middle East\n2. No religious accommodation for any public service\n3. Police religious people attempting to impose their beliefs upon others by gutless politicians and when they gather in numbers to demand bans, etc, police riot squad presence/action against them\n4. Stop giving religious groups money for immigration - the Catholic Chuirch get's like half a billion or something a year, something large, we gave 300 Million to Aga Khan a few years ago, more...\n4. Done", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I mentioned the German bishops along with the Argentinian and Maltese bishops, didn't you read my comment? Out of all the North American bishops U.S. and Canadian, I know of only two who are in favour of the Kasper proposal whereas several have come out against it. The names of the protagonists and antagonists who have spoken upon the issue are well known by now.\nNaturally your oft stated prejudice against orthodox Catholics would lead you to accept Miss Zagano's one-sided account uncritically.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That guy at least has integrated values.\n\nInteresting study about vegans from \"Vegan Bits\"\n\n\"So how many vegans are there in the USA? Based on a sampling of 11,000 adults, aged 17 and over, only two percent of Americans are vegetarian. Only one-in-four vegetarians -- or 0.5% of the USA adult population -- is vegan. Only half of one percent of the USA population -- or 1.62\u00a0million of us -- is vegan.\"\n\n74% are Female\n\n14% are Conservative\n34% are Neutral\n52% are Liberal\n\n34% Christian\n3% Jewish\n9% Buddhist or Hindu\n7% Other\n47% No religious practice\n\nhttp://veganbits.com/vegan-demographics-2017/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And that, alone, should raise questions about how much Catholics understand the teachings of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with you. That is doctrine, which cannot be changed. However, as someone who attends a sedevacantist mass weekly using the 1956 missal, i can say that I have experienced way too much vitriol, incivility, and lack of charity among that crowd. Not all, but many. I am not a sedevacantist. I hope the pope does the right thing by bringing back the mass of the ages and phasing out the 1962 roman missal, which is technically the TLM but too vitiated to remain. we ought to go back to the St. Andrew missal of 1945 before any of the bugnini problems. \nI am actually in many ways a liberal catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously the 'Wonder' women are the ordained Roman Catholic womenpriests who understand their religion, lead, and disregard the old men in the Vatican. \n\nIt is just amazing to me to see all the good girls and boys commenting on this page, all thinking inside the box -- talking about saints. A pat on the head for all of you", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Spoken as a true Christian. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on Medicaid cuts to children with special needs, or care for the infirm and elderly. Remember. You are only one stroke away from being permanently disabled.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You wouldn't be here if Alaska Natives hadn't sold (on the cheap) some of their birthrights for financial and government service protections.. You really could use some education or some social awareness or Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why was the election lost? The Democrats gave the back of their hand to Catholic voters, the principal bloc of swing voters in America. Democrats of the past would have been horrified to learn that their party makes faithful Catholics feel unwanted: That\u2019s what they thought Republicans did. But Mr. Trump courted white Catholics, and they provided him with the winning margins in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan. Those three states determined the outcome of the election.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your morally bankrupt ideology says that having the government help the poor is bad. You trot out some economic mishmash to support this. \n\nHow about reducing the bloated defense budget? In FY 2017, defense got $596 billion, three times the military spending of all other NATO countries combined. Or how about welfare for the rich? Trump would have paid zero income tax on an income of millions had it not been for the alternative minimum tax.\n\nBasically you are saying that the poor should not be helped. I do not know whose \"disciple\" you are, but it sure isn't Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Well - God is sovereign over life and death, that is clear in the Bible.\" actually you did. But, really I'm not interested in a debate. You're a believer, I'm an agnostic......why dabate? We simply see things very differently. best wishes, Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These words truly help me see the Holy Spirit working in Scripture (something that I haven't really noticed before)....the Canaanite woman, the disciples and Jesus were all stirred .. all were encompassed by the Holy Spirit, so yes, indeed \"we must become attentive to the myriad of people and events God puts in our path in hope of changing our minds\" Thank you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lying for Jesus", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(continuation) In the post-Exilic creation myth in Genesis 1, the unique predicate of human beings, \"made in the image and likeness of God,\" receives many interpretations, but again none about reproduction. For how could that be?, seeing that all nonhuman animals and countless other organisms engage in sexual reproduction. If having reproductive sex were what made human opposite-sex couples co-creators with God, then the same must be said of all nonhuman animals and other organisms who also engage in reproductive sex after their fashion--a theological statement that I have no problem with, but it runs counter to the anthropocentric and narrow-minded biblical and Catholic traditions, doesn't it.\n\nSo if you really mean what you say about life and sex, and want to do something \"pro-life\" that's useful plus an act of veneration of the divine presence, work to abolish the dairy and egg industries, which are hideous violations of the reproductive systems of female mammals and birds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) (Tyler) Wagner's professional focus is ecological justice.\u2014Raymond Garcia \u201cHere God lives among his people . . . even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a next in which she puts her young\u2014\u201d (Psalm 84:4 and Revelation 21:3b). On the other hand, \u201cThen Death and Hades were thrown into the pool of fire. (This pool of fire is the second death)\u201d (Revelation 20:14). Here Revelation sounds like global warming. Jesus encourages the Faithful to consider nature, \u201cConsider the fig tree and all the other trees. When their buds burst open, you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near\u201d (Luke 21:29-30). Liturgy of the Word, Reading 507, Friday of the Thirty-Fourth or Last Week in Ordinary Time II.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2.\n4. We Catholics inhabit our own world of \"alternative facts\", and \"brain washing\". We treat matters of exclusive and excluding belief as if they are real-world facts and call it faith. We pretend to live in a world of fact but define reality so that it fits our myth, and our ideology whether or not it makes the least sense. And then we teach it with an incomprehensible gibberish, demand rote acceptance, and then apply a logic which bears no relation to \"reality\" or \"dogma\". \n5. When someone who appears to be credible and realistic attempts to reappraise they are \"dis-membered\".\n6. Even the \"good guys\" - e.g., Pope Francis, have their strong side in the world of \"alternative facts\".\nThe overt \"alt-right\" pragmatists - e.g., Burke, Bannon, and fellow bishops seem to survive and even thrive. \nBrothers and sisters, we are in trouble if we think that we are the \"Lone Ranger\", or in my era, \"Boston Blackie\".\n\nNevertheless, really good article Winters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "KS,\nI always go to the teachings and living example of Jesus to search for the truth. As Dr. Schwab implied, Jesus was very specific in His new commandment that we love one another, with a special concern for the poor. The beatitudes reveal His instructions for living a worthy life. \nCiting various contradictory scripture verses to change the interpretation is not an indication of searching for truth. It can be an excuse for not following the Spirit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "my2centz,\n\nIf you have evidence of God working through you, I would be more than happy to celebrate that with you. But so far you have given no hint that you have such experience. Plus, you are defending the popular concept that the best way to solve what is perceived as race-based injustice is to confront it directly when Jesus gave us a very different example. Add that people who are ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit have a testimony bursting-out of them about it. So, please, help me out here. How am I to conclude differently without evidence?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rohr routine denies the divinity of God. He's one of of the \"faddiest\" priests on the circuit. A lighter weight spiritual speaker there is not. The Catholic Osteen.\n\nHe routinely and deliberately misquotes scripture to shoe horn Jesus into whatever his pet 20 second topic is. He's recently tried to re-write the first 300 years of Christianity. His favorite ploy is the straw man. Again and again and again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dude, CCD runs the St Francis Shelter. Who do you think does that work? It's not the gvernment. It's CCD, it's the Salvation Army, it's a hundred religious and secular groups each pitching in a little. There are enough beds in Denver for every person who wants one. On cold nights, teams go out to talk people INTO the shelters. And on cold days, (really, every day) all the Roman Catholic chrches in the city are open all day for anyone to come in and sit quietly and respectfully, whether you partake in Mass or not. \nIf you had any interest in the problems of the homeless, you'd have known these things. Quit the empty virtue signaling, please.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't even know where to begin. The uncharitableness by this \"priest\" is astounding. The lack of respect for the Vicar of Christ is beyond comprehension. Sometimes I really wonder if the Holy Father has been a caucasian from Europe would he have been treated the same?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Give the Church another chance,\" how generous of them that would be.\nWhatever people say, they leave the Church for one reason and one reason only; that is because they do not have the will to conform their lives and behaviour to that willed for them by almighty God.\nOrthodox Catholics do not leave the Church, only those whose membership of the Church is tenuous i.e. merely cultural.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The blessing of same-sex marriages and same-sex unions is an issue about which Christian churches are in ongoing disagreement. These disagreements are primarily centered on the interpretation of various scripture passages related to homosexuality, and in some churches on varying understandings of homosexuality in terms of psychology, genetics and other scientific data. While various Church bodies have widely varying practices and teachings, individual Christians of every major tradition are involved in practical (orthopraxy) discussions about how to respond to the issue.\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blessing_of_same-sex_unions_in_Christian_churches\n\nThere are, across the world, thousands of Christian churches which bless (sanction) same sex marriage. There are thousands which don't. Obviously, your church and your personal beliefs represent the \"don't\" category.\n\ncont.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are too much. How has Catholicism as a spirituality done with wiping out vices in it's members? Sioux do not talk about 'religion'. They talk about the Creator. They talk about the responsibility of adults to plan their activities thinking about their children seven generations in the future and not whether their personal soul will be saved at their death. They understand life is interconnected and they do not stand alone in their own little bubble. An oil spill into the Missouri at that particular spot would be felt all the way down the Missouri-Mississippi river complex. That is the water system they are trying to protect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of two) \u201cwe have been consecrated through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all\u201d (Hebrews 10:10) and that is the Good News, or Gospel, for the Faithful to proclaim and announce. In this era of the Women\u2019s March and the March for Life with the defunding of Planned Parenthood by The Donald, in the final analysis: \u201cHere I am Lord; I come to do your will . . . I announced your justice in the vast assembly\u201d via the media, \u201cI did not restrain my lips, as you O LORD, know,\u201d Let the Faithful pray (Psalm 40:8a and 9a, 10). Liturgy of the Word, Reading 318, Tuesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time, Year I on this memorial of the Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, patron saint of writers (hello, all on this blog, and journalists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's you who doesn't understand the difference between socialism and communism. Socialism and communism are both systems of production for use based on public ownership of the means of production and centralised planning. \n\nJesus never taught that private property or private wealth was intrinsically wrong. Indeed, He didn't hold economic seminars. We no longer live in the Garden of Eden. As St. Clement of Alexandria observed: \u201cif no one possessed anything, it would be impossible to obey Jesus\u2019 commandment to give to the poor.\u201d\n\nOrigen\u2019s commentary on St. Matthew concludes that people of wealth are often possessed by their riches; the riches give them the power to do as they please, and various temptations and sinful inclinations are therefore more difficult to resist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can a 7 yo grasp the fact that upon receiving their First Communion that they are actually receiving the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus? I say absolutely YES. That was my simple point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, the good news is that your opinion is not fact. Also true is the many of us don't hate people just because they are white and religious. For the record, I am neither white nor a Southern Christian. What I am is a US citizen who knows something many do not: democracy cannot flourish if only certain voices are heard. Without dissent, the US would still belong to Britian, slavery would still be a part of everyday life, and women would still be oppressed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, you are certainly dealing with some personal issues here and I certainly do not want to upset you any further. \nRegarding your link below, why would you, a Catholic, want to get your theology from an ex-Catholic protestant?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you DonInKansas for your reply.\n\nI respect your views and I can understand your feelings of anger and frustration but obviously my article a bond of Divine Mercy is aimed at giving Hope to those who would want to remain within the teachings of the Church, as they are at this moment in time. \nThank you for taking the time to read it\nSincerely\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whatever the violation. Doesn't matter. The question was, \"Would Christ ever say 'Good riddance.'\"? Answer: Yes. My citation proved that. As did my point that Jesus preached fire and brimstone. Now, you may want to argue that having sex with dad's wife was a special case. But then don;t tell me you can't imagine Jesus saying \"Good riddance.\" Just be honest and say you forgot about that example or didn;t know about it. But, in fact, the situation Paul discussed in Corinthians wasn;t the only example. Remember all those goats? When Jesus finds a goat at the Last Judgment, Whoosh, and off he goes, into the everlasting \"fars of hale.\" And you don't have to be a Billy Graham to believe that. Just a God lovin', God fearin' Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pan17,\nNo the problem is that those who often disagree seem to so often use aggressive rhetoric. And IF they are so often in disagreement with everyone on this site then just maybe they would be happier on sites where they will find like minded. \nSo many pf them are harshly judgemental and aggressive and nasty that they contribute nothing to our kind of more civil discourse. Also, so often those who disagree are only repeating GOP rhetoric created by Lee Atwater, Luntz, Rove, Gillespie and Rollins, etc.\nWe non-Republicans on this site have heard it all before and believe that more civil discussion and sharing amongst each other are more productive ways of interacting. \nWE do NOT need more GOP or Trad church anger. WE already know that we are hated and have been ever since Pope John Paul II hooked up with St.Reagan to stop Communism, Socialism and unionism. WE know that we are considered to be abortionists and have been painted with the broad brush of the hated liberals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Phillip Elrod: You say, \"Yes, people will die for a lie, but almost never for what they know to be a lie.\" This sentence makes no sense in this case because the \u201clie\u201d---the \u201cpotent promise that humans can cheat death by joining up with some religion---is obviously believed. People who don't want to deal with Christ's supernatural teachings correctly perceive their source, the bible, is loaded with errors, contradictions, historical inaccuracies, editing, re-editing, and based on copies of copies. When the bible can't even get it right about this world, it makes no sense to seriously contemplate that its \"word\" about the next world would be any more accurate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi! Lynn\nI am submitting this post to you because I have put a proposal to yjin117 and he has accepted it, in that proposal I had included you name within it, as you may not have seen this perhaps may read it and consider taking part also.\nAnd of course anyone else who reads this would be most welcome to participate.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Law was given by Moses, right from God's mouth on Sinai. Nobody ever suggested Moses departed from the very Law he received from God. Rather, Jesus appeals to Genesis, before the Law was given to undermine and make ineffectual the accepted Deuteronomic laws. Your second question is a good one and I haven't any answer. I will have to think about that. You may have intuited that I do see room for divorce and I do, simply because I have know so many divorced people who shine with the light of Christ. When you know concrete circumstances, abuse alcohol, etc., how could anyone accuse them of \"serial adultery.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He's 100% right.....a protest can happen anywhere; it is intended to be public.....being a millionaire athlete and scoring a touchdown and praying to Jesus is silly.... What would Jesus say, \"well gee thanks, as long as you are giving your millions to the poor and following my edicts I guess I can put up with that but it does not promote any form of God realization\"..... Kind acts are religious, not being a millionaire and bending a knee following a meaningless touchdown to glorify yourself in the eyes of God. \n\nNo hypocrisy.... just more right wing misunderstanding of the teachings of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem is that when public figures openly flaunt their Catholicism, yet openly reject certain basic tenets of the faith, it causes scandal and confusion. Chaput is trying to discuss the causes of confusion - - the public figures have brought it on themselves, I think...\nParable of the 99 sheep simply doesn't apply here, I'm afraid, unless the lost sheep says \"Well, I don't want to be with the other 99 bigoted deplorable homophobe sheep\"...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are actually two substantially different Catholic votes. White Catholics supported Trump 60-37%. Hispanic Catholics opposed Trump 26-67%. Ethnic identity seems a much stronger predictor of voting behavior than does Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wrong again! The hierarchical structure of the Roman Catholic church played NO role in the court's decision. The archbishop never appeared in the chain of title! The court simply declared who owned the real estate, and \"the who\" happened to be the trustees of St. Stan's! The court had no reason to apply constitutional law, as legal title was absolutely clear already, as Ray subsequently admitted by his non-appeal, even though he had the limited opportunity to assert his Cconstitutional rights.\" The ensuing uproar was well documented by the local Post-Dispatch and many other media. Ray limited his exposure by getting moved on. Promoveatur ut amoveatur -- let him be promoted so that he may be removed. An old Roman remedy which fit Ray's situation far better than his ample cappa magna!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\nYou seem frustrated by your inability to defend your position. I don\u2019t hate Cardinal Burke. I don\u2019t even know him. I met him once, many years ago, before he was a bishop. I remember him because he became a bishop and cardinal; he wouldn\u2019t remember me at all. He\u2019s a public figure and subject to criticism. I don\u2019t hate him; I tend to feel sorry for him. He has advanced in the church by means of the principle of \u2018promoveatur ut amoveatur\u2019 -- he\u2019s been promoted to the next job in order to remove him from the previous one. He\u2019s caused or exacerbated division and caused or been at the center of controversy throughout his public life. The Knights of Malta have been bumping along, doing their thing, for 900 years -- and it took Burke only two years to manufacture for them a conflict with the pope. I am interested in how the conflict resolves; if the Knights are faithful to their vows, they will cooperate with the pope in reaching a solution. That's what I think will happen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many progressives here advocate blocking, or lacking that, ignoring disruptive posters. While I understand that approach, I am more inclined to engage from time to time traditionalist who exhibit serious knowledge of the magisterium beyond catechism. I figure that it is important for us to never forget that the Holy People of God includes huge numbers of traditionals who are entitled to our respect as fellow Christians, as alteri Christi. \n\nBut Marty E, it seems to me, is something different. He has serious knowledge, but seems to be lacking a willingness to actually engage in intellectual discussion. I find that disconcerting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was a stranger who illegally snuck into your home and hides from you so we are not kicked out. Then I take your jobs and steal your tax dollars while not providing any value. Was this in the Bible too?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"What Burke has never grasped is that the debate is not about a relaxation of discipline or doctrine, but about how two doctrines of the church, the indissolubility of marriage and the absolute mercy of God, come together in the life of the church.\"\n- ArchbRaymond, removed from St Louis - dismissed from the Apostolic Signatura - now chaplain to the Knights and Dames of Malta, is illustrating the 'making of an heresiarch'. That is, by pounding away on his favourite trope with the only tool that he has, canon law, he meets all the criteria of a proponent of an heresy. That is, my grasp of truth is more True than yours.\n- Were he not to use canon law as a lens for reading scripture or for that matter, the writing of JPII and Benexvi, he would see that truth is not in only one passage of scripture. Rather, truth resides in the whole body of Christ -- the faithful, Scripture, tradition -- all together. Being separate, ArchbRay's truth is sailing away in a leaky boat.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or Francis could just answer the questions, letting his yes mean yes and his no mean no. The problem is, if he answers the questions the way Kasper and friends would like, he departs from the Catholic faith handed down to us from the Apostles. If there was nothing wrong with answering in this manner, he would have done so already and we wouldn't be having this conversation. I'm praying for Francis that he does not condemn himself with his silence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks, I agree with you. Please let me add the following. At the Last Supper Jesus said \"do this in memory of me\". \"This is my body\". \"Take and eat\" It is transfer of His Mission to his disciples. We become the Body of Christ. We are a critical part of the sacrament. We are nourished spiritually to go out into the world to Follow Jesus Teachings. To love and serve one another.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Many radical environmentalists can accurately be\nlabeled \u201cnature mystics.\u201d And many of them express\naffinity with religions they generally consider more\nnature-beneficient than occidental religions, such as those\noriginating in Asia such as Buddhism and Daoism,\nreligious beliefs or practices surviving among the world\u2019s\nremnant indigenous peoples, or being revitalized or\ninvented anew, such as PAGANISM and WICCA. Paganism\nand Wicca are considered to be (or to be inspired by) the\nAboriginal nature religions of the Western world, which\nhave been long suppressed by imperial Christianity and\nIslam.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ give the man some time, I don't care if you dislike Mr Trump, but you have to respect the office of the presidency .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ScienceDuck,\n\nFear. What about fear? Should reasonable fear matter?\n\nI wanted to recommend two books to you, both of which I have read, and both of which I had checked out from the Eugene Public Library in the past. Remarkably, only one of the two books is still in the library's collection. Guess which one has been removed (read: censored)?\n\nStill available: \"This common secret: my journey as an abortion doctor\" by Susan Wicklund >> 921 WICKLUND SUSAN 2007 >> An excellent book that I highly recommend. Describes very well why some people on the Far Right should be feared.\n\nRemoved: \"The Stoning of Sally Kern: The Liberal Attack on Christian Conservatism -- and Why We Must Take a Stand\" by Sally Kern >> An excellent book that I highly recommend. Describes very well why some people on the Far Left should be feared.\n\nUntil 8/20/2015, I had been a lifelong registered Democrat. I am now a registered Independent. I fear the Far Left much more than I fear the Far Right, and for good reason.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Loy for your comment\nYes that is what the church teaches, from the link in my Post\n\u201cFor clarity the church teaches that divine revelation ended with the apostles\u201d.\n\n.\nBut\n\n\u201cThe visual and verbal request given by God to Sr. Faustina may not be an additional revelation but it is a communiqu\u00e9 endorsed by the Church that incorporates the direct Word (Will) of God and for that reason it is binding on the Church in that the true image painted by Sr. Faustina (one of Broken Man) must be venerated and no other\u2026..\nThe question is it God\u2019s Word (Will) or not?\nIf it is God\u2019s Word (Will) the picture painted by Sr. must be venerated no other as His Word is inviolate.\nIf it is not His Word, whose word is it?\n\n\u201cPaint a picture according to the vision you see\u201d.\n\nAlso for further information, on this site I have a long Post May 20th see link \nhttps://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/francis-trip-fatima-be-taken-pilgrimage-peace\n\nThank you again for your comment\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians are not asked or forced to accept abortion or homosexuality. If they are against abortion then they don't need to get one. If they are against homosexuality then they are free to not engage in it. On the other hand they are not allowed to tell other people how to live their lives. Even \"modern, mainstream Muslims\" cannot tell other Muslims how to live their lives. This is what freedom in a democracy looks like. Live and let live.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jack,\nYou want a history lesson? Here's one. The Germans did oppose Hitler and the Nazi's, violently at times. Hitler was imprisoned and wrote \"Mein Kampf\" while there. The more violent the opposition, the bigger Hitler's popularity grew. But it was an insane German economy and that finally broke the camels back. With a wheel barrel of money to buy one loaf of bread, the Germans were desperate for relief. It came in the form of an angry man with a silly moustache, screaming and driveling. \n.\nHere in America we've always had some National Socialists. Probably reaching their greatest numbers just prior to WW2. The War and the discovery of the Holocaust turned people's stomach against the demon-inspired philosophy of Nazism. We have managed to keep their sickness at bay for 70 plus years by ignoring them and at times poking fun at their absurdity. I will continue to oppose these fanatics in the same way our forefathers did, with Christian faith and moral clarity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus promised to be with us when two or three gather in his name. Jesus said the he is in us and we are in Him. It was one the main teaching of Paul.\nWhy do we need priests when God is part of our DNA?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I believe\" is not an issue. \"Consubstantial\" and patriarchal, sexist language ARE issues.\n\nThe biggest issue I have personally with the English translation of the Liturgy is that I and other people were NOT consulted before the changes were made. Are we \"baptized sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Christ\" or are we just \"sheeple?\"\n\nCanadian bishops - apparently they're bishops who have spines - told the Vatican that they needed to consult all of their faith communities within their society before they could implement such changes. US bishops: get a clue!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But Zubik v. Burwell will return. \n\nIt and its seven (7) companion cases were sent back to appellate courts for 'reconsideration' after Hobby Lobby was decided.\n\nOn May 16, 2016, the Court issued a per curiam decision that vacated the decisions of the Circuit Courts of Appeals and remanded the cases to those courts for reconsideration in light of the \"positions asserted by the parties in their supplemental briefs\". Because the Petitioners agreed that \"their religious exercise is not infringed where they 'need to do nothing more than contract for a plan that does not include coverage for some or all forms of contraception'\", the Court held that the parties should be given an opportunity to clarify and refine how this approach would work in practice and to \"resolve any outstanding issues.\"\n\nThe lead case in that one was The Little Sisters of the Poor, a Roman Catholic religious order.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let us hope that Our Holy Father does not keep these Men of God suspended for too long. After all, this was all a long time ago, mistakes were made, media, lawyers, and so forth, move them to new parishes where their magical powers to cause transubstantiation and forgive sins can be used to continue to serve the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspect the author is not responsible for the title of the article, which is extremely misleading.\n\nIt says simply \"Orthodox\" as if they are a single body ...\n\nThe article is really only about the Orthodox Churches (in the plural) of central and eastern Europe.\n\nBut what the author is responsible for is an absolute lack of taking into account the political overtones that bedevil relations between these particular Orthodox Churches and the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am still trying to find out why the last half sentence from Sunday's Gospel (Matthew) has been taken from the version printed in the Lectionary and disappeared. \"....., but Joseph and Mary did not have marital relations until after the child was born.\"\nAnother more learned poster on here, with a Jesuit background, also looked into this. He looked at when this gospel appears at the normal Sunday Mass in the normal three year cycle. On every occasion, the last half sentence is removed. Why?\nIt more and more looks like a disgraceful act of censorship - and Btw, I know the argument about the Greek form of 'until.' That is no excuse for removing words which contradict the belief that Mary was a 'perpetual virgin' and would cause serious questions to be asked of the Churches teachings on sexuality, marriage, celibacy, and the ordination of women.\nWhy have they removed these words, when did they do it and is it the same story for languages other than English?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stopping bullying in schools is certainly a desirable objective by the bishops. Anger is a sin. More importantly, though, from a religious perspective is how do we keep people from being lost to hell for all eternity? Does the measure condone a behavior that is condemned by the Church as a mortal sin?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did I read that correctly? For the last fifteen years the Church has been rocked by scandal over the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy. Fifteen years? I don't know where the author has been for the decades before the year 2000, when the scandal first broke publically in Lafayette Louisiana in 1985 and spread throughout the United States. Kids have been raped by Catholic priests for several centuries. It is not a new phenomena. The pope is asking for forgiveness from victims of clergy abuse. I am one victim who will never forgive or forget what was done to me after serving Mass in June of 1961 unless and until the Pope takes responsibility for his and all of his successors failure to act to help heal all of the victims. He talks about several victims taking their own lives after being abused. The numbers are in the hundreds here in the United States alone.That doesn't take into consideration the countless victims who have died from alcoholism and drug addiction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part three a of five) Could growing disaffection with churches be a sign that young people, and older people, are beginning to understand that theology supposes biology (?) and that if churches hold to a theology that disregards evolution, including 'the evolution of symbiosis', they are in fact disconnected from reality and don't deserve belief(?). Faith supposes reason.\u2014sylvester(pat)steffen\nIndeed.\n\n___\n\nI would like Dr Silk to meet the on fire young Catholics of Pro-life Future Hartford who are profiled in this article in the Catholic Transcript.\u2014Leticia Velasquez\n\nHartford is home to Yale University. Were Yale on fire young Catholics, that would be a start.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Children are NOT really taught about the Eucharist. In fact, they are not taught the foggiest notion of it, that is, what constitutes the Transubstantiation, which takes at least some understanding of Aristotle's and Thomas's metaphysics. That's waaay over the kids' heads, and way over the heads of most people --- unless they take the time to try to understand it. Unfortunately, Transubstantiation is not taught well to many older Catholics either, with the result that \"Real Presence\" is mocked here on this ostensibly Catholic site as something involving ghosts and \"magic.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you sister for devoting your life to Jesus and the people of Hawaii!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In my opinion it played a significant part, even though Catholics favored pro abortion Obama. How a practicing Catholic could vote for a person who promotes abortion, vetoes bills to stop partial birth abortions, and attempts to repeal the Hyde amendment are very puzzling to me. Clinton was a terrible candidate, plain and simple. Hopefully they decide to have her run next election and the results will be the same. What exactly is this climate of fear are you suggesting?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not making the claim that women are equal to men as far as the institutional Church is concerned. That would be crazy to do so. It's obvious that ordained males have far more opportunities to exercise \"power\" in the Church than females as well as married males. \n\nMy claim is why does anyone care? The whole notion I am putting forward that Sosa undermines with his quote is that power in the Church is INCONSEQUENTIAL to fully participating in the Church. \n\nIf you conceive of the Church primarily as an earthly institution with the mission of making an impact in the world then I get why you care about everyone participating in the governing/power structures of the Church.\n\nIf you conceive of the Church primarily as the mystical body which makes Christ present and available to all people through the ministry of the sacraments then power/governance is totally unrelated to participation. \n\nChoose your definition of the Church and follow the logical conclusions about participating in it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We do have converts who are married men & are priests because they, in theory, were not able to discern their vocation properly outside our church. \n\nI disagree with this argument because if God wanted these men to be Catholic Priests, God is more than capable of making certain they don't find Mrs. Right before coming to Catholicism. \n\nHowever, as long as women are being ordained equally to men in our church FIRST, I have no problem with our church doing away with celibacy, later on or simultaneously. \n\nThe difference is a human justice issue compared to a mere custom issue. Denying someone a sacrament based on how they are born is discrimination against someone's flesh without cause in Christ to do so, which diminishes that person's value from birth. So keeping blacks, women, Spanish, etc. from priesthood is sin. The married men in our church chose to marry & not become celibate priests. They were not discriminated against from birth. There is no injustice done to these men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1 of 2\n\"If writing articles about this topic could have done anything to solve the problem, it would have been solved 15 years ago\"\nYes they are doing what they set out to do that is let it be lost in time, as then future generations can never actually know the full truth of history. Yes we can and should learn from history, but we can never capture the \u201cfull story\u201d. Because throughout history there is a constant battle between good and evil and by its very nature evil will happily play tit for tat, (Debate) continually \u2026. To avoid a conclusion that is based on Truth (Christian morality).\nAnd for this reason evil (spin, deflection, half-truths, lies etc) have to be confronted now in the present moment, by the serving of the Truth, not to do so will invite history to repeat itself. \nThe serving of the Truth takes courage and should be a prerequisite for a Shepherd and all of us, as good works and self-image can be feigned and used to lead some astray, but the serving of the..\nContinued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This sounds to be also a very good way to cultivate solidarity with our brothers and sisters the Lakota of the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, and their many allies from many Native peoples, water protectors, in the Mni Wiconi / Water Is Life movement. \n\nCf. also the use of that expression, \"water is life,\" in the excellent Spanish movie \"Tambi\u00e9n la lluvia\" (\"Even the Rain\"), about (in part) the Catholicism of the Spanish conquerors in Latin America, which we watch every Lent. The background historical event is the great Quechua uprising in the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia, in 2000, protesting the privatization of the water supply.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"They are standing at the door, rapping, waiting to take possession of their church, praying for an angel to break the locks and fling open that door.\" Ummm, no. As poetic as this sentence may be, neither I nor any woman or man I know (all now formerly Catholic) waits for any angel to do diddly. WE have been commissioned to be the Body of Christ, to act as Jesus, live as Jesus, love as Jesus. Misogyny is as evil as racism, as all other forms of exclusion and elitism. It is OUR job to speak up, act out, resist, disobey, highlight this evil and offer remedies for its vanquishment. WE are the \"angel\" that will rid the institutional Church of this massive current and historical wrong. As harsh as it sounds, I believe those who are NOT lobbying for change are part of the passive mechanism that keeps misogyny in place...exactly the same as all who kept silent or knuckled under during the worst of the child sexual abuse nightmare. \n\nOtherwise...thanks, NCR. Excellent editorial.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have an idea---have the evangelicals meet with the Dubia cardinals first. I'd pay to see the strange-bedfellows discussion between Cardinal Burke and Rev. Jeffress: \"Why Do We Agree on All Pop Culture and Social Issues But Not on an Iota of Theology.\"\n\nIt's a question we all should ask of them. Ideas?.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump represents the triumph of \"greed is good\" and what else did Hilary represent? Time for a drastic rethink by Catholics. There must be something better than \"Greed against abortion\" as opposed to \"Greed in favor of abortion\",", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was talking about the high period of clerical child abuse, viz: the 70s and 80s. Sadly the taboo is well into the process of being of being removed thanks to the media and the behaviour of those in the entertainment industry. With a majority of so-called Catholics in the US approving of same-sex relationships there is no need for homosexuals to enter the seminary to hide their sexual preference when they can remain in a world which f\u00eates and adulates them on account of their publicly proclaimed preference.\nOnce upon a time it was the prayer of every Catholic mother to have a son a priest and/or a daughter a nun. Ere long her proudest moment will be to announce to the world that she is the mother of an homosexual son or daughter in whom she is well pleased and be lauded for her acceptance of diversity, perhaps even receiving a congratulatory 'phone-call or telegram from the Pope.\nOne day perhaps, coming out will be a sort of 'bar mitzvah', a Rite of Passage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about, \"I'm a modified Catholic\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The God of mercy \u2026 intervenes to save, inspiring men capable of hearing the cry of suffering and of working in favour of the oppressed.\"\nSo, there are no one \"capable of hearing the cry of suffering\" in CI (Catholic Institution) to work in favor of the suffering clergy raped children?\nThat is so incredibly SAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am approaching 70 years of age and the Church I grew up in no longer exists. Way back in my youth the majority of Catholics in my community were liberal Democrats and their Church actively supported the cause of social justice. Today, when I turn on right wing national Catholic radio the broadcaster boasts that the majority of white Catholics voted for Trump, the man who openly mocked a disabled person in front of a laughing crowd of his cult followers. This was an extremely cruel and heartless thing to do but apparently it did not offend Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you read about the more than 500 boys abused at top German Catholic school?\nUnacceptable, we can't allow that in this day and age.\nIt was in Europe. I expect there will be world outrage and condemnation.\nhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/18/boys-abused-germany-catholic-regensburger-domspatzen-school", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The film does explore her Catholic faith in an depth manner.\n\nwww.beataproductions.com\nUncommon Grace: The Life of Flannery O'Connor\n\"This film traces the people and events that shaped her remarkable career, as well as the important role that Catholicism played in her writing. Featuring expert commentary and rare photographs, Uncommon Grace will give you a new appreciation for this highly celebrated, yet often misunderstood, storyteller. \"\nhttps://www.amazon.com/Uncommon-Grace-Life-Flannery-OConnor/dp/B018HEW22Y", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An Open Letter to Pope Francis\nby John Finnis and Germain Grisez\n12 . 9 . 16\nhttps://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2016/12/an-open-letter-to-pope-francis\n\nJohn Finnis is emeritus professor of law and legal philosophy at the University of Oxford and Biolchini Family Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame.\n\nGermain Grisez is emeritus professor of Christian ethics at Mount St. Mary\u2019s University.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is ok for you to have your own beliefs but not OK to insist that others believe them too.. You seem to believe that your personal beliefs trump good medical care. If someone uses bad judgement and goes out in the rain and gets pneumonia, would you not at least allow their medical insurance to pay for the antibiotic? Perhaps your meaning of human sexuality is not the same as most humans even most catholics who tend to use contraception. You, sir, seem to be the responsible one that may cause the incidence of abortion to increase.... You, Sir, are not The Church. The people in the pews are, and they by and large practice BC. Good physical relations can and often should be apart of human bonding...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I completely agree. Once the Church has enunciated a moral principle, that one can defend one\u2019s self and family, the prudential judgment as to how to accomplish that is up to the faithful. Obviously the Church might have something to offer if your solution were a 5 megaton nuclear device about proportionality and so on.\n\nThe bigger problem is that every time the Church, either as a whole or at the level of an episcopal conference, weighs in on something beyond delineating moral principles and defining certain absolutes - e.g. abortion, it devalues its moral stock and becomes entangled in partisan politics.\n\nTo see where this leads, consider the Episcopal Church. Prior to WWII it was well-respected in American political and social discourse. Now no one listens to it, even its own members.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The church were I attend does the Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus Dei all in Latin (which actually sounds pretty).\" The \"Kyrie\" is Greek; I do not think it is ever done in Latin. Kyrie Eleison is Greek for \"Lord have mercy.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My final note: no where in what you quote the pope as saying, and no where in the larger report of that CNA article (it was also reported here at NCR) is it noted to be at all about female deacons. The only public statement +Francis has made about it specifically was in the appointment of the group to study the theological basis for a diaconate that includes women. Unfortunately, the June 26, 2016 interview with +Francis does not support your earlier recollection. However, I agree with your description of needed communication within the Church, and am always pleased to note how much of that happens even without \"official\" Church sponsorship. Why, just our little exchange here proves that men and women in the Church talk all the time without restraint! What is unfortunate is that our bishops of the past two papacies have for the most part (but not entirely) been conditioned to not engage in out, nor encourage it. But now things are different, yes? How awesome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So why is it that many so-proclaimed Catholics who support abortion, homosexuality, and euthanasia also champion the false science of climate change, which ultimately seeks to reduce human population?\nNotice the pattern? That methodical denial of objective reality -- life does not begin at conception, gender is not fixed, taking your own life is not a sin -- culminates in the fanatical belief that a complex non-linear chaotic system can be controlled by toggling the amount of carbon dioxide which accounts for less 2% of all greenhouse gases on a medium-sized planet, 71% of which consists of water.\nDelete", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because, history has told us time and agan, through brilliant scientific thinkers like DaVinci and Einstein, that continuously questioning the establishment and systems of belief, is just good science.\n\nThis questioning and curious attitude has resulted in huge new advancements in particle, astro and quantum physics. as just one example.\n\nBut questioning the current scientific establishment on global warming, gets you immediately shamed, silenced, marginalized, attacked, denigrated by some of the most intolerant and closed minded people on planet earth. You are now branded along the same lines as someone who doubt millions died brutally in WWII. Question the Catholic church in DaVincas, you're branded a heretic. Sound familiar? \n\nSo the actual question you want answered is, why do followers need to blindly follow and believers need to faithfully believe? The over-the-top climate change alarmist crowd is no different in mindset and approach then DaVincis Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"....it has always been taken for granted, accepted by social value and social custom, that immigrants conform to Canadian values, customs, and lifestyles by assimilating into mainstream culture.\"\n\nTaken for granted by whom? Surely not B.C. people, who for about three generations, have seen Chinese and what we now call Indo-Canadians dress pretty much the way they did in their native countries, and speak their native languages not only in their homes, but on the streets, too. Still do! Take a look at the commercial signage in Richmond, B.C. for example. Or Vancouver's Chinatown. \n\nNow, the original immigrants' CHILDREN may conform to a great degree. \n\nMeanwhile, you have a lot of Canadians of Anglo-Saxon Christian descent who continue to say, \"Hey, gee, y'know, I think I want to explore this Buddhism thing a bit more. And they do. Who's \"assimilating\" what?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Converts to Catholicism are obliged to subscribe absolutely to what the Catholic Church teaches. Denial of even one doctrine or dogma implies that the convert does not accept what the Catholic Church teaches only what he/she wants to believe. This could extend to one teaching or to many.\nIt shows that the convert only becomes a Catholic on their terms, Tony Blair is a good example of this. Compare him to Anne Widdecombe who accepted the Faith in it's entirety.\nI still await an explanation as to why someone who denies most of what the Catholic Church teaches imagines that they remain Catholic.\nThere are those, of course, who mistakenly believe that they can change the Church from within, they hang on. Others I liken to lapsed Jews who only come together at Passover and other festivals: religion never darkens their doorsteps in between.\nCalling oneself a Catholic for a lot of people is nowadays purely a cultural 'thing'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \u201cde facto schism\u201d has existed in the Church for a long time. The difference now is that Francis is showing how broad the Church is, accepting many who were forced into hiding in the past.\nAnyone who followed the Synods knows how the footnote got into the document. A small group, with much noise, pushed the position taken by the previous 2 popes. The rest of the bishops were not convinced, a majority of them supporting Francis\u2019 stance at the end of the first synod. If that small contingent could not convince the other bishops of the \u2018truth\u2019 there is a problem that needs to be addressed.\nThe lay faithful and most clerics know the problem too well. They know people who have had marital problems that were met with indifference, or made worse, when they turned to the Church for help. It is not clear that things will be any different when we emphasize mercy, but it is hard to imagine tham getting worse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is a Denomination's Unity based on Policy and Procedures? Or something more, and actually, not on Man Made and Voted Laws.\nIs Christian Unity based radically different? Belief in:\nGod the Father, maker of heaven and earth\nGod the Son, virgin birth, one equal with the Father, through Him all things were made, brought Salvation to man through His death, rose again, is now seated at the right hand of the Father. Will come again.\nThe Holy Spirit, giver of life, active part in Creation, and proceeds from the Father as the Son as a Gift to humans. He spoke through the prophets.\nRecognize Baptism acknowledges in a tangible way the forgiveness of sins.\nChrist died, is risen, will come again to give new life to the dead, and we look for the life of the world to come.\nThat Jesus said to take the Good News to all mankind, and baptize.\nAre ALL Humans told to bring the News and Baptize? or, just a select few, selected by MEN and not the Holy Spirit? Maybe it IS ALL and no selection is needed", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Beyond this, though, what the massive turnout on Saturday suggests is a degree of hopelessness among South Africans. With the apparent failure of both the democratic process and state institutions to hold the executive to account, little wonder that many are now choosing to entrust their memorandum of demands to God rather than Parliament.\"\n\nThis is a cutting statement and a great insight. Except I do think it implies the other side of the coin that's a problem: that politics is supposed to save us. It can't. It never has. It will continue to disappoint. \n\nPolitics has its place but it's not everything. I wonder if in a post-liberation context like ours if we haven't placed too much stock in it; too much stock in the political process. Which is why people make our nation-building to be either up to God alone or the government alone, but by-and-large don't want to make themselves uncomfortable to get it done. Meanwhile, Jesus says YOU (and *I*) must love our neighbour. He does already.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, the Church MUST involve itself in racist issues. The issue is hate. Jesus taught us to love God, neighbor, and even our enemies. The Church (People of God) needs to lead by countering the evil of hate with the power of love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know the correct answers the Pope should give to the questions posed by the cardinals. I also suspect the reason he won't answer.\nI don't need any books by American lawyers to understand how annulments work, I already know what the Church teaches regarding marriage. Quite honestly judging by the lack of knowledge of the Catholic faith which you display upon this website I would avoid any book or publication recommended by you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Father Reese, giving Pope Francis a grade is way too premature. Your essay gives worthwhile things to ponder, but - with all due respect - passing a grade is simply preposterous and does, I am afraid, reveal some lack of humility which is something you might consider working on. Zhou Enlai, the first Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China, famously responded to the question what he thinks of the French Revolution: \"That's much too early to tell\". Though I am no fan of the man, I do agree he makes a terrific point. So, let Pope Francis do his necessary Reform Work in an environment that still can stand comparison with the Roman and Byzantine Imperial Courts of yore. Francis dismantles the Vatican Court shrewdly, and step by step. I, for one, consider it a miracle he is still alive. To poison an whole canteen at Santa Marta makes such a mess - it would be far easier to dispatch him had he lived in the remote and easily controlled Papal Apartments. Not kidding...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Although the Brazilian bishops are going ahead with a \"Year of the Laity\" their agenda does not seem to include a greater role for the non-ordained in theological discernment or church governance, the two key areas in need of reform before the church can flourish outside of what used to be called primitive cultures.\n\n Our parish has a very large proportion of highly educated people, who are extraordinarily faithful and active in the church. They have been able to stay in the church with the benefit of wonderful priests, by learning to ignore theological and governance problems and focussing on non-controversial issues of personal spiritual growth, church maintenance, and modest charitable works. That restricts it to being a niche church, a tiny fraction of the population in the area.\n\n This is fine for some of us, but doesn't approach the radical sacrifice and evangelism Pope Francis has called for. Nor does it appeal to or meet the needs of the vast majority of Millennials.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you clicked on my link, half way down the page you would note that the data came from the Guttmacher Institute 2001 study. In a newer study they are they use 2.8%, which rounds to 3%. My presumption was that one wouldn't interpret 1-3% as \"quite often.\" The assertion that abortion is \"entirely their business\" only works if you make the assumption that the child itself has no rights. While Secretary Clinton has taken that position, it is this that I would challenge. Keep in mind the Declaration of Independence declares \"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (read people) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.\" Thus our disagreement may not be so much the source of our rights (presumably God), but to whom these rights were given. For those Catholics that accept the Church's teaching that life begins at conception, and so to do our rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes he did ... He was censured for speaking the truth about the Roman Catholic Church. If your faith is strong enough Marty you can cope with reading it ... what have you to fear from reading a truth which the CDF stifled? ... ?\npeace and many blessings", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The archdiocese claims 550,000 Catholics over a three-county region which includes the cities and towns of Hartford, New Britain, Waterbury, Meriden and New Haven. Those cities will be hardest hit by the consolidations, as Catholic populations gravitated to the suburbs over the past few decades.\n\nArchbishop Leonard Blair said the changes are necessary and \"we cannot responsibly kick the can down the road.\" He noted that since 1969, the number of Catholics in the archdiocese has declined by 69 percent and the number of priests by 65 percent.\"\n\nMy home parish is one of the 6 in Waterbury which will be merged into one parish with 2 worship sites. Here's the facts-- people simply aren't going to mass. Families have largely treated mass/the Church as a sort of extracurricular activity, and as a result, these churches by and large remain empty on Sundays.\n\nThis is a hard but necessary move by Hartford, in my opinion. Doesn't take away the hurt people feel, but perhaps it provides context.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Santa was about being nice; naughty being every kid's reality, and a forgiving mom and dad who you, one day in the 'morrow, knew was the real Santa Claus. I grew up learning of the Christ child born on that day, and the reason the world celebrate Christmas. Be a little kinder, laugh a little more, and aloha your ohana!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus has the compassion to understand the plight of everyone impacted by divorce. That is why he was against it. But when a marriage breaks down, he is there to share the pain. Divorce may be untenable to you but it is realty to many. I know several people who have been hurt by the church's rejection and they found an accepting community of God elsewhere. They are not alone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have never seen him mock the Faith, but so enjoy seeing him mocking the \"scribes and Pharisees\" so common among the right wing of the RCC. The \"brood of vipers\" Jesus talked about in the Gospel, those who forget the Law was made for Man and not Man for the Law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, you must be religious. That's exactly what Jesus would have said.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are supposed to be in the state of grace when we receive Communion, but it's on the honor system. \n\nThere's much that's admirable about the Mormons. Imagine if each Catholic got to go on a real mission trip when they turned 18.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Pope Francis is simply wrong to assert this.\n\nDevelopment of doctrine is not change in doctrine. The pope cannot change doctrine, then call it \"development.\" When doctrine develops, it grows, but as it grows, it remains consistent with itself. \n\nUntil Pope Francis, the Church has consistently taught that the death penalty can be morally justifiable in certain circumstances. Pope Francis, now, is seeking to reverse millennia of teaching and create a new teaching, namely: that the death penalty is an intrinsic moral evil. \n\nIf Pope Francis has the authority to change church teaching on the death penalty, it is not necessary to appeal to development of doctrine. Just change the teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Jesus' days, only the chief priest of the Temple had access to the Holy of Holies. The sacrifices purchased outside where presented to their God to gain forgiveness. Too many institutional churches still rely on a priest to intervene on their behalf. Jesus by turning over the tables and by His Resurrection replaced the Temple as the access pint to the Divine. We as followers or disciples now have direct access.\nJesus taught us to love others, God and His Creation. The Religious Right with their hate have to find the transformation to love to see God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I doubt Jesus had in mind how Christian took his holy life and made him into the God he is not. It was not until almost 300 years later that Jesus was transformed into the son of God before then he was seen as a holy man or a prophet. Jesus saw him as the Son of God but not in a special way according to the first gospels, but instead in the way as we are all children thus the sons and daughters of God. But he never saw himself as God in a human form.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But still those who followed The Way of Christ before Constantine (Rome) were able to share the Eucharist in there homes. It took several generations for men to decide that ordination was necessary.... Wherever there are two or more.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Could you please cite any respected theologian or papal teaching that states \"A well formed conscience would be in complete harmony with Catholic doctrine\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To repeat, your argument is \"Jesus did not choose members of group to be apostles, therefore members of group cannot be ordained\". In this logic, the only difference is in the group chosen in .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I picture the angry God in the old testament. Time and tides march on and yet for the first two hundred years after Christ's partial departure Christians did not believe in nor practice self defense. We had Francis of Assisi and Pierre Tielhard de Chardin since then compounding the deeper current of our Universal Consciousness and evolving understanding of the true calling. Sure we have fallen for fear and madness abounds/Trumps winner take all world of might makes right etc, but then again the whole world is becoming aware like the cities evolution would first reveal true love and help bring heaven on earth not just above. So mercy for ourselves and salvation is just a matter of making the connections with our destiny and makes the idea of being bad unconscionable. Who for instance would want to be drunk or on drugs in this coming world of love? Thus anger and making amends seems a childish quality God within us/the spirit vanquishes. imho", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "R & R - doctrine in the Church changes....your list is meaningless. We are on a journey of faith - not a 6th grade moral development project that only checks off orthodoxy boxes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cBolstered by the encouragement of the Holy Father, we are dedicated to creating a framework for peace building in our city,\u201d said Cupich, who was personally chosen by Francis in 2014 to lead the Archdiocese of Chicago, one of the largest and most influential in the U.S. church.\n\nIt is great to see a bishop put the Gospel ahead of the interests of the Republican Party.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then, Jesus really did say \"call no man 'father'.\" \n\nEven what we learn from God or the Holy Spirit has to be filtered through our human minds. What we can understand is limited by knowledge, cultural filters, limits of language, limits of experience. Still, I do believe the Bible is a guide and the best source we have on the life of Jesus and what He came to do for us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My entire commentary on QC is at http://xianleft.blogspot.com/2017/04/quanta-cura.html. Because it is essentially a political manifesto, I am within my rights to analyze it (and as a Catholic).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church utilizes the contributions of Scripture scholars in interpreting Scripture, as it should. You might be surprised at how far Catholic Scriptural research and scholarship has advanced since Pius XII.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The cross was a vision quest, not a payment for sin. It was from the Father, not to the Father. Jesus was gift, not scapegoat. He was God experiencing the apartness of man from God by his suffering and abandonment on the Cross. When he told Mary to stay with John, he was not making Mary all of our mother, he was telling Mary \"I am dead to you.\" and all that she had told him of his nativity was unfulfilled. Likewise he told John to take care of his grandmother, not to baptize the nations. The timing of this in scene in John and his calling out in the Synoptics is very clearly at the end. Get your Bible out and read it for yourself. The next line is \"I thirst\" which refers directly back to the Eucharist. Open your heart and believe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These haters are too much. Let the judiciary system take care of the matter... Why would you try to have him ousted by a school he's attending? What next? If he goes to New Hope Church.... You going try to have the church oust him out too? You guys are too much! If you not happy with his punishment, go fight the judiciary system for Christ sake!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I pray pretty regularly. No I don't envision a white man with long beard. I also don't find a need to pray on street corners or in schools. I tell you this because I'm a bit worn by the stereotyping of Christians. It's a diverse group, much more than those who haven't done more than take cursury interest, or see all Christains through the lense of what they see/hear on evangelistic media stations.\n\nI hope you cut some slack to the meditative types who do not moralize or evangelize to those that aren't interested in the experience. The bible is a human document no matter how 'inspired' in may be in the eye's of Constitine as he sought to canonize a common document. His was a political motive not holy.\n\nhttp://www.deism.com/bibleorigins.htm", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great article !\n\" .. The Reformation of 1517 triggered executions, torture, burnings at the stake and drownings, all done under the watchful eye of clergy... \"\nThe atrocities committed by the Catholic Church precede the Reformation by many decades - earliest persecutions probably in Spain when the Moors were forced to either convert or leave. Such practices lasted until the Napoleonic wars - he released its last victims when he conquered Spain. Napoleon in fact confiscated the records of the Holy Office and archived them in France - until the Catholic Church purchased them back in order to prevent being published. My ancestors were expelled from Catholic southern Europe 1730s, forced to trek to the north westen most tip of Siberia - because they were Protestant. Even minor/trivial thought deviating from official dogma resulted in persecution. Bishops formed part of the ruling secular elites - the aristocratic government power structure. Burning at the \"stake\" truly creepy !!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "[As it stands-- our Founding Fathers made our nation through the Judeo-Christian paradigm, which was a direct product of where they believed our rights derived from.]\n\nYou bragged you had 100 quotes supporting that false notion. When asked to produce them, you you tried to add contingencies after the fact. I called your bluff and everyone can see that, in spite of your efforts to muddy the waters with diversion, deflection and misdirection.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure why you post something so inane. Are you the same guy who said that he would not believe that the pope is against war as long as the Swiss Guard remains?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh my gosh. No one who has studied the history of theology can possibly argue that \"little changed\" between the Apostolic Age and Trent!!!!\n\nPerhaps the most massive change in all of Christian history was from the Apostles to the great Greek Councils that establish the two natures of Christ and the Trinity as three-in-one. \n\nAnd perhaps the greatest delusion of modern Christianity is not recognizing that fact as fundamental to grasping that theology, understand as our response to revelation, is an evolving process, with new stuff constantly emerging from the old under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the advocate Jesus promised would guide us into the future. \n\nYeah, I know catechisms, including the \"manual theology\" that dominated pre-V2 seminary training, conveyed the opposite, but that was an impression based on faulty pedagogy, not a fact or even an alternate fact. Just a faulty impression overcome by actually studying the sources.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She'll breezily point to some unnamed Vatican commission and tell you it was decided therein.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Of course, it has never worked [trickle down economics], but ideologues do not care about results so much as they do about the purity of their ideas.\"\n\nWell that pretty much describes all the Catholic voters who've been willfully, mindfully voting for supply-side ideologues for the last generation, all because of the purity of their ideas about abortion, homosexuality, contraception, religious freedom, blah, blah, blah. And they do care about results when it comes to Supreme Court justices, so they become willfully blind to everything else. And the next thing you know we're electing a President Donald J. Trump, only the most recent Republican standard-bearer for so-called \"voodoo economics.\" And once again all the Republican sheeple get right on board and fall right in line. It's d\u00e9ja vu all over again, like an endless broken record that will never stop playing - over and over and over again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You do realize the lawyers Jesus spoke about were religious lawyers? Today's equivalent would be canon lawyers. I don't see how your implicit attack on Cardinal Burke relates to this article, however.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More drivel. Jews in Europe are afraid, but they are not afraid of Christians. Not at all. They are leaving France and Belgium and Sweden because of the growing Muslim populations. Hate crimes against Jews are far more problematic in Europe than the cause du jour of the Press, Islamophobia. The populist parties in Europe are pro Jew and anti-Islam. They are the firewalls against increasing anti-Semitism, not the other way around. This stirring up of negativity by Sanders toward populist parties in Europe is predictable and I knew it was only a matter of time before he played the Hitler card. If the Jews are looking for politicians in Europe who have their backs, they need look no further than Oban, LePen in France, Geert Wilders in Holland and Nigel Farage in the UK.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Patty, I first thought this shooting was the act of a radical extreme Christian Right terrorist.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Then why didn't they stand up against the Judeo-Christian ritual of male genital mutilation?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is like a torpedo into the heart of George Weigel, Inc., and the USCCB, especially its Burkean wing. Hold on and emjoy the ride, fellow Catholic progressives! Watch for the backlash as First Things et al. strike back.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "what blows my mind is how black slaves adopted the religion of white European slave owners, and abandoned their African American religion/culture. As the son of a Native American I have been baffled by members of my family who adopted Christianity that tried to genocide Native Americans.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am so sorry Justin that I was born a white catholic. Please feel free to tar and feather me, or at least muzzle me M-103 style.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics and Buddhists believe in being angry, greedy, and proud. They like to think they are perfect and infallible. Hurting and killing is one of there priorities.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic \"morality\" goes deeper than that. Catholic Rapists have told courts that they Raped women because the Church teaches that Rape is a Less Serious Sin than Masturbation. \n\nSo much for Christian Superstition giving people a basis for knowing how to behave properly.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "4) Hinduism worships gods that are not the God of the Bible.\n\nWhy should money spent on a Catholic school facilitate paganism/polytheism? My Catholic university spent money to buy idols for their worship services.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And as for \"the Pope as a head of state and is entitled to sign onto climate treaties and even lead the debate.\" it proves his ignorance of the \"state\" he is in charge of. The head of the Catholic Church worldwide acknowledges God didn't know what He was doing when he created all life dependent on Carbon dioxide and Oxygen", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sometimes, AnnieO, I just get in such high spirits that I feel all happy and silly. Catholic school did not beat that out of me.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The corrupt, enabling the corrupt. The angry voters are angry at the corrupt they voted in and the resulting corrupt state they left the country in, so they got really angry and voted in the ones who will finish wrecking the country. These electors may claim to be Christians, but justice will be served as they will be going to their Christian hells for the misery and unnecessary deaths they cause from their corrupt actions. It's too bad they cannot face justice on this side of the grass, from the ones affected from their decisions", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "all you Religious people from whatever denomination your associated with, a True Believer of your Religion puts God 1st, right? The only religion that I know of that allows lying to further their religion is of the Muslim Faith, now, I ask is Christianity of the same thinkings? Lie Lie Lie to further Christianity?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Gee Whiz, kind of like so-called Evangelicals, want a belief system that only included their beliefs, wanting to control women and abuse them, dress, yep right up there with the burka, I see them wearing those ugly, long skirts and long flowing hair. See same thing, they only call it different names, Muslim, Christianity, it's all about control!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Something regularly used in quotations is called the \"ellipsis\" (from the Greek: \u1f14\u03bb\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03c8\u03b9\u03c2 -- \"omission\"). It is indicated with three dots in a row, and signifies that one is omitting part of the quotation. If one is making a change to a quotation to make it more grammatical, one puts the change in square brackets \"[\" and \"]\". Perhaps the Collegium Diploma Molendini left this out of your training.\n\nYou wrote \"Christianity isn't about vague 'values'\", it's about an intimate relationship which Jesus Christ\". Using ellipses and square brackets, I rendered this as \"'Christianity ... [is] about an intimate relationship which Jesus Christ\". This is a quite acceptable usage by those for whom English is a native language.\n\nNo, I quoted you accurately, and you would rather whinge, pretending I didn't, than admit that YOU had misstated what Pope Francis had said. Once again, you are shown to be in the wrong, and you blame someone else rather admit to a mistake. Your arrogance shines forth.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Now, Canadian voters can say Liberal party and its leader only protect Muslims who even have extreme views about the West & want to impose Islamic laws onto this country.\nIt looks like Canada is moving toward an Islamic country where discrimination toward Hindu, Buddish, Jews, Christians is acceptable.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "From the Ted Haggard school of republican/christian fake morality", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "All parishes need to become \"social justice\" parishes. \n\nThe attitude of the institutional hierarchy is painfully obvious. They are becoming more and more irrelevant by their pathetic response to such Christian activities to help our poor and marginalised.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe part of the problem is that these days some people who call themselves Muslim are terrorists in the name of their religion. If some people today who call themselves Christians or Buddhists, or .... could be identified as terrorists in the name of their religion Doug's comments could be generalized in a helpful way.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You are right about the quotation marks being ambiguous, it is paraphrasing not quotation, but that is essentially your meaning., that the muslim headscarf is the equivalent of our grandmothers', and it is not.\n\nAnd as for religious meaning , my point again is that the Left that does not hesitate to ridicule some christian beliefs regarding sexual behavior, refuses to do the same with what is even worse beliefs in Islam, and insists on \"respect\" for those beliefs.\n\nAnd maybe here there is a definition problem. \"islamist\" does not equate with \"terrorist\". It does equate with a fundamentalist, conservative form of Islam that makes evangelicals look like libertines.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am surprised that the paiting of the fathers of confederation is still allowed to be displayed. After all they are all white people, men and Christian. \n\nI am sure in the not too distant future the Liberal policy wonks will have an artist repaint some of the faces and bodies to have different colours, women and the transgendered.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So are you going to round up and deport all Jews, Christians, Hindus, etc. etc. Maybe we should just give them all armbands, with the appropriate religious symbol stenciled in red?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You don't know me, and I don't know you, you have know idea how much my life has turned around after actually listening to the hard sayings of the Gospels.\n\nHave you walked in early hours of the morning handing out coffee and bread to the homeless, because you agonized over the Lords words against those who treat others like trash.\n\nHave volunteer your time at a refugee center? Helped their kids with Homework and made pancakes for them? \n\nGiven clothes and sleeping bags and toys when they came walking in my country's highways.\n\nI certainly didn't until I had the Gospel and all its hard saying preached and explained at a traditional mass.\n\nI am infuriated by your gross caricature, Lord have mercy on me for revealing what have done, but I am mad that you would dare question my commitment based on your prejudicial stereotypes. The Church produced great saints before the 60's due to men and women approaching salvation with fear and trembling. \n\nYou don't know me, you prejudicial hypocrite", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No Motley, I merely turned your own trollish weapon back on you. I just got tired of your constant irritating baiting and your really rather nasty use of minor mistakes to make others out to be fools. Now I have made you out to be a fool using your own trick. If it upsets you, then you have an inkling of the irritation your own tactics cause here.\n\nAs for my ignorance of the Bible, I don't live and breathe scripture, but I know the Ten Commandments and I know the God of Israel acknowledged the existence of other gods, or at least the priests of Yahweh did so. My statement was to correct the ignorance of apparent Christians claiming One God only.\n\nI think that if you had to review posts each time you posted, it would give you time to think about these issues and maybe pause to reflect. As I have said, you can't really hurt me, if that is your intention.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I like African spirituals too. Grew up in New Orleans just a few blocks from a Black Baptist church and a would often bike over just to hear the music. But there is nothing more ridiculous than a Catholic church full of white people \"diggin' it\" and trying so hard to look cool and \"diverse\" by singing old Black spirituals. It's not that it's \"cultural appropriation,\" it's that it's just plain ridiculous. White people can't even clap right to their music.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So, just because Easter is holiday, muslims should have a right to pay at school. That is just silly and wrong (you probably failed your logic class). Yes, Easter is holiday, but Christians do not pray at school. They pray at home. Get it?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is like those folks who disown any of their fellow religionists who get caught doing something wrong as \"not real Christians.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I participated in the clearing of several towns in Iraq, including a 4 weeks door to door slog through Fallujah. So dissent doesn't terrify me in the least.\n\nThe loss of souls...and having some souls leading others astray...telling them that abortion isn't the grave sin that it is..does concern me as a cooperator in the redemption of all souls, which is the life and duty of every Christian. \n\nYou should take your vocation more seriously..the sanctity of every soul is your (and my) responsibility.\n\nToo many low shooting Catholics here.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Known for his controversial views, Drollinger has said of Catholicism: 'It's the world's largest false religion.\" Christiantoday.com\n\nCatholics who jump in bed with fundamentalists might just be really, really deceiving themselves.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Most are familiar with the sexual double standard of the Bible, the text most closely associated that ludicrous religion that goes by the name 'Christianity.' \nI'd suggest any women 'stripped naked' these days are doing so voluntarily since so many more women carry concealed firearms. As for stoning that's mostly common in 'third world' locales like the Middle East and places such as Kansas and Texas, right? \nI'd say these days it's more the story of a few hot women passing the well-endowed men around and the latter liking it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As if folks are going to click on a link to Bill O'Reilly.....'fraid not!\nMost of us are grownups and think for ourselves---without his blather. \n(Kindest word I can use here.)\nAnd who says we're a \"christian nation\" anyway?\nI disagree with your entire angle. (\"Murder has always been part of the tap root of the nation's identity.\") What the heck are you talking about???", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Some kids in Ontario are being taught Islamic studies ( only) in their classes and if parents or kids say anything they are called racists. One child who is christians didnt want to make cards for EID he said they don't make cards for me on Christmas, Easter etc , I just want to do my school work he was chastised by the teacher and sent to the principal for not participating. Christians kids don't have a choice. When will the Imams stop spewing hate against the unbelievers and jews? 4-5 Imams this month have been caught preaching hate and death. Not sure why this is ok", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Honestly; you really are clueless, EXCEPT.....some of the worst sexual assaults were, in fact, committed by a few Catholic priests and now,....Pope Francis wants to \"be merciful\" and let them off with a slight tap on the wrist. Technically, that is rape in the name of Jesus.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So, the religious right steps in and launches character assassination attacks on Handel's opponent, which are egregious lies, because that's what \"good christians\" do. People really need to take a look at the voting records of their GOP representatives- you might be surprised. If you care about education, healthcare, social security, medicaid, scientific and medical research, clean air and water, the protections of the Constitution applied equally, then you are voting against your own interests. If you are worried that banks can do whatever they want and consumers have little protections- well, Trump's billionaire advisors just made it weasier for Wall Street to cheat you. And talk about \"wealth redistribution\"- the richest 1% and big corporations expected to get HUGE tax cuts- even thought some pay 0 taxes and Corps get Gov. $ subsidies and hide money in offshore accounts. GOP - the party for the rich and Corporations- workers \"make too much as it is\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I think it better to encourage these priests to Out themselves.\n\nThe current Catholic party line is that priests should not \"identify\" as \"gay,\" because identifying oneself by sexual attraction is wrong.\n\nBut if priests with ss attraction began to simply confess to the public that they deal with sexual and emotional urges like the rest of us, and are not the saints they pose as, then that will bring much needed light to this issue.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There are few organizations as prone to shooting themselves in the foot as the Catholic church. When you read a story like this you don't know whether to laugh or cry. \nUnbelievable.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Because it's \"all things Catholic,\" and if you censor talk about sodomy, you're censoring what the Church teaches about homosexual acts. Why are you so afraid to talk about it?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Save the proselytizing for someone who hasn't already heard it. If you recall, I mentioned that I was raised in both the catholic and evangelical faiths so I've got your number and I'm not interested in your stories. Abortion is healthcare and a legal right already and the day we women have to give up our rights you \"christians\" will be giving up your right to gather to worship in peace. THAT will definitely be OVER. I am not interested in your opinion about my rights or any of your other frankly retarded views about women and gender. Christians should simply be aware that they're risking their own bizarre and frankly perverted lifestyle with which I vehemently disagree but for the moment tolerate. If I have no privacy than neither do you, christian. Get it?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Here are quotes of some verse from the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam. \nQur'an (4:89) - \"They wish that you should disbelieve as they disbelieve, and then you would be equal; therefore take not to yourselves friends of them, until they emigrate in the way of God; then, if they turn their backs, take them, and slay them wherever you find them; take not to yourselves any one of them as friend or helper.\" \nQur'an (9:30) - \"And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!\u201d \nAnd, according to one website, in 2016, there were 188 Muslim terrorist attacks with 26 suicide blasts, with 1737 injured, with 1378 killed in 27 countries. And, it says there have been 30,222 deadly, Muslim, terrorist attacks around the world since 911.\nWhat should mothers tell their children?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Depending on the theology of her particular version of Christianity, it may very well 'be up to her'. \n\nFaith, Religion, Theology; when there are hundreds of versions; of \"Christianity\" worldwide, much less the hundreds which exist in the United States, many of whom claim to be The True Faith, (Caps, Underlined and BoldFace type), calling out the nuances of any one person's version is presumptuous at best and ignorant at worst.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If I had to 'demonize' anyone for violence toward the female persuasion - it would be the candidate who is all in for the killing of infant girls via abortion.\nShall we dare mention the violent crushing of skulls and severing of limbs that occurs in every single abortion - without pain killers mind you?? Why don't we as Christians, just conveniently leave all of that out of the equation, and pretend it just doesn't exist??\n . . . . even though THOUSANDS of babies are killed every single day!!\n\nWhat Trump may have SAID pales in comparison to what Hillary and Bill have DONE !!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Voris is one of those misguided Catholics who believes all other Christian sects are in error and pine for a Pope like Pius IX who maintains that \u201dError has no rights.\u201d Triumphalism, pure, simple and wrong. He will line up with any authoritarian who projects such certainly, even if that person is an idiot like Pius or Trump. It is no wonder they attack reasonable voices. They don\u2019t want debate, they want certainty. Sadly, they get noticed for their shock value while reasonable voices from the left, say The Christian Left show on Blog Talk Radio, get no shout out from fellow lefties like MSW or media like The Atlantic.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And you can tout Minshall\u2019s \u201cword-smithing\u201d skills as another reason for IBS.\n\nLike rain in August, you can also count on Alaska\u2019s self-appointed, professionally aggrieved malcontent to chime in on a comment like yours. His \u201cfree\u201d contribution typically begins with a personal insult or some other derogatory comment in regards to your intelligence.\n \nHe then follows up by spraying the commenter (and anyone else who happens to read his written bescumber) with his 10 cents worth of Calcutta splutter blended with a revisionist quasi-history lecture in an attempt to frame a tragedy as just another example of Christian hatred towards the oppressed and thoroughly mistreated, innocent, peaceful muslims trapped in the perpetual cross hairs of bigotry by the evil melanastically challenged islamaphobes. \n\nHe his is own best example and a platinum member of the \u201cold hatreds die hard\u201d club.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As I said, I find both Trump and Clinton unpalatable. I supported Bernie Sanders in the primary, because his views are sympathetic to me. However, Trump actively frightens me, and I loathe what he stands for as well. I can see Trump getting into a war through ignorance and personal pique. I do not see Clinton doing that.\n\nMost of all, Trump actually repudiates Christianity. He embraces racism. He sees women as sex objects -- he said that one of the women who accused him of groping was \"too ugly\" for him to consider doing that. This is apparently a serious response to the accusation. He does not stand for any sort of moral values.\n\nI question the values of the so-called Christian leaders who support Trump. They are actually hurting their own churches. After this election, in which so many Christians in the US have behaved so very badly, who would ever want to darken the door of one of their churches again?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately, money talks and Hobby Lobby has lots of it.\n\nThe first thing I thought of when I saw the ad in the RG on Monday from Hobby Lobby was how Hobby Lobby are such hypocrites about their Christianity. Their brick and mortar stores are not open on Sundays for business because it is the Sabbath yet they run advertisements in the Sunday paper and you can order online from their website every Sunday, so, really they are doing business on the Sabbath. I guess they think they're fooling everyone because their brick and mortar stores are closed Sundays. Their businesses keep running and the dollars still pour into their coffers even if you can't walk into the stores. While they might be sitting in a church pew, they do have employees working on the Sabbath. Maybe in their mind it doesn't violate the Sabbath if the shopper can't see the employee working on the other end of the online store.\n\nThe best thing I can suggest about Hobby Lobby is to not patronize them.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "She has lost her right to be called 'sister' ( she rarely uses the term herself anyway) if she defends the 'right' to kill innocent little children in the womb. How can any one consider themselves a bride of Christ with that opinion, it's repugnant. She is in no way a sister to the most vulnerable in society, and therefore, it is my right not to express her title, as I believe it is a falsehood. Before you condemn me for double standards, I would not call a priest 'Father', if, he was found guilty of abusing children, or a brother, 'Brother', likewise.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "He gave up his life. It was his to lay down. Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. This is actually a common counter-point to the whole question of the Jews (or Romans) as Christ killers.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Bible is no more a valid historical document than the latest Harry Potter book. And if it IS historically accurate, then the Christian god is a truly genocidal, jealous, and petty god unworthy of worship and worthy only of the electric chair. \n\nThe burden of proof is always on the one making the claim. The Bible is not \"evidence.\" So to say there's a supernatural Christian god, the burden of proof is on you. A negative can't be proven \"prove my god doesn't exist\" just as me saying \"prove my god, the Flying Spaghetti Monster didn't make the Earth and us\" can't be proven. But the burden of that proof would be on me. \n\nScience is all about collecting hard evidence and is far more real than a poorly written book written by superstitious Bedouin men thousands of years ago about a vengeful, muderous god who kills millions more people than his supposed nemesis, the Devil.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Sarah, in his role as prefect, publicly disagreed with Pope Francis. Francis called him on it, also publicly.\n\nCardinal Burke is a homophobic, pharisaical grand stander, who is a disgrace to Christianity.\n\nChristians being beheaded by ISIS are suffering persecution, while Sarah is apparently keeping his job, and Burke is in a cushy sinecure. They are, at most, suffering minor inconveniences.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I wish everyone who called himself a Christian would actually go back and read about the kind of person, assuming he was real, that Jesus is thought to have been. When did He EVER discriminate against anyone? Was his life all about fomenting hate against anyone? I have not met many modern Christians who seem to even know who Jesus was and what Jesus was about. And, if you read the Bible, the Torah, the Qu'ran, they all have one overriding principle in common. They all say that God NEVER gave the right to man to judge each other. In fact, that is a right God held back only for Himself. And God NEVER says anywhere in any of the religious texts that there is anything wrong with homosexuality. What there is, however, is room for people with their own prejudices and reasons for fomenting hate to interpret or misinterpret scripture toward their own hateful agenda. They've used it to justify the subjegation of women, children, and people of color since it was written.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't it clear? The Institutional Roman Catholic church wants to rid itself of gay people. I don't know why gay people, their friends, families, and co-workers, choose to remain in what is an abusive relationship.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Who else? Russia. The United States. France. Britain. Israel. To name a few.\n\nInshaa Allah (God Willing) I never have and never will deny the crimes, atrocities and abject stupidity of those calling themselves Muslims. What I will say is that such crimes, atrocities and stupidity constitute violations of authentic Islamic tenets, not fulfillment of them. The Da'esh (\"ISIS\") and their ilk were my enemies before you ever heard of them. They are no more \"Islamic\" than the KKK is \"Christian\".\n\nHaving said that, before you make such sweeping--and highly inaccurate--claims as to how we Muslims are the root of all evil in the world, may I suggest you look at the blood on your own hands. I'm happy to provide body counts demonstrating that, from WWII up through the present, NO Muslim nation on earth nor all of them TOGETHER hold a candle to the western so-called \"Christian\" nations and Russia when it comes to bloodletting and warfare.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"St. Augustine has certainly messed things up regarding sexuality. Abortion is faced in the Catholic Church BECAUSE sex is ONLY for procreation!\"\n\nThe better/best outcome of \u201csex\u201d is \u201cprocreation\u201d of life. Or, would you say it is not?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And conservative Christians are still claiming that gay people or couples who seek equal rights, who merely want a baker to comply with a law, are seeking \"special rights\".\nIf a gay baker refused a conservative Christian couple a custom-designed wedding cake, churches would be howling!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "2/ Of course the right and their so-called pro-life supporters enabled the election of a dictator wannabe who (entirely predictably) is driving the country to the brink of nuclear war. They would destroy civilization itself in the \"pro-life\" cause. A more ghastly Orwellian pathology I cannot imagine.\n\nNaturally these ostensible pro-lifers embrace the anti-science idiocy of climate change denial even amid this horrifying season of natural disasters. \"Faithful Catholics\" vilify the pope and his prophetic alarm to act as responsible stewards of the planet. And they tacitly accept the fascist sentiments of Trump's merry band of Nazis, KKK and white supremacists. Just remember, alt-Catholics: you can't presume your salvation.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As I'm sure you know, Brian, the reporter's that did a story on Planned Parenthood selling baby parts have been convicted of fraud.\n\nCalling people scum is not very Christian, Brian. Go to confession!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Accurate headline, Yes they are up against the same obstacle - Catholicism!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Just as Pope Francis duped most people regarding his actions about sex abuse, so too has Cardinal Cupich duped most people regarding his actions protecting migrants. By his words, he has deliberately and cunningly alerted the Federal authorities that there are illegal foreigners hiding on church properties. And the Cardinal signaled those authorities that they need only produce an easily obtained warrant. MSW and many of you are very gullible. Can't any of you see that Cardinal Cupich is actually a Federal agent?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No. I know LGBTs who have been chased out of the Church. It was made abundantly clear to these \"intrinsically disordered\" people that they are neither wanted not welcome in the Catholic Church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think there is much question that some gays entered the Catholic priesthood as cover for their lack of interest in women. There is plenty of question as to how many of the pedophiles were involved with boys because of access and not their orientation. Some of the most egregious pedophiles raped girls as well as boys, even though boys were in the majority precisely because they were altar boys and left alone with the priests in question.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The premiss of the school is wrong-headed from the outset. How does one interpret Aristotle from a Christian perspective? Darwin? Joyce?The first rule of education is that one should check one's preconceived opinions at the door. Believing in a primitive, male-centrist, death-worshipping, cannibalistic religion (Christianity) hardly is a good precondition to teaching or learning.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why shouldn't I be allowed to criticize other people's faith? Is their faith sacrosanct and beyond discussion for criticism? We in the West seem to have no problem criticizing catholics or jews...so what makes Islam so special? From what I know of Islam, it ain't for me (as a gay male). Do you always look to denigrate someone who has a difference of opinion? Very progressive of you.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And another thing, CherryAnn, I would commend to your attention this video from Denmark (those people are craaaazy there) of people hugging a Muslim man on the street. It's probably not something you'd normally watch, I'll just encourage you to stretch a little and think about the average Muslim person, instead of the average \"Muslim\" terrorist. Oh, and let's not forget that we've had no shortage of white American \"Christian\" terrorists in this country, too. \n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0fH5G_7iz0", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Another one who claims that his fear and loathing of homosexuals is based on Church teaching. As Christ taught us, \"You shall love your neighbor as yourself, unless the neighbor is gay. That neighbor shall not be loved.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "When Trump boasted about his perverted sexual predations, the right fell all over themselves to excuse it and attempt to normalize it as 'just how the boys do'.\nEven the self-proclaimed and self-styled 'righteous' evangelical extremists decided they'd just go ahead and accept Trump and hold him close, never mind their Christian hearts might go all aflutter.\nUsed to be, for those self same evangelicals, even one divorce would summarily disqualify a candidate, but today, with Trump, they don't care if he runs through wives like some people do the number of new cars they might buy. And the boasting and admitted perverted sexual predation?\nLIke Trump didn't boast and admit his crime.\nSexual perverts should pay for their crimes. Period. As one, as a society we should condemn them and not allow them to escape punishment.\nBut, if you're a right winger, you only act like you're outraged if it's not a right winger caught in their perversions.\nNo better example of the right's hypocrisy", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Jay, so you are comparing \"liquor\" to a \"living\" and breathing human who can't be free to go about society like the rest of us and order a cake. No one has stopped you from ordering a cake where you like and if so you would be the first one to complain I am sure of it. You obviously dislike Muslims and LGBT's. Name one thing Christian's don't have the freedom to do in this nation? Got that right be a bigot and pretend it ain't so.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Still peddling this \"good, moderate rebel\" fiction, aren't we? \n\nLets start from the beginning: \n- Who are they? Who is in official contact with them? What do they stand for?\n- What makes them \"good, moderate\" and so dear to \"Free World\" political/media establishment (other than the fact they fight Assad.)\n- What about heinous crimes committed by some of those \"moderate\" groups, especially against Christians?\n- Are they in any way alike those \"rebels\" we supported in Libya?\n\nThe answers are obvious and sickening", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christians expecting to go to their white mans heaven, after supporting unchristianlike things on their fellow man. Them expecting to go to their white mans heaven makes as much sense as the terrorists expecting to go to their Islamic heaven after inflicting slaughter and mayhem to many thousands of innocents. Won't happen\nAnd todays Christians are busy kicking out refugees, while not noticing that their jesus was a refugee fleeing a guaranteed death.\nAs a Native non Christian, I may end up in the whitemans hell, but I will be in the company of many of \"Christians\" who are pushing for more defunding of health ad social programs that help the poor, sick, weak, hungry and the dying, in order to give the same money to the republicans corporate masters, as well as kicking the American created refugees out of America.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"How many Catholics truly CARE what these guys say on human sexuality anymore?\"\n\nRegarding a subject as laden with moral content as sexuality, the problem is that you have it completely backwards. You haven't been listening to the Bishops for decades. And now look at our mess: scores of millions of aborted babies, what a horror; the near destruction of marriage; children without fathers (even among upper middle-class \"liberated\" women, the thought is, \"Who needs a man to help raise a child?\"); gay marriage; transgenderism --- all advocated by the weirdest bunch of people mankind has known since Rome year A.D. 1. And you think this is good. Lost.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, let me tell you how good I felt when called a 'baby killer' or told not to let the door hit me in the behind on the way out. I'm sure those 60% of white Catholics who voted for Trump were far too charitable to have directed that kind of rhetoric at Catholic progressives. By the way, I can handle a so called clown Mass much easier than the disgusting stunt Pavone pulled off on behalf of all you believers in the 'sanctity of life'.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "ruben, got to disagree here. if you and all your relatives, every single one, back to 1620 were systematically abused in every way possible, degraded and stripped of any dignity, you wouldn't post such statements. if your gender, ethnicity or non-religious beliefs were only gotten through long and arduous trials in the streets and in the courts, after lifetimes of having to live out of sight of rich, white, christian males, you would not think the constitution protects any body that is not rich, white, christian and male. when laws have to be passed to give minorities the same basic rights that are enjoyed by rich, white, christian males in our country, that constitution, flag, pledge (added in 1954, yup, you guessed it, by rich, white, christian males). the only thing you got right is that sports fans are not really interested in the anthem, just when is that damn thing going to be over so the game can start. only a small percentage of rich, white, christian males are even american.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Did you just \"forget\" Gary Ridgway, killer of 70+ women (straight, and an evangelical Christian). And Ted Bundy (straight, Republican), killer of more than 35? Or do you get your news from sites that like to lie to you and you like being lied to?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"I think something that isn't explored is that 99% of those who claim this religions exemption only target one group - homosexuals. They never target adultery or other sins that the bible talks about. This to me shows that it's not really about religion at all.\"\n\nAgreed. There are a lot of fake Christians out there who have a problem with gay marriage but if you a convicted murderer.. not a problem. See Richard Ramirez who was known in the 1980's as the Night Stalker. A convicted serial killer who was married at San Quentin in 1996. Don't remember a whole lot of (if any) religious groups protesting this marriage.\nThe Little Guy", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Bryan's letter addresses the concept of \"decency.\" I fear that the right-wing of the GOP has lost their belief in this concept. I fear that right-wing zealous Christianity has become a religion of hate rather than love. I see the millions of posts across the internet attacking minorities, women, LGTB individuals, the poor and all \"liberals\" who support them. I see the millions of posts which, over the last eight years, have attacked President Obama as a \"stupid, Kenya-born N@#$#%$ who hates America and seeks to destroy it.\" I see the wide-spread lack of decency and civility which, instead of promoting a \"better\" America, promotes a very dark nation with hate and discrimination prevalent. \n\nI simply ask, \"How can such a negative, hate-filled world view \"make America great again\"?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I recognized evil in the Hollywood Access tape where our thrice-married president bragged about grabbing women by their private parts. Yet many righteous Catholics voted for him anyway. So much for conservative sincerity when it comes to \"family values.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"As being gay becomes more culturally acceptable, it will be interesting to see if gay vocations to priesthood and religious life decline, especially if the Catholic church continues to be perceived as a homophobic institution. Another 20-60 percent drop in vocations would be devastating to the church.\"\n\nVocations to the sisterhood declined as opportunities for women rose. It is only logical to conclude that as opportunities for gays increase fewer will feel a need to resort to the priesthood.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Comment on: \nMuhammad Ali\u2019s son detained at airport, asked \u2018are you Muslim ?\n\n WAS REJECTED BY THE GLOBE AND MAIL MODERATOR\n\nPLEASE BE THE JUDGE!\n\n======\n\n\"internationalist\"10 hours ago\n\nTrump and the right-wing xenophobe fanatics are destroying the American society and their madness is becoming contagious into the Canadian and European xenophobes.\n\nThe Globe and Mail management has a responsibility to clean-up this forum...and NOT to appoint xenophobe moderators that not only tolerate...but in many cases they look the other way...judging from how many racist and hateful comments remain .\n\nFINAL COMMENT: 99% of the Muslims are descent people...just like in any other religious groups....so the problem is NOT with Islam ...but with the extreme criminal ideologists, that are using religion as a cover up and a recruiting tool. Every time we bundle all Muslims as the enemy...more Muslims will become our enemies. WHERE IS ACTION...THERE IS A REACTION!\n\nP.S. I am a white Christian European!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Any cult like Catholicism deserves to ridiculed and treated with contempt. The bizarre beliefs of this silly religion are responsible for the institutionalization of child rape and torture for centuries. Also don't forget that until 1964, anti-semitism was an official doctrine of the church. Why shouldn't any rationale person not have contempt for such an obscene institution?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We would be electing Hillary, not Bill. Yes both men have been horrible, Donald and Bill. Hillary's crime? staying with her husband and forgiving him over and over again...I would say that is very Catholic of her. You should be applauding her for working on her marriage. If she had some angry words with the many mistresses...who can blame her? The two situations are not equal. If you doubt that Trump does not have actions behind his words....you can google the lolitta express, which he and Bill were both a part of. Disgusting, but it wasn't Hillary.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "But Jesus didn;t merely speak about a married man leaving his family, did he? He also addressed other things about marriage -- such as its indissolubility. Why do you fail to acknowledge this?\n\nAnd what on earth does a man clinging to his wife and not allowing outside influences to affect the marital bond have to do with whether gay marriage is Christian or not? You are full of knowledge that you have no idea what to do with. It might be better for you to learn car engines inside out and stick to that.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "However, it's just par for the course for Evangelicals and conservative Christians to use religious belief as their argument to define and discriminate against another class of people. Jim Crow Laws are the perfect example, and so was the treatment of Native Americans, and so now too, the treatment of LGBT and women's reproductive rights. I suppose none of this should be shocking when the prevailing view of God in conservative Christian and Catholic circles is that of a white heterosexual male.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "....by the same twisted folks who contort themselves mindlessly defending a 6th Century religion that throws gays off buildings, stones women, believes in honor killings, and forces women to cover themselves.\n\nBut yes, open-minded leftists, tell us about those horrible Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "NAZISM IS THE SAME as LIBERAL N TURDDO POLICIES IN MOST WAYS EXCEPT, HITLER WAS A BETTER LEADER, ONLY DIFFERENCE TURDDO IS GOING TO GET RID OF THE CATHOLICS CANADIANS, \n, liberalism is a sick social disease and needs to be completely eradicated by all means \nif need be \nany immigrant who votes for these incompetent bunch will feel our wrath", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Some priests should be put out to pasture. I'm sorry that you ever had to hear such a wrong thing, John. The inability to have a perspective on what is really pro-life will kill what's left of this Church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I agree. Firing someone just for being gay is terribly wrong and should be prohibited. The Church itself does NOT teach that such a person commits sin simply by being gay. In fact, the Church treats such people with special respect, in recognition of the cross they bear for Christ.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That is a ridiculous comparison. Child marriage is a bad thing everywhere (and it happens in Canada, too, e.g., with the fundamentalist Christians in BC). We call it child marriage because one of the parties is a child, as in, under 18. Putting children into wars or marriages is a bad idea. And name calling in a discussion forum is also a bad idea - you've assumed that those of us who disagree with you are \"Liberals\" and that this would somehow be a bad thing.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Is Bishop McGee offering the Traditional Latin Mass on Iona or anywhere else in his diocese? Is he fighting those in the Church from top down who are now working flat out to destroy what is left of the True Catholic Faith and Christ's Church? If not, this is all hooey.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ridiculous post. Entire BOOKS have been written about the rich culture, the self-sustaining way of life, the fascinating mythology of the west coast peoples. If these people \"HAD no culture\" then gosh, why did those good Anglican and Catholic churchmen go to so much trouble to stamp it out? Even AFTER the small-pox and the liquor ravaged their way of life. \n\nThey didn't have plows--because this society was not agrarian. Simple as that. People who live hand-to-mouth don't stop to carve and raise intricate totem poles to celebrate their families and their mythology they took the time to create, or to construct substantial communal houses against the weather, or go to the trouble to stage elaborate gift-giving potlatch ceremonies. They don't weave baskets, create ornaments, make their own clothes--including hats. Carve seaworthy canoes. \n\nBut your ridiculous post is very instructive, Goober. \nMan, Canada's got a long way to go...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"For FOX, the crisis was part moral and part legal. By whatever calculus they used, the string of accusations against both men would be offensive to large segments of its conservative Christian audience. The threat of lawsuits was likely even more troubling.\"\n\nFox \"News\" has repeatedly shown to be immune to its own hypocrisy. No doubt it was the lawsuits staring it in the face that led them to dump its two biggest personalities.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I called for mass murder? I never said anything about the killing Christian religious services. Everybody's entitled to their superstitions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Pontifical Commission ... has made huge contributions in educating Catholics across the globe about the issue of abuse of minors and vulnerable adults.\"\n\nThe clear implication here is that Catholics did not know that abusing minors and vulnerable adults was a serious transgression. And this is the church that Jesus built?\nMaybe it is time to call a spade a spade.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They were NOT anti-Catholic - that is just your biased opinion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent essay by Mr. Macdougall. It is a shame that those of us faced with a voting choice are always left to select the lesser evil. I fondly recall the days when I could trust Conservatives -like the Bill Davis era- and voters had a real choice. But with the coming of Mike Harris, that choice left as the Conservatives seemed to welcome and promote bigotry against any and all who were non-white and non-Christian. Now there is no choice. I have no choice but to choose the lesser evil Liberals because they don't attract all the anti-muslim, anti-semitic, anti-Aboriginal, anti-black hordes that the Cons do -and support. One can see the Conservative party working hard to become a bastion of white nationalism, and as Macdougall rightly points out, refuses to see any non-white subset of the Canadian milieu in a positive light. Until the white nationalist riff-raff is tossed from the party, the rest of us will remain with only one, real choice to govern.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Christianity uses snakes in their sermons. Thus, you must wonder why you didn't see any snakes in church this past Sunday. See if you can figure out why.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "they are also supported by the catholic church. want a shocker? go find the chapel in the riverbend hospital building. it will blow minds - it looks like the place the dark lords meet.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anyone who practices sodomy and claims to be a Catholic cannot long simulate intellectual coherence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If all humanity ALREADY obeyed Jesus and never unjustly aggressed against anyone, then Berrigan's message was a no-brainer. But that's not the world, and Christians need good guidance in how to respond to a real world that has Hitler, Pol Pot, ISIS, etc. In such a world, Berrigan's teaching was foolish. Followed to its logical conclusion, which is where my questions took him, his teaching would have us without an army. Do you support that with a straight face?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow. I can see you are upset about my post. No I am not blaming abused children nor their parents for causing trouble. The trouble was caused by the Church....that I still love. I'm not overlooking rapes and no, I am not a rapist. You are right to care about the children. Do you still love Jesus? Do you have faith that He cares about us and the children. I still believe He does.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very interesting article. Perhaps the author could do a followup by comparing Muslim youth radicalization in Canada, with Christian and Jewish radicalization in Muslim countries. No doubt non Muslim youth in Arab countries must also feel the same way, that they living \"in a hostile environment that left them feeling stigmatized and/or marginalized.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islam has to learn to operate in the 21. century. We can not bend down to this 6.th century culture. Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians have no special protection.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not quite sure what you are saying. Are you suggesting that radical Catholic teaching on sex is even more unfair to women by \"teaching\" that women are guilty of initiating sex not only of causing men's lust thus being even more misogynistic in their indoctrination? Or do you believe that women are indeed guiltier because Eve actually initiated sex and is the one who is totally responsible for the sinful act of sex? You do realize that without sex, humanity and other sexually reproducing creatures would be extinct? If God created them then he created sex and made the opposite sexes attractive to each other to encourage and ensure survival through reproduction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Matt Foley writes:\n\n\"I'm a white Evangelical Christian.\n\nI proudly cling to my Bible and my guns.\n\nI am a member of the NRA.\n\nI am a proud American.\n\nI am your worst nightmare.\n\n--\n\nYour right, you are my worst nightmare.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump and his crew and the Religious Right and the Alt-right ginned up all of this hatred to anyone they deem to be 'the other' like Hispanics, Blacks, we non-republicans, etc. Now the innocent Jewish people are paying the price of all of the free floating hatred. It attaches to us all. \nOn another note--\nMy Rabbi friend is a professor at a Rabbinical college AND in charge of their security -- AND, he helped out with the security of the Catholic seminary on an adjoining campus. He told me after I spent years of helping him with my electronic knowledge. He was/is terrific. I was pleased but knowing him I would have expected nothing less, he was that kind of guy as were all of the many Jews that I knew. \nI would return to help them if I weren't so disabled. \nI had four coursees in Catholic Philosophy and Jewish Philosophy is EQUALLY as fascinating. They both give a strung moral compass. I wanted to take a course in Jewish Philosophy at their college but that never materialized.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seems like a great guy, but I also heard him say that \"illegal\" immigration is an economic benefit to Canada. Hmmmm, don't think he'll get far with that message. Also, it's interesting to see how the left fetishizes exotic religions while relentlessly attacking Christians. If his Turban was a Christian symbol the left would hate him. Strange double standards.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can't understand where these clergy in such cash strapped countries have access to all these 'loose funds\"it's appalling really. Doing a clean out of old print offs going back to the day's having to convince myself all the crimes etc carried out by the institution are true there's been more than just few who have misused church funds........and had mistresses on the side. That's not even including clergy taking sexual advantage of asylum seekers for legal documents necessary seeking refugee status. Trapani's Sergio Librizzi Caritas director for one that comes to minds and more recently Edoardo Scordio te head of another Catholic group Mercy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The top 27 countries in homicide rates are Christian. Turkmenistan is the first Muslim nation at number 28. Want to blame Christianity for murder rates in these countries?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "> \"Quebecers are proud of having gotten the Church out of public institutions, and see Islam as Catholicism on steroids.\"\n\nI could sympathize more if I believed that. But it doesn't seem to be what people are actually saying or reacting to. All I'm hearing is \"they're covering their faces and that's not how we do things around these parts\".\n\nAnd if overbearing theocratic stuff were the issue, worrying about veils would be a pretty silly way to approach it, because veils aren't an expression of legal or even moral authority the way many of the trappings of the Catholic church were or are.\n\nThose crucifixes are still direct endorsements of a specific religion by public bodies. That's why they were originally there. That's still why a lot of their supporters want them there. Handwaving about \"culture\" doesn't make that any less true, any more than it can make the Confederate flag in the US not about slavery.\n\nWhen Islam starts doing something remotely that overbearing, we can talk.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The office of priest is...power over lay Catholics\"? Over you, and other dociles, yes. Over those who like to exercise that huge organ between their ears? Fat chance!\n\nYou have unintentionally presented a model of priesthood (power-grubbing and clericalist) that, for centuries, has done untold damage to the Church. And, what's more, continues to do so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr Malachi Martin exposes the fifth column infiltration and subversion of the Roman Catholic Church from within; and, particularly through the agency of the JESUITS. One of his books is titled \u2018THE JESUITS: The Society of Jesus and the Betrayal of the Roman Catholic Church.\u2019\u2019 jesuitism is really simply CRYPTO-JUDAISM. CRYPTO-JUDAISM is the term to describe the ancient practice which jews would deploy in Christian countries; whereby they would feign conversion to Christianity yet work to judaize the faith from within. bergoglio is the vicar of george soros. Laudato Si for example is the communist manifesto for [apostate] catholics. A rewrite of AGENDA 21-AGENDA 2030 under a cloak of morality;....the MARXIST BABY LOOSELY SWADDLED IN ANCIENT CATHOLIC TERMINOLOGY.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Still drawing his full benefits from General status as retired military despite longtime treasonous acts against the nation. The poster child for the modern, privatized military made up of officers' free education at West Point, Naval, and Air Force academies cranking out those fundamentalist christians as one requirement for promotion along with schemes to add to income through Military Industrial Complex connections. All paid by taxpayers. The failures to finish transpose into Republican politics to get elected to the AK legislature to rage and rant against all of those Natives, black/brown people, and heretics not following jesus dogma. This feudal system needs a real restructuring and house cleaning of the embedded rot since privatization.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I ask every new business I enter if the owners are christian and if answer yes then I leave letting them know I could never do commerce with THOSE kind of people as they will slop sugar to your face while figuring the best way to stab you in the back. If christians want THEIR kind ONLY to spend at their stores then state that clearly on the front door and let consumers make up their mind before they enter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article certainly has attracted much derision, though most of it appears to be knee-jerk, unconsidered, anti-religious memes that don't directly address any of the topics discussed in the article. The central theme of this piece was that Jesus was the victim of an angry mob - he was killed. During the killing, and afterwards, when he had been resurrected, his message was one of forgiveness - that we should not repay evil with evil - that retaliation only leads to death. And so, the response to violence of St George, and other communities that call themselves Christian, should be and will be to seek out and nurture life - this is what resurrection is, and this is what the author was writing about. I find it curious that while Lorna writes of answering hostility with peace, her message of peace is answered by hostility.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thomas Merton would not approve of the National Catholic Reporter because it is a heretical publication that is deceiving the minds of many Catholics who think it represents the teachings of the Catholic Church. The NCR has no right to call itself Catholic. It is not Catholic. It is secular in its viewpoint.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Should we encourage immigration by Moslem refugees OR by the minority refugee groups such as the Yazdis, Arab Christians, Coptic Christians, that Moslems have persecuted?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you may have missed my sacrasm. \n\nOf course, logically, if divorced \"remarried\" get \"accompanied\", who's to say polygamists, racists, employers paying an unjust wage, or anyone finding any commandment inconvenient can't come to the conclusion with their priest that they are doing their best to respond to what God is calling them to in their concrete situation or that they know what the right thing to do is but don't appreciate the \"value of the rule\", or that they have some mitigating factor which justifies them in ignoring what the Gospel says. Which is why Cardinal Napier's tweet won't be getting an answer anytime soon, and why AL affects the whole edifice of Catholic moral teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is Canada's pathetic excuse for a Charter of Rights, it is a joke. We need real rights, freedoms and protections with UNALIENABLE rights.\n-\nInternet service providers like Rogers, should be legally responsible to keep our data private and anonymous.\n-\nLet's not forget that it is the Christian right of Canada, the narcissists, who are disgusted with other Canadians and who believe that God is Watching us therefore it perfectly natural that they watch us (because they are close to GOD.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...many times in ridiculous ways. Most \"conservative\" congregations shake hands, while in others people make a real show of hugging, kissing and glad-handing while their presbyter/presider makes a big show of abandoning the altar to roam up and down the aisles to shake as many hands as possible.\nEarly Christians certainly treated the Mass and Christ with much more respect than one finds in the NOM. Also, the Mass and the Agape were different things entirely. The agape was actually discontinued because it wasn't necessary and caused too many abuses.\nThe Council of Trent covered, dogmatically, what is required for valid sacraments; matter, form, and intent, and was very specific regarding each of the 7 sacraments. Invalid matter has been a problem for too many NOM parishes for decades. (Consecrating Diet-Rite Cola and hamburger buns during the middle of a three-ring circus is but one example of an invalidating abuse that never would have happened in the Roman Rite before the NOM...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's right, the Catholic Church is concerned about \"potential catastrophic liability\" instead of paying for the crimes of their priests and the church covering it up for years. The Catholic Church has always been about Power and Money and nothing else. Only concerned about themselves and not the victims. But that's how the church rolls.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "None of what you posted is what I said.\n\nHere is what I said: \"Muslims aren't trying to turn America into a theocracy, let alone a Muslim theocracy. Dominionist 'Christians' want a theocracy so bad, they wear it on their sleeve. (N.B. the Pence quote in the article.)\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "See the perspective from non-believrs. Though they do NOT follow Christian celebrations, they still suffer Christmas from before Halloween (BTW: Not saying \"Happy Halloween\" is a war on devil worshipers). \nBefore we can say \"Boo!\" the sale of Christian stuff begins. (A retailer in Blue River sells Christmas stuff YEAR ROUND!). Costco is the most religious as they display wrapping paper along side patriotic 4th of July American flag toilet paper. \nThe assault on the liberty to avoid \"Xmas\" continues with plastic trees and Nativities. Really? An idyllic barnyard, with stinking animals where Jesus was born because no one made reservations? His birth was a surprise? \nThen the music begins. First on Christian stations, then mainstream, then punk. You should hear the Twisted Sister Christmas songs - really! \nIt continues this way for weeks, with reminders to keep \"Christ in Xmas\", and after with sales of storage containers for all the Xmas crap. \n\nChristmas - a war on non-believers ;)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "His priorities should be souls. Not giving fuel to a bunch of catholic cranks.\n\nOr maybe someone could remind him of the motto of the Jesuits: Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.\n\nHis director should also remind him: Esto Vir. \n\nA much higher task than playing poke the politician from a safe distance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm still getting a kick out of the 160+ comments on an article that is titled \"Church Militant's nonsense not authentically Catholic\"....as if the article, comments, and publication itself is.\n*smh*", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "we need to unify catholics too. Vatican 2 rent the church, the chief abomination being the new mass. I'm not even really a conservative person but the novus ordo mass is just plain ugly. Even the TLM from 1962 is a bad mass because so much was changed by John XXIII. Why? Why on earth was something so powerful and beautiful, of such ancient provenance changed? In 10 years! To bring in the protestants. Can we admit this now after 54 years?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Religious freedom, in turn, which men demand as necessary to fulfill their duty to worship God, has to do with immunity from coercion in civil society. Therefore it leaves untouched traditional Catholic doctrine on the moral duty of men and societies toward the true religion and toward the one Church of Christ.\" -Dignitatis Humanae\n\nIf DH is lying to us, why should we pay it any heed?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is just fake news and lies spread by gop.\nOddly, they have little moral values, yet get loads of moral teachings via Christianity.\nSad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe that you are unhappy that they bring their orthodox Christian views with them when they become Catholic. \nThat's the crux of the matter, isn't it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many Jewish citizens of Israel can enter Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE Libya, Yemen Syria Lebanon,? None, unless on diplomatic mission . How many Christian are allowed into Mecca? None at all. . Trump is just returning the favour Muslims have practiced for centuries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Not one penny of American treasure should be granted to any nation who harbors these heathen animals.\"\n\nYes, it's time to tax all the US churches equally! If the Christian churches are at war with Islamic horror, let them pay for it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Catholic institutions reject transgender people, then transgender people and their allies will reject Catholicism. Which is a win for the trans people and a loss for Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All churches are full of sinners. \n\nThat is a common phrase for pastors who feel the hypocrisy of self-righteousness. Please don't make the mistake of assuming all Christian or even all Christian evangelical churches are the same.\n\nAny person of serious faith would know that Christian have all the same human frailties that non Christians have. You might agree with that?\n\nMy pastor regularly sited studies that showed Christian behaviors, as a large group, are almost identical to the behaviors of those of with no religious faith. He said it with a touch of sadness, knowing this is true, but also as reminder that faith requires deep understanding and commitment. Behavior does count.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pedalling fear is what repubs do.\n\nFEAR the dark-skinned folks.\nFEAR the godless heathens who will make you give up Christianity and accept Sharia law.\nFEAR the Democrats *because*.\nFEAR losing *something* because we tell you that evil Democrats are too blame.\n\nF-E-A-R\n\nFrom the party of fear and loathing(R). Copyrighted 1953 by Joe McCarthy(R).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely un-true! What's more, subsequent pontiffs have taken pains to indicate that NO Catholic is free to disregard any Vatican II document (or post-conciliar document) as \"merely pastoral\" or \"non-magisterial.\" Your statements are \"utter hogwash\" indeed!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many Christian ministers have publicly said the same thing. This isn't about Christians and Muslims. It is about radical religious hate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not only Samaritans, and Romans. Moreover, Jesus condemn entire Jewish cities that rejected his gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "White Christians perhaps; not white evangelicals who are definitely not the majority!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed the Bible is very clear. The Canaanites tried to destroy the Jews and were defeated. End of story.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "DD those quotes are from the Haddith, not the Qu'ran. You should have checked the references on the Wikipedia page, as it would have told you say that the first quote about Damascus is from Sahih Muslim - one of the Haddiths. \n\nIf you go back and re-read my essay, you will see I am not advocating Christian missionaries promote or accept a version of Islam that we usually see around the world, that reads the Qu'ran through the Haddith. \n\nIt is the same with Judaism and the Talmud. Messianic Jews wouldn't I believe accept the Talmud.\n\nMy understanding is that \"insider\" Christians instead spread the gospel to Muslims in their lands, often under pain of the death penalty, by reading the Qu'ran through the prism of the Bible - as the Qu'ran itself acknowledges the Bible but not later supplements like the Haddith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholics used guns and acts of terrorism against their oppressors (why blow up innocent members of Lord Mountbatten's family?) However, they expect Blacks in America to turn the other cheek and be forgiving towards their oppressors here in the States. \n\nFor some who say Blacks go back to Africa, why don't they tell the Catholics to move to the Republic, instead of trying to claim Northern Ireland all for themselves?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am neither Republican nor Christian ... would you care to try again? I can see you can accept the hypocrisy of the post that Dem's hold themselves to ha higher standard ...that is a joke ... both parties and all people have flaws ... The irony is that the statement made that you try to now deflect and defend is the height of hypocrisy", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am certain that there are internal forces not just in the vatican but worldwide who fail to understand the fundamental issues involved in sexual abuse and among them are those who work actively or through passive resistance to derail attempts to be responsive to what properly called a scandal - acts or failures to act which place obstacles to people's trust and respect in regards to the church and Christ. \n\nbut it is possible for people to find zero tolerance inconsistent with our faith and tradition. meditation on mercy I find makes me uncomfortable now with zero tolerance. I find it near impossible to square with Christ's teaching.\n\nlegally church tribunals are not courts of law but of equity. \n\ncanonical penalties are fundamentally geared to be medicinal - to work to make as whole as possible offender and the harmed which seems here too vanilla a word .\n\nperhaps it is time to face what is actually expected of the church to arrange situations in which healing is the objective.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Convicted felon Dinesh D\u2019Souza is coming to Anchorage to speak as a Christian?\n\nWell, I think it's just super that he's put his fraudulent ways behind him and is ready to reintegrate with honest society! He's like an Indian-American Ralph Reed!\n\nhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2014/09/23/dinesh-dsouza-avoids-jail-time-get-five-years-of-probation-for-campaign-finance-violation/\n\nHold on to your wallets folks\u2026", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Typical.\n\nYou missed my point entirely. My point was not what I respect or don't respect, or whether people care about whether I respect them.\n\nMy point, sir, was that Protestants have integrity. Dissident Catholics do not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Overall you are right that restrictions on immigration/travel are not unconstitutional. However this executive order is problematic not just because its roll out was flawed. The order includes exceptions for religious minorities coming from muslim countries (e.g. christians) and many in the Trump administration have referred to it as a ban on muslims. Its this apparent religious test that is the basis of the constitutional challenge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It can be fairly said that the Vatican tends to be out of date and a bit pedantic, and not just about language. It is a male institution, with a narrow perspective. There is a lack of sensitivity about usage, as shown by the unpopular and unnecessary liturgy changes Pope Benedict instituted and by his unfortunate Muslim comments early on in his reign. There has also been a lack of sensitivity and awareness about sexual abuse by priests, bishops and cardinals. \n\nIt can also be fairly said that the church needs much more input from women--overall and not just about language.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe it has been mentioned before here but honestly I didn't read through all the comments...\n\nA minority Christian from Iran will be banned entry to US just the same. How is this anti-Muslim? This is why people are disgusted with the media's spin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah! The TRADITIONALISTS have turned it into a freak show! REALLY? Sorry, but the freak show is ABSOLUTELY the effect of progressive \"Catholicism\", which is really nothing more than genuine heresy in action. Circus \"masses\"? Clown \"masses\"? Beach \"masses\"?\nFortunately the fathers of the Church agreed that heretical popes lose the authority of their office by virtue of their heresy.\nAnd there is Christ's promise. Let Jorge engage in whatever he wants, it won't change his status.\nYour tolerance is duly noted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is that what you say to your children? \"I don't owe you anything. Tough luck.\"\n\nIt's not about owing something. It's about love. Catholic teaching says that God calls each of us to happiness and fulfillment. \n\nExcept for homosexuals, apparently. They have to settle for a \"disordered inclination\" and a life of struggle with a cold shoulder from the Church.\n\nOh well. Not your problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The MSM and the West in general doesn't care about Christians in the middles east ..... politically incorrect ...... any other group and it would be considered a genocide. Most of our pretend allies in the region heavily oppress Christians and other non-muslims. Even in Turkey .... rewarded with NATO membership and a path to EU .... makes life difficult for Christians and non-muslims, How many buddhist temples in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq? How many synagogues? Hindu temples? Seems to be no concern for the oppression and bans of these groups.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Prior to National Socialists taking power in Jan 1933, there WAS chaos in the streets in Germany: Bolsheviks had a special interest in turning Germany into a Communist government and there were frequent riots and bloodshed. Impoverished Germans attacked wealthy Jews.\nIt will upset some to acknowledge this, but it is a fact, acknowledged on the first page of Breitman & Lichtman's book, \"FDR and the Jews,\" that National Socialists, deploying the Brown Shirts, put a stop to the rioting and \"quelled violence against Jews.\" The book goes on to explain that Jews in Germany were NOT subjected to physical violence, and no Jew was sent to a concentration camp until after rioting again erupted after the murder of the German diplomat in 1938.\nThose are facts.\nCatholics, above all others, should be careful with their words: \"Who sins not with his lips sins not at all.\"\nWe have been fed, and repeat uncritically, far too many lies and distortions about the WWI & WWII era. Objectivity is crucial.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "McElroy is on borrowed time. His tenure as Bishop is about to meet a tragic end caused by his own inflated sense of his left-wing nonsense.\n\nYou don't sell out white Catholics to appease race mongrels and live to tell about it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do not turn against these people. They know not what they do. Many of them believe in and are ardent supporters of the United States Constitution, yet they must not have read the Constitution.\n\nTheir Lord or God or whatever it is they worship must not give them much strength. They are so easily upset by another's words that they want to restrict that persons freedom of religion.\n\nI have long considered all Christian prayers before government meetings to be a waste of time and an affront to my freedom of religion. I am against all prayers at government meetings, even those offered to His Majesty, His Holiness, His Sauciness, the one and only Flying Spaghetti Monster!\n\nThis action sure seems like a bunch of Christians who can't stand the heat. I sure wish they'd get out of the kitchen.\n\nWell, now that I think about it, maybe we should turn against such people. Voters, do your job and get rid of these followers of such a weak faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We should be just the opposite of what you're suggesting.\n\nWe should be self-forgetful. Not counting things, real or imagined wrongs.\n\nWe should learn how to \"shrug off\" slights, ever more quickly and quietly.\n\nWe should be so focused on serving God and loving God in costly ways that we have no time to remember personal slights from 5 minutes ago, let alone 50 years ago!\n\nMore sporting spirit.\nMore \"not a worry..it was nothing\".\n\nIf non-Christians conclude that Christians harbor grudges from 50 years ago (over incredibly small matters) what are they to think of Christianity? Of Jesus? Of the Gospels? Of God?\n\nThey will conclude: Why be Christian if this guy is an example...a person who nurses resentments over 50 years and wallows in self-pity.\n\nThis is precisely the opposite of what Pope Francis is encouraging. This is not an \"attractive\" Christianity\"!\n\nThis sort of spirit breeds an ever smaller horizon of life, staleness, more self-focus, cynicism, complaint, bitterness, pessimism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Republican agenda has been fascism, pure and simple, ever since the end of WWII. They hated Truman who proposed national healthcare, they installed the HUAC Star Chambers led by outright fascist, McCarthy. They, along with Southern Democrats, retained segregation as a national policy and allowed the Hoover and the fascist FBI to spy on every dissenter including elected officials. They, along with Southern Democrats especially Texans, orchestrated the 3 assassinations which changed the nation forever. They elected Nixon and drove out all elected officials who forced him to resign. The Old South Democrats(Republicans in ideology) hijacked the democratic party leadership to install christian faith-based Carter and Clinton. Finally elected the Reagan/Bushes/Cheney to rearrange the government to better serve Corporate Amerika. Gridlocked Obama, the grand appeaser and compromiser keeping all Republican policies in place, and finally the German Hitler reincarnation. Sieg Heil!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your and my hands are as worthy as a priest's. The consecrated concept is pure mumbo jumbo. It's all made up. This is the Catholic Church at its most ludicrous. Religion is meaningful and religious acts and transubstantiations and other events are willed by belief and buy-in to the mythology and achieve reality in an artistic sense commensurate with the belief.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All of these sexist groups need to be ended for good. Sexism causes only bad things around the globe and sexually exclusive groups are sexist by their definition. We need to stop supporting Knights of Columbus or Malta or any other men's groups. These groups are harmful to our church. Women's groups are equally harmful. Time to live like grown up Christians where brothers and sisters talk, play, worship together. \n\nWe can't truly seek unity and peace while we demand exclusive groups, based on how people are born, be allowed and supported in our church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you going to tell us the sleazy \"evangelical\" \"churches\" are ties to Russia too? LOL \nWhat about your Muslim mosque Allie? How much did the ISIS congregation you belong to give to Obama, HitLIARy and Dung-Beetle Chin to allow refugees from terrorist countries into Hawaii and then hold as slaves? LOL", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pence is as close to a theocrat as we have seen in a long damn time. He will push laws based on his interpretation of the bible, which is not a way to govern a nation made up of folks of multiple religions. Couple that with the fact that there are disagreements between the various sects of Christianity, and you really don't want what he would be offering as President.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Preaching to the choir, Papaji. The problem is that it's not Christians who need to hear this message about a God that thirsts for blood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I question your validity as a Newswoman . You can go online and search the Immigration problem they are having in Holland . I guess it's more fashionable to have a blind eye to what is happening in the world today than to seek out the Truth . .\nWe, the people don't want to have our country invaded by those who would destroy our Culture , our Values and our Laws .\nDo you know anything about Islam ! It teaches to overthrow and kill all Infidels ie;Christians and Jews !\nIf we don't stop the Invasion of Islam then we have failed Canada !\nThere is a great quote by Sir Wilfred Laurier regarding Immigrants coming to Canada ! Please look it up .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The truth about human sexuality, marriage, the family and male and female as revealed by Christ, supported by reason, and upheld by His church, is what it is.\n\nThe truth will set you free, and acquiescing to secular lies and the tricks of the Devil only ensnares and destroys people, and if it's done in some attempt to lure the young to Mass, then it's not only doomed to failure, but completely misguided.\n\nBecause if young people, having seen through the empty lies and tricks of an anti-Christian secular dogma, and having been personally destroyed by them, turn to the Church and find it espousing that same miserable, demonic fraud, especially around matters of marriage, the family and human sexuality, they will run a mile from it, and possibly turn away from Christ completely to other faiths that do assert orthodox moral truths.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sounds as if you are the one who needs to find another church. I would never suggest that a sincere Catholic leave the church, and neither should you. The vast majority have already left and now the churches are being torn down. You want more of that? What is wrong with you liberals?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi William,\nIts ok to talk about what the bible teaches and have an opinion and stand by that opinion hopefully based on scripture. But WO being a salvational issue it is not. That is why it is interesting you judged me as satanic and based on a non salvational issue. It is a common mistake with someone that doesn't know how to handle the word of God. You bully people and throw your weight around. You act like a noob at christian dialog. Who ever disagrees with you you label as non christian and again on a non salvational issue. Im trying to give you a clue here. I like this translation, 1Cor. 1434the women must keep silent. They don't have the right to speak. They must take their place as Moses' Teachings say. 35If they want to know anything they should ask their husbands at home. It's shameful for a woman to speak in church..what I write to you is what the Lord commands. 38But whoever ignores what I write should be ignored. Don't take it personal", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is always useful to remember that Jesus is just a mask that the Vatican wears in pursuit of secular power and influence. This has been the case for centuries, and will continue to be the case as long as there are REAL CATHOLICS to maintain the Vatican's revenue stream.\nWe will know that the Vatican's revenue stream is in trouble when the first priceless painting hits the black market.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't you find it is becoming rather monotonous and predictable? It may seem to be parodying traditionalists but in reality it is a mockery of the Catholic Faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Everyone who knows Trump says he is definitely not a racist\"\nTrump doesn't have enough of an ideological core to be racist or to be not racist. The only ideology Trump has is the advancement of Trump.\nBut!\nTrump is willing to play to the racist component of his base with the kind of ridiculous comments he made after Charlottesville to keep them happy and in his corner.\nIt's the same reason that Trump abruptly ordered the military to kick all transgender people out of the military. Trump doesn't care one way or the other about gay or transgender people, but he knows that throwing them under the bus keeps his conservative Christian base happy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wonder Women in the Christian (Catholic?) community and faith. I have to admit to feeling kinda cynical about that at the moment. I know they exist, but don't look for them in a community dictated to by a hierarchy that labels women as the submissive complementary strawberry to males --ya know, the \"real\" people who God chooses and blesses and gives dominion. We are starved for Wonder Women who are more than tokens, more than some image by men of what they should be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fake news is an old, old story. One of the biggest fake news items in the first half of the 19th century emerged from Montreal. A book, published in NYC called The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk, titillated Protestants across North America with lurid tales about priestly sexual abuse of nuns in Montreal in convent cellars equipped with lime pits to dispose of any unwanted offspring. There was an investigation that turned up nothing and inaccuracies in the book pointed to fabrication. I first learned about this as a kid from my vey anti-Catholic grandmother who died in 1966 more than a century after the book was published. Poison like this can do its work for generations. Stopping it in the internet age is a daunting but necessary task. We must do a much better job of educating kids to be critical and sceptical thinkers, which includes teaching them about why and how fake news spreads and why it poisons discourse. Great article.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But EWTN types told me that women have the important role in the Catholic Church doing all the menial grunt work that men don't want to under the \"leadership\" of the more intelligent malefolk. Sarc off/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That must be why Leticia Velasquez immediately assumed I said something about \"rabid Roman Catholics.\"\n\nSleazy, Marty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, a lot of Christian schools are very intolerant of others who oppose their view.\nThen about bilingual ridicule, You need to look no further than GW Bush who ridiculed John Kerry because he spoke French. Many of his supporters thus adopted that view.\n\nA lot of Americans state that they don't need to learn another language, that everyone should speak American, even though they think that what they speak is English. They even demand it when they go to a foreign country. Islam, now that is another story. If they only read their own Quran they would have an awakening. Problem is that many people who follow Islam cannot read or write in their own language. They are told what is in their book, therefore outfits such as Isis and its ilk arise.\nSchool vouchers equal the dumbing down of America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of four) The only moral, ethical thing to do at this point is stern denunciation of Donald Trump and everything for which he stands. At this point there is no other moral way out. Period. The end.\u2014Elagabalus Nuts. THE USCCB is not about to give up its Republican-Trump agenda.\n\nRight wing Catholics and Evangelicals voted on 2 issues and only 2 issues: abortion and gay marriage. All else was ignored to make that \"moral\" choice.\u2014Anna Rose Kearney that looks like what Pope Francis was condemning in the recent bruhaha over Catholics joining with Evangelicals. Raymond Arroyo went after Pope Francis on this matter August 17 on EWTN. \n\nthere is still room for discussion about where the monuments should go.\u2014Robert ADDINGTON Gravel for dirt roads seems about right for me.\n\nYou decry the Francis revolution; you have ensured a traditional Catholic disaster.\u2014dennism", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church seems to forget it is supposed to serve and not be served. To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ also means to live out His life, to incorporate it into your daily living, something the Church often fails to do. The Church seems to be often in love with money and we live in an era lacking sufficient Priests. Does this serve? The Church is often more a system of laws than a path of Love, often judgmental willing to send us to hell for little more than eating meat on a Friday or missing Mass. Remember? The Church gave us a vision of a God to be feared, not Loved. God is the most gentle Loving, forgiving being possible yet we have grown to fear Him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a young Traditionalist, I feel constantly alienated, and sidelined by the Catholic Church of today which maligns me and ostracizes me. It seems like they want to push me out. Often I feel like I have more in common with the Eastern Orthodox, who believe what I believe than with the aging hippy modernizer Catholics, who don't believe what I believe. The Church is in a sad state today. We have returned to the era of the Renaissance Popes. I don't wish any evil upon Pope Francis, I just hope his papacy ends before he is capable of doing any more damage to Holy Mother Church. Then we can end this modernist heresy once and for all, and the church can finally move forward and progress with the Mass of All the Ages.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What ever happened to the work of the Deaconesses? Great examples in the Bible. I agree that there is a huge role for Women in the church. Many do a superb ministry. I do take issue with some of the crazy, wild things I have heard from the mouths of some who have been ordained as they are way out there in some form of new age theology. I was appalled when a young 'lady' studying for the ministry at Andrews showed up at my church to speak one Sabbath wearing a pin stripped man's suit, tie and shoes. The entire church was appalled and our church had two women elders who were very sincere, dedicated Christian Sisters. \nIn today's culture it is very difficult to be biblical in many ways and we will unfortunately see many things creeping into the church to compromise and distract us from our goals. But we need to quit the bickering and get on with the Father's Business on this earth so we can go home. We read about 1/3 of the angels leaving the throne with Lucifer. Let' not be among them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Calling Catholics who worship a pagan deity \"progressive\" is \"racist\"? I guess so. If you're an American Catholic progressive that is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm profoundly grateful for the new-found legal right to my marriage, and for my 'alternative' family's welcome in our parish and in our kids' Catholic school. \nI'm profoundly angry when same-sex marriages result in firings from other less-welcoming Catholic schools. \nI'm really annoyed when folks like Mr. Tennes disrepect and dishonor same-sex couples.\nSo I'm finding it hard to articulate the reasons why I wanna say 'Come on, just let the guy sell his fruit at the farmers' market\". Something to do with mercy? The right to earn a living? Pity on someone who doesn't know any better? I suppose I could be accused of internalized homophobia...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether it was Atwood's intention or not (I suspect it was), those of us who insist that the separation between church and state is crucial for our pluralist society and our religious communities alike to flourish, will interpret Gilead as a not untypical example of the tyranny that must develop when an assertive, Bible-based religious group takes over control of a state. So the story reads best as a dystopic critique of the political ambitions of right-wing Christian groups in this country, esp. Evangelicals, but also conservative Catholics whose complaints about \"religious freedom\" involve making women and LGBT people second-class or subservient citizens.\n\nMost fascinating to me are the relationships among the women: We might expect there to be a natural sympathy and solidarity among women, but no!, even as we saw in the election. Women can be as bitterly competitive as men; and they can be the worst enemies of other women, as they compete for the favors of the male rulers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Acton is part of the vast right-wing kleptocracy that has captured the fifth floor of the USCCB. I did not think anyone would be surprised at their pressence or the idiocy they resort to in service to their wealthy benefactors. Any natural law reasoning they propound is to serve their benefactors, just as Trad theologians serve the Holy See, rather than reason, in their sophistry. Francis has both groups perplexed. So does reason using evidence rather than first principles. Still, there is some evidence Francis does not seem to have seen.\n\nAbout the review, Americanism can be two things. One is as heresy, which states that Catholic doctrine must be different in America because it is a free society. Actually, this is true when you are talking about how law is made and how abortion law cannot be made. That is a strenght, not a heresy, and it is a guard agaisnt phony natural law reasoning used to justify the reputation of the Holy See rather than find the truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He claims to be a Christian. This claim is open to considerable doubt. Nothing in his life seems to back it up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians arrive at church to pray for rain - no one brings an umbrella or raincoat... Confidence inspiring :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, if you really disagree, why don't you just come out and say \"I am against a religion that is misogynistic and treats women like trash and I am against gays being murdered and thrown off buildings.\" Tolerance is fine and dandy as long as people don't say things that others find offensive. While I think we all know that ISIS does not represent Islam anymore than Timothy McVeigh represents Christianity, until such time as everyone is willing to say tolerance does not equal silence and that we are against bad and evil no matter who perpetrates it or which religion's name is used in vain, then we have a problem. I for one an against misogyny and killing of gays. Religions that support this are part of the problem and they are not welcome in this country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus must be shaking his head in disgust and is probably mystified by the blindness of many followers who worship the institution and miss the whole point of His examples and teachings. Jesus spent much time and love on those on the fringe of society. The kind of people that many Catholics look down on and call disordered or even worse those incapable humans without a penis called women. This men only group of bishops is terrified of those penis-less people who have guts and brains. The majority of Catholics voted for Trump. That shows me that Christ and His teachings have been abandoned for quite some time and are more of a distraction to this \"Churches\" important work of accumulating power and money to judge and exclude those not worthy. And above all to keep the power and privilege of those special ordained penis owners.\n\nHow sad.\n\nFrancis and most bishops should resign in shame and spend what is left of their pathetic existence as missionaries in Africa and South America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Last February, the Archdiocese of Mexico called America's immigration measures to limit immigration and expel illegal immigrant criminals as \"migrant terrorism\" and \"a true act of terror.\"\n\nThat is, the bishops of Mexico are saying it's morally right that 15 million Mexican Catholics illegally entered the U.S., that any and all Mexicans have a right to U.S. citizenship, and that any legal American who objects to it is a terrorist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good point. Read the whole speech. \n Now if you can only tell your friends at EWTN and National Catholic Register that they should do the same when then go ballistic at anything Pope Francis says. Remind them to not take quotes out of context or offer their contemptuous interpretation of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, liberals do not hate authority, but abuses of authority (including the presumptiousness to exercise it, especially if such presumptuous personnel have neither gift nor knowledge to exercise it justly and effectively).\n\nYou have contradicted yourself . In your first response , you asked why a priest's fatherhood should mean that his parishioners are thereby inferior to him. Now you ask why a priest's 'leading' a parish should be offensive. Can you not decide which way to turn? If a priest is leading, his parishioners are, ipso facto, his inferiors, in the sense that they must follow his naturally 'superior' lead.\n\nYou keep missing my point: priests are commanded by Christ to be servants, not masters. Since when has a servant lead his master?\n\nClericalism is a cancer in our Church. And it is rooted in the delusion that a priest, by dint of 'ontological transformation' at ordination, is now a natural leader. Someone most special. This is why Catholic children were sacrificed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No proof. His name was on a list, and it wasn't even spelled right. I could walk into one of those places with my a temp phone number and say \"Pope Francis\" and the would put that down. They don't care what you call yourself, as long as you pay. And per your post that would make Pope Francis a sexual predator.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Notice how majority of you are more concerned with what is considered South Anchorage & Midtown. Jesus people, shut up. A woman lost her life, pray for the family & for justice to be served.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What fundamental tenet of humankind holds that only heterosexual couples can be married? Agreed that the Bible trots out that stuff but the Bible was written by men with political and social goals in mind - it is not the word of God, whatever or whoever God may be if existent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then why did Feinstein & Durbin ask about her Catholic Faith?...Her paper back in college was a statement that religious faith SHOULD NOT interfere w/ public law.\n\nIt's just like hate crime....beat one gay person and they'll all hide.... or Klan tactics....just hang a person every once and a while so others behave ....or the Brown shirts ...they didn't have to beat up lots of German citizens to get everyone towing the party line\n\nI think 20 years ago Barrett was doing the same thing JFK did, assuring the State that a persons beliefs can not supercede American law\n\nBut the Dems feel they have to publically slap a conservative Catholic around so the others will fall in line....wouldn't want too many conservative Catholics in the courts would we \n\nYou really think they should be picking judges in our country by what some bishops have said\n\nwhat about Mormons are they out in your book too", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By the end of my drinking career, I could be in a bar full of people and feel completely alone. I blacked out so often during the seventeen years that I abused alcohol that it is a wonder that any brain cells were still intact. I stopped using alcohol back in 1988.Two years after I stopped drinking, the memories of the sexual abuse came back to me. I was in group therapy dealing with sexual issues that had [or at least I thought at the time] nothing to do with sexual abuse. There was a Catholic priest in the group. One thing we were asked to do was to refrain from any sexual activity for some ninety days. From what I understood at the time, it was a way therapists used to uncover things in their patients sexual past. I was at home, relaxing on the back patio when the memories came back. I felt like that twelve year old altar boy, standing outside the Church in a total state of shock. The following week at the , I talked about the abuse. The following week, the priest left group", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm happy to offend Muslims (but the ones I know would not be offended) by pointing out oppressive regimes built around extreme Islam are terrible places. You are simply wrong when you claim I am trying otherwise. They are terrible places, and the religious rules they have are sickening.\n\nBut many people think that every Muslim adheres to these beliefs and that is wrong as well. Many graduate students in the sciences are from Iran and Moslem, and they hate their oppressive laws. People in Iran are fighting against this (see https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/jmk8z3/the-iranian-women-fighting-state-censorship-one-selfie-at-a-time for example). I don't think all of Christianity is bad because the Bible says to kill gays, or because the Phelps Church is terrible. But I also think that the terrible things happening in the Middle East are more about oppression and poverty, and almost any religion would have served the same purpose for being a tool of terror and oppression by those people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a great day!\n\nI detect a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth here...and surely, in the office of MSW and the other snowflake Catholic media pundits as well. \n\nYou really thought she'd win? You thought you could trust the mainstream media polls that she was way ahead, when hardly anyone bothered to show up at her infrequent rallies?\n\nI tried to tell you....I surely did. \n\nOnly thing to do now is double down on calling other people racists? Oh well. It's to be expected. Your tears are my joy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you really believe that a homeless man and a billionaire are truly equal? Assume that both are brought up on the same criminal charges. The billionaire with his army of high-priced lawyers is more likely to get off than the homeless man and his public defender. That, sir or madam, is reality. The theory is that they are equal. The reality is that the deck is stacked in favor of the billionaire.\n\nGeorge W Bush got into Yale because he was white and his father's son. Otherwise, there is no way he would have made it. This discrimination against non-whites doesn't bother you. You favor discrimination in favor of rich whites. \n\nMy mother's family were all Czech and Austrian Jews: Antisemitism got many of them killed by the Nazis. My brother is gay: He was rejected by the Catholic Church. My daughter-in-law is black: She and her family all know what racism is an does. Don't say that I am irrational about it, nor do I feel guilt. I feel anger that you actually support discrimination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "J.Bob, I think many Christians have a problem with homosexuality, though I don't think it is a majority. \n\nThe problem is when a Christian, for reasons of his/her belief, refuses to bake a cake or provide a venue or issue a marriage license for a LGBT weddings, when they purport to provide those goods or services to the general public. Or when they won't hire people from a particular group . At one time, many of these Christians also refused to provide their services to non-Caucasian people and they believed it was moral and right. There was a time it was perfectly legal for an ad for a job to note: Catholics need not apply. What is different in attitude if the issue is LGBT people?\n\nI grew up in the segregated South during the 1950s and 1960s. I have seen and lived with how a majority can band together and make life miserable for a minority. This is the same song, just a different verse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is nothing wrong with the Dubia. Pope Francis should be clear on this matter. Faithfulness to Jesus Christ simply means uncompromising fidelity to His teaching. Why subject the clear and categorical teaching of Christ, that is, not to allow person, living in adultery, to receive the Holy Eucharist, to man's various STUPID interpretations and justifications? All faithful Catholics should adhere to the teachings of Jesus Christ and not to a particular person, even the Pope. Let us pray for Pope Francis that the Holy Spirit may guide him", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whenever the UN objects to our actions we simply utilize our security council veto. Obviously you believe might makes right, but that's only in this world. Our lives are only vapors, says the Christian bible; here and then gone. But judgment awaits us all, and I'm glad I will answer for my words, not yours. It is our own constitution, which these criminals in uniform swore to protect and defend, that makes their actions illegal, since a treaty it makes the highest law of the land forbids their wars.\n\nNo, we don't know anything about you -- not even your real name, and that is by your choice, but we do know you are defending the mass slaughter of innocent people our military commits, and God knows who you are, so be aware that none of us know when we'll be held to account, so it would behoove you to consider whether we, you and I, are better served by advocating using our tax dollars to save human lives, or to destroy them; to alleviate suffering or cause it. You have not chosen wisely.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hello icon. For you I will just make just one brief reply. You are one of the citizens in this Nation ruled by hate. You hate white Christian conservative males with a passion, and you hate anyone and everyone who disagrees with your narrow world view. You and others like you are in fact blinded by your hate and dialogue with such is futile. Have a great day despite finding so many reasons to be miserable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree completely. And how do you think Muslims feel, who follow their faith and coexist peacefully with other faiths, are loving parents, and want all violence to end? \n\nI have fought back, on this site, with several liberal commentators, that they unfairly stereotype all Christian with very narrow behaviors that are not true of all Christians. Westboro Baptist leaders stinks but it's still just homophobia. Anti homosexuality is widely held in mainline churches, although few would interrupt a veterans funeral to make their case. \n\nNow imagine yourself as a Muslim accused of the mass murder committed by ISIS?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This isn't just about people with homosexual inclination, it's about sodomy. The word homosexual is misleading. It can refer to someone who doesn't commit sodomy or it can refer who does. It can refer to someone who has repented or someone who has not. We are not morally obliged to treat unrepentant sodomites with respect, especially if they oppose the Church or its teaching or promote or condone sodomy or if they behave in a perverse manner near us. We would be right to rebuke them. Saints and the magisterium have condemned sodomy as a grave evil, an abomination that cries to heaven for vengeance. In Catholic nations sodomy", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was in the Nixon era that American imperialism became openly fascist. The genocide based on racism in Southeast Asia and the police state occupation of black ghettos in the US, the violent repression of anti-war protesters - it was all done based on racism, love of war, disregard for the poor, with Christianity, patriotism, racial superiority, love of homeland, fueled by historical mythology.\n There was little difference between fascism in the US and fascism in 1930's Germany, Italy and Spain. As in the 1930's, fear and hatred of communism justified all the hatred and excessive violence.\n And, by the way, don't forget Prescott Bush, George Bush's father, who did a roaring business with the 1930's Nazis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What happened to the city ordnance that states after 8 police service calls you get fined and eventually evicted (and/or sold for \"Eminent Domain\") like the old Inlet Inn downtown by the transit centre. Hence Catholic Social Services would get the msg that kumbayah(sp?) doesn't work and would have to be fiscally responsible in part for the headache they helped create. \nJust a thought... hypocrisy at its best. At least the Inlet Inn paid city taxes", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your article underscores the glaring hypocrisy that exists in the Catholic Church regarding its selective punishment of gay people for causing SCANDAL (the scariest word in the Catholic lexicon) by, for example, taking time off from work to come sing in the choir for the funeral of a friend. If some clerics consider that SCANDALOUS, then they should be equally SCANDALIZED over the horrors of married couples who do not present one child for every year married in the communion line at church on Sundays. Since straight people who use contraception on a regular basis can pass without anyone bothering to ask them about their reproductive habits prior to the reception of holy communion, they get a pass. And nobody seems to think it's a SCANDAL. I say the way these clerics treat other human beings is the real SCANDAL and I, for one, am SCANDALIZED!!!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Ottomans Empire had a population of 20 million, whereas the Mughal Empire was closer to 100 million. This is like saying that the UK and the USA are equally large economies.\n\nSecond, the Ottomans did not impoverish their colonies. They didn't even convert the entire population of their Christian provinces. There is a reason Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Georgia, Armenia, Crimea, etc remained overwhelmingly Christian. Whereas Latin America, sub saharan Africa, Spain, Portugal, Sicily, etc were forcibly converted to Christianity. Surely you don't think the Christian approach was better?\n\nI understand that you have been taught that Europeans did the Asians and Africans a huge favour by robbing them. I hope one day Asians and Africans can return the favour. That they do exactly what was done to them. According to you, it was all very uplifting and pleasant, right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.\" --Ben Franklin\n\nIt's not just up to Francis. As long as people sit in the pews, support the Catholic church and pretend that everything is ok, the hierarchy has no reason to change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely! \n\nSadly, Chaput represents those in the hierarchy that Papa Francesco has aptly named as the \"lepers of the church.\"\n\nI think that Matthew's gospel had people like Chaput in mind: \n\nJesus said to him, \u201cIf you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.\u201d But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful ...\" (Mt 19)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Had a religious conversion\"\n\nProbably just a smoke screen to stop Christian Terrorists from shooting up her home.\n\nCSIS rates Christian / Right Wing / Anti-abortion terrorists as more likely sources of domestic terrorism than \"Radical Islam\". We have seen Canadian Anti-Abortion nut cases bomb clinics, shoot abortion providers, and assault staff outside clinics. Gordon Watson of Sidney BC, who assaulted a worker at Everywoman's Health Clinic in Vancouver, had a previous conviction for an assault that split a man's skull. They demanded names and addresses from BC MoH, then whined to OIPC BC.\n\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/29/nyregion/sniper-attacks-on-doctors-create-climate-of-fear-in-canada.html\n\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/29/nyregion/sniper-attacks-on-doctors-create-climate-of-fear-in-canada.html\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Charles_Kopp\n\nAt least they feel embarrassed by the company they keep:\n\nhttp://www.theinterim.com/issues/society-culture/the-other-side-of-the-story/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Popes come, popes go; the curia remains.\" Perhaps no one better understands the structure of the Roman bureaucracy than TR. He seriously studied it like no other. Inside the Vatican, is preeminent among his investigative studies. But, alas, at heart, he himself is a greenhouse cleric. No bigger vision than reforming the curia!? Removing it altogether is not on his clerical horizon. \n\n\"Nor will filling the Vatican with progressives solve the problem...\" Progressive clerics? \"In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.\" Progressives, conservatives all make only cosmetic changes. Francis attempts to make the RCC user friendly but remains rigid in \"reading the signs of the times.\" If Jesus could upend Judaism by rejecting the law of proportionality, an eye for an eye...and making man absolute over the sabbath, etc the RCC resists the signs of the times for fear of relativism not revolution. No score on sex abuse? No women to humanize the moribund COC?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "eric - At ease bro. Nobody is going to force you to obey what's in the Bible. \n\nThe Quran? Different story!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "the poor dears can't wish anyone a Merry Christmas or they get burned at the stake! they can't their Christian Sharia law enshrined in public laws, no matter how hard they try. and when they do sneak something in, that darned old Supreme Court won't let them get by with it. but they keep on trying! they just gotta make sure the whole US of A is a \"christian\" nation! although which flavor of Christianity they say out loud. but to all of those so-called Catholics who have hitched their cart to this star, you can get when they get the power you won't be any better off than the gays, women, atheists or Muslims! your's is one of those marriages of convenience and when they no longer need you, you will be in the same boat as the rest of us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I occasionally read articles in the National Catholic Reporter. It's interesting to see a variety of perspectives. One thing that always surprises me is the excessive interest in the clothing of Cardinals, especially Cardinal Burke. Frankly, I don't spend that much time fretting about his vestments. That seems a rather superficial distraction, and I have work to do. \n\nHas anyone even READ Amoris Laetitia? I have. Parts of it were beautiful, but other parts were VERY ambiguous and contradictory. Has anyone READ the 4 cardinals' dubia? I have. They are reasonable questions that deserve a response. \n\nLet's stop the silly distractions--worrying about clothes--and discuss real issues, like grown-ups.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only sadness appears in the blind Republican faithful who continue to send the most disgusting people to government positions expecting different results. The primary campaign consisted of a host of wannabes trying to be as disgusting as Don Young. The winner reflects the most disgusting one of all extolling the virtues of all that the Republican party shows to be its basic tenets of anti-government, anti-human rights, christian fundamentalism over freedom, misogyny toward women, free-market criminality based in abject greed, one of the deadly sins of their preferred religion. Those voting Republican reflect the basic \"values\" of their leaders. Nice to see you are so happy to wallow in that cesspool of false dogma.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bottom line.....I can have intelligent, rational discussions with pro-Reagan and Bush Republicans (and usually have common ground with them)....even if they begrudgingly voted for Trump. People like that are well aware of and critical of Trump's flaws (both political and personal). I'd have gladly voted for Kasich or Rubio over Hillary Clinton.\n\nI have yet to have an intelligent, rational discussion with a Trump die-hard. They tend to be incapable of such interaction.\n\nDon't get me started on the hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance of Evangelical Christians when it comes to Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What does it advocate exactly?\nI thought that this was a demonstration by white people who were sick to death at the virulent left-led programme of eradicating the memory of the Confederacy, in this instance and its wider aim of eradicating Christianity in the U.S. If I were an American Christian I know who I'd vote for to protect me and my faith and it certainly wouldn't be a Clinton or any Democrat for that matter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It has been quite a surprising revelation to see the polls showing so many Christian evangelicals who are siding with Trump. Worse yet, that so many Adventists who would prefer him to be our future president. A man who bragged of his adulteries and sexual conquests; a man who mocks the disabled; veterans, claims to change the Constitution, and reveals he doesn't even know what's written in it. And a man who has no principles but whatever occurs to him at a moment in time.\n\nYou would trust your nation and freedom to this man? The demographics show that women always outnumber men in the voting booth, and especially college-educated women who overwhelmingly will not vote for a man who boasts of his predatory behavior over many years. A man who has already stated that the voting has been rigged against him and he hints at not acceding if he is not elected.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agree! With the scandals plaguing the Vatican from financial corruption, to sinful living, to arrogance, to child abuse, they should not waste time obsessing over gluten. To me, that's a \"Look at the Birdie!\" technique to divert attention from more serious matters. Show me one spot in the Gospel where the Lord worried about the composition of the bread and wine used at the Last Supper and I may get interested.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jack,\n\n\"Small hands\"....? Making fun of a person's anatomy is not Christian. Trump has average-sized hands in every picture I've seen, but would you poke fun at someone with a 'flipper' for an arm as well? I worked with a man who wouldn't accept SSI, though he could have and used his 'flipper' almost as good as most people could use a 'whole' arm. It's one thing to call out Trump's policies or even his statements, but calling out a part of his body is similar to calling 'attention' to ones race for self-serving reasons, or degrading purposes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"(if) we manage to avoid a radioactive cloud raining down death on America, will there be any positives from a Trump presidency? Where is the pro-life Catholic Church right now?\"\n\nThank you for pointing that out. When we're living in a nuclear winter (if we're one of the lucky ones) dying of skin cancer (or worse) because some trigger-happy narcissistic toddler with a gun and size issues reacted on impulse to one unsubstantiated intelligence source that was wrong on the very same issue a few years ago, all without consulting any of his professionals first, Trump's supposed \"pro-life\" bona fides won't mean very much.\n\nThanks again, pro-life Trump voters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe Trump doesn't know about the time Jesus flipped out at the money changers at the Temple. \n\n\"This Jesus. Some kind of socialist? Christianity -- a hoax by the Chinese to kill out economy. Pathetic.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201c\u2026 all Americans are slave masters because we allow to live in bondage, according to the Global Slave Index.\u201d \nOh yes some \u2018majority\u2019 American bought 57,000 African as the slaves and work them as the slaves.\nHowever, look how \u2018majority\u2019 American still being a slave masters & treat African Americans, the whole justice system, treat them like the slaves. I don\u2019t see too many \u2018majority\u2019 American in power working to change slavery justice system. \nLet\u2019s just look Catholics, the most of \u2018majority\u2019 priests and nuns practice racial prejudice right in the church and even during the mass. \nDo you believe God created all people in the image and likeness of God, or only the white Europeans? Do you realize Christ was a dark skinned, \u2018minority\u2019, middle easterner not a white skinned European?\nI caution you not to rely or brag about your high IQ, you might end up with human\u2019s puny IQ and miss divine wisdom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Catholic should ever wonder if \" their bishops have anything more than a skewed view of sexuality to offer.\" The bishops repeatedly demonstrate the answer to that concern.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Christianaphobic\" personality? On an agnostic? \n\nYou may need to speak with your Imam again! He may be able to guide you to a different surra from Il Quran! Not all of Islam requires the body modesty you seek to avoid temptation. \nPerhaps after the required Noon prayers to Mecca?\n\nSkeptikat'a diagnostic skills are looking better all the time!\n\nPerhaps less internet time looking at naked women would help?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is imperative, if we are to protect our republic, that we ban certain people of color (who are not Christians) from crossing our boarders. The people of Bowling Green demand the protection that they failed to receive under our previous president!\n\n:)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This appears to be true. But the issue is free speech. She should be free to espouse whatever she wants. I asked my father who was Catholic why he tolerated the rampant and obvious bigotry he face in the 1960's and he said two things. It's a free country; and Better the devil you know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most of these have little bearing on the quality of the interior life, but reflects your personal preferences. The list emphasizes rituals that mostly appeal to \"conservative\" Catholics. Add the list proposed by justmaybe to attract many others, those fed up with the RCC and its bishops. They seek parishes that live Matthew 25:31-46 and Francis focus on mercy. Much of what is on your list are simply indicators of one particular prayer \"style\". Some prefer ritual and formal devotions. Others heed Jesus' words - \"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their reward. But when you pray, go into your room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. \nNo need to go to a church building several times a week to pray, no need to use memorized rote prayers either. Just talk with God, Then \"be still\" so that you might hear God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "keep in mind that trump was elected by just 27% of eligible voters, 90M of us didnt care enough to vote at all and a majority of them are under 25 years old. to me this means 73% of us didnt vote for him. surely we can make enough noise to keep him in line. his current picks for cabinet and department posts sucks of course, all old, white, christian men. where have i seen that before? but just today he said there are parts of obamacare he likes. dont sell this clown too short. lets see what happens the first week after jan. 20.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bannon doesn't like Traditionalist Catholicism because he is at all pious. He has been divorced three times and I doubt that he attends Mass regularly. He seems Traditional Catholicism as a means to an end because characters like Burke agree with him about the decline of the West and the dangers of non-white, non-Christians. Traditionalist Catholicism is a perfect place to fish for converts to the alt-reich. It is paranoid and inwardly focused, antisemitic, and conspiracy theory driven (see Fatima). It is interesting how easily the Vatican II hatin' set like Rorate Caeli and Father Z have taken to being shills for the alt-reich, Trump, and Russia. \n\nIn fact religious fundamentalism of all stripes attract bigots because they cater to these people's hatred. ISIS and the alt-reich are the same. Both give the same dark message of hate and scapegoating to their mainly male followers who want someone to blame for all the problems in their lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you have programmes for the parents of LGBT children. How admirable! The question is, do you have programmes for the LGBT children? For the LGBT youth, adults, golden oldies? And if not, why not.\n\nAs a gay Catholic, the one thing that tires me about the \"church\" above all else is that it talks about us (LGBT folk), but never, ever talks with us! Chaput at the world meeting of families displayed this disordered tendency ever so well! And the san diego synod does the same ... as John Hobson has pointed out, the criteria for lay participation are claustrophobic: \"To assure the validity of their contribution for the good of the Church, it is important that the lay faithful taking part in the Synod should be chosen from amongst those distinguished by their 'firm faith, good morals and prudence'. It is an indispensable requisite that these members of the lay faithful be in a canonically regular situation in order to take part in the Synod.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's not bullying, that's doing the Church a service. Archbishop Chaput made a dreadful mistake ignoring Lepanto's warnings about Nutter and Wolf, two of the most high profile, anti Catholic people in Philadelphia. One wonders whether this was concealed from the Archbishop by his Curia. \nIt's almost as bad as Mo Rocco being chosen to read a lesson before the Pope in New York because he is a homosexual.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The groups you have listed that \"held him in low esteem\" are not exactly the class of society, today or then. In fact their opinions didn't really matter Most of the Metis were bastard children of natives and whites, the Catholic church was then as it is now abusers and holders of wealth and power. The Liberals ...well just look at our current mess, Liberals have always been handing away our money and history in a charitable disguise. I will take Sir John ahead of any of those groups.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Roman Catholic leadership does not support the GOP. I would say that the RC leadership is very critical of the GOP on several issues.\n\nAs far as abortion goes, Pope Francis has called it an \"absolute evil\", a \"horrendous crime\", and the \"murder of an innocent person\". And Gaudium et Spes called it an \"unspeakable crime\" (you don't dissent from Vatican II, do you?).\n\nBut yes, a number of Catholics voted for Trump over Hillary because, as caustic as he was, we saw him as preferable to Hillary. Was abortion an issue? Yes. So wasn't Benghazi, her use of her private email server for national security matters, the sexual harassment of multiple women by her husband (why didn't she speak up?), her dullness as a candidate, her support from the rich elites.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You weren't dismissed because of your same sex attraction. As the spokesman for Archbishop Myers said:\n\n\u201cEvery Catholic priest promises to be reverent and obedient to his bishop. A priest\u2019s actions and statements always must be consistent with the discipline, norms and teachings of the Catholic Church. When they are ordained, priests agree to accept the bishop\u2019s judgment about assignments and involvement in ministry.\u201d\n\nYou claim to have taught anything contrary to the Church, yet recently stated this:\n\n\"I\u2019m a gay man. If I wasn\u2019t a priest and I met somebody for me who was a soul mate, who I enjoyed being with, who had all the things somebody who is marrying looks for in a relationship, I\u2019d want to be married. I\u2019d want to have the ability to marry that person. I\u2019m a priest, so I took a vow of celibacy. But how could I, with integrity, be against gay marriage if it\u2019s something, probably in a different circumstance, I would want for myself.\"\n\nEnough said, I think.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They want those vouchers for Catholic schools that will probably decimate poorer public schools....they don't want to be in the national media as a sanctuary family is dragged from a church setting....(they are for LEGAL immigrants not those 12 million folks who have been here for years as good citizens) AND current USCCB leadership DiNardo was one of the guys who signed that letter against Francis at the beginning of the second synod...these are NOT Francis guys although they attempt to mouth Francis on the surface.\n\nThey are feckless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And yet another Catholic who sees every white Trump voter, and Catholic, as a covert but ardent white supremacist.\n\nFar as I can figure, all the progressives at NCR feel the same way. \n\nSeems to have all began right after they lost the election.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no soul-searching necessary to figure out how this came to be: a majority of Catholics voted for Trump because he promised to appoint pro-life judges to the Supreme Court, thereby protecting fetuses - never mind what will happen to the rest of us who've already been born. A majority of rural dwellers voted for Trump because they hate \"inner-city people\" (wink, wink.) A majority of whites voted for Trump because they thought their special status was diminished under a black president. A majority of men voted for Trump because they feared their special status would be diminished under a female president. A majority of nativists voted for Trump because they hate immigrants. A majority of conservatives voted for Trump because they hate gay marriage and gay people, their #1 sworn enemy whom they think have destroyed civilization. A majority of the \"poorly-educated\" voted for Trump because they're poorly educated and because Trump told them he loves them. Did I leave anybody out?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Comparing the last 300 years of North American development by Europeans and the Judeo-Christian values that made it happen to the last 30 years of immigration from developing and Third World countries is like comparing the US and Canada to,literally,India and China.I expect the \"you bigot,you racist\" comments from the usual leftist,pro-marijuana,Trudeau-loving,M-103 supporting, politically correct 'progressives'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's part of the arrogance of christians. You think because I don't believe, that I am damaged and hurting and desperate and yearning and only your god, and in this case though you, can bring me happiness.\n\nYou're smiling zealotry is off-putting a best and dangerous at worst. \n\nCheck out the definition of delusion.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I will keep saying there is nothing in the bible that says so called Christians can't bake cakes, gays can't marry or insist so called Christians should discriminate. These Bible literalist, literally can't find one passage that they can use to defend their actions. They conveniently ignore passages that cover all kinds equal sin's that is what makes this whole thing baloney. Mean while, here is the deal we live in a secular nation, annd this man can practice his religion all he wants but he cannot discriminate. Where does it end, no cakes for muslims? Blacks? Latinos? No, it is going backwards.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The article itself is hate-filled and replete with anti-Christian and anti-West rhetoric. Whilst claiming 'Racism'and 'Islamophobia', the author is herself displaying all the signs of virulent 'Westophobia'.\nThe 'asylum seekers', in truth economic migrants, she supports are invariably unwelcomed and unwanted in the UK, and there solely because of the ease of getting generous welfare benefits, without the need to actually work for these (Canada suffers the same issue). There are numerous accounts, backed up with relevant photographs, in the UK media showing the complete lack of integration by these economic migrants, who refuse to follow the proscibed rules and regulations of their unwilling host country, but instead demand that their customs are allowed and followed ('Sharia Law' springs immediately to mind).\nHow does she feel about the massacre of 50 Coptic Christians yesterday in Egypt? Since most Canadian papers haven't reported it, she might claim 'ignorance is bliss'", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And horrors they are! Langley is but the latest local battleground of the international Lagomorph Jihad!\n\nLangleyites didn't think it was a problem when the immigrant rabbit hordes who came here on temporary 4-H visas crossed the border from the County land at the Fairgrounds And look what's happened! They've had so many anchor babies that the local rabbits can't get jobs anymore and their antique stores are going out of business! And the crime rate . . . who do you think it was who dropped all those syringes down by Seawall Park?!?!? And they're all potential terrorists and probably not even good Christians - the Easter Bunny they're not!. They commit suicide to further their terrorist plots because they have no respect for life. They know the road splat they make will be a pedestrian hazard! Langley should simply refuse to take anymore of these 4-H visa overstaying immigrant rabbits until we can figure out how to vet them sufficiently so we can sure they are not terrorists!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I wasn't saying our past isn't illuminated by misdeeds. The point I was trying to make is that our religion \"teaches to love one another as you love yourself\", whereas Islam teaches that \"infidels are worthy only of death\". And since I am a Christian, I am an infidel, and I DONT believe I am worthy only of death because I'm not the right kind of Muslim!!! For crying outloud, thanks to the Sunni= Shiite rift, each thinks the other infidel, worthy only of death! You CANT win with them. The other point I'm trying to make is what is REALLY important is not the past where mistakes were made, but the here and now and a need to be realistic and protect ourselves from religious fundamentalists. That condemn us to death. : (", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly Dunny! Why shouldn't they? I totally support Sharia, and I'm glad you do too!\n\nCome to think of it, however, I'm really sick of those ultra-conservative Jews and Christians forcing their values down everyone's throats, so let's eliminate their special treatment.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The dumbing down of Catholicism.\n\nNext ......", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If Saunders is going to be so broadbrush about the \"ummah\" why not extend the analogy to all \"identity politics\" being nonsense - and an invention of the left, not \"Christian racists\" as he idiotically suggests. Once again, he is simply wrong about absolutely everything.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So then how would you explain the actions of Muslims? Or are you just typical Christian hating Liberal who has an excuse for every terrorist action that Muslims do? I suspect the second", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims, Muslims, Muslims........doesn't matter whether or not he was born in the U.S. Muslims. Yeah, I do know that most Muslims aren't into Islamic terrorism. However, Muslims are more likely to be recruited into Islamic terrorism than oh......say Christians.. \n\nOOOH OOOH OOH. I was not very cowardly and meekly politically correct was I?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Your explanation for Jesus' commandment against divorce is rubbish, no matter how many times you smugly state it. This is NOT what Jesus said: \"Amen, amen I say to you, that because women are treated like chattel, I, Jesus, perfect liberal that I am, now tell you brothers: No man or woman shall divorce (except for adultery) because it is the put-away wife who gets screwed. This will change in time, but until then, what I tell you is the will of God.\" That's not what happened. Jesus told us the reason for his commandment against divorce: \"What God hath joined together . . .\" You may disagree with Jesus' reasoning, but that was his stated reason, the only one he mentioned.\n\nYour logic also overlooks that divorce was allowed for one (and only exception): adultery. If Jesus forbade divorce only, or even mainly, to protect married women, he would have allowed women (and only women) to divorce on additional grounds (e.g. severe physical abuse or attempted murder).", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Odd how the stats Canada stats are trotted out but only cherry picked. While hate crimes reportedly rose 61% against Muslims, those against Catholics rose over 60% and total hate crimes targeting Jewish populations was actually higher than against Muslims. Where are the impassioned pleas from the left to stop targetting Catholics and Jews? Where are the theme socks?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why don't Western leaders press Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, and other Muslim nations on violence directed towards Christians?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"The foul-mouthed man's\" utterances were uttered in private or in what he thought was private. How many of us have made unguarded statements in private? 'Saint' PetrusRomanus2 no doubt would never be guilty of this, however the rest of us are human.\nMost of us have skeletons in the cupboard, have said things which we regret, have changed our minds and attitudes as the years have gone by and which we would not like to be in the public domain. \nBill Clinton's similar attitude towards women never seemed to do him any harm, is it because he is a Democrat and Democrats are always to be immune from criticism for treating. women as sexual objects?\nAshley Judd, however, uttered her filthy, disgusting diatribe purposefully in public and received the acclaim of the public around her for it. Who is to say that the majority of the demonstrators disagreed with her?\nThere it is, the difference. Obviously from the persistent, anti-Catholic stance of your posts you cannot understand this.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As a non christian, I don't know where the souls of the christian corrupt go, such as Sessions and his ilk, or even their voting supporters, but it is doubtful if they step foot in their white mans heaven. Instead I believe their souls go to the same place, that the souls of the murderous terrorists go, after inflicting suffering and murderous mayhem on so many uncountable innocents. They all go to their hells, minus the terrorists 72 virgins, and the crooked American politicians illgotten loot", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for reminding us of your ignorance of what progressive Catholics actually believe. Thank you also for reminding us that you don't know what liberation theology is either. And for reminding us of your xenophobia.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It is like all of the fantasy stories in the bible. A sexual abuse victim of the catholic church is so beaten up by his life that he is laying in a gutter on the side of the street. The pope comes walking down the street, makes eye contact and nods at him. Is he a good samaritan and offers him help. No he just keeps on walking by. If you are a sexual abuse victim of the catholic church you are nothing. Not even worth an apology to your face.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mercy for a thing\u2014the Earth. That is Contrary to nature, reason, and common sense\u2014 preposterous. Check the word preposterous in a thesaurus and you will find absurd, crazy, excessive, fantastic, foolish, impossible, and no less than twenty eight other words, all of which can be applied to \u201cMercy for the Earth.\u201d \n\nWhat will be next? Will Earth Day become a holy day of obligation for Catholics? Uh-oh, I just might have given a Liberal Catholic an idea\u2014or, perhaps not; their erroneous pseudo-reasoning is so preposterous that I\u2019m sure it\u2019s already in the works.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I would rather have them read to by someone open minded instead of hateful and judgmental like you. Sounds like you intend on raising judgmental bigots who cant see past their own preconceptions planted by you. Plus your own quote from him was about not doing it anymore. I would never let a christian try to preach religion as FACT to my kids. That's caused WAY more harm than any \"ACID HEAD\".", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The theory of the primary purpose of intercourse has its roots in Contience, which is offensive to women and the married state on so many levels. It is stoicism, not Christianity and must be repudiated and women ordained (your biggest fear).", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Because nobody believes these nutcases have anything to do with mainstream Christianity.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If no one would have expected an accurate rendering of quotes why would anyone have quoted Our Lord as saying something when they knew no one would believe them? As well as this the Church teaches that the Scriptures where we find the words of Jesus are divinely inspired and also that the Church alone interprets them. If we claim to be Catholics we must accept this.\nWe have plenty of avante-garde, Catholic scholars interpreting Scripture in a variety of heterodox ways without us turning to Protestants and agnostics.\nI know nothing about that university but to hire an agnostic to teach Christian Scripture seems a pretty dumb decision to me.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I guess there is an another simple question - are the perpetrators of attacks against innocent Muslims identified as Christian terrorists? Like the shooter in Quebec?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I could also ask why left-wing Catholics supported an amoral philanderer conman like Bill Clinton.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Just one of the glaring examples of the damage done across the world by a theocracy established by the merging of the christian sect with the Roman Empire. All certified in the formation of the Holy Roman Catholic Church 300 years after the supposed birth of the namesake. The bible was created at the same time by a Pope and the few literate scribes. Since then, this unholy creation has used the military power of governing systems to torture, slay, and beat humans into submission. All the while claiming purity of soul and body with caring and compassion. The dark side of this monolith continues today through brainwashing and physical assault by self-created messengers of a non-existent, invisible being. Christians and Moslems resort to violence toward any who resist. This nation's christians continue their assaults on the minds and bodies of Natives and the rest of humanity. Long past time to end the exemptions and melding of religion and government.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Roman Catholic Church, has had a miserable track record, with disciplining and/or firing rogue priests.\n\nThe only time, that the Vatican, has acted on rogue priests, was after the lawsuits were settled, and the church had to pay millions of dollars.\n\nAs a result, the Roman Catholic Churches, schools, daycare facilities, orphanages, etc...had to be shut down and sold to pay for the court judgments.\n\nTo be fair, this problem had also happened, with other religious institutions, on the mainland.\n\nHaving pregnant students, was easier to prove, that sex crimes occurred.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Great letter Bill ... the war on Christianity and organized religion continues unabated by the intolerant left. What a sick pathetic and troubled group of people...Let's all keep them in our prayers", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Since the decision isn't to cancel the prayers on school time as it should have been this is meaningless. Where are all the good liberals shouting NO PRAYER in PUBLIC SCHOOLS! Oh, right, these are muslims not Christians. Different rules for people who threaten to hack your head off if you draw a cartoon.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I did say terrible person and that was wrong, I got caught up in the spirit of the hyperbole.\nHe did go back on his word to abide by state law. That would make him a bad person according to my grandfather, rest his grumpy soul.\n\nI was going by what I read and what I understand about Christianity. Going by what I understand about Christianity, probably 90% of Christians are terrible Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Alaska's Christians will continue to appear ignorant and vindictive to the rest of the world while the Prevos and Boykos of the world go on their merry way ruining innocent people's lives while the Carlsons of the world are forced into early retirement.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I haven't heard any apologies coming from the Catholic church regarding the hundreds of thousands of innocent children that were raped at the hands of their priests. Sorry, but a loose lip apology won't cut it. People can't take back rape, or abuse. Wait'll Judgement Day.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I for one have a profoundly deep understanding of what the Bible says. My problem is that many Christians don't follow the word of God - they're hypocrites who don't practice what the Bible and Jesus teach. How can you \"love thy neighbor as thyself\" when you prostitute what the Good Book actually says with bigotry, xenophobia and racism? When you don't practice the Christian word of God, they are no different than the radical Islamic terrorists who highjack the peaceful teach of Islam.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If you work with 4 Catholic priests you should be able to readily get a precise definition of the term \"Invincible Ignorance\".", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder what these four Trump loving bishops will do when the Evangelicals want to use religious freedom excuses to discriminate against Hispanic Catholics because they aren't really Christian, they are pagans in Christian clothing.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Republican controlled only in theory even Republicans can't stomach Cheetolini your religious SAVIOUR ... lol ... 'christians' are foul and evil as is evidenced by YOUR President :)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Meanwhile, Denver allows regular crack dealing and muggings at Rescue Mission and the immediate area. Yep, the mayor said to let it all go. I met a guy who was assaulted on their property yesterday, robbed, and the staff did nothing, and the cops don't care. Jesus Slaves. Christian drug dealers.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing but juvenile semantic games from you. Christ Out Lord is not physically present everywhere. I have news for you Jaba, God is not the force. While God is everywhere in the sense that He is omniscient, all-seeing, and omnipresent, He is a spiritual being. When Christ is present physically, under the appearance of bread and/or wine, it's is a very special and miraculous thing that deserves our utmost attention, respect, and devotion.\nYour nonsense about the priest being disrespectful to the people because he faces Our Lord underscores an attitude that deems the people are to be shown deference ahead of God. This would be the same priest who talks to his parishioners, administers other sacraments to them, has coffee and donuts with them after Mass, etc. If any of them feel disrespected it's news to them. We usually don't have asinine little snowflakes at the real Mass. No Creampuff, the priest isn't \"turning his back on the people.\" That's a stupid way to look at it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I notice that while President-Elect Donald Trump expressed his condolences, ex-community organizer Barack Obama churlishly kept silent, as is his wont. Maybe it is just as well. He thought that a Coptic Christian living in California was responsible for the American ambassador to Libya's murder. Who knows what ludicrous ideas he might have about Ambassador Karlov's assassination.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican} party, and they\u2019re sure trying to do so, it\u2019s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can\u2019t and won\u2019t compromise. I know, I\u2019ve tried to deal with them.\" \u2013 Barry Goldwater 1963", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Your hatred for the priestly caste and your virulent homophobia prevent you from acknowledging the obvious. Sexism, misogyny and homophobia are pervasive in space and time and represent a primitive dichotomy: man or bitch. It's why gay men have suffered more opprobrium than lesbians: gay men are perceived to assume the role of the 2nd-degree human female. Like practically every institution under the sun, Christian theology inherited and perpetuated this dynamic. We know the Catholic Church is hidebound by its shrink-wrapped theology and pretensions to infallibility. It's hardly an excuse to vilify an entire group of people based on sexual orientation.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Did they also sign on to punish the gay coffee shop owner Ben Borgman who kicked Christians out of his shop?\n\nhttps://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-mozilla-001&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=mozilla&p=coffee+shop+owner+kicked+out+christians#id=1&vid=0e842c691d122320291c7202fc4ac7e3&action=view", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "' The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the christian religion.' 1797 President John Adams. See I can do it too. And John Adams is real!\nWhat is it with you hateful Christians? When I was little I thought Christians were supposed to be nice, inclusive, and non-judgmental. The bible didn't make any sense to me at 5 and it still doesn't. The more Christians I meet the less I like them. Same is true of Texans. And you always vote for the most divisive and hateful candidate. Save all the religious mumbo jumbo. If I want to hear a bunch of nonsense I'll go bring the schizophrenic homeless guy on the corner some food. \nAnd hoodad, trump is a psycho. There have been studies of high ranking CEOs suffering from psychopathy. Or more correctly others suffering from their psychotherapy. It doesn't make him a killer but I think there should definitely be some kind of mental health screening for presidential candidates. He would not pass.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "She probably went back to her pedophile protector site. Apologist Dave Pierre has a sick and twisted site ''the media report.\" Apologists there have a goal to defend the indefensible and call themselves traditional Catholics.\n\nI am angered and sickened by the lies and disrespect the media report has shown to my personal hero, Tom Doyle. If I met Pierre on the street, I am afraid that I could not control my emotions, but would gladly spend a few days in the Graybar hotel to give him the what for about his lies and remarks about Tom Doyle. I call this kind of act, traditional Irish Catholic problem resolution. (even though I am Polish)\n\nPierre represents Tom Doyle as a villain and a traitor to the church. He calls Tom a liar and a fraud. \nPandora fits right in with those fruit loops.\nIt is sure better with Pandora out of here.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelicals support Trump because no clear thinking, Bible believing Christian of any stripe could possibly vote for somebody as corrupt and dishonest and morally bankrupt as Hillary Clinton. It's as simple as that, and when you compare who she is, and what she is with anybody she comes up short. I am quite frankly stunned that she was able to even get this far with her track record of theft and deceit. I would like to hear somebody defend voting for Hillary Clinton knowing her record and the laundry list of horrific things she's done.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Right..... when was the last time a Christian flew a plane into a building in the name Religion?? When was the last time a Jew strapped a bomb on their child and sent them off to kill in the name of jihad??\n\n Islam = Seventh Century Death Cult\n\n Just wondering", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why he is just a white, good ol' boy carrying his legal supply of weapons, disciplining his family members when they fail to obey the patriarch as religious dogma dictates. No crime here, just performing his duties as white, christian rules apply.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Here we go again! More blather about married priests! How has this issue not been parsed, sliced, diced, drawn, quartered and beheaded, and yet continues to suck oxygen out of \"faithful Catholics.\" As long as the money rolls in the status quo remains. Religious pornography that titillates. Goes nowhere.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "While I'm not a religious person by any stretch of the imagination, I'm beginning to think that Trump may be a close resemblance of the Anti-Christ. He's dazzling right-wingers by the millions, wields insults against women, tramples on our liberties, and comes across as an anointed evil narcissist. Frightening that Trump will be taking over the Republican Party. Shake hands with the Devil and you'll get burned. The Republican Party is sizzling.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "RC - I doubt there are any \"progressive Catholics\" who are accepting of the LGBT community who think gay priests, brothers and sisters should NOT come out publicly. Whether that is safe at this moment is another question. As a Catholic community, we still maintain for church men and women the closet which lay people are increasingly escaping because their rights are legally protected. Our church men and women are not protected in these way and they can have their lives torn apart if a parish or diocese or blog decides to go after them for leaving the closet, even as celibate gay men or women. When people come out, even in celibacy, allies tend to say \"oh great! She is comfortable with being who God made her to be\". Others seem to say, \"we need to watch that guy to be sure he doesn't get out of line/break his vows/come on to me/recruit my kid/corrupt the parish/etc.\" When that stops, maybe more church men and women will come out publicly.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Forgive me for not checking my white cisgendered male privilege at the log in button. \n\nTrump won. Get over yourself.\n\nIts funny really. I a world full of real danger, you are afraid of a Christian? You mean like a sweet little old church going lady? Or a family that raises their children with good values? You certainly don't mean a beheading suicide belt wearing women beating and raping jihadists?? I hope you look in the mirror when you type the words, \" you need professional help.\"\n\nWhat is perhaps most disturbing is that you never stood up for the media when Obama bashed it. The double standards are so thick with the Alt-left, they can't be cut with a diamond bladed saw. Denial is a stinky perfume.\n\nSIX HIRB ......... look it up..... America is on to you", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The ultra biased demoniacal liberals have sanctioned everything \nUn-American and Anti-Christian.\nDeceptive, sinister, and supremely misleading.\nWe shall overcome him (Satan) by the Blood of the Lamb (Jesus) and the word of our testimony Revelations 12:11\n \nNeed I say more?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "of course he can be \"funny and charming\"...sociopaths are like that...the thing is he went too far...with the \"so corrupt\" and \"hiding she hates Catholics\" he went from making humorous and pointed jabs to going way over the line. This was not the forum for him to go there...\n\nPart of being \"presidential\" is the ability to maintain some cool, diplomacy and decorum...and he has repeated demonstrated that he is unable to do that. Look at the debates...in all three he was ok for about the first 15 minutes...and then he lost it...sounds like the same thing here...he was \"funny and charming\" until the bats in his belfry started screaming and he got ugly. Being \"presidential\" doesn't mean being a confrontational jerk....\n\nI'm glad they booed him...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Any church (or other organization) that turns a blind eye to abuse is to be condemned and held accountable, including the Australian Catholic Church. What a disgraceful record.\n\nBut here is a comment that may not last long on the board with censor deletion, so read it while you still can.\n\nThere is an unusual habit of the Western media to lump all abuses by the Catholic church as pedophilia, as if the acts always involve an old priest and an infant or elementary school child, pedophilia being the attraction to pre-pubescent children.\n\nBut if you read the reports, including the Australian situation, the average age of male victims is around 12 years old. \n\nThat means a large portion of the victims are post-pubescent teenagers, meaning they are victims not of pedophilia but instead are victims of statutory gay rape.\n\nThe Western media doesn't go there, though, preferring to paint it all as pedophilia, when it isn't.\n\nBoth types of rape are wrong and appropriately illegal, obviously.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Very few people have any idea how others truly view them because they are committed so stroppily to their view of themselves. You may not believe you define God as above and against humanity, but you actually do or you couldn't consistently write everything you do about God's judgment and sinful humanity. Jesus came as a human to show something different, but some people just need to believe God exists to punish the crap out of their chosen enemies and their selected sinners....and not just for a little while, for all eternity.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No: \nA faithful Catholic follows the teaching of the church about the formation of conscience; gives the teaching of the church 'pride of place' in the formation of his/her conscience and the benefit of doubt; and follows the dictates of her/his conscience.\nLike most Catholics, I think the teaching of the church is wrong on several matters -- among them human sexuality (birth control, masturbation and homosexuality) and the ordination of women. I am a faithful Catholic, a daily communicant most of my life -- and your opinion about this is utterly meaningless. You don't get a vote.\nThe official church has trapped itself, to some extent, by making the preposterous claim that it can't change its teachings. The claim is ludicrous: indefensible historically and theologically.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Pedophilia? Hmmm? Catholic much?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You, and anyone who liked this post are a bunch of ignorant jokes. For starters the children charged in this case are Americans by birth, the parents are victims of a brutal series of violent episodes in South Sudan as a result of our interference by converting many to Christianity, they are literally being killed for being Christian over there which is why we are trying to bring some of them over here for protection and to find a new life where they had none before. These people are honorable, but a little lost with most having both parents working two jobs to support their families by cleaning or other labor intensive low-paying incomes. This results in not having time to work with their teenagers who are being influenced by our teens with the worst our culture has to offer. Instead of condemning, get out and try to help by creating or getting the kids into programs that will help with their character. Boy Scouts, sports and martial arts come to mind. These are our neighbors.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We have a crazy man who should never have had access to deadly weapons. He was motivated by an irrational animosity towards Republicans, it seems. That's this week's target. It could as easily have been Muslims, or Christians, or gays, or women, or co-workers (as just happened in San Francisco within the last few hours), or people of colour, or just innocent Americans going about their daily lives. The targetted groups are endless.\n\nThe common denominator is an inability to control access to guns in a way that adequately protects the American people.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Legal murder/assassination by police as part of the White Supremacist infestation of departments throughout the nation. All people of color or suspected of being non-white or immigrant or non-christian are legal prey for the police predators. Most have been trained in the military where the Old South military acadamies continue to crank out their White Supremacist officers rising to the ranks of generals ruling and suborning White Supremacist dogma and training. Now the ultimate racist denying housing for non-whites gets ready to step into the Oval Office paid for by taxpayers of which he isn't one. Now, all it takes is one ideologically pure juror to negate any conviction for proven/filmed criminals, i.e., Bundy Clan in Oregon, police in South Carolina. The decimation of the former \"justice\" system altered to follow Fascist/Nazi dogma eliminating all human and civil rights. Welcome to the new Holocaust. Good Luck, America.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Overcome by VatII. Sore loser. Now we have the Pope too. You should have a crisis in faith. It will feel better on the other side. God has not forgotten the Church, although he lets it churn slowly for a while. The change in the its culture, however, is unreformable. Your misery is self-inflicted.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "(i)\"He failed to meet with victims\". Yeah you're a liar. He met sex abuse victims in 2015 during his visit to Philadelphia and even had Mass with them. Before that he met victims in 2014 from Ireland, Germany and Britain and asked for forgiveness. You basically just lied and engaged in false accusation and slander right there. \n\n(ii)He has defrocked priests. One example was the former ambassador of the Dominican who was then placed under house arrest and put up for trial in 2015. \n\n(iii)The commission does have mandate the major one being education globally in Catholic institutions for bishops, priests, parents and children for abuse prevention in the form of workshops combined with a rigorous screening process which has already been applied at the Episcopal level with things like the USCCB's 2002 Charter for the Rights of the Child. In fact they are holding a seminar in Rome right now.\n\nSo pretending like the Pope wants to \"manipulate\" survivor is a disingenous lie on your part.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Just another Republican liar ducking and dodging until he gets into power where he will out-Scalia Scalia in carrying out the Nazi, fascist, CONservative, Republican traitorous agenda to overthrow the governing system of this nation. Starting with the Scalia court illegally overthowing the election of Al Gore through the Bush wars and worldwide arrest, incarceration, and torture of anyone anywhere condemned to Guantanamo Bay or other secret prisons. Finally certifying the legal justification for a Corporate Oligarchy reign of economic and election terror with the Corporate Citizen ruling letting loose the Billionaire Bankers to buy all elections at any level. The dog-and-pony show hasn't even asked the real questions of Supreme Court Scalia actions treasonous to the Constitution and all human and civil rights contained therein. Worst of all, this judge believes in the superiority of Christian religion over all governing systems. The worst traitorous ideology of all.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"He said that the Courage approach is not discriminatory against gays, that chastity is a Christian virtue that applies to gays and straights, married and unmarried alike. \"What we're saying is that this is a plan that God has that applies to every human being.\" \n\nThey can say this all they want but there is no equivalence. In this definition of God's plan gays are always and everywhere to be celibate and for heterosexuals it's situational. It is most certainly discriminatory against gays. Dream on Courage.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims and liberals excoriate us about Islamophobia, but we should bear in mind Islam's entrenched racism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, anti-Semitism, hatred of Christianity, Europe. Israel, and America. Islam's destructive iconoclasm is destroying historic treasures across the ME: in just one year Notre Dame in Paris has had three close call bomb threats. They even have Islamophobia against each other. Ancient tribal wars between Kurds, Shiite, Sunni, Wahhabi, Druze and other Islamic sects, ISIS , Taliban and Al Qaeda are the root causes of most of the wars and social chaos happening around the world today. It is worse than anything expressed in the west", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "money is much more important than children. no matter how many children are destroyed, faithful Catholics will always make more.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Off to the back alleys, women of America. I find a knot in my gut when someone at this level of power starts talking about \"God-given rights\"; I've even heard gun lobbyists use the phrase. It's extraordinarily unlikely that there is a God, but if there is, the version these Born-Again Fundamentalists hang on to is a pretty awful one. I'm picturing an uneducated white man who listens to\" New Country\"*, owns guns, and keeps his woman in place. No offence to the more progressive, compassionate Christians of this world; I just don't think the Fundies have a clue what ideas like \"love thy neighbour\" and all that good stuff mean.\n(*I'll never forget lyrics I overheard in a store once: \"Daddy, I'm a-gonna be like youuuuuuuuu...I'm gonna love Mommy and Jesus tooooooo...\")", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What could be the reasons for CI (Catholic Institution) clergies immobilized on the clergy child sex abuse scandals? \n1. over 99 percent clergies commit some form of sex abuse one time or another.\n2. they know each other\u2019s crimes.\n3. they are some form of a clan and no one who betray on other clergies can survive?!\nIs that mean Pope F. and C. O\u2019malley also committed a sexual crime? That could very well be the case!\nIf that is the case, we will have to do away with CI all together!\nOver mother's (women) dead body clergies will continue clergy sex abuse of children!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe you should refrain from attacking Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One might hope that a married priest would not be subject to such inordinate sexual desire.\nIn the beginning man's will ruled his passions and animal urges. After the Fall both the will and the intellect weakened and man became a slave unto his passions. \nGod in His infinite mercy offered a way out of this slavery. He became man and offered Himself in reparation for the sinfulness of His rebellious Creation from the beginning of time until it's end upon the Last Day.\nThe path to Salvation was never meant to be easy. Man is unique in the universe, finite in his spell here yet infinite in the 'mind' of God. His gift of free will enables him to make choices; whether to follow the path of righteousness taught by Christ's Church or to ignore Christ and follow his own particucular desires.\nWhich path he wilfully chooses will determine his fate on the Last Day.\nDo you really understand what it means to be a Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"What\u2019s your credentials on allowing the Christian church into school?\" Who said anything about allowing church into school? Are you saying you teach your children in your form of a \"Christian\" way? I hope not because those I have met in my life, both men and women, who have been exposed to that type of teaching, have grown up feeling guilt and shame about sex(you know, the girls guys like to call frigid) depressed, and have led unfulfilled lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It means a Christian God sometimes Jew or Muslim. But never Hindu or Buddhist or Jainists, Secular etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Oh, Frank- you think because I\u2019m opposed to PP, I must be \u201creligious?\u201d I think the kids these days would respond: \u201cLOL.\u201d\"\n\nActually, the kids these days wouldn't have anything to do with you, Lars. They're just not as extreme as some of you later generation folks seem to be...\n\nWe're not going back, Lars. Other than a few folks on the fringe who are routinely exploited for political gain, nobody wants to go back. Abortion is legal. Abortion accounts for less than three percent of PP's activities, and, even in states that pride themselves on their 'Christianity', abortion rates are similar to that of other states. It's over, Lars, even amongst non-radicalized Republicans.\n\nMy recommendation to you, if you are so against abortion? Don't get one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "W, hiding behind a split hair gives you not the slightest shadow of protection! I refer to the General Conference of Seventh-day Jews as \"official Judaism!\" It is three thousand years old! Everyone knows that! Right?\n\nFun aside, in two thousand years post resurrection, the Torah (real official Judaism), hasn't changed nor has the Jewish view of Jesus as unqualified for Messiah. You know that.\n\nJesus became the prophetical Messiah in Christian discourse post resurrection. Serious adjustments to Jewish thought and imaginative redefinition of the Jewish concept of Messiah, the Deliverer, was necessary to nominate Jesus for that role. \n\nThe concept of Jesus/Messiah traveled through Mr. Paul and Catholicism as a refining process so you would have something to believe.\n\nBelieving or not has no effect on life, only post death, pig in a poke. Fear, hope, guilt, skepticism, faith, belief, all park in the mind until death. Are you not going to die to disprove me? Gratas Ambrosia por su!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yours is a classic appeal to emotion, not logic and it lacks documentation. You are obviously highly biased against a huge group of people you present as being of one mind. I should point out the Christian bible also has some rather shocking passages.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A CINO (Christian in name only) like most Trump voters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Believe it or not, Christianity is not about good people getting better. If anything, it is good news for bad people coping with their failure to be good.\" Tullian Tchividjian", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why don't Western leaders press Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, and other Muslim nations on violence directed towards Christians?\negdusa\n-\nbecause\nprogressive multiculturalism and diversity\ncultural relativism\nmust respect other cultures\nremember, we are not \"better\" - we are only \"different\"\n-\nThe West is determined to strangle itself\nor rather Leftists in the West", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So now you're admitting that there are Catholic and Jewish cemeteries. Then admit that it is exceedingly rare for a cemetery to be located next to a church or synagogue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now that you mention it, I cannot recall anything Trump has ever said or done that is offensive or inconsistent with Christian values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ahhhh yes, Kesey. One of his favorite quotes was, \"I was born a Christian, but I am a Stone Faced ACID HEAD\". Ohhhhh how this resonates.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've worked on inter-faith projects and programs with women clergy from many faiths. They are all outstanding religious leaders, pray-ers, preachers, and teachers. They have tremendous respect from their congregations and are incredibly well-prepared and capable as pastors. Catholics are missing out on their incredible and valuable gifts. Why?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's incredible that this reporter failed to mention some very important details about Jesus and Christians. \n\n\u201cAnd because of their saying: We killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah\u2019s messenger \u2013 they did not kill him or crucify him, but it appeared so to them; and those who disagree concerning it are in doubt about it; they have no knowledge of it except pursuit of a conjecture; they did not kill him for certain.\u201d \u2014 Qur\u2019an 4:157\n\n\"O People of the Book! Do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter anything concerning Allah save the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and his word which he conveyed to Mary, and a spirit from him. So believe in Allah and His messengers, and do not say \"Three.\" Cease! It is better for you! Allah is only One Allah. It is far removed from his transcendent majesty that he should have a son. His is all that is the heavens and all that is in the earth. And Allah is sufficient as Defender.\" - Qur'an 4:171", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...over-large and under-used chapels.\" Living a life committed to the principles of Christianity is not identical to attending services. Sometimes I even wonder if they are correlated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If progressive or liberal concepts or ideas are fostered and proposed by democrats, it is heresy, communist, socialist or any of the other convenient derogatory terms favored by Republicans. If the same concepts and ideas come from a Republican, they are innovative, free market, capitalist, laudatory, et. al. All of it coming from the wealthy Republican elite claiming the means to establishing it all is to destroy the public school system in favor of the elite Charter/Christian taxpayer funded privatized systems. Disgusting in its blatant hypocrisy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are free to believe and feel anyway you want. You are painting with a pretty wide brush though. Are all of us Christians also to judge non christians in the same manner as you are doing? So non christian criminals make all of you criminals?\n\nI do agree there are self professed christians that will some day stand before Jesus and hear \"\u2018I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sigh....\n\nPope Pius IX's teaching on religious liberty appears in a context where \"religious liberty\" was synonymous with \"persecution of the Catholic Church.\" That was his real concern: the rights of the Church were being violated in the name of \"religious liberty.\" \n\nPope Eugene is correct and Vatican II did not change this teaching. The difference is that Vatican II presupposes that people who are not Catholic are invincibly ignorant and thus not culpable. In the context of modern society today, most people do not willfully reject the Catholic Faith they know to be true in their heart. Pope Eugene assumed a willful rejection of the Catholic Faith in his teaching. \n\nThe teaching remains: anyone who knows in their heart that the Catholic Faith is the one true Faith and still rejects it, cannot be saved.\n\nThere are no direct contradictions between teachings--the contradictions are only apparent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Harperites waste no time playing the Christian persecution card.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I just don't know why people can't just deal rationally with this sort of thing. There are many religions, belief systems, etc. All important to those that believe. If someone from a particular group wants to get up and give a positive invocation-christian, wiccan,humanist-let them do it. Or do away with the invocation altogether; problem solved. The idea that anyone, but especially a public employee, has a right to showcase his or her religion only and further, foist it on people who are not religious is not only ridiculous but speaks of a sense of entitlement, arrogance and a generous dollop of narcissism: \n\n\"I think I have a right, as an elected official, because I'm Christian, I'm Catholic, all my decisions stem from my core belief, and I think I have a right to have people give an invocation and a prayer,\" Gilman said...\"\n\nReally? That's some bucket of special rights your public office confers on you. And only you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Trump and Pence were true Christians, they would oppose this most unChristian of bills. \"Share each other\u2019s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.\" (Galatians 6:2-3)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No- it's the Reform\\Alliance\\Conservative version of the Republican party. Christian fanatics and bigots all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And is this any different than the forced conversion to Christianity of the Saxon tribes (white) by the Franks (white).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What an apostle ! A true follower of Christ! I hope he receives more support from Lgbt folks like myself and True Catholics who believe in non judgementalAcceptance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If education can promote tolerance by Muslims toward Judaeism and Christianity, it can be done with much less risk in the Muslim's own countries. Good luck.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "BTW the motion is approved by all parties except the pro Muslim Liberal party. \nHindu, Budish, Jews, Christians should all remember this in 2019. Otherwise, you will become second class citizens under this government.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hence my point about it being the interpretation and ones ability to think rationally as most Muslims do. There are also similar references in the Bible which most see as not relevant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gary...I think the sneaker wave is a better metaphor than 'tide'...a tide that floats all boats requires that they not be swamped in the megayachat's wake, drain the swamp undeed. His pick for Sec. of Education has one idea, strict Christian teaching paid for by tax payers...choice indeed. Have you ever noticed that out of one side of their mouths they market choice and the other standardization. She didn't know the difference between developmental assessments and proficiency...of course Lamar made her lack of experience a good thing...not an insider, but then we're told that being a doctor gives one insight into health...get your stories straight GOP. knowledge, skills and insight are good things\nYes 'past is prolog.'\nLittle d, the twit in chief...heaven help us!\nSwimming lessons at the Y.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am happy with the progress of the Roman Catholic-Lutheran dialog so far. I just wish we could go to the next step more quickly. Our churches (all of them) became very legalistic after Constantine; so much so that nothing can happen until every single \u201cI\u201d has been dotted and every excruciating \u201ct\u201d crossed. Charity became sacrificed at the altar of legalism.\n\nI would love to see common liturgies happen in communities, so that people can really see that \u201cthe other church\u201d members do profess and act on a love of God and other people.\n\nArguments over theologies and practices, starting in the first century, have led the People of God to a fractured Christianity, where too much energy is given to showing how \u201cWe\u201d are right and the \u201cOthers\u201d are wrong. This distracts us all from proclaiming the good news; that the consequence of death is conquered through the work of Jesus, the Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sure but show me a Christian who only follows Christ's teachings while ignoring the rest of the books in the Bible. Show me a pastor who only carries around the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and none of the other sections of the New Testament. Show me a mainstream church that does this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Muck! The Founders Created the Congressional Chaplain and understood the importance of opening invocation before legislative sessions--which we've done since they created the Constitution. They did so, as today, for meditation and guidance, and not to \"force\" anything, as you try to say.\n\nWhile they have always been Christian, *guest chaplains* have included many faiths of invocation ( except,....Satan-worshippers). Clearly, again, for the reasons already stated above. Hope this helps!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As one can see, there are many on this site who hate the church and several who are probably not even Catholic anymore and some of them were never Catholic and come in here and bash the church for political reasons.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bingo. \n\nSome of us actually like being Catholic, and if we wanted to Protestanize ourselves would actually go and join a Protestant ecclesial community and leave people that wanted to be Catholic in peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who are the ruthless and uncaring rightists to whom you refer? Are they the Christians who feed people or the Baptists and Salvation Army organizations currently helping thousands recover from hurricane losses? Are they the tough-love folks who think able-bodied people who receive government handouts should be subject to workfare, not absolutely free fare? Are they those who think that individuals--not big bureaucratic government--are best able to decide who gets their \"charitable\" donations? Are they the poor Black church-going folks in the inner-cities who are clamoring for more charter schools and praying to win the lotteries to get their children into non-government schools? Perhaps you are simply channeling Margaret Thatcher's liberal media critics or swallowing the fear-mongering served up by Schumer and others of his ilk. Why, just this week, he forgot to say how Republicans what to throw grandma off a cliff. One thing is for sure: You haven't been to Austin lately.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess that is what is meant in Matthew 7:12 \"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets,\" and also in 1 Peter 2:17 \"Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.\" I'm not Christian, but it seems that Jesus taught a lot about respect and love, regardless of who you were dealing with.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nora, it appears that you have not read the report, but are relying on my attempt to condense its 190,000 words into 1400. I stated that the report was critical of \u201cthe lack of women in positions of authority.\u201d If you read the report on p. 60, 95, 220, 229, 235, 282, 295 & 296, and in particular their criticisms of the theology that \u201cwomen in the Catholic Church are essentially second-class citizens with little formal power\u201d, of the restrictions on any discussion about women\u2019s ordination imposed by previous popes, and of priests being required to oppose women\u2019s ordination if they want to be bishops, you would be hard pressed to find an inference that they are opposed to women\u2019s ordination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "McHale means \"All I'm 'inflicting' on you is MY IDIOSYNCRATIC OPINIONS which every Catholic is bound to follow\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't worry gary, nobody is going to force you to be a Christian. Maybe God doesn't want your type.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What exclusively Christian principles were those, Thor?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I confess that I don't understand the RCC's relationship with protestant Christianity. These attempts at ecumenism seem somehow dishonest, as neither side recognizes the other as being legitimately Christian.\n\nThen again, these Chautauquas represent the progress of a religion that's actually willing to deal with disagreement by non-violent and reasonable debate, rather than trying to make a point by killing innocent people all over the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cTrump cited the extremist group\u2019s atrocities against Christians and others and said: \u201cWe have to fight fire with fire.\u201d\u201d\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nSo what will be the difference between the US and Islamic State? Is Trump really prepared to destroy the moral authority of his country and drag it down to the same barbaric level as his enemies?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are we to be no better than them?\n\nI remember how the Roman Empire regarded a small group of religious malcontents -- hated them, brutally and publicly tortured and murdered them for refusing to worship their gods, burn incense to their emperor, eat food sacrificed to their idols. Those Christians refused, stood firm, died for their belief. Two thousand years later, Christianity remains, but who worships Jupiter, Isis, and Augustus Caesar any more?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not only all the Christian denominations, but you have three religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) that worship the same god and use some of the same texts to claim legitimacy. \n\n\nIf they are relying on texts written by a god, how did they end up with such different practices and beliefs?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Canada has become a multiethnic which should welcome people from all over the world, so the attacks against Muslims are totally unacceptable\n\nBUT ......\n\nPerhaps the Muslims are viewed with suspicion when schools in Saudi Arabia allegedly teach their children to hate non-Muslims. When The Coptic Christian community in Egypt is routinely attacked. When many of the Muslim majority countries are engaging in ethnic cleaning against groups that are not mainstream Muslims. \n\nAs a Christian I find it very sad that Muslims of the Sunni faith and those of the Shia faith butcher each other with compete disregard to human life. in countries like Syria and Iraq.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Taqiyya is the Islamic practice of pious deception. It can take the form of concealing the full truth (omission) or telling non-believers only what they want to hear (concealment). Taqiyya is as basic to Islam as the Ten Commandments are to Christianity. Taqiyya is the \"Fifth Column of the Islam\", to protect Allah, Muhammad and the Koran from skeptics and critics. It is anathema to all other religions. It is hard for non-Muslims to understand that it actually exists, and is used to convince us that we are the problem and she is the victim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why be Catholic then, from your view? In order to do what you are suggesting, there is no need to be Catholic.\n\nNo one is holding a gun to my head to accept Catholic social teaching--but I do not dissent from Catholic social teaching. I only used that example to illustrate the hypocrisy of some.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a difference between making reasonable accommodations, such as for the few remaining Christians who want Christmas day off, and stopping your work line several times every workday for unreasonable people who are just looking to cause trouble.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Its funny but a few inches away on this paper is a column proclaiming a turban wearing sikh as the greatest challenge who has just decided to run for the NDP leadership as the greatest threat to the Liberals. Why are people threatened by devoted Christians and not by devoted Sikhs or Muslims? I voted for O'Toole first, but Scheer was a close second, not because of his religious views and social conservatism but in spite of them. As the article says, he's a likable guy, and most of his policy statements relate to economics and family not to things like abortion. He seems to be a generally more likable version of Harper. I can live with that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cMy response has always been, if anything, is that there are communists who think like Christians.\"\n\nA stunningly mistaken comment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah yes, the ol' \"if you don't believe in my religious book you must be spiritually dead.\" These kinds if insults help show why Christians are not nice people in their core, and it's exactly because of Christianity that turns people that way. \n\nReligion is the opiate of the masses and the way for the powerful to manipulate the masses. The most secular countries around the world are consistently happier and have the most human rights. The most religious consistently have the fewest human rights. \n\nMankind had made up hundreds of gods to worship over the millennia. The only difference between you and me is that I simply believe in one less made up god than you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cafeteria Christians....just like Trudeau....a Cafeteria Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Love it: splitting hairs, contradiction, dogmatic imperialism, narcissistic arrogance, epistemology, idealism, realism, phenomenology... and, ah yes discernment and the practical realism of getting on with it. Canadians, dealing with the Stanley Cup playoffs deal with these sublime quandaries on a nightly basis. Sadly, as with \"youze\" Americans and baseball, rather than pondering the philosophical underlays of these fundamental questions that occupied Parmenides, Socrates, Plato, Descartes, Kant and Benedict XVI, we just throw a bottle (empty of course), or similar exhortation, on behalf of the entire Boston fan base, at the Ottawa Senator players or go for a brew or two and vent.\nSerious Catholics have a simpler answer on the less important \"theologies\": do now; guilt after, then fagget it.\nThe teaching mission - missed opportunity - of Church is clear: discernment in community with wisdom.\nDid I miss \"sexism\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Serge, very good as far as you went- but there was another vote March 5 1933. A wild election with 88% voting, it was far from free, with Chancellor Hitler and his NSDAP intimidating their opponents, yet the Nazis still couldn't get a majority: only 43.9%. Their naive partners, the arch-conservative German Nationalists were just 8%, giving the government a bare 51.9% majority. Of the other main parties, the Socialists had 18.3%, Communists 12.3%, and the two moderate conservative Catholic parties 13.9%.\nThe Nazis had but 288 of the 647 Reichstag seats, the Nationalists 52.\nHowever, on March 23, the Nazis and Nationalists were easily able to pass the democracy-ending \"Enabling Act\" which required a two-thirds vote-- most all the Communist deputies as well as many Socialists had been arrested and weren't present; and the moderate conservative parties gave in to threats and promises. At the end, only the heroic 94 Socialists were left to vote \"NO!\" \nBrutal tyranny took over.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder from where she got her statistics concerning Americans killed by gun toting Christians. Pulled from thin (hot) air, I suspect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of three) In the Catholic Church, a dogma is a definitive article of faith (de fide) that has been solemnly promulgated by the college of bishops at an ecumenical council or by the pope when speaking in a statement ex cathedra, in which the magisterium of the Church presents a particular doctrine as necessary for the belief of all Catholic faithful. That means dogmas have written determinates that this blog is not offering.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic women, then and now, have a better understanding of birth control, human sexuality. and why Paul VI and his Curia got it wrong! And, and the speed that the Roman Curia moves, the damage wrought by HV grows, and will likely NEVER be abated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Was that supposed to be christian? Not at all. I have an education. So how many refugees are YOU taking into your home Mi Thoeni?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We have never really appreciated that the decisions our leaders made in order to facilitate and cover up actually broke the heart of what it meant to be Catholic,\" he said. \"And we need to go back and fully confront that.\" This is so true... I belong to a diocese that has a bishop that destroyed pedophile files when he was a vicar-general in another diocese and what does he get for doing so? He is made bishop and sent to our diocese. This needs to stop!! Not all bishops are bad, but when you have one that has done wrong get rid of him; so that he can't do more harm to others in another diocese. When is the Vatican going to get it. Their sheep are not stupid, and we the sheep need to start taking back our catholic church's. We need to stop supporting bad bishops financially, and then the Vatican listens if a diocese is losing money.\nThan they will move a bishop. Christ was never about money and power!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I'm familiar with the story. But only the Jewish converts were seized. If Stein had renounced her faith would she have been spared? Almost certainly not. The proximate cause was criticism of the Nazis, not Catholicism (however hostile the Nazis were toward Catholicism). It's obviously a sensitive issue because many Jews suspected the church was trying to deflect from its own entanglements with the Nazis by promoting a Jewish-Catholic saint. It can be seen as exploitative.\n\n<>\n\nSo you're saying canonization is arbitrary and not necessarily meaningful? An argument could be made.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, it is a people issue. It's not an assault weapon, a Dem, a Repub, an atheist, a Christian, a Muslim, etc. etc. etc. Trouble is, my point is we're a violent society with a lot of guns. We hate each other when we can't unite to project that hate outside of our borders. We likely have since the early/mid 1800's, when the dust settled from the Revolutionary war.\n\nSo what's your proposal? I don't see us fixing our hatred for each other. The mixing pot is a mess. The country doesn't have a culture.\n\nMy idea is since the pro-gun crowd is so adamant about keeping their guns, implement that certification card program. Get caught with a gun and without a current card, spend 20 in jail, no exceptions, no plea bargaining. Commit a crime with a gun and without that card, life in jail. I bet that'd weed a lot of criminals, and the law-abiding citizens will play the game.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One religion is the true faith. The Catholic faith believes in the seven Sacraments, most Protestant Churches only believe in two. Which one is correct? Any Christian group that does not recognize the importance of our Blessed Mother obviously is not the one true faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You apparently don't know many Christians. I know a lot of them and they're great people. Very nice, intelligent people who don't try to push their religion on me or anyone else etc...\n\nBy the way I'm not Christian myself, but I respect Christianity and the right to worship without some nut-wing lefty trying to muck up someone's deepest convictions and faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I\u2019m not religious, not in the least, but, I strongly suspect that many of West\u2019s most cherished political values and freedoms somehow ultimately derive from the \u201cmind of Christ.\u201d For example, it\u2019s probably no accident that the earliest abolitionist drew on their Christian faith in their opposition to slavery. I\u2019d hesitate in completely abandoning this connection.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is totally irrelevant. The United States is less than 250 years old. And the Pilgrims founded the Plymouth Colony just 397 years ago,\n\nChristmas in the United States has ALWAYS been a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. For anyone to say otherwise is to show a total ignorance of our nation's history.\n\nIf people hate Christmas and Jesus Christ that much, there are a number of countries around the world where Christmas and Christianity are forbidden, that they can go live in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you think non-white/non-Christians have always been treated well by white Christians, then you have nothing to worry about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The underlying missions of LifeSiteNews and Priests For Life are political and exhibit repeated violations of Catechism 1789 that the end shall never justify the means. They are guilty of the same \"cafeteria Catholicism\" of which they accuse \"inauthentic Catholics.\" LifeSiteNews has a poor reputation for accuracy and publishes volumes of information that is unsupported or unresearched, or both. Their misinformation includes incorrect depictions of Catholic teaching, which has damaged our country severely. The claim that the election of Donald Trump serves some kind of higher purpose is one of the biggest ruses ever perpetrated on the Catholic electorate. We are quickly finding we all are bearing the consequences.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If it is independent of the Catholic Church why does it use the word Catholic in its title?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Father Reese stated: \"I must remind my progressive friends that every change has unintended consequences.\"\n\nI know this is a little off the subject of the article, but I am always somewhat confused by the idea of Progressive Catholics. Progressivism to me represents an ideology that has absorbed secularism with its atheism and militantly anti-Christian and anti-Catholic tendencies. To be \"progressive\" means that one thinks the state should have authority over every aspect of a society's culture and over every aspect of the individual's life. Also, Progressivism is de facto socialist. Progressives also promote the so-called pro-choice position respecting abortion. These same support gay marriage, and take other positions of morality inimical to the Catholic Faith. \n\nBut for lack of space in which to write, I could mention other ways that Progressivism is contrary to the faith. So I will now ask how can one be Progressive and Catholic? Enlighten me!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "N\"C\"R commenters thrilled to see churches -- especially Catholic -- closed and used for something else.\n\nWhy am I not surprised?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You would rather that the needy be unhelped than the government help them. Thank you for demonstrating that your actual concern for the needy is nil. An actual Christian feels otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do tell us women about the \"significant difference.\" Most abortions happen when the embryo is at the stage of development that most miscarriages occur at so on the one hand you have Nature, (or in the minds of the credulous--God the Father, Jesus Christ and whoever else occupies the Christian pantheon), who eliminates the embryos chance to be born and on the other women making a conscious and legally protected (Roe v. Wade, 2nd Amendment) decision surrounding their bodies. \nThe difference which you claim is \"significant\" really isn't in terms of the clump of cells you call an unborn child. The clump of cells can't exist without the woman to whom it belongs. What is significant, though, and you seem to conveniently forget, is the free will of women to make decisions about their bodies. Guys like you and Trump think you can grab women and make them do what you want but women know that \"happiness is a warm gun (bang bang shoot shoot).\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One protests against injustice because it is unjust. I know of no one who would do it for \"pride\", since there is little to be gained for personal aggrandizement, and it is a fair amount of bother.\n\nI do not fight injustice becausr I was bullied in high school, although that experience has given me sympathy for the bullied, UNLIKE YOU. You made it quite clear that you feel mo sympathies for vi tims of injustice, which does not speak well of your claim to be a Christian. \n\nNo you would rather clean your garage and pretend it is mpre pleasing to God than striving for justice. After all, doesn't Isaiah 58 say that the fast the Lord prefers is cleaning the garage rather than lifting the yoke of injustice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I now understand. Thank you for your patience, ForeShorten. \n\nNow I have further questions about the situation in Germany. \n\nWith Amoris Laetitia, I understand all priest have unambiguous authority to use the internal forum with remarried-divorced Catholics to assist them to a decision in conscience to receive the Eucharist regardless of canon law. It appears that groups of bishops and individual bishops are issuing guidelines for their clergy about the application of Amoris Laetitia, with some attempting to restrict/contradict what Francis said about use of the internal forum, and with others emphasising that very option. \n\nIs the German conference of bishops sufficiently united to issue a set of guidelines strongly supporting the internal forum? If so, would not that then provide the solution German theologians require to open up formal inter-communion talks with Lutherans? If not, then surely the roadblock is the German bishops, not Francis?\n\nInter-communion interests me greatly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When 'let him be anathema (excommunicated)' is attached to a teaching of a Council, it means that that teaching is part of the deposit of faith, i.e. infallible.\nMany Christians in the 16th century had \"different points of view from the Church\" and became Protestants. \nThe same thing is happening today, Catholics are rejecting infallible, irreformable teachings of the Church without realising that in doing so they have become de facto Protestants.\nRichard Rohr is hardly an example of Catholic orthodoxy, why he hasn't been disciplined beats me but your quote from him has nothing whatsoever to do with the issue of whether the Mass is a sacrifice or not, nor has your final paragraph.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements is a 1951 social psychology book by American writer Eric Hoffer, in which Hoffer discusses the psychological causes of fanaticism.\n\"Hoffer analyzes and attempts to explain the motives of the various types of personalities that give rise to mass movements; why and how mass movements start, progress and end; and the similarities between them, whether religious, political, radical or reactionary. He argues that even when their stated goals or values differ mass movements are interchangeable, that adherents will often flip from one movement to another, and that the motivations for mass movements are interchangeable. Thus, religious, nationalist and social movements, whether radical or reactionary, tend to attract the same type of followers, behave in the same way and use the same tactics and rhetorical tools. As examples, he often refers to Communism, Fascism, National Socialism, Christianity, Protestantism, and Islam.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CIVILITY is not a Catholic virtue.\n\nWith that stipulation, here we go.........", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Spot on comments, Mr. Foster.\nAnd don't look now, but the geocentrism movement is right around the corner, fostered by conservative Christians who prefer the Bible as science, rather than actual science.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An excellent Brazilian theologian and a sociologist, Leonardo Boff, recently wrote: \"Every year in Brazil about 800,000 illegal abortions are performed.\"\n\nEmbryologists have shown us over the past 30 years that from 60% to 80% of normal blasto-cysts, in non-hormonally stimulated women, fail to implant. They pass through the woman's uterus and are simply lost in the woman\u2019s normal menstruation period, without the woman even taking notice of the phenomenon. \n\nAcceptable \"Catholic morality\" as stated by the \"Prince of Moralists\" Father Bernard Harring (deceased in 1986) maintains: \"Declaring the time of the presence of \u201ca human person\u201d in the result of a conception is beyond the competence of the Catholic Church.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What if he took ten kids to Paradise (Heaven) ? That is another way of stating a possible outcome, God will not nothing unjustly. Jesus said this to the thief on the Cross as well - it is all a matter of ones perspective. You are earthly minded, therefore your perspective with always be an earthly perspective.\n\nThe Muslim God is not the same as the Christian God, this is only written for the readers benefit - not yours, so please don't bother replying, this issue cannot be dealt with in 500 words or less.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Burke is hardly a learned theologian. He's a canon-lawyer. And his history as an Archbishop is one not noted for cerncern for the people.\n\nPeople keep forgetting that Pope Francis, is a Jesuit with a solid background in spirituality [that many of the secular priests don't have], that he taught theology in the Jesuit seminary and that he has a doctorate in theology as well. He is not a mental fly-weight. Finally, he has been tested in the fires of South American dictatorships, drug cartels running and influencing politics, and the anguish of seeing thousands of people kidnapped and murdered. This includes priests and people whom Francis knew and cared about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you misunderstand the Archbishop. Naturally, he is ashamed as a Catholic, because as a Bishop he is not just any Catholic, but the most important of Catholics. But for him to be ashamed as a human being would require he be a human being.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The amount of . . . I hate to say it . . . hatred at this site for the Catholic Church is amazing. Scandalous, really. Calling the Church misogynist for not ordaining priests -- something the Church has never done, and Jesus did not do -- is way over the line. How do you call yourselves Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You must be a pre-V2 Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Eleanor Roosevelt is credited with saying that little minds discuss people, mediocre minds discuss events, and great minds discuss ideas.\n\nIt would seem then, that little minds will discuss the Four Cardinals. Are they \"rigid\"? Are they \"angry\"? Are they white? male? Jansenists? Feeneyites\n\nIt would seem that mediocre minds will be concerned with who is going to \"win.\"\n\nAnd it seems that great minds will be interested in the correct, orthodox, Catholic answers to the Five Questions.\n\nSo: When are you going to reproduce the Five Questions, and answer Yes or No to each one?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, stating the clear and obvious facts, You don't like it. Too bad, When you start to think in terms of love and mercy, let me know. So far, in this thread at least, you have shown neither. Heck, when you show signs of being a Christian, let me know -- a Christian believes that the two great commandments are love of God and love of neighbor. You reject the latter, and I have doubts about your love of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Christian, you welcome people to break the laws? hahahaha, with that reasoning maybe you also welcome Catholic priests fondling little alter boys too? LOL BTW, no one else cares about the ancient Mandan language, maybe you should teach your people back home in North Dakota Engwish so they can finally progress in society and finally move away from using \"Buffalo Chips\" as a fuel source! LOL", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Haha, Muslims pray to the same god that Christians and Jews pray to. All three are the so-called Abrahamic religions and share many of the same prophets and historical figures. (for example: Jesus is a prophet of Islam.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A preface to any year of the laity might well be \"a year of the person\". One thought that needs honest reflection and definitive admission is that morality, ethics and justice - individual and social - parallel religion yes, but are distinct. Religions have co-opted the principles and imperatives, added their spin, elevated them to sectarian doctrine, thus reconstituting them as divisive rather than what unites all persons, adherence rather than responsibility.\nCivilization owes a debt of gratitude to the Catholic tradition as custodian, the \"laboratory\" and teacher, but it is time to re-establish the legitimate distinction between Jesus the teacher and Jesus the redeemer. \nAs Redeemer Jesus, we believe, has no precedent. As philosopher/teacher though, Jesus is in a direct line in the evolution of civilization.\nUnfortunately, the \"cooptation\" by church is at the point of the ridiculous. Ethics and morality have become tools of clericalism and, sadly, are suffering similar rejection", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Martin is a priest whose job it is to minister to Catholics. As someone who works in NYC and has contacts within the movie and arts world, he likely has met many gay Catholics who feel alienated by the Catholic Church over the years and wishes to reach out to them. That is a much nobler goal than getting in a personal Twitter war because of your own issues with your life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This sounded great, until I read \"Christian\". Religion prevents any deep discussion of worthy literature. The great writers of the world can't be filtered through a Christian strainer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Patrick - Great comment! This dual education system needs to be replaced with a single secular system that focuses on educating children rather than spreading religious teachings (a.k.a. alternative facts). \n\nOn a side note, people don't understand, or choose to put their heads in the sand, that Catholic schools can turn away non-Catholic families and still receive public funding. Also, they add a lot of pressure/stress to families that choose to remove their children from religious events and teachings. This dual system needs to end now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that what ails the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is embodied in the so-called Fortnight for Freedom. Here the bishops, perhaps unwittingly (one can never underestimate their naivete), sold their collective souls to the political and religious right. I don't see any way forward for them as a Conference, no way to re-brand, no way to recover a credible voice on public issues, until and unless they abandon the Fortnight for Freedom and apologize for the colossal waste of the resources of American Catholics that it represents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"N.K. Thomas, a college professor and a Catholic in the Palai Diocese, says priests and their waywardness have become the topic of discussion in his parish. \"The problem the church faces today is not want of a priest but unwanted priests,\" he said.\"\n\nActually, it is worse than that. Not only do we have priests who do damage to the Kingdom, we have bishops who enable these priests and do more than their share of damage themselves. Until bishops start going to prison, this scandal will continue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stephen, when I first stepped into a Catholic church seven years ago stereotypes were shattered. My perspective always has been: who could have stopped the abuse early? Who could have prevented it in the first place? The answer is very rarely a bishop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation of the lives of Christians. You are espousing idolatry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, he was aware. If you don't want to believe it, just google Angelo Sodano and trace his interest in propping up right wing dictatorships in Latin America and elsewhere. Sodano was JPII's Secretary of State and very much into playing global power games in order to blunt 'godless communism'. There is no room for Catholicism in godless communism and that was very much on the minds of Vatican officials in JPII's days.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jones is Christian, not Luciferian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here we go again. How many times do we have to read essentially the same story over and over with only the locations and the names of the bishops changing before the Vatican and the Pope say Enough! and publicly disown these men? I think that they must believe that doing so will sink the RCC. However, doing nothing is also sinking it, with much greater opprobrium. Jesus was always on the side of children; it's very sad that the church that claims to follow him is not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I may be mistaken but I believe that he gave reason when indicating that the 1611 version contained the whole of scripture recognized by the Catholic Church. Later KJVs omit the inconvenient books entirely, starting, I think, around the time of the Puritans. This is, of course, a bit of an oversimplification but sufficient, I think, to answer \"why\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, most Christians, if they actually read, study and know the Bible would not agree that their relationship was never marked once by sexual intimacy. Nor does it say that Joseph was a widower anywhere in scripture. That must be an opinion of one of the Catholic \"church fathers\". There is absolutely nothing wrong with married folk having sex. It says in Matthew 1:24-25 That Joseph married Mary, but had no union with her until after she gave birth to her son. Which indicates to me that they did have union, which is normal in marriage, after she had Jesus. There are also references in the gospels to Jesus having brothers and sisters. The book of James was probably written by Jesus's brother. That is a commonly held opinion of scholars. The disciple James had already died before this was written, and, according to the NIV study notes, \"The other two men named James had neither the stature nor the influence that the writer of this letter had.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is abortion \"essential\"? How is killing hundreds of thousands of innocent children a societal good? Don't we, as Catholics have a responsibility to live in the truth and call evil by its name? Doesn't that responsibility exist whether we are discussing abortion, poverty, family or immigration? Are we not, as Catholics, called to transcend politics and humbly recognize and serve the common good by allegiance to Christ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gosh Tom, some of us are quite aware of the fact that Pope Francis has met with Evangelicals, and American Evangelicals at that. Our heads didn't explode. But Trump's pet Evangelicals are prosperity gospel enthusiasts and Francis is not a proponent of any kind of prosperity gospel. This meeting would make him appear quite hypocritical while giving Paula White and company press coverage they don't need and at Catholic expense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It would sure be nice if you would do just that. \"await true judgement\" you can't seem but to do just the opposite by spewing out statements that are neither true nor Christian. I have to feel sorry for you not because of your disability or for your penchant to create misery and despair, but for the fact that enlightenment is readily available to you and because you fail to see it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic morality ought to respect the actual outcomes of children since it harps on the notion that two straight parents are always superior to anything else. What is the proof except the outcome of the kids?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kadryov is Putin's puppet in Chechnya. Putin has also brought repression of homosexuals in Russia, and he is of course a Christian. Putin expressly supports Kadryov's oppression of homosexuals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The fact that religion once dominated our society is no reason to continue the mistake.\nI'm quite happy to get rid of Christian holidays and name them something else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "sorry littlebear.\n\nThe Catholic Church isn't Sola Hebrewa.\n\nThe Jewish people didn't believe in Jesus, the Eucharist, the Incarnation, etc. etc. etc. \n\nHere's a good starting book on Catholic beliefs..\n\nhttps://scepterpublishers.org/products/the-faith-explained", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Two questions:\n1. What religions, or even individuals, are NOT \"oriented toward light, hope\"?\n2. Do American fundamentalists qualify as \"christians\"? And if they do, do we?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As we have just witnessed south of the border, acceptance may not be so alive and well. A Democratic country should have Universal education from grades K-12 children. This is where students learn their civics, history as well as how to be tolerant and acceptance of others. When out children learn integration in schools; learn with the handicapped, the ESL students, the Muslim student, the Sikh student, the child who celebrates Hannukah and the child who attends the Baptist church et al, then we have a country where people accept diversity of others. Canada has been a model of that behaviour. So BC's, funding has to return to the schools to promote these principles of democracy, and the funding needs to be taken away from schools which do not promote the tenants of democracy. Then the BC schools will be the best in the world. Our younger generations would grow up, having learned to accept and love each other as well as knowledge and lifelong learning skills.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The OT is saturated with Sin as disobedience to God's laws that regulate actions of behavior. This sense of sin was stressed so much that God's chosen went to extreme measures. For example the dietary laws. Of course Christ chastised the Pharisees for their disproportionate focus on the letter of the law. But Christ came to uphold and fulfill the Law. We all know that Moses presented moral propositions expressed in terms of restrictions on behavior. The Sermon on the Mount which is the Christian renewed interpretation of the ten Commandments also deal with the individual. Christ says, \"Blessed is HE\", not Blessed is society or the state. Christ stressed personal salvation and personal reform. \n\nMost of the lines above are talking about obtaining true freedom. That is freedom from the sins that bind the individual and make him a slave to sin. It is freedom from the wrongful acts that bind, that allows you to act in charity (love).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic institutions and ministries need to adapt \nNonsense, adaptation implies change and alteration and our Courageous Bishops know the Church Never Changes. The diverse people of the Church need to adapt to the Church. Our Bishops understand diversity: many of them vary in age from one another.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All religious ideas have pagan roots. Is the Menorah a holiday candle.? \nWrong its not the orthodox calendar , correct name is Julian Calendar.\nFun fact Protestants, Othodox refused to use present Calendar because it was considered the Catholic Calendar. Later they adopted the calendar.\nRegarding Comrade all forms of Christians celebrations need to be outlawed.\nTherefore Obama is embracing Marxism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where is the motion to quell anti-Christian hate?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you quoting from \u201cForbidden Grief: The Unspoken Pain of Abortion\u201c? Dr. Theresa Burke is a board certified clinical psychotherapist, but she is not \u201cRachel's Vineyard's chief psychologist\u201d. Rachel\u2019s Vineyard does not have a \u201cchief pyschologist\u201d and the book in question is not part of the Rachel\u2019s Vineyard program.\n\nSince Dr. Burke is a Catholic and the Rachel\u2019s Vineyard program is primarily Catholic and Christian, noting that \"Abortion is the intentional taking of an innocent human life. Therefore it is morally wrong.\" is not surprising.\n\nNor, for the same reason, is it surprising that adoption is not viewed as morally problematic, since when the child leaves for the adopted home, she or he is still breathing.\n\nAs the experience with AA, Al-Anon, Gamblers Anonymous, and the rest of the 12 step programs, all forms of talk therapy, group therapy, and psychoanalysis demonstrate, everything seems like it helps some and turns others off.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed it cannot be debated. It's just sad that those in power who claim to be followers of Christ don;t quite live by Christ's teachings. Very few people in the world abide by Protestant Christianity's principles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW is conflicted in his progressive impulses because in the end he is a one issue Catholic voter....abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, you're telling us that the Catholic Church, like the Orthodox Church but unlike the Anglican Communion, excises heresy.\n\nInteresting, I am making notes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does Christianity have a Wonder Woman? Yes. She's called the Blessed Virgin Mary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "does the poster claim to be a christian,? Yes...I see it in the statement that the he answers back when attacked...espousing the teachings blessed are the meek, turn the other cheek, blessed when persecuted, etc...yup...perhaps an ex-christian....sigh...Jesus would be pleased to see how His outspoken follower demonstrates His teachings...yes...so much for \"If you love me, keep my commands.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "KTUU reported that the petition was filed by Jim Minnery's wife. (Kim Hummer Minnery) \nI wonder if Jim thinks that will throw people off and we won't know he's behind this scam.\n\nKC Jackson is so right with her earlier post \"Good grief, with all the homeless, unemployed, elderly and hospitals full of sick this is what a Christian organization spends time, manpower and money on. \" \nMinnery led us through the Summer of Hate. I don't think his Winter of Hate will work. People are getting tired of his story.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting how we always leave out St. Paul's advice in One Corinthians that a new Christian, married to an unbeliever who did not like the spousal conversion, should divorce. Even though he had just quoted Jesus as saying 'no divorce', he seems to think he had authority to modify the 'rule'.\n\nGrounds he gives is that 'God calls us to live in peace, not discord'.\n\nThose grounds of divorce would apply in many marital situations.\n\nIn determining our 'Church Rule'' about marriage, we seem to take one passage, from one Gospel - without considering slightly different 'sayings''' in other Gospels, or other Bible sayings about marriage.\n\nBefore making just one text an 'absolute', we ought to consider all the texts about the topic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm glad you found what seems to be the right path for you and I wish you every blessing. I feel I am on the right path for me at this time and I am open to God's direction for me. Who knows where it may lead, whether back to the Catholic Church or to some other sacred place. Thank you for your good wishes! :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Donna Schaper is senior minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City\"\nplease don't help us destroy more of our beautiful Catholic Churhces...the VII types did enough of that, the sense of the sacred was taken away and replaced by the worship of community only, God is pretty much excluded as highlighted by the non religious chatter before during and after mass...sorry my bothers and sisters I do not want to hear about your Aunt Mabel's gall bladder right after mass, I just want to kneel quietly and give thanks to God for the holy sacrifice of the Mass, and worship Him in His Eucharistic presence,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is just so much incredible Scripture that John just hasn't been able to integrate into the whole of his faith. \n\nColossians, 1:24, among many others. \n\nFrayed edges that don't entwine for him; and he's left unsettled. \n\nIt's in this entwining that one gains a unity and a peace in our full Catholic faith, though this \"gain\" does demand a very generous response from us, once the Holy Spirit helps us grasp it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can only hope that Kurtz was speaking code telling us to vote for a person that shows more decency and less demagoguery than Trump. If Trump is the Catholic Church's lifeline here in the USA, we might as well close our doors and go somewhere else.\n\nThe Constitution's first amendment states:\nCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof......\n\nThis amendment is about establishing a state religion similar to the Church of England in the 1700s. Right now, Trump is trying to establish the state church of Trump. We shall worship Trump or be punished. look at all the examples of his trying to punish people who do not worship him currently. We as Catholics are prohibited from worshiping demagogues. Trump is establishing himself as a demagogue to be worshiped. It is our moral duty as Catholics to resist false gods such as Trump.If we do not resist, according to my reading of the Catechism we are committing a grievous sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It'll be an interesting experiment to see if all the different Muslim sects, Shia, Sunni, Yazidi, and others, along with Christianity, Judaism, Atheism and many other religions and belief systems of the world from various countries will be able to coexist in this country without starting mini warfare. In good times probably, in bad, not so sure, but hope so. One thing else, should Sharia ever be allowed? If so, when and how.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paxima! I agree with many of the facts mentioned in your third paragraph. And I bow to your stated experience with this \"team concept.\" However, that's not an accurate portrayal of this \"Lobinger Model.\" \nNo plain, in the beginning, is perfect. From what you say in your reply, I get the feeling you haven't read this model. It is ten pages long and is quite thorough. It has a survey of the various priesthoods in the different Christian faiths. You really should read it. One thing is for sure. The priesthood isn't coming back as we knew it. And time is running out. There are many good things in this model. As Cardinal Newman said, \" All things start with an idea. If it is a good idea, it grows and is changed with time until it is accepted.\" As Shakespeare said, \"Is a poor thing but is my own.\" You can also find it on the National Catholic Reporter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This analysis of Buchanan and Rothbard show the tinge of racism found in the libertarian movement, which is more than smoking pot while living in your mother\u2019s basement watching Star Trek. While the Austrians did not get their juice from Rothbard, they share the common view that taxation is theft, especially if the spending does not benefit you. Such a not only lacks empathy but is wrong. Redistribution is necessary when a public debt is owed to the poor for past discrimination, which is why Libertarias resist the idea of reparations or that monopsony is a bad thing that can be remedied through a minimum wage. Public Choice economics, like Catholic moral theology, asserts that there is only one way of life, theirs. The Culutral Theory of Douglas and Wildavsky show that there are four: Hierarchy, Equalitarianism, Libertarianism and Despotism. Of course, many southern racists and Catholic trads meet in despotism without knowing it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apostasy is defection from the Catholic Faith. This takes place by public rejection of its doctrines. \nThe Patriarchy of Constantinople is the newest and is not in the Petrine succession.\nYou don't seem to know the difference between Orthodoxy and orthodoxy, look it up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where are your statistics to validate your point? To do this accurately, your must take the entire population of Catholic priests, including bishops,[and this is to be done with the population of Catholic clergy in each country] THEN look at the numbers that have been accused of sexual abuse. Then, one does a ratio of proportion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, the great cry of the Catholic conservative, if you don't agree, leave. \n\nI notice that you do not address what I said.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Odd that this did not meet civility threashhold earlier)\nMore than a dozen Catholic leaders were among 150 signers of a recent interreligious ad in the Chicago Tribune denouncing the \"bigotry, intimidation and violence that the 2016 national elections have unleashed within the body politic.\"\nI get how the auxiliary bishop is a leader, perhaps the pastors as well. I fail to see how the director of a studies group at a university, his \"staffers\" and a couple of random religious qualify as \"leaders\", however.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is the difference between a sedevacantist and someone who denies and rejects the teaching of the Catholic Church?\nA sedevacantist is at worst a schismatic, the denier of of the Faith is an heretic or apostate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The money laundering had been going on in the Vatican for decades [and it went right under the popes' noses]. It was so entrenched in the fabric of the Vatican from many countries---France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany and most of all from Italy. \n\nTHAT'S one of the reasons Benedict resigned from the papacy. There was fraud and false billing draining off funds from the papal administration. Pope Benedict, before he resigned, appointed a new president of the IOR, Ernst von Freyberg[ installed 2/15/13]. Freyberg, however, who built frigates for the German navy, was not seen as an example of a shining qualification to work for the Holy See.\n\nPope Francis is fighting against daunting opposition. In Italy [especially in Rome], the culture of money making has intertwined with that of the church to form a dense undergrowth ever since the Vatican was recognized as a sovereign city-state in February 11, 1929. To tear it out by the roots is a challenge beyond the strength of Francis alone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This modernist heresy will just never be accepted by faithful conservative. Catholics. In the long run. we will be in the majority in our our shrinking church . The old modernist destroyers like Kasper will die out soon , but may lead many souls to hell before they go. They are left overs from the seventies determined to makes a last stand, no doubt inspired by \" the spirit of Vatican two.\".\n\nMay St Michael the archangel protect us and God preserve Cardinal Burke.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Every human being was created in the image of God, meaning they have the capacity to know their creator and worship him in perfection through Jesus Christ.\nJesus says whoever admits Him, then the trinity will make a home in their heart. Not so for non-Christians though.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What do Christians have to do with this article ??? \nIsis has a position for you I am sure.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read the Koran... go to a Muslim country... I have. You'd be surprised as to what you don't know. Islam is not a cultural heratige. You defend their religion yet attack Christians ... you have no clue if I even believe in religion. You automatically hate me because I espoused a view that you don't like. I bet you're a liberal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is the Pope Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It would also help if the church was more sensitive to non-Catholic spouses during marriage preparation. A lot of the preparation materials seem geared to both members of the couple being Catholic, which is awkward for a non-Catholic person.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The apostles didn't write the Gospels. The authors of those did have particular goals and target audiences. Your praise of scholarship is misguided. Jesus didn't preach praise of scholarship. Aquinas is best studied to understand how the misconceptions and biases of the past can poison the thinking of the Church. \nI note that you carefully choose what you wish to preach about, but fail to address a number of questions. Here they are again so you can explain how your \"orthodox\" faith fits:\nHe was teaching that faith was inert and contained in a set of rules? Amazing. Did he provide the complete list of rules? If not, then how could he expect us to follow them? Surely you are not now going to claim the aggregation of rules, rituals, traditions and rites developed by the catholic church over the past 1900 years or so are required for salvation and represent \"faith\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By far the best comment/analysis I have seen or heard about the \"Christian Right\" is this -- \"The 'Christian Right' is neither.\" The current election campaign graphically demonstrates its truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We must ask: is the pro-life cause dramatically set back by Fr. Pavone, making him and his brand of zealotry part of the problem, not part of the solution? \n\nFr. Pavone might be arrogantly mocking Catholic moral teaching by declaring that ends justify means, a conclusion antithetical to moral teaching. \n\nIs the goal fewer abortions or is the goal the repeal of Roe V Wade? Does the latter assure the former in post hoc ergo propter hoc fashion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We also don't evangelize like other Christian groups do, and then complain that parishes are closing. We need people to share their Catholic faith with others and live out authentic Catholic lives. \n\nBut some are under the impression this is \"proselytism\" and are under the impression \"if God saves non-Catholics, what difference does it make?\" instead of sharing the fullness of the means of salvation. If we don't act like our faith matters, why would anyone else? And doing good deeds like an NGO and hoping that people make the connection that our faith drives us is not enough. \n\nAlso, people have been contracepting and aborting the next generation of Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. I am not missing the point.\n\nLike you, I happen to believe that the baptised are called to be Christ in the world of today.\n\nIt is you who have has missed the point. This is a point of theological belief.\n\nAlongside that belief there is the existential reality of Christians living in the world ... and how they do that (or fail to do it) is legitimate material for discussion by the world.\n\nIf, trying to explain a theological point you made a spelling mistake, people would be justified in pointing out \"you made a spelling mistake\". Saying \"But I was making a theological point\" would not be a valid excuse.\n\nSo, too, social sciences are perfectly entitled to point out what they observe about the \"culture\" of those who call themselves \"Catholic\". Saying your theological ideas are \"huge\" misses the point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Should a non-muslim country require a muslim cemetery? How many Christian cemeteries are there in places like Saudi Arabia?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A manual, a guide book, also a love letter to humanity. Where have I written that all must submit and obey? We have free will. You don't have to \"follow the rules\" if that's how you want to think of it. I prefer to think of it in the words of Our Lord, \"If you love me you will keep my commandments.....and I and the Father will abide in you.\" We are called to abide in God, what does that mean? We have the answer in scripture, the writings of the saints , sacred Tradition-all of which is preserved within the teachings of the Catholic Church . All of us baptized Christians are part of the Mystical Body of Christ, part of the Church, but ALL of us are not the magesterium.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now how are we supposed to build a Christian caliphate (a la ISIS, al Quaeda, Taliban, et al)?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cognitive dissonance is a bummer. I know.\n\nAnd for the record I do NOT think that Christians are incapable of logic or scientific inquiry. History shows us the most influential scientists were extremely devout. A lot of them spent a lot of their lives (or even paying with their lives) fighting the very religion they held dear because they challenged dogma. Some of them had hypothesis that although inconsistent with The Bible or religious norm turned out to be true (you believe the stars are other suns don't you? We could have been debating that rather than evolution 500 years ago).\n\nDon't conflate religion with God and don't equate scripture to scientific knowledge. They aren't the same things. Don't put God in a box, and don't assume the assumptions of today's Christianity paints the infallible picture of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is the paradox: this is good news for liberals when we have a conservative pope and liberal bishops.\n\nWhat about when we have a liberal pope but conservative bishops? What then? Will liberals still be hailing decentralization? Will they still be hailing the authority of national bishop's conferences?\n\nI do believe that Vatican II does intend for decentralization by the way...it is just that I wonder if liberals will love decentralization if the bishops are more conservative.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The numbers are stunning. This part of the country is very ethnic centered. Catholics in this part of the country have left the church to joing \"Parallell\" CAtholic churches to maintain their ethic identity and the This is how the Old Catholic Polish National Catholic church started in PA ( A \"Paraellel\" Catholic church). This is what is going to happen. I am wondering if the Bishops would be better served by having more lay input from business proffessionals who do this for a living and if they are able to take their input, or are they too we know best because we are clergy? I propose that the reason this will not work is because there was no prior Lay input. It was people showed up for Mass and had this bombshell dropped on them. Feeling will be hurt, people will become angry and they will either leave the church all together or find an ordained \"Parallel\" married priest to start \"another\" indpendent Catholic parish that will thrive as others are doing here in the United States.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Her interview with Donny Deutsch in 2007 where Ann espouses her views of a perfect America.\n\nDEUTSCH: We should just throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians, then?\n\nCOULTER: Yeah.\n\nDEUTSCH: Really?\n\nCOULTER: Well, it\u2019s a lot easier. It\u2019s kind of a fast track.\n\nDeutsch then suggested similarities between Coulter\u2019s position and that of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.\n\nDEUTSCH: \u201cLet\u2019s wipe Israel off the earth.\u201d I mean, what, no Jews?\n\nCOULTER: No, we think \u2013 we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say.\n\nDEUTSCH: Wow, you didn\u2019t really say that, did you?\n\nCOULTER: Yes. That is what Christianity is. We believe the Old Testament, but ours is more like Federal Express. You have to obey laws.\n\nIt's kind of like Trump, why can't everyone stop twisting her words?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I know personally Brother Diop, I know also the reason of that GC department. There is nothing mysterious, nothing occult. Since when, shaking one\u2019s hand is a sin or a Church compromise? The genuine Protestantism does not mean ignoring or villifying Catholics. It is about Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No doubt poverty creates an ideal environment for extremists. This does however not negate the effect that fundamentalist religion have had. In this instance it just happens to be Islam. I battle to understand the socialist fascination with trying to disprove that fundamentalist Islam is at its heart intolerant and violent. Why not the same effort to disprove that fundamentalist Hindu views are fueling violence against Muslims in India? Or the influence of the extreme Christian right in America? Does it all come down to inherent antisemitism, like we saw at UK's Labour party's recent conference?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Democrats hate Christian \"Dogma\", but they have Dogma of their own. It's called Progressivism. The New Democrat Party doesn't want anything competing with the power of the State. Unless that State is controlled by Republicans or conservatives. Spending other people's money is the one thing Democrats and Republicans do agree appon.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you seem forget that the reason Hitler did so well at the start of the wart was because of the Molotov - Ribbentrop Pact where the Soviets agreed to let Hitler run roughshod over Western Europe in exchange for control of the portion of Ukraine they did not control before the war. Had they not made that agreement, Hitler would have faced a two front war and would not have gotten near as far as he did in the west.\n\nAs for Ukraine not existing, I get so tired of you Russians telling this lie over and over and over. Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, was a well established city by 988, when the king of Ukraine decided to be baptized into Christianity. At that time the area where Moscow now sits was a swamp with uncivilized humans defending themselves against wolves. If you Russians want to claim that your country started in Kiev, why do you have your capital in the swamps of the Moskva river instead of a place like Kiev, which has plenty of high ground.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So Ivor posting his Point Of View is pushing his beliefs on others but Christians posting their prayers and Hallelujahs is their right. Not calling foor special rights there are you old chap?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The issue isn't how individual religious people act but the teachings of those respective faiths. In this, Christianity and Islam are not comparable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article makes many good observations. The official positions on this vile act will obviously be cynical exploitation of the crime for Erdogan's and Putin's own purposes. However, Erdogan's position is very dicey, and his blaming of Gulen is obvious. The trouble with Syria for Erdogan is that Putin has allied himself with the Shiites, Christians and Alawites, whereas Turkey is largely Sunni and Erdogan would likle to be the leader of the Islamic world, which is largely Sunni. Turkey is between a rock and a hard place, wanting to be on Putin's side but needing to support the Sunni side of the Islamic world.\n\nAs for NATO, it has maybe two more months of existence left.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The world can breath easier that the vast military forces of the Most Serene Republic of San Marino will never march across the Italian Peninsula.\n\n\u201c(J)ust war theory\u201d is not a theory as Catholic teaching, it is part of the ordinary magisterium.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently only a few Catholics voted against Trump in heavily \"Catholic and moral(?) red states. Some polls put it at 80-20 for Trump even now, after all the blather and chaos. So who is listening to the Pope?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are misusing Scripture to make sexual abuse a matter of \"women knowing how to set boundaries.\" \n\nChristians should not be part of excusing perpetrators. I guess murder victims should have beeen clearer about their boundaries?\n\nI still don't see from you your ability to determine the locations and avoidability of Trump's incidents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hillary is not as bad as Gerson portrays. Trump may be spot on, or he could be cynically appealing to the worst angels of his base. Either way, he is correct - although if you look at policy and the fact that Clinton picked up much of what Sanders was saying, the choice becomes easy and positive, unless you hate the poor - the only reason to vote Trump.\n\nThe link to Catholic Health does not work. The bishops need to leave issues of Obamacare implementation (last I checked, it is passed and won't be repealed) to CHA, since they have to deal with the nuts and bolts. If they want to speak about anything, it should be the desirability of single-payer, even though there can be no Hyde Amendment in such a regime. They need to pull out their copies of Fagothy's Right and Reason and remember that abortion coverage is so remote for any taxpayer that it is a non-issue in such a scheme.\n\nCatholic politicians have such distinctions on abortion. They should explain Roe to the bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jay, you've made your point - you don't like most of the music since Vatican II. As for \"Here I Am, Lord,\" the first stanza was written for the cantor to sing (God's part) with a response from the assembly. Regardless, people sing it the they wish and it's now one of the top three songs sung in the English speaking Catholic Church. The Methodists claim it as their top two along with \"Amazing Grace.\" As for your \"objective\" position, I would write the Executive Director of the USCCB Divine Worship Secretariat as that office takes a pastoral approach and has final say in these matters - they continue to support the music you don't like. May you always find communities who use Chant and Palestrina where you may continue to experience the presence of God. I wouldn't spend so much time worrying about \"others\" as our church is diverse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a very good line from a John Wayne movie that applies here:\n\n\"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.\"\n\nNCR and others are printing the legend of these Popes. Some people have created a Pope Francis and a Pope John Paul II to satisfy their imaginations. There is also the \"Legend of Vatican II\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not a Church Militant supporter either, but there's a blindness on the part of the left, within the Catholic Church and without. Constant attacks on President Trump, regardless of whether or not his policies and actions make sense is part of the issue. The Democratic Party's most recent campaign for the Presidential Office, along with eight years of the politics of division from President Obama has left a scar upon America. Since I arrived in the USA from Britain in the mid-1970's, I have never witnessed the type of political animosity as is currently present amongst Americans.\n\n Apparently, those who lean to the left of the political divide, think that the problem is entirely the fault of the right and the current President! Well, it takes two to tango. Some self examination is long overdue on the left. After all, their candidate was President for 8 long years leading up to this year. Does it occur to no-one that perhaps his often unilateral actions are a part of the cause?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u2026lower our wage and living standards, disrupt our cultural patterns.\u201d Myra C. Hacker, Vice President of the New Jersey Coalition of Patriotic Societies, on the 1965 Hart Celler Act \n \n\u201cWhatever may be our benevolent intent toward many people, the bill fails to give due consideration to the economic needs, the cultural traditions, and the public sentiment of the citizens of the United States.\u201d Myra C. Hacker, on the 1965 Hart Celler Act\n\nAlso, isn't it interesting that the catholic church is one of the largest recipient of financial \"donations\" in the world? If the pope is so concerned for these migrants, then why doesn't he exhort those countries (including his native Argentina) to take care of their citizens in need?\n\nhttp://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/24/catholic-church-collects-16-billion-in-us-contract/\nCatholic Church collects $1.6 billion in U.S. contracts, grants since 2012", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They allow the bigotry, racism and unnecessary suffering to go on with their christian silence", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Know how to be noticed not for your 'facade', but for educational coherence rooted in the Christian vision of humanity and society.\u201d\nI'm trying, Pope Francis. I'm trying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From the article -- \"... the Church can and must play her part. ...\" \n\nComment -- Given the lessons of history I expect the church considers her part as Director of an European rebirth, not as an actor. \n\nThis seems evident in another quote from the article -- \"... Only a Church rich in witnesses will be able to bring back the pure water of the Gospel to the roots of Europe. ... \u201d\n\nComment -- This indicates to me that the RCC considers the only acceptable European rebirth be one with a sole Christian denomination (the RCC), and no non-Christians.\n\nThis entire quote oozes contempt, disrespect, dis-accreditation, non-acceptance, and invalidation of any viewpoint of European culture other than their own. It seems a plan to exert unilateral influence.\n\nEcumenical it is not. I find it very un-Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gaudium et spes is not wrong! Ratzinger [and you assume] that people don't know the moral law by choice. The MORAL LAW that is being referred to is the Judeo-Christian moral law. What about people who are NOT Jews or Christians. And as each year goes on----there will be many more people who are NOT Jews or Christians.\n\nCultures, societies, and the primary unit of society----the family----have more to do with people knowing or not knowing the moral law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"And it was the ideas from the Age of Enlightenment that brought the abolitionist movement out of the margins and more into the mainstream.\" \n\nThe Age of Enlightenment was born of the Renaissance in Italy. Which was the seat of the Roman Empire. Which adopted Christianity under Constantine. Which underwent a Reformation by the Germans. Who had previously sacked Rome to establish the Holy Roman Empire. Which became the inheritors of the legacy of Christian Church and of Rome. Who had borrowed heavily from the ancient Greeks. Whose democratic ideas eventually flourished again in England and France. \n\nAt the end of the day, European civilization contains a fair bit of awesomeness. I guess all I\u2019m saying is that I\u2019d hesitate to throw away any component.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's a national view. It says nothing about regional demographics of different states or dioceses. At any rate, it's not up to any priest to DEMAND that the parishioners KNEEL. There are a lot of priests who can't kneel, either. Compassion and mercy should be the hallmark of any Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gee, no Catholic University of America. Or as the fellow with the PhD from C.U. would say \"You want fries with your order, sir?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have been here decades, a lot of it was from the Christian Church and their missionaries going into the Bush to civilize the \"Natives\". Nothing like a group of any kind to show up in your remote village, hand out \"goodies\" and bibles and tell you that everything in your culture is wrong and immoral. I have been told that by a lot of people in those communities and they hold a lot of resentment for the intrusion in their lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The secular Marxists have managed to remove Christianity, the religion of the founding nationalities of our nation, from our schools however those leftists somehow think Muslims are their friends because they have a common enemy, Christians, therefore they are not opposing the religion of Islam in the public schools and thus supporting it. Unfortunately many Canadians do not see this cultural war going on and as a result are not participating to their own detriment. Sharia creep is a real and present danger in our society and needs to be exposed and stopped.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Trump is the champion of Christendom and The Roman Catholic Church, then they are in more danger than at any time since the Mongols invaded Europe near the end of the Middle Ages.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am only interested in the Catholic position. Prior to V2, the official position of the Church was \"error has no rights.\" But given our current position supporting the absolute primacy of conscience and freedom of conscience, it is wrong for us to push for laws that violate the conscience of others. \n\nAbortion is a particularly horrible example of this principle for the following reason. Our believe that abortion is immoral ultimately depends on our conviction of life beyond the grave, which forces us to ask when that immortality begins, we have concluded it begins in the earliest stages of pregnancy...so abortion is taking of human life.\n\nBut our believe in freedom of conscience forces us to take the perspective of the other, and we are forced to concede that for those who do not accept immorality, for those who believe that this life is all there is, the fetus reasonably (albeit incorrectly) be understood to be non yet fully human life. \n\nYour other instance are different.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You believe if a Christian does something bad, they are no longer Christian.\nThe Crusaders were Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Distortion is certainly norm among the dissenting crowd\u2014Catholic, non-Catholic, and anti-Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not what I say. \n\nLeadership [and here I'm emphasizing that of academics] is the framework of imitating Christ in today's world. When any academic leader commits her/himself to following in the Lord's footsteps, they commit themselves to a particular way of life. That way of life not only takes common sense and practical planning, but it calls for constant reflection upon what that particular academic leader is called to be. A good Catholic academic leader affirms people who are trying to live/follow Christ. A good Catholic academic leader also challenges them to become all that God calls them to be. None of us are called to be bland, warmed-over Catholic/Christians, exactly the same as every other Catholic/Christian in the world.\n\nIt's a wonderful call----and sometimes it's an awful challenge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And yet another NCR column bemoaning the election, threatening Doomsday, insulting all those who didn't vote for Hillary Clinton, and displaying a facile understanding of American civics.\n\nSo much suffering on the Catholic scene. Trads constantly saying they're suffering persecution, and now Progs saying they too are suffering persecution. Each and all a victim. Hyperbole is mistaken for the Holy Ghost. Tolerance and any attempt to understand the other side? Nowhere in evidence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How come a Quebec-based party leader and person of the Catholic faith is treated differently than a Saskatchewan-based party leader and person of the Catholic faith?\n\nDo the Liberals have a double-standard here or is one leader's hair better done than the other's?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At no point did I equate the teachings of Jesus with Mohammad. What I did, was point out that the Bible, as found in vitually EVERY Christian church still contains the Old Testament despite 2 thousand years of Christianity, numerous revisions, and a major reformation over that time period.\n\nYet at the same time we have many, but not all, Christians who have the foresight to ignore those sections that no longer have meaning or relevance (mixed fibres or shellfish anyone?) just as there are many Muslims, such as the million living in Canada, who are similarly aware enough to ignore those sections of the Koran that no longer make sense. Giving Christians a pass on their book while holding Muslims to account for every line in the Koran is what's ludicrous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A superb article, Tom! Thank you! I especially appreciate your observation that all too often our church presents us with a childish spirituality designed for adults who are only comfortable with childish certitude. Because my faith rests in God, I delight in the uncertainty and ambiguity which are so much a part of world in which God has placed us. \n\nI find your four criteria for a healthy spiritual life insightful and hope to make use of them. I, too, was born and raised Catholic and while I attend Mass each Sunday, I can no longer accept many of the inflexible, smugly absolute, concepts my church asked me to accept when I was a child. At 81, I try to do my best every day as I continue my search for truth and for what God expects me to do. How blessed we all are to have the ability to think and what a shame not to use such a gift!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just yesterday I had to post this to someone who alleged the Church once permitted abortion until \"quickening\":\n\n\"It is rather startling to read this statement when it has been debunked so many times that the answer is in pamphlet form:\"\n\nhttps://www.ewtn.com/library/PROLENC/ENCYC043.HTM\n\n\"along with other \"facts\" presented by various proponents of abortion or opponents of the Church.\"\n\n\"The Catholic Church has never approved or condoned at any time in its history. It has never taught \u201censoulment\u201d of the unborn child depended on its sex. It has never accepted the theory of delayed animation. Pope Innocent XI officially condemned the theory that animation took place at birth.\"\n\n\"The Catholic Church has been uniformly against abortion in any form consistently through the centuries.\"\n\nThat someone was you, speaking of taking classes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fons&Colmen - disagree; links can be used to document one's analyses, thesis, etc. But, to just post three biased links does achieve NOTHING.\n\nTheologians Library - four bloggers - only MA is from University of Dallas (sort of like Steubenville); none have a masters in theology or even history/sociology. Talk about the blind leading the blind. Three are studying for a masters - none at a recognized catholic university. This does not meet the acceptable peer reviewed standards that one expects today.\n\nThe other two are just standard, run of the mill book reviewers - ho hum. No expertise in theology, history, scripture, anthropology, etc.\n\nTry again Pandora17.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes the Church's teaching is relevant but it is time for the church to as the saying goes \"think outside the box\". I would not think of ordination as entitlement but as a call to serve...to provide for Christians the blessings of the sacraments that cannot often reach them without a person to bring these gifts to them.\nDwelling on justice alone does not fit the bill, but full membership as baptized Christians might be the path to grant the ability for the recognition of a possible call to any member.\nOur genders are important in the scheme of biology and furtherance of the human species, but we have seen over time, especially recent time, gender does not demand restricted roles in life.\nWhen one reads the Eucharistic prayers it clearly shows that a person leading the Community is repeating the words and actions of Jesus in offering the bread and wine as He did to those gathered. The presider does not ever identify themselves as Christ but does what Jesus said to do.\nPeace...Joan", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis is challenging those who think they are the purest and bestest Catholics to go beyond the Catechism they love so much and act with charity and mercy toward others. It doesn't matter how often you go to Mass if you are not living as a Christian in your daily life (i.e. not being mean, judgmental, or bullying.) The EWTN set liked the cupcakes and gold stars they got from JPII and Benedict for going through the rote motions of Catholicism, obeying whatever the priest said (traditionalist GOPers only) and following the sex rules. They don't like Pope Francis challenging them to actually be Christians and are having fits because of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For the most part I am in agreement with the sentiment, and the establishment of a true picture of what happened in fact. Can there be any doubt as to the prominence of women throughout. To me though the thought out article does not go far enough. Truth in pictorials must always be sought there and elsewhere. What is not answered is why there is suffering, why the offering to appease a god through a killing and a few other things. Is the passion of Jesus but a relfection of our growth in learning and discovery. Can we ever get away from suffering and punishment. What then is the accountability of an absolute, omniscient, immutable, omnibenevolent God. Would such a God demand the humiliation, brutalizing, scorn and killing of a Son so that sin is forgiven and all humanity redeemed...makes no sense for eating a pomegranate...particularly since we now know Adam and Eve are non historical, no Original Sin, and no first couple.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "P17,\nAnti-Communism and Fatima. \nChurch fundamentalists believe that Our Lady of Fatima actually gave them permission to kill whomever it feels are Communists and now also Socialists. \nAnd for the GOP Money set it gives them the divine right to also steal and kill. \n\"What so ever thou shalt bind on earth... BUT that means it all MUST be done within the laws of God (Ten Commandments) and the teachingss of Jesus Christ!! ONLY within those parameters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which was relevant only because religious liberty was at stake. Persons can assert religious liberties. It did not extend \u201cthe rights of corporate personhood\u201d to religious convictions - it recognized that a closely held family business with religious beliefs can assert them.\n\nIn Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged v. Burwell, the justices sent the government lawyers packing by noting the government had always had the option whereby \"petitioners' insurance company, aware that petitioners are not providing certain contraceptive coverage on religious grounds, would separately notify petitioners' employees that the insurance company will provide cost-free contraceptive coverage, and that such coverage is not paid for by petitioners and is not provided through petitioners's health plan.\", speaking of paranoid imaginations.\n\nKathleen Sebelius, house \u201cCatholic\u201d, had cooperated in the fabrication of a pretext to intrude upon the consciences of several religious organizations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You've collected these quotes from a website knows as \"Now The End Begins.\" Why didn't you cite it? RationalWiki describes \"Now The End Begins\": \nNow the End Begins: Principally an end times fearmongering website positing that Obama is a Muslim poised to institute martial law, etc., but it also contains everything from Jack-Chickian all-non-Christians-are-doomed-to-Hell preachery to stuff about secret government weather control projects to gun nuttery to stuff about Ray Kurzweil and the Singularity among other things.\nInterested readers who visit the site will confirm that the RationalWiki description is charitable. \nThe quotes you posted have no context for the very good reason that the filthy website from which you lifted them doesn't provide any. On the other hand, I wonder to which of the quotes you object and why? Why not find the original quote, cite the course, situate the context, and state your objection?\nOr you can just wallow in the muck and mire of \"Now The End Begins.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And so we see how progressive Catholicism has twisted the Christian concept of voluntary charity to a veneration of government socialism and confiscatory taxes....mostly for the benefit of people who broke the law.\n\nPS: No one is \"coming for the Muslims.\" Calm down.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What does that got to do with my premise? Yes, some of these hate groups have their own coined religion - but many (most) started or proclaim themselves Christian. Your three links don't consider that and so prove what?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a legitimate question. Most Christians \"profess\" the Nicene Creed; not all Christians are Roman Catholic. When did you beome a moderator?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How Christian of you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Depends, John, are they Catholic Jews or Protestant ones?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A child can BELIEVE that Jesus's presence in the bread is \"real,\" but the child will not UNDERSTAND without some understanding of Transubstantiation, which is to say, Thomas's metaphysics. Children accept the \"that\" without knowing the \"how.\" In that sense, Cassie is right. Children know no more about the Real Presence than ghosts and magic. As Ross Warnell pointed out above, the problem is that Catholics are not further educated as young adults and adults as to the meaning of the Transubstantiation and beyond that, the Eucharist \"being the sign and the reality of God broken and poured out for the love of a broken and hurting world.\" Well said, Mr. Warnell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Upon hearing of the transitus of Brian Doyle, saint, writer, publisher, uber-catholic... I went in search of some his writing to simply 'fellowship' with him in the medium that so embraced his voice. I came across this, NOTES ON LOVING YOUR NEIGHBOR, published in the Christian Century. Hope a link is ok... https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2014-01/notes-loving-your-neighbor\n\nI mention this here because, I am really having a hard time loving Donald Trump as my neighbor, as Our Lord wove into our mission statement without footnotes and exceptions. Donald, does not make it easy. But then he feels the same way about loving the people he is trying to ban from our shores. \n\nMaybe that Einstein,Rosen, Podolsky experiment has some bearing in this case.\nMaybe that Donald has been loved by Christ is memo enough.\nLord, I'm working at it... \nLord, make me an instrument of your peace\nand a Sign of your Love for us...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The CC are kept informed by the vice president. You should pray for forgiveness for questioning the statements of a pillar of Christian and Catholic Values, who never posts anything here that does not comply with the highest standards of conduct for the Teacher who gave us the beatitudes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chris and Lars are both right. Faith cannot be private. \"Private only\" faith is no faith at all. It negates the Great Commission and avoids the conflict that Jesus promised we would (and should) experience. But faith starts in the inner sanctum, in the quiet places of our relationship with Jesus Christ. That informs our public behavior. Or should.\n\nRomans 10:10 - Believe in your heart (private) and confess with your mouth (public).\n\nChristians meet Jesus in private, but we are required to live our faith out loud. If anyone but the casual passerby is uncertain of your spiritual status, you're not living up to God's standard, but angrily waving signs in the street is not evangelizing for Christ. So maybe the Satanist's prayer had its desired effect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, most Christians refuse to follow the advice Jesus gave them. As far as I can tell, the best thing Christianity has done is get Europeans to stop being cannibals. Sunday morning is still the most segregated time of the week in the USA.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The top private schools, Punahoe, Iolani, maybe Midpac have far more applicants than openings regardless of ability to pay. Kam is in a class by itself. I believe they deliver a superior education overall compadred to public schools but again so much depends upon the individual student. As I remember catholic schools weren't that much different from public schools here in performance. But that could have changed. Not really aware of other religious schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not an unreasonable request from our P.M. The Catholic Church in Canada is guilty of historic abuse of First Nations children and the least the Pope can do is apologize for it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The people we now refer to as indigenous were in North America for at least 10,000 years before Europeans crashed the party in the interests of exploitation and Christian converts. The Canadian government can afford to be generous to indigenous people on our behalf seeing as we got a huge. prosperous country out of the deal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't remember any Christian missionaries blowing themselves up in the name of Jesus?\n\nTotally misleading argument.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a religious-oriented site. If you don't care to see religion inserted in a discussion that involves demonstrated religious/Catholic social action, then you should go to another site. Catholic social action has been on the books since Leo XIII wrote his first social encyclical \"Rerum novarum, 1891. The situations in the world and in countries has required more involvement by individuals, groups and churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Take a look at the last 1000 years and you'll see one undeniable truth, when you mix different groups of people together there is always violence. 28 Christian were murdered in Egypt a couple days ago for no reason. If me and my wife decided to take a trip to Iran and we went on a bus with out her having a head scarf how long would we live. If we decided to go for a walk in Detroit intercity it's pretty likely we would be killed for being white. It's not right by any means, but it is predicable. I find it odd that so many people come to the US but then want to keep their own culture, language, and clothing. Of course they have that right, but if they fully integrate in our society they would enjoy even more of what the US can offer (and get less unwanted attention).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Um, the world has never been at peace, with or without Islam. Christianity wasn't peaceful. Many of the wars and violent acts of history were not about Islam.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The editor writes the following:\n\n\"But (the judge) also rightly blames Christian missionaries who urged residents to abandon old traditions, and the sexual abuse suffered by young Pikangikum children at residential schools, for the breakdown of the family unit.\"\n\nHello?\n\nThe judge \"rightly blames\", say the editors, Christian missionaries and sexual abuse at residential schools for the \"breakdown of the family unit\"?\n\nWhere is the scientific study of that town that proves that was the cause?\n\nLook, sexual abuse of kids has been happening from Boston to Toronto to San Francisco, from upper class to middle class to lower class, from hockey leagues to Catholic sunday schools to summer camps. And Christian missionaries peddled their wares from Malaysia to Korea to China. \n\nAnd we do not see sky high suicide rates and family unit breakdowns en masse in those places.\n\nWhere is the scientific study proving what the editors claim?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We, as Christians, actually as humans, are to help those in need. \n\nThat does not mean the gov't takes my money, and redistribute it as it sees fit. We see how inefficiently they already deliver services. Our obligation is not vacated, though.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everything I've read about him identifies him as a devout Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have a question: In the scenario you propose, wherein the sinner makes a perfect act of contrition, and as a result, receives God's mercy and grace, must the Catholic resolve, in good-faith, not to commit adultery ever again?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not to belabor the point right now, but one \"earns\" absolution - forgiveness - by resolving to not repeat the sin, to return to a state of grace through actions and not just words, and for Christians, the immersion in the sacramental life of the faith. Forgiveness, in all of its many meanings, comes with changes in heart, mind and action. How else are we to see that the change for the better has really occurred?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Glad to hear Searcy can skip the mandatory meetings, now he won't miss his tee time. God forbid he follow a rule that was set before he ever took the job. \n\nWhatever happened to the Christian Concert that was held at the fairgrounds? That brought a lot of revenue to Enumclaw. A big reason business seem to be failing is that they are all similar concepts, antique shop, painted furniture, crappy food....you get the point. We need young, creative and new ideas. \n\nFor example during the Pokemon craze, how many business took advantage of the increased number of people on the street? One that I know of, but there was plenty of opportunity to increase downtown business last summer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why should what is right and wrong be determined by your personal beliefs? I'm sure you would find many Christians/Jews/Muslims/Hindus/Sikhs who would think that you are not right. Why can't you just accept people and live your life?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The ancient Church of both East and West does not believe in \"the rapture\". That is a recent heresy concocted by Protestants who read the Bible outside the context of the Sacred Tradition and without the controls of the hierarchy. Christ will come again, to be sure, but then ALL people, both the quick and the dead, will be gathered up together to stand before God to be judged according to their deeds of their earthly lifetimes. There is no guarantee of a \"great reward in the sky\".\n\nUntil the second advent of Christ, Christians remain in the world struggling like everyone else to do the right thing, but we according to the Truth, not according to our willful selves. Most of us fail at this; some more than others. I fail more than others. What about you, Ron?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, Catholic Social Services sucks up the big federal refugee resettlement program bucks (there are billions) then when all executives get their payday, the costs are put upon the U.S. taxpayer (in perpetuity), who as usual-has had no say in the whole affair.\n\nThe homeless vet on the street gets less assistance than these people from these \"refugees\", who share little to no common values or culture with the United States.\n\nWhy is it that the countries in the Middle East like Saudi Arabia and Turkey (whom we give billions in assistance to annually) are not taking in these refugees? Most of these \"refugees\" share much more in common with countries like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, etc., than America. 99.9% of them are NOT Catholic, nor Christian.\n\nAlaska REALLY needs to get it's own house in order before we ship foreigners in from abroad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Check Kenneth Jones' \"Index of Leading catholic Indicators\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most of the Founders were Deists, meaning they didn't believe in the entirety of the Christian Bible, especially with respect to the Trinity, a concept that the Roman Catholics introduced at the Council of Nicea. Don't forget that the Founders were also Freemasons.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd rather surprise and change within a global church (at a church council, say, according to its ecclesial polity, its Catholic conciliar tradition [with fellow Catholics -- like Mary Hunt -- hammering out their differences within, but still able to celebrate the Eucharist together] ) than a multiplication of denominations/churches, each with its own Protestant or Reform Holy Spirit carving up blocks of believers and at odds with the other [the other's \"contrarian\" doctrine]. So ultimately Protestants -- whether Evangelical, Pentecostal or Anglican [with ACNA, GAFCON, etc.]-- are left with splits and splits and more splits within Christianity, with one Protestant church or denomination splitting from a sister body (or older Protestant body) because its doctrinal round peg doesn't fit into the other's round hole. To affix a cheery, honey-like Holy Spirit to the face of Christ in each of these broken/split churches seems to go against Jesus' prayer that \"all may be one.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "they are also using it raise lots and lots of money from gullible \"pro-life\" Catholics too. money = power, after all!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In fact, the God of Jews, Christians and Muslims is one and the same. The Aramaic word for God is Elah, remarkably similar to Allah, and, in fact, Arabic Christians call God Allah, just as the Muslims do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You sound like a real 'peach' yourself, toots. \n\nYou also seemed confused - this publication is not the Huffington Post....you will feel right at home there, and certainly won't have to worry about being called un-Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have an interesting interpretation of \"fuss.\" And here I thought we were just having a conversation.\n\nI take a long view of history. The Church has gotten some things wrong along the way but has gotten much more right. And every time we've needed a course correction, God has sent us a reformer like Francis of Assisi or John XXIII or -- dare I say it? -- Pope Francis. Such people are usually resisted in their own time, but the Holy Spirit always prevails in the end. So I am hopeful.\n\nAs for why I stay Catholic, I stay because the Church is my home, and one doesn't leave home because of a family squabble. At least, this one doesn't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian values will be upheld far better with Trump than they would be with Hillary. As bad as Trump is, he will carry the conservative and Christian better better, even as a non-believer than Hillary would who is supposedly a believer. So, you're wrong, and that's why conservative Christians voted for him and not her.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't that the point? After cataclysmic changes in society from WW1, after the French and the Russian revolutions, the Church did not change.\nHaving lived through WW2, the bishops decided on a different path. They sought to revitalize the message of Christ so that peace, not war, would be associated with the name of Christians. The rites for the liturgy and sacraments were changed to emphasize their connection to Christ as revealed in Scripture and through our traditions.\nRetreating back into our castles and condemning other people had proved disastrous for Pius IX and his successors. Europe was in flames and then in ruins. The exodus from the Church started then, with liberalism, communism, and other movements pulling people away from their home in the Church. The Church was still identified with the old order, with the disorder of war, so many left. It was not liturgical changes, there were underlying social forces that pushed people away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I believe that there is a significant number of people who ought to leave the Church if they want certain kinds of change in the Church. This is evidenced by the numerous and repeated suggestions by some of the commenters on this site that people leave the Catholic Church.\nI also find that desire demonstrated in the belief that those who leave do so \"because the lure of the 'world' is too tempting\". This is a way to discount the large numbers of people who are leaving, thereby indicating that a smaller Church, consisting only of those who are considered orthodox, is preferable to a larger one, in which questioning and push for change is acceptable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Archbishop Charles Chaput is a holy priest and a great Christian leader.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope you are as consistent in discussing slavery in the west. It was indeed a basic institution throughout the ancient world, no ancient religion set out to abolish it, just to regulate it.\n\nBut there is a reason it first became morally unacceptable in the west, and not elsewhere. That was the result of the long historical development of social thought which, working from elements of Greek, Roman, Christian and Enlightenment thought, came up with the notion of basic human rights. It was Christian groups who first started fighting against slavery.\n\nGroups fighting for the rights of OTHERS, based on a moral code, was rather revolutionary. Every society has rebellions, i.e. people fighting against their own oppression, but having organized social reformers fighting for the freedom of OTHERS based on a moral code was a western phenomenon.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words, you don't want your children indoctrinated in the American way, as our society is not one religion, nor one socio- economic class. You already are indoctrinating your children in the exact opposite of American ideals if you see christian fundamentalism as the 'only true education' and intolerance of anyone different is good in your eyes. I see an elitist enclave and corporate subservience in your chosen future.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yup, Israel, with a population of 7.5M people AND the Jews making up less than one tenth of one per cent of the world's population have enormous power.....HUGE. Fact is, if you ever read anything on the subject, the Jews have more power in the US through the evangelicals....and their lobby....than the Jews themselves remotely have.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"But setting these Christian virtues up in such a dualistic fashion is a mistake, I believe. The answer is not to choose one over the other, but rather to try to incorporate both into your life.\"\n\nExactly! In the words of Thomas Paine, \"These are the times that try men's [and women's] souls.\" There is no shortage of things to worry about, but we as Christians and Americans must act to save our society from the pernicious forces that would destroy it out of greed and ignorance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yet liberals will never defend Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one who is truly Christian would support politicians who embrace abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you actually pay property taxes you tick off whether you direct your education portion to the public school education system or the Catholic board. In my area of the county thats how it works. You should do a bit more research Lautrec.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously you didn't move in Anglo-catholic or Evangelical circles. \nI would imagine that most of your Catholic acquaintances would generally welcome women priests, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is certainly going to upset the Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And try being white and Catholic during the 'back of the bus days' in Nova Scotia. Discrimination has happened beyond just race in Canada. Canada has evolved and continues to do so. Civil discourse will assist this. I think she was just being reminded of this. Relative to other countries in the world Canada has done quite well, no?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Tepid\"? \"The Catholic approach is downright tepid\"? I wish to express a different way of thinking. Maybe scheduled self-flaggelation and its other manifestations is simply wrong. Maybe living simply, humbly, and in modest holiness day by day, in rapt thankfulness for life, love, and creation, without dramatic displays (whether Muslim, Catholic, etc.) is a more beautiful and honorable way to live.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Jeanna for a really excellent piece! You have made some really great points and I find the comments about you being \"paranoid\" or needing to \"come out of the closet\" really unfounded. If there were more people like you in the world it would be a better and safer place for all of us. Thank you for your service to our nation. And thank you to your church for taking a true Christian stance on this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Joan, it is becoming harder and harder to swim against the tide and that is why I believe that for the first time in American history, Christians are going to be persecuted in the US for following the ten Commandments, Holy Scripture (the Word of God) and believing with all our hearts, souls and minds that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life! The Catholic Church celebrates the 100th Anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima on May 13th this year. Catholics can see the crisis that the Church is going through - there is much division going on within the Catholic Church and faithfilled Catholics will be persecuted from within the Church much more than from without. Those in same sex relationships/civil unions are not satisfied that the US government has given them rights, they want the Catholic Church to condone and bless their relationships/unions. They want the Bible and the Catechism of the Cath. Church to be changed to reflect their beliefs rather than listen/obey Jesus on marriage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How revealing that those denying Palestinians exist want them to \"recognize\" Israel.\n\nMillennia of migrations, inter-marriage and conversions make contemporary Jews related to ancient Hebrews as much as todays Roman Catholics are to ancient Romans. \n\nEven if they were, this would still not justify the illegal settlements: my \"ancestral homeland\" 3000 years ago may well be Israel, Peru or Timbuctu, but that does not give me the right to displace or dominate those who lived there for generations (if not centuries) and have no other home.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Muck! Um- you sort of just defined what a *Diest* is, so nope - not \"ridiculous\" at all. Look no further than what Jefferson himself thought of Christ and his following of him:\n\n\"I am a Christian in the only sense in which He wished anyone to be: sincerely attached to His doctrines in preference to all others.\"\n\n\"I am a real Christian \u2013 that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ.\"\n\nThis solidifies both the Diest view and what's been said here all along. Hope this helps!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your honest and heartfelt reflection; those two questions are so important - as David..234 expresses so well, grace is the means, but who is the who? This leads to the heart of 'who is God the giver of grace' .. the answer is sadly confused by christian theological certainties of an anthropomorphic God and misunderstandings of 'Trinity'. Thank God who is not inhibited in loving us and drawing us closer, by our muddled (spiritual) thinking and 'certainties'!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a really horrible thing to say:\n\n\"Today on TV Brooke Goldstein started telling the whole story about 1948 and plenty more, about no Palestinian people having existed, about that word being used as a pejorative term for Jews. But it must come from Israel, too. Over and over. \"\n\nThere were people there, Muslims and Christans and Jews living together. \n\nAre you for real? Are you attempting some bad-taste caricature of Zionist behaviour?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People determined to commit mayhem don\u2019t need a Scriptural pretext, and people determined to live in peace with their neighbors will do so regardless of what an ancient religious text might say. \n\nI\u2019m not saying that the Quran is equal to the Bible or that I hold Islam to be equivalent to Christianity. I\u2019m saying there is more to any religious tradition than what just appears in ink and paper. And the proof of that is that the overwhelming majority of Muslims aren\u2019t murderers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope your family, between mouth-washings and pseudo-\"repentence,\"has a place for teaching something about chastity and marital fidelity as lived by committed Christians, as opposed to depictions of human sexuality in R-rated Hollywood fare.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then is the board going to allow Christians to have the Lords Prayer every morning? No, keep religion out of our Public Schools. We know where this is heading. Animosity will be the result....it already is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I give him next to no credit at all. Winters rarely tackles the substance of arguments but goes in for ad hominem attacks, usually against good, holy bishops like Cardinal Burke - and stirs up hatred against him and other good priests and faithful. I bet he's never even met the Cardinal but sees himself qualified to judge his heart. That isn't Christian by any measure. I say this in all charity: his screeds add absolutely nothing to building up the Church and are (rightly) ignored by practically everyone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Most ecumenicals [sic] think that everyone should agree.... with them.\"\n\nThis is just not true, Jack. It's dishonest and it's a very tired old argument. Most of us have moved on. If any Catholic dares to express a willingness to put less emphasis on a dogmatic position or Catholic (so called) truth for the sake of unity, they are immediately pounced upon by people like yourself, told they are not Catholic and they might as well go off and be Protestants. We know all too well who the intransigent ones are and it certainly isn't ecumenists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Scott -\n\nI was making a point to Cathy that once you start calling parts of any religious belief a fairy tale, then you're essentially making your own religion. I've no objection to what Protestants believe; that's their choice. My issue is with those who rather than become Protestants attack Catholicism and demand that it should change. \n\nWho's to say what God wants from us? What about literal interpretation?\n That's the role of religion. If you want to debate, that's a matter of academics, not religion. I post here as a Catholic, not as an academic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "26% of Catholic Latinos voted Trump! Wow.\n\nAnyway, I agree with your larger point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"What I fail understand is why Prime Minister Trudeau is unwilling to ask for an apology for all Canadians who suffered at the hands of Roman Catholic clergy and religious\"-\n-\nI understand that you have a denominational ax to grind - but should not your quest include an apology for the odious abuses committed by members of other religious groups?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Father Jonathan Morris has been critical of Trump and has gone against the Fox line so I wonder if Fox News is looking for new Catholic priests to shill their line.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"When the ecumenical movement took off in the early '70s, liberals thought that everything would end up pointing in their direction.\"\n\nI can't imagine this sentence making sense anywhere except in the mouth of someone from the US (where \"liberal\" has become a term of abuse).\n\nAnd ... I've said this before but clearly it has to be said again ... \"ecumenism\" is only about inter-Christian relations. \n\nSo there we have it ... comments about ecumenism from someone who doesn't even know what ecumenism is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Chaput's mindset reflects Christianity's hatred of humanity as being flawed from the start ...\"\n\nNuance needed.\nIt reflects ONE stain of Christian thinking, which focused on humanity's sinfulness.\n\nThere is another strain, which stresses the fact of humanity's redemption in Christ (as witnessed, for example by Gaudium et Spes).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But now you are speaking about Christianity. Islam is, essentially, a summation of early Christian heresies and myth and not, necessarily, situationally.\nThe OT has many more references to God analogously taking on traditional male and female characteristics. It was through Jesus that God revealed Himself as Father, though this is not meant as a gender indicator but as an actor in the lives of His children. \nThis is not so for Islam, as I understand it, where, though masculine pronouns (which may have a neuter gender) are often used, the Surah I provided is, at least for those with whom I've spoken, a \"proof text\" that Allah is masculine.\nPrimarily, though, I just think Leo is the better character for the job of delivering the line.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What ..your Kindergarten Christianity variety. \n\nJust because he doesn't say DOG, backwards? \n\nReread it 3 more times until it sinks in. So many...so clouded by their prejudiced faith.\n\nMay The LIGHT of ALL enLIGHTenment touch ALL of the dark souls. \n\nLight, Peace & Love to ALL!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, how did you see Benedict or JPII as \"judgmental\" or not wishing to include others? How did they deny the goodness and value of a person?\n\nThe \"value\" of a church teaching, in itself, is in what way it accords with truth... not some wishy-washy \"truth to me\", or an erroneous understanding of sensus fidelium as \"current market research,\" but an objective reality that one will recognize if one believes that it is the Spirit guiding the Church, the hierarchy (of which you and I are a part) as promised by Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The vast majority of Catholics in the pews probably aren\u2019t aware of Amoris Laetitia and conflicts surrounding its interpretation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those false interpretations are the product of the Catholic ultra-right-wing, of which Pio Nono himself was a prominent member throughout most of his papacy. That's why contemporary popes have largely ignored false interpretations of Vatican II (such as Ray Burke's) and why the canonization of Pio Nono lagged behind that of St. John XXIII.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Muslims were responsible for the Barbary Wars, maybe we ought to hold Episcopalians responsible for the Revolution and War of 1812, Catholics responsible for the Quasi-War, Presbyterians for the Civil War, Greek Orthodox for the Aegean sea wars, Catholics again for the Mexican American War (and the Spanish-American War, come to think of it) and on and on and on.\n\nThe irony of claiming to uphold the Constitution while advocating a religious test for office is likely beyond your comprehension, but you might want to consider actually learning about history at some point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"sharp decline in faith practice\" ... \"steep decline in religious vocations\" ... \"frustration of women ... at their inferior place ... \"visceral anger of many over the clerical abuse scandals.\"\n\nFr. O'Hanlon talks about \"a cultural reality where God is increasingly \"missing but not missed\" and an \"indifferent and hostile to Christianity and, in particular, to the institution of the Catholic church.\"\n\nThe people don't trust the bishops and are not spiritually fulfilled by the practices of the faith (the liturgy, sacraments), and no longer believe all the teachings, dismissing some as no longer believable. So rather than really create an opportunity to listen and learn, the bishops and the theologian moan and groan that things are not as they were.\n\nAt least O'Hanlon knows what needs to happen - a synodal Church. Talk to and listen to the people. Let them in. Give them voice. Give them responsibility and authority, too. Engage them in solving the problems. Treat them as adults.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. And none of this counters the fact that well before the time of Jesus the Jews congealed on monotheism and this was used by God to 'spur along\" in a very gentle way the birth of Christianity. Up the inclined plane to Truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While not a practicing Christian myself, I must say I'm surprised and not a little dismayed that you haven't yet been taken to task for implying by your analogy that white supremacism is in any way an extension of Christianity in the same sense that militant Islam is an extension of mainstream Islamic thought; it's just not on the same spectrum at all. There's nothing inherently 'white' about Christian teachings or belief. So why should Christians specifically be called upon to disavow white supremacists in the population?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My gosh, Eliane, have you been taking truth-telling lessons from The Donald?\n\nFrancis' Christianity is in doubt? The operative definition of a Christian, as far as I know, is someone who has been baptised and has not repudiated that baptism. Which of these is in doubt...that Francis was baptised or whether he has repudiated his baptism?\n\nTrump's Christian faith is less worrisome than Francis? Last I heard Francis professes his faith daily at mass; how long ago do you figure Trump was in a Church professing his faith?\n\nCould it be that what you really mean is that Francis' Faith is less like Your Faith, and that Trump's Faith is closer to your own?? ;-} Somehow, I figure you're better than that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christmas has little to do with Christianity. It was a Solstice festival before long before JC. Easter is a Sprinq Equinox festival, dating back long before JC. Even the name Easter goes back to per-Christian superstition.\n\nhttps://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/december-solstice-customs.html\n\nhttp://www.schooloftheseasons.com/spring.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "actually there has been a significant decline in those attending services, Jewish and Christian, hence the decline in the number of churches and synagogues in general across Canada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Doesn't Richard Rohr say something similar? \"You have to learn the rules very carefully so you know how to properly break them,\" something like that. We do need structure, but then structure is the means to greater things, not the end. I agree that actual Catholic teaching does contain much mystery, beauty and room to explore. Rigidity, superstition and moralism is more likely to show up in popular Catholic culture that gets passed off as actual teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quote just one source that described Burke's position with the KofM as \"important\" prior to von Boeselager's dismissal. \nTime and Reuters are reliable. I put in Breibart only because it was on the first page of the google search, but it stated the same thing as the other two. \nThe Catholic Herald et al are as reliably \"conservative\" as the National Catholic Reporter et al, including the US for-profit media, are reliably \"liberal.\" Neither has \"proved\" anything, they're just different narrative. There are two sides to this and most stories and that's why I read 12 Catholic websites each day to understand all sides and the nuances behind the reporting. One can't just read the sources that you know will agree with one's preconceptions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was anticipating, whilst reading this article, of seeing some mention, that along with forced enslavement & abuse by \"Christianity\" of native children, was the introduction by the conquerors of alcoholic beverages by the clergy & other economic resource exploiters...no mention of deadly diseases, either!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That poor little baby that was born and immediately suffered horrible pain. No doubt the Catholic church had programmed the young mother.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is the way of Christ,, who came to save sinners. If we kept sinners out of the Church, we would betray that mission! Most of the people intend to follow Christ, but life is messy enough that disagreements are common. Sincere disagreements, sinful disagreements, selfish disagreements, it is a good thing that Jesus taught us to forgive one another!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chaput and his fellow conservatives smell less like the sheep and more like the one-percent. To describe fellow Catholics who are politically motivated as 'flacks' requires that he look in he mirror if he wants to know what a political flack looks like. Nothing in these e-mails, whether these exchanges about conservatives or the earlier 'leaked' remarks to the financial sector amount to anything but pragmatic observations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paganism is a religion just like any others... nothing about this event hurt ANYONE OR ANYTHING.... this was a wonderful gathering of like minded people in our community. Would you be upset if this was a Catholic, Christian or Hindu celebration? And please don't feel like everyone who was in attendance also participated in the other events you stated... if you don't know every single person and their story please don't comment on their lives. Thank you, and blessed be \ud83d\ude0a", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good piece. I'm a member of a Christian faith community and I didn't hear anything remotely offensive or controversial in her speech. In fact, she is very engaging and has a good sense of humour. I think Canada is well placed to have Mme Payette as GG. I just wonder what all the fuss is about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "....\" the male-only priesthood has nothing to do with Christ's orders. It is all about power.\"....\n\nWe need to realize that it is more than 'male-only priesthood' \u2013 the problem is our custom of 'male-only CLERICS' and restricting priestly ordination to 'clerics only'. \n\nIn the beginning, Christians were not divided into 'classes' of Cleric and Lay. Everyone was 'laity', no matter what office they held.\n\nStart off with eliminating the 'clerical cast' and declare everyone - From Pope on down \u2013 to all be 'laity'.\n\nThat might allow us to start thinking differently.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your Christian witness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yet Christianity is defined by the teachings of Christ. Period.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stockholm Cardinal Anders Arborelius thinks the pope should \"consider creating a special advisory body of women akin to the College of Cardinals to offer more opportunity for women's leadership in the church.\" Arborelius says: \"it's very important to find a broader way of involving women at various levels in the church.\"\n\nWell, it would be a step forward. But he needs to include women who really represent the women of today - and that means it must include women who use birth control, limit their family size, have careers and are well educated. Not just those women, but a good many of them need to live the reality women in the economically advanced nations are living. \n\nIn fact, if this is as far as the Church will go in including women, there need to be diocesan, regional, and national assemblies of women elected by women to represent them. I can think of a few women I would love to vote for to represent a modern-day female point of view to those old men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "pope john, if we had a compassion committee, you should head it. i too look at what we could be doing, not what we are doing. shame on us, christians and nonbelievers alike.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right on Sharon. That is why someone declaring they are a \"Christian\" is a meaningless statement in this day and age. I put more value in actions, not words!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The most persuasive words in this essay by far are:\n\n<<\"There needs to be a Catholic Spring, in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a middle ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the Catholic Church.\" >>", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sister Berneice Loch, who testified before the Royal Commission yesterday (I think) spoke of a \"highly genderised, highly clericalised\" church.\n \n\"I think the Catholic Church has a problem, in that almost all power in the Catholic Church is highly clerical and highly genderised. I think those two factors need to shift if the culture of the Church is going to shift with regard to the attitude that any person can have dominance over any other person. And I'd say that's all closely related to the model of Church, and I would dearly love to see our Church go back \u2028 to Vatican II, pick it up, read it and have a look at the model of Church. I know that has been said by other people, but I think it's really quite key. The way we think affects the way we act. If we are working out of a hierarchical model of Church, which is highly genderised, highly clericalised, we will not shift without shifting the model. I'm not sure I can say much more about that. Thanks.\"\n\nSome people do see the problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bishops are not where they should be, which is to personally be in the halls of congress bringing the messages of human kindness and Christian charity to each congressperson office by office.\n\nWhere each-and-every-bishop should be is 'out front' leading the parade, and not collectively hiding behind press releases.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Acceptable bio-ethic-science today assures us that there is \"until only between the 12th to 14th week of gestation adequate substantive matter present to sustain a human personality\". Before this time the life that is present is biological but not human. [\u201cagere sequitur esse\u201d (\u201cactions depend upon what one is\u201d) or (\u201cbeing something\u201d makes capable \u201cthat kind of action\u201d) is an axiom of philosophy]. That means that: Although many bishops (e.g. the USA Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference) \"favor\" a vision of \"personhood\" (i.e. human persons beginning from the moment of conception); nevetheless science, common sense and \"sound Catholic morality\" do NOT consider possible the existence of a human life from the moment of conception.\nNor does the DNA in the zygote make it \u201ca being\u201d just as acorns, even though having the DNA for it, are still not oak trees, and just as rooster-fertilized eggs, even though having the DNA for it, are still not \u201cchickens\u201d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Its a short term ban,. I think the muslims are just pissed he wants to help Christians instead of muslims. SInce Canada and the US have neglected to help this group of persecuted christians. Here is a letter written by Raheel Raza a Canadian muslim woman, author and advocate https://raheelraza.wordpress.com/2014/10/22/an-open-letter-to-all-canadians-canada-is-under-attack/ Here is what Canada needs to do.\n1.\tClose all mosques for three months to have intense scrutiny on the Imams and their sermons in the past 3 months. This is not abuse of religious freedom \u2013 it\u2019s to ENSURE that religion can be free and survive in Canada while protecting the country. Put a moratorium on immigration from Muslim countries for a set period till matters here settle down. Anyone wishing to partake in armed Jihad abroad or proven to be returning from such a venture, needs to have their citizenship revoked and given a one-way ticket to the country of their choice as soon as possible. Read the letter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most research confirming a connection between conservative theology & growth is flawed, because it does not account for the fact that some liberal churches are growing, while some conservative churches are in decline, & the fact that the more conservative a congregation, even though it may grow quickly in the short run, the more likely it is to fragment in the long run.\nA closer look at the data on church growth shows that what actually is associated with church growth is a clear congregational vision, a focus on relationship with God & the body of Christ, radical welcome, & a missional mindset.\nIn addition, church demographic trends suggest that, with the fragmentation of churches and denominations at rate exceeding the growth of the Christian population worldwide, any growth seen today will be short-lived, and that churches and denominations will become unsustainable by the end of the century.\nFor more, click here: http://faithx.net/faithx-research-the-religion-singularity/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What problems? What \"cohort\"?\n\nThis is an opportunity for canon lawyers to ask someone with expertise some questions.\n\nThis is not \"Annulment Reform - Yes or No?\"\n\nIn order to \"gin up\" some conflict on that topic, Dan Morris-Young had to dredge up an op ed by Mark Silk, Professor of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College, whose knowledge of Catholicism is right up there with his knowledge of overhauling motorcycle engines.\n\nBased on the agenda, it appears to be a conference. Having attended this sort of thing many times, and given the stature of the attendees and organizers, the notion that someone is going to \"ramrod\" a point of view strikes me as extremely remote.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is Ben Cayetano talking about the so-called Heftel Smear. It contains one obvious error when he identifies Rick Reed as \"a born-again Christian and had been associated with a local religious sect headed by a guy named Chris Butler.\" Nope. Rick was a religious conservative who preached fear and hatred of gays. While that might be mistaken as a \"born-again Christian\" perspective (snark?), it came from Chris Butler's Hare Krishna group, not from the New Testament.\n\nOtherwise, the Cayetano account provides a pretty good overview of the \"Heftel Smear.\"\nhttp://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2009/Feb/16/ln/hawaii902160349.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Religion prevents any deep discussion of worthy literature. \" Not true at all. The \"disputations\" method of the medieval Catholic Universities engaged with conflicting and opposing points of view all the time. You can also credit the great monastic centers (such as in Ireland) for copying and preserving much of the secular literature of civilization. For more on this, see \"How The Irish Saved Civilization\" by Thomas Cahill. BTW: Many of the \"great writers of the world\" had some religious (if not specifically Christian) starting point. Think Flannery O'Conner, JRR Tolkien, Walker Percy. Some of the most interesting writers ever were at least open to transcendent realities of one kind or another.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All Christians are in communion with one another by virtue of their baptism. There is no such thing as \"the Church\". All are equal in God's eyes. That said, I am a priest of the Catholic Church of America. We recognize the validity of the sacraments and holy orders of all in the Apostolic Succession, including, but not limited to, Rome, Constantinople, Canterbury, Utrecht, and some Lutherans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I ask you important questions because;\nA) I find you to be really smart,\nB) I really respect you and your thoughts\nC) I am struggling+need perspective.\nI was an only son and cradle Catholic of devout Catholic parents. I feel that my Catholic identity was taken from me or at least severally damaged. I feel cheated, because I lost most of my Catholic connection with my parents who are buried in a Catholic cemetery (Ironically in one that Dolan fraudulently used to cheat us.) My spiritual life is a struggle full of confusion and betrayal. I feel robbed of a close relationship with God. I need and desire at least a minimum of inner peace. I cannot explain how it feels to try hard but be unable to find hope or comfort in my creator. I feel spiritually alone.\nSometimes I feel that If I toss away my Catholic identity like church leaders have done to my heart. They will have totally defeated me. Soul murder is real but soul damage is part of my struggle. Thanks for listening", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wade Hampton Miller - as a Christian and a liberty-loving American, I doubt the principles of any Christian who would vote for any of the three remaining major party candidates, so I too question Prevost's choice to support Trump (but I would also question his choice if it were Clinton or Sanders). Godless, socialist, central-planners all.\n\nBut .... I feel we need to point this out ...\n\nAnchorage allows men to enter the women's locker room without repercussions. They don't even have to be dressed in women's clothes. So I'm not exactly sure how Jerry Prevost has held Anchorage hostage to his ideology. It would seem nobody in Anchorage's political system is listening to Prevost or any of the other thousands of people who object to the loss of bodily privacy in bathrooms and locker rooms. It would seem, actually, that it is the moral individuals of Anchorage who are held captive to ideology that is against what Prevost claims to stand for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From Abp Rummel's entry in Wikipedia:-\n\"On April 16, 1962, the Monday before Easter, he [Rummel] excommunicated three local Catholics for defying the authority the Church and organizing protests against the Archdiocese.[16] The first of the three was Judge Leander Perez, 70, a parish judge from St. Bernard Parish, who called on Catholics to withhold donations to the Archdiocese and to boycott Sunday church collections.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because what Jesus did is as important as the theology, at least if one is a Catholic. Read the Apostles Creed and tell me how that should be re-written if Jesus' acts are irrelevant or so incomprehensible as to be interpreted only by theologians.\n\nA big part of the Gospel message is that there is a kingdom of Heaven which is \"not of this world.\" Where is it? There's a big universe out there, and how do you get there? Up. Why is that hard to comprehend or wrong?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Left and right are political terms indicating whether one leans towards communism or its cousin socialism or whether one leans towards the law of supply and demand (the market) and accepting personal responsibility for the situations one finds oneself in rather than foisting one's troubles upon everyone else.\nLeft and right in Catholicism is perceived especially and perhaps uniquely in the US as attached to political affiliation.\nCatholics ought not to be primarily concerned with politics but with the morality of the decisions which politicians arrive at. If those decisions of whatever 'party' conflict with Catholic doctrine, then the Church dutifully opposes them. This does not identify the Church as a supporter of a political party but as witnesses to the Truth.\nTo me, an observer from outside, it seems that 'progressive' Catholics in the main align themselves with the Democrats regardless of the anti-Catholicism of the Democrat's agenda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A \"Pajamas Media\" blog reporting on a discredited \"study\" by an organization dedicated to claiming there is massive voter fraud? Ri-i-i-ght! You do realize that the study was debunked. One of the \"illegals\" is \"exposed\" for voting from Guatemala in 14 elections in Virginia was a Christian missionary and born-American citizen who lived in Guatemala and voted all the time by absentee ballot. Perfectly legal. There is nothing supporting this biased and phony \"study.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The context here is that religious wrongs assigned to gay circumstances are well established as a central Christian theme for well over a millennium, which religion became the primary social practice not only accompanying the political colonization of \"America,\" but also, an indisputable foundation upon which the Constitution and Bill of Rights was founded. In US history, this contextual religion was established first for the \"American\" society as colonized. The rise of gay rights came later. So, which position should fairly survive as a constitutional fundamental right where you cannot have both?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear 'MarkWiliam' Yes I have been following developments, let me provide a synopsis: First Von Boeselager was running an operation distributing contraceptives in clear contravention of Catholic teaching and thus of the constitutions of his order; Secondly he denied this until incontrovertible evidence was presented; Thirdly he refused his Oath of Obedience to his Grand Master; Then he ran off to Rome (relying on Bergoglio's animosity to Cardinal Burke no doubt) to get Cardinal Parolin to assemble a Star Court - a hanging jury - to promote his interests. Reliant on his German connections and, it would seem, some opaque financial dealings. The end result has been at least threefold: the discredit of his Grand Master who deserved far better; a decline in contributions from France to the order - with others sure to follow; the loss of sovereignty for the order which could easily rebound on the Vatican if Italy ever comes calling about the account books of the IOR. The full Mercy!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think where this ranks depends on who you ask. To the KoM it is probably pretty darn important. To the average lay Catholic, not very much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When we ponder the \"fate of the church,\" we should bear in mind two facts, or perhaps better, vague observations or suspicions that seem to point to phenomena both true and solid.\n\nFirst, given the cultural legacy of the New Testament, it is very hard to imagine a world of the future in which no one at all is grabbed by the story of Jesus Christ (perhaps best told in Mark's gospel), and no one finds hope, strength and comfort in reading it. Whether such people of the future, who are grabbed and comforted by Jesus, will look much like what we tend to call \"Christians,\" we can't know, and shouldn't really care. It's up to the Spirit, really.\n\nSecond, Christians have evolved into beings who are curiously obsessively conservative regarding continuity vs. change in time. Our nostalgia can be overwhelming, and morbid. Perhaps this conservatism is an idol. Jesus, for his part, thought the end was coming soon; nothing in his ministry was meant to last. Let's be aware of this obsession of ours.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hmmmm.. didn't hear him condemn the radical christian extremist terrorists who have been attacking us . Looking forward to him fulfilling his promise to close the the tax loopholes that allow billionaires to pay no taxes . Just one executive order away .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He used the wrong word, he should have said \"hierarchy\", not \"magisterium\". The problem is that when one sees the leaders of a church acting in an unchristian manner, why should one follow them?\n\nI read the \"catholicculture\" article. It isn't particularly good, since it (1) doesn't address the clerical abuse scandal in any way, and (2) it relies heavily on \"natural law\", which it simply assumes as a given. Since, as I have said previously, \"natural law\" is often used in one of two ways: Either as a form of handwaving when one does not have an actual argument or as a way of trying to universalize one's personal opinion. This article does both.\n\nThe second article is simply an uninformed anti--progressive rant. \n\nIf you want to see what passes for conservative Catholic thought, then look at them. Otherwise, don't bother.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reply to Balto:\n\nAmen--actually pronounced 'amiin' in the Semitic languages from which the word derives--means \"So say we all.\" Therefore I see nothing in the context in which the word was used to elicit your sanctimonious objections . Folks disagree with my own religious beliefs all the time, and as often as not attack me for said beliefs while knowing no more about them than they can inculcate from CNN, Fox, or the likes of Franklin Graham. But I hold sufficient confidence in my beliefs that I'm not threatened by others' views, no matter how crudely expressed. The surest sign of your own lack of faith is willingness to attack others for theirs (however wrong you perceive them). Took me a while to learn that, and I admit I haven't learned it completely even yet. But I try to act according to the words of a now deceased, very dear friend, who was the greatest Sunni scholar I ever knew: \"Focus on what's right with Islam rather than what's wrong with Christianity.\" Amiin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians believe this world is about suffering and that heaven is a place you arrive to after you die. \n>\nI say this world is our heaven, we should live as if we are the last man or women alive. \n>\nDon't be afraid of the big sleep, you will wake in the morning and it will be the same again but you will be a little bit different. Heaven is here, now, tomorrow and beyond.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What do you think capital punishment is, then? It is the cold-blooded, pre-meditated, calculated and methodical killing of a person. This is precisely the definition of many murders, perhaps most. The fruit, therefore, is no different.\n\nIf we have faith and trust in God's actual word, he will deal with our enemies. But what do we do? We turn to self-reliance, thereby tying God's hands and demonstrating our lack of faith and trust in the process. \n\nI am sorry to say this, but almost every line you've typed shows that you do not really believe in God, only in yourself. If you believed in him, truly believed, then you would obey HIS commandments rather than those of the Roman Catholic Magisterium which clearly contradict the clear teaching of Christ and are leading God-knows-how many away from the narrow path.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, that's like feeling bad about Honor killings. Too bad so sad... Have you ever worked with Ex-Muslims... They reside here in the U.S. and to this day they have to hide in this country just like they were in their home country. Granted they want nothing to do with Christianity, Judaism, Atheism and on and on, but they are looking for a new hook. I turned them onto Nontheism as they like most people have avoided ever hearing of that ism... But I also drew the internal characteristics of an Hydrogen Nuclear System for my Physics Professor back in high \nschool. The first question the Ex-Muslim asked me when we met together for a first time was if Allah avoided creating all of this then where did it come from. I am also an Artist so I drew a picture of the internal dynamics of an atom and when I looked up there were tears coming from his eyes and he was smiling from ear to ear. He said to me that was the first time he'd seen an answer to that question. For me that's what Atheism is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Numbers would be interesting: \nWhat percentage of nominal/self-identifying \"Catholics\" support the death penalty?\n\nHow does this break down by mass attendance, frequency of confession, generation/age, mode of reception of Communion, agreement with other Church teachings, preferred form of the Mass, liturgical preferences in the Ordinary Form, frequency of Eucharistic adoration or other devotions, familiarity with the Catechism, etc?\n\nThe linked article is very intelligent, but it's too bad that nobody at the newspapers or other organizations that typically commission polls are asking just what kind of \"Catholics\" voted against Church teachings in Nebraska.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are confusing what you learned in Chatechism class with unchangeable truth. The essetial truth, according to St. Paul, is that there were witnesses to the risen Christ and that we are their heirs. We can always debate sexual ethics and dogma about the Triity is fixed because we have all agreed to it in our baptismal promises and Creed and because, aside from agreement, there is no way of knowing the truth of them in this life. The Mass is entirely changeable. We know that because it has, in fact, changed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because they are sick and tired of the abuse they've been getting, from both priest and bishop! And they know better than to just roll over and let it happen, happen, happen! Clearly, neither the priest nor the bishop is living up to what their own people and Catholic Canon Law expects of them! Meanwhile, all the usual suspects are busy, busy, busy in this thread trying to run interference for them, if not attempting to justify their outrageous conduct. Spiritual leaders these two are NOT!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you think that Jay Edward is not a Catholic then one can only wonder what catechesis you underwent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Why are you answering a question with a question?\"\n\nWhy?, you ask.\nTo elicit just the response you gave - to show just how far the monied class has deviated from the American and Christian ideal of \"Liberty and Justice for all.\" and \"That which you do unto the least of my brethren you also do unto me.\"\nTo show that the love of money enables the monied class to ignore the needs of their fellow Americans.\nTo show that the monied class cannot sing past the third note of the musical scale.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I too found it a bit odd to post the X Commandments. As a Christian/Catholic parish, wouldn't the Beatitudes be more appropriate?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Kutcher, I respectfully disagree with your comment because I admit no mistake. As a Christian I've studied the Bible for some seventy years, heard countless sermons, made a commitment to God and know Him personally. He is responsible for everything. Jesus said, \"Without me you can do nothing.\" I take God seriously and believe all He teaches me. If you read the Bible you will find ample proof that God chooses leaders. We do have free will, otherwise we would not be held accountable for our sins, but God is always in charge. Every one of us will meet God, every one of us needs to have a heart to heart talk with Him before that day to ask for forgiveness and kinship through Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Think of it Jack. 80 people, most probably strangers, putting themselves at risk, to save strangers. Some likely not even Christian, carrying one of the two tenets of Christianity, \"Love thy neighbour as thy self\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If it is so bad, why do you stay?\n\nGo join some liberal, secular, atheistic, humanistic Protestant Church--you know--one that is \"inclusive\" and \"tolerant\" of everyone who shares the same liberal, secular views that they do, but decidedly intolerant of those who do not share their views.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As it so happens the Archbasilica of St John Lateran is the first Church of Christendom being the Cathedral Church of the Bishop of Rome. I thought a Catholic priest would have known that, hmm....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes.\n\nBut today's American 'Christians' simply refuse to \"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's.\"\n\nTherein lies the problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is Catholic-based sex education factual Bill?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny thing, Canon Law. Jesus didn't have it. Neither did the early church. Why is it now a foundation of the church? I'll have to consult my Big Book of Catholic Answers to Life, the Universe and Everything, aka The Catechism. No doubt it has the answer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Suggest that Francis provided a perfect description for these right wing, my religious liberty is at stake kinds - *self-absorbed Promethean Neo-Pelagians\"......they see their way as the only way and confuse their rigidity with gospel truth\"\n\nAnother good example of this FAKE NEWS about the threat to religious liberty is the other story posted about the 125 page memo addressed to Trump by Cdl DiNardo asking that Trump fix the contraceptive mandate of the HHS that is now part of the ACA. \nUnderstand - this was an interpretation and implementation of HHS - it is not a key part of the ACA and yet the USCCB opposed the PPACA based upon this HHS ruling. That is like the tail wagging the dog and in opposition to most catholic associations, non-profits, NGOs, etc. that saw that the PPACA was a step towards responding to a gospel imperative. Sad!\n\nThey are an example of those who have taken the faith journey to a legal extreme and worship rigid legal norms rather than mercy/common good", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "St Thomas was following the patriarchal sex/gender theory of his time, based on Aristotelian philosophy, when he tried -- and failed -- to reconcile such a view with our Christian faith, but now we know that human nature is fully shared by male, female, and intersex persons. This is very clearly explained in St John Paul IIs's Theology of the Body. In brief, the body is male or female or intersex, and the body is a sacrament of the entire person, but is not the entire person, because we are \"body-souls,\" not just bodies. For this reason, I believe that women can and should be ordained, as soon as a pope decides it is time, to the ministerial priesthood and the episcopate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't have any such delusions, Richard. Just a local boy who went to public high school and Congregstional church. Besides, no one's ever mistaken me for being Jewish. (Heehee.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me. We show our love for Christ by what we do, not by our prayers. Not everyone who says, \"Lord, Lord\" ... remember that?\n\nPrayer has its place. But it is not as important as what we do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately, as a cradle Catholic and as a woman physician, I believe that the male leaders in the Church in 2016 do not want to accept the reality stated at the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, that WE ALL ARE THE CHURCH - LAY PEOPLE & ORDAINED, WOMEN & MEN & CHILDREN. \n\nIn 2016, the Church is still crippled by a male only point of view, which continues to frustrate the original plan of God, who created women and men at the same time and as equals in God's image (Genesis 1:26,27). It is time the churchmen stop pushing the male fantasy myth of woman coming from the rib of a man. There would be no man or woman on earth unless that person came from the body of a woman. A reality check is very much needed in the Christian churches, in my view.\nSincerely, Dr Rosemary Eileen McHugh, MD, MSpir", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How very Christian of you, AT. There are in fact numerous studies indicating widespread \"food insecurity\" (hunger/malnutrition) among Oregon children. There are many reasons, but a shortage of money stands out, surprisingly. Other factors are \"latchkey children\" who go to school and return while their parent is gone, often to work. It's so easy to judge other people's worthiness as humans when one occupies the high seat of righteousness, looking down in dismay at the rest of us. Isn't it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no need for dualism on this issue. The human spirit, mind and body are all one. As a Catholic psychiatrist, I work with people on all these issues from spiritual, biological and psychological perspectives. What Rompecorazones fails to grasp in his comment is that sexism is relevant because it is one of the causes and/or effects of almost every ailment on his long list.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you Muslim? And what show does Burke have? I never heard of him. I haven't experienced bigotry myself at least not for my color or religious choices, but I have seen plenty of it considering I'm from the south and 64 years old. Bigotry makes me ill, but I still don't know that I would lower myself to a bigots level. Of course, I did lower myself on occasion with my ex-spouse so I guess I'm being a hypocrite. If you are a Muslim, welcome to America. I'm a Christian, but don't vomit much of the stuff that my fellow Christians do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cassie, what doesn't get acknowledged enough, and talked about enough, is that the decision of a Catholic couple to use contraceptives is (in every case I have ever known about) a decision by the couple. That means Catholic husbands are also part of the decision. \n\nStill, for a woman who wants a career along with a family it is a decision that impacts her the most. Same for a woman who simply does not have the health to bear child after child - as is true for many women in my family for several generations. Contraceptives and sterilizations can be life savers. \n\nThere is nothing wrong with women/couples choosing to use NFP and for Mom to stay home with the children. But, it is not a choice all women want to make and contraceptives make it possible for other choices to be made. Being a non-working Mom is also not a decision that all Moms can make.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The 30 people referred to in the article represented the people that were able to attend the meeting with the writer. We had just had a major snow storm, in our mountains it makes driving possibly hazardous. There are certainly many more than this that left St. John's parish. St. Margaret's parish has gained the majority of people as many young families have their children in Faith Formation. Many travel to Ashevile to attend two different Catholic Churches there and the mass at a wellness center AVERAGES about 50-60 weekly. And yes, many have left for different faiths. You refer to the fact that this story is 13 months old, it's not, it is on going.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You appear to be saying that there is some teaching which \"trumps\" abortion, freedom of religion, and that taking the Church's teaching seriously somehow impaired these Catholic women.\n\nPlease explain how.\n\nI myself took a look at the platforms of the two major parties and the two smaller parties on our ballot and used that as a guideline.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Such is the progressive Catholic Moral Yardstick in 2017:\n\nIf you're against the president, you're a Saint.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have the same sickness in the long history of the Christian church. Religion has been used to justify every possible horror human beings are capable of. \n \nI do not give a pass to Muslims specifically, but I don\u2019t assume they are dangerous either. Please consider the Majority of Muslim immigrants want to escape religious wars, not continue them", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of many Manuel, appreciated by not just a few.\nBut don't be impressed when following the links given, reading about Tony Abbott and his spiritual adviser the now relevant cardinal. \nNot that long ago he gave a personal character reference for a priest convicted as charged, then on appeal, through his word as a conservatine practicing Catholic, had the conviction over turned, then further issues coming to light the church was forced to dismiss him from the priesthood.\nHe isn't taken too seriously by those who suffered him later, running amok as prime minister who was voted out by his own political party.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Practicing members of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church--those who profess the Faith defined in the Nicene Creed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is good. It shows again the great respect fellow theologians and ethicists have for Farley's work. It shows her work is still being discussed and explored, kept alive for the current and next generations of thinkers to continue that discussion.\n\nGreater freedom for Catholic theologians to look anew at sexual issues and rethink them given today's knowledge and multi-cultural world - may have to wait for more turnover in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It may also take some more bishop/cardinal appointments by Pope Francis to tilt the zeitgeist of the Catholic power structures toward more open discussion, more willingness to dialogue with people who actually live-out sexual expression as a normal part of their lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am flabbergasted at this situation! That a Catholic religious order would not only support in any way a policy of euthanasia and especially for a highly vulnerable group like the psychiatrically ill, but that they would be so blatantly oppositional to formal and informal requests and directives from Church authorities on a matter as central to the Faith as this - it is beyond me. I think +Francis is showing great restraint and patience with the Brothers of Charity, but it is time for a definitive conclusion to such an abhorrent distortion of a tenant of Christian principles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, it is \"DRAMATIC\"... Puritan Christian \"Sharia\". \n\nAdultery was a capital offense... whippings, brandings, wearing the letter \"A,\" and standing at the gallows with their rope about their neck in a symbolic execution was common punishment.\n\nSlanderers, scolds and liars were liable to have a cleft stick (a stick split at the end, put on their tongues while they stood in a public place.\n\nBranding and maiming were common punishments, especially for Quakers. Quakers were banished from Massachusetts, and the punishment for returning was painful. \n\n\"A Quaker if male for the first offense shall have one of his ears cut off; for the second offense have his other eare cutt off; a woman shalbe severely whipt; for the third offense they, he or she, shall have their tongues bored through with a hot iron.\"\n\nFailure to attend church 2X a day; 1st time, no food for a day; 2nd time, whipping; 3rd time, six months rowing in the colony's galleys. \n\nHistory does repeat itself. \n\nPeace & Light!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know what Paul will reply, but I can tell you I doubt any of us mortals are expected to judge who is or is not a 'Christian'. I was taught long ago that is the Creator's job.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a little late coming to the party on this one, but I've found this conversation fascinating. Part of the issue, I think, is that no one person or group owns the Catholic 'brand.' Even within formal Catholicism we understand the Church in multiple ways -- as institution, as hierarchy, as the People of God, as hundreds of independent legal entities (dioceses, religious orders, universities), etc. Nobody gets to speak exclusively for what it means to be Catholic.\n\nIf I'm going to defend NCR's right to call themselves 'Catholic' (and I have, many times), I should also acknowledge Church Militant's right to do the same. I have no problem with that. Intelligent people can separate the wheat from the chaff for themselves. \n\nBut I do have a problem when the media singles out only one voice as representing \"THE\" Catholic perspective, which I think is the product of lazy journalism and the relentless need to feed the beast in the world of the 24-hour news cycle.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Each day I reflect upon the religion I critique and wonder, not only why I stay, but also why I love it. It amazes me that through catholic university, followed by (too many) years of seminary, the Catholic Church has offered me the freedom of mind and soul, the information, to bemoan its perversity and what it did to me and to so many otherwise genuine people. I am convinced that catholicism is a buried treasure. \nIn a sense the divisions must grow deeper. Deeper in the sense of depth of understanding; not only of the polar opposites but also the spectrum. Not only the spectrum but also how the polar opposites use, confuse and abuse the \"inbetween\".\nThis article is a significant re-beginning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe it was Mike AA that brought up Catholic morality while impugning Mr. Trump, not I.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How utterly delusional! Defending human life from conception? The only human life Trump supports is his own and that of the fabulously wealthy.\n\nThe agenda of the Republicans has started in earnest. Paul Ryan announced today that he will be pushing for privatizing Medicare for everyone born in 1957 and later. Vouchers. And Paul Ryan is a \"Catholic\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It\u2019s a civil service job. Catholic morality is not the issue. I would have sent a female Episcopal bishop or an ordained woman Catholic priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus warned his disciples to beware of wealth in ALL its forms. Look it up, it's in the Gospels. The KofC leadership has NOT taken this teaching seriously. Neither has the leadership of the Catholic church. So it's not at all surprising that NCR's editorial should reap criticism by the truckload. So it is, and has been for a long time. Sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is the argument found so often among the Christians on the far right of American politics who look at scripture and the US constitution as being of equal value with a generous among of American exceptionalism thrown in. The church has a wealth of teaching on the dignity of the human person and social justice teaching that the state would be wise to learn from, but the US has nothing to teach the church which is a kingdom run by a jealous divine king. God doesn't care what plays for Peotians, He insists on Peorians giving Him His due and behaving toward Him and others according to His rules..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Judaism, Jacob's sons are Abraham's children, & Abraham's own body continued on, as not only did Judaism teach that flesh & blood are carried on to the next generation, through Abraham's male & female descendants, but also lineage, thru the male blood, which was believed to contain a part of the soul of the Father, as it was believe that one's soul resides in one's blood. \n\nThis is why our church gets these symbolisms in the Gospels very confused. Jacob-aka Israel, only has any right to anything, in the world, over any other race due to the promises made to Abraham alone. Only Abraham & Sarah were made the promise that their ancestors would inherit the earth & prosper under God's care & spawn the savior of the world. If Jacob were to stray, God could have turned to Esau to build the line of the Messiah. \n\nJesus has his mother's flesh & blood (Abraham's) but his father's lineage (God's). This makes the Apostles necessary-God promised the Jews to be judged by Abraham's lineage/kin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There wouldn't be a New Testament if there wasn't an Old Testament. One is a continuation of the other. Just as Christianity sprung from Judaism; and Jesus is a descendant of King David. I can see you're unfamiliar with the Bible. Maybe you should read it some time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you are arguing then solely for entry of Christian refugees, I concur.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It can Dennis..if I want to know what 7 individual millennial catholic women think...which actually, I don't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians have to be in the world, but not of the world. They are in Christ when they are in a state of grace, living in faith, hope and love, with his word ever in their hearts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can fall into the trap of thinking that because the head of the organization is very conservative that he reflects the entire organization. Same trap I warn conservative Catholics who post here not to fall into. \n\nUntil I read the comment I just didn't get it there was the same mix of attitudes and the same discussions about where focus should be within the KofM as there is generally among Catholics of many ilks, mind-sets, attitudes, no matter where they are from. \n\nLots of cafeterias among Catholics, even KofM Catholic leaders, members, employees. \n\nWonder what's next for Card. Burke since he didn't exactly represent the Vatican to the KofM, which was his job? Is there any place, any job, where he can be an asset to Pope Francis?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks Elizabeth,\n Sin \"misses the mark\" and GRACE is everything positive!\nWe are a grace-filled people because of the Trinity! \nIf we choose to sin we have missed the mark of building community like Jesus taught and showed us. Luckily, we get many chances to choose GRACE! Amen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think we have to be honest when attempting to ascribe attitudes to the historical Jesus. The word \"xenos\" in Matthew 25:35 means \"stranger,\" as Sister correctly translates. Jesus' own attitude toward foreigners, however, appears to have been more complex (cf. the encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman in Mark 7: \"It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs\" and the encounter with the Samaritan woman in John 4). \nI think we have to accept the fact that we feel called to extend hospitality to foreigners by many values we hold dear as Christians and as Americans, but recourse to the historical Jesus is not as helpful as we might like it to be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How would you know what I am \"implying\" Eric ? You seem to have no problem stereotyping Christians, based on your out of context interpretation of certain Bible verses. Go ahead - you have already showcased your bigotry and what do my personal views matter for anyway -How about answering the question, does or does not the Book teach its followers to commit acts of violence ? Go ahead, share with us all how it really works.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly AJ, the Church has only taken this issue seriously in some Anglo countries with a strong free press, an independent and strong legal system, and a social psychology network strongly condemning childhood abuse. As for the vast majority of Catholic countries, forget it. There is no hope that the Church under Francis will take the American/Australian/Irish protocols globally. To think it ever will is delusional at this point in time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Show me one article from Church Militant that criticizes the Pope. Just one. In fact many readers complained that Church Militant would automatically expel any negative comments about the Pope in the comment box. They have recently allowed some comments critical to the Pope to stand, but they never, especially Michael Voris, speak ill about him. They constantly go after Cardinals, Bishops and Clergy, but never the Pope. This is a fact. They like Cardinal Burke because he is one of the few good prelates who actually has the conviction to speak the Catholic truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+23&version=CEV Jesus railed at those who keep the 'rules', (often to exalt their own power and authority, not the message of Jesus).\n\nI love the person of Jesus, human, holy, spiritual. I look at a life that ignores the power and went directly to those who most needed his compassion and love. Accepting Jesus only as a figure that represented God, ignores that he was also fully human. How better to 'know' the human race than by living it as human?\n\nAs I grew to know and love the person of Jesus through reading, prayer, meditation, I appreciated that he turned the Jewish hierarchy on its head, and stopped 'ranking' by human ego needs of: money, power, country, even religious practices. Jesus offered hope and grace for ALL people, not just religious dogma. The old testament is Jewish law, history, traditions. Jesus changed everything. Jesus was gathering people regardless of faith, not finding ways to exclude them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bosh. Why does even the ADL say that there's is no evidence Steve Bannon is an anti Semite?\n\nhttps://www.adl.org/education/resources/backgrounders/stephen-bannon-five-things-to-know\n\nThere is no evidence that Breitbart ever published an anti semitic article.\n\nThere are Jewish employees at Breitbart who strongly deny there is any anti Semitic agenda.\n\nIn short, there's zero evidence that Bannon or Breitbart are in any way anti Semitic. \n\nGee whiz, if you say Bannon is an anti-Semite because of his associations, then you'd have to say the same thing about any Catholic. \n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_antisemitism", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now that's a comment which shouldn't have survived. Simple Christian charity demands it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One unspoken error in many of the comments is the assumption that the only women taking birth control are young single women, out boinking without any consideration of consequences. This is clearly false. Hell, even married Catholic women use The Pill. If you look at the familes of these pro-life advocates, you may find they have 2 or 3 children, not a dozen - Quiverfull excepted. They are most likely using The Pill or an IUD. This is entirely consistent, given the recent retirement of a 100% pro-life senator after wanting his mistress to have an abortion. It's important to stand behind your moral code - until it becomes problematic for you.\n\nNext up - religious exemptions for vaccinations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus....\" Jim Zeigler defending Moore.\n\nAccording to Christian belief, the true father of Jesus arrived \"out of the blue\" to impregnate a virgin. To cynical modern eyes, the \"Holy Spirit's\" stealthy cuckolding of Joseph might seem a tad predatory. But one must remember that this act is interpreted by Christians as one of benevolence. Perhaps that is the comparison Ziegler intended to make with Moore. But more likely Zeigler was just tripping and stumbling over his own dogma.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pence is a good Christian. He can commit no sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It must be hard for the writer to admit that Christian and practising Catholic Trudeau speaks for himself and represents the majority of practicing Christians in Canada, when he calls out the far right for their regressive stances on social issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is heart warming to see Christians putting the Gospel ahead of fear and hate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Glenn. \nI am sorry to confuse you. You jumped so quickly to say something negative about my comment I think you missed the meaning of some of the words. I like Tulsi because she comes from a cosmopolitan background. See, my comment was about Tulsi. You conflated this comment with the population of Syria. \n\nSyria before the uprising was a \"multi-culturally tolerant\" society ruled by an Assad family dynasty. It was not a particularly \"cosmopolitan\" society, but it was tolerant of other religions, including Jews and Christians. \n\nJust as a point of reference, if you continue to rudely reply (Mr/Mrs/robot Alohapolitics, ) with sarcasm and plain insults as you did I will not reply to you further.\n\nAloha", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis has brought respect back to the Catholic Church. His critics, like yourself, can't stand him because he is doing good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you believe Christ did not have deep familiarity with the Jewish scriptures, you should go back and re-read the four Gospels. At age twelve he was in the temple amazing the learned. Throughout his ministry he makes repeated references to the scriptures. He journeyed to his home town and read to the assembled community in the synagogue - choosing to read an Old Testament passage prophesying the coming of the Messiah. He then told them he was the fulfillment of that prophesy.\nHe was often with the poor but he was also often with the well-off, living in their homes and accepting their largess.\nYou are born again not by special feeling but by accepting baptism and receiving a gift of the Holy Ghost. Once you are a Christian you are required to go and do likewise, not just stay the same as you were before.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do you know he was Christian? He could be a convert from a militant splinter group of the prophet like ISIS who are programmed to eliminate mainstream Muslims .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's right. Those people from India, whether they be Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, or some other religion contribute greatly to this country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very true comment. You touched on perhaps (in my opinion) one of the most fascinating aspects of all religions, labels. Some religions have the desire to be labeled, some try not to be labeled, and others use labels to cast bigotry on others. A great example is obviously in this article with Kaaihue attack on Budist and Hindu (I won't even address the racism) and her claim \u201cMy whole family is Christian.\u201d as if being Christian justifies her bigotry. Another great example is the need to label the \"terrorists\" Islamic Extremists. Even Tulsi herself has demanded the POTUS call them that. Why the label? So we can define an enemy by religion? Are we being selective in our attack on terrorism? Are politicians like Tulsi trying to instigate an attack on others justified on a religious basis? When does, a Muslim become an Islamic Extremists? Please don't feel the need to answer my questions they are rhetorical.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The cause of gender dysphoria is psychological or psychiatric in origin and not physiological. One isn't \"assigned\" a sex at birth. Apart from exceptionally rare medical conditions, we are born male or female regardless of what we might \"feel\" about this as we grow older. \n\nOne's sex - male or female - is a natural fact of life, not a social construction or matter of personal choice. \nThere is a Catholic teaching on this. Briefly stated:\n\n\u2022each of us is made in God\u2019s image as man or woman;\n\u2022gender identity is determined at conception, genetically, anatomically and chromosomally;\n\u2022a person must accept that objective identity.\n\nCatholic teaching is clear on the need to accept the objective truth of the reality of our bodies in this condition, and therapy should have that aim as its goal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From what I understand the catholic charities make a pretty penny off this refugee system here in America. The taxpayer is tired and wants to stop funding this operation. If Tom Mulhern is so enamored with helping these poor folks why does he not use the vast resources of the Catholic Church to finance this charitable endeavor. As they say \"Follow the Money\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Inappropriate words reflect a society's biggest hangup. For the English it is sex, for the French it is the Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You make a very good point ATF. No single church meets every persons personal spiritual needs, so there is good reasons for diverse Christian churches.\nWhy is it so important that there be only one institutional church?\nI suspect the honest answer would be more about human nature and the need for power and control over others and less about spreading Christ's message on this earth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you have confuse Modern Christianity with modern Islam .\n15 days !!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These now old parishioners were young in the 60's and 70's. They are finding out how older parishioners felt then when those older Catholics had their church taken away from them in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. The situation there is further evidence that the Second Vatican Council ushered in a Protestant church to replace the Roman Catholic Church in America. Those parishioners today want a Protestant church, which is what they've had most of their adult lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wouldn't describe Trump as anti-Christian, though I do suspect his view of Christianity is narrow and probably more or less in alignment with the so-called prosperity Gospel. That 'Gospel' strikes me as a massive rationalization that allows wealthy people to let themselves off the hook for their lack of compassion for the poor.\n\nI'd describe Trump more as non-Christian, based on his behavior and the values he's espoused both personally and politically. I believe Trump is mainly about self-interest and only uses religiosity as a means to get what he wants. I could, of course, be completely wrong, but the available evidence doesn't suggest it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alan Alda made a similar joke about growing up Catholic:\n\n\"...these were automatic expulsions of words, brief SOS messages from the base of my brain. They were similar to the short prayers that were admired by the church in my Catholic boyhood, which they called 'ejaculations.' I always liked the idea that you could shorten your time in purgatory with each ejaculation; what boy wouldn\u2019t find that a comforting idea?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evolutionary Christianity Videos and Moving a Theology of Atonement to a Theology of Abundance, from Richard Rohr's Book, Eager to Love\n\nSister Delio Evolutionary Christianity\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDRvaqUjJkI&feature=youtu.be\n\nSister Joan Chittister, Benedictine popular speaker, Evolutionary Mind, The God Who Beckons\nhttp://youtu.be/rROCOMzqW3M\n\nImportant Insights from Richard Rohr\u2019s book Eager to Love: \u00a0From a Theology of Atonement to a Theology of Abundance\nBy Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP\nThe Franciscan School of Theology's focus on\u00a0God's extravagant love and abundance taught\u00a0by Saint Bonaventure and John Duns Scotus provides an alternative to Atonement Theology taught by St. Anselm and St. Thomas Aquinas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Depending on where you live in the United States, it may be difficult to find a church that voices a specific and enthusiastic welcome to transgender people. \n\nThe good news is that the churches that are doing this work seem to be doing it well. \n\n\nA full 96 percent of the transgender people currently involved in a faith community said that they had experienced some form of affirmation \u2014 that might include personal support for their trans identity, or it might mean a theological affirmation of their acceptance and belonging. \n\nRegardless, this statistic shows us that Christians are more than capable of bringing the Good News to people in ways that they can actually experience as good news.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know...because it's the official language of the Roman Catholic Church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you read the thread carefully, I'm not \"manipulating language,\" you are. I made a comment about free health care, and a poster said \"it is a fundamental human right.\" \n\nIn any case the expanded issue is very simple -- if the Church indeed says everyone has the \"right\" to healthcare, then Catholic hospitals should be free to all. They aren't.\n\nWhich indicates to me that when the Church says healthcare is a \"right,\" their definition of \"right\" is a highly qualified one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about using some PROOF to back-up your points. \n\nIn a complex world---the 'one size fits all' doesn't respond to the task of educating Christians for TODAY'S world. Most of all conscience needs to be formed [not replaced] so that there is a capacity and willingness to pursue the truth about doing the right thing in concrete, complicated circumstances, rather than in having 'all the answers'.\n\nReference-----\nJames F. Keenan, S.J., \"Vatican II and Theological Ethics,\" THEOLOGICAL STUDIES74 [2013], p.165.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It began when the Catholic bishops became politicized.\"\n\nThat would be five minutes after the Edict of Milan was issued, if not before.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gary - a \"self-identified\" Christians is meaningless. Just because a person goes to church does not make one a Christian any more than going to a football game makes one an NFL player. The Bible speaks of many apostates within the Church, the parable of the soils says as many as 3 out of 4 who show some type of \"spiritual\" fruit are apostates. You statistics are nothing other than media spin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Raven, I will place this out there as civilly as I can. You say no one believes doctrine is perfect and can grow, but is indefectible and infallible. An obvious dichotomy of thought that you attribute to God and I attribute to men ( not even all people ) trying to parse out their faith. You insist you have God's words absolutely right, to the point of requiring no explanation and needing no interpretation. These are not Catholic thoughts, despite the fact that you and the church hierarchy have portrayed them that way. They are stops on the journey. Am I sure about that? No, I'm never sure what God wants. But your intransigence on this simple tangential point of falling/ soaring shows more about you than it does about God. As for me, I believe God is present in Her world more than in the rules of the searchers. That makes me Catholic, a believer in the universal church that you and others would prefer deny the universe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some years ago, I was assisting at a massive free clinic for those persons without health insurance. Hundreds came, mostly the \"working poor\" whose employers offered no health insurance but who made too much to qualify for Medicaid. Many of these people had not seen a doctor in years. I particularly remember one man who, as it turned out, had serious diabetes and whose blood pressure said that he might have a stroke at any minute. The doctor who was examining him sent him to the hospital immediately. Do you want to return to this state of affairs? Being a Christian, I do not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"Catholic\" groups that have accused the Catholic Church of continuing racism are hard-pressed to substantiate their accusations. I'd like someone here to identify the \"institutionalized racism\" that is said to exist. Beyond that, I'd like someone to identify the institutionalized racism that the Church is involved in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Kevin,\nWell, I ask him if it is OK to tell you his name, however, I have not received his consent. I would let him be hidden for now!\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If AL gave the NCR crowd what they want in an honest manner, there would be schism and Francis seems to carefully calculate just how far he can lead people away from Catholic sexual morality and get away with it. A schism would be a failed papacy, which he surely does not intend to see happen. So he will continue to poke sticks in hornets nests and pretend he didn't.\n\nThe fact is, as soon as a priest or bishop gave one couple the green light to live out of wedlock and still receive sacraments as if in the state of grace, he must give the same to all others who seek such approval for any reason. To do otherwise would open the priest or bishop to the scandal of favoritism of all sorts, including catering to the rich. Thus, AL is a full frontal attack against Matrimony along with most of the other sacraments as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is a list of holidays from Indonesia, the largest Muslim country, with over 200 million people:-\n\nhttp://www.officeholidays.com/countries/indonesia/\n\nThey have holidays for Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian festivals.\n\nHere is a list of holidays from Bangladesh, the third largest Muslim country, with over 160 million people:-\n\nhttp://www.officeholidays.com/countries/bangladesh/2017.php\n\nThey have holidays for Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian festivals.\n\nWould you like me to show public holidays for western countries, that also have these same religions?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I too find the badmouthing of our Protestant brothers and sisters by the more-Catholic-than-the-pope crowd to be very tedious and un-Christian. I have noticed further along in the comments that the \"holy ones\" have begun fighting among themselves (sspx versus restorationists) over who the \"real\" Catholics are between them. Aw geeze... almost comical.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can't understand why women priests were excommunicated while male priests confirmed of sex crimes on children are not defrocked and are still part of the church. The former is helping all people while the latter destroyed lives. \nAs a woman, I just can't reconcile the Catholic church's misogynist views and discrimination of women. The Bible was misinterpreted by and for men to protect a piarachal church and society. \nTime sisters got sense and valued ourselves and leave the institutional church to men. AMEN.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Prayer is the main component of the majority of religions worldwide including Islam. I'm sure many of our fellow Americans who are Muslim will be celebrating the National Day of Prayer just as our fellow Americans who are Christian will. \n\nMark your calendar now for Thursday, May 4, 2017, so you don't forget the date.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CM brings some people to Christ via the sacramental life of the Church He left here on earth as His mystical body. (Most recently, a group of \"Pentecostals\" in Tucson, including one of their pastors, who were this Easter received into the local Byzantine Rite congregation.) And it does prompt some uncatechized cradle/nominal catholics to begin to learn their faith. \n\nLike the charismatic movement or hyperMarian prayer groups it's a bit stilted or shallow and and it'd be bad if converts or reverts did not grow beyond it. And it would also be a problem if orthodox Catholics with a more balanced relationship with the Church were drifting in that direction. But like the charismatic movement one should hesitate to attack it too strongly as it is making converts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Try and see it from that public board's stance.\n\nPeople forget that there wasn't a Catholic school there in the first place. The Catholic board shut down their only school years ago, so the public school was the only functioning school in that district. The public board made long term plans, around closures around amalgamation, plans that take YEARS to come to fruition, and then out of nowhere the Catholic board leaps BACK into a district they'd already abandoned, with a brand new school.\n\nWhy should the public board be happy that their budgets and long term plans just got shafted with an out-of-left-field move like this? The Catholic board and those parents have the right, but they had to expect resistance. The quotes in the piece where the Catholic board members are astounded that this became legal make me laugh. Really?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As someone who grew up an a Greek Orthodox family we were taught that any other Christian denomination is wrong and destined for hell. Also, Orthodox clergy hold much more power over culture and society within Orthodox communities so naturally they would not want to give that up. Part of it comes from the Ottoman Empire which basically gave the leadership role to their Christian subjects over to the Greek Orthodox Patriarch. So yeah, good luck in trying to break old habits...it aint going to happen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "EGW got her interpretation of Genesis from other conservative Christians of her time. They like her misunderstood the whole point of Genesis. It was and is a theological statement not a statement about the history of the earth or life on earth. We don't believe that EGW was infallible. So what is the problem?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Jews and Muslims do worship the same God Christians worship.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, considering the strong Catholic bias on the Supreme Court, this atheist is grateful that someone is willing to question a candidate's willingness to be open to settled law, like Roe V. Wade. No sensible person can look at our judicial system and see anything other than a strong fundamentalist religious bias. \nGerson is pretending to be defending religious perspectives, but pretty much all he is about is fighting for the right of oligarchs to set in concrete the income inequality that exists in America.\nThe far right pretends to care about values, but in reality they are about getting rich. So they work to cut food stamps and public housing, all the while speechifying about hewing to Christian values. \n\nI put \"intellectually bankrupt\" into google and had fun reading all the different ways we humans look at those we disagree with. If it really means \"illogical\" then pretty much all religion is intellectually bankrupt.\nHugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You might want to re-read Matt 18:5-7 & Lk 17:1-2. Jesus notes \"scandal\", or leading one astray. Don't read anything like child sex abuse implicit in the gospel statements.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims and liberals excoriate us about Islamophobia, but we should bear in mind Islam's entrenched racism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, anti-Semitism, hatred of Christianity, Europe. Israel, and America. Islam's destructive iconoclasm is destroying historic treasures across the ME and numerous attempts to destroy historic sites in Europe. They even have Islamophobia against each other. Ancient tribal wars between Kurds, Shiite, Sunni, Wahhabi, Druze and other Islamic sects, ISIS , Taliban and Al Qaeda are the root causes of most of the wars and social chaos happening around the world today. It is worse than anything expressed in the west, even in that package.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not that long ago, a number of people on this site were applauding an article by two very eminent churchpersons warning us of the dangers of establishing a theocracy. I couldn't follow all their logic, which was indeed very subtle, but I did get the point that a theocracy is a bad thing. Now, we are told that a proposed piece of legislation is bad because it is in conflict with Catholic principles. So there should be no laws that are inconsistent with Catholic principles? How would that be different from a theocracy? Or is rule by bishops a bad thing but rule by law professors at Catholic universities is a good thing? Well, Emerson did say that a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds and we don't want to be little-minded, do we?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...without clergy....\"\n\nWithout clergy -- without even Eucharistic lay presiders, who are a \"form of clergy\"? Can you imagine Catholic Christianity without the sacraments, without someone appointed to administer the sacraments to the faithful? In your scheme of things, you want a CC only when it is opposed to administering the sacraments -- unless you anticipate some intermediary invisible hands doing the job. lol You have an abstraction. Now you need a fact of sorts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Monica, you have IMHO correctly described the psychological origin of \"priesthood\" as it arose in many pre-Christian cultures, especially if you add offering sacrifice on behalf of the un-ordained to the mix. But it is my impression the for most of the first millennium, our understanding of ordained ministers that eventually settled down to bishops, presbyters, and deacons was precisely different in nature. \n\nThe Latin and Greek terms for priest (sacrrdos and hiereus) were avoided. It was I think the transformation of the theology of Orders and a particular understanding of the Eucharist as the sacrifice of Christ on the cross that led to an understanding is our sacramental priesthood as a m\"priests\" in the primordial sense you delineate so well.\n\nOne minor quibble, outside of Christianity, the notion of fallen nature is not required to set up the idea of holy priests/priestesses as mediator between the gods and their supplicant people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"Where were the Catholic bishops?\"\n- The bishops, if they were doing anything at all that was helpful, it was to teach their followers, and other men and women of good will what it means to care for one and another and ask how that applies to healthcare.\n- Always it is a mistake for catholics to look to the bishops as if they were a lobbying group that could be aimed and fired at a problem. A collective of bishops as a lobbying group does not benefit the church.\n- Governing for the good in the US is best influenced by men and women of good will behaving as informed citizens who talk to their elected representatives.\n- Thanks to the USCCB presidencies of Archbs Francis (Chicago) & Timothy (NYC) citizens know the hard limits of USCCB as a lobbying group and of the poor collective quality of its secular leadership of catholics.\n- Lay catholics must expect each bishop to attend to the requirements of his episcopal offices, while upbuilding God's kingdom in secular society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Still trying to find a loophole that will allow only Christian prayers, eh? \n\nSorry. Not gonna happen. Ours is a secular government. ALL religions or NONE are your only choices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus would have a problem with a group of so called Catholics telling another group to give these other people over there something to eat.\n\nHe famously said: \"You give them something to eat\". (St Mark 6:37)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The claim that this issue is about Christian values is a huge canard.\"\n\nExactly. We must always remember that Jesus said, \"Send those Samaritans back to Samaria, where they belong.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's the valedictorian address at Notre Dame that precedes Pence!\n\nSee what you think? Did Pence get a lesson in \"catholic social teachings\"? \n\nI think so!\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq71r7E_ZGU", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "..cont\n Roman Catholic Bishop Richard Williamson is an anchor of authentic catholicism in the confusion of this modernist apostate \u2018vatican\u2019. He simply preaches in continuity what the Roman Catholic Church has always taught and believed before the infestation of modernist revolting pedophiles. He still preaches the discovery, at the turn of the last century, of \u2018\u2019THE PROTOCOLS OF THE LEARNED ELDERS OF ZION\u2019\u2019; these are the protocols of COMMUNIST INTERNATIONALISM which some people today refer to as GLOBALISM. The most accurate reference to the agenda is found within the PROTOCOLS themselves: \u2018JEWISH WORLD PROGRAM\u2019 .\n Youtube search \u2018\u2019Bishop Richard Williamson - Gas Chambers, Anti-Semitism and the Truth\u2019\u2019 and you will discover that no gas-chambers were used by the Germans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except they can't. They can't give total self-gift. They can't say in honesty to God..\"I am giving all that you - My God, My Creator - gave me to this other!\n\nCan't be done.\n\nAnd it's the same reason that contraception isn't total self-gift. \n\nChildren are precisely the purpose of marriage. It's to ensure the good of children.\n\nMarriage in this sense is cooperatively self-gifting with God.\n\nThe marriage itself is not \"closed in on itself\" but instead it - the coupling of wills and the bodies - exists for the good of something outside of itself!\n\nYou need to clear out some defective ideas you have about the Catholic understanding of marriage.\n\nAnd if you disagree with the Catholic understanding of marriage, why are you trying to force the Catholic Church to change its teaching? Why not just recommend the civil path to others?\n\nAs I said you believe in separating - in dividing between - these realities of sex, marriage, children, love. The Church doesn't.\n\nI was earlier right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It is NOT, in any sense, a Christian nation. And I thank God for that.\"\n\nNice ;-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The underlying tension in Catholicism throughout its history has been and continues to be just how seriously its adherents take the Incarnation. The Gnostic Jesus is so very antiseptic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Secular societies don't have to be based on Christian culture.\n\n Here is a list of holidays from Indonesia, the largest Muslim country, with over 200 million people:-\nhttp://www.officeholidays.com/countries/indonesia/\n\nThey have holidays for Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian festivals.\n\nHere is a list of holidays from Bangladesh, the third largest Muslim country, with over 160 million people:-\nhttp://www.officeholidays.com/countries/bangladesh/2017.php\n\nThey have holidays for Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian festivals.\n\nWould you like me to show public holidays for western/Christian countries, that also have these same religions?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess when scripture mentioned kneeling before the Lord. Are you stating that Jesus is not God? How about answer my question - would you kneel in the presence of God if he appeared before you? Since we Catholics know he is physically present in the Eucharist, simple reverence, if physically possible, is in order, or am I still off topic? I can't believe I am arguing the concept of kneeling in the presence of our Lord, who sacrificed himself on the Cross for our sins, on Easter of all days. Unbelievable!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With Trump as president we are in the Twilight Zone. The lemmings elected him. \nToo many Christians see their religion as an ideology. They forgot Jesus taught us a way of life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reading the Bible is exactly the thing that made me atheist, and in fact, yes I do know more about Christianity than many evangelicals. They still think December 25th is literally when Jesus was born.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one is controlling anyone. Anyone who is unhappy with the teachings, practices and beliefs of the Catholic Faith can leave at any time and go somewhere where they will be happy. No one is forcing people to stay. No one is putting a gun to someone's head and forcing them to be Catholic.\n\nIf you don't like what the Catholic Church is about you are free to leave and find another church--where they teach, believe and practice the Faith you think they should. There are any number of thousands of Christian churches, pseudo Christian churches. I am sure you could find one that makes you happy.\n\nWhy people stay in the Catholic Church when they are so unhappy with the Faith the Church professes is and always will remain a mystery to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...with presidents of Christian colleges....\"\n\nAre not Catholic colleges also Christian? Anyway, I do agree with you, basically, that \"Catholic college/university presidents should gather with the presidents\" of other Christian colleges (whether evangelical, mainline or Orthodox) and \"formulate questions to the newly elected President after Monday.\" I think she will be open to all her constituents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't so narrowly conceive participation in the Church. Furthermore, in my view, \"the secular\" is not the opposite of \"the sacred,\" but only refers to realities that are not explicitly religious. Globally, Christianity is not in decline. In the West, \nany declines in institutional forms of Church participation have not been to an extent that warrants the Post-Christian lament of +Chaput, Rod Dreher and others. Many of the increases in the numbers of \"nones\" and \"dones\" are quite hygienic, religiously & spiritually, as neither you nor I would believe in the God, Whom they've rejected. Secularization in our increasingly pluralistic, multicultural, globalist world is a good thing, in my view, opening us to an age of authenticity. Authenticity in a sense with which both Taylor and Lonergan would resonate is a shared soteriological trajectory of all of our great traditions, realizable to varying degrees. The Continent suffered a militant secularism, which won't be the fate of the USA.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mokantx, quick note.\n\nThe \"Instructions for Diocesan Synods\" issued by the Cong. for Bishops and the Cong. for the Evangelization of Peoples goes to great pains to make clear that the bishop governs. Quotes:\n\nThe purpose of the diocesan Synod is to assist the Bishop in the exercise of the office proper to him, namely, that of governing the Christian community.\n\nThis purpose determines the particular roles to be ascribed to those priests who partake in the work of the Synod \"as wise collaborators with the Order of Bishops, their helpers and chosen instruments, and who are called to serve the People of God\"[5]. The Synod also offers the Bishop the opportunity of calling to cooperate with him and with his priests some members of the laity as well as some chosen religious.\n\nThus any attempt to place the Synod in opposition to the Bishop on the grounds of \"representation of the People of God\" is contrary to the authentic order of ecclesial relations.\n\n[And drat this character/word limit!!]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joan: this is what is so strange about this particular situation. Archbishop Chaput, who I despise, has made the Archdiocese of Philadelphia much more financially solvent since he took over in Philadelphia. He has closed Schools and Churches that became insolvent. The Archdiocesan High Schools are being run more like businesses, with lay business leaders in much control. Maybe this is just one area that slipped through the cracks. They can press charges all they want. They can even sue this priest.That money is gone forever. Harrahs' does not give refunds, not even to the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Putting aside the question of the merits of \"Gather Us In\" as a liturgical song (a composition which always seems to be the low-hanging fruit for easy critiques like this for the last 30 years as if nothing was written before or after), it's remarkable how many articles seem to spring up like this that white-wash over a third of the U.S. Catholic Church who are Latino/a for whom European hymnody speaks neither in language nor genre to \"universal experiences, experiences that transcend cultures and ethnicities and eras.\" (Also, on a musical note, \"Gather Us In\" does not have any triplets. And some of the finest European Advent hymns, like \"Comfort, Comfort, O My People, have far more irregular rhythms than \"Gather Us In\" that make them dance with delight).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I bet he's never even met the Cardinal but sees himself qualified to judge his heart. That isn't Christian by any measure.\"\n\nMSW doesn't have to judge Cardinal Burke's heart. As a reporter all he has to do is judge his public statements, which are legion. That's a reporter's job, and there's nothing remotely un-Christian about that. You just don't happen to agree with his assessment, which is your right, but calling him unchristian is beyond the pale and needs to be called out. Consider yourself called out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is impossible to determine when either personhood or soul is present. Since mind seems a subset of soul or so the good nuns taught me in grammar school, we know that in the fetus the connection to the cerebral cortex only begins at around 20 to 22 weeks gestation. We also know that it is virtually impossible to keep a fetus alive if it delivers prior to 22 to 24 weeks. So a fetus is surly not yet a child. It would seem to me that we would be wise to take care of our born children much better than we Christians are doing. Too many catholics are not thinking properly when they call a zygote or a fetus a child. Just is not a scientific or even a religious fact. It is something that has been debated and misconstrued over the centuries. Some early RC bishops taught that abortion was permissible until 12 weeks gestation. The idea that conception or even the beginnings of cellular differentiation (gastrulation) is the beginning of soul or personhood is a bad misconception.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And where is the condemnation from the \"peace loving\" Muslim community? The eerie silence is chilling. I'm seeing nothing on local or national news wires. As expected Obama and Billary move immediately to politicize the event and use it as a tool to once again go after guns. What no one can dispute is that if not guns then a suicide bomb easily made over the Internet like in Boston. This is a religious war against our way of life. Simple as that. If that makes me a hater fine. No murderous sects of Lutherans or Methodists running around that I'm aware of.. We must pray a change in leadership will take a much different approach before more innocents die. The only common thread is every killer whether organized group or lone wolf are radicalized Muslims. We need to wake up and read what's actually in the Koran that these people are following. The argument that one could take literal interpretations from the bible to do the same thing ignores that no radicalized Christians are killing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Their adoration of Trump shows us what the American Taliban really believe in...and it isn't Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The way the author of this article portrays both Clinton and Trump are just short of astounding. Hillary Clinton and her government will go after Catholics and Christians and continue the erosion of our religious freedoms. The platform of the Democratic Party is no where near in line with church teaching. Not sure how I happened upon this \"Catholic\" paper, but it sure is unsettling. \n\nAnd to all who keep writing that people have to vote their conscience, they seem to forget we are all supposed to have a well informed one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sure you could figure out how to Google that, doug, Now to be fair you might not find very many NEW ones planned, but you must admit that that's due to the fact that there are already numerous Catholic and several Jewish ones already in existence. You should contrast that with the number of Muslim cemeteries currently in place.\n\nYou can take a few minutes to do that, right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When a religion is doing the work of evangelizing, equipping and empowering its followers in the tenets of said religion, and it gets to place where it needs help from a civil power, then Ben Franklin would have a point I would agree with. If a religion is going about the business of teaching math, reading and science and is not evangelizing, equipping and empowering children, but is giving them an education on par with any school, public or private, then getting help from a civil power is not a sign of being a bad religion. Education minus indoctrination is just education. Some Christian parents see evidence that their students a receiving indoctrination on the religion of the left, especially when there child is being taught false doctrine, such as the idea there are more than two genders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Nearly 91 percent of members of the 115th Congress convening Jan. 3 describe themselves as Christian...\" \n\nOf those that describe themselves as Christian, you should also clarify which among them also believe in God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In my opinion, this is one of your most erudite and compelling editorials.\nLanguage is clear and terse. You back up your opinions with facts. You do not overstate your assertions...in fact just the opposite. I just finished watching a live news broadcast of Trump lecturing a group of religious conservatives. Words and phrases like 'Our values must be preserved; The word 'God' (Christian) is mentioned no less than 3 times in our constitution; We will return to a point where the world will see that we are right and will accept our leadership.\" I have paraphrased Trump's comments but I believe I have captured the gist of what he said. My fear is that he is succeeding in taking us back to a time when people were punished for expressing views that were not in line with the government of the day. The Globe's editorial shines a light on some of the dangers. Are we heading down the long term road of compliance or freedom?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A well respected Melkite Archbishop (may his memory be eternal!) wrote a very well received book with the title \"We Are All Schismatics\". A very good read for those genuinely interested in Catholic/Orthodox relations. https://melkite.org/eparchy/bishop-john/what-is-your-view-of-archbishop-zoghbys-book-we-are-all-schismatics", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a Muslim from Egypt who had the privilege to study at the University of Notre Dame.\nMy academic experience at Notre Damae took me back centuries to one ohe greatest moments in human civilization; Andalusia.\n This was a time when the three Abrahamic faith believers; Juadism, Christianity and Islam were living in a culmination of wealth and peace due to the mutual respect and common believe they were sharing rather than emphasizing their differences. \n\nSpain was eventually to be one of the main enablers of Europe's renaissance due to the plethora of intellectuality in literature and different sciences Anadalusia left.\nAll of this wouldn't have been possible without the wisdom found in the ethics and values found in the holy Torah, Bible and Quran.\nRecent events proved that humanity is in an urgent need to restore this wisdom. I hope Pope Franzis meeting with Shaikh Altayeb will lay the foundation for the 1st step to a long cooperation and mutual understanding in this direction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And from someone who claims to be a Catholic priest, as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The question of a \"just law\" would come into play, I think. Many early Christians were martyred for refusing to follow the laws of Imperial Rome, refusing to worship the emperor, refusing to eat meat sacrificed to idols. One can question and judge whether an adult who broke the law to come here, in fear for their lives or the lives of their family, in fear of violence and death, has really done wrong, but do we label a child a criminal for the actions of their parent?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see more insecurity in those who insist there can be no change, ever, in our understanding of God and Church. It seems to me some feel their faith is ashes if they can't count on religion always being the same as it was when they were six years old, always being perceived and practiced exactly the same. Fear of becoming a minority underpins the occasional remarks we hear that \"Catholics must have more babies\" with the implied or outright stated \"because OMG the Muslims!\" \n\nGod created this world, this universe, and everybody and everything in it. We shouldn't be afraid to reach out and learn from this vastness, about God who created lions and lambs, grass and redwoods, rivers and deserts -- who put a rainbow in the sky and resurrected his son. What kid of hubris insists we have learned all there is to learn of him, and nobody else has learned anything unless it's the same?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another *zero sum* argument that fails to consider actual research studies, etc.\nStudies indicate that offering free birth control to women resulted in a 60-75% reduction in abortions in areas under study.\nThis comment also plays the disingenuous card - *access* - yep, as long as we give folks *access* to health care, housing, birth control, etc. we have done our Christian duty. Never mind that one has to pay for all of these things. And how does an economically strapped family do that? (print their own money?)\nThe *access* argument is the ultimate in cynicism and, at its core, unethical.\nFACTS - https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/us/politics/trump-contraception-birth-control.html \n\"More than 55 million women have access to birth control without co-payments because of the contraceptive coverage mandate, according to a study commissioned by the Obama administration. The freedom of religion is a fundamental right, but it is not an absolute right - this is an attack on women's health\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishops need to learn that the biggest threat to religious freedom lately is their refusal to respect the divide of church & state. We Catholics would not prefer our bishops run our states or country or judiciaries. Sexism for me is the number one reason I would never choose any of our bishops to run most anything. If they are not careful about their obvious political lobbying in the future, we could see our church declared a political action committee by our government & be demanded to pay taxes. This is not a result our church could easily afford to pay. Jesus never said that anyone was sinning by using non-abortive birth control. No one is being forced to use any abortive or non-abortive contraceptives by this mandate. \n\nThis fact should matter to our church but sadly it does not: All countries that have restricted access to birth control have higher abortion rates. In fact our abortion rates recently dropped likely due to greater access to contraception due to this mandate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Congratulations to the government of Quebec for having the courage to pass this law. Canadians do not want public displays of Islam and just like Canadian politicians were so eager to remove all symbols of Christianity from public places including saying Happy Holidays in place of Merry Christmas, they should show the vey same enthusiasm towards Islam. I think this should be a Canada wide law and if required put it up for a vote.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What about Spicer? What about his association with this president*, and how that might ruin his career? At least Sarah hasn't been compelled to hide out in the bushes trying to figure out what the spin strategy was.\n\nAlso, Spicer is a Catholic, and he was denied a visit with the Pope. I'm not a fan of Spicer, but seeing that done to him made even me feel sorry for the guy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He did not say he wasn't Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our Lady of Fatima appeared to peasant children near a town 108 km north of Lisbon 100 years ago this month. Details of this historic event are taught to children in provincial faith-based schools in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta and will now be reinforced because the Pope will be going to Portugal to celebrate the centennial. This alternative fact is not taught in secular (evidence-based) provincial schools in Canada. Nor is the bodily assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven, infallibly promulgated by Pius XII in 1950. Belief in this dogma is required of students in Catholic schools and instruction about it is subsidized by all taxpayers through government grants to separate school boards.\n\nNonetheless, we witness no anxiety over how and what Canada is teaching its children in the modern era, especially in Saskatchewan.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "YES....on all your points....these guys are way out of line for a Catholic lay \"religious\" order!\n\nLittle or no loss.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yazidism combines aspects of Zoroastrianism, Islam, Christianity and Judaism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many people are facing what Jesus had face. Witch hunts, vigilantism for their sexual orientation, for the drug use, for their unusual habit that are not tolerated by society. Ironically it is the Christians who are the most intolerant of so called sin of victimless crimes. They are trained to find evil as if it some vapor in the air like disease that will spread.\n>\nThe story of Jesus on the cross to make people feel better who are persecuted by vigilantes. The story goes on and Jesus is reincarnated and returns from the dead. This is tell you not to be afraid of death or dying, that you will return. There is no heaven or hell. \n>\nWhen the mob was attacking Jesus just as they do today in Canada, Jesus said something really beautiful\" forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.\" He even tells you to forgive your attackers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In effort to find middle ground I at first thought the folks concerned about Sharia law coming to the states were concerned that our freedom would be eclipsed by religious law. I see more clearly by the day that that it was a religious concern-they didn't want Sharia but rather Christian laws to eclipse our freedoms.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good grief Charlie Brown!\n\nSir, the Catholic Faith isn't about developing a \"winning strategy.\" The Faith is about knowing, loving and serving God. When a Christian has a relationship with God and that relationship with God leads to their transformation in holiness, that is \"victory. \"\n\nWorthiness to receive Holy Communion has always been a concern. This goes directly back to the Apostles. \"For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.\" (1 Corinthians 11:29.) Those words of Paul are clear to all but lawyers and Scripture Scholars. \n\nSir, the question isn't whether repentant and unrepentant sinners HAVE been receiving communion, but whether unrepentant sinners SHOULD receive Holy Communion and the whether the Church should ENCOURAGE and ENABLE unrepentant sinners to receive communion before going to Confession.\n\n\"Us folks\" would say \"NO. Unrepentant sinners should not be encouraged or enabled to receive Holy Communion.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You 'christian' Repubs called him much much worse than THAT ... try using an example that didnt happen ... snowflake :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Napolean's government was the first to make the Jews equal citizens. They even had a Jewish PM (Leon Blum) unlike other European countries, which have had only Christian leaders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In December, it fell to Cupich to announce that the U.S. bishops had formed a working group to monitor the immigration issue and develop strategies for political advocacy on behalf of immigrants. There had been no official notice from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The year before, both Tobin and Farrell confronted political opposition when resettling refugees through Catholic Charities in their dioceses. All three have been attacked by archconservative groups like LifeSiteNews and the Lepanto Institute for being too progressive.\"\n\nGod Bless these brave cardinals for standing up to the alt-right both within and outside of the church. In three weeks the alt-right will take over true executive branch of the U.S. government. Millions of our neighbors are in grave danger. It is up to every Christian and American to stand up to the alt-right agenda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Women should share their stories of why they stay in the church with younger women, he said, and should avoid turning off younger women with \"unmitigated anger.\" Cardinal Tobin advises women to cover up their difficult experiences and hide their anger. More of the same from the clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can't imagine how Abp Chaput could see the emails by John Podesta or Jennifer Palmieri as anti-Catholic. He must know that Podesta was referring to a bipartisan effort by Catholics about 10 years ago, not to some plot by the campaign and or Democrats. Has he even read the emails? Or is he just repeating the uneducated assessment of the comments? It is weird to hear him attacking Catholics, specific Catholics, without understanding what has been said.\n\nI'd be interested in hearing him compare the two vice presidential candidates. Both were baptized as Catholics. Which would Chaput prefer, the pious Catholic or the exCatholic who agrees with him?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So don't be a Catholic. It's a choice, you know. No one is being forced to be a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yazidis are not Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Muslim migration would fundamentally change our civilization.\"\n\nSeems to me Christianity should be strong enough to withstand the clash of cultures with Islam. If these eastern bishops really do believe that adherents of Islam are so evil they should be shunned rather than welcomed, engaged, and ultimately, loved, as Christ taught us, have they forgotten the power of the Cross to overcome evil? Since that goes to the very heart of our faith, I find it more than a little disturbing that these bishops would have so little faith in the power of the Cross, but at the same time be so eager to close themselves and their flocks off from strangers in need of shelter, much like Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem. Maybe in the case of these bishops Christianity isn't strong enough to withstand the clash of cultures. But if they choose to close their hearts to the plight of these refugees and take up the sword against them instead they should also be prepared to die by the sword. And then meet God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why should an exhortation to wavering Jewish converts that almost didn't make it into the canon define Jesus as a priest for all time? If Jesus is God it makes no sense to make him High Priest just for good measure. Anyway, Jesus himself, according to the gospel, described himself as a prophet not a priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus recruited disciples to follow the Way. The priests rejected him.\nJesus became the Temple at his Resurrection and at Pentecost his disciples and all others (Gentiles and Jews) had God's flame over their heads indicating that we are now the Temple and as Paul says \"We live in Christ and Christ lives in us\". Just to make sure we get it, he repeats it 164 times in his letters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On the question of abortion. Since we are a democracy and not a theocracy, it is ok in my view that a Catholic can be against abortion but allow laws protecting abortion rights. I say that because we have the choice not to engage in abortion as an individual and our individual choice is guided by our morals. However, in addition to my own religious views that abortion, in general, is immoral (as is capital punishment), I see abortion as wrong because it is bad for the human species, the preservation of humanity. I guess what I am saying Is that abortion for me is an invalid form of birth control, but is a valid option for cases such as rape, incest and the life of the mother. That may sound oxymoronic, but I try to see not the act of the abortion but the entire picture including the woman, the child and the rest of the family not just in an instant but a lifetime.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Better idea. Let's stop calling NCR \"catholic\". Really, \"confused\", \"conniving\", \"communist\" are more apropos. Hey, here's a fun idea.... Catholics should write to the national publications of Islam and Judaism and tell them to change their religious leaders' names. What's that? They would never run the article?\n\nExactly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a Christian myself, albeit a bit out of the box. But I'm not so afraid of others' beliefs that I can't stand to hear about them. If I was, then would I not be one of little faith? (And when it comes to our leaders, I'm thinking we're a little short on faith these days.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just curious: what is it that Bannon has said about the Catholic Church that is supposed to be worse than what Podesta said? In the interview linked, he hardly mentions the Church. He's a rather fanatically devout Catholic himself. \n\nI didn't actually think anything Podesta said was very shocking, but I can't see that Bannon has either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church hierarchy is willing to consider married male priests because of the shortage of priests. If there were no shortage of priests, it wouldn't even be on the table. If ordaining married men or allowing married men to become priests takes care of the shortage, that will end the discussion. If the shortage continues, they may, grudgingly, consider roles for women to handle tasks and \"free up\" men who might become priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for thoughtful discussion. One would hope that all of us who call ourselves Catholic might make the distinction between those who are dying for their faith and those who are being inconvenienced by their faith. \n\nIt has saddened me to watch the bishops claim the heritage of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s letter from the Birmingham jail without acknowledging that the then bishop of Birmingham first signed a letter asking King to stay out of his town. \n\nSeriously advocating for human rights is about sacrifice, not self-interest. Our best teachers, I think, are the religious minorities most at risk, probably found now among the refugees seeking our hospitality,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ">>I think it is a colonial hangover, where western culture and Christianity were thought to be superior to everyone else\n\nI think you carry a big chip on your shoulder,\n\nYou cherry pick and provide out-of-context facts to pad your arguments - all focused against Western culture and Christianity.\n\nYou country of origin got conquered. As many others. Empires raised, spawned multiple continents and peoples, then fell.\n\nThere were socioeconomic and historic reasons why things happened the way they did. \n\nIf these make you feel inferior, trying to misrepresent history, or the present won't help.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because much of what passes for \"orthodoxy\" and has been passed off as the \"Catholic Faith\" is little more than abstract neoplatonic philosophical-theological theorizing. \n\nThat, dear Tridentinus, is what I believe to be the crux of the problem between Francis and his critics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it strange that after weeks of NCR writers/bloggers/editorial writers celebrating, embracing, & defending the recent article in La Civilta Catholica that laments (with some justification) the marriage of some Catholics with conservative politics, that it now will run so patently a partisan piece of writing as this. Oh, wait, I'm sure NCR will give equal time to a Catholic Republican to lay out an agenda in these pages. I won't hold my breath. Of course, many of these same folks have been some of the most vocal critics of the last 2 popes, but suddenly find any criticism of a pope beyond the pale.\n\nThe NCR motto appears to be: do as I say, not as I do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is not hair-splitting at all, it is what the Catholic Church teaches about the Mass.\nBelow is a link to the General Instructions of the Roman Missal (GIRM). In the Introduction the doctrine of the Sacrifice of The Mass is set forth and explained in much more detail than I can here with various references to Councils, Vatican II and Trent and the teaching of popes.\n\nhttp://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Resources/GIRM/Documents/GIRM.pdf", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First: Congress can change the law by amending the Constitution. That is the only way to overturn the SCOTUS. It is, I grant, difficult.\n\nSecond: While Congress may not be able to outlaw abortion, short of amending the Constitution, Congress does not have to vote for policies that enable abortion, encourage abortion, etc. There are things they can do to restrict abortion. \n\nThird: When \"Catholic\" politicians call themselves \"Catholic\" but support abortion, (Biden, Pelosi, Kerry, Kennedy, etc) they need to be called out and held accountable. They cause scandal to the faithful. The faithful might think it is acceptable to hold positions contrary to the faith. Whether or not they can do something about abortion--they support it. Their support of abortion is the issue--not their power to change it. Why? Because they support abortion. That means even if they had the power to change things they would not. That also means they would not support pro-life judges.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks DD. \n\nI am no authoritative expert on Islam, but just probing some interesting issues. But in answer your question: \n\n\"As far as Islam expecting Jesus Christ to return the second time, I doubt this. I think many are waiting for the appearing of a Messiah, but unfortunately it's not Jesus.\"\n\nMy understanding is that Muslims believe in the day of judgment, even an investigative judgment. But more interesting, they generally believe it will be Jesus, not Muhammed, who will return at the Second Coming. The Qu'ran says:\n\n\"And (Jesus) shall be a Sign (for the coming of) the Hour (of Judgment): therefore have no doubt about the (Hour), but follow ye Me: this is a Straight Way.\" (43:61)\n\nJust check out the Wikipedia entry on that point:\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Coming#Islam", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't claim to be righteous, nor do I deny my comments say what they say. You cannot claim to be voicing christian beliefs while engaging in the type of conduct being discussed. Your history of unchristian remarks is obvious to even a newcomer to this board.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lol. Of course it's not Obama's fault. This is the result of Patriarchy and Global Warming!! And gun owners & Christians!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well we agree on one thing: I don't like that the Church is the laughing stock. Yet I am reminded of the passage where Christ said we would be the laughing stock and we would be persecuted--because he was the laughing stock and he was persecuted.\n\nSir, I care about popularity like anyone else does. I would love being in Hollywood's good graces--along with all the cool kids in Washington--you know--Obama, Hillary, Slick Willy and the like. Thing is--I care about God's truth more than I care about what they think. \n\nSir, if believing in God's Truth and believing that His word (though I believe evolution and God's Word can be harmonized) and it's authority makes me an Ostrich, then I am happy to be an Ostrich. Augustine might not have been a Scripture \"scholar\" but he is a saint. I will take sainthood over Scripture \"scholarship\" any day of the week. Augustine is canonized. I don't see Ray Brown's name in the Cannon. Do you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I cannot find any post of mine referring to \"some in the Church\" on this particular thread.\nOnly three men were responsible for creating havoc on London Bridge a few days ago. Whilst I am not suggesting that these 8 women posed anything like such a threat, they were out to publicise their disagreement with the Catholic Church in the bosom of that Church with the intention of embarrassing it before a secular audience and gaining converts to their cause.\nYou describe me as \"incorrigible conservative\" but I am simply an orthodox Catholic who accepts the perrenial teaching of the Catholic Church.\nHow would you describe yourself?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"But to go from there to pushing so that society should accept those choices as something good, desirable, digestible and that it is taught to little children, we are not willing to go there.\"\n\nThis patriarchal, heteronormative mindset is all about cultural ideology. As a gay youth in the 80s, there were scant gay role models in society ... even Disney films were ever about the prince and the princess and happily ever after. Perhaps the time has arrived to have the occasional two princes riding off into the sunset, or two princesses. After all, many gay people now aspire to professions other than hairdressing. We've even had gay world leaders: Prime Ministers J\u00f3hanna Sigurdard\u00f3ttir (Iceland), Elio Di Rupo (Belgium), Xavier Bettel (Luxembourg), and soon Leo Varadkar (Ireland). Very visible role models for today's gay youth.\n\nThe hierarchy of Panama might not be willing to go there ... but most ordinary Catholics already have! And gays flourishing is good, desirable and nutritious!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems it is you who is forgetting that Christ sent his disciples out into the world to teach and baptise.\nMatthew 28:19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.\nLuke 22:19. .......... this do in remembrance of me.\nWhat was all that about?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing is a good, in and of itself! Certainly not. That's a secular understanding.\n\nAll things can be and should be rectified to some purpose from God's perspective. And if they aren't serving God in some fashion, they are distorting a gift. \n\nThey must bear fruit for God. How many Gospel passages have we just read recently in St John's Gospel on this point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When the provinces of Sask & Alberta were created in 1905, the federal government enshrined Catholic schools in the acts creating these provinces. These acts were protected from modification by the constitution & any other act passed since 1905.\n\nThe federal government in 1905 successfully kicked the can down the road for over 100 years.\n\nSince 1905 many towns & schools were built. The infrastructure was built based upon the 100 year old act. For the court to over rule a large portion of the act would cost Sask education billions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I just learned that the info on the Brian gofundme site was distributed to all the Catholic publishers and they raised the amount in less than a week. It is still open. Awesome. Thanks, 2Be4 for raising it here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An extraordinary life during the time of trouble. A man able to wash the blood from his hands and make peace with his enemies equally involved in the bloodletting. This was a war that seemed to be irresolvable until Catholic and Protestant civilian peace movements came to the forefront demanding an end to the cycle of carnage, entrenched hatred, and disrespect for human life of all ages.\n\nMcGuinness was one of the war leaders who listened. Another was Paisley. Hume. Adams. There were many extremists on both sides who wanted the peace talks to fail and who worked to sabotage the efforts. They failed. The violence achieved no goal other than revulsion. Peace took hold and a generation was born and has benefitted from it. It has it problems but it has held. There is no going back. Blessed are the peacemakers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's a simple test to determine if what you write is true:\n\nDoes NCR critique the salaries and finances of other Catholic orgs?\n\nNCR indeed does that, as we can see with its recent crusade on the finances of the K of C. \n\nTherefore there's no grounds to make a moral appeal that it's somehow wrong for us to ask what NCR is paying its employees.\n\nAs for my salary, it isn't tied to donations, nor is it tied to appeals tied to religious belief. However, the employees at NCR receive income that is directly tied to appeals for donations, and also directly tied to Catholicism.\n\nIn my view, this means that NCR is beholden to be straight with its readership and tell them how much it is paying its employees.\n\nMaybe some of these employees are being paid jack, and others are being paid huge six figure salaries.\nThis very thing happens all over the Catholic media world, I assure you. Catholic apologist \"stars\" making huge incomes and constantly asking for more $. We have a right to know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "obviously you didn't follow if that's what u got from my post. Just because I quoted the bible as I quote Shakespeare and the like doesn't make me a Christian. I am a staunch atheist.\n I never remotely implied what your question asks, and in fact, in plain English stated, it is wrong for any one to do these things. That it is intellectual bankruptcy to do what your question implies. Intellectual bankruptcy would be...it's wrong when u do it, it's okay when I do it. That's the problem, intellectual bankruptcy produces the BS Carlin spoke of.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your use of \"belief,\" e.g. \"everything science does requires belief,\" is not at all the same as what we mean by religious belief. Deciding on which \"demonstrations\" or explanations of natural phenomena are more persuasive is not at all the same as taking a \"leap of faith.\"\n\nAs for \"Mathematics has no need of belief,\" yes, that's probably true. But to be fair, we should note that the acceptance of the truth of axioms is fundamental to math; that acceptance is not the same as religious belief, perhaps (I don't know; maybe it is; I would not like to define \"religious belief\" too narrowly; anyway it's not the same as what Christians mean when they talk about \"coming to believe,\" e.g. at the end of John 20), but it does involve putting aside the requirement for proof.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A certain segment of Alberta society has been involved in selling out events in Calgary featuring George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Ann Coulter, etc. The people attracted to such event might be better described as right wingers (perhaps tinged with elements of racism and Christian fundamentalism) rather than Conservatives or garden variety conservatives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "TERRY HEMKER........I left the Church as a young child. Oh I went to mass, even communion, but only to keep my parents from knowing that. I attended 12+ in Catholic education. On my own I quietly walked away. I returned a couple of years ago, after discovering God's greatness and studying my way through theological, history and doctrine. Saying \"Bless me Father, I have sinned and my last confession was 60 years ago! I feel more free than I have ever, and I'm not bragging, believe me, I'm simply admitting how much my cerebral worship, at the alter of rationality alone. cost me. \nTerri Hemker, I wish you the BEST!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mexicans are Christians. And I bet they're truer Christians than the white American Christians who trumpet their so-called faith so loudly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The archbishop blasted the leaked emails as \u201ccontemptuously anti-Catholic\u201d \nUnlike the statements made by the opposing candidate, which reflect the true values of Catholicism. \"some of the worst bigotry by a political machine I have seen.\" Finally, our courageous leaders step up to the plate to condemn a politician engaging in bigotry. No one can ever claim that this courageous bishop failed to take a stand for his beliefs, and by extension the beliefs of all true Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was proclaiming a living faith not defending an ol' time religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can go to any church you want or no church at all. Christianity isn't about buildings but belief in God, His Son, His Son's work on the Cross and the poker of God to transform a life. I know these things because God inspired forty different men, over 1,600 years, to record His plan for mankind after the fall of man, to reconcile them to Himself. Now, to answer your question about gays, if you believe in God, then the answer is in His inspired Word.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many \"translations\" have we had since that awful day in 1969 when the Novus Ordo was initially imposed? That, alone, merits a return to the Traditional Liturgy. You know the one that over 70% of Catholics attended. LEX ORANDI, LEX CREDENDI.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You try to raise doubts in the readers' minds as to the truthfulness of Tulsi's meeting with a Christian priest outside a bombed church in Aleppo by saying, \"Tulsi Gabbard, in what her office described as meeting with Syrian religious leaders in Aleppo.\" Are you saying she's lying? Apparently, you were too lazy to go and look at the video of the conversation: https://youtu.be/bwA2Sfo3HIc. No one who does will doubt the authenticity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah Hern! That Kenyon born socialist was hammering bump stocks down our throat in 2010. You and I and the other right wing republicans complained vociferously. We held sit-ins. We threatened to shut down the government. We stopped taking money from the NRA in local and national contests. But Obama and his deep pocket friends at the gun lobby were just too strong for honest, christian, blue collar, democracy type folks to win. We\u2019ll get him yet! Keep blaming Obama so no one ever forgets! He\u2019s the bump stock president and the dear leader will save us!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As my fellow Traditional Catholics will tell you, yes the church is supposed to be Stationary, Static, and most certainly should not \"develop.\" The church need only repeat the Truth,, which it knows to a certainty, preferably in Lain, and repeat the age-old rituals. Do that, and it will be a success.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Mr.McCrea...THAT particular myth is so utterly devoid of any kind of truth I'm STILL trying to figure out how Roman Catholicism came up with that beyond irrational concept! According to the dogma ex opere operato, their priests don't even have to be holy,as long as they go through the motions of performing the so-called \"Mass\" correctly!! What a sad,sick joke! Catholics, it's past time to free yourselves from the Stockholm Syndrome of this odious religious construct and protect your children. There is only ONE SAVIOR AND LORD, NO mere human being can be as He is,and you know how HE felt about the little ones. God help those pedophiliac priests and those who hide and protect them!! They should ALL be confessing these heinous acts and wailing for forgiveness in sackcloth and ashes on their way to prison!!! \ud83d\ude23\ud83d\ude23\ud83d\ude23.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently you are unaware of Section 29 of the Charter of Rights which protects denominational school rights.\n\nYou are also unaware of the Alberta Act, 1905 (part of the Constitution) creating the Catholic school system in Alberta.\n\nNow, while the extent of the Catholic school system's rights to teach a Catholic education may well be litigated, it is rather rich for you to wave the constitution that literally entrenches those Catholic rights and kvetch about the application of that selfsame constitution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...Augsburg...the cathedral....\"\n\n\nYes, it is beautiful. Very Catholic; built on the site of an earlier church going back to the 4th century. During the Reformation, the Lutherans took a lot of the art work from there, plundering it, but cathedral people got a lot of it back. (Not sure of your \"switch around\"!)\n\nAnd yes \"let change happen ... that is the liminal space where....\" Most accuracies, theological or scientific, aren't born yet, so to speak. We are a work in progress, as it were, reaching out for the ultimate, seeking clarifications (doctrinal developments [Newman]) not yet \"worked out\" on our theological scales. But still there are daily differences that do separate the two churches, very real and have to be worked out like gay marriages, for one. That comes to mind. Lutherans there bless same sex unions in their churches, ordain LGBT candidates for ministry, permit ordained clerics to live in civil unions. The CC still hasn't worked that out, biblically or theologically.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It isn\u2019t even an Appeal to Spite. \n\nNor did \u201cMarty\u201d claim \u201cthat the early Christians believed that the Second Coming was immanent.\u201d Some did, some did not, the Apostles did not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the liturgy our Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters use comes to us from the fourth century (the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil) which they celebrate with no problems. Maybe the insistance on the Mass of Paul VI to the exclusion of other forms of the Roman rite is what is rigid. Why does everyone else get to keep their noble heritage but us Roman rite Catholics are encouraged to loathe ours?\nAnd it can be argued the Ordinary Form clericalizes an elite group of laity. I don't believe for a second the EMHCs would give up their posts without a fight if the priest shortage ended tomorrow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More behind the back sniping...how Christian \ud83d\ude00 \n\nNecessary? No, not really - but thank you for proving my points about the gang mentality and piling on! Of course, you never put in the \"effort\" *lol* much anyway - you rarely answer any of the points I make anyway.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Of course, if we read Matthew's Gospel of the Christmas account, we discover that Jesus too became a refugee. When Herod was killing all the infants in Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph fled with the child Jesus to Egypt. Again, they're homeless; they're dependent upon others. They go to a place for safety and become refugees. I'm sure we cannot but have noticed the terrible plight of refugees in our world today.\"\n\nWe have. Too many Americans want to build a wall to keep them out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The belief system is phony Christianity, the kind you actively promote. The rest of your post is so packed with lies - SINNER! (always wanted to say that when the time is right) List the accusations, the spitting (time and place), and the promotion of other races. I would happy to discuss them with you but I don't think you're capable of rational conversation when you shift focus, dodge questions, lie, and put others down to make yourself appear acceptable. Given your behavior, Christ would take your sorry tush to the woodshed for a good whuppin', and maybe some waterboarding for perspective. I hear it's the good for the soul, but you have to have one first.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The very first sentence of this article is spot on (as is the rest of it): \"Scripture tells us that they will know that we are Christians by our love (John 13:35), but the media tell us that they will know that we are Catholics by our fights.\" Warring factions in churches are not limited to Catholics, either, but they blight the whole Christian message. Conflict and disrespect, seen even in these forums, is duly noted by many people. There will always be differing views on some things, but the unkind reactions to those who disagree, extending even to vicious remarks toward them, has consequences. I've heard young people say that disrespect they observe among church members is a reason that they are spiritual but not religious. Maybe the first step in evangelism is a culture change where we treat others in the church with exceptional kindness and gentleness, especially where we disagree. Wouldn't that be a powerful message to the world?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Family values? Pro-family? Faith factor?\"\n\nOh, well. The Catholics among them can at least avail themselves of the \"internal forum.\" Then they are good-to-go.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In overturning the Law of God the Church would cease to be His Church just as happened to those ecclesial communities formed in and since the 16th century. The Catholic Church would continue to exist in those people, however few they may be, who remained faithful to the orthodox teaching. Pope Benedict foretold that the Church would lose its influence and its numbers in the world as its members continue to surrender to the hedonistic secularism which has displaced christianity in Western culture.\nProtestants claim in the creeds to believe in the Holy, Catholic Church but of course we know that they delude themselves. In the same way those Catholics who reject the Law of God today, although they may think of themselves as Catholics would be outside the Church. Therefore I will not live to see any change nor will you live to gloat about it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't understand why the dubia Cardinals have no problem that until the middle of the 20th century the Popes never formally forbid Eastern rite Catholics from practicing ecclesiastical divorce and remarriage and continue to receive Holy Communion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course, those \"ties,\" the \"ecumenism of division,\" started already during the Reagan administration. One clear Catholic sign of that was in the spring of the election year 1984, when Geraldine Ferraro had expressed solidarity with a group calling for abortion rights, and answered a reporter saying (quite rightly) that Catholics have different ideas regarding abortion; and then, John O'Connor, recently created Archbishop of New York by JPII, slammed her at a press conference, saying, \"No!, Catholics believe one and only one thing about abortion!\"\n\nYou are probably too young to remember. : )", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW's history was interesting and entertaining to read. At this time, the USCCB is just a bubble inside of which the bishops can commiserate with each other on how misunderstood and unappreciated they are. The bishops can do little more than annoy an apathetic laity. Do the bishops offer a convincing compassionate message of hope and reconciliation to our complex but fractured society? Some future iteration of Catholic Christianity will be one without them. The current structure of the church just isn't working.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is truly a magnificent spiel - \"Baroque Polish Catholicism from the 1920's\", \"theater oriented\", \"enclosed mystic\" - to explain the critique of a favorite \"ology\" was the result of papal benightedness.\n\nSome minor problems occur when one notes that the Church under St John Paul II did not state that liberation theology was Marxism, but that some iterations of it - e.g. Gustavo Guti\u00e9rrez's - were \"Marxist influenced\", that he took part in the Second Vatican Council (1962\u20131965), where he contributed to the Decree on Religious Freedom and the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, and with the other Polish bishops contributed a draft text of Gaudium et spes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article itself demonstrates some of why the Orthodox oppose reunification:\n1. We don't have the same Nicene Creed - the Orthodox regard the \"filioque\" as heretical...this is well known and obvious. You can't just ignore it.\n\n2. The Orthodox do not recognize the sacraments of the Catholic Church as valid...they view purported sacraments of heretics as \"graceless.\" While the Catholics do recognize the sacraments of the orthodox, it doesn't work in reverse. Ascribing Catholic Sacramental theology to the Orthodox usually grates on them.\n\n3. Papal Infallibility is Catholic dogma...don't down play it.\n\n The article simply ignores the reality of both Catholic and Orthodox theology. The Orthodox oppose reunion with what it deems heretics. This is not a shock. Give up the filioque, Papal infallibility, Purgatory, the Immaculate Conception and a few other doctrinal impediments and become Orthodox and the Orthodox will gladly reunify.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our Lord Jesus Christ said it best, \n\n\"The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath.\" (Mark 2:27)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Uhm, Stercus, wake up. Denigrating Christianity was the entire point of the article. Without it, there would have been no article. And for the record, he made a brilliant and valid point, just the way he wrote it. Stop defending the indefensible. Please!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like so many commenting, this essay resonates with me, although I haven't had the fortitude or humility to stick around in a parish for the last couple of years, primarily because of the simplistic theology still being preached and modeled -- but also because of the evident \"wrongness\" of so many institutional policies and practices. Every time (literally EVERY time) I contemplate going back, something occurs which only serves to point up the futility of actually participating again. \n\nMy granddaughter just graduated from one of two elite Catholic high schools in our city, with the commencement ceremony graced by our bishop. There it was, in his every sentence, the fairy tale theology we all grew up with, the pap fit for kindergarten but not for families nor students, 100% of whom are continuing on to universities with fat scholarships in hand. They are facing a dangerous world, armed with giant brains but 1955's ideals. As Dear Leader tweets, \"sad!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Poor Donald Trump. \n\nNo one wants to be friends with him anymore. \n\n\nAlmost all of his councils have disbanded, except those Bible fearing (and, apparently, Nazi loving) Evangelicals. \n\n\nManufacturing and Strategy councils also disbanded, although Trump tried to say it was his choice (Arrested Development narrator voice: \"It wasn't\"). \n\nNo one wanted to join Trump's Infrastructure Council, so he cancelled it.\n\n Oh, and the Arts and Humanities Committee quit in the best way possible, \n\n...hiding the word \"Resist\" in their letter.\n\nPardoning Arpaio is going to lose him a lot more people.\n\nMaybe the only thing Trump's good at, he's been losing support all his life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Minor nit ... the only province of the three that gets its requirement from the Constitution Act of 1867 is Ontario. That act conglomerated Lower and Upper Canada (Ontario being Upper Canada at the time) Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. All the other provinces were added with independent acts. AB and SK didn't even exist as legal entities when that was drafted.\n\nAB and SK were added with the Alberta Act of 1905 and the Saskatchewan Act of 1905, respectively, and both of THOSE acts contain references to a catholic system in their respective provinces.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "May 4 White House statement, \u201cPresident Trump will meet with His Holiness Pope Francis at the Vatican to discuss cooperation between the United States and RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES in areas of joint concern.\u201d\u201cMy first foreign trip as President of the United States will be to Saudi Arabia, and then Israel, and then to a place that my cardinals love very much \u2014 Rome,\u201d the president said, gesturing as he spoke towards Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington and Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston.\n\nJust prior to the event, Wuerl and DiNardo president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, met with Trump about the executive order on religious freedom directing federal agencies to exempt some religious groups from providing birth control to employees and staff, as required under Obamacare.\n\nWhen Pope Francis visited the US in September 2015, he visited the Little Sisters of the Poor in a clear sign of support for their position in the litigation over the contraception mandates.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words, Christianity is just a made up religion. I've read about Mithraism and I reject it as an excuse to reduce a valid religion to something purely man-made. What you post has been posted by many others on this site. And the agenda here is obvious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought the right to unionize used to be one of the hallmarks of Catholic social justice? I guess when the USCCB sold it's soul to the GOP that was one of the things they had to reject.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's your medieval objections that confuse me. Luther ushered in the post-medieval Reformation. He, Calvin and the other reformers rejected the Thomistic medieval worldview which held sway from the 13th century onwards that human reason was unfallen. Why are Hodge and Pius IX (to very different 19th century minds) standing together 'prima facie' proof that Zinke is a neo-medievalist?\n\nAll the popes from Pius XII (1950) until now have said there is no intrinsic conflict between evolution and Christianity. That type of thinking is dependent on the foundation of medieval scholasticism. Epistemologically, a coherent rebuttal to Zinke only derives from the towering mind of Thomas Aquinas. Mr. Medieval himself.\n\nBTW, Darwin himself understood his theory destroyed belief in God. As he said, \"As soon you realize that one species could evolve into another, the whole structure wobbles and collapses\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many times in this thread do we have to see the \"Roman Catholic nuns used to wear...' posting?\n\nTo be clear they never covered their faces, so that only an eye slit remained...night and day difference between that and a niqab.\n\nThis is not to defend anything, but to point out an inaccuracy and a failed attempt at equivalency...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What type? Dogmatic theology? Moral theology?\n\nIn brief, a celebration of the knowledge of God and of Divine Things. \n\nI like the \"celebration\" idea because using our intellect to learn about God brings joy. \n\nHere's an excellent article posted this morning on the Trinity, and the value that our intellect gives to our faith. And some recent errors/tendencies.\n\nhttps://www.thecatholicthing.org/2017/06/11/faith-belief-and-the-trinity/\n\nI really wish NCR would find or develop these sorts of more substantial articles on the Catholic faith, and practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The revised Order of Christian Funerals (OCF) for the United States, published in 1989, repeated the long-standing prohibition of eulogies at Catholic funerals. \"A brief homily based on the readings should always be given at the funeral liturgy, but never any kind of eulogy.\" [OCF # 141] In the revised General Instruction of the Roman Missal promulgated by John Paul II in 2000 (GIRM 2000), this prohibition of eulogies was again restated: \"At the Funeral Mass there should, as a rule, be a short homily, but never a eulogy of any kind.\"\n\nReflections on the life of the deceased belong at the wake or other secular gathering. However, \"A member or a friend of the family may speak in remembrance of the deceased before the final commendation begins.\" (OCF # 170) This would happen at the very end of the Mass while the priest and ministers are already standing at the coffin about to begin the Final Commendation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Calvary\"? Seriously? The place where Christ was crucified. This item was a \"Special to the Star-Advertiser\" and apparently there was a problem with the editor. I used to work with the \"Air Cav\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's gratifying that some of the most \"Catholic\" countries are at the forefront of SSM. I think that stands as a proud testimony to the intelligence and progressiveness of the Catholic laity. The more the hierarchy howls and screams the faster SSM spreads, so I guess, \"keep it up, boys.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Naturally, the fact that Americans opposed cutting funding to Planned Parenthood by a 2 - 1 margin, 63% to 31% in a Quinnipiac Poll done in January doesn't matter to the extremist Christian-driven, forced-birther Republicans. 63% of Republicans want PP defunded compared to 90% of democrats and 61% of independents who oppose killing the organization.\n\nFrom the same poll: \"After respondents are asked, \"If you knew that federal government funding to Planned Parenthood was being used only for non-abortion health issues such as breast cancer screening, would you still favor cutting off funding to Planned Parenthood,\" the result is 12 percent in favor of cutting funding and 80 percent opposed to a funding cut.\".....https://poll.qu.edu/national/releas...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you look at the list of homicides by country, Christian countries top the list. The first Muslim country is Turkmenistan, at number 28.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(ONE)\n\nYES!! YES!!\n\nI came across a reply by CaeLew the other day to a comment something like \"A central tenet of Catholicism is that doctrine does not change.\" She profoundly rebutted \"A central tenet of the universe is that everything evolves.\" \n\nIn a nutshell that captures what I believe the Holy Spirit has been screaming at us for the last couple of hundred years, and most dramatically since the discovery of the big bang one hundred years ago. Virtually all previous human thought, and most emphatically all previous theology, assumed the exact opposite--a stable universe and an even more stable arena in which humans, regardless when they live, work out what is true.\n\nUltimately, I believe we must accept that revelation itself is not only ONGOING (in the minimalist sense that the Holy Spirit continues to attempt to influence us, although profoundly hampered by freedom to not listen), but actually EVOLVES (what she says changes over time, adjusting to our capacity to understand).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When Jesus came into the world, the religious leaders held control for the most part by their influence on the majority of the people. And the Jewish leaders murdered Jesus. Some people were involved, but not the majority.\n\nAfter Jesus death, resurrection and ascension to heaven, every individual was confronted with a personal decision about Jesus and who He was. Many accepted Him but most accepted the statis quo and opted to \"stay with the ship\".\n\nAll the bickering in the church today is in preparation for some final event wherein each individual will be forced to make a decision about bible truth vs. loyalty to the statis quo.\n\nAs in the first coming, many will opt for loyalty to the church no matter what the decision will be by our church leaders. The church is the anchor and final hope for salvation, and nothing will change their mind. They are \"all in\" for the church.\n\nAnd this will be the final test that parallels every test of the past. The bible vs. the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Ukrainian Catholic Church officially united with the Roman Church in the late 16th century, through the Union of Brest Litovsk. This was well after mandatory celibacy was imposed. The maintenance of married clergy was an accommodation that was granted to the Ukrainian Church as part of the treaty. At that time, to the best of my knowledge, no one was considering women clergy. To the best of my knowledge, at the time, women were not permitted to be cantors or to speak in church. St. Theresa of Avila's writings from the 16th century speak about the position of women in the Church of that time.\nThe Ukrainian Catholic Church is a constituent church of the universal Catholic Church. Aside from the rights granted by the Union of Brest, it is bound by the rules of the universal Catholic Church. As such, it treats women in the same misogynistic fashion as does the western part of the universal Catholic Church. \n cont'd", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In St. Paul's day an exception was made where a Christian had first married a non- believer . And wasn't there also a Petrie Privilege ? As well as the Pauline ? and no one in h/er, is right mind thinks every walk down the aisle is the start of an actual marriage .\nFar more likely at least one third are anything but .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ok, if you reject Catholicism, don't go to Confession, have nothing to do with priests, don't go to Mass. Live as you want to live, no one is stopping you. What is your problem?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Being homeless is no crime but if you're going to camp, strew trash, get drunk, have sex, urinate, leave feces on their property or next to their property, then it's a problem. No sane person is going to be tolerant of that BS, and why should they be? It brings property values down, it's not sanitary, attracts crime, attracts even more of these sorts. I think the best solution is for the city to set aside a camp ground or a shanty site for these sorts. They can elect to police themselves and be in charge of their own security by voting for a responsible member among their ranks. It's worked for other cities, towns. Public showers, toilets, trash cans, water pumps can be installed. It's way cheaper than providing apartments for them all, it's also not making it so comfortable to where they have no incentive to improve themselves. I think this is a viable solution. Surely the city has a bit of land not being used. Let's all remember, that we are all brethren in Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure that \"college education\" means all that much in the USA.\n\nYes, they have Princeton and Yale and Harvard and those are great universities we could emulate.\n\nThey also have any number of \"Christian\" colleges and for a brief time, even Trump University.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're conflating the right of citizens to defend themselves with the obligation of Christians to love their enemies. The pope was not asking Middle Eastern Christians to roll over and become passive victims but, rather, to resist giving in to hatred while defending themselves from the same. In the process, he also reminded all of us of the downward spiral of religious intolerance.\n\nIt seems to me he couldn't have chosen a better spot from which to send that message.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We definitely need to work to end a lot of the segregation in our churches between the English and Spanish speaking parishioners. Their liturgies are at completely different times usually with different clergy and in different languages. As a result many Euro-American Catholics are completely unaware of the suffering created by our immigration policies and experienced by their fellow Catholics in the same parish.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, and thank you. \n\nI am intrigued by your list of early essentials: \"the Creeds, the Lord's Prayer, the Councils of the undivided early church.\" My knowledge of the theology of Reformed Christianity is minimal, but I was under the impression that most Protestant Churches proclaim \"sola scriptura\" which would seem to exclude \"the Councils of the undivided early church\"?\n\nI have tended to think that many Protestant communities implicitly accept the results of those seven early Councils without accepting the Councils themselves as authoritative. \n\nAny illumination you can provide would be greatly appreciated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What does that mean? Spray them with water and flee?\nJesus said to love our enemies. Do you know that involves engagement and dialogue?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This World Peace Day Message is a great step forward. However it is a pity that such is the state of the Church that Pope Francis is not able to take what he says to its obvious and logical conclusion: Catholics (and anybody else who is serious about peace) must not enlist in armed forces, and all Catholic chaplains must be withdrawn from all armed forces. I guess he cannot move too fast. He has to take the faithful with him. But this has long been the Church\u2019s great blind spot: it's inability to see that the military is simply legalised, institutionalised violence, and inability to see through the smokescreen of smart uniforms, marching bands, parades and medals that disguise the violence. Hopefully those days of glorifying violence are over, and we might even see Francis backing up his words by disbanding the Swiss Guard and putting an end to guards of honour and 21-gun salutes on his international trips. We live in hope! May Francis continue to listen to the Spirit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My point exactly, which is why I'm simply asking this guy (who \"assures us\") to give us real numbers on where the donated money is going.\n\nWhy so defensive? Aren't you one of those who endlessly demand accountability form the Church? Why does a Catholic org that takes in millions of dollars -- and which harshly critiques other Catholic orgs like the KoC -- get a pass?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The fact that Evangelicals can even consider briefly that Trump is a moral man, much less a Christian is a direct example of how hypocritical and selfish they are, because if they were staunch in their faith and beliefs they would recoil in horror from this terrible person.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Shortly before last November's election the Dallas Morning News ran a story called \"Ten reasons you can't be a Christian and vote for Donald Trump.\" Their list (here without annotations) seems just as relevant now as it did before the election:\n\n1. He lacks compassion.\n2. He appeals to fear and anger.\n3. He is enamored with \u201cgreatness\u201d and ego, but has no concern for \u201cgoodness\u201d or service.\n4. He lies \u2014 a lot.\n5. He is hostile to women.\n6. He speaks about his daughter in a disrespectful and sexualized way.\n7. He does not attempt to love his enemies, but instead cultivates antagonism.\n8. He does not model sacrifice or altruism.\n9. He doesn\u2019t seem to care about the poor.\n10. His love of money is more apparent than his love of God or others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just idolizing the pure greed still rampant in the Yukon as the laws allow wholesale stripping and gouging of the earth with modern machinery operated by fools. All now millionaires to cash in on some more artificial adventures for padding the pockets of producers and participants. Contrived conflicts interrupting long boring machine operations to give some sense of drama. Prime examples of the devolution of the human race through modern technology mixing in fundamentalist christian religion along with a foul-mouthed immigrant and uneducated youth carrying on the environmental destruction and greed inherent in the original despoilers of the North.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A well written article by a Cafeteria Catholic. All the major themes of Cafeteria Catholicism were present: me, me, me, I, I, I, myself, myself, myself. \n\nNo wonder you don't like real Catholicism: real Catholicism demands that the person recognize that Christianity is not about me. Cafeteria Catholics have always had great difficulty with that aspect of Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is very true, Steven. Jesus spoke the language(s) of the day and never separated Himself from everyone else until His death, resurrection and Ascension took Him to heaven. What He left behind, for us to celebrate in remembrance, was His teachings and His Presence in the Eucharistic. There is no need - never really was one - to conduct the Liturgy in anything other than the local vernacular. It was the full-throttle swing to a clerical-caste Church that the non-ordained were left silent and excluded. Thank God for Pope Francis, who now gives Sacrosanctum Concilium new and fresh life once more after decades of neglect disguised as theology (that \"theology\" being used as regressive persuasion of destruction of reforms of all kinds). This is an exciting time for our common prayer - the celebration of the Mass. True Liturgists can safely come back out now and revise the mess we have now in that Prayer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't agree that \"Summorum Pontifucum was the worst thing that has happened to our Roman Catholic Church in the last 20 years\" (I'm thinking of multiple failures directly related to the abuse crisis), but it was in the top five -- theologically and pastorally wrong-headed. Long live Pope Francis!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "what if he''s 'been reduced to the lay state' ?\n\nEven priest's who have gotten married often distribute communion & many other things ordinary Catholic people do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The followers of Jesus were called disciples and today we use the term \"People of God\". It includes laity and clergy and Catholics and Protestants. Jesus was inclusive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Canada and Quebec needs to take down the criminal code and remove all the victimless crimes and minimum mandatory sentences. Every one of those laws are about Christian Supremacy and Canon law.\n-\nThe story of the cross is really about how Jesus was crucified because of his victimless crimes by a gang of vigilantes, much as seen in modern day Canada. It is a important symbol and it can stay up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing uncivil here. A diverse viewpoint.\n\nOne small group of people need to give up on the idea that words, ceremonies, events, apologies can re-write history \"and take their pain away\". They need to face the harder realities, and seek the beautiful grace God wants them to receive.\n\nLife is more than emotion.\n\nThe way to peace is through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, particularly the 'purpose of amendment' that should accompany every trip to the box.\n\nThe will - aided by the intellect and grace - needs to form a decision: I can no longer harbor or nurse resentments. I can no longer let injuries and resentments \"take up room\" in my interior life, room that crowds God out.\n\nCatholics need to realize that secular psychology of the 1970s can't help them. The overused concept of \"closure\" a manifestation of pride, a desire to re-work events to one's own desire and intentions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I understand what you are saying here about your son being \"flummoxed.\" I was born after Vatican II and am an adult convert to Catholicism. Even the Ordinary Form was a steep learning curve at first-when do I kneel, when do I say \"and also with you,\" when do I make the sign of the cross? It all was strange at first. Adding an additional layer of special knowledge by way of the Extraordinary Form might be a barrier for some.\nBut I have no reason to doubt the sadness of those older Catholics who feel something sacred was \"taken away\" from them with the VII changes, or that some experience the holy through the heightened sensory experience of the E.F. We can have many styles of liturgy as we are not all the same, nor should we be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What do you expect from Steubenville? Please allow me.\nStudents and faculty that love and honor Christ and his Church who don't look for a axe to grind. They are faithful and joyful with an enthusiasm that attract others to the love of God. Not an attitude of contempt for Church hierarchy and teaching that only causes division and confusion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Take it up with Pope Francis, but they appear to be acting within Canon Law.\n\nCan. 212 \u00df1 Christ's faithful, conscious of their own responsibility, are bound to show Christian obedience to what the sacred Pastors, who represent Christ, declare as teachers of the faith and prescribe as rulers of the Church.\n\n\u00df2 Christ's faithful are at liberty to make known their needs, especially their spiritual needs, and their wishes to the Pastors of the Church.\n\n\u00df3 They have the right, indeed at times the duty, in keeping with their knowledge, competence and position, to manifest to the sacred Pastors their views on matters which concern the good of the Church. They have the right also to make their views known to others of Christ's faithful, but in doing so they must always respect the integrity of faith and morals, show due reverence to the Pastors and take into account both the common good and the dignity of individuals.\n\nThat is the very Canon upon which NCR rests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is there to say except utter nonsense.\n\nThe extraordinary form clearly communicates only the understanding of the Mass at a particular point in history.\n\nWe know that this understanding is impoverished, in terms of the fuller history of the Eucharist.\n\nIn the light of this knowledge, Vatican II acted.\n\n\nSorry, but the real argumentation is not that the extraordinary form clearly communicates Catholic doctrine;\non the contrary, it is if you think the Extraordinary form does this, you have a minimal understanding of Mass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The 'theology of the pelvis' as you call it is levied against Catholics or anyone who opposes the laissez-faire attitude towards sexual behaviour. It is a common ploy to accuse those who oppose any immoral, sexual behaviour of being obsessed with 'sex'.\nThe most vicious attacks made upon the Catholic Church are against her teaching upon Faith and Morals and especially, almost solely on Morals. For this reason the Church is continually called to defend her teaching in this arena. To turn around and insinuate that the Church is obsessed with sex is absolutely wicked.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Local bishops do not have civil or canonical jurisdiction over The National Catholic Reporter, strange though that must seem to you! Yes, both Bishop Helmsing and Bob Finn fought the NCR -- and both times the NCR won, and for many good reasons. The NCR genuinely supports Catholicism, and Helmsing and Finn arguably did not -- they supported their own already tenuous interests in their own diocesan fiefdom. Apparently, you are unaware that NCR is both a member of the Catholic Press and an award-winning publication. And I now know better than trying to get you up to speed on those facts when your mind is already made up! Best do your own research . . . .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I seriously doubt that traditional Catholics ever think about Anglicans at all, let alone as b\u00eate noire.\n\nHere in the USA the local branch is in a three-year time out courtesy of Canterbury to think about what they've done.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely!\nThe notion that the all-male and celibate priesthood is more important than the celebration of the Mass and Sacraments, implicit in the church's present discipline, is a scandal in its own right. The bishops have a grave obligation to provide the Sacraments for their people; the church cannot be church without the Eucharist. I submit that the failure to ordain women and married men is a sinful abdication of the responsibility to celebrate the Eucharist as the \"source and summit of the Christian life.\" (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, #11.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "wasn't sure which article my comment best suited as it really can go under the healthcare-papal meeting-and religion EO\n\n\"The announcement of the summit coincided with the US' annual National Day of Prayer, which Trump is marking with a Rose Garden ceremony to sign an executive order on religious liberty, its precise contents not yet disclosed. Several prominent Catholic figures were present at the event, which notably began with a prayer from Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, one of Francis' closest US advisers.\" \n\nnot quite 30 pieces but optics is everything for Trump! AND +Wuerl didn't even get anything more than a copy of the photo op. The Art of the Deal is best summarized as to how to play people into believing they are getting something -- when they are getting nothing more than flattery. \nEO traded for Votes on health care dismantlement and a face to face with Pope Francis in time for the US news cycle...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow. You are absolutely right. Why should Roman Catholics have their own cemeteries? If they want to be buried in \"consecrated\" ground they ought to go back where they came from. \n You have opened my eyes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "America turning it's back on the Christian Right Minority is a good thing", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, if Hasan is an objectionable example, then use the Tsarnev brothers....\n\nI think you and others here are missing the larger point, one that I've obviously failed to make.\n\nLet's try this:\n\nSuppose this essay was written by a Trad, and basically said: \"The U.S. is a Christian nation, and abortion has been illegal for most of U.S. history, and all of Catholic history. Meet Janet! She chose not to have an abortion, and she is so happy now with her new baby. You see, Janet proves that pro choice laws are neither American nor are they Christian. When you vote this week, if you don't vote pro choice, then you're not in line with American or Catholic values.\"\n\nNow, if that had been the essay, would you or others here have disputed it? \n\nProbably so, even though the essay's points are arguably factually correct.\n\nWould I blame you for taking an opposing view of such an essay?\n\nNOPE, because I recognize there IS another side to the issue. There always is. Always.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hawaii does indeed need a two party political setup. Lingle weakened the Republicans and then left the state. We need to an opposition party with credibility and a positive can-do message. I am not sure the Republicans, enslaved by the evangelicals, is that party though.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually....I think our country needs both...more community based policing and more gun control.\n\nHOW this policing effort is delivered andwith what strings attached is the question. Grants available to cities to expand their policing efforts....do not seem like such a bad idea...I worked for years in a City with a very high crime rate and Budget problems....and everyone wanted to see more police available on the ground, particularly in the most challenged areas.\n\nAt Catholic Charities we worked directly with our police department to establish safer neighborhoods, to provide more assistance for our frail and poor elderly....we saw an awful lot of elder abuse, robbery, assault, drug deals going on right outside our folks doors...you name it...I really like the officers I worked with and appreciated their help ...but they were short handed, staffing wise.\n\nI don't think I'd pose this issue as an either/or, but rather a both/and.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Laiu suggests that \"But I noticed that the personal religion of many if not most Christians is not strictly related to the Bible, but rather to some community of faith.\" Does he serious think that this is not the case with Adventists? He also asserts that \"evolutionists are not \u201dso many\u201d in Adventism.\" That is an interesting statement. How does he know? Has he done a survey? How many individuals has he polled? If he did, the results will vary greatly depending on the formal educational level of the individuals he asks and where they live.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course one is entitled to one's opinion. However any opinion is equally open to exploration of its expressed basis and reasonableness. \nIf... \"Our bodies...are Temples of the Holy Spirit and should be used to glorify God\", as Deacon avers, why relegate that glory to the \"parish hall\" and exclude it from the core of the parish community -Church? Seems contradictory.\nPalm Sunday at my parish had a \"procession\" of children waving full palm fronds accompany the celebrant down-around-up aisles, bodies swaying, while celebrant wafted holy water side-to side. If one backed out of one's rhetorical box it seemed mighty like \"dance\" by another term. Was that an obscenity?\n\"The Holy Sacrafice (sic) of the Mass is no place to innovate or to express yourself.\"? If one holds to its sanctity, would not one know how to spell it? If no innovation would it not be a replication of the original? \"Attending\", \"participating\" - are these very terms not terms of expressing oneself?\n\"We are Catholics\"!?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Under current law, a 45-year old with income of $22,000 could purchase benchmark health insurance coverage for $1,200 or less anywhere in the country. Under the House plan, he/she would pay at least $11,800 to purchase comparable coverage in Alaska,\" according to the CBPP. \"I'm sure this person will purchase health insurance and just move to a tent in downtown achorage\" True christians wrote this plan. I would offer in reality, this person would not get health insurance and would simply use the emergency room service whenever possible, still costing the taxpayers money", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I seriously doubt the US bishops would touch this with a ten-foot pole. I've had some of my right-wing Republican Catholic relatives urge me to get a gun for protection. I'm not one to argue with a brick wall, so I don't say that in my area, most crime consists of burglaries in which guns and drugs are stolen. I wouldn't say to them that if someone killed me in a robbery, I might just be in a better place than this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I question the entire point of the Al Smith Memorial Dinner. First, the money it raises is minuscule compared to the abundant wealth of the Catholic Church. I was very insulted by Dolan describing how the $6 million raised would enable a \"poor, black woman raising a child in the inner city\" to send her child to one of their \"excellent schools.\" This plays directly into Trump's characterization of the \"inner city,\" a contemporary dog-whistle that went out of fashion in the 1960s. As to whether those schools are so great, they are well known for having out-of-date curricula with underpaid teachers and embarrassing dress codes that force young women and girls to wear short skirts on the coldest of days. \n\nThen there's the \"honorable\" Cardinal Dolan, who covered up the pedophilia scandal in Milwaukee by paying off priests and hiding money that might have been paid to children who were irreperably harmed. Al Smith was an unapologetic progressive and his memory is demeaned by this travesty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps these issues have been expressed 'ad naseum'---but the people who should be listening to the sense of the faithful---a.k.a.[American Bishops] are not listening. \n\nSo either this will continue, or more American Catholics will be leaving. \"The universal body of the faithful who have received the anointing of the holy one [1 Jn 2:20 and 27], cannot be mistaken in belief. It displays this particular quality through a supernatural sense of the faith in the whole people when 'from the bishops to the last of the faithful laity,' it expresses the CONSENT of ALL [caps. mine] in the matters of faith and morals. [Lumen gentium 12].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings...This editorial is great but......It's more preaching to the lowly choir,whose voice is never heard in the halls of the Vatican.. Every time these stories hit the news, Catholics are outraged and disgusted by the lame action of the Church hierarchy in response to the abusers! And this is also another BIG factor why Catholics are leaving a unresponsive Church. In my family of 5 siblings all have left the Church except myself.....I pray for them all daily.....But especially for myself that I continue to have faith in the message of+ Jesus Christ+", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent satire! Imagine a person with a masters in English constantly running to the online urban dictionary! Very subtle indictment of the education system! But I wonder if anyone will recognize the humor?? Like your sublime expose of traditional Catholics, one might miss the joke! Keep up the funny! Idear!! Lol!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Rules are about drawing lines. Jesus was about something else.\" \n\nWrong. Jesus was about something in addition to rules, not something instead of rules. How many times must you hear Jesus own words: \"If you love me, you will keep my commandments.\" \"My rules,\" in other words. You are in a state of irrational denial, my friend. I gave you two ways out of your dilemma earlier --- you can either say that Jesus did not say what is attributed to him re: divorce, or you can say that you do not believe Jesus was correct. But you cannot rationally say that Jesus uttered no rule on divorce. You call it idolatry to take Jesus at his word. What you're saying is that you disagree with Jesus, with God. You worship the wrong god, i.e., your own judgment (rather than God's). Admit that, and you'll at least be honest with yourself. God might even be more forgiving of your willful attempts to woo people from his will. Your position has more holes than Putt-Putt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But there were enough Catholics who felt bewildered and deracinated by post-Vat II liturgical changes to inspire a backlash that would eventually manifest in various conservative, traditionalist and separatist factions and political realignments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The fact that PBS turned to NcR, which has been condemned by it's bishop, for reflections on anything Catholic, tells you the problem with PBS, and with the liberal media in general.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"What is different about today is the degree to which some bishops are more or less willing to openly challenge the pope...\"\nUntrue.\nArchbishops Hunthausen, Weakland, Bernardine, Mahony, Hume, Martini, et al., challenged JPII.\nArchbishops Kasper, Murphy-O'Connor, Nichols, Wuerl, et al., challenged Benedict.\nIt happens to every pope including Francis.\nSo, what else is new?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But I speak Mandan and will always have a job. I am not afraid of \"illegals.\" As a Christian, I welcome them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And am convinced by the reasoning therein). So, if the Catholic Church says one thing, and I say another, who should be trusted? It makes obvious sense to trust the Church in which Christ promises the gates of hell wouldn't not prevail against rather than the beliefs individuals. I mean that as no slight, as I'm sure you are intelligent and well read. I only mean to say that either you or the Church is right on points of theological disagreement, and I am more confident in the Church than an individual.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Someone has probably deemed it uncivil although how a few facts and figures can be uncivil, I don't know. I haven't kept a copy.\nYou are just splitting hairs over the type of discrimination.\nNo it wasn't the petition you mentioned. It was a ComRes poll reported in the Catholic Herald.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings.....once again who cares what Archie Chaput has to say! He is just preaching to the \"smaller select \" authoritarian group within the Church! The majority of American Catholics have no idea of what the Napa Institute is all about, and who Chaput is!\ud83d\ude01", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are these micro-heroes that continue to hold the attention of some.\n\nIf the sacrificing priest could say something to us, I suspect he'd say: \"Look forward - not backward at my meager life. Go out, and love with the very heart of Christ, stay close to the Sacraments, and Our Lady. Die to yourself right where you are for the good of those nearest to you. Don't focus on me, don't focus on my time or my land, focus on bringing Jesus to others right where you are. \"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Further evidence of a tendency toward a fundamentalist understanding of the Church... \"where did Jesus say x\". Shrunken, closing in one oneself, unopen to surprises. There are good seminaries and then there are others, noisily Roman or not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The pieces of the Bible narrative that William Abbott cites to support the conclusion that \"equality is satanic\" do not seem at all related to the issues discussed in this column. When it comes to the principle of treating people of various backgrounds and ethnic groups in fair and just manner, that kind of equality is clearly a part of Adventist theology. The denomination is on record supporting it because of the clear Bible teachings in Leviticus 25 and Deuteronomy 15 (as clearly described by Ellen White in Patriarchs & Prophets) and summarized in Galatians 3:28. \"There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.\" Social equality is a sign of the Kingdom of Christ and the remnant of Revelation 13 and 14 is repeatedly identified as coming from \"every nation and tribe and language and people group.\" It is clearly unbiblical to argue (as some Christians do today) against social equality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"No member of the faithful could possibly deny that the Church is competent in her magisterium to interpret the natural moral law.\"\n\nThis and the following sentences say \"Catholics are to believe that what we say is true because we say so.\" As I said, circular reasoning at its finest. \n\nIn fact, NO argument other than \"You just have to take our word for it\" is presented in the entire document.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed there IS a message here -- and that message reads, The Catholic church hierarchy has become irrelevant to interpreting God's law OR teaching morality to anyone! And your comment is itself evidence thereof!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great story, that speaks to the heart of what it means to be a Christian - thanks!\nI met a WWII bombadier in a nursing home in 2010. He told me he had terrible trouble sleeping. I asked why.\n\nHe told me he was in B-29s, bombing Japanese cities in 1945. They were operating from more than 20,000 feet. All he could see were the explosions.\n\nThen General Curtis LeMay decided the bombing needed to be more accurate. He wanted \"tight bomb groups\". And firebombs. So the B-29s came in low.\n\nThen, the bombadier could see homes on fire. He could see women and children running into the streets... on fire. And in 2010, as an old man, he could not get that horror out of his head, as he woke up sweating over eternal damnation for his \"service\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I respectfully disagree. Can't argue with your experience though. And apparently every church choir, with whose beautiful help we \"pray twice\", occasionally is prone to unChristian relations (does anyone know of an exception?)\nYet Pope Francis has proposed, particularly to young people, that we should make a mess. There is no way to rejuvenate the church without getting more people to take responsibility. Clearly, the people won't take more responsibility without being given more freedom to take part in theological and governance decisions. That would lead to lots of errors and disturb the comfortable pew, igniting confusion and disunity. That's an unavoidable cost of change and progress.\nIf we're too scared to unleash the people, the tsunami of secularism will continue to destroy the church.\nWe must have faith that the Holy Spirit will help bring new success to the church over and above some chaos and mistakes along the way, if we're willing to try to get out of the comfortable pews.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God never created religion, man did. God created relationship, this is what he is calling us back to. Even Christians are still getting this wrong-Jesus was not crucified for a religion, He was crucified to make a way for ALL OF HUMANITY to get back to the Father, to pay once and for all for the sins that humans fell into and live in because of the fall of mankind. \n\nIf you choose to be an atheist than that's your call, but you must know that God does not take pleasure in our pain, if you choose to believe that he is absent in our times of need then he will be, but believing that he is present and acting on our behalf is an expression of FAITH, he rewards our FAITHFULNESS. \n\nI don't really take exception to your opinion Ivo, it actually scares me more than anything else, it scares me that one day you too will face judgement and be held accountable for the many people who you are leading further astray from the truth.\n\nFor you brother, I will pray.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I fail to understand and comprehend is the rise and steel like containment of the idea of Catholic as an universal kind of Church.\nWe live in an on continuums and spectrums as God created all. Why so much angst, bitterness, to others who are different from one selves.\nI enjoyed reading the thinking and hope but it doesn't hit home for me.\nAs long as there are artificial barriers I can't in good conscious continue at Liturgies that are problematic. I don't know where I will be in the future but am open to some good changes for all not just in a new vocabulary that is pulled out and is suppose to appease. Just not enough for me at this point of the game.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, \"Littleway\" it is crazy. But this craziness was reinforced by the Council of Trent [1545-63]. The Council of Trent wasn't interested in any church reform, but only with a reaffirmation that the Roman Catholic Church teaches faithfully what has always been taught [they didn't know their Church history---church teachings amassed over the centuries, not from DAY 1], and they believed that things would always be taught this way [perhaps that is why many of the retro. bloggers like to cite the Council of Trent as their main point of reference that 'things can't change'.\n\nOne of the elements defended was the grace of the sacraments is EFFECTIVE [Christ works through the sacraments] in spite of the spiritual state of holiness of the celebrant. He could be a 'devil in a chasuble' but if he prayed the correct formulary, Christ working in the sacraments, made them efficacious for the people receiving them. So it is not the priest's or the people's faith--it is Christ who confers grace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I think it's unlikely Jesus used Latin at the Last Supper, how in the world could you know? Just how old are you? \n\nHe may well have used Hebrew, as that was used in prayer at that time. And he may well have used Greek, which was widely spoken in the Holy Land at that time, including by many Jews. We really don't know what language(s) he spoke, either in ordinary life, or in prayer. Again, if you claim to know for certain, please explain just *how* you know.\n\nAnd in any case, all that is irrelevant to the point I made earlier.\n\nYou also claim to know just what languages early Christians spoke at the Eucharist in the first centuries. There's no way you can know this. How could you?\n\nOf course their were churches prior to Constantine. Who told you otherwise?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Super Progressive Catholics are like Super Trads in one thing: They will not tolerate dissent from the party-line.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which GOSPEL mentions \"Mystical Body\", \"Catholic and Apostolic Church\", outside of which there is no salvation\"? I don't have those words in my translation of the gospels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What_was_not_asked,_but_is_true,_is_that_even_the_Millenniel_who_stays_away_is_as_much_a_Catholic,_by_his_baptism,_is_the_bishop_in_his.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not sure what you mean but, as I read your post, it occurs to me that all religious movements, institutions, communities, etc must be accountable to our society in general. None may break the law.\n\nI am a Christian and I never forget that there is a scriptural (1 Peter 3) requirement that I always be prepared to give an account of my understanding of my faith to anyone who demands it. Such an accounting implies that I must be open to people's responses to what I say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Provide the name of the lawyer and a link either to her/his statement or to the NPR report. You can't and won't -- because you're lying about this. Meanwhile, this is a statement from Grant Stancliff, Communications Director of Equality Ohio:\n\" ... we firmly believe in religious freedoms. It would be absurd to demand a Rabbi marry a Catholic couple, and visa versa. It would also be absurd to force a Catholic Church to lease it's sanctuary to a same-sex couple. The United States was founded on religious freedom, and that's not something to be taken lightly\u2013\u2013already, even without the Pastor Protection Act, any clergy member can refuse to marry anybody they want for any reason.\" On the off chance that someone thinks you might be telling the truth about this, they ought to go to the Equality Ohio website and/or contact EO directly for a statement of their positions. You are lying about them. Of course you are.\nYou promised \"5 more examples\"; you haven't provided even one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The teachings of the Church have been under attack from within and from the outside since it was founded by Jesus Christ. My interest here is the double standard applied by those who want the Church to conform to the Democratic party platform on every social/moral issue of the day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The list of reasons you state for abortion comprise a very small portion of the reasons women themselves give for procuring an abortion. Most are for convenience. The majority of those who do or would do a so called \"blind adoption\" are the Christian pro-life.\nAside from your red herring comment, the remainder of issues on your list are prominent for most pro-life voters as well; however there can be a huge range of valid opinions on how best to addresss them. The electorate certainly indicated that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good Christians strive to be guided by the objective norms of morality; even so, conscience frequently errs. So, in forming our consciences, we should carefully inform ourselves of the sacred and certain doctrines of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a lawyer and a Catholic, I've thought about Roe v. Wade for well over 40 years. What astounds me is that even the Court that approved the majority in Roe would have a problem with saying, as many of the posters here seem want to say, that abortion should NEVER result in the punishment of the aborting mother. Even Harry Blackmun would be twisting in his grave.\n\nBTW, I never said that I see a moral distinction between the life of a newly conceived child and a late-term fetus. What I hope I expressed was that I don't expect everyone to perceive that distinction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's try this, Pandora17...Although I defend the faith from a Protestant perspective, I always refer to myself as simply\"Christian\", a genuine Biblical designation.Roman Catholicism and Protestantism are simply artificial, man-centered constructs that don't really serve any particular usefulness; they certainly divide far more than unite,don't you agree? Our Savior didn't invite us to anybody's \"-isms\"; He invited us to HIMSELF. I await your reply,again. Jesus is Lord. \ud83d\ude04.\n\n..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholicism has always been an exercise in defining orthodoxy from heresy. We are all doing it, even you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mother Nature\u2019s Agency of Deep Intuition(?)\nConsider these unlikely facts: this person (me), in my growing years, cultivated a determination to become a celibate Roman Catholic priest. But\u2026 after 11 years in Seminary preparation, I decide it\u2019s not for me. Eventually, I marry, and my wife and I have six children. What is the statistical likely-hood that all six children will be female????\nBut, that\u2019s the way it's turned out! And we couldn't be happier!\nMy deep wonder is: was my focused intention of being a celibate male priest quietly impactful at a deep psychological level in qualifying my genes in a way that intuitionally tamped down male assertiveness in favor of my female persona, thus making my maleness submissive to intuitional femaleness in determining the sex of our children? (we have seven grandchildren, 5 boys, two girls).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Welcome! May you continue to explore the answers to your very valid questions as you ponder the wealth of information in Catholic Literature. Very pertinent article...and honestly written from the heart of one who is searching...from one who is searching as well. :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish that I could hide my identity from Revenue Canada.\n\n\"Jesus used the commonly held opinion of tax collectors as an illustration of the final stage of church discipline: when a person is excommunicated, Jesus said to \u201ctreat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector\u201d (Matthew 18:17).\"\n\nWhy should I have to interact with pagans?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bible instructs Christians to \"render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's\" (Mark 12:17). Simply showing respect to the flag does not place it above God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These are Call to Action suggestions for folks concerned about hierarchical response to Charlottseville and the ABSENCE of visible catholic clergy or hierarchy in the assemblage of religious at Charlottseville!\n\n\n\n\nSUGGESTIONS:\nWrite a letter to your bishop asking him to issue a statement that clearly rejects white supremacy. Or, if your bishop has already issued a statement, thank him.\n \nAsk your parish to include a petition in prayers of the faithful calling for an end to racism, and encourage your priest and other homilists to name the sin of white supremacy from the pulpit.\n\nBecome a visible Catholic presence for racial justice by participating in a vigil or counter-protest in your area.\n\nFinally, join us in praying for an end to white supremacy and racist violence in our communities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ha! Thank you for this (you've got the First Friday crowd all in a tizzy I'm sure). I believe it was those Greek pagans who noted that as immortals the gods couldn't apprehend human suffering. Well Christianity resolved that one.\n\nI love the liturgy that's been handed down through the ages and think like all great art it should be conserved for posterity. But, yes, it's the 21st century and time to put away childish things.\n\nI think salvation functions in this life and the gospel offers the way. But it's very difficult and elusive, and that's just the way the way is.\n\nIncidentally, I was intrigued by your mind-bending theory in that Marian thread about the origins of Christianity. It's so unconventional I have to ponder it a while. :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We're so excited to finally get this project going! A big huge thanks to the folks at First Christian Church for helping us make this happen. Things are finally starting to look up! We hope it will be an awesome year. \n\nIf anyone would like to help out, we've set up a GoFundMe for the project here: https://www.gofundme.com/please-help-save-our-preschool\n\nThere's more info on the school at http://acpre.org .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesus Christ,\"...whose voice is also never heard in the halls of the Vatican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is lazy commentary and we should expect more from someone with her credentials. \n\nShe trots out \"right wing terrorists\" as a foil for Islamic terrorism but doesn't provide examples of the groups involved, their scope or their sway, so we're left to wonder what constitutes a \"right wing terrorist\" or to assume that this term pretty much means whatever she wants it to mean in the moment. Given that a huge percentage of terrorists world wide are stark traditionalists, phlegmatic or even dogmatic thinkers, and often egregious nationalists, wouldn't MOST terrorists be \"right wing\" by the current definitions? I don't see a fundamental difference between fundamentalist Wahhabists or Salafists looking to use terror to bring back the Caliphate vs. fundamentalist Christian militias looking to use terror to make the US a Christian state.\n\nThe fact there's home grown terrorists already shouldn't preclude a government from firming up the borders to stop the extremist pool from growing further.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. \"C,\" you are new here. I've held forth interminably on my views on politics and otherwise. I have disagreements with certain Catholics, not \"Catholics.\" I myself am a practicing Catholic, although I'm hardly orthodox.\n\nYou wrote, \"You seem to be very anti-Trump.\"\n\nCorrect. I'm VERY anti-Trump and will be voting for Hillary/Kaine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Comrade Stalin respected the rights of the Poles, Baltic states, Hungary and he admired the Christian faith........", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would like to make the point that Amoris Laetitia does NOT allow Catholics who are civilly divorced and remarried to receive Holy Communion. It promotes the use of internal forum. There is a big difference there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Scientific discovery and folk wisdom are not necessarily opposed to one another. The elders of the Morgan fisherfolk were really exercising sound scientific method by another name. They drew their conclusions based on observation weighed against the \"data\" they had on hand, which was the collective experience of their people.\n\nIs that mysticism or is it simply good deductive reasoning? Or is all mysticism rooted in the ability to face the truth square on, without the corrupting influence of personal agenda or rationalization?\n\nMystical insight, like science, must begin without preconception. Most of the great mystics of the Christian era had to go through something of a dismantling process in order to arrive at deeper faith. Rigid, dogmatic thinking is a roadblock to that process.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hah! Pence defending the RCC! Is this a SNL skit? \nThey weren't the values that kept him in the sheepfold as he & wife are now grazing in other greener pastures.\n\"But Pence also refrained from calling himself a Catholic. Briefly, he noted, his faith journey had taken he and his family \"in a different direction.\"\nHe must have been out sick when they cover apostasy in catechism class.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "for others, I pointed out to John that \n(1) adultery was in the Decalog and\n(2) that Jesus recalibrated our understanding of divorce and adultery in the Gospels.\n\nJohn seems intent on defining down the word and will of God to this passage or that passage, and not able to \"reason over\" even such tightly coupled passages. This is a form of negative proof texting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh. I forgot my source. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Topic: Predestination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Sarah, in his current position, is supposed to be of service to the whole Church. You aptly elude to the problem with so many Italians and some Germans, they forgot they were to serve a global church, not their own cultures, countries, or pet interpretation of Catholic doctrine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a Catholic Christian. Therefore I rebuke the coerced distribution of property by the state or anyone. I instead promote its moral opposite and utilitarian superior: CHARITY. I can not, in good conscience or philosophical consistency, condone both.\n\nBy the way: Where did Jesus say that the state should assume ownership of the fruits of your labor, and that the state should decide how much of said fruits you can keep? (Hint: He didn't say it in Romans 13.) That's exactly what the income tax and death tax imply.\n\nWe Catholics should pursue the abolition of the income tax and estate tax, as we pursue the abolition of abortion and preemptive war. \"Reform\" in each case is a compromise with evil and a fool's errand.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Among the windmills the ACLU continues to tilt at are attempts to force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions.\n\nDespite getting thrown out of court over and over and over again, it persists.\n\nThat is not a snipe, that is a fact.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church in the developed world has gone through several decades of the \"silent schism\" - that is people who just leave the practice of the faith while many others are \"occasional\" practicioners. Some join other established Christian churches, some don't join any other religion, and then there are also groups that create faith small communities, there is the women priests movement, there is even SSPX on the right. I think you may be right that these groups are necessary as new forms of organizing the practice of faith and setting an example of how that may work. Maybe, in 100 years, the Roman Catholic church will seek to allow these alternative forms of \"church\" to practice faith their own way, while still having what I would consider a remnant church that practices as it does today. BUT, I think acceptance of the all male, hierarchical/monarchical \"ontological\" superior clerical caste will be have to be optional. Can we have an umbrella church that encompasses all that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Definition Holy: dedicated or consecrated to God or a religious purpose; sacred: \n\"the Holy Bible\" \nAccording to this definition, Church is Holy. What people do in church, mainly worshipping God, it is holy place! \nA place hold the energy of the what people did in that place. \nSt. Paul Cathedral can hold 4000 worshipers and few thousand people pray together will generate a tremendous spiritual energy for good and it's walls and ceilings hold that spiritual energy. That is one of big reasons that even a non believer could feel the presence of God in these holy places.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: Why are the British Catholic bishops so zealous to insist on the importance of welcoming and affirming and nodding and winking at same-sex attractions?\nAs the article says: \"...the U.K. bishops are working to find compatibility between government regulations and the practice of faith\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 3\nOptions\nLeave the family he loves and place them in poverty etc\nRefuse to have sex, while living in such close proximity would create an atmosphere of tension destabilizing the whole family which would most probably end up in a separation.\nAccept that he cannot share in the Christian community (Partake of Holy Communion) and make the best of his situation and thinking perhaps one day things may change.\n\nIt is given that Joe is sincere, he feels the guilt of his sin and wants to put things right \nDo we put a stumbling block in the way of his efforts to return God?\nOr do we permit him to partake of the bread of life encouraging him to grow spiritual?\nAnd pray and hope that in time he will receive the full sacrament of reconciliation \nCan we make room for Joe within our hearts in not judging him and ease his burden rather than overloading him with guilt, does not Christian charity demand this of us\n\nContinue", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Judeo-Christian paradigm (filter, mirror, smokescreen) is only one of the factors affecting our societal rules and norms. In the long run, anthropology trumps theology. Come back in 500 years and you will see.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"You mean it is up to the local bishop to decide what is sinful for the Catholics in his diocese and what is not sinful? \"\n- Historically that would be the case. For instance, one can imagine that in some local churches a bishop could forbid an act which if effected would incur at least the sin of disobedience to the bishop.\n- On the whole, however, the pastoral issue directly or in directly referenced in the foregoing discussions is not who sins and who has no sin, but what to do when or even if there is sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except Jay, christian bakers aren't asking if you're divorced. Jesus said a bit about that. There were only two reasons to get a divorce. Incompatibility wasn't one of them. These people are in the business to sell cakes. No one made them become bakers. If they don't want to serve a segment of our society, then they should find a new job. An employer has no right to tell me if I can or can't use birth control. It's not their business. Where in the bible does it say a woman can't use birth control? I've never found that passage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Restorationsists\"--our ever charitable and merciful popes slur against those who live and practice Traditional Catholicism--you know, the way the entire Catholic world did prior to Vatican II.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are left-wing causes and have nothing to do with religion.\nIn Catholicism the 'cup of water' is given in Christ's name and not to make us feel good about ourselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, what's your point, please? You entered the thread by asking, I presume rhetorically, \"Was Judas elected via the Holy Spirit?\" I then reminded you that he was *chosen* by Christ (unanimous witness in the NT text: John, the Synoptic gospels, the book of Acts.) Now you inject another indirect and ambiguous point, in the process making it appear that you might be arguing with yourself. Please clarify just what it is you are trying to say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It appears from your comments that Protestants and dissident Catholics have charity, but you do not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sir, here is what I know:\n\nThe Catholic Church has a Faith that those who are Catholic are expected to believe. Whether that means I cannot \"see beyond the rims of my reading glasses\" etc, is beside the point. \n\nI grant there are teachings of the Church I don't like, and perhaps even privately disagree with. Who doesn't? Also, conservatives can actually be worse than liberals in terms of their own dissidence. At least liberals come right out and are dissident. They don't put on the \"I am more Roman than Rome, more Catholic than the pope\" bit. \n\nI like to say that conservatives are obediently disobedient. They will kiss the hands of priests, veil their heads at Mass, etc, but as soon as the priest does or says something they disagree with---down with the priest--let's run him out of town! \n\nThing is---in my disagreements with the Church, I recognize that I am the problem, not the Church. Dissidents think the Church is the problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cFew people have the type of experience you describe so it cannot be depended on as an antidote to people leaving formal religion.. \u201c\nYou seem to think what people do is the primary reason for formal religion\u2019s existence, do you?\nIt is God\u2019s immanent/omnipresence makes people to seek God. Catholic Church is just one of the religions who supposedly help people seek God.\n\u201cWherever man wakes to consciousness and knows himself in his basic intuitive consciousness as open to the transcendent mystery of existence, the power of the Spirit is in him, drawing him to eternal life.\u201d\nThe Marriage of East and West\n I would recommend people to stay away from the religion that allow clergies to rape children. People could give up seeking God all together. It is far more important for people to desire to seek and have loving relationship with living God whether they become a Catholic or not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pt 1 of 2\n\nNews,\nIf you reread the docs of Vatican II, along with books by people trying to explain infallibility and the powers of bishops, I think you'll find that \"in concert\" term used quite often. I suspect the rationale here is pretty simple: any given bishop can become corrupt, lose his moral compass, etc. They are human, as individuals. But when they act as a group, THAT's when these claimed powers (like infallibility) come to play. It's also at that point where you will often find in their words, that the bishops seem to believe that as long as all of THEM agree, then because they all agree, they are representing what the church itself believes (and thus we all must assent.)\n\nI believe that whether it be the church's position on ABC (long rejected by a most Catholics), coupled with their stubborn belief that they themselves need not be held accountable for their role in this scandal, they have painted themselves into a corner, far separate from the balance of the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't find it ironic when evangelicals cry persecution over things as trivial as that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I expect the next two years to be a barrage of Sharia like \"Christian values\" laws to be passed by this crop of Tea Party extremists. They are already licking their lathered chops over bringing back Roe v Wade. 2nd Amendment cases are another high on their lists.\nAn upcoming case is Hernandez v Mesa, a 15yr. old Mexican kid standing in Mexico shot dead by a US border agent because he threw a rock at him. This appeals will be a slam dunk no and will give our border agents the right to shot and kill Mexicans on Mexican soil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh? As Mr. Chin stated; If it's the Same as the first Executive as Mr. Chin Stated,why aren't the other Judges too getting involved too?\n Does he also know the New executive order does NOT exclude Christians,but all people from those high risk seven countries,thus the new executive order is NOT Based on Religion. Finally, how is it compared to the Japanese internment camps , which was initially proposed and enforced by Democrats..............", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Trump administration\u2019s vision .. create a crueler, more selfish society.\" The Age of Selfie squared. All life on Earth is under increasing stress precisely because consumerism ignores/denies the fact that we humans are as essentially communal as we are individual. Not for nothing is the flagship must-have of our day named the 'I' phone. Christian or not, our common humanity urges us to stand up with and for the world's impoverished, for the Earth, for our very selves: to affirm the best in us, to reject the worst. Hope, not fear; inclusion, not rejection; love, not hate. Why are hands our finest tools? Five individuals working in perfect harmony. Exactly so, unless we re-balance our INdependence with our equally-essential INTERdependence we are lost. Our 'Global Call to Peace, Beauty and Loving Revolution' seeks do just that, flooding the world \nwith beauty, re-dedicating 2% of all military budgets to re-greening Earth. Please join us. http://paulbaker2004.wixsite.com/windyday", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the Eucharist, the sign and reality of God broken and poured out for the love of the world, we are called and empowered to go forth offering ourselves to be broken and poured out as the Body of Christ corporately and individually.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Scott Pruitt, in addition to his industry ties, is an evangelical Christian who seems to be using religion to set his agenda too.\n*\n-\"Trump's EPA pick called 'magnificent Christian leader'\"\nhttp://www.bpnews.net/48057/trumps-epa-pick-called-magnificent-christian-leader\n-\"Evangelicals in Trump\u2019s Cabinet: Choice of Pruitt alarms scientists, environmentalists\"\nhttp://religionnews.com/2016/12/08/evangelicals-in-trumps-cabinet-educators-worry-science-will-be-a-casualty/\n-\"Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt defends Bible distribution in schools, says 'religious freedoms are under attack' \"\nhttp://www.tulsaworld.com/news/education/oklahoma-attorney-general-scott-pruitt-defends-bible-distribution-in-schools/article_592d20aa-2c46-51f6-a3fb-f11480542217.html\n- \"Scott Pruitt: Husband, Father, Christ Follower, Constitutional Attorney, Baseball Fan, Republican, Oklahoma Attorney General\"\nhttps://mobile.twitter.com/scottpruittok", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The great problem confronting the world after almost two thousand years remains unchanged. Christ is ever resplendent as the center of history and of life. Men are either with Him and His Church, and then they enjoy light, goodness, order, and peace. Or else they are without Him, or against Him, and deliberately opposed to His Church, and then they give rise to confusion, to bitterness in human relations, and to the constant danger of fratricidal wars...\n\nWe feel we must disagree with those prophets of gloom, who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world were at hand.\nIn the present order of things, Divine Providence is leading us to a new order of human relations which, by men's own efforts and even beyond their very expectations, are directed toward the fulfilment of God's superior and inscrutable designs. And everything, even human differences, leads to the greater good of the Church.\n\n--John XXIII, opening speech to the second Vatican Council", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Some killing is justifiable or excusable, as in self-defense, but always woeful.\"\n\nI totally agree. And this was my ultimate point. \n\nI find war abhorrent. I have children, and cannot imagine what a loss it must be to lose them even in a just war. \n\nWhat astounds me is that although the main point I tried to make is that killing can sometimes be justified and moral, as in self-defense---a point with which you agree---you'd think from the antagonism I've been shown that I was calling for a preemptive strike on the Franciscans. Even you, who agree with me on my main point, wax sarcastic in saying that \"Jesus as we find him in the gospels has no interest whatsoever in the violent situations that so plainly fascinate you.\" The situations that \"so fascinate me\" concern the moral rightness or wrongness of going to war. That may seem a weird \"fascination\" to you, but to a rational parent, a rational citizen, or a rational Christian, it's a matter of genuine, valid concern.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I bet Catholic Bishops have very little idea how few companies are still in their state's exchange.\n\nAnd how propped up Obamacare is. \n\nA huge farse. Big shell game. One long and very big disaster.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You misunderstand...Opus Dei's emphasis is on the \"ordinary\" vocations...that is, in the world...not in a club, not as a priest, not as a religious. Big misunderstanding here. \n\nHow to live out one's vocation as a secular newspaper editor, a mortician, a surgeon, a mother, a husband, an engineer...\"all paths\". That's the focus. \n\nHow to turn all lecit occupations into opportunities to love God in every moment of the day. \n\nThat's why most people in contact wtih Opus Dei (not just its members) don't hang around the parish...they see their work in the home, in the neighborhoods, in the swim team they're coaching as where God wants them to spread the Christian tone and message.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I said in comments on a related article: The congress critters and their families, like the bishops, will never lack for the best health care. Small wonder that robbing the most vulnerable of health care to give more tax cuts to the wealthiest inspires no empathy. They continue spin the Trumpcare monstrosity with an indifferent straight face. In the meantime the shameless Koch brothers have upped the ante... their PACs have threatened to cut off GOP pols' funding if repeal of the PPACA/replace with Trumpcare and the associated tax cuts don't happen. As for the USCCB... too little, too late with the crocodile tears. They knew what the Rightwingers would do if they got complete control of government, yet voted for them anyway and told Catholic laity to do likewise, ostensibly because the Rightwing GOP party is \"pro life\"... NOT.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will tell you what we are not. We are not Fascists, Nazis, Racists Bigots, Homophobes, Haters, Christian Rightists, Ku Klux Klan, war mongers, white supremacists, or just a bunch of old angry white guys. At least no more than as a typical percentage of our society that those types represent. We are generally fiscally conservative pragmatists, prone to making mistakes like all humans and wanting the same thing as most human beings. I know no one, of any political persuasion, that accept our children being shot in their schools and movie theaters, or hospitals bombed in a foreign country, or people suffering without medical care, or living in the streets without homes. Nor refugees lost in the agony of homelessness, fear, hunger and poverty. And I know no one who does not want their country to care for those who cannot care for themselves. \n\nConservatives want to right the wrongs of our society along with everyone else. We just have different ideas on how to get there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are quite correct. Eastern Catholics may have different liturgies, traditions, etc but they are bound by all the dogmas and doctrines of the Magisterium just as Western Rite Catholics are.\nSister Susan is being a bit disingenuous in suggesting that the sort of rapprochement she envisages, mutual recognition of where we are now, is remotely similar to the situation with the Eastern Catholic Churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"That inclusion \u2026 remains stymied in many forms,\" said the priest, calling for a new type of ecclesiology \u2014 or theology of the structures of the church \u2014 that \"should push the church to become the People of God as we proclaimed [in] the Second Vatican Council.\"\n\nExactly, until women find their place in the Roman Catholic Church it breathes with only one lung.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think individual families may be accepting and the Catholic ethos certainly supports respect for all people--in fact, mandates it. But the eastern European countries have a history of institutionalizing people with disabilities, a situation that has had a profound effect on the public's attitude toward them. Poland has begun to de-institutionalize but the support systems and the acceptance aren't really there yet. Poland has a very low rate of employment among disabled people and a spotty special education system.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Creator not necessarily = God (of the bible). And as our nation is governed on the US Constitution and its amendments, there is no reference to God or the Creator or any other existential being. \n\nAs for the founding father's religious affiliation, let's not forget that wild Ben Franklin, one of the more influential chaps, belonged to the Hellfire Club and was hardly a man of (Christian) faith. The rest? Quite a medley- Christian, for sure but also Deists or somewhere between the two. \n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Faiths_of_the_Founding_Fathers", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A previous generation of USA bishops inveigled the Vatican to prevent Catholic Eastern rites from importing their married priests and families from accompanying their flocks to the US, as was their longstanding custom. BAD move! And that Roman mindset lives on, and on. That's why I reserve the term \"Father\" for Eastern Rite Fathers, and Latin Rite priests who are married -- those who are not married are \"Reverend\" or \"Monsignor\" or (in one case) \"Canon.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh goodie. The Official Pray the Ghey Away Ministry of the Catholic Church - You cannot even find out where the Pray the Ghey Away sessions are because they don't want people to know about their goofy-cake ex-gay counseling sessions. \n\nAs for gay ministries, some dioceses have actual ones. Here is Chi-town's http://www.aglochicago.org/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So Scheer received the benefit of the votes from Trost supporters, an individual who claims his profession of geophysicist allows him to understand how weak the climate change science is, but that same scientific understanding apparently does not extend to creationism. Evangelicals don't believe in climate change because they think God wants us to use all the resources on Earth for our enjoyment. And Trost also \"stands with Israel\" because Evangelicals believe that Jesus will return to Earth once all the Jews have returned to Israel. OK, then. And now a guy with 5 kids and an intention to give a tax break to home-schoolers is moving into Stornoway. I am very disappointed in our party. There is talk of unity, but it is a mirage. As long as social conservatives have any sway in this party, there will be division.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not just working class men who voted for Trump. The majority of white men did. The majority of Catholic white men did. Numerous news sites (e.g. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/13/what-we-mean-when-we-say-donald-trumps-supporters-are-struggling/?utm_term=.c7f15082bf48) have reported that the median family income for Trump voters is $72000.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for your question, but I wish readers would read my links. It says that 9,945 of the 10,126 Syrian refugees (98.2%) were Sunni Muslims. Only 52 of the 10,126 were Christians (0.51%). So, the idea that America is being charitable by allowing persecuted CHRISTIAN refugees into America is about as incorrect as any idea could be. \n0.51%!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you aware of the work on this topic, but relating especially to Catholic schools, being conducted by the Catholic University of Louvain? They offer the \"Enhancing Catholic School Identity Project\" (ECSIP) which has a twofold track: partly serious empirical evidence gathering; partly theological vision.\nIf you are interested in knowing more about this approach, put \"ECSIP\" into your search engine ... there's material not just from ECSIP itself but from serious educational journals. \n\nThis is a Project that gives me optimism, precisely because it tangles with the \"HOW\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My experience with the Roman Catholic Women Priests organization is that they have individuals who believe they are \u201ctrained\u201d but are not.\n\nAnglicans have a shortage of parishioners.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, not the same as being a teacher or a nurse.\n\nThe office of priest is a peculiar position of power over lay Catholics. Priest aren't social workers or even scholars, they are principally (said to be) people of holding special spiritual powers over non-priests.\n\nWhy do you think such an office is just, for anyone, man or woman?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have always been a church of sinners, a kind of plebiscite of sinners, as it were, redeemed by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. No Calvinist Church of the Elect, of sinless saints, in the CC tradition. Harsh is God's grace, but certain in its forgiveness. That's our belief, among many.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pew Research report covered only the USA and said that, in that country, Hindus had the highest level of education per capita at 77%. The percentage of atheists with university degrees was 43 and that of Roman Catholics 26. The percentage of scientists in the U.S. who believe in gods or God is 33.\n\nFaith school students may do well on provincial tests because the population in them is skewed by lower levels of ESL students and students with disabilities the separate school boards say they cannot accommodate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The law also allowed for slavery for over a hundred years.\nWhat law do you want to follow - man's or God's?\nI guess not everyone on this site is concerned about the Christian context.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Every person who stood against JPII's attempted cover up of global clerical child abuse or Ratzinger's collusion and his ruthless silencing of theologians or Bertone's corruption or Levada's love-in with Fascist maniacs in South America or Castrillon Hoyos' \"hero\" abuser priests - every last person who stood against that 'Curia' was correct to be angry at what was being done in their name.\n\nYou and your friends have yet to explain to the rest of us why you thought that these people were in any way, shape or form, Catholic (we already know they certainly were not Christian.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sometimes appropriate answers are best found elsewhere:\nHas anyone read Chris Lowney's \"Everyone Leads: How to Revitalize the Catholic Church\"?\nAnother topical question: Does anyone know whether Orthodox Jews also require gluten to be in their matzah for the Passover seder?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Responsible & fruitful dissent will by definition be loyal. Loyal to the Gospel, to our early Christian community, to the teachings of early Church Fathers & Mothers and its Doctors of all ages, to the Eucharistic tradition and the \nMystical Body --- not to the romanized, absolute monarchy, whoever may be the Pope or occupy the Curia.\n\nThe deeper problem is that church polity needs radical reform, radical in the sense of recovering its authentic roots & properly (re)conceiving the papacy. I believe the Holy Spirit will effect this realization, whether via institutional reform, noninstitutional vehicles or both. And an ecumenical reconciliation of Roman, Anglican, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox & more will be hastened by these very reforms!\n\nOremus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In this article, there's no mention of Steve Bannon's Traditionalist Catholic Beliefs. His dour and dark views comes from his beliefs that are rooted in the traditional views that had been discarded by the Church. Bannon, like Burke, rail against the decline of the traditional Catholic Church, the West, and Capitalism. Bannon believes that the hard edged Far Right and many Traditionalist Catholic Bent. When asked about Anti-Semtism, he dismisses the question.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, R.D? You seem to be under the delusion that the United States is a Catholic theocracy and that no has freedom of speech unless you say so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I left Oregon when it was growing in liberalism in the early 70's. I have found it surprising that liberals often cut short converstation or expect passive acceptance. This from a generation that took on the military industry comples over the Vietnam war, that experimented with all kinds of drugs and all kinds of difference relationships, sexual and non sexual?\n\nHow did value of free speech get flipped to what some people now call 'appropriate' speech? Best I can tell is that apparently that kind arrogance that comes with power.\n\nThe only thing we would probably have intractable disagreement on is that I would never let my children go to a school that uses religious text in place of science. It's not that I mind that others have a different opinion and I have dozens of Christians friends who chose to believe the creation myth. But it not central to my Christian beliefs, nor is the denial of rational thought a part of my theology. That doesn't make us enemies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree Monica.....\n\nIf a given diocese or whatever clergy unit was actually doing a stunningly good job of living out Jesus's message then I think there would be more lay support...at least locally....\n\nCurrently not aware that this is happening except in a few isolated areas....\n\nThink nuns have a much better reputation....for being \"Christian\"....and they tend often to work \"in the world\"....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I paid cash for the Kodiak birth of my children over 30 years ago. How did Senator Sullivan pay for the birth of his children? Did he and wife have health insurance, pay cash, or were they covered by their employment? When he was here in Kodiak Senator Sullivan said that he was against government healthcare and I pointed out that government healthcare saved Don Young's life in the 1990s. Those that complain about Senator Murkowski or Governor Walker supporting Medicaid expansion as being traitorous to party must remember that they are also Catholic and for most of us certain values will always supersede the political. Obamacare, as originally envisioned by the conservative Heritage Foundation, is mostly about preserving the private health insurance industry. The repeal is failing because the American people are starting to see that the Republicans haven't been truthful. Texas cut Planned Parenthood and abortion rates went up. American healthcare is money based, health based is better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fact Check: Unfortunately, *Snopes* is not a valid source for objective truth. Please utilize an objective, non-partisan source.\n\nFact Check: The Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives is one of the officers of the U.S. Congress, cited in the first half of Article 1, Section 2, Clause 5 of the United States Constitution as giving it the authority to elect a Chaplain, \"The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other Officers.\" In addition to opening proceedings with prayer, the Chaplain provides pastoral counseling, and coordinating scheduling of guest chaplains. While Chapalins don't have to be, they have all of them been Christian since inception.\n\n*https://archive.org/details/congressionalrec110bunit*\n\n*Guest Chaplains*, recommended by congressional members to deliver the session's opening prayer in place of the House Chaplain, have represented many different religious groups, including Judaism and Islam.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure about the correct approach to RD, by whatever name he uses. (He transitioned from RD to Rompers with Heartbreaker.) For the purpose of avoiding distractions to discussions, ignoring him, by whatever name, is certainly best. As Christians, we should have sympathy for someone who is clearly troubled, but, on this forum, I do not see a way of helping him and, again, think ignoring him is best.\n\nAs to showing off, Romper's Spanish is sometimes not grammatically correct (e.g. esto es en... rather than esto esta) and certainly is not idiomatic. It impresses me only as to what a sad case he is. I hope he will find appropriate help and also hope everyone will join me in praying for him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A free press and the right of assembly are stronger than you-know-who thinks they are. \"\n\n\nNot sure why you think that MSW. You-know-who was elected president, and you in the press, try as you might, couldn't do a thing about it. Despite column after column declaring that white supremacy was behind Trump's election -- Catholics too.\n\n\nThe really funny thing in this curious piece, is you saying that higher-ups on both the Left and the Right see you as an important spokesperson of Catholic America. Why you believe that is beyond me.\n\nOK. Now you may make your cartoon faces.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, Doc. Can't agree. A fundamentalist is a fundamentalist. Islam or Christian makes little difference. The prohibitions of Leviticus have their counter-parts in the Koran. They are all reading from different flavours of the Abrahamic playbook. At the moment, Islamic fundamentalism is the source of a huge amount of suffering in the world. The point of Atwood's tale is don't fool yourself into thinking that can't happen in the West.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mike, you invoked my name with some measure of respect. Perhaps, therefore, you will be inclined to accept my word that Hooked Claw is indeed a Catholic priest in good standing who has reasonable and noble reasons for his anonymity.\n\nAs for the phenomenon of one person posting under multiple name, it is a well know practice. In my town, the gentleman who is now our major, prior to his election, adopted multiple names in the online forum of one of our local papers. He held conversations with himself, and, of course, expressed a good deal anonymous support for his own candidacy. He was outed, embarrassed, and to his honour, confessed his electronic sin.\n\nThis is not to suggest IN ANY WAY that you and Marty are one and the same; only that dual online personalities is non unknown, and is a recurring suspicion on this forum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clearly, I was arguing about whether someone who demonstrates \"courage\" should be praised for doing so no matter whether one approves of what they are doing that requires courage.\n\nThe debate started with me saying the Left does not praise right-wing commentators for their courage in saying things they disagree with, why is that?\n\nI said the Left was defending extreme notions of women's need for modesty as something that had to be \"respected\" when it came from Muslims, and those who followed that requirement were to be \"admired\", while ridiculing and condemning similar concepts in Christianity.\n\nYou replied that they did not, they just admired their courage, and then came this exchange, asking \"don't you admire women's courage for wearing the headscarf\"?\n\nMy reply said sure, but is it a good idea to praise people for the courage of doing what we disapprove of, e.g. ...?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I trust Pope Francis' intelligence and commitment to his calling and vision not to be taken in by the imposture. While I applaud Sean's sentiments and criticism of religious fraud I don't believe he will be taken in. Were they to meet it might prove an opportunity for the Pope to \"evangelize\" them, counsel them, preach the Gospel to them, converse in a civil manner regarding the warnings in the letter or St. James and the parables of Jesus, et. al.\n On the other hand, were the meeting to have an aura of impropriety he might choose not to accept the invitation to dialogue. Come what may the truth will prevail nonetheless. One may recall that Pope Francis met with major Evangelical ministers early on in his ministry and a staff writer at NCR called Pope Francis evangelical. \n The term \"evangelical\" has many shades of meaning. In today's religious culture of narcissism it has lost its cachet and now retains more onerous connotations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neither is EWTN or the National Catholic Register. Hopefully the Vatican has better things to do than offer a seal of approval to anything and everything that claims to be Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I should add, in fairness to the canon lawyers, that the Catholic Bishops Conferences of Ireland, the United States, Great Britain and Australia have wanted mandatory reporting to the police of all allegations of child sexual abuse against clergy, irrespective of the state of civil reporting laws, since 1996. They have been continually rebuffed by the Vatican, the most recent being in 2013 when the CDF advised the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference that Towards Healing 2010, which provided for such mandatory reporting, was fine for everyone else, but Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela (with its pontifical secret) applied to clergy. If those august organisations have not had any success, I can understand why the peers would think that a submission by a bunch of canon lawyers would be useless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another cancellation over dialogue, discussion on issues that are not settled in the minds and hearts of the world in which we live, much less in the minds and hearts of Catholics. We need to talk and it would be enormously helpful if that talk included people of the education and experience of Dr. Copeland. \n\nGood grief, people, Every time a talk like this gets cancelled, those who oppose any discussion WIN. That is what they want to do - stop any discussion, any exploration of a new way of seeing individuals and societies interacting. New ideas in theology and our relationships with each other and with God.\n\nI do not know Madonna College or the pressures that were brought to bear on them. But sooner or later, someone has to stand up to these people. Sorry it wasn't these Sisters. Who will it be?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With the USCCB and the Catholic University of American taking millions from the likes of the Kochs and Busch who are cheery picking Catholic Social Teachings - particularly those of St. John Paul II - to further their self-serving agenda under the pretense of promoting the common good - our attempt to faithfully find our way in the world will be thwarted. That includes loving and compassionate understanding and reflection on love, sex, sexual orientation, family and life. Yes ... more needs to be done to include the divorced, I would add single, married people, women, ... and we need to start the reflecting and dialoguing together somewhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Koncerned, I did read what you were responding to.\n\nI do love that you cannot avoid judgment yourself and have to make comments about blathering just to attempt to discredit people. It just proves that you do not have an actual point to make.\n\nYou further showed you have no point by attempting to make it about guessing what happens after we die. You then used that to talk him down by making it about him having nothing after death. It is the weakest of the cover your ass christian arguments. Well if you don't believe in god what happens if you die and he is real. God is not into people that just cover their asses, you are supposed to live a good live and help those around you.\n\nHis point was simple. Christians and other religious groups don't act very much in line with what their gods want. \n\nHe is telling the truth. You simply responded with random noise then attempted to discredit through talking down to people.\n\nDid I miss anything?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian Humanism and Erasmus predate the modern secular variety. It goes back to Christ. He came to satisfy Man, not God. God is already satisfied - indeed, is Satisfaction itself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So I do not see the same efforts being made to include children from fundamentalist Christian families who have their own problems \u201cfitting in\u201d with the secularist and moral relativist policies of the Boulder School District. What special efforts are being advanced to protect overweight, underweight, pimple challenged kids from the taunts and bullying of their peers? Do they have special forums to address the needs of obese/skinny/pimpley Christian transgenders? Are transgenders a significant portion of the population to redefine the English language? \nI know it is difficult for Socialist to teach the fundamental principles of our United States Constitution but the concept of individual liberty and the protection of individual rights covers all of the above. Perhaps these teachers should reacquaint themselves with our founders views on liberty and share them with our children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely correct! Sadly, the official church needs to get its head out of its \"hidden theology\" which sees sexuality as:\n1) Only good if it leads to procreation [within marriage, of course]. Priests who became fathers were hardly thinking of procreation when they engaged in sex. So the concept of Sex only for Procreation is a false one.\n2) Degrading [as proclaimed by the Gnostic heresy back in the 2nd/3rd Centuries but accepted as discipline by the official church] diminishes a person's ability to achieve greater spiritual union with God [as though God didn't create sex and sexual pleasure].\n3) Sought by women. Women are still [in some quarters] thought to be \"Eves\" who tempt men to sin\nand are all 'occasions of sin'.\n\nUntil that 'hidden theology' is rooted out---even courses in the seminary [which has been poor in tis area] of human biology and relationships won't help as much as it should.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is not only Donald Trump's war on reality.\n.\nBig Oil has waged war on reality for 30+ years. That is what climate change denial is all about. Remember the Harper government?\n.\nRight-wing success is based on convincing low-information voters, particularly white rural male votes, to vote against their own economic interests.\n.\nA common medium for that purpose is some kind of hot button distraction - abortion, guns, immigration, gay marriage, Islamophobia, etc., - that is of huge prejudicial effect, but of little economic harm.\n.\nThus evangelical Christian voters enable climate change denial and administrative capture of government agencies - e.g., the NEB or the EPA - by oil companies.\n.\nDo evangelical Christians hate the planet?\nWhy would they?\n.\nYet the right-wing obsession with e.g., abortion, has the practical results of preventing action on problems of enormous importance such as (a) climate change, and (b) building public transit.\n.\nDonald Trump did not invent this game.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sounds like an advertisement for Islam. As if Islam is a race and if you don't love Muslims then you are a racist.\nThis lady should understand that the history of religion in Canada is rocky to say the least. It started with the Christian missionaries arriving and trying to convert the native Indians. Didn't go well. Book religions, the praying people are vastly different way of thinking compared to secular and agnostics who do not hear voices speaking to them from the sky.\n>\nWhat we have to consider that there is nothing wrong with being different. That men and women are different just as races and cultures are different. Forcing people to be the same is perhaps the worst thing we could do put this seems to be the narrative of the Canadian left and right. When we push people to act the same we extenuate the physiological differences. That is why you see so much extremism arising these days.\nThat is why we have countries and border and cultures; so people can live amoun similar people", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, I fear you are right. I was born in 1937 and, though I have never done an actual \"fact check' I believe there has been a war going on somewhere in the world all of my life. I agree with Pope Francis that we are already, in fact, involved in the third world war. There is a very real possibility that we will destroy humanity in the process. Taking Christ seriously and following his example is our only hope. Will we ever learn? Peace to you also.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The institution claims that it can't ordain women PRECISELY because God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, according to the testimony of the Gospels and the earliest of traditions did NOT include women amongst the original 12 ordained men. \n\nIf Jesus had done so rest assured that the institution would follow suit. But He didn't. Therefore it seems that neither Jesus nor the institution considers ordination/official ministry/leadership essential to full participation in Christ's life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...\"What the Romans, Greeks, Norse, Hindus, Aztecs, Maori, Druids, Incas etc got it all wrong, but the Christians hit the bulls eye?\"...\n\nWell stated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the links to The Tablet and Catholic Herald articles. Reading something that comes from outside of the U.S. helps put perspective on issues. I think his views on the divisiveness in the political world here are important, but given how the USCCB has conducted themselves, I see the Church abetting that divisiveness rather than curing it. The Tablet article about Tobin is helpful, too, in getting more background on him and clarifies how well he \"gets\" Pope Francis. We need more like him.\n\nThe Catholic Herald article shows this issue of \"correcting\" an error can get really interesting - I would love to see what theologians of different stripes have to say - Francis has his defenders. We know how divided the bishops/cardinals are. Nothing will be decided - I hope - but I hope even more than Burke backs off. He is creating more division. \n\nCatholic Herald is conservative - an interesting read. There are more stories there on this act of Burke and the other three.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Annie should do more reading of actual Church teaching vs what her interpretation is of what some priest may or may not have said or may or may not have meant.\n\nHer point is almost straight out of Pope Piux XI's Syllabus of Errors.\n\n\"Protestantism is nothing more than another form of the same true Christian religion, in which form it is given to please God equally as in the Catholic Church. which references -- Encyclical \"Noscitis,\" Dec. 8, 1849.\"\n\nNote to the unread. These points are written as assertions, which the pope lists as erroneous.\n\nhttp://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9syll.htm\n\nIt's a sobering and eye opening exericse to read these errors and then read these comment forums, realizing that the brilliant pope summarized these errors in 1864!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, Mitch, the Mass isn't what you say it is. At least in the USA it is a cobbled-together set of prayers, v. little interaction between priest & laity, a terrible use of the English language, music which is frozen in time, most sermons which are retreads of previously given talks, and a v. bored priest leading the worship service. Please look around the pews: you'll see mature people bored to death, young people not inspired, and a v. few (mostly older) folks trying to pray. This is reality! As an example, did Jesus really say \"take this chalice, etc.\"? I don't think so, given the word \"chalice\" was unknown in His time! And, yes, I do go to Mass each weekend, but it ain't easy, baby!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Policy is written to solve problems for all people....hundreds of millions of people.\n\nIndividual Christians are called to solve \"one off\" problems for the few. \n\nIf it really \"concerned\" you, you'd be down there trying to solve problems.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Say there buddy, you sound like some sort of Christian or Trump voting conservative there. They dont take kindly to your sort around these here parts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. Being a Christian ought to be about how you act and what you do. Jesus clearly didn't believe some people were better than others. He wouldn't have believed in a society ruled by wealth and he wouldn't have voted for anybody who espoused bigotry and xenophobia; but he wouldn't have hated them either. If ever anybody advocated for peaceful coexistence, it was Jesus; but he also advocated peaceful appropriate resistance to tyranny too. Resistance yes, hate no.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians In Name Only. CINOs the GOP is full of 'em.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, you are presuming the correctness of the ideologies you uncritically accept and project onto Catholicism. \n\nThe Church (which is feminine in essence) is the Body of Christ. Women, therefore in their humanity represent the Church as body. Priests represent the head of the Body and that is Christ. Christ is a man. The Church is a women. The imagery, then, in worship, is bridegroom/bride because that is the nature of the relationship Christ has with his Body. The relationship is heterosexual in nature. This is imaged in the \"cult\" (worship) of the Church. The Mass is the wedding feast of the lamb. The lamb is male. \n\nOrdaining women turns the unity of the Church with her bridegroom into a homosexual union. That is not the relationship God has with the Church. Do you not see the connection between those churches that have ordained women---and their eventual acceptance of gay marriage? We pray what we believe. We believe as we pray.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you accept your own argument, you can't say Jesus was against war.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mercy, whether in the context of AA or Catholicism, includes fogiveness, praying for God\u2019s will rather than our own and service to other. A wonderful book.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CHOKE! As I read Sr. Maureen argue: \"First, Trump assumes that Catholics are all anti-abortion...,\" I had to pinch myself... Does Sr. Maureen disagree??? Regardless of PREFERENCE polls, where are your personal beliefs and do those align with the Catechism??? What gives anyone the right to take the life of an innocent? Under what conditions is it OK, Sister, to play God and kill a child?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not quite. \n\nGratian (1150-ish) tried to harmonize laws already extant at the time. Catechesis has gone on, as the history of the name implies, for a significant portion of Christian history, though generally by the bishop or through his auspices. The Roman Catechism was much influenced by Aquinas', developed almost 350 years earlier.\n\nThe benefit of having both a Code of Canon Law and a catechism is that most people can read them for themselves, now. Just as, prior to John West's publishing of case law, the US legal system was difficult to navigate and precedent difficult to find, so the canons used in various jurisdictions across the world were difficult to reconcile. The catechism, also, is not the sum of the Catholic faith; it is its summary. Sufficient to answer a question about \"what\" the church teaches, but the \"why\" of that teaching requires significantly more diligence and study.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dennis, I said I was an \"exited\" Catholic, meaning exited from the institutional Church but not from Catholicism. You want to exit me from Catholicism, as well, when you say I am not a practicing Catholic, presumably meaning I am not participating in the life of the sacramental Church. I am, however, \"by desire,\" and the Catholic culture informs my life. Broadly, the Church is a place where I do not feel morally \"at home\" in its universe. If there is a main complaint, it's that the priesthood is the bane of Catholicism, corrupt and dysfunctional. All other \"wrongs\" trickle down from it-- misogyny, the failure to meld mercy and justice in light of the sexual abuse crisis (I've been a victims' advocate for 19 years), LGBTs, etc. Mrs. Gingrich does not oppose these morally reprehensible practices, and Pres. Trump is clueless as to the crisis in the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From Australia: comment 1\n\nAn interesting pair of articles in the Catholic Leader publication and an interesting discussion on the Catholica website regarding ontological change. \n\nFrancis Sullivan, CEO of the Catholic Church bishops' sponsored Truth, Justice and Healing Council has worked extensively to listen to and speak to the Australian Royal Commission on child sex abuse. t a recent gathering of priests in Brisbane, home of Archb Mark Coleridge's seat, he had quite a bit to say:\n\n\"Our culture grew the abusers and our culture protected the abusers and our culture for so long denied the victims...We didn\u2019t listen. We didn\u2019t believe...And when priests did muck up, the basic tendency of other priests was to cover up..The tribe looked after itself.\"\n\nA bit of truth: \"People who have been abused are scared of talking to the Church, and people in the Church are scared of the people who have been abused.\" He then talked about how the local priest needs to be the bridge.\n\nSee next2", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "V2 asked us to go back to the Gospels and the early Church to help see what was essential and what was not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, but the Girl Scouts really are completely incompatible with the Catholic concept of womanhood. Every summer, my boating club hosts GS troops for kayaking lessons. It's an outrage. Can you imagine Our Blessed Mother in a kayak? She might get her burka wet. She might even develop biceps and how would that look, a meek, docile plaster statue with biceps like Michelangelo's David?\n\nAnd the women cops in my precinct host GS troops for boxing lessons. It's horrible. How would that look on the Stations of the Cross, if Mary were bashing the centurion in the face instead of just meekly standing beneath the cross weeping?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, your knowledge is limited and you are wrong, some \"denominations\" believe in a form of it, but is has LONG been considered heretical for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which is because it nullifies the Atonement, which is a hill to die on in the Protestant faith, if some Lutherans truly believe that, well you can form your own conclusions\n\nYou can read the Orthodox Christian explanation here:\n\nhttps://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/90-318/explaining-the-heresy-of-the-catholic-mass-part-1", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...not just affecting the Catholic Church.\"\n\nYes, Pandora17! All churches are hemorrhaging, no matter what they permit, encourage or promote whether regarding LGBT issues, other social issues, reproductive rights, etc. Protestantism has fallen from 65% of the country (50 years ago) to 46% today, a minority status. Even evangelical churches like the Southern Baptists have slipped. Jews have also slipped in affiliation, though have maintained cultural connections. Catholics are just under the retention rates of Mormons and Jews.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the fourth century, Jerome wrote of Christians, \"Your churches are festooned with silver and gold while Christ himself lies dying on their steps.\" It's the same in every age: religion becomes just one more device for acquiring power over men. The starting mythology is unimportant. No creed could be more pacifistic than Buddhism, yet look at the violence Sri Lankan Buddhists inflicted on their Hindu Tamil neighbors, or the persecution Burmese Buddhists now inflict on the Muslim Rohingya. During World War II revered Zen abbots justified Japan's cruel invasion and occupation of China, which caused perhaps 5 million military casualties and an estimated 20 million civilian deaths.\n\nThe Alaska Family Act-Outs are just a bunch of people who've kept their audience for 20 years with this kind of ginned-up sexual hysteria. They have to keep up the stunts or their audience, and hence their self-importance, would just fade away. Few outside a handful of churches care about this stuff.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "u,\nMcCarthyism was Republican. And very fundie Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "[Pete Vere, JCL] Yes, Pope Francis faces a number of Latin traditionalist critics. (To my knowledge, none of the signatories are Eastern Catholic, or religious belonging to contemplative communities.) Nevertheless, I think His Holiness' harshest critics are drawn from American-based Catholic political neo-conservatives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cWherever the Catholic sun doth shine,\nThere\u2019s always laughter and good red wine.\nAt least I\u2019ve always found it so.\nBenedicamus Domino!\u201d (Hillaire Belloc)\n\nBut these boyos are pushing the limits!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Palestinians are also Christians", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would hope that the IRS would want something more concrete than one bishop saying something that \"can be construed\" before it moves to revoke the federal tax exempt status of the entire U.S. Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Michael, what are you basing this comment on? Any Biblical or theological sources? What Catholic theology speaks of ordained priesthood as a right? Continence is not misogynistic, it is a norm of living recognized by all faithful Catholics from the earliest days of the Church and is also the model of Jesus Christ himself. Those who reject this have a warped idea of sexuality, the conjugal act and continence for the sake of the kingdom of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Job is about trying to understand why bad things happen to good people. \n\nAnd yes, I do think that the Catholic Church is wrong. It is a man-made institution. It isn't always right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"No one's interpretation of the bible should control how other members of a faith community follow their interpretation of the bible.\"\n\nA convenient way of saying that anything goes. Try that philosophy in the corporate world, or even in a small business like mine. It leads to anarchy. But that's what many professed Christians seem to want: Christianity \u00e0 la carte; pick and choose what one wants to believe, irregardless of what the church in which they claim membership teaches. In some circles that constitutes rebellion or insubordination. As Bill said, every church has \"the right to define itself and explain what that community believes the bible teaches,\" and to limit membership to those who believe the same way. If one doesn't believe in baptism by immersion, why would they want to be a Baptist, and why should the Baptist church extend membership to them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought it was Bush2 that said \"Those who are not with me are against me\". \nJesus taught us to trust and love God. He gave us the Beatitudes and the goal of the Kingdom of God to guide us to Him. He was more interested in old widow who gave 2 pennies than the Temple and its sacrificial system. He also made it clear that He would replace the Temple as direct access to God. He didn't institute a Church or magisterial teachings. There were no doctrines or dogma. The Church created that. He didn't ordain anyone. He called disciples/followers and the Twelve who were his closest disciples. \nI see the role of the Church as a community that follows His Teachings. Everyone in the community has a conscience to discern the will of God to help guide them to the Kingdom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's news to me that quoting the Christian Gospel is evidence of Manichaeism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You apparently have a problem with comprehension as well as articulation. The passage you cited talks about \"belief\" in the real presence, as opposed to \"knowing\" what the church teaches about it. Do you not see the difference?\n\nFurther, the suggestion was to include the \"Eucharist\" as a focal point of the mass, not to initiate a debate Christ's presence in the Eucharist... but I suspect you knew that and opted to stir the pot anyway.\n\nDo you ever stop and think about how your words and attitude reflect on the traditional Catholic mindset?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic principle of subsidiarity did not compel the establishment of U.S. federalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would like Dr Silk to meet the on fire young Catholics of Pro-life Future Hartford who are profiled in this article in the Catholic Transcript. I think I'll invite him to a meeting. http://www.catholictranscript.org/slider/4806-young-adults-inject-new-energy-into-pro-life-efforts.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Those who walked alongside Jesus of Nazareth clearly saw that \"the Twelve\" had a distinct role and responsibility within the early Christian community.\"\n\nI wonder how many of them underwent \"a minimum of four years of graduate-level theology studies. This is after he has received a grounding in philosophy, either in a regular undergraduate program or in a pre-theology program at a seminary.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Be grateful my liberal Canadians. The bust of Winston Churchill is now back in the Oval Office on day one where it belongs. On day one in 2009, President Barack Obama the grandson of the Kenyan Mau Mau terrorist Hussein Onyango Obama, took it down after it had been there since the Eisenhower administration, because Sir Winston Churchill is the only honorary citizen of the United States. I guess President Obama didn't like Churchill's assessment of Islam, which is:\n\n\"Indeed it is evident that Christianity, however degraded and distorted by cruelty and intolerance, must always exert a modifying influence on men\u2019s passions, and protect them from the more violent forms of fanatical fever, as we are protected from smallpox by vaccination. But the Mahommedan religion increases, instead of lessening, the fury of intolerance. It was originally propagated by the sword, and ever since, its votaries have been subject, above the people of all other creeds, to this form of madness.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What historic agreement ?\n\nTrudeau's plan for a carbon tax was rightfully rejected by the western and eastern provinces .\nYou can't blame Trudeau.\n\nHe hasn't a clue about the evidential basis for man made climate change.\nHe is merely the naive mouthpiece for Betts and the rest of Queens Park evangelicals who have destroyed Ontario and now infest the ruling oligarchs in Ottawa.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"Josephinum Seminary in Ohio,\"\n- This seminary is pontifical. That is, its charter to be a seminary is from the Archbishop of Rome.\n- The seminary's mission statement indicates to whom the seminary reports including the Apostolic Nuncio in the USA and the congregation for catholic education in the Holy See.\n- Information gathered about graduates of this seminary who now behave as the pure catholic church clerics described in this story should be gathered together and sent to these offices with a promise of periodic updates. The Apostolic Nuncio, who submits names to the Holy See for consideration for elevation to the episcopacy should certainly be updated on these type of clerics.\n- No doubt controlling the seminary education was a strategy of the pure catholic church clerical crowd who pined for the restoration of clerical life that Paul vi called a 'grave matter'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Franciscan theologian and spiritual writer Richard Rohr has this to say and I see it as what lies at the heart of Abp. Chaput's \"view\" of HIS church. He would neither read nor agree with Richard Rohr. Spiritual blinders are tragic... so are shepherds who don't smell like their sheep!\n The \u201cChrist Mystery\u201d is much bigger than Christianity as an organized religion. If we don\u2019t understand this, Christians will have little ability to make friends with, build bridges to, understand, or respect other religions or the planet. Jesus did not come to create a country club or a tribe of people who could say, \u201cWe\u2019re in and you\u2019re out. We\u2019ve got the truth and you don\u2019t.\u201d Jesus came to reveal something that was true everywhere, for everyone, and all the time.\nMany Catholics have a very limited understanding of Jesus\u2019 historical or social message, and almost no understanding of the Cosmic Christ\u2014even though it is taught clearly in Scripture (see John 1, Colossians 1, Ephesians 1, 1 John 1, )", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" If he can do that why should we care what his favourite passage is, tomorrow he may reject that, too?\"\nBecause Jenny Catholic who left her abusive husband and remarried isn't hurting anyone. In fact, she is the victim who deserves the Church's support. In contrast, people who refuse to heed God's call in Matthew 25:31-46 are hurting vulnerable people. It is even more urgent with leaders.\n\n\"The so-called Muslim ban is to protect the nation from terrorism which is not against any teaching of Jesus.\"\nThis is thinly veiled religious discrimination. The Bubbas who voted for Trump don't much like Muslims. Bannon wants to keep 'Murica white as part of his nationalistic philosophy.\n\n\"Regarding Gorka, as you label most people with whom you disagree as Nazi sympathisers, \"\nUmm no.. Eyes roll. And Gorka has ties to Jobbik. I don't know how much more clear about the guy's sympathies lie.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As per usual, you miss the point entirely here... RadTrads (clergy and laity alike) are so engrossed with insisting that their interpretation of canon law is both immutable and infallible. What you fail to see is that the very same Roman prelates who write and interpret canon law are 100% responsible for the abuse and ensuing cover up. And we have documented evidence that this type of abuse has been going on for centuries, which essentially renders their \"infallible\" (lol) interpretations null and void. Add to that there are so many more obvious and greater sins than a couple who made a mistake or two and wound up divorced and remarried... and then, God forbid, they decide they might want to consummate the marriage. If you rigid \"keepers of the law\" can't allow any room for discernment here then I'm with the pope on this one... you're not really Catholic!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly! And is fun to read how you send up \"traditional\" catholics with your over-the-top satire. The inflated educational claims, the hyperbolic self-righteousness, the over-stated cries of being harassed! I am sure, as you say, the folks here who know how to use humor to communicate a point recognize you are lampooning those who identify as \"conservative\" or \"traditional\" catholics. So, yes, keep up the Funny!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the ayatollahs were completely in control, their man would have won the elections rather than moderate Rouhani (for a second term).\n\nWatching the US try to \"build\" democracy from scratch I think tells us how important having a process in place is. The Iranians have a Parliament, seats reserved for Jews and Christians and women vote. Before the CIA with UK complicity killed their last democratically elected leader, they were familiar with the process.\n\nI stand by that, despite the religious component, as a far, far better place to encourage democracy than SA. Even our \"advanced\" democracies have a party system and a bureaucracy to \"control\" elections.\n\n(And the ayatollah's in Iran are pretty UnBloodthirsty, in comparison to US presidents for e.g. all of whom have invaded the lands of others. The ayatollahs also openly disagree on whether or not is is admissible in Islam for Iran to have nuclear weapons. And have invaded nobody.)\n\nhttp://gwynnedyer.com/2017/preposterous-times/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"evidence,\" as you so clinically put it, is the entirety of the Gospel narrative of Jesus Christ - his overriding sense of compassion, his concern for the poor, the marginalized and the oppressed, and his constant desire to give voice to the voiceless - all of which clearly escapes your notice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 4 (continued from earlier response)\n\nSecond premise to the model: the Spirit takes us as we are, with whatever language and concepts we may have. When we do our best to be more responsive to the Spirit within us, all we can discern is that one alternative \"resonates more\" than another. For example, for the early Jews the Mosaic command of Deuteronomy 24:1 may have \"resonated more\" than the prior state of affairs, which was divorce after a heated argument without time to cool down. But for the early Christians, who had the benefit of the reign of God preached by Jesus, treating divorce and remarriage as adultery provided a stronger curb against hasty (or more craven) motives for divorce and may therefore have \"resonated more\" than the regime of Deuteronomy 24:1.\n\nNote: implicit in this premise is the concept that what has been handed down to us as holy writ only becomes holy writ because it has \"resonated\" with the people, at least those who are handing it down.\n\nSee Part 5.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hear! hear !! All that gobbeldy gook I had to swallow as a Catholic. (Now ex of course)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Independent Catholic Jurisdictions\" have been a thing in the west since the Union of Utrecht of the Old Catholic Churches which coalesced sometime after 1870. Other alternative communities existed then, some continue to survive to our day, others continue to emerge. \nThe traditional question, which is totally ignored by this review (and, perhaps, the book) is the question of Apostolic Succession. For example, some light is shone on the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch; how is this Archbishop Richard Gundrey actually related to the See of Antioch, or is it just a matter of Branding?\n\nAre all of the emergent communities mentioned in the \"Other Catholics\" cobbled together in a back room hey presto, or do any of them have substantiated evidence of connection to the historic traditions?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not so sure the bishops ever did use PEW. Greeley worked with/for NORC (National Opinion Research Council/Commission?) as I recall. He took the initiative, himself, to do a lot of polling regarding Catholics, from what I always understood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't be concerned, Pandora, Holy Father Francis will meet with this group whether MSW and his liberal cronies want it or not. He has already met with many groups of Pentecostal ministers at the Vatican, and did so when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires. I am an evangelical/pentecostal Catholic, and I'm sure Pope Francis will meet with them, and when that happens the heads here at NCR will EXPLODE. And we'll have a good laugh!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "the use of the title for a secular priest of father in the USA came with the arrival of irish immigrants . most of the priests that they encountered in their home land were members of religious orders. within religious orders the title father was given to priests to distinguish them from brothers. in the older orders all but the superior were addressed as brother. in time , the priests were called father and the seminarians frater . this usage distinguished those who had a vote in the order's councils from the brothers who were addressed brother in the local language.\n\nprior to the larger irish immigrations the secular priests ( those without vows , mostly diocesan ) were addressed as mister and the bishop as doctor. in italy spain etc the secular clergy were addressed as don. the title of respect but not an impressive one. \n\nup until the sixties the listing of those in processions separated the religious and secular in print using the title of father and the reverends .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's be clear...there is no Irish \"race\". There is an Indigenous race...there is an Arab race.\n\nThere is no Muslim \"race\".....it is a religion. One can be opposed to Catholic dogma, Hindu dogma or Judaism dogma. That does NOT make anyone a racist. \n\nI can be opposed to Islam. That does not mean I am opposed to Muslims. Muslims are people who observe the teachings of Islam. If I am opposed to people who hold differing views, I am a bigot.\n\nIf I am opposed to those views themselves, I have an opinion. Being opposed to a religious faith, does not make one a racist or a bigot. If I am opposed to PEOPLE then yes, I can be a racist and/ or a bigot. \n\nM-103 has begun the dangerous blurring of lines between the faith and the faithful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You amaze. One minute, you say \"I love this Pope.\" The next minute, you scoff at anti-abortionists as people who care more for a fetus for a fully-developed woman. Are you unaware that Pope Francis is thoroughly Catholic on the issue of abortion, that is, condemns it as a mortal sin and the killing of innocent human life?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The popes remarks on behalf of the poor and immigrants are a considerable improvement over other Catholic commenters....and a profoundly serious plea.\n\nAnd one deeply deeply hopes that Trump will take the Popes admonition to be concerned for the poor and immigrants to heart.\n\nAlthough there is no past history to support that hope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the 3rd grade in the late 1950's in a small Catholic school I was taught that \"only in the Catholic Church could one be saved\". We had one Protestant girl in our class whom the rest of the class assumed was damned, leading to taunting and isolation. One wonders what pain this innocent young girl endured and what damage was inflicted on her self-esteem, and for that matter other Protestant kids, from young Catholics who assumed that everything they heard from the Church was God's truth.\n\nRE: \"Of all points of faith, the being of a God is, to my own apprehension, encompassed with most difficulty, and yet borne in upon our minds with most power.\" Comprehending God is like discerning the interior of a giant crystal through our own private facet, we see the sharp reflection of our reality blended with an opaque internal reality. Every interpretation is necessarily different and the discerner deserves our respect, not judgement which is reserved for the Owner of the crystal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...\"more than half the seminary students today are women, and most of them will be ordained as pastors, though not all will serve in parish ministry. Given that such an option is closed to Catholic women\".....\n\nI understand that in the Green Bay Diocese \u2013 maybe others as well \u2013 the 'effective pastor' in many parishes might be a nun or other lay person. the 'priest' just comes in for Mass and some sacraments; and many 'retired' priests are expected to fill in for those duties.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...then by eternal lorezapam\" ? It's hard to take you seriously when you don't even know the difference between then & than. Regarding controlling the masses, it is the Christian faith that is resisting the current chaos, and is indeed being salt & light. If religion is the opiate, then liberal neo-Marxism is the methamphetamine causing this madness. Furthermore, Payette incorrectly asserts a gulf between faith and science. My family is an evangelical family. We all have university degrees; one of my daughters holds a PhD in neurobiology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If one is a Catholic how can one's conscience be at odds with the Church's teaching? The very fact that it is at odds with the Church must introduce a significant element of doubt about the decision.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And what has the KofC said about the Trump Budget and the revised AHCA. Neither of these exemplifies Catholic Social Justice Teachings. Yes, there are parts of both policies that the KofC is supporting, but what they are not supporting is even more harmful to the American people.\n\nPro-life is more than opposition to active abortions. It must also include support for the expectant mother so that a healthy baby will be born. It also means that the poor have not only access, but the actual ability to get affordable health care.\n\nThe KofC could be a big factor in Congress writing a good health care bill, if they so choose. To date, there is no indication that they are seeking this path. One can consider silence as agreement.\n\nRemember Pope Francis said, \"preferential treatment for the poor\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any doctrine not accepted by the faithful disqualifies as doctrine. This is good old sane Catholic teaching. Much of the preached sexual morality is not accepted (case in point: Humanae Vitae). James Martin is correct: in time, even the RCC will have to acknowledge that homosexuality and gender fluency are a given, God created, and that they are ways of living (including sexually), which are expressions of Love Divine (not confined by the greatest, yet contained within the smallest). Doctrine has to evolve, as one of its sources is the human experience - just as human experience needs to evolve aided by doctrine. Cut these two apart (the Great Sin of the JPII-BXVI papacy), and what you get is a house of cards tumbling down: hasta la vista, RCC. People will go there where their human experience is listened to (think Jesus be called by name by those on the outside of the community), and held in the light of the Gospel - such proceeding will become doctrine, that doctrine not idol.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is it right to interpret the history and governance of the Church in political terms? Is it right to classify a Bishop as a loyalist or a dissident? The answer is no. But to the point: the Church is not, and never will be, a political organization. It is not okay to say \"I am of Francis, or I am of John Paul II\". If you think of the Church in political terms, then you are not thinking with the mind of Christ, and you will just end up sewing division.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Carson is another uncooked red meat figure head to appease the fright-wing Christian Coalition. No doubt, his deputy undersecretaries will be doing ALL of the heavy lifting.\n\nHe's so excited, it was reported today, that his eyes actually opened up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tell that to all those canon lawyers who seem to have literal Catholic rule books always in front of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How much more political tension and upheaval do you want? \n\nIf you assess property taxes on churches, you then have to let them be able to protest their taxes every year. How do you tax churches, by number in each denomination or by size/amenity of each church? \n\nOK, let's say you do figure out how to tax churches. Where I live, and I know it happens in other places, big-box stores annually protest their property tax bill just because they don't want to pay that amount. Most of the time, that is settled out of the protest procedure. So if churches get taxed, you have to let them be able to dispute their amount. Then say they settle out of the system, too. But, for example, you have the Catholics getting a better deal than the United Methodists. So does that show the government favors one denomination over another? Gasp! So would taxing churches mean you have to rewrite the Constitution?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is fair game to respond to changes in the knowledge of human biology and psychological learning, as well as people's circumstances and rights. That is not relativism. Relativism is saying that Catholic Truth will never change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course I realize who Christ is. Yes, I know that He was raised in the Jewish faith. I also know that as part of his mission, Jesus formed a new covenant with humankind, a new understanding of who God is, and his desire to open salvation to all who believe in him. Christ's founding of His Church is the method through which He desires to bring salvation to His people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So...what is the problem? Are those who need legal representation to be denied it because some don't agree with conservative Christians?\n\nUntil an article is offered here remarking about the many organizations who offer legal recourse to popular causes such as LGBT rights, for instance (just Google that to see the plethora of law firms!)...this story is merely click-baiting and agenda driven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Truth is not a term one normally experiences in discussions with or about Senator Inhofe.\nIn a 2012 radio interview with Voice of Christian Youth America, Inhofe (R-OK) argued that his belief that global warming is a hoax is biblically inspired. Inhofe attacked evangelical leader Rich Cizik, the former VP of the National Association of Evangelicals, who has made the religious case for fighting climate change pollution. Inhofe said Cizik has been \u201cexposed as a liberal\u201d and is like idolatrous Romans described in the Bible as those who \u201cgive up the truth about God for a lie.\u201d In the interview, Inhofe did not mention he had received by then $1,352,523 in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry, including $90,950 from Koch Industries. VCY America also argues that Obama\u2019s birth certificate is a fraud, Muslim extremists have infiltrated the federal government, and the UN has engineered the Agenda 21 program to transform human society through population control and energy use.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Time was when the non-Catholic party to a prospective Catholic marriage was forced to sign the infamous \"mixed marriage promises\" and agree to bring up all children born of that marriage as Catholics. That requirement never went over well, even after the \"promises\" could officially be made orally. In neither case could the \"promises\" be enforced.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, at least you admit the rituals of the church are man-made inventions. Many claim they were of some supernatural origin and one set or another is inherently superior to those that came before or after. \nJesus taught in temple court, in people homes, in fields, and once from a boat. From that you extrapolate that Jesus was supportive of ritual?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora, I assume you'll disagree with this but I'll put it out there anyway. Catholic means universal. More simply, God loves all Her people, all His creation. When we advocate in a \"Catholic way\" the shunning of people, the portioning and sectioning of the holy from the unwashed, we are not being Catholic (despite what any of the popes say). That's why I agree with you when you point out that we can't disown those with conservative values either. That's why I disagree with you here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I have posted in in this space before, under the Law and Justice Party, Poland is in retro mode, sinking back into the clerical-fascist regimes of the 1930s of Colonel Beck and Marshal Pilsudski. The reactionary and anti-Semitic Catholic hierarchy supported these governments in which there was little separation between church and state. When the Communists took over the country after the war(for understandable reasons, the Red Army was going nowhere), like all leftist governments, communist or non-Communist, they put the Church on a short lease, brooking no interference from arrogant bishops used to getting its way. Like the Church in Ireland, a narrow_minded clerical class is discrediting the Church, and the general exodus from the Church is already under way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Beware of Trump\nHe's full of tricks\nReal Christians know\nHe's 666", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a poor and misleading analysis. It fails largely because it's conducted within the outdated confines of Cold War thinking.\n\nFirst of all, Assad hasn't been conducting \"six years of oppression\"; he and all Shia, Christians, Druze and every Sunni who has ever worked for the government are fighting for their lives against al-Qaeda-inspired jihadists who have vowed to kill every last one of them after they topple the government. The jihadists--primarily ISIS offshoot al-Nusra--was weeks away from doing so in 2015, when Russia reluctantly stepped in. The so-called Arab Spring in Syria in 2011 was almost immediately hijacked by Sunni extremist forces (many of them foreign jihadists) supported by Sunni-dominated Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.\n\nRussia is mainly supporting Assad in order to prevent ISIS/al-Nusra from acquiring the resources of a state right on Russia's doorstep. The West should be helping Russia stop the jihadists; Assad can be dealt with later, as Russia has proposed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1LB, well put, especially -- \"What so-called 'faith' is----is often a list of doctrines that don't do a thing to 1) change people's lives\". Someone else in this thread referred to this as a \"package\". A book of questions and answers and a code of laws do not change folks' lives. \n\nIn the Army we had a practice of \"ministry of presence\"-- ministering to the soldiers by being with them and doing what they were doing, being available to them. We were with our soldiers no matter what, same living conditions, fears, etc. You get a different view of life doing this. Jesus did the same. People are attracted, or not attracted, to the Gospel by watching how folks who claim to be christians really live. Another way of putting it might be teaching and leading by example.\n\nThere are a number of good pastoral bishops, although why they let themselves be tarred by the same USCCB brush in all this mess today is beyond me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Au contraire. Burke and Pell are the ones who are being unfair, still, and urgently need to check back in with reality. The Catholic church is long past the Thirteenth Century, as well as the 1950s. They have chosen to remain men of mediaeval privilege instead of preachers and teachers of the Word, in union with Jesus and Pope Francis, whose Vicar he is. If they truly feel that the Catholic church is a \"ship without a rudder,\" as Burke has publicly stated, and propose to CORRECT Francis' Amoris Laetitia, they shoulf resign, immediately. Such an act would not be unprecedented, even in the twentieth century of the Christian era.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I just Googled his name. He was an activist born in 1909. He was old enough to have had first hand knowledge of Christians lynching blacks in the South and was, therefore, an organizer in black communities. He died in 1972 at the age of 63. I\u2019m older than that now by a number of years. Oh well\u2026 Could you say that Michelle just quoted, Saul Alinsky, if that in fact is what happened?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hear you. That kind of thing can be annoying. But I can't see any ethical way to use the necessities of life as leverage to compel people with whom we disagree to change their views and behavior. And were we to try, I can't see how we could carve cases like Simcha's out for special treatment, because the objections are so subjective. Another person would look elsewhere for examples of unconscionable free-loading. The most I can see such efforts accomplishing is a kind of punishment, which would be more likely to harm children than to have its desired effect. Given that, it seems safest to try to see that all children get what they need, regardless of how ill conceived we may think they were. \n\n(I used to read Simcha's column at the other NCR, but it's been a few years, so I went back to check her out, and learned that they sacked her last year. Apparently off-color language and criticism of Trump-supporting Catholics were her downfall. But maybe you knew all that. )", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well if your idea of seeking communion involves continual public accusations against those who aren't in lockstep with your vision for the Church as being diabolically influenced headcases then I don't what to say. \n\nAgain I call your attention to the actual Spadaro interview. He is intentionally creating tension. Communion is the result of self offering, other focused, love. The source of all communion, the Holy Trinity, is exactly the opposite of the Hegelian-Peronist vision of creating unity that Spadaro says Francis is promoting. \n\nSuch a mentality is FOREIGN to the Christian mindset. It is FOREIGN to the Gospel. It belongs to the secular-humanist philosophical/political trends of the last 200 years and not to Jesus Christ who is loving communion in the flesh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These \"faithful Catholics\" are waiting to \"take possession of their Church\" to tamper with the Sacraments, turning them from divine ordinances to mere man-made rituals.\n\nIf they have their way, what is to become of faithful Catholics, who fear the Lord and who would no more ordain women than they would baptize infants with isopropanol? (We cannot be confident that it would be valid, the Church is not authorized to make that change.) Shall we go down the same road as the Anglicans, splintering into sects and fighting in the secular courts over buildings?\n\nNobody is keeping women from \"ministry\", only Holy Orders, and even then because it is not certain that Holy Orders could be validly conferred on a woman. Fear of the Lord. Without Holy Orders we all share in the common priesthood and a woman called to minister should minister.\n\nAs for the cleric shortage what works is clear. Look to Lincoln, for example. Or OLMC in Carmel, Indiana.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For several years, Pope Francis has been seeking reconciliation with the \"canonically separated\" Society of St. Pius X (SSPX). Archbishop Pozzo is the Vatican envoy for ongoing negotiations. 7/28/16 \"Asked what he felt had changed in the attitude towards SSPX under Pope Francis .... During the past three years the desire grew to learn more and better understand the concrete reality of this priestly fraternity. Further evidence of improved relations is evidenced by [head of SSPX Bishop] Fellay\u2019s recent reception by Pope Francis in private audience. An example is the total absence of discussion (or mention) of 'Nostra Aetate' regarding relations of the Catholic Church with the Jewish People. This is all the more significant in light of the past history of the fraternity\u2019s seemingly innate theological anti-Semitism.\" (lastamp.it) Pozzo said that \"full integration\" is possible also without the SSPX accepting the decree on ecumenism and the declaration on religious liberty. (onepeterfive)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reason for prayer dictates whether it should be kept private or not. Matthew 18:20 is the perfect example of not keeping it private. Prayer before a public meeting is not for the individual person. It is to receive God's blessing and guidance on doing His will. Therefore, it's not a thing to be kept private.\n\nNow whether or not you believe in he Christian God is another argument. If you are non-believer in any god, why do you care?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You go off the rails in your first sentence - \"age-old Catholic doctrine\" Guess what - the letter is based upon a recent interpretation (over last 50 years) and actually refutes the moral theology manuals and structures that had been in place since Trent. What you have with these signers is a very thin veneer of historical moral/sacramental understanding. Rather, they pick up on the anti-modernism kick at the turn of the 19th century and enshrine this as perpetual catholic moral tradition - SAD.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK. I think I get it now. The article's author does violence to the idea of Ramadan by comparing it to the Catholic Lenten fast or vice versa. Thanks for walking me through this.\nI agree. The two aren't the same and the comparison is superficial.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Slight correction: \"the extension of the statutes of limitations that would allow molested abuse victims to have their day in court\" should have read \"the extension of the statutes of limitations for Catholic churches and schools, not public schools where abuse is more prevalent, that would have allowed attorneys to seek money for cases so old that the alleged perpetrators were either dead or suffering from dementia\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And I am guessing your cohorts are the ones who think Obama is Muslim, and not American?\n\nAs far as I know, Christmas is a public holiday in Canada. Eid is not, Diwali is not, Buddha jayanthi is not, Hannukah is not. In fact, even Easter is a public holiday. Which means that all religions are equal, Christianity is more equal that other religions.\n\nIn India, among other Asian countries, Christmas, Diwali, Eid, Buddha jayanthi, Guru Nanak's birthday, Mahavira Jayanthi, etc are all public holidays. Despite the fact that Christians make up 2 percent of India's population. Hindus and Sikhs make up over 3 percent of Canada's population.\n\nFinally, the Queen of Canada, is the head of the Anglican Church. She cannot be Catholic, and cannot marry a Catholic either.\n\nForget the self pity, and have a very Merry Christmas!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The teaching of original sin by Augustine was based on his faulty understanding of Genesis and the core misogyny of his day. Genesis was myth when written, not history. Error is error. The real story was about blame and an allegory about why we must work the land (the reality is that we work the land because there are too many of us to life on hunting and gathering). It is much richer to see the Passion of Christ as a solution to blaming self, others and God then it is to see it as the bloody sacrifice to a codepedent orge (as Anselm essentially taught, which was good for indulgences but bad for the faithful).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Catholics in Spain and Italy will oppose murderous regimes, instead of supporting them as they did during WWII, then the Church in those countries is stronger now. The Word of God is being proclaimed more effectively than it was then.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Globe is unapologetic in its smug self-righteousness to defend the perpetually offended vocal minority. It's interesting, if not revealing, how Renzetti ignores the blatant anti-semitism at McGill but believes that we should single out a specific religion above others (because it's 2017?)- Renzetti only further highlights the double standard afforded to Islam; the \"progressive\" narrative demands any critical analysis of Islam be condemned due to Islamaphobia - but for Family Guy (or any number of popular comedies) to make fun of Jews and Christians with religious satire is fair game because why? Islam is \"special\"? There are no sacred cows in Canada and no religion is beyond reproach, it's not Islamaphobic to point out the sad state of individual freedoms in countries governed by Islamic law. The Charter already protects Canadians from religious persecution, the Liberals are playing identity politics in an effort to appear \"progressive\". Sharia Law has no authority in Canada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I noticed that Gardner's two recent \"town halls\" were in Greeley and at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood. These should have been \"safe spaces\" for a conservative. Turns out, he can't hide from the people anywhere!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have put off the moment of reading this article, knowing that it would make sad reading. And so it has.\nVery similar consequences occurred here in the UK, where a number of RC Parishes were 'taken over' by incoming Ordinariate priests. \nBeing asked to step back 400 years, and being told that we'd been doing it all wrong, did not go down well. In my own (ex)parish, I'd say that the great majority of people either left to find another parish, or in a few cases that the trauma destroyed their faith entirely. So sad. \nMeanwhile, the promised influx of 'new' parishioners into the old parish (the Ordinariate's aim was 'the re-conversion of England') never happened.\nMassive damage, then - and for no gain; for no purpose.\nI will keep the Catholics of Waynesville in my prayers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We the people of voting age or older should be strong minded enough not to be easily influenced by the Russians, angry bird tweets of the diatribe tweeter in chief who presently occupies the White house, the nastiness of the person who wanted to occupy the White house, fake news and slanted commentary from all sources liberal or conservative Christian or Muslim or Buddhist or Hindu, etc .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And since Newman, the doctrine of the development of doctrine has developed. ;-}\n\nTridentinus, we both know full well, perhaps more than some on this forum, this is the fundamental issue that divides conservative and progressives at depth. I suspect I may soon have to withdraw from NCR for while, so I dare not get into a serious discussion with you on this core issue just now. \n\nSomewhat light heartedly, then, may I suggest if we could place ourselves intellectually back at the end of the 3rd century, prior to the christological and trinitarian councils, and have only scripture as our guide, a hundred competent Christian intellectuals are NOT likely to have come to the same conclusions as those great councils. Numerous views would emerge in our study of scripture and many would have been heretical by today's standards.\n\nI suggest the guidance of the Spirit was required to lead us beyond the tradition as then perceived to something genuinely new and marvellous, literally beyond words.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"prosperity Gospel\" preachers may be guilty of committing and promoting venal sin. Cardinal Dolan coyly defends his collaboration to the National Catholic Register:\n\"I look forward to going to the inauguration. I look forward to a bit of a \u201cspringtime,\u201d and I look forward to that; usually in the American genius, once a campaign is over, there seems to be a move to a little bit more common ground. There seems to be a sense of \u201cLet\u2019s make this work.\u201d\nPerhaps the Cardinal should remember a song from \"The Producers\":\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHmYIo7bcUw\nand it's follow-up:\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc_Jrc-svsM", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course they don't.\n\nYour contacts are all disgruntled, staffers of the ramparts, enemies of authority, and grinders of axes. \n\nThe priest in question is fulfilling his vocation, but apparently not genuflecting to individuals who were used to getting things their way.\n\nIf the consensus here was that dogs have five legs, dogs would still have four legs.\n\nAs far as Canon Law goes, try this on:\n\nCanon 212 \u00df1 Christ's faithful, conscious of their own responsibility, are BOUND TO SHOW CHRISTIAN OBEDIENCE to what the SACRED PASTORS, who represent Christ, declare as teachers of the faith and PRESCRIBE AS RULERS of the Church. \n\nGenerally if we live long enough we run into one or more pastors that do not spin our particular propellers. Engaging in a prolonged tilt at a windmill in a futile power struggle is not indicative of a productive frame of mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People are so quick to accuse others of being a troll merely because they disagree, or to claim that posts are snarky or sarcastic. None of this leads to a frank and open exchange of idears and discussion of things. I also note how many people just post their opinions as fact, without references or citations. Of course, many people are just upset when they are condemned and judged by faithful catholics, who are merely doing their best to apply the rules and doctrines of the church to other peoples' lives. Sigh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My mind tends to go more towards Galatians 3:28, \"There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "yep and in other news....\n\nGrisly photos of a body nearly ripped in half in the recent Sweden truck attack show what kind of damage radical ISIS ideology can inspire. \n\nIn Egypt today two Christian churches were bombed by Radical Islamist killing many innocent people.\n\nGiven the genocide that ISIS and similar radical Islamic groups have committed against Christians.... shouldn't this author be focusing on trying to stop that slaughter??", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some Muslims don't think too much of Americans/Christians:\n\nhttps://www.kalamullah.com/Books/Milestones%20Special%20Edition.pdf\n\nCome to think of it, we're not exactly considered the cream of the crop for many nations...lol.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Considering that parts of the Gospels were written and re-written even 300 years later [the Gospels are NOT history], we don't know if Jesus said that or not. St. Jerome in translating the bible into Latin, made sure that his patrons [pope and bishops] received their 'divine respect' from the 'vulgar' [ordinary folk].\n\nI don't deny what the Church teaches---I am very well aware of what it teaches. I also know what parts of those teachings came from political and monetary expediency for the hierarchy. I know which parts came to further cement authoritarianism on the part of the hierarchy. \n\nBack in those long, dark centuries when the laity was largely illiterate, it was easy for the official church to prop up its self-referential authority. As long as people are easy to 'be cowed' this will continue. But this is happening less and less. It is better for the church to follow the advice of the prophet Micah and \"do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.' [Micah 6:8].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Syria is about 10% Christian. However, the refugees from Syria admitted under Obama's program are only 0.1% Christian.\n\n This alone merits the refugee program review. If this requires suspension - so be it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can understand and appreciate the Mayor's concern, even though I disagree with his position. We cannot let hate force us to emulate those whose animus, hostility, and vile racism would intimidate us. Our freedom of speech does nothing if it squelches the cruel, mean and vicious. I am reminded of the Jewish lawyer who passionately defended the right of Nazis to march in Skokie IL so long ago. Our freedom of speech protects the detestable as well as the brave. When those who would organize to foster the bigotry and hate furthered by a President whose name I choose not to speak, we should turn our backs and, instead, speak a message of peace and love. For those of the Christian faith, remember the words of the Savior, not those of those who condemned him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: Cardinal Dolan playng a supporting role: Can he top this?\n\n\"When I was just eighteen years old, the Lord gave me a vision that every time I opened my mouth and declared the Word of the Lord, there was a manifestation of His Spirit where people were either healed, delivered, or saved. When I shut my mouth, they fell off into utter darkness and God spoke to me and said 'I called you to preach the gospel\". (Paula White)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you back to your \"Let Adolf Eichmann be your role model\" shtick? Even though, you, yourself do not follow it, as shown by your rejection of JPII's teaching about capital punishment in Evangelium Vitae. \n\nWe are regularly told that the Catholic Church is not a democracy. It is not an Orwellian dictatorship either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If God thought of us as you do, as 'dust,\" Jesus would have never come to dwell among us---to be one with us. The gospels all tell us that Jesus loves and saves us in spite of our sins.\n\nThis theology of yours is a sad mix of Gnosticism and Jansenism. \n\nJesus tells us \"I came that they might have life and have it to the full\" [John 10:10]. \nAs I place ashes on the foreheads of Catholics [and any other Christian who comes on Ash Wednesday], I will state 'Turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel' [Gos pel-----the Good News from God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you your candid reply.\nI had one friend, a practising Christian who I suspected might be homosexual as he shared a house with another man although they had their own living areas. I didn't really want to know and he never referred to it. He is dead now, RIP.\nI disagree with you about what constitutes a core teaching. The Creeds were composed to ensure uniformity of belief in response to heresies. \nIt is only recently that Christians began to question the Moral Law regarding sexual activity. Up to 1930 there existed core beliefs on sexual morality not restricted to the Catholic Church but throughout Christendom and beyond. The Church, therefore, did not need to codify in creedal form what was already contained in the Scriptures and not seriously contested. It is only since early last century when the biblical proscriptions on sexual behaviour began to be challenged that papal teaching has become more focussed on such issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "annexe@Cr\u00e9ature disparue\nthe \u201cQu\u00e9bec Act\u201d (an Act for making more effective Provisions for \nThe Government of the Province of Qu\u00e9bec in North America) \nwas a British statute which received royal assent 22 June 1774 \nand became effective 1 May 1775;\n- it re-established the French language rights (got it Anglo Canada ?);\n-+ Catholic faith; \n-+ French civil law...\u201d\n(It\u2019s (almost) \u00ab a State into a State \u00bb, oui ?)\nIt also began what was to become a tradition in Canadian constitutional history \u2013 \nthe recognition of certain distinct rights, or protections for Qu\u00e9bec \u2013\nin language, religion and civil law. \n\n...got it Anglo British Canadians ?...\"the \"Qu\u00e9bec Act was a British statute\"\nhard to swallow, eh ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, I think its more like asking:\n\"If same-sex marriage is a right, should Catholic churches be made to officiate at same-sex weddings?\" Perhaps not so outlandish...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mark,\n\nI never said that the grace and strength that God gives to anyone who seeks Him with a humble and contrite heart when faced with suffering/difficult situations means every person (Christian or not) is going to seek out God. That is a personal decision, much like Judas Iscariot and Peter - both Disciples betrayed Jesus. Both men were saddened and wept bitterly for what they did - they knew they had let Jesus down but their reactions are what truly matter. Judas fell into despair and took his own life while Peter upon seeing Jesus after His resurrection, falls on his knees and says to Jesus, \"Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man\". Jesus turns no one away who humbly approach Him. I think when women are faced with an unwanted/surprise pregnancy, they fall into despair. Alone (without seeking out God's help), it is overwhelming! In a world/society, where God is not the center of our lives (where we love Him with all of our hearts, souls and minds), we will steer TBC", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As an agnostic, the LDS theology seems to me to be very similar to other 'Christian' faiths. \n\nTheir community involvement, community service, volunteerism, caring for others, self-reliance, non-paid clergy, and promotion of social skills, seem far superior to virtually all their competitors that I have been involved with. \n\nI wonder, now that same sex marriage has been ruled legal, whether today's Supreme Court should re-visit the legality of polygamy (polygyny)? Or polyandry? \n\nThe 1878 Reynolds decision was clearly based on law ignored today.\n\nWorldwide, \"According to the Ethnographic Atlas, of 1,231 societies noted, 588 had frequent polygyny, 453 had occasional polygyny, 186 were monogamous and 4 had polyandry.\"\n\nWhy should we care how many wives or husbands are linked up or in what combination or proportion? \n\nOne or two spouses go to work; one or more spouses stay home to watch the kids; another spouse is advancing his/her education; who does what to whom is irrelevant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure I agree with your claim that Hawaii is over 70% conservative, unless of course you can define what you mean by conservative. If you take religion out of the picture, I might say yes. Certainly people here are hard working, believe in law and order, respect family and rights of others, believe in fiscal responsibility, and, most importantly for this discussion, strongly believe in respecting traditions, the old ways that have always worked, while welcoming, cautiously, new ideas. But in no way do they fit the model of some mainland christian conservatives who would force their religious beliefs on all others through political force.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are well aware of the Ukrainian Catholics, especially through the Church in Need Organization.\n\nOur daughter have a beautiful art book of icons, from the Chicago Art Museum, when they had the Art of Holy Russia exhibit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are a number of important points in this article, but the one that really jumped out at me is the influence of one man, Carl Anderson, in contrast to the entire Catholic developing world. Carl may speak for the US culture warriors, but who speaks for the African poor whose lives are actually impacted by the decisions made by US catholic culture warriors? Money talks at the Vatican, and conservative money very loudly.\n\nThe second point that I found important is the influence/control the KofC has over the dissemination of Catholic media and view point. I am not surprised that they have a joint venture with OD. No matter what John Allen thinks, whether it's overt or just subconscious, the editorial voice of Crux is very different than it was under the Boston Globe. Money talks, and conservative money talks very loudly and through many forms of media.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please advise where the RCC ever taught that the \"Gospels were written by Catholics\"? \n\nI think not only the Jewish authors but anyone who knows anything about the Church would be surprised.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We once had a Catholic POTUS who said: \"...ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.\" Similarly, the future of the church lies with those who give freely of their precious time and talent with pure intentions and no expectations of payback.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Muslim community widely denounced the 9/11 attacks. They widely condemn all Muslim violence, while 99.99% of Muslims are peaceful, as peaceful as Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My \"take\" is that Obama is a deeply compassionate man, has worked as a community organizer for catholic groups, has attended a local protestant church in Chicago (rev Wright) and it's my understanding that he does get some religious counsel privately at the White House...clearly he sees govt as a player in folks lives...health care being the most obvious example..but his faith based generosity to non profits is an issue....his support of safety net legislation...a major factor.\n\nI think Obama has a considerable respect for the diverse faiths of all citizens and wants to protect that .....\n\nI don't for a moment think that he is not deeply religious....but very low profile about it, perhaps because he sees it as a deeply personal issue....and as President he's not interested in emphasizing his individual religious commitments. I would guess post presidency, he may well connect up with a specific religious group. Or perhaps not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you have training, credentials, and data about me to make that diagnosis, Cassie-O1, or are you talking out of your pink hat?\n\nThe evidence is irrefutable: H R Clinton \"cackled\" over the rape-death of Quaddafi -- google it.\n\nThere is also sufficient documentary evidence to implicate HRC, at the deepest level, in removing Libyas's gold and sequestering it in USA; in hiring mercenaries to remove weapons from Libya, via Benghazi, for use by ISIS in Syria, to take down Assad's government.\n\nHRC's and the USA agenda to overthrow Assad, or to assist \"moderate rebels\" in the overthrow of Assad, are illegitimate acts. Catholics supposedly endorse Just War Theory. Nothing about HRC's actions re Libya and Syria comported w/ Just War Theory. She is as guilty of what Nuremberg call \"starting a war of aggression\" as were those who were hung for that offense.\n\nThere was a time Catholics preferred to be depicted in defense of moral principles, rather than in pink hat reminders of obscenities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is and he apologized for saying it. I never meant to say 'you' were not Christian, only that one statement was", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus said nothing about contraception, therefore, who are you to say it is immoral?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No issues paying for private Christian schooling or home schooling....but my point is that PARENTS should be able to choose where and how their hard earned tax dollars are spent.\n\nWith regard to homeschooling, we were required to register our son with the public schools (so they could receive the government funding from his account to go toward their public system) but while the state recieved funding for our son, we had to pay out of pocket for his education. So ultimately, we paid TWICE for the education of our son while most pay for only once...if at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@the last days of trump I'm sure I can find many things you are paranoid about.\n\n1)A responsible gun owner who has an ar15 with a 50 round drum magazine\n2)Russia\n3)Capitalism\n4)Trump supposedly being a fascist..though it's the left who wants government control\n5)Christians\n6)Anti abortionists\n7)Someone else having more money than you. Which you see as unfair, much like a child, and think you are entitled to their money\n8)Fox news. Or fauxnews\n9)\"hate speech\" (notice the quotes)\n10) freedom\n11) white cis gendered males\n\nI could go on all day", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Parents demand and expect a division between state and religion.\n\nConservative governments always expect to move their pro Christian agenda forward at taxpayers expense.\n\nChristy Clark spent a decade and $25,000,000 fighting the education system with her Conservative government, only to lose in the end. Do Saskatchewan taxpayers really want to spend millions having Wall fight the courts to further his personal ideology?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If they could become Christians, then there would be a possibility that they could turn their lives around, and raise themselves up out of the gutter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects all Canadians, every one of us, even when it is uncomfortable\"\n\nGood grief. Nice to see such sudden concern over our constitutional rights from Trudeau, albeit under incredibly controversial circumstances. Why didn't he allow mention of other religions in M-103 if he's so broadly concerned about our rights? Trudeau should have left it to the courts and if needed, pulled the notwithstanding clause on this matter - but then Islam is proving to be a favorite religion for our leader, isn't it.\n\nGovernments in this country on all levels also either permit rights abuse or regularly abuse rights and freedoms on a regular basis. There's a few Christian schools out there right now - a K-12 school in Alberta and a law school in BC - who should be getting $10.5m payouts from several provincial law societies and the Battle River School Division school board, on the abject abuse of their constitutional rights.\n\nSo, when can we expect Trudeau's help here?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bishop of Venice FL says his fellow bishops OPPOSED the ACA because of abortion and conscience issues; they supported the goal of providing health care for poor and immigrants.. I never once read or heard where the bishops supported the ACA. It was all about abortion. Now the horse is out of the barn and the republicans will finally repeal it (with Catholic? speaker, Ryan and a host of ohter Catholic congressmen). That being the case isn't it about time the bishops began a campaign to urge we Catholics to oppose the repeal also. I doubt it, their silence of saying nothing of the rhetoric used by Trump and his morals and attacks on his opponents is deafening. I am in my 8th decade on God's good earth and have heard many times our Catholic hierarchy are 500 years behind the times. In the case of the American bishops, it's more like they are still in the dark ages.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 2 of 2\n\nThe issue that the Church and the Pope face today is the challenge by people both in the Church and outside of the Church as to what constitutes sin. In today's leftist Western thought, Matthew would have been debating with Jesus as to why taking more money than owed was sinful when he felt that he needed the money and his conscious was not bothered by it. That is, there is no law; all law is up for debate.\n\nPope Francis' job is to define the law - \"I tell you the truth, whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.\" (Matthew 18:18, NLT) Francis needs to stop being so wishy-washy; he's supposed to be a leader of the Church, not a moderator who tosses an issue out there for debate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can do away with the Vatican if you wish, hire a priest and appoint your own bishop. Meanwhile the Catholic Church will continue to function without you, your priest and your bishop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that many people here in the US don't really care about a particular candidate's religion. It seems to me that the press talks about this topic more than most people do. The fact that white Evangelicals would cause the election of someone like Trump points to the fact that affiliation is not really that important.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very well put. This is why it's extremely important to make basic biblical scholarship a part of normal, universal Catholic education. Matthew's portrait of Jesus is structured on Matthew's own story-telling genius, sometimes working with Jesus-traditional material, sometimes requiring some creativity, what by rights should be called \"fiction,\" though \"fiction\" is a word from which pious people in their folly and fear tend to shrink. The Sermon on the Mount is a fiction, constructed from traditional materials as it may be.\n\nOn another matter: Thanks for putting ancient marriage issues in context! Fr. Reese is brilliant to show how the pious can give no reason for wanting to be strict about a few verses, while remaining loose about many others. Funny, how the pattern is based on the relative ease of majority practice: cf. also the ease of being a bible-based homophobe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Columbus was on a gold finding mission and he made sure to get funding and approval from the Spanish King and Queen before embarking.\n\n\"Finding\" gold requires labour and Columbus soon enslaved, beat, destroyed families and simply, forced conversion to Christianity and stole the goods from the Indians he \"found\" on his gold fishing lands. All with the approval of the Catholic Pope.\n\nThere is in history, little to recommend Columbus.\nExcept as lies told by those who benefited from Columbus and the ongoing myth of his greatness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jay , I am surprised to learn you are aged 16 to 30 . It sounds as if Miss Jean Brody was your teacher ... she who in Muriel Sparks ' novel was \"in the business of putting old heads on young shoulders \" . A job at which she was exceedingly inept and deprived her students of a true education . \nHow can you take so much offense at Vatican II ? So sad your harsh attitude toward your elders . \n\"God so loved the world \" . Jesus entered wholeheartedly into life as a human being .\nRead the promulgated documents of V II . The Spirit and the letter are one and the same ! \nI hope the questionnaire you get is much better than that we dealt with : we , your \" half-hearted elders \" . \nWhat we are is heartbroken . \nPS No apologetics !!! Evangelization .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Translation: He agrees with ME! Because, as we all know, Trid is the infallible voice for determining what is true Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You reference the rapture, a Protestant concept.\n\nCatholics no the end times as the chastisement, in which no one is spared. No magical \"poof,\" you're gone.\n\nFor what it's worth...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The amusing part was he refused because marriage is a sacrament...would he have the same policy toward divorced people wanting to marry there? How about a Catholic wanting to marry there without a priest? Wanna bet he would just take their money and wish them a happy (invalid) marriage?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I like the way that the Catholic Church talks about \"rights\".\n\nThis way is not well known or understood, or accepted because it's a bit more intellectual and personally demanding. In fact relatively few Catholics have ever heard rights framed this way.\n\nRights are given to us so that we may execute our duties given to us by our nature and state in life, and these various duties of course are in the end to serve to the good, that is to serve God.\n\nThey aren't given to us to pursue wants, desires, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin we are going in circles here. God I suppose does have His own will. However, to think that our great God shares our emotions is folly. What we understand as God's word is influenced by the opinions of so many in the past, not just Catholics but, Hindu's, Buddhists, Islamists, Zorastrians, Jews and etc. etc. etc.. We all have our own ideas of what God may or may not will. None of us has any lock on infallible Truth. Yes we attempt to find more truth and it is like grabbing a fist full of sand just to have it all leak out again. The Holy Spirit will enlightens but not you me or anyone can know precisely The Mind of Christ, Buddha or for that matter each other. Yes we all can strive to have more peace love and truth. Truth however can not be found by mere opinion. More truth through the ages is a struggle for those who find the joy of using an Epistemological method in which we are able to see and change some things we once thought true but now see can not at all be true.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I happened to watch TV late at night and ended up watching a Christian talk show as I could get no other stations. I saw people talking with tears in their eyes as they described how Jesus had changed their lives for so much better. They said to say the sinner's prayer; to confess my sins and ask Jesus to forgive me and come into my hear and be my Lord and Savior. I did it and found the love of Jesus! You can too. You can find a friend in Jesus. He loves you. You can experience his love and reality and eternal life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reforms are working in the United Church of Christ! That's where I had to go so I could follow the Catholicism of Vatican II and Pope Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everything you posted supports what I wrote. Principles are universal and Christian principles formed the basis of our country. All you did was give the usual Pete spin. I give you credit for being a wordsmith, but not for being accurate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolute nonsense! Jesus was advocating keeping your prayers between yourself and God and not trying to show off how pious you were. With God it's all about intent and not show. In other words, don't act like you're a man of God and then make laws which are not. Also as a Christian I have no problem with the 'prayer' given by the secularist. It made sense to ask that our leaders make solid decisions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently you don't seem to understand how much the example of professors/directors of programs at universities can go in educating and forming the understanding of the young. It is amazing that you forgot the \"leadership\" of university professors like St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Albert the Great or St. Bonaventure, and their influence on succeeding generations.\n\n\nThe directors and professors are following the example of Jesus---who didn't just TEACH but DEMONSTRATED by EXAMPLE how and what God expects of us. \n\nSecondly, more young people enrolled in colleges/universities have access to their professors than they often do to their bishops or even pastors. How many and how often do bishops/priests go out among students, meet with them---even eat with them. \n\nFinally, you seem to believe that only the hierarchy/clergy are leaders---and not the laity. This is the Age of the Laity---and the laity are leaders giving 21st Century Christian example to future leaders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pence is just as enmeshed in the Russia collusion as Donald and he's a rabid Christian fundamentalist to boot...so you're right, no Democrat will accept him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Appreciate the info , Trid . The ranking of dioceses is a hierarchical thing . Importance and significance are rankings . Jesus was not into such . And they serve no purpose beneficial to the Kingdom of heaven .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Would the faithful hear the Catholic Theological Society of America with the same vigor and enthusiasm. Liturgy of the Word, Reading 357, Friday of the Ninth Week of Easter I.\"\nDo we await with expectation for Godlike Enlightenment from the Catholic Theological Society of America? Remains to be seen.\nShould we be encouraged by its past record? Not that i can see if the status of our RC Church at the present time is a credible measure.\nDoes the Catholic Theological Society value true scientific information with respect to 'the evolution of symbiosis' as critical (even relevant) to authentic ecological/ theological linking/ thinking? Remains to be seen. In the meantime grassroots people need to challenge habituated church disregard for the role of science in informing authentic earth/human relationships/theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The most misused word in Catholic history is REFORM.\n\nWe must be very, very careful about using--over-using- the word \"reform.\" One can change things, even change a few things dramatically. But as historians tell us, only the future can tell us if it was \"an age of reform\"--especially in the areas of entrenched legalism, sexism, clericalism, and views on human sexuality. \n\nChanges and adjustments in liturgies, canons, finances, demographics, organizational structures, titles, personnel, leadership style and other things often are called \"reforms\"--but they're only called that in contemporary headlines and MSW blogs, not in history.\n\nChange is not synonymous with reform. In fact, change can mask reform or even inhibit it. Often the change is merely painting over rust in visible, dramatic, and much-publicized colors that fade. \n\nShaking up things can appear significant, but whether that produces or slows down authentic RE-form...only time will tell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Recall that Judas was chosen by Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Could you clarify your point?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've said this before and I'll keep saying it: Jesus' condemnation of divorce was based on the very real and very precarious situation in which women living in first century Palestine found themselves after their husbands tossed them out in favor of a younger model (much like the new Groper-in-Chief has done.) Unlike the Groper's exes, however, most first century women had no alimony to depend upon, which meant they usually had to resort to begging or prostitution in order to survive. Jesus understood this. I personally believe that Jesus would likewise understand that under today's law, releasing women (or men, for that matter) from an abusive marriage when they have something to fall back on is the right thing to do. You're engaging in fundamentalist thinking, and I agree with Maureen Fiebich that this is a situation in which the spirit rather than the letter of the law is what deserves respect. But since you seem comfortable damning divorce, tell us how you feel about Trump's two.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Michael, what you say here may be true (not very nuanced, but true), but I would be cautious about the meaning of this for 2020. At the moment, many election models predict a Trump victory over any currently known candidate for the next presidential election. The idea that the electorate can or will coalesce around someone who can beat Trump was tested in 2015-16, and failed repeatedly. The will of the majority right now seems to be swayed by pop culture, not by Catholic social teaching and values.\nIf the course of history is going to change, we need to do more than point out the failures of our elected officials. We need to identify and support candidates who can win. At the moment, I don't see anyone on the horizon, and the models are reflecting that. (Remember that models are not polls.) A lot can happen between now and then, but the idea that a decent, intelligent, experienced politician will emerge and win the day -- may be more a dream than an aspiration.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with your statement completely. Whether one believes or not is moot, because EVERYONE dies we will all learn the truth of it. Let's assume the Christian viewpoint is correct, just for arguments sake. You have a good man who is an atheist, but gives to his community and is extremely charitable, humble, honest and honorable in every way. In the same town you have a 'Holy' man, who preaches love, charity, kindness and believes wholly in Jesus as his savior, but this man is corrupt, bigoted, commits sins, and does not truly love his neighbors, but uses them for money. Which of these two men will go to heaven?\nMatthew 9: 12-13 is often interpreted incorrectly. Jesus said he came for the 'spiritually sick' as he spoke to 'righteous' men of his day. Often this passage is used to say that 'good' people cannot go to heaven just for being good. I disagree. I think he wasn't pointing out the 'good' who lack faith, but the self-righteous, who are clean on the outside but foul inside.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While God was in charge in the first 2 chapters of Gn., everything was very good. There were \"growing pains\" as a nascent population discovered the phenomena of an evolving world, but those were part of creation, not punishment.\n\nWhen Adam and Eve became stewards in Gn. 3, humanity not only became aware of pain. Humans became agents of pain. Humanity began to use intellect and free will for domination not unification. This is not God's will. This was, and continues being, humanity's choice.\n\nJesus did not come to do away with pain. He came to show us how to pray, \"Our Father, thy will be done,\" and to remind us how this is accomplished, \"Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.\" (Mt. 5-7)\n\n\"Growing pains\" are natural, and our human family has the competence and capacity to deal with them. Pain caused by humans is humanity's dilemma. Abel and Jesus experienced and survived \"growing pains.\" It was human agents that caused their fatal pain.\n\nThe choice is still ours.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Deeeuh. Confusing the evidence for the historical Jesus and evidence that he was something \"more\" ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lastly, and I hope I am not boring you now. \n\nDeborah was called by God to be a Judge over all of Israel in her time. She was a prophetess first which shows how God reaches out to men & women that he has already graced with an ear to hear his voice to also lead his people. \n\nShe was married but was still picked as judge instead of her husband. This position was a little akin to both Pope-President. It was believed that God directly picked these Judges & it was a spiritual position as God would direct the Judge what to do & how to lead while also have the judge tell the priests what to pray for at the moment, especially in matters of war. \n\nWe see here that God is not sexist, & when he chooses, he often picks women to lead. Unlike the men who instead begged God for a King so they would have a male heir to a throne like all the other nations. \n\nWe also see that a woman of Israelite blood could represent her nation as this is what judges did but not lineage like men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are advisors to the pope.\n\nAsking questions does not equate with disagreement or disloyalty. The Pope's job is to confirm the brethren in the faith and there is nothing malicious in wanting the pope to clear things up one way or the other. If there's nothing wrong with AL, the pope should be able to answer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Augustine used Neoplatonism; Thomas Aquinas used Aristotelianism.\n\nThe above explains much as to why sexism exists in our church today & how the real start of rejecting women from priestly & same ordination as men, actually came from the time of these men & not from earlier times but was a change from having male and female presbyters/priests and a leaving of following what the Gospels actually taught which is all believers should be treated the same.. \n\nThese saints, though I love them, and they are wise in many ways, were inflicted with the weakness of misogyny and the belief that women are lesser people and deserving of lesser treatment in our church. They had no evidence in the Gospels to back their discrimination against women in church holy orders and leadership, so because they wanted an all male hierarchy & valued various philosophers of Roman and Greek History, they chose to put some of these pagan ideals above the ideals and commands of the Gospels & wrongly rejected women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In the last month, the U.S. church saw this soul struggle played out when Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, issued a diocesan policy that people in same-sex marriages cannot take Communion, get baptized, or even have a Catholic funeral, and that violations of the policy would be punished according to canon law. \"\n\nThe above is terrible but why then does this group of priests not notice that women called to priesthood are treated exactly the same way once they get ordained by RCWP? \n\nI don't respect this AUSCP group as they have been pushing gender segregation thru letters asking the pope to ordain married men only and only consider ordaining women to permanent deaconate. Women should be given justice and their human dignity and value realized before married men get to pick two vocations. \n\nI have brought this up to them and Future Church and Voice of the Faithful in the past and asked them why do they only care about men or boys - don't they know all abuse is evil?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To spell that last point out: Jesus never advocated that his followers use violence to defend themselves. The ethics of the Sermon on the Mount are quite pacifist, esp. Matthew 5.39, \"If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn [to him] the other one too,\" as well as some of the Beatitudes.\n\nOf course Jesus never thought that his followers would have to worry about living life in this world for very long, since the Son of Man was going to come soon. But he was wrong about that; and esp. since the time of Constantine, Christians have to worry about running governments. In that case, it is a noble and saintly course of action to follow, to be a pacifist; on the other hand, when the safety of innocent people is our responsibility, pacifism begins to look sinful.\n\nTo be sure, the militarism of US policy and culture is far beyond what straightforward defense calls for, and looks plenty sinful. And Berrigan, Dorothy Day, and Thomas Merton were right to protest as they did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Was Jesus at the Last Supper facing east? Did he have his back to the congregation?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some teachers and/or principals in non Catholic public schools have hit, strapped, caned, mistreated and/or sexually abused students. \n\nWill Trudeau ask governments or the school boards to apologize for the actions of some teachers and principals?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But liberals tend to think that any exercise of authority that they do not like is by definition an abuse. Liberals only like authority when the person in authority makes decisions they like and agree with. \n\nThe basis of the \"authority\" (if that is what you want to call it) in the Church is not knowledge, elitist academic credentials, or even ability, but calling. The bishops authority comes through their ordination, not their academic credentials. This goes for priests and deacons as well. The Church does not work like the world works.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can understand the difficulty you might have in replying intelligently to my suggestion that Trump is taking his supporters for a ride and has no intention of shaking up the status quo. \nYou are incorrect though to state that I \"hate white Christian conservative males with a passion.\" I don't hate these people but understand that their religious superstitions frequently cloud their ability to think rationally. \nI am confused about why you think I would be miserable. I spent the last 24 hours in the wilderness and summited a 10,000+ foot peak with my white, male somewhat conservative friend. You, on the other hand, can't spell and are under the impression that English nouns are capitalized for no apparent reason. Maybe you have a subconscious wish the Nazis had won WWII and we were all speaking German here in the United States? But just in case you would like to improve your mastery of the English language, here's a website.\nhttps://www.superteacherworksheets.com/grammar.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Boreal Books wrote: \"There is never any mention of where much of this misogyny originates and the religion of the perpetrator; better to paint all men and all faiths with the same brush.\"\n\nML's mother was ex-nun and he was baptized Roman Catholic. I realize the Roman Catholic Church is misogynistic but I don't think we can blame the perpetrator's action on his mother's religion. \n\nHis father was a non-practicing Moslem and abandoned the family when ML was two. \n\nML himself was an atheist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These are some of the 40 or so topics that don't even mention Opus Dei on their own site.\n\nThe Existence of God: Can we know that God exists by reason alone? What are some of the main pathways for reaching God's existence. Can conscience and human freedom be paths to a personal God who loves us? These are some of the questions discussed in this summary of Catholic teaching.\n\nRevelation: God wished to manifest himself as a personal Being through the history of salvation. He raised up and guided a people to be the custodian of his revealed word. Through that people he prepared the world for the Incarnation of his Word, Jesus Christ.\n\nElevation to the Supernatural Order and Original Sin: In creating the first man and woman, God constituted them in a state of holiness and justice. He also granted them the possibility of sharing in his divine life through the proper use of their freedom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope declared in one of his earlier speeches that \" the Fundamentalism in all religions should be done away with because it is evil.\" Fundamentalism describes \"The Political form of Religions. They seek earthly power just as Emperor Constantine did by using Roman Catholicism to gain power and control over his difficult to govern growing, unwieldy Empire. Pro-lifism is political Christianity that seeks to control families, the US population, by controlling women's reproductive lives. The Pope realizes this and is against it. That is when he received Death threats. So he had to slow down and act cautiously. Look up Archbishop John Shelby Spong and find out what the Bible really means in the 21st Century. Also go back and re-read Pope Francis' earlier speech on the evils of Fundantalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2/2\nInstead we hear Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski (Ukrainian Diocese of New Westminster, British Columbia) discuss his experience of the married priesthood in the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada. Food for thought as Roman Catholics contemplate their own married priesthood, which, say I, just may come sooner than later.\n\nBy way of background, a married priesthood is the uninterrupted tradition of this Church in its homeland, mostly in western Ukraine. When married priests followed Ukrainian immigrants to North America, Roman bishops were scandalized--imagine Father X introducing himself to Roman Bishop Y shortly after arriving, and adding, \"Excellency, I would like you to meet my wife.\" It wasn't long before Roman bishops ganged up and pressured Rome to forbid North American born Ukrainian priests from being married, a prohibition that has only been lifted recently.\n\nIn the intervening years, some bishops sent some married men for ordination to Europe, returning home to serve in NA.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So how many Catholics must be in a diocese for its bishops' statements to matter? Does Kazakhstan not cross the threshold but Malta does?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is truth? \n\nChrist. My obedience belongs to Him, and thus belongs to His church through apostolic succession.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You just proved Rogue Catholic's point: nothing specific just name-calling.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I read this book and identified with Maura as a Queens Irish Catholic but could only marvel at Maura as a missionary in Nicaragua and El Salvador. What courage she and the other missionaries exhibited in their living out the Church's preferential option for the poor. It really highlighted for me that we have hidden saints among us who do the hard work for us of building the kingdom here on earth. Maura elevates the word sacrifice from giving up something during Lent to giving up one's life for one's friends. It continues to disturb my conscience. Deo gratias.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a bishop, JP II was given opportunities to leave the country many times, when people couldn't leave unless they brought back important information for the Party. \n\nJP II's experiences came from a church and nation cut off from Europe for most of the 20th Century. His Church was the Baroque Polish Catholicism from the 1920's. Baroque Catholicism is noted by focus on individualistic spirituality, by seeing the church as an extrinsic power suspended the divine and the human, and the Baroque church was \"theater oriented\" [which suited JP II just fine]---pilgrimages, emotionalism, visions, processions, benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. The 'church' according to the Baroque period was the enclosed mystic, the distant missionary, the pope, and saints from the past.\n\nJP II thought his experience of church was that of the entire church. But he missed it. Liberation theology is not Marxism. In Poland, the documents of Vatican II weren't even published until the 1980's", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since when is what Catholicism stands for a matter determined by U.S. elections?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of five) Even while attending what was then called \"CCD,\" for 9 or 10 years, my 2 sons NEVER were treated as true, important parish members. And so, they did not become parish members - no wonder!!\u2014Fran Pierce\n\nI wonder whether they ever attended a community college. The RCC is lax in its campus ministry. The RCC is even more lax in its treatment of higher education at the community colleges where most college students are found.\n\n___\n\nIn the 60s, young people largely abandoned these attitudes and Catholics were considered the same as everyone else. Catholics thus became more willing to evaluate the Church on its own merits, which, institutionally, were not very strong.\u2014RitaNY\n\nFearing and running away from the social sciences is like an antipode to magnets.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for telling me what I fail to grasp and what I have no idea of.\n\nYour sources - publish or perish academics - have zero authority in the Church.\n\nThey come from the same school that invented \u201cQ\u201d, the vision hypothesis, the Christ myth theory, and the rest of this bunkum that leads the gullible directly out of the Church and into the wilderness.\n\nRobert Funk, Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan, Stephen L. Harris, Robert M. Price, Burton Mack, Bruno Bauer, Robert M. Price - the list goes on, keeps growing, and they are limited only by their fevered imaginations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/8\n\nThere are competing narratives as to the events and their meaning:\n\nhttp://www.onepeterfive.com/malta-besieged-an-ancient-and-sovereign-order-toppled/\n\nhttp://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/6662/0/cardinal-burke-in-office-but-out-of-power-as-job-handed-to-papal-delegate-\n\nhttps://cruxnow.com/analysis/2017/01/29/popes-takeover-knights-malta-brings-chance-needed-reform/\n\nMarkWilliam and Mike AA appear to favor the coverage provided in the UK\u2019s Tablet, which considers itself \u201cprogressive Catholic\u201d. That fits their worldview and narrative. The current narrative, after the previous narrative decrying papal interventions was discarded with the resignation of Benedict XVI, is that papal intervention is a positive force for change. The King is dead, long live the King.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Given your critique of Franciscan University, I can only assume you've never been there. Living the \"high adventure\" of Orthodoxy (as JP II) put it is breathtaking when 2000 young people are engaged in it together. The campus is vibrant, filled with activities and ministries. It is delightfully, creatively, and unapologetically Catholic. I am blessed to be married to an alumni, my oldest son is an alumni, two more children attend current, and I hope to be able to send the rest of our eleven children there in the future (or to another college in the Newman guide). \nAnd as for your disparaging remarks regarding their European campus in Gaming, did you ever stop to consider that maybe they use that particular location simply because someone gave it to them? No, you didn't...because that would require some research on your part, which is what reporters used to do back in the day. Something to consider in your future writing endeavors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From what I remember, Obama has called himself a Christian but he never affiliated himself with any particular denomination or church. Rarely, did he attend church, just like Reagan. Secretary Clinton proudly called herself a Methodist and attended either a Baptist or Methodist church with her husband and did so regularly. Trump attends services every week, and has proudly called himself a Presbyterian. He has often referred to himself as such.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have crossed the Rubicon. It is utterly impossible for a non Catholic to be a saint because there are no non Catholics in Heaven. How can a non Catholic show the primary heroic virtue of faith? I also love your linguistic gymnastics here. What I suspect you REALLY mean by \"rules\", in the broader context, is Divinely revealed truth/dogma. To that end, insofar as these \"rules\" reflect God's will, the Church is duty bound to follow them. And why are you citing schismatic publications regarding the form of the bread? Who cares what they practice or think; the extent of our formal contact with these poor souls is to convert them, not to replicate their errors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I could not get back to you sooner Tom. However, you are completely contradictory. If any woman could, in your opinion, make a great priest then you are speaking against the Mother Church's teachings and are, in your own description teaching heterodoxy. I am against abortion. However as you have said, politics and religion should not be treated as the same & since illegalizing abortion leads to more abortions happening, as a Catholics and a Christian, I am against this form of punishment regarding this form of immorality. I have no problem with my conscience on this as the facts globally agree with my statement and Catholicism's teachings against abortion are claimed to exist by our hierarchy for the purpose of stopping abortion not increasing it in the world. So if people who make reasonable decisions based on facts instead of only on the church's flawed, even for its own claimed pretenses, rules then all you really want is a yes priest or a robot rules follower with no brains.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see the four cardinals more concerned with keeping the rules. One thing I have noticed about conservative Catholics is that they seem to place keeping the rules above all else. To these people, it is clearly that it is the letter of the law that gives eternal life, and man is made for the Sabbath. Just yesterday, Tridentinus was condemning that Knight of Malta official to hell because he was involved in handing out condoms to prevent AIDS. To him, the rule saying \"condoms are a no-no\" is more important than saving lives. That, to me, reeks of the \"culture of death\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Contd ...\nIn the time of Christ slavery was woven into the fabric of everyday \u2018civilised\u2019 living. Christ accepted the structure of society in His day and there is no evidence that He particularly opposed it. The only thing we can be certain of is that Our Lord did not differentiate between slaves and freemen insofar as they were children of God and as St Paul tells us that though they existed in the social order they did not exist in the eyes of God. It is also evident from Scripture that Christian Slave-owners were expected to treat their slaves as \u2018brothers\u2019 rather than chattels.\nThe modern Church\u2019s declarations against slavery applies to \u2018trafficking\u2019 in human beings, the \u2018Slave Trade\u2019 as happened in recent and modern times.\nBeing a slave did not preclude one from accepting the gift of salvation, thus we venerate today many Christian Saints who were themselves, slaves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Conversations occasioned by Bergoglio's 4th anniversary as Pope Francis are inevitably dominated by assessments and critiques of his efforts and accomplishments. But, alas, human nature will ensure that some people who pride themselves in their intelligence will throw in a wiseacre or cynical remark. To point out there has been no pope like this one in even distant memory need not be described as cult like. Happy anniversary, Pope Francis. May he live a hundred years!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the farther the Church went from Jesus and the female witnesses to the resurrection, the closer it got to Roman culture and tradition until they became the same thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi, Petrus - Here's the problem I see with the anecdotal approach to preaching: everyone gets to give their own slant on the Gospel, and in most of the versions they come up with, Jesus is a reflection of their own views. Some guys tell stories about Pat and Mike. Others reduce the Gospel to their favorite issue, with bold claims about how Jesus was primarily concerned with abortion, same-sex marriage, or was really a king. Most folks cop on to the scam before long and lower their expectations for the homily, so they go home and forget about what was said -- probably because what was said didn't make any sense.\nUnless we insist on preachers knowing and preaching the truth about Jesus, we have no way to confront those who reduce it to their favorite caricature. Maybe anecdotal preaching was necessary in the past, when many Catholics couldn't follow a critical argument. Today I suspect there are more people in the pews who understand scripture than there are in the pulpit. - Monica.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True Kevin. I would hope Francis is sending the message loud and clear that the insecure less than one percenters are not going to hi jack the mission and the message any longer. EPBenedict wasted who knows how much time and energy on SSPX only to have them repeatedly pull the football. It doesn't look to me like Francis is going to play that game with the uber Catholics ostensibly within the fold.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 of 2\n\nthrough The Image of Broken Man, if this were to happen the Truth would be embraced creating a catalyst for change, the Church would then emerge to form its true base, that is one of humility, new inclusive structures would be formed as the Truth demands equality amongst all of her lovers.\nSo in the light of this\n\u201cIs an act of humility too much to ask?\u201d\nPlease consider reading my post in the link\nhttps://international.la-croix.com/news/at-the-heart-of-the-resistance-to-pope-francis-on-ethics/5436\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also maybe 6) Those of us who would love to see the institution recede in favor of a simple community of followers of Jesus, where \"religion\" is diminished as Gospel-based loving service to one another and the world becomes the norm...(similar to your own intentional community?)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems to me the renovation is more towards traditional tastes in decorating and away from wood paneling and all weather carpet.\nThe same is happening in businesses and hotel lobbies and pretty much everywhere. I doubt they know much about clericalism any more than the people on HGTV.\nCommunion rails are probably nostalgia as well.\n\nI suspect most younger Catholics wouldn't have a clue what to do at a communion rail anyway.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just so long as you admit that the reason for starting a government meeting with a prayer, is to force your fundamentalist Christian beliefs on everyone else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I mean the laity in the pews. Nobody asked for or wanted the nave and sanctuary to be re-oriented or for the Our Lady of Pizza Hut style to be adopted widely. When people realized they could push back against Vosko types and that they were lied to about what Vatican II really called for, they did. And in the age of the Internet it's widely known that church-in-the-round arrangements forced on the laity are indeed based on a bogus and discredited liturgical theology.\n\nBut let's look at it another way. Silicon Valley has a strikingly beautiful cathedral but one on which the round style was forced when it was elevated from parish church to cathedral. Not only does it feel like a temple of another religion; Mass attendance there is low and it is not the center of Catholic life or evangelization in the area. The real active center (despite its many quirks) is Our Lady of Peace, whose building could be said to be a Protestant prayer barn but with a sanctuary rail and altar.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think I have ever read a more insightful essay on what religion really means. I am not Catholic nor do my experiences mirror Kelly's, but this article touched a deep chord of longing and memory. Well done.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: small communities. IMHO intentional eucharistic communities by whatever name are one way to go. The limited exposure I have had with IECs has left me with a very favorable impression. The anonymity of large parishes and circuit riding priests, of which I am one, does not seem to \"be working\" all that well. It is almost impossible for a pastor to know so many folks. \n\nWhen Jesus said \"wherever 2 or more are gathered in my name I am with them\", he said nothing about permission, faculties, gender, sexual orientation, location, etc. Not sure we really absolutely need so many of the huge parish plants.\n\nAlthough, in some places the family education approach has led to some fairly strange situations. I do not know how to address these, and I'm glad it is not in my lane.\n\nI believe the Spirit is involved in all this through the actual questioning, maybe not in the same old answers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If a facility teaches about Jesus , God or other religious or cult themed subjects it is a church, not a school and cannot receive public money. Plain and simple.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article is bittersweet1 Pope Francis recognizes the corruption, but apparently it is so entrenched that what he can do about it is limited. The upshot is beware of clerics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What sort of definition of love would that be? \"liking\" and \"miss you\" \n\nDo good parents like changing dirty diapers at 3:30 in the morning? Is that why they do it? Because they like changing diapers?\n\nSince when is \"liking\" something a solid moral criterion for doing them?\n\nWe should do things because of the love of God. \n\nI think these motives you raise are the stuff from the 60s. \n\nAnd secondly is 'being missed\" a reason for staying or going?\n\nLetting that influence one's actions is the vice of vanity.\n\nI stay because there are people here who I love greatly and want the greatest good for them. I'm happy when they spit in my face and act like 6 year olds (\"no one will miss you if you left\"); I unify my efforts with Jesus Christ on the Cross. \n\nIt wouldn't be love to leave, it'd be vanity or the search for ease/consolations.\n\nThose are low motives, not fitting of a child of God. \n\nI stay for others, to perhaps convince them to let go of 50 year old resentments that they nurse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is one of the silliest things Mike has ever written: \"Today is Labor Day. Issues related to labor are frequently addressed here at Distinctly Catholic because, as I have noted before, I cannot think of a single thing that would improve the quality of American democracy \u2014 and society \u2014 than to have a stronger labor movement.\"\n\nMany of his articles have this sort of superlative beginning. Too much crescendo. \n\nThe single biggest thing we could do to improve \"democracy\" (via work in America) is to instill in us a spirit of generous service and cheerful self-gift, vs. the creeping entitlement that has overtaken America's workforce.\n\nYou owe me, I won't do work beneath me, what perks do I get, what's in it for me, how much time do I get for vacation, when is my next raise, I'm bored.\n\nCatholics could really change the tenor of labor by living our lay vocation far more heroically and humbly. \n\n\"How can I give even more of me...as an act of love for God, serving His children?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CDF Burke is one of five judges so if his is the casting vote it won't be just he who is giving Apuron 'a pass', as you call it or condemns him.\nProbably very few Catholics even in the U.S.are aware of Cdl Burke and still less of the controversies which surroundw him. It is doubtful that the world is watching. To active progressives he is a stumbling block because he stands in the way of them achieving their desire for doctrinal change.\nI'm sure Cdl Burke is wise enough and has the integrity to act according to his conscience to make sure this bishop has a fair hearing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I sure understand feelings of being overwhelmed and exhausted by all the issues we are supposed to make ourselves vulnerable to and respond to. What about the millions of children whose parents don't or won't parent - because of substance abuse, emotional disturbances - or whatever? I could give you a dozen pressing issues to \"care\" about. \n\nHow do we care, and what should we actively respond to? Didn't Jesus give us the answer in the parable of The Good Samaritan? Issue oriented moralists exhort us to engage on a macro level, seeking to turbo-charge the Holy Spirit through political action. \n\nI rejoice in the witness of those who personally touch and transform lives scarred by the sin of human trafficking. But that witness doesn't mean we should all rush to respond to the same issue. Real stories - not moral hectoring - should inspire us to faithfully respond and serve where God has planted us - not to seek moral thrills by emoting over the worthy cause d'jour.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Their protocols put a woman at greater risk. That is why that woman died in Ireland. There was the case in Phoenix where doctors believed a woman was going to die without an abortion, a woman with three or four other children at home. The doctors firmly believed there was no chance for the fetus to survive and that the longer the woman was pregnant the greater the danger to her own life. She had the abortion and the local bishop had a fit. \n\nWhere there is a choice of hospital, women (and the men who love them) really should not support the Catholic hospital. Hospitals compete. If the non-Catholic hospital goes out of business, women's health care will suffer. \n\nWomen in inner cities and women in rural areas are put at risk when the hospital near them doesn't provide the services they need. You must live comfortably in a suburb somewhere or have access to a car. There are many women, particularly poor women, who don't. Your \"so what\" is a callus disregard for their reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "--I wonder how many good little Catholic school boys and girls contributed to this: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/opinion/jewish-charlottesville-anti-semitism.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0--", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will say that Cardinal Muller interepts Amoris Laetitia in a very orthodox fashion. As a traditional Catholic, I am very comfortable with his understanding of it. http://www.onepeterfive.com/cardinal-muller-reminds-church-marriage-doctrine/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It refers to the practice of creating wedge issues, especially those with no real chance of any progress, to use to fire up the masses to vote, volunteer and contribute to the Republican Party and to peel members away from the Democrats. The whole right of concious thing was addressed in Dignitas Humanae, but not in a way you would likely approve of. I scratch my head at the hierarchs who thought fighting is was an acceptable idea and those of their fans who still can't get behind it. The gist of both the recent and Dignitas is saying, like Roe, that supporting rule by Catholic mob is no longer a requrement of the faith. Just the opposite because it violates the dignity of the individual. All the stuff Aquinas wrote about free will. Marry it to the enlightenment and you have Dignitas Jesus did not come to make us slaves to himself or to the leaders of the Church. It is time to add meaning to the washing of the feet, but year-round.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There was a lot of doubt as to whether John Boswell interpreted his discovery correctly, but I am prepared to think there was something positive in favor of same-sex unions going on, at least in some quarters for a few centuries. That the \"rite\" was suppressed in East and West should come as no surprise, really, but it should certainly not stand as precedent. What we should take from this, rather, is that there have always been Christians, intelligent and good-hearted, who think that the blessing of same-sex unions is a most desirable and godly action.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes he is.\nAnd he replaced very Catholic Flynn with very Catholic Gorka.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Asked about critics who accuse the pope of \u201cProtestantizing\" the Catholic church \u2014 an objection often raised by conservative Catholics in the U.S. \u2014 Francis said, \u201cI don\u2019t lose sleep over it.\"\nPope Francis is refreshingly trying to help his fellow Catholics to understand that Jesus was not all about rules and regulations like so many Catholic Church leaders seem to be. Jesus was all about discerning the spirit of the law. This is a very good article which shows that the Church needs to be a hospital nurturing the sick to get well, rather than a courtroom to judge and condemn those not following the rules. I believe the Catholic Catechism under Pope Benedict has increased the legalism of the Church and has set us back further than the pre-Vatican II days, since the man-made rules of the Catechism have been given much more importance than reading the Gospels for too many years, in my view, even among bishops.\nSincerely, Dr Rosemary Eileen McHugh, MD, MSpir", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I happen to be a Catholic. Your beliefs clearly are not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"For the Catholic supporters, I'm guessing that the allegiance to the set of entitlements embedded in the term \"American Way of Life,\" has eclipsed Catholic Social Teaching by a long shot.\"\n\nReally thought this comment was excellent!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can definitely say that from the few things I have seen of Archbishop Mark Coleridge he's a pretty honest man and he's just as disgusted as everyone is with the history of abuse on expose in the Australian Catholic Church. He made no excuses, apologized and recognized the failure of the institutional Church there. \n\nWe need more leaders like that when it comes to issues like this. Hopefully now decisive action can take place in crack down on these despicable acts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Consider your reaction if Pope Benedict had written the comment you attribute to Merton. Goodness, to suggest such elitism in reading Scripture. Imagine the gnashing of teeth! \n\nPerhaps his comments actually apply to himself and to Rohr.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether it's helpful or not is not the point. I know it to be both helpful and harmful. The point is people should not be forced into religious programs by gov't. What if you'd been forced \"kicking and screaming\" into a mosque to pray on your knees to Allah 5X/day because millions find that effective? AA's is a Christian context; see Dr.'s Silkworth and Tiebout making that clear in AA Comes of Age 304-324. Public safety should focus on crime prevention (more severe laws to deter DUI), not religious programming under the guise of rehabilitation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pretty much what they told my mother's Irish Catholic family when they came to Canada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora, this answer is not given with pique. More and more people are describing the liturgies, the machinations, the attitudes of the church as not conducive to their faith. I say this as a churchgoer. It's on us when spiritual people who feed the hungry aren't fed by the church. It's on us when a man who consistently promotes fear and hatred and demonization of the other is the pride of the churchgoing vote. I believe in the people of God, but I find them more and more outside the walls rather than inside. Instead of following the precepts of God, those inside the churches are led to reject..... and then Evangelize (!) in that New Way that will work this time. \n\nTo rephrase bluntly, many people find a reality in God and the worship of God elsewhere. That can't be right. It's on the churches to fix that, to be the universal church our name claims for us. The first step to repentance is admission of guilt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe that Jesus also disrupted the way things were done in the temple. His actions were no less appreciated. He also pointed out: \"If they keep quiet, these stones shall cry out. Luke 19:40", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On the mark, Monica! One fact most Catholics don't realize is that an ordained Catholic priest has no power given to him personally to say Mass. The priest have no transubstantiation power. In reality, the bishop is giving the newly ordained priest the power to administer the sacraments. There is a very good solution to the present mess we are in written by a retired bishop in South Africa . It is called \"The Lobinger Model.\" If you are curious, google it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK, I had to look that one up: Dicastery\nFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia\n\"By the word \"dicasteries\" are understood the Secretariat of State, Congregations, Tribunals, Councils and Offices, namely, the Apostolic Camera, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See and the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See.\"\n\nI had no idea that the church bureaucracy was this huge, go to that link and see for yourself. Jesus certainly got by with a lot less.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And we saw in an immense light that is God: \u201csomething similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it\u201d a Bishop dressed in White \u201cwe had the impression that it was the Holy Father\u201d. Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough\u00adhewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bravo! That's what these ambitious, \"edifying' young priests are building their careers and expectations on -- alternative facts! And they're trying to move them back into the mainstream, to cancel out the reforms of Vatican II and the reforms of Pope Francis! And they GOTTA have it all THEIR way! That's what the hullabaloo in North Carolina is all about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes ! ' It's a Good Thing ', is Martha Stewart byword Boiler Plate. Or do I sin by citing the primacy of feminine authority ! I keep doing these things. ROMP sent me on mission to research Paul's correspondence with the Athenians, ( a richly rewarding journey ! ), so that the idolatry of terpsichorean trespass could be fully exposed. In my zeal to uncover the true meaning of Paul's intent, I seriously considered the gleanings of an LDS exegete to inform my mind and soul and color my character in synchrony with our local Methodist community aflame with the spirit of HOLY YOGA, as posted brazenly on the church marquee. Please offer me an opportunity for conciliation ! Name my penalty, my penance ! I am so unworthy .... Paul, being a vigorously muscular persecutor of Christians in his former identity as Saul, would probably tear up the dance floor and break some serious moves as a guest celebrity on Dancing With the Stars. Poetry in Motion ! ( Johnny Tillotson 1960, Bobby Vee 1961 )", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am glad you are coming around to an understanding of the Bible as Fact. However, you continue to err in that you talk about us making our decisions. Decision making is left to the Men Chosen by God to Lead the Church. Jesus meant for the laity to serve the Bishops, the Bishops to lead. It's all there in the Bible. And Tradition. Or maybe Aquinas?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the newsread60 has it wrong. A recent example. \n\nNicole Sotelo, a regular contributor to our Young Voices column, wrote this opinion piece in early March, A church that young adult Catholics can believe in. It is, in fact, one of the articles cited by Bob Weber above and discusses, using social science data and personal experience why young people drop out of church attendance. https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/young-voices/church-young-adult-catholics-can-believe\n\nAbout two weeks later, Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, submitted and we published a reaction and counter opinion to Sotelo\u2019s piece: Let's be honest: It's a lack of faith. https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/lets-be-honest-its-lack-faith\n\nAs editor of NCR, part of my job is to encourage people like Bishop Tobin to write and challenge us. I welcome them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If these parents have faith, they should have comfort knowing Charlie will live on with Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cSecond, too often your manner seems to demean the importance of Church doctrine. Again and again you portray doctrine as dead and bookish, and far from the pastoral concerns of everyday life.\u201d\n\nNo, it is the armchair canon lawyers and others who obsess over law and doctrine who seem very far from the pastoral concerns of everyday life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Sister Anitra,\n\nSomeone replied \"You are not a nun.\" Since we have had imposters on this forum, I initially thought the guy, \"Veritas optissima est\" (Truth is best), might have been on to something, so I asked but got no reply. Then I googled SSJD, and read:\n\n\"The Sisterhood of St. John the Divine is a contemporary expression of the religious life for women within the Anglican Church of Canada. We were founded in Toronto on September 8th, 1884.\"\n\nBingo. This ungracious, ill-informed, uncivil gentleman rejects your monastic calling because you are not Catholic. Please accept my apology, which I am sure is shared by the substantive community of regulars on this forum.\n\nI think you are new here? Please don't be put off by this horrible insult. \n\nIt would now appear that others have responded to this indecency by having the offending post removed for incivility. Please accept that as a compliment, and a welcome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When did Pope Francis give these men the opportunity to discuss? They have spoken not a word against the Pope, only asking him to clarify an issue upon which the whole Catholic Church is divided.\nAsking the Pope to solve this division is hardly bad-mouthing, is it?\nThese individual cases you speak of are now to be decided at the whim of the local bishop or parish priest. So what do you say if a local bishop or parish priest says, \"under no circumstances whatsoever, can a divorced and remarried couple be permitted to receive the Sacraments whilst still living 'more uxorio'? There are going to be a lot of bishops and priests who will follow this line.\nFrom your comment I gather that you will support these bishops and priests because Francis has handed over to them jurisdiction on this issue.\nYou seem to have omitted Our Lord's parting words to the adulteress after 'doodling' in the sand, \"Go and sin no more.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are correct, Scott, it is indeed prohibited by law. However, it is almost never enforced. In fact, I am unaware if it ever has been used in this sort of case and certainly not against a Catholic cleric. I read an interesting and informative article about it years ago, detailing why it is so difficult to put into practice, but I do not recall it very well and certainly do not know how to find it again (I suppose a goggle search would help - but not at the top of my list right now). Thank you so much for your kind words and trust - I hope I can continue to earn them. Be well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Doesn't Francis know the whole point of a church is doctrine? It's all Jesus ever talked about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, yes, yes, I get it. It doesn't matter what examples I trot out, you're going to fire back rationales for why it's an exception, the rarity, explainable politically, not as bad as it looks, can be offset by something similar in Christendom ... you're never going to be a neutral arbiter of history. You WANT a certain outcome, and that outcome is for the Europeans to be the villains and for the other empires to not be subjected to the same kinds of standards or scrutiny.\n\nIn your head, there will always be a difference between the Christian's killing everyone in Jerusalem when they conquered it, and the Muslims slaughtering everyone and burning Carthage to the ground when they conquered it. Trying to kill the Aztecs to a man will be somehow different than trying to kill the Armenians to a man.\n\nYou don't even allow for variations within factions in the caliphates, let alone individual differences in caliphs. That's not at all honest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"..more responsibility for permanent deacons could move from Rome to local bishops' conferences.\"\n\nThis could be very valuable so that cultural differences are recognized. This would affect not just marriage of deacons but also the determination of the faculties given to deacons, especially in areas with a severe priest shortage. Way past time for this. Of course, it would probably send U.S. bishops into a tizzy - image that group taking responsibility for actually making a change!!\n\n\"..the prelates also discussed the process by which bishops are chosen in the Catholic church, discussing in particular a desire to find 'a more systematic way' to give lay people and members of religious orders a 'fuller consultation' when a bishop candidate is being considered.\"\n\nAmen to this one, too. I think the brouhahas that are now hitting the press (oh, the gift of scandal) over some bishop appointments is finally going to bring about having lay and religious voices given a role. Pray for it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your reply. \nI should say that I mentioned the Aramaic language because you appeared to highlight its importance as the language of Jesus when in fact the Nicene Creed was written in Greek in the 4th century. Thus, Aramaic does not have any relevance to our discourse.\nIn the end, what matters is what I wrote in response to someone else on this site, \"The liturgy does not belong to me, to you, to any priest-celebrant or to any individual Catholic.\"\nWe cannot change the words of our liturgy without causing harm to the unity inherent in the words themselves. \nIf we do so, we place our own authority above that of the Holy Spirit present in the Church and speaking to us through our sacred liturgy.\nThe Sacred Magisterium teaches us what the Spirit teaches the Church, and to ignore the guidance of the Spirit in any way, shape or form is an exercise in pride.\nWe are all called to be humble before God and that begins with praying in unity with the Body of Christ.\nI wish you well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Cardinal Coccapalmiero--I can now write a new exegetical story that might even help me to get tenure in the contemporary Catholic university--it's fresh, original, AND rejects received Church Tradition! \"JOHN 4:39 -- The Samaritan Woman Was Barren!\" Clearly, since Jesus told her that the guy she was living with was not her husband AND to stop doing it, under the Frankie-Cocco Theology of Accompaniment, He could only say that IF she did not have responsibility towards children--otherwise, the \"Merciful\" Lord would have sent her back to her \"non-\"husband. And since she was barren, she was probably using contraceptives, because she had determined in conscience she didn't even HAVE to mention that to the Teacher at the well, who also didn't raise it, which means Humanae Vitae is wrong! Yes, this should be a 10-pointer to get me tenure at any reputable Jesuit university.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We fast so we can use our body's natural reflexes to converse wth God. We struggle with Jesus, turning pangs of hunger and our burps into intimate prayer, a deeper accompaniment with Jesus. \n\nFasting is a marvelous and irreplaceable form of prayer; it's the prayer of the senses.\n\n\"One form of prayer rests another.\"\n\nWe fast for a bit of self mastery as well, letting our will and our intellect regain a bit more control over the body and the appetites in little and subtle ways.\n\nVery valuable, helping us grow a bit inside, so that later on when we're tires or bothered and when we need to love our family..by changing a diaper, or going out into the rain to pick up milk, our body or our \"self\" won't rebel and complain as much and we will be more able and prepared to do our duty immediately and cheerfully for our wife, making her life a wee bit more pleasant.\n\nSo fasting in the right way disposes us to many acts of charity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The average Catholic's task\" (in your words) for the next four years is the same as it's always been. It is to love God and to love our neighbour.\nThere is no need to find a list of imagined \"lost virtues\". Jesus explained what to do. He taught us this:- \u201cYou shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself\" [Matthew chapter 22].\nHe also taught us how to love our neighbour. He said that we should show pity to those who are in need of help. Thus the Samaritan was a good neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of bandits [Luke chapter 10].\nRecognise who are the bandits. Recognise who who have fallen into the bandits' hands. Help the latter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So this is what the \"indoctrination\" program entails\n\n- service, lots of it\n- assisting and uplifting the elderly\n- camping, fishing, backpacking\n- activities to strengthen the family (lots of them)\n- following Jesus Christ\n- learning about an ancestor\n\nCheck it out\nhttps://www.lds.org/youth/ymactivities?lang=eng#resources", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Both Notre Dame and Georgetown (and Boston College and Fordham and a very few others) are great Catholic universities AND Catholic great universities. Please tell us the GREAT universities YOU assert can make that peer-determined as well as self-determined claim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the current case, Trudeau issued a 180-word statement that ominously declared: \u201cCanadian law enforcement agencies \u2026will make every effort to apprehend the perpetrators of\u2026all acts of intolerance.\u201d (I wonder how broadly he will draw the line on that?) He did attend the funeral of the victims. Oddly enough, this French-Canadian Catholic politician seems to regard Moslems rather than people of his own background as his natural political constituency.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The lack of results and random flailing of this clergy led commission would be disappointing if the problem still existed. However, a brief look at their website will show that the church has always been on top of the issue, and in light of Pope Francis announcement of a zero tolerance policy, we can now relax, the problem has been solved, or never existed, or was just a few priests here and there, plus plaintiffs' lawyers, liberal media, and infallibility. Nothing more need be done. Move along, nothing to see here.\n\nFrancis and his brethren better hope there is no judgment after death. Jesus might be a unhappy that those who claim to represent him on earth used their power to harm children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, the locked-in Snowy White Christian Male vote.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "--\"Irish bishops tell priests who father children to \u201cface up\u201d to responsibilities\" https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2017/08/21/irish-bishops-tell-priests-father-children-face-responsibilities/--", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trid,\nRCs are not the only Catholics in existence. The Liturgy which I attend on a weekly basis is quite dissimilar from the Latin rite Mass, yet it's Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Surely they have Catholic hospitals in Mexico. His Excellency has access to lots of money, and can simply fund the child's treatments himself, after the family does the right thing and moves back to from whence they came.\nHis Excellency has the dough. He shouldn't be trying to finagle a way to have other people do his acts of corporal mercy.\n\nAnd neither should any of us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please don't tell me what I was doing. That is so not like you....\n\nI am telling you I questioned Mike AA's comment about Catholic morality. Nothing more - nothing less.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We need to get out of the hospital industry. It hasn't been a work of charity In a long time now anyway. If you doubt that, check into your local Catholic hospital next time you're sick and see if they send you a bill. They will and they'll come after you with a lawsuit just as fast as anybody else if you don't pay it right away too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Old liberals such as those on NCR editorial staff, need to start encountering and accompanying Catholics outside their safe space. \"\n\nLove this! \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffb\ud83d\ude02", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Having read the emails, and knowing the backstory of both Mr. Newman, and the Halpin thread, I don't see your's or Kurtz/Chaput's claim as being valid at all. On the otherhand, over at Commonweal blog, Anthony Annett illustrates clearly the ways in which the neo-cons tried to, and succeeded in, reducing Catholic Social Teaching to the Republican agenda, even to the point that it influenced what Bishops got appointed to the US.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry...I am not the one who was saying \"where did Jesus say\"\n\nthat was from the fundamentalist side of the church (port side).\n\nCatholics aren't sola scripturalists!\n\nThere is no doubt that Our Lord prayed for unity...and Our Lord didn't half pray that.\n\nHe wants unity in belief and unity in doing His will. He doesn't want multiple \"belief systems\". \n\nUnity doesn't equal uniformity, but it also doesn't mean Babel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The author wonders how the \"first-century man Jesus\" can know something. Just wow. \n\nAnd she claims that looking at the pictures in Playboy won't send one to Hell...did she read the rest of the passage where it said it's better to enter life with one eye than one's whole body in Gehenna?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, so Christ never taught \"he who lives by the sword dies by the sword\"?\n\nYou reject pacifism, and you feel you have to be nasty to Daniel Berrigan for preaching it. \n\nTwo questions: Have you ever been in the military? If so, have you seen combat?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is the problem? The problem is that Genesis is quite plain as it is, it has no need to be interpreted, but to be read just as its human author intended. Nobody has a right to alterate its natural meaing. One may believe its clear message, or else completely abandon the faith in Bible. The theistic evolutionary faith is dishonest, confusing and finally useless. Evolution is a cynical theory of death, and I would not accept it even I were convinced that it is true. It deserves our hate. And a God who created by evolution deserves our deep hate. I cannot see any possible harmony between the Bible and evolution. There is a strong conceptual incompatibility between the two. The SDA Church will never become an evolutionist community. Better the whole world be put on fire, than the Church who was designed to uphold the Biblical colors abandon some day her message and mission. People who think about the Church just in sociological, cultural and political terms, are not true Adventists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Coming twelve centuries after the life of Jesus on Earth, and reflecting much theological and pious development, the words of the Doctor Angelicus cannot be used as a source for Jesus himself. Nevertheless they are a fine and noble addition to the tradition.\n\nHowever the thought is very very easy to abuse. Too much of \"jus ad bellum\" can be simplified on the grounds that \"we're aiming at peace, aren't we.\" And then once the \"jus ad bellum\" is taken care of, \"jus in bello\" has rarely been so scrupulous as to condemn more than a few \"bad apples.\" \n\nAnd in connexion with \"killing is always an evil,\" even when it is excusable, as perhaps in a truly \"just\" war, we should note that no true Christian \"just warrior\" will ever celebrate his having killed, or rejoice in it, or boast of it. Nor will that warrior's society. Killing is always an evil, always a source of sorrow, always to be regretted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Didn't Jesus say, \"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost\"? (Lk. 19:1-10) And wasn't Ab Chaput \"sent out\" to carry this message to the world, including Philadelphia?\nHas Friar Chaput forgotten the mission statement Francis of Assisi gave his Franciscan family?\n\"The brothers who go can live spiritually among them in two ways. One way is not to engage in arguments or disputes, but to be subject to every human creature for God's sake and to confess that they are Christians. Another way is to proclaim the word of God when they see that it pleases the Lord.\" (Regula non bullata, 1213, chap. 16, #s 5-7)\nThe Lord is not pleased with a smaller, holier church. \"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.\"\nPaz y Bien, Rolando, OSF", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Conscience is the voice of God in our hearts and minds, not our own voice.\"\nI strongly disagree with the premise that conscience is \"not our own voice\". This is, to my mind, a serious error, and that it is one of the most pernicious traditions of our Church. Granted it is widely held and professed but it is a denial of God's generous gift of free will in human creation. Yes, it is clearly an essential dimension of \"the image and likeness\" along with intelligence. \nThat intelligence and conscience is the capacity to recognize and acknowledge what is right and wrong and our responsibility to do what is right. It is also the ultimate capacity to conclude in an act of faith in and to God and to find our way with and through Christ back to the Creator.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree. Yet I do cherish any small step forward, realizing just how lumbering the elephant is. My envisioned church would have paid bishops, but priests and deacons (of both genders) that emerge from the congregation and are not paid. Once priests and deacons are equated with clerics, they are trained in professional schools and hired by parishes, who do not have much knowledge of them and no part in their hiring. In most non-Roman churches, the community pays the priest's salary, but, if memory serves, RC priests are paid by the diocese. The fear of lay investiture is alive and well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or maybe Francis just can't deal with what his personal spirituality means for institutional Catholicism, and he's the one with the unsolvable conundrum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some land is holier than other. I would posit that the land that Jesus grew up in, preached, was crucified, died and was resurrected in may be considered the most holy. I would suggest you take a trip to the Holy Land. I did in 2015 and it was the most incredible trip I have ever taken. Bethlehem, Nazareth, Galilee and Jerusalem are unbelievable locations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So the Grand Master does not owe loyalty to the Supreme Pontiff, but individual knights owe 100% loyalty to the Grand Master. Got it, \"Catholic\" Knights ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The unjust regimes were imposed upon Germany, Italy and Spain or they were mostly unaware of what they were putting into power until it was too late. The evil regimes were overthrown by Franco in Spain and the allies in 1945. To blame the people in those countries for the atrocities committed by their governments would be the same as blaming the Catholics of Eastern Europe for the atrocities committed by their Communist rulers.\nI don't know where you get it from that I think the reform hasn't gone far enough, I'd love to see where I ever wrote that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is another clerical article by NCR.\n\nAs anti-clerical and constantly contentious as NCR is, it's paradoxically wholly clerical minded.\n\nIt's small box thinking: \"Church = clerics\"...me not cleric, me not Church.\"\n\nThat's it.\n\nThere is a larger world of Catholicism...the entire physical and spiritual world!\n\nThe lay vocation is every bit as beautiful, demanding, and - for those raised on 1960-70 sociology \"powerful\". \n\nSanctifying the ordinary of life...the world of the lay...in many senses is far more demanding.\n\nNCR would rather us think of Church as parish or Church as Vatican, shrinking God and His work to the parish or too a tiny area of Rome! No wonder so many people here are so unhappy all the time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's about canon law, not theology. The Catholic bishops have to be in sync with the Magisterium as Catholic institutions (primary, secondary, colleges, universities, hospitals, etc.) have to be in good standing with their bishops to retain canonical status. No Catholic institution wants to lose that status, least of all the current religious founders, sponsors -- Jesuits, Franciscans, Oblates, Dominicans, Holy Cross Fathers, Benedictines, etc. -- of these institutions. In regard to the church's teaching on birth control, each Catholic institution has to mirror the same canonical face regarding church teaching, which will be different from the positions of the employees and public in general. Evangelical officers, Mormon, Jewish, etc., likewise have to abide by their official beliefs. Administrators of these religious institutions don't want to overleap these religious teachings, only to be disqualified as legitimately Catholic, Evangelical, Jewish, etc. Not easy for administrators.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know nothing of the sort, nor do you appear to \"know\" Catholic teaching. From the greatest Pope of the last 500 years: \"That the Church ought to be separated from the state is a thesis ABSOLUTELY FALSE, a most PERNICOIUS ERROR\". Pope St. Pius X, Encyclical VEHEMTER NOS.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sounds like he is in a snit because Catholicism is more seen as based on magical thinking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. Jesus as we find him in the gospels has no interest whatsoever in the violent situations that so plainly fascinate you. In the apocalyptic worldview that the historical Jesus and the writers of the NT shared, warfare and military activity of any kind belong to the world of sin and death, ruled over by this world's \"prince\"; and the gospel message, the heart of the new-born church, was that this world was now transcended. There is nowhere in the NT any expectation that the followers of Jesus should take up weapons and imitate the example of Barabbas and his ilk, sectarians of the so-called Fourth Philosophy. If it were ever your interest to find in either the historical Jesus or the multiform literary character of the same name in the NT some sort of divine authority favoring militarism and military activities, of any kind, you do so in vain.\n\n2. You failed to notice that I do recognize that a choice of nonviolence for oneself does not remove the duty . . . [more to come]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would not consider committing a \"sin of the flesh\" here at your behest. Your favorite emoticon is \"Disagree.\" You manifest NERY little, if any, respect for the current Holy Father, Pope Francis! And the general tenor of your commentary is irredeemably ultra-rightist. All of which suggests, VERY strongly, that your mission here is to disrupt. \"The Spirit is willing, but the Flesh is weak.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesus went to the poor and the marginalized and preached to them, not to the powerful and the affluent.\"\n\nExcept the centurion (Matthew 8), the tax collectors (Mark 2), Zacchaeus (Luke 19), Joseph of Arimathea (Luke 23), possibly Mary Magdalene (\"provided for them out of their means\"), Nicodemus (John 3), Joanna (wife of Herod's steward), and, of course, Paul. No doubt Jesus had a special place in His heart for the poor, but He came to save all of us, not just the political left's favorite groups.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am sorry that you feel 'distanced' from the Church (the hierarchy). My own situation vis-\u00e0-vis the Church and its leaders and I don't feel distanced. That is not to say that I am impressed with all priests, bishops or popes as individuals, I respect the office and authority as long as it is exercised within the Church's Tradition.\nIf it is not exercised within the Tradition then I know that because of Our Lord's guarantee, at some stage down the line correction will be applied.\nAlexandra, I agree that the structure is another conversation. Have a nice day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Assumption: You raise an issue that is close to my thinking also, in spite of the fact I applaud St. John XXIII parish. I do love traditional Church liturgy and music, including \"good \" organ music that is rarely found in the United States. Most Catholics I know don't seem to care much and parish priests seem to care even less. We are a minority on this subject. You only find this in larger cities (like mine in San Francisco) where some parishes have more money and are willing to pay for a qualified organist and choir director. But, I think you have to acknowledge this Ohio parish of St. John XXIII is meeting the needs of their people and also drawing young families with children as well as seniors. This is important and is how I remember parish life as a child. (I am now 78. ) Our parish did not have good music either nor a decent organ. But it had the Holy Spirit. And that's what I think this Ohio parish has.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why should the church do this?\nThe Pope has repeatedly rejected gender ideology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For over 25 yrs. I taught in Catholic schools, mostly in Theology, so I am well aware of the required oath taken by teachers. However, you still have not provided any proof that Ms. Weiss was teaching (in her Literature classes for 11 yrs.) anything contrary to authentic Catholic doctrine or teaching. Since you were not at ND to hear Ms. Weiss lecture I am sure you must have sat in her classes. Right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I come from the Scriptural and historical belief that Christ did found a Church and that it was/is the Catholic Church. I believe, as the Church has always taught that it has the fullness of truth revealed by God- the Church, the magesterium, nor the people within the Church, do not make up the teaching- but the Holy Spirit has protected the Church from error when teaching definitively on faith and morals. Human beings are fallible, including the pope, but the Holy Spirit is not. The Catholic Church is NOT a man-made institution. It is God's. It is not ours to mess with, but to preserve and follow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Green Peace or Mr. Alaska Research who ever your are that seems to hate oil workers so much!! We all are nice people here. So please slow down Cowboy! \n\nAbsolutely no guilty verdict or any crime at Miller Energy or Cook Inlet Energy, so for you to imply all charges equal a conviction is not being fair or honest. \n\nAlaskan oilman Mr. David Hall is hardworking and a very honest Christian so please don't defame his good name online, I am sure being proper is very important to you! \n\nSo we are looking for facts, right? Buccaneer had oil and gas at its Cosmopolitan Unit. Google it! Maybe you should hire a professional to do your Alaska research.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "4/8\n\nIt also follows the \u201cBurke must be banished\u201d line of the Tablet narrative: \u201cThe leader of an anti-Francis crusade from the start of the papacy, Burke was removed in 2014 as head of the Vatican\u2019s supreme court, the Apostolic Signatura ...\u201d, which - again - is editorializing rather than reporting.\n\nIn the article cited above, for example, it leaves out the fact that the reason why the Germans have been displeased is that they have zero members who are professed, and therefore have been blocked from leadership positions. It also fails to point, as also the Tablet rendition of events, that the Germans have the bulk of the money.\n\nOnePeter5 is American. Their reporting has been done by Steve Skojec, its Executive Director. He is a graduate of the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.\n\nIt presents a traditional Catholic viewpoint and is considered conservative.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Partially developed short-term Governor Palin had just enough time to demonstrate her ineffective parental leadership style, penchant for divisive discourse, unqualified appointees, poor interpersonal skills, low emotional intelligence, revenge orientation and--to put it nicely--her lack of critical knowledge and skills. Not to mention her love of corporatism and desire for a radical Christian (Iran style) theocracy. OH...and her homophobia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the real world, if someone volunteers to teach a confirmation class, any pastor would accept eagerly.\n\nYour problem is your belief that all Catholics in good standing must hew to your standard of orthodoxy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Merkel come from the right of the political spectrum\nHer party is Christian Democrat Party\n-\nEvery country needs a Merkel!\n.\nUSA has one\nCanada had one in Harper\nCanada will have one in Andrew Scheer (PM-to-be Scheer)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Declaration was a statement to King George. It has no legal standing or influence on governing this country. In the Declaration was the famous phrase that \"all men are created equal. And they really were referring to MEN. White men. Women, slaves, indigenous tribes and people without property need not be considered for equality. \n\nAs for the founders, most were Deists. Like the politicians of today they threw around religious phrases and terms, but their private writings revealed their true feelings--a desire for a secular state. There is no official US government document, legally binding that establishes the United States as a Christian nation. There are official documents that clearly state the opposite. \n\nMr. Kaminski, in his letter, referred to the Constitution. Find clear references to Christian values in the Constitution. \n\nI'll wait.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why? Because someone wants to tell the story, and someone else wants to hear it.\n\nShall we also do away with our history of identities as Americans? Our identities as descendants of immigrants, whether English or Irish or German or Italian or Chinese or wherever? Our identities as Christians or Catholics? Why should we let anyone tell us the history of our identity isn't worth preserving?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus Christ of the New Testament is not the same as Isa in the Quran. Isa is a retconned version of Jesus, and denies pretty much his entire message, and instead is much like the new Star Wars movies, getting an old character to 'endorse' Mohammed, like Han and Luke with Rey. Plus the Quran totally botches the lineage by calling Maryam's dad 'Imran', which is Arabic for Amram, who is the father of Miriam in the OLD Testament, who is sister to Aaron, which muslims will also say about Isa's mom Maryam. The Old Testament created The Law, but man began to make hyocritical laws in God's name - so Jesus SUMMARIZED - consolidated - The Law to simply the Golden Rule. Therefore Jesus CERTAINLY would not advocate Islam, whose Allah will curse someone who would simply pluck an eyebrow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that Hillary is a THREAT TO AMERICA - America in general! With her as president, not ONLY our foreign policy could be worse than it has been under Obama (it that is actually possible) but the very idea of this career criminal who supports the murder of Gays and Christians as well as the mistreatment of Women ever becoming president and continuing Obama's race baiting policies PLUS appointing judges to SCOTUS that will want to take our guns away is one of the most revolting things I've heard in Years. I may not be a FAN of Trump but I do believe that we NEED him to STOP the corruption and destruction of America that has been a general policy of Democrats for decades!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. Humans will make gods regardless. One could do a lot worse than the tantalizing Jesus of Nazareth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Chaput's assessment of their Catholic faith is thus nothing more than a strictly personal opinion, rather than a proper canonical judgment which Chaput has zero authority to make!\"\nWhen Chaput speaks at a Catholic university or writes in his archdiocesan newspaper or preaches from any pulpit, it is not a \"strictly personal opinion.\" He is an ordained teacher of the Catholic church. While he may have zero authority to make a canonical judgement, he assumes authority when he wears a miter and is addressed as \"your Excellency.\"\nPerhaps he should re-read Jn. 15:15-16, \"I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what the taste is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.\"\nJesus expects fruit that will remain, not the remnants that Chaput is trying to preserve..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Incorrect - 45% catholics voted for Trump - most were whites in Midwest and Northeast. Catholic vote was evenly split in the South, but western Catholics voted for Clinton by more than 15 percentage points. and how much of that vote was pushed by certain Republican bishops or the single issue clerics on abortion (even though nationally the Republican Party has done nothing about abortion for decades).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not advocating for my way, I'm advocating following Jesus Christ and his Church. John 17:20-21 \"And not for them only do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall believe in me; That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you! I think the distinction between \"clergy\" and \"lay\" members of the church constitutes, effectively, a denial of our common baptism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's fascinating. If you're a Christian you must know the Bible. Biblical prophecy says that the destruction of the earth will come about through humans enacting the will of Satan. It says that the trees will burn, the oceans will die, that men will faint in terror at the storms, among other things like pestilence. It also says that if God had not stepped in, there would be nothing left alive on earth.\n\nOne of my favorites is from Job: \n\n\"Hast thou entered the treasuries of the snow, Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, Against the day of battle and war?\"\nJob 38:22-23\n\nAnother from Daniel says that knowledge will increase and the people will be highly mobile, unlike anything ever seen before.\n\nThe war is the war for the earth, which Satan hates because it is God's creation, but it is also a spiritual war. If you're not with God's creation, you're on the wrong side.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Being wrong helps me to discover the truth. Priest D'Escota, was reprimanded not because what he did was wrong. Our Institutional Church, I don't know if this exists everywhere are given tax exemptions with the agreement they officially keep their nose out of Politics. Jesus told us to pay our taxes to Ceasar so we would be able to give unto God which is God's. Our Church needs to start paying taxes so that we can openly critique any Government in the world, on behalf of the caring and nurturing of Life. which according to Jesus is \"I am the Way the Truth and the Life\". Peter, Deacon 82. Social Justice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now, DonInKansas, I can tell by your frequent smileys that you love Jesus so much that you could hardly open your mind to this, but it's true: Peter's use of the sword against civil authority was not clearly an act of self-defense. The soldier was under orders to make a lawful arrest, and had a duty to carry out that order. Peter, by opposing lawful civil authority, was \"living by the sword,\" i/e/. using the sword without just cause. Further, Peter was unwittingly trying to obstruct God's will for Jesus. The fact that Jesus' trial later turned out to be a kangaroo court does not alter the nature of the soldier's act or his duty.\n\nFurthermore, if Jesus had intended that Peter never again use the sword under any circumstance, would he have told Peter to put it back in its place (as he said), or instead, to throw it away?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishops don't attend conferences/courses designed to introduce them to other models of community. Many of them don't really read anything about this. And at the USCCB meetings [and I know this for a fact], they don't discuss this in general and few engage even in private discussions about declining numbers of Catholics and other models of either:\n1) running parishes\n2) alternate communities\n\nThey are too tied into \"We HAVE to do it this way\" [says Who and Why]. Bishops' Synods can come up with alternatives. Of course, having the laity invited---not as auditors, but as participants is a major KEY. But the Bishops would have to change their attitudes---sadly, in which it would be easier for leopards to change their spots.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I remember pre -V2 prayer books with prayers that clearly stated how many days of purgatory would be forgiven for each prayer. These were Ukrainian Catholic (then called Greek Catholic) prayer books. Did RCs have the same thing? \nI always thought that it was more than a little suspect that being rude to my mother, or fighting with my brother could be wiped out with just reading a short prayer, but, just in case ..... I did want to go to heaven, after all! :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, I believe the current Pope just officially recognized Mary Magdalene as The Apostle to The Apostles. Last I checked, Pope Francis is fully a real Pope so Mary Magdalene is a real Apostle.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Sabbath was made for the person, not the person for the Sabbath.\"(Mk. 2:27)\nI think the relevance of this passage to the present discussion is that Jesus, like Pope Francis, always prioritized persons over laws.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "slu, anything that effects every human being is a right. . this is 2016 and you were obviously privileged. many people arent. they will never have siblings, spouses or children that had the same opportunities you and yours did, because of time and place. rich, white, christian males call the shots. they deny the average person all rights, any rights. there are probably a million people today scavenging the garbage dumps of the world. some are professional people with children, living breathing and eating out of those dumps. kids are dying every hour of every day, but, they are not as important as you or your siblings i guess. suits arent telling doctors what to do, the super rich owners of the drug companies are, the same guys that tell our government what to do and when to go to war. they write and enact all the laws to benefit themselves. the are same guys that own all the largest corporations, and took seven trillion dollars from us in 2014. airbags? 8000 lives saved, 300 killed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Spanish priests who converted the indigenous people in the Americas to Catholicism had been trained by Gracian and his writings, a Spanish Jesuit priest, who had been heavily influenced by the Moors. They completely left out any shred of ethics and decency---that which was written down in the Old Testament and which the great civilization of Africa had passed down through storytelling. Making the people completely spiritually lost, in effect, no conscience, and at the mercy of the Priests---giving them all the power and control-----If you read \"The Art of Worldly Wisdom\" by Gracian here you will find the kind of politics which you seem to prescribe as humane, when in fact, is not and is the hidden agenda of the Pope------to be able to use these people unwittingly to spread Catholicism and maintain power and control.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've kept a loose hold on my spiritual reigns and that has helped me at some tough times. I prefer to believe most of the philosophy of Jesus, which for anyone who studied it, was a serious reform of the entire spririt, visions of religious leaders of that time. It's a very different vision of God from the Judgemental authority of the old testament. Well, it is to me - clearly many Christian church's don't agree. \n\nI can't prove the exisitence of God, but I find love and compassion solid foundations for a happy life. It helps if your life is finacially secure - a dwindling promise for many.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Compare what the Pope said to the post-election statements of Cardinal Burke. \n\nWe should have the contrast on hand each time Cardinal Burke or Archbishop Chaput call for UNITY. Oh the irony! Burke and Chaput sound more like spokespeople for Southern Baptists than for Pope Francis. Their statements would be more at home at Liberty University than at Notre Dame. \n\nIf \"Back to the Future\" had featured this headline of the future, it would have gotten a lot of side-splitting laughs: \"Cardinal Endorses Moral Vision of Donald Trump Over the Pope's.\" The reality of it in 2016 isn't getting many laughs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 2\nThis struggle to get beyond tyranny of the majority and move through protected individual rights to some sort of multiculturalism is currently workings its way through several countries formerly behind the iron curtain. It is particularly difficult for states with a largely uniform population like Poland. A lack of ethnic diversity in a population appears to make cloud the necessity for protection of individual rights. \nRight wing populist movements, be in it Poland or the US, are at their core a rejection of the multicultural as the \"end game\" of protected individual rights in favour of identity politics that pits group against group, with winner takes all (tyranny of the majority) as the alternative end game (read objective) of the dominant group.\nAs someone has already reminded you, Christianity is very much on the side of multiculturalism: \"There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why hold Westminster Cathedral's Choir director accountable for the actions of Regensburg Cathedral's Choir director? \n\nOh, wait! I see. You follow Oscar Wilde on good old fashion self-reproach: When we blame ourselves [as Catholics, for everything] we feel no one else has a right to blame us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see that the (former) CNN reporter and (former) DNC Chairwoman who denied she had fed information to Clinton has finally admitted that she lied. \n\n Just like the leaked Podesta emails said she did. CNN had already fired her, of course. \n\nShe had tried to play the \"Christian Woman\" card back in October when her duplicity first came out. \n\n\u201cAs a Christian woman, I understand persecution, but I will not sit here and be persecuted,\u201d Brazile said. \u201cYour information is totally false.\u201d\n\n \n \n\"Brazile admits she forwarded town hall questions to Clinton camp\"\n\nhttp://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/brazile-admits-she-forwarded-town-hall-questions-to-clinton-camp/ar-BByipJv?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, Jesus didn't rebuke anyone on the cross. But he did call attention to the unspeakable moral crime that was being committed, the killing of the son of God: 'Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.' If they needed forgiveness, then it was because they had done something morally wrong. And now you, as well as I, know what this was.\n\nWhen Jesus rebuked those who wanted to stone the adulterous woman, he neither stated, nor alluded to, those requirements of Mosaic Law. So you have no counter-argument here. His appeal was to something far above this law: the universality of humankind's moral guilt and its lack of authority (divine authority) for punishing anyone in this way.\n\nI'm sorry, but you, like me, couldn't possibly know the sins of those others. Your view is simply a tradition, not necessarily a historical fact, because the Gospel does not specify what Jesus wrote on the ground that day. Besides, this was not the argument Jesus made, but confirmation of it", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you aware what Francis is going through with just trying to get the laity who have been deprived of the Eucharist, because they were divorced and remarried, able to receive Communion again? He has a whole spectrum of cardinals, bishops some conservative theologians----stating that the pope is a [her---c].\n \n\nThe Vatican is more than the pope. It is all those cardinals, arch/bishops, etc. who believe that ONLY men were the followers of Jesus [they weren't] AND Jesus only selected twelve men as Apostles.\n\n\nHe is lucky if he's able to get women to be accepted as permanent deacons [which hasn't happened, yet].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only \"getting ready\" I know about--whether alive or dying--is to know Jesus Christ our Savior and accept His life, death, and resurrection and His righteousness to cover our sinful natures. That is the white garment, and it is easy to ask for. Good works don't do it, but they will follow those who ask for His Spirit. Not all have the same gifts, and we are not to feel guilty if we don't excel at the same type of soulwinning or evangelism as someone else might.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A feature? Laughable. When Social Security started there were 5 people paying into the system for every 2 people drawing from it. Today those numbers are reversed; 2 paying for every 5 drawing, and as the baby boomer generation continues to retire, the ratio will get worse. It's an unsustainable system.\n\n\"Catholic Social Teaching\" isn't Catholic. It is anti-Catholic. Are we supposed to be impressed that a Jesuit helped? The Jesuits were a suppressed order for quite a while because of their heresy. The head of that order today even denies the Catholic Dogma that Satan exists. That order has become a Marxist order, catholic in name only.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please don't patronize me. (It's annoying.) I wasn't being dismissive. We don't even know if Jesus actually said these things, and if he did, we can't be certain what he meant. Hence, speculation.\n\nYou didn't say \"I think this is what Christ meant.\" You said, \"This is what Christ meant.\" How about a little epistemological humility? I have no idea what you mean by \"an existential account of the human person inherited from Heidegger and Gadamer.\"\n\nThe story of Mary and Martha could be eschatological, for example, which is kind of a prominent theme in Luke (\"Let the dead bury the dead.\") It could mean letting go of mundane life in anticipation of the kingdom coming, any day now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even the parts calling for a \"Catholic spring\" to try and get the laity to revolt and change doctrine?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not only do the people in pews but also the people on the streets ( and way beyond any Church walls)appreciate the insights and merciful love lived by Francis. Seems to me that was precisely the effect that Jesus managed to do in his time/place...except for those whose power/lifestyle was put in question.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm beginning to think if Jesus came now He'd come as an Anglican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Providing dual classes in such a small community is a waste of Tax money.\n\nProviding Government Funding for a Catholic School was wasteful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry you're more fluent with Freud than with Aquinas, who very nicely laid out why we have freedoms. \n\nThat \"loving God USING our freedoms to attain closer unity with Him\" is now considered \"reactionary\" and \"elitist\" by some tells me what a poor level of formation exists among adult Catholics. \n\nI'm certainly not asking to converse with people who have read and are conversant with \"Summa\", but the CCC is a bare minimum. adi\u00f3s para siempre.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you not know the Catholic teaching on the subject?? \n\nThe Ethical and Religious Directives are very helpful - health care providers are certainly encouraged to provide treatment to prevent possible venereal disease and pregnancy. \n\n\"36. Compassionate and understanding care should be given to a person who is the victim of sexual assault. Health care providers should cooperate with law enforcement officials and offer the person psychological and spiritual support as well as accurate medical information. A female who has been raped should be able to defend herself against a potential conception from the sexual assault. If, after appropriate testing, there is no evidence that conception has occurred already, she may be treated with medications that would prevent ovulation, sperm capacitation, or fertilization.\"\n\nThis article may help you if you are serious about understanding:\nhttp://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/ethical-treatment-after-rape.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So Tridentinus would seem to be ignorant of the classic \"traditional\" Catholic teaching on conscience (which can be found in the CCC) ... or he is selective in the paras from CCC which he thinks \"count\" ...\n\nIf he had to sit an exam on Aquinas on conscience and showed the same ignorance, he would fail.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religion is part of culture, Allan\nWhite Christian culture is excluded at Christmas\nat least the progressives try to exclude it\n-\nno Christmas party in some workplaces\nno Christmas carols (seasonal songs my foot)\nHappy Holidays replace Merry Christmas\neven the Christmas tree is under attack (it is only a tree for heaven's sake)\n-\njust one example of creeping exclusion in the name of inclusion\n.\nget the irony?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you remember when the Trads led the charge on \"praying for the conversion of Russia\"? Remember how they were \"godless communists\" and Reagan was the modern crusader against them? Like Trump, they admire Putin. All of a sudden, they respect him more than our own leaders. Unless memory fails me, the turn began when Putin got \"tough\" (i.e., persecuted) gays at the same time Obama was \"coddling\" them.\n\nAnother example of how Catholic traditionalists are most comfortable with autocratic leaders who implement their moral (i.e., sexual) vision?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "it was at a local Antiochian parish, as well as a Byzantine Catholic parish where the priest had been a monk on Athos, before returning to union with Rome. I also attended Liturgy at a Greek Orthodox church in Italy, they moved around like that as well. \n\nI am canonically a member of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church as well. at least before I was excommunicated for returning to my activity as an Old Catholic priest. my former parish has pews, very narrow close together pews too! they barely move at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope John XXIII listed human rights; subsequent church teaching affirms them:\n\"11. But first We must speak of man's rights. Man has the right to live. He has the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life, particularly food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest, and, finally, the necessary social services. In consequence, he has the right to be looked after in the event of illhealth; disability stemming from his work; widowhood; old age; enforced unemployment; or whenever through no fault of his own he is deprived of the means of livelihood.\" Pacem in Terris, 1963.\n\nThis is the 'argumentum reductio ad absurdum' that characterizes so much of your writing. It reflects either sloppy or dishonest thinking. Society protects rights (eg, public utilities, public safety) by sharing the costs, not by pretending there aren't any.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Canada, Qu\u00e9bec is \u201cofficially\u201d French speaking since 1774-\n(but we all know that it is since its foundation in 1608) \nso why are YOU crying for then ?...WHO\u2019s LATE here ?...\nand WHO\u2019s got & making a problem with it ?...\nThe past & present MINORITY of the Ghetto Anglo Montrealers (7%) of all \nof Qu\u00e9bec (as well ROC) is to blame here FOR NOT consciously recognize the \u201cQu\u00e9bec Act\u201d (an Act for making more effective Provisions for The Government of the Province of Qu\u00e9bec in North America) \nwas a British statute which received royal assent 22 June 1774 and became effective 1 May 1775;\n- it re-established the French language rights (got it Anglo Canada ?);\n-+ Catholic faith; \n-+ French civil law...\u201d\n(It\u2019s (almost) \u00ab a State into a State \u00bb, oui ?)\nIt also began what was to become a tradition in Canadian constitutional history \u2013 the recognition of certain distinct rights, or protections for Qu\u00e9bec \u2013\nin language, religion and civil law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Might I ask for a source on that? As far as I can see the only change after Vatican 2 was the name of the mass from \"missa privata\" to \"missa sine populo\". In general there needs to be at least one server to assist the priest.\n\nCheck Cannon 904, 906 and in the GRIM 254 \n\nAs for what you are mentioning below, are then saying the mass celebrated by monastics, cenobites and the desert fathers were/are invalid?\n\nThe two great commandments are in a way related but they are not the same, it reduces God to some new age pantheistic formless force, that has no personality except what we collectively and subjectively feel at the time. \n\nAs for communion, I would say that it is far more communal in the old mass, here the congregation doesn't waddle awkwardly in line to get their personal serving when receiving. In the ancient mass we come to adore and receive the lord together at the altar rail. I take communion with my wife and friends next to me as we are given in equal form and method.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It always seems to be the same fear tactics with monarchists. First of all, it doesn't have to be so black and white that we can only have a Queen or President. Secondly, our culture is different from the US in many important ways. We don't have the same number of politically powerful fundamentalist Christians in Canada as they do in the US. The monarchy is not the lynchpin that saves us from becoming American.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with Archbishop Chaput. \"Catholics\" who actively support abortion funding and other anti-Catholic doctrine are working against the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your comment Neko\n\nIt has to be viewed on the spiritual plane as it confronts the reality of what we are before our Creator \nWe the laity have not seen the original attempt by sister Faustina , we can assume that it is a childlike reflection of the vision she saw, distorted and incomplete, revealing (reflecting) all her human failings, we must remember that she set about this painting with singular pure intent, her actions were acted out in Trust, with confidence, the reality of her attempt is a lesson to all of us, as we venerate (Look upon) this broken distorted image, a reflection before God of our inner self. (Failings/Sinfulness) \n\nI hope this will help too enlighten you understand.\nSincerely\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a Catholic News Service article...the bishops organ.\n\nIn national news we know that the Trump Administration has been late to this party, obstructive on occasion and actually shut down (temporarily) data on availability of water, power etc....to its credit the Washington Post put in a hourly updated source which I put on my home page...\n\nI don't think this report truly identifies source issues and problems .....think the bishops relationship with the Trump Administration may well reflect in this articles content.\n\nFrankly for info on this disaster folks would be better served by mainstream news.\n\nWe donated to the five presidents fund..which responded with alacrity to this mess...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A deacon giving the homily at my parish last Sunday said Catholics only vote \"pro-life.\" He said both candidates are flawed, but only one is \"pro-life,\" so a Catholic must vote for that one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Mark, for your comment \n\nI don\u2019t think that the teachings of the Church are in error or unjust in regards to marriage as defined by Jesus Christ, taken from my article Christian marriage as defined by Jesus Christ.\u201d For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh\u201d. The Truth of this statement can be seen in any offspring they may be blest with. The greatest gift we have received is the gift of life, given by God, through the action of our parents, refusing to fully partake in His creation by deliberately denying another the opportunity of life, is sinful.\nTo remain in harmony with His Will is definitely a good thing. I assume that you have read my article, I think that I make my position quite clear. \n\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You a Christian? Ever take your kids to church? The synagogue? The mosque? A buddhist temple? Taoist temple? Hindu temple?\n\nPoint is that I'm sure we all (myself included...even though I think of myself as a person who tried to be an impartial parent) inject bias into our kids. We see ONE story of this kid's life. One. Could it be that the mother and father actually taught the kid as impartially as possible yet he still arrived at this conclusion on his own? Possibly.\n\nThe kid just got a great lesson. Will he learn from it? Maybe. But, without the lesson, it's unlikely he'd learn anything.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I read the tome from Maureen Fiedler and letter from Mr. Trump. I Googled \"Maureen Fiedler\" and was surprised to find out she is a Sister and a Phd (even though her tag line did not indicate either.) I wondered if that omission was intentional due to her ideology. I am amazed at the anti-Catholic-dogmatic rhetoric in this piece. It is abundantly clear that you have issues with the Catholic Church. You state that 60% of Catholic voters feel abortion can be a moral choice. How can one make a moral choice on an immoral act? Francis is more concerned with the salvation of souls before climate change. The issues you mentioned are noteworthy not primary. A vote for Mr. Trump, is a vote against Mrs. Clinton who supports partial birth abortion, left the men in Benghazi to die, runs a fraudulent foundation, & deceived the citizenry. By not supporting Trump, then you are avowing that Mrs,. Clinton has superior character. Really! Accountability now, or before the face of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I listed those things because it shows that the Pope is at least attempting to do something. By the way on the Spanish issue, why was that a debacle? Because the statute of limitations in Spain expired hence why it made prosecuting most of those priests difficult(even though I believe 2 were prosecuted anyways) \n\nHence why the simplistic argument of someone people who say \"If he just hands it over to the police and that's it then the issue will be solved\". That's not the case when you are dealing with statute of limitations in various countries. \n\nOn the issue of the tribunal, I am aware that it got scraped last year but he tried to replace it with toughening the legal procedures on the issue, hence why the El Salvador trials happened. And that wasn't just defrocking those priests. It was engaging in criminal investigation of their conduct which the Vatican has not done before.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Consilium completely ignored the principles set out in Sacrosanctum Concilium. \nI think it was Cardinal Heenan who said that most of the bishops who voted for Sacrosanctum Concilium hadn't the remotest idea that a liturgy like the Novus Ordo would emerge from it.\nI agree that Paul VI had the same authority as St Pius V but that does not preclude him from having made one of the greatest mistakes a pope has ever made. The moment his 'new Mass' was introduced, the mass exodus of Catholics from the pews commenced. In changing the time-honoured lex orandi he also changed the lex credendi. Catholics no longer pray as they used to as a consequence they no longer believe what they used to. You only have to read those who contribute to NCReporter and those who comment here to witness their hatred of the pre-Conciliar Church to see the truth of this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Joan. OK, simply delete the words \"no longer.\" Still, the point remains that, \"although he was in the form (essence) of God he did not regard equality with God as something to be prized, but emptied himself, taking on the form (essence) of a slave, being found in the likeness of humans . . . , even to death on a cross.\" The constant problem is that the passage does not fit into the substance theology of the Fathers, so they mostly ignored it. My contention (see The Empty Christ of Philippians: Mah\u0101y\u0101na Meditations) is that emptying self is the main idea. The mind of Christ empties selfhood, which is why we are to take on this mind. The ancient and medieval substance theologies were skillful in their times, but today hardly anyone embraces their categories as live options for us. So many theologians are attempting to rethink the mind (and nature) of Christ \"from below,\" i.e, from a phenomenally sensitive approach. Start with the gospel Jesus, not with Greek ontology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill-\nPlease try to give some slack to those of us who attended Catholic grammar school, high school and college more than fifty years ago. Heaven was mentioned once in a while, but the real emphasis was on the \"other place\". Rules WERE presented as being \"black and white\". No one was cut any slack. You may talk of an *adult* response, but Aristotle was right: \"Give me the child until he is seven, and I will show you the man.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure I agree with this \"Progressive SDAs\" label. What you have are people in the NAD who realize what the Bible truly says about women in positions of leadership. And because it's being pointed out to the \"Traditonal SDAs\", sotospeak, they're the ones kicking against the goads; they've been in their comfort zone too long and don't want their zone borders expanded/enlarged/changed. Scared people put up a fight, even when there's absolutely nothing to fight against.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He asked for a sign of running into any old friend in Rome who would essentially tell him to keep up the good work. \n\nHe was attending a meeting in Rome, which is full of cardinals, bishops, priests, and other Vatican functionaries, many of them old-line holdovers from the previous two popes, and based on what we've heard, some of them quite adept at their stalling and efforts to undercut Pope Francis. Honestly, I think it would have been more of a sign from God if he *hadn't* run into an old friend who agrees with him and told him to keep writing.\n\n(And could he mention if he had asked his old friend if he should keep writing, after laying out his complaints?)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christopher,\n\nYou have challenged me in a most difficult way so I have taken several days to consider your words before speaking. I try to live the love of God and be fair and just in my dealings with all people regardless of race, so reading a claim of inequity within the church that is a recitation of currently-popular divisive racial and political charges leaves me wondering whether you want a substantive discussion about points not mentioned, a fight, or just a chance to voice your fears. I don't want to fight with one who is my brother in Christ. I see your words and sense your fear, so I am having a difficult time understanding or quantifying the basis for it as a first step in finding a way to communicate substantively and find solutions. How can we find ways to work together to advance the Kingdom of God so long as you are screaming about what is dividing society and promoting those concepts inside the body of believers?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hmmm......\n\n\"Donnieau Synder, a Roman Catholic Womenpriest ......Like many in her generation, she seeks out small communities, \u201cbecause they give me the freedom to be myself.\u201d\n\nAnd perhaps she seeks those communities out because she is excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church? I wonder if those attending this \"panel\" were so informed?\n\nOne wonders if the purpose of such invitees is to foster distance and discontent rather than \"building community....across the generational divide.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So all the family values types who are upset about Amoris Laetitia are angry at Trump for appointing a woman who had a relationship with a married man for six years (aka actual adultery). Or do they not care because Newt Gingrich paid $$ to get magic paperwork from the Catholic Church to pretend his previous marriages didn't really exist?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@King's man (???)\nThis is not Canada ...with a bunch of \u00ab Loyalists \u00bb Orangemen. \nThere is no place for a bunch of Ku-Ku-Klowns in Canada.\nAfter the establishment of the Canadian Federation (1867), the English speaking several provinces attended helplessly to the adoption of several LAWS and regulations, anti-Catholic and anti-French in English Canada, especially in that regard to denominational schools outside Qu\u00e9bec.\nAnti-Catholic and anti-French attitude drew its source, among others, the fact that many of the Loyalists who came to Qu\u00e9bec after the American Revolution of 1775 (Eastern Townships/ Ontario and Western Provinces) were \"Orangemen\" convinced. Orangemen advocated an anti-Catholic and anti-French doctrine, inspired by the reconquest of England in 1690 by the Protestant Prince William III of Orange.\u2026\n\nAnd Paf ! Problems started across French Canada ever since !\nGot it ?... \"EVER Since\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Colkoch, when you speak of the Church's wealth, are you referring to liquid cash or value of buildings, land, sacramentals, sacred paintings and statues, cemeteries, and such? I believe the Catholic Church does more good and charitable work than any other entity on earth. I believe that those who wish the Church would give up what they consider to be wealth, wish to destroy the Catholic Church. \nI am very active in my parish and see no evidence of \"clericalism.\" Instead, I see priests and deacons who are Godly men who work their hearts out in service for their parishioners and community. I pray daily that God bless them for their service.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll try. There is a very old debate in the Church about whether people who made deathbed confessions were saved, or whether one had to have lived a converted life for a period of time that manifested one's commitment to Christ. There was also a longstanding debate about whether one could be saved by good works, even if one deviated from the \"true faith.\" This led to some suspicion about people who were \"fast-tracked\" to sainthood through martyrdom precisely because the details of their former lives were either not known or not known to have been virtuous.\nIf you know books like \"Butler's Lives of the Saints,\" you will recall that the medieval idea of sanctity emphasized extraordinary virtue and lifelong self-abnegation, as opposed to good works. So the question raised over the centuries was whether people whose lives didn't conform to church teaching could be saints. (Do you perhaps remember the book \"The Devil's Advocate?\" on a similar question?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The best thing that happened... in Canada was the general secularisation of society after WWII which put religion in the background.\"\n\nskyofblue: My father was a practicing Catholic throughout his life. When he was alive, he used to say exactly the same thing. For years, and long before the politicization of Muslim issues in Canada, he believed the only way a diverse society could function harmoniously was to secularize and relegate religion to the realm of entirely personal belief and private practice. Keenly aware of being a Catholic in the pre-war era, when the Orange Order was still strong in mainly Protestant Ontario, he said that properly religion belonged in the churches and not on the streets. I often think that newcomers simply aren't sufficiently aware of Canadian history to be able to understand that where religion is concerned we've been there, done that and gotten over it. It's not a response to their presence. But we won't and shouldn't go backwards on this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am quite serious. The folks who love all that 'tradition minded Catholicism,' are my cross. I suffer through them week in and week out. I wish they would all leave our parish and go to SSPX somewhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As far as I can see the Cassandra principle is that no one believed her not that what she was saying was true or false.\nChrist warned about prophets whose prophecies and teachings were false, an altogether different thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This column is spot on. But Kaplan doesn't offer any insight into what's really needed, beyond picking apart each candidate (with the curious exception of Mr. Chong). Picking up where Mr. Kaplan leave us, I offer the following:\n\nThe CPC needs a candidate who knows political philosophy and dare I even say history. They will come to the conclusion that the current CPC is not so much formed around a set of sound conservative political principles as much as it was formed around a loose and unruly amalgam of varied and contradictory views, from an anti-science to social conservative-Christianity, etc.\n\nThe CPC desperately needs an \"idea person\" to build a political platform around the core principle of conservative political ideology - namely, the inherent value and rights of the individual. From that, a set of policy directives will flow. It also entails acknowledging science, progress, women's and Indigenous right, and a strong government to protect individual rights from corporate power", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alt-right Catholic and Bannonite with a weird fixation about gay people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He's just being a good Vatican II Catholic:\n\n\"For it is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained. It was to the apostolic college alone, of which Peter is the head, that we believe that our Lord entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant, in order to establish on earth the one Body of Christ into which all those should be fully incorporated who belong in any way to the People of God.\"\n\nCan you name which V2 document this appears in?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alcest.. Not one word referenced 'Wolf Pack'; that's an issue seems you have tossed into your reply as a non-sequitur & 'straw man' distraction. If you are driven to discuss 'Wolf Pack', draw-up your own comment to pontificate on that agenda\n.\nDo Note: The statement made by this Cdn G & M subscriber was \"Jews and moderate Muslims are perceived equally in Canada\"\n..\nFurther, when assessing a typical dogma of any Orthodox Religiosity eg Judaism, Islamism, Sikhism, Judaeo-Christian etc. \n??which Religion screams jihadi at European Western Civilization?\n\n'Martyrdom' is perceived as a Basis of Islamic Terrorist Jihadism which is spreading globally\n&Canada, currently a commonwealth country with a British Monarch as Head of State has History speaking to Our Reality of being Canadian\n\nOur European underpinnings of a Dominion of Canada c/w a Cdn Constitution which speaks to ALL Cdn Equality & Freedoms is based on Brit Culture..Values NOT the Cultural norm for Many Islamic countries.\n\nDo Enjoy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah...\"re-branding\", sure! That's it! Ah huh.\n\nThat's what Sts Peter and Paul and Polycarp..etc.. needed when he ran into difficulty: Re-branding. Sure. \n\nFather Fernandez's \"...The degree of effort our Lord asks to keep his disciples afloat in the face of a difficult situation may vary from time to time, but the remedies are the same for all throughout history: intensify prayer; be more sincere and docile in spiritual direction; flee from dangerous occasions; obey promptly and with docility of heart; together with prayer, use the human means - however small - we have available ... With Christ, in all battles, we will emerge victorious, but we need to have complete confidence in him. Pray resolutely, using the words of the Psalmist: \u2018Thou Lord, art my refuge and my strength. I trust in thee.\u2019\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Francis is more popular because people see Jesus alive in his actions. Francis and Jesus are non-dualist. They see us as we are and love us and help us. Chaput wants to exclude us.\nI know Jesus Christ; He is my Savior. Francis is no Jesus Christ; nor is Chaput.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From what I have seen so far, they went after evangelicals hard, and evidently got most of them. They also played well to racists, but twittler does that well enough on his own.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you are supported by your faith in Jesus, does it really matter that his exact birthday may not be Dec 25th? Is that really the most important thing we take away from Jesus teachings on love, compassion, non-violence, wholeness with all living things? \n\n I'd say if your Christianity shins brightest during Christmas, you aren't standing up when you're needed most. Yet, millions of Christians are serving others in places like Syria or South Sudan, saving lives while they risk their own. And I might point out, standing with others of different faiths that share their pull toward compassion. The stories of Jesus portrayed a man that loved others without preconditions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our priest took a full 1:20, so when it came for \"Go, the Mass is ended,\" the whole church's mumbled response was, \"Thank God.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The sin of Sodom was that it was unwelcoming. You don't understand how important proper and appropriate welcoming was to the Mid-Eastern Cultures? Compare how Abraham welcomed the Three Visitors who came to see him. His language was one of great respect, his desire was to provide rest and refreshment for the Visitors [some theologians believe that the Trinity came in disguise to him]. Compare that with Sodom---its inhabitants were not welcoming nor respectful of the two Visitors who came. Remember Jesus stated that Sodom will have it easier on the Judgment Day, than Capernaum [Matthew 10:23-24, Luke 10:13-15].\n\n\nSpeaking of Jesus, he criticized Simon [a Pharasee] who had invited him for dinner for failing to provide the common courtesies of welcoming a guest [kiss of welcome and water to wash the feet]. But Simon criticized the repentant woman for washing Jesus' feet with her tears, drying them with her hair and anointing his feet with oil. [Luke 7:36-51]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The right wing never gets religion correct. Somehow you are a follower of Jesus and can carry a gun. Don't think so. Somehow you are a follower of Jesus and believe in billionaire oil barons over helping the poor through taxes etc. Don't think so. Somehow you are a follower of Jesus and wish to judge others (homosexuals) while having a plank in your own eye. Again I don't think so. Somehow you are a follower of Jesus and detest immigrants. Once again, I don't think so. \n\nOnly the right wing can take Jesus' very simple teachings and distort them completely the other way. Kinda like supporting the Iraq war and thinking you are a Christian.....polar opposites but somehow their minds can go there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So was slavery a widely accepted practice - it is in the Bible, probably in the written word of other religions. The powerlessness of women until the modern era is also present in almost every culture and has been amply written about in religious texts. More, women are still powerless in many cultures of today. Nations were ruled by \"divine right\" kings for most of human history until the last few hundred years.\n\nNone of this change to new ways of viewing these issues came about without huge protest from the \"status quo\" crowd, those who elevate \"tradition\" over reason. It took the \"badgering\" of those who saw a new way to view these issues, \"badgering\" to overcome the \"wisdom over the ages.\" The Catholic church still battles democracy, the liberation of women, and modern medicine.\n\nI think it is time for us to recognize that God created humans with different ways of experiencing and expressing their sexuality. We know more today about nature and ourselves that cannot be ignored.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Asking whether Jesus meant to be taken seriously cannot be the more helpful question. For if Jesus intended his words to be taken literally, then that disposes of the issue. For we say, God's will, not ours be done. It also goes without saying that Jesus intended that we take him \"seriously.\" You keep talking about the \"reign of God,\" as though taking Jesus literally is necessarily alien to that. That's illogical. \n\nYou also talk about the subordinating God's command not to divorce to the command to love God, love thy neighbor. They are not inconsistent. God doesn't give us inconsistent commandments. In fact, as I have told you, Jesus said, \"If you love me, you will keep my commandments.\" Your new-age theologizing is hopelessly illogical on several grounds, is counter to Scripture, and has been rejected for centuries by the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pray and do penance. Radical stuff. Isn't that pretty much Christianity 101?\n\nI don't mind when people put personal stock in Marian apparitions. I just mind when they get all militant about it, as if the rest of us had better get on board or else.\n\nBy the way, the Church has never sanctioned Akita. The Vatican has treated the alleged apparitions with deafening silence, while Cardinal Peter Shirayanagi, one-time Archbishop of Tokyo, said bluntly that \u201cThe events of Akita are no longer to be taken seriously.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Heaven and Hell are states of consciousness according to Pope JP2. Heaven is being in the presence of God and Hell is the opposite. St, Paul taught us that God/Jesus is within us and we are within God/Jesus. Jesus told us He will send the Holy Spirit to guide is. That is the essence of the Creed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We need to accept everyone and accompany them on their way towards Christ. Even if they don't believe as Chaput does, or how the Church in his eyes does, it is not our place to reject them. Many of our Saints were not suitable under Chaput's guidelines in their early lives...so who is to say what individuals should be a part of the Church today. Only by action do people really change their lives; the Church has been too long do as I say and not as I do!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "37 years ago he did - he was stripped of his \"missio canonica\", his license to teach as a Roman Catholic theologian, on December 18, 1979.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The vic only wanted music in the ...... Church of Christ. A big no no.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where is your support for ecumenism? \nI thought that issue was one of the hallmarks of Vatican II.\nCatholic cardinals and bishops have met with the former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in America, Katharine Jefferts Schori, several times and she is a former Catholic, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for the reference! I came across this interview. An excerpt: \n\n\u201cChastened by the failure of Soviet-style Marxism to liberate the masses, Silone still found in socialism the grounds for redemption. Socialism, he deduced, presupposes democracy; democracy depends upon community; and community grows from the simplest human actions\u2014caring for the sick, breaking bread, sharing wine. These gestures of love and compassion, Silone contended, also formed the fabric of Christianity\u2014not supernatural, institutional, or doctrinal Christianity, but a kind of sacred experience inherent in the practice of social solidarity. 'What remains then is a Christianity without myths, reduced to its moral essence,' Silone wrote. 'In the Christian sense of fraternity and an instinctive devotion to the poor, there also survives, as I have said, the loyalty to socialism. . . . I use it in the most traditional sense: an economy in the service of a man, not of the State or of any policy of power.'\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding:\"\u201cMs. Hammond\u2019s allegation that SNAP has abandoned its survivor outreach work is highly uninformed, if not malicious and defamatory,\u201d said Kruger, alleging herself that Hammond raised the suit \u201cfor personal promotion and financial gain four years after she separated from SNAP.\u201d\"\n- In these circumstances it is always wise to ask: Who is the driver of this lawsuit?\n- Is there a consortia of 'pure catholic church' types, be they episcopates or lay, who have inspired and impelled this lawsuit with accusations of organizational behaviour on the part of SNAP that could not be said to be illegal, much less unethical?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bible is best not taken literally. Do you believe Moses talked to a burning bush or was it his was way of expressing his communication and relationship with God?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We don't need the priesthood to have the sacraments. Presiders at the Eucharist can do the same thing, \"where two or three are gathered,\" we \"take and eat.\" Anyone can baptize. The community can forgive each other in the name of God, and it is really God who forgives anyway. The couple marry each other, and the community can witness and bless them. \nAs for canon law, the Church did nicely for many years without it. It is an invention designed to increase clerical power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Are these not traditional Catholic teachings on conscience?\"\n\nYes, they are PART of Catholic teaching ... but you systematically refuse to acknowledge the FOUNDATIONAL principle of conscience according to Catholic teaching.\n\nWant to know what that is? CCC 1782.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1st the Institution sees itself as all important . Then makes laws to protect itself while self-identifying with the Divine . It demands obedience to these laws . Appearances are all important . Even over the Gospel of the Lord Jesus . After 1700 years it's hard to change even when one knows better . There is a foolish idea but it gets a fancy name : tradition . All this is aided by another notion : Triumphalism which blinds those in whom some authority rests . From there on out the true role of leaders is suspect . It's like a bank whose officers made off with the depositor's money . Trust has been squandered even if they hire new personnel. \nThey are bankrupt !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The late Raymond Brown always insisted that the itinerant preacher we follow never intended to found a church as we know it.\" Brown was an academic & such items are easily buried in scholarly work. \"Always insisted?\" To whom? The USCCB? Did Brown ever flesh out his ecclesiology? The RCC is patterned more on the Roman Empire of Constantine that the itinerant preacher of Palestine. The first title popes proudly post is Pontifex Maximus. Or, P.M. as it is chiseled on pope tombs, etc. Clearly a hold-over from pagan Rome. If as Brown & other biblical scholars claim Jesus was primarily an itinerant preacher why not I.P.?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Following that further, baptism is only valid if by immersion in the Jordan River.\n\nClearly that is not the argument John Paul II or orthodox Catholics make. You're swinging for the fences and you missed.\n\nI invite you to finish the argument as an orthodox Catholic might. Just what element is missing from your straw-man, or for that matter mine about baptism above? John Paul II spent 1/3 of Ordinatio Sacerdotalis filling in the rest. How did he do it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see the evangelical purpose of the statement, as my immediate response was: \"Jeeeeesus Christ!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joan have you taken a look at Charity Navigator which evaluates US Charities based on many factors including funding source. \n\nIf not I suggest you do.\n\nThe last time I looked Catholic Charities et al in SF was 86% funded by grants not private donations...and that is not an unusual phenomenon.\n\nAcross the bay when I worked there about 1/6 of the Charities budget was donated (and I was a major donor) the balance was govt grants United.Way et al....very little, proportionately, was locally \"one by one\" personalspecifically catholic donations....\n\nThis is NOT an unusual situation.\n\nCharities staff are really capable folks but for the most part they are using tax payer dollars from folks who may not agree at all with the Church.AND the Church is getting credit for generosity that is NOT substantively catholic.\n\nYes there are a few folks who are both catholic, charity donors,and taxpayers. I am one of them...but we are proportionately minuscule. My point!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here, I'll give it to you point blank. I have some issue with comments directed at Donald Trump, but not as much as I should. He was elected in part because of his own horrific below the belt rhetoric. This is a man who spent most of Obama's presidency blowing the dog whistle of birtherism, will not definitively denounce Nazism and White Supremacy because it's a core piece of his base, and finds women to be nothing more than props for his own sexual predation...even his own daughter.\n\nHow any Catholic can defend this man is beyond belief, and you do defend him. When Trump brings Ted Nugent into the Oval Office to publicly dress him down for his race baiting, female demeaning commentary, I might start to re evaluate my opinion of Trump. In the meantime, Trump's one official act was to bring Nugent in the Oval Office for a photo op, thereby giving official approval to Nugent's rhetoric. And there is Breitbart and Bannon. Just wait for 'da Barbarian' to let loose.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sister Rosita, please do not shout in capitals! And let alone the ecumenical dialog between SDA leaders and other leaders. There is nothing non-Biblical or shameful in a dialog. It is better to tell God about your concerns. I do the same. And much of our concern is not worthy or borrowed. God bless you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But, Jesus didn't say any of this! What he did say is to be a model of compassion like himself. \nTesa, follow the teachings of Jesus, not Prevo, and definitely not Minnery.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Carthusian nuns have for centuries been ordained as deaconesses. They mainly read the Gospel at Mass and have a few other liturgical duties. At their ceremony when they become consecrated virgins, they get the deacons' stole and are ordained as deaconesses. This is an ancient privilege, dating back to the 6th century.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that you need a little more nuance here,\"foreshorten3...read the story again. Our Savior is NEVER \"comfortable\" with SIN; why do you think that He came to deliver and free us FROM our sins, to give His Life as a ransom for many? What are you even talking about here? The Scriptures tell us plainly that Our Savior was/is a Friend of sinners; that doesn't translate into endorsing and condoning ANYONE'S sins. Get a clue and understand the Word of God, NOT Roman Catholic groupthink. ---PEACE IN CHRIST, ALWAYS!\ud83d\ude0a\ud83d\ude0a\ud83d\ude0a.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As for pictures take a look in the mirror. Why do you paint with such a broad brush Herr Rhyner? All I see in the photo's and video's are working people wanting answers. I've seen photo's of you and you're not all that and a bag of chips Mr. John Bircher. You are a very small minded little man and he calls himself a christian? Not by the bible I read. Now get along Herr Rhyner before I take away your lunch money.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 2\n\n\u201cBut I see also joy, the joy that comes -- as I see it -- from seeking to become more responsive to God and to the 'other' and less responsive to the self, overcoming the pull of more primitive inclinations\u201d.\n\nYes I agree, but all our senses (primitive inclinations and powers) must be kept from those things which lead to transgression but this can only come about in obedience to His inviolate Word, as this obedience will save us from our sins, not in them.\nYes I agree \u201cHumility is freedom from pride\u201d but it is more than that (St. Bernard-Humility a virtue by which a man knowing himself as he truly is abases himself) as it leads us to give glory to our Father in heaven in obedience to His Word (Will) as defined by Jesus Christ, we all fall short of His Word and those who love/serve Him can do no other but bow down in humility before Him. As we all still stand in the mire.\n\ncontinued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hate to publically reveal my ignorance and spiritual ennui, but I'm not in the least concerned about unity with Lutheranism nor the Orthodox expression of Christianity -- in light of the disunity and schismatic state of Roman Catholicism. The RCC has lost MILLIONS of members over the past 50 years as it has struggled with the disappearance of fear as reason to follow faithfully, the horror wrought by child sexual abuse and evils of rampant clericalism, the continuation of gross misogyny, and unchristian actions against LGBT brothers and sisters, plus remaining at least 500 years out of date in the realms of science and human development. Those reforms would be much more meaningful to many remaining Catholics than would ecumenism -- which should be a given since we all (pretend to) follow Jesus anyway. Maybe we should put our own house in order before seeking to extend power and control over others' particular religious practices?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If that was true, Spain, Portugal,Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Georgia, Armenia, India, etc would have been fully Muslim. \n\nHowever, all of South America, large parts of Africa, all slaves fro Africa, tc were forcibly converted to Christianity by the Spanish, Portuguese, French, Brits, Belgians, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think anything has been removed but here is the longer version. Lifesite News is connected to Breitbart; it is basically the Catholic wing of Breitbart which makes sense given Burke's friendliness with Bannon. What happens is that Lifesite News makes some unfounded allegation. If it serves the Russia's purpose, they retweet it and amplify it and it later shows up in Breitbart and Fox News and the British rightwing rags. I suspect that they aren't willing participants but are being used as pawns by the Russians; it is a symbiotic relationship.\n\nMost of what the Russians are using Lifesite News and Church Militant for is to smear Pope Francis. At first I thought that Russia would see him as neutral, but Francis is pro-EU which the Russians see as a huge threat.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cI pray for them all daily.....But especially for myself that I continue to have faith in the message of+ Jesus Christ.\u201d\nI envy your siblings for they have you to pray for them. However, I believe if one was Catholic, they are Catholic the rest of their lives whether they know it or not. We have not lost Catholic faith, just having problem with corrupt clergies. We will figure out a way to worship God as a community without the corrupt clergies.\nMeanwhile, 'Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.'. (1 Peter 4:9)\nLove God always, love unites and you are always united with God in your love!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know....EWTN has certainly run USCCB programs including the recent Popes visit....I checked with Charity Navigator and it is a 501. c3 and funded by \"contributions\" and engaged in fundraising. Charity Navigator does not list donors although perhaps the 990s would. I would not be surprised if conservative Catholic entities were major donors. Whether specific bishops or the Conference are donors would really be helpful data....I assume because of their programming that there is much obvious connection.\n\nThe ostensible purpose of EWTN is to promote the Magisteriums agenda...which is also the USCCBs agenda....I will put the Charity Navigator data in a separate e mail....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Discernment and mercy are the two big pillars of this pontificate.\u201d\n\nSpadaro said Francis also distinguishes between the constructive criticism of those who \u201creally want, in good conscience, the good of the church\u201d and \u201canother kind of opposition, which is just imposing one\u2019s own view, which is ideological opposition.\u201d\n\nWell done, Good Pope Francis! The Gang of Four and their fans don't make constructive criticism. They make pharisaic foolery.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know, it is hard to figure out this mentality.\n\nIf CHRIST were here HE would might quote from Scripture in \"for it is written\". HE might quote Genesis 3, Genesis 18, Numbers 30, Psalms 45, Proverbs 31, Ecclesiastes 7 or the many other related Scriptures. Then HE might say something like \"But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.\". \n\nThen HE might say there is nothing holding them back in their service, except their desire and humility to serve. HE might say \"deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me\". HE might say follow the words of my friends, not your friends and teach the children as stated in Titus 2, before expecting blessings.\n\nThe power-hungry money changers is a very good example also.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like the evolution of all the commandments by Christ to the Two Great commandments to love God and neighbor. But none the less the 10 commandments are not part of RCC dogma. They evolved way before the beginning of the RCC....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marie Collins, using facts and his own words has shredded Muller's weak and excuse ridden rebuttal . Muller's attempt at deflecting criticism, by calling them misunderstandings was evidence that the only misunderstanding was his. Muller lacked the understanding that Marie Collins would not allow him to get away with worn out excuses and deception. \n\nShe challenged him to answer a final question\nIf all necessary means have been in place to address cases of negligent bishops in respect of protection of children from abuse, why then has no bishop been officially, transparently sanctioned or removed for this negligence?\nIf it is not lack of laws, then is it lack of will? I am sure many survivors, myself included, would be interested, in the answer to this question\n\nMarie Collins set a good example for all Catholics. If your bishop displays duplicitous behavior, like being deceptive or treating victims horribly. Call him out. Have we not had enough of this behavior from \"shepherds\" ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Best wishes for his recovery. As Bob is a devout Christian Scientist, I wonder how he felt about being resuscitated as well as his subsequent surgery. Christian Scientists believe disease is a mental error rather than physical disorder, and that the sick should be treated not by medicine, but by a form of prayer. He must not have prayed hard enough.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes who could forget the dead boy on the beach face down and the Liberals falsely pointing the finger at Harper, lets not forget about the Liberals calling Harper racist for attempting to rush through the Christian Yazidis from ISIS persecution or Mohamed Fahmy crying foul.\nYes the Liberals and the establishment sold their soles in the last election, hope is was worth it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think I'll stick with Cardinal Farrell over the Burkes and Chaputs who see alleged or imagined confusion as \"of the devil\" (Chaput actually said that). And I personally would bet Cardinal Burke and Archbishop Chaput simply disagree with--rather than are confused by--Amoris Letitia. Either way, I think Farrell is on target. Or do you think he's wrong?\n\"\n\n\"If you find Pope Francis 'confusing,' you have not read or do not understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ.\" Cardinal Farrell\n\nSometimes ambiguity--and attendant \"confusion\"--is the natural state, and demanded clarity is actually an artificial perversion of it. It's like saying \"2+2=4\" is clear and unambiguous dogma, ego \"3+1=4\" is confusing and \"5-1=4\" is downright of the devil.\n\nBe not afraid of \"confusion;\" it's often a gift Catholics are afraid to unwrap or accept because it's easier, more scrupulous, and more comfortable to live without it. \n\nI wonder: can a lazy demand for \"no confusion\" sometimes be \"of the devil\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good to know...God bless and I look forward to reading you again...PEACE IN CHRIST, ALWAYS!! \ud83d\ude0a\ud83d\ude0a\ud83d\ude0a.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the way that modernity interpenetrates antiquity is of particular interest in re Saudi Arabia. Moving forward, can religion and politics be peaceable in the mutuality of their relationship? Can such a marriage happen without violent consequences? Top-down authoritarianism is usually unhappy and uncompromising about anything that compromises the politics of authoritarians. We can only hope Saudi Arabia gives the world a new paradigm to consider in the co-relationship of religion and politics. Our Church, Roman Catholicism, has much to learn.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are repeating what you wrote above. If there is no 'difference in degree of holiness' to which a ministerial priest is called----than we really don't need them.\n\nIn actuality, we have NOT ONE IOTA of proof that Jesus ordained anybody----not at the Last Supper, not at any other time. The early Christian communities [33-100] in Palestine and where Paul, Barnabas and others established communities, SELECTED their own 'presbyters' for gathering around the table.\n\nThe ministerial roles were assumed by ordained deacons [women as well as men] and bishops. There were not priests. The role and place of the priests came some centuries later and only after a theology had been crafted to support their 'status'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...took that course at the University of Chicago.\"\n\nChicago University is a great school. I am familiar with it. \n\n\"Notre Dame is the 18th ...but it is not among the highest ranking ones....\"\n\nNot bad -- out of 4,300 degree granting US universities -- to be 18th after Princeton (#1), only a little over 175 years old, Catholic in values/standards, and one of the top 10 universities in the country with the largest endowment$ (ahead of Duke, Chicago, Vanderbilt, etc., in that regard). It takes great pride in those achievements. Only two other Catholic universities -- Louvain University [ranked #1 university of Belgium] and Catholic University of Chile [ ranked #2 university of Chile] -- have higher rankings in their respective countries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The last time a Girl Scout came knocking at my door I told her I'd buy one box of cookies for me and another one just because of the evangelical Christians who hate the Girl Scouts. The next time a Girl Scout comes knocking I'm going to tell her I'll buy three boxes: I'll add one more box just to spite the Catholic bishops who hate the Girl Scouts. Take that, bishops!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, your edits are written at the usual Wikipedia level, so there's that.\nYou should note that Sacagawea was enslaved by other Indians (in fact, slavery was entrenched in most American Indian cultures, especially in the PacNW). And sold as a slave by Indians to her truly terrible \"husband\". And that Lewis and Clark praised her to no end and acknowledged that without her, they would have failed.\nAlso, I don't think it is noteworthy that a former boy's school didn't admit females. There are and were plenty of Catholic \"girls\" schools that, surprise!, don't admit boys.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Austen and Brittany talk about Francis' papacy, the reform he is bringing to the Catholic Church\", \n\nSadly for me the interview was rather bland, more like a PR exercise but possible that what it was meant to be.\nNo mention of Child abuse cover-up\n \u201cPapacy in Motion\u201d\nRather in denial of the true reality of the situation, that is the ongoing loss of moral authority.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, R.D.? Your response shows that you are a Republican first; Christian second.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesus never told us to worship him but rather to follow him.\"\n\nDo you believe Jesus was God incarnate?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure where they live but in BC catholic school tuition counts as a charitable donations, I have 2 boys in Private (catholic school) and most of their tuition provides me with a charitable donation of about 10K per year", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Off topic but slightly connected. When I was with the OFMs I went to the National Gallery in DC. I bought a print of the Temptation of Christ in the Dessert which showed Satan in a Franciscan habit. I showed it to my Guardian and he laughed and said \"Jesuit propaganda\", then laughed again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fairly bad advice. The truth is actually just the opposite.\n\nGod forgets our sins. Once our sins are forgiven in Sacramental Confession...we should form - with God's help - a purpose of amendment (a decision of the will) to not do x, y, or z again, asking for God's grace in this matter. \n\nThen we should forget the sin. Recalling, returning to these sins is very bad for us. Creates baggage, guilt, distraction = all of which is \"distance from God\". \n\nThese things take up room in our mind..and create distance from the intimacy with God that HE GREATLY DESIRES. \n\nAnd as regards sins and offenses against us when we don't forget we tend to turn into resentments.\n\nA great priest I know told me once to ask the Holy Spirit at Communion time to help me forget some injury that had had happened to me, and it was a marvelous result.\n\nGet to Sacramental Confession and come out clean as a 5 minute old baby.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The legalization of those who are already here, who are taking jobs from U.S. citizens, is not a \"necessity.\"\n\n\"The law of God takes precedence over human laws\"? \n\nSeems like that was the same idea behind hiding priests from the law.\n\nHow about this, Bishop?\n\nRealize that the current law is actually quite just, is not in any way counter to \"God's Law,\" and that by encouraging people to break the law, you're perhaps the one who is out of step with God's law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great post Russel. The fundamental question that is not getting answered is whether the RCC needs to posture as a nation state. I use the term 'posture' because the Vatican City State demands the rights of a nation but consistently shirks the corresponding accountability because it will turn around and claim to be a religious organization. The USCCB is playing a similar game with the Obama administration through it's blatant misuse of the concept of religious freedom.\n\nThere will be no lasting reform as long as Catholicism at it's highest levels has notions of being a global political power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course He is. Read Scripture. Jesus took on our sins. What do you think the Cross is?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If God is love then any manifestation of true love is a manifestation of God. There is plenty of empirical evidence that many gay and lesbian couples are living lives of committed love for each other. These examples of committed, sacramental love are powerful examples of living out the commandments: love God and one another as I have loved you...just as powerful (and sacramental) as the committed sacramental love of heterosexual couples.\n\nYes, we need the conversation that is suggested by this article and I hope that it is inclusive enough to hear the voices of heterosexuals like me who will never completely understand what it means to be gay or lesbian or trans (with all of the mean spirited and/or negative labels that demean their human identity and goodness) but who do know genuine love when they experience it themselves and see it in others, regardless of sexual orientation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\nRachel's Vineyard offers non-denominational retreats as well as Catholic.\n\nYour reference is to Bishop Patrick Zurek of Amarillo who said that Priests for Life is a civil institution, not a Catholic organization. This was the result of a failure on the part of Fr. Frank Anthony Pavone, director of Priests for Life, to properly report to the IRS and provide financials. Fr. Pavone was at the time incardinated in Amarillo.\n\nThe statement of Bishop Zurek was similar to the pronouncement by Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, Missouri, that the National Catholic Reporter should not advertise itself as a \u201cCatholic\u201d.\n\nIn 2012 the Congregation of the Clergy - since Priests for Life is in the archdiocese of New York - concluded the archbishop of New York is the competent authority to exercise authority over it. Fr. Pavone had all reporting brought up to date and returned to New York and his home diocese.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ROTFL, no, I was thinking of Joseph of Cupertino. I wasn't aware that Teresa was the levitating type. Apparently, there was a lot of levitating during the Counter-Reformation.\n\nBut even in our own time, Catholics were obliged to (at least pretend to) believe the thoroughly debunked story of how \"Mother\" Theresa cured a woman of cancer and in the manifestly mythical Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoazin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ never taught that it was wrong to kill in self-defense or in defense of another. In fact, the Church teaches that \"Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore it is legitimate to insist on respect for one's own right to life. * * * Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then why all the fuss?\n\nIf Jesus ordained no one and laid down no rules for ordination, why do women demand ordination?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "11/19/16 Comments are still open and maybe even more relevant today in light of Burke & company's actions this past week. I found it interesting that Cdl. Farrell spoke so much of the laity \"needing a voice,\" and I've written that same thing at least 100 times here over the years. While it's true that we have no direct, official channel through which we can be heard, I think one only has to look at the ubiquitous statistics and \"see\" how millions of us have spoken -- not with our voices but with our feet -- oven the past 50+ years. \n\nWe've said clearly, seriously and with finality that HV was wrong, that couples share in creation with God and family planning occurs, within conscience rights, in that union. We've said our LGBT selves, children, friends and family deserve all the rights, respect and privileges that accompany baptism into the Church. We've said women are equal in humanity and baptism -- and ministry. We've asked for accountability for child abuse. We're not heard.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What actions has Francis taken in four years on the issue of clergy rape and molestation of Catholic children and its coverup by the hierarchy ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Human's are preoccupied with rules. Jesus was not. To ascribe a rule to Jesus -- as if he were also preoccupied -- is what I meant by the temptation to idolatry.\n\nAnd it is precisely the community -- having seen Jesus challenge their regime of easy rules (e.g. Deuteronomy 24:1) -- who would be tempted to adopt much more demanding rules. And thereby miss the point. Jesus calls us as church to metanoia. Be patient. The church will in the end get the point.\n\nOne way of looking at the point Jesus was making -- which the church summarizes as \"preaching the reign of God\" -- is to consider a pair of bookends. At one end is a vision: love of God and neighbor is \"all the law and the prophets\". At the other end is a cautionary tale about burdening people with rules: Luke 11:46.\n\nJesus preached wholes. Interpreting what he said so as to extract what looks like a \"rule\" -- simple and clear -- and filter out what makes us reflect and touch the Spirit, misses the whole that Jesus preached.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "simply not true. Modern science uses both reason, observation and experiment. Modern science is NOT based on philosophy at all...if so we would never have quantum mechanics...we might even think that the world is flat and the Bible is literal. Modern science refutes what you have posted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I did NOT offer my opinion as \"symbolic\"! \nJesus lived/died/rose in time and space. Do you deny that He \"instituted\" Eucharist on Thursday, in a house meal BEFORE he died (the next day and at another location) and BEFORE he rose from the dead (the day after that and in still another location) and that he lives today. Do you deny that or assert that it is erroniously symbolic? Do you believe that the Jesus who did all that is not the same Jesus who lives today and is present in the Eucharist?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's really sad about this is you got to know liberals are upset about this story . They want illegals left alone , and in fact they are welcomed here . In they're quest to get more voters , they want everyone around the world to be here in America . We all should be celebrating these arrests and be eagerly awaiting more . Not liberals . They are probably making protest signs as I write screaming for these illegals release . That pastor who always seems to write against Christian values is probably at work writing his next opinion piece demanding we let them go and welcome them into our town. How could any reasonable person be against Trump building a wall that will help keep drugs and illegals out ? How could anyone be against a temporary ban on keeping people from certain countries out until we can figure out what the heck is going on , giving us time to fix our entry systems ? It's like liberals want to destroy America , not keep American's safe .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our Constitution and law are based on Judeo-Christian biblical principals that define right and wrong in a way that is subtilely distinct from other traditions, the differences being exemplified by what to do when a stranger is drowning in a dangerous river. We, if we are brave enough, jump in to save them. Science based secular morals, devoid of religious principals, by contrast, are cruel, survival of the fittest being an example. Religious moral principals separate us from the animal world. To say a judicial nominee should be excluded because she adheres to Judeo-Christian morality ignores the religious underpinnings of our Constitution and legal system, who's absence would make them unrecognizable. Democrats question Amy Barrett's fitness because they've strayed from traditional shared moral beliefs, because they don't trust democracy, and because they have become reliant on liberal judges to thwart the will of the people who they profoundly mistrust.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Newman Society that purports to \"protect\" the authenticity of Catholic higher ed would be another example of the groups you cite...Maybe 100 years from now they'll have a Bergoglio Institute dedicated to challenging the superficial myths of God's endless mercy. It could be across the street from the Burke Society, a liberal think tank dedicated to the values of vigorous dissent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi! Jay thank you for your comment \n\nThe true image of Divine Mercy is a reflection of our inner self, in our own Brokenness/sin/frailty before God, and the message that is manifest, calls out to those in deep sin who cannot receive the sacrament of reconciliation to place their trust in His Divine Mercy. \nSo that when these words which have been given by Him are said publicly, with sincerity of heart, before this reflective image of their inner self \n\n \u201cJesus I trust in thee\u201d \n\nat that moment in time they are made clean before Him.\n\nYes very true we are all sinners called to repent (Change Direction) and in knowing this would we not delight in encouraging our brothers and sisters to change direction also, especially those who are entangled in a sinful situation.\nEventually we will all have to stand before God and give account for ourselves, He cannot be deceived and only He knows who is clean (sincere) before Him.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "agree. I don't bow to \"kings\" which are creations of human societies anyway. Only Christ is Lord.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The FIRST American-born Catholic martyrs were Maura Clark, Ita Ford, Jean Donovan, & Dorothy Kazel. They died on December 2, 1980.\n\nNo matter what the Vatican clerics say or do, Stanley Rother, who died on July 28, 1981, was the FIFTH American-born Catholic martyr.\n\nAnd we all know why the Vatican clerics are pretending that Rother was first, before these four women who actually. Were. First.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's what happens when a Catholic right-winger tries to make B XVI's dream of a \"smaller, purer church\" come true. Thanks for the heads-up!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You speak as if the Church and what it teaches is not the pillar and bulwark of truth. Why are you even Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "International conglomerates? The article makes it seem like it's some great scheme from food companies to intentionally make the world fat and sick. Compare how much 1,000 calories of cookies cost compared to 1,000 calories of your fruit of choice. The author acknowledges that it's a complicated issue yet I fear the mention of the big players in the food chain is a scapegoat tactic. It makes us feel good to call out the bad players in a general sense. It allows us to feel good about our own believies without having a moral responsibility. Rather, we should analyze our own role in the issue and how we might be contributing to the problem. This is an issue directly related to poverty. As socio-economic status increases, this problem decreases. How much of your income have you given to Catholics Charities or the poor? Do you help tutor less fortunate students? Have you supported religious organizations that serve the poor? Those are much harder questions that demand a response from us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A statement from the Vatican press office said during the course of the cordial encounter, the two men discussed the good bilateral relations that exist between the U.S. and the Holy See. They also spoke of their \u201cjoint commitment in favour of life, religious liberty and freedom of conscience\u201d. [code for anti-abortion and the ability of Catholic agencies, schools, hospitals to discriminate against women and LGTBQ persons with tax-payer funding as follows]\nThe statement expressed the hope for a \u201cserene cooperation between the State and the Catholic Church in the United States\", which is engaged in service to people \"in the fields of health care, education and assistance to immigrants\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Buddy, u said the attack had nothing to do with the Catholic calendar. I just proved u wrong.\nWhat dont you understand from the statement ISIS issued.\nAPOSTATE HOLIDAY- Hello, people were celebrating the New Year not May Day!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus never that was the reason behind the rule. But he did tell us the reason, and it's contained in the same passage we're talking about. I'll leave it to you to see the reason he states.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus said it would have been better if Judas had not been born. The Son of Man will return to judge the living and the dead. The groom says: \"I do not know you\", and king throws the improperly dressed out into the street. \n\nGod loves us all unconditionally. It is up to us to respond humbly and love him totally.\n\nSt Thomas Aquinas raised the question: If God is everywhere, is God in hell? His answer is, yes. God is in hell. Then Thomas asks the next question: what is God doing in hell? And he replies that God is in hell loving the damned. The damned may refuse to be loved and they may refuse to love in response, but the damned cannot cause God not to love them.\n\nGod loves us enough to let us refuse His love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The virtues you list would be ideal to be found in a priest but not only in a priest but in each of us, especially those called to be counsellors. A priest, however is not primarily a counsellor, he is someone who primarily offers. sacrifice.\nA Catholic priest at Mass offers the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross in an unbloody, Sacramental manner throughout time and he does this at Christ\u2019s bidding in the place of Christ. \nGod willed that Christ His anointed one be born a man which surely must have some significance in the scheme of things. Christ uniquely became both priest, High Priest and Victim when He offered Himself to the Father on the Cross for the sins of the world. The apostles and their successors have preserved this essential maleness, this charism of Christ\u2019s High Priesthood in the priesthood of Christ\u2019s Church.\nWould that people accept this today as they have done for over 2 millennia up until today. Why, asks the psalmist, \u201c.. do people imagine a vain thing.\u201d(Psalm 2).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The tragedy of 'Humanae Vitae' is that in an otherwise beautiful meditation on marriage, Pope Paul got bogged down by one sentence: \"Each and every act ...\" Unfortunately, Paul yielded to the worst possible argument against the report of the Commission: that modifying the traditional teaching would weaken the teaching authority of the church, and specifically of the pope. We know that the argument had it precisely backwards: the failure to respond to new information and new insights (and the hardline subsequently adopted by Pope John Paul II) is what caused a massive erosion in the church's credibility to teach about marriage, sex and family.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't doubt whether author of Matthew thought Jesus was divine. I wonder whether he thought Jesus was GOD. He obviously believed Jesus was the Messiah, a second Moses, a divine emissary.\n\nYes, I've heard of the Great Commission. Matthew postdated Paul's mission to the Gentiles, after all.\n\nThe issue is, what was Jesus's conception of his mission? The story of the Canaanite woman is obviously allegorical. But does it also incorporate some recollection of the words or sentiments of Jesus? We don't know.\n\nI'm amused you think you have a handle on the \"correct\" interpretation of any thing in the NT. Well, you don't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know where you live, but where I grew up the only kindergarten was public school. I went there one year and then to Catholic school for the next 12. My parents still had to pay taxes to support the public schools in addition to my tuition at private school.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The so-called religious right touts the Bible under one arm and a 357 magnum under the other. So long Constitution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you have actual citation for that? Even if you did, that proves nothing. Popes can talk all they want. What matters is what they officially teach in union the whole Church. \n\nDo you have a citation for JPII being told he has no basis for not making this a dogma? Hans Kung, Ray Brown or other dissidents do not count. I am aware that there is some discussion as to whether his statement should be taken as an exercise in Papal infallibility or whether he was merely reiterating what is already infallible--and thus no need for him to make an Ex-Cathedral statement. In short--the question isn't whether the teaching is infallibly---but the how it is infallible manifest to the Church. \n\nPope Francis indeed confirmed what JP II said. This publication did a whole write up on it on \"Pope Francis Confirms Finality of 'Ban' on Women Priests.\" Google it. Read it. Women's ordination will always remain a fiction of the WOC and Gary Macy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "thank you for this info......I'm guessing peacehealth with their association w/the Catholic Church might have issues involving advanced directives.. regards, Gary", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. The Synoptics make it clear that there were no male disciples at Calvary. 2. The fourth Gospel states that the Beloved Disciple was at Calvary along with \"the mother of Jesus.\" Neither the disciple nor the mother are named in the Fourth Gospel. 3. The Fourth Gospel is acknowledged to be written at three levels: the historical, the theological, and the symbolic. Contemporary biblical scholars identify the beloved disciple and the mother of Jesus as theological and symbolic in the narrative, because none of their actions are mentioned by the other evangelists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh look! Another simplistic analysis of the world in terms of \"the good guys and the bad guys\", \"the white hats and the black hats\", \"absolute virtue and absolute evil\", avoiding the messy complexity of reality.\n\nI thought that was supposed to be a nasty mental habit of white, Christian Europeans? Apparently that is something you \"caught\", in residential schools no doubt?\n\nDifferent people no doubt had different intentions, or a mixture of various intentions. People in 1800 didn't think like late 20th century people, obviously. Some wanted to \"save their souls\", others wanted the land, still others wanted to provide an education that would make it possible to function in an agricultural but industrializing world, and that meant \"destroying the Indian in the child\" as much as getting illiterate peasants educated meant to \"kill the superstitious, ignorant peasant in the child.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because the vast majority were not hysterical over the issue. They did not consider it murder, even the Catholics, at that stage of pregnancy. There was no chemical birth control at all and latex had not been invented yet. Government statistics of the day were not professional, jobs were by a spoils system 150 years ago. That you don't like the source of the data is predictable, but that says more about you than the data.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Monica, I agree with you completely. The prime motivator of sexual activity is sexual desire, otherwise known as lust even in Great Britain. \ud83d\ude09\nAnyone who has had the opportunity of a 'sexual experience' does not usually indulge in a debate within their consciences as to the appropriateness of their behaviour or if they do the debate is likely to be short-lived. The urge more often than not will quickly overwhelm the moralising.\nHowever for Catholics the decision is usually fleetingly, 'do I abide by the Church's teaching or not?' I have been faced with this decision myriad times during my long life and made decisions pro and con, mostly con, alas but I have never really succeeded in deluding myself that these contra decisions were the correct ones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Irreverence and silly music would scare away non-Catholic visitors. Hopefully they could see past that and realize they are meeting Jesus in the Eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But the restriction against divorce comes from Christ, his commands not the Cardinals.\n\nThere is no left wing or right wing politics, there is orthodox and heterodox. Faithfulness to Christ and his apostles 2000 year old teachings, and deviation from it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are wrong again there. Who is denying freedom of speech to either the Pope or Fr Spadaro? \nThe Pope speaks freely every day at Domus Sanctae Marthae, during audiences, gives interviews, etc. Spadaro has La Civilt\u00e0 Cattolica at his disposal.\nThey both have absolute freedom of speech but that doesn't guarantee that what they are saying is always necessarily correct.\nNobody begrudges them freedom of speech otherwise how would we be able to know what they were thinking?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So Christ was unqualified for talking about marriage?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What, in your opinion, makes a person Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's video of Benedict and an Orthodox patriarch reciting the Creed in Greek, a language in which the Filioque is not included in the RC version of the Creed because to do so would have heretical implications of some sort. At the Byzantine Catholic Church, the Filioque appears in parentheses and is omitted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting indeed, Violet. The RSV also as \"in the presence of Christ,\" translating, I think, \"en pros\u014dp\u014d christou\" as it would have understood before the term \"pros\u014dp\u014dn\" became a technical term in the trinitarian disputes, then meaning \"person.\" It is Hebrews that talks about the one High Priest, and it says there is only the one priest. Somehow later theologians began to think others could participate in that priesthood, a though foreign to Hebrews. And the rest is history. . .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "DeGioia stressed that Georgetown's school community would continue to support the DACA program and \"protect our undocumented students to the fullest extent of the law.\"\n\nThank God that someone in the Catholic community is doing something to stand up to the current climate of fear and hate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well it is not merely a canon law doctrine, it is dogma as Saint John Paul II and Pope Francis reiterated most recently the Church does not have the authority to ordain women as priests. \n\nIn a sacramental view ordination is given to us by Christ as is, we can no more change it then we could use chocolate and cranberry juice for consecration. Ordination is a like the other sacraments is a mystery we receive but don't have any ownership of them. How can we presume that our desires are better than Christ's. \n\nSpiritual fatherhood and the priest acting in persona Christi as the vicar of the Bishop who in turn is a vicar of Christ is at the core of the idea of the sacramental priesthood. Christ incarnated as a man and chose male apostles, chose to address our relationship to God as that of a father and his children, this is not an arbitrary thing.\n\nChrist is as a bridegroom, something which a woman cannot symbolize nor can she be a father. All our earthly relations are analogues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There were gentile disciples, females disciples, gentiles ordained as successors to the Apostles, but no females ordained as successors to the Apostles. The constitution of the Church was by the Word Incarnate, not by the Church itself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You might be right. I think it is not just one thing, but a multitude of things that has brought about this decline. The RCC's stance on contraception, the massive increase in divorce, feminism, and the societal upheavals of the 60's have each chipped away at the Church's authority. Once that happened, it was a 50-year decline to where we are now. \n\nDid Vatican II have a positive effect on the Church? Fifty years on and the Church is shrinking as parishoners stay away in droves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why don't you address Danno's point? Who helped these victims before SNAP and Jeff Anderson took up the cause? It certainly wasn't the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy. \n\nI know it's pointless to argue with you, but I will anyway. If you have the courage to read anything on Bishop Accountability, you will find that your belief that it was all the fault of post Vatican II seminaries quite wrong for the US, Ireland, Australia and any other country for which we have legitimate government investigations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic doctrine on Just war hasn\u2019t changed. There is no Apostolic document or teaching that says it has changed. You simply do not know what the Catholic Church teaches. Personal opinions of popes are not part of the Magisterium.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I recall back in the early 90's I had returned from a poor return on seining one season and was absolutely destitute. I had to stay in one of those horrid church sponsored shelters and remember being turned away because they wanted me to pray and join in services at least twice a day and all i wanted was a job. Prayer only takes you so far, and I don't need to be in a church to pray, I can do it walking to a job interview, riding a bus to the job fair, or even praying quietly while listening to a potential employer. What is needed is action, and using the suffering of a person's situation to get them in the pews is not my idea of a system for all. What about the Buddhists and Muslims? How about Atheists and Agnostics? Do we turn them away as well because they don't want to pray with self-aggrandizing Christians? No. The answer is that we need more and more useful programs. The article doesn't say the man didn't want help, it says that he didn't fit in any of the categories.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" ... 1950's Catholics most certainly knew what the Bible taught as it was presented to them continually in school an Sunday School.\"\n\nAs you yourself like to say, WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE TO BACK UP THIS ASSERTION?\n\n\n(And if I had made as many typos in a comment as you did in this one, O what mockery would have followed ...)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry for your loss Rygaard family. Gabe was one of a kind. I hope he had a relationship with JESUS....GOD bless you all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This proposal is too little and too late! The Roman Catholic priesthood remains the bishops' sacred cow, as they alone are permitted to discern and to ordain. In their pre-programmed minds, their jurisdiction over the faithful, such as it may be, requires the indentured service and slave labor of men who have become ontologically different, a breed apart, by the laying on of bishops' hands. Sounds very New Testamentary, but it isn't and cannot be made over!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You must have heard of Jimmy Savile. Everyone thought he was a wonderful man because he did such an enormous amount of good, raising money for charity, no doubt feeding many who were hungry, giving of his own time to look after the sick, etc, ostensibly loving his neighbour just as Jesus told us we should.\nHowever, at the same time he was breaking God's Law by abusing children left, right and centre for years. Can you by any stretch of the imagination say that that man, who no one denies did an enormous amount of good, actually showed any real love of God or his neighbour? Do you think that the good he did excused his behaviour in disobeying the divine Law?\nHow many times do we come across, say at work, someone who we take to be a wonderful person, kind, loving, caring, etc only to hear later that he was living a double life, cheating on his wife, or beating her, abusing his family, stealing or lying? Would we continue to say that that man loved God or his neighbour?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What does Jesus have to do with any of this? It simply isn't part of a \"religion.\" What did Jesus have to do with antiquities from 2,000 BC in Iraq? People just claim anything they like as being a \"religious\" belief, even violating the law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suppose either of us can do our homework if we're so inclined and research the larger context in which Francis' statement was made. Then we wouldn't have to guess about whether it's a gaffe or part of a well thought out thesis, or something else altogether. \n\nYes, we do each tend to interpret isolated statements through the lens of our own biases. I'll certainly cop to that. As for NCR, they have an editorial slant and they make no bones about it. The Wanderer can interpret this from their perspective too if they like. More grist for the mill.\n\nI'm on board with the traditional Catholic criteria for a just economic system, which is basically about not taking away individual choice or a person's freedom to do honest, dignified labor and improve his/her condition. Collectivist systems, obviously, violate those principles, but so does excessive capitalism, especially when it's fueled by corporate greed. And Francis isn't the only pope to say so. JPII frequently did as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't like either Donald Trump or Pope Francis, but good on Pope Francis for agreeing to meeting with Trump, this shows some seriousness about all that \"dialogue\" and \"encounter\" stuff...it's easy to engage in dialogue and encounter with those we like and it's obvious Pope Francis and Donald Trump don't like each other. Maybe next the four of his own cardinals who put out the dubia can get an audience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Witness,\n\nOK, so you think you have all truth. Jesus told us all to go and make disciples for Him so that means even you are responsible for actively and continually bringing people into the church. So, how many people have you seen baptized in the past year as a result of your \"ministry?\" In the last five years? The last 10 years? In your lifetime? I've NEVER seen anyone who argues like you do bring anyone into the church but I've seen them drive a whole lot of people out of it. \n\nIn contrast with that, God has been blessing my ministry and using me to create new believers. But to be honest, I can't tell you how many because God told me to not count them so I wouldn't be proud or think it was my work producing the results. It is all His power working through me and I wish His power was working through you so you could be effective for Him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus called men and women to be his disciples. A ministry with men and women would enhance the church in so many positive ways. The church in Ireland strongly supports women's ministry and should be commended for being so enlightened and forward thinking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously the criticism is that the leaders of the organization are not faithful, at least not to the teachings of Christ. As for success, how do you measure that, Deacon? Is money success?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Jews were in such awe of God's name, that they developed the convention of NEVER pronouncing it out loud. Although the written Hebrew text remained Yahweh, the reader substituted the word \"Adonai\" and read that aloud to their synagogue congregation. The word \"adonai\" simply means \"lord,\" a word reserved for addressing aristocrats. \n\nWhen the Jews translated the OT into Greek, they substituted \"kyrios\" (Greek for lord) for the Hebrew Yahweh. Early Christians adopted the Greek NT, and thus inherited this translations \"error.\" When the Greek was translated into Latin, we got \"dominus\" (Latin for lord), and when the Latin was translated into English we got \"Lord.\"\n\nHowever, modern translations are direct from Hebrew to English, so translators have to decide between truthfully translation Yahweh as Yahweh, or adopting the Jewish convention.\n\nI suspect, but have not checked, that the substitution of \"God\" for \"Lord\" is an attempt at a middle ground. Lord is wrong; that is not God's name.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR is engaged in appropriation of Catholicism. (As much as the left complains about appropriation when it is committed against groups it favors.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How it amazes me that those who are NOT Catholic feel it incumbent upon them to point out what is \"wrong\" with the Catholic Church.\n\nWill you also be discussing the \"enormous attrition\" of your 15 year old church and other churches, too? Or substantiating your claim concerning the rate of attrition?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What apostasy do you see in that passage? Kasper never denies the historicity of the stories. He says that the Easter experiences are projected on to the stories, or they were stories that anticipated he Resurrection. What is wrong with that? Do you think the evangelists did not know about the Resurrection when they wrote their gospels? Ot that they wrote the gospels for some purpose other than to reveal the Gospel?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Nice\" ... but really - is this going to get into the pews without the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus including social, inter-generational, and ecological justice in their \"pro-life\" agenda which is currently basically defined as anti-choice legislation. \n\nThat Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson can celebrate this moment as a historical \"pro-life\" moment because of the people being named by Trump suggests to me we can expect no change from the Supreme Council.\n\nWith how the Supreme Council define \"pro-life\", including Family and Life issues over the years, it is clear they prefer an ideology that priorizes profit over life. Not actually consistent with our teachings or those of Jesus. \n\nParish and district K of C members need to challenge the disconnect between the totality of our teachings and the orientation of the Supreme Council.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course, Cardinal Reinhard \"We are not a subsidiary of Rome\" Marx neglects to mention the pope owes loyalty to Christ as well, as Pope Benedict taught:\n\n\"The power of teaching in the Church involves a commitment to the service of obedience to the faith. The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary, the Pope's ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and His Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas. Rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God's word in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down and every form of opportunism.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"What, in your opinion, makes a person Catholic?\"\n\nCC theologian, R. Mc Brien, put it this way: \"To be Catholic -- whether Latin/Roman rite or non-Roman/Latin rite --is to be in full communion with the Bishop of Rome and as such an integral part of the Catholic Communion of Churches\" [all 24-- 23 Eastern Catholic and Roman/Latin/Western Churches].\"\nAnglican theologian A. McGrath notes about the CoE: \"..state and parliamentary documents regularly describe\" the Church of England as \"the Protestant Episcopal Church of England and Ireland.\" Its titular head, the queen, promises to uphold the \"Protestant faith.\" (The Episcopal C. originally was the \"Protestant Episcopal Church.\") It's hard to know which voice speaks for Anglicanism owing to its ecumenical inconsistency (in doctrine/practice), especially regarding Lutherans, Protestants (whom -- through the Provoo Agreement -- they are in communion with), etc. What their ecumenical right hand does often contradicts what is done by the left.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you are replying to the wrong post. My comment was concerned with the Sacrifice of the Mass.\nI will say this though, that it was Christ who said marriage was indissoluble long before any Council of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where have I denied the authority to promulgate the Novus Ordo? The NO is a valid Mass and Jesus is present in the Eucharist there. \n\nWhat is fair discussion is the wisdom of liturgical changes with the benefit of 50 years hindsight.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great observations by Reese. The reason Pope Francis has ruffled so many feathers is that he dared to state openly that within the context of Catholic canonical tradition there may be circumstances by which the divorced without annulments may be sacramentally reconciled. Priests who have any compassion at all have known for a very long time that there is not a one size fits all solution for those divorced and remarried persons seeking reconciliation. There are solutions known as internal forum solutions which are treated with the greatest confidentiality and discretion. In them the priest and the couple walk a path together by which they take responsibility for the decision to move on with the help of the sacraments. Members of the hierarchy will deny this happens or lament or even condemn the practice, but they know very well it goes on. Now Francis has blown their cover and many of them are upset.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The classically liberal approach to social issues was to challenge traditional conservative beliefs: Christians good, non-Christians bad; men strong, women weak; straight good, gay bad, etc. Liberalism (again, in the classic sense) says these group identities have no place in the public sphere, and should be given no legal recognition. A citizens is a citizen is a citizen. A woman has every right that a man has, a gay person has every right a straight person has, etc. That's why it was liberalism that fought the racist and sexist behaviours that were normal in decades past. \n\nBut the left is no longer motivated by liberalism. Instead, they've turned to cultural Marxism. Under that model, it's groups that matter, not individuals. We shouldn't ignore that someone is a woman, or Asian, or Catholic, or Muslim. Those identities should actually be our main social role, and balancing the outcomes of those groups the goal of justice.\n\nVery different ways of looking at the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We really don't know a lot about what Jesus did when he was here. Most of what we know about him was what he preached about God and his performance of miracles to let us know that he was God. Not a lot of secularism, as I see it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Scott, I'm concerned that you are missing out on the truth. The Catholic Faith is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Catholic Faith is not a label, but a way of life, a path to Salvation. The truth of original sin, his virgin birth, his miracles, his physical resurrection and ascension into heaven. The truth of heaven, hell, and purgatory. The truth of Mary's immaculate conception and her assumption into heaven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope - They will not! However, they will definitely lecture you on how you should support pro-lifer Paul Ryan who's has just recently asked the very Christian Question: \"Why should men have to pay taxes for prenatal care - we don't need prenatal care?!\" What a great Catholic! He is probably a K of C.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was being (half) facetious. The point is icon-veneration is inconsistent with the concerns attributed to Jesus in the canonical gospels. Far from it.\n\nI read a little of Faustina's \"Diaries.\" It's just what you'd expect from an uneducated, isolated young woman married to the Lord of All.\n\nJesus to Faustina:\n\n\u201cI seek and desire souls like yours but they are few. Your great trust in Me forces Me to continuously grant you graces\u201d (Diary, 718).\n\nUh huh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Father, I respectfully disagree, what does a miscarriage have to do with a deliberate abortion? That is like comparing a fatal traffic accident death to an intentional shooting death. As a priest your counsel is very powerful, and if you lead others astray from obvious Catholic teachings, you may be held responsible at your final judgement. I hope you reconsider your comments regarding abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What amazes me most of all, after decades of heinous acts committed in the name of the church [including their role during the Argentine dictatorship] not one Word of Knowledge, Prophecy Prayers in the Spirit..........or condemnation by Mother of God.\nMedjugorje run by the Franciscan where miracles were supposedly happening daily...Rosaries turning to gold laid claim to her intervention too.\nFrancis was partial to the visionaries himself irrespective of what he says today as pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW - you need to educate yourself on ExxonMobil's climate change policies currently and the role Tillerson has played to shift ExxonMobil policy on climate change. Is it where you and I want it to be - not yet but it is on the way. You show no evidence of doing the hard work of research; and a ethical lack of nuance. \n\nTYPO - OR (not ARE) - so, catholics need to sell off ExxonMobil stock because they are *evil* - really? In fact, research last two shareholder meetings in Dallas at the Myerson Hall - various religious orders have been able to submit proposals and votes have been taken on climate change. Please compare that to any other Fortune 500 company and let us know the comparative results.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, but parents do want to become grandparents. As long as chastity/celibacy is the vow that both religious/priests must take----parents will not be eager to encourage their children to espouse religious life/priesthood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am so sorry Don. I have a theory I call abandination it is like ordination but only happens to Catholic clergy abuse victims\nPeople that believe in God so devoutly that they become a priest. They are supposed to tend to their flock. When a little member of the flock gets molested by devout God believer The little flock member is immediately abandoned and discarded for life and is instantly turned into an adversary (abandination) We feel like we are discarded and hated. Remember now these are societies most devout God believers. \nThat refuse to respond to our letters. That tell us it was our fault for being abused. That cheat us. \n It is hard to explain but when talking to many of the most devout God believers I can feel the hate and disdain toward me. They blame us for tarnishing their collar\n How could a person that believes in God, refuse to reply to a sex abuse victims letter?\nI have never received a reply to letters sent to Rome or the US nuncio, or Archbishop Listecki", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "it didnt take long for Pope Francis to get rid of RM. Now she just vents her spleen by writing screeds for the NCRag\n\ngood to know!\n\n\"On September 10, 2013, Bishop Morneau turned 75, the age at which bishops must submit a retirement request to the Vatican. On October 7, 2013, Pope Francis accepted his retirement\" - Wiki", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What other power but civil government has the authority to make this prudential judgement? \n\nPope Francis says capital punishment \u201cis per se contrary to the Gospel.\u201d A statement no pope, including John Paul II, has taught. He went on that \u201cno one ought to be deprived\u2026 of life .... no matter how serious the crime that has been committed, the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and the dignity of the person,\u201d and that traditional arguments in defense of capital punishment \u201cnow appear clearly contrary to the new understanding of Christian truth.\u201d He wants \u201ca more adequate and coherent treatment\u201d of the death penalty with a more negative attitude toward it than the Catechism issued by John Paul II. The Catechism already includes a prudential judgment to the effect that under contemporary circumstances capital punishment should be \u201cvery rare, if not practically nonexistent.\u201d\n\nHow is this not a new teaching in contradiction to John Paul's?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1 John 5:\n9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. \n\nHIS witness, HIS Works, HIS Spirit all belonging to HIM. We always seem to try to take HIS credit and not debit our many failures.\n\nJohn 7:\n38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.\n39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)\n\nCHRIST did speak of the Spirit, but the comforter is here to bring us in remembrance and teach us all things.\n\nJohn 20:\n22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:\n23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.\n\nIs this an attempt to recreate Rome? Should they have not confess their sins to CHRIST and not man?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well your sentiments are all good and right, but how is it that any Catholic can vote for a person who will fund planned parenthood for abortions and maintaining that they are working for justice? It beggars belief. To quote Pope Francis \"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think it says a lot that he is elevating cardinals who will likely be too old to vote for his successor. He is thinking of the needs of the Church today, not stacking the deck for his own legacy. God bless, you Pope Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part One) In the Dubuque Archdiocesan publication THE WITNESS, 10/ 30/ 2016, Father Robin Ryan, professor of the Catholic Theological Church in Chicago, speaking (October 20) to a crowd of 50 people at the Catholic Student Center, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, \u201cCatholics at the Crossroads: Why Catholics Leave the Church and What Can Be Done About It\u201d, says: \u201c\u2026we live by osmosis\u2026 the nones (18-23 year olds) have not had a Catholic education where you had religion at nine o\u2019clock and biology at 10:00. This kind of education gives the message that there is no conflict between faith and science. BUT (emphasis added) IF YOU DON\u2019T LEARN THE TWO TOGETHER, YOU THINK THERE IS A CONFLICT BETWEEN THEM\u201d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Happens every day in all of our schools and churches across America. We love you and Jesus loves you : We welcome you into our fellowship, we are sorry your were born that way and DON'T EVER DO IT! \nWe can have sex but you can't!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lars: I'm really sorry you are so lonely that you need to exemplify many of the personality traits that turn so many off from organized religion in your responses here. Just because you have proclaimed yourself the all knowing expert on the Bible doesn't negate the fact that you are simply giving your opinion and no one needs to treat it any different. Have you tried a puppy? Animals can't detect sanctimony.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many things Aquinas proposed were rejected and vice versa.\n\nSo, what you're pointing out is that within less than a century after the Church arose from the catacombs the meaning of \"Full of Grace\" was being discussed by the Church's best and brightest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm speaking as a matter of Catholic morality, not the child outcome standards that you speak of. If child outcomes are our barometer for morality, let's take all the kids away from poor people and give them to rich people, and stop the rich people from having their own kids.\n\nFor you worldly types, psychology will tell you that the loss of a parent is a devastating experience for a child; part of that is the loss of what one had, but part of that is the loss of what one stood to have going forward. You start with one parent, you've already suffered the devastating loss of the other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "William, I find it hard to believe that there is no dualism in Thomism. By what logic can one say that a 'body' is 'fallen' while a 'mind' is not, IF one considers that mind is but a function of a body? ie, all that exists is material in nature. I very much doubt that even Aquinas would attempt to argue that one. James White, otoh, was fearless in making those kinds of arguments. All you have to read are his editorials in the R&H.\nWhich leads straight into your 'structure of the Christian weltaungshung' as regards creation. It seems to me that you may be seeing this through your 'materialist' SDA eyes. See T. McIlwain's E G White: a Phenomenon of Religious Materialism. Natural selection and creation need not be the mutually exclusive categories you claim for them, unless one holds to a fairly rigid 'structure' of these matters, including an extreme literalism of Genesis. OTOH, how does a literalist account for the 'creation' of so much in nature that is not 'good?'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John wrote:\n\"I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ve ever read a more self-serving commentary than the one shared by our two bishops. Yes, there is a history of bigotry in America (who knew?), but there is also a history of separation of church and state. School choice is a complex issue, but the bishops are all about the money here, not about righting a wrong from 1876.\"\n\nThe paragraph above was offensive and judgmental.\n\n\"Our public schools belong to all, and all are welcome. There is plenty of choice available through our public schools, whether through open enrollment or charters.\"\n\nThe public schools do not belong to all. In Detroit in counties where more than 21 percent of the local population is Catholic, the school boards have official policies of only hiring 3 percent of the teachers to be Catholic. At the University of South Florida where 28 percent of the local population is Catholic, most departments have 0 percent Catholic faculty members. This is the SOP at public schools nationwide.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Were you speaking to him recently?\n\nI have over three decades provided to you citation to the Vatican II documents which, in discussing conscience, make it clear that for someone with access to the magisterium to form their conscience in disregard of it is itself culpable, and that because Catholics have access to the entire revelation, they will be held to a higher standard and judged more harshly.\n\nAnd then I read this again.\n\nIt should be no surprise to find the bait not taken.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you misunderstood. Half of my family descends from ethnic Lithuanians who lived in St. Petersburg and converted to Russian Orthodoxy from Roman Catholicism 2 centuries ago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why limit (sex) to marriage? Most senior and junior high school students inthe Catholic system don't go there!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I scored ten out of thirteen on this particular quiz. (I've never been in the position to help someone get an internship, neither of my parents had anything more than a high school education, and I think that tweeting is for the birds.)\nBut do I feel privileged? -Not especially. My father, thanks to his union, had a stable job with a decent salary and pension as a worker on the Canadian National Railway, and as a result, I grew up with a standard of living that at least approached middle class. \nNeo-liberals will rant and rave that, as a public servant, -a Catholic high school teacher in Ontario- I occupy a privileged position. -I feel that I earned everything I received performing an important and very demanding job.\nOf course I'm well aware of the growing gap between rich and poor in this society, and the rapaciousness of the 1%, and I promoted a Catholic social justice message in every lesson I taught, over the course of more than a quarter of a century, as was my mandate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting selection. Who is this \"other\" that women exist for? It is man, the man, and I keep going back to the title: \"...in the church and in the world\". Absolutely clear. It's a \"collaboration\" of understood and willing subservience, from her creation to \"her\" sin; after which it is unequivocal obligation. Ratzinger, for and as the church emphasizes with absolute clarity of literalism: \"God's definitive words to the woman...\"...and he shall rule over you\"\". \nThe exclusion and diminution of women is not a stupid, or mis-interpretation or mis-reading of Jesus - it is deep, deep, pernicious and pervasive. It is not a theological \"argument\" or issue for dialogue, explanation. When the church, pope,whomever states that men and women are equal as persons, THEY ARE LYING. They/we are so steeped in the culture of the lie which in this instance we call \"theology\", even quasi \"dogma\" that we say it with quiltless impunity, aka, with a straight face.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church has lost this and likely the preceding generation of Catholics through the thuggish anti-LGBT advocacy it has engaged in, largely via the K of C, over the past several years. They aren't winning in the political realm, and they are definitely leading the Church to is nadir here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That pre-sixties \"omnipresent and omni-invasive\" cloud over society was associated--just before it burst wide open--not only with Catholicism but with the premier, Maurice Duplessis, a populist tyrant who refused to modernize Quebec society and used the Church as an ally and justification for his brutal policies. It was not surprising that Quebeckers rejected this vision and never returned to it. I understand what Francis is trying to do and it'll be interesting if the bishops pay attention and . . . try something different. Durocher is a supporter of opening the diaconate to women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What sin did the Prodigal Son commit that his father forgave him?\n\nHe hurt himself, not his father.\n\nAnd if you read the text, he was a humble son, a sorry son, a contrite son.\n\nYour position is totally from the Gospel of kari2 which is why you can\u2019t support it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Should your \u201cprayer\u201d be answered, and anyone else of your choice gain power, exactly how would that further Christ\u2019s will for us?\nThere\u2019s a reason He never challenged or worried about the oppressive Roman government that ruled during His life on earth, and His message has never changed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks, John. This comment string been a long slog and, of course, we get down to those who say \"if you don't accept ...(whatever that person considers some kind of key issue)... you are not Catholic. \" \n\nBut I am, no matter what they think. There is much beautiful in this faith, much that helped me come to love God and try to know what is good and right. But, like tens of millions of Catholics all around the world, I don't buy all the hierarchy says, I don't accept as infallible or perfect what is taught, no matter how erudite the philosophers and theologians. \n\nJohn, I am willing to listen, willing to have them present what they know and understand. I do listen - there is a lot of wisdom in the Church. But I am not willing to just buy it. We so desperately need dialogue and an openness to seeing that good people don't all walk in lock-step in their journey to God. I believe there are many forms of being a good Catholic, even if the powers-that-be don't agree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If we want to look at God, doesn't Matthew 25:31-46 tells us very explicitly where we need to look.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More and more, the \" ontologically different\" clergy appear to be irreformably corrupt. Their days are slowly coming to an end. While it will not happen in our lifetimes, a future iteration of Catholic Christianity will be one without clergy. The current structure simply doesn't work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you consider an abuse victim who remarries to be in mortal sin? Does a woman who is beaten by her husband own him fidelity? Is that what you want to go with? \n\nAnd conservative Catholics have decided to look down on whole groups of people they don't like and exclude them from the Sacraments en masse. Amoris Laetitia states that it is wrong to treat all remarried people the same and exclude them from Sacraments. Circumstances matter. An abused woman who courageously leaves her abuser and later rebuilds her life and wishes to remarry is different from a rich sleaze who wants to trade in his wife for a younger model.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What Catholic Scripture Scholars tell us is equivalent to 'the Church' tells us.\n\nIf the Genesis stories were intended and inspired by God as a myth form of writing, we need to deal with that fact. Our theology needs to reflect our knowledge of Scripture.\n\nAll the constructs we have developed about a 'fallen' nature are actually our given 'human nature'. Even the myth picture seems to realize that! Humans were created with death as part of the prospect, like any life-form; and they seemed to 'sin' very easily. Not much difference from 'before' or 'after' the 'fall' being pictured.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was raised catholic and evangelical protestant Christian and had friends who were Christians of other denominations. I have observed first hand how abuse works in Christian churches. The catholic church was the least problematic. I saw a great deal more dysfunction in the evangelical/protestant churches. They're not going to get away with abusing women who are not members of their church. We know these churches intimately. We know their rhetorical contradictions and their ideological inconsistencies and what they fear. We can disrupt their activities if they do not leave us alone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am so flattered that you have assumed the role of John Bunyan's omniscient narrator, casting me as the local Graceless Christian. Please do continue to chronicle my journeys. \n.\nIronic is it not that the original classic was entitled: \"The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come; Delivered under the Similitude of a Dream.\"\n.\n\"Classic\" indeed...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Roman Catholic Church is still trying to recover from Pius X's papacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part I\n\n\"Blessed Pius IX and Vatican II are in accord regarding religious freedom it is just that you either can't or won't see that.\"\n\nThe two teachings CONTRADICT each other.In his 1864 encyclical, Quanta Cura, Pius IX condemned \"that erroneous opinion, most fatal in its effects on the Catholic Church and the salvation of souls, called by Our Predecessor, Gregory XVI, an 'insanity,' viz., that 'liberty of conscience and worship is each man's personal right, which ought to be legally proclaimed and asserted in every rightly constituted society; and that a right resides in the citizens to an absolute liberty, which should be restrained by no authority whether ecclesiastical or civil, whereby they may be able openly and publicly to manifest and declare any of their ideas whatever, either by word of mouth, by the press, or in any other way.'\n\nPius was citing Gregory XVI's 1832 encyclical Mirari Vos.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"... a priesthood that includes women in significant numbers.\" I pray for a priesthood that is, like humanity, 50% men and 50% women. We need natural gender balance in the Church hierarchy. An ordained woman bears natural resemblance to the Incarnate Word as a human being, just like an ordained man does. We just celebrated \"Corpus Christi,\" not \"vir Christi.\" The Church hierarchy must be integrally human, male and female. This is the integrally sacramental priesthood I hope and pray for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"They asked the pontiff to state whether passages in a landmark document on ministering to families that he had issued in April could be interpreted to allow divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion in some cases.\"\n\nThis has been allowed and practiced, for a very long time. It is called: the \"Internal Forum\" What's the fuss?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't this the church that was founded by Mr. Smith in New York? And, weren't they kicked out of every state East of Utah because their religion was founded by Mr. Smith so that men can have multiple wives? And, don't many of these \"religious\" Mormon's still have as many wives as they want? What a religion! They're almost as good as all the pedophile priests and bishops in the Catholic church. As they say in Australia, \"bless\" 'em all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder if the answer might be the lack of a free press and the rule of law.\n\nDo you think the Chinese would stop at half measures and, for example, ensure that any prisoners (there wouldn't be any prisoners!) were given a copy of the Koran?\n\nThey would be what we cannot be in the West, i.e. ruthless in wiping out any terrorist networks and would not err on the side of caution as the rule of law demands we do here.\n\nPlus there would no problem in imposing a news blackout which would avoid the problem we have here where news coverage ensures that any new mode of attack is quickly copied and incites terrorists to seek their fifteen minutes of fame.\n\nPlus if the author were correct in that we are dealing with something in the nature of a retaliation why are the Coptic Christians being slaughtered?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your scenario poses no threat to me... none whatsoever. If a trad pope is elected at some future date I will simply ignore him, much the same as I ignored PF's predecessors. The only reason I pay attention to PF is because of his clear, simplistic style and emphasis on preaching a gospel of love/mercy/compassion. I also like his call for clergy/prelates to be less self-referential (i.e., full of self importance) and to smell more like the sheep they are expected to serve. PF is well aware of how the papacy came into existence (and subsequent rise to power), hence his humble preference to be addressed as the Bishop of Rome.\n\nWhat makes your stance on faith so precarious is your reliance on the \"chair of Peter\" to uphold ancient forms/customs/doctrines as validation (if not outright substitution) for your own personal faith. As the very definition of \"personal\" faith implies, someone else can't do it for you and, in fact, should not hold you back in seeking authentic, personal faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, that's not from Jesus (alayhis-Salaam), it's from the Impostor Paul, alleged author of 75% of your \"New Testament\". And I'll put my Scriptural understand up against your any day, sonny. Hope you know a Semitic language or two...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "WE are also called to be \"saints\". And God is not insulted by our attempts to KNOW, LOVE, and SERVE in our own times----not to be leaning on the past. People who are afraid to 'move out of their comfort zone' and follow Christ as TODAY's world needs, are 'tepid'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for a wise theological approach for how faithful Catholics should encounter transgender people. This reinforces my experience with all of the parishioners, nuns, priests and bishops that I have revealed my transgender history to. It also affirms Pope Francis's comments on the Spanish trans man he encountered. He has made some rather hyperbolic comments on 'gender theory ' and if we are ever able to determine what he means by that there may be some concern but he has made it clear that the treatment of transgender people must be accepted and supported. A modern theory is not a cause of transgender people. We have existed in every culture, throughout history and in 'primitive' cultures too. Our medicalization and marginalization are evidence of our current cultures struggles with gender as class and the inequality inherent with that. But that might be a whole other article.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually it is not the point. You\u2019re reading it to mean that a marriage that was validly contracted, a sacrament, could be voided by an act after that marriage.\n\nSince this conflicts with Christ\u2019s own words, it interprets it to mean that the putative marriage was never a marriage at all because one of the parties was either incapable of fulfilling or had a positive intention against a primary requirement for validity - monogamy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remember the words of Jesus, relating to a millstone & scandal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Gabriel Project does what you what Buster describes, although the extent of aid depends on the local operation.\n\nhttp://www.catholic.org/news/national/story.php?id=34368\n\nSome dioceses have robusts programs to aid women with pregnancy and beyond.\n\nhttp://adw.org/pregnant-need-help/\n\nhttps://www.catholiccharitiesdc.org/sanctuariesforlife\n\nhttps://www.catholiccharitiesdc.org/page.aspx?pid=368\n\nI support a home run by sisters in one of the dioceses which provides pretty much the entire package for pregnant women from housing through birth and then job placement and beyond with as much as I can.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You won't hear the word Christ in Catholic schools.??????? Have you been inside any in the last couple of decades. There are many crucifixes and many stained glass windows in the chapels that were paid for by the school community. They have masses for Easter and other religious holidays and at graduation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Original question, \"I doubt you can come up with a quote from the bible where Christ is saying 'good riddance' \"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trans-substantiation is a philosophical explanation of how bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ. And yes, it means that every muscle, sinew, bone, etc and flowing blood as well as the soul and divinity of Christ is present under the appearances of bread and wine. When we receive Holy Communion we receive God, Himself into our own bodies.\nFrom Lauda Sion:-\n\"Hear, what holy Church maintaineth,\nThat the bread its substance changeth\nInto flesh, the wine to blood.\"\nSt Thomas most certainly does not say the bread and wine do not cease to exist. \nThe word 'accident' immediately implies car crash in most people's minds. In philosophy it has a totally different meaning. The 'accidents' of bread and wine relate to their appearance and one assumes that they are bread and wine.\nHowever, at the Consecration this bread and this wine undergo a 'substantial' change; they become something that they appear not to be.\nYour explanation is very near the Protestant doctrine of Receptionism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't exclude the heterosexual priests who molested female children; twenty percent of the victims in the USA were female, and we may never know how many girls have been molested in parts of Latin America and Africa (more than half of child victims in South Africa are female as reported by Southern African Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference on their website in 2010), or how many women are mistresses of all ages to supposedly celibate clergy worldwide.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What happened to all of the nuns? I didn't realize that the selfless devotion to God is only worthy when it involves performing mass, preaching, and officiating at sacramental ceremonies. Ironically, the holy people who had the greatest impact on my life as a Catholic were the nuns who taught me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hooded,\nThank you so much for these additional evidences of these very sad and even gruesome events in our church. \nThankfully, the Good Pope Francis while not acknowledging such nevertheless seems to be trying to stop those kinds of fundamentalism and terrorism that have been done by the Right and the RRs (Religious Right).\nI dread the next presidency as I think we will see more of the same. \nIf there is a tribulation this is it. \nHopefully I will be proven wrong. But my hope is scarce and slant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What are \"the evangelical states\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Was God Jesus' biological father?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I say drive through rural Quebec and see,....it's very striking how many relatively grand churches there are in relatively small, poor communities. Very striking. They are almost all Catholic churches. Where do you think the money came from?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To continue ..... Some folks never have been taught or were exposed to a life where word choice was an option not a neighborhood dialect. And when some did learn some have decided well in your face with it. \nAgain, another area for dialogue and reflection together for some time to come. Now time to reread Huckleberry Finn and some of the other banned books. Bowlderlization and old school Catholic versions tried to stop the use of these words . I don't think it worked though I understand the thought process. You can't control life and who we are both the not so great and the very great.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess you've never committed a sin.\nWhat company: Jesus, the Blessed Mother, and you.\nLucky you.\nI envy your status.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about the Gospel? There's not much savor of medieval natural law to be found in the words of Christ. And while you might respond, well, there's not much \"system\" there either, and for that we look to the Church, I would respectfully disagree. Christ purposefully downplayed, and often challenged the systematic and rule-driven (of which there was plenty in his time) in order to place the emphasis, instead, on first principles, such as love and mercy. A system without much system. And a radical advance in moral thought.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I have said before, I do my best not to judge someone, because I myself am a sinner in need of God's mercy regularly. I do, however, believe that through the way I sinned against God so terribly (impurity), like Saul, who became Paul, God can use the worst sinners (yes, I was a very bad sinner) to help those once they have humbly repented and turned away from their sin. God wants so very much to use those sinners who have fallen to their knees before Him, owned their sin and so very much want to please God (we do this best by obeying His Commandments and leaning on/putting our trust in Him and not trusting in our own understanding - to help others. Let us never forget that our goal here on earth is to become Saints. To do this we have to deny ourselves, our wills and obey/do God's Will. Kevin, God wants Joe and all in similar positions (those who are engaged in pre-marital sex, sex with someone of the same sex, being married and being sexually intimate with someone else. (continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course Durbin and Feinstein didn't insinuate the candidate is somehow unqualified because of devotion to her faith. That's just a straw man argument Kass conjured up so he and others can act out their Christian persecution, victim-hood, grievance shtick, a technique Bill O'Reilly perfected on Faux News. No need for you to take to you fainting couch over this, Mr. Doe. It's just show biz.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "suppose you would apply this to any sin. but true love let's people know that they are headed to destruction. may not be popular, but then Jesus was not, either. the Lord said: \"go and sin no more\", not have a great time, keep it up, all is right in your own eyes, truth is relative. homosexuality was not accepted at all by the Jews- a capital offense. the gentiles are expected to remain sexually obedient and pure, but the food stuff did not apply.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sic-um Motley..............Ya, and he will offer to buy you a cup of coffee too..............\n\nAs Old Soul's buddy Ken Kesey once stated, \"I was raised a Christian and was a stone-faced acid head\". How about your drug quote Old Soul????", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 of 2\nTruth cannot, as it always involves carrying one\u2019s own cross, the walking of the \u2018Way\u2019 behind our true Shepherd, Jesus Christ\nPlease consider reading a continuation of this same theme in my Post in the link below.\nhttp://www.catholicethos.net/bishops-can-save-catholic-church-america/#comment-168\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I'm not certain \"Islamophobia\" is the right term to use, it is very na\u00efve for Canadian's to think that there isn't a greater threat to our society. It is a historical fact that in every country where a Muslim minority turned into a majority the Christian's were either forced out or left that country. I should point out that much of the world's population is Muslim and they have gained majority populations in many countries around the world through birth rate. Canada doesn't need to be one of them. We can be practical or we can be liberal but when it comes to Muslim immigration I'm not so sure we can be both.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the protection of an innocent life is perhaps where it starts. But where does it go from there? It defines the life in question in a most controversial, unnatural and disrespectful way, showing little or no regard for the women whose pregnancies are what sustain these innocent embryos and fetuses. This is what is meant by the church's woeful neglect of nuance.\n\nMoreover, not all cases of \"innocent life\" receive the same advocacy from church authorities. The most notorious example of this bias, affecting the greatest number by far of innocent living creatures doomed to die, is the failure to pronounce a robust doctrine of defense of nonhuman animals exploited and killed in the various food industries. A minimal consequence would be to declare an animal-free diet part of a commendable, even virtuous Christian lifestyle. A stronger, more logical consequence, along the lines of declaring abortion a sin, would be to declare eating animal-sourced foods a complicity in sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "yes. But I think even in this day there are those who have SSA, are faithful Catholics and if called to the Priesthood should be allowed to go into discernment knowing what the sacrifice will be. But to have the door slammed in your face because of \"tendencies\" is shameful. \nI understand the Church thinks that SSA is a choice (or least many do) but having lived all my 70 years with this I assure you it is not. When I was received into the Church two years ago, there was much soul searching. Bottom line, would I assent to the teachings and then live a chaste life for the remainder of my life. I said yes to it and have been faithful to my promise. But as I told my priest, if ever I broke my promise to the community, to myself and to God, I would tell him and then leave. But now I wonder if I have made the correct choice. I am tired of being labeled \"disordered\" and having it thrown up in my face at every turn as if somehow God has made trash.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Literally cutting funding for educating children to enrich themselves.\n\nJust like Jesus would have done.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Curious. Give us a sample of those that bind individual Catholics and not simply the clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since the KKK was nailing American Flags on the Catholic Church in Eugene in the 1920's, some might not have to climb too far up that tree, either.\n\nhttps://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/ku_klux_klan/#.WDT-KoWcGM8", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dan Brown writes fiction. It provokes serious consideration and exchange of ideas. \nThen why do you believe the mythology of Genesis? Adam and Eve did not exist. Nor the fall that you believe Jesus had to die to save us as payment to God. \nGod is Love and when we are one with God we are saved. Jesus came to teach us about a loving God, not to become a sacrifice for a myth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"One of President Donald Trump\u2019s most steadfast constituencies has been standing by him amid his defense of a white nationalist rally in Virginia, even as business leaders, artists and Republicans turn away.\"\n\nHow ironic that our business leaders have a more faithful and unswerving moral compass than our evangelical leaders do.\n\nWouldn't it be wonderful to hear one of Jesus's spot-on parables explaining this phenomenon?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Should be\n\nBut isn\u2019t\n\nThat\u2019s why there is STILL a crucifix in the Quebec Legislature\nAnd \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d written on every piece of currency in the US\n\nOh and \n\u201cGod keep our land glorious and free.\u201d\nRecognize that?\n\nApparently most folks have no problem with Christian secularism. Just like White Privilege. Invisible but totally there when you look.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 2\n\n\u201cWhat God has joined together let no man put asunder\u201d\n\n\nCan same sex couples love each other yes absolutely, please consider reading see link below \n.\n\n\n\nhttp://www.v2catholic.com/background/2015/07/2015-07-25Kevin-Walters-a-bond-of-Divine-Mercy.htm\n.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pre-Vatican II, the liturgy was God-centered, an elaborate ritual that was refined continuously and reverentially for more than 1,600 years. Catholics could go to any church in the world and participate in what was essentially the same ritual that their ancestors attended. There was also the reasonable expectation that their descendants were going to essentially the same God-centered ritual. Vatican II changed all that and turned it into a Man-centered ritual in line with the fundamental shift turning the Church from being a cult of God to, in Paul VI's own words, \"being a cult of Man\" . . . less supernatural, more humanistic and therapeutic with every generation.\n\nThat fact you currently have a majority of US Catholics who support abortion, homosexual marriages and euthanasia tells you all you need to know about how disastrous that fundamental shift in church orientation has been to the spiritual lives of millions of Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The future of humanity does not lie solely in the hands of great leaders, the great powers and the elites. It is fundamentally in the hands of peoples and in their ability to organize. It is in their hands, which can guide with humility and conviction this process of change. I am with you.\"\n\nI agree with what the Pope says. Who would not. But the change that is needed requires more democracy modeled along the lines of America's Constitutional Republic and the decentralized ownership of land and the means of production and distribution of goods and services. The socialist, centralized administrative state, which I fear is at the center of what these groups actually strive for, is not the answer. Not to mention the fact that the socialist model is contrary to church teaching and the centralized administrative state will always, one way or another, work for the destruction of the institutional church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The objector says Weinandy should go out and do pastoral work rather than be a theologian. Diocesan priest Charles Curran has done nothing for the Diocese of Rochester since the mid-1960s, has promoted theological positions that are not Catholic (yes, I have studied him, yes I picked the verb \"promoted\" because churning out a petition of dissent on a papal encyclical hours after its release in the mid-1960s is personal showmanship, not scholarship, and yes, the CDF was right in 1987 to declare him not to be a Catholic theologian). The NCCB-USCC backed down into a fetal position when it refused to stand behind Cardinal O'Boyle's effort to discipline him, and now ... when Weinandy asks whether the ambiguities of Amoris Laetitia demand clarification, suddenly papal deference has made a comeback, the \"academic theology\" choir is crickets, and there is a pressing need for a theologian to go and do \"street evangelization\" ? Sauce for the goose ....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I did. Before I question another person's command of the facts I feel obligated to at least do some cursory searches on the internet. For example.\n\nThe Al-Fuqra or ul-Fuqra allegation: For my quick and dirty searches it seems the US and EU don't consider it a terrorist organization because records indicate they only commit acts of violence against rival factions in Pakistan. I'd guess the state department made a record in case of possible threat to the diplomatic and touring citizens over there.\n\nThe founder of the MoA, Ginalli IIRC, wrote a couple of books attempting to \"scientifically prove\" the accuracy of his faith. He founded the community of Islamberg in New York. The same Islamberg that was under threat of an armed attack by Doggert a few years ago. This attack seems partly caused by a video created by Ray Mauro an advisor for the Christian Action Network. The video, which depicted terrorists being trained in firearms, was rejected by local and federal officials.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Mass...is the unbloody reenactment of Lord's sacrifice on Calvary\". So shares a poster below.\nGranted this rhetoric is what many of us were fed as growing-up Catholics under the \"mortification, abnegation and self-denial\" age of patriarchal dominionism.\nThese folk cause poor Jesus to die so many times every day for almost two thousand years- the sad epitome of \"Ground Hog Day\". \nJesus death without resurrection is a sad memory of pain and injustice to a great man of magnificant potential. Nothing less. Nothing more.\nThe Jesus I encounter in Eucharist is risen. His pain remembered. Not felt. Otherwise folly. \"Alternative fact\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When did Jesus DEMAND that anyone kneel before him, when he was ministering on this earth. KNEELING came into the Church when emperors thought that they were popes and popes thought that they were emperors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At no point did the Catholic Church consider \u201c(e)ating shellfish, wearing gold, men cutting their hair, eating pork, eating any meat with dairy products\u201d as immoral under the natural law or divine law.\n\nBecause they are ritual prohibitions based on a covenant, they could never be interpreted as natural law prohibitions.\n\nBecause they are not part of the moral law imparted to the Jews, when attempts were made to impose them on converts, the Church declined to do so.\n\nThis attempt to do an end run around the moral prohibition against same-sex sexual activity is doomed to failure, therefore, because it is based on falsehoods.\n\nAnd, of course, \u201c(t)he church will change, as it always has, or it will die a deserved death of natural causes\u201d contradicts Jesus\u2019 own words, which is part and parcel of the defective theology that led to it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In these modern times people look to improve relations with other \"churches\" but that, ultimately, does not benefit anyone. Remember, Jesus said he came to bring division and strife. We know our Holy Mother Church, led by Our Holy Father and a select few men, is the One and Only True Church. As long as we give others to believe that they have a chance to avoid the fiery pit by practicing other \"religions\" we encourage them to make the wrong choices. Life is a pass/fail exam and those who don't get the right answer (Roman Catholic!) are in serious trouble. It is an act of love and mercy to mercilessly criticize their beliefs and remind them of the impending condemnation, so that they will join the One Church, before its too late and they end up spending an eternity in severe torture, thorough God's mercy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was so glad that my mother did not practice any organized religion and left me be free. \nI heard many times the cradle Catholic's sad stories. \nIt was Jesus who initiated my connection with Him.\nWhen I was a young girl (7- 8 years old) staying at home alone He said I was never alone and He was always with me. I looked around to see who it was talking to me and I was all alone. That happened few different times. I converted to Catholic when I married a Catholic man. \n\nI had this invisible God who was always with me and treating me like I was His favorite youngest daughter. I was afraid someone will bound to complain about Jesus favoring me. When I go to church, I felt Jesus smiling & loving gaze toward me from the altar. I did not pay much attention to the sermon but soaked up Jesus love and came home happy. \nThings just happened that way naturally for me. So you had a holier intentions!\nContinue,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right on, Wombat. My logic is obviously weak as you point out. I was filled with the fond hope that at least some people on reading me might stumble on to my subtle silent intention of having them realize that Jesus Christ had NO MORE knowledge than what he picked up at his home, in the Synagogue, on the dusty streets of Palestine and messing around with his fishermen and farmer friends, and from the many hard knocks just like you and I and everybody receive during our life time: just as we read: \u201clike unto us in everything except sin\u201d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A right is something that everyone has. The fact that A may deprive B or his or her rights in no way means that B is not entitled to his or her rights. The right to life is denied when people are denied needed health care. That does't mean the right to life does not exist. Nor does the fact that A may defraud the health care system provide any justification whatever for saying we should get rid of the system. Get rid of the fraud is the obvious answer. You know, there are policemen who defraud the system too - that doesn't mean we should abolish policing. When the ability to pay determines whether or not one receives health care, one is simply selling life to the highest bidder. As Pope Francis notes in Evangelii Gaudium, ours is an 'exclusionary' economy that 'kills' and turning health care into a mere commodity for sale is a symptom of the idolatry of wealth that puts profit before life. And that's completely opposed to everything Jesus and his followers stand for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was divisive, too. That's why he got crucified. I follow Jesus and his Church, as do most of the people who post here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You missed the most important point before 1.-\n0.1- A Child of God: \"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you...\" Jeremiah 1,5.\n1.- ...\n2.- ...\n3.- ...\nGod loves you", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You might ask yourself where are all the priests who left in the JPII/BXVI years? Where are all the sisters who left? Where are all the Catholics who stopped practicing the faith all over Europe, the Americas, Australia during the years of the JPII/BXVI papacies? What happened during the years of the JPII/BXVI papacies that marriages, baptisms, use of confession, attendance at Mass, all just fell down, down, down? That priests and sisters left religious life by the tens of thousands?\n\nThe priesthood in the U.S., many European countries, Australia is so decimated after all the years of JPII/BXVI that it may not recover. Good grief, Ireland has to import priests from Africa! \n\nThe legacy of JPII/BXVI is the decimation of the faith in the traditional countries where the faith was strong. JPII/BXVI style of papacies were the problem. Maintaining their iron fisted ways may satisfy the noisy ones who remain, but there are a lot who remain quietly glad of Francis and hopeful now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sure the Holy Spirit told Our Holy Father to keep his brother bishops safe in the sovereign protecting arms of the Vatican. It's what Jesus would want his followers to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 2\nto serve the church, in collaboration with the local bishop, as representative and agent of Christ, the head of the Church, and therefore as representative and agent of the church community before God and the world. The priest is \"aliter Christus' [Christ in another way].\"\n\nI know/have known priests who are/were every bit as good as this. And I know/have known priests who are/were at the bottom of the barrel. I support the priesthood, not clericalism.\n-------\n1) Pope Benedict XVI Homily, 19 June 2009, www.vatican,va.\n\n2) Synod 1990/Archbishop Pilarczyk, \"Defining the Priesthood,\" Origins 20/19 [18 October 1990] p. 299.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why can't nonreligious people fire religious people for their chosen religion and lifestyle too? Why can't a Jew fire Christians or Muslims for their chosen lifestyles? Why is it only okay to single out the gay lifestyle for discrimination? I know people who wont shut up about their religion and I tolerate them. Yet they think they dont have to tolerate anyone else. I know how gay people feel about having religion shoved in their faces...and I don't side with religious fundamentalists who make their religion someone else's problem. \n\nThe gay people I know don't do that. They might mention their lesbian wife (\"Susie and I went hiking at Hatcher's Pass last week...\") or their gay boyfriend (\"Rick and I are flying to Seattle tomorrow...) in passing etc. They NEVER mention their bedroom escapades, and I don't care what they do either. Otherwise it isn't even a topic for discussion. Minnery's folk never stop talking about gay people all day long. There's a huge difference.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Note I did not say where I will end up. May it please God that you and I are counted amongst the sheep. \n\nPharisees aren't the only category of sinner Jesus condemns though.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are exactly right, on both counts! But it does seem to me that what Sister is about here is offering us her understanding of the Scriptures of the day, upon which we are all invited to construct our own theology if we so choose! Jesus himself loved to use many a warm, fuzzy story and parable to make a point, which is certainly as valid as use of the critical method, and often more engaging to an audience. As one of my favorite homilists once put it, \"A good story is worth a thousand pages of exposition.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Depends on whether you believe Jesus founded his Church on Peter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You knew him personally?\n\nThe proposition \"If God is male then the male is God\" is logical nonsense.\n\nCorrectly stated \u201cGod revealed Himself as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit\u201d.\n\nSince the triune God is a mystery, the only thing we know about \u201cmale\u201d as it relates to God is that revelation.\n\nCutting it down to a size that pleases us, which is what Mary Daly\u2019s proposition does, is neither theology nor logical.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rule and Raven: Yes, miracles, with a decent provision for the poor. The Risen Jesus always agrees with such posters, too, as if pinned under their localized feet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fair enough but to overtly accept a post without questioning it's source or potential political perspective is akin to accepting someone else's interpretation of the Bible or Koran without question.\n\nFrom the brevity and lack of context in your post it was impossible to determine to what extent, or not, you were labelling Islam on the whole as a dawa effort or if you, as Ali herself points our, were understanding that the dawa she talks about is an Islamist tactic and not one that is part of mainstream Islam.\n\nYou do realize that the vast majority of Muslims are not violent Islamists right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Confronted with a figure of towering dignity, courage and wisdom in Malala Yousafzai, 'Doctor Demento' and the usual suspects on here resort to smirks and sneers, endless partisan bickering and puerile humour. It's as if Malala speaks a language they cannot understand -- a language of respect, hope, and faith in humanity, rather than the base and heartless cynicism these suspects hurl forth on here every day. If Jesus himself came back, these guys would start riffing that Trudeau set it up as photo-op.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not the Church's mission to turn a blind eye to sin and to tolerate the sins of our time - abortion, same sex \"marriage\", divorce and remarriage - but to call sinners to repentance, justification and sanctification, and to lead them to salvation. \n\nThe Archbishop is calling for an honest Church that preaches the Gospel of Christ and not a secular, humanist corruption of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Calling people cowards and not holy enough, is not going to encourage people to return. If the intent to make the church in to a right wing club, out of touch, ignorant to the world, where women know their place and Priests are aloof and detached from their congregation. And that will exclude those that are in pain or suffering. Will be unapproachable. The Catholics that I know go out twice a week to feed the homeless a through the year, they do not only serve those that are \"Holy..\". Jesus did not only spend time with people that where Holy and sinless either. None of The Aposetles were without sin and you can't be missionary is you judge people and make them unwelcome. Chaput needs to visit Catholics outside of the US. And he doesn't understand \"Accompanying people\" either, I do because Jesuits taught me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The purpose of this commentary is to try to impress the readers that the East-West Center is important and relevant. As a college student and then professor, raised as a Christian and studying Plato and Aristotle, I became fascinated with Asian philosophies and especially their theories of epistemology. The East-West Center held interdisciplinary colloquia and produced publications which I found extremely helpful. \n\nBut in the past 25 years EWC has become a place for leftwing political activism, prompting conservative Republicans in Congress to try to cut its budget. One of the most useful EWC products for me has been its 5-days per week Pacific Islands Report -- a compilation of articles from news media in Pacific island nations. But then a month ago they cut back to three days; and a week ago they cancelled it entirely. Big loss! With Trump as President, EWC fears more budget cuts. And so we have this commentary trying to display allegedly continuing relevance of the EWC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see it as more that the Sacrament is critical to us. We are the receivers of the grace of our life in Christ. Our Baptismal grace is the transfer of His mission in our role as Prophet and as part of the Great Commission. \n\nThis is different from the initial argument regarding liturgy and liturgical practice. In liturgy, we turn our focus to God, solely, both in teaching and in sacrifice. We then move, joyfully, to the mission fields.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The important thing, and I think you touch upon this with your the support for Trump implicit in your posts, is that the man chosen by Our Courageous Bishops was selected to lead this nation. No doubt he will be and do all that those Catholics loyal to the USCCB hope he will be an do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your examples are NOT similar. The intent, the circumstances, and therefore the consequences are very different, because the baseline is very different.\n\nWomen have been active socially and religiously from day one in western/Christian society, had an important role in its inception, participating in religious services next to men, instituting and leading religious orders themselves, mixing with men at country fairs and dances and church socials, balls and banquets and court life, organizing dinner parties and salons, etc. It wasn't a stretch to go from this baseline to modern feminism.\n\nMeanwhile, in Muslim countries, women were hidden in back rooms and behind veils and partitions, observers but not participants. That makes it the baseline of \"normal\" fundamentalists want to return to, against \"westernisation\".\n\nMuslim columnists should acknowledge the elephant in the room, not pretend they don't see it, then bemoan \"stereotypes\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All witnesses to the Risen Lord are Apostles. She was not one of the Twelve, but I would hope she saw him. Legend says so. Apostle means witness and they were male and female. It was not until all had died that Pastors became the witness that He is Risen at the Saturday Vigil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This pope is leading the church further down the road of apostasy. The people he has removed, and the people he has replaced them with certainly are of this pope's ilk. If his papacy lasts for any length of time the College of Cardinals will be unabashedly liberal and worldly and, heretical. We will see a schism, but then that is what the liberals want.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about non-fictional and non-Catholic individuals who have exhibited those God-like attributes, e.g., Johnny Cash, MLK,Jr.?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was a priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny, I can't find any corresponding coverage of this story on the National Catholic Register, the official Church organ. I find, instead, \"Pope Reiterates Church Commitment to Protect Minors from Abuse.\" \n\nLong live independent news and uncensored publishing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you have any idea who John Calvin was, or what he did ? He was a man who gave everything for the people in his Church. I am deeply saddened to see there are Christians who attack other Christians in this fashion. You need to become a bit more educated on this matter Bill, and quit taking everything Chuck Smith and Dave Hunt write. I don't really want to discuss this with you in this venue, if you wanted to meet somewhere I would, but not here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That comment points to what I mean about Catholic economics -- typically viewing the term \"wealth\" as a dirty word connoting sin, when it simply means an economy that's in the black (through capitalism) and generates prosperity for all.\n\nGenerating wealth means generating a living wage.\n\nTrying to mandate a living wage via welfare state policies is putting the economic cart before the horse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yesterday you went from promote to provide!\n\nLots of ways to enable/encourage behavior/conditions. You went right to the top which is counter to Catholic teaching.\n\nAnd today, you're making similar errors \"make certain\". \n\nStudy up on the principle of subsidiarity.\n\nAnd hopefully you'll get to key point and reason why the Church teaches subsidiarity: It encourages individuals, families, lower units of society to grow virtues and capacities, filling out one's development fully.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RE: The KKK forgets that Jesus wasn't white. Neither were any of the apostles.That makes their ideology anti-Christian at many levels, right?\"\n\nThere's a TED talk by a guy named Ken Robinson. He tells the story of a teacher who asked one of her five year old students what he was so feverishly drawing. \n\n\"God,\" says the kid. \n\nTeacher replies, \"Well nobody knows what God looks like.\"\n\nKid says, \"They will in a minute.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church in Latin America should serve as a lesson of caution. So many have become protestants in since the 70's . The only response of the Church has been copying the protestants in style, and it has not been effective in people going to fundamentalist denominations, be they Baptist, Evangelicals or Pentecostals. \n\nWhatever the bishops there have been doing until now has not worked, hopefully family catechism will have enough substance to feed people proper understanding of the faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One might suggest that Christ's warning about those who harm children would outweigh subsequent rulings by the Church He founded. But then, as the Bishops, including the Bishops of Rome, have demonstrated time and again, they make their decisions based upon many different grounds, not merely the words of Jesus. Ultimately, the important thing will be how best to protect the image and power of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I like this article.\n\nThank you for living the Gospel well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "most cradle American Catholics find converts more amusing than anything else. unless they mess with the Altar Society or the woman who has been running the bazaar since WWII. then the parish priest takes an emergency vacation until the smoke clears and the poor innocent convert has retired to a quiet convent or monastery to settle his/her nerves. the Bishop also refuses to get in the middle of this sort of thing either. both he and the pastor know their limits!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Federal government is not here to, or here for the funding of the arts. That is not why we have a Federal government. I really really resent my tax dollars going to waste on such, and it being called art. Least you forget, I do not believe sticking a statue of Christ in a vial of urine, and putting it on display, is art in any way shape or form, paid by my and your tax dollars. \n\nImmersion (Piss Christ) is a 1987 photograph by the American artist and photographer Andres Serrano. It depicts a small plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist's urine. The piece was a winner of the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art's \"Awards in the Visual Arts\" competition, which was sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, a United States Government agency that offers support and funding for artistic projects.\n\nGet a life and get real. De fund it all, and let the private sector fund it if they think it is so good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now that we have the venue, Congress, and the question they can adjudicate, when are the unborn legal persons, we can answer that question, which includes penalties. Note that legal people who are killed by contract deserve that the killer and the person who ordered the murder both be brought to justice. Under equal protection, whether that person is a fetus or a 50-year old man, the penalties must be the same. If not, the discussion is over\n\nThere will be unique circumstances for the unborn. If the child is doomed due to genetic faults such that it would be stillborn, there should be no legal consequence for inducing labor for the health of the mother (the Church disagrees, but we are discussion civil, not canon law and the argument that one must follow the other is relativistic Catholicism). In general, a child 25 weeks into gestation can survive with assistance (although that cannot be mandatory either), so the child should be protected. Earlier it can't survive or will be sick.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Maybe the American Bishops will have a Fortnight for Freedom on these serious violations of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount?\"\n\nRight, because the first one went so well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Why is this a peculiar RC mental condition?\"\n\nNot really. Luther, awakened by the Devil at night, had a number of battles with the Devil. He even threw an inkwell at his visionary or real Satan. And Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormons, had a series of visions of Jesus and God the Father, and had the Angel Moroni direct him to some \"golden tablets.\" And what about Muhammad? He had the words of God revealed to him by the Angel Gabriel. Whether those private revelations are legit, produce legit miracles are up to the believer. But visions, private revelations are not just a Catholic \"thing\" in religious history or religious studies. They seem to have a double existence in many faiths. But no one is forced to believe in any vision or \"hidden certainty\" seen on some tree top or in a dime and penny shop window.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you're missing the point here. \n\nThrowing paper towels at people and telling people who just experienced total devastation to \"be proud\" and then determine that you are doing an excellent job at helping them is rude and callous. It shows a lack of compassion. \n\nYou don't help people because it will make them better in the long run. Jesus never said that. He just said to love your neighbor as yourself. To help those in need. Don't load a bunch of disclaimers into it, that's not true compassion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe God is both infinitely merciful and just. God will forgive us every sin we commit if we but confess our error and repent.\n\nEndorsing sin and forgiving the unrepentant is NOT mercy.\n\nCCC 1756 It is therefore an error to judge the morality of human acts by considering only the intention that inspires them or the circumstances (environment, social pressure, duress or emergency, etc.) which supply their context. There are acts which, in and of themselves, independently of circumstances and intentions, are always gravely illicit by reason of their object; such as blasphemy and perjury, murder and adultery. One may not do evil so that good may result from it. \n\nOne can only hope that you tire of the overuse of \u201cPharisee\u201d when speaking of those who adhere to the Church and its teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's encouraging to hear the popularity of this kind of topic among younger folks. I doubt many have problems believing in God or even Christ's message to us all, the problem is the discord between the institutional message versus science. For example, overpopulation is destroying our environment and straining the planet's resources but effective birth control is wrong. Treatment of gender dysphoria is wrong. Only heterosexuals are entitled to have a healthy relationship. While justice is part of the Beatitudes, women are not entitled to full participation in the church. \n\nNow, is that rational?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1 of 2\nThank you for your comment alwayspuzzled\nHave you read my post in the link provided within my post?\nFrom the Post\nThe present Divine Mercy Image is a self-serving IMAGE of Clericalism, definition of CLERICALISM: a policy of maintaining or increasing the power of a religious hierarchy. Their actions show that they did not trust in His mercy and were only concerned with a worldly image of goodness, the very same problem which has led to the cover up of the on-going child abuse scandal and refusal to acknowledge its historical culture within the Church emanating from Rome.\nThe True Divine Mercy image calls for the leadership of the Church to give account for themselves, before God and mankind while at the same time healing so many past and on-going injustices.\nTo do this the elite within the Church need to act out these instructions given by Jesus Christ to His Church \n\u201cI desire that this picture be venerated first in your chapel and then throughout the world\"\n\nContinued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree Amazing Grace is not appropriate for Catholic Mass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Be careful how you use the term \"Anglo Catholics.\" That's what high church Anglicans call themselves, and I'm pretty sure you're not referring to them here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Addendum:\nThe Pope did not reference Isiah and \" the suffering servant\" which many scriptural folks can connect to Christ. In time sense ing gerunds are ongoing present tense.\nHe also referenced Luke. Time was there was a thought that not only was Luke a physician- Taylor Caldwell had a great novel about him- but he was long lived and a friend to Mary. In fact, I was taught Mary was his primary source for his gospel. Even if not grounded in fact- stories like this play an important role.\nThink of Mary's role at the wedding in Cana.\nMy guess is Mary would have been one of the women who the Depression era hobos would have marked.\nBoo Radley and female spirituality and concept of\nbridges not walls needs to come out to the light of day- not just one day but every day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While there are decent passages in this address, overall it's so bad one wonders where to begin. What would a person unfamiliar with the alt-right take away from this rambling, unfocused piece? What characterizes the alt-right? Does it have a coherent ideology? Is it simply an internet phenom, a cohort of ideologically aligned, discrete far-right factions, a transnational eruption manipulated by political operatives? What distinguishes the alt-right from more traditional conservatism? Rather the audience is advised to dog-ear a critique of the Enlightenment and be sure to finger-wag Black Lives Matter.\n\nGood God Almighty.\n\nBy the way, it's curious that in a Catholic-oriented presentation, MSW fails to mention that both Steve Bannon and Milo Yiannopoulos are Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Namaste! ,\n\nGood point. I got the information and forgot to add it under deadline pressure on Friday. The annual operating budget for Leaburg Hatchery is $1.1 million, I'm told. That pays for six full-time employees at Leaburg, 2 full time employees at Willamette Hatchery (fingerlings are trucked to Leaburg from Willamette) and some support time in Salem.\n\nI hope this helps,\n\nChristian Hill\nReporter, The Register-Guard", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fundamental Christian or practicing Sikh, I can't for the life of me understand the attraction of any organised religion. To take my view to the extreme, I quote the famous statesman Jesse Ventura \u201cOrganized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I read this with appreciation for it's insight, clarity as well as the feelings of good will even as Mr Konar expressives his profound disappointment in the current state of our country. He hits on multiple points in which the change of heart goes from generosity to selfish, meanspirited fear in seemingly in one or two generations. \nSocial conditions and access have improved during that time for women, blacks, gays, transgenders, physically hadicapped, etc which provides a sense of a more open society. But the Trump phenomenon seems to have opened a floodgate of hate and revenge. \nAlso he touched on the message of prosperity now promoted by evangelicals that has replaced the 10 commandments and other teachings that presented ethical behavior as a spiritual value. That view is as celebrated as it is base. \nBut let's not lose sight of our community's churches and organizations such as Saint Vincent de Paul who use their resources to provide for the homeless and less fortunate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That used to really burn Jesus' onions. All them folk wandering about with no decorum. You just wonder what will Francis stoop to next. He'll be saying that homeless people don't smell of 'Lilly of the valley' and Jesus didn't have any underwear on when they crucified him. It really is frightfully worrying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You admit he did say the right thing about abortion. \n\nMaybe instead of worrying about personality issues, the progressive Catholics could learn a thing or two about where they went wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once a doctrine, dogma, ritual, or practice, was adopted in the past, it became retroactively an Ancient Tradition of the Church, thus the Church has remained Inerrant and Unchanging. Any Modern Change would be a violation of the Church's Unchanging and Inerrant nature.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the Eastern Catholic Churches a priest is necessary. And if an Eastern Catholic marries a Roman rite Catholic, the marriage has to be performed by a priest or there is no marriage. In Eastern churches, both Catholic and Orthodox, the priest is the minister of the sacrament, not the couple. No priest, no Sacrament.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like all cafeteria catholics you simply declare that any part of the doctrines of the Church you don't like are not DE FIDE. In the end, just another delicate snowflake who cannot accept and follow the full teachings of the church, picking and choosing what you like, but without the intellectual honesty to admit it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is Barry behind this? Is the pope catholic? Little Barry Hussein's fingerprints are all over this. Once a two-bit street agitator always a two-bit street agitator. Barry learned the community organizer business well as a young Marxist, that's what he does. It's like the Geico car insurance commercial. \"If you're a community organizer you fan the flames of discontent, it's what you do\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ordination as WE know it today had its Roots in the times of Constantine.\nThe Male Clergy of the Catholic church [the ONLY Christian organization in town] took on the Roles of Elite Rulers. They even took a lot of the robes and hats to show the various status groups. Even had certain chairs they sat in while at church.\nPious Women were URGED by the Men to enter Castles and pray, if they wanted a REAL part in Church. They were also clothed in black from head to toes, to wrists with only faces and hands showing. The MEN had the keys and locked them in and called the places Convents.\nPious Women in N. Italy, Central Europe were chased from place to place because they were unauthorized Female preachers [not men]. We still have some of their writings.\nWhat I am trying to say is that Ordination as WE SDA's know it has its roots in OUR Catholic ancestors through Anglicans, Lutherans, Baptists, Methodists [Ellen and others], Presbys.\nIt has NO Biblical ROOTS.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perez may or may not have been denied communion by his confessor; we don't know. We don'rt even know if he had a confessor. What we do know is that he was excommunicated by his bishop. Should the bishop issue a decree of excommunication for divorced/remarried Catholics?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not true, I think Richard Rohr said it best. \u201cThe most amazing fact about Jesus, unlike almost any other religious founder, is that he found God in disorder and imperfection\u2014and told us that we must do the same or we would never be content on this earth. \u201d \nGod created diversity. That is where we can find God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dream act with a wall attached sounds good!\nOnce we finally get some control over immigration we can have a discussion about all of the people who are already here (dreamers plus families who are here). I understand about the violence and poverty that exists in those (Catholic) countries to our south but we cannot take in the whole (or even a large part of) the populations of Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela, El Salvador & Honduras therefore the border must be controlled a little better.\n Has anyone ever noticed that the lot of the people who live in Protestant (or formally Protestant) nations have fared much better than the ones in the RCC nations?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Surely you know this is the National Catholic Reporter and not the National Catholic Register?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I remain bewildered as to what MSW's conception of authentic Catholicism could be. \n\nHe says the Register and EWTN are mountains and rivers away from an accurate expression of Catholic teachings.\n\nLadies and gents, we have schism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My husband and I will never forget this \"God\" event hosted by Angus Buchan, a devout Bible believing Christian, for as long as we live. \nBlacks, whites, Indians, Coloreds and the like came together in the spirit of LOVE for one another and our beloved country South Africa. Over a million plus sinners got down on their knees, humbled themselves, repented of their sins and committed/recommitted our lives to Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior and asked that He please heal our land. Did you? \nThe Bible is God breathed and clearly states if you do not obey God your do not know Him and if you reject Jesus, who reject God and will not receive eternal life. Jesus said, \"I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father (God), except through me.\" John 14:6. John chapter 1 ...In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....\nThe Bible is a true Christian's moral compass, as it is mine, \"Oom Angus\" and the many who care about the corruption in SA", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would just like to add to your great post, that the invitation to \"...peacemaking, cooperation and seeking the common good...\" is embedded in us as human, in our call towards civilization, to intelligent community - the \"image and likeness of God\" in us by creation, if you will. \nThe Jesus factor invites us to more and greater and, more importantly, elevates it to communion, community with the Parent Creator . WE are responsible for our humanity as we are to our religious values. \nJesus and reflected in Paul are in continuity with civil thought, e.g., Aristotle \"Ethics\", 500 yrs before.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many walked away from Jesus, too: \n\"On hearing this, many of His disciples said, \u201cThis is a difficult teaching. Who can accept it?\u201d Aware that His disciples were grumbling about this teaching, Jesus asked them, \u201cDoes this offend you?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am far from a bibilical scholor Serge. I've read through the bible a couple of times now. I also have been reading a daily missive by Richard Rohr, a friar in the order of St. Francis I believe. While I've never attended a Catholic Mass, I had a baby baptism in the Catholic C hurch. I have really enjoyed Rohr's observations, For the first time in my life, I've found a real affection for a Pope - Francis! (seems I have a theme here with the writings of Francis of Azizi.). \n\nI am not a member of a church. I do know the teaching of Jesus has some very different emphasis by various religious writers. I'm content with my faith but not overtly evangalistic. In Oregon, I would hope to find friends both religiouis and non-religious. I value both equally\n\nI put more emphasis on the Quaker traditions of silent worship and communion of the spirit. I was intimately close to a quaker family in Iowa and attended a Quaker school William Penn. I've never been a member.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\nThere are intractable structural obstacles to substantive and lasting reform in the church, and most of those obstacles have to do with the fact that the next pope can undo much, if not all, of what a previous pope accomplishes. John Paul II aggressively and effectively reversed many of the post-Vatican II reforms because he aborted them as they were still in the birthing process. John Paul II and Benedict XVI had thirty-five years during which to undermine the Council, which they did primarily by way of the bishops they selected. That\u2019s not to deny the importance of curial reform; but I would argue that the most pressing reform issue is the way bishops are chosen. Even if Francis has five years remaining to him, he still will have served less than ten as bishop of Rome. He knows -- everyone knows -- that that may be enough time to begin the work that needs to be done, but it is surely not enough time to complete it. He must prioritize. Three suggestions, just for starters:", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh my, she was a very big part of my life. We had Bible study in her living room, her mom made me many petticoats like she used for square dancing, they were beautiful. Remarkable woman, Happy Birthday Dorothy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Sarasi1 for your comment\n\n I was referring to birth parents (natural) and of course yes you are a parent \n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kurgan, is his maleness the reason the Apostate Mike Pence was chosen to be the headline speaker at the 'Catholic' Prayer Breakfast?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How are you going to get rid of clericalism (authority of a clerical caste) by encouraging more people to take holy orders -- i.e., become clerics?\n\nI really don't get you Catholic progressives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2/2\n\nSince then Timothy Cardinal Dolan has reported that Fr. Pavone, after an apostolic visitation by the Congregation of the Clergy led to a request that he \u201cassist Father Pavone with several necessary reforms\u201d, had failed to cooperate with the reforms.\n\nFr. Pavone has a career-long history of failing to cooperate with his bishops, which Bishop Zurek characterized as a \u201cdefiance of my legitimate authority\u201d. The National Catholic Reporter has regularly reported negatively about Fr. Pavone.\n\nWere Fr. Pavone advocating for women\u2019s ordination, or freedom of \u201cchoice\u201d on abortion, it is likely the reporting would not be as negative. Fr. Pavone might be characterized as resisting \"Vatican encroachment\" and \"episcopal tyranny\".\n\nSince Fr. Pavone does not direct Rachel\u2019s Vineyard, which is run by Theresa Karminski and Kevin Burke who founded it, this is all an irrelevant sidebar.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I repeat: Jesus did not pick one gentile....!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps other Benedictines can help out. At Christ in the Desert, there is a \"donation\" not a fee of specifically $1000.00 to be included in a perpetual Mass, none negotiable. I don't know if such is necessary to sustain monasteries these days? Or if, the monastic decor and life style exceeds the reach of present times. Perhaps the values of new monasticism are closer to the smell of the sheep. Anthony, seemed quite at peace as a cave dwelling monk. No AC. No gold candle sticks. Not being snarky just trying to reconcile a monastery's expectations for support and where the funds go. Millions for each element? Really?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anybody can youtube search ALEX JONES of INFOWARS [daily commercial free videos via the RON GIBSON channel] and listen to news and analysis of daily events; with expert commentary connecting the dots of current events according to a geopolitical historical paradigm. AJ does not focus on international jewry; but, otherwise exposes the unfolding globalist agenda with irrefutable accuracy.\n What is needed in the West today is strong spiritual leadership by the Christian authorities; and, particularly the Roman Catholic clergy. These have betrayed the trust of the faithful, and, even the very trust of the noble office itself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was listening to Catholic radio this morning (why?) and a caller asked the host about Pope Francis being a bad pope who was misleading the faithful.\n\nThe host, a noted Catholic author (last name is a city in Spain), didn't offer one word of rebuttal, one word of defense for Pope Francis. His argument, as far as I could understand it anyway, was that you can always trust the Church because it's built on the rock of Peter, who was the 1st Pope, but that you need not trust the Pope to understand Catholicism. \n\nYou see, this kind of stuff why I count myself as neither a Prog or the Trad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...when the orthodox look at the way other major..., and especially patriarchs who are in union and communion with the ArcbofRome....\"\n\nI would tend to agree with you on that. Rome does not treat the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches as equal to the Latin/Roman/Western Church enough. Rome could do a lot more. I should say, the Curia could do a lot more as could Western Catholic bishops do more. Western bishops in the States, for example, still can't deal with married clergy in the Eastern Churches, nor with the tradition that only celibate priests (monks, for the most part) can be bishops in both the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches (if ever the celibacy requirement was dropped for US/Western diocesan priests). That would exclude Latin/Western diocesan priests from becoming bishops, among other things. With that said, I think Western Latin bishops are just as happy as Russian Orthodox bishops that ecumenism is at low ebb. Ecumenical politics consists in ignoring these facts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Two points:\n\n1. Scientific knowledge is expanding at an ever increasing rate. There is the known and accepted scientific envelope and then the speculative envelope populated by hypotheses and models which are undergoing evaluation and testing. It is from this speculative envelope that new known science emerges. Evaluation of speculative hypotheses is very much part of the scientific method. It is not correct to say that science is not addressing pre-big bang physics and the related concepts of the multiverse. Prior to our current understanding of the motion planets and the sun there were sun gods. This is now archaic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse\n\n2. Lets go with your hypothesis that the (Christian and not any other) God created the Universe for humanity. The known Universe which is 13.6 billion years old contains more than 100 billion galaxies each containing 100's of billions of stars. To assume that man was the endpoint of this endeavour is anthropomorphic narcissism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Make me wonder how this family sees the backlash. Do they have a conscience of guilt where they pack up and leave or are they shrugging off the backlash thinking business as usual and enjoying themselves? \nJesus Christ! \"smh\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Different Bible than the one I read! \n\n\"The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue, are a set of commandments which the Bible describes as having been given to the Israelites by God at biblical Mount Sinai. The Ten Commandments are listed twice in the Hebrew Bible, first at Exodus 20:1\u201317, and then at Deuteronomy 5:4\u201321. Both versions state that God inscribed them on two stone tablets, which he gave to Moses.\"\n\nAbraham was some other guy that was supposed to kill his son to make God happy, I believe. \n\n Same Abraham that Islam talks about. That happened in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount according to both religions.\n\nA theologian, you ain't!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What/whose agenda are you talking about? I'm talking about metrics-based social science research and, like you, the doubts, questions, and pain of many \"nones\" I know. \n\nMany--dare I say most--were part of families that practiced the faith \"faithfully.\" They didn't\n lazily opt out because they had too much to do on Sunday. You insult their discernments, rigors, and pains by making them sound less than rigorous and vigorous in their decision making. At least half are products of formal Catholic education--from pre-Vatican II to post-Vatican II.\n\nAs for the #1 reason. If you take my sample base--wide but not research-tenet sufficient--it's not even close: the \"demeaning and ignorance\" (their words) of women, gays, and human sexuality, followed by, at #2, my education. You might disagree with that conclusion, but it can't be denied. \n\nI am not a \"none.\" Not even close. Like you, I deal with \"nones\" quite a bit. A whole lot. So please don't presume I have or reflect some agenda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin, the Holy Spirit blows where it blows does it not? There is nothing wrong with adapting to the times and culture in which we live (providing the commandments are kept), for that is essentially how the early church took root and eventually prevailed. This becomes quite clear if you would care to do a thorough study of early church history. You occasionally make a good point, Kevin, but you have a tendency to be wedded to various man-made laws and customs which causes you to lose some credibility. This is unfortunate because you appear to have a heart for Christ who Himself condemned the rigid \"keeping of laws\" as a substitute for true devotion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very good point! The laity, both men and women, are excluded from participation. Good Pope John 23 opened the window. Now is the time to open the door.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you even read your own link? \"Frank said most adoptions happen through the state\u2019s Child Protective Services, which would not be subject to the religious freedom mandate, though outside agencies that receive state funding would be.\" So people turned down by private agencies still can go to the state CPS, which is where most Texans adopt from anyway. How that keeps more kids in foster care, I'm not entirely sure, because Texas CPS clearly has the ability and obligation to place all children from its own state foster care department with qualified single, same-sex, Muslim, Jewish, Christian adoptive parents. If birth parents want a child placed with a particular demographic, they go to a private agency whose criteria match that demographic, and the law simply allows that to happen without state interference.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@Oldgit & friends\nAnd Paf ! Problems started across French Canada ever since !\n\nThere is no place for a bunch of Ku-Ku-Klowns in Canada.\nIn the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century an English \nthree Canadians was a member of the white supremacist organization Anglo-Saxon, WASP equivalent to the United States (\"White Anglo-Saxon Protestants\"). \nFour members have been Prime Ministers of Canada;\nSir John A. Macdonald (father of \u00ab Canadian Federation \u00bb of 1867\nbut not \u00ab Father of Canada \u00bb which is Sir Samuel de Champlain in 1608 ), \nSir John Abbott, \nSir Mackenzie Bowell (a past \u00ab Grand Master \u00bb (?)), \nand John Diefenbaker. \nIn 1927 the \u201cOrange\u201d movement gave birth to a more intolerant and racist group, the Canadian Ku Klux Klan, which had its deepest roots in small towns in Saskatchewan because of the \"yellow peril\", but also because of the blacks...\nJews...Catholics...\n(more to come)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The ceremony is a moral aberration that presumes culpability for acts committed in the past. Anyone living today is not morally responsible for the unjust acts of their ancestors. If this were true I am sure we could find a list of \"evils\" committed by the ancestors of the blacks that are being told how bad the Jesuits were/are. \n\n Yes a number of Jesuits betrayed the name of Jesus, a long time ago, but WE have not. We can not ask for forgiveness for what the dead have done, and the decedents can not give forgiveness. This is funny theology with funny consequences, and has nothing to do with Catholic morality. \n\nOne consequence is that it undermines the idea that the individual is saved from sin. If I am responsible for all the sins of my (human) race, one wonders if I can ever be forgiven. Christ frees us from the sins of the past and urges us to go forth in a life of grace. This is spiritual scruples on steroids. Mea culpa that never ends.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What, the hate for Christians is disappointing? Or is it disappointing that most fail to distinguish the difference between acceptance of the PROMOTION of perversions and love/acceptance of people ? \nAs many have commented, they are not promoting and are not persecuting the LBGT community. They are however, rejecting the promotion of that ideology/practices are normal or healthy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I, too, love the Latin Mass. I travel to other countries a great deal and appreciated what was the universality of the Mass. I could attend Mass all over the world and use my daily missal written in both Latin and English. I wish there would be at least one Latin Mass offered during each weekend in the larger parishes, just as there is a Spanish Mass. And even though I only understand about one word in four, I prefer to attend the Spanish Mass, because of its liveliness and community spirit. \n\nAside from the Mass, this is a language that should not be lost. There is much important literature and history written in it, and all the Romance languages derive from it. \n\nI am a liberal Catholic and not a fan of bishops such as Burke and Dolan, but there should be a place for the beautiful Latin language in our universal church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting that in the latest Ben Hur movie the powerful voice behind the song, Mercy is the only way out, was sung by a women as so many are. I think the Pope bows to this power and God's infinite range of tunes. Can't imagine him putting women down as you seem to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden, and many Democrats who hold Catholic views said they are \"devout Catholics\" when running for office, but in truth advocate against and vote against those very beliefs in public life. Either they are \"devout Catholics\", or hypocrites who can't be trusted in my opinion. How does a man profess one belief, then act out to the contrary and not be a hypocrite or a liar? \n\n\nIn truth, the fact that ANTIFA is tearing down America, and acting out violently against people who hold prayer meetings and such, it won't hurt the conservatives, it will roost on the left much harder, as I do believe the majority, many democrats included in that majority, don't support their actions, and are deeply concerned with their violence \n\nI hope Bernie Sanders runs again as well, the Millennials I don't think will forget how the Democratic Party cheated him. As Ms. Clinton stated so well, Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat. I like her book tour, many Dems wish she'd go away, no way she will!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great article and sounds like a good book.\n\nI've been saying this for months: everyone leads right where they are.\n\n Everyone pursues holiness right where they are. Everyone does apostolate right where they are; they need not be in some headquarters building in Rome.\n\nIt's the lay's job to save souls with Jesus and fix our world around us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That treatment center in New Mexico was closed years ago. But not before some of the \"patients\" managed to be released into the surrounding communities to say Mass and interact with the local children. It was closed after several suits were filed against the Catholic Church for of all things -sex abuse. It is really kind of a shame. The priest who founded the Order of the Paracletes was the first Whistleblower. His name was Gerald Fitzgerald. He had ministered in Boston, previously. The treatment center was founded to treat priests, nuns and religious who had alcohol and drug addictions and other psychological problems. By the end of the fifties, Bishops from across the country were sending their\" problem priests\" for treatment. After attempting to treat these priests, Father Fitzgerald came to the conclusion that pedophiles were untreatable. There was no cure. He tried to alert the local Hierarchy but was ignored. In 1963, he went to Rome and had an audience with the Pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can't wait for that \"investigative journalism\" light to shine on other organizations, too...perhaps Call To Action? Network? Catholics In Alliance? The intriguing contributions from Soros? You know...other groups that pack a political presence with attempted influence along more liberal lines? Just to keep up the pretense of fairness in reporting, of course.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Within Catholicism there have long been different schools of thought about the primacy of conscience. The foundation of the primacy of conscience is in its relationship to the Divine. It is not in \"the sacred and certain doctrines of the Church.\"\n\nReligious beliefs, doctrines, creeds and practices are culturally and historically relative, adaptable, and functional. They can never be absolute and immutable because they are enshrined in institutions which evolve with changes in knowledge, culture and history. Doctrines can be turned into a sacralization of vested interests, a system of ideas designed to conceal and justify a reality the people[often the hierarchy] prefer not to change, and that is in direct opposition to the values one claims to uphold.\n\n\nIt is an illusion by Archbishop Sample that the current teachings of the church is able to arrive at all eternal truths whose veracity is guaranteed by God for all circumstances, for all people, for all history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I had to get married to my Catholic wife, the church got an undertaking from her that our children would be raised Catholic, if she wanted the wedding in a Catholic church. They didn't ask me, though. Apparently that is coercion according to law, to ask a non Catholic to promise his kids will be Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The difference is in the style of leadership each embraces, not who elevated who to the position. This Tobin is a Francis cardinal, placed by Francis where Catholics needed healing after a bad experience with the now retired Archb Myers. I don't care who elevated him nearly as much as I care that he embraces Francis' call for pastoral leadership. How I wish many others would do the same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From the article; \" ... without really ending the schism means incurring yet more guilt.\"\n\nI'm not aware of any remaining guilt, much less \" ... yet more guilt.\" -- at least not among the people in the Catholic and Protestant pews. \n\nI suspect the clerics have their own agenda, though. I also suspect an insistence of the Primacy of the Papacy will stop unification in its tracks.\n\nI'm familiar with the basics of the schism, but not all the minutia. I suspect both sides were right on some things and both sides were wrong on some. But after 500 years it seems reasonable to issue mutual apologies and move on. \n\nI consider commitments to the two great commandments on the spiritual side, and to the golden rule on the secular side, as being enough to have in common. EVERYTHING else is details that can be left to individual denominations and accepted by all other denominations as non-schismatic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Her actions helped people get justice. The initial horrible treatment by the church towards her and other victims was sinful. So many of us are grateful to her for the courage to stand up for ourselves and for that and to her we are grateful. May she rest in the light and love of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is is not our belief's we advance, it is our demand for moral teaching based on reason and evidence, not superstition or the peculiar sexuality of asexuals (who are even rarer than gays and lesbians) who assume that God made their sexuality holy rather than nature making it aberrant.\n\nThe Church is a democracy. We elect popes. Until kings started doing it, we elected bishops and in one parish towns, the bishop was essentially just the pastor. Indeed, all city churches started that way.\n\nDemanding restoration is not heresy, especially when Francis is looking at it anyway.\n\nThe rich man thought he was fine. He went to synagogue, he gave money, he kept the oral law but he missed the hospitality thing. Abraham told him that even should someone come back from the dead, they would not listen to him if they did not listen to Moses and the prophets. The risen man is Jesus.\n\nYou know him. The one who argued with the Church of his day?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks, Mokantz. Just once, I would like to read something that acknowledges the differences between the ways men and women think about intimacy. For example, when women consider intimacy, they also consider where they are in their cycles, what intimacy will mean to their partners, and a whole host of other thoughts and emotions. Men, as far as I can tell, are not likely to be so reflective in the moment. And yet, every book I've read on moral theology deals with sex as if men and women experienced it in substantially identical ways. Even the underlying assumption of many comments here is that a married priesthood would mean married men, not married women.\nIn the process of historical development, Catholic theology of sex is still at the training bra stage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics do. Are you not one?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I approach the Eucharist I do so with humility but certainly not \"fear and trembling\". I go to receive Jesus, my savior, my friend, my healer. I'm not afraid of God - I love God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... lol ... Republicans LOOOOOOOOOVE censorship, they can't handle THE TRUTH ... super fakey 'christians' it ain't a riddle or a secret anymore, voting for Cheetolini has fully 'outed' y'all ... super EVIL people. \n\nThe sad part is there are MORE super fakey 'christians' out there in the USA than the world ever knew existed here in the USA. The terrorists are HERE! We're fighting 'em all over the planet EXCEPT here in the USA where they are having their way with the USA gov't currently ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The people who have worked with her are best suited to evaluate her methods. Support of letters like this one just convinces me that we have a real problem with Catholic-confession-bugging Perlow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With respect for what Sr. Schenk usually writes I do not agree with this \"meditation\". The multiple repetitions that we are powerless and that all is in God's hands and that we must wait and pray is so un-Christian, so passive, submissive and defeatist that I suggest she still suffers from the \"medication\".\nGod works through humanity redeemed. I believe, rightly or wrongly, that Jesus' death for us and rising \"in us\" is the final statement by the Creator that \"it's our turn\". Jesus was/is God's gift so we \"use It or lose It\". \nI don't know the how or the what but in that I rest my case. \nWe must defeat Trump and trumpism\nWe must stand with and for the un-free , the threatened\nWe must stand even against our Church in its exclusion and diminution of women\nWe must bring our Church into contemporaneity, inclusion, accountability, or lose it.\nThe list goes on...\nWe must wake each morning in the visionary energy of civility, empathy, inclusion and\nseek it, spread it", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd love it there was a serious study of how \"virtues\" could be re-introduced into family life, and early education, middle school, & high school.\n\nThe stronger virtues. Let's set aside the modern virtue of 'tolerance' just for a minute. It's still there, but let's hold a bit.\n\nLet's think about the real virtues: temperance, fortitude, justice, prudence.\n\nTeach children how the virtues can help them struggle well in life, how they give new capabilities to them.\n\nHow they help focus on reading material, how they help accomplish work, how they help to provide service to others, how they can make you happier, more cheerful, more useful, more easy to live with, more self-sufficient.\n\nThe virtues don't have to \"religion-ize\" public school. They are neutral.\n\nMost Catholics have never had a class in what the virtues really are and how they can be increased...and how one feeds another...or how particular virtues work against particular vices.\n\nThe virtues can help one stay out of jail.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, when you publish your very own \"Catholic Catechism,\" will you \"LOVE\" it too?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Knowing and occasionally eyeing NSHEEMA KHAN commentaries, I can safely say, she doesn't miss an opportunity to further her agenda of her 'inclusive' culture in Canada as a dominant force in our society.\nHow about the inclusion of a Catholic nun in the Globe commentaries section?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My daughter came for visit last week and we went out and I remembered when my kids were young and lived with me. It seemed so beautiful like sparkling diamond moments. \n\nI used to worry if they will grow up to be a good responsible person to contribute some good to the society. But now I wish they would fully open themselves & live enjoying the beauty of their young life. \n\nI took kids to church every Sunday and sent them to the Catholic schools, however, I worry that they will have a personal relationship with God and learn their true being in God not so much if they attend Sunday Masses. I try to share my personal mystical experiences with God so that they know the living God in their life. However, I know that their life is in God's hand.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The great tragedy of seeking spiritual maturity is how many people think they can achieve it by obedience to the Law and the pursuit of \"pure\" doctrine when it is found in nothing other than allowing the Holy Spirit to live in us, change us, teach us and empower us to become ministers of His great redeeming and transforming love.\"\n\nWilliam, your explanation is pure mysticism that has no content of basis for \"prove all things, hold fast that which is good.\"\n\n\"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.\" Matt. 4:4\n\nMan must live by \"every word\" not some non-definable mystical \"let the Holy Spirit control my life.\"\n\nYour mystical confession of faith is not biblical, nor is it a practical guide to Christian living.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican II does not grant the faithful permission to commit idolatry or wipe out the Scriptural injunction to worship the One True God, invincible ignorance of those to whom the Gospel has not yet been preached notwithstanding. If you consider V 2.0 a new religion and not the religion we have received, that's a problem!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Illegal aliens have NO RIGHT to be in this country, Michael. \n\nDeal with it.\n\nYou sound like an early-1900's bishop saying that the Catholic Church was mostly German in parts of the country, so we should be pro-Kaiser in World War 1.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And your flipping what he said, doesn't prove anything. Many understand that abortion is not a side issue but, as Francis well said, why make it our only marker and a wedge issue. Suggest that many good faith people have a difference with you and your approach and do NOT deserve to be labeled by you as less than pro-life (only in your judgmental mind).\n\nA key and core belief of Catholicism is the conscience of each person - your statement violates that. Why this core belief - because it is the heart of supporting human dignity - you would negate that based upon your simplistic version of conception, birth, etc. What happens if it is not black and white?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Church... wishes to listen to your voice, \" So the bishops still consider themselves to be \"the Church\". Enough said.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder why anyone calls themselves a catholic if they don't agree with the church reasoning on essential issues? This makes no sense to me and as far as thinking they will change the views of people in the church by participating, when has that ever happened? To know the church is to love the church. I see no threat by having people with doubts participating in the church, none at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do you know when the Bible is being metaphorical rather than literal?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"the leg bones support the Gospel\"\nNot meaning to imply some sort of ghoulish lectern... only to note that they were broken as the soldiers had intended for Jesus as described in John 19:31-34.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Utter hogwash. Here's what Paul VI actually said:\n\n\u201c\u2026 [the Council] has invested its teachings with the authority of the supreme ordinary magisterium, which ordinary magisterium is so obviously authentic that it must be accepted with docility and sincerity by all the faithful, according to the mind of the Council as expressed in the nature and aims of the individual documents.\u201d \n\n\u201cWe decide moreover that all that has been established synodally is to be religiously observed by all the faithful, for the glory of God and the dignity of the Church\u2026 we have approved and established these things, decreeing that the present letters are and remain stable and valid, and are to have legal effectiveness, so that they be disseminated and obtain full and complete effect...\u201d\n\nIf it walks like magisterial teaching and quacks like magisterial teaching...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think this a valid point......\nProgressive Catholics are undoubtedly cheering the pope on as he chooses new cardinals, while conservatives are gnashing their teeth. I must remind my progressive friends that every change has unintended consequences.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Last I heard consensual sex wasn't a crime, although you faithful Catholics seem to think it is, unless the whole purpose of the act was pregnancy to begin with. Sexuality is a beautiful natural way for people to enjoy themselves and show affection for their partner. An unwanted pregnancy should not be the cost of pleasure and affection and love. Free and low cost contraceptives should be easily available. But with the white, male, Bible Thumpers taking over our country and forcing their religion on everyone else by cutting funding to Planned Parenthood, and destroying the ACA; just where do you think the poor and working poor can get contraceptive care? And considering the 12 million or so hungry children in the US, coming up with 50 cents every time you wish to have sex would mean less money to purchase food. Aren't you really saying sex should be for procreation only and if you are doing it because it feels good, you deserve to get knocked up?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus' sacrifice was a one-off...the Mass is a commemoration of that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your exact words are:\n\"Third: \"He who sees me [Jesus] sees the Father.\" He who looks on the priest sees Jesus. He who sees Jesus sees the Father.\"\nNot he who looks on \"the priesthood.\" \nSome priests are better reflections than others? So the reflection of Jesus Christ presented to children as they were abused by priests was perhaps not the best reflection? But being a priest, it was still a reflection. Jesus said \"whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me.\" Turns out for priests it translates into \"whatsoever yo do to the least of my brothers, as a priest, that you do as a reflection of Me.\" He must be amazed at the reflections he is casting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it interesting in this so-called top down church ... that all the social magisterium's scathing statements about capitalism can be disappeared by both lay and clerics ... with no repercussions - yet people (including lay) can be fired for not being \"pro-life\" in a sufficiently restricted manner ... that is advocating for ecological justice so we avoid cataclysmic catastrophe for our species and numerous others - that is already underway causing millions to suffer and die. This although both St. John Paul II and Benedict, as well as Francis say environmental devastation is to be treated as a \"pro-life\" issue.\n\nThe tiniest hint of being sane and compassionate around contraception and inclusion of the LGBT community draws howls ... and claims that we are being persecuted are made. Yet ignoring our actual teachings about desecration of God's Creation and address the causes of the structural sins (so called by St. John Paul II) are somehow considered to be okay. Why? Who benefits", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...objective moral order was established by God, and of which a right conscience is the true interpreter.\"\nThat statement which appears to cover all the bases, in fact makes no sense. There may well be an objective moral order, but interpretation is always subjective. To fall upon 'right' conscience attempts to dismiss conscience completely unless it falls in line with the catechism and church apologetics...neither of which is objective or intends to be. What is portented and hangs over all is Vatican I, Casti Connubii, and Paul VI being told that if the restrictions on birth control were to be relaxed and alas dismissed in totality it would portend, and another alas, that the church would be admitting that it could err. We the church suffering servants live in a church incapable of admitting to its dire mistakes, and continuing to insist that we wallow in those errors no matter how egregious and no want to separate its fiction from fact.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I fail to see where Archbishop Murphy has an advantage in recruiting. They don't give athletic scholarships and the tuition is $15,000 a year. If you aren't Catholic, it is $18,000 a year. Nor do they provide bus service to the corner of your block. For that matter, while your kid is going to Archbishop Murphy, and you are paying both for his tuition and for his transportation, you are still paying taxes to provide tuition-free education and bus services to the kids in your local public schools.\n\nI think the schools that forfeited acted disgracefully, teaching their kids the wrong lessons. Like if something looks challenging, maybe you ought to just quit. And that it really doesn't matter that you had an AGREEMENT to play that game, and that your own fans were supporting you based upon that AGREED upon schedule, you can just shirk those actual and implied contracts if you want to.\n\nYeah, a great lesson for generation snowflake; When the going gets tough, give up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is Shia not a sect of Islam, much like Sunni? When you state that Shia is much closer to Catholicism, what do you mean?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One thing the church lacks is listening to the needs of the laity. With the hierarchy composed of the so called celibate who have no clue about the realities of life e.g the fact that Eucharistic starvation exists is not enough for them to seek changes e.g. optional celibacy. Not sure whether this listening to the young will amount to anything. The World Youth day has been some what a success but not to the extent that's necessary if Catholicism is to be relevant to young people. The Evangelicals and Pentecostals that have adapted to the young culture e.g. having contemporary music, without necessarily compromising the message of the gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess you never heard or read that Jesus stated that \"Whatever you do to the least of my brothers [sisters] you do unto me.\" [Matthew 25:40-41]. ALL crimes involving others are sins against God.\n\nLeave your 'temporal' vs. 'spiritual' lollygagging in your glove compartment. We live, act and move IN TIME. We are JUDGED SOLELY upon what we do in TIME. Neither YOU nor I have any idea about life after our time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...\"Can you find a masculinity requirement for apostolic succession?\"...\n\nUnfortunately, Pope JP 2 thought HE could, as do many others. Probably Council of Trent did, also. Mainly on the basis of 'that's how it has always been\". The argument of \"Jesus chose males to be Apostles' argument.\n \nMainly because our custom, as enshrined in Canon Law, restricts 'priestly ordination' only to 'Clergy' - those in the 'clerical state'; and to get into that you have to be male, and celibate.\n\nIf you ever expect to get to your goal of ordaining women, I think it will be through the route of first ordaining 'laity' - men and women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Holy Family have mysteriously gone missing from Burke's argument. One would have thought that reference to the parents of Jesus himself would be useful in this debate. Pregnant, unmarried teenagers could teach us a lot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, the winter festival precedes Christianity by many thousands of years. The tree thing comes from pagan Germany, a long way from the deserts of the Middle East.\n\nThen there's my favorite seasonal sign: Jesus, the Reason for the Season. I have been thinking of producing my own signs that say: Axial Tilt, the Reason for the Seasons. Unfortunately, the folks who believe in magic space daddies just wouldn't get it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are confusing him with Karen Armstrong, who has an interesting discussion on how the sonship of Jesus evolved in the Church. By the way, Christ working wonders from faith rather than as a Divine person is a more powerful statement on how as God he deemed equality with God not something to be grasped at. Sound familiar?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only scandal among the Catholic faithful, is that caused by a bishop whose morality is from the waist down. \n\nAs AFT noted below---there are other services provided by Planned Parenthood that in many places of the country, women would not have if it were not for Planned Parenthood. Women are not going to be forced to go to back allies or to get out the coat-hanger again. The women of Poland went on strike when they anticipated that the laws in Poland [concerning abortion] would become more stringent. Women in America would do all that and more---if the services of Planned Parenthood were curtailed.\n\n\nRather than his rant, Bishop Scharfenberger should go to a shelter for pregnant mothers and talk to them about their anticipated futures with a new-born---and listen to their concerns. THIS would be demonstrating REAL concern for the well-being of the souls, minds and hearts of women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting. I am sure self-interest plays a role in your fellow canon lawyers' disinterestedness. People, including canon lawyers, play all sorts of roles and pontificate in all sorts of ways. It just seems SO STRANGE that you can't find a critical mass of canon lawyers today, of peers, ready and willing to pick up on what you say, on what you are proposing -- that Pope Francis change canon law. There are well over 1,200 canon lawyers, both men and women, in the Canon Law Society of America, alone!!! And thousands elsewhere. And you can't convince at least 50 peers -- or even 30 -- to come up with a letter addressed to the pope about this issue? A few years ago, I remember a group of Catholic historians and theologians got together and penned a letter to Pope Benedict, asking him, pleading with him not to promote the canonization of Pope Pius XII. I believed it worked, too. I guess Benedict -- who has a very high IQ and respects academics -- became more lucid when confronted by peers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They concluded they needed to be commissioned by Christ. They specifically rejected any notion of a culturally-conditioned origin of a male-only priesthood because that would require teaching that Jesus was limited in his divine role as Savior by the times and mores, which He was not as the Church has always taught. He fully fulfilled his earthly mission and provided everything necessary for salvation.\n\nJohn Paul II taught \"the Church has no authority whatsoever\" because it did not, anymore than it had authority to delete a sacrament or add another.\n\nCircumcision, beards, and marriage are red herrings as the constant practice of the Church since Apostolic times attests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wasn't talking about just the buildings. Mass attendance in Europe had declined by half. It wasn't just the buildings in ruin, it was literally the Church itself. Americans can't seem to grasp that the Vatican paid a big price in Europe for it's tepid response to facism before and during WWII. People became cultural Catholics/secularists instead of practicing Catholics. The Churches were well on their way to becoming the mostly empty museums they are now. Vatican II was probably too little too late to save Europe. It worked better elsewhere....at least for a time. \n\nThe USCCB is repeating the Vatican's WWII mistake in not speaking out forcefully against Trump and his brand of authoritarianism. If this continues, will see similar results in the US Church when Latinos take the same exit door as so many whites already have. The rot not changed by Vatican II was inherent clerical authoritarianism. Until that changes the exodus will continue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The doctrines are not ours they are God's revelation of Himself to mankind so they are sacred and immutable.\nWhatever you mean by mirroring Jesus spiritually I don't know, it sounds like a clich\u00e9 to me. Continuing Jesus's mission on earth is making know God's revelation, His teachings throughout the world. This is the mission committed to the Church by Christ.\n That is a sweeping judgement to make since you don't know what I have been through in my lifetime and to accuse me of not caring is disgraceful. Are you so convinced of your own self-righteousness that you take it upon yourself to judge and chastise those with whom you disagree?\nPeople who want to change the laws of God to suit their individual desires are indulging themselves, that is a fact not a judgement.\n Of course He wasn't judging, He was forgiving.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cradle Catholic here, with great respect for converts who take the faith seriously.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"They gather regularly to mourn what was...\"? Please. What you mean by \"what once was\" is the awful period of modernism and liturgical abuse so ripe since the end of Vatican II--at least until this parish finally got a priest who knew what the hell priests--and Catholics--are supposed to do and believe. The people who truly \"mourn what once was\" are those who are familiar with the 1900 years of traditional Catholicism that was swept aside by the Rahners, Kungs, and Ratzingers of Vatican II. Calling the \"exiles\" \"cradle Catholics\" is to wonder in whose cradle these liturgical scientists were raised. Sadly, most of them--at least those who grew up after VII anyway-- probably don't know any better. And this new priest, and those who truly know their faith, don't want to go nearly as far back as the \"16th century\"; October 9th, 1958 is far enough.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry, if a priest at a Catholic funeral doesn't explain to folks why we should pray for the deceased person, he isn't doing his job.\n\nThere is nothing wrong with giving comfort or speaking to a person's good qualities, but we shouldn't turn funeral Masses into canonizations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's about far more than mere \"consolation\"..it's about seeking the greatest good of all souls.\n\nWe should never shoot low. We should do what Jesus did...He didn't just heal a body, He always referenced some other point to help them and the people who helped them spiritually....\"were not ten healed..and only 1 gives thanks..\". That's the \"extra\" that Jesus was always working on, and it's what we should seek to work on too, going far beyond weeping with them, or patting them on the back. \n\nLove is far far more.\n\nWe should dare to do far more, with God at our side as teacher and coach.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Aw geeze, the author like so many other Catholics tries to put a coat of pink paint on Trump by saying he is \"good for the pro life cause\". Seriously? We have a man-child in the White House having Twitter tantrums and playing nuclear chicken with a man-child in North Korea... until someone miscalculates. It will no longer matter about fetuses or the already born when they are all toast. Culture wars would be the least of our concerns. How quickly we forget that nuclear devastation is not a game or reality TV. I grew up in a hot strike zone during the 50s/60s Cold War. Beginning in grade school we were issued dog-tags so our potentially incinerated remains could be identified by any potential survivors if nukes started to fly. Don't talk to me about \"pro life\" while we have a hothead in the White House and enablers in the GOP controlled congress. There is not a profile in courage to be found, bipartisan or otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I respect people who hang on in hopes of eventually making change, but the toxicity can also be soul-destroying. So we're Episcopalian now, and our friendly (and growing) parish is full of ex-Roman Catholics. LGBT people can have a church wedding, and we have no problem with women at the altar. I've heard it said that the Episcopal Church is what Vatican II really looks like. :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You say that because Matthew was preaching the reign of God, Jesus did not intend to be taken literally on divorce. That's a complete non sequitur. I don't deny that Matthew was exhorting us to different way of thinking. How does that mean we must take Jesus as meaning something other than his plain words tell us. \n\nYou are the one who said that we can't take Jesus literally because it constitutes line-drawing, which we mustn't do. But with his statement on divorce, Jesus did exactly that, because line-drawing is what one does when he passes an edict or a commandment. You draw a line between what is permissible and what is not permissible. Jesus did that. You disagree with THAT?\n\nYou say: \"So I put this question: what commandment do you follow when \"love of God and neighbor\" conflicts with \"let no man put asunder\"? \n\nYou follow the commandment, because to follow it is to love God. Following a God-given commandment never entails not loving God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I never have understood them anyway. I don't eat meat - but I don't care if you do. I don't drink alcohol - but don't argue about you're right to do so. If a woman chooses an abortion - what concern is it of anybody else's? The bible speaks out against divorce - why aren't they out fighting against divorce?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I knew somebody will come back with this. Of course I know and so do Spaniard. When GW Bush ordered invasion of Iraq Spain then PM signed up to join. Two reasons: he believed Bush reasons which were exposed as lies; he is a Christian fundamentalist and invading an Islamic country is a very natural thing to do especially under U.S. protection. Madrid soon got a big hit with the train bombing. The PM lost his job and replaced with a government whose policy since is steadfast mind-you-own-business. No terror hit from the Middle East since (but troubles from its own separatists continue). Spain in fact refused UK request for jet fighters overflight in their bombing missions to Libya. This from a NATO member, which ticked off UK PM Cameron big time. Today Spaniard see their country in relative safety while the UK got hits after hits. The Libyan connection is strong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wondered if Benedictine College had always been so... reactionary. If I had a teenager looking into a college to attend in the future, as a parent I would not even allow Benedictine to be considered. Well, not now. \n\nMaybe the college will recover from this bowing the knee to the religious reactionaries in our society and you can again proudly claim your affiliation with them. \n\nWe are having a brouhaha in the county where I live over yoga classes that used to be available in our public K-12 schools - but some fear-filled Christians complained so it was stopped. Doesn't seem to matter if it was good for the kids bodies and minds - helped them do better in school. Oh, no, it was practiced by heathens so must be rejected. (Sigh)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He did win. The schismatics are gone, they cannot identify themselves as being associated with the actual Catholic Church.\n\nThese sorts of things happen all the time.\n\nThe Imani Temple in DC - gone now. The list goes on and on.\n\nThey make a big splash, play the press, and in 5-15 years disappear.\n\nSame thing is happening to the PNCC, which is now down to under 7,000 members from 100,000 thirty years ago or so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Picture this : Sudbury, West End, 1950's, French-Canadian Catholic minority. I lay claim to this slice of culture and history and nobody else can appropriate this even though no lawyer will take my case. The Patent and Trademark Office disagrees with me and now has a restraining order against me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So Jesus was lying about Hell?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are all for this: \"to canonize exemplary non-Catholics such as Mahatma Gandhi or Nelson Mandela!\" A Vatican II Church in union with Rome would have done that years ago. https://RiteBeyondRome.com \n\nAs for our Roman Rite/Church, when will we start considering it in its self-named \"elder brother\" status in our Catholic family of 22 Rites/Churches already in union with Rome? Siblings don't have to agree with each other in order to be sister or brother to each other. That doesn't mean we have to dismiss them for their beliefs either. We could all be a challenge and a gift to each other, no? ...with the appropriate space between us for our differences.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am certainly not surprised that you find no inspiration from \"most\" NO masses, and that they are \"bland, lacking mystery and the ability to inspire.\" The liturgy, no matter the form, is supposed to inspire us from within, not the rubrics and stained glass and chant. It seems, perhaps, you lack the essence of what being a true Believer in Christ is really about. I don't know, really, but from what you state in your comments, it is giving the impression, at least, that it is the case.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From Tom Roberts's second paragraph.\n\"I know of nothing else 'in' the U.S. Church that was built precisely to do what it does.\"\nA minute ago Mr Roberts was assuring us that NCReporter is independent of the Catholic Church, now it \"is in the U.S. Church,\" part of the Catholic Church. Which is it? You can't have it both ways.\nThe Reporter gives the 'microphone' to anyone who disagrees with Catholic teaching, who attacks the American bishops, who disparages those whose Faith and liturgical practice. \nJust today, Jamie Manson (a regular columnist here and books' editor) contributes an article advocating the ordination of women (an impossibility according to the Magisterium and closed for discussion) gets pride of place. She is well known also for her support of homosexual unions claiming that they are not sinful and can even be 'good'. Again this is in direct opposition to the constant and unerring teaching of the Church over two millennia and beyond.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If something which is also a contraceptive is used to treat some other disease then why not have it treated just like any other cure for a disease? Why not indeed? \n\nDo note that even the Catholic Church notes this logical difference. Doctrine insists that abortion is an evil that must not happen. Yet saving a life which has the byproduct of abortion isn't a moral problem at all. The Catholic Church is just fine with ectopic pregnancies being treated - the treatment being, in part at least, abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are indeed misled by the idea of pre-destination. I agree that ALL have rejected God and it is true that grace is a gift from God. However, God also gave us free choice and a path to him. So we always have a way to God, through the man Jesus. For he was not willing that any perish but have everylasting life in him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "anniec, thank you. I think it would not be good for all of Christianity if it were \"under one roof.\" In fact, I suspect that the number of different Catholic groups will continue to grow, recognized or not. I think of groups of Catholics who accept women priests, or Catholic churches that recognize LGBT marriage. The Catholics who worship there still consider themselves as \"Catholic\" even if some other Catholics don't and the official RCC doesn't.\n\nI would think that some cultural differences in Africa, Asia, Latin America, among Native Peoples here - if incorporated into how they practice faith and even into some differences in what they believe would actually make Catholicism more \"at home\" within those cultures. I am thinking of cohabitation in Africa after parents have arranged a marriage but before the bride price is paid - a practice that seems to work in their cultures but would not/does not work in others. Why not recognize this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you get your keyboard fixed? Congrats.\n\nThat we are both here in this supposedly catholic site is evidence that Jesus and those apostles had remarkable influence and still do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A reading of the letter to the Hebrews describes Jesus role as the new High Priest who entered the Holy of Holies and established his Sacrifice in the heavenly Temple.\n\nThat predates \"a few hundred years after Jesus\" and confirms my general impression of Kenan B. Osborne's theological scholarship.\n\nBut at least he was in the right millennium.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The sacerdotal priesthood, however, is iconic of God the Son. God the Son was in fact a male. In instituting the sacrament of orders He ordained only males, \n\nJesus also called only JEWISH males. How does the Church claim with a straight face that the Church can ignore that part of the call...but not the \"male\" part of it; especially since the witness of scripture is that women were an integral part of Jesus' ministry. The Twelve, ie = the patriarchs of the twelve tribes were male, that is true. They were also not the basis of the priesthood...they were not replaced as they died off. The priesthood is a creation of the church Jesus did NOT ordain anyone. He celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples, but there is no biblical warrant for assuming ANY ordination took place. The command of Jesus is to celebrate the Supper as he instituted it. \n\nPr Chris", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1 of 3\n\n\"Nobody knows what God looks like!\" Angelica simply replied, \"They will when I'm finished\"\nI had to smile at that; as I also tried to draw His picture a long time ago\n.\nTo become a reflection of Jesus Christ we must look into (the mirror) of His heart before His and our Fathers inviolate Word (Will), when we do this honestly we see ourselves as we actually are which instils humility. \nA new female saint was asked by God to do this, reflect (Show) His Image to all of Gods people but the Church could not accept her Image (reflection) of herself before God, as it did not conform to their worldly image of goodness.\n.\nMother church, I am angry it is true I have many bones to pick with you\nI read about a Nun, the mirror of her heart shone in the dark\nShe held the lord in the most perfect way, tender heart, water, and gentle ray\nPaint me in such away, that they will know what I want to say, taste the water feel the gentle ray\nThe result was stark like a tree without bark\nContinue", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, CANON 1024 is an artificial contraceptive of female priestly vocations. This is plainly albeit ambivalently stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1598, which succinctly states that the male-only priesthood is a CHOICE (first sentence) and WHO can make the choice (second sentence). Everything is connected. As long as the conflation of patriarchal gender ideology and sacramental theology is not clarified, the confusion about moral issues of human sexuality cannot be resolved. I think our good pope is painfully aware of this, and he is trying to work things out in the most merciful way possible, but he is prolonging the agony. I also think he is a fearless man, not intimidated by threats, but trapped in a high security patriarchal prison.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Didache was the beginning of the teachings if the Twelve. Since then the teachings of Jesus of the Kingdom of God, the Beatitudes, and Social Justice seems to have been overwelmed by Roman power and authority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Boots \"That is true but I will remind you that God did not mention homosesuality in the ten commandments. Rules in Leviticus probably arose due to societal pressures at the time.\" \n \nI have three points for you. First, you have been challenging people to come up with a religious right/belief that would be violated. And when produced, you try to deflect it with your own unsupported theory. \n\nSecond, either the entire Bible, i.e. Word of God, if from God or it isn't. By the way, it is! So none of it is from \"societal pressures.\" \n\nThird, read Romans 1:18-32. I suggest the New American Standard version for ease of understanding. \n\nAnd will you please tell me what \"right\" the couple is losing in the baker's refusal? They can get married, have a cake, and pretty much anythings else. The myth that every business must serve every customer is without basis. At their peril, any business owner can deny any customer for no reason at all, just as a customer can refuse to do business with them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately, many times folks are left at a level of understanding appropriate for seven year olds, which can be dismissed later in life as superstition and magic. Adults must come to an adult understanding of Eucharist as less about what happens to the bread and wine (as well as how it happens) and more about Eucharist being the sign and the reality of God broken and poured out for the love of a broken and hurting world, and seeing it less about their \"personal salvation\" and more about likewise being willing to be broken and poured out for the broken and hurting world loved by God.\n\nIf we aren't walking out the door of the church building as the \"Real Presence\" of the \"Body of Christ\" in the world in which we live, into our families, our workplaces, and into our relationships, I fear we are simply affirming the nons' decision to have no part in any of it. The church going forward must be defined less by what we believe and more by the quality of our love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not wrong at all. \nThe NCReporter is not part of the Catholic press. No one is saying there shouldn't be a free Catholic press, the objection is that its title can give the impression that it is an official Catholic publication.\nI know of no other publication with Catholic in its title which openly crusades against the organisation it is named after.\nWhat it's got to do with Watergate I don't know unless you mentioned it to give you the opportunity have a dig at your President.\nWhen you come to think of it the Reporter seems to concentrate more on politics these days than Catholic issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelicals just held a conference where it was tearfully resolved never again to trust politics. It\u2019s just a regular ritual\u2026because here you are again, Mr. Minnery, ready to inflict a pompous, erratic windbag (PEW!) upon the nation\u2026just because his VP pick is nearly perfectly, pubic-ly, pure. Political reality has limited religious moral purview to regulating the sins of the crotch. The religious responsibility in this devil\u2018s deal is to shill for any politician who would allow the religion to have at least the appearance of being able to advance its morally-limited, crotch-centered agenda. The reason is simple: All the power lies with the rich\u2026big money rules everything\u2026why the religious routinely sleep at the foot of the bed of the rich.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sure Jesus will help them out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A quote I read several years ago: If you want to know what God thinks of money, look at who he gives it to. It seems to me though that material 'blessings' have generally been portrayed as compensation from Satan for one's soul. So many think that the US has been abundantly blessed by God for being a Christian nation, but in reality, much of that blessedness has been derived by the exploitation and oppression of others. Can we really be so arrogant to believe it has been God's hand that has bestowed so much on America through slavery, child labor, union busting, the transfer of jobs to areas where exploitation is still possible, etc, etc, etc. I am truly afraid that the US has delivered our collective soul to the dark side, and we are in for a period of such tremendous evil that will make all of the earth's past pale in comparison. Especially dismaying is that US Bishops led the descent. God have mercy on them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "None of those Catholic PMs have displayed a crucifix as part of their daily dress. There have been secular Sikh politicians who did not choose to wear the turban. Those who do are proclaiming that their religion comes first.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These glimpses of Jesus's way with this woman don't show Jesus \"in such a poor light\" at all.\n\nWhat a shallow reading. \n\nWith a tiny bit of work, they show Jesus to be incredibly wise & long-viewed in every single action of His. \n\nJesus is always...by every action, by every question, by every miracle, even by His drawing in sand, trying to bring about the GREATEST good, not just in the immediate circumstances of the scene in Holy Scripture, but today, now, in your life and in my life. Every moment of all of our lives can be \"divinely washed\" by every action of Jesus, every word, and yes every \"hesitancy\" or \"change of mind\" of His.\n\nJesus wants total union with us, and that may mean \"more time\" \"more waiting\" more enlisting of others in our problem (more unity, more community).\n\nLet's stop with the top level, trendy, quasi political interpretation of Scripture here (\"challenging boundaries\"!), and go deeper into the incredible good that Jesus, who is God, is trying to do \"within us\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This document describes Limbo as a \"possible theological opinion.\"\n\nWe don't really know what happens to unborn babies who die without baptism, but we trust in the mercy of God and hope for the best is what I take away from this document.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The influence and significance of Catholic and Protestant faith communities is dwindling rapidly.\"\n\nAs per the NHS, religiosity (>10 visits to religious institution in last year) fell like a stone, on a generational basis:\n\nGreat Generation: 72%\nBoomers: 41%\nGen X: 27%\nMillennials: 17%\n\nEvery time I post those numbers, you see the same accounts disagreeing, but in the end all the disagreement in the world doesn't change those numbers. I used to sit on a board that discussed as a group how to deal with older church buildings going to seed, because my city has the highest concentration of churches in Canada. The religious leaders also on that board chose the 'head in sand' route, and I left in frustration because they clearly didn't want a reasonable solution to the problem. Fast forward 9 years, and now we've got parishes begging the city to subsidize 'heritage' buildings they cannot afford to maintain themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jim,\n\nDon't forget Acts 14 -\" And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.\"\n\nThe business of selecting, appointing, ordaining, elders takes up enough of the New Testament you are bordering on being duplicitous to be so dismissive of the practice. Quibbling about nomenclature, not to reveal practice, but to obscure it would be duplicitous.\n\nOf course I can't show you in the New Testament a separated clergy, a clerical class. That is why there is only a single ecclesiastical title of consequence in the Adventist church: Elder. We are imitating the bible. And in the bible they never ordained, appointed, selected women to serve as elders. They explicitly said so. They told us why. \n\nSo are we agreed: Shall we join with St. Paul in not letting woman usurp authority over a man?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not advocated little glasses as the solution. I just would like to seen a poll to find out if hygiene is in fact the reason so many refuse the chalice when it is offered. And if it is, I would like to see any and all possible more hygienic solution explored.\n\nThat said, there are dishwashers available for the little glasses, and were this to become a catholic practice, it would now take long for some entrepreneur to manufacture one that washed many hundreds at once. The Lutherans, near me at least, consecrate the wine at the altar in a chalice, and then pour it into small glasses at communion. Chalices for this purpose have a small spout built into their top rims. Do you still object?\n\nUnstarched purificators make it easier to wipe both the inside and outside of the chalice, which may increase hygiene. But since the organisms that spread infection are microscopic, there isn't a doctor anywhere who would describe better wiping as 100% hygienic. \n\nBesides, it all about perception.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The prosperity gospel is an old wolf in new sheep's clothing. It's essentially the same nonsense that Jesus dealt with when the Pharisees argued that the blind and lame were being punished by God (and, by implication, that they themselves were God's favored). It's reared its head throughout history under different guises and in nearly every religion and culture, including slavery in the pre-Civil War U.S. and the caste system in India. And let's not forget how literally the Catholic Church has, at times, taken the notion that our hierarchy are \"princes.\"\n\nWhat it all boils down to is that people like living comfortably but they don't like being reminded that other people pay for their comfort. If you can con yourself into believing that God wants you to be rich but is fine with your neighbor being poor, then presto -- the good life with no guilt!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Love your ndp, Second Collection. Do you have brothers called 'First' and 'Special' ? \n\nI love your words. Are we going to take the gospel seriously or not? That's the crux of the matter. While the hierarchs have argued and legislated and lived the lives of royalty, ordinary people have heard the call of the gospel and have given up everything to follow the Lord. They have crossed over to the other side, been persecuted (often by the Church), they've been imprisoned, tortured and murdered. \n\nThe sickness of these charlatans was exemplified when they rushed to proclaim Escriva as Saint, but had to be dragged screaming and kicking to recognise Oscar Romero. JPII spent all of 40 seconds praying at his grave. He should have spent 40 days there repenting for his part in Romero's death, accompanied by the sound of a cock crowing.\n\nI disagree though, SC, that a Pope should ban Catholics from the military. Then he would be acting like JPII and Benny. \n\nJesus simply invites and we respond.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Note to Christian , it's \" Tiki \" Vasconcellos , not \" Ticky \".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is the people. It is not the hierarchy only. We don't live in the Roman empire anymore. We don't live in the Dark Ages anymore. We don't live in the Middle Ages or in the age of the Western Schism anymore. We don't live in the Age of the Renaissance, the Age of the Council of Trent, the Thirty Year's War [wars of religion in Europe], the Age of Enlightenment, or the French Revolution Period any more. The Church changed in these periods because if it didn't---it would have gone 'belly up'. That is why synods, councils, and ecumenical councils were held. In 1815 after the Congress of Vienna, the Church believed in a world in which divinely appointed monarchs ruled the state and divinely appointed prelates ruled the Church.\n\nWe don't and CAN'T live in a walled-up fortress mentality of the Church[that the official church encouraged from 1815 on ]. The over-riding concepts of a patriarchal church are evil and give lie to what the church claims to teach and believe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Canada Catholic Churches are only attended by old and older \"Stubborn Catholics\" like me and Hispanics and other immigrants; and happily, their young children. Otherwise, we only see kids, youths and young people at First Communions, Weddings and sometimes at Funerals. \nAs a nine year old Would-Be-Altar-Boy, the elderly Pastor exhorted me to always speak the Latin responses loudly as I spoke on behalf of hundreds of Church-spectators! I did so with pride and loudness. Later on, then in my twenties when the spirit of Vatican II m, my wife-to-be and other like minded reenergized Catholics helped reawaken my faith, I vowed to be a Participant rather than a silent Spectator at Holy Mass and to always \"Speak to my God for Myself \" still loudly, fervently and vigorously. And learn an Sing the hymns in the same way rather than listen to an unseen Choir.\nFor a while, we Lay people were equal! Then, slowly, things reverted.\nA Year of the Laity? ONE In 2000? Another new beginning? I Hope!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again the idea that relativism is bad raises its head. Yet every decision one makes weather to buy meat or fish for dinner, what college to attend, who to marry is indeed relative. The Catholic Church lost its own battle about relativism before it began. When people raise the relativism flag, they become like the great Quixote jousting at windmills. It is a crazy thing to do...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It probably annoys some of the blue-hairs even more that Atonement started offering Mass in the Ordinary Form, by-the-book, reverent and beautiful and clearly the same kind of thing as the Extraordinary Form or the Anglican Use Mass.\n\nCradle Catholics raised on the Mass of Eugene Walsh, Fred McManus, and Rembert Weakland were being provided the Mass of Paul VI and the Council (per Sacrosanctam Concilium) and at least some were finding it more suitable. That just galls some people--everywhere it happens--for reasons that are hard to understand, at least if they believe in the Eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "as terrible as many - too many aggressions have happened - i can't agree completely. i am a lousy, but try my best christian - you know the reason for THE second coming.. but Christianity has had it's moment with the inquisition and the crusades. torture, the rack, drawn and quartered.....heard a saying - you can convert some people with a bible but you can convert a lot more with a bible and a gun.\n\n there has been ethnic cleansing since humans became. caveman \"you different and me want your woman/food/clothes/cave... it's genocide that we just don't have constant news of ... rivers running red with blood - it happens elsewhere.\n\nislam is a legitimate religion - if i believe that christianity and judaism are legit - i gotta allow for islam. there people who are muslim and think they are being true to it's call - i think they are twisted. \"our\" god doesn't start this stuff... Con't", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It now seems clear that at this point in time Marie Collins, much much more than anyone in the Vatican, is one of the real leaders of the living Body of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We agree that God is no monster, but that does not mean that He is anthropomorphic, either (Genesis, Judges, etc.). The Father is not angry at all as He is impassible. Jesus expressed righteous anger, once, in the temple precincts. This does not mean that God does not discipline, or that He may be understood in human terms.\n\"AS A HUMAN BEING, Jesus did not know that he was going to die as he did.\"\nOf course He knew (Lk. 9:22, 18:31 and 24:7; Mk. 8:31; Mt 17:22; Jn 3:14). What else he may have known is speculation (did he know COBOL, quantum chromodynamics, the results of the seventh race at Hialeah today?) but His soul was always present to the Beatific Vision - He knew the plan and agreed with it. He knew what was demanded of Him and asked if it was possible that the \"cup would pass\" - it didn't because, for reasons unknown to us, it couldn't. That passion was the expression of His great Love. God the Father gave up His Son to suffer and die that we might live (John 3:16).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cOur passion for the Bible continues, and we will do all that we can to support the efforts to conserve items that will help illuminate and enhance our understanding of this Great Book,\u201d Green said.\n\nThese artifacts have nothing to do with the Bible. Cloaking antiquities theft and lying under the mask of piety is reprehensible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pat Perrielo writes: \"We understand that Africa or Asia may have a different view of women. We try to understand their culture and make some allowances for it.\" \n\nAnd yet Asia has had a majority of women presidents to date - Muslim majority countries (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia), Buddhist majority countries (Sri Lanka, Taiwan), Hindu majority countries (India), and even a Catholic majority country - the Philippines! Indonesia stipulates a minimum of 30% women candidates in elections. Asian Catholic women doing theology as deep and as radical anywhere meet, share and publish every two years (since 2002) in the \"Ecclesia of Women in Asia\" network (EWA). Women religious tend to belong to one of two extremes - dutiful practitioners within a clerical church (a minority), or long term feminist engaged with the marginalised (a slowly increasing majority of Sisters). Yes, we remain patriarchal churches within patriarchal societies, yet the ground is shifting beneath our feet. Thank God!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and a private religious service before the inauguration by and extremely anti-Catholic minster buddy of his. \n\nhttp://www.cnn.com/2017/01/19/politics/trump-jeffress-pastor/index.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2nd reply to your comment. I agree with you totally about the stuff on Iglesia Descalza (have been there before several times) getting out to a wider audience. The fact that so many of these pieces are translated by the blog owner herself means that most Catholic and Orthodox English speakers are not reading them! It would be ideal if NCR would consider pairing with her to bring this material to more readers. \n\nNCR, please take note!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was in high school during Vat II. I remember the changes well, and the joy of my parish priest and dear friend that he could now say Mass in English and actually understand what he was saying! I remember how hard he worked with our church choir and with the congregation to encourage the singing. With his charisma and encouragement, people did learn to sing out. They enthusiastically became lay readers and lay extraordinary ministers helping with communion. We had a strong and active parish council-- our pastor welcomed it.\n\nI think the changes you witnessed, the change in the number of vocations, the drop-off in attendance, happened to ALL mainstream churches, not just the RC, so can't be blamed on V2. It was a period of societal change in all aspects. \n\nI admire the Unitarian/Universalists--they are very forward thinking and active for social justice. They do a good job of living the Gospel--even without belief in Jesus! But don't you miss him?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't expect a citation. I looked at the website of the Vatican Communications Office and couldn't find anything to support TQ's assertion. That doesn't mean it isn't there. If TQ can provide the cite, I'll look at it; but I don't expect it. If he's looking for a blue ribbon, he's certainly welcome to it. Many faithful Catholics are getting Purple Hearts, or the rough equivalent thereof.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(continued) And God help Black Catholics, ignored some more, even on this Feast of Saint John de Brebeuf and Isaac Jogues, Priests, and companions, Martyrs,k missionaries to the Huron and Iroquois Indians. (to be continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know, I was just pointing out that he was wrong saying that St Peter's was the first Church of Christendom when that Church is St John Lateran. I know Cardinal Law was Archpriest of St Mary Major.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fear of the Lord means reverence for the Lord. It doesn't mean groveling and it doesn't mean terror.\nAs for baptizing infants with anything other than water, what's the matter? Don't you think GOD has the power to recognize His child if it's baptized with coke rather than H2O?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The caste system was practiced for thousands of years before the Mughals - Fa Hien's travelogues, Xuangzang's travelogues, Megasthenes (the Selecuid Ambassador to the Magadha Empire) wrote a book stating the same.\n\nThe Muslims and Christians adopted the caste system - Church priests were buried in different graveyards as compared to the lower caste Christians. \n\nThe word \"caste\" is a Portuguese/Spanish word, to denote how much European blood the mestizos or mulattos had - more European blood meant higher caste. It is still the main form of discrimination in Latin America.\n\nThe British created an even more powerful system of apartheid. There is a reason Apartheid lasted till 1994 in South Africa - it was strongly supported by Europeans. Segregation in the USA lasted till 1965 for the same reason - the European part of the population strongly supported it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously you have not, as you incorrectly summarized the laws in question as \"crossing the border is against the law.\" It's interesting that you are so active on an internet site devoted to Catholicism in the USA, a nation you apparently equate with N.Korea and China.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What??? The \"love the lord\" quote is straight out of the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 6:5.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but your Church and mine were together for 1000 years and our image isn't yours. Your image took shape around 1965, when the second Vatican Council didn't go in a direction you approved of.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "next 2\nArchb Coleridge spoke to this same group at the Chrism Mass. From my notes:\n\nColeridge spoke at Chrism mass, trying to make a distinction between clericalism and ontological change and the true call to service of the priesthood. But it is muddled. He said: \u201cWhen a man is ordained he is radically configured to Christ, the High Priest and Good Shepherd. This in turn changes the pattern of his relationships with other people. Those relationships become radically different because he\u2019s ordained.\u201d Then goes on to talk about the problem of clericalism. \u201cUnintentionally the Royal Commission echoed at Pope Francis who, speaking from a very different angle, has left no doubt that clericalism is a disease in the Church that needs to be treated and treated without delay,\u201d the Archbishop said.\n\nA little later, this unfortunate sentence: \u201cHoliness therefore means separation not for its own sake but separation for the sake of service.\u201d\n\nOrdination equals holiness? \n\nsee next3", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don\u2019t even acknowledge there is a consensus. What you\u2019re calling \u201ca consensus\u201d translates into \u201cthe majority of pundits Neko has read\u201d. Based only on your comments to this point, that might be two or three.\n\nAs I pointed out some time ago, I\u2019ve already satisfied myself that I belong to the Church Christ founded. That Church established the canon of Scripture in the first place. It also interprets the Scriptures with authority.\n\nIt considers Hebrews authoritative, which is why it included it in the canon. Whether Paul wrote it directly or not is irrelevant.\n\nSince you don\u2019t accept that I belong to the Church Christ founded, deny its authority, including its teaching authority, that doesn\u2019t provide a basis to move forward.\n\nI find discussing this with Baptists more productive. They at least accept the canon of Scriptures and believe them to be reliable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did Jesus beat up on Samaritans, Egyptians, Romans or gentile Greeks? The constant miracle of Christianity has always been its ability towards inclusiveness, adapting pagan and foreign customs to our own rituals and sacred moments. Please, somebody remind our upper crust clergy that we all live in a real world composed of real people and real families with different customs and origins. Most are just different, not better or worse. Keep the judgmentalism under wraps.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'...once those priests are convicted, the proper role of the Church is to laicize them and have nothing further to do with them'. Except - doesn't the Church still have the obligation to heal, or try to? Isn't that part of its mission? Isn't Paul Shanley a lost sheep?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since it has been announced locally that all that glass recycling is a waste of time because there is too little market for the glass and it just gets crushed and into the landfill for roadways, 'recycling' bottles at all needs to be re-evaluated.\n\nNovember 26, 2013 Register-Guard CHRISTIAN WIHTOL,\n\n\"So instead, all bottles collected curbside by Sanipac and Lane Apex in Eugene and Springfield head to a landfill, typically Coffin Butte,\"\n\n\" We send 250 to 300 tons a month of mixed glass (from Eugene-Springfield) to Coffin Butte,\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your are utterly right! Just looked-up \"Perennialism\" and it adds a further dimension to your point.\nI was focusing on the need, the obligation for institution to be represent and remain appropriate to, supportive of and subservient to (i.e., incarnate within) the community it emerges from. Institutional form must incorporate a methodology that tests, retests its foundation in its mission. There is an eventualism of institutional dominion or institutionalism that must be resisted.\nYour point of Perennialism presumes that the non-accountable, esoteric origin of the organization precludes accountability but is in fact quite the opposite. Elitist, it demands submission, obedience and obiesence as a condition of participation. Sadly this seems to typify our Church and blatently contradict the notion of the \"Mystical Body\" and the \"community of the companion followers of Christ\". Another construct definition in self-contradiction typical of clericalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our local Unitarian Church is growing by leaps and bounds with two Sunday services and many wonderful activities throughout the week. Fifty percent of our new members are former Roman Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus did not ordain anyone. \n\nWhen he chose disciples to preach the Good News, he chose both men and women.\n\nThe Twelve Apostles were merely picked as judges for the 12 tribes of Israel, per two gospels, and not priests. This was to fulfill prophesy, and because they were picked as a matter of satisfying lineage, no woman or gentile blooded men could satisfy this prophesy. \n\nJesus, and Peter testifies to this, in his letters, made all of us equally priests in his name. Peter claims there is one Royal Priesthood and does not claim himself to be a part of any special sacramental priesthood outside of that Royal Priesthood. \n\nIt is logical that we have leaders, and that the leaders and the church body, pray over those individuals who feel called by God to lead parishes, and the Church, and preside over sacraments. However, there is no reason to discriminate against a person based on gender or marital status. \n\nJesus would have us ordain single and married men and women equally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish he had the same vigor and initiative to denounce the massacre of Yazidis, Kurds and Christians in Iraq or Minorities in Pakistan. It is a foregone conclusion that Mr.Trudeau's position is dictated by vote bank politics and appeasement strategies. Sad for Canada!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The question is not whether folks are going to go away. The question is whether anything will be accomplished. Name-calling is not effective political opposition. There has to be concerted effort. Fr. Reese thinks it will be there. We'll see. As you will note, this morning MSW -- a self-proclaimed leader of the Catholic opposition -- has called for Judge Gorsuch to be confirmed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When McHale pretends that Christ gave a specific command which, in fact, does not exist, then saying that he is dishonest is a simple statement of fact.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The real problem is the will is not there to confront clericalism, definition of CLERICALISM: a policy of maintaining or increasing the power of a religious hierarchy.\n\nOur Lord Himself has given the Church the means to destroy the root and stem of clericalism, but to do this the elite of the church will have to embracing the scandal of the Cross thorough a public act of humility.\nIf this were to happen a Transfiguration would occur within the Church, at this moment in time that would resurrect the true face of Jesus Christ, a face that reflects Truth and humility before all those she is called to serve in love and compassion.\nPlease consider reading with my past articles\nhttp://www.v2catholic.com/background/2015/08/2015-08-15the-web-of-clericalism.htm\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you a Catholic? Serious question.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Eliane for your comment\nI called my male parent daddy; I do not think that Jesus was referring to your \u2018lawful\u2019 as in \u2018Honor your father and your mother\u2019 (Natural) father, before God, to think that He was would be preposterous as God\u2019s inviolate Word (Will) cannot contradict itself. \nYes the term father is a term of respect and affection (Love) but in the fullest sense as in our Creator it is due to Him and Him alone as we are all brothers and sisters in Christ and he is the Father of us all\nI don\u2019t have any dissident priest pals I appear to be shunned by most Conservatives and liberals a like, I wonder why. \nYou could attribute my beliefs as being over scrupulous if you so wish but they are sincere \nI hope we can leave this discourse amicable or at least without any hostility\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed, I have read AL -- to include the famous footnote. The one Francis claims not to remember. It says (and means) precisely nothing.\nJesus, on the other hand, didn't deal in footnotes. His yes meant yes, and his no meant no.\nIn any case, you're quite right, Francis's silence is the most \"eloquent\" and instructive possible response, in that it reflects his unchristian contempt for those who dare to question him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Schism in the hierarchy of crimes against the Church and its teachings is ranked lower than heresy and apostasy.\n\nThat is one of the reasons why the Church permits reception of the Eucharist from the Orthodox under some circumstances, but not from Protestants.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...and I would say 90% of the baptized Catholics [5.5 million] no longer attend church.\"\n\nIt is hard to say. My sources are academics, Australian Catholic. They are more hopeful. They will note that like the French Church, the Australian Church has similar stats only the French use different categories: \"cultural Catholics,\" \"seasonal,\" \"Vatican II Catholics,\" \"observant,\" \"inspired Catholics,\" and \"emancipated\" (self-identified Catholics very left and more active in civil movements than church activities). \"No longer attend\" means one no longer attends a weekly service. Like the French bishops (who praised the secular survey, finding it reflected the French Church's \"rich diversity\") the Aussie academics are optimistic (especially about Catholic educational institutions). I guess it depends on who you talk to, their background, class, immigrant/non-immigrant status, and so many, many other factors, including whether one or someone in one's family was abused.\nAnyway, they're hopeful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank goodness for the Spanish-speaking Catholics in the US today. Without them this denomination would be much smaller. Of course, the retention rate, particularly in the 2nd and 3rd generations, is approaching abysmal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Robert,\n\nIf you will recall, it was Paul's testimony about the working of the Holy Spirit that swayed the decision of the Jerusalem Council toward accepting taking the Gospel to the gentiles and accepting them into the faith. Likewise, this topic will remain unsettled until people are willing to recognize the working of the Holy Spirit. The early church could have split over accepting gentiles into the faith, the church today could see that result unless we actively seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit to know what God wants us to do. Because I have seen women ministering effectively in the power of the Holy Spirit, I support the ordination of women. At the same time, if someone can show me the clear leading of the Holy Spirit to the contrary, then we must consider it. But we must not confuse the strong opinions of those who are defending tribal or spiritual tradition for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Rather, we must reject that view until God clearly shows otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I remember when the diocese of my childhood removed the statues, crucifixes, kneelers, confessionals and altar rails from all the churches. Soon afterwards, as I recall, the government began rounding up catholics and placing them in FEMA camps.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pot/kettle. \n\nWould you like to discuss the \"utter contempt\" that each and every one of your posts demonstrates to this community? I wonder if you'd write the same words in the same tone to Jesus when He preached about and against the established religion of His time? \"Whatsoever you do...\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The war in Syria isn't really about religion either, when you get to the bottom of it. But referring to Sunni or Shiite Islam seems to give these fighters carte blanche to kill whomever they wish, including women and children. This sounds like a lot of wars in history, especially the ones described in the Bible. For a particularly nasty war justified by the Christian religion read about King Philip's War.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tri, your theology is based on fear of a vindictive god. Your politics is also based on a fear of socialism. Jesus said many times \"be not afraid\". \nI am surprised you are not afraid of Brexit. Many of your young people want to continue to have an open market and free access to the rest of Europe. They are not afraid.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Michael, It makes sense because Baptism is the initial Sacrament even before the Nicean Creed. It does not make sense to rebabtize other Christians. The sacrament that Is Apostolic is Baptism. Holy Orders was not even present in our the Cristian Churches for several generations after the death of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You wrote:\n\n<>\n\nEnglish was devised by chattel slave owners? Really? That may be one of your more fantastic assertions.\n\nOne such muddling is the appearance of the word \"servant\" for \"slave\" in English translations of the Bible starting with Wycliffe.\n\nChattel slavery certainly existed in the ancient world. Of course Catholic apologists are anxious to ameliorate the church's complicity in the institution of slavery.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Rome's idea was to whittle the sin problem down to something more manageable, like the Pharisees in Jesus' day. If you're going to be saved by your works, then the only way anyone would have a chance is if you don't count who you are, but only what you do. Luther and Calvin believed that salvation must go much further. That Christ rescues us totally, for who we are and for everything we've done.\n\nIn my opinion, the doctrine of original sin is the most important concept in all of human history. Without a correct understanding of our true state, our complete helplessness, we don't really understand our need for a Superman-sized Savior. Total Rescue for Total Sinners.\n\nI will check out some of your other articles. I really appreciate you taking the time to write them. Maybe we can be friends on Facebook?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When a Catholic says \"where does Jesus say\" they are guilty not just of Sola Scriptura, but Sola Jesus. \n\nThey don't even realize the logical error they are making, since the Church itself provided the closed canon which includes far more than \"what Jesus said\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cA series of critical objections against the doctrine and praxis of the Church pertain to questions of a pastoral nature ..... They claim that the human person of today is no longer able to understand such language, that Jesus would have had an open ear for the needs of people, particularly for those on the margins of society. They say that the Church, on the other hand, presents herself like a judge who excludes wounded people from the sacraments and from certain public responsibilities.\n\n\u201cOne can readily admit that the Magisterium\u2019s manner of expression does not seem very easy to understand at times. It needs to be translated by preachers and catechists into a language which relates to people and to their respective cultural environments. The essential content of the Church\u2019s teaching, however, must be upheld in this process. It must not be watered down on allegedly pastoral grounds, because it communicates the revealed truth.\"\n(Cardinal Ratzinger; 1998)\n\nThat's clear teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not Canada ...with a bunch of \u00ab Loyalists \u00bb Orangemen. \nThere is no place for a bunch of Ku-Ku-Klowns in Canada.\nAfter the establishment of the Canadian Federation (1867), the English speaking several provinces attended helplessly to the adoption of several LAWS and regulations, anti-Catholic and anti-French in English Canada, especially in that regard to denominational schools outside Qu\u00e9bec.\nAnti-Catholic and anti-French attitude drew its source, among others, the fact that many of the Loyalists who came to Qu\u00e9bec after the American Revolution of 1775 (Eastern Townships/ Ontario and Western Provinces) were \"Orangemen\" convinced. Orangemen advocated an anti-Catholic and anti-French doctrine, inspired by the reconquest of England in 1690 by the Protestant Prince William III of Orange.\u2026\n\t\nAnd Paf ! Problems started across French Canada ever since !\n(got it Roland, eh ?)\n(more to come for YOU & yours ROC friends d'enfoir\u00e9(e)s)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently you are unaware that Holy Church has repeatedly rejected and condemned your proposition re \"perceptions\" and \"understanding\" of dogma.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Vatican\u2019s reception of Trump was full of military ritual - a sanctification of violence by disguising it behind quaint colourful pantaloons and medals and insignia. This is the Church, for goodness\u2019 sake, not a military installation. Where was the witness to the Gospel in this? \nJesus wept over Jerusalem because it stubbornly refused to learn the ways of peace. Maybe he is weeping over the Church because we refuse too. \nTo disband the Swiss Guard would be a magnificent statement for nonviolence and against militarisation that would make the whole world, including ISIS etc, sit up and think about how we achieve world peace. Pope Francis would be putting his money where his mouth his. Jesus' project was to wean us off of our dependence on violence. \"He will guide our feet onto the road of peace.\" Are we serious about following the peacemaking gospel of Jesus, or not?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether it's right or wrong to have to rely on doctrine --- I agree there are times when doctrine doesn;t guide us --- is not the point. Follow the chain of discussion: You had indicated the Church had changed its doctrine on slavery to one of disapproval. I responded that Church had never had a doctrine approving of slavery. You answered, in effect, \"Well, the Church was not known for condemning it.\" I pointed out that you were equating doctrine with that which \"the Church was not known for condemning.\" It is tangential thinking for you to now say that \"relying on Church doctrine to act at times makes us a poor Church, indeed.\" True, but off-point. Once again, it's hard to find linearity here at NCR.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We all know that the moral to the story of the Good Samaritan was that the priest and others bypassed the injured, robbed man because he had no right to have healthcare paid for by others. Jesus sure stressed that notion, didn't He?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Many radical environmentalists can accurately be\nlabeled \u201cnature mystics.\u201d And many of them express\naffinity with religions they generally consider more\nnature-beneficient than occidental religions, such as those\noriginating in Asia such as Buddhism and Daoism,\nreligious beliefs or practices surviving among the world\u2019s\nremnant indigenous peoples, or being revitalized or\ninvented anew, such as PAGANISM and WICCA. Paganism\nand Wicca are considered to be (or to be inspired by) the\nAboriginal nature religions of the Western world, which\nhave been long suppressed by imperial Christianity and\nIslam.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's in the Bible ,.......... You may not have one", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill, A friend of mine moved to China with his wife and several children ~20 years ago. He was more or less sent by a church upon graduation from Bible School. Although the authorities very clearly frown upon overt religious activities, he charged ahead, conducting Bible studies and baptizing people. He was betrayed by one of his converts and expelled from the country; his wife ran off with a local man rather than return to the States. His family was destroyed and he returned to alcohol for solace [sober for many years prior].\n\nHis wife eventually made it back to the States but in the end, they divided the children, divorced, and he, sober again, remarried. This family was a model family, bulwarks in the community but their adventure as \"missionaries\"destroyed their marriage. They ventured out in faith but their adventure cost them nearly everything.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A few journalists, a few priests, a couple of news outlets - including NCR - and a few in the legal profession joined hearts, minds, will and skills with victims to expose and disclose the sexual abuse scandal in our Church. I cannot imagine the resistance, the demonization, the demented silence, faced from sexually abusive clergy and, maybe even more perverse, the managers, deniers, facilitators among clergy and hierarchy. \nGood, faithful, orthodox, docilley(?) respectful, adamant protectors joined the phalynx of hierarchical denial, obfuscation, and demonization. \nLesson 1: Is the Roman Catholic Institution in the USA willing, credible, equipped, competent, interested in what is entailed in \"gearing up to confront bigotry,\" let alone stand for the values inherent in your Constitution and perceived \"story\" of who you are?\nLesson 2: There seems sufficient evidence and clear warnings from the presidential campaign and aftermath that the call is out once again....\"who will answer\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 4\n\nThe Singular Inviolate Word of God\n\n \u201cwhat God has joined together let no man put asunder\u201d \n\n\u201cFor I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven\u201d\nMay you and your family too have a happy and blessed Easter.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/pharisees/ \n\nand from this article\n \n\"All these groups of people the Pharisees would have been determined to avoid in their resolution to separate themselves from any type of impurity proscribed by the levitical lawor, more specifically, their strict interpretation of it\" \n\nWho on this site claims ownership of the rule, so that he may condemn me or other children of God? \n\nI've tried to know Jesus as best as I can. My own pastor suggested that it is in the gospels that I would find the most happiness. I've read the bible cover to cover. I found parts of old testament unappealing at best. Apparently so did Jesus.\n\nThe bible is not Dick and Jane. It's difficult, rooted in deep cultural bias, modified thousands of times by scribes in all ages since Christ life. I am not going to listen to literal/simplistic versions, just because some won't do the work to find understanding.\n\nI honor whatever decision you make for yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What the Church teaches and what I believe are not going to be fully expressed in this forum and I do not need to engage in some effort at self-justification. Neither will I answer to comments that either insult my intelligence or arrive at conclusions that are pejorative and arrived at from reading a post out-of-context. I DO believe she does not speak well for the Church and I do not have to endorse her version of orthodoxy to be Catholic. If everyone in the Church were like her, or like you, I would never enter a Catholic church door again. Never, ever. \n Fortunately this is not the case. And I hope this issue will be the last I address in Civil Comments and I can hang up this USER NAME for good. One has, or should have, a relationship with God and the Church should nurture and encourage that relationship. When it fails to do that people leave, or don't go more than once or twice a year, some more often. What you are encouraging, as is Joan, is a relationship by proxy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because it is possible to disagree with some points that the magisterium teaches, and be a Catholic. Why is this point so difficult to get across?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, there's a difference between dual meaning as in \"different meaning\" and dual meaning as in deeper meaning. In the latter, both can be right, one is just a shallower version of the deeper meaning.\n\nI provided both. These are both true and yet deep. \n\nso it's totally off the mark for you to say \"Your colleagues here say there is only one acceptable Catholic meaning to anything Catholic!\" It's rather an odd statement to begin with!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mike, it\u2019s true. A \u201cPriest for Life\u201d gave a campaign speech disguised as a \u201chomily\u201d for two weeks straight on EWTN, while Raymond Arroyo gave an exclusive interview to Trump one week before Election Day. Plus they\u2019ve been running the documentary on Saul Alinsky (Hillary\u2019s hero) constantly for the last month. The not-so-subtle message: \"A vote for Hillary is a vote for Saul is a vote for Lucifer.\" I can\u2019t believe that network still enjoys its tax-exempt status. \n\nAs for Fr. Pavone\u2019s latest stunt, his Bishop responded in a statement: \u201cPriests for Life, Inc., is not a Catholic institution, but a civil organization, and it is not under the control or supervision of the Diocese of Amarillo.\u201d Whatever. Fr. Pavone needs a nice long vacation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John, I was reading through this thread shaking my head. Thanks for injecting the most sane and sanguine comment of the group. I couldn't agree more with your first sentence, and it is the way to address our Catholic Trump cabal. They are indeed standing with the racists, whether they believe they are racist or not. They have indeed endorsed the immoral Trump, whether they feel ythey are moral or not. All calls to the contrary are tainted at minimum if not negated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Massachusetts Commission on Discrimination has just issued its latest policy statement. So much for the First Amendment; this is another reason to be glad President-elect Trump was elected. Apparently MCAD did not get the memo that their time is over. This goes beyond Catholic schools and related organizations, and targets churches directly. \n\n\"Under G.L. c. 272, \u00a7 98, places of public accommodation may not discriminate against, or restrict a person from services because of that person\u2019s gender identity. For example, a hotel or motel may not refuse to book a room for a person because of the person\u2019s gender identity. Even a church could be seen as a place of public accommodation if it holds a secular event, such as a spaghetti supper, that is open to the general public.13 All persons, regardless of gender identity, shall have the right to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities and privileges of any place of public accommodation.14", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nora, you missed my point. I didn't mention Ordination. I just thought that thinking/talking about/to Jesus might be a good idea instead of cleaving to human reasoning and thought always. Praying, and very humbly trying to discern the Holy Spirit's Will in daily Meditation could be fruitful. Attending Eucharist, if possible daily, and participating in Eucharistic Adoration is asking Jesus, very humbly, what He would do, say, and and how He would deal with this subject. That is what I meant, not teasing out the vexatious questions about it. Thank you for explaining your thoughts to me, but I fear that being sure about what Jesus wants us to do is problematic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Each day, there is much of interest, coming out of the Royal Commission sessions in Australia.\nHere's one of the latest reports. There's a discussion about mandatory celibacy for priests. Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane thinks it can work fine. Also, he seems to believe that the 'sexual activity' of his priests is none of his business; he doesn't know (and he doesn't seem to think he can or should find out) whether they abstain from 'sexual activity'.\nIn passing, he maintains the party line that the priests are 'not his employees'.\nhttps://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/08/catholic-archbishop-tells-abuse-inquiry-celibacy-vows-are-not-to-blame", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your apparent love, Betty C., to distort information remains of some surprise to me. Specifically, the Loretto sisters were asked to talk with Cardinal Aviz of the Congregation of Religious Life in order to clarify some aspects of their constitution highlighted during the so-called \"Apostolic Visitation\" under emeritus Benedict XVI. Done and over now. No big deal. And if you object to a pope of the Church issuing guidelines to any monastic order, of men OR women, then you are quite disloyal to the papacy. Your \"interference\" is clearly at odds with the long, long tradition of popes correcting religious orders, or giving them a framework for improvement. But, I suppose you think that Pope Francis is dead wrong in emphasizing the need for communal prayer and daily reception of the Eucharist. Yes - you are not one worth listening to on such matters. Got anything else?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Frank - to teach at Steubenville means to buy into a simplistic ideology that allows no questioning. You must sell your soul to the right wing, fearful catholic traditionalists and become a self-absorbed Promethean Neo-Pelagian (atho, this guy would not understand what I have written). Fundamentalism and CULTIC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In today's Gospel reading for December 9, 2017---we have Jesus condemning those who questioned his non-ascetic ways---and could not be pleased by either John or by Jesus.\u20141LittleBear and in the Gospel reading for December 10, 2016, the theme continues. \u201c`Elijah will indeed come and restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands.\u2019 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist\u201d (Matthew 17:11-13).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"No one who is halfway honest can possibly disagree.\" An obvious falsehood, unless all of those people (and I myself) are lying (or the other put-down, \"confused\"). Go watch \"The Keepers\" on Netflix. Go ask those abused by nuns, a smaller group but each life is precious to us. Go look at statistics for abuse outside the Catholic Church, since we aren't alone.\n\nWhether you are being willful or not, you have no idea what you are talking about. Your facts are alt facts. You help the abusers hide when you limit whom they might be. Stop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So priests are professional Catholics?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That argument is meaningless. The Courts do not examine religious texts to judge which precepts of faith are valid or invalid. \n\nCan you imagine Supreme Court justices pouring over the Christian bible and texts to determine what Jesus said or meant? (As if anyone belonging to the countless variations of the Christian faith can agree on anything that reflects 'God's wishes'!). So too are there myriad variations and interpretation of the Koran and Islamic faith (or Judaism, or Buddhism, or any other religion or belief system). Despite the tenets of organized religion and texts, the interpretation of one's faith are invariably a personal decision).\n\nThe test that the Courts apply is whether the individual is 'sincere in their beliefs'. Any woman with the courage and conviction to wear a burka in Quebec will easily pass that test. That (among a host of other reasons) is why this unconstitutional Quebec law will fail at the first legal challenge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fossil fuel divestment by Catholic institutions is a nice symbolic gesture but is unlikely to have any impact upon the causes of global climate change. If Catholic institutions really wanted to have a positive effect, they should publicly advocate withdrawal of support from any political party or politician that dismisses climate change as a hoax despite an overwhelming preponderance of evidence and global support to the contrary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Father Reese: \"I will not attempt here to do a scholarly analysis of the biblical issues involved in divorce and remarriage...\"\n\nNo, of course not; because that would derail you from the path you are determined to take, in calling into question the constant teaching of the Church! Let's not let anything get in the way of that!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How nice to be \"chosen\".\nLike being the favorite son of a father who has many children-- but the rest have been evicted and left homeless and starving!\nThe Israelites had many contemporaneous societies from the huge civilizations/dynasties co-existing in China, India and Japan, to their neighboring tribes in the Middle East.\nApparently God was unconcerned that all these other cultures were unaware of the one true God-- many were polytheistic.\n\nSuddenly after the crucifixion it was imperative that the \"Gentiles\" be \"redeemed\"\nBut the \"Gentiles \" pre-Jesus, were lost souls whom evidently God did not care about, and to whom He clearly did not reveal Himself.\n\nHow easy to see God as \"loving\", \"merciful\"\nwhen you are the chosen favorite.\nWhen you are of a tribe destined by God's decree to be butchered, along with your children wife and all your animals -- by the spears of your \"God fearing neighbors\", maybe you see God differently?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One can't speak about the Church of the last 30 years by leaving out the Church of the late 60's or any period before then. Not if one is serious about making their case beyond gazing at their own small contemporary circle. One also has to take in the entirety of the global church, and that includes the Latin American Church that produced Pope Francis. That continent has a Catholicism that is also in serious decline, as in the West, but the reasons are different. So when I look at the big picture, I have a different view than you do, and I don't particularly want to argue the differences.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ED, According to court and diocese records almost 20 % of the priests in the LA diocese were involved. No-one is exaggerating, but it is denial of the episcopacy and some catholics, in the face of the evidence that makes the situation ever worse and likely will prolong the abuse by priests... Deny as you may but it does not help the situation. BTW, Holy Orders was created by men several generations after the death of Christ. It is the Priesthood of Baptism that is Apostolic and the Eucharist was celebrated in the homes of those following the Way of Christ before there was any man made sacrament of holy orders. The laity by the authority of their Baptism have the right and power to do everything that the ordained ministry does. The laity also has the responsibility to ask their leadership to clean up its own house--- that is if they have any self respect and wish to have people pay much attention to them. Clericalism must be radically changed and the sooner the better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The images in your post are haunting. Clearly there are no winners. Even with those wars that seem justified, these horrors both happen and are unacceptable. I keep asking myself didn't Jesus offer a better way.? Yet, I can't say the answer has always been clear. Perhaps, for me, it never will be and these images will continue to haunt my very being; my very soul and challenge the love of and commitment to my faith.\n\nJohn David", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Peter\u2019s Pence collection totaled \u20ac378 million in 2013 per Emilio Fittipaldi\u2019s book, \"Avarice: Documents Revealing Wealth, Scandals and Secrets of Francis' Church.\" The Vatican Bank\u2019s annual profits are also \u201coffered the Holy Father in support of his apostolic and charitable ministry.\u201d This was \u20ac50 million in 2013. As confirmed by Archbishop Becciu, Pope Francis makes only 20 percent of that available for the poor as disclosed by Gianluigi Nuzzi, in his book \"Merchants in the Temple.\" Both authors were indicted and tried at the pope's orders for disclosing Vatican secrets in the only trial held during this pontificate. \nSandro Mariotti is the pope's valet and he has two private secretaries, as should any man in his position. \nI think he can afford to buy his own shoes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't object to EWTN interviewing the likes of Gorka; I object to the cozy relationship between them and especially to the fluffy interview. At one time, Mother Angelica exercised a personal veto over guests and topics who appeared on any EWTN programming. She permitted no discussion of Catholic social teaching and no guest -- including bishops -- who were associated with the social teaching of the church. I don't know who exercises the veto now, but I'm confident that the tradition lives on. I suspect that Cardinal Cupich, Bishop McElroy and Cardinal Tobin are all 'personnae non gratae' at EWTN. EWTN will sooner or later formally link to Breitbart; perhaps they've already done so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John, stories about Ireland probably have been published o'er the years here.\nI wasn't referring to stories about Ireland but a current, specific issue roiling church & state. You think an \"Alitalia bridge loan\" article merits the light of day here? I would venture to say such is poor priorities.\nIf you check out \"abuse tracker\" you will discover the intensity of this current Irish, Catholic issue to which NCR refuses to cover. \nMaybe they'll run one on \"Aer Lingus\" financial issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tradition is one of the two sources of the revelation in the Catholic Church, the other being Scripture.\n\nIf the Holy Father serves Tradition, he is doing his job.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin, would you be surprised to learn that we all have difficult circumstances? The fact is... life is difficult, made even harder when you accept the challenge to follow Christ and His teachings. What the RCC has done is to impose its man-made rules on top of our already difficult existence, in many cases causing significant hardships for individuals and families. But the imperial days of \"theology by fear\" are gone, pray-pay-obey is no longer an effective approach in today's educated and largely democratic society. Thankfully PF and many/most of the clergy understand this and that is why we are seeing a gradual movement *away* from imperial tactics in favor of a more merciful, gospel-centric model of church--essentially a ripening of the reforms proposed under VII. Kevin, we see things differently and that is fine by me but I do hope you can overcome your penchant for denying reality. I have been 100% honest with you during our exchange but your reaction was to ignore or deny it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Peggy, Trudeau is \"popular\" as he shamelessly panders in a grovelling manner to\n-\nMuslims (not Christians)\ngays, transgender (not hetero)\nthe \"middle class\" (not the Poor who don't vote)\nthe Diversity class (but not Anglo-French Canadians like himself) \n-\nthe selfie crowd (enough said)\nfeminists (as if other men are not for women's rights)\n-\nwho else?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Taqiyya is the Islamic practice of deception. It can take the form of concealing the full truth (omission) or telling non-believers only what they want to hear (concealment). Taqiyya is the Fifth Column of the Islamic Faith, and is to protect Allah, Muhammad and the Koran from skeptics and critics.Taqiyya is as basic to Islam as charity is to Christianity. No other religion has such a thing as Taqiyya. It is anathema to all other religions. It is hard for non-Muslims to understand that it actually exists and is used regularly to convince us that we are the problem, and they are the hapless victims. .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'Therefore if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:24)\nIn orient. There is an old saying: \u2018 When women hold extreme animosity, it will bring down hail storm in the middle of the summer.\u2019 \nCan you imagine those more then fifty clergy sex abused victims who committed suicide in Australia whose mother's animosity toward Catholic clergies? \nIf Pope F. and Vatican prelates think they can silence and hold those criminal bishops & prelates without just punishments, I wonder if they can keep the whole Catholic Institution much longer!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Muslim? Why not Christian? Or puppy?\n.\nNow change Muslim to terrorist and you'll get a similar response to Nazi.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Do you think Catholics are Christian? I don't care one way or the other, it's your life. No Christian church has done more good or more harm than the Catholic church has done in its history. \n\nWhen you combine religious 'certainty' with very real human power to control outcomes we all lose our freedom of choice. Christian churches have had periods of murder justified by claiming it was 'God's will'. We're seeing the same arrogance and human self centeredness is some sects of the Muslim religion. If you look at primitive cultures they also had spiritual lives, sometimes very brutal. \n\nChurches have also saved live by providing food/shelter/medical care/amnesty and sanctuary to those who are persecuted or in need. The old testament in particular talks about the proper treatment of immigrants who are fleeing persecution. (Jews out of Egypt for instance)\n\nMy intent is not to judge people by their cover, in this case, religious labels.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Even if that were true, it's still only a critical thinking logical fallacy deflection - the one known as the \"Argumentum Tu Quoque\" or an attempt to say that \"comparing two unrelated wrongs makes one of them right!\" It's like you're trying to virtue-signal that \"Islam isn't an evil crime-gang because you all do it, too! Whee!\" So while you may or may not have a point, (you don't, because unlike muslims, Catholics haven't murdered over a quarter billion innocents for their god) it doesn't change the FACT that islam still IS the world's oldest and largest extortion racket and crime-gang, whether or not \"we all do it, too!\"\n\n;-)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Well, of course, there are the zealous Christians who bomb abortion clinics, and shoot up church prayer gatherings, \nAnd the zealous Muslims who became imams and preach tolerance to all.\nPerhaps we should not tar all religious people with the same brush?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The right wing certainly has no monopoly on Christianity. Hate, intolerance and ignorance so often ooze from their sneering faces.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Don't you realize that there is nothing the Catholic Church can do to appease SNAP? No matter what the Church does---even if every diocese went bankrupt, every church, school, hospital, shelter, soup kitchen, and any other Catholic institution was sold off to pay trillions (yes trillions) to victims of sex abuse, even if every pope, cardinal, priest, bishop, deacon, sister, etc was thrown in jail--regardless of guilt, SNAP would still complain that the Church is not doing enough to protect children.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I've requested they post more hate at evangelicals and Christians to balance the left wing/ right wing hate thing.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"skin colour [sic], etc are superficial differences\" LOL - tell that to the angry white supremacists!\n\nWithin the human family, all are apples. (there is no Greek or Jew...male or female, all are one in Christ\" You seem to be fixated on gender. Does it make you feel superior? If so, I feel sorry for your delusion of grandeur. In the end, ashes to ashes.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yanno, Christians have never been kind, giving people, now that I think about it. Think about the nations that have adopted it....Europe, the United States. We've been the biggest colonizers and land thieves on the planet, along with starting most of the wars. Sure, the Christian talk is kind, but Christian action has always been selfish. The true giving Christians are the exception, not the rule.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Oh please.. \"sanctuary\" cities have been in existence for decades, and those who created them named them. Jesus Christ would not have supported the corrupt left & neocons colluding to oppress poor and middle class citizens, violating their human and civil rights, committing economic genocide against them. Those who do so are not even nominally Christian, in most cases they are atheist. Christ would admonish those for their greed, hypocrisy and exploitation. He would point out that today's false priests are like the Pharisees. He would point out that illegal aliens are sinful, hateful people excusing their sins by blaming their victims.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "if you think your preferred religion is better than others and your preferred god is the only god, or that your preferred religion is above the laws of this land which you probably contend was founded by Christians, then feel free to create your own country elsewhere, and certainly wherever it doesn't ever impede on others.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As a side note, it is fascinating to learn on Richard Engel's show this evening that 49% of Republicans in America are pro-Russia, pro-Putin. Especially amongst southern Christian evangelicals. Even Franklin Graham himself is pro-Putin. What is happening with America when so many Americans now idolize the person and country that would be our undoing?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why does the MSM and \"the authorities\" prefer to listen to self-appointed conservative \"Muslim groups\" and treat them as representative, rather than the liberal groups that are fighting the conservatives?\n\nWhy do they demonize the liberal and secular Muslims who come here to escape the extremists in their own countries, and instead give their support to those who come here to reproduce the very societies they left?\n\nThat is like supporting the most conservative Evangelicals against the more liberal Christian denominations.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why not put your attention on the huge number (likely 25% or more) of Catholic priests who are gay, but remain in the closet?\n\nThey're the one's who are empowering the restriction and denial you perceive.\n\nThe writers for progressive Catholic pubs who remain in the closet are also complicit.\n\nIt's largely because of their silence that the change you long for hasn't come to pass. You can't just put all blame on we heterosexuals.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Gorsuch is a more pleasant, less arrogant version of Antonin Scalia.\n\nThe folksy Gorsuch is happy to take away our rights, all the while giving more to allegedly oppressed corporations and Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Arguing with a racist is a pointless exercise. Reason will not work. An appeal to christian values wont' either, because racists hold their religion second to their bigotry. I'd suggest using the mute feature.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You are just another liberal who has come to an unfounded decision about Christians based on a bias formed out of whole cloth. Instead of focusing on the good we have done: feeding the poor, responding to disasters, drilling water wells all over Africa, helping to end slavery in England and the U.S., sheltered the homeless, aided unwed mothers, etc..., you would rather focus on the Inquisition, those few who have excused slavery by misinterpreting Scripture and the confused people at Westboro Baptist. Pitiful, to say the least, and as hateful, racist and bigoted as you claim we are.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christians, liberals, Muslims, conservatives, snowflakes, atheists ... as soon as you lump any of them together, you're wrong. Jump from \"some\" to \"all\" and you've lost it. Next time, add some qualifiers, like \"extremist\" or \"fanatical\" and maybe then you'll make a point.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "many blessings to you Duder. hahah\n\nThere continues to be ongoing Christian genocide in the middle east though.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mankind? His kingdom? Nothing for women or children? Your language is so exclusive. Exclusion is the problem in SA: Political, social, economic and now you're making it God's exclusion too. Jacob would love it and agree with all that you have said: the Misogyny of Faith. God will spew us out if we don't get with the programme and sense the wind of her Spirit. Btw I'm a man and a Christian and shamed by your mindless input.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Motve: he was an outspoken athiest who hated Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Suddenly, like something out of the blue, the Archbishop of Brisbane, Australia says that the Church there is seeing the worst time in the history of the Catholic Church in Australia and reform is needed badly. Yes, after the clerical sex abuse has divided and broken the Church in Australia, and the men have wounded the Church they were supposedly to serve, now one of their new reforms is to bring women into greater positions of authority inside the Church. Such hypocrisy is beyond words!! Now that they have betrayed the Church, they want women to come and rescue it. You all should have thought of that a thousand years ago. It's a little late in the game.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Pence is what we now refer to as a \"Christian Nationalist.\" A fascist by any other name cloaking himself in the costume of a Christian. He no more follows the teachings of Jesus than does your average python. Pence is a predator.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why don't the nations with a majority of Muslims welcome the refugees? The Devil couldn't have developed a better enemy of Christianity than Islam. Love is all powerful, but God still won't make you Love your neighbor, it's your choice and that's the problem, the Christian may be willing, but the Muslim may not be, his is a different god. For example, the Muslim god will allow you lie to further Islam. Would Jesus?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As I recall, Jesus' means of separating the wheat from the chaff was to separate those who had fed the hungry, clothed the naked, etc. from those who had not. No mention whatsoever of sexual mores.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "They killed a lot of people within the same ethnic group. Like a lot of terrorism, the largest number of deaths are within that group. For example, ISIS kills a lot more Muslims than Christians or anybody else.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "More Christianity , behavior that actually follows the teachings of Christ makes for a better world:\n-\nLove they neighbor as they self -\nFeed the hungry, clothe the naked, tend the sick, and house the homeless\n-\ntreat others as you would have them treat you...........\n-\n-More Islam , behavior that actually follows the teaching of the Koran makes for violence and misery \n-\nThe Quran contains at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule. Some are quite graphic, with commands to chop off heads and fingers and kill infidels wherever they may be hiding. Muslims who do not join the fight are called 'hypocrites' and warned that Allah will send them to Hell if they do not join the slaughter.\n-\nall religion is therefore not the same", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Tell me, when did the Ottomans do that ?\"\n\nHonestly? Give it a rest. When the soldiers of the Rashidun Caliphate took Carthage, they burned the place to the ground and killed everyone they could get their hands on. This mythical story you seem intent on telling, where Christian Europeans were all monsters and Islamic Persians/Arabs/Berbers/Turks were all beneficent rulers is total baloney. It's coming firmly from your own personal biases. We can go all day, back and forth, with examples of atrocities on both sides, tolerance on both sides, and intolerance on both sides, because the history is so vast, with so many players, that there's a bit of everything.\n\nYour bias is clear. You'll rationalize away the more extremist and fundamentalist Caliphs, and you'll praise and extoll the kinder, gentler Caliphs. You have no intent, whatsoever, of being an honest and neutral student of history. You have an agenda.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "ISIS killing Christians who don't accept forced conversion to Islam is persecution. Telling a man he should accept gay civil marriage is not.\n\nI'm not sorry that your and his bigotry is deemed unacceptable. Did you weep when the Supreme Court struck down racial anti-miscegenation laws? Were you aghast went apartheid no longer existed in South Africa? Do you yearn for the reinstatement of the Nuremburg Laws? Or is it only one form of bigotry that you support?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Moore, in a Trump/Bannon trained act of fundraising letter hubris, is calling on all Christians to \"fight against the evil\" of these women sinfully dredging up the past.\n\nGet that everyone? Especially you vicitms out there? It is EVIL to reveal past sex abuse by someone - especially a professed pious Christian. The abuser deserves more donations to fight against you.\n\nChristianity, the new teflon for sex abusers.\n\nWeinstein is way out of luck. \n\nLouis C.K.? Seen his act a few times. No chance he's a Christian. . . yet.\n\nKevin Spacey? Unless he spends most of his waking hours praying ADEQUATELY to God as portrayed by the Christiian conservative movement. . . well. . . he'd have no time to make any movies, would he?\n\nMoore's co-opting of Christianity to mount his defense against this stuff is an affront to good Christians everywhere, and a potential HUGE diminishing factor of the Christian movement in American politics.\n\nThe miniters need to get together and condemn this guy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Readers of NCR, non-Catholic hangers on, and dissenters.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The 3 biggest religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) have caused a lot of deaths thru wars and persecution. I'm starting to believe Marx when he said that 'religion is the opium of the people'. We ostracize people who join religious cults, but they are really no different than people who are fanatical followers of the 3 religions.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Settle down Joe. Let\u2019s exchange your list of all the atheist orphanages, schools and hospitals and the my list of the \u201cmore hateful\u201d Christian ones. Your point is as empty as your list would be.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And where is the program to fight Muslim hate of Jews, Christians, Atheists, Gays, Women? This is a canard, the ruling class along with media people hate criticism and they are using Islam to kill free speech and criticism\nPEOPLE from Middle East say this is exactly how the Islamists come into power and take over.\nMuslims form Middle East are frightened this is happening, because they fled the ME to escape it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Brett, this is the kind of journalism that got me started with Civil Beat...going after the problems in government that need airing but get glossed over most of the time...not the patently biased political rants that so often fill these pages.\n\nThe HPD secrecy reminds me of the way the Catholic Church used to handle clerical abuse...like a cat in a sandbox. The continued silence and SHOPO's fostering of it makes the \"good\"cops into enablers for the criminal cops. When I see a cop today, I can't know if I am dealing with a perp or an enabler. The guys at the top are too stupid to realize they are doing more harm than good, or they think that covering up covers their own criminal rears as well.\n\nWhen cops frequently come to a nearby ex-con's house, I never know if they are in business with him or doing police work...in any case, nothing gets done.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That is silly. Hindu's are the most accepting of Jesus and more often then not as Gandhi rightfully pointed out, why are Christians so Unlike Jesus. Not even close to being the antithesis Jesus taught non-violence and the only other religion to come close to that is from Hinduism. Kabir, Gandhi, Ramakrishna, etc.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No, the bishops need to acknowledge that if they truly want to deal with the priest shortage, they should stop making the priesthood unappealing to heterosexual men, and stop the sexist practice of not ordaining women. If you think that either one of those things is truly central to the Catholic faith, then your faith is sorely out of whack.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trudeau's hypocrisy is breathtaking, it was the Government of Canada that implemented the residential schools and where in charge and the Government of Canada that allowed them to be operated by the Catholics and shut their eyes to the abuse.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We hav known that for a while. Sadly, many of our RC sisters and brothers seem to be rather ignorant of the fact. I have been asked more than once by RCs if I'm actually a Catholic.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm an atheist. Ask the thousands of little boys molested by Catholic priests what they think of the Church. I wonder if Archbishop Chaput was one of the morally bankrupt church \"leadership\" who played hide-the-molester by moving pedophile priests from place to place, so they could molest again and again. Or who lied for years about the coverup. Yeah, I think I'll pass on any article featuring fake \"catholic outrage\" about anything, any where, any time.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That makes regulars who've commented here for years \"non-Catholic trolls.\"\n\nYou just showed up.\n\nMeanwhile this is what trolls on your side are like:\n\n\"David French, a columnist for National Review, and his wife Nancy French, a columnist for the Washington Post, have come under what French called \u201can unending torrent of abuse that I wouldn\u2019t wish on anyone\u201d in a column published Friday. He describes how, more than a year ago, he began seeing images of his daughter\u2019s face photoshopped into gas chambers or slave ships, and how the comment section of his wife\u2019s blog on Patheos filled with images of extreme violence.\"\n\nhttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/david-french-abuse-as-a-never-trumper", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity, like almost every other religion / cult of superstition is all about a phoney After Life Insurance Scam.\n\nDenial of Death is at the heart of most cults of belief in supernatural beings, supernatural powers and \"spirits\".\n\nWhen doctors were trying to get me psyched up to stick with their anticancer program for me when my haemoglobin was just 43 (1/3 normal) one of them asked \"what about Religion and Spirituality\". I just laughed at her and she went on to the next item in her check list.\n\nThe reality is that the 10s of thousands of no longer believing Christian Clergy often say that learning the futility of prayer was one of the major factors in them realising that it is all a myth.\n\nhttps://www.thinkingchristian.net/posts/2012/06/why-i-support-the-atheist-clergy-project/\n\n\"I could see that prayers weren\u2019t healing people, despite preaching on wealth the only people getting rich were the pastor.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "your grandma is in a refugee camp outside aleppo, the sudan or yemen. no clothes, no food, no money, no documents. i think the community where the grandson, cousin or uncle lives should be allowed to vet and vouch for her. i also think diverdave and rangermc would let her rot, and die, in that camp, primarily because she is not a born again christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Note that this guy was a deranged criminal who according to his own father was anything but a Muslim except in name. To claim anything different would be like saying the KKK are Christians. \nPeople can call themselves whatever they like and even choose to die for their misguided beliefs, but that does not make them representative of anyone but themselves. \nSomeone can shout \"Happy Easter\" but it doesn't make them the Easter bunny.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"at the Canada Christian College after introduction of motion M-103 in Parliament. ...overwhelmingly Caucasian crowd, a middle-aged, bespectacled woman comes into focus. Grinning, she raises her right arm in what appears to be a lingering Nazi-salute. Four Conservative leadership hopefuls appeared at this event.\"\n----\nThere you have it folks. This is what M-103 brings out: Christians, Caucasians and Conservatives are the new Nazi.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The brown folks they want to wall out are the only ones keeping the Catholic Church going here in the USA.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah. I think that an intrepid reporter might want to do that. Paging intrepid Catholic reporters let's find out about this.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That's because he doesn't actually care about reducing the rate of abortions, sexual assaults or STDs. He only cares about pushing his religious agenda on a captive audience and deliberately misrepresenting the facts to further his cause and drum up donations from his fellow ideologues. He is an embarrassment to Christianity and to the state of Alaska.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Beware: The Catholic Taliban!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Actually Art - the West has been in and out of the ME for centuries - starting with the Crusades. \nChristianity and Islam and their respective variations and permutations have fought wars, slaughtered each other, subjugated each other or lived in uneasy peace with each other over the centuries. \nI knocked Guilty White Liberals (and their fellow travellers) because they can't stop their \"It's all our fault\" pity party long enough so we can have adult conversations.\nSuch as. \nMost of us know Islam is NOT the terrorist problem but the terrorist problem is PART of Islam. \nWe have to eradicate it. \nBut to GWLs? \nOh no - Islamophobia is the real danger. \nWorse than useless.\nAnd the sad irony, because the West lacks the political spine to face the truth and come out swinging, the true moderate Muslims that live happily in the West and are often the victims of Islamic extremism themselves are left twisting in the wind wondering if any place is safe from the nutters.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I agree! \nWhat is this nonsense? Did Jesus ever talk to Cesar how to run earthly politics?\n\u2018Jesus answered, \u201cMy kingdom is not of this world. \u2026My kingdom is not of this realm.\u201d\u2019\n (John 18:36)\nBesides, what can Pope F advise to American president Trump?\nTrump very well advise Pope F. to turn over pedophile clergies to CJS. \nLOLOLOLOL!!!!!\nBesides, who can advise the Pope what he should do/say to anyone let alone the president of US!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Good point, making a sweeping characterization that most Latinos and Blacks are uneducated in no way appears racist. And as always, you are correct, it is always proper to respond to a perceived attack by engaging in the same conduct. Since you believe others have referred to certain white groups as uneducated, you are completely justified in characterizing any non-white group you wish in the same manner. As Jesus taught, turnabout is fair play.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Eddie Burke: the religious (read Christian) right has been terrorizing the people of this land for many years beginning with their savage treatment of Alaska Natives, whose culture they were so bent on wiping out. Defend them as you want, but you are painting yourself with their brush!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You call your own god a liar, and what blows my mind is you quoted one of the text that addresses your false gospel.\nEph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God\n Faith is a gift from god...without faith it is impossible to believe...all sinners are void of faith. if they believe it is because they were predestined before the world formed. pseudo Christians do not like these text, and explain them away claiming their god foresaw who would choose Christ and yet the text plainly states ALL rejected Christ.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Moore\u2019s candidacy points to what everyone should abhor: \nExtremist Christian nationalism.\n\nElimination of the separation of Church and State is their primary goal.\n\n(\u2026and they get to define the official religion as whatever suits their agenda as they go along.)\n\nRoy Moore is simply another psychotic whack right wing candidate.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I don't support the sexism of the Catholic Church. It's you who believe that I do. NO one who knows me in real life has that idea.\nYou remind me of the young undergraduates in the early 70s, who were at the university where I doing graduate work, mostly from Long Island, who had come to college and had suddenly become radical lesbian feminists. They told me that was not a feminist, because I was married to a man. Only they were feminists.....", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Your ignorance is the reason many of us would not vote for you. Many Muslims live among-st us and you would never see any of these things. Just like many Christians don't snake charm or speak in tongues - which seems crazy to moderates. Frankly the idea that any Catholic Priest does exorcisms, or the our founders hung women for being witches isn't much better. Mr. Hale, give people love and acceptance and they evolve, and moderate. But spew hate and you will simply build walls that keep people in the dark.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"That the Church had a scandal in the first place is our fault, your, mine, our grandparents, etc.\"\n\nReally, RD? It was the laity's fault that priests sexually abused children and that the bishops lied and covered it up. Your OD reasoning may work in your mind, but don't expect the rest of us to buy it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The sin of SEXISM is still alive and not well in the United States and other places. \nToo many ordained Roman Catholic males are like \"lemmings\" and just go along with patriarchy--don't rock the barque of Peter boat. Justice is a costly commitment and some of \"the old boys' club members\" like things their way--threatened by competent and qualified females with Master of Divinity degrees--how sad. WWJD?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I guess you think Jesus had idiotic 'laws' also since his 'policy' was to have only men as chosen apostles. Not much 'opportunity' for women, was there? Guess Jesus was just sexist.\nMountain dweller - has it ever occurred to you that you might be fighting against God himself, and not just a bunch of 'idiotic' men?\nPerhaps it's NOT man's choice - but REALLY IS the guiding of the HOLY SPIRIT at the present time, which dictates the role of men and women in the Church. Maybe it's not all just man-made paternal misogyny??", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Achievement tests can help spot problems for a subject or for an individual sturdent. but Political minded authorities and school boards misuse the data to reward or punish schools for their scores instead of using them for improvement. That is how the voucher scam has stolen money from educating all students to creating a system to allow the churches and the upper classes to redistribute education taxes to the privileged few or the 'good religion. When I see more money flowing to christian schools than to moslem or hindu or native american schools, I get even angrier at the perversion of christianity by these authoritarian hypocrites who ignore the basic principles of Jesus' alleged words in the bible. The zealots keep citing old testament laws to justify the anger and prejudices of xenophobia. \nThey ignore the Beatitudes, or the lesson of the Samaritan helping a stranger or forgiveness of the Prodigal son, or the healing of the sick, or the non judgement of women who err.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I think sex within marriage carries as much or little as weight as the couple decide it should. But if, God forbid, my penis were cut off, there would be no less love in my marriage, nor would my marriage be in jeopardy. I think because of modern perspectives in sex (thanks to Kinsey the quack, et al.), too many people over-emphasize the importance of sex in life. The Catholic Church has understood that sex, while undeniably a strong drive, can be controlled (hence the expected chastity of priests) and does no have to play an important role, or any role except for reproduction, in marriage. Indeed, many people live happily in sexless marriages, particularly those who have matured beyond their sexual peaks.\n\nIronically, the sexual liberation movement that arose simultaneously with the feminist movement has been a windfall for men, making their lustful demands for sex almost a requirement for women to comply with. My college-age daughter told me sex is a prerequisite to dating!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I can cite about as many 'love one another' verses in Il Qur'an as you can in the Bible.\n\nAnd if we stick to the Old Testament \"God\", calling for the killing off of infidels is long, deep and continual! \n\nEvery religious leader chooses the verses that s/he likes at the time to achieve their own ends.\n\nNone of them are \"God\"; they just pretend to know what \"God\" wants/demands/prefers/requires.\n\nAnd don't forget to provide monetary support to the religious leaders.\n\n\"God\" especially wants your money!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Funny, I thought the goal of the Catholic church was to get as many illegal aliens into the country as possible because the priest pedophile scandal has left the pews empty. At least that's what Steve Bannon told me...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It will be very interesting to compare the crowds. The prediction is easy. The protest Trump march will be filled with aggressive, mean, and likely a good supply of vulgarity directed at the Catholic Church (\"Keep your crucifix out of my _____!\"). The March for Life will (and always has been), prayerful and joyful family event.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No AT, sadly, young girl are often raped or otherwise taken advantage of, and sometimes become pregnant, sometimes by their father. That is real world reality. But Jack Barrowcliff objected to minor girls being allowed an elective abortion without the consent of a parent. You are a good example of why it makes sense to allow the minor child to choose. Barrowcliff and you, both apparently, would forbid an abortion for your minor child were she pregnant and didn't want to carry the pregnancy nine months and give birth. Probably your daughter, knowing you, would not even think to consult you. My daughter could talk to me about anything. That's because I know life, I'm not afraid to look at facts, and I understand the difficulties the young can face. You apparently are unsympathetic.\n\nBy the way, I'm not an \"ilk\" Mr Christian guy, I'm a person as Jesus would certainly recognize. I didn't flag or vote down your post - I prefer to see stupid posts stay up as a monument to their author.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Are you applying the same standards to Christians\"\n\nIf you've looked at my record on GLBT issues, you know the answer is yes. \n\nI'm pointing out the hypocrisy of the regressive left in hating evangelical Christianity for many of its views on civil rights, but triping over their bleeding hearts to defend another cult with a far worse civil rights record.\n\nAs an agnostic heathen, contemporary Christians don't worry me at all. At worst they're annoying, and increasingly ineffective at curtailing civil rights.\n\nBy contrast, homosexuality is still criminalized in every Islamic nation.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Bowers: From the many letters of yours I've read, I believe you are a good, sound Christian gentleman. I believe you, like me, likely find Mr. Trump to be a thoroughly disgusting man. I believe, you, like me, have read accounts, seen interviews and videos of his public expression of his personal and moral values. I believe you, like me, surely find him morally reprehensible. His words and actions vividly support that he is bigoted, racist, homophobic and misgynostic. Clearly, from your letter, you supported his candidacy and you seem to imply that, somehow, his stunning character deficiencies don't count. You conservative Republicans have told us for years that \"character counts.\" I happen to believe that as well. With your support for Trump and with your letter you seem to be telling us, \"character counts.....but with Mr. Trump, let's make an exception. ....and furthermore, let's not even talk about it.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": ".\n\n\"The Pope gave Mr. Trump ..... Laudato si, his 2015 encyclical on the need to protect the environment. \u201cI\u2019ll be reading them,\u201d Mr. Trump said.\"\n\n--\n\nUnlikely.\n\nAccording to those who know him, Trump doesn't read much.\n\nThese two men are an interesting contrast in styles and personalities:\n\nThe Pope - humble, selfless, progressive, open-minded, informed,.\n\nTrump - arrogant, self-centered, without a conscience, ignorant.\n\nUnfortunately Francis cannot run for POTUS in 2020.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus Christ on-a-crutch!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "for you Vatican II types, ANY form of the Mass is fine EXCEPT the form used by ALL Roman Catholics for hundreds of years.\nthe hypocrisy is absolutely stunning.\nthe suppression of the Traditional Latin Mass was and still is an injustice.\nto use FORCE to achieve the aims of Vatican II proves that EGO, not the Holy Ghost, was the guide.\nif it truly was the Holy Ghost, example and persuasion should have been sufficient to get the congregations and priests to change to the Novus Ordo.\nOH WAIT! that's right. they never would have changed.\ndespite denying it, the purpose of Vatican II was to change the Faith to allow what we have today with Amoris Letitia.\nlex orandi, lex credendi.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The inability to recognize the value of tolerance is shocking. He is followed in the video by his colleague, Simon Rafe, who compares Donald Trump to the Emperor Constantine, in that he is allowing \"the cream of the crop, the Christians, to rise to the top.\"\n\nThe lunatic Catholic right strikes again! So who are these great Christians rising to the top? Steve Bannon? Jeff Sessions? Donald Trump? \n\nTrump's presidency is built upon a foundation of white nationalism and xenophobia. Are white nationalists \"the cream?\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I see the followers of the Cheeto Jesus are very, very cross today! It would appear they are snowflakes melting away under the krieg lights of Hollywood. Can we give them a hunt camp they can retire to for a few weeks while they get over their pain? Help a conservative snowflake! Give him his guns, a couple of big bottles of whisky and send them up to the hunt camp!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I apologize if you missed the tongue in cheek intent of my comment. I stand by my idea that not ordaining gay men will just make the \" Vocations Crisis\" even worse. I do agree with your comments about chastity but would extend it to all members of the Body of Christ.\n\nI happen to have some up close and personal experience with a STRAIGHT priest and a female member of my family and the attitudes of his superiors in the chancery. Trust me, it ain't pretty. \n\nTo be sure, I have some real issues with the pastoral damage caused by the Roman concept of priesthood which I won't go into here, but such a move by Rome will simply result in ordaining closeted gay men.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As long as the church teaches that Eve was responsible for getting Adam to sin, meaning to have sex with her, men will blame women for feeling lust and acting upon it. Fundamental Catholics and Evangelical Protestants when asked why women should be covered for effective contraceptives and abortion if those should fail, most of those radical and misogynistic males, say that women should keep their legs together then they would not need to be covered for such things. Yet those guys stress that they have a right to have recreational sex with women even if they use the permitted but ineffective temperature method of contraception thus risking an unwanted or dangerous pregnancy.Those guys' attitude persists, due to the effectiveness of their radial programming at an early age.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Again right-wing snowflakes deemed the following comment uncivil:\n\n\"Plus, if he thinks homosexuals are sinners, he is required to serve them, following the example of Jesus who served sinners.\n\nThis guy is really bad at being a Christian.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly!!!!\nIt's curious how the very things that it's OK or acceptable for white Christians to do suddenly become offensive when done by people of color or by Muslims.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I used to volunteer at a rape crisis center. I have known rape victims who were impregnated by their rapists. These women, without exception, wamted abortions. They felt that Taliban Catholics who would forbid them want to punish them for being raped.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No one should ever trust a Catholic priest or bishop after what they have done to so many innocent little boys. No parent should ever let their children alone with one. As for this lawsuit, it sure sounds fishy as \"ICEEBEAR\" so succinctly put it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes - The man and Pope who loved Opus Dei was completely sexist!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "To paraphrase 'daddy', where's is Trudeau's 'bleating heart' now? Will he step up to the global microphone he craves so much and renounce the rape of 15 christian women by a muslim mob as an act of terrorism? Or more likely, will he simply wait for the next opportunity tto ddisplay hhis selective indignnation\n\n\n\nhttp://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/02/01/muslim-mob-rapes-15-christian-women-revenge-attack-conversions/", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I love Donald. Blacks will not get special treatment, they will be treated equally. Equality isn't always what they wanted. \nI would also tear into any elected official that claims the election is false. The mainstream media, at the expense of country's future, are trying to sow doubt about the results of the election because of their bigotry against Christians, farmers, and those that voted for Trump. I would spare no mercy in attacking these enemies of democracy if I were Trump as well. He owes them nothing.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So when Muslims and the Satanists apply for these funds, will they get them? Keep church and state separate!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My in-laws were born again Christians who would only see born-again Christian doctors; I can understand a person wanting to see a doctor who shares many of their values. But skin colour? Get real.\nAnd, I looked at the app you provided a link to. It helps doctors understand when to administer insulin during Ramadan, etiquette when dealing with Muslim patients, issues about religious beliefs and organ transplant/donations, etc. It isn't there for Muslims to find Muslim doctors, not that I think there is anything wrong with that, as I understand my Christian in-laws wanting a Christian doctor.\nAs is so often the case Layla4, you simply don't know what you're gassing off about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One danger of Catholic upbringing is when being less than perfect becomes equated to the guilt of being sinful. I have realized that some people who were raised Catholic have been encouraged to regard every evidence that they are less than perfect as something to feel guilty about, as a reason to be ashamed, as a reason to get down on themselves. That harsh lack of understanding of the nature of being human is heavy baggage, and the way Jesus's message was relayed and taught was quite horrible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd have to check...but if memory serves catholic voted for Clinton more than Trump....it was \"white\" Catholics that voted for Trump! See America April 2017:\n\nAccording to an analysis of American National Election Studies data by a political scientist at Georgetown University\u2019s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, Catholic voters narrowly went for Democrat Hillary Clinton, 48 percent to 45 percent. Among Hispanic Catholics, Mrs. Clinton cleaned up handily, winning by more than 50 points.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was just a white Christian \"good old boy\" confirming his 2nd Amendment rights", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First they came for the illegal immigrants, but I was a LEGAL immigrant, so I said nothing.\nThen they came for the Radical Islamic Terrorists, but i was a Christian, and again i said nothing.\nThen they came for all the violent, anti-free speech Leftists and progressives, and yet again I said nothing, because I believe in the Constitution and the rule of law.\nFinally they came for me, and brought me into a beautiful reborn, prosperous Republic.\nAnd we all lived happily ever after.\nThe End.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What could be the appeal of the Catholic church to the Orthodox? Our stripped-down, poverty-stricken liturgies which are scarcely distinguishable from Protestant services, and that is at their best? Our ugly modern churches? Our megachurch-inspired music? The constant internal theological arguments? The constant innovation?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And why exactly do you like those words? They've given license to many thoughtless Christians to go forth and exploit and kill and destroy and commit injustices of many kinds. Rather, Christians have the duty to interpret these verses from the perspective of the gospel, which calls on us to shun injustice, and prefer all that promotes life and justice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Muslim as they are all self-defining Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If it's not due to their religion, then why is the attack centered on their religion? This is absurd. You attack their religion as being a cult. \n\nYou say that your anti-Vaishnava Hindu religious bigotry is OK because the religion you are criticizing is a \"cult\" and that it has what you call anti-homosexual views. So if we simply label a religion a cult and point out their conservative views in regard to homosexuality, then they're fair game? That means we can go after any Islamic or Evangelical Christian church or the Catholic Church, which many people consider a cult. This is the point. You define a religion as a cult, you say that their views on social issues go against the mainstream, and your religious bigotry becomes perfectly acceptable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Correct. We get attacked constantly. 50 years of effort and not one single Jewish organization stands up to publicly defend us from attack and constant defamation. Catholics are the lone group left in America that it's acceptable to attack.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian Supremacist. Now that is something Canadians should be concerned about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Tobin, a member of the Redemptorist community who was named Newark cardinal by Pope Francis last November, criticized media portrayals of immigrants that exploit \"fear-based news\" which highlights violent criminals.\n\n\"Fear cannot have the final word,\" he said.\"\n\nExactly. A demagogue like Trump got elected promising to deport over ten million people and then building a wall on the Mexican border. It is the duty of every Christian to stand up to Trump's campaign of hate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From my perspective, Ryan is an incredibly frightening man. I really wonder how he is able to reconcile his political views and his faith. Or, maybe, I just missed the parts of Christian teaching that talk about the duty to enrich oneself by taking even more from the ones who have little to nothing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You were carefully attempting to delineate between \"good\" Christianity and \"bad\" Islam but from my POV as an atheist, you might as well be counting dancing angels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I knew it was going to be a good article when a I saw a website that claims 'Catholic' in its title and denies Catholic teaching, calls a bishop a hypocrite. Should we say one hypocrite to another?\n\nSecondly, MSW falls into his own critique. He uses disrespectful words to characterize those he disagrees with (Jansenist, \"they should leave\", \"I hope he is marginalized\"). \n\nLastly, the Church will always prevail. Christ promised as much. Don't despair! God loves you and wants you to share in His abundant life! Trust in Him!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dana, \n\nGo back to other campaigns in the last couple decades and you will clearly hear of the 'rigging of the election' at every one. No armed civil war yet....(And why do you bait descriptions of people (white, Christians, etc..) that have nothing to do with the quote content you provide? Pull back, actually REPORT without bias, and cool yourself off.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Democrat, Republican, liberalcon, conliberal, Unitarian, Catholic, Baptist, Muslim, anythingcan... Who cares about the label, when the person, Margaret Stock is so capable and is putting Alaska and the broad context of the American people first.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Democrats hate Catholics & they think Evangelical Christians are sub-human. Democrat Senator Feinstein just publicly engaged in the worst anti-Catholic bigotry and Hate I've seen in my lifetime. She and other democrats openly suggested Practicing Catholics are unfit to be Judges. Can you imagine anyone suggesting Feinstein is unfit to be a Senator or Judge because she is Jewish? Yet Feinstein & the other democrats on the Committee openly Spewed their Hate & bigotry toward Catholics and the Fake News Media was fine with it. Catholics had better realize the Democrat Party hates and wants to destroy them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you doubt the KKK uses Christian symbols as do many other supposedly patriotic Christia/US militia's. \n\nI only have my own interpretation of Christ message. I do not pretend to have the perfect interpretation. I'm pretty sure he would be appalled by the death done in his name, as well as the murderous violence of Muslim terrorist (which is grounded in the same old testament text as Christianity and Judaism). \n\nI like your preference for the of loving others and you would hope to be loved. If you can only pick one thing from a very complex and often contradictable biblical test, you picked a great passage. Do you love Muslims as you would like to be loved?\n\nThere is no intention on my part to brand all Christian as terrorist or endorsing violence. I certainly wouldn't accuse you, a person I don't know, of endorsing violence based on your faith. If that is your concern, I apologize for the mis understanding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's what I call Prosperity Gospel. That's how all these filthy rich, so called Christians justify their vast wealth while refusing to support the communities, states, and countries they made money off of. They believe they are wealthy because they are the most loved by GOD, whereas the poor must be despised by GOD. And NO, there is nothing Christian, humane, or decent about anyone who thinks people don't deserve medical care because they are poor! These soulless creatures own the GOP lock, stock, and barrel! Watch them destroy healthcare with Trumpcare and kill the poor. We are seeing them at work right now!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Garbage. What clear,verifiable evidence do you have to make such an outrageous claim? In short there is no problem other than the one your ignorance is desperately trying to make. The guy in Ottawa was a nutter who used his religion and faith to justify hurting people. His family disowned him. To characterize him as a \"radical Islamist' is to lie about what really happened. \n\nYou know like 'radical Christian' Timothy Mcveigh when he bombed Oklahoma building in US killing 197 people . I'm so sick of extreme Christians, Jews and Muslims pulling the rest of us into this violent nonsense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church has been historically terrible in fostering a faith community within local congregations. Sunday Mass has always been a production line. Masses at 7:30, 9:00, 10:15 and noon. We come in, do our thing, and head for the door. I know this is generalization, but I have attended and belonged to a number of churches as a result of job transfers found the exceptions few and far between.\n\nThe places I have enjoyed attending, one of which I am currently attending, works intentionally at building a community before and after Mass. And then it continues throughout the week.\n\nIt is not merely social gatherings, although that is important, its about \"works\". Study groups, mission groups, retreats,...all things that attempt to connect the Gospel to the life of the congregation.\n\nWhen Church is seen as a mission and ministry, all generations want to belong and remain. The formation of priests must spend more time developing this within candidates.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any \"God\" who thinks killing ten kids on a bet or as an 'object lesson' so that the \"God\" will feared is not one I will ever accept as a deity. \n\nAnd that particular \"God\" is the same one worshiped by Jews, followers of Islam and Christians. \n\nSo, I'll pass on all those 'religions' and their sub-sects and cults and various theological spin-offs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This line of interrogatory from Sen. Feinstein should be called what it is: Anti-Catholic bigotry.\n\nAmerican Catholics have had their patriotism and obedience to American law questioned by anti-Catholic bigots for over 200 years. It was used against Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in the Election of 1960.\n\nIt is remarkable that many Democrats seem more willing to openly embrace anti-Catholic bigotry even as they proclaim empty homilies on \"love\" and \"tolerance\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You sure you stand for Jesus?\n\nJesus told me to love everyone, love my enemies more than my friends because they need it, preach to sinners not to the saved, and to render unto ceaser that which is ceasers. \n\nHe also gave out a lot of free healthcare. He also fed the hungry.\n\nThose last two seem to be things that \"Christians\" don't agree to do. So are you just a CINO? Christian in name only?\n\nP.S. I like the prod at planned parenthood. You could always vote with your wallet and stop caring what other people do with their genitals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How did the Jews prevail over 90% of the American people? And wouldn't that include a sizeable number of devout Christians?\nAnd one more thing: Don't apocalyptic Christians embrace the roles Jews will play in the end-of-times scenario, initiating a war between good and evil that will culminate in the ascension of all righteous Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah yes, the great cry of the conservative Catholic, \"If you don't agree with me, you should leave the Church\". \n\nWjat makes me angry is the attitudes that you have: If you see something you don't like, leave. If you disagree with the magisterium about anything, leave. If you are crapped on by conservatives, just take it. We are right, you are wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Secular Canadians outnumber Christians by at least 2:1. \n\nChristians would see this as a way to get their superstitions back into Public Schools. \n\nSecularists want Religion out of Public Schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course you think your assessment is right on. Of course you think \"You're just another 'cafeteria Catholic' who picks and chooses what you want to push your narrow orthodox agenda on everyone else.\" \n\nHow did sharing those thoughts advance the discussion?\n\nhttp://uselectionatlas.org/USPRESIDENT/GENERAL/pe2016.png\n\nWhat we find is that the winning candidate had 61,576,729 and the losing 62,978,493, a difference of 1,401,764 votes, of course plus minus some numbers as they fuzz with them.\n\nThe losing candidate carried California by 3,219,680.\n\nSo, what we find is that our republican system prevented California by itself from controlling the outcome of the election.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well Hugh, You are most certainly entitled to your opinion (and that is exactly what it is), and all of us insecure, irrational, God Clinging, deluded Christians will defend your right to have one.\n\nMerry Christmas.\n\nAnd BTW: I have always wanted to let you know the reason I use an alias is because progressive liberals have a reputation for throwing tantrums and destroying property against those who don't see things their way and/or when they don't get their way, so I have chosen to remain anonymous just to avoid that scenario.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ask just about any homosexual former Catholic. You will either get a \"none of your business\" or an earful", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and about as accurate. I would hesitate to encourage any believing Catholic to visit this place. The Greens and their kind of religion is vehemently anti-Catholic. The messages contained in these exhibits will express nothing but anti-Catholic, anti-science, anti-scholarly sentiments. Personally, I would not recommend it to anyone, not just Catholics. Just like I wouldn't for Ken Hamm's Ark thingy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, we got 35 Muslims with an air attack.\n\nChristians 35\nMuslims 24\n\nWinning!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First of all, I do not find MSW's description to at all resemble what I know about Paul Ryan. Mr. Speaker has simply revealed himself as a dishonest and manipulative Republican \"leader\" who, fully despite his expressed faith, did not stand up for any shred of Christian principle which would mean confronting Trump is clear and forceful terms. MSW has to ignore an awful lot in order to give such a recommendation. Second, MSW has already started in minimize the damage Trump is more then likely to do. During the campaign, candidates talk about what they WOULD do: but when one is elected to office and assumes the power involved - along with the extreme pressures from many sides - it is a whole different story. Trump is far more vindictive, oppressive and punitive by nature then he is reasonable. MSW has started into his fantasy of political analysis, but like Trump, it is not the reality of the situation. Nor the truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great SHAME on the clergy of Saint Anthony of Padua Church, the faculty and administration of Saint Anthony School, and the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. Amen! They should have paid better attention to the continuing use of the disgraced name of the damned \u201cFather Henry\u201d. The diocese has settled nearly two dozen claims of \u201cFather\u201d Joseph Henry sexually molesting/raping them as young boys! There can be no doubt about the bad character and lack of morals of this alleged pedophile. Denial is alive and well in the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A comment typical of both the born-again boneheads or the secular fundamentalists, the only difference that the latter include the former in their disparagement. Suggest research into historical manifestations of \"Christian love\" (O Allah save us from it), or in the case of the latter, the actions of prominent atheists like Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao Zedong. Khalas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since Catholics are being persecuted, perhaps Bishop Paprocki could solve the problem by performing an exorcism on the whole United States.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Dutch hierarchy complained about the pogroms and deportation of Jews, so the Nazis seized the Catholic nuns of Jewish heritage as reprisal.\n\nThe Catholic nuns were seized from a Catholic convent in reprisal against the Catholic bishops.\n\nThus her being a Catholic - C-a-t-h-o-l-i-c - was fairly relevant to her death. There is nothing \"exploitative\" about that. Other religious and priests have been canonized for the same reason.\n\nWhat I am saying is that canonization is an internal process of the Church, which you reject, to declare an individual among the communion of saints, which you reject, for honor and intercession, which you reject, for those who adhere to the Church, which you do not.\n\nWhich also indicates that if an argument could be made, you're not the one to make it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They should strip of peace prize from obama. He should return it to the Nobel committee.\nHe should be sent to Saudi Arabia to be the next king. muslims should rule muslims and not Christians.\nKillary should get life time in prison for mass killings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is the man responsible for the unholy treatment of Bishop Bill Morris of Toowoomba. Will any of the Australian Catholic Bishops challenge this myopic vision of Catholicism? \n\nI disagree with most of the public statements of Archbishop Chaput but I would never suggest he leave our community. What a bloody disgusting pompous statement about our diversity and wealth of experience!!\n\nBeing Catholic is not comfortable nor easy. It is a community founded on the words and deeds of Jesus. it's founding heroes were the early martyrs who made a sacrament of civil disobedience. It promotes princplles of non-violence and non compliance with the empire. It stands against the values of neo-liberalims embraced by mainstream political parties.It calls us into social action on behalf of justice as well as a deep spiriituality which is close to the practice of Dadirri\n\nArchbishop Chaput does not speak for me or the Cathoics who inspire my faith and politics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trick answer Roy which religion DOESN'T say you will go to hell if you don't drink the Kool-Aid. \nAnd Do you really have to go back to the crusades to find an example? A thousand years?! So you are saying that Islam today is where Christianity was a thousand years ago? If I were a liberal Roy, I'd say that's racist!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trying again. Per your remark, \"Jesus Christ asks us to deny ourselves but not to deny Him.\" There's a time and a place for public affirmations of belief. Yeah, people are being killed because they are Christian, but I don't think the religion requires people to die for it. Matthew 10:33 (re denying) applies to normal social situations like our conversation, not a murderous scene with ignorant attackers. Matthew 7:6 is a caution about 'tossing our pearls' lest we be \"torn to pieces.\" It is absolutely nobody's business what you believe, so you are not required to tell them and jeopardize yourself. Jesus asks Peter, 'will you really die for me' (Jn 13:38), but Jesus does not demand Peter's death. Later, Jesus gives Peter a chance to affirm loyalty (Jn 21:15). No retribution. Jesus was hardly standing up for himself at his trials, and he was not confronting his accusers (James 5:6). Sometimes the less said the better, although it didn't save him, Jesus did not oppose or antagonize them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually I have the opposite problem. I wait for any sermon that has as it's primary message the misuse of presumed male authority and male abuse of others. Something for men that's even a little bit equivalent to the multitude of sermons on abortion and birth control and women's evil choices. I waited in great anticipation for some Catholic bishop somewhere to teach on the male tendency to objectify women as Donald Trump gave them one opportunity after another. The silence was deafening, but also quite instructive. The New Emangelization comes with lots of male rights, but few responsibilities, and even less accountability.....but then it's also very traditional.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is multiculturalism, and why is it bad. This country has had St Patrick's Day parades (the Irish), Columbus day parades (the Italians), Christmas and Easter (the Christians), Passover and Hanukkah (Jewish), Cinco de Mayo (Hispanic) for decades. Isn't that celebrating multiculturalism. And what is identity politics but groups with like interests, culture, race banding together to help advance themselves in America. Being part of the civil rights movement you should recognize that the movement actually was identity politics - working to get blacks equal rights. And because a group works for equal treatment under the law or celebrates their heritage does not mean that the reject their identity as Americans. It means they are working for the American dream. And Dean when you try to connect liberals with Marxists you are more guilty of identity politics than any group that is working for equal rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I know of nothing else in the U.S. Church that was built precisely to do what it does, nothing that has its long-established journalistic culture and the competent personnel to carry on that culture.\"\n\nExactly! NCR published Jason Berry's breakthrough articles on the priest sex abuse crisis back when the bishops were sweeping it under the biggest rug they could find. What are the chances that a newspaper controlled by a bishop would have printed those articles. That's right: zero. \n\nWe need an independent Catholic press to tell us what really goes on in the Catholic Church. NCR is just the paper the Catholic Church needs to save it from corrupt and inept bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And what we're saying is that Christians choose what to get upset about. Again no one is stoning people for wearing more than one type of material for clothing, or no Christian is fighting for their right to worship their faith by stoning their children when they're being brats. So why do you guys get upset over something that has nothing to do with you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you are advocating Catholic religion should run on your \u2018reasonableness and balance\u2019 and consider \"divine wisdom,\" as a package of squeezed lemons floating on a river of \"righteousness.\" \nAnd let C. D. hand out the hush money and keep the rapist hidden and condone the clergy raping of children by hiding and moving them around, around and around for few decades as before?\nSo is that foreshorten3 ideal Catholic Catechism?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Atheism has all the markings of a religion and that is not funny at all. In fact, atheists on this forum are more strident about their beliefs than most Christians. Now, about your last sentence, if a church school is not evangelizing, equipping and empowering its students in its faith, if it is only teaching the three Rs, then what's the problem? And why should a Christian child be exposed to false leftist doctrine, like the idea that there is more than two genders, in public school?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" they were trying to make Evangelical beliefs seem backwards, bigoted, and sexist, and yet they were surprised that Evangelicals didn't show up in droves to vote for Hillary.\"\nWhich, of course, they are; much as the Christian Right hates to admit it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ordinary Christian anti-Antisemitism is commonly a right wing consequence of hard economic times. Sadly we now also have some left wing anti-Israel anti-Semitism. To go along with Islamic Antisemitism.\n A big help would be to put all religions in their private place where they cannot be a detriment to democratic values. Like Canada in the 60's, 70's and early 80's.\n But who profits from dividing the people by religion, through unemployment, through low wages, through massive immigration, by hard economic times? The corporations.\n The antidote to the virus of anti-Semitism is power to the people, secular economic democracy that creates economic progress for all, Like Canada in the 60's, 70's and early 80's.\n Global multinational corporatism, that creates many divisions among workers and middle class people, contrarily, is a perfect recipe for xenophobia and Antisemitism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"For me, one of the big problems with Catholicism is it is often more interested in being Catholic than it is in being Christian. When an issue arises, clergy and laity look first to church teaching, church rules, and practices rather than looking to the Gospels for direction.\"\nThe focus and emphasis on preaching the Catechism of the Catholic Church rather than on living the Gospel life that Jesus modeled for us is flushing Christianity out of the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I dunno. I'm too busy fighting off \"christians\" who knock at my door to convert me.\n\nNever had a Muslim force their views on me...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's called marketing. Christianity is a dying religion worldwide. And fear, especially of eternal damnation, is a powerful (and profitable) selling tool.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "westslope, i respect your position. your kids will probably be ok because you have not been dumped on from the day of your conception like most black people, in the world. you were born white, in a white christian bubble that is directly responsible for the racism in this country today, and most of the bigotry. jesus supposedly said my two primary commandments are love me and love your neighbor as you love me and yourself (depending on which of the 4000 or so interpretations you believe. if you do that and you see your neighbor being denied a job because of their skin color, or being stopped by police for the same reason, and no other reason, would you intervene? of course you wouldn't. if you could be magically transformed into a mexican illegal immigrant, married to a white woman, with kids, standing outside home depot every day hoping a white guy comes by with a few hours work, and hope he doesn't stiff you on your pay, your attitude, and compassion, might be different.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have to agree with brother Orobator: We will never recognize the full ministry of women until we first \"re-image God\" devoid of all the patriarchal mythos that has such a death grip upon the Catholic hierarchy and priesthood. God must be envisioned as being MORE than male, more than imaged as solely a father-god figure.\n\nActually, I believe that a new image of God was revealed to the world on December 24, 1968 [Merry Christmas!] when astronaut William Anders captured the iconic image of \"Earthrise\" from orbit over the lunar horizon: \"The Blue Marble\" serenely floated resplendent in the star-studded black abyss of space.\n\nAll of humanity is captured [save the photographer] within the frame of this photo of Earth as seen from its Moon,. It was in a sense our first group family photo of all humanity. \n\nWhat an inspired image of the fullness of God, Our Mother! It should be honored in every Christian place of worship along side of the crucifix and Risen Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is NO plan in place for what you want. Even if some mo*ron comes up with your plan, how do you \"keep these American Terrorist in their own states\"? It can't be done legally and nobody knows who they are. Then you want to \"vet people that have religious connections to these known American Terrorist (Christianity for example) \" - well, 71% of Americans are Christians which is around 210 million people and that is not a \"manageable number\". Then you say \"known American Terrorist\" - who are they? Your ideas are full of holes and is totally ridiculous. \n\nNobody can identify every \"American terrorist\" no matter what kind of \"vetting\" they do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And just imagine if you are a teacher, school secretary, or janitor looking for a job. Those without the Catholic church membership card are not welcome to apply at these schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As an aside, I'm now banned from First Things. Frustrating, since there's a new web piece up with the intro:\n\n\"Christians in America are increasingly like Christians in Egypt, determining under which enemy one can perhaps survive.\"\n\nObscene.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, we hold ISIS responsible, ISIS no more represents all Muslims than the Klan represents all Christians. I get that you have a problem with Muslims, but try to keep up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Would you like to talk about the treatment of Native Americans and black slaves by your \"deeply Christian men and women,\" both at the colonial stage and later on -- up to and including today? \n\nDidn't think so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First - any prayer is inappropriate at a government function. Second - while christianity is absurd, the most arrogant part of christianity is believing that the individual has god's ear and can change god's mind. Its delusional.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) \"Evangelical and Catholic integralists condemn traditional ecumenism and yet promote an ecumenism of conflict that unites them in the nostalgic dream of a theocratic type of state,\" write Spadaro and Figueroa.\n\"The most dangerous prospect for this strange ecumenism is attributable to its xenophobic and Islamophobic vision that wants walls and purifying deportations,\" they continue, nodding towards President Donald Trump's campaign promises. \"The word 'ecumenism' transforms into a paradox, into an 'ecumenism of hate.'\"\u2014Joshua J. McElwee The Fortnight for Freedom has been used to mean freedom to be racist, not only xenophobic and Islamophobic. For the Patriarchs that would have meant cutting themselves off at the time of Joseph.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Without resurrection? Are you a \"semi-Catholic\"? You're either all in or all out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one is stopping legally consenting men, women, brothers, sisters, moms or dads from having sex with each other. No harm no foul. If the catholic church is telling it's members what sexual activity is or isn't exceptable, who cares, no one is forcing anyone to be a member of the catholic church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Two of the biggest names in Christian quackery you mean....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The ever-worsening priest shortage does not lend itself to decent pastoral care of the sick or dying. The Catholic pastor in a small town where I used to live was routinely called (sometimes in a single day!) to tend to parishioners who were hospitalized in distant (fifty miles, one way) locations in all four cardinal points of the compass! (And he had a large migrant population to attend to as well, all by himself!) And all that was forty years ago now! And that picture is NOT changing for the better!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed, yes ,thanks for posting the official Catholic view on homosexuality which is accurate, reasonable and compassionate according to many, Catholic or not. \n\nI did actually post a response a number of days ago but can't find it anymore. I can't even find your original comments with the vatican quotes - flagged as inappropriate perhaps? It wouldn't surprise me, given the prevailing intolerance and bigotry of our secular society on these issues. \n\nIn any case, please repost your thoughts on this topic so I can try responding again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Such infantile silliness. There is nothing sacred about Latin. It's just the language that happened to be spoken at the time the liturgy was originally codified. It is no more sublime or suited for worship than English, Spanish, Swahili or any other tongue.\n\nJesus instituted the Eucharist as an intimate meal (and not in Latin, incidentally). The signs and symbols he chose were so patently obvious that only those who are mired in utter boneheaded obstinacy can't understand that pretentious triumphalist liturgy is the antithesis of what Jesus had in mind.\n\nRail against progress and gnash your teeth all you like, but Mass in the vernacular is here to stay.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In the wake of Donald Trump\u2019s election, the news is flooded with reports of abuse, assault, and harassment, largely of minorities, by jubilant Trump supporters celebrating the ascent of their candidate, a candidate who campaigned by appealing to white heterosexual Christian supremacy.\n\nOver the past 48 hours, women have been assaulted for wearing the hijab, property has been defaced with swastikas, LGBT Americans have been threatened, and African Americans have experienced election result-specific harassment by fellow Americans touting the election of Donald Trump as the dawn of a new America, apparently one where they consider that the ugliest of racial and social animus to have the seal of presidential approval.\"\n\nWhy hasn't Trump denounced this behavior? For that matter, why haven't his supporters? Oh, right: They're the ones doing it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Through most of his life, Trump has been militantly pro-choice, and while I know people can and do change their minds, when Chris Matthews asked Trump about his evolution on abortion, it was immediately evident that Trump had not given the issue so much as five minutes of thought. Over the next six hours, he adopted four different positions on abortion. And since then, he's uttered scarcely a word about it. Moreover, no-one who mocks the handicapped can ever be seen as pro-life. This is a disqualifying defect of character. To describe such a candidate as \u201cpro-life\u201d is to reduce the term to meaninglessness.\n\nCatholic \"leaders\" who, qua Catholic, are supporting Trump have rationalized support for a racist, fascist know-nothing blowhard. They ought not drag their Catholicism into that swamp.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Almighty God a worrier? A dreamer? Has the pope written a new bible for the Roman Catholic Church?? \ud83d\udc3d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Given that there are Muslim food banks, would it be acceptable and/or legal to set up a Christian food bank? Probably not. The social justice warriors, the liberal/left mainstream media and our acquiescent doormats who pose as political leaders would be up in arms - perhaps even literally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr. Reese says it is embarrassing to see the Catholic Church even less tolerant than the Mormons!\n\nOn matters that have anything to do with sexuality, even tangentially, the Church IS less tolerant than other religions, even the most rigidly conservative, literal-Bible-guided, (and pro-life) ones. Gay rights...contraception...divorce and remarriage...and other issues seem to have isolated the Church from other religions. Why?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only problem with impeaching Trump is they would get a religious extremist as prez who would in all likelihood try and impose Christian style Sharia law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree. This is Catholic Answers claiming \"it was the gays\" and distancing themselves from the creepy pedophile label. The John Jay report may not be perfect but it gives us a profile of 11,000 victims and the vast majority of them were under 14 and some were > 7. 20% of victims were female. It also states that the peak incident time was 1980, which makes no sense with the \"gay liberation\" narrative because things were just getting started then. How to explain how the number of incidents dropping continuously from 1980 to 2003 . . .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Redistribution of wealth is not such a bad thing particularly in a democracy, particularly one based on Christian ethics.\n\nWhat might happen without it is wealth gets concentrated and as it's a zero-sum game, those without it are led to crime and insurrection and like our very country is based on Revolution against greedy billionaire tyrants.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Canadian theocracy insists on importing more Christians from the Caribbean and Central America. The Christians are the original Marxists, the missionaries brought newly freed criminals to Canada because who else would want to come to Canada in 1850? The missionaries believed that the psychopaths and narcissists would find God and become good Canadians. Sound familiar?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A moment of silence was not allowed to be introduced. the same 6 assembly members feel it is a slap in the face to their Christian values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know what your comment has to do with mine. I said nothing about Muslims. I was replying to Voila123 who seems to think Christians and Anglo-Saxons are the problem. Many people seem to think the world would be a great place without religion. I merely pointed out that regimes that do as desired and completely reject religion have killed a remarkable number of people as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All Catholic music is cringey. Better spirituals than some of the other stuff I've heard. At least spirituals tend not to be as screechy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "think of the \"bridges\" that the liberals are building?\nthey are \"shutting themselves in\" to new ideas\nNot open.\nVery negative.\nSeeing dark linings everywhere.\nReflexively cynical.\n\nWhere's the joy in these supposedly Christians.\n\nthink how bad an example they are giving of the faithful, joyful Christian. \n\nBad apostolate. A bunch of negative people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Conservative Christians do not like President Trump. We are using him as a tool to accomplish our goals. And I have no problem with that. You sometimes must ride the horse that can get you to the finish line, no matter how stinky the horse. Remember: Liberals were willing to place their bets on Hillary Clinton although she is a dishonest, corrupt, secretly pro-Wall Street, establishment plutocrat. Hillary and her husband had little financially when leaving the White House (just 17 years ago), and now they're worth $200 million. This says a great deal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am sorry that my selfish desire to become an altar boy to be closer to Jesus made a priest molest, rape and desecrate my little body.\nI am sorry the church and bishops that have expressed sorrow then lied to me and abandoned me after such beautiful hollow apologies. I am sorry that the church refuses to release the truth contained in the files about our molestation and rape and how leaders handled it. The bishops want to keep those files secret, they must be very modest and do not want public accolades for the loving caring way they must have handled our abusers. Dolan secretly paid the priests that raped us 20k each to secretly go away. He even lied about it till papers surfaced that proved it. Sorry that I made him lie and break secular laws by hiding money in bogus cemetery funds. I am sorry Listecki used Bankruptcy to cheat us and that I made him lie and promise healing only to deny every one of us.\nDo I wait to forgive them until they stop hurting me? or just forgive weekly?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seems to me that is exactly what I said, Priests, not Ministers. And I noted I was not sure about Rabbi's, however thanks for pointing out that in fact it is only the Orthodox that prevent it...the same ones stealing land and burning Palestinian Olive orchards (very Old Testament of them). I am well aware of the degrees of Christianity and the fact some American Protestants turned Jesus on his head by saying it is the rich that will inherit the earth through their hard work and stored up wealth. \n\nYou are exactly right that it is the extreme right wingers in each religion that blaspheme their respective faiths. The one's that truly got it were the Sufi's, the Christian mystics and a few Jewish mystics. They see the esoteric nature of religion while the skyofblue types look towards the popular exoteric forms.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"What difference does it make\" - hmmm, shades of hillary. \n\nIt makes a huge difference to name who the enemy is. Ask Hillary- Oh wait, she named and blamed an innocent film maker instead of naming the mass murdering enemy, islamist terrorists.\n\nThe large difference between \"radical Muslims\" and \"radical Christians\" is one commits mass murders by attack on innocents, including children, and the other one often holes up in some compound with adult people who have willingly joined them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alexander Solzhenitsyn famously wrote: \u201cYou must understand. The leading Bolsheviks who took over Russia were not Russians. They hated Russians. They hated Christians. Driven by ethnic hatred they tortured and slaughtered millions of Russians without a shred of human remorse. The October Revolution was not what you call in America the \u201cRussian Revolution.\u201d It was an invasion and conquest over the Russian people. More of my countrymen suffered horrific crimes at their bloodstained hands than any people or nation ever suffered in the entirety of human history. It cannot be understated. Bolshevism was the greatest human slaughter of all time. The fact that most of the world is ignorant of this reality is proof that the global media itself is in the hands of the perpetrators.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find all of this commission bunk to be a delay tactic. Tom Doyle had a team ready to confront this in an open and pastoral way. You are right. He gave them all the answers 32 years ago\n\nChurch and many Catholics excuses 101\nThank God for the pontifical commission to notice these mistakes. \n\nNow we can finally learn why we made those mistakes of transferring Fr. pedophiles and covering up the rape of children. \n\nEven better we can finally learn how to deal with this stuff. \n\nWe did not know back then that child rape was bad. Now we know it is a mistake and a sin. \n\nBut Francis is a really nice old man and he washed some prisoners feet and drives a Fiat. Cut him some slack it has been only four years. What can you expect from one man like Francis, when every one is sabotaging his every attempt at responding to victims, protecting children.\n\nJust imagine 3 years from now I bet Francis will punish all those bishops because you can tell by looking at him he is all about accountability.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reason \"progressives\" never complain when Obama and the elitist Democrats send THEIR children to private schools, is because Obama and the elitist Democrats are paying the tuition. They aren't asking the taxpayers to foot the bill.\n\nYou want to take my tax dollars and give them to your Christian school. \nWhy should I have to pay taxes to support your religion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Motley, these are, unfortunately, excellent examples of the horrors of Islamic extremism in parts of the Middle East. I can't imagine anyone around here would be \"apologists\" for such institutionalized cruelty. \n\nBut 3 quick questions-- 1) As the situation concerns American Muslims, how do you feel about CAIR's Nihad Awad's strong condemnation of the attack here?\" 2) However, if you want to go overseas, how do you feel about Nigerian Christians' treatment of homosexuals? 3) As the Old Testament which is the basis of Judeo-Christian morality also represents the same \"stone 'em to death\" cruelty, yet overwhelmingly most American Christians and Jews have moved far beyond this dogma, why do you suppose America's Muslims can't also move on? Isn't this \"the American way?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most Catholics don't understand or reject a lot of Church teaching.\n\nRejection isn't a measure of truth.\n\nThe Church has weathered just fine rejection by many. \n\nRejection can and should be sanctified. But many Catholics - a disproportionate number here - don't really understand what I mean when I say that rejection can be sanctified, or when I say that any difficulty (or joy) can be sanctified.\n\nThey haven't been formed well enough by the liberal bishops they love to understand these ideas of Jesus Chris.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do you feel about schools discussing gay marriage, transgenderism, gun issues, the Confederate states and participants, or any of the other \"hot button\" issues in today's society? So many condemn Christianity (or other religions) but demand that issues more to their taste should be openly discussed, no matter the audience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Catholic Church recognises women as validly ordained priests or bishops by the year 3,000 then pigs will definitely be able to fly and snowballs will most certainly not melt in hell. I am not commenting lightly.\nAlas, in the year 3000 one or other of us is unlikely to be \"in more pleasant surroundings\", if we persist in our beliefs. :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "cont'd\n\n . . . who reject Church teaching on, say, contraception, priesthood celibacy, etc., etc. So your question, \"Who are you to judge?,\" though rhetorically powerful at first glance, is quite easily deflated. Like everyone else, though, I do judge the mental competence of people who take absurd positions, such as calling themselves Catholic when they reject Catholicism. They commit no moral wrong, so far as I'm concerned. But who are you to judge me if I say the world is flat? I'd say your judging me to be absurd would be perfectly fine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a big difference between the Europeans and the Muslim Immigrants of today. For one, Canada was not a Welfare State, you either worked your ass off or you starved to death, there were no handouts. \n\nI am honestly getting tired of Islamists always playing the victim, when back in their own Countries of Origin Ethnic Minorities of different Religious backgrounds are treated absolutely horribly. \n\nTry being a Coptic Christian in Egypt or a Yazdi in Iraq. How about the Armenian Genocide which Turkish Leaders won't admit even happened.....Can anyone say DOUBLE STANDARD!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The self-proclaimed \u201clargest Christian university in the world\u201d is true to its motto, \u201cKnowledge aflame.\u201d It trains \u201cchampions for Christ,\u201d athletically referred to as Liberty Flames, to set the truth afire. It is a good example of an oxymoron where faith unfaithful keeps it faithfully true to untruth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The poses were developed as an expression of worship to Hindu deities. The First Commandment tells us to have no other gods before the Lord. Why shouldn't a Catholic want to avoid any hint of idolatry?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is pretty rich the Globe publishing this article from the 'secretary of the Ontario Liberal Party Executive Council\" It does explain the cheer leading for the Liberal party as part of the text.\n\nDon Meredith is being held at a lot higher standard than most politicians especially Progressive ones. Underlying this narrative is the continued attack by Progressives against Christians and Christian values. I'm not excusing Mr. Meredith's actions because they are wrong. Anyone with one eye and one elbow can see the hypocrisy of the Progressive's attack.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Not so with the priesthood. He picked males.\"\n\nReally, RD? He picked a married man, Peter. The church doesn't respect that. He also picked all Jews. The church doesn't respect that. Your argument is meaningless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"[Morlino] suggested that the popular hymn \"All Are Welcome\" by Marty Haugen, a staple in many U.S. Catholic churches, is too lax on the church's stance toward public sinners.\"\n\nPerhaps the bishop could write a hymn titled, \"Only Those Who Vote Republican, Hate SSM, and Hold the Inferiority of Women Are Welcome in this Place.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well Well! It's even harder here to have a discussion with pre-formed thinkers, such as those who dwell on the right wing of the Catholic bird, and who like to display their faux knowledge of Aquinas' philosophy and theology. Ol' Tom the Dumb Ox would surely be having a HUGE laugh at pre-formed comments like the ones you and your right-wing friends habitually post here, RD! As if you don't already know that!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You sound kinda racist against Africans and Asians (though curiously not against Latin Americans). Who cares where the priest is from as long as he's a solid Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anything more ridiculous than a bunch of old 'Inquisitors' claiming to know the absolute truth and silencing discussions? Not much support for such abuse these days\n\n'In persona Christi' is the basis for much of their clericalism. It comes from the Vulgate translation of 2 Corinthians 2:10 which has 'in the person of Christ,' now correctly translated in the NABRE Bible on the Vatican and USCCB websites as 'in the presence of Christ.' We are all supposed to follow Jesus and be members of the Christ, and the priest is not more a Christ-member than anyone else, despite 'in persona Christi Capitis,' an idea that blossomed fairly recently historically. 'In persona\" is not mentioned in the Baltimore Catechism. But later supposedly progressive Vatican II documents are rife with this nonsense, which also serves to segregate genders, and promote shameful male chauvinism in both liturgy and administration. See #1548 in the Catechism for history of Aquinas and 'in persona.'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And if someone asks why they refused, then what - they refuse to give a reason? That certainly would be suspicious and invite scrutiny because of this whole thing. Or maybe the Christian bakers should then lie about it? Seems an interesting, and compromising solution: someone who will claim they can't bake a same-gender wedding cake for religious reasons but would then break their religious tenets by lying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So team Clinton wants to infiltrate the Catholic Church to make it more progressive as the latest Wikileaks dump shows. Yup, I'll be voting with my Catholic conscience. I wonder if NCR will run an article about that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is especially repugnant that these self-appointed guardians of \"family values\" self-righteously cloak militantly anti-life and anti-family policies and attitudes with the mantle of Catholic social teaching. Paul Ryan -- whose entire life in politics was inspired (in his own telling) by the atheistic materialism of Ayn Rand -- is the best known offender.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK so far as it goes, but you went overboard. You refuse to put the verse into context, in order to make a point that the parable didn't intend; it (Jesus) didn't say \"arm yourself\", he said that if a man arms himself to preserve his treasure, a stronger person or force (death for instance) will steal his treasure. The whole of chapter 11 is a sermon on charity, which is central to Christian belief; and believe it or not, generosity toward the poor is still practiced, by the rich and even by those who can barely afford it. Joke away, but I would bet there is a vein of generosity in even you, Motley, despite your cynicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Extremists ain't \"Islamic\". Qur'an admonishes us to avoid extremes and seek \"the middle way.\" The \"Judeo-Christian\"/\"secular\" west has orders of magnitude more blood on its hands than the worst of those calling themselves \"Muslims\". And I say this as someone who has been the enemy of the Da'esh, the Salafia, the Wahhabis and their ilk since before you ever heard of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Commentary by the head of the CDF are not Dogma. No more doctrine by press release. He was wrong, by the way. The natural order is a philosphical construct. It does not really exist. It is Catholic Relativism at its worst.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Preet Bharara, a man of great integrity, hopefully will come back to haunt Drumpf as he slides deeper into the adulterant miasma that surrounds him, which include his own dysfunctional team; members of the Republican Party, slimy, disgraceful and opportunistic bootlickers; the fundamentalist Christian clergy who sold their souls to the devil hoping to curry favour and who supported this pathological liar, and Drumpf supporters, many of whom are objectionable, violent and uneducated misfits. Drumpf is untrustworthy. Now that Mr. Bharara has complete independence, let's hope he uses it with all the force of his wholesome character to spearhead impeachment proceedings against this catastrophic blight upon humanity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Romney may not be as immature as Trump however his political agenda was not unlike Trump's.\nNeither am I convinced that he is intelligent.\n\nHis neo-liberal legislative agenda was similar to Trump's both on the economic and on the social side. His comments regarding Americans who do not pay tax were particularly odious.\n\nFor a man who is a leader in the Mormon Church he shows a remarkable disregard for the less fortunate together with an unwillingness to separate church and state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This whole thing is actually rather simple, if one holds true to the one true faith, which neither Martin nor Ruse do. The Catholic Catechism teaches: \"[Homosexuals] must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.\" To the extent Ruse insulted gays and lesbians with the broad brush that he did, he violated the foregoing \"commandment.\" It was a sin. Martin, for his part, exhorts us to reject Church teaching on homosexuality, and to regard homosexual CONDUCT (as distinct from the state of simply being homosexual) as perfectly acceptable, sinless. To the extent Martin does this, he was wrong, see RC Catechism sec. 2357, and Ruse was right. Ruse's provocative language, however, did the Church's cause no good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree......Jesus had cigars and bourbon with jazz playing for the social hour after the last supper......how quickly some folks forget.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The party may make some Catholics feel unwanted. Others, like I, feel perfectly fine about the Democratic party. Only 68% of them voted for that man. That means that not all Catholics were put off by the Democrats\nWhile I believe that it is shameful that so many white Catholics chose to vote for that immature and awful man, there was much, much more to the election results than the votes of many white Catholics. Perhaps those Catholics who did vote for him ought to reexamine their reasons for doing so. It's hard for me to understand how a megalomaniac can be a good choice for president.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think we are confusing pedophiles who suffer from a mental disorder, with normal sexual desire between adults, usually a man and a woman. According to the dictionary pedophiles suffer from a \"mental disorder\" involving a desire by an adult, usually a man,, for prepubescent children, quite often boys. What I was referring to was the repression of a natural, normal desire of a man for a woman, that finally lets loose inappropriately by celibate clergy with one or more members of the congregation. So we both agree that there are no more pedophiles among clergy than among the general population. What I am saying is repressed celibate clergy tend more to sexual abuse due to repression among those as opposed to the general population. It is understandable that this would be covered up for obvious reasons but should not be. Clergy are human so is the Pope in fact. Asking for celibacy is inhuman because it is not normal and incredibly hard to do. Desire among adults should not be suppres", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One must really twist reality to support conservative Catholicism. This writer forgets that if you don't make exceptions to abortion laws when the women's life is on the line, then you are definitely causing the death of the mother. How is that a pro-life stand? \n\nMexico has always had a higher abortion rate than the U.S. even though up until very recently abortion was illegal in Mexico. How does one know that statistic? One knows it, in part, by the amount of women in Mexico who died getting illegal abortions. \n\nFact is that in no country where abortion has been made illegal is there proof that abortion has declined & most of these countries have instead the highest abortion rates. Criminalizing abortion makes a abortion a crime it does not end it or even lessen its presence.\n\nWe disrespect women when we try to force them to have babies rather than make laws supporting their needs. This is self righteousness not good morals. Disrespect comes from hate. Teach don't judge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This comment will surely be deleted:\n\nThe Shahada is the Islamic oath of allegiance to Allah and Muhammad: \"There is one god. Allah is god. Muhammad is the prophet of god\". Every Muslim is required to say it in prayer sessions five times a day. It is the white text on the black flag of ISIS. \n\nThat simple oath is all that is needed to convert to Islam. Across the ME people are executed if they can't or won't recite the shahada. Millions of Christians through history have been beheaded, hanged and burned alive by Muslims if they refuse to renounce Jesus and take up the Koran. Whatever Torquemada did, pales in comparison to the oceans of blood shed for Islam. Obviously, Muslims don\u2019t want us to talk about it and call us Islamophobic if we do. Google \u2018TAQIYYA\u201d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Bill,\n\nIt sounds like you support returning to the times when the church had the authority to imprison or kill anyone who disagreed with it.\"\n\nIt is amazing how people don't really read a post, but impute what they hope the post is saying so they can attack it.\n\nMy position articulated in the post has no affinity to the RCC even though Dr. Taylor and William Noel would like it to be.\n\nI am also aware that true believers will be deliberately misrepresented in the final conflict, and so I don't expect objective evaluation by those who attack bible truth.\n\nIf I have misrepresented Loren Seibold's presentation, then please correct what I have stated. But don't misrepresent what I said to defend what many would consider false views by him.\n\nApparently, many of you think a church has no right to define itself and discipline those who claim to support it as members, but don't.\n\nYour so-called logic is absurd.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Trump said that he \u201cnever mentioned the word or the name Israel\u201d in his conversation with Russia\u2019s foreign minister and ambassador.\"\n\nTaken at literal/face value that could very well be true, but that doesn't preclude the Russians from figuring out by way of example that a reference to \"Mossad\" doesn't mean a British intelligence agency was the source or that a casual word/name drop of any number of Israeli cities might hint at locale!\n\nI can understand another American President saying and believing, \"I did not have sex with that woman\" because in that fundamentalist \"christian\" bible thumpin' land below, sex was probably considered for decades as only performed on a bed in the missionary position under cover of sheets or darkness and loss of virginity in the front or back seat of a car watching submarine races and best described by Meatloaf in Paradise by the Dashboard Light!\n\nMany Americans will still call a Canadian a liar if told our milk comes in bags and yet believe Donald :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For those pushing \"religious liberty\", any tiny \"burden\", like filling in a form to say you will not provide abortion insurance coverage for your employees, is too onerous. However, as Christopher Douglas wrote in \"Why Hulu's 'Handmaid's Tale' May Be the Wrong Adaptation for Trump Era\":\n\nThe Christian Right was always about a willingness to legislate for those outside its own group\u2014that was its point. It legislated for creationism to be taught not just to children of conservative Christian households, but to everyone else's children too; it opposed the acceptance of homosexuality not just within its own congregations, but in the larger society; and its rejection of abortion took the form not just of Christian individuals deciding not to have abortions, but as the chief political goal of overturning Roe v. Wade, preventing access to all women", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll throw another one at you Boots. You probably won't read this in the MainStream media but on FoxNews.\nThe ALL Holy Donna Brazille, who knows how it feels to be a persecuted Christian woman, came clean a day ago. I think the thought of her sins of Lies during the election is really bothering her and she had to Confess to clear her Holy conscience. \nDonna stated, The DNC rigged the Primary in favor of Hillary, the Donald was right on this subject too. :) \nAlthough widely publicized by theDonald of the DNC rigging, you no longer have to turn your cheek to evade the questions of it or turn a blind eye to it. it is what it was!:(\nHere's my take other than it's bothering her soul, I have an inkling Hillary/Clintons/DNC are going Down, well, at least one of them. Donna wanted to come clean yesterday because the Rep.'s smells blood! coming out from everywhere, like theDonald eluded to the Failing exFox host Megyn Kelly. lol", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A reply that is intended to give us the impression that you understand \"consubstantial\". (As in \u201cit\u2019s too hard for you, but not for me\u201d.)\n\nSuppose we give you the benefit of the doubt:\n1. for how many people is that an intelligible word?\n2. given that the Creed was originally compiled in Greek, why should be we stuck with a latinism? \n\nYour literalism (so often deployed in these threads) surely means you should be advocating that we ought to be declaring our belief that Christ is homo-ousial with the Father ...\n\nIn all events the pastoral question was the more important \u2026 for which you have displayed an evident disdain.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings...For me visiting the OD website was an experience of cultism to Jose Maria Escriva. I have never personally had any interaction with OD members, but some friends have, and it was not what you would call a spiritual encounter. When Archie Rembert Weakland was here in Milwaukee, the local OD spied on his activities and reported him to Ratzinger! So you see with us cradle Catholics, just putting up a nice website just don't cut it! Put +Jesus Christ+ first....Not Jose Maria Escriva!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Trump vs. the politics that Christianity requires\"? Let's lower the bar and wonder about the kind of politics that the minimal standards of humanity requires.\nRegardless of one's position on non-traditional sexual people one should be absolutely livid and resist with the strongest words and actions the Trump banning of transgender persons serving in the US Armed Forces AND how he did and is doing it.\nFace it: by his action and how he has/is doing it places a vivid target on these and all transgenders, rendering them diminished, excluded, demeaned and legitimate targets of the basest, virulent and brutal hatemongers and self-satisfied fundamentalists. \nThese persons are your/our brothers and sisters and we seem to be letting this happen without a whimper.\nWe seem to have forgotten that these standards apply to us as well. Shame on us....again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I understand that someone who believes that abortion was the defining issue of the campaign would vote for Donald Trump. But wouldn't it have been prudent to keep in mind \"a consistent ethic of life?\" Can we insist that we are pro-life Catholics and then offer as justification for that claim our vote for a man who favors the death penalty, is willing to deprive the poor of health care and food assistance, supports torturing captives and can hardly wait to send immigrants back home where they will face political and gang violence? I'm afraid that the best that can be said is that the single-issue Trump voters have shown that they are anti-abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The clinical term for Trump's style is hypomanic. He needs meds. Sadly, his policy chops suck. I am hypomanic and I assure you that my policy chops are fully in place. As for the press, they go for the ratings. The word for them is craven. They should know better, but their drive for ratings corrupts them, which gives any politician the moral upper hand, even Trump.\n\nOn personal divestiture, Trump is simply a crook and his voting base does not mind. Until they do, he gets to play with his toys. Trump on the issues will depend on how he staffs is policy operation. I don't have high hopes based on what I have seen (either on their professionalism or on Trump's ability to be advised). On justices, I would rather he go by the ABA than the Federalist Society, the latter having a flawed view of the 14th Amendment. They do comport with the Catholic Bishop's view on abortion (that it should be a state issue). Heck no! Employee-ownership is the answer to outsourcing and the press.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, Matt, \n.\nNothing stops you from recognizing that Vladimir Putin isn't our friend, and he didn't install a clown in the White House because he wishes us well.\n.\nNothing stops you from recognizing that the security of the western world is a darn sight more important than whether you can stick your nose into the decision of your neighbour or her daughter to have an abortion - as if it's any of your business.\n.\nIt is also possible to oppose abortion without destroying NATO - the backbone of world peace and security for the last 70 years.\n.\nExcept, somehow, white evangelical Christians just can't get that message.\n.\nYour religious beliefs are not more important than our national security.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It is very painful and they will make it for us Christians ever more difficult, I am sure,\" he said, adding that Catholics must press for the right to live by their consciences if they were not to face harassment or even jail in the future.\"\n\nWow! This guy really doesn't get that we treat women, in particular bishops, like they are lesser human beings & that this is actually our gender problem as a church.\n\nOur hierarchy so stuck on stereotypes has perhaps been the number one creator of the desire to change genders. Most people, I hear, who speak about wanting to change their gender, only really want to be allowed to live comfortably in the stereotype of the opposite gender. Men think they are born wrong because they want to be caregivers rather than Corporate CEOs. Women who are called to be priests, not nuns, think am I a man?\n\nDid this cardinal ever consider maybe Jesus would like HIS church to grow, and act with justice, & that maybe it is our misogyny that is confusing folks?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Would like to see your proof the \"Bible was given to us by a Devine Creator\".\n\nWhat is Bill O'reilly up to these days? What is Dennis Hastert up to these day?\n\nReminds us all again about those \"family values\" Republicans who sat on the Clinton Impeachment panel that were later to have been found out as some of the biggest Christian hypocrites to ever serve in Washington D.C.,,, Would you like us to jog your short term memory for you? Probably not.\n\nAs it so often happens with nutwings like this, I wonder what his little secrets are from his past. He sure seems to stink he knows a lot about homosexuality. hmmmm, it will probably come out some day, but it will be too late for the CHINO crowd, once again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can't speak to the actual legalities of the legislation, but being a native New Yorker, i can assure you that nothing happens in the NYS legislature without kickbacks, favors, and pay-offs...and once you've got the bill passed the governor still has to sign it - and he'll want his cut of the action too. \nThe chance to pander to an internationally influential Cardinal is a hard prize for an Albany politician to walk away from, especially if they're from a district with a Catholic constituency. On the other hand, none of them want their election opponent to claim they \"voted to protect pedophiles and sexual predators.\" \nHonesty, it's much safer to make promises, do nothing, cover your keister, and collect donations from both sides of the issue while the legislature considers the matter for an indefinite period of time. And, if that's not good enough, you can always send it back to committee for revision until the session ends.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anne went too far, but your comment was appropriate? You insinuate I may be a latent homosexual, and that I certainly sound homophobic. You then question if I am a gentle? Quite frankly I find it very bizarre of you inquiring if another grown man is gentle. The best part is you did not make the comment directly to me so I could defend myself. That appears to be somewhat cowardly. I don't read all 400 posts and usually only read those I receive email notifications on. It appears to me, that I have touched a nerve due to our numerous discussions, to which you responded with such a puerile comment. Hopefully I have given you some different views to ponder regarding the Catholic faith. That is my only purpose for commenting. \nTo allege any priest that has devoted his life to Jesus and remains celibate is only due to the fact that they are asexual, and would not desire to experience sexual relations or a family is outrageous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thomas Reese SJ is not a good source of information on anything \u2013 except perhaps how to affirm someone in their homosexuality. \nAfter the Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) decision, which legalized same-sex marriage in the United States, Reese wrote: \u201cWith the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage throughout the United States, the U.S. Catholic bishops need a new strategy going forward. The bishops\u2019 fight against gay marriage has been a waste of time and money. The bishops should get a new set of priorities and a new set of lawyers.\u201d\nWith men such as Reese - the Church needs a new set of priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "for me no I'm old so I will not have to suffer her abuses. It is my son and his cousins I worry about. I could not in good conscience vote for her with her record. You see my son is white, and Christian and raised to be a proud American. Something I fear will be a death sentence in Hilly's new America. Mr Trump on the other hand has never, ever been attacked as a racist, bigot or anything like that until he had the audacity to suggest that he just might be able to save us from the abuses heaped upon us by our own government. They the establishment (D, R and media) all turned on him like a rabid dog.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Looking through the history of the Lords interaction with humanity he has only selected male priests. From Melchizedek to Aaron to the apostles. \n\nHe certainly never commanded a female priesthood at any time, like he never commanded man to become pregnant or women to deliver sperm. The fact is that priesthood is connected to fatherhood. A man cannot be a mother no matter how much we desire total equality, just like no woman can be a father. \n\nWhy did God setup two sexes if there was not meant to be a difference? \n\nCountless pagan faiths have priestesses, it would have been the easiest thing in the world to do as the Montanists an conform to pagan practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most zygotes are never implanted into a uterus, they simply escape the woman's body onto clothing or toilet. A zygote is not a person. The idea that a zygote, morula, or fetus is any more completely human than a liver or liver cell is appalling. Each tissue and cell possess all the human DNA. Slavery has nothing to do with abortion. Your exaggeration of horrific procedures do not take into consideration the some outcomes without abortion are terribly bad. \n\nAll that said, I do not like abortions and would like to see them \"legal but very rare.....\" For this position I have been called pro abortion. I stand with Hillary Clintons words above and would remind you that she seems more Christian than do those who severely criticize her. The lies about the lies is also relevant when we look at these two candidates. Trump exceeds civility. Even his bankruptcy attorneys admit ha they had to have two people in the room with him to prevent his continued lies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Amazed at the racist comments. Not surprised having lived in the western part of Canada as to how the aboriginals are treated. An entire generation was decimated psychologically and physically and it takes the Prime Minister to go and try to convince the Pope. The Pope should stop building churches and spending millions to convert poor Africans and Indians and agree to compensate the victims. Why have the Catholic Church not paid the compensation to the aboriginals?\nhttps://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/legal-misstep-lets-catholics-off-hook-for-residential-schools-compensation/article29657424/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even so, it strikes me as hypocritical that the Trads are urging lay gay Catholics to come out of the closet, and Progs are urging the gay Catholics to join the Church. Both sides are for openness....except when that openness applies to the priesthood.\n\nI find it very strange that progressives here think having priests come out of the closet is an idea that deserves a Laughing Face emoji. If they truly want more cultural acceptance of homosexuality, then they should want their priests to end the policy of sexual secrecy. \n\nIn other words, if tomorrow 5000 priests announced they were basically celibate gay men, wouldn't that be a blow for overall cultural acceptance of same sex attraction, and well as an act of courage that the world would recognize and applaud?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you even read my post? I didn't claim Jesus rebuked anyone. The \"good\" thief called their punishment \"just\" when he rebuked the other thief. I don't recall Jesus correcting him. Seems to me that would have been the perfect time to say \"No, this isn't just, no one deserves this.\" \n\nWhat they did wrong--sir--was not in putting someone to death, but in putting an innocent man to death--who also happened to be God. That is the whole point behind the passion: an innocent man died who is also God. That is what turns justice on it's head. \n\nSir, I don't have enough characters to write about the adulterous woman. All I can say--is that you need to start reading scholars other than liberal dissidents like Ray Brown and the like. I know it is hard to believe, but there are far better and smarter scholars out there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The noble Aztecs were much better at human sacrifice than the wimpy Christians. \n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice_in_Aztec_culture\n\n\"Michael Harner, in his 1977 article The Enigma of Aztec Sacrifice, estimates the number of persons sacrificed in central Mexico in the 15th century as high as 250,000 per year. Fernando de Alva Cort\u00e9s Ixtlilxochitl, a Mexica descendant and the author of Codex Ixtlilxochitl, estimated that one in five children of the Mexica subjects was killed annually. Victor Davis Hanson argues that a claim by Don Carlos Zum\u00e1rraga of 20,000 per annum is \"more plausible.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just one of the host of General officers now running the nation's privatized military with unlimited funding, highly paid in salary and benefits, but the same greed merchants found throughout the ruling Corporate Oligarchy. All willing to sell their souls and the nation to anyone with the right price. All provided free government education at West Point just like Rep. Eastman filled with fundamentalist christianity, racism, bigotry, and Republican traitorous ideology. None of them ever paying for the failed strategies in operations resulting in death and disablement of troops and \"war\" failings. The worst they get for traitorous acts is retirement with golden parachute pensions, government jobs, and/or Corporate Financial positions. The rot contained within the entire government has reached the point where only revolution will remove the black stains created by the massive deregulation and loss of civilian moral control of the nation. Time for a Revolution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Saying Jesus had a wife is not ridicule. Nor is the possibility of children, who would not be divine because Jesus was not a demigod. When Jesus mentioned blasphemy against the Spirit, by the way, he said that blasphemy against the Father would be. Read the whole paragraph. By the way, saying that the Spirit, who Jesus knew as Shekihah, is female is not ridicule anyway (Shekinah was a female manifestation of God. Still is). Your upset says more about your views on sex and women than about God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Best of luck to them. I am not sure if same sex marriages in the British Anglican church will stem the hemorrhaging there -- only 17% of the people self-identify as Anglicans (less than 2% in Scotland) -- but at least it will put the Anglican Church on par with other Protestant Churches -- with Lutherans, for example, with whom they are in communion -- that do clerical same sex marriages. Of course, all this won't keep Pope Francis from praying for unity and pairing his fellow Catholic bishops with Anglian bishops (as he did earlier this year in an ecumenical liturgy at St. Peter's), some of whom -- like Rt. Rev. Kevin Robertson of York-Scarborough, Canada -- are opening gay and married. Indeed, the Holy Father hopes that the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove will continue to open and close it wings on both gay married Anglican bishops and celibate Catholic bishops alike -- for the sake of church unity and a half thawed winter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Donald Trump's election has nothing to do with christianity or any other religion. In fact, the christians who voted for him (and let's be honest --- they were mostly white) demonstrated a great deal of hypocrisy in my opinion. Trump is not a person that any christian should endorse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are a number of Christian sects who disagree those are Christian values. They may be your values but not all Christians subscribe to them.\n\nThe United Church of Canada is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada, and the largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Roman Catholic Church.\n\nThe United Church supports the right of women to have access to safe abortions that are covered by provincial health care and recognizes and celebrates all legal marriages, including same-sex couples, previously divorced people, and couples of different religions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Catholicism certainly. They were expert terrorists.\"\n\n\"Were\" is the past tense that you even used. \n\nEveryone with common sense knows which religion has been associated with the overwhelming majority of terrorist attacks in the past 40 years and all the jihadist apologist spin and M-103s from can't change history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Conservatives, especially in the Church, will always outnumber liberals. Liberals have to accept that as a given. A black and white vision of the world is easy. The belief that it is God verses \"them\" and I am on the side of God is easy. But little by little, liberals make headway. Like the forces behind the movement of a continental plate, their motion is as fast as the growth of a fingernail. But earthquakes happen once in a while, like Vatican II. Then the conservatives, terrified to see their world in movement, try to turn it back. In part, they succeed. But even Pope John Paul and Pope Benedict were followed by Pope Francis. The young priests, with their lace and Latin, will find their certainties questioned by other priests in the future.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He goes to a Christian Church with his wife and call themselves Christians. He has lots of friends who are also Buddhists. But his love is money not God. Buddhists loves money too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We need to be clear that it is our church who supports pitting nuns against poor women and not me. I didn't tell these nuns they should support defunding planned parenthood so poor women can't get cancer testing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pretty blatantly racist of you. Jesuits are plenty smart. Francis is comfortable in his own skin. Burke is hostile because he is fighting his own demons, thinking making everyone morally miserable will quiet his own inability to face his asexuality and the difficulty in attachment that comes with it. \n\nThere will be no next Pope. The Council of Eight will be Patriarchs in the Orthodox tradition. Either Sarah or Burke will be anti-pope and will show the truth of the Third Secret of Fatima and the last prophesy of St. Malachy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ex-\u201cgays\u201d have been a part of the Christian church from its earliest days. After reminding believers that \u201chomosexuals\u201d and \u201ceffeminates\u201d (male transsexuals) \u201cwill not inherit the Kingdom of God,\u201d the Apostle Paul wrote: \u201cAnd such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God\u201d (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).\n\nWhat is the problem?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis is an authoritarian and a tyrant. Could you imagine NCR's outrage if St. John Paul II or Pope Emeritus Benedict had tried to pull this, essentially conquering a sovereign entity? Of course, those holy men would never have pulled such a stunt. But, this Pope sees no problem in such outrageous behavior. NCR loves him because he says nice things, and because he is so blatantly proud of his own humility. For a superficial media outlet like NCR, not surprised.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Music minister in Rhode Island fired....\n\nNew priest comes in. What had been a quiet acceptance of a gay music minister then becomes a mess. The priest fires the music minister on learning he is in a legal gay marriage, another employee then quits, lay ministers then resign, and dozens of parishioners quit, including many other LGBT Catholics who thought they had a faith home.\n\nI would think the new priest would consider how the rest of the faithful of the parish were dealing with the music minister. But, then, that would mean the new priest would care what they thought. And, of course, it is THAT Bishop Tobin.\n\nThere was a choice. Imagine the priest not firing the gay music minister and preaching on acceptance of all because all are sinners. No one measures up - certainly not the goody-two-shoes who thought to out the music director. Why reward that person, who, despite his/her many virtues, is also a sinner? Doesn't the music director also have other virtues?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your personal history is blinding you to the responsibility the bishops play in their enabling criminal abusers and their war on victims. I don't doubt for a second that people close to you let you down. As a Catholic, I have to hold those who have great responsibility accountable. In the Catholic Church the bishops hold nearly all the power and on this subject have taken little to no responsibility.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The book Young Trudeau by Max and Monique Nemni notes that in 1942, when he was 23, Pierre Trudeau was a leading organizer of a revolutionary cell whose purpose was to conduct a coup leading to a corporatist, independent Catholic and French Quebec.\n\n Later during the war, this seditious fan of Vichy fascism went on to enter Harvard instead of an internment camp.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was silent about war. Jesus never forbade fornication. He did not have to, the law was already clear:\n\nMatthew 5: 17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.\n\nThe issue you raise was argued about and settled early in the Church\u2019s history. If you treat others as you would have them treat you, you have complied with the law. You would expect to face a defense if you attacked someone. That defense might end your life.\n\nThat \"the fundamental right of men is life\" does not justify the taking of life, but it does justify defense if the willed act is defense, not murder. Since the unborn can never will harm to another, it can never be the subject of self-defense.\n\nI can make this clearer with some examples.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"At a time when Speaker Ryan has bailed on Trump, why is the president of the U.S. bishops reading a script that sounds like it was crafted in Trump Tower?\"\n\nIf the last two decades have shown anything, many Catholic bishops are among the most inept actors on the American political stage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many Liberals are Jewish for one thing. Many news outlets, the ADN included, do not allow voices to oppose Israel and this has shown in our support for Israel despite the fact that the rest of the world, including Western Europe and Scandinavia, sees Israel as the apartheid state that it is, racist and greedy for the lands of others, which it is taking with impunity. The Palestinians have waited for decades while Israel bulldozes their homes, runs them off their lands, and kills them at every opportunity, murdering Palestinians on a scale of hundreds to one. Id o not believe a person in good conscience can support Israel, they are very un-Christian in their doctrine and extremely hawkish and need to be put down. We are sending them over 20 million dollars a day so that they can continue to ignore U.N. resolutions and oppress their Palestinian neighbors. Here in the USA, they are attempting to make laws which say criticism of Israel is anti-semitic. So who controls our government?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The word is \u201cporneia\u201d, which your translation calls \u201cadultery\u201d. The Arndt, Gingrich, and Danker lexicon states that the word refers to \u201cprostitution, unchastity, fornication, of every kind of unlawful sexual intercourse.\u201d This would include homosexuality.\n\nThe Catholic interpretation of it is that it describes something which we would consider today a cause for a declaration of nullity, a radical inability to accomplish and/or an intention against a requirement of marriage, monogamy.\n\nThis would mean that the putative marriage was invalid at its inception.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe Spicey, being Catholic and all, could explain to Trump the proper protocol when meeting a Pope. That would be a start. He may also wish to mention the benefit of good sitting posture to the President, so Trump will no longer have to constantly look like he's seated on a toilet at his formal events.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pre Vatican II, the Church used pagan and Jewish symbols to express Christian ideas about God. Basilicas, a form derived from Roman political systems, became the dominant architectural pattern. Sacrifice, the dominant ritual of the pre Christian world, was used to explain Christ\u2019s relationship to us. Christian ritual mimicked pagan rituals as the simplest way to express the Christian mysteries in ways pagans would understand.\nVatican II changed all that, to copy Christ\u2019s choice to reach out to us in a fully human form. Pagan ritual has largely faded from our consciousness, so alternative symbol systems were adapted. The same essential mystery still celebrates that God chose us to be His sons and daughters in Christ. The family of Our Father has replaced the sacrifice of Christ as the dominant way of explaining the same Eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well Sisters, I think you may have nailed it. The solution to have separate VI & VII churches. They could both be affiliated with Rome (the HQ). You solve one problem and create another. Which one then retains the \"four marks\" of the true church and away we go again.\n\nAs you highlight; gender equality question within the church. That is really hard to understand with all the attention given to Marian devotion; the BVM's role in the birth, death & resurrection Christ and Our Holy Mother the Church.\n\nCurrently in Dublin, as reported here on the NCR; the remains of 800 fetal and very young children have been formally identified by a govt commission, as being found on the old site of a Bon Secours religious order of nuns that ran a Mother & Child Home, for unmarried mothers, that was closed in 1961. Born out of wedlock; their remains were buried as waste. The poor mothers were worthless in the eyes of the church, having grievously sinned against sexual morality. \n\nAre we fools ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, spare me another phony explanation from the Vatican! The hierarchy wants nothing to do with a real commission 'cause they are part of the problem. How many bishops/cardinals ****ed little boys or ****d little girls? We'll never know. Pray, pay & obey rules. May God have mercy on the abused while meting out justice for the abusers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jamie thanks for this amazing article !!!\n\nPossibly one of the reasons there is a priest shortage is that young men do not want to become priests because they do not want to join a 'brotherhood' that is disgracefully chauvinistic. Women are not allowed to have the best jobs in Church administration. Women are barred from the Altar\n\nThe male-chauvinism and top-down corporation style management of Vatican, Inc. is so disgraceful \n\nWhen Paul says that in order to receive communion 'worthily' one must 'discern the Body' (1 Co 11:29&31), is the body a transubstantiated wafer? Probably Paul meant discern that Body which is the communion of all the believers present, all members of the Christ, 'neither male nor female' (Gal 3:28). See 1 Co 10:17 \"Because there is one bread, we who are many are one BODY, for we all partake of the one bread.\" Paul says in 1 Co 11:33, 'make all equally welcome.' Women barred from the Table and diminished by 'complementarity' and chauvinism do not feel welcome", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ridiculous comparison between the two men. Luther's sola scriptura and sola fide were and are heretical. Martin bases his teaching on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which demands that homosexuals be treated \"respect, sensitivity, and compassion.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Since the only way to make money pouring into the GC's coffers is to maintain the Unions'status quo, nothing will happen after one year.\"\n\nYou are probably correct, George. Church politics to defend and protect \"the church\" is the highest agenda and motive that our leaders follow.\n\nIt is a false motive that leads to a false conclusion. The church is first, and Christ and the bible are last. Thus unity is the only final goal, and if they can pretend to do all this with some credibility based on some biblical principle, then they can deceive the church community.\n\nThe exact parallel to the early church apostasy that placed unity and the church above the bible. It will take some time for church members to figure this out, and many never will. But a few will eventually \"see the light\" while the majority will always be loyal to \"The church has said.\"\n\nIgnorance of the bible allows all this to happen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'It's way past time for the church to take seriously the grand pronouncements of Vatican II that we are all church. '\nI\u2019m always amused by this continued adulation\u2014dare I call it idolatry?\u2014of Vatican II. Actually, Lumen Gentium says, \u2018The laity should\u2026PROMPTLY accept in Christian OBEDIENCE decisions of their spiritual shepherds, since they are representatives of Christ as well as teachers and rulers in the Church\u2019.\nYou see, it wasn\u2019t just the liturgy that Vatican II got wrong. It was its extension of the Spirit of Vatican One. Oh, and then there\u2019s the incredibly na\u00efve view of Islam\u2026but that\u2019s enough for now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The author of this article specifically cited the story of the woman at the well as an example of Jesus reaching out to someone who was marginalized and shunned by her community, someone whom Jesus then embraced. You, as usual, in your comment decided to focus on her sexual sin of promiscuity and took it a step further by likening her sin to what you consider to be the \"sin\" of transgenderism, something the author of this piece did not do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Catholic and an American I found Clinton to be a\nDisgusting, self-serving, unprincipled, haranger who epitomizes the culture of death. Furthermore, I did not and never have voted for one issue. I believe that the Iran deal and the Paris Agreement need to go. You should not assume that being pro-life prevents anyone from decerning other issues of importance. In this case the voter simply disagreed with you... and on more than issues of life. We each have that right, even though you choose to vilify anyone who disagrees with you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Rome's directives\"???? No, Christ's directives!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're right Tri the Church has come a long way since the days when it did force people to become Catholic or remain Catholic and used executions and bon fires to make that point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That would be Christianity. And I agree with your assessment of it, and the charlatan who carries out the bloody strategies of his predecessors without anything resembling a conscience. And his handpicked successor Hillary the Blood Countess will be even worse. That's why Trumpy the Clown is stampeding the sheep into her camp to provide the illusion they 'voted' for her.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The merchants of hate will hide behind religion or patriotism or or anything else that is 'socially acceptable' in order to do their satanic work. Individuals who say they are Christians but consistently exhibit behaviour contrary to the words and deeds of Jesus are simply frauds, and there are millions of them in America. No one who is truly a Christian will, for example, ignore the hungry, sick and homeless while working to get a better deal for the wealthy. We must not forget that in Nazi Germany many people who said they were \"Christians\" supported Hitler. Today the servants of Satan find disguising themselves as Christians often gives them a 'free pass' to abuse the poor, most notably in state legislatures and on Capitol Hill. So-called Christians who hate are the wolves the gospel of the Matthew warns us about, and they will receive the same as Satan and his angels on Judgement Day.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, but like the Christian refugees who can't even get into the camps because they're fearful of being killed by Muslim refugees.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's a nice thought that we could all come together over this tragedy. As though 20 1st graders weren't enough. It's a nice thought that 'we' could still resist becoming divided, as though we are not already. I for one have no love in my heart left for the Republican, for the Conservative, including many of my own family members. If we could split the land in half, I would cheerfully wave good-bye as all the righties went off to live their libertarian fantasies, with only 'God' left to bail them out. \nBut as that seems unlikely, just as unlikely as all of us coming together to sing kumbaya, there is nothing left to do but accept the 'new' normal. As though there is anything new about an insecure white Christian class fighting the battles of and protecting the monied elites from all the 'rabble' who dare to claim the constitution for everyone, as opposed to just the privileged few.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Hypocrite should rethink most of his political positions, if he considers himself to be Christian. Vatican City is surrounded by a wall. They have no illegal immigrants in Vatican City and only handful of highly screened refugees. \"Pope Francis, tear down your wall!\"\n\nRomans 13 makes it clear that Christians (and popes) are to respect civil governments. Coming into a country ILLEGALLY clearly resists civil authority. Pope Francis proclaiming that DACA is pro-life, reveals his rebellion to God. (Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil).\n\nShould nations have borders and immigration laws? The Law of Moses laid out borders for Israel. Furthermore, the Law also instructed Israel on how to handle aliens/foreigners. They had to eventually become Jews or get expelled. After Nehemiah led the people to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem, he expelled the foreigners from the city and punished the Jews for raising their children to be pagans (Nehemiah 13).", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Just as repubs tend to be phony conservatives, they are also phony Christians. For example many republicans favor the death penalty. Considering that the Christian religion is based upon the capital punishment of its leader, well what can I say. Do they believe that it was all right to kill their savior?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trumpkins, many of whom were conservative Christians, cheered Trump saying that he would torture terrorists because they were bad people and deserved it, that waterboarding isn't enough, and that we should kill the terrorists' children. That is so against Catholic doctrine it isn't even funny. If you are going to cheer Trump on when he promises to torture toddlers whose parents happen to be terrorists, you really shouldn't call yourself pro-life. \n\nAnd yes I was aware that Fischer was gone as well. Both she and Shea were fired as I pointed out for criticizing the pro-Trump cheerleading among prolifers. It really is blatant hypocrisy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Or talking about how horrible America is, slandering our true allies (Israel), ridiculing patriotic citizens (Christians, gun owners and veterans) and praising Islamic terrorists. We already had eight years of that.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So true. Self destruction of European civilisation. Most of these migrants are Muslims. once a majority, they will not make room for the Christians who rescued them. \nHard to understand what is in the mind of European leaders.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "These warlock Dems did not deny Catholics when president Kennedy won they just killed him. May God forgive them.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": " You're the one who said the golden rule. I don't live that rule in lip service, gary, I am intellectually honest to a fault. As I have stated; I find Christianity to be sick, and perverse. I think the bible is a insult to intelligence. \n I have no problem if a group of Christians came into my caf\u00e9, ordered pie and coffee, and prayed before partaking...but I'll be damned if I bake them a custom cake celebrating their god that wants to torment me in hell. and therein the golden rule, gary.\n You and I have gone round and round on chemicals, GMO agriculture, and the like. How obnoxious would it be for me to target an organic baker, and order a cake with the letterings; The Organic Industry is consumer fraud GMO is healthy for you...is that doing unto others as I would have others do unto me, gary?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "After the Civil Rights Act was signed by LBJ, the racist flipped to the GOP, obviously. Since then Republicans have been catering to them. The GOP is no longer the party of Lincoln and until it repents and purges the alt-right and the white evangelical fake Christians it will remain the party of white nationalists and bigots.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Democrats, RINO's and atheists won't be happy until they have destroyed conservatives and christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"*First - any prayer is inappropriate at a government function.\"*\n\nNope- false. And you pouting as much doesn't make that statement true.\n\n\"*Second - while christianity is absurd,\"*\n\nAh, there it is. You don't like it, so it must be \"*absurd.*\" I can't be the first person to have difficulty taking you seriously, can I?\n\n\"*the most arrogant part of christianity is..... Its delusional.\"\n\nWhat do you hate more, Singh: that prayer and faith is how this country was built, or that elected officials can pray anytime and anywhere, and there's nothing you can do to stop it?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I love the ultra-christian right winger standing in a gas chamber warning us about ultra right wing christians from Europe some 70 odd years ago in order to advance his re-election efforts. Hypocrtie. Coward.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I doubt if I will ever recover from the horror of seeing RCI (Roman Catholic Institution) clergies united in holding their mouth shut and resisting change of their tradition of clergy sex abuse of children from Pope F. down to the parish priests! Who can believe these religious pompous devilish can men? \nYak, yak, yak!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How does BRian feel about Hawaiis Col. Ann Wright being kidnapped along with NOBEL Laurette, Mairead Mcquire, Ireland, and other unarmed notable International women for Peace on a boat to GAZA ? The boat was seized in International Waters in an offensive illegal act by ISRAEL. Didn't Brian sign an AIPAC letter to OBAMA urging $ 38 billion funds to Israel that is used to oppress and illegally seize PALESTINIANS land? You don't care about oppressed CHRISTIAN and Muslim PALESTINIANS, BRian? Hypocrit!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Your attempt to smear Christianity by comparing it to radical Islam is duly noted. Your illogic could be applied to secularists and Buddhists as well.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "God--you are so silly! You believe so much from sources that are messing with your mind...mind control is a sad thing. First he has described the difference between radicalized individuals, fundementalists who do not believe in a civil society. Radicalized Christians are a great threat even though Jesus as a liberal preceded peace at all costs. So if I say, \"radical Christian terrorists\" how does that make you feel? And I damning all Christians?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Great writing. As an ex parrot... er.. christian - it's good to hear of good sense in amongst the adoring patness.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I would go beach. Sandy's. But das me. We'll get a little bit more time than what is commonly known because the radars associated w/ the launchers or launch sites would fire up before any launch. That's why you hear on the TV, \"There are indications that [fill in name of idiot nation who hates us & has missiles here] may be preparing to launch another missile...\" That's the met radars firing up and checking the launch parameters. The electronic version of licking your finger and holding it above your head.\n\nI'm Roman Catholic so our doctrine relates that as long as you are sincere, really sincere, in asking for forgiveness of all your sins even up to the moment you breath your last breath, your sins will be forgiven.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Value life like we do?! LOL!\n\nChristians have killed far more people than Mullins ever have. \n\nSome \"value\" of life.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What kind of self rightious, pompus, ignorant talk is that?\nThe most saintly women I had experience in my life was a women a founder and president of Presbyterian university I graduated. Her life was dedicated to establishing an university for the education to groom women leaders. She holds 5, or 6 doctorate degrees. All the students are required to attend worship services before the classes. She held 5 am prayer services for any students who wish to participate and she personally pray for the student who needs special prayers. She talked and prayed about reunion of protestant churches with Catholic churches!\n \nDidn\u2019t you hear Pope F. said \u201cGod is not a Catholic!\u201d This kind of tunnel vision many Catholics holds in 21st century is simply embarassing! Loving/serving God is with your heart full of love, not with your little brain!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why don't the Catholics move to Africa and the blacks move to Northen Ireland? Then maybe we'd finally have a lasting peace.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You clearly do not understand French society and culture. In France, just as in Quebec (Canada) mass attendance does not accurately describe Catholic identity. Being Catholic refers to a much deeper sense of identity than showing up on Sundays. \n\nThe French have significantly more common sense about social issues than populations of other countries manipulated by political correctness. \n\nFrance was one of the first countries allowing same-sex unions, but it (the population) was consistently against same-sex marriage. French sensitivity for life issues got it right. Marriage is something unique, and as it is clearly indicated by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is not an absolute right. \n\nHollande, the typical dumb ideologue, by sheer power, forced the redefinition of marriage on the people. He and his party got what he deserved: 6% support.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Essentially, gay and transgender people are going to be forced to accept more of the same kinds of violent abuse and discrimination so that some people can make the choice to practice hate as part of their respective religious doctrines. With the centuries long history of brutally from the purveyors of religious dogma as a foundation for a reputation, how can these so called Christians lay claim to have the best interests of their gay and transgender victims at heart?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"you will know the false Christians\". Is that an exclamatory statement, because I don't see a question mark? \"They will not upset [me].\" Well fools agitate me if you must know, only mildly though. Why? Because they waste life's precious time with drivel. Is this some inane repartee you learned in church that should pass as clever argument?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hang onto that list of names, John. There are too many like this little creep in Anchorage, and it's only a matter of time before one of 'em acts out here. I'm going to suggest to its board of directors that our Masjid (\"Mosque\") hire an armed guard. A Muslim one. I'll pitch in to pay his salary. And/or share guard duty with him myself.\n\nWere I the Qut'b (\"preacher\") at the Masjid, I would order the men in the Jama'at (congregation) to follow the Muhammadan Sunnah for dangerous times and pray in shifts--one group watching while the other prayed.\n\n\"O you who have believed, take not the Jews and the Christians as intimate protectors! They are protectors only of each other. And whoever among you seeks protection with them is in truth of them. Indeed, Allah guides not wrongdoers.\"--Ma'idah 51\n\nThat's what we get for turning our backs on our Divine teachings. In so doing we expose our backs to white supremacist Christians, atheists and Zionist Jews waiting to stick their knives in.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Anti-Christian Muslim extremist terrorist refugees do not fit Justin/CBC left wing agenda, hence the fake news about it in Canada. About time Justin gets called to the carpet down in Washington, he's not going to be allowed to be a thorn in the anti-terrorists backsides forever.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You forgot \"20-something\"......white Christian males, driving 4x's with lift kits......;-). Ok this is humor......", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Alabama is not a state known for producing intellectuals, but rather clueless Christian conservatives like Sessions.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This response from Trump is just more and the same of his immature narcissistic personality. Our current health care system does not just cover democrats. His repeal and replace did not pass because Republicans didn't vote for it. I thinks this fine Christian president would just as soon see people lose coverage and watch them die then to participate in options that would further stabilize the current system. Medicare Medicaid is the way to go. It is the only system that has any control on the rising costs of care and medication.That old saying that something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it is an idea who's time has come. The days of making billions off of the backs of the sick are over. Every single person ,good, bad,rich ,poor, working or just laying around like a big pig should have access to health care..", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "All arguments I have seen for denying ordination to women are bad, starting with \"women are inferior to men\"\n\nChrist chose only men to be apostles, therefore women cannot be ordained. The logic is the same as \"Christ chose only Jews to be apostles, therefore gentiles cannot be ordained\".\n\nChrist was incarnated as a man, and the priest must \"image Christ\", so women cannot be ordained. This is saying that Christ's incarnation as a male human being is more significant than his incarnation as a human. Which is again \"men are superior to women\"\n\nPeople would not recognize Christ in a woman priest, which not only is \"men are superior\" but also \"lay people are stupid\"\n\nAquinas used 1 Corinthians 11:15, \"A woman's crowning glory is her hair\", so the tonsure was improper for women. Weak, and he admits the tonsure is not required for valid ordination.\n\n1 Timothy 3:2, \"A bishop must be blameless, the husband of only only one wife\", and women cannot have wives. So unmarried men are out as well.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two-b of four) . . . Why do you not include the whole Roman Catholic Church in your question?... We have accepted that to validly enact our Eucharist, the officiating person requires a penis and scrotum and whatever else that is required to be a human person . . . .How can we be so gullible? \u201cWe\u201d are not. Pretense is pretense and will end. \u201cthey shall exult before the LORD, for he comes; for he comes to rule the earth. He shall rule the world with justice and the peoples with his constancy\u201d (Psalm 96:13). Liturgy of the Word, Reading 182, Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent I\n\nLuis Gutierrez\u2014Let us pray...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I've been demonized by the Chief Apologist for Hillary Clinton! \n\nHow will I ever bear the shame? \n\n(Quite easily!)\n\nThe head of the DNC admits in writing that she was a bald-faced liar and tried to play the Christian Woman card and tries to justify it in a paid piece as being fine because it was only because the Russians interfered that it 'looked like' she was helping Hillary in her debates with Bernie! \n\nHer only regret is that she wrote the e-mails!\n\nRestart the washing machine; the 'spin cycle' didn't get all the sludge out that time!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I think of it as the dying gasps of \"white Christian America.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Traditional values like a thrice-married president who has cheated on all of his wives and grabs pu$$y at will and our new first lady, the porn star? Yes calling women c*nts and telling rape victims they got what they deserved is something that we learned at Catholic school. No more PC because everybody has the God-given right to call African Americans the n-word. I will never stop repeating these truths because this is who feral white men elected to represent family values. Behold our new first family who has put small contractors out of business, doesn't give to charity unless they gain financially, and the two Gordon-Gekko wannabee sons who kill endangered species for the sheer joy of it. Hope you are over 65 because you'll have to wonderful medicare voucher system and inadequate health care. The rest of the people will have no health care, including pregnant mothers who have dangerous pregnancies. But at least miscarriages aren't abortion or are they? You done good!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mussolini was going to arrest the pope in Catholic Italy of all places. Good luck with that.\n\nAnd what do you think they should have done? Pius XII basically chose to do nothing and just let the Jews be rounded up instead, which was IMO an awful decision.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, fitting and sad. Bishops, indeed, should be a \"public nuisance.\" But they should be a nuisance for Jesus, for the truth, for exhorting others to love God,neighbor, justice, peace, care for those in need. \n\nIs this another case of a bishop encouraging lying and hiding the truth in order to avoid scandal and then creating an even bigger scandal? When will they ever learn?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The key word there is \"white.\" Non-white Catholics overwhelmingly vote against the orange guy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You speak for your wife, do you? I guess you white Christian men know how to keep them under control, no burkas required!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Homosexual marriage is counterfeit in the eyes of the Church, and what the Bible teaches. Just because 5 robed wizards say something is, doesn't always make it so.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And don't forget Mr. Smirk himself, Dick Cheney, the evil genius behind the whole Iraq War-ISIS disaster, the war crimes, the torture.\nWas Cheney also a racist, xenophobe, homophobe, sexist? Is the Pope Catholic? 9/11 and the Iraq War disaster conveniently hid most of the social issues that Trump is exploiting. But Cheney was/is one wicked piece of work.\nAnd don't forget: somewhere between 40-60% of Canadians supported the Iraq War.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Where were you when Christian while men in North America murdered their wives? Are you saying that domestic viloence does not exist in the white Christian world? Because if you like, we do have statistics that show otherwise.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am gay too and as far as I know no Christian ever went into a gay club and killed anybody, much less killing and shooting 100 people. Killer Mateen was shouting ALLAH AKBAR the entire time. I have no reason to think Islam is good for my health.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Even as Egyptian, Iraqi, Somali, Lebanese Syrian and Iranian Christians were targeted for extermination, their Church burned to the ground, sometime with the Christians still inside, Obama and the medias turned a blind eye, concerning themselves only with the Muslims ( in some cases the same ones killing the Christians).", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The last time I heard, Jesus has not returned. So it does not appear that you know what Jesus would say to homosexuals. There is a pretty good chance Mary Magdalene was the consort of Christ, but if not perhaps He was gay!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So if trump said all Catholics must be expelled because I've converted to the Church of England he would be a reasonable candidate", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Fortunately, a True Catholic, who knows all Truth has been solidified and collated, and is now contained completely in the Catechism is here to counter those darn relativists!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Unless they are poor working class people who are white, the mentally ill or Christians, then its cool to disparage them. Your friends need to know that you are one of the hip educated white people.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You are projecting once again. Pretty sure I didn't snivel about how tough I had it...once again, feel free to re-read what I wrote.\n\nSo...it's true christian behavior to tell someone they deserved to have their mother murdered? Here's a direct quote from you:\n\"Your just full of hate and probably don't have a loving bone in your body. Why you so mean?\"\nSo then in your sadistic world...it is not hateful, it is loving and not mean to tell someone they deserved to have their mother murdered?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Nobody's stopping you from following your religion. But since evangelicals overwhelmingly voted for that morally corrupt president we now have to tolerate, the evangelicals have long run out of credibility on the morality topic. \n\nReligion is entirely unrelated to morality, just ask all those religious people in jail.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "ReBranding is ridiculous.\nThese bishops think and act as if everything is of such great importance....except bringing souls to Christ. This task is very un-PC. But this task is their job. Their responsibility is clear. The bishops rejection of this responsibility is also quite clear.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I completely agree with this editorial. But Catholics need to understand that Birth Control, especially long-term methods must be part of any health care plan. without it, the plans are pointless. A health care plan for a secular country this big cannot make exceptions for each religion or group with a different view.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "IRT \"Honolulu should ban smoking in cars\"\nIRT \"Medicare for all best health policy\"\nIRT \"Lawmakers failed to fix health care\"\nFreedom of expression and right of privacy to smoke in public? Yeah. Like arguing that Hawaii needs no air pollution regulations because we're in the middle of the airy Pacific Ocean. Even in stiff winds 100 yards away, I gag on secondhand smoke. And then, my taxes pay for the diabetes, obesity, cancers, and heart ailments that smokers and similar suffer and pass onto their kids which my kids will then pay for. Otherwise, I \"get\" why parents should be left free to fumigate their kids, stuff mouths full of junk foods, and that medicine for everybody is the best policy. The perpetrators aren't ever to be held accountable for their discretions. So, the best policy is that we just gotta keep paying for it. Stylize Christianity and the Bill of Rights to trump reason and logic with the jackhammers of compassion and liberty. Okay. I get it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I dont know about Christianity...but neither sex nor drugs are \"sinful\" in Judaism. The only people who lump Judaism and Christianity are evangelical christians seeking legitimacy. Christianity and Judiasm have almost no common principles or beliefs (belief or dogma in Judiasm is not even a thing) so please do not make uninformed statements linking them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I said some weeks ago was that early Christianity was able to nicely ride on the back of the Roman empire....using its \"intactness/contiguity\", its infrastructure, road system, system of commerce/exchange/trade routes, language, preference for order/organization/law, its respect for the intellect to spread.\n\nMany people have no clue why Christianity spread so quickly PARTICULARLY in an environment of persecution. \n\nAnd so they'd rather just engage in brickbat. And of course this just makes them look small and poorly educated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sedevacantism is just as heretical if not more than the hippie movement you fled from, a movement which thank God seems to be ebbing away. Why did you leave the body of Christ instead of fight for it? What makes you different than the heretical Novatians or Donatists? \n\nEither the Orthodox were right and Rome has been in heresy since the first millennium or the Churches that are in communion with Peter are true Catholics.\n\nOr are you saying Christ lied!?\n\nThe flower power Catholics for all the contention I have with them, I reach out to because I believe it is a case of bad catechises, you who \"treasure\" tradition should no better.\n\nYou are not a \"true\" catholic but a protestant. Just like those that left after the 1st Vatican council or those that followed Luther. It is a hard saying but it is Unam sanctam or nothing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Must have been an atheist bear. The other bears in his group are possibly agnostic. They need proof that humans exist. Since he was unable to bring the staffer back to his den he will be no doubt either be banished by the nazi bears or exorcised by the catholic ones. Either way it's tough to be a bear because they have a hightened sense of smell and can smell a conspiracy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The question was, how do you make a choice between a Catholic church with priests, nuns, children, etc and Jewish people? How do you make a choice between a fetus and millions of people who will suffer when Trump destroys, medical care, deport thousands, encourages and gives permission to people to act out their hatreds. \nIt is like \"Sophie's choice between two of her children\". Which one do you sacrifice to be killed? How do we, under these circumstances \"freely choose to order our lives\"? I just can not answer this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic teachings, such as those on chastity, don't cause death. Failure to observe them can though. Has sister ever heard about the wages of sin?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On occasion at our parish I have compared notes with other empty nesters, many of whom have grown children who went to the same Catholic grade and high schools as my kids, about our kids' current attitudes towards religion in general and the Catholic Church in particular. The vast majority, maybe >90%, of our kids are nons leaving us all wonder what we did wrong. Should we have encouraged them less to think for themselves and more to accept doctrine without explanation? We thought that we were raising them in the same way that we were raised to be lifelong Catholics...what could/should we have done differently?\n\nThe article notes \"As a whole, this is a politically progressive group.\" but I have further noticed that this group is very sensitive to and insistent for social justice in the finest traditions of Catholic social teaching. They embrace the substance, if not the style, of the Catholic Church in an exemplary manner.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article states that \" Catholic doctrine, in which that authority (to appoint Bishops) rests with the pope.\"\nWere all my church history teachers heretics, when they describe how for hundreds of years rulers in Europe appointed bishops? Oh, yes, the rulers were Catholic. Is that the difference? Has something changed?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am sure, archangel, there is sin there-- as it is everywhere; indeed, there is no point trying to refine sin. It is what it is. We all sin and are sinners. But there is also grace there, an abundance of it in good reform-minded lay people, Holy Cross priests and seminarians trying live out the school's mission. \n\nEmerson reminds us that we cannot get a shock from something unless we have an electric affinity for that which shocks us. This is especially true of all of us -- in a kind of Catholic kinship, as it were -- when we take the limits (or frontiers, or peripheries ) of our own field of vision for the limits (or frontiers, peripheries) of our neighbors. Hopefully your affinity for shock at ND, doesn't, among other things, rob you of ND's broader intellectual, spiritual and moral vision, especially in behalf of Hispanic Catholics, and so many, many other folks from all backgrounds and parts of the world who have benefited from the extra-ordinary things done at that institution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, Victimitis, for the vast majority of Christians, there is absolutely no conflict in accepting the currently held scientific theories regarding your questions. \n\nOn another note, the tone of your comments suggest perhaps you have an axe to grind with religion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Monica, there is an excellent treatise on sex written by two non-clerical theologians: \"THE SEXUAL PERSON:\nToward a Renewed Catholic Anthropology\" by Todd Salzman and Michael Lawler.\n\"In short, say Salzman and Lawler: emphasize relationships, not acts, and recognize Christianity's historically and culturally conditioned understanding of human sexuality.\" http://press.georgetown.edu/book/georgetown/sexual-person", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Enrico:\nRe: \"See above response...\". It is likely in the realm of your other posts, so no.\n\"...better than the entire Tradition of the Church\"? The tradition of the patriarchs who have imposed an unjust rule from a tradition of misogyny that is unmasked.\n1. A pontifical papal commission of eminent scriptural scholars found that there was nothing scripturally decisive as to whether or whether not. \n2. The \"tradition is founded upon as least an erronious view, more a misogynistic view of women.\n3. Jesus is first and formost \"Person\". Woman is \"person\"; man is \"person\". As person man and woman are equal before God and should be \"...in the church and in the world\".\n4. The exclusion of woman and the rational for women's exclusion and diminution contribute to the perpetuation of woman as utilitarian objects for the pleasure, servitude, and the reproduction of other men and, of lesser value: subsequent reproductive machines. \nMany agree with you, sadly; however fewer and fewer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kung hopes against hope. The Vatican ain't gonna change till every Christian group comes home to momma. \nChristianity continues to wane among thinking people. It will appeal to the susceptible, the uncritically thinking, etc.\nOne can salvage the best of Jesus' thinking without having membership in any church. We ought to gleam what is good from any source without having to be part of the group. If something is good and true, it stands on its own legs. The group doesn't equate to witnessing to what is good & true. Think American Christians who savaged native Americans & enslaved Africans while lifting up Jesus in prayer! \nDidn't Francis Francis claim recently that there are many atheists who live and nurture the gospel value more than some Catholic daily mass attendees.\nAnd one can get the best of Jesus without having to put money in the collection basket!\nThe teaching is easily accessible; the practice is the rub.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"a peaceful march \" You're kidding, right? Trolling? A march with people wearing the twisted cross, shouting Nazi slogans, the same as shouted in the 1930's by Hitler's SA and SS, isn't peaceful. A march by those endorsing the man and the philosophy that gassed and cremated more than six million isn't peaceful. A march by men wearing the symbols of the KKK and other racist groups isn't peaceful. A march like that is an outright, violent assault on American values, on Christian values, and humanity itself. It's speech protected from government censorship by the 1st Amendment, but those willing to be counted against such a philosophy also have the right to make their voice heard.....like thousands did in Boston this weekend.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis seems to know instinctively that the Holy Spirit is not confined within stagnant Vatican structures such as the CDF and moves accordingly. Trump has Christian evangelicals as spiritual advisors who also are Spirit motivated. Thus, within both institutions there will be much progress in some areas, surprises in others and disappointments for the spiritually ignorant. As a longtime Rome insider, I suspect that John Allen is much valued for his knowledge & not especially controlled by the dictates of the K of C. It seems that they are too busy now doing damage control for their own inner structure frailties.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Make no mistake, Graham is here to support the bigotry being stirred by the Conservative Leadership. It is sad for anyone to invite a Christian zealot who promote hate and breaches the Canadian Law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course, it is important for Christians, especially Catholics, to threaten others as quickly as possible in order to win an argument. As our beloved holy Bishops have taught us, the ends will justify the means. Ginning up an email and claiming it is evidence is well within the acceptable parameters of good Catholic Behavior. Or am I mistaken? In any event, you continue to reflect the values taught by Christ in a manner consistent with the One True Church. Hopefully you will be able to continue on as before, despite last week's suspension. God Bless!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jon, ask your priest. I'm not chastising you, I'm not Catholic. You might be surprised to know there's only one Pope in your organization, he doesn't claim as much or frequent infallibility as you do. I think if you consult your (not my) catechism you would see that if (rare cases) a person were excommunicated it is an act of charity. It means the Church sincerely believes that receiving communion would actually be harmful to the person. It isn't \"seen\" normally because it's infrequent and a pastoral issue between the layman and their priest who *is* responsible for he communes or does not. Both grave responsibilities. Nobody wants to get \"between\" you and God. Nobody can.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't really disagree, because Christian symbols don't bother me, and there are other battles to fight. But it is the hypocrisy of the argument which irritates me. \n\nAs I have noted elsewhere, I don't see how a niqab hurts anyone.\n\nI would also like to note, with some amusement, that you and I have posted back and forth so many times, the system is asking me to rate your posts for civility! *wink*", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How old are the Jewish and catholic cemeteries? How long have they been around? Are there new ones being built today? This article states that the Muslims have been looking for 2 decades. Why, in 20 years, couldn't they find any land?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church isn't passing out cures anymore.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, HV was indeed a show-stopper! Paul VI NEVER wrote another encyclical! And most Catholic women had the clear good sense to reject what was in essence the minority report of the papal birth control commission. And, the credibility of church teaching, particularly on sex and human reproduction, has never recovered, and likely never will. Yep, that's the clarity!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not wrong at all. The NCReporter is not the Catholic press. No one is saying there shouldn't be a free Catholic press, the objection is that its title can give the impression that it is an official Catholic publication.\nI know of no other publication with Catholic in its title which openly crusades against the organisation it is named after.\nWhat it's got to do with Watergate I don't know unless you mentioned to have a dig at your President.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do wonder if the residents who were opposed to this re-zoning were those people whose properties immediately bordered the proposed cemetery, so their new 'neighbour' would be a large cemetery. All those who want a cemetery for a neighbour should speak up. Quebec also went through a period where the people turned against pervasive Catholicism in government and schools. Since newer Muslim immigrants may have experienced theocratic governments in their homelands, they may still prefer religion-in-government since they view government here as lacking religious direction -- which is what people of Quebec have strived to leave behind. When we look around the world, it is odd to see people who share ethnicity, language and culture being divided by religion, which is used as the 'reason' for several on-going wars and/or divisions. We do need to learn to live together, so we need to focus on commonalities and not seek out divisions. Time for politicians to serve the public, undivided.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nobody was ever on trial for stealing, thievery, etc-- until the Liberal chatroom innuendo of the Denver Post became involved. This was a civil complaint, filed in New York--And it's about mis-identification on customs and importation documents. That's it. Conveniently, nobody in the MSM ever mentions who will become custodian for these antiquities once they're confiscated, or what will become of them-- and simple minded Liberals don't seem to care-- as long as they can trash a billionaire family of christian antiquities collectors, while some New York \"profiteer\" sneeks the artifacts back into his own private collection that the Nazi's probably confiscated from his ancestors back during the 1930's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why would a Roman Catholic PM attack the religious beliefs of a Roman Catholic leader of the Opposition? Your partisan, dog whistle paranoia is showing Mr. Macdougall.\n\nNot to mention that the hardcore Evangelicals in the CPC must be seething at the election of a Roman Catholic as their leader, which to them means with certainty that the party has fallen under the control of the Pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article is just more proof that the GOP base, including most white evangelicals, care much more about being white than anything else. I have no doubt that being white is more important to them than following the advice Jesus gave them. They are terrified of losing the white privilege they claim does not exist. That alone is enough to give them cognitive dissonance. How else could they support a political party and a presidential candidate that is endorsed by by the KKK and Nazis? Of course, Nazis and Klansmen have always considered themselves to be Christians. Talk about an unholy alliance. \n\nBTW, there is no proof that Trump will do anything that they will like or benefit them. Trump has never done anything that didn't benefit him personally. The only thing he loves is himself. He tells more out right lies than Hillary has half truths. That is an achievement. He is not going to change at the age of 70. He always tells the rubes, trust me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, you can't be any of those shades on Halloween in PC America. You can only be whatever you actually are, well, unless you identify as black even though you aren't, or female even though you aren't, or whatever else the grievance industry decides is OK under their ever so clearly defined criteria. Otherwise, you lose your right to earn a living in your chosen profession because you may mortally damage someone else's delicate psyche. But you can dress up as and make fun of a white man or a Christian with no repercussions. All of this is in the Constitution somewhere, right? I can't believe a lawyer wouldn't know this. Thank God President Schill is on the job, defending truth, justice, and the American way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, for those so inclined there is the concept of \"grooming\". \n\nThere are all those convicted Boy Scout leaders, convicted Catholic priests, convicted school teachers and others who are attracted to and sexually assault youths. \n\nYou have to gain access to your targets somehow. Invite the youths backstage during the concert next year?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Tridentinus, to what avail? With all the incense, full choir, chant, etc. they are still, on the books, a Protestant church. The Episcopal Church was originally entitled \"The Protestant Episcopal Church\" just as the Anglican Church in England today is still \"the Protestant Episcopal Church of England,\" as state and parliamentary documents regularly describe it. Protestant doctrine in Catholic vestments and pomp. To what avail or advantage for a believing Catholic who wants Catholics sacraments? (For a non-believing Catholic, of course, or ex-Catholic -- that's different. He or she wants an artificial Catholic ebb uncovering a thin line of Protestant reefs at a service, but not too much to spoil the illusion of being at a Catholic service/Mass.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued,\nI started post my outrages on the internet articles on the clergy sex abuse scandals. I am not sure how much of these internet posts influence CI (Catholic Institution) high ranking clergies mind about the clergy sex abuses of children scandals! So far, it feels like I am dropping tears on the mountain of stone boulders that is CI! \nHowever, I found the Christ presence among sincere wise fellow posters! I believe, all the real work of converting the stone heart of clergies will be done by the Holy Spirit!\nA few like minded NCR posters are starting a 'fast & pray' on Fridays from today!!!!!!!!!!! Please, join us with your holy prayers!!!\nIn Christ Love", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That was a FORMERLY \"powerful\" marker, J. And it was robbed of its power, globally, by individuals, organizations and governments who appropriated meat and other good things to eat for themselves and their selfish purposes. Young people, including lots of Catholic youth, have BIG trouble with both ritual and reality!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It takes $$ to develop data - it would be nice if these Christians would put the same effort into doing things that (a) used to be regarded as Christian such as helping the afflicted, addicted, homeless, inmates of nursing homes and foster care. This sort of Christian message and effort rings )more than) a bit hollow..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not a believer, so don't care, but it is a fact that only the most conservative evangelical types quote that kind of stuff anymore, and extreme conservatives are just that.\n\nBut even the most extreme conservative Christian who quotes those lines, does not believe women should be secluded at home away from male contact and have no role in public life, cover everything but face and hands, never mind their faces, etc. Women have always had an important role as members of Christian congregations, and socialised in public space, while Muslim women were hidden behind partitions at court so no one could see them.\n\nIf I had to choose which society to live under, a Christian theocracy or an islamic one, there would be no hesitation, the former is easier on women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Correct me if I am wrong, but:\n\n1) I do not recall Hilary distancing herself from those comments. How do you think she would have reacted if one of her staffers said something disparaging about the Muslim community they worship in? \n\n2) That the comment is limited in scope to the person's own parish does not make the comment appropriate. See above. \n\nAs an aside, I have never understood why people who call themselves Catholic get so offended when a priest actually teaches Catholic doctrine in his parish. Newsflash: we believe marriage is for one man and one women until death, we do not believe that women are called to Holy Orders, we do not agree with modern, liberal sexual ethics and we do not support abortion. If that person does not like it, or anyone else for that matter, there are thousands of Protestant sects they can join--churches that will teach the secular Gospel they have embraced.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly. Many Muslims talk with nostalgia about the good old days when everyone celebrated each others' holidays, before the islamists took over.\n\nSo why applaud the fundamentalists who consider it \"haram\" to celebrate Xmas, rather than the moderates who do?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Odd, you seem to have concluded that I am opposed to ritual, and turn to mocking graduation ceremonies to make your point. But the comparison is telling: you recognize the rituals are created by people to fulfill a human craving. Purely manmade, just like the rituals of the chruch.\nJesus engaged in some jewish rituals. The Catholic Church does not perform those rituals, like Passover seders. Why does the Church not do as Jesus did, if the basis of its rituals is purportedly the practice of those rituals by Jesus?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is \"greater truth?\" Truth has no qualifier. Perhaps if you would focus on serving the Catholic church, rather than trying to manipulate her into affirming your preferences, you would become more at peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The suggestion of finding Catholic-Lutheran partnerships between neighboring churches is great, and it is what Pope Francis is trying to promote. The danger is that it such efforts will be fleeting and be confined to the great anniversary and not lead to a lasting collaboration, which is what would really be good to promote Christian unity. My suggestion would be that such partnerships NOT be tailored to discussing theological subjects, but rather to addressing pressing needs of society and the community. In that area, there is so much work to be done! From gun violence to poverty to discrimination, of Catholics and Protestants rolled up their sleeves and started working on those issues, it could be, to quote the memorable phrase from Casablanca, \"the beginning of a beautiful friendship.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You did say, \"I think much deeper training should be provided before they are welcomed into our parishes.\nI took it to mean that no one was welcomed into your parishes unless the conformed to the prevalent culture of the area. I understand now, it would be well nigh impossible for any Catholic not to clash with 2017 California culture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "if there are Catholic, Jewish etc. cemeteries then logically there should be Muslim cemeteries\nOK\nbut Muslims tend to ask for too much accommodation \nand even aggressively \ntoo much being apart from the mainstream and visibly so when they wear the Niqab full face veil\n-\nThis turns people off frankly\nso perhaps if Muslims assimilate more, people might be open to Muslim cemeteries\n-\nby the way a Muslim section in a secular cemetery is a good compromise\nMany ethnic groups have such sections", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The most amoral, immoral gob of protoplasm to ever occupy the nation's presidency is aided and abetted by the self-declared christians. Just more lies piled on more lies as the Fuhrer Trump blatantly lies on a daily basis about any and everything. But lies in the new christianity are no longer considered sinful if they result in more money and power for their perpetrators. Nothing in the neo-christian horde spread across the nation relates to the former attributes of their founding son of god contained in their own created literature. Billionaire empires spread throughout the world based on nothing except lies without any truthful substance whatsoever. The Word turned into cash.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LOL Wow- Wikipedia and sNOPEs: Neither one legitimate sources, but whatev: Critical reading: It's your friend.\n\nYou ever been to the SCOTUS biuilding? No, of course not. Let me help you out: MOSES is literally front and center on the Eastern pediment: the 10 Commandments are literally engraved in wood directly above where the Justices sit. LOL. Those pesky facts...\n\nFrom sNOPES: \"Every session of Congress begins with a prayer by a paid preacher ... whose salary has been paid by the taxpayer since 1777.\nCongress has indeed retained paid (Christian) chaplains since 1789 to open sessions with prayer and to provide spiritual guidance to members and their staffs upon request.\"\n\nwhoops.\n\nAnd yep- Deists *ARE* the same thing as Christian- they follow Christ and his teachings. Christ drove the source of all inalienable rights for our Founders, and the historical and empirical evidence is overwhelmingly clear that they based their freedom and this country on his teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another common misnomer, like Modernism (which is property only about the Trinity and how evolution affects original sin), is Americanism. It is not a condemnation of a muscular American foreign policy or American exceptionalism. Instead, it is about the notion that Catholic doctrine needs to be adapted to the United States because it is a free society rather than the usual European autocracy (like the Austrian Empire, Spain, the Papal States, the German Empire). Of course, the American hierarchy disabused Rome of the notion that it sought special treatment. It would have been nice if we could have insisted on electing our bishops, but the hierarchy would not have accpeted it anyway. They were as corrupt as anyone else. Ideally, a more democratic Catholicism would be a good thing, both here and in Europe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you are right about much and will try to explain from my perspective. Just saying that things are clear does not make it so if the common experience makes it \"clear\" that they are not. We seek to follow Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Where He leads us. We have our own opinions, trusting that the Holy Spirit guides His Church. What are you afraid of? You can't get a more extreme outcome than the kingdom of heaven. \n\nAnd I also think MSW threw up an airball in this one. Most of what he says about Weinandy is pretty accurate, but I think he missed the boat on DeNardo's statement and action. Maybe it shows conversion, not hypocrisy. That sure was my take.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Canadian culture is about trust, gender equality, rule of law, separation of church and state and equality regardless of sexual orientation, to name just a few features that are particularly relevant.\n\nJews, Hindus, Sikhs, Catholics and others seem to be climbing on board with those values, even if their more orthodox practitioners or high priests may lag or defer from time-to-time. \n\nIslamic majority countries are wholly oppositional on these issues, and are specifically disrespectful (to put it mildly) of others who embrace the values that define Canadian culture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Irrelevant to this discussion, yes. False? No.\n\nEven so, I agree. Being an American is one thing. Being Buddhist, Mormon, Catholic, or Protestant is something else entirely. One can be fully any of those and still be fully American. \n\nStill, utilitas raises a serious question that we ignore at our peril, namely, whether a fundamentalist belief in the Quran is compatible with assimilation into Western culture. I tend to doubt it. Consider the irreconcilability between our Constitution and Sharia law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course, God cannot be prevented from being God. But this is part of the great mystery of Christ and the Church, that God *willingly* submits to the Church and has entrusted to her the power to mediate all vocations. Individual women may be harmed, but I believe that the men of the Church are the ones who suffer most from the lack of a feminine presence in the hierarchy. The analogy of the Bride and the Bridegroom, beautiful as it is, is just an analogy and, as such, my no means exhausts the Christ-Church mystery (Ephesians 5:32). This is very clearly explained in the Theology of the Body, but many people still prefer to remain within the traditional boundaries of patriarchal gender ideology. Too bad, but this is where we are. This is more than just discrimination against half of the baptized; it is discrimination against Christ himself, for Christ and the Church are one. How can a male-only hierarchy make visible the \"divine feminine\" in Jesus?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Back about 35 or so years ago, going to a Catholic high school meant you had to pay tuition and that was that. Muslims who want a religious school, should pay for their own schools like the Catholics used to do. Religion simply does not belong in secular Canadian schools period. Favouring one religion over others creates divisions as can be clearly seen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Totally agree, not because of any knowledge about Calista, just her husband.\n\nBut my question stands, PhiProf. Why hold the Church responsible for Trump selection of an unfortunate ambassador? After all, you did cite her anticipated appointment as affirmation of your decision to withdraw from Catholic practice. There are of course tons of reasons for leaving Catholicism, but SURELY this can't be one of them? ;-}\n\nAs for Francis getting along with the American Ambassador, I suspect disparate views does not diminish his hospitality. We might get a chance to test that theory from press reports about the Francis-Trump meeting. And on the serious side, Francis may even what to pump her (and hubby) for information about Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was actually taking that from the text. I should have said 30, which is when Mark's gospel is dated. As for the modernist method, it is taught in almost all Catholic theology programs, indeed, most reputable Christian programs (some Evangelicals still believe in fairy tales abou Genesis and are literalists, but without context). CDF seems to be coming around and that the Pope has is no secret. Most people don;t think being a modernist is a bad thing. It is the mark of a well rounded education in history, theology and philosophy, including logic. Only the most Evangelical and Trad fundamentalists think that Darwin has to be wrong because it conflicts with scripture, when instead scripture was not written as either history or science. One has to really be deeply attached to argument from authority, which is a logical fallacy, to maintain that argument.\n\nModernists won at Vatican II, 50 years ago. Before you were born.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Francis' openness to studying the possibility of women serving as deacons could represent an historic shift for the global Catholic church, which does not ordain women as clergy.\u2014Joshua J. McElwee . . . or as Colossians 1:12 words it, \u201cLet us give thanks to the Father, who has made you\u201d good Sisters \u201cfit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light.\u201d Liturgy of the Word, Reading 162C, Sunday of the Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time II\n\n__\n\nThe theology culture of dominion is a culture of repression, suppression and depression.\u2014sylvester(pat)steffen . . . which may help explain why this Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King only got on the Western liturgical calendar in 1925.\n\n__\n\n That mostly men were leaders of religion in the past, as they were rulers of nations in the past, is historical and cultural.\u2014ATF Too bad, Hillary for now and the male Saint Hillary of Poitiers (c. 310-c. 387).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why don't you just say what you really want: you want a church where the tail wags the dog. You want a church where the bishops take straw polls about teaching and change teachings that are unpopular. You want a democratic and lay run Church. You want a Church where the bishops function more like representatives and less like bishops--representatives who are elected by the people and represent the people and do what the people want. \n\nIf that is what you want, you can have that in the Protestant church. We don't have to make the Catholic Church Protestant in order for you to have that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Money buys access and influence. That's not the way a Christian community should work.\"\nThis is not new stuff.\n\nPope Alexander VI paid good money to become Pope.\n\nThe Nazis collected the German Catholic Church tax and made sure enough of it went to the Vatican to keep Pius XII well-behaved.\n\nSaint Pope JPII was a big fan of Marcial Maciel\"s money.\n\nAnderson, being a REAL CATHOLIC, is well within the bounds of the institutional Church's TRADITION.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not \"self control.\" It is exactly what you say it is - abstaining from sex. And it is not a healthy response to a situation as the one you describe. From a professional point of view, I would posit that those who make such arrangements have issues that go far, far deeper then just abstaining. Go back and read what the essay says about Catholic moral teaching on responsible family planning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't demonize 70% of Christians because not all Christians are extremists and not all Christians actively support extremists but the religion in the name of which most of the acts of domestic terrorism in the US has been committed has been Christianity, not Islam. Christianity is the largest religion in the US and it has extremists. Many Christian churches and Christians support extremism of various kinds. \nYou mention that the Christians are impotent without the other 92% of the population but really they only need about 45% of the population of that 92% to look the other way when they do their dirty business to American women and people of other faiths such as Islam. White evangelicals supported Trump in very large numbers making them either racists or friends of racists. American women are familiar with their pro-life violence and legislation against women's rights. \nExtremist elements of Christianity don't accept modernity. They're tribalists like the Taliban.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's only a trial decision. Disappointed litigants deal with a loss by appealing it to the next level of court - and the Saskatchewan Catholic School Boards Association has already said it will do that. The government's approach is less legal than political.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I do not want my country run according to your religious beliefs.\"\n\nAbsolutely. In Germany, for example, Christian Democrats will tell me their party started -- historically through the Catholic Centre Party -- in reaction to the Kulturkampf or culture war initiated by Otto von Bismarck's penal laws. Later Bismarck withdrew the laws when Leo XIII persuaded some of the Catholic Centre Party to support Bismarck in the Reichstag. Today in Germany, there are other parties (besides the Christian Dem. Party) that endorse no religious values and are thriving among their own constituencies (remember, Germany is 35% non-affiliated; 5%, Muslim; 30% Catholic and 30% Lutheran.) What you need to do is convince American Non-affiliates (underrepresented in a very Christian Congress) to start their own political party -- and work toward removing the word \"God\" from documents, rituals, etc. Make your party's motto: \"It [religious belief of any sort] has no business even being brought up.\" Go for it!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope- once again: Jesus never said that *\"praying openly does you no good,\"*and no one agrees with you. Not one Biblical scholar, not one Church leader, not one Sunday school teacher- no one. That nots what said in Matthew or by Christ, no mater how badly you wish it were true. \n\nSecondly, if you think that about Christians, you should get out more. They call it \"The Judeo-Christian Paradigm\" *Precisely because* Christianity has its roots in Judaism. Honestly- you need to reengage that \"pastor\" you yours for some serious Biblical lesson.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That Luther, what did he know! Ha ha. Of course the only teaching authority comes from the sacred brains of the bishops of the catholic church, who walk in the shoes of the apostles, having been selected by god to lead the church. Now we see the full truth of papal warnings about democracy and public education. If only the warnings had been heeded, there would be no risk of secular-educated people attempting to understand the bible on their own, instead of just accepting the teachings of the church, which, as ever, is inerrant and unchanging.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cite the gospel passage where Jesus preached he would come soon to kill those who resisted the gospel. Ah, but you can't, as there is no such passage. \nIn the hopes that you can be educated, here are common definitions of apocalyptic: of, relating to, or resembling an apocalypse apocalyptic events\n: forecasting the ultimate destiny of the world : prophetic apocalyptic warnings: foreboding imminent disaster or final doom : terrible apocalyptic signs of the coming end-times. Even if you are correct about Jesus being an apocalyptic prophet, you will see your unique and erroneous understanding of Jesus as some kind of war god is incorrect. Are you sure you are a christian? Are you really contending that, had Jesus wanted to wage war against the Romans, in his time and place, it would have been futile? Are you doubting Jesus' claim He could call on the legions of Heaven if He wanted?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's a Catholic Mass celebrated every single day of the week across America and the globe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Roman Catholic Church one of the world's leaders in Discrimination and exclusiveness.\nIt preaches Social Justice and practices it NOT.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic schools are NOT funded by Catholic tax payers, but by all. Apparently you are the one who needs to be educated.\n\nPUBLIC schools are NOT funded by PUBLIC tax payers, but by all INCLUDING CATHOLICS\n\nApparently you are the one who needs to be educated ABOUT WHERE CATHOLIC TAXES GO", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Sigh) what part of \"GEOFF'S COMPUTER IS DOWN\" didn't you understand, Richard? He dictated his response to me over the telephone, and had me read it back to him.\n\nAnd Islam IS a 'western' religion. Muslims worship the God of Abraham (AS). Qur'an refers to that God by many of the same Names/Attributes by which your bible does. \"Eastern\" religions are comprised of Buddhism, Hinduism, Shintoism etc., and of the three \"Abrahamic faiths\", Christianity is the one most influenced by eastern religious concepts--particularly Hinduism by way of Mithraism.\n\n\"Elah\" & \"Elohiim\" (Hebrew) = \"Alah\" & \"Alaha\" (old Aramaic) = \"Allah\" & \"Allahumma\" (Arabic) = \"Olah\" (Swahili) = \"Atu'a\" (Samoan) = \"Dieu\" (French) = \"El Dio\" (Spanish) = \"Hotheos\" (Greek) = \"Khuda\" (Farsi) = \"Bohkh\" (Russian) = \"Gott\" German = \"GOD\" (English).\n\nThe most ancient writings by the \"Christian fathers\" (2nd-3rd century) were in Syriac Aramaic and they referred to the Deity as ALLAH. Arab CHRISTIANS have always done so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In a nation that separate church and state, when do we allowed church to be a safe haven for any law breakers of any kind? No church should have the power to defy any authority at any level since that is a true invasion of religion power in our secular lives. No matter which sides of the political aisle you may be on, this intrusion of religion should be considered as a threat. All religious faiths, Christian, Muslim or whatever, must fall under secular authority when it come to the law. If a Christian church is allowed to practice its sanctuary tradition that can be traced back to the medieval time, who are we to say that the Islamic Sharia tradition don't have the same rights?? Then we will have religious priority placed upon us all. May it be a church, mosque, Buddhist temple or whatever, it must always be under secular authority under the law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm pretty sure money and politics have more to do with those connections than faith. Faith is just an excuse for their politics and hate mongering....especially Eric Prince, the converted militant Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As for the comment on bishops, the Monsignor is accusing the Pope of packing the Synods, which is odd considering Cardinal Burke was a member of at least the first. The anti-Modernists don\u2019t like Francis, his Synod, Vatican II or any epistemology that does not privilege the CDF in all things or its branch offices in local bishop\u2019s councils. Their belief that their view is the only view in Catholicism is the height of hubris. It is time for them to find a good retreat house or monestary for a permanet stay.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even in \u201cCatholic\u201d countries, the Church preferred to have its clerics enjoy the privilege of clergy whereby they could only be tried in the canonical courts. The 1953 Concordat with Franco in Spain provided that a bishop could only be put on trial in a civil court with the consent of the Vatican, and priests with the consent of the bishop. The trial, if agreed to, was not to be publicised. The 1973 concordat with Colombia still provides that bishops can only be tried by the canonical Courts. Priests on the other hand can be tried in State Courts but the proceedings are not to be publicised. I am not aware of any similar concordat with other South American countries. One of the reasons for the imposition of secrecy under canon law, in my opinion, is that the same result could be achieved by a cover up in countries unsympathetic to similar concordats. If the State did not know about these crimes, the matter could be dealt with exclusively in the canonical courts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the past, employees have been forbidden by their employers for saying \"Merry Christmas\". If you want to say \"Happy Holidays\", Happy Hanukkah\", \"Happy Kwanzaa\" fine, just don't forbid me or any Christians from saying \"Merry Christmas\", and expect us to support your business. And it would be nice if you not misrepresent this issue!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Today from Crdl Muller \u201c We are very distant from a correction and I say that is a loss to the Church to discuss these things publicly. \u2018Amoris laetitia\u2019 is very clear in its doctrine and we can interpret the whole teaching of Jesus on matrimony, the whole teaching of the Church in 2000 years of history.\u201d He concluded, Pope Francis, \u201casks to discern the situation of these people who are living in unions that are not regular, that is, not in accord with the teaching of the Church on matrimony, and asks to help these persons to find a path for a new integration in the Church according to the conditions of the sacraments, of the Christian message on matrimony.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "BROohthor\n\nAs Christians, are we are not called to stand opposed to ALL (euthanasia) of what is going on with this.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why doesn't Trudeau send \"a strongly worded letter\" to ISIL to stop their slaughter of minority Yazidis and Christians? Why were there so few of them amongst the many Muslim refugees he invited into Canada? Why is he apparently only concerned about the slaughter of Muslim minorities?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wedding rings, eggs, and Christmas trees did not start of as acts of worship offered to a supposed deity. They were repurposed for Christian purposes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have to wonder what's driving the need for Catholic parents to place the activities of their teenage girls under any form of control by bishops! If you enter the fox den, don't be surprised if the fox attempts to take control.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course she did!\nShe had a 6 year affair with a married man. What Commandment was that again?\nShe did not wait for him to divorce before having an affair. She did more to undermine the sanctity of marriage then 2 gay people that love each other ever have!\nAre these rwo the best Catholics that the US can send to the Vatican? Or are they the best that Donald Trump thinks should go?\nTelling I would say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Francis' encounter with Trump was also considered by some Vatican officials as among the most possibly perilous for the pope\" \n\nAs in Vicar of Christ meets the AntiChrist? Did this encounter end like the last time with a cordial \"begone Satan\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because Big Government \"Christian\" Conservatives insist on a tax loophole for \"family values.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For sure! When a group of +Dolan's priests boo someone, you know that person has lost most of the Catholic vote. Good! I feel better about the NYC church already!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the early church, members voted for their presiders and bishops. Saints Ambrose, Augustine and Leo the Great were all voted for by the parishioners of their respective dioceses. Leo famously stated that, \"he who would rule over all, should expect to be voted for by all.\"\n\nJesus NEVER condemned Democracy. But he had plenty to say about his followers [especially the TWELVE], assuming regal authority. It high time for the Church to re-assess its method of governance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Mormons are considered conservative Christians.\"\n=========\nBy who? Mormons? The \"Conservative Christians\" I know do not consider Mormons to be a True Christian Denomination because a number of their beliefs come from \"revealed revelations that were revealed to their founder\" that actually contradicts the writings of the Early Christian Church. \n-\nThere are a number of cults that won't reveal all their \"secrets\" until and unless you work your way up in the hierarchy. \n-\nTrue Christianity is different. We have the Bible. That's it. Go to any bookstore, buy a Bible....ten bucks or less. Go to many motel rooms and take the Bible....for free. Come to my church and we'll give you one....for free.\n-\nWe don't have \"secret books\" that explain \"secret messages\" that only the \"upper echelon\" are privy to. And if you find a church that has \"secret books\" that contain \"secret messages\" that only the \"enlightened in that church\" are privy to....that is a cult.\n-\nThe Bible has no hidden secrets.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If more Christians actually followed the advice that Jesus gave them, they may have a better position on Christmas. Today it is just a marketing event for retailers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most people in this country want a competent and effective President, just not one who feels that the bible is the way to write laws. We aren't a theocracy. If you want that, Iran or the Vatican might be better choices. Our Constitutional Republic is not setup as a theocracy. Besides, which brand of Christianity do you want our government to follow? Protestants and Catholics seem to believe that the other aren't real Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"The court also found that Trinity Lutheran Church in Missouri is eligible for a state grant to resurface its playground despite the state constitution\u2019s ban on government funding of churches. \"\n- Now the state gets to monitor the spending of money and the safety design of the playground.\n- As every catholic hospital and university is aware, when one accepts government money, one then has the government as a dance partner who dictates what steps are required.\n- No doubt, in most cases, this partnership is not a burden. However, religious people especially catholics have to ask themselves: Is this what is wanted? Would not be better for the 'people of God to pay for what the people of God want' rather than looking for ways to redirect tax money to institutions that are supposedly separate from government apparatuses and goals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear John Fitzgerald 486,\nWho do you think you are? You are a simple human while we the people at the Vatican and dioceses are, as you should now, superior humans. The protection of the Church is above all else, including the protection of children, and therefore your demands are to be dismissed. The Commission has done a fantastic job as a window dressing exercise and will continue to do that. The fact that Church law orders Bishops and Cardinals to cover up clergy pedophilia in places where civil law does not order Bishops and Cardinals to report clergy pedophilia to police is just a small irrelevant detail. My credibility relies on knowing what is in the mind of God while you do not. Of course Jesus would do exactly what I am doing; I just had a chat with him. Be a faithful Catholic while you pray, pay and obey.\nSincerely in Christ,\nPope Francis", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More proof that there is a war on Christianity in the US, . Going after a WWI memorial in a graveyard?? Left hatred knows no bounds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do you know how I treated, or what I thought about, Francis' predecessors? What amuses me is that after 35 years of \"the Pope must be obeyed in all things, anything you question makes you that odious thing, a cafeteria Catholic\" the very same people say that they don't have to listen to or accept Francis' teaching authority and they clearly and emphatically eschew the documents of Vatican II. I guess, as Scripture tells us, \"It depends on WHOSE ox is gored.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Homosexuality is an interesting topic since both the Christian and Islamic faiths, shares very familiar view on the subject. Many Christians are bit more lightweight on the subject then most Muslims. But both the Bible and Quran, teaches against homosexual behavior and the people who practices them. Elise Patkotak here is trying to separate Christianity by saying it doesn't tolerate equal rights. If you are a true Christian, yeah I suppose you are right. Bible does not say favorable things about homosexuals. By saying \"right\" Elise is actually trying to divide the Christian community from those who believes in the teaching of the Bible compared to those who do not. Unfortunately for Elise, Muslims are far more true to the cause. They do endorse the teaching of the Quran and they will never endorse political correctness like so many lightweight Christians. They will stand against gay rights. Of course, for Elise and her ink, that is not what they want to know or hear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The real holocaust occurred in RUSSIA and Ukraine 25 years before the war when the Jewish bolshevik killed close to 60 million Christian's and Orthodox Russians in ways that made dying of Typhoid in a prison camp seem like a holiday in the park .., have you ever read anything by Solzhenitsyn? It may put things into better perspective for you", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Looking at the statistics, it would appear that most polls, such as Realclearpolitics were not that far off. That is the actual vote was within the error bounds of +- 2-3%.\n\nIt looks more like the media took & ran with whatever bias it had, to project the winner.\n\nAs far as the 1st Christians being wiped out, after 70 AD, they seem to have thrived, with exceptions to brief periods of persecution. \n\nMore contemporary opinion on composition of the gospels, appears to support earlier dating, to within a generation of the Resurrection. Hence at least two gospels were penned, or dictated by eye witnesses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"my cardinals\"\n\nSays it all.\n\nI thought the Little Sisters had a \"church plan\" that exempts them from having to pay penalties under the ACA. IIRC they contracted this plan from Christian Brothers. At least, that's what I read in the Washington Post.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Two prelates do not constitute a change in the church's hierarchy and its leadership. MSW overstates reality. To date, the American Bishops do not share Tobin or Capich's understanding of Catholicism. This is our current view of Catholicism which is held by the majority of Catholics, especially those who voted for Donald Trump. We are the majority. Conservative in politics and conservative in our understanding of Catholicism. Capich and Tobin do not represent our ideals of Catholicism. Instead, they push us further to the Right and force us to align ourselves with Burke. Be careful what you wish for.\n\nThere is a schism headed for the church and it seems like MSW is advocating for it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm an academic and virtually all of my friends are atheists or agnostics. The agnostics tend not to make much of an issue of the debate, but virtually all the atheists I know go to great lengths to belittle believers, push their beliefs as scientifically proven, promote links to atheist rhetorical positions and propaganda, champion atheist intellectuals and their works like the Bible, and constantly blame religion for all the ills in society. Compared to the atheists I know, the Mormons that knock on my door are puppy dogs when it comes to denunciations and propagation of belief.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why are so many migrants risking their lives crossing the Mediterranean in dubious boats to come to these murder ridden Christian countries?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indian philosopher named Bara Dada, brother of Rabindranath Tagore. The full quote from Dada appears to be from the mid-1920s: \u201cJesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians, you are not like him.\u201d But simple fact is it would be highly unlikely that any Christian can be like Jesus who happens to be a Son of God, eh? No more then any Buddhist can be like a Buddha or any Muslim can be like Prophet Mohammed. Or any Apollo worshipper can be like Apollo!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The National Catholic \"Distorter\" is on it's way out of business. Most divisive in this last election were the main stream media...but they were also the most overlooked. Your paper was a distant second...but was completely overlooked.Social media carried Catholics together...followed closely by EWTN and it's papers. Should they choose to go overboard in the liberal column...they too will be summarily dumped!\nI'm not sure how to describe this to you, sans to say, I believe I heard the voice of God say to something evil, that has been leading many astray....\"Time's Up!\" Just that...two little words. \nBut powerful word. The enemy has had a very free rein....and now is re-tethered. I pray you are \"Going Our Way.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wait with bated breath for the identity of attacker. Probably a sandy haired, blue eyed christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What anti-Catholic comments? You do realize, don't you, that comments were not written by Mrs. Clinto but by Catholic staffers about Their own church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don t forget to invoke the saints! Surely the saints in heaven will support you in your support for breitbart news, which is a bulwark of christian ideals and veritable font of truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have no idea what you are talking about. Plenty of individuals on the left and in the center prefer individual rights to group rights. I'd also add that true Tory conservatives support groups rights, which is why they place so much emphasis on the nuclear family and Christian values. It's just hilarious to me that so few \"Conservatives\" actually understand that the guiding principles of the current iteration of the Conservative Party of Canada are classic liberal values. So, what it sounds like to me is that you are claiming that conservatives are more liberal than the Liberals. Hilarious! Here's some bedtime reading for you: 1) On Liberty by John Stuart Mill; 2) Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Although I agree that we are in the midst of the fall of the Anglo-American Empire, I don't think that the Christian Bible had anything to say about it. Unless you are referring to the general bibical theme of the defeat of evil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Over against this curious prophecy, my own fear is that the paranoia of many on the religious right, who actually believe they are being persecuted, will lead to a restriction of civil rights and liberties, and maybe even acts of violence. In particular, their sense that their \"religious freedom\" is endangered looks delusional. Sadly they have many friends in state governments and on the Supreme Court.\n\nGay Americans are very satisfied that the Supreme Court recognized their equal rights, with regard to marriage, alongside the rights always given to opposite-sex-oriented citizens. I don't know of any Catholic gay married couples who are demanding that the church \"condone and bless\" their unions, though it's possible there are some. Anyway the demand is very reasonable, to ask the church to be consistent and practice what it preaches regarding justice, inclusion, and the essence of matrimony. May the church be guided by the Spirit on this matter toward honesty and love!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ALL religions are based upon individual faith and beliefs, not facts, gleaned from some holy book or other. Each religion believes its book is the \"word of God.\" If someone subscribes to a religion, he must realize this, and accept that there are those who do not share the same beliefs. The ironic thing is that God would be perfectly satisfied if everyone were to live an ethical life, be happy, and be the best person he can be. You don't need a religion in order to do these things. In fact, you don't even need to believe in God at all.\n\nMost Arabic hate groups profess to be Muslim, Most American hate groups profess to be \"Christian.\" There are Jewish hate groups, as well. Every country and religion has them. It goes along with thinking that each has its own god.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Christians by our love\"....which are nonexistent on NCR because there is so little love on these comment forums\n\nNot Christian at all, just hate, anger, pride, greed...the usual suspects in the human condition", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"According to Christians...\" I'm not so sure that Jesus (assuming this was ever a real person or even a group of people) would agree with much that many or even most modern Christians say and do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I remember Colin Powell telling president Bush and his handler Cheney that if you break it, you own it. The trouble with conservatives is you all have selective memory, that your christian jesus Christ will have to jog in order to decide if they are going to your Valhalla, oops, heaven\nI suggest typing, \"Study links low intelligence and low IQ to conservatism and prejudice\" It explains the usual process of creating conservatism through low IQs or lack of education.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bishops have three options: import a new church; try to regain the respect of the one they have; learn to live with diminished status and influence.\n\nNo wonder the possibility of losing the first option fills them with rage and terror.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As has been said... Once you feel you have finally achieved humility, you've lost it. Same goes for the notion that we have achieved the capital-T-truth and no one else has it. Humans with their limited three dimensional brains cannot begin to fully comprehend the multi-faceted fullness of our God. The Catholic Church is full of humans who at best 'see through a glass darkly' in this world... that includes members of the hierarchy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can't speak for all Christians but at a minimum, many Christians state that global warming either is god's will or in god's hands, so \"why bother worrying about it.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"I understand that the Inuits of Alaska are in need of some Catholic leadership.\"\n- Point made!\n- Better we should send lay ministers so that the Inuits remain catholics so that the Spirit can call their own to enter the clerical ministries and perhaps consecrated life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "--Think of the implications to the average parishioner! (S)he would have to pony up to the extent that his/her \"separated brethren\" do, also referred to here by at least on Good Kristyun as members of a false cult.\n\nhttp://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/topic/excellence_in_philanthropy/giving_in_different_denominations\n\nsnip:\n\n\"Catholic giving averages out to about 1.5 percent of gross income. Mainline Protestant giving is 2.9 percent. In some of the evangelical and charismatic/pentecostal groups such as the Assemblies of God, average levels range from 4 to 8 percent.\"--", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The mortal sin was not the actual eating of meat on Friday, it was the disobedience of deliberately ignoring a Commandment of the Church that was the sin. The Church imposes certain Precepts upon the Faithful for the good of their souls. Unlike Divine Law they are imposed by the Church and as such they may be dispensed with by the Church.\nAfter Vatican II the setting of these Precepts and their dispensation was put totally in the hands of local bishops' Conferences. That is when things began to unravel when Churches began to become more national than universal. Anyone who wants can ignore the bishops, they cannot force anyone to remain a Catholic.\nPeople don't go to Confession mainly because they don't believe in sin or hell anymore probably due to the dearth of sound catechesis over the last half century.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gordon wrote: \n\"However, the main reason that all religious schools (Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, Muslim, etc.) are denied taxpayer funds is because of consistent federal court rulings over the last 50 years that have declared such funding unconstitutional based on the First Amendment.\"\n\nThis is false. The SCOTUS and the Federal Courts have not ruled \"protestant common schools\" today called \"public schools\" but still very much protestant controlled schools, nor protestant private schools may not receive public funds. Likewise, the SCOTUS has not ruled aid to Jewish and Muslim schools is unconstitutional. Rather,\nthe SCOTUS has over the last 50 years engaged in a religious test to prohibit aid to Catholic schools. The court has used a pretentious wording to pretend the Catholic schools were not the target, but the Catholic schools were the clear target.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure how the Catholic senior advisers who are quoted here can be considered \"Anti-Catholic.\" I've read considerably more vigorous critiques of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in the National Catholic Reporter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True dat. But Baptist churches have Preachers, not Priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The primary purpose of an anthem is to unite the nation. No hymn can unite South Africa, as it excludes many of us on the basis of belief. (Sorry, Reverend, but not all of us are Christians, or even believers.) Nor can any \"revolutionary\" or \"struggle\" song unite us as a country. We're a multi-racial, multi-cultural country with a complicated history, and your \"struggle heroes\" will always be \"terrorists\" to some of us. An \"anthem\" which glorifies victimhood isn't psychologically healthy for anybody, least of all for young people, and the idea that a \"lament\" might qualify as a national anthem is just plain sad.\n\nSouth Africa has an amazing pool of musical talent. We need a completely new national anthem - one that doesn't exclude anyone, on any basis. One that unifies South Africans in hope. One that includes all 11 official languages, plus sign language \u2013 perfectly possible, with harmonies \u2013 with an \"easy\" version for those of us who can't really sing. \n\n/. . . continued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are only speaking about the superficial aesthetics. The fact is that Christ in his role as prophet was the Jewish prophet that spoke most about hell and what a serious danger sin is.\n\nThe clerics who associate with the traditional aesthetics, actually talk about that and are committed to teach people what is and is not error. The same cannot be said about those clerics infused with the spirit of the 60's who can barely utter the word sin without making a joke. \n\nHell is not a joke, and if more people took it seriously more Catholics would do much more to help with charity and avoid the cruelties of the world. One of the things tradition offers is the idea of personal culpability for how rotten the world is.\n\nIt certainly has with me, I was practically living like an atheist before I found treasure that the old generation hid away. I give more of my time to others than ever before, in regards to voluntary aid work and compassion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What candidates promise often doesn't come to pass, for a variety of reasons. Trump was elected with a higher percentage of evangelical Christians than any other president, and he was endorsed by the most influential evangelical leaders. Why? Trump is morally and ethically repugnant, and has never had any church affiliation. By any fair and impartial judgement, Hillary Clinton was by far the better, more experienced and smarter candidate, and despite the twenty-year effort of the far right to smear her, ethically she is pretty clean. She will not be locked up, as Trump's awful crowds screamed for. https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000004533191/unfiltered-voices-from-donald-trumps-crowds.html\nWatch that video, listen to that angry filth. Those are the REAL: Americans who voted for Trump.\n\nBernie Sanders lost because he didn't have the votes, period. His supporters stayed home on election day and total voter turnout was low. That's how we got Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Christ preached inclusion, love, compassion, humility.\"\n\nLynn Adams obviously has none of that for Orange people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "let's see, the Orange didn't like the Catholic immigration. The Hungarians of 1956 were Commie infiltrators, for the Jews, none was too many in 1939. All have been successful Canadians. Why do you think the current immigrants will be any different?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that's what they want. By doing so, the decline of Christianity is masked.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There really is no such thing as the 'Catholic right' or the 'Catholic Left', there are only Obedient and Disobedient Catholics. Those who promote Social stances, policies and agenda's contrary to the Church's teachings are Disobedient. If Rebecca Weiss was doing this, then she is disobedient, if not, then she is Obedient. If she was trying to make a moral equivalency between important but lesser issues like Minimum Wage Policy, DACA Support and Abortion, then she is intentionally confusing the Church's teachings, and therefore disobedient. If she is instead saying that all these issues are important, even though some like Abortion have greater moral gravity, then she is in line with the Church's teachings and therefore Obedient. I really don't know, and I'm guessing the vast majority of the posters on this comment section don't know either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm reminded of the story Quentin Crisp told about telling an audience in Northern Ireland that he was an atheist. A woman in the audience stood up and said, \"Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don't believe?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jay, you love to put down progressives based on your bias. I think progressives have a strong spirituality. It is not watered down. It is based on a deeper understanding of Christian history and the teachings of Jesus. It is not \"pandering\" to anyone. Progressives have seen the dualism of conservatives which sees themselves as \"white\" and progressives as \"black\", when everybody is a shade of \"grey\". Francis is more popular because people see Jesus alive in his actions. Francis and Jesus are non-dualist. They see us as we are and love us and help us. Chaput wants to exclude us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oy vey. \"87 per cent of Quebeckers back the legislation, with francophone respondents particularly supportive.\" So it's about keeping Quebec French and secular or French and Christian. And on the other side of the equation, we have ancient beliefs and women covered lest they offend. What a mess.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...ctnd\n\nBut there are many marginal groups that live according to old values where a woman's role is to be a wife and mother only, and prevent the sexes from mingling, from the Hasidim to marginal Christian groups, and they don't feel the need to get violent, they accept that they are marginal. Not so conservative Muslims, who have a need for their norms to be not only tolerated, but accepted by the mainstream.\n\nAnd plenty of ordinary women, religious or not, still cling to the old model of SAHW, they just don't advertise it with special clothing, they just go ahead and quietly live their lives that way if they can afford it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is difficult to respond to so much made up stuff, based on belief posing as knowledge. We most certainly do grow in knowledge and hopefully 'knowing' expands wisdom...what happens is that superstition and myth are dismissed by subduing ignorance. No one is saying What the early Christian would have known with information provided them...that did not happen and was not the case. They were ignorant of what we know today as fact. But some 'somehow' have persisted in ignorance; such as thinking 'the intellect is part of the soul'. Repeatedly neurology has dismissed that fake stuff providing proof that the intellect resides solely in the brain.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In another leaked email to Podesta, Sandy Newman, president of Voices for Progress, said: \"This whole controversy with the bishops opposing contraceptive coverage, even though 98 percent of Catholic women, and their conjugal partners, have used contraception, has me thinking. ... There needs to be a Catholic Spring, in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a Middle Ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the Catholic church.\"\n\n This is what Catholics say all the time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Every Christian has not only a right but a gave duty to help each person reach their greatest good.\n\nTaking innocent life is not seeking one's greatest good.\n\nIt's not just clerics that have this duty, it's every Baptized Christian.\n\nNo walls. \n\nWe should never build up walls between us and our brothers or sisters.\n\nFrancis is against walls.\n\nDrawing back and drawing lines is a form of wall building.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ellamae suggested that \"[B]iblically and theologically death couldn't have existed before sin. It seems incompatible with Christ as our salvation, His death and resurrection. How do you answer that and remain a Christian?\"\n\nThe \"no death before sin\" objection is certainly a serious issue to many conservative Christians. Much ink has been used in writing about this topic. \n\nThe issue was created or, at least, highlighted by Paul of Tarsus. We have him to thank for making it a major issue in the history of Christian theology. Others then took it up and ran with it and it has been a part of traditional Christian theology ever since. \n\nHow do you continue to take Paul's views seriously and yet dispute the literalistic spin that he put on the Creation story to make his soteriological point? \n\nHow about -- Paul is not infallible? We all make mistakes. He made a mistake here. If you don't like this idea, suggest some other way of dealing with the \"Death before Sin\" idea?.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's huge difference in Christian theology that goes unreported. \n\nI for one stand with those who do not believe God cares about nations or, structures that separate humans into often waring tribes. There are no national flags in my church, nor would they be appropriate. A nation, by definition, is concerned first by its own survival, or maybe domination based on self-righteous justification. That has nothing to do with a universal God who sees unity, not separation by politics.\n\nWhen we combine the symbols of a nation with the symbols of a universal deity, neither is well served. In particular it belittles the symbolism of a loving God who's 'kingdom' has no concern for national borders. \n\n*This is my opinion and does not represent the opinion of all Christians. I do not claim any special 'gift' of truth. I have actively pursued a spiritual component to my life that fits comfortably with both my head and heart.\n\nIt's a choice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\".not least of which we have witnessed first hand by its 50 year Occupation and expropriation of the Palestinians in the name of religion\"\n\nyou have to get your facts straight. it was islam that went on crusade in 632AD, seized the land and began systematical eradicating jews and christians\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Muslim_conquests", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The religion is referred to because the fact is Trump targeted Muslim majority countries - if he targeted Christian majority countries you can bet there would be outrage", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you asked me to let you know, I didn't see it.\n\nAs to the \"board\", it was self-explanatory and as usual you misquoted it.\n\nStill supporting the Church with your deep Christianity I read.\n\n\"You claimed\" indeed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree. History has shown that when anyone suppresses an opposing view, ultimately THEY are silenced--using the very same arrogant rationale they used to suppress: heresy has no place. \n\nWhen advocacy is branded \"the only acceptable Catholic position; case closed,\" there can be no discussion, no debate, no other side, no forum, no equal time, and no tolerance for dissent. It's our Catholic-virtue truth versus your non-Catholic sin. \n\nSoon, sick suppression becomes not only acceptable, but even required--\"an act of love\" to save the sinners and to save the family. \"Confusion is of the devil,\" says Archbishop Chaput. Ergo, any \"means\" of suppression is justified to attain the \"ends\" of salvation. So, the new dogma: \n\n\"Well-funded Church clarity will drive out poorly funded ambiguity.\" \n\nI just read in the Register about the upcoming Napa Institute. It is a must-read. \n\nWealth and support by the wealthy do tilt the Catholic playing field in a game of expression vs suppression.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And they weren't Christians either...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cCorporate sin\u201d is a contradiction in terms.\n\nThe Church is the kingdom of Christ. As all the members of the human body, though they are many, form one body, so also are the faithful in Christ. In order to shepherd the People of God and to increase its numbers without cease, Christ the Lord set up in his Church a variety of offices which aim at the good of the whole body. The holders of office, who are invested with a sacred power, are dedicated to promoting the interests of their brethren, so that all who belong to the People of God, and are consequently endowed with true Christian dignity, may, through their free and well ordered efforts towards a common goal, attain to salvation.\n\nAs good shepherds, those with sacred power can only reiterate Christ\u2019s divine command that marriage is indissoluble.\n\nThinking with the Church means that if we love God, we will keep his commandments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.\" Card. Joseph Ratzinger. LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ON THE PASTORAL CARE OF HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS (1986, October\u200b 1)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The title \"Christian\" covers such a wide range of beliefs and practices that it's a fairly meaningless indicator of a person's true feelings and values. When it comes to elected officials, party affiliation is a much more reliable one.\n\nSad to say, but my experience is that most of us tend to view the Gospel through the lens of our social/political biases rather than let those biases be transformed by it. This is true of both liberals and conservatives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Father. God bless!\nMy son went to Marshall McLuhan Catholic Secondary School in Toronto and had the privilege to meet McLuhan's widow and eldest son.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suppose you\u2019ll be advocating for the repeal of laws against murder because they correspond to most religions\u2019 beliefs?\n\nCorrectly stated, American law does not directly correspond to religious beliefs.\n\nCatholics and other religious believers may advance their particular views in the public square, and some or all of them may be incorporated into law.\n\nThere is no prohibition in American law against such expression and no test to determine whether or not a particular law corresponds to a particular religious belief.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\n\"...the politics that Christianity requires\"?\nMy first impulse was to suggest \"resistance\", standing for and with people of good will against Trump and what he represents - the movement of vitriol, revisionism, winning by diminution, exclusion and pandering. And yes there is an urgency because the consequences of Trump are immanent. \nThen I think of the danger of adopting the very weapons of Trump and the trumpists. Is that not the very lesson he inadvertantly warns us of - e.g., \"defeating radical Islamic fundamentalism by becoming radical disenchanted/white evangelical/anarchistic/hate-filled/god-wants-me-to-be-rich/exceptionalist USofA fundamentalists? (ps I bet there are fewer radical fundamentalist Muslims than the hard-core, radical fundamentalist USofA'ers who stand with Trump ). Think of the anarchy that would ensue in a USofTrump. The only solution would be Stalinism.\nThen I return to the question \"...the politics that Christianity requires\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't care either way, you can do whatever you want. But when you force a business owner to do something he cannot on religious grounds, and handpick a shop to invade only because it's owed by a Christian and the left is bigoted against Christians in general, you do cross the line of decency of live and let live.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I feel I have no choice but to resign if I am to retain my integrity.\" - Marie Collins\n\nOMG! ... Those words could very well have been quoted from my own resignation from the SF review board I wrote to then archbishop William Levada now over a decade ago. This is way beyond sad.\n\nIf we Catholics do not demand that all complicit and corrupt bishops and priests resign and leave the priesthood, we will never redeem the suffering and in some cases the death of survivors of abuse and exploitation at the hands of priests. The Catholic community - the Church - will never make it to the end of this century if Catholics do not take matters into their own hands by completely reforming and renewing the priesthood.\n\nJesus is weeping.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our arguments and responses to the issue of WO should be accompanied by biblical references. Otherwise we are just saying what we think. Which is dangerous. As christians an argument is only good if the Bible says the same. Emotional opinions are not to be trusted. A \"Thus saith the Lord\" is fine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Monica.....many thanks....think your opinion genuinely helpful.....and to some degree comforting!\n\nI think you are seriously right that we are a bit spoiled (my interpretation) and unprepared to organize....\n\nThere appear to be a number of serious folks who are calling for \"organized response\" but what kind is unclear.\n\nWe have mayors and others in major cities who are seeking sanctuary status (forgoing some fed money to do so) that want to protect migrants....I worked for Catholic Charities during a period when the sanctuary movement was a big deal, Church-wise. \n\nAnd of course it's not just immigrants at risk either?\n\nHope dinner prep went well!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding 'education'; i'm quite thrilled with the Iowa Catholic Conference' (Bishop Pates, of the Des Moines, Ia, Diocese) for the Lenten booklet that educates to soil-biology-consciousness as it pertains to a wholesome, sustainable sense of human ecology/ theology.\nhttp://iowacatholicconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/CaringForOurCommonHome-Web.pdf \nEvery Catholic School should include this booklet-study (grounding of faith/ religion/ ecology) in its curriculum of studies. I suspect it is eye-opening for most, if not all Catholics, including bishops and cardinals. It gave me a better understanding of Iowa and the grassroots church we-are-in-common.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I studied in Catholic schools in India, we sang Christian hymns without a problem. In my Catholic schools in the Middle East, we didn't have to sing Christian hymns. And in Canada, I doubt any kids sing Muslim/Buddhist/Hindu hymns.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you get upset that you can't wale on Islam, but your lower lip quivers when Christianity is criticized? Interesting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You've done no such thing! The annulment process is the best we have and it relies on humans, as weak and as flawed as we are. However, in the very rare situations you describe, a Catholic would submit to the authority of the Church and bear their suffering in silent and faithful obedience, trusting God to right all wrongs when He meets them. That's the Way of the Cross.\n\nYou have failed to address the theological underpinnings of AL i.e that God can be calling people to live in objectively sinful situations, that avoiding \"harm\" justifies sin, and that personal conscience trumps the Magisterium.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It appears that NCR is a front for the DNC...not Christ.....btw, is this website one of those in the podesta email about democrats infiltrating catholic sites in order to manipulate catholic opinions and beliefs?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bp Conley comments lacks historical and contextual perspectives. As far as a generation not educated in Catholic tradition how quickly he glossed over the failure of the bishops to teach during those same years. the radical drop in Church attendance i think has more to do with the bishops' performance than the colleges.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Steve,\n\nYou're challenging us to think and expand our spiritual concepts outside of our limited \"God box\" into place where a lot of people are very uncomfortable. Keep up the good work! \n\nAfter first reading your piece, I went to a co-worker who was raised Muslim in a country I shall not name here and who became a Christian after coming to America to ask some questions. His conversion was the result of seeking the fellowship of other Muslims and discovering that some were Christians. He holds the same basic beliefs that are common across Christianity, but his view is distinctly colored by his spiritual heritage and he views things through the \"lens\" of Islam because that is so deeply ingrained in him. I think he is a great illustration of what you are describing, yet a believer whom many of those commenting here would not consider a believer in Jesus at all because of their limited views of what it means to believe in Him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You raise an important point. I say that it would take time to accustom Catholics to providing adequate support to their clergy and families.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read the whole story, Jay. Accommodations have been made for various religions, including christians. https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/10-22-15b.cfm", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the real problem is you seem to only be able to follow dictates. \n\nWe are throwing verbal bombs at each other and I think the real problem is that we find spiritual nourishment differently. You need certitude and I need mystery. \n\nIt is okay with me that you find strength and nourishment in faith your way. What is not okay is for you to think your way is the only way. Most Catholics don't accept the teaching on contraceptives, gay marriage, confession, celibate priesthood (okay, a discipline, but a stupid one in today's world). Most Catholics in developed countries (where women vote) think female priests is a good idea. \n\nI wouldn't assume, however that all of them agree on all these issues. Catholics come in many varieties. Who are you to judge?\n\nGive some room for mystery, for faith without reason, and for those seeking God and the Church to find a balance of their own - some of which agrees with how you see things and some of which does not. We are not robots.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We as Catholics must change our tune. The main problem is overpopulation, at least now in certain spaces. We have not told everyone..well, the pope has actually said 3 children is OK...that they can and they should plan their families so they can feed them, if not educate them, give them decent housing etc. too many children leads to political instability which leads to all sorts of chaos", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "America is unique. Unique in that it is multi-cultural, multi-religion, multi-ethnic from the beginning. This isn't just a dream or idea. We are still here after 240 years. That must be a really long dream. It's called \"it really works\". But for it to keep working you need something that binds people together, something in \"common\". That was the constitution (liberals throw that out), Judeo/Christian ethics (liberals throw that out), civility/sexual mores (how 1950's?). They ridicule and destroy everything that gives people a sense of belonging together and then wonder what happened. Throw a bomb into society and this is what you get. Even the author acknowledges that a parade or everyone sitting on a stoop binds them together. Since we've gotten rid of the other more important things, that's all that's left to \"bind\" us together.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a Christian but let the kids have a good time. Haranguing kids will only turn them off. There is nothing wrong with \"Tis better to give then to receive.\" Did you get the attention you craved? It is all about you you know. Most biblical scholars agree, Jesus was born in September.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "99 percent of Indonesia, which is an Asian country, is Muslim. Many Muslims elsewhere, too, are Asian. It's a religion just like Christianity or Buddhism. The man obviously could tell these women were Muslim because they were wearing the suppressive head covers. They could have had pale skin and blue eyes for all we know, but it's the head covers (and sometimes the body clothes) that give it away. Oddly, some Muslim women wear only the head scarves but very Western clothes, while others are attired from head to toe in suppressive wraps. It's sad how they are taught to shield what could be very beautiful hair from the public. I recently saw a man and his Muslim wife and preschool daughter. The child of course did not have the head cover. She had gorgeous ringlet gold-colored hair. How sad that beginning at about 13 or 14 she will \"have to\" cover it when she goes out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So...you believe in the prosperity gospel? You believe that God's favour is poured out on those who please him with wealth in this life? And conversely, the poor by their very poverty are known not to be pleasing to God?\n\nMe, I've read the Book of Job, with its long, sustained, complete rejection of that \"message.\" Importantly, a reasonable facsimile of the modern prosperity gospel held sway in Judaism before the notion of heaven (reward in the next life) was seeded in late Judaism. It was precisely that once dominant view that Job rejects.\n\nBut, Utilitas, I am open minded. I would very much appreciate you educating me with chapter and verse. Please show me specifically were the prosperity gospel is to be found in scripture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A \"devout\" Christian who didn't accept the orthodoxy of the faith. Isn't that a contradiction? He knows for sure now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More than a dozen Catholic leaders were among 150 signers of a recent interreligious ad in the Chicago Tribune denouncing the \"bigotry, intimidation and violence that the 2016 national elections have unleashed within the body politic.\"\n\nI am glad some Catholic leaders have the moral courage to speak out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope has many Evangelical friends and can tell a good Evangelical from a bad one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At the time of that Ontario event you mention, formerlyrbfromcalgary, there had been provision for consenting jews and catholics to have family law and inheritance disputes settled by arbitration under jewish/catholic law - with right of appeal to regular courts. There was little if any controversy.\n\nA provincial report by former attorney-general Marion Boyd recommended that this be extended to muslim law where both parties consented. \"We're being very clear: This is not sharia law,\" Ms. Boyd said. \"This is Muslim religious principles within Canadian law.\"\n\nThat caused protests, which caused the government to back off - and cancel the jewish and catholic arbitration, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tremendous stuff from Francis!! How do you like them onions, Burke?!! You will not limit Francis to a yes or a no and you will not set the perameters of the debate.\n\nI love too that he departs from the turgid Vatican/Church speak and says it straight. He sees through Burke's pantomime outfit into his crumpled heart and sees his misery. \n\nAL came into the world in a year which Francis dedicated to mercy, the message could not have been clearer. Back to you now, Burke, your call. \n\n(Wouldn't it be ironic if, on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation where so many Christians are attempting to join together, Burke and his cronies flounced. Now that would be historically and universally funny.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis is the sole reason my attachment to Roman Catholicism still hangs by the sliver of a thread. Unlike those whose \"cold attachment to norms and laws\" prevents them from seeing the Christian forest for the Catholic trees, he understands what Jesus meant when he said \"The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath.\" (Mark 2:27) Or, to put it another way, he does not put the emPHAsis on the wrong syLLAble. He gets it. He gets Jesus. Thank God for Pope Francis. He gives me hope for a better church, and by extension, a better world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't forget the Bowling Green Massacre! Or Sweden! God only knows how many innocent Christian victims were killed in those two attacks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Along the same lines, while I was chair and trustee for the Halton Catholic District school board each school was to select one staff person to recognize each year. Within a couple of years each school selected the caretaker because it had been decided by teachers (as instructed by their unions) to not recognize any one teacher over any other. This type of thinking is yet one more example of our rush towards mediocrity. \n\nLikewise, when the school board was asked to recognize one of its high school students who had won international awards for developing a program to help autistic children communicate, it was commented by several trustees that it would not be appropriate to recognize this one student because \"we have so many good students\". My response: Yes, that's true, so let's start with this one !\n\nWe need to think, would that kind of thinking have put a man on the moon? Or perhaps more importantly, will that kind of thinking find a cure for cancer or address world hunger?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There was ONE useful and maybe positive element in the 2004 revival of the traditional exclusion and diminution of women document \"promulgated\" by J.Card. Ratzinger as CDF Prefect and with the blessing of Pope John Paul II. It called for, or offered to be an opening position for a discussion on the \"...collaboration of men and women in the church and in the world\". \nSure, the reflection of women as deacons might be enlightening in a periferal way, but....\nIt would be beneficial to all of our Church and it would be reflective of a truly conservative traditionalist curial head and future Pope, to reflect and act upon this invitiation. \nWith a contemporary Pope who seems to be a bridge, a \"pontifex\" between the old and new, open to question and wonder of the Spirit, wouldn't it be timely, proper and propitious to revive this invitation and call upon the Vatican to respond?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Women and men are both created in the image of God. Both men and women image what it is to be the Body of Christ. Men image Christ as head, women image Christ as body.\n\nI don't recall claiming that there is an ontological difference between the human nature of men and women. Gender, however, is ontological. Women and women and men are men. Gender is not a subjective reality. It is objective. \n\nI never claimed there is an ontological difference in the priesthood of Baptism. Gracious! Where did you get that idea? \n\nI am speaking about the Ministerial Priesthood which is something entirely different. What are you talking about? If you are going to deny that the Ministerial Priesthood exist--as the Women's Ordination Conference suggest---welcome to the Protestant Church. That is what they believe. That is part of what the \"Reformation\" was over. \n\nIf you are going to claim Jesus never ordained anyone, why all the fuss? The solution lies in not ordaining men!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I appreciate the links offered for further investigation. This shows respect for the truth and the intelligence of the reader. Further, it demonstrates an engagement with the world in joining the conversation from a Catholic perspective. The documents of Vatican II refer to a creative engagement with the world as a way to promote Gospel values in the public square. \n I do NOT mean anti-abortion political activism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well..thanks Fish, but you proved my points. Though I make no claim as to what category 1, 2 or 3 You, [theothehand] and many others fall into other then the common ground of simply being educationally untrained in the discipline of Christian theology.\nThere is a well known common understanding among knowledgeable Christians: In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas [more commonly translated as] \"unity in necessary things; liberty in doubtful things; charity in all things\" Remember this and hopefully you won't make or suggest the same mistaken ideology announcement twice. \n\nhttp://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/essentials-unity-non-essentials-liberty-all-things/\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_necessariis_unitas,_in_dubiis_libertas,_in_omnibus_caritas", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not disputing Christ's teachings. I am pointing out that the Bible is made up of a lot more than just the 4 Gospels that discuss Jesus's life and that those other sections are often cited by Christians to support their beliefs.\n\nPerhaps what is needed is for Christiana to also challenge their own fundamentalists.\n\nI view comments oldest to newest so my timeline was correct when I posted my comment. Clearly you knew what was referring to.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting how it's unacceptable to you when I call out Winters, but for Winters to call out others you dislike, even good holy Cardinals, with invective and abuse, it's all fine. No, the Winters nastiness has to stop. It's not how Christians should behave with one another, let alone with Cardinals. It is most certainly un-Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yep, let's be sure that the poor end up worse than before with our greed and neglect of the problems sitting within our reach. Not the Catholic Church I grew up in, but then I'm older....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for an awesome opinion piece Ivo.....Fucken well said! As an Atheist, I too am disappointed at the inappropriate religious mutterings on social platforms. A disaster of this magnitude had no place for it...and Yes, god had nothing to do with it! \nAll my praise goes to general humanity, those relentlessly giving of their own, in an attempt to aid and assist others when it mattered most, regardless. \nWe live in a small community in Hartbeespoort and last Friday night I was gob smacked to see volunteers work until 11:30pm that evening to load trucks full of supplies destined for Knysna. It took so long because there was so much to load....the volume of contributions and aid were unexpected and...much of it came from friends just like me...irreligious. \n\"You don\u2019t need to be a Christian to be good and generous.\"\nThank you for putting into words what had left such a sour taste in my mouth!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tossing in the names of Gro\u00ebr and Macial is grist to the witch hunting machinery that is in motion. \"The Australian\" has an editorial pointing out that wrongful jury convictions are not at all excluded by Australian law and are quite probably in the present case. Like the case of Bp Nienstedt and the confirmand, this case seems dreamt up by a mob intent on getting Pell at any cost. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/paul-kelly/george-pell-case-justice-system-on-trial-not-just-a-catholic-leader/news-story/553a2bcf5dab1f66879ce7aadb45d0dc", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Standards are always relative both between and inside any society(ies). \n\nThe Romans before Christianity existed followed some Greek standards, but not others, even though they worshiped the same \"Gods\".\n\n The citizens of Rome had different standards than the non-citizens, and the First Families of Rome had even different standards from either of those two groups. \n\nEven if we go back to a time when Catholicism was the only Western religion, Islam and multiple other religions also existed with their own standards, some of which were followed in Europe by some people.\n\nThe standards applied in Catholic Europe varied, say, between France and Spain. Standards also were different for the peasants, the nobility and the clergy in the same country. Same religion applied to those three classes of people, different strokes for different folks.\n\nBillions of people in the world believe in plural marriage; we are a minority to follow monogamous marriage and have been for centuries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "[for every one you think you might be able to find, I'll find 10 quotes from our founding fathers all supporting the notion that they made us a Christian nation under the Judeo Christian paradigm.]\n\nWhere does the word REFUTE appear in the above? It doesn't.\nCritical reading and writing skills would have saved you here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I dunno....I used to be Catholic but find the Episcopal church to be welcoming, open to people of all sexual persuasion, respectful of women, married clergy (including women), and it offers as well a full liturgical Mass (not to mention homilies that are often quite excellent). And, lest I forget, each diocese elects its own bishop - the one change that, I think, might have a huge and beneficial impact on the RC Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, I don't think the Pope Francis has anything to learn about \"Catholic culture\" from the fake mantillas that the Trump women were wearing (chosen principally for their fashion style, I suspect).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But perhaps you ought to look at the map again. Mililani is the center of evangelical Christianity but look at how people voted. Your analysis is not really analytical. It seems more like a knee-jerk reaction. This election was complex. The two candidates were roundly disliked by a majority of the voters in the United States. Most of the voting decisions came down to the question \"Who might harm us Less?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see only one problem with what has transpired: that instead of 80, 800 or better yet, 8000 parents, should have showed up to protest. When the numbers of protesting ppl reach the ones, which attend sporting events, only then will Canada have a hope of remaining true to its Judeo-Christian nature. Other wise, just you wait, until that mentioned segment reaches critical demographic mass....say 10-12% of population....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anyone can do anything they want. Being Christian doesn't make a person more moral. Being Atheist doesn't make someone immoral. Morality is not dependent on one's religious beliefs. Christians believe in doing certain things to get into Heaven. They want to please a God that they believe will punish them for actions he doesn't sanction. Atheists don't believe that. I do not believe in a Heaven or a Hell or that there is life after this one or in the existence of a vengeful God that judges and tests and strikes people down. That does not mean I just do whatever I want; morality be damned. I am a very thoughtful, caring person. I give to charity, I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't do drugs, and I am always there for anyone who needs me. I don't need the fear of punishment in the afterlife to motivate me to care about my fellow man.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Start with the section of Romans that you commented on above. And since the Bible comprises both the New AND Old Testaments it's intellectually dishonest of you to try and say that the Old Testament doesn't apply.\n\nOr are you claiming that all those Christians who believe the Old Testament are really not true Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can Catholics be excommunicated for believing what the Church teaches?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Taken from my article A Bond of Divine Mercy in the link below, perhaps some may consider reading it. \nThe Church teaches that the only option open to a gay Christian is celibacy and if they should sin they are in exactly the same position as all of the unmarried, the sacrament of penance is available to them and in this regard, they are treated equally.\nFor young Christian gay adults, the options appear to be stark, live a single celibate life. As Christians we consider this to be a gift from God. Obviously Homosexuals have the same needs as heterosexuals for a loving sexual relationship, to impose celibacy upon any one, either a heterosexual or a homosexual person would create an intolerable situation within their heart, which would only serve to increase the desire for companionship and sexual intimacy...\n\nhttp://www.v2catholic.com/background/2015/07/2015-07-25Kevin-Walters-a-bond-of-Divine-Mercy.htm\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are saying religious institutions should be in sync with their (official) religious teaching, whether Catholic, Evangelical Protestant, Mormon or Orthodox Jewish.\n\n (Of course, why people would want to work in these religious institutions, schools --Yeshiva University, Bingham Young, Wheaton College, Notre Dame, etc. -- is another thing, knowing that such institutions abide by a different set of values, standards, ethical evaluations. That is, knowing these institutions' mission statements and policies, why work at those schools if one can't abide by their mission specifications, narratives, declarations, assertions, etc.! The poor Church of England, as an established state church, has to take into account what Parliament says. But churches in the US are not state churches. The Amish do their thing, for example, without the state imposing cars on them, among other things.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi David,\n\nI tried to send you my address so you can contact me. It does not seem to have stayed on the comments so just delete any spaces I put in this following address when you send me your info. I am very interested in learning about alternative Catholic Churches being created that allow genuinely equal treatment and ordination for women and men like Roman Catholic Women Priests, etc. Do you have your own church bldg that was Roman Catholic? Are there a group of your churches that have gone independent? My address is restor now @ mail .com.\n\nThanks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know what really annoys me about this.\nMany decades ago our forebears donated their pennies from their meagre wages to build the churches and schools that are there today. And the bishops (not all but a real lot of them) are going to throw away this heritage while they preserve orthodoxy, a male celibate priesthood, a horrible mass translation, and be FTTM (Faithful To The Magisterium). It's the bishops' most grievous fault and a consubstantial scandal. Already we see that \"30% of baptized Catholics in the USA have left the Church\" and a lot more are no longer weekly Mass attenders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Gardner said his goal was to make health care work for all and not reduce coverage for anyone, raising the issue of high premiums some in rural Colorado face under the ACA.\"\n\n\u201cWe know that the Affordable Care Act has helped some,\u201d he said, \u201cbut there are many people who haven\u2019t been helped by it.\u201d\n\nWhat a con job answer. He and the other Rs invented a worthless \"plan\" that will actually cover fewer people who can't afford healthcare, and favor the rich with tax credits they don't even need. Merely exchanging one group for another doesn't equate to covering more people, Cory, and stop trying to con us by insulting our intelligence with that lie. We see through it. Accept it. We've told you.\n\nHow obvious can you be? After months of hiding from your constituents you brazenly selected to have TH meetings only in the most conservative territories. Colorado Christian College? Really, Cory. Boulder and Denver are your constituents, too. Why did you leave them out of your meeting schedule?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The thing is, with liberals, disagreement is hate.\"\n\nThe thing with Jay Edward is that he clearly does not understand liberals.\n\n\"The fact that Catholics and Evangelicals can put aside their differences to work on anti abortion work should be applauded.\"\n\nThe fact that Catholics and Evangelicals can put aside their differences to work on hatred and building a theocracy should be condemned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You make it quite clear that you feel opposing injustice is a waste of time, and those who do so do it for the worst of reasons. I'm afraid that the response I would like to make would be deemed uncivil. What I will say is that your claim to be a Christian is questionable at best.\n\nI suggest that you first read Isaiah 58, and then you have a long talk with your spiritual advisor about what it means. If he tells you that what you are doing is fine, then you need to get a new advisor. Concern for others is central to being a Christian. And your concern had better extend beyond your family.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was raised in a Catholic grade school, surrounded by my Irish born parents and family. I believed (cafeteria style) until I was 50, when my parents passed, and I realized I was going through the motions because I couldn't bear to tell them I didn't believe. Now, there is nothing clearer to me than the thought that this world is all there is. I find great meaning and blessings in my life, and am motivated by the thought that I want to be remembered by family and friends as someone who worked to leave the world a better place than he found it. I feel that believers have created a \"Heads I win, tails you lose\" relationship with the God they have created in their own image. When something good happens, it's God's will/blessing. When disaster, or poor health strikes, or a highly prayed for loved one is killed by an IED in Afghanistan, then God works in mysterious ways and it is not for us to question Him. I just can't accept that any more, but I'm happy if it works for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus did not choose any gentiles as apostles. Therefore, by your reasoning, only Jews may be ordained.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics (as well as Protestants) believe in the 'priesthood of all believers'. \nAll Christians are 'a chosen race, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation' (1 Peter 2:9). We are all called to share the priestly, prophetical and kingly functions of Christ ('Lumen Gentium').\nThe ordained priests are a sub-set of the total.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no doubt that historically Christianity has had a major influence on Canada's history however and remains, even nominally, a factor in the lives of numerous people however we are not a theocracy of any sort and our laws are free of religious effect. \n\nNon Christian religions and other cultures often have their own calendars. The fact that the world has settled on using the current one is an act of convenience, not a sign of any religious significance. After all, the allegedly Christian holidays you list are hardly definitive given how the timing of the new year, Christmas, and Easter have all been subject to human whim over the centuries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Technically, Jesus created the institutional religion that is the Catholic church when he said \"you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.\" Who are we to say that we know better than Jesus? Incidentally, which parts of the Catholic faith do you consider to be \"fictitious presumptions\"? Also the things you are stating about \"belonging in and to nature\" seem to have a very pagan slant, unless I am misinterpreting them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You choose whether your tax dollars should support the public or Catholic board. If a Muslim doesn't want to support the Catholic Board then he/she can choose to support the public Board.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "i am going to be completely forthcoming, whether or not anyone is offended, because you can defend yourself here on this forum: the new mass is not catholic. If you like it, you like protestant services more than catholic ones. We know that the new mass was created to get prots into the church. My last comment was deleted, but that is a mistake since I am one of the few people on this forum who has both traditionalist credentials and progressive credentials, and if you silence me, you silence the last chance the church has to mend fences between groups.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, I'm a devout Catholic. You're a Catholic too, but you'd ally yourself with the Soviet Union to defeat the Nazi's even though Stalin murdered millions of Catholics in the Ukraine before Hitler came to power. That doesn't make sense. Catholics and Christians also up to that point went to Siberia all for their religion, and you would support that? That's not Catholic, that's Karl Marx.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually sully, your comment that God didnt make Mary pregnant is heresy. From the creed: \"by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary\" and from the Gospel of Luke: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.\" if that isn't God making her pregnant I don't know what is. \n\nBy the way, I never said that I did or did not nelieve this. I only said that one could arrive at this conclusion from Catholic theology and Scripture. Personally I have no opinion either way. Most, if not all theology is idle speculation and really serves little purpose. IMHO", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A few weeks ago, Cdl Muller of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith gave an interview that upheld the traditional practice of withholding holy Communion from divorced-and-remarried Catholics. Now, Cdl Coccopalmeria has published a booklet in which he apparently says that, subject only to the toothless requirement of \u2018discerning their situation\u2019, such Catholics may and should be admitted to holy Communion. In other words, the Church\u2019s arguably two highest-ranking cardinals in the areas of canonical interpretation and the protection of doctrine and morals are in public, plain, and diametric opposition with each other concerning a crucial canonico-sacramental practice.\n\nThis division cannot stand.\"\n\nhttps://canonlawblog.wordpress.com/2017/02/14/a-blow-upon-a-bruise/\n\nWhy didn't the Cardinal attend the press conference to launch his booklet?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Far right in Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Turkey (nation denies the Armenian Genocide of 1915),\nRussia (Putin trying to restore the influence of the Orthodox Church,\nHungary (Trying to restore the influence of the Catholic church)\nPoland (Trying to restore the influence of the Catholic church)\nSo you have extremist Jews, Sunni, Shittes, Orthodox Christians and Catholics.\nWhich one is attacked the most by the fake news media??", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"There has emerged in the last three years a vibrantly transformed branch of Catholic theology which is rightfully claiming its place as a central element of Catholic doctrine and practice: the pastoral theology which is contained in the teachings of Pope Francis,\" he said.\n\nExactly! All these canon lawyer bishops are of the Ray Burke mold: duds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems that Religous Freedom to Catholic Hierarchy is the freedom to impose its religious views on others and the freedom to discriminate against others as it so wishes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your assertion is partially correct. God is not seen but this woman's Christian faith is not based strictly on God whom cannot be seen. It is based on the legal-historical method of verification - same type of evidence used in courtrooms where the evidence and witness testimony is evaluated in order to determine the truth. Her Christian faith rises or falls on the proof/veracity of Jesus' resurrection as testified to by eye-witnesses whose testimonies are recorded in the Bible. Since the resurrection was a one-time event, the scientific method which requires repeatable, observable phenomena is not applicable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stephen--yes. I know that there is a team and as a team player you support your teammates, your coach, whatever...but the GOP does more to market it's self as a moral/values party. This must be particularly challenging to keep Christian women supporting what has become a male party.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "End of Kaliphate? LOL. Dreaming in Technicolor.\n\nKaliphate is a state of mind in which 85% of Muslims (the Sunnis) live, and dream of.\n\nBetween 2 Abubakrs (the first Kaliph and last) Sunni Kaliphate was a drag on civilization curtailing trade and human progress for 1,400 years no less.\n\nSocrates was done in by big business and banker Demos. 1000 years later Mohammed, allied with Christians to rout his Meccan Demos, ushering a new era of peace, justice, women's emancipation, free entreprise, and free trade.\n\nBut upon his death the neocon moneyed Demos hijacked his progressive revolution morphing it into Kaliphate of gore, glory, conquest, and colonialism, picking needless fight with Christians, imposing Tariffs (Arabic word) on East-West trade, finally blocking it altogether thus starving Christian Europe into half, and forcing them to find new routes to Asia and new lands.\n\nDivine Hand bombed this nuri mosque; next is Mosque of Umar, the second Kaliph, god willing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think The Bible recommends we're to make judgements at all. That's the thing. \"Remove the log in your own eye\" \"he who is without sin\" \"judge lest you be judged\" etc. \n\nI'm not saying a serial killer represents evangelical Christians. Serial killers don't represent any of us. \n\nI just always pause when I see \"who's a Christian and who's not\" statements. I was raised with the understanding that Hitler could have been saved in his dying breath. No amount of \"sin\" determines an ability to judge someone's status with God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the Roman Catholic church has lost many times that number! So much so that FORMER CATHOLICS are the second largest Christian denomination, right here in the USA! And some reliable sources chalk that \"decline\" up to B XVI's prayer for a \"smaller church.\" If you think the Episcopal church is \"dying,\" what think you of the Roman Catholic church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nowadays we call them \"educated Catholics.\" Or \"Catholics who can think for themselves, and do.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is really sad when most comments regarding this article is about how some Catholic priests abused children. Not all Catholic priest are abusers. It is also sad that even the Catholic Church has turned against its own because this organization does not comply with their regulations or maybe due to their not giving a share of the revenues to the Church. Would Jesus strike down an organization that is helping drug addicts, prisoners and children? The Catholic Church lost its reason for being long ago when they chose to side with hate and judgement in their misguided belief that Jesus would choose killing over loving thy neighbor. And it is this very thing that will further erode the people's faith in this religion as can be seen in the suspicious posts regarding priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I fail to understand how artifacts from that-long ago could be of interest to someone who claims to be Christian. Jesus Christ wasn't born for thousands of years, and therefore couldn't have had followers before that. And even though Jesus had followers, they weren't called Christians for 400 years. I mean, unless you're contriving your own version of things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "J. P. K: Having worked as a teacher, I can`t believe it might not happen- I believe it`s already like that! Too often, students are taught in our culture that their entitlements are paramount, that the demands of the imperious self may always be satisfied before any other consideration. The Trump phenomenon is merely a single brilliant embodiment of a cultural tendency created over decades.\nAbout getting old and being glad you won`t have to struggle with it, well, I think it`s a rule that everybody is born into difficult times - the chief difficulty lying in finding the way to become a decent human being. The various religious and social institutions, however, that should be there to facilitate that search, are always compromised and challenged to greater or lesser degrees in each generation, though the personal responsibility to make the effort remains. Being a catholic I believe in the Communion of Saints - in trying to be a power for good, we have help and we can all help!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Could well be that the \"faith-based\" program increased government funding for religious charities but it has been going on for a long time. \n\nInternationally, it is a ritual of the first day of a President who is of a different party from his predecessor to revoke or reinstate the \"Mexico City Policy,\" established by Reagan, which prohibits government support of NGOs that offer counseling related to abortion.\n\nDomestically, I know that Catholic Charities and some of its affiliates receive a large portion of their funding from the government. Early screams by the bishops about \"religious liberty\" involved refusal of the government to renew contracts with Catholic agencies that refused to arrange adoptions by gay couples.\n\nI have unwittingly waded into a discussion about something of which my knowledge is neither broad nor deep. Although that does not make me unusual among NCR commenters, I think I better stop now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Peace in the womb, first. \n\nUnder US law, but not under natural law, which is what the Catholic Church bases its morality on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'Religious women' isn't an exclusively Catholic thing -- there are a lot of religious women among Protestants as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are welcome. The apocryphal books have always interested me, especially the Christian ones. More than a couple were considered actual inspired scriptures in some of the early churches and two, The Shepherd of Hermes and the Didache, were nearly included in our canonical books. I believe that the Ethiopian Orthodox Church may still include some of these works in their scriptures.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is it these Catholic action orgs like Franciscan Action Network are always fighting against jobs for Americans?\n\nAs for the Tribal leaders, they day they close down their ruinous gambling, alcohol and tobacco \"entertainment centers\" is the day I'll believe they really care about humanity and the environment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have missed the forest for the trees. The overwhelming majority of WHITE Catholics voted for Trump. The overwhelming majority of non-white Catholics voted for Clinton. Clearly their religion had little to no influence on their vote.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@Jim McCrea. I thank you for that and might have said the same except I thought it might seem like special pleading coming from a Mainline guest here among you good , if contending, Roman Catholics. I'm tempted, as I watched the video of the ecumenical Vespers with the Pope from St. Paul's outside the Walls (featuring the choir of Westminster Abbey as guests, no less) posted in the last 48 hours by the Vatican, to suggest all watch it. His Holiness obviously thinks all Christians should get along, must get along as the People of God united by the Holy Spirit by Baptism. The Vatican radio website has the English trans. of the Papal homily, along with an interesting interview with the Dean of the Abbey. If we who once burned one another over dogma now celebrate vespers in a Papal Basilica (the Orthodox bishop also read Scripture and joined Francis in the blessing) there is hope for RC reconciliation. Trust the Spirit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I assume that 'levitating saints' are the ones who will ride the Holy Elevator....\"\n\nI think you are thinking of Elijah and his chariot of fire in the Hebrew Bible. When Catholics think of levitating saints, they think of St. Teresa of Avila. Her levitations were miniscule compared to Elijah's. For Orthodox Jews, Elijah's wheels, Elijah himself trod heaven's threshold.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An anecdotal reference. Are their children Christian? Judaism has evangelized more adamantly to maintain Jews within than convert non-Jews without. Evidently, it has been rather successfully that through the centuries and in a variety of cultures and countries Jewish identity has been maintained, despite the minority of Jews who defected. \nA rather remarkable feat given the vicissitudes of the diaspora. Maybe the vicissitudes fostered group cohesion up against a hostile world?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, they've mentioned that his father was a Taliban sympathizer. And though not 100% certain (there are Christians named \"Umar\"), indication of an Arabic name and Pashtun nationality narrows it down pretty much--ya think? Don't let me answer that last question for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "YES YES YES! As Fr. David (now Bishop) Doyle told us in eleventh grade religion class, \"I get to go to heave n before the rest of you simply by virtue of my ordination.\" When I challenged him on this, \"What if you sinned? What if you murdered someone?\" His response, \"It doesn't matter. I'm a priest.\" Of course I challenged him on this further. His response, to change my A+ grade to a C. \n\nIt is because of this clerical culture that I do not push for women's ordination in the Catholic Church. I do not wish to be part of a privileged minority who sets themselves apart from and more special than others or who believe they are somehow above the law. Jesus walked among the people - not above them. Actually, Jesus walked below the people - ministering to those who had otherwise been neglected, ignored or outcast. Clericalism creates elitism, not the humble acts of selfless love that Jesus modeled. \n\nLauri Ann Lumby, OM, MATS\nAuthentic Freedom Academy\nOshkosh, WI", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 of 2\nJesus is adamant in his opposition to divorce as the marriage bond forms a natural bond with God that incorporates the on-going inherent birthright of each and every new born individual\nTo have a trusting relationship with others, as Christians we \u2018firstly\u2019 must form a relationship with Gods unchanging Mind, we do this when we acknowledge and try to live in accordance to His inviolate Word (Will) in the serving of the Truth as truth is the essence of love; and this forms the basis of our Christian conscience. \nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So we need to quit talking about the Christian right? Or Hindu extremists? When I'm told to quit calling a spade a spade, forgive me if I get suspicious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Comment 2\n\nThe ACP article and comments resonates with me on this problem of change and \u201cage-old cultural thinking\u201d. See comment 12 after the ACP article. A person named MM says: \u201c\u2026will new theological exploration be allowed and encouraged within the Church, or is the Adult Catechism the final word? We have to be hopeful. For example we are no longer required to believe the Earth is flat or at the centre of the universe. But it won\u2019t be easy. The state of theological perfection attained by the Magisterium and maintained by the DCF means we have nowhere to go and nothing more to learn\u2026\u201d\n\nThe concept of infallible teachings is a real problem, as is the \u201chermeneutic of continuity\u201d which is \u201cunalterably opposed to any interpretive technique which severs one or more Magisterial texts (or one or more passages of Scripture) from other texts.\u201d This hermeneutic fears \u201crupture\u201d, a real break with past thinking. \n\nCan Catholic theologians, bishops, the CDF, and popes change their minds?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...may be potentially harmed by going to a Catholic hospital....\"\n\nThen why go. I certainly wouldn't if I were not a pro-life Catholic and were reaching out for an answer to an \"end of life issue,\" not on the Catholic hospital's scale of values (especially in relation to Catholic belief that every life has a historical and an eternal source). Religious and non-religious hospitals are not on equal footing in regard to these issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the history lesson but the national day of prayers was started by christians. Making a national day of hijab is just some PC attempt at showing muslims that the UO cares(barf). If they were christians being persecuted the UO would care much less, much less. Thank god you are able to tell me many religons pray, who would of thunk it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The man said he ran away because he had church in the morning.\"\n\nRadical Christian jaywalkers!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, there is historical evidence that Mary was an actual person. Whether you believe the qualities Christianity and Islam have attributed to her is up to you; however, she was real.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "....and ex-Catholic is one of the largest Religious groups in the country, accounting for 1 in 10 Americans. Young people are leaving in droves. \n\nTruth be told, nearly every religious denomination is losing ground. So mere numbers are meaningless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Allan R\n\"clearly doesn't unique to Muslims.\" ???\n-\nanyway it could just be a ZONING or NIMBY issue\nand not anti-Muslim\n-\nJewish and Catholic cemeteries are in Jewish and Catholic areas\nthis proposed Muslim cemetery is not in a Muslim area but in the middle of small town Quebec\nsmall town folds are conservative\na Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist cemetery probably also would have been rejected\nSo not necessarily anti-Muslim", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On-ward Christian sol - diers march-ing as to war with the cross of Je - sus go - ing on be - fore.\nChrist the roy - al mas - ter leads a-gainst the foe.\n\nPlease lead us to glorious victory Amy. If not you, who?\n\ndon't let them replace our beloved sharia law with theirs...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can somebody who disagrees with the Catholic Church's teaching be a Catholic? In my younger days such a person was called a Protestant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There will probably be some kind of Al Smith Dinner in twenty years, but it's highly unlikely the Presidential candidates will still attend. The Catholic demographic is declining numerically and the influence of the Church over Catholic voting patterns is already very slight. Like it or not, Catholic prelates in the US should begin preparing for a time when their phone calls to the secular powers go unanswered.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "david, i read your church magazine, better than most. what i cant understand is how you claim that Christianity has outlasted all other religions and that it is the only true religion (pg 3). there are several older ones still around. i have never met a christian that doesn't answer every, EVERY, question i ask with, the bible says..... Christians cant seem to carry on a conversation without citing the bible. i find it impossible to talk to you. there is no proof that the bible is the word of god nor is there any proof there is a god. i'm not an antsiest, i just dont care, and am willing to wait until science proves or disproves the god theory. i also wonder why the thousand or so actual church buildings in Hawaii are locked 80%, or more, of the time when homeless people could be accommodated in some way. i see Christianity has moved away from loving your neighbor as yourself to lets get everyone saved; more members, more respect from the competition. you are a business, nothing more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You really have no idea what a Christian is like except what you read about or see on TV or the movies. You won't admit that there are christian scientist, conservationists, greenies, etc... I have talked about all I do to recycle, reuse and repurpose. Instead, you and your elk mock me even though most of you do less to save the planet than I do. You aren't any more caring, so get off of your high horse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Easter teaches us that because of Christ\u2019s sacrifice, there is a cosmic repair job coming\"\n\nPerhaps the most muddled, confused and confusing part of the entire Christian canon. Well, apart from the Trinity...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Liberal, when describing Catholic clerics = \u00fcberconservative when describing anyone else with the same beliefs and outlook.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem with the Republicans they are away shouting how they are so prolife. That is until the baby is born. Then they want to privatize every government program that has protected those who need it most. By privatizing Medicare and the VA hospitals allow to rich insurance companies make money at the expense of us all. How can a Christian support that. The things people who complain about the lack of morals are mostly (not all) is something the church or government cannot control. But the Catholic Church should be excepting to all. That is you really believe the word of God is important. You never get people to do something or join anything if they are perceived to be hated before they walk in the front door. I think Pope Francis what a kinder less judgemental church. The final judgement is up to God not us or even the Roman Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus picked males because in his culture women would not have been accepted (though he had women who traveled with him and worked with him). Because Jesus rode a donkey, we should all ride donkeys or because Jesus wore sandals we all should wear sandals? You are correct to say males priests only is a \"tradition\" and traditions can be changed as the times change. Continuity sometimes stifles growth as the all male priesthood is stifling growth in the RCC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The criteria are applied to contemporary issues and developments. Safe to say that if you don't believe in the resurrection, you are not a Christian or a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Under Vatican law, Bishops are requried by Art 30 under Sacrementorum Sanctitatis Tutela to conceal clergy abuse unless there is a civil law requiring them to act. http://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_introd-storica_en.html \nBishops who do not abide by the directive of canon law are threatened with excommunication. \nThe Catholic Church hierarchy behaves like that of a multi national company. \nBishops are accountable to the Pope, not the people. The Vatican has failed to act & to instruct its 5000 plus Bishops to mandatory report clergy abuse in every country it is based. The Vatican only claims to be responsible for children living in the Holy See - basically church palace. In 2014, United Nations demanded the Vatican immediately remove all clergy who are known or suspected child abusers and turn them over to authorities. A must read Barrister Geoffrey Robertson QC's 'The Case of the Pope: Vatican Accountability for Human Rights Abuse'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TumKd_mhmMY", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When adults are learning to read, nobody hands them a pre-primer that a young child uses in learning to read.\n\nNeither the Baltimore Catechism nor the Catechism of the Catholic Church are the Living Word of God. They are not Sacred Scripture. These documents were written in their time, for people of their time. They are not timeless documents. These documents become obsolete. As an example, let's look at the first Code of Canon Law of 1917 [this was the first universal code of Canon Law in the history of the Church]. And this Code only existed for less than ninety years. \n\nDid things change? YES. I mention the 1917 Code, because THAT Code unified the current system of appointing bishops. In 1914, on the eve of World War I, 73% of the bishops of the world had NOT been appointed by the Holy See.\n\nAnd that Code of Canon Law of 1917 was tried, and it didn't work---so a new Code had to come out in 1983. And it time, probably a faster time yet, it will be obsolete, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ramones said; \"...How about you give up your old French language and associated fanatical protection of the language...\"\n\nUn autre grand tarlais de ti-cul qui se \"p(H)ourre\" le doigt dans l'oeil par une insignifiante ignorance crasse affich\u00e9e.\nDon't you know...In Canada, Qu\u00e9bec is \u201cofficially\u201d French speaking since 1774-\n(but we all know that it is since his foundation in 1608) \nso why are YOU crying for then ?...Who\u2019s LATE here ?...\nand who\u2019s got & MAKING a problem with it ?...\nthe \u201cQu\u00e9bec Act\u201d (an Act for making more effective Provisions for The Government of the Province of Qu\u00e9bec in North America) was a British statute which received royal assent 22 June 1774 and became effective 1 May 1775;\n- it re-established the French language rights (got it Anglo Canada ?);\n-+ Catholic faith; \n-+ French civil law...\u201d\n\na British statute, hard to \"swallow\", eh Ramones ?\n\u00e9touffes to\u00e9 avec \u00e7a, 'stie d'arri\u00e9r\u00e9 !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "McHale pretends that the magisterium has not changed. When given Dignitatis Humanae's teaching (contra Pius IX) that freedom of religion is a right, he rejects Vatican II. He pretends to maintain authentic Catholicism, while actually being in schism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hard to know if this was an anti-semitic action by vandals. Many Christian churches have been attacked nation-wide as well. One is neevr sure what the poltiical or racial message may be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think a lot of so called Christians missed those verses. They are more into the prosperity gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "cont'd from above --\n\nFrom now on the only people of the church I will be concerned about is those like Fr. Rene Robert!!! \nLet the bishops stew in their own juices in the GOP swamp of alligators and snakes. \nHarsh, I know -- but it is those bishops (USCCB) who are constantly playing people against each other. That leads to much war-death-kill and a huge amount of pedophilia as well. \nA near total bunch of misanthropes. As well as neanderthals who have long ago abandoned the path of Jesus Christ for the path of earthly political power. HE said: my kingdom is not of this earth. \nEverything that is occurring is ALL about MONEY, POWER and supremacy. \n\nDoes anyone really think when Roe v Wade is ended that this venom, viciousness, vitriol and hatred will actually end. The end of Roe will not be a drop in this ocean of hatred stirred up by Pope John Paul Ii, the GOP, George W. Bush, Chaney, the American Catholic prelates and the Koch bros and the other 19 or so Super Rich??? \nJust watch.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bishops probably hate Crosby's \"Imaging God in Sex and Marriage\" published in the Furrow last April, in which he proposes that Catholic interpretation of sexuality has moved into a kind of fundamentalism that could be reversed by re-evaluating \"its teachings when the findings from science [demand] such.\" That time is now, he argues, even if it is not known with 100% certainty how human identity, human sexuality, and sexual orientation operate together. \"As a Church we should be aware of the mistakes of the past based on faulty science,\" he concludes. \"This invites us not to rush to further dogmatic articulations on who can confect the sacrament of marriage based on possibly outdated notions of sex that have been quite exclusively on biology.\"\n\nHere, here. Well, they can't silence him completely.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am by no means a fan of Notre Dame for personal reasons. But I am glad that they did this. Trump is so outside the boundaries of what Catholics find acceptable and to invite him to speak would be to normalize hatred and bigotry that is an anathema to the Gospel messages. Catholic institutions should refrain from inviting Trump to visit to the extent possible. I was for instance disturbed that Trump toured a Catholic school in Florida on Friday. What if some of the schoolchildren were immigrants? Could you imagine how scared they would feel? Did they not think of their students being traumatized?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not American so I don't really have any investment personally in any of that.\n\nHowever, I am a Catholic and I can't wait for Francis to rid us of the ultra-conservatives. I hope he does it starting with Burke. These traditionalists have made a mockery of the Church and turned it into a freak show. He should not waste this opportunity. Then the Church can stop selling its soul for power, prestige and wealth and get back to a gospel of kindness, compassion and sharing.\n\nOn top of that we can finally drop the legalism and the anti-Kingdom focus on the letter of the law. I hope Francis fills the college of Cardinals with Servants rather than Princes who will change the face of the church and the world for ever.\n\nThen perhaps conservatives in America might see that their ideology has nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity and that the recent affront to the term 'election', will never happen again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's worth mentioning here that Gregory Baum was once an Augustinian priest, as was Martin Luther. And like Luther, Baum was German-born (Berlin), but emigrated to Canada. While he was still active in the Catholic priesthood, in the late '60s, I attended one of his ecumenical presentations, delivered at a Methodist seminary rather than at a nearby Catholic seminary with more ample facilities. Seldom have I heard or seen a theologian of any denomination manifest a greater knowledge and love of his subject matter, or seen a speaker connect more vibrantly with his audience. That he is still writing, in his '90s, is a welcome event and no surprise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This report, the non-action by the church, and even the self serving comment in yesterday's NCR by the Pope are indications that the days of the \"ontologically different\" clergy are coming -- albeit slowly -- to an end. The clergy will continue to prey on the laity. Some future iteration of Catholic Christianity will be one without clergy. The current structure just doesn't work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a young adult (19 yo f) and what drives me away most are people like you and those who are members of the clergy who shy away from the pre vat II principles and the 2000 yrs of tradition the church *had* to offer... Tell me, if modernists had their way, why not just be an evangelical? Or protestant? I'm Catholic bc of the church, and bc I believe in the truth that the church offered even before vat II...not ppls opinions/ emotions towards it. I dont need a church thats easy to follow.. I need one that challenges me and I know im not alone", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm pretty sure Jesus said \"love thy neighbor.\" Not \"compel thy neighbor to love you back by voting for politicians who seek to force altruism legislatively.\" But then I'm not a Christian, what do I know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Patti, many of the books were left out of the Bible...on purpose. The Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) existed in the original language and in Greek, of course, but there was no such thing as a canon of the Christian Scriptures (New Testament) until bishops met at the Council of Carthage in 397. There they confirmed which books were to be considered divine scriptures and which books were heretical and therefore excluded from the canon.\n\nThere are as many interpretation of the bible as there are people reading it, but that does not make the bible itself flawed, now, does it? Yours is not a rational argument. It's like a commuter saying that the 5:00 o'clock train left early because the commuter who ran down the platform at 5:01 missed it and remonstrated to the station agent that he was sure that the train was scheduled to leave at 5:02.\n\nYou are fortunate to have visited the Holy Land. Now maybe you would like to read the book whose drama was set against that backdrop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "BRO, I trust your judgment... to what degree can a priest insist that Catholics cannot in good conscience cast a vote for HRC? This one in particular wrote a 2-page rant on FB implying this, under the guise of \"not telling anyone how to vote BUT...\" Aren't church officials prohibited from doing this in order to maintain their tax exempt status?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps you need more than love. However, love is at the core of Christianity, as much as traditionalists would like to claim that the rules are at the core.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was wished a happy holiday by someone. I told this person I'm Christian and that it's OK to wish me a Merry Christmas. This person knows I'm Catholic yet still didn't feel it was safe to wish me Merry Christmas. \n\nI think it's more offensive to treat someone's holiday as a dirty word to be avoided via a euphemism than to accidentally wish someone the wrong holiday. I know someone Jewish who thinks all this PC stuff is way out of hand and is not the least it offended if someone wishes him Merry Christmas. He will probably observe the day by going to a movie and Chinese food anyway, and is more concerned over an Islamic terror attack than being wished a Merry Christmas by a well-meaning person. I think this is keeping things in proper perspective. \n\nIn the United States, Christmas is a public holiday and people get the day off. Some people observe the secular aspect without any religious undertones. This is all a very first world problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We've seen this sort of thing elsewhere. A \"Christian\" group went to court in Florida because they wanted to distribute bibles (free of charge) in high schools. They won. But then the Satanic Temple (which has nothing to do with devil worship) stepped up to the plate and sued to be allowed to distribute their own literature. They won - the courts rule that it was all or none. Within a few days the school board banned distributing anything (bibles included).\n\nAt best this will cost the taxpayer some serious money in court.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many Christian churches repudiated racism over the centuries as well. There isn't one monolithic Christian church. Christian churches were deeply involved in the American civil rights movement. We all share in our humanity. Opposing racism shouldn't lead to religious segregation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"As faithful disciples of Jesus, let us never forget that when it comes to political elections, as well as in all matters, the Gospel trumps everything! \"\n\nIndeed the Gospel does, Tony, and that's precisely why I vote Democratic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Erroneous autonomy is the erroneous belief there is such a thing as a Catholic who can have a private relationship apart from God, The Ordered Communion Of Perfect Love, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, and remain in communion with Christ's One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church; one can know through both Faith and reason, that a Catholic cannot be autonomous and in communion, simultaneously.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is but one thing with which I agree in Republican/Tea Party politics. I agree with, support, and applaud their efforts to \u201cget out the vote\u201d. \n\nThey hold office because they get the most votes. They are not the party of the majority in registered voters, but their party members vote in greater numbers. They do so in primaries, local elections, and non-presidential year elections as well as in presidential elections. This was true even before many of the voter-suppression tactics.\n\nDemocrats and Independents can learn a lesson from them in this. And this presidency has the potential to magnify that lesson.\n\nI hope they act as Christians, but I'm not holding my breath.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The author does not want priests \"driven by doctrine.\"\n\nFine with me--Then I don't have to constantly hear about Catholic Social Teaching and helping the poor. Last I checked, that is doctrine and priests harp on it constantly. Under Pope Francis, pushing about Catholic Social Teaching is all the rage. \n\nI am sorry--\"doctrine\" is a euphemism. I forgot. It isn't priests who preach \"doctrine\" you have a problem with. It is priests who talk about the moral demands of the Gospel in addition to the social demands. \n\nThus, when you say \"priests driven by doctrine\" you mean priests who preach things you don't like. You mean priests who preach other things besides Catholic Social Teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem is that they just don't know how to respond because they live in fear. Many priests have lost the ability to empathize with sex abuse victims. If they show concern, they are afraid the local Bishop will admonish them or place them in a less than desirable Church location. Growing up in the 1950\"s And early 1960\"s as Catholic kids we were taught to fear everyone. We feared God. We feared the priests and the nuns. We feared our parents. We lived our lives in fear. Most priests live in constant fear. That kind of fear is just like the fear I lived as a child. I believe that is why most priests today are incapable of dealing with those of us who were abused.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I disagree, that such name-calling is the only way people argue for the welfare of immigrants. Some people try to make the case that it is Christian, in some obligatory sense, to give shelter and succor and all that. Or Godly and necessary with respect to some other religion. Or merely desirable, decent, and proper, in light of some secular-humanist understanding of how we ought to treat each-other. \n\nThe name-calling is often, I think, a clumsy attempt to imagine the motivations of people who hold different positions. Where opinions are starkly divided, the proponents of conflicting views, sadly, sometimes try to gain a semblance of victory through disparaging, and even mis-characterizing, their interlocutors. Sometimes such mis-characterization may be due to actual ignorance of the other view, and stem from a sincere misunderstanding. In such cases, sustained and friendly discourse has the potential to widen our spheres of empathy and understanding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The article was attacking Protestants and Catholics working together for the restoration of Christian morality.\"\n\nNo. Better re-read the article....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since when is \"local control\" an excuse to impose Christianity on public school students?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Amazing. You got at least 10 people, at least some of whom profess to be Catholic, to \"like\" the proposition that the Catholic Church's doctrine \"is only good to study to figure out what went wrong.\" Why are these people not walking contradictions? Amazing, because we're not talking about abuses, such as the selling of indulgences, but doctrine --- the essentials of what the Church professes. If these people so eagerly reject Church doctrine as a whole, then in what does their Catholicism consist? They could just as well read the Bible, assert the priesthood of all believers, call Catholicism a bucket of BS, and call it a day. More sense in THAT than in the absurdity of claiming to be Catholic while rejecting what Catholicism teaches. Where's the credibility in THAT? You can laugh now, DonInKansas. No one expects a sensible rebuttal from you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(1)Some Christians refuse to see other Christians as Christians.\n(2)And your god gets smaller as well.\n========\nFrom your wording of \"my\" \"god,\" I gather I am not wrong about you being a prime example of an \"atheist or non-Christian\" who cannot see or understand why many Christians view \"Mormonism\" as a \"cult\" that one must belong to for years and obtain the upper echelons status to become privy to their \"well-guarded secrets.\"\n-\nChristians have The Bible. That's it. And the way to heaven and the way to hell is summed up in two verses: John 3:16 for heaven. John 3:18 for hell. \n-\nIt is not \"denominational differences\" that separates Christianity from Mormonism. It is Mormonism itself, with its \"Revered Secondary Book\" in addition to its \"non-traditional translation of the Bible,\" that separates Mormonism from Christianity. \n-\nThe Quakers and the Amish may be good examples of Christian lifestyles and beliefs that are very Christian.\n-\nMormonism is not. It is a \"cult\" of \"secrets.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apropos to this is: I got a real 'Hoot\" from a comment made by the head of the Oscar committee: \"We will Not be Silenced!\" ....hahaha LOL OMG! Here we go again! WHO is trying to \"Silence\" Hollywood \"stars\"? If this wasn't so pitiful...\nThe only attempts to silence anyone were made over the last 8 years by the Obama administration and it's minions, as they attempted to silence \"Talk radio\", Christians, Gun Owners, et al.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Life is God-given, Pandora, yet look at how many so-called Christians jump to \"like\" Colkoch's question. Still, it's a good enough question. I recall the Supreme Court making a statement like yours, Pandora, in the case that upheld the ban on partial birth abortion (over objection from people like those who gave Colkoch's question a star). To all you star-givers, read the first two pages of the Supreme Court's decision and get back to us regarding the state of your humanity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article has raised important issues. What we need to address is how our technical genius impacts upon our communities and relationships, upon our respect for and concern for one another, over the values of entirely self-interest, and concomitant abuse of power (in whatever form that takes). We all need to address this in our own lives, communities and politics. There is no simple solution; indeed this is at the heart of Christian vocation (and indeed all the biblical narratives).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know there are some wonderful human beings that are Christians. Dan Bryant and Terry McDonald come to mind. Sadly, they are the exception in my opinion. I have no use for arguing who is and isn't a true Christian. I deal with people based on their behavior, not theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apples-oranges. Mormons are allowed entry. They are not allowed to practice polygamy. \n\nMuslims are allowed entry (or should be). They are not allowed to stone atheists like me to death. We don't get to exclude people based on religion, we are allowed to criminally prosecute based on religion-based illegal behaviors. \"Faith healing\" is an example of illegal behavior on a Christian side - it's considered child endangerment. But we don't restrict Christians from entering the country, nor should they. People of all religions are allowed to be given equal protection when applying to the US, but they must adhere to our laws.\n\nIf they apply to come here with intent to break the law, then that is a valid reason for their visa to be denied. But denying based simply on religion is not Constitutional.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pence has always been unelectable at the top of the ticket due to his radical Christian evangelicalism and he knows that. I've always thought that the only reason Pence took the VP slot was because he figured it was his only way to the presidency. He took the spot on the assumption Trump wouldn't complete his term.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Objective truth is relative truth, at least relative to the time in which it is postulated. That's why HV was not received by the Catholic lay population. It's truths were no longer truths given what humanity had learned about procreation. The dogmatic statements promulgated at Nicaea have not been factually disproven and so I would agree with you that for now they are Catholic/Christian truth. I would not be so quick to say that 100 years from now that would still be true. It could be that we discover we are not alone in the Universe and that might have a huge impact on what we consider to be truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In spite of your phony claim, I don't hate Christians. I do despise those who claim to be Christian but shamelessly twist Christianity into misogyny, racism, and xenophobic barbarism and back it up with some biblical story. The OCF is an all inclusive event that encourages diversity, tolerance, and peace among all peoples and beliefs. Not so hard to understand.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, but it matters totally whether our convictions against abortion are based ultimately upon our believe about the immortality of the fetus. For if our position based on this conviction, then our convictions about freedom of conscience come into play. I am arguing within the Catholic community about what our own beliefs compel us to do on this question (and only on this question). \n\nWe both see very clearly that it would be a violation of the conscience of others where we required that other accept our convictions about immortality. Since we have no right to demand that other agree with us on this point, and since our anti-abortion position presupposes immortality, then when we push for laws outlawing abortions (which we do), we are violating our own principles. \n\nHe has nothing to do with our civil rights to engage in the public sphere along with everyone else. In is an internal matter of our own conscience obliging us to refrain. Abortion is an error, but error has rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, to summarize: the Church and all other churches east and west has been and have been wrong for nearly 2,000 years.\n\nJesus is not talking about the Church but - inexplicably in the midst of general teaching - has done an aside to his disciples for unknown reasons.\n\n The context of \"if your brother sins against you\" goes right past most people. Jews are required to forgive someone who asks for forgiveness, promises to cease offenses, and makes recompense. However, there is a limit to how many times one is required to forgive since it eventually becomes clear there is no intention of genuine repentance. That's the context, and I can provide talmudic references if you'd like.\n\nJesus says there is no limit. He does NOT remove the requirement that the offender ask forgiveness. He does NOT remove the requirement of recompense. And He does NOT remove the requirement that the offender promise to try to amend his behavior.\n\nJesus was not offering Communion to the unconverted Pharisees.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't have to be a \"Christian\" to teach your children right from wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not to nitpick, but how is Judaism included as one of the three \"great\" monotheisms?\n\nPresumably Christianity and Islam made the cut due to number of followers (combined they account, at least nominally) for half of the population of earth. \n\nAt around 20,000,000 followers only, Judaism is far behind and is not even the 3rd ranked monotheism. Sikhs outnumber Jews, and some sects of Hinduism are arguably monotheistic. North Korea's \"leader cult\" numbers about the same number of followers of Judaism and by \"strength of faith\" probably beats all religions (North Koreans HAVE to believe in the leader...or else).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The activities of Islam as judgments (i.e. trumpets) against the Christian church are due to the departure of Christians through their history from truth. Rev. 9:20-21 tells us that the survivors of these judgments still did not repent of their idolatry, murders, sorcery, immorality, etc. -- thus, implying that the intent of the trumpets is to bring Babylon back to truth.\n\nIt is my contention that rather than hiding this information, it could be used -- if presented properly -- as a method of winning Moslems to Christ as they would see their historical role in prophecy written prior to Islam's existence, and thus inspire confidence in the Bible.\n\nWe did not write the prophecies. The Book of Revelation comes from Jesus Christ. He obviously wanted us to have certain understandings.\n\nWe do a disservice to people if we water down the Gospel to be amenable to any and all points of view -- even illogical and contrarian -- for then, we give quarter for them to continue in error.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, except that this is the Catholic Church, and as such there is - and should be - a preference for a prelate to head the office. The issue, to me, is one of qualifications. I have met some amazing accountants who are also clerics and religious, who run organizations with multi-million budgets with efficiency and transparency. And remember, Mike, that we are talking about the pope's cabinet. The focus here is that the US can ill afford losing +Cupich, or any of the pastoral bishops we have been fortunate to have gained thanks to +Francis. The pope seems to know that one doesn't take Peter to pay Paul - although in this case it should be Paul to pay Peter!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I'm not sure I would say this is a \"Catholic website\".....\nNor would I say that the publication necessarily \"reports\"....\n\nMost of the articles here are not reports but editorial pieces. They are not Catholic in direction, but typically intend to try to be perceived as Catholic. You know - the more often a story is repeated, eventually it will be taken as fact. Their articles are typically geared toward topics close to the hearts of those who would like to change Church teaching into what they wish - and using the word \"Catholic\" in their title is an attempt to legitimize those agendas as Catholic thought...as is using the word \"Reporter.\"\n\nNow - some will ask why I bother to read and post here. Because I like to know what the other side thinks so that I can counter it. There have been edifying discussions with rational people here with whom I disagree, but many of them don't seem to post here much anymore. Mores the pity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do expand upon the concept of Christianity that differentiates between different peoples and prefers one to another. Perhaps it is the same Christianity that created \"rights\" for nations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not endorsing or supporting religion. It is protecting the religious rights of any inmate, whether they be Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. Why should we make religious accomdoations for some, and not others?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What pre-existing belief system? To respect all and be civil to each other? That is the values I see in Canada, it is not some Christian dictatorship. Again you are just like the rest blaming Canada not the people that don't accept the way it is. The founders made French and English the language of our land. You would just have us change this if they ask, not to offend them and be inclusive? How is the total population of Canada so wrong after years of development that suddenly it needs to change to meet the needs of a backwards religious group? That is not what the country is built on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No priest carried out the MEAL in 1st Century Christianity, which is what the Eucharist was called! There WERE NO PRIESTS! There were presbyters and there were bishops. But NO PRIESTS! \n\nAt no time did Jesus ORDAIN anybody. He did not lay his hands upon anybody, did not anoint anybody with oil. All of this came AFTER Constantine became emperor and the persecutions of Christians came to an end. THEN, the church's structure was set up to model the Jewish priesthood. The bishops became the high priests, and the priests resembled those of the Tribe of Levi---the priestly caste of Israel. \n\nChrist is present where two or three are present. Jesus stated this. If the time comes when there are NO PRIESTS---the gathered community could, together, read the words of the Consecration, and Jesus would be present to them in gathering of the people, in the Word, and in the Eucharist. This is how it was in the early Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't ask that.\n\nI asked the following:\n\n1) What is racist about wanting strong border security? \n\n2) What is racist about wanting the rule of law and order in society?\n\n3) What is racist about wanting a safe country in which to live where we do not have to worry about terrorism?\n\nFinally--what is racist about laws and or policies that will address those concerns?\n\nYou see, those of us who are Catholic and want those things are told we are racist for wanting those things. We are told that wanting those things are not compatible with the Christian Gospel. The question no one seems to want to answer is \"Why precisely is wanting those things not compatible with the Christian Gospel and why are they racist?\"\n\nAs if minority populations do not want to be safe in the communities and country in which they live. As if minority populations want to live in fear of terrorism. As if minority populations do not want law and order.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Clinton is elected, it will be due to a nation's continued distancing itself further away from the Christian principles upon which it was founded. Shameful, unethical behavior is no longer a reason to withhold one's vote in today's America. I think that's sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am also a Christian. One of the kindest things ever is what we do for people-that includes housing and medical care - but in Mexico, etc. Being Christian does not mean aiding in breaking the law. It means respecting people and caring for them all.\n\nPS Re slavery. That was the Democrat Party. Republicans opposed slavery, thank goodness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, so that explains his defrauding so many people -- not paying workers, Trump U, placing his name on condos never built but paid for by people planning for their retirement, chronic lying, bragging about p*ssy grabbing, violent rhetoric (referring to citizens who disagree with him -- e.g. punch them in the nose, SOB's), doubling membership dues in using his position for self-enrichment ... got it, a good \"Christian\" man. With all due respect, not my idea of a good man, but a self-serving narcissist, who abuses our nation's highest position in terms of personal attributes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The word ghetto was invented in Italy in the Middle Ages where Jews were allowed to live - they weren't allowed to live with the majority Christians. This was a large favour to the Jews because in other places in Christian ruled Europe they were forcibly converted, killed or expelled.\n\nSimilarly, ghettos in North America were created because the majority communities wouldn't allow the new immigrants to live with them. Hence the presence of little Italies, Chinatowns, Jewish ghettos, etc all over North America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to some videos, the \"Revelation 12:1\" sign is a specific configuration of Virgo, Leo, and Mercury, Venus, and Mars (The 9 stars of Leo plus the 3 planets making the 12 \"stars\") that last appeared in this specific configuration over 5,900 years ago (according to astronomy computer programs). \n-\nDoes this mean that anything will happen on Sept 23? No. Even if it a \"sign\" that something will happen \"soon,\" \"soon\" doesn't have to mean within a week, a month, or by the end of the year.\n-\nSomething \"could\" happen on Sept 23. But that is only a couple days away and we will find out then. But if nothing happens, that doesn't mean it is a complete bust. It could be a \"sign\" of a \"coming event\" that could happen \"soon.\"\n-\nBut, Biblically speaking, the next \"something\" that both Christians and Jews (both) expect is the Daniel 9 prophesy of the \"7-year peace treaty\" Israel signs with \"many\" (whoever and whatever \"many\" might be).\n-\nAnd Trump \"hopes\" for a treaty \"by year's end.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why? Thanks to Summorum Pontificum any Catholic has the choice of attending a Tridentine Rite Mass, why would you advocate discriminating against newly-weds? Could it be vindictiveness?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Raymond, suffering and joy are both apart of life. However the idea that suffering is joy is sadistic and anyone who practices this perversion on him or herself is masochistic.. To derive gratification from pain, sexual or otherwise is indeed the perversion of masochism and it is time that more people in our Catholic faith fully recognize this. I would not want to be married to someone who believes in these two perversions. Yes it is man who is sadistic for pursuing the crucifixion and death of Christ the same man who killed MLK and Ghandi. The same man who uses waterboarding and the same man who assaults children. This idea that suffering produces joy is in fact soul murder...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed. Millennia of migrations, inter-marriage and conversions make contemporary Jews related to ancient Hebrews as much as today's Roman Catholics are to ancient Romans. Even if they were, this would still not justify Zionism and its ongoing colonization of Palestine: my \"ancestral homeland\" 3000 years ago may well be Israel, Peru or Timbuctou, but that does not give me the right to displace or dominate those who lived there for generations (if not centuries) and have no other home.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Utter nonsense. Nagasaki and Hiroshima were targeted specifically because they were heavily populated civilian areas. The whole idea was to shock the Japanese imperial command into surrendering by demonstrating the horror of the bomb. It was a cold, calculated and deliberate attack on a civilian population.\n\nThe A-bomb wasn't produced to destroy factories, and nobody in their right mind believes that was the intent at Nagasaki and Hiroshima. And even if it were, the fully predictable and inevitable collateral damage would still have made dropping the bombs morally unjustifiable by any reasonable standard, and certainly by the standard of Catholic moral teaching.\n\nI don't judge Truman or the U.S. military. I'm sure they did what they thought was right. But what they did is still objectively horrific, and nobody who rationalizes it has any ground to stand on in criticizing the brutality of others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see his papacy as having returned to the path of deep reform of Vat II from which JPII and BXVI wandered from so detrimentally, but I'm not sure many are listening to what Francis is really (REALLY) saying: a solid, no holding back return to Gospel values. Everything I've read from him echoes the basic tenets of love, mercy, forgiveness, humility, service, embracing and serving the poor (including modifying global social and economic structures to facilitate greater equality of opportunity), sacrifice, etc. \n\nIf Catholicism truly modeled the Gospel, as we are called to do, if we really were building the Kingdom as Jesus asked, the fatal flaws of the uber-institutionalization of the Church \"should\" be able to be reformed easily. I think Francis is more concerned about reverting to the radical message of the Gospel than correcting even sinful practices (clericalism, misogyny, \"ontological magic\") that abound. He seems to me to be concentrating on the Gospel, not the Institution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They aren't saying much more than many Catholics say, including right here.\n\nAnd, yes, thus denomination can indeed be backward about many issues.\n\nYou seem to like the real backwardness of many imagined slights against this church.\n\nTime to adult up, boyo.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "WesternPatriot - Gong Show indeed, but not sure how funny it will be. Think there will be a lot of blood. Especially if some \"Foreign Leader\" comments on The Donald's tiny hands. And then there's Christian Fundamentalist Pence puritanically leering from the wings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are 'God Fearing Christian' a defined sect of Christianity, or just a catch phrase for those who don't understand the diversity of the Christian church?\n\nI don't appreciate your high handed mocking of those who are serious in the study of finding a pathway to peace and reconciliation with both our social and natural word. You act generous in 'allowing' others to practice their faith when your words time after time just show your contempt for meditative experiences. You last sentence shows your honest feeling toward those who are supported by their faith practice. \n\nThat's neither liberal or compassionate and so I might suggest you 'take it up' with somebody who enjoys facile comments toward religious practices. You bias is made clear by your long running stereotyping of Christians. Paul Scott", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know that some of those types of Christians believe that the worst things get, the closer to the End Times, and the sooner they'll be Raptured. That's a great excuse for apathy, to do nothing but watch and wait.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Supporting abortion is a term of art. It is not just allowing abortion to be legal (as if Catholic politicians had a choice, even about judges, because vehemently pro-life judges are usually inferior legal thinkers). It is taking the position that abortion is a positive good that society should encourage. Some zero population growth Greens actually take that position, but it is individual, not a requireed party plank. The right to abortion is part of a larger right to engage in conduct that the legislature has no business regulating in a free society. Not wanting a theocracy, even a Catholic one, is not a requirement of the faith. Sadly, Pelosi and Biden have done nothing to educate the hierarchy on why Roe says what it says. Doing so publicly may alienate some Catholic voters, but probably not the amount they fear.\n\nAgain, abortion has nothing to do with DACA except as a barometer of who Trump will pader to and why.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would like to give money and time towards living a christian life but I spent all my money buying books on spirituality and spent all my time reading about christian ideals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You conveniently ignore the fact that \"the sword\" has been instrumental throughout the history of Christianity as well. Constantine was about conversion through conquest and so was Charlemagne. So, incidentally, were Tom\u00e1s de Torquemada, Christopher Columbus, Junipero Serra and a host of others we considers heroes of the faith.\n\nI've run out of patience with the stupidity of lumping 1.6 billion people together as all having the same sinister intent. Common sense and human experience tell us (those of us who aren't blinded by bigotry, that is) that in any large religious group members will have a variety of motivations. Some belong for social reasons, some because they find serenity for daily living and some because they see a political/militaristic advantage. It's true of Christianity and it's true of Islam.\n\nAnd please, let's save the blather about how the Quran is filled with calls to violence. Every major religion has complex and seemingly contradictory sacred texts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you know his religious background? Does anyone know? I'm guessing he's NOT a Christian. Just curious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "> Underlying this narrative is the continued attack by Progressives against Christians and Christian values. \n\nActually, I dare say that former Senator Meredith has already done a pretty good job of attacking Christian values unless, of course, they've changed recently.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Probability that CO2 emissions will rise in 2017, the first full year of the Paris Accord. 100%\n\nProbability that Doug Saunders will blame white, christian males for...(pick your calamity). 95%\n\nProbability that G&M will hire a conservative writer. 22%; will allow global warming skeptic op-eds. 15%", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know about \"we\", but some of the signatories are focused only on a few \"culture war\" issues, beginning with the Catholic Climate Covenant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Almost 6 weeks after this article was posted...and only 4 other comments on this important issue?\n\nWHERE IS RELIGIOUS LIBERTY WHEN YOU NEED IT? Or is it only for protecting the institutional church and its politically conservative agenda? \n\n\"Catholic bishops [like Wuerl of Washington, DC] have discouraged [and cautioned against] the sanctuary initiative, stating the church has no legal authority to protect immigrants...\"\n\n\"It's a prophetic stance,\" [Jesuit canon and civil lawyer] said, \"but there's no legal defense.\" Did that stop the anti-abortion movement push to change law?\n\nJesuit lawyer: \"...the promise of legal protection on church grounds...cannot be sustained if the government [would be] willing to go into church properties while enforcing immigration law.\" So let's encourage law enforcement by taking a \"stand back\" posture?\n\n\"...there was a provision in canon law for sanctuary, it not longer exists\" due to \"separation of church & state\" REALLY? https://RiteBeyondRome.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This a personally timely article for me. Many in my family are Protestant and actively involved in their Churches of choice...one, being a Lutheran minister, and a few in Music Ministry in their Churches, etc. Last Wed. my husband and I had to priviledge of celebrating the Reformation. Our niece is a wonderful musician, playing organ for different Churches for a number of years. She puts on an organ recital for her community at noon in the Methodist Church; and at night in the Catholic Church. That day, her repertoire was taken wholly from music written by Martin Luther. One piece for each of the various seasons in the Liturgical Year. A couple I was familiar with, the rest I was not. But the most wonderful thing, was to hear her Pastor, give a explanation of how truly devoted to the Catholic Church, he had been! My family is very \"ecumenical\" in flavor, so I have experienced both sides of the \"coin\" so to speak, and to hear this gentler side was truly breath-taking!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don\u2019t think you\u2019ve been asked to commit a sin of the flesh, simply to make sense.\n\nI would tend to agree that as to your posts I disagree more often than like, but that is a function of what you post rather than any predisposition on my part.\n\nMy mission is to engage in Catholic conversation. If you find that disrupts what you do, the conclusion is rather obvious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Meaning is hidden in your words, I'm afraid. \nWhat does the last part mean, if not that the Gospel preaches against guns?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The discussions are not created to provide the experience you wish of never being annoyed, never reading anything you don't wish to, or being exposed to Catholicism.\n\nThe comment \" I wish Civil Comments would automatically remove posts which quote the catechism\" is hardly the attitude that will lead to civility.\n\nIf A wishes to provide B information, there is not a reason in the world either should have to \"go to Catholic Answers\".\n\nThe individual you portray as \"being railroaded out\" did not take suggestions that a calmer approach was wise - \"Well, you're wrong, and good luck telling me what to do.\" yesterday.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "US Constitution;\n\n\"Amendment I. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;\"\n\nGiving is at the root of Christianity", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm really surprised to see you consider this as 'stacking'. It's rebalancing the papal electors so they better represent the global Church. What's wrong with that? Are you just annoyed the US church is now less dominant than it was?\n\nThe Cardinals, meeting in front of the Last Judgement wall, will follow their consciences. If those consciences lead them to favour the needs of the Christians of the Global South over those of the Global North, are you so sure that wouldn't be the action of the Holy Spirit?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Follow up after researching more of Garvey's record:\n\n- announced the decision to change The Catholic University of America's dorm policy, opting for single sex dormitories\n- CUA Business School and Koch Brothers - link - http://www.americamagazine.org/content/all-things/scholars-warn-cua-over-koch-cash\n- say something about an upcoming conference at the Catholic University of America that will honor Charles Koch\n\nThese are just a few of his decisions that support an opinion that Garvey aligns with the Republican bishops group e.g. Lori, Chaput, Burke, etc.\n\nGiven this, Garvey's opinion piece loses most of its meaning (IMO). He is repeating *stock* anti-Francis sentiments while assuming that his *catholic* opinions are, of course, the only true ones.\n\nSad. He supports the anti-Catholic social justice groups e.g. Napa Institute, Acton Institute, Koch Brothers, Legatus, etc. It makes his title - politics and the virtue of charity - HYPOCRITICAL. Where is his charity?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora brought up the surprising objection that Spielberg might better have lavished his resources on the story of Catholic children abducted in the 19th century and awarded to WASPS. Perhaps a little historical perspective is in order.\n\nThe kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara by Pius IX provoked an international outcry that only intensified with the revelations of Giuseppe Coen's baptism and sequestration in 1864. The scandal surrounding Mortara inspired a campaign of antisemitic invective and rumor-mongering by the Catholic press. The pope ratcheted up his crusade against \"modernity,\" releasing the \"Syllabus of Errors\" the year of Coen's abduction. After Pius successfully maneuvered to have himself declared infallible at Vatican I he lost Catholic support as well, becoming increasingly isolated. In 1870 Pius lost the Papal States to Italian nationalists.\n\nSpielberg is attracted to precisely this kind of epic narrative. Provincial religio-ethnic antagonisms, not so much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to the Franciscan theologian Kenan Osborne, the hierarchy adopted the temple priesthood model a few hundred years after Jesus. Suddenly, the parish priest became a levite and the bishops and archbishops compared themselves to the Jewish high priesthood. It was at this point, writes Osborne, that clericalism grabbed the Church by the throat.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jim, the GOP has been gaming you for years! And all the other factions of what is today's GOP. Any christian endorsement is just for the votes, no more. They don't walk the talk, live the hype or give a rip. Abortion in the GOP is just as prevalent as any party. But if you want to believe the rhetoric, by all means go for it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Spare us....\n-the desire to use Pauline Privilege as \"proof\" the Church tolerated another marriage among baptized Christians;\n-the contention there was no \"sacrament\" of marriage until the technical term sacramentum got used by Peter Lombard;\n--that Trent, in a desire to keep some post-Florentine hope alive about reunion with the East, did not make a full-throated denunciation of epikeia;\n--that there really is very much new in subsequent Kasper books from Zur Theologie der christlichen Ehe of 1978.\n\nI did not think that a comments section required footnotes. The \"revisionism\" really lies in bending things like the Pauline Privilege, a technical theological term, etc. to \"prove\" that the theology of marriage is as fluid as Kasper, Schillebeeckx, and others would like to pretend it to be so that they can advance their thesis that marriage is basically a civil estate that the Church took over.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelicals, sure. Catholics, about half, depending on whether Trump is still there or not. Impeachment will be an issue and some Republicans may run it promising to do it. The GOP will keep their seats (they lost seats in Presidential election) if this is not a nationalized election. No chance of that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, the emails don't say that at all. They are comments made by some of the Catholics in Hillary's campaign who are discussing AMONG THEMSELVES how best to present the candidate's positions. They acknowledge the internal dissension common to all large institutions like the Church (which is not necessarily a totally bad thing).\nHillary is a life-long Methodist who has demonstrated throughout her public life her commitment to her brothers and sisters. She's right - both she and we share the Gospel values of love for God and love for God's children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis has to untangle soooo many 'NO's\" in the Vatican that have tangled it up for centuries. He places ideas out there AND he wants to see initiative on the part of the hierarchy and people. There was absolutely no reason why women, chosen to be disciples by Jesus, should have been chosen. No other rabbi in Israel had women followers, and accepted them as disciples. But Jesus did have women disciples. Women preached to other women [probably men, too] and were just as responsible as the men for the spread of Christianity. \nThere was no ordination of the Twelve as priests or even bishops, by Christ. Everyone in the very early Church used her/his gifts to further it. The same desire/will is needed today. It must be done by both men and women who are authorized by the Church to go out to the people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She calls a harmless wave the nazi salute as though the bespectacled women is somehow tied to the ideology.\n\nCorrect me if I am wrong, but isn't the Nazi view with respect to those of christian and jewish faiths consistent with what is clearly documented in islam ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians will be there, as they were there at the election.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Science has nothing to do with sexual attraction? Did you ever take a science course? A biology course? \n\n The church, especially the Roman Catholic church and much of evangelical protestantism, sadly, is often well behind the world in grasping that new information, new knowledge often makes what was \"always true\" clearly 'not true\", but an educated opinion based on the incomplete knowledge base of earlier eras. The RCC in particular tries to claim that it speaks for God - it can read God's mind and will perfectly - in so doing, it puts a false god (itself) ahead of God. Any cursory look at the church's history reveals many errors.\n\n The Roman Catholic church's hubris and arrogance in this is one reason for its failure to keep baptized Catholics in the most educated countries as active members. They see that the church is wrong in clinging to many false teachings, and so they feel it cannot be trusted as a moral guide beyond the basics of widely shared christian tenets.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I noted in the bishop's statement that he indicated that Priests for Life (PFL) is a civil organization, not subject to any ecclesiastical supervision. While what he is saying is true, it is also true that an organization known as \"Priests for Life\", with several full-time priests, all in good standing with their bishops and/or religious communities, is widely seen as a Catholic ministry. The bishops and superiors of these priests need to discern whether allowing them to continue working for PFL is good for the church, or even good for the pro-life movement.\n\nEven if PFL is not under the jurisdiction of the bishop of Amarillo, Fr. Pavone is; and it's time, and past time, for Fr. Pavone to come home.\n\nEWTN is rightly understood as primarily an outlet to foster and promote conservative politics and politicians. Obviously they should lose their tax-exempt status; more important, they should lose the support of the USCCB, which has cowered before and pandered to EWTN for decades.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Canada is a Christian/Jew theocracy.\"\n\nThat explains why all the stores are closed on Friday evening and on Sunday, why none of the stores carry bacon or ham, and why cheeseburgers are illegal...\n\n... roll eyes...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ", , , the future of the Catholic Church in North America . . . for one more generation, anyway.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tell that to Bishop McElroy, who is the foremost Catholic spokesperson on immigration:\n\n\u201cThis week,\u201d wrote the bishop, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, \u201cthe Statue of Liberty lowered its torch in a presidential action which repudiates our national heritage and ignores the reality that Our Lord and the Holy Family were themselves Middle Eastern refugees fleeing government oppression.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We may finally have figured out where from Mr. Sorenson's idea about the nature of Adventist Church comes from. It is not a Protestant idea, it is actually a basic concept of the traditional pre-Vatican II Roman Catholic Church. We might wonder if Mr. Sorenson might feel better if he would affiliate himself with that church body with whom he agrees? I have a number of friends who are communicants of the Roman Catholic Church and they are very happy with how that church functions and how it views the nature of the Christian Church. They are very good people, even if I personally can't agree with that particular point of view, even as they can't understand why I would want to be a member of such a \"interesting\" Protestant Church. We have such interesting discussions!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"When the position of the Church is that the hierarchy is always right, and that it's the job of the laity to listen, the hierarchy will not be prepared for any actual dialogue.\"\n\nVery true. An Episcopal priest once told me he thought that each denomination within Christianity had its own heresy. Within Anglicanism, he thought the heresy was deism. For Roman Catholicism he said, \"they have replaced a sound doctrine of the Holy Spirit with the office of the papacy.\" I tend to think there's some truth in that. You'd never know that each of us is a conduit of the Holy Spirit from the day of our baptisms. The way you hear it is mostly that the Holy Spirit speaks to the Pope, who then speaks only to his bishops, who then speak to us lowly peons. A sound doctrine of the Holy Spirit would allow us Catholic to challenge the episcopate for the simple reason that they aren't the only ones to whom the Holy Spirit speaks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is minimal 1%, 2%, 5%, 10%? I believe Calgary has the largest public system in Canada (anyway that is what the superintendent tells us). I believe the superintendent's staff admin, office rent etc is between 3-4% of the budget. And so eliminating one of them would be a cost savings. As well the busing costs moving kids from a neighborhood with a catholic school to one with a public school ( & vice versa) is an unnecessary cost. Finally, I suspect there could easily be a 5% savings which is not minimal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So in your view, everyone has the right to impose their moral values on everyone else? Wouldn't that be an invitation to perpetual war, world wide?\n\nWe live in societies that are very rapidly secularizing, with a world in which atheism and disrespect and utter disdain for religion is just around the corner. Would you have it that when 51% of the population is of the view that religion is superstition, corrupting the minds of young children, that that majority moral conviction ought to be imposed on Christians in the form a law making it illegal to teach religion to children, including participation in religious services, or hearing the bible read aloud.\n\nThank about it. That is exactly what you invite unless you accept that IN A PLURALISTIC SOCIETY, the law must not be used to impose the moral beliefs of some on all. \n\nAs for rape and robbery, there is virtual universal acceptance that these actions must be illegal because no one wants to be robbed or raped. Get the difference?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True. Immediately, ordain women to priesthood and make some women cardinals to correct our sinful abuse against women's humanity, and then ordain married people to priesthood who are called by God. This would give us a feast of priests and have us on the road to actually reflecting what the Gospels have taught Jesus wanted the church to become. \n\nIt really is not rocket science. Support each other always and love each other always and never judge or condemn or oppress one another. Do not take from others what you would not want stripped from you. \n\nHello Pope Francis and the all the Bishops! Anyone got his ears open!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not even sure what this is about, except another \"sins of the fathers\" piece.\n\nI, for one, am getting really fatigued over what our forefathers (and foremothers) may, or may not, have done, and how that measures against today's societal values, because if we really want to get serious about all of this we can't forget to pick on the Holy Roman Catholic Church (and all other similar institutions) for all of their collective sins over thousands of years, the Vikings for picking on everyone they did, etc, etc, etc.\n\nWhat happened in the past, stays in the past, no apologies required. If there are practices which are societally wrong today, fix those, but let's not dredge up any more feelings of guilt to try to lumber people with any more complexes than they have.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neither Ad Hoc Committees nor even Synods mean very much to average Catholics if they don't even know there are such groups. Task forces [how many people knew about these groups?] \"make recommendations\" for prayer, local dialogue on the parish/diocesan levels with 'training if possible'. What does that mean? Most parishes don't even place this info in parish bulletins, nor do the priests refer to this in their homilies, nor are there groups gathered to participate in any discussions at the parish and/or diocesan level.\n\nAll of this is like taking lots of tissue paper and crumpling it into a ball. It makes a little noise---but that's all it does. It is an anemic response to a deep seated problem that has been in the US since the end of the Civil War. The official Catholic Church did next to nothing then and the same is true today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Robert. There's the problem, isn't it?\nSome Christians refuse to see other Christians as Christians.\nIt doesn't matter that Mormons see themselves as Christian. Because you don't like their beliefs, they're not Christian. So simple.\nSo,\nIs the Society of Friends (\"Quakers\") Christian? What about Mennonites? Episcopalians? Churches who preach Jesus is God, there is no Trinity?\nCertain Christians believe only Christians go to Heaven, and then decide only Christians they agree with are Christian, so the group of people going to Heaven gets smaller and smaller, and the group of people going to Hell gets larger and larger.\nAnd your god gets smaller as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While this is a tragic event, it is truly to be expected. Thousands of Christians and other religious minorities have been butchered by the Sunni Whabbi Islamic Terrorists. You only need to look at the events of last week in Australia where Australia played Saudi Arabia in a qualifying football game. There was a minute of silence for those killed in London the previous week. Despite having been previously advised of the event, the Saudi Arabian Team completely ignored this mark of respect. There was little outcry from the Muslim community and while the Saudi Arabian government apologized we all know it was simply a PR Stunt. Every time Christians or westerners are killed by the Sunni Terrorists there is no reaction from the Muslim Community. So silence means they not only condone but support these actions. We also need to look at the events in the middle east where Saudi Arabia is trying to bully Qatar saying they support terrorist. Does anyone remember 911 - Saudi. Close the borders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Original Sin---was a concoction made by Augustine. God did not create the world in six days. There was no REAL GARDEN, and there was never only one human couple---homo sapiens--- on which to really pin the blame. \n\nBut, the Original Sin of American Catholic bishops was that, being mostly White, they could not relate to Blacks [most were Protestants---Baptists] as they could to White immigrants coming from Ireland and Central Europe [mostly Catholic]. They didn't get themselves involved with Blacks nor did they reach out to the Black communities in any way from the Civil War Period.\n\nRacism was never a problem that Catholic bishops even considered from the time of the Reconstruction of the South right to and including the Civil Rights protests of the late '60's and 70's.\nMost Bishops voted against Obama---and in this past election, they voted for a bi-polar bully who is demonstrating that he may be suffering from dementia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the early Church, during the Persecution of Christians---a good number of Christians fled to the deserts to live the life of monasticism or as anchorites. They developed STRONG spiritual lives and wrote about it. We have their documents to this day [Apophthegmata Patrum]. \n\nJesus brought/brings us Salvation, not the priests. To develop a deep spiritual life, priests are not essential. Those priests who are spiritual directors are wonderful. But they are not ESSENTIAL to developing a deep relationship with the Trinity.\n\nAnd do you think that the Holy Trinity will be stymied if Catholics won't have the number of priests available? Don't count on it! \n------------\nWilliam Harmless, DESERT CHRISTIANS: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LITERATURE OF EARLY MONASTICISM[New York: Oxford Press, 2004].\n\nBenedicta Ward, trans. \"Sayings of the Fathers\" [Apopthegmata Patrum] Cistercian Studies 59 [Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1984].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The so-called restorationists should go visit the new churches in Poland. Granted, very few were allowed to be built by the Soviet occupiers, but those few that were represent very contemporary architecture (this while JPII was Primate of Poland as archishop of Krakow). It is even instructive to visit the chapel at the Catholic University of Lublin (where JPII taught philosophy). It is breath taking in its sense of the sacred, but very very simple and very, very contemporary.\nTo see just one of the very fine post- Vatican II churches, one might visit the Church of the Visitation in Kansas City.. ( I don't know if it was new construction,,,which it appears to be...or a thorough remodeling. In either case, it is wonderfully apt to celebrate the liturgy as envisioned by Vatican II, has a real sense of the sacred and beauty which touches one's senses and soul.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most Catholics don't read NCR. Heck, most Catholics don't even read the Bible. Your point?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My point Martin, is not to question Who saved and how - both of which are so much more profound than we can understand - even in a literal recitation of Scripture, but more precisely \"who\" was/is/will be saved. Our Catholic Church identifies baptism as the required \"entry point\". Some others identify a direct and redeeming \"finding\" or \"encounter\", etc. \nNeither a literal recitation of Scripture nor how people explain, restrict, or qualify through rules and rigidities are, to my mind sufficient to explain, let alone include the \"who\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What NCR doesn't mention:\n\nRepeated riots where protesters destroyed property and assaulted men and women.\n\nRepeated attempts by progressive radicals to shut down others rights of free speech.\n\n10,000 Twitter posts calling for the assassination of the President.\n\nIn NCR's take on Catholicism, these things are apparently just fine and dandy expressions of Christian social justice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...particularly in the 2nd and 3rd generation.\"\n\nWe'll see. You might be right. Pew researches predict that when Latinos reach the 100 million mark in the US -- around 2050/55 -- only 40% will identify as Catholic (the rest will identify as either non-affiliated [24%], Evangelical Protestant [21%] or some other tradition). But surprisingly, nearly a quarter will identify as non-affiliated, non-Christian. We'll see.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True, the are meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Barthalomew. Good bye Filioque and the Roman Catholic brand. Whether Aquianas was right or not, Pope Gregory (or whomever) had no authority to change the Creed that way. Or to change the sign of the cross for the sake of branding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My parents had an excellent and loving marriage until my father died 61 years later. (My mother never forgave him for leaving her alone without him.) Don't sneer at non-Catholic marriages.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When you propose the legitimacy of uncivil means to achieve a civil objective and justify the uncivil means as if it follows from civil objective. Clearly evident in #1, #2, #3, and your \"Finally\". \nDont' try to justify racism, perverted justice, rule of law, intolerance as if it were Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quite right, John Prior. There is an interesting book on that very theme titled FATIMA AND THE SONS OF ABRAHAM by Val Bonacci.\nMs Bonacci story reconceives the mysterious meaning behind Fatima's extraordinary events through the uncharted journey of a Muslim, a Jew and a Catholic in search of coexistence in sports (baseball) and beyond. Anyway, Mary is highly regarded in the Muslim tradition and Bonacci attempts to bring this out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not only 'institutional' Catholicism and 'institutional' ancient Judaism but the whole of 'institutional' Christianity as well. It's best to steer clear of 'institutions', eh?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have asked you before to show where I reject what the Magisterium says. You have up to now failed to do so.\nThe sole purpose of the Catholic Church is the salvation of souls so I would say that advising sinners not to commit sacrilege is essential to professing the Catholic Faith especially those charged with teaching it: in fact it would be sinful not to advise them of this.\nRefusing Holy Communion to a known serial adulterer is a supreme act of mercy. Giving Holy Communion to a known serial adulterer is a mortal sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, let's take Eugene IV saying in the bull Canate Domino, \"The Most Holy Roman Church ... firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews, and heretics, and schismatics, can ever be partakers of eternal life, but that they are to go into the eternal fire 'which was prepared for the devil, and his angels,' (Mt. 25:41) unless before death they are joined with Her\" Now, that sounds like an ex cathedra statement.(before the current form was established). \n\nBut it has been contradicted -- and that is the proper word -- by Vatican II's Lumen Gentium, which says that Jews can certainly be saved.\n\nNow, Tridentinus will try to pretend that these two statements are compatible, and will get all huffy when I say that the only way one can say that is by being dishonest. Trid's ideology insists that the magisterium does not change; and mere facts will not change his mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right! What Pope Francis is indicating to the bishops, is that there is a bureaucratic recognition of a system that already exists [in most of the world, divorced and remarried couples are routinely offered communion]. However, if the rules were literally applied [as many traditionalist bishops want], no one whose marriage had failed could ever have sex again. This is not a practical way to ensure that there are future generations of Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would agree that \"Imposing one's religious beliefs on others is a type of discrimination\" The problem here is that no one imposes people to attend a Catholic University. But we did have a government impose its belief about contraception on many people and instituions that don't agree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps this is more of a spiritual opinion than a liberal one. It should certainly be a Christian opinion. Or at least it was last Sunday when I sat in a pew at Saint Anthony's Cathedral. Killing may be a sad reality but it shouldn't be a joyful one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For many years I went to AA to hear the relapse stories. Frightening enough to keep me going back until I no longer needed the fellowship as I initially did. Many don't make it but millions have and for today I'm one of those blessed ones. It is not a Christian god that AA advises one to seek out but a \"higher power\" who can be something as simple as your beloved dog if that is what will give you enough serenity, courage and wisdom to make it through another day of sobriety. \"Fake it till ya make it\" is an oft invoked mantra that helps those put off by the idea of needing \"God\". Other than the group speaking the Lords Prayer at the end of some meetings, which I was always a bit uncomfortable with, the program is not clouded with overwhelming Christian religiosity. Finding a higher power that you can call on to help sort out the confusion, loneliness and other issues common to all humans is the purpose of religions the world over. AA has helped millions. Isn't that good enough for you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Genesis 2:7, Matthew 16:25-26, John 15:13, Acts 2:41, Mt 10:28; 26:38; John 12:27, 2 Maccabees 6:30, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 15:44-45, and so on. Jesus promises eternal life for those who love Him and keep his commandments.\n\nObviously these are evidence for believing Christians and may inapplicable to atheists, agnostics, and other skeptics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that Pope Francis is promoting essential Christian values; but I disagree with the suggestion that this somehow is in contrast with Pope John Paul II. There you cross over into a hermeneneutics whose ideology does not help the cause of those values. Pope John Paul II ought to be saved from the conservative misinterpretation of JP2 as the conservative's Pope. What John Paul II had to say about human rights, about economy, about the third world, about ecumenism, about the Council, about religious liberty, about materialism, about the fundamental reading of the Gospel, about theology of the body, etc. cannot be reduced to a conservative take on things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's with this \"Roman\" adjective anyway?\nIt seems to be mainly a U.S. thing nowadays (and to a lesser extent in U.K.).\nGo to Prague and ask for a \"Roman Catholic\" Church and they will give you a puzzled look.\nThe \"Roman\" adjective has largely disappeared in Ireland and Australia too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One Program director we had I recall got excited when KORE showed some numbers in the ratings ?\nSorry you cant use the ratings service unless you are a subscriber ?\nFor using any info from that service.\nin selling advertising from what I recall?\nIf I recall; I said lets say 50 % of Christians get polled then you might see numbers, but lets say hardy any get books?\nThen a very low %?\nyea sure lets get excited but?\nLets also live ina real world....\nI think.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Highly educated Catholic? You need to get a refund on your education. A simple educated Catholic, such as myself, laughs at your false pride. I cannot believe how lost some Catholics truly are in this day and age.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is the Catholic Church's own Biblical Scholars who tell us what should be obvious : when you read about talking snakes and magic trees of live and of knowledge, and have a god who walks with his creations in a magic garden \u2013 we are reading mythology, not history.\n\nThat's what the Holy Spirit inspired - that the creation stories of Genesis be written in a myth literary form.\n\nNow we have to learn to deal with that fact, and discover how in affects our understanding and interpretation of human origins and 'original sin' and everything else that derives from this developed understanding of Scripture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "foreshortenb3, This was not about ethics at all, it was about danger to my patients. Bishops are not trained medically and I dare say that I have studied as much theology as some of them. The problem is that our Catholic leadership feels that they are omniscient and they attempt to be omnipotent. People need to be warned about Bishops making rules that is nothing more than practicing medicine without a license.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We all know that it was NOT men and women in the church who called for reform and justice.\" \nOh, yes it WAS, but they were far and few between. How do I know? Because I was one of them and I certainly did not consider myself prophetic at the time, simply called to it due to my own experience of having been molested (along with my sisters) by our Catholic pastor. When 7 (?) young men in our diocese went to civil trial back in the 90's and the true nature of the beast started to reveal itself, in the face of the disbelief and condemnation of fellow parishioners, I took what little courage I had and supported the men privately and in public with op eds and alerts to countless Catholic rectories all up and down the state. The backlash from ecclesiastics of that era, the shunning by fellow parishioners and the embarrassment of my family nearly killed me. Was it worth it? You're ***n right it was and I'd do it again in a heartbeat, but, again, only with the help of the Holy Spirit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bravo to SVDP CHURCH, THE PASTORS AND THE CONGREGATION!\nMost Catholic churches in Canada, I believe, have a St. VIncent de Paul organization\nthat reaches out to those in need.\nSome communities also have an Out of the Cold meal and overnight program.\nIt was started in Toronto but has spread to many communities.\nWe have had great support from everyone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is still a Christian faith if people feel the truth of Christ's teachings in their hearts, which may or may not be influenced for some by rubrics of the Church as experienced in the liturgical cycle. Whenever I lose sight of a beacon of hope from within the Church, I find respite by returning to the core value of the Christian faith as taught by Jesus - Love God with your whole heart and your neighbor as yourself - and patiently waiting for the beacon to be re-illuminated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So tragic! A wonderful, Christian man will be missed. My heart goes out to his parents and siblings. He was meant to do so many more great things in his life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, and here I thought the purpose of the thread was to discuss the death of Fidel Castro. But one should never miss an opportunity to get a shot in, even if you have to go off-topic to do so, right?\n\nAnd they'll know we are Christians by our love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yoga poses originally evolved as a type of worship of various Hindu deities, why would a Christian want to open themselves up to committing idolatry and whatever negative spiritual influences that may arise from that? I'm sure some Christian practitioner of yoga are just naive in thinking it's just about exercise, (when I was a fallen away Catholic, I did it once, not knowing any better) but sadly many have been led to believe anything goes. St. Paul's warning to avoid idolatry in 1 Corinthians, chapter 10 is instructive. It definitely shouldn't be offered as a course at a Catholic school. It seems like it will still be offered but just called something else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hopefully our courageous Bishops will take steps to prevent any such \"movement\" including Catholic women! Now that the Bishops' candidate is President, the Church can undo the past 6 or 7 decades and get back to being the Church Jesus wanted, a church where women stay in their place, and it is not in leadership. I know all the traditional Catholics here are looking forward to the return to the past, which is the future of the Church and this Country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To be correct (by the Merriam Webster dictionary) Definition of church is defined as:\n1 a building for public and especially Christian worship\n2 the clergy or officialdom of a religious body\nthe word church \u2026 is put for the persons that are ordained for the ministry of the Gospel, that is to say, the clergy \u2014 J. Ayliffe\n3 often capitalized : a body or organization of religious believers: such as\na : the whole body of Christians\nSo maybe this group of atheists, who want to be separate from believers, should find another word? Like \"group\" or \"gathering?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kieran--and the civil aversion to retrospective criminal laws is embodied in Statutes of Limitation, with the Catholic Church in NY and PA lobbying hard in their state legislatures to prevent any SOL changes which would allow victims to sue the church years after the crime was committed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am obligated, by force of law and Christian morality, to give a significant portion of my money to fund elderly and indigent care. Fine. There are many reasons why this is a good thing.\n\nDo I have a moral obligation to feel good about it, though? Because I don't. I'd much rather spend that money on my young children than someone else's elderly relatives (my parents have not yet retired and my grandparents are long gone).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Welcome Katherine! (As we say in the church; \"Converts make the best Catholics\" ) Your perspective is invaluable!\nCheers!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Three points: \nObama did NOT do the same thing - he was responding to a specific threat at the time and besides, his EO wasn't nearly this wide sweeping.\nSecond, this EO has a provision for allowing Christians through the backdoor, which IS, in effect, a Muslim ban (never mind that I never said it WAS a Muslim ban in the first place). \nThird, please respond to my four points listed above. You haven't and until you do I'll assume you have no rebuttal to them. Therefore I'll stand on my premise that this EO is an inane, destructive, poorly executive, unconstitutional missive. \n\nBut I'll listen to you if you have reason and facts behind your arguments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Banning Muslims\" ? Where on earth have you formulated this idea from ? Sure Muslims will be banned by virtue of where they reside, but so will Christians who love in those countries. This is simply nonsense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(i)I don't think it's fair to blame Cardinal Sean O'Malley for the problems in the Church \n(ii)This commits the whataboutism fallacy. So because the Catholic Church is wrong on women ordination means Cardinal Sean can't speak on economic justice or any other issue?\n\nI agree that there should be women priests in Catholicism. But I also think this message here is important as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are way off if what you are saying is that Obama caused white racist activism and the Alt Right and White Supremacist movements. Unless your idea is that Obama or any black speaking out against racism and hatred toward blacks leads to white racism. As to Trump, things he said attracted the very vocal support of many of the racist Alt Right, White Nationalist, and White Supremacist groups. They heard a message from him that they thought meant that he supported them. They feel that Trump has made it \u201cpolitically correct\u201d to say what was \u201cnot politically correct\u201d before\u2014 to speak and advocate racism and hatred of blacks (and for many of these groups, hatred of non-Christians\u2014 including Jews and Muslims\u2014 and non-whites).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity spread by the sword in South America and sub saharan Africa.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kelly Anne Conway is a product of a Catholic Home and School, will she take note of tody's first reading and \n\u201cIf you do away with the yoke of oppression,\n with the pointing finger and malicious talk,\n and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry\n and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,\nthen your light will rise in the darkness,\n and your night will become like the noonday.\"\n\nor is she a Catholic Only In Name (COIN).\nIt is abhorent listening to people promulgating alternative facts otherwise know as lies when I was being taught by Christian Brothers. How can a Catholic in conscience support the Trumpiariat.....\nThe US has now a Head of State who has all the hallmarks of Hitler in the way the governing of the Federal Government is managed is uncannily like that of Nazi Germany.. Read the history .. It started with words and ended in Belsen...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No they are not, they're funded from general tax revenue. Ticking off \"Catholic\" is just which trustee you vote for, not where your tax money goes, it goes to the same pot. Non-Catholics are paying for Catholic school.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think priestesses were at all common among the semitic peoples around the Israelites. You may be thinking of the experience of early gentile Christians who were intimately familiar with Greek and Roman priestesses. \n\nBut ever then, male leadership was profoundly deeply ingrained in the Hebrew, Greek, and Roman culture. \n\nLet's take the Romans, for instance. Priestess, often temple prostitutes, were an everyday experience. And at the very same time, the utter dominance of the \"pater familias,\" the single male head of every household, rich or poor, was beyond question. \n\nWe also have to add to this picture that the earliest Christian communities were house churches, people gathering in someone's home. Running the home was a female responsibility, so women would have been \"leaders\" in that domestic sense. But when it came to taking the lead in a communal service, the \"pater familias\" concept would have dominated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you. Your comment will help me crawl out of this gloominess I seem to have fallen into. \n\nAnother help: Peter Kennedy's youtube \"What you do is more important than what you believe\". Kennedy is the (former Catholic) priest leader of a (former) Catholic Church called St. Mary's in Exile in Brisbane. Yeast in action.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The hierarchy of England and Wales is notoriously ultra liberal, desperate to ingratiate itself with secular society. There are, however, a few bishops, thanks be to God, who are recognisably Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"And who says we're a \"christian nation\" anyway?\" I guess they would be all the evangelicals that voted for Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only consequential major \"religious\" news this year is the continued murder of Christians in the middle east. And that's not depressing either. It's terribly sorrowful, but even in this real event, we should rejoice daily that God is drawing nearer to us. \n\nThese Christians are choosing to die for Christ.\n\nHow infrequently do we the comfortable \"die\" in little ways for Christ. Dying to our vanity, our desire prop up our ego, dying to our desire to slake every appetite right away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Canadian Head of State, Queen Elizabeth 2, is the Head of the Anglican Church. She cannot be a Catholic, and cannot marry one.\n\nThe only public holidays in Canada are Christian festivals like Christmas and Easter. Whereas in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and Christian festivals are public holidays.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If \"rights\" come \"from God, from Natural Law\", why have so many people throughout history been deprived of rights, even while believing in God, practicing faith and living under governments that proclaimed belief and faith in Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What would a schism (or schisms, in the plural) do to the Catholic church, economy-wise? What would happen, short term, mid term, and long term to the church's stream of income? To the church's many missions? And what would happen to the various church institutions with which we have become familiar? Who would stand to gain, and what would who gain? And the losses? Schism has been the most common way of handling doctrinal differences and here*ie*. But can we afford another one? Now, or in the future?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We, unfortunately, are our media. \nIn the 1950's we had newsprint. In the 1960's we had newsprint and tv. There was a unified experience, and the spirit behind that media was of the people. But \"they\" killed the fairness doctrine, and the spirit that said listen to the other side.\nToday, the media is...well, there still is some independent newsprint, some sense in FairPlay and decency in the major networks. But after that, it is a media run to inflame and to divide. Murdoch has made billions by doing what he can to destroy the faith and unity of the American people. \nI suspect \"we\" no longer exist. America is most likely a falling empire, and is centering around great wealth not the people. \nChristianity, in reality, doesn't exist, it has splintered and died and is a million pretenders to the throne fighting for followers, just like all the cults that were spawned when Athens and Rome fell. \nHugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Jesus is being sacrificed again, I take issue with this as an emphasis in need of reform.\n\n\"He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that once for all when he offered himself.\" \n-Hebrews 7:27\n\nCatholic theology fully encompasses Hebrews' understanding, with repeated celebrations as a participation in the sacrifice of Christ, not as additional sacrifices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Missing the whole point of Jesus, the Peacemaker, humanitarian. Lay down your arms and BE PEACE! I just don't see the Christianity present in Congress.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am just trying to show some of the inconsistency between the historical Jesus and your theology. I strongly advocate following the teachings of Jesus. Surely, that is Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good point, XOXO\n\nThe Apostles were Jewish & likely suggested 'solutions they were familiar with. \n\nActually, everyone in that Christian Jerusalem community seem to have missed the actual source of the problem. In their initial zeal, and expecting an early '2nd coming', everyone sold all their goods and property and turned everything over to 'the church' (Apostles) to distribute according to need.\n\nEven 'Christian Communism' did not work!\n\nFirst result, the Apostles got in over their heads trying to distribute goods fairly. And soon there was a famine, and the Jerusalem community had to get bailed out by that collection St. Paul took up from his Gentile communities.\n\nReal solution happened when people started keeping their property and caring for their own widows and learned to save up and plan ahead for the long haul!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see \"love your neighbor as yourself\" as being at the center of the Christian religion. Apparently, you do not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) the Catholic answer is both/and, not either/or.\n\n2) in the Paradiso, Dante describes a Heaven where the saints dance an intricate dance of joy as they delighted in the face of God. The dance is tightly choreographed, an organized faith, even if we strain ourselves if we try to comprehend the pattern. It looks dis organized to us, but God may see something different.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr Coyne, are you suggesting the death of the priesthood and the Catholic Church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr. Martin employs what is right with Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I love the idea of moving from old classical concepts into historical consciousness. Virtually every other discipline has accepted that movement but Catholic natural law morality as interpreted by the Magisterium. Of course there are reasons for that having to do with the theology of the priesthood, but that's a discussion for another day.....even though it shouldn't be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You make an excellent point, Skooter. A sign out front of the store stating \"Christians Only\" might be the way to go if SCOTUS sides with the religionists. At least, then, everyone else will know that the owner is discriminatory.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's curious as to why people feel the need to display, on public property, their religious beliefs. If it is about heritage then I wonder what these people think about \"Southern Heritage\" and the conflicts ensuing over the removal of CSA statues. Opponents of removal cite heritage as a reason to keep them. That others may be offended doesn't seem to matter. I wonder what the world would look like if we took others' feelings into account. Humans have done such harm to others in the name of progress and continue to do so. It seem that as a whole, humans are not very nice to one another. This is true no matter their religious beliefs. Christians, Jews, Muslims are all guilty. What is our problem?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'Public institutions do not commit evil'? So what of institutionalised Nazism? What of the institutional Catholic Church and its persecution of Jews? It's persecution of its own people under the roving tribunals of the Papal Iquisition? Such institutions comprise individuals and allow them greater scope and facility to commit evil. Why do you think that evil, historically, has typically sought the vehicle of public institution to manifest itself? There is power in institutional organisation.\n\nThe questions you raise about church were initially a red herring to avoid the matter that I raised with you: the need to stop misapplying the word 'Church' to the Magisterium of the Church. I even went so far as to prove to you, catechetically, that your misapplication of the word 'Church' was actually at odds with the teaching of those you regard as constituting the Church, that is, the bishops. Unsurprisingly, you 'ducked' this issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure it works that way. I think the client chooses the legal service provider and not the other way around. I am sure that if those Christian groups wanted the ACLU to represent them they would. I provided you a link to all the times the ACLU has represented Christians and Christian groups in the past which proves you wrong. Why can't you just accept that you're wrong and move on to some other lie that you want to propagate?....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed! It should also be noted that at least some of the popes, have had theologians who [for want of a better word] 'checked over' their encyclicals for correct doctrinal/theological/scriptural content. One of the best known instances of this was that John Paul II had Joseph Ratzinger [future Benedict XVI] as his main theologian. I personally had problems with a good bit of Ratzinger's positions. But Joseph Ratzinger certainly was a top-notch theologian---no question about it. \nPope Francis has Cardinal Walter Kasper---who is a superb theologian as well. The apparent 'clash' between the papacies of JP II and Benedict and the papacy of Francis is that their theologians were trained in vastly different theological schools. Kasper came from Tubingen, where the founder of Catholic Tubingen was Johann Sebastian Drey. Drey saw theological knowledge as acting through the living community, which keeps theology from dissolving into an airy, unsubstantiated speculation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Our\" own??? \n\nThat's a bit presumptuous, don't you think? I have seen nothing from Pope Francis that dismisses Catholic teaching or controverts prior teachings from previous pontiffs. \n\nAnd I must say - *usually* those who claim to be \"spirit\" of Vatican II typically have not read the documents, but prefer to spin their own interpretation of what they didn't read or study to begin with. \n\nI have no idea of your age - nor is it any of my business - but there are many my age and even younger who are much more traditional in many respects than those who claim to be those \"spirit\" of Vatican II types....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No saint was ever \"declassified.\" St. Christopher, and others, remain Catholic saints, worthy of our venerations, but he was moved off the Roman Calendar to make room for another, more recent, saint. This happens regularly. So keep your St. Christopher medals and prayer cards - they all still \"work.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Christianity were really \"'important' to being truly American\", then Christianity would be a goal to which every citizen should aspire. Not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Militia holding a anti-Government stand-off, willing to die and disobey law enforcement are associated with the Sovereign Citizen Movement. There are many of these militias all over the United States, there is one right now in Flint, Michigan, it too is part of the Sovereign Citizen Movement. It's important for Americans to understand what this movement is about and what they do and how they recruit others. Southern Poverty Law Center, a reliable and valid source of information on Hate Groups, who they are who fuels their organizations and what motivates them. Militia's, connected to the Sovereign Citizen Movement, which there are many, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Texas are all dangerous, hate groups trying to overthrow State and Federal Government. The Sovereign Citizens militia groups have killed more law enforcement in the United States than any other groups, Southern Poverty Law Center reports. MilitiaExtremists Christians from all religious groups", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Muslims have right to pray in schools then Christians obviously have equal right to have Christmas trees in schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My dearest friend, a twice-retired VII priest, currently working in the San Bernardino area, reports extraordinary success with the Alpha program, as does my co-grandmother in a San Jose parish. \"Sufficiently Catholic\" may be an unwanted criterium in light of the enthusiasm and renewal the program has engendered. I'd love for NCR to profile the program in depth (unless I've missed an article or two on it).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Liberal Christians are welcome. We always love to teach people. Actually, they help us from getting too legalistic. We are indeed all his children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What Catholic colleges offer that public colleges do not is continued religious education and a uniquely religious-oriented take on secular subjects. Since the majority of the populace isn't interested in those things, the minority who are should expect to pay extra for them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not enough kudos can be given to Catholic Charities and everyone involved in this endeavor. What a great solution for our elderly. Catholic Charities, including the efforts they make with the homeless, is an example of an organization in Hawaii that doesn't just talk the talk, but they walk the walk.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"My point, sir, was that Protestants have integrity. Dissident Catholics do not.\"\nYour comments overall seem to be saying that dissident Catholics do not have integrity because they do not give unconditional loyalty to the Church. \nIf you choose to equate integrity and unconditional loyalty, you may of course do so.\nFor many people, integrity requires a refusal to give unconditional loyalty.\nThere seems to be no common ground here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lol, obviously, Trump is as great a leader, as great of an American, as he is a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have been a Catholic Christian for over 70 years and can not remember a time we truly were under attack. No one ever stopped me from going to church, wearing outward signs of my religion, did what I wanted as it applied to my faith. There is a fake belief that Christians are under attack.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How inappropriate would it be to suggest the sender was likely a radical Christian?\n\nI'm walking on eggshells.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Baptism makes us members of the Christian community, of the Body of Christ. It is not a silly act, but if given to an infant it doesn't \"wash away sin.\" If given to an adult, yes, it forgives sin in the same way Penance does. \n\nWhen I was a kid the Sisters would tell us that Jesus died for our sins and \"opened the gates of heaven.\" As eight-year-olds we all took this literally, but there are no gates and they were never locked. Jesus came to reform Judaism and to teach us a better way to serve God than by observing 600+ laws. Naturally he made enemies by threatening the powerful and their status quo and the comfy existence the Temple elites had going.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Only in Jesus Christ our Lord", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The creeds do not contain the whole of Catholic doctrine. The creeds spell out where Christianity differs from Judaism where it coincides with the Old Law regarding morals there would be no need for a formal statement of belief.\nIt is evident from the Epistles of St Paul that the early Christians accepted the moral law of their Jewish tradition.\nProtestants say the same creeds as Catholics but they reject Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it interesting that the burden is on the Catholic tradition to make all of the concessions, namely to \"rehabilitate\" Luther and his teachings, despite the fact that they countered the Catholic tradition and necessitated excommunication. Yet, Lutheran and Anglican Protestants are not asked to repeal or amend their Augsburg Confession or Thirty-Nine Articles (or is it Forty-Two ;) to affirm their belief in Transubstantiation (not Consubstantiation) in order to present themselves for a Catholic altar call. \n\nMister Kung is a Protestant, in fact, in the best sense of the term, and I say this with the utmost sincerity. A Protestant Christian clings to 'protest' for identity, and Mr. Kung has been protesting the Catholic Church for many decades. One cannot continue to protest the Catholic Church while accepting an invitation to 'break bread' with Papists. Either the communion will be a travesty, or the righteous claim to protest will be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Calling themselves independent and Catholic seems to be wanting to have their cake and eat it too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "you would think they might like to try to understand these quiet and Catholic people before saying 'nothing doing' for the umpteenth time ... \n\nall and all, I confess I find their closed views on society disappointing", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It will be an education to see what unravels at the next meeting of the US Episcopal Conference. As I understand it, Cardinal-designate Joseph Tobin of Indianapolis has already flagged an serious adult conversation about ++Chaput's handling of his Amoris Laetitia brief. I hope the 'conversation' leads to a significant corrective to the clearly reactive position of many US bishops.\nThey need to wake up to themselves and get behind the last Synod's reappropriation of the principles of the primacy of conscience and the integrity of the Internal Forum solution to the intractable situations in which vast numbers Catholics find themselves boxed in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am pro-life from conception to death. Pro-life for the right of the unborn and for the mother to survive where pregnancy threatens her own. Pro-life for the child to grow in dignity with all its human rights respected. Pro-life against poverty and hunger in a world were a few, including Mr Trump, live to excess and vaunt it. Pro-life against the Death Penalty. Pro-life for the wellbeing of planet Earth and the urgent need for climate justice. Pro-life for the hammering of swords into ploughshares in a world where the arms race diverts necessary intelligence and resources from real security - justice and human rights. Pro-life to recognise that Sport has been subverted by greed and that a nurse, doctor, teacher or care-giver is of inestimable value beyond major footballers and basketball players, whose pay is immoral. Pro-life to know that both Presidential candidates are flawed and to hope that Hillary, as President, recovers her soul from Wall Street. I am pro-life. I am Catholic!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was wrongfully assuming that everyone here is Catholic. My faith is that Jesus Christ is God. But I certainly don't believe that the Vatican is the Church. The Church is the body of Christ, much bigger than the Vatican and much bigger than the Roman Catholic Church. All Christians are members of the body of Christ, even if they are not in the Roman Church; and all men and women of good will are traveling together toward full integration into the Cosmic Christ. However, my understanding is that authority in the Church comes from Christ, not from the people; even though the people should have a say in the election of ordained ministers. Lamentably, we are a long way from that in the Roman Catholic Church; but we all have the right, and the duty, to express concerns as long as it is done in a charitable manner. Let us pray that all the churches can overcome the obsolete, pre-Easter RELIGIOUS PATRIARCHY that is an obstacle to being a sacrament of Christ in the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bishop's office is to teach.\n\nThe Catholic Church tried consumerism and it started to break apart.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You deny that we are born with original sin and are continually in a state of sin? Sounds like it, in which case you need to update your religious affiliation. As a Catholic, I believe in original sin, and I certainly know that I sin all the time. That doesn't mean that I count myself doomed. I know full well that Christ's death on the cross redeemed me. I also know that sins can be mortal, i.e.e., cost me my immortal soul. Christ himself taught about hell. You seem not to know that Catholics like me believe these things, for which reason i doubt that you are Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re \"should be immediately and deeply and naturally obvious to any Catholic\": I don't know that any biblical text, or for that matter any detail of Catholic practice, can be described as so very obvious, to anyone. We must always begin with learning; and we learn from a variety of sources. And also we develop and cultivate particular interests, particular values, leaving unremarked certain others. So it's no wonder if we come up with quite different interpretations of e.g. the same biblical text. Interpretation is everything!\n\nRe \"share in His own creative & problem-solving attributes\": If that is the correct exegetical criterion to be applied here, along with \"becoming ever more like His son Jesus!,\" and I think it may very well be, then the interpretation licensing destruction becomes barely defensible. Killing animals can hardly be called \"creative,\" still less loving.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a Christian and wouldn't accept that at a public school. You have Sunday school, youth groups, home, and church for those things. School is school. Not only is it inappropriate to treat the classroom like a pulpit, its illegal. \n\nThey gave this girl a horrible start in life. Reducing her grades and jeopardizing her college opportunities could have long term effects. I hope she wins big and I hope the authorities come in and clean out that school.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm Catholic and I know that this concept is just a constructed theological concept. It is just like Limbo.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...\nPerhaps we should be glad they're screening the allowable groups to holy-roll at the beginning of these meetings on the basis of First Amendment factoids and not Second Amendment; or we'd hear of open or conceal carry exercising their 'god given right' to brandish various brands of hardware, while scoffing other aspects of our rule of law.\n\nGovernments of force who find willing compatriots to do their bidding need closer scrutiny by those who remember the rules of thinking free and acting responsibly. Too many 'pseudo-christians' have made detrimental effect on lives of otherwise good people; pushing them selfishly out of the way so they can greedily consume more earthly goods.\n\nThey forget how to follow the part of their good book where the real Christ says, \"Judge not, least you be judged\" -not pin labels on others who may get in their way. Even other persons who don't wear their religious belief on their sleeve.\n\nThe KPB has been a joke on us, since it was formed in early 1960s.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are we aware that there must be a gathering when a priest celebrates the Eucharist ? \nIt requires a special dispensation for the \" private \" celebration by a priest all by himself .\n The proclamation is \"the Mystery of Faith \" as the signs of bread and wine now consecrated are elevated . \nBut leave it to Jesus who repeatedly shows himself disguised! !! \nFrancis just said reform is irreversible. So why the so-called Orthodox catholic position defying a Council , a Pope and the Holy Spirit ? \n\nA thousand years ago calling yourself an Orthodox catholic was enough to get yourself killed if not by Catholics then definitely by the Orthodox!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The franchise is an intrinsically political question. If the doctrine of equality is going to guide us as to the franchise, we had better lower the voting age to four and enfranchise non-citizens and felons. In fact, the doctrine of equality leads us to despise representative government. Why should one represent many? Direct democracy is the doctrine of equality's love-child. Let me introduce you to Raw Majority. How do you do, Mob Rule.\n\nSlavery on the face of it is unjust. It violates the golden rule. The bible communicates the injustice of slavery magnificently. The abolitionist movement was distinctly Christian. The egalitarian French revolution was not.\n\nAs to bondage, shall we let all the prisoners go free? Shall we emancipate all those in bonds? The Doctrine of Equality demands it, no?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a magnificent, heart-warming, truly Christian ministry. It brought tears and a smile.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"In turn, the Law and Justice Party is committed to defending the Catholic identity of a homogeneous Poland. In a nation with a population of 38 million, 92 percent identify as Roman Catholic. \"\n- A catholic identity is about living in the present, not the past of an imaginary perfect christendom. \n- Anti-antisemitism as a 'religious expression' is a profound failure of catholicism.\n- While a nation is in charge of its borders, the refusal to accept refugees is akin to what an angry family does to relatives who need assistance but who do not meet 'the standards'. Thus such a nation is a failure as a christian nation.\n- It is good if politicians exercise the morals and ethics that flow from faith. But as adult men and women they should be acting because of conscience, not because the bishop 'said so'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Eugene Mission is \"the safety net\" of our community for men, women, and families. Once a month for several years I was both humbled and honored to sing and play gospel songs in the Chapel to over 200 hungry, tired, and traumatized men. Listening to them request prayers for their mother or a friend in treatment was as genuine as it gets. It's hard, tough love they receive but it's still love. Food, shelter, work, and stabilization. I'm not a Christian but I am sure Jesus would quickly join the effort to restore and feed the many folks who need help. Please donate money, materials, clothing, and come to the Food Truck Festival at VRC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh so only Catholics are parents?\n\nYou don't understand how \"long a problem\" this is.\n\nYou think we're going to have a solution in 1-4 years.\n\nThe world changes not because of some fund someone sets up..or because of protest signs..or because of who is elected...or what some soft bishop says.\n\nIt changes because men and women decide to love more and harder, despite their feelings.\n\nand that work is very slow and indirect...one neighbor who goes over to their \"generously living\" Catholic neighbor and senses a \"calm\" in that house...it's clean, more order, more cheerful, there are boundaries, there are people who work and can deny their baser inclinations...and so little by little they are \"infected\" with a Christian spirit.\n\nRead this, and you'll get a sense for how long and slow and quiet and yet good change can happen through a few \"mustard seeds\". \n\nhttp://www.saintpaulsa.org/files/BrightandCheerfulHomes.pdf", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gerald, a few facts you may not be aware of. The Muslim Brotherhood is a pretty much exclusively an Egyptian organization, Mr. Khan is from Pakistan. Sharia Law is for a Muslimis similar to a Christian saying they have Christian values and ethics, in both cases the ethics and beliefs being quite different for different sects and denominations. Most Muslims do not believe or follow the ultra strict versions of Sharia, they follow a much kinder and gentler version. If you would exam sections of the Old Testament of the Bible, you will find passages just as strict and bloody as the Koran.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not that the Donald is ideal, but how can anyone who is \"for her\" be permitted to write for a Catholic publication? Oh, I forgot, this is NCR...........never mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I assume you're a Catholic. Is abortion wrong or morally neutral? Honest question.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Giovanni Battista Montini was elected pope in 1963, taking the name Paul VI, after the death of Pope John XXIII who had convened the Vatican II in 1946. \"\n\nAre the last 5 words in this sentence a kind of typo, or am I missing something? HELP!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've heard that 52% of Catholics voted for Trump. But when you really drive down into the polling, you discover that that includes people who identify ethnically as Catholic, but may have last stepped inside a church 40 years ago, as well as those who sit in the pews every Sunday. I would be really interested to see how people who sit in the pews voted - I think a strong majority of pew goers voted Clinton, but I have no data to support that. Anyone have a reference of some kind?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hating people who need public assistance or who are disabled - or failing to provide for them if such assistance is their only income is particularly unholy. Christ is found in these people, so give them fresh bread and meat rather than the expired stuff. While it is convenient to donate food rather than toss it, it is holy to select a portion of the new stuff, just as Abel gave from his first fruits rather than the remainder. Again, if we want to claim being a Christian nation, or be perfect as the Father is perfect, we must take care of this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a profound insight that will make my burden as an adult convert lighter, as my discovery of the theological and spiritual nightmare that was the pre-Vatican II church was less than enlightening. \n I still doubt the justification of religious apartheid based on church membership and denomination. We may not be ready for formal unification, and it may not even be a good idea-but there is something truly catholic (small \"c\") in the spiritual reference, yet it was the reason for the Reformation. \n Taking sides is again to miss the point. One can be Catholic and encounter God. From the vantage point of grace the true riches of the Catholic faith are found, where making faith a matter of meritocracy is to impoverish oneself spiritually and betray the real tradition. \n The implications are enormous for the divisions within Christianity and without. But this is nothing new. The Gospel has been around for a long time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I notice you said 70%. 70% is far from being 100% so thanks for agreeing that it is not a Christian nation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Amen. We may be called Papists by Protestants but we are supposed to be Christians - number one. Followers of Jesus Christ and his Gospel Teachings above all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Decrees of the Council of Trent and its Canons are binding on all Catholics, didn't you know that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Delray,\nSeems to me that at least for the educated, those days ARE gone: it's just that the hierarchs don't yet know, or accept that. Perhaps only subconsciously, but this may explain why their focus seems to be to shift away from the more educated North American and Western European church, and into S. American and African churches. In their minds, this may be the right move, as those churches in the Southern Hemisphere seem more accepting of \"Gospel Values.\" But I think these guys may not (yet) realize that what people are rejecting North of the equator, is not gospel values, but the \"ontologically superior\" label, and all that has followed from that. Stated differently, it's at least POSSIBLE that they can't even see what's happening: that the resistance is less about Christianity per se, and more a rejection of THEM, and their actions as church leaders, including what they've turned the church into, and how they've sculpted teachings and positions to protect themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are correct I forgot about the Confiteor but that is only one prayer not several. \nYour belief that Constantine took the authority of the Roman See to Constantinople is fanciful to say the least and I doubt that it has crossed the mind of many Protestants. I doubt too that any Orthodox Church would willingly cede the authority claimed by the pope to the Ecumenical Patriarch, primus inter pares is all he will get.\nFrom the picture on your blog I see that you are considerably younger than I am, possibly over half my age, therefore you can have no concept of life in the Church prior to the Council except via anecdotes which are not necessarily true. From your blog I deduce that you do not accept the teaching of the Catholic Church but prefer your own personal version of Christianity just as Luther and the reformers did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps you could tell us what effort he made to be a Catholic and how he was rejected.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope the Vatican does set up a website for Catholic Youth to express their views.\n\nAt least six posters on here will disappear overnight. Youth's loss, our gain.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Coming up next ... restrictions on the resale prices of houses. \n\nPerhaps, given time, we can return to all the tenets of early medieval Christianity and ban all commerce that seeks to make a profit without directly producing the item sold. Usury can go out the window as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" I thought that conservatives like yourself would have expected nothing less!\"\n\nTwo observations; one abstract and one specific. In reverse order:\n\ni) Did you read my post? All of it?\n\nPresumably your reply is \"yes.\" But that seems hard to corroborate given that I specifically wrote:\n\n\"I have no problem with a Pope who alludes to mortal sin or who calls Catholics to obedience or who wishes to avoid scandal. How could I ?\"\n\nii) What, if any correlation, is there between both your gloss on and your evocative quote from scripture and your churlish and inaccurate characterisation of me as a \"conservative\" above?\n\n[Now if you want to use the word conservative as historically understood within the Catholic church, please tell me how it is possible for a Catholic not to be conservative?]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, and we're going to make that *the law* now? Which other cultural traditions should take on the force of law next? Perhaps we should simply force everyone to convert to Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God speaks His will to us in several ways, in Scripture, through the Church, and in personal prayer, and even through the people He puts closest to us.\n\nIt's instructive, always, to recall that we have a closed canon of Scripture as a by-product of decisions by the Church. And it's through the Church that we have what should be a shared understanding among Catholics about such matters as the Trinity, grace, sin, the Sacraments, even the definition of love, including marriage and conjugal union.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I was in Catechism during the transitional period, I was fortunate to learn about Church law (of which my kids learned almost nothing from their CCD classes), back when the school required the students to study the answers to a long list of questions about our faith prior to receiving the sacraments of confession, communion, and confirmation. But it was also the time when we started singing songs like \"Eat his body, drink his blood, as we sing a song of love....\" and doing crafts.\n\nDare I say, my kids get enough \"be nice\" teaching in public school, which, frankly, my kids don't need to hear because they learned that at home.\n\nI just got home from mass today and heard another homily about being nice and at the end the priest thanking the parents for bringing their children to church. \"Be nice\" is fine, but, boy, the depth and obligation of being a disciple of Christ is far beyond that. And if you think differently, then you might as well call public schools Catholic schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, since the local Klan was only after the Catholics, the current black students at the U of O only should feel 'unsafe' if they happen to be Catholic.\n\nOf course, since there were hardly any blacks in Oregon until they were brought in during WWII to work in Kaiser's plants in Portland, the Klan didn't have a lot of them to use as targets.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Without naming the religion in question, it is not just western religions like Christianity and Jewish people who have to worry. Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs, in South Asian, Indonesia, Tibet, Nepal and the ME also live in abject fear of the religion that cannot be named.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...you make a lot of assumptions....\"\n\nYou're the one flaunting \"assumptions,\" who said you left the CC and were worshipping at a Protestant church in an earlier post. Now you seem to equivocate, to caricature your earlier feelings -- almost like a deaf mute of sorts waving his/her hands in the air (hot air) as though to prevent the noise of some bishop from sweeping aside your \"spot on\" image of Jesus, spot on post.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One simple distinction that I would make. The laity is the church. The clerics are the frail and often disturbed leadership. Yes, the damage from the abuse scandal is not reparable by this type of authoritarian leadership. It is time for the laity to assume their proper roll and realize that it is the priesthood of Baptism that is Apostolic. It only takes 2 and one will lead. This is true of every important sacrament. The Eucharist was offered in the homes of the early Christians way before we had the man made sacrament of Orders. The leadership of out Church are indeed authoritarians and they have forgotten what it means to be authoritative leaders. When they talk abut their \"authority,\" they are speaking hollow words that often are negative and have nothing to do with love of God and Neighbor. Clericalism as now practiced is irreparable and there is a need for the laity to make repairs, not the Pope or Bishops. Sadly, They have made themselves irrelevant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think this is a good article in that it lays out what we're seeing happen. Alas, it really doesn't yet offer the solution (at least for the religion component...) It has a real gem however:\n\n\"I was always struck by the fact that during the last two papacies Catholic leadership was willing to dialogue with people of any other faith but was not willing to dialogue with Catholic dissidents.\"\n\nThe common problem here, I think, is that both institutions have effectively redefined themselves to believe that those in power ARE the institution. In so doing, those the institutions represent become little more than pawns, necessary for funding and support, but most preferred when they otherwise remain silent and just follow along.\n\nIf the answer is to address the needs of those who would be led, the first step would seem to be to find out what those people really think they need. The second would be to seriously listen to what those people are actually saying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Which is why they ignore where proven abuse is actually happening and are happy to divert your attention away from.\nThe devil LOVES diversion.\"\n\nYou obviously LOVE diverting our attention away from places where clergy pedophilia cover ups are actually happening, such as Catholic Dioceses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is the \"coming forward\" in the last weeks of the election a ploy of the opposing party?\nWhere was the outrage regarding Gov and Pres Clinton?\nHowever, as you have stated the Bigger Issue is the pervasiveness of Sex-Trafficing, the abuse of women in all facets of their lives, many female children in their homes sexually assaulted by a parent or other relative, older ones assaulted by \"boy friend\". Adult women used and abused by dates, live-in males, and even marriage partners.\nMales who were never taught to respect girls, young ladies, women.\nFemales trapped in a female controlling society. If do speak up are accused of CAUSING the behavior to happen. So remain silent. Internalize the anger. Turn to drugs and alcohol to deaden the Angry Voices in their heads.\nMay even lead to other risky behaviors that cause run in with the Law and jail and prison.\nUnable to become a Truly Liberated in God Woman.\nThe CHURCH is OK with IGNORING these issues. These Women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Think this is bad? Do you know how many evangelical Christians believe the earth is 6,000 years old? This article, trending on Google News right now, will be responsible for converting many people to flat earth ideology, because the author is not trained in debunking false claims without accidentally reinforcing them. The internet is making the world stupid, because bad information spreads more rapidly than good information, and because people don't know how to evaluate claims and use data to make decisions. Science is slowly being abandoned. Without it, we can expect a new Dark Age of superstition and evil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, but 1.53 billion Catholics is far from extinction in 2060. We just don't live at the end of this century to know more (although some bishops think they have imaginations two thousand year old and thus know everything.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is it that I hear rightwing Catholics blast anything that relates, (even in the smallest way), to Liberation Theology? They blast and harass anyone who doesn't seem orthodox according to their standards and yet they mention nothing at all about the \"prosperity gospel\" and its popularity in our country. They will attack Pope Francis for preaching the real gospel but look the other way when Trump acts and speaks against the spirit of the gospel and apparently supports or believes in the prosperity gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This report is very sad. The single most important issue facing the Catholic Church as a whole is the sexual abuse of minors and others by clergy and religious. If this commission does not come up with a strong set of procedures and rules for every diocese to follow in these cases, it is useless. These procedures should include the removal and excommunication of any bishop who participates in or covers up sexual abuse -- no plum retirement assignments -- they're out and on their own financially and legally. \nIf Pope Francis can't get this done, who can? And if it can't be done, what's to become of the church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi! Bobtr900\nPerhaps you may consider reading my Posts 9, 18, and 25. On the link below as they relate to your two previous comments. Thank you for the star (Acknowledgement): a possible hint to the brightness of your own heart.\nhttp://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2017/03/a-no-brainer/\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Toensing has sue innumerable democrats, usually the suits are baseless. His suit is based on hearsay, something told to him by somene else who couldn't verify what he said. The catholic church doesn't even want to be involved in this because even though they did not get the full price for the property because pledges were not honored, they still received two million dollars more than the property was worth. The school was in financial trouble before Sanders was involved. This is a witchhunt designed to discredit the Sanders. It is a well known fact that Jane is deeply involved in the Sanders organization. Now that Sanders has topped poll after poll, and the one candidate we know could defeat Trump, both parties will be going after him. Republicans because they want to keep control, democrats because they want to keep the war profits and healthcare lobby money coming in. It's like they have formed the United against progressive party.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You still justifying apartheid???... when do you learn? \nMore Africans killed as a result of slavery. Impact on continent still felt till today. We all need to be educated on all and any oppressive, muderous regim. \n\nhttp://www.worldfuturefund.org/Reports/Slavedeathtoll/slaverydeathtoll.html\n\nThe largest slave trade in the history of the world was created by white Christian Europeans. Before it was over as many as 60 million Africans would be killed for the profit of white Christian imperialism. A key reason for the high death toll was the tidal wave of war and desolation that the slave trade unleashed into the heart of Africa. Huge numbers of people died being marched to the coasts of Africa from the interior as well as in an endless series of wars produced by the quest for new slaves. Millions more would die in concentration camps at both ends of the sea journey, and significant numbers would die due to the appalling conditions on the slave ships.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I noted \"If\" they are factual, which I clearly believe they are. The Marian apparitions come into the discussion since we originally were discussing the Eucharist being the actual body, blood, soul and Divinity of Jesus. Fatima, La Salette and Akita, all relate to this true belief of the Holy Eucharist as well as the seven Sacraments of the Catholic Faith. The Saints clearly espouse the same beliefs. If they are correct then your view of the Catholic Church would be incorrect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's look at this from another angle. If it were not for religion, many more people would probably be dependent on psychological therapy. Sit back and feel superior, but don't be too hard on them in general. However, you are probably right that the modern, charismatic version of Christianity is very intrusive and almost impossible to bear quietly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Look at the left wing over run universities? Look at the media moderators?.....look at the tearing down of Historical figure\"s statues who helped make Canada? Look at the rewriting of History books? Look at the endless opposition at any rallies right of center groups try to hold, and the labeling as Far Right, Alt Right and Extremists by media....while the left is given a pass. Look at the attacks on Christians (Traditional families) while the Liberals pander to Muslims, and special interest groups.....changing Birth Certificates and Passports Genders to appease a small percentage of the population. It is a dangerous time to be right wing.....look no further than the vitriol down south also.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "M: I agree. But I recall so many \"lives of the saints\" stories in which a given saint was deemed \"Catholic holy\" BECAUSE of that zealous obsession with doing things \"just right\"--by the day of the week, by the numbers, by the location, by repetition, by lexicon, by text, by the ritual, by extreme focus on denial, by the isolation from_____(fill in the many blanks), by compulsive obedience, and more. \n\nMy teachers in Catholic school were 180-degrees from what psychologists and health professionals would and would not deem \"self abuse.\" \"It hurts so good\" was a hallmark of holiness. \"It feels so good\" was a hallmark of sin. \n\nAt reunions, so many recall with laughter and with tears the torments of scrupulosity in their Catholic youth--and some, like DonInKansas, openly lament the residual impacts that lasted for years...and beyond.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "next big issue will be having religious holidays for other faiths.\nPresently Canada has Christmas Day, New Years Day, and Good Friday off.\nThese are all based on the Christian religion. A court challenge will be made in the next few years demanding Muslims have their religious holidays. The courts and Justin will side with the Muslims. Once that happens Hindus, Sikhs, Jews and others will demand the same treatment.\nThis is the beauty of a multicultural society it does not work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just google \"on line petition sites\". They offer lots of information. Basically, you PRAYERFULLY first create a core group composed of influential, like minded Catholic/Christians; include a few techies, some pro bono, C.C. lawyers, a few retired, activist priests and nuns who have nothing to lose, write your petition and off you go...and where the movement stops, only the Holy Spirit knows!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "http://stjosemaria.org/\n\n30 minute meditations (podcast) available. Other resources for people who want to take up the happy struggle to become a bit holier every day, and of more of service to their families and friends amid the ordinary circumstances of their life (vs. cleric, religious). How to turn ordinary work and events into a conversation with God. \n\nhttp://www.opusdei.org/en-us/section/christian-life/ Great articles on \"living out\" Christianity in the ordinary, day to day life. How raise the tone of family life and work life. Also some really well put together articles on Catholic teaching. Beautiful art too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In fact, experts say icons are \u201cwritten,\u201d rather than painted.\n\nThere is triptych icon of Mary, Jesus Christ, John the Baptizer.... on the wall I must pass on the way to the confessional. The line moves slowly. So there is time to be embraced, held, healed. Behind me is a massive Baptismal font, always overflowing, grace...Redemption.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The word to insert is \"MOST\". Those Catholics who still believe the earth is flat and the sun revolves around the earth are the minority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The st francis center is a ministry of the episcopal diocese of Colorado, not Catholic charities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "DD, Certainly we, Jesus' disciples, want His prayer for us fulfilled. \"That we might be one, even as He and His Father are one.\" The farther we are from His will, the more confusion we sow. But the everlasting gospel can not be silenced. Human Agency does not thwart God's Will. \n\nLet's sum it up: I am not Richard Rice's disciple. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Rice_(theologian)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump's nominee sides with trump and his bigoted agenda in what is supposed to be a country where the first amendment and the freedom of religion reigns supreme. No longer. Get used to it everyone as trump and his Supreme Court will turn the USA in a theocratic Christian religious dictatorship. It's ironic that trump and social conservatives are so hellbent in turning the USA into the Christian version of Iran and other religious based countries ruled by religious law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul Ryan, a good catholic,is one of these.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Simone got it right....this is a legislative maneuver designed to pay for tax cuts for the rich. Trump needed it passed before Tax Reform efforts....it provides the funds \"saved\" by cutting health care to further enrich the rich, with unneeded tax cuts. This is \"blood money\".\n\nSimone:\n\"The passage of the American Health Care Act in the House is a dangerous and irresponsible step that threatens access to health care for at least 24 million Americans. It violates Christian and Catholic faith teaching and the values of our nation,\" said Sr. Simone Campbell, a Sister of Social Service who is executive director of Network, a Catholic social justice lobby, in a May 4 statement.\n\n\"This was not the faithful way forward,\" she added. \"We are hurting our people and rewarding the rich through tax breaks disguised as a health care reform bill. This is literal 'blood money.' The blood of those who are denied coverage will be on the hands of those who voted for this bill.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To show how much more expensive Catholic Universities are I offer the following:\nMy oldest daughter was first in her high school class. She spent two years in a Catholic University. After applying all the \"scholarships\" and grants our bill came to $4000/semester.\nMy twin daughters finished first and second in their high school class. They both attended a State University for four years. The bill was the cost of their books each semester. \nSince my income during that time never exceeded $60,000, a Catholic University was out of the question.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you answer my question? Who would you consider independent and unbiased? Is that even possible or desirable?\n\nI acknowledge there are many sides, you are completely right, just as their are thousands of Christian denominations and sects worldwide.\n\nSo your phrase applies to all parties,or for that matter is simply a part of human nature? Right? Trying to understand what you meant and not distort what you meant? Is that saying a fundemental fact of life, or, a fundemental fact of an Islamic life?\n\nI do try to think tribally - I realize national borders imposed by Western occupiers most certainly does not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, he's right. \"The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful . . . he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals. . . . The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with [the Pope], they exercise the supreme Magisterium,\" above all in an Ecumenical Council. When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine \"for belief as being divinely revealed,\" and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions \"must be adhered to with the obedience of faith.\" This infallibility extends as far as the deposit of divine Revelation itself.\" Catechism Article 891.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Many Catholics were pleased...with all that implies...\"\n\n\"[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] The same was in the beginning with God. [3] All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made. [4] In him was life, and the life was the light of men. [5] And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it...11] He came unto his own, and his own received him not...\"\n\nhttps://www.lifesitenews.com/news/vatican-invites-pro-abortion-population-bomb-author-to-speak-at-biological\n\nFaith, unfaithful, will always keep one falsely true.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, Pope Francis' favorite passage is Matthew 25:31-46, that which we will be judged on. Apparently, many far right Catholics especially those in America supporting Trump have never heard of this passage. Official Twitter accounts of US dioceses are asking for prayers to uphold the #MuslimBan, which goes directly against Jesus' teachings. Conservative Catholic religious channels like EWTN have fluff interviews with odious figures like Sebastian Gorka, who is connected with Hungarian neo-Nazis. That strikes me as a bigger problem than John and Jane Remarried receiving Communion in a limited set of circumstances after a period of discernment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Frank. I know I can attend eastern Catholic liturgies and receive communion. Problem is the closest is an hour out while the Orthodox are 1/2 hour away. Orthodox very welcoming and invited me to stay for their communal breakfast when I visited.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I frequently read articles like this plus the responses. For the most part I find them tiresome somewhat like a clash of egos for those whose thought processes still occupy an immature, dualistic universe. For myself the issue is not so much getting the institutional church out of my system as much as recognizing the valuable contribution the church played early in my life and subsequently when, during a period of turmoil, it provided a tangible psychic lifeboat to keep me above water. However I subsequently have entered a period of personal and spiritual growth with the discovery of real time mystical experiences and, in Richard Rohr's terms, a non dual experience of Christ' presence in my life and the world. Any church or belief system mired in that immature dualistic thinking universe has little to offer me. The whole point of Christian maturity is to grow into new, expanding, both/and experiences of the presence of Love/ Christ/God. Not offered by most institutional beliefs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I too have voted with my feet, as have my family and almost everyone I know, and for the same reasons you noted. Unfortunately, I don't think any bishop has noticed our absence, except when they look at total numbers in the US over time. This is especially true in Catholic growth states such as mine, where we are continually adding parishes, not consolidating and shuttering them. I haven't thought of the logistics of a strike as I frankly doubt many (not all) women who still remain would be interested, and they are also likely still held by the tradition of \"fear of mortal sin\" for missing mass. I guess I just wish for a universal and overwhelming sense of solidarity and righteousness, outrage at continuing misogyny, determination to effect change, and guts to stand up to power used so wrongly. It won't happen in my lifetime, but I'd love to believe and hope it will in the next 100 years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Burke in his charity is giving Pope Francis an out to affirm that Christ's teaching on divorce and remarriage still stands.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Start by cutting down the false notion that God and Jesus have given you no rules. Secondly, understand that if going to Church \"has minimal value and importance [to you],\" you can't possibly believe in the Eucharist or Real Presence. Because if you did believe that you receive Jesus himself in the Eucharist, it would fill you with such unspeakable awe and joy that yu would want it to be the permanent state of your soul. You'd never miss Mass or the Eucharist. \n\nAs for some rules not making sense: Not all of God's rules are palatable, or even sensible to us. Still, do as Jesus said: \"If you love me, keep my commandments.\" In deference to your well-meaning friends from whom you learned much in the Army: You could have, if you want, have an army of friends who full of love for the Lord.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article reflects a misunderstanding of Cardinal O'Malley's \"Disciples in Mission\" program. DiM is a standard clustering strategy. It foresees that eventually all but one parish in each cluster will close. The winnowing process is already underway. \n\nThe situation in Boston, however, is not due to a shortage of priests, but to a shortage of Catholics. Mass attendance in Boston is approximately equal to mass attendance in Montreal and Dublin; on an average Sunday in ordinary time, fewer than ten percent of Bostonian Catholics attend mass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Dennis, \"The world needs more discernment not rote dogmatic rigorism. But...you can be what you choose, just don't impose a tyrranical mindset on others- even other Catholic adherents.\"\n\nDifferent Catholic mindsets deserve different places in the Catholic Church. There is even a tradition for this in the Roman Catholic Church.\n\nPope John Paul II gave Personal Prelature to Opus Dei. \nPope Benedict XVI gave Anglicans their place in the Church with the Personal Ordinariate. \n\nMaybe Pope Francis needs to give Vatican II Catholics their own Prelature or Ordinariate in order that the Second Vatican Council won't disappear quietly under the waters of Opus Dei rebranded as Evangelical Catholicism. \nFor more on this topic: https://ritebeyondrome.com/2017/09/23/church-unity-is-not-institutional-merger-cardinal-kasper/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "dave_thunder ; you are right , the Kurds beating back ISIS does not entitle them to territory outside of their provinces as per constitution . Kirkirk being the prime example , 40 % of Iraq's oil does not belong to them but to the sovereign nation of Iraq.\nThe Kurds are trying to create a new nation out of parts of those countries , Syria , Iraq , Iran, and Turkey . Those nations do not want to see more war after ISIS falls (within a month) .\nAn error in the article , is that the PMU (Peoples Military Units) , are a part of the Iraqi Army , some are Shia , Christian, Sunni , Assyrian etc. \nUS oil companies have bet on the KRG , as opposed to the KMU, but Canada has no need to be involved in a Kurdish civil war , or be the enforcement arm of US oil companies .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What utter and complete BS. Your stereotyping is offensive.\n\nMy sister is Catholic and she has a gay son, and she is very supportive. My mother is old school Catholic. She was quite judgemental until her own grandson came out. Now her opinion is quite different.\n\nEven the Pope now says \"Who am I to judge?\".\n\nI left the Catholic church for my own reasons. But it's abundantly clear that it is possible to be both Catholic and support your gay children (or grandchildren.\n\nSpare us your hatred.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Education is different than proselytism and advocacy, wouldn't you agree? There could be a scholarly course on Islam on a Catholic University, but that would be different than having a group on campus which actively promoted and proselytized for Islam. A muslim should be able to attend a Catholic University without being accosted for their faith, but at the same time, should receive a solid understanding of what the Church truly teaches in her Doctrines on Faith and Morals. What you call 'learning', maybe you really mean counter indoctrination. If I chose to attend a school run by Seventh Day Adventists, I would have a no expectation that they would allow a group ON CAMPUS 'promoting' Catholicism, I would not expect a Jewish University to serve anything but Kosher Food. Both schools could offer courses respectively in Catholic Teaching or 'non Kosher Food' without undermining their particular mission. Wouldn't you agree?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Statement from ISIS said attack on APOSTATE Holiday and Turkish military.\nRead Carefully, I know its hard for some they only want to read certain things that fit their agenda.\n\nThe Islamic State in Iraq and Syria claimed responsibility on Monday for a New Year's Day mass shooting in a packed Istanbul nightclub that killed 39 people, an attack carried out by a lone gunman who remains at large.\nIt described the Reina nightclub, where many foreigners as well as Turks were killed, as a gathering point for Christians celebrating their \"apostate holiday.\" The attack, it said, was revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I always considered Proverbs just about the most boring book in the Bible, and always wondered therefore why it was sometimes included in those free handed-out New Testaments (more often the Psalms are included, which is much more understandable). And now, as though scales have dropped from my eyes, I see the reason: It's so right-wing Christians, of the sort who love to vote for GOP politicians, have at hand an arsenal of weaponizable biblical texts to shoot in the direction of people they despise. As DJT himself might say in closing: Sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So western societies should just accept this as their \"just deserts\", fair punishment for the crimes of their ancestors?\n\nWhat other society accepts it is fair to self-destruct out of guilt for past wrongs? Which society isn't guilty of any wrongs?\n\nWhy is western society so moralistic that it transforms every political issue into a grand battle between GOOD and EVIL, which books no compromise and creates the conditions for demonisation of political adversaries? (Hint: what's left of Judeo-Christian impulses. I would suggest that is a good area in which to look for alternative frameworks.)\n\nAnd it is just too bad if it is the working class that suffers the brunt of the consequences, while the economic and intellectual elites enjoy the benefits of all that globe-trotting at the generous employ of foundations, NGOs, universities, and the like? Until they wake up and realize they have sown the seeds of their own destruction, as the very liberal values they champion get subverted?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I dealt with the errors of Modernism (the syllabus, not the Encyclical). Vatican II has taken care of some of this and the continuing irrelevance of the Holy Office in the life of the planet and most Catholics has taken care of the rest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Doctors and patients do not have the resources to prove the safety of drugs. The reason we have an FDA is because there was quite a patent medicine industry, compounds that were nothing more than alcohol and cocaine in tonic form. There is an entire history of why we have an FDA if you are interested and it has nothing to do with libertarian conspiracy theory.\n\nAs for abortion, quit making arguments that have no relevance to why it is legal or why it is not an electoral issue. There is no federal abortion law, aside from a ban on partial birth abortions (which essentially repealed Doe v. Bolton, so quit talking about abortion on demand up to birth, it no longer exists). I have told you what your side can do about it as more than just a way to keep Catholics from voting Democratic on social issues. Your side does not have the guts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Worthiness has nothing to do with this case. I'm as \"worthy\" (using your parlance) to be a deacon but the rules regarding women , at this point in time, do not permit it; thus, both the deacon and I have to serve the Church in other ways. And \"imperial\" is an unnecessary pejorative in this instance. This case is borderline \"strawman\" as a compelling argument for clerical abuse. Sorry...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You said it much better than I did. There isn't an \"anti-Christian card\" at play here, but rather an anti so-con card. But for Harper's former communications director to try to convince people that there is an anti-Christian agenda must have been too tempting to resist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Kevin, Sorry that I do not write back immediately. I do not own a cell phone/Laptop/Ipad/ Tablet/Blackberry, etc. - just a basic Apple Computer at home. Kevin, the organist (Evelyn) in our Parish Church did not go up to the Altar to receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist because she knew she was living in sin and did not want to offend Jesus further, but she was attached to the sin of impurity until she realized that she was indeed offending Him by choosing to continue having sexual relations with her boyfriend. She needed to hear in a loving (not judgmental) way that she has to choose between God and sin. What I always found humbling about Evelyn was the fact that she used to go up to the Altar and cross her arms over her chest. In this way, the Priest knew she was there to receive a blessing but not to desecrate the body of Christ because she was not in the State of Grace. I believe your example of Joe and other remarried Catholics who have not obtained an annulment (continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I look upon Jesus' teaching on divorce as the first feminist legislation . . .\"\n\nYou're in good company with Reese, who says, \"Jesus quite rightly condemned it since practically all divorces were done by powerful men to powerless women.\"\n\nBoth of you misstate the reason for Jesus' rule against divorce. Jesus not only didn't mention the plight of women after divorce --- although he had every chance to --- but he did, in fact, tell us the reason. That he saw marriages as being an unbreakable bond between man and woman, except for the one transgression capable of breaking that bond: adultery. \n\nNow don't get all huffy with me. I personally think Jesus was wrong, but I humbly submit to his judgment on this. After all, he is God, and, as we lawyers say, he's entitled \"great deference.\" Absolute deference, actually. That's something Jesuits tend to forget. Follow Jesus and you can't go wrong. Follow a Jesuit for long and you'll wind up a Franciscan.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gary---you and me both. See I don't believe in Satan so that makes me a supporter 'course I'm not a Christian, so therefore, according to the right thinkers I'm a supporter of the demonic--but I voted against little 'd' so they are wrong. Of course I like the teaching passed down to us from the statements directly attributed to Jesus..I read the a Jeffersonian version, as Jesus was clearly the first liberal, not political, but based on humane values. He told us we have 'intrinsic value'...all children if god. He talked about peace, redemption, judged by one's action not one's money...not the color of one's skin. Of course he would be a Muslim in most people's eyes these days. Dark hair, dark eyes, dark skin...of yeah, there have been alternate facts for a long time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whatever happened to the concept of the common good? Christianity (and democracy) does not posit \"every man for himself\". Governments exist for the betterment of the people. Sure, we need a strong defense. But we also need education, health care, safe environment. These are not benefits - they are RIGHTS. Every citizen is owed these things, no one should be precluded. Everyone deserves his fair share; everyone should contribute his fair share.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see, in Scripture, evidence that, at the Last Supper, Christ instructed those present to \"do this in memory of me.\" So, who were those present? Christ said he wanted to celebrate with his disciples and many of his disciples were women. He did not say he only wanted to celebrate the meal with his male disciples. I would suggest that command was issued to all disciples and not just the 12. \nAlso, \"They (the baptized) went to the temple area every day while in their homes they broke bread\" Was there an ordained minister in every home?\n\nPeter did not see the role of the 12 to be celebrants of eucharist but said, \"It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to wait on tables\", but to \"concentrate on the word of God and prayer.\"\nAs for married men being \"incapable of exercising this ministry\" please remember that Peter was married and Paul asked, \"Do we not have the right to marry a believing woman like the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You've mentioned this before, also without facts. No, he was not in \"DEEP doo-doo over his actions\".\n\nSt. Stanislaus Kostka parish changed its bylaws to remove the control of the pastor and place the lay board in charge in emulation of the Polish National Catholic Church's parishes.\n\nWhile the deed was indisputably with the parish corporation, the Archdiocese disputed the membership of that corporation in court. The District Court affirmed St. Stanislaus' ownership of its property.\n\nIn 2004 Archbishop Burke removed the priests from the parish and in 2005 the board was excommunicated. The parish was then suppressed. Long-time Catholic members were overwhelmed by newcomers who took control.\n\nIt is currently served by a defrocked priest who supports women's ordination, which makes a relationship with the Polish National Catholic Church impossible.\n\nIt was just another civil matter as far as \"the St. Louis legal community, including the judiciary\" are concerned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Nothing can perfect unity in the church but the spirit of Christlike forbearance.\" \"She scores a perfect 10.\" \"Persons representing all viewpoints...., need to prayerfully and carefully consider her wise and inspired counsel....\"\n\nPerfect unity in the Church is when every soul is led by the Spirit of Christ; letting Him speak His words and not their own; thinking His thoughts and not their own. But this does not happen, because people love to hear and do as other humans teach--\"because they have itching ears\"; and by this silence the Voice of Christ within them, if in fact He even is IN them?\n\nConclusion: Who said this: \"You worship what you do not know.\"? We should \"carefully consider [HIS] wise\" counsels, because HE lives--but she does not!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just in the space of a few day's; we had Parolin, & now Francis coming out strongly about child abuse. Francis pledges; \"to work strenuously and with foresight, for the protection of minors and their dignity\" including on-line. His Pontifical Commission, failed to deliver any significant progress after 3 years of talking; due to his obvious lack of authority over the Curia; to enforce any recommendations he had approved. Parolin must also come under scrutiny, as he is the enforcer of policy. Both Francis & Parolin failed in their duty of Christian care to children & minors. \nAs for the Pope's comment: \"As all of us know in recent years; the church has come to acknowledge her own failures; in providing for the protection of children\" .. \" extreme grave facts have come to light; for which we have to accept our responsibility before God; before victims & public opinion\". YES, thanks to the tenacity the victims & media. Nobody told him it goes back MD years. Maybe that is \"recent\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks much. That efficient and effective fear-of- the-furnace control is not discussed enough---in fact, even bringing it up evokes the literal images of flames and screaming souls, so best not mention it. The leverage of Hell still is a teaching tactic, and Bishop Tobin is perplexed why Millenials, unlike Mom and Grandpa, aren't buying it as a motivator for developing sincere FAITH? \n\n The influence of the Pre-Vatican II Church remains with us over years and over miles, far more than is discussed. But it is promulgated especially by those who, like JPII did, yearn for the God-as-stern-judge-first image. And, yes, sexuality rules remain at the \"control core.\" As Chuck Colsen said from the White House, \"When you got 'em by the _ _ _ _, their hearts and minds will follow.\"\n\nIt worked for so long...why not now?--seemed to be the foundation of Bishop Tobin's misplaced lament about \"lack of faith.\"\n\nJPII used to say, \"Be not afraid.\" Then he would lead us to thinking why we should be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A promise is NOT a \"deal\" in any sense. A promise which must be extracted from an ordinand is not a free and human act which can reasonably relied on, especially as some sort of guarantee of a-sexuality! But that's where the Catholic hierarchy has been, and still is! Bishops and the Vatican need to get real real, real fast!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think we are on the same track, Gladys, but I don't want people who are sinning thinking that Christians are judging them when we are in fact simply refusing to enable what we know from God's word is continuing sinful behavior that separates them from God. And I fully agree with the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, that the government shall not establish a state religion. Separation of Church and State is a phrase used out of context from a personal letter from President Jefferson, assuring a church that the federal government would not interfere with their natural right to religious beliefs, NOT that the church would not have involvement with the government. Somehow the interpretation has been turned around! Thanks for your reply.\n\nhttp://members.tripod.com/~candst/tnppage/baptist.htm\nhttp://www.usconstitution.net/jeffwall.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The paragraph in Jesus the Christ after the one you posted above starts \"It would be wrong nevertheless to conclude from this that there are no historically authenticated miracles of Jesus.\" Even though Kasper believes that some miracles can be \"historically authenticated\" you seem to be suggesting that he does not believe in them. Why?\n\nThe article posted is similar. They prooftext from Kasper's work, but cut things out of context. The whole line of argument about miracles is a tired one, long settled by more recent documents on Scripture such as Dei Verbum.\n\nTheir comments about Lehmann are even more egregious, because they are based on a critique of a document that has been affirmed by the past 3 Popes, most Lutherans, and many other denominations as well. To attack Lehmann for his part in this achievement is reprehensible, even without the more-catholic-than-the-pope attitude.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Mike AA\n\nI am most grateful for your response. Mike you do not need to respond to this as it is for anyone else reading our posts, many thanks.\n\n\u201cThe answer is: By definition, private revelation is NOT the Word of God\u201d.\n\nThe Church has acknowledged that the Word (Will) of God had been given to her, its actions confirm this, we have a picture in God\u2019s House, with the words \u201cJesus I trust In thee\u201d But the picture is not the one commanded by God, it is a worldly image of goodness, it pertains to the senses, and is made in man\u2019s own image, it has nothing to do with Trust.\nThe present Divine Mercy Image is a self-serving IMAGE of Clericalism, definition of CLERICALISM: a policy of maintaining or increasing the power of a religious hierarchy.\n \nThe original picture by Sister Faustina in its brokenness relates to spiritual beauty (goodness) it pertains to humility. \n\n\u201cThe pure (humble) in heart shall see God\u201d\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\nYour observations take us into the realm of prudential decisions. What is the wisest policy for the Catholic community on these issues in interacting with our ever more numerous secular world?\n\nI say we must first separate contraception and abortion. \n\nRE contraception. The wisest choice is to accept that contraception is above all an internal problem. I accept that the overwhelming majority of Catholics accept contraception as not intrinsically immoral, so that our official position is out of step with our own de facto beliefs. In such a circumstance, it it the height of disrespect for our own to take a rejected official position and push that in the public sphere as the best of Catholic moral thought, as a Catholic conception of the moral good for all of society.\n\nRE abortion. Although internally the latest biological evidence suggests our current official notion that fully human life always begins at conception may be overly simplistic, Catholics broadly reject abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump was there seeking attention and publicity. He got plenty of each, but the publicity did not flatter him or support his \"campaign.\" Or the Catholic church. Betcha Trump wasn't a contributor!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AMEN, Joan! Just as Jesus showed us and told us over and over again, Christians are compelled by the Gospel message and His example to come to the aid and ensure the protection and welfare of all of our fellow human beings. There is no debate about that allowed by the Christian faith. And I personally know far too many \"immigrants\" to the US to look them in the face (actually, in their eyes....) and tell them they are not welcome here, or the two Syrian families living in our building with us that they cannot enter the country again if they visit family outside the US. I love our younger generations who do not scapegoat others, who do not discriminate, who have friends as diverse as one could only imagine 15 years ago, and who do not understand the things our current President is saying and doing because they do not hold such things as their own values and attitudes. For that I am most grateful and hopeful about our future. I share your being impressed at those voices of outrage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ms Wentes argument depends entirely upon the false premise that patients have a choice to attend a Catholic hospital vs a provincial hospital. In addition it assumes that the doctors and other caregivers at these hospitals are exclusively or predominantly Catholic. These precepts are actually false, the only confirmed catholics are on the management board and administration\nIn modern Canadian hospitals there is rationing of services. For example all of our rehab services are delivered in our Catholic hospital. The patient requiring rehab is not asked if they want Catholic or secular, they are 100% sent to the Catholic hospital. Likewise for staff, the secular rehab doctor is not offered a job at the secular hospital. They can only work at the Catholic hospital.\nThere already have been many cases where willing doctors and patients were declined MAID options by Catholic administration. And that is not compatible with our constitution in my opinion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The effort to reconcile science and religion is almost always made, not by theologians, but by scientists unable to shake off altogether the piety absorbed with their mothers' milk. The theologians, with no such dualism addling their wits, are smart enough to see that the two things are implacably and eternally antagonistic, and that any attempt to thrust them into one bag is bound to result in one swallowing the other. The scientists who undertake this miscegenation always end by succumbing to religion; after a Millikan has been discoursing five minutes it becomes apparent that he is speaking in the character of a Christian Sunday-school scholar, not of a scientist. The essence of science is that it is always willing to abandon a given idea, however fundamental it may seem to be, for a better one;\"\nMinority Report, H. L. Mencken's Notebooks, Knopf, 1956. Page 232", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. Of course Tradition can come to be expressed in writing ... but that writing is always secondary to the living Tradition as it is experienced. So that writing down becomes like a snapshot moment, whereas Tradition is more like a movie that is still running.\n2. The biggest error about the Catechism was the muddle about who the intended reader is. The original idea was that it be a compendium for bishops to guide their own catechetical work. This became conflated into a book for every Catholic ... but without any adjustment for the difference in theological reading level.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I honestly doubt Trump sees the disconnect. I think he lives entirely in the moment and molds himself to the values of whoever his audience is. He's 'Christian' when he's at Liberty University, but once the hatch is closed on Air Force One, he's back to being his usual narcissistic, vicious self.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...Tillerson headed the Boy Scouts of America from 2010 to 2012 he helped convince the organization to admit gay youths, and ExxonMobil contributes to Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion services and has become a top target for Christian conservatives.\"\n\nOh, pooh. And I was so ready to find him thoroughly wrong for the job. Guess I am gonna' like him - at least a little bit - after all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought she mentioned little d too much already, but the angry people with hate in their hearts were missed, that's true...Black Lives Matter is an important reminder of those in pain. And in a better world whites and blacks would work together instead of reinventing racism. The us and them, he's not one of us is toxic to the holder. They will be less healthy, they will be less connected, and less Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously Jesus was teaching us to arm ourselves, even at the cost of having an outer-garment. Thus, we can conclude he who owns a coat, but not a gun, does not follow the teachings of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would not join a golf club that used race or colour as a criterion for membership. But I continue to self-identify as Roman Catholic. I wonder about me.\nI am usually careful to add a qualification but that really doesn't excuse me, does it? We make \"evil\" so complex when it really begins with such simplicity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, and in 2002 John Paul II canonized Jose Escriva de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei, a man who should never have been declared a saint under any circumstances. The more the Church cow tows to personal prelatures and deviates from the simplicity of Christ's gospel messages, the less credible it becomes.\n\nhttp://www.odan.org/tw_opposition_to_canonization.htm", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "BROohthor,\n\nComments from your posts\n\n \u201cAs Christians, we are called to stand opposed to MOST of what is going on with this\u201d.\n\n\u201cThere is a compelling body of Christian theological and sociological thought in development that establishes very CLEAR BOUNDARIES for assisted suicide\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd the newer laws allowing for it are a clear indication of that shift in personal attitudes\u201d.\n\nNo BROohthor your comments do not agree with my sentiments, your response is a deflection and is a fundamentally dishonest answer to my question\n\n\"As Christians, are we are not called to stand opposed to ALL (euthanasia)\"\n\n as it is not possible to make any form of concession in regards to euthanasia. To do so is to commence a down would spiral as our most fundamental belief is that human life is sacred from conception to death once this belief is breeched moral authority will be lost in relativism.\n\nDo you totally reject euthanasia ?\nAlso do you reject assisted suicide ?\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don, your detractors spent the last 35 years DEMANDING assent to every word uttered by the Pope. It was for them the hallmark of whether you were a 'proper' Catholic or not. Indeed, we would have been led to believe that the sum total of scripture was one verse - Thou art Peter... It was quoted without end and was the bedrock of every view these people expressed.\n\nIt is singularly the biggest mystery to befall the Church in the last three years how that particular scripture text has suddenly disappeared into the ether, airbrushed out as if it had never been there in the first place.\n\nIt continues to be a source of tremendous mirth for many of us to watch them bleat about the inerrancy of tradition and scripture when they themselves dropped their flagship text so easily. Now their latest fad is to pounce on a text about marriage/divorce. Having proved their spiritual shallowness, why should anyone listen to a word they have to say?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually I have observed now and then a sort of creeping fundamentalism among young, semi-educated Catholics, perhaps as a consequence of the political alliance between right-wing Catholics and Evangelicals.\n\nIt would be interesting to study references to Adam, Eve, and the Garden of Eden in Catholic authors over the centuries, and consider how literally they took that story. Elaine Pagels did a fair amount of work of that sort in \"Adam, Eve, and the Serpent.\" \n\nOne brilliant example of a non-literal, or at best a semi-literal interpretation is seen in Michelangelo's famous image of \"The Creation of Adam,\" on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. If that place cannot strictly be called the physical \"heart\" of the Catholic church, it is perhaps at least its pulmonary aorta, so the toleration there of a not strictly accurate illustration of a biblical scene tells us a lot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah....the things we do/have done in service to greedy men, and the poverty of Jesus of Nazareth and His closest disciples be pushed aside. All of the precious stones and metals of the gaudy Catholic medieval church should be salvaged and sold with the money used to feed and clothe the poor, shelter the homeless, and protect the victims. If we really want to be the Church of Jesus, then we need to live and celebrate Him in simplicity. Otherwise, we are in sin while proclaiming His life and that we emulate Him in word and deed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's identify the Catholic agenda:\n\nThe Roman Catholic Church is determined to turn Protestant America into a Roman Catholic country, and since the \"new evangelization\" has only produced tepid results, her best bet to do that is to bring as many Catholics into our nation as possible.\n\nTo that end, the USCCB and 20 major Catholic orgs (not including NCR) are encouraging illegal immigrants to break U.S. law, and more disturbingly, to risk their lives.\n\nAnd risk their lives they are -- over 250 illegal immigrants have died this year while trying to enter the U.S. If their church had not told them they have a moral right to enter the U.S. illegally, these Catholics would likely be alive today.\n\nThe leadership of the Roman Catholic Church has a stake in Reconquista, just as they did with the cover-up of pedophile priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "German politics is a big mystery.\n I've read for many years neo-Nazis are very busy behind the political scenes trying to take over Germany and the world economically. Seeing how all the world's governments have been moving ruthlessly and relentlessly rightward with the corporate takeover since WW II, seems they've been doing quite well.\n\n I also wonder about Merkel's \"Christian Democratic Party\". Christian and Democratic seem to be contradictory. And what Christian Party was ever liberal? Another contradiction. And how can they be liberal if they're right-of-centre? Another contradiction.\n Merkel seems to be trying to please everyone by fooling everyone while the shadowy multinaional corporations divide and rule the world.\n\n But the immense power of Merkel's liberal right-of-centre Christian Democrats (lol) certainly helps explain the rise of Trump and the right in the US and Britain. And the move to the right of Canada's Liberals and NDP along with the Conservatives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No bishop or priest would say that Christ was not God: the emphasis is now so much upon Christ's humanity to the obscuring of His divinity. How many times do we hear the rhetorical question asked, \"what would Jesus do?\" The answer is of course, \"whatever the questioner would do?\" Why? \"Because Christ was human like the questioner.\"\nNo longer is it \"I should do what Christ would do\" rather \"Christ should do what I would do.\"\nThose whose grasp of Christianity is very tenuous have the impression that the Church is some sort of social service organisation. Modern morality is \"anyone can do anything they like as long as it doesn't appear hurt or offend another human being,\" whether it offends against God is not a consideration.\nThis sort of morality enables among other things abortion with a clear conscience: if a foetus cannot be considered to be a human being until it has been born, therefore no one is hurt if it is aborted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is thiswhat you mean...when I see an \"important\" Catholic Mass being televised and note how the clergy always merge in the front of the church and how there are precious few women involved in this liturgy, then I am turned off by the organizational Catholic Church. But when I am in my parish and surrounded by caring people (particularly women who are doing the work of the scarce deacons and priests) then I am\" at home\" in a community and feeling a divine presence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will grant you illicit. Whether they are valid or not depends on the ordination of the one who ordained him. If his orders are valid, so is the ordination he confers. All the sophistry about women not being valid vessels for ordination is simply bigotry dressed up as circular reasoning. Also, in real presence faiths where women are ordained and offer Eucharist, the Eucharist is valid. You can't fake the presence of Christ. Schismatic sects still offer valid Eucharist, the proof being that a schismatic sect of Orthodoxy, the Roman Patriarchy, still has valid orders and Communion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your response tells me that you don't read the Holy Bible much less have one. By your response I believe you are a Roman Catholic. In the Holy Bible God calls everyone that is in Christ or born again saint. The moment you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you are a \"saint\" in God's eyes. Being a saint you are set apart for God's work. Roman Catholicism does not take the Holy Bible literally. You have to do a great or even a miracle to be nominated a saint men\"s way in Roman Catholicism. But from the Bible God only wants you to be born again to be a saint. Jesus Christ said in the book of John (bible) chapter 3 verse 3 \"you must be born again to inherit the kingdom of God. You want to know how to be born again, send me your email and we both can talk about it. God bless you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "part 2...\nNor were there activists that would threaten the established culture. So the Klan settled on an anti-Catholic program with a particular focus on schools and education. The Klan viewed Roman Catholics as invariably disloyal to the United States because their allegiance was to a \"foreign power\"- the Pope. In both Lane County and at the state level, they promoted a \"Compulsory School Bill\" which mandated all children of elementary school age attend public schools, thus prohibiting attendance at, or support for, Catholic parochial schools. Oregon voters approved the measure by a narrow margin in Nov 1922. The US Supreme Court ruled the measure unconstitutional in Jan 1925\nBoth at the state and local level the Klan began to disintegrate around 1925. One reason was the resurgence of the economy, one was power struggles in the organization and a third was the release of name after a police raid at the Klan's Pacific headquarters in LA. \n\nRead 6/22/15 Facebook page for more info", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Christian Science Reading Room was closed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You may, to be sure, believe whatever you wish to believe about the \"situation,\" even though it be detached from reality. For my part, I do not accept your amateur psychologizing, to say nothing of your right-wing theologizing. Again, feel free to believe what you wish, or that in your own eyes you may now be the only true Catholic left on earth. I will have NO part of it!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for the advice to learn more about auto racing. I've lived in the Indianapolis area for over 50 years and have attended the 500 race 10 times. The race is sometimes broadcasted locally as the \"Annual Memorial Day Race\". The opening ceremonies begin with a invocation usually given by the Archbishop of the Catholic Archdioceses of Indianapolis in memory of our fallen military. There is a military honor guard ceremony in specific honor of Memorial day that concludes with Taps and an Air Force aircraft flyover in the missing man formation. God Bless America and the National Anthem are performed. In 1975 I marched with other Vietnam era vets in the 500 festival parade. Does this speak to the significance between the 500 race and Memorial Day? I don't know if you ever served in the military, but veterans remember and honor our fallen brothers and sisters. Try to learn about Memorial Day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus chose from a large cross section of people to begin His Christianization of the whole world. He picked competent people, people with virtues, who knew how to labor, who had learned how to deal with setbacks. One was a tax collector, others were fishermen, one was a highly educated persecutor of Christians (St Paul). He also approached and did apostolate with Joseph of Arimethia, \"the rich young man\", widows, sick, and if you watch attentively to even Pilate! He does apostolate with the Pharisees.\n\nIn yesterday's Mass from St John's Gospel...who does He choose? A \"Man named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews\". \n\nStop turning the early Church into something that it clearly wasn't. Round out your understanding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "VERY NAIVE.\nIt's about MONEY.\nWho are the biggest financial contributors to Catholic institutions?\nPeople with money.\nAnd they are usually on the right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "eastside kapuna, thank you for that story. it is the story of compassion, not the apathy, bigotry, injustice and intolerance we have today. the greatest threat to humanity since the reformation is rich, white, christian males. they created the problems in the world and, in the middle east, have perpetuated it for the past 90 years. now the have installed, as secretary of state, one of the principal drivers of this policy for the past forty years. its money and the people with it dont care about your grandma, or anyone else not in their circle.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The first part is continuing the scripture passage you started. The question that comes from that is, if one spouse divorced another and committed adultery, does the traditional penalty for adultery apply? (that would be death). Have we become harsher or easier by not stoning the person but instead condemning them to Hell? If the adulterous divorcer is stoned, then the wronged party, now a widow, can remarry. Under current teaching, of course, she could not unless she were risking Hell. Absurd. For a long time, this passage stopped legal divorce in Catholic countries and restricted in Protestant ones. That was good for men, but not women. The bad old days are almost over, and will be if the rights of a partner wronged by her spouse are affirmed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Although I have no children in school, I contribute weekly to provide education for children K-12 in Catholic schools and to the Catholic Charities which provide medical care to those in need.\n\nI believe that to be more consistent with my Catholic faith than supporting Planned Parenthood and abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Immigration? You don't seem to know Canadian history. Canada is defined by accommodation to non-established religion. See the Quebec Act of 1774. Indeed, the American rebels thought it promoted Papism. And our immigration policy thereafter tended to favour WASPs, although Irish Catholics were tolerated. Still, the Colonial government tried to exclude Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and Confucianists. This wasn't necessarily because of religion, but more likely the colour of their skin. Nevertheless, after WWII, accommodation became the norm. I don't see a quarrel about religion here, but a political dispute over the disputed border of Jammu & Kashmir which has dragged on for a century. It is facile to say \"Why can't we all just get along\" as if the matter is trivial. It's not. Our Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects all religions and therefore we cannot suppress one to please another.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When did Canada fault the Egyptian government for failing to end violence against Christians by Muslims? Did I blink too quickly and miss it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" ... all the rituals were structured in the same God-centered manner ...\"\nAnd indeed were all the post-Vatican II reformed rituals.\n\nAnd history show that rituals, while being firmly God-centered, usually remembered that the liturgical assemblies were made up of real human beings.\n\nThe aberration in ritual is not in remembering the human side of liturgy, but when that side is forgotten.\n\nThe human-divine relationship in liturgy is rather like the humanity/divinity of Christ. Not only do you need to maintain both, but they need to be in a healthy balance", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One can hardly call natural law theory or the use of reason to inform us about sin a \"phobia\" and it is the height of anti-intellectualism to do so.\n\nBut that aside in the written Gospels Christ is very clear about adultery being prohibited and since the very early days of the Church (as reflected in St. Paul's letters) this has included all forms of unchastity, including homosexual acts. \n\nNaturally Christ didn't use the word \"homosexuality\" as the word and the concept (of an inclination toward this being somehow constitutive) are products of modern fads.\n\nBut even searching for prohibitions or excusing sin by reference to absence in the New Testament is wrong and un-Christian. Christianity isn't Islam or Judaism founded on a book that lists naughty and nice things to do. We avoid these things--and remember that the ancients considered homosexual relations a universal temptation--and all sins because they are contrary to love of God and love of neighbor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I love Pope Frank! I'm an Atheist but even I can see that the Pope cares about all of humanity and not projecting the power of the church. It's what matters to him. The next step is to see the misery all religions have fostered upon the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kenney is not a social conservative Mr. Mason no matter how hard you and your NDP compatriots try to paint him as one. He does understand parental rights and he does recognize the separation of church and state and is willing to stand up to intrusions by government. The Catholics are allowed to run their own faith based school system and teach provincial curricula. They are not radically deviating from that, but they are offering context. Something a good educator should do in any event.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All I see here are opinions of people who were not there, slander based on heresay, quote out of context, make grand assumptions in things they do not understand, based on limited info. trashing people who are trying to do something good for their country just to add to the noise. If you are Christian, you better be praying for your country, people, government and your leaders and be the change you wish to see. Get up and do something.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't ya think meeting and granting degrees are different?\nJesus met the devil in his three temptation; didn't recommend him for a degree from a Jewish institution of higher learning. \nGood to see ND has no problem with apostates. They've come a long way as the RCC from burning 'em at the stake, putting them on the rack, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Vatican regularly rejects Catholic candidates whose public status is at odds with Church teaching. For example, Alberto Iribarne was nominated for the position Ambassador for Argentina, but refused by the Vatican because of his remarriage after his divorce.\n\nHowever, Callista Gingrich is not divorced, still less remarried, and her husband's previous marriage was contracted when he was not Catholic and has probably been annuled. Her marital status is not likely to be an obstacle.\n\nAs to adultery, that is a matter between her and her confessor. Anybody who repeats gossip about it is placing himself at odds with Church teaching too, which unambiguously condemns unecessarily making known the sins of another person.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are absolutely correct, Elagabalus. Thanks for pointing this out. Aquinas had been quite a lady's man but by the age of 32 converted into total celibacy. One has to wonder if with all his profligacy he had not contracted some STD that affected that kind of lifestyle. It may have inspired him to preach complete abstinence, unfortunately for so many Catholics. Being pro-life, however, to me, indicates a need for that hierarchy to retain and increase its power over people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This piece is good on so many levels. Thank you Tom!\n\nYou are far from alone, not just on your journey, but in the emotions you feel. There are many who left the church, but who continue to walk a parallel journey. All will likely express a sense of grief, a longing for what might have been, and often anger for what really is...\n\nI suspect the bishops know we're out there. I suspect they wish they could draw us back in. But they lack the tools: tools that take a long time to forge, I sight as to what problems the tools might solve, and above all, the courage to take a risk. And their lack of a willingness to take a risk for hose who left is often at the very core of why we left. Be it accountability, be it a refusal to be willing to accept that there Is more than a sixth-grade viewpoint about Jesus that can be acceptable, or even something as simple as recognizing wisdom in the laity, what's needed is some movement, some risk-taking on their part too...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Will she be making a second, redundant visit again next week to see the Catholic school system?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't consider the examples listed as fake news. They may have been wrong, sure.\n Here are some fake news I've seen circulated by web sites with \"freedom\" and \"patriot\" in the name:\n1) Obama shifts $3B from vet care to ISIS (Obama signed off on the bill for vet care under question, so easily verified as false).\n2) Muslims attack mall Christmas tree (the video showed Arabic people on a tree... it turns out the video was of a Christian Kurd traditional race up the tree with Muslims and Christians observing together.)\n3) Heavily tattooed man with facial implants blames Trump for not being able to get a job (the picture was a stock photo with a \"quote\" superimposed).\n4) Shows a picture of Diane Feinstein with the \"quote\" \"when the gunman realizes nobody else is armed he will lay down his weapon\" (fake story from humor site)\n5) It will finally be legal again to say \"Merry Christmas\" when Trump is President (always been legal)\nAll these were accepted at face value and with shock by readers", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that God cannot change what is true, in fact no one can. I don't understand what you mean that, \"we can and should change our interpretation of God's truth when reason and facts lead us that way.\" Perhaps you could give an example of this.\nAlso, I have never experienced the Spirit telling me anything and if it were telling me something how would it do it and how would I know it was the Holy Spirit rather than an evil one. I also don't understand what 'ideas' you are suggesting that the Church has had to change nor have I noticed any attempt by the Church to control me and that is over 7 decades. I don't have any difficulty accepting the truths which the Church holds to be infallible. \nAll in all I'm afraid I didn't understand most of what you wrote.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ">President Trump can ensure that we are not forced from the public square,\" said the statement from committee chairs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.\n\n*Rolls eyes in disgust*\n\nWhat they really mean is, ensure they get to rule the public square and everybody who doesn't toe their line is forced out of the public square, or even out of the country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Would that be the Islamic God who demands those who deny him be thrown off buildings or beheaded? Or the Old Testament God who sent bears to eat his prophet? Or the New Testament God relied on during the Crusades to slay all unbelievers? Or the Catholic and Protestant Gods on their respective sides of the Northern Ireland killings? Or the God the Wehrmacht had on their \"Gott mit Uns\" belt buckles during WWII? Or the Jewish God the Israelis rely on in Palestine today?\n\n\"God\" and politics have killed millions. The less linkage the better, in my opinion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hola, Old Abuelo,\nI my last response to you I cited Please continue with the link, Post@16; June 27th, 2014 at 10:14 am. \n\nhttp://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2014/06/irish-catholic-catechism-for-adults-and-the-fall/\nThe web page for this site has been off line for the last few days but now the link is in working order and needs to be read in conjunction to the whole of my reply/post to you in order that my comments are understood. I hope that you have had a good Easter.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why not a change to US policy to re-define Christians from these war-torn nations as refugees?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AS an Irish immigrant I well understand the dilemma. When the savagery of both sides of the Irish troubles were raging, as a rational person I was mortified that we could not mend our dofferences peacefully. As a Catholic I was well aware of the vicious bigotry between thr catholic and protestant Christians (so called) neither of whom were following the teachings of Jesus Christ.\n\nBorn in Dub lin I was from a Catholic family who supported the Union with Britain and subsequently the Republic when it came. Sceptical about the Catholic Church's veracity and the vile physical abuse I suffered, I stopped religious practise @ 16.\n\nLater on, I felt free to and speak against the evil violence. I note sadly that instead of using your talents to vilify the evildoers against the west and your own decimated people. I am no Supporter of D.J. Trump, but a pinch of common sense decrees that a moratorium of even a year on entry from these countries and a few more is eminently sensible and defensable", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So when ghettos formed in Europe in the 16th century, left wing intellectuals were behind that idea? Wasn't there an Austrian 80 years ago who railed against non Christian immigrants in Germany? You have many common arguments with him (he blamed that group for communism, and trying to take over the world; you blame Islam for the same end game).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Reader support built NCR\u2019s independence\"\n\nWhat exactly do you mean by \"independence\"? \n\nIn fact, you and your publication are completely and utterly dependent.\n\nYou are dependent on the Catholic Church. Without 2000 years of Catholic Christian tradition, you would be NOWHERE as a Catholic publication. \n\nYou might want to think that since you dislike and agitate against certain aspects, parts and members of this Church and tradition, you are \"independent.\" But you are sadly mistaking \"independence\" for being divisive and partisan, and for dismissing and undermining your brothers and sisters you disagree with for partisan-political reasons. \n\nBut even there, you fail to see your utter dependence. If you did not have these people (lay or clergy), functions, structures in the Church, you could not claim \"independence\" from anything or anyone from! \n\nYour claim of \"independence\" as a self-proclaimed Catholic publication is at best a contradiction in terms.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But, John, applicants are given a choice before they register. No one's got a gun to an applicant's head (or a rope tied at the waist, pulling her), forcing her/him to register. And why register at a university when you feel uncomfortable with its mission statement, its social agenda (whether too liberal or conservative), its Theology Dept., etc.? You imply that recruiters are like engineers hustling kids to prison camps. lol. Kids can go wherever they like in the US. I can't imagine any parent shelling out $240,000 to send their kid to ND against her or his will -- for four years. Not when it is so much cheaper to send the kid to a state school that espouses no Catholic values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are describing rape. According to the Guttmacher institute study, rape as a reason for abortion accounts for 1% of the abortions done in the US. This is less than 10,000 abortions out of almost a million a year. \n\nMany Americans, even Catholics, believe that a rape victim should have abortion as a choice, since the victim's right to choose to have sex was taken from her.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW, why don't you spend more time trying to find common ground than dividing the People of God on who they voted for or who they might have dinner with. Is it wrong to expect more? \n\nWe conservative Catholics love and appreciate our evangelical brothers and sisters although a few do make some goofy statements like the ones given by Presbyterian Pastor Marcelo Figueroa in Civilta Cattolica. \n\nThe Jesuit Spadaro should have known better than to be brought into the tug of war between traditional Protestantism and evangelicalism. He was used. A good Jesuit would never have allowed that to happen. Now, the pope has another cultural war drum to deafen thanks to them; worse, it made it look like the Pope was telling American Catholics how to think, act and vote. He would never do that in the 21st Century. After all, popes today don't really involve themselves in the political affairs of nations unless of course we are defeating communism and relativism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm pretty sure the founding fathers intended it to be a Christian nation. When they were talking freedom OF religion, not from it, they were thinking of all the DIFFERENT religions . Particularly Catholic and Protestant. They certainly weren't considering agnostics. And the intent to separate church from state was their intent so the differences between their different Christian religions wouldn't be a debilitating factor. I hear TJ claiming it was FROM as well as OF. I disagree. It was OF. It was the Govt. meant to have freedom FROM religion, not the people, who were guaranteed freedom OF.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You do know that the polls show Catholics clearly opposing magisterial teaching on homosexual relations. So, \"the fringe\" has moved into the center.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A buried talent occurs because of a lack of the virtue of hope.\n\nIt's been said by saints that discouragement is the enemy of our perseverance, and it's a temptation that must be sensed at its earliest rising, and beaten over the head with hope before it has the slightest effect on our soul. \n\nWe must bear fruit - it's a command from God - and most of the fruit God wants are simply souls closer to Christ, brought about by faith, hope, and self-costly love (mainly in generous and infinitely patient acts of sincere friendship...better conversation, less self, deeds of service, smiles, prayer for them, availability), and lots of graces from our loving Father God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus also said: \u201cNot everyone who says to me, \u2018Lord, Lord,\u2019 will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, \u2018Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?\u2019 Then I will declare to them solemnly, \u2018I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.\u2019\u201d Matthew 7:21-23", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely NOT.\nI will NOT attend that kind of march, even though you spin it as \"for justice\" in a general sense.\n\nThey're trying to get as big & broad a group as possible, saying it's not this & it's not that. But when thousands of people gather, then it will be up to the MEDIA to SPIN what the purpose of those gathered people is.\n\nHistorically, every year, prolife people, including all doctrinally faithful CATHOLICS, support or march in the MARCH For LIFE to protest the anniversary of the ROE V WADE decision to legalize the killing of the unborn people.\n\nThis anti President rally/march will use the soft sell to appeal to all they can, but they OPPOSE THE PRESIDENT instead of PRAYING FOR HIM TO BE EFFECTIVE IN HIS PROMISES TO PROTECT AMERICANS, ESPECIALLY THE DEFENSELESS UNBORN.\n\nI support efforts to change laws & culture, to cherish all life from womb to tomb. I used to be pro abortion, but now I listen to & follow GOD, not my own, narrowly-defined self-interest as a woman.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed it does, and he fails to meet it.\n\nhttps://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/homophobe\n\nAs a Catholic bishop he teaches against homosexual behavior, and has become something of a target for those who think there is actually a pro-same sex behavior position compatible with the Church's teachings.\n\nOther than that, it's tommyrot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank God ...very good speaker choices.\n\nSen Diaz is an interesting choice. I have heard him speak several times....a Latino ma, very Democrat, very liberal.....except when addressing ssm and abortion. He is not a Catholic Reverend, btw.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi! Scott,\n\"No priest would recommend/advise sterilization (the snip).\" \nPossible what I should have said is that no Priest who is true to Church teaching would recommend/advise sterilization (the snip).\nThe intention was not to doubt you word on this matter rather to exclaim that this is not Church doctrine, I apologies for any misunderstanding.\n\nYou further state that \u201c I/we would be barred from the sacrament of penance...\u201d\nIn this context, by openly acknowledge the truths within HV and then commit to using artificial Contraception it would not be possible for the priest to give absolution, as there is no resolve not to recommit the same sin/act again. \nAs far as sterilization is concern this sin can be forgiven through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.\nI realize we are at odds hear Scott and as you say \u201cwe see things differently and that is fine by me\u201d.\nSincere best wishes for you and your family, now and in the future.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe this is why Catholics are struggling so much with the decision this year. We do want to follow our conscience, and it is not an easy choice. On the one hand, Hillary is very pro-choice, I would say extreme. Trump, is well, Trump. He is very uninformed, flip flops to get votes, and possibly erratic or dangerous. What kind of a choice is this for us? I have decided I can not trust Trump, so I have only Hillary to vote for, if I want my vote to count. I am not happy about it. There is plenty of blame to go around for all of us, but here we are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "those of us who are on the inside can ridicule any part of our patrimony that we wish. it is ours to do, even if no one else can. LOL and you are stuck with me being a part of the Catholic Church, like it or not! according to Canon Law, I am just as much a Catholic as you are and always will be... whether or not either of us like or want it! LOL", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Roman Catholic Knight Templar determined to begin a new Christian Crusade involving everyone, not just the Catholics. A dedicated Theocrat whose bloated face along with his Fuhrer represents the lifestyle of the rich and famous determined to establish Christian Law over the entire nation. His often stated beliefs of his loyalty to religion over any secular government reflects the threat he and his Fuhrer pose to the very foundations of the U.S. and its secular governing Constitution. The greatest threat to this nation and the world since WWII.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Couldn't agree more. OneFamily ( https://onefamilyhwl.org ) is dedicated to strengthening marriage through a core curriculum of parenting courses. This eases conflict in marriages while also building community through shared values and techniques. Christian based, OneFamily has helped thousands to a life of greater well-being.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Middle East is a centuries old problem.\nPerhaps the main causal factors relate to religions in the area.\nDungeon, Fire and Sword, by Robinson is a 12th century take on the Crusaders era, which far from being professionally successful, was instead a conglomeration of interests, with enemy and friend changing almost monthly. Past Muslim protection of Christian leaders from other Christian leaders; European business interests vying for trade, Slaves traders, King makers, all mixed together.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remind me where in the undisputed letters Paul describes Jesus as the Logos born of the Father before all ages.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Christian School student in the 80s, we knew this as \"Righteous Indignation.\"\nI'm a happy heathen now, and I don't need religion to express myself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not at all. I am very much at peace because I know (not just feel) that I am a child of God.\n\nI understand what divine filiation means, and how to maintain a presence with God.\n\nI can see why someone without a supernatural perspective might be inclined to come to that conclusion.\n\nBut I don't have that sense at all that you write about. Not at all.\n\nI know what joyful struggle is, as a child of God.\n\nRead what the pope said just recently.\n\nhttps://cruxnow.com/vatican/2017/02/28/joy-tribulation-mark-true-christian-pope-says/\n\nJoy is being close to God, and at times that means being with Him carrying the Cross, the happy cross.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You asked how your comment could be that personal?\n\nHere's your comment with some highlighting: \"YOU need to get a life and MEET SOME REAL WOMEN. Probably there is only one woman on this Planet who is 'complementary' to YOU, and if she is YOUR WIFE, count YOURSELF lucky.\"\n\nAnd then you further push the private point: \"How do YOU know YOUR kids are 'all still Catholic'?\"\n\nJust wonder on someone else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have two \"dubia\" for Mr. Winters:\n1. Does he accept Pope Francis's statement that the ban on ordaining women is permanent and therefore any debate on this issue is a bad idea since \"Roma locuta est, causa finita est\"?\n2. Does he think Pope Francis has been fully clear on the issue of communion for those in non-traditional relationships?\n\nP.S. I'm a progressive Catholic and I think the answer to both of the above questions is \"no.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR demonizes the president, depicts his every decision as 100% wrong, calls his intentions \"evil\" (see MSW's recent column)...........and yet, claims it's the voice of \"introspection,\" and embodies the spirit of \"welcome and embrace.\"\n\nA kind of Catholic moral schizophrenia, that is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "david, it was an accident of your birth that made you a christian, nothing more, nothing less. had you been born in India or the Pakistan or japan, it is highly unlikely you would be a christian and instead would be a practicing Hindu, Islamist or Buddhist. all who, like you, think everyone else is wrong. to me at least, that just doesn't make any sense at all. i like the salvation army but they are absolutely wrong in not allowing anyone to work there unless they profess their belief in Jesus first.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part 3)... You further imply that my relationship with God \"is based on a lie.\" Kevin, it is one thing to hold an opinion but quite another to make crass allegations based on said opinion. This is the \"ugly\" side of dominion theology that I mentioned earlier. Which hearkens back to my earlier warning to not conflate imperial Romanism with divine law... the two are clearly not the same but if you have been conditioned to believe this it seems there is no limit to what \"they\" can teach you with little to no critical analysis to discern the truth of it. When one side accuses the other of \"basing his faith on a lie\" (a rather serious allegation to say the least), I hope you can see that any chance of civil discourse is greatly diminished. Why not just be the best disciple based on the *example of Christ* as opposed to the man-made dictates of Rome? Early church fathers spoke of \"the way\" and did not place such emphasis on rigid doctrine, this for good reason as we have seen the results...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bullying is wrong because it is sinful behavior. We are supposed to 'Love Thy Neighbor.' We also 'Love Thy Neighbor' by suggesting to him ways to avoid Hell, and that is to not commit Mortal Sins. So, there is a nice way to teach somebody. There is the book of Tobias which teaches us the purpose of a man and woman and that is procreation. That's been Catholic teaching for almost 2,000 years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LOL \nYeah and for all we know he found the extra stash of Kool-Aid which Jim Jones, who was ordained as a Disciples of Christ pastor, left behind in Michigan before departing to Guyana.\nI hope you're keeping track of all the \"Funny\"(ludicrous) you're accumulating. LOL", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When Bill Clinton committed numerous aggressive offenses against women - we were told to look past it for many reasons:\n\nWe were told by the media over and over again that his sexual escapades were his private life, which in no way affects his public office . . . . \nHillary declared to the world that everything was a \"VAST RIGHT-WING CONSPIRACY\" to get her husband.\n\nThe left said we were a bunch of 'Victorian prudes' to be concerned about such things.\nThey lectured us on not being 'judgmental' \nThey said , \"aren't Christians supposed to forgive and move on\".\n\nNow that it is someone with a different ideology than liberalism - we are basically told to crucify him and level the worst condemnation upon him, showing no mercy.\n\nYou can't have it both ways.\nBesides, the things Trump has only spoken, are the things Bill has done and HILLARY HAS VEHEMENTLY DEFENDED HIM!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a fundamental question( that I am not sure this article addresses) what is \"catholic identity\"?\n\nThere is an even more fundamental quoin which it seems to me this article has not even imagined: \"what SHOULD be \"Catholic identity' in the 21st century?\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's look at your comment for a moment. You condemn the Democratic Party because, if your allegations of his donorship are true, he gave money to the Democratic Party. First, I didn't even know he was a Democrat, let alone a \"major donor\". Secondly, Mr. Shockley was extremely active in his Christian Church and was (I presume \"is\") a high-profile and outspoken Christian. Should we be condemning the Christian Church because of Mr. Shockley\"s actions? Simple question. I'd enjoy reading your answer. thanks, Gary", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Orthodox Church permits divorce. Same Jesus. Same Church for 1000 years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\nAllow me to comment on the last two sentences. By most accounts I've seen, Edgardo Mortara lived out his life as a Catholic priest, effective and apparently happy in his ministry. He seems to have had at least a partial reconciliation with his mother. To the extent that he lived a good and happy life, I think we can be happy for him.\nBut none of that diminishes the significance of the radically evil act of kidnapping him and removing him from his home and family at the age of six. Had he chosen to abandon his family, his culture and his religion at the age of twenty-six, or maybe even at sixteen, we could affirm his right to make that decision and rejoice with him if it brought him joy. However, snatching him from his family, culture and religion when he was six was an indefensible act of violence; we must not affirm it, rationalize it, excuse it, or forget it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"IN the Northeast\" (USA obviously)...the practice...is rare\". It is also rare in TEC in the same region where the Lord's Prayer is a part of Rites I and II Eucharistic prayer. At most I see a few doing the \"orans\" position of spread arms. The \"frozen chosen\" heritage is tough to break.\n\n As to our Christian brethren in the evangelical churches, hand holding would be present but is far from universal. It tends to depend on the age and class of the congregation. The more interesting question is whether the Lord's prayer would be recited or more likely sung to a slightly twangy slightly country influenced tune by a \"praise\" band. Swaying might also occur, as worshipers sang along. It is likely the only fixed prayer used as it is obviously scriptural and doesn't violate their anathema on repetitive prayer or fixed liturgy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "After His ascension, Jesus Christ gave a revelation by sending his angel to his servant John to show his servants what must soon take place. The revelation includes the spoken testimony of Jesus Christ, including these words: \"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ... I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. ... Repent and do the things you did at first. ... But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.\" (Revelation 2:1-2, 5-6) My Bible footnotes describe the Nicolaitans as a heretical sect within the church that had worked out a compromise with the pagan society. They taught that spiritual liberty gave them sufficient leeway to practice idolatry and immorality \u2014 hateful practices that resulted from false doctrine. Jesus Christ hated the practices of the Nicolaitans and praised the Christians at Ephesus for joining Him in this hatred.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "National Catholic Reporter is a treasure for the Catholic Church and this country. Going back to the 1980s and its landmark reporting on the priestly sexual abuse crisis, it has given us the news the Catholic Church needs. If the bishops had been reading National Catholic Reporter instead of patting each other on the back for sweeping scandal under the rug, the Catholic Church would be in much better shape now. Keep it going NCR! The Catholic Church couldn't survive its own bishops without you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good thing Pope Francis did not ask you to come work there. I like someone to speak plainly and he has called them out on their decades of poor performance and behaviors as leaders of the church. It is the mandate he was given to reform the Curia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "4) We are called to establish a RELATIONSHIP with God. When Jesus is revealed to us Christians by calling himself the 'Son of the Father and yet one with the Father, he is giving clear primacy to RELATIONSHIP. We are also called to be ONE with the Father. We're not of independent substance; we exist only in relationship. Salvation is nothing more than the willingness, the readiness, the capacity to stay in relationships with God.\n\n5) Democracy was not the problem. The barbarian invasions pouring into western Europe caused the popes and bishops to become more civil lawmakers---than shepherds. The U.S. Church is more than capable of electing its own bishops. As far as 'politics' are concerned---they are already PART and PARCEL of the selection of bishops----has been since Vatican Council I.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good man, caring husband, faithful Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "80% of Canadians are god and Satan fearing Christians.\n|\nThe answers to the Conservative test:\n1) Jesus\n2) Moses\n3) Christmas\n|\nThe Liberals are post-Christians (maybe worse.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ms DeVos is zealous in her opposition to public education, favoring, instead privatized Christian education funded with tax dollars. Just what we need, a Secretary of Education who doesn't believe in public education. \n\nOur experiment with \"for profit\" college education has certainly worked out well, hasn't it. Businesses like Trump University and the University of Phoenix have bilked students out of hundreds of millions and left those students with no useful education, but, of course, with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debts. Yes-siree, that privatization sure works out well.....Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My resource is the Council of Trent the decrees of which are infallible and irreformable.\nI am amazed that you are not aware that one of the main disputes at the reformation was the Sacrificial nature of the Mass. Protestants said it was only a memorial meal whereas the Catholic Church said it was most certainly a sacrifice.\nRead the decree of Trent on the Sacrifice of the Mass if you don't believe me or better still show me one utterance of a pope or council which says the Mass is not a Sacrifice.\nBelow is a link to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. In the introduction it sets forth the doctrine of the Sacrifice of the Mass in detail.\n\nhttp://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Resources/GIRM/Documents/GIRM.pdf\n\nIf you need the history of the doctrine just Google the Sacrifice of the Mass or go to the New Advent website.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you meant to write \"What a Catholic statement!\" since it is hardly outlandish.\n\nhttps://www.ncronline.org/news/global/australian-priest-advocate-womens-ordination-excommunicated\n\nThe relevant Canons are 751, 1367, and 1369.\n\nhttp://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P2H.HTM\n\n751 Heresy is the obstinate denial or obstinate doubt after the reception of baptism of some truth which is to be believed by divine and Catholic faith; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.\n\nhttp://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P52.HTM\n\nCan. 1369 A person who in a public show or speech, in published writing, or in other uses of the instruments of social communication utters blasphemy, gravely injures good morals, expresses insults, or excites hatred or contempt against religion or the Church is to be punished with a just penalty.\n\nGood Pope Francis.\n\n1367 is there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Monica, Part Two: \" It seems therefore that Neetlangw cannot be used and that there is a lot more to lose by adopting the foreign name for God \u2013 the Swahili Mungu\u2013 then using Looa. The great mother was also a well-known deity in Asia minor and Greece in New Testament times, but could not challenge the notion of God as father, and in particular as father of the son, Jesus Christ.\" From Thor Strandenas, \"Translation as Interpretation,\" in The New Testament as Reception, eds., Mogens M\u00fcller and Henrik Tronier (London: Sheffield, 2002). So I agree: we simply do not have a sacred image of a sexualized woman. Just mothers and celibates. Buddhist, on the other hand, have Kuan Yin, and the merciful Amida, although the same misogyny asserts itself -- The Goddess in the Lotus Sutra has to transform to her true male form to embody awakening. On the good side, there are so many women Buddhologists, esp. in the Tibetan lineages, that dakinis and female figures abound.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously you see no connection with cultural norms and religious practice. That is where your error lies. Acting as presiders at Eucharist evolved throughout the history of the RCC. Ordination and the Sacrament of what you refer to as Holy Orders also went through many changes. Culture of the times DID influence how Eucharist was to be ritualized. Our present day Mass is not the ritual of the early Christian Community. \nGod using human instruments has not a thing to do with women's place in Scripture. God was not looking to write us out of the story.\nIf we as women are worthy of Baptism then we are worthy of FULL participation in all our Community does.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Turkey tried to liberalize in order to join the EU. Once told that a Christian Europe would never accept them, they fell into Islamic fundamentalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of two) \u201cThe judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just\u201d (Psalm 19:10) and these judgments needed to be at the heart of those responsible for putting Trump in office, and they were, in the persons of the evangelicals. The Gospel for today shatters so-called family values. \u201cthey left their boat and their father and followed him\u201d (Matthew 4:22). Romans asks, \u201cHow can (grassroots) people preach unless they are sent?\u201d (Romans 10: 15). Do not look for the United States Conference of Catholic (USCCB) bishops to send anyone to preach against Trump whom USCCB supported, anticipating he would \u201crecommend a right-wing ideologue for the Supreme Court, and take myriad other actions that will negatively impact most Americans.\u201d Liturgy of the Word, Reading 684, Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle, November 30.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Eliane, who is this nic against whom you wage such war? Surely, sir, you are not contending I am she and I have been expelled from this board do you? After all, here I am, posting. So obviously I have not been removed. In any event, once again it appears a hijacking is underway. The article was about a movie being made, commemorating the courageous actions of a Holy Pontiff, who saved a child's soul by kidnapping him from his non-Christian family to be raised a member of the One True Church. Justified, of course, because his maid splashed water on him. Now let's try to retain the focus on this story. And do try to be respectful of others and their opinions, even if they lack our understanding of the One True Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You mean His teachings on birth control, abortion, same gender civil unions... delivered in the Latin Jesus spoke? Please give me the Scripture citations for those. Or would that be the teachings on peace, justice, an end to violence, and whatsoever we do to the least we do to Him? Would that be His pleas to not judge, love our neighbors, love our enemies and pray for those who are persecuting us? Would that be His announcing that He came to search out and save the lost? Would that be Jesus in yesterday's Gospel telling Zaccheus to come down from the tree because Jesus is coming to his house when Zaccheus was a reviled tax-collector and a public sinner? I can quite easily give you the Scripture citations for those.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christmas secular?? New Years Day i would agree but not Christmas.\nI know many non Christians who dont celebrate at all and many communist and athesit also who dont celebrate its their choice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have Christian polygamists in Lane County, at least two families that I am aware of. To my knowledge, few have been arrested for it and when prosecuted, the rulings were overturned. In 2016 11 Mormon polygamists were arrested, but on charges of food stamp fraud and money laundering. (Civil isn't allowing me to post url's, but the citation is from BBC-Canada) Utah had about 40,000 polygamists in 1998 (Wiki). Polygamy is seldom prosecuted because typically, a family has a single marriage license and additional wives and their children cohabit, which isn't illegal and is difficult to prosecute (ibid).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I certainly DO KNOW what Jansenism is. It is the Catholic version of Calvinism---an almost Puritanical version of Catholicism. And I am well aware of its tenants. In fact, a lot of Jansenism crept into the Catholic Church in America\n\nJansenist spirituality was an attempt to control the human passions through self-denial, mortification and asceticism. This was essential to Jansenists because they feared that if they could not demonstrate control of the passions, they had not really been chosen by God for salvation after all. A person predestined to salvation, it was thought, will act in a certain way. \n\nMany priests and nuns coming from Ireland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were trained in the French theology and spirituality method [of Jansenism]. Too many Catholics were taught to be a suffering people, estimating how many days their aches and pains would get them out of Purgatory. The joy and love of a savior who loves us was missing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity in the US is largely a tribal marker. And of course many politicians give lip service to Christianity because of the de facto religious test for office. The fact that Christians enabled the election of Donald Trump is evidence of the perversion of Christianity in the US. Trump represents practically everything Jesus of Nazareth inveighed against.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe that's because Jesus' rules are sometimes a pain, and the lawyer in us wants to find a more comfortable construction of what he said. I try not to be that way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On behalf of all the white ethnic Catholics -- Irish, Italians, Germans, Poles, Hispanics, etc. -- I want to congratulate our new president, Donald J. Trump !!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The 'insights' of creation was based on a mythic story that was common to the Mesopotamia area. The people who wrote the Creation myth, based much of it on the old stories that were told. They added the crucial part that God brought about creation. That is wonderful. But we live in a scientific/technical age. Most people [and the youngsters in Catholic schools & religious formation] are taught that the universe was created in 7.7 Billion years and the earth in 4.5 Billion years. Humanity did not begin in a beautiful garden, but evolved from the primate apes and chimps. People NEED a Christian, but applied/ practical way to understand Christian marriage and family life as lived TODAY. When Church leaders try to utilize Medieval- 19th Century and early 20th Century answers to 21st Century problems---the result is a people who would rather ask Oprah for advice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've found the staff contact at Civil Comments to be extraordinarily receptive, conscientious and...very civil! So I wish I could be less critical of CC. But it has failed, because if you're going to have a self-moderating community, you can't include a critical mass of people whose main objective is to sabotage that community. It's obvious alt-right supporters have been determined to gain a foothold in the most robust progressive Catholic commentariat in the blogosphere, and they've succeeded, to some extent. Obviously I think there should be massive pushback. Some of these trolls wouldn't have lasted ten minutes in The Horde.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. No. Since Francis is now the Pope he is the one, chosen by the Holy Spirit, to decide what is or is not heretical, what is and is not right for the practices of the Church. \n\nOr at least that is what those who now claim they are orthodox used to think when JPII and BXVI were popes. If it is true, then Burke is no longer orthodox; he is now the one who is heterodox. \n\nOr, is it possible that JPII and BXVI never had the right to kick out priests, bishops, or others who disagreed with them? Is it possible that they were wrong to claim such power?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find many faults with Mr. Williams' analysis & commentary. But I want to join others in expressing disappointment in the manner in which Mr. Winters continually makes Mr. Williams's personal failings a subject of derision & apparently humor. For one thing, I can't imagine Pope Francis doing such a thing, whatever his substantive disagreements with the individual might be. For another, it brings undue & unfair attention to Mr. Williams' family, & as Pope Francis rightly reminds us, families of all variety & circumstances deserve compassion & mercy. Finally, it is unbecoming of someone - and a publication - that continually objects to the rhetoric of conservative Catholics. In a phrase, \"who are you to judge?' And all while trumpeting \"accompaniment\" to sinners.\n\nMr. Winters should apologize to Mr. Williams & his family.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But, there is the ONE out there making 'white Christian America' great again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with you. For a matter affecting one provinces, the amendment needs to be passed by that one province (Alberta) and the federal government.\n\nMy point was merely that the Catholic school system in Alberta was in the constitution and protected by the charter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was worshiping with the Episcopalians during the 1980's when women were first admitted to the Episcopal priesthood. The parish I attended was considered \"Anglo-Catholic,\" meaning their ritual was very similar to ours. They were also more conservative than your average, run-of-the-mill Episcopal Church. Nonetheless, when the first woman priest was brought in and celebrated mass for the first time there were a few grumbles but very soon people got over themselves. Even those who were the most resistant to change eventually embraced the curate (as the associate priest was called) because of her wonderful outsize personality, her engaging homilies, her wit, and her pastoral gifts. If such an experience can happen in that kind of parish over thirty years ago, I have no doubt that the transition could happen just as easily on this side of the Tiber. It's time. In fact, it's long past time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On point! Please continue to tell it like it is through your gentle characters. The NCR and Pope Francis have come to represent what it means to me to be a Catholic. Unfortunately my parish pastors and Archbishop Dolan do not represent the same thing. It's painful to listen to their sermons which never tackle the moral issues that are paramount in our lives today. So discouraging.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I have faith in the freedom of morality that is a distinguished right in our democratic civilization.\"\n\n Good grief, Reverend, what in the world are you talking about? You need to stop cobbling together different verses and concepts that are taken out of context to create a completely different story than the points made by those statements in the first place. \"Render unto Caesar\" isn't about \"honoring\" Caesar; it is about recognizing reality and behaving accordingly with moral judgment for your own life and well-being, and wisely distinguishing between spirit and materiality. God and Caesar are different. \n\nYou also need to stop cobbling OT and NT verses together to make up a story that isn't in the Bible. But I won't hold my breath, because that is Christianity - the ongoing creative effort to rearrange the Bible sentence-by-sentence in order to apply it to present times and promote ideas that aren't really in keeping with Jesus' teachings. \n\nI continue in the next post.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@Kodiak Dude: who, me? I'm an atheist. My religion channel is set to Off. I wasn't asserting that there was a God (or Goddess or whatever); I was just pointing out that most Christians are not young earthers (whom I think are crazy). Glenn was lumping all Christians together into the science hating group, which just isn't accurate.\n\nI understand that people have very strong feelings about these issues, but that doesn't mean we have to dispense with civility. While I completely concur that God was created in man's image, I don't have to be an @hole about it. I know many good people that have drawn a different conclusion - why would I disrespect them? Their faith doesn't threaten my personal beliefs. \n\nYou know what I talk about with my religious friends? Everything but religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My apologies. I did not mean to misrepresent your question, i am just inept.\n\nI cant answer for Mike, but I don't see how Kenedy's support for MAD would affect whether anyone considered him Catholic, other than those who consider someone as not Catholic if they disagree with the Church on anything. I suspect that Mike does not share that kind of a view, but believes both that JFK was a Catholic AND that he rejected Church teaching on MAD nad nuclear weapons. \n\nOTOH, I can see how support for MAD could affect whether someone is considered prolife. MAD has a direct connection to being \"prolife\" that is missing from Church membership.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks. The article I mentioned can't be pigeonholed, but Hprweb does prominently display an ad for Cardinal Burke\u2019s book! \n\nSeldom used definitions of CATHOLIC are \u201cUNIVERSAL and/or COMPREHENSIVE, esp. broad in sympathies, tastes, or interests\u201d. Applying that perspective, I don\u2019t worry much about whether a website is radical or reactionary. Nevertheless, those terms do help to warn sensible readers to beware of skewed viewpoints which are biased and overblown.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr Orobator makes another point. These women will come from the same African tradition he did and they will have a very different conceptualization of God. They will know God in both a female and male context and will have experienced powerful women spiritual leaders. Traditional spiritual traditions are no where near as male dominated as traditional Christianity. It may be that the theology you seek will come from the African women he is mentoring and empowering.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God asked us to be merciful as God is merciful. Forgiving first and then we change (which is repentance). Not your model which does not come from God but some in the church who advocate this such as yourself.\nJesus saw sin as something different than your view. He instead invited sinners because they were inherently repentant. The Pharisees considered themselves sinless, unrepentant, and separated themselves. Jesus respected their choice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yep. The Christian Right will vote for Trump forever.\nAs long as Trump stomps on GLBT people and announces the imminent arrest of Hillary Clinton \"any day now\" every few weeks, his base will make him president for life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe he left a future door open for case-by-case analysis of non-Muslim refugee claimants...\n\n... as a balance to the Obama administration's policy that led to a headline of \"Federal Judge Asks Why Obama Administration Isn\u2019t Admitting Christian Syrian Refugees\"...\n\n... a topic I do not remember every reading about in the Globe and Mail?\n\nFrom that article: \"Ten percent of the Syrian population is Christian and \u201cyet less than one-half of 1 percent of Syrian refugees admitted to the United States this year are Christian.\"\n\nGiven the much larger refugee numbers taken in under Obama, the new case-by-case Trump policy for Syria would probably have to run for decades before it could correct, on a per capita basis for Syrian refugees in recent history, for the massively pro-Muslim anti-non-Muslim approach reported during Obama's reign...\n\n... well, reported in some venues, that is...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<\"We're theological and biblical illiterates.\">\n\nA jolly good reason for having an infallible and indefectible teaching Magisterium under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and invested with Christ's authority.\n\n<\"It's been only in recent decades that Lutherans and Catholics (and, more recently, Reformed Protestants and Catholics) have agreed that salvation is solely dependent on God's grace, not a bit on our works or merit.\"\n\nAnd that rather bold assertion needs considerable unpacking!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Targeting Christian businesses when there are a thousand other providers isn't an honest business transaction. \n\nI remember being on a business trip....with Marine reserve duty coming up that weekend...needed a haircut..as I was getting back home on the red eye with reserve duty the next morning. I went into a barber shop in the city where I was working during lunch. Everyone in there was black...customers/barbers, people hanging out, but somehow or other I never got called to take a seat! Waited an hour, while others were offered the seat.\n\nSo did I whine and sue for racial discrimination? Did I try to shut their business down?\n\nSaid a prayer for them as I left...borrowed a battery clippers in the parking lot of the reserve center and shaved my head. \n\nIt's the forced, finger in your eye, arm twisting \"I will run you out of business\" that is causing the division.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Urban Catholic parishes are facing the same problems. Parishes are shutting down or being consolidated with other parishes. It is what it is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To accuse one of \"Living in sin\" is a convenient way to bash sinners, both those who are sincerely repentant and those who are otherwise... the problem is you can't read the hearts of men/women, nor can the haughty, rigid prelates... so stop pretending already and start living as if you understood the merciful gospel of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The formation of the new entity, which Archbishop Gomez planned to convene weekly, \u201cwill send a message to those who live in fear that the Catholic bishops of the United States stand with them, pray with them, offer pastoral support and speak prophetically in defense of their human dignity,\u201d Cupich wrote.\n\nHe added that the Chicago archdiocese will continue to \u201cwalk with all who, given our broken immigration system, live in the shadows. We will advocate for them as well as for refugees seeking a better life for their families.\u201d\n\nGod Bless Cardinal Cupich for putting the Gospel ahead of Republican Party politics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All good points. There is a distinction however, between those Catholics who support Catholic schools and those who actually practice their faith. Only a small percentage of those born Catholic and who send their kids to Catholic schools actually go to Church. The same applies to teachers and administrators. Outside of Christmas, Easter, baptism, confirmations, wedding and funerals, most Catholic school supporters never see the inside of a church. But hands off their schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hate speech was on display over the weekend in Charlottesville, not here. My observations about past Catholic institutional behavior in the political sphere are historical fact and I was only responding with one hypothesis to anniec's question \"are they willfully morally blind?\", not giving a speech. If you have a better answer for anniec's question please share it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Roy Moore is part of the Mercer funded Christian Dominionist cabal. They want to rule by their (cherry picked) version of the Christian bible, and not the Constitution. Do some research on Dominionist theology-- the founding fathers would be rolling in their graves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's a tango. \nInterestingly, his rule #1 is also the Catholic Church's rule #1.\nBut, if it takes two to qualify as a \"church\", his seems to just qualify.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Catholic, I would suggest that your manufactured [and idiosyncratic, too] description of Jesus Christ as \"Godlikeness\" is theologically insufficient. I suggest He is properly described as God, the Second Person of the Triune God comprised of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.\n\nPLEASE spare me a response.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If young people were leaving the Catholic Church because of sexual issues, the mainstream Protestant churches would be flourishing.\n\nThe mainstream Protestant churches are on the verge of extinction. It's obvious that pandering to young people on sexual issues isn't a way to get them to go to church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More comprehensive with better nuance specific to US Prosperity Gospel movements:\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology\n\n teachers of prosperity theology usually draw attention to its descriptions of physical wealth. Frequently quoted verses include:\nMalachi 3:10: \"Bring to the storehouse a full tenth of what you earn so there will be food in my house. Test me in this,\" says the Lord All-Powerful. \"I will open the windows of heaven for you and pour out all the blessings you need\" \nMatthew 25:14\u201330: the Parable of the talents\nJohn 10:10: \"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly\" \nPhilippians 4:19: \"My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus\" \n Prosperity theology casts itself as the reclamation of true doctrine and thus part of a path to Christian dominion over secular society Prosperity churches place a strong emphasis on the importance of giving", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why was my comment deleted?\nAll my comments are civil.\nMaybe the truth hurts\nMaybe this so-called Catholic site - could care less about the truth . . .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know how one would know that \"He (Jesus) prayed and repeated the Psalms day after day after day\" but whatever... if it transforms you into a better disciple of Christ then good on you, but if done in vanity well I suppose one's faith might also be likewise. Sincere and heartfelt prayers directly to our Lord make infinitely more sense to me but to each his own I guess.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, who ever is chosen. I know one thing. Mr Singh will beat Mr Harper into low vote in Quebec. Regardless he his highly competent, way more \"social\" then Mr Harper. Sympatic, and for sure a good choice. Even I would never vote for him. Religious sign are to us, a sign of influancability. A sign of weakness an a sign of easely manipulated people, whit very low respect of other's whit differents religions or none. Our past show us, that our own religion banned other's to hold his \"power\" politicly. Jew, anglican, any religions kid were not allowed into french school because they were not catholic. Employement was not available for \"other\" in school, hospital, and such.. Gouvernement were decided by preacher's on sunday talk at church by interest and the list goes on it will never happen again. Religious influence = absolut no. The simple appearance of one are enough to make us remember how bad this always end. Always.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings....the vast majority of Millennials worldwide are not following the Christian credo anymore.....baptisms are at all time low for this group.....seems to me what the Holy Father is trying to do is bring these people into the discussion that Christianity is relevant in their lives and Jesus of Nazareth can be encountered daily in their lives!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I define myself as a human being who is both Catholic and American. I love both those identifications and I am loyal to each. I find no conflict because I reject the premise of those who try to force one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The climate crisis is indeed one of the two most important issues of our time, the other being the biodiversity crisis. There is significant denial or neglect of the former, and unawareness of the latter. If the Catholic laity do indeed speak up, that would be a wonderful thing, and entirely consistent with the *true* pro-life message of the gospel, with its call to show mercy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is all very well to make a statement like that but it is completely unsupported by any facts. Until it is it is just your opinion which could well be the result of your dislike of the man. Perhaps you could explain what the Cardinal's position, history, track record, etc is and tell us how it makes him exercising his right to question differs from that of other Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lowering the age to vote, and for what purpose. It's an ideology challenge. For me, a Conservative, who began to understand America as a government my 12th grade (1960) high school year. I was selected to serve on the School's Constitution Review Committee and became involved in many classes and discussion on the U.S. Constitution. And, more so because Hawaii became the 50th State of the United States and I was elected a President of a State youth organization. Will all the students be taught the U.S. and State Constitution with the Bill or Rights included? Will all the students be taught the organizational structure of the United States? Something our founding fathers, based on Judeo Christian ideals, were believers far beyond their years creating this great Country. Or, will it be to vote and make decisions on emotion? I pray on this Easter Sunday, that it will be the thoughtful and visionary individuals who develop such an early voting change. Imua.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The point of equal ordination is not to cause growth but to install justice. To make a church which claims to be Christian, act according to its claims.\n\nSince many Catholics and youth have cited our not ordaining women equally to men and treating women the same as men as reasons for leaving our church, it is likely that as Traditionalist leave or die out we will see a small time of loss, and if we evangelize our new strengths as a just church youth may find cause to return to our church. This is if we start ordaining women immediately. \n\nIt may be too late for our church to ever recover if it does not act with justice towards women and ordain them priests immediately. To long before treatment and the patient is too far gone to heal. Orthodox have less youth than Catholicism now so they need to ordain women fast too and reconsider how they treat LGBT too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that marriage is like communion--it's also a bond of attachment, and the capacity for a secure attachment first develops in infancy, but not always. \nThere are spiritual aspects as well that aren't fully understood. \n The wedding is the beginning but the relationship is a living thing that must be renewed. Sometimes the relationship dies and the hierarchy needs to recognize that. But that death is a long process--it can be that the two spouses have grown emotionally in different directions, or that one has grown and the other has not; it can be due to a lack of communication skills where when differences arise and they fight, they don't know how to reconcile or other. Each marriage is different just as each individual is different. If Catholic priests were married they would have experienced this themselves and would understand it. I know a number of couples who have been married for over 40 years, some up to 70 years. How do they do it? The Church should find out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "i agree. its too bad we dont have a dark, dank, smelly sewer big enough for them to hold their ball. somebody, please tell me how christians go so far away from the teachings of jesus commandment to love thy neighbor as thyself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't recall any jewish or muslim theologians discussing the Christ or the Holy Ghost. \"No one goes to the Father but through the Son\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fair point but the Christian values you deplore were fully supported by the Ali'i. Blaming the missionaries for what was a total partnership of Hawaiian leadership from people like King Kamehameha III made it all possible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Honorius I was anethematized by name by the Third Council of Constantinople for supporting the heresy of monthelitism (that Christ had only one will, the divine will).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"if election night proved anything, it is that we are not only two Americas, but two different American Catholic churches\" This is the strongest impression I have had this election season - seeing the extreme split among my Catholic relatives and friends which aligns more or less exactly along the political divide. This is in no small measure a result of the culture warrior clergy who gave a message very much unlike that of Pope Francis. Before we can contribute anything to healing the nation, we need to find a way to heal our own house. The extreme intolerance and nastiness of what we have just experienced doesn't offer a very high expectation for the possibility of dialogue between Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2/3\nMSW appears to hold a resurrection of Jesus as typologically identical to the resurrection of Lazarus\u2014real death followed by resurrection back to one\u2019s former life. And is that not where the majority of Christians are today? But if that is the resurrection of Jesus, there is nothing unique about it!\n\nIMHO that scripture does not support that view.\n\nIf one reads all of the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus in one sitting, the impression of \u201capparitions\u201d rather than life as before is overwhelming. To focus on the discrepancies in the accounts, as Michael does, is to miss the far more striking point that the resurrected Jesus is \"ethereal\" rather than \"just real.\" He has risen to eternal life, not just returned to his former life. Since the risen Jesus is manifest to witnesses stuck in the constraints of our created reality means, properly speaking, that the risen Jesus is an \u201capparition,\u201d a very real apparition, but none the less, not like Lazarus, not merely \"real.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A notorious pro-abortion \"Catholic\" nun, in a notorious pro-abortion \"Catholic\" newspaper, standing up for \"truth.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed we haven't seen an election like this before, and Catholic writer Andrew Sullivan lays out in stark relief just how unprecedented this election is because of the presence of Donald Trump, the first candidate ever in American history who flirted with fascism to come within arm's length of the presidency:\n\nhttp://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/11/andrew-sullivan-trump-america-and-the-abyss.html\n\nReconciling differences with people who would endanger the republic and indeed the world by entrusting someone like that with the reins of power will take more than healing church services. Papering over such differences does little to excise the cancer with which Trump has infected the body politic, and that cancer isn't going away any time soon. It's burrowed in for the long haul.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Tammeus states that he is ignored, even though he persists in demanding the title of, ' Your Grace ', in his household. He also premises the intent of the article as a possible start to a conversation about the title of address concerning Catholic clergy. I see this as a legitimate leadership initiative consonant with the Spirit of The Second Vatican Council. His self deprecating humor and magnanimity in offering an opportunity for dialogue are encouraging and refreshing. \" You have the Right to be Wrong \", per my Commanding Officer. Let the games begin!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Meredith should be in jail next to vic teows....2 good examples of being a christian conservative..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Father Reese wrote, \"churches and religious believers feel that they are being vilified for simply maintaining centuries-old teaching.\" I expect that's right, that those people do believe that. But in that case, it's a disgraceful kind of belief, and it's no wonder that many LGBTQ people think religious believers are deplorable bigots. Inasmuch as homosexuality gets any attention in biblical literature and Catholic moral theology -- it does, but not very much, and never in a matter of central importance -- , it amounts to saying no more than that God is displeased by homosexual conduct; given that the orthodox Christian disposition does not assign normative value to Leviticus, there is nothing in our \"teaching\" that should recommend active persecution of LGBTQ people. And so for Christians to invest so much interest in opposing LGBTQ rights looks perverse, cruel, and in fact un-Christian. These people were always homophobes at heart, glad to be confirmed by a few minor Bible texts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mokantx,\n\nJust getting back ; to clarify a point in my reply to you 2 days ago. \n\nJust recalling that both JP2 & B16 centralised power in the Vatican, as a counter movement to Vatican II policies being implemented by liberally minded bishops, throughout the Catholic world. While Fr. Ratizenger attended as one of the two youngest theologians; to advise and assist the German Hierarchy; he was an ultra-conservative. Equally so JP2; who both carefully selected ultra conservative bishops through their Papal Nuncios. Very similar personal profile templates used.\n\nThe net result is, that we end up with 36 years of ultra conservative appointments. Some of these are Cardinals and still under 80 and thus eligible to vote in the next Conclave to elect a new pope. The overall effect is that the Curia had the backing of both JP2 & B16 to dig their heels in; put up the steel shutters and lock the doors; thus killing-off any Vatican II aspirations or objectives being achieved. It's all about power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I appreciate hearing your perspective, but in truth you do heap scorn on \"modernist,\" heterodox or liberal Catholics and keep affecting bewilderment as to why non-doctrinaire Catholics remain in the church, despite repeated and various explanations as to why.\n\nI'm sad to have left, but at least I don't have to deal anymore with the old \"Why don't you go down the street to the Episcopalians!\" mantra.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"Show us one instance...just one...where the Pope disagrees with Church teaching. For that is what Archbishop Chaput upholds.\"\n- Well, in the obverse, Archbishop Francis of Rome seems to have an handle on the exercise of Christ's own charity which lets all of the halt and lame (all of us, including bishops) into the church. This is done without diminishing in any way any doctrine or dogma.\n- Archbishop Charles of Philadelphia, by his own testament -- not so much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I refer to the wealth of the Catholic church I mean all of it's assets, both acknowledged and unacknowledged. In some countries it's land wealth alone gives it a very large voice in government programming. It's not just about wealth, it's about the secular power that wealth gives the Church. The US Government is the biggest provider of charitable works on earth and in fact is the biggest financial supporter of Catholic Charities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At least he's not telling people who are already Catholic to get out, like his predecessor did. Francis invites thousands of people around the world every day to be Christian, by his words and actions. And he has been a lot more successful at reaching people than Benedict ever was.\n\nAnd that \"vague, undefined otherwhere\" for you is probably the city centre, the homeless shelter, the soup kitchen, the hospital, the hospice, the centre for the disabled or the home for the elderly. Any Christian knows exactly \"where\" Francis was referring to. And thankfully, the Jesuits know too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Relative to these gifts including a huge donation in 2016 (15 million from the Busch Family Foundation) to build a hall at CUA. the dean was quoted in an America article 2015 regarding lesser gifts from Busch:\n\nIn a Jan. 22 statement announcing the new gift, Abela said that the donation will help the school create \u201ca cadre of faculty dedicated to research exploring how we can make business and economics more humane.\u201d As if anticipating criticism, he added that is also \u201ca moral imperative that Pope Francis has been championing with great passion.\u201d\n\nThat same day, Tim Busch, co-founder of the Busch Foundation and a Koch ally, wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal arguing that \u201cthe principles behind this initiative and the principled entrepreneurship program are consistent with Catholic teaching.\u201d\nCritics said Busch was exaggerating that overlap and glossing over the real goals of libertarian free-market advocates, which they say are in no way compatible with church teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "forshorten, I cant read minds and project on other commenters like you appear to want. \n\nDorothy Day came to us when we were teens. I dont recall you being there. Dorothy Day is not the nice granny you portray her as in your unrealistic fantasy. She set the world on fire. Anti war, rights for the poor. More. If that be her being a 'catholic worker recruiter venerable with many grievances,' 'I'd say for sure you never knew her firsthand, and are opining out of your imaginary ideals.\n\n Like I said, we are not going to find agreement. Sorry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I still don't get the point. Is it that Denver Post Liberals, by their very constitution, just don't like rich Christians--especially ones from Oklahoma City? \n\nRegarding claims of \"looting\"-- who do these artifacts rightfully belong to, and where should they be preserved? ...Perhaps a Babylonian or Mesopotamian \"central government\" that has overthrown itself so often during the past 10,000 years that its people have become dependent on humanitarian aid from the United Nations and the Christians? ...or perhaps a syndicated consortium of impoverished Shia and Sunni orphans who dug the antiquities up and sold them to the Emeratis and the Jewish peddlers, who in tern brokered them to the highest bidder? Really, ...Liberals' thinking puzzles me; one of you please explain.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you - the figures he cited are not documented and what he said is pure, unadulterated fiction.\nTwo facts:\n- the few US bishops on the board will be retired and replaced by Francis within a few years\n- newly chosen bishops will not be EWTN supporters\n- EWTN was acquired - this alleged figures make no distinctions; does not distinguish between owner and subsidiary, etc.\n\nhttp://www.networkgonewrong.com/chapter.htm\n\nKey - \"....it was precisely Mother\u2019s \u201cenemies within the Church\u201d who had gained the victory by driving her from her position of control over EWTN, leaving the network entirely in the hands of lay people, many of them ex-Protestants, who did not have her traditional pre-Vatican II spiritual formation and old-fashioned Catholic militancy.\"\n\nNote - do not agree with this author's stance but he provides history:\n\nFrom a former board member:\n\n\"As of 2014, one priest, a diocesan bishop and two archbishops were members.\"\n\nCurrently - has trustees - no owners or shareholders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a fascinating comment. After insulting people in a nonsensical sentence, you say that Trump promised something but then went back on his promise. An interesting read on Trump saying he would ban Muslims, tasking Giuliani with finding a way to ban Muslims legally, and then signing an executive order that effectively bans Muslims, but not Christians. And then that final sentence, that's just a beaut. The final refuge of people supporting Trump, as was neatly summed up by his advisor Kellyanne Conway: \"You always want to go by what\u2019s come out of his mouth...\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AT: The majority of Americans only supported joining WWII after Pearl Harbor. That made the war about race too. That is what it took to get the majority of Christians here to support the war. Most American white Christians have never had a problem waging war on non-white people. Good Americans like Henry Ford and Charles Lindberg supported Hitler and his views about Jews. In fact, Hitler gave Ford the highest civilian honor possible from Nazi Germany. Ford wrote a 6 volume treatise on why the Jews had to go. He also helped Albert Spear to automate the Nazi war industries. We sent a ship load of Jewish refugees back to the tender clutches of Hitler, never to be seen again, before Pearl Harbor. Hitler declared war on us to support Japan before we answered in kind. Learn your history from facts. Thank goodness FDR never doubted how dangerous Hitler was.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What does this article have to do with Catholic news and issues????", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am sorry but the answer is not just \"Jesus\". The answer is talking circles and efforts made to let the people talk. Just shouting \"Jesus\" and singing hymns is a feel good distraction. You must allow the people to grieve and open up first.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He did not say that you should follow your conscience on the issue of abortion; you are making that up. Then can a Catholic use their conscience on the issue of racism? And if your conscience has no problem with it, then the Church has no problem with your discernment? You know that following your conscience may not bring the results progressives want.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Frankly speaking as common sense Catholic who really believes Jesus' body and blood are in the bread and the wine of Holy Communion, because he said so, it is impossible for me to believe the man-made computer program proven to be falsified that claims that C02 released in the atmosphere will destroy life if not controlled in some way requiring a new worldwide government to collect trillions of dollars from developed nations to give to poor, undeveloped countries. This is a con game that has tried several attempts previously to say we humans are destroying the planet and our lives. I stand with God in His knowing what He was doing when He created all life on earth based on 02 and CO2. The more CO2, the more plant growth for farmers in developed countries as well as in areas never known to be able to grow crops. The more crops, the more food, and the more jobs to grow and harvest it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm rejoicing, and celebrating. And I am a white male, who was raised as a Christian. I celebrate because now, for the first time in history the Anglo-European Christians are being put in a place where we will have to collaborate with and accept as our equals those of other races, creeds and religious beliefs, rather than continuing the previous practice of oppression, servitude and abuse that has been in place for the last 1,000+ years. \n\nGet over it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Danno.....I am so very very sorry for the pain the institutional church has caused in these matters...certainly to you but to so many many others, as well...and frankly I have always thought the best prevention was exposure and prosecution...I still think so!\n\nDo I think the Church will change because it's the right thing to do? Maybe in bits and pieces amongst some genuinely decent folks...but collectively, not so much and a survey of church history would suggest that the church has often and horribly hurt innocents.\n\nI argue for \"moving on\" if the good outweighs the bad...so, for example (and its a totally personal decision between an individual and God....) if a Protestant denomination welcomes a catholic severely damaged by the RCC and nurtures this person, provides support and stability at the personal and religious level (and often the Prots do a really good job at this) ....it seems to me to be healthier to move on...put the horrors of abuse behind you as much as is possible....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It is especially incumbent upon our conservative Catholic friends to stand up to these racist, misogynist nativists.\"\n\nAre you seriously asking us to pick fights with those guys with Confederate-flag bumper stickers and gun racks? I'll pass. The guys with gun racks are usually the first to stop and offer to help when you get a flat tire on the road. Besides, I'm not sure I've ever seen one of these guys be anything but nice to people of different races.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am sure that others have said the same thing: Baptism is not restricted to priests; a Catholic priest does not \"oversee the Eucharist\" he offers the sacrifice of the Mass. The latter requires valid ordination not, necessarily, seminary traing for many years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hillary drew boos too. Plus, while she had an opportunity, she never apologized for her campaign's anti-Catholic remarks that leaked out a few days earlier.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even God impregnated a 14 year old named Mary so that the perfection of Christ could be born to this world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "S-29 Thanks for your very sensitive comment....and I'd like to add a bit too.....\n\nI think Jesus came to bring his mercy and love to everyone...not just Christians....and I think he wants everyone with Him....now and in heaven.\n\nI find E-C's definition to be incredibly limiting.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Catholic you have a right, and at times a duty, to defend yourself and your family.\n\nInterestingly the \u201cCampaign to Keep Guns Off Campus\u201d is funded by multi-billionaire Michael Bloomberg as part of his stable of \u201canti-gun\u201d fronts, along with the Brady Campaign, the Million Mom March, Coalition to stop gun violence, et al. Membership is in the dozens.\n\nMarvin Lim is an associate at Holcomb and Ward, LLP, where he is a paid lobbyist for the various Bloomberg fronts, the ACLU, along with his litigation practice in FINRA, securities, and employment cases.\n\nThe outline of the article comes directly from resources provided by the Brady Campaign to a variety of Bloomberg fronts for their use. I have seen in other contexts with minor changes and different attributions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The question is whether we take (or have taken) Jesus literally, but whether he intends his words to be taken literally. \n\nThere is nothing in Jesus' very direct, clear words concerning divorce, or in the context in which he gave them, that can reasonably be taken as other than literal. That there is some wiggle room on his other sayings, such as \"if thine eye offend thee. . .\" --- \"some\" wiggle room, indeed --- proves nothing. Even to compare Jesus' teaching on divorce with his \"advice\" to \"pluck it out\" is absurd. The latter is plainly metaphorical. \n\nThat Jesus does not say those who divorce will be consigned to hellfire or excluded from the community does not diminish the directness and clarity of his commandment. Jesus' commandments are not criminal statutes, which, unless they contain a penalty clause, are as though unwritten. Reese, a lawyer, should know better. Telling us that Catholic teaching on divorce is false is an \"America\"-type thing to do.\nHasn't he learned?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, I'm sick of googling people of whom I have never heard. Remember I am in the UK , we don't have celebrity religious, journalists or a plethora of theologians and scholars which your so-called Catholic Universities churn out annually and immediately begin to attack their Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's not in dispute. And the refusal of a Catholic service won't affect this one way or another. It actually intended to protect others from sin.\n\nIf you believe in the reality of mortal sin killing grace in the soul (do you?), the need for repentance before death (do you?), and the prospect of judgement and eternal damnation (do you?), then you'll understand and agree with the this decision. \n\nThe objections are political in nature and not theological.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dorothy Day was a living saint and a wonderful, and orthodox, Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting article - that speaks to many truths. Over 40% of Republicans have more trust in Putin than their own current President! Trump is, without doubt, an abomination as a human being, having few real redeeming qualities. His worship of money, power and himself is pathological - and he makes no attempt to hide or sugarcoat it. Even supposed devout Christians and Evangelicals support him, while knowing that Christ teaches that Trump (and those like him) represent the antithesis of their supposed Christianity.\n\nA mass delusion, coupled with irrational hatred has taken hold. Men with young daughters see no problems with Trump's crude misogyny. His overt racism and contempt for the poor goes unchallenged - even by those disadvantaged by Trump's own actions!\n\nWe can only hope that the fallout from all this madness is not too crippling for the rest of the planet. Trump's clear agenda of profit before humanity and all living things, threatens us all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That Mass must always be celebrated in the vulgar tongue is a view that is anathema under the Council of Trent. \n\nCertainly Catholics have a right to worship God in the language of their rite.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR, why are you wasting space with this article on hetero marriage? The important issue facing Catholicism is how to bring more Gay people into the church, and revising the church's stance on what marriage is! The systemic oppression of heterosexual marriage is a blight upon our culture -- I for one wish you'd published an article on that theme.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Call me old-fashioned. I need to be down with the flu or snowed in before I\u2019ll skip going to Mass.\"\n\nI will call you a Catholic who fulfills his Sunday obligation who doesn't want to gravely sin by missing Mass, which should never go out of fashion. \n\nWhat a horrible headline though, no matter the human foibles afflicting those who minister at Mass, I would think twice before calling the one sacrifice of Calvary re-presented in an unbloody manner \"imperfect\". After all, the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There never has been a \u201cwar\u201d on Catholicism; prelates invented it to try to dissipate our outrage over their behavior.\u2014Seattle Catholic Some racists in my former Virginia home used the Fortnight for Freedom to spew racist propaganda.\n\nThere is a point at which the Faithful join with \u201cAbram put his faith in the LORD who credited it to him as an act of righteousness\u201d (Genesis 15:6). \u201cThe Lord remembers his covenant forever\u201d (Psalm 105:8a). \u201cBeware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep\u2019s clothing but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them.\u201d (Matthew 7:15-16) seems pertinent for this Fortnight.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please know that some people come to this site to read, especially, what Monica has to say. She speaks to my demographic--a lot older than hers. Her shop in this marketplace has added great value to the neighborhood.\n\nI plead to her sense of nagging needless Catholic guilt, waning as that tradition is in her generation: \n\nA) She must consider, as she goes AWOL, who will replace her on guard duty.\n\nB) Her absence will get us all mixed up; and you know what Archbishop Chaput says, \"Confusion is of the devil.\" {Don't think he was fooled by a clever surname that branded her, quite literally, \"Of the ANGELS.\"} \n\nDoes that work, Monica? Write home often if I failed. \n\nYesterday I thought we were winning in the game of adult Catholic education. But there was a flag on the play. Mixing sports...John Wooden said: \"Learning only happens after we know it all.\" \n\nDon't abandon we humble progressive learners who have questions to those non-confused and arrogant \"trads\" who know it all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All the people that go to the building pay taxes this argument is just about your personal bias not the fact that the building is only a meeting place for people of like mindedness. You just dont like the fact of any religion or just christians so you have no argument but only your personal bias against them and i have no patients for bias opinons so have a good day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We must use every gift that God gave/and continues to give us to help us keep Him close to us, and help our children to do the same. Children tend not to be so calloused and cynical and small. Cynicism kills the life of a soul. We need child-like, simple, sincere and constant intimacy with Him (and all the saints) to stay cheerful and lively. \n\nThis will help keep us from being so proud and cynical and dismissive. These sins of pride rob our soul of the youth and vigor that God had in mind for it. He designed it to be capable of spreading life and joy, not to beat the life out of things. \n\nPride makes us seem old, stale, inflexible, cranky, not lively; small not magnanimous. This is one reason why Jesus told us to approach Him as a little child. \n\nWe should use our mind to think about God, our imagination, memory, vision, our hearing, our bodies (that's what fasting does..it uses our own bodily reflexes to remind us about God..our intention of the fast) to stay close to Him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hopefully the election of a true Christian to the presidency, with the endorsement and support our Holy Bishops, will bring this state back in line. Perhaps the church needs to send missionary priests to this place to explain the catechism to the disaffected, and explain to them that they are all bound for Hades if they continue to ignore the Church, merely because some \"mistakes\" were made regarding the referenced scandal. As the Church has repeatedly explained, that's all over now and completely corrected, and really everyone did it anyhow. Given the unquestionable moral authority of our courageous and long-suffering Bishops will be given due weight. A return to the Latin mass and increase in Traditional Ritual will also have the inevitable effect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Take these steps and the schism will still be there as Protestants and orthodox Catholics will believe mutually incompatible things, each living a different Gospel. The schism will be hidden, causing even more confusing in catechesis and evangelization than there is already.\n\nWe do not all believe the same things and just speak of them in different terms. The difference is not like the difference between Roman and Eastern Catholics. To faithful Catholics much of Calvinism is not some cultural difference but wrong, repugnant, and unChristian and the so-called \"Pentecostal\" practices are blasphemies, in both cases leading people away from Christ. Maybe Kung's Protestants are different than ours in the Anglosphere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" ... the form used by ALL Roman Catholics for hundreds of years....\"\n\nExcept when you put that form into the perspective of the total experience of the Church (not just Roman rite), it becomes one among many.\n\nThe ALL is pushing it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I again suggest you read 'the case for christ\" by lee strobel. for something that is supposedly can not be proving, he does a pretty good job of proving it. Also, check out Mere Christianity by CS Lewis. CS Lewis was once a hard core atheist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A little light on details, including his policies.\nWhat's his family background and education?\nWhat's his background other than politics at an early age?\nI hear he's \"nice\".\nWay to drill deep.\nEven a little work shows he started political life with Larry Spencer, formerly of the Christian Heritage Party.\nFrom Wikipedia, \"CHP advocates for Canada to be governed according to Biblical law.\"\nNo change here apparently.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Catholic parishes have led the way in resettling refugees. Parish leaders are now pushing back on Trump administration policies that would drastically cut the numbers of refugees welcome in the U.S. In the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, parishes join in a Pope Francis-inspired effort to welcome refugees.\"\n\nIt is good to see Catholics are doing their Christian duty to welcome the stranger instead of giving in to hate and fear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many conservatives would still like to blame lack of Christian values as well as lack of stable family.\n They don't want to admit we've moved on to believe in democratic inclusiveness.\n Many folks make $30 - $35 an hour in the trades (bricklayer, roofer, plumber), but see,s the unions have made it very difficult to obtain a union card. As we become more politically \"inclusive\", the economy becomes more exclusive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, msw, he who throws stones...(ie, your own comments about conservative catholics not being \"real\" catholics, convert catholics not knowing \"real\" catholicism, etc.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I must say I was stunned and pleasantly surprised when the Harper government approved this $243.5 million expenditure. The Conservatives committed Canada to a serious scientific endeavor which clashes with Mr. Harper's reputation as a fundamentalist Christian and climate change skeptic. Good luck with the project regardless of where it ends up being situated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with you about the social media harassment of the young woman.\n\nBut. The school had the right to do it, as long as it was spelled out in any documentation on school discipline practices.\nI consider the school to be acting sanctimoniously, but they're within their rights.\n\nAs far as I'm concerned, this is exactly how some pro-life Christians behave. Preach against abortion, and then make the pregnant woman an object of scorn.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 3 ...\nI am currently quite disabled and attend when I can, the local Parish. Church purely to avail myself of the Mass and the Sacraments. I sadly do not feel a part of the community, in fact the very idea that I might be part of the 'community' scandalises me. I feel that I have nothing in common with those amongst whom I sit in the pew. My catechesis bore no resemblance whatsoever to theirs, my faith and beliefs bear no resemblance to theirs.\nWhat I experienced even amongst Anglo-Catholics was that doctrine and dogma were not that important and that Christians were entitled to hold diverse opinions on almost anything, I now find that this is the attitude of most Catholics. Fifty years ago the question, \"can divorced and remarried Catholics receive Communion,\" would have been answered with an almost universal 'no'. Today even the Pope is saying they can. St John XXIII's \"prophets of doom\", it seems to me, got it absolutely right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe.....but this time they are doing the \"very Christian Tim Tebow\" thing.....because \"taking a knee and bowing one's head\" is a very traditional way religious people show reverence to God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Delta County Christians have a long history of anti-Constitutional acts, especially in their schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "JESUIT Georgetown University OWNED slaves and SOLD 272 including a 2 month old baby to make money to stay afloat. Funny what dirty little secrets the Catholic Church likes to sweep under the rug. Maybe Fr. Thomas J. Reese, SJ, would like to chime in on that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Respectfully to Ms. Jennings re: \"Obamacare\"/ACA which Trump will throw out and Clinton will keep and improve. As young women you have not faced serious medical issues but in time you, or your spouse/partner or children WILL and without ACA these will become \"pre-existing conditions\" that will preclude you from getting health care unless you are consistently employed in a job that offers health care and overlooks \"pre-existing\". It's heartbreaking to not be able to get proper medical care for yourself or your family or if such care depletes your savings and plunges you into \"medical bankruptcy\".\nAnd it's not just about \"us\"... Catholic social teaching calls for concern for the poor, but the anti-ACA forces (primarily Republican) who refuse to expand Medicaid leave thousands of low-income, single millenials unable to afford insurance and get needed medical care. I urge you to become educated about what the refusal to expand Medicaid has done to so many low-income, childless millenials", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, I live on a planet outside of this galaxy with Alf. What planet do you live on? What galaxy? For that matter, what universe? \n\nWhere I live has no bearing on my point. The bishops talk real tough on Catholic social teaching, and they talk real tough with Trump. That is easy to do when the president is not popular--and when the issues you are talking tough on are in vogue with the left.\n\nWhy don't the bishops talk this tough with \"Catholic\" politicians who support abortion? Then all of a sudden their tough talk turns into \"pastoral sensitivity\" and not wanting to alienate people. \n\nWhen the bishops get tough on abortion, then they will have credibility when they talk tough on Catholic social teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sir, Baptism is necessary for entrance into eternal life, not only the Sacramental System.\n\nI grant Water Baptism while the norm is not the only way one can be Baptized, but Baptism is necessary for salvation.\n\nIt isn't the hierarchy that lacks understanding, sir. \n\nHere is a question no one wants to seem to want to answer: why is it always the Catholic Church that doesn't understand and got it wrong?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whisper's Sister,\n\nYou've described yourself as a mathematician. I have a degree in Theology. You've studied numbers where I've studied Bible Greek so I'm highly qualified to tell you what the Bible actually says. The mistake you and others are making is quite simple: equating the Biblical concept of Holy Spirit appointment of individuals for specific service regardless of gender with the Roman Catholic-based tradition of ordination of men alone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I certainly feel \"distanced\" from he institution. It is composed of men who don't care about how I think or how I come to my beliefs, as long as I accept whatever they tell me. \nI understand the need for structure. In fact, I think that a clear structure is necessary for any organization to function well. But a structure needs to be reevaluated periodically to remain optimal. I think that the Catholic church is clinging to a monarchical style of governinbg that is not necessarily optimal. But that's another conversation\nWhen I write comments here, I use the term \"institution\" and institutional Church\" to distinguish the hierarchy and the hierarchical structure from the Church as People of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First off, freedom of religion per the constitution meant freedom of various Christian Sects and not any and all religions of the earth. Liberal progressives would not agree with 100% of what I say and also what the American majority sez. So...They invent Politically Correct speech to try to dissuade, prevent, muzzle any and all free speech THEY do not agree with. This threatens our nation to the very core as it is designed to operated on a certain Western civilization frequency like traditional folkways, mores, values and law and order. Take that frequency away ( and the left at the top of the food chain know this. like Soros) and the system will slowly crumble like it is doing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank God for Shannyn Moore. Under its burden of Giesels, Kellys, Chenaults and Parnells, Alaska has suffered a Republican tsunami that has attempted to wipe out any sense of compassion, community, ethics or polity. Most Republicans (I assume) think of themselves as Christians. If this Is Christianity....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I learned a bit in reading the story of the North Carolina woman who cannot join the Catholic Church because she and her husband are both divorced. Well, I learned they both have to get annulments, but don't really understand why. Is there an internal forum for this situation? \n\nRead the story and read the comments - the subject of the article has comments of her own back to some holier-than-thou folks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A lose-lose for Muslims and Jews, especially the Jews.\n\nSuch attacks demoralize a people with siege mentality; the 2:3 kill-ratio propels terror by those who surround them.\n\nFor 1,300 years a Jew and Muslim lived allied against Christians, so it was unwise of Jews to take Christian bait of a land amidst sea of hostility. English imperialists Curzon, Cromer, Balfour hating both Muslims and Jews, creating Israel was a sweet revenge.\n\nAs both communities radicalize religiously and turn a local Palestinians-Jewish fight to a wider Arab-Jewish nay Muslim-Jewish one, what chance do mere 15 million have vs 2 billion? With 1:100, how long can they last the siege?\n\nSelling arms to both sides, military industrial complex inheritors of neocon Balfours smile all the way to the bank. It did not have to be this way. Rather than compete for an unwinnable land claim, the Jews should have put their talent at the service of oil rich Arabs as they do worldwide. They chose not to. A lament for a people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thomas Jefferson put his daughters in a Catholic boarding school while he was ambassador to France.\n\nThomas Jefferson attended the College of William and Mary, a private protestant school that was publicly and privately funded.\n\nJames Madison attended Princeton University another private protestant university.\n\nCardinal Carroll, Charles Carroll, and Daniel Carroll, three of our Catholic founding fathers, were educated by the Jesuits in Maryland. Some of the protestant signers of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and who voted to ratify the Bill of Rights were educated by the Jesuits of Maryland as well.\n\nMost of the Bill of Rights is taken from Magna Carta which was written by a priest at the request of a Catholic Bishop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think that RD is deliberately misrepresenting what she said, it's that he doesn't understand it. Yes, what we do as individuals is extremely important to our salvation, but we are also members of the Christian Church, and that is what Sister Mary is talking about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a very strong statement from from Sr. Nancy Marie Jamoz, C,S.S.F who is director of Madonna University's Center for Catholic Studies and Interface Dialogue:\n\n\"We are sorry for this lost educational opportunity for Madonna students, and for the heavy blow it strikes to academic freedom and to Pope Francis\u2019 vision for the Church,\u201d \n\nI suspect that it took courage on her part to make this statement because clearly she does not agree with the decision which was made above her pay grade. The the unidentified Church official who actually pulled the plug on the lecture has decided that those who were interested in hearing what Dr. Copeland had to say are not entitled to a forthcoming explanation. The statement that is it was cancelled \"due some messages in the media that misconstrued the contents of the lecture ........\" is dishonest and cowardly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Has there ever been one msw column that didn't lay blame on whites, conservative Catholics, capitalists, or the GOP for the issue de jour?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stop siphoning money from public schools to Betsy DeVos' Christian madrasas!! Stop public funding of for-profit schools!! Stop public funding of schools that require no teaching credentials and that are not held accountable for performance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Catholic school system is also funded, in part, by Alberta taxpayer dollars\"\n\nNo, it's entirely funded by Alberta taxpayer dollars. If the Catholics or any other religion want their own schools to teach their own doctrine, they can pay for the schools themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For aboriginal peoples, it seems that the stories of God and creation have yielded awe and connection with the earth and the spirit.\nFor the Catholic Church, the story of God and creation have yielded dogma and awe died.\nAs Catholics begin to \"see\" that dogma is myth, awe is awakening....\nAs awe awakens we begin to connect with earth and spirit...\n...where Spirit lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Juergen \n\nI had given up on responding to you as I felt you had not really taken in what I had proposed in the links I gave you. I am busy on another site hence the delay to this latest post you have made.\nI do not disagree with that you are saying you do not need to convince me on the churches teaching on the sacrament of reconciliation but I am looking for a way forward for those who are entangled in sinful situations. \n\nI did not use the word \u201cinspire\u201d.\n\nColluding in the sense of working (Taking income) with the oppressors of his people and remaining in an ongoing situation of conflict with them, his position would entail working with spies informers etc he is entangled in a sinful situation.\nPerhaps you could give me your interpretation on the Parable you have already given me the reason why the Pharisee was castigated but how do you see the tax collector as Jesus tells us \u201che went home justified\u201d \n(Remained in his situation) \nShort and direct\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You forgot Christian too./?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As someone who automatically skips articles about \"marriage, family, and children\" here and elsewhere unless I'm in the mood for punishment, I'm interested in what else you need to know about the subject that hasn't been covered exhaustively in various letters, encyclicals, speeches, and other Catholic news media. Why must MSW take up this particular cross? He isn't married and doesn't have kids. Is there something you feel he is duty-bound to articulate just by virtue of being Catholic? Or is it simply that you resent the idea of a Catholic writer leading a life that doesn't appear to put these things at the centre because you do and think everybody should do as you? \n\nIn fact, I thought the centrepiece of the moral teaching was the commandment to love. I believe that many of MSW's articles deal with this directive and I usually read those.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is the goal to grow numbers, or faith? Maybe those sermons will inspire someone to volunteer at the local food shelf, or offer help to the elderly person next door, or contribute more generously to charity. I'm less concerned with filling seminaries than I am about how people perceive and treat each other. That's where sin comes from -- refusing to see the face of Christ in each other, or worse, claiming to see the face of Christ and still to ignore or abuse or walk away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, AnnieO, I've read your comments: YOU ARE FAR LEFT WING. Most Catholics who go to church every Sunday voted for Trump. Did you vote for Trump? No! Therefore, you are NOT like most devout Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If these Princes of the Church were questioning The Saint, Pope John Paul II the Magnificent, or his Beloved Disciple Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, then I would, like all True Catholics, agree they are harming the Church. But they are questioning a Pope who has, on occasion, done and said things that he is not in line with the Saint, who was in all things, Infallible. So it is Right and Just for them to criticize this Pope. I hope this clarifies the standards that should be applied.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I take note this evening of all of the anti-Trump protests taking place in an increasing number of cities across the country. The protests are certain to expand as we go through the weekend. I found Sen. Bernie Sander's statement today to be particularly energizing, that we will not tolerate the worse characterizations and actions planned by Trump. I have thought long and hard today about the election results. I can say with certainty that I was - and still am - devastated, to a degree, by it all. But what I first felt as pure reactive anger has grown into a feeling of insult and clear determination. I do not accept and will not accept Donald Trump as president, although I accept that he will fill that office. He possesses none of the qualities that are essential for a POTUS and will create an increasingly troubled nation. He is not Christian, he is very un-American, and I support every effort to block his promised initiatives. I am proud and sure of my position in this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I had to stop attending mass too. I remain Catholic since Christ lead me to Catholic church and I speak Catholic spiritual language. I am wishing Pope F., prelates and bishops will resign realizing their sexual impurity caused so much pain and blocking good Catholic from the holy church. I can hope!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When foreigners (waiguoren - \u5916\u56fd\u4eba) work in China like I did for twenty years, they are guests of the Chinese government. It is important not to proselytize one's religion in China, although hundreds of missionaries from the United States, Canada and other countries do so. They've been able to convert many Chinese to Christianity. They've been able to do so by learning how to be circumspect. Sometimes they develop 'guanxi -(relationships)' with important people. No doubt the PSB (Public Security Bureau) had its eye on these people from the get go. Had they obeyed the law against proselytizing there would never have been this problem When I arrived in China in the early 1990s, I knew a lot about China; it's history and culture. When I left twenty years later, I knew less about China than when I first arrived. Any Sinologist recognizes that. So how can people who comment here know more about China than I do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church is a divine institution established by Jesus Christ himself so there is no way that you or anybody else can assure anything. You only sound grandiose and out of touch when you assert that. What we do know objectively are that there is the legitimate dubia of the 4 Cardinals and the filial correction of 62 (and counting) theologians and priests. What we also know is that the full story of what forced Pope Benedict to resign and the full story of what happened at the conclave that elected Pope Francis have yet to be told in its entirety. Those have bearing on the ultimate validity of this papacy based on the Apostolic constitution and the final standing of this pope since it is part of Church teaching that a pope ceases to be pope with an act of manifest heresy. In Pope Francis we have the luxury of choice among many heresies. We were warned by the most faithful Argentines that this pope left the church in Argentina in real shambles. \nWe just didn't listen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The New Testament was written and collected together by the early Church and the Apostles, through the power of the Holy Spirit, passed on the Truth received from Christ through their teachings and in the written Word. Doctrine is not \"created\" by man, it is revealed by God. It develops like an oak tree from an acorn. It cannot be \"recreated\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Same pope, same faith, same creed, same sacraments, though different traditions. Why should any Catholic's right to comment on a Catholic issue be questioned?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I forgot about Lori's role in the assault on the American nuns. That could have been a very sad chapter in the history of the American church, and in some ways it was: but the courage and integrity of the nuns turned it around.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We do need to do better. It's called Universal Health Care. Every industrialized country in the world and many non-industrialized countries have Universal Health Care EXCEPT the United States (for a complete list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_universal_health_care ). The author of this Op-Ed gives France as an example of cheaper health care. Guess what: Universal Health Care! Even President Trump must believe this. In May he said to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm \"...you have better healthcare than we do...\". Guess what: Universal Health Care!\n\nThere most certainly is a better way to deliver health care than we are doing in the US. When health care is viewed as a human right and not a luxury for those who can afford it, when we truly respect human life and we truly try to follow \"Christian\" teachings then we will have Universal Health Care.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If half the number of abortions are due to failed contraception, the other half is due to NO contraception. Do the math.\nABC is here to stay. Fewer than 5% of the Catholic population (the entire People of God) believes it to be sinful. Indeed, sensible, reliable family planning is the obligation of every married couple. What a faithful married couple does in the privacy of their bedroom is no concern and does not lie within the supervision of anyone but the marriage partners themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was delighted to find your ref to news reports on this story in my mail box this morning! I read your description of Fr. Martin Dolan's courage just before bed last night, and it rolled around in my head as I was trying to fall asleep. Imaging the scene, especially the ovation he received, moved me to tears. Freedom is a glorious thing. \n\nAt the same time, your earlier personal report about seeking out parishioners who regularly did not approach for communion and approaching them in private to attempt to resolve any conscience issues that may have been restraining them, also rolled around in my head, and also move me to tears. Father, your decision to use Amoris Laetitia as an occasion to talk openly from the pulpit about these options was positively inspired. I am sure the Spirit is beaming with joy at her success in this instance, and I just know Francis would be very proud and confirmed if he know about this. \n\nAre you aware of other priests doing the same thing? Total news to me", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On this we agree, Marty. Suppose I inherited my great grandfather's old Colt 45, which I never intend to fire but keep as a family heirloom. Would the simple act of owning that weapon be sinful? How about if I'm a sportsman who goes duck hunting once a year and keep my shotgun under lock and key the rest of the time? And what about degrees of weaponry? Would owning a .22 be a venial sin but a .44 a mortal sin?\n\nYes, these are ridiculous questions, but they are exactly the kind that would inevitably come up if the Church were to go down this path. And they would be impossible to answer because sin, by definition, is always a matter of intention and not accident. \n\nOwning a firearm is certainly a near occasion of sin for some people, but not for most. In my opinion, there are some weapons that, for the sake of the greater good, no private citizen should be permitted to own. But that decision should be based on principles of civil law, not Church teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is a \"revelation\" that tells us that someone should be excluded from Communion and community due to actions not harmful to any one else, really divine revelation? To me, it is inconsistent with fundamentals of Christ's teaching in the Beatitudes and his parables and the goal of building the Body of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill nothing in the life of finite beings is perfect. That includes both you and I. It is the cracks in belief that will allow the light from the Spirit to lead us. But so many feel that their belief is some how perfect or infallible. Nothing could be further from reality. So maybe this is the first belated step. The problem is the dogma of the Catholic Faith about sex, marriage and reproduction is not at all realistic. It is based on a \"natural law\" not recognizable by scientists of nature and most good theologians and philosopher. So let the Spirit bring us light. Bishops and dogmatists must now stop and listen or our church will not be seen as a realistic institution leading people to spirituality and salvation. Perhaps the Bishops should start by listening to those who know more than they. That would include theologians, scientists, social workers and everyday married and divorced people...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of five) Liturgies are frequently uninspired and homilies lack impact.\u2014Peter Fuerhard\n\nBishops afraid to read beget priests also afraid to read and think. Inspiration is thus lost. The elephant in the room is Yale University, adroitly sidestepped throughout the article and these comments.\n\nMuch of the damage is encapsulated in the continuing American Association of University Professors 1990 censure of the administration of The (Pontifical) Catholic University of America. To be afraid of the truth is no way to evangelize.\n\n___\n\nAnd having done due diligence in discernment found the RCC sorely lacking in whatever area(s) they thought important -- be it sermons, social issues, sex/gender issues, wayward priests and the cover-ups, financial mismanagement, etc. Perhaps even all of that as a bundle with which they no longer want to be associated.\u2014Jake47\n\nThinking is a dangerous habit that brings in the Holy Spirit to show the Faithful how to love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I keep reading comments like that and when I do, I think of the Muslims I know and work with who seem to be every bit as much interested in integrating as, say, my wife's immigrant Dutch parents or the parents of the Italian kids I grew up with. The first generation to come over, in both cases, tended to stick with many of the \"old country\" beliefs, values and lifestyle. My wife's parents stayed with the Christian Reformed Church, sent their kids to Christian Reformed schools, ate Dutch food and made trips back \"home\". In the Italian community, the elderly women wore black head to toe and covered their heads with shawls. The children, however, ended up as Canadian as hockey pucks. This \"they won't integrate\" routing is old and tired.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is an interesting hypothesis on the internal politics of the KofM. It perhaps could be broadened as an interpretive lens for what is occurring in Catholic journalism and media.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Contraception isn't the only sin which needs to be confessed. If one is absolutely convinced that it is not a mortal which most Catholics seem to think it isn't then there is no need to,mention it. There are plenty of other sins besides sexual immorality which are just as serious, so there is no good reason to stop going to Confession.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"On Memorial Day in 1927, the Ku Klux Klan marched in Queens to protest that \"Native-born Protestant Americans\" were being \"assaulted by Roman Catholic police of New York City\"\" Fred Trump was one of seven men arrested. They arrested men were reported by the NYT to be wearing Klan regalia. Fred Trump was not charged and subsequently released.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bible is one of the most mysoginistic documents I've read, particularly the old testament. I dedicated a summer to reading cover to cover and I had to put down the book in some section of Old Testament and come back later.\n\nAncient societies were based on physical power and women were virtual slaves. While I'm sure their were loving and respectful marriages, there were also arranged marriages and women bought and sold as chattel and treated as 'prize' for the victors in war. \n\nI believe God still sees us a children with a limited knowledge of the universe. I don't think we are 'designed' to stay in ancient times physically, emotionally or intellectually. That does not threaten Me at all, it just means we a still 'in process'.....\n\nHere's your trivia, What did LOT offer to the crowd that threatened his male guest?\n\nI look for the spirit of the bible. If it is a timeless document, then we can't take it literally based on a culture that no longer exist.\nThat's my choice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Melania is a Catholic! Awesome.\n\nGave the pope back the rosary he gave her, and she asked him to bless it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, those walls that Francis began building when he became Pope 1,100 years ago?\n\nI highly doubt that DJT will approve of the fact that the Vatican is wide open to anyone who wants to walk in along the Via della Conciliazione or other entrances - no border guards, no customs officials, nothing.\n\nThere are metal detectors for entry into St. Peter's and some other buildings, of course, because the Vatican doesn't have laws recognizing private ownership of firearms.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a visual learner, so I gain a lot from seeing stained glass depicting biblical stories. Most importantly(to keep my sanity), my kids behavior is far superior in a a traditional styled Church. For many children, the aww and Majesty create awe and wonder; a sense of holiness. \n\nWhen I look at The Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and The Assyrian Church of the East, I see churches and liturgies that are far more traditional. They also happen to be liturgies that are older than the Latin Mass. The Catholic Church and the three Churches above, all can trace their roots to the early Church. So when I'm in a traditional Church or a more traditional liturgy, I feel more connected with Christians throughout the century. I feel in union with the Communion of Saints. My way isn't for everyone, and I don't look down at modernist styles of architecture and music. I know people who are fulfilled with that type of worship and I think that's great! Please pray for me and my family.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A large portion of our country is Christian and any form of contraception is a non starter with them. Are you suggesting we just trample their religious freedoms?\n\nThe US has demonized the Chinese government for their one child policy for decades. I couldn't imagine the public reaction to a forced contraception/sterilization campaign. \n\nWould you propose a new big government agency administer this program?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelicalism/Pentecostalism is strongest in Latin America where liberation theology was pushed hardest. \n\nhttp://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-collapse-of-catholicism-in-latin.html?m=1\n\nThere was another article I was unable to locate where Pope Francis visited the grave of a Latin American bishop who was big into liberation theology - his diocese had the biggest number of Catholics leaving for Evangelicals/Pentecostals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marc,\n\nYou must be very clever to know what Ivo's entire point was, and brimming with misplaced confidence to exhort anybody to \"stop defending the indefensible\" - at this stage I'm not even sure what I was defending, although I anticipate some hubristic enlightenment shortly. \n\nDM is not traditionally a place to denigrate Christianity (or any other belief), so I would be very surprised to learn that this was Ivo's mission; rather, I saw his article as a justifiable and otherwise excellent reproach to those who very publicly attributed only good deeds to God, oblivious to the effects of their ovations, instead of acknowledging the contributions made by so many people of their own free will and irrespective of their beliefs. \n\nEverybody is entitled to a belief system, so I was a little disappointed when Ivo, having argued so intelligently against the public outpourers, felt the need to trot out the now hackneyed Good God:Bad God dichotomy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neither Ireland nor Australia [whose many original citizens were prisoners from Ireland], had THAT many immigrants coming to them. Today, Australia's entire population is the size of the entire population of either the State of Ohio or Pennsylvania. When the Czech Republic was part of the Soviet Bloc of Nations---how many people were immigrating to it from Eastern European nations? VERY FEW!\n\nBut the U.S. had immigrants from all over Europe----including Eastern Europe. Today, there are also many people in the U.S. who are Catholics from other parts of the world and are Catholic obseving the following Rites:\nCoptic, Ethiopian, Syrian, Maronite, Syro-Malankara, Armenian, Chaldea, Malabar, Belorussian, Bulgaian, Greek, Hungarian, Italo-Albanian, Melkite, Romanian, Ruthenian, Ukrainian, Krizevci, Albanian, and Russian.\n\nThat is why the adjective \"Roman\" or \"Latin\" is used so often here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your comment rdp46\n\nThe Inviolate Word (Will) of God is not mere opinion \n\nThe fullness of Gods inviolate Word is not enough for many, individually they would have more; wanting to be the arbitrators of His revealed inviolate Will, they would exhaust the treasures in Christ and then still demand more, they are comparable to a man filling a bucket with a hole in it, they retain nothing within the heart.\n\nThe Holy Spirit will enlighten the hearts of those who approach His Word/Will honestly, and they themselves will know the Mind of Christ the living Word of God within their own hearts\n\n\u201cFor everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened\u201d\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure the image of flinging open the doors of the church is an effective one because so many of our churches are empty. And the reason our churches are emptying has a lot to do with the historical priesthood. \nSince Jesus never said anything positive about priests and buildings, I think a better image would be that of flinging the doors open to let the people out into the world we are called to transform.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding; \"In the 2017 Jubilee Year, those responsible should consistently put the results of the ecumenical Dialogue Commissions into practice. \"\n- Well, if after nearly 1000 years of inventiveness, the writs of excommunication between the Orthodox and the catholics in Rome can be lifted, it makes a lot of sense to do the same for Anglicans and Lutherans. \n- Certainly, if SSPX can be un-exommunicated and still refuse to accept various documents of Vatican II then it makes sense to see Lutherans, and Anglicans from the same vista.\n- Hans Kung is a prophet in these matters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic Milo's fall came just in time for Lent. Hey Milo, repent and believe in the gospel!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She does realize that the entire premise is God is not Dead is based on a Christian trope and has literally never happened and never will.\nThat entire movie was one huge strawman from the start.\nThey didn't even get the Atheist right. He was not an atheist, the professor was a misotheist (angry/hatred at God). Seriously, you can be angry at something you don't believe in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I do not know what can be done about Cardinal Burke. Stripping him of his red hat would only make him a martyr in the eyes of his fans\" - well, yes. But: Pope Francis has the option to fraternally invite Burke to resign the cardinalate, as Pius XI did with Cardinal Billot SJ, who resigned on September 13, 1927 (see http://www2.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1911.htm#Billot).\n\n\"Better to have given him a desk job with a lot of paperwork like the Congregation for the Causes of Saints!\" - for God's and His People's sake, no!! We would get all the wrong examples of sainthood, ones that are utterly removed from any human experience whatsoever, not at all suited to instill faith in Christ and His Gospel. Why not make him a one-time only Prefect of the Papal Gardens? Fresh air outside clears the mind of all canonical worries.\n\nIndeed: May God \"change a heart so hardened as the one that beats inside the red robes worn by this canonical conundrum\" - Miserere eum et nobis! Domine, exaudi nos!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gee whiz guys. If you ever climbed Longs Peak you know that the earth is not flat. You can see the curvature. You can even measure the curvature with survey equipment on a large parcel of land. It must be compensated for! Have any flat earthers ever rode in an airliner? You can surely believe whatever you want, but the things you believe can either hurt or help your ability to succeed in life. The early circumnavigators with the most primitive navigational instruments proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that the earth is a sphere. The nations that did not send out exploratory missions really lost out because their leaders believed the earth was flat, in accordance with Roman Catholic doctrine of that time. But....You guys would be the life of the party at any junior high school geography class!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Catholic worshiping in the Lutheran tradition I can tell you that Lutherans and catholics have more in common than they have differences. Yes, Lutherans have woman ministers, accept divorced and remarried at the table and do not say birth control is sinful but everything is grounded in Grace and service to others is primary and addressed in every LIturgy. ( Makes me think of Pope Francis!) God is the focus of worship and Scripture is a large part of the Liturgy. Lutherans believe in the real presence in Eucharist and as Catholics believe, it is a communal event (priests cannot say Mass alone). So why not celebrate our commonality and join each other in what we do believe together? By the way, Lutherans do not hold the differences \nCatholics do have against them but choose to dwell on what we believe in common.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@ yjin117\n\n\u201cHowever, what can be done with Pope F. and Vatican prelates and bishops who do not repent about clergy sexual abuses of innocent children\u201d\n\nCriminality (Covering up crime) by the elite within the Church is manifest by the abuse of power, Lynn in her post homes in on the reality of the situation\n.\n\n \u201cwith the oath of allegiance of bishops not to the church, not to God but to the pope\u201d\n.\n\nas this oath bypasses what should be our first and foremost allegiance to Jesus Christ in bearing witness to the Truth.\nThe real problem is clericalism that spider that has caught so many in its web of deceit and arrogance.\n\nIf you have time perhaps you would consider reading my article in the link below\n.\nhttp://www.v2catholic.com/background/2015/08/2015-08-15the-web-of-clericalism.htm\n\nkevin you brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While Muslims excoriate us about supposed Islamophobia, we should bear in mind Islam's entrenched homophobia, misogyny, Judeophobia, Christiophbia, Europhobia, Americanophibia, democratophobia, iconoclasm, and even Islamophobia against each other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rock... ya missed THE definitive superhero and woe to the soul who brings pop corn!\n\nJesus Christ --- the Passion of Christ...\n\namen", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"During the time of St. Augustine, the baby wasn't considered a person until ensoulment\" is not accurate and not relevant from the standpoint of Catholic opposition to abortion.\n\nThere were a variety of theological opinions on what you are styling \"ensoulment\", none of which the Church taught and none of which had any effect on its position on abortion.\n\nAbortion has always been forbidden without exception by the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Drago, Gee ... I didn't know you could be born into a religious faith. But wait if Obama's Mom was a Christian and the Father was a Muslim souldn't Obama be a Christlim or a Mustian? I'm so confused. Perhap you can explain this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Your point is well taken. I have not perused Advindicate, so I'll have to take your word for it. But \"worse than David Koresh,\" as Bill Sorenson claims? Not by a long shot.\"\n\nWell, Groucho, most people have no clue of what the implications of the teachings of the \"Last Generation Theology\" that Kevin Paulson teaches and advocates really means and its application to the \"final generation.\"\n\nHe denies that people are born sinners and from there develops some false idea about sinlessness and perfection.\nBabies are born sinners and are \"little Hitlers\" in the making until and unless the Holy Spirit begins the work of restraining the evil inherent in all humanity.\n\nWe are not born members of the kingdom of God and are not born holy. Jesus said, \"Ye must be born again\" and this applies to all babies born into this world of sin.\n\nI have limited posting, so will leave it at that. I can post again tomorrow night. The \"bad dog can bark, but he can't bite.\" I am on a short chain.........", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As Paul notes \" When I was a child I thought as a child \" etc. Even Jesus is said to have grown in wisdom , age and grace . \nPius X wanted 5 year old children admitted to Communion with the reception of Reconciliation a few years later . Francis reminds us we are not dealing in concepts . We are not devoted to ideas . The child accepts according to the way a religious truth is presented to her / him .\nThe adult is far more than a teacher . Rather it is a relationship of a person to the person of the child about the person of Jesus .\nWe then leave the rest up to God's Action in the child and The Lord does not fail to keep his promises . \nIf memory serves your post spoke about how instinctive children are at avoiding danger .That is why I rattled on so in my comment . \nSome children have been known to recite the pledge of allegiance saying \" for Richard Stans\" ,\nnot to mention in the Hail Mary. ..\nblessed art thou a monk swimming . \nChildhood has its charms.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joe Biden was one heartbeat from the Presidency for eight years. Can't get much closer to the White House than that. The Chief Justice is Catholic; the Speaker of the House is Catholic as was his predecessor. You know that you're a hopeless reactionary when you find yourself lamenting that even anti-Catholicism ain't what it used to be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hate is winning, and that's about as un-Christian as it gets. What do these guys think happens to unloved unwanted children? It's being doomed to a life of suffering and high risk for physical and mental illness, addictions and crime. Availability of abortion lessens this risk.\n\nTrump Pence and cronies should focus on the rights of children already in existence, and on stewardship of the world for their future. So far they\u2019re failing on both counts and their ideology bodes ill for what\u2019s next. Soon we\u2019ll see proposals for bigger jail budget plus harsher punitive measures for young offenders. \u2026 Force them to be born into terrible circumstances, deprive them of support, then jail them. \n\nIs this really how Americans think?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The government should be less Christianophobic instead of calling everyone Islamophobic. When was it that commenting negatively on Christian ideals called free speech and commenting negatively on Islam and LGBT called phobias?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, since 1968 NcR has refused to drop the word \"Catholic\" from their title, despite their Bishop demanding they do so. And of course there are weekly if not daily articles cheerleading the redefinition of marriage, female ordination, artificial birth control, and abortion. I certainly think this is evidence supporting my point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just to correct a few hasty stereo types here:\n\nStates run and fund the public education system, not the federal government. The FED gives grants to the states - the states provide the primary funding, set the school standards, and essentially are responsible for the administration.\n\nI AM a believer that private enterprise will nearly ALWAYS do the same job better and far cheaper than any \"public\" government run apparatus.\n\nTrump's plan is only to right a wrong long practiced by the so-called \"public good\" - forcing people to pay for an education system that they believe either is not up to par does not match their own family values. \n\nThe \"progressives\" never complain when Obama and the elitist Democrats send THEIR children to private schools - ONLY when someone wants credit for a .Christian school that does not suit the Socialist agenda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So if someone were to ask you what Jesus said about divorce, what would be your reply?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I have stated before, Chaput conflates religious liberty with religious power, particularly the cultural power weilded by the Church in the 1950s and which started to crack in 1959, as documented by the book of the same name. That year censorship, with Catholic participation, went away and civil authorities stopped enforcing Catholic moral values. That is not a bad thing, unless you are a Catholic bishop with nostalgia.\n\nObama was no narcisist, whe was simply comfortable in his own skin. Trump, on the other hand, is a textbook example of this disorder and Chaput and some of his brothers (thank Heaven, not including my Cardinal) helped put him in. Speaking of Cardinals, Chaput cannot have missed that Rigali is over 80 and he has no red hat, but Chicago does. He can\u2019t be liking Francis or his friends who wrote the article calling him out. He should use it as an examination of consciece rather than arguing with it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In the end, this effort shouldn't be about serving liberal or conservative agendas, but defending core American values.\"\n\nSince when has the USCCB's agenda regarding religious freedom ever been liberal? Come to think of it, when has any liberal in this country ever argued for more religious freedom? If anything, liberals usually argue for freedom FROM religion. This constant need on the part of the media to insert a false equivalence into every argument is starting to get really annoying, which brings me to this line:\n\n\"Some Christians today seek to deny gay, lesbian and transgender people basic rights in the name of religion. Discrimination under the guise of faith does a disservice to upholding authentic religious freedom. \" \n\nExcuse me, but wasn't the whole point of Fortnight for Freedom originally built on the premise of denying gay people goods and services and firing them from their jobs? Sorry, Mr. Gehring, but you can't have it both ways. Enough with the false equivalence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I said you make your religion up on the hoof, believing what you personally are comfortable with and reject what does not suit you. For example in your post above you deny the inerrancy of Scripture in order to reject the teaching of Christ.\nYou say, \"I also know what parts of those teachings came from political and monetary expediency for the hierarchy. I know which parts came to further cement authoritarianism on the part of the hierarchy.\" The key words here are 'I know'. How can you possibly 'know'? If you think that for thousands of years the Church's only concerns were political, financial and domination of the illiterate, you are accepting the opinions of those who over the years have generally been hostile towards Catholicism and its teaching.\nFunnily enough, after accusing the Church of using the NT for nefarious purposes you quote from an OT Prophet without questioning its authenticity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"You know there is absolutely no positive New Testament evidence for women in church leadership. Minus that you contrive very flimsy postulates that it must be okay to do so now because times have changed. You choose to ignore Paul's direct explanation why we must not do this.\"\n\nStrong allegations there, Brother William. The most positive evidence I have for women in church leadership, comes from the history of the Adventist church. In the early days many (arguably most) Millerites rejected the ministry of Ellen White. Even such SDA stalwarts as Joseph Bates, struggled mightily over this very question.\n\nTimes DO change. In NT times it became OK to accept uncircumcised Gentiles as God's children. In the 1800s it became OK to accept the spiritual leadership of a woman prophetess. Both of those developments were highly divisive in church history. Many of those believers would rather die than admit that God could do such a thing. But He did, and they did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most Canadians are very uncomfortable with the treatment of women in most religions. including Islam, therefore it creates more division when proponents of one religion or another rise in the House to defend their particular corner. \n\nAccordingly, to bring communities together and erase hatred we need to reinforce respect for human rights and the rule of law. with very broadly worded motions. \n\nIf all Canadian governments want to end discrimination and hate, I think they need to take the additional step of refusing tax breaks to those who discriminate. If women cannot be priests or the Pope, why are catholic churches allowed to skip out on property taxes? I don't want to have to pay taxes to make up for the forgiven taxes of sexist human rights abusers. Cities like Toronto could build a lot of transit if churches, that discriminate against women, for example, were taxed.\n\nOttawa has a decades old policy of not doing business with human rights violators inside Canada, so why not?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can't think of anyone less Christian than Trump. Anyone who puts the bottom line ahead of the welfare of their fellow woman and man, does not have their values aligned with Christ.\nPence can claim all he wants, but the truth is seen in the actions of this administration and those actions are at odds with their political statements.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear RockChalkWombat,\n\nNo way, putting women in jail for having an abortion is not okay nor is it the answer. Making abortion legal in the early 1970's gave many the false impression that it was okay, since when a law is passed making something legal, we think it is okay. But when a law is passed that is against God's will (though shall not kill) or redefining marriage, then it is God we have to obey and not man. As a daily communicant, just this week at Holy Mass, Acts was read where Jesus' Apostles were brought before the Council for continuing to preach about Jesus in Jerusalem as they were given strong orders not to do so. The Apostles reply, \"We must obey God rather than man\". The true believers will swim against the tide of popular opinion and in this way, like Jesus be persecuted, perhaps by being fired, by being arrested and perhaps even put in jail and I have no doubt eventually being martyred. We will see Christians being martyred in the USA, especially for defending marriage", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bishops should confront racism more, but that should include confronting capitalism with its twin evils of oligopolistic pricing and oligopolistic wages. Anyone who claims a free market for either exists is either ill-informed or in the pocket of the capitalists. Interesting plug for Mr. Rogers out of Pittsburgh, but still nothing on capitalism. The protestors on both sides might even agree if the issue were framed in terms of ownership and control of the workplace. Of course, that may make the bishops nervous, since hierarchical capitalism copies Catholic Medievalism.\n\nSammons was not paying attention to the papacy of St. John Paul, who as a younger man was the chief Vatican II dissenter. That Vatican II is mentioned At all shows that Pope Francis is doing something right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're welcome. The Apostolic church was also not a democracy - read the Epistles. \n\nYou are correct that the vast majority of us are never going to have a vote in a synod or conclave. Then again, the vast majority of us are never going to have a seat in the House, the Senate, or the governor's mansion.\n\nAnd most of us can live with that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican I did not make the pope infalllible, all popes have enjoyed this charism. The Council merely confirmed it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Archbishop Chaput is the reason I left the Catholic Church. I'd just come home from graduate school after a wonderful time with the Newman Center where I learned about Kung and Rahner and an RCIA where we used Christ Among Us as our text. I thought, for instance, it was OK to work within the Church for women priests and same-sex relationships. Chaput put all that to rest! After many conversations, I went back to the Episcopal Church.\n\nI'm now a part of UCC, where the ideas of Kung, Schillebeeckx, Chittister, et. al., can live and breathe, and where Pope Francis is admired as the leader of Christianity. Mainline Protestantism is where Vatican II went, in case you're looking for it! :) (BTW, Jesus is present at the UCC, at the head of the table at every communion.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The mainstay of the Catholic Church appears to be the faithful who refrain from questioning, either because it is of no interest to them or because they have surrounded themselves beforehand with an impregnable barrier. Anyone who wants to think about religion in a really serious way must inevitably come up with heretical ideas.\" \n\nCzeslaw Milosz, A Year of The Hunter (1994), reported in \"Overview\", 12/94.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm afraid I've never heard of these schools, but I have heard of: the University of Miami, where Donna Shalala has been president since 2001; Rutgers, where Nancy Cantor is President; Michigan State, where Lou Simon has been president since 2005; and Harvard, where Drew Gilpin Faust has been president since 2007. Being a college president is a grind, between administrative duties and constant fund-raising, but women have been doing it very well. Catholic colleges are just now catching up, and apparently not the best-known ones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus choose a whole company of people---women as well as men. Check out the Gospels dealing with the Resurrection. Jesus permitted women to sit at his feet as disciples [the only Rabbi in all of Palestine to do so]. \n\nJesus did not anoint anybody with oil, did not consecrate anyone as a priest. Besides, to whom did Jesus first appear? To Peter? No! Jesus knew very well who was faithful to him to the end. Again, women held the title of apostle and deacon in the early Church as well. \n\nThere is enough documented evidence that women held church offices in the early church. Do you know that bishops were married and that if they died, their wives had the title of bishop as well. That is documented evidence in from some of Europe's early cathedrals. The Vatican needs to remove its blinders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I grew up in small town Ontario. As kids we learned very quickly that there was an us and them mentality created between the Catholic kids and the Protestant kids because we went to different schools. It was living in little Belfast and completely unnecessary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The budget lords of the Donald Trump administration have a proposed list of domestic programs to be eliminated or slashed.\u2014Colman McCarthy . . . \u201cThe LORD\u2019s acts of mercy are not exhausted, his compassion is not spent\u201d (Lamentations 3:22).\n\nCristo Rey High School in Cleveland . . . Really.\n\nDo you believe he charged people for all those miracles he performed?\u2014Steven Shea \u201cThe man believed what Jesus said to him and left\u201d (John 4:50). Liturgy of the Word, Friday Mass at St. Mary School in Vermilion, Ohio, the Second Week of Lent, Year I Better that all bear the cost of social welfare than just those willing to do it.\n\nwhite guilt\u2014LifeoftheLay there are more less fortunate White people than any other brand.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope is continually preaching Love and Mercy yet at the same times he is continually berating orthodox believers, equating them with the Pharisees of Our Lord's time when they are already earnestly trying to live their lives according to the Gospel.\nDid you not read the posters which appeared around Rome a while back? A man who ordered the Prefect of the CDF to fire 3 of his members but refused to give him a reason. A man who is presiding over the destruction of the Friars of the Immaculate, one of the fastest growing Orders in the Church. The same man who is doing the same thing to the Sovereign Order of Malta. A man who when asked by 4 senior Cardinals, bishops and numerous academics to clarify AL. A man who has publicly humiliated and side-lined Curial Cardinals, Burke, Sarah and Mueller. That is enough to be going on with.\nHardly an exemplar of the Love, Mercy and Compassion which he preaches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This line is usually named at the majority of bishops, not the modernists. Bishop Sheen said something like that. There have been others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your history, written by your people, is NOT real history. Bully for your great-great-grandfather.\n\nToo bad my great-great-grandfather didn't have Winchesters. \n\nMight does not make right.\n\nThe WAR happened because YOUR people invaded our home.\nYour people came here and brought the diseases and the firearms.\n\nYour people were immigrants. Just like the immigrants that people are trying to keep out today.\nWe had at least an 8000 year lead on you it was our right to be on that trail not your great-great-grandfathers. \n\nYou refer to us as savages as your relatives invaded our lands. \n\nOUR LAND, our right to defend it. If that is savage, then so be it.\n\nBut what goes around comes around and it will all work itself out in the end.\nWe are still here as well. \nThe Bible says the sins of the parents are visited on the children.... lots of payback in the Karma of America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great post Joan. I would never have understood the foundation for Vatican II without the catechesis I received prior to it. I also agree that a great deal of what passes for authentic Catholic teaching on these boards comes from the first three or four years of Catholic elementary school and the Baltimore catechism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Okay, I agree with you on flexibility, but therein we find the issue...one quibble, the God humans follow is the same God, or manifestations of that god. To say one follows Jesus and his teaching is not to say he's god, maybe divine, or insightful but not god. That was the point for many who founded this country. They found that the liberal values of how we look at human behaviors, to learn to be truthful and open useful. And in many ways you could look at the values they brought to the table, not a human becuase you have money but because we have rights--life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (sounds like Jesus.) And a bunch of hippies trying to remove the shackles of stupidity and rigidity...there's something happening here...saw fundamentalists as dangerous to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. So let them have their small, timid, hard, even hateful world...6700 years old, no science, no objective truth. We admire all teachers who share how to be better, just not worse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see it differently Steven, as we see the courageous hope of an outsider approaching in humility one who she perceives as a true man of God.\nAnd Jesus in His humanity walking in \u201cfaith\u201d responds in humility to the \u201cTruth\u201d His own \u201cEssence\u201d, to the truth within her statement, in that she is also a child of God.\nAnd in doing so illuminates our understanding of His Way, the Path of spiritual growth (Enlightenment) that leads to eternal life. His Path/way is different for all of us but in essence it is the same, as we all walk in our fallen human nature as He did in \u201cfaith\u201d, while our intellect is enlighten as our hearts are transformed.\nIs it not our truthful response in humility before His inviolate Word (Truth) that leads us to \u2018The way\u2019 that wells up into eternal life? \n\nPerhaps you may consider continuing this theme \nhttps://acireland.ie/a-cosmic-spirituality-for-a-new-theology-teilhard-de-chardins-evolutionary-journey-to-omega-christ/#comment-10074\n\n\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not one to be led around by the nose answering things in a way that you've narrowed down.\n\nOur Lord gave us a perfect example in the Good Samaritan, a person who loved generously whoever came upon his path.\n\nThat was the precise point of my earlier quote, which you reproduced, thankfully with proper attribution. \n\nIt's similar to when Jesus underscores it is WHOEVER does the will of His Father that is His mother. \n\nYou understand a very small bit of the Gospel and it shows.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The College of Holy Cross rates #32 of the top 100 best national liberal arts colleges listed in the US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT. The only other Catholic college close to Holy Cross is Thomas Aquinas College in CA., which rates #53 nationally. Interestingly, the latter is opening a satellite college in the east, in central MA, not far from a number of Catholic colleges in southern New England, including the College of Holy Cross. The TAC people believe their brand of Catholic identity and academia will attract a number of Catholics in the region who want, among other things, more substance and \"identity\" to their Catholic intellectual tradition courses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a side effect of the Democrats not having strong candidate that advocates for religious freedom, or any pro-life candidate. I think there are many, mny votes to be gained if those two key issues were pushed by a democratic candidate. \n\nIt is hard if not impossible to vote for a candidate, that you believe is advocating for murder, and that morality which is opposed to Catholic morality, should be imposed on everyone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK. You sit down with the Holy Bible and write a public repudiation for all the advice in there to smite and stone and otherwise abuse those who hold different beliefs or who is unfaithful to their husband. I bet you'll have some blow-back from religious Christians and certainly you will get a lot of complicated arguments from students of scripture as to why you have interpreted stuff wrongly. I'll bet you that you could start a serious discussion among Islamic scholars by raising certain passages for the Quran. When my wife was a kid, the priests used to tell people not to read the Bible because they would misinterpret it - let Father tell you what it means, maybe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus knew nothing of \"Holy Orders\". That's an institutional church construct. Jesus was familiar with His own Jewish religion's priesthood and when He was incarnated rejected being born of the priestly tribe. He was a layman all His life. Jesus never discriminated and never excluded. He affirmed that we all, male and female, are made in God's image and likeness. If the vocation of priesthood (servant-leadership) is to justly exist, then it must be open to all who hear God's call.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, Eastern Catholics have that rule. Of course, that does not mean that the Latin Church must follow it. If the Latin Church were to allow married men to become bishops, the, perhaps the Easter Catholic Churches would follow suit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Finding the historical Jesus in the teachings of the Church is very difficult. Over the centuries, the Church has added layers and layers of doctrine and theories of who Jesus was and what Jesus believed. They taught fear and obedience. I could not accept a God that supported a message other than Love and Mercy.\nYour approach to go back to the beginning to find the real Jesus is a requirement to get to the Truth. I have travelled the same path and find both opposition from fundamentalists and support from those who are guided the Spirit of Change but also see the need of a grounding in the teachings of Jesus. I support your journey.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, I meant to write that Jesus didn't die to change God's mind about us but came to change our mind about God. God didn't need a sacrifice of His Son. God loves us and forgives us. Jesus was killed bacause the Jewish priests were afraid of his popularity and Roman were threatened by his Kingdom. Jesus suffered and died to show us we too will suffer and die and that life does not end with death. \nThe scriptures predate the church, we might have more scriptures if they didn't burn the ones that they didn't agree with.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Something like this happened fifty years ago, when theologians sent a letter to the Vatican about Humanae Vitae.\nOf course, the Catholics of that era were not so presumptuous to think they could \"correct\" the Pope. They disagreed with Paul VI, and that was enough to bring condemnations of their action. I can't wait to see the reaction from conservarives to this new dissent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, for research like this to be valid it must be without bias, as much as possible. One may make the case that no matter who wrote it because it is in the canon it is authoritative. Others disagree. Totally ignoring something found in scripture does not give due respect to the whole of revelation. The real issue is whether these epistles are a compendium of writings, some actually by Paul, others written and attributed to Paul. In that culture no deception was intended. \n More important is understanding the spiritual intent of what is found in the Bible.. Any blind adherence to the letter is a form of fundamentalism which while found in any major religion can inhibit a mature spiritual life and a genuine encounter with God who, thought using human agents to communicate still speaks in the recesses of the heart in the \"still small voice\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is the connection between these christian churches and Korea other than their being Korean? I thought religion was a no no in NK?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Forget the heat wave. Read the best selling Book in history. His return is imminent and will create a new Heaven and earth. His name is Jesus and you can receive Him into your heart as your Lord and Savior for the forgiveness of your sins. Google why the Bible is the Word of the true and only real God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2/3\nBut today we must make much more sophisticated distinctions as we striving to understand this extraordinary mystery.\n\u2022\tWas the resurrection of Jesus \u201creal\u201d like the resurrections in our emergency rooms, except the period without life signs was days rather than minutes or hours? If so, then the resurrected Jesus is hardly unique?\n\u2022\tWas the resurrection of Jesus \u201creal\u201d like the resurrection of Lazarus (Jn 11), who, since he had been in the tomb for days and stank, was undoubtedly dead in every way known to us? And five other scripture accounts of miraculous resurrections (NT: Lk7 & Mt9; and OT: 1Kg17, 2K4, & 2K13) are presumably in the same category. If so, then the resurrection of Jesus is hardly unique.\n\u2022\tWas the resurrection of Jesus back to his former \u201creal\u201d life or did he rise to eternal life, a \u201creal\u201d but new and different life?\n\u2022\tWas the resurrection of Jesus a religious myth, a very \u201creal\u201d religious reality for believers, generally understood by non-believers as metaphors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LoL \nThat's because people like you made it that way-- and the last two popes and the American Catholic hierarchs also MADE it that way!!! \nJesus warned us to NOT mix/merge church and state, religion and politics but you people never listen!!! YOU are the ones who turned Catholicism into Republicanism!!!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I fear I was unclear in my statement re: tradition, and as a result misled you into assuming that I was arguing against reforms. Let me assure you that it was my mistake in phrasing, and not at all my belief. Thank you for pointing that out for me! What I was trying to say was that we have so, so very much that needs reform, I always find myself prioritizing things as what is most pressing (and just) and what are more remote possibilities at this time and/or may resolve themselves once certain logjams are cleared from our path. Thus, I hold ordination of women as a top priority, and the question of female cardinals as something that will be resolved in time if the former matter is made real. I am not in opposition to the facts you present, but I also take seriously the Christian call to mercy even with the most difficult of situations. I refuse to paint an entire group as being complicit in \"the rape of little boys,\" or in financial corruption, etc., as I know it not to be true.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good grief. Practicing anti-free-speech and misleadingly labelling those as 'racists' who object to what is effectively an illegal immigration policy (when migrants are allowed to walk across the border from the States when they could readily be turned back) or those who protest radical Islamic ideologies (such as misogyny, FGM, Sharia Law, hatred/killing of Jews and Christians, violence and terrorism) removes any credibility from the more fakish liberal media component such as this author, you know, the young Hipster-types who claim to be noble but are illiterate in history, or even from our own Prime Minister - a man sworn to protect civil rights.\n\nCanadian civil rights seems to have died when human rights activist Alan Borovy died in 2015.\n\nHey, having some respect for Canadians who are bravely trying to protect Canada's constitution and our civil rights in the face of attacks by Hipster urban liberals might be a good place to start the discussion, don't you think, Ryan Scrivens?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"To think that together with those 272 souls we received the same sacraments, read from the same Scriptures, prayed the same prayers, sang the same hymns, and praised the same God \u2014 how did we, the Society of Jesus, fail to see us all as one body in Christ? We betrayed the very name of Jesus for whom our least society is named.\"\n\nA very powerful statement!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How sorry we are for the mistreatment of Canada's indigenous people may be gauged from the continued subsidy by Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta of the very church that was the chief perpetrator of abuses against helpless children in residential schools. \n\nThis church continues to run elementary and secondary schools paid for by all taxpayers in those provinces, not just church members. Premier Wall even said he would invoke the Notwithstanding Clause of the Constitution to ensure that the maximum number of non-Catholic students in Saskatchewan would continue to be proselytized by the church. Ending this festering disgrace would be a more potent signal of justice for all than a well-intentioned speech at the United Nations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Jesus was the ultimate and final High Priest (as I believe he was) then why on Earth did the Catholic Church create the priesthood? Can any man (or woman) do what Jesus has already done -- offer himself as the perfect sacrifice on Calvary for the remission of sins and the salvation of all mankind (despite calling each Mass the \"re-enactment\" of Calvary). In fact, what need is there of any such priests, since Jesus has already done that job \"perfectly\"? \n For centuries (probably since the Council of Trent), we Catholics have been told that Jesus created the Catholic priesthood on Holy Thursday, when he changed water into wine and bread into his body. But in fact, Jesus did NOT call his Apostles or disciples \"priests\". He simply told everyone present to \"do this in remembrance of me\" and to go forth and \"make disciples of all nations\", baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Not a single word about \"priests\" anywhere in those directives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Prime Minister, who is a practising Catholic........based on his party policies I highly doubt that!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have at least much right to speak as you have. That you think otherwise is one of the leitmotifs of a certain viewpoint prevalent in these discussions.\n\nI have no idea of what \u201cultra-right\u201d means other than it appears to involve those Catholics who adhere to the Church\u2019s teachings and discipline.\n\nI personally have claimed \u201cNO authority to excommunicate, investigate .... ANYONE\u201d, although the faithful are not only authorized but obliged to admonish.\n\nExcommunication has along history and scriptural basis.\n\nExclusion from the synagogue was a real excommunication (Ezra 10:8), feared by the parents of the man born blind (John 9:21 sq.; cf. 12:42; 16:2) and foretold to the disciples (Luke 6:22). It was the remedy Christ admonished (Matthew 18:17) for those who insisted on disregarding admonishment.\n\nSt. Paul excommunicated the incestous Corinthians (1 Corinthians 5:5) and the blasphemers (1 Timothy 1:20).\n\nIt has been practiced by every Christian sect and body.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's one possible answer. Another though is probably Francis's style of bringing about change is probably more different. The two things he is trying to do is both root out corruption and clericalism at once. \n\nIf he makes unilateral decisions like what you are proposing, that may have a short term impact in terms of change. But he will be making reforms ironically in a very clerical manner. What would happen for instance if the next Pope that comes after Francis just unilaterally decides to re-classify every over again. Because that theoretically would be possible if he is the Supreme Legislator. \n\nAlso on the bishop's part, I highly doubt that is the case because as we have seen even with priests it's hard to get them prosecuted because of the problem of statue of limitation cases globally combined with the incredible burden of proof in even proving those accusations in the first place.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you believe everything early adventism had to say. Our founders were mostly arians who didn't believe that Jesus was fully God including James White and Joseph Bates who were members of the connection church that were arian and believed Christ was a created being and against the trinity. Joseph Bates wrote in 1868, \u201cRespecting the trinity, I concluded that it was impossible for me to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, was also the Almighty God, the Father, one and the same be- ing.\u201dSo I give everyone permission to read their bibles for themselves and quit idolizing our early founders. Does anyone have a problem with testing all things with scripture. Or do you need an interpreter. The Lord will guide you into all truth. I know lets let William tell us what is the truth then we won't need our bibles\u2026.that was easy. Just jesting of course.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that it happens, more than likely depending upon the Parish Priest. Anyone can walk into Mass anywhere they are not known and go to Communion. Ultimately it is up to the person. \nThere will be those who will construe this practice if it becomes commonplace as 'Catholic divorce'. One might ask that if the divorced and remarried are permitted to receive the Sacraments (Penance and Holy Communion) through the application of the internal forum, why via the internal forum can they not have further Church weddings?\nI Interpret St John Paul's teaching on ecumenism as being in hermeneutic continuity with the teachings of his predecessors because he cannot reverse it. What I object to is any 'ecumenical' activity which leads to indifferentism, the Assisi gatherings for example.\nAs I said, I can only guess what your interpretation of AL is. I will stick with FC until the Pope says otherwise.\nBtw, that comment was the same 'uncivil' one I posted earlier, I just copied and reposted it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You think so because you are still young and attractive and can easily find a priest who will find you sympathetic and give you permission to receive communion if you need it. It is not a good system for people who are old and wrinkled and unappealing, whom priests enjoy demeaning and humiliating. I personally have the financial means to make myself sympathetic enough to a Catholic priest if I need permission to receive communion. But I am annoyed for those who will be denied and I find the corruption of this \"inner forum solution\" very distasteful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"When the need of the Church warrants it and ministers are lacking, lay persons, even if they are not lectors or acolytes, can also supply certain of their duties, namely, to exercise the ministry of the word, to preside offer liturgical prayers, to confer baptism, and to distribute Holy Communion, according to the prescripts of the law.\" Canon 230\n\nEMHCs are only supposed to be used \"when the need of the Church warrant and ministers are lacking\". They aren't supposed to be used to give lay people something to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Baltimore Catechism has as its sole justification to be a response to a particular moment in time in a particular culture. \n\nBoth are long gone.\n\nThis comment ignores all that went before the Baltimore Catechism, and all that came after (not least Vatican II).\n\nTo use the Baltimore Catechism as a measure of what is \"authentically Catholic\" is like saying that we should reject any automobiles made later than the Model-T Ford ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis continues, as did all the popes before him since Pius XI in 1922, to preside over a Canonical requirement (the Pontifical Secret) which requires bishops not to take initiative to hand over paedophile priests to the secular authorities except in civil jurisdictions which demand mandatory reporting. \nFor those who say that the 'Pontifical Secret' counts for little or nothing any more, then why is it still in Canon Law?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christmas was a convenient adoption of winter festivities that occur around the globe around winter solstice. If Jesus existed, based on the events the bible claims were going on at the time of his birth, he would have been born in the summer or fall. But, it's just a book, deal with it.\n\nhttps://www.ucg.org/the-good-news/biblical-evidence-shows-jesus-christ-wasnt-born-on-dec-25", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "is it because you are an Orangemen ?\nThere is no place for a bunch of Ku-Ku-Klowns in Canada.\nAfter the establishment of the Canadian Federation (1867), the English speaking several provinces attended helplessly to the adoption of several LAWS and regulations, anti-Catholic and anti-French in English Canada, especially in that regard to denominational schools outside Qu\u00e9bec.\nAnti-Catholic and anti-French attitude drew its source, among others, the fact that many of the Loyalists who came to Qu\u00e9bec after the American Revolution of 1775 (Eastern Townships/ Ontario and Western Provinces) were \"Orangemen\" convinced. Orangemen advocated an anti-Catholic and anti-French doctrine, inspired by the reconquest of England in 1690 by the Protestant Prince William III of Orange.\u2026\n\nAnd Paf ! Problems started across French Canada ever since ! Got it guys ? Ever SINCE !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis the Merciful continues the inexorable reform of the \"reform of the reform\" ... he is building upon the foundations laid by St John XXIII and his Second Vatican Council. The JPII and BXVI pushback is over. I'm reminded of Robert Blair Kaiser's metaphor of the Church as the barque of Peter: \"a boat that had been in port for too many centuries, its bottom so encrusted with barnacles that it couldn't even sail. Now, by calling a Council, I said that Pope John had figuratively launched that vessel out on to the seas of the world. My barque-of-Peter image underlined what was different about Vatican II. For all the other councils of history (20 of them) the Church turned inward on itself. This council was turned out to the world.\" JPII and BXVI brought the barque back into port ... the likes of Chaput want it to stay there, gathering barnacles until it sinks. Pope Francis the Merciful reminds me of Jesus ... he has instructed the helmsman \"Duc in Altum\" ... put out into the deep!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don\u2019t confuse them with facts. They may not know any facts, or teachings, but they sure know who and what they like to throw in the mud and jump up and down on.\n\nAnd remember who the author of this piece is - go to page 100 in her book \u201cWomen & Catholicism: Gender, Communion, and Authority\u201d where she describes then Archbishop Burke\u2019s canonical consideration of Louise Lears, formerly in the Sisters of Charity, as \u201cretribution\u2019.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My claim is not unwarranted. There is no proof that any deity exists. I need not disprove it because there isn't a speck of scientific evidence that provides proof of a supernatural deity of any faith. \nEvangelical Christians, in particular, operate under a nihilistic ideology wherein all events are ordained by \"god\" and once one accepts \"jesus\" as their savior all is forgiven and they're going to heaven. They simply await the second coming. They need not even be ethical since all is forgiven merely by accepting jesus as their \"savior.\" I grew up in an evangelical church. I had friends that were methodists. I watched men considered pillars of the church who were actually sexual predators use jesus as a way to seduce girls. \nEvangelicals lead anti-abortion activism and harassment of women seeking healthcare. Maybe they should focus on their own dirty secrets and deeds instead of harassing women otherwise some might intrude on the privacy of their churches and what goes on in them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is not a sin to eat fish or meat! Destroying a life that God has created in the womb is a sin. But it is not a sin that cannot be forgiven! God is waiting with open arms and heart with His forgiveness, mercy, love and abundant graces for the repentant women and men (yes, men who are aware that a women they impregnated are going to have an abortion are also responsible before God and need His forgiveness, mercy and graces) who humbly approach Him.\n\nMy answers at the Catholic Reporter are not meant to deny that God gives us free choice nor are they meant to be judgmental. They come from my own awareness of being a sinner, who is most grateful for a loving, forgiving and merciful Father in Heaven, who wants nothing more than to see people turn away from sin and live in His image and likeness. This is difficult to do when we remain in our sin. There are alternatives to destroying the child in the womb for whatever the circumstances.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Technically, Jesus created the institutional religion that is the Catholic church when he said 'you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church'.\"\nDid he also say, \"you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my city-state, and I will build my officialdom, and I will build my palatial architecture and pay for it by selling indulgences, and I will have my hidden bank accounts, and I will have my Swiss guards for the tourists to enjoy, and I want the reputation of my officials to be more important than the safety of little children\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Too many Catholics are in the thrall of the GOP to ever let the USCCB take out ads against one of their presidents. Still, I would like clergy to have to show their own political hands before making pronoucements on abortion voting. Of course, some priests may be going the other way and would resist. Surely voting is outside the promise of obedience in a free society, even if some bishops don\u2019t see it that way. Now THAT would be an intersting religious freedom debate.\n\nIf you are going to cover fringe groups like Church Militant, you must cover the other side as well. I have been at it longer and speak sanely on the same issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"This year, though, they were talking about the Trinity, the doctrine that God the Father, God the Son (that is, Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit together make up one God.\"\n\nThat's heresy!! I hope that it was poor phrasing and not intentionally so.\nGod is not made up of three parts!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How fitting that this story broke within the octave of Good Shepherd Sunday!\nI'm not the first to observe that the clerical caste have turned sheep-herding in the Catholic Church into mutton-farming. There is no need for a shepherd (in Latin, pastor) unless the sheep range free and the shepherd ranges among them, protecting them from harm and rescuing them they fall into danger. When the sheep are penned up, you need only the mutton-farmer who stays in the big house and works on his spreadsheets.\nPope Francis speaks in similar terms when he says that pastors should have the smell of the sheep about them.\nMutton-farming is corrupt.\nMost Reverend Hoeppner sounds like a mutton-farmer, to his great shame and to great harm to the flock he is called to shepherd.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I have noted that name-calling liberals have taken to referring to people they don't like as \"white supremacists.\" (Eye roll, anyone?) I really hope the bishops don't get sucked into such a childishly nasty tactic. They have churches to keep open, after all, and they are not doing a very good job of that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's my shot at what would be helpful: \"The Sacrament of Matrimony is intended to be a perpetual union. Spouses should make every effort to avail themselves of the grace of Christ to live by their vows to one another and to God. If, however, in consultation with the Church, they discover valid reasons to separate, they may do so without breaking communion with the Church and its sacraments. Those currently in non-sacramental marriages should approach the Church to seek reconciliation with the same confidence, and pastors should consider it their duty to reconcile the spouses with Christ and the Church.\"\n\nThat would be a start.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, \"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.\" [Mt 5:27-28] What God has joined together, let not man put asunder. [Cf. Mt 19:6]\u201d This Commandment does not only apply to married people. It applies to unmarried people and all actions, alone or with others, of the same or different sex that are contrary to chastity, decency and modesty. And yes, Kevin, you are right, contraception is not pleasing to God. The marital sexual act (union) has to be open to the possibility of fertility/conception. (That is why the male climax must occur during sexual intercourse.) \n\nKevin, I have had the opportunity as part of my volunteer work of visiting older people in Nursing Homes or at Home through my Parish Church in having been taught so much by these Christian people who have become wise in their years! (continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It certainly isn't the \"only gospel,\" but it is one of the few passages that delineates exactly Whom we encounter when we aid the hungry, thirsty, imprisoned...and it also leads to one of the few times personal consequences in NOT doing so are mentioned. Since all members of the administration are tasked with SERVING the American public, and some of these members choose to attend bible study, I don't think it's unreasonable to hope they be enlightened as to one of the crucial messages found in the Word. For instance, there must be an application of Matt. 25 relevant to the Departments of Education, Agriculture, Energy, HUD, the EPA, and Justice. \n\nThat is, if these august Secretaries are present for realsies and not just to shore up credentials with their evangelical constituents or find justification in their own interpretation of many passages in Leviticus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I personally think if Jesus meant His teachings would end with the life of His Apostles, He would have been recorded by posterity as making that very evident. But....the Gospel authors wrote their testimony after the original Apostles had died, the Temple had fallen, and things had radically changed. Now either the writers of the Gospel were inspired beyond the original Apostles or they were deceiving themselves. You pick for yourself, for myself, Jesus was referencing future discoveries and that's why these verses are with us today and will always be with us. The future is to be discovered, not defined by the past.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no such apostle as \"Jude Thaddaeus\" unless you conflate two disparate names, Jude and Thaddaeus.\n\nMatthew 10:1-4 has \"Thaddaeus (Other ancient authorities read Lebbaeus, or Lebbaeus called Thaddaeus)\"\nMark 3:13-19 has \"Thaddaeus\"\nLuke 6:12-16 has \"Judas son of James\"\nActs 1:13 has \"Judas son of James (Or the brother of)\"\nJesus had a brother Judas and a brother James (Mt 13:55, Mk 6:3), plus with the confusion over the various James, who was Jude really? . . . .NRSV\nThe Talpiot tomb had a bone box labeled 'Judah son of Jesus'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tobin should welcome everyone to the cathedral who is baptised or wants to be baptised in the death and resurrection of Christ. And that is the only reason anyone and everyone should be and must be welcomed. \n\nThe dying to oneself and rising with Christ to a new life, has no qualifiers attached to it, such as male or female, Jew or gentile, gay or straight, black or white or polka dot. \n\nThere is no such thing as \"I am white, who happens to be a Christian,\" I am a gay who happens to be a Christian. He did not (does not need to) welcome the \"heterosexual community\" or the \"female community\" or many other communities either. So, what's the point in \"welcoming the LGBT community\"?\n\nI guess the Pauline maxim of \"no male or female, Jew or gentile\" has limits after all.... when it serves someone political and ideological purpose ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic church has excommunication (you're fired) and apostasy (I quit). As long as the Jehovah's Witnesses have a mirror procedure of \"disfellowship\" and is also allowed for the individual, fair procedures exist.\nOf more importance in the division of state and church, why are public secular tax dollars subsidizing chaplains in prisons and the armed forces?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Belief in the Bible and Jesus Christ made America great at in it's prime.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gonzales public defender, David Saydak states, \"It\u2019s his impression that Gonzales is NOW serious about changing her ways and that she views prison as a potential refuge from a drug-centered life\". And I am sure she will now be a Born Again Christian???? How wonderful, Whoop De Doo..........The problem I have with this is Gonzales had to KILL someone to feel this way. 10 years is NOT enough....................", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With all of the Ramadan attacks going on I am sure the police will need to step up patrols next year During Easter as the Christians will go on a killing spree like they do every year. (Rolling eyes)\n\nWhen will liberals wake up and face the problem at hand? Europe's open border policy and refusal to address the Radical Islamic threat head on will take decades to address if they actually ever get the stones to do it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The situation in Boston, however, is not due to a shortage of priests, but to a shortage of Catholics. Mass attendance in Boston is approximately equal to mass attendance in Montreal and Dublin; on an average Sunday in ordinary time, fewer than ten percent of Bostonian Catholics attend mass.\"\n\nAnd what in Boston led to this situation? Yes, that's right, the previous Archbishop of Boston, Bernard Law, made the archdiocese a pedophile's playground. He blamed the child victims of sexual abuse by priests for soliciting their own abuse and made a public call for God's wrath on his critics. No wonder there was a drop in Mass attendance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article is from the diocese newspaper and in that the definition of \"family\" is addressed. The follow ing is a question to Bishop McElroy and his answer: \"Q: How did the delegates define family?\nA: The group working on how to bring spiritual depth to family life raised the issue of inclusion. what they said is that we really need our marriage and family outreach to stress that families are all-inclusive. They include single peopl, they include gay and lesbian people, they include the homeless, the margainalized. They include everyone. They are all part of our families. And thus, when we talk about the spitituality of family life, it has to convey very powerfully the fact that Christ calls to each and every one of us and invites us to be part of this family which is the Churc, but also to be a part of family life, the families which we're born into and those created in our lifetimes.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Eric - do you believe all of the bible or just the parts that fit your narrow minded leftwing world view?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pish posh, I expected a substantive post about the article, a discussion of idears and things, but instead there is only a somewhat snarky outburst. I, for one, have been trying to make the point that Mr. Spielberg does not understand the righteousness of the pope's actions, saving this soul by wrenching the child from his family. Very much an action Jesus Christ would approve of. Of course, while this was commendable, similar actions directed against Irish Catholic children were crimes, because the children shared the religion and ethnicity of the poster. Thus we see that, for the True Catholic, morality is relative, subject to the identity of the victim as well as that of the perpetrator.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The short and frustrating answer is \"I don't know.\" \n\nThe truth is that probably few people are aware of the document that Elagabalus cited. Further, few people would take it seriously. If one did not know the source of the document, one might infer that it came from one of the gay-bashing right wing \"Christian\" sects like the Westboro Baptist Church (which has no affiliation, it should be said, with any official Baptist body.) I am of two minds about this: Is it better that no-one knows about this trashy document, lest someone take it seriously? Or is better to shine light on the trash, the better to sweep it out? If we go the second route, I suppose we must start confronting our priests and bishops, asking them to disavow this and similar documents. I wonder how many of them are even aware of the document? Surely many are embarrassed by it, as well they should be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whinge, verb, British informal, \u201cAn act of complaining persistently and peevishly\u201d.\n\nI am not sure the pot should be calling the kettle black.\n\nTo restate his objection, marriage arises from the Natural Law, was considered in Roman law the foundation of the family and thus the foundation of the nation, and is also reflected in the same way in the Judeo-Christian religion.\n\nThe Supreme Court has fashioned something out of the gossamer of the \u201cpenumbra\u201d and called it \u201cmarriage\u201d.\n\nWhatever it is, it is not the thing which arose from the Natural Law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the Church and the Pope, in particular, does so often refer to us laity as sheep and clerics as shepherds/pastors. This is one very significant difference between Roman Rite/Church and Vatican II Rite/Church theological perspectives on the Gospels. Thanks for mentioning that, Dennis. Didn't think most folks commenting here would relate to that point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about the institution of the priesthood being included in your litany?\n\nSurvivors of sexual abuse are not going away because institutions like the Catholic hierarchy are busy each day making new survivors. Declines in the rates and reporting of sexual abuse and exploitation of children by Catholic priests and bishops are most likely due to factors such as aging and mortality rates for priests continue to climb. [All criminality decreases as perpetrators age.] \n\nThe ordination of priests remains below the replacement rate. The recruitment, education, quality and formation of new priests have raised new concerns for children's safety. \n\nThe prominence of the issues of sexual assault and exploitation of children may rise or fall over time in certain cultures and societies around the world. The sad truth of the matter is that children will continue to be exploited by an unaccountable institution of vast wealth wielding great political power ensuring impunity from justice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great! Cardinal Marx wants to see Catholic loyalty to a validly canonically elected pope. It would be great if he showed the same loyalty to Jesus Christ and the moral law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neither Joe Biden nor Tim Kaine is the subject of this archbishop. Chaput's assessment of their Catholic faith is thus nothing more than a strictly personal opinion, rather than a proper canonical judgment which Chaput has zero authority to make! Chaput's opinion, however, makes him less than a welcoming bishop and shepherd to members of his own flock.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is there ANY Catholic teaching to which you accede? Or did you just get lost looking for the Unitarian's web page?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the opportunity to learn something new-albeit a Latin phrase. I checked on the scholarship. SOME scholars, not all, believe it to be a matter of post-second Temple issues. As for being liberal, I can find no reference. Considering the fact that these tensions would lead to Jesus' crucifixion, I find it untenable that they were inserted after the fact unless the Gospels as such were a fabrication in the creation of religious mythology, as many a secular intellectual will hold. \n One does not find it inconsistent with Mathew's story the idea that the legalism for which the Pharisees were known was used to advantage by some members of the sect, as related in the Synoptics and the Gospel of John. One can find many similar instances in the history of the Church, to which contemporary commentators have referred using the term \"Pharisaical\". \n One could sympathize with those who hold that the term may hold pejorative connotations for Jews and Judaism, nevertheless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The travesty of a U.S. Supreme Court acting as a dictator over all laws negating the very foundation of human rights contained within the Constitution they swore to uphold. Another legacy from the traitorous CONservative Republican Terrorist Traitor Party through their Republican President-appointed toxic agents represented by the Roman Catholic Gang of Five led by Scalia. The final nail of the coffin of Corporate CONtrol over the legal and economic systems of the nation. All still living should be in jail for sedition and traitorous acts against the nation. Gorsuch, a life-long Republican legal terrorist, ruling against individual citizens in every instance supporting Corporate Dictatorship joins/replaces in thought, word, and deed the traitor, Scalia. The system is broken with absolute Republican Dictatorship illegally ruling all branches of government. Time for a Revolution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps we need to re-interpret the words of Jesus:\n\"This is my body and this is my blood.\"\nMaybe they are symbolic and not the real presence?\nIt could be that our whole religion is built on false and make believe premises?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, well, you're no Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The experience of sacramental grace. It comes from receiving it, not looking at it. Jesus did not say take and look at it. I can make up my own mind without referencing another theologian, though Garry Wills leans that way too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You make an important point. The history of a country matters in how the official Church is received. And current (last 50 years?) affect how the hierarchy is perceived and how much power and influence they can wield in the society. Ireland and Australia are the recent messes. Canada seems rather stable.\n\nGod doesn't \"fit\" in any package. Maybe that worked when most of the world was ruled by kings and European power predominated just about everywhere. Not true any more.\n\nThat is one of the reasons the universal Catholic \"package\" is just not working everywhere. It is not just tenets of faith, although that is part of it. It is also an autocratic governance structure in a world that is more and more educated, more democratic, with wide spread sources of virtually instant information. I think if the Church wants people to participate more in the faith, then they have to be given some voice in what is done and some share of the power and responsibility.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sister Joan has made a credible and accurate diagnosis. All I can add is my own feelings of shock when I discover that so many people and family I know are strong Trump supporters and apologists for his blunt force style of governance through tweets. Many of my friends are solid middle class Catholics, some are clergy, some are local leaders; so many readily admit being Trump followers. Most disappointing is the vast numbers of church-going citizens who made up so much Trump support - over 85% in some faith communities. Both they and we who support a much different kind and way of governance are now in deep disagreement on how to proceed on just about everything, including basic care for the least of our brothers and sisters and of the planet we all share.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pot meet kettle. You are a propaganda machine as well and it is not helping your \"cause\". You have a right to your opinion, but the population has a right to reject your opinion.\n\nThe Christian share of the U.S. population is declining, while the number of U.S. adults who do not identify with any organized religion is growing, according to an extensive new survey by the Pew Research Center.\nhttp://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'It is only a sin if done wrong.\"\n\nHas the Church defined what is the right way and what is the wrong way? Perhaps the Church needs a Pontifical Commission to spend a few decades studying this very important question of Canon Law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Emmett--- Bishop Popcocky was probably absent from Catholic school/Catechism class, as a kid when this work of mercy was taught. He was absent a lot. As a high school student in the seminary prep schools---all boys, he probably studied Shakespeare's \"Macbeth\" or \"Julius Caesar\" but not \"The Merchant of Venice\" [God forbid that these boys would be permitted to see a strong female character like Portia in Shakespeare's works]. \n\nHe probably slept through many of his seminary courses that referred to the works of mercy, also. As far as 'Popcockys' understanding the Social Teachings of the Church are concerned---his answer might be---\"Huh, what's that?\"\n\n\nThank God, that Richard's friends are gathered to pray and honor his remains.\nHaving friends to share and remember the many, many good and charitable things he did, makes Richard a man who has left behind goods more valuable than gold----good friends and a saintly reputation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not quite inherent. That's the wrong concept. \n\nIt's covenantal...it requires our will, our acceding. We become adopted sons and daughters of God when we are baptized. But not all baptized people sadly reach heaven. One would have to throw out about 9/10ths of the Bible to believe that we need not do anything to reach heaven.\n\nSadly some people believe this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"They take all major credit cards as a 501(c)3 tax exempt Corporation and lobbying group ...\" I.e., they comprise a modern-day, New-Age Beggars' Guild. Their product is fear and a peculiar green sanctimonity that (as a pundit has said) borrows all the concepts of Guilt and Punishment from Judeo-Christian religion, but leaves behind anything to do with hope or redemption.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"..express personal political opinions...\"\n\nThe Church has expressed rules on the moral order of men and women living out their lives in conformity to God\u2019s will. Since God created life, He renders as the sole judge and authority when to take it back/away. From the Judeo-Christian rooted authority in the Ten Commandments, \u201cThou Shalt Not Kill.\u201d All commandments referring to one\u2019s neighbor (i.e. each person.) You could try to counter why God or His people attacked/killed certain persons. And that can be argued along the lines certain peoples in pagan worlds were doing all kinds of harmful acts (i.e. child sacrifice, sexual immorality, killing, etc.) And bolstered in God\u2019s view a necessity to fight a moral wrong. But, that aside (not to ignore it), the killing of an unborn human being is wrong, not a political statement. Merely trivializing abortion as politics (one for, or one against it) reduces the both arguments for a woman's right to choose or the unborn right to life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gary: You failed to mention the fact that he himself was only a minor at the time as well.\n\nDoes our society really want to be that vindictive, that we cannot ever forgive the crimes of minors? Even when they have done such a great job in turning their life around?\n\nReally, we should be celebrating this young man's success in avoiding a sinful life.\n\nTell me, how do you think Jesus Christ would view this situation??", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bear, \n\n1) It is my understanding that the late Georges Cardinal Cottier had a bigger influence on the CCC (the Catechism of the Catholic Church) than the Pope Emeritus. But, so what? This whole conversation has been about what is the \"first premise\" (you words) of canon law. The CCC and the CIC/83 (the Code of Canon Law of 1983) are two different things. Now if you mean to suggest that the Pope Emeritus \"mostly\" wrote CIC/83, maybe he did, but he's not a canon lawyer and among the clerics that St. John Paul thanked for their work on the CIC/83 in Sacr\u00e6 Disciplin\u00e6 Leges, the Pope Emeritus was not mentioned.\n\nto be continued.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Scott, your comments are right on the money! Most Catholics, as you pointed out, know nothing about Cardinals Joseph Tobin, Blase Cupich nor Kevin Farrell. Diocesan newspapers [if they still exist] put little in about such items. And since the Diocesan newspaper must past the scrutiny of the arch/bishop before it's published----if he's a Chaput-type---a story like this would never see the 'light of day'. Catholic TV? Where is it? EWTN---is so conservative that it makes Paul VI look like a flaming liberal.\n\n\nWhat the Church in America needs is a Liberal Catholic TV network that only does NEWS---Internatinational/National [I know, I'm dreaming with this comment]. But the average Catholic knows nothing of what wars Pope Francis is fighting, what's really going on in the Church, what's going on in the U.S.---with our \"back to the past\" hierarchy, etc. Depending upon what kind of bishop they have, most priests keep their mouths shut as well---they've been afraid for decades now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You write as though the CHURCH is only the hierarchy [the 4% of Catholics who are ordained bishops and higher]. Sorry, but the CHURCH is all baptized Catholics. Vatican II was laying the ground for all Catholics to discuss and vote upon issues of faith and morals. Does this imply that people have an educated understanding of these issues? YES! Does it mean that DIALOGUE occurs between priests, arch/bishops, cardinals and the pope? YES!\n\nBut it does not mean that the official church [the 4% clergy & hierarchy] continue to act as if they OWN the church or all the only ones who have received the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. This excessive clericalism was promoted and enhanced during the pontificate of JP II and continued by Benedict XVI.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope. Read the Chaput column in Catholic Philly! Dave got it right. No surprise!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part Two: IMPERIAL COLONIALISM\nPolitical dominion and exploitation run un-parallel with the Gospel mandate and with a sustainable ecology; dominion and exploitation diverge from equal access rights to a just life that entitle everyone.\nCan the Church, violently, globally spread by overtly proclaimed Militancy, be blamed for unjust, global complicity in affecting the radical disenfranchisement of indigenous peoples and the radical exploitation of their native resources?\nImperial theological/ political militancy travels on the presumptive rails of religious/ political right to dominate and exploit in God\u2019s Holy Name. The global politics of Militant Colonialism is a rail that diverges from authentic religious sensitivity.\nCulturally, indigenous peoples tend toward authentic relationships of people with natural resources of place; Colonial Christianity? not so much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The same is true of clerical celibacy, as we have come to know it -- a form of human slavery. Maybe someday the Catholic hierarchy will acknowledge its considerable error(s), maybe?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I owe my mid-life deepening of my faith to a Catholic Navy chaplain who was assigned to my Battalion Landing Team in the Marines. \n\nWe were preparing to attack through the breach in Iraq in March 2003 (within hours..these things today are rarely given actual h-hours...instead it's \"be ready within 24 hrs...be ready within 12, be ready within 4.\"..etc.). We were in our chemical suits, with masks on our hips, in or near our vehicles waiting for the word to move a few Kms to the breach points at the border....Padre walked by and said \"who wants to go to Mass\"...and I said \"I do Father if I can also get a Confession...\" and he simply waved me forward to a big hole we had earlier made for our bunker against silkworm missiles in the middle of the Kuwaiti desert.\n\n20 minutes later, Mass was over, Confession was over and I got into my vehicle and went into battle totally serene and totally resolved to \"get serious about my faith\". \n\nI got back to the US I wrote to him & thanked him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think RD initially indicated that influence was no sin and that, later in reply to someone suggesting it was an occasion of sin he gave the examples of Jesus, Peter, and Paul.\nRegarding your last sentence, I would say that they are attempting to something meaningful. It may be futile, time will tell, but has meaning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Correct. \n\nand the action of Tradition gave us a closed canon of Scripture. God didn't fax us the table of contents; the contents of the New Testament came about through a decision reached by an authoritative Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From the article on \"Liturgy Shaming\" linked above:\n\"But for many old-school Catholics, the liturgical innovations unleashed by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s are to blame for every measurable decline and perceived ill in Catholicism since that time.\"\nI've heard this so many times and by this definition \"old school\" catholics who take this position must be in their 70s and 80s by now. Strangely, it is this generation who often voice greatest appreciation of these same \"liturgical innovations\" like the vernacular mass. Is there another explanation for this kind of intolerance?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/09/09/relatively-few-u-s-catholics-skipped-annulment-because-of-cost-or-complications/\n\nB. It is the Church\u2019s job to provide with the ordinary means to salvation. Endorsing error is not providing comfort or consolation.\n\nC. Then don\u2019t go to a priest. Do whatever you want.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This discussion is certainly very subjective; whether discussed and voted in the boardroom of the General Conference; or in the boardrooms of local, regional and divisional conferences. \n\nThis is a similar discussion as took place between Paul and the disciples of Jesus re the Gentiles.\nPaul was right and the disciples were wrong; and yet Paul compromised to accomodate the majority rule of the disciples. \n\nIt may be we can learn from schism in the first church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"When death separates me from those I love...\"\n\nBut it doesn't. If one has a lively interior life with God, death actually INCREASES the intimacy we have with those who have died (if they died loving, not rejecting, God). \n\nThe author should go to prayer using the text of Romans 8.\nFrom Saint Paul: \"The concern of the flesh is death, but the concern of the spirit is life and peace.\"\n\n\"But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. \"\n\n\"But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness.\n\n\"If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you.\"\n\n\"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things...will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are at least two cardinals on the C9 who also should have been castoffs but weren't. Pell and Maradiaga. Don't believe that Francis is any better than JPII when it comes to this issue. He is a seemingly benevolent authoritarian who is still protecting authoritarianism. Why did he move on Fynn and Neinstedt? Because they are American and he doesn't have a personal relationship with them. Don't ever forget the American Catholic Church was the first to demand accountability. He has a personal relationship with Pell and almost all of the hierarchy in Latin America. Check how he has done in Latin America in making bishops accountable. EPBenedict was heads and shoulder above Francis. Francis is the master of 'fake, or maybe targeted, reform'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So does your bringing Arianism into the discussion, but no matter. I do not offer this in criticism but by way of observation. \n I am suggesting that in departing from the first seven Ecumenical councils the Church opened to way for spiritual exploration and ultimately Vatican II and spiritual renewal-but along the way adopted innovations that departed even further from tradition and led to the Reformation. \n A discussion of relations within the Trinity is hypothetical, while I can tell you something of the Holy Spirit's relationship with me. So can many others. I can theorize reasonably about how the Trinity relates each to its other's member, but with no certainty except to say that the relationship is based on a love we grasp in part just as we know in part and see through a glass darkly. Then, we will know as we are known. (St. Paul.) \n We can renew our minds in Christ (St. Paul again) or we can ossify in our stodgy theological dungeons.Grow or die. JOIN THE DANCE!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is NO passage in any of The Gospels where Jesus calls himself the son of God. You had better go back and read your Gospels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know: I'd love to give you a manly hug, talk out our differences over a beer (if only I could get across The Pond).\n\nFor a time, I thought you were winding me up (are you?), but I seem to sense your sincerity.\n\nPhysical execution is not caused by something so abstract as sin, but by human beings. Your argument, all along, has been that God commands such. But then, just now, you agreed with me that the Father is love, and that love does not destroy what it loves. If this is true (and we have agreed it is), then God could not command others to do what he himself would not, and could not, do. If he did, then he would not, could not, be love.\n\nWhen someone is physically killed, of course they are destroyed...physically. We are our bodies; we are all of a piece. Jesus rose from physical death, not spiritual death. But he was reunited, as it were, with his physical body, because it was part of and remains part of him for eternity. (It is why I believe in the Real Presence.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most understandable, John. But Trump et al. will fail as a presidency as he has already violated the Law with some of his Executive Orders that will be ruled unconstitutional by the courts. The ACLU has stated that it will take all such illegal orders by the President to court and sue for their removal. The plan is for the ACLU and the Democrats to ensnare Trump in legal proceedings so many he won't be able to keep count, as it should be! So perhaps that's a good place to think of putting your efforts as they will be grateful for any support anyone has to offer. The marches in protest are more needed then ever. Signing petitions both online and in person help immensely. There are Catholic protest groups starting to form around Trump policies regarding immigration, health care, freedom of the press (a Constitutional right), and freedom of religious practice. You will no doubt find a great place for yourself, as it is no doubt the Holy Spirit guides you anyway. Bless you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think that young Catholics are interested in women priests. They are however, dismissively dismissive of any cult, particularly one which defends its exclusion and diminution of them with the absurdity of or RCC,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, it is very well established that Constantine and his successors not only married church with state but also made allegiance to \"Holy Roman\" Church as integral to society as its citizens' former allegiance to the imperial throne.\n\nOne could MORE easily ague that Jesus' message was able to propagate IN SPITE of the influence of the theo-political state known as imperial Rome. Please, brush up on your history before you come on a public forum and spout out your half-truths and revisionist history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The ordination of women, for example caused so much acrimony and strife not only within dioceses but within congregations, bullying by bishops wishing to impose women priests on parishes which didn't t want them, and congregations refusing to recognise the ordinations of women. Different attitudes to sexual morality, marriage, divorce, homosexuality; and that was on top of the historical differences which existed between the various groupings within Anglicanism.\nAlso, reasonable discussion between them was practically unachievable because it was impossible to appeal to any authority as each had its own.\nThe same thing is happening now in the Catholic Church as factions vie with each other to change or to block change in doctrine and praxis; bishops and bishops' conferences contradict each other and there seems to be no direction or guidance from Rome. We are rapidly becoming a group sof semi-autonomous Churches rather than one Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I'm not mistaken, the Episcopal Church changed its name (if not its legal title) at the same time it ratified a new Book of Common Prayer in 1979. That prayer book emphasized the primacy of the Holy Eucharist in a way previous prayer books had not. The Episcopal Church \"evolved,\" to use a popular term - it became more itself - it became more catholic (small \"c\") not only in terms of its liturgical practice but also in its theology. It did this in large part from having observed Vatican II from afar and absorbing the immense liturgical scholarship that emanated from it. Anglicans are smart - they've never had a problem borrowing the best of our tradition from us. It's time we return the favor and ordain some women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A man hears want he wants hear and disregards the rest\". See that history has a indelible record of violence in the name of the Christian God. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_violence. All religion is a human concept that over time fails to deliver with inaction on the core message of universal love and respect for all. Its mostly about power, competition, money, culture, etc. The Church of the Bretheren have the right idea http://www.brethren.org/news/2012/christians-and-muslims-meet.html with warm Turkish food to share in peace and understanding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Next life primarily, yes. But Jesus also said he would separate sheep from goats, and He set out the dividing line. What we do here counts, and not just a little.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"What percentage of native americans on reservations are practicing Catholics who follow at least the 5 precepts of the Church?\nSee, it helps to work with \"criteria\"....these help sort out emotionally generated writing...basically slicing apart silly retorts.\"\n\nLotL, what a bizarre and meaningless question! How about some criteria for avoiding racist comments in the first place?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tom Reese should know better put forth such a wasted argument as the US bishops' need a 'rebranding'. What they need is to be replaced which is what the pope is trying to do. First he replaced a papal nuncio who was worthless in terms of identifying like-minded bishops for elevation to the College of Cardinals. It will take a generation to breath new life into the American church. If we think U.S. bishops are reactionary and politically (spiritually) conservative, imagine worshipping as a Catholic in many African countries today, in the Philippines or countries in northern Europe. Must also note Reese's mention of the bishops abandonment of the ACA and hostility to anything-Obama. I consider this a blatant example of institutional racism in the American church and bishop-promulgated prejudice against anything that is not deigned \"Catholic\" in thought or orientation. Kathleen Sibelius, Nancy Pelosi, among others, all Catholic, involved in ACA creation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Luther's authority was his intelligence, his scholarship, his knowledge of biblical languages and, not least, his refusal to remain stuck in the rut of eccleisiastical tradition for its own sake. \n\nLuther didn't \"interpret\" Scripture: he simply read and understood the written word AS it was written, just as I am reading and understanding your words before me now on my tablet. There's no mystery here. I can read. I am well-educated, and I am considered to have intellectual ability that is well above average. I don't need an \"authority\" (a magisterium, if you like) to help me make sense of your reply. God (through nature) and nuture have already equipped me for this, just as Luther was equipped. \n\nAs for all those \"Protestant theologies knocking around\", I hate to burst your bubble, but Roman Catholicism isn't a scriptural or doctrinal monloith either. Your long familiarity with this blog alone ought to have convinced you of that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For such a response from a Brother in the Catholic Church clearly reveals why my above statement is true. Do you believe that Jesus is physically present in the Eucharist? If your answer is Yes, then he resides in the Tabernacle, which obviously should be the main point of our attention when we enter the Church. If Jesus presented himself to you right now, would you look elsewhere or would you immediately get on your knees and adore him? Why do you prefer having the tabernacle off to the side? Out of sight out of mind by chance? Do you believe in any Eucharistic miracles?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. Ecclesiastics ( bishops ) who had no interest in reading and prayerfully pondering the document on the Liturgy . They failed miserably in the duties entrusted to them . 50 years later, only a handful are willing to teach , govern and sanctify . EWTN 's success is simply the effect of this decades old failure .\nAs Jesus said emptying a dwelling of negative influence must be followed by \n filling it up with what is wholesome . \nThis Second Vatican must be of God otherwise why is there such militant ongoing opposition to it ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There has been a lot of rhetoric about \"lets be united now\". For the past 8 years the GOP has done all in its power to divide the nation by hobbling Barak Obama in his efforts to keep America \"great\".\n\nThe white christian fundamentalist males who enabled Trump to be elected seem to be leading the chorus. The damage has aleady been done. It is now up to Trump to be that president for ALL Americans.\n\nHe must take full responsibility to re-unite the nation from all the damage that has already been sown..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey Kevin,\n\nYes, that is the Scripture text I was referring to as well. The tax collector was exalted by Jesus because he humbled himself. This is what you originally submitted:\n\"Jesus castigated the Pharisees for their Pride and arrogance but he praised the tax collector in the temple a collaborator who was sincere (humble) before God at that moment in time and he went home justified, he remained in his sinful situation (Continued in been a traitor)\" \nYou cleared up my question. I thought you were saying that the humble tax collector left Jesus' presence and went home and remained in his sinful situation. As I mentioned above, while the Pharisees boasted of their moral perfection, the tax collector said to Jesus; \"God, be merciful to me a sinner.\" It is our recognition of being a sinner, needing God's mercy, forgiveness and grace and being repentant/changing our sinful behaviors -not remaining in sin that we receive God's mercy. If I met Joe, would say the same thing I said to Evelyn", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He had the approval and blessings of his (Mormon) bishop, after consultation with headquarters! To this day, he is Mormon, and highly respected by his fellow Mormons as well as non-Mormons. I must add that your comment is the first (and only) discordant note about this great man and musician!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church of England is always the last of the Anglican bodies to move whenever change happens. When women were allowed to become members of the ordained clergy the CoE was the last member to move in that direction - it was the American church which led the way. The same has been just as true on the subject of homosexuality in general and gay marriage in specific. \n\nAs for the problem of how to balance the needs of conservative churches in the southern hemisphere where Anglicanism, like Roman Catholicism, is growing the fastest, with the needs of \"first-world\" churches, well, that is a problem that isn't going away. But I, for one, don't think it will be solved by acquiescing to the demands of third-world bigots who were just as upset when women were finally given the reins of power as they are now that gay people are marrying in Anglican churches. Power, like freedom, is never freely given, it must always be taken. Within Anglicanism, women did it first. Now it's gay people's turn.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The faith remains strong among Catholics both active and inactive. Leadership is scarce, inarticulate, missing and mostly party line pious prattle and uninspiring. We are losing nearly all of our youth and young families. We are closing parishes merely for lack of priests. We have mostly foreign born priests from non-English speaking countries filling in the gaps and leaving congregations confused, and uncared for. Bishops have jurisdiction over huge swaths of territory or huge populations. Ministry to priests, religious and faithful alike is once in a while, only. Meanwhile the church becomes even more irrelevant in both the U.S. and abroad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Over the years, National Catholic Reporter has done it's fair share in bringing the plight of these children before the community that I can recall.\nWhere are all those old members of the NCR community........I learnt a lot from their contributions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Waterbury Naugatuct Ct.. most of the forty thousand person increase has been by Hispanics and Lebanese etc. migrants mainly.. Yet church going weekly DOWN through out Ct. from 325 Thousand to 122 Thousand today. Despite INCREASE in Population Wtby Naugy is going from 25 Parishes 1999 to 21, four in Naugatuck in 2916... Now there will be 13 in Wtby. Two in Naugatuck. Six to nine of those are designated as Hispanic immigrant parishes................ Which means without Immigrants Dying Rc faith here would be down from 25 to four or seven parishes. If that is not a Dying rump scarcely Rc church, What else would you call it. That it is Worse in Low Countries ,Canada and Central Europe with single digit mass going 1-9% there. ..... That is why Uccb try to hassle Ewtn, Church Militant and Lepanto Ist. who point this out and decry Wayward clergy like Cino Martin amer. ETC. TRUTH Hurts. Late as 1965 under Latin Mass 65 % of Usa Catholics went to weekly mass. 22& today. Why???", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Look to the East!\" (from the Mass in some ancient Rites of Catholicism)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You say that God became incarnate because of \"His concern for our life after this world\". But the Church teaches that God became incarnate also so that we might know His love; so that we might take Him as our model of holiness; and so that we might become partakers of His divine nature. In all these ways, the message and the importance is for our life in this world. If we understand and accept the message, then \"our life after this world\" will take care of itself.\nOur Lord came so that we \"may have life and have it to the full\" [John 10:10]. So Loy's \"less sorrowful\" seems right, although I am not sure if it is indeed a quotation from St John XXIII.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many of us have \"voted with our feet\", CAE. As the mother of four daughters and one son I am not at all surprised that none of my adult children practice Roman Catholicism. Its positions on women, LGTB folk, closed communion, forced celibacy, prizing institution preservationism over - for example - sexually abused children, etc., are completely contradictory to the love and acceptance my husband and I - not to mention Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ - sought to impart. Loving the church as I did, seeking advanced education and ultimately employment as a Pastoral Associate (the RC 'glass ceiling), I struggled constantly with feelings of hypocrisy as I represented rules I personally rejected for the sake of whatever good I could do in ministry. No more. Ignation discernment brought me to an understanding that this duality was not what the Lord had in mind for me. \nSo in my own way I've gone 'on strike'. I'd be interested in how you see a strike unfolding!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, you are just way off in your understanding of these scriptures. Jesus is telling them that divorce is only acceptable due to infidelity or adultery, this has nothing to do with depravity, or anything ongoing. It was enough that if a spouse cheated, especially, if a woman cheated on a man, in Judaism, that the divorce be allowed because now that cheating spouse is deemed unclean under the law. Therefore, Jesus is supporting the Law that the abused spouse may divorce but even if that spouse remarries, they too will still be committing adultery. Jesus rebuked the practice of divorcing for any other reason. \n\nYou misunderstood the Cor. reading because you took the passage out of context.\nCor: 29 For anyone who eats & drinks without recognizing the body, eats & drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are weak. .\"\n\nPaul is saying eating Eucharist, without belief the Eucharist is Jesus, is harmful instead of healing. Paul did not say abstain due to sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Come on. Remember where you are: NCR.\n\n1. The Church is responsible for most ills.\n2. The Church needs to apologize and keep apologizing. \n3. Go back to 1 and loop forever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yep, trust the hierarchy\n\nLet's see - to date they have accomplished:\n- largest sexual abuse scandal in church history with immeasurable impact on church\n- over last 20 years, 80% of US church have stopped attending; if not membership and the hierarchy either ignores, blames others (secularism for example); but are never themselves accountable or responsible\n- myriad financial and sexual intrigues in Vatican and worldwide church (this is dismissed by the hierarchy as boys will be boys)\n- significant decrease in both number of clergy and seminarians (oh yeah, it is the culture's fault)\nMost here could add more items.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Define \"Catholics\" then......\n\nAnd whether they are members of the Roman Catholic faith tradition or not....the use of the word \"Catholic\" in the title is intended to convey the impression that they are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In most cases, Friday is the time for unpleasant political news.\nIn this case it is more than obvious this is considered a very political decision.\nThe story behind the case is also telling. a community that does not warrant a public school can sustain a religious one, or two, maybe three, or more.\nI have an idea, transfer the native school funds to the Catholics too, they have done such a great job \"beating the Indian out of the Indian\" last time.\nBefore you tag me as \"Islamophobic\" or atheist, name any religion that ever accepted religious freedom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is Michael Higgins paid by the Globe or the Catholic Church for these columns? He seems to be implying here that these are trumped up charges brought about by the Cardinal's enemies for his resistance to liberal causes. Australia is not North Korea or China, and I assume that the police have reasonable evidence to lay these charges against this man.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Levings claims, \"The Quran forbids Muslims to swear allegiance to the U.S. Constitution; therefore, technically, all Muslims should be refused immigration\" but just as with Christianity, there are many interpretations of Islam and like Christians, Muslims are free to cherry-pick what they adhere to and what they don't as far as the doctrines of the faith are concerned. \nTechnically, the government cannot use the words of the Koran to ban all members of a particular religion from the rights and protections of American laws. There are already many Americans who subscribe to the Muslim faith and the laws protect them. Politicians like Trump though seem to be trying to instigate discrimination and violence against Muslims by non-muslims especially far-Right Christian fanatics and white supremacists. The potential for violence from this political demographic is real and should be monitored by the government.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'how well we know what a profitable superstition this fable of christ has been for us and our predecessors.'\n - pope leo x\n'it is an act of virtue to deceive and lie, when by such means the interest of the church might be promoted.'\n - eusebius", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great analysis by JM of Francis toward women and gays. They remains 2nd or 3rd class members as long as he's on the throne.\nThe RCC is increasingly for dysfunctional members who buy Francis' regressive thinking. The teaching of equality Paul espoused is in conflict with RC practice. Good to have it on the books but practice is totally other.\nFrancis' gobbledegook thinking and talking is more akin to Trump. And he can say anything off the cuff and retract it or his spinners. \nCan't understand why any conservative has a problem one of their own.\nLove Francis' story (true?) of monsignor who \"loves Jesus.\" Jesus has many lovers, evidently!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have read about this form of team ministry. I have seen it in practice. Where it falls short imo is that it depends upon the ontologically different person to instigate it, and to keep it going. The moment a different such 'leader' appears who is not immersed in this way of being church, everything reverts to being priest centred and dependent (and lay leadership ends up being disillusioned , frustrated, and not valued). \nFrankly, we need to go back to 4th/5th centuries and to ask why the priesthood was adopted and why the sacraments became dependent upon ordination. It was frankly a power grab - and was quite unnecessary except for those in power. The 'theology' and 'doctrine' was developed to justify this ecclesial change. Until we (lay and ordained alike) are prepared to visit our history and repent (i.e. turn back to the Living God rather than the institution created by men for decidedly mixed motives - some good, some bad), we are just 'shifting furniture on the Titanic'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 of 2\npriests father for some considerable time now and use the term \u2018Pastor\u2019 wherever possible, as the use of father to any other than to our true \u2018Father\u2019 and Creator is offensive to Him as it undermines the Inviolate Word (Will) of God given to us within the Gospels, causing (through double talk) confusion amongst the laity and nonbelievers while at the same time it belittles the teachings of Jesus Christ before all of mankind.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good article. I teach CCD & I use the \"telephone wire and pole\" image to describe how we can use prayer throughout our day in order to stay close to God. Children (and adults) get it immediately.\n\nThe line sags as our \"approaches\" to God get farther and farther apart. There's tension, sadness, loneliness, or worse the farther these approaches get closer.\n\nCatholics have a marvelous history of various forms and types of prayer.\n\nThe morning offering, immediately upon awakening... Father I want to give you my whole day, all my works, joys and struggles. Help me. \n\nThe Angelus (or in Eastertide, the Regina Coeli) at noon...1 minute prayer easy to memorize.\n\nThe Rosary which can be done at one time or spread across the day, like our Pope does. He says I think three parts per day (3 whole sets of mysteries). \n\nA short examination (1 minute): Thank you for...I'm sorry for....Help me more on x, y, z tomorrow.\n\n5 minutes of reading the NT each day like the Pope recommends.\n\nAspirations too", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What does your Bible say about judging others again? Or do you ignore the parts that are inconvenient for you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora, it is not uncommon for ex-Catholics, failed seminarians and clergy especially to harbour an unreasonable animosity towards the Church. It is a sort of transference of guilt, to blame the institution for one's failure and attack it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus:\n- was neatly dressed but didn't wear vestments,\n- didn't demand that his disciples kneel at the Last Supper,\n- didn't wear a Cappa Magna.\n- and didn't speak Latin except to Roman officials. He would have spoken Aramaic (native language), and Greek (Lingua Franca of the time).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Deep State is led by anti-Christian UN scientists, who hover over US airspace in black helicopters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quiet the meeting is taking place, lets listen.\n\nOkay everyone quiet down, let me check the attendance. Right Professors Bomba, Singh, Abam, Mohammed and Ratpoor. Where is professor Ghana, oh he is coming in and sitting. Right lets look at these resumes shall we. Wow this fella has attended 5 University's, did his post doc at Harvard and look at how well published he is. Look at his background! I have never seen such an impressive resume before OH WAIT! He is a white Christian male, someone hand me that rejection stamp.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"[R]ejection of the Church's authority and her teaching . . . can be at the source of errors of judgment in moral conduct.\" RCC Art. 1792.\n\nFurther, the primacy of conscience is rooted in the capacity of right reason to discern objective truth, expressed by God when we meet him in utter good faith in the confessional of our own minds. \"Conscience is the inner core of human beings whereby, compelled to seek the truth, they recognise the objective standards of moral conduct, indeed the dictates of God's law, and make a practical judgment of what is to be \ndone here and now in applying those standards (Rom 2:15-16; Vatican II, On Religious Liberty (1965), \u00a7\u00a72,3; The Church in the Modern World (1965), \u00a716).\" Fr. Anthony Fischer, O.P.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As it is critical to sense of authentic church, authentic mysticism, now and in the future, should manifest in care for each other, AND Care for Nature.\nThe desecration of Nature is the desecration of Sacrament, is the desecration of Religion - run amok in our time.\nOn this Sacred Reality of Eucharistic Mysticism, CHURCHES can and should be UNITED.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The recent print article on behavior of priests in North Carolina makes it clear to me that the \"new old priests\" (thanks, Fr. Bill) have bought into clericalism completely. They are rising in the hierarchical ranks. Their bishops are happy to have them. \"Catechism Tim,\" as I like to call him, was just appointed vocation director of a large archdiocese. He'll be delighted to find more men devoted to the tradition, the secrets, the special character on their souls that will put them above the lay folk. His Holiness has his work cut out for him. House cleaning in the Vatican will be a start, but these guys are waiting in the wings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The state doesn't punish evil thoughts mainly because, aside from problems of proof, a thought alone causes no harm to another. But God is not the State. It is offensive to God for you to willfully harbor thoughts of killing someone, or of committing adultery with another's spouse (Thou shalt not covet . . .), or to be envious, or . . . well, you get the point. Fantasy can indeed be sinful, and comparing a willfully entertained fantasy to a dream doesn't work, for obvious reasons. You sound new to Catholicism. Let me recommend getting your hands on a good book on Catholic moral theology. You'll enjoy the things it will reveal to you, and chances are good it will bring you closer to God. God bless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The number of cases where an exemption has been lost is miniscule. One reason is that the IRS does not want to have the Johnson Amendment tested in the Supreme Court. Black churches endorse candidates all the time.\n\nIf Reverend Bob says \"If you vote for A, you will go to hell\", he is 100% protected by the First Amendment. Unlike our Commonwealth cousins, the government may not restrict such a religious judgment delivered in the course of exercising religious rights.\n\nFortunately for Catholics this rarely happens, and in fact I have been unable to substantiate one case of it occurring in the last election.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't realize the Holy Ghost wanted those in a state of mortal sin to further commit the sin of sacrilege in unworthily receiving our Lord in Holy Communion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The U.S. government is as close to a theocracy (a Christian one) as the much maligned Iranian government. The U.S. government is going seriously off the rails toward - well, who knows?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings....looks like more of the same....\"prelate protectionism\" to me and many members of the Church! If the Holy Father let's Pell hangout in the Vatican like so many abuser prelates have done in the past....his credibility is shot! Looks like the Holy Father is on the hot seat with this one!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed. Perhaps it would be better for them to follow the lead of the US Church, which is not seeing large numbers of Catholics leaving to become \"nones.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "how refreshing, and encouraging... 'discernment' ... perception in the absence of judgment with a view to obtaining spiritual direction and understanding. And calling the whole church to a Year of Mercy that is the heart of discernment. Sometimes it seems to me that I need to practice listening more deeply when it comes to Pope Francis. When a person speaks with the whole of his living not just by words, I too need to listen with the whole of my living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, at least you and the Church are even.\n\nIt thinks your teaching is without merit.\n\nOn the other hand it has three thousand years or so of constant teaching and a teaching mandate from Jesus, while you\u2019re armed with an opinion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus \"chose\" Twelve men (Mark 3:14.) That is what \"ordained\" means. And that continued/stemmed from Acts 6:1-7. So thus began the Tradition of the Apostles. And so did the onset of the Priesthood. Though the Priestly class of the Levitical Tribe of Levi were chosen too in the Old Testament. Pretty consistent nonetheless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Today is Good Friday.\nIt commemorates the day that Jesus Christ allowed Himself to be crucified for our sins.\nThis event either happened or did not happen.\nIf you pull out the coin in your pocket and look at the date, that date is referencing the time when Jesus walked the earth. We date our era by that event.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with you TO4 but you are still quoting the Hebrew bible btw.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The use of the word \u201cconfect\u201d has no offensive content at all.\n\nIt is a direct translation of the Latin word \u201cconficere\u201d, to make (something) by putting together various elements.\n\nFor example:\n\nhttp://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P38.HTM\n\nCan. 900 \u00a71. The minister who is able to confect the sacrament of the Eucharist in the person of Christ is a validly ordained priest alone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Vatican did focus on James the Less, it would bring up all those unpleasant topics about Jesus' family, his father and mother - all reminders that there are serious problems the church has in explaining and reconciling the marriage of Mary & Joseph, and the Jesus mother/father controversy.\n\nJames was the first leader of the Jesus movement after Jesus' death and the beginnings of the resurrection cult/beliefs. Both Peter and Paul had serious disagreements on the nature and course of the kerygma in the formative years of the primitive Jesus movement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was notified by email that you replied to my comment below; however, your comment is not available to reply to. I don't appreciate your smug accusation that I am lying. It's best not to comment with authority when you are completely ignorant of the situations that women find themselves in and what demands men make of them. It is becoming common advice from to women from women: do not go to a Catholic hospital.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cathy I thought Christ came to redeem us. Perhaps the question come with Christ's teachings! We are here to give honor and glory to God. The concentration seems to have become STUCK on sin, sinners and repentance. We are here to give God a just do--gratefully and not SHOULD on others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cOld fossilised Church Doctrine,\u201d such as the Ten Commandments do you mean?\nCan we now worship graven images, profane the Sabbath and dishonour our father\u2019s and mothers? Are we now permitted to murder, steal, commit adultery, fornicate, lie, cheat and covet with impunity because we have thrown off the old order?\nHow could we have been so wrong to have once believed that God forbade us to indulge in such enlightened behaviours?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Orthodox Catholics are with Our Lord on this one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Freedom of conscience is a fundamental Catholic value which obliges us to respect the conscience of others. The law of the land in a democratic religiously pluralistic society must accommodate everyone's freedom on conscience. \n\nLegal abortion and legal same sex marriage does not in any way infringe on Catholics exercising their freedom on conscience. And our formal recognition of the freedom of conscience of others, including those who do not find abortion or gay marriage morally repugnant, OBLIGES us to accept such laws. In is a violation of our value of freedom of conscience to attempt to change the law to so the state will impose our moral values on others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not at all. \n\nGod's will for us is what we become other Christs, alter Christus, ipse Christus: another Christ, Christ himself.\n\n\"Be perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect\".\n\nHe wants us to be holy. \n\nHe has much bigger desires for us than simply being human!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wrong. Latin was the language of the bureaucracy. The ordinary language of the Roman Empire at the time of Jesus was Greek.\n\n(And, hey, surprise, the extant versions of the Gospels we have are in .... Greek.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not quite true. Anyone who prays the Liturgy of the Hours (the Divine Office) or uses lectio divina as a means of prayer will encounter much from the Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Spirituality, from a Catholic perspective, is the interior life of a person, shared with God, its regularity, its easy readiness to refer everyday matters to God, its naturalness, its directness, its familiarity, its simplicity, its sincerity (sincerity means \"without wax\", going back to the use of wax to fill defects by the sculptor in statuary..when we converse with God there should be nothing covering up our defects, imperfections, sins, etc.). \n\nA good priest I know said: \"chatter with God, don't over intellectualize your dealing with your Father God, speak to Him as a child would his loving father, naturally\". \n\nToday, while we have a body supporting our life of love for God, we use our body to keep this conversation with God going on (and some choose to use their body for other reasons than loving God).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The hospital district pays over $1 million of its tax revenues to a Catholic institution; contracting with Planned Parenthood for a little over 4 percent of that balances things out a bit.\"\n\nSurely you could have said the same thing without seeming so anti-Catholic? Just try reversing those organizations to see what it actually sounds like to others: \"pays over $1 million to Planned Parenthood; contracting with a Catholic institution balances things out a bit.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is much in what you say here that is excellent material for NCR to shift its focus to. At the same time, I would suggest that there are many contemporary Catholic scholars who could provide periodic essays much like what we had with Rev. Richard O'Brien and Dr. Eugene Kennedy. Pieces that were so much worth the time and most of the discussion that followed. I cannot understand why NRC editors haven't pursued new contributors yet, and instead thrust some unimportant and not well-grounded writers on us that serve only to once again inflame old issues of left vs. right. I won't state what my own thoughts are regarding liturgical dance, but I will say I think we spent more time on it than it is worth with anything after the fifth comment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The church is not a country club. It is a field hospital. \"\u201cThe thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds. ... And you have to start from the ground up.\" (Pope Francis)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly, ATF. This is especially true in light of the dastardly actions Trump has already taken, those he has on his reprehensible agenda, and the people he has placed in positions of power and influence. With the possible except of authorizing relief help for Texas and Florida, I can't think of one example of his intent to actually aid anyone that doesn't also line the pockets of his 1% cronies (as well as his own pockets). He wouldn't recognize a Christian principle if it walked in front of him in a mini skirt and six-inch heels. \n\nAs far as White's statement, she and Trump may not think he is a racist, they may not believe he is a racist, but his words and actions prove otherwise, IMO.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The notes seem to ignore the text, which says that Christ, although in the form of God, emptied himself, not regarding equality with God as something to be prized. Which has caused theologians no end of worry. How could Christ empty himself? So they sought to find a missing genitive: what did he empty from himself? Your notes think it refers to proper recognition, but the text says nothing of the sort, stating simply he emptied \"himself,\" being no longer in the form (essence) of God. That does not easily fit onto the later theology of divine essences. But there it is!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not the actual case, as so many of your \"contributions\" here are. Communion rails are a Catholic invention, and only some Anglican churches have copied that element, and certainly not in their churches built in the past 50 years. But I agree that you perceive barriers if they exist or not - that is quite clear. The Orthodox have such a different liturgy and, at lease, religious culture, I would not be as quick as you to draw comparisons between the two churches, our Eastern and Western rites included. The communion rail has no magical power in the reception of the Eucharist (what an old superstition you should be rather embarrassed to use, I think). I have never seen any minister who refused to confer communion because someone kneeled to receive it. So there is no real conflict here, no matter how much you love to create them. It is what is one's heart and prayer that defines one's readiness and worthiness to receive the Eucharistic - even if one stands on their head.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Jamie Manson, for your courage to speak hard truth which our post-Trent Roman Catholic brothers and sisters cannot hear. Thank you for speaking hard truth ABOUT the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. It IS patriarchal and it alone gets to define the rules of its expression of Catholicism.\n\nVatican II, however, pointed the Church in another direction. Only a Post-Vatican II Rite/Church can get beyond the patriarchal paradigm. If we think that women deacons or women priests will change that RC paradigm, we are sadly deluding ourselves.\n\nRoman Church Catholicism IS patriarchal and it alone gets to define the rules of its expression of Catholicism. Likewise, shouldn't a Vatican II Church Catholicism in union with Rome get to define the rules of its expression of Catholicism...as do the the 23 other Catholic Rites in union with Rome? \n\nYou might want to visit https://RiteBeyondRome.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR has correctly recognized this dinner in NY is a major election story. Where many news sites only have one article about his major election story, which is a real game-changer, this site, which realizes, correctly, that catholics nationwide are greatly interested in this event, has at least two, so far. People across the nation are thirsting for news about this exclusive event in New York, with its limited list of very important invitees. Why weren't any of the Kardashians there?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lifesite is Breitbart Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The RCC in The US is in decline. I would venture to say that most people in The US, including Catholics, don't see the value in celibacy. And for many parish priests there is not only celibacy to struggle with (in an age where women don't dress properly even to attend Sunday Mass), but there is loneliness too; for Order priests, the loneliness is not nearly so bad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"As I read the news of church policy votes, shootings, hurricane devastation, presidential debates, and gender bias, my heart sinks. And the grief is real. And much of what I can think is \u2018I want a way out of all of this\u2019. The pain is too heavy, the grief smothering, the horror overwhelming. I want out. \n\nOddly, this escapist sentiment often arrives cloaked in biblical language. \u2018Come soon Jesus! Oh Lord, come quickly! Please Jesus, come now!\u2019 \"\n--\n\"If you have run with footmen and they have tired you out, Then how can you compete with horses? If you fall down in a land of peace, How will you do in the thicket of the Jordan? \"JER 12:5\nThe SDA criers for JESUS are in fantasyland. The don't want to see Him. Do a local church survey and see how much of the 7000 waking minutes each week are spent with Him or spiritual, (NOT WORLDLY) matters.\n\nThe pastors are involved in shallow nurturing.\nGOAL=\"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which NO MAN shall see the Lord\"HEB12:14", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here are a few Bible \"truths\" for you:\n\n\"He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord.\"(Deuteronomy 23:1)\n\n\"Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.\" (Psalm 137:9)\n\n\"You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.\"(Leviticus 26:27-30)\n\n\"For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death.\" (Leviticus 20:9)\n\n\"But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.\" (Leviticus 12:5)\n\n\"And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched.\" (Mark 9:43)\n\nAll I'm doing is sharing what's in the book. Does this make me a hater ( of Christianity)? All old texts have bizarre passages, to a modern day person.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please RD... this coming from someone who thinks Jesus commissioned a Church (i.e., the \"early church\") fashioned after imperial Rome, replete with all the wealth, power and splendor not even Satan could imagine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lets be honest, much of these so-called sex-ed programs have been disingenuously designed to confuse impressionable minds. There is no fair balance, which is why religious schools should have the right to explain these issues according to their moral compass and philosophy.\n\nThanks for making the distinction between Catholics and some christians which are way out there.\n\nDo you honestly find the Catholic position on homosexuality vilifying? Do you really interpret it as 'hate' ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm afraid I have to take issue with you there, Alexandra. Catholic liturgy has always taken into account the fact that we humans have bodies with which to apprehend and respond to the world around us. That being the case, at various points in the mass we're required to sit, stand, or kneel, depending on the liturgical action. Sitting is the most passive posture of the three and the one that demands the least from us. Kneeling denotes humility and so is appropriate for those points in the mass in which our corporate prayer is the most intense, as in the eucharistic prayer. But in standing our bodies are the most alive - we're free to move, stretch, our blood is flowing more and oxygen is getting to the brain faster - all of which engages us more deeply with the liturgical action. When sitting it is easier to get lulled into a sense of complacency. These days it seems to spur distracted people to look at their cell phones, so there's something to be said for more standing, I think.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Pope Francis has firm views about 'ad orientum'.\"\n\nGood one!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do thank you for the reply and do not doubt your beliefs at all. But do note that a belief is void of evidence or proof. Truth does matter, and truth is an agreement with facts which is an agreement with reality. We have no writings from Jesus, the writers of the Gospels are unknown and none of them witnessed anything of Jesus. Revelation has no validation at all. What is true is what you lastly infer; we have no way of certainty about God...God never wrote a book. What we have are words from unknown humans writing about God, whom they never met, witnessed, or talked to. In other regard, what is written is strictly a human rendition ascribing to God human views. Jesus is not unjust nor did Jesus lie, because we have nothing in writing from Him nor from any apostle or disciple.\nI accept beliefs and opinion as belief and opinion. But, if an opinion or belief is presented as fact, then I challenge it and demand proof and evidence. Try to consider the circumstances of the times", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Theologians&Historians will tell you: Jesus if even a real person was not born dec 25th. In fact the roman catholic churched forced Jesus into Yule the winter solstice festival where the literal sun starts to return. The main thing that is fake, or a lie about our celebration is Christ being a part of it. This statement is all historically factual intended to educate not offend.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or God...the one before Jesus...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When you say you distinguish those teachings and rules created by men you are personally deciding what it suits you to believe which is what I said originally.\nThe whole of the moral law which the Church upholds and teaches is contained in the Bible which is the Word of God. The 'rules' you speak of are not man-made.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are guessing wrong. \n\nBowie was a very well read man. I also remember the priests at our junior seminary labelling him a pervert and a deviant and banning his albums. Bowie went on to embrace spirituality and by all accounts died a very courageous death. Three of the priests who so maligned him went on to be imprisoned for their perverted behaviour towards us prepubescent boys. I'm very glad I decided to stay with the thin white duke and broaden my mind and thinking.\n\nThese \"pop stars\" went on to draw the world's attention to apartheid in South Africa (Peter Gabriel), the depletion of the Amazon rain forest, General Pinochet's murderous regime (Sting) and the obscenity of nuclear weapons and America's involvement in supporting the oppression of Latin America's Catholic poor (U2). Paul McCartney also supported the civil rights movement in the US with songs like 'Blackbird.'\n\nDuring all of this time Ratzinger and JP II remained silent and spent their time covering up child abuse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus Christ. This is not about politics!! This is teaching our children to fight back and not make in easy for mass shooters to slaughtered them by the dozens. It is NOT teachers jobs to carry weapons in order to teach or protect their students.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesus condemned the actions of the woman caught in adultery in the only way he could under the Law; with words, not stones.\"\n\nI can understand why many Traddies twist the scriptures to suit their own agenda, but when it comes to completely making stuff up, you'll excuse me if I draw a line.\n\nJesus says the exact opposite to what you claim - \"Woman, where are your accusers? Neither do I condemn you..\"\n\nNEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU.... How on earth do you turn that into Jesus condemning her?\n\nIn any case, are you saying that if the Law had allowed Jesus to stone her to death, he would have? If he would have stoned her, or condemned her, why on Earth are you spending your life following him? Just choose any other Pharisee of the time and follow them instead.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your statement was to the effect that nothing of prior doctrine is true. Else why say that prior doctrine \"is only good to study to figure out what went wrong\"? But isn't that the very antithesis of Catholicism?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The distinction between \"clerical\" and \"lay\" is artificial; it has no theological basis and truly no basis in reality. The defensive insistence on labels to perpetuate the distinction between \"clergy\" and \"laity\" is silly at best, and divisive at worst. As St. Paul wrote to the Galatians: \"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female, there is not clergy or lay; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.\"\nOK: Paul didn't write \"there is not clergy or lay\". He didn't have to; the distinction hadn't been drawn yet. It's time for us to grow up and abandon the silly nonsense we use to divide, control and limit each other.\nThis issue would not arise if the Ministry of Acolyte, which is not a clerical ministry, were open to women; but in yet another sign of the fear that characterizes so much of the church's discipline, the formal ministries of Acolyte and Lector are reserved to men -- which is indefensible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am talking about the hostility to political correctness by your \"common man\". I interpreted that to mean that they should be allowed to say nasty things about people who are different, such as non-whites, single women and mothers, non-Christians, the disabled, and immigrants and not get scolded.\n\nAs for being called Bigot, Racist, Misogynist, Hitler, etc. etc. etc., if they stop insulting people who are different, then they will not be called those. It is their call. It is not a matter of freedom of speech; it is a matter of civility, respect, and social peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Church needs to cleanse itself by using him as the sacrifical [sic] goat on the altar of Justice!\"\n\nAh, the classic 'two wrongs make a right' theory of justice. You don't like Cardinal Pell's conservatism, so he should be a 'sacrificial goat.' Never mind whether or not he actually did the crime.\n\nCardinal Pell needs to be taken down if -- and only if -- the court finds him guilty of the charges against him. Punishing him just because you disagree with his ecclesiology would be a monstrous miscarriage of justice, and there have already been far too many of those.\n\nIf he's guilty he should be punished. If he's not, he should be exonerated. That's the long and the short of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"basic familiarity with the stories of Adam and Eve\"\n\nI agree, Sky.\nI taught multi-grade 'behavioural' kids for 32 years and read a story to them every afternoon. These kids were not the world's best listeners and it took many years of trial & error before I found a body of literature that they found relevant and interesting.\n\nChief among these books were Roald Dahl's better writings (not Charlie & Willy, etc): his short stories, Magic Finger, BFG, Matilda, Henry Sugar, etc. \n\nAs part of our Science curriculum we examined Darwin's theory of evolution/natural selection. We would then devote a week or so to stories from the Old Testament, starting of course with \"In the beginning\" and we'd contrast the Biblical story with what Darwin and subsequent scientists have observed.\n\nEvery year there would be grumbles from a few kids: \"I'm not listening to Bible stories... you aren't even allowed to teach the Bible in school... wait 'til you hear from my mom.\" I don't recall ever getting a [TBC]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where in the NEW TESTAMENT are followers of Christ told to go out and kill their enemies ? Please enlighten us. On the other hand, does the Quran tell its followers to commit acts of violence ? Come on...We are waiting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This Great Man was endorsed by the US Bishops. He represents True Catholic Values. Our goal for the next four years should be to enthusiastically and selflessly support his rule and that of the Bishops. Finally we can return to the Golden Age of Catholicism, before the Reformation, when the Church and Secular Authority worked hand in hand for the good of the Leaders Chosen by God, and the People fulfilled their roles serving God's Leaders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We see the courageous hope of an outsider approaching in humility one who she perceives as a true man of God.\nAnd Jesus in His humanity walking in \u201cfaith\u201d responds in humility to the \u201cTruth\u201d His own \"essence\", to the truth within her statement, in that she is also a child of God.\nAnd in doing so illuminates our understanding of His Way, the Path of spiritual growth (Enlightenment/Higher state of consciousness) that leads to eternal life. His Path/way is different for all of us but in essence it is the same, as we all walk in our fallen human nature as He did in \u201cfaith\u201d, while our intellect is enlighten as our hearts are transformed.\nIt is our truthful response in humility before His inviolate Word (Truth) that leads us to \u2018The way\u2019 that wells up into eternal life. \nPlease consider continuing see my post, link below. \nhttps://acireland.ie/a-cosmic-spirituality-for-a-new-theology-teilhard-de-chardins-evolutionary-journey-to-omega-christ/#comment-10074\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you think that for Christians, xmas is just a 'marketing event for retailers' then you couldn't be more mistaken. Perhaps if you took the time to know and understand what Christians believe and follow you would likely change your opinion", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding:\"I had no idea that the church bureaucracy was this huge, go to that link and see for yourself. Jesus certainly got by with a lot less.\"\n- This is a good point.\n- However, during his time, he probably knew all of his followers, each by name.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My maternal grandfather's family was Masonic, yet we got over anti-Catholicism in a big way. Anti-semetic too. Don't even mention the Irish or those German immigrants. Treat gays as our family now treats Catholics (with members marrying into the Church, even Irish Catholics) and remember how Catholics were once treated and repent of your bigotry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Accepted. However, you did say: \"We do seriously believe some pretty odd things which contradict faith and reason.\" I'm just interested in whether you meant this as a comment on individuals (which I agree with) or whether it was meant more generally in terms of the doctrines and teachings of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one was making personal attacks. Just Catholics asking for clarification. He apparently doesn't like that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've been part of many different kinds of churches: evangelical, reformed Protestant, Episcopal, Orthodox, and Catholic. And the Catholic Mass is the best liturgy, possibly because of its simplicity. It can be high or low; medieval music or a Gospel choir; totally plain or loads of incense. It's still the Mass. That's one of the most \"catholic\" things about it. It's the only one liturgy I've never gotten tired of.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fact-check:\n\nThe building housing the Supreme Court does not have the 10 Commandments on its front: http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/capital.asp\n\nCongress does not and cannot call only Christian invocations before every session: \"The first rabbi...delivered an invocation in 1860 wearing a tallit and a yarmulke. He included the priestly blessing in his text. He was invited again although the Episcopal Church viewed his participation as an insult to Christianity. A Muslim imam was first given the honor in 1991 and a Hindu priest in 2000. Rabbis were invited to open a House of Representatives session seven times during the 112th Congress. \"\n\nDeists are not the same thing as Christians: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism\n\nPlease utilize Google, it is your friend.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's the 'art' in his deals. In the end his is a genius of a con artist salesman. Paula White at his inauguration is the icing on the cake. He is 'born again' because he recognized another genius con artist in Paula White. I still laugh at the photograph taken of him and some big deal Evangelical leader, I think it was Jerry Falwell's son and wife, with Trump's Playboy cover shoot prominent in the background.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, I don't have the words to describe this very well. It seems that whenever any 'facet' of the Life, Ministry, Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ is considered in separation, in isolation from all of the other facets, distortion and confusion results. This is the Mystery, the Greater-thanness, the whole being greater than the sum of the parts... an eternal yes, and", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now, Bro....that's a pretty broad condemnation you offer here - and you have done exactly what Hazel advises those of a more conservative viewpoint are tired of.\n\nAs you know, I am more conservative than you - actually, I am pretty centrist. I am well educated - so please don't try to claim the upper hand there by saying \"those of us who pursued advanced education\" - liberals are not the only ones who have done so. I will put my alphabet soup up against anyone else. I, too, believe in Jesus as Savior and Redeemer and try very hard to live the Gospel message. And yes. Those that supported Mr. Trump were called the things you list and much worse here. As an accused Trump supporter, I can testify to that.\n\nBlanket assumptions and condemnations on both sides must stop. There can be no healing of our very wounded country otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ray, I'm not going back because the church has become a fascist political party. They were complicit in the election of one of the most immoral men who has ever lived. All of us have been aware of Trump's vulgarity and cruelty for 30 years. This is the man the church helped become POTUS. I have reached my limit with the church: clerical abuse scandals and the cover up, demanding that the laity pay for their depravity by stealing our parishes and using the proceeds to pay for lawyers and fund right-wing political causes, the disappearance of the clergy retirement fund when Cardinal Law escaped to Rome, the corrosive misogyny, the investigation of the nuns, etc., etc., etc. The Mafia seems tame compared to this bunch of goons in lacy dresses who think they are superior to everybody. The curtain has finally come down on them and we see them as the nest of vipers that they actually are. Yeah, I'm bitter and am not in a forgiving mood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus is the Word of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again Max, I accept absolutely that the usage of addressing some clergy, especially bishops and monks is ancient, and its application to priests is an extension that is not hard to understand. \n\nStill, there is a difference, surely, between Paul's (or anyone's) use of fatherhood as a \"metaphor\" for the relationship of apostles/clergy to converts/faithful and a custom of \"addressing\" every priest as Father.\n\nAs for the scripture, I think you may be taking my observation that such usage is proscribed way too seriously. I am not arguing that the practice ought to be condemned because it is specifically cited by Jesus as a no-no. Still, given that the literal (and allegorical) interpretation of scripture has been normative through most of Christian history, surely the contraction is weird/humorous/surprising/strange, wouldn't you say? If people back then had access to bibles and new its contents as well as people do today, it is hard to imagine this custom emerging.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you will find that the Church (that \"Jesus left us\") does not claim equivalence for the Catechism with the Gospel.\n\nAnd I am disappointed when individuals raise it to that level.\n\nThat is all I wanted to say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For all those who decry the article; \"if the shoe fits.......\" Unfortunately, it appears that the shoe does fit. Selling our mortal soul for questionable ends does not bode well for Catholics in America. Establishing a theocracy in America can have disastrous results even if Catholics rule the theocracy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" No one's interpretation of the bible should control how other members of a faith community follow their interpretation of the bible. \" \n\nAnd this is the problem and is a false statement by Dr. Taylor. A church community has every right to define itself and explain what that community believes the bible teaches. And to claim you can rebel and believe as you please and still remain a member is simply blatant rebellion.\n\nIf you don't agree, then you are free to withdraw from that community and join another, or start your own if you think you can.\n\nAnd the article is a false dilemma about authority. While the early church claimed final authority over the bible, they also claimed the right to kill anyone who disagreed and/or opposed their views.\n\nSo to equate the SDA church government with this false spirituality is not the facts of the matter. Dan Jackson should simply start his own church and quit rebelling against properly ordained authority in the SDA church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sacraments develop themselves in relationship to a prayerful community and the Holy Spirit. \n\n\nI once threw all 'church' out for a long time and over time found myself re-creating society with sacraments at the important moments of relationship. Perhaps that was because it was so embedded in me, but the literature of the world suggests otherwise--that we move toward agreed-upon symbols and rituals as human beings. In other words, that it is embedded in us as social beings. \n\n\n\"My\" sacraments were not exactly the same as the Church's but were pretty close, because they really are, at heart, human and social mixed with the divine. When I rejoined Catholic community is was quite different, but belonged to me, as well as me belonging to them. I actually don't pay much attention to the hierarchy at all except in terms of how it affects people around me; like most people, my attention is where it needs to be--my community and the Holy Spirit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This point is always brought up as ding on Catholics who move to the Episcopalian Church. It is the Catholics moving into the Episcopalian Church that keeps the numbers from being even worse. The stats on Catholics leaving the Catholic Church are much higher, especially among whites, and in the last ten years or so, the exit doors have opened wide for Hispanics moving to the Evangelical Churches.\n\nAll organized Christian religions are losing membership in North America. Even the LDS Church with it's relentless missionary activity is losing membership in North America. I suppose some people would attribute this loss to secularism, but I also think it's a cultural rejection of religious authoritarianism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Religious liberty should unite us, not divide us\"\n\nThese sorts of sayings and articles tend toward a sad superficiality....a nod, a moment of assent, a littering in of various points from \"identity politics 101\", but rarely anything more. \n\nLet me - hopefully others will join me - begin to correct this glaring gap in this article. (and I hope this isn't the token \"4th of July\" article from NCR).\n\nLet's take the superficial point and develop it in depth & practicality. \n\nOur pursuit of God should result in a greater union with Him, seen in many \"fruits\" of the Holy Spirit. If we don't see the fruits, we should examine how we're supposedly pursuing God using our freedom.\n\nOur use of our right (to pursue an intimate and lively union with God) is NOT to serve itself, but instead to spur on the work and mission of Jesus Christ in billions of small acts of Yes to Him. \n\nOur 'right' isn't the goal itself; it is rather a means to effect a duty..to love God in part by loving others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In his first formal meeting Sept. 21 with the now three-year-old Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, the pontiff also called \"prophetic\" the men and women who urged the church for decades to face the problem.\"\n\nProphetic is just the right word. I heard Fr. Thomas Doyle speak in person for the first time at the height of the sex abuse crisis in 2002. If ever there was a time I knew I was in the presence of a prophet that was it. Too bad the bishops ignored him and sent him to the Azores to get him out of the way. His story reads like that of an Old Testament prophet. Everything he predicted came true, but people in positions of power, that would be the bishops, didn't want to hear it because preserving the clerical system status quo was more important than the Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, your version of orthodoxy Tridy certainly does not come from a compassionate God and seems far from Christ-like. Rather it is a belief in an autocratic dogmatism of the current day pharisees.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are really only about 12-14 topics here at NCR, one of them is Dorothy Day.\n\n1. Abuse\n2. Dissenting priest/retired dissenting bishop.\n3. Eco\n4. Pope fRANCIS\n5. Church troubles (Rome in general or this or that one in the US)\n6. Why Catholicism and Protestantism are the same\n7. Nuns, aging or in jail for this or that social justice cause.\n8. Abuse.\n9. Why there's no such thing as liturgical abuse.\n10. Dorothy Day. \n\nOk, make that 10.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you're confusing a Catholic University, which is an institution of research and inquiry, with a Seminary, which is responsible for teaching the tradition of the Church. In either case, the Catholic identity of any institution should have more to do with what we are for than what we are against.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 2\nRevelations given by the Saints are not binding on us, only (worthy of belief) we do not have to accept them.\nWhen Gods own Word is accepted by an individual in a revelation the Church teaches that it is only binding on them, but once it was accepted by Gods holy church on earth and given to the laity, it became inviolate (Binding) to all, for all time.\n\nI have proposed that all those who cannot receive the Sacrament of Absolution for whatever reason apart from the sin against the Holy Spirit should be permitted to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion in fellowship with all baptized Catholics.\nAs I believe the Church has been given the means to permit them to do so through the true Divine Mercy Image an image of Broken Man. But to date I have not shown how this can be reconciled with present Church teaching on the Sacrament of Absolution so I will now try to do so.\nSee\nhttp://www.acireland.ie/eucharist-and-the-mass-teresa-mee/#comment-9869\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"are there any diocesan synods for young people to speak and bishops to listen? They need to include young people who are only \"occasional\" Catholics, not just those always active.\"\n\nWell, about 95% of students at Catholic secondary schools don't attend Mass very often, (who can blame them in the current situation, especially the abuse scandals). So forums at the schools would be a good starting point.\n\nAs for Catholic Clubs at colleges and universities, a lot of them are FTTM/traditionalist (depending on the backwardness of the local prelate), so they are of limited use, sadly.\n\nCheck out the Youtube video for Sydney University Catholic Society - a picture (or video) says a thousand words. \nLink: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93Gq0aSvPko\n\nAt 0.30 minutes you will see - wait for it! - Cardinal Raymond Burke with his red cape (he's a bit underdressed by his standards in this scene). \nJust the thing to appeal to university students!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Congratulations !!! to the Eleven on their achievement of long-term friendship and for their courage. Although given there is clarity of thinking among some German bishops, maybe they will support the Eleven who have put K\u00f6ln on the map. \n\nThe Vatican seems to have jettisoned the teaching that women may not image the Christ, and now maybe do agree that the baptism of women is valid and women are fully members of Christ. I would propose that no one is able to adequately image or represent the High Priest and the Bridegroom and there is only one such -- Jesus himself. Both women and men have the capacity to 'Do this in memory of me.' It may be that there has been some enlightenment of those in power as both the Vatican and the US bishops have the NAB/NABRE versions on their websites where the Greek is correctly translated as \"in the presence of Christ\" (2 Co 2:10). Not in the person of. A big disappointment to some who want to practice clericalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church only defines universally held doctrines infallibly when they come under constant and widespread attack. The push for the ordination of women, for example, is a modern phenomenon so the Popes, Bl Paul VI and St John Paul II were forced to tackle the issue, they could not let it continue.\nThe accusation that the Church has erred is convenient for those who cannot match their lives to the teaching of Christ. The corollary is that if the Church can err on matters of Faith and Morals then we can never be sure that we can trust its teaching on anything at anytime.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Trump supporter points to Clinton's support for legal abortion as the reason she can't vote for her, yet Trump's support for the death penalty is a line she CAN cross? Seems she's either confused or cherry picking from the sanctity of life bucket. And how does she reconcile Catholic views on the marriage & family with Trump's? Of the two, HRC is the only one who has remained faithful to her original marriage vows, while Trump's broken all 3 of his. Both candidates give Catholics reasons to be troubled. But it's dishonest and lazy to fall back on \"my Catholic faith\" as she does here. If sanctity of life and the family matter, we can't selectively enforce rules against one candidate but not the other and be taken seriously. And Trump mocking the disabled reporter signals respect for the disabled to her? Huh?!\n\n\"I morally cannot vote for HRC. She is an advocate for Planned Parenthood and my Catholic faith requires me to value life no matter how small or old or disabled.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi! Mike AA\n\nPublic or private revelation?\n\nIs it possible for the Church to say to the laity that a Saint has received a vision and in it received God\u2019s Word give it to the laity and then say you don\u2019t have to accept it? \nAs His Word is inviolate.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have no more idea of what is true for Catholics than a burp in a windstorm!\n\nYou aren't Catholic. You aren't acquainted with spirituality---which is an emphasis on establishing/maintaining a relationship with God. Academic theology is deductive and can be debated back and forth. But spirituality, deals with a relationship with God as a Person, and how an individual can trace God's relationship with them. It's very personal.\n\n\nBTW---I've been teaching since I was a 15-year-old kid {catechesis}. I am a senior now. I can read and sense FEAR in a writer!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What people on the opposing side ignore is that in the 19th century (when my great-great-grandparents came here fleeing famine), the United States had basically open borders. Restrictive laws were enacted in large part because many of the immigrants from the 1840's on were Catholics from Ireland, Italy, Germany, Poland and elsewhere. My ancestors certainly weren't greeted with open arms.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope is out of state. Would you listen to his words? \nPope Francis is imploring Catholics to confess their sins against the environment, calling the degradation of the climate a \u201csin against God.\u201d ... \u201cGlobal warming continues, due in part to human activity: 2015 was the warmest year on record, and 2016 will likely be warmer still,\u201d Francis said.Sep 1, 2016", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, if there are that many Catholics, ten it will not be the snaller, purer Church that B17 was seeking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, \"Lame, Marty\" is lame.\n\nThe argument that \"the entire communicative universe of symbolic and interpretive language\" constitutes an actual endorsement of a candidate by one or more American Catholic bishops consists solely of noting that the bishops pointed to abortion as the pinnacle of evils in a society in complete consistency with their Church's constant teaching, and told Catholics they were morally obliged to vote as Catholics.\n\nHad both of the two candidates endorsed limits on abortion at roughly the same levels, whatever that might be, and taken the same position on government funding of abortion, that dog might have legs.\n\nThey did not and it doesn't. But \"A\" for effort.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People who still think that Pope Francis is honestly trying to address the child sexual abuse crimes by priests and cover-ups by Bishops and Cardinals scandals should face the reality that Pope Francis created the commission to do nothing substantial while waiting for the enabling Bishops and Cardinals to die to avoid civil and criminal prosecutions. Time for concerned Catholics to write letters to their Senators or Representatives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bigotry must be confronted directly; the sideshow of trying to divide us against each other must be faced and discredited: Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, every other religion, Atheist, undecided; \"black\", \"white\", brown; male, female, transgender; hetero-, homo-, and pan- sexual; \"right\", \"left\", and every other classification used to chop us up into little pieces to be conquered---These must be acknowledged and set aside in the face of our kinship as people inhabiting one planet, and our kinship to every other living thing on this planet. It's that simple.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have to remember that for Trid, to reject anything the magisterium teaches is the same as rejecting everything. Saying \"I believe that women should be ordained\" is the same as saying \"I reject the divinity of Christ\". I sometimes get the impression that for traditionalists, the Church is a function of the magisterium, not the other way round.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 of 2\n\u201cJesus told the story of tenants who had forgotten who they were. Instead of acting like servants or collaborators with the owner, they decided that they should be the sole masters, beholden to no one, privileged to eliminate anyone who got in their way\u201d\nI think that this is a very good point and simple put they forgot who they were meant to serve, we see the patience of our Father accumulating in the sending of His son but is that the end of the parable or is it the on going great persecution, of those who would obediently serve in His vineyard.\nThe on going reality of the problem; my response to another poster on this site.\nThe Church has the promise that evil will not overcome her and remains true in that she still proclaims the moral law, to all her children.\nHis response\n\u201cBut what about when it is the church doing the evil? Clergy preying upon the weakest and most vulnerable, with bishops and popes protecting the predators so they can prey upon the flock for.....\nContinue", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "skyofblue writes...\"Here are a couple I witnessed:\n\n- guy almost didn't get the job because he was wearing a designer suit, not appropriate in academia\n\n- guy was an evangelical, not welcome in academia, never got interviewed\"\n\nAfter watching what befell Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker in their designer suits, I'd be wary too :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here are some choice quotes from your book:\n\n\"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.\"\n\n\"Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the Lord will take up their case and will exact life for life.\"\n\n\"It is a sin to despise one's neighbor, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy.\"\n\n\"Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses.\"\n\nThose are just a few choice quotes, I'm sure you can find more if you want...although I have a feeling it won't matter, you'll still pick and choose. \n\nChristianity, alacarte!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Original Sin, like so many dogmas and doctrines accepted\u200b as divinely decreed, is the solution to somebody else's theological problem. In this case Augustine had painted himself into a theological corner over the disposition of the souls of unbaptized infants. This unfortunate piece of theological speculation is responsible in no small measure for many of the multitude of problems facing the Church to this day.\n\nSo why baptize at all? For starters, how about becoming part of the New Exodus, of God saving his people from the slavery of sin? How about one being Incorporated into the pattern of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus? How about becoming part of the Body of Christ and taking up our vocation of being the bearers of the Image of our Creator in the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The U.S. Obesity Crisis is caused by eating Genetically Modified Organisms (G.M.O.s), Man Made from Toxic previous waste material High Fructose Corn Syrup used to fatten up pigs and cattle, and of course Growth Hormones so that pigs and cattle grow faster and fatter, all of which the Highly Citizen Protective Europeans have Banned at their Nations, Countries. \n\nWhich then caused a U.S. Deficit stuck with all the tons of grains, meats, with the Europeans then buying from the Russian Federation, which then put the U.S. European Allies in Debt to the Russian Federation for Food, Natural Gas, Fossil Fuels, as to why the U.S. European Allies continually side with the Russian Federation.\n\nGodless Democrats seem to have forgotten the actual purpose of Halloween, as a Christian Holiday turned into a Commercial Enterprise of the Candy Industry. Instead of a time of remembrance of all the Faithful Christians, Christian Saints, and Christian Martyrs, as celebrated Worldwide as All Saints Eve.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no doubt that Hillary's speech is better and smarter than Trump's . Modern Catholics who support Pope Francis support Hillary Clinton and her ideals and goals. There is no such thing as an abortion at the 9th month of pregnancy. Even a 6th month abortion is risking the mother's life. When towards the latter part of the pregnancy the unborn has a fatal deformity or has no brain and cannot survive, birthing is induced to protect the mother from the toxins of decomposition. That is not a late term abortion, it is being truly pro-life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know, it occurs to me that all this talk about inclusiveness has completely left white people and men out of picture. According to the 2010 census, the gender makeup of the city is 40.9% male and 59.1% female, so as a white male, I'm feeling particularly marginalized right now. Who will speak up for me, protect me? After all, Hitler's death camps were full of white Christian males too, who's to say this administration won't do the same? I request, no, demand that the ordinance also include people of non-color and men so we won't feel vulnerable in our own town. How can anyone be opposed to that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Doesn't the fact that so many people are wanting to \"return\" to the church and the sacraments say something important? To show them mercy and open the door to welcome them is the most Christ-like response according to any reading of the Gospel, in my view. After all, they could go elsewhere but are trying to stay. \n\nAs for those wanting \"clarity,\" anyone who can read can follow a rule book--you don't need a bishop or priest or cardinal for that. Of course, accompanying people on a path of discernment is a lot more work and requires more than fulminating from a pulpit!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "JBob, I have read the 'smoking' emails and found nothing in them, but I already knew both of the mentioned progressive Catholic groups were in existence long before Clinton, and that they also gained traction during the never ending abuse crisis. Perhaps you need to read how it is that the GOP became the official party of real Catholics. There you will find a deliberate program to disenfranchise Catholics from the Democratic party, helped immensely by Carl Anderson's takeover of the Knights of Columbus. It's worth researching if only to get a grasp on why our religions have become so political. I would also urge you to take note of how the male Evangelical leadership is being skewered by their female and minority membership for using the abortion card to back Trump. The USCCB hardly needs to tank their credibility any further than it already is, but they undoubtedly will if AB Chaput and Kurtz are any indication.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...married couple should be forced to have children.\" All the birth control stuff mentioned here: religious-based doctrine aided and abetted by government. It went further in Quebec. Again: heavy Roman Catholic influence, church used the state to further its (no-abortion/big family) aims. \n\nThis craziness, from something called Interim, Canada's life and family newspaper: 1992: \"Quebec has its share of bad policies which hurt family life. The same accommodating attitudes toward abortion, homosexuality and secularism prevail [as in the rest of Canada.]\" \n\nThink about that. And then: \"...this province, once known for its big families, must now resort to incentives to encourage couples to have more than one or two children.\" Hilarious, because even in the (really historic) 1990s, there was no \"must now resort.\" To keep French culture alive, the Quebec government PAID people to have kids in the 1940s-1950s era of Premier Duplessis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You overstate your case, I believe, ThePapalStormtrooper (what a provocative name to choose). You operate from the assumption that most Catholics do not engage in open discussion with the Church. Wrong. They operate from the experiences of the Church hierarchy NOT responding at all except with a regurgitation of the rules. Pastors and priest and bishops for the most part do not teach - they lecture and that drives a whole lot of folks out of and away from the Church. People have been marginalized, neglected, pushed aside and abused in various ways, and told to follow teachings that are downright wrong and foolish (Humanae Vitae is the best, recent example). I like your approach to dialogue, but I believe you are mistakenly of the belief that the Catholic Church has been open to that sort of process. A glaring example of such failure is pointed out well in MSW's essay here that we are commenting on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. Thank you for that. It really is frustrating on both sides. I've spend years trying to get pro-lifers to be more flexible and vote pro-choice in certain situations. This is just another setback, especially if people want to be rid of Trump in 2020. Getting some Evangelical and Catholic women to vote for the Democrat might help. \n\nAnd really? The LGBT community in Toronto is upset with the police. Canadians are tres nice. I don't think that there is any issues with the cops and racism. And I would certainly want them there for security.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see the Bible as authoritative, yes. I've never thought of it as instructions, but Christ did say \"If you love me you will keep my commandments\", I didn't say it, He did. If you see that as rules that limit you then I think that is unfortunate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All he will find out is \"Foreign affairs are so hard and complicated, much harder than I thought\".\nActually just another taxpayer paid vacation to tour the resorts of Europe and Asia including the Vatican Pope Palace. The site of the ongoing lie of christianity created in the Dark Ages and yearning for its return aided and abetted by the Trump traitorous reign.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We as Catholics are a people of Hope, a belief that the future will be better than the past. I see Donald Trump as an unfortunate obstacle on our path. Just like Mother Theresa said, \"If you want to bring happiness to the whole word, go home and love your family.\" We can all do that, Trump or no. Don't be gobsmacked; show the Trumpians that your practice of love will be unceasing, no matter what the election result.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sure, it was there from the start. Its in the Bible. Towards the back, I think.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good article what do you think about the American Solidarity Party which does try to address Catholic Social Teachings?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"No, the whole punishing God that is offended by sin is all St. Anselm.\"\n\nTell it to Jesus who talked about \"gnashing of teeth\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It requires a 2/3 vote of the bishops to teach along the lines you suggest. They have not done so.\n\nThe Church teaches abortion is murder.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Henry VIII, at least in the early part of his reign, was a devout and well-informed Catholic to the extent that his 1521 publication Assertio Septem Sacramentorum (\"Defence of the Seven Sacraments\") earned him the title of Fidei Defensor (Defender of the Faith) from Pope Leo X.\n\nWhat has he done for the Pope lately?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If it were real and not the ephemeral writings of hundreds of popes, some of which cared more for governing Rome than being vicar of Christ, you would have a point. In recent times popes try not to contradict each other, which is a shame, because some do make errors. The onlyh infallibility of that is God does not hold those who obey responsible for such foolishness. It seems Jesus thought a bit of relativism was essential.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As other traditional Catholics on this site have warned, God does not tolerate mockery.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that people who complain about those on welfare ought to have to work at Walmart for 3 years and have to support a family of 4. \nMany of the Walmart workers are forced to rely on Food Stamps and food pantries, because the Walmart wages are so low and the conditions so awful. People lose jobs if then need to stay home with sick children, and little kids in day care get sick often. \nMost people who complain about those on public assistance have no clue what it's like to depend on that money. \nYou know, it's curious to me. On the one hand, the conservative Catholic crowd does not believe in artificial birth control and want access to contraception limited, and on the other does not want to pay to support the mothers and children who don't have enough money to live on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...that abuse was absolutely happening it had not yet....\"\n\nNow that is a understatement! lol There are more abused children in India than that are Catholics in India (20 or so million).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What do you know about any woman who works for the Church? What do you mean about 'run of the mill woman'? Exactly who are you referring to? Cleaning women, sacristans? Hmm? The chancery and/or typical parish today has MORE women working than just the bishop's secretary or the parish secretary.\n\nWhat about university/college collage professors with PH D's + or heads of social institutes, health facilities, senior health care facilities, pastoral associates, directors of religious formation, youth directors, directors of sacramental preparation, directors of bereavement, musicians, accountants, technicians for computer services [parish or diocesan], parish-life communications directors, etc.? \n\nI am describing women who make up 98% of the church's workers. And the church would NOT be able to carry out much, if any of its ministry today, without them. The women deserve health care and they deserve to have free contraception.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Male Headship is NOT a core value of the SDA faith. It does not appear anywhere in our 28 \"fundamental\" beliefs. It has never been voted in a GC Session.\"\n\nThis should be repeated more often: Headship is NOT one of FB's of the church and has never been voted on.\n\nThat being true, why does any one or any conference need to ask permission to \"do the right thing\"? The right thing for one part of the world at a certain time, may not be the right thing for in another situation. Recall that EGW advised when of Adventists were first introduced in the Southern States where the African-Americans did not mingle with the Caucasians; if the SdA leaders had tried to erase all differences then, it would have greatly curtailed their evangelistic efforts. Doing the right thing also depends on the time and circumstances. Equality was instituted by God in Eden when man and woman were first created and was restored by the NT Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Time to repost a response from a few days ago. \"You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.\" Jack Phillips is overflowing with the love the New Testament teaches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is evocative of Marcel Maciel and the Legionnaires of Christ. Complaining and criticizing a superior is not allowed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was the same at my mid-20th century school, except most of the strapped were Catholics. So were the teachers, actually.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This will be interesting.\n\nA Jesuit non-theologian pope claiming his rambling AL is Thomistic. \n\nCan't wait for the sturdy Dominicans theologians to respond!\n\nThey'll defend Aquinas before they do this pope as he distorts St Thomas's work.\n\n\" people of God have a good sense of smell\".\n\nUnbelievable quote.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This beautiful girl spoke the truth. I admire her. Ironic that the non-Christian Mormon Church would fault her for her honesty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mark thank you for your comment\n\nMark you appear to want to dismiss our most fundamental beliefs, as an individual it is your prerogative to do so but to me they appear to be self-serving\u2019 \n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was raised in rural Pennsylvania and the values I received were from my parents and our excellent public school. I was taught to value people no matter their race, religion, ethnicity. There were only two Catholic families in the part of the township where we lived, but I never experienced bigotry from my non-Catholic friends and neighbors. In fact my parents moved to the township to escape the bigotry in the nearby small town (circa 5,000) and to escape their poor school system. My experience was that it was not rural Pennsylvania but small town Pennsylvania where the bigotry existed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Gospel is the parable of the rich lawyer who was satisfied with keeping the basics of the law but could not handle what it took to get treasure in Heaven by selling all he could and following Jesus. What I would say about this is what I said about August 22nd-and the eye of the needle gospel. It says nothing, by the way, about the glorification of an asexual priesthood (as opposed to celibate) and its peculiar approach to sexuality, although I am sure the saint of the day endorsed the latter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So which came first: $millions appropriated for an unpopular road leading to the Catholic hospital's emergency rooms \"for safety,\" Gov. Walker's administration granting the Catholic hospital a bunch of new emergency room beds, or Gov. Walker's administration denying Alaska Regional's request to establish several new community ER's?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Phrogge,\nI'd agree. I think there should be a place for both those priests committed to celibacy, and married priests. Each will have gifts to bring to the church, and we could all benefit. I'm saddened to see so many gifts rejected by church leadership. I'm gonna guess that there's a much higher percentage of gays in the episcopacy than in society or the church in general. Odd that they feel THEY can contribute and lead, while holding others at bay? \n\nThe church has SO many who offer great wisdom, insight, experience and intuition. Our gifts are amazing. If the church is EVER to have even a chance at moving towards what I suspect Jesus may have had in mind, we're going to need ALL of those gifts, and will need to live as a true community, where we don't write people off because of their gender, their sexuality, their education, wealth, age, marital status... But UNTIL all those voices are truly brought to bear, we're so much less than we could and should be.\n\nThank you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dejain: You ask some difficult questions......and, not surprisingly, there are no easy answers. It's very difficult, as you so well note, to have a rational conversation on an emotional topic. IMO, religious beliefs are \"faith based\" and, by definition, are visceral, not intellectual. Additionally, IMO, conservative Christians have an \"absolutist\" position and simply cannot compromise on doctrine; if they are \"right\", you must be \"wrong\"....if you are \"right\", they must be \"wrong.\" There is really no room for conversation and the exchange of views. They're going to heaven, the rest of us are going to hell. The only way that can change is for the rest of us to accept their beliefs.......IMO, that makes for a rather short conversation. regards, Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When Bernadin made a call for unity among Catholics he was denounced by his fellow Cardinal Bernard Law. Bernard Law got his comeupance, partially at least.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether Paul laid feather to scroll, or one of his students did, is irrelevant. What is relevant is that at the time the Apostles were alive Hebrews was a normative Pauline account, and that the Church treats it as such.\n\nThe only reason any of the Scriptures are worth discussing at all is that they were incorporated into the canon by the Church. If you don\u2019t care for its authority, just take a pen and scratch all the Scriptures you don\u2019t like. That's what your New Testament scholars do.\n\nMy argument would begin \u201cChrist founded a Church, the Catholic Church is the one He founded, He commanded it to teach with authority, and gave it authority and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to teach truth.\u201d\n\nYour argument, then, begins \u201cHe did not!\u201d\n\nLet's just say I'm underwhelmed.\n\nYou and I are not the same thing, nor do we adhere to the same Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"if this country is to avoid the polarization and conflict afflicting the United States and much of Europe.\"\n\n\nSorry John, but the culture and laws of European countries and the United States are based on European Christian values and not the discredited, bizarre, State-mandated policy of multiculturalism and multinationalism of Canada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The man recognized the qualitative difference between sacramental marriage and civil marriage and argued that Catholics should vow to live in sacramental unions. I can take issue with his conclusions, but I can't in good faith fault him for defending the teaching of the Church. That's the promise he made when he was consecrated bishop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God has spoken. Those who do not adopt the councils are not Catholics, and are, therefore, against Him. I think that completely ends all discussion. Accept the three councils referenced, or off to the pit for all eternity, in God's Mercy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...we seem to differ on is how to best preach and teach the Gospel message...\"\nWe may not disagree. \nPreaching and living the Gospel are different from attending the public prayer (though one may argue that attendance is part of the latter). I'm in full agreement with the sentiment that, many times, homilies often seem to be simply \"phoned in\", with little thought about how we should take the message into our own lives; much of the time the message isn't even the hard lesson we need but simply a platitude about the Golden Rule - and there's no accounting for musical tastes.\nThese aren't the substance of the mass, however. \nI guess my point to Matt is that it is not incumbent on God or the Church to make us feel loved or challenged or whatever; that is a childish understanding of religion. On the contrary, we have a duty to God and one another to participate in the act of public worship, regardless of our feelings about it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued \n\n I have proposed a way forward based on humility, perhaps if you have time you may read the links in my responses to Old Obuelo.\n\nAnd also this link below\n23rd February 2017 at 9:39 am\nhttp://www.acireland.ie/sexuality-nature-and-justice/\nYour opinion would be highly valued.\nI think that this is a good comment from Old Abuelo.\n\n\u201cMy view is that the integrity of each journey is to be respected\u201d. \n\nhave a happy and blessed Easter\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am agreeing with my fellow Conservative Catholics, that there can be no \"grey areas\" no nuance, no room for debate. The Church has spoken on all matters of morality, never changing for 2000 years, and any variation from what the Church has said from the very beginning results in an approval of complete moral anarchy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Deja vu all over again\" As Y. Bera noted so profoundly. I suddenly recall with equally profound sadness a phrase from a religious woman teacher in grade school: \"Jesus never laughed\".\nThank God they have also profoundly changed. Bless them for what they endured and how they were formed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 of 2\n \u201cFor with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you\u201d\nAnd now in this new state of consciousness we desire (Strive) that our neighbour my also see and dwell as we do, in His Divine Mercy, in equality, no matter what their state, with us. \nFrom my post below \n\nWe all fall short of His inviolate Word so how do we create a union of believers, in our human weakness, so that the world my see proof of the divine origin of Christianity, giving credence to the belief that the Father sent the Son into the world to save sinners.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My guess is you don't understand the Way. It is the Way of Life using Jesus' teachings. The only door is to the Way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He had his credential removed for contradicting both Vatican I and Vatican II.\n\nFiction is often delightful - read Mark Twain or Dickens or Washington Irving- but I don't read fiction when I want to learn what the Church teaches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Holy Spirit nurtures all genuine people who are not afraid to use their God-Given talents. She speaks to the unconscious and conscious minds of all of us. Some people understand the need for the ethical evolution that she brings. Others feel more comfortable in their pretended omniscience and pretended infallible doctrines. The same was true in the Judaism that Christ spoke to. They did not believe Him either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By the time word of Americanism had made its way to Rome, Americanism was said to stand for the following propositions:\n1) that Catholics are not to heed the clergy; 2) that Catholics are not to submit to divine revelation, but are to arrive at truth only by natural means; 3) that monks and nuns should leave their cloisters and do something practical with their lives; 4) that religious vows should be abolished; and 5) that Catholics should live in a conciliatory fashion with non-Catholics.\nNo one was able to point to any actual document in which these so-called Americanist views had been professed.\nNonetheless, Rome became convinced by alarmists that the American Church was on the verge of anarchy. Pope Leo XIII, wrote a stern letter to Cardinal James Gibbons of Baltimore, instructing him to repudiate Americanism. Gibbons wrote back in rebuttal, stating that no Catholic in America believed the supposed doctrines underlying Americanism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) The Vatican\u2019s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin . . . was also asked a statement Francis made in February, when the pontiff questioned Trump's Christianity and said his plan to build a wall across the entire U.S.-Mexican border has no basis in the Gospel. \u201cOn specific themes, we will see how individual choices go and on the basis of those will give a judgment,\u201d the cardinal responded. \u201cIt seems premature to give judgments.\u201d\u2014Joshua J. McElwee\n\n\u201cGod is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in distress. Therefore, we fear not, though the earth be shaken and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea\u201d (Psalm 46:2-3).\n\n\u201cDestroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up . . . the temple of his Body,\u201d (John 2:19), in this case the Faithful, Mystical Body of Christ in the United States.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "IMO Jesus did not offer clarity and uniformity to the church, if he ever had any idea of a church at all. He promised to send the Holy Spirit to teach us to observe everything he commanded us, in other words, to live as he lived. I believe the Holy Spirit is doing just that these days, and having fun watching us get used to the fact that the Spirit is real and speaking to all of us, not just certain ones. We seem to be increasingly aware that the Spirit is speaking in some \"unauthorized\" places through some \"unauthorized\" people who are often showing great courage in speaking out and acting in \"unauthorized\" ways. The usual penalties of excommunication and silencing are not having much effect, and that is neat.\n\nAgain, IMO, we have all the gifts we need right now to live as Jesus calls us to. We just have to unwrap them, be surprised, and put them to good use. \"Unauthorized\" doesn't seem to men much to the Holy Spirit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I only see one immoral action, and it is by the school. They should follow the teachings of Christ, it can help them be better in the future, god willing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wonder what the thousands of Catholic Martyrs of the \"Holy\" Reformation would think about this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for that background on American Heritage Girls. I had forgotten how they got started. \n\n Why couldn't both girls organizations be available so that parents could choose the one that they think would be best prepares their child to live in the world? Catholics come in different \"flavors\". Despite all the bishops try to do to allow only vanilla in the ice-cream, somehow mint, strawberry, chocolate, peaches, snickers, marshmallows, and a whole lot of other things sneak into different batches. And sometimes several different flavors combine, making unexpectedly delightful - or terrible - combinations. \n\nWe are not all the same. Not everyone wants to imbue a fundamentalist viewpoint about being female, or sexuality, or a whole lot of other ideas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I often wonder how much better Jesus would have done if he'd had a canon lawyer among his apostles. Perhaps he wold have moderated some of his speeches, like the one where he condemns those who harm children. It isn't clear from the gospels, but it is clear from the actions of the Vatican and the bishops, this criticism was meant to apply only to non-clerical abusers. For them, as the Church has shown, infinite mercy, assistance, protection and a nice retirement home near a grade school are in order.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As with that Shrine, she clearly brings us to Jesus, as she did with my point and prayer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many posters here are saying that Archbishop Chaput is advocating a smaller, purer Church in the same way that they accused Pope Benedict of wishing for a smaller, purer Church. Neither the Archbishop not the Pope Emeritus wished for any such thing and only NCReporter via David Gibson suggests that they did with misleading headlines and cherry-picked quotations. Would anyone seriously accept David Gibson as an authoritative commentator upon the Catholic Church?\nI am a failed seminarian and my initial reaction was to blame the Church for my failure and to turn against it. The wisdom which comes with age eventually disabused me of that frame of mind: obviously the wisdom of age has passed Gibson by and he continues to pursue his vendetta.\nNeither Chaput nor Benedict desired a smaller Church; they predicted that it would be the result of the creeping secularisation within the Catholic Church: a secularisation Pope Francis seems to be content to allow to continue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Juergen I submitted this quickly for clarity to your comment\n \n\"I am not sure what you mean\"\n\nLuke 18:8\n\nAnd He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: 10\u201cTwo men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11\u201cThe Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: \u2018God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12\u2018I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.\u2019 13\u201cBut the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, \u2018God, be merciful to me, the sinner!\u2019 14\u201cI tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.\u201d\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can disagree with Eliane if you want to but don't put lies in her mouth. She most certainly did not say that no priest had ever fathered a child in her city, she said she had never heard of a priest fathering one of the children she was talking about in her city. \nHow, as you assert a priest fathering a child pertns to the Catholic theology of sex and marriage is a complete mystery. I'd love to know how you work that out.\nIf people would stop throwing mud at the bishops they wouldn't be surrounded by it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Compare Paul's preaching to the Athenians to the what then Vatican-II-as-rupture crowd believe about and you'll see this is clearly not the case.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Leave the dead to the judgement of God\"....that's usually an attitude when you know there's no chance in the land of the living.\n I recall when now retired Ballarat bishop Peter Connors cowardly laid the blame for the cover-up of abuse at the foot of the grave of Melbourne Archbishop Little, claiming he knew nothing as his vicar general....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did the corrupt scribes and Pharisees keep Jesus out of the temple?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Change\" may indeed happen, but Divinely revealed truth does not change. Even the too often modernist John Paul II reaffirmed the Church's constant and dogmatic teaching that women simply can not be admitted to the priesthood. The Church is not a democracy, so get over it, and move on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Simple! Do what the city did in 1994 for the U of O E. 13th Ave. area:\n\n\"Restricted area. Curb to sidewalk unlawful to remain 4.807 E.C.\"\n\n\"No skateboarding or dogs permitted E.C 4.427, 5.450\"\n\nWhy doesn't the downtown have these same protections? We residents and taxpayers should DEMAND these same protections for all our businesses and the public who shops there. THIS HAS TO STOP. It's an open air asylum, and it needs to be addressed now. If it's good enough for the U of O, it's good enough for downtown!\n\nThere's your story, Christian - what did the city do for the U of O and it's area businesses 23 years ago, and WHY aren't they doing the same for downtown? It was very controversial, but it WORKED. The city has shown it can protect our public right of ways from this type of behavior. If it works for one part of town, why not everywhere?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "listening: before i was drafted, i was a piece of work. no friends, no woman, no money, strung out. after my ets, people thought i was jesus and asked me for my blessing. beam me up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, you can take the boy out of Bob Jones University, but you can't the Bob Jones University out of the boy. THIS can be said of a couple of \"Catholic\" bloggers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Koran is deemed to be the exact word of God, not so the Bible, Old or New. \n\nIt is an assemblage of books from different authors, times and places, which theologians and scholars have been poring over for centuries, trying to analyze them to distinguish what is history, what is literature and figurative, how translations from Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, etc. may have affected the transmission over time, etc. Mainstream Christians have inherited that long tradition of interpretation and still reevaluate it.\n\nThat leaves a lot of leeway for interpretation, which is why you have so many different denominations and sects, and debate, and in many denominations you now have for example women priests and ministers and chaplains, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To complete the analogy, ATF, shouldn't you add that many say exclusion of African Americans as bible based? As a Christian freedom issue?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "cont'd\n\nJesus replied: \"Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.\" He went on: \"I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.\"\n\nThis was no hyperbole. In fact, it is perfectly logical. Jesus is telling us that divorce is impermissible in the sight of God, so much so that a man procures a \"divorce\", he is not divorced in the sight of God. The marriage remains intact --- so much so that whichever of the spouse later marries and has sexual relations with the new spouse, that person commits adultery. All of this sounds like metaphor to you? \n\nYou ask: \"How do you think they would have reacted when someone they knew, someone who had followed the law, was called an adulterer?\" That depends on who they thought Jesus was. \ncont'd", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Odd, I don\u2019t seem to find myself asserting this particular assertion arose from any external source. Is your assertion that perhaps we\u2019\u2018ll do better if we couch our assertions as coming from our own views your own view, or do you have an external source for it?\n\nThat things are \"scripts\" does not by that act exhaust them of any truth they model. I would pleased to insert holes along the waterline of your script if you wish to do the same to mine.\n\nCivil rights are to be applied to the lives of LBGTQ people.\n\nThe Catholic Church has never taught otherwise, nor do I hold otherwise.\n\nThe Supreme Court\u2019s inclusion of same sex marriage has the power of law in the United States.\n\nThat does not make it morally acceptable, rational, well-considered, or of the same substance as the battle for civil rights for racial minorities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately, Humanae Vitae does refer to the inherent infertility of homosexuality in it's defense of the traditional Catholic teaching on birth control. I don't see how you can separate the two if Humanae Vitae itself equates them both as infertile sexual acts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've known, over the years, many religious sisters, both as teachers when I was young and as friends and colleagues when I was older. I cherish my memories of their dedication and service and I am thankful for all they gave me.\n\nThat said, I often wonder whether the future of consecrated life will be found in religious orders, male and female. Those constructs were created in a certain time and place and they served their purpose, but the world changes. New models emerge.\n\nMy best guess is that vowed, celibate religious communities will survive and will still serve a valuable purpose in the Body of Christ, but I doubt they'll ever be as robust as they once were. If so, that won't necessarily be a bad thing. It'll just be a reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't believe that we were in any sort of disagreement that the mass is Christo-centric. That doesn't obviate any \"ripples\" extending from that center.\n\"That we ask for the intercession of the saints is clearly strongly VERTICALLY focused as the saints are in heaven. They have no influence or standing outside of their divine connection with God!\"\nThe vertical focus is TO God. The saints remain part of the Church. The concept of \"vertical\" refers to our relationship to the LORD, not a definite direction (toward heaven). The horizontal refers to our relationship with the larger Church (including the Triumphant Church), foremost, in the context of the mass. \nTo whom are we offering His Peace? Hint.\nYou asked for those parts that represent the horizontal; I provided those. This in no way characterizes the mass as human-centric, nor does the article, as I see it. Again, disagree if you like, but it's more than just me with whom you disagree - Tertullian, Cyprian, Paul and others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That Stop-and-go Mass in Baltimore seems like a neat idea. One wonders if they have any materials or stock scripts for it.\n\nHand missals for the Extraordinary Form often have commentary on (e.g.) why the Gloria is sung after the penitential rite, what is going on the offertory, why the priest emphasizes his own unworthiness, etc. For the Ordinary Form these questions are neither suggested nor answered. Learning at least some of it (from self-study and from extraordinarily good priests) helped me and a few other reverts and converts I know deepen our relationships with Christ. The interactive stop-and-go might help more do the same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Kind spirited genuine Christians.\" Allah save us from them.\n\nPS: To the excessively thin-skinned who keep voting this comment into the \"Uncivil Zone\": Because a comment makes you uncomfortable, or you disagree with it, doesn't mean it's \"uncivil\". Such folks are herein cordially invited to grow up. The fragile, white-wing snowflakes are reminded this is a \"Civil Comments\" section--not a \"Safe Zone\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well we have the words of God given to us by the Church.\n\nIf you disagree with their interpretation you undercut the very credibility of the Bible itself!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where are the voices of the Southeastern bishops on immigration? \nA much better source for quotes on migration than the USCCB comes from CLINIC (Catholic Legal Immigration Network) at cliniclegal.org under Resources and Catholic Social Teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it odd that despite the turmoil, the NCR only has one article on this issue, and it seems to be from the authors personal perspective of wanting his friends to be justified, not what the catechism, or Christ, said. Hmm.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You appear to be relatively new here. We do not tell fellow Catholics they should go elsewhere. We are, ALL of us, the Body of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You write as if you are completely unaware that there were people in the Church who thought (and wrote) exactly the same thing about Merton.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks James, it's not easy to be tolerant and I have failed miserably many times. Being kind requires more self-discipline than letting your emotions control your behavior. If you knew me well, you'd know self discipline/structure is not my strong suit and certainly not 'natural' to me. Pain and death have been pretty constant in my personal life. Still, my life has been easy in comparison to most of the human race and I know that.\n\nMy faith life supports me, but I have to take it seriously, think about it, practice, make errors, accept forgiveness and move forward. I'm not a fundamentalist/literalist when it comes to the bible (I honestly don't know how others do it). I do have some favorite versus, one being John when he was old and near the end of his life. \n\n1 John 4:16. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.\n\nLove is not easy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"he poor are getting poorer, he claims. The inequalities between rich and poor are worse than ever, he says. Pollution is making us sicker than ever, he implies.\"\n\nPope Francis is correct.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The desire for ambiguity which permeates Michael Sean Winter's article and his support for Pope Francis's commitment to elevating the same to a central role in Catholicism, overlooks the fact that recently Pope Francis came down like a ton of bricks on priests in an obscure and presumably exceedingly poor diocese who had had the temerity to oppose the bishop appointed; not by Francis but by Benedict.\n\nHe ordered them to write personally to pledge allegiance. They must \"clearly manifest total obedience to the Pope.\" Every priest must write a letter \"in which he asks for forgiveness; all must write individually and personally.\"\n\nHe justified total intransigence, not by boasting how readily friends meet top people, nor asserting the church is not a museum, nor by alluding to his mother's taste in wallpaper and drapes, but rather by asserting that \"Jesus reminds us that whoever causes scandal must suffer the consequences.\"\n\n Jesus, a character missing entirely from this analysis.\n\nWhy?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Liberty is most legitiate when mixed with community (I have written for a publication that does this, The Free Liberal. Libertarian socialism, democratic socialism and cooperative socialism are close cousins, which is why the Establishment tries to keep them apart. They are hardly separated from Catholic Doctrie, which scares Acton\u2019s funders. Of couse, the also value social liberty, which many of the authoritarians in the Church cannot quite cope with either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is your argument, that the Church has been patriarchal since Pentecost? Agree, but does it follow that it must remain patriarchal until our Lord returns in glory? No, unless it is dogmatically defined that this is Christ's will; and such a definition has yet to be given, so there is room for fraternal dialogue. Again, review this simple timeline of ecclesiastical events and succinct critical comments, and let me know if you find anything that is historically inaccurate or dogmatically erroneous:\n\nhttp://pelicanweb.org/CCC.TOB.html#CHRONOLOGY\n\nAfter the resurrection, the Church is in charge of mediating all vocations. All successors of the original 12 apostles, starting with St Mathias, have been elected and ordained by the Church. Where is it dogmatically defined that apostolic succession is contingent on masculinity? Please give the title of the dogmatic definition, date, and name of the signing Pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're absolutely right we all make judgements based on our person bias. That would include your own specific interpretation of the bible which apparently requires you be a Protestant. \n\nLet's see, I was baptized Catholic, moved to Episcopalian at the same time as I attended a Luthern school. My first love was Quaker and I attended William Penn College. I was married by a Baptist minister we had just met(he liked fishing and was well loved by friend of ours), attended some Baptist services, my current wife was in Second Reformed church, I was at Third Reformed Church so I was steeped in Calvinist teaching. None of this experience exposed me to the solae, so you must keep elite intellectual company that enjoys church theology. \n\nTheology is not the only way to experience agape' love.\n\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_solae \n\nNot articulated until the 19th century, pretty johnny come lately isn't it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian is no different from Greek, Roman or Norse mythology. Put it in context. We anthropomorphize our gods.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree. I don't think our bishops have what it takes to confront Mr. Trump; not a few will silently rejoice as he attempts to unravel the social safety net.\n\nI was struck by his lambasting of the media yesterday. Would it be outlandish to suggest that the Catholic media, not the bishops, have the best opportunity of reining in Trumpism? That would take some leadership and a commitment to analysis not currently visible in what the Catholic press routinely offers. \n\nNCR could do it. They've done it in the past. I encourage the leadership of NCR to go beyond the \"how could this have happened\" malaise at which nothing gets accomplished and tackle this challenge with the same courage they've shown in confronting the clergy sex abuse scandal all these years. \n\nAnd we could all do our part.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I attended Catholic schools. Are they somehow responsible for anything I might do today? God, I hope not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It'd be cool if Catholics had a program for young people to spread the faith in another country for a year or two like the Mormons do. Whether the Mormons are successful or not on their mission it seems to give them maturity, confidence and leadership skills.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are talking about those people seeking the peace of Christ - not the affirmation of men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can assure you Christopher said nothing out of fear and I don't see him screaming either. You say these issues don't matter but your not on the receiving end of the problems they face. You want to condemn your brother as divisive for simply saying there is evil being done to them and it is hard to overcome rather than trying to even speak out against it. It's the same thing as the starving man on the street. You can't help him while he is hungry so feed him or he won't see you clearly. There are those who are so chained down by injustices that shouldn't exist that they can't see past it. Do what you can to remove the chains to free them to approach the Cross rather than putting more on them. Sending love in Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Been doing it for 38 years on my private property and adjacent public . Now I will sell out too tired to continue. The homeless campus should grow at 3rd and Ingra as a model similar to Catholic Services of Southern Nervada. I ts the most successful program nationwide. this is a win-win.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It was probably the first spectacular manifestation of Jesus as more than just one of the guys or rabbis.\"\n\nNo. The wedding feast, where Jesus turned water into wine, was His first spectacular manifestation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unity with God and His will: A vow, integral unity with His will.\n\nIt's the vow that John wants to split. \n\nBut marriage is a call, a vocation, demanding totality of gift: holiness.\n\nSeeking His will before we choose our own happiness, even in the apparent antagonism of our happiness.\n\nThe work of a life time.\n\nThe universal call to holiness (Vatican II point). \n\nThe art of holiness. \"Sculpting the stone of our hearts\" (JPII)\n\nThe Church wrote the Catechism...you refuse to listen to that one too, long before you ran across me!\n\nEvery year, a new excuse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The truth is that there is no God. There is no proof outside of the bible that Jesus even existed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religious freedom means the right to worship God. It does not mean that individuals and religious organisations can impose their views on others. History is full of examples of how the rights of others have been cruelly denied in the name of \"religion\".\n\nOnly after recognising the suffering caused by religion will we be able to move forward as our pope has so beautifully and eloquently outlined.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I love that last quote. Now, we just need to put it into practice.\nI am truly glad that Ms. Polite found inspiration in the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus. That story is truly universal and can give us all strength and hope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But look at the positive side: could we really take care of 105 million? (I am being facetious, of course.) But even with 75 million Catholics we are clustering parishes, at least in the East. Yet why the Bishops won't ordain married men (\"proven\" worthy, as Francis suggests, encourages), won't ordain women deacons (or promote it), more lay deacons?? Why, why? Who knows. But our Bishops -- the National Conference of Bishops -- won't budge on this. How can they do that? Because they can. Purely and simply.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CONSTITUTION ACT, 1982 (80)\n\n\nPART I\n\nCANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS\n\n Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law:\n\nPrime Minister Justin Trudeau believes \"principles that recognize the supremacy of God\" are open to his personal political correct interpretation. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets the Pope, gentleman to gentleman, to extract publically, a confession on the sins commissioned thru the government sponsored program to educate aboriginals.\n\nIs Justin Trudeau practicing politics that undermines Christian principles and faith? i.e. same sex marriage, abortion etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "thank you much Christian for the added info. if eugene follows that model it seems workable but , inevitably, there will be folks who aren't quite on top of it and their collection container gets nasty. i have never heard of putting meat into a compost - that is sure to draw unwanted attention. this is a press release from city hall i gather..no follow up questions? as written, it's a good start on the story, but fleshing it out with more \"how\" the program actually works gives context and perspective., how did similar programs fare elsewhere? pitfalls? if any?\nI would love to ask some questions regarding the workings of the RG.... and know you cannot answer them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I appreciate the positive encouragement and even the sad ones (about not going every week). My intent is to spend some time off-line so I may assess my spiritual life and discern where I am going. Listen more and spend less time with frustrating issues and contexts. \n If I had a spiritual director he or she would see the wisdom in this decision. \n There is not much more to say except this: you can experience God personally and Christ can dwell within you. You will become a tabernacle of the Holy Spirit and you won't need to go to a church to \"make a visit\" as you have Jesus dwelling with and in you. \n The danger of ritual is that it can become addicting and a source of obsessive behaviors, if not outright pathology. (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).\nIt can be very supportive and a meaningful structure that gives psychological and spiritual strength. It is possible to find oneself so overwhelmed with it in its present form that it loses its meaning. \n Such is the case with me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Only God is infallible. \nRichard Rohr has a refreshing view of Church teachings that show the love and mercy of God at work in the world. He is also a strong advocate of the teachings of Christ and orthopraxy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The eleven apostles made up the first informal College of Cardinals according to Church Tradition. \nAnd Peter was the first pope.\n :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that St John Paul and Benedict did not stem the flow although they tried to. Vatican II opened Pandora\u2019s box and once opened there was no shutting it.\nIt is also true that the world changed too. You say not an evil change but in fact the change was in an evil direction, the wholesale rejection of a prewar \u2018christian\u2019 moral consensus manifested by acceptance of abortion, sexual licence, promiscuity, homosexuality, divorce, etc. The Church could not possibly acquiesce in any rapprochement with these trends, JPII and BXVI did not compromise but neither did they oppose this culture vigorously enough, academically maybe but not evangelically.\nBy the early eighties it had become manifestly obviously that VII had not only failed in its objective of renewal but it had contributed to this failure. Retrenchment was called for but never happened, the barque was allowed to drift and I hate to say it was eventually abandoned to its fate by BXVI.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem in Canada on this issue is constitutional...the federal government has passed the law authorizing Doctor assisted dying, but it is up to the provinces to create the protective structure within which those decisions and that assistance will be provided.\n\nThe question is whether those who grasp the dangers, including the Catholic Church, will expend their energy opposing a done deal or expend them supporting protective structures.\n\nIt's abortion all over again--do you work to legally prohibit it or to reduce the need for it.\n\nTime will tell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora: Hmmm...walk a mile in the shoes of a woman of color, who experienced blatant racism throughout her Catholic school years by many students while being told herself to be tolerant (weekly). Who sees current discriminatory practices utilized when girls are forbidden to be altar servers and LGBTQ persons denied the dignity to marry in the church. Your own privilege is clearly showing by your response and misses the point of welcoming those who've always felt on the outside. Your response perpetuates fear and disappointment young Catholics face when trying to reach out for community within the walls of the traditional church. Your response lets me know you would not acknowledge my presence if you saw me in church or walking by you. Classic responses such as, \"my parish is different, I'm not privileged/racist/etc... or my all time favorite is - well you misunderstood what I said,\" only invite and create further distancing from the RC church. Listen, be proactive, reach out, Peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The pope from hope needs to add more drama to letters. Oh wait he did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It also takes leadership committed to change and a clear direction. I think Pope Francis is opening the Church to more dialogue and making some changes that matter. But I don't see that the powers-that-be at the Vatican are on-board. Without the buy-in by the leaders at the Vatican, I don't think what Pope Francis is doing will last. \n\nFrancis sidelined Burke and Sarah and a few others (I can't remember who he has gotten out), but he needs to do more and soon. This fumbling around of O'Malley's commission is a clear sign of dysfunction - not necessarily of O'Malley but of a lack of buy-in by people in the Vatican of what Pope Francis has asked O'Malley to do. It is everyone's job to \"cooperate\" so it is no one's responsibility. Time for Francis to pin-point to someone having that responsibility.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So many important Vat II points in J.McElwee's article & Cupich interview: importance of vision, discernment, synodality, structural reform,et al.\n\nWhen Cupich speaks of Pope Francis \"following a divine pedagogy...seeing that Christ is the one who is leading the Church,\" we would ask:\n1. Was Christ NOT leading the Church during Vatican II when all the above issues and more were DISCUSSED AND VOTED upon in a synodal manner 1962-65? \n\n2. Was Christ NOT leading the Church when Pope John XXIII followed up the call for Vat II with an implementation mandate in 1959 resulting in The Pontifical Commission for the Revision of Canon Law?\n...or when Pope Paul VI solemnly inaugurated work of that commission to implement Vat II Decrees 1967?\n\nWe also ask: Was Christ leading the Church when Pope JPII moved in a different direction with \"The Authentic Interpretation of the Code of Canon Law\" 1984? \nIf all this, perhaps Christ wants both Vat II & Roman Rite/Churches?\nhttps://RiteBeyondRome.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We do a disservice to people if we water down the Gospel to be amenable to any and all points of view -- even illogical and contrarian -- for then, we give quarter for them to continue in error.\"\n\nNow that is a legitimate question. That is why I wrote this article - to have this debate. \n\nWhat is the gospel exactly? Why is a \"Messianic-Muslim\" someone who does not accept the gospel until they reject Muhammed as a false prophet? Because your argument reminds me a lot of Christians who claim Adventists have their own \"book\" too through their own later prophet Ellen White, which they say means we are a non-Christian cult that rejects the gospel. \n\nWhy can't Muhammed be a modern-day Balaam, with a specific message for the Arabs for his own time, fighting in the face of the apostate Catholic-Byzantium empire?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our Scripture is in need of a fuller interpretation when it comes to Life. According to Jesus, He tells us who He is, the way to Truth and the reason He was born. \"I Am the Way the Truth and the Life\". \"I have come that you may have Life in its fullness\". The universal truth is that Life exists. Jesus says He is \"Life\". It is therefore incumbent on us to treat all life forms as they are hosts of Life. Not complicated. All in All, All in One, All in Life. He also told us Our Fathers' name is HOLY. My experience of HOLY, is Cosmic Hospitality. Peter, Deacon '82.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many blessings to Julie, Josh, and Sam. I pray they become even stronger as a family and in their service to Jesus Christ following this tragedy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hebrews 1: 1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days He has spoken to us by his Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom also He made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God\u2019s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 4 So He became as much superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is superior to theirs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ATF.....both those guys who signed that letter to Francis are cardinals....not bishops and I rather doubt it was a status issue, so much as a conservative issue...these guys see/saw Francis as a threat to their version of Church and act/acted accordingly....\n\nPersonally I don't respect either one of them for a variety of reasons ...I take some comfort in that recent survey that indicated an increased number of Catholics are voting from an independent perspective.....(as a developmental psychologist, I would say, from an \"adult perspective\")...\n\nAs to a \"pure\" Church....perhaps inhabited by developmentally limited folks not able to make adult choices....or an imperfect human Church....inhabited by \"adults\" ...I'd go for the adult version every time....\n\nWe have had enough of fear, shame and juvenile based religiosity....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The revelations of the Holy Spirit are with us all, not just pope or bishops and what seems so crazy is the lack of attention payed to them by those who believe they have THE TRUTH. The real problem is that us finite humans never come close to understanding the great mind of our God. Those that believe in infallible truth are deluding themselves. The Holy Spirit is contained in so many scientific and philosophical writings that dogmatists fail to even read. The Holy Spirit speaks to the genuine person no matter who that person is. She speaks to whom ever she pleases. Those that take the idea that only Bishops or Popes hear her are quite wrong. She leaves ideas to genuine people not authoritarian demagogues. So yes she speaks in long discourses or even short ones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus did not believe \"Thou shalt not steal\"? That's funny.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I usually find Mr. Tammeus' columns to be well thought-out and interesting. This one was an exception.\n\nThe main problem is in the extraordinary role he assigns to the CDF. In fact, Catholics have a substantial body of canon law to deal with church governance and various other Vatican offices, as well as courts, that administer it. Evolving doctrine is based on documents of bishops' (\"ecumenical\") councils and papal encyclicals. (So far none of our trads have turned out to yelp that our doctrine is unchanging, but it does, in fact, at least evolve.) \n\nI don't know much about Presbyterian polity and am confused when two Presbie friends (one of them an elder) talk about \"Session.\" However, I know that any comparison between the CDF and Presbyterian governing documents is, at best, misleading and that the whole subject of comparison between Catholic and Presbyterian practice (leaving aside doctrinal differences) is much more complicated than what is presented here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(TWO)\n\nYour first para is exactly correct. In one of the two texts (sorry no bible handy), the Greek is now being understood by scholars as Jesus being asked to take sides in a then current Jewish dispute about divorce. \n\nThe phrase \"for any cause\" references one rabbinical side with a new fandangled theory--a man can divorce his wife for \"any cause,\" no matter how flimsy by giving her a \"git\" (certificate of divorce). The other side held the traditional view in the law of moses (Leviticus somewhere) that both men and women can divorce their spouse for adultery. \n\nJesus adopted the traditional view, so according to this new reading, Jesus did not assert our current magisterial position, but allowed divorce for adultery. Again, I don't have a bible handy, but I believe this interpretation reconciles this passage with the other passage about divorce in which Jesus specifically mentions adultery.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You really need to update your knowledge about scholarly research on Junia. Catholic scholar Bernadette Brooten put to rest the question of Junia's gender and this became official with the New Standard Revised version of the Bible in 1989!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just finished listening to Trump's speech in Poland.\n\nA great and magnanimous speech, and one of the many differences between his speech and Obama's is Trump's frequent use of the words \"we, our, us\" and Obama's use of \"I, me, mine\".\n\nI do realize that Poland is one of those Catholic countries - like some in Africa - that NCR doesn't like to cover.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agendas don't carry themselves out. That aside, the Church's field is the world and it's a mistake to try to draw an imaginary line between the sacred and the mundane when it comes to serving others. Jesus didn't make such distinctions and neither should we.\n\nReligious communities must evolve to meet the realities of their times. Those that do survive and those that don't either fade away or become islands unto themselves. Thus has it ever been throughout the history of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, do you ever bother reading a post before responding?\n\nTradition and Scripture are the two pillars of revelation in the Catholic Church. Since revelation ended with the death of the last Apostle, neither can change.\n\nI have never \"claim(ed) that the Gang of Four are protecting \"Tradition\" by making sure the divorced and remarried don't receive the Eucharist.\"\n\nThat appears to be a product of a fevered \"man the barricades!\" frame of mind rather than any words that were actually posted.\n\nI am not in a position to know what the Judas' interior state of grace was at the Last Supper. Do you have some information and if so, where did you obtain it?\n\nJesus, of course, as God is the Author of Law. I suppose He can do what He wants. Do you believe the bishops who favor the \"Kasper Proposal\" can say the same?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Scott for your comment, it is appreciated. \n\nRather than justify oneself, is it not better to admitting that one cannot live to the teachings within HV and walk in humility before our Father in Heaven and trust in His Divine Mercy and grow spiritual?\n\nThem and us: could it be we all need a diet of humility as I am proposing in my post (Links) above as this would Create Unity of Purpose. It must never be forgotten that many good men who have given all are now locked into the clerical system and it is the system that needs to change to one built on honesty rather than unaccountable obedience, we will always need Shepherds/ Shepherdesses (Spiritual leaders) We must build on what we have, negativity has no part to play if we truly seek the good of the Church.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no valid analogy between the current situation and the Feeney situation.\n\nIn the 1980's, many pro-life people blocked the doors of abortion clinics. They made themselves into obstacles to the commission of crimes. In Catholic moral theology and in civil law, to remove an obstacle that is preventing a crime is to make oneself an accomplice to the crime.\n\nIn most such situations, the police were ordered to remove the obstacles that were preventing crime. Deaths resulted.\n\nWith only one exception (Ren\u00e9 Gracida), the Catholic bishops refused to answer the question, Are the police being ordered to commit mortal sin?\n\nThe silence of most bishops was absolute. A few condemned the Rescue Movement on the grounds that the bishops had not called for it in their Plan for Pro-life Activities.\n\nThe bishops shirked their obligation to answer the question.\n\nThe Pope is now in the same position.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's Christianity, than there's Catholicism. The word of God in Mathew states \"Call no man father, here on earth. To me Catholicism is an occult. They honor and worship their bishop, when after all he's no better than you or I. AND I am a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can find anything you need in the King James Bible!\n\n\"Ecclesiates 10:20 \n\n \"Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.\"\n\nIt was foretold in the Bible! The NSA has your television! Be afraid! Be very afraid! \n\n God knew it was coming! You were warned centuries ago!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In reading the various \"leaks\" regarding emails, comments, actions, etc., both candidates appear to have very different words & actions. But in the end, actions are what matter.\n\nWhile the released media, gives air to the words of Trump, the words in the emails of Clinton & team are most disturbing. Especially in the method of undermining the Catholic Church, that she claims to have such high respect for. \n \nTime has shown that planting the seeds of disunity in the Church, especially to cause division between clergy & laity, was carefully orchestrated for political & personal gain. A cold blooded, carefully thought out plan, to divide the Church & marginalize it so as to reduce any opposition to the political end game.\n\nI can tolerate Trump's hot air, far more then the methodical plan the opposition party had in play before Trump came on the scene.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part 2). my pet hate - the song \"Here I am to worship\" (Hillsong).\nThis is often used as an opening \"hymn\" at Mass but is as slow as a dirge (hardly celebratory).\nThe worst aspect by far is the repeated line: \"I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross\". \nThis line is theologically dodgy. Christ died to free us from the power of sin, not because we have sinned. This song flies in the face of Pope Francis' message of mercy.\nWorse, it leaves an impression in children's impressionable minds that it's their fault that Christ was nailed to a Cross. \nI thought we were supposed to have left all this guilt-inducing stuff behind after Vatican 2, but these lines are music to the ears of the ultra-conservatives. It's not surprising that certain parish priests (and prelates) approve of this song. It reminds me of how one nun told our class of 8 year olds that the symbol \"IHS\" stamped on communion hosts meant \"I have sinned\". (It is of course Greek shorthand for \"Jesus\").", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "argyle5663\n\nAren't \"saints\" pretty much the definitive social justice warriors?\n\nBut it's clear there are not many SJWs associated with the Vatican (and most Popes).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201c2/6 Jesus demands not only that we not resist evil people assaulting our honor or possessions (vv. 38-42) but that we go so far as to actively love our enemies.\u201d - IVP New Testament Commentary\n\nThis counsel is aimed at one-on-one relationships with nothing about evil people assaulting our lives nor any reference to the pre-existing Natural Law which governs nations.\n\nLuke 6:27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, 28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. 29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also.\n\n\u201cJesus wants more than condemnation of the outside world. Jesus' call to disciples focuses not on our words to others, though 11:37-54 does issue a stinging challenge regarding our words. ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church already has the third rite of reconciliation. This shouldn't be a major issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Would that that were so. But the Catholic Church enabled Trump's election. The bishops tilted toward Trump. A majority of white Catholics voted for Trump. The bishops' conference conspicuously ignores the pope's priorities like environmental stewardship. It's a religious arm of the GOP.\n\nI have no confidence in the U.S. institutional church as a force of resistance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1.) No there aren't.\n2) Citation required.\n\nBishops who contemplate how the church will proceed in the absence of priests should be ordaining women and married men. People who love the Eucharist should be demanding that they do it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only objective parallel is that Feeney and the four cardinals are Catholic clergy.\n\nBut the editorial makes its connection with \"put me in mind\", which really deals with a different subject than any objective correspondence, rather with a mindset which sees things through a lens of preconceptions.\n\nWere the four cardinals proposing that the Church scrap the indissolubility of marriage, and the Holy Father was Benedict XVI, they would be getting thumbs up all around from that mindset.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 2 of 2\n\nThe problem here is simple. Their response to the scandal is worldwide, and consistent. They are in concert, in the same way they are when they claim we must believe something. There is almost universal agreement and universal silence. The cries of the victims, of the laity, etc. mean nothing to them. \n\nSo the question becomes simple: when is this kind of uniform decision/action holy and of divine nature, and when is it criminal? They can't have it both ways, AND retain the trust of the public, nor be that touchstone for all that is good and holy.\n\nI don't think bishops are magic. But I think some of them might. More importantly, they have long claimed that the powers conferred on them by their ordination come from Jesus, and NOT from the laity. So we don't elect them, cannot recall them, and generally speaking, have almost no power to make right, what they have messed up. \n\nIt's not defensible. And it calls into suspicion, so much of what they teach.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.\" St Jerome. Dan should have been more circumspect in his comments about the 'Bible Museum' initiative. After all we don't live on bread alone but by every Word that comes from God. Catholic priests do not consecrated the Word of God unlike the bread and wine in the Holy Mass. Even if Satan used the Scriptures to tempt Jesus but Jesus also used the Scriptures to rebuke him in the wilderness. Humility and obedience to the Will of God is the key that unlocks the power of the Holy Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is necessary is that bishops like this one (and Pope Francis) actually learn what gender theory IS before they spout off on it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I haven't yet seen any commentary on NCR referencing the Holy Father's words that \u201cno matter how serious the crime that has been committed, the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and the dignity of the person ... It must be clearly stated that the death penalty is an inhumane measure that, regardless of how it is carried out, abases human dignity. It is per se contrary to the Gospel because it entails the wilful suppression of a human life that never ceases to be sacred in the eyes of its Creator and of which \u2013 ultimately \u2013 only God is the true judge and guarantor.\u201d\n\nhttps://international.la-croix.com/news/christian-doctrine-develops-is-more-fully-revealed-over-time/6114", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marriages joined by God are indissoluble and clearly not all marriages are joined by God. It is up to couples with the help of pastors to discern the path that leads to reconciliation. This may well involve an annulment, but there are many instances in which that is not an option. The modern day pharisees point out the canonical irregularity and tell the couple they can be reconciled but only if they live as brother and sister. The teaching that divorced and remarried couples in every case are committing adultery by engaging in loving sexual relations has not been accepted. I would guess that most faithful Catholics would find it ludicrous. Might they be wrong. Perhaps. But the assent of the people may not be disregarded.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the real question here is who is confused?\n\nI never said there are no nuns. The article is clear that the US went from a high of 180,000 nuns in the mid 1960's to 49,000 now and that 90% of the current nuns are older than 60. That doesn't say there are no nuns. It does say there are a lot less nuns now than 50 years ago and that most of the nuns now are significantly older. \n\nThe question isn't about whether there are nuns or even if they're visible, as you seem to be arguing. The question the article raises is why the precipitous fall in vocations?\n\nWe actually agree God doesn't need nuns. Where I think you're confused is WE (not God) could continue to benefit from nuns. They have not been supplanted by other people and workers. Health care and education both have unmet needs that nuns could meet. As for unions, your argument is non sequitur (again) and a primary reason for unions is to assure fair pay, something you seem to miss.\n\nI think you're confused, not me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm as critical of the Church as anybody. But the fact is anyone can walk away from Catholicism any time they like. Many have.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill: As I mention above, the fundamentalist Christian beliefs regarding evolution, abortion/choice, sex education/birth control and homosexuality are religious beliefs. They are \"faith based\" and, as such, are not subject to rational discussion. That's fine...it's your religion and your beliefs. However, I am strongly opposed to using tax dollars to promote religious beliefs....Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From 8th Feb transcript: an interesting comment by Abp. Coleridge about relationship between bishop and priests:- \u201c..the relationship..is quite unusual..A priest is not an employee of mine. It is a bit like the government appointing a judge. The government appoints the judge, but once..appointed, she or he has a quality of independence that is quite unusual. So I appoint priests, but not as employees. They have a quality of independence. It's not unlike bishops and the Pope..The Pope, in the end, formally appoints me, but I'm not his branch manager. Once I am appointed bishop, I'm conceded a great deal, perhaps an excessive amount, of independence. The Catholic Church in general\u2026is a most unusual and mysterious combination of the decentralised and the centralised, and I suspect the Commissioners have come to see this through their many hearings. In some ways, we are a very centralised community - Church, worldwide. In other ways, we are extraordinarily, even alarmingly, decentralised.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed, \"willfully refuse\" which mean immoral! As the Royal Australian Commission investigating clerical sexual abuse points out that there is substantive problems with RCC clericalism. No amount of accidental tweaking will effectively change the nature of the beast. As I've said repeatedly, the RCC is incapable of change. It has had centuries to reform itself but refuses. Tweaking accidental items is poorly treating symptoms. \n\"Popes come, popes go, the curia remains.\" The curia need not be reformed as eliminated but that ain't gonna happen to Constantine's church. It is reported in Nazareth that Jesus gave up membership, too!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My point is that there was no patriarchy before original sin, so it is not the natural order of things. After the redemption, we are a new creation that enables to overcome all the effects of original sin until we all become integrated in Christ. The curse of Genesis 3:16 is overcome by the redemption (as promised in 3:15) and is not intended to become a new divinely decreed order until out Lord returns in glory, as the Theology of the Body shows in subsequent chapters. Chapter 8, however, makes clear that man and woman share one and the same human nature, and this fundamental unity is impaired but not destroyed by original sin. Patriarchy is a result of original sin, but the redemption allows us to overcome patriarchy as a mindset of domination/subordination. The patriarchal priesthood is a residue from the Old Law that can be superseded in the sacramental economy of the New Law, as an extension of the apostolic decision documented in Acts 15:28. Prayers!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR could use this advice. \n\nNo complaining women can't be ordained priests. \nNo complaining marriage is between a man and a woman. \nNo complaining unborn lives matter. \nNo complaining the Latin Mass still exists. \nNo complaining there are Catholics that take their Church's teaching seriously and who don't act like the Church began in the 1960s.\nNo complaining hosts have be low gluten to be valid matter for the Eucharist.\nNo complaining the fullness of the means of salvation is in the Catholic Church Christ founded.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All of these issues are easily discussed contextually and can be explained, just not in 1000 words or less. I would like to comment on the Love of Christ - Jesus is a God of Love, but also of Wrath - which is revealed against unrighteousness only. The OT references are just easily discussed, but would require an \"open mind\" to do so, so I won't bother.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The March for Marriage, (NOM) the third such march, is scheduled three days before the US Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in a case that could preserve traditional marriage laws throughout the country, or impose same-sex 'marriage' in every state in the nation. Speakers and special guests attending the march include:\n\nSenator Reverend Ruben Diaz of New York\nArchbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, The Apostolic Nuncio of the Holy See to the United States of America and The Organization of American States\nMost Reverend Joseph E. Kurtz, Archbishop of Louisville and President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops\nMost Reverend William E. Lori, Archbishop of Baltimore\nMost Reverend John Joseph McIntyre, Titular Bishop of Bononia and Auxiliary to the Archbishop of Philadelphia\n\n Cordileone was a founder of NOM as part of his fight against Prop 8 in CA....an attempt to prevent gay's of all denominations, or none, to seek SSM...mercifully it failed!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Al Sharpton (look up his scandalous bio) visits the Obama White House 72 times. NCR is pleased.\n\nEvangelical Christians and Catholic cooperate on common Christian issues. NCR (and sadly, the Vatican) has a fit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seems to me that before Christ came, man had shown himself to be incapable of self-managing his sin, and God had to do something extreme to get people to pay attention, be it Adam & Eve, Noah, Sodom. Then, he came up with a good plan: codify the law through Moses as sin-management. And that worked pretty well, but all was still not right, so he sent his Son through which the Church was formed as, yes, sin-management 2.0. And we managed to get almost 2000 years through that before the Devil found a way to destroy the Church from within and without by those who embrace their sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "IDENTITY POLITICS is what's wrong in Canada.\n`\nIsn't it ironic how the government and media claim to be tolerant, multicultural, open to other people yet they perpetuate and create war within in their own country?\n`\nNow we have the tribe of feminist against men, the tribe of French against English, tribes of Natives against non-natives. The Christian vs non-Christians is how Harper pushed himself into power.\n`\nIf anything is a hate crime then identity politics should be. We have to stop giving special rights to special groups. Everyone one should be genuinely equal and judged by merit and character.\n`\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNRGW1VtPJE.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As with most NCR articles, pause and contextualize statements such as \"Catholics say...\". \n\nTo keep you closer to the truth, always insert the conditional \"some\" in front of any such collective noun that NCR tries to use to over-state its grossly left-leaning editorial slant. \n\nNCR is to be sure biased and clever in how it pushes its viewpoint onto the masses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "TYVM for the kind fix on spelling. It looked odd, but my little web spell checker didn't flag. I'm getting lazy!\n\nThe Church teaches that the call must come from both sides; personal interest is not itself a call.\n\nThere is a danger of becoming - as we have become - too focused on the \"clerical life\" as if being a priest is the only way to serve God, become a saint, seek holiness.\n\nNCR is famously clerical in its focus, even as it adores its revolutionary status. The more it focuses on clerical ideas, the more it distorts the Church in the wrong direction.\n\nWe need some priests to bring us the Sacraments. The rest of the life of our Faith is the rest of the entire world: the lay's work. \n\nI can serve God every much as crucially today around my home as the priest who will hear my Confession this afternoon. And I should spend myself totally in my life as a lay man, crawling back to the Sacraments for more grace\n\nIt's not about \"personal choices\"; it's about obeying God. His will.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You clearly don't follow Jesus' teaching and don't understand God. God doesn't forgive us because we are good, He forgives us because God is good. Santa is a metaphor for God's generosity to us. God loves all of us whether you like it or not. \nI am a Canadian and our Constitution includes a Charter of Rights. It has balanced rights of Religion and Conscience. Our laws seem to find an medium in the context of a pluralistic society. Open your heart and mind and you will find God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Therefore I move that some minister of the Gospel be requested to attend this Congress every morning . . . in order to open the meeting with prayer.\" - Elias Boudinot\n.\n\"The great, vital, and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and the divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.\" - Congress, 1854\n.\n\"Had the people, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle\u2026 In this age, there can be no substitute for Christianity\u2026 That was the religion of the founders of the republic and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants.\" - Congress, U. S. House Judiciary Committee, 1854\n.\n\"[Governments] could not give the rights essential to happiness\u2026 We claim them from a higher source: from the King of kings, and Lord of all the earth.\" - John Dickinson\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kurgan, I was remembering that poster as claiming to be female, in a post several months ago. Is this a gender-confusion issue? Well, \"catholic\" includes everybody....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Loving someone whom God has placed in your life is not sinful. It is a very good thing. \n\nThe problem is that love isn't the issue. The issue is whether sex should, could or must be apart of all loving relationships. The Church answers \"No, sexual love belongs in marriage. Marriage is defined as one woman and one man united in the marital covenant until death\"\n\nLiberal, secular America says \"As long as the person is a consenting adult have sex all you want as much as you want, with whomever you want, whenever you want with as many people as you want, even if at one time. Why bother trying to control and master our passions? That is too difficult.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Dogmatic Comstitution on the Church is only dogmatic where it repeats teaching which was already dogmatic. Vatican II defined no new dogmas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Bro. Thompson,\n\nWe have a problem. The Bible is a steeped in inequality. God seems to delight in it. It is the creation's foundation. The tohu wa-bohu, the chaos and void, give way and the creative acts of differentiation begin. What was equal passes away.\n\nIsrael is chosen. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who is their equal? Esau? Ismael? Those brothers remain unchosen. God chooses his people for the sake of His promise and that never changes. He delivers them out of Egypt with a mighty hand. There is no equality between Egypt and Israel.\n\nIn Jesus Christ, we behold the King of Israel. He would choose us that we might have a portion in His kingdom. It was our human race that crucified the King. We ought to grieve - we are guilty. What do you say to the one you have slain? Do you seek justice or mercy?\n\n Striving for equality is Satanic; its here the mystery of iniquity begins. Only in death do we regain the equality God banished at the creation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Malala, the youngest UN Messenger of Peace has inspired many organizations like Christian Children\u2019s Fund of Canada to ensure that females have access to education and skills-training so they can reach their full potential. Full article: https://www.ccfcanada.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=674&Itemid=222", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah good ol' John A was not even good to French Catholics.....won't bother reading this article though as it has become soooo tiring. But maybe he mentioned indigenous pain as it related to Mohawks killing Algonquins and vice versa...burned them alive and the like. At least that would be honest. Are you being compensated for that or just one big happy family and all that nowadays. \n\nOhh and how many indigenous from other reserves are traveling to Northern Ontario to assist with the suicide crisis....is that not Indigenous pain. Let me see, my blood is Acadian and we also suffered at the hands of the Brits and Yanks......should we wail on for eternity as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings....I'm sure today that Cardinal Burke is saying mass in the Tridentine form on the Feast Day of St.Pope Pius X, somewhere in a monastery, veiled in incense......exhalting Pius X for his anti modernistic declarations! Could you please join us in the 21'st century\" Raymondo the Perfect\" and preach the mercy and compassion of our +Lord Jesus Christ!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fine. Oppose the death penalty all you want. I am not saying one must support the death penalty. \n\nWhat I am saying is that support of the death penalty is not incompatible with the Catholic Faith or the pro-life position. The position I am defending is that one can support the death penalty and still be pro-life and a Catholic in good standing. \n\nI am also defending the position that the pope does not have the authority to change church teaching at will. The pope cannot just take a moral issue that does not involve an intrinsic moral evil--and arbitrarily claim it now involves an intrinsic moral evil--simply because the pope's personal opinion is that it should be an intrinsic moral evil. The pope is the pope, not a Supreme Court Justice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In a modern Noah story the floods are made by man, both through warming and not listening- to God on where to build and not build, but we have learned pretty well how to deal with the victims, from rescue with bit helicopters to mass provision of food, water, shelter and rebuilding aid. David is all wet.\n\nI care little for either James Woods opinions on gay movies or his own relationships.\n\nSingle-payer is good if we enact a tax to pay for it. Let\u2019s start with a Public Option first. Anyone on Medicare, Obamacare and Medicaid will tell you that for a lot of people, Medicare for All is not far from Obamacare unless thou make Medicare much more generous in eliminating copays and premiums. I have had all three in the past three months. With Accountable Care Organization (i.e., HMO), there is little difference aside from copays. Medicaid for All is better but not as sexy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your comment rdp46\nThere are good ethical people to found within the full spectrum of the laity.\nI agree with the four cardinals in that this statement from\nVeritatis Splendor \u201cconscience can never be authorized to legitimate exceptions\nto absolute moral norms that prohibit intrinsically evil acts by virtue of\ntheir object\u201d as God\u2019s Word (Will) is inviolate\". \nIndividual we can only stand before His Divine Mercy in humility as we can never justify sin.\n.\nI all so agree with this statement by Pope Francis \u201cthe Eucharist\n'is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for\nthe weak\u201d. It's the sick and supplicant who need the doctor, not the well and\nthe righteous\u201d.\n\nI also believe that artificial contraception is sinful, I know this innately, does this make me a Traditionalist (Reactionary)? \nFor clarity to what you are saying, how would you describe me?\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a long path ahead. If Francis were going to Germany instead of Sweden, I would feel more optimistic. Any ecumenical progress in Lutheran-Catholic relations needs German and German-speaking Catholics, the German Church, on board. German Catholic theologians seek simplicity yet distrust it, without contradicting ecumenical good will. Francis knows this and is wiser to go to Sweden next year. Of course, we can hope for miracles, too, even in the German speaking world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I eagerly await your next investigative reporting piece....perhaps on the funding, relationship, and antics of, oh I don't know - how about Call To Action, NETWORK, and We Are Church?\n\nGranted, the membership and resources nay not be as vast as the KOC...but you seem to be concerned about conservative political pressure. I am sure you're also concerned about the Left's political pressure? Perhaps you also \"want to make sure\" the rank and file Catholic knows about these groups, too? You know, to \"know where the money they contribute is bring spent\"? I mean, NCR is now claiming investigative reporting status...that's not one-sided, is it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is the Holy Spirit. \n\nThe Spirit resides in the ENTIRE Church, not just in an infinitesimal part of it...the bishops. Or don't you believe Jesus when he says that the Kingdom of Heaven is within all of us?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll stick with the \"theories\" of the Church, not armchair theologians, mostly unschooled.\n\nWe are given a whole lifetime to use in order to draw closer in union with Jesus Christ...yes \"to use\". To \"use\" the human struggle (struggling to love ever more perfectly - though it is against our easier grain) to come to know Him and love Him and be with Him. \n\nHe gives us the dignity of this union. He made it possible.\n\nBut so few - as He Himself told us - take the narrow gate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I find quite interesting is that the self-same people yelling \u201cYou go for it, girl!\u201d when Catholic nuns dug in defiance of an ordinary regular visitation, are writing things like \u201cI seriously doubt he will come out of this fiasco unscathed\u201d.\n\nIn any case, the Knights can call itself the Reign Of God Incarnate with zero canonical effect.\n\nYes, the First Class are religious. They are under the direct jurisdiction of the Holy See. They are also the smallest class within the Knights.\n\nHowever, the Knights is not an institute of consecrated life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your well written article exposing various abuses of power. As this is a Christian publication, I think it is fitting to mention that clergy sexual abuse is an abuse of power that needs to be widely exposed for what it is. Unfortunately, it has been swept under the rug for too many years, and in many cases the perpetrators have been moved on to unsuspecting churches, synagogues, mosques, etc. It happens in every denomination and religion. Education and advocacy through social media is increasingly exposing this evil to the light of day. For those who have been sexually abused by clergy or know someone who has been, an excellent resource for people of any denomination/religion is The Hope of Survivors (www.thehopeofsurvivors.com). They helped my family and me through our nightmare and helped us survive it, and they also enabled us to help others as well. Please spread the word about this invaluable organization.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "oooooh ...\n\nStrange how things unravel when YOU try to explain them. As in, for example, para 40 of LG which bases that vocation in baptism, membership of the Church. I'm afraid I get no sense of a healthy ecclesiology from your pious suggestions (however sincere they clearly are). \n\nSo, no, I don't think you \"tie things together nicely\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "good for him. we should not be calling priests father. says so in the bible does it not. i find it one of the easier rules to follow. there are plenty of respectful titles they can be given, such as pastor, etc...do we call bishops grandfather?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From what I have seen of the quality of priests over the past 40 years of \"JPII\" cookie cutter boyos, the longer they are under scrutiny, the better.\n\nMaybe initial ordination should be transitional for the first 5-10 years to give the time necessary for the newly-minted to prove that they have what is necessary to actually pastor Catholic parishes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was with you right up to \"...haven't we all\" done stupid things in the past. \nI hear this a lot from those who excuse the negative behavior of someone they admire, which is lately Trump. Can you answer these questions:\n1. Is this \"forgiveness\" rooted in Christian tradition? Cast the first stone?\n2. Shouldn't we expect more of the President than ourselves? I might excuse my neighbor for saying he grabs women by the you know what, but he is not asking for my approval as a person who can lead our country. How can you compare the president to \"haven't WE all'?\n3. If the standard is that we have all done stupid things in the past, and thus we can't fairly criticize Trump (we would be hypocrites), doesn't that pretty much excuse him of almost everything? If you take all the weirdness people have done in aggregate, Trump could do almost anything because as a group, we've all done almost everything. How can there be ANY standard if the standard is what everyone has done wrong is allowable?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One, I have to assume you have been to neither city.\n\nSecond, Jesus was from the West bank, which was under the rule of Amman till 1967. I don't think he faced any racial profiling.\n\nThird, if we go for the Biblical \"eye for an eye\", would you really want to know how you were going to be treated.....?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Baca might want to ask Catholic Charities if they would do the representative payee task..or recommend some agency that does.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For those of you who haven't read Kieran's book (\"Potiphar's Wife\") can I suggest you have a go? If I was still teaching RE in upper secondary, excerpts from the book would be mandatory reading for my students.\n\nThat said, the one \"real issue\" I don't feel Kieran assigns sufficient weight to is the responsibility of those further down the chain of command to ignore, disregard or openly oppose directives which they, in conscience, believe to be morally wrong.\n\nIn Australia, we've had a small coterie of bishops (including George Pell, though he's hardly been at the forefront) who have been prepared to do exactly that. I admire moral courage, and am deeply saddened we haven't seen more of it.\n\nIn no way do I disagree with Kieran's observations, above. However, pointing the finger at Francis in particular and the Vatican hierarchy in general isn't good enough. Bishops, priests, administrators and teachers in Catholic schools - stand up and be counted!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again Civil Comments wants me to make a one-word all-or-nothing judgment on a comment to this article. I would prefer to say nothing than respond in such a simplistic way.\n \nMy response--I whole-heartedly agree that the violence and hatred against LGBT people should end--for the sake of the humanity of all of us. Hatred is \"not Christian\" and hatred and violence hurt the hater even more than their victims. \n(Or consider for a moment the Wall that Israel is building around itself that is becoming a prison.)\n\nOn the other hand, changing laws does not change people's hearts, as we've seen with the end of slavery in 1865 and the end of Jim Crow segregation 50 years ago. Social change is different. It's a choice each person must make within themselves and it must slowly grow and become an accepted behavior of the whole community. But also the LGBT community needs to consider that they are changing sexual boundaries--and no one has addressed this--yet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remember the 1960 US election when many Americans declined to vote for JFK strictly because he was a Roman Catholic?\n\nWhile no fan of Kennedy, I argue that he kept his religion separate from his political responsibilities to the American people.\n\nThis has also applied in Canada where almost all PMs in the past 50 years have been Roman Catholic yet several initiatives in such areas as same sex marriage and abortion have been enacted that at the time were anathema to the teachings of the Catholic church but that the PMs involved determined were desired by most Canadians.\n\nCanadian PMs from MacDonald to Trudeau 2.0 have been responsible (and smart enough) to keep their private religious beliefs separate from their public political duties. \n\nAny PM who breaks this pattern with radical religion-based policy changes will find his term of office to be remarkably short.\n\nLiberal spinning and fear mongering in this regard should be treated with scepticism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Could you cite some evidence or links to support your view that only anatomy, physiology and immunology are genuine sciences and that they support the homophobia of the Catholic Church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The fundamentalist Mormons in BC don't accept it either. As a liberal, I think two or more adults should be allowed to marry if they want to. Why should the state interfere in that? Any more than it should interfere if two gay people want to get married. In the USA, interracial marriage was illegal in many states till 1967. Same principle.\n\nWhen I lived in Brazil, divorce was extremely hard. The state used the Catholic definition of marriage. I know the (Catholic) Philippines had (or maybe has) the same problem. Which led to many men abandoning their wives, but still being legally married to them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes and what was the moral of the Ten Lepers? \"One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him - and he was a Samaritan..\"\nJesus asked:\n\"Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?\"\nThen he said to him:\n\"Rise and go; your faith has saved you.\" Luke 17:11-19.\nThis last line is significant. We do not know what eventually happened to the other nine.\nAnother warning, perhaps, not to take God's mercy for granted?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What would be the point of creating another exclusively-all-male enclave?\n\nWhat is needed rather is a thorough evaluation and repudiation of the Vatican documents issued in recent decades that prohibit women priests or have the effect of promoting male clericalism: Mulieris Dignitatem and Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (the 12 apostles were male argument), and Inter Insigniores (Christ is a man, thus priests must be male argument), plus the many Vatican II documents that make the priest like unto a god (acting \"in persona Christi Capitis,\" that is, representing Jesus the Head of the Christ), an unsupportable teaching based on a Vulgate mistranslation of 2Co 2:10, now correctly translated in the NABRE on the Vatican website, not as \"in the person of Christ,\" but rather, \"in the presence of Christ.\" We are all in the presence of Christ, and no one is more a member of the Christ-Body than another. No one is the Head, no one is the High Priest, no one is the Bridegroom -- except Jesus himself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@ RusselAnthony\n\n\u201cThose characteristics resemble those of Jesus who was loving, spiritually strong, gentle, creative, prayerful, able to work hard, and devout\u201d....\n.\n\nAbove all else we need honest men who have the courage first and foremost to give their allegiance to Jesus Christ in bearing witness to the Truth, ensuring that we never again see the abuse of power (Covering up crime) by the elite within the Church.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually the Bible was \"given\" to us by a successive line of kings who included their self-serving revisions, edits, exclusions, and creative rewrites as needed to maintain their own vision of religion. The Bible may have been inspired by God, but it's a product of man. Nobody even knows for sure who wrote the new testament despite the claims of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John authoring the gospels. Currently the authors are anonymous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, some teachings are more important than others. The two I like to single out are the prohibition on ordaining women and that Christ is our savior. The former is minor in the list of dogmas, the latter is crucial. One can reject the former and be a perfectly good Catholic, no Catholic can reject the latter.\n\nI simply do not understand why you reject this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Correct....as usual! It was +John Paul II who swept Cardinal Law away to Rome and game his a wonderful position of prestige and in excellent comfort. And to reinforce our point - which so many seem to be unable to cognitively process - Bernard Law has no legal charges pending against him. He was going to be deposed but left our shores before it took lace. But a deposition is nothing more than a part of a \"discovery\" phase of information collecting by prosecutors and carries no legal sanctions. What is suspected, or concluded, about what +Law did is irrelevant as no facts of illegal activity has been presented to a grand jury. What we do know is that this sorry excuse for a Christian, a Catholic, a bishop, enabled abusive priests to continue to victimize our young people and escape the legal consequences. He is a little man who ingratiated himself to popes and fed lies to a reactionary pontiff to help cause a Vatican attack on US religious women. Most all of Rome hates him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems that some people have far more fluency with Freud than they do with Aquinas. \n\nAquinas laid out very nicely (beautifully, in fact) why we have freedoms and rights.\n\nThat \"loving God USING our freedoms to attain closer unity with Him\" is now considered \"reactionary\" and \"elitist\" by some tells me that some Catholics not just have no familiarity of Aquinas but even the headings of the CCC. Adi\u00f3s para siempre.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is the fight for the Church of Christ or the Church of 'Man\"? I think your priorities are misplaced, everything is not about \"me, me, me\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do medicines serve the family in any way? Anti-seizure meds?\n\nDoes google map serve the family? Maybe help them plan a vacation? Find granny's home?\n\nDoes the kayak travel service help families, perhaps help them save money?\n\nAll done with math. Math serves the family. \n\nDoes a mother who studied math well perhaps have some intellectual skill and virtues that are put to some use in the family, perhaps teaching her children how to set up problems, break down pieces of what appears to be a tough problem (not just math problems)? Might not her improved virtues in precision, exactitude benefit her as a mother or wife or worker?\n\nOf course...math serves the family. \n\nThe problem here are the people with little ability to see connections across many realms. They also can't see \"virtues\" underneath activities of any sort. \n\nCatholics need to get much smarter about what the virtues are. \n\nMath most definitely serves the family, and I could give 50 examples without slowing down.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump will own the narrative. This will be good.\n\nTrump only has to say....\"we talked about a lot of things....China, immigration, and our plans to revise the 501-3(c) laws for religious organizations. Catholics have a terrific pope, a wonderful pope, a great pope. The very best pope.\"\n\nAnd the only thing \"contributing Catholic$\" will hear and remember is \"501-3(c)\". \n\n: >\n\nTrump can influence by innuendo alone the collection basket...and that means he has contributing Catholics (the ones who build churches/cathedrals, send their children to Catholic schools) in his back pocket. And the Cupich's of the Church will roll over begrudgingly. \n\nGreat fun.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I must admit that I always have to scratch my head after reading Con supporter's posts. Many are critical of this correct move on the Liberals' part, and say that they will be jailed or worse for criticizing the Islamic faith.\n\nI don't think being critical of Islam or any other imported middle-eastern religion is bad. It is when that criticism turns into rampaging, murderous beast who walks into a house of prayer and executes unarmed Canadians who are praying....that...that is when things are out of hand.\n\nThe final irony is that many on the right deplore rampaging, murderous beasts walking into a house of prayer and gunning people down....and they say that this is the work of the Daesh......but hell no, that is also the work of white Christians -both in Quebec and with Dylann Roof in South Carolina. those guys aren't daesh....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As far as I can gather Psalms 145-150 and Psalms 114-118 were customary parts of the types of synagogue/local worship that Jesus would have been accustomed to on a regular, perhaps daily basis. Certain Psalms themselves contain repetitious elements (Psalm 118: \"His steadfast love endures forever\"). The Shema itself contains within it the command to recite it at least twice a day. Granted, Jesus probably didn't engage in something directly akin to the Rosary, repeating the same words 50 times in the span of 20 minutes but make no mistake He and the entire contingent of disciples would have been accustomed to praying certain prayers every day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not at all. Talk about disease! Have you really missed the fact that one aspect of our lives as Christians (=followers of Christ) is to constantly discern truth - not just the truth of Catholicism, or of economics, or social sciences, etc. - but the truth of whatever and whoever has particular meaning for us on various levels. You very much misapply the entire matter of \"clericalism\" and should do some study in what exactly that is. I realize you are on an opposite side of the divide than most of us here, but it is clear to me that you hold to the notion that your conscience is DETERMINED by the Church, where many here - myself very much included - see the conscience as being GUIDED by the Church. God asks nothing of us: pompous and controlling men do. God loves each of us without condition or prerequisite, even if we don't acknowledge or love God. I am certain that God is not bothered in the least when one is critical of Rome or Washington or Mecca.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're not going to make much headway with arguments like that.\n\nWhat you should do is to undercut the entire idea of sacrifice as the essence and model of perfect love, but you won't be able to do that using Scripture!\n\nThe notion of offering - a priest offering for others - goes too far back in Scripture for you to undercut it. Remember Abraham - carrying wood on his shoulder (a priest's role!) - for the sacrifice?\n\nSo Jesus raised & perfected the image of sacrifice and the priest. Priest & victim as the Catholic Church teaches. \n\nAnd you'll have to argue that \"died once and for all\" should be understood in purely human terms, temporal, once & for all, done. Rather than \"once & forever more\".\n\nCatholic priests \"partake\" in the ministerial/liturgical role of Jesus's ONGOING salvific action; we \"partake\" in the \"common priesthood\" role, by offering our own work, struggles, efforts, sacrifices TO GOD in union with the ongoing sacrifice of Jesus in the Mass. One sacrifice; unity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Youe post is non-responsive to my comment re:2002. I don't \"blame\" Trump for Mr. christian's actions. I blame Mr. christian. To be sure he may be mentally ill; and he may have been encouraged to target Muslims by the anti-Muslim rhetoric from Mr. Trump and his supporters. It does concern me when influential persons' inflammatory rhetoric may lead to violence from unbalanced followers of the person. Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Pope Francis said it best when speaking about many of these unpastoral, clerical, young priest when he referred to them as Monsters. \nYou make a mistake cwg when you say they give up so much to serve you. No, they are among us to be served not to serve.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sounds to me like U.S. Catholics are simply the religious demographic most reflective of the American electorate as a whole. This is hardly surprising given Catholicism's enormous ethnic diversity. It's rather like investing largely in index stocks: you can pretty much be guaranteed that your portfolio will reflect the market as a whole, for better or for worse. That's sort of the way I see Catholics and elections. Not much to see here - move along.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ never gave His Church the authority to declare evil to be good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Possibly one of the reasons there is a priest shortage is that young men do not want to become priests because they do not want to join a 'brotherhood' that is disgracefully chauvinistic. Women are not allowed to have the best jobs in Church administration. Women are barred from the Altar. So making the Church even more chauvinistic by allowing all men, even married men, to be priests, will not solve the problem of chauvinism. It would be contrary to Jesus' teachings to perpetuate and intensify the chauvinism. It is silly to have separate roles for men and women. Yes, gender influences who a person becomes, but enhances and does not limit a person. (Gender is not limiting except at the level of gametes and plumbing). It is a terrible falsehood that women should be segregated and limited. Let there be 'neither male nor female,' a 'priesthood of all believers,' where 'all may be One.' The Church may be paying the price for disregarding the sacred texts and instead opting for chauvinism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Celebrate the tepee protest. Demonstration improves social justice\n\nIf it were a group of Christians opposed to abortion you would decry protests a social chaos and injustice. Or, if natives were protesting something you have a stake in, like a land claim on the ground your own house is built, you would have a different opinion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I enjoy learning the history of Christmas. I was amused to learn that St Francis of Assisi staged the first nativity. It baffles me that people are so adamant about Christmas being about the celebration of Jesus' birth. The Bible doesn't address such celebrations and doesn't mention the date. Pope Julius assigned Dec 25 centuries after the fact. \nPeople are free to celebrate (or not) as they wish, that's the good news. In reference to your Dickens, my favorite holiday meme: Bah! Humbug!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The theological argument I was trying to make was that there are distinctions in the body of Christ. The other argument I was trying to make was that God created men and women, masculine and feminine, male and female for a reason. Men and women are equally human, yet they both embody what it means to be human in distinct and complimentary ways.\n\nWhat that means is that within the Body of Christ, there will likewise be distinctions in roles, etc. Liberal dissidents see this as a bad thing for whatever reason. They see this as somehow an insult to the integrity of Baptism, when in fact it is not. Our Baptismal Graces do not depend for their worth on what office we have in the Church, what our role is, what we do, etc. We don't have to take on the roles of the priest, or do what the priest does to have worth in the Church.\n\nThat was my point, which you seem to have missed...Sigh....head shake....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And yet you never miss a response I post to you when you use the Eliane alias. I was also hoping that a resolution had been made to stop the silly pretext. Not that I am criticizing you for your humor, whatever name you post under. The important thing is that you remain consistent with your devotion to the Catholic Church in its True Traditional Form. You remain a shining example of all the USCCB could ever hope for in an American Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My family tree includes founders or early adherents of four such sects: the Puritans, the Anabaptists, the Quakers and the Disciples of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "i agree to a certain extent with Shar. but my personal antennae went up immediately when i read the oft repeated phrase ''as catholics, we are so ashamed.'' these words can be seen as saying that it is the ''being catholic'' this the only part of the problem that we should be concerned about. we should be horrified,ashamed AS HUMAN BEINGS--not JUST because we are catholic. i have to say that i become incredibly disgusted and disheartened when i read articles that speak about ''catholic martyrs, taking care of catholic refugees etc'. what difference does it make if the humans involved are catholic or not??? we- as human beings- should be scandalized with what is happening to so many of our children-our refugees- our elderly--- BECAUSE they and we share the same humanity-- if not the same ''so-called faith.'' enough with the divisions!\u2026the partisanship!\u2026.. we are all one in our responsibility to care for our 'fellow' human beings no matter their faith\u2026age\u2026color\u2026etc. enough!!!!.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Name numerous revolutionary things.\n1) Being an example of the Gospel---rather than just preaching about it\n2) Working to extend the center of Catholicism away from Rome and out to\n the edges of the earth.\n3) Willing to talk about/confront challenges facing the church rather than\n ignore them out of a simplistic notion of unity\n4) Urging the importance of 'synodality' among bishops---rather than\n adhering to rigid bureaucracy from the magisterium. Francis called a\n synod of bishops in just a little over a year after he was elected\n5) Dialogue fostered rather than 'people being frog-marched' to preconceived \n concepts coming from the curia. The permission to question and engage in\n further reflection\n6) The importance of mercy---A Year of Mercy 2016 was declared. This was\n in place of the public embarrassment that JP II used to dish out to people or\n the judging and shaming of lay Catholics who don't operate like they were\n made on an assembly line", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Try this; any god you or I can understand is NO god at all. We all know the attributes the church ascribes to God. That is not the issue. What you pose is belief, and acceptance of belief, void of any evidence. I am not questioning that you believe it, only the veracity of knowing factually. Forget 'climate change' then, and focus on the scientific fact of evolution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree. The bible reveals, not what God says to humans, but what humans say about God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please. Give us a break. We are baptized into the Church, we ARE the Church, the People of God. That includes all of us. We can no more leave the Church than you can attempt to remove us from it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dwayne,\n\nThey are a minority, except in their own minds. The volume of their protestations not withstanding, a scan of those posting anti-WO messages in this forum shows a noisy few doing most of the arguing.\n\nI wish you would get over the issue and get on with expending your energies on more important topics that will help the church in North America and other places grow faster so Jesus can come.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church \u201ckept secret lists of part of the 30,000 people who are believed to have died.\u201d (desaparecidos.org). One member of the junta, General Jorge Rafael Videla, confirmed in a 2010 interview that \u201che kept the country\u2019s Catholic hierarchy informed about his regime\u2019s policy of \u2018disappearing\u2019 political opponents, and that Catholic leaders offered advice on how to \u2018manage\u2019 the policy.\u201d (en.mercopress.com) \nCardinal Bergoglio was called to testify twice about his conduct during the Dirty War. In both his testimonies, Bergoglio told the court he would make the Church\u2019s records available. (counterpunch.org)\nPope Francis promised he would produce the documents mentioned in his 2010 and 2011 testimony, in April 2013 and April 2015.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Disagree. It is making real Jesus drinking the wine on the cross, thus marking our entrance into the Father's kingdom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, sorry, but Catholicism doesn't belong to progressives, neither do Catholic colleges, and Catholics are not bound to be socialists. If wealthy conservatives wish to donate to a Catholic college and promote responsible business practices, they have that right.\n\nThere are tons and tons of super-wealthy progressives in the world who love being philanthropists. Ever wonder why they don't give their millions to Catholic orgs? You probably do, but I'd be glad to explain it to you if you don't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one wants to hear the cry of the poor. Who will advocate for their needs?\u2014Pat Perriello\n\nI'm not sure what any of it means, but I think Pope Francis is talking about it.\u2014Rivers Edge\n\nI'm not sure what any of it means, but I think Pope Francis is talking about it.\u2014Violet writes\n\nfrom privileged superior to mentor; from dominion to soul mate.\u2014dennism\n\n\u201cThe earth is full of the goodness of the Lord\u201d (Psalm 33:5b), despite human squabbling with Pope Francis. \u201cthis Jesus whom you crucified\u201d (Acts 2:36) on the tree of indifference toward those less fortunate. \u201cJesus said to her, `Mary!\u2019\u201d (John 20:16), from superior to mentor, from dominion to soul mate. Liturgy of the Word, Reading 262, Tuesday of the Octave of Easter I", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well Jesus is not just any man so that is not a very good comparison. Jesus is the ONLY begotten son of God so his wisdom is perfect because he is thoroughly perfect. \n\nI do believe celibate people can have great wisdom, even on sexual love, but only if they want to learn about that subject from a variety of sources and not just from a rule book of patriarchs. \n\nAs I said elsewhere in this comment thread - Jesus did not condone any kind of break of marriage, in the Gospels, including annulments. So our Church is not following Christ's teachings on divorce anyway. Jesus also did not desire to keep the woman at the well who had five husbands and was living with someone who was not a husband from life giving water so why should we believe Jesus would want to keep her from life giving communion? \n\nWe are talking apples and oranges. Divorce is a sin as it breaks a spiritual contract and often causes adultery later on. Eucharist was not designed to be a tool for punishment by Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dolan is not participating in the inauguration in his ontological splendor. Dolan is going to play the role of \"lectoress.\" He's going to piously read a snippet of Scripture, just like corpulent, short-grey-haired, Catholic women in polyester pantsuits do in suburban Catholic parishes every week.\n\nThe priestly office of offering a prayer for the newly elected head of state falls to Pastor Paula White. Dolan is going to meekly bow his head and fold his hands while a divorced! Protestant!! woman!!! prays. \n\nIt'll be hilarious. Don't be surprised if he genuflects when she offers him her hand, out of sheer habit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The purpose of the Orlando event was to gather thousands of Catholics together in order to not see the elephant in the room: The Catholic Left is pro-abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I want to thank Bill Lindsey for pointing me to something in that Australian study on child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church at https://www.rmit.edu.au/content/dam/rmit/documents/news/church-abuse/child-sex-abuse-and-the-catholic-church.pdf\n\nThe authors, Peter Cahill and Desmond Wilkinson, say that following Pope Paul VI's refusal to listen to the advice of the theological advisory board he commissioned on Catholic teaching on birth control, the Catholic church has not had a compelling sexual ethic. The condemnation of birth control in Paul VI's Humanae Vitae has not been \"received\" by lay Catholics, who have largely rejected the teaching. This has resulted, Cahill and Wilkinson think, in a total undermining of anything the Catholic magisterium wants to say about sexual ethics after Humanae Vitae.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article, laced with gratuitous sarcasm, is misleading at best. It begins with a misleading and untrue statement: ...\"the very group about whom the campaign team of the Democratic nominee, Secretary Hillary Clinton, concluded, 'There needs to be a Catholic Spring, in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a middle ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the Catholic Church.'\" That statement about a Catholic Spring was not made by a member of Clinton's campaign team, which is clearly stated in the Post article that Kempton links to. I don't understand the intent of NCR in publishing Kempton's article. It does nothing to contribute to understanding why a conservative Catholic (or anyone else) would vote for Trump if the voter did not find Trump's obvious intolerance, racism, and misogyny acceptable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Post2 \u201c\u2026 another selection that raised eyebrows among liturgical traditionalists is Italian Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino \u2026 One of Pope Benedict XVI\u2019s first personnel changes was to remove him as secretary to the congregation in 2005 and appoint him as head of the Archdiocese of Assisi instead... known to be no supporter of the Traditional Latin Mass and is also understood to have drafted Pope St. John Paul II\u2019s last letter to priests on Holy Thursday in 2005, which made an argument for pro multis being interpreted as meaning that the Body and Blood of Christ are shed \u201cfor all\u201d as well as \u201cfor many.\u201d Benedict XVI later determined that \u201cfor many\u201d is the more accurate translation of the Latin\u2026\n\nCardinal John Atcherley Dew New Zealand, who at the last synod strongly advocated a change in the language... abandoning such terms as \"living in sin\" ... and \"intrinsically disordered\"...\"\n\nArticle \"Assessing the Changes in the Congregation for Divine Worship\" \nrats to the word limit", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "angelo writes: \"Religious organizations who refuse to perform same-sex marriages....\"\n\nAngelo, our current law states that religious organizations are NOT obliged to perform same-sex marriages, just as they are NOT obliged to perform marriages for divorced people (some Catholic churches), and so forth. Our constitution protects freedom of religion... shocking, as that may seem!\n\nNow, if the Tories had resolved to state that a non-religious marriage commissioner could refuse to perform a same-sex marriage, then I think this could be grounds for legitimate discrimination, but let's temper all of this anti-religious zeal a bit... as the last time I checked, Canada was a free country, where one is free to choose, free to be gay, and yes, free to be religious if that's what gets them through life.\n\nProvided that the religious right is not stomping on the rights of others to co-exist, then why do certain politicians continually stomp on the rights of those who choose to be religious?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part three of three) \u201c . . . the young women, pregnant . . . \u201c(Isaiah 7:14) NAB translation that the Lectionary usually uses, but not here, where the hermeneutical Faithful understand \u201cvirgin.\u201d The Faithful profit by paying attention to themselves. \u201cThen the angel departed from her\u201d (Luke 1:38). Just as Mary was left to her own devices after she was left pregnant without a husband, so the Faithful are left to their own devices when left with Church cultures more concerned with the institution than the members. See Liturgy of the Word, as used at St. Mary Church, Tuesday, December 20, 2016.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which puts Burke third in line behind Harnwell and Cardinal Martino. \nI do not wish to nit pick over Burke's title in HDI or who extended the invitation to Burke. I was only asking for verification of the assertion of fact that it was Burke invited Bannon to speak.\nBurke's power and importance is a figment of the US for-profit media's imagination. Here's what he actually said in response to the comment: \"CWR: Some critics say you are implicitly accusing the Pope of heresy. Cardinal Burke: No, that's not what we have implied at all. We have simply asked him, as the Supreme Pastor of the Church, to clarify these five points that are confused; these five, very serious and fundamental points. We\u2019re not accusing him of heresy, but just asking him to answer these questions for us as the Supreme Pastor of the Church.\" http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/5292/cardinal_burke_no_i_am_not_saying_that_pope_francis_is_in_heresy.aspx", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree, Elaine Nelson. Our \"being ready\" does not control Christ's return. We want to BE ready, at all times and in all ways, because we want Him to take us home to heaven with Him! I have no illusions about my having any control over when Christ will return. I only want to stay close to Him in my spiritual life so as to recognize Him when he arrives!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Why do liberals always pick out just one part instead addressing the entire issue?\"\nWhy do conservatives use two tiny lines in the Second Testament to justify condemnation and discrimination, yet ignore the dozens of times Jesus said to love each other?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "USED to be the same as the Catholic Church.\n\nCurrently it is theologically the Episcopal Church but speaking German, Dutch, or another language. Every shade of belief known is tolerated.\n\nAs it drifted away, the Polish National Catholic Church in the USA - which is many times larger than the entire European Old Catholic contingent, severed communion.\n\nThe PNCC does not ordain women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Bro... I'm just in the beginning of a re-read of Paton's Instrument of the Peace. He is the author and witness to Cry, the Beloved Country and the dismantling of apartheid. He parses each phrase in the plea to serve as an Instrument of Peace. Would that I could send each participant in the drafting of the encyclical a copy as it surfaces this tension of the personal experience of the Gospel and the Social Gospel. Paton, faced both daily. And so I sought him as a mentor for my own plank removal work - one chip at a time .\nI would hope they would draft an encyclical that speaks to both. What does it really mean to become an instrument of peace today in my relationships? in the silence of my heart? and as person living in the layers of community that my choices actively affirm across a day. Is it the 'seamless garment' we each don in our baptism made visible? Defining the what ~~ the 'seamless garment' , will the how become implicit ~~ an Instrument of the Peace of Christ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Proof texting? All clocks are right twice a day. He was defending his power, which is a consistent papal theme. That is a temporal question, however, not an eternal one. What is offensive is his and his predessors disregard for the intellect and faith of the baptized. Progress is discrediting that, at least among theologians and scientists. Sadly,the Church still does not listen, even if doing so will bring it closer to the Truth. A claim of having the Truth, by the way, is hubris and impossible. Absolute Truth is only in God, not in this realm. The Paraclete comes precisely because we never will have it. Pay attention to the Gospel in the upcoming weeks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He did no such thing.\nHe pointed out IF Pope Francis believes that adultery \u201cis what God himself is asking\u201d of couples in \u201cirregular\u201d situations, then there is nothing stopping any other intrinsically evil acts from eventually being justified (quoting1P5.)\n\u201cIf this is truly what AL affirms, all alarm over AL\u2019s direct affirmations regarding matters of changes of sacramental discipline refer only to the peak of an iceberg, to the weak beginning of an avalanche, or to the first few buildings destroyed by a moral theological atomic bomb that threatens to tear down the whole moral edifice of the Ten Commandments and of Catholic moral teaching,\u201d Seifert wrote. (1P5)\nThis is true. Plug in any other sin into this logic: racism, defrauding your worker, contributing to climate change, etc. and what have you got? It's not pretty but there it is. If Francis doesn't intend this he can say so. \n\nWhy is this not ok but Fr Martin playing footsie with homosexual acts is?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tom set himself up as the arbiter of who and what is a \"faithful Catholic\". I pointed out that he has no standing to make that judgement and that his opinion carries no weight with me. His messages were each one more 'ad hominem' than the last, culminating with his speculation (in the message in which he purports to quote from Bishop Sheen) about my personal life and behavior. He does more of the same in his message to you referring to my \"moral failures.\" I was not unkind; but I hope I was also not unclear.\n\nI should think not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's sad we didn't borrow more music from the Anglican tradition, many of their hymns are more Catholic than the songs commissioned for the Novus Ordo.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the first place, I'm not sure that ordaining married men and women would solve the crisis -- there's been too much alienation, I think, of too many whose calling has already been rejected, or who would see it not as the Church recognizing the call of the Holy Spirit, but as a frenzy of fear for its own existence.\n\nAnd in the second place, it's not lack of confidence that keeps us from bringing this up to the Pope -- people have been talking and urging the ordination of women and married men for at least 40 years (because I remember it being discussed when I was in college). It's a hierarchy that refuses to consider it and, frankly, a number of conservatives and traditionalists that fight it because it's not the \"Catholic way.\"\n\nSome would rather see us go without priests than consider change. And the moment for change may already have passed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Eucharist is between Jesus and the person. The community is incidental. 2000 years of Sacred Tradition formed by countless saints, martyrs, priests and devout laity, all guided by the Holy Spirit, have affirmed and deepened our understanding that a person needs to be in a state of grace achieved by His gift of confession in order to show our love and loyalty to Jesus who gave His own life to save each of us from our broken nature created by original sin, to show us the way to eternal life with Him. \n\n Again what kind of love of God is it that a person can't even be bothered to at least try to be in a state of grace before receiving the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.\n\nIf you can't even love God in the simplest things then can you really love anybody else but yourself, if that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the reason is simple key parts of AL contradict Church teaching and the pope is unwilling to resolve the intellectual conflicts because he is unable to.\n\nHe thinks feelings will wash away truth and he's now boxed in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For the sake of clarity, understanding an extreme Catholic view-how do you reconcile your view of sacrifice and the role of the priest and the book of Hebrews in the NT? I do not intend to prove you wrong. I want to understand what you believe. \n I have heard the Eucharist referred to by Pope Francis as a memorial and spiritual food. The Vaatican II documents refer to Jesus' sacrifice of his body and blood at Calvary and the Mass a memorial of this. No conflict with NT apostolic teaching. \n IF you mean the priest is offering sacrifice on behalf of the People of God to God the Father I think Hebrews says something different. If Jesus is being sacrificed again in an \"unbloody\" manner I take issue with this as an emphasis in need of reform. \n As Cardinal Newman said, when asked what he would do if the Pope declared it a sin to drink wine: \"I would drink first to conscience and then to the Pope\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let me guess, you believe Jesus didn't multiply the loaves and fishes but the real \"miracle\" was getting people to share, too?\n\nHow boring.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But not by Francis. And he can still speak up. He is still on several Vatican committees. No one has told him not to publish or he'd be removed from his order.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wonderful words from Good Pope Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As you are not a member of the Catholic Church what does it matter to you whether they \"... open the doors to women and optional celibacy ...?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Holy Family is always before us...\"\n\nThey certainly are. A teenaged, unmarried, pregnant Mum, a foster father, both migrants. \n\nThe last sentence of this Sunday's gospel has also been very conveniently airbrushed out by the Church over the years - Jesus obviously had brothers and sisters - but the hierarchs have pushed her virginity as the greatest of all virtues.\n\nAlso airbrushed out over the years is the Magnificat, probably the most radical words spoken anywhere in the Bible. Mary has been 'statue-ized', dressed in pastel blue, rosary beads hanging from her side, topped off with a halo. \n\nThe last thing a Monsignor I know did before he toddled off to Lourdes last year was shut down the parish food programme for the homeless. Obviously Mary's words about the poor being given good things to eat didn't register as he bowed in front of a statue, rattling beads.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Athanasius - a joke, yes - you saw right through me. Not specifically Roman, but hopefully catholic - I'd like to think that some people other than just Latin Rite Catholics might get a chuckle. :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The answer has been staring the all male celibate hierarchy in the face for decades - allow men and women to be priests and end mandatory celibacy. \n\nBut more than that, it is necessary, I think, to end the idea that some \"ontological change\" creates the ability of priests to create and deliver the sacraments. We can have Eucharistic celebrations, baptism, confession, marriages, anointing of the sick without priests - all that is really required is faith in Jesus in those who gather in His name. This idea that a priests stands in \"persona christi\" has to go. \n\nIt is also important to bring lay people into governance of parishes, dioceses, and the Vatican. Patriarchal/monarchical hegemony has been dying around the world since the Enlightenment. It has only been in the last 100 years or so that masculine hegemony has started to crumble. Time for these changes to be recognized in religious institutions as they are recognized and practiced in other areas of our lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps it is purely an American phenomenon that schools are regarded as communities. When I was at school here in the UK there were hardly any co-educational schools, so no dances, proms, trips, etc, we just went there to learn. Dating whilst one was of school age was frowned upon.\nSimilarly the Parish never seemed like a community either. There were a few social events per year which only a fraction of the parishioners attended. There was the CYMS (Catholic,Young Men's Society) which despite its name included men of all ages who used to meet in the Church Hall to play snooker and drink at the bar. The ladies had the Children of Mary but I don't know what they did except that they didn't play snooker or drink at the bar.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The primary mission of the Church is to serve families, helping them to sanctify their married vocations, with good solid formation, grace from the Sacraments.\n\nThe Church grows out to reach all mankind principally - for 99% of the people - through a rich and lively and generous family life. \n\nQuietly, without protest signs...but by generous conversation, solid teaching, heroic and constant example between the parents.\n\nSaint John Paul II said the greatest gift that parents can give their children is the unity of their marriage.\n\nThis unity gives children a sense of order, solidity, depth, constancy. \n\nToday's youth don't have any of these things...but they do pine for them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "R & R, I\"m still waiting to hear whether you find white supremacism and anti-Semitism, that is, Nazism, acceptable as a guiding ideology behind the leader of the free world? Because that is what Steve Bannon, the CEO of the Trump campaign, represents.\n\nYou have to think it over?\n\nWhen Pius XI came to terms with Mussolini Catholic clergy were being persecuted by fascist thugs. (Of course, he also saw an opportunity to restore the church's greatly diminished authority. But. His priests were being brutalized.)\n\nYou, who are not even a citizen of the United States but have been shilling for Trump all year, appear blithe at the prospect of a neo-fascist coming to power as long as he provides lip service to the anti-abortion cause. And you have the gall to moralize to us every single day about the path to salvation.\n\nOne wonders what Jesus Messiah, who Matthew tells us said he came for the lost sheep of Israel, would think of anti-Semitism being promoted in his name.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, too many 'Christians' fail to see any need to actually put their faith into physical practice. Oh, they are 'churched' and they pray. Then, they condemn any and all who actually DO stand up for others as sons and daughters of God. The social gospel of the Church is based on the Beatitudes and on the Gospel of Matthew 25:31-47 [The Judgment of the Nations]. This is not an optional position. \n\nMercy, Compassion, Concern, and Love for those in distress----must compel us as Christian/Catholics!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't mean to say that his coming out was a betrayal to others; I meant that it was an ill-considered rejection of those peoples' opinions. Those opinions and perspectives were not formed lightly and are the result of countless years of human experiment in civilizations.\n\nWith thousands of years of developing our perspective on human sexual conduct - an almost universal understanding - developed with the guidance of God and his Son, it seems rather selfish for one to suddenly reject all that we've come to understand and say, \"No, I don't want to accept that. I want to do what feels good to me and would seem to lead to my happiness.\" That sort of thought is what leads to, e.g., divorce (because a spouse is not happy) or even murder (because a person is unhappy). \n\nWhat God intended us to be is not always obvious from our feelings and certainly not from our sexual lust. When we \"move on\" from the sins of others, we have abandoned them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not that it's very important, but I don't think Pio Vito Pinto is a bishop. I did find his name on the Catholic Hierarchy website, where he is listed as \"Father Pio Vito Pinto\", Dean of the Roman Rota. I think Pope Francis is responding to the 'dubia' appropriately; even eloquently. Silence is precisely the right response. 'Amoris laetitia' has been thoroughly sliced and diced. The great importance of AL is precisely that it does not attempt to provide a \"one size fits all\" solution to pastoral problems. The four cardinals and their supporters suffer from a pathological need to fit every person, every situation into a pre-fab slot. Francis is wise, and correct, not to bite. I suppose these four could precipitate a crisis in the church -- their egos seem fully engaged now. However, short of a crisis, I think Francis won't be taking their red hats away. I think Francis is secure and serene in his person and in his ministry and I think he has not, and will not, lose any sleep over this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, RD? Pope Francis puts the Gospel ahead of canon law just as Jesus put it ahead of Mosaic Law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"obey authority\" bit in Romans comes in handy now and again, and Paul's emphasis on the Old Testament allows for careful cherry-pickers to skip over the Jesus stuff and get back to the good old days of holy war, justifiable violence, and so forth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I understand correctly what Leonardo Boff said in an interview in German, it seems that the pope has taken on trying to save the world from destruction as more important than reforming the Catholic Church. I think I understand those priorities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Spirit blows where it wants.\n\nYou comment is a little broad, it is hard to grasp. I will say that the Catechism has errors in it, not because I know of an error but because it was produced by fallible people. Even if it had no errors, it has to be read, implying more fallible people interpreting the words as they see fit.\nI have struggled with your question for many years, and I have no good answer. The Catholic response has been to leave it to the Pope, which is where I am with it. I can\u2019t grasp how you know what the Church teaches with such certainty that you can correct the Pope. (not you personally, but generally, those who attack AL)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your comment. I think there are several obvious instances in which NCR (and I) are in significant disagreement with episcopal/papal teaching. As a result, I try to base my positions on the gospel and the evolving core of human knowledge, and avoid claiming papal support for positions only when it's convenient to do so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trudeau is absolutely right in seeking a papal apology for the Catholic Church's role in the residential school fiasco; and perhaps after the Pope apologizes, there can be some redemption. That's the only route forward. The Church should understand this, even though many (making irresponsible comments around here) certainly don't. I think Francis will do the right thing and apologize.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have to agree with those I seldom do. The example does not fit the issue. However the issue needs to be explored. I guess Mr Briggs that you are one unwitting example of why the \"willing to be ambiguous to do the right thing\" failed to avoid Trump. \nThe sentence that refers to the signs at the Catholic Church tells the story of the simplistic logic the Church promoted and resulted in \"our\" electing the antithesis of \"right to life\".\nI grew-up with a Down Syndrome sibling who would likely have been the subject of an abortion in so many family situations. In a similar situation I would counsel my child to keep rather than abort; I would offer to take and raise, but in the end the decision would be her's. \n\"Protecting the life of the unborn\" is a ruse when, as you describe the conditions for raising persons' capacity to consider and keep a child, or to avoid pregnancy is rejected. Working towards the conditions for good will and the good is the way; not unreliable promise to legislate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "May God Bless this priest for his actions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Praise white Jesus!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have known Bryan Massingale for twenty years. He is the kind of smart, articulate leader the Catholic Church desperately needs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What the story didn't mention was that Bishop X also ordained one of the RCWP as a bishop. Then it was she who went on to ordain the other women. Certainly, the Vatican still dismisses their claim to legitimacy despite that fact, but it is a key point that should have been made clear in the piece. Apologies for the omission.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But we really need to also learn to trust ourselves and to let those learned and wise people be our guides always realizing that they are not God Himself, but good educated and wise humans who try to understand what is good and right.\u2014AFT\n\nIndeed. That the American Association of university Professors has found it necessary since 1990 to hold the administration of The (Pontifical) Catholic University of America under censure is an abomination before both heaven and earth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please stop! I live with a similar situation in my country every day. Fathers of my Church PLEASE set an example for the world that we Christians are set apart for the glory of God and the salvation of the world. Please show my divided nation the right way to settle disagreements. PLEASE!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cDo you have no respect? Why do you go to a Catholic Mass? Archaic language! What Rite do you belong to? I belong to the Latin Rite.\u201d\nThanks to Petrus for giving me some idignant words to use.\n\nMost of us do go along with Francis, but we do not need to form our own club. Our \u201cclub\u201d was called together when Jesus called his disciples and sent them his Holy Spirit. We were charged by the Lord to go to all nations, not to fight all nations or stay away from them. We were told our neighbor is not another member of our group, but the wounded person who needs our help, no matter what religion he professes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In judging our salvation or definitive damnation, God will not be guided by cultic criteria - when and how we prayed - nor by doctrinal criteria - what truths we believe in. God will be guided by ethical criteria: what we did for others. The eternal destiny of human beings will be measured by how much or how little solidarity we have displayed with the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, and the oppressed. In the end, we will be judged in terms of love.\" (Leonardo Boff)\n\nThe whisper of our words will always be drowned out by the roar of our actions. My beloved Catholic Church proclaims 'justice for all' and I yearn for the day when it will begin living up to that proclamation in its dealings with women, divorced and remarried couples, and non-heterosexuals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But what if I went in to this shop and ordered a cake for a same sex marriage when my Christian church fully supports same sex marriage? Whose religious beliefs win??\n\nWe've already been through the \"separate but equal\" phase and that didn't work out so well. This was blatant discrimination on the part of the baker. He could have just as easily cited religious beliefs to refuse a wedding cake to an interracial couple. That would be the same thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Latin rite Roman Catholics can receive the Eucharist, if properly disposed, at Byzantine Catholic churches, such as the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the Ruthenian Catholic Church. You may need a little instruction on the proper reception (kissing the chalice, receiving the combined species of the Eucharist on a spoon).\nAs regards to altar rails, I visited my family's ancestral hometown in Europe and went to the oldest church building, supposedly in use from the 12th century. There was no altar rail and their were no pews; it was quite primitive and obviously quite different from the cathedrals of Europe..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Francis has no more authority to investigate personnel decisions of the Knights of Malta than he can force an investigation of the budget of a non-Diocesean Catholic High School. And the local ordinary can't either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Quebecers takes this down, Jesus is gonna be soooo POed !!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought Christmas was about co-opting a pagan solstice holiday that falls six months after Jesus' birthday. Huh. You learn something every day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Professional Catholics\" -- I've not heard that term before. \n\nI'm familiar with the adjectives faithful, devout, lapsed, 'trad', cafeteria, cultural, cradle, V II, and likely others I should remember. But never \"professional\". \n\nI know what you mean and do not find it offensive. I just never thought of that descriptive before. And if I am only one of a few who hasn't, then it is my ignorance that is to blame.\n\nAs for the other part of your post -- racism might not be \"everywhere\", but this election cycle sure showed it to be in many more places and much more pervasive than previously thought. \"Everywhere\" might be hyperbole, but it is closer to the truth than previously assumed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, all one of them. Maybe that's why he is on the periphery. It's by no means unknown in Roman Catholic hierarchical circles for that very thing to happen!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican II. Modernism won before I even cared or you were born. Who or what are you fighting for? God? God can take care of Himself. The Culture? Always changes and we change within it. The purity of Dogma? If Dogma changed, does it really matter? Is your faith in danger if we defy your idea of loyalty? Put your faith in God and don\u2019t think you are his enforcer. That is Francis\u2019s job and he is doing a fine bit taking out the Cardinals most infected with hubris, the ones that believe that they are essential to God\u2019s plan. They are not consubstantial with the Father. As my patron would say, who is like to God?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The real question is will Catholics be there for him? In light of today's disgusting revelations I want the names of those who do. \"Come out, come out, wherever you are\" Catholic Trump supporters. Now's the time to stand by your man and be counted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 7 (continued from earlier response)\n\nUsing the model described in Parts 3 through 6, it is understandable that the Spirit of a loving God -- the same Spirit, the same God -- can encourage different people on their different journeys. It would appear that the sensible approach is to grant the 'other' credit for honesty and humility, and encourage them on their way.\n\nOrdinary hospitality is probably not an issue. The challenge is dealing with conceptualizations a) that touch on religious truth and b) that are strongly held by people whose world view does not incorporate the first premise. The Sunnis and the Shias come to mind, but Christianity has its own history of religious war.\n\nBut if the model is adopted, then I see much to be gained from dialogue and mutual support. Certainly, as between you, brother Kevin, myself ad EFC1127A.\n\nPeace and a blessed Easter to all.\n\nP.S. I appreciate that the chances of anyone reading this series of posts is somewhere between slim ad none.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe the solution is to stop giving these degrees out to politicians of any stripe, & thereby avoid having to tie yourself into mental knots justifying why you draw the line where you want to do it. \n\nI didn't vote for either President Obama or President Trump; but once you justify giving the honorarium to one politician who doesn't accord full square with Catholic teaching, I think it's hard to justify drawing the line somewhere else the next time no matter how odious you find the next politician's positions. Perhaps, like the decision to cancel the White House Correspondents Dinner, it is time for this practice to come to an end as well. \n\nAnother solution is to follow the practice of the Ivies, & separate the speaker from the actual commencement event. That way the commencement event remains genuinely focused on the students, & you can choose separately whether to participate in the class day event with the speaker.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "45% of America is racist?\n\nDo you speak for all progressive Catholics? Do you sir?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Newman Society should have been up in arms about Milo being invited to Catholic colleges even before his latest YouTube video. The fact that they aren't and someone as obsessed with NFP and Theology of the Body as Janet Smith is praised the guy is telling. It is all about tribalism and not values. They aren't even consistent with their own soc con values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus didn't teach dogma or doctrine. He taught us that God is Love and to care for others as he cared for us. Why is this so hard to understand?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which Mosque in the US stoned a single woman to death for infidelity and executed a single citizen for homosexuality? What we as Americans are expected to tolerate is the freedom to worship (or to not worship) in peace without being harassed, demeaned, or to be blamed for something that has nothing to do with their religious practices. It makes as much sense as saying all Catholics are pedophiles. It is just ignorance on display. Furthermore, to say one religion is not tolerated in this country is the most un-American thing I can think of, as that type of thinking that is counter to the foundation of this country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"More Catholic inequalities....\"\n\nConsidering what cardinal means -- in Latin, from the noun \"cardo,\" hinge, something on which development turns, something very important -- Switzerland is quite fortunate to have FOUR cardinals working in the universal church. That is no small achievement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The parish I went to as a teenager made us shake hands twice, once at the beginning (\"introducing ourselves to those we don't know\") and once at the sign of peace. Kind of feels infantilizing to be told to introduce yourself. \n\nNot accusing you personally of ignoring Jesus at the sign of peace but it is easy to get distracted during the sign of peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not only do I think it is not all about the rules, I think the rules have nothing to do with it.\n\nThe Church exists all over the world in different rites, different practices, different disciplines. I have never suggested that God wants a smaller and purer Church, but that God wants the entire world to accept the Gospel and his Church, the message of Vatican II in documents such as Lumen Gentium.\n\nPurposely or inadvertently calling a teaching, even a divine command (Matthew 19:3-10), a \u201crule\u201d is the problem.\n\nPaul VI made some significant mistakes early in his pontificate, and it is no surprise that Francis is also in a shakedown cruise.\n\nHigh five happiness about this pontificate is tempered when I encounter things like this three years ago:\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEchg1KhmTY\n\nIt is not just \u201cright wing\u201d Catholics that are wondering what he is doing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi, Neko. I found The Fountainhead about as interesting as Plato's Republic. But I read them both and worked out my own views on what society should be like. \nI know people who think The Republic has the answers to all life's problems, just as there are people who think the same about The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. I enjoy debating them over a glass of wine now and then. But I don't expect to find articles ridiculing either of them in a publication that purports to be inclusive.\nCatholics are people who take the time to educate themselves, discuss the issues, and vote their preferences, while getting along with those who think differently. Those who want to live like Plato's man in the cave, imagining their ideas are the only reality, are just deluding themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gushee is right about the split among evangelicals, although they have been headed that way for a while. Of course, it may simply be a transformation toward the Millennial generation, with the older conservatives having their last hurrah with Trump. Whether the anti-gay marriage crowd will be able to do anything is questionable. They could not do anything about interracial marriage either - and the religious freedom issue is likely dead at the hands of the courts (although the anti-abortionists are still trying to draw the magic court case they will never get) and the whole focus was more anti-Obama than anything else - just like the opposition to the Affordable Care Act (rather than just the taxes on the rich that fund it). If Pence were to do a Cheney on cultural issues, he would not get far. Most of these issues are constitutional law, which puts them safely (and thankfully) beyond popular opinion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see no indication historically that the Gospel and Paul's teachings were directed at Jews. Possibly the first Christians were Jews (if there were any Christians before Paul and his group). However, Paul preached to the \"Gentiles,\" that is, those Pagans known as \"God-fearers\" who supported Jewish synagogues financially and who practiced a form of monotheism, but did not observe the 613 rules of the Jews. Thus a new reform of Paganism, that retained elements of their story of the dying and rising Lord and his Lady resonated with the God-fearers. Also the words put on \"Jesus'\" lips castigating the rule-bound Pharisees also resonanted with those reluctant to adopt 613 rules. Likewise Paul's opposition to circumcision resonated. A popular reform. Still with us today. But it was not given to actual Jews, who would have known the Pagan story of Lord and Lady and automatically rejected it. I think probably there was a preacher known as Jesus of Nazareth and Paul built a story around him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whatever you want to call it, it is a lack of true priorities. You ignore the difference in culture as one would ignore the slavery issue and make it legitimate today. It reminds me of Jesus and His disciples being scolded for eating grain from a field they went through when hungry, and David eating from the temple table. And Jesus healing on the Sabbath day. You can know all the hermeneutics possible and still lack love for people in one's context and sphere of influence. Read the love chapter. A desire for what you say is perfect hermeneutics does not come near doing what is right and glorifying God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many Catholics know what an encyclical is and who was responsible for these Catholics' spiritual formation?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic Church hierarchy: Still not getting it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, St. Nicholas day isn't really our Santa Claus, St. Nicholas day is celebrated on 6 December for Western Christians and 19 December for Eastern Christians (My family puts up our tree up on 6 December to celebrate this day/St. Nicholas.). \"Our\" Santa Claus is really a mash-up of \"traditions surrounding the historical Saint Nicholas, a fourth-century Greek bishop and gift-giver of Myra, the British figure of Father Christmas, the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas (himself based on Saint Nicholas), the German figure of the Christkind (a fabulized Christ Child [Kris Kringle]), and the holidays of Twelfth Night and Epiphany and their associated figures of the Three Kings (based on the gift-giving Magi of the Nativity) and Befana.\"\n\nAdditionally, some folklorists theorize that all versions of Santa Claus begin with the Germanic pagan god, Wodan and German Christianization.\n\nFull disclosure, I am an agnostic Christian who believes in the teachings of Jesus the Jew. Merry Christmas\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus' doctrine on marriage is not in error.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any bishop can visit virtually any Catholic school and talk to the Latino children and he will discover how scared they are.\nTypical progressive thinking. Bishops are not called upon to meet with people and find out how the people feel, they are tasked by the Holy Spirit and their Brother Bishop, Our Holy Father, with the job of telling people how to feel and what to think. Listening is for the laity, not the Leaders of the One True Church. Our Courageous Bishops are, no doubt, taking the steps necessary to secure the position of the Church relating to the man the Bishops endorsed for President. They will tell us what is decided when they decide it is time for us to know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I keep trying to insert Callista Gingrich into the role of former Ambassador Hackett in the conversations and events described. Hackett was a long long time president of Catholic Relief Services and as such came prepared to bridge build and represent...\n\nImagine Callista Gingrich 'managing' the relationship between the Trump Administration and the Vatican.... as we go forward on the same themes and topics. \nHer wiki bio... President of Gingrich Productions and her marriage to Newt Gingrich...\n\"Together, they have hosted nine documentaries, including The First American, Divine Mercy: The Canonization of John Paul II, A City Upon A Hill, America at Risk, Nine Days that Changed the World, Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous with Destiny, Rediscovering God in America, Rediscovering God in America II: Our Heritage, and We Have the Power. The films have sold several hundred thousand copies.\"\n\nWill it be Callista or Newt on such topics as Christian genocide, climate change, and China?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tradition is that which is handed on either by word of mouth or written down. The Gospels and the rest of Scripture is in fact Tradition written down as is all dogma and doctrine these days. Phrases such as \u201cthe living Tradition\u201d are meaningless only serving to preclude explanation of what is meant by them. The same with \u201cthe movie is still running\u201d; it sounds quite profound but what does it actually mean? You may have an idea in your head but does anyone else have the same idea?\nThe Catechism is not for ordinary folk to learn by rote like the Penny Catechism, it is a teaching document for teachers of the Faith, primarily the bishops. Insofar as it repeats Scripture and the infallible decrees of popes and councils throughout the Church\u2019s history it enjoys the same status.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In short yes, our Catholic idea of the Eucharist is a canonical (legal) attempt to argue about one of the most important things that Christ did and that was give us the Eucharist. When ever there are \"two or more present,\" consecration occurs! The Lutherans in Sweden are saddened by the fact that sometimes abortion is in fact a necessary evil. All actions that we humans do have both a good and a bad effect. To think that something is always wrong no matter the circumstance is in fact juvenile dogmatism that is used to divide. Marriage to another person is hard enough, and we humans should not place barriers when none are needed. Lack of female ordination is nothing other than misogyny.. Yes as with the Lutherans and other churches, some of our tenets are way off course and not to understand that we as people and a society must continue to grow and develop through the help of the Holy Spirit in each generation, is in fact refusing to listen to our Supreme Being.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perverts? Fact is, there are over 200 municipalities in the US alone with bylaws on the books allowing people to use the washroom corresponding to their gender. Add in several states, however many school districts, and who knows how many private businesses and, if this was going to be a problem this press would be full of hundreds, if not thousands, of cases. Instead there hasn't been a single case of a transgendered individual causing a problem in a washroom. Reality is the people at risk of assault (physical and/or sexual) are the transgendered individuals themselves. Not the general public.\n\nBut if this really were about safety you'd be lobbying to ban Sunday Schools and bible camps - after all, kids really have been assaulted in those places.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "thanks for reminding us of 'Charisms', Mark\n\nAppreciating and acknowledging those might be the direction we need to go to solve our current problem of a 'priest shortage'\n\n'Laity' can have charisma. At least they did in Paul's first Christin communities \u2013 and had enough so that the members could us their charisms so that each community had all it needed to 'build up the body of Christ'.\n\nThere weren't any 'professional Clerics' invented yet. 'Lay' people did the jobs needed : maybe temporarily, for as long as they had 'the gift' and were willing and able and capable. They did not need to be 'professional', full-time, and life-time 'clerics'.\n\nThe 'shortage' is of our own making.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Still curious why polygamy is a problem, aside from some antiquated Christian belief. If a guy is crazy enough to want multiple wives, that's his problem. I guess the same would go for one woman and multiple husbands....we'd always be fighting over the remote control.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, that \"Commonweal\" article really packs a punch. It sums up all the issues succinctly.\nIt should be required reading for all.\nIt certainly indicates that a lot of Catholics still haven't taken the leap to engage with the spirit of Vatican II. \"Sacramental filling stations\" indeed. The mega-parishes can be compared to sacramental Walmarts. It's a consequence of persisting with an all-male celibate priesthood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The road-block [among many] here, is that our arch/bishops in the U.S. really don't talk about, or discuss with each other the real issues behind the \"divide\" that they are helping to perpetuate among American Catholics. Too many have forgotten, that:\n\n1) No bishop is a law unto himself. Every bishop is a member of the communion of bishops, and they are to work together to promote harmony and order among all the churches in the nation. This is called 'collegiality'.\n2) While the term 'collegiality' refers to the decision making structure between the pope [who must also be a bishop] and the other bishops, it is a strong call for greater participation of laypersons in decision-making processes in the church.\n3) The laity, as Pope John Paul II emphasized, speaking to the bishops of Pennsylvania and New Jersey [Sept. 11, 2004], are part of that \"ecclesial communion presupposing the participation of every category of the faithful...'\nFear is the problem, not the laity or their world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Amazing J.Bob that you say Trump spoke to bricklayers, plumbers, laborers, in the language they understood. I heard him clearly call for people in disagreement to be beaten up, carried out on a stretcher, a continued ranting in language that required constant bleeping out of the words not acceptable on air.\nIf Sec. Clinton called him and those who approved of this language and the disrespect for immigrants and people of others religions in this manner \"deplorable\" ....she was correct.\nI taught students from first to twelfth grade and they did not have any sheepskin upon graduation. The messages and language of this man were never acceptable in my schools both Catholic or Public.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"What we must do over the next four years, if not easy, is clear.\"\n\nThe first crucial step is admitting that over the past few decades, \"we\" have offered platitudes and pledges, but have come nowhere near seriously and practically striving to follow Jesus\" directive: \"You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come. follow me.\"\n\nIf we are honest, we must confess that we are like the rich young man: At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. (Mark 190:21-22)\n\nFrancis of Assisi urged his brothers and sisters, \"Come, let us b begin, for up until now, we have done little.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a catholic thing. Notre Dame is a private college. Pence did his best give all Catholics the religious freedom to ignore the constitution, especially at their private colleges.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many Buddhists are prolife presumptively but reserve judgment on particular cases. They certainly have compassion for \"babies that can breathe.\" Most of the prolife Christians I have met are the same. And many of these people work hard to lower the number of unwanted pregnancies, to support adoptions, and to defend the dignity and safety of children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wouldn't know about that. I don't play the game of inside politics.\nI only know that Church hierarchy politically function by old presumptions that don't speak to realities/ needs of the times. Politics follow theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Democrats for Life act like the term \"oppose abortion\" is somehow innocuous. Like the usual Republican anti-abortionists, they rarely say what \"oppose abortion\" means. Do they want to criminalize it? If so, how? Do they want federal supremacy in equal protection and due process cases overturned so that states decide these matters, including gay marriage, legal sodomy, contraception and the rights of Catholics in the south or Latinos not to be considered whites and therefore without protection? Do they want Congress to decide the issue of when personhood begins and if so, when? If they succeed, will only abortions be punished or, in like all contract killings, women too? Are they willing to forestall criminalization and instead seek adequate incomes for parents with children (adequate according to USDA is $1000 per child per month) through tax credits? How they answer these questions determines whether the platform changes. Being vague does not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The man in the blankets and the cathecumen in the sweats are the Christ hidden in those we would help. How badly we treat the Lord when we meet him in our lives. It is no wonder we no longer meet him at Mass either. We have clever ways of helping, like distributing food that is about to rot to food banks or providing old clothes for them to wear. We are to visit the Lord in prison, but oh how he is fed by Sheriff Joe Arpao and CCA. Been to a shelter lately? We should remember who we are feeding, clothing and housing. Maybe we would buy fresh food, new clothes and better shelters, along with more humane prisons.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope there have only been 2 ex cathedra dogmas. You are simply incorrect. That does not mean we don't treat some of those beliefs with equal confidence as true. However, that definitely does not include. . . that Christ ordained the 12 Apostles at the Last Supper is a de fide teaching of the Church. No-sorry-We assume that Jesus picked the 12 to lead our church as priests but Christ and even the apostles themselves tell us that the priesthood is the same royal priesthood all the followers are equally a part of and the Church does not state this is an official ordination of only the Apostles in fact it can't be because this meal did not just include the apostles or no gospel indicates that. The last supper was a Seder meal, that symbolically had to include male and female family and even friends per the directions for Passover stated clearly in Exodus by Moses from God. His mother Mary would have been there and his constant companion Mary Magdalene and other male & female followers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have lived in Quebec for over 25 years and can tell everyone that logical arguments and good common sense have no place in this province for any argument related to values and culture. The whole cultural / rights debate is simply off limits if you are not a white, Catholic, pur laine quebecois whose Quebec family heritage dates back to at least before the mid 1800's. Those of us who are English speakers have learned to just shut up, ignore it and not try to provoke. Debate is impossible to win. They tell us we are lucky to be allowed to have health services in English. Occasionally even that is called into question. As much as you try to talk sensibly about individual rights in Quebec, you will not get anywhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The opposition to the Novus Ordo is not primarily based upon whether it is in Latin or not, it is based upon the protestantisation of the Roman liturgy.\nEastern Catholic Rites have undergone no such reforms, some use original language, others the local vernacular but the Rite of Divine Liturgy did not change one jot. Of all the ancient Eucharistic Rites, the Roman Rite is the only one to undergo recent radical change.\nThe pre-Conciliar Daily Missals provided English translations of the Latin texts which were quite comprehensible, dignified and sacral. God was addressed as 'Thou' because the more familiar form 'You' had long ceased to replace it as the second person singular. 'Thou' liturgically became respectful and reserved for addressing the deity.\nThomas Cranmer's translations of Latin 'orationes' are brilliant, sacral, acclaimed and are accepted by the Holy See.\nAddressing God in the English language as 'you' implies equality, the Original sin of Adam.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Decentralizing authority\" was a major theme of Vatican II -- but as things turned out, not a major focus. In many ways, Catholic church authority has become more centralized than ever! That's not likely to change any time soon!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article, to me, begs the question of what we expect the papacy to be in this day and age. For people like Fr. Weinandy, the role of a pope is to clarify doctrine. Francis, it seems, sees it as more of a pastoral role, preaching and challenging the faithful to personally embrace the Gospel.\n\nFrancis seems comfortable with a certain amount of ambiguity, as reflected in Amoris Laetitia. That isn't a matter of theological confusion but of recognizing that one-size-fits-all solutions don't meet the needs of every pastoral situation. Some might call that confusing. I call it reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin,\n\nI'm not questioning Faustina's sincerity. But her painting project was a cultic flight incompatible with gospel priorities. Clearly Jesus wasn't concerned with veneration of images. Mind you, I have a great affection for the riot of artistic production inspired by the Church over the centuries, including kitsch. But beatifying Faustina and declaring the weekend after Easter Divine Mercy Sunday? Sorry, I'm unmoved by JP II's desire for a Polish saint.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican II specifically condemned abortion and states that marriage is a sacrament for one man and one woman. I may not agree, but if the Knights want to promote official Church teaching, I don't see how it skews the Church except by drawing attention to that teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But doesn't this allow for all to receive communion regardless of sin? The Church has always regarded communion as something sacred that requires the communicant to be free of mortal sin.\n\nIf we both agree that remarriage is a sin then aren't we left with the logical conclusion that the remarried have excommunicated themselves?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As much as we don't want to admit it, the Biblical world was not 21st-century western society. The issues are not the same, but the principles are. The fairness and justice of God comes through for each generation and their level of understanding. Otherwise we would still have slavery.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it interesting that neither the editorial writer nor those commenting have referenced the difference between the Federal Government and state governments. The U.S. Constitution is one of limited powers. It does not provide general police powers. This is not true of state government constitutions as those entities have general police powers and are free to re-distribute income to the extent supported by the voting public. The Trump budget actually honors the Catholic principle of subsidiarity as it restricts itself to areas that states and individuals are less capable such as national defense and infrastructure; and leaves to the states and we the people care for the poor and disabled. Unless you are donating 10% of your income as I am, you have the means to help those who cannot help themselves and step into the breach. If every American donated 10% of his income for the poor, we would have no need for any Federal program and would be a richer country as a result.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're quite welcome, my worthy adversary. May the love of Christ rejuvenate you daily.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your first sentence indicates you are very confused.\n\nExplain how pointing out Obama - according to your definition - is not a patriot supports him.\n\nExplain how Trump is an ally of Russia - in reality, not over-the-top conspiracy theories.\n\nJesus did not teach the Romans, or Caesar, to care for the poor. That is a personal counsel to us.\n\nI can certainly be a Christian and believe my country should be strong and prosperous.\n\nPatriots of Obama and Hillary were challenged to decide whether to be followers of Jesus or not, and they chose to support the pro-abortion platform and to abandon the Christians of the Middle East.\n\nI don't mind people disagreeing with me, but I prefer that in doing so they make a logical construction of their disagreement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Is there a human issue that isn't a faith issue?\"\nI think there is/are. That is not to deny that they are about God and godliness.\nToo much of what is \"observation and reason\" is attributed to faith, as for example, the common good. Religion has made \"natural law\" a matter of religion and faith, defined it ideologically and elevated it to immutable truth, then to doctrine and imposing it - fossilized, intransigent, divisive. Sadly, many human issues are coopted by religions and are wrapped up in ideology which, in turn is imposed as if they are \"commandments\" of religion. Often they become entangled in the ideological dimension of religion and become instruments of domination, and of exclusion, \nI repeat often my contention that Jesus did not create love/compassion. It has its origin in \"the image and likeness of God\", in creation. Jesus raised it, asks for more, for us to go further as we return to the Creator. \nJesus as \"teacher\" is within the line of great philosophers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It relates to the mindset of the religion, it's stuck in the distant past. At least the Christian faith has move forward and by and large out of the dark ages.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 of 2\nthe weakest and most vulnerable, with bishops and popes protecting the predators so they can prey upon the flock for decades before being caught by secular authorities\u201d\nWhen the Church does not serve the Truth she colludes with evil, and we see this collusion at play within the leadership of the church at the present moment and your description \u201cdoing evil\u201d is quite apt. \n I believe that there are many good men within the priesthood, far better men than myself, who have given all. \nTo some degree we are all moulded (Conditioned) by our own personal experience of life and this moulding/conditioning also applies to those ensnared in Clericalism, definition; a policy of maintaining or increasing the power of a religious hierarchy.\nPlease continue in my post @3 & 5 in the link\nhttp://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2013/10/st-mark-has-a-message-for-people-on-the-margins/\n\"Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home.\"\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin: Whenever you equate \"the full value of her (i.e. RCC) teachings\" with the teachings of Christ and His gospel, you are teetering on the precipice of Rome's vaunted Pre-VII dominion theology. Human frailty is a fact of life as mortal beings, not a failing of the \"demands\" of RC moral theology. It seems you are a willing victim in Rome's desire to control you through your \"perceived\" failings, which will always be present with or without her \"infallible\" teachings. IMO (although I can't take credit for it's genesis), the RCC has capitalized on man's unfailing penchant for weakness and frailty which, ironically, binds us to an institution rather than liberates the spirit... indeed, a remarkable system of bondage from cradle to grave.\n\nYou speak a lot about self justification--while I agree this does exist but so does, in fact, a rather boorish, self-referential quality among traditional Catholics--a result of placing one's faith in Rome's teachings versus the living Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Huh? No where does it say this murder was Christian. I believe he was atheist, according to his FB page. Your post carries no logic. Equating, or suggesting equivalency of (wrongly), a white Christian man murdering 26 people to the Quebec bill requiring all to show their faces to receive public services is hardly the same thing. Not only does this bill cover religious full face coverings, but also any mask, balaclava, and probably clown makeup. There is nothing wrong with it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "St John Fisher steadfastly upheld the teaching of Christ on the indissolubility of marriage, Cardinal Burke is doing the same. That is why he is being likened to St John Fisher, may God bless him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Approximately 1000 babies were murdered that day in American abortion clinics, and their body parts sold to the highest bidder, but this goat story was far more important to the majority of our population. Hell is very real, and it's eternal. We are all sinners, and only those with faith in God's only son, Jesus Christ, get to Heaven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While Lisa gets to go to Fairbanks catholic schools, then private colleges Willmette and Georgetown, our kids in the bush are stuck. And not doing all that well. DeVos wants to let them try something else. But Lisa says \"no\". She got herded by the professional liberal herders...and she doesn't even recognize it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Given the option between reading the Bible and a piece by this fellow Winters, I suggest the former...\"\n\nIt's not an either/or. Why not do both and become informed?\n\nAnd for the record, JE is actually exactly wrong. The problem Jesus had on the marriage front was with a group of men who thought it was okay to stone to death a WOMAN who had been caught committing adultery (no punishment for the man) but who themselves could dump their own wives - and did - thinking that a writ of dismissal justified their behaviour. \n\nIt was not just hypocrisy, but murderous hypocrisy to which Jesus objected. The behaviour of a couple enjoying sex is a long way down the moral food chain compared to a gang of bullies smashing a young woman's head open with rocks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"How can you claim God gave you a mind and yet reject the conclusions of others?\"\n\nThe only way your statement makes sense is if you think that Monica should agree with everyone else. Or do you object that she disagrees with you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for more background. Am I right in understanding that the Innitzer Prize is for coming to one's senses, not a rotten tomato tossed at fools?\n\nMy sense of things is that many of our bishops, including Chaput, are on the same path that Innitzer took in supporting what turned out to be a terrible person who was willing to kill, lie, defame others - to accomplish his goals. The real question is will the bishops recognize their own complicity in bringing into being a government that does great harm - especially a government that is racist, xenophobic, opposed to any religion not Christian. Chaput totally doesn't get it. \n\nIt is too late to hope Chaput \"does not have a similar experience.\" Chaput is already in the first part of the Innitzer experience. The real question is: will he recognize he needs to stop supporting the man he helped get elected.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Elaine, I'm a Catholic who agrees with Bill. I quit calling priests \"Father\" years ago. I don't believe it's a wonderful custom at all. You are welcome to your opinion, of course, just as I am welcome to mine, but you might be surprised at just how many Catholics are troubled by this honorific.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If us moderns, being the most highly educated people to walk this earth at any time I. the history of the world are too unintelligent to know how to enter into sacramentally valid marriages, how did the folks Jesus spoke to about divorce, remarriage, and adultery manage to do it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you are being quite unfair. As cardinals, they have a duty to preach and to teach. So long as they can credibly argue that they are being faithful to Church doctrine they have every right to speak their minds on issues. That isn't evidence of \"enormously inflated notions of their own importance in God's plan of salvation\", it is their duty. Now if they were silent then that would be evidence of \"no regard for the \"sheep\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Pope Francis,\n\nI appreciate your reply. Perhaps you might like to explain to me in simple terms: why you never changed Canon Law or removed the Pontifical Secret status, with regard to Bishops reporting clerical paedophilia to civil authorities. You have the papal authority to do so. You just need a sheet of paper; pen; and a couple of minutes of your time and it would be done and dusted. It occurs to me that as your predecessor lives in splendid accommodation nearby, while you have temporary guest-house accommodation; that you might be afraid of offending him. After all he just tweaked what his predecessor had confirmed. What are you afraid of ? Is it that those innocent children around the Catholic world; who have been desecrated by your priests and religious; are now adults who might require explanations. The world accepts you as a sincere; gentle and holy person; with a sincere heart. I think the time has come for you to prove them right.\n\nWith great expectations,\nJohn Fitz.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. This has not come to the Vatican for the first time. This man was brought to the vatican by the pope when serious accusations had been already floated and an investigation had not cleared him..the retired judge could not reach a conclusion but he was not cleared. it was well known how he treated with great cruelty the victims and families of abusers. There was a huge uproar in Australia when he was brought to rome and questions as to why someone, with credentials surely, but not in bank fraud as far as I know, was brought there. Was it to avoid the australian courts? I do not know but this has always stunk to high heaven and we are ..and especially australian survivors are..owed explanations. The pope should accompany him to australia, along with whatever medical teams they would like to assemble, along with whatever confessors they would like to assemble. they should pack now and take a slow boat.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No-Never did Jesus state any such restriction of our concern in any Gospel. So nice speech but it has no backing in scripture anywhere. \n\nIt is not prideful to help groups in need any more than it is prideful to help individuals but people do often go to enormous lengths to make excuses to feel good about doing nothing to help people or groups of people who are in need. This is especially true if the person feels in a more advantaged position themselves if they don't help those who are seeking help from various societal or religious oppressions. \n\nGod uses us to change the world - Hence the prayer Jesus gave from the Gospels \"Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be Done on Earth as it is in Heaven. \n\nWe are not just supposed to help individuals but also be the conduits thru which God's Kingdom comes into reality upon earth & that involves making changes to help groups who are being enslaved or oppressed.\n\nJC came to set all captives free.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, but at a deeper level, the science children learn today in school challenges the fervent beliefs of parents and teachers who in effect go along with the Eve-from-Adam theology and have little factual awareness of life's real world order of symbiotic evolution programmed in universal DNA.\nExcept faith is truth-based, it's a fraud. Maybe parents could learn something about faith from their children. Jesus wagged His Finger at His apostles and warned them \"unless you become as one of these, there's no place for you in My Kingdom\". The misinformed faith of parents is contributing to family breakdown.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\nWho said that Giuliani is an exemplary Catholic? I cited his statement precisely as an instance of anti-Catholicism in the presidential campaign.\nBetween them, Trump and three of his closest advisers (Giluiani, Gingrich and Bannon) brought twelve wives and an unknown number of girlfriends, mistresses and victims to the \"family values\" party. Three of the four (all but Trump) are putatively Catholic. \nGiuliani's cavalier attitude about marital infidelity (\"Everybody does it. I just tell my priest\") represents a truly, viciously anti-Catholic attitude toward the Sacrament of Penance. My point was about the \"firm purpose of amendment.\" The notion that \"I just tell my priest\" so that I can keep doing what I confessed reflects the lack of a firm purpose of amendment. In the case of a person who confesses a sex offense against a child, the confessor should construe the refusal to surrender as a lack of intention to stop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since I am not a follower of you, I'll interpret as I like. There is no written record of anything that Jesus said. Just oral history written many decades after his death by people who never met him. Embellishment is one of the hazards of oral history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, Trid. I think that loving my neighbor, forgiving those who do me harm, seeing Jesus in the people whom I find obnoxious, being patient when all I feel is impatience, being charitable towards those whom I dislike, and so on, ad infinitum, is extremely difficult. I work at all of this, with limited success, but am determined to continue.\nI believe that we show God through love of our neighbor. I distinguish those teachings from the rules created by men who created them because of their limited understanding of the world and how human beings function.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would just like to add that while the pope is at it (the stroke of his pen), he could also redefine Canon 384 (and any others which could be seen to encourage clericalism or at least a wagon circling approach to abuse (eg. see http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0017/_P1D.HTM). \n\nAccording to Provost (1992) \u201cClergy form part of the hierarchical structure of the Church, which of its nature calls for respect and obedience within the hierarchical structure. Corresponding to this obligation on the part of clergy is the obligation binding on diocesan bishops, for example, that they have special concern for their presbyters (c. 384) and indeed, for all their clergy\u201d. \n\nWhat I still find astounding is the continued inability for the Church/hierarchy, to fully culturally adopt the laity (i.e. here, victims both child and adult victims of clergy abuse) as just as important as their brother clergy, in the eyes of God/Christ, if not more important in regards to care, a la JC. Great article Kieran.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well spoken. For clarification, I believe Adolph Hitler didn't target Catholics as he did Jews and the other minorities in Europe. Hitler exterminated 6 to 9 million people in death camps alone and in his failed attempt to conquer the Soviet Union, killed 20 million Russians. Hitler finally committed suicide when the Red Army invaded Berlin in 1945, aided by the Allies.\nIt is the KKK in this country that detests Catholics as much as African-Americans and Jews. That is why symbols, flags, monuments, and tributes to the Confederacy are loved by the \"Imperial Wizards\".\nThe KKK, neo-Nazis, white nationalists, white supremacists (euphemistically called the alt-right) all base their doctrine of hate and bigotry on the premise of racial purity and superiority.\nSadly, these groups seem to be getting more popular in America lately.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. The power of the keys was given to Peter, and the authority over the community to the Apostles. The Church as the holy people of God is not a Vatican II concept, it dates back to Judges 20:2 and 2 Samuel 14:13.\n\nTo quote Lumen Gentium \u201cThough they differ essentially and not only in degree, the common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood are none the less ordered one to another; each in its own proper way shares in the one priesthood of Christ. The ministerial priest, by the sacred power that he has, forms and rules the priestly people; in the person of Christ he effects the eucharistic sacrifice and offers it to God in the name of all the people. The faithful indeed, by virtue of their royal priesthood, participate in the offering of the Eucharist. They exercise that priesthood, too, by the reception of the sacraments, prayer and thanksgiving, the witness of a holy life, abnegation and active charity.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I disagree with your third paragraph. When it was clear my local public school was ill-equipped to challenge my son and adequately prepare him for college we sent him to a parochial school where he was not required to take any religious classes or attend any religious events. He received a great education and was not required to learn about catholicism. His basic curriculum aside from depth of learning and height of expectations was no different than his bother's public curriculum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think some folks in the chancery don't like that this traditional parish has so much success. It makes run of the mill Novus Ordo parishes look bad. They don't like that cradle Novus Ordo Catholics are finding the Anglican Use. As long as these folks make it to a valid, licit Catholic Mass on Sunday and Holy Days of Obligation, who cares where they go? If anything this parish is more Catholic than many typical Novus Ordo parishes. I imagine this parish gets a lot of donations too, which factors in to them not wanting it to go into the Ordinariate. I find this happening so soon after Archbishop Flores' death suspicious as well. It's so sad this can happen after Fr. Phillips built that Church out of his family and 10 parishioners. Prayers for them to make a safe passage to the Ordinariate, where the spiritual patrimony of the parish will be protected.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You believe that, Our Lord teaches something else in the Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope is not impeccable and moreover has no authority at all to teach error.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a rule, the bishops are dead wrong on the death penalty, as reviewed:\n\nCatholic Bishops: So Wrong on Death Penalty\nhttp://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2016/09/catholic-bishops-so-wrong-on-death.html\n\nBISHOPS HIDE TRUTH FROM THEIR FLOCK: DEATH PENALTY\nhttp://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2016/10/bishops-hide-truth-from-their-flock.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Knights are a sovereign military Order with quasi diplomatic status. The Pope does not appoint the head of the Order the membership elects him nor, I imagine, does the Holy See have any jurisdiction over the Order. Which is probably why it felt entitled to tell the Vatican to mind its own business.\nThe Sisters on the other hand are bound under canonical obedience and they most certainly did not participate graciously in their investigation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quebec has already rid itself of Catholic 'separate schools', recognizing that schools should provide a modern non-denominational education to ALL students through public schools. There is no need to SEGREGATE students on the basis of religion. Support a single public education system.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe that's not Jesus' criteria.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic church has Disintegrated under Novus ordo distain for Latin Mass, Communion rail, communion in the mouth NOT in your hands. Collapse of Rump scarcely RC faith is Imminent in most of West Europe East Canada & parts of the USA.. and Latin America. Trier Germany closing NINTY percent of Churches there Belgium under De Kessel and Cupich in Chicago closing FIFTY percent of Parishes. I am watching impending collapse of Parish churches in Ct. and Pitt Penn......... That is why Pope Benedict 16th encouraged the Latin Mass & reduced penalties of B. Fellay in the first place. He B. 16th stated that the church will grow smaller ,to quote him \"Soon the bishops will NOT be able to afford to stay in the expensive edifices they have built for themselves\"........SSPX parishes in Pitt Penn are thriving while Diocese of Pitt shuts down churches in droves. Same as Ct. Cen. Ct DOWN from 226 Parishes to 127. Wtby Naugy. Ct. despite a INCREASE in population. Ewtn lepanto and CM point this out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's actually a club at Sydney Uni called the \"Society for Creative Anachronism\" (SCA). They dress up in Mediaeval costumes and do play acting.\nThis Catholic Society would easily be mistaken for the SCA.\nNote also that their chants are in Latin.\nThese processions are a relic of Mediaeval times when it was a way of interpreting the Real Presence to the unlettered peasants. Also, because the hierarchy had invented so many sins by then, few people went to Communion more than once a year. Answer, lock God in a gilt box and parade in the streets for the laity to see.\nNot sure how anyone today can accept that these processions are an expression of the Real Presence. After all, Jesus said \"Take this and eat\", not \"take this and look at it\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Watching the video from outside the courtroom, he certainly does sound like a \"born again ____\", doesn't he? For what it's worth, his girlfriend/wife/domestic partner, the defendant's mother, has presented herself to the public as a \"Christian Counselor\" although she's not registered with DORA as a counselor, therapist, psychologist, or any genuinely credentialed professional. Interestingly, the defendant's mother is much older than the average mother of a 15 year old. Their last name is her maiden name, although she's been married several times. Not sure how any of it relates to the case, but it makes me think the two young people wanted to get out of the house that evening for a respite from their parents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Walters, Kevin originally suggested:\n\" \n\u201cAgain, I tell you truly that if two of you on the earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven\u201d\n.\nTo cast out evil Jesus teaches us to pray and fast, if we both were to do this say every Friday others over time may join us and then we/many would see the truths (Power of pray) within the gospels actual working.\nWill you join me yjin and perhaps also Lynne in this endeavour?\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ\n\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a young adult (19 yo female). The biggest issue I have with the church (and I know I'm not alone) is modernism. I like tradition. I belive in sin. I want an institution to tell me I'm wrong when the rest of society is fine with it. I want a church that doesn't turn with the tides. I want the rock of st. Peter. If the church was right in the middle ages, and the church was right in 33 AD, then what is there to change but ourselves if we happen to disagree with dogma?? Our faith is not an opinion and you people treat it like it is! If you want luke warm Catholics who dont care what happens to this institution so be it. But if you want devout catholics and 21st century saints, give them a reason to be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesus\" is not running in this election. If a metaphor is what you need, it is the Parent, the big No.I who is running, and we the Christian voters are the Jesus who will or will not stand - with our brothers and sisters - for what is in the image and likeness of the Creator: civilization, civility, ethics, morality, decency and love, compassion. This core of civilization is integral to humanity, regardless of religious affiliation\nThe author pleads that we drop political affiliation, but retains religious affiliation exclusionism. From my limited reading, every book of the Koran begins with a call upon a compassionate God as is the call to Christians, Jews, etc. \nRegardless of how we abuse and disabuse our fundamental calling, we must continue to call in what we ALL share.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alceste - there is a world outside of the GTA. If you think this issue is only centered on Peel, you need to broaden your outlook, it is happening everywhere. \n\nThe answer is pretty simple - no religious accommodations in any school - and yes, get rid of the publically funded Catholic school system in Ontario. Again, you want religion in your school, build and pay for it with your money!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My informal survey of Catholic commentary strongly suggests that \"Historical Jesus\" is exactly as helpful as anyone wishes him to be, toward whatever end they have in view. I count it as one of the more homely miracles of faith. And I think you are correct, it might be better not to lean on it so heavily.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course it does. However, it seems to me that the same flags have been raised on each and every case in the last 40 years. You can see it in some of the responders to NCR -- they're just out for money, they aren't really Catholic, they want to drag down the church, etc. I'd like that consistent attack on victims to raise some flags for you, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "4/6 Matthew 26: 51 And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear. 52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.\n\n\u201cA disciple (named only in John) cut off the ear of the high priest's servant (presumably aiming for the man's neck, he missed, probably because the man moved). Jesus' response to the disciple ... provides three reasons for rejecting violence (26:52-54): violence destroys those who employ it (26:52); Jesus trusts the Father's ability to protect him (v. 53); and Jesus recognizes that his Father's will for him includes suffering and death.\u201d - IVP New Testament Commentary", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The pope does like to string gobbledegook together. \n\nIt does attract a certain class of people...\"we have to go to the party\".\n\nThe above quote was from LAST year.\n\nbut this year...the pope says: \"This is not a fantasy. The Resurrection of Christ is not a party with many flowers,\u201d he said during Easter Mass in St. Peter\u2019s Square. \u201cThis is beautiful, but it is not this, it is more; It is the mystery of the rejected stone that ends up being the foundation of our existence.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"\"People can, however, be living in a schismatic situation if the teaching of Christ has been abandoned,\" Burke said. \"The more appropriate word would be the one Our Lady used in her Message of Fatima: apostasy.\"\n- The whole church is concerned that ArchbRaymond, sent away from LaCrosse, pulled out of St.Louis, dismissed from the Apostolic Signatura and other offices and committees of the Holy See, reduced to Mass priest of the Knights of Malta, is indeed falling into apostasy.\n- The teaching of the church which is never abandoned is that the Eucharist, the summit of our faith, is both food and medicine for sinners. We all are sinners. ArchbRaymond is not teaching this.\n- What the church teaches about marriage is never diminished by giving the Eucharist to those who need it as food and medicine.\n- In fact, depriving those who desire the Eucharist because they are not pure catholics is itself an heretical act promulgated by ArchbRaymond and his followers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A somewhat biased and outdated view. Catholics both Castilians and Catalans were divided - it was a Civil War. 7000 clergy and religious were martyred by the \"Progressive Left\" ( who is that? Communists, Socialists, POUM, FAI?) 115 of which were just recognized last year by Pope Francis. Disgrace on both sides. This should linger in the Spanish consciousness not 80 year old propaganda stories.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To the malcontents on this thread: \"Love your enemy\" is the gospel, right? So what's the problem?\n\nFrancis also knows his remarks will be broadcast all over the world. Thus we can assume his remarks are directed toward everybody.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Body, soul, mind, will. \n\nThink for one second about the Sacrament of Confession.\n\nTo go to confession spurs on a marvelous, multi-element reconciliation.\n\nPenitent to God (via prayer)\nPenitent to Church (via priest)\nPenitent to neighbor (penance and reparation)\n\nTo simply go to Confession requires an \"integral\" coordination of mind, will, body.\n\nTo put one's sins into words is an act of the intellect. The will moves the person, the body follows, the intellect is forced to articulate and \"name\" sins, the will tells the intellect to comply with the priest by making an act of contrition, the body cooperates.\n\nA marvelous \"re-unification\" occurs.\n\nThat's one aspect of \"integrally human\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When a new pope comes in, he will mimic him. Tobin is a company man.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"They could listen to the bishops, the traditions, the magisterium, etc. and then articulate adequately their disagreement.\" \n\nWhere? Where is the forum that lets this kind of give and take discussion take place? I understand Vat II suggested diocesan synods, lay councils - but where are they? How many diocesan councils have been held and how many allow a discussion of doctrinal issues? We need a place in which real discussion is allowed to occur and a requirement that both bishops and lay set the terms of the discussion.\n\nIt is going to be interesting to see what happens regarding the 2020 Australian national synod. Will they really allow people to talk about issues that divide - contraceptives, sexual expression, respect for and inclusion of LGBT people in the life of the parish, a voice in selection and oversight of bishops, much larger roles for women, the need for more priests and the issues of married and female priests? Probably not. But this is what needs to occur.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Leading the way for Catholics was NETWORK, a social justice lobby that was highly instrumental in the original passage of Obamacare. The leader of NETWORK, Social Service Sr. Simone Campbell once again led the way.\"\n\nGod Bless Sr. Simone and all her fellow workers for justice. Thousands would have died every year from lack of health insurance if that bill had been passed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cFootball and politics, it doesn\u2019t mix.\" Ya think? So why did the NFL pay Beyonce to put on a tribute to the Black Panthers at Super Bowl 50 halftime? Tim Tebow took a knee to pray, and the NFL attacked him for doing it. Now the NFL thinks it's swell to take a knee during the national anthem. Christians are fair game but millionaire athletes are protected? Rights for some, not for all? Who makes these decisions at the NFL? Since NFL players have no 1st Amendment Rights to protest on private stadium property, this means the protests are condoned by the owners. Yes, players have a right to take a knee. Your employer has a right to praise you or fire you. Your boss can fire you if you piss off customers at work, and so can the NFL. You want to support your teammates? Start by supporting your country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is it a Gospel value to put Gospel values aside?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics are losing more people because they have more people [registered Catholics] to loose. \n\nSecondly, Catholics, thanks to the policies of JP II and Benedict have/had LESS opportunities to HAVE A SAY in their church. Canon law requires every parish to have a financial committee. But pastoral councils [as opposed to parish councils concerned with festivals, dinners, broken boilers and the physical condition of the church] have been 'tabled' in many parishes, since the year 2000.\n\nPastoral councils were broken down to different committees which dealt with liturgy, evangelization, hospitality, stewardship, faith formation, prayer life, service opportunities, communication tools, finances, and committed discipleship issues. The pastoral council encouraged people to use their talents within the parish, more than the ability to shake the head 'yes' when the pastor wanted an affirmative decision and then, to shake the head 'no' when the pastor wanted a negative response.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Eastman just demonstrates the absolute evil stemming from his and his followers' anti-Human, anti-Environmental, anti-American, anti-Constitutional ideology. In league with the Republican Terrorist Traitor Party, they yearn for a theocracy linked with a Kakistocracy operating as a Kleptocracy. All destructive to the Constiutional Republic, freedom and democracy. A book that shoul be required reading for all humans, especially young people is: Man Made God by Barbara G. Walker. The scholarly reseached revelation of the 2 millennial lies responsible for most of the evil in the world. Eastman reflects the traitorous education he received at West Point where a privatized military demands one religion obedience in order to graduate and succeed in the military officer corps. A military demanding christian beliefs and Republican membership is reflected in this evil ones wild attack on the rights of all other Ak humans and, ultimately, the entire national population. Time for a Revolt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 2\nThe above piece was written by David Timbs in his essay \"The Reinvention of the Fisherman\" which was published in O.M.G. and also promoted on Catholica.au, a Catholic website in Australia. This particular part of David Timbs essay was an extraordinary encapsulation of the conditions that pervaded the universal church.\n\nOne can only imagine what the church would have been like had John Paul I [Bishop Albinio Luciani] had lived for a number of years as a pope. During Vatican II, he was staying at a Roman pensione run by some Italian nuns. He liked to study in the afternoons, and was grateful that he had \"an African bishop as a neighbor in the bleachers in the council hall who gives me the texts of the experts of the German bishops. That way I can prepare myself.\" Luciani had the openness of a student---willing to keep on growing.\n-----\nGiancarlo Zizola, \"He Answered Papal Summons to Journalism,\" NCR [October 4, 2002], p. 10.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "His \"personal issue\" is that he's a faithful Catholic, happily married, father, and a strong supporter of life, especially at the UN, via CFam.\n\nThose issues cause great problems with some people here: happily married, father, faithful Catholic! What's he thinking and doing?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "col\u00b7lu\u00b7sion\nsecret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy, especially in order to cheat or deceive others.\n\nExample:Donna \"The Good Christian Woman\" Brazile providing debate questions in advance to Sec. Clinton.\nExample: Meeting in private between Slick Willy and Loretta \"Matters\" Lynch.\nExample: Debbie \"The Bus Driver\" Wasserman Schultz slowing the bus long enough to roll Crazy Uncle Bernie under it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My favourite achievement of Kenney's as Immigration Minister was when he got his staff to pose as immigrants receiving their citizenship. So that FOX aka Sun Media could photograph them in their, as Cons had it; \"costumes\".\n\nAbuse of power, literally manufacturing fake news, lying about it and refusing to apologize all with that smarmy sanctimonious face alternately lying and claiming to have Canadian Christian Values.\n\nWhy would Kenney change at all, Teddy? \nYou are the low information crowd and Kenney's plenty popular with you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not to many years ago most people would have been at a candlelight service/mass on Christmas Eve. We have taken God out of everything and this is what we get. Merry Christmas and Let us remember the reason for this day is to celebrate the birth of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What Jesus personally did, as described by the Gospel writers, and what he would allow us to do are not necessarily the same thing. The fact that he exclusively chose men as his apostles (if, indeed, he did) could be more a reflection of the times than a dogmatic statement on his part.\n\nThe Scriptures were written in a particular cultural context at a particular time in history. The real question is, which are the timeless truths contained in them and and which are simply matters of custom that can, with proper prayerful discernment, evolve?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since you ask so kindly: I have no idea. \nMy dis-credible musing though would be that the \"tabernacle\" is not a \"house of Jesus\" but rather a respectful reservoir of a tradition that has been abused as a marker of domination and ideology rather than of \"Incarnation\".\nI would ask you one simple question: do you think/believe that Jesus rests silently, comfortably or otherwise in the tabernacle when the bell tolls at midnight?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I cast my vote for Bernie Sanders. He actually made the nation sit up and listen for a while. We're about to pay a steep price for not listening to him. The fact that he's not Catholic should be considered an advantage. (Are candidates who aren't nuns allowed? There are several, you know....)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am retired and well into my 70\u2019s and I live in the UK. As I am considerably disabled I am not a member of a particular parish. Were I fit enough I would attend a Tridentine Rite Parish, however, the nearest one is too far for me to travel to so when I am able to go to Mass I attend one of a number of Novus Ordo Churches near where I live.\nYou asked where I get my ideas from, I do not rely upon ideas where religion is concerned I rely upon the teaching I received firstly at my mother\u2019s knee, my school, my Sunday school, the religious order I entered and the Pontifical University, the Angelicum, where I studied for the priesthood:I did not persevere to ordination.\nI do not distinguish between dogma and infallible doctrine as both are true and cannot be changed. As regards the Church being mankind\u2019s sole teacher, who can argue with that? The authority to teach was given to the Church alone and to no one else by Christ. Why do you find that strange or don\u2019t you believe it?\nContd ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unless you are a Christian, of course.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a Christian who is very happy Glenn Beck and his followers don't want to come to Portland. His hateful brand isn't what Christianity is about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a Christian terrorist.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Muslim jihadists organized to attack, bomb and kill may innocent civilians in Manchester England.\n\nShortly after that, Muslims attacked and killed 28 innocent Coptic Christians in Egypt.\n\nApparently, that's the fourth time since January 2017 that Muslims have attacked, killed and injured innocent Coptic Christians in Egypt.\n\nThe Coptic Christians are peaceful and aren't fighting against Muslims so I guess the Muslims are attacking the Coptic Christians just to follow the many verses in the Qur'an that call for the destruction of Jews, Christians and non believers.\n\nWhy else would Muslims attack and kill innocent Coptic Christians?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "One must remember that arrogant condescension and proselytizing is what has given fundamentalists and evangelicals a VERY BAD NAME. One can't preach/practice bigotry and call themselves a Christian. That's called being a hypocrite.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "1) Are the Christian kids getting picked on because they are Christian, or are they proselytizing and being told to buzz off by kids that don't want to hear it....because those aren't the same thing.\n2) You seem to have issues with secular policies. So, tell us....which religion should BVSD be pushing?\n3) If BVSD is like my district, effort are being made to address many needs.\n4) A few new words to address gender identification is equal redefining the English language only among the intellectually lazy.\n5) Socialism is an economic system.\n6) When addressing bullying, our school has said that \"your right to swing your fist ends at someone else's nose\" (Oliver Wendell Holmes). How's that for for sharing views on liberty?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Looks like the good Catholics were at it again.\n\nNever trust any organized religion.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You are ignorant of history in claiming that acts of \"terrorism\" were perpetrated by Jews in the 1940's \"in order to bring about the nation of Israel.\" The nation of Israel goes back thousands of years, predating both Christianity and Islam. The struggle in the 1940's was a fight for the re-establishment of the Jewish nation in its ancestral land of Israel..", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I think its hilarious that Harry 904 states \"Small hands\"....? Making fun of a person's anatomy is not Christian.'\n.\nIt is a fact Donald Trump has called women FAT, UGLY, Blood coming from their face and other parts, a piece of a.., grab their p.... He has a history of demeaning woman making fun of their anatomy before his campaign, during his campaign and as President of the United States. \n.\nYet Harry who screams I am a Christian declares \"Making fun of a person's anatomy is not Christian.\"\n.\nHas Harry 904 seen the light and is he willing to state Donald Trump's actions and words are not Christian! \n.\nIf history repeats itself he will not. He will continue to support Donald Trump even though he himself declares a person who make's fun of another's anatomy as not being Christian. \n.\nThis is Harry 904's opportunity to denounce Donald Trump for not being very Christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What good is all the saints, RCI (Roman Catholic Institution) clergies do not believe in God at all!\nHow else could you explain RCI clergies rampant rape of children and their hiding and condoning clergy rape of children by moving them around, around and around these clergy rapists 20, 30 years.\n\u2018I assure you, as often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me.\u2019 (Mat 25:40) \nRCI clergies rape Christ and not know it or they do not believe in God? You tell me which one is the state of their belief?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Another Muslim bombing. \nThe only thing left is the inevitable Muslim outcry about how they feel victimized.\nWhat is next? \nThe newborn nursery in some large hospital. \n\nProgressive Catholics care more about illegals and Islamic refugees than they do about American citizens safety.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the neo-nazi reading material.\n\nA little about Vox Day from Wiki:\n\"Day describes himself as a Christian nationalist.[63] Milo Yiannopoulos, writing for the right-wing conservative network Breitbart, called Vox Day an \"alt-right figurehead\".[64] Writing for Publishers Weekly, Kimberly Winston described Day as a \"fundamentalist Southern Baptist\",[18] but other journalists have made more pointed characterizations, such as Mike VanHelder's assertion in Popular Science that Day's views are \"white supremacist.\"[65] Similarly, an article by Jeet Heer in The New Republic says that Day \"has written that women should be deprived of the vote\",[66] an interpretation of comments in Day's article \"Why Women's Rights are Wrong.\" Day also engages in social and political debates in the media as an alt-right representative.[67]\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Except their child molestations?\" Thanks for proving your utter and complete ignorance on the subject. And if your concerned with child molestation, you might take a good look at the Catholic Church: It's swimming in them and cover ups by highly placed officials.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This case was a manufactured controversy, cooked up by conservative interest groups that are hoping to chip away at constitutional provisions in 39 states restricting taxpayer money from going to churches. According to Annette Kiehne, the Trinity Lutheran preschool director, \u201cThis is about keeping our kids safe, wherever they play.\u201d It was not about that. As a Washington Post article put it, \"it was about interest groups whose business model depends on perpetuating the culture wars trying to frighten people into thinking Christianity is under siege. It was a springtime version of the annual war on Christmas,\u201d to which I say, \"Bah, humbug!\"\n\nI've said it before and I'll say it again, whenever the church jumps in bed with Caesar it gets screwed - and not in a good way! Be careful what you wish for, conservative Christians, you just might get it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This unspeakable attack will get no condemnation from the US, Britain and their allies in the Middle East. Why? Because it was the anti-Syrian 'rebels' that mounted the attack against the refugees.\n\nTwo days ago a deal was brokered between the Syrian government and the terrorist group al-Nusra, the group that's holding Idlib province. Residents of two Shi-ite towns in Idlib were allowed to evacuate. Their destination was Aleppo. In exchange, the government allowed residents of two towns they were besieging to flee to Idlib.\n\nBut there's no reasoning with terrorists. As the buses full of Shi-ite civilians waited outside Aleppo, an al-Nusra suicide bomber attacked them. And that's the fate waiting for all of Syria's Christian and Shi-ite citizens, should the USA's plans to destroy the Syrian government come to fruition.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The community needs to reject white supremacy and reject Amy Demboski. Nationalist, exceptionalist, white supremacist logic erases the history that the vast majority of domestic terrorist acts are committed by those that would be described as white & \"Christian\".", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Except for the fact that he has spoke out on the sexual abuse scandal. He initiated a zero tolerance policy and he spoke up on the failures of the Catholic Church on this issue. Also.....why are you using the sex abuse scandal as a wedge issue to try and derail a discussion about economic justice for the poor and workers rights? \n\nThis sort of opportunistic whataboutism that some people engage in is just that. The sex abuse scandal was a crime of massive proportions and those involved should be jailed. But to misrepresent the Cardinal's position and use this to derail from his point on economic justice says a lot about your character. \n\nLink: \nhttp://www.americamagazine.org/issue/cardinal-sean-o%E2%80%99malley-sexual-abuse-crisis-%E2%80%98there-so-much-denial%E2%80%99", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It seems Trump wants to curb immigration to the USA from certain Muslim countries in the Middle East. \n\nWhen Muslims must follow Islam and the verses in the Qur'an, the holy book of the religion Islam, and when many verses in the Qur'an call for jihad (struggle) and when about 100 verses in the Qur'an call for the destruction of Jews, Christians and non believers, maybe it's a good idea not to allow Muslims into the U.SA. from countries where radicals faithfully follow Islam and the verses in the Qur'an and when one can't distinguish moderate Muslims from radicals. \n\nMaybe, the U.S.A. and other western countries should think about allowing Muslims into their countries only after Muslims have renounced the verses in the Qur'an that call for jihad (struggle) and have renounced the verses in the Qur'an call for the destruction of Jews, Christians and non believers. \n\nWould that work? Could we believe them?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It is time our churches, all Christian churches, became political. This presidency needs to be condemned from the pulpit for it's lack of compassion, and basic Christian values. 45 may say he is a Christian but like so many of our legislators he does not put his faith into practice. The real fear in this country is not the Muslim it is who he will be coming after next, and his close proximity to the nuclear arsenal. God help us.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, the biblical view is rooted in Genesis 1: \"Male and female [God] created them.\" Jesus re-affirms this truth: \"Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female.\" Thus, there is an intrinsic, sexual complementarity between man and woman, which homosexual activity and transgenderism violate. The Levitical prohibition, while real, is actually subsidiary to the creation mandate. And you definitely cannot equate sodomy with eating unclean meat; the latter is part of the ceremonial law, done away with by the Gospel. The former is part of the moral law, which is never abrogated. \n\nCan you even tell me what natural law is? \n\nAnd your resort to ridicule actually betrays the weakness of your argument.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Oh Yes - The Media IS FILLED with account of Christian Terrorists blowing up planes, people, launching Jihad etc. etc. etc....While we are at it, PLEASE share some stories of Christian Polygamists and Beastiality as well....Yes, that is what we thought.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As opposed to so-called \"Christian\" imperialists who murder millions 365 days a year.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Get with the times, Pal! Russia, non-Communist, is our ALLY in fighting ISIS, unless, of course, you are a proponent of innocent severed heads. Why don't you extol the Catholic virtues of faith, hope, & CHARITY!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If the left leaning are all for Muslim Prayers spaces and women fully covering themselves, along with Sikhs wearing knifes to school, our RCMP wearing turbans, and face coverings allowed by our courts decree during Citizenship Swearing in ceremonies not to forget the elimination of Christmas Concerts, Christmas Trees, and now Halloween in schools......all to not upset the above crowd..... I think there is room for Catholics to decide how far their Sex Ed. will go.....sheesh. Why are there different accommodations for different religions? Progressives hate Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Well Jim,\n\nIf we were talking race and not gender would you state the same comment? \n\nGender segregation is what this man is suggesting and it never leads to justice but only a different kind of extremely harmful enslavement. It is not good, Christian, or constructive to support that kind of suggestion.\n\nThere are groups in this church that want women to just lay down and let gender segregation take over our church, with our ordaining married men as priests, and making useless perm. deacons out of women. \n\nHis was an extremely hurtful and sexist suggestion, perhaps he meant well, because he didn't think it thru, but these words are chicken words. He needs to do what is scary & proper & stand up for the women in this church to be treated and ordained the same as men. Applauding sexism in this fashion makes matters worse not better.\n\nSexism hurts all women. Our example directly increases poverty, violence, child abuse, slavery and war, globally, as these are often rooted in sexism.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I hear there's a struggle going on to preserve \"Christian civilization\". Putting Matthew 25:31-45 into practice will help preserve it.\n\nPreserving Christian civilization is much, much more than just insulting Muslims.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If Christians or Jews or any other religion other than islam asked for this it would be rejected. Glad I don't live in the sewer called the GTA.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The number of Muslim terrorists in the West is much larger proportional to the proportion of Muslims, than the number of Christian terrorists relative to the population of Christians.\n\nNone of the ones you mention btw, mentioned religion as their motivation. Which \"Christian fundamentalists use their religion as a motivation for mass killings\" recently?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder if they were getting to be more Catholic than the Pope and not hesitant about labeling themselves \"real\" Catholic and looking down on the regular folks in the archdiocese? I have seen that in many converts and a whole parish of them could make things pretty nasty.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "For 500 years the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire offered refuge to Jews persecuted by the Christians. So along come some Ashkenazi Jews from Russia and Poland and say they can't live with Muslims, they must live in a Jewish state. While the Palestinians live in shrinking ghettos Israel imports laborers from around the world. The sooner the USA figures out it's being played for the a sucker in backing this doomed plan the better off everybody will be. The best comment I've heard on Kerry's speech came from an Israeli journalist. \"Friends don't let friends drive drunk\" was Kerry's message to Bibi he said.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I left Christianity behind several years ago because I could no longer stand the hatred they display toward gay and transgender people. There is a marvelous book called \"Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity by Bruce Bawer. It was instrumental in changing my entire world view toward not only Christianity, but religion in general. Life on this planet is tough enough without dragging people down in the name of whatever god you worship. Why anyone needs to force their belief in a Supreme Being on the rest of us is beyond my comprehension. Keep your religion in your heart, mind, and home and leave it out of the rest of the world. Otherwise, you are no better than those terrorists you hate and fear so much.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Wow- it took over 35 years for these women to get upset...35 years of elections and judgeships...hmmmm.\n.I guess like Hillary says, drag a dollar around a trailer park and you'll never know what you come up with. I suspect there was more that just a \"dollar\" involved....let it be proved as truth.\nJudge Moore is a super threat because he stands for the Social Kingship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Bolsheviks hate Christ ( their hatred is the reason they even exist) and their goal is to wipe the name of Christ and Christian Society off the map. Judge Moore is an existential threat of the greatest degree to the communists\nThe left has exposed their evil hand again- very transparent..\nAll the more reason to vote for the Judge. \"No weapon formed against {him} shall prosper\".", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We could look at the Pslam this morning PS 111 4-9.\nBut I agree the idiots who denied free speech should have allowed him to speak. In the past the KPD did the same and with the Riechstag fire , they gave the Nazis the opportunity to ban free speech , they did this along with the Catholic Centre Party, so the guy should have been allowed to speak in Berkley but to an empty house or only with the fools who actually believe mistakenly that trumpin will bring about real change . \nThis man bringing \"Hope and Change\" has already pared back the banking regulation brought into protect ordinary Americans. Do not be surprised if the US and the world will have a new \"Financial Crisis\" in five years from now due to looser regulation . And this will further lead to the American Middle Class becoming an even more endangered spiceies....", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As opposed to the apparent Conservative Yardstick (I won't say Catholic or moral) that treats an adulterous, misogynistic, racist, bullying, p*ssy-grabbing-and-boasting, greedy, draft-dodging, potentially traitorous, two-faced, paranoid tweeter who plays into the basest desires of his supporters, as the second coming because he mouthed the right words on abortion, which conflicted with his supposed position just a year or so before, and promised to make them \"winners\"?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am a catholic and I can\u00b4t stand this holy lying, falseness, hypocrisy any longer. Let\u00b4s ordain women, men, married, single, widowed, heterosexual, homosexual but mature and responsible people. Stop call priests \"Father\"! It is ridiculous. A father who makes his children call him \"uncle\" is a rogue. And an institution that covers this practice is no church at all. \nWhy do I not hear of this kind of problems from my protestant brothers and sisters in my country? There is something wrong not only with weak individuals but with the entire ecclesiastical structure, with its mandatory celibacy. Pope Francis - do something!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "But of course, and in Matthew 16:18 Jesus clearly intended that the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship should have the final say on matters of liturgy. The Gospel is crystal clear on that. \ud83d\ude09\n\nUnity has nothing to do with this issue. We're not talking about letting every parish write its own translation of the Scriptures. This is simply a matter of honoring the clear intent of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy and allowing local episcopal conferences to approve liturgical translations in their particular jurisdictions. And that's all it is about.\n\nBy the way, in your last sentence, you should have said \"Scripturally ignorant,\" instead of \"Scriptural ignorant.\" If you're going to be pretentious and feign intellectual superiority, the least you can do is be grammatically correct.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "In the mean time, since we are unsure whether to go after the divorced/separated/remarried, - until Francis answers our questions - we should pick on other 'sinners' to satisfy our need to be further up the food chain than other parishioners. We should target those who have maybe had too much to drink and made a bit of a fool of themselves in public. Or those who are late for Mass. Those whose kids no longer come to church are good targets too (and the ones who do come - with their noise!!) There are loads of people out there we could point a finger at and gossip about if we'd all just take our Catholicism a bit more seriously!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The big difference is very few religious writings advocate and condone murder of those who do not believe, and when one does it should be condemned, period. Nowhere did anyone say Muslims need to be attacked or treated violently, but on the same hand, exposing their holy writings and the actions of their followers for what they truly are is appropriate. I also noticed you dodged the question about where the NT or Christ advocates any type of violence to our enemies (as a matter of FACT it states the opposite and exposing the Quran for the lie that it is, is the most loving thing one can do). I am now going to mute you because you are probably one of the most frustrating people to correspond with here, so farewell.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "More sputtering commentary. 'Come together, right now, over me/us.'? Nope. Bishops have squandered all moral credibility. Seriously? Let's appease the hopeless, maniacal Ryan, McConnell and Chumpelthinskin wingnutz by playing happy puppy with them re: their selfish, greedy, violent agenda? No way. Stand strong, resist lies and fake news, speak truth everywhere, and defend democracy and freedom. Memo to bishops and naive Catholics: It's gonna take a lot longer than a couple of feckless fortnights.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Sheeple show[s] profound contempt for them???\" No so - more a comment on our shared spiritual serfdom to the clerics and hierarchs. \n\nAfter two millennia of psychological conditioning [ref. to \"Stockholm syndrome\"] Catholics in general are genetically incapable of thinking as true children of God, brothers and sisters of the Christ.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "ATF, it's a good thought but unfortunately narcissistic sociopaths do not change. There is no human empathy in such a person. \n\nIt's the same with his vociferous followers. They never talk with any genuine sympathy for the poor, the sick, the starving, the refugees or migrants. Just foetuses. \n\nThey instead focus on rules, sins, the law and Latin Mass! The fact that they defend to the hilt their right to be called Catholic, and to define who is and who isn't Catholic, really says it all. Most normal people would be far more mobilised and animated about the accusation of not being 'Christian.'", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It is immaterial whether they tolerate it. The fact is that they cannot legislate it at the state level. No more religious power moving state legislatures to interfere with people's life choices. A tyranical Catholic mob is still a mob.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "(p.2)\nI'm not exactly when Jesus is supposed to have signed His name to a letter announcing Himself as leader; is this the footsteps they follow in? He did demonstrate His authority, however, on numerous occasions and was recognized by others as a leader.\n\nYour last statement is silly on its face. I'm commenting on the self-identified leaders, not making some broader comment about Catholic society, in general.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "He never mentioned anything about a Christian nation, merely pointed out the laughable idea of people being both Christian and Republican. You can't be both.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What about that would be surprising? Christians make up the largest number of religious practitioners in the world and are also the largest group susceptible to the progressive agenda due to being the most inclusive and tolerant. Muslims/Islam are the second largest religious practitioners in the world and are the least susceptible to the progressive agenda. Many of the other religions are just as intolerant of the progressive agenda as are those of the Muslim/Islam faith. This survey just shows that of all the religions, Christianity is the least judgmental and most tolerant of the worlds religions. Just the opposite of what the left tells us. Hmmm, not the only huge lie we have been told by the left.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So much for even a trace of Christian forgiveness. Wow, it's a good thing our justice system doesn't operate this way.\nTo all those who are so pure and abhorred, I am an ISSUES voter and as much as I look down on Trump's statement, I am voting FOR Trump. \nAs to those who are suckered by this deflection by the Clinton campaign, it's all about NOT addressing the issues, as she cannot win on the issues. \nA conservative Supreme Court, Free, FAIR trade, a SECURE border, supporting in a real sense, our police and military, and most of all, he's a CHANGE agent who has the best opportunity to drain the WN DC SWAMP. \nVote Trump on the ISSUES people!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I would add that many of my young staff are 'nones' because they can't believe any of the 'magic' stories and don't see where the Church is incorporating science in it's moral teachings. They also didn't compartmentalize their religious training as a way to protect it from the influence of their professional or academic training. Consequently if a given Church teaching conflicts with their professional understanding it's just one more reason to leave....and then of course, there is the whole hypocrisy thing. Lots of that on display in all kinds of Christian denominations.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I have compared your theory concerning the primary purpose of sexual intercourse and the constant teaching of the Catholic Church over two millennia and it is your theory that I find to be flawed. \nIt is an absolute hypocrisy to claim to be a Catholic and at the same time reject not only its teaching but also its authority to teach. You know better than than Christ's Church, you decide what is Catholic doctrine, not the Church.\nYou are still calling anyone who doesn't agree with you, a Nazi war criminal.\nPerhaps you would make more sense if you concentrated upon the discussion rather than calling people names all the time.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Your Boy Roy & Company, is just another 3for, fake Christian, fake patriot and fake American, all rolled up into one ugly returmpliecon dirt sandwich.\n\nHitler was given the chancellorship by a group of conservative politicians who thought they could control him. He was also supported by deep-pocketed industrialists. Sound familiar?\n\nWhen Republicans morphed a picture of Osama Bin Laden into the face of Purple Heart veteran senator Max Cleland of Georgia in a campaign ad in order to beat him in his 2002 campaign, I thought that was as low as any Alabama politician could stoop, since the days of George Wallace. Apparently, Moore has been itching to top them both.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What a silly letter. Most people I know appreciate Christmas, say\"Merry Christmas\" to people who celebrate it, \"Happy Hanukkah\" to people who celebrate that holiday or \"Happy Holidays\" to people they aren't sure about. The vast majority of people I know do not attend church or consider themselves Christians other than perhaps culturally to a greater or lesser degree. \nNo one is waging a war on Christmas except in the paranoid imaginations of right-wing Christians. The U.S. is a multicultural society and people are simply keeping up with the changes in society by recognizing that there are many different traditions in this country, not just Christian ones. People of every faith love their god and when they say the Pledge of Allegiance they are most likely thinking of their own conception of god whether it be Allah, God the Father, Nature, etc. Others who do not believe in the existence of god might omit that part of the pledge without consequence.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Baloney, at least to a point. It is subtraction, not addition, at work. Kids with are rejecting a straw-man Christianity, a sick parody Mass, and a trite caricature of Christ. The flimsiest and stupidest arguments for atheism or (sometimes) megachurch jive-Protestantism pull them away when they're old enough to be exposed to them, because they don't know what the Church believes let alone why it believes what it does. Faith without reason is stupid and flimsy and bad, sentimentalist, unchallenging reason-free catechesis (e.g. C.C.D. programs) leaves the youth defenseless. It's the same as it was 20-30 years ago and often with the same people in charge.\n\nBut one could also say that faith isn't being \"caught\" from our liturgical prayer in most places. And conversely the \"reform of the reform\"--offering, at long last, the Ordinary Form in the way Vatican II actually specified--so opposed by many of the blue-hairs has a marked tendency to make disciples out of mere cultural Catholics.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "On the other hand, every Muslim MP voted in favor of same-sex marriage in Germany recently. \n\nActually, do you have a source for 48% believe homosexuality should be illegal and punishable by death? I see a recent poll that says 52% believe it should be illegal, but no mention of death. I wonder how US evangelical Protestants would answer that poll, given that a recent poll showed increasing acceptance of gays, ticking up to 36% saying gays should be accepted by society. I would hope that a minority of the non-accepters would push for it to be illegal.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps it is time for the Catholic Church to become less judgmental,, less controlling of women and more tolerant. As a former Catholic all my life until 5 yrs. ago, I cannot agree to their anti- women and LGBT bigotry. I now attend an Episcopal church with a gay woman pastor . She is marvelous,, intelligent, and lovely to talk to. Catholic priests are too caught up in their own importance and afraid to get their hands dirty. Protestant churches are smaller, more welcoming and more tolerant. I have 6 children, was told my health could not take another pregnancy but my Catholic Church teaches if I got pregnant then I should die? No, the priests are not God. Priests are to serve us not put us on hard wooden benches in the church and collect our money. Just look at yourselves! Cardinals get a salary of approx. $300,000 a year and live luxuriously!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Right on, I am so sick of Republican leaning White nationalist, neo nazi, anti abortion, gay hating, immigrant hating christians stand up for a president who doesn't care about them, has said that in public and the party of rich white men who only care about getting re elected whine about how this country is taking away their rights, to make america great again. The truth is, they are afraid that their beliefs and superiority will cease to exist. Perhaps, but such is growth and change, this country was built on the belief that anyone who works hard could make a good life for them regardless of their class, ethnicity and wealth.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, poor straight, white Christians. So persecuted.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The biggest issue the pope, Trump and the US episcopate agree on is \"religious liberty\" i.e. the continued ability of Catholic agencies to obstruct health care for women (in particular to victims of human trafficking and immigrants fleeing sexual brutalization), deny gay and transgender human rights and still receive gov't funding. \nDuring the press conference, the pope also talked about his \"fraternal relations\" with the anti-Semitic SSPX. \"With Msgr. Fellay I have a good rapport. I\u2019ve spoken many times\u2026\" he said. \nAlso, the tribunal he promised to address bishops who, like himself, aided and abetted sexual assaults, never happened. Instead, he created a tribunal to defend pedophile priests. \n(see entire transcript at catholicnewsagency.com)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "funny. inciting and inviting. like trump who can get out of his own way. laughing at those who claim to be Christian, like trump and the many of his zombie koolaid drinkin neo-con 100% supported by white supremacists followers. Donald meltdown is sad.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Is your hate of Christians so consuming that you would think something so false? Yes, McVeigh was a Christian, so what? How many Christians have committed acts like this? How many of these Islamic extremists have done so? And just so you know, the vast majority of Islamists/Muslims are gentle, caring and nonviolent and are also targeted quite heavily by these same Islamic extremists.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "NOBODY who supported Trump in the election can claim any god is their guide, that disgusting ruse is finally fully exposed across the board, the evangelicals who dropped to their knees in front of this grifter from hell to align themselves with the worst evils our society has ever produced are the most shamelessly despicable of all deplorables and should turn in their bibles before the pages burst into flames.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If either buyer or seller does not wish to any contract including the cake-baking for whatever reason then they are entitled to refuse. If a buyer has right so does a seller\nIf I asked a printer to print me a large placard saying, THE BIBLE SAYS HOMOSEXUAL ACTS ARE SINFUL, which is undeniably true, and he refused, I would concede that he has every right to refuse and go elsewhere. So your inflammatory accusations are patently false as usual.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You mis-state again. It's your way.\n\nI firmly believing all my intellect, will, memory, imagination, any human virtue I may have into my vocation...my family life, my work life, my life of friendship and apostolate with others, all my acts of charity, etc.\n\nTotal use of these faculties...within my vocation.\n\nTo optimize my influence and contributions in this vocation, means that I don't worry about things outside of my vocation and outside of my competence.\n\nSome Catholics think they can mouth off about things they clearly have no competence on like canon law, church discipline, etc. \n\nThey look like noisy fools.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The guy who went to Mecca - is he an Islamist? What is an Islamist? If you are Muslim and you believe in your religion are you an Islamist? So what about the guy who killed six Muslims in Quebec City? Is he a radical Christian or Christianist? I know plenty of average Christians and if everyone was like them there would be no problem. You see you get these radicals. The kind that hate Muslims and blog in the Globe and Mail or La Presse and then one of them goes crazy and starts shooting.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mind your accusation of bigotry. This blog purports to be Catholic. I have a right to assume it IS Catholic, and that it does not call its own believers bigoted. Further, I assume that when people here say I'm bigoted for opposing SSM, they're not really Catholic, because the Church condemns gay marriage as intrinsically disordered. Virtually all the world believed that marriage was for one man and one woman . . . until the sexual revolution came along. So until then, all of us, from the beginning of time, were bigots??! What a hoot.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hitler hated Christianity. He wanted the land in the Soviet Union. Ukraine being the breadbasket of eastern Europe and the oil fields in the south. He wanted 'lebensraum' for the third reich. His move on Russia had nothing to do with hate. His murder of 6,000,000 Jews, however, did. Christians were next. His quasi-religious Cult of Nazism was slowly replacing Christianity in Europe. \n.\n A Christian Church, weakened by WW1, a Great economic depression, government secularization and moral decay, only paved the way for that EVIL man. The people were duped by Hitler's evil CULT. The left is still easily duped today by the seductive siren call for a 'one world order'. Nothing new though, just the same old European fascistic ideology wrapped up in a bright, shiny new 'package'", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As trump called \"Lying Ted,\" we learned what that worm is. He is poison. He has duped the evangelicals who lack education or understanding of how they are being used.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Torys of England proved, once again, the failure of their ideological policies degenerating into racism and increased fascism throughout the nation. Those left behind in the Tory deregulatory disaster are brainwashed into believing the problems are all caused by those nasty immigrants too brown or black in visage to be worthy of British citizenship. Concurrent with our own national Torys(Republicans) whose descent into courting and appeasing the racists, fundamentalist christians, and corporate monopolists results in the nomination of a racist demagogue. Corporate media stampedes the ignorant and stupid TV/Video generation into acquiecence for millions of dollars in ad revenue. The American Demagogue's vitriol leads the headlines to cement his status as the Tory/Conservative ideal.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "<>\n\nEr, frustrations about race and racism in the US are a constant, not something that \"began with the police shootings.\" Just bad.\n\n<>\n\nSteven Bannon and Kellyanne Conway are Catholics. The bishops appear to have swung Catholics toward Trump over abortion and SSM. Bishop Gregory might lecture his brother bishops and conservative Catholics first before making futile pronouncements at a disgusting little man who rose to power exploiting bigotry and is laughing all the way to the bank.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Especially when you see evangelical women wearing those \"Trump can grope this\" t-shirts at his rallies", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Blah Blah Blah - No mercy or justice for women and we make up half of the church so I don't see any success as this writer claims to the year of Mercy. And to top it all off, our church helped support the U.S. Catholics electing a monkey to the White House. Yeah Church!! Great Job!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The sad truth is that we do have to \"dismiss 53% of white women as racist, sexist, homophobes\" due to ignorance, lack of compassion/empathy (true Christian values) and brainwashing by Fox News and the \"racist, sexist, homophobic\" men they are surrounded by. It's not complicated. We need to educate our citizens much better than this.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The divorced and remarried are raging adulterers according to the magisterium. Thus, they must be fired as flying in the face of Church teachings.\n\n\"The answer, though, is not to increase the numbers of wrongs by the Church\". You seen not firing married gays as a \"wrong\". I see firing them as a far greater wrong. That's the difference between us. Unlike you, I do not take \"You shall love your neighbor as yourself\" to have an addendum of \"unless your neighbor is LGBT, in which case you should show disdain and hatred towards him or her\". That, Sir, is clearly your actual attitude, and your calling for them to be fired from their jobs is unchristian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Where to begin? Gardner's first town halls in well over a year are held in C. Sprgs, Greeley and a \"Christian\" university in Lakewood. What happened to the millions of constituents in Denver? He's too scared to come here. \n\nGardner's explanations for his votes to destroy access to health care for tens of millions of Americans and 475,000 Coloradans just plain stink. He's following orders from the money people and that's all we need to know. \n\nAs for his condemnation of Nazis and white supremacists, well, that was easy. But the White Supremacist-in-Chief still has Gardner's support, or he would say \"enough is enough\" and this president is an incompetent supporter of white supremacy. \n\nGardner is a fake senator. He doesn't represent the people of Colorado. He's just taking money from people and organizations that have no interest in our best interests. \n\nTrump and Gardner must go. Now.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Divorced and remarried people have been receiving communion for centuries. I have never heard of any of these people getting struck by lightning or getting arrested for this practice. But I have heard of thousands of priests and bishops and archbishop's who end up losing their jobs and some even going to jail......not for giving the Eucharist to a divorced person......but rather for raping 8 year old kids. Get rid of the trash who are not leading the Catholic Church and hire some people (men and WOMEN) who want to work and do this job!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican II might have been the worst thing that ever happened to the Church. It certainly marked the beginning of a fifty year period of decline. It will probably take another 25 to 50 years for V2 to be recognized as the disaster it is. It takes a while for those involved -- or those with an emotional investment in it -- to die off.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic pedophile priest is Judas Priest (judas iscariot) with lots of help from the Bishop. There are million and millions of judas priests.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus of Nazareth said over and over again that no one knows when the Kingdom of God is coming except for God.\nSo quit try to guess when it will occur, and quit playing games with Israel.\nIsrael is a secular state with secular laws founded by socialists. Quit using Israel for your nefarious purposes.\nAnd quit comforting yourself that the Rapture occurs before pollution gets too bad or nuclear war breaks out or terrorism gets worse, so all you have to do is sit on your behind and wait.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims don't either. Radical fanatic Islamists do. The don't represent Muslims any more than Anders Breivik represents Christians. \n\nAnd you might want to look up the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. The radical Jewish settlers who open fire on Palestinian civilians in Israel, and the way fanatical Buddhists treat others in Southeast Asia.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Donald Trump sex sated saga is a pristine example of BULLYING others which has dominated his adolescent and adult life. For him, such power and advantage over others is natural and normal. And he's not the only one! Trump is finding out, the hard way, that women do not readily trust such men, or genuinely and reciprocally love them, or vote for them. And neither do REAL men, even though bully boys attempt to justify such conduct among their own, even in the Catholic church! Sister Christine, thank you for sharing your experiences and perspectives with us! They're a bigger eye-opener than the Catholic clergy sex abuse crisis, which is still upon us!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Are you stating a fact that Fr. Martin is a homosexual BECAUSE he encourages dialogue between the hierarchy and the LGBT community? \n\nI would not invite Michael Voris to any dialogue in this area because he is hardly an \"uninterested\" party. The comments that he made/instigated about Fr. Jim Martin, M. Shawn Copeland and Rebecca Weiss were shameful. He made insinuations about the Jesuits and the Felician Sisters [who own Madonna University where Shawn Copeland was to speak] that were utterly disgusting. Voris also seems to have acquired a 'let's keep women in their place' attitude. \n\nThe LGBT community was told FIRST by the Catholic hierarchy that homosexuals they are \"objectively disordered\". There was NO attempt made by the hierarchy to do any biological or embryonic research to back up their ridiculous comment.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "W, I don't argue with professions of faith, nor the buttressing them with key texts. The distresses of life create a need for answers. Where there aren't any, a sedative, even if placebo, is welcomed to ease the existential distress.\n\nOutside of faith professions are confounding, contradictory facts that have to be ignored to maintain belief. It isn't just science versus Religion. Presuppositions and God as Guess Work (GW) are the other two. \n\nThe major presupposition is that perfection was primary, cursed by two idiots, for which restoration is the only hope. Christ. There is no support, beyond brain waves, for such a thing.\n\nGW as holy and all powerful is contradicted by ineptness in transmission of revelation (millions of differing guesses) and as a helpless witness to suffering (billions of dead, us on our journey to it, guess it will be resolved someday). \n\nJewish Mind (JM) offers nothing but verification that special connection with God is three millennia of misery, Guess Work.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you again for bringing attention to Trump's repellent comments regarding the Central Park Five, who were exonerated on the basis of DNA evidence and a confession by the actual rapist:\n\n\"'They admitted they were guilty,' Trump said to CNN in a statement.\n\n'The police doing the original investigation say they were guilty. The fact that that case was settled with so much evidence against them is outrageous. And the woman, so badly injured, will never be the same.'\"\n\nWhere are the Trump apologists who have been dripping scorn on us for calling Trump a racist? We know Trump has no decency; what about you, Catholic prelates? Still want to defend this guy as \"pro-life\"?\n\nYou're right Trump's sexism has long been obvious. However, the video attests to Trump's casual pride in habitual sexual assault. A new low.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We already have Legislators in Alaska that are promoting a \" Religious \" influence in government, and pushing for it in our schools. This is extremely devisive , and dangerous. There are those that will not sit idly by and watch the fantasy of religion being taught as an alternative to science. A religious fanatic is the rabble rouser that sees an enemy in a person of another religion. We have those people here. They are a vocal minority, but they are always loud and try to drown out sanity and logic with faith in fantasy. What you call your radical religion means very little. The effect on society is divisive and oppressive. All of these expansionist religions have one thing in common. They ALWAYS result in violence to expand their religious influence, and that has never changed. There is no place for religion in my life, especially one as evil as Christianity, or Islam have been. You cannot legislate morality , you can only deny civil rights to those that believe differently than you", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "All that matters is that 4 out of abuse of the Catholic Church's abuse cases were incidents of gay men raping boys.\n\nAll those gay priests were supposedly celibate, and we see how well those vows and the trust in those vows worked. Not at all.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "yeah, wait-and-see is best. President Trump might have adopted the same stance before signing off on an badly thought-out executive order, too. Hmm, come to think of it, he might have had an executive order drawn up that (somehow) addressed the issue that the vast (and I mean VAST) majority of those who perpetrate mass shootings in America have been white, nominally Christian native Americans. Not immigrants. Not Muslims. \n\nThink about the implications of THAT! (Gun control, anyone?)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is there for all races. This liberal nonsense of making special provisions for every group that complains is tiresome. You can't have a unified Church unless the people stop looking at themselves as victims or members of a special class. You want that, go to your Black church or your \"gay\" church or any other Protestant sect that meets your requirements.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mohammad was a false prophet who denied the divinity of Christ. Because of this grand denial, Islam has been fruitless. See the excellent article in the Crisis magazine at www.crisismagazine.com/2016/was-muhammad-a-false-prophet", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I have a problem with porn, violent movies, cursing in movies, shows like Game of Thrones that have incest and prostitution in them, etc. The first amendment allows all this horrible stuff that liberals keep wanting to give awards to. Us Christian conservatives have had to endure all sorts of offensive things for the free speech of the left. I don't approve of the KKK or Nazis. They are horribly offensive. I also don't approve of Linda Sarsour, a hero of today's leftist women's movement, who seems to hate Jews. The first amendment allows all sorts of terrible things, but that is what is in our great Constitution.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So, you've given up on McKinley, Harding, Wilson, and Coolidge. That's smart. But, look - Truman, even as a young man out of military service, was not a racist, was pro-catholic, was pro-Israel and pro-Jewish. As president, Truman integrated the armed forces by presidential decree.\n\nYou are letting the RNC use you. Republicans have used racism to get the Southern white vote ever since Lee Atwater invented the Southern Strategy that got Ronnie Reagan elected. Trump has made that racism blatant. The RNC propaganda organs for years have been accusing Democrats of what they know themselves to be guilty of - cheating the poor, appealing to bigots, running up the deficit to enrich the few who are already rich beyond imagining (like Trump, or Romney). Only the weak-minded, ignorant, incapable of thought, unable to see which side of the toast has the butter on it, and vulnerable to any message repeated often enough, whether true or not, will swallow the noxious swill from the RNC.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think that President Trump will listen to any of these guys, nor should he.\n\nPresident Trump should remind the Pope that the Church doesn't pay taxes, so it shouldn't be dictating policy.\n\nAdditionally, Trump should tell the pope in the kindest manner: \n\"If you keep pressing your liberal policies on America, maybe, just maybe, the U.S. Attorney General should indict the American bishops for racketeering because of their illegal activities involving the pedophile scandal, and freeze the Church's assets until all victims have been remunerated.\" That will silence Francis.\n\nTrump has a LOT MORE POWER than Francis.\n\nRemember: A majority of Catholics even voted for Trump AFTER he called Francis disgraceful.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Justin Trudeau says....\n\n\u201cFor someone to start questioning my own faith and accusing me of being a bad Catholic, is something that I really take issue with. My own personal faith is an extremely important part of who I am and the values that I try to lead with.\u201d\n\nMr. Trudeau added that neither he nor his father saw any incongruity between enshrining the rights of gays and lesbians, for example, and the tenets of Catholicism. He notes that he is personally very opposed to abortion, but still believes nobody can tell a woman what she should do with her body. - globeandmail\n\nOh dear, do liberals not know who their PM is? Or did Andrew Scheer say that?\n\nHow embarrassing. How awkward.\n\nGoing to be tough attacking someone who shares your own personal views you went on record with.\n\nUnless you're a galactic hypocrite.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, well ... Justin may be completely abusing his position, but Harper was literally the anti-Christ. Plus ... uhhh ... conservatives are bad and evil. \n\nSo leave Justin alone. \n\n(Submitted simply to save some time for the usual apologists.)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"BLM? Weren't they behind the crucifixion of Jesus? Yeah, they're the worst.\"\n\nHuh? \n\nI'm sure you meant that to be clever, but I'm afraid it simply makes no sense.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for sharing your difficulties and heartaches living through CI (Catholic Institution) high ranking clergies criminal behaviors regarding the clergy sex abuses of children, with me. \nThey must have a thought that some men just can\u2019t live without sex and sacrifice some dumb lay people\u2019s children is a necessary evil to keep the warm bodies in the institution.\nThe unbelievable problem we still have is that RCI is not willing to give up on clergy sex abuse of children!!! \n \nThe more fundamental problem is that they are not true Catholics. \nThey are intellectual ruling class of RCI, yet they are bully child in spirit! \n\nThey are not obedient to the Holy Spirit in themselves nor in others. They are not poor in spirit nor in possessions. They are not chaste in spirit nor in body. They haven\u2019t experienced our oneness in God. They haven\u2019t experienced immanent spirit of God in themselves, thus ignorant of immanent spirit in others, i.e., in children, thus allow sex abuses.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Unnecessary to engage in satire to expose the flaws in this poster's thinking. In fact, impossible to satirize such a diseased viewpoint. This is an example of a \"catholic\" whose religion is used to support right-wing politics and a truly hateful personal philosophy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I've heard that Iranian commandos disguised in sombreros are massing on the border, just awaiting Obama's signal to invade and subject us all to fundamentalist Islam. LGBTQs are secretly getting ready to blow up fundamentalist Christian churches at the moment of the Iranian attack, to deprive our people of desperately needed moral guidance. Liberal Hollywood conspirators are planning to release a blockbuster movie in which Captain America wipes his ass with the American flag and joins ISIS.\n\nOur way of life is in mortal danger, people. Who alone can save us?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Laughable and so typically Liberal. Arrogant, entitled and elitist. What's the problem with the mayor? Is it because he's an immigrant from Pakistan, Roman Catholic, but not female? And what's the matter with the folks from Markham wanting to run? In both cases the Libs and Trudeau are parachuting their favourites into the ridings and ignoring the local folks. Not surprised are you?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Only problem with that is Pence is a end-of-the-world-born-again-christian, and he would love setting the planet on fire.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is not being compared to the Dark Side, Catholic traditionalists are. Two completely different things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There were white supremacists who argued that their stance was supported by their Christian religion.\n\nIf a fetus is not considered to be a human being, then your first sentence is meaningless. Also, \"right to life\" is not protected by the Constitution. You are apparently thinking of the Declaration of Independence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "During the election campaign Trump promised to ban all Muslims from coming to the USA until he could figure out what was going on. His EO bans people from predominantly Muslim countries from coming but makes an exception for religious minorities (read: Christians).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Appreciating this context is not to absolve Mr. Couillard of the charges he now faces of giving in to xenophobia.\" You say this right after explaining that we Quebecers \"fought to rid their polity of the insidious influence of the Catholic Church. This has instilled in them a zero-tolerance attitude toward the state's condoning of any religion.\" So which is it? Are we protecting secular gains or are we xenophobes? Forget thinking long and hard about this, just call us racists after presenting our historical disdain for religion and describing our real position. Great work there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Protestants: \"The Catholic Church worships Mary and all these saints!!\" [many of those saints are female]\n\nCafeteria Catholics: \"The Catholic Church marginalizes women!!\"\n\nWe can't win.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't, I didn't say their weren't any radicalized Christian Terrorists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've always found the idea of a 'Christian conservative' an oxymoron anyway. Like, do you people even read your own book? Just admit you've made your own cult religion and stop dragging the Bible into it. I've known Christians who lived the Bible - humble, giving all they had, working hand in hand with the most wretched, feeding and clothing the hungry - Trump, and the Republican party in general, is the antithesis of everything they stood for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "TradCath, as St. Francis of A might say so gently: Brother donkey you act like that because you are what you are and I love you anyway. Just don't claim intelligence or that you act like a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the Vulture Capitalist Amway Pyramid Scheme was born, we have had enough of this train wreck of a family...the DeVos family. They are accomplished thieves, and Christian Fundamentalist Crazies. Betsy has absolutely NO qualifications for this job. She has vowed to KILL Public Education, saying that she will \"transform Public Education to serve the Savior.\" Dangerous, deluded and greedy is NOT a good combination. Anywhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The anti-progressive culture is just as common in the Christian right-wing as in the Muslim right wing; it is especially strong in the US.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hello & Thank you Kevin! \nI really did not have much complain about RCI (Roman Catholic Institution) before. It was Christ himself who initiated my relationship with Catholic Church. I was head over heels in love with Christ/God that all I care was to be united to God or die to see God face to face. Now I am retired and thought that I will just let go of world affairs. However, I am finding that clergy sex abuse of children is something that I can't let go! Pope F. will not ignore this like 'snake slide over the wall' - Oriental old saying!\nIt seems that people are giving up on this criminal conduct of Pope F. \nI complain to Christ about this everyday and beg him to take me to himself or\nhelp us to resolve these clergy sex abuse of children scandals!!!!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Way better case the Bible bans sodomy than people of different races eating in the same restaurant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gregorian chant and polyphony needs men singers. (Full disclosure, I'm in my parish's choir and male). Though if we sung the usual Hagen-Haas-Schutte stuff or other feminine music that gets too much play in Catholic parishes all over the place would I have wanted to join the choir? Heck, no!\n\nAlso nothing wrong with men who love their pets!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When have you been discriminated against? Can't live in a certain area because you're Catholic?\nDid you not get a job because you were Catholic? Have to work on important religious holidays?\nWere you not able to pray or say Catholic prayers? Not able to attend church because the state has shut it down? Not able to get into the country for a visit because you were Catholic?\nOr perhaps your ability to discriminate against others has been hampered by our laws?\nI feel sorry for you, a Trump supporter. How do you reconcile your Catholic beliefs with a lying, cheating, trice married, P grabber?\nEverything the man stands for not in the best interest of the church. OR the US.\nCatholic discrimination was rampant in NYC in the late 19/early 20th century. My grandmother told me what Irish Catholics endured.\nI see no evidence of that now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"He said Yee\u2019s prison sentence was \u201cunusually long and harsh\u201d especially for his age.\" ,\"jailed for several weeks in 2015 and 2016\" - \"several weeks\" is \"unusually long\"?\n\n\"accused of hurting the religious feelings of Muslims and Christians in the multiethnic city-state\", \"he posted an expletive-laden video about Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew just after his death.\" \n\nSounds like a trouble maker. Why would we want another trouble maker to come to the U.S.?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't religion supposed to make you a kinder, better, person? Most of the time it seems to be used as justification for being just the opposite. \nI think anyone purporting to be a Christian, or any other religion, should live in a way that makes other people want to be a member of that religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Has the institutional Catholic Church actually apologized for the Edgardo Mortara affair? I don't believe so. Pius IX was up for beatification in 2000, and the case was raised by some Jews. The Vatican swept it under the rug and Pio Nono was beatified.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All of the Law was fulfilled By Jesus, and Christians therefore follow the New Testament. The only portions of the Old Testament that apply to Christians are the ones that Jesus references under the New Covenant. Did that fact somehow escape your Brobdingnagian intellect?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW, a Catholic, says the Evangelicals (Falwell in particular) are responsible for America's \"nones.\"\n\nA view completely made up out of whole cloth. And given the Church's bombshell sex abuse scandal, very sad and morally disturbing.\n\nhttp://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2015/may/pew-evangelicals-stay-strong-us-religious-landscape-study.html\n\nNo one in the Xian world quotes MSW, and no other publications link to his essays. There is a reason for this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rosa Parks broke the law. So did abolitionists who helped slaves escape slavery. Ya gotta hate law breakers. Pot growers are the worst.\n\nPerhaps you didn't see the post I was replying to before he deleted it. He was slamming Christians as being heartless and not caring about people, (illegals) while totally disregarding the fact that it is a church where this illegal is being given sanctuary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A Muslim kid, a Christian kid and an Atheist kid are all sitting in the Principle's Office. What does the Jewish kid say when he walks in?\n\"Is that a quarter on the floor?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you blame Muslims for what Christians are inflicting upon them(our)selves? Haven't you noticed that for quite a number of years people (Christians) are no longer saying \"Merry Christmas\" overwhelmingly but rather \"Happy Holidays\"? If we cannot even call the most important Christian Holiday by its name then we have nothing to complain about, let alone blaming Muslims or other non-Christians for what we are bringing upon ourselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I am telling the truth? How dare you question my veracity! Contrary to political future office holders, people do not make up being sexually abused. It is not always so bad? Do you even have a clue as to how many adults commit suicide because they were sexually abused by Catholic priests as children. You are certainly right in that for me it wasn't nearly as bad as for many others.I truly believe you have no idea of the extent of the abuse or the damage done to little children. Go to the Website: Bishop accountability .org and click on almost any diocese in this country and many not in this country. Of course these are documented cases, many documented by the Churches own documents. If they are telling the truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, Patrick, I have an intolerance for intolerance. Btw, some of my best friends are christian. They just don't believe their beliefs tops anyone else's beliefs, like the Constitution states. Are your gay friends trying to stop gay parades or do they just not participate?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In France and some other European countries terrorist suspects are electronically tagged. Still won't prevent an Islamist terrorist running over people and/or going on a rampage with a knife.\n\nLong-term solution is for Islam to be subject to questions and criticism the way Christianity has been in the West for centuries...since the Enlightenment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "False, they have no sees to teach in or minister to. They are now just old Catholic guys. Their opinions are as valid as yours and mine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As this nation has gone way right of center in the GOP there is nothing worse than a Christian on a \"mission\" and I don't mean Africa, I mean to serve as a US Politician.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I am not Catholic I may prefer to send my child to a Catholic school rather than to an atheist public system or have my child bussed a long distance. Saskatchewan also has non Catholic religious schools. I send my child to a Lutheran school.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The law shouldn't have to be changed to accommodate a small group of religious zealots. How would you feel if instead of Christians, these folks were Muslim and asking to have laws changed for them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"What if someone doesn't have it in their heart to serve Christians?\" With all due respect (and I mean that), this isn't a symmetrical example. He specifically said he doesn't refuse service to homosexuals. An analogous example would be, \"What if someone doesn't have it in their heart to provide a product for a church function (Christian)?\" And the truthful answer is, I am OK with that. There is a difference between refusing to take on a client for an event or action and refusing to provide services to a client, full stop. Perhaps the law will not see it that way, but there is an actual, ontological distinction to be made. What sets a dangerous precedent is setting up the law such that people who have non-violent, non-harmful beliefs about *events* and *actions* are forced either to act in such a way inconsonant with their beliefs or else close their business. This kind of policy by the left preaches conformity or punishment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Layla, why do you hate muslims? And Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There should be some education at the bus in regard to Lennon standing up to the Christians with his message of peace. They persecuted and killed him because he fought for peace and truth while they have tortured and killed more innocent people than any war in recorded history. John tried to free us from the lies and bring the salvation of knowing we are each God visiting creation for a lifespan.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is not Christian. He has no Christian values. Christians should not honor him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you sure of the Nazi's? My understanding is that they used Religion to help in propagandizing the German conscience?\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Nazi_Germany\n\"Nazism was clearly willing to use the support of Christians who accepted its ideology and Nazi opposition to both Judaism and Christianity was not fully analogous in the minds of the Nazis. [6]\"\n\nAs usual folks tend to shape their religious belief to their personal social objectives. \n\nThat's completely the case when it comes to a stamped declaration of faith on money,(a very strange choice consider Jesus teaching on the dangers of placing wealth as one's personal priority).\n\nPeople create religious dogma to meet their very human perceptions and desire for a hierarchy of society that places them as morally superior. I don't know your religious beliefs but Jesus takes a nice shot at the 'government' of the Jewish faith.\n\nhttps://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+23&version=NLT", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Catholic\" scholars? A laughable assertion, that. Thank goodness no one reads or listens to the National \"Catholic\" Reporter anymore.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You miss the obvious. White Catholic. Which word comes first? For many catholics, religion is secondary to race, politics, and economics. Their religion is only of value when it can be used to support their existing views. Some of these people are men wearing miters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unless, of course, you are Catholic, Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Missouri Synod Lutheran, Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, Orthodox Jewish, Muslim, and some others, in which case the claim there is no compelling morality forbidding sodomy is a meaningless claim, eh?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The name Feinstein appears to be Jewish. Should I be anti-Semitic and say she is not qualified to be a senator because she's Jewish? All these libtards are completely off the charts. If Amy were Muslim, I bet that would be OK with the libtards and Feinstein in particular. Last form of \"acceptable\" discrimination is anti-Catholicism. I guess it's OK if you're a libtard. Libtards can say and do anything; violence, discriminate, kill innocents, and whine about losing what they didn't deserve.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is how they treat Christians in the Middle East. Is it any surprise that Jews needed a land of their own?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"ALL religions do this.\"\n\nThat is true. But it is the Evangelicals that are involved in this particular deal with the Rs and tRump, and they are not coming forth to take a stand in this controversy. Their absence is conspicuous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We have a Muslim community that rejects the hateful ideology of terrorist jihad...\".\n\nIntriguing declaration!\n\nIn the past, when abortion clinics got bombed in Canada, I don't recall writers rushing to exclaim: \"We have a Christian community that rejects the violent ideology of anti-abortion extremism\". Indeed, some pundits seemed to like the idea of smearing Christians in general with a broad brush, seeing them as impediments to progressive legislations.\n\nAnd when Quebec separatists violently kidnapped politicians, I don't recall writers rushing to exclaim: \"We have a separatist community that rejects the violent tactics of these outlier traitor extremists who kidnap innocents\". Indeed, some pundits seemed to like the idea of smearing all separatists with a broad brush, seeing that as a useful tactical narrative.\n\nIn reality, Christians, Quebec separatists and Muslims are each diverse groups. Curious how DIFFERENT the reasons are, for each group, for NOT recognizing that in print!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you haven't kept up with recent genetic research, I can't help you. It appears, indeed, that empathy/sympathy may have a genetic component, as does alcoholism, blue-eyes, or intelligence.\nI don't know as one can blame Eugenics on Oregon--- I hope you can provide some sort of connection? Eugene=Eugene-ics?\nI myself am atheist (an agnostic is a pathetic creature, is he not--- one who cannot simply demand proof and make a decision based on that elementary question) but find both the Old and New Testaments have some very profound things to say. That is one of them that I agree with. If one wishes to be charitable, it seems to me that one should do so in private. \nTo depend on the largesse of the 1% to solve societies' greatest problems is to place oneself into a debt to individuals to which I am unwilling to do so.\nIt is the responsibility of governments to fund scientific research, properly fund higher education, etc.\nEurope has done quite well with that system, as has Scandinavia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" Is it so difficult to accept that those with whom you disagree may also believe that they have Canada's best interests at heart?\"\n\nIt would be easier if so many did not make it clear they do not. They positively gloat at the idea of white, European, Christian culture getting what they consider its just deserts for what they see as centuries of racism, colonialism, oppression, etc., and getting replaced by \"brown\" people who are somehow intrinsically more virtuous and admirable. Right on these boards, never mind elsewhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Cupich's declaration might be 'sadly amusing' to people who don't really THINK about what they are saying as prayers in church ['peace to people of good will'] OR what Christianity DEMANDS of a disciple of Jesus---they're not to be gun-slingers.. There IS NO PLACE for guns in church. The people there are members of YOUR immediate Christian family--your parish. If 'baddies' did come into the church building, drawing out a gun could get innocent people killed before the perpetrator[s] was shot. \n\nSecondly, if one is going to carry a gun---they had better have EXTENSIVE training in how to use it properly. Most gun carriers don't have that much training here. Best to leave the gun at home and save it for defending the 'ole homestead, pardner'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess the shoe fits since you've decided to wear it, but if you really are one of the Catholics who think they are \"perfect\" and scorn others, who honor God with their lips, but not their hearts, he usually talks of you with sadness, not disdain. I again urge you to consider trying the approach recommended by Cardinal Ouellet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the source of your error is buried in this statement of yours \" and certainly not a religious ceremony\". And I pointed out that the Jewish/Catholic approach to marriage is an analog to how God communicated His own love for us, as a permanent exchange of persons. \n\nSo treating all \"religious ceremonies\" as if they had the same (mere human) intent is an error. Jewish and Catholic approaches to marriage are \"3D\" mimicking as it were God's expression of His desired union with us.\n\nNo need to respond. I am just using your error to teach others who may want to know more about the Catholic approach to marriage, and its Jewish roots.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's just so much easier to conceptualize that everything came from the Big Kaboom without worrying about the ingredients (since science clearly tells us that everything can come from nothing) and that dumb \"luck\" just happened to put the DNA sequence together (despite the odds of that happening were, let's just say, \"remote\"). We scientists who happen to be Christians (talk about an oxymoron) just need to learn to keep things simple...like keeping faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yet more evidence TSA does nothing and Obamas complete failure to enable law enforcement to deal with threats appropriately. He has all law enforcements hands tied by creating fear of alleged racism if the perpetrator is anythig but Christian white male.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What does hard line religious fundamentalism, whether Islam or Christian, have to do with liberals? That makes no sense. Hard line Islam is the kissing cousin of fundamentalism sharia Christians in the US who want to dictate and control people's lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "During her campaign for president, Hillary Clinton referred to many of Trump supporters as being a basket deplorables. I happen to be one of those deplorables who helped elect President Trump. Deplorable or not, I consider myself as being a spiritually healthy Catholic; that is, I have not been contaminated with the disease of Liberalism. That day, January 20th 2017 brought a devastating blow to Liberalism in secular America. I await the day when loyal Catholics can say that the vile and pernicious contagion of Liberalism, has been cured in God\u2019s Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" Money buys access and influence. That's not the way a Christian community should work.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Faithful Catholics\" are for women controlling their own reproductive health. Deal with it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Maybe it's time to reconsider calling protestants 'Christian'\"\nOr maybe it's just time protestants stopped telling Catholics about being Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You'd feel safer in Afghanistan or Iraq or Pakistan than in Kansas?\n\nThe Vegas shooter was motivated by Christianity? Or was Dylan Roof?\n\nJust stop. There is no Christian extremist movement on a crusade of killing people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The fact that many Catholic children are Latinos has no bearing on whether we should enforce our immigration laws. Yes, many of them are here legally. I WELCOME THEM AS AMERICANS. But many of them are here illegally. You say they should be allowed to stay in violation of the law because they'll feel bad about being deported. How liberal. Well, the consequences of forging papers would make ME feel bad.\n \nThere is no inconsistency in having Trump speak at a Catholic school. Our deportation laws are humane and rational. Those who invited illegals into the country are responsible for their current plight. Ah, the bitter aftertaste of liberalism, that perpetual pursuit of feeling good, unguided by rational thought or forethought. You call it hate to oppose illegal immigration; I call it foolishness on yours. If you'd had the character to say what was rational, right, and just in the first place---that THEY CAN'T JUST BREAK IN LINE---you would not see the suffering you now see.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Considering how badly the church treats them, it's amazing that there are any women -- let alone nuns -- who remain in the church. May G_D bless them because their church doesn't much care about them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If only I had realized you were a master doctor of the Catechism and Catholic teaching. I pry, what catechesis justifies this ground-breaking revelation that women may be ordained?\n\nOr perhaps you're a layman whom has never read the Catechism or the acts of the Magisterium, let alone even know what either of the two are.\n\nYou believe the root of the cause for the drop-off in numbers in the Church in the West being the Result of not being \"modern\" enough, despite drop-off in numbers beginning not to long after the Second Vatican Council, and the effective destruction of the church in America not to the mandate of the Council at all, but to the \"spirit of Vatican II.\" \nWere already modernizing and yet still, we continue to lose even greater numbers of Catholic brethren, as do the various protestant denominations after their attempts at modernizing failed. Despite the Episcopalian church allowing women priests, contraceptives, and gay marriage, its still losing numbers. \n\nIt doesn't work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Neko.\nThat is very troubling, and Trump should be called to account on that comment in multiple ways: the US has no right to take other state's resources; Catholics should raise a hew and cry that they do not wish to be, effectively, receivers of stolen goods. Period. Full stop.\n\"To the victor the spoils\" is a degraded moral principle and does not reflect the values of a Christian nation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I had kids, the last place I'd send them, wanting to pass on the Catholic faith to them would be a Catholic school.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those who use the deliberately vague and misleading appelation \"West Bank\" in reference to Judea and Samaria (the names by which these territories, the very cradle of Judeo-Christian civilisation, were known for thousands of years until sometime in the mid-20th century) are in engaging in historical revisionism, whether willfully or in ignorance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's some truth here... but as long as some Christians are pushing anti-science notions like \"intelligent design\", it will be tough for the rest of us to take them seriously.\n\nPersonally. I think diversity is highly over-rated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Azeri ambassador fails to mention that Azerbaijan remains one of the most authoritarian and repressive countries in the world, rife with corruption and oppression of free media. Azerbaijan promotes state sanctioned racism against Armenians and urges the Muslim world to oppose the \"heathen\" Christian Armenians. In the 90s, Azerbaijan funded Islamist Mujhadeen from Afghanistan and Chechnya to fight against Armenians. The American public should not be fooled, the ambassador paints a rosy picture of his country, but behind that mask is a state sponsor of terrorism, hate, and violence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cantoperate, you said it so well! Disrespect and disruption is on full display now when pride and respect used to bring tears to the eyes of people while the National Anthem played. Scoop, your remark is plain silly about Christians who \"don't stand for pledges or anthems due to their Godly beliefs...\". Are THEY being paid to play football, one of America's favorite pastimes? Is anyone denying these players & coaches our freedom of speech? There are better platforms to use for bringing out open conversations. This is their JOB...to play football and may the best team win! They are role models and are held to a different level. Did the Herald Editorial Board feel \"warm & fuzzy\" seeing a little league of 8 & under being shown how they could \"take a knee\" like the big boys? Again, our 1st Amendment is not being denied. Take protests to appropriate avenues. Watching disrespectful actions doesn't make things better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm for more Christians taking a stand against this tyranny even if it means going to prison.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He IS finished, Cutting Edge. Sexual violence is all about power and control. Trump powered and towered over everyone and came across literally as a Creepy Clown. Look at the pictures of him lurking behind Hillary while she spoke. The women he paraded in front of the cameras prior to the actual debate is troubling in that those women's statement was, \" I don't like being a victim of sexual violence so I'm voting for this sexual predator to protect and defend me.\" I wonder how Pence feels. After all, he claims to be a \"Christian.\" They are supposed to know what's written in the Good Book....like about not being unequally yoked. Or \"Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.\" I find the picture of Alaskans who support Trump troubling as well. Jerry Ward was joined at the hip with Bill Allen. But he's cheering on Trump. And he claims to be a \"God Fearing Christian\" to boot. The kind with family values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "IMO, this is an excellent article covering this sensitive problem from a unique viewpoint. \n\n\"Another possible reason for the church's silence is its participation in the systemic male privilege that contributes to the problem...\" This reprehensible behavior was unfortunately the norm before laws were enacted to combat it, although those laws obviously aren't very effective given the very high number of women speaking out now. Male privilege is a dominant reason and excuse for the culture of sexual harassment and abuse, widely thought to originate from the element of power not sexuality, although it is expressed in sexual ways. The institutional Church has shown in many ways to support and even lobby for its right to actual discrimination in employment matters, and it expresses complete misogyny in its continuing refusal to consider women for ordination and therefore leadership. I'd be very surprised to learn of its compliance with laws in this arena.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesuit, Holy Cross, whatever. They are both liberal and dissident so what difference does it make?\n\nYour point does not address my original point to the original poster anyway. The poster implied that Catholic universities like Ave Maria would likely not permit a pro-gay activist to speak on campus. The poster may be right. But why should they be expected to? They are a Catholic university. The Catholic Church does not condone things like gay marriage. \n\nBut my response was that the \"Catholic\" universities like Notre Dame would not permit a person to speak in defense of traditional marriage and Catholic teaching--ironically at a university that calls itself Catholic! So this idea that liberals are \"tolerant\" and \"open-minded\" of contrary viewpoints is totally absurd. I find liberals to be the most closed minded and intolerant of anyone. \n\nYou did get one thing right: the Cross is our only hope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just more examples of the big lies of religion plaguing the world. Trump claims christianity, but follows none of its precepts. Christianity and Judaism were both created from the big lie. Christianity from the worst lie of all since no Jesus ever existed. Judaism created as mythological, outlandish tales trying to portray its history. Islam from the insanity of Muhammad portrayed as another prophet in the line beginning with the Jewish Adam, Abraham, Jesus, etc to create another sect based on patriarchal one god deism. All of it created by humans plagiarized from Eastern ancient religions in many cases word for word from ancient texts. Man Made God by Barbara G. Walker is the definitive history of the big lies. Every human being on the planet should be required to read it. The history of these religions is constant terror and destruction to gain wealth and power based on the big lies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People like you protected the predators in the catholic church and school systems. A rapist gets a slap on the wrist and everyone is suppose to call it fair. Mr. Vulovich did deliver justice it was just not court approved. I hope he gets off and that strike some fear into the many repeat offender who live in Anchorage and are waiting for their next child victim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We live in a \"culture of death\" as a newly minted saint of the Catholic church once said. Millions of kids have been tossed into trash heap by their parents, killed before they had a chance to even reach the age of these sad children. Funny how the dope below tries to tie in some sort of political ideology to this love of destruction. Americans kill thousands a week and many of these deaths are at the hands of the \"blue collar, displaced\" workers he so worships. The \"waning of traditional values\" wasn't shoved down the throat of Joe Six Pack. He embraces the waning everyday of week because of what is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tim McVeigh wasn't a Muslim. He was white, American and christian. \nBut because he was white, the media and Government never called him a terrorist for his bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building, murdering men, women and children.\n\nThe First Amendment begins with The Establishment Clause for a reason. The Founders were aware of the destruction religious wars had caused in Europe, and did not want that for the new Nation. \nThe American Taliban of Evangelical Extremists has no interest in protecting and defending the Constitution, only in forcing their idea of religious law upon the rest of us in direct violation of the Constitution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus died for all sinners and if homosexuality is a sin, they must be included.My views might be different than other Christians although I do not think homosexuality is natural, but for me to be heterosexual does not make me a judge on right or wrong. However the Bible says it is a sin, but what I know from God is that he has a lot of mercy for sinners. The Israelite's could for instance not eat certain foods like camel or pork. Pork because of what pigs eat and quick decay.Camels because they gave hair for clothing and transport over the dessert.Unfortunately a lot of diseases can spread through homosexuality and that might be a reason to be called a sin.Christians generally believe that God will punish you if you sin.God do not micro manage us as we all have a free will to do what we like.If we skip a traffic light, chances are good that we would be involved in an accident.That is natural law kicking in and not God.All sins in the Bible involves are things that hurt other people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A hypothetical scenario...\n\nA firebrand imam in a mosque somewhere in the country begins radicalizing his community. He portrays Muslims as a group under attack in Canada. His message is that Canadians don't understand Muslims, they hate them and the evidence is right there in front of their eyes. So it's time to \"push back,\" he says over and over again, without actually recommending violence.\n\n(So far so good, right? All the people here who insist on free speech support the free speech of that imam.)\n\nSome time later, a radicalized youth from that mosque enters a church and murders six Christians. The country is aghast. A member of Parliament puts forward a motion asking the government to condemn the preaching of hatred and fear by any religion or group. \n\nAt that point, should Canadians reject the Parliamentary motion because it could have a \"chilling effect\" on the freedom to preach hatred and fear? Yes, according to the usual suspects here. So what if people are killed by it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's heartening to read about focus being placed on the prison complex. Now, if only the bishops were to pay attention and priests were to preach about it from pulpits, then maybe, just maybe, at some point in the future, Catholics might understand that what is going on with regard to imprisoning people of color is wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I assume the Church is called to do something with those who don't live by its teachings because Jesus specifically said his followers should leave the 99 behind and seek out the sinner. So the question is not mine, but derives from the gospel: how do we reach out to the great majority of people who engage in practices of which the Church does not approve? And if your response is that we should \"educate\" them, I hope you'll also deal with the specifics of how you propose to educate the great mass of humankind. To be honest, I've heard that argument many times, but no one has ever come up with a plan to educate the 90%+ of people who engage in unapproved sexual practices. The idea sounds like one of those bad videos about sex they used to show us in 7th grade, which no one took seriously. And that may be the crux of the question: no one takes seriously the Church's antiquated teachings about sexuality -- not because they're antiquated, but because they're wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hopefully, when this battle is over, many Syrian families can rebuild their lives in a peaceful Aleppo. I've never understood the American support for Sunni rebel groups, many of which want to annihilate the minorities like Christians, Shias, Druze and Alawites. Although Assad is no boy scout, at least he protected the minorities and Sunnis alike. He is Alawite .... a small sect of islam which the rebels want destroyed. He knows he needs ALL the minorities to counter the 74% who are Sunni. This why Shia militias from Iraq and Iran and other minorities support the government. His victory might well be that best of a bunch of bad possibilities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, look around....there are a lot of Catholics who are going to die unhappy. Because they really don't understand what God is calling them to!\n\nThey're fundamentally consumerists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The god Trid believes in is the one he has made in his own image and likeness. Trid is arrogant enough to believe that his merciless, unloving, unjust god is the one proclaimed by the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill, I\u2019m afraid offence is the price of free speech. I get offended every day but I wouldn\u2019t want to curtail reasoned discussion. I suspect you don\u2019t either.\n\nI think you overestimate the level of education of the Catholic laity\u2014and by education I mean catechesis in the basics of the faith, not the number or level of degrees. Most Catholics, especially younger ones, are completely unfamiliar with the basic tenets of Catholic moral theology, including matters in the sexual sphere. They haven\u2019t heard any discussion of divorce or of contraception, which are rarely mentioned from the pulpit.\nThus, were Fr M speaks to speak at a Catholic institution, we couldn\u2019t blame them for thinking his statements are in line with church teaching. In fact, they\u2019re not.\n\nThere\u2019s nothing to prevent Fr M from speaking at a local ECUSA or UU church. But it\u2019s misleading for a Catholic institution to give him a podium.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Castro: \"block disfavored groups from school benefits accorded all other groups\"\n\nI wonder if Mr Castro would attack say the right of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn to have their own schools? Because Jews are actively discriminatory on the basis of both race and religion.\n\nWhat about Pharsi, who also discriminate on the basis of both religion and race?\n\nWhat about Muslims wanting to discriminate and have their own schools and associations? \n\nOr is it just a Christian right to religious freedom that is now second class?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Saudi Arabia is repressive regime. Would you have the same here except Christian style?\nThe right to religion is embedded into the American Constitution by it's founding fathers. What Trump has done is make America take a giant step back from being great. It's becoming more like Saudi Arabia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're quoting the Old Testament, Roy; Mr. Jones' grand poohbah made his comments LAST YEAR.\n\nFurthermore, in how many Christian nations is homosexuality still a criminal offense? Because it still is in every Islamic nation.\n\nI'm very much on record as a constant critic of Demboski, and of Christianity when warranted. But anyone still under the misconception that contemporary Christianity is anywhere near as repugnant an ideology as Islam is a propaganda drone who's never studied history or read the Quran. You very simply do not know what you're talking about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The church in eastern NC is growing; unfortunately, the pool of priests includes many \"rent a priests\" from South America and Africa. I have personally seen two examples of their attitudes: arrogance, demeaning to women, and to parish staff, but also hard working, and try to write and deliver quality homilies. The result is a slow movement from the parish to another Catholic community; however, the angst and anger cannot be overlooked. The loss of individuals and couples is reflected in fewer social ministry activities, an even poorer music program(!), and a general dismal attitude in the pews. WWJD?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lest anyone forget, Austin Ruse was in big trouble not so long ago for saying gay activists \"should be taken outside and shot.\" First he stood by the statement, then apologized profusely when his pocketbook was threatened. As a result of his language, he lost many of his endorsements, but somehow still is respected by Crisis and other extreme Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don, I received your response \"and one could ask you the same question, why do you and the other ultra right wing Catholics come here?\" My simple answer would be to expose the false statements made by many members of the religious, including priests and former priests such as yourself who regularly post on this site. KatMarvel above stated she does not believe in the resurrection of Jesus, his divinity or his miracles and you give her a \"Like\" star. Another retired Priest expresses no belief in Hell or the devil. Another retired Priest expresses an endorsement of abortion. I am constantly engaged in discussions with posters who fail to even believe in the existence of God. This is a Catholic website, not a secular website such as Salon, NY Times, or Huffington Post. I fear for a confused or former Catholic who may visit this site looking for guidance or information being led astray thinking this is what the average pew sitting Catholic believes in or how they act.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a need for much reform in the Church. The Hierarchists have advanced a belief that God is an Ogre that must be placated so that people can go to Heaven, that keeping out of mortal sin is all important (no time for charity and no room for letting the government do it either, else we would be coddling the poor in their challenges in overcoming sin - it is almost Brahminism). In their Church, Jesus is not knocking so much to get out of the box as escape it. This is a Jesus that has mercy on women who cannot get pregnant lest it kill them but still want sex, the cancer patient who sees no life in front of him to mother carrying a child with no hope of a live birth. This crowd cannot bear the thought of flexibility. They also like controlling the Church's money and property hierarchically, who make the washing of the feet on Holy Thursday an empty ritual. They insist that all of this is irreformable, that Jesus will not allow change and if the pope makes it, the pope is a...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are talking here about sin. The parallel with interracial marriage doesn't hold, it was never a sin.\nYour use of the word 'we' (we grew up) implies that unless one agrees with 'you' (liberal, socialists) we are immature, uneducated and unfeeling, a modern form of Pahariseeism.\nCardinal Burke has nothing to do with this discussion which is solely about the sinfulness of homosexual behaviour. You are implying that his utterances are as mortally sinful as indulging in same-sex activity.\nThe slogan seems quite Christian until you describe what it really means. You liberals decide what is essential and non-essential, we agree and everything is fine after that as long as we keep quiet and leave you unencumbered in your task of secularising the Church.\nThe sin of Trivialisation?\nIf you think that the offence against God of Mortal Sin, and the loss of one's soul for all eternity is a trivial matter then I agree with you that such a trivialisation is indeed a sin, a very grave sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There you go again. You are incapable of understanding this has not been settled in our courts as this has yet to go before the Supreme Court. A simple fact that confuses the dickens out of you. Furthermore you are shamelessly intellectually bankrupt, and demonize a religious belief as homophobia, which is as absurd as claiming Muslims have porkaphobia. You need to be intellectually bankrupt to justify your bigotry of \"radical-right fundamentalist Christians, \" a derogatory slur you hurl like the N word, then go into denial. It is why you run from an intellectually honest debate, and promote a bigoted double standard incapable of understanding what the golden rule actually means. It's why you keep running from facts, like the shoebat.com reference, and deflect to mindless drivel. Frankly I'm not surprised you are a former \"teacher.\" One of the many reason why Oregon public schools are an international embarrassment with the highest dropout rates in the country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've known a wide variety of women during my life, and would say that sexual abuse is a problem and that victims of it are hurt. It seems unfair and unrealistic to say that all women are injured in sex trade; in fact, some women enjoy this type of work. Religions, mainly Christianity in this country, condemn sex outside of marriage, casting a pallor of evil over the subject. This collides with the natural human sexual drive, and ouch! Folks get hurt.\n\nI wonder if there might be a more humane, civilized way to treat the subject:)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, most families. Just for ducks, here's mine. Mother's first cousin was gay. On my father's side, one of my first cousin's was gay and died of AIDS. In my workplace over the years (35) I had eight gay men and ten lesbians as colleagues (they all belonged to Catholic families). Our daughter's first boyfriend was the adopted son of a lesbian couple. In my husband's family, (huge Irish Catholic group) there are quite a few gays and lesbians and nobody gets their knickers in a twist. In my parish, there are a number of gay couples, including one couple who has adopted four special needs kids. I don't go by statistics, since they often lie...I go by lived experience - many gays and lesbians to this day keep their reality private for fear of losing a job or being socially rejected...so yes, most families...and the really sad thing is when the family rejects their gay son or daughter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is this Michael Voris' Church Militant or another? If so, is there more to it than Michael Voris? I thought it was just a nut with a web server and a camera. If Bannon said he is a \"member of the church militant,\" that just means he's Catholic and not dead yet.\n\nHasn't MSW been claiming Bannon is anti-Catholic? Are you suggesting he's a faux-traditionalist Catholic? \n\nWithout exactly knowing the facts, I would say: \n\nIf Bannon is a faux-traditionalist Catholic, that's hardly news. Scalia was one and so apparently is Clarence Thomas, Roberts is in the orbit and so is Gingrich. (As far as I know, Rudy Giuliani does not pretend to be religious anymore than Trump himself.)\n\nDisliking Jews does not make someone a Nazi. Thinking violence against Jews should be legal or that Jews should lose their civil rights makes someone a Nazi. It's a vitally important distinction. If Bannon is just a SOB, well, he won't be the first SOB in the White House. SOB in the White House is not an issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Alas, his insight, that there is a kind of ecclesiological approach that wants Jesus kept in a box \u2014 I had almost written tomb \u2014 which causes a sickness in the church and is a fundamental distortion of the essential missionary spirit of Catholicism, that insight is lost on the drafters of the filial correction.\"\n\nMSW, that may be the best sentence you have written here at NCR. Well done.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "QUOTE: \"Offering what he called \"free advice from a non-Catholic,\" he suggested that American bishops be more outwardly supportive of Pope Francis' teachings on climate change and social justice, which are generally popular with millennial Catholics.\"\n\nPrograms designed to bring back disaffected Catholics are doomed to failure. This is especially true when they are based on pandering to what the disaffected are supposed to want--based on what is thought of as being popular.\n\nEducated Catholics should know that church corruption, no matter its form or degree of penetration, can not be used to justify disaffection. The truths of the church are still true, the sacraments are still perfect and God still protects the church from grave error. If they want to use how messed up the church is to justify leaving the church, they will have to answer to God for that. Just like the corrupt Bishops and Priests and religious are going to answer to God for what they have done.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well I could posit that a lot of progressive Catholics are heretics. So what? One of us is correct, I guess the big question is which one? Only time will tell, but you know which side I am on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yesterday I commented that face-to-face discussion is the best way to deal with this difference in opinion. The chances for that happening is however slim. Therefore some comments. \nI find the way that Ivo deals with his opposition (\"christians\", an extremely vague, multi coloured grouping) extremely disrespectful and inappropriate. He deals with their deeds lightly, then goes on to criticize their motives and logic, which is irrelevant and inappropriate. Even our constitution allows freedom of belief and requests respect about differing beliefs and only focus on behavior and deeds. Ivor however degrades a different belief as illogical and perverse (in a comment). If \"they\" ascribe things to \"their god\", so what? You have the right to do everything positive about Knysna, but the same as Christians, your motives and logic are none of my business. It became arrogant. Your picture of Christianity are a caricature. My faith and reasoning is different. People oversimplified.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's being unjust to Augustine, who said things that affected Christian thought for the worse. His views on the place of sex in marriage have led at least in part to the idiocy that is Humanae Vitae; and his writing on predestination directly inspired Calvin's doctrine of double predestination. Augustine's views on original sin are, to say the least, controversial. His argument that the Donatists be brought back by force was the theological underpinning for the Inquisition. He can be accused of anti-Semitism.\n\nBut his views on other subjects are significant. He insisted on absolute honesty, in himself and in others. He taught that intention was the most important consideration in morals. He furthered our understanding of the Trinity through remarkable use of analogy. His De Genisi Ad Litteram shows that an overly literal interpretation of the Genesis account is bad science and therefore bad religion. His Just War Theory has been corrupted by those seeking to justify their wars.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Flagging him probably brought him more readers than his posts otherwise would; few people wish to read incoherent diatribes. I have absolutely no ability to decide anything about what anyone here reads--that statement is purely hogwash. \n\nThe pope is more than a favorite of the media. He is a favorite of most Catholics, most Christians, most people, and most priests. Most people understand that he is re-establishing Christian priorities in a Church burdened with rules and top-heavy rulemakers. \n\nAll the matters which you have offered as some 'controversial' issues, have been and are continually vetted in the media, as well as in the life of the pope. \n\nYour idea of suppression is to flag someone on here?? That is way too funny. It is interesting that your assessment of me does not include my ongoing efforts to engage with nearly everyone here. A weak assessment, Tri. It would never pass even the 101 course in an assessment course, let alone professional education.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Compared to the Clinton Foundation this is peanuts.\nbtw...how is the CF doing? Still collecting from countries that kill LGBT, Christian members, deny women's rights etc?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He's certainly not alone as a self-loathing, (formerly) closeted homosexual cleric. But I suspect he's been pretty much isolated from and by his former colleagues. Generally speaking, they're cowards -- afraid, perhaps, of guilt by association; or aware that the same fate could be out there for them. The closet is a profoundly unhealthy and dangerous way to live -- and Catholic discipline effectively demands that, as much as -- more than -- celibacy, for its gay priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marie,\nTHANK YOU for bringing the culture of clericalism and hierarchical privilege into the light. These are exactly the same kinds of actions, omissions, forgetfulness, deceit I experienced with the Green Bay Diocese regarding matters of another nature (not related to sexual abuse....but definitely related to the subjugation of women!). What I have witnessed is that men in the Church who demonstrate these kinds of behaviors are not punished, they are rewarded with titles and promotions. It is disgusting. I applaud you for calling the Institution to task and holding these men accountable. Thank you.\n\nLauri Ann Lumby\nTemple of the Magdalene\nAuthentic Freedom Academy\nOshkosh, WI", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And here, in a single letter plus comments, we see a small model of the kind of religious fanaticism that has caused so much hate, suffering, violence and death, throughout human history. \"Our God is good and theirs is bad\" is a trick used by self-serving power-hungry fanatics to sell \"the other\" as enemy. And some follow them blindly. Crusades, holy wars, inquisition, Jihad, India vs. Pakistan, Ireland vs. Northern Ireland, Catholics vs. Protestants ... look in your heart and ask the God you believe in whether he or she really wants people hating and fearing other people in his or her name. Is this God or just bad leaders on power trips? And blind followers who let themselves be led like sheep?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Kurgan, that was never mentioned. You would just not believe the level of abuse detailed in the Judicial Reviews here. Australian Royal Commission will release their report in December. Expect more of the same. I do not understand why more Catholics do not get angry with the situation. We have been lied to and misled by a hierarchy that has fully and knowingly covered up the sexual; physical; mental; spiritual ; and legal abuse of children and young teens. \nHow many have been implicated by their silence; turned their back; or did not want to acknowledge the reality of what was happening.\nThey can't say they did not know. The issue was on the agenda of the council of Trent 1545-. and previously reported to have been discussed at a council in the mid 1200's. They did know but they continued to allow children be abused by their silence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed this column was just awful, long on piety and short on fact.\n\nAnd MSW? Few care what the bishops say. Anecdotally, the perception by outsiders of the Catholic Church is of an international conspiracy to protect child molesters and of mean-spirited crusaders determined to subjugate women and formalize discrimination against LGBTQs. People do like Francis, but the church, not so much. The bishops' support for Trump managed to further damage an already tattered reputation. The wo/man in the street has never heard of Blase Cupich.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Christians actions most likely have ZERO to do with statements made by Trump. The plain fact is Mr. Christian's Facebook page is about as totally anti-Trump as one come get in their use of words. Making any question of influence a rather silly notion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought Jesus Christ was a fairy tale in your mind?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"... thou shalt not commit murder by abortion.\" Didache (circa 120 A.D.), 2,2 (The Apostolic Fathers, ed. by K. Lake (Loeb Classical Library), vol. 1, pp. 310-311.\n\nWell, 'sister', it's amazing how we Catholics have progressed since the primitive Church, such that now one can rationalize so many things our predecessors concluded were always and everywhere to be discouraged because they simply were inherently or intrinsically evil and unjust.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Straights who say that all sexual acts in a loving relationship are sinless are out of harmony with Catholic sexual morality. \n\nSo practicing gays --- who generally claim that all sexual acts in a loving relationship are sinless --- claim more sexual freedom for themselves than do Catholic heteros.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus never asked anyone to worship him. He asked us tto follow him. That is the invitation. Not many can live up the teaching of love, mercy, compassion and forgiveness. \nJesus was humble (no ego) and rejected the dualism of the Pharisees (judging black and white). Your \"Religion of Self\" comment seem to smack of dualism?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pan,\nWhen Jesus was on earth, he was a dark skinned middle easterner not a \u2018white\u2019 European, i.e. he would be considered a \u2018minority\u2019 by current general standard. So what are you going to answer when Jesus ask you \"Pan, Pan, why do you persecute Me?\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW, \nYour theorizing is correct. But your actualities are just WRONG!! \nOur Catholic Church is totally involved with the GOP, ever since JPII took office. \nJPII, the Koch bros and Reagan turned the GOP into the mess that we all now see in action. They ARE the real and true destroyers and death do-ers. America is a mess, the ME is a near total disaster of death and destruction. Much of Europe is on it's way to large/huge destabilization. \nThe church and the GOP have disrupted our US Constitution. And ALL done in the name of GOD!!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We have to dare to preach the Gospel\"\nTo my mind the worst way to \"preach the Gospel\" is to SHOUT it. When we make ostentatious displays; fling literalisms, one-liners-out-of-context; don pointy hats; set up Jesus as if He were a morter shell or pink blossom; guilt inducer we are missing the point. Jesus referred to Himself from time to time, but His mission was to bring us to the \"Father Creator\". He led by example. Evangelical Gospel shouting is egocentric narcissism. Are we not beginning to see more and more clearly how that kind of campaigning is \"offputting\" , deliterious and repugnant in the end?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow- right back 'atcha \"it is like you want to show off your ignorance.\"\n\nPretty certain they are protected under this \"without discrimination or segregation on ground of *national origin*\" - all they have to say is they are German, and Hitler is their design choice.\n \"Businesses can\u2019t decide against some clients and not others \u2014 at least not those protected by civil rights laws...\" \nAnd: \"A conservative Christian can tell a client that he doesn\u2019t approve of their nuptials. He can make public statements expressing his disdain for same-sex marriage\" and then must make the cake. \nreligionnews.com/2015/01/26/three-reasons-baking-cake-not-free-speech-issue/\n\nThe Federal Civil Rights Act mandates \u201cfull and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.\u201d\n\nSo the question is, do you not understand the words?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Irish as a group were not the earliest, to be despised. There were the English Catholics of Maryland, whose Freedom of Worship law was later overturned by the \"nativists\". While religion was often involved, wrt immigrants, job competition & not wanting poor folk around & were also a major factors, as well noted in \"Grapes of Wrath\". \n\nIf one wants to play the old tattered \"victim\" card, to demonstrate your \"white\" but not in the \"white privileged class\", look how far old Irish Joe Kennedy came, & how he got back at the House of Morgan, when the SEC was created.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "GOP and right-wing evangelical are synonymous... one only look at the GOP political roster and do a fact check... you left because tokers don't do that.. we like to live, let live and enjoy the pleasures of earth... it is not an evil place.. until you add the evangelicals... who cannot understand their sexual emotions.. \n\nMickey Mouse, DONALD TRUMP... forever and forever we will be friends...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many Catholic school children, especially in poorer areas, are Latino. Many are probably immigrants and fear being deported. Do you think that any Catholic school should be inviting Trump to speak? It would be very distressing for the poor students. \n\nAnd the amount of hatred unleashed by Trump's election is astonishing. Just this weekend a poor Sikh man washing his car in his driveway got shot by a man who told him to leave the country. It is all so sad but the alt-reich feels free to act out its hatred since Trump's election.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well it took State Senate candidate Jackson only 5 paragraphs to get to favorite epithets of the left: discrimination, bigoted and disingenuous. Well done. Let's talk about discrimination a bit.\n\nToday the left embraces, celebrates and demands discrimination at every turn. Ask any smoker 50' away from a building entrance. Ask any Christian who refuses service to a same sex couple. Ask any white man, woman, or oriental denied equal access to jobs or education based on nothing more than the color of their skin.\n\nSexual identity is set at the cellular level. Calling yourself anything other than whatever your chromosomes are wired to do is just as effective as calling yourself a turnip. No amount of surgical mutilation or hormone therapy will change that. The problem with all this foolishness is that it is being brought into the public schools and universities. \n\nWhile Anchorage doesn't enforce this with a heavy hand yet, it is only a matter of time. Cheers -", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some, if not most, of the cardinals are not Vatican residents and are bishops of home dioceses, coming to Rome only when necessary. So I am certain that they know a good deal about the need for decentralization. I wonder where you think this group should meet - with a very, very busy pope - if not at the Vatican? Or were you commenting on this report with an edgy humor you do oh so well? What disturbs me to a great degree is the \"report\" from +O'Malley that is (as reported here) quite worthless. I once had faith in Cardinal Sean and what he would do with the abuse commission. I sadly haven't had that faith in a couple of years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing like being a \"Bible-thumping\" Orthotoxic Catholic! The first rule 'commandment' of God is LOVE [love God above all] and the second rule 'commandment of God is LOVE [love your neighbor as yourself].\n\nLove is what Jesus taught over and over and over---not man-made rules that emphasize LAW for the sake of LAW. And every thing that you are referring to----is a MAN-made law---there is NO love in it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "BJ\nWe all like to cherry pick our points, but I ask, what on earth would make you think that religion or Christianity has ownership over the words or concepts \"truth and peace\" Take a look what is going on in the middle east, all internecine warfare between competing interpretations of basically the same desert religion.\nMy cherry picking would ask why you would want our children to be taught many of the things that have been occurring in religious schools in the last year. in Canada. For example, telling gay children they are inherently disordered, equating contraception to nazi principles, asking menstruating women to go to the back of the class, decline progression through religious positions of authority for anyone with two X chromosomes. \nI will run out of space before I run out of shameful religious practices occurring today in this country. \nSorry....you asked.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't like AFDC because it lowered the incentive for having the husband/father in the house....more payout...\n\nCatholic DEMOCRAT Moynihan pointed this out in his report...the disincentives to various government reports.\n\nMy inclination is toward economics/incentives/compensating behaviors/unintended consequences..in the model of Gary Becker from the Univ of Chicago.\n\nSome people here at NCR seem to be largely hidden racists of sorts, pretending that the Democrats and their laundry list of half-thought out programs have done great things for blacks. And contrariwise, that Republicans are mean white guys. I didn't know there was anyone left still holding such cartoonish views.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God gave a woman the most incredible role in history, to give birth to and nurture Jesus Christ, his son and Universal King. She is accredited with saying the most radical words you will find on any page in the Bible, namely, The Magnificat.\n\nThe Church gives women a mop and bucket and a tin of brasso.\n\nIt really won't do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 1\nThe stereotype of gay man as effeminate is only partially true--it is a characteristic of some gay men. I would even hazard a guess that this stereotype is thought of by many straights as a touchstone feature of gay manhood because we more readily recognize gay men with this characteristic that we recognize gay men without this personality pattern. \n\nI will even go so far as to agree that PERHAPS effeminate gay men may be more attracted to the priesthood than other gays. My evidence is anecdotal and thus not very secure. I have noted that many men with a Roman Catholic upbringing who become Byzantine Catholic priests are effeminate gays. There is more fuss and frill in that rite to titillate those so inclined. (Weak evidence, but my attempt to grant your views maximum credence.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "About time for some Democratic backbone. This confirmation would condemn this nation to rule by Republican terrorists and the final nail in the coffin of the Constitutional Republic containing human and civil rights for all under the legal system. The Scalia Court wrecked the legal system by illegally awarding the presidency to GWB/Cheney and the creation of a Corporate Citizen with legal rights over all other citizens along with allowing the deregulation of the entire economic system. The nation may never full recover from these disastrous, traitorous decisions and the confirmation of Gorsuch will only solidify the destruction. Gorsuch believes everything in the Republican/Trump ideology of rule of dictator and superiority of fundamentalist christian dogma over all secular tenets. He, like his mother, is a fascist ideologue threatening the very foundations of Constitutional law and governing through freedom and democracy. Gorsuch's entire past has been racist, fascist decisions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Kurgan, We in the liberal church prefer to be our own rule makers. What ever is true for you is true for you, whatever is true for me is true for me. Some may call this chaos but we like it like this, don't judge us! In fact many of us do not even believe in God but that does not matter anymore, this is a new world. How boring it used to be when there was only two genders, now we have over 60! The liberal church is making such a difference in the world. All those who believe in the true Church follow God's laws but we think for ourselves! Did you know that thousands of homosexual adults are being killed by their mothers every single day? Do we ever hear about it in the secular press? No! But true Catholics only try to protect innocent children in the womb, that's not fair protecting the most vulnerable in our society who have done no wrong! Anyhow, one day you may see the light, I think you would make a good comrade!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the DEMOCRATS were those things. Unfortunately for you, back in Lincoln's day (the civil war/end top slavery), the \"conservatives\" and the southern white christians of that era were the DEMOCRATS. Likewise in Lincoln's day, iberals were the Republicans. That's right, the Party of Lincoln was full of Liberals. Liberals opposed slavery, opposed segregation, opposed the ban on interracial marriage. Conservatives were PRO-SLAVERY, pro segregation, against interracial marriage, and the KKK endorsed the current president. \nWe're all sitting in the same seats as before, but someone came along and switched the place cards.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mark 10; 11-12 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:\n[12] That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.\n\n I don't need some psychobabble drivel you Googled, Bill. I'll let Jesus speak for himself, and wait for you to call your Jesus a liar yet again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes and these \"non-white\" Catholics, as the race obsessed are constantly drawing our attention to, bring their own prejudices and problems. What's your point?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican II reiterated the binding authority of natural law, which carried over from the Old Testament.\n\nDivine law, of course, provides moral certitude.\n\nScience, and the Church, accepts that 'THE TRUTH' objectively exists, just as God objectively exists.\n\nThe opponents of natural law in the Church are primarily those who hope to, somehow, obtain endorsement of homosexual relations, accomplish the destruction of objective moral norms, and advance related objectives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2nd attempt Don't know why this comment was considered uncivil because it is not. \n Probably no different than Pope Francis implying younger Traditional Catholics who are \"rigid\" suffer from a mental disorder. I am still waiting to see the definition of rigid from the Pope. He also mentioned that rigid people become police officers. Fr. Martin appears to be following the Pope's lead with his comments. With Fr. Martin's logic those that oppose pedophilia must also be closeted pedophiles. Belief in morality or sinful behavior has nothing to do with it. Lifesite news was the article that provided the link.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As an independently licensed clinician, as well as a religious, I would be called on to evaluate and issue or deny such certifications as you envision, Mike AA. And, based on both my own prayerfully informed conscience and in emulation of Saint Pope John XXIII during WWII and the murderous persecution of Jews for whom Roncalli provided baptismal certificates, I would be required by my faith in Christ Jesus to issue a Certificate of Heterosexuality to every cleric and religious who sought one in order to remain in their ministry to the Church and its Faithful. It is the only way I could remain a true Christian. I would want to tell the pope - any pope - to come do their own dirty work and face those accused personally and tell them they are not wanted any longer, or at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the reply. Isn't Mt. 23 a condemnation of hypocrisy? I do not see a condemnation of temple ritual there, per se. I admit I am not certain which parts of Mt. 23 refer actually to temple ritual - - the tithing of mint, cumin, etc.? Maybe cleansing the outside of the cup and plate? I thought those were moreso the Mosaic law, rather than something performed specifically at temple.\n\nTaken in combination with Jesus' direction to 'practice and observe whatever they tell you' (RSV CE) by virtue of their authority from sitting in Moses' seat (23:3), it seems to me that there should be genuine, for lack of a better term, ritual (liturgy?) and no hypocrisy; put another way, following the Law should come from love of God, not from obligation, or from a vain desire to be seen as holy, or any of the other misdeeds that Christ mentions in the chapter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If there are men (and rest assured there are) in the hierarchy who aren't satisfied with \"mystical unions\" but prefer temporal authority, however limited or expansive that might be, then they are to be pitied as the most wretched and ignorant of human beings. They have fundamentally rejected the entire aim of the Gospel. Christ have mercy on them.\n\nOn the other hand if there are women are who read the Gospel, encounter the lives of saints who achieved \"mystical unions\", and still say \"Nah, forget that! I'll tell you what I REALLY want: power, just like the male clergy!!\" then they are to EQUALLY be pitied as the most wretched and ignorant of human beings.\n\nAnyone who would prefer the rather limited power and prestige of a Cardinal over and against union with Jesus Christ or who would say that they don't have full participation unless they can CHOOSE between the two has rejected the essence of Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You will know they are Catholic by the enmity they bear one another.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Blaine Amendments had one target only; the Catholic church.\nIndeed, in most states, the State Supreme Courts have not applied the Blaine Amendment to protestant private schools nor to the \"protestant common schools\" today called public schools.\n\nYou will find Baptist Ministers at most public schools and universities who oppose aid to Catholic schools using Jefferson's \"wall of separation\" but obviously it doesn't apply to them and ironically they oppose Catholic priests and nuns teaching at public schools on the same ground, but they favor discrimination in hiring against Catholic lay persons to keep the public schools and universities predominantly protestant.\n\nIndeed, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists conspired with the League of Women Voters, the KKK, and the KKKW to kick Catholic teachers out of the public schools founded by Catholics.\n\nCatholic students face discrimination in the public schools and universities daily.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course. This IS Catholicism after all. Greed is one of the essential marks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read Scalia's dissent for the correct legal analysis. \n\nGod and Catholics support homosexuals who are tempted to engage in acts that have been forbidden by all religions and cultures for most of civilized history. The Kingdom of God awaits those who resist temptation and engage in complete unions of the species, male and female. For those who struggle with resisting, there is confession and prayer to overcome the temptation. For those who embrace their sin, there is Hell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Get your facts straight - you can't buy hot coffee at Starbucks with SNAP and BTW, there is nothing comfortable about living on $192 a month. You're judgements, piousness, and blatant bigotry are why \"fundamentalist Christians\" (your words) like yourself are boorish and unfaithful to the actual teachings of Jesus - compassion, judge not, sharing...the sky's the limit when your vision isn't corrupted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no \"mind of the Church\" independent of the head of the Church: \"sensum fidelium\" cut off from the Church's leadership is not the sense of faith.\n\nThe CDF letter to Curran, which also says he should be removed from a pontifical faculty, does so because \"you will no longer be considered suitable nor eligible to exercise the function of a professor of Catholic theology\" because \"your repeated refusal to accept what the church teaches\" on a variety of cited issues (marital indissolubility, contraception, masturbation, homosexual activity, etc.) CC was not canned for what he might have done as a sideline: he was fired because he was not a Catholic theologian in light of what was contained in his writings (and still writes), which is not Catholic moral theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No spin, overwhelmingly christians in this nation are the ones creating divisions between people and using their faith as a weapon in order to oppress minority groups they deem inferior. They rightly deserve the heap of blame, Prevo, Minnery and their ilk are the ones opposed to AO96 here in Anchorage and would like to see our LGBT friends and neighbors fired, evicted and denied economic services all because the wizards who interpret their magic spell book say they are bad. Religion may have served a useful purpose at some point in our past but has long since outlived its usefulness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One is indeed morally obligated to kill. You are not making any sense. How can one go to war if one is not at least willing to kill?\n\nThe very word \"war\" express the idea of violent and mortal conflict.\n\nTo say that any proposed war is just is to imply that not waging such a war is unjust. Therefore to avoid the unjust act of remaining neutral, one must do the \"just\" thing by going to war. It is partly why conscientious objectors are almost universally despised in wartime, because they are perceived as moral, intellectual and emotional cowards.\n\nBesides, by whose moral principles does one decide whether a proposed war is just or unjust? By Jesus' principles? As I said in my first post in this discussion, I could find nowhere in the Gospel ground for the idea of moral imperative to kill, which is what one is obligated to do in war. That is how wars are won: principally by killing people to the point where they've had enough and surrender (Japan) or to the point of complete annihilation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church IS a gerontocracy. These men are NOT grandfathers. They are old, privileged men who may show general compassion for some groups, but show no compassion for other groups (viz Paprocki's pronouncement re gays and the non-action of the Abuse Commission) and little empathy for individuals (viz the treatment of Mary Collins). And if the Pope does not think that he is old (as in \"having lived for a long time; no longer young\"), he ought to get over himself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The problem is, when the people disagree with what the Church is saying, the church just ignores it\"\n\nBut this also goes both ways, no? Do people not just ignore the Church when they disagree with it? Do they not just right it off as a \"patriarchal\" that needs to line up with their own opinions? Look everyone should be able to question the Church's teaching, but it should be done within the context of constructive dialogue. This does not necessitate that one side change their minds, but just that each listens to each other. Now could the Church do a better job at listening? Of course! But so could many of those who disagree with the Church! They could listen to the bishops, the tradition, the magisterium, ect. and then articulate adequately their disagreement. But what often happens is the angry cursing out of priests, bishops, and popes for being sexist, patriarchal oppressors who need to \"think like me.\" Bottom line, we could ALL do a better job of listening well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"National Catholic Reporter uses Civil Comments. Please keep your comments on-topic, focus on the issue and avoid personal insults, harassment and abuse.\"\n\nWow, do a lot of the comments in this thread fail this test. Simply mentioning Cardinal Burke works on some people like a Pavlovian bell:\n\n\"The danger is that Burke could still use this to push his agenda somehow. For example he could blame the abuse in this case on the feminization of the church and the the lavender mafia. His trad buddies would eat that up.\"\n\n\"Is this Burke's projection? - \"priests who were feminized...\" as he prances about as a haute couture drag queen! And he is clear about his sexual identity?\"\n\n\"Burke is neither gentle nor holy. He is, among other things, a blatant homophobe.\"\n\n\"An important question for ecclesiastical fashionistas is; 'what will ArchBurke were in the tropics of Guam? A cappa magna woven from palm leaves?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the real issue here is who's really causing scandal and confusion. Leaving aside the whole debate about whether homosexual acts are intrinsically sinful in a way that heterosexual acts are not, the bishop's actions have created a far greater degree of scandal and confusion among the faithful regarding the manner in which Christians are supposed to treat all people, especially at the time of the death of a loved one. Bishop Morlino has chosen to single out gay people as being somehow uniquely sinful and scandalous, as though every human being on earth weren't sinful in some way, shape, or form. He has created a huge scandal for the church by making it seem as though only gay people are so sinful as to be uniquely deserving of horrible, humiliating treatment at the hands of the very institution that is supposed to be the single greatest agent of God's love during their greatest hour of need. If that isn't scandalous behavior, I don't know what is. The bishop needs to repent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The issues is \"Should adults have the right to enter into contracts with a school that requests certain conduct in line with the social standards of the school?\" The rule is universal with one exception. Anyone is free to agree or leave. I say yes. I am gay, but the actions of the LGBT justice warriors are an attack on free choice, as they try to force their own biased choice on others. Would they go after Muslim Islamic schools that actually teach homosexuals should be killed because they offend Allah (as happened in Orlando)? No certainly not. That would be called Islamophobic, even by the LGBT community. Christians, though, are easy targets. This enters the realm of persecution rather than equal rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One assumes that \"(t)hese horrible young men\" are what used to be called \"Catholic priests\".\n\nAs with the minority who did not adapt \"very well to changes post Vatican II\", most parishioners will adapt just fine to the swing of the pendulum towards a more centrist polity and practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "YOU choose not to accept transgendered people. I choose to love them, as Christ called on me to do.\n\nKick transgendered people out -- which is what the \"Cardinal Newman Society\" calls for -- is showing fear and loathing of our LGBT brothers and sisters. Applauding this homophobia does not speak well of one's claim to be Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Never forget that Catholics helped put Trump in the White House.\nIf it is repealed with an inferior product well....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't fall for this. If there's any strange politics going on, it's on the part of the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines. For some time now in international media they have been trying to portray the Philippines Church as suffering persecution under Philippines President Duterte. The fact is that the overwhelming majority of Filipinos are Catholic and no one is going to touch them because of that, except perhaps for Islamic extremists from the southern island of Mindanao. It's also a fact that the vast majority of Filipinos approve of President Duterte. It's also a fact that the Bishops campaigned against candidate Duterte during the presidential election. It's also a fact that among the Filipino poor, the Bishops lost the support of their flock because of that. The only \"persecution\" being experienced is the wildly humorous online trolling to which the Bishops' public statements are subjected to by their disgruntled flock on Facebook, which has become the mass medium of the poor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes I used capital letters but I was not shouting I was putting emphasis to what I was saying. Capitals are not only used for shouting! Decades ago it was easy to hide, but it has only been recent that you could Google information and find it or research things you only heard about to verify! There was absolutely no excuse for Adventist Today to print those despicable articles. They neither promoted or encouraged working for Jesus, they were purely sensationalism in my mind. We are not to glorify crimes, we need to leave that to Hollywood and movie producers. I thought our business was to get the Gospel out and encourage, provoke one another to good works. Like I said, we have lost our way, and by the way Bro. Diop DOES NOT represent me at the Vatican. God has called us to be separate and to not touch the unclean thing. Let's stop being so sensitive and touchy about unimportant things and start being touchy about doing wrong and misrepresenting Jesus!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well we don't have to love one another but at least respect one another's personal space. When you have a political party that asserts its right to molest and control the genitals of an entire sex, a party which has used rhetoric to inspire terrorist acts against the places where women access medical care, you have a very serious problem. The terrorism Republicans have inspired against women is their way of raping women, keeping women in their \"place.\" They have been allowed to denigrate American women as a whole. \nWe will no longer tolerate their harassment, their killing of doctors, their bombing of clinics, their politics of misogyny. We will hold the churches who support their terrorism responsible. We can politicize this woman-hating brand of \"Christianity,\" politicize their religious activity.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "They probably consider themselves Christian, but with comments like those, 'christian' is the TRUTH ... Colorado is filthy with super fakey 'christians'.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus Christ would agree with this article. However most of the people who comment here wouldn't agree with Jesus Christ on this one or anything He would say. However, they would agree with Drumpf, the jerk-elect.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If you have to go back to 1600's USA or 1300's Europe to justify your position against today's Christians and Jews and agnostics and other victims in the 9/11 attacks and to apologize for the last two decades of Islamic killers in the United States, France, Spain, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and Yemen, that is what I call 'reaching'.\n\nYou totally ignore the deaths caused by Al Qaeda, ISIS, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Hamas and all those other 'peace loving' Muslims who have caused the vast majority of the deaths in the Muslim countries I have just mentioned. \n\nYou are an apologist for Islamic terrorists.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Time to get rid of Catholic schools across the country. The privileged position of one faith over others is undemocratic.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "For you must know that Catholicism (fake Christians) and Globalist elites (luciferians & atheists) have allowed the BIG LIE to be propagated: to make people believe, MISTAKENLY, that allah, the god of the Muslims would be the same as YAHWEH, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. A TOTAL LIE! This is a terrible and miserable lie, which has deceived the whole world.\nKnow the truth: Allah, the god of the Muslims, IS NOT YAHWEH, the True Almighty God, the Creator of the Universe, Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World.\nSo, who is this Allah, god of the Muslims? It is that evil and unclean spirit, known as Satan and Lucifer and many other names, who disguises himself as an angel of Light, who usurps the Name of God, and has deceived the Whole World.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The point was being made about HATE crimes. It may come as a shock to you and for that I'm sorry to tell you an upsetting truth, but white folks commit hate crimes against others they perceive as \"not white\" and \"not 'Christian'\" and especially females, just like ISIR adherents commit hate crimes against non-Muslims.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I never suggested Trump's sexuality is a primary concern. The point there is that Trump's so-called Christian supporters are laughably hypocritical when it comes to Trump's adulteries (as opposed to Bill Clinton's). My objection was to \"Vincent Fitzpatrick\"'s personal attack on MSW, among other things. If my commentary here hasn't made it clear that I regard Trump as a moronic, unstable dictator-wannabe, let me make that explicit here. I don't think Trump is \"fun to watch.\" He's disgusting and alarming.\n\nOf course Fitzpatrick is a troll, and his comment would have been shot down in decent society.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Clericalism is exacerbated by sexism and religious patriarchy. It is also being used as a distraction to avoid facing the pathetic absence of women in the hierarchy of the Church. \nClericalism is the ecclesiastical equivalent of inordinate attachment to bureaucratic roles in any system of governance. The ordination of women will not completely eliminate clericalism, but will make it less ludicrous and less inhuman, both in church architecture and in the flesh of Christian communities -- and in the liturgy!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I dunno where were you when Christian husbands killed their wives, I don't remember it in my life time. Please tell us all the story of this.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I found the columnist's comments to be unhelpful; she is stirring up division. My issue is not the fact that it's a Muslim cemetery, after all some Catholic churches do have their own cemeteries. But some Muslims have this issue about not wanting to be buried near non-Muslims, i.e. non-believers. This derision towards the 'non-believer' is a dangerous aspect of Islam and one Muslims should try and eliminate. I worry that it's this mentality towards non-believers that is behind the push for a Muslim only cemetery.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I was agreeing with what you said up until the comments about him being a terrible man and Christian. This man just might give lots of free cake to homeless people. He might donate a bunch of time to service organizations. He also might set trip wires in the old folks home. None of this is covered in the article, yet you call him a terrible man because he refused to bake a gay couple a cake.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Don't you know. Women love to be sexually assaulted by Gropin' Donnie. Just ask him. \n\nAfter all, Evangelical Christians think it's just fine, along with multiple divorces and illicit affairs. Just as long as he's bigoted against those not born heterosexual, and (currently) opposes abortion and supports abandoning mother and child post partum.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora: I'm sure you'll agree:\n1) It's nice to see that Notre Dame is still Catholic.\n2) The hypocrisy of all these Jesuits asking the Jesuit-educated members of Congress to vote for the \"dreamers,\" while they never asked these same people to protect the unborn is pure hypocrisy.\nThe Catholic people can hear and see the hypocrisy LOUD AND CLEAR.\nThat's why we'll keep voting Republican.\nThe clerical elitists do themselves more harm than good with \"We the people...\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Personally I don't have any use for cardinals or popes, so I don't much care whom they elect. I think we've all been so indoctrinated to see the hierarchical model as necessary to our ecclesiology, we consider such questions relevant to the gospel, though they quite clearly are not. I think the gospels clearly presuppose a communal model instead of a hierarchical one, so I hope they lock them all up in the next conclave and lose the key. The idea of re-electing the same guys who have no solutions to the church's problems seems a little dumb, don't you think?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's already way past time for Catholic bishops to get out of the business of extracting lifelong promises of clerical celibacy. Deacons and priests should never be treated as sexual pawns or sexual slaves -- which is that's been going on for a long time already!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Paging US bishops not named Cupich or McElroy will you be doing something about the alt-right in the near future? And I agree that anyone who praises the Muslim ban, especially a Catholic network that says it is in step with the bishops should be condemned.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Oh you mean 'white' terrorists like Omar Mateen who killed 50 people at a bar in Miami, or Rizval Farook and his lovely bride Tashfeen Malik who killed 14 people at a Christmas party in San Bernardino, or Nidal Hasan who murdered 13 fellow soldiers at Fort Hood in Texas. And that's just a few examples I can do more if you are still mentally detached from reality.\nAllie fits in well with the modern Democrat party. A party that is basically anti-white, anti American, pro Muslim and anti-christian, anti-rural and anti- middle class, and a bi-coastal party of elitist snobs. \nNo wonder you guys lost the election.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Lynn - I found the referenced article from 2002. Coleridge was incredibly childish and insulting. And, he has not always been as clear and articulate as I am sure he wished to be - consider his recent comments on the gay marriage vote.\n\nBut, he is saying some of the right things now, reaching outside the box for a way to bring the Church into the world of today. I think he goes much further than Pell ever would have and I have to wonder if he doesn't scare the pants off of some of the other Pell-like bishops. He talks as if the Vatican is going along with his views about bringing more women and lay people into governance. Maybe they are just waiting to see if something really comes out of this that they can accept. Putting lay people into governance is going to upset a lot of apple carts.\n\nStill, he at least is thinking outside the box of rules and tradition the Church seems so stuck on. If not Coleridge, then who? Is there hope for the Catholic Church there?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Who: I certainly didn't say \"all Christians\" were operating Ponzi schemes either. I am not a member of Mr. Shockley's church (or any church), but I do know he was very involved and active in that church. You note that \"someone of such low character was passing themselves off as a Christian.\" You think that's bad. Based on your assertions (unsupported, by the way) it seems that, even worse, \"someone of such low character was (also) passing themselves off as a Democrat.\" These damn lowlifes; they're giving both the Christian Church and the Democatic Party a bad name. Whatever shall we do?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trump promised to deport eleven million people in this country because that's what his racist fans wanted to hear. It is the duty of every Christian to stand up to ignorance, racism, and fear.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If an offensive flag is a headline, why isn't it that nearly all interracial murder is black-on-white and that blacks commit the largest per capita rate of hate crimes?\n\nThis endless politically-motivated coverup of racial dirt in this country helps nobody. You're only willing to say negative things about groups if they're white and Christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The worst thing Christians will do to same sex couples is not bake them a wedding cake. Muslims stone gays to death or toss them from tall building AND not bake them a weeding cake. But we are supposed to believe Muslims have a higher moral code.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"My, my. More ugly and miserable than your posts?\"\nIf you think a few word about the ugly and miserable unloving Catholic clergies was bad, you should have been raped by an actual creepy clergies and see how that would feel like. I was being kind to describe CI clergies that way. They are hundreds of times more evil!\nAccording to Broken Rites Australia web-sight:\n\u2018Cardinal George Pell instructed his lawyers to crush this victim (sexually abused a former altar boy, John Ellis), the Royal Commission has been told\u2019 \nThen Catholic clergies persecuted these victims through their fancy lawyers and through court procedures. In Cardinal Pell's home town of Ballarat more then fifty clergy sex abuse victims committed suicide! \nA big part of CI rampant clergy sex abuse problems of today rest on laities like yourself who defend power structure and disregard thousands of innocent children life long suffering!\nRemember, without love, you are not a follower of Christ! You are follower of CI!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why don't you all just leave the Catholic Church and stop attacking the Church from within!! Face it, you hate being told how to live, which the Church demands of us, but only for our ultimate happiness. \nYou are termites that slowly chew away at the foundation of our Faith. Go join the Luterans or Anglicans with all their messed up gay clergy and ideas.....!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It seems junior T, Goodale and the Liberals are pro Islam and pro sharia law for Canada. Liberals seem to be anti Christian, anti Jew, and pro Islam which wants your neck if you do not embrace Allah.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "According to the left America is a racist and homophobic land where success is guaranteed if you are a white, Christian, heterosexual male but otherwise you'll slave away for starvation wages. I'm surprised these people would want to come here. I guess they haven't gotten the message yet.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Wait, \"and one could ask you the same question, why do you and the other ultra right wing Catholics come here?\" did not meet civility standards?\n\nRidiculous.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As a multi millionaire why the display of pychopathic disrespect. The Clinton presidency was reverse Robin Hood and 3 strikes your out mocks baseball fans with their sport used to justify mass jailing of afro Americans, then new wars all failures, then huge Christians disproportionate deaths in pro Zionist wars tearing up the Mid East. MaryAn40 has a concept of top hidden leaders revealing their plan. In times of rising poverty we see that Clinton represents psychopathic neo cons and the traitors and psychopathic Christian haters is common among those above 100 million net worth thus wars and austerity on till perhaps more police more regime violence.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"supposedly Catholic reporters\"\nBetter known as Catholic zombies.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You're incorrect. The taxes addressed by Jesus were Roman taxes, an invading, occupying army for a state that gave nothing to those Jews in their homeland.\n\n\"Our\" government is not an invading, occupying army for a state that gives nothing to us. Or, it's not supposed to be, however, it does resemble such quite a bit. \"Our\" government is supposed to be for \"us.\" Therefor, \"render unto Caesar\" does NOT \"support\" taxation, but it supports people recognizing power, even unfair worldly power, and choosing wisely. \n\nYou gotta love those lyin' Christians who twist the bible to support their evil beliefs and actions in the world.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You stated \"Luther left (but he died quite unhappy).\" That is at least implying that he died unhappy because he left. One's religious views do not determine one's happiness.\n\nYour post is simply more of your silly ideas of what makes a good Catholic.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Religion is the bane of mankind. It's reeks havoc wherever it flourishes, resulting in pain and suffering and death. Every single conflict today is a function of the ridiculous never-ending battle of one religion against another. And still each side claims God is on their side. \n\nMy heart aches for the children who suffered at the hands of the monsters within the Catholic Church. CHILDREN !!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Just goes to prove, once again, that these evangelicals could care less about actually reducing abortion. It's all about punishing those little sluts.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm wondering how many God-Fearing Bible-Bashers down South are starting to see this as Divine retribution for electing The Donald?\n\nNot enough would be my guess.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes Alexandra, I agree the bar was set way too low. Parriello states he sees priests that view themselves as \"sacred and cultic.\" This really more than implies a group of men that are evermore schizoid and removed from everyday people. This leads us to see a new smaller more cultic group of Catholics that will be guided by a \"faith\" that overlooks facts and leads its people to a stupidity that some would call evil....", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Oh really. So I can't respond to your comment to Layla? It is you that needs to get a grip, hypocrite with no substance.\n\n1. The Catholic church feeds all people of all religions and also opens up as shelters and do not turn people away for being a different background. \n\n2. Sikh community charity group \u201cVancouver Sangat\u201d started a food service program for the needy in downtown Van; they did not turn people away of diff background\n\n3. Oldest Mosque in Van Al Jamia Masjid opened up as shelter for the homeless last week; They did not turn people away\n\nThese groups do not operate as special interest groups discriminating against the public of Canada.\n\nWhat is your BS RE: school boards? They are different districts in different cities & each city is run by a separate Mayor - what year did you move to Canada? Your comments are absurd, ignorant and lobby for special interests groups whom should not be excused nor even assume actions of discrimination are tolerated. This is a secular Country.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Talk about a bunch of lies and garbage.... Church Militant is one of the very few religious publications that tells the truth about anything and is not in bed with the modernist leftist media. Look at what \"modernism/liberalism\" has done to the Church in the last 50 years - from homosexual priests molesting kids to millions of Catholics leaving the faith. This is one of the largest disasters in Church history and the Church closes a blind eye to it and pretends \"everything is doing fine!\" Today's RCC pushes \"social justice\" and millions of souls will perish because of it. The job of the Church is not to take care of the body, it is to take care of the soul - and they are doing a horrific job of this. Thank God for Church Militant, they tell the truth!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's a rape song, pure and simple, made more disgusting by the fact the girl is worn down by the predator male.\n\nBut filth like that lies very close to the surface of our so-called Christian society.\n\nIn the 1940s when it was more overtly Christian, it did not even need any cover.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "True fact that. But in a bad situation, a less bad situation is better. The bad guy had control for over 3 hours. Hell if everybody just threw their cell phones at the guy he could have been overtaken with fewer casualties. Waiting 3 hours while texting your last few thoughts is beyond the pale. When the bad guys figure out the success this has had they will come with a dozen gunmen next time and take over a dozen venues. They will hit and run in Gorilla fashion. Neither the Police nor the Army can stop them. The only way to limit this kind of attack is through the use of neighborhood Militias. Regular family men ready to grab their weapon and run into the firefight. It doesn't matter if its a Muslim Terrorist, or a Christian Terrorist, or a horde of Barbarians. Once they are coming down your street it is too late to call the police or the Army. The Army is there to keep them away not help you. The police are there to get them after they leave. Protect Yourself and Neighbor.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trid sees nothing wrong with \"No Dogs or Jews\", \"We don't serve Muslims\" and so on. He supports bigotry. And no, that is NOT a straw man, but the clear and obvious implication of your \" If either the buyer or the seller does not want to enter into that contract for whatever reason then I believe they have the right to refuse.\" Thank you for proving that your claim to being a Christian is a complete sham.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "(CONT)\n\nRegarding beheading: ISIS's atrocities are mostly committed against Muslims, and are reviled by the vast majority of Muslims. Those who don't do so from a safe distance usually become the beheaded, rather than the beheaders.\n\nProphet Muhammad (Saala Allahu alayhi wa Ah'liihi wa Salaam) warned: \"If someone calls his brother 'a disbeliever', it's true about ONE of them.\" That's a terrible spiritual risk. But I call the Da'esh disbelievers without hesitation. Their their atrocities constitute their apostasy.\n\nAnd Christians have been beheading folks for centuries--\"Anti-Balaka\" is mass-beheading Muslims in Central Africa today. There have been three religiously-motivated beheadings by US Christians in the last two years in OK and FL. \"Mote/Beam\", to summarize the Messiah's admonishment.\n\nI'll give you we've probably done more suicide bombings. Folks fight back 'by any means necessary\". You have daisy-cutters, depleted uranium, napalm, white phosphorus, cluster-bombs, etc.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sad to see the federal government and the evangelicals on the wrong side of history. Discrimination is wrong. Surprised to see that the Catholic church and their pedophile priests and bishops haven't added their voice of hate against these folks. I guess they're too busy trying to pay off all the lawsuits against them by their sexual abuse victims.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How could a man who went through his life being a clergy could not dream of being united to \nGod but let children being raped by other clergies? And bishops/prelates condone rapist clergies? You not only sent children to hell on earth but sent rapist clergies burn in h@ll.\nSo Catholic Institution is in the business of sending souls to h@ll, instead to heaven?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Your tired of hearing about it because you don't suffer prejudice for being white in Eugene. \n\nYour idea of us freeing skates oot of good will is absurd. It was for profit and justified because black people were considered inferior and not entitled to normal civil law. You carry the same junk I heard in Texas. Nice slave owners doing a favor by treating slaves as pets, to be bred and sold.\n\nYou don't care about black lives you can't see. You put blacks in a world of your imagination.\n\nI do agree that talking about it gets old and those areas of high violence must be have safety restored. We need walking police, to live and work on those neighborhoods. We have to stop lying about opportunity and create jobs and give them a school that south Eugene would be proud of.\n\nThere's plenty of ways to open opportunity for all Americans 0f low income. \n \nIt remains to be seen if the country has compassion for the weak. As a Christian that is a foundational value.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I hope he'll gather his coalition of: birthers, evangelicals, white supremacists, conspiracy theorists, neo nazi's, commies, and some local tough guys, to go fight them.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am hoping that this will also be used against these crazy religious nuts. laws go both directions you know. I would be able to refuse to sell to those wearing a pro-life button, because it is contrary to my religious beliefs. I can refuse to sell to Catholic priests, because my personal beliefs are that they are all heretics and probably child abusers as well. I can refuse to even allow someone belonging to Opus Dei into my store, because it is my sincere belief that they are a dangerous cult. I can require all of my employees to have to buy insurance that pays for abortions and contraception, as my personal belief is that the world is over populated and I encourage everyone to use it. And I will also require all of my employees to attend seminars on overpopulation and the use of birth control as well. that is my belief so I can do it!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "France's Hollande appointed a gay man who has a husband and is against the Church's teachings about homosexuality and abortion also shows how Hollande feels about the \"seat of Roman Catholicism.\"\nRight?!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is the kind of hate crimes that Donald Trump has given rise to. In fact, shortly after this occurred a member of the mosque was taped saying that this was because of Trump, but this was not mentioned in this article. \nHate crimes against Muslims, blacks and other visible minorities have skyrocketed throughout North America because the man in the White House who has given them license to do so. The very day the world is sent into chaos because of Trumps Muslim ban from 7 countries that the Cato Inst. says are responsible for 0 American deaths (but excludes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE who are responsible for hundreds / thousands of American deaths because Trump has businesses there) this tragedy occurs. Trump and Bannon this is on you. You fan the flames of racism and hatred against our brothers and sisters of colour. You said on TV you favour Christians over Muslim immigrants. Canadians don't want your condolences. Keep them and lift the travel ban against Muslims NOW!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mary was a virgin. People lived half our normal lifespan. You don't follow everything in the bible. Statutory Rape in Alabama is 18 for the age difference with Moore. But the fact that Zeigler considers a child fair game, makes one pause to wonder whether he, too, is a pedophile.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that many Catholics know little of the niceties or fine points of their faith. But in the end, the only thing on which we will be judged is how well we loved God and how well we loved our brothers and sisters. Niceties be damned.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Where does Christianity call for gay men to be put to death?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You will not be discriminated against unless you are white, male, Christian and straight. If you are one of these you will be treated as a lunatic. Two or more, you better learn to fok yourself.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why do Muslims need segregation ...even in death ...did the regular graveyards refuse to bury their dead ? Would my body be refused burial in a Muslim graveyard because I am Christian ? I plan to be cremated , so I do not really care , just curious", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\n\nIt's simply a struggle to be a WOMAN and a Catholic, let alone a feminist...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is not true that Christians 'do not put restrictions on access to reproductive healthcare'. An entire branch of the pro-life movement considers contraception the same as abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's a Christian party already in operation. They are called Republicans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I won't be in the \"cheering section\" for this presentation by Bill T.\nOf course \"Prosperity Gospel\" is bad theology, but Bill T. has had many, many opportunities here and elsewhere to teach the Word of Truth, the gospel of grace, and I have yet to see that happen. Of course, some will object that he is \"orthodox\" in his beliefs; however, Christendom's \"orthodoxy\" is way off track with the Word of Truth for centuries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Larsy,\nI don't HAVE to refute anything. All I have to do, according to the rules YOU made up, is post a quote that I \"think\" I \"might be able to find,\" and you'll \"find 10 quotes from our founding fathers all supporting the notion that they made us a Christian nation under the Judeo Christian paradigm.\" You were bluffing and everybody can see it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem is not the Christian religion, the problem is the followers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed. It is SO frustrating to me that the culture in Catholic parishes is around marriage. People who are not married or dating are not welcome. That excludes a majority of milennials who are not married. One thing that frustrates me is Pope Francis' obsession with marriage. It really is not my fault that guys are losers unworthy of my attention.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Much ado about nothing.\nAmy Amy Coney Barrett used the term \"orthodox Catholic\" in a a law journal article she wrote in 1998:\nCatholic Judges in Capital Cases \nhttp://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/527/\n\nIt's perfectly legitimate for someone to question her about her views and her writings.\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/13/opinion/faith-law-and-dianne-feinstein.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All three Kazakh bishops signed the letter.\n\nKazakhstan has 250,000 Catholics compared to the much ballyhooed Malta's 380,000.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words, you are bigoted against someone who happens to be a Christian because they don't support abortion? Should this man not have a voice about abortion or his faith in God? On top of that, you say this as an excuse for women to have abortions, because of the many people of faith are pro-life. How sick!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evil should be confronted, not ignored. \n\nThat means calling these latter-day nazis out, countering their repugnant rhetoric at every chance, and keeping them far from actual political influence. That also means dumping Trump and the many Republicans and Christians that encourage them by failing to point out what America should stand for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the law and order right will not accept the terrorism and mayhem caused by white right wing supremacists, white radical Christians, and white right wing militias.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islam is a religion, and we have always been free in this country to criticize a religion and disagree with their stance on various issues. Christianity for instance still comes under criticism to this day. It would be informative to hear how those who practice Islam are discriminated against , since like all religions in this country, there has been no impediment to them openly practicing their faith. We have never used the term racist to describe someone who had issues with religion. This country for decades had a long standing separation between the catholic and protestant religions. Someone could be anti-catholic for instance but they were never considered racist as religion is not a race.It informative as well to hear how the particularly strong condemnation of racist is reserved specifically for those who simply have disagreements with the various tenets of the religion of Islam.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any good Protestant could have written your last paragraph. \nInfallibility is a dogma of the Church, anyone who denies it ceases to be a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The state of Alaska is a colonial government, as is the federal government. They exist through taking Natives resources and lands. They need to uproot the original people, by trickery and broken promises that only they are allowed to modify and renege. Together with their christian churches, they do the most unchristian things to the Natives, to force assimilate them into the non native society. Internationally, those same policies that foisted genocide on our people, cost $trillions yearly and results in the deaths of countless thousands of innocents and brings on the self inflicted and self creating and sustaining war on terrorism", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I agree most of these comments expressing disagreement with speech, the \"conservative\" archbishop reveals a) that he himself is a \"cafeteria Catholic,\" having chosen some things he considers a \"litmus\" test for being a really \"good Catholic,\" and b) that he places himself squarely with the Pagan Constantine who chose conformity [and external overt belonging] rather than the diversity inherent in the four-ness of the Gospels, and c) that his task is to create an elitist \"church\" of ritual, strictness of morality and superiority of \"truth\" rather than a community of struggling and sinful seekers, who believe in God our Father.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Synod was telling in a very important way. Pope Francis told the attendees to speak and discuss freely even if they disagreed with him. He stepped back and deferred to the work of the Holy Spirit. This was an act of humility and faith on the Pope's part. On the other hand, the \"13\" had to make sure they leaked their \"concerns\" to the press so their flying monkeys could start a ruckus. I can understand that some of the attendees had concerns but it is the way they handled it that shows their real character or lack thereof. \n\nWho practiced real humility?\nWho made room for the Holy Spirit to work?\nWho stuck his neck out? \n\nWho put their faith in worldly and evil ways, to get their way with a \"letter of concern\" leaked to the press, depending on right wing Catholic pundits to discredit a legitimate successor of Peter?\n\nAll of these \"letters of concern\" have the same false humility, and the need to be made the concerns public.\n\nI'll stick with Pope Francis. Thank you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... yes, you Republican 'christians' are so saintly and above board ... lol.\n\nHow many lawsuits has the church settled so far ... HIGHER standards indeed!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As humble and obedient Catholics, you will accept \"NO\"; even the modernist Francis has done so. Are you \"more Catholic than the pope\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Mussolini quote tRump tweeted in February.......\u201cIt is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.\u201d Too bad for Charles and Company, they couldn't find an elephant big enough, to step on and squash the self appointed lion, months ago. \n\nNow regarding sheep, I wonder if the tRumpster realizes that sheep are the most mentioned animal in the Bible and that true Christians are the Lord\u2019s sheep. I doubt that Mussolini made the connection.\n\nIn the end, so many of Donald' shepherds are going to be so hugely disappointed, including Charles. How ironic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The religion of Darwinism is more responsible for wars than Christianity,\" You are either historically ignorant or intentionally obtuse if that is what you truly believe. \n\nSince Darwin wasn't even born until 1802 and didn't even publish his theory until 1859, you are clearly ignoring 1859 years of recorded history of war, including Constantine forcing the religion on the Roman Empire, the Crusades, the wars of the \"Holy Roman Empire\", the war between Christians and Catholics 200 years before he was even born (no \"Darwinism\" in 1618-1648--all the massive killing was done by lovers of Christ for that 30 years). You are also ignoring the conquest of the Americas to bring Jesus to the heathens. Ask the dead in California, Florida, Mexico, Peru, Brazil etc. how good Jesus the Christ was for them.\n\nAsk the Indians in the western United States how the wars against them to the music of the missionaries taking their children away into Walla Walla etc. how good Christ was for them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As you may or may not know, the Catholic clergy has a long vested interest in (ceremonial) baptism. That interest is both financial and dogmatic. Furthermore, that vested interest has been employed coercively, as in the hierical position on infant baptism, and much much more. That's why, for starters! Perhaps you recognize here the practical and dogmatic thrust of church reformers, then (16th century) and now, and all points in-between!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does this frighten you? In the over 200 years of existence, populated by an overwhelmingly Christian leadership, and not a single effort to implement any form of religious based governing. Frankly, after watching you and the rest of the leftist coven around here be so wrong about so much so often, It is somewhat surprising you have the hubris to continue to come here and spout off your misconceptions and lies. Then I remembered you are Democrats and self reflection and accountability are meaningless terms to you. Don't you get tired of being so wrong so often?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many parents abuse their kids for not following Christian values?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fatherhood presumes knowledge and authority that sonship, logically, does not possess. \n\nWhen you were growing up, who had authority in your home? You or your dad? I'll bet it wasn't you. Who gave the orders? I'll bet it wasn't you? Who expected to be obeyed? I'll bet it wasn't you?\n\nDrawing this sort of parallel with priesthood is absurd. And it's an affront to the role Christ commanded for his disciples: servanthood.\n\nYou called me a 'dissident, liberal' Catholic. Well, I'd rather be this than a dissident liberal Christian, for you and priests completely ignore Christ's command and settle for a deeply clericalist priesthood, which has done incalculable harm to the Church.\n\nWhen Napoleon captured the pope, he threatened to destroy the Church. You will not succeed, the Pope answered. We priests have been trying to do this for 1800 years.\n\nIs this penny dropping?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Among other things, the stipend approach trivializes the liturgical action by making it a commercial transaction. \"You pay for what you get\" is the direct opposite of the gift approach that is inherent in all the sacraments. Fr. Karban clearly describes the problem and its centuries long, deep seated misconception within many who remain the Body of Christ and People of God. On the face of it, priests who accept stipends are under suspicion of de facto simony. Perhaps we need an ecclesiastical Grand Jury to investigate the practice and the practitioners.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems to be some kind of rule: those people who are most vocal about who's a Christian and who isn't, are the least endowed with the spirit of Christian kindness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Boy, you've miss the mark! Not an atheist bear -- the Briebart \"News\" team would have immediately seen the truth: The bear has obviously been radicalized by ISIS. Trump would tweet it's another instance of persecuting Christians, ya da ya da.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Grossly unjust to your cousin. Even worse, that deacons and their wives go through the entire training process together. At the end, the man is ordained a deacon and the woman is patted on the head. What an un-Christian waste.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course the most Historical Gospel scholars at the Jesus Symposium eventually wound up non-Christians.\n\nIf Jesus was not born, suffered, died, and rose from the dead, our faith is misplaced.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Aside: The believers and the Christians and the Muslims and the Catholics and all those are theists. Me, like Ivo (and most probably you) do not subscribe to these practices and are for that reason branded by the aforementioned as atheist. Actually we are a-theist, the same as a-political, a-social, and, of course, a-sexual. A-theist became a label whereby theist is the actual label.\nThank God I am not religious!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can see why; this former Catholic is more Catholic than the top tier of Notre Dame.\n\nHe's pro marriage, pro life, pro work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This story is just holds too much confirmation bias for me, considering my not exactly fair opinions of the people of Coos Bay and Christians. I've just read too many abuse stories about folks from those places/belief systems.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe (?) that's a good question to ask about Sunday morning sermons in Catholic Masses.\nAs Harry Truman said: \"if you can't convince them; confuse them.\"\nThere's a lot of 'religious' confusion still going on - not to mention violence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is just an educated guess, but no doubt, many of the members of the above list most likely excommunicated themselves from Christ's One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church by denying The Christ, The Word of God Made Flesh, prior to when our Holy Father, Benedict, was head of the CDF; the powerful lobby remains autonomous, not in communion with Christ's Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a Christian and believe God created our world and the universe. Evolution has been shown to have many fallacies such as: how life started, the absence of proof from the fossil record, the Cambrian Explosion, the Entropy law of physics, etc, We oppose evolutionary theory because it cannot be proven from science so we creationists are not a Pseudoscience. Also, we don't believe in a flat earth. You cannot group us into that weird belief that some have. There are many, many scientists who do not believe in evolution and believe in Intelligent Design. Even some evolutionists now believe life was seeded from outside our planet because they have no idea how it started here on Earth. So far, no life has been found anywhere else in what we can observe in or outside of our solar system. So it's time to let go of tired old evolutionary theories or at least give other ideas a chance. The inventor of the MRI scanner, a physicist, happens to be a young earth creationist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe you didn't catch the news. Shopping centers all over America are closing up and being demolished. Too big to fail? The online stores are death to these malls. The world is changing before our own eyes. The future is here and with all its gory wars, higher prices, wacko weathers, shrinking medical coverages, hard to find living quarters, ruder people, tainted foodstuffs, uncontrolled immigration, radical religious battles, radical Muslims, pedophile Catholics, trade imbalances, black on black crimes, cops shooting blacks, nutty sex offenses, alcohol abuse and dangerous drugs out of control, and general deterioration of law and order. We are going to actually see our world collapse. We will have a front row view of all this. Hey, go buy your own papers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CMD: Obviously you find this a very emotional issue. I, to use your phrase, \"regurigate\" the same facts because you don't seem to understand them.. That's not my fault. \n\nI stand by my comment regarding right-wing Christian homophobes using the First Amendment in an attempt to discriminate against homosexuals. Expressing my distaste with that discrimination is hardly comparable to using the \"N-word.\" \n\nWould you be good enough to cite an incidence of someone being refused accomodations/service because they Christians. You offered a link to Shoe.com, but all I found when seeking that link were ads for shoes. Could you explain what you're talking about and supply a link which helps you do that. Thanks for the help. Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "McCarthyism and nothing more.\n\nJoe McCarthy was a Catholic. Maybe it's time to think about why a Catholic is remembered as the patron saint of correlation fallaciously indicating causation, and whether that tendency to falsely condemn citizens per one's idea of their associations has something to do with Catholic culture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is this an example of alternative facts? On the other hand, our Christian friends to the South have many interpretations of the bible. What was that famous quote? \" The devil can quote scripture to suit his own purpose....\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"..how we can manipulate every commentary into a Obama vs. Trump diatribe\". You may be right that the comment preceding yours was doing just that. But I remind you that it was in response to an article sharply critical of Trump's politics and character. I did not support his campaign. But whether he or Obama are true \"Christians\" is not my business. That is between God and each of them. The Pope's message rings true to me. The political banter about it and the shameless selling of Christmas do not. What I take from the Pope is a candid reminder that Christmas is not supposed to be about consumerism, but rather about charity, love, and peace. That is what I care about and it is how I will celebrate the \"Holiday\" - which is merely a contraction of \"Holy Day\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree but it is clear that they either don't understand the Church's teaching on this matter, or they are willfully rejecting it because it doesn't fit their secularized view of life. The post Vatican II Church has failed to catechize the flock properly and the result is many pseudo catholics running around picking and choosing what they want to believe. Their errors, it seems, have been bolstered by a protestantised clergy. It is a sad time for the Church and I weep for Her.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rabbi Jack and many others very unfortunately do not understand the first amendment. Only in recent times have citizens misunderstood the \"wall of seperation\" that allows religion to influence government but stops government from influence upon religion. Thus \"No official Church of the USA.\" As they had in England. You know the type of government that executed William Tyndale for translating the Bible into English?\nThat is what the first amendment is about. \nOne of the first acts of Congress was to purchase and distribute Bibles to citizens.\nTo give tax dollars for religious schools is not unconstituional. The government forcing those schools to teach a specific religious doctrine is unconstituional.\nAlso traditionally at the time that the Constitution was written, the word religion referred to Christianity. Other religions were called paganism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "FC, said, \"Well, fine. I hope you support the death penalty too--based on similar logic. Many times, there just isn't any other way to protect society.\"\n\nWhat does an embryo that has only a 20 to 30 % likelihood of attachment to a uterus that is prepared to accept it, have to do with the death penalty and societal protection. I think you have no wish to discuss any topic. The more you write, the less sense you are making any sense. By the way, what does supporting the death penalty have to do with being a faithful catholic? Seems the RCC has come full circle on this idea. You seem to be faithful to what you want.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I urge everyone Christian, Muslim and all other religions to read the book \"Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now\" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. It will clear up a lot of misconceptions of Islam and gives a solid base to build mutual understanding and respect between the West and Islam.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If our understanding of God develops slowly and somewhat uncertainly, then there will always be as much reason to regard any putative (i.e., commonly accepted or supposed) heresy as a new insight as there will be to regard it as a distortion of the truth.\" (Gordon Graham, \"The Goodness of God and the Conception of Hell\" New Blackfriars, November 1988)\n\n\"Heresy may be the result of poor timing.\" (Jaroslav Pelikan, \"The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine\", Vol I, \"The Emergence of Catholic Tradition.\")\n\n\u201cSometimes I like to put the sand of doubt into the oyster of my faith.\u201d (that greatest of English theologians: Brother Cadfael)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Donald Trump is not a member of any church, sect, or denomination which has a problem with divorce and remarriage.\n\nThus his marital history and status is not germane, nor can it be logically tied to Raymond Cardinal Burke.\n\nWhile many participants cannot distinguish being a Catholic from being a Democrat - some years ago one even said \u201cI am a Democrat, THEN a Catholic\u201d, that\u2019s an affliction, not a virtue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will say, at least the Protestant ministers weren't afraid to speak the name of Jesus Christ when they prayed. Would our Catholic priests have had the courage to do the same?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Is Pope Francis campaigning for married priests?\" I hope not. We should keep pushing for celibate women priests. The male-only priesthood is becoming toxic in the life of the Church, but celibacy in imitation of Jesus is an admirable choice. Going forward, we need to explore the Marian connection to the Eucharist. If the Virgin Mary brought us the Incarnate Word in her own body, as flesh of her flesh, why is the redeemed body of a baptized woman, of the same flesh, not \"proper matter\" for priestly ordination? Virginity is not required, but I believe that celibate women priests would make visible the divine feminine genius (and feminine power) in Jesus. I believe in my heart that this is the way to go for integral human development and for the mission of evangelization.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please expand on your opening phrase \"I am pretty sure Christians\" If you don\u2019t want your tax dollars to help the poor-- stop pretending you want a nation reflecting and based on Christian values, because you don\u2019t.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah where's the investigation of the role the FBI and Rudy played in branding Hillary and giving us Pres. Bannon. We will never know, just as we will never know if Gore would have read the memo and prevented 9/11. But we live here and now and the chaos is just the symptom, or maybe smoke screen, to allow for a very small group to try to take over the US, reduce our constitutional right to cover only white Christian 'patriots.' So little d, or the Prince of Orange, or whatever is just the stooge for Steve and a Jeff and the others taking over the country. Thought Cheney was bush's brain? Bannon is the 'dark lord.'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church via the Councils of Trent, Vatican I and Vatican II simply set out the Catholic Faith for both Catholics and Protestants to accept or reject. Those who accept the dogmas and doctrines set forth in these Councils and the magisterial teaching they engendered are Catholics. Those who do not accept them and vociferously oppose them or 'protest' against them are Protestants.\nNow there are many who claim to be Catholic yet 'protest' vociferously against the teaching of the Catholic Church; how are they to be regarded? Protestants is the word which springs to mind.\n\"Those who are not with me are against me\", saith the Lord.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Separation of Church and State is the bedrock of democracy. Priests, and this article of Fr. Reese, do not represent the community of Catholics- look at the comments of your readers. There is group, big in numbers that opposes the century old teaching of the Church regarding homosexuals and oppose in even sronger terms the discriminatory actions of our church agains the indviduald because of their orientation. How the LGTB community fights for indvidual rights is a separate issue on how each Catholic treats the people they come accross. The conservatives, I fear say, have not acted with the compassion our religions demands of us. The church should get out of politics and work in a small way - with humility, serving all humans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Paul VI should have made it perfectly clear that the old Tridentine Mass be abolished and he should have implemented a ban on it's usage. Case closed!\n\nI am a leader in our parish's RCIA program. Last year, a group of the Neophytes wanted to see this \"old Mass.\" So, I took them to a parish in our Diocese to witness it. The women in the group were not pleased when I told them to wear a hat or something covering their head. \n\nWell, I spent the entire ride home having to allay their worst impressions. First, confessions were held throughout Mass. These poor souls had been instructed to PAY ATTENTION at Mass. So, why weren't these folks paying attention, they asked. Other things: the presider during his homily admonished all in attendance because \"you are better Catholics because you attend this Mass!\" \"What?\" The presider also used the word \"hate\" in his homily, which I've never heard a presider use that word in my 61 years as a Catholic. All I can say is, \"NEVER AGAIN!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps the Globe should publish an op-ed column, by Doug Saunders, explaining why Muslims should be allowed to pray in public Scholes, while Jews and Christians should not be allowed to pray in schools. /sarc off", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin,\nThose are great questions, but ones where I will not let myself trod. The details of the spiritual lives of others is their business. I would go so far as to suggest that by definition, it is an intensely personal matter, so I'm not even sure we can adequately describe our journeys to each other if we tried\n\nThat said, I really DO believe that a very good indicator of a healthy spiritual life can be inferred through the fruits of that life. When I see someone truly compassionate, truly loving, truly caring for others, my sense is not to say, \"Oh, that person is a good Catholic (Lutheran, Jew, Muslim, etc...) Rather, I find myself with the sense that the person has a healthy spirutuality, and is one in all likelihood actively seeking God.\n\nTHAT's part of why the scandal is so vexing: We're just not seeing that from these guys. SOME of them likely to try to reach out, and may even have established something good. But for most, it's the great silence, and no accountability.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic bishops have been driving anti-SNAP lawsuits as long as SNAP has existed! Kicking SNAP off Catholic church property not only didn't work -- it backfired BIG time! Now we have third-party suits! This filing looks like a real doozie! And Ms. Hammond's tre-trial deposition won't be any better!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A weak and shallow reply Jay Edward, you can do better. Seek and you will find... as Christians have been doing for centuries on end with or without imperial Romanism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whatever that supposed \"strategy \" is,Mike AA,obviously it won't come from the apostate Roman Catholic Church,will it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are not true Christians, they are not following the primary and only true behavior scripted as Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, if you can't believe one cranky cop's Facebook page, what can you believe? And don't let the total lack of corroboration from anybody else in a position of authority bother you. It's on the internet so it gotta be true!\n\nLet's cut to the chase here. People like you don't care about the plight of Muslim refugees. But it doesn't sound \"Christian\" to admit that, so you come up with all kinds of nonsense excuses for doing nothing to help them. And your go-to pitch these days is to demonize them by lumping all Muslims in with the minority who are terrorists. It isn't complicated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope - instead (like a good little leftwing rag) it trumpets he decline of Christianity. \nhttp://www.denverpost.com/2015/05/12/christianity-faces-decline-as-u-s-gets-more-secular/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems to me when we look objectively at the facts on the Catholic Sex abuse scandal, the Church has clearly gotten things right and wrong. \n(i)Things Right\nThe massive overhaul of screening and safety prevention measures to prevent these crimes from happening again. We see this for instance with the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops Charter for the Protection of the Child in 2002, followed by the rigorous screening of as many as 5 million by 2008 according to stats. Pope Francis has tried to internationalize that model with his commission\n(ii)Things Wrong\nA failure to prosecute. Bishops, priests and Cardinals have not been held accountable. This includes Cardinal Bernard Law who as far as I am concerned should be in prison. \n\nSo they have gotten the overhaul part correct in terms of the rigorous screening process. But they've done an abismal job at prosecuting and holding people accountable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You, like so many others who are happy with your narrow view of all things religious, actually believe that if someone walks into a church, they are a Christian. I didn't become a hamburger when I walked into McDonald's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What still distinguishers Catholic schools are parietals. There were women\u2019s and men\u2019s floor or single sex dorms, sign-ins after 10 and guests were out by 2. While the rules agaisnt sexual activity were never enforced, they were still on the books. In graduate school, at American, there were no such rules and floors were co-ed. As for the student\u2019s themselves, there was no marked difference in chastisty in either university (or Catholic U., where my R.A.\u2019s girlfriend slept over most nights). Any \u201dCatholic identity\u201d in this area was for show. I suspect it always has been. Prior generations simply had to be more creative in their fornicating", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps it is time for people to give up Catholicism for Lent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Belief in witches isn't unique to Christianity, many societies around the world have similar beliefs, and the witchcraft hysterias in Europe and America are today better understand as the conflict with the remnants of the pre-existing \"pagan\" religions.\n\nBut what does that have to do with the situation described by Atwood?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is not a Christian and Christmas is a made-up holiday. When was last time we actually went to church? Every Sunday seems like he's on the golf course", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Demonstrating that unmarried commentators have plagued Christianity since its beginning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What about Ellen Degeneras cancelling a performance from a Christian singer on her show because she has a biblical view of homosexuality? Is it ok for Ellen to deny her this? Is it any different than a private business who chooses not to make a cake with 2 dudes on top?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Canada no aspect of our lives is not influenced by the Catholics, our schools, our government, our laws, lawyers, doctors, hospital, judges. How can we claim to be multicultural?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some Muslims have objected to the new sex Ed curriculum. So have some Catholics from what I've heard. It isn't easy for people to change the way they want to raise their kids so there's understandable resistance. It's not aMuslim thing, it's a parent thing. It might take time and dialogue but the school isn't backing down. \n\nIncidetnally, on the topic of resisting education for your kids, the bigger issue is with fundamentalist Christians who want Creationism taught alongside Evolution as though it's a valid alternative theory. I think that's preposterous but it doesn't make me hate Christians. It makes me realize that our enlightened culture in Canada needs to be defended but I can do to without hatred. \n\nYou sound very intolerant of Muslims. I think you should try to meet some and ask them their thoughts on these things. Why don't you write an email to Ms. Sheema Khan?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We're done.\n\nThe reason is that there is no question to duck for Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian is a label. Biblically, you are either in a right relationship with God or you are not. But even someone who makes a profession of faith in God and in Jesus work on the Cross makes mistakes. In I John 1:9, we see God's requirement for dealing with sin as a believer. Doing something bad is due to our sin nature and lack of self-control. But doing something wrong doesn't mean we stop being a Christian. My point to you has always been that everyone who goes by the label \"Christian\" isn't a biblical Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was going to mention King Christian, too. From what I have read in recent years, it would seem that the story that he appeared on the streets of Denmark wearing the Star of David may be apocryphal. Still, I think the story is apt. Many years ago, I heard this story recounted in a Christmas homily. The homilist suggested that what King Christian had done in willingly taking on the Star of David, uniting himself to the Jewish citizens of his kingdom, was precisely an act inspired by the Incarnation of the Son of God, who willingly took on our humanity. It was a memorable homily -- I'm recounting it from the distance of more than thirty years; and no one suggested that King Christian's act of solidarity was anything less than radically, profoundly Christian.\nSo, too, any act of solidarity we Christian might devise or perform to resist a Muslim registry.\nI think that there will also be Jews who will likewise resist this evil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Writers who present themselves as Catholic should not cherry-pick the Catechism of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This editorial is miss leading. First, the Rasmussen poll shows 60% of Americans agree with the Trump ban. Second, the seven countries that are banned are not countries they have no government. These countries are territories for the Islamists. Now this leftist paper is concerned about Catholic charities. I thought Christians are the lefts problem of freedom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You fail to realize that Canada is run by Christians and always has. \n\nThe CoR gives special rights to the three book religions, there is the first problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry, I forgot you know it all and have no need to learn anything further.\n\nOnward, Christian soldier.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My family history/genealogy can be traced for 500 years is some detail. During the late Reformation era in southern Europe the Catholic Prince Bishop who ruled our region decided to expell all non-Catholic citizens of his state. Our tribe being considered heretics ( Lutheran ) were forced to abandon their estates and trek approx. 1000 miles to north eastern Europe, during which experience about half of them died. Never mind later wars, Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin ....\n\nWe revisited this ancestral region some years ago and I found the particular gentlman's crypt in the Cathedral of his capital city. Being a concientious objector and not prepared to whine I had my better half take a picture of me in front of his marble plaque with an explicit digital communication to him and history .-)\n\nMade me feel better .-)\nThen we returned to Canada - and I have never whinged about an irevocably fixed past but worked, paid taxes ..\nI suggest this psychologically satisfying protocol to all whiners.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anger can reach dangerous, destructive and dysfunctional levels very quickly, particularly for those who have poor boundaries on their emotional regulation abilities, as I perceive you do. It's an educated guess based on observing comment after comment of yours. You aren't using the Faith as a guiding principal in this battle you keep creating, instead you sure are using distortions and denial of facts to try and bolster your narrow and even obsessive fixation. No European nation - outside of perhaps Poland right now - are as preoccupied as you are about abortion. The overwhelming majority of Americans - Catholic and not - are no obsessed with single-issue candidates or voting. You reduce it to one matter when the country as a whole does not. My discomfort is with folks like you, who try and drag the rest of us down to the cellar where you spend your life. So then you go after me, as if I support abortion because I don't agree with you and all you say. Typical of \n(Continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think we should use labels carefully. The far left is totalitarian and use force. The far right is totalitarian and use force. Progressives want to move forward in many sectors, while conservatives want to conserve much of what we have now. Libertarians are the opposite of all of these viewpoints because they want to limit government control and power and want to maximize freedom in the \"boardroom and the bedroom.\" Libertarianism, small l not big L, is what many Americans now believe in, and what many Catholics now believe in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dogma, like orthodoxy, is credal. We are not judged by our beliefs, by the way, but our charity and that is what the Church believes. The essential belief is the resurrection. Everything else is pub conversation on theology or ethiccs, which has been off-track since Augustine's neo-platonic asexualism. Any convert who does not know that there is some contention in the Church on sexual issues from birth control to ordaining women has not been paying attention, but they come anyway. I pity those who came because we don't ordain women, because in a generation we will be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I only fear God, for that is the beginning of wisdom as it says in proverbs, a book in the Old Testament which forms part of the Christian bible which forms the basis of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. But you are so beyond all that aren't you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have an old friend who is positively brilliant on many fronts. One day he said to me, only half-jokingly, that the world is roughly divided into thirds: Hindus, Muslims and Christians. Between them, he went on, there is 100% agreement that two-thirds of the world is going to hell.\n\nAs Motley noted, his numbers are a bit off, but the message still holds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have had many convivial religious discussions with Lutherans and Muslims. \nBut here many discussions with Traditional Catholics end up in conflict. Why? It is because they claim exclusive Truth to be Catholic Church Teaching. I think Pope Francis sees more commonality and agreement within and outside the church on many issues. He wants to build bridges not walls. Burke and some other cardinals want walls to stop conversations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "interesting, American or Russian... or may be correct question should be Black or White... or may be Muslim or Christian... if you are not racist, you should not ask yourself those questions. the question is 'who is wrong'...Few weeks ago Obama provided additional weapons to Islamic extremists in Syria. May be he wants total annihilation of US and the only way to achieve it is to cause war between US and Russia ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Leviticus:\n\"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.\" Chapter 18 verse 22\n\"If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.\" Chapter 20 verse 13\nUnclear on basic biblical teachings while you promote Christianity, but you think you know all about Islam ...\n\nI posted the above and it was removed for incivility. Funny eh. 'Cause according to all the right wing commentators here, M103 will mean we can't criticize Islam but some are apparently fine with not being able to quote direct biblical verses that help enlighten the likes of Joe Dick.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Expectations of cynics who do not understand faithfulness to the Church's teaches. \n\nWhat is ironic is that the teachings that the cardinals ask the Pope to re-affirm are the very teachings rejected by those who oppose the cardinals. If the Pope can't enthusiastically re-affirm those points, then we'll learn something important about him. I say this as a divorced Catholic who hopes to re-marry and also cherishes the Eucharist: Christ's teaching is clear. The Pope is not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you are a pharmacist, it is only theoretically wrong for you as a Catholic yourself to USE a contraceptive. There is nothing about you as a pharmacist filling a subscription a woman got from her doctor, which may be given for reasons other than preventing conception and which really are none of your business. Your business is filling prescriptions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" Are we being honest in acting as though we're unrelated to other Christians?\"\n\nBeing related to other Christians is light years from some affinity to the Muslim faith. It is a false dilemma to equate the two concepts as have some relevant parallel.\n\nThe Muslim faith has no affinity to Christanity. If the RCC is antichrist for a false Christanity, Muslims are blatant heathen and must be dealt with on this basis.\n\nPaul never said to the Gentiles, your faith is like our faith, all we need is some understanding and a little \"tweaking\" of your faith to be in harmony with Christanity.\n\nThe devil is creating a one world religion and more than a few SDA's don't know up for down in what constitutes true bible faith.\n\nEverybody is a candidate for heaven and should be treated accordingly. But patronizing is not a viable method for evangelism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seven years, seven years the ACA has been the law of the land. During that time Republicans have railed against the law and held over fifty meaningless votes to repeal it. Seven years they've had to carefully craft a replacement to back up their claims they could replacement that's provides equal coverage, more choice and is more affordable. When the time comes to put up or shut up they don't have jack! \nWhat clearer demonstration do we need that the republican party is incapable of leading? They have become a coalition of warring factions; religious zealots who believe the constitution is a Christian parable, tea party jihadists who believe anarchy is the greatest form of government and corporate puppets who parrot \"What's good for korporate Amerika is good for the USA\".\nSadly, the opposition party has become GOP lite!\nOur only hope as a nation is for the people to unite and demand our government be returned to \"we, the people\". Democracy, use it or lose it!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nah that would be so cons pouting because of the war on christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You couldn't possibly be more wrong, your premise is heretical. There is only one path to heaven, that is the Catholic Church. Jesus was born a Jew but forsake Judaism and created the Catholic church via Peter. While those that have never heard of Christ or Catholicism have a chance for salvation - only because they were never introduced to the faith - they are few in numbers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The alt-right is the Catholic Church at politics. They aren't Fascists, they're wannabe Fascists; too weak, too lazy, too effete for a real violent, totalitarian movement. They like to play Fascist in online video games. \n\nFranco, Salazar, Mussolini, Hitler: Fascism was Catholic. Fascism was Catholicism's answer to Marxism. Fascism was the Church's idea of the next-best thing to Feudalism, which is what they consider God's plan for mankind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The idea was that God would intervene in history to establish a righteous kingdom.\n\nIt's in the New Testament, you know.\n\nYou wrote:\n\n<>\n\nEvidence for this assertion? The history of Christianity is rife with violence and conflict.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here are quotes of some verses in the Qur'an, the holy book of the religion of Islam.\nQur'an (4:89) - \"They wish that you should disbelieve as they disbelieve, and then you would be equal; therefore take not to yourselves friends of them, until they emigrate in the way of God; then, if they turn their backs, take them, and slay them wherever you find them; take not to yourselves any one of them as friend or helper.\"\nQur'an (9:30) - \"And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!\u201d\nThere are many verses in the Qur\u2019an that call for jihad (struggle) and there are about 100 verses in the Qur'an that call for the destruction of Jews, Christians and non believers (infidels).\nDon't you think Muslim fundamentalists use those verses in the Qur'an to inspire Muslims to kill non believers?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As an atheist this does offend me. Yes I regard it as fiction, however it is extremely dangerous fiction, and establishing a tolerance for it to be favored over another group is a slippery slope.\n\nReligions have been used as tools to suppress dissent, stifle debate, control the people, and ultimately, to take away people's rights. Look at the christian-right in our own government that decries gay marriage and abortion on religious grounds. That is the type of influence that ordinances like this give to religions.\n\nChurch and State are separate in this country for a number of reasons. Government exists to carry out the will of the people, ALL the people together, not the will of one religious sect. The will of the people is for government to do its job, and as \"ACfH\" pointed out, this is a distraction from the assembly doing it's job.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity is on the decline and has been for a long time, do you believe that you could be the reason? The flip side of the coin is that those who say they have no religion are on the rise.\n\"In 1948, Gallup found that about 91 percent of Americans identified as Christian. That number took a big dip in subsequent decades and continues to decline in recent years. From 2007 to 2014 alone, the percentage of Americans who identified as Christian fell from 78.4 percent to 70.6 percent.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This ruling may be a reversal of the Marxist liberal's agenda to oppress Christianity in the U.S. Christians have been ruined economically by LGBTQ-S&M SEX PERVERTS who sued them for refusing to participate in their sex perversion. These attacks on Christians were made possible by laws passed during the anti-Christian, Marxist, Obama/Soros administration.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Am I to understand that you believe a Owner would be judged on judging what interests he passes on this his employees? Wouldn't the user of any services be judged by Gods Judgement? Are all the soldiers and law enforcement committing murder regularly? Hate to nitpick, but you're either all in or you're not.\nMy personal opinion is that if there's any judging to do you should error on allowing people to make their own choices. One of the Christian tenements is to follow the law of the land. This feels like religious manipulation of the legal kind, no different than sharia law, and falls into separation of church and state. You can opt not to utilize and service yourself, but whatever god you believe in doesn't give the right to seek the majority rule as if chunking your personal moral code on everyone else is some godly imperative.\nBe a good person. Kind of ends at your own nose and ballot pushing fingers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If engaging in unchristian behavior is proof that one is not a Christian I'm going to guess that most Christians fall short having proof they're Christian. \nAlso, what about the non-Christians who are better \"christians\" that the \"Christians?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There seems to be something inherent in our human nature (or is it just how we are nurtured?) which demands tribal fealty. The Balkans provides a long existing case study. Many need an \"us\" and a \"them\" based upon race, ethnicity, and most often faith group. The good news is how far we weak humans have come. We once warred on one another over what now seem obscure (to the general public) points of theology, killing, maiming and looting in the process. All in the name of the Prince of Peace. \n\nThanks be to God, that is nearly over, even if it's a shaky truce at certain Christian shrines in the Holy Land. Now, Christianity has different challenges, which like it or not tend to place us all in the same lifeboat. An ecumenism of blood in the troubled places. An ecumenism of necessity in western cultures dismissive at best and virulently hostile at worst, to all religion, but mostly Christians. MSW has it right. The work in the world with the downtrodden brings us together. In Jesus name.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There're refugees. They've been vetted thoroughly for years. Trump is only playing to his base and garnering attention by raising the specter of fear of the other. \n\nAmericans need to buck up their courage. Until they do they earn neither the right to call themselves Exceptional, nor Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Cont) I like very very respectfully getting to know personally these young folks....and understanding their realities....(that's why I want an independent pollster like PEW with no Catholic \"skin in the game\" to really do some research).\n\nMy own personal experience with these guys is encouraging..they are far better educated than we were at the same time...they are often very principled relative to their values and career choices, they have been raised on a diet of community service through their school systems and are far more generous in those terms than we were at the same stage....\n\nThey, of course, are our future......\n\nAs to the religious thing...I'm reminded of the \"anonymous Christians\" deal....folks who treat others very well, choose to serve in their career choices, are decent and fair in family issues...whose to say that these are not all sacraments....?\n\nAre they the fullness of the faith no...are they a lot closer to it than many \"practitioners\"....I think so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Taxation Without Representation. Do you want a Christian Party? A Muslim Party? Be very careful what you wish for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Similarly, the French Revolution produced its 'terror,' which had no parallel in America. Tens of thousands were executed, price controls were imposed that caused food shortages, Christianity was deprecated and priests lynched.\" \n\nThe anachronistic use of \"lynch\" comes from American Lynch law, referring to the incarceration of Loyalist supporters of the British by Charles Lynch of Virginia with no legal authority whatsoever. Lynch was so concerned about potential liability for his actions that he later had his friends in the Congress of the Confederation pass a law specifically exonerating him and his associates from wrongdoing. Our \"terror\" might have been more of a \"worry\" -- a bit less lethal -- but we weren't saints either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mokantz,\nYour notes are cogent.\nUnhappily, they do not appear to be doing anything significant to fix this mess.\nI think the \"ontologically different\" are irreparably damaged.'\nWith the exception of King Henry VIII, virtually every church disaster has been brought about by the clergy. The present structure of the church just doesn't work. While it willl not happen in our lifetimes, a future iteration of Catholic Christianity will be one without clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I read it on traditional Catholic website.\"\nWhy would you think that that website represents what the Church teaches any more that this one? Now, they were Christian authors in the sense that they were comporting themselves as believers in Jesus Christ, yet Luke is not Jewish nor does he follow that tradition. By the time most of the books of the NT were written, Christianity had parted ways with the Jews who, in fact, sought their persecution.\n\nPaul refers to himself as an apostle, which is not an ordained role but a ministry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, so does Christianity... so what? Terrorists are not their religion, regardless of what they proclaim. Unless of course Christians what to claim the KKK, Soldiers of Odin, Alt-Reich: Nation, etc. etc. etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good vs. evil?\n\nThe followers of the 3 religions of the Middle East - Christianity, Islam & Judaism, have been fighting and killing each other since day 1. The other guy is always the evil. How's that for absolute historical fact? The ideological bankruptcy is total. \n\nWhat's Easter? It's the supposed resurrection of a dead man - Jesus Christ, an insurgent against the Roman Empire. Captured and executed. He was not alone - there were thousands of others. Anyway, modern science proved that resurrection is not possible due to the basic laws of this universe. I.e., if possible than this universe will not work as it has for 14.6 billion years, or you have to do it in another universe. \n \nYou know what's good for the world at large? Remove the 3 Middle East religions from humankind. Maybe replace all with Buddhism or Taoism. Have you seen, or have history recorded, followers of these two fighting any others like the madness of Middle East?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am edified by the young priests who have been ordained over the last decades - they are faithful to the Church's teachings, traditions, and disciplines, and devoted to returning to their parishioners that which was stolen from them after Vatican II: their patrimony of liturgy and devotional life. It is sad that a small number of parishioners would rather return to the dark ages of silly music, silly vestments, silly homilies, silly practices rather than embrace the beauty of the liturgy and its magnificence and glory. God bless bishops like His Excellency, Bishop Jugis, and God bless our beloved priests and seminarians, who are serving a thankless people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Big Prediction: The instant gratification and expediency of aligning with evangelicals is going to have dramatic unintended consequences. We're in bed with some strange bedfellows. But there will be a bad morning after. \n\nFor people so caught up in who sleeps with whom, these might be the strangest one-night-stand partners of all. Theologically, Catholics have far more in common with, say, the Lutheran and Episcopal denominations than with the Falwells, Southern Baptists, Franklin Grahams, et al. \n\nBut Cardinal Burke, Archbishop Chaput, and others have become so pleased with hooking up with \"moral-issue\" pals that they have accepted the very un-Catholic conclusion that the end justifies the means. Heck, Cardinal Burke sounds more like an evangelical with anti-Catholic roots or a Trump acolyte than like the pope or Cardinal-elect Cupich.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you're saying that NCR doesn't understand what the pope said. From the NCR title above: \"Francis in Colombia: Christianity about values,\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right, the Christ complex. I disagree with what the end result of their volunteering unquestioning service to a corrupt government is. It is an unwelcome favor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the words are different in meaning, but not so different as you may believe. I prefer to think of 'apocryphal' and 'heretical' as semantic, near- neighbours.\n\nYour opinion of Gelasius' document (that it does not meet the 'standard necessary for sound attribution') is fine...as opinion. But we are not of like mind on this, you and I. I suspect, strongly, that some share your view (perhaps you yourself express it for this very reason) because of where it might lead: questioning the dogma of Papal Infallibility. And what loyal Catholic would want to open that can of worms?\n\nThe fact that Pope Hormisdas, not long after Gelasius' death, declared a heretic anyone teaching the doctrine of Mary's assumption does suggest that he knew Gelasius' mind on this matter more accurately (and reliably) than anyone commenting from the murky distance of the 21st century.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well said.\nHere we go again with another 7-day-a-week, maniacally driven, faith-fuelled politician, 49, bachelor, who has worked at nothing but politics in his adult life since dropping out of university. \nWente interprets the Herculean work load and his availability for a 9 p.m. Saturday night interview as a sign of ambition and industriousness.\nOthers might see it as symptomatic of someone with no work-life balance, or descriptive of a stereotypical \"loser\" in a Mike Meyers comedy.\nYeah, Kenney has a fire in his ample belly, but it's a passion once again by a politician to create labels and divisions, to finger point. Someone steeped private Catholic school values who is wary of science's role in schools, a university drop-out just itching to show those educated elitists on the left, that he knows better.\nWhy is this theme being repeated like a bad movie in our politics?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Steve, the Church had the same 'nay-sayers' when John XXIII pushed more frequent communion for the people. \"It'll all endium in tearsium\" they would cry. It didn't. The one historical point I would concede to today's sanctimonious weary willies is that they can infact trace themselves back to the time of Jesus. To the Pharisees.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My argument -- actually, Cahill and Wilkinson's argument -- is that since HV was rejected, the Catholic Church does not have a coherent and accepted position on sexuality. I was not presenting a critique of HV -- I have done so in the past and can do so again if you like -- I was giving Cahill and Wilkinson's views on the effects of the failure of HV to be received by the Catholic faithful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I feel angry too at the way the Catholic Church invalidates my personhood because I am female, and your depictions above of clerical hangups are incisive and smart. Unfortunately I can't share your optimism about the Protestant churches whose clergy are married. I grew up in Presbyterian/Evangelical churches whose clergy were all husbands and fathers. I heard 10 times as many sermons on \"male headship\" of the family, on how a good Christian wife is submissive and attentive to homemaking as I ever did on caring for the poor. One church voted to remove women from the church elder board because \"Scripture makes it clear that women are not naturally suited for leadership.\" One pastor and his wife had 6 kids and counting because \"use of birth control and deciding when is the right time to have a child would be interfering with God's will.\" Cultural pressure for males to cover their insecurities by way of superiority and dehumanization of the \"other\" runs deep in all our institutions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, again, it is not a Deposit of Faith. Our deposit of faith is our belief and relationship with the Trinity (not some man made, arbitrary list of dogmas).\n\nTruth is Jesus Christ and yes, Francis is teaching that whether you agree or not. SAD", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You said you could find 10 for everyone of mine. \nYou haven't. \nThe contingency that I refute your quotes was put on after the fact.\nYou're trying to change the rules after you lost the game.\n\nHere's another one for you Larsy:\n\"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise. \"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution.\" \" --James Madison\n\nNow you need to come up with 10 more. LOL!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And that's the tone and focus we've come to expect here....the \"disaffected\". Revel in it.\n\nAnother of Peter's articles: \"My Daughter the Ex-Catholic Evangelical\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do not deny the spiritual. I deny YOUR vision of some mysterious psychic connection between Christians. And that is EXACTLY what you are talking about. The state of my soul does not affect anyone else. My actions may affect them, but my soul does not.\n\nYou don't like my use of the word \"psychic\". Clearly, you do not know what it means, but we have well established the vastness of your ignorance. Its root is the Greek \"psyche\", which means \"soul\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora believes that because she has no calling to be a priest, no other woman has such a calling either. Any woman who wants to be a priest is driven solely by ego in this desire (the men who forbid women from being ordained are, of course, entirely selfless in this.)\n\nPandora has also said that she does not believe that women are second class citizens in the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religion-justified violence, whether against self or other is self-destructive. How in God's Name did such insanity ever become a 'religious' meme? Absolutely crazy! whether done in the Name of Christian God or Islamic God.\nReally? Who in their right mind can intentionally justify 'conflicted religion' - violence as witness to love of God? Time to rethink love and get beyond the insanity of willful religious violence.\nhttp://www.secondenlightenment.org/Beyond%20Conflicted%20Religion.pdf", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Plus, as an added bonus, it relieves you, and people who believe like you, of any responsibility. If global warming is God's punishment for an evil Supreme Court decision, then \"good Christians\" don't have to do a thing except wait for God's giant vacuum cleaner to Rapture them into the clouds.\nNo need to be more energy-efficient or advocate for alternative fuels. That would defeat God's plan.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh Wah! We ended up with a president who is against christian values.. I doubt it would be worse to vote for a rich guy who isn't \"politically correct\" and is in need of \"sensitivity\" counseling. He's pretty consistent with the Trump we've seen on TV shows.. not being fickle and white washing his speech to appease everyone. I'll take that option over a person who is clearly a bold faced liar, refusing to admit any fault nor any responsibility for her decisions that put American lives and security in jeopardy. And whom has gone to great lengths to even cover her mistakes up. \n\nTrump may make some people a bit mad at his choice of words.. but Hillary simply disgusts many for her lack of respect for the American people in general and the country she claims to serve.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article is a powerful, and timely, cri de coeur. And it should rally those who profess even moderate loyalty to Christ to protest the gross vulgarity not only of Trump, but of males everywhere who seem to think such vulgarity not only a natural right, but a necessary rite of passage.\n\nSo where is that bastion of patriarchy (the Catholic Church) in this maelstrom of mysoginistic sleaze? Where you'd expect such a bastion to be, of course: in self-contented silence.\n\nThere's tragedy, and then there's Shakespearian tragedy. And both Trump and the patriarchal Catholic Church have within their characters the high potential for downfall.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bubbles,\nSo in Bubbles world Christians would have not only turned the other cheek, they would have turned their back on their fellows who were suffering under Hitler's evil, un-Christian new religion. In Bubbles world, Hitler would have been allowed conquered the world and thrown not millions, but billions more people into gas chambers and ovens.\n.\nIn Bubbles world, he would have said 'we can't fight to make men free' and slavery would have kept the world in chains. \n.\nAnd finally, in Bubbles world, we would never have considered throwing off England's tyrannical rule, as it wouldn't be right. We never would have even become a nation, in Bubbles world. In Bubbles world Hitler would have won, slavery would be the norm and America would never have ever existed! How do you like that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some of our pioneers were cannibals. Some like the Donners out of necessity, some like the notorious Liver Eating Johnson, for totemic reasons as well as nutrition. And of course, there's Jeffery Daumer, a neighbor of mine in Philadelphia (never met him), who ate young men (literally). The ritual eating of the body and blood of The Christ is the sacrament of the eucharist in all Christian churches, to my knowledge, though it is really only bread and wine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess Trump is very afraid of the gays. He does not want to get glittered. And the backlash against the #MuslimBan has prevented him from throwing this bone to the Evangelical \"Christians\". So keep protesting.\n\n(And we are using \"Christian\" loosely. Going to Churcg learn about how Jesus wants you to be a millionaire is not Christianity.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed, has anyone every heard of resentment of Orthodox Christians, or Buddhists, or the Bahai, or Shintoists, or Hindus? All \"foreign\", minority religions, and yet not a peep about them...or from them.\n\nDid Orthodox Christians complain because their Christmas and Easter isn't publicly recognized, only the mainstream Christian dates? Or Buddhists or Hindus or Shintoists about their religious holidays or customs? No, they just went ahead and celebrated their own privately. Did any young Christian Orthodox people, or Hindus, or Buddhists, etc., complain of feeling \"alienated\" because their holidays were not publicly celebrated and affirmed as equal to the mainstream culture's holidays, let alone get violent in response? Nope.\n\nMaybe Sheena should reflect on that, too", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't like the delaying baptism because of the lack of financial contribution from the parents. The kid needs original sin washed from his soul/the life of grace/entrance into the Church. Not the kids' fault the parents can't or won't tithe, but it should always be a free will donation to the Church. It's too close to simony or the German kirchensteuer. \n\nOf course, going to Sunday Mass one hour a week is the bare minimum to be expected from those practicing the Catholic faith so I get why that is expected.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm left to guess why you don't agree.\n\nI believe there should be transparency and openness, and Catholic orgs shouldn't be excluded.\n\nIf they are going to strongly plead for money, they need to at least tell the people to whom they are pleading just how much money is being given to that org's organizational heads and the Catholic on-air apologists.\n\nToday I heard the fundraiser say IHR operates \"on a shoestring budget.\"\n\nYet if you check the 990 IRS reports, you will see that Doug Sherman, owner of IHR, takes a salary of $150,000 a year, plus benefits. Mr. Sherman is allegedly already quite wealthy from his land development business, but he has no problem taking a huge salary, much of it likely from donations by simple Catholics far, far less wealthy that he.\n\nThen there are the on-air apologist on IHR. Staples, Akin, Madrid. Each of them are taking well over 6 figure salaries. They are not alone.\n\nYet IHR falsely claims \"a shoestring budget.\" Yes, an expose is in order.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is it so frequently reported that there are over one billion Catholics in the world. This is fantasy. Of those billion or so barely a third actually practice the faith. I doubt 1/2 adequately understand it. For the most part most \"Catholics\" could CARE LESS ABOUT A RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION AND BELIEF SYSTEM THAT HAS BEEN IN A STATE OF AUTO-DESTRUCT FOR THE LAST 50 YEARS.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is just the sort of comment from you that I would expect.\nYour animosity towards Donald Trump verges upon uncontrolled, irrational hatred of the man; not a very Christian attitude, would you not agree?\nIt is blatantly obvious that Mr Trump is bowing his head in order to make it easier for the much shorter king to place the decoration around his neck. Trump-haters such as yourself are simply clutching at straws by accusing him of bowing. \nIf living on another planet distinguishes me from you, then I am happy to be on that planet in the company of orthodox followers of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When you read the comments of John Podesta, Jennifer Palmieri, Sandy Newman, and John Halpin the message is clear. They want a liberalized, secularized, compatible-with-progressivism Catholicism. And they are willing to spend massive amounts of political capital to achieve this. Witness their costly war with the Little Sisters of the Poor. The tragedy is that what the Clinton-Catholics do not seem to understand is that the Holy Catholic Church has survived 2,000 years not by receiving truth from below, but by receiving it from above.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The author of this piece is very passionate and that is a good thing, as it reflects the strength of her faith. But she must be young, because life continually will hand you these disappointments as well as successes. As Christ said, His kingdom is not of this world and what happens here is transitory. What is important is what each of us do about it. As part of our life journey, we must each care for each other by supporting those efforts that help others.\n\nWith time, this too (Trump) will pass ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are correct. Jesus established the Church to be ruled by a supreme leader with the power apportioned out to various levels of hierarchy with a large scrum of laity to serve the hierarchy, pay the bills and obey the priestly aristocracy. Much like the priesthood that Jesus so often praised in the gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just like Catholic clergy. They have no experience of marriage, yet feel qualified to make rules for the married. Of course, these rules can be really strict, because the rule-makers aren't affected by them in the least.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kc Jackson, are you truly suggesting the deaths of so many innocent people would somehow benefit the state. I'm not sure advocating the deaths of elected representatives as a source of civil discourse is legitimate or even Christian. Also, yes I imagine the he and his wife probably are \"in bed together\" however that stunning revelation of a married couple is hardly earthshaking and I seriously doubt the whole state is involved in the event as I have yet to receive my notification. Try to breath and unless you're announcing that we are being invaded by some mid 19th century military force using horse drawn artillery, the use of Minerva is not really necessary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am so disappointed in the many Catholics who refuse to validate what Francis promises and believe that when Francis says something they believe it is an action completed. \nThere are many of these people that still brag about the tribunal that the pope created to punish bishops 3 years ago. They do not know that it was scrapped after a year because he could not get it started. \nThe same people are not aware that he has not punished even one bishop and like you said he has promoted several complicit clerics and has even elevated three with horrible records on complicity to his prominent council of nine cardinals to advise him on leading this church.\n\nFrancis will never punish his fellow bishops he will protect them and promote them and continue his talk with no action which is nothing but a delay tactic. \n\nHow sad!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Roman Catholic church has a lot of stuff that its hierarchy needs to repent of. And its not just the tall Renaissance miters and loooong catdinalatial cappa magnas, either!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They will make the fatherland great again, they say,\nby weeding out the non-Christians and \"dangerous\" ethnic people,\nby slashing aid to the elderly and care for the poor, and by building the greatest military the world has ever seen.\nThey will publicize government-sponsored lists intended to demonstrate the \"criminality\" of the ethnic other.\nThey condemn revelation of inconvenient facts as merely the continued plotting of the L\u00fcgenpresse.\nAnd they brag to their admirers about the inspiration for all those plans, not being the least bit shy about doing so.\nCall it what it is\u2014and call Republican support for their plans what it is, as well.\nTrumpism = Fascism = Republicanism.\nThe right adopted Trump and his agenda, all of it. The Fascism, the Racism, the Nazism.\nThat's what winning looks like.\nYou're a winnner.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, if that is your argument I don't understand all the fuss.\n\nYou see, the Roman Catholic Church, then, is clearly not the Church that Jesus founded. The question isn't \"Why doesn't the Roman Catholic Church change,\" the question is \"Why do you stay if you know the Roman Catholic Church so clearly does not hold and teach the values of the Gospel?\" \n\nIf your Conscience tells you that the Roman Catholic Church got it wrong, why stay?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course God is loving and merciful, but lest we forget that HE is also JUST. To presume God's mercy is a sin - A sin against the Holy Ghost that can condemn a soul to perdition for all eternity. THIS is perennial Catholic teaching. Many souls have become canonized saints for the sake of purity. I choose the way of these courageous souls who understood TRUTH then and didn't allow the zeitgeist to convince them otherwise through deceitful belief in a God who offered mercy with no justice. My life isn't mine. It was given to me by God and I will have to be accountable before HIM on the Judgement Day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is supposedly a man of \"Gawd\", this does nothing for the social conservative impetus that is attempting to gain even more influence in Canada, the US, many European nations as they believe it is a counter to the expansive growth of the numbers of Muslim adherents. This man is the anti-thesis to any and all arguments to accept Christian faiths over all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many new Catholic and Jewish cemeteries are being planned for across Canada this year or next?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Louis Riel led an armed insurrection against the government of Canada. He had a trial and defended himself, the result was a conviction and a fit and appropriate sentence for the time. French education was kept out of Ontario because everyone was British or of British heritage, there was no need for it. \n\nI belong to the Orange Lodge and do you think for one second with all of those human rights tribunals and left-wing hurt feelings investigators it would still be here if it was anti Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Catholics on the extreme right\"?\nA Catholic is either orthodox or heterodox. There is no right or left. You are either Catholic or you are not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Amazingly, Reese says almost nothing about the fact that many Americans simply think that Hillary Clinton is dishonest: that she has lied, particularly about her abuse of national security through State Department emails, about which her story takes more turns than a crooked road; that she was a radical abortionist that would have extended prenatal killing and institutionalized the cancer of Roe even further; and that she deplored anybody who held an orthodox Judaeo-Christian vision of human life and sexuality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You will find that the vast majority of Christians do not promote violence towards anybody, let alone women. Now, you are promoting violence on the most innocent of people, the unborn. Also, we do not put restrictions on access to reproductive healthcare. What we put restrictions on is the murder of unborn babies. I am sorry, if that hurts your feelings but imagine if you are that unborn baby. \nBTW, here are some pictures of what you are advocating for.\nhttp://wrtl.org/abortion/pictures-of-aborted-babies/#AbortionPictures", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The age of angst. \n\nEver notice how many NCR titles are about inflating emotions, impending doom? 50% some weeks. \n\nSome Catholics seem to be in a constant state of worry, anxiety.\n\n\"Be not afraid\".\n\n\"Oh but we live to be afraid...what would we be if we weren't afraid\". \n\nA sad, inoperative faith. No pluck.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You exaggerate grossly the % of the priests involved in abuse, etc. You need to do that in order to hold your fragile theories together. \n\nPriests make Jesus present to us in the Eucharist and in Confession. \n\nIf you reject the priesthood, you reject the Sacraments, you reject Catholicism. \n\nTime to part company.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Recall though that Card. J. Ratzinger, in a homily noted that the ordinary Catholic \"is a simple person\" and that \"it is the role of the Bishops to protect these simple (sheep?) from the power of the intellectuals\". Sounds ovine to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Meaning you and the \"Catholic\" pro-abortion crowd can't reason around it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Discrimination based on sexual orientation is against the law in Colorado. What part of that don't you understand?\nReligion is not determined by birth. It is not immutable. Should people be able to discriminate against Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The former \"branch theory\", which was primarily a belief of the \"high church\" party in the Anglican Communion, was that the Church consisted of the Roman-centered Church, the Orthodox, and the Church of England. It has been years since I have heard it mentioned as the break-up of the Anglican Communion rendered it both moot and obviously indefensible.\n\nGiven what has happened to that Communion, it is perplexing that at least some Catholics would like to repeat the experiment in the Catholic Church. Fortunately a strong teaching authority and the guidance and protection of the Holy Spirit will keep the barque afloat to the end of time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marty E,\nDon\u2019t you know that we are a part of God\u2019s one whole Spirit?\nGod and we, human are not the separate beings. \nAll creation exist in God, nothing can exist outside of God! \nWhat ignorant gibberish talk is this! \n\u201cDo you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God\u2019s temple, God will destroy that person: for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.\u201d (1 Cor 3:16-17) \nYou are not saying that only men are the temple of God, are you?\n\u201cSo we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.\u201d (Romans 12:5) \nDon\u2019t persist in \u2018misogyny\u2019 attitude for you wouldn\u2019t exist without your mother.\nPerhaps, you blindly defending institutional church, men's bullish insistence of hording power and money among men.\nPersonally, I would not care to be any part of this corrupt criminal organization!\nGod have mercy on Catholic clergies!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We might also look at what groups we belong to that are Big Tent, and tend to include all stripes and thoughts. It used to be that major religions were like that. You could be a very liberal or very conservative Catholic, within certain bounds, at a time when many social issues had not ripened to the point where public policy challenged the faith. Growing up, Protestants tended to be more liberal. But now we select our religious affiliations, and often these are more narrowly partisan. The evangelical movements seem to be like this. You don't grow up in them as much as select them. Just in the same way we tend to select the news sources we like and believe. We are fragmented. No tents are big, we live in those smaller pup tents. I suppose sports does unite us, because they emphasize a sense of place or college. Maybe we are ALL independents in desperate need of belonging.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Cathedral staffs were shown \u201cother cathedrals\u201d and public buildings in Europe that had been involved,\" the archbishop said. \"It seemed innocent enough\u201d\n.\n\nI suppose it could be said that the Archbishop\u2019s total lack of discernment reflects the true face of the unaccountable leadership of the church. \n I wrote an article some time ago The Web of Clericalism: that deals with the culture of clericalism that spider that has caught so many in its web of deceit and arrogance.\n\nPerhaps some of you may consider read it.\nSee the link\n http://www.v2catholic.com/background/2015/08/2015-08-15the-web-of-clericalism.htm\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I could see how a teenager with raging hormones could see as AL as \"cool\" if he interprets it as allowing him an irregular union with his girlfriend. If a young person perceives the Church winking and nodding to adulterous second unions, why wouldn't a sexually active teenager feel justified in demanding the same deal for their fornication?\n\nIf that is what Catholic school students are getting from AL, I feel bad for the parents who are wasting their money on Catholic education. The kids could get a similar message from the public school for free.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a re-enactment. When the host is elevated, pray \"My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?\". When the chalice is elevated, pray \"I thirst.\" and you have your re-enactment in its essential parts. If you call to mind before this occurs that Jesus had just told his mother, in so many words, \"I am dead to you, forget what you told me about my divine nativity\" and the same to his disciple (not, baptize the world in my name) then you will get the full experience. It will become more than a magic show.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dan Brown only considers the entire record, not just the orthodox tradition that became authoritative in the New Testament because of the intervention of the Roman emperor Constantine - who was baptized only on his deathbed, and used and co-opted the church to politically consolidate his control over the empire - to the point of demanding that Nicene council fathers resolve the divinity of Jesus question. That was in 325 A.D. - fully three centuries after the Christ with none of the first witnesses still hanging around.\n\nNo matter how much you try to suppress the gnostic traditions in Christianity, no one can deny their presence even in the New Testament. The \"beloved disciple\" was most certainly more likely to be Mary Magdalene, but that tradition has been obviously wrenched out of the text with silly ideas about the relationship of Jesus and the evangelist John.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic and Protestant school boards were created for Ontario in the BNA act. At the time Catholics were a persecuted minority in Ontario, as the Orange Lodge controlled much of the province's government. The Ontario Catholic school boards were a quid pro quo for Protestant school boards in Quebec. Well into the 1960's (Protestant) religious education was part of the public school curriculum in Ontario. Jews and other religious minorities were excused from these classes.\n\nWhat happened in the 1980's was not the creation of Catholic boards, but the extension of funding for secondary schools to those boards. \n\nQuebec and Newfoundland have now changed from religious-based funding. Given that Catholics are no longer a persecuted minority, it's probably time to abandon the discriminatory practice of funding religious schools for just one group.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know you're being sarcastic, but I say \"If that's what it takes, fine.\" \n\nFor if the institutional Church is going to continue to protect those among its ordained who exploit children and vulnerable adults, it has to go. It has no place in a civilized world if that is what it's to be. \n\nLet those who still have faith in the Judeo-Christian god re-make themselves and reorganize without the current institution, in particular without its leadership.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You left out the Catholic church and the Quebec government who both had an interest in having a poorly educated subservient population.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program \"builds on the incredible progress the Catholic Church has made\" in the area of sex abuse prevention, Bishop John Barres said in announcing the program on the diocesan cable television Telecare.\"\n\nTranslation: \nThe Catholic Church has made incredible progress in applying Church Law orders to conceal child sexual abuse crimes in places where Criminal Law does not require Bishops to report such crimes to police. The Catholic Church concedes that the incredible progress was made possible due to the easily gullible politicians and journalists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh my you kids do so like your online resources. I wonder how the authors of that particular website would define the Roman Catholic Church? In any event I have obviously chosen the correct word for communicating with you. Have a blessed weekend!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I just threw up. We are consulting Nick Kristof on the matter of Christian Charity?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right you are Mr. Tamura. Ho Chi Minh was our ally in WW2 and his forces with OSS advisors kept the Japanese from taking over Indochina. The French had capitulated and formed a Vichy government with the Japanese but Ho's Viet Minh waged a war of attrition to the end. Once the war was over he naturally expected the USA to honor that alliance but instead we used Liberty Ships to bring French Foreign Legion troops back to Viet Nam(French Indochina) and combined them with Japanese POW's to hunt down the Viet Minh. Treachery of the highest order. Ho was a Jeffersonian scholar educated at the Sorbonne so when he realized how he was being stabbed his comment was , \"I can't believe that our American allies are doing this. It is so un-American of them\". The Viet Minh destroyed the French army at Dien Bien Phu and a truce was called at Geneva. An election was mandated for 1955 but Ike never let that election happen and instead installed the corrupt Diem Catholic family in power. The CIA ruled.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They're considered conservative Christians for many reasons. They strictly follow their teachings, which includes both the Old Testament and the New Testament as well as the false narratives. Criticism of their Church or leaders likely leads to excommunication for any member. I'm pretty certain they require one year serving as a \"missionary\", which might be why so many boys dressed neatly in black dress pants and white dress shirts ride around on their bikes, promoting their religion. There's more.\n\nBut you're correct in that they are cult-like. They don't like outsiders. They baptize people long dead, even having been baptized in another faith while alive. Partly to assuage living descendants who are Mormon... but maybe to boost numbers of recorded Mormon baptisims? The special diaper.... errr, underwear, which has to be worn at baptism. The special name given a member at baptism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you read the Church Fathers and the Epistles, you'll find a hierarchy: bishops, elders, presiders, deacons, etc.\nWhat you propose sounds more like low church Protestantism, not Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is that all? President Prevaricator who lies perpetually is the great hope of evangelicals................SAD.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A common perception amongst those who post here is that the more one considers oneself more intelligent than most, the more one is entitled to disregard, deny and reject the teachings of the Church. Dismissal of doctrine and dogma seems to have become de rigueur amongst the liberal, intellectual, Catholic elite. They tend to look down upon those with less education in the same way as the Pharisee looked down upon the Publican. \nMoreover, they characterise these people as, \"pew-sitters\", a horrible expression or more insultingly as \"sheeple\", etc.\nThey paint a picture of their fellows in the pews as dumb animals, led by the nose by their pastors. They have no respect whatsoever for those who go to Mass regularly, do unpublicised good works or endeavour quietly to the best of their ability to live a good Catholic life.\nThese are vilified here because they do not advocate for all the liberal, secular 'causes c\u00e9l\u00e8bres' but are more concerned about the salvation of souls, all souls.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No religion belongs in politics. Keep your religion to yourself. If Christians insist on saying their invocations, then get used to Muslims, Hindus, and Satanists saying theirs. God is not Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Pagan, etc. He is God; he has no labels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I care and so do many other folks who are opposed to discrimination of whole \"classes\" of our citizens, for whatever reason. This was an organization formed as a later part of the Civil Rights movement...the founders are famous...for their work against the Klan...(a group strongly supporting Trump) \n\nAnd I very very clearly support efforts to protect these classes of our citizens....be they black, Jewish, female, gay et al. Think God calls us to do it.\n\nI am amazed that you are not supportive of such protections too....think it's at the essence of Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are shouting at the wind unless they listen to the arguments on both sides. I have not seen many pro-lifers display an understanding of why the Court believed and continues to believe in why Roe or Perry were rightly decided. Until they can really understand the argument, they will only oppose these cases on the basis of their feelings about the result. That is now how law works. I know what RD was saying, but his examples don't compare. Jesus, Peter and Paul would never have accepted the secular influence of Anderson, who in that day would not have only been a temple priest, but a member of the Roman Senate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Two stories on some Australian bishops at the Royal Commission. Two very different points of view. Good contrast here that points to the problem the church has in the modern world.\n\nHobart Archbishop Porteous still gets surprised by the extent of child sex abuse by priests, he doesn't know why the abuse and the cover up happened, see's both abuse and cover-up as individual failures of individual priests and bishops. When prompted \".. he later described failings in church culture and agreed there had been a massive failure in leadership.\" \n\nQuoting Bishop Long tells his views: \"The marginalisation of women and the laity is part of this culture of clericalism that contributes not insignificantly to the abuse, sexual abuse crisis,\" he said.\nAnd then: \"\"The laity have no meaningful or direct participation in the appointment, supervision and even removal of the parish priest,\" Bishop Long said. \"I think that needs to change.\"\n\nNot hard to see which one can lead change?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mike...I want to comment on Medicare. I am hearing that it is the key area of interest of the Ryan folks who want very badly to end it with a mythical program that gives you \"wonderful vouchers\"......(their goal is to get rid of the 800 pound gorilla cost wise)\n\nFurther what I am hearing is that a quicky bill will hit Congress guickly before folks gear up to fight for Medicare and the bill will be time dated for execution...pun intended, for after the midterms....\n\nI strongly suggest that folks be sensitive to these issues and possibilities..NOW.\n\nIt's not my intention to worry people unnecessarily but I did work with these programs, have testified on block grant issues for the catholic bishops in CA and have access to political info not widely available......\n\nI am personally very concerned for guys like Buster who may find \"his last state worst than his first\"....the paradox is that Hillary was well aware of the value of these programs and would have saved them......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I receive information from CatholicVote and Priests for Life. Both groups are similarly funded it seems, and both reduce Catholic social teaching to one issue. They are intolerant and show no respect for the human dignity of all. I am ashamed of the divisive language and inappropriate photos on the oversized envelopes. I believe this issue has been used to manipulate guilt and self righteousness. \nThe extreme views on either end of the spectrum must be denounced.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All religions are valid as far as religion goes. What gets you upset is when I point out that Christianity shows God reaching down to man and man responding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@ Mike Bauer\n\nFrom an NCR Editorial\n\n\u201cWhat we know now is that all of the emotional and intellectual investment of victims, all the lofty words and intentions of countless bishops forced to acknowledge the deep corruption of the institution, all of the straining for some manner of justice by those in the wider, secular culture, mean nothing inside the community if the clergy culture continues to refuse to confront itself and its entrenched and unyielding role in sustaining the sexual in sustaining the sexual abuse scandal\u201d\n\nYes Mike\nSorry and apologies are wearing thin on the back of ongoing institutional denialism as it is so apparent they have forgotten who they were meant to serve.\nOnly a Church that has the capacity to show its true face warts and all in humility will have any future standing before mankind credibility needs to be re-established.\nSee Link\nhttp://www.v2catholic.com/background/2015/08/2015-08-15the-web-of-clericalism.htm\n\n kevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Post-Christian Narcissistic of Canada have a elephant in the room: alcohol.\n>\nWhen are they going to put the parents in jail for 14 years for providing booze to teenagers? Alcohol is associated with over 250 disease, mental illness, car accidents, addiction. Alcohol is much worse than cannabis. Cannabis has not proven to hurt anyone.\n>\nThe real problem with driving and cannabis is when someone has 1 drink a hour (which is legal) then smoke cannabis and then drive. Cannabis will amplify the effects of alcohol.\n>\n So what really needs to be done is to apply all these new rules for cannabis to alcohol equally. But the PCNC do not like that because they are the drinkers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr Scheers neanderthal policies are anti Christian ???\nTruly you left winger need new lines, the retread one liners have run their course \n1st you were never a member to anything close to conservative party.\n2nd we have already heard your left wing rant in support of Bob what ever his face.\n3rd its not the conservative party that dove off the deep end and started pretending they were left of the NDPee.\n4th Justin lied to us and broke all his key campaign promises, 2019 will see NO NDP vote. Just a hollow man and his life size cut outs trying to campaign of failed divisive policies and broken promises with his entitled status quo base !!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church isn't an NGO,, as Bergolio reminds us. \n\nWe should pray unceasingly that God puts into power just men or women in Syria, Somalia, and other brewing disaster areas.\n\n(IDEA: offer a period of work each day (an hour or so) - very well and generously done work - for the intention of these people who desire to flee their homeland. turn your work into prayer). \n\nBut our acts of corporal charity should be focused on those people who are legally in our country and who need help.\n\nGod doesn't ask us to solve all the world's problems, man made or other wise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The four Cardinals are like pharisees confronting the Christ to try to trip him up. While I would have also preferred that post-marital marriage not be defined as adultery in some situations, at least for the person harmed in the original marriage (the perpetrator should never be allowed to marry again unless given permission by the former spouse), putting into formal direction what happens in most of the Church anyway is at least a step in the right direction. While it would be petty of Francis to discipline the offensive Cardinals, warning the Register and EWTN about their tendency to cooperate with scandal (as the other NCR was warned by Benedict, as well as America) would be poetic justice indeed. The fact is that, as non-pastors, they have no stake in this issue, while as a divorced man, I do have such a stake. I am writing an answer to their questions and will post it shortly, since my rank as a retired Catholic guy is the same as theirs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Aristotle wasn\u2019t a Christian theologian.\n\nYou\u2019re arguing against yourself when you note that \u201cevery participant is an unmarried man\u201d having already declared that gender is particular to the person and not biologically determined.\n\nIn addition this argument, which originated in the pop theology of anti-Humanae Vitae in the 60s and 70s, is completely bankrupt as a logical proposition. Legislators legislate on all manner of things of which they themselves do not participate, commencing with God in the Old Testament, through the single unmarried men Jesus and St Paul in the New Testament, right up to today both in secular matters and in the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well no one said the CC was fair or considerate or compassionate. We all know that it is extremely rigid!!! But the CC authorities must stick to their beliefs or so we are told. \nI actually have no trouble with that and also do not wish to be a part of that kind of mindset, an almost loveless and unchristian heartlessness.\nI firmly believe that someday the CC will change for the more human and the better. The Holy Spirit just might do that. \n\nAS regards this very kindly gentleman I also believe deeply in marriage and the wonderful influence women bring to life and family. They burnish off our sharp edges. We of the Testosterone group really benefit by the more Christlike and angelic group. \nSo does anyone REALLY want to tell God the Father that HE made some kind of mistake when He made women as they are. NOT ME!!!\nAlso does anyone really want to tell God that women aren't the far more Christ-like of HIS creation. Again, NOT ME.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, I do not like our hardline-Catholic President, Stephen Bannon. Did you guys check that stuff out? He wants to wreck the United States AND The Vatican!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "black_dude: Cornwall Alliance, a hyper christian entity funded by the fossil fuel industry. Why do you ask?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Shame on you, Mr. Pence, for continuing your inexplicable effort to take away healthcare for 20+ million Americans. You claim to be Christian. Have you forgot Galatians 6:2-3? \"Share each other\u2019s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Poor choice of words on my part but my reply was to Arlen who made the original reference to Cal as she stated \"He\u2019s pushes his christianity in his articles all the time\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Roy, do you need me to tell you about the dietary supplements vegans need to prevent several debilitating conditions? Why don't you google that for yourself? Yeah, vegan diets are healthy diets when those supplements are added. We already know that reducing meat consumption and increasing vegetable and fruit consumption results in better health. Congratulations. Also, vitamin B-12 is available only from animal sources or synthetically from chemical plants. Since there were no chemical plants before human civilization, we can rule out the possibility that humans evolved without eating animal food sources. I do love that argument over whether or not mussels and oysters actually qualify as \"animals\"--kind of like catholic explorers who declared capybaras to be fish so they could eat them on Fridays.\n\nNobody cares what you eat or don't eat, but the illusion that vegans or vegetarians are morally superior to omnivores is nothing more than a self-deluding fantasy. It is a religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Intellectuals who believe in, inter alia, \"demons, levitating saints,\"?\nI think you will find more than a few of them in fundamentalist universities.\nI assume that \"levitating saints\" are the ones who will ride the Holy Elevator to heaven that will appear on the Last Day, that fundamentalists believe in.\nI think you will find that very very few Catholics believe in levitating saints.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sir, Islamic radicals represent Islam about the same as the KKK representing Chrisianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CUE: \" Ken Kesey stated, \" I was raised a Christian and was a Stone Faced Acid Head\". ...\"\n i don't see those two things as mutually exclusive... one doesn't automatically cancel the other.. only mention i can think of is where god gives man all that is from seed..which would include marijuana. genesis 1: 26(? 6..9?) right around there...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, Trump is just in agreement with the morality of his voters. They have always been with us. Trump has just given them permission to show their true values in broad day light. I will not feel sorry for them when the backlash hits them. I don't pity terrorists and their supporters. That includes white Christian ones. I received death threats from a neo-Nazi group called the Order. I didn't shed a tear when their leader was killed in a shootout with federal marshals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I assume you're referring to \"Ordained Women in the Early Church: A Documentary History\".\n\nThe title of this pamphlet was misleading and no evidence is provided in it supporting the conclusion there were women priests and bishops.\n\nThey do provide some evidence of women \"deacons\", but this was known long before the issue of ordaining women arose, and no one regarded them as clerics.\n\nThere is no evidence that women were present when Jesus said \"Do this in memory of me\". Were there, there is no evidence that He said it to them.\n\nThe threefold sacrament of order is well-known; the Book of Common Prayer ordination rites have all three.\n\nYour interpretation of Paul and Jude is eccentric. Why would either be advising gentiles on pagan ritual? Of course the Jews were disturbed by the eating of his Flesh and drinking of his Blood. The Gospel accounts describe many leaving Him when He taught that they needed to for salvation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Think about this, Martz, between the Catholic, Mormon, and Baptist Churches, that claim tax exemption because they \"help the needy,\" these churches could have solved the nation's homeless problem decades ago. But instead their money is spent on making their leaderships wealthy while people are dying of starvation and no shelter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you bother to read the Dubia? I believe you will see that it was a series of points that asked for clarification.....\n\nAnd please stop your fixation on homophobia. Stop making accusations you can't possibly support. I state again all I have ever given you is the exact quotations from the Cardinal - which you refuse to acknowledge - and which YOU claim are homophobic . You persist in false accusations that belittle you, not me. Knock it off John. It grows tiresome for everyone. It is you who have become disingenuous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I feel almost sorry for Dark Sacred Night above. Surely child sexual abuse is never to be excused or forgotten. Ms. Fawcett is a distinguished reporter and writer who always tries to educate in a fair and pleasant way with her articles. The Catholic Church has made many missteps along this molestation road. Let's not add another, please.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I could not take this article seriously once I read the third paragraph. To consider canonizing a non-Catholic is absurd. Didn't Jesus say \"no one comes to the Father except through me\" and \"unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you will have no life within you\"? The Church cannot proclaim with any certainty that a non-Catholic is a saint (i.e. in heaven). It is possible we may have a reasonable hope that non-Catholics enter heaven, and are therefore saints, but we cannot be certain, and the words of Jesus himself make this doubtful.\n\nExtra ecclesiam nulla salus", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There has been no change in the temperature of the globe in 20 years.\n\nThe Carbon Hoax/Climate Hoax is merely the current scheme of the collectivist, totalitarian Left (Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Merkel, Obama, the Clintons, et al.). Real Catholics would take note first of all that the Carbon Hoax/Climate Hoax establishment is the pro-abortion establishment: the UN, the EU, the Democrat party, the Catholic Left, Bergoglio and his heroine Emma Bonino.\n\nOh! BTW! The temperature of the globe has not changed in 20 years!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was the late great Catholic Daniel Patrick Moynihan who famously said, \"You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.\" Now we have an administration who claims to be in possession of so-called \"alternative facts,\" what other people simply call lies, and they present them on a daily basis. It is said that in war truth is always the first casualty. Trump hasn't started a war yet, but already truth has gone completely out the window. In that sense he and Pontius Pilate, who flippantly asked Jesus, \"what is truth?\" have a lot in common: they're both dissemblers. Jesus recognized Pilate for what he was and he'd have no trouble recognizing the same in our current president.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You may well think that but it's not Catholicism. The Commandments are not guidelines or ideals to be aimed for. And it's the deposit of faith these Cardinals are defending. Conscience isn't \"supreme\"; the Truth is. Not even Pope Francis is teaching that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's wrong with American Heritage Girls? What's wrong with sponsoring an organization that provides faith based scouting, instead of the secular option, since it is the Church doing the sponsoring after all?\n\nAnd we do \"recognize and understand the world in which we live.\" Which is why we seek to not participate in things that go against what we believe in as Catholics, as our forbears refused burning the grain of incense to the emperor. I can imagine the NCR of that day, it's just a grain of incense, go along to get along, the secular world is not all that bad!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree, we are the body of Christ, as members of it, members of the Church. But it should not be interpreted to mean that it is our Church to change and do with as we please.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Looking at the picture, I'd love to know what each of them were praying... Only God knows.\n\nThe good news is that even +Dolan's own priests made clear that Trump is un-electable. There goes the Catholic vote, in New York at least. \n\nMeanwhile, the Cardinal goes on radio slamming Hillary for her critical emails about Catholics (no apologies, not yet - they would have happened if she had been writing about Jews or Muslims. Translation: we Catholics are a persecuted minority).\n\nI think it is closer to reality and truth to say Hillary is critical not of Catholics in general, but more specifically of the far too many obstinate hierarchs within the US episcopate who refuse to follow Pope Francis' leadership in claiming they continue \"having difficulty understanding the holy Father\"...\n\nI would assume Hillary has had plenty enough encounters with Catholic women to know she needed to make a point.\n\nNew York's Cardinal hasn't taken it. Yet. He may even vote for Trump.\n\nOnly God knows.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Holy Spirit speaks to everyone - man or woman, adult or child, any color, any faith. Our mistake is in thinking that only the magisterium can hear Her, understand Her, and make known what She brings into the world. There is much we can learn about God's presence through how people of other faiths have listened. \n\nThe Spirit of Catholicism is open to discernment, to listening. The problem with the surprises of the Spirit is that old fuddy-duddies only listen to what they want to hear and many are not open to the Surprises of the Spirit. I think many Catholics do understand that - which is why majorities of Catholics in many nations do things like vote for gay marriage or ignore what the fuddy-duddies say on a number of issues. \n\nThey are still Catholics, just discerning, listening Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately, Christians and members of other religions demand that we non-believers (I reckon I'm an agnostic) must accept their beliefs whereas we aren't allowed to vocalise our lack of them.\n\nI must say that one of the strangest manifestations of the illogical nature of their belief is shown in the sportsmen and women who thank God for helping them win a match while not considering that He also made their fellow-believers in the other team, lose. But then probably they weren't from his or her church so it serves them right.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The lack of care for the sick and dying is mind boggling to me. Yes pre Vatican II priests spent a lot of time administering sacraments to the sick. I think these young guys have a very skewed concept of what a pre Vatican II priest was like. They weren't a whole lot different from the post Vatican II priests. The Mass was different, but not the service to the people part.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Grisham is certainly correct in his message. The celebration of Christ-mas is not about Santa and making sure that the economy of the business world ends the year in the black. His efforts to remind the world of this is consistent with his chosen profession as a Pastor.\n\nHowever his methods are what are troubling. They are the same as the majority of TV Evangelists, which are to focus people on them and not the words in the Bible. To go to a 'santa' line and hand out reminders about christmas or to even speak politely to the parents about their religious beliefs are a worthy activities for his ministry, but to openly confront parents and distress their children loudly in public is nothing but confrontational. Jesus was only confrontational to the money changers in the temple.\n\nNo, Grisham is not Isaiah or a prophet, he is a celebrity wannabe doing his best to give true Christianity a bad rap. The message is sound and truthful, his chosen methods and reasons are not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To clarify Pope Francis said \"If a person is gay and seeks out the Lord and is willing, who am I to judge that person?\". According to the Catholic faith part of seeking out the lord and being willing means putting what God wants for your life over what you want for your life. Even if that means giving up your ability to have sex with whoever you want.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting to read, but confusing.\n\nHere in the U.S., would the legal trouble Kim Davis (think Kentucky and gay marriage licenses) got in be considered a \"government harassment or use of force\" against a religious group? How about the mandate in the ACA that Catholic hospitals had to include contraceptives in health insurance in employee insurance? \n\nWe look at all this through a lens colored by our national experience and a culture that has been shaped by it. We are also experiencing growing globalization, with people of different cultures and experience moving into places that have a very different culture and set of expectations about dress, behavior. Many of us are also affected by our ability to send and receive communications from just about anywhere in the world - and that is spreading to more and more people. All this means it is harder for countries to maintain the old cultural and religious identities they once had.\n\nJust food for thought.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stealing and sex are natural law subjects. Credal doctrine is Dogma, agreed to by the Church as a whole rather democratically in 3 councils, as you know, primarily because it is about God so no \"proof\" is possible, with the exception on the historical statements about Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd hoped you'd see my response to you before it got zapped. A pity.\n\nApparently NCR is willing to to let Comments serve as a platform for neo-Nazis and other \"alt right\" anti-Semites, bigots, historical revisionists and keyboard Crusaders, as long as they're Catholic and polite dissemblers. Considering the history of the Catholic Church, one might expect a certain vigilance.\n\nYou know the point when the thing begins to appear more of the problem than the solution? Yeah.\n\nBye bye, Tri.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bisshops have strange partners in their primitive theology regarding birth control and I thought that only Notre Dame used the Sisters of the Poor for victory laps. Trump,Hobby Lobby,Evangelicals and American bishops-what a crew!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just who needs the remedy? When have Cardinals Brandmuller, Burke, Caffara, or Meisner ever gone out among the people to see and more importantly HEAR what challenges the laity, face with marriages, families, daily secular work, finances---and general world fears? These bishops don't talk to the common people. They talk to the well-heeled who finance their causes. When Cardinal Burke was in Ohio [Steubenville] and speaking to groups pushing his agenda [the problems in the Church are caused by \"the Feminization of the Church\"], he wasn't speaking to ordinary Catholics--with their concerns. He spoke to people who could financially afford to pay to listen to his spiel---and of course, to agree with him.\n\nBurke and his friends are not pastoral, and don't display any of the missionary spirit of Saints Peter and Paul, whom we celebrate today. \n\nInstead these cardinals and their magna cappas belong to the Age of the Robber Barons [12th & 13th Centuries].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Next-up, thousands of Catholic School teachers will be let go for spreading fairy tales and telling students that they are going to hades.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stop dignifying Sirico by calling him \"Father.\" He may have been ordained but there are many mistaken ordinations in this denomination. He is no more of a \"Father\" than was Mortimer Snerd\n\nHe is a poseur that thinks his non-Catholic utterances deserve attention just because he wears his collar backwards.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would follow the example of Jesus. Healing, love, and forgiveness. The priest would need to put immediately away from children until he can be healed. In no way, should he be moved from parish to parish to continue his abusive acts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So they banned saying a Christian prayer in school during the morning commencement. \n\nQuestion: So why is this allowed?\nAnswer: Liberal whitey folded again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Logic is too easily based on an initial false assumption. I have worked with many schizophrenics whose logic is unassailable given their starting point, but that doesn't' make their view of reality correct.\n\nI asked for repeatable verifiable proof for Catholic metaphysics. You gave me none because their is none.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any President that claims to be a Christian, & yet places the Presidency before his faith, will be a failure at both.\n Obama makes my point.\n Per the Declaration of Independence.\n\" We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--\"\n That pesky Bible, with it's insidious \" thou shall not kill, & thou shall not steal\", you are on to something Jamison, that is truly sinister.\n I will not address the mellow-dramatics, other than to say there is zero evidence of Cruz looking to create a \" Church of America\", or anything even remotely absurd.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin, (continued)\nI have never heard of making a public act of repentance. Jesus told Sister/Saint Faustina that He wanted His image to be displayed in public on the first Sunday after Easter (and yes, many Parishes display it all year) know as the Feast of Divine Mercy/Divine Mercy Sunday. He asked that the image be solemnly blessed (the Priest does this on Divine Mercy Sunday). He revealed to Faustina that on this day (Divine Mercy Sunday), the very depths of My tender Mercy are open. The soul that goes to Confession (during Lent/or on this day) shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. Making a good Confession, trusting in His mercy, making acts of mercy (helping those in need, giving generously/sharing what we have with those in need, etc.) and receiving Jesus in the State of Grace are very important to receiving His extraordinary graces. In my personal experience, Kevin, God never let me forget that I had been receiving His body and desecrating His body (continued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, but what you're saying is that all Catholic confessions should be public record.\n\nJohn, do you want your confessions to be public record?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the idea of this synod is to accompany young people starting with the premise that they need to be guided, taught the catechism of the church, then this will start and finish an epic failure. I'm not sure of the format, but it would be nice if the bishops had one day where they had to listen to the \"average\" young person offer what they believe, see, think and act as a catholic. 20 young adults offering 15 minute vignettes about their journey with no judgement. I wonder if the bishops could actually do that any better than these young people listening to one of the bishop's dry homilies about gays, sex, marriage etc. There is no relationship with our priests and bishops. We may be sheep, but our clergy are it shepherds. This should be a perfect time to understand what our future church could be, but I'm afraid it will once again just end with a nod and restating what the church is, was and always will be....out of touch with the people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You drive one hour every week for an experience of religion which is, in the words of Richard Rohr, \"ritualistic, moralistic, doctrinaire and unhappy.\"\n\nI don't think these parishioners are objecting to \"one traditional Latin Mass per week\" and it is disingenuous of you to claim so. They have had THEIR tradition stolen from them by a bully of a priest who is fixated with Purgatory at the funerals of their loved ones - not a word about the qualities and goodness of the deceased, no comfort for the families of the deceased, a man who is an extreme clericalist and who simply sacks anyone who disagrees with his tunnel vision of what it is to be Catholic.\n\nThe fact that this intolerable situation is still ongoing after two years is disgraceful, made worse by agenda driven incomers like yourself. Be clear about one thing, the Jesus of the Gospels stands squarely beside those who have had their church stolen from them, not with you or the priest.\n\nDon't move there, he'll be gone soon.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This explains his liberal attitude to taxing and redistribution of wealth. Jesus was a liberal so goes his servants! God be with you Randy.......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like you, we sent our kids to private and state schools. They weren't interested in Catholic education, even Jesuit. The scandal turned them off completely; and in the meantime, their eyes were opened to the overt misogyny and anti LGBT. The church has lost them forever. I'm pretty much gone since their open and enthusiastic support of Donald Trump, the least religious or spiritual man they could support. He worships money and power--very similar to the hierarchy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And I'm sure that as a result you became a violent perpetrator of bullying yourself, right? ;) Heck, even Jesus stood up to Satan when he was getting bullied in the desert. Good thing, too, or He might have jumped off the Temple.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You never did answer - are you really a Roman Catholic priest?? \n\nI do find it hard to believe, but I have seen people refer to you as such.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/ I finally got around to reading that letter from the Seymour Institute. The black pastors make some good points, and I'm sympathetic to their dismay at the abortion rate in the black community but ultimately at odds with their paternalistic demand that Clinton present a solution specific to black women. Like the Catholic Church, the black church fails to persuade women to reject abortion and so turns to the government to coerce. As you know, I reject that approach.\n\nThe letter also features the standard conservative overreaction to Clinton's remarks about changing religious norms. These have been decontextualized from a speech concerning educational opportunities for girls (a point that has been made repeatedly in these threads and predictably greeted with crickets). It is simply histrionic to decry efforts to improve education and opportunities for girls and women as \"totalitarian.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The selling of carbon offset credits is a weird concept invented by liberals. They essentially are saying it is ok to pollute the air as long as the polluters purchase credits from the government. The greater the amount of the tax credit, the more polluters can pollute. It is laughable. It is like the Catholic Church selling indulgences in the late medieval period to lessen or forgive the punishment for sins. The more Catholics paid, the more they could sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"St. Michael\u2019s focuses on humanities and theology education and is home to about 3,500 students, primarily undergraduates, many of whom are drawn to its Catholic nature.\"\nYeah right. Many students applied to other colleges at UofT, but were packed in St. Mikes and have little to no interest in studying theology. St. Mikes represents thousands of undergrads who study a plethora of majors (e.g life sciences, math, physics, geography) but have ABSOLUTELY no connection with the college. Heck, some of us only go there for the registrar.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Huh? Why do you want this to be about Opus Dei or the mythical \"ultra right\" and not instead about the interior life of every Catholic, all of whom have been called to pursue a life of holiness until they die?\n\nIt's in living this life of ever closer (each day closer than the previous) intimacy with God where the fruits of the Holy Spirit are given, a lively and familial conversation with God, with each task performed. \n\nThese magnificant gifts \"spill out\" from God, naturally and easily, one of which is peace and serenity.\n\nThis is so much better an approach than living and thinking along \"secular terms\" such as \"ultra right\". One can just sense the simmering anger and unresolved issues with each posting. \n\nA better exercise would be to clean out one's refrigerator really well, offering the more contemplatively done work for some great intention, a supernatural intention.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only thing Trump's ban has in common with any Obama policy is the seven countries selected. Specifically no Obama policy ever had a religious test that gave preferential treatment to Christians. It never ceases to amaze me how many people fail to understand the different ramifications between US being seen by the world as at war with a limited number of non-state international criminals who practice Islam and being in a religious crusade against all of Islam. All 1.6 billion of them. ISIS is pushing the crusade narrative. Trump's ham handed policy makes him the ISIS recruitment poster boy of the month.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Protecting the poor. Banning abortion at the same time. As if these two are not intrinsically entwined. May I suggest to the miter wearers that what they need to do is to lobby Congress strongly and persistently (like the widow tugging a scribe's sleeve in Jesus' parable) so as to achieve the social justice which no longer forces women to be treated as second class citizens, as less than human, as breeding machines? In other words: begin to treat women as fully equal in the church first, then in America, making sure they have the full freedom to take the measures necessary to secure their health. In other words again: the good Jesuit practice of looking at each individual situation carefully and compassionately, and working against any circumstance that may force a woman to terminate her pregnancy, and undertake everything to guarantee a life in dignity. Bishops, be wound dressers first, and all the rest will fall in place. You keep barking up against the wrong tree, as always.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic faith is not the only Way. Maybe the Catholic Church is the problem with their doctrines and attitudes to women and LBGT? (But it seems we have covered this before)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When is the RCC going to be Catholic and not just religiously partisan? \nIt keeps ignoring the unbroken traditional of non celibate priests as if they never happened, are invisible.\n\nAnd gay priests get an undue portion of media consideration. What about bisexual priests? They don't get any respect, space time!\n\nThis fixation on the sexuality of a person in the face of unending human suffering underscores the moral bankruptcy of the RCC. \"And Jesus wept!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Thou shalt not bear false witness\" a.k.a. 'one should not tell lies.' has been circumnavigated by the Catholic hierarchy right up to Pope John Paul II----especially in dealing with the sexual abuse scandals. \n\nThis 'circumnavigation' was also taught in Catholic high schools to young girls who were in preparation to be secretaries in the 1950's and early 1960's. Example:\n\nCardinal Ambrogio: Sally.\nSecretary Sally; Yes, your Eminence?\nCardinal Ambrogio: If Fr. Tridentinas calls and asks for me, tell him that I'm not in. Always tell him that I'm not in.\nSecretary Sally: Yes, your Eminence.\n\nGood Catholic secretary Sally, thinks to herself--- \"Fr. Tridentias, the Cardinal is not in for YOU.\"\n\nThere has been doctrinal circumnavigation done for Centuries----whenever the official church wanted something: phony documents showing that the Papal States belonged to the Pope, the Crusades, selling of Indulgences---and this little list doesn't pretend to be complete.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not about the tired and worn out abortion meme or pro-birth masquerading as Pro-life. You appear to follow the catholic cult approach - culture warrior; ignore Pope Francis about abortion as a wedge issue; etc. Facts - more kids/babies/fetuses die because of lack of healthcare, clean water, nutrition, disease, and severe climate impact than abortion. That is pro-life - you need to stop and think before spouting a discredited meme.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A catholic priests celebrates the risen Christ and our redemption. As fully human, Jesus would have died regardless. The manner of his death is sadly the perversity of those human rote adherents to self-interest through slavish adherence to law. Sound familiar?\nDo you not remember that Eucharist was established BEFORE his death?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, but ... listen, don't you think that all this loyalty to the tradition should be rewarded with even a modicum of intelligent evolution from the all-male feudal oligarchy that has brought us to the edge of ruin?\n\nSorry, but I prefer my priests and bishops to not have to hire phalanxes of lawyers and public relations consultants just to pull their ***** out of the fire of child sexual abuse. \n\nFace it, if Catholicism is to even survive this century Catholics must take their future into their own hands and completely reform and renew the priesthood from parish to pope. Our hierarchs are impotent and flaccid. The PEOPLE are the only ones who have even the capacity to sustain the Gospel and the Beatitudes, and pass it on to our children and grandchildren.\n\nLet the People Decide!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A former bishop who led the Roman Catholic church in metro Phoenix during a worldwide child sexual abuse scandal has been accused of molesting a young boy 35 years ago .... \n\nThe accuser, who is now 47 and lives in the Tucson area, started having flashbacks of the abuse in September 2014 when preparing for his son's baptism into the Catholic church, Hale said ..... \n\nThe diocese issued a statement saying O'Brien denies the accusation and that he was never assigned to the schools and parishes where the abuse is alleged to have occurred.\n\nThe statement also said the diocese informed prosecutors about the allegation immediately after learning of it in September 2016.\"\n\nEnough said. The rest is padding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed, there is perhaps no greater sin than a man's desire to lay down with his wife. This sort of \"passion\" should be suppressed at all costs lest he be reduced to a filthy animal of the basest kind. Christ's ancient and holy Church has spoken on this matter, despite modern popes \"opening the door\" allowing for the possibility of the unitive value of this base desire. We know better of course, outside of procreation married couples should not entertain any thoughts of intimacy or risk eternal damnation of their immortal souls.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now, now, remember lying for Jesus isn't really telling a lie.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suggest you read your Bible more carefully: Jesus NEVER considered himself anything but a JEW and it took Saul of Tarsus (aka St. Paul) to \"invent\" Christianity. Of course, that mean folks would have to obey ALL Mitzvot (Commandments), and not just the \"Big 10\". See them at http://www.jewfaq.org/613.htm - and let us know when you plan to give up seafood, mixed fiber clothing (cotton polyester blends), etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your latter comment is what I see most often, though it is only the most milquetoast of preaching \"love your neighbor\" that I tire of. The daily mass closest to me is always a variation on that theme with little else to offer. The priest is \"pastoral\" in that he does, I think, try to empathize with the members of the parish, but he will never grow that church.\nJesus was the Good Shepherd but he didn't shirk from calling a sin exactly what it was and admonishing those to sin no more. It's not \"clericalism\" to do exactly the same, in charity, but, rather, magnanimous (in its virtuous sense) to exercise the office of bishop, priest, or pastor to spread the message.\nMaybe I'm wrong; perhaps we will see an explosion of vocations and growth from be-nice-to-each-other sermons.\nTo your first I'll say that I've rarely seen this. Maybe I've been lucky.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Personally, I had a very mixed reaction to the well-done article in Time about the Catholic priesthood. In spite of the rather admirable qualities noted in the seminarians and priests showcased in the article, it also made rather clear that the same brand of clericalism exists in all levels of ministry of the Church, especially our seminarian. It did note a modest increase in the number of seminarians and newly ordained clerics yet never contrasted it with the growing number of retired, ill and deceased priests in every diocese in the world. And as Perriello notes in her essay here, there is a growing awareness among some of them of ministry based on commitment to serve the poor, live simply, and embrace the entire community in which they serve. At the same time, the seminarians were overwhelmingly white, from only a very few seminaries (perhaps only two if I remember it correctly), and was never intended to be a revealing study of priesthood. It was a snapshot of a very few.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have you ever been to Texas - ever lived here? Do you know anything about the catholic church in Texas? how many dioceses and bishops? The long history for immigrant rights? \nNow, Texas Catholic Trump voters - you may be correct but that will change given what county or diocese you are talking about. Reality - most catholics in the large urban areas overwhelmingly voted for Clinton as did 80% of all Hispanics - that covers Dallas, Houston, Brownsville, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso. BTW - Trump lost tens of thousands of votes compared to what Romney did or even Teddie Cruz.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because the bible is also about Satan. Many Canadian believe in Satan and actually worship him because it validates the existence of God. If Satan didn't exist then how can God exist?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Jesus would be fine with someone like a battered woman divorcing and remarrying. It is disgusting that the Catholic Church punishes such women for a poor choice. Such a woman deserves a second chance. The teaching is evil in that it punishes such innocent victims and people who wish to have real marriages. What you are suggesting is a black and white adherence to the teaching of JPII because the teaching itself is evil. JPII was wrong to insist this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah! We could write a list of demands and nail them to the doors of the church! ....but then.... We might end up having to start our own church. :/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then please provide me with a term for a woman that wants to be married, does not want to work for income, does not believe in abortion, does like being partner with a husband that loves her, keeps her safe and provides for the economic needs of the family. Do you think this is a decision of someone who is ignorant?\n\nYou create enemies by blanket criticism of all conservatives. You create ememies by comments like 'backward religious' view; any opposed are stupid; (Millions of Christians are pro choice). There are people that believe in natural systems, including 'natural selection' which is the prefered way of advancing the species, not the social choice of whether a child is coming at a convienient time. \n\nI'm a 40 years supporter of the right to choose. But I can understand why other's disagree, which is their choice and it's not 'backward'. \n\nYou and I agree it's a matter of personal conscience and a choice best left with the prospective mother.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cChrist committed adultery first of all with the women at the well about whom St. John tell\u2019s us. Was not everybody about Him saying: \u2018Whatever has He been doing with her?\u2019 Secondly, with Mary Magdalen, and thirdly with the women taken in adultery whom He dismissed so lightly. Thus even, Christ who was so righteous, must have been guilty of fornication before He died.\u201d (ref. Trishreden, Weimer Edition, Vol. 2, Pg. 107 Martin Luther\nApparently, Luther was wrong! As Pope Francis has now taught. or... Maybe Luther was right as Pope Francis has now taught? I'm so confused! (Just a little humor)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop Caggiano is reaching out - trying to find ways to keep Catholics as practicing Catholics. As to why people leave, young and old, think of the problem of living life in the modern world under rules formulated under the knowledge and conditions for a Medieval world. It just doesn't work.\n\nBishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen of Parramutta Australia gave an astonishing homily at the re-dedication of a church rebuilt after a fire bombing. He covers some important points - first of all acknowledging the impact of the sex abuse scandal on the Church and weaving in the gospel readings of the dedication day - the apocalyptic words of Malachi of God's judgement day and Jesus warning of the crisis which His followers would face in the future, metaphorically describing the fall of the Temple in Jerusalem - which turned out to be prophetic rather than metaphorical. you can find it here: http://parracatholic.org/homily-for-33rd-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c/\n\nBut Bishop Long sees hope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This comment thread makes me so sad. As a very religious and Christian person I can testify that God loves each of us/you with no qualifiers! For all the scripture quoters, how about this one: John 8:7 \"He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.\" I am certainly not without sin - just like every other human on this thread. Here is some free advice. Exercise compassion in and your honest concerns are more likely to be respected. I can truthfully say that in my personal experience with actual LGTB people, (including close family members, coworkers, teachers and friends,) not one of them has ever tried to push \"gay agenda\" down my throat. For anyone reading this who believes religion is the enemy. It's not. It does have value to society. But none of us are perfect. The vast majority of us are trying to do what is right. I know that I have legitimate concerns, and I am open to the the idea that my concerns are unfounded and want to hear legitimate responses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People are should be given rights to do what ever they are capable physically and emotionally and mentally of doing and God calls whomever he wishes to lead his flocks. It is not up to our hierarchy to determine or decide who is naturally allowed to be called to any vocation, based on their flesh. \n\nEquality demands we follow the Great Commandment of Christ and treat no one any differently than we wish to be treated ourselves. There is nothing a priest is called to do that women can't physically, mentally, and emotionally and spiritually perform equally to their male counterparts. \n\nThis ban against women is just straight sexism and it breaks the great commandment and is sinful. As a matter of primacy of conscience, we laity, should demand it be done away with as a matter of Human and Christian Justice immediately.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sad - you ad Pee Wee Herman (aka R. Arroyo) share like biases and ignorances - but, at least, you own them.\nIndissolubility of marriage - is not a dogma; it is a doctrine and the church/doctrines are semper reformada. Your claim is that of a dogma - it can never change.\nRejecting historical knowledge reveals your fear; inability to understand *faith* journey; and you conflate *faith seeking understanding* with your 8th grade catholic catechism approach to life and the community of faith.\nNot sure where you came up with the Jesus Seminar *dig* but, when desperate, folks like you, Barron, Burke, Arroyo pull out all the stops.\nTwo books you need to read and have someone explain to you:\nhttps://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/noonan-catholic-marriage-courts\n\nA good summary that exposes your black and white, adolescent view and underlines the need for formation: https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/doctrinal-authority-francis-era", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am neither a secularist nor a Frenchman. I simply acknowledge that, like it or not, we are now living in a post-Christian society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Contd\n\nNo, I don't think there are no such consequences. But God does not repay evil with evil. If a man murders (kills) and we demand, in God's loving and holy name, that he be killed in return, then how is the fruit of our so-called 'good tree' any different from that fruit of the 'bad tree'. Jesus was clear: the fruit of each tree must be different.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(III.) Trump's Catholic Advisory Council\n\n30. \"The Honorable\" Faith Whittlesey, Former US Ambassador to Switzerland and \"member of White House senior staff, Reagan Administration\"\n\n31. The Honorable R. James Nicholson, Former Secretary of Veterans Affairs and Ambassador to the Holy See\n\n32. The Honorable Frank Keating, Former Governor of Oklahoma\n\n33. The Honorable Sean Duffy, Congressman, Wisconsin, 7th District\n\n34. Mary Matalin, Former Counselor to the Vice President\n\nI post these 34 names because I believe that by this time tomorrow, they should all have resigned from this Council. Every second they lend their name and their Catholic identity to Donald Trump brings shame on them and on the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of three) Where are you relative to God?\" said Fr. Philip Bochanski, the new executive director of Courage, a ministry to Catholics with same-sex attractions, as quoted by Peter Fuerherd As risky as it is, what the hierarchs are saying about homosexuality merits consideration in the full context of life as lived by the Faithful. How to do this during a liturgy for children poses more problems than may be prudent to confront.\n\nHeck, if that's \"pastoral,\" folks should duck for the dogma. Sad and increasingly irrelevant.\u2014Sarasi1 But the question itself is relevant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In case you haven't noticed, we aren't a \"christian\" nation. Nice attempt at a strawman though.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stop dignifying Sirico by calling him \"Father.\" He may have been ordained but there have been a log of bad calls about ordination in this denomination. He no more functions as \"Father\" than has Mortimer Snerd.\n\nHe thinks that because he wears his collar backwards, his non-Catholic fulminations are worthy of consideration.\n\nThey.\nAre.\nNot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Is Spouse A married to Spouse B? Yes.\"\n\nThis is where we part ways. If you answer \"yes\" then everything else you say follows. But marriages can be dissolved. I'm not a theologian, but in my heart I don't really believe that a woman like the one described is still married to the first spouse. Maybe the first marriage was never valid, in which case yes she can seek an annulment. But, it's not adultery in that case - the first marriage never was. \n\nOr (and you'll disagree with me here), maybe the first marriage no longer exists. \n\nWhat would you say if in the first marriage neither partner was baptized at the time? Or, if only one partner was baptized? Can the marriage be dissolved? In both of these cases the church allows for the dissolution of the marriage, \"for the sake of the faith\". There was a valid marriage, and the church then dissolves it for the sake of a greater good.\n\nI believe the church can and should extend this idea, as the Orthodox have.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A person who plays at pre-Vatican2 Catholic ritual and pageantry but doesn't have the intellectual or spiritual depth to really adopt pre-Vatican2 Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"What they are not entitled to do is pass on their own personal beliefs as Catholicism.\"\n\nEh, which is exactly what you chose to do when you left the Roman Catholic Church and went elsewhere. Then upon your return you won't associate with your fellow parishioners because you, in your own words, would regard that as \"scandalous.\"\n\nWhat kind of message did that give to your kids? I assume they are now adults, where do they attend, Anglican or Roman Catholic, or not at all?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As for Trump voters, I am tired of making excuses for them. There was a study that suggested that economic issues aren't the main factor in voting for Trump was \"cultural anxieties,\" not economic ones. Basically, this is fancy speak for not liking their fantasies about America being a white Christian patriarchy being shattered. I am all for helping people out economically with things like job training, community colleges, health care, etc., but I am unwilling to coddle their prejudices. They have to learn to live with people with different nationalities, religions, etc. (even immigrants) and accept the fact that being white and male doesn't entitle them to any special privileges.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\uff29 don't remember any of the Western leaders invoking the name of Jesus Christ as the reason for going to war. They were not 'Christian jihads\u2019.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting opinion, but you failed to answer why Jesus came to this earth as a man/God and suffered such a terrible death. What did his sacrifice actually accomplish? If there was no original sin, as the Catholic Faith clearly teaches does in fact exist, and God is all loving, why did Jesus need to die on the Cross for our salvation?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, years ago, before the vernacular in the liturgy, some people thought \"praying in Latin\" was a kind of speaking in tongues -- incomprehensible, hocus pocus. Now Charismatics have a more varied version of \"speaking in tongues,\" more universally \"understood\" by charismatics, though linguistically, grammatically still difficult for most to decipher. But it works for them -- all 120 million Catholic charismatics. May they thrive in their very \"oral tradition\"! Maybe Pope Francis will speak in tongues, too, as well as in Latin and Spanish. But it is not everyone's cup of tea, so to speak.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You state in part: \"4. There must be no discrimination against GLBTQ persons in accessing services of government or business.\". The Catholic Churcch IS a business, yet it constantly fires LBGTQ people. Sometimes just for being that way, sometimes when word gets out that the people have entered into legal same-sex marriages. The church needs to protect ALL persons.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What you say may be true as far as it goes, however, it does not cover those men who are already priests. I have always heard that once a priest, always a priest. Many men choose the priesthood because they are gay. They believe God will make them like others. In my practice I have seen many gay men and women. If the pope thinks he can scope out a priest because he interacts with a child, he needs to give his holy head a shake. I have not seen many a man or woman who can see a child and not smile or talk to them. It is a rather an inane statement. I can truly say that men or women who are trying to live straight are in torment every day. And who says a gay man or woman can not get a calling from God? For that matter, since God holds men and women to be on the same standing, women can get the calling to the priesthood. God has called many women to preach. It's in the bible. I guess a certain cardinal who wears red flowing robes and lace is gay. Who knew?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Because the Fundamental Beliefs document says that we believe in the key Protestant principle, the priesthood of all believers. \"\n\nThe priesthood of all believers, simply means anyone can come to Christ without going through the church or the ceremonial law in the OT era.\n\nIt has nothing to do with negating forms and levels of government in the church community. If we followed your position, it would mean we can go directly to God the Father without going through Jesus Christ.\n\nBut we can pray for our friends, family, church, civil government or anything else we feel a necessity for and come to Christ in their behalf praying for grace in their behalf.\n\nThus the Reformers used this concept to negate the idea we must go through the church as the only means of grace. We can not ask God to forgive their sins, but we can ask for grace to bring them to Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But by your own post above, you contradict yourself! In your first sentence, you correctly write the text as : \"although in the form of God, emptied himself, not regarding equality with God as something to be prized.\"\n\n Then you write: \"stating simply he emptied \"himself,\" being no longer in the form (essence) of God. That does not easily fit onto the later theology of divine essences. \" \nDo you see your mistake? You add the words \"no longer\" in the form of God, where the actual words are, although IN the form of God, emptied himself......\n\nPaul does NOT say Jesus was NO longer in the form of God. You and all your theologians are misinterpreting it. It is most certainly not clear in Paul's writings that he thought Jesus was not God while on earth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seriously, this is the Pope, the Vicar of Christ we are talking about. Has he no idea of decorum or is he deliberately dragging his office into the gutter?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ugh. Count me as terminally jaded if you must but I could not stand his QB play and I found it refreshing to not hear every interview begin with \"I'd like to thank my lord Jesus Christ\" after he left.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether they are always immoral or not does not control whether they should be criminalized. Abortion is best fought through economic incentives to raise the child (1000 a month per kid). Suicide due to depression should trigger treatment, not criminality. Assisting the dying should not be agaist the law at all, as no one is being exploited. Giving wine to a dying Christ (who took it when he said \"I thirst\" to quietly pass out and die) is biblical, not immoral.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's more a matter of \"honor among thieves\" kinda thing. All these hierarchs have been storing away dirt on each other that they could then use as bargaining chips when the day comes they need to defend themselves.\n\nI personally know of instances that then archbishop Levada refused to move against credibly accused priests because he feared about how they would in turn retaliate against Levada and the archdiocese. Think about it like they have their hands at each others throat in a choke-hold. Of course, in the Vatican and among clerics they call this kind of thing \"fraternal correction.\"\n\nPapa Francesco is faced with the conundrum that if he starts weeding out the problem curia and hierarchy members [think: Raymond Burke], he rightly fears the whole edifice of the church would start to collapse.\n\nAnyway you look at it, Catholics are screwed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Her intelligence doesn\u2019t take the curse off her ideas.\n\nNo, it is not my obligation to engage.\n\nMutual learning occurs when both parties share a part of the truth. When one party begins by entertaining the zany notion that \u201cChristian theology\u201d teaches \u201cthat our lives are conditioned by spirits\u201d, or supporting the notion that \u201creligions should be required to defend any of their ideas that have the potential to impact people negatively and, if those ideas prove unsubstantiated and harmful, the religion should be limited\u201d, it is fair to use one\u2019s time more productively", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No. I just find it funny that you think that just because you, and so many other self identified GOP Christians \"proclaim\" & self identify to be a Christian, that others view you exactly opposite. trump is wildly popular with you people. That says it all. A racist, white supremist sex offender.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I realize this is an older situation, but does anyone think maybe there are just too many scandals..and has the orgy/cocaine recent event even been discussed here?\n\nI think the church headquarters needs to move from Italy, from the Vatican. Maybe to some uncomfortable part of Canada with a simple lifestyle. Maybe it should be temporary, or maybe forever. There is true scandal coming at us from all sides..and I don't mean Father O'Brien married Sister O'Toole...I don't mean we could have women deacons, as we should. I mean we have had case after case. This is not anti-Catholics coming after the Catholics. It is Catholics..the highest up Catholics..behaving like protected criminals..oops..", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\" ... we are all super fakey 'christians' that vote for the war machine and will stab our neighbors in the back for a buck or bugger boys hooked on crack ... \" We all know what 'focus on the family' REALLY means ...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The simple fact is that self-identifying so-called Christians don't even come close to abiding by Christian tenets.\n\nThere's no apology for that.\n\nThat is better known as just what it is. \n\nBlatant hypocrisy.\n\nAnd there's no excuse for that.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "RE: KCK Archbishop vs Girl Scouts, the archbishop just makes the Catholic Church look even more stupid than ever before. And the Episcopal and Evangelical Lutheran Church of America thanks you for more new members!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You know why? If they committed any of the atrocities, mayhem, murder, chaos, pillage, rape or attacks upon Jews and Christians... they would be immediately and summarily EXECUTED. Unlike here and the EU,where Islamic Terrorists are APPEASED! Call it what you want but over the last sixty years, the terrorism in this world has been committed by MUSLIMS! Deal with the truth and facts rather than appeasing Muslim terrorism!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Actually, the Catholic church has been manipulating and killing people ever since Fatima, 1917.\"\n\nBob, just curious: by \"killing people\", you're referring to what?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is just Islamophobia which is not very Canadian at all in my humble opinion. Otherwise why not protest in front of a publicly funded Catholic School?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "When Christians act with hatred and violence, we can point out that their actions are incongruous with the teachings of their founder.\n\nThese animals, by contrast, are following the teachings and very example of the founder of their death cult. It's the cultural Muslims, the alleged \"moderates\", who are *not* following the teachings of Mohamed. \n\nAmong cultural Muslims are atheists, secularists, and other free-thinkers. In their own countries they are persecuted, imprisoned, and killed. These are the people who western pseudo-liberals should be supporting instead of leveling the indictment of \"islamaphobia\" against anyone who's ever read a history book.\n\nIslam is a particularly repugnant form of the Abrahamic family, an ideology at odds not only with American values, but against human rights in general. And when your cool, tolerant, culturally-Muslim friend suddenly sprouts a beard and starts reciting Qur'an verses, you'd better pay attention.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "They're just christian conservative perverts. Time to out them for what they are.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed. Christians have less value than Muslims. One simply has to look at several public schools in the GTA to see that.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, rdp46, Luther thought that about the papacy, that it was the anti-Christ. He hated it almost as much as he hated Jews (as his book, ON JEWS AND THEIR LIES, attests). His followers thought they were God's chosen People, too. In his recent book, THE PROTESTANTS, Alec Ryrie notes that Luther's follower -- owing to their great love of God and Scripture -- embarked (years after Luther's death) upon bloody religious wars, burnings, martyrdom and regicide. And among competing Protestants, every opponent became a papal anti-Christ! lol.\n\nOf course, the fiercest hatred today is silent; it is racial hatred. And that is everywhere. And Muslims -- in second place on the hatred chart -- are seen by many as mini-anti-Christ's for believing their faith is true when it is opposed to everyone's else's truth. Oh what are we to do with all this holiness and self-righteousness! \n\nHatred like a falling axe never loses its weight even in the most innocent, holy hands.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\". . .Donald Trump is the only major political leader in power who is working to PREVENT a genocide!!!\"\n\". . .Donald Trump is striving to avoid reaching the point where either non-Muslims are forced to kill Muslims, or be killed by Muslims.\"\n\nFunny then that ISIS is gleefully using Bannon/Trump/Gorka/Flynn et al.'s rhetoric and incessant hate-mongering as extremely potent recruitment propaganda to up the numbers of murderous, rapistic pseudo-jihadi nihilists, targeting confused and resentful Muslims not only here but *in the ME.* Putin's scorched earth strategy in Chechnya and now Syria has new allies in the Trumpanzees. And you're a fanboy. Are you Roman Catholic? \n\n{In other news, SL self-outs as a Trump troll. Who saw that coming.}", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Take note of the comment section, folks. \n\nWe have a number of left wingers celebrating getting rid of white Christians, but keep in mind they'd scream from the rooftops if they saw someone celebrating the same about brown Muslims or Jewish people.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How to deal with the Catholic Internet Trolls. A good read on how to deal with all who are resident here. \nhttps://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/09/18/how-respond-catholic-internet-trolls\n\"They must be confronted, and church leaders\u2014especially those whose viewpoints may differ from those of the persons under attack\u2014should speak up strongly and clearly against these attacks and attempts at intimidation. The communion of the church needs to be defended\u2014not from the peril of theological discussion but rather from that of being monitored and policed by the loudest and least loving voices among us.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Okay. \n\nDonald Trump is a shallow, narcissistic, petty, entitled, reprehensible human being born with a silver spoon in his mouth who has no understanding of average Americans and who is using racism and bigotry in an attempt to win the presidency. He has degraded the election process and the precedents he's set for how a presidential candidate should act will likely haunt us for generation.\n\nHis personal actions fly in the face of every value Republicans have claimed to hold dear. He's a philanderer. He's been divorced several times. He avoided military service. He's insulted veterans. He's not a Christian. He mocks handicapped people, judges, and women. He openly admires the dictatorial leaders of our enemies. \n\nThe only good to come out of this terrible situation is that Americans can now see the massive hypocrisy of Republicans. All their talk of values is just BS designed to appeal to gullible voters. \n\nFrankly, I'm embarrassed for you guys...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "INDONESIA FREES MUSLIM TERRORIST WHO BEHEADED 3 CHRISTIAN GIRLS AS \"RAMADAN PRESENT\"\n\nWhen you kill Christians, it is Muslim holy act and when we stop you to enter our country, racism. \nYou want to have ten kids each to destroy nations and humanity. \n\nSexy Liberal PM Justin is mental like his mother to love you.\n\nIf you love and respect us, we have no problem with you. But you want Sharia \nlaw in Canada.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trump Pence and Company are quick to condemn Blacks, Muslims, Mexicans, Hispanics, Non-Christians, Gays, are at a loss for words when dealing with violence, hate speech and home-grown terrorists of Neo Nazis, White Christian Supremacists and Nationalists, the Klu Klux Klan and other fascist right wing hate groups, who are no better than ISIS and Al Queda and other extremist and fanatical groups.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence?\"\nJust a nasty group of anti-Catholics.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A dose of reality amidst the sea of mendacity fouling the political system courtesy of the phony religious idolators of invisible creatures dreamt up in mentally-deficient minds long ago and staining humanity ever since. Imposing religious dogma on the population of this nation violates law and the Constitutional human rights of individuals over the man-made, false institutions yearning for gathering all under their black-souled webs. The ranting of the religious ideologues in this forum demonstrates their willingness to saddle all others with their own inhuman views washed into their brains by the wealthy prelates of perfidity. The same sources now ruling as dictators over the healthcare systems owned, operated, and profitted by the original christian lies. Required reading: Man Made God by Barbara G. Walker, exposing the lies and deceit creating the current religious terrorists roaming the world. Time to end all religious exemptions and controls in commerce.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You mean that just because he dodged the draft, said his favorite book was the Bible without being able to quote a single verse, is cutting 23 million people off health care, charged tens of millions in \"tuition\" for a bogus \"university\" that conned his supporters, vowed to deport 11 million people, including millions of parents of American children, employed a bodyguard to beat up peaceful protesters, plans to compile a list of adherents of a particular faith, offered $10,000 and the use of his jet to a porn star for some \"company,\" deliberately walked in on naked teenagers about to participate in a pageant, intends to defund Planned Parenthood which prevents millions of abortions by providing affordable family planning, has killed civilians including an 8-year-old American girl in Yemen, said his \"Vietnam\" was being worried about catching an STD, advocated grabbing women by their genitals, and whose first of three wives accused him of rape, that evangelicals shouldn't support him?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "this woman, who apparently lives in her own little bubble, reminds me of how really dumb people can be.... is she not aware of the deep seated black racism that is running rampant in the US? instead of concentrating on setting up phony arguments for banning certain words that accurately describe certain people, how about concentrating on how morons are pushing the idea that if you are white, you should be ashamed? \npersonally, I would prefer our Western world where white people have advanced our society to its current level to the societies in Africa or the Middle East where women are treated like sh*t, gays are thrown off of buildings, Christians are hunted down and killed, men hide their women under rags and bugger little boys as sexual compensation, etc. etc. etc.\nThe hypocrisy of coddled dolts like this woman who attack anyone who does not agree with bending over and giving in to dumb ideas advanced by morons BUT ignores worse atrocities is pretty useless.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims and Liberals excoriate us about Islamophobia, but we should bear in mind Islam's entrenched racism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, anti-Semitism, hatred of Christianity, Europe. Israel, and America. Islam's destructive iconoclasm is destroying historic treasures across the ME: in just one year Notre Dame in Paris has had three close call bomb threats. They even have Islamophobia against each other. Ancient tribal wars between Kurds, Shiite, Sunni, Wahhabi, Druze and other Islamic sects, ISIS , Taliban and Al Qaeda are the root causes of most of the wars and social chaos happening around the world today. So few Muslims have ever come forward to denounce the sins committed by Muslims for islam.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "OH lawd, is the columnists really going to go with the idea that people who don't like Kenney are just prejudiced against white Christian males?\n\nKenney spent 9 years in various Harper cabinets. He mangled the temporary foreign workers programme, used his staff in a photo op for immigration ceremony and refused to apologize (literal fake news), went after refugee health care, just issued a statement saying you have to be prosperous before you can be compassionate (quoting Jesus there) , he's smug, self satisfied, sanctimonious and smug - oh, did I say smug already?\n\nBut most of all - he's a man without a plan.\nRolling back a carbon tax and squalling at Quebec, Trudeau and BC is not a plan. \nWill Albertans vote for that? I hope not.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You're being silly. The whole basis of the Irish conflict was religious, Protestants v Catholics. Provos on one side, IRA on the other.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is hogwash - The Scouts never barred \"Gay\" kids or kids from a different \"religion\" from being scouts, they taught a moral code based largely on the Bible (which I was not all that in favor of, because \"good deeds\" without Christ mean nothing Biblically) . Each Pack or Troop is allowed to select their own leaders based on their own criteria. All three of mine were in until they started caving to the Politically Correct crowd, and there is nothing I have ever read that barred \"Gays\" or kids from a different \"religion\" from being Cub or Boy Scouts. Take a hike Jeanette...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Existing US law provides plenty of means to deport people in the US illegally. Why is this executive order even necessary? I would guess that it serves two purposes: 1) gets the most bigoted Trump supporters up in arms; and 2) puts fear into the hearts of people from the affected countries, legally in the US or not. Trump is all about fomenting opinion against people who are not white and Christian or Jewish. In the case of Jewish people, his approach has backfired because much of his trailer trash support don't like Jews either!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I think Francis is heartily criticized because he is not a dogmatic reactionary, like so many in the Church hierarchy, and like so many arch-conservative, post Vatican II priests.\n\nSo that Francis' more open-minded, more *Jesus*-minded ways must be fought by those sorts every step of the way. \n\nI am reminded of a certain quote when seeing these ongoing attacks on the Pope. \n\n\"What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs--beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Again, your morally bankrupt ideology says \"helping the poor is 'bad for the people'\". You then blather about programs that you don't like, caricaturing them.\n\nNo, your post DEMONSTRATES that any claim you make to be a Christian is wholly bogus. I keep saying that American conservatism is based on greed, pseudo-patriotism, toadying to the rich and hating everyone else. You conservatives fall over yourselves in your eagerness to prove me correct.\n\nThank you for confirming what I have known for ages, that you are a sh*t.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It would certainly help if the good lord had a hand in here somewhere, but I'm not holding my breath. Here's a song beseeching my old friend Jesus to get off his butt and come back and save us, like he said he would. https://soundcloud.com/biff-thuringer/please-jesus", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"This is the Catholic bishops dream - women as cows.\"\n\nA truly sick, bovine thought.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"\"Once again, President Trump has shown his conduct is driven not by honor, decency, or national security, but by raw prejudice. This is a dark day for thousands of heroes in our military and for our entire country,\" Pelosi said.\n\nDear, the military live in a life and death world, in which bad decisions get people killed. Trump's decision is made on the idea that helping people get their heads on straight is not as important as winning without getting killed yourself. For comparison, consider your loyalty to the Catholic church, and how you are OK with hundreds of thousands of lives being lost before they are even born. Who is the heartless one here, Nancy? Have you no shame? The unborn cannot fight back, so you're OK with their deaths? Unnatural woman, you are shameless.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I want every gay priest, bishop, and cardinal yanked out of the closet and pronounced in the light of day. Considering how important the hierarchy seems to feel this to be, it seems to me that we, the people, are entitled to know which of them fail to meet the standard they are proclaiming -- and in fact, if it's that important, the hierarchy should be demanding it.\n\nBut then, when have we the pew folks mattered or been entitled to anything.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "brah, i attended sand island new hope when hawaiian pastors exhorted the members to damn same sex marriage and go to the capital and demand that the legislators defeat the then bill allowing it. only evangelical christians have the gall to think their bible applies to everyone on earth, not just to those that believe in it. it's not complex. they need to keep their religion to themselves, and their misguided, ignorant, prejudiced and bigoted opinions to themselves like. go to to fort street mall and try to talk to bill and his boys shouting nonsense. there is no room for discussion with an evangelical christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"It is time for the bishops to commission a reputable survey to determine what percent of their priests are gay. They should also do a survey to determine the reaction of their flock to the reality of gay priests.\"\n\nYes. Yes. It is long since past time for bishops to face reality and learn how to deal with it. This pretense that all priests are heterosexual and never have sex is just ridiculous. Equally ridiculous is the idea that Catholics are united in the way the bishops and the Vatican treat LGBTQI people, whether they are priests or not. \n\nBishops need to know how much what they do is supported and not supported. In this day and age, it matters - we do not live in an age of authoritarian \"divine right\" rulers - and that includes bishops. More, though, bishops need to listen to the heart of the people of faith - the Holy Spirit speaks in those hearts, too. They also have to learn to be brave and not cave to loud mouthed bigots. Bishops - listen and learn.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So Wente wants to return to the days of regional resentment as the driving force in Canadian politics. Yes, those were such happy times Margaret. And nice attempt to fan a Canadian version of the 'War on Christianity' nonsense. The only group reviled are the small percentage of Christians who are bible fanatics and want to impose Christian shariah on the rest of the population.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A country where 44% are Catholic supports these draconian laws, even seeking to institute the death penalty for homosexuality? Those must be \"the real Catholics\" that are the hope of the future and who are going to save the Church, right? Not we dissenting, immoral, cafeteria, liberal Progressive Catholics...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where do you see \"anger\" in anything I said? A deep psychological test would reveal lots of projection on your part.\n\nYes, there was a \"golden age\", but it did not last very long, as a more fundamentalist version of Islam took over. Is acknowledging this \"anger\"?\n\nThe version of Islam dominant today in the world isn't the \"golden age\" version, it is the fundamentalist type. Do you deny that, too?\n\nThere were actually a lot more similarities between the three religions then, Judaism, Christianity and a \"golden age\" version of Islam, than there is now between the various versions of Islam, and the militant atheism and just indifference to religion dominant in the modern world.\n\nThere were not such radical differences in the way people conceived of the role of women, for one thing, and when everyone agrees religion is fundamental, there can be, and there was, lots of respectful discussions of various conceptions of what religious truth is. That won't happen today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Canada already has hate crime laws, which can be, should be ... and have been applied when necessary. Personally, I find that all religions are divisive, sectioning groups off from one another. It is extraordinary to see violent confrontations between religious factions as they spar over interpretations of the SAME old religious text. Catholics & Protestants killed each other in Ireland -- Islamic factions are doing the same thing in the Middle East. I'd prefer to see gender equality and 'freedom FROM religion' enshrined in Canada's Charter. We should be wary of social (religious) denominations that denominate (meaning divide) society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My dear Thomas, why do you think the rock quarry was sacred merely because \"There are dozens of shrines scattered throughout the quarry.\" Thomas, ordinary laborers (not only ali'i or priests) lived in the quarry for lengthy periods so they wouldn't need to walk up and down the mountain every day. There are middens (garbage piles) all over the place, left behind by the workers who had no hesitation about peeing, pooping, and trashing in the quarry. Of course each person or family of laborers had a little hut, in which there was a family shrine. Thomas, have you never gone into the home of an ethnic Japanese Buddhist family in Hawaii? Have you not noticed their little family shrine, with a statue of Buddha and an incense burner? Or perhaps a Catholic family with a little statue of Virgin Mary? Does such a shrine make their entire home a \"sacred place\"? Do the thousands of those home shrines make Honolulu a sacred place? Come on Thomas, use a little common sense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, of course not. Christians are called to follow God's teachings. Perfect? No! But called to repent and not continue in sin. Shacking up is a sin. Sex outside of marriage is sin. Same would go for someone stealing, killing, lying, adultery, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nonsense. Holy matrimony may be religious; marriage is a civil contract historically about the transfer of property from one man to another (father-in-law to bridegroom, or VV). In this country, people are free to enter civil marriage contracts. The Church can refuse to recognize these contracts as sacramentally valid, as it does with divorced people or gay people. But it reognizes that in a civil polis it requires a co-existance.\n\nFurther, there are many faith groups who consider that divorced people and gay people can marry in their church. It would be denying their religious freedom to prevent that.\n\nReligious freedom must be distinguished from religious privilege.\n\nThis kind of remark is why the fastest growing faith group in this country is the \"nones\"...and why ex-Catholics are one of the largest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your first paragraph amounts to \"Any publication with the word Catholic in it would be expected to agree with ME!\" After all, you have told us that your beliefs are \n\nThe doctrine of primacy of conscience was summed up by Aquinas, \"Every judgment of conscience, be it right or wrong, be it about things evil in themselves or morally indifferent, is obligatory, in such wise that he who acts against his conscience always does moral evil.\" -- Quodlibet, 3.27. He expands on this in Summa Theologica I-II, q 19, art 5.\n\nPlease don't trot out that tripe that if you disagree with the magisterium, you cannot do so with an informed conscience, because an informed conscience will necessarily have you agreeing with the magisterium. That's circular reasoning at its finest.\n\nForming a conscience requires thought. It is not done by saying \"I accept, without question, anything Rome says.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am sorry for that. I try not lump all christians together. Some of my best friends are christians. Some christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but the laity was involved in the lay apostolate before Vatican Council II. There was such a thing then called \"Catholic Action\" --- it was the laity carrying out the decrees of the Social Encyclicals of the popes. In fact, as kids in grade school we were taught Christian Social Living [7th and 8th grades], which dealt with the laity carrying out the guidelines of these encyclicals.\n\nAnd as a high schooler, I was a catechist for my parish. I had four full years of training at a Catholic University---was I was certified to teach grade school. This began my theological training---which carried over to undergraduate and graduate school.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "FYI: atheists would like nothing more than to destroy the church while many of us seek to continue to protect it. The tax break, which has existed for 65 years, protects tax breaks for housing for clergy. I want to protect the church from atheists and children from pedophiles. Sad that you do not find both worth protecting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"curtains\" as you call them declare their religion\n\n\"rags\" as you call them do not scream \"I am Catholic, Buddhist, Atheist, Anglican, Mormon, Hindu ...etc\"\n\nwhy is there a need to announce your religion especially in the work place ?\nIt is between you and God\n\nnot a Canadian value", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "North Africa was once Christian. Now look at it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of three) How can we go on thinking in the same way after what has happened?\" Emil L. Fackenheim as quotes by\u2014Mary Jo Leddy Indeed, particularly after what has happened as exposed by the movie \u201cSpotlight\u201d and by the censure of the administration of The (Pontifical) Catholic University of America by the Association of American University Professors, let alone the Jewish Holocaust.\n\nChanging tenses in mid-sentence, Leddy goes on, \u201cReading this book taught me how to think dialectically and to consider the dynamic relationship between history and philosophical and theological reflection. He argued [sic] that the Jewish identity is [sic] grounded in significant `root experiences\u2019 that manifest [sic] GOD'S presence in history.\u201d Really?\n\nAs Manuel Giraldes puts it, \u201cIt\u2019s sad to think that it is a \"one time lesson.\"\n\njustmaybe has the idea, \u201cAt what Catholic research universities would your views be supported?\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You, being a non Christian, have obviously found many like minded people on this site. I don't know what that says about the spiritual state of commenters on this site. I am really concerned when members of the Catholic clergy agree with you on false statements regarding Christ's Divinity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's the social division and the portent of future conflict people are rejecting.\nIt took 2000 years for Christians and Jews to reach a mondus vivendi with each other. So far Islam is showing few signs of mondus vivendi with unbelievers and relaxing its claims to justified universal dominion. As we know all too well, Islam's \"kingdom\" is not \"not of this world\" but very much of this world. The World is to be physically made over into the will of \"God\". That is a recipe for endless war.\nUntil Islam crosses the theological threshold of live and let live, acts of toleration will also be acts of submission and legitimization of Islam's claims to the Earth and mankind's future. \nSo in a sense the cemeteries conflict encapsulates the entire problem with Islam, its insistence of making the World over in its image, peacefully if possible, violently if it can. This theological stance can not endure. \nThe World must be good enough for religious Muslims to be buried next to it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am neither religous or gay but it sickens me to see the intolerance and predjudice the religous right has towards gay people. These people do not choose to be gay they are born that way and should be accepted for who they are. I always was told that Jesus preached to have tolerance and to love your fellow human no matter who they were. I understand people can be frightened of things they do not understand but you dont see the gay community rallying for laws against starry eyed born again christians who base their life on a non - entity. I tolerate both gay people and religous people who are both just trying to get by in this crazy world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My second son's first marriage failed. Neither he nor his first wife sought an annulment, because, as my son told me, there was nothing wrong when they entered into the marriage. If he were to say that there was, he would be lying. He thinks that lying to God is far worse than remarry ingredients. I agree with him. \n\nApparently you would have him lie.\n\nHis second wife is a lovely woman, and they have two beautiful children. (Of course, I recognize that I am prejudiced when I say that.) Neither my son, nor either of his wives are currently members of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "not many people know katy wilder. im happy you reminded us of her and i agree, its 2017, time for the christians to realize they are not a majority of people on this earth by a long way. stop forcing your ideology on the rest of us. pray to your god, but please do it quietly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps it is too simple to understand, or many don't want to accept it, that many fundamentalist Christians (as is true of zealots in any cause) have as their real objective, to exercise control and domination over others. If one thinks that through, for those still capable of doing so, it is abundantly clear that such is (as it has always been)a totally materialistic objective.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's all anecdotal. There have been seminaries with larger than average percentages of homosexuals - Milwaukee under Weakland for particular example - but these have been offset by diocese like Lincoln with zero tolerance. The high estimates come from the homosexual community, reasonable estimates seem to approximate the overall Catholic percentage, which is not \"so many\".\n\nThe teaching on the ordination of women and the immorality of sexual relations outside of marriage are irreformable no matter how you characterize them. The Church leads people to reform their lives, not the other way around. Your opinion of that is of no consequence.\n\nGenerally theological high church Anglicans have exited the communion. Yes, there are some liturgical high church - bells and smells - communities who accept the notion of women priests, but they are a minority quickly fading away, just as they did among the continental Old Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I assume your logic is: since Clinton chose Kaine, she could not hate Catholics? For real? Staff emails prove the Clinton campaign despises Catholics. And Kaine is supposed to represent Catholicism while asserting that he thinks the Catholic Church will eventually come around to think like he does, viz., killing innocent children in their mothers' wombs is okay? That's your idea of Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The idea that any person can \"image Christ\" is a lie. What that allows is a projection of God-like power on that priest. We transfer some reverence due to God to that person; we grant that person some part of the unquestioning love and obedience that only God should have and can merit. Many good men become priests, but they are not stand-ins for Jesus or God. \n\n No human except Jesus can be God. Such a pretense leads to distortions of the the reality that priests are fallible, sinful human beings and are never to be confused with Christ, our Lord. Christ is not more present when a priest is present. Christ is present when we seek Him in our hearts. A priest can be a human reminder that God seeks to know and love us, an example of how someone can be committed to faith, can lead others to an understanding of faith and what is good and right. But never, never, never does the priest image the majesty of God. Never. \n\nYES! the masculinity of Jesus is immaterial to His being God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We talk more about religious liberty than about Jesus Christ. We talk more about the Fortnight for Freedom than the reign of God.\"\n\nMic drop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Why are the British Catholic bishops...?\"\n\nNo fault of yours, Purgatrix Ineptiae, but it is really the initiative of the English (and Welsh) bishops, not of British bishops (since it does not include the bishops of Scotland or Northern Ireland). UK is made up of four nations, with England being the largest nation. But we haven't heard from the Irish (Northern Irish) nor the Scot bishops regarding bullying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How exactly is a posting on a comment board \"behind the back?\" Such an unusual concept. Rather than posting uncivil comments and then requesting to be muted, why not consider being civil and then people will not be inclined to make use of the mute feature. Nonetheless, it is quite clear a third party would be hard-pressed to see the difference between self-proclaimed christian and an alleged troll, based upon what is posted here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your knowledge of the Social Security system; of how immigrants have always contributed to the betterment of our economy, and your knowledge of your fellow Americans who are not Christian it's pretty appalling! \n Perhaps it is in your knowledge that slacking \u2013 maybe it's just your tolerance. You know, \"tolerance\" \u2013 that characteristic that supposed to be part of Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know the denomination to which you belong, but I've attended Episcopalian and Lutheran services that are far superior to the typical Mass you'll find in the typical Catholic Church on any Sunday morning. The music in many Catholic Masses could be charitably referred to as noise pollution. You should be proud that liturgically and musically(!!!), those Lutheran and Episcopalian services are much, much better than most Catholic Masses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That was contingent on you finding a single quote from a founding father who didn't think Christianity guided their paradigm to form our country. Which one was that, again? LOL, whoops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have more than enough priests, just an ever-dwindling congregation. Most churches are 2/3 to 3/4 empty for most Sunday Masses. Sadly, most bishops are more concerned with pushing the Republican Agenda rather than the person of Jesus or the Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When abortion doubles under the new POTUS I hope you catechism loving prolife Catholics will own the increase in abortions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sounds like a country-western hit: New To Catholicism, New To Romance. I cite '60's music often. I recall the Masses where \"the devil's music\" was called gravely sinful--and Father wasn't talking about satanic cults but about folks from the Beach Boys to James Brown to Peter, Paul and Mary to the Miracles to Johnny Mathis to Arlo Guthrie to Mary Wells. I recall when---you can look it up--The Twist was declared sinful by more than one bishop, and we were told from the pulpit not to watch Ed Sullivan that night because Elvis would be on. You can see why I don't always trust temporal charges of sinful lust. Did you see Sunday Morning today? There was a feature on the Isley Brothers who blended gospel with \"Between the Sheets.\" Pax Vobiscum. (Consider a clip of the Tet Offensive with a soundtrack including Marvin Gaye's \"Sexual Healing\" and the Temps' \"Losing You,\" and the chaplain calling out the \"sin\" portrayed--lustful music!! It's not just my imagination running away with me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bans just feed their sense of martyrdom. The Quebec law lets them wear the archaic bit of cloth in most situations, but not when the use of photo ID is required to establish eligibility for public services.\n\nOne of the volunteers I work with in Professional Society is from Egypt. Browsing the web he came across an Arab Language interview with reporter dressed in Western Garb and painted with makeup, interviewing a hard line cleric. He kept is gaze fixed on the wall, refusing to look at the woman he was speaking with. When questioned he said that he would not be able to control his thoughts if he looked directly at her.\n\nWho really has the problem in this situation?\n\nI think face paint / makeup is just as silly as high heels, but if a grown man gets uncontrollable sexual thoughts if he simply looks at a woman he is the one with the problem, not her.\n\nI guess sexually out of control clerics are not just a Christian Problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Having raised my 2 children fully in the Alaska school system there are plenty of ways to corrupt their minds. But some how they straighten it all out and turn into fine adults, although I sure did have some doubts at the time. Reproductive education belongs in the public schools. As a teen in the late 1960's no adult would speak of \"sex\". I learned about sex from my dim-witted class mates who unfortunately made it up as we went along. A lot of my classmates got pregnant at Catholic high and they got married off to the nice Catholic boy who got them in trouble. Later on while in college the rate of std's were so high that everyone I knew had \"one\" at some point and they were on penicillin all the time and they joked about it. It took me years to get to know sex better but the journey there was miserable to say the least and affected my life for a long time. No one at the time told me that sex was fun, that would have helped. LOL", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read the Gospels. Jesus ain't a fan of religious fundamentalists who use the rules to bully others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Although much work has gone into preserving the historical accuracy of the film, this also means that extreme historical violence has been portrayed.\"\n\nIt is violent, but just like the Passion of the Christ, it is necessary violence. It would dishonour what Doss did to sugar-coat it. Doss was like Christ - in the mud, in the thick of it, in its most horrible visceral reality. \n\n\"Neither the Doss Council nor the Adventist church have advocated for church members to see the film. However, the church does claim that Doss\u2019 character and the Adventist church are portrayed in a positive light.\n\nThe movie isn't preachy but certainly explores Doss' beliefs. In fact, it is arguably 'anti-theological' but 'pro-Jesus'. Doss admits he doesn't have all the theological answers to the tough questions. He is attacked by others for his seemingly paradoxical beliefs of not carrying a gun even though Doss sees it a just war, but equally not being a 'real' objector. Doss simply reflects Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, let's make it black and white! (Matthew 18:22, various versions) Everyone gets a punch card (black and white colored of course) with 490 available punches. Whenever you confess a mortal sin, your card gets punched by the absolving priest. As long as you have unused punches on your card, you get communion (but, you have to show your card first)! That is Jesus' plan, plain and simple. Directly from his mouth. A clear, black and white instruction to the first pope no less! Card carrying Catholics is what we need to be. Oh, and please don't tell me that because Matthew 19 comes after 18 that Jesus meant to invalidate his previous statement. You can't have it both ways.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've seen some nasty things written about Pope Benedict on this site.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not when it tries to think for me on matters of natural law. It is free to make an argument, but don't claim that it has a superior ability in this area when serious analysis and science say otherwise. This may shock you, but I am as much a member of the Catholic Church as Cardinal Burke, Archbishop Chaput, Pope Francis and Jay Edward, as well their mothers. The Clergy can certainly Mass and say how it is to be said fairly unilaterally, but it is out of its league on sex, including imposing Continence on priests, which is an insult to human sexuality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"You do realize that being called a Protestant is not an insult.\" Unfortunately, it isn't among many Catholics. Because of a prideful rebellion against the Church, there are now hundreds of Christianities, none of which (other than the RCC) offer a sacramental life. A sacramental life may not be necessary (or then again, it may be), but it is highly beneficial to salvation. By breaking away, heretics broke up the Body of Christ, and worse, made salvation more difficult for their followers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Settlements like this are what happens when governments flout their own laws. Don't blame Mr Khadr, or 'lefties'. Blame governments who buckle to popular opinion - apparently including yours - and then have to pay out later with my (and your) 'hard earned tax dollars'. $10 million of them, including reimbursement for 10 years of legal expenses. Not cool, Joe. \n\nWe are a country of laws, thank God. Khadr was legally (and morally) a child, under the complete control of his father at the time. You don't have to love him, or ignore the death of the US medic. You just have to respect the rule of law. A little Christian charity for a 15 year old child wouldn't hurt either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All good. You should also consider: a) treatment of single-parent families; b) welcoming of gays; c) valuing of lay views and experiences; d) homilies that address relevance of current Church issues to the gospel; e) invitations to academic experts, lay professionals like docs/lawyers, theologians, Protestants, and others for evening \"issue\" programs; f) formal surveying of member needs; g) availability of NCReporter; h) racial diversity; i) women on parish council; j) suggestion box availability; k) worship with Protestant churches where other family members attend; l) recognition of data we already have regarding why people claim they leave: clericalism; legalism; sexism; hubris; anti-sex ism. Few parishes close because of few opportunities for rosaries and confession and no sermons about confession. I could be wrong. I join you in defining a) problems; b) solutions. Learning is what happens AFTER we know it all. Be not afraid of knowledge. Humbly seek to KNOW, not to WIN.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, she was not \"cruelly persecuted by Muslims\". Arabs owned her, & some of those families mistreated her, until she was 14, when Italian Catholics bought her. The Arab families made her convert to Islam. All when slavery was legal.\nSource:\nhttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephine_Bakhita\n\nSecond, those who wrote the New Testament identified Pharisees, Saducees, & other groups primarily because those groups had been obstructing Jewish conversion to Christianity.\n\nThird, a note re: these NCR Civil Comments: the above comment by \"Utilitas\" was there for me to evaluate, after I posted a comment earlier. I was pretty sure the Muslim smear was wrong, I knew the Jesus linkage was wrong, but on this smartphone, I didn't have access to another web page to check out the Muslim smear. I was wrong to let it go as \"sorta\" ok. I apologize to the NCR readers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Dennis, the worst part is individuals will take credit for it because it cements their being on the side of the righteous. Google Air Force Academy or Military Religious Freedom Foundation and be prepared to go 'Oh My God'. Both the Air Force Academy and the headquarters for Dominionists are in Colorado Springs. The question quietly circulating among the Air Force is will our B2 pilots follow orders from the Air Force, or orders from their pastors? That's an interesting and scary question in as much as Air Force Academy graduate personnel control both the air and most of the land based intercontinental missiles. These Dominionists don't play for fun. They play for real. Kind of like militant Catholics want to repeat Lepanto.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I spoke poorly saying \"Conservatives hate Hispanics..\" I should have said some racist conservatives hate Hispanics. It's wrong to say thats true of all conservatives and I apologize. \n\nMy conservative church spent significant resources or Mexican missions, both to build homes, but just as much to let the young see the Mexican people in a positive relationship. My daughters and I found the poverty shocking, but were warmed by the reception and interaction with the neighborhood children. The same church did missions in Chicago, Milwaukee, Indian reservations, Memphis. The goal is the same, to recognize equality of being God's children and volunteering for acts of compassion that reflect Jesus character.\n=====\nA significant minority(?) of folks do not want the influence of Mexican culture to mix into their communities. That's a reality and would exist if every immigrant had entered legally. It's a bias of race found across all political, religious, or economic strata.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I never said anything about married priests. There is, and has been, more flexibility there. That's why I said nothing about that. But on the question whether women can be priests, that has remained constant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are the movement, Trump is just the vehicle.\n\nThe big difference is what Rush pointed out about a year ago:\n\n\"We now know that we are NOT alone!\"\n\nIf you did not like the democrats' anti-Christian attitude you were told by the media it was YOU that was the problem. IF you did not like homosexuality rammed down your throat, you were told it was YOU who was the problem. IF you did not believe in dispersing diseased criminals, whose ages we could not even affirm, among our elementary school children and our high school boys and girls, you were told YOU were the problem.\n\nThe series of victories leading up to 2016, and certainly the results of 2016 confirms it is not YOU who are the problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't think you'd be able to sustain your position. You substitute name-calling of the worst kind for discussion --- in this case, calling Trump's followers racist. You have no good-faith defense for slinging that word around, but it serves you well enough, I suppose, when \"discussing\" such issues with those who, like you, inhabit the bubble that surprisingly burst for you on election day. As a conservative Catholic, I DO question whether the better argument is put forward by the bishops or by those who oppose them on the question of illegal immigration. I'd hoped a pointed but polite discussion might move me towards a better resolution than the one I now have. Guess I knocked on the wrong door. FYI, I bend strongly toward enforcing the law, which seems fair to me. On the other hand, I am often bothered by the plight of the poor who come to the US under circumstances where I myself would come. This has bothered me for 25 years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know Islam is a religion - and I've traveled in several Islamic countries, by the way - my point is that I think you are racist because you demand that immigrants conform to your version of a dress code. I got news for you: there is NO dress code in this country! I am neither defending Islam nor attacking Christianity in my original post as you claim - please cite where I was in either case (or better, take a class on reading comprehension...).\nTo finish with the same class that you left off with: I'll be you're a conservative.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Careful Paul, you may cause Catholic immigrants to be taken off the 'expedite' list of Christians wanting to leave the Middle East. Your version of Christian thinking doesn't align well with those who put religious bigotry ahead of rational or compassionate judgement. Shame on you to distort the words of Jesus who we all know sought death/hell for his enemies, (anybody who didn't love him).\n\nYes, sarcasm is intended. Thanks for letting us, and the new Reich, know that not all Christians have the same moral convictions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The ever present Alceste is always quick to disagree but if he/she thinks that there would be a healthy debate about how the minority Secularists/Christians/Atheists should be treated if the roles were reversed then I suggest a quick look at muslim-majority countries today for a hint of how things would play out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many \"hippies\" in Eugene do home births as well, and occasionally there are similar outcomes. there is a lot not recorded in the 4 paragraph and two sentence article. Like were the parents considering taking the child to the hospital ? Are they on record as saying they do not believe in that ? You are making a judgment on them without any fact, if they were to say they WILL NOT take their kids to the Hospital you would have some basis. Theologically speaking, God gave us hospitals and all things for one reason, and that is to for human flourishing, this is one of the reasons why Christians are so opposed to abortion, which is God gave us medical technology and personnel to preserve life, not to take it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These are elected officials, conducting business meetings. Of which their constituents must play a part. \nThey are there to do the PEOPLE'S business, not God's. \nAre the prayers from one denomination? Would you, if you were a Jew, Muslim or atheist feel comfortable, declining to pray? Or as a Catholic participate in prayers by a Mormon, Baptist or 7th Day Adventist? \n\nAgain. Those who work in the public sector or provide services to the public need to follow the law.\nNo one if forcing them to change their religious beliefs. Or marry a gay person.\nAnd I cannot believe that when they die, if asked, will be told, \"no heaven for you for baking that same sex marriage wedding cake\".\nIf you really believe that, then I can understand why YOUR world is upside down.\nI hope that I can live up to and be judged by my actions in how I lived.\n Faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Completely agree. Why try to organize against viewpoints that don't match your own? If it's hate speech, prosecute. If it's not, debate. \n\nAlso, don't post your biases here. Why denigrate Christianity? If you're not a Christian, fine. Why do some posters feel the need to belittle? Seek first to understand!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Catholic Church is the religion with the greatest percentage loss of membership with this trend: 10.3%\"\n\nStill, if one calculates on a graph from 1960 to the present, Protestant Churches as a whole have the greatest percentage loss of membership: -20%. In 1960, more than 65% of the nation was Protestant. Today, according to the PRII study, less than 45% identify as Protestant (including all denominations). According to that same study, Catholicism (21%) is nearly 33% of American Christianity because of the drop of Protestantism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Typical Christian Grifters", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hello Rudy. You make a number of comments - I'll take then on in order presented. 1) You misunderstood Ken, and myself, with our \"people won't die for what they know to be a lie\" point. We're both talking about the early church, about the apostles and early founders of the church who personally knew Jesus, and who were present in Jerusalem and the region during his execution. There was no advantage to them to declare Christ's resurrection (the Bible speaks of hundreds of witnesses, not just the twelve apostles), to witness to Christianity to which the resurrection is critical, in the face of both Roman and Jewish opposition, if they knew firsthand it was false. As to Jesus's existence, Ken's already discussed multiple references from sources hostile to Christianity that a person by that name existed, created quite a stir, and was then executed. Who Jesus was, and the validity of his teachings, is a separate discussion, but to try to claim he never even existed is a false shortcut.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not at all sure Jesus would recognize this \"Christian\" organization or any like it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say you're trying to be satiric. If that's the case, you need to consult Kurgan for inspiration. I'm not going to consider you sincere, because that would mean you're anti-Christian in your beliefs, and I don't want to paint you with that brush.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like I said, I'm familiar with the history. You don't need to s-p-e-l-l it out for me.\n\nYou're an apologist who denies the church is ever capable of the slightest error. It's rather chilling. It's purely ideological and precludes disinterestedness in negotiating morally graded conundrums. The mark of a fanatic.\n\nOf course I can weigh in on any Catholic issue I like. I'm a cradle Catholic who will always identify as a cultural Catholic. Leaving the church was an unfortunate necessity consistent with my Catholic conscience. So whinge away, I care not.\n\nThe criticism that Stein was exploited to burnish the church's public image is hardly eccentric. As you must be aware, Stein's beatification was controversial from the start. Certainly howls of protest erupted from the Jewish community. Since the Nazis were notably dedicated to wiping out European Jewry, their opposition deserves consideration.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic baptisms (weddings, funerals, etc.) are NOT \"typically free.\" There is the matter of \"stole fees\" and stipends for the faithful to contend with. And for your information, many pastors do require payment, as these fees typically do belong to the pastor. As for the citation to John 3, this scripture preceded the practice of Catholic or Christian baptism by quite a few years, and actually presents a substantial conflict with it and associated customs!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Purgatrix,\n\nYour post captures the problem addressed by the Civilta article. Liberals who accept that \"Trump voters are monsters\" reflect the same kind of dualism as fundamentalists or Catholic Integralists. Some do exist, but the idea that there are a lot of them is largely a projection from those who live with the apocalyptic, dualist worldview.\n\nTake Hilary's \"basket of deplorables.\" This was not a dualist rejection of some voters, but it was taken that way by people who think any criticism is a condemnation. The same thing happened with the article from CC, commentators took it as condemning a broad group of people. But it is not condemning anyone, just showing the undercurrents of some thought. In hopes that those currents would be avoided and that people can believe in working together instead of attacking one another as monsters, I imagine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Governments need to crack down on fundamentalist christian churches they are a breeding ground for terrorist!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, the argument that YOU are giving is \"Christ chose only males to be apostles, therefore non-males cannot be ordained\". The LOGIC of that argument is exactly the same as the logic of the argument \"Christ chose only Jews to be apostles, therefore non-Jews cannot be ordained\". In both cases the argument is \"Christ chose only to be apostles, therefore non- cannot be ordained\". YOU are claiming that the first argument is good, the second is not. Since they are, in fact, exactly the same argument, either both are good or both are bad. \n\nIn fact, both are bogus arguments. Since you have nothing better -- and refuse to recognize that the actual argument for not ordaining women is \"women are inferior to men\", you insist on pushing your bogus argument.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hatred and criticism are two quite different things. To misquote Chesterton, \"'My Church, right or wrong,' is a thing that no Catholic would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, 'My mother, drunk or sober.'\"\n\nYes, the institutional Church is misogynistic, and has been for centuries. To point this out is to acknowledge a flaw. This can certainly be done without hatred.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Harold, if you've solved an equation correctly there are workings and a mathematical proof as to WHY the answer is correct (And hence, implicitly, why the other numbers are not correct). The problem theists have is the WHY? On what basis can one say that the Christian god (for example) is the right answer and the members of the Greek pantheon are not?\n\nI suspect the answer may have the word \"faith\" in it and even our beloved government wouldn't let someone through matric maths on that basis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I used the term \"race\" based on Federal law regarding protected classes.\n\nAs for political and religious beliefs, for the most part, there're one and the same. The basis or foundation of governance is largely religious beliefs:\n\nUS/Europe = Judeo/Christian\nMiddle East (excl. Israel) = Islamic\nIsrael = Judaism\nChina = Confucionism = CCP\nIndia = Hinduism\n\nGOP = Judeo/Christian\nDemocrat = Confusionism?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No surprise that he was a Harper appointee. So long as you're a \"Christian\" you're half way there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "oops - in the above I was stating this about: Cardinal Reinard Marx recently announced he would appoint laypeople to lead parishes in the Archdiocese of Munich when no priest is available. \n\nI don't like Cardinal Sean's plan, it seems still a matter of Priests and Deacons having the say that really counts & the parishes are asked but are stuck with whatever the leaders of the ordained team want. It is also yet another plan that assumes that we can just ignore our horrible treatment of women in our church & continue not to ordain them priests & equals to men & expect parishes to grow just from getting us lazy lay people to finally evangelize.\n\nI love Cardinal Sean but he does not seem to understand \" Hey wanna check out my women-hating church this Sunday?\" does not work out as Christian in the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can a Catholic conscience be 'certain' if it rejects the teaching of the Church? The fact that it is knowingly doing so must introduce at least an element of uncertainty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Catholics surge....\"\n\nStill, Islam is growing faster, according to Pew, and is projected to grow by 70% between 2015 and 2060. Currently there are 1.8 billion Muslims; but Pew researchers say by 2050 Muslims they will be equal to the Christian population of three billion (Catholic [1.5 billion], Orthodox [250 million] and Protestant [1.3]). Muslim birth rate is lifting their faith in numbers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This seems to be a \"once a year\" story just to stir the pot. It doesn't matter and either way, it doesn't make you a better, or worse, Catholic Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump's Evangelical Advisor: \u2018God Has Given Trump Authority To Take Out Kim Jong Un'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many Muslims in Christian-majority countries are being abducted, raped and forcibly converted?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see that Lying John Hobson is making the rounds as the bitterly ignorant troll again.\n\u201csocial justice\u201d in the modern, unCatholic church, should be understood as false spirituality harnessed in the service of hedonism.\nThe Cafeteria Catholic either doesn't know his Catholic Faith, or he rejects those parts of it with which his sinful lifestyle leads him to disagree.\nThe social justice warriors within the new church of Vatican 2 draw upon only those out-of-context excepts of Scripture that allow them to do exactly that.\nThey view the dogma of the Church, & Scripture, as malleable, instead of, as the real Church has always taught, irreformable and Apostolic.\nSorry Lying John Hobson, but \"Catholic social teaching\" is itself cafeteria catholicism and those promoting it are nothing but cafeteria catholics. I believe and worship as Catholics have done throughout the centuries. If doing so was spiritually advantageous for the saints, it is so for everyone today, including you and me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it uncanny that with all the criticism of and Bashar Assad and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, there is little coverage of the bloodbath that has been transpiring in southeast Turkey. The situation there is a replay of 100 years ago when three Christian minorities were annihilated. Focus on one despot and ignore another ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I apologize for my over-the-top reaction. I advocate a critical reading of Scripture and I am no Fundamentalist. However some things are foundational to the way the Church practices the faith, such as the words and actions of Jesus at the Last Supper, which, unless Scripture no longer can be trusted on the subject, give us the guidelines of what has become the Mass. I won't quote the words because they are sacred and you know them well. \n St. Paul refers to these when he writes that we \"show forth the death of the Lord until he come in glory\". I had the impression you wanted to take me down a notch and were looking for a fight. Catholics are a mixed bunch in these forums but some are from hell, if not Hell then religious hell-on-earth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Christianity is the largest religion in Canada, with the Catholic Church having the most adherents. Christians, representing 67.3% of the population, are followed by people having no religion with 23.9% of the total population. Islam is the second largest religion in Canada, practised by 3.2%\"\n:\nHow do you think Harper stayed in power so long?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps these difficulties with polling mean that Catholics are individuals who make up their own minds without the help of various self appointed experts. At least, I hope so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has called on President Donald Trump to ease the \"onerous\" contraceptive mandate of the Department of Health and Human Services under the Affordable Care Act because it violates religious freedom.\"\n\nUnder this logic, shouldn't mandating services that cover blood transfusions be deemed \"onerous\" as a violation of the religious freedom of Jehovah's Witnesses who teach that blood transfusions, even if needed to save a person's life, must not be accepted? Or should mandating of medical services of any kind be deemed \"onerous\" as the violation of the religious freedom of Christian Scientists whose faith proscribes healing of physical and mental illnesses and disorders through prayer?\n\nGiving the USCCB position special consideration while ignoring similar \"onerous\" mandates from the perspective of other faiths could arguably violate the First Amendment insofar as \"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This months United Church Observer has a great feature on the difference between Christian faith - inclusive and helping and compassionate and those that select parts of a religion for their own self interest. What some accuse Muslims are doing is what \"Christians\" are doing. But in the end it is a small fringe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It would have shown that the Catholic Church was morally opposed to Hitler's evil and that it was the duty of all Catholics to not be collaborators. That would have had an effect in the largely Catholic populations. And even bigger effect might have been excommunicating Mussolini.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The cold medicine issue is regarding purchases used for manufacturing certain narcotics like meth. It has nothing to do with \"prohibitionists\" regardless of how \"out of control\" you think they are, and how much you clearly hate their guts that they are against your desire for easy, convenient means of avoiding pregnancy or child birth.\n\nI think you should educate yourself on what federal law has to do with how pharmacies or run rather than whip up these weird conspiracy theories about Christian pro-lifers you seem intent on blaming everything on.\n\nIt's also pretty sad you think Christians being against free-for-all birth control is \"religious extremism.\" I suggest you study Sharia Law to see what real religious extremism looks like.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If this means NCR is responding to the results of the Catholic Press Association rankings, I have to say I'm pleased with the little changed so far and look forward to more. Journalism is changing right before our eyes. \nHere's a helpful suggestion: not all Catholics are celibate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, bobtr900. Unfortunately it's not a new mentality.\n\nI read a bit about the Catholic far-right after meeting some trads face-to-face following a TLM Mass some years ago. It was my first exposure to Fatima fanaticism and the whole package of paranoia, anger and delusion inspired by the Fr. Gruner cult. The experience left me badly shaken.\n\nIndeed one of these pious rage-aholics did call Pope Francis the Antichrist. It was but one of many jaw-dropping, vitriolic attacks fired against Vatican II, the \"Norvus Ordo\" and the pope. All this after a moving homily about Christian love.\n\nAgain, such separatists were on the fringe of Catholic life. But now they're emboldened.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank God she is not implementing her Christian views? \n\nAgain, I think it's a mistake to ignore the second clause of the 1st Amendment. If people are forced to pay taxes for education, there should be no Constitutional bar to them having a choice to send their kids to charter schools which may teach religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. For example, if newspapers and other huge media corporations constantly accuse them of colluding with Russia, why can't they just be good Christians and admit it's so, even if there's no evidence for it, and it's not true?\n\nAnd of course, the only legitimate expression of Christianity is a totally socialist government system that takes care of everyone from cradle to grave, including a Universal Basic Income. And of course full medical benefits, including surgery and hormones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many of those who claim to be Christian actually follow the atheist-materialist Ayn Rand. Her teachings are the anti-thesis of the Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "[I deleted an earlier version of this post to edit for clarity. I apologize for the inconvenience.]\n\nYour argument is that a Faithful Catholic is a Catholic who agrees with TQ about who is a faithful Catholic. Your Franciscan brother could have used your argument to illustrate sophistry.\n\nWhy do you think anyone cares who you \"consider\" to be a faithful Catholic? (By the way, I've been a daily communicant most of my life, and I am now.)\n\nNonsense. Drivel. You don't get a vote about this. Your opinion doesn't matter.\nThe churches are full of people who disagree with one or more things the church teaches. I suppose you can try to chase them all out. You'll be the last one out. Don\u2019t forget to turn the lights out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No wonder I flunked religion at my Catholic school. I though Jesus and Joseph were Canon lawyers in Jerusalem.\nJ and J Defense Lawyers \nToo much wine at a wedding?\nCaught by Roman soldiers drunken driving on your mule?\nWe have gotten many clients out of crucifixion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Looks like the necessary step to take for a 'pro-choice\" individual to be invited to speak at a Catholic institution is to grant them a few bucks. Amazing how the consciences of the \"faithful\" become persuaded.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Burke is not a dissident. All he is doing is asking Pope Francis to clarify his theology and what he is saying. Pope Francis refuses to do so. (One wonders why Pope Francis refuses) It isn't being dissident to ask for clarification. Good grief Charlie Brown! \n\nThe right to follow your Conscience is not a license to sin or be disobedient. Catholics have the duty to form their conscience in Truth. The right to follow your Conscience is not a license to make up your own truth either. The right to follow your Conscience does not guarantee your Conscience is correct. \n\nWhere does Jesus say masturbation or contraception can send you to Hell? \"Thou shall not commit adultery.\" That commandment does not just refer to cheating on a spouse. The commandment applies to any misuse of one's sexuality. Jesus never said a lot of things. Jesus never condemned rape. Does it follow we can rape people or that rape does not merit Hell if one dies in an unrepentant state?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Honduras has a history of brave people who put their lives at risk to stand up to the powers that be. Sadly, the US has a history of supporting and aiding those who cause harm to the people. The Catholic hierarchy often does not stand withe the people, either. No wonder that so many join evangelical churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're right, everyone is not being treated equally. The French cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo were killed because of their depictions of Mohammed, not because of their depictions of Jesus.\n\nAnd the Globe and Mail refused to print any of the French or Danish cartoons of Mohammed, but never fails to belittle Christianity and Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is certainly true; it is very unwelcoming to subject someone to multiple rape (men, young and old, from the city). While Ezekiel is clear that there were more than simply sexual sins rampant in the cities, the Hebrew word \"abomination\" which he uses hearkens to that used in Leviticus. Jude provides the early Christian and Jewish understanding of the time that the abominations and perversions of the two cities were anything but being \"inhospitable\" - were, according to the understanding of the time (and presumably prior), sexual in nature. Jewish literature enumerates a number of sexual, and other, sins attributed to both cities. In the full Scriptural context, then, the sin of Sodom seems to be that giving oneself solely to sexual pleasures leads to other selfish acts. \nNo. Being merely unwelcoming is the least of Sodom's sins.\nMy wife's family is 100% Lebanese. I cannot be accused of misunderstanding the importance of hospitality in Middle Eastern culture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As regards the \"ecumenical\" dimension:\n\n1. Have no problem with Catholics being able to use those cathedrals since they built them, paid for them, and had them stolen from them.\n2. However, the \"ecumenism\" described here is a pale shade of grey \"spirituality,\" not really too Christian, not really too content-laden, oh, so politically correct with the \"priestess\" on the photo .... in other words, oh so Church of England.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the eyes of the state, they legally valid. When I was in Catholic HS sacraments class, as well as pre-cana, we were taught that the couple performed the sacrament and the priest was witness. If you check canon law, it will say that fecundity is not the requirement for marriage, only the ability to have sex. You may not like their sexuality, but that is because you are not gay. Sex is still a gift from God. Homosexuality is not disordered if you include being born gay as part of the natural order due to epigenesis. Of course, to understand any of this, you must place reality over authority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Glad to see a counter narrative. Evil is not restricted to Muslims and good is not restricted to Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religion in itself is a problem- agreed but Christianity is not a specific religion nor do I see it as a problem. Hey bycatch, Happy Thanksgiving you!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will agree, that after the British and the French finished carving up Palestine for their own benefit after the First World War, Jerusalem for both Jews and Muslims left a lot to be desired. But before that, going as far back to the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem, the Jews of the city, with perhaps a few exceptions, fared better under Muslim rule than either Roman or Christian. \n\nThe conquest of Jerusalem was an easy and relatively bloodless conquest because the Jews of the city believed that life would be better under Muslim rule than Byzantine. And it was, especially during the first one hundred years and before the introduction of the double shahada where acknowledgement that Muhammad was the Messenger of Allah was added. Before that seminal change, to be left alone to live and worship as you wished, and not have to pay the Jizya, http://boreal.ca/Koran/Jizya.htm all you had to admit to was belief in the one God and a last day, which for Jews and Christians was obvious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora, I did read both links. The speech = rank hypocrisy, period. Words about God and values by a man who is cruel to Muslims, immigrants, and bullies his fellow Americans. The press conference a spectacle of the US President indulging in slander and vilification as is his daily wont but this time in a foreign country. He is a leader only in slander, sneer, smear. Does the 8th Commandment matter anymore? Is it ok to say any vile thing without moral or factual basis? I'm with Francis: \"Non e Christiano\" Reading a speech doth not a human being make. \"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For many maybe, but not even close to a majority. For most, it's about a commercially produced industry-driven shopping holiday. Christian capitalism... let the poor be poor and the rich be merry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was some of His disciples who recoiled at His teachings and there's a suggestion Judas was one of them. Christianity is and always has been counter-cultural.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... a pretty face for TV that's all ... much like today's Christians, most are christians small 'c' super fakey and completely devoid of real moral fiber, the social contract THEY'VE NEVER HEARD OF IT ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can hardly be condemned for parodying orthodox catholicism if those representing it on this board are actual examples of the application of the teachings of orthodoxy. None of the virtues extolled by Christ are apparent in the postings of the orthodox, and when called on that failing, the orthodox seem amused that they should be expected to demonstrate christian virtue. Apparently orthodox and christian are not one and the same. I wonder if they even overlap?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well lets be clear. The sexual abuse that the Royal Commission documented is a trail of cases going all the way back to 1980. Francis wasn't Pope back then. John Paul II was. Moreover we shouldn't go directly to the Vatican for a case like this. We should be looking at the Australian Conference of Catholic Bishops specifically and asking why on earth they failed to deal with an epidemic of 7% of priests being pedophiles. \n\nSo it don't think it's fair to blame Francis specifically for that. I agree with you though in terms of the Gospel's dire injunctions against those who mislead or mistreat children and it is a direct rebuke at the institutional failure of priests to take clear actions in this regard.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity has not \"failed\", the leaders of the post Vatican II Church have failed Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and memorize the Catechism, so you can correct all of the people who you believe to be heretics and let them know they aren't \"real\" Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And what exactly is a faith based business? \nDoes the faith have to be Christian or can other denominations have the same justifications upheld by you. \nSee I remember growing up in a very large community where if you did not speak Yiddish and attend the synagogue you could not buy Kosher goods at some shops; the Italians places would not serve Jews nor would the Irish allow anyone to move their neighborhood who was not of Irish decent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Convince religion leaders to support birth rate redaction. Catholic and Muslim religion leaders for procreation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Bill, I found your response interesting. I'd like evidence that only leftists are allowed to teach, or that curriculums are leftist. from what I've seen, it's evangelical conservatives wanting Christianity and Christian based beliefs like Creationism shoved down the collective gullets of school kids, instead of facts.\n\nWhat about schools is \"leftist?\" Teaching equality? Equal rights? Why are those leftist ideals? Can't they just be the ideals of a civilized society?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To suggest this was a family holiday is just ridiculous. The president of the Liberal party was in attendance. Others as well. It's a strange environment for a Christian to spend Xmas. What else went on?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "G&M's bias towards one particular religious group is nauseating. I have never seen G&M to be so sympathetic to the Christians, who are being persecuted in Middle East, and who were thrown in to the sea from migrant ships, only because they were Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's my answer. Jesus didn't care about sovereignty of nations. He would expect his followers to help anyone who showed up in their country in need. He didn't care about nations, borders, or pragmatic considerations. The Church may teach otherwise, as it is very concerned about pragmatic considerations and sovereignty, and not so much with what Jesus had to say. What's amusing is your handle is \"faithful catholic\" but your rhetoric indicates you are more a nationalist that a catholic, and your faith is most likely tempered by what you consider to be best for you and yours.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Shame on the Steubenville Franciscans for their treatment of this authentic Catholic scholar. Eleven years teaching and now they decide to fire her. Why? Follow the money! Some donor with deep pockets (and extreme conservative views) gave the orders. It is a betrayal of their founder. St. Francis. And let's not forget the pitched battles of the Franciscans and the Dominicans in Medieval times in which the Franciscans were often labeled as heretics. I guess they were caught preaching at Notre Dame (in Paris).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I have judged is your error, I have not \"condemned\" you, the Bible will do that on its own. If you say 2+2 = 8 I will say you are wrong, just as I stated your definition of a Church is wrong. We are to judge with a righteous standard, I am quite surprised I would even have to say that to a person who claims to be a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "one of my favorite stories was about the man who became a chaplain in the service and he had no faith whatsoever. and that was good enough for the US gov't because that is exactly what they wanted. to suggest that a muslim can lead christians is absurd, just as it is that a christian could lead muslims in their faith. crazy days.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I did wonder if Colbert's Catholicism is colouring his unfortunate attitude toward SS relationships.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A Catholic who attended Mass well over a 3 year period is presented with more Bible than the average Protestant sees in their lifetime. \n\nThe daily Mass goer far more. \n\nCatholics may not strive to be quoters...but good ones - striving ones - know Scripture quite well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "JR---my favorite bumper snicker for years was, 'I wish Christians would act more like Christ and less like God.' I have no trouble with people of consistent faith, and who try to practice their teachings... but when? Trump could be the anti-Christ when he brings 'hell fire's furry' to the world...then we will know, but too late. Oh and isn't there something about 'false idolatry' someone...no Christian should worship the flag.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is it the goal to promote a single ideology? The petition could he utilized by many religions who seek to merely decline a service if it is not in congruence with their faith? \n\nI can't walk into a shop and expect someone to make me a suit with David's star on it or walk in wearing a shirt proclaiming love for satan. If i make my values known, you're seeking acceptance appeasement of the business owner. They can't be forced to accept. The reverse is true too. A Christian asking a Jewish shop for a crucifix embroidery with the word \"messiah\"...never ever happen. And Christian's expect this in respect of their devoteness to faith. In the end it is the owner's right and rightfully so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is hard to imagine any group more ideological than the Catholic Bishops. Hillary supported minorities all her life, justice and equality for women, tried to temper hatred and Islamophobia, rushed to the fore to help victims of 911, advocated for equal educational opportunities, universal health care, and so on. Measured by the ideological template of the US Bishops, apparently this advocacy makes her an \"ideological\". It is hard to imagine a charge more ironic coming from a group that is up to its eye balls in ideology. \nOn the other hand, Trump is currently toying with the idea of appointing. Steve Banon, his campaign manager, who's a smiley -face version of Charlie Mason, as his chief of staff, which is a neat way of igniting Charlie's \"race war\". And here they plan to be \"prophetic\"??? They are a little late.\n\nOn the nuclear issue. What do they intend to do: belatedly redeem the persecuted prophetic Archbishop of Seattle and advocate not laying any more nuclear eggs?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh dear, John, you continue to misrepresent virtually everything I write. I can understand why you do because you disagree with most of the teachings of the Catholic Church concerning Faith and Morals, whereas I agree with those teachings. Because of this you call into question my ability to arrive at sound judgement.\nNow, when it comes to defining 'sound judgement\", you naturally would insist that your judgements are correct, am I right? \nAnd this is because you maintain that your judgements are those of a reasonable man, yes? You have said so in previous posts.\nYour concept of what constitutes a reasonable man is yourself and those who agree with you.\nYou exclude absolutely the possibility that any definition of 'a reasonable man' could differ from your definition or hold beliefs which differ from yours. You are just someone who is convinced he is always right.\nI, on the other hand believe in the teachings of the Church, however difficult they are to comply with.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, a response that is inane, irrelevant and vaguely insulting. \n\nThe quote was from the self-righteous Pharisee's prayer in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. Your boast that you fast on Mondays reminded me of it. As I recall from the parable, Jesus didn't really approve of the Pharisee.\n\nOdd that you seem to disapprove of quoting the Gospel in a Christian blog.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We gave those \"decent Canadians\" with their somewhat suspect moral compass the boot in the last federal election - they were the Cons with all the cons, remember? The great Christian, hand-to-god regressive Conservatives who supported torture of a child soldier (yes, just like Lord's Resistance Army of children) and ignored every Charter ruling in favour of Khadr, refused to make the right and moral decision to repatriate him even when asked by the Americans. Now, they're cranking up the base with some bizarre notion that professional soldiers, (volunteers in the US military BTW, not draftees) should receive compensation and apologies when they are injured in battle and wildly outrageous death benefits in the $135M range per the Utah decision, and want Canadians to pony up cash for them. How about Canada sues the US gov. for all of the violations of international law and the rights of several Canadian citizens wrongfully imprisoned and tortured with the complicity of the Harpercons?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is an excellent opportunity to restore the following to all public schools in Ontario:\n\nThe Lord's Prayer\n\nCatholic Mass\n\nProtestant Chapel Services\n\nSince Muslims are afforded their own religious observances, those of the majority Christian faith will surely meet little opposition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was either that or go the full outrage ploy as Vic Toews did- remember \"Vikileaks\"?\nHowever, Vic got his reward.\nAmazing how these 'christians\" are able to get away with behaviour that the rest of us would be pilloried for...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You do realize, don't you, that by far the most persecuted religious group worldwide are Christians? Google it if you like. You also realize that anti-Semitism and acts against Jewish people outpaces those acts against Muslims, right? Google that too. I'm tired of posting the links. You mention only one group, Islam, and mention this group as being the one most put upon: it simply isn't true, and the facts do not back it up. Prejudice and hate are on all sides. Not just one group against another.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think these websites would agree with you at all, at all. They think they are the ONLY Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a Christian sentiment you express-not. We do realize this, by the way, but you-like your fearless leader-can choose to have your own truth reality if you like. It is critical for all citizens to watch what he does, and not what he says. \n\n\"The man knows how to chump journalists that's for sure.\"\n\nWell, isn't that a good quality in a leader, again, you are such a good Christian, GBA, to make this observation. Which sect are you part of? Inquiring (curious...) minds want to know!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To find \"Catholics\" who support abortion, read the NCR. To find Catholics who oppose the Church's teaching on immigration, just call up the USCCB.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also, there is no pre-Vatican II/post-Vatican II church except in the minds of some Catholics who like to pretend the documents of Vatican II made major changes to the 2000 year old teachings of the Church. I've read most of the Vatican II documents. Aside from their ambiguity, shamefully in some places, it did not change any doctrines on faith and morals. I find your posts offensive regarding the Catholic Church. Truthtotell? Not even close. \nWe do not make the Church how we want it to be. It is not ours to make since we did not establish it. God did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely correct. Since our country was founded on the Judeo-Christian paradigm (Moses and the 10 Commandments are on the front of the Supreme Court Building), and since every one of our Founding Fathers was Christian (that includes Deist), it is historically proven that none of them called nor wished for the secularization of any entity- private or state. All of them- up to and including today's Congress- calls a Christian invocation before every session.\n\nIf one thinks Christian invocation is somehow bad and evil- they should move someplace where there is actually religious persecution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, Jesus wasn't all that successful evangelizing the Orthodox Jews of His time. Maybe the core message just doesn't sell to some mindsets.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LOL - You are the poster child for attacks and rude comments. Now, why don't you remind me that I am not a Roman Catholic again?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Care to name some of these atheist abolitionists? I can easily name 5 prominent Christian abolitionists: John Newton, William Wilberforce, Elijah Lovejoy, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, William Lloyd Garrison, and that's just off the top of my head.\n\nYou can't divorce the abolitionist movement from Christianity anymore than I could divorce it from the enlightenment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm just curious when a woman goes to have a termination of pregnancy, do they ask you what your religion is? This coming to the 70% claiming Christianity. Christianity claiming abortion is a sin, though it is never mentioned in the Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But the point is that the university works to attract students who are not Catholic, pursuant to the idea that it does not discriminate. Imposing one's religious beliefs on others is a type of discrimination,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Roman Catholic leadership does not support the GOP. I would say that the RC leadership is very critical of the GOP on several issues.\"\n\nCharles, please Dolan gave the prayer invocation at the GOP convention. Many, many parishes pressed parishioners\u200b to vote for the GOP.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Definition of Christian is : relating to or professing Christianity or its teachings (and that is from the most liberal dictionary on the web - Google).\nIf the marriage you attended celebrating two women's love for another was claiming to be a \"Christian Church\", they are lying. Jesus taught clearly in several places about God's intention for family and marriage for that matter. I am sure you were touched and excited to see this, but neither the Church, nor the ceremony itself can be sanctioned as \"Christian\". I believe homosexual marriage is wrong, but under the laws of the land they are entitled to marry, but that does not make it right in the view of the Bible or God. If holding a Biblical view of marriage intimidates or angers you, that is your right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are the Christians who believe in Satan. Prison is good because the bible told them not to sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's not forget, to those who are entrenched in right-wing Romanism, the mere hint of something \"scriptural\" to support their bigotry serves as an invitation to favor *it* over the more obvious Christian meaning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I think there should be a ban on anything that creates such a gulf between a cultural group and the rest of society. A parallel and culturally isolated community is a breeding group for radicalism.\"\n\nThere are plenty of minority religious groups in Canada that keep to themselves (Hutterites, Mormons, etc), but I presume you're only worried about the Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems to me that the way we have defined freedom requires the 2nd Amendment. It is like a death cult that requires periodic blood sacrifices. All of us are in the death lottery. Any one of us can be selected for sacrifice any time, any where. Is this what we want freedom to look like? Murder has always been part of the tap root of the nation's identity. That is why our symbols are so important to some folks. They allow us to pretend we are civilized despite all proof to the contrary. I thought Jesus made blood sacrifices unnecessary. So much for being a christian nation. Just ask Bill Orielly, https://www.mediaite.com/online/bill-oreilly-calls-las-vegas-massacre-the-price-of-freedom/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can I just say that instead of saying NO!! try to witness to them as a Christian. God created them too. I'm Christian and when I see gay people, I don't put my nose up so high I can't see, I am nice and try to witness to them. But, I guess every Christian is different.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Living in New York, for about 30 years, has taught me many things.\n\n(1) The amateurs, know all of the rules. The professionals, know all of the exceptions.\n\n(2) It is not a matter, of right or wrong. It is, who makes the more convincing & persuasive argument.\n\n(3) Aggressiveness (also disguised as assertiveness), is treasured over passiveness (also known as a weakness).\n\n(4) Christian charity, is a characteristic of the weak. NYC is based on financial Darwinism. Christian charity, is also defined, by the Tax Code.\n\n(5) Getting your fellow employees, to do your job description, is classified as delegating your job responsibilities, and a good management trait. \n\n (6) Whatever \"work product\" that you create, belongs to your company (or boss), and that person will become the author or creator.\n\n(7) Any employee, who can intimidate fellow employees (without physical or verbal threats), into doing any ethical or unethical job description, and not have it in writing, is an asset.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Balkans were not Christian ruled - that is exactly my point. Greece and Turkey had a massive population exchange after their war in the 1920s. \n\nThere are white neighbourhoods in the US (especially in the South) where non whites cannot go. When I lived in Dubai, there were several clubs that non whites were not allowed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishops have a lot of influence on Catholic institutions located within their dioceses, even if they don't have direct control. The last thing a college wants is the local ordinary publicly encouraging parents to boycott their school because it isn't 'Catholic' enough.\n\nThe big dogs like Notre Dame and Georgetown can withstand criticism from a bishop, but smaller schools like Benedictine College (not Benedictine University, which is in Illinois) can't. Besides, as you point out, that school skews to the right anyway, so I imagine they have no problem with Naumann's request.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All in all, neither Burke nor the Knights of Malta are of much importance and had the US for-profit media not elevated Burke to the status of a powerful boogeyman just to give Pope Francis a suitable \"enemy,\" this whole Knights of Malta story would have been confined to the obscurity of intra-Catholic news.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Its not religion, its zealotry in general.\nI've met Atheists, Christians, Muslims even Wiccans that are great people. I've not met a zealot I could even get along with though.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By my mystical experiences of Christ, I know that Christ lives in each one of us and in children!\nYou RCI clergies actually raping Christ immanent in children, I hope you know!\nAre any of you RCI clergies aspire to be united to God at all?\nAre you RCI clergies portray God for us? Is our God rapes children and hoards money and power like you?\nChrist in bible never describe Jesus rape children or walked around in $36,000 clergy outfits like C. Dolan living in fancy mentions & driving around fancy cars, or wine & dine in fancy Italian restaurants! You RCI clergies are not the follower's of Christ, are you? \" the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9\u00a0\u201cAll this I will give you,\u201d he said, \u201cif you will bow down and worship me.\u201d RCI clergies must have bow down and worship me(devil) ' then?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God nor Jesus are mentioned in the Constitution. Not once.\nAnd what Christian values were you thinking of? Women as second class citizens? Slaves as chattel? Indigenous peoples as non-human?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The group of \"christians\" in question are the extreme right wing evangelicals who wish to violate the First Amendment in the hopes of creating a white christian theocracy.\n\nThe Establishment Clause of the First Amendment is meant to protect us from this sort of forced theocracy. \n\nCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"....while the former group is declining.\"...\n\nYes, as we age, we tend to die...\n\nSo, how do you eliminate this built-in skewing of the statistics???\n\nHow does one define a \"Catholic\"? Mass attendance is the norm, but as you've pointed out it doesn't hold up in a younger demographic. So are the ones no longer attending weekly Mass really Catholic? According to what definition? Self-declaration? Do we limit the definition to outside actions (weekly Mass attendance) or interior spirituality?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is why they disobeyed the bishops who asked them to stop presenting this publication as Catholic...were they not to self-identify as Catholic and appropriate the label Catholic they would not reach as many people with their agenda. So they benefit from identifying with the institution they disparage. (Although Church Militant, who obeyed when asked by the bishop to stop calling themselves RealCatholic.tv or whatever they called themselves seem to do fine without using the moniker Catholic as a crutch.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hmmm...and which religion says the Grand Mufti will be reborn and is going to walk down the main road in Persia and banish all non-believers to hell? Also which Christian cult has claimed the lives of almost 6,000 lives in self-described terror attack? And don't be abstract with 'the American millitary' etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Roman Catholic, yes. Woman, no.\n\nYes, the challenge is always to acknowledge our anxieties without giving in to our darker impulses. Recognizing demagogues for who and what they are is a good first step.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Canadian Courts have ruled that even in Church:\n\n\" If criticism of homosexual behavior is construed as criticism of homosexuals then a \u201csimple reading\u201d of the Lev. 18 and context clearly shows that the passage \u201ccould objectively be viewed as hate speech.\u201d While Canada\u2019s Supreme Court justices may not understand what is in the \u201choly text\u201d used by Christians, homosexual rights activists certainly do\u2014and they will expect the legal system to consistently apply the logic of the Court\u2019s ruling.\"\n\nEqually troubling is that Christian ministers who condemn homosexual behavior can be subject to hate crime prosecution. Canada\u2019s Supreme Court has determined that speaking out against destructive homosexual behaviors could be construed as vilification of homosexuals and therefore is prohibited in most circumstances. This is a radical standard that could severely hamper Christian witness. BUT THEY DON'T CARE!!\n\nGO TO ANY MOSQUE AND YOU WILL HEAR CLERICS SPEW HATE SPEECH AGAINST WE INFIDELS!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, buster, you are wrong. I don't find abuse funny. Over the many years few people have been more critical of the bishops response on this website than I have. Newspapers cover-up stories all the time. They used to do it for the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think we both agree that the right Man was elected, especially given that he was the One chosen by our Bishops. The Church long warned of the dangers of democracy, and it is now time for all Traditional Catholics to line up behind our new, authoritarian leader. We can only pray to the saints that he sees the light and submits his authoritarian rule of this nation to the commands of the Vatican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alceste, I speak of true phobias rather than pseudophobias.\n\nThey are 1) Overwhelming. 2) IRRATIONAL.\n\nIt might well be that you suffer from Musophobia, an overwhelming and irrational fear of mice which would be manifested by you leaping screaming into a chair or rushing out of the room in a panic.\n\nDo Islamophobics scream and jump onto a chair on seeing a Quran or run screaming out of the room?\n\nAgain, Islamophobia is an overwhelming and irrational fear of a belief system and not of a follower of that belief system.\n\nA hater of Muslims would be better described as a Misomuslim.\n\nA hater of a Muslim for being a Muslim should be condemned just as one should condemn the hater of a Christian for being a Christian( a follower of Christianity).\n\nFor my part I'm a atheists...there are many Misoatheists out there...and they don't bother me in the least...of course there are those believers in a certain belief system who are rabid Misoatheistic and want to chop off the heads of atheists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh dear. Sigh. Harassment by threats. One would think the constant attempts at intimidation would end, but there are some who, despite claiming to be motivated by christian ideals, feel the need to lash out. At least the snark was kept to a minimum, but once again, it seems a poster has hijacked a thread and turned the conversation to herself, rather than the discussion of idears. Sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I caught a typo...the sentence 'To the vast majority, Pope Francis is the compassionate face of Catholicism today' should read 'To the vast majority OF NCR STAFF, Pope Francis is the compassionate face of Catholicism today.'\n\nAs for flexing his muscle in Nigeria...why on earth is the Bishop of Rome appointing bishops in other dioceses? The pope isn't th CEO of the church. That's the Spirit of Vatican One.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The takeaway from the conversation is that Trump and the pro-life movement have given license to bigotry in all its forms, causing unity between people of good will in the Abrahamic religions to come together. License revoked.\n\nThe bishops have always been for foreign assistance (as long as the usual abortion language is attached on the Mexico City policy is included). Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Mid-East cannot do everything.\n\nI don\u2019t read CNA, including the link. Yogaphobes don\u2019t understand the pagan allusions in yoga, which are all naturalistic, like paganism itself. Both yoga and Hinduism are about human self knowledge. This is no danger to Catholics (nor is Buddhism). If the CDF were to quit riding Catholic meditators so hard, perhaps they would not turn to other disciplines.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The clergy are the cause of this evil scandal as well as almost every church scandal and/or disaster other than that caused by King Henry VIII. Although it will not occur in any of our lifetimes, if Catholic Christianity is to survive, it will be in an iteration without clergy. The age of the clerics is slowly coming to an end.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then, according to Catholic teaching, that person must follow his conscience. Of course, someone who rejected the Resurrection could reasonably be said to have abandoned the Catholic faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "_\"Why do the Khans get special and national exposure at the DNC? Because they\u2019re Muslim. It\u2019s PC BS pure and simple.\"_ -- 4:20\n\nIn fairness, I think the reason that the Muslim parents of a soldier who died in combat were provided a forum is to emphasize that not all Muslims are terrorists (just as all Christians don't follow Christ's teachings). Of course, the Khan's were speaking only to people who don't have hearts filled with hate and minds filled with Fox News garbage. No surprise then that you didn't \"get it.\"\n\n-- Paul", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, it isn't the same thing. One results in an objective impairment; the other results in a difference that isn't really a physical malady. Please remember that the reproductive system, no matter how much the Catholic Church worships it, is the only organ system in the body that is not necessary for the survival of the individual.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".....and the Bishops just sold their souls to the devil. The Catholic Church is nothing more than an arm of the Rebublican party and they just gave the entire world Donald Trump and all the evil that surrounds him. What does organized religion really offer anyone anymore?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps they should have included the christian Bible which contains all the \"offensive\" items.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please don't conflate these issues. There are many Christians who wholeheartedly support the science behind climate change. Bringing faith into the conversation confuses issues and breaks down into personal attacks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First off there is no desire of Christians to eliminate science from our children's education. Second, you must have more faith than I do as a Christian. There are any number of miracles that must have happened just right to produce life, let alone human life on this planet, and that includes the orbits of the moon and earth about the sun.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The US economy will tank without the Mexicans. Can you imagine white, Christian Americans cleaning floors and toilets? Perish the thought.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That pretty much sums it up.\n\nIt is really sad to see what the Jesuits have become. This priest, sadly, is representative of what the order is today. \n\nAt one time they were like the Navy Seals of Catholicism. They were the best of the best, the brightest of the brightest. They were intellectual powerhouses for the Faith. \n\nReform of the Jesuits and many other religious orders is so sorely needed today. If that is no longer possible, we need new religious orders founded to do what the Jesuits were originally founded to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Let Winters carry on, if he really wants to, shelling out nasty abuse on the internet so that souls are led astray and turned off the Catholic faith.\"\n\nYou can rest assured that if any people are turned off by the Catholic faith it won't be because of anything Michael Sean Winters does or doesn't write. For someone who obviously doesn't care for MSW you certainly give him an awful lot of credit for having an outsize influence that he clearly does not possess.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have you ever checked out the percentage of Palestinian who are Christian? Of course not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not about who they are as a person. It's not even about the behavior that stems from their sin. It's really about forcing people to violate their closely held beliefs. We don't force Muslims who own restaurants to sell alcohol because that would be against their beliefs. But somehow it's all right to force Christians to not only remain silent about sexual immorality, but to approve and participate in it by providing symbols of a commitment to a wholly sinful lifestyle. The Bible says clear that when we have a conflict between the laws of man and the laws of God, we must obey God ... even if it means being hung upside down on a cross as Peter was. I'm sure there were people in his day who thought he should just accept society's way of doing things at that time and not be concerned with obeying God. In fact Acts 5 was exactly that circumstance. \"Believe anything you want, just do it our way\". Peter & John replied \"We would rather obey God than man.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She has made repeated statements rejecting stare decisis, the doctrine that requires courts to follow precedent.\n\nBarrett holds the dangerous opinion that judges should put their personal religious beliefs ahead of the law and the Constitution when carrying out their duties, which is antithetical to American democracy. Many of her writings lay the groundwork for an attack on women\u2019s reproductive rights, as well as other critical legal rights and protections.\n\nBarrett wrote specifically about the duty of judges to put their faith above the law in an article entitled \u201cCatholic Judges in Capital Cases.\u201d Among other things, she strongly criticized Justice William Brennan\u2019s statement about faith, in which he said that he took an oath to uphold the law, and that \u201cthere isn\u2019t any obligation of our faith superior\u201d to that oath. In response, Barrett wrote: \u201cWe do not defend this position as the proper response for a Catholic judge to take with respect to abortion or the death penalty.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Call to disciple ship is in our DNA!\nOf course some are enticed by serpent and choose power and money instead like Pope F. and the Vatican prelates!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm against religious accommodation in the schools - but we've always had it and some Christian sects have been the most vocal in demanding it. \n\nEasiest thing would be to allow students to leave for other religious venues and of course, rescind, the rule of accommodation school boards have to follow.\n\nBut tearing pages out of the Koran (or any \"holy\" book)? Childish and provocative. Don't do that and pretend multiculturalism or accommodation are the problem - that action and sense of entitlement to perform it is the problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is kind of a red herring issue , the Pastors I know openly say who they are voting for, and I know some of them who say who we should NOT vote for. Albert Mohler - openly said Evangelical Christians should not vote for Donald Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed. There is one excellent, brilliant publication: Margaret Farley proposes, in her outstanding book \"Just Sex. A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics\" (Continuum, June 2006, several prints after that), the building stones of a 21st Century theology of human sexuality. Of course, the CDF (so zealous that it misunderstood Farley's intent to propose a framework for discussion and accused her of proclaiming a new doctrine, which she of course never wanted to do) condemned Farley's work - thereby providing the author with a marketing coup she could have never dreamed of. In Latin: \"recommendatio ex negativo\" - \"Just Sex\" is perhaps the most important Must Read for every thinking Catholic (and beyond) right up to this day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Times have changed. I remember the big concern as to whether a Catholic could be a President. Kennedy did it. And the KKK in Oregon was nailing US Flags on the Catholic Church doors in Eugene just 30 years before that.\n\nEven four years ago, Romney's loss didn't happen just because he was a Mormon, although I'm confident some did vote against him because of that.\n\nI don't really care that Governor Brown says she is bisexual; I voted against her because she is inept and politically linked to whoever gives her the most money, Bloomberg, SEIU whoever. What or whom she does in her bedroom or in what combination(s) is irrelevant for me. \n\nShe can do everything in \"50 Shades of Grey\" or be celibate; neither makes her a good or poor Governor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This woman is STILL a United Church minister?? The United Church is already a laughing stock over accepting this self-professed atheist as ordained clergy in a Christian church this long.\n\nOne may wonder about her true motives & if she's in fact sincere & honest (if misguided). ;Cause this looks like a Trojan horse style attack on the church by someone hostile to the institution, whose intent is treacherous though she doesn't admit so.\n\nA vegan restaurant wouldn't tolerate a chef believing in meat eating who admits he adds bacon bits to the house salad, & ham pieces to the lentil soup.There are legit places for such chefs to create such meat dishes, but a vegan restaurant's NOT one of them. It's just as absurd and inappropriate for a Christian church to tolerate as clergy an admitted atheist presiding over one of its local churches.There are groups where she could legitimately identify as atheist & preside over, but a Christian church surely isn't one of them. Bon appetit?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Besides there are a very large number of rather ordinary badly-evangelized Catholics who think they've won a great victory over abortion right now, and they're only giving the USCCB lip-service in their customary way anyway, so as usual this won't matter in 10 years. Yawn.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joshua did narrow it down somewhat to the \"right-wing Christian anti-gay pro-gun\". A little too blankety still, but certainly not \"all American Christians\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The abandonment of nuclear weapons of mass destruction would be for \"the common good\" but will never happen now or in the forseeable future because of the control of our nation by the Right and the Religious Right - the religious adherents of the GOP including the American Catholic hieararchs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So cool that they are giving them a repayable loan. Is there any other kind? Don't bother answering that. I know, it's all in the name of jobs. Jobs at any cost. Why not give 7,440 people $50,000 each and call it a day. That way we know it will get spent by real people. It's probably more effective too. In order to determine who gets it, that's not that hard either. First, remove all the white people from eligibility (but not those who can prove they aren't white, or \"identify\" as other races even though they look white). That would give the rest of the folks a really good chance at the money, and it would go a long way to cure the ills brought upon the population by white people (except those that are white but identify as a different race weren't involved in causing the problem). Next, from whomever is left, remove the Christians, because we all know the damage they've caused. The rest have about a 1 in a thousand chance. Way better than the lotto and buys votes too!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't need to explain to us why it's okay for kids to take a Christian Bible to a public school and proselytize. It's obviously a protected right, just as it will be for the kids there to express how they feel about your particular religious sect or cult. Don't complain if \"Satan\" or even \"Baal\" proselytizing begins to occur. May the coolest religion with millennia-old roots win on a level playing field, ne? We'll be building temples to Artemis in no time, sisters. Or maybe secular public schools aren't the best places for evangelizing or otherwise. Well, it seems that's already been decided, now let's make it pluralistic. Kids are so darned impressionable, I hear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sharia law is practiced mainly in Saudi Arabia. As for \"much of the region\", it happens to be the place where civilization was born (Egypt and Iraq). The region also happens to be the location where three great religions were founded.\n\nAs for barbaric, World War One and Two killed over 100 million people in Europe in the last 100 years. Is that less barbaric than stoning? 7000 Bosnian Muslims were killed by Serbian Christians about twenty years ago. Isn't that barbaric? If you account for genocide, Europe leads the Middle East by a mile.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a \"boomer\" as are most of my friends and family and even most neighbors. I don't know where you have gotten the impression that we ridiculed our parents and taught our children that to be Catholic, Episcoplian or Lutheran was to be racist and homophobic. \n\nI don't know even one boomer who has done what you charge all boomers with, and I have known hundreds of boomers in my lifetime.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Extremist right wing christianity is a political system and until humanity wakes the hell up and STOPS referring to it as a religion, there is no hope. Extremist Christianity is a hyper-aggressive, militaristic, expansionist, totalitarian political system designed to create a super-rich micro-oligarchical ruling class with a massive, destitute, genetically handicapped underclass below.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In an op-ed in May in the Washington Post, Balmer said the affinity then between Trump and evangelicals \"seems improbable\" but quite understandable because the modern religious right movement \"was never about the advancement of biblical values.\" Quite to the contrary, he said, it \"is a movement rooted in the perpetuation of racial segregation, and its affiliation with the hard-right fringes of the conservative movement in the late 1970s produced a mutant form of evangelicalism inconsistent with the best traditions of evangelicalism itself.\"\n\nExactly! The white identity movement has always had one foot set in Evangelical Protestantism. Nonetheless, more than a few white Catholics seem to be of the same mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those of us in the 21st century just want you to grow up. Same goes for any of the other 2 middle east religions. Judaists in large part have, but Christians are a few hundred years behind, and Muslims even farther behind that.\n\nAdditionally, the whole concept of \"Believe and be forgiven\" is flawed at its core. Adopting something more like what the Buddhists believe is much, much more productive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The most vicious attacks on the Catholic Church and the Holy Father seem to be coming from the GOP. And now we se a growing number of right-wing neo-pagans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "you mean the white of right Christians who the governments wont condemn as terrorist groups?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the bishops are so concerned about the persecution of Middle Eastern Christians at the hands of ISIS, perhaps they should have been a little more vocal when George W. Bush started his illicit \"pre-emptive\" war of choice which JPII and B16 both declared to be unjust. That left a political vacuum in the region that was promptly filled by ISIS. It's a little late in the game to fret about the persecution of Middle Eastern Christians now when the bishops could have done something to prevent it from ever happening in the first place. Silence does come with a price. I wonder if the bishops have ever personally atoned for their complicity in the Iraq War by their utter failure to stand up to Bush when his popularity was soaring. Somehow I tend to doubt it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where on earth do you get the idea that \"God Himself defines marriage as being between a man and a woman...?\" It certainly isn't in Scripture. It certainly is a position held by some Christians that choose to remain in past centuries of uninformed thought.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mucky,\nYou plagiarize my posts.\nNone of your quotes refutes my original declaration.\nAs it stands-- our Founding Fathers made our nation through the Judeo-Christian paradigm, which was a direct product of where they believed our rights derived from.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By virtue of the fact that he's employed in a Catholic church, your church's music director isn't a Mormon, he's an ex-Mormon, which means he's just as anathema to practicing Mormons as anyone who's not Mormon by birth. No practicing Mormon in good standing with the Mormon church would ever be caught dead working in any other religion without facing severe reprimand, most notably excommunication. Perhaps it's fair to say that your music director's treatment at the hands of his own church (probably being kicked out for being gay since there's a fairly large percentage of gay church musicians) has led him to be more compassionate towards others. That would be my bet. But's let's be clear: he is not, repeat not, a practicing Mormon if he's working in a Catholic Church. If he is, he's doing it on the down low.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The operative word there is \"implied\". And \"complementarity\" is a tern used by traditionalists -- not Jesus -- as a fancy way of saying \"women are inferior to men\" while pretending not to say it.\n\nI can and should get angry with you traditionalists, both for the sexism you pretend is ordained by God, and also for putting words in Jesus's mouth that he never said. The first is unchristian, the second is dishonest (and thus also unchristian).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"My sympathy goes to his family, who must be heartbroken.\" Sympathy, condolence - not very far apart. \n\nI've been comforted in mouring by the prayers(in person) of friends I knew and many I didn't. I lived in a community that was very supportive of the family, from the funeral service to many months/years later. Their Christian ethics are reflected through their sense of community. I was so appreciative of the help offered to me and my daughters.\n\nI've read quite a bit of Eric's writing, most of it very good, and this is the first time I knew he had a religious faith. \n-----------------------\nThere are non judgmental Christians - and then there are those who will say i'm not a 'good' Christian for saying that! LOL", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration has already stated categorically that he will not open Canada's doors to Christians. That would be religion faith based immigration policy and against our secular moral standards. He said just a couple of weeks ago that Christians don't face the same dangers as other legitimate refugees. He will however welcome all Muslims fleeing Trump's persecution in the US.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a great example of how badly catechized too many Catholics are. And yet it doesn't slow their typing. \n\nA \"liturgist\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The notion that violence against homosexuals should not be surprising is predicated on the repugnant notion that homosexuality, homosexuals and their families and relationships are deserving of violence -- thus we ought not be surprised when it happens. This is filthy, despicable thinking -- and to the extent that it is rooted in Catholic teaching about homosexuality, it is evidence of precisely the point I made: that the teaching is untenable.\n\nBut I meant \"untenable\" in the larger sense that the teaching is widely and rightly rejected as inconsistent with what we know about human sexuality, and even more important, with what we know about our GLBTQ family members, friends, neighbors and co-workers. This ship has sailed. It has a way to go, of course, but there's no turning back. Thank God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What if... Mary really enjoyed a married life with Joseph? What if she had more children? Is Jesus any less? Is His birth any less? It is all so ridiculous to think that Mary's humanity, her human body, is \"defiled\" by the an act that creates new life, God's way of renewing human life on this earth. What mind ever came up with that idea that the act of creation is evil?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Roman Catholic church in the Magisterium considers them to be intrinsically evil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Back in the 'good old days'---at Catholic colleges---about the only women who WERE prepared to head Catholic colleges were the Sisters. The Sisters strove to educate the women who came to study, to take initiatives, to be leaders. At that time Sisters DID their work and educated women. \n\n\nNow, those women and the daughters of those women so educated to be leaders are NOW LEADERS---and they can and do head universities. This is the AGE of the LAITY---and it is time that lay women and men---step up to take the responsibility to educate a new generation of Catholic leaders.\nIt's good that they are doing this.\n\n\nThe Sisters, today, have moved to minister to those who live on the margins of society---both in our country and abroad. They should be applauded for moving in the Light of Christ and moving into the unknown territory of the poor, the homeless, the addicted, the abused.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am confused, I thought that Roy Moore was a devout Christian. So much so that he even drew on Christianity's antecedent, the Jews, for their moral code. Now, while pedophilia is not exclusively mentioned in the 10 commandments, it just seems like a socially inappropriate behavior. He seems like such a good man, I have seen him riding a horse, and then even, displaying his weapon on stage at political rallies, but involved in sexual assault? Of a minor? I don't believe the GOP would stand for that kind of person in their party. This must be a democratic smear campaign to blemish the fine upstanding Judge Roy Moore. Corey Gardener must ride to Moore's defense, these kinds of deplorable accusations can't be true, not of the GOP. So confused, is nothing sacred, how can god bless America with this kind of slander against our purest leaders? I am afraid the end of the world is nigh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NO NO NO NO NO\nThe man in white standing next to Trump is a supporter of Catholic values. And the barely concealed expression of disgust on the Holy Father's tells me all I need to know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who are the supporters of Khadr?\n\nusually from these groups\npeople with NDP orientation\nleftist academics in the ivory tower\nthe so-called leftist \"intellectual\"\nliberal clergy from post christian churches\nunion leaders (not members)\nradical student activists\n \nhis mother and sister\n \n \nLeft and right\n \n\"On the left, he is regarded as a sort of martyred saint: A sympathetic avant garde 2012 book of essays about him, Omar Khadr, Oh Canada - an anthology, even includes poetry.\"\n \n \"On the right, meanwhile, Khadr is regarded, quite literally, as a super-villain. A popular book written by Ezra Levant describes Khadr (without irony) as \"the James Bond of Jihad,\" \"the prince of al-Qaeda,\" and \"a degenerate Agent 007.\"\n \nFrom: Our citizen, our problem - Jonathan Kay - National Post - July 25, 2012", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a white Catholic, listening to Father Massingale has motivated me to read some of the Catholic theologians exploring white privilege. For example, reading Alex Mikulich and Laurie Cassidy helps me move to anti-racist action based on my faith. In this political climate, acting in solidarity seems crucial.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An archbishop in a neighboring diocese from mine did the same thing before the election, labeling Tim Kaine with the tired moniker \"cafeteria Catholic\" because he distinguished between his private opinion on the abortion issue and his public duty to uphold the law. These religious leaders seem to forget that the Catholic cafeteria offers a host of dishes, and some of us refuse to gorge on just one that has been tainted with gimmicks, false statistics and hysterical misrepresentation that only serve to cheapen the debate on life issues. \n\nExpecting a change on Roe v. Wade is very like the Linus and Lucy football debacle. Every election cycle brings out political opportunists who promise that pro-life groups (Linus) can kick the football over the goal, only to have said football removed by the politicians (Lucy) after the election. Sadly, Linus never learns.\n\nChanging a law won't stop abortions. The Sermon on the Mount offers better ways. More costly, but Jesus didn't promise cheap.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure if there's anything more lame than taking obvious irony as a statement of actual sentiment. \n\nWhat strange Catholics, who care less about terrorist attacks than about their irrational pique at the president.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\nThe judge of this criticism, of whether it is constructive or not is the Pope, it is purely at his whim completely subjective.\nSpadaro, it seems, is the 'eminence grise' the 'evil genius' behind whom Pope Francis hides in his battle against orthodox Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And, Frank, where are Catholic traditionalists decrying the Koch Bros. funding? As MSW says, they are for SSM and abortion rights. Could it be that $ trumps pelvic issues?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe it was Christ Himself who conferred His authority to the Apostles. If it was important for him, ought it not be important for us.\n\nSpeaking of confusion, though, your incoherence smacks of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing on Las Vegs? Really? I am expecting a gun column tomorrow.\n\nAbp. Gomez\u2019s emphasis on immigration was perfect for the time as was his shout out to a man who was not only a Catholic Worker, but founder of Democratic Socialists of America, whose growth has been huge in the last year. In DSA, we have had a lot to talk about.\n\nBeing a sanctuary city never stoped ICE, it just meant that the local police would not feed them arrestees, so now they are rounding up families instead. Never dare law enforcement unless you want them to make things bad enough to radicalize the civilians.\n\nAnderson finding friends among fringe Catholics in Steubenville is not news.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When did Jesus DEMAND kneeling? The comment here is about priests putting back kneelers and expecting his parishioners to be kneeling. \n\nKeep to the topic!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you saying, that with all those supposedly smart people, at a elite catholic school, they forgot to talk to the insurance Co., & get their story ( or act) straight prior to issuing the initial statement?\n\nThis whole thing sounds like \"we have to make the announcements to find would what the plan is all about\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our pope needs to seriously deal with the half of the church he has been continuously ignoring, women, and deliver them equal ordination immediately. Otherwise, I see a real reason for stress developing for him in 2017, and for reasons of human dignity. Women are not going to stand for being told no - the church won't ordain women priests or make women cardinals any longer. Its time to fight folks if justice is not given fully and immediately!\n\nJoin WOC now! Women's Ordination Conference. Fight for our church to be one worth attending - a Just Church of Christ - no more women hating rules!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't Christians believe that God created everything? If so, then God created gays. So do Christians believe that God made a mistake? What else did God make that was a mistake?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why would we follow the example of someone just because they are a priest or bishop? They are still faulty human beings. But the sex abuse scandal is a perfect example of ignoring Church teachings. What? Do you find it hard to believe that the clergy ignores Church teaching too? And the majority of the abuse victims were teen-age boys.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nancy G., your post makes perfect sense and I understand why you feel that corrupt bishops have driven you out of the church. But, with all due respect, I find that your departure is somewhat of an insult to the rest of us in the church. Aren't we, the Catholics who pray and celebrate together, feed the poor, minister to the oppressed, teach our children, and care for the sick, worth staying with?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But, they are both Shepherds and Teachers, even Jesus was called Rabbi !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Worship of a dead man on a dead tree??? Kindly explain this coming from a catholic????", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Comment 1\n\nThis article appears to want to link this visit by Archb Hart, Coleridge and the Truth, Justice, and Healing Council head as somehow directly connected to the potential trial of Card Pell on child sex abuse charges. I don\u2019t think that is why the meeting happened now. A more complete article by Christopher Lamb of The Tablet is found here: http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/7883/0/australian-church-facing-biggest-crisis-in-its-history-says-brisbane-archbishop- \n\nThe Australia Royal Commission is due to release it findings in mid December after years of grueling inquiry into institutional response to child sex abuse. The Catholic Church is one of the religious institutions that has been beaten to a pulp in the long inquiry. As Coleridge put it: \u201cThe Church has been shaken to the core, or as one well-informed voice has said, \u2018It has broken the heart of the Church in this land.\u201d \n\nMy thought is this meeting is more about [continued]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joey Marshall: Here's the compromise. The Catholic Church admits its ignorance of the science on this issue, apologizes for the murder of and other acts of discrimination against LGBT people, seeks forgiveness for those atrocities, and makes amends or otherwise atones for its atrocities. In return, LGBT people will accept the apology and the atonement, offer forgiveness and move on their lives with a bit more sense of security. Seems a fair exchange.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think they will make an US American be pope. \n\nI would be happy to see Cardinal Sarah ascend the chair of Peter...and Cardinal Kasper live long enough to kiss his ring after the despicable comments he made about African Catholics. \n\nI thought it was scandalous no one from the Ordinariates or Eastern rites where they have married men with families as priests seemed to have been asked to chime in at the Synod. \n\nI do think the contradictions inherent in the Kasper interpretation of AL will ultimately fall under the weight of their incoherence. Francis might go the rest of his life without answering, but the next pope will probably want to answer. God help us if they put in someone like Cardinal Tagle though!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Greek, there are four words that can all be translated as \"love\": storge, eros, philia, and agape.\n\nStorge -- \u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c1\u03b3\u03ae -- is the love a parent has for a child.\n\nEros -- \u1f14\u03c1\u03c9\u03c2 -- is a sexual love.\n\nPhilia -- \u03c6\u03b9\u03bb\u03af\u03b1 -- is a dispassionate love. In Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, philia is used to mean loyalty to friends, family, and community, and would be the term used in a phrase such as \"I love baseball\".\n\nAgape -- \u1f00\u03b3\u03ac\u03c0\u03b7 -- is the sort of love that Jesus was talking about when he said \"No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one\u2019s friends.\" -- John 15:13. It is the love of God for humanity and of humanity for God. Paul uses it in 1 Corinthians 13, where it is translated \"charity\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "huh.\nWhy does a guy that claims he wants to be honest, who is the head of a think tank that gets all sort of money from the far right, claims that he can not afford insurance?\n\nSOunds to me like another far right liar who has NO INTENTION OF EVER BEING HONEST. \nMr. Sengenberger, you are simply a liar. \n\nI would love to know, why it is the far right speaks of christian morals, but then are some of the biggest offenders of 10 commandments as well as the bible and jesus's teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Given that you're constantly saying conservative Catholics and everyone who voted for Trump is racist, I think your problem isn't the president. You seem to have a big problem with a lot of people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bible is clear about a woman role in church. Now if it is political correctness your after then you should get into politics. It amazes me how someone is elevated in position in the church without some basic knowledge of scriptures. \n\n\n1 Tim.2:11 A woman[a] should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man;[b] she must be quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15 But women[c] will be saved through childbearing\u2014if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The constant obsessing about abortion is what has most poisoned and paralyzed Catholics and their bishops. The bishops should say, \"We agree that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. We offer our collaboration with all who want to make it rarer, by looking at the social and educational conditions underlying its frequency. We deplore it as an act of death but we respect the consciences of women who choose it, frequently because they have no other choice. We want to enter into understanding dialogue with these women.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True. Not making homosexuality normal as normal means within the first two standard deviations. Abnormal does not mean sick, however. The two issues are separate, no matter how the Church hierarchy wishes to confuse the issue. Don't listen to the arguments of bishops who covered up abuse. Would ending celibacy end abuse? No, abuse happens in protestantism, including married men abusing boys.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I presume that they were wearing albs and stoles to symbolize their belief that God calls women to the priesthood and diaconate, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is sad that Schatz, Hirono & Hanabusa have to open their mouths and speak before there are any facts. \n\nThe neo-Nazi supporters are distasteful. Very few agree with them. Unfortunately the 1st amendment allows them to march and speak. If you don't agree with them, do the right thing. Ignore them. Walk away. Don't give them any press. Trying to shout down speech you don't agree with only spreads their message.\n\nBoth sides carried weapons to the march and both sides used them to hurt others. Neither is honorable. The use of violence against speech you don't like is fascist and un-American. Even when the speech is repugnant. \n\nThe fact is that both sides of the protest caused violence. You might not like Trump but in this case he was right. The violent perpetrators on both sides should be arrested.\n\nShatz's statement/diatribe against Trump is shallow, lame, and partisan. Schatz, as a struggling, Catholic, middle class white human being, you are not my Senator.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Alexandra. Your drawing the distinction between refugees and others makes sense of the Biblical exhortation to welcome the stranger. For if a stranger is a refugee, in the strict sense, then one can easily see sense in the Scriptural command. Turning away a refugee, unless under dire national circumstances, simply doesn't square with \"Love thy neighbor.\" Turning away those who want to be here, but whose existence in their own country is still tenable though difficult, is not a Christian mandate. In fact, it would ultimately lead to a fundamental change in the host country --- as is happening in England and France. So it is easily consistent for one to be passionately on the side of the refugee and still be opposed to illegal immigration. I myself, opposed as I am to illegal immigration, applied several years ago for the Jesuit Refugee Service. So thanks again for clarifying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The sad fact is that there is even an organization like SNAP. Having so many victims of sexual abuse all over the world is disgusting. Giving all of the victims a voice against this corruption gives me hope as an individual. Logging on to the SNAP website everyday gives you hope whereas the church gives you none. If the catholic church practiced what it preaches they would sit down with SNAP and make sure all of the victims were treated like human beings who have been violated in a very sick way. I am beginning to believe more an more everyday that all the church will ever do is just wait for all the victims to die off so that it is just another chapter in their sick history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Celibacy is a choice. Sexual orientation is not. Asexuals are sometimes celibate because it fulfills their natural experiece of having no attraction. It is bisexuals that can go either way. Asexuality is similar to the Platonic sexual ideal upon which celibacy is based. It is also likely that St. Paul was Asexual (it was not a job requirement for him). We assume he taught purity because of the imminent return of Christ, but it may have been an artificat of his own innate sexuality. The pattern continues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not really. Canadians ARE Americans, and North Americans too, as are Mexicans. Time to broaden your horizons, even though that takes a good dose of humility which is rare in the Catholic ultra-right-wing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If they bought all the cars, jewelry, and properties in the name of the church, would they be in trouble? Churches are tax exempt, right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Mr. Trump for your assurance that we can count on you to keep the government off the backs of faithful Catholics, and allowing Catholics the freedom to worship as their religion requires them to.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I am in a silly silly mood, letting my frontal lobe rest, inclined to dismiss facts, reveling in bad reasoning, giving in to popular trendy thoughts, and that particularly endearing liberal Catholic habit of \"co-opting saints for any occasion when I need to\"...I so like listening to these superficial musings as much as the next liberal Catholic.\n\nI enjoyed it, literally, \"beyond reason\". Thanks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Cardinal Wuerl was willing to marry them, it is clear he believed both were sufficiently reconciled with God. Unless there is sanger to another person, it is malicious gossip to comment on the matter.\n\nAnd we all know what Pope Francis thinks about gossip.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"You don't believe like Catholics do that the Old Testament is the Word of God?\"\n\nIn the Old Testament, King David (apparently inspired by Satan) took a census of Israelites, which was an offense against God. According to the Old Testament, God punished David by killing 70,000 Israelites by pestilence, an agonizing death. Do Catholics really worship the God of the Old Testament who punishes one man's transgression by killing 70,000 other people?\nI will bet you can not answer this in a straightforward way. I bet your answer will be a whole lot of twisting and turning. Or name-calling.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What are you reading? Most articles and comments here are concerned with sexual morality and transgender issues. Any social matters discussed are the espousing of left wing causes which have nothing in common with Catholic social teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "from the article: \"All of this has made Moore a hero to many Alabama voters, who consider him a stalwart Christian willing to stand up for their values.....Years later, Corfman says, she saw a segment about Moore on ABC News's \"Good Morning America.\" She says she threw up.\"\n.\nWhy is it that so many, who have claimed the religious \"high road,\" frequently demeaning those who do not \"believe\" as they do, are later found out to be sexual predators of one stripe or another? The list is long. Remember Senator Larry Craig whose \"voting record has [had] earned him top ratings from social conservative groups such as the American Family Association, Concerned Women for America and the Family Research Council?\"\nhttp://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/27/craig.arrest/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You ever been around some of the fundamentalist christian groups? Some think women are the origin of the original sin causing man to fall from grace. Others believe LSD is a way to commune with God. The idea is that fundamentalism is dangerous and incompatible with freedom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who is we?\nAnd what's the logic here? Celibate state is a discipline..it's good for the priesthood....\n\nThere's no such thing as a female priest in the Catholic Church. \n\nMarried priests are a great example of \"grass is greener\" thinking.\n\nHuge problem embedded in this\n\nDoes Bishop X send married priest y (with wife in tow) to the same backwater parish that needs a prest that he previously send unmarried prist z too?\n\nWhat if priest y's wife has a career /job in one city? \n\nDo the pay scales stay the same.\n\nAnd on and on and on and on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True, Steven.\n\nLGBT Catholics in the States have felt the white heat of episcopal hatred in its persistent attempt to block (and even reverse) LGBT equality gains and in the firing of LGBT employees.\n\nYes, US bishops have sat at the Master's feet...with their fingers in their ears.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi there,\nI beg to differ back. :)\nYou can use whatever semantics you like but again Comey had no spine. Couldn't even give the notes to NYT himself. Where were his notes on Hillary's meetin\n\nDonald Trump can say whatever he wants to whomever as he is one of the few that has the right. I am not the biggest fan of Donald (did not vote for him 1st time. As a soldier, I can tell you he is running circles around the last guy in office who was basically toxic and in fact had to put an order out to his troops to stop talking trash about him. First time I have seen that in 26 years. As far as Russia goes, they may not be our friends but in many ways they are our partner. Lastly, if the D's keep up Trump, they will get a real conservative Christian who will take many things away the D's hold so dearly such as roe vs wade. On the flip side Trump cannot be impeached until after the midterms as the D's dont have anywhere close to the votes and Ryan would never bring it to up for debate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have previously responded to your ... eccentric .... take on the texts.\n\nIt is absolutely amazing that you have discovered an interpretation that slid right past the Fathers, many of whom spoke the original languages, the Catholics, the Orthodox, the Assyrians, the non-Chalcedonians, everyone. An interpretation, btw, which turns the plain words on their head such that \"no\" means \"yes\".\n\nAnd then to gild the lily with sophisticated humor - \"feEble understanding\" - well, it leaves one nearly speechless. You will certainly make your Mark,Williams.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The word governance is McElwee's word inserted behind his first quote from Sosa in the article. The problematic quote from Sosa I am addressing doesn't mention governance:\n\n\"But if we are honest, we acknowledge that the fullness of women's participation in the church has not yet arrived.\"\n\nObviously the quote references governance and women's involvement in the hierarchical structures. Still, equating \"participation in the church\" with \"governance\" in a significant way is already touching the heart of the matter. In a democratic , civil institution, sure, I will grant that participation in the state is directly correlated with having an active say in governance through vote, representation, advocacy and leadership.\n\nThe Church isn't a democratic civil institution though. Real participation in the Church has nothing to do with governing its temporal affairs. It has everything to do with drawing near to Christ who made it clear that worldly power isn't effective to that end.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now we have a more comprehensive view of what the Great Controversy is all about. All created beings are less than God. So all created beings approach God by way of Jesus the mediator of creation as well as redemption.\n\nAll is created \"in Christ\". The angels were created in Christ. Adam and Eve were created in Christ. And Satan convinced them they did not need Christ, if there was no law. No law, no need for grace. But law and grace are the ongoing principles of God's kingdom.\n\nOriginal sin is simply man without Christ. We are born sinners and children of Satan. \"Ye are of your father the devil.......\" \"Sold in sin.\"\n\nGod has provided the means whereby we can be re-united to Him through His Son. Jesus made the atonement for sin but we must individually \"opt in\" or we remain out.\n\nThe Holy Spirit gives us the ability to \"opt in\" and choose salvation. The will is dead in sin. But liberated by the Holy Spirit, we are now free to choose. Most won't and remain lost and deluded.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church is very problematic, but it's not amorphous. It's very specific in its worldview.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religious followers are supposed to model themselves on Jesus or Mohammed respectively.\n\nJesus was a humble carpenter who said to turn the other cheek, and submitted to being whipped, humiliated and killed, and never hit, let alone killed, anyone. \n\nMohammed was a military leader and statesmen who fought, killed, and led great military victories, and that is what his followers admire in him.\n\nPretty big difference in role models.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...if they want to see what their church will be like in 50 years they should look at the Western church of today.\"\n\nDoes it also hold true that if we look at the decrepit 'mainline' protestant churches today we will see what the western Seventh-day Adventist church will look like in fifty years?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is unfortunate that some posters who, properly, support Our Courageous Bishops without question will post unsupported and illogical statements. When they do this, they damage their own credibility and call into question the correctness of blindly following the Bishops, which, of course, is what Jesus would want us to do. One can try to suggest that the posters pause to think about their course of action, but, alas, all too often the response is decidedly unchristian and illogical and often involves accusations, bullying and unadulterated snark. Quite disappointing, really.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "especially... bad laws we celebrate as good are especially destructive.\nTime to examine church laws and faith profession. Where is the Gospel message urging trust in ways and means of violence?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Libertarianism is a form of conservatism, some would argue a purer form than social conservatism which is often more theological than politically conservative. One cannot be a libertarian AND SOCIAL conservative, both - unless one is one of those very rare social conservatives whose own personal morality would be deemed socially conservative (drug use bad, homosexuality bad, unusual consensual sex practices bad, missionary position with spouse good, evangelical church attendance good, etc.) - but who also think it's wrong to dictate to others via criminal and other official sanctions what their OWN personal morality should be. Sadly, most social conservatives aren't libertarians but are dictatorial busy bodies who insist on running other people's lives for them by threatening them with jail if they don't follow their own rigid interpretation of\nwhat's moral behaviour & what's not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again point out the racism. Irish isn't a race. Nor is Roman Catholic or Muslim/ Islamic. That doesn't even take into account the massive differences in every facet of life from 165 years ago until now. No one in my immediate family was a conceived thought 165 years ago. That's like frican Americans demanding reparations for Slavery. First blacks themselves owned slaves. Secondly I never owned a slave and you never picked cotton. The past is the past. I could show non stop polls of Muslims who repeatedly, with majority, claim to hate the west. These countries also produce the largest number of terrorists. I don't want them here due to racism just\nPlain common sense. You want us to adopt to Islamic shari'a law and have no respect for western culture then stay there. Pretty simple concept with no room for race.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "3 points. 1} The Church has always and everywhere--at least up to the robber council Vatican II--condemned the notions of \"religious liberty and \"separation of Church and state\". 2}\"Secular\" governments can not endure without recognizing Christ as their King. It is not possible for men to be long virtuous or to govern themselves without the assistance of sanctifying grace and complete submission to the Deposit of Faith as entrusted exclusively to the Catholic Church. All the great civilizations which turned away from the Divine and natural law eventually fell. The United States is no different, with its rampant abortion, perversions, marxism, and pornography. 3} When you refer to \"conscience\", it is implicit and presumed that the conscience is properly formed. Anyone who believes that infanticide ought to be available does not have a properly formed conscience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well sky at least you thought it through the second time around. From your first post:\n\n\"NIMBY\" - which is synonymous with irrational decision making\n\n\"crowds of religious mourners, with attendant religious rituals\" - sounds like you're uncomfortable with the prospect of Islamic \"rituals\"\n\n\"religion that has absolutely no historical connection\" - so really you're saying this is a Catholic town and only the Catholic religion is approved or allowed for.\n\n\"sacrificial lambs paying the price for Quebec City's faults\" - So Quebec City's faults were letting too many Muslims live there so that they'd want their own cemetery? Or are you suggesting this is the tip of the Islamic invasion?\n\nSee sky, it's pretty easy to piece together an anti-islamic narrative from your terminology. Hence my initial post.\n\nWhat you've also done, twice, is ignore the fact that some people may vote against this precisely because of their own prejudices. Instead it's almost like you're whitewashing their reasons.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When will the Catholic Church pay the compensation to the Aboriginal community? Also, will Trudeau abolish the unfair two tear school system, which is subsidized by the government and taxpayers money to benefit the Catholic school system?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cWe would probably draw the line at leadership, seeing transgender persons as not qualified for leadership,\u201d Lambrecht said. \u201cIt is premature for the Northern Illinois Annual Conference to move ahead to commission M Barclay, given the present state of knowledge and the questions her commissioning will raise in the minds of many faithful United Methodists.\u201d\n\nI agree. Concerning how somebody who does not know who they truly are is given a position to make solid, definite decisions. I'm fine with the church accepting this person, but giving an administrative-like role is not right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good points, but then how about recognizing baptism is no longer considered a sacrament, how about the church admitting to its errors and that there is no justification for the doctrine of infallibility...even more importantly 'how about those grape nut flakes'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We are not the source of truth. Our perceptions aren't truth.\" If we were to believe that Jesus walked around spelling out everything to the apostles: what EXACTLY we are to believe; how EXACTLY we are to govern this church; what garments priests, bishops, cardinals, popes were to wear, etc., we are ridiculous! God is a Pure and Simple Spirit [not simplistic---that term often falls to some writers on this site]. Jesus didn't dictate anything, nor did God DICTATE [like the old time bosses of companies to their secretaries], every word put into the Old Testament. Inspiration is not the same concept, as word-for-word dictation.\n\n\nGod wants us to think, to discover, to learn from our mistakes as well as learn from our successes. We DO NOT POSSESS all truth [no institution, including the Church, possess that].\nWe are to continue to Grow, to Wonder, to Learn, to Discover, to Improve. St. Thomas learned that God is a God of Surprises---nothing that Jesus did is the Same Old, Same Old!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most of the time I am being serious. You keep saying the silliest things, Mr \"Denying one statement of the magisterium places you outside the Catholic Church\".\n\nYou didn't like my criticism of the Knights of Malta's uniforms. It wasn't that big a deal, a rational person would have ignored it, or at most hit the \"disagree icon\". You have to make a big deal of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You should have took 8th grade U.S. Civics\n\n\"Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the Heathens, from whom the children of Israel copied the custom. It was the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on foot for the promotion of idolatry. The Heathens paid divine honors to their deceased kings, and the christian world hath improved on the plan by doing the same to their living ones. How impious is the title of sacred majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor is crumbling into dust!\"\n\nCommon Sense, 4th grade U.S. Civics, 101. Thomas Paine\n\nhttp://www.gutenberg.org/files/147/147-h/147-h.htm#origi", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suggest we stop talking about this and just disregard what the hold-out hierarchs say. There are plenty of ex-priests who still have their state credentials to do weddings. Catholic families with gay kids should go to them to perform essentially Catholic gay weddings. (There are also probably gay priests who would privately bless such unions). Indeed, for solidarity's sake, divorced Catholics and normal Catholic couples should simply ignore the institutional Church until it apologizes and performs weddings for everyone. It won't take long. Weddings are big business for any parish.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As any traditional catholic can tell you, God is male. Which means He has genitalia and chromosomes. Thus, God the Father, and the Son. Not sure about the Holy Ghost, it is probably man in Spirit. This is all very logical. You could ask Aquinas, but I understand he is currently in purgatory writing \"I will not corrupt Jesus' teachings with misapplied logic\" a trillion times as a penance for, well, doing just that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but since the so-called \"Cardinal Newman Society\" shows zero tolerance towards our LGBT brothers and sisters, I cannot find any tolerance for them in my heart. As far as I am concerned, they are reaping what they sowed. \n\nFear and loathing for our LGBT brothers and sisters is NOT a Christian virtue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are many passages in the gospels in which Jesus is portrayed as criticizing temple ritual as hypocritical, perhaps none so powerful as Matthew 23. There are very few passages in which Jesus is portrayed as participating in Temple/synagogue worship, and many in which the religious authorities viewed him as a threat to their activities. Hope this helps.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I keep wondering where that dogma of Jesus is. \"Love your neighbor as yourself?\" \"Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone?\" Oh, I know: \"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.\" On another point, you do know that some women are gay, don't you? And that Nerinx is an all-female institution?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is also unavailable in Bountiful BC, where the Mormon Sect controls the school. Most children, particularly girls, drop out. Most young men are ejected from Bountiful without a grade school education.\n\nIn Ontario the Catholic Church lies to children and tells them that they must attend Religion classes, even though courts have ruled that children are not required to attend, even if their parents are Catholic.\n\nhttps://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/catholic-board-pushes-against-ontario-court-ruling/article20317408/\n\nhttps://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/catholic-schools-force-students-to-study-religion-despite-court-order/article19998101/\n\nIn any case, what does the dismal state of education in \"Islamic Countries\" have to do with home grown terrorism in the developed world?\n\nAll Religions often prey on disaffected youth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are stuck at the literal level. Have you considered looking at the symbolic level? The thematic level? You need to develop a more mature spirituality by seeing the Bible from various points of view. Too bad the church is still largely reticent to help people understand the Bible and instead spoon feeds the literal version. Fortunately my parish fosters spiritual growth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop Dolan, chosen by the Holy Spirit to lead the church, is not bound by the laity's all too emotional approach to morality. Where the laity, modernists and progressives in particular, react emotionally, and think it wrong, even evil, to hide child molestation by priests, thus allowing the abuse to continue, Bishops see thing clearly. The great harm is the risk of scandal to the One True Church and the loss of clerical prestige. These are the true injuries and the ones that cause harm to courageous bishops, as recognized by Pope Francis himself. We are fortunate to have holy men like Bishop Dolan to lead the sheep. Rather than doubt him, we should simply pray to be allowed to follow his direction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Evangelical right wing stances\"? Oh, my.....you mean traditional Catholic discipline and teachings, don't you? \n\nAnd Clinton did pretty much do everything Trump is accused of - and, if some are to be believed (as Hillary says all women making such accusations should) much worse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How wrong can you be? Christianity was widespread in the Sudan, by natural evangelism, not forced conversion by Europeans, in the 2C (recall the first \"militant\" Christianity occurred post-Constantine).\n\nChristianity has almost as long a history in Africa, particularly east Africa, as it does in the M.E. There were entire Coptic Christian kingdoms for centuries. The only \"forcible conversions\" by \"outside invaders\" occurred when Arab religious imperialists exported Islam, at sword point, in the 7th century. Islam has been systematically oppressing and killing Christians, animists and other \"pagans, since then, with the West, for the most part, not helping them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis recently called abortion a \"horrendous crime\". Earlier he called it an \"absolute evil\". The Vatican II document \"Gaudium et Spes\"calls abortion an \"unspeakable crime\". \n\nThe pro-life people I know also work with prisoners and the homeless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps the rise of more rigid, literalist churches is a response to a world of increasing uncertainty and fear. That saddens me, because it is really possible to be both a Christian connected to an ancient faith tradition, and to be open to modernity. As well, not mentioned in the article is the documented fact that many fundamentalist \"big box\" churches do offer valuable social services to their congregation, families and communities, especially in the United States.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The history of cardinals in the Church has less to do with conclaves than with conspiracies to gain power and privilege. Less than a fraction of one percent of a cardinal's career is spent electing popes. They could be chosen prior to each conclave for that single election, and then return to their former status. No one would miss them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is nothing that is mind boggling just b/c its politicians and elites involved in pedophilia and child/human trafficking. At one time no one believed Catholic priests, nuns, and members of religious orders sexually abused children, some as young as 3 yrs. old.\n\nThe web provides numerous sources to gain knowledge from. Craig \"Sawman\" Sawyer a Marine vet, former Navy Seal, sniper, combat instructor, provided security to politicians and dignitaries... you get the point. He now has a new mission Vets For Child Rescue; David Seaman an independent journalist; Atty. John DeCamp a former State Senator who wrote \"Franklin cover-up\" that documents US child sex abuse and pedo ring during Reagan and Bush admin; Lincoln NB Boys Town cover-up involving police, courts in NB and the FBI; retired FBI Senior Special Agent in Charge Ted Gunderson; radio host Alex Jones a conservative right-wing, Roger Stone an American political consultant, strategist; Leo Zagami an Illuminati Whistleblower, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Little Bear ....courage is NOT a characteristic that comes to mind when I think of the bishops...with a few notable exceptions!\n\nI agree about the laity and for that matter relative to the deportation deal I think folks of many and no faith traditions will be heard from...not just Catholic laity...\n\nI am betting that it will be dem civil leadership that will be important....in CA we have a governor, and the legislative leadership as well as key mayors, who have already come out publicly on sanctuaries and environmental issues....and doubtless there will be additional problems as well.\n\nI think the next 4 years are going to be truly terrible and it may well be responsible reps....and many other folks of other political persuasions that will be awfully important.. if the history of the Church in Germany in the 30s is any indicator...I hold little institutional hope except for recent Francis appts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why not just ordain them, priests, Bishops, cardinals?!!!\nEnough of these Women's Auxilliaries, already!\nEverything but Equality, it seems.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ followers do not need an institution that does not accept women as full participants, withdraws the sacraments at the whim of callous clerics, categorizes LGBT as intrinsically disordered and protects clerics who prey on the children of its adherents. Those of us who have stayed now filter what they hear from those who run the institution but no longer follow it blindly. Instead, we listen to the gospel and those clerics who truly hear its message and help Christ's people draw closer to His message. Nurturing one's spirit can be done in many ways but this institution (RCC) has lost a great deal of its moral legitimacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, if you believe in the Bible, Roman Catholics OWN Christianity. The original Christians (as in followers of Christ) were Jews (Messianic Jews) for 300-plus years, until the Roman Emperor Constantine chose to adopt their beliefs. He put together a bunch of scriptures written by ancient scribes for those who practiced Abrahamic religions of antiquity (i.e., Jews and Arabs). However, his religion--Roman Catholicism--had no place for Jews, so they were ostracized, tortured and killed. Then he convened the Council of Nicea in order to elect a pope (the \"vicar of Christ\" on Earth, who was supposed to be infallible), and to adopt formal rules and sacraments for anyone who wanted to follow Christ from that point forward. So, it turns out that Christianity is a religion instituted by a single man--a Roman Emperor--and not Christ himself. This is all historical fact. If you choose to believe otherwise, that is your prerogative.\n(cont'd.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again the liberal elite media wrongfully attacks the One True Church. Remember, most of this abuse happened in the past. The article doesn't mention the magazine ever actually reporting on a rape while it was occurring. Further, we must remember that it is only recently that the Bishops came to fully understand that sexually abusing minors is a bad thing. How can one expect men chosen to lead the Church and teach morality to know men should not rape children? It's not like the bible says anything about it. They could hardly be expected to treat it as a serious sin, an act of evil, or a crime. Now it is all different. Mistakes were made but it's all better now. Why, Holy Mother Church has even set up a commission on the subject, and they have a website and everything. Time to move on to more important issues, like the height of the new miters and hemlines on cassocks for the spring.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed. I'd wager a strong bet that every Christian society that has taken in refugees has had citizens question why Saudi Arabia doesn't help. Trump within 12 days has gotten some progress here. Every other country will just open its borders and wallets to people who for the most part won't fit in. It'd be like us in canada having to leave our country. I'd sooner be placed in USA with a similar culture then China or Somalia, etc. Like you said we will see if Saudis will follow through but it's a bigger step than anyone else had gotten.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What are the Orthodox who don't take Communion in their hands like liberal Catholics but have the priest (and only the priest) and drop the Body and Blood of Our Lord in their mouths with a golden spoon?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is the revised EF prayer for the Jews:\n\n\"Let us also pray for the Jews: That our God and Lord may illuminate their hearts, that they acknowledge Jesus Christ is the Savior of all men. (Let us pray. Kneel. Rise.) Almighty and eternal God, who want that all men be saved and come to the recognition of the truth, propitiously grant that even as the fullness of the peoples enters Thy Church, all Israel be saved. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen\"\n\nI'm sure some people have an issue with not using the prayer John XXIII or Pius XII used but I've never heard anyone complain about it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's it to you? Are you a female trying to be a priest or what? Why should it be an issue? Catholics got along with the fact that Jesus was a straight male. Are you a gay male trying to be allowed to be a gay priest? I mean who cares? What's your concern in this series of tendentious questions? What do you want us to say that will make you happy?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The war on others not like the bigots goes on. Some go out of their way to suffer others not like themselves:\nSome are uncomfortable with their masculinity- Afraid they could be homosexual or bisexual\nBug dancing- Comfortable with going into bathrooms and doing their bug dances\nlatent homosexuals- Knowing they are homosexuals but fighting it and passing draconian laws against homosexuals as a way of punishing themselves for harboring such soul rending thoughts.\nNatural bullies- Always putting others down who don't have the same color, are less fortunate than they, or just want to go out of their way to push their own Trumpstering views on others.\nThese are the bigots that bastardize their Christian bible to morph into whatever bigoted message they want to send. \nI am a straight person, but have compassion for others who have been discriminated against by people in power who go out of their way to make life as difficult for others as they could without a thought of the suffering.others", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article is very misleading and of great concern. Cardinal Burke is a prominent Canon Law Lawyer and one of the best experts in the field of Catholicism (only second to His Holiness Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI).\nHe was appointed to the high level position ~ Cardinal Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura ~ by none less than a Saint. (Saint John Paul II). His contributions and tireless work for Holy Mother Church have been outstanding and his position was renewed when Pope Benedict XVI replaced St John Paul II as Pope.His dismissal by Pope Francis was an outrage and most controversial act. Pope Francis wanted to change certain parts of laws as handed down through the prophets. He organised a family synod and was outvoted by the majority of Cardinals ~ so Francis sacked them and replaced them with newly appointed (by francis) cardinal novices who would not contest him. Instead of taking advantage and relishing such a great rich source of cardinals to assist hi", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Traditionalist Catholics love Russia and see Putin as their godfather. Putin might have gotten his start in the KGB but his ideology has more in common with the far right and Nazism than it does with Communism. Traditionalist type Catholics have completely adopted the alt-reich and its vile politics. I had hours and hours of pure enjoyment on Sunday reading the meltdown on far-right Catholic websites because Putin's pet French Nazi lost in a landslide. Look at Rorate Caeli's Twitter feed if you want a taste.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "heretic. The truth of the Church is shown that there are still those who would join it, and not just those from Anglican Ordinates who are fleeing female and gay bishops. Still, the Church is visibly changing around the Trads. They are dying off and Francis is replacing the John Paul bishops with spirit of Vatican II bishops which the Holy Spirit seems to have been hiding from the hierarchy (we were the altar boys in the 70s). The Holy Spirit is changing the Church, but she is moving with Francis, not against him. Indeed, She will move beyond him to renew the Church so that everyone will seek Christian unity, where the people have their just say over its operations and where none will be afraid of the Church taking over social services and education entirely from the government. The latter is impossible now, given the box Jesus has been put in. Slice the Magna Cappa it is wrapped in and let him out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I approve of this law. If this new law helps just one sucidal lost soul then it's worth it. Now the more important question I have is: will the help be of value? Peacehealth campus will struggle w/this. Last time I had to go there, a couple of years ago, I needed a cast. I was in the ER and the doc who was seeing me said: \"I'll be right back, I've never done a cast before\". Hand on Bible swear. \n\nI sat there too stunned to do anything else and sure enough, it had to be removed and replaced. It had been done incorrectly. Sigh", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Are we Christians or not?\"\nMany of us are not. We can be very moral without the fear of an emotion-addicted invisible vampire.\nAt the same time, you and I are part of a nation with laws. This incident isn't a crime where peasants wanted to stone a woman to death. She broke one (or more) laws, and now is breaking another as she avoids paying the penalty for her crimes.\nDo you not see the difference?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pell is totally innocent of the charges. He however is being put through a punishment process and faces an unholy alliance of those who hate the Church. Pell is being held responsible for the lies and falsehoods of those liberal and incompetence dissenting bishops thrown up in the 1960 70s and 80s. The lapsed Protestant establishment has slid into agnosticism but kept its anti Catholic prejudices intact. These form a cabal of lgbt, pro abortion and easy divorce, euthanasia and eugenics libertines are using the peadophile issue as an attack weapon while ignoring it in government and institutions that fit in with their agenda. The Church's inability and reluctance to take on and boldly defend itself while because of a fear of scandal, false compassion, incorrect psychological advice, Modernism and suspicion of the legal system has failed to call itself and others to count. Pell comes over as gruff he is in fact angry and bold but has to control these urges. Pray for him...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow ! No snark intended . I shall omit the definition for assume . Yes , there are laws on the books of the Catholic Church for 1300 years to protect ordained ministers of the Gospel who sexually assault the most vulnerable among us .\nDid any bishop teach us that fact ? Is it a teaching if it's canon law ? And put into practice ? And lied about ?\nSt. Peter Damian was sent with two other men by the Pope of that time ( ca. 900 years ago ) to go throughout Europe teaching prelates and the laity what an awful sin and terrible crime pedophiles are committing . \nI doubt you want a church law supporting these vicious activities . Nor can you truly think this comes from God .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I said, I did. \n\nNor am I an apologist for \"this man.\" \n\nAnd yes - you have made your points. But I will not accept as truthful (and I am not talking about you in particular but in general) those who will take random, parsed quotes out of context and in conjunction with other buzz words intended to incense, use them in order to further their point of view and disparage those with whom they disagree...even when it is pointed out that is a disingenuous and yes, even dishonest, thing to do.\n\nI'm not at all sure that's the Christian thing to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree pier pressure for sex and dating pressure for sex can be heavy. Being a Christian has always been the best way but one which has always been filled with persecution and it always will be. My rejection for priesthood in my youth caused me to turn away from our church and lead a life where I did not care or try to be good or stay chaste so I had some pretty wild twenties and teen years. I have regrets for that period of my life. Truthfully, I wished I had waited. Not due to shame so much for the sex but more I wish I had been strong enough with God that I didn't let the hurt pull me so far away from His Holy Spirit. I don't think God demands we seek sex in marriage only for reproduction as Christ never gives this reason and even St. Paul never recommends people marry to have children at all but instead so they (both men and women) don't fall into sin due to some of them not being able to handle a life without sex. I agree our culture puts to much importance on sex overall.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What do you think about Roman Catholic immigrants to our country? How about fundamentalist Christians? They too have restrictive views about the roles and rights of women in society. For example, no woman can be ordained in the RC church. The church forbids its female members from obtaining an abortion, which is every Canadian woman's right. RC females are even forbidden from using contraceptives. The views of fundamentalist Christians are no less restrictive to females. \n\nElsewhere you you claimed that Canada is being swamped by huge numbers of Muslim immigrants. That's wrong of course. Christians- and specifically RC and fundamentalist Christians, immigrate to Canada in far greater numbers than do Muslims. \n\nYour interpretation of a primary Canadian value is not shared by the Roman Catholic church, nor presumably by many of the 12 million Canadians who identify as Catholics. The value that you claim is nearly universal to Canadians isn't. Try again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With all due respect to Cardinal Sean O'Malley, the Dis-United States of America is one nation, but the Americans are not one people. They are 300 millions tearing at each others throats. The events in Charlottesville, Boston, etc. are only the froth on the cauldron. America is an inherently violent, undisciplined country and ought to be governed as an international protectorate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sure Obama will be devastated by your \"F.\" He may be too despondent to write his memoirs.\n\nThe Declaration on Religious Liberty from the Second Vatican Council affirms the validity of separation of church and state while it reaffirms that all governments must be founded on certain moral principles. Yes, yes, I know, you don't accept Vatican II as a legitimate ecumenical council, but the rest of us do and we recognize your assertion \"that the Church has formally condemned the notion of separation of Church and state\" as anachronistic nonsense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A Catholic Women's Strike is one of my dreams. I would envision all the women, nationwide, refusing to do any work of any kind for the church, including attend Mass, starting on a Thursday and ending on a Monday morning. Pick a date, I'm in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Australian Catholics need not \"hang their heads in shame\" any more than we here in the Boston Archdiocese should. The sins belong to the pervert priests and the feckless bishops who covered up and enabled them. The only thing the Australians did wrong, as we here did also, was to place our trust in the hierarchy whom we have since learned, to our dismay, have \"other\" priorities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, sadly our misogyny does go this far. Jesus, never taught there was anything wrong with birth control and there were some types that existed in his time. The more I look at our sexist rules about birth control, and even abortion, it becomes more and more clear, our leaders don't care what Jesus would do, they just want to control women thru their reproductive organs. \n\nIt has been well proven now that most countries that restrict abortions greatly or illegalize the practice, have the highest abortion rates. This is especially true where birth control is also illegal or hard for women to gain access. So where's the pro life in that global set of facts? The church is well aware of these facts too. \n\nThe old clerical adage: Keep the laywomen barefoot and pregnant and they and their husbands will be too poor and exhausted to ever fight against the church leadership to seek change. How right they were and for so long a time. It is Time to say - No More!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because many catholics cannot accept the hideous truth that the leadership of the church has, for decades, aided and abetted the rape of thousands of children world wide and many bishops continue to do so. If they face that fact they have to face the reality the church is just a man made institution that would sacrifice the innocent for its own goals. Better to pretend it is some holy thing created by God and led by infallible holy men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that not all wars are religious-based; they just, over the millennia, have killed more people than any other justification. \n\nWhen you had the 'Divine Right of Kings' the Church was a partner in the killing. \n\nAs for Hitler, he oppressed and sent the Jews and the Jehovahs Witnesses to the ovens; not the Lutherans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hardly an appropriate comment - heaven forfend that another Canadian's tragedy costs you money. But here, you allow your prejudice through. While adopting a supposed non religious view, you consciously give Christianity a pass, by implying that all their brutality was in the distant past. Over the last 100 years, supposed Christians are directly responsible for two world wars (over 60 million dead) and over the last thirty years millions of innocent Muslims slaughtered in the Middle East. If it's a competition over which \"religion\" is the most brutal, then it's not the Muslims occupying the pole position.\n\nNo, I am not religious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it hilarious when Christians try to make the point that Islam is inherently violent by pointing to violent passages in the Quran, all while ignoring the violence in the Bible. Who said that thing about people who are without sin casting stones?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems Pope F. is born to end RCI (Roman Catholic Institution)!\nHe doesn\u2019t seem to realize whatever he try to teach will be in vain while clergies allowed rape children and he intentionally ignore clergy rape of children all over the world!\nIf it is the way they remain, it should be disband starting from Pope F. and all the rest of clergy hierarchy! \nwhat can anyone do with the clergies insist keep raping Christ immanent in children???", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's a false equivocation. Christians and Jews aren't killing innocent civilians in job lots and haven't for centuries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps another analogy is between Roman Catholics, who don't really follow the Bible but tradition of the \"Church Fathers\", and who have shed such bloodshed in history, and which Adventists claim are not \"real Christians\" (or at least their leaders who are literally anti-Christ), just as Catholics claim to speak for all of Christianity...\n\nAND\n\n\"Haddith-Muslims\", which claim to follow the Qu'ran but really follow the traditions of the Haddith, who have likewise shed much bloodshed in history, and which \"Messianic-Muslims\" would claim are not \"real Muslims\" just as most Muslims would consider Messianic-Muslims apostates.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Calling Hillary a robotic liar - when her opponent was Trump - rings a bit hollow. Trump has already 213 documented lies through his first 100 days in office (I can cite links if you need) and who knows how many more by now. Many of these are so simple to verify a kindergartener can see through him. Earlier this week he claimed he's accomplished more in his short tenure in office than nearly any other president. Wow. Just, wow. Every single day it's like that with Trump.\n\nFor all of Hillary's faults - and there are/were many of them - it floors me that Trump supporters continue to look the other way on his faults which are 10x more and worse than Hillary's. Hell, at least Hillary GOES to church...No person who calls themselves a Christian can honestly support Trump. He in no way, shape, or form, adheres to any Christian doctrine. But I digress...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I forgot about this Ash fellow on my list. He is the first.\n\nSo get ready over the next couple of days for the other GM journalists: Ibbiston , Saunders, Southey, Khan, Renzetti to write illogically and irrationally about how Trump is responsible for this terror attack.\n\nGot it. So it's really the ghost of Adolph Hitler we must fear about this terror attack and not the hundreds of superstitious fundamentalist irrational anti social terror trained bigots and xenophobes who fanatically believe in a prophet that never existed and who want to kill Europeans and their Christian beliefs", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This flap underscores the wide gap between those who wish to be open and respectful to the moral teachings of the Catholic Church and those who believe such teachings should be subject to ridicule. Among the latter are those who have embraced the dismissive term \"homophobe\" as if fear of homosexuals exhausts the reasons for questioning same sex activity. The word homophobe has been only among for 25 years or so. The words homosexual and homosexuality first appeared in the late 19th century. In scriptural terms, the assumption on the part of all is that human beings are heterosexual and that same sex acts perverted this assumption. Today, reasonable people must consider the existence of individuals who are innately drawn to those of the same sex. But it generates great controversy to merely assert it. The greatest controversy is between those who respect the teaching of the church versus those who hold teachings like this one in contempt. Thus it was, is now, and ever shall be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"no situation is completely resistant to love.\"\n\nUnless of course you're Catholic and gay, in which case you're supposed to resist love completely.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't a \"Troll\" a derogatory name ? You don't like me because I am a Christian - I know that because I saw you and your buddy Eric trashing me (and it was crystal clear). I have virtually no respect for your demographic, being a child of the 60's hippies - I am outspoken on that because I have first hand experience growing up under that generation. Your posts are just about anti-everything I believe in, and for me to say you are a bygone generation will probably earn me the title of troll - but my opinions and observations are valid and held by many.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marc Lepine was not a muslim, he was an atheist.\n\nHis father was a non-practicing muslim who left the family when Marc was seven. His mother was a former Catholic nun who had left the church.\n\nYour comment is both lazy and bigoted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It says in the bible that woman was made out of man's, Adam's rib. The woman was for him to enjoy. Did you miss that Pandora? Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all male dominated monotheistic religions. Women are considered to be inferior and subservient to their men. The latter used to women for sex and as servants and baby-making machines or incubators. Read your Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And liberate Jerusalem from the heathen! Take your swords, mount your horses and place the crusader cross on your cloak! TO JERUSALEM!!! Oh, P.S. if you want to do some raiding and pillaging on the way, your plenary indulgence will take care of that once you kill a few paynim. This offer is still good even if the ones you kill are weird so-called Christians in Constantinople. Lots of good loot there too, and of course relics to enrich out churches back home!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why not? The Catholic Church did it in their fight against gay marriage. They joined forces and money with the fundamentalsists, evangelicals and Mormons, none of which are friends to the church, especially the fundamentalists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent spiritual sharing!\nI was thankful that CI (Catholic Institution) is willing to educate children and others some level of spiritual education. Other then that, I did not expect CI will lead people on the contemplative path, since the clergy themselves does not follow the contemplative path! I guess my attending daily mass was to occupy my mind in spiritual matter like the monastery nuns and monks recite Psalms in their 'The Liturgy of the Hours' prayer services. \nAlthough being united to God is the upper most purpose of my life, yet I can't ignore children being raped by clergies. In order to save one child from raped by clergy I am willing to strike Pope F. to the floor. \nWhat a fake spiritual leader to close his eyes to the child rapist clergies!!!!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Its all calculated of course, he well knows that this will be popular, but to call for someone's death is not a Christian act . I dont remember Jesus calling for a more speedy justice system when somebody strikes your cheek. However his intervention has ensured the guy cannot be executed. \n\nYou have to pass a test to drive . Surely there should be some test to become president to ensure complete idiots are exempt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian value are the Ten Commandments. And who has fought to remove the Ten Commandments from view, the left. And who whines and bemoans mass shootings blaming the gun, the left. \"Thou shall not kill\". Many of the laws we as law abiding humans follow are based on These Commandments. Look at the left in their, damn we been caught, outrage over Harvey Winstein, \"Thou shall not covet\". Even you liberals and atheists follow, eight out of ten of the Ten Commandments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Abortion, assisted suicide 'always wrong,' bishops tell Catholic lawmakers\"\n\nAnd yet because of abortion and assisted suicide ---- they're killing us and the world, especially the ME !!! \nImagine that. And they think that is perfectly okay!!! Imagine THAT !!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ridiculous, you've been spending too much time on anti-Muslim websites. Modern, educated Muslims know that not all the writings are to be interpreted literally just as Christians are aware enough to ignore the more violent and irrelevant parts of the Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It used to be scandalous for a woman to go to a Christian Church service without a hat and veil. Our society EVOLVED. \n\nQuebec has targeted Christians from displaying crosses in public buildings or wearing them in the public service - so it is not a case of targeting Muslims. They are equal opportunity religious bigots.\n\nOther religions have been targeted in the name of public safety - for example the wearing of ceremonial daggers in public by those of the Sikh faith. So when people fear that Muslims cannot be identified when committing crimes it is a public safety issue not one of race or religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We \"libs\" have our own country; it's called the United States of America. It's a country that respects human dignity, tolerance of individual differences, liberty and justice for all. It is not a country that wants or tolerates racism and individual ignorance that you so clearly wrap yourself in. If you want, like Congressman King, a homogeneous white Christian society, then I strongly urge you and sick others of your ilk to go find and colonize your own new country. With your hateful world view, the America that I know and love will never be a satisfactory home to you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're right that there are thousands of Christian sects in the world today. It is foolish to put them in a single basket because they have some very different interpretations of the Bible.\n \nI'd guess well over half would disagree that You have the only sophisticated interpretation of the Bible. I'd be glad to have years of conversation on religious theology (on top the decades I've already spent) with you. This is not where I'd choose to do it though ;-)\n\nYour opinion, or mine doesn't matter much in this context. The facts are that the Christian church is ripe with atrocities throughout its history committed by people who thought they were the True Believers. Some of those theologies that led to false persecution of 'heretics' still exit in the Christian church today.\n\nYou argument implies all Muslim theologies are bad, all Christian theologies are good. You can't stereotype either faith and Not show bias/prejudice/and in some cases discrimination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "James, you wrote that Minnery \"seems to be missing a very important point about freedom of religion\", and \"..laws are there to allow you to practice any religion.. so long as it doesn't impinge on the liberties and pursuit of happiness of another American\"; actually you are missing a point about Constitutional rights, that\u00a0they allow for\u00a0a balance between opposing camps, that everybody won't always be unoffended, and that this is\u00a0integral to\u00a0fair co-existence. Liberties of \"another American\" don't exclude Christians any more than non-Christians. By\u00a0your logic why can't I demand\u00a0a\u00a0Muslim bakery write \"Amir plus Aziz\" on a\u00a0cake, or that\u00a0PP\u00a0display posters of aborted babies? Silly, except, for Christians. \"Can anyone who would refuse liberty and happiness to another truly be considered a Christian?\". While Jesus didn't impose criminal penalties on people for private moral issues\u00a0(i.e. the\u00a0woman caught in adultery), he clearly taught that a life spent unrepentant & unforgiven ends in hell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rebecca, you should be ashamed of this article, it is such stereotyped language and poor journalism! True, Christianity is often misunderstood or misrepresented but the Bible is a very complex book inspired by an all-wise, all-knowing G-d and it is an art to try to distill it into simple truths. The appeal is a return to morality and righteousness which I think you share? G-d grants us freedom to choose what we or in whom we want to believe but if one professes to be a Christian then there is a code of conduct as informed by the Bible that one should aspire to. The Bible teaches that G-d loves the sinner (every single human being) regardless of background, association etc, and desires them all to come to the saving knowledge of the Messiah. And if one chooses to follow the Messiah then one must repent from certain acts that G-d finds offensive. Association comes with obligations, in any sphere of life! Repentance is a continuous process towards excellence & perfection!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You keep talking about a monster. The article is about people struggling to survive during civil wars. and now drought. Where does the unsustainable unethical role the Christian west that is damaging our planets atmosphere play in this tragedy. Tell us your solution Do you advocate turning our back on starving children .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh it will change for some Mr. Scott. My daughter isn't going to live in a dystopian, male supremacist society. We women are going to TEAR THIS COUNTRY APART, starting with the churches, if the women-hating policies supported by the Right come to fruition. There will not be any kind of normal church life anymore. If Christians do not take their hands off women's bodies we're going to put our hands on their churches, not their physical churches mind you, rather on the area surrounding their churches that is public property. It will be an offensive carnival of condom distribution, sex education and general mayhem. There will be no peace anymore for them to partake in the activities that make up \"church.\" Their churches will become POLITICAL spheres. We will go to these churches to offer OUR advice about sex, condoms, birth control, etc. I'm not sure they'll appreciate our handouts and advice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You still don't answer the question: What does Voris teach that is at odds with Catholic teaching?\n\nI agree that in this Wonderland culture where up is down and down is up, in is out and out is in, Voris is a \"raving loony.\" But those who say so are in Wonderland. You've California-ized the Church. Soon enough, you'll leave. We'll love you and pray for your return to the one true Church, but people like you place themselves outside the Church by trying to destroy it. You're trying to do to the Catholic Church what you did to the Democratic Party. Well heads up. The Church is not the Democratic Party. It will remain the Body of Christ, despite your attempts to, as you said, \"take it apart.\" Go to hell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You reek of racism. As far as stirring things up it seems to have gotten your gander up. As I said, why does not ADN inform us all who was the first Catholic or Lutheran or Atheist? What religion were all the white supremacist who served in the past? Is Elvi now considered a black supremacist now? It has nothing to do with any thing, we are all equal now.....well not according to you as you want to keep bringing up the past. I bet you are upset with the removal of confederate flags as they kept us aware of the past? Move on and get over it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All religions are not equal, there is only one true religion that will allow you to go to heaven - Catholicism. To claim all religions are equal is a mortal sin and a slap in the face to Jesus Christ, whose Church is the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh......so here we go once more, Eliane, with the violation of orthodox Catholicism by a self-proclaimed orthodox Catholic who makes an \"exception\" about papal supremacy because you don't like what Pope Francis does. You can't tolerate the change from punishment to pastoral, can you? This is how you are far more a \"cafeteria Catholic\" than you even care to admit. The concept of renewal is quite foreign to your way of thinking. How unfortunate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yesterday in Egypt, 25 peaceful Coptic Christians were murdered by Muslim extremists.\n\nWhen we consider the implementation of non-violence, we must never forget there is evil in this world, and that evil isn't necessarily overcome by pacifism or apathy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just to stick with your way of expressing it, DoDoBird3 ... your body would be refused burial in the jewish graveyards of Montreal and Quebec City because you are Christian. Some people feel that way, and few have ever objected. People have a right to be different.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Canada should stop immigration from Muslim countries and make sure that Muslims already in the country should assimilate to Western way of life. Sharia should be banned as inconsistent with Canadian constitution - or let its supporters quit the country. The more Muslims you have-the less assimilation you get. Islam-this religion of savage herders - cannot be tolerated in its old forms-it should modernize itself first as Christianity did..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John you didn't mention the horror in Spain, Germany, or Finland because you tried to headfake us away form the real issue.\nThe destruction of the West by marxism.\nWhy do you people want a Canadian Caliphate John?\nWhy\nWomen are burned and maimed, \nChristians are burnt in cars and on stakes\nC'mon John \nWhy?\nYou know John you reveal your true colors every time you hit a keystroke.\nGlobalist Marxist writer trying desperately to look relevant in an age where the normals are about to rip the face off Marxism and it's new delivery mechanism - Muslimism - once and for all.\n\nYou aren't taking us down that road ever again,\n\n100's millions died or suffered under Marxism John\nGet a new political color\nIt's old and decrepit\nYou did well under Capitalism John\nTell us why you hate capitalism so much", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "None of us care about your perversion, so long as you keep it out of our faces. Why do the LGBT crowd have to keep pushing?\nIslam hates everything LGBT and socialist, except the bennies.\nGee, lets all be Europe and FAIL, lets let our women be raped, lets let the animals in--to get rid of the Christians, the homosexuals, the liberals--oh, yeah, that is the goal of Islam.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This play is completely against Catholic and normal society values. There are two Genders and Sexes. Male and Female. You are either born one or the other. If you are one and think you are the other you need psychological help, not surgical mutilation. This play was rightly cancelled.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't lump all my fellow Christians as \"bad\"...only those who dutifully go to church every Sunday but come Monday don't practice what the Bible says or what Jesus taught and did. It's the hypocrisy that I oppose, not Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pence, along with Trump, is guilty of obstructing justice in the recent firing of the director of the FBI. Both Pence and Trump have broken their oaths of office to uphold the constitution -- covering up an obstruction of justice with the firing, covering up potential crimes of colluding with Russians in the recent election, and covering up Trumps lies about his financial interactions with Russians in his business. Pence has repeatedly lied to the American people . \n\nA man who left the Catholic Church after baptism and confirmation- like Sarah Palin, like Ronald Reagan --- is held up as model just for hating gays, abortion, birth control, assertive women? \n\nDoes Notre Dame really want to reward all of this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus said \" Love the sinner but hate the sin\". I can hate Islam because of all the misery it causes in all places it spreads to, but I still have acceptance of Muslims (if they renounce Islamic Suprematism, violence and their degradation of other humans). It is Muslims who think it is all or nothing, and for that I have no patience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, calling half of America racist?\n\nOh, these Catholic progressives....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First the Christians came, holding signs; JOHN 3:16...then the players started kneeing to pray God will block field goal and curse their enemy, in Jesus name, amen. Then Tebow took it to an art form. meanwhile, back at the ranch...the NFL started promoting causes, and players started wearing blue to save the puppies, and pink to expose the breasts..pretty much killing it for most fans who watch ports to get away from this *&^%...\n The federal government repulses me. Patrick Henry was right when he called the founders \"rats.\" I don't get teary or patriotic when I see a flag, and make no apology for it. However...what these players are doing is the equivalent of giving the middle finger when the stadium is asked to stand, and pay respect to our nation. that is vulgar, out of line, and is not going to make a damn bit of difference pertaining the social issue they are protesting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Repubs are the true Christians...take from others by any means with complete disregard to their well being. It's what Christians have done for centuries.\n\n(The WWJD talk is nothing but hype)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here we go again. \n\nThe problem with Milo is exactly the same as the problem with Thomas Sowell, which is likely to become the problem with Camille Paglia: In the authoritarian world of identity politics, your politics are owned by your group identity.\n\nMilo is Libertarian and openly homosexual (as is Camille Paglia). His real sin is his honesty. Make no mistake, statutory rape is rape regardless of consent by the victim, because the victim simply is not old enough to consent. Milo had his first (homo)sexual encounter when he was 13 or 14 with a Catholic priest . Thirteen or fourteen is too young to have sex -- homosexual or otherwise -- but they're doing it anyway. Milo's politically unforgivable transgression was to explain that he was a willing participant and to describe the personal importance of the experience.\n\nHis account made me uncomfortable because it forced me to confront realities outside of my personal experience. That's one of the things good journalism does,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Old S. - \"ultra-christian\"?\n\nYou have managed to swerve the topic into your totally unrelated hate for Christians.\n\nAnd you jumped to it so quickly... wow!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is the Organization of the Islamic Conference doing?\n57 Muslim countries\n-\nmust Christian west now fight Buddhist Burma to protect Muslims?\n-\nChristians (NATO) already fought Christians (Serbians) to protect Muslims in Bosnia and Kosova\nwhat thanks?\n-\nnow let Muslims fight to protect Muslims", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Infallibility is definitely a topic that we have to talk about. We might, for instance, want to ponder whether V1 was a free council? If not, a case can be made for questioning its conclusions. We might want to talk about how non-conciliar understandings of infallibility are at the very heart and core of the phenomenon of the modern Catholic Church being split rather violently into traditionalists and progressives at all levels. We might want to talk about how Ratzinger abused the concept of \"ordinary magisterium\" to draw the false conclusion that it is infallibly true that we may not ordain women priests. \n\nThis is an awful lot to talk about here, most of it in one way or another implying that V1's definition of papal infallibility is beyond doubt one of the most fooling things bishops in council have ever done.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OMG! Are you kidding? This is NOT a direct quote from any of my related postings....' You said \"well anyone who does that just doesn't understand true Christan theology\"' \n\nThe bottom line here is if one can't or won't be honest in quoting another individual, makes it impossible to have intelligent civil discourse in any discussion or debate. Secondly some subjects, Christianity being one such, requires a certain degree of intellectual understanding and knowledge otherwise one might appear as both silly and uneducated. \n\nWhat does the Bible say?\n\"Stupidity is the delight of the senseless, but an understanding man walks uprightly\". Proverbs 15:21", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see the comments here are largely anti-First Nations and are completelyavoiding the topic of transgender rights and Senator Beyak's obvious homophobia.\n\nI can only assume this is because they don't want anyone to google HOPE or the crazy conspiracy theories that the Christian Right cling to?\n\nOne cannot conduct one's own private Truth & Reconciliation Commission here in the comments section. That ship has sailed.\n\nAnd there's no building a revisionist backstory that White Christians were just trying to adapt children to modern industrial Canada. Ha. If that were true, why weren't we seizing Old Order Mennonite children, Amish children or the children of Hassidic Jews? No, the policy from the outset was clear: Destroy the First Nations by eliminating the next generation.\n\nAs for the Gay Agenda? Well, the Tories prefer to conduct that campaign through whispers and innuendo. And they cringe when someone lets slip the truth like Senator Beyak. That's hard to reconcile.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Violent iconoclasm is not new. For centuries, Christians went on rampages of destruction to eliminate statues and graven imagery from churches. Much of the classical world was demolished to cleanse the world of pagan idolatry not unlike how these zealots now destroy art they don't tolerate. Today, Muslim Armies of ISIS also blow up and destroy artworks across the ME to eradicated history they want to obliterate. The SJWs of America, championed by the news media and Democrats cheer as they descend into barbarism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the \"gay scenes\" where cut out in Muslim countries. Heck, the movie was outright banned in some Muslim countries altogether.\n\nTolerance...is expected only if you're a white christian straight right leaning male.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have to remember that to Tridentinus, any Catholic who disagrees with HIM on anything is a heretic. Trid is extremely arrogant in his belief that he and only he represents orthodoxy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joseph S. O'Leary,\n\"No doubt you hope for the prosecutors to reveal new, more substantial allegations\" \nWhy bother, everything Pell did is still travelling in this universe as energies, God who are not bound by time&space sees all like those are happening before Him each moment! \nIt is pity that you think your little head try to deceive people, but your devious act is also traveling in this universe for you to back track some point! \nI see like Pope F, C. Pell, you, Joseph S. O'Leary also have no regret for the fifty some clergy sex abused victims who kill themselves in the hell of pains! Since, you have no love for those extreme suffering clergy raped children, you are not a Christian! Following God means learning to love, for God is LOVE! \nPope F. and all his clergies who do not regret those fifty some clergy sex abused victims who killed themselves are the most chilling aspects of the Catholic Institution clergies spiritual state. \nThey are far from God!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're a tourist with money. Many of the immigrants are either extremely poor, or fear for their lives in corrupt nations. I don't see any equivalency at all between the two.\n======\nI don't want to bring terrorist here anymore than you do. Why in heaven's name would think otherwise? \n\nDo you think I haven't considered how I'd feel if one of my children was killed by terrorist?\n\nBut REALITY tells me I should be worried about their driving on American highways far more than worrying about a terrorist bombing.\n======\nYou blanket fear of Muslims is exactly the result the terrorist were seeking. They want you fearful, they want you angry, they want you to give them higher status.\n\nI've got no fear at all of my national sovereignty being threatened by thugs brainwashed by religious hogwash. *Nor do I trust Christians who turn quickly to violence to solve conflict then claim God is on their side.\n\nStay Calm, Carry On", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The same reaction it was when I heard about the veteran pulling out his knife and threatening to kill the Muslim people in this article, or the cases of arson against Muslims, or the murders, or the mass shootings: shocked and appalled. \n\nBut so far, the violent threats seem to be coming more frequently from bigoted white people than from Muslims as far as Oregon and our community is concerned, and that's the issue. The right thing to do in these cases is not to be dismissive, lest you encourage that behavior. \n\nThe ironic thing about this anti Muslim rhetoric is that most of it is because of terrorism. But what you start seeing is acts of terror against innocent Muslim people who are just as anti-terrorism as we are. Our ignorance that Islam can be just as diverse as Christianity is demonstrated almost daily in the news.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kelly Leitch optimizes everything that is wrong with Canada.\n>\nChristian doctrine believes we have no privacy because God is watching, we have no right to our own body because God is watching. They are a narcissistic tribe in Canada that have gain a lot of power. They do not follow science or any coherent argument. They are sure that marijuana is very harmful with make go insane and crash your car - this is against any credible scientific research that show marijuana is much safer than aspirin or paracetamol.\n>\nThe 70% Christian in Canada are so confused about what marijuana is they can only equate it to alcohol or tobacco. There are thousands of classes of drugs and plants on earth all with different psychotropic effects.\n>\nWhy don't the Christian go after alcohol? Alcohol is associated with over 250 diseases, violence, family break up, crime etc. Again no logic or science only \"God says it so...\"\n>\nCanadians need to realize we live in a Christian state as radical as an Islamic one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but the truth sometimes hurts. If correct, you have stated you attend a very progressive Church in Chicago, so I find it hard to believe you have many conservative Catholics tattling on others there. What do you personally know of the actual reasons why others in that Parish have left? Did they tell you they left because of the reasons you listed? You must be really involved in the personal lives of those fellow Catholics sitting in the pews next to you. \n Your end your comment with a final insult against the last two Popes. That is a personal attack on those two Popes. How did that comment get through the sensors? You got in \"pious Catholic mommy\" , but forgot to attack Cardinal Burke, hopefully my previous comment is sinking in just a little.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On the other hand, good American Christians have done their fair share of killing innocent children over the last 15 years or so.\n\nPerhaps Abrahamic religions are the real problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The real hypocrisy is supporting a woman who is the epitome of corruption, the clinton's made political graft an art form, she lied constantly, gave away state secrets, colluded with the Russians , put politics over the lives of our servicemen and allowed 4 to be killed along with an Ambassador. The list is as long as my arm but either you are totally ignorant of past events or you choose to ignore them, either way your pointing your finger at Christians leaves 4 pointing back to you", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... well, in his defense, the 10 commandments says NOTHING of 'Thou shall not touch under age girls'. \n\nSounds like a typical 'christian Republican' to me, DO AS THEY SAY NOT AS THEY DO :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Orthodox, right-believing Catholics are radical fundamentalists? As they believe what the Church has taught from Apostolic times and still teaches, then everyone from the Apostles down must have been a radical fundamentalist until a few years ago. That's all the popes, doctors saints.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kristus Voskrees! \n\nThat sounds fantastic! I wish we had this tradition on the Latin church, then again perhaps we did long ago.\n\nI am curious, but if you don't mind me asking, you seem to be referencing the post Paschal celebrations as something relatively new, did you convert from another faith? Also why do frequent this site?\n\nI ask because I've always been on the fence in regards to Catholic vs Orthodox, and this has become an even greater concern this last year. Catholicism seems great on paper, but there seems to be a huge discrepancy, especially when it comes to faith the church seems almost split in two and not united. It may be that the grass only seems greener on the other side, but Orthodoxy seems to have a greater unity of faith than the Latin rite of the Catholic church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is clear by your assertion that you have NOT performed a comparative doctrinal study yourself since you believe they are not similar. Of course, you will disregard me as religiously ignorant secular liberal since it helps you to maintain your biases. The funny thing is that we secular folks actually are more knowledgeable about religion than the devoted types.\nhttp://www.pewforum.org/2010/09/28/u-s-religious-knowledge-survey/\n\"Atheists and agnostics average 20.9 correct answers. Jews and Mormons do about as well, averaging 20.5 and 20.3 correct answers, respectively. Protestants as a whole average 16 correct answers; Catholics as a whole, 14.7. Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons perform better than other groups on the survey even after controlling for differing levels of education.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The 'Catholic' in NCR is not about being a faithful Catholic. It designates that NCR specifically reports on all things Catholic or touching on Catholicism. I wish people, even in jest, would stop bashing NCR for not being faithful to the magisterium. It just shows their ignorance and bias about the use of the word 'Catholic' in this context.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe he's sick of hearing from conservatives whining about gays and gay priests as if this is the problem at the base of the masses of Catholics leaving the Church. Except, in one sense it is the problem. About 30% of millennials leave because this is too often the default position on GLBT folks and they don't have the same knee jerk prejudice evidenced by the conservative arm of Christianity. I find it sad that three commenters who consistently bash gays are attempting to hijack this thread by bashing gays. Not too creative.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "http://www.diffen.com/difference/Christianity_vs_Islam\n\nChristianity and Islam have more in common than most people know \u2014 they are both monotheistic Abrahamic religions, and Jesus Christ is an important, revered figure in both religions. \n\nChristians believe in the Holy Trinity, and that Christ, the son of God, walked the earth as the incarnate form of God (\"the Father\"). Most Christians also believe Christ will return at the end of the world. \n\nMuslims consider Jesus Christ to be a prophet \u2014 a messenger of God \u2014 and a messiah. However, they believe that Muhammad was the last prophet and he recorded the word of God verbatim in the Quran.\nNow all Christians are KKK or Neo-nazi members. Not all Muslims are terrorists. Most Americans terrorists wear their religion on their body as tattoos. Do not judge both religions by the actions of a few radicals. \nIslam started in China 1,400 years ago. \nChristian violence includes \"forms of systemic violence such as poverty, racism, and sexism", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps Francis could find a way to get rid of all the gay priests that now inhabit the Catholic Church. I wonder how you could do that. Some of the treatment facilities that pedophile priests were sent simply asked the priests if they were attracted to children. If they said no, they were sent back to different Churches to minister to more children. After all, we know priests would never lie. Perhaps the pope could send out a questionnaire with regard to homosexuality. If a priest truthfully admitted to their same sex attraction, they could be laicized. If they lied, they would continue in good graces. I am a little confused though.If a priest is expected to be celebate, what difference does their sexual orientation make.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or something wrong with a religion that has already sent people into a church to cut the throat of a priest while he gave mass, and therefore, the need for Catholic self defense.\n\nBut I forgot: progressives are blind to history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They knew what the cash flows would be in the future. They even knew in the 80s when they stupidly kept the Reagan tax cuts and backloaded a Social Security surplus as a way to eventually force rich people to subsidize Social Security with the general fund.\n\nIf you want to be a Cafeteria Catholic, go ahead and embrace it, but Jesus spoke more about poverty than sex, as did the prophets (Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, et al), so I would worry about which food line was in if I were you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's malarkey. Those movements were secular religions and personality cults. You neglected to consider the casualties of two world wars and the Civil War, predominantly fought among Christians, and the catastrophic wars in Iraq and Vietnam, initiated by Christians. It's nearly meaningless to refer to \"Christians,\" as you can believe almost anything, from having sex with minor children to handling snakes and speaking gibberish, and claim to be a Christian. It's the world's all-purpose religion, and allows you to do anything. It started among the followers of an other-worldly mage who denounced material wealth, temporal power, the bonds of consanguinity, in order to pursue the kingdom of god. It is now the religion of well-off, family-oriented, politically active nationalists. Magic!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The difference is that Islam officially allows up to 4 wives, and very young brides marry old men routinely, and millions of ordinary Muslims all over the Muslim world live lives not that dissimilar to this, so that this would not seem outrageously far from the norm.\n\nNot so regular Christians, so that this is way off the map for any but the most fringe Christian sects.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims and liberals excoriate us about Islamophobia, but we should bear in mind Islam's entrenched racism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, anti-Semitism, hatred of Christianity, Europe and America, destructive iconoclasm, and even Islamophobia against each other. Ancient tribal wars between Kurds, Shiite, Sunni, Wahhabi, Druze and other Islamic sects, ISIS , Taliban and Al Quada are the root causes of most of the wars and social chaos happening around the world today. It is worse than anything expressed in the west, even by Trump or LePen", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There will be many cheap and cowardly attacks made on Merkel, on migrants and on all Muslims because of this horrible act. The migrants and Muslims are as horrified by this act as anyone. The young American just convicted of the terrorist killing of the black church goers is a white Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Christianity ... sent a man to the moon.\"\n\nClearly you have never read \"The Right Stuff\" by Tom Wolfe.\n\nThe United States has always done best when run by atheists/deists:\n\nFranklin; Jefferson; Madison; Lincoln; Teddy Roosevelt; FDR.\n\nIt has been in steady decline ever since Ronald Reagan welcomed the religious cultists back into the White House.\n\nNo religion has done more damage to America than evangelical Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good point.\n\nBut I suspect Cardinal Ratzinger's language here is more visceral than theologically objective. Which begs an obvious question: is he (y' know) a closeted gay man? It might account for that extreme denunciation : 'intrinsically disordered'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't; never even heard of them. But it's good to know that there's a well-financed group out there doing what they can to get the other side's position heard. \n\nI have seem some pretty pathetic lawyering in the cases involving same-sex marriage. But the real travesty is not so much the poor lawyering as it is the Supreme Court; which has really gone beyond its Constitutional limits in acquiescing to the relentless cases brought by the progressives. Under the liberal SCOTUS, interpreting the Constitution is akin to interpreting the IRS Code.\n\nI don't practice law anymore. I comment here as a concerned Catholic and as a parent looking to the future of the culture and society in which his kids and their kids will live.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gerald says he will miss Obama. I don't. I think millions upon millions, even billions in the world, don't. It is Obama who enabled a Trump. \nBut Gerald is entirely correct that White Christian Supremacist founded and ran the U.S. They proceeded to become White Christian Supremacist Imperialists since. Hardly the ink on the Constitution dried before the U.S. Navy with its 3 lonely ships sailed to the Med Sea to fight pirates, with is none of its problem. This was followed by 2 centuries of non-stops wars for expansion, profit, plunder, genocide, empire. All justified by Jew-Christian self-holy ideology of Manifest Destiny in the 19th century, and its version of Exceptionalism and Indispensability in the 20th. \nThe U.S. is one big warring military state armed to the teeth hell bent on world hegemony. It is in fact run by the Deep State. It does not matter who is president. Except the foolish president who dared to try to terminate the war state. They took care of him in Dallas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".\n\nA Survivors perspective...\nFirst of All, \"This is about the RAPE of VULNERABLE CHILDREN, Physical, Mental & SPIRITUAL\" ! Not clergy abuse, it's Child Rape. Which is a Felony Crime, not a SCANDAL.\nSecond, \"it's now over 20 years since Fr. Tom Doyle blew the whistle down in Louisiana.\" And where are we? The Church is still playing \"word games\".\n- and didn't the Vatican jettison another of its diplomats \"Last week\" on a Red Eye back to Rome after he was caught with Child Porn in Wash. D.C.?\n***This has been \"one HELL OF A RIDE,\" Compliments of the Church & Vatican's Ceaseless, Constant LIES & Well Developed Policies of Criminal Cover-Up.\nThe cHURCH, Vatican & Pope \"Have NO Credibility ! ! !\n\n...Cant Shine Sh!t.\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the funny hats in Rome are expecting white Catholics in the US to stop obsessing about abortion and pedophile priests (those \"culture war\" issues) and invest their political capital in keeping the Mara Salvatrucha safe from deportation instead, they're probably going to be disappointed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting that you opine that discrimination is not a bad thing, as long as it is against evangelicals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Same for me and he stands in a long line of good Catholic writers over the centuries who have used humor to point out the follies of the \"whitened sepulchers\" who are destroying the church by their blinded eyes and hardened hearts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'Bannon is unlikely to want Trump to force American Catholics to choose between their president and their pope.' \n\nDionne is myopic in the extreme. Yes, Bannon will force this decision while he hides behind Trump. He considers Trump the Grey Ghost. This is precisely why I think they will use bio/viral attacks to close the borders. How many of us would say 'yes' to Ebola or some other derivative. I truly can't say I would disagree with closing the borders with a plague overseas. I sure hope the NSA folks are putting some dots together.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I strongly object to your characterization that \"no one was hurt\". If you are held at gunpoint during a robbery, even if you are not shot and injured, you have trauma. There is psychological damage. Being a crime victim does that to people, even if, as in this case, the gun was empty & no one has physical injuries. So no, being terrorized at gunpoint does not count as \"no one was hurt\".\n\nIs the sentence excessive? Yes. Should it be reviewed? Yes. Keep in mind he committed additional crimes for which he will have to serve even if the original sentence for armed robbery is modified. So he's not walking out of jail anytime soon regardless.\n\nAs for your silly comment about \"trump people\", you might be surprised at how many conservative, Christian, GOP voters you disdain actually do find this sentence to be excessive and the result of a ridiculously overzealous prosecutor. Not all of us \"old geysers\" want to see every last criminal locked up forever. We pay taxes, too, & we have hearts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I should ask the \"Catholic\" University at Steubenville if I could give a speech on the beautiful of same-sex marriage or at Ave Maria down in Florida. wanna bet how far that would go?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The one subject is a white guy \n\nTrump Silent As Quebec Mosque Terrorist Is White Christian Pro-Trump Fanatic\n\nhttp://occupydemocrats.com/2017/01/30/trump-silent-quebec-mosque-terrorist-white-christian-likes-facebook/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...his deeds against Christians will be judge by Almighty God before this Muslim President is toss into hell.\" Seriously? That is so deep. You wouldn't happen to frequent Fort Street, would you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My comment about Minnery was flagged by you and removed. It had no profanity and wasn't nasty. Just theology. \nI pointed out that Minnery's wife works - contrary to Biblical law. A woman's place is as a help mate to her husband - keep the home and bear children. \nI referenced a popular \"clobber\" verse that Christians use and I wrote that the same Bible book has more to say. For instance, a woman who is menstruating isn't permitted to sleep inside the home. I am certain that Mrs. Minnery sleeps in her bedroom when she has her period. \nThen there is the matter of their children. The clobber verses come from Leviticus which is clear about what to do with disobedient children - kill them. \nThe suit Minnery is wearing in the photo is quite nice. If it's made with mixed fibers then he is to be punished with the lash. \nThen there is the issue of shell fish. Minnery surely has eaten crab.\nJesus didn't say a word about homosexuality. Sorry but you can't have it both ways.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well done and helpful in understanding what is going on. I cannot fathom why the institutions are giving-in to the rabble rousers and cancelling speeches or not renewing teaching contracts. Here is the problem: each time an institution bows to the fringe outcry, they let that side \"win\", emboldened them, give the illusion that their voice was the most important voice to listen to. \n\nHow many times has Pope Francis said we need dialogue, we need to talk about issues that divide Catholics - including gay marriage, LGBT people participating in the life of the Church, contraceptives and women's health, women's and lay roles in the Church. These conversations need to include lay people, those who see so much more the church can and should do to play a deeper role in the life of the lay people, and to create a faith community that includes them as adults. \n\nOpen up the Church to include the laity in discussions and decisions. We are not stupid and we are not sheep.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As Pope Benedict said, the Holy Spirit always inspires (and never confuses) but men don't listen. The spirit that moves this pope to insult and confuse so many people is obviously not that Holy Spirit. Yet, it is clear that this pope draws his strongest supporters and apologists from the 50+% of US Catholics who support abortion, homosexual marriages/LGBT rights, and euthanasia, people who consider conscience, however ill-formed, as superior to Scripture and Tradition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201c..we have forgotten and neglected the believer who very often exhausts his or her hope in the daily struggle to live the faith.\u201d\nWell, what do you, Catholic clergies, expect?\n99 % of Catholic clergies, prelates, pope does not portray God!\n \nThe most of you are indulge living in luxury, displaying nauseating pompous attitude, raping children, busy hiding/condoning rapist clergies and that is not enough, wasting billions lay people\u2019s hard earned donated money to buy fancy lawyers to persecute the clergy raped children & their families.\nI pray that Jesus go into the Vatican and drove out all who were buying, selling, raping children there. And He declare to them, \u201cIt is written: \u2018My house will be called a house of prayer.\u2019 But you are making it \u2018a den of robbers/rapists.\u2019\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Appearances are of importance only to the shallow-minded. Perhaps you didn't peruse his timeline. He appears to have struggled with relationships and drugs. A few of the recent photos he appears well-settled, groomed and happy with his daughter. He's also fervently religious. It's ironic that the vast majority of the incarcerated claim Christianity. Religion and drugs - a deadly mixture that poisons peoples' minds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anyone who wants to sincerely know about Hinduism, especially the Vaishnava/Krishna branch of Hinduism, please feel welcome to go to the following: Hinduheritage.info \n\nAs far as the claims made by Fedup808, they are so ludicrous that whoever believes such nonsense should join Kaaihue at the state mental hospital. You remind me of the anti-Catholic bigots who believe that the pope is the anti-Christ and eats children. Note to Civil Beat: you guys have to be at least in part responsible for the kind of insane hatred and bigotry that we're now witnessing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With all due respect to the Bishop, if it's that simple, then we don't really need a religion do we. No wonder so many no longer feel compelled to go to Church anymore; if \"be nice to one another\" is all I have to do, and God loves me regardless of my actions, heck, that gives me an extra hour a week for myself.\n\nThe problem, of course, is how love is defined. If you want to learn what love is, look to parents (after all God is our father); or better yet, become a parent. Parents love their children by teaching them; and isn't that what Jesus really did? Teach? \n\nAnd here's the part that no one likes: you just can't say \"Be nice.\" You have to teach the bad with the good: DO this DON'T do that. Love requires expressions of approval and expressions of disapproval. There are good works and there is sin. When you do wrong/sin, you must atone for it (e.g., apologize/confess). God loves us but he is not always pleased with us. Lots of spoiled brats around these days...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Silly aphorism. Nice touch. Glad at least that you think I speak the truth. Now, about God reaching down to man. The Scriptures give many examples of God reaching down to His chosen people. Not so sure about Islam. But Jesus is God incarnate and that is totally different than any other revelation of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... \"To our LGBTQ friends, to people of color, to women, to Muslims, to immigrants, to all and any who feel disenfranchised, to all who are suffering: We pledge to be a refuge for you. You are welcome with us, you are loved, and we will do everything in our power to support, protect, and stand with you in this time of uncertainty.\" ...\n\nOne group is not specifically mentioned:- those children who were raped by clergy and whose crimes were covered up and enabled by their hierarchy over many decades.\n\n Where were the Catholic bishops then in \" ... exercising prophetic leadership in opposing the massive ... \" crimes of their clerics?\n\nWords have little meaning; it is by their actions they will be judged. That is true prophetic leadership.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is also a recently-published book called \"Choosing Donald Trump\" which delves into the puzzling fact that Trump espouses values and displays character traits that most evangelicals would find repugnant in a \"regular Joe\" church attender, yet managed to win the majority of their votes. I'll be keeping an eye out for this book, as well as \"Dangerous Case\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The report also rejects the claim that the Second Vatican Council and the sexual revolution were responsible for the outbreak of child sexual abuse, as some have claimed\".\n(from p.193)\n* the impact of the sexual revolution, particularly on psychosexually immature men, whose sexual immaturity and deprivation led to distorted cognitive thinking about children and whose repressed sexual curiosity led to greater sexual experimentation;\n* the greater general turbulence in the Catholic Church during and immediately after the Second Vatican Council, with the celibacy debate masking the deeper crisis about the role of the priest\n* \u2018Young priests unilaterally abandoned the obligation to remain celibate, while some people opted for the priesthood in the expectation it would be abolished\u2019, leading to a conscious rejection of the celibacy rules by many clergy.\nMuch of this relates more to the abuse of adults.\nhttps://eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=52339", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article needed editing. If he weren't a bishop would he be allowed to ramble with self serving points? \nHe laments the museum's lack of RCC presence. The RCC was insignificant in lives of black persons. If anything, the violent hostility against blacks by Irish Catholics especially in NYC and Memphis are examples. N The RCC didn't rush to the South after slavery like Protestant churches to offer social assistance.\nEncouraging people to visit a museum is safe. As a bishop & black man he asserts no leadership in the more controversial arena of parish life - engaging RCs in exorcising bias against blacks. Coming from the Southside of Chicago, too, I was sharply aware of the intense prejudice against blacks. MLK said of his experience in this solidly Catholic environment: \"I have never seen, even in Mississippi and Alabama, mobs as hateful as I've seen here in Chicago.\" This slice of RC presence should be in the museum. RCs were a minor note, at best, in healing & reconciliation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, I simply state that an ex-priest has no validity or legitimacy to perform a Catholic Sacramental Marriage. The vision of Hell to the shepherd children is in my opinion the most important message of Fatima. I personally believe it is possible that some supernatural event may occur this year. I think it will involve the sun, and the Three Days of Darkness, as explained by Padre Pio. \nI may sound like a nut, but as someone who has researched the issues, many strange incidents are occurring that appear to fulfill many of the prophecies from the past. Most on this site believe this is all nonsense, but what if it is accurate? Only time will tell. October 13, 2017 may end up being a very special date.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Twelve year-olds have been having sex forever. Before the industrial revolution and even after girls married young and boys not much older. Its evolutionary. Porn is not new. There are some pornographic pew carvings in some Spanish cathedrals that would make you blush. Removing forced prostelization of non-Christian students from public schools is progress. Not decided on Fatima but believe the second secret is false.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would. And I'd bet John would too. And Francis would too. \n\nNobody as far as I know is: \n\ncalling them sinners for performing an alleged unnatural, self-indulgent, and intrinsically disordered act.. \ntelling them they're going to hell... \ndenying them the Eucharist... \nmaking them appear before a tribunal... \nordering them to repent... \nquestioning their morality... \ndemanding they do penance... \nbanning funerals... \nbranding them un-Catholic... \nshaming them for causing \"confusion that's of the devil\"...or \nclaiming they are instigating public scandal.\n\nTheir conscience, rigorously informed and prayerfully shaped, has primacy and is celebrated, as it should. Always. Me or John or Francis disagreeing with them doesn't change that. \n\nTHAT'S THE POINT!!! No dubia here. But somehow I can't see Cardinal Burke returning the theology when he thinks HE is right and we are wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora17, I do not envy you, your blind faith in the Vatican. When you compare how the Curia have contributed in many many ways to the enabling; protection; & continuing support of the clerical & religious sexual abuse of young children; by their use & misuse of Canon Law; to the hyped up condemnation of priests like Tony Flannery; who questioned some of the options for a church in crisis.\n\nOur Taoiseach (Prime Minister) highlighted the \"dysfunction; disconnection; elitism; & narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day\" .. \"the rape & torture of children has been downplayed or managed to uphold instead, the primacy of the institution; which are it's power, standing and reputation. He said the Catholic Church needed to be truly and deeply penitent, for the wrong doing it perpetrated, hid and denied\" (government chamber 20/05/2011 following the report of the Cloyne Diocese Judicial Review)\n\nNow compare Fr. Tony Flannery's misdemeanors, with the Curia's position.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "the problem with Islam is that it's an \" in your face \" religion , it was very cunningly well set up to suppress other less loud and visible religion , you just can't miss it on the sartorial aspect as well as in the moment of praying ( anywhere as long as it's towards Mecca ) and the minarets where the Iman shouts to whoever is listening and those practices i am sorry to say are not compatible with secular society period , they are limits to individual rights to protect it , ask yourself the question if Saudi Arabia would allow Catholic churches being erected in their country and it's practitioners allowed to wear whatever they please ... they won't .And so as soon as steps are taken to reduce this very public religion the word racist or Islamophobia comes up, yes very clever from the founder of Islam to make it as public and loud as possible to create guilty trips ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is a \"faux-traditionalist Catholic\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a U.S. Navy Veteran who was lied to by Senior officers twice (on the practice shell bombing we conducted on the inhabited island of Culebra, Puerto Rico; -- and our so-called neutral stance on the fighting in then Portuguese Angola in 1969), I stand when the national anthem is played out of respect for my father, who served for 44 months in the South Pacific during World War Two, and for all brave men and women who fought in that war. But because of my military experience, and the experiences of fellow veterans who are less fortunate than me without a home, or who cannot receive the time of day from the V.A., I support anyone who kneels during the national anthem.\n All of the anti-Christian materialistic whining about deregulation, which built to an obnoxious crescendo in the 1980s, has delivered us to a world where our priorities are out-of-whack. When some people who criticize those who kneel consider \"rolling coal\" a patriotic duty, you have to know our country is sick.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And yet another progressive Catholic who is calling half of America \"Nazis.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny. Someone invents an invisible cloud being and demands that we all bend a knee. So much of my youth was wasted on Christianity and its true arrogance. \nReligion, the quest for the values of the ideal life, is the most sublime activity of all for human beings. To end the quest at the beginning by forcing children to pretend to see a God is to shut the door on their own liberation and the freedom of their own minds to think and see reality. As Krishnamurti said, belief of that sort is just rubbish.\nTo believe in an invented supernatural God is to use illusion to hide from reality.\nAnd yes, I am a 70 year old with absolutely no grasp of what lies beyond the \"hubris\" of listening to my own heart and intelligence. \nHugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@Matt Hughes; There is no place for a bunch of Ku-Ku-Klowns in Canada.\nIn the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century an English three Canadians was a member of the white supremacist organization Anglo-Saxon, WASP equivalent to the United States (\"White Anglo-Saxon Protestants\"). \nFour members have been Prime Ministers of Canada, \nSir John A. Macdonald (father of \u00ab Canadian Federation \u00bb of 1867 but not \u00ab Father of Canada \u00bb which is Sir Samuel de Champlain in 1608), \nSir John Abbott, \nSir Mackenzie Bowell (a past \u00ab Grand Master \u00bb (?)), \nand John Diefenbaker. \nIn 1927 the \u201cOrange\u201d movement gave birth to a more intolerant and racist group, the Canadian Ku Klux Klan, which had its deepest roots in small towns in Saskatchewan because of the \"yellow peril\", but also because of the blacks...Jews...Catholics...\n(The \u201cKu Ku Nest\u201d in the province campaigned against= teaching French + wearing the religious habit + the presence of crucifixes in schools.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As the descendants of the illegal European aliens cheer on the policies of colonialism, it's theft and murder, that was, and continues to be used against the Natives, I have to ask them.... These policies that the foreign corporations and our bought off politicians are using against the Natives, that strips the Natives of rights, resources and lands, as the descendants bray out their Christianity... Do you all see any parallels in the way the Natives are treated, and the way the CIA and US government foment destabilizations and government changes worldwide, in order to bring profit to parasites who's only way to riches is by leeching off other peoples resources and lands, and that results in terrorist attacks against America?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anybody who has worked for a company in America knows what 'racism' is. Affirmative Action or the slogan, \"We celebrate our diversity\" is anti-White racism. The origin of this anti-White racism is Karl Marx. Karl Marx is the enemy of Christianity and is the synagogue of Satan.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Mike, I decided to do more research into Maciel last night. OMG! I often heard when I was younger the saying, 'the smoke of Sa**n will enter the Church and go to the top.' The Traddies who used this phrase aimed it at the Vat IIers or those who believed in a social gospel of justice. They said this while praising, and asking God's blessing, on JPII, Ratzinger, Sodano and Bertone. These four men - with their allies - have absolutely trashed our Church. JPII DID know about Maciel and sexual/drug taking allegations against him since day one of his Papacy. Bertone helped himself to Peter Pence money, sacked the guy who was heading the investigation into the Vatican bank, surrounded himself with corrupt clerics, built himself a palace. Sodano supported every murderous regime in South America. They allowed powerful groups of clergymen to overrun the Vatican, connected through homosexual parties or through seeking power.\nI'll post up a link to one documentary if I can. God help Francis!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi William, \nThe issue is that we don't judge truth by our experience. To say that you have been blessed by the preaching ministries of a woman preachers when the bible says that isn't the correct order of things. Its like I know of men that are really blessed by how their wives go to work to support the family and they think that it is so wonderful that the Lord would give here the work and the strength to do it and do a good job but the bible gave that duty to man not woman. And to his shame he forfeits his God given roll and the bible says that he is worse than a non believer if HE doesn't support his family.\nAnd so it is with ministry. God gave man the duty of ministry\"the elder is to be the husband of one wife\". 1Cor.14:34-38 is not a suggestion it is a command and it ends with \"if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.\nThe the point is don't judge your ideas by your feelings but by the word of God\u2026The Holy Spirit inspired them. \n\nGod bless you buddy \n\nDave\n\n\nThe bible", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hillary has 2 good friends who support her presidential campaign - whom she greets with smiles and hugs: Beyonc\u00e9 and Jay-Z.\nHave you read the lyrics to Beyonc\u00e9's song 'formation'?\nHave you read the lyrics to Jay-Z's song 'Big Pimpin'?\nYou had better, because they make Trump sound like Mr. Rodgers.\nWonder why she hasn't commented on the 'horrific' lyrics, especially the totally dehumanizing and sexist lyrics in Jay-Z's filth!\nCould it be that she really doesn't care as long as they are putting $$$ in the campaign coffer.\nThe people on this site amaze me. \nThey will throw Trump to the wolves because he is every imaginable evil, and in the process they will put a much more corrupt and evil person into office.\nAnd it is quite clear to me, that most people on this site, even if they claim to be Christians, have indulged in a willful blindness when it comes to ultimate evil in society - abortion!\nGod help us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just go take a hike or take a nap for heaven's sake!\nYou prove that CI (Catholic Institution) insisting that MEN are superior to Women theory a mere men's superstition. LOLOLOLOL!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Oosterhoff is a bigot. Not using any wide definition of the word either. He's a card-carrying religious bigot.\n\nThose among us who hide behind their religion, as this person does, to espouse bigotry, then's not fall into the old habit of giving them a chance to govern. Mr. Oosterhoff represents a rural area of the province which is an enclave of religious extremism.\n\nIt is simply amazing that guys like as Mr. Oosterhoff can cite something as ridiculous as the bible, almost always the old testament to justify their extreme views. It is doubtful that Mr. Oosterhoff would recognize Jesus Christ if he tripped over him on his way to a book burring.\n\nRot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are a very strange and difficult type of Catholic. One who has invented a notion of infallibility that is not taught by the Church. \n In any case, no Catechism trumps the Word of God. \n And, contrary to what our doctrinal police woman says, (Joan Piwowar, this means you) I disagree on issues of orthodoxy not sexual morality. No hot-button issues here, just whether the Church is sometimes arrogant. Check out Catholic Arrogance dot org. \n I attribute all of the crimes of history, from the genocide of the Cathars and the Inquisition to recent sexual abuse and the cover-up to bad Eucharistic theology and Biblical ignorance (not a fundamentalist). Priests and clergy playing God and alienating the \"faithful\" from themselves and each other and God by not taking Jesus at His word and inviting the Holy Spirit to dwell within. \n The Catholic church as times has collaborated with evil in society under the pretense of righteousness. Don't you do the same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're in the realm of comment fields on NCR so you should completely at home with simpletons like me copying and pasting from websites on the fly (guilty as charged btw!). You realize also that heroes of yours such as Luther and Calvin also obdurately professed Perpetual Virginity despite their visceral hatred of hierarchy. \n\nSo no apparitions, k. Also Church fathers are power obsessed destroyers of true Chrstianity, k. You sound...Mormon? Jehovah's Witness? They tend to break along similar lines of \"Romanized, paganized, hierarchical Christianity\" around the 4th century contaminating it all.\n\nIgnatius of Antioch in 107AD talking about wherever the bishop is there also is Jesus Christ too far removed from Jesus. Requirements for Church leadership in Titus too late in the game as well (ca. 70 AD) to have dodged the hierarchy contagion? \n\nJust admit your idealized base community pure Christianity is an irretrievable myth, completely out of line with Israel before and RC later.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "joanp: Fantasizing is not a sin. To NOT fantasize can be sinful. A world without fantasy is a world without poetry, music, dreams, literature, art, and so many other things. Trust folks to fantasize. And to fantasize fully. \n\nOne of the most damaging and unhealthy things I remember about Catholic school was the repeated stern admonition: \"Boys, put a brake on those fantasies.\" The \"take a cold shower\" doctrine often was then cited. \n\nThe Big Error: \n\nThe beauty of fantasy and the sickness of lust were homogenized as equal evils on the slippery slope to Hell, and maybe, just maybe, that approach was sinful and unhealthy in and of itself. To repress fantasy is to live life with the brakes on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can't have a \"proven success rate\" if never allowed access. The only such programs allowed by any state have been \"christian\" to the exclusion of all others. Atheists aren't even allowed to distribute literature. Many Eastern religions do not allow proselytizing so they don't force their ideology on anyone. Eliminate the \"christian\" aspect and stick to the rest of it and the same or better results will be found. These programs are just recruiting operations to build their flocks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It now appears that the Wall of Separation between church and the Trump-Pence administration is being rapidly demolished, all in the name of political expediency and partisan gain! Christianity and Catholicism have been commandeered to serve the agenda of the GOP!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islam is the already the largest and fastest growing religion in the world...\nYou and I are the minority...\nI suggest you broaden your world view..\nThe majority of wars and deaths in the world have been at the hands of Christians and Anglo-Saxons...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would be extremely hesitant to support the Southern Poverty Law Center, which could be fairly characterized as trial lawyer Morris Dees' personal hammer to hit those with whom he disagrees, particularly after his 2004 attempt to hijack the Sierra Club to advance his agenda.\n\nAt such point as the ACLU adopts a program of supporting the entire Bill of Rights, and not just the amendments it happens to like, I would consider rejoining.\n\nOf course as a Catholic I could never support Planned Parenthood, but continue to support the various Catholic agencies which provide pre-natal and post-natal care, training, and other assistance to young mothers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "- But, but, but: the RCC has a sterling record compared to other organizations!\n\nhttp://churchandstate.org.uk/2016/09/catholic-leagues-donohue-no-institution-has-less-of-a-problem-with-sexual-abuse-than-the-catholic-church/\n\nCatholic League\u2019s Donohue: No institution \u2018has less of a problem\u2019 with sexual abuse than the Catholic Church --", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously not true, as you know, and there are as many different ways of being Muslim as there are of being Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A true Christian does not go around advocating violence. Wolves in sheep's clothing for the ones that do. When true Christian's speak they speak not of themselves but the words that Christ spoke and taught. Many men throughout history have corrupted the faith in order for greed or selfish gain to which I will agree. As for this Jerry person. I do not know him nor do I wish to know him and he does not speak for me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes AFT, Ireland could be considered a microcosm of the Catholic world. As the jewel in the crown of the European Church; most of the population were practicing Catholics in 1979. It was selected as a safe bet for the first Papal trip of JPII. Over 1M people attended the Papal Mass in Phoenix Park, in Dublin.\nIt is now 38 years later. I have 9 grandchildren. Their parents generation attend church for the big occasions. The faith aspect will have dissipated for my grandchildren by adulthood. They are all very \"Christian\" in their outlook and lives. Because of the abuse scandal; untold damage has been done to the the credibility of the institutional church. \nBishops automatically blame materialism and other contemporary issues for the decline. They are in denial of the immeasurable damage perpetrated by the clerical child abuse and episcopal cover-up. It shocked the Irish nation to the core, because fundamentally we were such a practicing \"Roman Catholic\" people. It will never recover.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another case of putting the health of the religious institution front-and-center rather than the well-being of people. Too busy being Catholic, or secular, or capitalist, or something-or-other, and not busy enough being Christian.\n\nProfits-before-people again. And the religious institutions wonder about the rise of the \"Nones\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's rhetoric. The deliberate conflation of same-sex attraction and same-sex acts is a clumsy attempt to imply that parishes can't welcome people who experience the former without tacitly (or not-so-tacitly) accepting the latter.\n\nAn honest list of welcoming parishes would include all parishes with Courage ministries. Courage is a whole organization dedicated to welcoming and accompanying Catholics who experience same-sex attractions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As an agnostic, I sometimes want to go to the other side just in case the religious are correct after all! \n\nAt least the Catholics have the doctrine of purgatory that permits a second chance! A last minute conversion along the lines of St Augsutine and voila! Off to purgatory for awhile more. \n\nThe Muslims, the evangelicals, lots of the other Christians say I'm already destined to all sorts of eternal damnation and pain and such!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, fundamentalist Christians are even more religiously motivated on the issue than Jews? Ha ! The first Jews settled in Jerusalem in 5,000 BC...... Say again...?!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you bother to check? Does speculating that a reporter didn't confirm something make the reporting less factual? You ever look into how many overtly Christian communities there are in Colorado that do this? Think that Mikey Weinstein litigates for fun? Sounds like a complete picture to me, and you sound like a concern troll, which is the only reason I responded to your post. http://www.shellydonahue.net/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RADICAL TRADITIONAL CATHOLICISM SPLC\n\u201cRadical traditionalist\u201d Catholics, who may make up the largest single group of serious anti-Semites in America, subscribe to an ideology that is rejected by the Vatican and some 70 million mainstream American Catholics.\n \n\n\u201cRadical traditionalist\u201d Catholics, who may make up the largest single group of serious anti-Semites in America, subscribe to an ideology that is rejected by the Vatican and some 70 million mainstream American Catholics. Many of their leaders have been condemned and even excommunicated by the official church.\nAdherents of radical traditional Catholicism, or \u201cintegrism,\u201d routinely pillory Jews as \u201cthe perpetual enemy of Christ\u201d and worse, reject the ecumenical efforts of the Vatican, and sometimes even assert that recent popes have all been illegitimate. They are incensed by the liberalizing reforms of the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have to admit that some Christians and Jews DO take their 'holy book\" literally.\nI agree that no practitioner should do this - but some of them do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"as Christians we are now being put to the test.\"\n\nNonsense...we've been put to the test since Jesus walked among us and raised the bar on what is actually true love...love on the Cross.\n\nWe've been put to the test since Jesus raised the bar on what consitituted marriage....when He said: \"Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.\"\n\nIt's fantasy to prentend our era is presenting us any really new challenges.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "which is more than I can say for a lot of white, Christian Canadians I've met in my life.\n---\nReplace Christian Canadian with another faith/ethnicity and watch your comment disappear. \n\nP.S. I am an immigrant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hahahaahahahahaaa.............................\n\nI could pull up 20 or 30 quotes from the King James version of the Christian Bible and equate the same BS. Interpreting the Bible is the scourge of mankind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill 101 is actually about discrimination in favour of pure-laine Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois. It's largely been successful in changing the demographics of the province -- and making Montr\u00e9al a second-class city. And do you think if the Roman Catholic Church was not so anti-English, anti-Capitalist, that maybe young francophones from Qu\u00e9bec might have had the requisite education/skills to run a modern industrial economy in the first part of the 20th century?! Hmmm...but it's always the big bad Anglo bosses from Westmount -- give me a break....tired of your narrative.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have to admit, my blending of fruits and virtues was a bit of a ploy to elicit a response from you as it has been duly noted that the more hits at NCR the more ad revenue is generated. Thank you for your continued patronage.\n\nSecondly, you repeatedly succumb to the juvenile game of SPRS (Superfluously Pious Roman Semantics). That Rome has made these silly little distinctions and codified them into neat little dicta is inconsequential to the average Catholic Christian. There is no reason to improve upon Holy Scripture as it is written... a tree's fruit is a simple enough analogy, don't you think?\n\nIf you spent as much time being/doing charitable works you would find yourself much closer to the heart of Christ's gospel. Instead you make your real priorities known by your incessant blogging and phony fraternal correction. Rome has you by the short hairs and they ain't letting go until you decide for yourself to adopt a more mature spiritual/theological outlook.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why did the music \"badly need change after VII\"? Why is that? Just for the sake of change? Why should any Catholic Church ever allow something out of schismatic Taize to be heard within its walls?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"How can loving parents, even Catholic parents, support their gay child (who may be going through some very difficult times) if they don't know what it happening with their own kid?\"\n\nThey should try being better parents and pay attention to their children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again the Roman Catholic Church - the \"universal\" and the more national bodies - is not only missing a epochal opportunity and obligation to BE the leader it claims to be but, by inaction, it is refusing to be what it claims. The way requires that the church acknowledge its \"sacredly\" guarded tradition of treating women as utilitarian and \"theologially\" rationalizing diminution and exclusion, while lauding the porcelain virtues of feminine \"waiting\", \"nurturing\", \"serving\". It would require repentance, renewal and welcoming women into full inclusion sacramentally and institutionally. \nThey/we will watch a few dispensables go \"under the bus\" but stay \"with the message\":\nAs the child prays: \"Hail Mary, in your place....\"\n\"When will we ever learn/When will we ever learn.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Council's intent was to change the Church into yet another Protestant sect, it should be congratulated on a job well done. And that may, in fact, have been the intention: to re-unite the Catholic Church with the protestants by destroying that which made Catholics dramatically unique from the protestants. \n\nLanguage is the Leftists' most dangerous weapon, most apparent in the same-sex attraction discussion (conflating love and sex acts) and the \"pro-life\" discussion (conflating abortion with illegal immigration). Consider this: Transubstantiation is one of the greatest differences between Catholics and protestants based on the translation of Jesus' words at the last supper: \"This IS my body.\" Some Bishop decides he doesn't like that translation, and there goes another tenet of Catholicism down the drain.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe BRO it's a good thing.....catholics who \"move on\" may find supportive and nurturing faith communities....and their loss \"\"may\" stimulate some RCC change....if not at least those who move on will be in a better place....\n\nFrancis should be ashamed ......of his dicasteries that can't even be bothered to respond to a communication....from abuse folks.\n\nI do recall that Marie was very determined to stay on the Commission when Peter left...my impression was that she felt the Commission folks were important in spreading the word internationally about proper diocesan standards.... but obviously she no longer sees value....and she's had an \"up close and personal seat\".....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you support Obama at last and Trump's ally Russia for bombing them. You are very confused! \nYou would not be confused by following Jesus! He teaches usto care for the poor and the victims of war. Patriots of Trump are going to be challenged to decide whether they are followers of Jesus a.k.a. Christians first or not. \nYou have chosen poorly!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny how so many of today's Republicans support/promote religion-based laws.....so long as christianity is the only religion allowed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can see where Trump and the Pope might have some common ground....the Catholic Church has amassed great wealth generally at the expense of its' followers, it's priests think they can screw whoever they want and their empire is built on fairy tales. I'm surprised Trump wasn't genuflecting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is the perfect example of modern American Christianity. You couldn't find a more contemporary Christian than this man. Obviously, this is not hyperbole; just look at who supports and follows him, Christians are right there, lock step, and weeping with joy that their voice and deepest desires are manifest in Trump. C'mon Rapture! If the world ever needed Christians to go to heaven, this is the time! Trump at the right hand of G-d, a vision for eternity! Sing praise and Hallelujah!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm going out on a limb here to say if the institutional Church REALLY taught and practiced as the first group of Christians did, none of us would be here day after day lobbying and working for change. The institution is so far removed from the Gospel and the Way of Jesus there is barely any resemblance in far too many instances. You're kidding yourself if you think the RCC has remained faithful for 2000 to the Apostles and to Jesus, and/or to basic Christianity. You certainly overlook a whole bunch of history and herstory in your nostalgic fantasy. Respectfully, she added.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gee the ADN is getting more and more like a bad episode of \"The Hunger Games\" - starring Alice Rogoff as the new President Snow............... pitting the christians and muslims against each other for our winter entertainment. Hard to believe this gets the same airplay as our 3 billion dollar state spending deficit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chriz, nice to see you. A footnote to your comment about ordination and fatherhood. Did you know that a Roman Catholic priest can adopt children? All he needs is the consent of his bishop. I only learned this recently and was surprised, given the Church's take on these things and their disapproval of same-sex couple adoptions. I mean, where's the compulsory Mommy and Daddy fairy dust? \n\nA priest living in a very lavish house in Okemos, Michigan, has three adopted sons.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't hold a brief for any religion. But whenever someone points out the more bloody-minded parts of the Koran, we see this \"what about you\" argument pointing to equally objectionable parts of the Bible. The Bible does not enjoy the same status in majority-Christian countries, or even among most Christians, as the Koran does in Islam. We are now free to laugh at Deuteronomy 21:18-21, for example, without fear of an inquisition or being condemned for blasphemy.\n\nAs for reform vs. enlightenment in Islam, I refer you to this article: http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/colby-cosh-its-popular-to-suggest-islam-needs-a-reformation-but-an-enlightenment-makes-more-sense", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "SECULARISM, RACISM AND RELIGION\nAccording to the sociology of religion, the several religions are a byproduct of ethnic and racial groups, as well as of political empires. The Jewish society produced the Jewish religion, the Byzantine Empire produced Christianity and the Ottoman Empire produced Islam. And the disintegration of these empires, led to the several sub-divisions within Christianity and Islam (mainly Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox in Christianity, and mainly Sunni and Shiite in Islam.) Now, in a globalized world, we do not only need to heal ethnic and racial divisions, but we also need to heal religious divisions. And the way to heal the religious divisions is not by promoting...\u201cfreedom of religion,\u201d but by creating a new globalized religion \u2013 and that religion is, in my opinion\u2026SECULARISM, which is based on knowledge and science and not on beliefs, prophesies and... miracles. Thank you. A. C.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The irony of the headline \"Church Militant's nonsense not authentically Catholic\" coming from the National Catholic Reporter is downright hilarious. Thanks for making me laugh this morning. When did NCR turn into satire?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think it's obviously true that there is still a great deal of bias in hiring decisions. -I offer three personal anecdotes: \n1. The Catholic school board I worked for, for thirty years, was and is extremely nepotistic. Half of the teachers on staff at my school were former students. And this bias was displayed over multiple generations of hires, and applies in spades when it comes to those on the supply lists.\n2. My wife, a small town Ontario public librarian, was flabbergasted for years at the brazen bias shown by senior librarians regarding new hires. -Resumes from men, regardless of qualifications, were swept immediately into the garbage, followed by resumes from anyone who was not Anglo-Saxon. \n3. One of my best friends, who works in IT and is fifty years old, has commented repeatedly at the ageism he has experienced in the workforce. -He was asked more than once, and right to his face, during job interviews, if he wasn't too old to be applying for a job in Information Technology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why?\n\nI usually try to address what people say, instead of speculating about things like their lack of virtue? Speculation like that is grist for discourse, but that discourse is useless if it doesn't match people's perceptions of themselves.\n\nIf you think \"[progressives] tend to reject the difficult, the messy, the complex\" is a criticism, then you are also criticizing conservatives who campaign on exactly those principles. If you want a faction that does not reject difficulty, you may have to create something different from any we have now. You might also have to exclude humanity from that faction, but now we are getting into Christian principles lol.\n\nOTOH, if you think it is praise, then you should work on an \"ecumenism of sharing\" since in your view, progressives and conservatives have common values. (Attitudes toward the death penalty reflect this kind of situation: some people on both sides accept an inherent messiness that invalidates use of the death penalty.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "-Nora: look even wider. While it is hard to get out, it is very, very, very easy to stay out. Many of us can attest to that. \n\n \"Authority that commands, kills. Obedience that becomes a copy of what the other person says, infantilizes.\" Cardinal Jo\u00e3o Braz de Aviz, head of the Vatican\u2019s Congregation for Religious.\n\nJesus told his followers to turn the other cheek, not to bend over!--", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Observer15... the Catholic Board's proposal did not refuse to teach that. That is a blatant lie.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fair enough, that's an important distinction to make and I didn't pick that up in the original statement. I think the resurrection is a powerful basis for rational faith, and the gospels and subsequent new testament books are excellent evidence for the resurrection. I think we both share a disdain for what various humans did with it for their own purposes after that. Kinda like JZ and the lot we have to deal with now. I found it extremely unlikely that 100's of eye witnesses would be tortured and killed at the hand of the roman's for a lie. And after my own investigations, I found the resurrection impossible to explain away. I think that's where most christians will possibly make statements like the one you poo-pood, but won't necessarily show why they consider it rational in that regard. It is the basis for our faith, not hoping in some imaginary father figure in the sky. I hope that makes sense and is helpful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Brooks: \"America has always been a divided, sprawling country.... held together by a unifying national story..... it was an Exodus story. It was the story of leaving the oppressions of the Old World, venturing into a wilderness and creating a new promised land.... \nThat story rested upon an amazing level of national self-confidence. It was an explicitly Judeo-Christian story, built on a certain view of God\u2019s providential plan.\"\n\nAnd this is exactly the problem-- this Exodus story glorified the invaders and discounted the indigenous inhabitants as worthless savages of no consequence---just as Israeli Jews proclaimed when they took over Palestine from the Arabs \"A land without people for a people without a land ,\" our European Christian ancestors felt they had God's backing when they took over this Garden of Eden from the Native Americans.\nNow that we better understand our history we have a better chance for creating a true multicultural society honoring all, \"E pluribus unum.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I lay no claim to the argument; I probably read it from you at some point. \nMy personal perception is that is is accurate in that I've seen it across the spectrum of Catholic Masses / Divine Liturgies I've attended, including TLM, OF, Maronite, Melkite, Ruthenian and Syro-Malabar. The exception to this that I've noted is among Chaldeans - perhaps due to their persecution?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And, how about that white supremacist Christian who walked into a church, attended a prayer service and then shot nine of it's members dead?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More christian god injected into high school sports. It had nothing to do with the contest, but used as more propaganda for the preachers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LOL!\n\nOh ... you're serious. Really???\n\nTo start with -- wonderful family man -- which family would that be?\n\nRights of all citizens .... well, not necessarily the Muslim ones or the immigrants or those who might be mistaken for immigrants or non-Christians -- or women in general.\n\nCompassion for those exploited by greedy politicians and big business -- h***, he wrote the book on being a successful greedy big businessman, and a lot of it was stomping on anybody he could get away with doing it to.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I personally would prefer not to excuse your cattiness.\n\nComments like \u201cI cannot help but observe that Cardinal Burke looks like he has been highly feminized and is not a man\u201d don\u2019t advance a conversation. I have met him and you are wide of the mark.\n\nFolks are completely entitled to harbor ill-feelings, deep-seated anger, biases, and the assorted what-not of being human.\n\nSharing them with others, however, is not how we build a Christian community.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"....the church has taken consciousness about these crimes in a delayed manner.\"\nRegardless of the translation of this comment it really seems disingenuous. The church was \"conscious\"; it was vitally aware of these crimes. It/they knew, tolerated, facilitated profound harm to children, evil. It fought a vicious, unrelenting, uncivil (let alone un-Christian) battle to deny that vivid awareness that included lies, demeaning of victims and supporters.\nThe single microscopic bit of validity is his confession of a learning curve - and I am sure some others fell into this category - in the notion of repentance and reform by perpetrators, rather than acknowledging a sick addiction, a disfunction that renders them forever a danger to re-offend, to harm another child. Regardless, knowing of a serious criminal act, protecting a criminal who has acknowledged culpability is, I believe, also a crime.\nAcknowledging, his response now must be proportionate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hate to say it but that's what you get for going to a private \"christian\" school. Now if some public school tried to pull this, I'd be outraged.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would think, just for presenting a balanced view and for generating discussion from different points of view, that someone other than Card. Burke would also be speaking on the issue. His disagreement with Pope Francis is well known. Those attending this conference will not get a chance to hear from someone who gets what Francis is trying to do and sees a way to walk through the process of change Francis is promoting.\n\nMore, where is the brave soul who will address the larger issue of the role of Canon Law in a pastoral church? Or map out where they see paths to implementing the Pope's changes, including where they see impediments in current Canon Law? \n\nThis appears to be more about indoctrination into a particular point of view than a conference for intelligent, thoughtful Canon Law experts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think if the Catholic Church published the lay's own scandals, it would be a very good thing.\n\nWe'd have less of an air of detached contempt and superiority over \"rome, the awful bishops, and the institutional church\". \n\noh..wait a minute...they couldn't do that...that wouldn't be good, fair, comfortable.\n\nWhy, that would be humiliating, injurious to my precious reputation, insulting, and illegal.\n\nI'd sue, I would!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you; methinks we Roman Catholics continue to have difficulties separating our fetishes from our essences. The cost and hurt are incalculable, inside and outside.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Noted. \nFortunately you are not our Pope. He has decided not to fall for impertinent trick questions. For which the best response is to ignore. \nMeanwhile, those with the ability to discern right from wrong, will quietly get on and do so, in the specific cases that do not allow for a glib 'Yes or No', one-size-fits-all answer. In the hope of saving more people for Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We've had a pope go to a formerly Lutheran, now atheist land to praise Luther. Now we need present and former Lutherans to return the favor and go to the Vatican to praise the Council of Trent. Because that's how ecumenism works, right? It's a two-way street where one looks for the best in the other, right? Right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As long as Catholics vote as a block, there will be separate schools. Both public and separate school systems should be replaced with a voucher system.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have heard many people say the problem began when we minimized sin and divine punishment. Which means most people stayed out of fear. Once that was removed the flood gates opened. But the real problem lies in the fact that their was no real alternative to fear. If the ideas of John XXIII and now Francis had been in place then there would not have been the vacuum in faith the bishop talks about. If bishops were pastors rather than administrators and lawyers they would focus on the Gospel of Jesus instead of Canon Law and Thomistic theology. What I say here I say from experience. I was raised in the Church of the 1950's. I remember the talks about hell and punishment and the need to be afraid of eternal damnation. We had to love God or else. Never a word about God's love for us and the reason we should want to be part of the community of faith and live the sacraments. They were means to avoid hell and earn our way to heaven which was only for the perfect. Of course they've left.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And yet NCR chief writer Michael Sean Winters flies to Europe on a super polluting, climate-destroying jet, for a whimsical conference in Italy.\n\nYet, NCR is appealing to Catholic readers to do whatever they can to save the planet.\n\nThis sure makes sense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian Crusaders started with the Council of Clermont in 1095 AD. This is different from Augustine's \"Just War\" concept developed in 400 AD.\n\nYour comment is an oversimplification of the historic complex interwoven developments. Mo slaughter his Semitic Jewish brethren after they took him earlier and tended to his wounds when he was in his ascendancy phase.\n\nMo's descendants further his unyielding philosophy when he passed. The critical difference between Christianity and Mo's version is the central emphasis on \"forgiveness\" central to Jesus's message.\n\nAs for the Jews, they do not believe Jesus is the messiah since he failed to fulfill four critical deeds. They are still waiting for their messiah.\n\nBottom line, the followers of the mythology of a superior deity has killed untold numbers of people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, the Catholic church hierarchy knew this was going on, and sheltered the guilty priest by transferring them to other churches. In order to escape the law.\n\nAnother Catholic church crime was the active help that many priests and nuns provided to the Hutus who slaughtered the tutsis. I have the greatest respect for Pope Francis apologizing for that crime. And the greatest disgust at his predecessors for staying silent about that megacrime.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I absolutely agree that women should be able to choose not to go to a Catholic hospital to get their health care if they aren't happy with or do not agree with the care they will receive. That is what I have been saying. That is what \"choice\" and \"freedom\" is all about. Liberals, after all love \"choice\" don't they--except when people \"choose\" not to be liberal or accept the tenants of liberalism. \n\nI also agree with you that they should fully understand what care they can and cannot get at a Catholic hospital. This will better empower women to make \"choices.\" See, you and I agree! \n\nTell me--as long as you support the idea women should be clearly told about the care they can and cannot get at a Catholic hospital so they can make an informed \"choice\" do you also support women being told about other options to abortion--so that they can make a fully informed decision------excuse me \"choice?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rightontheleft says \"These terrorists believe that they can frighten Western nations into withdrawing from Middle East countries like Iraq and Syria by using terrorist attacks\".\n\nThen why have Muslim extremists attacked and burned Christian churches and killed Christians in Pakistan?\n\nWhy have Muslims attacked Hindus in India?\n\nWhy have Muslims attacked and killed people in the Philippines and in Indonesia?\n\nWhy are Muslims attacking Africans in Sudan, Nigeria and Kenya, Somalia, etc?\n\nWhy are ISIS/IL Sunni, Muslims attacking other Muslims and Yazidis in Iraq and Syria?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Doing that would be to return or at least confirm the church as Burke and the others want: definitive, authoritarian. A church where conscience is directed rather than informed. These are supposedly bright \"men\" they can understand the ambiguity, the challenge of being companion followers of Christ. If not they should find their own sheep to herd rather than lead.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "the Mass is a sacrifice, NOT a meal.\nthe priest stands in persona christi, the head of the mystical body.\nthe sanctuary is the head, the nave is the body.\nthe head and the body are united when they both focus on the same thing, Jesus who will return from the East.\nthe hymn does not go \"People look East except the priest...\"\nThe VII pizza-hut churches have the head looking away from our Lord and gazing at its navel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Gospel is liberal because Jesus denounced the clergy of his day. It is why they left it in Latin, so the people would not get any ideas about reform. Once it was put into the venacular, clericalism was doomed. Why would progressives want a secular gospel? We want teachings to not disregard scientific truth, but that is not secularism. We want publicly paid Catholic schools as much as any Catholic, but with unionized, certified teaches. Humanist? Jesus was a humanist (gentle, humble of heart, morality for our sake, not his) and no Catholic progressive is atheist. Marxists, maybe, but not all Marxists are atheists. The best ones are believers. It is a much more powerful message. Quit speaking soundbites.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religion is a great thing in prisons. The number of \"born again Christian.....born again Jew or born again Muslim\" rises and the list grows in such a place. In return for their newly founded faith, they wants privileges as well. Jewish inmates want kosher food, Muslims want a \"no pork diet\", Christians want fish on Friday and drone of special privileges goes on. And some become well versed in the Bible, Torah or the Koran. Who knows? Maybe that is bit of a rehabilitation working there on the few who actually do turn toward the light, eh? Majority will chuck their holy books, yamuks, prayer rugs into the trash can when they get out. But few will stick by it. The most interesting part is that prison preachers, rabbis and mullahs who come to our facility all understand that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1905; Saskatchewan and Alberta\nNo constitutional guarantee was given to French Catholic minority of these new provinces, while the federal government (Sir John A. Macdonald (father of \u00ab Canadian Federation \u00bb of 1867) did not show no will to protect these rights, any more than it did at school conflicts in New Brunswick and Manitoba. \nThe \u00ab School Act \u00bb of Alberta imposed English as the ONLY language of instruction.\nIn Saskatchewan, the \u00ab School Act \u00bb of 1909 made English the ONLY language of instruction, but allowed limited use of French in primary schools.\n(1927; the Ku Klux Klan in the province of Saskatchewan campaigned against teaching French, wearing the religious habit and the presence of crucifixes in schools.)\n(1929; a third law of Saskatchewan yet abolished the French in schools that Act adopts the 1918 and shed.)\n(wait ! don't go! there's more to come)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some posters note issues with the terms \"homohatred\" and \"heterosexism\". I can sorta get it, but after several passes the terms are referring to kinds of hatred which the authors see as problematical. Since most of us would agree that hate is a bad thing it really is focusing on the issue. Hate is an intrinsic disorder, to hate is to be intrinsically disordered. And let's face it, not all hate is wrapped in obvious emotion. The worst kinds of hate are packaged in very deliberate, cold logic emanating from a premise of destruction, disdain, exclusion, elimination, punishing. These are terms which are descriptive of violence - whether encultured, learned or taught they are, so to speak, poisonous and tend towards act of violence that, in principle, don't belong in being Christian.\n\"Hate the sin but love the sinner\" is more often than not a cover for...well, we know the terms.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm trying to figure out how old you are. I mean, I'm not young, attended Catholic school, and all we talked about was sex.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God does use flawed human beings to achieve His purposes, that is one of the most fundamental truths of the Christian life. That you deny this basic truth is extremely problematic, as you are essentially denying that human persons have any role in God's divine plan of salvation.\n\nAlso, playing the Hitler card...typical...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well in this one particular case I'm merely making the statement that the let attacks everything Christian and western and embraces everything anti-Chrsitian (like Islam) and anti western. The commenter I was responding to brought religion into this debate I just like pointing out his hypocrisy", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. Sorry, but as the person who has unflinching trust in the opinion of Church Militant, it is up to you to say by what canonical authority this organisation is considered as competent to explain Church teaching. Of course, you will not be able to, which means all they are offering is an opinion on Church teaching.\n\n2. Further, was this organisation not obliged to change its name, because its was challenged under Canon Law over including \"Catholic\" in its name? Sounds to me like a factual piece of evidence for legitimately doubting their capacity to represent Church doctrine accurately.\n\n3. Are you counting? Another of your evasive \"where's the evidence?\"challenges.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for that excellent example of the Ad Hominem -- and, yes, it actually is a proper Ad Hominem (attacking the arguer, not the argument). And, of course, you follow it with a slanderous accusation of plagiarism. In that other thread, you were trying to lecture me about how a Christian should behave. I suggest that you need some work in that area.\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_and_slavery would be a good place for you to start learning about the Church and slavery. Gosh, I reported things accurately. Perhaps my having a masters in history of religion helped me to know what I a talking about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Amy was just re-elected to the assembly. Are you saying that the majority responsible voters north of Anchorage are extremists? The very popular Christian station owner and listeners? Are you saying that Christians believe because they don't have any common sense? Be honest...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So...the Church is a popularity contest?\n\nLow information Catholics like Pope Francis is hardly a ringing endorsement of him. To most Catholics, the Pope is a nice old man who waves and kisses babies but whose teachings they never read and rely on the what their priest tells them he says or the media to form their opinions of him.\n\nAnd many people with grave doubts about where Francis is leading the Church in my experience are reticent to vocalize them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anyway, this somewhat pedantic point aside, three points to clear up. 1) Trump has indefinitely banned Syrian refugees. The 90 day ban is for all refugees. It seems unlikely that he will reverse this policy for the majority of Syrians any time soon, although he may make an exception for Christian Syrians. 2) The latest government statistics the 25,000 Syrian refugees who have come to Canada have cost $385 million not $600 million, no? (admittedly I haven't delved into these stats in any detail, so you could be right). 3) Are there really 25,000 Syrians who have been cleared to come to the U.S, waiting in refugee camps? Where does this figure come from?\nNot sure why being middle-class should be a reason to feel less compassion for people. I share your concern about homeless people on our streets.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I read things like \u201c... the rituals and observances you strict traditionalists love and are devoted to, are not attractive to the two or three generations younger than yours.\u201d\n\nI then I note among the folks in 20-40 age group Catholics who have moved to Orthodoxy or to 1962 Missal parishes to get away from the \u201cupdated\u201d rituals and observances that your misreading of the times and mores led to, with no particular success.\n\nThe proposition is unsupportable in fact.\n\nFolks have plenty of zippity-doo-dah in their lives and are seeking transcendence, not banjoes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cant change it to 4pm, flights leave everyday from Toronto. There is over 28 Moslem countries in the world. Dont like the rules leave and please take Allan Ross with you.\nAllan Ross can convince the Turks to admit their guilt in the genocide against Armenians (1915) over 1.8 million murdered for being Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny. But still missing the point:\n\n1) The church was wrong about protecting priests. But how does that imply the church has lost all authority, and should now have an \"anything goes\" policy respect to other areas of priest's actions?\n\n2) The church was wrong about protecting priests. Some bishops were at fault. No, actually all bishops were at fault, given that no bishops had a policy of forwarding errant priests to law enforcement. The reason for this was that the pope of the time explicitly did not care about the allegations against priests, and moreover, upholded canon law that forbade clerics from advertising scandal (ie, contacting the police when a priest molested a child).\n\nSo the key question: if the pope himself was as complicit as the worst bishop, who in the Church as the moral authority to punish bishops?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you have any other straw men you would like to create?\n\nWhile you are condemning the Catholic Church for forcing beliefs on unwilling people, do you have anything to say about Islam in the Middle East?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus Christ asks us to deny ourselves but not to deny Him. Many have died at the hands of others because they refused to deny Jesus as Lord and Savior. This has even happened quite recently in the Middle East, where Christians, children even, have been murdered by Muslims because they were asked to reject Christ and submit to Islam and Allah and they refused. The latest I believe were the Coptic Christians in Egypt on that bus who were slaughtered in the name of Allah and Mohammed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On a theoretical level, the Church is not able to adopt the idea that a person's subjective experience is authoritative on the advisability of choosing chemical or physical mutilation. The Church's doctrine of the human person is unambiguously hylomorphic: a female body has a female soul. The Church believes that \"Nick\" has a female soul, and hormones and surgery can not change it.\n\nOn the practical level, the Church has a lot to lose if it is pressured to adopt the \"transgender hypothesis.\" Religious orders are sex-segregated, the most prestigious Catholic high schools are sex-segregated, youth ministry is often sex-segregated. In many parishes, even Bible Study is sex-segregated. (Paradoxically, many parishes have only a single restroom for mass-attenders, so this might end up being an easy one.) \n\nThe most reasonable solution would be for \"Nick\" to seek pastoral support in an Episcopalian or UCC community.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Diversity\" my foot.\nLeftist all of em. Yo don't really want diversity. You only want superficial diversity. Any woman with a right-wing, Christian (or fundamentalist Muslim for that matter), or Republican viewpoint would not be welcomed. So coe off of your \"diversity\" high horse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was pretty exclusionary of the woman who asked help for her child until she reminded him that even dogs under the table get table scraps...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How you would react or your belief of what Christ would do is interesting, but irrelevant. You have the right to practice your religion as your conscience demands, but the baker has the right to believe differently than you do and come to another conclusion per his conscience. \n\nThe issue isn't what Christ would do or what you would do or any other Christian who wants to bake the cake would do. The issue is that some people believe the 1st amendment says you can't tell someone else HOW they should practice their religion. SCOTUS needs to clarify if that's still true.\n\nYou implied that he's practicing his religion wrong & doesn't have the right to make the decisions he's made because he's theologically incorrect. When you bring in what you would do, you imply your interpretation of religion is right & someone else's \"wrong\". \n\nWorse is deciding the law should support your interpretation & the law should tell him he's wrong. There's all kinds of problems with that method.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Saudi Arabia's sartorial rules and customs regarding women don't apply only in religious settings but neither I suspect are they enforceable in non-religious settings for non-believers. I don't believe Mrs. Trump exhibited any degree of religious insensitivity by not covering her head when meeting Saudi Arabia's temporal leaders. Also, I suspect that as a Roman Catholic she chose to observe formal religious protocol when meeting the leader of her own faith, a decision that seems eminently and unassailably personal. My Roman Catholic mother, who was quite liberal, likely would have done the same thing. I'm not sure about customs related to visiting the Western Wall and whether its protocols are or can be applied to those who aren't Jewish, but I'm inclined to give Mrs. Trump the benefit of the doubt on this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Coptic Christians, Druze, and Muslim?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Somebody should point out to Andrew MacDougall that the socially conservative positions the Liberals are criticizing are also criticized by a large number of Christians. The problem is not that the social conservatives identify themselves as Christians -- they are free to live by whatever religious tenets they like -- it's that they want to impose their socially conservative standards on the rest of us.\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, 18%.\n.\nBut it's worse than that, really:\n.\nRecognise that evangelical Christians make up about 18% of the population. They have essentially a 100% voter participation rate. They vote virtually 100% for the Oil Party. \n.\nWhen you grasp the meaning of those facts, you begin to understand the true nature and magnitude of the problem.\n.\nMore-or-less, an organised (and, astonishingly, taxpayer-subsidised) religious group is destroying the democratic process in this country.\n.\nSo much for government based on reason and the rule of law ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any male can dress like a man. \n\nOnly a priest can dress like a priest, showing the world that he belongs to God and who by his courageous visible presence provides a sign and a ready path to reconciliation, whether on the street, in an airport, around the town. How many people have been glad to find a priest for help, for confession, for advice.\n\nPriests in collars provide a sign of the eternal amid the temporal. \n\nThe \"men\" who hide their faith - for whatever sad reason - will account for it. \n\nHow many souls never knew that reconciliation was but 2 minutes away with these \"men\" who play lay pretend, but do like the show lights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Larry you raise 100% legitimate points. But I suspect a similar question was originally raised of Messianic Jews. The first step was to try and divorce biblical Judaism of the Torah from later Judaism of the Talmud. Then Messianic Jews could distinguish what was is really a religious issue and what is a cultural one.\n\nThe same with Islam. Many things we associate with \"Islamic\" are actually manifestations of Arabian culture, or the later Haddith, and not the religion of the Qu'ran. So a Messianic-Muslim shouldn't, for example, feel obliged to where a Burkha. \n\nAnd funny you mentioned head dress. The only religion with explicit commands about wearing head dresses is Christianity, in 1 Cor 11. Yet we explain those texts away today don't we? \n\nMuhammed was a deeply flawed person - but any more than OT prophets? His fundamental message was for Arabians to abandon paganism and worship the God of Abraham. Judge him by his time and place, not ours.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In your biased and skewed opinion. You leave out the history of the sacrament of marriage in the Church; you leave out all of the various practices over 2,000 years; you leave out how the Eastern half of the church understands this; you repeat a basically western, European mindset (which has what to do with what we Catholics believe around the world?); you leave out the development around Kaspar's thought that happened long before VII (you appear to think that Kasper's hobby horse just dropped from the heavens)???\nIn fact, since you provide no EVIDENCE for your bias, guess we can just ignore.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do not know who can say the Roman Church has resolved the gender issue.\nI am a 80 y/o life long Catholic and I find it increasingly difficult to remain a practicing Catholic \nin today's institutional Catholic Church", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your advice is pretty good in this era of let's forgoe naps for food, parent sleep deprevation, being paranoid about leaving your kids in the car, the stress and cost of keeping them clothed and keeping them clean when appearances mean nothing and you need diapers. That doesn't even address church and the issues that crop up there. A Catholic study group suggested. Give parents a break. They made it to church. And on the downside of jr.'s screaming, they made it to the market. If you really want to help\nsociety, cut the judgement. People who don't haven't given birth should practice humilty and try fostering an Alaskan child. That would be more helpful than Johnny come lately volunteer parenting. Such meaningful helpers may be percieved as sickos. Most parents are good people who are just trying to put food on the table.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since Moira in The Handmaid's Tale is a lesbian, any reference to the Virgin Mary is highly ironic.\n\nWhat is The Handmaid's Tale about? Patriarchy and theocracy: that is, precisely the ideology that a significant number of Catholics and other Christians embrace. If Gilead violates Christian theology, it's fiction after all. Christians put the autocrat Donald Trump in power, and that is reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The purpose of a Catholic newspaper (and each and every Catholic) is to bring all souls closer to Christ, every day, with every single contribution or comment, not to play pretend disaffected fist in the air radical from the 1960s. That era didn't exactly bring many souls closer to Christ. \n\nJesus didn't \"accommodate\" His Father's will to the people...'oh dear, the rich man is walking away...what I meant to say...if it's ok with you..is that you don't have to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength...you can still hold on to your wealth, or your reputation, or your own ideas about My Father's will...I can accommodate it all for you, dear little rich man\".\n\nNo, that's not what Jesus said or did. \n\nIs it more and more clear that this newspaper is \"becoming\" the image of the Gospel, every day?\n\nDo the comments incarnate the message of the Gospel?\n\nOr does it resemble just a bad secular newspaper?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is prejudice base on the thought that \u2018minority\u2019 are poor and ignorant? What good is millions when \u2018poor widow\u2019s two small copper coins\u2019 pleases God? Jesus said, \"Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.\" (Luke 21:3) God sees your heart not the amount. \n \nAn ignorant person who loves God walks with God even on earth. Love abolishes distance and time; it has power to make all things present. Thus that God is present in a heart glowing with love. \n\n \u201cNo one can fully comprehend the uncreated God with his knowledge; but each one, in a different way, can grasp him fully through love.\u201d The Cloud of Unknowing\n It is your heart that determines who you are in heaven as well as on earth. It is who you are that truly feeds Jesus\u2019 \u2018my sheep\u2019 before what you can do or what you can give to others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excluding those who are married, gays, and women from ordained ministry is more important than feeding the Church, than allowing God's family to gather at the Lord's table to break the bread and partake of the cup of salvation. That's the choice being made. Sad", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Bishops have been known to broadcast... material [that] is private as well as opinion.\"\nHow can what is broadcast be private? Bishops have also been know to cliquishly cast off, and even to cast off on their own. There seems to be panoply of \"certain bishops\" who launch broadsides against (fill in the blank). All of this talk highlights that while the Catholic church may have a panoply of bishops, it is experiencing a dearth of pastors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ahhhh, the deep state at work. Try as they might, they couldn't get crooked Hillary elected, so now they will cause the end of the democratic process, they don't care what that will lead too, just as long as they get the democratically elected President out of office and install their puppet, a democrat in the office of the president. I am amused how all the SJW's are all for Muslim rights, when in the 90\"s the same SJW's, at least here in Ontario made sure that my christian cross couldn't be worn in a visible area if I had a Government Job, because according to them no religious symbols could be shown at work. But now to wear a tent on your body where only your eyes are visible, no problem it is their right! Why is it that the greatest race on earth, the white race is intent on committing suicide? Instead of applauding these traitors, the citizens should be furious that they want to undermine democracy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think there is a lot to consider in Massingale's words. I also think he pulled his punch when he spoke of the struggle within the church. He pointed to Trump's campaign as tapping into fear, racism (etc.) While that may well be true, I'd suggest we all play back the political ads we've been hearing during campaigns now for a long time. Trump certainly didn't invent the concept, nor was he the only one to use it. The real issue is the cause of these fears. In society, there's no shortage of sources, including politicians, the media, movies, books, etc.\n\nWhere Massingale pulled his punch on the church was that he didn't call out similar sources in the church. I might disagree mightily with a neocon, or ultra liberal in the church, but I very much want to be open to a dialog with them. Can the same be said with church bishops and popes, who literally and often use THEIR pens and pulpits to reach millions with highly judgmental thoughts?\n\nFormation IS important. So is leadership...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Jesus intended to establish NO priesthood and did not--then there is no problem and no argument.\n\nIf Jesus established no priesthood and had nothing good to say about it, the problem isn't that the Church won't ordain women, but that the Church is ordaining men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, it was TWO posts.\n\nYou know what also drives me crazy? Bigotry in the name of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The old-style churches are had-to-mouth operations but the evangelical mega-churches are huge money-spinners for the charlatans that run them. If they don't make money they won't be paying taxes anyway.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion. Christians don't have to work on Sundays or on Christmas if they so object. Jews get holidays off without uproar. Why do we make an exception about Muslim-Americans practicing their daily religious practices? As for conservatives, I would never deny a person's right to believe political dogma of any kind.\n\n(For the record, I do know what [radical] Islam teaches. I also know that the Old Testament espouses abhorrent theology regarding women, gays, polygamy, slavery, incest, etc. Best to look in the mirror before disparaging others.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When is the Church going to issue a strong, clear apology for centuries of false teaching that led directly to the conclusions by millions that sex is \"dirty and tainted\"? \n\n\"In so many areas about human sexuality, we didn't know what we were talking about\" would be a good starter.\n\nSad fact: the Church made sex seem intrinsically tainted, so when real perversion occurred it was difficult for folks like Jessica Griffith (and all Catholics) to differentiate abuse from core beauties of consensual sexual intimacies.\n\nJessica found \"Church teaching may have contributed to her silence\"---and that is abuse. When silence is made a Church virtue--and it has been--perversion wins. \n\nIn her Catholic high school, Jessica was taught about sex \"only in terms of sin.\" It's time to call that distorted tradition, over years and over miles, a sin itself! And its time Catholics confess that tradition had a role in the covering up and burying of abuse, publicly and within one's heart and soul.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was a lifelong Republican. I re-registered as \"not affiliated\" with the rise of the Tea Party, but still voted Republican 95% of the time. This was the first election where I did not vote for a single Republican. Many Republicans were and are totally horrified by Trump and the capitulation of most Republican politicians to supporting him, including many who had it right before he won the nomination. Many Republicans joined a movement called #NeverTrump. Some, like George Will, publicly left the party. I am currently barely on speaking terms with some in my family (all loyal Republicans) and a couple of lifelong friends. Believe me, losing these relationships at my age is not easy, but I find I cannot even engage in conversation with them, so simply keep my distance. I feel that they have betrayed their stated principals, as christians, as \"patriotic Americans\", as official Republicans. Kag and I and many others did not support Trump. A viable third party is needed now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The pastor said he has to go there for the 101st time the next week, to resume his mission assigned by God (sarcasm ends)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good point Yjin, thanks. I should have been more clear. When we \"find God\" through our religious faith, - the \"Good\" we rely on is what that religion tells/teaches us. Often this involves rejecting what another religious denominations or faith systems holds. We also \"find God\" through reflection on what it means to be human, what we Christians conceive as \"the image and likeness of God\" in us, in creation. It is my opinion that this route which leads to the \"common good\", through reflection and reason, can also lead to God. But on the way, it instructs us on what we all hold in common. At least, that is how I see it. That is what I was trying to clarify when I wrote: \"This is more of a human issue before (on the way, by reason before faith) it is a faith one.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So much lost potential. In supporting Senator McConnell's agenda you may have diluted the power of the Chairman that you thought you were trading for. Sometimes I feel that Senator Angus King is doing a better job for Alaska. There's a Catholic value system that Hickel, your Dad and our Governor have and you had, that are missing in D.C. now. I know it's way more partisan, but standing up to McConnell was a magic moment and you blew it. If you lose and I hope you do, I hope you learn from this and you stay in politics, but I hope you lose.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then are you denying that the Bible is the word of God? Are you saying that it lies and does not speak the truth. I am with you on the description of Hell. You might also reread the section about judging angels?\n1st Corinthians 6:3\nDo you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!\nWith this verse I do not mean we should be judgmental or legalistic. Just that we have the ability to judge. Do you also deny that the left can also be too non-judgemental? In other words, that nobody ever does anything wrong? There were stories of a PCUSA church that allowed a non-believer into membership. Do you think they were right to do so? This is the type of thing that caused many churches to break away from the PCUSA.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishops have so little control (and even where they do it's 4 order indrect) over university quality/operations. I know the dean of engineering at a very large Catholic university. Most bishops have to call before they come on to campus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since this argument tries to make the case that the authors speak for fRANCIS, it appears to suggest that fRANCIS is suggesting that American conservative Catholics should draw up walls around themselves and not seek encounter, engagement, and (yes) accompaniment with conservative evangelicals. \n\nIs Francis concerned that these conservatives will take their money to the corner Protestant church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This was a good article that offers clear and concise support to Pope Francis. He is a pastor and like Jesus the good shepherd seeks to bring lost sheep back to the fold. He has the authority to bind and loose. The \"gang of four\" seem to have the mentality of the chief priest and pharisees who made accusation against the Lord whereas Francis reflects the mind of Christ (who did not condemn the woman who was caught in adultery when the black and white of the \"law\" called for stoning). God Bless Pope Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the info. I did watch a bit of the video. Catholic clubs at colleges and universities are, I think, valuable. But, if they are run very traddy, then they will only attract those who respond to that kind of atmosphere. Good for the traddies, but not helpful to others who simply don't fit that mold. \n\nToo bad. Despite all the efforts to make it appear that Catholics are cookie cutter versions of each other, Catholics are not all the same, don't all believe all the same, aren't turned on by the same liturgy, don't all think the same thing about dogma or sacraments. \n\nThere needs to be something like a \"Catholic Jesus Seekers\" club where young people can talk about and explore issues the traddies think are settled - like marriage and divorce, sex before marriage, bishops authority, the role of women in the church and in the world and contraceptives. Young people these ages should be talking about what the church, families, and societies should do about child sex abuse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Spadaro needs some help. \n\nI recommend a slow read of Fides et Ratio.\n\nTruth cannot, as has been said by popes, contradict truth.\n\nThere is one coherent Truth.\n\nHaving a non-mathematician talking mindlessly and giddily (there are a number of these types of Jesuits aren't there?) about 2+2 NE 4 may make the easily led gush with emoji's, but his argument doesn't move the needle in any real sense.\n\nHe's a pope worshipper.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The pursuit of justice is one thing I no longer can associate with institutional Catholicism.\n\nIsn't it ironic that the self-confessed need for \"conversion\" among these bishops was acted upon only when they were constrained to do so, not by conscience (as one would expect), but by various public media?\n\nIronic, too, that it took some 2000 years for them to admit, even to themselves, their personal and collective incapacity, instead of trumpeting the staple defence: we are authoratative teachers (thus neatly avoiding the glaring requirement for magisterial self-scrutiny).\n\nIf Catholic bishops are ever to \"be converted to the fulfilling of the divine plan for the salvation of the world\", it seems that more is required for this than the prodding of divine grace (which they have been reluctant to heed); there needs also, from time to time, to be the not-so-gentle proverbial boot to episcopal backsides from the media.\n\nThank God for a free press. Literally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ATF, good wording here - \"the \"package\" that is presented as the practice of the faith is also a big problem\". Good insight nicely put. For some folks, buying the package as is without any changes or adaptations is the only way to heaven, and obeying the minutiae of church laws is more important than living the Gospel. Jesus had the same problem with the temple in his day. For Jesus the kingdom of God is a way of living everyday wherever we are. That is a lot harder than holding on to the package. Thanks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"When civility disappeared, there was no holding back the floodtide of hate speech and assaults on those who could not control or alter what made them easy targets: the color of their skin, their accents, the faith they profess.\" --- The fact they were born female? Did we forget one?\n\nI love how NCR and many prominent Catholics seem to very often forget sexism is as bad a sin, and as harmful as racism, and ethnic, and religious discrimination. I think they don't forget but instead skim over sexism because there is no getting around the fact that we are a sexist church that inspires hatred against women by treating them differently and less than men in our ordination practices and governing practices. \n\nIf we were still buying and selling black people would we just skim over racism too? Probably. \n\nWe have made the country and church that we have, and it is up to us, the common citizen and lay person, to change both institutions if we want a peaceful and just and godly world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have been commenting the last week or so that the remarks here have taken an incredibly nasty turn, it is true. I too, when attacked, answer strongly...But I prefer conversation.\n\nAfter the election, I begged people here to attempt to work together - and was severely castigated for it. I'm not sure why...I think the tone and timbre of the articles, concentrating more and more on politics as they have, as well as constant stirring by the media, is much to blame for the cynical and bitter situations we see. \n\nThe name calling, false accusations, dismissiveness apparent really does not indicate the Christian attitude we claim to proclaim. I am glad Lent is coming.....Hope we can wait that long.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Enough with the \u201cthoughts and prayers already.\u201d\nThe Bible teaches us that faith without works is dead.\nDo something or say nothing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, just a \"significant number,\" that's all.\n\nDear progressive Catholics, living in their virtual reality of seeing racism everywhere. Hoo boy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is there such a concept as \"derived sin\"--sin made up, using a commandment to justify its existence. For example, we've come up with a slew of \"sins\" against \"Thou shalt not commit adultery,\" that have nothing to do with committing adultery. Friends, who have never committed adultery, have put together a list of things they've been told by the Church are \"sins against the sixth commandment\" that make them feel as if they have, before and after their marriages. It's funny. And it's very sad. It calls for the country-western song, \"I Never Committed Adultery But I Lusted For Miss Grundy.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 1 The situation for the Lutheran Church is very different than in Catholicism and probably different than in the Presbyterian church as well. The Augsburg Confession, the primary document of Lutheran doctrine and teaching from the reformation period, has a very simple statement on the role of the minister: Article XIV says simply: \"It is taught among us that nobody should publicly teach or preach or administer the sacraments in the church without a regular Call.\"\n\nThe picture of the role of clergy as it has evolved in the Lutheran Churches (esp. ELCA, which I am a Pastor of) is that there is a dynamic among the concept of the priesthood of all believers, which grants every believer priesthood, and the public role exercising this vocation. The modern church does require ordination by qualified candidates who have prepared, usually through seminary, although we do have a non traditional route, too (BTW: I recommend the book Pastrix) by a woman pastor ordained this way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure the title \"Museum is rooted in anti-Catholic tradition\" is supported by the essay itself. At any rate, the great majority of biblical scholars will continue to work with the scrolls and papyri preserved in the great collections (Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, etc.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a fact that the Catholic Church condemns same-sex 'marriage' on account of the sexual activity which takes place within such a union. No one can dispute that this is the teaching of the Church on this issue. \nThe Church's mission is to convert all souls to Christ and part of that mission is to oppose all constitutions, legislations, court judgements, etc which conflict with its teaching. \nIn this day and age, such opposition requires finance. The KoC being an institution within the Church, whose members support its doctrine is quite entitled and free under the Constitution to provide financial assistance to the Church in combatting what it determines to be a universal moral evil. Remember the Church is concerned with much more than the physical well-being of mankind.\nThere are many secular bodies who provide financial support for those who oppose the Church's position (e.g George Soros) I don't see you calling them or criticising them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@ DCToronto yet we tax the smokers and put an age limit. If we imposed those same tobacco standards on all religions, then (Minimum 18 years to go to church and taxed its revenue) this generation would be the last of Catholicism and all mainstream religions in Canada. Religions have only stood the test of time when they are money machines (have power to influence) and can indoctrinate the young. There will be the odd out-liar that joins as an adult but they are an incredibly small percentage of the believers that aren't worth the major real-estate present. \u201cGive me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.\u201d -Stalin\nBut yes your other comments would help.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank your for the hope you bring that things are changing in the Catholic church. If one bishops' conference can do this, can address the evil of bullying LGBT children, so can others. And so, too, can we begin to incorporate new knowledge of humans and sexuality. \n\nI recently read two articles that have helped in providing a view of LGBt as \"normal\" in a religious/theological framework and the issue of religious \"rights\" and the laws of the republic that protect everyone's rights and liberties. \n\nThe first is here: http://jamesalison.co.uk/texts/eng59.html , written by James Alison, a Catholic priest/theologian. Here are a few quotes: \"...there is a regularly occurring, non-pathological minority variant in the human condition-which we call 'being gay'. ...what we call being 'straight' or 'heterosexual' is not the normative human condition, but a majority human condition. ...it is not true that humans are intrinsically heterosexual.\" Much more.\n\nSee comment 2.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah in the Carolina rematch, it wasn't so much that Denver won.\nIt was that Carolina found a way to lose.\nOh, yes, the Kansas City game. Wasn't that the one where Denver's punt returner fielded the ball off the top of his helmet.\nHe looked spectacular in an odd, goofy way after Talib Aqib shoved him in the back.\nThat would surely make me retire and throw myself on a Christian altar.\nSo doesn't 7-7 strike you as mediocre?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just look at California if you want to see the outside influence of wealthy entitites when there is an initiative process in place.\n\nThe very rich Mormon church singlehandedly got an anti-gay marriage initiative passed.\n\nIn 1956 the oil and gas industry spent $5 million (a huge amount 60 years ago) to try and get special lowered taxes.\n\nIn 1958 corporations got together to sponsor the union-busting \"right to work\" initiative\n\nIn 1963 the movie theater owners got a bill passed banning cable TV via initiatve\n\nOn the other hand, we have the County of Maui where citizens frustrated with no action on the part of elected officials (many of whom take money from the chemical companies) passed the GMO Moratorium.\n\nSo I guess there is something to be said for the initiative process in these days of Citizens United where only a minority of legislators represent the people rather than their big donors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The War Machine, Big Oil Diplomacy & Christian aggression is what started every America War except WWII..\n\nTell me what you would have done if Iraq or Afghanistan or Syria came to America and took our wealth, left us in poverty and ignorance and told the entire muslim world that islam was devil worship, that there was only one god and it was the christian and then bombed your grandparents, parents, children, family members without prejudice because we restisted.. i dont approve but i do understand the anger.... \n\nWhere there is oil there is America. Where there is no oil there is no America.. Where there is America there is a Republican.. America has become a WAR MONGER.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about an actual apology to all those effected. An apology in the media may be good enough. Not just one guy in a room. Then they could actually pay the settlement agreement instead of wiggling out of it because of an incompetent Canadian government lawyer agreement. This has sleaze written all over it and no, I am not native, but born Canadian and yes you guessed it, not catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trad,\nYou are absolutely right, logical and practical. If we ever actually attempted to make the Gospels our rule of life there is a very great probability we would be seen as insane, mistreated and even killed--just as Christ was.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Eric,\nI find your response mostly emotional and I disagree with you on every point. First, whether or not I would gladly die or object after losing everything is irrelevant. If/when the system crashes, disaster will not discriminate between wealthy, poor, old, young, male, female. Your use of the Bible is of no significance to me. I consider it to be just a collection of fables used to preserve pearls of wisdom of the time. Some may still be relevant. If/when the system fails, it will not be the fault of those who have or are currently contributing to its successful operation. It will be due to the resource suckers who take all they can get and give nothing, and to people who are incapable of making very difficult, seemingly cruel and inhumane decisions including withholding services with the result that some people may die.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "St. Matthew up and left his tax post to follow Jesus without question. He didn't tell Jesus, I have to man my post...instead of following you, can you accompany me on my journey as a tax collector collaborating with the Roman regime?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The well-regarded Qu\u00e9becoise mystery writer Louise Penny gives the impression that the great majority of Catholics in that province, including seniors, turned their backs on the church in disgust, exclusively on account of the sex abuse scandal. I have no idea how accurate that is. In the 1990s we visited the Oratory of St.-Joseph in Montr\u00e9al, and found it to be thriving; and then in 2005, the day after my husband and I were married (in Montr\u00e9al, by a judge named Louise Saint-Amour), we went to Ste.-Anne de Beaupr\u00e9, a bit NE of ville de Qu\u00e9bec, and again it looked lively enough. But that was 12 years ago! A lot can have happened since then.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I look at the wide variances between the two camps as stemming from continuing non-acceptance of the renewal of Vat II and the tragic result of the \"reform of the reform\" of the last 40 years. \n\nThe EWTN flank really does believe that we who hold progressive views of contemporary theology and promote continued reform of outdated (and even sinful) customs and culture are ACTUALLY living in a state of dissent and heresy. They, after all, claim to not have wavered from traditional stances, beliefs, even prayer and liturgical modalities, while (they claim) we have wandered into the wilderness of clown masses and wild-haired feminist mystical moonlight dancing. \n\nThere has been little/no effort to unify opposing viewpoints, which grow wider day by day, fueled by thousands of amateur bloggers and RCC clerics whose power and influence are threatened by every change. Even Francis, whose heart is surely cradled by the Gospel, keeps one foot planted as \"a true son of the Church.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At no time do you ever have anything remotely intelligent to offer public debate. That would require intelligence. Neither do you know how to be a man, and man up when your profound ignorance is debunked by facts you cannot remotely refute. That would require character. What you fail to grasp is that you are the political twin of right wing Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Especially for Catholics, just not for Trads.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Acceptable bio-ethic-science today assures us that there is \"until only between the 12th to 14th week of gestation adequate substantive matter present to sustain a human personality\". Before this time the life that is present is biological but not human. [\u201cagere sequitur esse\u201d (\u201cactions depend upon what one is\u201d) or (\u201cbeing something\u201d makes capable \u201cthat kind of action\u201d) is an axiom of philosophy]. That means that: Although many bishops (e.g. the USA Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference) \"favor\" a vision of \"personhood\" (i.e. human persons beginning from the moment of conception); nevetheless science, common sense and \"sound Catholic morality\" do NOT consider possible the existence of a human life from the moment of conception;\n\n\nNor does the DNA in the zygote make it \u201ca human being\u201d just as acorns, even though having the DNA for it, are still not oak trees, and just as rooster-fertilized eggs, even though having the DNA for it, are still not \u201cchickens\u201d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "However, this is assuming that the powers of the Catholic Church are as egalitarian, fair, and open-minded as their Protestant cousins. For all we know (judging from behavior), ordaining women in the Catholic Church might not just be behind ordaining married men, but also behind ordaining male ostriches, male capybaras, mustard trees, male dingos, lichen, male salamanders, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Global peoples suffer stultification when an historical meme of top-down dominion pre-conditions religious/ political thinking/ control. The Gospel teaching of service, witnessed and authenticated by Jesus, The Christ, suffers institutional over-reach that frustrates bottom-up, (S)self-authenticating consciousness. However, in our time, The People are hopefully becoming enlightened with respect to eco-cultural frustrations imposed by dated religious/ political structures.\nHoly Father, we're trying, we're trying! Thanks for encouraging us!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish one could post 2 or more emoticons, in this case \ud83d\ude12 to register disagreement and \ud83d\ude00 demonstrate the preposterousness of the post. Here we have you, an ardent political left-winger with your own religious blog which makes progressive Catholics look right-wing, accusing eminent academics of not understanding what is dogma!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quebec has largely rejected Catholicism in case you've not noticed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On Donald Trump, Pope Francis says: \u201cLet\u2019s see what he does, we can\u2019t be prophets of doom.\" \n\nBut I thought Donald Trump was Hitler? Why doesn't Pope Francis know this? Should we tell him? Because when Catholic disagree with Pope Francis they're bad people, right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read Jesus' comment to Pilate in John's Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, we know our history, far better than you. You must have been educated in Texas, where Christian conservatives win, children lose: Texas textbooks for public school students will now say that the Founding Fathers based the Constitution on the Bible, and the American system of democracy was inspired by Moses. school students that the Founding Fathers based the Constitution on the Bible, and the American system of democracy was inspired by Moses.\nOn Friday the Republican-controlled Texas State Board of Education voted along party lines 10-5 to approve the biased and inaccurate textbooks. The vote signals a victory for Christian conservatives in Texas, and a disappointing defeat for historical accuracy and the education of innocent children.\" \nThis is the kind of deliberate miseducation and indoctrination of school children that gets a Trump elected, not classes taken by thinking adults.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a octogenarian, identifiable minority, American, I am distressed at what I see in our highest office. But, we voted him in -- we cannot separate the man from the electorate. And this gnaws at the optimism and hope I have for my grand daughters. Their contemporaries have grandparents and parents who find appeal in the rhetoric of white and Christian supremacy and perhaps, even misogyny. Perhaps, too, this base disbelieves that our species is not a creature unto itself, disrespecting the whole earth and all on it. Theirs will be a brave new world -- I do hope they have the character and resiliency to make something better out of this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I love this sort of response, conflating Jewishness with gender.\n\nJesus chose the Jewish people to begin His Christianization of the whole world. They were \"closest\" to the truth in terms of their belief in a personal, monotheistic God, and God as Father.\n\nIn the same way that He guided the very early Church to base itself in Rome, so that Christians could use the established lines of rapid communication that the Romans had built...roads, the port at Ostia, pathways of commerce/trade. It led to very rapid spread of Christianity in the early years, even amid persecution!\n\nBut for some reason the priesthood (which in Jewish times was a male role) was male, and remained male.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I doubt Jesus would contradict his parables of an loving and forgiving God. I don't think the historical Jesus said that but you are free to believe anything the bible says. Be careful!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes Roach. We should go back to the lost decade that you seem to enjoy so much. Instead of a scientist I'm sure harper would've just prayed to Jesus for answers to science., a lot cheaper eh?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed, and those many who did not \"receive\" His teaching muttered: \"This is strange talk, who can be expected to listen to it.\" And Jesus answered: \"But there are some, even among you, who do not believe.\" \n\nSimilarly, His disciples struggled to accept His teachings on divorce and remarriage too, saying: \"If this is the case it is not expedient to marry.\" Jesus replied: \"Not all men can receive this saying, but they to whom it is given .... He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.\" Meaning - as a follower of Him, understand what marriage entails before entering into this life long commitment.\n\nYes, Jesus set the bar high, regardless of \"lived experience\" and His disciples despaired said: \"Who then can be saved?\" Jesus answered: \"With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.\" \n\nAs relevant then as it is now. He didn't modify the Law of His Father to accommodate human weakness and sin. He offered the gift of the Holy Spirit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have read enough of Mr. Douthat's often anguished articles about his (and your) church over the years to just about predict his conclusions sight unseen. The saddest part (and he surely knows this) is the absolutely hostile forum (NYT) in which he presents his arguments. The comments of NYT readers are a long stream of predictable sneers, total disinterest, and expressions of smug disdainful superiority associated with today's militant atheists/agnostics. Many NYT readers appear to be either hostile lapsed Christians and RC or even more so, secular non-Christians called horrible names generations ago on school property or the neighborhood corner, and now doing \"payback\" against active RC.\n\nDouthat should find a writing gig at some trad RC publication. I assume he doesn't because the NYT frowns upon moonlighting by columnists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mercy shaped the life of the Church in 2016, but \"law,\" not mercy, still determined the winners. \n\n\nI offer, just maybe half in jest and all in earnest, these principles that govern: \n\nMercy is what God (and the Church) offers losers; obedient and authentic Catholics don't need it.\nIt's actually UN-merciful to allow sinful dissent; ergo shutting it down is mercifully heroic (Bishop Orwell)\nThe TBS referees still run the scoreboard: \"Mercy is great. That Being Said.........\"\nJustice--not mercy--must ultimately (like NOW) be used to separate real Catholics from CINOs.\n*O Lord I am not worthy; but MY roof is more worthy than that woman's in the pew behind me. \nThe best Catholic higher education resides in Steubenville, not in South Bend.\nPriests know more about marriage because they hear more confessions.\nMechanics of making love are crucial. We need to hear more homilies on that.\nConfusion is of the Devil.\nSo is ambiguity. \nWe need to end busing...by nuns.\n\n* \"You kick, I receive\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In persona Christi\" is attributed to bishops and priests not to deacons. The latter receive 'power' which actually means delegation or authority to serve liturgy, word and charity just as Granny Smith does now sans dalmatic and stole.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can see this is going off the tracks as now the bible is hauled in for backup. My children make up their own minds when it comes to cannabis, alcohol, hard drugs, etc.\nThey understand the consequences and take responsibility unlike some who rely on others to tell them what to do, how to think, and who is going to heaven or hades.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Promoveatur ut amoveatur (Let him be promoted that he may be removed) is an ancient practice in the church. From the CDF, there are few positions that would be seen as a promotion -- which itself reflects poor ecclesiology. Curial officers, including prefects and presidents and whatever other exalted titles they might have, are bureaucrats in service to the church's pastors. Any pastoral assignment, including as a curate (parochial vicar), ought to be seen and experienced as a promotion from the curia. I would like to see Cardinal Muller an Cardinal Burke promoted to parochial vicars under the authority of seasoned pastors who could supervise their work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop Gumbleton is hardly alone in approaching the Gospels as theological documents rather than literal histories. He's with the vast majority of Catholic Scripture scholars, not the minority, and he certainly isn't \"drawing his own lines.\"\n\nHis point is that when it comes to concepts like the Ascension and the Resurrection, it's more important to reflect on what the evangelists are trying to teach rather than get hung up on the details of the story.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Get your facts right. It was the Congregation for the Clergy who tackled this issue in 1997 under Cardinal Castrillon de Hoyos, not the CDF under Cardinal Ratzinger. There was no blanket order forbidding the Irish hierarchy from reporting cases to the police, there was advice to ensure that there were no violations of Canon Law in dealing with this issue which might have been prejudicial the bishops, to the accused and to the victims.\nIf anyone is re-writing history it is you just as you are won't to re-write Catholic teaching.\nHere is a link to the issue.\nhttp://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/vatican-warned-bishops-not-to-report-child-abuse\nNaturally, I don't expect you to give any credence to this but I post it for the benefit of fair minded readers on this site.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God made all life dependent on either Oxygen or Carbon Dioxide. Humans and animals breathe in O2 and exhale CO2. All plants take in CO2 and release O2. God, knowing all things, would not create a life dependency on something man could destroy. This belief in \"climate change\" is a man made hoax setting man up to be greater than God, because if man can destroy God's creation of life, then man is greater than God. And I am not referring to atomic bombs, etc. I referring to fundamental necessity of all life and the life cycle. You who fear too much CO2 getting into the atmosphere don't realize the life cycle will use that to produce more plant life, and recent photos of earth from outer space reveal that happening. Green life is showing up in areas never seen before. In other words, God's plan for life is working. Climate is not the end times forecast in the bible, Satan's coming to earth as a man is. And the CC hoax may be the means by which he will get the power to do that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're a better Christian than I am right now, Sister, and I thank you for your witness. Perhaps tomorrow I can aspire to your degree of holiness. Right now I'm just an ordinary sinner in need of God's grace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Populism is of the people. It's we little folks who are in opposition to the powerful global elite who only have their interests in mind.\nHelp me understand why the Pope can be against the interests of the people? There is so much I don't understand about Pope Frances's political and religious public statements. Until I can get a grasp on them, I am afraid that I will never be able to find my way back to the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"And who celebrates anything their daughter wears?\"\n\nhttp://nationalpost.com/news/canada/quebec-man-accused-of-assaulting-daughter-for-removing-hijab\n\nA lot of religious Zealots try to control what their daughters wear.\n\nIt goes hand in glove with viewing children as property / slaves, rather than as responsibilities to care for and protect.\n\nhttps://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/father-sues-ontario-school-board-for-not-accommodating-his-religious-beliefs/article4533186/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&\n\n\"My children are my own. I own them.\"\n\nMy father, an alleged Christian, started stealing my dish washing job money to pay for booze and cigarettes when I was 11. He ordered me to keep working and hand over my pay cheques. He had a fantasy that all of his children would grow up, get jobs, and hand their pay over to him. I did not argue with him, just left when I was 16 and started supporting myself.\n\nChristian Family values, no better than Islamic Fundamentalist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesus Christ\", could be Kasich's running mate and he still would not get elected President.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The best research one can do is to read the Reporter. There can be no doubt that it is at odds with the the Church on almost any doctrine you care to name, marriage, divorce, sexual behaviour, abortion, contraception, ordination, etc ad infinitum.\nThat it is a member of the CPA calls into question whether that organisation should be using the name Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To use a construction as the author did of \"Jesus is convinced God\" implies a non-unity between Jesus and God. Multiple heresies spring from this error. \n\nI stand uncorrected.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some are, I think, \"called\" to priesthood. I suspect we all know some - they are the gurus of goodness who are spiritual healers. Many are not \"ontologically elevated\" or otherwise ordained; though many are.\nThat is one side of the coin, I think.\nI have often wondered why, if the \"sacramental presence\" of Christ was as a \"person\" however mystical why some sacraments require \"ordination\" and others not. Are some \"functions\" of the \"mystical body\" more related to \"bodily\" and others \"cerebral\" or whatever? Is not Church: one, holy, apostolic also?\nI cannot speak for Mr. Tammeus' community, but I have a strong feeling that \"ontological\" elevation of our Catholic priests is as much of a ruse as is the exclusion of women from \"ordination\". \nIt is really, I believe, a political/institutional ideology to rationalize and preserve oligarchy. Of course, \"ministers of sacrament\" require formation, education, ratification and accountability for/to the body \nand admin. of the tradition. But....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Christians claim discrimination all the time.\"\n\nYou claim that, but a search on the subject returns very few results--most about gays who claimed they were discriminated against. It's hard to find cases where Christians claim discrimination, though I'm sure there must be some cases.\n\nThe Christian in this case isn't asking for special rights, just the rights guaranteed by the Constitution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you really think the church law protecting pedophiles came from God ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gee, Israel has a huge wall, and huge restrictions of immigration. Is Israel also to be linked to \"the Rape of Nanking\"? (I guess the Nazi comparisons are too tame for Michael Sean Winters now)\n\nMSW, your columns are getting more and more shrill, and more and more ridiculous.\n\nMeanwhile, the President's approval rating keeps climbing with every week he's in office. Well above 50% now.\n\nThe more you try to link American conservative Catholics to abject Evil, the more you damage the Catholic progressive movement.\n\nI expect you'll be remembered as a Feeney-like character -- an extremist Catholic spokesman.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am glad you recognize Cardinal Pell's evil-mindedness, and you are correct, there are no limits to the depths to which people like him will sink. We have seen that again and again, as the leaders and clergy of Holy Mother Church wallowed in evil to protect those who preyed on children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you are a 'great mind' then.\n\nI've a simple mind. I just want to see a more merciful and compassionate church. Not in theory or in ideas, but in the reality of peoples' lives. So that, for example, people who have already been dealt a very cruel blow in life when their marriages broke up, can stop being further punished by - forgive me if I am being too rigid here - overdressed scavengers who have the arrogance to think that they in any way represent Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's see... according to your past posts, you were born into a Jewish family but now you are a converted evangelical Christian who out-Christians every other Christian on the forum. But more, you have jeered at Elizabeth Warren for claiming a drop of American Indian blood, but now you are claiming to be an Evangelical Christian Jew who is also American Indian! It boggles the mind! No wonder you are such a mucked-up mess.\n\nI suppose now you will be claiming you're a better lesbian than any of the others? Enough, Jack, for one day. and \"jack\" is spelled with a j in front and a k at the end, but r and e in between. Have a nice trump today, jack!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article is a parallel to the defense of why the early church opted for Sunday and abandon the Sabbath.\n\nIt is nothing more than pure rebellion by way of a false gospel application that defies God's authority and puts human authority above God Himself.\n\nKorah could not have defended his \"movement\" with better arguments than used in this defense of the NAD that mocks God and sets itself above properly ordained church authority and simply deceives itself and any and all who will listen and be deluded by this false spirituality they advocate.\n\n\"He that hath an ear, let him hear.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A stain that requires a thorough cleaning. All traces of the \"persons\" name involved in sexual abuse should be removed from the parish facilities. and rosters. The \"good work\" that had been accomplished is overcome by the a predator's conduct. The priest has betrayed the church, his vows and the parishioners. It's time to make a change. How about Pope Francis or John XXIII Hall. Thanks again Ms. Denby for exposing these situations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Statement 1:\n\"Fr. Martin is preaching tolerance toward people who have been hurt by the Catholic Church because of its dogma.\"\n\nStatement 2:\n\"I don't see how this is different from the Catholic Church engaging in ecumenical dialogue.\"\n\nYou don't see the contradiction, do you?\n\nFr. Martin is a priest. It is antithetical for him in that role to \"engage in ecumenical dialogue\" by taking a position so contrary to the teachings own his own Church, a position which says gays \"have been hurt by the Church because of its dogma.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's it? He said the Catholic Church supports immigration because they want more pious parishioners in their pews? Isn't it kind of self-evident? \n\nAlluding to Paul Ryan's \"social justice Catholicism\" isn't anti-Catholic; it's just bizarre. This is the guy who wants to abolish Medicaid and privatize Medicare.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's YOUR interpretation, not Jesus' words. As always, the Truth would surprise you! Even the fact that the Catholic church has been in the business of dissolving valid marriages for that same stretch of time!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Aid to the Church in Need would help Catholics in Orthodox countries the way they don't seem to support those who oppose African dictators. I speak from personal experience of the latter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ's teachings can of course be misunderstood. Even by the Catholic Right-Wing! Even by a \"Saint-Pope\"!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Juergen, you wonder what I meant when I wrote of conservative Catholics' being \"somehow in control of God's will.\" I was referring to these earlier words of yours: \"Catholics who trust in Jesus' Word (Holy Scripture/ Commandments/Statutes) and not man's understanding (and his own opinion) of issues like contraception, abortion, same sex marriage, divorce, pre-marital sex, chastity.\" My point is a double one. First, your first group is using \"man's understanding\" in interpreting the Scriptures (\"Jesus' Word\") as much as the latter makes use of \"man's understanding\" in interpreting not only the Scriptures but also a variety of ethical and moral issues; and it's a false claim on that first group's part when they assert they are the only ones who truly understand and appreciate \"Jesus' Word.\" Secondly, you are wrong to think the latter group have no God guiding them.\n\nMoreover, \"man's understanding\" is not at all a bad thing, used with discretion, the \"mother of all the virtues.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Mary would be so disappointed in this article. Of course \"God is the only way to peace\". What Moslem though, would agree that the rosary, for example, is an efficacious route to peace? For that matter, what thinking Catholic would? And I don't blame them at all, at all. \nThe God of and for peace lives within the humanity of each person, each leader who either answers the call, refuses it or abuses it. It is the value acknowledgement that has been redeemed, not the redemption that has not been acknowledged.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Concerning public condemnation of the traddie groups, it was interesting to note that in the wake of the John Podesta email leakage, initially a distinction was made that it was the \"one-true-church\" crowd that was being targeted. As time went on, however, the meme that evolved was that all Dems hate all Catholics which was not at all what the leaked emails reveal. I actually believe this little nuance cost Hillary more than a few votes, along with similar media sound bites that painted her as the morally inferior candidate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"our Queen is the head of the Anglican church.\"\n\nIn theory. But hardly in practice. You're being facetious. The West is clearly superior to most parts of the world when using the separation of church as the yardstick. \n\nIn any case, even as someone who is non-religious, the figure of Jesus seems much more appealing than Mohamed. For starters, Jesus never led armies or conquered anyone by force.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll tip my hat to these bishops, at least for their creativity. I'd be shocked to see any changes related to the seal of confession, just shocked. But as others have noted, would this even matter? The general population of Catholics is no longer a confessing kind of group. And the odds of a priestly pedophile confessing to his bishop?\n\nSo this is clever, because it suggests or implies they are really serious. And in this area, turns out they can afford to say just about anything to paint themselves as agents of change. \n\nI'd feel a lot better if they'd turn guys like Cardinal Law and the rest of them over, along with the records on all the cases under his watch. THAT stands a better chance than the pope backing off the seal of confession. \n\nThe longer this all goes on, the harder it will become to ever make this right. Guys like Law are getting old. Records were destroyed, and as long as they are stil held by bishops in their safes, the rest won't get out...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When JPII canonized Kolbe, he claimed that Kolbe was a martyr. A martyr must be killed \"in odium Christi\" -- in hatred of Christ. While Kolbe's death was a supreme example of self-sacrifice, he did not die because his killers hated Christ. He does not fit the defintion of martyr.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This isn't related to this story, but I wanted to mention it...the New York Times has a bombshell story today about how Steve Bannon is trying to use the Catholic Church for his own political purposes and is trying to foment dissent within the Church (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/world/europe/vatican-steve-bannon-pope-francis.html?_r=0). In other words, the exact same thing that the Republican staff of the U.S. Bishops' Conference and Archbishop Kurtz accused Hillary's campaign staff of doing in that video message back in October. I'll await the message from the Bishops denouncing Bannon's behavior. And I expect I'll be waiting a long, long time. There are very few instances in which hypocrisy is so exact and visible as this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RD, where did Jesus say \"Pick up your cross and be a rightwing internet troll?\" I can't find that in the Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps. But it's not your place to tell people who are suffering when it's time to do that. It might make Bill Hooper feel better, but it's a slap in the face to someone who lost their home or a loved one. \n\nAgain. I was not questioning your intentions. I do not think you're a bad person. I'm just trying to point out how good intentions can have the opposite effect. \n\nConsider Mother Teresa, a literal saint. She is considered by many to be a symbol of compassion. In reality though she often exasperated people's suffering. Despite her good intentions she quite literally denied the help many people needed. She was caught up in religious anecdotes to the point where she believed people's suffering brought them closer to God. She would delay or deny the help they actually needed, despite having the resources to do so. Still, she likely meant well. \n\nChrist only ever said to love your neighbor as yourself. He said to feed the hungry, not just to wish them well. Matthew 25:34-40.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for sharing & confessing. Two common traps await supporters of employing violence (calling a spade a spade here) to respond to violence: Feeling helpless and Seeking revenge. Both perpetuate violence and both are misuses of corporal punishment. Issues surrounding the regulation of violence in a multi-cultural nation (for e.g. Black teacher caning White scholar) are in my opinion like the death penalty best avoided. All violence should not be a 'resource' within the national dialogue. Centuries of violence in RSA, including the era of male pedagogic neo-Nazi thugs most of whom had passed through the defence force and who returned only to thrash scholars in classrooms under the guise of \"Christian education\" got us nowhere. Your suggestions for seeking alternatives to teachers modelling violence to impressionable scholars, including your insightful identification of the sheer lack of learning class management techniques are brilliant. Please keep going.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And abortion decreased a lot in comparison to Bush, but hey you would never know that reading the Catholic Trumpites.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Truth or lies. Liberal or Conservative. Since the CONservative horde reserve the right to label anyone or anything differing from their brainlock ideology, their absence from education is a result of their own archaic, false ideation. Knowledge is found and disseminated through arduous mental exercise, usually for a lifetime. CONservative dogma demands adherence to pre-programmed orthodoxy devoid of scientific or logical analysis. Just the same carryover from the Roman Catholic Church history of denial of same science or logic enforced by fear, threat, intimidation, and torture through the Inquistion. CONservatives are just the millennial resurrection of the same terror system now pending in the Nationalist Government of Der Fuehrer Trump and his band of Nazi Advisors aided and abetted by the Republican Nazi Party nationally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jim freely entered the Jesuits and is bound by what many consider to be, one of the most restrictive vows of obedience in any religious order. \nAs for the comment here about tolerance, the Catholic Church's teaching is a reflection of the love of all people. The teaching on the immorality of homosexual acts is a part of that love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".\n\nThe author writes:\n\n\"This kind of anti-Christian sneer is nothing new for the Liberals\"\n\n--\n\nMacDougal makes the same mistake that so many others of his ilk do - he assumes that to be a Christian one must certainly share his particular rigidly fundamentalist credo.\n\nOf course, there are many Christians who are appalled and repulsed by the anti-gay, misogynistic, hate-filled xenophobia so often prevalent among evangelical Christians.\n\nMr. Scheer may or may not have these characteristics but enough of his brethren do as to facilitate Mr. MacDougal's hypocritical anti-Liberal rant for all to see just what it truly is, the same old same old.\n\nCanadians rejected hate in 2015.\n\nIf MacDougal is an example of the new CPC leadership's views, Canadians will again opt for tolerance in 2019.\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I provided you with common examples of well-known private associations that violate the Charter's equality provisions. There are many other examples. Why you would call that reality \"absurd\" is lost on me.\n\nPrivate associations may indeed offer services to the public, but that doesn't mean that membership in those associations are governed by Charter's equality provisions. For example, the Salvation Army is a Christian organization, and all it's members are Christians. The Salvation Army discriminates in who it accepts into its association, in direct 'conflict' with the Charter's right to equality. However it's not a violation of the Charter because the Charter's right to equality does not override the right of people of like mind to associate freely. Nor does society object when they do so, especially when the association provides beneficial services such as charity, education and public works.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My path to militant secularism began fifty five years ago when my parents had to fight with the public school principal to have me removed from bible class. I was the only child sequestered in the library while my classmates got an earful of Jesus nonsense. If our schools are not fully cleansed of religious detritus I will have no choice but to bring a human rights complaint compelling the school to allow my grandchild to sacrifice a he-goat in the foyer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Communion of Saints? Laughable. The Irish clergy preyed on the flock, with the assistance of the bishops and the Vatican. What saints were they communing with? The fantasies about chewing gum and poor priests missing poker night are truly delusional considering the article. The laity were the cause of the scandal? No, they were victims of their trust in an institution devoid of honor, led by men devoid of conscience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Cross carried by Cardinals of American Catholics!\n\nIf it's not too-fragile priests sexually abusing boys (why is it more often than not boys?), or a priest's male lover running prostitute ops out of the rectory, or a dramatic diva who wants to sing more on Sundays.\n\nThe stuff that runs across their desk each week must be mind blowing.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'd think being Christian or Yazzidi in Syria is a hell of a lot more dangerous", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "People need to understand what Taqiyya is. They need to understand the subtleties. They need to know it is Islamic moral code to do whatever it takes to achieve Msulim's ultimate domination of the world, which necessarily condems to death, all who do not embrace Muhammed as the true Prophet of God. Death to Jews, Christians, Buddhists, and even the WRONG kind of Muslim! ( Sunni-Shitte) They are taught the importance of melding in wherever they are when greatly outnumbered, and patience until THEY outnumber. And THEN drop the hammer. So I can guarantee you Muslims in America are going to be friendly, helpful and pleasant, but I also hear they are the fastest growing population, or at least fast. So enjoy their friendship while you can, but don't forget, in their eyes you are merely an infidel, worthy only of death.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Real Christian white people usually follow the 10 Commandments. I find too many alt-right Christians who are just basic liars about their true values.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope can't have it both ways. He distinctly said that Mr. Trump was not a Christian because he wanted to build a wall. Such a statement is ludicrous. Additionally, it was indiscreet for the Pope as the Head of a foreign country to inject himself in an American election.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "enthusiastic support to make people dismiss and corrupt their personal beliefs in favor of the few\n\nYour concept of Christianity is very, very different than mine. Why I can live among many different types of folks and still remain true to my self and my spiritual beliefs. I also, at times, have chosen to not participate in an activity that I found bothersome. Those folks chose to serve the community w/opening a bakery and I bet they hoped to become financially comfortable too, wouldn't you say? If they'd not wanted to meet the laws for serving our communities in this country, the USA, then they should have perhaps just been in a 'home' business (w/o opening a shop) and baked their hearts out for those who don't threaten to 'corrupt or taint' their beliefs in any way. \n\nPersonally? I think Christians are pussy's that act like that but that's just personal observation; and it's mine. I mean how else are we to share Jesus's love, compassion and hope if we just stick w/like minded?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There deserves to be a war on orthotoxic faux Christianity.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There lies the difference. Jesus and Christianity teaches love. Islam teaches hate.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Fake Christians support people like Moore.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A vote for Hillary is a vote for more national debt and massive immigration of cultures that do not accept us. Obama has increased our debt more than all presidents combined. European countries have completely destroyed themselves by allowing massive immigration of muslims. Muslims make christian conservatives look like peace loving liberals. Germany is projected to be a muslim majority by 2060 due to child births, at that point you will see Sharia Law put into place and women will lose all the rights they have fought for. Sweden and Norway are practically destroyed. Sweden is the rape capital of the world.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "In the 1950s, the people running the country were white, Christian, straight males. Since then, women, non-whites and gays have all gained significant power. \"Christian values\" no longer automatically hold sway. So naturally many white, Christian, straight males feel things are worse. No longer do they feel the same sense of superiority. That's what \"Make America Great Again\" means to them -- put things back the way they were, so women, blacks, gays are all inferior to us again.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I don't go that far. I don't see it as a stupid charade! Just like I wouldn't say \"the charade of pretending to be Christian while ignoring a clear mandate of Jesus\" to describe the other side. It's not black and white. It's nuanced. People can differ, and Amoris seems to be saying let's make a good faith effort to follow the teaching, albeit with pastoral mercy...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So, many Muslims hate Christians, Jews and Asians. Palestine House has been a cesspool of hate, caught in the act numerous times. Ask Mirna, an Arab language talk show was just taken off the air by Rogers cable because it has been disseminating hate toward Jews and Israel on numerous occasions. It's done so in Arabic, so you wouldn't know unless you watched it and spoke the language. What other immigrant racial group has spread hatred in Canada in such a clandestine way? \n\nI feel sorry for the victims of the shooting and their families , but I must laugh at the author who fits the cliche \"methinks the lady dost protest too much\" .", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The priest represents Jesus is some respects in his role as priest. Jesus was a heterosexual, and so must all priests be straight. They must be straight because when Paul was laying it down for the churches he talked about the husband of one wife being priests, never did he suggest a gay man could be the leader of a church. I'm guessing here though, the chief thing being that Jesus was straight and so must the priest.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": ".\n\nWell,\nThere you have it folks ! \nIn BLACK & WHITE.\n.\nThe cHURCH has relegated itself to the stature as \"Space debris\".\n.\n\nNow let's focus on the innocent vulnerable children who were Raped by so called mEN of God and then Left in a Desert to die.\n.\n.\nAs for CORPORATE cHRISTIANITY(catholisism), their days are numbered.\n\n.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What is it that some Catholics aim to defend in Donald Trump? The racism? The sexism? The sexual predation? His several divorces? The vulgarity? The narcissism? The thin-skinned personality disorder? If you're defending Trump, then you have aligned yourself with the very worst elements in American society.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Timeline 1963: Father Gerald Fitzgerald went to the Vatican in Rome where he had an audience with the Pope at the time, I believe it was Leo. The number I don't remember. What was the purpose of Father Fitzgeralds ' visit? He went to warn the pope of the crisis the Church was facing with regard to the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests. How did Father Fitzgerald have knowledge of this crisis. In the 1950's Father Fitzgerald had helped found the Order of the Paracletes. This order treated priests, nuns and other religious who were suffering from alcohol and drug addictions and other psychological problems. By the end of the fifties and into the early sixties, Bishops from across the country were sending their problem priests{ pedophile priests] to the treatment center in New Mexico. After attempting to treat these problem priests for several years, Father Fitzgerald came to the conclusion that pedophilia was not treatable. He had gone to his superiors who ignored him.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What I would love to see is every gay Catholic bishop, priest, deacon, religious, organist, choir director, etc. come out and then see who is left. There wouldn't be many!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You are getting close to the Lefts no go zone..... Muslims can kill LGBTQ and oppress women etc but get a pass from the media. It's ok for them to behead Christians and other \"infidels \" well folks that's just part of their religion. So sick of the hypocrisy. This is a cultural war and we are too stupid to see what's unfolding.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Not me because I am a girl; and as we all know, Jesus hates girls.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Between this gang and the Catholic church, there isn't much respect for organized religion these days. At least they aren't sexually molesting innocent little boys like the Catholic church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Of course you are aware that the Church has formally condemned the notion of separation of Church and state. The State's primary duty is to act for the common good of the citizenry. The highest \"good\" is the salvation of souls. Since the ordinary means of salvation are not available to non Catholics, it is a fool's errand to believe that the State can function with out the Church's guidance. As for the Obama religious scorecard, anyone who so rabidly supports infanticide and homosexuality must be given an \"F\".", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, a priest being considered above the laity in the Catholic Church. Can the laity perform the consecration of the Eucharist? How dare a priest show reverence to the actual body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus. I get the feeling you don't believe in the actual presence of our Lord in the Eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We see that Fulcrum 7 is all in for the \"Social Justice\" agenda advocated by Hollywood in their story of Desmond Doss.\n\n\"David Read Mod \u2022 4 hours ago\nThis is a great idea for outreach!\"\n\n95% of the church members in the SDA community have no clue of what our message is and the reality is so vague Martin Luther would have said this. \"Truth is like an idea that flits across the top of the brain and makes no deep impression on most Christians.\"\n\nThis fits the majority of SDA's today who have a real superficial idea of what the Great Controversy is all about. Years ago, Robert Brinsmead once said, \"Most SDA's hardly know more than what day to go to church on when it comes to bible truth.\"\n\nAnd the SDA church has not matured beyond this superficial perception of bible truth and its real dynamic. Small wonder Rome only has to wait for the whole world to bow at her feet. It won't be long now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, you have indeed got it \"all wrong\". Finally, some humility and insight. But no, the Holy Spirit has not \"been remarkably unsuccessful in communicating\" his will. He has communicated it with impeccable brevity and clarity over the millenia. It's just that institutional Catholicism, like insitutional ancient Judasism, refuses to listen fully.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The words of the author refer to two, not one. \n\nYou're trying to get me to leave the author's words, and address your rather prolix comment.\n\nSo let me do that.\n\n\"Christian faith requires maintaining a delicate balance\"\n\nNo, it requires full acceptance of a single difficult truth, using all that our intellect can provide in the matter, and for what it can't do, using a faith that we ask for from God, who is One. \n\nSecond, there is no \"evolving\" understanding of Jesus's divinity. This matter was definitively and formally put to rest (amid much heresy not unlike some of the author's and your words) at the Council of Nicea in the 300s. \n\nJust pray over the Athanasian Creed for a while, perhaps in front of the Tabernackle, and some bad ideas will be set aright.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill Robertson;\n\u201cWe don't look at ourselves as a monolithic group.\u201d\n\nYou use the word \u201cwe\u201d and then deny that \u201cwe\u201d aren\u2019t a \u201cmonolithic group\u201d. That\u2019s what \u201cwe\u201d means\u2026the group\u2026of which one is a part\u2026a member of a group with which you identify. The one that YOU are a part of, isn\u2019t monolithic? Who then are the \u201cWe...ourselves\u201d with which you identify? \n \n It\u2019s my understanding that \u201cAmerica is a Christian Nation\u201d. That the 10 Commandments and the teachings of Jesus are the Foundation of American values and laws. Ask Roy Moore. Ask most Congressmen. Ask most Americans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Its \"fact\" because you say its fact? How many fallacies can you pack into a single post? All kidding aside, do you consider yourself to be a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...enormous differences with Pope Francis..\"\n\nFrancis is not God and not the Church.\n\nThe pope has created anarchy in the Catholic Church.\n\nHe doesn't need to pick at US Catholic conservativs from afar through Sperado's nearly unintelligible writing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why does this not surprise me. The Christians of today are not the forgiving ones of my youth. If they think that Donald Trump is of them, they are sorely confused.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm presuming these Democrat are using religion, whether Christian or not, to deflect from the shooting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians are assured that 'when we close our eyes here, we will be with the Lord'......is also like saying......\"you will have all these virgins if you follow Allah\".....blind faith is without works...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"... a Biblical museum to show the faithful how Abraham lived.\"\nWhile Christianity may trace its roots to Abraham, so do the Jewish faith and Islam.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have NO authority to excommunicate, investigate or admonish ANYONE! Neither do you or anyone else on the Catholic ultra-right have authorization to invade the privacy of anyone, at any time, for any purpose! Fortunately, you do not guide or even speak on behalf of Christian communities!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't worry dog..... nobody is going to force you to read the Declaration of Independence or make you go to church on Sunday. You can thank the Christian founders for that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Members of the media often attempt to put Christians on the spot by asking a question like that. But, when asked, an honest Christian should not try to wiggle out of it. Since God created everything in 6 days, and man was created the same day as other land animals (assuming that the large dinosaurs we find in the fossil record are not the result of some kind of cross breeding--and we can't know that for sure), it is hard to argue against their having lived at the same time. Furthermore, since most of the dinosaur fossils were rapidly buried in the Flood, it is an inescapable conclusion that man and dinosaurs existed together, regardless of whether or not they were created or hybridized. Only if one buys into the evolutionary fairy tale (\"the greatest hoax on earth\"), is there a problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In short, this Synod will be mainly about the existential implications of the worldwide shortage of Catholic priests, particularly for sacramental ministry, while maintaining the traditional parameters of that ministry (such as \"lifelong\" clerical \"celibacy\"). The year 2018 is two years away -- how will the hierarchy prepare for this Event? Unless their preparation includes frank (and even brutal) dialogue with young people, both Catholic and not-Catholic, the Synod will have little or nothing to offer the church of the present or future.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The starting point... is the Bible...\"\nI look at what I feel is the problem of worshipping a myth, and I post my own theses. Luther didn't reform the church, he just created his own power center. I post in the secular as the church would arrest me if I posted on its doors. I argue against using Martin Luther as an example of a decent human being.\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JoWviW2rBM\n\nI argue that the far right, which really includes the Catholic Church, is about hatred of gays, and is a prime example of an organization that promotes male supremacy and social inequality.\n\nBut I am not arguing against the existence of the Catholic Church. I am merely pointing out a door of liberation, available to those who are open to reality and rationality. One cannot reform from worship of Apollo, or Diana, one can only see that there are no Gods, no God, and work for social change in the secular world. \nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUYRoYl7i6U&t=2934s\nHugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A government of cowards protected in their Capitol Bunker by massive security far and above necessity. Body count elsewhere in the nation has no meaning to the multi-millionaires occupying every seat in this gridlocked, do-nothing for the general welfare. What body count would activate these self-professed \"Christians\" to follow their Prince of Peace instead of the Hounds of War - 100? 1000? 10,000? 100,000? 1,000,000? No number can warm the hearts of these cold, inhuman creatures.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any cursory study shows that Christians exhibit no better (or worse) social behaviors than other folks. India, China--- pick whatever non-Christian country you'd like, the stats show no greater incidence of negative behaviors. (I'm being a little generous here, the US actually fares far worse in many categories than those two...).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are correct and our incompetent lawyers allowed them to slip out of the financial settlements. How can they preach moral virtues when they have none? It is time for the catholic church to admit to their sin, not only to god, but to the world and make amends.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ya know, I gotta say, I don't find it much comfort to hear that \"well, other denominations are losing adherents too.\" (As bad as the \"well, other people abuse children too\" with the implication that the hierarchy is somehow excused from the abuse and cover-up.) The overall drift away from Catholicism and other Christian denominations suggests a bigger overall problem. Christianity began and grew in the midst of a decadent secular Roman society, so frankly, it's not society's fault. I can't help thinking too many supposed Christian leaders have become too wrapped up in trying to dominate society with secular power rather than leading by spiritual example.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Such a pity the Catholic bishops had no idea their favored \"pro-life\" candidate in last November's election would be so inhospitable to the strangers coming into this country. Oh, but wait! I almost forgot - Donald Trump first mentioned his great wall to bar the stranger in June 2015 when he first announced his bid to run for president. So really, it's not as though the bishops who tacitly and not so tacitly endorsed Trump didn't know what they'd be getting. Let's not play dumb now, shall we? The \"Catholic's choice\" is doing exactly what he promised from Day One. Why anyone would act so concerned now is utterly beyond me. Articles like this one at this late date are a bit like pouring a bucket of water on a five-alarm fire and hoping it will do some good. It won't. Now maybe if we'd been reading things like this BEFORE the election, especially from the USCCB, we'd be able to put the fire out with that tiny bucket of water. Not anymore. All we can do now is wave goodbye to the stranger.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "every innovation and \"cultural\" modification of the N.O. Mass is acceptable but woe to the Cardinal for saying the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.\nrejecting the Cappa Magna, Ecclesiastical Latin, and sacremantals, is rejecting our Catholic history.\nthe PRIDE and EGO it takes to claim a right to do so is difficult for me to comprehend.\n\nthe N.O. will die out as more of the Bishop of Rome's reforms are instituted and the pews empty.\nthe E.F. will continue on unchanged and its attendees, although very small in number and rejecting the new reforms, will pass of the Truth to the succeeding generations.\nthe \"Remnant\" has been mentioned by many sources for a reason.\n\nmany blasted Benedict XVI for wanting a smaller, purer Church.\nFrancis is making it happen.\nhe told us all to read \"Lord of the World\" for a reason.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Axel,\n\nHere is some choices undreamt by women in North America - to become the leader of their country. Muslim countries like Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, etc have had female leaders. These countries contain far more Muslims than the Arab World. A majority of the world's Muslims live in South and South East Asia. A significant percentage of Arabs are Christians. Please don't conflate Islam and Arabs. \n\nSecond, while the women in the Arab World are discriminated against, one should focus on the situation of women in Canada and the US. Today, 42 percent of children in the US are born to single mothers. The children and their mothers have very difficult lives. Teenage pregnancies in the US and Canada are far above European rates. One of the best ways for a man to make a woman's life miserable for decades is to impregnate her and leave. Canada at least provides free healthcare, schools, subsidised universities so that some of these children can prosper. The US doesn't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While many city and county governments, as well as a myriad of houses of worship - even an Episcopal bishop, offer immigrants sanctuary, I've yet to read that any Catholic parish or diocese has taken that step to defy Trump's gov't on deportations. The article notes this parish was once \"part of the original Sanctuary Movement during the 1980s.\" What immigrants need now is for the RCC to stick their necks out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The simple people also can't stand the fact that the USA is now a multi-faith-and-no-faith society.\nThey liked the good ol' days when they could call the USA a \"Christian nation\" and no one would dare challenge it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the mention of Damian. It led me to a piece where the following was cited (see below). I recommend it highly, as it mentions Damian and the Liber Gomorrhianus and how then Pope Leo went easy on the offending clerics and chose not to clean house. Seems like this problem has been hanging around forever. \n\n\"Roman Catholic Clericalism, Religious Duress, and Clergy Sexual Abuse\" by Thomas P. Doyle, January 2003.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Eventually they'll push all of the men out of church; they've come a long way so far in that effort with the \"Church of Nice\" homilies and the \"Jesus is My Boyfriend\" music.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These men knew what positions Trump was propounding. They knew what he stood for. They should have been vocal before the election about the issues of immigration. \nThe fact that a majority of white Catholics voted for Trump indicates that the bishops did not do a very good job teaching about the need for humane immigration law. \nIt's nice that they're saying this, but I doubt it will do much good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a good and faithful Catholic, and therefore it goes without saying an ardent Trump supporter, should I feel that this is an affront to Holy Mother Church by placing an adulteress in the role of Ambassador to the Holy See? Or, as a good and faithful Republican who suffers from extraordinary religious discrimination in this secular country, should I cheer that our Dear Leader has sent a fallen women to shepherd us to redemption? #Torn", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While tens of thousands of brave American men and women gave their lives for our nation, who could anyone, especially so-called evangelicals, possibly vote for a wannabe presidential candidate that touted that his bedroom was his Vietnam? How is that possible unless these types of voters have given up on hope and have decided just to jump off their political cliff.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Monica - I like the idea - but I don't have the money to help support it. I am not sure what the focus should be because I think much of the Republican reliance on capitalism, the belief that the amoral \"free markets\" are the best deciders of who gets what and how much - the making a god of capitalism - that is a big part of the problem. Truth is, our markets do not function according to old time capitalist assumptions and too much wealth and power are again concentrated in too few hands. We have kings again - but they \n\nI think this could work if there is a consortium of Catholic focused media and institutions that did this - Georgetown U, maybe Notre Dame, other Catholic Univ., America Mag., Commonweal, this NCR. The job is too big for one source to accomplish. But, it would be nice to have a place that did focus on what government from a gospel perspective would look like. Yeah, that would be nice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exceptional points, 1LittleBear. Thank you for them.\nIt occurred to me at evening prayer tonight that this entire discussion - engineered by radical conservatives such as David L - is unnecessary. The argument is long over, the Church Council has spoken as have an overwhelming majority of bishops, theologians, abbots and the laity (and more) and the matter is closed. Pope Francis simply states the apparent and those who cannot accept it (their loyalty to the Chair of Peter is shown to be conditional which makes them as much a \"cafeteria Catholic\" as anyone could be) create the same dissent we saw 50 years go. How disingenuous! So, what often seems like a discussion where learning can occur soon becomes clear for the repetition it really is: a small, struggling, angry and quite aged few who cling to the ash heap of history and avoid change in any area. They bring no joy to anything they throw themselves in the middle of. I have to remind myself to disengage from them sooner!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My readings have placed the start of rabid right-wing politics to the Regan administration and the cozying-up to the likes of the Christian Coalition and Moral Majority. The Tea Party was a direct product of those groups and Trump is courting them with insincere talk of being pro-life/anti abortion (if I had money I'd bet there are stories out there of women terminating Trump pregnancies). Until the Reagan years, there were always highly respected and respectful Republicans who worked across the aisle, socialized together, and operated mostly on a basis of positive regard for one another as public servants. I haven't seen any of that in my lifetime, and it certainly is only a distant memory for many at this time. They have destroyed much of our democracy from within.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you always focusing on people's happiness? \nHow can they be ever happy if they're sola Scripturists in the Catholic Church.\nLuther left (but he died quite unhappy).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Aside from the history of advisory groups in the Church, don't you see that the idea of creating a separate advisory group of women serves to further segregate us within the Church? The creation of this kind of group also serves as a pretext that the so-called \"question of women\" is being addressed, when it's not. We need to be treated as the equal members of the body of Christ that we are. Making believe that the creation of some sort of advisory group, made up of women addresses the issue of the ordination of women is actually offensive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We cannot have any unity as long as there are those who truly believe that they are sole possessors of the Truth -- and that includes the Catholic hierarchy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can't imagine what language a theologian would speak that teenagers at the drive-in would pay attention to. Perhaps the problem is that the Church tries to speak too much about sex--in place of the spiritual space necessary for other things--because it is actually easier to name acts that people understand and can prescribe or proscribe. The context of sex is the tough one, not the sex acts. Who goes to the Church for understanding sex acts? \n\n\nWho knows the ways of people to use and exploit, to love and hold up, to gossip and dismiss, for instance, much less discussed topics. The Church has never tried to talk so much about anything else as it does about sex, and some subjects well deserve more attention. And why on earth or in heaven would women turn to the Church? If we look at the Scriptures, I don't think people really come away with the sense that Christianity is about sex; I think there should be more proportional relationship between what Scriptures and Church talk about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My God, My God, Why have you abandoned me! is the key to our understanding of Good Friday and Holy Week. The key is why he said it. Was he simply fulfilling Psalm 22 like an actor repeating his lines? I used to think that, but that view makes the passion a sterile ritual. Was Jesus complaining about his lot? If so, he is fighting back against St. Anselm\u2019s punishing God and being a bit of a cry baby. No, his feelings of despair must be real, because their purpose was to feel what we feel when apart from God by sin and blame. The clue to their reality comes in John\u2019s Gospel, when toward the end he gives his mother, who first told him of his divine origins, unto John\u2019s care, telling her he was dead to her and thus giving up that story, and at the same time giving up his mission to save the world by commissioning John (or Lararus) to care for Mary, not baptize the world. His entire psyche being shattered, he calls out to God in despair, just as we do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I swear that some conservative Catholics are willing to put up with all sorts of abuse from immature mend just because said men wear Roman collars.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All I know is, when it came time to send my child to college, Catholic Universities were not even a consideration. I feel that sending my child to one of those schools would guarantee that my child would end up not Catholic. I would rather take my chances with a secular school.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Chinese_immigration_to_Canada#Immigration_for_the_railway\n\n\"Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, betraying the wishes of his constituency, Victoria, by insisting the project cut costs by employing Chinese to build the railway ... (British Columbia politicians had wanted a settlement-immigration plan for workers from the British Isles, but Canadian politicians and investors said it would be too expensive)\"\n\nMy previous post comment about MacDonald being a nominal Christian was to point out historical example of Christian hypocrisy with a very public example of unchristian behaviour resulting in the death and suffering of Chinese workers lured to work on the CPR. The saying that there was a dead Chinese worker for every rail tie on the original CPR is certainly an exaggeration, but there were make shift worker cemeteries all along the CPR's route through BC's Mountains. MacDonald spent tax money and Chinese lives getting the CPR built.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually it's Christian dogma that teaches we are all sinners beyond redemption, and that it's only through the grace of a loving sky daddy that it can be possible. \nSomehow, because a woman ate a piece of fruit, everyone thousands and thousands of years later are born into this condition of irredeemable sin. There is no logic to that being the case. It's magic. At least that is what the Bible states, however illogical such a tale is for modern ears.\nTo say you're required to fight for a statue that honors a man who helped kill 600,000 Americans -- 50 percent more than the number of U.S. service members who died in World War II -- also is illogical. Or to fight the people you believe are fighting to take down that statue.\nI'm agnostic on the statues, myself. And I had relatives back in the day who fought for the Confederacy on both sides of my family.\nBut I would say that whether the statue stays or goes in Charlottesville is up to the people of Charlottesville.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, what dribble. \n\nThe bishops lack a backbone. More and more their interests are aligned with the wealthy. \nWill we ever hear a bishop (Ive given up on them acting as body) to tell police, immigration agents, military, and government authorities that they have a moral obligation not to enforce laws that are against God's Law? One can see a clear statement in the Scriptures - do not oppress the stranger/alien/foreigner in your midst. (Big emphasis and microphone drop on the PERIOD). \n\nThe saint and martyr, Oscar Romero, the late archbishop of El Salvador, San Salvador, made the same call on the military, national guard, and police to refuse to carry orders that were killing civilians and their country people. He was assassinated the next day. \n\nOur bishops never risk their lives. The nearest thing is when Francis offends the wealthy conservative Catholic who think they are part of the oligarchy of this country.\n\nYou can not serve God and mammon. Bishops grow a set of b@!!5.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think by your comment you are saying that religion (Islam) is to blame? Overwhelmingly, those who have committed terrorist attacks in the US and Europe aren\u2019t Muslim. The worst terror attack ever in Europe (in 2011), was when Anders Breivik slaughtered 77 people in Norway to further his anti-immigrant and pro-\u201cChristian Europe\u201d agenda as he stated in his manifesto. While we think of 9/11 or Pulse in the US, we many times forget that so-called Christian terrorists have attacked abortion clinics to the tune of 13 murders, 17 attempted murders, 383 death threats, 153 incidents of assault or battery, 100 butyric acid attacks, 41 bombings, 655 anthrax threats, and 3 kidnappings committed against abortion providers. The Oklahoma City bombing killed 168 people, the largest domestic terrorist incident in the US, and was promulgated by a Christian man who wanted revenge on the government for the Waco siege against his 'brother Christians'. Many religions have terrorists... It is always wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One is always using a sophistical argument that amounts to this. \"I feel that AL disagrees with my thinking; it seems to say this. This is in disagreement with such and such teaching of the Church.\" But the whole problem is arising from your way of thinking, and not from AL. AL makes the real meaning of \"living as brother and sister\" clear. The couple who repents from an adulterous \"second marriage\" is ipso facto already living as brother and sister in virtue of repentence+sacramental confession+penance. They are living in a Christian way. Their life has changed. The logical error made by the critics of AL is to understand \"living as brother and sister\" in a merely external sense. It means not having sex, nothing more and nothing less. This is rigorism, but it is also laxism. In every rigorism there is a corresponding occult laxism. Rigorism tells the couple: if you are not having sex everything is fine and no further discernment is necessary. AL tells us that this is not so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"33. [Ans.] We cannot fully understand...\"\nBC gets as far as can be gotten in the format, through reason and revelation. It's not meant to be an intellectual exercise beyond learning the basics or improving memory. It does what it is intended to do - offer a summary to children. Adults learning the basics for the first time might go to something deeper like the Catechism of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Catechism of Trent, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, or to some of the key documents themselves (conciliar extracts, encyclicals, etc.). That said, some adults would still benefit from the clarity of BC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My, such a humorless rant. Muslims are followers of Islam. So your point is lost. No doubt you're familiar with Karen Armstrong's critique of Fundamentalism, Jewish, Christian and Muslim, in her book The Battle for God. It's perfectly possible to discuss all religions without resorting to irrational fear or extreme dislike. Indeed, that sounds like a kind of fundamentalism in itself: Secular Fundamentalism?\n\nRational evaluation of religion? Ha, that's a good one. That's usually followed by irrational accusations of all manner of bad behaviour with few facts and little context. Bah humbug!\n\nMuslims can already take off their holy days under Canadian law. You'll find Jews take off the high holidays and when they're in the majority, everyone gets those days off. Christmas and Easter are national holidays because the majority of Canadians are Christians. I don't know any Muslims who don't enjoy having Christmas and Easter off. Indeed, Islam is in the Judeo-Christian tradition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow. What happened to \"Love one another\"? So glad we have good Christians like you to show us the way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But the question was to you, as you're the one who is convinced that the Church is dead set on harming children.\n\nIf you go to Mass but don't put money in the baskets, you're still supporting the Church -- the Church you say is as bad as NAMBLA.\n\nOr are you not a Catholic, and never go to Mass?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The eminence grise of the most dialogue happy publication in Catholicism/pseudo-Catholicism arguing against dialogue! Oh, how rich the irony!\n\nHe is right, of course. Neither Pope Francis nor the Church has much to gain. In the wildly libertine culture that permeates the US, and the West generally, it is nice to have a few other defenders of basic Christian morality, but this bunch has adulterated that morality with such a mix of anti-Catholic ideas on the death penalty and immigration that the result is a brew noxious to all but themselves.\n\nPerhaps I am wrong thinking this is a pro-dialogue publication. As MSW reminded us they oppose dialogue with the \"dubia cardinals\" too. Perhaps it is only dialogue with the heterodox and liberals that they think is wise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A most worthwhile reply and I understand well your position. But it is one built on the rigid acceptance of a human institution - regardless of the holy Founder - and much of its doctrine built on reasons that stay very, very far from the original charge given it, and corrupted by so many of its caste of the powerful and elitist. Thankfully, we have the saints (both declared and undeclared, Catholic and not) to show us the way along with the Gospels. Your incessant attacks - both open and veiled - on \"liberals\" who you stereotype with abandon - betray your faulty belief in the intent of the Church and Christ Himself. It is intellectually dishonest, Faithful Catholic, and reflects a complete lack of grace with arrogance in its place. I do not know how many dissidents \"think the Church is the problem,\" or what that means to the individuals you disparage so easily, but I m certain that your thinking is, indeed, a problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "99 percent of Indonesia, which is an Asian country, is Muslim. Many Muslims elsewhere, too, are Asian. It's a religion just like Christianity or Buddhism. The man obviously could tell these women were Muslim because they were wearing the suppressive head covers. They could have had pale skin and blue eyes for all we know, but it's the head covers (and sometimes the body clothes) that give it away. Oddly, some Muslim women wear only the head scarves but very Western clothes, while others are attired from head to toe in suppressive wraps. It's sad how they are taught to shield what could be very beautiful hair from the public.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "i thought i was more \"income based need\"... but i guess you are right.. the wealthy need more money... they will never have enough... and things like robin hood, christianity is a myth..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If this post truly represented Christ and Christianity the progressives at the ADN wouldn't have allowed it in print. Jesus said there will be many false prophets in the last days claiming to represent Him. \n\nIn Corinthians, Paul is chastising the Corinthians for allowing sexual immorality into the church. A son was sleeping with his fathers wife and the church was ignoring it. Paul goes on to remind them there are many things that can separate one from God's love. Especially when practicing said sin. (Doing it over and over, with no regret.)\n\nThe Progressives have done a great job of demonizing all people of Christian faith. The Christians have unfortunately labeled one specific area of sexual immorality as detrimental to civilization.\n\nThe Word of God reminds us that all sexual immorality separates one from God's Love and Grace when we willfully and repeatedly partake in something that is contradictory to His truth.\n\nDon't be deceived by false prophets. Read His Truth and obey", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately there are too many ignorant racist xenophobes that poison our society.\n\nI am a white Christian Southern European that came to this great country 50 years ago having experienced similar racism. Then it was against ,Jews , Italians, Chinese, Indians and Sheiks, Greeks , Portuguese, Slaves, Latinos ,blacks and others ( even against French Canadians ) because they did not look or sounded Anglos...now is against Muslims ,Pakistanis and Arabs. Racists now found a new group to hate! The majority of haters then were Anglos...now most haters come from many groups even from those that previously had experienced racism themselves .\n\nYES, the new TRUMP phenomenon has created a bad situation worse, especially in USA...the land of the free...where anything goes and tolerated ...as long is done by the majority.\n\nSAD,SAD,VERY SAD!!!\n\nHappy Easter and Passover to all!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are being disingenuous. My comment had nothing to do with Christianity and charitable works. In fact, there is a fair body of evidence that seems to indicate that the Catholic Church specifically, is the world's largest charitable organization.\n\nMy comment concerned the idea that a body which acts in a manner contrary to State and Federal Civil Rights law, should not expect to continue to be tax-exempt. Their beliefs are their own but they should not expect a monetary windfall from the IRS for holding them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gene,\nJust like the Academy Awards where Meryl Strep uses the Academy's time and space to criticize the President and scold America. Didn't cost her a dime! I would say if she had the urge to make a public statement she ought to buy her own air time on Television. Reminds me of the coach over in Bremerton who wouldn't stop praying with his team. That cost him his job, not so with Hollywood or 'Pro' ball. Anything goes, unless its a Christian thing or pro-American, then its all thumbs down. I don't know why they just don't come right out and say, they hate America. At least they'd be honest. They want it both ways. They hate this country, but don't seem to mind benefitting from everything that flag, they disrespect so much, represents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People like you and Ray Burke and other inhabitants of the church's right wing. You seem to think the church belongs to you instead of to Jesus Christ. And you think Christ's church and its faithful must obey YOUR commands -- you know better than this Jesuit pope from Argentina! That's the problem!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Freon Sandoz got it right. By comparison with the Medieval kingdom of Saud, Iran has 600 Christian churches, Saudi Arabia none. Christianity is banned. If you travel in Teheran you have a very good chance of being picked up by a lady taxi driver. In SA, women are not allowed to drive. What makes the difference? SA is SUNNI and adheres to the most violent and intolerant sect in the world, ie, Wahhabism, the one that EVERY member of the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and ISIS belongs to. Iran is SHIITE and opposes these monsters, The myth that Iran is the \"biggest state sponsor of terror\" is therefore a lie pushed by the Saudis and their vassals in Wahington. Why does the US bow to SA? Because of the petrodollar agreement by which the US uses its military to support Saudi terror in exchange for the Saudis propping up the dollar by allowing payment for oil only in USD. The problem with all this skullduggery? The Saudis are about to go bust. Visit: newsilkstrategies.com for details.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope the Holy Spirit takes a holiday for a few centuries and allows his holy people to select their leaders instead. Just like they did in early Christianity. They seemed to be able to discern quite ably between decent, good human beings and narcissistic sociopaths.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I no longer accept the exclusion of God and Redemption to Christian believers. I don't know how God does it, but God does not abandon those who do not know of or accept Jesus. There are many, many good people in the world, kind, generous, loving their neighbors. God does not abandon them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "72% of Americans, a majority of whom claim to be Christians, supported the invasion and war in Iraq, which was our ally, had no role in 9/11, and had no nuclear weapons as our administration then claimed. Yet 72% wanted an unjust war. That 72% \"while not part of the violence do in fact support it\". Nationalism in the US is as strong, and as dangerous, as nationalism in Muslim nations.\n\nGary Crum's comparison is justified, and apt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No because America's founding principles and documents lay on the foundation of Christianity and the Bible. It's the God of the Bible who endowed us with our inalienable Rights. Islam on the other hand is completely incompatible with western liberal democracy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's right, there are no laws that should apply to bible-thumpers, eh? And when they're discovered in illegal acts, well the media should just sweep it under the rug. Because.....well, they're christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unless you a Christian Falun Gong member, then they harvest your organs, send your family the bill.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It would appear that Burke .... Burke appears .... Burke looks like .... All pure speculation borne of sheer prejudice. We, as Christians are cautioned not to judge but to pre-judge is the most un-Christian of all.\nPerhaps Pope Francis ought to highlight this in one of his daily homilies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Alexandra,\n\nIt is true that many rich people did vote for Trump (at least they will get something for themselves out of that choice).\n\nHowever, the majority of people who voted for Trump were people who were working class, underpaid & angry that the established party people were ignoring their plight. Then there were the conservatives & pro-life Christians who were advised by their churches to support any candidate no matter how terrible who would go after Roe v. Wade & all clinic funding regardless if the clinic's funding was not going to abortion in any way. Our conservative nuns fit into this second category. \n\nWe need to hold laity, all religious, and clergy accountable for not demanding genuine justice for women in our church & for cooperating outside our church with making oppressive laws.\n\nNetwork does not support women priests so we need to let nuns know too if they want our support, they need to get real on equality too, despite the risk. Sexism causes poverty globally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Um, what? Your analogy between early Christians, persecuted as a minority sect, and American Christians, a dominant culture, makes no sense whatsoever. American Christians are the Romans of the 21st century: privileged denizens of a powerful empire.\n\nDenial of your glorious crusade to discriminate against minorities in the name of religion doesn't rise to the level of persecution. The U.S. is not a theocracy. It's a pluralistic democratic republic whose citizens are (theoretically) granted equal protection under the Constitution. If lawsuits are the measure of persecution then Americans in general are persecuted, rendering the term meaningless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have you ever protested when anti-Christian bigots drive the \"conversation\" about other new events?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most educated people know that the ordination of the Apostles at the Last Supper has been accepted as an historical fact since that very time. It is only in modern times, almost 2000 years after the fact, that you heretics have tried to undermine it, which you do because the historical events of the Christ, the Appstles, the early Church fathers, all undermine your heretical rebellion against Christ and His Church.\nSorry, but what you consider \"educated people\" are those who share your heresy, which does not actually illustrate any type of erudition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some probably do, most don't, but unlike some ... I don't require a litmus test for my friends. People help people because we're social animals. Again, Christians didn't invent charity for people in need, and have done nothing notable to improve on the concept. It's interesting to me how some religious people seem desperate to claim ownership over any basically beneficial human attribute.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, progressive and orthodox Catholics agree that the Church is composed of sinners. Where they disagree is in that which progressives, liberals, whatever they call themselves mean by inclusivity that the 'sinners' are welcome and welcome to carry on sinning: an inclusive Church. The orthodox striving to amend their own sinful lives welcome fellow 'sinners' to join them. Presumably this is what Pope Francis means by 'accompanying'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Call to Action needs to demonstrate and advertise how and why it should be considered Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But, but but... same old peteism, different subject. At least we can agree on one thing, members of the KKK are not really Christian. As for the others, only God can judge the intents of the heart. Crusaders may have been Christian, but they marched against the advancement of Islam under the false premise that it was God's will. Most of your comments about things people do in the name of God are too simplistic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Roman Catholic church is both clergy- controlled and hierarchical, unlike the typical protestant congregation. And Roman Catholics have elevated clergy-control and hierarchy to the level of dogma and even divine revelation, which prompted many a Reformation-ers misunderstanding and (bloody) conflict. Since Vatican II, Christian churches with some exceptions have been using Civil Comments, as it were, but many if not most Catholics are still ensconced in their comfort zones and expecting \"protestants\" to return to communion with the Roman Catholic church, and for \"atheists\" to submit to the Roman Catholic church and its hierarchy and legal system. This is not ecumenism, but forced conversion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "okay hapaguy if you say the Anti Christian liberty Union defend Christians tell them to go and back up the Christians that do not want the ten commandments coming down in front of courtrooms or other places that's happening now across this nation, that people want the ten commandments taken down tell the ACLU to go defend the people that want those commandments to stay there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see the reaction to what was said, but not what was said. How can we determine if its actually \"horrific\" and \"hateful\" without knowing what was said? \n\nHow far is the Board expected to go? So, if parents of a certain religion don't want their kids taking art and music classes (!!!), this is acceptable and a charter right that must be enforced? What if the next accommodation is \"I don't want my kids in the same class as non-believers or apostates? I don't want my kids taught by a teacher of different gender?\" How far is the school board, and by extension parents with children in the Peel school system (me!) supposed to bend over?\n\nNo, the best way to make sure everyone's rights are met is to have completely secular public schools - and if someone in the upcoming provincial election wants to do away with the French and English Catholic school systems, I am all for it. Religious indoctrination can happen in your private school/church/temple/holy ground at your expense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NO religion is not rational it is based on faith and NOT on facts. \nThat is the reason why religion cannot run a nation. Unfortunately, the RRs (Religious Right - including the American Catholic prelates do not yet understand that fact). \nLet us recall that the Catholic church has been seduced and involved in politics ever since the fourth century. One can easily make the point that Satan seduced the church by offering it earthy powers and the church succumbed to his seductions. \nSo now we must question and challenge the church prelates, especially those in America - not Pope Francis because he understands, just how much are they a religion and how much are they simply a Super-Pac for the GOP. \nThe other reason why the church is like a fallen thing is that it believes that it works for God while in reality it really only works for itself.\nWhen we the peoples challenge the church we help to keep it on the path of Jesus Christ and OFF the path of godless, soulless, predatory Capitalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's odd then is why so many lay here rail against the clerics all the time here...why are so many articles about the Vatican the bishops, the USCCB, the sisters... if the Church \"has so little influence\" on the ordinary life of the lay.\n\nI agree with you that it does have little to do.\n\nI just can't explain the almost fetishistic focus on Rome, the diocese, priests. \n\nThe Catholic world needs to be this other world, not a now grouchy pope in Rome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is an example of the Catholic Church at her authoritarian worst.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I used to go to church three times a day. I attended 7:30 am mass before I go to work.\nI went to church at lunch hour to do the silent prayer. I attended 5:15 p.m. mass after the work thinking I am attending Vesper instead. After I learned that priest rape children in confessionals and sacristy that I cringe going into church since it is contaminated by priest's sacriliges of raping children!\nWhen I attend Mass, I like to be united to God in spirit. God is pure spirit and my spirit contaminated by knowing what priest do in the church, I can't hope to be united to pure God! So I stop going to church all together now. Well it brings tear to my eyes every time I think that I can't attend Mass!\nI say a prayer to my Lord to take me to him quick! So far I am still here and I am boiling mad at Catholic dam clergies! Sorry!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I am. \n\nI think the left actually wants to characterize most of the Catholic moral teaching as having to do with sexuality.\n\nAnd that's too bad, and it's a huge error.\n\nAnd it would be helpful and insightful to ask \"why\".\n\nWhat's at the core of this gross mischaracterization? \n\nCatholic moral teaching about sexuality is part of its teaching on our nature as children of God, spiritual children of God (always) who at the same time take on responsibilities of parents, employees, employers, neighbors, civil authorities.\n\nThis is the \"seamless\" garment that needs to be talked about!! It's really the left that only wants to talk about \"undergarments\"!\n\nSeriously how frequently in the last 5 years have you heard a homily on sex? \n\n52 weeks in the year for just Sunday Mass goers, bare minimum Catholics, how many homilies are on sex? I remember one in the last 7 years and it was on reminding parents of their responsibility to teach their children modesty!\n\nHorrors!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The question more pressing is, why did millions of Christians in the USA recently vote for an anti-Christianity atheist. Why did USA Christians hate and detest the only two presidential candidates (Jimmy Carter and Bernie Sanders) in the past 50 years who followed the teachings attributed to Jesus?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All these and similar visions and apparitions are private mystical experiences and they should be treated as such. If they lead the individual to a more authentic Christian life, it is great! I am truly happy for them! He/she should cherish it and share he fruits of the experience with others through his/her example of life and actions, and not by acting as a conduit between God and the community, demanding attention. \n\nIf God wants to tell me something to my personal benefit that, because of my shortcomings, I did not understand from the Gospels, God will find the way to tell me, without me having to go to a certain place or being obliged to listen to someone else, simply, because God is a loving God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity isn't about vague \"values\", it's about an intimate relationship which Jesus Christ, a love affair with God, learning to turn over more and more of our life into forms of prayer and loving dialog with God. \n\nShame on the pope for speaking in 1960s speak. \n\nNext thing you know we'll be having silly \"values clarifications\" exercises instead of going to Mass.\n\n\"Say, you're on a life raft with 7 people, and you only have food for 4...\"\n\nWhat damage to people's brains psychologists have done with these goofy \"exercises\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I fear that a majority of these Christian politicians adhere to the \"prosperity gospel\" Bill Tammeus recently discussed on NCR (i.e. Beware the Prosperity Gospel of the Trump Administration, Dec 8, 2016). Some Catholics, e.g. Paul Ryan, seem to feel that \" that poverty and disease are signs that God doesn't think much of you\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So your identity as a Christian has nothing to do with Christ or his teachings, the, and is just some throw away tribal affinity you label yourself with. Got it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "its a pretty wobbly argument, when one only opines about three catholic schools, without links, fact citations to support one's opinions. Notre Dame for instance has yeilded many iotas. The writer appears not to have been on the nd campus any time recently.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is a practising Catholic....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of four) This is about the control of the narrative and a destruction of historical recognition.\u2014Laura Ingraham as reported by \u2014NCR Editorial Staff\n\n\"Racism is a poison of the soul. It's the ugly, original sin of our country, an illness that has never fully healed,\" Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput wrote in one of the most powerful statements from a Catholic leader. \"Blending it with the Nazi salute, the relic of a regime that murdered millions, compounds the obscenity.\"\u2014 NCR Editorial Staff Did Chaput write before or after August 15? Heather Heyer was murdered on August 12. Where is the USCCB? Raymond Arroyo of EWTN was disgustingly silent, August 17. For all that matter, the NCR Editorial is dated Friday, August 18.\n\nTrump's response was worse than inadequate. He demonstrated a lack of moral leadership\u2014NCR Editorial Staff. The nerve, prioritizing secular moral leadership over RCC leadership.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"There have been steps taken by Pope Francis that at least reduce the many ways in which women in the church (as religious and as faithful Catholics) have been silenced, ostracized, deliberately not looked at, kept behind a veil as surely as a woman in a full hijab.\"\n\nReally? Has that changed anything? Not that I have seen. When he was making that a speech about women the photos were of him and only men. If he believed his own words he must start where he lives. Are we still waiting a thousand years from now? Probably, if the Catholic church imploded and women went to Woman-church. Even the Jews have women rabies and a woman who is Orthodox and she copies the scroll, the first woman to do that in over three thousand year. They have done something about the integration of women. We don't have women priests or deacons. And I have not heard about a woman updating the New Testament. Note: Women still have to wear hijabs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "for a couple of weeks each year I get to set aside all this nonsense with its hateful roots and enjoy my favourite park in Cuba - a Catholic Cuba of all things ... \nand each year I come back, I seem to have a little less in common with this once close neighbour and friend.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"They are only Christian as long as they don't have to put any effort into it.\"\nTrue that for phony GOP self described \"Christians\". No one sees them as Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And just like that, Trump delivers a stinging blow to the NFL. I said it before he did not need to interject politics into sports, but the players have felt the wrath of the fans and are trying to save face here. Trump wins this round.\n\nThe statement from Elway was weak at best yesterday. \n\nThe players have seen that the silent majority just want to watch the game, and they do not want to see a protest while they are on the company clock. For all of the free speech folks who think protesting on the job is ok, does that count for a Christian baker or a County Clerk who issues marriage licenses in Alabama?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was so glad to read your post. It lifted my heart. Jesus would have done the same. He never asked about a persons sexuality before he healed them or ate with them. He already knew all he needed to know - they needed his ministrations. If everyone would do what you did/wanted to do, his holiness would have to go to Plan B, Plan B being to love the God in each person and get out of their sex life! Their is a lot more pressing problems he should be worrying about, one being the killing of Christians all over the world!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't lament the Roman Church's failings for my own personal gain, but for those who are caught up in this medieval system of bondage--including clergy members who are recruited and indoctrinated beginning at a very young age (I have seen this first hand)... too many unhealthy and un-Christian \"habits\" enshrined in doctrine, forcing people to choose between rational, healthy, honest assessments and supernatural gobbledygook. Most people see through it nowadays but there are still hoards of people whose spiritual growth is trapped/stunted by this medieval, imperial-based theo-political \"system.\" Those are the people I am fighting for... for their sanity and their salvation, for whatever little part I can do to help them see the light.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She is a pastor's daughter. She is more Christian than conservatives in the US or Canada, who proclaim their love for Jesus and do the exact opposite of what he would have done!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If your concept of the Sacrament of Penance is \"a get out of jail free card\" then that just shows how little you know about the Sacraments of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hmm.. I guess that Pope Francis agrees with this conclusion given who wrote it. And that conclusion is very right. The unholy alliance between conservative Catholics (including some bishops) and Evangelical Christians has harmed the US Catholic Church. And the ironic thing about EWTN types is that their far right Dominionist buddies don't believe Catholics are \"Christians\" and think that we are all idolators who worship Mary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The beauty of democracy lies in the minority's ability to bring the majority to it's knees.\n\nThe Liberal strategy all along.\n\nWho needs the white christian vote when you bury them with a flood of immigrants. who then become the majority", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You might not agree with it, but there were lots of laws in the US that were, more or less, inherited from the Brits and their laws based on Christianity. For example, anti-sodomy laws are of Christian derivative and were in every state up until 1962 when the sex perverts started lobbying for sexual freedom. There is no reason Constitutionally why, with a conservative Court, all of the SCOTUS decisions that were legislative in effect on such issues couldn't be overturned on the basis of separation of powers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you believe that only NON-THINKING individuals should remain in the Catholic Church? There were many saints and theologians who disagreed very much with what the church was teaching in their life times. The same goes on today. For the questioning members of the church to leave does not bode well for the Church if all those remaining members are carbon copies of whatever is currently being taught by a mentally bland hierarchy, especially in the U.S. Most of our hierarchy get their degrees in Canon Law---and more than half of them don't know the theology behind whatever school of Canon Law that they have embraced.\n\nSecondly, you don't know what millions of U.S. Catholics think---because there are really no forums established to poll the opinions of ordinary Catholics. Both Vatican II and the 1984 Code of Canon Law stated that something be set up to poll ordinary Catholics----but it was never done. Only Pope Francis wanted to hear from Catholics before the Synods.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you defending hopless devil incarnet like C. Pell to make a living?\nYou as a fully grown \u2018men\u2019, i. e., who suppose to be a superior & hollier then women according to CI (Catholic Institution), can see how evil C. Pell was/is doing unless you have no education to speak of or indoctrinated from your childhood to regard clergies are holly no matter what they do?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If they ever got in they'd chicken out of getting rid of the Catholic System.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know there are separate 'Christian' and 'Jewish' cemeteries. But is there anything specific about a religious burial in any faith that necessitates a separate plot of land? \n\nAfter all the ceremonies, everyone ends up exactly the same: in the ground, dispatched to whatever reward that awaits them. An' I can't imagine God being particularly fussy about the exact geographic location of your earthly remains.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now that Canada is experiencing traitors in government who are quite happy to allow immigrants from a society known for violence and who rejects Christianity to enter our country unvetted to pacify certain vested interests people have a right to be terrified. Our media does it's absolute best to cover up the violence throughout just about every country in Europe but if you do your own homework you can see for yourself just how bad it is. I fear for the future of my grandchildren under the fanatics currently in power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "lol and another military industial complex addicted American who probably claims that he is Christian but has no idea what Jesus stands for. \n\nThe only people who are bad are those who are extremely paranoid and feel the country must pay a ton of money to protect against imaginary threats.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The mayor is guilty of Christianphobia. An irrational fear of Christians. This visible minority is being persecuted. This is nothing but racism, This needs Parliamentary censure by Trudeau and the Commons immediately!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no accountability for a \"church\" that condones sexual assault, fights victims, uses secrecy clauses.\n\nWho really cares about us? The victims of the Milwaukee Archdiocese whose lives were shattered now lay as wreckage scattered about. Parishioners are fine with stepping around this wreckage and filling the pews and collection baskets to buy their sacraments and their way into heaven. \nNo one cared about us when we were re injured and betrayed yet again in a 5 year public display of lies and intentional pain dished out by the Milwaukee Archdiocese. No one cares about us. Catholic values are left on the courthouse steps. Catholics say that victims should be treated fairly just not the ones in their diocese. I will never recover from the five years of hell. This was called a bankruptcy but really was a plan to use Federal bankruptcy as a weapon to cheat hurting people that were sexually assaulted as children by priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These are my crazy time wasting politicians who are not aware that any of us can pray anywhere it is just a question of who desires to share it with you. Common sense says that all citizens who are ruled under a body of law such as the Kenai Peninsula Borough are not all Christian and do not care to join in with a \"ceremony\" based on what, giving thanks, hoping that we will not have evil befall us in the next hour we are at the meeting. This is a non-issue I want the representatives to do the job of governing, and not have me forced to \"praying\" with them. At least my rep is doing his job and saying no to the silly nonsense. And... I have not seen a reason given why we need to pray to a Christian God at a pubic meeting of a body of government. It is a habit that needs to be broken.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When you call for dialogue what is there to discuss? The whole question of Judeo-Christian, sexual morality has been settled long before the Incarnation. Fr Martin's book is nothing but a surreptitious call to unsettle the issue, to change the teaching.\nThe Decalogue is a summary of the Moral Law in the OT and the 6th Commandment prohibits all sexual activity outside of wedlock. Any attempt to relax Catholic moral teaching would destroy the whole of the teaching. That would result in sexual anarchy where anything goes.\nIf it is going to be possible to abolish the 6th Commandment then all the other Commandments are at risk.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It would likely be concerning for Catholic groups such as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' committee on migration and the Ignatian Solidarity Network, which strongly criticized a bill Trump endorsed, the RAISE Act, that was introduced Aug. 2 and included the same principles. However, Campbell said, as \"horrifying\" as these policies might be, they amount to a mere \"list of conservative talking points\" that need not enter into the conversation about DACA.\"\n\nConservative talking points are based on racism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians should have no fear. \n\n\u201cI sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.\u201d (Psalm 34:4)\n\n\u201cDo not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.\u201d (Philippians 4:6-7)\n\n\"Then Jesus said to his disciples: \u2018Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?\u2019\u201d (Luke 12:22-26)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"Year of the Laity\" would be a golden opportunity for the Traditionalist movement to hold evangelistic activities and to reach out for conversions of Christians who have not yet embraced the fullness of their faith by becoming Catholic, as well as to Jews, Muslims and other non-Christians. Brilliant idea. I like this approach to ecumenism. Our movement has always lay-driven, so we can lead the way by shining light on the darkness. Hagen lio!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the teachings that ought to be dismissed as pure \"heresy\" is the notion of \"intrinsic evil.\"\n\nIn the 2000 year history of the church's attempt to explore the problem of evil, this concept has been never been held or taught by the councils or the doctors of the church. The reason for this is quite simple. It's Manichean, not Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"You really need to live somewhere in a Muslim country before being quite so glib about allowing large numbers of adherents of a totally incompatible belief system to enter your country. The fact that the vast majority are peaceful does not diminish what the few do.\"\n\nAnd this is how bigotry cloaks itself in falsehoods.\n\nIf Islam were a totally incompatible belief system, Canada's 1 million Muslims would be creating havoc. But they do nothing of the sort.\n\nLarge numbers of Muslims aren't entering Canada. The majority of immigrants to Canada, by a factor of 10 to 1, are from Christian countries.\n\nThe fact that the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful means that we should trust them as a group, not focus on the tiny numbers in foreign lands that are embroiled in conflict, much of it not of their own making.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes! Of course, all this discussion isn't going to affect the elephant in the room -- non-Western/non-Christian countries that will continue to grow by hundreds of millions. India, for example (the geographical size of Alaska), is destined to grow to 1.7 billion in a matter of decades. Indonesia will also follow suit along with Bangladesh, the size of Wisconsin, which is destined to grow to 100 million. No shepherds' horns in those countries calling for population control! Indians are quite happy planning for more re-incarnations like sacred mists at dawn clearing on some road of destitution and poverty. They are very optimistic about having more children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "same ole story.. bottom line it was the constant fighting against ACA by your beloved GOP that was the reason we do not have a national health care plan.. this may not mean much to people like you but to people who do not have healthcare or the means to get it, it was big.. i bet you are a christian too.. you certainly sound like one..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How did the Christians do so when a woman still cannot become a priest? How did the Orthodox Jewish do this when on a certain bus line in New York they are required to sit at the back of the bus. Are there Jewish female Rabbi's (I'm not sure but have never heard of one)?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you insist on anything but total agreement, then the only logical reaction for a Traditional Catholic is to attack, claim victim status and take the thread off for a good long hijacking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you agree with Francis' full support of \"Climate Change?\" \n\nI've never heard a pope before state publicly that he believes God made a mistake, which the pope and all Christians are saying, in essence, when God created the world and all life on it dependent on oxygen and carbon dioxide.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's the christian way: retribution and punishment. How's that worked out?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You want to know real danger try being a christian in Egypt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No...Trump was voted in by the American population to do this who were tired of hearing of Muslim atrocities. A hate crime my dear, is what was committed against the Christians in the middle east all these years. Remember that Iraq, Syria, Turkey were Christian countries before they were Muslim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Scott,\nI looked into the psychology of the phenomenon. You can google it and find a variety of theories, too long to go into on here. \n\nBasically they speak of faith all the time but it's not actually faith they are speaking about. It's religion. It has more in common with the Taliban than it does Jesus Christ. It is found in monotheistic religions but not in polytheistic. \n\nOne of its main traits is a lack of humour. This is actually an important point as most people tend to find humour in all sorts of aspects to their lives. Humour actually has the ability to help us change our minds on things like belief. When it is absent, rigidity sets in.\n\nGerry Hughes SJ wrote some great stuff on this subject in his book 'God of Surprises'. He put it down to repentant/unrepentant people, Churches, countries. The repentant person can laugh at himself, be light-hearted, open, drawn to God.\n\nThe unrepentant person is overbearing, serious, driven by God. Their justification for everything is God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AT\" Since I present a position different from yours you use the term \"spin\" to trivialize and dismiss it. You seem to be contending that those Christian Churches which bless and sanction same-sex marriages are, ipso facto, not really Christian Churches. Is that really what you're saying? If so, wow. Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It'll be curious to hear what the evangelical Christian community has to say on Moore\u2019s actions. I\u2019m not sure what their position on child molestation is, but I hope they are against it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Congress regularly has Muslim, Hindu, and chaplains of other faiths do their invocation, which is legitimate and Constitutional. The KPB Assembly has written the rules so narrowly so that only Christian speakers would be allowed to speak. This is unconstitutional and didn't warrant a single discussion, let alone being the major topic of discussion for 6+ Assembly meetings!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued:\n\nMother harshly criticized a mimed re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross at the World Youth Day in Denver, Colorado, which was attended by Pope John Paul II. Mother was particularly upset that a woman was playing Jesus. Archbishop Rembert Weakland of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee called Mother's comments \"...one of the most disgraceful, un-Christian, offensive, and divisive diatribes I have ever heard\". Mother responded by saying, \"He didn't think a woman playing Jesus was offensive? He can go put his head in the back toilet as far as I am concerned!\"\n\nArchbishop Mahoney Eucharist Pastoral - Mother condemned as heresy -eventually gave a tepid apology.\n\nHer diocesan bishop, Foley, ruled out ad orientem masses - Mother reacted because it forced the monastery to do a free standing altar - Foley dedicated and Mother refused to attend.\n\nShe was in many ways a dictator who allowed for no dissent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In case you didn't gather, I think they're all ridiculous. Christianity, among the majors, may be the least silly which is what I said.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More concerning it seems like some on the Catholic right have completely drunk the kool aid and agree with his form of hate. This includes people who work for the US Catholic Church. Some intrepid Catholic reporters uncovered these fun tweets on the Diocese of Syracuse account. https://millennialjournal.com/2017/03/05/why-is-the-diocese-of-syracuse-posting-pro-trump-propaganda/ \n\nMy particular favorite is the one praying for the #MuslimBan because I guess those working in the Syracuse chancery have never read Matthew 25:31-46. In contrast to that pro-Trump cheerleading pap, here is what a real Catholic bishop had to say about the despicable #MuslimBan. https://www.archchicago.org/statements/-/asset_publisher/a2jOvEeHcvDT/content/statement-statement-of-cardinal-blase-j-cupich-archbishop-of-chicago-on-the-executive-order-on-refugees-and-migrants?inher", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religions become popular when the survival/salvation of the people is at risk, or when a unique benefit is promised as a reward for membership. When neither of those motives is operational, religions tend to devolve into communities of special meaning. In our day, some Christians are committed to social justice, others to doctrinal purity, others to pro-life/anti-abortion campaigns, and still others to inclusivism, etc. \nThe societal pressure to which you refer is being replaced by the pressure to state what one truly believes instead of remaining in the crowd and pretending to accept everything. I think that's healthy for the church, but sooner or later it will require a restructuring that recognizes this heterogeneity and doesn't make believe the old one-size-fits-all parishes still make sense, if they ever did. We could anticipate that restructuring by refusing to support the diocesan system, and that is pretty much what is happening, as this article shows.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Burke and people like him have brought shame on the Church.\n\nFrancis is renewing the Church and trying to make it actually BEHAVE like the Body of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for posting what I wanted to. Joseph was a widower and Mary took a vow of virginity. In Jewish culture this was customary. Though the age gap might have been wide there was no sexually inappropriate behavior that took place (according to the Bible) and the Church. Even someone who's non-Christian would have to take the historical elements of its story at face value and the historical accounts with some degree of veracity. Christians (most regardless of denomination) would unanimously agree that Joseph and Mary's relationship was never marked once by sexual intimacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How did they reconcile this? \nSimple, they looked at the two choices, plugged their noses and most voted for Trump.\nFace it, today's Democrat party is not Christian-friendly, and most Christians recognize this and have moved away..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. Very sadly, the same idea still permeates our Catholic secondary schools and colleges. One of my brothers-in-law who is still a devout Catholic, but dislikes the finery of priests and the celibacy rule (He was once in \"the brothers.\") often asks why, when we were in Catholic schools, did they stress humility, charity, the Beatitudes, etc. and then always, and still, give alumni(ae) of the year awards and honorary degrees to those who are powerful and rich.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Pro-life harassment and terrorism has been a feature of American society for decades. Americans tend to makes excuses for and look the other way when it comes to right-wing violence. If you wrap yourself in the flag or kill in the name of Christianity you become a folk hero. Fascism and the Bible (at least the ignorant interpretations of it) go hand in hand in the United States.\"\n\n\nSince 1993 in the U.S. there have been 11 anti-abortion murders. All were wrong.\n\nAccording to the Guttmacher Institute (formerly part of Planned Parenthood), during the same time period there have been approximately 29,427,050 abortions (not including 2016). According to pro-choicers, all were right. Now tell me again, who is looking the other way and making excuses?\n\nSource: http://www.christianliferesources.com/article/u-s-abortion-statistics-by-year-1973-current-1042\n\nHelp: http://abort73.com/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Call it what it is; fundelmendalist nationalist Christian terrorism! Making America Great (?) Again in tRump's America!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why? When people use terms like \"manipulation\" \"control\" \"inequality\" \"misogynist\" etc, that tends to suggest an unhappiness with the way things are.\n\nWhen people claim they do not believe what the Catholic Church professes for belief, that tends to suggest unhappiness. The solution, it seems to me, is easy: if you want abortion, gay marriage, transgender, divorce and remarriage, open communion, contraception, sex outside of marriage, a democratically run church, go to the liberal Protestant churches that believe this and join them. Why stay in a Church that tries to \"control\" and \"manipulate\" you?\n\nThe Catholic Church will never adopt a liberal, secular, humanistic, atheistic ideology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who does the mayor expect to be invited to speak at a Christian event? Someone with wishy washy middle-of-the-road views on the Bible? Someone who doesn't purport to interpret the Bible in his/her own way for the purpose of promoting a particular brand of Christianity? \n\nGregor regularly deals up notions that beg speculation as to what distorted reality planet he is from. That he would imagine that a Christian event would look to the local mayor for guidance on who to invite to address event participants speaks to some sort of galloping ego/personality disorder.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Blum: Show some courage and say what is really on your mind. It's okay now in the Trumpism era to come right out with the magic words \"Jesus Christ.\" That's what's really on your mind is it not. Ms. DeVos is a radical, right-wing Christian...for her and for yourself \"school choice\" means a religious school funded with federal money. It's alternately constitutional now. And no more of that pesky real science...it's \"alternate fact\" time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "During her campaign for president, Hillary Clinton referred to many of Trump supporters as being a basket deplorables. I happen to be one of those deplorables who helped elect President Trump. Deplorable or not, I consider myself as being a spiritually healthy Catholic; that is, I have not been contaminated with the disease of Liberalism. That day, January 20th 2017 brought a devastating blow to Liberalism in secular America. I await the day when loyal Catholics can say that the vile and pernicious contagion of Liberalism, has been cured in God\u2019s Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He didn't \"teach Bible study.\" That lie was pushed by Leftist The Daily Beast (of course)-- and they took it off their website (your own link's source dos not have it-- whoops). He was a bigoted Atheist who attacked and demeaned Christians online, as corroborated by first-hand those who actually knew him.\n.\nYour \"ease of obtaining guns\" statement is hilarious: this monster was DENIED a gun license in Texas, was not allowed to own one for being a convicted wife/child abuser, and lied numerous times to pass a background check: where is the \"ease\" you're talking about, again?\n.\nPeople only own guns \"because they want to look bigger?\" \"The NRA owns politicians?\" Please- come back when you actually have experience on firearms and our rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your mind could be open, but it certainly isn;t logical --- not when you decide whether the Mass is an \"unbloody sacrifice\" by whether priests' sodomy of young boys was covered up. And you can pretend to Catholicism all you want, but when you reject the central tenets of the Church, you are, by definition, non-Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Doesn't surprise me in the least. Scratch an animal rights extremist and a white supremacist pops out like pus from a boil. He and Goering promulgated the most comprehensive \"animal rights\" legislation ever seen by western society. Medical experimentation on animals was strictly verboten. Goering threatened violators with concentration camp internment for \"...still thinking animals could be treated like inanimate property.\" Of course he had no problem experimenting on Gypsies and Jews. They were, after all, only human, right?\n\nAs for my name, Fred Hampton of the original Black Panther Party and famed jazz trumpeter Freddy Hubbard were neither German nor Nazis. I didn't get to pick my birth-name. It was chosen for me.\n\nAnd as for Stalin's mass-murders not being about atheism, tell that to hundreds of the Muslim, Christian and Jewish clerics his \"Society for Militant Atheism\" dragged from their houses of worship and shot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Look - thank you, MSW, now I would like to read this book.\nBut, understand that I do not hold Albacete in the same regard given his gutless participation as one of the Vatican appointed attack dogs decades ago against Archbishop Hunthausen. Albacete only put a shadow over his integrity and his final mark to humanity and the Church. Nor did I ever see evidence of his trying to rectify his gutless performance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sexism runs even deeper than racism. The poison of patriarchal supremacy also must be expelled from the Church. The ordination of women to the sacramental priesthood would be the way to overcome all forms of literalist fundamentalism and exclusionary integralism, including racism. It is time to recognize that we are all of the same FLESH, and act accordingly. The assumption of Mary is a sign of hope!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's your point? Or better yet, can you provide readers with insight into why you joined up with the radical Christian Taliban assuming you voted for Trump. Did you come to radical Christianity on your own or were you recruited online? How did you become a white tribalist? You claim to have an education so your explanation could provide interesting insights from a sociological perspective.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was calling us to understand and live the spirit of the Law, rather than merely to observe the letter of the Law. \nOf course, it is a very difficult teaching, to live the 'completion' of the Law, about which Jesus spoke. How many people do you know, who have plucked out their right eye? Or who have cut off their right hand?\nNot many, I think.\nHis intention was to make the Pharisees think about the Law.\nAnd, as part of this, He was trying to protect women against being divorced for poor reasons.\nWhat He wasn't doing, though, was creating any new burdens for the people. It was the Pharisees who did that - as He said (Matthew, chapter 23):- \"They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people's shoulders\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I kept it to the old testement and yes Jesus changed many perspective about many things believe only through the old testment writings. You don't need the bible to study the culture of the time. It was clearly a matriarchal societal, not seen as abusive to men because it's the say they were taught, but it most certainly had very little power in the social structure to support women.\n\nI attended a evangelical church that often sought to define gender rolls for men and women, and in every case that church wanted men to assume the leadership role. They believe in just and fair leadership by men, with love and respect for their wive, but men alone are seen as the leader. Who of us hasn't seen a marriage where the women is clearly better equiped to make family decisions.\n\nDo you think current traditional Muslim cultures have an element of mysogeny? How about genital mutilation, death for the woman only in a rape by the male, lack of legal equality, forced marriages, ect...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you went to school, you might have learnt the words like Jews, Catholics, Buddhists, etc are proper nouns. And have to be capitalized.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your claim that The Catholic Church invented God shows your lack of education.\nIt puts all of view points at risk of being dismissed because it's not possible to be that ignorant of fact in one aspect without it spilling onto all your viewpoints.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have had this conversation more than once. The reason is that Jesus Christ Himself forbade divorce.\n\nMoney has zero to do with obtaining an annulment. I have walked more than one person through it. What obtaining annulment has to do with is establishing the reason for the nullity of the marriage.\n\nThe issue is you want to remain a \u201cCatholic\u201d but disregard it\u2019s teachings.\n\nGood luck.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "oh elise- you and glenn beck will turn yourselves inside out to turn people against trump. but we know how liberal you are, how liberal hillary/sanders are. trump may not be a christian- but neither are obama or hillary. voting for anyone other than the woman that stuck by her philandering husband, the type of woman that blames the victim in rape allegations, is a go for many.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church itself has zero record of wrongdoing. Christians, including Catholic Christians, regularly do wrong, even Pontiffs.\n\nScience cannot inform us about the deity, morality, or anything in the spiritual realm, just as the Church cannot make decision on quantum physics, climate change, or the other matters in science\u2019 realm.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem is that you are judging Catholicism through the lens of liberal, secular, humanist, atheistic ideology. You are projecting those values on to Catholic teaching and concluding that Catholic teaching is patriarchal. You project the values of modern feminism onto Catholic teaching. Modern feminism is actually guilty of the very misogyny it seeks to condemn. That is what is ironic. You accept the claims of modern feminism uncritically, just as you accept the tenants of liberal, secular, humanist atheism uncritically. \n\nI do not accept those values. I do not project those values onto Catholic teaching. I do not assume the correctness of those values. I suppose the real debate here is why liberal, secular, humanistic atheism and modern feminism are values through which we should judge Catholic teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I came across a quote from Stephen Fry, \u201cIt\u2019s the strangest thing about this church - it is obsessed with sex, absolutely obsessed. Now, they will say we, with our permissive society and rude jokes, are obsessed. No. We have a healthy attitude. We like it, it\u2019s fun, it\u2019s jolly; because it\u2019s a primary impulse it can be dangerous and dark and difficult. It\u2019s a bit like food in that respect, only even more exciting. The only people who are obsessed with food are anorexics and the morbidly obese, and that in erotic terms is the Catholic Church in a nutshell.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Peter: One of the characteristics which defines them as \"extremely progressive Christians\" is the very fact that they are not \"rigid. \"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is obvious that the hierarchy of the Catholic Church cannot believe in their own teachings, such as heaven and hell, and what makes you go to one and not the other. Or what Jesus said about the rich passing through the eye of a needle. Or his observation that to get to paradise you should give away all you have and follow me. \nIt is rather astounding how obvious the greed, corruption and sex abuse cover ups permeates the church and yet the people still go to church and make their donations. The ultimate brainwashing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is Pope Francis responsible for what is happening to women in Cuba? Ask the Cuba government what is happening to women in Cuba. I agree with you by the way that much has to change in the Catholic Church on women, particularly on the issue of women's ordination which i support. \n\nWhat Sister Christine Schenk is saying however is that there have already been positive steps taken in the first place, and she and others like Sister Simone Campbell would know having had to fight patriarchal policies in the Catholic Church for years. And she gave specific examples of what Pope Francis is doing. You're snarky dismissiveness is not only dismissive of the Pope or the Church, but dismissive of the experiences of women like Sister Christine who you allege you advocate for. \n\nFinally it should be noted that women in Global Christianity and Catholicism are more likely to be religious and stay in the faith than men are. Especially in the developing world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The BoR says nothing about how the government should treat religions comparatively. All of the Rights in the BoR are prohibitions on the government's interference with the People's rights to do certain things. Heck, the government could choose to fund just Islam and the President and Congress could pray to Mecca all day. As long as that doesn't stop you from doing your Catholic thing, it's all good.\n\nThis isn't about government being fair (that's not the government's job).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"That is what msw is trying to sell you as 'the real Catholicism.' Voters in this country knew better.\"\n\nSo here is what you really believe. That the US voters get to decide what counts as really Catholic ? ? ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Roman Catholic Hierarchy attitude towards women much the same as Trump's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe that most Trump supporters are decent people who would never engage in violence. However, there are some who look at his election as a mandate to bully and assault anyone who is not white and Christian. Don't believe me? Check out the alt-right blogs and discussions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Booze and tobacco are cool with the Christians. Even though they are associated with 300+ diseases.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not affording due national respect is so un-Christian. It says so right there in the book. And the original Christians were Americans, after all. That's how we know that God favors our country above all others. He/she/it also favors whatever team we support in a game.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hospitals and schools can be stripped of their \"Catholic\" identity, sort of like the Church owns the brand. Couldn't the same action be done with the Knights? Sure, run around in your capes and have your secret handshakes but you can't call yourself Catholic anymore.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, he cannot be taken seriously by True Catholics, who Venerate and Worship the Pope who represented the culmination of all the Church can be: Saint Pope John Paul II, the Fantastic. Our recognition of the primacy of the Pope does not extend to one with whom we disagree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You believe that the transition from Democratic egalitarian society to a radical fundamentalist Christian dictatorship where women are made into biblical concubines dressed like 18th century puritans starts with a thrice divorced reality TV star boor becoming President and laughing about grabbing women?\n\nI suppose it's possible. Maybe ISIL's plan is to turn Mosul into an Islamic Las Vegas, with go-go dancers and Islamic casinos. I mean evil, right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh my! A lot of pearl clutching going on here. \n\nIs it vicious to question a prospective judge on an article they wrote in a law journal called \"Catholic Judges in Capital Cases,\" where she herself made many references to \"orthodox Catholics?\"\n\nI say kudos to Feinstein and Durbin for doing their homework by reading up on the professors writings before her hearing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You sound like a pharmacist. Stick to that. You don't seem to know the first thing about Constitutional law. A woman has no Constitutional right to have a particular pharmacist give her the pill. If you think there is, cited the precedent. There is a Constitutional right, however, to freely exercise one\u2019s religion. While granting that that right is not absolute, it is not overcome in the situation under discussion, by any more weighty interest. What? The woman's fundamental right not to have to cross the street to a different pharmacy? LOL.\n\nMy position is not that of some wild-eyed so-called fundamentalist. In fact, I don't agree with the Church on contraception. But so what? Catholics have a right to be --- and act --- Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Neurobiology, psychology and psychiatry have brought to light\" apparently nothing on any other topic. \n\nThis is actually one of Francis's better and thoughtful speeches. It's just sad he can't apply the same insights from the same sciences to any other Catholic sexual issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...then they are losing faith in Christ.\"\n\nNot sure what you mean by that -- faith in Christ as a great teacher and social worker or faith in Christ as the Son of God, who rose from the dead on the third day? The Nones I know are very fuzzy about Christ, especially worshipping Him as God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Orwell's 1984. What next, the fleur de lis? Removing the name Rome from the history books? Renaming Catholic churches? Time for these snowflakes to take a chill pill.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a joke. As a Catholic I am ashamed to admit that the \"selfie king\" still calls himself a Catholic. He should apologize to the Pope for forcing all of his Liberal candidates to promise to support abortion on demand.The Pope should not give him the time of the day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hobby Lobby?\n\nIsn't that the ... 'christian' group who likes to tell their female employees that contraception is a bad thing?\n\nNawww. Couldn't be. Christians wouldn't smuggle stuff. Would they?\n\n[/s]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I remain appalled seeing how much time and money needed to be spent so far around a simple issue that should be common sense. Especially among people that say to believe in the Christian religion.\n\nTOSC's cost was over $1Mi, plus the time of 100 people. Then all the preparations for the GC (let alone the prior GCs). Then the meetings at the Unions and other offices around the world. Airline tickets. Paper and printing. Meals. Hotel rooms. You name it! \n\nSuch a ridiculous maneuvering everywhere just because a bunch of males who are nothing but discriminators of women keep pushing their ill and evil agenda.\n\nIs this nonsense ever going to stop? Or will the Church continue to support discrimination of females for ever? When are the discriminators going to be expelled from those positions of leadership that have been hijacked? Isn't it yet enough???", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Yazidis are Christians and would probably vote conservative. \nHence turning your back on them is completely understandable. \n2019 can't come fast enough, I louth Justin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank God and Saint John Paul II, the Great, that these poor victims of smear campaigns have us true traditional catholics to rally to their defense! We can only hope that by clinging to our traditional Catholic rituals we inspire the next generation to do what they need to serve the church. I am sure you have raised your children to be true latin-speaking lovers of God! Bless you!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'\nHe pretty much makes it a Christian issue.\n\nChristians own the problem. Fix it.\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was elected to the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in 1989 and bit my tongue through invocations at each meeting. I chose my battles, and ending the invocations wasn't one I chose. But I did mention to Jim Skogstad, the Assembly Pres at the time, that all our \"chaplains\" were white men, mostly older. Jim arranged for somewhat broader participation after that, including--gasp!--a woman providing the invocation. \n\nMeanwhile, over at Soldotna (public) Hi School, the graduation ceremony was verrrrry Christian and, on the eve of the first gulf war (Geo H.W. Bush's) our vice principal, over the all-school intercom, urged us all to pray. The central peninsula is very Christian, very Republican. The line between church and state is not always bright there. Stay in line and you'll do fine. Express any kind of dissent or difference, and the majority will let you know you're not one of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think we all know that any tribe, be it Christians or Muslims or whoever, is not uniform. Some are moderates, some are hard-core. So Mr Saunders needs to acknowledge we all know that, no-one is saying all Muslims are the same. But in Iran, for example, the few hardliners impose their way on the many moderate Muslims. For decades now. The same could happen in Canada some day, i.e. the majority subjugated by the virulent extremists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not a dodge at all. Yes, God is all powerful and loves his children, but has also allowed us to make many of our own choices; the account of the fall is at heart the human race telling God to take a hike, that we can do things better on our own, and he is respecting our wishes (our wishes) for a period to do so. The bad stuff happening on this planet is ultimately humans doing it to humans; critics are happy to say \"why doesn't God prevent this or that from happening\", as long as God doesn't prevent them from doing this or that. You, me, everybody on the planet has broken all or most of the Ten Commandments, many in action, the rest in thought; that's why Christians a called to repentance. To know what Christianity really is, read the New Testament; many who call themselves Christian are anything but, and you aren't going to learn anything solid about Christ and real Christianity if your main source of information is just looking at false Christians, present and past.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The terrorists want a Christian right wing leader. It helps them recruit.\n\n Their nightmare is the liberal, warm hearted and open minded leader. He makes it harder for them to recruit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To your point:\na 'generation gap' is sometimes an unbridgeable chasm, as noted in a letter i received from a 'None'. i quote in part: \n\u201cI think you are overlooking a key concern that exists from the promotion of religion. First, religion cannot be supported by science... A second concern is Fake god, like Fake news is a Real problem. The goodness of being godlike and godly arbitrarily dismisses all the bad behavior advocated in the bible which is god's word supposedly, (I believe it is man's word used as a tool to subjugate people). ..We see the use of words in other holy books, from other religions, used to inspire people to be destructive today, just as the bible inspired Christians in bad ways in the past...I am quite upset by the deception (Catholicism and religion in general) that was foisted on me as a child.. I am well aware that my parent's parents indoctrinated them in the same manner. Since you are a person of science, I am holding you to a higher standard on this matter. ..\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No American should be surprised at how mad and morally bankrupt this president is.\n\nAll the signs have been there for all decades for all to see. Starting with the helicopter crash that very conveniently caused the death of three of his executives in 1989.\n\nWhat is surprising is the number of Catholics that voted for him and that a good percentage continue to support him. Surely that indicates a poor formation of social conscience by the American Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not a religious man but I can't help but notice how Bannon's Breitbart and other alt right websites are the false prophets of today. The works that they publish are a mixture of truth and completely ridiculous B.S. and everything in between. Sadly their unsophisticated subscribers most often fail to differentiate between the real and the made up. The false prophets designed it that way.\n\nNow take a look at The Donald. He is in every conceivable way the exact opposite of what the Christian religions have told us about Jesus. Polar opposites. It wouldn't be a stretch to say Trump is the antichrist; in every single way the opposite of Jesus Christ.\n\nIf I was religious I'd be very afraid, but I'm not, so I'm just the normal amount of afraid.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I understand that this guy Jesus was pro-slavery.\n\n\"The slave who knows the master\u2019s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows.\" Luke 12:47\n\nWhy didn't Jesus fight on the side of freedom for slaves? He was as bad as Lee....\n\nProgressive Catholics, pull those statues of Jesus down!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read: Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, pars. 166, 182, 222, 245, and 293...and this document was published under the glorious, magnificent, uberholy St. John Paul II, the Great. \n\nI agree that Catholic hospitals don't respect this teaching. So, when they facilitate abortions or provide contraceptive resources, would you please add this to their violations of Catholic magisterial teaching?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sounds like if Brown was a Catholic priest, and the diocese was hiding his sexual misdeeds Hutchinson could be sued for warning parish families. \n\n I guess the issue here is intent? Hutch said he was doing a community service. Brown's record speaks for itself, but he claims Hutch made it public to hurt his feelings.\n\nHard to see Brown mistreat women and collect a reward from the court.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Calling a Catholic prelate who teaches Catholic teaching a homophobe is name calling.\n\nWhat you see is really not at issue.\n\nWhat is at issue is your name-calling.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I find his letter disturbing, I wonder if this is clear enough for the Trads. I have no doubt they will his judgemental statement \"refreshing\".\n\nPF's letter does not surprise as much as disappoint me. Without question, he is judging those who would offer their lives in service to God's people. This is not as Christ taught us in the gospels. Excluding those who want to come closer to the Lord is so tragic, not to mention those who are gay and already clerics. To be the cause of this unnecessary hurt is a burden that PF will need to bear.\n\nSo unnecessary and hurtful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When Bill Clinton had his dozen accusers come forward with credible evidence of his male aggressions, we were repeatedly told: \"\nHis personal affairs in no way reduce his ability to perform in public office\"\nWe heard, \" You must not be judgmental\"\nThe left demanded, \"That is over, it's the past, it no longer matters\"\nThey cried, \" If you claim to be a Christian, you have to forgive\"\n\n(Note that their main arguments were NOT that he was innocent)\n\nFor Trump, the hatred is so palpable, they have already tarred and feathered him as a RAPIST, all based on crude statements, years ago. \n\nA few weeks from the election, and accusers suddenly appear, at a point when the accused, even if not guilty, will never have sufficient time to successfully prove his innocence.\n\nThe witch hunters say, \" The accusations are so serious - you shouldn't vote for him - JUST IN CASE THEY ARE TRUE\"\n\nGuilty until proven innocent !!\nThis article is Political Character Assassination and utter HYPOCRISY.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are wrong: Pew only analyzes what \"Catholics\" think not what FAITHFUL Catholics think. By the way, just because a \"Catholic\" attends Mass every Sunday, I do not consider them \"faithful\" Catholics. There are plenty of Sunday Mass attenders who do not accept Church teaching on a myriad of issues. Faithful means that you ACCEPT all of the Church's teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article in Millenial was excellent. To our bishops and to fellow Catholics: If you are pro-life you have to be against violence against women. Trump ruins the credibility of the pro-life cause. In a similar way he ruins it by associating himself with racism directly and indirectly. Abortion is pure discrimination. So it is to me not so clear that Trump helps the pro-life cause. Trump lends renewed credibility to the notion that fascism is the road to Catholic values. That is in itself most dangerous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, RD? How about the Cross carried by Catholic laity who are left to pay, literally, for all the scandal? Their sin was giving blind trust to priests and bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I fully support civil rights laws, including sexual orientation non-discrimination laws. I know the history behind the establishment of such laws.\nMy point was, if people want to discriminate against gay people, they should open up discrimination to anyone. But of course, that's not what the uptight Christians want. They want to discriminate against gay people while being free from discrimination themselves. They want an uneven playing field. They want superiority over gay people, with the full approval of the United States Supreme Court.\nSo, I'm saying either we have a libertarian approach or uptight Christians can get over themselves, follow the civil rights laws, and if they open a shop, they open it to \"everybody\". Period.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What about the situation in Mosul, Iraq where, according to media reports, US airstrikes have killed hundreds of civilians in recent weeks? This could be war-crime.\n\nAnyway, as far as Syria is concerned, every sane person would rather have Assad than ISIS. \n\nNot mentioned by the author, but in fact the so-called rebels consist of tens of thousands of extremist Islamists from all over the world. They invaded Syria to establish an extremist Islamist state or caliphate. Twelve thousand from Tunisia (the single largest contingent of Islamists in Syria), thousands from every other Arab country, thousands from Europe, Asia and North America, including hundreds from Canada, according to CSIS.\n\nIf Assad had been deposed then ISIS would own Damascus. That would mean a bloodbath far worse than anything we've seen so far in Syria. It would also mean the extermination of every religious minority, including Christians (who, along with every other religious minority, overwhelmingly support Assad).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So why come back to tell us unless you feel an involuntary contempt for those of us who are quite content -- with a faith community full of sinners. We still believe each other to be good, we still believe in redemption, even with terrible sin. With Catholics, I guess, sinners easily become human beings. Anyway, bye, bye phiprof.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm happy that you are content with your life choices, but providing the context earlier would have allowed us to judge your comments better. If it weren't for \"breeders\" you and your gay partner(s) would not be here to enjoy each others company. -)\n\nI remember back in the 1960s there were folks who thought that married couples should be forced to have children. Birth Control was in the Criminal Code of Canada from 1892 until 1967. GTA Wholesale Pharmacist Harold Fine was arrested, charged and convicted for selling Birth Control / STD preventing technology in 1961. \n\nHomosexuality was also a crime.\n\nFathers could and did have daughters arrested and sent to prison for living with a man without getting married.\n\nToday in Canada there is a lot more freedom to live your life as you choose, without the government sticking its nose into private matters based on peculiar \"Christian Values\". You clearly appreciate that freedom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The ACA is essentially an anti religious document and policy. It has attacked traditional teachings of the Catholic Church by forcing upon us contraception and financial support for abortion. It is a health plan that forces compliance with secular humanistic values some of which are anti Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't choose a celibate life; I was called to marriage, but then--[a long, personal story I won't tell here]--was stuck with a v-e-r-y long wait. \nLet's remember that many single people, not having--or finding--a partner means choosing between casual sex and superficial relationships or enforced chastity. For many it's not chosen, just as many priests would not have chosen celibacy if the Church hierarchy would hear that Jesus is the Bridegroom. \nAnother issue is urban culture and our loss of a sense of community and meaning in life and all of us are suffering from that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would be surprised if Francis acted on something like this. But I think it is important that those who find Morlino has created a scandal all on his own should make that publicly known. I am appalled at how he treats LGBT people and their families - and feeds bigotry and community discrimination. \n\nHe does not represent the attitude of most Catholics and I have to hope he won't persuade any more to follow his example. I sincerely hope that parents of young people talk to their kids about this subject and don't remain silent. Better for kids to learn from their parents that bishops can make mistakes than to fall into blindly following someone into such judgmentalism and cruelty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The question of identity is a powerful one. In Pakistan, since you bring that country up, they struggle with whether they are mainly a Muslim country or a South Asian one. Whether history starts with Bin Qasim's conquest of Sindh in the 8th century, or the city of Mohenjo Daro in the Indus Valley civilization during 2800 B.C. THeir civil war in East Pakistan was a conflict about which was paramount - religion or language?\n\nCultures absorb from each other all the time. That is what makes it dynamic and rich. It would be a terrible day for me if the only type of food I got was a McDonald's burger or butter chicken. Christmas is extremely popular among kids for the gifts you get. In India, a non Christian would visit a Christian's house for Christmas, to get special food. The Christian and Muslim person will go to a Hindu's house for Diwali. The non Muslims go to a Muslim person's house for Eid. Each religion has affected the other, and absorbed traditions from the other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a huge fan of Laudato Si and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin it has renewed hope that our Catholic Church will join the Universal call of saving life on planet earth. Together with modern science and the heart of natural family planning there is so much more the Catholic Church could magnify rather than let lay dormant. Life before birth and after birth seem intrinsically called for in Charin's Universal Consciousness and overlaps with the real vigor and heartbeat of respect for God's creation that could contrast with the present denial and lack of leadership America is taking with regard to conservation and especially man made climate change. It is deeply immoral to side with delay and deceit and the present fossil fuel loaded Trump government being turned into a branch office of multinationals like fossil fuel industry and banker backers. Since we put the most into our one atmosphere and we have the most to gain by leaving behind our selfish and reckless competition we can.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You unjustly malign good Catholics from previous generations. You have only to read the Baltimore Catechism to see that prudence, justice, hope and love were very much to the fore of Catechesis pre-council. If by delighting in the presence of the Holy Spirit you are talking about receiving grace there were queues at the Confessionals and the Communion rail. Mind you those who knew they weren't in a state of grace remained in their pew not like today when everyone troops up regardless.\nI know that throughout its history the Church has had its black periods like it is going through now. The Modernists are responsible for the 'anything goes' thinking within the Church which prevails today from the top down; where lurrv has replaced true love.\nShe will recover however, as she has done in the past we have Christ's promise on that.\nI had no idea that Dante had the divine authority to consign saints to hell, remarkable. \nTo blame the Church for causing wars is preposterous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "we often get the message from Muslims that the violence is not part of their religion but violence does seem to be part of their culture and governance. Christianity also has a history of depravity fueled by hatred of a different sect (Spanish inquisition for one) but more tolerant attitudes have prevailed. A culture of forgiveness and tolerance has largely replaced religious ignorance but the Muslim religion and Arab culture seems to be centuries behind. Tribal warfare and violent rule by dictators are still prevalent and the religion continues cultural practices rooted in the treatment of women as property.\n\nI think that the second generation problem results more from a clash between the culture of the parents and Western society and less from the religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is sad-what happens after Vatican II and the suppression of liberation theology. What is more, the reaction to this development is either a resort to superstition or a predictable diatribe from the clergy. \n Either way everyone is the loser and a once vibrant church is dying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think they do co-exist peacefully. It's other Catholics who seem to think it's any of their business that seem to be the problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The quote about conquest, disease and genocide is directly from Wente. And she is not wrong.\n\nColumbus enslaved, beat and tortured the Indians he \"found\" in the Americas. All with the blessing of the Spanish royalty and the Catholic pope.\n\nPeople who don't know that about Columbus and just accept the founding myth of him as a great explorer, yes, participate in racism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And yet another piece by NCR that attacks Trump -- before he's spent a day in office.\n\nThis makes me ponder just what (besides its great coverage of the Catholic sex abuse scandal) that NCR has really had to offer in the way of positive ideas and social change.\n\nOver the last year, NCR seems to have descended into clucking its tongue at everything GOP, without giving reasonable consideration to the issues. All quite one sided.\n\nSo now the election is over, the voice of NCR quite obviously not heeded, and just a sour grapes doubling-down is what we may expect for the future? Weak.\n\nThe future is ** Bright ** NCR and NCRers....many smiling faces in the Catholic world...those who are not operating under delusions anyway.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A very interesting article, and well written. I wish you had paid more attention to the educational efforts of Catholic orders, like the De la Sallians. They left behind a legacy of high educational standards for black people. I am told that even today the relatively good education standards in Zimbabwe owe much to Catholic schools. It is rather a paradox that education, the best weapon against inequality and racism, came to Africa via the colonial collaboration of Christianity (not only that of the Catholic church).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gary C. Gibson: Your access to a dictionary and a thesaurus is no substitute for reason. You've advanced christian arrogance by saying \"Evolution doesn't require immorality, it attracts it. \"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like the great majority of Catholics, I simply don't care what popes and theologians think about love and marriage. The idea that we care about the conversations they have with one another is an illusion that makes them feel better, but solves nothing. If Francis wants to open the sacraments to people who are remarried, he can do so any times he wants. He doesn't need an encyclical. He needs cojones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the link. An interesting little screed. Unfortunately, it's hard to know how serious to take the modellers at their word. They tend to less than forthcoming about the use of Bayesian statistical technique built into their models (i.e., subjective probability estimates). The warming parameter 'mean global temperature' that is central to the predictions of disaster, is notoriously difficult to pin down in - try getting one of the signatories on the link to define it or tell you how to measure or calculate it. (It's like trying to get a cogent definition of the Trinity from a stanch Christian.) :-/ It is also troubling that back in 2015, the modellers eliminated one of their major embarrassments, the so-called ~2000 - 2010 temperature increase 'hiatus' - by the simple expedient of going back and _editing the input data_ until the results \"came out right\". Call me Old School, but had I or my contemporaries done such a thing in grad school ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hmmm...so I guess in your black & white world, it is impossible to see the gifts Francis George contributed both to the local church of Chicago & the wider Church. I'm glad the eloquent Cardinal Cupich apparently doesn't share such a crimped worldview! Who was it once said \"Catholic means here comes everybody!\" We don't live in an either/or world, thank God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neem leaves out a couple hundred years of history to obfuscate the issue. Oregon, for instance, required all kids to go to school because of KKK hatred of Catholic Schools. \n\nToday, in Eugene, Oregon, Marist, a Catholic School, provides an excellent education which meets constitutional standards of separation of church and State.\n\nThe charter schools in Eugene and Springfield are providing educations as well.\n\nI don't see how expanding the ability of students to learn in either location is an evil thing.\n\nEspecially when the current system has Oregon in the bottom of the barrel on graduation rates and which so often requires remedial education at the Community Colleges and four year colleges.\n\nLet's quit rewarding failure and try to be successful for those who choose to do so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Go to some conservative Catholic web sites and analysis and even the Senate Health Care Bill is nowhere to be found.\n\nWhen Medicaid is to be severely cut. The argument that it will still increase, but not as fast, misses an important consideration: will the new increases meet future demand? \n\nIf not, then the bill should not be considered pro-life. And any Catholic who supports it, should really examine their conscience as to what they consider to be pro-life policy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus ordained no one. The Catholic Church -- which is not Jesus -- does.\n\nI have been looking at your arguments here. Not a one of them is good. In fact, there is one and only one reason for not ordaining women: The belief that women are inferior to men. It used to be that the institutional Church was honest in saying this. Now that this argument is seen to be unacceptable, they have officially abandoned it, but in reality they hold it close to their bosoms while pretending they aren't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Female genital mutilation is a practice that confers no medical benefit to a woman, and can cause lifelong physical harm, and the federal or state governments can argue that banning it serves a rational secular purpose.\nI personally feel that the ban on polygamy by the US Congress and Congress' insistence that the State of Utah MUST have a permanent non-removable ban on polygamy in its state constitution -- or else Congress can revoke Utah statehood -- was driven by animus towards the Mormon religion. If three consenting adults want to enter into a civil marriage (which is, essentially, a form of contract law), how is the State harmed? But, the SCOTUS of the 1890s found rational secular reasons to uphold the ban, and the SCOTUS of today wouldn't dream of overturning the ban, because of conservative Christian \"family values\".\nI agree with Mr. Anchorduqoy's conclusion. With regard to contraception and abortion, we are favoring a conservative Christian viewpoint over all other religions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I mention facing liturgical east only insofar as w are all facing and worshipping together in one direction. If each man wanted to face his own way (up, down, all around) would really be worshipping together? We certainly wouldn't look like were worshipping together anyway. St. Paul said we are to give God \"right worship\". It seems to me this means, when we pray together at the sacrifice of holy mass, we do indeed \"Pray Together\" in fact.\nAs far as your supposed litany of the horribles viz. Christianity: I'm not sure where you're going with this, but if it sucks so bad, by all means feel free to try something else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I did answer your question. I would say that I am here to register as a Muslim as the unconstitutional president requires. I would neither affirm nor deny my Christian faith. \n\nMy Austrian and Czech Jewish relatives, including my mother's parents, had to register as Jews and wear the yellow star of David. For me not to support my Muslim brothers and sisters would be denying my own family, murdered by the Nazis that Trump would be emulating. It would also be denying what I believe my Christian faith would have me do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've never understood why this one particular issue is so important to the \"Christians\" of this ilk. Jesus never condemned homosexuality, nor said much else about sexual relationships. This leaves only the Old Testament commands, which include homosexuality; among dozens of other commandments that are routinely ignored. Some for the better - much of the Biblically prescribed conduct would be found repugnant and amount to criminal acts in today's world. It's just another version of Shari'ah.\n\nIn Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus was asked which of the commandments were the greatest. He responded that the greatest is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and minds. The second, He says is like it - to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Jesus adds that all Christian law is based on these two principles.\n\nYes, Jesus's message has been lost, and modern \"Christians\" have become very unlike their Christ. It's a sure bet the devil is smiling at his servants of hate, led by Minnery and Prevo.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So then it's OK for him to defend those Trump comments?? to come with excuses for Trump...Trump couldn't be further away from Christian living....and and the funny thing are Christians are backing such man...it's a disgrace a people will have to answer to God for this.\n\nThis is a serious matter...God will not accept such behavior. Christ was not afraid of calling things for what they were. He was a Man of Truth...we are to immitate Christ/God character.\n\nYou and I and all of us have to answer for what we say or should have said. I haven't seen Carson retract his statements about Trump...so this can ONLY mean he still holds this view.\n\nBut again...there would have been a great risk he would not have got the job if he had spoken out directly against Trump...which is why I say Carson sold out on his principles for a job.\n\nAs amazing as Carson might be as doctor, his standpoint shows there is something he totally has misunderstood about God and Christian character.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dennism, there are currently countless numbers of women's groups, some of them \" The Republican Majority for Choice, Catholics for Choice, Religious Coalition for Choice \"and more, that are fighting for women's rights. Also the ACLU and Americans for the separation of Church and State, as well as informative websites like lawyer Marcia A. Hamilton's site and her books that defends against the RFRA's so-called religious right Act that allows religion to cause harm to others, like women, other religions, genders and races. It is a bitter fight but I believe that women and others will win eventually. So I am not as pessimistic as you are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"You shall not molest or oppress an alien etc\".....how much more you shall apply the same to your own, not just an interpretation of any books in the Bible.\nJust this morning contemplating on the scheme of things, how unworthy the church [as in institutional] of the all faithful Catholics throughout Christendom.\nI'm so glad I was born in this era as I've seen it first hand and as when I converted [all for the right reasons], I wouldn't have believed it if anyone told me differently.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are 110 men in the Swiss Guard, who are responsible for the security of the Vatican City as well as the security of the pope. As there was an assassination attempt on John Paul II, and ISIS has declared it would kill the pope, a security force is called for. Besides, an infantry company armed with small arms, swords and halberds is different in kind, not degree, from General Dynamics.\n\nThe walls around the Vatican were built centuries ago, when armies did invade Rome. It would cost a great deal of money to tear them down -- and I can see people like you whinging because of the needless expense.\n\nTo say that Francis is \"desperately striving to keep the Marxist government in Venezuela in power\" is simply not true. You do not help your cause by telling falsehoods.\n\nFrancis did not equate Islam with Christianity, he calls for respecting Islam. He also said \u201cThere is always a small group of extremists in practically every religion. We have them too.\u201d\n\nYou don't like Francis. Too bad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well gee, many mainstream Americans will get a couple of hundred dollars in relief while Trump and his cronies can maintain their families' powerful dynasties without having to pay an inheritance tax, and save tens of millions by eliminating the AMT that applies only to those at the top of the income ladder. It's estimated that Trump alone will save \n$1 billion thanks to the eliminations. As a real estate investor, he'll also save more.\n\nThe \"reform\" (LOL) also gets rid of the Johnson Act that prohibits nonprofits from endorsing political candidates -- the evangelicals, who want to dissolve the separation of church and state. will rejoice over that boost to their power.\n\nThe tax bill is a slap in the face to mainstream Americans, just another power grab by special interests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nice dodge.\n1) If someone is not Christian and they become Christian, they convert.\n2) If you accept Jesus of Nazareth's crucifixion AND resurrection, you are Christian. By definition.\n3) As far as I'm concerned, \"God's requirement to redeem mankind\" is between God and each individual person.\n4) Jews believe in repentance, Muslims believe in repentance, Buddhists believe in repentance, etc. It's not unique to Christianity.\n5) Lastly, and to the point of Rowman's comment, if a student threatens another student with Hell if they don't become Christian, that crosses into bullying. There have been documented cases of Christian students with Bibles following gay students around, constantly quoting Leviticus at the gay students even when they were asked to stop, and when the Christian students refused, they were charged by school administrators with bullying. Then the Christian students whined they were being persecuted. Wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Betty. I appreciate your taking the time to share facts with link sources. \nSometimes we get as eager to condemn conservative Catholicism here as some others are equally eager to condemn the \"Spirit of Vatican II\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm no Constitutional expert, but I was under the impression that the Founders, operating with the same Enlightenment spirit that was to guide the French Revolution, specifically attempted to equate constitutional legitimacy with moral legitimacy in an effort to create a secular government that enshrined the basic values of the human spirit. My understanding, admittedly that of an outsider, is that the Founders wanted to keep religion at arm's length to inhibit the kinds of pressure to which European governments had been (and in some cases, continue to be) subject. I agree that the American people will expect Mr. Trump to exhibit a new moral fiber, but I'm not certain the drafters of the U.S. Constitution would have made MSW's distinction between constitutional and moral legitimacy -- or his assumption that moral legitimacy will coincide with his or Catholic values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "close the Catholic schools?\nand do not educate Catholics\nbut continue to tax Catholics\nsaves a lot of money \n-----\nsarcasm", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent article that sums up so much of my own experience and life to date. I continue to be a \"cafeteria Catholic\", holding on to the belief that God may still work through this outdated Institutional Church, an institution that seems to ignore the massive shifts in knowledge and understanding of many of its members. Too many of the Church's leaders are fearful of change, placing their own job security ahead of an honest exploration for truth and meaning. They are also constrained by an outmoded theology that relies on notions of conformity linked to reward and punishment. I often wonder how many of those people who continue to occupy the pews really do so for any more than a \"better safe than sorry\" insurance policy. Much as I admire what Pope Francis says on mercy, compassion and \"walking the walk\", he seems constrained by outmoded theological views as well as by the walls of opposition sustained by those around him. Hence my stance \"I believe but that I cannot believe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ">> ... the customs of that country. \n\nWhat are the customs in Lebanon, please tell us. \n\nOr you just had no clue that it is practically half-Muslim, half-Christian population?\n\n\n\n>>When I visit another country\n\nIf it happens to be European - do you make it clear that you hate whites? In a polite manner, of course.\n\n>>...but to visit a foreign land and expect them to accede to my customs?\n\nAny thoughts on immigrants and correlation to customs in the host country?\n\nLike - may be respect the customs and take a citizenship oath with face uncovered?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. Yes, I do. Thank you.\n2. What's your point? That some of the most effeminate men in public life ought to persist in complaining about the \"feminization of the church\" without the slightest hint of self-awareness?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I get the Church's reasoning. You aren't telling me anything I don't know. What you aren't getting is that in David's time your finely parsed sense of sin was not in operation. To give you some perspective, try reading Graham Greene's the \"Heart of the Matter\". It might help you understand how Catholic concepts of sin can lead scrupulous Catholics to think they are unforgivable. I won't spoil the book too much, but the main protagonist is a heterosexual.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But, of course, a LOT of religions (and religionists) DO violate some OTHER people's rights. As do their adherents. Sadly. (Eg.: \"The Bible tells me so\" ... selectively, of course.)\n\nBelief is different from actions. They're/we're all free to believe as we wish. NONE of us are free to discriminate in the secular, public, civic square because of those beliefs. It seems to be very difficult for some (evangelicals, specifically, but by no means exclusively) to grasp this concept. They seem to have confused commerce for religious exercise. (See 'cake shops' and 'florists'.)\n\nNo one is seeking to change their beliefs. (I sincerely doubt that is even possible.) It is their discriminatory actions that are the problem. They're corrosive to a CIVILized society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank God for Marie Collins rebuttal to Mueller. It was honest, truthful and what's needed to save the Catholic Church. I am a cradle Catholic and have been struggling to continue as one. In the last 20 years my former diocese in Las Vegas Nevada has been riddled with scandal after scandal by priest'. One priest bashed a lady who he was friends with and a parishioner over the head with a bottle and was arrested and in jail. Another priest molested boys and not sure what happened to him. Our Monsignor and pastor at our Parish Father Kevin stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from our parish St Elizabeth and used the money at the casinos. I recently moved to St Augustine Florida and the Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus was arrested for child pornography and other similar offenses. If Catholicism is going to survive it has to change drastically. The hierarchy must be held accountable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When Archbishop Chaput suggests that people should leave the church, I believe he is demonstrating the weakness of his own faith and not theirs. I would never suggest that this is a reason for him to leave the faith. However, if he tires of ministering to sinners, I would suggest that is a good reason for him to not be a leader. We don't trust the people of God, guided by the Holy Spirit, to choose our leaders. Instead, leaders are chosen for us, and then show their mistrust. It is this consecration of unCatholic attitudes and outright fears that drives people away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It should be noted that the Latin Church accepts the following rites: the Roman Rite, the Gallican Rites (Ambrosian, Mozaribic, Lyonese, Braga), as well as particular rites for religious orders (Carthusian, Cistercian, etc.) \nThe Eastern Church accepts: the Antiochene Rites (Maronite, Syrian), the Chaldean Rite, the Armenian Rite, and the Alexandrian Rite (Coptic, Ehtiopian). \nI have always wondered why a church that accepts four very different gospels would insist on uniformity in its liturgy?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "After this U.S. election, how can we go on thinking in the same way? Are we not commanded to remember those whose lives don't matter officially any more? \n\nAre we not forbidden to despair of humanity and the world? ...\"forbidden to escape into either cynicism or otherworldliness\"?\n\nShall we just normalize our lives and allow racism, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia, and greed to do its work on our souls, on our country, on our Church? ...as Roman Rite Catholicism normalized Vatican II? https://RiteBeyondRome.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It isn't that. If this publication marketed itself as what it truly is--that is--a publication that isn't Catholic, I would still disagree with much of their writings--but I would respect them. I also would not comment here.\n\nYou see, I don't care what Lutherans or Methodists or Presbyterians or Anglicans or Baptists, etc write, nor do I care about their theology.\n\nIf this publication was more like the American Catholic Church--that clearly states it has nothing to do with Roman Catholicism, fine. I would have far more respect for it.\n\nThe reason I do not respect this publication is not because I disagree--but because they masquerade as \"Catholic\" when in fact, there is little that is \"Catholic\" about it.\n\nThe difference between a dissident Catholic and a Protestant is that the Protestant has integrity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Children can be concieved medically for gay clients who can still have sex (even lesbians, indeed, sex is a strong drive-during the second trimester of pregnancy to build a unitive bond for the care of the child. It is natural and holy and so much fun). On sexual teaching, one must consider the source, If it is based on clerical idealism prompted by their own natural asexuality, then it is suspect for those of us not asexual. You are right about civil marriage for gays. At least no one is blathering about civil unions anymore. Still, the Church should take an interest in gay marriage because, as Judaism teaches, marriage is the union between two families. The genitals of those prompting the joining are not imporant and the Church promoting monogamous unions in Christ is a positive good. Get over the Stoic argument about the ends of sex. People have it for pleasure because that pleasure is good and comes from God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are likely aware there is no shortage of people who think the RCC is a cult. Most likely as a result of people like you who cling to medieval anathema nonsense. Do you actually know any Protestants, or do you avoid them at all costs as if they might somehow contaminate you?\n\nAnd as an FYI, the early Rule of Faith (what frozen-in-time trads like to refer to as \"deposit\" of faith) may have been entrusted to the early Christian church who considered themselves to be \"katholikos,\" but there is simply no evidence (or rationale) to believe that Jesus intended the church to be fashioned after imperial Rome, which is precisely how \"Roman\" Catholicism came into existence in the post-Constantine church.\n\nBut of course you will refute this history in favor of Rome's bogus claims to authority, despite refutations of such by Cyprian and other fathers of the early church. History is no friend to the One-True-Church crowd; fortunately, most people nowadays are aware of this fact.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In what way was Harper a social moderate again? The only thing that he did do was to hide the real maniacs on the fringes of the party as much as he could but he certainly didn't keep Kenney out of the limelight, not to speak of his own evangelical traits and ensuring that abortion was unavailable as part of his maternal and child health care legacy project. The Canadian taxpayers spent billions on Harper's legacy project but the lack of access to abortion does not reflect the opinion of most Canadians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I had a dollar for every RadTrad who confused much-needed church reform with \"hatred toward the church\" I would be a rich man. Keep living in your fantasy world where imperial Romanism is akin to the true Spirit and Body of Christ, I assure you everything will be okay.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is the problem: all of your words are just euphemisms that liberals bring out when they have no logical or rational arguments for their positions.\n\nIt is easier to call someone a homophobic then to intelligently defend gay marriage. It is easier to call someone a misogynist than intelligently argue the issue of women's ordination. It is easier to bring out the old myth of \"pray, pay and obey\" than have an intelligent conversation.\n\nIf you want to have a meaningful and substantive conversation on issues that divide Catholics from the secular world I would be happy to do so--but please--stop the euphemisms. \n\nI am surprised you haven't yet tried to redefine abortion as \"choice.\" Liberals love to do that too. \"Choice\" sounds so much nicer than \"Murder my unborn child.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Neuman Society harkens back to the day when the Church had religious power, especially cultural censorship. That has nothing to do with Land O Lakes. The affluent baby boomers and returning World War II veterans were never going to let culture be controlled by the Catholic Church. Federal funds simply had these students go to school and they brought themselves.\n\nEx Corde was yet another attempt at counter-revoution by a counter-revolutionary Pope. It was likely penned by his successor and will likely fall into disuse with Francis. Francis knows we need creativity, not loyalty, to keep the promise that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for sharing your usual unsupported personal opinions and rejection of the Church\u2019s teachings.\n\nAs a Catholic I support the Church\u2019s teachings against the use of contraception and certainly do not wish to pay for contraceptives for people in other countries.\n\nThe President and his party were clear as to what would happen and he got elected.\n\nYou will get another shot at it in four years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God supported the death penalty all over the Old Testament, and the Founding Fathers certainly did. God also supports --- literally --- life in the womb. Scalia was well within both traditional Catholicism and the Constitution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll go you one better. Since you generalize that \"all the saints across the millennia who worshipped in this manner...\" I wonder why you leave out the Apostles and disciples and the entire early Church from any consideration, and that includes Jesus Himself? There was and is nothing sacrosanct about your beloved seating arrangement, so it is quite rigid of you to keep foisting it on the rest of us. Relax, will you? Christ is still present in the Eucharist no matter how we sit, stand, kneel or recline. You are - like so many radical trads - so wrapped up in the externals, you equate them with the actual sacrifice on the altar. Poor theology!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, the only ones supporting pedophilia is some of the bishops. But thank you for showing us that you can give us Straw Men of the finest quality. No one is saying that there should be no rules, just that the rules as currently understood are not helpful to those who need help.\n\n It has always fascinated me that the religious body with the strictest rules on marriage is the Roman Catholic Church, and these rules are made, in their entirety, by a group consisting solely of the unmarried. \n\n One of my sons has left the Church because he has been literally excommunicated after his divorce and remarriage. Tell me, with a straight face, that the institutional Church treated him with love or mercy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Flee sexual immorality.\" 1Corinthians 6:12 - 7:7 is the full passage, but that verse pretty much sums it up. In the Greek, that verb is very strong. It means \"run as fast as you can away from it.\"\n\nChristians are to avoid sin in all forms, but especially sexual immorality because of how it affects people at a deeper level than other sins. There are 5 other passages in the Bible clearly stating that God includes homosexuality among the sexual sins.\n\nIt's pretty much impossible to participate in a same-sex wedding and not be seen as approving of the lifestyle it symbolizes. In participating, Christians not only negate their own witness in all other areas of morality, but they also hold the entire gospel up to ridicule. Why should anyone believe our faith message if our lifestyles are steeped in sin? The idea that we're not guilty of sin when we only condone it and are to doing the actual deed is a compromise with sin that you will not find anywhere in Scripture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is not possible to argue that had Jesus been a sinner---because that is an oxymoron. \n\nSir, what is the penalty for sin? Death. Case closed. That is why Jesus had to die. He who knew no sin was made to be sin. Because Jesus took on our sin, he had to pay the price of sin; Death. \n The wages of sin is death. That is God the Father's \"rule\" if you will. No one can sin and live.\n\nWhat was that about God and the death penalty again? His own Son assumed the death penalty so that he could pay the price for sin. Typical liberal that you are---you think God just ignores sin and that there are no consequences for sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I personally would not use the expression \"not my president\". I was horrified enough as it was that G.W. Bush was elected and we saw that it was even going to be worse than feared when he lied his way into one war and took a hypocritical stand to get us in to another one.\n\nHowever, in the case of this president, he twisted what was on TV and what has been reported from Charlottesville. There was no permit for the invasion of the university campus on Friday night. It was not a group of concerned folks going to protect a piece of history. They chanted racist slogans, carried threatening torches...and to make matters worse they were clearly intending to intimidate peaceful counter protesters gathered at a Christian type of prayer gathering in a chapel.\n\nThe vast majority of the counter-protesters believe in nonviolence. A small group allow themselves to be drawn in to violence but it was the white supremacists who arrived with menacing helmets, guns, slogans, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where do these reports come from? Not in the article. But I can see that Trudeau has class... \n\nIsn't Ramadan like Advent for Christians? It's a symbol of Grace for Muslims. There are many LBGTQ Muslims in the world who cannot be at this major Pride event - even if they live in Toronto. \n\nTrudeau is respecting those who cannot be there but would like to. His respect is a compliment to Muslims everywhere. \n\nIf he is being criticized for wearing them on his feet, then no disrespect is intended. He probably got these socks as a gift from a Muslim supporter who is LGBTQ and who knitted them herself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except for the Christian cake bakers, and the ceremony place. tTey all got fined. And the little Nuns are still being pressured by the Obama DOJ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin, (continued)\nFor example, I was caught up in the sin of impurity and the Priest told me to pray the Rosary daily which is a good weapon against the devil's lures and especially involving the sin of sexual impurity (with which the devil can entice people so easily). Asking Mary, conceived without sin and whose prayers align with God's Will (I appreciate her prayers, that is why I ask her, because my prayers can often become what I want (when a good friend/family member is deathly ill for example) and not God's Will - Mary helps me pray for His Will! A definite plus to praying the Holy Rosary! Kevin, the Priest also told me that kneeling before Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament is a good way to resist sin. I try and do this once or twice a month (usually on First Fridays - the Feast of the Sacred Heart). He also suggested daily Mass rather than just on Sundays and Holy Days of obligations. And for many years now, I try to attend Holy Mass daily. (continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Corporate Media proclaims thousands without further defining just how many \"thousands\" One? Two? Ten? No comparisons to the Women's March crowd size conveniently left out of the story. The two main speakers representing the Trump administration, both proclaiming their Catholicism. Catholicism as the protectorate of all things pedophile historically going back to the first European invaders on the Continent. Native, Irish, Italian children raped and abused while the Popes, Cardinals, and Bishops either looked away or coddled the criminals. The Catholic dioceses declare bankruptcy to escape payments to the victims. Catholic dogma now joined by Televangelist Baptists to deny contraception in all forms to ensure new recruits to be plucked of finances and blind obedients. Every violation of individual freedom under the Bill of Rights. The Old South Plantation system established nationwide by Der Fuhrer Master Maniac. Revolution?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with this article!!\nI never agree with Cokie Roberts, who treated Sr. Dianna Ortiz as a liar. Roberts is really a Republican and thinks as one, especially where money and supremacy are the issues. She may be subtle about it but Roberts is as pompous as Glendon and Peggy Noonan.\nLet's not forget that our church is still very anti female and likely will always be so. The church is very Republican- like and has always been that way. That is also very unlikely to change. Pope Francis may be less so but the American Catholic prelates are very unlikely to ever be less anti-female. It just seems to be in their DNA. I think a lot of them are crippled in that way. It sure seems to be a Freudian-like mindset. There also seems to be a narcissistic component and a male fear like component to a great many of them. I also apply that wonderful Irish aphorism to most of the American hierarchs, namely: they are full of themselves. And full of their personal ambitions of promotion. \nOut of words", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All those Vatican males, eternally manipulating & perusing each element of human desire....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Charter does not say that all religions are equal, either. The Queen, despite being both our head of state and head of the Church of England, has no power to enforce Anglicanism on us. What makes different from Iran or Saudi Arabia is that we have protections for religious freedom (rather than, y'know, throwing Christians in jail or worse). Here are the relevant passages in the Charter:\n\n2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:\n(a) freedom of conscience and religion;\n(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;\n(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and\n(d) freedom of association. \n\n27. This Charter shall be interpreted in a manner consistent with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians.\n\nI'm pretty sure that Iran and Saudi Arabia don't have clauses designed to preserve and enhance their country's multicultural heritage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hear you. I have a great deal of respect for Anglicanism and have been a \"sometime Episcopalian\" for most of my life, what conservative Catholics would call a \"bad Catholic\" (not that I give a fig what they think.) Years ago I lived in NYC and was quite comfortable worshiping at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Times Square which is a very high Episcopal Church with kind of a pre-Vatican II liturgy, in English. I'm told they've become quite liberal in their views on gay people these days even though that was not the case back in the seventies. But their liturgy and the music was so beautiful I probably would have converted had I stayed. Where I live the Episcopal churches are quite different and don't do much to inspire me, so I stick it out at the Roman Cathedral where the pastor is very nice, preaches well, and is very welcoming to the few gay people who remain in the pews. All the power to you. You've made the right decision.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe you are making a false assumption. I think most people want everyone to have healthcare benefits. The issue is that when we work our tail off for it... we shouldn't have to pay for everyone else's too. Believe me... I know too many people that want to live life feeding off the system and surviving by all of the tax payer dollars. I am a solid Christian. Even Christ knew humanity had to work in order to feed themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Giving accolades to David Frum now, Maggie ?\n\nConservative pundits sure loves themselves.\n\nDubya's former speechwriter hasn't actually found Jesus in being critical of Trump.\n\nEveryone is now critical of Trump.\n\nBernie or BUST forvever !!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Find their sex icky? How would you know that, Michael? I'm not a Catholic and have never been one, and I don't belong to any other denomination,. You have no idea about my sexual background or experience.\n\nWhat I can say with assurance is that the heart of man, especially mine, is desperately wicked, and that without Jesus, I would still be lost and caught in all kinds of repetitive sin, sexual and otherwise. About 34 years ago, I was attempting to work out my own salvation through meditation, painfully aware that the way that I was living fell far short of God. I correctly sensed that if only I could gain enlightenment, ie. a real experience with God, that knowledge would free me and give me a new purpose in life.\n\nTo my surprise, He spoke to me - just as He had done with all those other people in the Bible, like Abraham, Samuel, Enoch, Sarah. He wants to know and speak to you, Michael, and change your life forever. Just as He did for me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "80% of the parishioners are still attending the parish. Not one of them appears in either the article or the comments.\n\nThere is no doubt that the individuals who exited are upset. That is a fact.\n\nThe rest of the \"facts\" appear to reflect personal issues of individuals used to getting their way and running the show, which has now concluded.\n\nThe bishop has made it quite clear that he is not going to honor a small revolt with any succor, so it strikes me that the choices are go back to the parish, go to another parish, run a mini-parish until the old priest(s) die off and the attendants do likewise, leave the Church, or go home.\n\nI have seen this same thing play out over and over and over again. It is a dead-end.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because being \"pro-life\" involves defending INNOCENT human life. Support of the death penalty is compatible with being pro-life for that reason. \n\nSupport of the death penalty is also compatible with being pro-life Catholics because the death penalty does not involve an intrinsic moral evil. It involves a prudential judgement. \n\nTo simplify: there is an eternity of difference between the death penalty and abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The very word \"sheep-like\" along with your self righteous pontificating is what makes that sentence grossly hyperbolizing and broadbrushing. \n\nOther Catholics will have to speak for themselves, but I guarantee you, \"sheep-like\" allegiance to a bishop had -nothing- to do with my voting decision. Prayer to the God Incarnate and meditation on His Statutes had everything to do with my not voting for Hillary. And given that the rhetoric this election was sooooo hateful and insulting towards anyone that dare not vote for Hillary, I'd take it a step further and state that to go with the flow of popular opinion to avoid insult and pull the lever for Clinton is the very definition of \"sheep-like\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am sure Jesus enjoyed a good time once in a while too. You eat fish as a penance and just make up for it another day if you need to or just fast.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, so you are a Cafeteria Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Persons doing business in a legal way, seeking services or products that are offered to the public, cannot morally, ethically or legally be denied access to those products or services, or even be inconvenienced in accessing them, because of the religious scruples of the vendor. Does your defense of bigotry in the name of religion extend to atheists? Suppose a \"Christian\" baker declines to bake a wedding cake for a same sex couple because he claims that providing the service, even as a paid vendor (as opposed to as a guest), violates his religion. Across the street is an atheist baker who declines to bake the cake because he thinks gay sex is icky. Do you defend the right of the atheist to refuse the service even though the atheist makes no claim to conscience?\nMorally, ethically, and legally there is no difference between the Christian's refusal to provide the service and the atheist's refusal to provide it. And there is no practical difference.\nChristians should repudiate the bigotry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The irony here is that the \"toxic campaign\" was that of the losing side.\n\nAlas! That's the biggest problem with toxic people -- they don't know they're toxic.\n\nThey see everyone around them who disagrees with them as toxic, and they never learn.\n\nProg Catholic snowflakes lost bigtime last night. Will they learn from it? Will they respect the voice of America, ie democracy? \n\nProbably not. They have learned nothing and that likely won't change.\n\nOver and over again, myself and others pointed out that many Americans have been grossly assaulted by the swamp pols. Loss of jobs, violence, drugs.\n\nThese people don't' care about Americans. Well, look now -- America doesn't care about you.\n\nYou only thought you spoke for what's right. \n\nHillary and her ilk were SOUNDLY DEFEATED last night. \n\nEnjoy the next 4 years of President Trump. :)\n\nGod I love this....so many self righteous snowflakeCaths getting faced...their plan of shoving their ideals, shoved right on back :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The priest faces the same direction as the congregation. He doesn't turn his back on us any more than a bus driver or pilot turns his back. Hopefully we are all going to the same place. \n\nSometimes the priest speaks audibly, sometimes not. I like hearing Mass in a language that we use just to worship God...and following along in the Missal is good enough for me. \n\nThe priest speaks to the congregation during the sermon. I don't need to be pandered to during the Eucharistic prayer or to have the priest stop the Mass to insert stuff like it's so and so's anniversary or do we have any visitors today or tell jokes or ad lib the Mass prayers...offering the Sacrifice of the Mass to God is what he is there for. I don't need the priest to make me feel affirmed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't you think, Kurgan, that Masturbation is an even greater, graver, grievouser, objectively-eviller sin than mere child abuse? And since Jesus wrote in the gospels that we should not hesitate to cut off such Offending Appendages, should not this holy excision be a condition for \"validly receiving the sacrament of atonement,\" as a very orthodox commenter here has said? All these endless \"hearings\" are keeping the Church from addressing Self-Abuse, a much more widespread and grave problem. We lose souls every hour to the fires below and no one is heeding the Doctrines.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In a letter last year to Roman Catholics, Trump pledged, \u201cI will defend your religious *prejudices* and the right to fully and freely practice your *bigotry*, as individuals, business owners and academic institutions.\u201d\n\nThere. Fixed it for ya. I think you must have misquoted him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obedience has no value simply as obedience. It only has value when everyone agrees with the principles at stake, and agrees they are worth preserving even when it is hard. \n\nWhy would you obey an order you disagreed with coming from a person or entity you already did not like (unless you were in the military or some parallel entity)--assuming this disagreement is based on principle? \n\nI think you're missing the point. Many people disagree with the Church's so-called theology of sex and gender on principle--in other words, they don't think it's good or worthy of Catholicism--but still love the Church. You seem to denigrate this disagreement as childish or trendy. Perhaps if you gave the dissent its due respect instead of goading people into finding their \"secular god,\" the conversation would improve.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "About \"Ordinatio Sacerdotalis,\" it doesn't say it is a DEFINITION, so it is not a definition PERIOD. If you think it was an infallible definition, fine with me. But the fact that there was doubt at the time of the \"dogmatic proclamation\" is significant, and the subsequent \"dubiuos Dubium\" reinforces my doubts even more. \n\nIt is ABSURD, in my opinion, to say that the Church has no authority to ordain women to the sacramental priesthood. Whatever happened to the POWER OF THE KEYS? (Matthew 16:19, 18:18; Acts 15:28). With all due respect for the saintly Pope and other Vatican authorities, my impression is that the entire thing was an exquisitely orchestrated and undoubtedly well intended exercise in FAKE NEWS.\n\nAbout the Anglican Communion, superficial assessments based on numbers and inner tensions are not a good basis for discernment. During this season of LENT, let's remember that the path to the RESURRECTION always passes through CALVARY. \n\nStudy the TOB, find the PONY!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This doesn't come from any Catholic liturgy, it comes from the Jewish Berakhah. Our Eucharist is not \"the work of human hands\", it is the Body and Blood of Christ. And could we be any less specific in calling it \"our spiritual food\"? That generic description could be applied to anything that any sect calls\"spiritual.\" It certainly doesn't convey the true meaning of the genuine Eucharist. The words of the consecration have been altered. The \"Mystery of Faith\" is and always has been Transubstantiation and Christ's actual, physical presence among us during this sacrament, not the inane \"when we eat this bread and drink this cup...\" nonsense. The very words used in the NOM remove any sense of Whose presence we're in. We aren't eating bread and drinking a cup, we're receiving the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ. And immediately following what purport she to be the Consecration in the NOM, people turn their attention away from Christ and onto each other...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think we need to differentiate the church as institution and the Church as the People of God. In the case of priestly vocations, it is the institutional church which is setting the rules, and they are arbitrary. The Church, the People of God, refuses to be bound by such restrictions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It must be soothing all swimming together in the hatred of Christianity. Does anyone on here watch the NFL/NBA, oh and how about comedians? How about Nascar? College professors? Many hundreds if not thousands of people felons all. Ever heard of Paula Poundstone? How about Kobe Bryant? Child molester, wife beater. What about Ben Roethlisberger? Rapist. One thing separates Mr D'Souza from this rabble. He admitted publicly and clearly his wrongdoing. But of course the Washington Post wouldn't report that. But if one did their homework before jumping on the hate Christians bandwagon, one would know. So much like Germany in the late 1930's. Ostracize and vilify the Jews(substitute CHRISTIANS here), take away their rights to live as they do; shoot! Maybe in 10-15 years you all could even take their homes and run them out of town. I don't consider myself a Christian but I'll tell you what; 9 out of 10 of these \"comments\" should probably not be admitted, being this now a forum of \"civility.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"As all true Catholics know, nothing modern is good.\"\nAre you claiming to wear the infallible mantle of the infallible Peter?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wise observations, Anon.....and it proves why it is essential to elect Democrats to the senate and house and as governors, as there is no other way to make the gridlock vanish. If one must vote Republican, try and find one who is proven to work across the aisle for the good of the people, please. There is, in the recent issue of the New Yorker, and thorough and complete analysis of the \"red states\" and how so many, once \"blue\" with Democratic support, counties and states have taken on the Trump mantra of \"things are so, so bad in this country.\" It speaks of how the Dem party abandoned the working class, it's foundation, for the Dem elite, and the GOP tried to pick-up the disaffected but hadn't a clue how to do that given their being in bed with the wealthy, and that chasm gave rise to the radicals and enraged citizens who joined the moral majority, Christian Coalition, Tea Party and the birther racist movement. HRC is going to HAVE to get back to that core group, with JOBS.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"Whether the U.S. bishops will claim that trust \u2014 whether, indeed, they can regain the capability to robustly debate items without falling into ideologically driven discord \u2014 is to be seen. But Francis has restored their adulthood and given them again a latitude to discern that mature spiritual leaders should possess.\"\n- No doubt the pure catholic crowd / reform of the reform bishops will be advised and counseled back into adulthood with the expectation that even if they are not qualified to participate actively in liturgical discussions for the USA church they will not sabotage the process. \n- The fullness of their adulthood will be their admission that they blew it by supporting Vox Clara's work on the english translations. They must recognize that on the advise of episcopal leaders such as ArcbFrancis, onetime of Chicago, ArchBenedict xvi formally approved a translation that is heterodox at times when spoken, and not orthodox in several places.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In a previous life, before I decided to abandon a thriving consultancy to apply my training and experience to a systematic review of the Koran, http://boreal.ca/Koran/PPPContent.htm I was asked by a senior government official to include in a cost benefit analysis an estimate of the value of the life of an aboriginal http://boreal.ca/Canadian/WhoKilledCAMS.htm .\n\nI imagine that during the discussions the Honourable Stephen Dion had with his officials, before he signed off on the sale of 15 billion dollars' worth of mobile gun platforms to serial abusers of human rights, it was mentioned that they would be used by Muslims to kill Muslims. Did this factor in their cost benefit analysis of the deal?\n\nI doubt very much had this been a sale of weaponry to a despotic Christian regime to be used against Christians, that it would have been approved.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "a bit more temperance, self-restraint, small delays, learning not to slake pains with a slurry of common or prescription medicines.\n\nOxy given for a serious operation with the instructions \"take as needed\" becomes an opportunity to talk with God about the pain He is letting her experience....Lord, I can't listen well to what my daughter is asking of me, I'll take half a pill and not a whole pill,, help me love my daughter and You more.\n\nShe learns \"to deal\" with pain with God, not feigning to be a superwoman, but a capable and mature child of God, seeking opportunities to grow in intimacy with Our Lord through her recovery from surgery.\n\nThis is Christian maturity; this is a loving relationship with Jesus Christ, dealing well with the realities of illness, sanctifying every moment.\n\nThis is my wife.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Socialism,\nI see nothing in her comment that would lead me to believe she is a Christian. Compassion is a universal \"trait\" and I agree with her regarding that compassion doesn't mean enabling and supporting bad behavior. I think it means that despite someone's bad behavior you still look upon them as human beings who have made bad choices and who may be trapped in a dark pit of hopelessness. Some of those folks have mental illness conditions that need medication and treatment as well as advocacy and assistance in getting a place to live. \nSome of those have given up on themselves and no longer consider themselves as part of the human race. Some are prisoners of the addictions they became hooked on. Not sure how to escape. Some are folks who have been born with organic brain damage and some are folks who received injuries that resulted in brain damage.\nBut, if she is a Christian, so what ? Even they have a right to thoughts and opinions that don't fit in your preconceived ideas or box.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump will not be impeached. He is above the law. The Fortnight for Freedom made sure of that. \n\nDoes the Catholic Church really pay Carl Anderson over 2 million dollars a year to run a charity for the poor? Somehow that seems wrong -- 2 million taken away from the poor ... like 30 pieces of silver ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus said there is a duty to follow a state's just laws. Among the just laws that a modern state must have for existence are laws regarding border enforcement and immigration.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your notion of religious liberty is utterly at odds with the Church's traditional teaching on the matter {see encyclicals QUANTA CURA, MIRARI VOS, POST TAM DUITURNAS}. Indeed Gregory XVI referred to it as \"insanity\". Accordingly, Catholics do not \"respect\" cults that deny the Divinity of our Lord, or the primacy of the Most Supreme Roman Pontiff, they pray for their conversion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ciao, padre - I had a professor once who suggested that if we find ourselves with priests who say that they alone act \"in persona Christi,\" we should execute them shortly after Communion and see if they rise again. Sounds a little radical to me, but it might help clear up the clericalism. - Moni.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the poor should starve in the cold. That is \"Traditional Catholicism\" according to \"TradCath\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It as close as it comes to settled dogma when 95% of Roman Catholics feel the necessity of practicing BC. The \"infallible men\" disagree with their more educated fallible members. Likely infallibility is a self promoting scam by church leaders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The plight of 11 million immigrants under surveillance by the soulless trump administration and clerics are expending their energy and parishioners money on church redesign.\nArticle refers to clericalism. Problem are pew potatoes that pay for this undermining of the gospel.\nWhat of the gospel can one not have \"where two or three are gathered?\"\nThe indoctrination of RCs is mind boggling.\nOnly hope is demise by death.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Evangelicals know that they speak the truth. All who disagree are at best deluded and at worst agents of Satan. Like many conservative Catholics, they want to impose their religious views on others.\"My religion tells me how you shall live and believe\" is a reasonable interpretation of their attitude. Should these Evangelicals get the theocracy they want, Catholics would be among the first to be persecuted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't understand why you want everything to be static, unchanging, never allowing for breathing room. Does it make you feel better if NOTHING is allowed to evolve, change, move with The Spirit? I remember when Pope Francis spoke about being more pastoral, about being more understanding in real life situations, and some poster here said, \"Oh, I guess with THIS Pope ANYTHING GOES.\" Jesus is far more forgiving than the laity who seem to want people to suffer. Please do not bring up abortion... I am sick to death of people who don't give an airborne rodent's posterior for the poor, the suffering, the marginalized, and who totally back our president destroying medical care, talk about aborted babies. If you don't want to take care of them once they're born, you are not pro-life. If you don't want to help poor families struggling to get by, you're not pro-life. God is loving and asking us to be love for God's people. Why do some of you always want to touch on the negative?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article and especially the headline are disgraceful and inflammatory but a good reminder of the sort of bilge spewed by the Harper government and his flaks such as the author of this diatribe. \nDisgusting.\n\nIn the present government there are many people who have strong Christian principles , look no further than the Mister of Health Jane Philpot who has devoted her life to the service of others including years of aid work in Africa.\nTo oppose some of the neanderthal anti social policies and discrimination that Scheer embraces is not anti Christian.\nI haven't seen attacks by other parties though it came up in the NDP debates, but people are just getting a look at Mr Scheer who until now has just been a grinning face while they concentrated on Mr O'leary and Mr Bernier.\nThis is nothing like the Conservatives vicious attacks on Trudeau and Dion and Ignatieff which were launched as soon as they became leader, this is just people in general discovering what his guy stands for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is all \"Stage Performance\". Wuz up wit dat?\nAt the rate POTUS Trump is Moving,it will be darn right foolish and \"lose Money\" for Tusli to challenge him. \"Inquiring Minds wanna know\".So if she runs for the presidency or VP ,will it be with poor ,jilted Bernie Sanders? Will she get the endorsement from the Crooked and deceptive DNC? Or will she leave the DNC and run Libertarian...which I recommend.\nYes Hawaii has Choke \"Snow Flakes\" many from the West Coast,who support her & Schatz. But one needs to remember Trump did NOT win in Hawaii ,he garnered a mere 1/3 % of the registered voters here. It was on the Mainland /Swing States, Obama supporters, Middle Class workers and the Christian community that backed him & and put him in office. And that's what Counts,not Hawaii! Lastly. IMHO? Generally most people will not vote for Socialism,who Tulsi supported via Bernie Sanders . We like it just fine,the way it is. Land of the Free and Home of the Brave and the land of Opportunity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some of out bishops should listen to a Catholic pro-choice politician, who should have the courage to explain to them the logic behind Roe. Law is about the reasoning and the precidents, not the result. Federal supremacy in equal protection is not going away (which also gives us gay marriage), nor should it. The cultural warrior bishops (and USCCB staff) have put Republican coalition poltiics above truth, which is bad for the Church and the bishops, who most of us simply ignore at election time. As for who should be elected president of the conference, the obvious choice is Cupich.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you judge or are being judged for opinions, then CC is being subverted.\n\nViewpoint censorship is specifically precluded from \"civility\".\n\nFor example, \"I believe Cardinal X advocates and practices a program which is contrary to the commands of Christ and is directed against those with same sex attraction\" is civil.\n\n\"I believe Cardinal X is a &%&%^$$* homophobe\" is not civil.\n\nIf you find your viewpoint being censored, you should bring it to CC\u2019s attention.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The highest authority is God, and that would include the Bible, which was inspired by the Holy Spirit. The highest authority under God within the Adventist Church is a GC Session.\n\nI'm unsure what you mean about AToday's archives correcting misinformation found in this article and in the subject of the email I received.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's my experience that lay Catholics in general have no problem with either married priests or female priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One final note, not that you care for the Gospels much, but Jesus was the one who stated to his followers, male and female, that if you lust after a person's beauty in your mind then you have already committed adultery with her or him in your heart. So if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out! It is better for a person to enter heaven with one eye than enter with both eyes into hell. \n\nNote, Jesus, the one you and I proclaim is Lord above all, puts the responsibility of not lusting after others, upon the one who is doing the lusting not the chosen object of their lust. Jesus would not have the women leave the room but would hold the distracted men accountable for their CHOICE to be distracted away from God by lust.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for this article. It's imperative for Catholics and all civilized people to protest misogyny. Trump represents the cynical, callous will to dominate, the very antithesis of the gospel message to reject domination and exploitation.\n\nUnder the Johnson amendment the Church may not advocate for political candidates, but it may address issues. I've not heard one word by Church officials, either at Mass or in the media, in defense of women against harassment and humiliation. Anyone?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most competent black people consider white people as individuals in face to face situations. Our lives depend on sorting white people out by which ones we can trust with our lives, and the ones we can't trust. We know some minority of white folks actually try to live up to the advice Jesus gave them. We can trust those white folks to be more humane than the rest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Scolding the Pope, however, is not the road to clarification. Indeed, I suspect that the Pope is trying to downplay doctrinal teaching in favor of pastoral teaching. While Francis technically has a Magisterium, he would never call it that, which I find refreshing. Still, if the Monsignor or the surviving Dubya Cardinals with to be helpful, they should propose the doctrinal changes they think Franics is making rather than asking rude questions. If they want humility, they should humbly try to understand what Francis is saying and why, because Francis is correct and the prior proof texting is worthy of a seminarian in Liberty University Bible Study.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...It comes down finally to this: if Jesus was not raised from death, Christianity is a fraud and a joke. But if he did rise from death, then Christianity is the fullness of God's revelation, and Jesus must be the absolute center of our lives. There is no third option.\" --Bishop Robert Barron\n\nWho was Jesus? Why is he ontologically different from other religious leaders? \nDid he exist?\nWhat does his death mean?\nDid he rise from the dead?\n\nWho are we?\nAre we loved? \nWhat happens to us when we die? \n\nQuestions to ponder on this Easter Sunday. I wish you all much peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Probably not. You know why? \n\nBeing Gay is something that you are and cannot choose, being Christian is a choice. You can discriminate against choices (for example, I don't have to serve a neo-nazi). That's called the free market, it's so that we can use market powers to disincentivize awful decisions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why are right-wingers so paranoid about attacks from without (how many have there been, do you know?) and not worried about the attacks from within? I thought that Timothy McVeigh was white, Christian, and served in our military. You may want to sleep with a grenade under your pillow at night. Someone may be lurking in your closet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was a sign of contradiction to ALL types of folks, common people and the hierarchy. Recall John 6 when the common people harassed Jesus for another miraculous multiplication of bread/fishes. Jesus refuses to do this for them, teaches them about eating His own flesh and blood, and in that offends all their sensibilities inherited from Judaism. The common folk desert Him en masse and then He asks His disciples the provocative question: \"Do you also want to leave?\" \n\nThe Rich Young Man is another example, walking away distraught at the notion of following Jesus \"perfectly\" in poverty. Jesus doesn't budge on His rigorous invite and lets the young man walk off.\n\nHis own poor disciples are flabbergasted by His abolition of divorce, openly declaring they might as well avoid marriage altogether. Jesus doesn't flinch and reaffirms His claims.\n\nIf the Cardinals are treating lay people \"miserably\" by exhorting them to explicit Gospel commands, what do you have to say about Jesus Himself?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are indeed Catholic arguments about this. If they were STRONG, however, they would be persuasive. They are not persuasive to the vast majority of people, including Catholics: ergo their strength is not what you think it is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about the fact that many in the Muslim and Arab world hated us long before either of the Bush's were president. I think it has to do with two things. One is the fact that we support Israel. The other would be that in the past we have represented ourselves as a Christian nation. Both of those cause problems for some Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "However Stockwell's religious beliefs were the sort that cries out for criticism just like Bush's and Harper's. Say we believe in Jesus as we provoke and engage in war throughout the world. Maybe Singh is not a hypocrite. Obviously if Jesus were alive and had to vote he would vote for the party that looked after the poor and refused to go to war.....closest to that is on the left. There are no Christians on the right as it goes against all the teachings of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, well, you obviously prefer a church that operates like the Mafia [who leaned everything that they knew from the practices of the Catholic Church].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And it's all over the bible too. Torture is still popular among many \"so called\" Christians.\nJesus wouldn't torture people now would he?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "kershaw61 writes: \"Jesus would tell the freeloaders to get a job.\"\nIt's this type of statement that supports the last sentence in Infinitejest's comment yesterday: \"The hypocrisy of the christian right is astounding.\" ... assuming kershaw61 claims to be a christian.\n\nBest,\n\nRTD", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So sad that centuries of Catholic thought on just civil governance have been replaced with a devotion to junk news and faith in the wisdom of the mob.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Richard: So reducing the Anchorage/Alaska non-white population would decrease crime? Please elaborate on which residents are white enough to stay, and if/how the whiteness standard will be applied at the border to determine entry eligibility (i.e., are we still suspicious of the Irish, or have we determined they're white enough?). Be sure to specify if Jews count as white, or if a parallel Christianity test will exclude the other riffraff. Will we apply the same standard to tourists? \n\nIf you really looked at the names and faces of who is committing most of the crime in Anchorage, you'd have noticed that nearly all violent crimes are committed by men. It's so obvious - this gender diversity is killing Anchorage. Let's get rid of the men, and then watch drug use and crime rates plummet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As an old gay Catholic I have a certain perspective on this issue. What I see is the church under Pope Francis stuck in a holding pattern, what Andrew Sullivan called a \"period of respectful silence\" on LGTB issues. Given the church's official teaching on the \"sinfulness\" of gay sex, this is probably the best that can be expected. It is certainly better than the pattern established under the previous two pontificates which saw witch hunts against gay people and a hardening of the church's position on LGTB issues. As an old person I'm comfortable with my church-going habits, but young people are not so ingrained in their habits. What they see, and what is true, is a church which teaches that gay people are somehow spiritually deformed and are therefore barred from various sacraments. To young people this is not acceptable. New Ways Ministry may provide some comfort to old gay Catholics like me, but young people aren't as impressed. Like most gay Catholics they want a change in doctrine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is not, YOU are. Discrimination based on income means that the children of the poor won't have access to private schools, while children of the wealthy will.\n\nYou claim to be Christian, but the way you twist and invert the truth leads me to believe that you follow Satan.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Using kids? As a Conservative Jewish Republican I've never understood Liberal Christian Democrat's obsession with making it seem that minorities are hated by Jews, Christian's and Muslim's involved with the Tea Party movement, Proud Southerners, etc. who drive trucks with loud exhaust systems. Is it comparable to assuming Ralph Northam supports killing mostly Black kids in the womb?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well before a bunch of pilgrims migrated from the lower 48 and started voting to take Alaskans freedoms away. Thus the bumper sticker \"Go Home Pilgrim\". Marijuana was legal in Alaska till sometime in the 80's. Before this and all the way till the FBI put a building in anchorage The Matanuska valley was almost world famous only for it's cultivation, and indoor hybridization of a special strain known as Matanuska Thunder F*&!. Alaska used to be about personal freedom not shoving your concept of religious morals on others. It's unpatriotic, un-American, and an abomination to the bill of rights,freedom of religion, separation of church and state, and makes christians look bad. It's a form of fascism. Plus you guys need the tax money from it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no place for a bunch of Ku-Ku-Klowns in Canada.\nIn the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century an English \nthree Canadians was a member of the white supremacist organization Anglo-Saxon, WASP equivalent to the United States (\"White Anglo-Saxon Protestants\"). \nFour members have been Prime Ministers of Canada;\nSir John A. Macdonald (father of \u00ab Canadian Federation \u00bb of 1867\nbut not \u00ab Father of Canada \u00bb which is Sir Samuel de Champlain in 1608 ), \nSir John Abbott, \nSir Mackenzie Bowell (a past \u00ab Grand Master \u00bb (?)), \nand John Diefenbaker. \nIn 1927 the \u201cOrange\u201d movement gave birth to a more intolerant and racist group, the Canadian Ku Klux Klan, which had its deepest roots in small towns in Saskatchewan because of the \"yellow peril\", but also because of the blacks...Jews...Catholics...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"1) Are the Christian kids getting picked on because they are Christian, or are they proselytizing and being told to buzz off by kids that don't want to hear it....because those aren't the same thing.\"\nAmen! But some Christians feel persecuted if they cannot have an unrestricted right to proselytize or tell gay people they're going to Hell.\nIf a student asks another student to stop preaching to them, and that other student continues, that's harassment and bullying. Period.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Muslim religion, like the Christian, is one of varying degrees of \"severity\"(for lack of a better word). There are many Christian denominations that until recently would not acknowledge rape within a marriage and that advocated for extreme child abuse. As such, These alt-right Muslim beliefs, and those held by other religions from the Middle East, must be addressed. \n\nDon't scoff at the need for hygiene lessons, you'd be suprised at how the rest of the world lives. Perhaps some of you need to get out a bit more. We all tend to look at the world through our own experiences and beliefs...don't be so suprised to find that there are those who don't share yours, including hygiene. For example, some middle eastern adults only believe in bathing AFTER sex. And only then. \n\nDon't scoff at the mention of incest either. It is taboo, yet also one of those accepted practices that everyone knows happens but no one talks about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If said opposition to gay marriage is in fact \"thoroughly Christian,\" that's both very sad and very wrong! Evidently you are trying to work with the wrong \"facts,\" as though YOU control all Truth . . .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We're not \"looking the other way.\" We're just against destroying what this country is about and it's freedoms in order to \"save\" it. We want immigrants vetted and believe in the motto under the Statue of Liberty. The GOP wants to turn everyone away that has a skin color other than white or religion other than Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some say they are Christian, many say they are but behave like savages toward those who aren't \"true believers\" or righteous ultra conservatives.\n\nThen there are people like you, a loco version of little donnieT, who spew hatred, cultivate racism, misogyny, and snake handling, all under the name of \"Christianity\", a \"safe place\" to condemn heathens and political opposites.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LG 25 says that decrees from a properly constituted ecumenical council are infallible. The traditionalist blather about Vatican II being just a \"pastoral council\" is their way of pretending that the council decrees can be ignored. Cafeteria Catholicism, traditionalist style.\n\nThe teaching of the Roman Catholic Church is: \"In the first place we must recall the people to whom the testament and the promises were given and from whom Christ was born according to the flesh.(Romans 9:4-5) On account of their fathers this people remains most dear to God, for God does not repent of the gifts He makes nor of the calls He issues.(Romans 1l:28-29.) But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator.\" -- LG 16\n\nYou traditionalists hate to admit it, but TEACHINGS CHANGE. To deny this is to deny historical fact. Your \"teaching\" has a loving, merciful, just God sending Jews to hell for exactly the same reason the Nazis sent Jews to Auschwitz: because they are Jews.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When was the last time a Christian terrorist killed in the name of God?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's another Catholic who can't resist Godwin's law, smearing the honest and noble intentions of millions of Americans.\n\nCrescamus iam!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Republican victories? By what measure?\n\nWar on Christmas? You poor, oppressed, white, Christian males and your delusions of victimization ... you'd think this country was being run by the House of Saud.\n\nACA is killing people? As in literally? Pics or it didn't happen.\n\nYou heard it here first: Tom O'Donnell, PhD Climate Scientist, says Global Climate Change is real, not his fault.\n\nTrump himself retweets white supremacists, has called for a Muslim registry and casually talks about sexually assaulting women. \n\nYou know what cost Hillary the election? It wasn't the popular vote ... but it was a collective delusion that a narcissistic sociopath is somehow going to do anything for anyone but himself. He lied to all of you and you bought it hook, line and sinker.\n\nTrump's a real estate developer for Christ sake these guys take foreclosure homes for pennies on the dollar. Enjoy the California sparkling white wine. You'll never see \"the little guy\" drinking a real French Champagne.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Christians, Jews and Muslims want to practice a 2000 year old value system with all that goes along with it so be it.\n\nHowever the taxpayer should not pay for such a backward, anti-science, anti-human rights view of the world.\n\nThere is no place for religion Canadian Schools. Set the example by eliminating all religious schools, including the Catholic school board. \n\nTreating all kids the same way should be a basic human right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Nonsense\" right back at you. And your memory may not be serving you ... perhaps you should \"ponder\" some more.\n\nEdith Stein was most certainly Jewish - but she died professing her Catholic faith...as did her sister. Other Catholics were killed in Auschwitz, too, you know. The Nazis hated many people, not just Jews.\n\nAnother interesting article you may prefer? http://www.americamagazine.org/content/all-things/edith-stein", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is uncivil? How? Someone disagrees with facts.\n\nYour examples are NOT similar. The intent, the circumstances, and therefore the consequences are very different, because the baseline is very different.\n\nWomen have been active socially and religiously from day one in western/Christian society, had an important role in its inception, participating in religious services next to men, instituting and leading religious orders themselves, mixing with men at country fairs and dances and church socials, balls and banquets and court life, organizing dinner parties and salons, etc. It wasn't a stretch to go from this baseline to modern feminism.\n\nMeanwhile, in Muslim countries, women were hidden in back rooms and behind veils and partitions, observers but not participants. That makes it the baseline of \"normal\" fundamentalists want to return to, against \"westernisation\".\n\nMuslim columnists should acknowledge the elephant in the room, not pretend they don't see it, then bemoan \"stereotypes\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The fact that you would defend and excuse what this common thief did, THREE DIFFERENT TIMES, tells me all I need to know about you - another hypocrite xtian trying to justify and excuse the criminal behavior of one of your 'brethren'. Pretty sure you'll all have your behinds in seats this Sunday, claiming to be 'saved' so you can do it all again on another occasion. There's nothing Christian about you or green or the hobby lobby cult.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...[our men] were killing and slaying even to the Temple of Solomon, where the slaughter was so great that our men waded in blood up to their ankles...\" According to Raymond of Aguilers, also writing solely of the Temple Mount area, \" in the Temple and porch of Solomon men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins.\"\n\nWriting about the Temple Mount area alone Fulcher of Chartres, says: \"In this temple 10,000 were killed. Indeed, if you had been there you would have seen our feet coloured to our ankles with the blood of the slain. But what more shall I relate? None of them were left alive; neither women nor children were spared.\"\n\n(Accounts from the first Crusade, 1095, from the French 'Chanson de Gest' literature--and this only refers to the Muslims; doesn't even mention the Jews and Eastern Christians massacred).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the construction of this telescope were being held up by a religious decree from a Christian leader or a Muslim imam, the comment pages would be filled with letters decrying the thwarting of science in the 21 century by ancient superstitious nonsense. But since indigenous religions are seen to be in tune with our new-age eco sensibilities, there is nary a peep.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The charge that the press is unfair to the Catholic Church is a false one. Indeed the press for decades swept the sex abuse scandal under the rug, too. The Boston Globe did the Catholic Church a favor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree. One can never tell if an elderly Baptist, Lutheran or United Church member might blow himself up in a crowded area, commiting an act of terror in the name of Christianity. /sarc off", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure what the Evangelical/Israel paradigm is, so hard to say I'm sick of it, but I do know almost all of the federal government officials who denied the Jews entry were Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Following this logic men should have wives and slaves.\"\n\nThe Bible never condones polygamy or slavery. It mitigated the damage caused by these long established institutions, and the principles in both the OT and the NT, should have eliminated both long before Jesus arrived. But most of us are dull and stupid when it comes to spiritual things. Seems like centuries of slavery and Lev. 19:18 should have made the Israelites abhor the practice, but it obviously didn't. That is neither the fault of God or His Word. Jesus repeated Lev. 19:8 to His followers, but they didn't get it until centuries later. So, just because some seminary professors with letters after their names take a position, doesn't mean its right. It was the \"educated\" elite at the time of Christ who were His biggest detractors, claiming that He could not be the Messiah. \"Christians\" from the North and the South both thought their positions on slavery were right during the Civil War. They couldn't both be right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It doesn't seem to matter how outlandish and bizarre the distortions of Catholicism which are presented upon this site are, they are lapped up by the dissident majority here. \nThey ask us why we post here.We do so in order that 'innocents' on this website can learn that the heterodoxy purveyed here is not the Catholic Faith and that they ought not to be led astray.\nIt does not help when posters who claim to be Catholic priests spread heterodoxy. We must hold our bishops and the recent papacies to account for allowing such a variety of unorthodox opinions, beliefs and ideas to profilerate amongst the clergy and the People of God and even preach it to them.\nIt is only since Vatican II that this situation has existed, prior to that the Holy Office kept a tight rein upon what was taught. When the shackles came off there was a theological free for all and here we are today; a massive revolt against an Apostolic Exhortation considered heretical by many Catholics and not just 4 Cardinals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No as Christians we do not have to admit our enemies that openly say they want to kill us and destroy our way of life!\n\nCommitting suicide in this manner is not Christian or the right thing to do!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sounds like a Donald Trump, or Newt Gingrich personality to me: send me a lob and I'll swat you with a bat. Very \"Christian\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Republicans were outraged, as were the bluedog democrats, that someone wanted to take away their gravy train. They allowed industrial lawyers and lobbyests to go over the ACA and insert poison pills to ensure its failure, or to stipulate that money continue to flow to their corporate masters who own the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies. These crooks all claim to be Christians, so I ask the Christians..\nWhere do the souls of these corrupt Christians go, when they pass on, after their official legislations and actions, result in unnecessary pain and suffering, and death to countless 10's of thousands of Americans a year? Where do the souls of their supporters go after they die, including many of the posters here? They all say they live by the bible, foisting their Christianity on others whether they want it or not, yet they defund programs that help the same people that their jesus helped, and give the money to the same kind of people that jesus kicked from the temples", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The church as an abusive institution could be a transformative agent against abusive behavior in society.\u2014Luke Hansen, S.J. \u201cThe LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent ME to YOU\u201d (Exodus 3:14). That is why the Faithful attend Daily Mass, to bring God into an otherwise dysfunctional institutional Church. After all, \u201cThe Lord remembers his covenant for ever\u201d (Psalm 105:8). The Faithful join in that remembrance. In all of this sexual mess, \u201cCome to me, all you who labor and ae burdened, and I will give you rest, says the Lord\u2019 (Mathew 11:28).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "it wasnt in the classroom, who cares ! blacks in this country will ALWAYS play the victim card and not take responsibility for themselves like all the other races do. we are sick of the constant white anti Christian bashing and that is why Trump won. The House and Senate are now common sense GOP as well as the White House and a majority of states. I used to voted democrat mainly for environmental reasons but they messed that up too. Democrat party forgot about the white guy who goes to work everyday and lives independently.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can see why magicism, with its questions of validity, is the rule of the day in the hiearchy and among Trads. In a magical paradigm, women can not be ordained for questions of validity (good magic). If you have a faith paradigm, there is no reason at all not to do so. I used to think it was just sexism, but I am changing my mind. That is also the reason behind Continence, which has poisoned the entire well of Catholic sexual theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your hair bristles and your skin crawls. It's fight other flight. Wash your hands and say your prayers cause Jesus and germs are everywhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just reposting a recent post from MorehamEddy that would address your spin on it .... \n\nKoran verses\n1.\u201cKill the unbelievers wherever you find them.\u201d Koran2:191\n2.\u201cMake war on the infidels(nonbelieversof Islam) living in your neighbourhood.\u201dKoran9:123\n3.\u201cWhen opportunity arises, kill theinfidels(non believers of Islam) wherever you catch them.\u201d Koran 9:5\n4.\u201cAny religion other than Islam is not acceptable.\u201d Koran3:85\n5.\u201cTheJews and the Christians areperverts;fight them.\u201d\u2026 Koran 9:30\n6.\u201cKill people who criticizeallah or do mischief ( wage war against allah )\u201d Koran 5:33\n7.\u201cAllah will Punish the unbelievers withgarments of fire,hooked iron rods, boiling water;melt their skin and bellies.\u201dKoran 22: 19 to 21\n8.\u201cThe unbelievers are stupid; urge theMuslims to fight them.\u201d Koran 8:65\n9.\u201cMuslims must not take the infidels(non-believers of Islam) as friends.\u201d Koran3:28\n10.\u201cTerrorize and behead those whobelieve in scriptures other than the Qur\u2019an.\u201d Koran 8:12&13", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There should be no \"publicly funded\" Catholic schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The hypocrisy of conservative 'Christians' is legion. The believe the Republicans will provide a place at the the table of power for them as a reward for their loyalty. However, that hasn't happened much if at all. Always, the Democrats are blamed for the failure of the the Republicans to enact the 'agenda'. The right-wing doesn't know when they are being snookered. Unfortunately, the bishops have fallen into that same trap but believe future donations are dependent upon support of the Republican Party, regardless of the moral and ethical vacuum that party otherwise presents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(1) The largest population of Muslims is in Indonesia. No Mujahid ever set foot there.\n(2) The Christian nations' bloodletting surpasses Muslims' by several orders of magnitude\n(3) As me an mine are Shi'a, we've been on the receiving end of that rather than the perpetrators\n(4) Look to your \"enlightened\" west's body-counts (millions) in Algeria, India, Iraq, Iran (by proxy), Chechnya, Kenya, Somalia, the Muslim Philippines and Afghanistan before you start tallying up anyone else's\n(5) Only my Mom gets to call me \"Freddy\". She doesn't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you also suggesting therefore that Roman Catholics, or Jews, should not have their own cemeteries, as they do now? Why should Muslims face restrictions that these other religions do not?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would daresay that due to Latin Catholics upholding Josephat Kunseyvich who is considered to be a persecutor of Orthodox Christians, the \"Fatima\" prophecy goal which is STILL to turn Russia into Eastern rite Catholics, as well as to continue to deny (in Orthodox eyes) that the Equal to the Apostles Sts.Olga and Vladimir, already saw the vast differences between Latin Christianity as presented by Rome and demonstrated by Latin speaking Germanic missionaries versus Constantinople and its Greek but growing Slavonic speaking missionaries (which represented Orthodoxy)- and the latter is exactly WHAT these Saints chose, that Catholicism will and rightfully SO be continued to be treated with suspicion and severely curtailed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You seem very ignorant of the differences between religions.\n\nThere are many different denominations and sects of Christianity and Judaism. Catholicism, mainstream Protestantism, and Evangelical Christians have different views, so do Ultra-Orthodox, Orthodox, and Reform Jews.\n\nOnly Catholicism has priests, Protestants have ministers, and some are women. There most certainly are women rabbis in Judaism other than the most Orthodox.\n\nPlease get informed before making such sweepingly ignorant statements.\n\nSimilarly, there are liberal Muslims and ultra-fundamentalist ones. Presenting the fundamentalists as representative of Islam is misleading.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Do you understand?\" the pope asked...\n\nI do NOT understand why \"the pope said, clarifying: \"He that was her but is he.\"\", when a \"sex change\" does not truly change a woman made by God into a true man.\n\nI do NOT understand why the Pope would invite this mixed-up woman and her \"wife\", (illegally married where? & by whom?), living in mortal sin, to be consoled and thereby look to be condoning mortal sin.\n\nI do NOT understand how the mixed-up woman could continue to live with her so-called \"wife\" and persist in her mortal sin, could make an improper confession, since she has no intention of leaving her so-called \"wife\", and ever even be allowed or consider approaching to receive our dear Lord Jesus in the Sacrament of Holy Communion in that unholy state!? ABOMINATION!!!\n\nNo, I do NOT understand!\n\nI DO understand the thinking of the new pastor who was concerned for the soul of the confused person and therefore warned her of HELL. I doubt he shouted it, but, in any case, he was HONEST!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right after the chapter where the apostles said \"Jesus, make Caesar feed the poor!\" was the chapter where Jesus said \"Caesar is not my responsibility. YOU go feed the poor, like I told you.\"\n\nLook: Is this a Christian nation? Then close the borders to Muslims and outlaw abortion. If those activities are unnacceptable to you, then you need to be glad you live in a secular one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What??? Baby Jesus comments on sports too and not just politics? And I assumed you felt Trump was the biggest lowlife.....now it's Pillar? I think you're anti semetic. Trump's son in law is a Jew....as is Pillars mother. Shame on you Baby Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Qur\u2019an clearly states that the hands of thieves should be cut off (Q 5:38), and that fornicators are to be publically flogged with one-hundred lashes (Q 24:2). It demands that polytheists be fought and punished for being non-Muslim polytheists (Q 9:5). It demands that Christians and Jews be fought and brought under submission for their beliefs (Q 9:29). It states that the punishment for \u201cthose who sow corruption on the Earth\u201d, which can include large swathes of people, is to be executed, crucified, or mutilated (Q 5:33). The Qur\u2019an commands that Muslims be harsh against unbelievers, and merciful amongst themselves (Q 48:29).\n\nWhy must I be tolerant of such an intolerant religion? Why wouldn't I want those who are religiously committed to my death to be banned from the US? \n\nAccording to Q 4:34, husbands are allowed to beat their wives if they \u201cfear disobedience\u201d. \n\nThese beliefs are counter to our laws and sense of morality. I will not support them or apologize for opposing it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sure, try Oral Roberts or Liberty Universities...\nThey love giving scholarships to white Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RCs in Greece are experiencing what other religious groups in RC dominated countries did: Catholics are routinely branded \"papists\" and \"heretics\" by aggressive Orthodox preachers. \nSubstitute Catholics for other religious groups as heretics.\nAn ecumenism of Christians oppressing fellow Christians wherever.\nMaybe Archbishop Lori & ilk, and now Brownback, can set up shop in Greece and bewail the lack of religious freedom for RCs?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Conservatives fail to disavow the hate groups in meaningful ways other than mere words. And some on here even defend them, incredibly, usually indicating they think the First Amendment applies to street rallies. If republicans want us to believe they are serious in repudiating these folks, they need to say specifically, \"We don't want you in our party, and we don't want your votes.\" Real Christians should likewise say \"We don't want you in our churches.\" Anything else amounts to tacit approval.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All you have to do is reverse the roles... If Demboski was a minority religion and Islam was the Majority religion and some Iman was trying to orchestrate HATE against her and her religion our reaction would be the same. Anyway, it proves she is bankrupt as a human and certainly the opposite of a Christian. As an end-note I'd like to know what is wrong with Eagle River in foisting this hateful person on the rest of us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Church Militant = truth. National Catholic Distorter is a joke.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It would be better for this present all-male feudal priesthood to die-off FIRST.\"\n\nIt is more likely that the majority of NCR readers will die off. In my experience, younger Catholics in general have no problem with the all-male, celibate priesthood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1}Well, if he doesn't convert--and barring invincible ignorance--he IS going to hell. 2}\"Someone who is afraid of cultural progress\". Acts that violate the 6 and 9th Commandment constitute \"progress\"? 3}What true Catholics are \"afraid of\" is the normalization of mortal sin.4} One does not \"throw' a dogma \"out the window\" {here, the dogma of Extra Eclessia Nulla Salus}. He who does is a heretic. 5} The Church's teaching on marriage is also a dogma. And it is ignorant--at best--or dishonest--at worst--to suggest otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The mention of Jesus \"making priests\" is in the Last Supper accounts.\n\nThe various accounts of \"women deacons and women presbyters and women bishops\" are supported only by (a) questionable interpretations of scriptural references and (b) the record of those \"ordained\" in various sects being dismissed as clerics on reception of the former heretics and schismatics into the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do the math\n\n44K a year when the citizen who pay the taxes to pay for this makes 45K a year. \n\nYour govt is so far in the hole they are bankrupting our nation to take in deadbeats who will never create a cent of taxes.\n\nThis is an economic disaster let alone a social one. \n\nWhen the children give up getting jobs because they ave no language or work skills where will they turn?\nTo the IMAM on the corner who was brought in with his 10 kids spreading hate of Christians and other Canadians.\n\nIt astounds me how people cannot see this process. It is happening in Europe every day now. \nThe disenfranchised youth are raping women every day and planning terror...\n\nWhat the heck is going on here? Are you numb?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One thing that we all should understand about the idea of deprivation making people closer to God: The idea that people who are celibate are closer to God is not only ridiculous but ruins a Catholic theology based on opinion rather than epistemology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry Margaret, we deplorables have to accept that the progressive left are morally superior and must be allowed to decide when free speech is acceptable. That Catholic teacher or police officer must know by now that they should have more willingly discarded their religious beliefs regarding abortion and gay marriage while openly accepting every other religion's culture. It does not matter whether you have served in the military or worked for 30 years as a model citizen. As a deplorable you should know better than to think that such morally superior people would care to listen to you. You are to be lumped together with racists and Islamaphobes who of course may be challenged with morally justified violence. \n\nPlease raise your hand and ask a professor for permission the next time you think about saying something which is not politically correct.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "contd. from above --\n\nSo in conclusion let me say that I did NOT trah Fr. Rother. I was touched by his simple yet very powerful act of protest/martyrdom which was exactly the same as those acts of many missionaries such as those aforementioned sisters and Arb. Romero. As well as the good works of president of Haiti Jean-Bertrand Aristede, etc,etc,etc. \nSuffice it to say that the Vatican and American Catholic prelates behavior and acts are what killed Fr. Rother , et.al. \nMy comments were not to trash (your words) Fr. Rother but instead to denounce the church attitude to Communism/Socialism/unionism that has caused so much death and destruction of so many in America and throughout the world. They ARE the ones I and a great many of us on this website are DENOUNCING!!!!! \n\nThere is a very important tenet in Catholic philosophy that says: one must not use ignoble means to achieve a goal - any goal no matter the goal. WHY? Because to do so INCREASES the weight of EVIL in the world. \nnuff", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a member of the United Church of Canada when a child, I can assure you that a \"conservative\" interpretation of the Bible is to remove Christianity from the church. True Christians are the Canadians like Tommy Douglas who fought his whole life for the good of humankind. That said, I am a very happy and content atheist now, and thing god is a load of silly claptrap.,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just a minute here!!! Are you suggesting that appointing the woman who was Newt Gingrich's mistress to be Ambassador to the Vatican might be based on criteria other than the \"appropriateness\" of the selection? You are such a cynic!!! \n\n\"Callista currently runs a multimedia company with her husband and is the author of multiple New York Times bestselling children\u2019s books featuring patriotic themes. She is also credited with converting her husband \u2014 with whom she had a years-long affair during his marriage to then-wife Marianne \u2014 to Catholicism\" She's such a good Catholic.....after having about a six year adulterous relationship with Newt when he was married to Marianne, she helped make him a good Catholic, too... \n\nWhat an unbelieveable insult to the Vatican.....Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True. Seems quite a few have exceeded all expected bounds of ignorance on American Civics.\n\nOur friend from the UK appears to understand American Civics far better than does the average Catholic progressive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I HOPE they collect all they ask for and many more MILLIONS. The Boy Scouts and the Catholic Church organizations should just plain be shut down, FOREVER................", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some Muslims in Pakistan have burned Christian churches and have attacked, killed and injured innocent Christians in Pakistan.\n\nSome Mulsims have burned Coptic Christian houses and churches and have killed and injured poor, innocent, peaceful, Coptic Christians in Egypt.\n\nThe Christians in Pakistan and the Copic Christians in Egypt aren't fighting against Muslims, so what is inciting those Muslims to attack, kill and injure the poor, innocent, peaceful, Christian, civilans in Pakistan and Egypt?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Metal detectors. This is about metal detectors following weapons brought on to the site and used to kill two Israeli policemen - both Muslims, by the way. And don't the protestors look like they are having a lovely Friday off, roaming the streets. In any Arab capital, they'd be dead meat but the IDF uses tear gas and stink gas.\n\nThe origin of the problem is allowing Jordan to retain supervision of the site back in 1967. Jordanian Muslims who have reduced the Christian population of Nazareth to practically zero and destroyed every synagogue in the territories after 1967 were left as guardians of religious sites. The Jews are soft in the head.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, Mr. Ward, like your party you have selective memory. As a practicing Christian (Mike Pence is a conservative NOT a true Christian), Trump's consistent track record is one of untruthfulness, deception, name calling, and encouraging violence and racism. His morning Tweets reek of his ego and hatred for the previous highly effective \"black\" President. The Republican party would better serve the American people they are supposed to represent if they placed our COUNTRY before their political agenda. I and so many others see that 'President Bannon' and his Soviet play book is in motion. If you were in charge of the U.S. Fifth Column how would you improve on Trump's appointments. Perhaps send your opinion to the Gangster Family occupying the White House, a kind description of Trump and his family. When living on the mainland I remember well the Republican party's description of the previous President, unfortunately \"black\" was not the term used in AZ, NV, IN, or MI, quite telling.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also, are you saying that God hates most of his creation and will condemn it to hell?\nAs far as some of the translations you complain about, they go back to the original texts and update to more modern English. I agree that some do have problems when they do not do that or when they are trying to push a particular topic, much as the Geneva bible does.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Cont).\nKnown writings against them included apologetics from Epiphanius, Tertullian, St. Ireneus, Origen, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine and others. It is quite clear from the earliest times that the \"ordination\" of women by the heretical sects were not only null and void, but that such acts were considered schismatic. \nNow, you want to tell me to take a gentler tone? Very hypocritical when you\u2019re the one who posits that Christ, the Apostles, the early Fathers and all to this very day who absolutely support the Church\u2019s Traditional teaching against women priests is based on something as outrageously stupid as misogyny when it is clearly based on Sacred Tradition. You take the beam out of your eye first please. I think this is sufficient evidence to prove that your claims of using the Bible to support your heresy are complete nonsense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part (2)\n\nFr. Pavone posted his rationale for voting for Trump on the web site LifeSite News yesterday, and Dcn. Fournier posted his today on his blog, The Stream. Both essays are remarkable for their naivete, sophistry and hypocrisy. The notion that Donald Trump is pro-life is preposterous on its face, but that's the least objectionable aspect of these essays. By publicly supporting Donald Trump precisely in their roles as members of the Catholic Clergy, Fr.Pavone and Dcn. Fournier bring disgrace not only on themselves and their organizations, but also on the church. Worse yet, by associating the pro-life movement with the fascism, racism, misogyny and xenophobia of Donald Trump, they discredit and disgrace the very cause they purport to support. Shame on them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh for heaven's sake, read the papers, listen to the news bulletins, get on the internet. The number of Catholic priests who offend is infinitesimal. Only someone determined to damage Christ's Church would say otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholicaphobia should be outlawed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I wish your comment was true but it's not. Liberal Catholics have bought his window dressing hook, line, and pedophile priest. The need to believe in his so called reforms is too strong a filter to see the total truth. \"\n\nPeople who still believe that Pope Francis is really trying to address the child sexual abuse crimes by priests and cover-ups by Bishops scandals may, without realizing it, be bordering on religious extremism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@Ian R McNee Zille's tweets are demonstrably racist. Where a \"racist\" is defined as someone who believes (1) That \"race\" exists as a \"scientific concept\"not a \"social construct \" referring to language , culture & superficial appearances. and (2) That some \"races\" are superior to others? So does Zille qualify as a \"racist\" according to these criteria?Let us try a \"litmus test\".In Matric in a Catholic School in 1970 a German nun who was teaching us \"History \" once said.\"Your ancestors were cannibals! They were Savages! They would have wiped each other out if White missionaries had not arrived in the nick of time. I pointed out that they would not have \"wiped each other out\" as \"the last one would have committed suicide\", much to her disgust and to the amusement of my (black of course this was under apartheid) classmates.(but I digress) \n\nSounds familiar does it not? Zille would merely have added \"and the colonialists brought piped water, .......and of course the internet\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes good job for maintaining large government, failed Obamacare, and moving us closer to socialized medicine where you will stand in line months if not years to get quality care. You pro obamacare people on this discussion do not see where the steps are tending. Your get it now attitude is going to enslave your offspring to the government in the future. Here's a telling question. Do you prefer no coverage or larger government control. Ponder that for a while and be careful what you wish for. Lisa is protecting planned parenthood. The organization paid for by my tax dollars that said it's unfair to call someone a man or woman based on their genitals. Our country is becoming sick in the head by pandering to a minority of folks that don't know how to deal with their hormones. I'm so glad to be a Christian living by a sure foundation that's not moved by emotions, sex drive, culture, or hysteria. Praise God for Jesus and his perfect laws that bring true liberty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you disagree with the tradition of parceling out saintly corpses so the magic power inherent therein can be spread about, then perhaps you should reassess your faith and your definition of catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christopher Lamb, that well-known hater of orthodox Catholicism? You can't be serious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No millennial would ever be caught dead at a CYO dance or some old fashioned square event sponsored by the Catholic Church and if a priest or another type did home visits, the milennial would probably be too busy or hostile.\n\nThere are activities and parishes that do attract milennials. St. Clements and Old St. Pats' in Chicago have younger attendees; both are less dogmatic. Also, Theology on Tap is very popular as long as the speakers are willing to hear criticism. Also popular is volunteering. PreCana and marriage prep classes are considered jokes.\n\nOf course, those are all superficial. If the Church wants to retain people, it has to change the way it treats people. Many milennials left because of the scolding and bullying they experienced at Catholic school and elsewhere. They have gay friends who were harmed by the Church. They witnessed the hypocrisy of the Church surrounding money. If the Church isn't going to change that, then it will continue to bleed members.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, I get that. Anybody can just order a cake and it'd be no issue (or should be no issue). But if a gay couple comes in and orders a wedding cake (for their wedding), then it puts him in a position of violating his religious beliefs. This is due to his religious views of marriage being deeply sacred event defined to be between one man and one woman. I hope that makes sense. And perhaps some of those blurry lines will be more defined by this supreme court ruling. I just want to point of the difference of saying, \"No, I won't sell you this service because you are homosexual\" and \"No, I won't sell you this service because it will clearly be used as a key part of an event that violates my religious beliefs\". And are we really ready to shut down all Christian, Muslim, etc. wedding companies for this reason? And if so, is that the role of the government and does that then violate the first amendment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tridentinus, you need to put this into perspective....you could ask, is the slaughter of millions of children (by the way, aren't they all are innocent!) not of primary importance any more? It is not just about abortion that you should be prioritising...this has been a practise since dot. And besides, for those who have had abortions it tends to rub salt into their wounds...it creates unnecessary guilt that some factions within our Catholic institution seem to relish in.. I'd be more inclined to shout out about...those children from war torn countries, children without food or shelter, children without parents or parents who are unable to provide any stability whatsoever, children who are used as slaves and sex slaves at that, children who are sexually abused..and so on...and on.\nIn our present day children are being slaughtered, emotionally, physically and spiritually....yet all I hear is about abortions..I ask, why can't we see further!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"But the news is supposed to report on topics relevant to the present. Why don't they?\"\n\nClearly you wish that the media should not report on past child sexual abuse crimes by priests and cover ups by Bishops. In other words, you are attempting to divert our attention away from the past moral failures of the Church, as if its present moral failures were not enough.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The inbuilt deficiency in men and women is an inability to control the desire for sex - it's called lust. It manifests in different ways. of course, and not all men are rapists, nor are all women promiscuous. Men and women want sex without the natural consequences. We want sexual pleasure and personal \"fulfillment\". Why should we be denied these as our \"rights\"? We also want careers with good incomes to provide comfortable lifestyles. In a word, its selfishness. From a Christian perspective, life should be selfless and other directed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"there are few things as immoral as the right thing done for the wrong reason.\"\n\nRight. Like Jesus said, \"A tree is not known by its fruits.\" Or the old saying, \"the road to hell is paved with good deeds done for the wrong reasons.\" Or maybe the gospel story: \"Come, blessed of my Father . . . for when I was hungry you gave me food to eat . . . except you guys who did it for the wrong reason; you guys are the worst.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nobody is saying to 'pray in private, only', however it is better to pray in private and be one with the Father than to pray loudly, openly and boastfully as many who claim to be Christians do. In this arena we are not discussing 'The Great Commission', but open prayer and secular government, of which this country was founded and still works upon. You cannot have freedom of religion and not respect and allow for other views on God and the afterlife as is believed by varied groups. So I personally do not pray in public, but I pray everyday and secluded with the Father alone, so that I might hear Him better and without worrying about being a hypocrite. If you make laws which you know Jesus would be ashamed of you, and yet claim to be a Christian, then you have completely misunderstood everything He stood for. I think most fanatical Christians have missed the mark and verge on insanity. I am Lutheran and even within our own sect we disagree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you are Christian and believe Jesus is the only way, how can you validate the Muslim teaching that Christ is just another prophet and an ordinary man ? Is one right and the other wrong ? Have you read Matthew 23 when Jesus is preaching against the Pharisees ? Why would you wish peace on a religion that is contrary to Christian teaching and therefore condemning people ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A bit rich for a religious leader in the region of Catholic Italy to be wagging his finger at leaders to get people good jobs.\n\nThe greater problem for Italy is that their men appear at about age 50, being little spoiled mommy-boys before that, living at their mommy's home and sucking on nourishment there like a plump little infant right throught their 30s and even 40s.\n\nIf Italian boy-children aged 29 and 37 spent more time doing entrepreneurial activities and less leaching off their mommies, the good Pope would be surrounded by industry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a gay person, I'm going to take the unusual position of saying that as long as the Holy Roman Catholic Church is teaching (falsely, IMO) that being gay is \"objectively disordered and intrinsically evil\" it makes perfect sense to have a policy statement barring gay men from serving as priests. I mean, why would any sane, self-respecting gay man even want to be part of an organization which teaches that? \n\nOn the other hand, I think it's perfectly obvious that the odious 2005 instruction is not stopping gay men from becoming priests, it's simply forcing them deeper into the closet where their sexuality becomes warped, their emotional growth stunted (usually at adolescence when they discover that they're gay) and then they end up molesting children. Same old, same old.\n\nBut I always have to ask, what about those with \"deep-seated heterosexual tendencies?\" I mean, shouldn't they too be barred for not being able to restrain themselves sexually? That doesn't seem fair, does it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vincent,\n\n\"the parable the mustard seed\", honestly, I don't think that parable would apply to a bureaucracy. As a retired Fed with 4 decades of service, I've seen how easily bureaucracies can needlessly expand just so some people can have their own little power base. In that respect I see no difference between the church bureaucracy as shown in that list and the U.S. government bureaucracy.\n\nIf Jesus was around today I think He would be a firm believer in \"KISS\", Keep It Simple Stupid. After all, didn't Jesus send His disciples out with the admonition to not take anything with them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For murderers, NCR begs we look on them with mercy. \n\nFor half the nation who voted for the President, NCR begs we look on them as irredeemable racists and fascists.\n\nThat's all ye need know about the face of Catholic progressive social justice warriors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "His coming out is a presentation of another viewpoint. Under your way of looking at this, anyone who doesn't agree with the predominant opinions has no way to actually make his/her own case, because it is automatically considered an insult to even disagree with the powers-that-be the \"common knowledge.\" \n\nYou don't know what God intended us to be any more than anyone else. Not even the opinions and perspectives held by all cultures everywhere from the time of Adam know God's intentions. We can get close with following what Jesus said when He told us to love God, love oneself, and love one's neighbors. \n\nWhat Shepard Smith did in revealing himself as gay was to make it possible to know him without hiding the part that some people will find objectionable. Look at the whole person, not the sin. No one is without sin. If your sin is not being gay, it is something else. Who are you to cast stones, even under the cover of \"the wisdom of the ages?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gingrich has two annulments. And I was pointing out the absurdity of the situation.\n\nConservative Catholics are okay with Gingrich abandoning his second wife for a 26-year-old staffer who he was having an affair with because he got paperwork that said that his second marriage was invalid. All the concerns about the prior wives and children go away magically once people get the paperwork, especially if those people are rich and powerful. In contrast, the same people have vapors about norms who cannot or don't wish to get annulments receiving Communion. This is hypocritical.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Takumi speaks with forked tongue.\nThe bible chastises usury; 459% should earn you the lowest circle of the inferno.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cThe End of White Christian America\u201d--it couldn't come too soon. It's too bad these terrorists and apologists for terrorists' influence will disappear with a simpering whimper, smug in the knowledge they've been successful at lowering standards of reproductive health for women as a whole. When evangelicals started their program of harassment and terrorism Americans made excuses, coddled and enabled them to become the force they've been for decades. \nI'd love the opportunity to do to them and their insipid, ugly religion what they've done to standards of healthcare for women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK, let's make this a bit more real. I was sexually/indecently assaulted by a priest who was the chaplain for a gay Catholic group called \"Acceptance\". That priest is now in jail for having sexually abused thee boys before he was a priest. That priest said that at first he was sexually attracted to young boys but he 'developed' and became sexually attracted to older males over time. He himself was a victim of sexual abuse as a boy. Never the less, only a short time after his final profession, he felt 'free' to come on to me (when I was 20 - 1977) during confession because he believed that homosexuality was totally OK and that perhaps I should consider that I might want to be 'accepted', and by him, there an then. I didn't - it was the last thing I wanted from him.\n\nSo, tell me, what is behind this real world scenario: secular or Church homosexual theory (for or against), the sexual revolution, post Vatican II acceptance and experimenting: Was this 'systemic' or was he just a bad apple?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you prefer to stand by and do nothing to combat these evils because someone might help you fhangevatire? Talk about a cafeteria Catholic! But bet you would be one of the first to agitate for not allowing a trans child to use a rest room appropriate to their gender identity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You notice it is celibate men making the rules - How dare you guys have sex when I can't get any! We will reduce sex by making it a problem rather than the joy in marriage it is supposed to be by condemning and placing ridiculous restrictions on it, not founded in any Gospel by Christ!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, and, great job, \"pro-life Christians.\" You elected a guy who's going to teach your sons that grabbing women by the p*ssie is a fine, manly thing to do, the sort of thing a guy does when he wants to be rich and admired and entrusted with important jobs. And, obviously, men grabbing women by the p*ssie has nothing to do with abortion, right? Because women who get pregnant because some guy grabbed them by the p*ssie then went a little farther never think abortion is the answer, right? \n\nTalk all the priggish \"pro-life\" gobbledy-g0ok you want to, but actions speak louder than words. And the \"pro-life\" actions just said as plain as day that grabbing women by the p*ssie as a \"pro-life\" thing to do. Just don't be too surprised when your sons decide to grab their sisters, daughters and cousins too.\n\nMe, I just hope there's a camera nearby the first time Trump tries to grab Teresa May's p*ssie. Mike Pence can run the government while Trump undergoes gender-reaffirming surgery afterwards.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Climate change is the most important issue of our time and there is so little discussion of it. Waiting for the bishops who have sold out to Donald Trump to take the lead is a fool's dream. It is up to us the laity to speak up on behalf of the Catholic Church to save this planet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you think straight white Christian males are a \"minority\", you're as deluded as Trump is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Catholic laity are amongst the most supportive of civil marriage equality.\"\nTrue. However:\nIt is not the laity who are afforded greater respect & reverence by legislators, it is the clergy. Legislators (particularly o the right of the political spectrum) appear to bend over backwards to accommodate the will & thinking of the clergy.\nIt is generally not Catholic laity taking action in the courts on matters of LGBT rights. But the Catholic clergy certainly do (a perfect example of this was the constitutional court challenge to Uganda's toxic anti homosexuality law. Catholic laity were nowhere to be seen in that court case, but the Catholic clergy petitioned the court to stand in defense of that toxic and violent law).\n\nAll you have done is point out the human shield of \"nice people\" surrounding the more rabidly homophobic among the clergy.\nYou have deflected attention onto the cloak of disguise worn by the inherently homophobic core.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Four in Naugy Ct. in 2016 to TWO in 2017 despite a doubling of Population is proper term. Huge number of Hispanics-Brazilian ,Portuguese, Puerto Ricans, Haitian, Dominica , Dom . Rep and Lebanese immigrants all Catholics fueled most of the population increase here. Yet One Half of the churches are closing here . WHY?? Chasing out EWTN ,Lepanto and C. M. reporters just makes Usccb look petty and truly intolerant not to mention foolish as heck.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Trumpeople and white Evangelical Trumpeople better have as much of a really good time forcing themselves on Americans because everything they do is going to come back on them for years to come and not just politically but where they live, worship, eat, shop and have businesses. There are many perfectly legal ways to play with people's comfort, people's sense--whether real of not--of safety. This they will lose for their racist, un-American and fascistic political behavior. Evangelicals have many irrational fears which up to now we have left alone. This will change. They will be sorry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the list of acts committed by some Christian church's and their members that put the Christian religion to shame. Born a Catholic I was raised studying the violence in the bible and the mistreatment of females and the killing of the infidels. Modern Ultra Conservative Christians are setting this nation up with an official state religion and their plan is to go to war with the Muslims. My dad told me that in 1975 that the next big war for the US will will be with the Muslims. Looks like you as a Christian are already on board. Too bad, we must stop you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\nTrump lied about health care repeatedly during the campaign. Still, many Catholic \"leaders\", some more explicitly than others, endorsed or otherwise supported him as a putatively \"pro-life\" candidate. What a crock! As president, Trump has never proposed or supported a healthcare plan that looks remotely like the one he promised during the campaign and the transition. Just the reverse: he\u2019s embraced a succession of plans, each one worse than its predecessor, that are, every one of them, militantly anti-life, pro-sickness and pro-death.\nIf Catholic leaders want to make amends for their collaboration in the election of this brutally anti-life president, they will address him directly. They will remind him of his promises; they will quote his own words back to him. They will demand that he produce what he promised: a plan that includes universal health care, better than the ACA and less expensive. They will demand that he renounce the filthy lie of \"Repeal and Replace.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Christians are obligated to follow the Bible. Lay with another man's wife? Kill? No way, Jose. The Bible says you can't do it. Therefore by that sound logic, Christian people don't kill or cheat on their spouses. Duh. 100% of Muslims support ISIS and 100% of murder and adultery cases are by non-Christians. 1\n\n1. References: Holy books.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cSo we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.\u201d (Romans 12:5) \nThat is what we call the mystical body! As long as there is one child suffering from clergy sex abuse, we, the mystical body is sick! Pope F., your clergies rape of children, is your clergy raped the mystical body, we all suffer from rape by your clergies. So what are you going to do with the money you swindled out from the clergy rape victims, thus, prevented any healing but added more deep suffering by your clergies betray? Pope F. when RCI terrorism of clergy sex abuse of children is going to stop?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Murder is our business and business is good. One might chuckle at those that take the high moral ground in a nation that bumps off future citizens because they are inconvenient by the tens of millions. Don't separate them by their phony political ideology, their worship of tools (firearms) their supposed social or fiscal agenda. White, black, green and brown, we all live in a sewer, in the culture of death. The people killed in Las Vegas will soon be forgotten and we will tune in watch the big game, meet down at Hooters for some wings and pile into the mega church to find out why Jesus loves rich people. It's 1984 except it's fun. Big Brother is Watching You.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelicals, conservatives, holey-rollers are not the ones smashing windows and beating people up in cities across the country right now. They didn't even do that when Obama won. They gathered peacefully and protested his policies because of the long-range effects it would have on them and their families. They didn't demand that the election be set aside or firebomb businesses in an effort to get their way.\n\nWhich is more intimidating - someone who argues facts and logic with you or someone who throws rocks and beats people to a pulp?\n\nI know which one this 3rd party voter is more afraid of.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(All of the comments have been removed from this article including the one I submitted below. It was rejected as part of the ongoing censorship by the Trump idolators able to game the system. Disgusting.)\n\nThe Christian, Old South, Racist White Supremacist Sessions begins his assault on all non-christian, non-heterosexual beings. The escalation of corruption in a corrupt judicial system led by the Supreme Court Gang of Five Roman Catholic Dictators. Time for a Revolution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Totally agree. All the fake \"choice\" crap is all about sending tax money to religious schools and subsidizing the rich. Plain and simple. In fact, the first 'choicer', Florence Doyle cited in the article wanted to take our money and send her kids to Regis (at $16K per kid!!!). She wanted her kids to go to Regis to \"enjoy the multicultural aspects of Regis while absorbing the Catholic structure of the school\". How many non-white kids go to Regis?? \n\nShe later states the district\u2019s voucher program forced the district to make its regular public schools more competitive and open to parent suggestions. Actually, DougCo school rankings nose-dived and I guess 'parent suggestions' equals religious structure???\n\nGood job DougCo voters! Keep church and state separate and if the rich people want to send their kids to Valor, more power to them - looking at the school parking lot, they DEFINITELY don't need our tax dollars!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This man behaved rather well, totally in keeping with his sworn military duty as a medic to treat a wounded human being, regardless of whether he is friend or foe. How ironic that Omar Khadr killed a medic...a protected person under international humanitarian law, the willful killing of which is a war crime. But then medics wear a red cross on their left shoulders, a sign of their status under the Geneva Conventions, an embodiment of Christian charity repugnant to the religious beliefs of their prospective patients. It is interesting that wounded Nazi Waffen SS soldiers demonstrated substantially more moral fiber than Omar Khadr during the second world war. Many of them died refusing potentially life-saving transfusions for fear of being administered non-Aryan blood. If God has a sense of humour (and I believe he does), I firmly believe that at least one pint of blood administered to Khadr during his medical treatment was likely donated by a Jew. Take that, you little Nazi...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "> Like Warren I am an independent\n\nThank goodness Warren. You are the future of our species.. . This 2 party system has failed us. . . because it's comprised of us, lol.\n\n> you cannot blame most of the Dems in this state\n\nYou're not trying hard enough sir.\n\n> [GFNC55 says] partisan attacks. They have all failed! There are no winners, only losers.\n\nYou are 99.99% incorrect my friend!! - a very few people *are* making so much freakin' $$ off this clown car it's not even funny. People want to blame this or that on \"the downfall of the U.S.A.\" ; missing/single parents, tv, guns, public education, public health-care, social safety nets, the internet, Christianity[or lack thereof, or some other religion], but it appears time & again that our \"political 'leaders' \" who collect our taxes, feed our innate fears, send our children to wars (most politicians have NOT served), and direct our futures to preserve *their* re-election, these folks (lawyers, lets just call them), i've reached m", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Aren't you the Christian zealot that often comments on here? He was a 20 year old college student who did a foolish thing - he took a flag off the wall of a hotel to bring home as a souvenir. Very foolish, indeed and it has most likely cost him his life. His parents are heartbroken as any would be. Shame on you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's happening still. Curious, isn't it, that for generations Catholics who for whatever reason chose to be married at city hall rather than in a Catholic Church haven't been subjected to similar recriminations for having openly \"flaunted\" church law. Unless I'm mistaken, any marriage that is not approved by Holy Mother Church is considered illegitimate in the eyes of the Church and therefore, by definition, a \"scandal,\" which is the one reason given for the termination of legally-married gay Catholic employees. I suppose the truth of the matter is that straights can \"pass,\" just like they've been \"passing\" on contraception for generations. Everyone just turns a blind eye with a wink and a nod. Except when it comes to the gays - then it's time for the pink slips to come out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued - You need to also realize that you are not just discussing the past in your comments, you are suggesting our Latin Rite Church follow what the Ukrainian Church did and create gender segregation under the auspices of optional celibacy today. You suggest this knowing any amount of increase in sexism in Religion has been proven to increase the evils that come from sexism in the world, i.e. poverty, slavery, forced illiteracy, war, terrorism, child abuse, etc. The Latin Rite's choice to allow completely segregated leadership by having all men rule over all women back in the 16th century in the Ukrainian Catholic Rite did help cause all these ills during that period too, though possibly unknowingly, because these evils are always the result of sexism. The difference today is that we do know the results and they have been proven on a global scale so we can't claim we are ignorant of the sin and great harm to women overall today by instituting them in more places today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any couple's sexuality is more than sex. It is mostly about affinity in daily life. Asexuals even have affinity, usually in the rectory, abbey or convent, although some are gay celibates (or not so celibate). Plato thought such affinity was the highest form of love, but he may have just been cheering for his own team not concious that he was wired differently from the norm. That is the problem with most of the Catholic hierarchy in a nutshell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I once told my pastor that Christians are a unimaginative bunch as a whole, I find you are a great example of a person who suffers from black and white thinking. So focused on the minutia you miss the whole message. There is no 'for or against' thinking here. I am saying what Jesus said: that praying openly does you no good, if your actions don't match. You can't pray for the blessings of God, if you look down upon other people. You can't beat your chest in righteousness if you bludgeon others with oppressive laws based on your interpretation of the bible. I will go one further and say that you cannot follow the Jewish laws and be a Christian, for Judaism is not Christianity, while Christianity came out of a Judaic society. You cannot be a follower of Christ and be a hypocrite. You are better off to not be seen praying openly, and pray to Him in private where it really matters. The rest is just a show.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LOL. I am also from the millenial generation but a few years older than you and I would never spend my life as an unpaid nanny and housekeeper. I don't find housework fulfilling. And I am not a fan of those women who do as they make it more difficult for those of us who wish to have fulfilling careers and contribute to society to do so. \n\nAnd please stop with the NFP propaganda. The Pill is what is prescribed for women with menstral issues rather than the goofy fad pseudo-science that the NFP set pushes. Something that annoys me the most is when I hear NFP zealots providing bad advice to and harassing women with lady issues on Catholic forums about NaPro and providing them with bad information when these women's quality of life could be easily fixed through the Pill. \n\nMy take: if you aren't using your uterus for its intended purpose, you frankly shouldn't have to deal with any additional pain and suffering associated with it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sad - your pithy and *mean* comments only reveal your scriptural ignorance:\n- Karban is referencing the Jesus of Matthew's Gospel - thus, on earth and encompassing the mystery that Jesus was both God and man. You appear to have left that reality out (talk about dogmatic heresies).\n\nAileenUSA - note that this commenter jumps from NCR topic to topic and dumps his right wing, usually factually incorrect, ideological fear - when he is challenged, he jumps again. Ignore his fake news and comments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course, Utilitas is, once again, FLAT-OUT LYINGwhen he says that \"progressive Catholics\" label \"half the country as fascists\". Why do you insist on repeating this lie, Utilitas?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This was a cowardly attack that must be condemned in the strongest terms. There is a concern, given some of the opinions pieces in this paper, that discussions about cultural segregation and fundamentalist interpretations are now off-limits and Islamaphobic. Europe is dealing with issues of cultural segregation from orthodox interpretations of Islam and we should be able to discuss all religions openly and respectfully. There are legitimate concerns about strict religious interpretations being incompatible with Canadian values, such as free expression (including religious satire), gender equality, and freedom of sexual orientation. Why are secular female Muslims ostracized from their communities for choosing not to wear headscarves? There is also a double standard where Judaism and Christianity can be satirized in cartoons and popular culture but Islam is beyond reproach. The Quebec attack was an attack on Canada's freedom of religion but it should not be used to censor discussion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While it was interesting that Christine Schenk chose to write about bishops as being prophetic [some are], she missed one group completely----the laity. There are times when the bishops should take a leadership role or when the official seal \"Catholic church\" needs to be applied.\n\nBut when we think of the church's life, in the secular world, the situation changes. The laity, as members of the baptismal priesthood can [and should] exercise their ministry in the world under the authority of their baptism and they don't require commissioning or approval by church authorities. The laity, does and needs to be encouraged to 'take up the mantle' of prophetic action and DEMONSTRATE the gospel message of caring for: the poor, the hungry, the sick, the displaced, the neglected, the imprisoned, the despairing. Proclaiming the gospel in the world, the work of the laity, HAS to mean taking any and every opportunity to promote a different set of priorities than politics---church or civil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bless you Ms. Dennis. Thank you.\nSo much credence, burden really, is laid upon \"grace\" that it has the character of myth, the kind that is really imaginary, deception. The same for prayer: pray for peace as the world descends into violence, dishonor; bursting the bubbles of values we pretend are \"us\". \nIt seems that we have defined in error. It seems that we have been deceived and self-delusional.\nWe believe that \"believing\" is enough; that \"grace\" is, well what?. We harp on beliefs that are relevant to institution, but, proven irrelevant, even contrary to the purpose they pretend.\nMaybe we should look at life another way: presume that \"reality\" is real and that we are accelerating towards self-destruction. The objective of \"peace\" is to gather as many together in the effort , shelter, console, heal, stand for values in the \"being\" and \"doing\". \nIronically \"defiant\". \nStop \"calling upon\" Christ. \nBe!\nMaybe it well spread? \nRedefine grace; prayer; religion, church. Or else....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspect that Bernie took the nominee's religious beliefs that non-Christians can't go to heaven personally. Bernie was raised Jewish, although he appears to be an agnostic now. Either way, he won't make it into the New Testament heaven without accepting Jesus. Perhaps there is a different version where his beliefs are welcome. The Hebrew Garden of Eden, the Vikings Valhalla, the Celtic Otherworld, the Irish Tir Na Nog, or the Greek Elysium, all have entrance requirements. But his line of questioning was out of line in a confirmation hearing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No I am not. I am referring to our total intake of foreigners. 10% are refugees. I suppose it's a semantics game - are refugees considered a subset of immigrants, or not?\n\nI have no problem with a reasonable number of refugees for compassionate reasons, and spread out over numerous municipalities (NOT simply Toronto and Vancouver). I have a problem with the fact that the Liberals refused to prioritize the most vulnerable Syrian communities - Christians and especially Yazidis - and instead brought in far less vulnerable Muslims for political reasons. The Conservatives had to shame the Liberals into finally giving sanctuary to some Yazidis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a traditional catholic, I try to take pleasure in nothing, and feel guilty when I do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As of 11:24 am Eastern Time, the Catholic News Service Twitter account has a bunch of posts about the executive order, but nothing, nothing about the Republican health care bill that will take away health care from over 20 million Americans.\nhttps://twitter.com/CatholicNewsSvc\n\nWasn't the person who ran Catholic News Service for a long time recently forced out? And presumably replaced with yet another partisan Republican?\n\nThis is really unconscionable. Catholics deserve better than an EWTN or Fox News Catholic \"News\" Service.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yet, Catholics still vote for the very enemies of our planet. You know of whom I speak. The politicians who are owned and operated by the very same companies and industries who value short term profit and gain over the long term survival of this planet and humanity. And how do they get \"Christian\" votes? They merely mention their opposition to abortion! Meanwhile, someday in the near future our anti-environmental behavior will put our own children's, grandchildren's, etc., very survival in jeopardy. I don't have a lot of hope for humanities long term survival when we don't even care about the future of our own descendants!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Odd how the Oriental Orthodox - including the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church who separated in 451 - 1200 years before the Council of Trent - all have the same seven sacraments the Catholic Church has.\n\nAnd the Orthodox Catholic Church, the second largest Christian church, separated since 1051 fully 500 years before the Council of Trent, have the same seven mysteries (sacraments).\n\nI wonder how that happened?\n\nPerhaps Trent, dealing with Protestant theories on the sacraments and their enumeration at zero, two, two major and five minor by various sects, wanted to clarify there were always seven, their divine origin, and their forms and matters?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Buster, I can confidently say that in decades past these things were not openly talked about much. And this is not just about the cases involving priests, but almost anyone. This is not specifically a church thing but in general people just did not much openly discuss real cases. People knew these things happened but it was \"swept under the rug\" by all groups and orgs. As I mentioned in another post, I know of situations in public school that were handled quietly (out of the public eye as you say) and hardly anyone knew much about the details.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"God calls men and women to the priesthood.\"\nIf this is true, then the same God calls men and women for pregnancy. Do you agree ? what is the difference ? Pregnancy is the in born nature of womanhood; so is male priests to Catholics. Why to change this ? any pressing need?\n\nInstead of such meaning less requests, Catholic women should be demanding for holy sacraments like confession to be administered by Women. There you have a point..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If we were meant to be a \"Christian\" nation, which denomination was meant to be in charge?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At my age, Death is not feared nor is it denied. As a Christian, the decision to end it before Death claims it, is where I am in doubt. But I do believe the decision should be mine, and only mine. I don't like the term, \"assisted death.\" My doctor's work is done. His only responsibility is to ease my pain and suffering, which does not include the decision to die. Doctor's work is done and I am no longer his responsibility , but he is my witness that I once lived.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How different is a Catholic school from a secular one? Is it the theological perspective that bothers you? I object to the empiricism common in many science curricula, the deconstructionism prevalent in many English curricula, and the nationalism promoted by many history curricula. If you think Catholicism antiquated, do you object to teaching classical mechanics in physics classes, as if it were true? Perhaps we can get together and agree not to teach anything from any perspective, in which case the public wouldn't need to fund schools at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll help you out: it's kind of a hopeless endeavor. AlwaysThere pretends to play the logical argument game, but when he's presented with facts or logic that contradicts himself he'll just pull the \"you're incapable of being right, that's why I'm right\" card. \n\nSome examples:\nI argued things from a theological perspective and he told me that I was never a \"real Christian\" so I couldn't be right.\nI argued against his point as being a \"false cause\" logical fallacy and he said that I must have gone to a 4J school and therefore I'm incapable of understanding what true logic is.\n\nI wouldn't waste your time. The New York Times is a credible journalistic source, the right thing for him to do would be to take your examples and contradict with other credible sources if he disagrees. But you're not going to get that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This statement I disagree with:\n\n\"And Catholics in the pews don\u2019t seem averse at all to the Roman Curia and conservative hierarchs getting a bit of comeuppance.\"\n\nMost Catholics in the pews voted for Donald Trump, according to the polls, therefore, I doubt they feel the way Mr. Gibbons says they feel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are the same person? My name is Mike Eberl. I live in NY. If you would like my personal email I will provide it to you. Why would we post under different names? It seems very clear that the three of us have no issues speaking our minds. I think Dennis and Marty are much more learned in the Catholic Faith than me, so their posts would clearly show that fact if you actually spent the time to read them. How about you provide your actual name and confirm you are in fact a practicing Catholic Priest and where you are currently assigned?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It certainly isn't true as you suggest, that the NOM is the same. Especially regarding the Consecration.\nThe Mass always had similarities to the Hebrew sacrifice. But that is because the Hebrew sacrifice prefigured the Mass. Jewish priests wore vestments; The entire animal had to be consumed. The animals hooves were tied together in such a manner as to form a cross (+), the priest faced the same direction as the people, which was toward the Temple in Jerusalem. The Seder meal in those days even required silver cups.\nIn the Mass, the people and priest faced East to illustrate they were distinct from the Jews. Our sacrifice is the Lamb of God who sacrificed Himself upon the cross. The NOM borrows heavily from Hebrew prayers that were never found in any Catholic Rite. One example; \"Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life....\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I recognize your comment is directed toward a fellow RC whose views you find uncongenial. Context, when it comes to Scandinavia is essential. That region like France (nominally RC) is secular to the bone. Who are the American culture warriors with standing to tell them how to organize their society? Are they not free adults with elected democratic governments?\n\nYou have millions of lapsed RC to worry about, and to attempt to evangelize. Please respect your fellow Christians (as His Holiness obviously does with grace), who have reached, in good faith, different conclusions concerning ecclesiology and theology. I appreciate your welcome, in your comment, and I'd appreciate your good faith in respecting Lutherans, Anglicans, other Protestants, Orthodox, and \"Oriental\" churches, we who love our Lord and the Trinity as much as you. Re-fighting the Reformation? Why? To what end, in a world hostile to all of us? Francis seems to know that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of my favorite movie classics is \" Elmer Gantry \" starring Burt Lancaster. It is a historic slice of the bible belt , where Lancaster as a carnival barker and hustler ,when he sees an evangelical revival meeting , and decides he can thump that bible better than any one there , in doing so reaps a windfall of donations , he has the epiphany of greed , people will pay handsomely, to be told that god loves them , and continues his performances, at the cost his conscience. Art imitates life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are many types of formation, and we should be seeking and getting all types until our last day.\n\nSpiritual formation: practices in prayer, examination, making resolutions, learning how to seek and receive spiritual direction, getting the most out of Confession, maintaining a presence of God during the ordinary day, types of prayer, dealing with the \"Cross\" of ordinary living.\n\nDoctrinal formation: teaching on Scripture, formal Church teaching, learning \"sound criteria\" for moral decisions, learning about the Sacraments, grace, moral law, bioethics, metaphysics, Encyclicals, CCC, etc.\n\nHuman formation: learning about the human virtues, how to improve in these many virtues, receiving and giving correction, reconciling the intellect, the will, and the passions.\n\nApostolic formation: being a better friend, how to talk about supernatural matters, bringing others closer to Christ and His Church.\n\nCultural formation: history, arts, etc, helping us to be better conversationalists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Next time you are going out to purchase your latest assault weapon, try walking past the store and go to a Christian book shop. Inside you will probably find a book called 'The Gospels.' Read it and you'll discover what Jesus taught about weapons.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or Jesus was pointing out the inherent hypocrisy in Jewish divorce laws which shunned the divorced woman and stoned women for adultery but was silent on the male involvement except when it could be proven the offending male violated the property rights of the husband. If men and women are truly created in God's image, then it stands to reason women and children deserve the same protections under the law as adult males.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hmmm, I suppose a person who thinks of themselves as a defender of the 'true Catholic faith' could write the comment you wrote, but that's not the mission or the issue. You need to ask yourself if your belief in your 'true Catholic faith' is really Christian. I'm not trying to be antagonistic or sarcastic. I'm being deadly serious. I had to ask myself this very question, in prayer, at Mass and in my darkest moment. The answer I got was \"no\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I read correctly, I think Minnery's family is catholic---He's a protestant himself. So, I guess he HAS found another church...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Careful with the word '\"rebels\". You might offend someone. Especially if you are tying it in with a comment about a bible or Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Suggest that whether university, college, or catholic seminary - the purpose of learning is *faith seeking understanding* and that starts and ends with asking questions; struggling with doubt; and constantly stretching the bounds of our common faith experience. To only *settle* for teaching the *tradition of the church* is exactly what VII tried to turn upside down:\n- time is greater than space\n- reality is more important than ideas\n- unity prevails over conflict\n- the whole is greater than the part\n\nMSW cites some US colleges that are limited to tradition as they interpret it (wherein lies the evident issue) e.g. Steubenville, Ave Marie.\n\nWhen a college is isolated from the rest of the world; when it is more catholic sectarian - it fails at the essential nature of learning per Land O'Lakes statement. It merely expects that a student regurgitate a list of *acceptable sectarian interpretations*. A form of clericalism; cultic in nature vs. ressourcement & aggiornamento.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trid, you seem still be in tune with the Council of Trent. Other points of view are gaining ground among Christians.\n\" Pre-Christian and pre-Jewish people already had access to God. This is the ecclesia ab Abel (\u201cthe church that existed since Abel\u201d) that has been spoken of so often by the early church Fathers and in the documents of Vatican II. \" (Richard Rohr)\nAccording to Paul and John, Christ is the alpha and omega, the here, now everywhere and always. Jesus, the Christ, lived as divine and human among us. It is this oneness with the Divine that we humans need to embrace in order find salvation or heaven (universal belonging and universal connecting).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As an agnostic (also baby baptized Catholic) I find religious beliefs held by others relevant in understanding some of their political and social positions. Religious dogma often carries its baggage over.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As in Canada, Roman Catholic parents must be able to send their children to Roman Catholic schools, as they believe God commands them to, without financial penalty. Anything else is religious discrimination. Period.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny story. I don't know any Jews, until recently didn't even know any lived up here. There is so much I don't know about their culture, but I can say the same for many others who exist in this country. I am sure there are people from India, Muslims, Iranian Zorostrians, and so many more who probably know about Christian customs and values alot more than I know about theirs. This article brought food for thought, thank you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The big sticking point is that Francis is observant Christian, and Trump is not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 1:\n\nI don't think Jesus spoke in a didactic way about the relationship between justice and mercy; Jesus' teaching unfolds in his parables and in the Sermon on the Mount, especially the Beatitudes. Of course, the church has been reflecting on his teaching, trying to understand and follow it, for more than two thousand years. We live in the \"time between the times\" -- the \"already\" of the reign of God inaugurated by Jesus and the \"not yet\" of the full realization of God's reign in God's time. In the time between the times, we seek justice and practice it imperfectly. In the reign of God, God blends justice and mercy perfectly, because God is Love; but we do it imperfectly. At least, though, we must keep both in view and recognize the priority of mercy without denying the importance of justice. What an awesome task, especially for those in the church, charged with ministering to sinners, and those (like you) in civil society, charged with administering justice. (con't.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do not suggest that they do not baptize in parishes. I suggest that in missionary work they have no interest in conversions. And that applies to Bergoglio. When is the last time you heard him suggest anyone should convert to the Catholic Church? And he wants those in the church to go out to some vague undefined otherwhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We should show sympathy for the Google impaired, rather than curtly telling them JFGI or JFBI:\n\nhttps://www.google.ca/#q=christianity+multiple+wives\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygamy_in_Christianity\n\nhttp://www.sacred-texts.com/wmn/wcs/wcs09.htm\n\nAren't Mormons a branch of the Xer superstion?\n\nEarly Christians rejected marriage, calling it a corrupt Pagan custom. Monogamy was a Roman practice. Jews at the time of Jesus and later practiced plural marriage, despite Roman attempts to make Polygamy illegal.\n\nThe story of Hagar / H\u0101jar in the Old Testament was the inspiration for the \"Handmaiden\" concept in this story, so it seems odd to claim that there is no correlation with Christianity, particularly since some Christians have practised Polygamy. \n\nMultiple wives are common in the Old Testament. \n\nAccording to the Bible \"Righteous\" Lot got both of his daughter's pregnant after his wife was turned into a Pillar of Salt (happens every day that, don't get God mad at you -).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "thank you for your call for charity on both sides...its very sad though that since VII we have sides...it used to be just the Catholic side\ncoming from \"trying to be a faithful Catholic side, i.e. believing in the Catechism and not believing I can pick and choose teachings,\" I have fallen short of charity or courtesy sometime when posting as I tend to get very emotional about what I see is happening to our church...BUT thank you for reminding us of Christian charity", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is only one God, but there are many paths to God. And by the way, Jesus was not a Christian - He was a devout Jew.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please, read the Dubia by the Four Cardinals to see all problems with Amoris Laetitia. It's sad this is pushed on the vulnerable seminarians & made to sound as if it is written in stone, since there were \"guided\" Synods! The devil is subtle & uses half truths & confusion to spread evil. If you put in a Bible quote or references to Saints, it's made to sound more holy so people swallow it. Sadly, it's causing a 'holy' mess as different bishops are interpreting the AL document in different ways, despite the claim that it doesn't change any Church teaching. The Maltese bishops told their priests they must give Holy Communion to adulterers. They claim they're following the Pope's AL & he wrote a letter telling the Argentine bishops that was the only possible interpretation, \n Go and sin no more. Do not sin more by telling people that it's alright to receive Holy Communion when they are in mortal sin, because then you'll be in mortal sin & causing scandal & hurting Jesus. God bless you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your statement would only make sense if the sole meeting point between Catholics and Evangelicals is opposition to abortion. It isn't, and if you had bothered reading the article, you would know it isn't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Look ChrisinAK I get it you're old and thankfully your era is dying out, and quickly i might add. The baby boomers folks born in the 50's and 60's are nearing their end and if it means that rotten mentality dies with it, then all the better. I am not here to sugar coat life for you. I'm not using an attitude, I am telling you about business culture which has been my profession for the past 20 years. In the corporate world, alcoholism can be tolerated and rehabilitated but usually DV is not. Violent crimes in any capacity put the other coworkers in danger and every person has the right to feel safe at their work place. Which is why most convicts have limited abilities when it comes to finding a career after making poor life choices.\n\nIts not a mistake, you knew what you were doing, therefore its a life choice. Using a child's mentality to justify it, doesn't make it any better. Lastly who ever said I was christian? And why does religion even matter in a situation such as this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump probably doesn't want to go to Notre Dame - he still wants to hold on to the Catholic vote.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't ignore Jesus when I shake hands. Again I'm just happy for those who make it to Mass.\n\nI follow what you are saying about the timing - I wonder why it is where it is?\n\nI don't know why it isn't at the beginning of the Mass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Christian, I have to say that I have always found politics - of _any_ stripe - from the pulpit to be uncomfortable. Truth be told, I don't believe it is good for the church. Certainly politics is discussed in the church, but the service and the sermon should be about faith, not politics. We're all people - those who agree with us and those who disagree with us both. Everyone of us thinks we're right - if we thought we're wrong, we'd hold a different opinion. It is therefor arrogant to insist that Christians must support a particular political viewpoint.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Up until just a few years ago, the reproductive behavior of Catholic women--including abortion rates--was statistically identical to the women in the general population. The only reason for any disparity now is the aging out of the Catholic population relative to the general population. The average Catholic is now 3 years older than the average American.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agree. I feel bad for the families but I have little sympathy for Americans who travel to Korea, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, etc. Especially the Christian groups who go there to spread their faith to a hostile population.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How far to the right, Tim Johnson, do you have to be to lose your senses like this? The social teachings of the Catholic Church can indeed be considered as \"socialist,\" but that is not enough, and that is because our Teaching is solidly based on the teachings and actions of Our Savior Jesus Christ. +Francis is a pope and therefore what he tells and shows us is the parts of our beliefs that have been neglected for too many years before him. Jesus never \"gave\" to Caesar what belonged to the Father. So why do you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is also contrary to centuries old Catholic traditions. Weapons were always supposed to not be carried in churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, maybe \"some\" need to spend more time studying the authentic Catholic tradition and stop being so quick to see things as a departure from \"doctrine.\" Tradition is much more than \"what I grew up with.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps the good cardinal might take a look at Christian Family Movement as it was presented to us in the 1960's. At that time, a new young priest in our parish selected 5 mature couples, introduced them to the format which consisted of meeting once every two weeks in each other's homes. Each couple was issued a study guide for the upcoming evening with various Catholic/Christian themes and questions designed to engage husband and wife prior to and their answers then shared with the group. A simple action was chosen for the following week. Light refreshment was offered after the discussion. The meetings, not only engaged us in timely topics about ways to better live our faith and form stronger families, but encouraged outreach into our communities as well. The original cell group leaders eventually helped new cell groups emerge, serving as excellent Christian mentors for the formation of younger couples. Our most treasured friendships & memories were born from CFM. (info on line).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, newsreader, I don't want to \"get back\" at the church. What purpose would that serve.\n\nWhat I'd like to see is a church that is alive, that is a place in a very dynamic society to which people can turn for reliable moral guidance, spiritual counsel, and upon which people (Catholic or not) can rely as a \"touchstone\" for all that is good and holy in life. \n\nI don't expect perfection. I cannot demand that of others, if I'm not there myself. But I have NO problem believing that an organization that seems to want to constantly call ME to become better, should be held to that same standard.\n\nI DO believe that the actions of the bishops (and not my words) have made it clear that to become better, or to even strive to become better, structural change is needed in the church. I for one, find the refusal of the bishops to accept accountability for their own actions, a pretty hypocritical sign and symbol, in a church where sign and symbol are a key element.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We will be FORCED to take the Jewish God Lucifer as the law passed in the US 1991, the 7 Noahide Laws, Obama Picked the RABBI, the World Religion will be the Noahide Laws in the Jewish Utopia, The UN approved the Law, It is Freemasonic doctrine, The Vatican approved, Judaism is FREEMASONRY, Communism is Judaism, The Christians will be beheaded by Guillotine,Jesus is Idol Worship under the Talmud,US is under Talmudic LAW http://www.takebackourrights.org/docs/Christians-full%20page.html http://www.cuttingedge.org/news/n1887.cfm http://americanholocaustcoming.blogspot.com/2012/04/sanhedrin-noahide-law-on-people-who.html http://www.truthfromgod.com/articles/jews_created_communism.html http://www.whale.to/b/jews_and_freemasonry.html https://seashoremary.wordpress.com/tag/seven-noahide-laws/ http://www.rense.com/general76/noahide.htm http://warning.church/services-view/president-obama-appoints-pro-noahide-law-rabbi-david-saperstein-as-us-ambassador-for-international-religious-freedom/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"another examination that Pope Francis says must be memorized and memorialized (i.e., \"do this\") by every Catholic: the examination of the entire world as announced by the Matthean Jesus in the Beatitudes (\"Blessed are ...\") and in Chapter 25 (\"Lord, when did we see you ... ?\").\"\nA Mystagogy for the Anawim... The Beatitudes\nI found Michael Crosby when gathering all things on the Beatitudes . His Spirituality of the Beatitudes was the one that wasn't \"fluffy\". It was the one that didn't change the word \"Blessed\" to Happy or some easier to embrace word. There is nothing couch potato-ish about Michael Crosby. Yet, he was further down the road and the gap between was great. How to bridge the gap? Maybe? In those days between Easter and Pentecost, a parish wide Mystagogy on the Beatitudes and Chapter 25. What do the Beatitudes call us to be and to celebrate in each other? Seems to be the missing piece/peace. The Wedding of the Beatitudes and the Good News of Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Swaggart repented and there is hope for you if you turn to Jesus for his mercy as well. This guy shows no repentance nor understanding of the issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You choose the Catholic bishops as heroes ... I'd say that you should pay heed to your own advice about taking care with choices and avoiding double standards and Siberian pine forests in one's own eye etc!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems that it's some parents responsibility to teach their children the Christian method of sexual education which includes abstinence only, in combination with a healthy dose of shame and fear.\n\nThat alone is a big reason why all children should be taught in school the science and reality behind human sexuality and sexual reproduction. Not to mention higher rates of teenage pregnancy and STDs among uneducated populations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Respectfully, the Roman Catholic Church is not the only valid and truthful purveyor of the message of Jesus Christ. I am not at all encouraging you to leave the RCC, but there are many, many Christian fellowships which follow the Gospel, believe in the truth of Jesus as Son of God, and have a heck of a lot fewer years of negative, heavy baggage than the RCC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What else does \"our interference by converting many to Christianity\" reasonably mean?\n\nWhen you say \"we (our) converted,\" \"we\" is the actor performing the action of conversion. If you intended to give the convert-ee agency don't make them a puppet. The word \"interference\" also pretty much can only imply \"we\" were doing something against their will. If people want to do things you helping is not \"interference.\" \n\nThat of course ignores that \"we,\" meaning the the US, Europeans, \"the West,\" or America, had nothing at all to do with the spread of Christianity in the Sudan. The US didn't exist and Christianity was almost unknown outside of Rome, where it was a minor cult among many. The only people who \"converted\" anyone in the Sudan to Christianity were Sudanese who traded with the ME and saw it there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't we all to some greater or lesser extent \"celebrate Christian in a divided land\"\n\nand I don't mean our country, I mean our heart.\n\nAren't we often torn and divided in the hourly choices we face each day? \n\n- Do we love and sacrifice for our loved ones, or do we draw into our self, seeking our own consolation, assigning more value to our feelings than charity or humility demand?\n\n- Do we struggle to \"get outside of ourselves\" and serve others, even thought we though \"we don't feel like it?\"\n\n- Do we forget about ourselves and give to others generously, ever more quietly?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Science and religion are mutually exlusive and Galileo was an enemy of Catholic church. The Roman Catholic church put him on trial and condemned him, convicting him of heresy for his heliocentric beliefs. He died under imprisonment. I guess they must teach a different narrative in Catechism.' Readily abandoned? REALLY? not so His book was band by the Holy See until 1830s. Try academics instead of catechism , it makes on smarter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not a news story. Not a news story. Not a news story. I love how D'Sousa's own website is quoted as a viable news source: \"D'Sousa's website also calls him a 'brilliant and forceful defender of Christianity'.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "actually, the ridiculous premise America is a Christian nation is exposed for the anti-Christ doctrine that it is in Hebrews 11;13-16.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is fantasy?? \n\nThat Judas didn't get it? That Christianity is counter-cultural? I'm thinking the Jews of Jesus' time would certainly think so...as do many people today.\n\nSo. What is \"fantasy\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Adventism is learning how to be what it was never thought to be. Forgetting its past is difficult. The end time is a farce re-imagined for thousands of times and years of Jewish and Christian history. Can Adventism exist with a new narrative? It can and it is as it ignores its ignominious beginning.\n\nThe Adventist Ghetto was created to counter the embarrassment of membership. And so the educational system. In time the Sabbath will be treated like the Sunday of other Christians. The End Time will stay on the shelf of the millions of other ludicrous, stillbirth propositions. And Adventism will meld into the woodwork of common Christianity. It won't be and oddball religion any more. The dilatants will be accommodated as they harmlessly pass in and out the door (as they apparently are now) as the norm.\n\n Adventism Is on its way to a new scheme, in spite of the resistance of the GGG, Glorious Guardians of Good, the ancient reactionaries, the guardians of the long deceased corpse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Celibacy has many virtues and there is nothing wrong with demanding sacrifice to hold certain positions in a religion. So this is not a justice or health issue. Clericalism is not strengthened by celibacy since anyone can choose to be celibate. However, only allowing male priests furthers sexism which is a form of real hatred whose example in religion results in the world as violence, rape, slavery, child abuse, genital mutilation, terrorism, forced illiteracy, and poverty. This bias against women also furthers clericalism as 1/2 the church is made to feel voiceless and subjugated to other ordainable 1/2 of the church. \n\nIt is the Ukrainian Catholic Church's refusal to ordain women called in Christ to priesthood while allowing all men this opportunity that amounts to gender sacramental slavery of all women & this is immensely harmful to the church, women, men, children, the world as it portrays Christianity falsely standing for hatred and partiality of God towards men over women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is always disheartening when a fellow worshiper of the One True Church argues. After all, I, like you, have discarded Jesus in favor of slavish devotion to a man-made institution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know, it really is cute seeing these articles comparing Presbyterian \"tradition\" with the Catholic tradition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Ten Commandments came out of the Old Testament. They were replaced by Jesus with 2: \"Love the Lord, thy God, with thy whole heart and thy whole soul,\" and \"Love they neighbor as thyself.\" I don't know why people who call themselves \"Christians\" subscribe to anything in the Old Testament, as it wasn't written for them, and Christianity was instituted by Christ thousands of years later. But I don't have a problem with the commandments. No harm could come from following them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Relocation is certainly among the reasons for the decline in numbers. But it is only too easy to use it as total explanation. The clergy and hierarchy have to come to grips with the corruption in the scandals and abuse that they have perpetrated on the laity. How could they have made Jesus and his meassage so unattractive? A future iteration of Catholic Christianity may well be one without them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So Jesus was speaking metaphorically? He was teaching that faith was inert and contained in a set of rules? Amazing. Did he provide the complete list of rules? If not, then how could he expect us to follow them? Surely you are not now going to claim the aggregation of rules, rituals, traditions and rites developed by the catholic church over the past 1900 years or so are required for salvation and represent \"faith\"? To do so would imply Jesus left behind an incomplete \"faith\".\n\nBy the way, the ten commandment story is a myth. The Israelite picked up many of those rules from the Code of Hammurabi while they were in exile in Babylon, then added them to existing myths of the Exodus, thus creating the myth that is contained in the OT.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Holy Reality writes: \"The problem with so many conservatives is not that they just don't know(or ignore), it's what they know just isn't so.\"\nThis is a problem not just for conservatives but for many other groups of people as well. For example, Christians \"know\" that Jesus is the son of God, died for our sins, and was resurrected, while non-Christians know that the story of Jesus is a fairy tale. Neither of these two groups is uninformed but one group is informed and the other is misinformed.\nBefore we vote, our duty is to not let ourselves be misinformed. Remember, it's worse to be misinformed than it is to be uninformed.\nBest,\nRTD", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "WHERE WERE ALL THESE CONCERNED CITIZENS WHEN OBAMA WAS COVERING UP CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS FIGURES AT UNIVERSITIES OR WHEN PEOPLE LOST THEIR LIVES AT THE HAND OF HILARY...CONFUSED SOULS , WE NEED TO PRAY FOR THEM.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's all this left and right stuff? I'm a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You said that I disagreed with the Church's on salvation and invincible ignorance. I asked what you perceived the Church's to be; no answer.\nI know that people do disagree with the Magisterium, one only has to read the numerous and diverse opinions which abound on here to see that people do that. Everyone is his own pope, his own church in deciding what to believe or not to believe. \nWhen one sees the diversity of belief and opinion expressed here, it is easy to understand how the churches of the Reformation disintegrated into the 40,000 odd Protestant sects which exist today. Without the Magisterium the Catholic Church would be in the same state.\nWe already have this to some extent insofar as people trumpet the virtues (or vices) of their particular parish (liberal, Vatican II; good: traditional, orthodox; bad).\nBe mindful of Matthew 13:24-30. The tares have been sown, we await the reaper.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sort of a moot topic given the number and type of channels anyone has to speak up.\n\nNo Catholic organization has a duty to give anyone a bullhorn, especially someone like Martin who has a veritable 24/7 platform to promote his version of Catholic teaching. \n\nI do think it's good that Martin occasionally reminds his audience that he's not a theologian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So that is why he invited Soros to enter into his forming a grassroots movement to be incorporated in each parish in the U.S, and throughout the Catholic world?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for your concerns, Michael. We'll do just fine.\n\nNobody is keeping anybody in the margins of the Church, but immoral behavior will not be called a Sacrament, which is apparently what you want. Sorry, you're going to be disappointed, like the VC2'ers who thought it was a mandate to turn the Catholic Church into the Unitarian Universalists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Traditionally, in the Christian West and East, once one has received holy orders they do not marry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ghettos are usually formed because the minority is not allowed to live with the majority. It began in Europe, where the Jews were not allowed to live with Christians, and had to live in ghettos.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It isn't about being smart. It's about having resources. Critical Scripture scholarship was formally endorsed by Pius XII in the 1943 encyclical, Divino afflante Spiritu, written in response to the advances in Biblical archaeology and other disciplines then taking place. Today, no serious theologian -- Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant or Jewish -- rejects the critical approach. None.\n\nBut there are opponents, of course. The most vocal are Protestant fundamentalists, so your characterization of the literal approach as 'Catholic' and the critical as 'Protestant' is particularly ironic. In fact, there is no Catholic/Protestant dichotomy, only one between scholarly and uninformed interpretations.\n\nBy the way, it isn't a progressive/conservative issue either. You won't find a legitimate Catholic seminary anywhere, traditional or progressive, that teaches Scriptural literalism. The exception, I suppose, might be one of those sedevacantist sems set up in somebody's basement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes and they should have done just that at Trent. All the bishops from the North should have been invited and there should have been frank discussion of the 95 thesis. Instead, that council had limited invitations. There was no official Lutheran Church before this council took place. I think we should recognize these fact today and begin the discussion with the Lutherans and quit putting false straw arguments in the way --- such as only we have the Eucharist, or that their ideas about clergy are wrong, their ideas about marriage or ordination are wrong. Of course the worst one is that all must accept the Roman Catholic ideas about reproduction. We are off the track and should be willing to discuss our ideas openly with other Christians who are sometimes more on a better track. We then could help others when they are off track. What we are now doing is proclaiming that we know THE TRUTH. We are insisting the impossible....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "gtm,\n\nYou frame your comment in simple terms of moral judgment. The better approach, arguably, is to ask whether (a) it is wise or accurate to characterize all the Muslim and Christian peoples of the Middle East as of one fanatical, obscurantist, reactionary mind, or (b) useful for the West to cut itself off in opposition in the starkest terms from more than one billion people.\n\nArguably, to do so is not based on a true assessment of the Middle East nor is it wise or moral when viewed from a broader perspective.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, I didn't say that. I responded to your claim of an \"unadulterated\" message. Since we have no first-person accounts from Jesus, and the earliest extant Christian texts were written decades after the Crucifixion, and the earliest manuscripts are from the late 2nd-3rd century, what we have is an \"adulterated message,\" though that isn't the term I'd use.\n\nWhat does my opinion have to do with these facts?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the underlying aim is to keep muslim kids from being radicalized the demonstrators are going about it exactly the wrong way. We want muslims to have more moderate, secular views so that they integrate into society and take on Canadian societal norms. That means feeling part of the wider community, making friends with non-muslims and being exposed to secular ideas. If you ostracize them and give them an us versus them mentality and they go through some identity crisis where they feel that they don't belong here, that is when they are most susceptible to some charismatic leader in the community or online. The worst possible thing is the suggestion that they form muslim only schools, as that would cut them off from the community even more. I'm an atheist and against public funding for catholic or any other religious schools but if a christian, muslim or hindu group wants 15 min in an empty classroom I don't see a big deal. It's not the state indoctrinating kids but accommodating them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I voted to prepare for a Nuclear attack my Communist North Korea. But as a born again saint Christian, the Holy Bible is my lifetime guide. In the book of Revelation, there will be a Great Tribulation that will come upon planet earth. A time of God's Wrath on a Christ rejecting world. But for the born again Christian saint like myself, before that happens, Jesus Christ will appear in the clouds to take us all home to heaven and not be a part of a huge catastrophe that will come upon this world. In fact 1/3 of the world population will perish. A Great Earthquake will come upon earth. Never has this powerful earth has ever occured on earth. All the islands on the earth will be \"moved\" or just disappear, The Hawaiian islands will be moved to a new location on earth or will simpy disappear below the Pacific Ocean. Read the Book of Revelation. Unfortunately many will not believe what God says will happen. To escape this coming catastrophe, you must be born again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lets just toss the 10.5 in with the 120 million to Afganistan until 2020 and 120 million to Yemen. Are we in the role of bankrolling Muslim Countries ? I am\nnot a religious person but it is evident that this Mid East Belief and Faith in\nAlah is the grestest threat to (as they do not practice tolerance) Christian Nations . Too bad the Christians could not unite , Coptic to Catholic . It is the\nSeige of Malta (1565) all over again. We were lucky back then, otherwise control\nof the Mediterranean would have fallen to Turkey.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would think it difficult making a living as a writer for Catholic publications.\nWinter is probably under the gun to produce a lot of articles to obtain minimal financial compensation.\nAnd writing for other non RC publication, where possibly better money, is extremely difficult given the competition of excellent writers and dwindling subscribers.\nPossibly MW doesn't have time to check source in effort to churn out bulk number of pieces?!\nApologia - explanation, not an excuse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I posted to another, you seem to enjoy rallying against Catholics and anyone who supports Trump for being the only front-runner who \"appears\" [in quotes because I agree that his sincerity is questionable] to support life at all stages, but yet you fail to mention what and who you personally stand for!\n\nIn other words, it's one thing to state some facts and come across as you believe one thing over another and it's another thing entirely to put that into action. You seem to be very anti-Trump, so does that mean you support Hilary, one of the independents, or are simply staying home to criticize the results without participating?\n\nPlease enlighten us!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church, is tax excempt as are contributions to Catholic charities: the separation of State and Church is the fundamental cornerstone of democracy. In a levelled playfield, with complete equality for women (in income, work opportunities, education, and control over reproduction - especially since men do not help much) abortions will decrease (this is scientific forecast - based on econometric studies). There were more abortions (as % of population) in Victorian times, when it was punished by jail. . If your so decent learn about women's issues and work for their equality and you will as well work to decrease abortions. And please making shameful choices in politcs", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If one ceases to believe in what the Catholic Church teaches, one ceases to be Catholic.\n\nOn Euthansia, regardless of motive, euthanasia is a murder (CCC 2277).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that Christians are judged by their intent to follow the Bible and its scripture. I am a terrible Christian because I don't try very hard, however I do try to treat people well. I don't recall where he said he would abide by state law. As to this case, I do know that there are a number of folks that think he is going to lose this case, however I think he has a good chance of winning. 1, there are lots of cake making contests and artistic quality is a part of those contests (Food Network has entire shows based upon these contests). 2, wedding cakes are can be unique and different, sure there are stock wedding cakes, but many couples choose unique versions that are unique based upon their look. 3, this man makes wedding cakes that are unique from the cake baker down the street. 4, there is a reason that couples choose one baker over another, it's not just on price. If cakes were standard, then all bakers would make the same cakes and differentiate on price.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You always forget that public institutions do not claim to be founded and directed by God. The Catholic Church certainly does. In a way, all of this legal wrangling is a direct result of the Catholic Church (among other churches) refusing to admit its sins and to do reasonable penance in aiding its own victims. By reason of my own vocation, I stand in shame about that. And by such professed and strict adherence to the Church without exception, Marty E, you, too, should stand in shame as well. But I don't think you show here that you have a working conscience anyway. BTW - you may want to compare any policy of the entire Church, any diocese, that carries as severe penalties as do public schools. Go ahead, check the facts and check yourself. No need for a reply to me, as I never read or bother with such talk from you. But you certainly should post your new knowledge in a fresh comment. Good luck with it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Trump somehow manages to build the wall, will we be treated to a pronouncement that Trump is \"not Christian\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Nothing has changed in the Church since that day....\"\nThank you Kurgan. Since nothing has changed, I wonder how bread sales survived in that day and hence when the dinner rolls were so emaciatingly thin, tasteless and so perfectly round? Or, did the women who cooked for the supper (and came in later to clean-up) order the bread from a Catholic monastary?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm reading and interpreting the bible. I gave my opinion of the situation and never said a word to this baker. I look forward to hopefully getting a final word on the legal status from the SCOTUS, if and when that happens. \n\nI merely shared my opinion on a pointless online forum. \\\n\nBesides, as a Christian I am called to rebuke my fellow Christ followers. It's part of the deal and if I were to do so, it would be without judgement but in the spirit of expressing my opinion as I am called to do. \n\nI don't have an opinion on how the law will eventually turn out. I do hope he has the right to refuse to serve anyone based on his religious conviction, I just happen to disagree with his conviction and would say so to his face in a respectful manner.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Theological illiteracy among Catholics can be blamed, at least in part, on the culture of paternalism within the Church. The hierarchy still supports a top-down method of pedagogy, even for adults. (Even the word \"pedagogy\" implies a model of learning suited to children.) If that's the system one is formed in, it doesn't make for robust adult faith but, rather, theological dependency. \n\nAs for Scriptural illiteracy, until the mid-20th century, Catholics were discouraged from individual reading of the Bible. The idea was that the laity weren't equipped to understand Scripture without the help of the clergy, and that our time to be nourished with The Word of God was during the homily at Mass. The Church still holds that homiletics is the primary mode of Scriptural catechesis for adults. The problem is that too little emphasis is placed in seminary formation on good homiletics, and it shows.\n\nJesus played with the children and taught the adults. We do it the other way around.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suppose anyone can claim to be a spokesman for \"Christian\" values. No law against it and you don't even have pass a test to call yourself a expert on theology and the inner workings of God's rules and regulations. Hey what ever did happen to Jim and Tammy Faye Baker anyway???", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We can both keep dreaming. I'm not sure the primary resistance would be from Christians, more likely to come from the ACLU", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You've just made a good case for why doctrine needs to evolve. You are quite right that the Church at one time endorsed slavery. That endorsement came from a simplistic interpretation of Scripture (Col. 3:22), which goes to my point about the importance of not taking biblical passages at face value. The fact that we no longer feel that way is evidence to me of the ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit.\n\nYou are free to disagree with the pope's stance on immigration. Truth be told, I'm not sure I fully agree with him. But what we aren't free to do (at least, not if we consider ourselves Christian in more than a cosmetic sense) is ignore the plight of others. We must care. How that care is manifested is a matter for prayerful discernment and informed individual conscience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So we in the Church shouldn't always strive to follow Jesus' teachings?\n\nAre you really comparing Jesus' teaching in our time to the Jewish religious establishment of His time on earth?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church once 'outlawed' chocolate. \"In the 1600\u2019s, chocolate was thought to be a powerful aphrodisiac, inflaming lustful passion. So much so that religious leaders banned monks and nuns from ingesting it.\"\n\nThe Church has lost membership ever since. \n\nCacao beans are a natural drug. They contain up to 2.2 percent phenylethylamine, the \u2018love and sex\u2019 chemical. Cacao beans contain other compounds that enhance mood, joy, creativity and imagination. \n\n Research at West Virginia\u2019s Wheeling Jesuit University suggests that chocolate may boost your memory, lengthen your attention span, shorten your reaction time and strengthen your problem-solving skills as it increases blood flow to the brain.\n \nhttp://www.wju.edu/about/adm_news_story.asp?iNewsID=2043\n\nI can understand why you want to ban this evil substance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even Jesus recognised there were sheep in the fold who should not be there:\n\n\"But because you are not My sheep, you refuse to believe. My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.\"\n\nThose predestined to salvation (yes, the Catholic Church teaches this) will never be lost to Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Only a Catholic/Orthodox Priest can absolve me, only through the hands of a Priest does G/d almighty come down on the Altar to give us his flesh and blood to eat and drink.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting fact is that the more religious one is the more they reproduce.\nExample being Moslems, Jews and Christians.\nThe more secular the less children and less problems dealing with people different then your beliefs.\nZionist Jews extremely high birth rate, radical Moslems high birth rate, Mormons, Pencostals high birth rate.\nEnd result is not good for the rest of mankind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AUW been there for the community, by referral to Funding our homeless, you can call on IHS, Catholic Charities and Salvation Army, to name a few good ones, the worst is Helping Hand Hawaii together with there Punawai Program funded by OHA what a waste, I question some of these non-profits \"no one watching the monies\" I explain Helping Hands to AUW Cindy Adams.................no update! I oppose HB1240 going before Way and Means, and left message for Senator Tokuda on my opposition, and wrote to Senator Green...............Gov has to hold back the monies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seems to me that ND could say, \"Hey, you convinced us eight years ago never to invite a president who is the antithesis of Christian principles.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the major developments in Catholic social teaching in the 20th century has been the preferential option for the poor. The option for the poor is simply the idea that, as reflected in canon law, \"The Christian faithful are also obliged to promote social justice and, mindful of of the precept of the Lord, to assist the poor.\" It indicates an obligation, on the part of those who would call themselves Christian, first and foremost to care for the poor and vulnerable. I would bet most of our legislators who voted to take a portion of our dividend to pay for their excessive government spending would claim they are Christian. Taking the dividend to pay for big government does not equate with Christian conduct. For anyone interested, Pope Francis' Easter Vigil can be read at Salt and Light Media. Lets all remember it's Easter today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When Padre A'plas challenged the military leaders in the garrison of Atitlan, he did so as pastor of a large Catholic community. That represented a threat to the power of the garrison in that region.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are Catholics really \"Christians\", Paul?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Interesting that the two words \"liberal and Progressive\", the best adjectives to describe the United State Constitution, are now given revisionist meaning\"\n\nSort of like Christ and Christians....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of three) In the article by Orlandar Brand-Williams and Mark Hicks\n\nDetroit Archbishop Vigneron has said leaders \u201cneeded to go back and look at the fundamental mission and in light of that, what do we have to change.\u201d The first thing to change is to remove the fear of thinking and its corollary, fear of reading.\n\nStephanie Quesnelle, 26, of old Royal Oak, attends St. Hyacinth Roman Catholic Church in Detroit\u2019s Poletown neighborhood. And not where she is supposed to attend. Nationality parishes were abolished years ago. Accepting what the Teaching Magisterium has to say about which parish to belong is another starting point. Apparently both Quesnelle and Weldeab are thinking for themselves about which parish to attend, despite Canon Law.\n\nOther local Catholics like Heywan Weldeab of Canton Township also found the event helpful. A lifetime member of St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Detroit . . .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not surprised the churches are the regressive element here. They always are. It would seem to me that some of these \"Good Christians\u00ae\" must have interests in the alcohol industry.\n\nWhy it is the \"churches\" have no problem with rampant alcoholism, drunk driving, domestic violence, and all the other problems arising from alcohol? \n\nThere's an Oaken Keg on the other side of Swanson Road from Wasilla Middle School. All the Tesoros -where your kids go to buy candy and soda- have liquor stores. Brown Jug is right on the highway where it can be seen by... gasp... \"the children.. won't someone think of the CHILDREN!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It may interest you to know it was Pius XII who initiated and encouraged catholics to become scholars in sacred scripture back after the 2nd World War . \nHe saw cleary just how dreadfully far behind in basic studies the church of \"Rome\" was .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey Mike...say hello to your new president, Donald J. Trump !!\n\nAnd white Catholics put him into office. We know where we stood with Hillary and her left-wing anti-Catholic bigots. And we weren't fooled, any more than liberal Jews were fooled in the 1930's into supporting Hitler because he favored national healthcare.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In the NT, Paul asserts that the commandments are all subsumed in the single injunction to 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'\" --- The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You write \"Cobbled together as the Mass is, in my heart I know that the risen Christ is there among all of us imperfect Catholics and random sinners.\" My question that begs an answer is can you know 'uncobbled' and without the mass that the Risen Christ is there among all of us other Christians and unbelievers - and random sinners...?? I believe you can be aware of God's presence without the mass- or a church!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Matthew 25:31-46, Christ tells us what we need do for salvation. One of these is \"welcome the stranger\". See also:\n\nExodus 22:21, \"You must not mistreat or oppress foreigners in any way. Remember, you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.\"\n\nExodus 23:9, \"Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.\"\n\nDeuteronomy 10:19, \"You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.\"\n\nIn the Talmud, a repeated admonition is deemed particularly important. The Torah repeats it three times.\n\nJeremiah 22:3, \"Thus says the Lord: Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.\"\n\nRunning into the character limit, so I shall just mention that Ezekiel 47:21-23 tells Israel to treat foreigners as if they were native Israelites", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know one person in Church, that was truly excited about Trump, I am sure there were some but I did not know any. Many Christians, I believe took a pragmatic approach in this last election, as well as most, but voting for a System or Party that most closely aligns with what they believe, I did not, but can understand why they did, especially with a liar like Clinton on the other ticket. I wrote in Cruz, and although I was not thrilled about his views on certain issues, I was most comfortable with him, I liked Kasick as well, not because of his spiritual values, but his leadership qualities. George Washington never claimed to be a Christian, and was also rebuked a few times by Pastors for his conduct in Church, that still does not mean he as not a great leader.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do so many liberal Catholics on this site spend so much time\nDiagnosing people?\n\nAre there that many armchair out of work counselors?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The heart of Easter !\n\nI happened to watch TV late at night and ended up watching a Christian talk show as I could get no other stations. I saw people talking with tears in their eyes as they described how Jesus had changed their lives for so much better. They said to say the sinner's prayer; to confess my sins and ask Jesus to forgive me and come into my hear and be my Lord (follow him) and Savior. I did it and found the love of Jesus! You can too. You can find a friend in Jesus. He loves you. You can experience his love and reality and eternal life.\n\nGet into a great church, absorb His Word, the Bible, be a doer of his Word a wow watch Him move in your life for better and good as you follow Him..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For sure, NCR has lost many of its most interesting and thoughtful writers. McClory and Kennedy are foremost in my mind. But there is also the bigger picture: By focusing narrowly on our religion, it must be admitted that there is just not that much going on. The snail's pace of the Catholic Church, the procrastination, the endless excuses for not doing anything, and the refusal to believe in a sophisticated, non-didactic education of the people in the pews are weighing down any attempt to be lively and vital. The solution might be to examine spiritual life issues more broadly and situate the Catholic approach within a more diverse and less parochial topic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So if I understand your \"Jesus\" quota requirement rule, when someone like Trump speaks to evangelicals, and conservative rallies and mentions Jesus every 20 words, then he must be legit, right? How about people like Jerry Falwell and crowd? You must like them, they mention Jesus by name all the time. What about the prelates you gush about? +Cupich, +McElroy, etc -they must use the Holy Name every 2nd sentence, I guess....really, what an asinine assertion. By the way, I think you need to go to confession for your grave sin against the 8th commandment: You clearly made a statement equating +Burke to Satan by inserting him into the subject of that line you quoted (w/o attribution...) from the St Michael's Prayer. And exaggeration or not, your intent was quite clear. For shame. Nonetheless, I'm sure he welcomes your prayers for him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Baloney.\n\nAnd it must be said that at least I ... and those you castigate with your particular brand of vitriol...have the guts to post our comments to you instead of behind your back. \n\nTell me. What \"poisonous comment\" have I EVER made to you? Except wonder if you are really a priest? \n\nAs far as the rest of your comment - most of the posters here are either not Catholic or Catholics who have left the Church. Are you saying they too have \"no right to fire broadsides at any Catholic on here\"? That would certainly diminish the amount of posters here - NCR make take issue with you on this point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then how is it, that in the first three centuries of Christianity's existence that the Eucharist was celebrated in Home Liturgies and that more often than not, had a female presbyter. Afterward, the Christians gathered also ate dinner together---prepared often by the presbyter---a woman of the household. It was only after Christianity became accepted and later became THE state religion, that churches were built and the presbyter became priests and all male. This is the early history of the Church, which the hierarchy won't honestly discuss with people [or admit]. If they did, they could not continue to insist that males only can preside at the Mass. \n\nJesus ordained NOBODY. Nowhere is it written that Jesus anointed anyone---never mind just men. No where in the Gospels, does it state that Jesus gave the Twelve the mission to celebrate the Eucharist. Rather they were to preach the Gospels and baptize all nations. [Mk. 16:14-18; Mt. 28:16-21;Lk. 24:36-49;Jn.20:19-23; Acts 1:6-8]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "dude!\n\nwhen you categorically claim that, anything, done by any group of people, regardless of how large those numbers, do not represent the religion they claim..\n \n..you might should consider that its YOU that doesn't actually follow the religion. \n\nwaving your hand and saying \"they aren't really Muslim\" becomes delusional at some point. \n\nits exactly what happened to me and Christianity. (leans in and whispers- \"its ok\")", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here are the consequential realities, Cardinals.\n\nThe average person doesn't believe in the God that you profess.\nThe average Catholic doesn't go to weekly Mass\nThe average Catholic hasn't been to confession in more than a year. \nThe average person in the US spends more than they make.\nThe average person no longer works 40 hours a week, and thinks their country owes them a living, health care, housing, spending money. \n\nThe average person divorces and doesn't recognize the expression \"love is heroic self-gift\". \n\nThe average person is fat, thinks about themselves or food nearly constantly, and complains a lot in their head.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obama claimed to be a 'christian'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "habits reveal the true person; in the real sense of the meaning 'habit'.\nSome habits we Christians culture are 'bad' habits.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Always nice to see a Catholic Church with its altar rail intact.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Justinaino, Is this your idea \"until only between the 12th to 14th week of gestation adequate substantive matter present to sustain a human personality.\" This idea is certainly i not scientific nor very truthful. It looks much more authoritarian than authoritative to this scientist with 22 years of Roman Catholic Education... So I question if this statement is truly ethical....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What those kids did was reprehensible but who knows if they could have really done anything. Its not like someone didn't try to save someone and then discovered they can't handle the rip tide or whatever. Wonder if those were good Christian kids who will go to Church on Sunday? They will probably get theirs someday.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I remember the women in my own formation as a young Catholic. Nuns and certain church ladies.\n\nFrom that experience (which I won't detail), I'll just say this: Those who think women have an inherent wisdom or capacity for compassion that men don't possess...they likely weren't raised as Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It could be a good thing for Canada. I remember when the BC SoCred party decided to reject a motion to remove the \"Christian Principles\" sections of their Party \"Who We Are\" documents. A Jewish Party hopeful walked out of the Convention at that point. That policy booboo, and choosing Bill Vander Zalm as the leader, sealed BC SoCred's fate.\n\nGone, but never forgotten. Who could forget a party that had an Official Women's Auxilliary, one that served up Resolutions such as the Pressing Need to Castrate Rapists. I can appreciate the sentiment, but that sort of talk from Political Parties sends chills up the spine of most Secular Canadians. Not that far removed from severing the hands of thieves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So when I have a philosophical question I find hard to answer I like to ask myself what would Jesus do? Naturally I can't speak for Jesus but His thoughts on many subjects are recorded for consultation. As near as I can tell He would not have been big on guns or toting them around campuses, schools, cities, churches or homes. This behavior sort of flies in the face of His real message. I'm sure this thought may enrage even some ordained ministers of the faith but it can't be helped. Jesus refused to keep silent so I'll follow his lead on that. Walk in beauty, not in fear \"Christian\" soldiers....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find this article to be cynical and gossipy. You never bothered to read the very book you used as an example to rip someone apart with. If you ask me this article is all propaganda. Im a Catholic Trump supporter who remembers Clinton's camp exchanging emails about a possible Catholic spring. Shameful journalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only people who consider Mormons to be \"Conservative Christians\" are (1) Mormons (2) those who don't know the difference between Mormonism and True Christianity because, to atheists and non-Christians, \"they all look and sound alike.\"\n-\nMormonism has \"their book\" that is \"in addition to\" \"their Mormon Bible\"....that Catholics, Protestants, and even Jehovah Witnesses consider to be \"non-Biblical\"......along with additional writings/messages that the \"lower level\" Mormons are not privy to....but is \"revealed\" once one works their way up in the Mormonism Hierarchy. \n-\nThe Protestant Church has one book: The Bible. That is it. That one book is the complete basis for what Protestants believe in.\n-\nThey don't have \"secret books\" or \"secret letters\" or \"secret revelations\" the way Mormonism does.\n-\nAnd that is what separates \"True Conservative Christianity\" from a \"cult.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have never paid attention if Christians get a message from the PM at Christmas and Easter, I would assume that they do, as do those who follow the jewish faith and their key religious days. So this would be in keeping with a practice already long established.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Perfect pitch\"? 6:20 PM; 11/1/2016\nIs the latest word from Pope Francis that ordination to the priesthood IS CLOSED TO WOMEN in tune with the belief of the people? Or, was my ear out of tune to what it heard? \nTime will tell. I can't help but feel that the new male exclusive priesthood statement will not be well received by the people.\nWomen are not second class! Especially (!) when it comes to religion. It seems inevitable that the Roman Catholic Church will suffer even more attrition in days to come.\nIsn't this negative affirmation at this moment a boulder blocking the way of Lutheran/ Catholic concordance?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I gather you feel the SCC is above reproach however I take issue with their opinion as I believe it does not adequately address the myriad of issues with religion. \n.\nby my reading of this a minister in a christian church could not be removed simply for their disbelief in god as long as it was in the pursuit of their faith.\n.\nI should also be able to declare my home a church and qualify for tax exemptions .... as long as I am sincere in my belief.\n.\nI don't believe either of these outcomes are desirable.\n.\nwe put restrictions on religious practices all the time. I believe this is a reasonable restriction as there is no reason to hide ones face in order to connect with the divine. The practice simply sows divisions in a community.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To the ends of the earth...we'll find you the quirky stories.\n\nNotice, it's never the white irish mother of 5 who homeschools her children, is happy with the Church, goes to daily Mass.\n\nIf someone drew conclusions about Catholics just from NCR articles....they'd be wholly unrepresentative.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Mystical Body of Christ and the Eucharistic Body of Christ (Christ the Head of His Church) are two different things though. Focusing on His Mystical Body instead of Jesus in the Eucharist is inward looking and outward looking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is my question, after Donald Trump will fundamentalist christians wean themselves of the GOP and vote for the best person, rather than anyone with an R next to their name? Will they actually vote for people of morals rather than someone they think will impose a theocracy in America?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Muslim's haven't insisted on preaching on school grounds. The services were put in place so that Muslim students could obverse their holy day (Friday) and still go to class. Sunday is currently not a school day due to Christian religious practices. If you'd prefer to change that so that special accommodations are no longer made for Christians please let us know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Such horrendous crimes of pedophilia against children were actually common here in Hawaii. In 1989, Joseph Anthony Ferrario, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Hawaii from 1982-93, became the first bishop in the U.S. to be publicly accused of sexual abuse. The Supreme Court of Hawai\u02bbi ruled that a statute of limitation effectively prevented Ferrario\u2019s prosecution. Hawai's powerful and elite, including those in the highest positions in government and media, as well as in other Christian and Buddhist congregations, said and did nothing to protect the children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for the respectful reply, fs. I, too, make this prayer (that we all may be one), but more in terms of love than doctrine. \n\nI think that Christians, historically, have given too much of their time, and expended too much effort, to achieve a unity we will probably never achieve here; indeed, have never achieved here. (Read the letters of Paul that address doctrinal dissent among early Christians.) The quest for this doctrinal will-o-the-wisp has often expressed itself harshly, intolerantly, and with a degree of personal violence that must have left Heaven awash with bitter tears. It has often made us forget the over-arching need for the trademark of any genuine Christian : love, the necessity for salvation.\n\nI shall never seek too hard to have my brother or sister believe what I believe; but I shall seek to have them love. We can all do this, regardless of the divergence in our beliefs. Sound sentimental? Perhaps. But isn't this what Paul alludes to in 1 Cor: 13?\n\nSafe home.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You seem to misunderstand Jesus, and therefore Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually it's very hard to define Christian behaviors as significantily different that non-Christian behaviors. At least that's what my pastor said more than once. Nothing to be proud of for Christians, but prety sure that was his point, to deflate our arrogance. \n\n I've know pastors who humiliated and judged others while declaring their own self-rightousness. I've known criminal pastors. People aren't perfect. We aren't made to fit in an egg carton. It should make forgiveness easier, but it doesn't seem to work that way every time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "[Social issues would not have to be \"legislated\" if people read and followed God's word]\nTwo problems with that.\n1) There is no rational basis to elevate one person's idea of \"God\" over another's in regards to regulating civil/criminal conduct. Our founding fathers even figured that out and the framers incorporated that into the Constitution with the separation of church and state.\n2) Even if we could agree on one denomination (Christianity versus Judaism for example) we cannot even agree on what is \"God's word\" and how it should be followed. Mormon's, Lutherans, Methodists, Protestants, etc. etc. etc. agree on the big picture but not so much on what usual falls under the concept of \"social issues.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Our faith can change our world, can bring about an end to the violence and the killing and the hatred.\"\nWould our faith can end Catholic Institution's condoning the clergy rape of children too?\nNot only our faith but the ascetical practices need to transform our being to be the source of God's peace and love on earth. Can Catholic clergies stop worry about the reputation of church and it's assets and show some compassion for the suffering clergy rape victims and their families? And do practice contemplative prayers and be the source of God's peace and love on earth for heaven's sake?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not anti-Christian to oppose bigotry or to disagree with social conservative ideas. Indeed, Scheer's ideas would very much be in opposition to that of the Pope who surely is not anti-Christian. It's not Trudeau who is being sleazy but the author of this article by implying progressives are at war with Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is there a bare minimum that one has to believe in order to be Catholic and not something else? If someone claims to be Catholic but denies the Trinity, for example, they have crossed over into being Unitarian, if words are to mean anything. \n\nTrue, the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of faith, but we also have free will and people can accept or reject it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It \"gains\" them by the show of mercy and compassion expressed by the community in which the \"sinner\" lives and worships. AND you have no idea of the extent to which they have repented of their sins, pain and brokenness. It's really as simple as that IMHO, but you've apparently been conditioned to place undue faith in the imperial legislation enacted by medieval Rome. Just take the phrase \"state of grace\" for example... what business does some Roman prelate have in crafting this made-up term and, even more egregiously, passing judgment on the \"state of one's soul?\"\n\nThe apostles and early church fathers were charged with preserving the early Rule of Faith (before there were canons, a magisterium and the CCC), they had no business adding to it... the early fathers clearly understood that to Add to the early Christian faith was to Err... but add they did and that's why the RCC finds itself painted in a corner with no feasible way out, except perhaps to admit a gigantic mea culpa or two!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr Reese seems more focused on politics than he does on the health and vitality of souls, more focused on material matters than spiritual.\n\nThis reads like the editorial position from a secular newspaper from a small town newspaper in the rust belt.\n\nI come to a Catholic news organization for more than a priest who wants to talk left leaning politics all the time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting that this \u201cGreat Books\u201d college is also \u201cchristian\u201d in orientation, even having students sign a \u201cBiblical Foundation Agreement\u201d that they don\u2019t have to agree with...what kind of teaching about morality and virtue is that???\nBack in the early 60s, I misspent a summer attempting to sell \u201cthe Great Books\u201d in San Diego, and I discovered that self-professing \u201cchristians\u201d thought all those books were \u201ccommunist\u201d or \u201cheathen\u201d, and that both Hutchins and Adler were part of the Great Communist Atheist Jewish Conspiracy to destroy the USA.\nSo now this is the core curriculum at Gutenberg...is it possible that Gutenberg College is a sleeper cell of that GCAJC that ruined my summer in the 60s?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Stop freaking out over Ten Commandments displays on government property\"\n\nStop trying to defy the constitution by forcing exclusively christian monuments where they don't belong.\nAs much as christians like to say that it is, this country was absolutely NOT founded as a christian nation. We are a secular nation, where a person's religion or lack of religion has no bearing on their rights. The government is constitutionally required to remain religiously neutral.\n\nThe 10 commandments on government property is a promotion of specific religion. Based on the precedents set, that is a constitutional violation.\n\nEverson v. Board of Education (1947) is relevant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, the Ten Commandments apply to every religion. They were \"handed down\" in the Old Testament, long before Jesus was born, so are not even, technically, \"Christian.\" In fact, they were given to the Abrahamics, i.e, the Jews and Arabs of the day. But in general terms, the government should NEVER expend public funds on religious displays on public property. This does not constitute \"blocking a religion.\" it is simply remaining religion-neutral, which is exactly as the Founders intended.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly why we can not trust any political leader who is religious, like Harper who implemented Christian values into the legal code.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For Christians supporting Trump, they pulled the wool themselves", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, I'm a born-again Christian, Sunday School teacher. I'm fine with people voluntarily opening a public meeting with prayer. I think our present state of tomfoolery at the government level is indicative of turning away from the sound guidance only God can provide. BUT ....\n\nOur government is a secular republic that was meant to allow room for all religions. If my Baptist pastor can offer the invocation at the City Council, then so can a satanist.\n\nThat said, I would have walked out of the meeting and refused to kneel at that altar. God didn't allow Satan to mock Him to His face. He tossed him out of heaven. God's followers here on earth should not allow Satan to mock God through our acquiescence to his worship here.\n\nI take the same stance for all cults. I will wait out in the hall until you're done worshipping the false idols. You're welcome to do the same if there's a Christian prayer offered.\n\nBut maybe we should just be honest and stop offering prayers at these things ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"The conference has served as a check on powerful cardinals in their midst: first O'Connell, later Cardinal Francis Spellman, and most recently, Cardinal Bernard Law.\"\n- Sadly, the conference did nothing to contain ArchbFrancis, lately of Chicago. Had the conference done so then ArchbFrancis would be added to this list.\n- During ArchbFrancis' presidency of the usccb he aided and abetted the revived clericalism inherit in the latin missal from rome issued by JPII & with its 3rd edition of general instructions. Worse, he allowed the USA church to be inflicted by an english translation of that missal which was so badly done that it was a blow against catechesis & at worse a contravention of english grammar.\n- Let us not forget the trials inflicted on the USA while ArchbFrancis' guided the USCCB into the world of political lobbying and the faux claim that religious liberty was being lost. This tantrum will harm catholic justice and the credibility of the church for decades.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was not for her or him. I am for life and life is primary. A true Catholic can never vote for a pro-abortion candidate. Check the writings of Pope Benedict if you question my stance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This country's secular democracy was founded by and on the beliefs of, at best, theists or Deists. Partisan Christianity tried to get a toehold in the early colonies but were held in check by those who knew better. This country has been overly-imbued with religiosity every since its founding and the current times no longer give automatic homage to this.\n\nJustifiably so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I'm Christian, I'm Catholic, all my decisions stem from my core belief, and I think I have a right to have people give an invocation and a prayer.\"\n\nWhat does giving an invocation have to do with your core beliefs? Are you saying that you can't operate under those beliefs without that invocation? Pretty fragile belief framework if that's the case.\n\nWhy have the invocation at all? Recite the Pledge of Allegiance. If you need a prayer, do it yourself or with friends before you enter assembly chambers. Seems that this invocation business is distracting from the real reason you're sitting in those chairs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Am I missing something? Your observation seems to suggest that being a \"none\" is something to lament, while believing in God is totally sufficient, something we should be satisfied with. While I agree that believing in God and believing in organized religion are two different things, it's also true that from a Catholic perspective, believing in God is insufficient.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are making the assumption that she had a choice about the school she went to. Further, there is no punishment for any boys who are immoral. It's just that they can hide their immorality. Sort of a double standard, doncha think? \n\nAs for your contention that public schools provide a horrible education, it reveals that you know little to nothing about public schools. You might want to check out the International Baccalaureate program, the AP program, the Honors programs and more in your local school district. \n\nI know first hand that Parochial schools are not all purity and light and I suspect the same holds for most \"Christian\" schools. Judging from the not infrequent stories about pastors being immoral, it's not rare in the upper echelons either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The call by the Association of Catholic Priests follows a public statement by one of association\u2019s leadership team, parish priest Fr. Roy Donovan, who warned Aug. 9 that introducing permanent deacons without women is \u201cextending patriarchy.\u201d\n\nQuite right! I salute these priest for their wisdom and courage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Big Glenn writes:\n\n\"Well Darcy you get to elect a Pope through your cardinals and other potentates don't you?\"\n\n-\n\nUh....not being a Catholic, no I don't.\n\nAnd neither do Catholics as they don't elect Cardinals and Bishops.\n\nMaybe you should stick to posting on topics about which you have a modicum of knowledge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Brother William,\nIn doing my research for this very text - Romans 16:7, I found some very interesting information that I believe will be of interest to you, also.\nAs we both know, Greek is the original language the New Testament was written in. So, I looked at the original language for this specific verse. Here's a breakdown of some key points:\n\nJunia in the original Greek is \u1f38\u03bf\u03c5\u03bd\u03b9\u1fb6\u03c2, \u1fb6, \u1f41. Noun, Feminine; Phonetic Spelling: (ee-oo-nee'-as); Definition: Junia, Junias, a Roman Christian. -Strong's Greek Lexicon-\nTherefore, your statement \"...but more likely its a sobriquet (nickname) for the very common name Junious\" is incorrect. Junia was indeed a female, according to this.\n\n \"Kinsman\" that Paul wrote to speak of her in the original Greek is \u03c3\u03c5\u03b3\u03b3\u03b5\u03bd\u03ae\u03c2, \u03ad\u03c2. Adjective; Phonetic Spelling: (soong-ghen-ace'); Definition: akin, relative. -Strong's Greek Lexicon-\n\nYour point that women received ministerial licences but were never ordained as elders/never served doesn't make sense to me?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please consider the possibility that it is not all about the rules. The attempt to enforce uniformity of all of them in the universal catholic may actually be counter-productive to real unity and lead to more separated brethren. You may be right that God wants a smaller and purer church, but I don't think so. We shall see, but hang in there and please try to be open to the possibility that Francis is right and JP2 got a few things wrong. They are both just Peter.\n\nBTW, Marty, your energy and vigor are awe-inspiring.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"The irony here is that most Americans really have no idea what is in the Quran, the Muslim equivalent of the Bible, beyond the mostly negative and out of context soundbites they hear on talk radio, cable TV or the internet.\"\n- What will help all Americans and Americans who practice Islam particularly is if the adherents of Islam in the USA, as well as all men and women of good will, assist in a process of helping brothers and sisters who adhere to the Islam and who live in other countries make changes in those countries laws that will allow for the free and safe exercise of religion. That is Christians, Zoroastrians, Jews, Buddhists, and people of other faiths are allowed to practice their faith publicly and without the hindrances of religious prejudice often found in employment, education, travel, domicile.\n- It will be a great aid if the people of Islam look closely at sharia and refute those laws that are non life affirming, or give aid to high crimes and misdemeanors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only Christianity Trump uses for his budget is the Propserity Gospel. In my other comments I emphasize that this budget is a political statement that is doomed to fail, even with a GOP Congress. They may defense, but the cuts won\u2019t be made, thus expanding the bond purchase opportunties of the wealthy. Of course Mulvaney would tell hungry seniors to hurry up and die and decrease the surplus population. Meaghan gives a good analysis that essentially refutes those conservatives who believe that charity should only be volutary, not governmental.\n\nTWIN-CS type schools have always been superior. Sadly, the America First crowd puts bias over science to limit this model in the public schools. It is good that Catholic schools are fighting back. I double dare the Secretary of Education to give these students vouchers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church isn't based on sola scriptura. You might be happier with a more fundamentalist strain of impoverished/shrunken Christianity, Baptist or one of those.\n\nThe priest doesn't confect the Sacrament. \n\nRemember: Matter and Form of the Sacraments. In the case of Holy Matrimony, 'matter' is the conjugal bond (bond of wills, una caro), and the 'form' are the wedding vows, which the couple express.\n\nThe priest is merely the formal witness for the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pity you have such a biased view. \n\nIn our personal experience our Catholic OB/GYN Dr. took care of the pre-birth hemorrhaging, & delivered our daughter, without the need to get permission from the Arch Bishop.\n\nOne of the things my wife liked in the Catholic hospitals, was reverence for life, (before & after birth), that seemed to be lacking in the secular medical centers. While this opinion is based on our experience, hence we cannot make this a general statement. \n\nNor can you paint all Catholic facilities as being inferior to secular ones. Just like one cannot paint all Dr's unprofessional, based on those few who take personal phone calls with their broker, during an office visit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "l don't believe I mentioned standing up for justice is for me in any part of my comment unless you believe I am all women?\n\nWe should stand up for the Great Commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ who said we must love God first and treat all others the same as we wish to be treated ourselves. That is the only way we can legitimately call ourselves Christian - thru following Christ's Commands. This command does not exclude women or bishops or popes. So where do you get the notion the stand against hating women in our church is about me me me ? You are the one supporting a church of man if you support sexism in any form within our church. Jesus does not support your stand.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Joan,\n\nYes, it is sad that so many see the Bible/the Commandments as rules that limit their freedom when it actually is a road map/guide to following Jesus. When we truly abide by the Commandments, we are actually free because it is then that we take responsibility for our sinful natures rather than be prisoners to them! I am grateful to be Catholic and grateful for the graces we as Catholics can receive from God through the Sacraments of Holy Eucharist (Jesus' Real Presence) and Confession regularly and of course the other Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage and Holy Orders! It is interesting to see that when one speaks from the heart and soul about their faith in Jesus and trying to do their best to obey Jesus' words in Holy Scripture or by obeying the 10 Commandments but also admitting being weak and falling into sin but grateful for God's mercy in the Sacrament of Confession, one is here at the Catholic Reporter misunderstood or taken as being on a religious crusade.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians and especially muslims have that problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a cleric of that Old Catholic Church that posts here. He doesn't identify himself as such, but his avatar is a picture of him in a Roman collar. When I asked him about, he hemmed and hawed. I think that there are many who simply want the Church to change to suit them. I don't know why - perhaps they feel threatened??", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Let him that has NO sin cast the first stone.\" Because someone is Christian doesn't mean their perfect. If Green did this intentionally he got caught, and it's between him and God. \n\nHow interesting, how morally superior the left becomes with Steve Green, but are totally morally dumbfounded, when it comes to Bill or Hillary Clinton, Or Obama, for lying, selective morals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are missing the point. Catholicism was discarded because it was seen as sexually oppressive, and against women's freedom. It is no accident that the Quiet Revolution coincided with the Sexual Revolution. It was led in large part by women rebelling against being told they should not use birth control, be virgins at marriage, that premarital sex was sinful, etc.\n\nHaving the Church in charge of education, hospitals, meant they could impose those views on the population. That is why they were booted out.\n\nIslam is despised for the same reasons catholicism was rejected: it is seen as even more oppressive to women. \"That's not how we do things here\" means, \"We believe in women's equality and freedom here. We'll gladly adopt your food, admire your art and architecture, etc., but leave your beliefs about women's subjugation at the border\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus did not celebrate the Last Supper [a Passover Meal] in Latin or Hebrew. He spoke in Aramaic----the vernacular language of the Jewish people. In the early Christian house churches [1st century to the very early 4th century], the people used THEIR vernacular language to celebrate THE MEAL which was the First Name for the Liturgy.\n\nThere were no churches before Constantine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When the temple was destroyed about 70 CE, the Aaronaic priesthood was destroyed with it. Judaism, however, entered into the Tannaitic ( Rabbinic) era in which it continues -- thank you very much -- without clergy. \nThe evil priest-pedophile scandal -- with its perpetrators and their enablers and protectors -- has effectively destroyed the credibility and moral authority of the catholic clergy. \nThe hierarchy has no desire for reform -- look at their actions. As time goes by they will become regarded as nuisances\nThe slow implosion continues.\nWhile it will not happen in our lifetimes, eventually -- if it is to continue -- there will be a new iteration of catholic christianity without clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I for one will be disappointed if Trump fails to promote peace in the Middle East and instead promotes the continued unquestioned support of Israel with no pathway to accommodating its Arab residents and neighbors. Imagine the US declaring itself a Christian state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@ Open/Honest:\n\nRegrettably, the gates of ijtihad slammed shut a millennium ago: the Koran and the ahadith are the absolute received word of the Islamic god and its prophet; Mohammed is viewed by the ummah as al-insam, al-kamil (the most perfect and best human being). The canonical texts of Islam cannot be reformed- they are immutable and immune from exegesis as has occurred in Christianity and Judaism, as examples. I wish it were otherwise...\n\n/yes, AHA is an international treasure, to be protected at all costs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very much an incident the justifies a gleeful posting! Jesus would be proud to see a follower taking such joy in the pain and suffering of others, especially if the pain could be used to score points against one's opponents. Truly, a posting that demonstrates all that one would hope to see from Christians in general, Roman Catholics in particular.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was a selfless act in a self-oriented culture influenced by a belief in the sanctity of life. No way either parent could foresee their child's short life. And if you want to play \"what if\" then what if the child had lived and was destined to become another Madam Curie or Mother Teresa?\nIt is fatalism to believe that all that happens is the will of God. \n\nThe unfortunate and sorrowful circumstances are mitigated for Christians in the belief that mother and child are united now in the presence of God and Christ, the Savior.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God gave Israel back to the Jews. Canada backs Israel and Christians back the Jews; and what God gives, no power can take away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Roger, the post in question was using the word checkered in reference to Christians, as did my post (not in reference to ISIS).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis is good at window dressing. In 2013, the CDF told the Australian bishops that mandatory reporting for clerics required by their protocol was unacceptable. In 2014, he refused the request of two United Nations committees to impose mandatory reporting under canon law. In 2015, the Italian Catholic Bishops Conference of which he is its senior bishop, repeated that they will not be reporting allegations against clerics to the civil authorities because Italian civil law does not require it. In January 2016, the PCPM said bishops have amoral and ethical duty to report irrespective of civil reporting laws. This does not appear in its December 2016 guidelines. His claimed \"zero tolerance\" for abusive priests is untrue The figures for dismissal show 75% tolerance. While there may be theological objections to women priests, vicars general, episcopal vicars and judicial vicars cannot be women because canon law requires them to be priests. These are the real issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have read widely about the particular papal exhortation that is drawing all the thunder. As much as the pope is encouraging dialogue, he seems to be reluctant to participate regarding the troublesome footnote. He states he forgot what is in it. As some point, pastoral practice reflects doctrine. What Catholics believe cannot vary by pope and country. The universal church needs to be clear about what we believe. There is great confusion on some important issues and that serves no one. A synod including a small number of bishops is not speaking for the entire church. I would expect clarification by the pope. How does his teaching square with that of his predecessors?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Resigned or fired? USCCB is a \"ball buster\" organization. They are doing a masterful job of destroying the Catholic Church. Given another ten or twenty years, the Church will cease to exist in the United States.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A Conservative anti-racism motion has been blocked by Liberal MPs who want their own version condemning Islamophobia to pass instead.\"\n\nThere's the rub. The Liberals didn't want the Conservative's much better and inclusive motion to pass - and didn't want to steal the thunder from their \"Islamophobia\" motion.\n\nIslamophobia is a blanket term -according to Oxford of \"dislike of Islam or Muslims, especially as a political force.\" Hence Irwin Cotler's good idea, supported by the Globe and Mail, to change the motion to \"ant-Muslim bigotry\" to clarity it.\n\nNow, imagine if parliament condemned dislike, say, Christianity as a poltical force. Recall how many left-wing commentators rent their garments saying (falsely) that Harper and the Conservatives were too close to the Christian right (that is, say Christianity as a political force).\n\nhttps://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/islamophobia", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"You said you could come up with 10 quote for everyone of mine.\" No- I said for every quote you thought you could find from a Founding Father suggesting that they did NOT make us a Christian nation through the Judeo-Christian paradigm, I would easily find 10 saying otherwise.\nNONE of the quotes you tried to play off suggested this. I understand that the one uttered in the Treaty of Tripoli could sound that way to someone without any education of knowledge of our Founding Fathers, but luckily, facts save the day again.\nBoy, Mucky- I should start charging you for the blatant use of my posts- copy and pasting my words and playing them off as your own as a substitute for wit is normally called \"plagiarism.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catechism itself is not an infallible document but can\u2019t you see that it contains within it dogma and doctrine and Gospel Truths already held to be infallible by the Catholic Church? It cannot, therefore be compared to \u201cany other book on the market\u201d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What people don't seem to know is \"What were the Crusades all about?\" Why are they used as an example of Christian brutality? The Crusades were requested by the current Pope of the day to answer the Muslims over running the middle east and slaughtering all the Christians because they would not convert to Islam. Our brutality was nothing compared to the Muslims who killed raped and tortured men , women and children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My goodness, 'faithful', you are beginning to sound like a 'dissident'!!\n\nIf you don't accept what Catholic Biblical scholars teach us in the name of the Church, and what Vatican Council 2 teaches us in name of the Universal Church, maybe one of those protestant groups and protestant bible scholars are really what you are looking for.\n\nI was led, recently, to 'google' Duns Scotus and how the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was argued about during his time. Very Reveling! Most everyone else at the time argued that 'tradition and scripture and the Church Fathers' made it unchangeable 'doctrine' that Mary just 'had to be' conceived in original sin so as to be redeemed by Christ. Today, and - centuries later in 1850 -after it was declared to be 'revealed dogma' we say just the opposite.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Be clear about one thing, the Jesus of the Gospels stands squarely beside those who have had their church stolen from them, not with you or the priest.\" and there is the problem and there the schism. There is no longer a universal Catholic church but a whole variety of sheepfolds welcoming their own and excluding others. Now Francis and his supporters have the whip hand (and they obviously like to use it) next may be different - or not - we need better than this. If we cannot stay together then at least a decent, civilized separation. I will attend Mass where I can (which won't be the mountains of North Carolina obviously - wrong sheep) and I hope to find the appropriate sheepfold. It is sad that the Universal Church has faded as a vision but that seems to be the reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's the conservative version of cafeteria Catholicism. \"Catholic teachings that I disagree with are a matter for 'prudential judgment', those that I agree with are ALWAYS true.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dinesh D'Souza: \u201cI had no idea that it is considered wrong in Christian circles to be engaged prior to being divorced.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wanted to also send my congratulations to Ms. Kawananakoa and Ms. Worth on their marriage. Love is what matters and being together for twenty years - sharing common interests, and being united through good times and bad is what also matters. Before anybody throws stones - it is important to remember that; in the Hawai'i - before 1820 and the kapu and elevation of Christian or European customs over Native Hawaiian values - that same gender relationships were accepted and honored. Unfortunately, a lot of people are just thinking about the money--but their wealth is not the entire wealth of Hawaiian Kingdom- only a small percentage of the Campbell Estate and none of the Kamehameha Schools or Royal Lands transferred to government use. They deserve happiness and privacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ad_aburdum._Its_like_using_the_term_Papist_by_a_non-Catholic._Or_mackeral_snapper.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic Charities would go broke in a hurry if it had to provide support to every blog reader who had to read someone else's angry and incoherent blog posts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many Christians believe in Armageddon. In which the anti-Christ will come to earth and bring about the final judgement. One of the key predictions is that a silver tongued liar will take his place as the leader (who's the president?) and then all the saved will be brought to heaven while hell consumes earth. With that said their motivations are highly suspect. I know for sure they don't give a fly F about this country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So newsreader, you are saying what? The press picks on the Catholic Church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is good to know that they are hopeful. The different categories used by the French church certainly exist in Australia. I see very few young people at mass. Mostly over 60's, confession or reconciliation is practically non existent, holy days of obligation are not patronised very much, church is three quarter empty most masses, when 30 years ago it was difficult to find a seat. First communions, Confirmations and funerals, Christmas and Easter are well patronised with family and friends attending. A large percentage of Catholic school parents don't usually attend weekly mass. There are school masses when the whole school attends and parents come to see their kid read.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I really wish you would consider thinking a little more before you post something like that.\nFirst of all, the Church back then didn't have modern science to help articulate a more complete understanding. Consider that heliocentricity wasn't considered a fact until Newton's laws became widely known. The Christian Churches, including the Catholic Church, didn't accept heliocentricity until 1758.\nBaptism is not performed on the dead; thus, no Christian burial. If an unborn is aborted, then he or she is already dead.\n\"Thou Shalt not Kill\" certainly covers abortion.\nBut I'm not making a religious case against abortion. Michael started obfuscating by going down that line of thought.\nHuman life begins at Conception. That is a verifiable, scientific fact as any embryology text book will prove by providing all the scientific details about human procreation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But don't forget, St. Paul sent an Epistle to the Roman variety of Christian early on, to Rome, dispatched from Corinth around 58. The Roman church community does not appear to be new either, thanks to the Empire's network of roads that joined the entire Mediterranean basin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesus left a Church to guide us, not a book\" \n\nCurious comment. Which book should be ignored - the catechism or the bible?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The history of Canada is, 150-250 years ago, radicalized Christian Missionaries came over from Europe to 'save' the natives. \n-\nSo what has changed?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin, I don't understand your view that Christianity confronts evil and other faiths do not. Wasn't Jesus a Jewish rabbi? Don't his teachings on love of God and neighbor spring directly from the Hebrew Scriptures? Don't our notions of sacrifice and sin offering come from Judaism? If you mean that the cross brings to mind the evil of the crucifixion, doesn't the Star of David bring to mind the evil of the Holocaust and other persecutions, as Lynne points out? We can wear crosses on our lapels or around our necks if we wish, but as Jesus said, people will know we are his disciples by our love for one another. As far as Christmas cards go, I send some with overtly Christian images to Christian friends, some with more generic peace images to non-Christian friends. I receive a wide variety of cards, both religious and non-religious, and appreciate all of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope if you ever have Chronic pain you will not seek church teaching instead of good medical care. ED you just said, \"More extraordinary pain can be managed with prudent use of pallitatives.\" What are you talking about. Are you a physician. I am... Taking nothing away from Christ, God gave us talents and medications and in my case lots of Physical therapy to deal with constant pain. You simply are speaking without much understanding about what you are saying.... So how many more names can you come up with when writing on these boards. I remember ED Hue the engineer the best, but there have been several more.... Hope you can settle on who you really are one day...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Narrow is the way and few there be that find it ...\n\nThe fact that zenophobia, racism and bigotry seems to be in fashion again, as they were in Germany in the 1930s, is no reason to applaud such blasphemous wickedness. As Christians, we are instructed by Jesus to go into the world to proclaim the 'good news' and to love our neighbour as our self. Most of the problems in the developed world have to do with its twin idolatries of wealth and self, and this is also true in the area of immigration and refugee policy. Many unprincipled, and certainly un-Christian, politicians are deliberately stirring up hatred against others. That hatred has no basis in fact, and those who use individual acts of terrorism by psychotics to demonise entire religious or ethnic communities are simply proclaiming Satan's word to the world. Our jobs as Christians is to stand with Jesus, including welcoming refugees! Jesus was a refugee too ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Santa is just as real as this man's version of Christianity. I find these kooks to be disturbing. Not so much the man yelling at kids in a Texas mall but the ones just like him who've made their way into government positions of responsibility. That includes the Alaska government. They are an obstacle to progress and Alaska would be a better place without them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only one who seems to be \"still in a tizzy over the election\" is you, utilitas.\n\nMost of us are quite aware of the sorry history of the Catholic Church and slavery.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why would Catholics want/need to be distinguished?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed. But when it comes to \"fruitful\" divergence still with us today, my hope is that the treasures to be found in Orthodox thought and in that of other early branches of Christianity will be mined of kernels the Roman Church needs. We saw a glimmer of the possibilities there in the synods on the family, where Kasper was attempting to draw on the Orthodox understanding of divorce and remarriage. Our majority \"pinhead\" theologians with way too small minded to go there with Francis and Kasper. \n\nSad really.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neighbourhood English public schools in Ontario are closing while Catholic and French school enrollment booms. We need a new model for providing education in Ontario. Get rid of the Catholic school board with a constitutional amendment like NL and QC have already done. Rethink how we provide French language teaching so more students can have access without long bus rides to other communities. Before deciding which schools should close, we need to get rid needless overlap and stop the discriminatory funding of education for one religion above all others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, Pan, there are NO throngs here. That may be where your perspective goes awry. There are a countable number of posters, most who have posted here for years as a small group of mainstays and others who come and go--like most blogs, if I'm not mistaken (no great expert on that). \n\n\nI think the Catholic Church should open the priesthood to marriage, yes. I think that that would provide a healthier culture than what we have now, alleviating LofL's distress that Catholic priests have to spend time with women at the Ladies' Breakfast instead of playing poker with real men, and every priest having to know that the public thinks they live in a toxic homosocial culture. I don't think marriage itself makes a man more understanding of women, but also know that celibacy doesn't either. What I actually found more important in the understanding of women is whether a priest had sisters or not--I presume they had mothers...although there are 'only-child' priests who really work at it all more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can't argue with you Bill.\n\nTo be consistent, let's all be guided by specific metrics-based categories from US News & World Report or some other widely accepted ratings system so that we have a common base of criteria for assessments on quality for any kind of college and university. \n\nI'll open with Notre Dame, Georgetown, and Boston College as baselines. Who is at least in their \"academic league\" for being BOTH great Catholic/Catholic great? And why?\n\nAnd I'm open for ideas on how we should rate \"great Catholicity,\" or is that too subjective?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As interesting as this article is, one must be wary of placing too much weight on the judgment of evangelical leaders. Remember, they are not Catholics, and certainly are not bishops. It is probably purely coincidental that they have correctly chosen to support the candidate preferred by the US bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Scrupulosity and failing to uphold the spirit of the law can certainly be problems in certain Catholic circles. Both scrupulosity and on the opposite end, laxity, have their origins in dogmatic/rigid beliefs about who Jesus Christ is.\n\nExample of who Jesus is to a scrupulous person: \"I believe that Jesus Christ is the truth and He demanded that we be perfect as the Father is perfect in Matthew's Gospel. Jesus affirmed observation of the commandments as the bare minimum necessity to achieve eternal life in Mark's 10:18. He also spoke forcefully many times about the existence of eternal punishment for not following His commands/desires/pathway. Therefore I am scrupulous about the law.\"\n\nExample of who Jesus is to a spirit of the law person: \"I believe Jesus when He said 'I desire mercy not sacrifice'. I see that Jesus relaxed the Mosaic law numerous times in favor of mercy. Jesus' new commandment is simply to LOVE! Therefore rules are unimportant to me.\"\n\nEach attitude is based on dogma.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Authentic Catholic scholar? Just read the material.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Amy has suffered more openly hostile bigotry due to her Christian faith than almost anyone I know. Having walked the walk, it seems to me she is a perfect candidate for this position on a Christian station.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is the beginning and it always is the beginning. It does harm in a relationship with faith to summarily dismiss someone who one presumes is sinful. \n\nI think Paprocki should take a firm stand and get every couple who uses contraceptives to own up and then forbid them access to any Catholic activities - Eucharist, singing in the choir, teaching at a Catholic school, funerals, being a god parent. All of it. Same for a Catholic who is remarried without an annulment. He should tell other Catholics that it is okay for them to spy on their neighbor and report to a priest or to him any Catholics they know who are so terribly sinful. Oh, same for knowing any Catholic who is \"living in sin\" while unmarried. And then, if he can't prove any of these people caught in sin did not go to confession before dieing, then deny them funerals. Just go all out- don't just pick on LGBT \"sins\" as if no other sin counted. How will Jesus judge Paprocki's judgmentalism?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good thoughts. At a pastors' workshop in the early 80s, a theologian said, basically: \"We say that the church has Christ's mission; but perhaps we are confusing the subject and the object -- it seems more correct to say 'Christ's mission has a church now, but what Christ's mission has later on might be some we would not recognize from our perspective now'\". We don't have all the answers, which is why Francis tells us to be open to the Spirit and go where she guides us. IMHO the fact that so many people hace so many questions is a sign that the Spirit is at work among us. Same old answers just don't work. We need not fear questions.\n\nagain IMHO, Jesus meant it when he said \"I am with you always\", and I will send the Spirit to teach you to observe what I have commanded you. Many of the things we question had little, if anything, to do with Jesus, but came from an institution trying to protect its prerogatives and power. Clerical caste is one of those things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The 'Satan thing' was first I'd heard about it so I was under the impression that's where this topic came from. When a satanist gave the invocation it stirred much upheaval which is their cause so I was understanding of the impact it gave and defending the layman's discomfort of it. I can't deny that I'm a Christian spiritualist and parts of me uptick during these conversations but I respect people's own privacy and beliefs at same time. Even under my belief system people have free will!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, my belief in divine law is based upon divine revelation. If you are a Christian, then you believe in divine revelation, that Sacred Scripture is the written record of that revelation, which is fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ. \nMoreover, to be a Christian is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, which involves repentance and rejection of sin. It is not \"easy to follow.\" Each of us must take up his/her cross daily and follow him. The \"yoke\" is easy, i.e., not burdensome like the Pharisaical interpretation of the Law. But this is NOT a repudiation of the moral law. And no, I am not driving anyone to suicide. \n\nSt. Paul believed this \"nonsense\" as you put it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually there is a way for them to avoid hypocrisy. It has to do with extreme vetting of the personnel you want to deliver your product.\n\nA famous theologian, Thomas Merton, long ago wrote a book called the seven story mountain. It was about his journey.\n\nPrior to WW2, the Catholic Church was in overdrive. They were expanding. They were hiring. The many men that entered were afraid - of who they were, the threat on the horizon in those times, and for their genuine survival. Many were ill-prepared and maybe a lot were already scarred/unsuitable for being dispatched. I am not being an apologist.\n\nThis is similar to a booming franchise whereby you take people who you train and whose objectives are either inconsistent with the foundational direction. The franchise fails. I was a professional store set up guy-I trained the owners, staff, in all aspects of running a complicated business. Lots of ambition out there...and lots of failure due to lack of supervision. I was 18, now 47.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So let families use and access contraception and \"plan\" their families. They will just have to do this without the aid of the Catholic Church coffers.\n\nAnd what do you mean about the 50 cent prophylactics not working? They do work--if people use them properly. If they aren't working it is because people aren't using them. That is not the fault of the RCC--and that fact does not entail the RCC must be forced into giving away free contraception.\n\nAbstinence also does not work---for people that choose to be governed by their bodily passions. For people with a little self control, abstinence works quite well. Here is a news flash: sex is not necessary for survival--despite what Hollywood leads people to believe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is the Catholic doctrine of the Sacrifice of The Mass from the Baltimore Catechism.\nhttps://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/euchb1a.htmI\nIt still what the Church teaches infallibly today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think where the bishops have erred is in trying to force at the ballot box what they can't achieve by persuasion at the pulpit. In this they have followed the example of the Evangelical Right, which has now led them down a path of throwing in with morally bankrupt political candidates who say what they want to hear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Still waiting Gumby, you had said \"all recommendations,\" when you were not scripted\u2026\n\n58. We call upon the Pope to issue an apology to Survivors, their families, and communities for the Roman Catholic Church\u2019s role in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis children in Catholic-run residential schools. We call for that apology to be similar to the 2010 apology issued to Irish victims of abuse and to occur within one year of the issuing of this Report and to be delivered by the Pope in Canada.\n\nGumby, June 2, 2016 has come & gone - yet another broken promise..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, you are welcome to believe that there is no difference between Islam and Catholicism in terms of personal liberties and acceptance of separation of church and state.\n\nIndeed, when Kennedy ran for President, he was forced to explicitly state that he would not be beholden to the Pope, but rather to the Constitution.\n\nI would find any equivalent declarations from the Muslim community most reassuring. I would welcome an unequivocal declaration that Sharia law is medieval and will NEVER be acceptable as the law of this land. And that the separation of church and state is sacrosanct. And that freedom of expression includes the right to publish cartoons or anything critical of Islam.\n\nBut I find it hard to believe that we will ever see those types of declarations.\n\nI guess we will find out in a few decades.\n\nYou and Saunders may be proved right. What a tragedy if otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you had bothered to read the article, you might have noticed that the authors are quite sympathetic to Western values. If you even looked at the pictures of the authors you would see that they are not Islamist sympathizers. One is a security expert who focuses on the causes of jihadi ideology. A cardinal rule of effective security is to know your enemy. If you alienate moderate Muslims like the authors how will you ever reduce the Islamist threat?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hear your belief in one almighty god. I understand many hold that view. I also understand many don't.\n\nAre you saying that people are free to worship in their own way but not to diminish & undermine your concept of god while it is ok for you to diminish & undermine their concept of god? Are people free to choose their traditions & values but not at the expense of your Christian values, but you may diminish theirs because of your Christian views? I don't know if you meant to do that, but it reads that way. Perhaps I missed something.\n\nIf it helps, I don't hold your views, but respect them different as they are from mine. I don't believe are a Christian-based society. There is no evil. Are there hard times and difficult situations at times-well, sure. There is no evil though. As so there is no opposite of evil-we just are, & together we are stronger than alone. Though I went to church earlier than my first actual religion class, I remember getting a book, it's title \"God is Love.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not Orthodox. I'm Ukrainian Catholic. :-)\nI happen to agree with you that one can take away from an icon what one will. Most faithful -- whether Orthodox or Eastern Catholic are not experts on icons. But most of us (regardless of how much we happen to know) find spiritual guidance and comfort and focus in those icons.\nOn the other hand, I think that it's important to try to learn as much as one can and to find out what the symbolism actually means. I think that understanding the symbolism leads to a much more wonderful and fuller experience of the icons and the spirituality that they hold. While no one can prevent others from interpreting as they will, I think that those who choose not to learn miss out much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But if you ask a Trad their opinion on how many of them are authentically Christian? \n\n.01%?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Given the persecutional and genocidal treatment of Jews in Europe over millenia by Christians, the treatment of Muslims, and the elimination of the Earth-based religions of early Europe, to avoid mentioning some kind of religious partnership and mutual respect in the designed future of Europe is irresponsible and gives the impression that Christians are unaware of the perils inherent in being triumphal, intolerant, and without a caring vision of diversity. \"Proclamation of the Gospel\" all too often implies evangelization, structural discrimination, and forceful pressures to hold people down who are different from those in power. Have we not seen enough of what that yields?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In fact, it is the writer of the article that is playing the anti-Christian card by confining \"Christian\" to mean only that which fits within Mr. Scheer's scope of belief. While I am not a supporter of Mr. Trudeau or his government, I note that he is a practising Catholic himself. Many devoted Catholics disagree on matters of doctrine and practise. Mr. Scheer's socially conservative beliefs may be informed by his religion but they are not supported by all Christians not even by all Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I should have opted for the Catholic term on a Catholic site: \"objectively disordered.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With the chang in interpretation approved for Catholic Biblical scholars, many 'doctrines' of the Church are in need of re-examination and/or re-interpretation.\nCatholic theologians and Scripture Scholars need to be invited to get together and discuss what change is needed if we are to be consistent.\n\nBasic example involves the 'doctrine' involving 'original sin' and all that is involved.\n\nIf Scripture scholar tell us that the Creation stories of Genesis are revealed as a myth literary form, then there is no actual, real, 'Adam and Eve' to commit a 'first sin' to be 'inherited'.\n\nIf we can tackle the implications of THAT, we might be in a position to tackle other new knowledge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"3) Not even Judaeo-Christians agree on gender relations in Canada\"\n\nApart from tiny marginal subcultures like the Hasidim, they all agree that women can interact socially with unrelated men in public and private space. That was the norm in Europe. (Banquets, country dances, dinner parties, weddings, etc.)\n\nNot so in Muslim countries which are organized to prevent such mingling, i.e. were segregated by gender. Weddings, celebrations, banquets were (and still are in conservative countries) gender segregated.\n\nThat is a fundamental difference.\n\n4) \"and shared cultural references can be quite sparse between Greeks, Russians, Ukrainians, Italians, Scots, and the French. My wife was born in the Philippines and she laughs at the same jokes as me, and agrees on most cultural issues, does that make her culture the same as mine? \"\n\nYes, for all intents and purposes, she is: she intermarried with a non-Philippino, speaks English, and agrees on most cultural issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you implying that the Alaska Family Council isn't a christian organization?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Every Catholic knows that to deliberately miss Mass on Sunday is a mortal sin.\nThe decision to deliberately miss Mass in order to register a protest is a conscious decision to commit a mortal sin.\nIf you can, please explain how full knowledge and wilful assent are missing from this situation", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...you want to ... complain that other people are less Catholic than you.\"\nNot at all. I don't judge that anyone is less than I, let alone less Catholic; I am well aware of my faults - my wife ensures that. I'm merely commenting that if the Mass is build around \"hospitality, homily, and music\" as is stated, it is missing the \"source and summit of the faith\" and focused on the ephemeral, unnecessary parts of the Liturgy. I am not saying \"get rid of 'em\", only add the one greatest element around which the others must congregate. Otherwise, protestations to the contrary notwithstanding, the Catholic Community does become a social club that rises or falls with a change in pastor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Truth is not subject to a majority vote. \n\nAnd no Christian believed contraception to be moral until the 1930s when then Anglicans made an allowance for it in hard cases. If you were to poll that most obscure class, our ancestors in the faith who have come before us, what would they tell us?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Dubia cardinals have divorced themselves from caring about the common people that they, originally, were called to serve. The \"Exhortation\" written contained all the problems that could be found with Amoris Latetia. The bishops were free and are free to discuss them. Discuss and come with well focused questions. Instead, these 'red birds' are part of the biopolitical problem of the Catholic church----and that is a creeping magisterial fundamentalism, which fails to see that pastoral care and taking each case separately, is what is required. Not the one-size-fits-all-bad theology approach.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I trust you agree faith, grace, freewill, justification and sanctification are all \"essentials\" of the Catholic faith. So too the nature of Christ's death and just how it opens the possibility of salvation for us. Lutherans are in dispute with Catholics on all these matters. Then, of course, there's the Primacy of the Papacy and all that follows from this about the authority behind Catholic doctrine and the Church's teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who cares how wrong the \"scores of political pundits and experts\" got the election??? \n\nWe care about how wrong the US Catholic bishops were in very carefully and legally setting up Catholic voters to choose anti-abortion as the defining issue of the election. Of course, Mr Trump, his advisors and other Republican candidates knew how to take advantage of this simplistic voting strategy. \n\nLet the secular papers talk about the political pundits and experts. Let NCR talk about the bishops accountability and our understanding of Catholicism that we could be so sheep-like in allowing the bishops to lead us astray. https://RiteBeyondRome.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You write: \"Seems to me Christianity should be strong enough to withstand the clash of cultures with Islam.\"\nSure if there was any reciprocity or even playing field. Did you ever try to do or demand anything comparable in a Muslim country to what Muslims do and demand (and receive) in Christian countries?\n\nDid you ever engage in a structured dialogue with a Muslim faith community? What were the results, especially when it cam to issues requiring some reciprocity? \n\nWhat do you think, why is it that Christian-Muslim dialogue is only a priority for Muslims in non-Muslim cultures (where Muslims are in minority)?\n\nYou seem to have problems with the \"Eastern Bishops' \" lack of willingness to embrace the cross.\nI am sure you know the difference between \"loving\" another and volunteering someone other than yourself, for martyrdom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Orthodox have a few Western Rite parishes, why should they care if there are Eastern Catholic Churches?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course Pete Kelly doesn't understand what socialism is, he attended a private Christian college and got a degree in \"management\" https://www.alaskasenate.org/2016/member/pete-kelly:\n\nPrepare to become a leader in your field with an undergraduate degree from Liberty University. Here, you\u2019ll receive an education that integrates core Christian beliefs with a liberal arts tradition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't disagree. This is akin to some Christians' belief that the world was built in 6 days 6000 years ago, easily proven to be false but no one is disqualified for a government position because of their creation beliefs. My point is that an outlandish opinion about ancient pyramids has nothing to do with someone's qualifications to manage HUD. The fact that Dr. Carson readily admits that he is unqualified to manage a bureaucracy is a much more relevant reason for disqualification.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not Christian. Just Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a war afoot to erase Christianity from any culture-forming role and, as usual, the so-called \"Catholic Left\" is AWOL in its desire to please everybody else at the expense of its own identity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I happened to watch TV late at night and ended up watching a Christian talk show as I could get no other stations.\"\n\nYou should get yourself a PVR.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe it's time for a more moderate candidate like Christine Lagarde, who is also Catholic, to step in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trid is spouting his \"all teachings of the magisterium are equal in importance\". This makes no sense: Is the teaching that women cannot be ordained as important as the teaching that Christ is our divine savior? Of course not. One can reject the first and remain a Catholic, one cannot reject the other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can you believe this ?\nYes, I'd like to know why too, it's simply what the Church teaches, well the Catholic Church that is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm referring to the fact that faith is not common, even in the United States. That should be easily understood. Even in a nation that is mostly Christian, it's not like all Christians agree on everything. People who purport to be Catholic support the murder of the unborn despite the tenants of their supposed religion.\nAgain, it's as if you put very little thought into what you post. No one here made \"sorry\" an argument. The argument is that there is no actual distinction between a human life and a human person. As I stated, that particular notion is nothing more than a false justification designed to salve the consciences of the pro-abortion side.\nThe brain begins to develop at 4 weeks gestation. Most abortions occur around week 12.\nOf course, lack of a fully developed brain does not make choice \"moot\", after all, YOU'RE able to choose.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It has zero to do with \u201cthe Vatican clerics\u201d.\n\nGenerally a cause for sainthood is pursued by the diocese, order, or community. Many many Catholics have been martyred in WWII, Korea, Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, and so on at the hands of enemies of the Church.\n\nThe Curia could not possibly consider all of these individuals and go through the extensive documentation necessary to consider their causes. It can be a very time-consuming and expensive process.\n\nThe Oklahoma City archdiocese funded Father Rother\u2019s cause. So, let\u2019s cut the \u201cthe Vatican clerics are pretending\u201d. The individuals whose cause you wish promoted had both community and diocesan roots and that\u2019s where the process should begin.\n\nApparently Pope Francis wishes to expand the definition to include those killed in odium caritatis\u201d - \u201cout of hatred for love\u201d - which should make the process easier.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Entirely wrong. The various tax laws have criteria for tax exemptions, and none of those criteria involve inquiry into any religious organization's doctrines. Income tax laws simply ask what the organization does with its money; a specified large fraction of it must be spent on religious or charitable purposes; you aren't supposed to be able to disguise a business, or a political party, as a church. Local property tax laws ask what the property is used for; if it's used for worship, provision of services to its members, and other valid charitable purposes, it's tax exempt. A Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah's Witnesses, a Salvation Army mission, a Catholic cathedral, and a Sikh temple all qualify, as do the religious properties of a myriad of other religious organizations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Gwen, We owe so much to Malory's teachers, as well as the Deaf Catholic community in the Washington DC area. Thank you and hugs!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...and fundamentalist Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But wasn't your point something about one god being mean to others, while the other is not? Seems the only difference is the target. Since the OT doesn't target christians and jews, he's OK? As long as he is just ordering mass killing on a case by case basis? Or is mass murder acceptable, provided it is ordered by the correct god, wrong if the incorrect god? Seriously, the god in the OT is no different than thousands of other tribal gods, aiding his own and reveling in the destruction of others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) \"Fundamental to the Christian message is that every one of us is, in ourselves, a deep and profound mystery, no matter what our beliefs. That is why the Christian message so emphasizes the importance of the dignity of the individual. \"Redemptorist Father Tony Flannery as quoted by \u2014Sarah Mac Donald \u201cGod himself chose me to be an apostle, and he gave me the promised life that Jesus Christ makes possible\u201d (2 Timothy 1:1).\n\nmost of all, you'll find rare birds who are mindful of the needs of others and needful of the minds of others.\u2014justmaybe . . . \u201cTimothy, you are like a dear child to me\u201d (2 Timothy 1:2).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I never posted what your quotes say I posted, find the following passage in MY text, not your text: \n\n \"Francis did not say 'Christianity ... [is] about an intimate relationship which Jesus Christ'\"\n\nUnbelievable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As most contemporary theologians will tell you - traditionalists included - is that \"theology\" is not at all required to minister to and serve the Church and its Founder. It is the grace that comes from our belief in Jesus Christ that is the \"fuel\" for carrying out the themes of the Gospels. The world isn't \"hungry\" for the \"truth\" of theology! The world is literally hungry for human decency, dignity, respect, and Love. Those are the things we as Christians (including priests) are called to provide without exclusions of qualification.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christine, you haven't heard how your doctor, lawyer, or dentist jokes with his/her staff about you when you're not there. Utterly commonplace, and not generally ill-intentioned: even if you aren't one of the popular patients/clients, they still mean to take care of you.\n\nWell, that's what Podesta's e-mail is like: inner-circle talk, not meant to be public, is much more candid and sharply-phrased than what the same people would say in public. You're trying to make an issue out of something that happens all the time, everywhere, and with everybody.\n\nYou also apparently don't understand Podesta's point, which is simply that he thinks reactionary Catholics are particularly active in certain Republican/conservative settings. His remarks are not about Catholics as such, but about Catholics with a particular orientation. Since you're one, feel free to be offended by them. But don't try to turn them into an attack on the Catholic church, which they're not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "tempersdue - \n\nMy comment and this article is about the events in Charlotesville.\n\nOn one side were the alt right - all white and largely male with a smattering of women.\n\nOn the other side - every other imaginable person in America; white, black, brown, Muslims, Christians, Jews, agnostics, straight, gay, trans and across the age spectrum. Today in Boston the anti-racists got even more diverse with Democrats AND Republicans protesting racism and hate.\n\nThat's why racism is America and Canada is skewed \"white\". \n\nTo try and divert with \"oh, but Africa, Asia ....\" seems disingenuous at best. We're not talking about those countries on this continent right now.\n\nBut for the record yes - every society in the world has an \"out\" \"other\" group that comes in for a shellacking. Tools used can be race, class, gender - anything. Doesn't let us look the other way for what's happening in our cities now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "538 has become notorious in this cycle for underestimating Clinton's chances; virtually all of the other predictive sites give her much better odds. Try Princeton Election Consortium for a less horse-racey approach.\n\nBishop Paprocki misreads the history of the run-up to the Civil War. There were reasons that slavery (or, more accurately, the expansion of slavery into the territories) was such a dominant issue, and the moral case against slavery was not the most important driver of opposition to that expansion. Most people in the US - I suspect most Catholics, for that matter - don't regard abortion as the defining moral issue of our time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This Jesuit says that \"discrimination against women within the Catholic community is so manifest\" that the church \"totters on the brink of compromising its self-identity as the basic sacrament of salvation.\" \n\nThis isn't correct. The all-male priesthood has been a part of the Church's self-identity for 2,000 years. How can the Church be only now --- after 2,000 years --- be compromising its identity by maintaining part of its self-identity? That self-identity may not be likable to some, but it IS the Church's self-identity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What have they taught contrary to the Catholic Faith?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<<\"Evangelical and Catholic integralists condemn traditional ecumenism and yet promote an ecumenism of conflict that unites them in the nostalgic dream of a theocratic type of state,\" write Spadaro and Figueroa.>>\n\nWow, exactly! The theocratic agenda of the religious right has long been apparent, including certain conservative Catholics determined to turn the United States into El Salvador. Their paranoia, distrust of expertise and contempt for the norms of a pluralistic, democratic republic are indeed dangerous, attested by the election of a shamelessly ignorant, authoritarian demagogue. I certainly didn't expect to find condemnation of this ideology expressed in the pages of La Civilt\u00e0 Cattolica! Amen!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps in the Anglican faith tradition - not the Roman Catholic one. So not quite the same....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"so that the pregnancy would end in birth and the baby would be baptized\".\n\nWell, @ least for the 87% who identify as Catholic or Christian....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And your pronouncement is predicated on whose Authority? I ask this as someone who doesn't believe it was or is Jesus' role to save anyone.\n\n\"Look unto Me, and be ye saved--all ye ends of the earth; for I am GOD, and there is none else.\"\n\n(Isaiah 45:22)\n\n\"Laa illaha il-Allah; wa-da'hu la Shariika Lah; Lahul Mulku, wa Lahul Hamd, wa Huwa ala Khulli Sha'yn Khadir\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pre-campaign trail Trump has some decidedly non-AIPAC approved position on Israel and the occupied territories. \n\nI suspect Pence may be a bit more to AIPAC's liking, though his positions are based upon religious bias (evangelical christian biases) instead of principles based on law, morality or ethics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Christianity is being replace by \"no religion\", don't blame immigration. Blame modern secular forces.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If it isn't too personal Bill, do you take communion in the Catholic Church if present? I'm a sincere believer that no one should ever be turned away, it's like medicine you may not understand it or quite believe in it but it still works on your behalf.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Community commitment means all members, not segregation by income. The wealthy in are often at the forefront of community improvements, volunteer organizations and mentors to young professionals.\n\nI don't think Brooks comments were only to the wealthy. He talk about A wealthy person, and does not classify all wealthy people in the same way. I have heard him kindly embrace the Gates foundation and the work of Warren Buffett. \n\nBrooks is making an appeal to the better angels in all of us. As a Christian, the story of the woman with a single coin to contribute versus the more glorious tributes of the wealthy, rings a bell. If God is used as surrogate for loving acceptance, then the size of the sacrifice matters, not the size of the contribution.\n\nThe poor are not inherently noble, the rich are not inherently greedy. We are people, each with a unique background. To judge by income alone is a mistake", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Divorce/remarriage might be sinful in some cases (depending on circumstances), but it is no greater sin than the triumphalism and rigidity that PF is railing against. As traditionalists love to point out, sincere repentance is the key... not to bludgeon a person who has both sought and received forgiveness from above. PF recognizes that rigid \"doctrinal purity\" with respect to flawed human behavior is pious nonsense, and he is urging all Catholic Christians to treat others with mercy, dignity and respect deserving of the title.\n\nWhy is this so hard to understand? Must you triumph in denying others these essential gospel traits, in favor of your oxymoronic doctrinal purity?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now let the anti-god people say there is not a God. Now let them yell that Christians are bigots and haters. Neither which is true. I can tell from these incidents that His arrival is getting closer by the minute. Now, I am not going to try to say when that is going to happen. Some people have tried only to be proven wrong. Some of these incidents could very well be wake up calls for this nation and world. I am not in a position to say one way or another. Do you really want to take the chance?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I did request an explanation as to why people who find the Catholic Church's doctrines problematic remain in the Church.\nIf one was a Democrat would one join the Republican Party?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is great! That isn't what the Catholic Church teaches and it isn't the Faith of the Church, but it is great that you believe that. \n\nI am sure you can find more than a few Protestant churches that teach the very things you believe. The Catholic Church will never believe or profess what you want her to believe and profess. Join a Protestant church and live happily ever after. Why be Catholic and miserable?\n\nI am Catholic because I believe the things that the Catholic Church teaches and professes. If I didn't believe those things, I would not be Catholic. You can call Catholic moral teaching what you want. The point is that I believe it. That is why I am Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Go and learn what it is to be a Catholic. You should not be preaching about Catholicism to anyone until you become one yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let us not forget the influence of $ - such as that of the Koch donor network who financed the Busch School of Economics and Business at the Catholic University of America ... and their Centre for Principled Entrepreneurship. That Busch would say of Turkson's and Koch's presentation on CST (which did not touch down in actual reality but stayed at the level of libertarian ideology) that we need to hear \"both\" sides of the story ... does not bode well for the USCCB and the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus facilitating American Catholics becoming a united force for good any time soon. Unfortunately, millions are already suffering and dying and we are catapulting towards self-destruction - as we have been warned repeatedly since JPII in 1987 and a few times since.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But Bishop McElroy has called on everyone to \"disrupt\" society. See something, disrupt something. A very positive call to action, and each Catholic is free to disrupt society in any way they choose for the greater good of the Bishops ideal of the City of God. It may help to wear a brown scapula, or shirt, when engaging in these acts of holy disruption.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Instances of youth participation in many parishes is currently about as rare as clean drinking water in Puerto Rico.\"\nIndeed!\nI feel and pray for those handful of young people trying to get a youth group up and going in parishes with conservative/reactionary parish priests and bishops. It's really an uphill battle, but let's hope the Francis Effect will eventually prevail in the Catholic Church", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I see it, rituals are not the most important aspect of Christianity. Christianity is about loving God and loving or neighbor as ourselves. Rituals are simply meant to lead us to become good followers of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR got it's start as a serious publication when they printed the Majority Report from Pope Pauls' birth control commission. That happened before Paul VI issued HV, which did not agree with the majority report. That turned out to be a really really big deal...and then came their coverage of the clerical abuse scandal starting in the 80's. Did it cement the future of NCR as not exactly in the conservative column? Yes, why wouldn't it? American laity subsequently ignored HV, and took the exit doors over the abuse scandal. I would say, based on what the majority of American lay Catholics actually believe, NCR is most certainly representing a large segment of the People of God in the US. It's Catholic in my mind, but I'm absolutely aware of the fact that my definition of Catholic is not going to be accepted by a minority of posters in the NCR com boxes. That's fine because I can still accept them as Catholic. I just don't agree with them...or their favorite publications.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then get the stats and find out why the Christian religion in the US is on the decline and being just \"spiritual\" is growing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All my life, the church of LDS has been painted in an unflattering light. When I was in Catholic school, we were taught that it was a cult. What they fail to realize is that there are so-many other unflattering aspects to the church. This should be the least of its worries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "translated: \"I worship a man-made institution and therefore cannot face the fact the leaders of the institution are demonstrably devoid of christian virtue.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church needs to get off the government gland. Totally.\nNot just in terms of running SJW programs for the government.\nBut tax deductions, tax exemptions.\n\nThis may mean laying off diocesean staff over time. Too bad. \n\nWe need to do what the bumper sticker says: Co-exist.\n\nNo cooperation, no joint work, nothing.\n\nWe can re-Christianize the world through the lay doing they own thing, working hard, befriending people, not cutting corners, being enormously virtuous.\n\nOver time the lay Christians will re-Christianize (Christian spirit) the whole world like Jesus commanded us to do. No need for group prayer time at work, bible studies at work. No.\n\nTHROUGH our way and our work we will be instruments of the Holy Spirit.\n\nAnd with respect to \"but the poor benefit from Catholics running programs, by the \"multiplier effect of tax dollars\": Baloney.\n\nThe limit of our charity must again become the limit of our own personal sacrifice not arm-twisting funds from tax payers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have to establish they are \"victims\" before you can call them \"victims\". Anything less is mob mentality, and goes against our civil discourse, the commands of Christ, and basic human civility. Until they are proven \"victims\", they are \"accusers\". \n\nThere is a reason all respected news sources use the word \"alleged\" when talking about these things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You then misunderstand what the magisterium is! What you bind on earth....\n\nThe utter lack of BASIC formation of some older Catholic continues to astonish.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good thoughts, Will. I would add that we should be less angry with our online posts as well. Argue points vigorously, but with respect. You never know when you will be face to face with that anonymous poster you just flamed. As a Christian, I attempt to serve every customer I encounter, regardless of views, as I would the Lord. I expect to be held accountable to that high standard by Him one day. Though I post anonymously for privacy reasons, I also try to be respectful of others' viewpoints and respond in the way I would if I were face to face. Few here do that, and I admit to failing in that regard occasionally myself. Especially troubling lately are those who accuse others of something without basis, or even in spite of obvious evidence or language to the contrary. It is hard to take those accusers seriously on any point they may make after that. Thanks for putting this in perspective.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"never worked a day in his life before entering the Oval Office\"\nGetting your information from Facebook again I see. You really should stop doing that.\n - you're correct that he worked for the Catholic Church for 3 years as a community organizer setting up job training and tutoring programs (and you have issues with that?)\n - Worked for State of IL directing the voter registration program (10 staff members)\n - 12 years as a professor of constitutional law at the University of Illinois\n - joined a 13-member law firm and worked as a practicing attorney for 11 years\n\nYou're welcome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sally Yates would defend a travel ban on Christians were it proposed by Saudi Arabia......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What an excellent, outstanding academic establishment St. Joseph's University and others are!!! \n\"Walk A Mile in My Shoes\" may take a short time yet it opens eyes and ears of participant student for life! We can no longer live as an American, Catholics, Buddhist, Hindu, or Muslim!\nPeople as a human being comes first before all other classifications! Thank you for this excellent article!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She uses those initials to refer to the Catholic Institution....so she is referring to the priests and bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u2026you willingly chose to call yourself 'hotelman' and you want to be taken seriously?\n\n\nIt wasn't video games, it wasn't 'secularization', it was right wing ascension among a dumbed down electorate who ignores actual morals, hasn't a clue about civics, evades and avoids responsibilities of citizenship, and won't or can't think beyond the indoctrination spoon fed them on right wing talk shows and Faux News.\n\nAs for John Adams, you should finish his thoughts instead of taking them out of context.\n\nJohn Adams declared clearly that \u201cThe government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.\u201d \n\n...continuing adult education opportunities exist in your neighborhood, take advantage of that opportunity, you could only gain by the experience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The KKK forgets that Jesus wasn't white. Neither were any of the apostles.That makes their ideology anti-Christian at many levels, right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oops, correction, the Enabling Act was passed March 23 1933, not May.\nMay found further totalitarian controls, for example, the SA and SS breaking in to the Socialist-backed unions and throwing their leaders in to concentration camps and workers required to join the huge Nazi controlled \"German Labor Front.\"; Jews denied membership in the Nazi controlled German press organizations, legal professionals required to join the \"Nazi League of German Jurists\"; Catholic youth organizations are attacked; the Nationalist Party, the Nazi's more moderate junior partner loses its power. But gun laws are not an issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just a thought expressed by Cardinal Tettamanzi critiquing the Italian Epuscopal Conference for aligning with the political right, even Berlusconi, and considering the idea of building alliances from the left: \"It is better to be Christian without saying it, than to proclaim it without being it.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Amen, I say to you, Judge not, lest that you be judged. For the full measure that you mete out shall be meted un to you...Before you point out the speck in another's eye, take the plank out of your own.\" \nIn my experience most Catholics do not divorce out of convenience but rather dire, chaotic and even dangerous circumstances such as alcoholism, addiction and abuse. Staying together \"for the kids\" in those types of circumstances is not advised. We might due well to remember that Christ does allow for divorce in cases of sexual immorality. Scratch one of those causes that I listed and see if you don't find such. \nSo easy to judge those who have divorced and remarried isn't it? So easy to tell others how to navigate this difficult world. So easy to mark with the scarlet \"A\". Harder to try and understand that you don't know all. That communion, or not, is between the sinner and God. \"Sinner\"? Yes, everyone approaching the altar is a sinner, don't kid yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is unconstitutional for the federal government to run healthcare. The MOST they can legally do is pass laws allowing for interstate insurance, etc. People seem to be under the mistaken opinion that government provided healthcare is a \"right.\" NOTHING that is required to be provided by someone else is a \"right.\" The government cannot GRANT rights. (They CAN take $$ from the taxpayers wallets at the point of a gun and \"redistribute\" it to whichever \"victim\" group they are pursuing as a voting bloc at the moment). Nowhere in the Bible do either the Jews, or the Christians, look to the government to provide for the sick and poor. THAT is an individual, personal, charitable responsibility of \"the people, NOT the government. One needs look no further than the VA system to see what the federal government does to a healthcare system. (And that's for those who have forfeited and/or suffered in government service!)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It does not matter when the statues were erected. What matters is the present-day reaction of a few to vandalize or destroy what suddenly offends them as the Taliban did to the Christian statues in Afghanistan. No one has a right to do that and it is wrong to support doing so as your comment suggests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Nicole Sotelo and NCR for writing this very important article.\n\nWith optional celibacy being pressed on our pope for only married male priestly ordination, a change that would result in all-out gender segregation, in our church, with all men having all voice over all women and women, even if they are deacons, having no voice at all in our church, we must do more & picket at parishes, demand our pastors & bishops regain women their sacred rights to all the same sacraments as men have. \n\nDeacons have no more authority or vote or voice in our church than do laity. We must reject this decoy of justice for the insult to the human dignity of all women that it is, & demand equal ordination to priesthood now & before any form of optional celibacy is offered to men & before any men who left the priesthood are accepted back as priests, as a matter of Human & Christian Justice. \n\nJoin Women's Ordination Conference. Join one of the many grassroots WOC groups starting for this cause!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church's teaching on the subject of homosexual acts is identical to the teaching of the Orthodox Churches, mainstream Islam and traditional Judaism. For example, Patriarch Kirill is, if anything, more adamant on the subject than any recent Pope has been. \n\nThe Catholic Church's teachings on the completely unrelated subjects of divorce and contraception are slightly different from other these religious traditions. But these teachings have in no way isolated the Church. Take a look at the pictures of the Pope with Patriarch Bartholomew; that is not a picture of isolation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You and others in the comments keep mentioning this \"pledge\" that people at Gutenberg take. I didn't remeber there being such a thing and checked with the school yesturday to make sure they hadn't added that since I left. I was told that the \"Biblical Foundation Statement\" that Baker refers to in this article is when you apply for the school at the end of the application you sign that you read the student handbook. In the student handbook it includes a statement of what the people running the school believe. They include that because they don't want anyone to feel like they were tricked into coming to a Christian place. But their is no signing something saying you believe the same thing. \nAnd as to Darwin, yes I know he is a he and not an it, I was refering to his book and did not make that clear, sorry. And yes \"not all\" is rather weak gruel but my first experience with a christian telling me you can find truth in Darwin happened at Gutenberg.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I agree about your concern with homogenizing all Christians, your statement regarding Constantine's roll in the formation of the Christian canon is lacking thorough research and more due to the fictional works of Dan Brown than serious history. If you are interested in truly looking at text criticism, manuscript evidence, and issue of transmission, see Daniel B. Wallace's research. His organization has more source documents and manuscripts than anyone else on the planet. Constantine was simply backing a winner for political purposes, not forming anything new or making something common somehow more powerful. \n\nhttp://www.dts.edu/media/play/jesus-canon-and-theology-darrell-l-bock-daniel-b-wallace-and-ben-witherington/ \n\nTo pick and choose what one likes about Jesus is illogical. It simply places oneself in the position of arbiter, not history. It also is irrational to see Jesus as simply a sage, because he would be horrible cult leader if he was lying or wrong about himself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That trend, at least in the Catholic Church, started {statistically speaking} in 1965. Hmmmmmm I wonder what event {tragedy} was just closing shop back then?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\n\nYou're a scream, RD.\n\nBy the way, I have no interest in \"starting a denial of the divinity of Christ.\" I'm interested in what the early Christians, like the evangelist Matthew for instance, thought about Jesus's divinity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Still, Trump was elected and the Catholic vote played its part.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why don't Cardinals Wuerl or Cupich get on major media and refute all that is being said by the strong retro. conservative group against Pope Francis? There is TOO MUCH SILENCE from them and too much amplifying from retro. conservatives and from websites like Fr. Z's place, or from commentaries on EWTN. The USCCB as a group needs to be confronted as well. American Catholic need to know what is going on as well. Sometimes silence is not golden. At times, it's just plain yellow. \n\nAmerican Catholics [and apparently Italian Catholics, too] need to know where their cardinals, arch/bishops stand as well. Often times within a metropolitan [state]---there isn't a uniform pastoral approach to much of anything. Its time to present facts, and point by point refute the points of contention. \n\nI often think that this is what Jesus was facing during his public ministry. As many here, I also pray for Pope Francis [every day at Mass], that he remain faithful to the Gospel---as he has been.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@The G&M monitor= why \u201ccensured\u201d this comment ?\n-\nFran\u00e7ois Jourdan, French islamologue;\n\u201c...Islam is very frozen for many centuries and basically lack of freedom - today, it must be said clearly that we cannot build a society of one religion, Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist... or atheist. \nThis phase of human history is now overtaken by religious freedom and human rights. Secularism requires not the ban but the discretion of all religions in the public space as other citizens have the right to have another way of life. \nThis isn't the Koranic trend where Islam does not consider itself as other religions and must...DOMINATE !...\u201d\nSo, He said;\n\u201c...Secularism requires not the BAN but the DISCREATION OF ALL RELIGION in the public space...as others Citizens have the right to have ANOTHER WAY OF LIFE\u201d, oui ?\nIslam does not consider itself as OTHER religions and MUST... DOMINATE !...\n get it Canadians ???...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church says it's a fundamental human right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Correction: The general in charge of William of Orange army was a French protestant, Marshal Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric-Armand, comte de Schonberg. There were also 100 French officers and at least 2,250 French soldiers in William of Orange's army at the Battle of the Boyne. William of Orange expressed himself mostly in Old French and many of his letters to his confidents were written in French. William of Orange was not anti-French, he was fighting the tyranny of the French king who was trying to impose a Catholic king on the English nation..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I strongly support freedom of religion, but also the right to be free from it or from the laws that would be enacted to follow its dictates. \nAs an aside, I've always found it amusing that doctrinal Christians claim the Old Testament is the word of God, but then do ceaseless wriggling to reconcile all the obvious errors and inconsistencies contained in it. \nMeanwhile, science, in little over two hundred years, has accomplished what religion and prayer couldn't accomplish in thousands of years, providing freedom from: major war; starvation; disease. \nGalileo, Newton, Einstein, and Darwin (and many other scientific geniuses)--- are the real gods whose truths have been confirmed by Muslim, Christian, atheist, and innumerable scientists of other beliefs. And, best of all, the recipients of the benefits don't have to be \"believers,\" either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The slightly different sentence structures sometimes seen in U.S. English can cause amusement to those of us who don't speak American English.\nYour phrase \"\"Catholic Roulette\" through surgical vasectomy \" looks to us like you are saying that \"Catholic Roulette\" IS surgical vasectomy!\nLOTL would not be pleased!\nWe would say: \"the complete spectrum from \"Catholic Roulette\" through to surgical vasectomy \"\n\nWhat did Winston Churchill say?: \"\u201cEngland and America are two countries separated by the same language!\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Every country has a moral obligation to protect its citizens. If the threat is seen as coming from a religious group then the country can ban entry. That isn't a hate crime, it's risk mitigation. Perhaps the writer of this article would like to confirm that murdering Christians who live in Muslim countries is called genocide.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What and unsophisticated and mean spirited society we live in.\n\nRome's Protestant Cemetery has been doing this since 1730: \"The Non-Catholic Cemetery for Foreigners in Testaccio, Rome (to ... as the Protestant Cemetery although it contains the graves of many Orthodox Christians, Jews, Muslims and other non-Christians. It is one of the oldest burial grounds in continuous use in Europe, having started to be used around 1730.\"\n\nIt is well worth visiting if you find yourself in Rome. It is anchored by the pyriamid of Caius Sestius. There is a cat sanctuary at the base where you can see them being fed and attended to if you are fortunate to be there at the right time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So what? We are talking about the Catholic Church here, not about one of the 40 odd thousand Protestant ecclesial communities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "St. Paul, the pope said, reminds Christians that creation is a \"marvelous gift that God has placed in our hands.\"\n\nExactly! When one's only relationship to nature is to exploit it for personal gain one is showing contempt for God's creation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul writes: \"If Jesus is not risen, then your faith is in vain.\" (1 Cor 15:17)\n\nAfter we pull back all the many veils that shroud the resurrection events [especially the divergent accounts in the New Testament], Paul's proclamation of a belief in the resurrection is what transformed the Jesus movement into the world religion of Christianity.\n\nPaul was NOT a witness to the resurrection - Paul never met Jesus during Jesus' lifetime. What artifact of the resurrection events was profound enough to ignite this faith in a 'Risen Christ' in the faithless Saul of Tarsus? What really happened on the road to Damascus? \n\nWe know from archeology of mid-1st century Christian tombs that the cult of belief in the resurrection was already a strong faith in the decades before the New Testament began to be written down: an inscription on a Jewish Christian ossuary proclaims, \"Lord Jesus, Raise Up!\"\n\nWhat sparked the transformation of the \"Jesus of history\" to become \"the Christ of faith?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Would that more Christians were focused on giving God their absolute all, as He asked us to do.\n\nInstead, the tepid would rather gather around the fire denying the tougher demands of God, and even their very association with Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, \"Perspective. It's something you need\"\n\nThe original thread was about what religion was associated with this terrorist attack, but you\u2019re engaging in a fallacy of relevance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignoratio_elenchi) by trying to make it about the general homicide rate of Christian vs Muslin countries.\n\nIn a debating class, your argument would be an epic fail\u2026", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The ineluctable dilemma for Catholic universities is that it is very hard to find competent intellectuals these days who are willing to pretend to believe in the Virgin Birth, transubstantiation, demons, levitating saints, that Jesus said more than a tiny fraction of the things the Jesus character says in the gospels, that St. Paul wrote the Letter to the Hebrews, that St. Peter ever went to Rome or that anything in the entire Old Testament can usefully be interpreted as a prefiguration or prognostication of the New Testament. Finding competent intellectuals who honestly believe any of these things is virtually impossible.\n\nSo you have to choose whether to be a secular university, a cartoon of a university, or a slightly cartoonish, furtively secular, intellectually implausible synthesis hiding behind adamant vagueness. For obvious reasons, they all choose the third option.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dialogue without seeking conversion is neutered Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Christians don't think Trump is a Godsend.. they believe he is the LEAST Putrid of the options give. It was Hillary that tried to steal the election why we are not saying President Sanders or something else. It was the DNC that choose to try to out do the Republicans. Am I glad Trump got Elected... To I believe he is somehow working for me? NO! I believe he is working LESS against me...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Strictly speaking, you're correct for Christians, although it has been applied in a broader way in other contexts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have the impression that \"God helps those who help themselves\" is much less trotted out in non-evangelical Christian circles than it used to be. I am not sure why. I don't think it is because it is known to be non-scriptural.\n\nI wonder is its former prevalence in Catholic circles had anything to do with the former battle over \"Good Works vs Justification by Faith Alone\"?\n\nBen Franklin bon mot sure is seductive. Utterly brilliant propaganda. It is the implications, the subtext that is pernicious, not the literal meaning. Taken at face value, Why would God not help those who strive?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you consider yourself a Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a good reminder that with government help certain protected groups can destroy and or take everything you worked for. Especially if you are Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe they are known as CINOs. Christians in Name Only", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm with the Church that \"the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation.\" (Dei Verbum) It's possible Jesus said things that didn't get into the Scriptures but if God wanted it put in the sacred writings for the sake of salvation, He would have inspire the sacred authors to do so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are always welcome to become Orthodox as a personal choice. You don't need to take the Catholic Church with you for that to happen. But be forewarned: The Orthodox have not fiddled with their liturgy to make it bad imitations of current bad fads. It remains sacred and eternal. The Orthodox people I know are content with that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Imbedded in our Constitution, thank goodness, is the basic principle of separation between Church and State. Evangelicals and the Far Right constantly complain about government overreach, but yet continue their attempts through legislation to cram their own personal beliefs and biases down the throats of the majority of Americans, who are much more mature and tolerant of the differences between peoples. Why are people so afraid and intolerant of fellow citizens who hold different points of view and pursue a life style different than their own? In the Bible are we not told to \"love thy neighbor as thyself?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And I would appreciate you stopping your hateful comments toward non Christians, or to those like myself who don't fit your Christian mold just right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ummm, Fr. P - the Year of Mercy was never intended to depend on the calendar. It was supposed to instruct us in renewing that aspect of our faith as Christians, to pay closer attention to works of Charity as Jesus taught us to do. If it \"came and went\" for you, it never took hold in the first place.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You didn't attend Roman Catholic Mass for large periods of your life. You do not wish to be associated with the Catholic parishioners in the parish you presently attend, an association you would consider \"scandalous.\" You have absolutely no right whatsoever to criticise Catholics who didn't walk out on their faith like you did. Get to confession and get yourself out of your state of mortal sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reading the comments I feel Jesus and the simple fishermen and other followers would be amazed to read what the Church has become. I am not a theologian just a simple Catholic Christian who tries her best to form a correct conscience. I believe in God, help the poor and spread the gospel while an awful lot of people commenting seem to be trying to figure out how many angels can sit on the head of a pin. I read the words of Francis and feel fresh air blowing. Our faith is not a finished institution but a growing relationship and Jesus is still speaking to us. Closing the cannon did not close his words. The Holy Spirit is speaking to us through Francis. The Spirit spoke at Trent and we have not yet fully implemented that Council much less Vatican II. Pride, both clerical and lay, is a danger to those who in their learned positions 'know' what the Church should be. Francis speaks to the hundreds of thousands who are trying to love and be merciful. Not really too difficult.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes the bishops did try to start a cable network but they were too far behind the eight ball. EWTN had been the Catholic channel on cable systems for way too long. Systems were not going to run two Catholic channels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent point. Christians and Christianity are vilified with complete impunity every day in the media and elsewhere. Because Christianity is a true religion of peace, Christians turn the other cheek even under the greatest duress. By giving legal protection specifically to one of the most odious, violent and oppressive ideologies in human history, the government of Canada is will only help to embolden its most bloodthirsty adherents. Canada will become like Germany, a failed democracy in which criminal charges are laid against people for making even the most tepid criticism of the crescent moon death cult. Christians and Jews in particular will end up like their counterparts in France - living in an environment of increasing fear and persecution with no government authority dedicated to their protection. If the House of Commons passes the \"anti-Islamophobia\" bill, it will mark the death of freedom in this country. Canada will join the ranks of the West's dead and dying democracies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm glad you had the Anglican minister with you, because the reaction you described was very telling--the police officer had to protect the clerics from even SEEING a Roman collar on a woman. How odd, given that she was wearing what was perfectly legitimate and appropriate under the circumstances. How many kippahs, tallits, and tefillins have they seen at the Vatican without a police escort? How many Sikh turbans? (I have it on authority: they get a pass) How many upav\u012bta? How many robes of Buddhist priests and nuns? Even the hijab is acceptable. \n\nBut a priest's collar on a woman isn't. They really do live in an odd world over there. Perhaps the greatest irony is the Pope appealing to women, not as potential candidates to the priesthood, but as reproductive agents to ensure the continuation of male priests. Kind of says it all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vince,\n Lincoln won the first Republican parties nomination and defeated Seward, because Seward was anti slavery, pro immigrant and pro Catholic not because of his labor policies.\nNice try at rewriting history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Elaine,\n\nSabbath is a Jewish thing. You are right about that. So if I follow your argument it would be okay for Jews to press for their right to observe the Seventh-day Sabbath, but it is not ok for Adventists because the Seventh-day was not given to Christians.\n\nA summary of the Keynan Constitution available online says: 'According to the [Kenyan] Constitution, a person has the right to refuse any act contrary to their religion or belief, including the taking of an oath.'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"josemaria\" website is currently up for sale, for 3,900 Euros. The \"Christian Life\" page of the \"Opus Dei\" website is propaganda-heavy for that personal prelature. Neither of these websites matches the selections provided by Kristen Whitnert Daniels or the two other posters here. Proceed with caution!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now Serial Divorcers Occupy The Vatican And WH. How ecumenical and cozy for all conservative RCs and Evangelicals joining Hobby Lobby in Rome for the next Republican Convention.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right. Your perceived \"anti-Christian\" media bias compared to the media and political propaganda, economic and military assaults waged daily against my faith is like comparing a chickadee to a Velociraptor and calling 'em both birds. Shall I get out my harmonica and play you some \"holier-than-thou blues?\" You have SUCH a cross to bear...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No---but---I don't think liberal dissident Catholics would appreciate being lumped in with Protestant fundamentalists. You know--the people who don't believe evolution and believe the earth is only 6,000 years old? Yeah--those people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From America Magazine, 2/16/16: \n\"In truth, Catholic teaching, as articulated by several popes through the years, is remarkably clear on national sovereignty and borders. Pius XII, the author of \u201cExsul Familia\u201d\u2014known as the Magna Carta on Catholic teaching on migration\u2014wrote to U.S. bishops in 1948 that while national sovereignty \u201cmust be respected,\u201d migrants should be accepted as long as \u201cthe public wealth, considered very carefully, does not forbid this.\u201d Saint John XXIII, in his encyclical, \u201cPacem in Terris\u201d (\"Peace on Earth\"), taught that nation-states have an obligation to the \u201cuniversal common good\u201d that requires them to welcome newcomers: \u201cWhen there are just reasons in favor of it, he [every human being] must be permitted to emigrate to other countries to take up residence there.\u201d (No. 25).\n\n\"When there are just reasons...\" That's why I asked, \"Aren't there places in their own countries where can live in peace and happiness?\" Because if there are,... And if not,...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pat, you seem to be arguing that the Constitution protects individual religious beliefs, rather than the stated beliefs of a particular institution, which is the position the bishops appear to be defending. I'm not sure the Constitution aims at protecting individual beliefs or individual interpretations of a religion's beliefs, but then I'm not familiar with the judicial history. \nMy uneducated guess is that the founders aimed at protecting what Christians believe and practice, what Jews believe and practice, and so on -- as defined by their religious authorities. If I were to claim religious liberty based on the fact that I'm a Catholic who believes that sick people should be left to die, I don't think the courts would rule in my favor. So, in that view, what the public says is only relevant to the Constitution to the extent the people can bring about change in their respective denominational teachings. Please correct me if I'm wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting because I haven't heard that the annulment reforms have made the process easier. I have yet to run across one story where someone who wasn't going to file for an annulment did after the reforms were announced and thought that it was easy and quick. I have run across the usual amount of complaining about the process and tribunals however. Just yesterday I read a string of posts on the far right Catholic Answers site started by a Protestant who wants to marry a Catholic in which multiple people vented about the annulment process. Strikes me that this is all sound and fury and fake outrage as nothing has really changed. The reforms are really appearance over substance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islam is as normal as Lutheran-ism, Catholocism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and all the other religious -isms. You see, one of the main reasons this country broke away from Britain was to do away with the crown's iron grip on which religions were acceptable to practice and which were not. To insinuate that the United States of America can not tolerate the freedom to worship as Islamic citizens is absolutely un-American. The founding fathers thought enough of religious freedom that they created an amendment to the Constitution to secure religious freedom for all citizens.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I disagree. Pence is the biggest theocrat to ever get so close to the White House. Even in the face of Trump's terrible actions evangelical Christianists are continuing to support him and they'd LOVE for Pence to stick around.\n\nhttp://www.rawstory.com/2016/10/evangelical-leaders-stick-with-trump-in-spite-of-disgusting-remarks-about-women/\n\nThe exposure of blatant hypocrisy from these so-called 'values voters' is going to be one of the biggest side benefits of the Trump implosion. Americans need to see that these people have never been about Jesus but rather the power to control other peoples' lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Shorter: \"Some of my best friends are Catholics.... and I don't know how to read\" if that is what she gets from the Professor's article.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "HI, Anon - Personally, I don't have a problem with Catholics who support free market policies, and I know some Libertarians who are better Catholics than I am. My issue is with people who take money from groups then make themselves feel righteous by sponsoring events that make a little pious noise that sounds like they have real principles. Catholic University has always been a third-rate school, but at least it once stood for something. Now I challenge anyone to tell me what it stands for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At the Last Supper the Apostles became Christians, in fact bishops.\n\nThe records of ordination, and acceptance of apostolic succession, are rife in the early writings of the Church.\n\nEvery Christian church with roots directly to the apostolic age practices ordination and believes in apostolic succession both East and West.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens.\" George Washington , Founding Father, 1st President, Patriot, Christian, An Authentic American.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I was scrolling through my email about a week ago, I received a message to take a long hard look at sending my bank account information to a deposed African prince in return for $20 million to be wired into my account. Still thinkin' about it.\n\nChristians aren't being persecuted for anything. You're thinking of bible-bludgeoning bigots.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Huh? We're talking about charters here right? Christian schools are all private.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is, perhaps, time that the bishops realize that their bungling of the on-going abuse of minors, the radical non-accountability of Bishops, and the more recent battle against civil-equalities have left most Catholics skeptical of any teaching that comes from the Chancery.\n\nThere is a strong Catholic argument against Capital Punishment.\nThere is a strong Catholic argument against Abortion (late-term or otherwise).\nThere is a strong Catholic argument against assisted suicide.\nThere is a strong Catholic in support of the sanctity and indissolubility of marriage.\n\nThe Bishops have labored non-stop 24/7 over the last 30 years to dismantle their collective (and often personal) credibility to be proponents of any of these arguments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Over the years, NCR has constantly told us about Catholic social teaching in respect to the rights of workers, and the right to work.\n\nNow we have a president who in his first week in office has done more for American workers than probably any other president in history.\n\nWhat is NCR's reaction to this?\n\nSilence.\n\nNCR would prefer to stoke the fires of conspiracy theory and resentment, and call it Catholic Social Teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How very Christian of you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Name one Christian who thinks that every passage in the Bible should be followed word-for-word? The 'nasty stuff' is generally seen in the context of its time or just ignored, or taken metaphorically. Many extremist groups like ISIS, al Qaida, take the Koran literally and try to put it into practice. \nNot equivalent at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "exactly ..they have no shame..you would think she herself would keep it quiet and be embarrassed of herself..i could not imagine myself illegally going into mexico or canada..especially if i had been stopped and handcuffed in an airport. i dont care what they say...she broke the law therefore she should act responsively and be thankful for the grace she was allowed....she should have respect for authority as most reasonable and normal persons of conscience would..and if the churches did not enable but instead guided the way to what is right as in..obey the law and have respect ..rather than agreeing with her mentality that she is a victim and bc she is nice and has worked so hard that somehow she deserves to be here. people will never have integrity or character until they learn that honesty and what is right according to scripture always trumps what your feelings or mind might tell you. the catholic and churches like this more and more are less inclined to truly follow scripture", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yakabuski is right that \u2018Most of Spain\u2019s territory was conquered by 8th-century Muslim invaders\u2019. However it is incorrect to refer to Christians regaining their lost lands as \u2018conquerors\u2019. The movement to free Spain from the invaders, to liberate Spain and Portugal, is called Reconquista by all historians, Spanish and Portuguese for \u2018reconquest\u2019. \n\nNeo-Mud\u00e9jar style derives from another Spanish style called Mud\u00e9jar, a term meaning \u2018Muslim who remained in Spain after it had been reconquered by the Christians in the Middle Ages, as well as a style of Spanish architecture of the 12th to the 17th century, combining Moorish and Gothic forms.\u2019 http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Mudejar \n\nCatalonia was briefly occupied by the Moors. By around 800 AC it was free and became a basis for launching the Reconquista. The result is there is little Moorish and Mud\u00e9jar architecture, unlike places like Andaluc\u00eda and Castile. I have been there several times so I speak from experience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apostasy is apostasy, a rejection of the Catholic Faith. You seem to have a penchant for words beginning with 'a' lately, 'asexual', now 'ahistorical'. Do you know what these words mean or do they just sound good to you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I understand Archbishop Chaput's yearning for a better church. Don't we all indeed yearn and hope for a better future? I know I do. And, when circumstances conspire to frustrate me and make my life less fulfilling, I tend to gripe and grouse (which is how I read the Archbishop's words). But, shouldn't he know better that to gripe in such a public fashion? Additionally, just how would one go about getting to that smaller, holier church? An on-line test perhaps? Or, an interview with the local Catholic police? What would be the criteria? If I disagreed with just one doctrine of the church, would that disqualify me from membership? Or maybe two? What exactly would the litmus test(s) be in the Archbishop's mind? Would mass excommunications follow? Would truly pious and qualified Catholics be issued a membership card? This exercise of ruminating on the beauty of a smaller, holier church is fine if done in private. But, as he conducted it I find it very disturbing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bishops have a right and a responsibility to articulate Catholic teaching on suicide. And I have no problem with them saying they believe a particular bill is in opposition to that teaching. But that should be the extent of their activity on the matter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not an art project, its a bad laptop. Let me elaborate. Every 10th grader, even in Catholic high school, learns about generative and regulative development. The latter occurs at gastrulation (although that word is not introduced until college embryology). It Is enough of a break in development to confidently state that the change is profound. Until Evangelicum Vitae, even most Catholic ethicists considered gastrulation as the begining of life. EV is wrong, by the way. It\u2019s infallible point is that we must not kill something that might have a sould. Biology shows, however, that in generative development only the DNA of the mother, therefore her soul, controls the actions of the blastocyst. If an individual is certain of that, there is no sin in practicing birth control or stem cell research.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An excellent Pod Cast. Also should be mentioned the two Palestinian films playing June 7-8 th at the Doris Duke Theater. The PALESTINIANS, CHRISTIAN and Muslim, are also discriminated against by travel bans by Israel & US. The Doris Duke Theater is to be commended for its educational presentations, and Civil Beat for partnering.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any Conservative leader in this era has an extra millstone around his neck. The swing voters won't have any doubt in their minds in 2019 if Scheer or the party appear too friendly to Trump. The socially liberal/fiscally conservative or moderate voter may have doubts about Trudeau but any hint of evangelical or conservative Catholic activists being policy insiders will keep them home or hold their nose slightly to vote for the Liberals. Trump supporters here would vote Tory no matter what but they are too few to matter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ref: Dr Strangelove comment\nOne may debate that .-)\n\nRemember that it was the mob that crucified Christ - not Pontius Pilate, a professional Roman governor.\n\nAnd if I need my appendix removed I will not base the procedure on an opinion survey but a professional surgeon.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our Catholic pastor reached out to my husband and me on this issue. He said Paprocki does not represent nor speak for Jesus Christ. We are welcome at the Altar as always and nothing has changed. \"See you next Sunday\" he wrote.\n\nWhat a relief!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are ending the conversation, not me. We still have to discuss Ordinatio Sacerdotalis in detail. It is by no means a dogmatic definition of revealed truth about the divine constitution of the Church. We also have to discuss some mysterious \"underlying theology of the Eucharist\" that apparently you cannot find in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We have barely started sharing about St John Paul II's Theology of the Body. We still have to explore many other issues, such as the linkage of Mary, Christ, and the Eucharist. This is not a zero sum discussion, I am not trying to convince you of anything. It is a fraternal dialogue/debate to listen to each other and enrich each other. See Acts 15 for a good model to follow. Do you really think we have already reached 15:28 with regard to the ordination of women? I don't believe so. However, if you are not willing to continue this dialogue, peace be with you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The sad thing is that many people consider themselves to be Christians, especially at this time of the year, yet don't have a charitable bone in their bodies. \nHomelessness can be ended if there is a will. But obviously selfishness overrides that collective will, not only in Canada, but worldwide.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "umm, a \"christian\" should NOT be looking at the old testament, Hebrew 8:13 says his coming FULFILLS the old covenant (laws in the old testament) so anyone who says they are \"christian\" but continues to cherry pick scripture from the old testament shows they are not true christians, but just using it as cover.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How times change. For at least the past two popes we were told by some Catholics to go along with what the popes were saying and doing, not to criticize. And now these same people are criticizing the current pope big time, demanding answers almost like inquisitors--or Pharisees. It's like they don't believe the Holy Spirit guided the selection of Pope Francis to any degree but apparently did fully guide the election of the popes after St. John XXIII until Pope Francis. Such a deal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, quite unfair to report about the Church, unless reporting about every single other incident ever. I agree that many do not understand the distinction. Some people insist on treating the One True Church unfairly, as though it can claim to be a higher moral authority and thus could be held to a higher standard. Quite unfair! Naturally, there are those who would say this argument is a nonsensical attempt to defend the indefensible, but as we True Defenders of Holy Mother Church know, any tactic is acceptable when protecting the image and reputation of the Church. It's what Jesus would have wanted. He never would expect his Church to operate on such a moral plane that it would be able to withstand scrutiny of its conduct.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First off, Christianity being attacked is not getting along with people, it is a decision you make to believe in Jesus Christ, or not. \nPractice of religion is different. Any man/woman can refuse to work with uncovered person, they can go and leave that job. Acceptance of the economic impact is a free choice also. A cashier can decide not to work where he/she is forced to sell bacon. A store owner can decide not to stock or sell objectionable products. \nFreedom in this case is not one of being forced to serve others, the freedom is the choice to refrain from serving others. Is the author saying that I should be compelled to serve whatever the author wants and that I have no choice?\nPerhaps if the wedding cakes for those who wanted to force the bakers to produced had the verse Romans 1:22 and 26 or 27 scripted on the icing, the one demanding the cake would not want it as much. Will this be rejected again?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesus instituted a \"new covenant\" or religious act, at the Last Supper.\" Absolutely right. But there had to be an \"old covenant\" before there could be a new covenant. The Old Testament, from Genesis 3:15, 16, through Psalms 22, Isaiah 53 and through all the prophets to Malachi is a Scarlet Thread pointing to God's Messiah. My question to you is, have you ever received God's Messiah in to your life and asked Him to extend His saving Grace?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Poor Pope Francis is preaching to an empty choir loft. How many young people of all socioeconomic backgrounds are aware of the Pope and Vatican activity? I would guess only the trad millennials and they are of a rarified order and exclusive in many ways. My many young adult children are aware of the Pope but have no connection to the RC church except an occasional liturgy for a holiday or funeral or wedding.They are not alone.In order to truly reach out and touch the many young people what in a different reality would have been regular church goers, the RC, and the Pope ( more likely the Pope with his past job history) need to go the the running clubs, young professional volunteering events, the \"Y\" and other clubs, and the priests if they so desire can replicate the \"home visits\" of long ago. Sponsoring dances in the fashion of the old CYO gatherings would be another idea. As my father said, \"the church lost much a long time ago.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why isn't NCR reporting any coverage of Australia's Royal Commission on sex abuse & the RCC? \nA monumental event where the country's RC archbishops have to stand before the Commission & explain their institution's failure? NCR reports many trivial things in the RCC but something substantive and shattering as Australia's Commission findings demand coverage for the Catholic community especially.\nWere it not for Kathy Shaw's blog, Abusetrackers, we would be ignorant of the devastating findings of the Commission.\nAnd still pope Francis obfuscates in resolving this open wound to the Body of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis is firing back at foes of his efforts to make the Catholic Church more open and pastoral in its ministry, telling an interviewer that \u201cthey are acting in bad faith to foment divisions.\u201d\n\nGod Bless Good Pope Francis. Ray Burke and his cabal of troublemakers are working to undermine this papacy because they are upset Burke lost the last conclave.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Predicted stories: \"Philly Archbishop Boycotts Catholic Veep Visit to St. Joe's (or Villanova)\" OR \"Philly Archbishop Warmly Welcomes Ex-Catholic VP to City.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sure, there should be a different legal standard for Cardinal Pell. He's a senior Catholic cleric. He must be guilty - whatever the outcome of the trial.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article reminds me of those \"one little trick\" ads on the internet. \"We just found out about this...\"\n\nTotally misses a central idea of the Roman Catholic faith: The Holy Spirit has guided the Church at every moment of every age, supremely, abundantly, tenderly, and very patiently.\n\nFrom the Gospel of today's Holy Mass: \"...such has been your gracious will.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one is forced to attend a Catholic university.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The message of the Holy Spirit has been and is of Oneness and Love. Pope Francis and Cardinal Farrell have the same message.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for an excellent column. I would, however, like to add a further perspective. In Canada, tax money has followed the child since the Quebec Act of 1774. In Alberta, for example, tax money follows students to Catholic, private, and other sectarian (e.g., Dutch Reformed) schools, as well to district-run and charter public schools. Students in all of these schools must meet provincial standards, which are assessed in 3rd (optional), 6th and 9th grade (the Province's highest level assessment is PISA). There is an integrated provincial curriculum, along with student, parent, and teacher guides. Schools have the option not to use them. But every year, every school's value-added results (achievement growth above what student demographics would predict) is widely published, and most parents use to make their school choices. So what people here in the US call a \"voucher\" system can, in fact, work well. But multiple design factors are critical to its success.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't think scripture supports the position that Christ is our King?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A nice call to balanced thinking. \nExcept that, when someone puts the Gospel and the Catechism on equal footing, I begin to suspect that this person is probably a Catholic on a certain side of that balance ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When in the world did capitalism ever have \"spiritual and moral foundations in Judaeo-Christian beliefs\"?! Marxism has a much stronger claim on being the heir of the Hebrew Prophets, and of the author(s) and redactor(s) of the Sermon on the Mount. Capitalism by the very terms of its function in society destroys virtue and suppresses love, and is all the more hateful for duping many of its practitioners to believe they are being very virtuous and loving. What nonsense! What deceit!\n\nOn the other hand, interregional and international commerce is a great good for human beings. If only it could be organized without the intrusion of the evils of capitalism! The concept of the \"trade agreement\" already shows what nasty business capitalists and their politico-puppets can get up to: Some partners are of course privileged, and stand in the way of being enriched, while others, equally deserving, are nevertheless shut out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You haven't compared like with like. The cases you referred to are recognised illnesses, like psychosomatism or hypochrondria.\n\nGender dysphoria is a syndrome of symptoms (like anxiety and depression) associated with the perception of a mismatch between a person's biological sex and their culturally determined gender identity; in other words, with a gender mismatch. The latter is NOT an illness.\n\nThe perception of such a mismatch may be more an ontological issue, regardless of whether this conflicts with Catholic moral teaching based on Natural Law theory.\n\nPeople sometimes confuse gender dysphoria with the perception of gender mismatch and, wrongly, classify the entire phenomenon as illness or disorder.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you do not believe that Christ will be with his Church until the end, and deny His claim that even the gates of Hell will not overcome the Church? Or was Jesus implicitly stating that the church required a level playing field to hold its own?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You indeed chose wisely, my friend. AnonAJ possesses a level of insight and understanding and compassion that is truly rare. She is a gift for all who see with the heart and mind as well as the eye. \nThere is one thing I wish to remind you of from an exchange you and I had several years ago as well, and perhaps AAJ recalls this as well. It seems that a far safer place for you is as far from the Catholic Church as you can get. To stay so involved, especially when the possibility of change in the culture of abuse grows more remote each month, only keeps the deep wounds open and unable to be healed. I say this with some objectivity and also a true lack of knowing your full situation, so please take it as being as much of an observation as it is an offer of advice. As you discovered with AnonAJ those few years ago, the love and support you have so hoped for comes not from the institution or its hierarchy, but from the members who practice the faith in the ways we are supposed to.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah the Bundy family in Nevada was totally peaceful...not.\n\nHow about right here in Canada with Weibo Ludwig a conservative evangelical?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis did not agree to look into it again, he said emphatically in answer to a question, \"the door is closed.\"\nSt John Paul II's Ordinatio Sacerdotalis is the last word upon the issue from now to kingdom come, even Pope Francis realises this.\nYou may be confused due to his opening of a discussion relating to deaconesses but as regards the priesthood the 'door is firmly closed'.\nEven if the Catholic Church revived the order of deaconesses, no deaconesses would ever be allowed to serve as a liturgical 'deacon' in a celebration of the Mass or in any of the ceremonies of the 1962 Missal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On the contrary! I have seen PLENTY that supports Karen O'Connell's appraisal of the March for Life. What's more, I have done plenty of listening to those who support the Karen O'Connells of this country, and world. As I said above, Karen O'Connell got it exactly right! Your remarks to the contrary notwithstanding! And such remarks have deterred many good Catholics from involving themselves in the \"March for Life, \" and \"pro-life\" support in general! And I have witnessed that, repeatedly! If you really don't like \"rude and disgusting antics,\" don't go there!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course one must constantly doubt media and do one's best to read between the lines. The profiles were published in The Australian, which for intents and purposes is part of the prosecution team, as well as an advocate for destroying Pell. Dignan and Monument are their people, the accusers on whom they rely, not mine. I did not make them up, but simply read the accounts of Pell's sworn enemies. Their histories are eerily akin to Danny \"Pinocchio\" Gallagher's of Philadelphia fame, just less extensive. It just remains to be seen whether they likewise will seek Catholic people's money. Probably not. Nah. But hay. Pinocchio made off with $5 million of our bucks. (I have on occasion donated to the church in Philadelphia.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Froshorten3 says:\n\"German Catholic theologians seek simplicity yet distrust it...\"\n\nWhat do you mean, exactly, and why do you think that?\n\nYou appear to believe German Catholic theologians don't measure up ecumenically. Have I got that right? If so, why do you think that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, you are using your interpretation of Catholic theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RE: 1) it wasn't a disagreement it was disobedience of a request from the local Ordinary, which a Catholic must follow...BTW last time I checked all the liberal supporters of PF are saying that one CANNOT disagree with the Pope even if he spouts the heretical teaching in Amoris Laetitia..so which is it Dennis...BTW a traditional Catholic website now known as Church Militant was asked by their local Ordinary to remove the word Catholic from their website and they website and they obeyed.. \nRE:2) Couldn't resist :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I still reserve the right to criticize all religions, despite this liberal attempt at giving preferential treatment to one group over others. The supreme irony being, secular progressives bash all people of faith (not the religious dogma itself), but now all of a sudden, support religion. Sorry again, one religion. \n\nSo criticizing the Catholic Church (and catholics themselves) is now off limits, lets be fair. It can be construed as being bigoted and Cathalophobic. And Judaophobic. Hinduphobic, Buddiphobic, etc... \n\nDivisive identity politics is the stock ad trade of Justins government and this motion is clearly not supported by the majority of Canadians. \n\nAlmost nine out of 10 of Canadians have little faith M-103, a motion condemning anti-Muslim sentiment and to strike a committee to study systemic racism, will accomplish anything, although they are split as to whether it\u2019s worth passing even symbolically.\n\nOnly 12 per cent said they felt the motion is \u201cworth passing\u201d - NP", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A minor problem is that the numbering of the commandments is different in various denominations of Christianity. Catholics, Lutherans and maybe some others treat, as one, the commandments against having other gods and making graven images and have separate commandments against coveting neighbor's wife and goods, while most Protestants separate commandments against other gods and graven images, and conflate the covetousness commandments. I can't see from the pictures which practice this monument follows.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Nicene Creed is something we have in common with non-Roman Catholics and with many groups not in communion with the Catholic Church, inserted into the Mass before the Apostles' Creed was even attested, as an acclamation of the fullness of Christian teaching. The Apostles' Creed, on the other hand, is a peculiarly Latin thing.\n\n While I can see the merit of using it as an explicit renewal of baptismal promises the Nicene Creed does that and more. It is a greater affirmation and a symbol of the unity of the Church and aspiration of reunion with Eastern Orthodox and others. That you haven't heard it in 40 years is sad even if the priests substituting for it (is there an indult?) have good motivations and aren't doing so because they object to some of the doctrines of the Nicene Creed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The rules governing which faiths can be publicly mocked and misrepresented and which enjoy protected status is very complicated and ever changing within the progressive group think hive.\nMovie aficionados may have noticed that Christianity actually gets a very positive portrayal from Hollywood if the context is an African-American one.\nCatholicism seems to get a bit of a pass from the Canadian MSM even though the theology is on the conservative side of the Christian spectrum. Coverage by the reliably left CBC comes to mind (suspect Scheer's status as a Catholic will actually shield him from some of the more vicious personal invective).\nValues of the urban progressive left is cluttered with ever shifting exceptions. Perhaps an on-line site with the latest trends and fads de jour would help clarify things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If something is going to lead to the realisation of Atwood's ideological nightmare, it is certainly not the Christian tradition, but its absence. \n\nThis (Atwood's) brave new world is well represented and anticipated by the ideological hegemony, straitjacket and control mechanisms of the ever so popular, powerful and rootless phenomenon of political correctness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fortnight for Freedom; I suspect this will take on a different hue when Church leaders take stock of the court\u2019s decision on the Lutheran School in Missouri. You can expect short sighted Bishops around the nation to start scrambling for tax dollars. With that comes government regulation for churches. \n\nSo many forget that the statement from the British Army cuts both ways; \u201cIf You Take the King's Shilling, You Do the King's Bidding.\u201d Trying to retrieve our freedom from state controlled religion will be difficult 25 years from now, due to foolish prelates here in the US. There never has been a \u201cwar\u201d on Catholicism; prelates invented it to try to dissipate our outrage over their behavior.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why would one wish for the demise of the Catholic Church? If one is dissatisfied with it and desires it to be re-born then there are several examples of Christians 'freeing' themselves from it's \"contrived and Sacramentally-imposed bondage\" throughout history.\nMind you, these supposed 'free Christians' have spent the last 500 years 'freeing' themselves from the 'bondage' they have been continually imposing on each other. There are now 40,000 or so sects of such 'free Christians' throughout the world; quite a 'menu' to choose from for anyone so dissatisfied with his own Church that he/she advocates it's demise.\nIt beats me why today's dissidents if their unhappiness with the Catholic Church of is so great, don't have the courage of their convictions as Luther et al did and start their own religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"That is how things are supposed to work in the Vatican II age, correct?\"\n\nOf course it is ... which presumes recognising the validity of Vatican II and its basic principles. Which applies in particular to the Catholics who have entered into this alliance ...\n\nDirect your question about \"cordial response and explanation\" to them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words, you don't want the poor to have access to health care, something which the magisterium says is a right. You demonstrate that American conservatism is incompatible with Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Kevin. I have been following your responses to Ol Abuelo. Some of your thoughts are too subtle for me to digest quickly, but they do deserve my further thinking. I have not read your link, but intend to. You strike a chord in me when you remind us that the way we must present ourselves to the Lord is with humility and obedience. And those two qualities are so crucial regarding marriage. Hardly any modern believes, as Jesus did, in the indissolubility of marriage. But who are we to argue with God himself? To argue --- indeed, to go so far as to reject God's law and propose a contrary way --- is neither humble nor obedient. God will have mercy on those who sin and are repentant. He may well have a different plan for those who rebel, and urge others to rebel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is it not curious, Bear, that I ask for a citation and what we get instead is an attempted tongue-lashing and reference to \u201ca good number of Canon Lawyers?\u201d I gave you a citation Bear, a specific canon. Where is your citation?\n\nAnd of course, it is Jesus Christ Who saves us. But then again, that is why He established His Church, why He gave her governance through St. Peter and his successors, why He entrusts the sacraments to her. Part of the reason that she governs herself with ecclesiastical law is precisely to protect the pastoral care she gives. It prevents clerics and others working in Christ\u2019s name through the Church from becoming free-agents, doing things that are contrary both their salvation and the salvation of those receiving pastoral care or sacraments. To that St. John Paul noted that the 1983 code was intended to be an \u201c\u2026 efficacious means in order that the Church may \u2026 carry out its office of salvation in this world\u201d (Sacr\u00e6 Disciplin\u00e6 Leges, \u00b6 26)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/6 You have certainly raised an interesting issue and I\u2019ve put quite a bit of time into it before answering you. This is really not a Catholic issue; the majority of Christians hew to the same approach Catholics do, even though many of the liberal sects have departed from natural law theory to justify other things they are doing. Small sects hew to your approach, and conscientious objection is a minor but serious component of American beliefs.\n\nFirst, the Scriptural references, which I provide with a short commentary from a mainline Protestant commentary - just so we understand this is not a uniquely Catholic view of the texts:\n\nMatthew 5: 43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Has everyone forgotten that Pope's opinions aren't canon law- that papal infallibility is dependent on communion among the bishops and magisterium of the Church? Pope Francis \"has not changed in the slightest the teaching on mortal sin\" but he has arguably misapplied that teaching, or has allowed it to be misapplied by others, to a situation wherein it simply does not apply (Canon 915); and so caused scandal. Just like the rampant abuse of Vatican 2- misinterpretion by others is what Burke seeks to clarify and I commend him- he has not stepped out of line by any means!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God\u2019s invisible qualities\u2014his eternal power and divine nature\u2014have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.\" Romans 1:19-20\nI am not defending Catholicism - it has had/does have many problems where its doctrine and practice has departed from plain Bible New Testament teaching, but God's existence and Biblical Christianity are a different issue. \nhttp://biblereasons.com/atheism/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who cares what this or that bishop says or thinks about the bill.\n\nWhat authority or competence in this matter does he have.\n\nFind some credible Catholic healthcare policy laypeople with informed opinions about the matter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then just what are the Commandments, for you? Neither Commandments nor Laws can be applied rigidly, as one size does NOT fit all and may not even cover all circumstances! And one person's truth is not necessarily another person's truth. People are NOT made for laws, and Pope Francis does a good job those truths to traditional Roman Catholics who may be convinced otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just as the word democracy doesn't appear in the constitution, neither does the word Christianity.\n\nAlaska Consitution; Article 1, Section 5. Freedom of Speech\n\nEvery person may freely speak, write, and publish on all subjects, BEING\nRESPONSIBLE for the ABUSE of that RIGHT.\n\nSEE: Messerli v. State (626 P.2d 81, 1980) & Anniskette v. State, 489 P.2d 1012, 1971", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We Catholics also believe Genesis is the Word of God that speakspeak to us theologically and thus my reflection. I have studied historical criticism whichave gives us an understanding of where the texts originate but in faith we go deeper.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who are the supporters of Khadr?\n\nusually from these groups\n\npeople with NDP orientation\n\nleftist academics in the ivory tower\n\nthe so-called leftist \"intellectual\"\n\nliberal clergy from post christian churches\n\nradical muslims\n\nunion leaders (not members)\n\nradical student activists\n \nhis mother and sister", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope Pope Francis calls out the PM's stance regarding the fact that in order to serve in a Trudeau Liberal Government, an MP was not even able able to voice concern or oppose abortion ... The only PM in Canadian history to ever take this pro - abortion stance. As a devout, practicing Catholic , I must say, Trudeau immediately lost my vote, when he chose to be an advocate for abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because that was all outdated laws from the Old Testament. The New Testament of Christ did away with the old, binding Christians to God via a new set of rules. As a Christian it is my number one duty to love God withe everything I've got. Then I've got to follow the Golden Rule and treat others as I would like to be treated under similar circumstances.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".\nAnd Mark, \n\nat the time the Constitution was written, the founders were well aware of other religions and no,\n\n they didn't call all other religions other than Christianity paganism.\n\nBut I would be interested in seeing the history book you've been reading.\n\nCould you tell me the name of the book you got that from?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The formal Catholic teaching rests on a very interesting point, that once understood ties a lot of things together. \n\nThis point is that God isn't bound by space and time. \n\nSome Protestants get themselves wrapped in loops trying to explain Scripture and matters such as predestination, free will, etc. And many Catholics do too.\n\nJesus's sacrifice occurred in space and time, but its effects aren't. \n\nThe role and idea of priesthood in the OT wasn't wrong, so much as it was imperfect. Jesus became the perfect priest (and perfect victim).\n\nSo Catholic priests participate in the priesthood of Jesus Christ by lending God their all. \n\nSo the priesthood continues.\n\nAnd the \"common priesthood\" (you and me) continues as well. We can share in the intimate union with Jesus by offering Him our work, our struggles, our joys, etc. We \"partake\" in this act of charity with Him, just as Simon of Cyrene did (in a particular point in space and time).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I work with four priests, they would all welcome this Mayor. If you are not Catholic, why do you care so much?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No no\nNo closed door meeting or obscure parliamentary committee\n\nThe full on debate in the National Assembly just like over the niqab \n\nThank goodness this debate is happening, this is epitomizes the christian secularism of the pure laine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is precisely as a Catholic Priest that I know the Church teaches me to respect the judgement and conscience of other people. And also that I need to continue to think and to contribute what I can to the positions the Church takes.\n\nPersonally, I think teaching leading to 'absolutes' such as you express must have something wrong with it. \n\nMy advise is that we need to consider abortion in relationship to miscarriages. And to the life of the mother and the family. \n\nFrankly - and just for me, personally - I don't quite buy into all that 'intrinsic evil' language. That seems to be what makes people go to extremes.\n\n I've learned enough about human foetal development to know that some very weird things can happen between conception and birth. Normally, sometimes the foetus would die and be expelled in a miscarriage. Today it might be possible to prolong a process that should not be prolonged.\n\nThe life and health of the mother and the effect on the family ought paramount.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A verbose and contorted reply such as this, I have no doubt what you have recited is official church teaching. I unapologetically reject this (IMO) ridiculous notion and if I was ever aware of a known child molester claiming to act in persona Christi, I would publicly shame him in front of the entire congregation. \n\nMaybe not very Christian of me but I suspect our gracious Lord would forgive my reckless behavior, given the vile and crude transgression committed by the wayward priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mary, Jamie, Marianne, Thank you for this invitation. I accept. I am a straight Catholic woman living in community with a loving, couple who are lifelong public servants (one a physician, one a prosecutor of violent crimes). My friends are both women. One of them is also Catholic. I live with a family, with a couple who contribute great happiness to my life through the beauty and stability and generosity of their commitment and love for one another and through the reality that their loving life together supports their powerful contribution to the broader community through their service. When some learn that I live with a gay couple, the attention instantly goes to what happens in their bedroom and whether I am condoning \"that sin\" through our co-housing as if .the listener has heard nothing of my earlier words about my friends and our community (I am also a lifelong community servant through my work as a social worker and then a Catholic Worker). Ours is a gorgeous Christian home.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's always god's will or god's plan. It's the fundamentalist christian fall back. No personal responsibility.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "IMO, Chaput's mindset reflects Christianity's hatred of humanity as being flawed from the start even though \"In the beginning, God created ...\" God created a defective world altogether. Everyone one of god's creatures, big and small, die! To me, this quote reflects the mindset, \"The body of Christ must be this absolutely unique and pure organism if it is to become all things to all men.\" So impure, polluted was humanity that Jesus had to be born of a virgin to avoid contamination with a booster shot from the holy spirit.\nChristianity's disdain for the world is summed up in 1 John 2:15 15, \"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.\"\nChristians have been encouraged to flee the world, \"We have no tenting place here.\"\nThe next life is the real life (even with it's hell!). Chaput and ilk seek a pure paradise, like Jehovah's Witnesses.\nYes, Inter feces et urinam nascimur! Love humanity or leave it!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well to start with, he promotes the wholesale destruction of public lands and is the poster boy for corporate corruption. They are also banking on almost no regulations and big tax cuts for the rich.\nMeanwhile, pseudo Christians believe he is the new savior. Only in America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From the first paragraph of the post where you say I don't mention the German bishops.\n\"Miss Zagano tells a fine tale but only a partial tale. She mentions that Argentinian, GERMAN and Maltese bishops as having explained AL.\"\nWhy is it that you cannot see that I am not quarrelling with Miss Zagano re: the German bishops. \nThe two American diocesan bishops I am aware of are Cupich and McElroy and I also now think Tobin is in favour of Kasper's proposal too.\nI regard orthodox Catholics as those who adhere to the Magisterium and time-honoured teachings of the Church. I am waiting for the Pope to clarify what is the magisterial teaching on the doubts emanating from Amoris Laetitia. Eventually he will have to or his successor will. The Church cannot continue with its bishops and priests in different parts of the world teaching doctrines and practices diametrically opposed to each other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are incorrect in labeling my beliefs as \"religious dogma\". My opinions at large on the subject were formed before I became a Catholic by the writings of Rachel MacNair and Nat Henthoff, neither of whom can be labeled as \"religious\".....becoming a Catholic simply affirmed what I already believed based on secular sources. \n\nTo take it a step further, Rachel has written extensively on the subject of PTSD in not only the patients that receive abortions, but the doctors who perform them. So that renders your argument highly questionable that it \"benefits\" the woman, her family, and society.\n\nYour last sentence is also highly suspect, as the \"baby daddy\" syndrome in our urban core is epidemic, and the DA's office that has been held by Democrats for the last 2 decades has been utterly impotent in enforcing even the most basic of child support. The ones that do procure the abortions for their \"baby mamas\", they usually continue in their criminal lifestyle.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "[Pete]\n\n1 - Does God exist?\n\nYes.\n\n2 - Did God create the world and the people in it?\n\nYes. Though how He did so is best left to science to explain.\n\n3 - Was Jesus Christ God?\n\nYes. He was fully divine.\n\n4 - Was Jesus Christ fully human?\n\nYes.\n\n5 - Did Jesus Christ institute 7 sacraments?\n\nNo, He instituted 6. The seventh (marriage) He elevated from its previous natural institution in Genesis, when both spouses are baptized Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, NCR, for adding the Just Action Bulletin. It is just what we Catholics need to build the Kingdom in this age of amoral materialism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I enjoyed the article at Global Sisters. Professor Wood's definition of unity--as \"recognition of the one church of Christ\" but \"not a return to the Catholic church\" could open doors for a lot of people. \n\nAs much as I enjoyed the article, I enjoyed the picture on the book cover even more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What good does your pretense do you?\n\nThat someone is poor is not a reason to judge but an opportunity for those who are able to supply their needs.\u00a0\n\n\nI didn't request your opinion on how I or anyone else might get into your 'heaven', \n\nI spoke to how those claiming to be Christians should behave here on earth.\n\nYou presumed that should be, as you said, 'up to Jesus'.\n\nWell, if it's up to Jesus, think about what he said already on the subject.\n\nIt's pretty clear, and I gave you references.\n\nNeed more? Jesus told you that He may be found in all the Scriptures. Proverbs is part of \u201cthe word of Christ,\u201d through which He reveals Himself\n\nAs Proverbs 14:31 says, \u201cHe who oppresses the poor taunts his Maker, But he who is gracious to the needy honors Him.\u201d\u00a0\n\n\n\u201cWhoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.\u201d Proverbs 22:16\n\n\nRemembering the needy is honoring to God, and it helps open the door for gospel proclamation (Matthew 5:16).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Justin says \"Diversity is our strength\"\n\nso Quebec cannot keep its \"culture that is strongly secular with Roman Catholic root\"\nJustin has spoken\n\nhowever no Diversity of language in Quebec\nmust be French language", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The really funny thing about this comment is that I would be willing to wager money that I am the youngest person in this conversation by far. One thing I've found interesting about NCR is that they talk about the \"young\" all the time and how they are leaving the oppressive Church. Though, it does not seem like many young people comment and read this paper. From the stories shared it seems like most peopler here were young in the 60s and 70s. It always amazes me when such people are sure that they know what young Catholics really want.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In practical effect, we do. Or at least did, until Trump decided to end the charade of \"border-protection\" that had been played out for the past 25 years under Clinton, Bush, and Obama. \n\nYou attempt to make a point by saying that the majority of illegal immigrants are overstays. That hardly resolves the issue. We have plenty enough of those who enter illegally. \n\nThe only thing that can justify the situation we're in is that Christianity demands it. I am open to a rational discussion of this, but so far have heard none from you or the bishops, who are content to rest their entire argument on the premise that we must \"welcome the stranger.\" That alone doesn't suffice when the consequence could well be national suicide. California's well on their way already.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jack, it's difficult to find that while Adventists are Christians, so many of the doctrines are straight from the OT and were given to the Israelites and never to new Christians.\nIt should be superfluous to name the ones made applicable today that were never part of instruction for Christians. Is there some reason not given?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe the Catholic social service should pick up the tab for those they bring and not the tax payer.\nAlso teach your clients to act like Americans and Aline themselves with Americans get rid of their Burcas", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought the point was to reiterate the Johannine theme of Christ as truth, and to project the tyrant Pilate as a sympathetic figure.\n\nThis representation of Pilate is fake news.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's what they sell as Theology. Don't forget OD is very wealthy. One doesn't get to be as wonderful a Catholic as LOTL for free.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I always like this point from The Treaty of Tripoli back in 1796:\n\n\"Article 11: As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion...\"\n\nKeep in mind that this treaty (to end the war with the Barbary Pirates) was signed by President John Adams and ratified by the US senate, the majority of whom also signed the Constitution, so when someone says the US was founded as a Christian nation, I always tell them:\n\n\"Not according to the founding fathers!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "i had a very strict catholic upbringing but i can not recall ever being told we had to be obedient to men. it was more like a matriarchy and the men just went along.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church is not 'in business'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neither my wife or I hold each others hands during the Our Father because that's how we were brought up. When I'm near others I'll just close my eyes and nobody bothers me.\n\nHowever it doesn't matter to me if others do. I'm just happy they take the time to come to Mass. So many Catholics don't.\n\nSign of peace can be equally clunky. Some want to wave and others shake and some ignore you!\n\nMy pet annoyance is those who receive the body of Christ then walk past the blood of Christ seemingly obliviously! We should at least bow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know, Dennis, I understand some people are shy, etc., but it seems to me that in a Christian community, people ought to show their caring for one another. We are, after all, human beings, and we need to have a way to communicate with each other. \n\nA woman once told me that when she mentioned to one of the parish staff that no one had noticed that she had been absent for a good while from the reception desk (where she volunteered), he replied that the parish was large, and not a village in Italy where everyone knew each other! Not exactly warm, Christian behavior, is it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bush's position on Iraq was you are either with us or you are against us. The Liberal government of the day rejected this thinking but Liberals / the NDP now take the same position. You are either with us or you are a racist. Many sincere people have issues with this motion and only seek to make improvements to it. Lumping them in with extremists is unfair. Even if one does not agree with another's position, one should respect the democratic process. The same gov't proposing this motion closed the Office of Religious Freedom to save $5 mil when running a $30B deficit, or more likely, because it was started by the last conservative gov't. The first head of this office was a muslim cleric; it did good work in Pakistan, Nigeria, Iraq etc. When the Liberals closed it, prominent Sikh, Muslim, Christian and Jewish groups all lobbied to keep it open. Yet according to the author, the people who opened this office are racists because they wish to improve this motion???", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lots of people today are talking about \"equality\" and demanding it. What if we reversed the issue and focused on giving equality? How many of us are willing to give to others the same \"equality\" that is being demanded? Doing that will force us to define what we're talking about in practical, applicable terms as neighbors instead of combatants. It will tear-down walls raised by inflammatory rhetoric and bring us back to the principles Christ taught us including treating our neighbors the way we want to be treated. It will enable us to work together to accomplish the work Jesus gave us to do so He can return.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a shame that many poorly catechized people choose to write such a negative articles such as this on National Catholic Register. This neo-catholic point of view fails to recognize the most important issue in the eyes of God for this election- the sanctity of life. One thinks that the author might have been in support of Hillary and her \"women's right to choose\" abortion agenda. Satan is creeping into our Church stealing souls of those who try to rationalize or compromise their faith. My prayers go out for the conversion of the sinners in the universal Church...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If we accept your premise that Catholicism can be divided into pre- and post-Vatican II (with Vatican II as some kind of year zero), why doesn't \"post Vatican II\" seem to draw any converts?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This what \"faith-based\" organizations and churches were meant to do, in the manner of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In 1971, the International Synod in Rome published \"Justitia in mundo\". It states \"action on behalf of justice and participation in he transformation of the world fully appear to us as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel. For the first time, the church stated that IT had a need to bear witness to justice in its own life if its call for justice in he world is to be credible. \n--------------------------------------\nDavid J. O'Brien and Thomas J. Shannon, eds., CATHOLIC SOCIAL THOUGHT: THE DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE [Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1992) p. 289.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On abortion, I would rather have seen Kaine the lawyer to Kaine the Catholic. There are valid reasons why abortion is legal and they have nothing to do with pluralism.\n\nSilk hits a good point when he mentions that Pence never answered the question about having to wrestle with his faith.\n\nSchneck is right that the attack dog thing went too far, however times are urgent and getting digs in on Trump is always essential. Pence never defended the indefensible, almost proposed war with Russia and only won on style, not substance. Kaveny scored it right, Garnett did not - and Hillary is a better candidate than the last time (although I would have loved to see Bernie win the nomination - alas the Party bosses got their choice, just like with Kerry - hopefully it ends better this time).\n\nMSW, please see my comments on Kaine answering as a lawyer rather than as a Catholic. MSW is correct, however, in that Trump can't stand anyone being better than he is and will retaliate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And comments such as this, spawning hysteria and purposeful disrespect, could indeed be the reason \"Any bishop can visit virtually any Catholic school and talk to the Latino children and he will discover how scared they are.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no doubt that as a performance art, a valid Catholic ordination is not a requirement for good preaching or good liturgy. \n\nThe arguments involve beliefs about the divinely established differences between man and woman, the nature of the origin of Holy Orders, and the notion of Christ as the High Priest described in Hebrews of which the earthly priest is the \"alter Christus\" in the Eucharist's anamnesis of that one perfect Sacrifice.\n\nAll three of those beliefs were rejected by the Episcopal Church beginning in the 1970s, by the Lutheran Church of Sweden in the 1960s, and of course by many other Protestant denominations.\n\nEpiscopalians who hew to the former beliefs wound up in \"continuing churches\" or, in rare cases such as the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina in a diocese which exited the Episcopal Church.\n\nNot all of the Anglican Communion sees eye-to-eye with the Episcopal Church, and as of late 2015 it is under what is effectively a three-year suspension.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, c'mon. George Carlin was Catholic. He thought it was hilarious!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Rachelle Barina has a doctorate in health care ethics from St. Louis University and is a theologian and ethicist working in Catholic health care.\"\n\nFunny how a theologian and ethicist can have an affair with a married man and is still held credible in discussions on Catholic faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspect that the last is meant. Normative refers to the baseline within a group; by-and-large most Christians have Scripture, etc. (regardless of an adherent's feelings about those). The literary dialog would characterize these as both transient and fungible based on the back-and-forth with the members of the society and the \"wisdom of that crowd\".\nI'm seriously summarizing here, so please don't take me to task for a lack of precision.\nIn other words, \"prophetic obedience\" is two-way. People \"obey\" leaders to the extent that leaders obey the people. Any obedience is to transitory binding rules and not to some sense of an objective reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This just in from 1P5:\n\n\"We just have received a second confirmation of the story from our reliable source which stems right out of the center of loyal and well-connected German Catholicism. Thus we plan to write a follow-up to this story in the near future.\"\n\nYou just can't keep a good fake news bite down.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes respectfully CHRISTIAN MANNHOOD, like Ms. Clinton saying she was taking sniper fire in Bosnia when she landed there, or her daughter being a few blocks away from ground zero on 9/11, or being named after a famous man who climbed Mount Everest, etc., etc., etc., they even have a book out explaining the many lies the woman told over the years, it's hilarious if you ever read some of them that have long been disproven. Saying she didn't have the Whitewater Papers during that investigation, but later admitted finding them in a box sitting next to her in the White House long after the investigation ended, is one of my favorite lies she told!\n\nThen the issue of perjury before congress concerning state secrets and her computer and phone. Sad that isn't being pursued criminally!\n\n\nThat girl will say anything as well, and it's more than a proven fact, over, and over, and over, and over....infinity somewhere if we are counting them!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We appreciate your questions, Seanog. As for \"separate VI & VII churches\" as you put it, there would be no problem with which one retains \"the \"four marks\" of the true church\" because those marks \"belong\" to the Catholic Church which includes Rome and 23 other (mostly Eastern) Rites/Churches in union with Rome, no? \n\nAs for the gender equality question, the Blessed Mother's very important role in Catholicism does not address gender equality in Catholicism for many Vatican II Catholics. And, as for the Bon Secours scandal, it raises as many questions as other horrific scandals in the Church, past and present.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Although you ask a good question, it would seem to me you miss more than half the argument. First, abortion abroad are directly funded by US tax dollars when the Mexico City policy is removed, which Obama did. Thus, if we care about all lives, not just abortions in America, this is a key part of the equation. Second, the abortion rate in the US is less amenable to a single cause explanation. Much of the reduction is in states controlled by Republicans in which restrictions have been introduced despite federal support. Additionally, some of the reduction in the official rate is clearly attributable to the increased prevalence of abortifacients encouraged by the Obama administration's policies. I am unaware of a an argument in Catholic teaching that such early abortions are somehow acceptable. Thus, yes, I want to reduce abortions, but would like to do so worldwide, and have serious doubts about the reliability and causes of the alleged drop under Obama.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@Glenn Doughty: I think you mean the subset of \"young earth\" Christians (and others) that believe earth was created about 6,000 years ago. Most people of faith spend zero time worrying about this. They focus on the sections of scripture that their intuition and life experiences tell them are important (compassion, forgiveness, social justice, etc.). They may be curious about the issue, but the exact creation timeline doesn't impact how they try to live their meager 70 or so years in the present.\n\nAnd the young earthers won't be upset; these articles prove that Satan is constantly trying to steal souls. They know these bones and tracks were present at Creation. Although God loves us all and wants us to accept and follow His Word, he laid traps for those that dared to think that logic and observation supersede biblical passages. Humans and dinosaurs lived together, and dinosaurs were on the Ark (actually just their eggs; the critters were too big).\n\nDon't lump the sane with the insane.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mandatory retirement age for RC bishops is 75. Archbishop Chaput is 72, and not a cardinal. The culture war he helps lead in the United States is not only a dubious way to spread the Good News, it has also been a continuous loser in public contests. The profound damage to the moral authority of the RC Church caused by the sex abuse scandals has deeply discounted the moral authority of the episcopacy even in his archdiocese, where he just completed a full court press to frustrate an effort in the Pennsylvania legislature to lift the statute of limitations on sex abuse in that state. \nThe issue is this: what is the wise response to a legal and cultural regime which is inconsistent with Catholic doctrine-- persuasion or political power and control? Conversion, or the county sheriff?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a cradle Catholic I take exception to your article. I have attended the SSPX Chapel in Livonia Michigan since 1997. It gives me the Traditional Latin Mas and Sacraments that the church had for 2000 years, minus the Liberal Modernist heresy condemned by Pope St. Pius X in 1907 in his encyclical which made Modernism a heresy. (PASCENDI DOMINICI GREGIS). Rome has followed this heresy since Vatican II although most Catholics don't realize it. I suggest those who may be interested is this matter go to the Chapel in Veneta and speak to the pastor. You can also go to their website at: www.sspx.org . God bless you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \u201cRenaissance Of the Elizabethian era\u201d. \n\nYeah, with the murder of Catholic priests and the seizure of land from Irish Catholics to be given to Protestant settlers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trid, you seem to have a dualistic point of view. Since you believe Church Teaching from the Council of Trent is 100% truth, anything else is not. \nCan you accept modern science such as Einstein's theories of relativity, evolution, and climate change? \nDoes modern theology as expressed by Vatican 2 need to be dismissed? Does ecumenism need to be rejected and everyone who supports it labeled as protestants? Do you believe that only the Roman Church has access to the Holy Spirit? Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to all followers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Catholic Church teaches that remarried Catholics may receive communion, you are confident in that answer?\nI suppose there is another step: If the Pope teaches that something is the teaching of the Church, are you confident that he is correct? (Difficult to express clearly, basically how do you know something is taught by the Catholic Church.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You deny the spiritual, or want to turn it into something called psychic, and pretend that's what I am talking about. \n\nMany Catholics have had their formation dulled and stunted, because of not just bad psychology, but psychology itself. \n\nSt Paul. \" There is one body and one Spirit\"\n\nThe supernatural is not \"pscychic\". you must have grown up in the 60s.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can we judge others? That is the job of the bishops, and they do not consider Mr. Trump's actions and statements to be unchristian. Remember, he has promised his followers that, after he is elected, people will once again say \"Merry Christmas\" in stores, presumably during the proper season, although I am not clear if that would be the liturgical Christmas season. He's going to stop the war on Christianity and defend us all from the Others who threaten our christian way of life. He clearly stands for all that the bishops, men of god that they are, stand for. I for one, have no problem imagining Mr. Trump wearing a miter and delivering a sermon to the USCCB.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Latin American experience of Catholicism is one of both oppression and heroism. The Church, once on the side of the wealthy and powerful, is going through a conversion process through a relationship with the poor and marginalized. This is the Church that formed Pope Francis, and to understand him one must understand this environment.\n\nThe Church in Latin America has come to stand for family, solidarity and simplicity. It has come to stand for the realization that the face of Christ can only be fully recognized in serving the poor. And it has come to stand for the truth that all the pomp and triumphalism in the world is as dust compared to the simple beauty of Mass celebrated in the adobe church of a poor, small village.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are already one in God, since nothing exist outside of God.\nUntil individuals being united in God, by letting go of our ego, there will be no true union! However, Catholic high ranging clergies are very busy trying to let priest occupied raping children, without they go to jail at the moment. LOL! \nNo offense, Fr. Emmett Coyne!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You misread the article. Trump didn't sell slaves. The Jesuits of Georgetown did. Georgetown, the center of progressive Catholicism. Robert Drinan S.J. taught at Georgetown Law. He supported abortion rights. This is another scandalous event in Georgetown's history toward the dignity of life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "most first generations do that. It will change with the the next generation as it has for the Irish and other Catholics and on and on and on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They share the same source material, the Torah. The Christians just called it the Old Testament and then added their bit about who they thought was the \"messiah.\" Islam then took the Christian version, recast the \"messiah\" as a great prophet and added their bit about the super ultimate prophet. \n\nAside from that the three Abrahamic religions are pretty much the same. This is why fundamentalist Islamic sects have so much in common with fundamentalist christian groups when it comes to how they view women and LGBTQ folks. Thank the founders for the first amendment which makes us a secular nation and not theocratic!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Terms like \"Divine Will\" and \"attempts to overturn the long-held Judeo-Christian concepts of marriage...\" are smokescreens for the oppression of others. The concept of marriage changes a number of times before Jesus was born\"\n\nYes and Jesus clearly restated its original purpose - life long physical and emotional union - and form - a man and a woman for life - which had been corrupted by \"hardness of heart\" and the Mosaic concessions to sin. \n\nJesus did not come to oppress!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The ONLY path to true \"unity\" is for the schismatics to humbly return to their Holy Mother, the CATHOLIC Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God did not dictate them to Moses, although they were attributed to such an act. They were not meant to be history. They were national legend, like the Odyssey, Iliad and Aeneid. That does not mean that they don't offer truths, but they must be understood in light of that reality. Not revelation, but natural law myth making. And as up for discussion now as ever. Are you familiar with Kabbalah? It is an on-going debate on morals in Judaica and is as valid as Torah. Christian scholars are largely ignorant of it, which is why they get so much wrong on these questions. They are all open.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "R. Helfman: \nShe is entitled to the same consideration, yes. Catholic she is, yes. Christian, I don't know. I understand Christian to mean someone who has accepted the gift of salvation AS A GIFT, and not as a reward for religious performance. I may dislike intensely a Christian's point of view but I am bound to love him or her nonetheless. The same goes for everyone, with or without faith. \n The Methodist commentator without faith should read THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV by Dostoevsky. The issues raised are the same and Alyosha's reply is classic. \n If you read history some Popes were monarchs guilty of some of the greatest crimes against humanity in the history of civilization. The idea that somehow the \"Magisterium\" is gifted with a charism of either infallibility or the right to require uncritical acceptance of all it teaches is a heresy in itself. \n For the record, someone may be Catholic and disagree with me. For Pandora, one must pass a test of orthodoxy on her terms first.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is massive panic about the changes to before and after care here in riverside south in ottawa. The english public school sent out a letter saying that simply would not or could not apply for a daycare licence and therefore would not be providing any before or after care to children under six!\n\nIf we dont before and after care, my wife will have to get to work at 6 am to get the kids off the bus, nad ill have toget there at 10 am after droppig them off. Ill get to see my kids for maybe and hour or two for the next 10 years!! \n\nThis is after the all-ready massive screwup of our one english public school being way way way oveecapity and instead they built more french, catholic and french catholic school that are at half capcity!!!\n\nThis daycare screwup is the final nail in the coffin for wnye. I cannot believe that she would screw our lives so completely like this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the success of this format will depend on how conscientiously we interpret what it means to be \"civil.\" If posters decide that civility means only agreement with their point of view, or if they decide to use the review feature as a form of de facto censorship, it will fail. If, on the other hand, we exercise a bit of common courtesy and Christian charity, it could work very well.\n\nSo far, I see two personal challenges. One is to temper my naturally snarky sense of humor, and I'm working on that. The other is to come up with a fair standard when I review the messages of others. What is the fine line that separates \"good\" and \"sorta?\" If anybody has any insights, I'd appreciate hearing them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes sky, what it tells me is that even though, as you admit, the article isn't about Islam, you will take any opportunity to spin the narrative and make this about Islam. No I'm not bothering to defend mainstream Christianity, it's doing pretty well on it's own. Have you ever defended mainstream Islam?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's be clear: these planets are trillions of miles from Earth and detectable only by inference, not by visual inspection. Astrophysicists think there is just as much chance that the universe as we experience it is a hologram. As far as I can tell, theologians have not even begun to determine how either development (the discovery of life on other planets or that the universe is a hologram) could be incorporated into the Judeo-Christian worldview. Instead, the church is talking about contraception and abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do not disagree with the Magisterium regarding salvation. You say this yet you offer no justification for doing so. If you make an accusation you must prove it.\nI don't have to demonstrate that NCR openly crusades against the Catholic Church, one only has to read it to see that that is true. You, yourself openly crusade against the Church by publicly rejecting the Church's teaching on moral issues.\nI stay on this blog mainly to provide a counter to the dissidence which is promoted here and selfishly I must confess to gaining a certain pleasure in being shocked by the outrageous views expressed here by people who claim to be Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suggest you do some reading about what is actually occurring in Catholic churches in different parts of the world---even in Europe. There are not enough ordained priests [some are in their late 80's and early 90's in age] to minister to the people, and Parish Life Coordinators [most often nuns or lay women] actually run the parishes.\n\nIn parts of Central Europe, there is only one elderly priest for three or four parishes [and the priest doesn't life close-by]. The parish life coordinator hires and fires staff, holds week-end Communion services [the three weeks that the priest isn't at the church], holds funerals, and since most of the time, there is no priest to administer the Sacrament of Penance to those ill [who may be in danger of dying], a service is held---guiding the ill person to make an act of contrition.\n\nYour comments about women are one sided. Women have been doing this for some time, now. More women are prepared to be priests than there are now seminarians in the U.S.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The same principles that guide every-other religion. I happen to think it was clear that the Founders wanted our nation to be based on ethical principles, but struggled with how to define that, just as religions do. So religions base their principles on the morals of men, as espoused in some holy book or other (which they interpret to their liking), instead of basing their principles on the laws of the Universe, which are immutable and not based on any book.\n\nI attended a private, Catholic school in junior high, but attendance was not limited to Catholics. Those of us who were Catholic had to take catechism, while those who weren't Catholic took a class in ethics. I happen to think the non-Catholics got the better explanation of right vs. wrong, and how to treat people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One option is: https://www.mercatornet.com/\n\nI like their focus on promoting human dignity. On balance, articles are positive, some practical, it's not overtly Catholic, but it definitely has a pleasant Catholic tone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd be fine removing tax exemptions for all of them. At the very least they should be paying for basic services received from their city. I'm honestly not sure how far the tax-exemptions reach.\n\nAs you point out, the rational is probably based on the Church being addressed matching the goal of the dominant party.\n\nI'm opposed to the mixing of church and state, primarily because it deeply damages what I see are the objectives of Christian teaching. The teachings of Jesus and the early followers have been corrupted by the Church and it's thousand years of political rule. \n\nThose who internalize their faith are completely secure that it can never be taken from them. It's only the insecure that need others to reinforce their personal belief system. I've never been stopped from praying, not in my home, not on a baseball mound, not in any of my schools, both private and public.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This editorial is way out of line.\n\nThe Knight's don't attack anyone. The teachings of Jesus in Matthew 19 guide the Church on that topic. Maybe the editorial staff of a \"Catholic\" news site should read the teaching of Jesus that guide the Church.\n\nYour view of immigration is skewed. American laws are valid amd should have been enforced. Is there room foe improvememt, yes. But NCR's attitude is to turn the asylum over to the inmates. And, simce my family lived in a neighborhood that became an illegal immigrant haven, I can tell you that many of them are here for many nefarious reasons that are not on your list. \n\nAnd, the Church still teaches that life begins at conception and ends with a natural death--even though NCR doesn't. While the government funds abortionists over a billion dollars per year (much of which retirns to politcal coffers), you bemoan private citizens funding pro-life activities. Not ver Catholic at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The title of the article was \"whose Gospel is it anyway\".\n\nAh..it was written by men.\n\nThis articel is a non issue. Shoe horning quotas like this - for this function - is the work of small and incapable minds.\n\nIt does give NCR press space, however, and a job, labor better spent flipping burgers, serving the needs of others.\n\nThis is the real problem: \"The question is not so much what is true and what is false, but rather what people perceive as true and what people perceive as false. \"\n\nThis idea undergirds \"relativism\" by the way, which began with \"cogito ergo sum\". We are not the source of truth. Our perceptions aren't truth.\n\nMaybe the first Christian lesson of this idea came from doubting St Thomas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's not the same thing. You call into question someone's Catholic status.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pretty much. As I've stated before, even though I disagree with Pope Francis on like 7 different issues, there are like 40 different ones I agree with him on. When I see him doing things like the World Meeting of Popular Movements where indigenous, palestinian, peasant, farmer worker, justice voices are being heard annually(including voices from Flint Michigan who were present) I see him practicing the best of Catholic Social Teaching and the Gospel of Jesus Christ in justice for the oppressed. \n\nHis views and language on Gender and Sexuality could use work. But his embrace of Liberation theology which theologians like Gustavo Gutierrez and Leonardo Boff have praised, his spot on and inspiring. Especially in the era of Trump and right wing populism when there are hardly any progressive voices for social justice on the global stage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I must confess that should Archbishop Chaput get his way of a smaller, lighter, Church of \"holier\" Catholics, I'd be on the outside and happier to be there. But I have no intention of surrendering my faith and love of Catholicism anymore than Jesus was prepared to surrender his Jewish faith to the Pharisee in Luke 18:11. \nDon Mullan, Dublin, Ireland", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When you look at the actual history of Christian refugees, the overwhelming majority of them are from: Burma (Myanmar), Democratic Republic of Congo, Bhutan, the Ukraine, Burundi, Sudan, Cuba, Iran, Iraq. But the main bulk of Christian refugees are NOT coming from the Greater Middle East.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My family is of Syrian Christian ancestry. We've been in the area for almost 100 years and have never had a problem, thank you very much.\n\nMr. Russell was given a sentence beyond that which is normally given in similar circumstances. It is not appropriate to have him undergo further punishment simply because the target of his actions was a current popular victim class or because the Muslim community has a (possibly irrational) fear based on this incident.\n\nAccording to all measurements, Mr. Russell has received his sentence, it is being carried out and, as such, the community should move forward. That is how we handle things in America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So because a parish under his jurisdiction should be allowed to throw a tantrum because they didn't want to abide by the will of the bishop should be allowed be allowed to do what it wants because it is a special snowflake (dare I say conservative little snowflake)? As for comparing this to the Greek Catholic situation in the early 1900's, this is a totally separate kettle of fish. This does not seem to be an issue over cultural or religious issues, as there. This is a priest settingself up as an independent prelate in his parish and not wanting to follow his canonical superio. He is not a part of the Ordinariate nor is the parish, so all control over the parish and its property is by the bishop, end of story.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is so ironic that Fr. Burke is concerned about disunity among the faitful. In St Louis St. Stanislaus Parish had over 1,000 families, and under then Archbishop Burke's tenure it entered into a dispute with the archbishop over the parish property. When the courts ruled in favor of the parish, the parish left the Roman Catholic church. The parish property was more importnt to Burke than the souls of it's parishoners. His time as archbishop of St Louis is discribed as nothing short of a catastrophy. His longern goal was to become head of the archdiocese of Chicago. We should all be grateful Pope Francis prevented that from ever happening.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're right about Catholics turning Republican. I don't know about Vatican II being a turning point, but the thing I've noticed is that as Catholics have become more affluent they have turned right. As a friend of mine observed about her own husband, he started out their married life as a staunch Democrat but when his salary rose to six figures he turned the other way. Pocketbook issues seem to dominate how many of us vote.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The takeaway from the economic libertarianism debate is that capitalism is not a free market system - it is a system of market advantage over workers and consumers. At such, it should never be bapitzed by the Catholic Church. This is different from social libertarianism, which posits that on moral questions the individual must chose his own path and that the best path is humanistic rather than theistic, because morality was made for man, not for God. If only Rome would understand that. I think Francis does.\n\nLow turnout may not help Trump, since it may be Republican voters who stay home. Democratic women will be flocking to the polls.\n\nAnother form of atonement is Tasla, to cast yours sins upon the waters and confess them to family member or friends whom you have wronged. Still, the judge should never have allowed the injunction to go forward so close to Yom Kippur.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether what you decry is fundamentalist or simply mainstream Catholicism, the burdden on you is to show not merely that Jesus meant something other than what he said re: divorce, but that he meant the opposite of what he said. He said that marriage is indissoluble except for infidelity. That's taking him literally. Now, how do you get from there to what you espouse --- that what Jesus intended to say was the opposite, that marriage can be dissolved for reasons other than adultery? Isn't the truth a lot simpler than your inverted reasoning? That Jesus gave us a hard rule that you, regarding the rule as too \"First Century,\" are simply unwilling to accept?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "J. Bob.... The article nor am I refrencing other institutions here. What our church leaders do or don't do shouldn't depend on what \"other\" institutions do. We are talking about crimes committed by Catholic clergy here. \nRegarding more proof these offenses against children have continued. I can think of several bishops and cardinals how have not learned. Cardinal George of chicago ignored review board and returned fr McCormack to ministry, this priest went on to abuse more children. George was head of Catholic Conference of bishops at that time. Archbishop Meyers of Newark returned convicted fr Fugee to ministry, bishop Finn of KC who was criminally charged with endangering children for fr Ratigans crimes. Archbishop Nienstedt of St Paul, to many to count, the last archbishop of Philly who promised no more abusers in ministry had to remove 27 after making claim because independent review showed these accused clergy still in ministry and the list can go on and on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hmm, Joseph wasn't a Catholic -- they hadn't been created yet, since there was no Church when he died, though he did know Jesus. Alas also for Abraham, for Jacob, for Moses, for David, for Elijah, for all the generations born and died before the disciples began preaching the good news of the Risen Christ. Not enough to have been dedicated to God, not enough to worship Him alone, not enough to be faithful -- they weren't Catholic. \n\nAnd we won't even think about the humans who never heard of Christ and Catholicism. What did it matter to be a good and loving person who cared for their fellows, when they could be greedy, abusive SOBs as long as they had that little asterisk for \"Catholic\" behind their name.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic leaders have committed themselves to a campaign of lies about cannabis. Instead of lining up with the Establishment and threatening those who choose to use cannabis with impoverishment, the Church should acknowledge the fact that it is among the safest of drugs in common use, far safer than tobacco, alcohol, prescribed medicines, and most over-the-counter medications, e.g. Any substitution of cannabis for other drugs redounds to an improvement in public health. Cannabis reduces the consumption not just of opioid drugs, but many others as well, and this is why entrenched interests pushing more dangerous drugs oppose its legalization. The Catholic Church\u2019s position on cannabis is fundamentally immoral.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, it is still early days. Let us wait to see how Pope Francis deals with Cardinal Burke in his 'Cardinalis Patronus' role. And how Burke responds to the treatment, of course.\nAs for the 'source' material, it seems clear that a lot of information has been leaked, doubtless 'off the record', by the Vatican investigation team and (one supposes) at Parolin's behest. All governments work like this. The Vatican is no different. It is unlikely that you, I or anyone here will ever know the full story.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is the first of two segments noted in the 2012 election cycle relative to Catholic bishops and 501 C3 issues\n(CNSNews.com) \u2013 Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), late Friday, filed a formal complaint asking the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to investigate the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for allegedly engaging in prohibited political activity in violation of its nonprofit tax status.\nThe CREW complaint alleges that the nation\u2019s Catholic bishops are \u201cabusing their positions to advocate against the election of President Barack Obama,\u201d and anticipated further actions during this weekend\u2019s sermons.\nThe complaint mentions several bishops -- including Nicholas Di Marzio in New York; David Ricken in Wisconsin; Edward J. Burns in Alaska and Paul Loverde in Virginia -- who it said have \u201cwarned of the evils of the Obama administration, followed by an exhortation for Catholics to vote.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It's about loving one another and sharing the same desire.\"\n\nNot quite deeply enough. \n\nIt's about sharing the same will with the Father.\n\nPeople use desire here too cheaply. A flutter of the heart.\n\nIt's far more substantial than that.\n\nIn God, His Divine attributes of heart, desire, will, mind and work (love, the Cross for instance) are totally united and integrated, fused. No division, fraying. Unity Himself. \n\nAll united and working toward the good and the true (intellect). \n\nThat's why a Catholic's job is to do the same sort of \"rectification\" of mind, heart, will, every day until we die. Discernment, prayer.\n\nGiven Original Sin, there is no permanent or natural unity among these faculties of our \"personness\". It takes work, daily work. It also takes grace from God. Constant. \n\nThat's why we have the Sacraments, that's why we have prayer..so we can get closer to the will of God, converting and rectifying more and more of our life into an act of union with God's will.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As the current resident of the WH, the christian-sharia vp and the elfish AG have no embrace of equal rights for the LGBT folk, the validity of her marriage may go all the way to the SCOTUS. \n\nWouldn't that be something?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Going to Mass is the easiest part of being Catholic.\n\nLiving the gospel, now there's the rub.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I absolutely believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. I also believe Christ is present in the scripture and in the community. (as Catholic teaching tells us). All three are worthy of equal reverence. Unfortunately, this often gets missed, especially the community. The priest is not ordained into the sacraments to be \"better\" or \"above\" us, in fact Jesus said quite the opposite about any who would live his teachings. Clericalism places the priest \"above\" the laity, and sets them apart as separate (as in the priest who told me he got to go to heaven before anyone else simply by virtue of his ordination, regardless of his state of sin upon his death, or the priests I've seen lauded for their mistresses)., when in fact, Jesus calls those in service to serve from \"below,\" or at the very least, in union with those they serve. Thankfully not all priests support this culture of clericalism, and some are even trying to change it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mind of Christ - definitely don't mean it in a literal sense. I think I meant it as a shorthand for a moral compass.\n\nTommy Douglas comes to mind as another example.\n\nI'm not saying that it's impossible to have a moral center without religion. But a common religious temperament or at least a common religious heritage like the West's Christianity might be useful as a glue binding citizens together.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No I wouldn't. I promise you that.\nQuality of sources is the key, not quantity.\nAnd then it's important to evaluate each source - its reliability, its 'agenda' (if any).\nNow you have given me, I see, a report from the Catholic Herald. Its agenda must be well-known to anyone who has ever read it. It leans towards the 'conservative' or 'traditionalist' wing of Christianity - i.e., Burke's wing, not Pope Francis's.\nLet's review the content of the report that you have given me here:-\nThe opening statement from the 'Communications Director' is banal. Yes, 'complex' reasons. Not just the contraception issue. So what?\nThe rest of the spin doctor's statement has been disproved by subsequent disclosures. Why are you relying on it still? We now know that Burke wasn't involved in this incident merely as an observer or 'neutral' person. He was the prime reason that the 'old' cause (the contraception element) was brought back to the surface. He it was who pressed for Boeselager to be dismissed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is indeed a tantalizing question!\n\nWe can't know who Jesus was. The historical Jesus is lost to us forever. We can only deliberate over who we think he is and why the earliest Jesus followers believed what they believed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You need to list your source for the \"I read that 80% of the Harvey aid actually delivered has come from Christian Non-Government Organizations.\" This number is patently false and although much help comes from both Christian and non-Christian charitable sources, the multi billions of relief really needed to clean up the mess indeed come from your \"socialist\" government.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(If the identity above is in error, it's mine -- Ken Briggs)\nCaleb Pine indeed gave a moving valedictory speech. My assumption is that Pence wouldn't have objected to any of it. Seeking justice. Loving everyone. Refusing to scapegoat others. Those are surpassing principles. He wasn't talking about their application to hard cases or intend to poise a counterpoint to Pence's troubling political agenda. Pence was the leading point man in rallying Republicans to the degrading substitute for health insurance. And the ardent advocate of slashing social services such as food stamps. Pine might have chosen to oppose those specific assaults on Catholic social principles but exercised his right to take the high road instead. By default, therefore, Pence got a free ride.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Politicians ought certainly to be rebuked and refuted whenever they suggest that Christian or biblical values are somehow authoritative, and should be referred to for setting government policy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since the majority are in favor, what's the problem?\n\nIf there was a majority that favored the return of the traditional definition of marriage, would you be ok with taking away someone's rights?\n\nPersonally, I'm against the niqab and at the same time, I'm equally against the state telling someone what they can or can't wear, including sunglasses.\n\nNow this law might be a wee bit more defensible, if it were signed under the auspices of a big Christian cross...isn't Quebec secular so what's a cross doing there or is it an oversized coat rack?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure that some here get the simple economics of the issue:\n\nIf public schools are made \"free,\" as Clinton wants, then why would low income students bother attending private Catholic schools?\n\nWell, they wouldn't bother. They'd be foolish to bother trying to get grants and loans to attend the private Catholic schools, when they'd need no such assistance at the public schools.\n\nSo the reason seems obvious to me: What Hillary is proposing would deeply cut into the number of applications to Catholic colleges.\n\nMoreover, this can be rightly be seen as an assault on private religious education. \n\nIf I understand them correctly, some here are saying that these educators should just be pleased that students are getting a free education at public schools. Huh? Apply the same logic to whatever business you happen to be in and see how that shoe fits -- if your competitor gets a gov deal for give away your product for free....how long would you expect to stay in business?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 1\nHumanae Vitae is reaching 50 years old. It was written with the intention of silencing all discussion of birth control. In the long run that didn't work. Married couples struggled with their conscience and the issue in their personal lives and now most American Catholics practice birth control. \n\n 1. the assumption was--preventing conception from taking place was as bad as abortion. But now we know that 30-50% of conceptions don't implant in the womb and are lost--and that 1 in 10 conceptions that implant are later lost through spontaneous miscarriage. Why is that, God?\n2. The word Contraception is imperfectly understood. It would be better to call it pre-conceptive birth control. \n3. A few years after Humanae Vitae an American ecologist began warning us that we were nearing the tipping point of a sustainable world population. Since then--in 45 years--the world population has more than doubled! (going from 3 billion to over 7 billion.)\nmore to follow...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure what I expected to find as I read this article, to be honest. But I was blown away by a quote that may have taken me on a very different journey here. From the article:\n\n\"But the reality now is that [young Catholics] need to feel like we belong before we can believe,\" she said \u2014 initially on the topic of young Catholic Hispanics, but eventually referring to general youth ministry in the United States.\n---------\n\nI think you can drop the focus on youth, and Latinos, and simply address the profound truth in that quote. \n\nThere has been so much alienation in the church, such a culture that excludes, that demands litmus tests, that seems to try to reduce faith to something as cold as a marble statue... Yet at its core, the church remains a community: a real, flesh and blood community. Church leadership will use that concept when convenient, but seems to forget so much of the rest of the time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you. Your comment suggests that you don't believe that it is a cause for concern when a Pope contradicts the explicit teaching of Jesus in the Gospel. If he can do that why should we care what his favourite passage is, tomorrow he may reject that, too?\nThe so-called Muslim ban is to protect the nation from terrorism which is not against any teaching of Jesus. The stranger is welcome provided he wishes to do us no harm and we have to be sure of that before we let him in.\nRegarding Gorka, as you label most people with whom you disagree as Nazi sympathisers, further comment would be superfluous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your choices regarding religious beliefs are entirely your business. However, as I stated, I find it presumptuous for you to speak for \"Christians.\" I'm not a Christian or any other religion...I'm an agostic. However, I do believe in the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.\" It's a fitting representation of \"secular humanism\" as well as any religion. \n\nLet's apply that Golden Rule to a consideration of Mr. Trump's long personal, business and political history. I seriously doubt you would contend Trump has ever shown any belief in such a rule......not hardly. So, based on your approach, you (as a God-fearing Christian) should logically openly oppose Mr. Trump's presidency. If you find this position problematic, you should, as you suggest \"take it up with God.\" Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My, what a Christian thing for you to say. \nThis is not costing the taxpayers anything, unlike your Public Employees Retirement System pension, which comes with FREE health insurance for you, paid for by the taxpayers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't either, however they're not asking for special consideration, they're asking for what all other religions enjoy.\n\nThere is no \"Christianaphobia\" in Canada, we do not exhibit an irrational fear of Christians, yet some Canadians do exhibit an irrational fear of Muslims.\n\nThis isn't legislation, it's simply a non binding motion, and studying Islamaphobia and looking for ways to educate against it is a good idea.\n\nYour risk of being killed by an Islamic Terrorist is far less than your chance of being struck by lightning, yet we don't have an irrational fear of lightning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As far as believing in God and Jesus helping those who need it, is one of the most important thing about being a Christian and Catholic. It is also the true definition pro-life . Thank you for your comment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings......this is really a great Catholic article! I believe in the Communion of Saints, and also the use sacramentals in my home and car. I have a St Christopher medal on my car keys, a picture of the Mother of Perpetual Help, a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus/votive, picture of St Francis of Assisi, and medals of St Benedict over ever entrance to my home\ud83d\ude07! I remember St Dominic Savio club too in grade school! Thanks for bringing all those fond memories back to me while reading this article", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An \"ordained\" priesthood was not part of the early church. People met in homes and someone was called by the community to lead the gathering in celebrating Eucharist. If only we could go back to that it would end the problem of clericalism. We are, by our Baptism, all called to be priestly people. We have strayed so far from what the early church was about..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your point is well taken. Since others do it, it is ok for the catholic clergy to abuse children. Not really what Jesus preached, but we must support the team, in this case the Church, even if that means condoning the abuse of children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Flesh cannot be preserved for any length of time. The iwi... it is the iwi that matters. Christians call those items relics. I would say that the finger bone of Father Damien would have great significance for a Catholic. Churches all over Europe have bones and relics that people worship. The Cathedral located at the downtown mall has the bodies of Bishops that are buried under the altar.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part three of three) \u201cBut as for me, I know that my Vindicator lives, and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust; Whom I myself shall see: my own eyes, no another\u2019s shall behold him\u201d (Job 19:25-27). \n\n \u201cMy soul is deprived of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is . . . my homeless poverty . . . his mercies are not spent; They are renewed each morning . . . It is good to hope in silence for the saving help of the Lord\u2019 (Lamentations 3:17-26). \u201cThe Lord is my Shepherd; there is nothing I shall want\u201d (Psalm 23:1). N.a., . . . Order of Christian Funerals: Including Appendix 2: Cremation: Approved for use in the Dioceses of the United States of America by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and Confirmed by the Apostolic See (New Jersey: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1998) 208, 211, 223.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your comment above doesn't even qualify as binary thought, IMO. It is over-simplified and under-informed one dimensional \"thought\" at best, and even within its backward-focused tunnel vision, it is yet another cherry-picked factoid that does not--at the very least--consider competing opinions just within the Catholic Church, e.g. it even ignores the differences between John Paul II and the current pope, not to mention a multitude of more complex, forward-thinking, multi-dimensional, and comprehensive thinkers--both theological as well as secular. \n\nMany people used to think the Earth was flat, and a few still do--which I think makes the point that it may be your pov that is \"strange\" and not that of much better-informed people than yourself, which--in a perversely admirable way--you have absolutely no shame about displaying repeatedly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, it isn't. But times have changed and the Church remains very much the same -- a I industrial revolution \"machinery\" at the time we are going throught the IV... And I think that is losing the last one. Only the very stubborn -- a sort of faithfullness -- accept to stand in the margins waiting. \nBefore, it was \"wise\" to play the long hand -- five centuries --, now the time runs so fast that I don't know if it has five decades more.\nSaints reflect the spirit of the time. Do you still pray to Saint Louis, King of the French, who spent all his people's money in crusades and collecting dubious sacred reliques? \n\nFortunately, from him just a small empty jewell box resists: The Holly Chappel (La Sainte Chapelle). But at what cost?\nLet us be open to always read -- and rethink -- the Gospel's calling -- at the light of our own time, conscience and reasoning. \nJesus didn't told us to be deaf and blind -- He just cured those ailments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reading his work just confirms what col400 wrote. He was a devout \"christian\" atheist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually what they've discovered with the ACA is that Catholic hospitals are stuck with far fewer unpaid hospital bills of the indigent. Who was it who said, \"follow the money?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You need to review history and see the role that the Catholic Church played with respect to the relatively limited French-speaking infrastructure in Quebec historically. The money poured into the church to build hundreds upon hundreds of churches in Quebec, rather than to provide funding for institutions such as McGill University. The choice was made within the French-speaking, predominantly Catholic community. Drive through rural Quebec and see.\n\nThe right to separate French schools, healthcare, government services and so on was established in the 18th century. Ironically, it was Scots who fought with the French in Quebec against the English who urged them to ensure they had language rights. Otherwise, francophone Quebecers were facing the same fate that befell francophones in places like Louisiana. \n\nTo understand Quebec, you need to understand the history. You also need to understand the roles of the churches within the relevant communities, and how they were funded.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, and I forgot all the Catholic condemning going on in the 1950s over Johnny Mathis's album, \"Warm\"---\"A blatant invitation to lust\" (and maybe to evangelical Protestantism, equal evils in my parish back then):\n\n\"Come bring me your softness. With you I'm born again.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is nothing hateful about banning entry to citizens from countries which act in a hostle manner. Barack Obama imposed harsh visa restrictions on citizens from the very countries in question many years ago, thereby imposing a virtual ban. Under Obama the USA also accept virtually no refugees from these countries. I have no issues with restrictions. The trick is to balance safety concerns with the need to avoid a WWII mentality whereby we start setting up enternment camps. Try publishing such an article in the restricted countries complaining about virtual genocide against Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How big a cake business does this guy have? How can he afford the massive legal fees to continue this case to the Supreme Court? How much of the tax-exempt revenues of christian churches/organizations is being used to support this case? This nation is not a theocracy, or I should say wasn't until now. The blending of christian religion and government is a disaster violating the very basic tenets of the U.S. Constitution. Time to remove all exemptions, tax and otherwise, for religions. They have all been working against human rights and freedom with wealth generated from their tax exempt businesses. Religion is a business; the most lucrative business devoid of any product except hot air ever invented. Pray to your invisible non-existent being anywhere, but don't require anyone else to do the same or discriminate in commerce based on the same sham belief systems. Current Supreme Court contains catholic/christian agents violating their own oaths of office. Time for a Revolution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right, The DOGMATIC Constitution on the Church was not dogmatic. McHale spouts the \"only pastoral\" twaddle because he wants to reject Vatican II, like other extreme traditionalist schismatics.\n\nQuanta Cura has been superseded in large part, and is properly ignored by most Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By claiming that the president is using the \"alt right\" (and by that you mean racist white supremacists) to get his way....aren't you saying that half of America are racist white supremacists?\n\nAnyway, how the Francis pontificate has backfired! If anyone is a harmful demagogue, it's this pope who has convinced Catholics that to be Christian means countries should have open borders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In those days there were no 'progressive' superiors. The ones I came across were all orthodox Catholics.\nThe rest of your comment re: \"recycle your failure\" is pretty meaningless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would be all about pulling funding and really getting angry at these Christian schools if A) there was an issue right now and B) if Eggen held Dr.Wells accountable for overseeing the creation of a GSA website that allows kids as young as 5 years old to access explicit sexual material. I am talking about cute artistic ABC sex cards that teach our 'vulnerable sexual minority' kids (5-17 years old) what Fleching is, and how to give oral sex. This is NOT appropriate, and when asked about it Dr. Wells said it was challenging to make sure that all the links on this 30,000 dollar government funded website for kids were appropriate!!!! How can Eggen allow such a person to oversee this difficult sensitive project. These kids are already confused about life, this I promise only makes it worse!!!!! So forget these Christian schools at the moment and please go after someone who is putting our LGBT kids at risk right now!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most of the Republican Congress boast about being Christians and support from the U.S. Christians financially and other ways. They should read the Parable of Lazarus and the rich man. Jesus' parable goes to the extreme but life goes to the very extreme. The rich, powerful, and wicked will lose there souls.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of ALL \"Catholics,\" Trump got 52% of the vote and Clinton got 46%. According to the Pew Institute, among \"the most faithful\" Catholics who attend Mass at least 2 or more times per month, Trump received 63% of the vote and Clinton 34%. Catholics overwhelmingly do not agree with Clinton or the Democrats on political issues.\nInteresting: Prior to Vatican II, Catholics were overwhelmingly Democrat, now they're very Republican. Who would have imagined that change in 1965???", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Tridentine attribution is erroneous, although it continues to pop up over and over and over. Marriage for everyone is regulated by the Natural Law, for the Jews by the Mosaic law, for Catholics by the moral component of both, the divine law, and the requirements imposed by the Church on Catholics by the Power of the Keys.\n\nFor validity the basic requirements are a couple, male and female, with no diriment impediments (mental capacity, not under duress, no existing marriage, etc).\n\nChrist abolished the requirements of the the Mosaic law and instituted the divine law of monogamic and indissoluble marriage. He also raised marriage to the dignity of a sacrament (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:3 sqq.; Luke 16:15 sqq.; Mark 10:11 sqq.; 1 Corinthians 7:2 sqq.)\n\nThe requirement for a priest as witness is a disciplinary one, can be waived, and is waived where priests are rare. The priest as the witness of the Church has appeared in different places over the centuries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why wasn't this an article in an AMERICAN Jesuit magazine? I always lamented the Church's involvement in the Hobby Lobby case. It is a slippery slope having nothing to do with 'religious freedom'. Lest we forget the Catholic has been a firm supporter of a SECULAR state under which the Church has been protected and has prospered.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please, not another reformation sect, The Chaputians. Christ wants us to be one body, not a mixture of partisan political cults.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That would be Bishop Helmsing who condemned the paper in 1968 and demanded the word \"Catholic\" be removed from their title for \"their policy of crusading against the Church's teachings\", the ruling has NEVER been lifted by subsequent Bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And if the Christian world does not disassociate itself from its extremist brethren and a president-elect spouting hate at rallies and in gilded towers.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well done Bishop Tom. If you don\u2019t mind I\u2019d like to throw \u201cinto the pot\u201d an often forgotten truth: namely that by our Baptism all of us share in the very same \u201cvocation\u201d as Jesus. He came among us to reflect to our human race the goodness of His Heavenly Father. And since we believe that as a human being Jesus was \u201clike unto us in everything except sin\u201d therefore it was no more easy for Him to fulfill his vocation than it is for us to fulfill our Baptismal vocation as Christians, i.e. in each moment of our lives to reflect to our world the goodness of our Heavenly Father.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your response, and for explaining things better. I think that I understand where you are coming from, but I'll let you be the judge based on what I'm going to say.\n\nBoth of those points lead me to believe, based on the Christian fears that I am well aware of, that our Pastors, Priests, Ministers, etc. will be forceably required against their will to perform same-sex marriages in our Churches that neither God nor we condone or recognize. God Himself defines marriage as being between a man and a woman, and we support and defend Him and His Truth whether it's popular or not.\n\nIs it discriminatory, you bet! But it's not unjust because it comes from God Himself who's infinitely just, but it is discriminatory like all His laws and ours [human] are . He discriminates against sin, and if anyone doesn't believe in Him or in what he proclaims to be [marital] sin then they have no business \"trying\" to get united to Him in Churches who do. Take that up with Him, not out on us!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right. The Iraq war \"made\" Islamists target Christians for persecution. \n\nThis is like the oft repeated prog claim that \"American's voracious appetite for drugs\" is the cause of Mexican drug cartels violence. \n\nGood luck on selling that kind of topsy-turvy logic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islam is a belief system....followed by those of many diverse races...from Abanians , descended from the ancient Illyrians to Javanese of Indonesia to the Mande of West Africa to the Tatars of Russia.\n\nThere is a PC whole industry out there trying to define Muslims as being a race no matter not having a common genetic thread to link them...not satisfied with that, they are now trying to make Islam ,the belief system that Muslims follow, itself a race.\n\nThere is no race called ' the Christians' let alone trying to make the absurd claim that Christianity, a belief system just like Islam, is also a race.\n\nImagine if one tried to argue that atheists are a race, that atheism is a race.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish that were true, but I have just come from a visit with some relatives who are devout Catholics and fully intend to vote for Trump (probably) no matter WHAT he says or does.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You misread (intentionally?). The poster is saying his Christian values tell him we should help refugees, but not at the expense of committing suicide, and there is a way of balancing those two values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Relax EFC1127A, I was being facetious... I have no problem with marital sexuality but if you don't see a disconnect between Catholic teaching on sexual morals and its receptivity among the masses then you most certainly have your blinders on. There is NO SIN in responsible family planning and yes multiple parish priests have affirmed that to my face--one of them was himself previously married, then widowed... about as manly as a priest can get!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seanog, I guess it's really hard to believe that Roman Rite Catholicism does not credit women as worthy of any serious attention...unless those women are fawning over or agreeing with the reigning hierarch, that is. It's a Roman Rite theological/doctrinal thing, God being male and all that. \n\nIt seems so strange that so many Catholics believe that this will someday change. Do reform Catholics really think that Roman theology/doctrine will be changed to reflect the equality of genders...when even Pope Francis refuses to consider any kind of doctrinal change? Of course, pastoral change is easier as it flows with the pope in power, but pastoral change doesn't last like doctrine does. \n\n We need a Vatican II Rite Church in union with Rome, whether Rome likes it or not. And Rome needs that Rite/Church if ever Catholicism is to regain any credibility. Google Rite Beyond Rome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only cop out is the idea that waiting 4 years to rid this nation of this traitorous administration and congress is even an option. There will be blood. There will be war. Der Fuhrer declared war on the entire nation's governing system from the campaign through the inauguration. Der Fuhrer has declared war on all human and civil rights. The Constitution and all human and civil rights have no restrictions for this maniac and his Republican traitors dedicated to installing full dictatorship including christian theocracy. All of it is traitorous. Time for the rest of you to grow up into adulthood to stand up for your people and your country. Anything less will only result in more terror from these amoral, immoral beasts of privilege and criminality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very true. I too have noticed some of the older protestant buildings would be much better suited to Catholic worship than most of the regrettable airplane parts factories built by our churchmen since the '60s. One egregious example off the 101 freeway in LA comes to mind...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another 'Catholic' paper which is obviously anything but ...wait for it....Catholic! Looking at a few responses, looks like most of the posters wouldn't know true Catholicism from Protestantism either. More the 'it's only correct if it agrees with my personal feelings' type of Catholics.\n\nCardinals Burke and Sarah are a couple of the very few Cardinals and clergy in general who are attempting to be Catholics and they are doing what all of them should be doing - standing up for true Catholicism. If you don't believe that, try learning something about true, Traditional Catholicism. If you don't agree with it and don't at least attempt to practice it, at least accept that you are NOT Catholic in practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "St. Ignatius' school christmas concert is a wonderful event. The parents and children are so blessed to have this wonderful church to celebrate in. The children march in dressed to show their ethnic heritage and it is a wonderful sight to see.\nI only wish the archdiocese cared enough for all the other catholic school kids who have been put out of their schools due to closings.....my own kids included.i live in a northern suburb and three schools were closed in a couple of years and now my youngest child goes to public school. I have driven in just to see st. Ignatius' concert.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that getting all the bishops together would be a good step. Somehow, I doubt they're all on the same page. I also doubt that the majority of Catholics in Texas who voted for Trump and Pence will pay attention to the letter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your ideas though seem to be echoing the Cassandra principal as the people you call false are essentially those you will not see the Christ in them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Translation:\n\nVehicle!!\n\nJust think, if we can point out something that a limited government should still be reasonably expected to address in a time of dire emergency for its citizens- just think of the other unreasonable things which can be attached! See! It's all relative! After all, it's not fair that everything in life isn't free and without effort and personal responsibility. \n\nAnd don't you just hate all those images of Houstonians with the aid of normal Americans from around the country- especially those Christian groups- helping themselves and each other to the extent they can and WITHOUT government aid. Who do they think they are anyway- Daniel Boone? Kind of reminds me of the 2013 Boulder floods. People pitching in, even flying in at their own expense to help organizations like Samaritan's Purse.. and in the end- progressive blowhards like Boulder County gov honoring themselves and each other for all the great flood work.\n\nBut hey- no one says it cuter than Garrison Keillor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm no Christian by any stretch of the imagination but: Mark 13:12 \"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.\" This scourge of violence is happening more than we think.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, not only women priests were present. And the rest of us was not excommunicated. As Catholics we had the very right to attend the mass. We didn't intend to make a disruption; we demonstrated before and with some distance to the Vatican (it's a solid 7-8 minutes walk). Every Catholic has the right and even the obligation to make their opinions known if they think the Church authorities do something wrong. And so we did. But the Eucharist is holy for us, these were us who were disturbed!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That was contingent on your finding ONE quote that refutes that-- you didn't.: Look above: \"for every ONE you find, I'll find 10...\" you haven't fond even ONE yet, so you get nothing. NONE of the quotes you proved REFUTE that the founding fathers used their Judeo-Christian paradigm to build this country. What you just tried to pawn off as quotes are the Founding fathers decrying the squabbling and fighting in between the sects of Christianity-- NONE of that refutes what they saw as the use of their own Christian faith in the building of this country-- sorry.\n.\nI understand Leftist want something for nothing, but it just don't work like that around here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelical Christians weren't responsible for the massacres in Fort Hood, San Bernardino or Orlando and they didn't fly the planes into the World Trade Center on 9/11.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Weavings...\n\"...in 2013 when the World Council of Churches, a body that represents more than 560 million Christians in Protestant, Orthodox, and other Christian denominations announced that \"by its calling and vocation the Christian church is to be a peace church.\" ... What if the world's 1.2 Billion Catholics -- half of Christians today -- did the same?\n\n\"Just peace is an \"orientation toward conflict transformation characterized by approaches that reduce violence and destructive cycles of social interaction and at the same time increase justice in any human relationship (John Paul Lederach, sociologist). This is a new approach. A third way is emerging.\"\n\n\"Currently 12 international, NGO's and many more local groups provide unarmed civilian protection in 17 areas of violent conflict.\" See Mel Duncan founding director of Nonviolent Peaceforce. In one year, Nonviolent Peaceforce trained more than 14,000 people in conflict -affected communities in unarmed civil protection.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I never said I knew what all Catholics think, just the ones I know. \nAnd I never said \"only non-thinking individuals should remain\" in the CC. Good lord, my IQ is very, very high. I think all the time! I am just baffled by those Catholics who stay (haven't left yet) and are so angry with the Church. All the time in their posts. To find fault with everything in the church is as bad as to find no fault at all. They don't seem to have any balance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one disputes there should be stringent vetting procedures for immigrants. In fact, they already exist. Are they 100% foolproof? Of course not.\n\nAgain, the author (who has a name: Pat Perriello) doesn't offer an immigration policy. Simply a reflection on American history and Christianity.\n\nYour response was overwrought and defensive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump\u2019s \u2018God whisperer\u2019 says resisting him is an affront to God\n\nOne of President Donald Trump\u2019s most trusted religious confidantes used ominous religious language to defend him this week, drawing on Christian nationalism to argue that resisting Trump equates resisting \u201cthe hand of God.\u201d\n\nPaula White gave several full-throated defenses of the president. White, a wealthy faith leader who originally gained notoriety for preaching a much-maligned version of the \u201cprosperity gospel,\u201d has been described as Trump\u2019s \u201cGod whisperer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"... and has been condemned by its bishop...\"\n- You mean Robert Finn?\n- So far NCR is the only catholic newspaper that is not a public relations organ for a diocese, like \"The Pilot\" was during the tenure of Bernard Law in Boston. Nor is it a collection of articles that aim largely to mislead and misinform the faithful as National Cath. Regis has done especially when it was owned by Legion of Christ and defended Marciel Marcial and attached the men who raised the alarm about theLegion and Marciel, its founder.\n\n- So, PBS is correct to solicit information from NCR essayists and journalist, at least until something better shows up.\n- Note, that no-one solicits anything from the USCCB for comment or news -- though from time to time alarming remarks by some bishops are noted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, you should realize Christ suffered to feel your suffering and rely on his salvation to no hate yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is the evil our college priests talked about in Catholic philosophy classes. \nObserve the tenet: one cannot use ignoble means to achieve ones goals or any goals. AKA -- the ends do not justify the means. \nYet, the last two popes and nearly all of the American Catholic prelates use many great evils in the process of achieving their goals of eradicating Communism, Socialism and all abortions. \nVERY strange. nicht wahr???", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course not. That is not what loyalty is about. How narrow an idea. Most Catholics do follow the root of what the word \"obedience\" means: to listen. There is a lot of listening, lots of prayer, lots of respect. Just not a lot of being childish.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you my friend are correct in every word. The morals of America's kids is decaying. But not all kids, as with david and as with mine and many others. I do also believe that all party's involved in this should get the full extent of the law. The death penalty does come to mind. I am a Christian man. Not perfect by any means. I have raised my child around the church and schooled him into a Christian school. He has a good mind. A sound environment to live. Morals taught every day. It's not all dead in society. But with this case, David was wonderful, full of life kid. Trusting friends he just wanted to hang out with. These kids are sick and demented and have no value for a life. it sickens me that this happend. And there is no excuse for it either. I would never stick up for erick (spelled lower case for a reason) I am in full support of David and kids being kids. I don't want to hear it was pot or they we're drinking. Or movies or games. erick and his friends are sick.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump, Pruitt, the Koch brothers and other energy-company CEOs, and the climate-change deniers are all going to be dead by the time the worst effects hit, so they don't care. They made their pile of money, they scored their political points. They'll die happy. What happens to future generations is none of their concern. Those generations can just turn the air conditioning up in their mud-and-thatch huts and build their dikes a little higher is all.\nAnother factor is composed of conservative Christians who believe, and they've stated it online numerous times, that the worse things get, the closer they are to the Rapture. So, bring it on! is their opinion. Their apathy conforms with their theology.\nLastly, at some point, Obama hurt Trump's feelings and Trump saw that the the way to winning Republicans' hearts was through their mindless hatred of everything Obama, so Trump is determined to destroy every last vestige of Obama, regardless of whether a particular policy makes sense or not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everything--as in all--I read in the Reporter is about Catholicism and news/issues attendant to the faith. There are opinion pieces, blogs, news stories, features, and even sports stories that are about Catholics and Catholicism. Baptized laity, theologians, priests, sisters, public officials, and many others are regular contributors, making it certainly \"Catholic.\" \n\nTo imply (as you do above) that the Reporter is not a \"Catholic media outfit\" is to outright deny the facts----a very anti-intellectual, scary, and harmful way to consume journalism as you search for truth and for Truth. \n\nMy concurrence or dissent does not make or break a medium's--Right or Left--status as \"Catholic.\" Neither does yours or the KofC's. \n\nYou have a right to say the KofC seems to support only media outfits with which it always agrees. But you cannot say their support reflects or creates authenticity of a medium as a \"Catholic media outfit.\" \n\nNow if you are judging a house organ, the criteria differ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" 'For this reason, free markets do not constitute a first principle of economic justice. Their moral worth is instrumental in nature and must be structured by government to accomplish the common good.'\" \n\nGood enough as far as it goes. But, Bishop McElroy, the \"free market\" is pretty much the only economic model on the table today. So what do you propose to replace it with & how? Unless & until you can articulate with clarity & precision what it is you are proposing as an alternative (beyond just economic regulations for their own sake), I'm afraid you're not going to be very persuasive to many Catholics, let alone voters. You're not even convincing rank & file union members anymore (who support Keystone, etc.). What do you propose to replace globalized free trade with? A border adjustment tax along the lines proposed by the GOP? And what will you say to those millions of workers in other countries who have been economically benefitted in the last decade by globalized trade?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not anti gun nor anti christian. I am anti crime, anti death, and pro brain use.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who said they were? They aren't, but the difference is that those liberal groups are not Catholic Groups who use their society's funds to infect our Bishops & promote their political agenda as though it were a Catholic Agenda and not a Republican Agenda. \n\nSuch as with pro-life. Illegalizing abortion is one option on how to deal with the immorality of abortion, & even though almost every country that has severely restricted access to abortions or illegalized abortions, has a higher percentage of abortions, these Knights still push illegalization as the only, or best response, & they push unfunding planned parenthood's non-abortion tax funding designed to help poor women's health. \n\nThere is also the innate sexism that automatically exists in having a supposed charity which refuses to allow women to join and become Knights. Does not sound like the Knights got the memo that Catholic means Universal-All are supposed to be welcomed, including all men & women. That is the difference.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, Jesus rests His head where our consciences are unclean. He comes to call sinners, not the saved. Knowing that you are a sinner makes you welcome to hear his voice. Thinking you are fine is the problem. That does not mean, however, that we must listen to those who would damn an action, like contraception, that is evil. Reaon, not conscience, controls that dialogue and it is still God given. Neither can we run from God when the pain is too great, as the Europeans have done or as some have done when they regret an abortion (which is a personal matter, not one for law enforcement). Again, if someone needs an abortion to survive, it is reason, not conscience, that informs everyone involved.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "as you quote, Gospel texts do differ - ....\"anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.\u201d\n\nThat \"except for sexual immorality,\" seems even broader than the older translation \"except for adultery\". If we took that text as our norm there would be all sorts of reasons for divorce and remarriage.\n\nProblem is that we have taken one text in one Gospel and based all our Church Rules on that, without reading all the pertinent Gospel and Epistle passages about marriage and divorce, and the passages where Jesus treats of 'people in adultery'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed I have. \u201cWhile one may pragmatically vote for a flawed candidate, one may not vote for anyone who advocates and enables unmitigatedly evil acts, and that includes abortion.\u201d\n\nThat is the Catholic position.\n\nUnless he also dictated the candidates\u2019 positions, he is simply reiterating what the Church teaches.\n\nIf that disqualifies one of the candidates, that is his or her problem, not Fr. Rutler's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a Christian and agree with some of your points. I left my church because I got tired of them saying that the country was founded on religion. It was founded on religious freedom--the right for people to practice the religion of their choice which to me includes no religion. I was doing some reading recently and read one of the writers or signers of the Constitution stating that he didn't care how many Gods people worshiped, if any. I do think that the morals of our society has gone downhill. Also, the first colony of the U.S. was actually in St. Augustine, FL. I think they were Catholics. The U.S. was also settled by people that were running from a country that had a State religion, England. Correct me on anything that is incorrect. Sometimes when I read a lot I forget things. Anyway, I do think some of the groups, such as the LGBT, have had some gains and now want everything, such as Christians businesses having to provide services. I think this is so terribly wrong. TBC", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another alternately - the priest would have to have a salary that would allow the feeding, medical attention, and education at Catholic schools of such a large family.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "None of the Christians I know are silent in their disdain for bigotry, racism, and unnecessary suffering. Your statement defames the character of many of my good friends, whom you do not even know. If you wish to defeat bigotry, begin by looking in the mirror. You appear to have a blanket hatred of Christians, lumping all of them with the worst of them. Try to rise above that and be the tolerant and respectful type of person you are accusing them of not being.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I fail to find anything \"Distinctly Catholic\" in MSW's writings in recent months. Get back to what you stated as the focus of your posts. I would suggest that political analysis is not necessarily s strength. However, based on what you have written in this essay, I offer the following: (1) You need to consult with a professional in the area of Sex Offender Treatment who can help you learn about the patterns of thinking and speaking that are involved in the commission of actual offenses. As one such professional, I can tell you that you are not well versed in that topic. (2) Do a comparison for the past 20 years of what the GOP has done in improving the social welfare of the country vs. what the Dems have done. And then do a comparison of the same question between Mr. Trump and Sec. Clinton. I believe you may learn something new. I may have a third and a forth suggestion for you that I will need to post in a separate comment due to limitations on the length of replies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Points taken.....and agreed with! \n\nWhere I get twitchy is the power that these major donors have on the university's focus et al...in economic and other affairs.....one of those \"the bishops hold hands with conservative major donors\" deals...and they jointly sell it as Christianity....in the Wall Street Journal, no less....have a feeling Jesus sees these matters differently....a lot closer to Francis than the uSCCB.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think you realize how close ISIS came to winning in the ME. If they had overtaken Baghdad and Damascus it would have been game over.\nThey were completely ruthless and ruled by total terror. This was a war every bit as important as WWII. They simply could not be allowed to take over. Assad is ruthless too, but mostly with those who try to overthrow him. In Damascus women walk around unveiled, they go to school and university. All religions are tolerated. All the Christians in Damascus support Assad. There was no freedom of religion in the part of Aleppo ruled for 4 years by our \"moderate rebels\".\nFor democracy to work, over 90% of people must agree to follow the rules. It will not work in Arab countries in the foreseeable future because of widespread sectarianism and tribalism. The best Syria can hope for is a benign dictatorship.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am truly sorry to hear about your husband, Caiside. \n\nIt's only people who, like Khizr Khan so aptly put it, have \"sacrificed nothing and no one\", that can make remarks as Trump did. For Trump, human beings are merely playthings to use and abuse at will for the satisfaction of his appetites and the increase of his wealth and 'stardom'. People like this are so far removed from basic human decency, let alone anything that could remotely be described as a Christian attitude.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bannon was raised in a Catholic family. Whether he continues in any sense to practice the Catholic faith, I don't know. Like his fellow Catholic Trump surrogates, Gingrich and Giuliani, Bannon brings three wives to the party.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think deep down, NCR fans know the Catholic Church is the One True Church, otherwise they would go over to the Episcopalians who already do what they want.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of two) And the world keeps going around and The (Pontifical) Catholic University of America administration goes right under the censure of the Association of American University Professors, as if the Timothys of the teaching faculty have no bearing on the needs of the minds of others. Liturgy of the Word, as used at St. Mary Church, Thursday, January 26, 2017, Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops, from the Children\u2019s Lectionary.\n\nI recall Groucho Marx\u2019s farewell to the \u201cexclusive\u201d club that banned him because of his religion: \u2018I agree with your decision. I wouldn\u2019t want to be in any club that would have me as a member\u201d\u2014justmaybe. Lookout, Faithful, the children are listening.\n\nThe Association of Catholic Priests posts my Personal Notes on the Sunday Liturgies of the Word as found at www.western-civilization.com.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First you write:\n\n\"But do you claim to be the moral guide of the entire world? The Catholic Church does. Is it too much to ask that they live up to their own billing?\"\n\nThen you write:\n\n\"If you are a Church employee who marries a member of the same sex as you, you can expect to be fired, even if your marriage does not affect your job in any way.\"\n\nIsn't the second an instance of the Church doing what you asked of it in the first?\n\nAre you really saying \"the Church doesn't do exactly what I want PDQ\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I honor your convictions and do not criticize you for having them. It remains true that what is known as the priesthood in our day was the result of an historical development over time. This means that a reasonable person may conclude that the present system is arbitrary and that other paradigms are possible that better express the reality of the Kingdom of God. \n The problem for the church is the polarization of debate: one is either for or against, liberal or conservative. Cardinal O'Connor said, \"We are not liberal or conservative, we are the Body of Christ\". \n Everything about the institutional church is temporal; a temporary manifestation of corporate traditions of worship. When these are taken as an end in themselves idolatry of external forms results. \n St. Paul wrote: \"We see through a glass darkly\". His candor and honesty are refreshing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can a Catholic cast a vote for abortion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The following statement is on the website of the Diocese of Amarillo:\n\nStatement from Bishop Patrick J. Zurek\nNovember 8, 2016\n\n\u2022 Priests for Life, Inc., is not a Catholic institution, but a civil organization, and it is not under the control or supervision of the Diocese of Amarillo. \n \n\u2022 Father Frank Pavone has posted a video on his Facebook page of the body of an aborted fetus, which is against the dignity of human life and is a desecration of the altar. We believe that no one who is pro-life can exploit a human body for any reason, especially the body of a fetus. \n \n\u2022 The Diocese of Amarillo deeply regrets the offense and outrage caused by the video for the faithful and the community at large. The action and presentation of Father Pavone in this video is not consistent with the beliefs of the Catholic Church. \n \n\u2022 The Diocese of Amarillo is opening an investigation about all these matters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nobody is being singled out.\n\nIf a polygamist's six wives came to the pastor of a Catholic parish and requested that their deceased husband be buried by the parish and demanded that all six wives be named as co-widows during the mass and listed in the obituary, he would be obliged to refuse too.\n\nThe only difference is that the polygamist's wives would have enough common sense to know the pastor would be obliged to say no. And if they were really Catholic, they wouldn't try to instrumentalize the Church's liturgy to promote a political agenda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oddly Little Mosque on the Prairie revolves around white Christians on the prairies being shocked by Muslims. How odd that Nawaz chose Saskatchewan as the locale for her series. Western Canadians in general are an open bunch and most in the rural prairies would probably not object to a Muslim cemetery. Far more than the rest of anglophone Canada, Quebec is an insular and intolerant place. It's odd how many Muslim migrants tend to flock into Quebec when Western Canadians are actually less insular.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it interesting that the Fatima fringe of the Fr. Gruner persuasion made an about-face on its posture toward Russia, which morphed from the source of communist evil to defender of white Christian civilization. It appears this movement became a vector in what has come to be known as the \"alt right.\"\n\nPerhaps worth exploring for some enterprising NCR intern.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My union took a collection for a food bank that serves adjunct faculty, including faculty that teach at area Catholic colleges.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cyprian's words prove nothing of the sort and, in fact, you can't point to anything that proves why he rebuked Stephen in his \"none of us should set himself up as bishop of bishops\" speech at Carthage in the 3rd c... excepting that most educated Christians understand that it means exactly as it says w/o the need for apologists to read their Holy Roman \"imperialism\" back into various source documents (including sacred scripture, unfortunately).\n\nAnyhow, good luck with your \"ism's!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If there is a Christian Church that teaches its followers than people of other religions are second class people, deserving to be enslaved, raped and killed, I would close that Church, punish its leaders and would never let anyone with such ideology into the country.\n\nThe same approach should be applied to other ideologies, including the ones taught as religions. \n\nThat's why I support Trump, agree with Harper on immigration and will vote against Trudaeu next time I can.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Here at NCR, and specifically at \"Distinctly Catholic,\" we will be policing the culture, the church and the culture of the church, ...\"\nDoesn't \"policing\" require some authority? Sorry NCR, but you have none.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic Relief Services, The Pontifical Mission Societies, The Missionhurst Fathers, The Pallottine Missionary Sisters, just to name a few.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah...LOL. They referred to themselves as Christian, gentlemen, or as \"civilized\" before they started using \"white\" which was reserved for land-owning anglos specifically - that is how they identified privilege. Not even Southern and Eastern Europeans need apply. When the original citizenship act of 1790 was written it caused much confusion because even most white people didn't know what it exactly meant. But it became politically expedient to expand this privilege to other people of the lighter skinned variety - it was called Jacksonian Democracy - which happened to be incredibly racist and overtly white supremacist which meant that, among other things, one could qualify for 164 acres of free (stolen) land so long as you were white and male. Look it up. History's actually pretty fascinating stuff you should read some.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While AA has indeed helped millions of people -- and I am in a human way proud of you for overcoming your own struggles -- I agree with Azorka in that the government should not be requiring attendance of a christian organization. Even one that is not 'overt'. In fact in 2007 the Ninth Circuit of the US Court of Appeals ruled that a parolee forced to attend AA by their parole office had full legal right to sue, due to its widely accepted religious components. \n\nAs for your statement, \"Do you know of any alternative to AA other than keep the evil doers in jail getting thirstier by the day?\"; I know of a good number of alternatives, just none that are currently LEGALLY REQUIRED, per say. http://www.rehabs.com/pro-talk-articles/if-not-aa-then-what-alternatives-to-12-step-groups/\nHere's a link listing a good couple other groups, so that you don't think I'm lying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Come on RCW, you take one of the most famous quotes ever to emanate from the mouth of Jesus and tell me that it doesn't count. He speaks directly about weapons, namely swords, and you maintain that he didn't actually mean it. He said nothing about abortion but it seems to be the only issue for many American Catholics, generally the same ones who take one sentence regarding marriage and apply it vigorously, mainly to others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Key West, a 3X5 mile rock where the Atlantic coast begins and Gulf of Mexico opens, is the perfect place for the basilica of St. Mary, Star of the Sea. \u201cCayo Hueso,\u201d the \u201cisle of bones,\u201d where pre-Columbian, Christian and current residents have shared a pirate\u2019s paradise and a sinner\u2019s purgatory,. The basilica has a history of Cuban-American collaboration and contention, a house built and maintained by pirates and sinners from its beginning to the present day, with stimulating shots of Cuban coffee.\n\tHarold Murphy and Fred Klaus were beloved island patrons and hosts of one of Key West\u2019s premier gay-friendly motels. They supported St. Mary\u2019s when it was just a church, donating the carillon to call the city to conversation, or at least to a morning bucci. They gave many other gifts anonymously. The seeds they spread are not only sprouting, they are flourishing.\n The bells are ringing. Bucci! Fantasy Fest! Fun! Fraternity! Fidelity! Cayo Hueso! Key West! St. Mary, Star of the Sea!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also, the hit piece on Ryan's kids going to Catholic schools. And generally trashing Pope Francis as the \"anti-Christ\" is something that far right Protestants do, not devout Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings....this Father Weinandy who most Catholics have never heard of ......is a sad antagonistic theologian remnant of JPII and Benedictus days! More dialogue and discernment is needed in this commission......and laity inclusion as well", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chaput has forgotten that Christ calls his leadership (bishops) to seek out the lost sheep; to leave the 99 behond and go look for the one that left the group. Chaput's ideas are to just want to say, \"Forget about em\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently Dolan didn't get the message that America\u2019s hypersensitive PC (political correctness) norms have been discarded for public events with Trump/Pence. It has clearly become acceptable for Christians to quote Jesus and pray in his name. It\u2019s unclear whether this dispensation also applies to followers of the Koran, Book of Mormon, Sutras, Vedas, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent points, Mike AA. In reading this article, I was reminded of a particular incident orchestrated by Rev. Weinandy who roped Cardinal Wuerl into the attack on Sr. Elizabeth Johnson. It was noted that in +Wuerl's forceful questioning of a particular chapter of Sr. Johnson's book under investigation by the USCCB doctrinal committee, the cardinal had not read the chapter (nor the book) and was reading off prepared criticisms written by Weinandy (confirmed by a staffer from the committee at he time). How telling. So now this loose cannon (or is that canon?) decides, on a sign from none other than Christ Himself), to go after the pope because +Francis does not agree with Rev. W's ridged yet crumbling theology of the 11th century. And such people sit around and wonder why so few have any respect for them, and even fewer listen to them. This reeks of the finger of Cardinal Burke in the pie. This Capuchin friar will follow +Burke into complete isolation and irrelevancy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "yes and no. there are times when the story is appropriate and Jesus used them himself. I think the problem is that you are seeing this from your perspective as a person who is well educated in theology and other academic fields. and most Catholics aren't. Catholicism is still a religion where many of the members are still not as well educated as you are. stories like this are helpful in getting the gospel message across. I long ago came to the decision that theology has been one of the things that has made the message of Christ so difficult for most people. to be honest, how do most of these theological suppositions help us to love god and neighbor better? they are all mysteries that can't be understood anyway. as Augustine is supposed to have said, \"love God and do the best you can\". if a priest can tell a cute story and get the point across, then more power to him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well as a Christian I am all too proud to aid my fellow human beings against haters. You tout the law como eastas but recall that slavery at one time was legal. But people of good will sheltered people of color against the haters. The same thing is happening today because hatred does not die. We welcome undocumented immigrants into our churches.\n\nPeople have their modern day witch hunts against undocumented immigrants.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued...The simple fact is that Canada was never a mono-culture, nor was it ever white, or solely Christian in identity or composition. Canada has always been multicultural, multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious. Our Canadian identity, I believe, is best exemplified by the fact that we have learned to live in relative peace and harmony despite our differences, and have benefited greatly as a result, not in spite, of our diversity. The Canada you appear to long for never even existed, it is a figment of the imagination. Moreover, Canada has never been more peaceful and prosperous than it is today. We certainly need to learn to share this wealth more equitably, but nevertheless, Canada remains prosperous and a greater, more inclusive society, than on the day it was born. I only wish some of my fellow Canadians could learn to accept and embrace this fundamental truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Repeat same mistake over and over again.\nREAD AL - nowhere does it state that adultery is good or acceptable. Instead, it lays out a process that may provide some guidance and lead via context, situation, etc. so that a faithful catholic (divorced) might be able to share the eucharist. From this, you knee jerk to unreasonable all or nothing thinking.\nAL is NOT about divorce - you do not get it. My citations show that divorce did exist via cultural, monarchies, kingdoms, etc. built in laws and customs. The Church existed in those times and one way to deal with these situations was to implement the sacrament of matrimony which later centuries set into law, etc. There was no church canon law until the 20th century - divorce existed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi! Scott,\nThank you for your candid reply \u201cnot sure\" I meant in regards to doctrine.\nIt is true that Jesus says nothing about contraception or abortion for that matter. I was not aware that you were not a RC, as the site that I normally comment on is the Association of Catholic Priests Ireland most comments are made by Roman Catholics. I should have realized this when you said that you had consulted with three priests, as the advice you were given is not compatible with our teachings. Many of my articles are directed towards R.Cs. as we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation which you do not, it is fair to say that you have a lively conscience in regards to contraception (I consulted three priests). It is also fair to say if you had been raised as RC or born prior to 1930, as until then all Protestant denominations agreed with the Catholic Church\u2019s teaching condemning contraception as sinful (Did they bend with the wind?) your decision would have been traumatic.\n\nContinued 1", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is good...thanks for the update on the TRC \"action list.\"\n I especially like, \"Mr. Sault works as a community liaison at Prince\u2019s Charities Canada with the aim of matching youth with employers.\" And the fact that hundreds of potential employers were interested enough to seek out the information. That's good. I think. \n\nWonder about something, though. What's missing here is the reaction from various bands across the country. What's the Assembly of First Nations feel about this?\n\nI was going to call my next comment an \"aside,\" but it really isn't, because it goes to the heart of what many Canadians hope, that all these efforts--and the TRC itself, can \"undo past wrongs against Indigenous people,\" as the piece states. Doomed to fail. Can't \"undo\" what's gone before, what's already been \"done.\" I know that's the hope, so we can safely put all this in the past and \"move on.\" I'm sure the Roman Catholic, United and Anglican churches would like nothing better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin: a couple comments and a couple questions for you:\n\n1) I am fully initiated in the Roman rite and I participate in any/all sacraments of my choosing. I am not concerned with the minutia of Canon law, my focus is on Jesus and His teachings.\n\n2) The 3-4 priests we consulted with are Roman Catholic in good standing (a couple of them now retired). Incidentally, contraception was not the sole purpose of our meetings but the topic invariably came up.\n\n3) Why are you so bent on the \"truth of HV?\" (Why not discuss the \"truth\" of Amoris Laetitia instead?) In truth very few RC clergy even preach about HV anymore which is essentially an admission that our thinking has (collectively) evolved. You should understand that mere mortals crafted this encyclical (yep, AL too) and is NOT equal to the word of God, and it pales in comparison to the teachings of Christ.\n\n4) I don't mean to pry but a little personal background would be helpful in support of your claims. Married? How long? How many kids?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi, Neko. My take, which I've stated here before, is that abortion is an extremely personal issue that, by it's nature, can never be settled by either legislation or litigation. And it certainly hasn't been settled by 43 years of single-issue voting.\n\nBut those same 43 years have driven a bigger wedge between people of goodwill who disagree about the issue, destroyed the credibility of the Catholic Church as honest political brokers, and laid the groundwork for the further polarization of the body politic. No progress made but plenty of damage done.\n\nAt the end of the day, what any one of us believes about when life begins or when it deserves legal protection must be subordinate to the decision of the woman at the heart of the matter. I can see no other conclusion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does this mean that not liking altar rails (gone for over 45 years where I've been) makes my Christianity sterile? That's quite a statement and quite a false judgment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not his \"compatriots\"! That's not the right word. He represents himself (of course) plus only a very tiny minority of Catholics in the UK.\nHe holds the view that everything has gone awry since 1958, when Pius XII went to his reward. SSPX his stated preference. Sedevacantism but a step away.\nBut increasingly courteous, yes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think questions like this should be on the survey: \n\n1) By answering this survey, do you think the Bishops and Cardinals will really make the changes you recommend, in your lifetime? \n\nPlease choose one: \n--Not a snowball's change -/- Nah... there just joshin' -/- Maybe, who knows, God is powerful.../ of course... they love us and will do what we say.\n\n2) If you advise the bishops/cardinals/Pope Francis to ordain women, promote responsible artificial birth control, ordain married men, create Same Sex union ceremonies in the Church, get rid of statues of limitation on clergy abuse, do you think they would really make these changes, again, in your lifetime? \n\nPlease choose one: \n--Not a snowball's change -/- Nah... there just joshin' --/ Maybe, who knows, God is powerful./.. of course... they love us and will do what we say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the Public School Board suing the Govt of Sask along with the Separate School Board because they believe admitting non-Catholics into to the Separate system infringes on their funding due to enrolment........ Their primary focus..... Parents and children take a back seat.......!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agree? Obviously I do.\n\nThe problem was that the Universities, similar to the Catholic Church, were originally protecting their integrity by not taking many of the rape and sexual assault accusations seriously and stonewalling the victim. The vast majority of universities have their own police department who are answerable to the university and are not as trained as city police departments when it comes to investigating violent crimes (lacking detectives in some cases who specialize in this). Therefore, the Obama Justice Department sought to level the playing field for the victims. The old clich\u00e9 comes to mind \"If it ain't broke don't fix it\". Why is DeVos trying to \"fix\" this other than being told to do so by the Trump administration who is hell bent on undoing everything his predecessor did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As an outsider (though \"first cousin\" as an Anglican) to the RCC, I'd inquire whether the authors believe this is a unique USA development. My thinking was that in places where evangelicals and Pentecostals were siphoning RC away in droves, cooperation was grudging or limited to specific culture war issues. Think about Latin America, and to a lesser extent, Africa.\n\nThere are some soothing points for your Christian brethren from the authors. Once, and not so long ago, your church only applauded religious freedom when it was the beneficiary, i.e., in Protestant majority lands. The power of the church and the political class was unified in RC majority lands. Protestant Christians kept their heads down. It is good to see the documents of Vat. II dealing with religious freedom and ecumenical respect reaffirmed in this article.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don\u2019t always stand with Fr. Dwight Longenecker\u2019s views, but his point here has validity and it seems some are missing it. He discusses the modern Catholic Church being divided \u2013 the Church is already in schism. I feel he described modernists to a T and we must face the fact that for better or worse, modernists influence doctrine. Maybe using the words of divide and schism are detracting to how some people regard what it is to interpret doctrine differently. You wanna deny that the Judaizers that plagued St Paul in Antioch were not divisive? Acts 15:5 inarguably attests to schism pitting modernity against tradition. It took cool heads to smooth the riff. Later, in Acts 21:15-24, it appears that the division underlying the Council of Jerusalem was in fact never settled, but was upheld quietly. What happens here though is at this point it becomes cloudy about which side was the modernist or the traditionalist. Commenters for and against this subject embody a historically divided Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Light - would it be a good thing if Sarah \"survives\" this? His thinking is obviously not in line with that of Francis. He is trying to run the CDW in a centralized power model that is not Francis' vision of decentralizing power. \n\nI can't believe that Sarah did not know what he said in that article would not be consistent with Francis' thinking. He exacerbates confusion rather than engages to clear up confusion. \n\nMaybe Sarah needs to go back to Guinea as an archbishop or serve the Vatican in some way that makes use of his language skills, or leading Church efforts to bring a more just society to Africa. \n\nIf Francis wants bishops' conferences to have a greater role and more power in forming worship to the needs and culture of their people, then Sarah does not appear to be the right man to help that effort along.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I LOVE this pope! And bravo to Cardinal Perolin and Bishop McElroy! And how about that Pres. Eisenhower! In 1953, no less. Our current politicians may not have any backbone, but thank God we have a Catholic leader whom we can look to for moral guidance. And that some of the other church hierarchy are following his lead.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the National Catholic Register or EWTN's World Over will give you solid propaganda, er, news.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With the loss of Marie, the flame on the candle of hope was extinguished.\n\nI believe in another article in the last few days, we read that Francis recently took another step to show how concerned he is over abuse by giving Cdl. O'Malley a slot in the CDF. I ink that move just backfired. Simply put. The response of Francis and his team has become the same as that of his predecessors: tell us we should feel reassured by the shifting around of Curial chairs. The loss of Marie should be a klaxon horn through the Vatican that business as usual has failed. It should also be an alarm to the laity: we have no voice in the church's response. \n\nAt this point, I really don't care what bishop sits in what position. It doesn't matter anymore, if it ever did. I don't even know if Francis will see her resignation as a loss for the church. I do though. And I'll await his next step at counteracting the truth that is emerging. Francis has failed badly. This is simply not his priority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...and hold no one responsible?\"\n\nBut the diocese of Regensburg (in a \"German Catholic approach\" to the matter) is taking responsibility for the abuse there, is holding people responsible for exercising corporal punishment, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Every action of every Christian should be intended to give glory to God and to bring people closer to God, to truth, to goodness, and yes to beauty. \n\nWe must strive to be \"alter Christus, ipse Christus.\" Warming everything, not soiling and decaying the things we touch or talk about. \n\nNothing in this article - by a priest in fact, former or current I am not sure given NCR's staff of writers - images Christ or remotely shows charity, fairness, even temperance.\n\nIt's \"full on\" intended to impugn, diminish, and soil a single human soul.\n\n\"How they loved one another\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Internet troll\" is defined as \"Someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.\u201d\nFor example, posting a comment merely to provoke a response \"looking forward to your next parry.\"\n Then there is this...\nThe persistent debate troll\nThis type of troll loves a good argument. They can take a great, thoroughly researched and fact-based piece of content, and come at it from all opposing discussion angles to challenge its message. They believe they're right, and everyone else is wrong. You'll often also find them leaving long threads or arguments with other commenters in community comment sections, and they're always determined to have the last word \u2013 continuing to comment until that other user gives up. \nSigh. Whichever best describes the behavior, it isn't \"Christian.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh come on. I have been pretty critical of the harsh tenor (and frequently the views expressed) in these comboxes, which has led me to post much less frequently than I once did. But with some notable exceptions, I would be hard pressed to say that NCR is equivalent to Church Militant. That is hardly accurate. \n\nAgain, I believe that the general quality & civility of these comments has decreased since the Presidential election - but on the whole, the tenor & vitriol found at Church Militant cannot be found here. Church Militant takes a shrunken understanding of the Catholic tradition & weaponizes it against good Catholics across the spectrum in a farcical attempt at mimicking something like Fox News. It is a marketing ploy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course the members of the Church suffered. Who could question that? That doesn't absolve anyone for the mistakes made during that time.\nThere were some fairly clear connections between Catholic antisemitism and the Holocaust, Catholic authoritarianism and totalitarian governments, etc. even more obvious was the war language, with opponents called evil, the Church as different from the Others, whether protestants, jews or atheists. Attempts to bridge those differences were called \"accomodations,\" as if the modern Samaritans were not our neighbor.\nChanging those attitudes was behind the exodus from the Church, not the liturgical changes. But reversing those changes won't bring many back.\nAll of this is just to answer your questions about why the Church needed reform in 1960. You can disagree with me, i just want you to know why some people felt the Church had to change, be purified, reform, however you want to say it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What credal truth does he deny? MJ flunked Catholic vocabulary. Of course, all western Catholics are heretic because we believe in a bad translation of the Creed that has the Spirit proceed from the Father and the Son. It was not adopted that way at Nicea. We think our reasoning is good, but it is still heretical as the agreement is the other way officially and there is no way of actually knowing the truth except by dying and maybe not even then.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In the customary Catholic attitudes, in the established Catholic institutions, in the received Catholic structures, in the traditional Catholic theology, and in the official Catholic teaching, little if any provision has been made for the possibility of undergoing, let alone initiating, evolutionary change.\"\n\nThose words were written by Leslie Dewart nearly half a century ago to describe why he believed the term \"crisis\" applied to the state of Catholic belief at the time. Not a lot has changed, though Pope Francis is arguably trying to move the mountain. To paraphrase Gamaliel, if the Pope's efforts represent God's work, obstruction isn't smart.\n\nThe Presbyterian Church may also be in crisis - I don't know. If it is, it won't be because people like Bill and Eugene haven't tried to achieve change, and it won't be because the Presbyterian Church lacks structures that allow change to happen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She nor no other President can repeal Roe. The \"faithful Catholic \" SCOTUS had a chance to do that for a few years, and .....?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps not the OFFICIAL Roman Catholic faith tradition yet, nevertheless widely held by many Roman Catholics, both clerical and lay!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great article! Thanks Herald! \nGreat program to help people! Thanks Catholic Church, and all those who, as Mr. Bateman says, won't give up on anybody!\nAnd, thanks to Mr. Bateman for allowing his life to be showcased for the understanding of others. It will bring great joy for those who support these programs.\nBest wishes for all of you and for those inspired by your example.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is true that no Catholic is bound to believe in apparitions. However, it goes a bit beyond just \"approving the message\" of an apparition. For example, Our Lady of Guadalupe has basically no message for anyone. The apparition and the miraculous tilma is the message. The Church has made Our Lady of Guadalupe an official feast on the universal liturgical calendar. She has been proclaimed patroness of all the Americas by Pius XII. Her feast is a holy day of obligation in Mexico. It's everything short of \"believe this as revealed dogma\". \n\nMedjugorje: questionable. Fatima, not exactly. Again, we have numerous popes attempting to follow the actual requests of Mary of Fatima (consecration to Russia for example). We have the CDF actually revealing and explaining the 3rd secret in official act of the Holy See in year 2000. Every pope since 1917, including Francis, has liturgically celebrated May 13 and/or October 13. Two of the visionaries are beatified. If that's not approved what is?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Gospels are full of disruptive women...\nThe woman with a hemorrhage disrupted the assembly to touch the hem of Jesus' cloak. He commends her for her faith and grants the healing she asks for.\nThe sinful woman disrupts the good order of Pharisee Simon's dinner party to anoint Jesus. Jesus commends her for her courage and great love, and then chastises the cleric for his stingy and unwelcoming attitude.\nI think and hope most Catholics have a good intention that Mass be dignified out of respect for Our Lord in the Eucharist, but be on guard for the shadow side of this intention, which is all about power, control and domination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Colkoch.....do you suppose that Francis is merely skipping by \"catholic religiosity\" (essentially ignoring it) and \"mixing it up\" with a far wider range of folks that include many faith traditions...those social network founders et al...with a heavy focus on the needs of the poorest of the poor at those \"margins\" and taking help wherever he can find it?\n\nIt's a bit bizarre..but Francis seems to me to have a rather universal ambiance...certainly not limited to Catholics (or Christians for that matter)....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 2:\n\n I think that offers another prism through which to understand the church\u2019s ministry to sinners: advocating for them, looking for the best possible outcome for them, the one that aligns best with the priorities of the Gospel: Love and Mercy. It is not for nothing that Jesus promised to send us the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete -- our Advocate; and we participate in the life of the Spirit when we act as advocates for sinners, looking for every conceivable way to heal and help them, showing them the Love and Mercy that are the hallmarks of the Christian life. (cont'd.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Respectfully CHRISTIAN MANNHOOD, let the accuser prove her case, as Mr.Trump denies her claims, he's willing to take it to court, so let the system work. His denial is evident, so there has to be a bit more than one claiming it versus having it proven. I didn't hear he was ever proven to have raped anyone, or exposed himself to anyone, physically forced others to have sex, knocked them out with drugs to have sex, they state he \"kissed and groped\" them, which leaves it to be pretty much a \"he said she said\", with him denying he unwantedly \"kissed and groped\" them.\nIf it is proven, then we have something proven which to take action on. I don't condone it, but he is denying it, so let's have it proven.\nI voted for Mr. Clinton on his second run, I didn't like when our nation wasted time pursuing Mr. Clinton with impeachment, and he perjured himself, I don't care for this ether. Mr. Trump didn't raped or forced sex on anyone, he \"kissed and groped\", he is denying it, so lets see the case.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rebecca, I love your writing and I think that you are spot on with regards to the issues of Paternity and the crazy idea of Theocracy. The USA has elected a president that had massive support from the Fundamentalist crowd that believe that Trump can represent their interests better. Their view on abortion is deemed to be more important than the civil rights of Americans, the freedom of Women to make choices and deep poverty of so many Americans. Buchan is someone that I disagree with, as believe that he is a fundamentalist and some one who should make suggestions about Theocratic governance. We had that under the Nats, European Kings and Queens and Imperial Colonialism. I ask the question - on form of Christian Government would Buchan like to see? However, what I will say, is that the pictures I saw were of a multiracial crowd - one that was behaved and civil to each other. That is the remarkable thing I saw. South Africans can get along - we can make this country better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Donald Trump may be doing \"us Catholics\" a favour, sorta. The disgust at his recently revealed video and sound track actually represent a de facto example of our \"legitimate teaching\" authority teaching on the role of women in creation, in the here and now. The most recent and up-dated author, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith expressed this utilitarian definition of women in his 2004, \"Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World\".\nNowhere does the notion that \"words mean something\" fit more than in our Catholic Church. Words of \"legitimate teaching authority\" are meant to direct behaviour and decisions and are the licence of clerics to dictate.\nBefore I begin to quote the official document that had/has the blessing of then Pope John Paul, remember that it has not been rescinded, worse, Cardinals, bishops, papal officials and Pope Francis I himself use it's words", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I am all in support of stopping the perpetrators of crimes against innocents ... all this attention on Daesh ... I cannot help but wonder at the very one-sided presentation of who is being persecuted here, why and how emotional the article is written. Let us not forget that in the 1950's as a part of containing the influence of the Soviet Union in the Middle East - the USA CIA - with not small assistance from the British ... trained, equipped with arms and gave their blessings to the Saudis spreading their extremist and violent form of Wahhabism throughout the middle east as a way to destabilize it. Christians, along with other streams of Muslims, Jews and non-believers have been targeted - and since the 1970's the 20% of Christians in the ME have declined to under 5%. What I want to know is why did the US state department ask the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus whether or not what was happening to Christians in the Middle East past the legal definition of genocide", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cThe first problem Weinandy points to is Chapter 8 of \"Amoris Laetitia,\" which deals with the role of conscience and discernment in guiding divorced and remarried Catholics.\u201d\n\nPersonally think that the AL Chapter 8 footnote is at the heart of the issue...it allows for personal conscience and these guys can\u2019t handle the concept....\n\nSpeaking in the 21st century, ripe with social science learning (as opposed to the 13th century) think that morality can be understood in stages of human development and growing autonomy and responsibility (hopefully) ...think theologians would profit from some serious study of these matters! Which just might enlighten their understanding of the issue of personal conscience, degree of freedom involved et al....\n\nThink these guys are essentially social science Neanderthals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The photo says it all. The priests, gathered together at the center of things, the flock standing around on the periphery, awaiting orders from the men in charge. This, is exactly what Jesus wanted from his church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My younger brother, who is gay, tried for years to be a Catholic. He was rejected, He did not fail the Church, the Church failed him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) I did not depict Montreal as a monoculture, but as bi-cultural. The native reserves were and are still small and marginal. The fact there are pockets of marginal sub-cultures here and there does not mean a country is \"multicultural\" except for purists. It is, for all intents and purposes, largely monocultural.\n\nThe whole point of official multiculturalism is to help promote otherwise marginal cultures and prevent their assimilation into the majority culture.\n\n2) Almost all Canadians shared a common familiarity with what one can characterize as broadly European, Judeo-Christian culture, historically based largely on the Bible. Almost everyone grew up familiar with art, music, literature based on it. Everyone knew the stories about Adam and Eve, Noah and the Ark, the Beatitudes, etc. on which those were based. That is a common culture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a cradle Catholic who often attends an Episcopal church.The parish has two priests - together they are the best real-life example of true complementarity in the church that I have personally experienced, since one priest is a woman and the other is a man. Both are outstanding priests. Some call the male priest \"Father\", but most simply call him Paul. Nobody calls our female priest \"Mother', but I have heard of it being done - rarely. She prefers that we use her first name. I have not personally heard \"Mother\" used in any of the Episcopal parishes I have visited. The use of \"Mother\" does not seem to be common, and some Episcopal protocol experts avoid it completely because they consider it \"cringeworthy\". In introducing the priests, the commonly used form is - \"I would like to introduce the Reverend Firstname Lastname.\"\n\nGenerally \"Reverend\" is not used to directly address a priest - not \"Hi Rev. Smith, how are you?\" but \"Hi, Paul,...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If fewer than 10% of Boston Catholics are attending Sunday Mass, then it appears, that Cardinal O'Malley is not a very good shepherd.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cal Thomas has been around for that last 50 years. I can remember seeing him as a pundit in the Times in the late 60's. He's pushes his christianity in his articles all the time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lol - we'll call that \"Mucky Math.\" None of your other quotes are in anyway proof or evidence that our founding fathers did not devise and develop what we call our current freedoms today through the Judeo Christian paradigm. Their faith and God are the primary source of their vision of our country, and you have not shown otherwise. Your number stands at zero, Try again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Serafim my friend:\n\nI agree enthusiastically that \"Assad should let free speech reign in Syria.\" \nIndeed, I would like to see free speech, including freedom of worship and self-expression, prevail, NORMATIVELY, throughout the MENA, from Iran through Saudi Arabia to Libya. It would be a wonderful experience for the Christian migrant workers in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, for the besieged Egyptian Copts and for Gay persons. For that to happen, the region needs voices like that of South Africa's Archbishop Tutu: No political leader constrained Archbishop Tutu from speaking truth to secular power; thus, he helped to avert a civil war in South Africa and the concomitant generation of desperate refugees.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Canada has already apologized.\nThe federal government was responsible for setting up the schools and removing children from their families to be placed there. The schools themselves were operated by various churches, primarily Anglican, Catholic and Presbyterian, and it's what those churches' employees did to the children under the management of their particular church that the apology is for. The Canadian branches of each of those churches are paying reparations to the victims and participating in the reconciliation process.\nI can assure you that the Pope is well-aware that this request is coming and isn't finding out through the media.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You will note, I wrote \"His church\" and not \"His Church\". I was not aware of the denomination \"His Church\". I was referring to the non-institutional church founded by Christ. In other words, His followers (not His Followers ... just in case).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, how is it a social service? Individual Catholics and groups of Catholics carry out social work the hierarchy are concerned with matters of salvation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ never taught the pacifism that Berrigan taught. Do you advocate doing away with our armed services?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even if Catholics were a cohesive group, I suspect Trump's pledge to \"be there for\" us is as believable as a For Sale sign on beach front property in Arizona, a bridge in Brooklyn, or good acreage in the Everglades.\n\nNot that I am that so prolific a contributor as to be remembered, but I was JAKE and am now Jake47. I was informed the moniker JAKE has been assumed by another in this new system.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "cont'd\n\nHaving a soft heart for the weak and defenseless is merely a nature reiterating what objective moral thinking already confirms: that such people deserve the protection of the strong. There is a moral duty to protect them against unjust attack, to the extent we are able. Where did Jesus say otherwise? There is likewise a duty to protect your own life against unjust attack. \n\nJesus scolding Peter about attacking the soldier is roundly understood not as a general condemnation against violence in self-defense, but as a rejection of violence in that specific situation. Jesus knew he had a mission to fulfill and wanted no obstruction.\n\nYou ask, \"Why in the world do you 'take it' that I \"advocate total disarmament of the country\"? Simple. I credited you with logical consistency. Because if you think \"killing is always an evil,\" then you cannot have any moral reason to have an army --- the ultimate purpose of which is to kill, when necessary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you have a Masters [even an undergraduate degree] in Sacred Scriptures--you should be able to answer your own questions. They are children's questions and you are accusing me of being defensive? \n\nI don't care if you were one of the writers of the Jerome Biblical Commentary. You sound just like a kid who likes to argue [hair-split] every point someone else makes. \n\nYou name all the Christian churches that were built within the borders of Roman Empire, before Constantine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u2026\u2026''''''and may his (Francis) words reach the heart of his CHRISTIAN listeners!!!!!!''''' sadly, evil almost always produces even more evil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now who is dismissive and, oh so condescending? Being well acquainted with all the details of the commission and Phyllis Zagano's part in it and, after a self conducted, parish survey about the subject that included 5 generations of practicing Catholics (both conservative & liberal & male & female), I sense that there will be movement toward a woman's diaconate of some sort if not in this papacy, then definitely the next. \nJust the mere thought of that is awesome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes - we need more clergy to stand up and say things like Archbishop Chaput. However, where were and are the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus and their promoting of intolerance and racism under the guise of concern for \"persecuted Christians\" while insisting that one is to vote only on whether or not a candidate is for or against legalized abortion? When has Supreme Knight Carl Anderson or any other high ranking member of the Supreme Council stood with those in Virginia and other southern states whose lives and communities have been destroyed by global corporations and the social structures that benefit their profit and power over life and the welfare of all God's Creation? The K of C are the ones with the national network of volunteers in every parish who could enact a meaningful training of all in the pews to combat racism and the throw away culture with an economic system that kills while promoting meaningful dialogue that leads to a real understanding of the issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It will end when the pope and bishops begin following Jesus Christ. Which is to say, never.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it very sad to know that our own people won't even help their own people, not even the homeless in anchorage but they'll move mountains to bring people from other countries here, give them a place to live, donations of groceries, assistance with everything for them to start a happy life but where is catholic services when it comes to their own people???? What is the real motive in such things. Not that I don't feel empathy for people from other countries but their motives for coming here is simply they think America is the dream land and its not, its far from it. What is the number right now of Alaskans on unemployment? Where is the help for them. This is and has been my stance all along. We should be helping our own people FIRST before we help people come here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't know why it is so important to hew to St. Thomas or even the Great Thomas. As an heir of Plato and Aristotle, he acquiesced to the essence fallacy and never escaped the trap of dualism. This led to a distortion of our Christian faith. Some modern philosophers and theologians have much better insights. I prefer the thinking of Charles Sanders Peirce and Donald Gelpi, S.J., whom I discovered during a Sabbatical at the Jesuit School, in Berkely. They offer light for our day and escape the merciless position of the people attacking Pope Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And now Guam. The Jesuits in Alaska, the Salesians everywhere they go, the Legion of Maciel, the Franciscan seminaries, the bishops, the diplomats, the canon lawyers.. the Roman Catholic Priesthood of Men and their Pontifical Secret. \n\nPraise Holy that this Truth be seen. \n\nAW", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have been blest to have known RICHARD from the time that he came to Arizona and was a very special missionary in the church that I attended in WELLTON, AZ. \na deep friendship and Christian love developed and has grown so much through the years that we consider Richard and his entire family as additional family members to my sons and myself. I thank GOD for the man of GOD that Richard is and know that GOD is with him every moment of every day. He is the finest Christian that I have ever been blest to know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kuwait and Bahrain are Muslim countries. Japan is Buddhist-Shinto, and has the population of almost all the Christian countries in this list added together. Madagascar has a majority following traditional religions, and is an African country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey jusris, did you see the Senate hearings last week into how Russia hacked the election?\n\nApparently, Russia didn't try to hack voting machines, they hacked the voters themselves by infiltrating social media platforms - platforms like Facebook, Twitter, sketchy fly-by-night news sites and the comments sections of established outlets (like this one on SA). Russia had a large workforce (thousands) dedicated to engineering US social media with propaganda messages (fake news), amplifying their numbers with multiple fake accounts tailored to resemble white, Christian, rural folks with high school education or less, then using algorithms and \"bots\" to amplify it even further into the political discourse and minds of these susceptible voters. Russia has been perfecting this cyber-propaganda in Europe for a long time and launched the US attack 3-4 years ago.\n\nBut so what if many of Trump's supporters have been duped by propaganda spewing Russians posing as other Trump supporters? Trump won!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The simple fact is that Canada was never a mono-culture, nor was it ever white, or solely Christian in identity or composition. Canada has always been multicultural, multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious.\"\n\nSorry, what a silly statement. Just what is your definition of a society that is \"a monoculture, white, solely Christian in identity or composition\"? By your definition apparently that is almost impossible, just one person that is different would make it not so.\n\nHow about some reasonable definition instead, like one that is *almost totally\", or \"by a large majority\" so? There is such a thing as relatively homogeneous societies, with some pockets of regional cultures. Asians for example were here in small numbers and concentrated in a few regions, but they assimilated quickly. Better examples would be Hasidim or Jehovah's Witnesses or Hutterites, which are deliberately counter-cultural, i.e. resisting the majority culture, but are too tiny to be significant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Will someone be accused of a hate crime if they criticize the Bountiful, Quiverfull types, the Sister Wives, or the Duggars, or the Westboro Baptist Church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So we believe it's not acceptable for Catholics to criticize the pope? When did that happen?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Been reading some of the following comments re Roman Catholicism ! Look at the many,many Catholic schools and Catholic hospitals and how 'bout Catholic Charities !' Loving and Serving Your Neighbor' is what life is supposed to be all about and these blessed institutions do it better than any ! Peace + Love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, you can brag about your education (I have a Masters in Scripture, since you are so impressed by such things), but that doesn't appear to help your comprehension or your defensiveness. Which of my points do you disagree with? That it is \"unlikely Jesus used Latin at the Last Supper\"? Please explain why you disagree with that statement. Do you disagree with my statement that \"he may well have used Hebrew?\" Please explain why you disagree. The Gospels tell us he read from the scroll of Isaiah in the synogogue. Was the scroll not in Hebrew?\n\nI also said he might have used Greek. Why do you dispute this? In all your education -- which you boast about -- did you actually not learn that Greek was widely spoken in the Holy Land in the time of Jesus?\n\nWhen did I deny the Romans persecuted the early believers? The claim was that NO -- meaning ZERO -- churches were built anywhere by Christians before Constantine. This is not true. As a historian, you don't know this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Suggesting that Ben may be paying of gambling debts or feeding his own addiction leaves a lot to be desired as far as taste goes for this reporter. So you know, there is a major issue in Oregon where people who need these medications BADLY are not getting them because their doctor is terrified of prescribing them with all of the bad publicity these things have been getting. Patients with serious illnesses are being directed to use pot since it's legal and over the counter, but if the doc is affiliated with Catholic or Federal funding, they can't sign the prescription for it. For these people in constant agony, pharmacists who help supply their clients with much needed meds are angels of mercy. Be careful slaughtering the character of a good man. Your mother may wind up with M.S. or Lupus, and all you'll be able to do is watch her wither from the constant agony that her doctor won't address because he's terrified to prescribe her the needed painkillers. Your standards may change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really just an amazing strange take on what's \"free speech\" by the progressive members of this forum...and on a story about the rights of free speech no less.\n\nMentions that last week a riot shut down free speech in Berkeley, and wonder why NCR refuses to acknowledge this happened...and the progressives here censor the comment.\n\nA Catholic 's right of free speech is shut down by violence....NCR ignores it, and NCR progs get very huffy if you point this out.\n\nCatholic progressives only care about free speech if it's speech with opinions they disagree with. If it's a gay conservative Catholic, well, we just won't mention that Berkeley right. Way to go NCR.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I simply wonder why didn't the past Popes ever discuss with wealthier Spanish speaking countries and Brazil about taking in these refugees since they are Catholic countries, instead of constantly castigating the United States about this issue?\n\nSurely, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Panama, Ecuador and Costa Rica even Paraguay aren't that desolate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The needs of the uberCatholics who are unable to get past their own need for everyone to follow 'the rules'. They are few in comparison to the number of Catholics who just need some spiritual comfort and companionship.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree completely. All that is needed for the churches to fill with people would be the re-establishment of the mass in Latin (its the language Christ spoke after all!) and the return of the full vestments and rituals of the ancient church (at least as ancient as the 1500s, no need to go more ancient than than).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora 17 may be one of Putin's trolls that operate out of Russian controlled fake opinion farm. The Dems and Catholics are easy targets to get in an uproar. Businesses just keep their eye on the bottom line.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I agree wholeheartedly.\nWe must also remember that at the time of Trent multiple Protestant versions of the Eucharistic Liturgy were being performed throughout Northern Europe. \nSt Pius V imposed the Roman Rite on the Western Church to clarify what was Catholic and what was Protestant. He did not suppress any Rites over 200 years old and they were allowed to continue, only about three are still extant and even they did not escape modernistic reform after V2.\nUnfortunately, in England and Wales 'uses' such as Sarum, well over the 200 year old deadline fell into desuetude thanks to the Reformation. I find this sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are also told to practice and do whatever the Pharasees tell us due to them sitting in the seat of Moses, do we take this literally too?\n\nInstead shouldn't we look at the context of Christ bemoaning hypocrisy, and that no one should exalt themselves, that we only be called what we are by how we live. \n\nBtw this is a prime example of different interpretations, to me the message is not so clear while to you it is. Had we not had the unity of the Church's interpretation we could already have a reason to fund our own denominations and accuse each other for being heretical. What about the third guy who is about to castrate himself?\n\nScripture has primacy, but it cannot have meaning by itself. Christ gave us a church not a book. At the end of the day your interpretation of the passage is flatly rejected by both the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox traditions. Christ wants true teachers, true spiritual fathers and true ect, not hypocrites. (2/2)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Foreshorten3, thank you for the rushed reply. \n\nI understand German theologians would prefer Rome remove the ban on remarried-divorce Catholics receiving Communion (so would most theologians everywhere, I believe; and indeed all progressive Catholics), but I do not understand the rest of your remarks about he ban having been lifted for Lutherans (and all that follows).\n\nShould you have time later, I would very much appreciate further enlightenment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was referring to the fact that B16 spoke more than once about the desire of a \"smaller, purer church\". Then, I stated that any community that continues to decrease in size will eventually become extinct.\nI am, by no means, advocating for the extinction of the Catholic Church -- or of any church, for that matter. \nThe article that I found after a brief search that relates to what you write re 2060 is https://www.osv.com/OSVNewsweekly/Article/TabId/535/ArtMID/13567/ArticleID/22132/Universal-change-World-religions-in-2060.aspx. The statistics show that, even with the growth in numbers, the percentage of Christians is projected to remain virtually the same. The increase is projected, based on anticipated births in Africa. One thing that the article does not address i that the birth rate is bound to decline as birth control becomes more accessible to women, something that happens in countries as educational levels rise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church should do that, but it won't because it's afraid of the African American community.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Masked gunmen kill at least 28 in attack on Christians in Egypt \"\n\nDoug Saunders blames the Irish.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chicago needs him.\n\nCupich needs to substantially improve the spiritual tone in Chicago, not go join the cushy life in Rome.\n\nHe needs to smell like the sheep, stay out of \"airports\" as fRANCIS said.\n\nHe need to improve marriages, improve church attendance, make seminarians who aren't fragile, get rid of priest abuse, lower not just \"gun violence\" but all forms of violence, increase 'encounter\", enliven liturgies, support LGBT, lower global warming, repair Protestant-Catholic relationships, solve the immigration problems in just Chicago, increase charity, consolidate remaining parishes, improve Catholic schools, support the arts, respect diversity, preserve native Amarican heritage, rebuild parishes using environmental friendly lighting systems, provide more opportunity for women, reduce inner city poverty, and lower domestic abuse.\n\nBlaise can do it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The male-only Roman Catholic priesthood has never been about theology, solely about culture. Jesus lived in an orthodox Jewish culture. Only men had any power or authority. It was natural for Him to invite only other Jewish men to join his priesthood. It was about culture, not theology. If it were about theology, He would have said so. Period! They should clearly be eligible for ordination.\n\nThe male celibate priesthood has no theological or cultural argument. There are currently 80 married Catholic priests in the U.S., former Protestant or Anglican, married priests who converted to Roman Catholicism and became Catholic priests. Are these 80 worthy priests? I think they are. We have fewer than 40,000 active Catholic priests in the U.S. today. We lost 25,000 Catholic priests in the last 40 years because they honestly could not live the celibate life, and left. \n\nThere is no theological argument I have seen that speaks against women or married priests.\n\nWilliam T. Brown\nM.A., Theology", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pews are a blessing for people of all ages. With children, in a pew, they can sit, have books to look at, color, look at what is happening in front of them, etc. In a church without pews, a child is stuck in the middle of people, looking at their backs, or knees, or shoes. \n\\I think that part of getting people involved in Liturgy -- or Mass -- is to educate them about what goes on, encourage them to participate in prayers and to think about the meaning of those prayers.. I know that in those Ukrainian Catholic congregations where the entire assembly is encouraged to participate in chanting the Liturgy, the response is better. My daughter mentioned to me the other day that it must be very boring to just stand there and wait for it all to be over.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reason most (young) people (not all) left the Church Community is the pervasive new attitude among (young) Catholics: To form God (Church Community) into my image and likeness, instead of allowing God (Church Community) to form me into God's image and likeness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are four major Christian Healthcare not for profit organizations that are exempt from Obamacare. Their benefits vary significantly, but in general terms they do not pay for on going prescription drugs, mental health, addiction services, pre existing conditions for the first 2 to 5 years and typical items not covered. In general they pay for hospitalization, surgeries, major medical, doctor visits, etc. Co pays in general range from $250 to $2,500. If a person is in good health they maybe an alternative. You can google it and read about them. Also, the degree of religious faith required varies from a weekly practicing Christian to a general belief statement that you believe all people have a right to worship the God of their choice in the manner of their choice. Make sure you do your due diligence by obtaining at least three years of tax returns(Form 990) and audited financial statements. This is not insurance but cost sharing among thousands of individuals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would hope, had the other candidate won, we would be hearing \"don't forget the unborn\" from the Vicar of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sure that your Ravens / Colts thing might interest those of a more political bent, but I stull fail to see how either is specifically interesting to Catholics, largely (I'm not sure who the \"ultra-Catholic\" is to whom you refer).\n\nI'm completely lost with your reference to \"the name of the one... the other by poetry...\" I don't know what you mean. \n\nRegarding sports teams as \"mercenaries\" who are \"good at pointless competition\" - I fully agree. Does it have a place in my \"Catholic ghetto\"? I suppose it doesn't. But I think it a fair question which leads me to consider this: What is the point or mission of a Catholic media. Thanks for being thought-provoking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with much of what you say, which is in stark contrast to what the original commenter was saying, implying that Trump is anti-Christian because he does not speak of giving to the poor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, Michael, do you really think those saints, martyrs, popes, etc. all saw things the same way? Of course not! The teachings of one generation built on another, sometimes requiring course corrections, sometimes not. It is pure revisionist fantasy to believe that there have been no significant doctrinal changes in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.\n\nAnd if a future pope decreed Vatican II null and void, assuming I was still around I'd weigh the teaching and decide whether or not I could conscientiously accept it. Which, by the way, is exactly what you are doing vis-\u00e0-vis Vatican II.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God chose the Israelites to lay in the underpinnings for Christianity for a set of reasons, among which:\n- They were monotheists. \n- They had a strong notion of God as Father (not an amorphous impersonal God of One)\n- They had the notion of priests and a cultural inclination toward order/law. \n\nJesus perfected priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evidence of history? LOL. Here's the infamous Grandmaster Mason letter to Annibale Bugnini:\n\nWe communicate the task appointed to you by the Council of Brothers, in accordance with the Grand Master and the Assistant Princes to the Throne. We oblige you ... to spread de-christianization by confusing the rites and languages, and to set priests, Bishops, and Cardinals against each other. The Babel language and ritual will be our victory, JUST AS THE SINGLE LANGUAGE AND RITUAL WAS THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH. . . Everything should take place in the period of ten years.\" (June 14, 1964)\n\nhttp://traditioninaction.org/ProgressivistDoc/A_075_BugniniMason.htm#.WbllsoaYSvE.facebook\n\nBugnini's own words: \" . . . We must strip from our Catholic prayers and from the Catholic liturgy everything which can be the shadow of a stumbling block for our separated brethren that is for the Protestants.\" (Annibale Bugnini, L'Osservatore Romano, March 19, 1965.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good gravy!\n\nThis is exactly what I mean by straw men.\n\nThere is no doubt that Christ is present where two or three are gathered. This is due to the Priesthood of the Baptized. This presence, however is distinct from other ways that Christ is present in the Church. \n\nThe Sacraments are specific points of encounter with the ministry of Christ. They put us into touch with one or more aspects of his ministry--in a concrete manner. The Ministerial Priesthood is how God mediates the graces of the Sacraments to the people of God. While Christ is present where two or three are gathered, the presence in the Sacraments is a specific type of presence that mediates specific types of graces. \n\nWhile we do not absolutely need the Sacraments to experience the presence of Christ, God desires to grant specific graces though the Sacraments. We miss out on a more fuller and perfect encounter with Christ if we dismiss the Sacraments as superfluous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Several here have noted that Mr. Laird knew what was going on and tried to do the right thing. It is at least possible that he asked for laicization because he felt unable to continue to serve in a capacity that required him to vow obedience to men - to a bishop, to the pope. There have been other cases where clerical staff in chanceries knew what was happening, but said nothing because they had vowed to obey a bishop. \n\nThese vows should be eliminated. The fact that many \"good\" priests knew the secrets yet remained silent publicly shows that replacing God with an institution, a pope, or bishop is wrong. It is a form of putting a \"false god\" before God, and it places the one struggling with vows of obedience to men over obedience to the truth, to God, in a challenging position. Few have the moral integrity of Fr. Roy Bourgeois, who, when told to recant his views that it is a sin to deny a sacrament to women becauses of their DNA, refused. He chose to obey God, not men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Holy mother of God, NCR: folks like this Life of the Lay, Rogue Catholic, & Pandora 17 have usurped these NCR Comment Forums. Among them, they provoke mindless battle after battle with everyone else. \n\nCatholicism in this context appears like a fruit & nut farm. Help us!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ didn't invent some gradation of sins, designating some mortal and other venial. That was a fabrication by men trying to solidify faith so it could be institutionalized. Welcome to the history of the institutional church and the basis of the traditions that are the idols of traditionalists. Best not to think about it, and just pretend nothing has ever changed, and the whole thing sprang into being being on Pentecost, rosary beads, miters and all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "its not a question of who came first. its a realization on how we find ourselves in the greater scheme of things. the body of Christ is diverse and multifaceted: Dominic De Guzman wanted a life of preaching, Ignatius of Loyola was to itinerant missions. Joan Chittister, OSB found her identity in monastic life and writing exemplary books. On the other hand, Josemaria Escriva saw another path and this was the prelature.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "allow me to play devils advocate The golden rule? Tell me, what is the difference between forcing a Christian baker to cater a homosexual event, and forcing a African American to cater a KKK event?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also, continuing the post I just did, I think people who are Christians or Christians should have the right to hire and fire people that aren't living a Christian life. I agree with the conservatives that want to protect religious rights. The Bible says that the practice of same sex activity is wrong. It doesn't say being black is a sin or being disabled is a sin. I agree of protections for most groups because it's not considered a sin. Christians need protection just as much as LGBT. I think I'm a bit lost in my thoughts. I hope someone can understand what I'm trying to say. Just for general interest there is a website for those people who are liberal Christians: http://www.thechristianleft.org/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic Community Services of Lane County", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The culture, yes, is the problem, this runs vey deep, deeper than most are not aware. The abuse has been disguised as 'bearing one's cross', or a challenging and building character, or 'testing' one's ability to overcome hardship. All these and more are abusive behavior toward those you are to love -- as Christ would! Evidently, the Vatican management has forgotten this. We all need to help them remember!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clinton is winning the popular vote by more than one million votes cast by the people-- and growing! So please refrain from your \"a good portion of the public\" spin. \n\nI happen to think my assessment of DT is spot on, and I don't see your assessment of anything to be particularly \"Christian or productive.\" You're just another \"cafeteria Catholic\" who picks and chooses what you want to push your narrow orthodox agenda on everyone else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank Juergen for your response\n I do feel that you have not responded directly to my overall proposal but nevertheless I would encourage you on your orderly spiritual journey perhaps one day you will see that it is not possible for all of us to proceed in the same way.\nSincerely \nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Joan Piwowar\nI haven't seen you on the site for some time, I hope life is treating well.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ\n29/08/17.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No document which claims its authority from \"We the people\", as opposed to God, can endure. The founders, many of them robustly anti Catholic, shoved the oft condemned error of \"freedom of religion\"--and its evil twin \"separation of Church and state\"--down our collective throats. Man, without the guidance and grace of the Church and Her sacraments will ultimately, if slowly, turn away from God and allow the common good to be determined not by Divinely revealed truth, but some Lockean notion of the \"will of the majority\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Better to wave on by self-proclaimed Pope RD.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for the link. Now I understand fully why a serious Catholic institution would decide not to continue her as an adjunct -- a decision apparently made several months ago, unconnected to LSN.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Benedict promoted Brown to an Archbishop and moved him out to Ireland as nuncio. just before he resigned; in 2012. Brown had been at Benedict's right hand for approx 10 years. He packed Benedict's template for selecting new episcopal appointments; who did not \"smell of sheep\". Maybe now we will get a \"Francis-man\" as nuncio. There has been no official appointment. The new man will have a key responsibility in 2018; when Pope Francis visits Ireland for the World Family Conference. Because of that, I would expect somebody with very broad shoulders. \n\nIreland was a safe first outing for JP2 in 1979. 2M people attended his mass in Phoenix Park Dublin. We had no papal visit since. We did have 10 years of Judicial Reviews related to clerical paedophelia and episcopal cover-up of same. In the meantime the credibility of the bishops and the Vatican hit zero. I always add that Archbishop Diarmuid Martin Of Dublin, is the one exception. Francis will find a very different Irish church to JP2.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The paragraph you quoted and the one Elagabalus quoted are irreconcilable. The church should withdraw and apologize for the implicit -- nearly explicit -- justification of violence in the paragraph Elagabalus quoted.\n\nBut here's the good news: Very few people are aware of the existence of this or similar documents, and fewer yet take them seriously. The church's teaching about homosexuality is untenable and most of the Catholic world is moving on, just as it did with the teaching about contraception. Sooner or later, the pastors of the church will catch up; or not. It doesn't make a lot of difference.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus is the only way to God.\n\nThe goal is unity with God, not peace!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's not what the story is about. She is quite a long way from \"on her own\". She has been allowed to finish the year with her peers. Her parents are extremely supportive, not of the behavior that started this, but of their daughter's needs, and have moved her younger brother from the school and dad resigned his leadership position. She has been accepted by an extremely conservative Christian school. Where are you getting that she has been abandoned?\n\nThe story is about her being punished by not being allowed to walk in graduation ceremonies. While removing her from leadership was an appropriate response to this violation of the school code, blocking her from graduation was not, in my opinion. The failure to address harassment by fellow students and their \"adult\" parents in an equally vehement and public manner is an egregious oversight.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I had the misfortune of hearing \"Relevant\" Radio yesterday. The supposedly Catholic reporters were talking as if the nonexistent Trump healthcare plan has already solved all the mayhem created by the Affordable Care Act.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder CAEL if rather than utilizing the NCR article to explain church youth attendance or identifying non attendance as a loss of faith...if the good bishop might want to use contemporary social science learning and actually (legitimately ..not a hand picked \"few\" ) pay to professionally poll his flock and see what they say about faith, mass attendance, the eucharist, his diocese style of worship, what is missing, what is needed? He might be very surprised.\n\nI think a huge contemporary problem is that the laity really are not asked what's going on.\n\n(It's my own private guess...that flagging church attendance is due in part to the fact that the social needs for companionship, support and meaningful community, are totally missing in the average service.) i.e. People don't feel welcome, wanted, liked connected or supported in that I hour on Sunday...and they meet these needs increasingly elsewhere!)\n\n\n\n(I did get the sense that McElroy in San Diego did get some excellent response...)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually we didn't. The Texas territory was opened to white and Mexican settlers by the Mexican government. They allowed the Texans to settle if they converted to the catholic faith. They started over taxing these settlers and there was a revolt. The Mexican government sent Santa Anna up to stop it. Santa Anna was defeated and Mexico, in the surrender, ceded the lands to the Texans. They were not invaded or occupied. Learn history and you won't get schooled on these threads.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Consider the statements, and admissions of top Intelligent Design Creationism \"theorists.\"\n\nWilliam Dembski\nIn a 1999 article for the Christian magazine \"Touchstone\" titled \u201cSigns of Intelligence,\u201d William Dembski (the so-called math genius of ID) confirmed the foundation of ID in John 1 when he assured readers that \"Indeed, intelligent design is just the Logos theology of John\u2019s Gospel restated in the idiom of information theory.\" \n\nPhillip Johnson\n\"Our strategy has been to change the subject a bit so that we can get the issue of intelligent design, which really means the reality of God, before the academic world and into the schools.\" American Family Radio (10 January 2003)\n\nPaul Nelson\n\"Easily the biggest challenge facing the ID community is to develop a full-fledged theory of biological design. We don't have such a theory now, and that's a real problem.\" Touchstone Magazine, August 2004. \n\nThere is no Intelligent Design Theory. It is pure creationist cant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some scholars, mostly not Catholic scholars.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are not insignificant to Christ our Lord Mori.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An optimistic reading of this poll would indicate that familiarity with people of other churches reduces suspicion and hostility. It shows people in countries near the Catholic-Orthodox borders much more willing to consider mixed marriages than people in regions where one faith strongly predominates. \n\nBut more realistically it probably just shows that religious scruple is popular only until it begins restricting the marriage market. If the only unmarried Catholic in town is a bald bankrupt drunk, Orthodox men don't seem so bad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was a community organizer? Not according to the gospels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great article about a talented Jesuit using technology BY an online independent catholic online/newspaper that gets millions of \"hits\" regularly.\n\nAs a grateful online reader of NCR and a recent convert to podcasts...(and think there's no question about the value of tech....) applaud these efforts!\n\nIf memory serves....Francis is entertaining CEOs at the Vat of some of the largest tech firms in the world...Google, Facebook etc....suspect Francis got this message too and is interested in using it well!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cont......\n\nNote how many media/catholic political pundits condemned Clinton and the Democratic Party over abortion - as if that is why Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan went barely Republican. (MSW and company violate exactly what you have described)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a huge difference between the proposition(s) in the verses you quoted and what the so-called doctrine of perfectionism actually teaches. There is also a huge difference between \"doing no evil\" and \"being perfect.\" Perfect is just perfect. There is no \"almost perfect,\" the same way there is also no \"almost pregnant\" or \"a little pregnant.\"\n\nThe sanctification process is a journey of growing spiritually, and it will never end up until the parousia, which is when Glorification will happen - by the merits of Christ, not based on anything the saved will be able to present as \"their perfection.\"\n\nThis is the problem with the perfectionism claims, it makes people to pursue something they can never attain. It's a false teaching, aka heresy, that has been consistently rejected in our church since inception. At least until now - and this is what concerns me the most with the current administration that appears to support it. LGT is a fancy name that may deceive many.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The US church seems to have forgotten NC even though there are so many new Catholic retirees from the North and so many new Spanish speaking immigrant Catholics. We in the Raleigh diocese need a new bishop who is vocal especially on the immigration issue...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It wasn't really my choice as a child to attend church, we were going. Young minds are less rational/experienced based than adults. There is also a popular sermon in many church's encouraging followers to be 'like children' in the way a child explores and doesn't question the possibility of God. \n\n I used to sit in church and pencil draw a stained glass portait of Jesus that covered the front of the church. I would swear he winked or waved at me. I was a child. Our 'child' inside remains but no longer dominates us. Life happens and shapes our world view. But of part of me still reacts to the smile and those open arms. \n\nHave you ever met a person who just seems calm in most any circumstance? I have - I'd like to be that person - I'm not all that close at 62. LOL", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So...you would place Paul on the dark side? Our earliest reference to Jesus position on divorce is in Paul, and he, after enunciated Jesus's rejection of divorce in the most absolute of terms (\"Jesus says...\") introduces his exception with \"But I [Paul] say...\" \n\nSo the current magisterial position of indissolubility stands in stark contrast to Paul's application of the Amoris Laetitiae principle of mercy long before Francis.\n\nFurther, in one of gospel text on indissolubility, adultery is proffered as an exception. And then there is the Petrine privilege. So within the traditional understanding of these scriptures, we have three exceptions, one from the mouth of Jesus, and two from the mouths of apostles. \n\nThe Church was given the power to bind and loose; following the examples of Jesus, Paul, and Peter, why should she not use that power to expand on exceptions for pastoral reasons?\n\nThere are NO SCRIPTURAL GROUNDS for absolutism re divorce!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church should be designed to orient us to God, not to our little selves. \n\nOne cannot sit in the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in DC and pray while examining the great mosaic of Jesus on the ceiling and not feel at one and the same time both more humble and yet more united to something larger than the Church itself. Little and united.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'A just punishment'? These are your words, not Jesus'. \n\nHe was clear to those who tried to test him over the woman caught in adultery. He didn't tell the unmerciful mob that the punishment they sought was not just. No; instead he set the ground for exercising it: sinlessness.\n\nAre you sinless? Is the State? If you both are, then go ahead and execute till your righteous hearts' content. But if you aren't and, yet, proceed, then you are liable to harsh judgement.\n\nYou know Jesus' words. You have no excuse.\n\nYou are either for him, or against him.\n\nIt's your call.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bob...Bob...Bob. Arm chair punditry at its best. I suggest that you educate yourself by reading books by Judge John Riley. He says that when a forest fire is put out the damage lasts decades. The same is true of the horrors our national treasure, the people of the First Nations have had to endure. What about lateral violence that continues today among the First Nations, learned while being sexually and physically abused by Christian clerics under the aegis of the Canadian government. What about boys and girls being slapped in the face because they forgot they were forced to speak English and not the mother tongue that they learned as children. Did your children get slapped in the face because they could not speak English? What about girls who would normally have learned how to be mothers from their mothers and grandmothers. That link was broken. Don't just sit there and say to all the people of the First Nations, \"Get over it\". Do something useful. Educate yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK, Jesus is infallible, but He is God, and sits with God at His right hand in heaven. That's belief. Science isn't belief, it is observable truths with a numerical proof of truth. You are no scientist. I have B.Sc degrees in geology and chemistry, and minors in math and physics, and I still read. A lot of people I have met in construction are both intelligent and college-educated, like me.\n\nI have lied about nothing. If you choose to believe, literally in the creation story of Genesis, be my guest. I don't believe it except as a beautiful metaphor.\n\nYou have called me by my Christian name. You have the advantage of me, and you have insulted me, behind your anonymous cover. I respect your beliefs though I disagree with them. That doesn't mean I doubt your good character.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have nothing but disdain for more rational Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We never welcomed immigrants because we were good or had high ideals.\n\nAt first America needed people to settle the continent so we had open immigration. \nWe then passed laws to limit or exclude Chinese and Japanese. Later quotas were added to reduce/prevent the immigration of Irish, Italians and Polish. You know, Catholics. Additional modifications were added which resulted in reduced immigration from Mexico and Latin America. See http://connection.ebscohost.com/us/immigration-restrictions/history-immigration-laws-us\n\nThere was never an idea of open immigration in America. Immigration was always used or directed for a specific purpose. To fill up the space. To get laborers. To get skilled workers.\n\nOur moral compass has not been disoriented. I believe that our attitude is changing from moral wobbliness to a will to enforce the laws on the books. And those current laws do not discriminate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. UNLIKE YOU, I prefer reality. \n\nOn another forum, Marty Eble (remember him?) is trying to tell me that the US Senate healthcare bill is not a massive tax cut for the wealthy, paid for by gutting healthcare for the poor. That is an excellent example of a conservative preferring fantasy over reality.\n\nYou, Trid, maintain the fantasy that the magisterium has never changed a teaching. Even a cursory look at the history of the Catholic Church makes it blindingly obvious that it has. It used to be taught that slavery was morally acceptable, now the teaching is that it is intrinsically evil. These two teachings are incompatible. Your statement that the Church never taught that slavery was morally acceptable can only be called a lie. Any ideology which must be supported by lies should be abandoned. Lying in the name of religion is a disservice to God, who is truth itself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know all the details, but I suppose that the parents of Tamar split because of DD's Catholicism...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Will there be only white people there?\"\n\nSadly, the same question could be asked about virtually any Catholic Church outside of the inner city, and for that matter, high end entertainment destinations like Disneyland. \n\nOn two recent trips to Disneyland with grandkids, the crowds of kids numbered in the thousands but I could count the number of African-American kids on one hand. Reflecting upon the socio-economic reasons underlying this huge disparity relative to the population made me sad, and concerned about the future of all of our beautiful children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with you. People seem to struggle differentiating between extremist Muslims and the rest of the 1.2 Bn Muslims in the world, and paint all with the same brush. Just like certain sects of Judaism and Christianity treat women differently, so do the most extreme interpretations of Islam. That, however, doesn't mean that Islam as a religion values women less. I wish more people would understand this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Masked gunmen kill at least 28 in attack on Christians in Egypt\"\n\nComments closed: Bill M103", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reminds me a little bit of how Catholicism survived active persecution in Japan for several hundreds of years. \n\nWhen French missionary priests returned in the mid 1800s, out of the woodwork came 50,000 Japanese Catholics....who recognized the priests by their obedience to the pope, their love for the Blessed Virgin, and the celebacy practiced by the priests.\n\nNagasaki I think was the center of this lasting faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Churches before Constantine: http://www.theworldorbust.com/the-oldest-churches-in-the-world-lchaim/\n\nThat took me all of 30 seconds with an Internet search.\n\nI did not \"pontificate\" about Jesus praying in Hebrew. I said \"may\" and \"might.\"\n\nPrescinding from what his divine knowledge meant in terms of languages, it is entirely reasonable to suppose he *might* have prayed in, or been conversant in, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin. The Jewish Scriptures in his time existed both in Hebrew and in Greek; both were widely used in the Holy Land and the surrounding areas. Hebrew was not used in everyday conversation, but Greek was. Latin was not so common in the East, but it wasn't unknown. Someone engaged in business or a trade might well learn to deal in more than one language, based on who s/he does business with.\n\nI was responding to the assertion that Jesus definitively did *not* use anything but Aramaic at the Last Supper. I don't believe anyone in AD 2017 can know such a thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Popes can make contributions to peace (John Paul II made some too), but seeing Francis as some kind of messianic bringer of peace is papolotry. Would you agree Christ is the source of peace or do you think it's Francis? I would argue the servant is not greater than his Master.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"While the official religious authorities were often quick to decide who was in and who was out, Jesus excluded no one but rather mourned the plight of those who excluded themselves by rejecting the gifts he offered.\"\n\nExcellent point. Jesus came to save all of us. Only we can reject his Grace. No one can decide that someone is excluded.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "C 'mon, man. Old arab proverb. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Francis is our guy, for now. He's talking climate change, for Christ's sake. For real. If Francis means it, we are all, and must be, Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My first thought when reading this post is that admittedly the bishops and church had to be forced into admitting there was a problem and then be forced by secular law to do the right thing. That alone took decades. I totally agree with Pandora666 that the bishops and the larger church hierarchy should not be in charge of the fund. Every bishop needs to pay into a fund because every bishop was part of the problem by overtly lying about what was happening and transferring the offending priest or tacitly because they did not speak out about the travesty of justice perpetrated by our church! Having said that, however, I must give kudos to the Swedish church for their actions. IMHO I believe Jesus would have done the same. If only the wider church would look at itself for their own actions or inaction and be shamed into doing the same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, Mr. Timothy Busch, investor, influencer & overall 'man behind the Catholic curtain,\" organizes a conference at Catholic University. At $2,500 a pop, what did you think the crowd would look like? Black Lives Matter or Wall Street? So, so sad that Mr. Busch declared CU to be a \"perennial partner,\" along with Mr. Koch! Any ideas about protecting laborers in Mr. Koch's businesses, or organizing a labor union at one of his facilities, or the environmental damage he and his brother do to this planet on a weekly basis? Or, to bring it home to Kansas, what their political philosophy has done to the entire state? Oh yes, give him an award and a bottle of wine for his $50M! Unfortunately, his entire political persona is totally removed from the RCC! So, so sad this is what right-wing Catholics will cheer, and cheer, and cheer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I was a little girl, Holy Week helped make sense of things, as we all allowed ourselves to be moved along with the liturgical cycle toward Easter Sunday and to find some new hope that everything would somehow be better: \"Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum\" had a meaning beyond the historical. \n\nToday I'm not so sure. I don't feel moved by the liturgical cycle the way I did as a child, and I'm not at all sure the Church knows where it left its beacon of hope. It all seems so much nostalgia now. My son's generation stares into their computers for hours on end, oblivious to the kinds of themes Michael mentions here. Our news is filled with stories that ignore -- or worse, dismiss -- core beliefs and values.\n\nIs there still a Christian faith if the people don't \"feel\" it in their hearts?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well of course, you can believe whatever you like about what the Church teaches and choose how much weight you attach to its various doctrines and dogmas. When orthodox Catholics post what the the Church teaches they back it up with documentation from the magisterial teaching of Tradition, Scripture, popes and councils. As you rarely or if ever give any sources for your opinions you can't expect people to accept them without knowing where they originate from.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "deja vu again, and again, and again. But the messengers/reporters/corporate news media, keep the news slanted in favor of the Christian conservatives, compassionate conservatives, religious right and the rest of the fervered evangelicals, who are busy doing the most unjesuslike things to their fellow man, in the name of the moneychangers and moneylenders on whose behalf we have defunded domestic programs to fund invasions and occupations. \nThese lands and resources were stolen from the Natives and replaced by the bible, and in turn is being stolen again by the thieves and corporations. Fitting", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Frequently those with the most 'oxen in this pasture' are the \"former Catholics\" who are still working out their issues. You have lots of company here! You will never be alone! :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When cases are found in the public school system, there is not an organized cover-up. But that is standard operating procedure in the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church teaches that Jesus was fully human and fully God. He was perfect man and perfect God, nothing was missing.\n\nGod \"uses\" all of creation, and you and me, to bring all souls to Him! He uses gravity. He uses rain. He uses family. He uses marriage. He uses our virtues. He uses our lack of virtue. \n\nI don't believe there is any way to tease apart these two notions of Church that some here describe but none seem able to give it an intellectual defense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have zero doubt that NCR truly wants \"better news.\" Instead, I'm confident it will forever continue to wallow in accusations, acrimony and angst over the DNC's crushing defeat.\n\nNCR has shown no interest in understanding why so many voted for Mr. Trump, and has conveniently pegged the American voter in the same terms used by Hillary Clinton -- irredeemable deplorables of every ism and phobe.\n\nNow NCR is blaming Evangelicals for Hillary's defeat.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Trump claims, with no evidence, that 'millions of people' voted illegally\"\n\nTrump is unhinged.\n \n2 groups are primarily responsible for Trump's election (I don't buy the poor disgruntled white folks narrative peddled by the corporate press). Trump got votes from Fundamentalist Christians (85%) despite being on his 3rd marriage and all the groping stuff, who were smart enough to realize that Trump might be \"gift from god\" and get \"their guy\" into the White House. Then, of course, there are all the NRA folks who, think Trump is one of them. How ironic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It isn't \"rigid moralism\" for the Church to be clear about what constitutes behaviours and attitudes that are unacceptable before God. And it's not an insistence on \"outward perfection\". Catholics believe that once we are justified before God in Baptism, aided by grace, we embark on a process of internal sanctification and seek to conform our lives ever more closely to Christ. We also believe God's grace can be lost through persistent sin. \n\nIt's good you are acknowledging that LGBT people are \"hurting, afraid ... often alone\" and \"broken\". All of us are sinners and everyone in search of support from a parish community and grace through the proper reception of the sacraments, are very welcome. As I understand 12 step fellowships, people who attend acknowledge their weaknesses and are seeking to amend their lives. Can this be said for all LGBT persons? Don't many want the Church to change her teachings and positively endorse their behaviours.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a decision about which students should be streamed into which system - the secular public system or the Roman Catholic public system. Putting aside the question of religious-based schools for the moment this decision could have far-reaching economic implications because the existing system has been built to accommodate both groups. Shifting all non-Catholics from the RC system could require significant new investments in the secular system. Thus, the government may decide to appeal because the cost of a legal appeal would be far less than the cost of new investments in the secular system.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you have a citation for your assertion that Chaldean Catholics affect a transformation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood without a priest? I know they were ruled to have a valid consecration without the words of institution, but this assertion of no priest needed doesn't seem right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Expressions such as 'development of doctrine', a 'deeper understanding' and the like, I suspect include changes in doctrine and very often complete reversal of it. Legitimate doctrinal development usually takes place when a doctrine is attacked thus the Council of Trent reasserted dogmas, doctrines and practices which the Protestant Reformers rejected.\nRevelation finished with the last Apostle, since then no new truths have been discovered or revealed. Scientific knowledge has increased steadily over the millennia not because the Holy Spirit is revealing it but because man is using his God-given intelligence to build on what previous generations have learned before. What is understood increases rather than evolves, I would say. Science endeavours to explain the physical world around us and contributes nothing to that which we can call a moral law: that has been revealed to us by the Holy Spirit through Scripture and the Tradition handed down from the Apostles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And yet NCR chief writer Michael Sean Winters flies to Europe on a super polluting, climate-destroying jet, for a whimsical conference in Italy.\n\nYet, NCR is appealing to Catholic readers to do whatever they can to save the planet.\n\nThis sure makes sense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For many years, the church has registered and paid for all boys, ages 12 through 18 in the BSA. As long as a young man was a member of the church (and this included those who weren't active in church) he would be registered. The church was spending lots of money paying registration fees for boys who weren't involved in scouts or church. A waste of valuable resources for sure.\n\nIf a young man is ever interested in Scouting it is usually early on, between the ages of 12-14. A commitment to earning the Eagle comes usually at that age. When a boy reaches high school, his interests change. No longer is scouting a priority, or something \"cool\", as he is now involved in many other extracurricular activity including sports, and girls.\n\nIMO the change was made to address the waning interest of boys 14-18. Looking at the link shared above, it's still the scouting program without being labeled a BSA program and without the associated fees, uniforms, etc that BSA entails.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"However, by the 17th century, the Christian principles of charity [...]\"\n\nAnd it was the ideas from the Age of Enlightenment that brought the abolitionist movement out of the margins and more into the mainstream.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I give must more than money: just a working schedule of 8/10 hours a day, seven days a week. As, for 16 years, I don't receive a cent from the work, is worthless to you, I think. What is for free has no value, as any \"gospel of Wealth\" will teach you. But is that the true Gospel? Tell me, please, to be able to evaluate your \"catholicism\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is all too easy to rail against doctrine as if it were the enemy to relationship with Other. \n\nDoctrine is the continued history of the \"sensus fidelium\" AS that \"sense of the faithful\" slowly moves into each new state of consciousness. \n\nIt is good to remember how good people from top to bottom of the Catholic clerical/lay hierarchy once believed that slavery was moral and that torture/burning at the stake was soul-saving work. All because the general human consciousness had not yet been raised up to see differently. \n\nIt is good to remember how important the \"sensus fidelium\" is in the work of moving doctrine forward in a way that keeps it rooted in the past, reminding us of that which we do not want to remember.\n\nIt is good to re-member/transvalue doctrine as human consciousness of self, other and God is raised up to new understandings of the Christ and the world in which we live.\n\nhttps://RiteBeyondRome.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's interesting, most traditional commenters compare Francis to Peter, but the liberal commenters compare Francis to Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I long thought there to be an odd Protestant fixation on the 10 Commandments verging on a temptation to legalism. But after having assisted at Ordinariate Use Masses, where they may be recited before the Kyrie, I have a new appreciation and suspect that the fixation (from a Roman Rite perspective) isn't so much Protestant as it is English. It still struck me as odd that Catholic parishes would post the 10 Commandments but on thinking of it, why not? It looks like the point is clear. Moreover it could serve the evangelization of Protestants.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If they are 'poorly catechised' how can they be said to be faithful Christ when they have never been taught how to follow Christ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Baptists are \"the most beaten people\"???\n\nWho KNEW?\n\nAllowing students of differing beliefs to inter-mingle is \"bullying and bashing\"???\n\nI call BS on that, too.\n\nHere's a clue (much-needed, apparently): GSA meetings are NOT \"a party\", certainly not anymore than ISCF (Inter-School Christian Fellowship) meetings or the Chess Club meetings are.\n\nHere's another: They aren't asking for \"FREE TUITION for life!\". Try to stick to the topic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cont....\n\nFourth, after Jesus asks the disciples what Moses taught, they have the presence of mind to ask why Moses taught it: It is because of the \"hardness\" of the Israelites' hearts, Jesus says. We too should ask why Jesus answers as he does. Besides divorce, is hardness of heart an implicit target of Jesus' instruction here?\nBut life is complex, and it also takes heroic humility to admit that not everything is black and white. It takes heroic compassion to share the pain of people whose marriages, despite their best efforts, have fallen out of sync with our own great ideals. It takes heroic sensitivity to get over the narrow vision of masculinity and femininity our culture enforces, and to excavate whatever it is in our psyche that makes us uncomfortable with alternative sexualities.\n\nThis, at least, is what comes to mind as I reflect on Jesus' words about hardness of heart", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Naming a book of the Bible is not necessary, knowing what was in the Bible was more important and 1950's Catholics most certainly knew what the Bible taught as it was presented to them continually in school an Sunday School.\nThere is no hope these days of the Catholic Faith being passed on to younger generations when their parents do not accept the Catholic Faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus is the King and in ancient Israel the mother of the king is Queen Mother.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't understand this preoccupation with celibacy. In my church -- the Ukrainian Catholic Church -- married priests are a fact of life and harm no one and nothing. \nI believe that the insistence on celibacy as a requirement for ordination only furthers clericalism, which I believe is harmful to the body of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The students had a team of religious teachers [single layman, a Sister, a priest, and a married couple] all of whom have advanced degrees in theology as well as in secondary education]. One of my graduate students told me about this course that his youngest sibling is taking as senior in a private Catholic high school. \n\nBut I have also read and studied Amoris Laetitia [a number of MY students have also read it]. We are not discussing this encyclical this semester or the next. But when we get into reading and doing research on the \"Encyclicals of the 21st Century\" we certainly will.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I couldn't find a shot of Pope Francis giving Communion to anyone in that broadcast. Maybe I didn't look close enough. So can't comment on that.\nI did notice though, that many priests used intinction (dipping the Host into the wine) for their own Communion. I know that some progressives as well as traditionalists have an issue with that practice. It's not how the Last Supper was conducted according to the Gospels.\nSome people in the Congregation kneeled but most stood for Communion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Much of California is now being occupied by neighbors from Mexico, but most of the natives do not trouble themselves to learn much more than a smattering of Spanish (which is their loss.). Aramaic was the language that Jesus spoke in daily conversation and used to preach to the people. Hebrew was the language of Scripture. Scholars believe that Jesus and Pilate spoke in Greek while before the high priests, elders and the crowd, NOT Latin which was Pilates's first language....Greek, a language of commerce and much better understood than Latin by people from Jesus's district.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like I said altogether. \n\n\nSimpler, stronger, and not full of all your animosity toward others. \n\n\nAnd I'd think you'd like us finding common ground in a simple, strong statement, biblical besides: Jesus is the Word of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I completely agree with you. It is actually more frustrating, for these youth, to deal with a church leadership that tries to make them hope again that maybe they will listen to the real problems in our church, only to open up a survey and face a set of questions that clearly proves they won't.\n\nThe laity must stand up for justice and demand full equality, and women ordained the exact same away, thru the same exact sacrament as men, based on exact same criteria, solely on character, ability and skill, and not at all upon a person's flesh, just as Jesus Christ taught how we should treat all people as we wish, or we sin. \n\nWe must stop judging groups of people such as LGBT, feminists, etc. Jesus never valued the original apostles as special priests or ordained them differently than the rest of the Royal Priesthood, us, at least not according to any Gospel or the original 12's letters. Jesus called them to represent the Jews as judges, only, which makes clericalism pure foolishness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ironically, Rome was an Aryan backwater in this time, who did not believe Jesus was truly God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:\n\n<<<2267 Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.\n\nIf, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.\n\nToday, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm - without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself - the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity \"are very rare, if not practically nonexistent.\"68>>>", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We do not know whether Paul had a horse, a donkey, a camel, or was on foot. An assumption given his support by the High Priest that he did not walk is reasonable but that is all.\n\nIn Galatians 1:16 Paul writes that God \"was pleased to reveal his son to me.\" In 1 Corinthians 15:8, as he lists in order the disciples Jesus appeared to after his resurrection,\"last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.\"\n\nThe Last Supper narrative describes a sacrifice, and the apostles to be priests. The Greek word used for the command \u201cdo\u201d - \u201cpoiein\u201d conjugated \u201cpoiete\u201d can be rendered literally as \u201coffer this\u201d. Exodus 29:38 reads: \u201cNow this is what you shall offer upon the altar: two lambs a year old day by day continually.\u201d The Greek word for \u201coffer\u201d in the Septuagint is \u201cpoiein\u201d conjugated \u201cpoieseis\u201d. The same usage is in Leviticus 9:7 and Psalm 66:15.\n\nAnd when the Church arose from the catacombs, it was with a sacrificial priesthood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I haven't cited anything. I have simply pointed out that you seem to be very dogmatic in your assertions on what matters and what the Holy Spirit wants and surround your assertions with buzzwords and appeals to your resume.\n\nI don't find your case very convincing in the slightest. I've seen these sorts of assertions before. You aren't anti-Church but rather think you are the Church. At least that is how it comes across. So I reject your authority every bit as I do \"Pope Michael\" who also thinks he knows better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope. No candidate in this election has said anything racist or xenophobic. Nope. No evidence of it. \n\nKeep saying it happened. Still not true. No evidence.\n\nThis nation has always had laws that protect the border and the rights of citizens. Those laws are not racist and xenophobic. Nope, they really are not. If you think they are, then you're under the spell of an illusion.\n\nNope, Islam is not a race. Nope, Mexico is not a race.\n\nYep, religious extremists and drug gang members have terrorized U.S. citizens, and yep, it is the job of the government under current law to protect these citizens. Calling for such protection is not racist and xenophobic, however much you say it is.\n\nSo....look at the mote in your own eye, for sure, but get your facts straight before you write an essay that accuses 50% of the nation to be racists and xenophobic. Then as a follower of Jesus (who, btw, had a lot to say about \"other people\" of his day) what you say will have some weight.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How very true, monica. The missing ingredient to force these \"ordination\" issues into an open discussion throughout the Church - even despite the opposition of the hierarchy - is a loud and sustained clamor from the laity. If the largest group within the church is not heard with a booming voice that resonates in every chancery and Vatican office, consistently, then those prelates, who are so very, very skilled at (a) not listening and (b) dismissing the laity as \"children,\" will have no reason to do anything different.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has called on President Donald Trump to ease the \"onerous\" contraceptive mandate of the Department of Health and Human Services under the Affordable Care Act because it violates religious freedom.\"\n- The mistake that this USCCB president, and past presidents make is thinking that speaking to the US President is part of the job as leader of USCCB or as a bishop.\n- For ArchbDaniel's of Galveston-Houston remarks as a member of USCCB to have merit the remarks must be directed to catholics, and then to men and women of good will.\n- It is for the catholics to determine if there is merit in what the USCCB or individual bishops which for secular society and civil government in the US. If there is merit at all, it is for the catholics of the US to relay that information to their elected representatives. Naturally, bishops who are citizens may reach out to the representatives wherein they reside.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As an addendum to my own prior comment, let me say I am neutral on the motivations of the NY Roman Catholic Archdiocese. That is for you RC to debate among yourselves and the comments here are lively. My comment simply reflected litigation and claim realities in civil litigation particularly claimants up against a Stat.Of L.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"So Pope Francis is totally on President Donald Trump's side on immigration.\"\n\nPope Francis never said that. Next.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There actually have been instances of what you call E1 among evangelicals I noted above, a recent gathering with evangelicals such as Rick Warren and others at the Vatican, Cardinal Bergoglio kneeling to recieve a \"blessing\" from an evangelical preacher back in Argentina, and the recent Pentecostal/Charismatic confab at the Vatican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some of this suggests reasons to fear the loss of our Canadian values and identity, in the wake of immigration from non-European countries, but in reality the kids of immigrants, and certainly their grandkids, won't be determined by their family's past immigrant status or country of origin (unless we force them to be) so much as by their access to the Canadian dream - of a just society and a decent life for all. What makes Canada Canada is not our clinging to the vestiges of our white Christian European past, but to the Enlightenment values those society's produced, and put into practice oh so imperfectly, the striving and struggle for which continues to be at the heart of the Canadian enterprise: respect for human rights, the rule of law, democracy, and the absolute necessity of a secular state. To name just a few.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) Will this be the headline if Merkel loses?\n2) Is it not ironic that this is a headline in a publication whose title includes the word, \"Catholic?\" No matter how much some of us dissent from the Church's stands, we are all commenting on a site where most of us are/were some type of member in a Church that denies its leadership even the companionship of women in marriage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Would Trudeau care?\n\nImmigration\n\n\u201cA lot of people perceive that immigration has produced a huge cultural threat to the English traditions, way of life, Judeo-Christian religious traditions, and all those things.\"\n\n\"It\u2019s not politically correct to talk about it, but they are really concerned.\"\n\n\"Immigration was huge in this referendum\u201d said Harold Clarke, author of Affluence, Austerity & Electoral Change in Britain ...\"\n\n\u201cNegative attitudes towards immigration were a huge driver of Leave voting. That\u2019s something that\u2019s been building for years.\u201d\n\nExcerpts from: \"Brexit\u2019s driving force: Middle England\u2019s desire to return to an almost mythical past\" - Joseph Brean - National Post - June 24, 2016", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the literal words of Matthew 23:9 are very clear. Except that Jesus himself did not seem to follow the literal words. Even using the term 'father' for God presumes we do have, and use the term, for our human biological father-son relationship; and Jesus has people call their human fathers 'father', as in the 'prodigal son' story.\n\nPeople called Jesus the 'son of Joseph' and I would presume that as a child he called Joseph 'father'.\n\nIndividual texts make a nice objection to having someone use the title 'father' for priests, but it is not as absolute as it sounds. Even St. Paul claimed to be 'father' to his 'spiritual children'.\n\nIf we have no biological 'father-child' title and relationship, using the title for 'our Father, Abba, God' would make no sense to us. We need a human father before we can appreciate a Divine Father.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Monica, as a physician, I share your deep concern about this sickness. There is no psychological or psychiatric treatment that insures \"cure\" of these souls but this disease is prevalent in an authoritarian institution for a reason. Authoritarianism itself is a cause. The idea that priests are somehow ontologically changed to be a more advanced human being is far from the truth when it comes to growth and development and any sort of maturity as a person. People keep saying that the Church is not and can not be a democracy because the priests and bishops somehow know better and more about morality. There reasoning is purely faulty. The morality of our church in so many instances is purely not ethical because men of authority see themselves as ontologically changed to be a new god. Our leadership structure has failed us and must be changed in a radical way. Let us get back to practicing \"The Way of Christ\" and recognizing that the priesthood of Baptism is the important one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Opus Dei (just one group among several) has too many features of a cult for my comfort. It also preys on Catholics from poorer countries (thus its strong hold in South America, for one), and among the wealthy clergy, mostly older bishops and cardinals. No doubt there are good and holy men and women among its members and it my well do much good in some ways, but its closed system and secretive nature is cause for great concern and even greater scrutiny.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In defending a statement by John (Cardinal) Newman about the supremacy of conscience over authority, John Paul II wrote \u201cIf a man is admonished by his conscience \u2013 even an erroneous conscience, but one whose voice appears to him as unquestioningly true \u2013 he must always listen to it. What is not permissible is that he culpably indulge in error without trying to reach the truth. If [Cardinal] Newman places conscience above authority he is not proclaiming anything new with respect to the constant teaching of the Church. The conscience, as the [Second Vatican] Council teaches, 'is man's sanctuary and most secret core, where he finds himself alone with God, whose voice resounds within him.' \" \n\nIn his book, John Paul II explains that the supremacy of conscience has been the Church\u2019s teaching from the beginning and \u201cechoes the teaching of the Fathers and the theological tradition from Saint Thomas Aquinas to John Henry Newman.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr. Weinandy implies that \u201csynodality\u201d allows and promotes various doctrinal and moral options which can only lead to more theological and pastoral confusion. To the contrary, I find a remarkable coherence in the Pope\u2019s central emphasis on the Lord\u2019s \u201clove and mercy\u201d that is the singular most important key to his magisterium, Contrary to causing confusion and division, this is promoting a wide respect and love for Pope Francis in his commitment to accompany people at their starting point rather than discourage or marginalize the faithful. I believe Pope Francis has expressed enormous patience and restraint in not publicly admonishing the four cardinals who openly expressed their dissent in the \u201cdubbia\u201d that they chose to publish publicly. Synodality is the most ancient form of exercising authority in the Church in the first milennium. I see no evidence that pope has demeaned the importance of Church doctrine. Lastly, who are the poor choices for bishop: Cupich, Tobin, Delpini of Milan?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a charismatic Catholic and I love Holy Father Francis, and I don't believe he's ushering in a revolution, nor do I believe he thinks he is. He said he is a \"loyal son of the Church\" and he \"accepts everything in the Catechism.\" To me that is not a revolution. I think he's great at p.r.! Now if he changes the Church's teachings on abortion, homosexual behavior, or the indissolubility of Christian marriage, then maybe I'd agree with you, but he hasn't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Trump is so outside the boundaries of what Catholics find acceptable\" ? According to the Pew Research Center, Trump won the Catholic vote by 52-45%, four percentage points higher than Romney and seven percentage points higher than McCain.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A \"just don't tell anybody.....\" approach would certainly avoid a lot of \"pushback\" in this world. For example, a person who openly despises Catholics could suggest that the \"problem\" is created when \"they\" reveal themselves as members of this hideous faith. It would be far better for everyone if they just to concealed their beliefs rather than incite his displeasure. The fault clearly is with the person willing to tell the truth about who he is..................", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that the Pope conducted himself beautifully!\n\nBut Pence at Notre Dame spoke immediately after the student major address on catholic social teachings that spoke heavily to Pope Francis, his values and learnings as taught to students at Nortre Dame !\n\nIt was point and counterpoint and not lost on the students who gave it a standing ovation....THIS was their student leader and he very clearly got Francis's message...and apparently so did they!\n\nSuggests listening to this sequence before making a judgement!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yet it is the laity that shoulders the burdens and fall-out of all of these outdated and inefficient offices and from the foolish lack of being included in important discussions. I have never found any logic in the methods of the Church hierarchy other than being completely self-serving and even petty - much like most of or commentary Tri! Just how many lay Catholics do you think care a whit about \"canonical penalties,\" especially since just about no one with canonical status was punished for the sex abuse crisis? Why, a few of them have even found enviable positions as bishops and even in vacancies in Rome! So save the Church elite gobbledygook for yourself and your friends, and stay clear of the reforms needed to save the Church from further decline (although I fear that is, indeed, a lost cause at this point). And, I pray you will have a blessed and peaceful Christmas season.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only infallibility was the principle that when a life might exist we must respect it on either the beginning or the end. Getting a vasectomy kills_no one. Creeping infallibility may be at play, but Consortium Conubi is erroneous in its contention that the Church is the sole source of natural law reason. That makes it dicta, not natural law. Natural law is discernable by all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have obviously made your mind up that women can be ordained and nothing the Church or anyone says will convince you that 'women priests' are an impossibility. Peace be with you, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, what role does the bible have in enabling salvation, Bill?\n\nThe question is made relevant in light of the reality that almost none of earths billions of humans who have died as well as who are living today have ever had access to the bible. If the bible is essential, almost all of God\u2019s creation never had a chance.\n\nWhat if God is not only not dependent on pre-existing anything in creating us, but is also not dependent on his creation to conquer death on their behalf?\n\nSister White considered this situation and wrote that if the Creator is dependent on the creature for the creature\u2019s salvation, then \u2018the Creator is obligated to the creature.\u2019 This, she quickly realized, gives rise to \u2018the heresy of the Catholic\u2019 the outcome of which was, using her example, indulgences. \n\nPaul makes clear that our salvation is \u2018not of yourselves.\u2019 And also that all scripture is inspired and therefore \u2018useful\u2019. Reading can\u2019t save you, then, but may encourage you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In a previous extended discussion not a single person was able to provide an actual bona-fide example of a Catholic clergy endorsing a candidate. Your one example did not comport with the very documents in which the alleged \u201cendorsement\u201d took place.\n\nIn each case it turned out that the clergy, as the American bishops did, put abortion at the top of the moral issues, which for the offended persons apparently meant you-know-who.\n\nNow I am told that an unnamed priest told you and unnamed \u201cothers\u201d specifically to vote for a named candidate.\n\nI hope you can understand why I might to want to verify that with something more in the way of support.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again not even your statement outright states that the church officially ordained anyone a priest at the Last Supper. Yes, I who was also called by God to be an ordained priest in our church, believe Christ did institute a form of sacred ordination from the symbolism of the Last Supper which included the 12 & many other male & female followers. This symbolism as shepherd & sacrificial lamb is to be carried on thru others. However, we do not state that this was in Jesus' or the Apostles belief, at the time, an actual ordination to Catholic Priesthood & it if we did we would be in error. I believe men & women are called to lead as shepherds (Priests) in our church & to preside over our other sacraments too. I also believe we (the church) are abusing the ordination sacrament as a tool for sexism. \n\nYou also need to recognize that this rule too is not ex Cathedra & therefor can be found legally to be completely flawed as a law/tradition or found to be containing some weaknesses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are 100% right, Christ said his message does, in fact, turn people away, they are not my words but his. \n\nAnd yes - the religions of the world are many times used to manipulate the masses, but the biblically described Christian Church is built on local (independently owned - for lack of a better term) gatherings of believers, This paradigm you are describing would be a conspiracy unlike any other in the history of the world that makes Amway look like a Cub Scout pack selling cookies, it is pretty hard to swallow that line of thinking. \n\nAnd the Bible does not elevate man, it elevates God and emphasizes mans need to humble himself before God, there is not a whole lot of human opportunity in that business model for human gain. God also made a tremendous sacrifice for man, unlike any other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, why not a few heart grown saints!\n\nConsider St. Patrick who got there by public acclaim rather than a nod from hierarchy.\nAnd I have encountered my own street saints. Like St. Mario, a homeless fellow whose poverty of spirit taught me volumes using very few words. \n\nOf late we seem to have watched the demise of many a hero... Lance Armstrong is an example of the myth and the man. So many of us wanted him to be \"real\" that the betrayal fell hard on many. Discernment comes late sometimes...\n\nProbably my best read on saint selection came from Lawrence Cunningham's Trilogy. In Vol. 1 The Catholic Heritage he takes the time to track through the patterns of lineage, of the bloodlines of saints and the assumptions made by merely being born into a \"saintly\" line. \n\nPerhaps what we are being shown is that our 'saints' like beauty are often recognized by the beholder and are gift designed to fit a place in the heart to bare fruit nurtured by the grace of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "skyofblue,\n\n1) Their are two native reserves within the confines of Metro-Montreal. Their shared basic common culture is not Judeo-Christian. 2) People are always identifying this so-called \"basic common culture\" in a generic fashion, as, once one gets into specifics, it's clear that Canadians share a pretty minor \"common culture\" beyond what is highlighted in our laws, governmental institutions, and national documents. And most of these elements would receive shared support from those falling outside the so-called Judeo-Christian consensus. \n\n\"But no one ever heard of ethnically-based gangs with real violence...\" You never heard of the mafia?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of two) The Faithful can pray that Serratelli does some good, for \u201cthe Lord comes to judge the earth\u201d (Psalm 96:13b). \u201cSo the angel swung his sickle over the earth and cut the earth\u2019s vintage (of the 2011 illiterate Missal) (Revelation 14:19). \u201cWhile some people were speaking about how the temple\u201d that illiterate 2011 Missal \u201cwas adorned with costly\u201d in the sense of the education afforded the translators \u201cstones and votive offerings, Jesus said, \u201cAll\u201d the illiteracy\u201d that you see here\u2014\u201das Mass is said from the Missal \u201cthe days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone\u201d or an illiterate word on another illiterate word \u201cthat will not be thrown down\u201d in exchange for greater illiteracy in standard American English.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pew Research Center, this chart. But do note, percent being Christian is declining.\nhttp://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/pr_15-05-12_rls-00/\n\nThe report itself \"America\u2019s Changing Religious Landscape\" is actually very interesting, with more in depth reading.\nhttp://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "USCCB website: \"The letter also underscores the importance of creating a replacement plan that will safeguard human life from conception to natural death and also protect conscience rights and adequate healthcare services for the poor including healthcare for immigrants.\" That means no contraception including birth control pills because the bishops lie about them being \"abortifacients.\" \"Conscience rights\" means they want Catholic hospitals, refugee and immigration services to be able to deny healthcare poor women and victims of trafficking and violence and still be funded by US taxpayers in addition to their usual discrimination against LGBTQ persons.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RD was defending their influence by bringing in the influence of Jesus, Peter and Paul. I was contrasting the two. Jesus, Peter and Paul were influential for their martyrdom, although Paul actually left behind a body of letters that are the core of the New Testament. The Knights are a conduit of conservative cash in hopes of focusing Catholic politics on wedge issues that are essentially settled and away from Catholic Social Teaching. I wish they would stop, but the funding says not soon, but time wounds all heals.\n\nHave you seen Animal House? Niedermeyer would have become a Knight. These were they guys who signed up for Viet Nam and served honorably. Their trauma has become ours in many cases, as they see the world in black and white, which it is not. They want what they want when they want it, like any baby boomers, but can't see the subtleties of argument on legal abortion and gay marriage that would let them be at peace with these issues or do something meaningful about them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I understand your question, Paul reiterates for his believing saints at Corinth in those verses; thatit was their believing what he \"declared\" unto them that was the occasion of their salvation, i.e., they were baptized by the Spirit into the Body of Christ. Many of Paul's writings further describe this action: Eph. 1:13, 2:8,9 etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora, that section of his writings appears to be about abortion. That was not what I was talking about at all. \n\nHere's another source:\n\n\". . . it becomes evident that the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church differ in their understanding of the purpose of marriage. In orthodox theological thinking this is firstly the reciprocal love, the relationship and the help between the marriage partners with view to their completion in Christ. Only subsequently comes the restraining of their sexual passion and the reproduction of the human race. It is remarkable that in the New Testament we find no reference relating marriage to reproduction . . . To see reproduction as the principal purpose of marriage is a narrow perspective on the conjugal life of man and wife.\"\n~ MARRIAGE, DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH: Economia and Pastoral Guidance", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Phyllis Schlafly was a typical mid-century rich American - a phony Christian whose claim to fame was in validating the upper-class view that the poor deserve their fate because of their moral depravity, and only wealthy white church-goers deserve the grace of God or the consideration of their betters. Everyone has known that about Schlafly for a long time. She was like Trump, making her name by condemning the easy targets; but Schlafly actually believed her poison, while Trump may not. Trump thinks he knows what to say to bigots to get their vote. Will that be enough to get him into the White House? If all America were Mississippi, then he would be a shoe-in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Being conservative certainly doesn't make them any more Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Would you say Christ was dramatic in his fasting, or the crucifixion? What about Moses, David or many of the other fasts mentioned in the old and new testament. \n\nI'd argue that the path for a Christian is towards self-sacrifice not honour. \"I must decrease, so he may increase\". Fasting can help as a tool to achieve this way of thinking and acting as a physical expression of prayer to God inviting him to fill with needed spiritual grace, when we empty ourselves of material wants.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pardon me, but...judge much? You know nothing about people's personal spirituality. Just as one example, Tim Kaine was raised in a devoutly Catholic home, was educated by the Jesuits, served a service year at a Catholic mission in Honduras...he and his wife were married in a poor, predominantly African American parish and have attended Sunday liturgy there for more than thirty years, he is in ministries in his parish and he sings in the choir. I think that should be enough. Whenever I see a phrase like \"they are not practicing Catholics\" or \"they don't follow Church teaching\", it says way more about the person who made the statement than it does about those being \"commented\" upon.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I actually think the readers here, with few exceptions, are capable of sorting through the chaff when there's wheat to be found. I think many of the essays here insult our intelligence, no matter what our theological or political perspective. That's a shame. I'm told NCR was once the standard for Catholic journalism in this country. I'm not sure that's true anymore, although they continue to receive awards, more out of nostalgia than evaluation of content. I've made a point of not reading certain authors because, well, they don't ever say anything worth reading, but now and then a headline attracts my eye and...I'm disappointed all over again. \n\nAnd I can prove what I say because I was at a meeting and seven of eleven people said I'm right.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What did Christ say about the Eucharist? \"Take this ALL OF YOU and eat it\"--or, take this, all of you who have obtained a Decree of Nullity an/or are living like brother and sister in a situation unlikely to give rise to scandal, and eat it? And what of the Catechism? Doesn't 2386 say that the victimized spouse in a divorce can licitly go to Communion? Doesn't 2382 allow of an exception by way of the 1994 CDF interpretation of Familiaris Consortio for a couple living like brother and sister? What about all the examples of Christ's own ministry: telling the adulteress \"neither do I condemn you;\" setting forth as an example the Parable of the Prodigal Son, wherein the father welcomes back his son unconditionally, despite the protests of the \"good\" son; and what about Jesus allowing *Judas* to be present at the Institution of the Eucharist? In short, I don't think Pope Francis is necessarily straying far off the mark with this opening, be it in terms of Gospel or Catechism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've been an on-again, off-again member of the K of C since college, some 40 years ago. (Truth be told, more off than on.) I think of the organization in a couple of ways. On the local level, most of the Knights I know are decent guys, middle-to-right Catholics not terribly interested in politics who like getting together to do good things for the community and, of course, drink beer. Harmless enough and not much different from Rotarians or Elks.\n\nBut on the national and international level, the K of C is a monster. Their influence on bishops is staggering. Follow the money in any diocese and it likely won't be long until you find a K of C connection. That's not about service alone but also about power, and Carl Anderson -- who far from being a \"former\" political operative is still very much engaged in promoting GOP causes -- is not shy about wielding it. That's what we should be concerned about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wouldn't be so harsh in condemning Cardinal DiNardo's response, which was wisely non-polarizing. Father Weinandy's letter is effectively causes further tensions by realizing such a personalized criticism of the Holy Father, and therefore call for a wise response. (I find it curious that the man who was supposed to be the great theological expert writes a letter so devoid of theology and so concentrated on \"the manner.\" I believe that the anti-Amoris Laetitia crowd are slowly realizing that they do not really have a good theological argument and are proceding to simply to repeat themselves, to listen to their own echoes, and to insist on postulates which are slowly being discredited, while complaining about things not going their way.) I personally like the argument that when dealing with the Holy Father one should show the decency that one owes to every single brother in Christ. This makes it clear that we are not engaging in sycophancy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Personally, I am more comfortable with the usual Catholic anonymity. I'd be interested to know if that poll of younger people was exclusively those with a Catholic upbringing. I'd never forget, at a younger age, one of parishioners of a RCC of a community I just moved into, wanting to arrange dates for me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am correcting your error that marriage wasn't traditionally considered a religious event. and I am deepening your understanding how the Catholic Church thinks about what marriage is (a permanent covenant, an exchange of person), using in part the Bible and also your ability to reason. I am drawing a parallel between the union between God and His people, and that a husband and wife, hoping against hope that you make the connection to St Paul's point on marriage (think Ephesians).\n\nSo I was trying to do a lot of work, filling in a lot of pot holes in your prior comments. And I am doing all this for free.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A great place to start this conversation is with Catholic moral teaching.\n\nWhat does the Church teach and why does it teach it.\n\nAnd keep at bay the first wave of reflexive comments like this one: \"The only reason the Church teaches this is to keep the misogynistic male hierarchy in power...\".\n\nThose sorts of points just cause unraveling, disordered thought, and much heat. \n\nSo let's begin with the moral law and why it's designed to bring about our greatest good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Raymond Brown, S.S. [RIP] remains one of my heroes. I second every laudatory comment made about his fidelity to the faith and the nonpareil level of his Biblical scholarship. [Those who accuse him of theological infidelity because of his \"Birth of the Messiah\" should recall that Cardinal Cooke, in the midst of controversy, invited him to deliver the homily at Christmas Midnight Mass in Saint Patrick's Cathedral. Nobody in their right mind would accuse the Cardinal of supporting heterodoxy.]\nBut there is more. I encountered Father Brown as my retreat master for seven days, about a month before his sudden and untimely death. He was the most calm, pleasant, open and understanding priest I have met so far. That's a retreat I will never forget.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here we have lay Catholics and some priests (evidently no bishops) bearing witness to the Catholic hierarchy about the demands of Justice in favor of those whom the hierarchy has incorrectly labeled \"intrinsically disordered.\" The hierarchy's very credibility and capacity for leadership are now at stake!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I don't worry about heaven any more. I just try to imitate Ceal and Spike and figure everything will be fine.\"\n\nMaybe instead imitate Jesus Christ. \n\nThere's a deformation in the reformation! The 'we don't need to do anything' idea is heresy.\n\nYou'd have to ignore about 150 admonitions from Scripture to be on safe ground!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ">>Jesus Christ was born in the Middle East.\n\nBack then, it wasn't the \"Middle East\" ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As you apologia shows, much of the church's tradition which you cite there is canonical, and increasingly legalistic, especially chronologically. The conservative uproar and the so called dubia are of course based on that tradition, which is not to be confused with scripture or with mercy. As the Romans put it long before the Christian era, Summum Ius, Summa Iniuria!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read your Bill of rights. It says that no one religion shall be favored over another which means that funding, which is favoring, one religion and not others, is wrong. That is the meaning of the Establishment clause of the First Amendment. Also funding one religion means that the Government forces those of other religions to contribute to that one religion. It is the Congregation of a religion that financially supports its religion. To make it fair the Government should not contribute to any religion. The Blaine amendments are directed, in particular against the Fundamentalist Catholics who most often ask for Government contributions for their charitable works. Unfortunately, much of those funds go towards supporting their Pro-life centers which deprive women of their autonomy by denying them their Reproductive Health care coverage causing harm to the family. Those amendments should not be over-turned ever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll bet there were a lot of people there who weren't bishops. I think the future of the Church lies with them, not with bishops and the structures of the past.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll offer two additional definitions for 'politics':\n\n(1) The means whereby groups of people struggle to get what they want\n\n(2) The rationale used for ignoring moral and ethical concepts by relabeling them 'politics'. Example:\n\nAmerican Catholics denounce the murder of innocents when it comes to abortion-on-demand, but not when it comes to the El-Salvadoran government murdering Archbishops, nuns and their housekeepers (and said housekeepers' children). Then it somehow magically transforms into \"politics.\" Perhaps because the late and un-lamented Ronald Reagan \"greatly communicated\" they should think that way ('think' used in the broadest possible sense of the term).\n\nIn Arabic we call this \"fasiq\" (hypocrisy).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, Opus Dei doesn't hand down from on high any political or professional instructions to any of its members, priests, unmarried, members, or cooperators, ever. \n\nThe only thing it hands down is the formal teaching of the Church (not its own) [very well delivered] and a certain demanding spirituality....which in essence is \"live out your faith, fully and completely, right where God put you, but as a child of God.\"\n\nThere is an enormous focus on \"freedom and responsibility\". Humans grow the most when we fully and properly exercise our freedom. \n\nWhat a member of Opus Dei does in his or her profession is NEVER reviewed/approved by his or her spiritual director or by the Director of a Center, much less OP in Rome. It's a silly assertion. \n\nSPXX won't be \"joining\" Opus Dei in any sense. SSPX may begin operating as a personal prelature, but that's likely saying that a newly forming diocese in Madagascar will be joining the Diocese of Scranton!! It's simply a structure of operating.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't agree with Douthat's view of what is happening in the debate over communion. I think he presses his case too strenuously on thin grounds. That said, the constant attempt to dismiss or de-legitimize Douthat on the basis of some kind of psychological or spiritual deficiency (i.e., he's a \"convert\", is \"brittle\") as opposed to the more \"mature\" or \"healthy\" position ironically re-affirms the very view of Catholicism so many here say they object to.\n\nFinally, I noticed you conveniently skipped any reference to Gerson's column on the Rex Tillerson nomination. To quote you above, this oversight is regrettable, if not entirely unforeseen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In photo #3, the alleged murderer looks an awful lot like an hysterical, or I mean, historical figure from the ancient middle east.\nWhere are the Romans when we need them? Our insipid timidity is embarrassing. Dead in ninety days, christian. Dead in 90.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm old and my flexibility is going, going.... This fall when I return to the gym, I'm going to learn yoga. Period. \nThe historian Gibbons noted a similarity between the historical reality of human sacrifice and drinking of blood with the Roman Catholic Eucharist. It has not dissuaded me from receiving Communion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You mean it is up to the local bishop to decide what is sinful for the Catholics in his diocese and what is not sinful? So in order to not sin one only has to move home.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for a most civil reply. If true, that is good news as no faith group should be trotted out as proxies to take the blows really intended for others within your own church. Marty, as an American (I am too, but an Anglophile familiar with the UK) you many be unaware of certain tensions stoked by trad RC commentary in UK publications. The UK Catholic Herald (the trad answer to The Tablet in the UK) has certain columnists who regularly find reasons to attack the C of E or particular clergy within.. The comment thread there is often poisonous. Damian Thompson a columnist-author, and self-styled trad RC apologist who has worked at several publications bounces between backhanded semi-praise for Anglicanism and condescending mockery. He and the others I allude to certainly think (and write) about us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Historically, there have been cardinals who were not already priests. So it is theoretically possible for a woman who has not been ordained a priest to be named a cardinal. It's just a title and position, nothing to do with a sacrament like ordination or consecration as bishop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny how you guys need to withhold further comment till all the facts are in when it's a white guy doing the shooting. What does that even mean? Waiting for Breitbart 'alternate facts'? Lemme guess, our good christian veteran here was a \"recent convert to Islam\"? Isn't that one of your faves?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right now PP personnel volunteer to teach sex ed health classes. The bill would forbid them from doing that volunteer work unless they had education credentials which should be totally unnecessary for doing the work in schools that they do in their facilities. I don't want public schools to use the bible as any kind of reference book unless it is in a Comparative Religion class but evangelical \"christians\" like Dunleavy and Keller do. You can carry around a bible, a Torah, or a Koran any time you want Mr. Bob but you cannot use them to influence your students in the classroom. But you surely see that difference and are just being a little too hypersensitive now aren't you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jack,\nWith all your deeply held religious beliefs, you aren't even following the teachings and example of Christ. Jesus instructed us to serve \"sinners\", and he set the example of serving sinners himself. Honestly, how do you think are are measuring up to that example?\n\nYou are not acting out of conviction to the teachings of Christ, what you are doing is cherry-picking dogma that happens to coincide with your own bigoted beliefs. Don't blame God for your bigotry, which blinds you to the fact that you are breaking 2 of the Ten Commandments, the 2 that Jesus said are the most important of all. \"Thou shalt have no other God before me...\", idolatry, is placing anything above God, including presuming to know the mind of God (which is what you're doing here). And love thy neighbor as thyself. \n\nYou need to become a better Christian (first remove the log in thine own eye), before you claim you are so devout you must have special privilege to discriminate against others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What? You're kidding! The Catholic church forbids resistance to procreational activities? That the products of procreation must continue to pay and worship the Catholic Church? Well I'll be. Never heard of that. Is this new?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "DTrump duped many catholics that he was \"pro life\".\n\nIn reality he is closer to \"pro death\".\n\nIf catholics really wanted to reduce the number of abortions, they should have voted for the \"pro choice\" candidate. It is too late now. Action against human induced climate change should have been their urgent concern BEFORE the elections.\n\nThe empire is crumbling. Becoming a friend of the Russians is not a solution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus definitely wasn't \"making a statement that God does not need sacrifices\". He was certainly here to tell us that God loves us all, but nonetheless we are only forgiven our sins by a blood sacrifice. That's why the Law given via Moses in Leviticus provided for the covering of certain sins via the death (and blood) of specific animals (see Lev. chapters 1 through 7)\n\nJesus came to live the perfect (without sin) life so that He would qualify as THE perfect and pure sacrifice to pay for all of our sins, deliberate and unintentional. His blood was poured on the original Mercy Seat on the Ark that resided in heaven, and thereby opened the door for us all to be reconciled with God forever. That's why it says \"once for all\". And that's why the Veil in the Temple in Jerusalem was ripped apart from top to bottom when that was accomplished at His death, to signify that the Levitical Temple sacrifices were superceded and no longer valid. \n\nPlease see Hebrews 10:1-18.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would point out that the Civil War was about many things: slavery, states' rights, the ongoing economic issues involved in an idustrial North and an agarian South and, of course, the question of secession if a State or States were extremely dissatisfied with being part of the U.S. I think all of those issues were involved and need to be studied.\n\nThe \"major questions\" about evolution.....Simple, it doesn't fit with the conservative Christians' literal interpretation of the Bible. Those \"major questions\" have nothing to do with the extensive evidence supporting evolution, but are a result of the cognitive dissonance that evidence creates for the \"faithful,\" and, of course, given a choice between denying all that evidence and questioning beliefs you faithfully follow, many conservative Christians have chosen to deny evolution.\n\nIt's fine that you \"ended up\" a conservative. It is also evidence that those schools in the Seattle/Olympia area support free thinking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Mr. Winters for your article and your articulation of the the fears of Pope Benedict. I especially endorse this quotation as to Pope Benedict's failure \"... to perceive the potential for the development of websites with a kind of cult following, sites that are ostensibly devoted to the extraordinary form of the Mass but that also serve as a conduit for a crimped, theologically unsophisticated form of Catholicism, combined with right-wing political agitprop.\" Of course, to be clear, no one could have seen the growth of cites like Briebart News in our secular politics and its place in the 2016 election, not to mention the placement of its guru as an adviser to the POTUS. What we are seeing is a new form of political warfare, sacred and secular, where symbols are used with little respect for the symbols themselves, only an amoral focus on the outcome on the battlefield. \"Summorum Pontificum\" is just another casualty of this new age of internet warfare.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who ever said that God had a \"plan\"? The Jesus Seminar thought Jesus had a \"program,\" which I suppose they thought corresponded to God's plan. Still, if God had a plan, we have to conclude he was a poor planner, or at least weak in its execution. Isn't that 'plan\" idea just an widely interpretive translation of \"oikonomia\" in Ephesians?\n\nWasn't Cardinal Newman himself a gay man?\n\nThe present church teaching flows from metaphysical definitions of gender and being human. But aren't ecclesial metaphysics just the current fundamentalism of church intellectuals?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not responding to anything from faith based convictions. Good heavens! \n\nOne does not need \"Faith\" to recognize abortion for what it is. Just because scientists use fancy terminology and wonkish medical lingo to describe a pregnancy does not turn the child into not a child. It is not complicated at all. The only reason it is \"nuanced\" and \"complex\" is so that people can justify abortion. \n\nAs for my \"biased\" opinion: you tell me, then what liberals mean by \"access\" if not \"free.\" \n\nWhat \"Catholic Social Teaching\" says that contraception is a fundamental right? What Catholic Social Teaching says anything close to what you claim? \n\nYour last statement reveals your true motives when you claim that someone does not have \"access\" if they cannot afford ABC. In other words--they only have \"access\" when someone else pays for it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our hope lies in Jesus Christ.\n\nHow many times must we learn this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A conversation between Donald Trump & Jesus Christ. . .\nhttp://www.beliefnet.com/news/articles/a-conversation-between-donald-trump-and-jesus-christ.aspx", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am Catholic and I used to go to this church. Being a Catholic I am used to feeling betrayed by my priest. I do not lose my faith in God because of the behavior of men \"of God\". I feel the need to say something to Outsider 77 and the supporters of this priest in general. It is painful to realize that a religious authority that you trust, you go to confession with, you receive blessings from can behave as he did. However, it is even more painful to see that people like you are still willing to deny undeniable evidence to avoid feeling the pain of broken trust. A priest is *not* a saint. He is not less prone to sin than you are. He is *not* holier than you are. In fact, being in a position of power within any church exposes him to sin more than other believers. Your attitude, Outsider 77, is an example of why so many abuses in the Catholic church were and still are silenced. Your relentless denial is extremely dangerous and so is the denial of his parishioners.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right now, my friend, not saying anything. Just read Crux report. The English bishop, William Kenny, the Catholic rep in the Lutheran-Catholic \"interchange,\" notes that Lutherans are closer to Catholics than are Anglicans, doctrinally. Not surprised. English Catholics just have it in for Anglicans-- the impossibility of deciding which voice speaks for the Anglican Communion (whose members \"speak in tongues,\" incoherent). Will Francis announce something out of the blue in Sweden? We'll see. I'm sure theologians and Rome will work something out now or in 100 years. So long as Catholics (currently prohibited from Communion) don't get short shrift, most will be satisfied. If pope allows intercommunion between Catholics and Lutherans, then we might as well kiss goodbye any canonical/theological criteria for communion, confession, First Communion instruction, belief in Real Presence, penance, etc. It will mean any Catholic can receive as any Lutheran can, irrespective of sin or belief. Nite", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cupich hasn't moved to shut down AGLO, which does minister to gay people who aren't closet cases. He acknowledged the group and sent them a letter. He has apparently met with gay couples during his time in Chicago and has a very open policy regarding Communion. He has said that it is a matter of personal conscience and he would never deny a gay person Communion. \n\nIs he to the right of most people, especially most Chicagoans, on gay marriage? Yes. I doubt that a Catholic prelate would endorse gay marriage. But Cupich also doesn't condemn or exclude gays. Some gays might wish to have Church weddings but others are fine with state recognition as well as being left alone and not denied Sacraments, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She was 4! Beating does nothing but warp a child. Who gives a rats potatoe what the fake church thinks. What twisted ideas of theology to show a picture or hang a chunk of wood with a man strung up like a piece of meat and teach children that CHRIST lives?. You christains are worse than Freddie Cruger. You either keep the Messiah in a feed trough or your hang him streched out a log. HE is not dead neither does anyone know what HE looks like. Icons of idol worshipers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, yet again, nothing in my comments implied that.\n\n1. Just a little reminder, the Church teaches that the Gospel (and the rest of the Bible) is inspired. Nothing in the teaching of the Church obliges us to accept that any Catechism is \"inspired\". That means there is an objective difference, that the Church values them differently. That was what your comments seemed to ignore. That was all I was saying in my original comment.\n\n2. If that is all too theological for you, try this basic human analogy: if I ask, \"do you prefer Guinness or lager?\", you are not obliged to say \"I hate lager\" to prove you prefer Guinness ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then what is up with all of that archeological evidence of Christ? And...how far back does your text go...or maybe your text censored Christ like what is happening today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If my choice is allegiance to a rigid dogmatism that refuses to acknowledges societal evolution, or allegiance to a conscientious Magisterium that seeks, however imperfectly, to understand the Gospels in light of accumulated knowledge, I'll take the latter.\n\nBy the way, the word is 'assent,' not 'ascent.' To ascend is to climb, as in seeking a higher plain from which to view reality. You know, like the higher plain provided by Vatican II. \u263a\ufe0f", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Malony: Thank you for a kind and thoughtful letter. Several years ago I attended the first same-sex marriage held in one of Eugene's larger Christian churches. It was a wonderful celebration of two women's love for each other. It was also a celebration of the Church's belief in equality. During the wedding two cousins of one of the couple stood across the street with signs condemning homosexuality as a sin against God's word and condemning the couple to damnation. It was a graphic illustration of just how individuals, all claiming to be Christians, can have such different perspectives. \n\nIMO, we're fortunate as a society that vastly more individuals, including Christians, support the same views of equality as you do. My best regards, Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Although the usage may well be rather ancient, it seems the application of the title \"Father\" to secular priests in English speaking countries is a recent (couple of hundred years, max) innovation.\n\nRegardless, the practice, whatever its age, does seem very strange given Jesus' \"divine command\" in Matthew 23:9--\u201cCall no one on earth your father, you have but one Father in heaven.\u201d \n\nWe certainly cherry pick the \"divine commands\" we choose to take seriously. At every mass, we hear the command to \"take and eat\" and \"take and drink\" but are content so very often to merely \"take and eat.\" For the life of me, I don't understand why parishioners don't demand the chalice in parishes where it is not offered, and so often walk by the chalice where it is offered.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) I'm not against males at all.\n2) I am against males who demonstrate an anti-woman agenda while promoting an androcentric stance.\n\nThe Compendium of Social Doctrine [did you make up that title for the CCC?] is hardly a compendium. It was basically written by Joseph Ratzinger---who, it seems, can only formulate 'doctrines' for theoretical humans. Ratzinger was never able to deal with the problems or questions of REAL flesh and blood humans. His works are becoming more irrelevant day by day.\n\nAs a peritus at Vatican II, he was enthralled with the CONCEPT of renewal of the Church. But when he realized that real documents were going to be written acknowledging and encouraging the laity to take their place as equals within the Church [along with hierarchy and clergy], he was dismayed. As a pope, he could never deal with reporters on the airplane in discussions WITHOUT having questions being submitted to him beforehand. It was good that he retired when he did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"divine law\" that Amoris fn. 351 supposedly gives \"a nudge and wink to\" is Canon 915, which excludes from Communion those \"obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin.\" That's the 'divine law' that excludes the remarried without a Decree of Nullity from Communion; Jesus and the Gospels do not pronounce themselves on the specific question (access to the Eucharist). IMHO, the need for clarification is not urgent. In fact, the matter appears to me to be of pastoral application, not dogma. I do not state that as a strongly held view, but under the circumstances, I will follow the Pope and I think the challengers have the burden to show otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly girls are continually abused, and are persuaded to be proud of the fact that the father of their child is a priest. However abuse of boys and young men is also practised, and the bishops often do not even bother to move the clergy on - the victim should be proud a priest desired him/her, and anyway clergy are human and must have there needs met by the laity. (I have direct knowledge of such cases in 9 African countries. The Bishops do nothing. Not only Catholics I might add.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not aware of a time when that happened. I do know that the educational levels of Catholics in the west improved significantly throughout the 20th century. Able to read and study on their own, many Catholics concluded that much of what the church taught was not \"truth\", but opinion based on the mores of the eras in which they were defined. They saw that the church had failed to recognize much of what has been learned since then, nor has it taken it into account, continuing to cling to ancient understandings - and prejudices. But, the key factor was the hierarchy's failure to listen to the sensus fidelium on ABC, the prime example of the overall failure of the hierarchy to recognize that the Holy Spirit does not speak through a handful of men, but through the entire church. The crackdown on theologians who recognized that the church must open itself to the HS was part of the impetus for the growing divisions. Many gave up hope that the few would ever listen to the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...but it IS the Church's self-identity.\"\n\nPart of the Church's self-identity also unfolds in Ecumenical Church Councils, Gene1935. I am sure this issue will be brought up and covered at some future Vatican III, which Fr. Orobator might attend. Arguing about it now, however, or articulating the challenge is like trying to give life to a wisp of smoke, sooty vapor. And what does women's ordination matter, whether for or against it, if it no longer leads to any change? Francis doesn't even want to consider the issue. A Church Council is the only distance left to the CC (for significant change). Other than that, the issue is just a brief forgetful thought, visible in the departing trains of Protestant churches, but not in whistles and motions of the Orthodox and Catholic, as it were. Only Church Councils hold out for or bring change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Turdeau Liberals are attempting to pass legislation to protect the crescent moon death cult from criticism and they will criminalize freedom of speech in the process. Anti-Christian bigots will continue to spew their hatred and lies with impunity. Such will be life in Canuckistan.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most parishes have a range of activities and programmes for such groups. \n\nJesus held up those living together and not married and the divorced and remarried as \"heroes\"? Where?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What one pope codifies, another pope can \"with the stroke of his pen\" eliminate.\nThis, too, shall happen to Francis' teachings, as Francis is doing to John Paul II and Benedict.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now Jesus' vicar is saying that the death penalty is immoral. So you must agree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear anniec. I agree that it is helpful, even necessary, to understand the context as it would have been appreciated by those to whom Jesus spoke. And I agree that \"hardliner literalists\" on indissolubility have put on blinders that largely miss what Jesus was saying. However, I think you may undervalue the continuing presence of the Spirit in what has been handed down. It would help to add to the telephone game metaphor the presence of the Spirit in the hearts of those who listen. It is the stories that resonate in the heart that get repeated, by and large, even if there are some literalists among those who listen. As Karl Rahner noted (TI, v22, c13) revelation is continuing as the Spirit resonates through the hearts of those who listen. Your very reaction against \"hardliner literalists\" is a reflection of the Spirit who resonates within you. At least that seems a good possibility. Only time and further listening will tell. I remain hopeful that the church will come around.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Eucharist, like Jesus? No, the Eucharist IS Jesus. \n\nIf one receives Jesus with mortal sin on their soul, it does do damage, the further sin of sacrelige.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"being a believer definitely translates to a greater depth of scientific knowledge.\"\n\nAnd believing in the most outrageous lies makes one the most intelligent. That is why the catholic guy, the ahh, the ahhh the poope (?) is like the smartest guy. Ever. Except for all of the other poope guys afore him. Science and religion are one in the same with this climate thingy. How else could such mind numbed zealotry be explained?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(shrugs) Look at the way Donald Trump acted and spoke. He still got elected - and overwhelmingly by evangelicals. Family values ain't what they used to be... Difference: Moore's running against someone other than Hillary Clinton.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you see the picture on this article?\nThere are white people among them. I am hopeful to see that! I think this America is evolving in the spirit of global human solidarity! That is the true strength of this country! 'Majority' have more to gain from fighting racial prejudices, especially if you are follower of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is not the point of attending the mass, please read up on liturgy and understand why mass can be said, even without any people present, and the liturgy is the Church's most divine prayer and offering of thanks even without communing. \n\n\nIt is not about people being judgemental, it is about Jesus being judgemental, like I explained to you she could easily go up for communion and the priest wouldn't notice. \nIt is not as if we Latin rite Catholics are called for communion by name like in the Eastern rites, so she wouldn't be turned away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm just going to jump in here and respond. Nowhere in the Bible is there a call for priests to be celibate. Celibacy is a creation by the catholic church (as well as several other religions). The concept behind this is to eliminate \"distractions\" of the clergy and allow them to exclusively focus on God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.\"\n\nThat's been gone for a long time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for comment Lynne.\nI have noticed that your comments are normally very straight forward and concise. I assume that you are referring to the broken image of the crucified Christ in the link in my post; that fell upon a disabled man and killed him. Perhaps you could clarify you comment.\nkevin your brother \nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unity, yes, but in the service of becoming disciples and preaching the gospel to all nations--including ourselves--as we were commissioned by Christ.\n\nAnd the common experience is that those in the older generation attached to tearing out communion rails and imposing tacky music on everybody can't simply let others alone. In Newark CA it was too much that 1 mass out of 9 on a Sunday--and 1 out of over 30 in the Fremont area--was offered at the \"exactly Vatican II\" level of joyous solemnity. A community that was producing intentional disciples and making converts was scattered when the reactionaries found a sympathetic Baby Boomer religious superior willing to act when the bishop wouldn't.\n\nWe're to evangelize but at the same time are on the defensive against reactionaries who start organized pressure campaigns to remove priests who work with the laity to restore sanctuary rails and build chant scholas. It happens all over. It isn't love for the Church and it surely isn't unity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I was not referring to the common priesthood of all believers. I was referring to the sacramental priesthood, which requires ordination. Of course God transcends gender (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, #239, 370, 2779). But Christ has entrusted to the Church the mediation of all vocations; so, at least within the Roman Catholic Church, the Church can and actually do prevent women from being tested as to vocation for priestly ordination. The Lord is, effectively, refused the right to call women and have their vocation tested. Only the boys can apply. So this is not really an injustice toward women; it is an injustice toward the Lord, by refusing to allow him to call women and have their vocations properly tested.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The South Korean Methodist Church (and I believe other denominations) have stopped the practice of having Missionaries come to S. Korea, why? Because they are now in a position to send Korean Christians to other countries as missionaries. India is one of the countries they send missionaries. Perhaps the USA should speak with them about this issue. They should be a strong allie on this issue. South Korea is very receptive to receiving foreign Christians as guest teachers. Sincerely", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only church the Johnson Amendment should stay applicable to is :\nThe Church of our Savior Thomas Darcy McGee ;)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A Catholic believes He gave that promise to His Church - not to individuals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This another sign of hope. The patriarchal phase of salvation history is passing away. Let us keep working and praying for the demolition of all fallogocentric walls in the Catholic Church, especially the exclusion of women from the priesthood and the episcopate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The verses with choice after choice are also in plain English, so why do you deny them? Is it that you do not know a loving God? A God that actually cares for you like Jesus clearly cares for the world? My Bible is a love letter. Too bad yours is one of hate. It is too bad that all you can spread is hate. My Bible tells me how Jesus died for me while I was still a sinner and did not have a path to righteousness. \nI have a question for you was Samson one of your Elect? Was Jonah? Which of the Exodus Israelites were part of the Elect? Was Abraham one of the Elect? Was the disciple John, how about Peter? Who in the Bible were part of the Elect? Do we have to go through all the choices they made? All the examples of free will that they exhibited? Yes, people are created for different purposes. That does not mean He loves them less. That is what those verses are about. It is also about how we are to treat each other. It is about how we are equal in the eyes of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill, since you are an adherent of the religious denomination that produced Eugene Peterson and \"The Message\" I am delighted to read that you have no objection to the Presbyterian emphasis on the study of classical languages.\n\nThat said, I'd agree that parish pastoral work is a different ball game, calling for a different skill set. As Catholics we need our Bernard Lonergans, but we also need our Dorothy Days. It may be that your co-religionists need to reflect on the different charisms that the Spirit spits out wherever and whenever the Spirit pleases.\n\nIn the ordination stakes, diversity is good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...simply rearrange the existing members....\"\n\nQuite on target. There is no great diminishment among the \"nones,\" owing to this pseudo-demographic \"surge,\" as it were (in the big picture of things). For that reason you see \"official churches getting along with great respect,\" as, for example, in Washington, D.C. (with Cardinal Wuerl donating money to repair minor damages at Washington Cathedral [Episcopal] a few years back ) and even in Rome (in meetings between the Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "http://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/global-christianity-exec/\n\n\"About one in every four Christians lives in sub-Saharan Africa (24%), and about one-in-eight is found in Asia and the Pacific (13%).\"\n\n\"Christianity has grown enormously in sub-Saharan Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, where there were relatively few Christians at the beginning of the 20th century. The share of the population that is Christian in sub-Saharan Africa climbed from 9% in 1910 to 63% in 2010, while in the Asia-Pacific region it rose from 3% to 7%. Christianity today \u2013 unlike a century ago \u2013 is truly a global faith.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, if I understand you correctly, you say that the Holy Spirit (God) is never-changing. I would tend to mostly agree. But where I think you make a mistake is the assumption that humankind should never change, that God's creation and Will is not revealed to us over time and that the Church is the path to meeting Christ at the end of time. Your position of \"T[t]he matter, form and intent for all valid sacraments is already defined, de fide, and is not changeable\" foolishly implies that Christ chose a particular date at which the Church was complete and finished. So, would you mind sharing with us the exact date that it happened? I can't seem to find it in Scripture, or even the dogmatic writings of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "i think that's where the whole new testament comes in with jesus \"fulfilling the old testament laws\" - to point out that as humans ,we are flawed, that NOBODY does just righteous. but if we truly could follow in the footsteps of only righteousness... judges, cops - the whole legal systems wouldn't be needed - nobody would do bad. - hence no one would have to be it the position of judging or controlling another person. .it's a tough concept to explain - as are most bible ones.. but that's my understanding of the stuff - i've pondered all that too. and you did it out there as a question..\n being an observer in court and seeing innocent people found guilty and thinking the judge is (hopefully) fair and thinks it's the right decision. i would never want to be in that position of the big decider or guilt and punishment. with exceptions regarding my prison/island that i bring up on occasion. yeah i fall short all the time..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are not talking here about minor disagreements which your post suggests is all progressives are doing. We are not talking about \u2018disciplines\u2019. We are talking here of doctrine, the whole of the constant Magisterial teaching of the Catholic Church on Faith and Morals rooted in Scripture, both OT and NT, in the the Apostolic Tradition up to and including the present day. \nYou are talking about a \u2018New Church\u2019 with \u2018new doctrine\u2019 in the same way as the 16th century reformers did.\nIf what you want is a \u2018New Church\u2019 then why are you so averse to coming out and openly admitting it? The Protestant reformers didn\u2019t shy away from it when it came to making a break, why are you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey Paul. The RG article on faith and volunteerism caused me to wonder - what about the rest of us? \nI volunteer because - just because. I donate to charity just because. I recognized that I have enough and that I can spare time, resources, and money to those less fortunate. I am not compelled by faith. My guess is that many volunteers do so as a sense of contribution for the greater good. I'm sure that a lot of 'Christians' don't do anything for anyone - outside of praying for sinners like me ;-]\nI was raised Christian, as was the norm back in the day. That's another story.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The verse you refer to is 2 Thessalonians 3:10 and it says those UNWILLING to work won't eat. There are many vicious and unfounded lies about the poor, and one of the most evil lies is that poor people don't want to work. The health care crisis in America is caused by the fact that the market economy is. as Pope Francis points out in Evangelii Gaudium, an exclusionary economy that is actually killing people. The issue is not that people don't want to work - the issue is that profiteering on health care is, in effect, putting a price of life and those who can't pay the price will die early. Basically, we need to turn away from what Jean Paul II called our 'culture of death,' and one of the first things we must do as Christians is care for the sick regardless of whether they can pay ... assuming of course that we're 'pro-life.' We have to go against wicked attempts to twist the gospel to make it serve the idolatry of wealth by making life and health mere commodities for sale.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are so severly judgemental. You know nothing about Jesus' compassion or what the Good News reslly means. Don't throw stones because. youmay regret your actions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes , like a child . But not as if one has not gone beyond the stage of childhood .\nOne must take all that is best of each developmental level and leave behind its weaknesses .This is a lifetimes's work . \nI do remember gratefully the explanation a parish priest gave when I was a 3rd grader .\nJesus is alive and like us his blood is inside his body . Where his body is ( bread ) the whole Jesus is alive .\nWhere his blood is (wine) he , the whole Jesus is alive . I had , before that only been taught from a catechism . All that seemed to matter was a bone-dry mouth which was very scary for a little kid . \nI am sure God is delighted with the simple faith of a child . Didn't Jacinta die young ? Most of us have to go through purifying growth of faith over a long life . This , too delights God and we are thankful for it . There is always deeper and deeper meaning to be fathomed . \nThe medium is the message and lousy teaching methods can and do destroy mystery and faith .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Typo; should be 2030 not 2020.\nThanks for alerting me.\nIncidentally in that same video, Dr Dixon notes that in 2011 54% of Mass-going Catholics (yes, Mass-going) had not been to Confession/Reconciliation at all in the previous 12 months, and an additional 20% had only been once or twice in the previous 12 months.\nThe People of God are voting with their feet about Confession in its present form.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know the particulars of the canonical process that led to the marriage of Newt and Callista in the church. My criticism of Cardinal Wuerl (whom I admire in most respects) is that by officiating at the ceremony he raised the profile of what I think would have better, more appropriately been celebrated in a restrained way -- out of respect for the various persons who were hurt or harmed by their relationship. (See my post to anniec above.) Catholics are ordinarily married in a ceremony in which the pastor of the bride, or his delegate, presides. I think Cardinal Wuerl should have asked the Gingriches to follow that procedure; he could have accepted an invitation to the reception.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The State defines marriage for civil purposes only. It cannot define marriage as a sacrament because the State has no competence in sacramental theology. And Protestant churches do not define marriage as a sacrament.\n\nThe French are nothing if not logical. In France only civil marriage is recognized by the State. A French Catholic couple will go first to the town hall for the civil ceremony, then to the church for the religious ceremony on the same or a later day.\n\nIn civil society today, marriage is essentially a private contract of limited duration. That is why our clergy should no longer act for the State in solemnizing marriage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "it could mean anything, the rad trads have numerous alternate realities to go with their alternative facts. I have to meet one that is consistent about anything, but they call the liberal Catholics cafeteria Catholics. Before the dictatorships of JP the Great Enabler and Ratzinger I was willing to live and let live with the trads, even felt sorry for them at times because of their inability to deal with the changes, but once they got some power under JP and Benedict, they were so vindictive and divisive, I decided they deserve anything they get. That is why I always post a laughing emoji, because they are more amusing to me than anything else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1st of all, the statutes of limitations have passed on Law. He got away with it in an era when Catholic prosecutors were fearful to indict a Cardinal and then not get re-elected. Law was given the prestigious basilica of St Mary Maggiorre despite his disgraceful repeated enabling of pedophile priests. \n\nI agree that Pope Francis has dealt harshly with bishops on the diocesan level. But to my knowledge, this is his first time dealing with an indicted pedophile in his inner circle in Rome. Will he or will he not extradite Pell to Australia if asked to do so by Australia? Or if Italy has an extradition treaty with Australia, will he take away his Pell's Vatican passport and kick him out of the Vatican leaving it to the Italians to deal with him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Death and sickness pain was never part of GOD'S original creation plan but because he made people free beings HE left it up to them to decide.\n\nAnd the people chose death sickness and pain it is because the fall of man into sin that innocent people die children suffer it is not because of GOD.\n\nGOD told adam not to disobey HIS command not to eat from the tree but Adam decided rather to make satan his god and that is why there is death sickness pain and suffering in this world for everyone even Christian's. \n\nAnd the only way that GOD can destroy sin and satan without bring harm to HIS creation is by letting them believe in GOD and making a choice to live for him through JESUS that died on the cross to take away death and give us eternal life and also breaking the hold that sin had on people .\nI agree with you on the morals but who put the morals into you where did it come from?\nI am not talking about being religious even JESUS was against the religious people of his time.\n\nIts personal", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Steven,\nWOW, well said. \nI believe that these modern day pharisees are doing the same as the last two popes -- serving ONLY the code of canon law and not reflecting those gospels that are reflective of Christ's teachings about mercy. \nTruly, without mercy they can possess and show no reconciliation. They are examples of the rigid mind and the punitive mindset toward those they deem to be lesser than they.\nSo sad are they and likely full of hate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus said nothing whatsoever about either abortion or contraception. So how do you know his thoughts on them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for the response.\n\nIf I hadn't made it clear, I know that Fr Cole asserted that there is a contradiction. I don't entirely disagree.\n\nHe doesn't seem to grasp the meaning of the canon he quotes, and that leads to the more important \"contradiction\" in his argument. The Canon says we must hold \"each and everything\" proposed by the Church. \n\nThe canon is trying to exclude the question Fr Cole asks, what are we supposed to hold as true? The canon is clear, we are to hold \"each and everything.\" The two cannot contradict one another and those who reject either \"set themselves against the Catholic faith.\" Based on our faith in the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we may not choose one or the other. Based on logic, we must choose one or the other.\n\nThere are a number of ways to approach this. One is to look at how the two positions do not contradict one another. Dismissing the canon's relevance is another. But if you say choose one, you \"set yourself against the Catholic faith.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Matthew 7:16-20, Jesus said, \"You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.\"\n\nIf Trump is the tree, the tree is already diseased, and the fruit that has so far been borne (his cabinet picks) are already showing signs of disease. Frankly, I don't care how many correct church boxes these cabinet picks check, by their fruits we shall know them and those of us who did not vote for the diseased tree will be watching and waiting to see what kind of fruit they bear in terms of policy. I doubt much of it will be anything of which Jesus would approve. But we shall see. And we shall comment accordingly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is not our place to judge the bakery owners. I do not know if they hate, I would be much more inclined to say they disagree with marriage being between two men or two women instead of a man and woman, which God talks about. They have the right to disagree. Just like it is people's right to disagree with the death penalty. \n\nFor me personally some of my dearest most treasured friends are gay. I am also a Christian. And I am not gay. And for me, it is like so what. They are my friends, period.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article has certainly attracted a wide spectrum of responses! Let me insert one likely scenario. The widower deacon never expected his wife to die before him, and therefore didn't really give the celibacy requirement after the death of a spouse much thought. His vow was subjectively weakened by the circumstance of his wife's death. In such a case, as perhaps Pope John Paul II realized in the case of the deacon whose life I detailed, the Church could have made the pastoral decision, after walking with him on his journey, to dispense him from his vow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The National Catholic Reporter talking about the \"pedagogical effect\" of law when it has been AWOL on using the law to protect the unborn for decades. Instead, we have a \"pedagogical effect\" of using a law NCR says is moribund to continue to chill and deter free speech in churches. If the law is defunct, repeal it; if you don't, it means you want the IRS to employ it as a cudgel (as that agency showed us it was quite capable of doing during the Lois Lerner/Barack Obama days).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First of all FC, your opinion of intrinsic moral evil is just that. You do not understand the science involved with pluripotent blastocysts yet you have an opinion about it. It is not true that the followers of Christ always or even today agree with your Fundamentalist opinions. Bishops in the early centuries of the church gave credence and evidence to their belief that abortion was even ok until quickening (12 weeks gestation.) That idea was particularly enunciated when a cleric contributed the sperm. A pluripotent embryo is created as well by placing a skin cell in an evacuated ovocyte and stimulating it. So you have very reactionary views that even though you claim are backed by science, you really do not understand the science involved....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, R.D.? So only guys just like you can represent Christ? Your ego is showing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All confirmed Catholics should feel a DUTY to correct both lay and religious.\n\nThis duty comes with grave responsibility and must be done very well. \n\nOne must seek formation and constant formation. One must give study to what Our Lord teaches us through Scripture and through Church teaching.\n\nOne must really really know their stuff well.\nOne must pray, be close to the Sacraments (in order to be more closely disposed to God's will). One must attempt to correct in the most charitable way, but correct one must do. \n\nOne must work on their virtues..prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude, to ensure the correction is done as perfectly as humanly possible. Privately initially.\n\nJesus told us to do this. See Luke 17. Some versions use the words: [after no success with lesser measures...]: \"Rebuke him\".\n\nIt's not an option, but it must be shouldered responsibly. But done nevertheless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please just put him in charge of Project Runway. That would be a great fit. I am sure Heidi Klum is a Catholic. Many people cry on the show. He could be there to help them to better understand what Avante Guard means.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To anyone reading this, the post, in this link, is showing as Most Reactions, in the Sort by Box above, where in reality it is not, as my post commencing with\n\nPius XII put the writings of Sr. Faustina on the Index of Prohibited Books, Why?\nSr Faustina's writings would still be gathering dust in a Vatican Archive, where Pope John XXIII sent them if she were not Polish.\nThe Divine Mercy Image that the Church displays today is an affront to God, instigated by nationalistic pride and those who would pacify the powerful it has nothing to do with humility.\nThe true Divine Mercy Image is an Image of Broken Man \u2026......\n\nIs the one with most reactions, this can only be found by repressing/reinstating it (Most reactions) and ensuring that it is initialized. \n\nEven on extended comments my Post is not shown, I realize that my post is contentious to some, nevertheless I believe it bears witness to the Truth.\n24/04/17.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're aware the Roman empire under Tiberius wasn't a democratic republic, and that Galileans like Jesus envisioned the overthrow of Israel's imperial oppressors? Hence the expectation of the arrival of the Messiah.\n\nYou wrote:\n\n\"Conservatives generally favor small government...\"\n\nThis is a canard; when the Republicans are in power they grow government.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The deceased home owner, Paul, was a member of the Russian Orthodox church on Turpin. He had a god-son, Zach, who attended church regularly with Paul until he was 18 years of age. I rarely saw the god-son after that; UNTIL Paul died. Zach created a fraudulent document stating that the Russian Orthodox Church gave Paul's home to Zach. Zach emailed me stating that Father John Zabinko instructed him to so this in order to take Paul's house as his own. Zabinko denies this, but refuses to be at all helpful in getting the current resident squatters out and probate started. Apparently Zach, who is not in Anchorage, gave the house to \"senior squatter\" Eric Connors and his squatter housemates who pay rent to Eric.\n\nPaul's will exists and Zabinko has all of the paperwork required to open probate, BUT HE refuses to do anything. And he has interfered with executrix's actions. The house is to be sold and the proceeds are to be split between some people.\n\nMuni and RO church are protecting squatter", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".\n\n\"Pope Francis open to studying ordination of married men as priests\"\n\n--\n\nPope Francis, trying to drag the church into the 21st century, one change at a time.\n\nStill a long way to go, Frank, but you've made a good start\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does anyone realize that the city cannot implement a dress code legally for business? Civil rights violations aside, There exists a HUGE conflict of interest within the city council trying to pass this. This would be the third time they have attempted such draconian measures.Its girls in Bikinis serving coffee, In America this is legal, In Iran this is illegal. There is zero evidence that can be found to support the position that Bikini barista increase localized crime nor can the city produce it.\nAs a red blooded Christian, not in my Red White & Blue America can a city tell me what I can and cannot wear to work!!\n\n(Also I am a guy, and no, I do not work at a bikini barista stand.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John the son of Zebedee is at the Cross only if John is the beloved disciple -- not likely in my opinion. The author of the Book of John keeps us guessing throughout the book who is the beloved. My impression is that by the time you get to the added on ending of that book, it is Lazarus who is the beloved. Whether the author is completely serious or just writing parody I don't know. The bride is for at least an instant, Mary Magdalene at the Easter tomb, fulfilling the Goddess role of being the weeper. If Peter wasn't really \"naked\" in the boat (Jn 21:7 NRSV) but simply missing his coat, then it might be Mary Magdalene in the boat with him. But the raised Lazarus is a better fit as the discussion re his dying -- again -- would be pertinent (Jn 21:23). Lazarus is the only male that Jesus \"loves\" in John, other than disciples in general.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the Scripture is describing a hypothetical situation as Jesus was in a state of contemplation in the desert for 40 days. It is more important to understand his rational to follow God as the focus of his life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hola, Old Abuelo,\n\nThank you for your response, yes there is a very human difference between the indissolubility of marriage given by Jesus to His Church, as it does not conform to our lived worldly reality.\nJoy is found in the service and obedience to our Fathers Will leading us to the full spiritual reality of eternal life.\nAnd this obedience is/should be manifest through the Sacrament of Marriage as an outward sign of inward grace, for better for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance. This is the place where true lovers sit and most not be violated (Put asunder) by man and in this obedience to His Will we teach our children and future generations by example our belief in His inviolate Word(Will).\n\n \u201cWhat God has joined together let no man put asunder\u201d\n\n\u201cGod's mercy is not an afterthought in response to sin. It is a bridge to the fuller reality that Jesus preached\"\n \n\nContinued 1", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I have to part company with you there. I've been to a few CPA conferences. The pool isn't as shallow as you might think. It includes every diocesan newspaper, magazines like Maryknoll and America, and various blogs and eCommunications as well as the national weeklies.\n\nOne thing the CPA is diligent about is not allowing ideology to influence their choice of award recipients. In this environment, that isn't easy and I admire their resolve. They're good people trying to maintain both journalistic integrity and Catholic identity, and it ain't easy!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2/2\nWhen I read these remarks of the Archbishop, it occurred to me that Philadelphia was his third marriage (having previously served as bishop of Rapid City and archbishop of Denver.) Pope Francis has criticized the practice of moving a bishop from one see to another (not that he has stopped doing it.) Pope Francis' criticism of careerism in the clergy, and of transferring bishops as a symptom of careerism, is not original to him. As Prefect of the CDF, then-Cardinal Ratzinger associated himself with the very strong views of Cardinal Gantin, Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, on this subject. In looking for Cardinal Ratzinger's remarks, I came across this, which I think will interest you:\nhttp://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1350531bdc4.html?eng=y&refresh_ce", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think my church's inadequate appreciation of women and lack of understanding of healthy sexuality are major contributors to the current problem. Clericalism is the other component. Put them together and we have the present Catholic church crisis with millions of educated people leaving the church. I believe this will continue as I don't foresee any of this changing. It's probably too late for the Catholic church to be taken seriously by those who are young and educated.\n\nFor too long the church has violated common sense and justice by refusing to grant equal status to women. For too long the church has arrogantly denied modern understanding of human sexuality and reproduction. For too long the church has accepted the evil concept of clericalism with its unfounded belief that bishops and priests are superior to the laity and therefore deserve to control the church. I'd love to be more hopeful, but I've lived too long and seen too much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your opinion. It is, however, not what the Church teaches about its institution by Christ. I will follow what Christ teaches through His Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ivo, this coming from a devout Catholic who's had many a religious argument and is yet to find an alternate result in the discourse: you'd be happier ignoring it rather than dissecting your own philosophical viewpoint and foisting it on others. In fact, I'm starting to see less adherence to the \"open mindedness\" and healthy debate purported by Atheists/Agnostics and more of the fervor so often associated with zealots coming through in their condemnation of another persons beliefs. We get it. You don't believe, but that doesn't make you any more enlightened than tree if you can't admit that neither systems; Atheist or religious or whatever, are yet to be soundly proven by any relevant means at our disposal. Your rant, ironically, is a reflection of the very behaviour you berate in your article. Why not harp on the people that were spreading fake reports about theft and arson during this entire saga? Surely that is a more pertinent and relevant story?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding Colorado, euthanasia is one of the 5 non-negotiables (see Catholic.com). Euthanasia is intrinsically evil and must never be promoted by the law. Please see Evangelism Vitae (Pope John Paul II's Gospel of Life).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"\"You don\u2019t need to become a cardinal to think of yourself as a prince!\" he exhorts. \"It is enough to be clerical. This is what is worst in the organization of the Church. \"\n- A lot of clericalism takes root in the seminary. Some seminaries seem to be gifted in encouraging this grave matter.\n- Perhaps it is time for a visitation of the US seminaries, this time led by laity, to identify those seminaries whose ordinands seem especially adept at installing in parishes the: 'smell and bells', 'women are a great labor force in the parish', 'laity - those odd beasts in the pews', 'never mind the catechism or scripture, the magisterium of jpii or benexvi says...', 'there is no ministry outside what the priest does', 'holy water is not holy when the laity use it to bless their homes and children.'\n- Such seminaries would then be reformed or suppressed and the bishop responsible removed from any preaching or education role in the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course we can know A LOT about Who Jesus was.\n\nWe know that \"He did all things well\"\n\nWe know He was the \"obedient\" Son of Mary, and foster child of St Joseph.\n\nWe know that he was perfect man and perfect God.\n\nWe know that his \"hidden life\" was perfectly coherent with his public life. \n\nWe know that He worked well. \n\nWe know He possessed all the human virtues at their perfect state. \n\nWe can use the intellect God gave us to \"reason over\" and draw inferences from what has been revealed in Scripture. \n\nWe can take all of this to prayer, and ask God to help us fill in the gaps and answer many many questions.\n\nGod wants us to know Him....and He gave us many means to do it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If we really care for these people - how come there is NO mention in this article or other similar articles, on trying to obtain LEGAL status (documentation) for these immigrants? Does our faith teach that we should break the law? Did Jesus say, \"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's\" ? Or did Jesus say, \" You are to ignore the laws of Caesar\"? I know several immigrants who recently came here and became legal citizens, following an orderly means of integrating into society, and they are very happy here. In many ways, our immigration laws - are meant to HELP the immigrant, by teaching her/him our language, laws, customs, etc., so as to have a BETTER CHANCE OF SUCCEEDING in our country.\n\nExample: Is it a good thing, when an immigrant is driving on our roads, yet CANNOT read the street and highway signs, including very important warning signs?\n\nWe ARE our brother's keeper and we should care for them. Ignoring our immigration laws, some of which are very helpful, is not always the proper way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You take that back! You could not be more wrong about wombat. He's a Christian gentleman and quite knowledgeable and unassuming.\n\nGood grief.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly--and priests can affirm that a same-sex couple is not in mortal sin due to mitigating factors, and that their relationship is not a scandal to the congregation, since the congregation welcomes the couple. And this is all basic Catholic 101--even before Amoris Laetitia. Objective sin does not equal mortal sin. \n\nI would bet there are sins you commit every day which would normally be mortal but for which you know there are mitigating factors--I know I sin. And I know that God frequently does not hold me culpable for reasons which I know in my conscience by the Holy Spirit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for link and AMEN to being with this pope! I was at a spirituality beyond borders session at a neighbouring Anglican church ... and saying how weird it is that my bishop is not going to pursue a Justice and Life office ... as there is not enough interest in it. Most people have no idea JPII and Benedict had very strong criticism of the form of \"free enterprise\" capitalism we have and that Benedict in particular had strong language about the morality and politics of investments, how we produce things, consume them ... etc. Francis is being pillared for saying much more mildly things about capitalism and the environment and immigration etc which both JPII and Benedict said very strongly. Yet what they said has literally been disappeared ... talk about power ... who is doing that. Why are their teachings not on EWTN? and every other so called Catholic Media outlet?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And remember who the author of this piece is - go to page 100 in her book \u201cWomen & Catholicism: Gender, Communion, and Authority\u201d where she describes then Archbishop Burke\u2019s canonical consideration of Louise Lears, formerly in the Sisters of Charity, as \u201cretribution\u2019.\n\nMart E, are you claiming it wasn't?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Holy Ghost only speaks through those whom the NCReporter contributors and commenters approve of. Familiaris Consortio, Veritatis Splendor and the past 2000 years of Church teaching are old hat now. \nWe, (this generation) being intellectually superior to Christ, His apostles, the evangelists and all Fathers, Doctors of the Church, Saints, Popes and Councils except, of course Vatican II as 'we' interpret it, are now the sole arbiters of what is right and wrong. Science now determines what is good and what is evil, this authority no longer resides within the Church. \nCardinal Farrell taking issue with the majority of his fellow bishops has certainly justified Pope Francis's choice of him. Again, the Vicar of Bray somehow comes to mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not sure what the editorial board means when it refers to the survival of the Church as a \"coherent community\". If it means a sacred space without walls in the companionship of Christ, then I'm with you. If it means that we all believe the same thing; all agree, and all confom, then - agree or disagree - it won't happen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have you read the Bible lately? Start with the Old Testament.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article focuses on the party name rather than the parties ideologies. That is the single most important thing that is ignored in all arguments similar to what is presented here.\n\nDuring the civil war era (and prior) the Republican party held a LIBERAL ideology and the Democrats a CONSERVATIVE one. The parties had essentially switched come the 60s. \n\nA fictional television show (All in the Family) actually does a good job at showing a contrast between these ideologies. While the show may be fictional it is still art imitating life by depicting the culture of the time. You have Archie a CONSERVATIVE Christian Republican Bigot and Michael a LIBERAL Democrat. The conversations these 2 had represented many of the discussions going on in the country shortly after the civil rights era between the two groups. \n\nThe Conservative Republicans of today continually try and use the past of the \"parties\" to hide behind their racist views.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just because you're appointed by a certain kind of pope does NOT mean you'll turn out like him if you're selected pope.\nThree simple, yet glaring, examples:\n1) Pius XII appointed John XXIII a cardinal.\n2) Paul VI appointed John Paul II a cardinal.\n3) John Paul II appointed Francis a cardinal.\nYou probably will NOT get what you're wishing for.\nToo bad.\nGod will steer the future of the Church, not Francis or you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Eliane for your comment the \u2018attack\u2019/Posts that I have made relate to Clericalism and the part it has played in the ongoing cover-up and also blasphemy in relation to the Divine Mercy Image. \nYes the main article relates to Cardinal Pell but I have not commented on his situation or any of the narrative relating to him, and yes it could be false \u201cthrough and through in relation to him\u201d as you say. And I agree with you that he is entitled to such presumption until the witnesses against him surface and face daylight. \nI did not mention Donald Trump as I do not live in the USA I cannot see how I could have woven Trump into it, I did not even mention his name!\nI had hoped that you would reflect on my posts and open your mind and heart to conversion in regards to the/your 'custom' of calling priests \u201cfather\u201d and attribute Father to our one and only Father/Creator as Jesus Christ commanded as we must be true to His inviolate Word (Will)\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I understand, but taking something for granted does NOT make it revealed truth, and does NOT make it an infallibly defined dogma of our Catholic faith. My article is already online, with Latin words corrected (thanks again!) but written in plain English. Would appreciate any comments/corrections:\n\nViri Probati and Feminae Probatae ~ The Homogeneous Sacramentality of the Human Body, Male and Female\nhttp://www.pelicanweb.org/solisustv13n04supp6.html#section9\n\nIf anyone here feels a repulsion toward the Theology of the Body, please reconsider. If anyone has been misinformed to the effect that the male-only priesthood is a matter of faith, please do your homework:\n\nCCC 1577 is a doctrine, not a dogma; and it is so ludicrous that it necessitated the edict \"Ordinatio Sacerdotalis\" to stop official discussion of the issue. CCC 1598 (not a formal dogma either) plainly states that the male-only priesthood is a choice (1st sentence) and who can make the choice (2nd sentence).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I stand to be corrected, Lumen, but globally are not the majority of Protestants \"mainstream Protestant\" without any inclination towards the prosperity gospel; and even among fundamentalist Protestants, surely the majority does not ascribe to the prosperity gospel?\n\nAlthough the prosperity gospel is preached in huge US churches with a heavy TV presence, surely \"a huge TV presence\" does not equate with \"a huge number of Protestants\"? \n\nAs for increasing influence, as the Trump phenomenon and the European populist movements show, many will listen is you tell them what they want to hear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's no such thing as complementarity. It's a bogus concept trumped up by the Vatican which Jesus Christ, according to the details of his life, never gave a whit about. Try something else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd like to know how Speaker Ryan balances his desired to gut medicaid and the social safety net for the least amongst us with his professed Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The worst tyrant who ever lived\"?\n\nNCR tacitly endorses violence for the purpose of curtailing the free speech of a gay Catholic.\n\nFor people who profess to be on the side of Good and Justice, you don't show me much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes! The Dogma of Transubstantiation is the problem. (is this a joke?) The Source and Summit of the Faith. Without the Eucharist how could I believe in a God? What other faith expresses a belief in a Deity so beautiful and powerful that He can make Himself incarnate, share in our sufferings, die and rise again? Why not just take away our free will? Why insist on sharing in our misery? \n\nThe Eucharist - God (Christ) is so insistent on being with us, that even with His death impending, He instituted a sacrament that would allow Himself to be physically present with his people until the end of time. *tear*\n\nHe gave the safe guarding of this to men... many fallible men... Here it remains 2000 years later... Something must be True.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 2\nJust before His crucifixion Jesus turned to them and said,\n \u201cFor, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts which never gave suck\u201d\n\nOthers proclaiming guidance from the Holy Spirit, teach a doctrine that forms a Self-serving conscience, in doing so they contribute to a culture of death that is now seen in society at large.\n\nYes Rome has many serious faults indeed but has remained true with the guidance of the Holy Spirit in its teaching of the moral law, as promised by Jesus Christ and this can be seen in HV.\nI assume that this is the contradiction you keep pointing to\nBetter to Walk in Humility before the Lord in acknowledging one\u2019s own limitations and acceptance of His Divine Mercy, rather than form a Self-serving conscience. \nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Francis famously said that he was looking for shepherds who smell like their sheep, and he found that in Blase Cupich.\" Allentown, PA diocese just installed another Francis' bishop. His motto: \"Feed my Sheep\"\n\nEnough with the \"Shepherd the Sheep\" bishops. WE ARE NOT SHEEP AND WE DON'T NEED SHEPHERDS! We need honest, intelligent, and caring bishops... \nbishops who value and foster diverse visions of the Church,\nbishops who aren't afraid to step out the Evangelical Conservative Catholic mold.\nhttps://RiteBeyondRome.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank your this link. It tells us that:\n\"Dominican Cardinal Christoph Sch\u00f6nborn was one of the first to apply Aquinas\u2019 supposed imprimatur to the document, telling reporters at a press conference to mark its publication in April that the document \u201cis profoundly Thomistic.\u201d The Pope has designated the Archbishop of Vienna as the definitive interpreter of the exhortation.\"\n\nI am not sure why we should prefer Fr Cole's claim to Sch\u00f6nborn's, or vice versa. Fr Cole tells us that \"In the end, following Tradition is the most authentically Thomistic position, for he firmly opposed any doctrinal position that was not faithful to divine revelation and the Church\u2019s binding teachings.\" The teaching from Francis is now part of our tradition, and Sch\u00f6nborn is the one faithful to it. Fr Cole seems rather to side wih those who claim it is not, so it appears this principle depends on prior position. If you believe papal teaching is part of our tradition, you side with Francis; if not, you side against.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great job done by Catholic charitable agencies! In such terrible time only, victims need helping hand to them. Storm affects the life of many human beings who are suffering from storm damage. Along with the life of people, the storm also affects home property damage. After the storm damage one must do the following things such as making an insurance claim, having a storm damage adjuster by searching online for the company such as AllClaimsUSA(http://allclaimsusa.com/services-view/hurricane-storm-damage-florida) and many more, document all the damage and taking measures to prevent further damage in future. So, these are the things one should take after storm damage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is great value in a community of believers, and in the case of Christianity, what we call the Mystical Body of Christ. No man is an island, and many years ago, the sociologist Durkheim proved that in his great work on suicide. If your post represents your beliefs faithfully, then you, mountain dweller, are in a state of anomie. Don't tell your life insurance agent. It's you who are at risk, more than those who \"cling to their religion.\" NCR posters should pray for you. Unfortunately, most of them believe as you do. Well, I'll pray for you. \"Hail Mary, full of grace, . . .\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the ways it changes is to break the generational aspects of the belief structures. This is precisely why fundamentalists push home schooling and charter schools....and why Trump gained even more status among his evangelical base by nominating Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary. On the Catholic side of things, we already had our own version of Charter schools but in the main they weren't isolationist or theologically puritanical. Which I suppose is why we now have the Newman Society to enforce the Catholic religious litmus tests. \n\nI'm not sure if it's the divisions are growing deeper, as they have been around forever. It could be the walls are getting higher and the bridges fewer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, and when the missionaries were allowed to return to Japan, they found Catholics who kept the faith eager to once again recieve Sacraments (apart from baptism) again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My post was honest. While it ok to talk about our similarities if we don't talk about what makes us different we are being dishonest. I know who Bill is .. he's formerly with the KC Star and very liberal ecumenical Christian who thinks as most ecumenicals think, that everyone should agree ... with them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But they did not have sex, nor did God physically touch Mary . Don't they teach about immaculate conception down in Alabama? I am saddened and disgusted that anyone would use the story of Jesus' birth to justify Roy Moore's alleged behavior. Honestly, people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We should all read it.\n\nWe see the advice of Mrs White presented, but only in the part that Mr Knight wished to represent.\n\n\"The Lord declares that His church is not to be governed by human rules or precedents. Men are not capable of ruling the church. God is our Ruler. I am oppressed with the thought of the objectionable human management seen in our work. God says, Hands off. Rule yourselves before you attempt to rule others. Strange things have been done, things that God abhors. For men to claim that the voice of their councils is the voice of God seems to me to be almost blasphemy.\" MS 35, 1901 25\n\nMaybe Mr Knight (and the rest of us) should observe the hands off rule to avoid blasphemy? All the rest of us see very little Scripture or Prophesy to substantiate anything, but much Scripture and Prophesy otherwise. Maybe lots of historical interpretation though, seemingly in attempt to replace the Guidance and Wisdom of GOD? Actually promoting disunity?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please - me thinks you got caught with your facts out of order - again. Take time to review, read, and then post only when you are INFORMED. The story was about what ND stated - not what the 3rd party may or may not be doing. (so much for your attempt to assuage your inaccurate statements).\n\nThe whole issue makes a mountain out of a molehill. Very few Catholics believe in the clerical anti-contraceptive decrees.....most educated catholics settled this question decades ago and the younger generation doesn't even ask the question.\n\nThis is not a religious freedom issue - it is made up by clerics who can not admit that they are wrong and have been since the 1930s.\n\nThis is as much a religious freedom issue as folks (like Republicans) who say that it is too early to discuss gun control following the Sutherland Springs shooting. Disingenuous to the nth degree!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anti-Catholicism is not important compared to groping say the masters. Ignore the issue. Ban Catholics like the KKK in Eugene in the 1920's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, Purgatrix? Young people are attracted to the Gospel. The problem is that churches don't reflect what they see in the Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelicals should start their own party...party of Kindergarten Christians that don't believe how the Earth was created as, but can say with 1 to 3 percent certainty that Global Warming is not significantly induced by man, the original sinner in the beginning and as well, in the end.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's a shame.\n\nShows poor formation and a lukewarmness in the lay about their interior life.\n\nI've often asked the question..mainly to myself (and occasionally here - and I get hammered for it): To what extent does my own (and the lay's own) lukewarmness about their interior life \"rub off\" on the priests in my parish?\n\nMy hypothesis is that if we never go to confession...that poor priest who is trying to make Jesus as available as possible...is sitting quietly in that confessional..waiting..and waiting..and then thinking and then getting discouraged...or even personally weakened in their own interior life. Why bother...\n\nOr even if we go to confession..if we go infrequently or go superficially...without putting a mere 5 minutes into a mental examination of conscience....the priests KNOW this...they can sense it....and so the discouragement can continue.\n\nA priest can tell whether someone is striving toward God..and I don't think I've ever met a priest who doesn't want to help.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Catholic Church ran itself like a religion instead of a humanist whatever-feels-right social club (like the other Protestant sects), we'd see more men joining the priesthood and more people going to mass, all derivative of having an understanding of what the religion is actually about. I've three kids who have attended Catholic religious \"education\" classes who know virtually nothing about Catholicism. If they were boys, they'd have no inclination to be a priest, as they have no idea what a priest is or what one stands for. \n\nI was driving my kids to mass this past Good Friday and asked them what Good Friday was. Crickets.\n\nAs one who attended catechism classes during the seventies, I witnessed first-hand the transformation of Catholic education from religious understanding to social pacifism. The Greatest Story Ever Told is not being told any longer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ka'ahumanu had HUGE importance in Hawaii's history (no pun intended!) \n\nShe was the main instigator in abolishing the old religion..After Kamehameha I died, she stood next to the new King Kamehameha II, who was a mere boy, and she declared to the assembled leaders: \"We two shall rule together\" -- which was actually a coup d'etat. She pressured the boy and his sacred mother Keopuolani, and high priest Hewahewa, to sit down together to eat at a public luau, thereby overthrowing the kapu. A few years later, when K2 died in London and the boy K3 became king, she continued as regent of the kingdom.\n\nLater, on her deathbed, she finally begged to be baptized as a Christian. A marble placque in Kawaiaha'o Church, on the wall just inside the front door, celebrates the historic importance of her baptism, which persuaded numerous other high chiefs to become Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\nTrue: they each have their own traditions, customs and disciplines. However, all Eucharistic practices are rooted in the meal which we traditionally call the \"Last Supper.\" I think no-one would argue that Jesus placed the morsels of bread on the tongues of those who were at table with him that night. (I don't think he placed the morsels in their hands, either, at least not in the way that is customary now.) \nAny way of sharing the bread and wine that developed after the Last Supper that differs from the meal the Lord shared with his friends is a departure from the practice of the Lord. I used the word \"aberration\" in that sense -- a departure from the apostolic practice. However, the word \"aberration\" is fraught with negative connotation, more so than what I intended. I think post-apostolic practices that differ from the original are not necessarily illegitimate, and I'm comfortable with development of different practices. \nI take your point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This reply seems to wrongly conflate the CTSA, which respects academic rigor, with the hierarchic administration of The Catholic University of America, which is censured by the American Association of University Professors for disrespecting academic rigor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"academic freedom\" and \"market place of ideas\" which Charles Koch and those in his network love to abuse ... assume a certain balance of power between those presenting. As part of their intentional social engineering of our societies to better enrich themselves against the common good of all of us ... including future generation, Kochet al abuse this aspect of \"liberal democracy\" ... funding hydras of institutions with hundreds of millions of dollars that churn out misinformation, obfuscation, and out-right lies in order to manipulate our understanding of every aspect of our lives - including our religion. \n\nThis not only threatens our democracies, it threatens our lives in so many ways - including our understanding of our Catholic Social Teachings.\n\nThese folks - like the Supreme Council of the Knights, love to very selectively refer to Centesimus Annus criticism of socialism but omit John Paul II scathing criticism of unregulated capitalism and their version of \"free enterprise\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The sacrament of marriage predates the Council of Trent a few years - like 1530+/-.\n\nMost exegetes aren\u2019t part of the teaching authority of the Church, and almost none prior to the late 1800s even thought to question the text.\n\nThe Catholic Church, to which I belong, does not question it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We'll just have to disagree about Gal 3:28. Of course it has nothing to do with bureaucracy! 1Cor 12:5-30 describes charisms and harmonization within the body of Christ. Not sure where the argument against women priests occurs in those passages.\n\n<> Seriously? If you believe that, then you must be anti-democratic, because for earth to be as it is in heaven would require monarchy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I usually enjoy Mr. Tammeus' insights, but today he left out some very important contextual information:\n1) The mainline Presbyterian Church that he belongs to has lost 70% of its members in the past \n 40 years; so, I guess, voting on God's truths every two years doesn't work!\n2) Their mainline Sunday church services are nearly empty with just 30 or 40 members in \n attendance.\n3) There has been splits among Presbyterians during the past 40 years, and the more \n conservative Presbyterian denominations (which forbid same-sex marriage) are overflowing \n compared to the liberal ones.\n4) The Evangelicals who \"wrapped the knuckles\" of Rev. Eugene Petersen have churches that are \n overflowing, compared to the empty mainline Presbyterian churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"But emphasizing their innocence, I feared, would make it seem like all other undocumented immigrants would be seen as criminal. \"\n- DACA is just one of the nested dolls in the debate about immigration.\n- One of the nested dolls is the one that reminds USA that beginning a day after the Amnesty a concerted effort by businesses especially, and in some families, to pretend that the immigration laws then were not valid and were not to be implemented.\n- Another nested doll, recently crammed into the stack, is the one AGSessions articulates that sounds a lot like immigration in the early 19thcen., preferences given to groups with out perceived intellectual attainments, or not possessing cultural impediments like catholicism.\n- Any solution can not be a toggle switch because the solution for one doll imputes the solution for the next doll.\n- Any solution will not abate shame from the mistakes USA made on these matters for 40 years or so. USA is connected thoroughly to the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\nMy father, an Irish Catholic of the old school (endowed as the Irish are with a healthy anti-clericalism), pointed out during Pope John Paul's first visit to the United States that the Sacrament of Penance would fall victim to John Paul's preaching about birth control. By that time, birth control was only an academic question for my parents; but obviously it had not always been. My father's point, and history has confirmed it, was that John Paul's hard line approach left no wiggle room for confessors and no reason for married persons to confess. If they thought birth control was a sin, but lacked a \"firm purpose of amendment\", the priest could not absolve them. If they didn't think it was a sin, there was nothing to confess. Either way, there was no reason to go to confession. The priest -- the church -- had nothing to offer them. And so the sacrament was largely lost for at least two generations of Catholics. Some of these continued to go to Mass and communion; many didn't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A microaggression..what, they didn't complain to a Human Rights Tribunal?\n\nNice to hear some people still have a sense of humour.\n\nI would suggest the following as an example of people participating in their neighbours' cultural celebrations without giving up their own identity:\n\nhttp://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/christmas-big-hit-islamic-republic-pakistan-n270666\n\n\"Unlike millions of fellow Santa letter-writers, Peshimams are not Christian but Muslim. And they live in Karachi, the teeming megacity in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. They have nevertheless embraced the holiday because it makes sense, Gibran Peshimam said.\n\n\"The entire process is so perfect for a child,\" the 32-year-old online journalist said. \"The request to Santa, the anticipation while decorating the tree, the excitement of waking up in the morning to wrapped presents, it is almost like Christmas is made for all children all over the world \u2014 regardless of religion or culture.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where do you find Jesus telling us to right the wrongs in society? I can't find that in my Bible. But I do find plenty about ministering God's love individually to the people I meet. That's the \"doing right\" Jesus modeled for us to copy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems to be more complex. While spiritual fatherhood has always been part of the Church as referred in the bible,it has in the beginning been used for Bishops.\n\nAs for Priests, it seems to have been different from nation to nation, but the most common was lord(dominus), this can still be seen in romance languages with the title Don/Dom or monsignor(My lord). \n\nCalling a priest father seems to be of a more affectionate nature similar to pastor. In any case in the East there also exist a tradition of calling priests father batushka(\u0431\u0430\u0442\u044e\u0448\u043a\u0430), (oytets)\u043e\u0442\u0435\u0446, and even pop(\u043f\u043e\u043f) in several Slavic languages. Likewise in Greek.\n\nCuriously in Arabic/Aramaic it is historically been different, where Bishops are refereed to as \"master\" but priests and hegumons as abouna/abba(father). Where the word Abbot comes from. \n\nThere is also the Latin rite where the servers refer to the priest as \"pater\"\nSuffice it to say I don't think I would call it a recent innovation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I made no comment regarding the \"rights\" of countries. What do yo contend is the basis of these \"rights\" you claim countries possess? I don't recall Jesus ever commenting on countries having rights. His messages were directed at individuals. I doubt he ever intended for nations to claim they were \"christian,\" and no nation has ever based its governance on the beatitudes, much less His other teachings. Turning the other cheek and so forth doesn't really work for countries.\nI don't know if your theoretical deportation from Mexico would be racist. But if you want to claim there is not an element of racism in the immigration debate, you are incorrect. Your use of Mexico as an example shows that when you think \"immigrant\" you think \"Mexican.\" You are aware there is a substantial population of illegal immigrants from Ireland here in the US? And you do realize many of what you consider \"Mexicans\" are people descended from the people who were here before your ancestors arrived?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What utter hogwash. Look at the slaves taken by the ottomans or the religious persecution of caucasian minorities all over europe by the catholic church. The killing of mainly white people and the displaced persons (refugees) during and post ww2 is to this day the largest genocide and refugee situation in history.\nNone of which denies the suffering or persecution of the first nations or others. But many non white societies (including first nations) were slavers themselves.\nIt was the white uk that first abolished slavery, and persecuted those engaged in it. Western societies are trying to make amends today whereas many other oppressive countries/cultures are still engaging in ethnic cleansing (rohyinga) and discrimination.\n\nYet we cannot blame people alive today for the transgressions of the past. We can and should try to make things better for all not engage in silly accusations of race privilege.\nIf canada is such a bad place to live why do so many immigrants apply to live here?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Blowing a trumpet hard is not playing it. You must make use of your hands; above all, your fingers. Likewise with words. Typing words out, posting them on \"post space,\" as it were, is not communication. You need to make use of basic grammar, syntax and, above all, English idiom. Sadly, you spoil your sentences to get your rage out. And your rage?? Well, enjoy it! You seem to revel in it.\n\nThe point of my post to Carol Stanton: the Indian priest's comment -- that he thought \"abuse [in India] was absolutely happening\" -- seemed to me to be an understatement, a comment weakly and narrowly stated, given the fact that half the children of India have been sexually abused, i.e., tens of millions. It would be like a US priest stating in the 1850's that US slavery was \"absolutely happening\" on some Catholic plantations -- while barely alluding to the plague of slavery affecting million of people, the whole country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder if leaders of Muslim countries push Canadian culture on their people as much as Trudeau pushes Muslim culture on Canadians? \n\nThink about that for a second. \n\nGood on you Quebec. Keep it up. They said the law is for safety reasons, but the backlash is ALWAYS related to religion, and discrimination and feminism, etc, etc. Either way, I wish we had a federal leader that cared about ALL Canadians first. This \"diversity is our strength\" crap is out of control. This diversity is the problem, NOT the solution. Canadian means Canadian first, period. Muslim countries are not allowing Christians, Hindus, Jews or even atheists to go in and start changing theirs laws, and their statues, and their governments or their societies. Not in any way, shape or form. In a normal world, countries protect (fervently) their countries roots, heritage and society. \n\nHow on earth can anyone not see that Quebec is simply trying to do that?? I just shake my head...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hate to tell you, Rev. but ethical, moral behavior existed long before the myth of Jesus. And Mr. Smith, lots of people die for beliefs, abstract ideas and ideals, no personification necessary. The fact that some people \"mentioned\" a person they say was named Jesus doesn't mean that a man identified as the mystical son of God ever actually existed. The two are not mutually exclusive. The bottom line is that historically, humans have believed in some sort of powerful being: We've worshiped the weather, fire, animals, devil figures, demons, witches, multiple gods and so on over the ages. Even today there is a multitude of religions with one or more gods, entities or another. Why do you suppose that is? Don't you think it says more about us than anything us?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It appears to me, as a citizen who walks about unmolested on the streets, Catholics and other persons who freely associate with a religious community, are not prevented from attending daily or weekly worship. Such persons are allowed to contribute to the upkeep of religious institutions and activities in the public square. We seem free to worship, assemble, educate according to our conscience and wallet. In a pluralist society, how else should freedom of religion manifest?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope did not fire him, he resigned. Given his oath to the Knights and his oath of supporting the Church, I don't think he could resolve the conflicting duties.\n\nBut you do put your finger on something the \"whoopee\" contingent have yet to note: the Holy Father is now revealing more of what really makes him tick.\n\nHe earned the nickname \"La comadreja\" in Argentina, and now he is showing how.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With these groups, I cannot always really know: is this particular group the Pro-life group? OR is it the anti-abortion group? \nThere is a big difference. For example Patricia Heaton is part of the anti-abortion group. Same with George Weigel, Jeb Bush, Newt Gingrich and nearly all of the GOP and the Religious Right -- the Catholic Church prelates. \nI believe all of those at EWTN are part of the anti-abortion group. \nIn fact, most people who call themselves Pro-life are really anti-abortion. \nOne almost needs a player list and a scorecard to tell the two apart.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Women are uniquely qualified to resolve the vocation crisis and the universal priest shortage. Vatican condemnations, (male) clerical opinions and the slavish adherence of Catholic right-wingers to their favorite and select traditions are not working, and never did work, and never will work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"\u201cThis is not about any single telescope. This is not about Hawaiian culture versus science.\" Since one of the core issues is spiritual; i.e., religious or superstitious (take your pick), it reminds me of the Catholic Church persecuting scientists who said the earth circled the sun rather than the other way around.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Burke has long been a champion of papal authority. Now he is a critic. It seems the 'principled position' you assume he holds on the 'Amoris Laetitia' issue includes a big flip-flop on his earlier 'principled position' regarding papal authority. So, one of Burke's 'principles,' at least according to you, enables him to throw other 'principles' under the bus, so to speak. Please let me know which of Burke's 'principles' are not subject to change and which can be changed as he sees fit. \n\nWhat's going on is not difficult to understand. The current 'Vicar of Christ,' guided by the Holy Spirit, has decided to take Jesus at his word; namely, that God is God of love and forgiveness who desires mercy, not sacrifice. Burke and his cabal would seem to support a God of vengeance and unrelenting punishment who desires sacrifice, not mercy - and they feel threatened by a Pope who takes the words of Jesus seriously.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't personally wish this guy any harm....and I do hope he rests in peace....but I think, given his behavior at a critical point in our national AND international catholic religious history...that noting it is my choice, as a counterpoint to this CNS piece....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course not! That would be too much for Cardinal Burke and he would declare Papa Francesco an arch-heretic and take over the Vatican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1000 BC is when the Jahwist story was written. They had no connections to the first group of homo sapiens in Africa, or even the Homo Neanderthals which intermingled with them when they crossed the red see into the Middle East. This is about archeology, not history. What is history is scholarship on the Jahwist writer and the rabbinical and priestly addtions to the Tenach and the clear evolution of both mankind and the the creation story from the Sumeric story with its multiple Gods. The Catholic counter-myth was that Moses wrote Genesis. There is much evidence that he did not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really? Francis HAS been trying to seek communion since he walked into the Vatican. He's not blind nor deaf to these 'wolves' growling. Let me give you a few examples:\n\n1) From the start, the website Pontifex has accused Francis of \"populism, pauperism, and demagogy\"\n2) When during a general audience, a woman dropped her purse, Francis bent over to pick it up for her, he was criticized by some of these very same cardinals.\n\nThe vice dean of the College of Cardinals, Govanni Battista Re noted this and stated \"Francis' style of great simplicity doesn't please those who like to imagine the pope always on his throne with a miter on his head.\"\n\nI can cite many other instances of the condemnations coming from the likes of these men---who 'dress up' their criticism as \"advice\". As Archbishop of Buenos Aires----Cardinal Bergoglio encountered a lot of this 'criticism' coming from different sectors of the Curia.\n\nJesus did not form his followers to live/dress like \"Grand Dames.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I agree, your expression was typicaly churlish and hardly conducive to civilised debate.\nVF: \"This truth is the only basis for sound pastoral practice relating to the Sixth Commandment.\"\nYour reply: \"This opinion is what the celibate men of the magisterium teach. It is the basis for some terrible pastoral practice.\"\nWhy is it opinion? You don't say. Who are 'the celibate men of the Magisterium? Again you don't say. What is the terrible pastoral practice? Yet again you don't say.\nOur Lord was celibate. Does that disqualify His teaching on marriage?\nVF: \"Anyone contradicting this truth is a heretic and an enemy of Jesus Christ.\"\nYour reply: Anyone contradicting my personal opinion is a Catholic in good standing.\"\nThat reply is the sort of thing one might expect from a child.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Talmud also makes offensive claims about Jesus and Mary that go against what we believe in as Catholics, so my response to what the Talmud says about the unborn being non-persons is, \"So what?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was as about 'on the periphery' as you get, and the movement he inspired drew the poor and marginalised to Him. Today the Church is growing in the Third World. And it seems that Francis is taking the Church's preferential option for the poor seriously. Perhaps we'll be blessed to see the day when priests and religious from those \"isolated and poverty-stricken\" places will evangelise North America. We need it!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your first 5 points are straw man arguments and a complete waste of time. \n1) Hopefully Christian kids are not being \u201cpicked on\u201d. Many of the theological views they hold are mocked by teachers and students. Concentrate on the Beatitudes if you want an insight into Christianity. \n2) They should not be promoting any religion.\n3) Schools should teach the skills needed to survive in a very complicated world. Schools were not designed to provide social welfare. Teachers are not policemen, nurses, psychologists or substitute parents. \n4) Wouldn\u2019t it be easier to teach a transgender student that the world really doesn\u2019t care and isn\u2019t going to play the same games that their teachers play? \n5) Socialism is an economic system that puts community rights over individual rights. \n6) You got this one spot on!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Haven't seen any story on one of the largest gatherings of (mostly Catholic) pray-ers in recent history in Europe: The Polish people. A link above is not a story from NCR. \n\nNCR has had 5 or 6 articles of very small conference in Boston mostly of the hierarchy/institutional church), retelling the same little tid bits again and again...\n\nbut no time or interest in covering grass roots people praying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So only upon your own authority the. Your concept of \"a reasonable member of the Catholic Church,\" again is merely your own concept. \nDoes a hierarchy of truths mean that one truth is truer than another? At what point or level in the hierarchy can a truth be disbelieved?\nAre all truths contained only in the creeds?\nIs everything the Church teaches outside the creeds optional, take it or leave it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "P17,\nWhy? Because most of them have been here for years. I recall that I have been here since Bush was prez.\nSO we have a HISTORY of posting CIVIL COMMENTS!!! \nWhat you see now is due to what we experience from you and similar. \nPossibly our best response to you is not to respond in kind but to just ignore you and not to respond at all!!! \nAggressive language toward others will NOT convey your ideas only to get them rejected. \nWe have experienced enough hatred from Pope John Paul II and his pal Teflon Man Reagan. Then by BXVI. \nAlso be the USCCB amd other so called Catholic/GOP leaders and personalities. \nYou must also remember that every time one of you newbie aggressor, haters or bomb throwers come on this site over the past many years we have to go thru these same explanations over and over. \nWE KNOW we are the hated liberals we do not need any reminders. WE band together out of our beliefs in the Common Good. WE tend to not be foollowers of GOP type of godless, soulless, \nbelow--", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kurgan, let me reply to that as one who lived through it. In thrashing my way out of the abuse, among other things I shared the problem with a few people. Some of them I continue to think very highly of. However, no one -- not conservative, liberal, priest, bishop, lay Catholic, or law enforcement -- responded in what we would consider a \"correct\" way today. I can tell you the same thing about drunk driving when I was young. We knew it was wrong, and we tried to limit it, but it was pervasive and kind of normal. Thank God this generation is better than we were.\nSome disagree, but I give the bishops a pass until their 1985 commissioned report. They rejected that report, lied about it, and the few who tried to run counter and be proactive ran straight into Vatican oversight. After 1985, they are quite literally guilty as sin. Any measured response given now, anything less than emphatic change, is inadequate. Before 1985? Sadly blinded to the horror by a complacent faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am sure that there are so many lapsed Catholics raring to come home after hearing about this sort of thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good thing the Church is not a democracy so that the hierarchs in charge can jump right on this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very good article. Thank you.\n\nMagnanimous how Trump gave the Pope writings from MLK\n\nBut the pope gave Trump his own writings! NOT a million other Catholic saints, NOT a couple of hundred other popes, NOT the words of Jesus, perhaps a small pocket version of just the Gospels!\n\nhmmm.\n\nI predicted here last week that Trump would run circles around the pope. The president knows how to be magnanimous; the pope tends to smallness when he's faced with a competitor. \n\nAnd the first lady, well, what class and good visits.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We \"sheeple\" in the pews should extend our hands to each other during the recitation of the Lord's Prayer in solidarity against the hegemony of the celibate hierarchs who have driven the church of our birth over the cliff and into the abyss of corruption and complicity. \n\n\"Our Father, give us this day priests and bishops who love your Gospel more than their patriarchal power and privilege.\" Amen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "National Catholic Reporter has a lot of great contributors. Sr. Rose, you are one of them. Congratulations on your award.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The nuns in the US are investigated - how about the convent in Buenos Aires ?\n(Can't do it - too profitable)\n\n\" ....Jose Lopez, was arrested while tossing bags stuffed with millions of dollars over the walls of a Catholic convent on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. A surveillance video shows the nuns finally welcoming Lopez and accepting the cash....\"\n\nhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...\n\nSeems like the nuns in Francesco's Buenos Aires didn't get the message. Can you imagine what the Abp of Buenos Aires takes in ?\nWasn't that Francesco's former job ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On one level what you are seeing is a good result of Catholic education. They know how to conduct engaged and respectful lives, even if the institutional Church doesn't meet their needs at the moment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u2018I assure you, as often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me.\u2019 (Mat 25:40)\nIs this Jesus teaching only for the Jews? I am sure the majority of these illegal Mexicans are Catholics. You are not a Catholic or a Christian, are you? Or you being a American citizen comes first and being Catholic second? \n\u201cSo we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.\u201d ( 12:5) Is this teaching apply to the aliens, then?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wrong move. Obama or whomever takes over is going to have their hands full. You just can't push our values onto a country and region that has no separation of church/state. And most certaintly are not going to end thousands of years of conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis with a decree. \nAlso, christianity really has no say in Israel. Judaism is the source of christianity and thus their land. I doubt Israel will flinch at any action Obama makes. Seeing as how the God ordered the Philistines to be ALL killed, but David did not and they came back and caused destruction. To think that Israel would form a lasting resolution with Philistine (Palestine) is going against their beliefs. You really can't dictate a country that is so embedded in history and religion. People too often confuse our christian beliefs to be parallel with Judaism or think we have a foothold there when the christianity faith accounts for about 2% of Israel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Focusing on your last paragraph, I can't imagine reasonable people disagreeing with it. That we have a duty as Christians to love not only our own people but those of other countries is not debatable --- not to a Christian. But loving the poor of other countries doesn't require us to take them in, not if it harms us or is not in our best interest. While we have a duty to help the poor, we have no duty to turn ourselves into a third-world country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes - and I actually know quite a few. And many of them are trying to make things right.\n\nMuch of the problem with illegal Polish and Irish immigration is the prejudicial system. In assisting a Polish priest with some immigration problems, I actually had a US Congressman - Democrat, btw - tell me that it would be easier to get a \"deranged Imam\" into the country that a Polish Catholic priest. That was about 3 years ago. Luckily, we were able to get him in.....\n\nBTW - there are estimated to be around 50K Irish and 70K Polish undocumented in the US. And according to PEW - over 11 Million in 2014.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've observed the most painstaking, polite and well-grounded argument completely wasted time and time again. It just does not matter whether one is a pitbull or a dove. Many people are simply impervious. Exhibit A: some of the comments under Father Daly's piece on Trump and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.\n\nThe disappearance of Elagabalus's posts in the Disqus days was completely mysterious, and many people objected. It had nothing to do with sarcasm or hissy fits. I don't know why one would ignore him. He's a lively debater, well informed. In fact, I'm straining to remember whether he's ever made a false statement. Nothing comes to mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't recall reading that the Bible study was being conducted on \"work-time\"...could you point that out to me?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Having been to (and having family in) the part of the world from which Jesus (alayhis-Salaam) came, I think you'd find that physically he resembled Usama bin Ladin a LOT more than he did Jeffery Hunter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In 1992, SC Justice Anton Scalia stated in the majority opinion that religious institutions that wish to engage in the secular marketplace do not have the right to impose their religious beliefs on the general population. He was right then and that majority opinion is correct today- in spite of the religious bigots who wish to impose their biases on everyone else. \n\nNo- the baker, the photographer, the florist, do NOT have a right to hide behind the false narrative of 'religious freedom' to deny services to the general public. Odd how the 'Christian' conservatives are so insecure in their beliefs that they must impose their own version of sharia law in our secular nation. Even Gov Pence was rebuked by his own Republican Statehouse for his repeated attempts to push his small-minded religious bigotry into State policy. They told him to stand down and shut up. Yes- even in Indiana!\n\nThis attempt to use 'religion' to deny services to others is beyond the baker. The video is comical.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While one may profoundly disagree with religious or political views, I am greatly saddened at the violence shown by the attacks on mosques in Canada and around the world. As a conservative person in general and conservative Christian, these attacks remind me of our need to see real people as people like us. One seeks to love all people and live with whether or not all people may not want the same for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Such a great opportunity to house our Kupuna in a good neighborhood with truly affordable rent. Way to go Catholic Charities!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh very much so, and I even remember reading a devotional work published before VII that explicitly compared to a mixture of dance routine and a Baroque opera, it has elements of both. And that is why I always said that while a SHM is a beautiful piece of art, it isn't something that should be daily fare. And it is very much a show, like sitting in front of a stage watching an opera or dance routine like they used to show on the Ed Sullivan Show. And though, according to the old rubrics, that was the ideal for the liturgy, what most Catholics got was a ratty old movie theater on the bad side of town, showing nothing but repeats of the lowest quality silent films....without the fun piano scores or subtitles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics, or at least a majority of Catholics, voted Trump into the office he now holds for two and only two reasons: to stop abortion and gay marriage.\u2014Elagabalus \u201cThese signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons\u201d (Mark 16:17) and there are demons aplenty in that budget and among the people forming a firm electoral base for Trump. \u201cFor ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord\u201d (Psalm 89:2). Some good things seem to be happening with the French elections. Maybe the Catholics in France can influence the Catholics in the US. \u201cBeloved: Clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another\u201d (1 Peter 5:5b) do let truth speak to power, stand up to \u201calternative facts.\u201d Oh, if the Church would only do as much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, Christ said a lot of things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"This has been some month,\" said Daughter of Charity Sr. Carol Keehan, president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, a leadership organization of more than 2,000 Catholic hospitals and health care facilities. \"I'm not surprised; I'm frustrated. None of this is consistent with Catholic social teaching.\"\n\nOf course it isn't consistent with Catholic Social teaching. It is consistent with Ayn Rand/materialist/atheist teaching embraced by the Republican's biggest donors, the Koch Bros.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We need unity.\n\nWe need to stop dividing into sects, drawing up \"walls\" around ourselves.\n\nAs Francis says \"closing in\". \n\nCatholic Black Congress\n\nSeparate Black graduations at many colleges this year. \n\nWe are going the wrong direction. \n\n\"Diversity\" has led to well, a lot more division!\n\nInstitutionalized division now. \n\nCraziness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He wrote it to demonstrate why Jesus, who told his followers to do many things, ever told them to write books.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hopefully, M\u00fcller chooses Christ. He might choose against Christ to save his job, only to end up losing both his job and his soul anyways. He needs our prayers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I go to a sedevacantist church, which uses the 1945 St. Andrew Missal. The vatican considers us outside the church, which is somewhat fair, although to say we don't worship as catholics is a stretch. Now, I think the traditional mass is very beautiful and draws young people in. They like it. I am not a sedevacantist but I don't like the new mass. It lends itself to quite awful abuses. Maybe Francis could gives us an exemption to use this mass. I think it would put young people in the pews. Maybe I will just start going to EF masses, though I have an issue with the 1962 missal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God made mankind in his image and likeness, but Jesus chose Apostles in his image and likeness. Who are we to argue?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you have decided that all by yourself so now you put yourself forward as the alternative magisterium? Tell us why we should take notice of you and reject what the Church teaches and has always taught.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, so you agree with most of the teachings re: Faith and Morals but not all. Does that not signify that you personally decide which teaching you accept and which you reject. Don't you understand that this is exactly what I am accusing you of? You personally are deciding what is Catholic doctrine.\nI am not the Magisterium. However, you seem to confuse me with the Magisterium because I repeat what the Magisterium teaches. I rely upon the Magisterium for what I post, you rely purely upon your own personal judgement which you place higher than the Magisterium.\nAgain, you prove my point that your concept of 'a reasonable man' is how you see yourself. Anyone who disagrees with you is, according to you, not 'a reasonable man'. John Hobson is the epitome of 'reasonableness' and the proof of that is that John Hobson says he is. I judge ... I judge ... with the emphasis on 'I'.\nMost people here will not have an issue with your aggressive stance because it sits with them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no inconsistency. I don't celebrate laws or this law, I support it. It is wrong to legislate morality because it ends up with greater injustice. Adultery is a serious wrong and it should not be a crime. Idolatry is the most serious sin a person can commit but it should not be a crime in the U.S. \n\nWe don't prohibit murder, theft, discrimination against blacks and women as a matter of morality but of public equality for all citizens which enables the public peace to be kept more readily. We don't criminalize adultery because it would not cure the problem any more than illegalizing abortion has lessened abortion rates in any countries where it is illegal - it has in fact given these countries higher rates of abortion in almost every case.\n\nThere is a reason to have governmental laws to keep the peace and allow an even playing field for all citizens. Churches have a higher criteria for morality as to what constitutes sin as this should be based on Gospel to gain salvation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Einstein is purported to have said that no problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.\nIf you accept Einstein's point of view, then the Church's problems cannot be solved without an enhanced change of consciousness. The failure of the Church to permit change especially in individual consciousness will result in its demise. We are seeing it unfold.\nI think Monica's suggestion that we, the People of God, take responsibility for our faith and form our own communities (as the early Churches that Paul helped form did).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic means \"universal\"? Well, you happened to be right. Now ... if you scroll to the top of this page you will find: \"national CATHOLIC Reporter.\" Do you think, the content and orientation of this medium is what its name says: Universal\"? :)))\n\nDo you think all those proudly claiming to be \"left wing\" are actually universally minded? Are you? Even if you are, 90% are not, judging from how quickly my comments get flagged as \"uncivil\" simply because people disagree with me, ... all in the name of \"universality\", \"inclusiveness\" and \"tolerance\" :))", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We\u2019ve covered this turf before. Forgiveness is offered. Repentance results in forgiveness. My model is right out of the Scriptures, endorsed by the Fathers, outlined in the moral theology books, part of the theology of the sacrament of Penance, and so on.\n\nJesus invited sinners - to repentance. Jesus respected the choice of the Pharisees, but told them\n\nMatthew 23: 33 \"You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? 34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, 35 that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechari'ah the son of Barachi'ah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am sure Abraham DID question God, as many in the Bible did, but in the end he trusted in God's ultimate goodness, and God provided a sacrifice instead of Isaac. I would also question God if he told me the same, which he wouldn't because the price has been paid through Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, it's unfortunate that Catholics seem to have lost sight of the fact their is unity in diversity. For that matter so have Americans. If Jesus had wanted uniformity as opposed to unity, He would have made the Apostles twelve Borg and they would have preached 'you will be assimilated'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The older evangelicals used to be second to none among demographic groups insisting morality was crucial in a politician.....until 2016, when they quite literally switched to the opposite pole. \n\nTo their credit, many younger evangelicals are disgusted with their elders and with Trump. The Nov. 4 edition of The Economist has several worthwhile articles on Protestantism in view of the 500 year anniversary of Martin Luther and the Reformation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I an see the basis for your reactions, but it certainly lacks any appreciation for the actual situation in which these people find themselves. We are talking about an impoverished, barely developing African country that is torn apart by civil unrest and outright war. Each day brings a distinct possibility of death. It is near impossible for us to actually grasp the intensity of such a life, but if one really does believe in Jesus Christ, each of us can make a leap in understanding granted by Him. It seems you have not yet grasped that essential part of being Christian, Rompecorazones. Perhaps a lengthy period of prayer and reflection will awaken the deep Charity that lies beneath the harshness of initial reactions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I definitely have no argument with you on that point in fact that was from within Victoria alone and were what we knew of.\nMore than a few priests can be added to those numbers too.\nI guess we have to leave it to Pope Francis in relation to the evil in the church; he began on the bottom rung of the ecclesiastical ladder and knew what was expected of him for the next level/s with the oath of allegiance of bishops not to the church, not to God but to the pope. At this point in history the buck stops with him to make up for what's been done in their name [including himself] collectively.\nForgiveness I'm not too sure about and I do question it considering the lives destroyed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but which Catholic org speaks \"for all the faithful\"? NCR? \n\nLook NCR, it's like this. People freely give $ to you because they feel you're sympatico to their particular views on Catholicism. It's the same story with the Knights; they just happen to have more supporters than ye do.\n\nWhy do the Knights have such support? Maybe because they actually do real service work, rather than covering the progressive tea and biscuit talks that always amount to nothing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dennis, if you believe only the Gospels inform your Faith, then you might as well be a presbyterian.\n\nWe have tradition and the Catechism. They all form the Faith.\n\nMercy and Kindness are indeed essential to our salvation... However, we must also follow the doctrines of Faith.\n\nIt is not an \u201ceither/or\u201d situation. As Faithful Catholics, we must have both", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus is God, the Son of God. He was not deceived in the Gospels, not even by Judas. The pope, however, is not God. And a pope has certainly never spoken \"ex cathedra\" about the character of any lay person or cleric. He might have an instinct for discerning character -- reasoning from his observations to his feeling, etc. -- but only an instinct.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I think the story of bible is, start to finish, a story about inequality. It is a story about God choosing whom He will choose. The inequality between men and women is part of my basic premise.\"\n\nThen your basic premise is wrong, because that is Calvinism, not Adventism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I appreciate the point you're making here. Those who defend capital punishment point to the wiggle room in Catholic teaching, but since (and including) Pope John Paul II, each pope has articulated a teaching narrowing the \"wiggle room\". In my view, it's disingenuous to argue that conditions in the United States satisfy the criteria established by the popes and the catechism to support capital punishment -- but that's what its defenders argue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How so?\n\nNothing stopping the Catholics from having prayer time on Friday's too if they request it", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "W. Abbott,\n\nI'm NOT trusting myself, but I have growing confidence in the God who is leading me and using me to touch others with His love. If I sound confident it can only be because of the experiences I have had working with God and the marvelous things I've seen Him do both in me and through me. The wonderful news is that He wants to empower and guide you and work through you in ways you can only imagine. Are you willing to let Him show you the ministry that He wants you doing? \n\nMy critical moment of decision came while reading in Exodus about the encounter Moses had with God at the burning bush. I felt like God was asking me the same question: \"What is in your hand?\" I had little to offer, but when I offered it, He blessed it and ever since then I've been on the most amazing ministry adventure of my life. God wants to do the same with you and will do it if you let Him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis has offered no clear explanation of the ambiguous Chapter 8 in AL or its obscure footnote. Some interpret it in line with existing Church teaching; some do not. This is not good enough from a Pope charged with defending and teaching the faith. A private letter to bishops in Argentina, subsequently withdrawn, is insufficient. It has no authority. Let him answer the questions and be clear. Then we can all be sure.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr. Reese mentioned the two letters that raised the bishops'stature in the media world and to others outside the culture of Roman Catholicism. He failed to mention the failed letter on women. This still is the crux of the problem. For those of us who were involved in the talk back efforts it is still a clear and ongoing concern. Our bishop actually came listened and responded. In my viewpoint everything went downhill from there. The sense of spiritual energy, the compassion of hope,and nourishment for out of the box thinking ( a gift I would posit of the Holy Spirit) was at best lost -at worst trashed and thrown out in the garbage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You appear to be giving in to the error of sola scriptura with all of these references to bible passages. Hardly something to do when discussing the one true and inerrant church with 2000 years of tradition to draw upon.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...if it is to survive....\"\n\nWhile I agree that the CC needs to get beyond its limited frame (in certain areas), Bill, I am quite sure (along with scholars and researchers) that the CC will be around in 2050, but not so sure that John Palocitz's Church will be. (Pew, Gallup and other researchers note that the CC will grow to 1.5-6 billion people by 2050.) The American Church, of course, might only grow to -- or stay at -- 80 million (instead of 100 million Catholics [in a country of 400 million]), but it still will be around as will its notable parishes, cathedrals, colleges and universities. \nI am sure, however, the Church will be a lot different in personnel, with married and celibate clerics working side by side and women in all ministries except the priesthood (unless a Vatican III changes that). But I am sure things will change, if only because of Eastern Catholic Church priests, Ordinariate priests, former Protestant ministers (ordained priests), all of whom are married.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I'm glad to see you have returned full strength Nora! A question per the Twelve -- do you mean Mt 19:28 where the 12 apostles are to sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel? In Luke 22:30, the parallel verse does not say how many thrones and the audience may be disciples, not apostles, as 22:35 reflects the 70 (or 72) in Luke 10:1-4. The apostles were also supposed to baptize (Mt 28:19). A bit of a puzzle because Jesus himself did not baptize (Jn 3:22 contradicted by Jn 4:2). But don't all the bishops have special princely chairs that are set up like thrones before their congregations? And the bishops are judgemental. So in that sense, very apostolic :) Are you going to join the RC womenpriests?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They do good work. I agree. But they have participated in something that will cause great harm, possibly to millions. They need to recognize and own the role they played in creating what could harm millions. It is no small thing - it is huge. \n\nI am still of the mind that I will not make use of Catholic hospitals or nursing homes. I fear in the competitive world in which we live, that they will drive out of business some other care givers who have a greater respect for those they treat and those they employ. Or, they will receive donations that could go to some other group that respects others.\n\nI appreciate your wanting to be sensitive and the fact that you recognize the good they do. But they also harm others, disrespect others. I won't pretend they are all goodness and light.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Her ancestors were forced to go to the West Indies, from India. They went as semi-slaves, and forced to convert to Christianity.\n\nWhy is it the only thing you know about India is the caste system? The only time it was legal was under the British Rule. At that point, there was apartheid in India - European only schools, hotels, streets, etc. They didn't mind if there was discrimination among Indians.\n\nAs soon as India became independent, caste discrimination was outlawed. Whereas in Hong Kong, Africa, the USA, and other British colonies practiced apartheid for centuries. In Hong Kong, till the 1990s, there were EUropean only schools, neighbourhoods, clubs etc. In the USA, till the 1960s, segregation was legal. Interracial marriage was illegal. And so on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've asked this same question for years, and have sadly come to the conclusion that in Roman Catholicism, the all-male celibate priesthood is more important than Jesus. Jesus is nothing more than the original template.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1} Paul VI said that VII was a pastoral council. 2}Even if VII were asserted to be authoritative, it must be rejected where it conflicts with the Church's prior dogmatic teaching. 3} Dogma {Divinely revealed truth} does not change because it can not change. 4} The only \"serious Catholic leaders\" I've come across lately are the signatories to the DUBIA.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, just natural realities.\n\nWe get sick, we have headaches and sores, we get terminal illness.\n\nThe question is: Have you learned how to sanctify all the realities that God allows in your life?\n\nHere's one: People make silly or cutting or sarcastic remarks for various reasons and deficiencies. \n\nWell formed Catholics say: It's our own defects that make us unhappy. I refuse to let this person's small or cutting or cynical or snide remarks dampen my cheer at all. I am an adopted and loved child of God. Nothing can shake my joy. God is my Father after all.\n\nAnd so rather than getting sad or upset when someone makes a small or sarcastic or cutting remark, the well formed Catholic simply integrates this experience with the suffering that Jesus happily took on for us. \n\nWe unite our suffering with us, and we are joyful because of this intimacy we share with Joy Himself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And don't forget Mr. Smirk himself, Dick Cheney, the evil genius behind the whole Iraq War-ISIS disaster, the war crimes, the torture.\n Was Cheney also a racist, xenophobe, homophobe, sexist? Is the Pope Catholic? 9/11 and the Iraq War disaster conveniently hid most of the social fluffery that Trump is exploiting. But Cheney was/is one wicked piece of work.\n And don't forget: somewhere between 40-60% of Canadians supported the Iraq War.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you just want to put everyone on the streets until the Catholics cough up the money for a few of them? Oh yeah, that should work. Funny. \n\nThe variety of U.S. governments have always provided care for those who couldn't to some degree, better or worse. So have private sources. Both. Since the beginning as colonies. Read some history instead of just following links provided on blogs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I investigated what he taught and did an analysis on his teachings during my degree. Desmond is way off what the bible is speaking of in Daniel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" But Pope Francis distinguishes between two kind of opposition: There is opposition which is criticism by people who care for the church. They love the church. They really want, in good conscience, the good of the church.\" \nFr, would you agree then that the four Cardinals would represent good opposition since they are actually concerned with Salvation of souls, the devil and hell from the quote above?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you stating there is no difference between the sacrificial actual presence of the Eucharist in the Catholic faith and what the Lutherans believe to be their \"supper eucharist \"? Let's not even consider that the Lutheran's in Sweden condone abortion, same sex marriage, female ordination, ect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Heaven help us, yet another prince of the church who wants to lord over his flock. Nice try spinning PF's message to meet your own personal needs, bishop. The church is here to guide and teach Christ's message and never to pass judgement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, the \"Orthodox Liturgy\" is ours too since the Byzantine Catholics use the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil.\nMy order of preference for form/rite/use is:\nEF\nDivine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom\nOrdinariate use\nReverently celebrated Novus Ordo", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know, that's exactly what Americans used to say about all of those awful Irish and Italian immigrants. so terribly loud, and such drunks. And then those Italians, yelling in that foreign language. Heaven knew that none of them would ever become real Americans. \nAnd, then there were the Easter Europeans ... And after WWII, the DPs came -- all of them, ungrateful people, talking in even more foreign languages. And then those Eastern =rite Catholics. Some of them had married priests! The scandal of it all. Luckily, the RC bishops put them in their place ......\nAnd I could go on.....\nIt's amazing, the people coming are from different countries, speaking different languages, with different customs, yet the response of some Americans remains constant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to this 2001 article, Riverbend went to Springfield because Eugene didn't want them anymore. \n\n \"Frustrated by Eugene's rigorous land-use measures, Catholic health system officials are sticking by a plan to move Sacred Heart Medical Center one town over.\n\n \"But the Register Guard has come out on the side of the hospital. In an editorial this week, the newspaper coined the term 'regressive majority' to describe the city council members who were setting the hospital on a tough regulatory slog.\"\n\n\"In a statement issued last week, PeaceHealth officials say that the Springfield site 'offers the greatest opportunity to build a new facility that meets the original goals and can be completed in a timely manner.'\n\nThe land-use process is 'simpler and clearer' than in Eugene, said the statement, \n\nI'd think Mckenzie-Willamette might have had similar thoughts.\n\nhttp://www.catholicsentinel.org/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=35&ArticleID=6373", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mike AA. I have read enough of just war theory in Augustine and Aquinas and more modern writers to discuss it with anyone with an open, intelligent mind. You yourself would not dare disarm the United States, but without any evidence to support you, you think it is what Jesus required. Believing that Jesus requires our disarmament, you say you don't have enough faith. Your self-criticism is misplaced. It's not that you lack enough faith in Jesus, it's that the Jesus in which you claim to have faith is one of your own making. Why you would construct such an inauthentic, silly Jesus is beyond me, especially since Church thinkers of much greater power than you have told you there's a duty to protect innocents against unjust attack. By your lights, you would call it a sin to defend one of your children during a night break-in. That's morally vacuous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics are not the only religion that makes a claim to be the true religion. In fact, why would anyone belong to a religion if they didn't think it true?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I like that slick little way you went from \"Catholics\" to \"devout Catholics\". What a riot! Got your number on the logic and coherence issues. Funny. But sweet that you read my comments, even if you can't even assess them in regard to a political continuum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Bill and Ted want a public wedding to make public their recently acquired glorified power of attorney, and Fr. Alice at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church is more than happy to officiate the nuptials, then -why- do Bill and Ted insist that Fr. Mike a block away at St. Therese Catholic Parish go against the teaching of his Church and perform their wedding in his parish?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Papist Catholics, no doubt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So is your point that Jesus condoned sin or ignored sin? Is your point that God will not punish sin? What is your point exactly?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed He would as he recited Psalm 21 (22) upon the Cross. The Gospels only record the the first verse but it is quite obvious that Our Lord would have recited it in it's entirety. \nIt basically records the ignominious treatment of the Son of God during His Passion to His victory over death by the end of it. Most people, these days are led to believe that He was admonishing the Father: no such thing.\nVerse 20 reverses the Psalm of the suffering servant to his vindication: \"But thou, O Lord, remove not thy help to a distance from me; look towards my defence et reliqua.\"\nFinally, \"And to him my soul shall live: and my seed shall serve him.\nThere shall be declared to the Lord a generation to come: and the heavens shall shew forth his justice to a people that shall be born, which the Lord hath made.\"\nThis is certainly no song of submission.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am impressed. It's about time someone in the Church gave voice to this Unholy alliance of white conservative Christians. Their idea of a Middle East policy is to start the mother of all wars in Israel to bring on the Second Coming. I have never quite comprehended why our Bishops insisted on their alliance with Dominionists. Perhaps they didn't do their homework, or more likely, they thought joining forces would enhance their own authority and reputations with certain political Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The quality of mercy is not strained ...\nThe same applies to compassion, and forgiveness.\nNobody needs pity but rather empathy.\nThis comes to us from Jesus in the writings of Shakespeare.\nJesus demonstrated these as part of his Kingdom of God. Everybody is invited to love God and all others and become part of the Kingdom including sinners. Jesus was also a healer. Using God's unstrained mercy, compassion, and forgiveness to heal them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I must assume that you're referring to the author of the article,\"Ebes64\" ; I myself did not attack the Roman Catholic Church, nor would I. I mince no words in disagreeing with the theology of said institution,and as I make abundantly clear in my posts, I won't hesitate to defend my Protestant brothers and sisters when they are unfairly demonized,so...do with that what you will. Jesus is Lord! \ud83e\udd81.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religious freedom eh? Blaming the left really? Organized religion is so hypocritical it's disgusting. Doesn't it say that God created all of us in God's own image? Correct me if I'm wrong but it does say all of us right? It also says only God can judge right? Isn't that exactly what churches and it's people do is judge this kinda proves it doesn't it? If people had a brain they would see man wrote the bible not god. If you were god would you be insecure and a selfish? Isn't I am your god you should have no other god beside me exactly that? I thought religion was supposed to bring people together not divide. This is a great example of how it divides us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The four cardinals are right on the question but wrong on the meta-question.\n\nThey very correctly observe that the nod-wink-inner-forum method of allowing the remarried/unannuled to receive communion is logically incompatible with magisterial teaching. And it's incompatible with some really important, central teaching that can't be swept discretely out the backdoor when nobody's looking.\n\nBut the meta-question is, should the Catholic Church still believe that doctrine must be logically coherent? And it seems the Pope Francis answer to that is: No, to heck with logic, to heck with intellectuality, the global Church doesn't care for that tired old Western stuff, this is the new Church of emoting and hugging and off-the-cuff preaching and beach balls on the altar and universal concelebration, hooray, let's make a big mess! \n\nI sympathize with the Four (especially with Meisner, who is a very good man) but they just don't get it and they don't get that they don't get it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church asserts:\nEveryone knows that the Fathers of the Church laid down the duty of the rich toward the poor in no uncertain terms. As St. Ambrose put it: \"You are not making a gift of what is yours to the poor man, but you are giving him back what is his. You have been appropriating things that are meant to be for the common use of everyone. The earth belongs to everyone, not to the rich.\"[2]\n\u2014\u2009Pope Paul VI, Populorum Progressio (1967)\n\nI lifted the above from the Wikipedia entry \"Universal destination of goods.\" The universal destination of goods is a foundational principle in Catholic teaching; the right to private property is subservient to it. Populorum Progressio is as relevant and important today as it was fifty years ago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rita, since the pagan Greek religion died out nearly 17 centuries ago, I didn't have it in mind. There are beautiful art works from all the major religions. Just because I like Catholic art best doesn't mean I disrespect the others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When will the persecution of Mr. Trump end? Surely, this is the greatest witch hunt in american history, even greater than the Salem witch hunt. Greater, even, then the attacks on Holy Mother Church resulting from the perfectly understandable errors made in protecting pedophile priests. We can only hope and pray our Holy Bishops will rally around the man they endorsed for President, as will the true, authentic, Catholics who voted for him because he is the living embodiment of christian values. And I am personally tired of those who call Our President a snowflake because he is so sensitive to any and all criticism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, my mistake. The point is that he says \"declare,\" not \"define\"... so there were doubts, so the CDF one year later published the Dubium to double down on this *declaration* that is not a *definition* and therefore not a dogma. Ordinatio Sacerdotalis is an \"executive order\" (addressed to the bishops, not the entire Church) to stop discussion. Note that everything (in this paragraph and in the entire document) is in PAST or PRESENT tense. Nothing is said about the possibility that the Church may attain a deeper understanding of the 12 apostles. Nothing about the difference between the OLD LAW and the NEW LAW. Nothing about the 12 apostles chosen under the OLD LAW to represent the patriarchs of the 12 tribes of Israel. Nothing about Mary being the Mother of God and Predecessor of the Apostles (Catechism 773). Nothing about so many other things. If this is a definition of a divinely revealed dogma, it is a very AMBIGUOUS definition indeed. Sorry, by but my DOUBTS remain.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know that this certainly happened in one such 'mass conversion' in UK! Indeed, the local Catholic community felt this ... as the ex Anglicans kept telling them what they should be doing and believing!! However they were all honest enough to work through their differences with surprisingly little fall out, in the long term. Short term was painful. It sounds, though, as if Atonement was not like this. Only those closely involved will know the truth of this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Mokantx. I might remove the comma from your final sentence, as an invocation: Seriously imagine what's possible.\nEucharist is no longer for me the act of faith in what appears as bread and wine but rather as Jesus' historical act breaking the boundaries of space and time. (Eucharist- created before, in anticipation of and in \"space\" other than both death and resurrection) To paraphrase Walter Kronkite: And I/we are there. It is the act of Eucharist, not \"host\", that renders space sacred in our Catholic sense. Jesus rendering creation sacred and redeeming space by space by space. \"Spreading the Word\", sort of....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Glad to help the lack in your knowledge. Vatican II came about after two world wars. It also came about after a period where the Pope was really considered God on earth. Church music was often nationalistic, triumphalistic and not really in keeping with the carpenter from Nazareth and his teaching. Much of it was also Monastic and performance based, as was the Mass (a choreography of obedience.)\nObviously, some Catholics got left behind and demanded to get back to the halcyon days where everything was simple (apart from the world massacaring eachother.)\nThat belief, that the old days were somehow better, still persists with some ageing dinosaurs. Fortunately, most others believe in new wine, new wine skins and the need to be born again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether in business or pleasure, Donald Trump deals only in so-called transactional relationships. If the pope has nothing material to offer him I doubt Trump's interested in much the pope has to say, except perhaps where his own \"ratings\" are concerned. If they're dipping a little low among Catholics he'll send out a 3 am tweet saying how much he loves the pope then all will be right with the world again and everybody's happy, including Catholics - or so it would seem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, \"render unto Caesar...\" is Jesus' way of saying we shouldn't care about money. It's not a backhanded attack on anything or anybody. Jesus, as portrayed in the Gospels, didn't employ backhanded attacks. He was pretty straightforward.\n\nThat said, I do agree that charity is an individual decision and shouldn't be left to government. But ensuring the common good is part of the role of government, and good people can disagree on how best to accomplish that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll give you an \"amen\" for your correct statements. And since marijuana is a naturally occurring plant then Jesus did make it right by giving it to the people (if that is what your belief system is based on).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What of those of us who feel the Holy Ghost's presence and Christ-like fellowship at the TLM?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God speaks through conscience. It is not the Word we argue worth, but bad Catholic proof-texting and the pronouncements of certain flatulent cardinals and bishops (Burke and Chaput come to mind).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agree. Everybody knows the Catholic Church is against violence. Playing the \"who matters more than whom?\" game is not going to help anybody.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, when someone says \"I see a lack of love in the Church\", that's what they mean. Things like the way our LGBT brothers and sisters are rejected, that women are deemed inferior to men, things like that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Benedict gave President Obama a copy of his latest encyclical (Caritas in veritate) and a church document on bioethics. Does that make Pope Benedict his own biggest fan? If your criterion for humility in a pope is whether they give the New Testament to someone, we haven't had a humble pope since they've been recording visits of presidents to the Vatican. I find evidence of Pope Francis' humility in much more substantive ways.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The term \"orthodox\" is just as biased as 'conservative'. Are they a cult---like \"orthodox Jews\" are?. The term \"heterodox\" implies that 'anything goes'---which is not necessarily what liberals believe. Liberals are not arguing with what is stated in the Nicene Creed---which defines the basics of what we as Christians believe. \n \n\nIn the 'marriage/family life teachings' of the official church since the 1930's, it is both the 'manner' and 'area' that liberals oppose---most of which are focused solely 'below the belt'. \nAnd it is the fact that those who 'lay down the law' are 'professional eunuchs' whose only REAL experience of married life was when they were children still living at home before going to the Junior Seminary at age 13/14. Most of these cardinals have no idea how to even approach a woman as an equal [as in married life].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Not to be lost in the pomp and circumstance of Pope Francis\u2019 first visit to Washington is the reality that the Catholic Church he oversees has become one of the largest recipients of federal largesse in America.\"\n\nAlso:\n\nhttp://www.ncronline.org/news/peace-justice/catholic-social-teachings-call-dignity-creation\n\"We also note that the majority of the undocumented are Roman Catholics who would formally join their parishes and help support them with their just wages.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Until all of or bishops recognize that they and all priests are to be servants to spread the good news of God's love for ALL people, nothin in the RCC will change", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, when Cardinal Burke makes blatantly homophobic statements, when JPII embraces child molesters and so on, they deserve criticism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I largely agree with the effect Summorum Pontificum has had, especially with \"mainstreaming\" a certain critical view, even rejection, of Vatican II. \n\nThat is why I find it all the more strange (as well as lamentable) that credible reports indicate that Pope Francis is close to an agreement with the SSPX which would re-admit them to the Church without requiring them to specifically assent to all of the teachings of Vatican II, specifically the declaration on religious liberty. If these reports result in this unfortunate circumstance, I hope those who have been critical of Benedict's decision with regard to the Latin Mass will be as critical of Francis for giving in to their agenda. After all, it was Benedict who insisted that the SSPX assent in writing to all the teachings of Vatican II, specifically religious liberty & freedom of conscience, as a non-negotiable condition of their re-admission (which of course they would not do).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not exactly what Pope Francis is teaching, nor any Pope before him in 2000 years. These are actually Protestant doctrines. \n\nJesus breathed on the Apostles and said: \u201cReceive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.\u201d\n\nSaint Paul said: \"For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.\"\n\nA faithful Catholic will understand and follow Church teaching on the Sacraments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is, that they support a culture where gay Catholics feel it necessary to stay in the closet.\n\nA big part of the reason why Milo Y. and Andrew Sullivan are popular (and MSW is not) is that the public can tell when someone is faking.\n\nThat faking colors their whole message, and tells the reader their pontifications are so much hot air.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First Gulf war was about oil ... don't forget we gave Saddam permission to invade Kuwait ... as well as mustard gas his own people. Battle of the bulge, Gettyburg - Lincoln gave a great speech but let's top kidding ourselves the Civil War or the War Between the States was initially about the abomination of slavery. The Great War was about the empires of two cousins ... both Christian ... both constitutional monarchies ... over colonies. It wasn't until the British/American propaganda model was targeted at the American people ... because their initial instinct to stay out of this mess in my opinion was right ... that popular opinion was swayed so the USA sent troops. As previously stated - its financial institutions and other war profiteers were already making huge profits. And the horrors of WWII would not have happened without the vindictive settlement from WWI - the War to end all wars. \n\nWe need to stop this insanity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Referencing the Gospel story of the women accused of adultery that Jesus refuses to condemn, Francis repeats: \"With the adulteress, Jesus played a bit dumb, he lets some time pass, writes on the ground. And then he says: 'Let the first of you who is without sin throw the first stone.'\"\n\n\"What was the moral code?\" the pope asks again. \"It was to stone her. But Jesus sidestepped, he sidestepped the moral code. This makes us think that one cannot speak of 'rigidity.'\"\n\nThe four cardinals' challenge to Francis stirred up a lot of attention when it was made public last November.\"\n\nThis reaches the heart of the matter. The Gang of Four are upset that they, and people like them, will have too hard a time throwing stones. Throwing stones, and wearing expensive Baroque era garb, seems to be their reason for being in the church. No wonder they can't stand Pope Francis. He is taking away their fun.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but you are a typical Oregonian in constant terror of religion joining with the State, which has never even been close (nor will be) to happening. Yet I'll bet you are atypically tolerant of a religion like Islam which knows no other arrangement than a total fusion of church and state. It's inherent in the religion, which is not the case with Christianity. \n\nMany charter school advocates what to get some basic Logic or Ethics Classically taught (see Ancient Greece and Rome) which usually amounts to very little and certainly nothing approaching religious intolerance. Heck, Progressives have their own intolerant religion so I can't blame some people who are repelled by it and want their kids to get some religious training in school. It's not for me or my kids but it doesn't do any harm. \n\nYou also set up the classic \"straw man\" argument but creating the non-existent people who supposedly ridicule bilingual people. What a load of bologna!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus didn't die on the cross to give us a permission slip to sin but to transform us to leave our former selves behind and become a new creation in Him. If we love Him, we keep His commandments and not everyone who says \"Lord, Lord\" will get to the kingdom of Heaven but the one who does the will of His Father in Heaven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First off, Christianity is not getting along with people, it is a decision you make to believe in Jesus Christ, or not. Practice of religion is different. A Muslim man can refuse to work with uncovered women, he can go and leave that job. Acceptance of the economic impact is his choice also. A cashier can decide not to work where he/she is forced to sell bacon. A store owner can decide not to stock and sell those products. Producing a wedding cake (when ones\u2019 religion practice excludes same sex \u201cmarriages\u201d ) is not possible. Freedom in this case is not one of being forced to serve others, the freedom is the choice to refrain from serving others. This writing reminds me that the author is saying that I should be compelled to serve whatever the author wants, that I have no choice. \nPerhaps if the wedding cakes for those who wanted to force the bakers to produced had the verse Romans 1:22 and 26 or 27, the one demanding the cake would not want it as much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Until earlier this week, Aitcheson served as parochial vicar at St. Leo the Great in Fairfax, Va. He has since been granted a leave of absence.\"\n\nI can see why Fr. Aitcheson might want to take a leave of absence in order to \"hide out\" for a while until the media sh*t storm dissipates. Since he appears to be truly contrite and truly converted, I don't see why a leave of absence should be imposed on him from on high. Since this article doesn't state whether or not that's the case I won't speculate on the reasons for his leave myself. But I think that anyone who believes in the concept of conversion should accept Fr. Aitcheson's apology for his youthful lapse in judgment. Anyone, young people especially, can get swept away in a herd mentality surrounded by bad people. Impressionable youth can be forgiven their indiscretions. But when people mature and renounce their old ways, I think they should be given a chance. If we can't forgive them we're not very good Christians, are we?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church needs to understand its limits. From a canonical point of view, bishops may have a parental relationship with their priests. But from a legal perspective, they are employers. Period. \n\nNo employer can reasonably be expected to maintain a relationship with a former employee convicted of a work-related crime. To do so would open them up to a whole new world of potential liabilities. This situation is no more complicated than that.\n\nThe Church should try to make amends as best they can and help heal the harm done to victims. And they should reach out in compassion to pedophiles, just as they would to any other sinner, to help them find reconciliation and peace. \n\nBut they should never -- never -- put themselves once again in a supervisory position over somebody they failed to supervise before.\n\nMoving on. Peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder how much television has ruined people's expectations of mass. Flipping the altar around (I've never seen it otherwise) suggests that we're there for a show, a really boring show. The Evangelical have turned their ceremonies into theatrical performances to no avail; there's better entertainment elsewhere.\n\nTo me, the longevity of 5000 year old Scripture and 2000 year old Gospel combined with the miracle of transubstantiation from God become man is something to behold, miraculous in how it has connected with so many people over time. But who teaches about that nowadays? Not Catechism classes, I can tell you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the accompanying story reports:\n\n\"The percentage of adults who describe themselves as Christians dropped by nearly 8 percentage points in just seven years to about 71 percent, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center. ... At the same time, the share of those who are not affiliated with a religion has jumped from 16 percent to about 23 percent in the same period.\"\n\nJust as we will have a healthier society as non-latino whites move from a majority to a shrinking plurality, these secular trends are a healthy sign.\n\nExactly as absolute power is said to corrupt, a huge religious majority in our society has the same tendency.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The thing is, I am not sure that the ordinary Catholic has a grasp of some of the exciting subtleties of the theology of revelation: the delicate balance of human/divine; the role of tradition in the shaping of Scripture; revelation as an invitation so expecting a response; (not sure if all priests get this, frankly) the role of the homily as the actualisation of scripture for here and now; etc.\nIt needs an imaginative presentation where \u2013 perhaps \u2013 those little ideas of \"am I a story-teller? or am I the story?\" could have helped ... i.e. approaching the theme not from the classic theological categories (but needing to respect them), but rather from that idea of \"storytelling/being the story\".\nAt moments in our exchange I was abrupt, not to say rude ... please excuse that. In part it was because I saw what seemed like a good idea starting to crumble and fall through my fingers like sand ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Politics are not unknown elements within the Catholic church's history. Both popes, cardinals and arch/bishops played this card and often still do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I continue to believe that the fate of religion as we know it hinges on the ability of theologians to pivot, and not build fences.\" I believe that theologians need to have the freedom to explore what the new science, and this includes cosmology as well as biology, has to tell us about the God who set the rules in motion at the beginning of time with the Big Bang. Most Catholics are comfortable with a non-literal perspective on the age of the universe. It's time to consider what science suggests about other points in Genesis and the body of Tradition that grew out of a literal interpretation of Scripture. Both sides, scientists and theologians (and the bishops) need to have humility to recognize that while truth may be unchanging, our understanding of it must grow with our understanding of the world around us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Look, the title is Latin. It was written by Saint Pope Saint John Paul II, the Great and Terrible. Therefor, it is infallible, and it carries at least as much weight as anything Jesus said.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic hospitals are not allowed to intervene when a pregnant women is dying due to complications? This is nothing more than a euphemism for \"Catholic hospitals are not permitted to perform an abortion to save the life of the mother.\"\n\nThey sure are allowed to intervene and do whatever they can to save the life of the women and her child. They just can't do an abortion to do so.\n\nAs for the rest of your post: so what? So a woman has to drive a bit to \"access\" birth control. So what?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You seem like a decent person.I suspect you have told some lies as families of color didn't socialize with their white employers in the south during the 50\"s and 60' or 70's. Having spent time in Alabama in the early 70's it was obvious that the races did not mix and the tensions were high. \n Yes some whites marched for civil rights but not many southerners, It was a mostly black movement.\n So called Christians are also the people that kept slavery going and wanted to destroy the civil rights movement.\n Unfortunately the evils of 2 centuries ago still are stuck in some peoples attitudes today and even in the very near past that some seem to want to go back to today. \nSince you feel all these evils that happened in the south were all settled in the civil war and after that blacks and whites were one happy family, can you explain to me all the lynchins of blacks in the 50's and 60's when we were all being so enlightened? I think you just can't understand your own racism. Peace,when?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nice straw man.\n\nWomen do exercise leadership in the Church. One does not need to be a priest in order to lead or have authority. In many dioceses today it is women who have the ear of the bishop and often exercise positions of high leadership in dioceses--whether they be Chancellor, Bishop's delegate to X, directors of offices, etc. This is the same in many parishes. It is women who have the ear of the pastor even over that of the assistant. \n\nBeing a priest isn't about power or even authority. Though priests do exercise authority, the priesthood is about the exercise of FATHERHOOD. There is a reason priests are called \"Father.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What you write here is true in some areas, untrue in others, and sometimes true all over. It takes time to produce those Congars and Rahners and Kungs and Newmans and Orsys and a Rausch and a Johnson and so on. The issues of intellectually unprepared clerics, for example, is true of those in the Philippines, some parts of Africa and India as well, but that is not an unknown and the bishops conferences in those countries are starting to focus on the issue (Cardinal Tagle, for one, is very concerned about it). I am more positive about our crops of ministers, both men and women, and the great influx of the laity in the roles of ministers and theologians and canonists. This is why most religious are not overly concerned about our future: we see emerging models of new health and strength and spirituality, and a breaking free of the church-imposed shackles places on so many (women and the laity). There is much to be hopeful for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well I do rely on the history laid out in the Bible. Nothing stated in the Bible has been proven wrong, and a lot of scientific information found in the Bible took man hundreds of years to learn. 1. Earth is round Isaiah 40:22 2. Earth hangs on nothing 3.Job 26:7 Life is in the blood Leviticus 17:11 (Washington was \"bleed\" almost to death Dec 12, 1799 because his doctors did not read with understanding. \"1799\")", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Synoptics leave out crucial facts in dealing with the promise not to drink of the fruit of the vine, but adding John completes the story, including why Jesus cried out in anguish and what being in the Kingdom means. Open your heart to the real story.\nhttp://xianleft.blogspot.com/2005/03/blessed-good-friday.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The informed and formal belief (not an opinion) of the Church is that Jesus was God, and God is a Trinity. \n\nOther and lesser opinions are in error.\n\nWant to be academics can run around all they want but it doesn't change what the Church has taught, is teaching, and will teach, no matter how much self-starching is done.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lib media and non Trump supporters seem to hint that Trump's mortal sin is not to have solved all planetary problems in less than a couple of weeks as President. Really? The Bible tells us how long it took God to create the world (not interested in Evolutionists vs. Creationists). \n\nWell, then even Trump may be granted a bit longer than 2 wks, to fix it all, perfectly, right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know what's the problem with G&M opinions? Self-righteous demonization of countries and cultures that's not Christian, not European. Interfere with internal affairs of sovereign states. Especially China. \n\nEuropean & western countries, their press constant lecture China on their internal affairs and so-called human rights is truly oxymoronic to the extreme. Who started two world wars that ended with 75 million deaths? Where in the world we have 2300 years of white supremacist military empires? Where did the Jewish Holocaust occur? The Inquisition? Where was the Hundred Year of Holy War? Maltreatment of humans so devastating they even invented a word for it - genocide. \n\nAnd from where China was invaded and busted up for 2 long centuries? How about the British empire, the 7 European imperial powers who carved up China in the 19th centuries? Killed millions, destroyed their treasures. \n\nAnd now these people lecture China how to be nice to its own people. While NATO bomb Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What happened to if one has sinned against a brother?\nFrom my recollection one had to make amends first before seeking forgiveness from God through the confessional for Catholics at least, that doesn't come from the pulpit if in fact it ever did not being a cradle Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You might want to check your history. Catholic schools didn't start getting funded in the 1970's.\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_schools_in_Canada However- some provinces have voted to stop the dual track. Ontario could too- ask your local MP.\n\nWe certainly don't want to fund education by vouchers - really problematic. Check the research.\nWe need public education- excellent schools for all kids.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The question \"What would Jesus do?\" may be trite, but it's THE question. Jesus did not teach that we have a duty to accept whatever violence an unjust aggressor wishes to visit upon us. And you agree we should have an army. Why, if not to kill? There's the rub. It's not having an army that's wrong, or even killing. It's using the army for wrong purposes, i.e., to engage in an unjust war. Berrigan failed to distinguish between those issues.\n\n\"For the one in authority is God\u2019s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God\u2019s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.\" Romans 13:4.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My gosh, Rationalis, you appear not to grasp the inherent contradiction in your own words. In the same sentence you say \"abortion is the killing of a ... PERSON\" and then \"the fetus is a POTENTIAL person.\" \n\nWhen you say that the fetus is only a \"potential person,\" you grant to the \"pro-abortionist\" philosopher the very essence of their argument. A potential human is not yet a full human, it is a life growing, developing towards full humanity. Since the fetus is, according to you, not yet fully a person, then the secular moral agreement that we can not take the life of persons, does NOT apply to the fetus.\n\nAu contraire, the Catholic position is that the fetus is a full human being in the most essential manner that makes humans, humans from the perspective of our theology. The fetus has been \"ensouled\" (to use an older terminology that has its own problems) and is thus immortal long before it is born. For us immortality is the essential distinguishing feature of humans versus animals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I said before it is a Mass, not a service. Reverence, prayer and quiet reflection during the Mass and in the pews. Save the chatter for the coffee hour after the Mass. I thought we were discussing the Baptist Church, but I see you mentioned the Black Catholic communities. Sing with the choir and pray as loud as you like, but shut up during the rest of the Mass. Talk to God, not your neighbor in the pew. You have plenty of time to converse with your neighbor outside the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is one thing to encourage Catholics to appreciate and use the symbolism and culture of the Catholic Church, recognizing its long and rich, albeit pied, history. It is another thing to vilify with a broad brush the parts of the world that do not originate with the Church. Even as a kid, I remember chaffing at the latter prompts. It seemed that the Church wanted us to be small, as small as the shriveled hearts of some of its leaders. I remember thinking, \"No! That makes no sense!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You write, and \"Yes, my judgments are those of a reasonable man. I judge that the teaching on contraception is twaddle, and it is; I judge that the sole reason for not ordaining women is sexism, which is also perfectly reasonable. That you disagree only shows your unreasonableness.\"\nThere you are, proving what I accused you of. \"I judge ... I judge,\" and I am right. \"I judge,\" myself and my opinions to be perfectly reasonable. Mine, on the other hand, because you disagree with yours are unreasonable. LOL.\nYou do not agree with the Church's teaching upon, marriage and sexual morality amongst other things. I have asked you to furnish proof that my 'opinions' regarding salvation differ from those of the Church; you did not respond. It might be easier and take up less space if you listed the doctrines you subscribe to rather than those you reject.\nBlessed Pius IX and Vatican II are in accord regarding religious freedom it is just that you either can't or won't see that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry you feel that way but sometimes the truth hurts. I was pointing out the clearl and undeniable flaw in her logic. A catholic cannot on one hand say that life begins at conception and therefore abortion is wrong but on the other say that they do not want to impose that belief on others. It is perfectly fair to parallel that logic with the scenario I laid out above. Rather than attack me and make wild and unfounded accusations, tell me why I'm wrong. Humanity is not something with varying degrees. It either is or it isn't. So if a catholic believes life begins at conception (which it does) then an embryo has every right to life as a four year old does.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes - God can forgive my error, and yours. Jesus' writings are fairly clear, you should read them sometime.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So if a couple decides to bond together, the idea that their insurance policies cover medical prophylactic devices should not be governed by the tenets of any one religion. When our Bishops and Fundamentalist Catholics attempt to not allow good medical care, they share in the responsibility when a couple must select if to abort or not. \nBC decreases abortions and it is THE responsible prophylaxis. Human sexuality is as much about bonding of the couple as it is about procreation.... Maybe you should rethink your high handed approach to preventing decent medical care!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Green family has met with the Pope Francis twice and with Vatican officials several times both here and in Rome. Callista and Newt Gingrich are also close personal friends of the Green family. Included in the Green orbit is Betsy DeVos (U.S. Secretary of Education) and her brother, Eric Prince, a convert to Roman Catholicism.\n\nIt's nice to see ecumenism at work. Thank you Vatican II !!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "War waged in self-defense, like a killing in self-defense, is perfectly moral. In fact, it is a duty. \nThis follows from the fact that since no one has the right to take innocent life, there is a correlative duty to defend it. \n\nYou say you would not disarm the United States, but the next second you say something else, and call yourself a sinner for not disarming. How silly. Decide which it is you truly believe and have the courage of your convictions. Something tells me you'd conclude it's not only ridiculous but ultimately un-Christian to disarm, knowing it will likely lead to the deaths of millions of innocents. \n\nAs for Eisenhower: He realized that the war machine can be an immensely immoral thing. He did not, however, advocate disarmament. Nor would any sane man.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Useful, maybe, to go back to the thinking of the early Church? There's no atonement in the East--ergo, there was no atonement in the West either until later--I believe it was Anselm or one of those guys. \u201cThis redemptionist theology, placing all the emphasis on the passion, seems to take no interest in the triumph of Christ over death.\u201d ~ Vladamir Lossky", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You wrongly assume that Jesus said nothing about homosexuality, and that the Church's teachings don't reflect Jesus's mind on the subject.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It isn't anything I know much about, but, as you know, a sample of one is a sample of one when it comes to it. \n\n\nI know a sample of a few more than one, but not many. that all talk about its difficulty, and a sample of no one who has told me that it was at least healing. They do feel like it's more like a trial than anything else. Perhaps because so many seem glued to canon law books in the Church as though they think Jesus wrote them! And, then, of course, there is the gossip.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As an egalitarian, I can't help but see the states (Quebec Government in this case) invasion into our personal lives as opening the door to the possibility that it might one day impose additional restrictions that impact upon my daily life. I do not support the wearing of the burqa or the niqab, and, upon the request of the individual, believe the state should intervene when a female adult is being forced to wear these garments against her will (as would be the case before Bill 62), but where a woman freely chooses to wear these garments, whether for religious, conscientious, or reasons of expression, she has the Right to do so and these Rights are protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. If we deny her these Rights, we are denying these very same rights to protect us in the future. We are saying these Rights don't matter if the majority disagrees. But Charter rights were designed to protect minorities. One day, Christianity could be a minority too. Consider that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So apart from your weird implication that I only accept women as saintly/holy if they are DEAD you seem to have no distinction among different degrees of holiness, that some people live out lives that are considerably more or less in conformity with the Gospel. Certainly there are men and women created by God, saved by the Paschal mysteries, who have had the Holy Spirit poured out on them who basically don't care about Christ or His Gospel. Certainly there are men and women who have received those same graces who REALLY care about Christ and His Gospel and whose lives become testimonies to that fact (such are the saintly women I listed). \n\nDo you think there are some people are objectively holier/saintlier than others? Isn't the purpose of Christ's coming according to the entire Gospel and New Testament to become \"perfect\" in Christ? Don't you think the women I listed are outstanding examples of becoming perfect in Christ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\". . . taught to little children. . . \"\n\nThe Cardinal and the Pope need to meet some gay parents and their kids to get a handle on how \"digestible\" this is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, I was travelling from the middle of last week and haven't had a chance to log back in, until today. I do find you reasonable even if we disagree. In all likelihood, next year will be my third and last retirement. Then I can focus more on developing friendships even if disagreement is a part of the discussion.\nTo the larger point that language leaves half of the population invisible, I can only say that all language suffers from the fact that it is used by humans. One may be offended by the fact that \"man\" can mean either a male of the species or \"human\". Others may not. It isn't the Church's job, when translating, to put forward an agenda to change the language. The ripple effect of, for example, \"Glory to God in the highest, and peace to God's people on earth\", while trying to allow God to remain gender-free (as we can agree), it denies a certain aspect of what God revealed about Himself through the person of Jesus Christ - that is, God as Father.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hope\n\n#Kapiolani was a great chieftainess who lived in the Sandwich Islands at the beginning of the twenthy century. She won the cause for Christianity by openly defying the priests, of the terrible Goddess Peele. In spite of threats of vengeance she ascended the volcano Mauuna-Loa than clambered down over a bank of cinders over 400 hundred feet high to the great lake of fire (nine miles round) Kilauea the home and haunt of the goddess, and flung into the boiling lava the consecrated berries which it was sacrilege for a woman to handle #\nSee poem by Tennyson. .Kapiolani\nSee my post @ 17 link below\nhttp://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2013/10/has-pope-francis-a-major-blind-spot-regarding-the-role-of-women-in-the-church/\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Welcome to post civil war America. The 14th Amendment guarantees equal protection of the law. Colorado's Public Accommodation law forbids discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 did mandate that business could not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, or religion. Congress has since passed laws that prohibit discriminatin on the basis of disability. That is why all children, regardless of disability, are entitled to a public education. Catholic Schools are religious institution who have the constitutional right to discriminate, they are in the public. Americans should know their constitution, why don't you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God is found in the least of the poor, especially the stranger. God is found in the gentle breeze, not the firestorm. (Note allusions to Matthew 25 and Elijah in the cave).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, not my opinion but fact. Tell us exactly where Church Militant deviates from Catholic doctrine, just one example.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh dear, even for those of us used to seeing your simplistic thinking in the comments you share, this reaches a new low (symbolically bolstered by your blatantly defiant use of archaic language).\nWhy?\n1. Because it flies in the face of history.\nAs in, when Charlemagne got interested in liturgical reform, was it because he was guided by the Holy Spirit, or because he saw the political usefulness of a uniform liturgy in being a uniting factor for his empire?\nAs in, when the medieval Church started to model the liturgy on royal or courtly proceedings, was this an inspiration of the Holy Spirit?\nIn both instances, there may have been sound human reasons: political, aesthetic ... but divine inspiration?\n\n2. Because it is actually part of Church teaching that the Church needs constant reform. The particular application of this principle to the liturgy is in SC 21.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a necessary part of the process: one must inventory the cadaver, so pieces can be shipped wherever relics are needed. This is exactly what Jesus wanted His Church to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I still will never understand why same-sex marriage seems to be the most important issue to Christians in terms of what they need to rally against. Homosexuality was of such little importance to Jesus that he never mentioned it once, and you would think if it really was that big a deal he would've said something.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article concerns the doctrine of the Catholic Church that affect the faithful that are discriminatory practices towards certain groups of people. Not only was as a child of the 1950's I was not allowed by the Catholic Church to be a girl scout but growing up and attending and graduating from a Catholic school I was not allowed to associate with my non-Catholic peers for any reason. There were many times I was admonished by the priests and nuns and other Catholics for associating with non-Catholics. I asked a Methodist boy that went to he public school to attend a spring dance as my date at my Catholic High School and I was expelled from my school for a week. If you are born and raised Catholic you know the struggles of dealing with doctrines today that are discriminatory and are restrictive in your personal life. I have met thousands of non-practicing Catholics like me over the course of my life, they struggled with the strict outdated Church Doctrine and left.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not defending this guy...because it has already been done by a True Defender of the Clergy of Holy Mother Church. Standard tactics, attack the victim, question the motives of the victims, debate the status of the accused regarding his position in the church. This is what Jesus would want us to do, and what Our Holy Father Saint Pope John Paul II the Wondrous taught his bishops to do when clergy are accused.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rather, God wants to BE WITH YOU and with EACH person of your family while on vacation. He wants to be invited along, with everyone else in heaven. Pack them in!\n\nHe is always working, and He has some projects waiting to work on inside of each of us. \n\nHe wants to work in us, while we're on vacation.\n\nThis is a much better view of vacation than mere \"down time\".\n\nAs a good priest told me...\"when we get to heaven, God isn't going to be 'tucking you in'.\n\nGrow closer to God while on vacation. Don't give in to \"vegetating\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The church and the state are separate entities each with their own agenda's - personally for me I become aggravated with the likes of tutu and Pope Francis when they dabble in politics. They should stick to their profession.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have a Prime minister who has had the bad judgement to tweet to the world that Canada is open to all refugees. In addition we have a Minister of Immigration who is a former Somali refugee and who was the former President of the Canadian Somali Congress. We now have an unprecedented number of Somali refugees entering our borders illegally. Clearly the message has been sent that they are welcome to come to this country whether or not they qualify as refugees and there is a perception that it is unlikely that we will send them back. \nWhile, under normal circumstances, I would agree with Christian Leuprecht that the best solution is to add more resources on the ground to determine quickly if these people do qualify as refugees and to return those that do not immediately. However, given the leadership of the Immigration department, it is extremely unlikely that many will not be welcomed whether they qualify or not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You won't find any justification for your view in the teachings of Jesus (many immigrants will take solace in this weekend's Gospel though.) Neither will you find support for your cruelty in the words of Pope Francis.\n\nYou might find it in Mein Kampf though. Congratulations!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jose Pagola wrote that Jesus rejects the stereotypes of woman \u2013 property of men, sources of temptation, impure etc. They were marginalised in many ways \u2013 not obliged to recite the Shema or make pilgrimages, to join men in the temple, and were forbidden to speak to men in public. Mostly they were enclosed in the house, defenceless in court \u2013 profoundly marginalised. (Rabbis prayed \u2018I thank thee Yahweh, thou hast not made me a dog, a Samaritan or a woman\u2019). Jesus never warns men about seductive women but about their own lust. Women are his friends: Mary from Magdala, Martha and Mary from Bethany, a sick syro-phoenician woman, despised prostitutes, faithful followers like Salome. They were not called disciples because the Aramaic word was always a masculine noun.\nThe women loved Jesus and remained faithful and were the first to witness and report on the resurrenction. This the rule - Love one another!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe that rules are an intrinsic part of any religion. The word religion, itself is Latin for religio...to rope together. Imagine if there were no rules within the family..chaos maybe, not to mention society as a whole. The child sexual abuse by clergy now has \"rules\" enforced (in our country, at least) and rightly so..but other rules like diets perhaps should follow the saying of St. Benedictine..\"all things in moderation\". So if someone is allergic in any manner to the host and is a known anaphylactic to its ingredients than I'm sure the rules could be bent. \n\nI don't know, but maybe too much is placed on anything but Jesus..maybe we're becoming too exact in the wrong areas...when I use to work with the poor and was invited for a meal, there were a few times I would have preferred not to have eaten some things..but I ate..I always thought it a great honour, to be invited...it was kinda Christ filled.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As the father of two daughters, I am not a supporter of Trump and his boorish ways. However, really? Trump is supposed to be the dystopian future that Margaret Atwood thought about? I lived through the '80s. Most people at that time were concerned about the cold war, nuclear war, free-trade, and the rise of Christian fundamentalism and its affect on women's rights. 30+ years later and of the concerns cited, the only one I'm worried about is fundamentalism. However, it's not the religious Christian right that is top of mind for me. I wish people would stop depicting Trump as the anti-Christ and move on to another topic - such as saving the whales, solving world hunger, or some other omnibus movement that is the cause of the day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah the irony of those who want to return the Earth to its former state being the same ones who rebel against the Church returning to its former state. What's troubling in that those who changed the Earth did so passively, whereas those who are destroying the Church are doing so intentionally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Burke's ideas (like Francis') are based on a set of reasons, that are based on the good of everyone. That they disagree shouldn't be reduced to...\"rules for everyone bad, no rules for anyone good.\"\n\nThis is the very reason why we need to have different rites/churches within the Catholic Church, a tradition long established with at least 20+ of those Catholic rites/churches being in union with the Roman Rite/Church today. \nThese Catholic rites/churches have different interpretations and practices of theology, governance and liturgy/sacraments...with each respecting the other.\n\nWith the Global increase in conservative movements, there is also a Vatican II Rite/Church, right there alongside the more fundamentalist Roman Rite which has taken over so many post-Vatican II dioceses and parishes. \nWe have but to claim our right as Catholics to a Vatican II Rite that it may be no longer suppressed in its orientation outward toward the world. Google Rite Beyond Rome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problems and attacks are not coming from his religious superiors to whom he owes obedience, but from self-appointed guardians of the faith, those whom I call the \"Catholic police\". \nAnd he has said not one thing that contracicts Catholic teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Conservatism and prejudice. Study links low intelligence and low IQ with limited education, to conservatism and prejudice. Go ahead and type it. It explains a lot who morphs into conservatism and prejudice. \nHow do the so called Christians expect to make it into their white mans heaven? The Christian politicians say they have the right hand of their god and make sure everyone knows but......\nThe Christian politicians are busy defunding the health and social programs that benefit the same people that the Christians jesus lived and breathed to help, the sick, weak, poor, infirm, diseased, hungry and the dying, and giving the same money to the same kind of money lenders their jesus booted out of the temples.\nWith all the supporters of Trumps republicans screaming to boot out the refugees, they are forgetting that their white mans jesus was a refugee himself.\nConservatives going to heaven makes as much sense as a murdering terrorist going to heaven with 72 virgins", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cAlso take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus.\u201d Jim Ziegler\nScripture says nothing about Mary being a teenager and if Joseph was the paternal parent then the virgin birth has a big problem. If the auditor of this state can make such a foolish comment, can he be trusted with anything related to the State's money?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was during President Bill Clinton's tenure in the White House that the American people abandon the litmus test of serving in the military. During President Kennedy's first term in the White House, the American people abandon the religious litmus test and voted for Kennedy even though it was well known that he was a Catholic. So much for serving in the military or religious beliefs. When Hillary is elected president, that should be a resounding slam dunk that the American voters have moved on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Baptism---there is a Baptism of Desire. It is not only for those who are dying and would have wanted to be baptized. But it is also for parents, who would have wanted their child to be baptized---but it died. By desiring it for their child----the child IS baptized.\n God doesn't play the petty games that you seem to enjoy playing, Marty!\n\n\nSecondly----at no place in any Gospel is Jesus 'ordaining' any of the Twelve. You have no evidence that ONLY the Twelve were present at the Last Supper----many were---including Mathias, who took Judas' place as a member of the Twelve. This was a Passover meal, not a Greco-Roman drinking party for men only.\n\n\nAmong the Chaldean Catholics of Syria, there is often no priest to offer Divine Liturgy for them. But gathering together and saying the prayers of the Divine Liturgy---they are able to consecrate the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. \"Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I am in their midst.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not trying to control anyone - My position on this matter has been from the outset- if it bothers her to be noticed in that way she can \"make adjustments\", are you going to pass laws on what people can look at ? You mention this \"Control\" issue often, I really have no idea what you are referring to. Logically speaking, control would require a motive, what is the Christian Church's motive for control ? And I don't mean the money making Charlatans, I mean the local neighborhood \"independently owned \" (Humor) Church ? Like the one I go to that has about 200 people and a few underpaid pastors who barely scrape by. What is their motive for controlling these 200 people ? What do they have to gain ? They make little money, have no retirement etc etc etc. Your judgments on this matter in some contexts are accurate, but most certainly not all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like this https://goo.gl/5d9819 \"I Want a Marriage Like They Had in the Bible\" by Roy Zimmerman", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And re. the obedience to power that be stuff: First, I'm not advocating that all of these poor people have recourse to smuggling these refugee children in. Second, even if Paul's meaning were completely obvious (which it is not - there's a centuries-old controversy over what the relationship is between Christian churches and state governments, with answers ranging from monarchomach doctrine (it's okay to kill Jezebel) to complete obedience, right now I can't remember anything that says that one cannot criticize one's magistrates' policies. And frankly, even if there were, I personally would disregard it, since I am as committed to democracy as I am to Jesus (or maybe almost as committed).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree completely, pandora. If the Church would return to the ancient latin mass and restore the vestments and rituals that are central to true christianity, people would flock to the churches, the seminaries would overflow with new recruits, and these buildings would be needed. I cannot cont the number of times I have heard people say they wish they could find a church firmly planted in the middle ages.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately, the clergy are not Christ and frequently, like satin and lace Burke, not even remotely Christ like. I cannot for the life of me envision Jesus wearing a Cappa magna, liturgical gloves or Burke's delicious \ud83d\udc60. Even a drag queen would find that difficult to pull off.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I certainly don't hold individuals as representing this kind of abuse for the entire church body. \n\nBut that also means taking a vow or maybe and adult baptism doesn't make anybody less human", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Prediction: It won't be long before MSW starts suggesting the legitimacy of Guy Fawkes Catholic remedy to the current administration.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For starters we need to decriminalize drug addiction and treat as a medical condition and offer free, unstigmatized treatment. It's a lot cheaper than prison, and at least offers the hope of getting them back on track as productive human beings. We need to address the problems that make people vulnerable to trying addictive drugs. E pluribus unum. United we stand. Jesus said the most important commandment is to love our neighbor as ourself, to pray that it be done on Earth as it is in heaven, and that in heaven we're not man & woman but one in the spirit. Then He said to act as if our prayers have been answered. So we should be acting as if we are one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No rules and always #1 - why couldn't Catholics have thought of that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My generation during Lent used to fill little cans with dimes to 'ransom pagan babies' and we were taught that every person not Catholic, unless led by their own long-ancestral roots in a Protestant religion, had a ticket to Hell. No one mentioned, at least to me, the ultimate destination of inhabitants of countries with multiple gods to appease. \n\nI'm sure there is a seed of \"truth\" in every expression sincerely seeking God, but since God alone is Truth, we'll NEVER know it all as we're simply not God. Maybe since the Reformation...or maybe since long, long before organized, routinized, mandated Christianity, people clung to their own culture in living their lives. It seems to me what we're dealing with is simply culture -- not dogma, not the Magisterium, not even Tradition -- but simply ways people feel more comfortable relating to the numinous as it speaks to them. Why are unity and uniformity so freaking important it has caused pogroms, wars, inhumane acts and all this angst?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I seldom go Ad Hominem: it's no way to win an argument. \n\nAdventists have a very plain way of reading the bible. We don't have 'just war' theory, or an unclean meats exemption, or a rationale around the seventh-day Sabbath. We just believe the bible. It makes us an odd lot.\n\nYou can say, \"Male Headship is not a CORE Seventh-day Adventist belief\" and even be technically correct. But you can't get ordaining women as elders out of the bible and our dependence on scriptural authority is FB#1.\n\nYou show me scriptural authority for ordaining women as elders and the argument is over and you have won.\n\nMonte's \"...the prohibition of women in the ordained clergy makes the Adventist faith appear to be so out of touch with the contemporary reality in the Western world today as to make it seem irrelevant.\" is not persuasive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't see where that indictment has anything to do with what you have asserted. \n\nNor do I see you mention the slanderous and nasty attacks perpetuated on sites like this one against St. Pope John Paul II or PE Benedict XVI - do they not deserve to be respected as well since they too were being guided by the Holy Spirit?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As long as the Church keeps preventing the Lord from calling women to the sacramental priesthood, there is a fundamental imbalance, driven by patriarchal gender ideology, that is harmful to the entire body of Christ, male and female. The vocation crisis is not about women, just as it is not about men. It is about letting go of a patriarchal culture that is passing away, and allowing the Lord to call those he wants here and now, men and women, to all vocations, including the sacramental priesthood and the episcopate, without imposing artificial gender walls that are heritage from the Old Law (not the New Law!) and no longer make sense. The sacramental priesthood is about service, not genitals. Ordained priests do #2 sitting down. Why in the world is it that they cannot do #1 sitting down as well? Allow the Lord to call women to the ministerial priesthood, and the life of the Church will be much better!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "May I pose a simple question? What good purpose is served by providing a forum dominated by individuals whose cynicism, and bitter criticism of all things Catholic border on calumny and detraction. Do not mistake my intent since there is much to criticize regarding the institutional church. But the church is also a herald, a sacrament, and a family of faith. Most comments here are made by people who don't appear to count themselves as members of such a family. I've been an NCR fan for more than 50 years, but I don't get why it offers this forum in its present form.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"the lessons we\u2019ve learned from the centuries when our biblical texts were used to justify slavery, discrimination, segregation and oppression of people of color and women,\u201d\n*\nIn regards to slavery, the bible never justified it. In the context of a world in which slavery was everywhere, it tried to make it a little better, to impose some rules. It was also the foundation for getting rid of slavery.\n*\nAs for oppression of women, the same thing. In the world of Paul and Jesus, where physical realities imposed roles on which survival depended, the bible exhorts husbands and wives to subject themselves to each other. \n* \nAs for same-sex marriage, it is a biblical oxymoron. This is not to say that the federal government should not support the idea of a gender-free partner contract. But to assume that this is somehow the same as that of a man and a wife, the biological basis for the procreation of the human race, and the idea of a marriage known to Jesus, is delusional.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to the Church I belong to, the ordination of men only is part of the Church\u2019s divine institution.\n\nWhen you\u2019re able to able to explain how you, using the methodology you described, arrived at a belief in a triune God, and found it reasonable, I will be happy to pick up \"Yes, your holiness, I hear and obey!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is Canada taking all the Mexicans and Central Americans too? Guess Trump is anti-Christian too? Well as long as the law is followed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora is now whinging about progressives opposing discrimination. She pretends that discrimating against our LGBT brothers and sisters is Catholic doctrine and should be a civil right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is wrong with a one minute silent prayer or silent reflection ? \nI am not religious in the way Christians or other organized religions are but I was brought up to respect people's beliefs.\n Alaska Native/American Indians gatherings and meetings we open with asking the creator or the spirits of those who have gone before us, to guide us with wisdom in our decisions. \nWe ask that everyone there treats one another respectfully as our elders taught us. \nWe give thanks for being able to come together as a people, for our food, homes and our children. \nThanks is given to our elders and to those no longer with us.\nIf I go to a meeting where people open with a prayer, silent or not, I respect them by listening to it. I silently give my \"own\" prayer as I was taught. \nGoverning is a serious endeavor.\nOur actions set an example for the young people who will one day take our place. \nCivility and respect seem to be disappearing qualities or virtues.\nA brief silence to reflect or pray is fair.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The whole of Goespel teaching on pharasees makes it pretty clear that we are to treat homosexuals with compassion rather than self-righteousness. Believe them when they say they were born that way and when science confirms this (which it has). Facing the implications of that for our own biases is what the Gospel demands if you take it as a whole. This is what Jesus meant about the difficulty of entering the kingdom of God and who it is difficult for. Not for the gays (pederastry is a separate case), but for those lacking compassion and perfect love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bro. Noel,\n\nForty years ago, deep in earnest prayer, The Lord spoke to me through the Holy Spirit, bringing to remembrance the scripture about the demoniac, whom Jesus had healed. He wanted to go with Jesus. He was climbing into the boat, but Jesus forbid him. He told him, \"Go back home, tell people what God has done for you.\"\n\nI am the demoniac Jesus healed and saved. And Jesus doesn't want me in the boat with Him. I can't be that type of disciple. I'm not fit. I'm fit for other work. I'm like the demoniac Jesus Healed. I'm not like Moses.\n\nI'm like Peter. I hang on to the Lord and tell him to depart from me, \"I am a sinful man.\" \"Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee.\" I do not trust my heart Bro. Noel. I'm just like Peter. I hear the Lord speaking harshly to me, He says to me, \"Get thee behind me Satan.\" \n\nOur experiences under the Spirit's tutelage are not exactly the same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I personally do not believe that the Church during Vatican II taught heterodoxy. The Council was orthodox, the interpretations were heterodox.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Flagged. How did this comment get through the sensors? It is an outright personal attack. \n\nAnd I've witnessed people being \"tattled\" on all the time. It seems pretty common among conservative Catholics, especially the \"pious Catholic mommy\" set. Some women have never left high school. \n\nAnd many remarried people don't receive Communion now. Most just leave the Catholic Church discouraged. Some go to Protestant churches but most become lapsed and angry. I don't know of one Catholic divorced person who has successfully received an annulment or has decided to remain an active Catholic. All Pope Francis is doing is acknowledging the reality and finding a better way to reach such people. If the Catholic Church was healthy, Amoris Laetitia would be uncontroversial, but the last two popes gutted the Church to such an extend that there is no room for pastoral care, only fundamentalist adherence to the rules.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Young America's Foundation rates Franciscan as one of the top 10 conservative colleges in the nation. In the Forbes Top College List it received a national ranking of 364 out of 4,500 colleges and universities, placing 266th in private colleges, and 87th among Midwest colleges and universities, putting it in the top 7% of all colleges and universities in The United States. U.S. News & World Report\u2019s list of America\u2019s Best Colleges ranked in the top tier of Masters Colleges in the Midwest. The Cardinal Newman Society ranks it as one of the 21 top Catholic colleges and universities in its Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College.\n\nSo, what is your Ph.D. in?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...and once again, on those ever more rare times when Francis does talk about the scandal, the focus remains squarely on the priestly pedophiles. The tribunals he mentions refer, I believe, to the tribunals that hold PRIESTS accountable. As to the idea that HE proposed several years ago about similar tribunals to hold bishops accountable.... .\n\nI suppose I'm just getting jaded with all of this stuff, but I gather he has spoken to Marie AFTER she resigned. She herself said that he had never spoken with her before. So this comes across as but one more example of \"too little/too late,\" all wrapped with the best spin/paper-over the Vatican can muster.\n\nThe obvious question remains: why? Why can't, or worse, won't Francis clean house? Why won't he make this enough of a priority to actually make the real changes so badly needed? Seriously, if the Vatican is still having to train bishops that abuse is bad, and must be addressed, and victims cared for... \n\nReally?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Faith is not obedience, it is trust in God when authority says otherwise.\nThere is a reason there are few miracles in the modern Church. Loyalty as faith does not generate them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I define what you stated as:\nhet\u00b7er\u00b7o\u00b7dox\n\u02c8hed\u0259r\u0259\u02ccd\u00e4ks/\nadjective\nadjective: heterodox\nnot conforming with accepted or orthodox standards or beliefs.\n\"heterodox views\"\n synonyms: unorthodox, nonconformist, dissenting, dissident, rebellious, renegade; (I added this ) historical revisionist.\n\nHow do you explain that the 10 Commandments were revealed to Moses\ncenturies before the exile in Babylon.\nChrist also said:\n\"Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is just too much in this comment that deserves to be challenged ... not least, the blindness to the fact that the US Catholic Church is now divided. You may not like the labels some people use to describe the factions. However, that distaste with the labels is not an excuse for denying the sad reality to which the use of those labels bears witness.\n\nHowever, I found the comment (and especially its follow-up) useful because they offer an insight into the presuppositions which power your thinking, and consequently, your comments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find the ''original sin' concept actually originating with St. Paul in his letter to the Romans. He gets carried away with his rhetoric in comparing the 'first man', Adam, bringing death, and the 'second man, Jesus, bringing life.\n\nActually, even in the myth story, the authors seed to realize that death was simply natural for humans. To prevent it, 'Adam' would have had to eat of that magic 'tree of life'. That's why he got kicked out of the 'garden' - \"lest he eat of the tree of life, and live forever\".\n\nThank the good Lord THAT never happened, or our world today definitely would be overpopulated!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The man really doesn't get Pope Francis, does he? He is the exact opposite in everything that Francis wants a bishop to be. He appears to be poised to die as diehard culture warrior, excluding people from God's Church instead of welcoming them. Preaching to The Choir Of the Saintly - that must be a rather solitary affair, I suppose. \n\nMeanwhile Jesus reminds his followers to \"call in the sinners, not those who consider themselves just\" (paraphrased). Mr. Chaput, please consider for the benefit of the Church to step down and retire to a monastery, following Benedict's example. Or go to Rome and stay in a Jesuit community and do the 30-day Ignatian Spiritual Exercises under the guidance of the new Jesuit General Superior. I know, the latter is a bit of far stretched wishful thinking. Nevertheless...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope zero tolerance has nothing to say about the revelations.\n\nCongratulations Australia and the Royal Commission! You have invested the courage, capital and time to bring forth the truth from an organization that refuses to.\n\nIt is sickening that the corrupt US. government would never create a federal commission to look into the crimes against children perpetrated and covered up by the Catholic Church. Republican leaders have shown that they will choose church money and will protect the church over the safety of children and justice for victims. \n\nThe Royal Commissions important work will truly make a difference by making people aware of the still prevalent, secretive and self protective culture of the Catholic Church. This culture puts the protection of the ordained over the safety of children and healing for victims.\n\nYour silence speaks loudly oh zero tolerance pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because liberal dissidents weren't just criticizing teachings that were on the level of prudential judgments. If liberal dissidents were disagreeing on teachings that were matters of prudential judgement, I don't think the conservatives would have had much of a problem. \n\nLiberals however dissent on things where there is no freedom to dissent. That is the problem. There is no freedom to dissent from church teaching on abortion, contraception, gay marriage, divorce and remarriage, sex outside of marriage, women's ordination, etc.\n\nWhen it comes to the death penalty and the application of Catholic social teaching, there can be a variety of views. Catholics are even free to hold opposing viewpoints from the bishops--and they are still in good standing. Why? Because these things do not involve intrinsic moral evils-therefore they do not have the same moral weight. In other words--there is an eternity of difference between support for the death penalty and support for abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree but what about the bishops, chancery and Vatican officials who covered up the offenses of those priests who harmed women and children?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr O'Callaghan makes many good points, but seems to have overlooked others.\nI am thinking of considerations such as:- space for burials plots; and the consequences of charges made for grave leases.\nAs he says, burial in a given place, with name and date, and a marker such as a cross: These things allow the deceased person to be remembered. And yes, they give a \"powerful message of concreteness, of the particular person who has died\".\nHowever, in European countries such as Italy (with which I am familiar), Catholic cemeteries charge for burial plots; and significantly the payment needs to be renewed every 50 years or so. If no-one makes the repeat payment, the body is removed (and it does not seem to be done in a very \"sacred\" way).\nHis claim that \"burial is more ecological than cremation\" seems to overlook the point that burial places in some places are now very limited. Also overlooks the fuel used in (say) creating funeral stones and monuments.\nBut he does seem open to options. Good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't understand the issue. There are several conferences where the regional conferences have been absorbed and where that has happened, as an example, churches with the same number of members have different numbers of pastors assigned to them. The ones who have the greater number of pastors are mostly the ones with white members and it's still going on right now. That is the type of thing which needs to be addressed. Sending love in Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Throughout human history you can track the credibility of anything by seeing whether or not white Christian males were interested in it. Just as they abandoned psychology when it became obvious it was a joke, women flow into the vacuum of the things that males have discarded. Mostly eager to conform, women believe what they are told about anything. College is a joke dominated by jokes and the fees are a joke and the curriculum is a joke. Everything about it is a joke and males sense what a joke it is and stay clear of all of it. A better headline would be \"Superior Alpha Males Decide College is a Politically Correct Clown Circus.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You said St Cyril \"spent much of his life angry at\" someone one another. \nAnd you want that unsubstantiated claim to undercut my point that one sign of sainthood is joy (formal Church teaching).\n\nSo you can't even give us an exact date for St Cyril's birth, but you want us to be assured he had no joy in him at the end of his journey! And further you want to use that fragile point to say that joy isn't a sign of a saintly soul.\n\nThis last point is rather an odd assertion to make. You're effectively saying that God is not joyful, and/or that His joy has no effect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Orthodoxy is adhering to the teachings of the Holy Church which the compassionate instituted here on earth through which we have the offer of salvation. Alas, so many Catholics these days seem to regard it as not much more than an arm of the social services to which they have a sentimental, cultural attraction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"The three schools \"came within touch of bankruptcy,\" he writes. \"\n- Beginning in the 1960's, catholic universities and colleges were faced with the realization that they could not operate to a good standard if they consistently underpaid faculty and staff whether lay or consecrated.\n- Certainly the decreasing student enrollments that many catholic universities began to experience in those days underscored that families knew that their children would be better served at universities (usually secular) where salaries were not depressed (imputing the best faculty), fund raising supported research, and the expenditures for accreditation requirements were not short changed.\n- Thus the dance with bankruptcy was about catholic colleges putting themselves on good economic basis and not whether the 'good sisters' lost their way, or that the lay board could never be catholic enough as clerics would be.\n- Linking bankruptcy to a failure of catholic intent is a strawman by Burtchaell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently you know very little about the Bible why Jesus came & why he died. No quote of your bible verses? You probably believe Easter is about collecting eggs. Jesus came not to abolish the law or the prophets, but to fulfill the law. And with that Jesus paid the penalty of sin that he did not own, but sacrificed his life for the wages of sin. Which is death, and the sin forgiven Romans 6:23.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But as soon as they have a movie that makes money, their political opinions assume the same infallibility that the Pope has on Catholicism!\n\nOprah, Charleton Heston, John Wayne, Madonna. \n\nInstant political credibility because they can repeat words from a script....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True or not, this Evangelist must answer to his Boss and his Boss knows everything.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Having something be a sin and Poland and not a sin in Germany is not how the universal church is supposed to be...look at the fractiousness of the Anglican Communion for where this kind of approach leads.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting post here, Silverhorn. Of course the greatest concern of today's environmental movement is climate change/global warming. Do suggest, as does Donald Trump, that global warming is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese? Do you suggest that the 99.999% of scientists who accept that climate change a) is real and b) is, in the main, the result of our human activities are just folks who have been misled, duped by the hoax, or stampeded by their fear? The population of \"hard core\" climate change deniers is ever-diminishing....hang in there, eventually it will be you, Donald and a few pseudoscientists at Fundamentalist Christian colleges in Texas and Mississippi.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would have to do a more exhaustive search into this but I think the two words are linked together to suggest that the very act of repetitive prayer in itself is vain, especially when it takes on a \"performance\" value as we often see and hear about. Jesus did not teach us to pray that way so I have difficulty understanding how/why the practice is so widely embraced... tradition I suppose, not begrudging anyone as far as I'm concerned you can pray any way you want, as long as it is sincere I suspect God's magnificent grace will be entirely forthcoming.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Real Women\" are actually using their \"Christian values\" to justify the imprisonment and discrimination of LGBTQ people? And they wonder why their brand of religion gets so much criticism these days. As a gay man, an apology would certainly go a long way toward acknowledging the past wrongs of our society, but it should also be accompanied by greater action to combat homophobia, bullying and ongoing discrimination. \n\nStrengthening the Human Rights Commission and giving it a more expanded authority would be a good first start, as would bringing back the Court Challenges Program that the conservatives shamefully abolished.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alexandra... you're behind in events. Gov. after Gov. are now applying \"withdrawal of funds\"\nto cities they deem to be 'sanctuary cities'. When the State withholds funds from local agencies, they are out on a limb -- immediately. This is the budget season in many states. We had top down support and bottom up support for assisting immigrants and refugees. NOW, The Fed AND the State level use cutting funding as a weapon, to move the alt/right to the State/local level. State named Sanctuary cities is the new battleground. On to the State elections!\n It happened in Wisconsin and began rolling out as a tactic long ago. Now, there are proposals at the state-level to remove elected officials from office for NOT complying to a State-issued demand to engage in what is a Federal Function and legal jurisdiction. \nIt is do it until someone finds a way to stop you by --????\nIt will be incumbent on individual Bishops to bear witness, to be disciples of Jesus not just a people who worship him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also, it is telling that 1st class relics are objects that came into contact with Jesus historically AND the bodies of saints. This is because ultimately in both cases we revere the objects for the same reason: Proximity to our Lord and Savior. In other words, we venerate the bodies of the saints entirely because of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".\n\nIn January 2014, Dinesh D'Souza was indicted on charges of making illegal contributions to a 2012 United States Senate campaign, a felony under U.S. law.\n\nOn May 20, 2014, D'Souza pleaded guilty in Federal Court to one charge of using a \"straw donor\" to make an illegal political campaign donation. \n\nOn September 23, he was sentenced to eight months in a halfway house near his home in San Diego, five years probation, and a $30,000 fine.\n\nD'Souza attended the evangelical church Calvary Chapel from 2000 at least until 2010.\n\nD'Souza posits that \"living creatures are the products of intelligent design.\n\nIn August 2010, D'Souza was named president of The King's College, a Christian college in Manhattan.\n\nOn October 18, 2012, D'Souza resigned from The King's College following a press report that he had shared a hotel room at a Christian conference with a woman whom he introduced as his fiancee, despite still being married to his wife of twenty years. \n\nCredibility = Zero\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings.....thanks Father Reese for a great article.....the Holy Father appointed last week 2 female lay under secretaries to the Curia .......this would have never happened under JPII & Benedictus! Continue the reforms mandated from Vatican II Pope Francis. Blessings to all consecrated religious as they bring about evangelization thru the guidance of the+ Holy Spirit+ and the support of the Holy Father.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "there is significant misinformation in this article. However I do agree that when we learn about one another and 'accept' (NOT just 'tolerate') one another, society would be better off as a whole. Unfortunately ignorance, naive mentality breed racism, misunderstanding and hatred. Not only are ,caucasians, from the UK at fault. I have witnessed plenty of racism espoused by Asians, East Europeans (Russians/ Germans/ Ukranians), Italians, Catholics, Muslims et al. It is very sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The US has a tradition of freedom to choose its leaders. When a leader no longer is responsive to the needs or wants of the followers, the sheep follow someone else. That has happened far too often in the American Catholic Church. Bishops have not led, but demanded. When they made the mistake back in the 60's of publicly allying themselves with conservative politicians they, in effect, released all of their followers to choose their own way. Once the erosion begins it will continue until the shepherds behave like shepherds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps, but what counts is the editorial stance of Civilt\u00e1 Cattolica TODAY ...\n\nAnd frankly, the state of the Church in the US merits attention by concerned people in the Church throughout the world ... not least in the Vatican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus gave communion to Judas. Hark: thereby undermining the entire teaching on sin & eucharist!\n\nThe lesson here: be careful about claiming absolutes....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The real story is that Jesus was seen as a sinner and was murdered by a mob of witch hunters and vigilantes. Much as you today in the modern day legal system but instead the sinner is put in jail. \nThe irony is not lost.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's a test....what year did the words of institution (\"ritual\") become formalized in the early Church...the very words you hear today, if you were to go to Mass?\n\nDoes a family have customs and traditions? Is that a bad thing?\n\nHave you ever tried to carve out a distinction between worship and veneration? Most people today seem unable to put the intellectual energy into certain matters, such that they can make (and hold them in memory for contemplation) these sorts of distinctions. They sort of fall back into lukewarmness and declare A = B. \n\nWhich specific teachings of Jesus conflict with tradition? Or vice versa. Let's get into real details instead of innuendo.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I'm basically your run-of -the-mill secularist in politics, I think that a lot of the reactions here are borderline hysterical. Since 1968 our PMs have been practising Catholics (Stephen Harper being the notable exception, and not certain about Kim Campbell), and at no time was there a sense of being \"ruled by Rome\". That's not to say that their religious beliefs didn't influence their thinking (how could I know their heart of hearts?), but their beliefs were not evident in their policy choices. Relax.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Somehow, it hasn't happened in 2000 years of Christianity, and it will happen now in the West because of someone like Trump?\n\nNope. \n\nOnly if a certain other religion which HAS made something very similar happen in many countries where it is dominant, gets widespread and powerful enough here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fear is at the core of all of our non-loving behaviors - those toward ourselves and those toward others. This is what Jesus taught. The path to healing this fear is to turn ourselves toward God/Love. Yoga is one of the tools that assist us in moving toward this love. Meditation and Prayer turn us toward this love. The curriculum that I developed \"Authentic Freedom\" integrates scripture, Christian contemplative prayer practices and knowledge of our subtle energy systems (through the chakras which are part of the Ayurvedic and yogic medicine systems) for the purposes of healing these fears so that we can live in the truth of Oneness and Love that Jesus came to know and sought to teach us. \n\nLauri Ann Lumby\nAuthentic Freedom Academy/Temple of the Magdalene", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CAEL - I feel the same frustration. Pope Francis is making progress in unwinding the choke hold JPII and BXVI placed on the implementation of Vat II. But I too feel that the Church is so far behind the curve I am not sure it can survive long enough - esp in the Western nations - to actually be relevant as a spiritual and moral voice to the real world we live in.\n\nThe structural changes the Church needs does include decentralization of power. But, a decentralization of power just to bishops, more princelings who have an autocrats power, is not enough. What the Church needs is the voice and the engagement of the faithful - they need to get in touch with real lives lived by people. \n\nWhat is needed is work on how to incorporate laity, and especially women. Maybe Francis thinks he starts decentralization with bishops conferences and more will flow from there. I don't think so. Bishops have had decades to hold diocesan synods and provide powerful lay pastoral councils. They didn't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I also taught CCD for many years. Another beef I had with the church was (and is) that the CCD teachers were selected from whomever they could lasso in off the street! (Not suggesting that you, Jake 47, were one of these). The level of incompetent teaching that was exhibited by many of those who were supposed to be teachers of religion was beyond appalling! I had frequent discussions with my fellow teachers because many of them had NO IDEA what Catholic teaching was on any given subject and proceeded to teach their own philosophies! But, it was obvious that these \"public\" kids were not worth the investment that the parish school kids were. Very discouraging.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic Social Teaching preached but not practiced rings hollow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Pope Francis actions as Pope deserves criticism. One of his worst actions was to come all out in support of \"climate change.\"\n\nI'm not aware of any pope in history that has come out publicly and said, in essence, God made a mistake when He created the world and all life based on oxygen and carbon dioxide.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've never heard the 1812 Overture associated in any way with the Fourth. \n\nOf course I've only lived in the US for sixty-odd years, so maybe I missed it.\n\nI wouldn't say Russia won the battle of Borodino, even if the Russians think so. General Kutuzov didn't _lose_ it, though, so the Russians came off a lot better than they might have expected. The French were left in possession of the field, free to continue their advance on Moscow, so in conventional terms that would usually be considered a French victory. The bodies were left where they fell; the French actually found a survivor when they crossed the battlefield a year later, during their retreat in 1813. Had the Russians won and ended up in possession of the field they would have buried the bodies. Russians in those days were very religious people and felt obligated to treat fellow Christians to proper burials.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do not compare this to vietnamese boat people. There have been public declation by ISIS and intention to bring the war world wide. This is part of their JIHAD and this started who knows since the beginning of their existance.....review you history, this place been in Civil war forever....This calls for suspension till all is clear, until peace is achieved in those places. If one should read more the entire place is in a civil war mode between, the Shia and the SUnni Islam. There is a war in Yemen, Iraq, Syria ...in all these places the two competing sect of Islam are at each other throat ....Christians are caught in between because they have always been caught in between these two....fighting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A personal heartfelt appreciation. But it is one person's experience. \nSeems author would just show up regardless! \nSome people like fixed events in their lives?\nThe decline in attendance he acknowledges speaks volumes, though he offers some MO why the decline.\nHaving traveled to approximately 1500 parishes throughout the country I saw increasingly the emptying and greying of the pews. I suspect Mitch is of the greying crowd. And a lot of seniors show up because mortal sin to miss! And getting closer to the end of life, don't want to risk the odds?\nCanada in the 1960's saw a \"velvet revolution\" of people suddenly, dramatically stop attending without any concerted, directed effort to stop.\nIn Ireland, 1999, Easter Sunday mass was so sparsely attended, embarrassing for a major feast. \nJesus did say people would worship \"in spirit and truth.\" (Jn. 4:24.\nMaybe that's where the masses are!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nestorian and Orthodox Christianity came to China centuries before Roman Catholicism and motley Protestant sects, yet they have no legal standing in China at all. \n\nWhereas some Protestant and Catholic (\"Chinese Catholic\" as opposed to Roman-Catholic) churches have been returned, no Orthodox churches have been (even though there are Russians as one of the 54 recognised nationalities of China -- a small number of them, but nonetheless). \n\nJudaism was present in China for a very long time too and is tolerated today, but not officially recognised either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Proving itself the most clerically-minded obliquely Catholic news service going. Another story about clerics.\n\nMore on the story here, a bit less high horse (me against the machine restoring trust) complimentary...he might have been totally innocent, though it looks like he may have made some mis-steps early. \n\nhttp://www.twincities.com/2014/08/26/boundary-violation-means-no-grad-school-for-twin-cities-priest/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will add \"you guys are compelled to spin egregious nonsense\" and \"Wrongo\" and \" liar-liar-pants-in-fire\" to the pile of epithets sans facts, sans constructive argument.\n\nProviding citations to fact checking organizations which reached contra conclusions might be fun if the purpose were to hurl accusations over the ramparts rather than advance a Catholic discussion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People!! Open your text books to the page with a picture of Lincoln. Liberals opposed slavery, opposed segregation, opposed the ban on interracial marriage- and Liberals were also known as Republicans. Likewise, conservatives (especially conservative white southern christians), used their bibles to justify slavery and fought against Lincoln and the Union Army, and they used their bibles to justify segregation, and opposed interracial marriage -- and conservatives made up the Democratic party. So, Mike Huckabee, like a good republican wannabe president, is intentionally misleading republicans who don't enjoy a good history book, which apparently is nearly all of you. Mike Huckabee should eat those statues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I find obscene are those Catholics whose children have no financial worries, not from their merits but those of their parents, who would deny the same financial security to the children whose parents have less opportunity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I understand how traddies connect the dots (erroneously) between Roman law and God's law, but until you can make that distinction you will struggle in vain to makes sense of Pope Francis and his insistence on a more welcoming, merciful Church. If you want to fight \"progress\" that too is your prerogative but if it snuffs out the joy in your life (i.e., your light of Christ) then the war you wage is also in vain.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Protests and marches (and pictures of protests) are about all we get at NCR.\n\nI think newChurch (sidebar: notice it's never \"the Church\". \"Church\" has higher quaintness and trend factor. It's like \"Lucan\" and \"Johannine Gospel\") should re-do the Stations of the Cross:\n\n1. Jesus protests to Pilate \n2. Jesus refuses His Cross\n3. Jesus complains loudly for the first time on the \"march\" to Calvary \n4. Jesus gripes to His Blessed Mother\n5. Simon of Cyrene rejects helping Jesus to carry the Cross; Jesus rejects his rejection. \n6. Jesus rejects the help of Veronica\n7. Jesus complains loudly for the second time.\n8. Jesus is too busy wallowing in self-pity and doesn't have the desire to console the women of Jerusalem\n9. Jesus complains loudly for the third time\n10. Jesus refuses to give up His garments\n11. Jesus rejects being nailed to the Cross\n12. Jesus won't die on the Cross\n13. A wimpering Jesus is consoled by His mother, who is our mother too. They \"march\" on elsewhere the same day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He made a mistake alright, when he shoved Obamacare down the throats of the American public. That set the trajectory for the next seven years. He started with favoring his Muslim friends over Christians, but his constant dividing of the country with just about every issue possible, was the topper for me. I have absolutely no respect for the man and believe he is the worse President to ever serve.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let me just butt my nose in here. It is not the priest who \"performs\" the sacrament of matrimony, it is the couple themselves. It is the marriage partners who convey the sacrament to each other. The priest is merely the official Church witness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I would like to know is why use the communion rail as a punishment.At the last supper as far as I have ever read, Jesus, Son of God, did not hear confessions and then gave his body and blood to Judas. Even though I believe that before you receive communion one should ask for forgiveness. All of us need to receive the body and blood of Jesus to nourish our minds and bodies. We all need to be servants of God's people. It gives us so much strength, compassion, mercy and love to go forward and take care of those who are in need. Jesus, like his Father always showed mercy. So does Francis and those that follow his thoughts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting that for most of the past 2,000 years the Catholic Church did not consider abortion murder. It's only in the last 100 years or so that the Church condemned abortion of the fetus from conception as murder.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Goes back MUCH further than that. Remember the USS Main:\n\n\u201c\u2026we could not leave (the Filipinos) to themselves\u2014 they were unfit for self-government\u2014and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain\u2019s was\u2026 there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all\u2026 to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God\u2019s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died.\u201d\n\n\u201cIncidental to our tenure in the Philippines is the commercial opportunity to which American statesmanship cannot be indifferent.\u201d\n\nWilliam McKinley--25th President", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First of all, Always, my name is David, not Dave. There's only one person in the world who will get away with calling me Dave a second time ... and you're not it.\n\nSecond of all, why are you sorry? You shouldn't feel sorry for expressing your opinion. I certainly don't. \n\nAnd, of course, you can't prove a negative. But, the only basis for the existence of an entity named \"God\" is the assumption of a fact not in evidence in the first sentence of the Bible. That doesn't do it for me ... nor would it stand up in any court, including the one that says \"In God we trust.\"\n\nEOD", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The oldest Christian communities in the world are in Egypt, Turkey, Palestine (where Bethlehem is), Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, etc. The only country where a Church is illegal is Saudi Arabia (the UAE has several, Bahrain has a couple, not sure about Kuwait and Qatar). Building a mosque is illegal in the Vatican.\n\nThere is no ancient Muslim community in a Christian ruled country in Europe. The ones in Spain, Portugal and Italy were completely wiped out by genocide, conversion or expulsion. Remember, Spain had a huge population of Muslims till 500 years ago.\n\nAs for moving people from Europe to Asia and Africa, it happened for 500 years. It was called colonialism. Asians and Africans could not go to European neighbourhoods, schools, streets, etc. In South Africa, this existed till 1994 under Apartheid. I am assuming that you were alive then?\n\nIs it so easy for you to talk about stuff you don't know anything about?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The sainthood cause of Nicholas Black Elk was officially opened Oct. 21 at Holy Rosary Church in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, where the iconic Lakota Native American religious leader died in 1950. During his homily, Rapid City Bishop Robert Gruss urged Catholics to shun \"isolated religious lives\" and follow the example of Black Elk's lifelong outreach to others. A primary source of information on Black Elk is Black Elk Speaks by John Neihardt, first published in 1932.\" \n\nBlack Elk is exactly the kind of saint we need today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good question, Noel. You may want to run that by Sheila Hodgers who was refused treatment for cancer in Catholic controlled Ireland because she was pregnant outside marriage. Actually you can't ask her. She died, as did her baby that the pro-lifers care so much about.\n\nOr get an opinion from Eileen Flynn who was sacked from her teaching job because she was pregnant and not married.\n\nOr ask any gay Irish person who was criminalised for their sexuality, or any woman who had to travel to a foreign land for a termination, regardless of the reason, or any Irish people who were not allowed to access contraception, or any amount of women in the Industrial schools or laundries run by the Church, or any of the abused kids or the families of suicide victims who weren't allowed to be buried in 'consecrated' ground.\n\nOr just ask any Joe Soap who can't get a pint of Guinness on Good Friday because the Catholic Church had such control over every aspect of Irish society that it shut the pubs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure I understand what you are getting at: How does a dispute between two Talmudic Houses on when one may divorce his wife affect Jesus' apparent blanket condemnation of the practice (in Mark) or allowing for it only in the case of infidelity (in Matthew, which actually makes no sense since the offending spouse would be dead by stoning, anyway)? Presented with a false dichotomy, Jesus points in another direction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our local Catholic Church seems to have a preferential option to encourage girls to serve in the capacity of 'acolytes' (altar servers), which seems consistent with Pope Francis's wishes:\n\u201cby exploring the multifaceted contribution of women to the life of the Church in America, past and present, WILL OPEN NEW HORIZONS (emphasis added) for their greater and more inclusive presence and activity in the future,\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have at least much right to speak as you have. That you think otherwise is one of the leitmotifs of a certain viewpoint prevalent in these discussions.\n\nI have no idea of what \u201cultra-right\u201d means other than it appears to involve those Catholics who adhere to the Church\u2019s teachings and discipline.\n\nI personally have claimed \u201cNO authority to excommunicate, investigate .... ANYONE\u201d, although the faithful are not only authorized but obliged to admonish.\n\nExcommunication has along history and scriptural basis.\n\nExclusion from the synagogue was a real excommunication (Ezra 10:8), feared by the parents of the man born blind (John 9:21 sq.; cf. 12:42; 16:2) and foretold to the disciples (Luke 6:22). It was the remedy Christ admonished (Matthew 18:17) for those who insisted on disregarding admonishment.\n\nSt. Paul excommunicated the incestous Corinthians (1 Corinthians 5:5) and the blasphemers (1 Timothy 1:20).\n\nIt has been practiced by every Christian sect and body.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Ms. Bokova.\nHobby Lobby was practicing another form of cultural cleansing as well: My understanding is Hobby Lobby's owner wanted these Iraqi antiquities to put into a Biblical museum to show the faithful how Abraham lived. That is, taking dozens of artifacts from a millennia-old complex civilization and condensing it down to a Bible story in support of a constrained religious viewpoint that all of ancient history is about Jesus of Nazareth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who ever said they did???\nI certainly didn't.\nYou are assuming that I have a special love for the Extraordinary Form; I don't. \nYou clearly don't know me.\nYou assume (wrongly) that a Catholic who accepts all of the Church's teachings on abortion and sexuality must also be for the Tridentine Mass.\nYou are wrong in your assumption.\nMost Catholics are conservative, not traditionalist. \nThere is a difference.\nI believe we should permit all kinds of Masses (vernacular, Latin, charismatic, folk, soft rock, traditional, high church, low church, etc.) as long as we remember that transubstantiation, the changing of the water and wine into the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus, is at the very heart of every one of these Masses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A woman was charged under the Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act 1860 as recently as 2010 for disrupting services in a Seventh Day Adventist Church. This law obviously applies to more than Anglican places of worship.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Three things come to mind here. The first:\n\n1) There seems to be a view of the Eucharist proposed by some (including perhaps the present pope) that verges on magical thinking: the notion that the Eucharist is some sort of spiritual vitamin that perks us up--the corollary being that if you don't receive Communion you run the risk of becoming spiritually malnourished. So it follows that it can only be 'merciful' to open Communion up to the divorced-and-remarried, and indeed (following the logic further) to all comers.\n\nWhile we can't expect to hammer out a complete Eucharistic theology in a combox, I'd suggest this view is in many ways deficient. An alternative is one in which the Eucharist encourages us to repent of our sins and reform our lives. Instead of insisting that the Eucharist be supplied to us, we should move towards personal holiness and thus be bring ourselves closer to the sacrament.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quite true, utilitas. Also true, however, is that Catholic lay women at Catholic institutions (founded by nuns) are benefiting from the drastic downward swing of religious vocations for women's religious communities. Women religious who were \"pioneers\" are now being replaced by new \"pioneers,\" lay female presidents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "- 19% were girls \n- 50.9% were between the ages of 11 and 14\n- 16% were between the ages of 8-10\n- Nearly 6% were under age 7\n\nThe \"teenage boy\" profile trumped by by Catholic Answers--see where they deliberately mention a 17-year-old in contrast to a 7-year-old--does not appear to be in sync with these figures.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sounds like you're a firm believer in original sin. Get baptism rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just as people used to say that Catholic priests in Quebec were preaching hate.\nWhere was the real evidence?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder how many Bishops and many Priests, Jesus would or will, perhaps after death, put a rope around the neck and throw into the ocean, for failing to protect the most vulnerable of our members? Just wondering? Instead of making excuses or hiding the fact they could at least try to rectify as much as possible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How old is that study exactly? 30, 40 years old? or more?\n\nI'm surprised how many Catholic neoconservatives read Guttmacher...LOL. Informative on all kinds of subjects, no? You guys are pure as driven snow, snick. If you're proof-texting Alan Guttmacher and you haven't actually read Alan Guttmacher, maybe you should.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am delighted to see how we are meeting the needs of Latinos, for that is not the way the Church in the past has responded to immigrant groups. We know that form eh arrival of Italian Americans, masses contain used to be said in English for large attendees of Italian American background, and in many cases they were confined to church basements where a visiting priest might be who spoke Italian or who could read from the book. Yes, the Church lost a good number of I-A souls in attendance and, as a result today, I think but with few statistics, we have lost a great number. May this never be the case for the Latino population and may the Church grow in numbers in this great country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"It is telling that Conley's talk was published at the poorly named Cardinal Newman Society, an organization that claims to be the gatekeeper for Catholic identity but really only champions sectarian schools in the mold of Steubenville, Christendom and Ave Maria.\"\n- That the inaptly named Cardinal Newman Society is involved, opens the door to questions such as: \"Was Conley given a CNS stipend to write the article?\", \"Did CNS flog the bushes looking for an unsuspecting episcopate to write an article following a prescribed outline?\", \"Does a bishop having overt support of CNS diminish the credibility of the bishop in the eyes of those he serves (see ArcbCharles of Philadelphia for an example of how CNS is an albatross hanging off the bishop's crozier)?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because not all parishes are blessed with traditional priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ever read Augustine's De Genisi Ad Litteram? There's a bit in it where he says that if a Christian tells a non-Christian something that the non-Christian knows is wrong, then the non-Christian will reject everything else the Christian has to say. \n\nWhen Humanae Vitae says that \"natural law\" says that procreation is the primary reason for having sexual relations, people will say \"the unmarried man who wrote that doesn't know what he is talkong about. When the magisterium tells us that God is sexist, rational people will reject either God or the magisterium. When traditionalists say that the magisterium is to make moral decisions for us, it is clear that the traditionalists have a faith tjat is childish (not child-like, childish).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The church is patriarchal by nature and by origin, if you dislike this fact, why are you Catholic? Are they not Father? You propose calling them Mother, then? I'm sorry, this is a nonsense article about a non-issue, and contrary to your 'deep societal insight', it isn't enlightened in the slightest. Pointless idle chatter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These liturgies could make a difference. \n\nAlso: The life of Jesus is the most compelling piece in the mix. I think it's time for the Finding Jesus crew and consultants to come up with something like the BBC's Merlin, which lasted 5 years (and, ironically, turns on some of the same notions). People need to be able to tune in every week and experience something that draws them closer to the meaning of redemption here and now. What I'm suggesting is the opposite of catechesis, which I know conservatives are calling for, and which I believe only succeeded because of the Fear Factor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. Jesus actually explained His teachings to His disciples and promised the Holy Spirit to lead the Church into all truth. For 2000 years the Church has done so over marriage, adultery, homosexuality, contraception/abortion and ordination. Was the Holy Spirit wrong because He didn't understand the nature of man and sin .... because science hadn't developed? Or don't you think that, being God, both He and Jesus knew what they were talking about and revealing?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "+Chaput's pastoral approach flunks Pope Francis' critique of legalism & rigorism. His problems run much deeper, though, as his infallibilism inappropriately extends beyond essential dogma to moral realities, where the sensus laicorum, theologians & magisterium yet continue their search for the sensus fidelium.\n\nWhile it is encouraging that pastoral solutions are being reinstated to their place of primacy over legal approaches, the problems are often more fundamental. For example, too often, pastoral accommodations for objectively \"irregular\" relationships\nare recommended when, instead, one's primacy of conscience should be recognized and a moral probabilism should be affirmed over against a creeping infallibilism.\n\nEven Pope Francis' approach, which emphasizes mercy, can become unmercifully condescending to the divorced-remarried, contracepting & LGBTQ couples, who, not unreasonably, believe that their relationships to God & each other are loving and upright.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The VATICAN should get up to speed on distributing Communion.\"\nHaving done it for a couple of millennia, maybe it's not they who should get up to speed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ephesians 4:32 - Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Her childhood was no walk in the park and she made it in the entertainment business. I wish her the best! I actually got to meet her once in London years ago about the same time I met someone else we all know and heard of (almost all). Sinead came out of no where and started talking to us to meet the person who impersonated her. There was a fair and small bands performing. A female Skinhead did a really good impersonation of Sinead and she found out so. I panicked because I was baptized Catholic lol. But she was nice, friendly talked for about 20 minutes then she hailed a cab and left. True story.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Beverly, we've doing some ecumenical things in our Church as well. Last Sunday, we had a choir recital sing- a- long at our church involving 3 Catholic Choirs in the Valley as well as 2 choirs from Lutheran Churches. This was followed by a pleasant round tables evening reception. At our table, we were able to dialogue with folks all set to celebrate Reformation next week. We were interested to hear about their missionary involvement in Africa. We parted friends. Our local Methodist Church does an outreach in October as well inviting singers from all the Churches to prepare a Christmas concert for the entire community in December. It's all good, isn't it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Accompaniment without sufficient accompanists (priests) makes this whole discussion untenable. Even more absurd in this theater of the absurd is the insecurity expressed by these learned men; \"we have no rules\" what are we going to do? \n\nClerics encounter women and men in real pain due to the breakup of their marriage and the clerics don't know what to do. Isn't it obvious? Didn't you read/understand the gospels? No wonder the church is in its present state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sort of yesterday's news.\n\nMost solid Catholics left the scouts several years ago...when that other trendy thing dulled the focus of the Scouts.\n\nThere are several other fine \"means\" to help boys develop manly virtues and skills.\n\n\"Troops of St George\" is one.\n\nSmall Father-son clubs is another: like-minded fathers, many whom were already friends schedule (often) monthly activities...cultural, sports, skill based, intellectual, historical outings, including camping, hiking, or service oriented. In these little clubs, there may be short talks on virtues. \n\nVery simple. No uniforms, natural friendship. And no inculcation from the Justice department!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have opened my mind to the thought that Universities, created in a time when few owned books or could read, really aren't that useful. \nThey certainly aren't the place where the community conversations take place, or where the community is even totally welcome. They are an elite, overpriced environment that has, for too long, held a monopoly on degrees and employment certifications.\nToday, we have TV, the internet, and smart phones. \nThey are too stiff and ancient in their thinking. Unfortunately, to succeed in life, one needs to traverse their paths and sit in their hard seats. \nHaving written that, I must add that today's public Universities are much more open to new thinking than are the conservative institutions like Christian schools.\nAnyone who worships at the altar of a mythic God and thinks that the Old South is to be cherished, that time where 40% of Virginia \"citizens\" were held as slaves is...well, the patriarch Romans and Greeks would agree.\nHugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But you still tax people who never bother to show up from one month to the next, except for weddings and funerals.\nWithout Kirchensteuer, you'd be in an even worse off position. Must be great to be a Protestant or Catholic clergymember in German-you don't have to worry about how many people show up and you get the same level of salary and benefits regardless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bishops are quite right. The Catholic Church should not be forced to fund lifestyles which it considers sinful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) Dogmatic teaching needs no \"updating\".\u2014mjmchale Really. updating considerations of human sexuality based on experiences of the Faithful, is called for, as social sciences learn more about experiences of the Faithful. At this time, there may be no need to \u201cupdate\u201d dogmatic teaching, though the administration of The Catholic (Pontifical) University of America seems to think so, by refusing to give professors a chance to explain themselves before firing them, thereby earning the continuing 1990 censure of the American Association of University Professors. When it comes to human sexuality, the Teaching Magisterium has changed its proclamation from denying human sexual pleasure is a legitimate part of the purpose of human sexuality, to accepting that human sexual pleasure is a legitimate part of the purpose of human sexuality. The problem is determining the criteria for exactly what constitutes dogma.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Married gay couples are one flesh as well, especially from a legal perspective. Catholic hospitals did not respect this and exiled partners, which is why the marriage movement started. BTW, Jesus was quoting Babylonian Rabbis who attributed the man-woman passage to Moses. Moses did not say it. You are essentially appealing to authority rather than reason. If reason wins, that is the side Jesus is on. If you don't understand that, take up knitting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Weinandy's points to Francis all mark a man who fundamentally likes authoritarian rule in the church. He feels the need for Right and Wrong answers to everything, when in fact many answers are right and wrong at the same time. The idea that he could ask Jesus to show him, Weinandy, a particular sign of Weinandy's own making is in fact delusional. Since he belonged to a reactionary click in the church, what type of friend did he think he might meet? He deluded himself into believing that his friend was sent by Jesus when in fact he would only recognize as a friend members of his on click. Anyone of these would do and by talking about his own writings, he would have been encouraged by any one of them to continue. He did not meet just anyone, he met a person selected not by Jesus but a person in his own click of belief. This is a common delusion of reactionary thought. As a young boy I was a good fly fisherman. I once made promises to God if only He allowed me to catch a fish etc", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since almost all of our ancestors were illegal immigrants at one time or another, we should have some empathy for people coming here. Unless you are an aboriginal descendant, you by rights an illegal immigrant. \n\nSt. Benedict instructed his monks to receive all guests as Christ, \u201cfor he will say, \u2018I was a stranger and you welcomed me\u2019\u201d (Rule of Benedict, 53:1; Matthew 25:35).\n\nBishop Olsen in dealing with the governor of Texas if anything needs to remember; \u201cIf the words and actions don\u2019t match, trust the actions.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As the influence of Christianity has been on the wane in recent decades, so has the quality of life in the United States. For many of the old whites that populate this site, there seems to be a tendency to paint the '50's in a negative light, but it wasn't as bad for those of us non whites as you might like to imagine. \n\nDespite the very real evils of discriminatory laws, there was , I believe, a sense of freedom then that seems to be missing in today's America. Most people of color will probably agree that those of any color who followed the law, there was very little to fear from those who wielded power. I'd gladly give up some of today's technology, for the more civil society I remember from a half century ago, fully realizing that there can be no utopia here on Earth, no matter the era.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, how has Amoris Laetitia actually impacted things on the pastoral level? Have pastors been using it quite often? It doesn't seem to have made that big an impact on the parish level. I did a survey of both Catholic sources and secular sources (i.e. bride forums are good) but haven't found any big changes pre and post Amoris Laetitia. (If this isn't the case, feel free to chime in. I would love to hear some good news about people being reconciled or receiving Communion through Amoris Laetitia.) \n\nSecond, it is suspicious that Burke waited until after Trump's election to air his grievances. I suspect that there is more going on than meets the eye.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Confidentiality for grave sins--ie enabling murderers and child molesters and rapists to continue to do what they do by not reporting it--is not Biblical. The Bible encourages openness and honesty for us. It says we are to confess our sins to one another--openly. We are not supposed to hide our evil acts, but humbly admit them and repent.\n\nThat any man of God--any man of God of any denomination or religion--would shield a monstrous criminal offends God, the God who struck Ananias and Sapphira dead for lying to the apostle, the God whose great apostle Paul disfellowshipped (ie, threw out of the church) a man sleeping consensually with his stepmother. How much more would Paul have \"defrocked\" a minister who is supposed to be above reproach for being a predator to the young among us, the ones we ought to protect with the utmost care?\n\nSince God won't strike dead these evildoers as they deserve, at the very least defrock them and turn them over to the police to pay for their dire crimes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We really need to study God's word and accept it as it is. There are a lot of persons who are happy for the denial of women's ordination and use it as a weapon because satan uses the truth and twists it with error and men delight in the list of their hearts indulge themselves in error being led away by seducing spirits. Many of or women too have been put up to accepting women's ordination and claiming it as their own not having proper understanding for themselves of such roll. We are to respectfully and lovingly teach and encourage and educate in love. My findings on women's ordination? The bible doesn't support or teach it. And Ellen G. White no where in her writings endorses it. Let us not try to help God but to do what we know to do that is given us in the word of God. My loving sisters who desire such a position. Leave it alone and let the men take up their rightful roll and responsibilities as God gave us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Uh, no, the Establishment Clause isn't contingent on elections.\n\nI didn't say Deism isn't religious. I pointed out that the religiosity in the Declaration is Deist. The language does not reflect the orthodox Christianity some conservatives fantasize was foundational to the formation of the republic. The Founders were Enlightenment men who, in many cases, were strongly influenced by Deism.\n\nThe Constitution, of course, contains no religious language.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe I made the first post on this article. Just the timing. I have received more feedback, by far mostly positive on this posting than any of the many others that I have made on a wide variety of subjects. Also, interesting how many comments there are. I stopped at four pages. Seems to me to be kind of a fringe issue really. But then again, I'm neither a fundamentalist Christian or a Trans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The AL controversy will never ever subside. Truly faithful Catholics will never ever submit to the clumsy flawed situation ethics it clearly avows. \n\nI could care less what you or Mr Winters have to say about true defenders of the faith like Cardinal Burke and Cardinal Sarah .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nobody was a greater disruption to the powers that be than Jesus himself. I would add that Jesus showed compassion and love to those women you mentioned in the Gospel because he, unlike the fearful, power-obsessed men in the Vatican, welcomed women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It means only Catholics who vote Republican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I began to quickly doze off when he got into the abstract writing of B16. Maybe Cupich could have b16 come to Chicago, at least via Skype and explain his distinctions. \nAs a native of Chicago's Southside, the effects of the progressive Cardinal Mundelein et al had zero impact on the parish I grew up in. In fact, the opposite was operative - racism. A half block from me, a couple had a union meeting of people in their home; a few were black. Quickly, over 1,000 people, overwhelmingly parishioners, took to the street. Eventually, the owners had to move; the parish bought the house. So much for progressive Catholicism. Never once did I hear a word of race reconciliation, publicly or privately by the clergy.\nInteresting the Cupich has done an about face on Pfleger. George tried to drum him out of the RCC.\nHe's the last RC cleric who gives a damn about what is happening still in Chicago's huge ghetto.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except that you are mistaking \"outcomes\" for the process, neither of which is under the control of ultra-right Catholics or Opus Dei!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those statistics are harsh. Unfortunately, consolidating the number of parishes does nothing to address the drastic decline in the number of Catholics who are actually involved with the Church. Something is seriously wrong and if it is not corrected the problem will resolve itself over time as even more Catholics leave the Church or just nominally identify with it.. As many commentators have suggested perhaps this is the time for those in authority in the Church to look to the laity for innovative solutions and implement them.\n\n At this point, the Church is just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Greg Burke, the director of the Vatican press office, told reporters in a short briefing Thursday that the discussions are expected to focus on more than the choice between religious and married life.\"\nI think a more pertinent focus would be on the choice between staying with the church or becoming a \"none\" and what can be done to reduce the latter.\nVocations to religious life are low, but in the West, church marriages are also low. \"Leaving\" seems to be higher than religious vocations or church marriage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "deserved all the love and respect he heaped on her. She was beautiful and saintly. I know from the wonderful experience of being their son, in that time and place, with those very Catholic values, that the world so rejected now as being a bygone fantasy --- that world --- really did exist, with many similar inhabitants.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This will be my last shot at this, Kevin.\n<< the question was is God's Word inviolate?>>\nThe answer is: By definition, private revelation is NOT the Word of God.\nThe question the church tries to answer is different: Is a claimed private revelation consistent with, or at least not at odds with, Divine Revelation as it is understood and taught by the church? If the revelation is found to be at odds with Divine Revelation, the faithful are warned against it. If it is found not to be at odds with Divine Revelation, the faithful are free to appropriate what helps them and to ignore what does not help them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The voucher bill could not have worked without a tax increase. Hopefully the taxes increased will claw back some of the money voucher recipients are now paying for tuition. That is one key to passing such measures. The other would be allowing teachers in non-public schools to unionize. That is the Achilles heal of the Catholic Church on labor. This action may trigger a Blaine Amendment challenge, although prior case law in Illinois probably allows it. (Griffith v. Bower, 2001). It could be a vehicle for federal case law eliminating these provisions nation-wide.\n\nArpaio found that bigotry sells in politics, but only until he took it too far, losing both his office and his freedom. Trump litterally bailed him out, whch sadly does not hurt Trump\u2019s brand but may peal off a few more votes in Congress to impeach or remove him. Neither thought they were at risk. Both were likely wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You realize that your characterization of the evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ can be applied to the evidence for the existence of Socrates? The only evidence we have that he existed is stories written long after his death - by his students. As for Jesus Christ, his crucifixion was probably sometime between 30AD and 35AD, and the gospels were likely written between 60AD and 90AD.\n\nAs for evidence of God - there is no evidence only if you dismiss the historical reports of the acts of God and His prophets. Certainly you're entitled to do that, but that is a philosophical choice, rather than an evidence based choice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For a large percentage of American Catholics (38%) per the article quoted below, Spanish is probably NOT a \"foreign language.\" \n\"Spanish in the U.S. also makes sense for demographic reasons. A sizable percentage of American Catholics\u201438%, according to CARA\u2014are Hispanic. And the number is growing. A few years ago, one study reported Hispanics accounted for 70% of the Catholic growth in the United States\u2014and if trends continue, Hispanics could make up the majority of Catholics in this country by 2035.\" \nFrom http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2015/09/im-sorry-pope-francis-this-is-america-and-we-speak-english/\n\nOf course this is not to say that all people who identify as \"Hispanic\" speak Spanish. But if even half do, that's a lot of Spanish-speaking Catholics, and it doesn't even count readers in Mexico, Central, or South America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You make accusations without any bases in truth, that is false witness, like when you accuse me of working for CI. Your soul is red with hatred, and risk your own soul friend.\n\nThe devil was never after those children, but those souls who burn with hatred afterwards.\n\nRemember that the church can't send people to jail, it can't prosecute. Victims need to go to the police. You can't blame the church for not imprisoning offenders.\n\nAgain, remember Judas Iscariot, he was hand picked by Christ and ended up being a thief and a traitor. The devil didn't want Judas, he wants to embroil as many souls as possible with hatred. If the disciples ended up embittered with hatred towards Judas, then the spread of the message stops. Fortunately the Holy Spirit's power of love and forgiveness heals.\n\nI pray you sole mission isn't to spread hatred of the church, it will not end for you. We know the church will have an apostasy when Christ returns, and he then takes the church into heaven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The traditional white demographic base of the Catholic Church is in rapid decline as the population ages and fewer and fewer young adults remain in the Church. Without the influx of Hispanics who represent 71 percent of the country's Catholic growth the figures would be dismal. During the 1960s, 10 percent of Catholics identified themselves as Hispanic. Today, the number has grown to almost 40 percent as approximately 30.4 million people in the United States self-identify their religion as Catholic and their ethnicity as Hispanic. The only thing that is keeping Church number stable is the influx of Hispanics half of whom are immigrants or the children of immigrants.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An ecumenical council is the HIGHEST form of authority within the Church. It is higher than anyy pope speaking alone. Remember for Pius IX to get his proposal passed as doctrine [infallibility] he needed the VOTE of every bishop attending. Enough of the majority gave it to him. Gaudium et spes is FAR from BLAND. And are you judging the documents in the light of TODAY'S issues? There was much more that could have been done at Vatican II---but it is soooo much more than just dealing with the Liturgy---which is what MOST Catholics experienced at their Church each week-end. Sorry, but I didn't belong to any parish where liberties in the Liturgy took place---and I belonged to quite a few parishes in a number of states.\n\nAlso, the discussions that lead up to the Documents that were passed---gave invaluable understanding of the intent and thrust behind most of the documents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, yes, the good old traditionalist cry of \"if you don't agree 100% with the magisterium, you should leave\" -- which generally means \"if you don't agree with ME, you should leave\". Why should we? It's just as much our Church as it is your or it is the hierarchs' Church.\n\nThere are certain things one must accept if one is to be a Catholic: The true presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the Trinity, that the Church is a mystery and not a man-made thing. Things like that. One certainly can question \"Should women be ordained\" and be a proper Catholic.\n\nYou remind me of the the attitude of the sages of the Talmud, who built \"a fence around the Torah\", and made it almost absurdly wide (\"You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk.\" -- Exodus 23:19 means that one cannot serve chicken and butter in the same meal). \n\nMy questioning certain teachings does not mean \"I am unhappy with the faith\", it means I have questions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"disguised in the people who have nothing left but hope.\" \n\n\" Isaiah says that God wants us to yearn for and accept the Spirit who offers the gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength and fear of the Lord. Those are the capacities needed to create the community Paul envisions, a community that attracts others to know and glorify God. \"\n\nMeeting John and Isaiah on the road to the Coming of Christ.... feeling as empty a paul simon pocket empty as a pocket with nothing to lose. Amen", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, in a loose sense we are, but there is a reason there are Protestants and Catholics. There is a reason there are Presbyterians. Modern liberals like to pretend the differences do not matter. They like to minimize the differences. The differences DO matter. They are not insignificant. \n\nThe whole point of Protestants vs. Catholics is that we Catholics do things Protestants do not like and visa-versa. A Protestant telling Catholics what they should or should not believe or do in their theology and Faith is analogous to me going into your house and telling you \"You should not ask me to take off my shoes before I enter, that is offensive. You should change your practice.\" Your house, your rules! If I don't like it, I can leave and go to MY house where I have MY rules! \n\nProtestants and Catholics might loosely be brothers and sisters, but that does not give Protestants the right to tell Catholics what they should or should believe or do in their Faith life or churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This isn't a big deal. Tabatha is very worried a conservative candidate might be Catholic.\n\nAnd those Trump tweets are distressing to liberals everywhere.\n\nWe still can't figure out where that communion wafer went.\n\nBut this. Meh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) They (colleges with a different set of Catholic identity) approach modernity as a source of contamination and seek an isolated, immunized system of thought to protect themselves.\u2014Michael Sean Winters versus I am an alumni [sic] of two Catholic universities, one of which is Franciscan University of Steubenville . . . I cannot say that FUS is some kind of isolation from modernity.\u2014JQ\n\nNo mention of Ex Corde Ecclesiae or the 1990 censure of the administration of The Catholic University of America by the American Association of University Professors, two touchstones of academic excellence. From Ex Corde Ecclesiae, I tremble at the notion of bishops standing guard over professors anywhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're right: I didn't live through it, not in the way the Sisters did. I think many people, even some who had not previously appreciated the contributions of Sisters to Catholic and Christian life in the United States, took notice. I don't know if it would make any difference, but Lori and anyone else involved in bringing this Inquisition to life, ought to apologize.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent analysis. And, yes, any thoughtful, fair review of both Pentin and Murray has to conclude they each are cheerleaders for the opposition to Pope Francis. I fully support their right to their opposition roles, but it's silly to deny there's an EWTN-Register \"papal posse\" more aligned with Raymond Burke's Church view than with Francis's. \n\nSelf-doubt isn't one of their traits. Ambiguity and nuance are their enemies. Trust in the laity and in theologians to \"discern in the flow of life\" (recent words of Francis) is minimal. \n\nWhen the Pope said we must sometimes eschew the comforts of settling for \"white and black\" answers, I'm sure there was apoplectic reaction among those who more seek the comfort of canonical certainty than trust in the flow of life.\n\n They agree with the admonition of Archbishop Chaput that \"confusion is of the devil.\" They disagree with John Wooden: \"Learning is what happens after you know it all.\" \n\n Arguing over \"The Joy of Love.\" Catholic irony lives!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Michael Pace states: \"When he pointed out that Jesus came not to change the Old Testament,\n Jones was half right. Christ came to fulfill the law.\"\n\n I would like to add - Yes, but there is more to it than that. Jesus brought the New Testament;\n a new agreement. Based on a raised level of consciousness, not on rules. To paraphrase:\n \"forget the Ten Commandments, for from now on, the law shall be written in your hearts.\"\n No need to memorize nor remember verse and chapter, you will simply SEE. \n \n A great metaphor for this is : \" A man was blind, and so he needed to remember where his furniture was (so he wouldn't fall over it). Then the next morning a miracle occurred, he \ncould SEE! He was then able to Forget where his furniture was, because he could SEE.\n\nUnfortunately, most people - Christians and non-believers alike, lump the Old Testament together with the New. This creates the confusing quotes and misunderstandings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing uncivil...just some tough questions.\n\nWhat is the meaning of a petition in this case, but a protest!\n\nWe can generate petitions all day on far more prevalent topics, can't we?\n\nA petition for the Church to change its teaching on may topics and matters.\n\nMake abortion not a sin\nMake adultery not a sin\nMake sin not a sin\nMake no sacraments\nMake 50 sacraments\nGet rid of St James's letter in the NT\nChange our knowledge of Jesus to a be a transvestite plumber, not a carpenter\nMake Moses a woman.\n\nWhat is the point of these petitions?\n\nJust another posting of a petition on a door, with a tack, like Luther did. \n\nPetitions are the work of protestants.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remember jw1957 that the Democrats started the KKK and and run the organization. They used it for years to suppress the all minorities to include Catholics. This same organization call the Democrats got the Jim Crow laws put into place and controlled the South through intimidation for years. I remember that well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We don't need to go to the Third World to find Catholics who condemn homosexuality. It's official mantra right here at churches and in publicly funded Ontario schools right here at home.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He can be interpreted by Protestants on know-nothings as saying that. Catholics, no.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The good news is that the Vatican IS acting, as it should. The use of a canonical trial is refreshing to see. \n\nThe bad news is that once again, it would appear that the action is triggered when a bishop himself is the abuser. I still think the church needs to wheel out these SAME big guns and use them for those bishops, who, while they themselves may not have abused, have shielded abusers, and mistreated the abused. Until that day comes, I will continue to believe that church leaders still don't understand the magnitude of this mess, or worse, that they still place their own protection as a higher priority than anybody else's.\n\nI also hope that if/when that trial actually takes place, the church can be more transparent than we've seen in the past. It's long past time for the kind of secrecy we've seen in the past, for that only aggravates the trust issues in the church. So they've got an opportunity here: let's see what they do with it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just to show how knee-jerk obstructionists behave when presented with even the most simple facts: \n\n\"NCR gives points of view one doesn't hear in the mainstream media or the mainstream Catholic media.\" (as inarguable as 2+2=4 or that the Warriors are up 3-0 on the Cavs)\n\nTRIDENTINUS DISAGREES.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are using a very restrictive definition of \"conservative\" if you think that. That is only a tiny fringe element of what are today's \"conservatives\".\n\nToday's conservatives and liberals have switched sides, it is now conservatives who believe in free speech and liberals who don't, conservatives who fight for liberal values against regressive religious extremists, liberals champion them as long as they aren't Christian, etc.\n\nWhich is why so many people who previously identified as liberals, like me, no longer identify as such, because so-called \"liberals\" no longer believe in liberal values.\n\nAs for you, your defense of \"winner-take-all\" meritocratic economics, i.e. \"anyone who can't compete with highly educated immigrants deserves to be left behind\", would have you attacked as right-wing if you were white.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, the fact that Catholic churches have the altar facing the people demonstrates that the Fathers at Vatican Council II agreed that the priest should face the people.\n\nThose who attend TLM are a very small minority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop Tong is, I think, on the right tract: dialogue and patience. If the Chinese church follows Matteo Ricci's approach to cherishing Chinese culture, the church could indeed flourish. Perhaps we get too many stories of Chinese officials removing large-sized crosses from churches. Smaller crosses mean the same thing, only more modestly. Our history in China goes back at lest to the Tang dynasty, when a quite cosmopolitan court provided a Christian \"temple\" in the capitol city of Chang-an to missionaries from Inner Asia. As long as the present government does not perceive a threat to order (as defined), steady progress seems possible -- as long as there develops no Christian right or fundamentalism. The old Marxist dismissal of religion as delusion is just that: old and pass\u00e9. Let us not piggyback the gospel on neoliberal politics, since our social teaching is diametrically opposed to values that negate :power to the rich,\" whatever the present practices are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Penance was raised to the level of a sacrament by none other than Christ himself. \"Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained\" (John 20:22-23). This gave the successors of the apostles and in turn priests under their charge to forgive sins in the person of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ken Neubeck:\n\nI volunteer at the Egan Warming Center at First Christian Church. Watching and interacting with people who are cold, wet, tired, and hungry waiting patiently to get shuttled to one of the other Egan centers or, later in the evening, be admitted to First Christian, is a sobering experience.\n\nThose waiting are young and elderly, able-bodied and alter-abled, mentally well and mentally ill, with companions and very alone, hopeful and hopeless, confident and anxious. All are being denied the fundamental human right to housing, which in turn denies them the human rights to personal security, health, and even life.\n\nAnd any one of us could end up waiting outside in the cold and wet to be sheltered and warmed, given a mat on a church floor and a blanket, and fed a grilled cheese sandwich, right alongside them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"[N]o true Christian \"just warrior\" will ever celebrate his having killed, or rejoice in it, or boast of it. Nor will that warrior's society. Killing is always an evil, always a source of sorrow, always to be regretted.\"\n\nI totally, totally agree . . . except for the proposition that killing is always an evil. Killing is at times the moral thing to do. But even then, as you say, killing is to be regretted and is always a source of sorrow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well I guess if Mr. Trump is so bad you and your party should have done a better job on the campaign trail. I am surprised that you did not state that White Christians were the main threat.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I hope the absurdity of this situation is not lost on people, even those who may be generally critical of Israel. All visitors to the Western Wall pass through security before being allowed access. Mecca is monitored by literally 100s of cameras. In how many countries in the middle east are Jews and Christians free to pray at synagogues and churches? The world is upside down...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "For all the anti-Evangelical Christian posters here, may I kindly remind you that public education, universal healthcare, worker rights, and the abolition of slavery were all originally initiated by Evangelical Christians. This article is not about the merits of Christianity. Rather, it is about the repressive dictatorship of North Korea. Using this comment board to slag Christians is offensive and disgusting!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Another swing and a miss Bochis. \n\nFirstly, I never said that there wouldn't be an Islamist link. Only that one had not been proven at the time I posted my comment. An actual link is still yet to be proven. \n\nSecondly, ISIS can \"claim\" responsibility for whatever it wants but that doesn't actually make them responsible for this until the perpetrator's motives are really known. \n\nThirdly, ISIS doesn't represent the millions of non-radical Muslims across the world. \n\nLastly, there is no evidence to support your contention that all Muslims adhere to those elements of Islam that you highlight just as there is no evidence that all Christians adhere to the more ridiculous and radical parts of the Bible.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I lost any sympathy for Palestinian Arabs long time ago, for the heinous terror they executed against Israelis and Christians. \n\nRead about Damour Massacre of Lebanese Christians by Arafat gangs. \n\nEven Justin won't dare an unfiltered immigration to Canada.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "By the way, happy to see Catholic institutions celebrating the eclipse as a rare natural and scientific event worth watching and having fun. Some flat-earthers such as one of Billy Graham's progeny think the eclipse is some evil act of the devil instead of an act of nature. No wonder our nation is screwed up with Bible Thumpers like that preaching nonsense to their congregations!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Back to the Supreme Court of Canada. The judge was correct. Make the Catholics pay for their own faith-based religucation.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We treat the 2nd Amendment like a death lottery and we are all potential blood sacrifices. How many of those concert goers thought they had bought lottery tickets? I thought Jesus made human sacrifices unnecessary. I'm sure a lot of those concert goers thought they were Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"As a group, American Jews voted against Trump by a greater proportion than any other religious group \u2014 71 percent voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton, 24 percent for him.\"\n\nHow embarrassing that Catholics, the white ones, were taken in so easily by a conman like Trump. I am happy for the Chosen People that weren't so easily fooled.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Anti-Christian bigotry has been prevalent in Egypt for many years. It's not just a recent, IS-driven phenomenon. Ask any Egyptian Christian about it. This should be easy to do; so many Christians have migrated to Canada to escape persecution over the last several decades that there are many to ask.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No where is the white person protected.\nThere are millions of non - religious white people who are now marginalized\nDisgusting\n\nTo all non-religious White people in Canada you are being marginalized deliberately\nIn 10 years your kids will have no protections in the law.\nYou should be furious and deeply worried about your children's future\n\n\"\"\"\"Mr. Anderson\u2019s motion, which mirrored almost exactly that of the Liberals, condemns \u201call forms of system racism, religious intolerance, and discrimination of Muslims, Jews, Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, and other religious communities,\u201d but did not specifically mention Islamophobia.\"\"\"\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am not interested in what \"could have helped this [*terrorist*],\" I'm interested in what could have saved these people.\n\n...like not having this animal in their country in the first place.\n\nIf Muslims want to blow up people for being gay, execute children for being Christian, and burn women alive for wanting to learn how to read, then they can stay in their own parts of the world and do it to themselves to their hearts content.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Except that most of the Republican hierarchy have failed to serve their country in times of war....Bush, Cheney, Rove, Trump etc. And the American values you speak of are exclusive of white Christian right wing folk....a minority in this country today, and are the values of hatred and bigotry.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A channel apparently abandoned by Imran in 2013, https://www.youtube.com/user/iawan9667/channels?shelf_id=0&view=56 , is still up and features subscriptions to 2 Muslim hate preachers and one radical Islamist TV channel. These outlets have promoted violent anti-Jewish, anti-Christian and anti-Ahmadi attacks and should have been investigated by anyone hiring Imran or anyone associated with him. At the very least Schultz has shown very poor judgement, at the very least.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The author writes with evident enthusiasm - this is, after all, the first good electoral news from the US in some time.\n.\nHowever, the author has missed a couple of points.\n.\nFirst, turnout was 2.58 m in a state with 8.6 m. There were 7.0 m potentially eligible to vote. 2.58/7.0 = 37% = true, absolute turnout, (not nominal turnout). It is much higher than 2013, but still lousy.\n.\nSecond, the Democratic generic vote was 7% - 8% more than the GOP.\nIn a First-Past-the-Post, two-party election, that should have yielded a sizeable majority in the legislature. Instead, the GOP may still win the most seats (it's really close). Not a good omen for 2018. Gerrymandering?\n.\nThird, white evangelical Christians didn't get the memo. Again.\nThey voted 79% - 19% for the GOP loser in a 54% - 46% race.\nHow is it possible for sentient human beings with a pulse to be so clueless?\nTotally baffling.\n.\nProof, yet again:\nThe religious danger to America is not Islam.\nIt is white evangelical Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You may consider it \"baloney\" but infusion of grace, through the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, is central to Catholic faith. Dismiss it, fine, but don't claim to be a Catholic.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm going to humbly suggest that by your standard nearly 100% of Christians are apostates. \nBy your logic (and I'm being pretty generous, I think, to call it that), self-identification as a Christian has no meaning because only \"god\" can determine if one is \"truly\" a Christian. The only problem is that you have no proof of \"god\" either so how can you prove what/if a Christian actually is or how he or she might be different from any other person who does not self-identify as Christian? I think it's nice though that we both seem to agree that there's quite a lot of hypocrisy where \"Christians\" are concerned.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Oh lord, yet another cafeteria Catholic who only eats the old soured leftover oatmeal from the trash bin, while everyone else feasts from the freshly prepared gourmet foods, served piping hot.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How about freedom from religion? Christianity and Islam,are both bastardized by despots, who use them as instruments to get their points across, whatever they are. Both are used to justify putting suffering on others who do not agree with their draconian ideals, to justify the genocide of other races that stand in the way of colonial profit.\nThese evangelicals, the Christians today study a bible that was changed many times through the centuries, to reflect the ideals of any pope at the time, even when it went against the teachings of their jesus. They expect to go to their heaven even as they apply draconian standards on others. They defund the health and social programs that help the same class of people that their jesus helped and died for, and instead, give the same monies to the same class of people their jesus despised.\nThem expecting to go to their Christian heaven, makes as much sense as the Islamic terrorists going to their heaven after murdering so many innocents.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Interestingly, the much-maligned-by-the-right-wingers ACLU has fought this battle as well (at least once):\n\n\nhttps://www.aclu.org/news/aclu-tn-protects-students-right-read-bible-school\n\n\n\nI don't see anything wrong with bringing nearly any books to school and reading/discussing on your own time, as long as you are not disrupting/bullying others. So bring \"the\" bible, the Vedas, some Wiccan lit, a Dawkins or Sam Harris book, etc...\n\n\n\nChristians especially seem interested in playing identity politics at all times, so let them bring their bibles if they wish. They'll imagine themselves to be even bigger victims than they already imagine they are if they are prevented from bringing it. Just look at how they freak out over the holiday designs of the cups at a huge coffee chain that was started by Jews (Starbucks).", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am not saying that adultery, rape and incest are acceptable and you know it. You are using the logical fallacy of the Straw Man. Fallacious arguments in actual debate is taken as saying \"I don't have an actual argument\".\n\nI am saying that a lot of the hooey that the Catholic Church teaches is tripe.A specific example is in JPII's Theology of the Body, 24. After citing Matthew 5:28, \"everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart\", he writes\n\n Christ did not stress that it is \"another man's wife,\" or a woman who is not his wife, but generically, \"a woman\" ... Even if [a man] looked at this way at the woman who is his wife, he could likewise commit adultery in his heart. (Theology of the Body, chapter 24.4)\n\nThat a man can commit adultery with his own wife is ridiculous. Yet this is presented as a serious teaching. Don't even get me started on that odorous pile which is Humanae Vitae.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Good meditation. After the mystery of the Transfiguration, the story of the Samaritan woman is a sign of hope for an eventual \"transfiguration\" of the Catholic hierarchy, from being exclusively male to become inclusively human, in the FLESH, male and female. Ten thousand years or so of patriarchal conditioning makes us blind, but St John Paul II's \"Theology of the Body\" clearly explains that the body is a sacrament of the entire person but is not the entire person. Under the New Law, the apostolic mission is not contingent on having a penis. March 25th, the solemnity of the Annunciation, is the worldwide day of prayer for the ordination of women. Let us pray!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Let me make sure I understand:\n\nA Presbyterian is trying to tell Catholics how the Catholic Church should run? A Presbyterian is teaching Catholics about the priesthood? While we are at it, why doesn't the Catholic Church just cease being Catholic and become Protestant?\n\nWell, as long as Presbyterians get to tell Catholics how to run and govern their churches, perhaps this Catholic can tell the Presbyterian what he should do in his Church.\n\nI think it is high time the Presbyterians rethink this whole congregational governance thing. I mean--the idea that self proclaimed elders and trustees get to make policy and vote on the minister seems rather silly...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It will be interesting to see the reaction from foolish Trudeau when some of the less moderate muslim states refuse entry to those purporting no gender. As with religion, it is better to state Christian than Agnostic when entering the likes of say Libya.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The notion that Trump is pro-life is preposterous on its face; moreover, the notion that Clinton is pro-abortion is not only preposterous but dishonest. People who are determined to support or vote for an openly racist, fascist, demagogue will find a reason to do so -- but the pretense that the racist, fascist Republican nominee is \"pro-life\" is probably the most hypocritical reason available for doing so. The fact that some Catholic clerics, even some bishops, seem to have attached themselves to the fascist nominee is disgraceful. Shame on them.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Who is racist? The local who don't want a Muslim only cemetery in their backyard or the Muslim's who don't want to be buried by anyone other than a Muslim? There aren't any just Jewish or just Catholic or any other just(insert religion) cemeteries being built in backwoods Quebec either are there?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Kaaihue is an extremist who judges and hates and cannot possibly claim to be a true Christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I explained exactly why I said your statement is ridiculously absurd. Furthermore, I do not make \"god\" out to be a monster, the Bible does that all on its own. For example; in the old testament \"god\" had an old man stoned to death because he picked up a couple of sticks on the Sabbath. The old man is now burning in hell for eternity, because he picked up some sticks on the Sabbath. That sir, is an evil sick monster. One of the many examples found in this book. The one \"Christians\" do not want to get into an intellectually honest debate on is Romans 9, the purpose of creation, and how \"god\" created men just to destroy them, and when asked why then would god find fault is asked...because he can. who are you to question god burning you in hell?\n Therein I truly believe, only a fool would be a Christian, and especially when one understands how this book came into being.\nSeriously, eternal damnation because I ate a fruit god put in the garden to tempt me with?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Islam has been terrorizing and murdering for thousands of years, and in fact, it was Islam that started the Christian Crusades. Islam was trying to take over Jerusalem.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Is it homophobic to agree with the Church's teaching that homosexual activity is gravely sinful?\nObviously you disagree with this teaching, so who should a Catholic believe, the Church or you?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Then why are there cemeteries exclusively for Catholics and Jews?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps he was checking if Trump is the Anti-Christ...\nHe sure isn't at all Christian...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder how many of conservatives have bothered to read the bloody history of Christianity? Or is it more convenient to just to skip those historical facts? I could have inserted \"KKK\" into your post and more aspects of it would be similar than different. If you want to play the game where we just isolate and narrow \"the bad\" in any faith, Christianity is as \"guilty\" as the rest of them.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This retreat to the past indicates a profound lack of confidence on the part of these frightened clerics. Apparently they have nothing of value to offer for our times. The \"good ol' days\"-- which were never that good -- . were not experienced by them. This sad retreat is just another pathetic attempt by these clerics to be held in a respect that they never earned. As I have said before, while it will not happen in our lifetimes, if Catholic Christianity is to survive, its next iteration will be without clergy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The ethically broken compass part-time mayor/part-time banker sees no problem with and has zero issues with doing things that will offend the proper sensibilities of normal citizens who are obligated to abide by societal protocols, rules and laws.\n\nJust another notch on the Cadwell cane of ineptitude, hubris and unbridled corruption.\n\nGood choice Kirky...you must either be a Christian above other Christians by turning the other cheek or owe Mr. Alexander something big. Why does this small rock feel an obligation to recycle every has been, loser or convicted criminal...INTO GOVERNMENT???", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Love which is lasting, faithful, conscientious, stable and fruitful is increasingly looked down upon, viewed as a quaint relic of the past.\u201d\n\nSo what Catholic clergies did to help? CI (Catholic Institution) clergies busy raping children and bishops/prelates busy hiding pedophile clergies and condoned their sexual rape by moving them around, around, and around. Can you imagine in your wildest dream that anyone could pass around the sick rapist priests for thirty years?\n\nWell, who can trust anyone when CI openly engage in rape of children and shamelessly persecute the suffering clergy rape victims repeatedly to save their assets for the whole world to see. \n\nEven if Pope F. have ten mouths, there are nothing he could say other then be shamed about what CI is engaged in!!!!!!!!!! \n\nGod have mercy on us!!!!!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Liberals need to erase history in order to demonize Christianity and \"the patriarchy\". If you told people that Christianity and white male patriarchy built roads, established democracies, a court system, human rights, built trade routes, bridges, planes, hospitals, defeated nazism and even sent a man on the moon, women and immigrants would be incredibly thankful to white men. Obviously the truth is intolerable to special interest groups, which capitalize on being \"victims\". So history needs to be concealed and rewritten, in order to allow for the type of outrage-culture we have in today's universities. Demagogues you say? yeah, Justin is no better than your average journalist and mainstream media outlet. No shortage of demagogues here either.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I should have read this first, as you pointed out I use 1956, a time of the great communist paranioa, the rhetoric of the disgraced liar McCarthy. This knee jerk populism probably fed this 'In God we Trust' as a way to identify the nation as morally different from the Godless communist nation. If this phrase is taken as a Christian God, it expresses the same intolerance that you recognize in t Muslim nations that integrate religious dogma with political control.\n\nI'm not sure where you stand on populism, but I suspect you feel as I do, that current political, or social, trends shouldn't be enshrined over the judgement of the founders who were on the cusp of the Age in enlightenment, Age of reason.\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I guess you've never heard of the Crusades. History is littered with holy wars in the name of Christianity. This holier than thou rhetoric is nonsense. Get educated.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "He is not refusing to make cakes for gays. Yes, they are knocking on his door to make offensive cakes. That is the part that you fail to understand. Again, what you fail to understand is that putting two men or two women on this cake IS the same as putting a racial slur on the cake. Again until you understand that concept, you will never understand the problem. I suspect you are also one of those that wants to force pharmacists to be accomplishes in the murder of unborn babies also?\nAgain, why are you FORCING your belief system on people? Why are you bigoted against conservative Christians? That is also a concept that liberals fail to comprehend is that many conservative Christians do feel discriminated against. We feel it every time you try to FORCE us to accept your belief system. Every time you say homosexuality is not a perversion. Every time you say that life just happened. Every time you call us misogynists or bigots. Yes, there is discrimination.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As usual you misrepresent the point- calling themselves \"catholic\" is irrelevant to the reality that they are radical fundamentalists. Whether \"islamist\", \"anti-islamist\", \"racist\", white \"supremicist\" is incidental to the mindless, classless, empathy-less, civil-less, radicalists who hate and pander to hatred and mindlessness.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Frankly, if Catholics were honest with themselves, they would admit that Roman Catholicism is a wearying, tiresome burden(Isn't all religions?); I for one THANK GOD for the freedom I have IN CHRIST!! \ud83d\ude01 [See Galatians 5:1].", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I beg to differ. She was roundly booed too. And an apology is due for a staffer's anti-Catholic joking. Moreover, Hillary's pro-abortion stance, including third trimester abortion or, should I say \"baby-killing,\" is deplorable.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The key point is simple: Donald J. Trump evidences ALL of these traits ALL of the time. He is the archetypal narcissis and is a truly scary person to have in the Office of the President. He was amusing on \"reality TV\", this is NOT reality TV. This is the REAL world and Trump is REALLY SCARY. Now with the power of the Presidency, Mr. Trump is getting worse, not better. Frankly, I think we'll, within a rather short amount of time, see the 25th Amendment come into play. \n\nI know some \"radical\" Christian fundamentalists predict Armegeddon is nearing and see Trump as part of that process.....While I don't buy the Armegeddon scene, I do feel Trump is leading us down a very dangerous path. I feel he's an unstable, mentally ill, dangerous man.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I find it interesting that so often the media, including this article does not quote the Koran. \"Convert, enslave or kill the people of the book\" - referring to Christians and Jews. \n\nSharia Law - not all men are created equal and women are considered chattel. \n\nThose who think Islam is as its meaning 'peace' is peaceful knows nothing about history. Just ask the 250 million dead what Islam is about. \n\nIslam is an political ideology which enslaves and is anathema to Western civilization which holds to the view all people have inalienable rights which the state has a responsibility to protect. \n\nI don't just let anyone come into my home and no country should just allow anyone to come into their country.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "i think any religion that teaches killing of people, especially infidels like Christians and Jews, should be banned in Canada and denied any tax deductions. We are planting the seeds of war in our neighborhoods. Canada used to stand for tolerance and understanding.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Beyond belief.\nMost G&M commenters siding with the the biggest corporation in the world against thousands of native children who were physically and sexually abused.\nAccording to the The Vatican Billions, by Avro Manhattan, the church owns billions in stock shares, and billions in gold.\nThe federal government has more than $350 million in abuse settlements over the last decade, the majority for sexual abuse, to 7,011 former students.\nTrudeau should demand, not ask, that the Pope, the head of this billion dollar corporation pay reparations, for the hundreds of millions it is costing Canadian taxpayers to repair the physical and psychological damage wrought by the residential schools system.\nThe National Catholic Reporter says the Catholic Church has paid just under $4-billion in sexual assault lawsuits around the world.\nThey should pay here also.\n It is pathetic to hear the church apologists on here saying: \"Oh, Phil Fontaine got an apology, that is sufficient for me.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Utterly ridiculous, yes...AND highly dangerous for separation of church and state under the present U.S. administration. Worse, the danger of this linking back of church and state is a global phenomenon. \n\nThe U.S. Civil War never really ended; it just went underground...just like the opposition to Vatican II as a bona fide Ecumenical Council of the universal Catholic Church. Both racial and religious polarization are extreme and growing more so every day.\n\nThe information below, if it is true, does not bode well for Progressive Christianity/Catholicism: \"In a recent Public Religion Research Institute survey, 1 in 4 Americans ages 18 to 29 favored allowing small-business owners to refuse to provide products or services to the LGBT community for religious reasons, compared to one-third of Americans ages 30 to 64 and 43 percent of Americans older than 65.\" Google Rite Beyond Rome DOT com.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hilarious! There are priests who raped boys, refused to admit their crimes and the Catholic Church tried to cover it up. Let's hope the bar for being thrown out of or quitting the Church has been lowered and will be kept in place for the future.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Radicalization is taught at home, around the dinner table, as the family enjoys mom's good home cooking, while the grown ups discuss destroying Israel, eradicating homosexuals and the evils of dirty infidels It is drilled into young minds with every tale of glorious martyrdom for Allah in every mosque in every city around the world. Extremism for Islam is taught the same way Christians are taught about Jesus and his message of mercy and forgiveness, while enjoying mom's home cooking. It is not at odds with the teachings, but is central to the religion", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Try rereading the article. There was no dumping on \"all Whites.\" And where were your ancestors? And tell you didn't receive special treatment when your ancestors came here. Unlike those who weren't privileged and were blocked because they weren't White or Christian or politically conservative.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Makes you wonder just how bad our education system is here in Canada when we don't have native born canadians to fill any of these putative jobs.\n\nAs we have seen in Quebec, sentiments inflamed by the MSM may trigger a response in the opposite direction.\nThe MSM forgets that there is no one of Jewish faith left in the Middle east and very few christians except the Coptics rump in Egypt.\n\nThey dont care to wonder why.\n\nNor do they care about the frequent attacks on Jewish synagogues in Montreal .\n\nWhat hypocrisy .\n\nWhat journalism.\n\nThey are nothing less than the yelping dogs of the corporate elite..", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trumptie duped the voters and once again they fell for it. The Christian voters always get duped. The Tea Baggers too. He drained the swamp to make room for the jackals.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims excoriate us about supposed Islamophobia, but we should bear in mind Islam's entrenched racism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, anti-Semitism, hatred of Christianity, Europe and America, destructive iconoclasm, and even Islamophobia against each other. Ancient tribal wars Kurds, Shiite, Sunni, Wahhabi, Druze and other Islamic sects, with death cults like ISIS , Taliban and Al Quada are the roots causes of most of the wars in the world today. It is worse than anything expressed in the west, even by Trump", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "More proof that Christianity is no better than Islam.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Radicalization is like charity-- it begins at home. \n\nRadicalization (jihad) appears to be the natural progression within Muslim ideology. If this is true, then Muslims need to scrutinize their own ideology before claiming to be victims of external forces, and thereby driven to radicalization.\n\nBut if the holy books cannot be amended by ordinary Muslims, and if an Islamic version of the Christian Reformation is not in the cards-- nothing will change.\n\nThe real poster-people for disenfranchisement, abandonment, marginalization, destructive government policy, identity-inhilating, abuse, harassment, exclusion, and cultural genocide-- are Aboriginal Canadians, not Muslim Canadians.\n\nWhy are there no Ojibwa suicide bombers? \n\nIt's because it's not in their ideology; it's not what they're taught from infancy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hi, Mary - I had to re-read your comment to understand where you were coming from. If I understand you correctly, you're pointing out that the document to which Michael refers (Gaudium et Spes) suffers from the sexism of its time, and therefore requires correction if the Church is going to credibly proclaim the Gospel to the people of our day, and especially if the Church is going to mount real resistance to the Trump worldview.\nI agree, of course, although I don't think Michael was defending the patriarchal worldview of GS and may have actually been assuming that its contents would now be understood in non-patriarchal terms. I don't think that assumption is correct, based on our experience of the last few decades, but to be fair, that wasn't the substance of his essay, either. \nAt the same time, I agree that the Church is even more responsible for sexism than Mr. Trump's inane comments are, and that we can't assume we have what it takes to correct others until we correct ourselves. -M", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You are not unique \u201cThor\u201d. You are a perfect example of the gun culture & how coddled you all are. So easy to play you to get you to namecalling other people who don\u2019t share your opinion. You pride yourself on calling yourself s Christian but you call me a \u201cclown\u201d. Jesus is so proud you lost your composure. \nIf you believe in an individual right, then have the courage to show us all the evidence thereof. Also explain to us why black slaves never were afforded your mythical right.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Well, you see treating your brothers and sisters in Christ like they were dirt as being Christian. Your claim to being a follower of Christ is dubious at best. You take Matthew 22:39 as \"You shall love your neighbor as yourself, unless your neighbor is gay. That neighbor you shall loathe.\"\n\nI think that God looks upon lack of love for others as far more serious a sin than sexual contact between two loving people.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Saul: I feel for you. Christians HAVE been persecuted! Where once prayer led every public meeting and good children (the white kind) knelt with hands clasped before their beds, we now have muslims forcing weird beliefs, immigrants with hard to pronounce names, progressives questioning whether young earth creationism should be taught in school and homos getting married! Its sad. Its really sad.\n\nKeep praying! That way you won't contribute to an effective solution. /s", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The lady in the burqa at Canadian Tire also did it for Syria. She lumped all white Christian in one basket and committed a hate crime. but she will get away with it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Being anti-Christian, did you know this guy? \n\n\"Friends said on Facebook that in recent years, Mr. Kelley had become vocally anti-Christian, to the point where many stopped communicating with him. His Facebook page, which has been deleted, listed that he liked a number of atheist groups.\n\n\u201cHe was always talking about how people who believe in God were stupid and trying to preach his atheism,\u201d one of his Facebook friends, Nina Rosa Nava, posted on the site, saying she unfriended him because of it.\"\n\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/us/devin-patrick-kelley-texas.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Donald Trump in trying to get the Catholic votes says he will be there for us, and yet, time and again he has attacked women in a fierce and demeaning way: women who carry the children he wants to protect from abortion. He believes women are too fat, too thin, ugly,etc. What does he really believe about pregnant women? He dismisses over half of the population and the majority of the Catholics in the pew, and he wants our vote? I say absolutely NOT!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "American morality in the 21st Century: Based on rumors of what some 2000 year-old dead guy might say about gay sex or transgender...if he were actually here. Ms. Moore, during his estimated life span there was nothing written by or about the obviously human individual upon whom the biblical character of Christ was based. It\u2019s all hearsay! \nAs to the makeup of the human family of Christ addressed in some comments\u2026too bad there was no DNA test. The very nativity myth is obviously fake since it is based on the phony census\u2026we certainly have no idea who the father was. However, if the hearsay is correct, then we know Mary had a human baby and was therefore not a virgin. If Joseph was not the father he was a cuckold\u2026or maybe he was \u201cthe virgin.\u201d This preposterous nonsense reveals one good reason why America is such a confused nation\u2026raging superstition applied to politics.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You've asked for another office to be set up. How nice.\n\nLet us know when that happens. Some Catholics are young enough they might still be alive and even give a d***.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, so easy for white Canada to sit on its high horse looking down on indigenous people for complaining about residential schools when obviously they weren't all that bad. \n\nAfter all, not every child was sodomized by a priest. But really, how unlikely is that given the stats that show an average pedophile with unhampered access to children will have molested 100 - 200 children in his lifetime; its unlikely that pedophiles employed there would bother to show any restraint. \n\nHow dare these savages disrespect the good will and christian grace our pure white ancestors had the charity to show them!\n\nHow dare they accuse Canada of genocide and ill intentions when those schools just wanted to teach them how to be a part of the country!\n\nBut here, let me ask you: if someone took your white children and raped them, and then insisted that they got something good from it....what would you say?\n\n\"Those schools did good I tell you!\" is the 2017 version of the \"get over it\" meme", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's not what WBC believes that offends me. It's how they go about expressing it. WBC is not gathering souls to Christ, they are driving souls away. Who wants to be associated with such an \"hateful\" God, as their example portrays Him? Sure, God hates sin, and does not excuse it, but He gently persuades souls to repentance. WBC wants to bully everyone into adhering to their version of religion. Yes, theirs is a religion based on fear and oppression, not on faith/trust in Christ.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So far, it seems the major point here is that this individual was 'mentally ill' & chose to act out his vicious psychopathic insanity on a group of innocent Sunday morn Christian Worshippers.\n\nThis psychopathic murderer certainly seemed to know how to run & drive hard in order to save his own skin; the guy was cunning & insane; his act of mass murder speaks to the facts, not his group affiliations.\n\nTo generalize this to a 'political group' of Americans is both mindless & reductive to the Americans who were murdered along with a defenseless infant & children.\n\nFurther, contrary to your inference -- the colour of skin plays no part here -- only the hard-wired psychopathic impulses of a deranged screaming human-brain on fire to kill as many unsuspecting \u2018Innocent Humans\u2019 as possible all the while expecting to get away with this perverted act of mass murder & slaughter..\n\nFinally, though he didn't expect to encounter resistance, he did -- to where he then became the hunted & died..", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Conservative Catholics are just like all the other extremist religious sects.......Low on facts, and full of ideological thinking errors.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And what have you won exactly? That is what I love about the Donald and people like you. His winning is a joke. Lets see, Hillary is free, the wall is far from being built, and Isis is still around. Wtih success like the Donald, who needs failure? Enjoy the liar in chief while you can. I don't think he will be around for the midterms. \n\nI think that is what I love most about you phony conservatives. You have so much compassion for the less fortunate. Good thing you are not a Christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput used a weekly column to excoriate a \u201cscheming\u201d Hillary Clinton\u2019s presidential campaign for anti-Catholic bigotry on Thursday.\n\u201cIt would be wonderful for the Clinton campaign to repudiate the content of these ugly WikiLeaks emails. All of us backward-thinking Catholics who actually believe what Scripture and the Church teach would be so very grateful,\u201d Archbishop Chaput wrote. \u201cIn the meantime, a friend describes the choice facing voters in November this way: A vulgar, boorish lout and disrespecter of women, with a serious impulse control problem; or a scheming, robotic liar with a lifelong appetite for power and an entourage riddled with anti-Catholic bigots.\u201d\n\nBy Douglas Ernst - The Washington Times - Thursday, October 13, 2016\n\nDidn't give me much choice in voting so I picked the boorish lout or the scheming robotic liar!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A safe-place Catholic forum for students to talk out their anxieties and fears...to embrace their sexual identity ...to share concerns...to provide mutual support...to offer comfort...to ease pain..to develop a framework for issues dialogue----you're so right(eous) to ask, what \"great good\" can possibly come of that kind of seditious \"group?\"\n \nHow would you answer this question: if just ONE student can be helped, who can be against it? \n\nAre you a parent? What if one or more of your self-loathing, guilt-ridden, suicidal, fearful, bullied, and taunted gay or lesbian sons or daughters needed this group? \n\nClose that club door to them!!!!! Talk about an intrinsically disordered, unnatural act engaged in under the false guise of sharing your love!!!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "IMO, there has never been any good Catholic culture for the unmarried. You can still see vestiges of this now, with the Church urging young people to get married and the USCCB devoting a lot more money and air time to the \"marriage cause\" than to the critical issues they should be dealing with. My church can be somewhat oblivious too but at least they don't go around urging people to date and get married! It's ridiculous. All churches should get out of everyone's pants and focus on economic inequality, undocumented immigrants, and the millions of refugees and migrants currently headed for Europe and North America . . . because these people are not the problem; the problem is our stubborn refusal to see that those folks want and deserve their fair share. We must admit that migration is here to stay. The Catholic Church needs to be a leader here because it's going to get ugly. Most of what they drone on about in terms of male-female relationships is rubbish anyway.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Coyne, your use of this tragedy to make some political ground is disgusting. \nTo say that Scalise, now fighting for his life, is \"pathetic\" and \"AS A REPUBLICAN is bent on making the poorer poor\" is the mark of a sick mind. You lack basic Christian decency. \n\nBy the way, \"Put back the sword\" of Jesus, even in self defense,\" doesn't register with Democratic politicians either. Or any rational person, for that matter. To have said what you did is another sign of your illness.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So your view is that even though 4 out of 5 of the clerical abuse cases were that of men raping boys, these priests doing the raping were all straight men?\n\nTell me, why don't we see evidence of straight men in other areas of American society displaying a prurient interest in boys?\n\nIs there something about being a Catholic priest that turns straight men into lusting for boys?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "MOST people, Catholics included, did not vote for a candidate based on ONE issue only. Clinton may have supported abortion rights, but you are a fool if you voted for Trump because of that. I hope you are happy with what you got.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You mean, of course, stating facts is completely proper. That you don't like said facts is simply too bad. You blow off my statement that you support arbitrary discrimination based on sexual preference. You are another who says \"You shall love your neighbor as yourself, unless that neighbor is gay. That neighbor you shall disdain.\" That is your view, and, as I said, it is not Christian -- but then, you conservatives hold to a view of Christianity that is not actually Christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "My question is: do we (do you) support clericalism when its advantageous? \n\nCall to holiness is rooted in baptism and has nothing to do with ordination. Ordination has a very limited purpose: to ordain for presidency, 'in persona Christi' and not in one's name, at gatherings where the People of God are gathered in prayer. And the 'in persona Christie' highlights the fact that the efficacy of the gathered community's prayer consists solely in Christ praying in and with the community, and inspite the person of the ordained presider.\n\nThere is no evidence whatsoever, that other denominations, similar institutions or society in general is less prone to the crime of child sexual abuse than the Church. Unless we find the real causes to this plague, as opposed to appointing some according to our political biases, nothing will change. \n\nBTW, as you know, since the mid nineties, new cases of sexual abuse by clergy in North America is close to zero.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I wish the Vatican would just come out and clearly report its findings on Medjugorje, so we can get over this nonsense. I find it amazing that people in my parish still go on about it and go there. As Francis says, \n\"The trend of the Madonna superstar, who puts herself at the center as a protagonist, is not Catholic.\"\nThe reported sayings of the Medjugorje fake are both banal and ludicrous. One of the seers flinched when a man put out his hand towards her face whilst she was in a so called trance, and she explained it away that at that very moment she thought Mary was going to drop baby Jesus!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's useless, Mark. The entire conversation is not at all about the article or the issues of tribunals for annulments or even really about the possibility of criticizing how a regional \"conference\" is conducted. It is about how much this poster dislikes NCR and those who comment here. Same with a few other people - it is all about how offended they are and how stupid or stubborn they are that other Catholics do not know and believe every word of dogma, doctrine, practice.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The vast majority of Catholics must be just as confused about the immorality of birth control. Funny how those heterosexuals who use birth control don't get fired from their Catholic positions. That confuses this Catholic.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I stated what you said correctly. You have set yourself up as the infallible font of Catholic orthodoxy -- you have previously said, in as many words, that your opinions are wholly congruent with the magisterium. No, what you said in that post is how I reported it, \"If a pope disagrees with ME, he is a heretic.\" You are quite remarkably arrogant.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The supserstition because you disregard the embryology that points to different solutions, which I will attribute to God as allowing birth control because the male genes do not become active until gastrulation and because epigenetics happens not at conception but in the first trimester and makes gays not disordered but differently ordered. Maybe we are both superstitious by mentioning God at all, but without reference to God on my part, you would simply be a bigot and a sexist by denying group rights to people who deserve them, biology or ot. Instead, you are just willingly misinformed for purposes of Catholic brand identity. Not very commedable either, so it still damages the faith to promote such nonsense.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Where did Pope Benedict point this out, in what magisterial document? The example Pope Benedict gave was a male prostitute using a condom to protect his client. Obviously in such a situation the condom would not be a contraceptive. The Pope was in no way condoning sexual activity between two males which is gravely sinful in itself.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Cultural Marxism is alive and well...be very afraid.\n\n\"Cultural Marxists have taken over the institutions of the media, education, mainstream Christianity (conservative and liberal), law, and finance. Their goal is the annihilation of Western Civilization in general and white people in particular.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Great description of the Democratic Party of today. Particularly their expertise at fraudulent elections entwined in corruption and cronyism. How else did they do such a dismal job in the Ghettos, retain power while the Blacks murder each other, have little education or job opportunity. Hillary, scapegoating election loss to Russia which I think is pretty well debunked. Probaby their own IT guys. Oh yeah the Clinton man on the inside Comey. Even the media???? Eruptions on the moon??/ Ha, Ha? Wanting to control the Catholic Church. Protect the Military Complex and Arms industry by promoting war with Russia. Disdain for Right to Life! Wanted to go on a fetus late term murdering spree so fully developed fetuses could fetch a better price for Black blood and baby parts!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There is one other group that I know of who are at least sometimes denied Catholic funerals: Mafiosi. Are the people supporting the refusal to bury married gays equating the two?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, no, not Adolph Eichmann again: groan.\nWell to be honest it doesn't bother me that much to find myself consigned to your 'Adolph Eichmann Hall of Fame' along with other illustrious, orthodox Catholics on this site who have like me been compared to a Nazi War Criminal.\nOn the contrary I love to hear it, who else but yourself would be foolish enough to label those with whom you disagree as Third Reich War Criminals. Sigh.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Not even 200 days have passed since his inauguration and still some people deliberately fail to see the disaster Trump has become. The willfully ignorant can not be excused or forgiven as can those whose ignorance is native. What we are seeing is the doubling down of people who have been conned and know it but can not find the character within themselves to admit what everyone else observes. Insofar as Trump being a champion of Catholic values, I find no correlation between the Gospel message I learned from nuns and the pathetic excuses Pence and other Trump minions offer to justify this unjustifiable administration.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Personally, I think that the United States would have been better off if an equivalent to the British Penal Codes had been adopted here. The suffocating influence of Catholicism AND radical evangelism would have been nipped in the bud to the greater good. One can note that although New Zealand had different areas sponsored by different Protestant missionary groups in; Anglicans and Presbyterians, LGBT and contraceptive rights in society there have been settled, unlike in the United States where so called \"Christian Conservatives\", have made a Faustian bargain with the pro Neo Nazi, pro KKK and Non White, anti Woman (calling any non kitch, kirche and kinder ONLY woman a man hating, lesbian \"feminazi) , LGBT loathing, war mongering POTUS called TRUMP to impose their Christianity on others!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Evangelical powers-that-be who endorse Mr. Trump - especially as being \"pro-life\" - have made themselves out to be quite blind and foolish in grasping at straws to endorse someone, anyone, other than Sen. Clinton. It does not speak well for our evangelical brothers and sisters that they would ignore what this man is and does and would do. Shame on them. All the more reason that religions should stay OUT of politics.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I will add.\n\n5. The benefits of multiculturalism. Let's learn about new cultures coming to our county (which I think is a good thing). Report on all the bad things that traditional Canada does to these cultures. But never report the bad about these cultures. For example, a religion that requires women to cover their faces and bodies from head to toe (isn't this misogynistic); a religion that throws gays off buildings and murders gays and lesbians (isn't this homophobic); a religion that says woman cannot go to school (isn't this misogynistic again).\n\nNot saying that all people ascribe to this hateful, misogynistic, and homophobic view, but a lot do. Why doesn't the media report on this. Why doesn't the media talk about the people coming to our country that hold these views. Why aren't we warned that there is a religion out there that is different from our Christian values that we are being asked to assimilate with - and that could put our safety at risk (e.g,, if you are gay).", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Delisting wolf's or most animals is a bad idea because every time we do animals are slaughtered in large numbers & that is terrible, animals are God's gift to man but so many of us destroy them in doing so we slap him in the face/ disrespect him & are not being good Christians, for those who claim to be Christians & ok with hunting & slaughter ing of animals I scoff.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Oh dear, a bit racist isn't it, to assume Latinos and Blacks are \"uneducated.\" I do hope you will think before posting such things in the future, it calls into question the veracity of those of us who, recognizing the will of the Bishops, and thus the Will of God, that Mr. Trump, the most Christian candidate, the one who most exemplifies Christian and Catholic Virtue and thus supported him.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Until the pope and his brother priests can listen to women, rather than silencing them, and see God working sacramentally through women, rather than treating women as a threat to be controlled, they will have little hope of learning from a problem they themselves have created or addressing a crisis that they alone can fix.\"\n\nWell said, Jamie. When women are perceived as a threat rather than Christians, something is wrong at the Vatican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are trying to act like everyone in America is or should be christian. It's why we have laws like separation of church and state - to keep these knuckle dragging frothing at the mouth christians in line.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Every major religion including Christianity has gone through reformation, except for Islam.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No it's what it is. Sorry your indoctrination blocks your reasoning. It's not a tradition if 90% of the people don't know the words. Oh, and christians used to spurn these kinds of displays. As worshipping a false idol.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We should remove coliseum and arena from our vocabulary. Should probably tear down the Coliseum in Rome, makes Christians nervous. How about the words inquire, inquisitive, inquisition. Wasn't the Spanish Inquisition used to put to fire those they deemed to have committed heresy. What about the country named Germany. Do we ask it to change its name. After all look what they did!\n\nThis discussion on what is acceptable and what is not is simply one group trying to impose its will over everyone so that we conform to a certain regulated way of talking, thinking and behaving. No thanks, and to any person or group that thinks so would you not be much better off, living and working in North Korea. I am sure you would just relish the camaraderie of the place.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How could I be missing the point? If the Qur'an defines Christians as blasphemers, and calls for their subduing, then how is that compatible with the Bible? Islam believes itself to be the final revelation of religion -- superior to Christianity. How could a Moslem accept Christianity and remain Muslim? How can you be both a zealot and a blasphemer?\n\nThe Philippians text interpretation is found in the SDA Bible Commentary.\n\nHow am I an apologist for Islam or doing the job of a Saudi imam? I've been nothing but critical and merely accept what Moslem theologians say about their own religion instead of inventing fanciful explanations that are incompatible with reality.\n\nWhether there may be Adventists who converted from Islam living in the Muslim world and maintaining outward cultural norms does not equate to being Muslim and Christian at the same time.\n\nAnd certainly, being both Muslim and Adventist is completely incompatible given our historicist understanding of Revelation 9.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not so sure Burke and company really enjoy throwing stones as much as they need having rigid rules in place in which to define the parameters of Christian behavior. For them, without rigidly defined rules the church descends into chaos. That is their worldview, and I think that more than anything is what they see as threatened under Pope Francis. They just can't allow for any \"gray area\" whatsoever. They see that as the world shifting beneath their feet and they don't like it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Kindly provide the sentence wherein I explicitly stated I felt threatened. I mean QUOTE me,\"\n.\nDone:\n\"It's only a matter of time before one of 'em acts out here. I'm going to suggest to [my] board of directors that our Mosque hire an armed guard. A Muslim one....[I'll] share guard duty with him myself......we [have] exposed our backs to white supremacist Christians, atheists and Zionist Jews waiting to stick their knives in.\" - Frederick Minshall\n.\nYeah- but you definitely DON'T feel threatened, though, do you. LOL.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Abuse\"? The entire Vatican II Church is one big \"abuse\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Neko,\n\nWax theology about rapist babies? What are you talking about? I said that women who have become pregnant after rape have decided to keep the baby because they believe that the baby is a part of them. They are willing to raise the child that has been conceived. The child is innocent and does not have to be destroyed. Two wrongs do not make a right - here I mean the rape/incest followed by an abortion. There are women who do not see the sense of punishing the innocent baby and take responsibility for the baby's life by carrying it to term and then either raising the child themselves or giving the baby up for adoption. Rape/Incest/serious illness are not reasons to destroy a life that God has created. If we say we are Christians then let us back up our faith with actions and not just words!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here we have people calling him an atheist, and at the same time he is accused of being a born again Christian fundamentalist zealot.: two diametrically opposite of views both of which he is apparently guilty of. Trump is not atheist. He has made statements of his faith in God and Jesus, and Christianity in his speeches and in his Inauguration. But for the most part he keeps his religion to himslef which is proper.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One's religious beliefs, or lack thereof, is no basis for consideration in this regard. However, republicans (self-proclaimed \"Christians\") do it all the time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just don't follow the USA's version of separation of church and state, cause conservative Christians rule here!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes REALLY -- you yourself stated that \"the faithful are so poorly catechized...\"\n\nIn essence I agree with you on this point: i.e., faithfulness to Christ and being \"catechized\" are not mutually dependent. If you believe otherwise you might just as well consign umpteen generations of lowly, uneducated serf-and-peasant Christians straight to hell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure I know what you mean by the points in the Dubia answer, but I think there are a number of inadequacies in the Church's position. The brother/sister solution reduces marital fidelity to intercourse. You don't live with someone as a sibling in a marriage even if there is no sex. The discussion of divorce assumes there is an innocent and a guilty party. It's often not that simple. JPII said there were too many annulments while Francis wants the process streamlined. How can anyone accurately remember their thoughts about marriage from 20 or 30 years ago? Some have said that marriage preparation is so shoddy that few marriages are valid. A marriage is declared to have been invalid, but the children aren't \"bastards.\" Children have to go through the trauma of a divorce and then the added trauma of an annulment. A new spouse, who may not be Catholic, must have their life turned upside down because the Catholic spouse must divorce or comply with the sibling rule.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your response showcases your ignorance in this (and probably all) matters discussed on this subject. Hobby Lobby is closed on Sundays because they acknowledge Sunday is a traditional day of worship for Christians and desire to allow their employees to do so if they choose to.The Sabbath applied to the Old Testament Jews, and does not apply to the Christian Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What she did was despicable....without a doubt.\n\nToo bad she isn't a conservative rocker that made equally despicable comments about liberals......she could jam out with Evangelical Christian ex-governors on Fox News.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think it's fair to single out Christians in you comment.\nThere are a whole lot of people here who are very sexist, racist, all kinds of phobics who I seriously doubt identify as Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is silly for not attending and acting childish. On another note; Obama renamed the Christmas tree in 2014 the Holiday Tree because it was offensive to other non-Christians. Every President since Washington called it the Christmas Tree. Mainstream media never reported this event which is borderline Marxism.\nComrade Stalin outlawed the term Christmas tree in 1931 and renamed it the \"New Year Tree\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What would an article touching on Anglicanism be, without bringing out that trusty band of trad RC always eager to use us as cudgels to score points in Catholic intramural warfare. Thank you very much, but your church has its own substantial issues to resolve, and kindly leave us out of it. Consider how differently the Bishop of Rome interacts with other Christians, with deep respect, charity and solidarity. But some at keyboards worldwide, with a presumptuous certainty, know more than Francis does about being RC it appears.\n\nMoreover, who are you to judge the depth and strength of anyone's faith? That is for God alone, and not someone at a computer keyboard trying to play culture warrior against other Christians. However, given that Anglicans are the bete' noir of a subset of trad RC, it is hardly surprising and very true to form.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree but ironically the US has a legal separation between church and state (although you'd never know it with Presidential candidates, etc. competing hard to see who be the most Christian-looking) but Canada does not and we don't have the same absurd posturing. \"Obama's a Muslim!\", \"Oh my goodness, what shall we do?\" Even if it had been true, why should it matter?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is never going to be a perfect 'love everybody' world, but Canada is about as close to paradise as you can get for immigrants and people of colour. I'd like to see some appreciation for that reality. And why doesn't anyone ever highlight the hatred many Muslims have for Christians, that many blacks have for whites etc? I think a lot of white people are getting a little tired but the auto-villification we receive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I'd WELCOME a comparison of how much the \"greedy\" Clintons took from their Foundation, compared to the Sekulow Family full-employment plan of $60 million over 15 years. That's $4 million per year out of funds donated to a \"Christian\" charity, all for one family, all for part-time work, while they were instructing staff to try to guilt UNEMPLOYED people into a \"sacrificial\" gift of $20.\n\nWhen are you sad-when-cousins-marry, dumb-as-two-bags-of-hammers Trump morons going to realize that you elected the LAST PERSON ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH who has any interest at all in helping out the less fortunate. He, his lawyer, and everyone around them is just raking it in with both hands, signing Exec Orders, signing laws, and appointing judges to make damn sure they can KEEP raking it in for years to come.\n\nI understand your pain, I understand (and share) your frustration with Washington. But I simply cannot understand anyone being misguided enough to think Trump is the answer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trust Trump the pseudo-Christian to oppose the separation of church and state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually the very statement about the Old vs. New proves the point that Christians do not have the \"right\" to force their religion on everyone. By the way, homosexual relations were considered an act of war/aggression back in Old Testament days. It is something that conquering soldiers did to humiliate/subdue their enemies, like prison sex. That kind of nonconsensual rape is condemned by most rational people, but consensual sex between two adults is totally different.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to this conference:\nJewish God: harsh.\nChristian God: loving.\n\n Article called this inaccurate polemic \"anti-Jewish\", not \"anti-semitic\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We should steal Iraq's oil, every drop of it! After all it was Iraq that hijacked those planes that were then flown into the World Trade Center buildings. \n\nOh wait... no, it wasn't Iraq. The hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.\n\nSo rather than talking about stealing oil from a country that we grievously harmed- estimates are we are responsible for killing more than one million people by our military invasion that (both Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan supported)... wouldn't the Christian thing to do be to apologize and make amends?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump has now definitely committed impeachable offences, but he will only be impeached once the Republicans have the will to do so. The problem is that impeaching Trump may make the world a safer place but his replacement, Pence, is a social conservative, fundamentalist Christian nutcase. Having a competent president may advance the social conservative's agenda and that would be bad for the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a conspiracy with the Christians to bring in more religious people of the book, Muslims like Jews are seen as similar to Christian with the same God but only of a different name. But the similarity stops there. Some Christians, it should be noted, do not want Jews or Muslims.\n>\nThe judges and lawyers in the west are often products of Christian schooling, taught that they are of higher moral stock, a type of narcissism. We can see this sort of moral superiority in the laws themselves, the War on Drugs, the War on Sin, even the War on Men is post- Christian doctrine.\n>\nWestern society needs to protect secularism and agnosticism, which are also a type of religion, philosophy or ideology, no less valid than their God. This God ideology creates endless problems because it is vague and attracts endless god wo/men and dangerous narcissists. Canada and the USA should be oriented to secularism and secularism only.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Having spent time in Bangladesh , and on the border with Burma , the real ethnic cleaning was of Buddhist Hill Tribes by the Bangladesh Army . Whole valleys of villages and farmers wiped out to make room for Muslims. That was in the latter eighty's when the Bangladesh population was at 90 million , and it was unbelievably overpopulated , now its 160 million . \nThe Saudi trained Wahhabi Iman , Ataullah abu Ammar Junjuni is the leader of the jihadist group waging a covert war on Myanmar . Their efforts are an atrocity and propaganda campaign , designed to create a new \"Islamic State\" on Burma's west coast , so that they can claim a part of the newly discovered off-shore oil and gas .\nThe Wahhabi ideology is the core belief of Al Qaeda , ISIS , etc., they believe in forced conversion to Islam of all Sunni , Shia , Christian etc . These are not nice people .\nUnfortunately , the propaganda is well financed , so few will listen to Aung San Suu Kyi .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, RD? Trump is the one who called for non-Christians to be thrown out of his campaign rallies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Almost in as much danger as say... Coptic Christians in Egypt?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is known for speaking his mind forcefully and without any filters. On Saturday after Heather Heyer was killed by James Fields, Jr, a neo-nazi. Trump made his generalized bland statement rather dealing with the specific horrific details of that incident. People expected more.\n\nSince 2011, Trump insinuated that Obama was not born in the U.S. or was a Christian. Those claims generated a considerable amount of loyalty from the alt-right, white supremacists and neo nazis. That may explain Trumps reluctance to criticize that segment of his base on Saturday.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good for our PM. The apology is long overdue and if the Pope has any morals he will apologize and beg forgiveness for the terror and horrific abuses inflicted on innocent children by the Catholic church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You should learn something about Spanish history before typing nonsense. Spain was a Christian country for several centuries when the Muslims invaded in the 700s and they remained there until Ferdinand and Isabella conquered the last Muslim bastion (Granada) in 1492. \n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Muslim_presence_in_the_Iberian_Peninsula", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ted I think you might not be reading my essay in its right spirit. It seems as if you want to be convinced of the rightness of the Qu'ran and Mummaed. You don't have to be convinced. I am not personally convinced myself.\n\nHow you interpret Phil 2:6 is not the point. If a Muslim reads it and is convinced it is enough to explain the Qu'ranic texts, enough to accept the Trinity and Divinity of Jesus, then what is the problem? It seems you are trying to do the work of Saudi clerics for them.\n\nThe point of my essay is whether we should accept someone who lives in a Muslim country, who faces death if they convert openly to Christianity, who accepts Jesus as their saviour, even the Trinity, but still believes in the Qu'ran and Muhammed as a prophet?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Out of curiousity, why does it matter? If this guy isn't Muslim, does that make him LESS of a terrorist? People can change religions any time they want. Some of the people who left North America to join ISIS weren't born into Muslim families. They were talked into committing violent acts. Becoming Muslim was simply an excuse to justify a desire to kill.\n\nI don't understand why killing 5 people is less evil an act if the perpetrator is Christian. Do you think it matters to the people who died?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I avoided the thousand-comment tempests on Amoris Laetitia and have no interest in getting embroiled in a debate about the Great Papal Footnote. But come on. There are exceptions to the indissolubility of marriage in the gospel itself and in Paul. Annulment is also an end run around the indissolubility of marriage. Amoris Laetitia is consistent with this timeless Catholic tradition.\n\nI have often pondered, as I witnessed certain vicious rats scurry up to the communion rail and fall on their knees to receive, how arbitrary is the doling out of scarlet letters. For all we know a divorced and remarried couple are the closest to God of anyone in the room.\n\nScience offers understanding of the nature of reality, and for religion to remain relevant it must resonate with reality. Homosexuality was once believed to be willful defiance of a fundamentally heterosexual nature. We know that's not true.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those things are important. But none of them matter if I am subject to the prenatal death penalty, the only capital punishment the \"Catholic Left\" seems to fiddle with.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Check out the dog-brained \"christian\" defending the antichrist, Donald Trump. Was there ever a more non-Christian politician in US history? I think not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If \"God\" doesn't find breasts to be \"inappropriate\" who ae you to question \"Him\"?\n\nAs an agnostic, I question all religious bigotry, from whatever theology; Christian, Catholic, Buddhist, Shinto, Islam, Deism, Gaiea, whatever magic stories invented by men and women to control other human beings through fear of death and hope for a better life either now or in some unknown and unknowable afterlife.\n\nAll to the benefit of the shamans, priests, Rabbis, Imams and other charlatans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"They continue to be crucified, beheaded, burned alive, and sold as sex slaves.\n\nChristians and other minorities are pleading for their lives saying ISIS torment is \"more difficult than death\" and \"[w]e didn't feel valued as humans.' \"\n\nSorry Ms Downey...this comment is for LesterP. Maybe I should delete it? Nah. He's anti-pro-Trump.\n\nGreat work...again. I like how you write.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't blame this on the Churches. These are the same people, Democrats, who support the murder of babies. We don't support that either. The Democrats don't believe in God and they are the ones protesting so really has nothing to do with Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You mean wanting to use your brain and feel that all of us are equally children of God means you want to be a Protestant? Good heavens, whodathunkit!!\n\nYou mean taking the Bible seriously when St. Paul says 'in Christ there is neither male nor female' means you want to be a Protestant? Wow - I learn something new here every day.\n\nYou mean objecting to the hypocrisy of the Church's active and on-going gender discrimination against the half the population while proclaiming justice for all means you want to be a Protestant? I never knew that ...\n\nOr is it that being a Catholic means you have to turn a blind eye to the 'sins of the Church' when it departs from the teaching or example set by Jesus? Gee, and here I thought being a Catholic was all about pickup up my cross daily and following Jesus.\n\nI've been a Catholic for a long, long time, and it breaks my heart to see a patriarchal culture strangling the Church and driving people of obvious knowledge, skill and ability away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mosebyi \nClueless and brainwashed aren't you.\nAssad is elected and much loved among his people, Christian, Muslim and Jew.\nGet your head out of your a55 and quit believing the paid propagandists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are facts, rather than \"alternative facts.\" It is illegal to acquire territory through military conquest and it is also illegal to move ones population into conquered territory. The question is international law. Because Israel is a chronic abuser of international law.\n\nYour ignorance is shocking. Many Palestinians are Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, these aging Irish priests WILL be left to die alone and untended, unless the Catholic Church begins to practice the \"social justice\" it preaches with respect to minorities, law-breakers and others of such ilk.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"When you look at the right's fanbase you start to scratch your head. Maybe try condemning white supremacists and accept that there is christian extremism and the left might be more amicable to your opinions.\" ... \n\nInsert left for right in your statement and there might be some truth, especially based on recent news headlines. The white supremacist Bernie Sanders fanatic who knifed people to death in Portland, the crazed shooter at the ballgame in DC come to mind. No, I think the left is starting to take the lead in racism and violence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have obviously chosen to leave the Roman Catholic Church. It covered up sexual abuse for decades and even now excuses its cover up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bong hits for Jesus!\n\nJews and Earl Christians believed your \"devil's lettuce\" was God's gift.\n\nJesus\u2019 lifespan falls neatly within the timeline of the ritualistic use of the Judaic anointing oil described as containing kaneh bosm (cannabis). Jesus was known by his disciples as Christ, the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Messiah, or \u201cthe anointed one\" as in the holy Anointing Oil used in the anointment ceremony.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The right believes they can suspend all fundamental Christian concepts whenever any of those basic fundamentals get in the way of their primary belief system, which is now known as Trumpism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspect that Trump voters are death worshipers. They are much more clear about who they want to kill than who they want to care for. That is not in conflict with most Christian denominations. Most can justify killing someone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except the worn-out and patently false narrative that it must be Christians pushing for these changes just doesn't hold muster.\n.\n\"Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone\u2019s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don\u2019t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You regularly accuse me of \"Trolling\" you - yet you are one of the most vindictive posters here in regards to Christians. As incredulous as you seem to be about me believing, I feel the same way the same way about you NOT believing. The Bible makes it clear that Christians are a NEW creation, one that has a new nature, you may find this ludicrous but Christians have a perspective and awareness that you are completely unaware of.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill: I asked myself which would be more fun? a) trying to have a rational discussion about evolution, abortion, sex education/birth control and homosexuality with a hard-core fundamentalist Christian or b) running headfirst into a brick wall. Excuse me, I'm going out to find a brick wall. Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"There is no Honolulu Police Department. There is a band of people that are organized and allowed to carrying weapons. For now, just stay away from the Honolulu Police Department. Avoid any interaction. \"\n\nAs a WASA (white anglo-saxon atheist) parent of a teenage son, I told him early on that the most dangerous social interaction he was likely to have was with a police officer. All he knew about him was that he was armed and dangerous and he knew nothing about what kind of person he was or how good or bad a day he was having or if he was \"impaired\" or sober. Politely do exactly what he says and nothing more or less!\n\nThe HPD reminds me of nothing so much as the Catholic Church with its long standing and organized protection of priestly abuse that came down from the top.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope F. certainly is not a pope to resolve clergy sex abuse of children in CI (Catholic Institutional) church!\nRather, he will help close down CI church!\nAt this point, it will be better if he will do his job sooner rather then later, so people can start a new!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't see the French banning nun's habits, an overtly religious garment. I'm Catholic and find the whole concept of banning certain types of clothing ridiculous!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My first thought reading the \"...Catholic intellectual apostolate...\" sentence was, the Catholic intellectual apostolate had better work darned hard to get its own house in order first, with issues like exclusion of women from consideration of ministry and meaningful leadership, the hypocritical stance of a close-majority of gay clerics still waging war on gay relationships among the laity, the yet-to-be disciplined supervisory bishops who protected sex offenders, the wanton use of donations for a) political causes, and b) plain old greed. Oh, and let's not forget the practical, if not named, schism of Traditionalists vs Progressives. \n\nOur house is in many ways as offensive to those who view the world through the Gospel as is any political movement's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are the one who invoked religious relativism in your original post. Timothy McVeigh committed an act of domestic terrorism. He was a Roman Catholic. The 19 9/11 animals committed an act of terrorism in the US. They were Muslim. You are trying to make the point that a religion should not be tolerated because some terrorists happened to practice a certain religion. Neither religion in these cases were the cause of the acts. Neither Catholic doctrine nor Islamic Law caused these acts. They were hijacked by the actors to justify their actions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So did Henry Kissinger. It helps if you are a mass murderer and war criminal. As a Catholic, I am proud that none of our clergy have received a Nobel prize for \"peace.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Danish cartoons were not hateful, nor did I say the Globe published hateful cartoons of the pope and evangelical Christians. Making fun of a religion in a cartoon is not automatically hateful, as you seem to believe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Andrew Macdougall - you should be embarrassed - what a ridiculous article. Scheer's voting record is fodder for anyone at any time, Catholic or not.\n\nAs for the Conservatives - they've lost my vote.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That would be \"male\", not \"mail\", and ethnicity would not be \"christian\", but something more like Anglo-Saxon or white. BTW, Christian should be capitalized.\n\nBut in reality, it's clear that Harper never was pro-Canada. He was pro-Alberta, pro-Israel, and pro-divisiveness. Watching him beside Newt Gingrich a couple of weeks back, smiling etc. I could see he was with his element. Two older white haired bigots sitting and talking about how to make a mess of the lives of people they don't agree with.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So Angelo Roncalli forged fake Baptism certificates which he sent to Hungary and which allowed Hungarian Jews to flee. You are saying that rather than being a hero who saved many lives at a great personal risk, St. John XXIII is in mortal sin because he used deception to do so. Really? That is a rigid and ridiculous understanding of the idea of sin. And I think that Jesus would have dealt differently with individual remarried people than he did with a rhetorical question.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Today, \u201cMission Call\u201d society-wide is for \u201cReformation of Conscience\u201d.\nThe turmoil in our time, in religion as well as in politics (culture), is expressive of a global crisis of conscience: the truth that authentic conscience (love for other as for self) alone can bring clarity in conflict, whether Christian, Islamic or other should be obvious to all.\nSuccessor to the Church Militant role played by Knights Templar in the Crusades against Islam was the Society of Jesus in the Counter-Reformation and spread of global Colonialism.\nIt is right for the Society of Jesus in our time to assume the Mission of being the peaceful, conscionable arm of the Church Repentant, specifically, in the person of Pope Francis.\nThe fitting proclamation in our time, respecting global peoples facing existential crises, is the Divine Gospel of 'Word Unlimited, divinely maternal', first proclaimed by the \u201cMater Evangelii Praeconum\u201d (Mother of the Heralds of the Gospel).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You do realize, don't you, that no Catholic is obliged to believe in any apparition don't you? That the church never says that an apparition actually happened, only that the supposed message is or is not worthy of belief? Most of what many believers in these supposed messages borders on or is flat out superstition. Fatima and Medugorie, I'm looking at you!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Transexualism is a medical and probably a psychological issue, although I have a few friends who are or have transitioned that were psychologically fine. I have met others-who are not. Regardless, we are not going to drag down the 2000 years of unchecked teaching by asexual bishops who were so self-absorbed in their own sexuality and stoic idealism just because transexuals are part of the package. They really are not. An error repeated is still an error (like ending the equality of women in ministry, an entirely Roman thing, not Catholic one). There was no Platonic ideal of sex in Judaism and Leviticus really was an exercise in national building while the Jews were in exile. The people have already voted with their feet and the John Paul priests are bumping up against the Franciscan ceiling, so change is afoot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church will never be what you want it to be. Why don't you just join a Protestant church? Why remain Catholic and be unhappy?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Emanuel, \"God is with us\".\nWho is \"us\"? People on Earth divided in self-interest and destroying each other in self interest.\nIn our ignorance, we don't even know who we are.\nOur fraudulent sense of selfness, separates us from the one community of life on earth, evolved in common, still evolving.\nReligions don't want to get evolution because it exposes their sacred fetishes. God is Self-expressed in the Naturalis Sacramentum Ordinis. Each Newborn, in God's Image, destined and called to be An \"Other Christ\" is hope renewed.\nChurches, politically divided in cultic self-interests, are an abomination to each other and all other. Except we wake up to the Common Truth of all churches/ religions, that all life on Earth is one Family, one Church, we will continue the work of self-competition and self destruction.\nLet CHURCHES UNITED begin in the common effort of coming together in Sacramental/ biological understanding, this 2017 Church Unity Octave. Failure to do this means failure of church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gentle reader, please note: Rogue Catholic is a troll, possibly a paid troll, possibly a paid Koch troll, possibly a paid Koch troll wannabe, who showed up here during the Trump administration, while Steven Shea is a longstanding (and, if I may, beloved) member of the NCR commentariat.\n\nWho's this \"we,\" Rogue Catholic? You may be a rogue, but as your avatar suggests, you may be Catholic only incognito. If not a revolving account.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Such as last week when he supported the Catholic's right to teach children that being gay is morally wrong. In 2017 that is an extremist view.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Male genitalia are critical to celibate Catholic priesthood. The reality and consequential logic are baffling. Pope Benedict, the \"teaching Pope\" taught, as Prefect of the CDF, that the beautiful \"Song of Song\" eulogy of the bride and bridegroom is \"more than metaphor\" in defining not only Church but also the excluded and subservient role of women. Surely the same principle applies to magisterial teaching on the reservation of priestly ordination to men?:\nGenitals function for a) reproduction; b) excretion and c) pleasure.\nIn the Catholic exclusively male priesthood, the compulsory male genitals are excluded from (a) and (c), which leaves only (b). Therefore male excretion is the critical requirement for priesthood?\nThe point: Excluding women from full sacramental inclusion is a mockery of fact, reason, faith, and authority. \nEvery reason proffered for the exclusion is as credible as mine and depict nothing less than misogyny and abuse of mission and membership - men too.\nIt is time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Less that 45% of whites voted for Obama in both elections he won. He got more than 80% of the minority vote. That is how he won twice. I don't expect or need any empathy from the likes of you. I'm happily and comfortably retired. If you are a Christian, you might want to read about what Jesus said about caring for people. Of course, most Christians ignore His advice. I was a public servant for more than 30 years in Eugene. At least 90% of the people I served were white, poor, and in need. I enjoyed helping people, and still do on occasion. If Trump voters want empathy, they need to learn how to give empathy as well. I'm not being paid to be insulted any more. If you want respect, give respect. BTW, being ignorant is no way to success in the 21st century. There is not much work out there for the \"poorly educated\". That is particularly true if you are too infirm to do manual labor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The writer himself referred neither to \"Muslim Jesus\" not to \"Islamic Jesus.\" The headline writers are responsible for \"Muslim Jesus.\" (Writers do not write their own headlines.) \"Islamic Jesus\" is the invention of commenter who then went on to pillory it as a \"fraud\". That's called a Straw Man fallacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"While many of the emails from angry alumni came from graduates of Theological College during the 1960s and '70s ...... \"\n\nHmm .... isn't this the generation of American priests that rejected Catholic moral teachings, embraced modernism and was responsible for the sex abuse scandal?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Plus, how is it racist to question a religion that tells women they are not equal.\"\n\nWe live in a nation where it is illegal to discriminate against homosexuals and they have all the same rights and freedoms everyone else has. How does one reconcile that with the HEAVY anti-gay sentiment in western Muslims in polls? Can I safely call out that bigotry, just like I call out the anti-gay bigotry of many Evangelical Christians, without fear of being smeared as a Islamophobe?\n\nI sure hope so, but not many people can separate critique of the acts or the beliefs from critique of the actor or the believer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Social Conservatives are crazy and should be locked up for spreading hate speech. They don't even read the bible just virtue signal that they do so they can get the government to fund their exclusive catholic schools defacto private schools with taxpayer money. Should be ashamed of themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"rogue priests\" who sold indulgences include Pope Leo X.\n\nThe Catholic Church has winked all sorts of practices now considered immoral. On 15 May 1252, Innocent IV issued a bull, Ad Extirpanda, on rules for the Inquisition's fight against the Cathars, saying \"The head of state or ruler must force all the heretics whom he has in custody, provided he does so without killing them or breaking their arms or legs, as actual robbers and murderers of souls and thieves of the sacraments of God and Christian faith, to confess their errors and accuse other heretics whom they know, and specify their motives, and those whom they have seduced, and those who have lodged them and defended them,as thieves and robbers of material goods are made to accuse their accomplices and confess the crimes they have committed.\" Notice, incidentally, that murderers and robbers were also tortured, without the Church saying \"that's immoral\". You want more examples?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Graham is no \"Christian\". His message is antithetical to Christ's.\n\nNot many fear or hate actual Christians. We do loathe it when selective Biblio-idolators distort His message.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is sad - but of no surprise - that Pope Francis continues to remain ignorant of what scientific research has taught us for more than 50 years now. It is not by any means a matter of \"tendencies.\" It is by all means a matter of sexual orientation variations that have all the same markings as being heterosexual. Until the Catholic Church can bring itself to pulling free of, at best, 19th century thinking, and into, at least, the latter half of the 20th century knowledge, they will continue to spout culturally-defined attitudes and beliefs that push more and more Catholics away. Why stay were one continues to be branded as disordered, no matter the language used? What I counsel those LGBTQ Catholics who wish to remain with the Church but feel disgusted by the very words Pope Francis has repeated in this discussion with reporters, is to stay with the sacraments, with the Eucharist, the Mass, and leave the rest for those who persist in a distortion of Christ's message.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a waste of money ! I'm not at all proud of the direction in which my country is going !\nI think we're being turned into a country of Immigrants that have no intention of being Canadian first , and according to polls 61 % want to retain their own culture instead of being Canadian !\nWe even accept full face covering ( Niqabs) at our Immigration ceremonies ! \nWhy would our P.M. put a Muslim in charge of Immigration ? Has he converted to Islam ?\nWhy do we bring people of a certain culture , why not Christians first - they are being persecuted !\nIt seems like Roman times !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I never said that they should be, but Christians ARE denied their rights at schools. BTW the way is it also correct to indoctrinate the children with the secularist religion and leftist ideology as is currently done? Do you think conservatives and Christian clubs should be barred from using school property? Do you think Muslims should have prayer rooms while denying Christians chapels and meeting places? Why do we push the secular belief that there is no Creator? Is that not as much of a belief system as Christianity?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mkay can we cut this out? Dylan Roof is a terrible person, but he did not commit this atrocity because he's a white Christian - he did it because he was racially and politically motivated. Your argument has no leg to stand on. These atrocities in Europe and around the world are being committed in the NAME OF RELIGION. Jeeze, this really isn't that hard.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Monica, Catholics like myself realize that the policies that have made Catholics economically self-sufficient are embodied in Trump's budget. We don't need more welfarism and statism from the folks who have destroyed multiple generations of the poor.\n\nTrump is a friend to Catholics. The Left in American and globally is inherently anti-Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "School teachers rape and molest more per capita than priests do it shouldn't surprise anyone to discover that there are people who do bad things in all walks of life. Do you know what else the Catholic church does more than any one else except the federal government? They provide more free healthcare to the poor and elderly thru their Catholic Charities and hospitals. There is no question that any organization as large as the Catholic Church is going to have its bad apples but when you take everything into account there is no question that the world is a better place because of the catholic Church..and thats even with this Jesuit Pope", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Capitol Ministries is a boldface attempt at creeping theocracy that infringes on the First Amendment Establishment Clause of the Constitution. The Federal government is prohibited from establishing or involving itself in religion to benefit one religion over another. \n\nDonald Trump may have sold out to the Evangelicals, but this is a secular democracy. Evangelicals - please study your religion on your own time, and you have no right to \"apply it to your job\"/impose it on others. Separation of Church and State has never been more important.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The nationwide purge to emulate the Republican governors and legislatures in the key states which allowed Der Fuhrer to \"win\" the electoral college election. The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast has already done the groundwork, just not the result Pence would like to reveal. The states control the election processes; Pence advocates that evil Federal intrusion hated by every rock-ribbed Republican and Southern Democrat since Reconstruction. Just more examples of the big lies spewing from every oral orifice of the Old White Christian Men in power along with their White Christian Women mouthpieces.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is an ignorant post, I am sorry. This is not how Christianity works at all. God does not \"like\" you any more. Its done out of love. Jehovah's Witness are oftentimes steered the wrong way into thinking this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We need to eschew news sites that offer nothing but \"bogey man\" articles.\n\nThe draught of most Catholic minds is too deep for the still and cloudy and shallow waters here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How are we allowed to comment?\n\nCan we say this is Islam? Islam, that despises Christianity, and Jesus Christ, and Christmas, and anything related to the West? To the freedom of the West? \n\nAre we allowed to say these things? Will we be called racist for saying this is Islam pure and simple, whose aim is to dominate the West, to force the world to convert to Islam? \n\nCan we say there is no difference between moderate Islam and radical violent Islam? \n\nAre we allowed to say these things? \n\nOr are we being silenced on expressing the truth about Islam?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was a radical Christian who murdered 2 in Portland.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those who yearn for the \"peace and stability\" of the 1950s should remember the daily fear of nuclear war that shadowed that decade, as well as the atrocities inflicted on African Americans in the South, the professional restrictions on women, the code of silence regarding homosexuality, and the political constraints on Jews and Catholics. Adlai Stevenson used to joke about \"people who want things to be the way the used to be, only more so.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is nonsense, where do you get such bizarre ideas from? There is hardly any opposition to the Pope amongst Catholics in the U.K. and the number of former Anglicans is infinitesimal.\nHow many \"upper class, far right British types\" do you know? I bet that Pope Francis's \"working class Italian immigrant family\" was a lot better off than the \"working class Irish immigrant family I was brought up in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When it comes to voting habits, conservative evangelicals are indistinguishable from conservative Catholics: two, and only two issues matter - abortion and homosexuality. The best comment I've yet read about conservative Christians and their decision to let abortion trump literally every other issue comes from one of my favorite commenters at the New York Times who goes by the screen name Socrates. As he put it, \"With regard to conservative Christians' one-dimensional support of the in utero sacrosanctity of renegade male sperm, their collective, blind ex utero support of Republican economic torture for every birthed child belies their bipolar 'pro-life' fraud and stunted morality.\"\n\nI couldn't have put it better myself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If people want to reduce the incidence of abortion, there are four steps that have proven essential: Comprehensive sex education (not that \"abstinence only\" farce); free birth control; a *positive* attitude toward sexuality, particularly teen sexuality; and free abortion on demand.\n\nInterestingly, the religious group most likely to get abortions happens to be Catholics...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Golly gee, you must be one of them Catholic Traditionalists! You and your emoticon buddies!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everything you just said there implies that your definition of \"full participation in the Church\" = the exercise of ministerial and governing POWER within the Church. It is an ecclesiology that can only see the Church as a human institution that conducts policy.\n\nIn opposition to this I would propose that the Gospels and the entire teaching Tradition of the Church teach us that a poor, illiterate, ignorant farmer, be they male or female, who has no education nor even the slightest \"authority\" in Church \"affairs\", MORE FULLY PARTICIPATES in the Church by receiving Communion one time in a state of grace than any prelate, Cardinal, priest, or Pope who issues some policy decree on Church governance.\n\nFull participation in the Church = union with Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspect this is MSW's attempt to preemptively disown Bannon by labeling him \"anti-Catholic.\" But there's no disowning him: he's a Catholic in good standing. If he's friends with Burke, it's kind of obvious he's a Catholic with friends in Rome too.\n\nI don't *want* to own him, obviously. He's a disgrace to the Faith. But pretending he's not really Catholic is both dishonest and pointless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Charles, I'm glad you used the correct term (nonwhite) in between bouts of that ridiculous term \"people of color\" - why not say \"coloreds\" if that's what you're after. \n\nAs for \"diversity\" - be sure to thank the catholic church for importing every third worlder that they can find for a big check from Uncle Sam. Sure, when oil money is cheap we can spend it propping up somali and samoan families of 10+, but the times they are-a-changing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This man has no shame. He needs to point out to the world what Christian values he actually believes in, because from where I'm sitting he sure doesn't believe the values I've been taught. At least his daughter get's paid to lie for Trump, this turd does it for fun", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<- slowly shakes head. The Bible is very clear on this issue. You claim my will is free, failing to grasp according to the Bible I am a slave to sin. There is none that doeth good, no not one. Once again you call your god a liar. Allow me to further confuse you with simple facts. It takes faith to believe in Jesus, without faith you cannot believe in Jesus. All are born void of faith. faith is a gift from god. Unless god gives me this faith I cannot believe. Yet you laughably claim I can come to Jesus of my free will. That faith is a product of my will. you glory in the works of the sinner while urinating on the works of Christ, failing to grasp what grace means.\n What blows my mind is you quoted the text that plainly states not one of the race of Adam chose Christ, all rejected him, to then call your god a liar, and claim you chose Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't it amazing how Muslims never admit they have anything to learn from anybody else or need to examine their own misconceptions about god and man. They always speak from the point of view they are right and we infidel slobs are the ones who need a lecture about how we should be like them. Catholics have confession to admit their human fallibility. Muslims never do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You sure seem to have a problem with Christians.They have been a greater force for good than any government-centric society could ever hope to be. It's laughable that you attack them as perverts while advocating for the people with real mental issues that need help, not accommodating.\nSocialists have wreaked more havoc in the 20th century, alone than religions ever did.\nWhy don't you educate yourself on the good works being done by the average neighborhood church before you spout off. Maybe in your experience they don't rise to your lofty standards of using the government to force your values on average people, but they do feed the poor and help those who have had bad breaks in life.\ni suppose now you will tell me how you had to go to church when you were a kid so you know all about it. To that I would say you went to the wrong church or you were too lazy to learn the message of Christianity and get involved.\nHow many of you Christian bashers have ever helped anyone truly in need.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I say what I mean. And I try to do what I believe. Given human nature, we fall short but we begin again. \n\nBut failing doesn't undercut the idea, it only helps us to see our need for God, it keeps us humble, but it doesn't undercut the truth of some resolution or goal.\n\nGod wants us to accept the fact that we are always beginning again with Him.\n\nThe more cheerfully and quickly we dust ourselves off and begin again with Him the easier it gets, and the humbler we can become. \n\nDiscouragement and sadness are allies of the devils. \n\nThe devil is always trying to drive a wedge into people (their intellect/conscience, their will, their body, their appetites), and between people.\n\nWhat you say vs. what you do.\n\nLook at the Pharisee's poking at Jesus about His disciples picking up wheat grains on Sabbath and rubbing them in their hands for eating them.\n\nDriving wedges....declaring hypocrisy. \n\nThose are his ugly tools. Don't touch them; they will quickly make a person cynical and bitter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MMeyer, never mind this so-called anti-Christian, anti-God zealots. Me thinks they feel very intelligent and grand when they open their mouths and spew out all kinds of attacks and accusations against God, the Bible and Jesus Christ. I say let them have their way. Time and eternity will tell. In the mean time we pro-God, pro-Christ, pro-repentance, pro-righteousness must keeping on praying for the nation, the God-haters, haters of what is right and of course ourselves. Above all we must carry on Christ's call to love and pray for those who persecute us as well as keep on reminding the world that while God LOVES man He hates our sins and calls us to turn away from them. His love for us was never a licence to sin and He has quite clearly stated in the Bible actions, thoughts, attitudes and dispositions that are deemed sinful. Where the context must have changed or is no longer contemporary He leaves guiding principles that any honest and willing seeker can use to find out what is true.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The homeless are not all the same; there are those who truly can't help themselves, mentally ill and such. Then there are (and they look the same) the drug addicts and bums. And by bums, I mean, lazy, lying, thieving, inconsiderate bums. I see it every day, every guy with a sign is all of a sudden a major Christian with his \"God bless you, sir!\" if he received money. Some walk onto the mall bus, they politely ask for everybody's attention, give their story, and ask for money, followed by a \"God bless you all\". How is someone that industrious not able to find work? How is it someone in our very prosperous society simply can't find enough to eat despite so many generous strangers and food banks and government programs? Why don't their signs say something like \"Will mow lawns for twenty-bucks\" instead of their custom no-work related plea? Look at what people were willing to do for actual work during the depression; that isn't these guys. These guys have no problem lying for money.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "His only virtue may be that \"he hires sensible people ...\"? Exactly what sensible people are you referring to? His cabinet level appointments? Other than his security team, name one. And even there his Secretary of Defense is known for his Islamophobia. Not exactly a good thing.\n\nThe rest of his cabinet appointments are disasters - racists, bigots, religious nutters are all words that could be applied to most of them (that doesn't count a VP who describes himself as \"Christian first, conservative second, and Republican third\" - somehow the word \"American\" never made it to the list).\n\nAnd then there's Bannon - a man that never saw a conspiracy theory he didn't like.\n\nNeed I go on?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Should I stay or should I go.\" This question has been facing Catholics for the past fifty years or so, if not longer. For me, after the sexual abuse at the age of twelve, it was only a question of how long it would take for the divorce to become final. I attended Catholic High School and graduated from Catholic College. But the binds were still there well into my twenties. Eventually, for my own mental health, I was able to break the binds and move on with my life. I was the second oldest of seven children with three brothers and three sisters. I believe that all three of my brothers broke the ties more out of disagreement with the Church over other issues and not the sexual abuse that I suffered. My youngest sister, who was born the November before I was molested, left the Church because of the sexual abuse crisis in the Church and more specifically the fact that I was abused. My oldest sister worked in the Church for a number of years and recently retired.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Jim, with all due respect, I disagree: Americhristianity never has \"its best day\" being \"nothing more than Churchianity\". That's exactly what it wants you to think, and then dismiss it as \"mere Churchianity\" . No, Americhriatianity is a dangerous, anti-Christian, Gospel-betraying, dangerous cult masking itself as \"church\" (like Satan appearing in the guise of Light, Lucifer). Americhristianity's Trinity is: the leader (German: Der F\u00fchrer), the gun (law-and-order-or-else!), and the flag (draping the cross into invisibility - \"the Other\" shall die on it; it burns in black neighborhoods; it is not the Cross of Jesus Christ, nor is the flag the symbol of the US Flag and the values the Flag represents, but its vile usurpation). I am serious. A Dutch Jesuit, deceased several years now, who taught systematic theology in Chicago through many years, once stated that, should the RCC ever experience a schism again, it would take place in the USA. His comment may turn out to be true...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So why is it that many so-proclaimed Catholics who support abortion, homosexuality, and euthanasia also champion the false science of climate change, which ultimately seeks to reduce human population? \n\nNotice the pattern? That methodical denial of objective reality -- life does not begin at conception, gender is not fixed, taking your own life is not a sin -- culminates in the fanatical belief that a complex non-linear chaotic system can be controlled by toggling the amount of carbon dioxide which accounts for less 2% of all greenhouse gases on a medium-sized planet, 71% of which consists of water.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you were a student in a theology class, and made this comment, the prof would say \"Have you been listening?\"\n\nYou have just repeated the same empty challenge (already launched by Rompecorazones) that began this sub-thread.\n\nI KNOW what the these paragraphs say. What I challenged is your ignorance of, or wanting to ignore CCC 1782. \n\nI mean, why would anyone want to pay attention to it ... it merely states the basic foundational principle of Catholic teaching on conscience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, \"fix flaws\" in the American Health Care Act. But, one of the things that must NOT happen is empowering employers to coerce or impose their religious ideas on their employees. Be very clear - not having insurance coverage on health needs like contraceptives and sterilizations means not having access to those forms of health care. \n\nThe bishops are empowering capitalists, owners of businesses - including themselves, with a new version of \"divine right kings.\" Enhancing the power of a few \"kings\" -and themselves -over the serfs. \n\nIf the bishops cannot persuade people that contraceptives and sterilizations are wrong, then they should not be able to coerce employees to have to live by such religious rules. \n\nPerhaps it is confusing because bishops could set the rules when Catholic organizations like hospitals and schools were primarily staffed with vowed religious. Those times have gone. Employees are not under those obligations and should not be treated as if they were.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And how did the Pope and the Vatican get along with Mussolini, Hitler's closest fascist ally?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Subsidized Public Broadcasting Is our only protection against Money worshipping Brainwashing !!!! George Will is a simple minded ideological fanatic. \nPublic Broadcasting teaches children to think out of the box. It finds innovative cutting edge ways to teach math, reading and science to all of our children in proven ways that rival the best schools, and do not include dogmatic right wing religiousness, or archaic disproven religious narratives. Public Broadcasting is largely the intellectual power that keeps our great nation from devolving into an animalistic and hedonist cesspool. I would venture to say it's more important than Christianity, to the past and future development of a decent American civilization.\n\nGeorge Will's opinion is that of a barbarian repeating and emulating catch phrases from a large body of intellectually flawed ideological works to fabricate something convenient, to \"sound\" like it's meaningful. \n\nHis commentary Is up there with Charlie Browns teacher", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Times change. National parishes served a clearer purpose in the age of immigration and Irish hegemony in U. S. dioceses. I contrast Winsted, Connecticut, population about 7,000, with nearby , much larger Torrington. In Winsted, Catholics have worshiped at St. Joseph's, a Franciscan parish that united the diverse \"ethnic\" Catholics since 1852. For 33 years, Fr. Leo da Saracena led the parish with storied vigor, and he baptized Dad. In Torrington, the larger population created national parishes, one history of which is http://www.torringtoncatholics.org/about.html\nLikewise, Catholics of the Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn have a church on North Main Street, where we went sometimes when we were too late on the walk to St. Francis.\nMany industries throughout Connecticut closed in the past forty years, and people drive off to other types of jobs.\nArchbishop Blair is the thirteenth ordinary of Hartford. Two auxiliaries have Italian surnames. Most predecessors seem Irish.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It would be interesting to know upon what charge the Archbishop is being tried upon by the 'Vatican'. Does the 'Vatican' actually have a court capable trying criminal and civil cases? As I understand it the Church can only try its priests and prelates for violations of Canon Law? \nIs the 'Vatican' going to try him on charges of child molestation/rape or what? If so in the interests of justice his accusers will have to testify before a Vatican court? If so does the 'Vatican' have such a court which would satisfy today's judicial standards?\nIf this is to be that kind of trial, a criminal trial, what if the Vatican verdict differs from any verdict reached by a criminal or civil court in Guam?\nThere are the makings of a future 'fiasco' in all of this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure we should have a dog in this particular fight.\n\nThat being said, I'm just not comfortable with us bombing the Kurds, the Druze, the Sunnis, or the Christians in Syria.\n\nThe Alawites are Assad's buddies. As are Hezbollah and Iran and the Shi'ites. \n\nMy preference would be to re-supply Israel with additional nukes after they remove those who threaten their actual existence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Pence would be a lousy choice for the LGBT citizens of the country. He seems to believe that their Civil and Human Rights are negligible and that discrimination in business practices is morally ok, even though ALL tax-paying citizens, including LGBT citizens pay the taxes that fund the public safety services, sanitation services, roads for the transportation of goods and customers, and many other things that all businesses rely on. So, it's ok with Pence if these businesses use the money of people they will discriminate against. He will not be good for the vast majority of citizens of this country who aren't white, straight, the right kind of 'Christian', and male.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I noticed that, too. Although the media largely seems to have missed it.\n\nThe fawning evangelical leaders long ago sold out to evil. I'm not convinced there's a hell, but I'll try to avoid it, for no other reason than having to spend eternity with Jerry Falwell, et al.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church is the only way for those who know it is. Those who don't know this through no fault of their own cannot be held responsible for their ignorance and their ultimate fate is left to God. The Church's attitude towards women is only a problem for feminists. It's attitude towards those whom you call LGBT is as benevolent as it is to all sinners.\nWe have covered this before.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Roman Catholic hierarchy's self proclaimed \"respect\" for LGBTQ persons is nothing more, nothing less than a charade. Theologically, LGBTQs continue to be gravely disordered sinners, warm bodies and all, and are treated accordingly, never mind the people-pleasing rhetoric. The RCC has lost a generation and more of LGBTQs, irretrievably.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether Sadiq Khan said \"terrorism should be an accepted part of living in a big city\" or said \"the threat of terrorism should be an accepted part of living in a big city,\" the message is the SAME.\n\nKhan is indisputably saying that terrorism is a part of life in cities now; so get used to it. Whether \"the threat\" part is in there or not, the view is the same.\n\nAnd while the timing was terrible (as London deals with an Islamist terrorist attack,) that view is exactly what Trump called out as inappropriate, and rightly so. \n\nAnd it's especially inappropriate considering that 99% of the threat of terrorism is from Muslim extremists and the Mayor is Muslim. Imagine a Christian mayor in a majority-Muslim Southeast Asian country that's reeling from Christian extremist attacks saying \"terrorism - just deal with it.\"\n\nTerrorism should NEVER be \"part and parcel of living in a big city.\" \n\n#PrayForLondon indeed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sound like Ed? I can sorta understand. You earn 40grand or more but some of your old friends are unemployed. Hurts you eh? You see the rusted, empty factory and resent that protecting the environment shut it down, or, a Trump'like billionaire moved their business to Thailand? You sit in a bar/pub and do \"locker-room\" chat on Mon. after listening to an EWTN diatribe on \"abortion killer Hillery. Maybe even make crude jokes about that \"black guy\" in the \"White House\"? Ha.\nWelcome to \"real\" catholic land. \nLeave the real Irish, Italian, German, Polish, Hispanics out of it....hey, you forgot to mention \"Balcks\". Right, you did by excluding them you put your whole contribution in bold.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Being a \"reverend\" does not automatically make one more moral, ethical, intelligent, wise, or superior over the rest. \n\nSee also: priest pedophilia crimes. Catholic church overseeing genocide over indigenous peoples. Etc etc etc", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which one, the holy Christ Church, or sex abuse mafia institutional church?\nNo one can stick finger in the eyes of the holy Christ Church, for it is the Spirit of each one of us.\nThe sex abuse mafia institutional church has no eyes but in darkness!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's Mass!!! Jeez, Catholics can't even spell it correctly! Always a capital M! Always!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know, it really doesn't matter how they divide it up. \nI don't support immoral, anti-christian organizations financially.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a great deal of joy to be gained finding someone whom you can trust and who will trust you. It takes a lot of forgiving and asking for forgiveness but in the long run (38 years and counting for me) there is sharing, security and, most of all, friendship. True love knows no sexual orientation, it is simply love. Why others are insecure in their relatioship should look more closely at themselves before blaming others.\n\nThe clerics of our church have not and will never experience this joy as they are forbidden from having these relationships. Is this what Christ intended. I doubt it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you want to see why Dana should be replaced by Sid, read Dana's article today. The guy is definitely struggling, even a disaster.\nIn reading his disaster, realize he's Jewish, and even insisted on a \"dual\" Jewish-Roman Catholic wedding with a woman he later divorced for another. Ask a Jewish friend to explain just how strange that is.\nNo, not an attempt to squelch anything other than those who have forgotten the reason they became important. Read Garrison's article in today's The Herald for what it means to be creative, and good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It don't think U.S. Catholics, in general, have listened to, adhered to, or followed the Catholic leadership in many a year. A change in leadership doesn't really mean much. The bishops, as a rule, are going in one direction, and a significant number of the Catholic populace in another --- to other denominations or the \"nones\" or the \"dones\". \n\nI always thought of leaders as those who listen to the people tell of their needs and then lead the charge to obtain them. \n\nContrarily, instead of listening, the bishops, indeed Catholic clerics taken as-a-whole, tell the people what they need, and then publish/preach/enact a series of do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do edicts.\n\nListen vs tell -- the difference between leaders and dictators.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sam, thanks for that feedback from someone who is there. I only read about what is happening and the \"normal\" is not news, only what is not \"normal.\" \n\nI think there is a greater willingness of people from within the Church and from lay people involved in promoting change to speak up. I also think there is a greater willingness of those who don't usually say anything to speak up and be clear that they don't agree with the bishops. 10-20 years ago we were all so much more circumspect about publicly disagreeing with bishops and popes. Now I think we have found speaking out is necessary. In part that necessity comes from the abysmal way the bishops mishandled the sex abuse scandal and are now fighting against what is an important civil change - a recognition of the full citizenship and rights of LGBT people. The bishops are blind - again - to the human pain they are causing. \n\nHere is hoping more people speak from their minds and hearts, start these conversations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "peter, you could work for fox. while stating a fact about hylton, you intentionally left out many important other facts. people, check her out for yourselves. as to believing the women's march was a hate event, how can you blame women for not hating men like you. you show zero understanding of what women, lgbtq, the poor, minorities and other marginalized people endure day after day. you can't learn about people by walking in their shoes, you have to be that person, and, since you can't do that, you have to sit down and talk, seriously, and with an open mind, and try to understand what they go through every day at the hands of well meaning, but clueless, white, christian men in our society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This from a religion that believes God is three and one.\nThat Jesus is fully human, and fully divine, 2 natures in 1 person.\nThe math doesnt work, but still these are true.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So there is no duty to protect and intervene in cases of genocide if it happens in an Asian country? What about African countries? Latin American, are those ok because they are majority Christian? Or is it just in European countries?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have been a member of the Catholic faith my entire life. I am sorry you find the Catholic Church so disappointing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "About 165 years ago being an Irish immigrant (in effect a refugee from famine) to Canada prejudiced you on two counts, first of being a Roman Catholic and second of being a potential Fenian terrorist. Compare this with today's Muslim/Islamist hysteria, and you will see that we are not lily-white.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let me guess another radical Christian group? What about the African Muslims in hallonbergen, Sweden that just killed a man and his wife who were witnesses to another migrant assault case? Sorry Europe but your countries are too far gone for saving in respects to a migrant crisis. I only hope we give our heads a shake here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Charlottesville Should Compel Catholics to Expel the Poison of Racism\"\nWhat an understatement.\nMarginally or otherwise, \"Catholics\" elected the flowering seed of racism Donald J Trump - and his ilk - to the Presidency of the United States of America.\nCall it \"racism\" or what it really is/was, the inhuman, anti-intelligent, the unchristian identification of \"legalization/ illegalization ofabortion\" with \"right to life\" was the clarion call of right wing, clericalist hierarchy and rote submissive white Catholics - not to omit the politically manipulative elected reps. \nAn \"abomination\" is not isolated; it is a string and you have rendered your intelligence suspect; your faith irrelevant, and your institutional allegiance to so much potential good, de facto repulsive deeply and for a long time. \nYou decry the Francis revolution; you have ensured a traditional Catholic disaster.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly. Jesus gave no such command. Along with the institutional Church's sexism, another problem I have is the regular dishonesty of traditionalists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"availability of NCReporter...\"\nWhy? That's just silly.\n \n\"women on parish council\"\nI am female...and on my parish council.\n\n\"worship with Protestant churches where other family members attend\"\nWhy? Are we no longer Catholic?\n\nAnd that's just for starters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have known many 'gays' as you call them, living together but do not judge them because they keep to themselves.\nThose who publish their relationship as homosexual via a civil partnership or via a 'civil marriage' know that they are doing. Under no circumstances whatsoever can they be employed in any Cathlic institution.\nHow can the Catholic Church possibly permit homosexual relationships to be on a par with marriage between a man and a woman when since Mosaic times such relationships have been regarded as intrinsically evil?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, US hierarchs have one man, Jeffrey Leno - an attorney in Berkeley CA - who has mapped the overall national legal strategy and response to the scandal. The cover-up of the hierarchs has as one of its goals is to bolster the political hegemony of the hierarchs over the rest of the church. It is that political goal that requires the sleazy, no-holes-barred courtroom tactics the hierarchs have used against survivors: take no prisoners!\n\nThe Gospel has no place in the thinking of the hierarchs when it comes to sexual abuse and exploitation of children by priests and bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As another old gay man, I shook the dust of the Roman church off my sandals years ago. After receiving orders in the Old Roman Catholic Church (valid but illicit!) I was excommunicated and happily so. At that time I vowed that that I would administer the sacraments to anyone requesting in good faith and I have done so. Even now, when no longer affiliated with any church, I do the same. The church and the sacraments do not belong to the clergy or the Curia or even the pope. And they need to be reminded of this often. After all of the soul murdering sexual, physical and emotional abuse over the centuries, the hierarchical church has no moral grounds to speak on most moral issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This entire matter makes me ashamed of the Church and my much-beloved pope. And that directly includes Cardinal O'Malley who contributed directly to the failures of the commission. After being very, very hopeful when this group was formed, I now see it as proof positive that the Catholic Church will never get it right when it comes to its abuse history and in helping its victims. I am tired of fielding questions from others about why the Church has done what it's done, not just the sexual abuse itself, but the cover-ups, the protection of abusing clerics/religious, the total lack of real accountability of bishops who enabled the scandal from start to finish, and now the failure in toto of this commission. My answer now is that I disavow the aspects of the Catholic Church that did this atrocity, and that keep it going even now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The whole brouhaha stinks of Burke - tortured \"legalize\" over obscure minute points to claim some great power and the devil with who is hurt along the way. Burke is not just throwing Boeselager into the stormy deep, but Festing and the Knights of Malta organization. Can the man go anywhere, do anything within the clerical structures of the Church and not create a mess? \n\nCard. Burke needs to be removed from his role with the Knights. This time, he should not be given any other assignment. The pope could just say he has no other assignment for him at this time. As a cardinal, he would, of course, participate in any conclave to elect the next pope should we lose Francis. I assume he has some retirement from former dioceses and from time served in the Vatican - I have never understood who has to pony up for Vatican retirees. Of course, he knows a lot of wealthy people, so he will never be in need of anything except meaningful work.\n\nI wonder where \"home\" is for Burke?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church is rapidly losing relevance as it continues to talk, talk, talk about contraception as a defining moral issue of our time. The vast majority of Americans including Catholics do not believe this to be the case. In fact, most Catholics ignore the Church's teaching in this matter because they find it to be simply absurd and detached from the reality of their lives. For many this is a defining moment that moves them to stop practicing the faith. \n\n The Church has been in a demographic free fall for decades among white Catholics. A stunning 40 percent of those who were raised Catholic leave the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Preach it, brother! I, too, am tired of this rush among professed Christians to embrace PC language. It is indeed ludicrous. In their blind race to be just like the world (well, like the left wing fringe, anyway), they've forgotten that in \"humankind,\" there is \"man;\" in \"chairperson,\" there is \"son;\" in \"spokeswoman,\" there is \"man,\" etc. Sorry, man haters, but that's the way it is.\n\nMy town has \"manhole\" covers, not \"person hole\" covers. \"Humankind\" is one of the worst innovations of the PC movement. It's awkward, for one thing, and fools no one. Anyone who has studied the Bible, knows that when it says God created \"man\" it means mankind; and when Jesus said \"Man shall not live by bread alone . . . . ,\" He was referring to the entire human race. Unfortunately the activists in the PC movement are good at feigning shock and taking offense at any perceived slight, usually when none was intended. They see sexism around every corner, just as race baiters see racism everywhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the confirmation of my supposition that he was a bullied loner. Madman? Guess it depends on your definition, While he might not fit the legal definition; i.e., incapable of distinguishing right from wrong, I would submit that anyone who commits mass murder is a madman. As to arbitrary target.....I am aware that he targeted Muslims knowingly. But there is no reason to hate Muslims or any other identifiable group, since they are composed of individuals, some worthy, some not. This is why I maintain that Xenophobes in general choose targets arbitrarily. \n\nAlexandre could just as easily have gone after women, blacks, homosexuals, or white Christian men, for that matter. His particular illness pointed him toward Muslims......for arbitrary reasons, since his hatred was in no way based in fact.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The indigenous people were just in the way. \n\nThose that survived smallpox and didn't become good Catholics deserved whatever happened to them.\n\nKeeping enough alive to work the gold and silver mines to the Glory of God and the Spanish Empire was just Christian charity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the Church is for sinners, a hospital, as Pope Francis has mentioned. People who have fallen and want to get up.\n\nSo it's not for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've actually seen \"conservatives\" picketing Dr. George Tiller's home, his business, his church, the restaurants where he ate, even his funeral, after they murdered him while he was ushering in his church, and they, convicted clinic bombers, had given the convicted bombmaker assassin his schedule that enabled Scott Roeder to shoot the doctor through the eye into his brain, in front of his wife, and threaten to kill other ushers. I've actually seen the Westboro Baptist Church loons picketing the funerals of vets killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. You won't see that on Faux \"News,\" though you might have heard O'Reilly ranting about Tiller and what should be done to him. When I first got to Wasilla, Caribou Barbie and her theocratic crew were picketing the Palmer Hospital, trying to get them to fire their female OB/GYN Susan LeMagie. You must have led a very sheltered life, to miss all that, \"comrade.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, well, some Catholic doctor's still won't act to help a raped woman get the morning after pill, Catholic hospitals won't either unless they can figure out of the woman has conceived. Truth is, the woman is out of luck if she ends up being in a spot where the hospital she is taken to is Catholic or where the only hospital within close distance is Catholic.\n\nWomen should be allowed to refuse to be taken to Catholic hospitals where there is a choice. And, women need to be sure they understand the limitations of the care they will receive at a Catholic hospital, so they can plan for receiving alternative treatment after being \"treated\" at a Catholic hospital.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bear - I was following along a series of questions asked by another commenter that were focused on late term abortion and seemed more concerned with what we are doing here in the U.S. than what is happening in El Salvador. Conversations wander. I don't think my comment is any more out-of-line than many other comments in this thread. \n\nWhat is happening in El Salvador regarding abortion is horrible. There are no exceptional circumstances recognized under law which would allow an abortion - no abortion in case of rape or incest, to protect the life/health of the mother, no abortion if there are fetal defects. This is the Catholic bishops dream - women as cows. This is the kind of law that only works when the world is perfect, when there is no rape, when a pregnancy never threatens the life or health of a woman. \n\nWe have to remain vigilent here so we do not turn back the clock the way El Salvador did in the late 1990's and is threatening to happen in Poland.\n\nSatisfied?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, whether you believe he is practicing his religion wrong is irrelevant to the legal considerations. As is the opinion of other people annoyed he will bake a cake for someone who has committed adultery and not for a wedding between 2 men. It's quite amazing how every time this hits the news, there is at least one person who proclaims that a real Christian would bake the cake, & another that he's being hypocritical to bake a cake for a hetero couple who have been involved in some other sin. No one seems to notice the irony that they are basically deciding how he \"should\" practice his religion. Which is the entire point of the legal battle. Too many people somehow believe that public opinion should shape constitutional rights, & the more people indicate he's practicing his religion \"wrong\", the more people believe law should forbid his \"wrongness\". \n\nHow HE decides to practice his religion is supposed to be protected by the 1st amendment. I'm glad you at least agree with that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The paper towels was a gag that was taken out of context by the media. They should be proud of how they are handling things. In things like this, the left is always looking for the worst, especially if it is a Republican or a conservative. I have a question. Did Jesus heal everyone he came across? Yes, he said to love your neighbor as yourself, (which in itself can be problematic for some people). I have a question for you about loving your neighbor as you do yourself. This gets to the proper understanding of loving your neighbor as you do yourself. What if you believe yourself to be the biggest scum on earth and should be taken out and stoned, do you still think you should love your neighbor as you do yourself? In other words, how does this apply if you hate yourself? As I tried to explain, how you help those in need can vary depending on the exact need that is displayed. Even Jesus showed this. Did He feed all the hungry all the time? No, He looked for the real need,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is all about segregation - non-Catholic students wish to attend a Catholic school and it has never been an issue..... Until now the public school board protests. Are they that petty over funding? It all comes from the same source....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is a racist sympathizer.\nHe single-handedly used his wealth and fame to perpetuate the lie \u2013 wholly racist in nature \u2013 that President Obama was not born in the United States.\nHe has declared his intention to deport millions of law-abiding Muslims, ban immigration of Muslims, and has called Mexican immigrants drug dealers and rapists.\nHe openly accepted the support of avowed white supremacists during his campaign and has done virtually nothing to distance himself from these groups and their political aims since.\nThe neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups that marched in Charlottesville are similarly transparent in their purpose.\nThey believe in the supremacy of white European Christians over, well, everyone else.\nIn particular, they want to eliminate Jews and Blacks, and Latinos, Muslims, LGBTQ folks, feminists (perhaps women, generally), Catholics, and many others.\nThere is no mystery here.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "and that agenda would be what exactly? To destroy Christianity and to encourage us all to be gay?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How Christian of you. You sir, are a true patriot & American. A man with high ideals who cares about his neighbor & fellow man. Your children must be proud of you. (\"Don't give that bum a dollar, he lost his legs fighting for this country like a loser! He's on his own!\")", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ah the Christian taliban speaks!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The bigger problem is how dissenters like you, Jane, are somehow employed in dioceses around the country.\n\nOf course, it's Chicago, led by Bernadin at the time, a major seller-out and traitor to Catholics across the country.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Well it makes no difference.\n\nConsider what's actually part of Muslim teaching...\n\n\u201cKill the unbelievers wherever you find them.\u201d Koran 2:191\n\u201cMake war on the infidels living in your neighbourhood.\u201d Koran 9:123\n\u201cWhen opportunity arises, kill the infidels wherever you catch them.\u201d Koran 9:5\n\u201cAny religion other than Islam is not acceptable.\u201d Koran 3:85\n\u201cThe Jews and the Christians are perverts; fight them.\u201d\u2026 Koran 9:30\n\u201cMaim and crucify the infidels if they criticize Islam\u201d Koran 5:33\n\u201cPunish the unbelievers with garments of fire, hooked iron rods, boiling water; melt their skin and bellies.\u201d Koran 22:19\n\u201cThe unbelievers are stupid; urge the Muslims to fight them.\u201d Koran 8:65\n\u201cMuslims must not take the infidels as friends.\u201d Koran 3:28\n\u201cTerrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Qur\u2019an.\u201d Koran 8:12\n\u201cMuslims must muster all weapons to terrorize the infidels.\u201d Koran 8:60", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Boots> Maybe you should look in the mirror and stare into the cold blooded snake eyes of the hypocrite/Democrat looking back at you and ask yourself Boots, should Democrats/hypocrites like you ever own a gun? You know the answer is NO as any registered Democrat in Hawaii is mentally unfit to have access to any weapon! \n\nMore Democrats have murdered innocent Americans than all terrorists from all terrorist countries combined. \nHere's a friendly reminder...\nThe 5 Worst/Recent Mass Murders in the USA (with a Firearm) Came from Democrats\n* Ft Hood: Registered Democrat/Muslim.\n* Columbine: Too young to vote; both families were registered Democrats and progressive liberals.\n* Virginia Tech: Wrote hate mail to President Bush and to his staff.\n* Colorado Theater: Registered Democrat; staff worker on the Obama campaign; Occupy Wall Street participant; progressive liberal.\n* Connecticut School Shooter: Registered Democrat; hated Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christians, especially evangelicals, are, almost by definition, gullible. It is not surprising at all that so many support Trump.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing but thinly disguised Christian Supremacy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "and this according to the Pope himself. but since Opus Dei only pays lip service to a pope they don't approve, LoL can ignore and ridicule his teachings. he loves Cafeteria Catholicism!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why isn't the United States sanctioning Saudi Arabia that does not even have a constitution. Saudi Arabia has only the Quran and laws that encourage child rape while severly punishing people for reading the Christian BIble? So much hypocrisy!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That is nonsense. Palestinians are about 30 percent Christian (Jesus would have been a Palestinian if he was born today - Bethlehem is in the West bank).\n----------\nNonsense\nJesus would be Jewish if born today\nyou could say Bethehemer or West Banker\n\nbut not Muslim Palestinian - Jesus?\n \nperhaps a Jew with Palestinian citizenship living in independent West Bank\nbut bottom line still a Jew", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So,.....you're accusing me of being a Nazi? How asinine of you. You are wrong about me not having known Muslims. I have known a number of them. Some are nice. Some are 'edgy' and prone to anger, but most were..well,...'distant' (not unfriendly, but not friendly, either). I also know someone who (barely) escaped the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Just an FYI...\n\nDonald Trump is the only major political leader in power who is working to PREVENT a genocide!!! When Islam mixes with other religions (Christianity, Buddhism and especially Hinduism, etc.), there is bloodshed when the numbers of Muslims reaches a critical tipping point (about 20% of the population). When Islam reaches 40(+) % of the population, the genocide of non-Muslims begins. Donald Trump is striving to avoid reaching the point where either non-Muslims are forced to kill Muslims, or be killed by Muslims. Go read the history of India and Pakistan. Go read up on what is happening in Nigeria, today.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Well put.\n\nI'm more saintly and 'Christian' than most 'christians' running around out there ... voting for the likes of Cheetolini. You can't be both a Christian and a total waste of human skin.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Question, If the Pope and the Catholic Church are so giving and understanding with the refugee/immigrant issue and at the same time against building walls why is it that they only let in about 1-2 refugees/immigrants per year into their little empire. Sounds a little hypocritical to me, reminds me of the far left/donkeys.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trump didn't invent the hellish collaboration between the Republican party and evangelicalism. He just uses it. This is a cynical political move to shore up part of his base. A posse of evangelical leaders committed the reeking hypocrisy during the campaign of endorsing him as a \"Christian.\" That tells you all you need to know about these \"religious\" leaders. Their only metric, like Trump's, is transactional: if it gets us what we want, we'll say whatever we have to. Our kind of faith is already slipping--the young people aren't on board any more--so we need laws to force society into our image. Some \"faith.\" These people can cite Scripture in their sleep, and it means as little to them as the Constitution means to Trump.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Bergoglio-Spadaro-Figueroa called efforts to defend babies from dismemberment part of \"an ecumenism of hate.\"\n\nThey blew their cover. Bergoglio revealed that he is no mere lefty Catholic. He is an atheist in the service of the Soros/UN/EU global totalitarian machine. His Vatican fully supports the UN's Sustainable Genocide Goals. No Christian could possibly have published that putrid, slanderous screed.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Any stats to back your statements?\n\nVery few Catholics adhere to strict interpretation/practice of their religion in this day and age, especially the belief that being gay is a sin.\n\nOne doesn't hear much if anything at all about fundamentalist Catholics. \n\nFear of Catholic parents being incapable of showing their child compassion and understanding due to sexual orientation is ridiculously overblown.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The point was more that the good intentions of Christians were actually doing damage on the ground because it interfered with emergency services.\n\nFortunately, the Church of Satan does not seek converts. Least of all ones who try to make excuses for their vengeful god.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Being anti-semitic is what got Accion Francaise condemned. I'm not sure why the National Front shouldn't be condemned for the same offense (and add xenophobic and anti-Islamic in there.) Nationalism is most definitely anti-christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Really, R.D.? So white racism doesn't exist? Did you happen to notice that white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. Also, if priestly sex abuse never happens, how come the Catholic Church is paying out billions of $ in settlements to victims?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "They become outliers, like people of the Jewish religion. Does it make them worse than Jews -- are Christians more tolerable, since Jesus was against political depravity but still believed in *good* governance?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not going to deny that there are some crazy-a**ed Mormons, but they're an insignificant minority. There was a reason the US put some serious restrictions on Utah's admission to the Union and some Mormons haven't accepted that. That said, they're a miniscule minority. Oh, and I'm not a Mormon, I'm not even a Christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trid means, of course, \"The Catholic Church has bent over backwards to reject homosexuals\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Must be those Christian radicals again. If only there were an easy way to protect the citizens of a country from radical terrorism. Right, there is, it's called deportation.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"An emerging Catholic dialogue with Muslims aims to show public support for Islamic American communities.\"\n- Inter-religious dialog for Catholics is always a good.\n- Hopefully, and soon, this dialog will include discussions about parts of shar'a used / misused by terrorists, and other criminals.\n- When any part of shar'ya is cited or misappropriated as a legal underpinning, or starting point, or implicit approval for rape of men, women, boys, and girls, for slaverly, for murder, for oppression because of religion or gender it is hoped that those engaged in this dialog will repudiate the specific shar'ya, show that it was repudiated at another time, and identify or otherwise correct those Muslim leaders who would exonerate the use of these shar'ya in a criminal or inhumane manner.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Seems to me you right wingers only managed in the last 5 years to accept homosexuals; so can't we grant them some slack and recognize they will in due time (while I am sure many have already). Con bots are like reformed cigarette smokers when it comes to homosexual rights. Took them forever to quit but when they did watch out. Of course there are many right winger Christians in the states still wanting to kill for their own good homosexuals....thoughts there greg?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "His comments are deplorable.\nHe has provided thousands of good paying jobs to people.\nHe has treated many women who work for him fairly.\nHe has legally found ways to reduce his income tax - and who hasn't?\nHe has said he would temporarily ban Muslims UNTIL we have a good way to vet the ones coming in.\n\nOn the other hand is Hillary: Who is in favor of killing babies.\nHer view of Catholics is pretty atrocious.\nShe has lied, stolen and cheated all her adult life.\nShe has lied about helping the HAITIANS after the earthquake.\nShe has taken millions in foreign $$$ in a 'pay for play' scandal - that sold access to the state dept, etc. etc, etc,\n\nSarasit, how can you look at ONLY one side of the story.\nSee my other comments about what HILLARY had DONE to women.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why does it seem that there are always those who think that if people just tried enough, sacrificed enough, were devotional enough, respected the clergy enough, obsessed about \"the rules\" enough, there wouldn't be any problems? Jesus kept calling people to warmth, to forgiveness, to faith, to acceptance, to love, and kept chiding the Pharisees, Saducees, scribes etc. for being too controlling, for not helping, for being demanding, for not showing love but rather hypocrisy...and 2000 years later, far too many Catholics either live in fear, or drop the fear/control factor and walk away, never knowing the love, joy, peace, patience and forgiveness which is how our indwelling Trinitarian God is there for us if we could drop the fear/control factor. God loves us...even when we're what an amazing priest in my parish who just celebrated his 55th anniversary of ordination yesterday calls \"stupid-ass-sheep\"; God is Love and Light, and far too many Catholics have been left behind in the dark.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Let me see if I can say this right without being told where to go\u2026.LOL\u2026which happens quite often I might add. First it was westernized Christian religion. Then came the booze. Then hairwon. (heroin). Now we\u2019re a mess. Alaska Natives that is.\n\nBan that. Banish them. Keep pot outta the villages. Jail the bootleggers. Devil booze anyhow. \n\nBut wait. It is my most humble opinion that Alaska Natives got messed up outta the gate with the Christian thing \u2013 going to hell for raising hell and going to heaven for not raising hell. Punishment and reward. Everyday, punishment and reward. That\u2019s not for me. So I chucked western religion out the window and into the trash bin where it belongs. No hell. No heaven. Don\u2019t worry about getting saved. Don\u2019t need to. \n\nThat wasn\u2019t part of Native spirituality anyway. Neither were the imagined devils the missionaries brought. Drink or not drink. I have that choice. That\u2019s the power of my own Native spirituality.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Pathetic comments reveal that most people who read the Globe and Mail do not care one iota about the legacy of the residential school rape and abuse of little boys and girls of the First Nations, and the toxic stress and lateral violence which continues to this day. Kudos to the Prime Minister. In its heyday, the Catholic Church terrorized people (The Spanish Inquisition, Mount Cashel Orphanage, Residential Schools) not unlike fundamentalist Muslims do today.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "50% decline in price \nmeans 80% decline in state revenue. When SB 21 was passed the morons in the legislature started deficit spending at $140 a barrel. They also spent the statutory budget reserve almost immediately. Now they have almost exhausted the CBR. They ripped off half the dividend this year and haven't inflation proofed it either. Next year they will rip off the rest of it and exhaust the CBR. They are stealing the future of this state and flushing it into oblivion. These right wing Christian wackos are no different then crachheads who smoked up their inheritance and now need to steal the rest of any money they can get their greedy ghetto\nHands on....", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "OKC was 20+ years ago. Most mas killings in the US the last few years were done by Muslims (except in Chicago were it is African American gang members killing each other and civilians at an appalling rate). Pray tell what \"Christian\" attacks/massacres have occurred in America? Christians do murder each other all the time here, \"Bob the Catholic killing his brother when they were drunk\" doesn't count. When have Christians in the US targeted another religious/ethnic group simply because they didn't like that group? Have fun hugging the notoriously homophobic Muslims, you'll probably get your butt kicked. You don't seem like a very tough individual.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What a pathetic diatribe by Stephen Harper's former director of communications.\n\nHe claims it's in defence of religious tolerance but the only two quotes he can come up with don't even mention religion.\n\nHe calls Liberal assessments like: \"somebody who has voted against every single civil rights advancement in the last 25 years\" and \"far-right social Conservatives\" as \"this kind of anti-Christian sneer.\"\n\nTo no great surprise, he then goes on to blow the familiar nativist dog-whistle: \"you can get away with criticizing a Christian far more readily than you can for criticizing a Muslim.\"\n\nAndrew Scheer might gain a few points by rapidly and publicly disavowing this kind of approach.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The bishop's remarks are pathetic. Just more of the same \"mistakes were made\" line. This was not a failure of knowledge or leadership. This was the knowing and intentional commission of evil by clergy and the bishops to further their careers and protect the institution. \n\nWhatsoever you do to the least, so you do unto me? Sound familiar? Put into context, priests, brothers and others in the church raped Jesus Christ, bishops aided and abetted the rape of Jesus Christ, and popes, including a pair of purported saints, aided and abetted the rape of Jesus Christ. \n\nSo this lent, lets dispense with a reading of the crucifixion of Christ 2000 years ago and read about the crucifixion of Christ by the Catholic Church in the 20th and 21st Centuries.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I find it hard to believe that one of my gay friends had to post on FB how Christians are worse than Muslims. Remember, a liberal is a liberal first and then whatever else they are.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": " Allan please calm down a bit. \nYes I mean it is the height of cruelty to play on immature and confused minds towards irreversible gender reassignment surgery. And No, christians don't \"vilify non-hetero students\" , tell them that \"God hates gays\" or 'ignore contraception'. Where on earth did you get these ridiculous ideas ? Talk about hyperbole and fear mongering.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The left is so full of hate right now its unbelievable. They hate Christianity and the moral values that helped to build this nation. Hollywood and their idols are crumbling before our eyes. One producer after another is being exposed by people who 'knew' but, for years, did nothing. \n.\n Hillary Clinton and the 'uranium deal' is about to explode all over the place. The 'real' Russia collusion is now coming to light. Mueller may beinvestigating himself before long. Will he recuse himself then, or will he refuse to see an obvious 'conflict of interest' there?. That's something that has been perfectly clear to everybody except those with blurry vision and corrupt minds\n.\nNo, we are not unified. Most of us refuse to unify under immoral and in many cases, 'illegal' liberal policies. Here in our own liberal state there are those who will gleefully break state as well as federal laws to provide safe spaces to 'shoot dope'. Its against every law, yet a 'judge' clears the way....Pathetic!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Johann wasn't being a racist as religion is not a race. He was being something of a bigot- From his other posts I couldn't imagine him saying the same thing about any non-Christian religion- as in \"ISIS is pretty much a Muslim issue. Muslims own the problem. Fix it\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims and liberals excoriate us about Islamophobia, but we should bear in mind Islam's entrenched racism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, anti-Semitism, hatred of Christianity, Europe. Israel, and America. Islam's destructive iconoclasm is destroying historic treasures across the ME: in just one year Notre Dame in Paris has had three close call bomb threats. They even have Islamophobia against each other, as wars between Kurds, Shiite, Sunni, Wahhabi, Druze and other Islamic sects, ISIS , Taliban and Al Qaeda are the root causes of most of the wars and social chaos happening around the world today. It is worse than anything expressed in the west, even by Trump. They will keep on killing innocent people rather than admit something is wrong with their belief system.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The biggest problem with the residential school system was allowing the Catholic church to get involved. We all know what perverts those priests can be with little children.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I think they are on to something here....perhaps the Italian government can demolish what is left of the Coliseum. It was built by the Romans who oppressed thousands. Remove the tombs in Westminster Abbey! No such respect should be shown for the monarchs who enslaved and persecuted the masses! Remember the second world war? Ottawa must sever all relations with Germany and close their embassy! And what about the history of the Catholic church, let alone the abuses committed in recent times. Shut them down now!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Catholicism is everywhere, gay men are everywhere, and gay men will always be unduly attracted toward the priesthood. The dam has broken indeed; but obvious as the source of the problem is, few still get it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I read \"thinking people.\" I've never heard or read anyone say that morality is inherent. But then again, the concept of morality that thinking people surmised back them, was certainly a part of their consciousness.\n\n\"Some Christians pretend that Christianity was not established by the sword; but of what period of time do they speak? It was impossible that twelve men could begin with the sword: they had not the power; but no sooner were the professors of Christianity sufficiently powerful to employ the sword than they did so, and the stake and faggot too;\" --- Thomas Paine", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why not call hm what he is - a white christian terrorist?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Using Mary, if such a human actually existed, and the having the idiocy of attempting altering Biblical scripture to fit a narrative to protect and excuse a pedophile shows the level of ignorance of Evangelicals, in a state that has the reputation of brothers marrying their sisters. \n\nMary was, per the Bible, a Virgin, meaning \"untouched by any man.\" Moore is a sick, twisted, perverted, liar, choosing the wrong time to not admit, to not step aside, to not demand a full investigation (which the innocent usually demand and deserve), and foolishly to use the Donald \"sexual predator\" failing defense. Wrong time, wrong place, wrong moment in history, because this is the moment, after decades of bullying, death threats, fear of reprisals such as jobloss, and more, women are COMING FORWARD, again after and I reiterate, DECADES of forced silence about abuse.\n\nAnyone, male, female, christian, not christian, who stands with Roy Moore,is standing on the wrong side of history.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The US Catholic bishops won -- they beat down those liberal nuns and killed healthcare for the poor. No Beatitudes for these boys in black! Now they are working on bringing back mortal sin for those who eat meat on Friday! Always a the service of Newt and Carl and Donald and Paul --", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\n\nTrump's racism has been evident the whole of his adult life, going back to his early days as an agent for his father's (a former Klansman) real estate business. It's evident not only in the birtherism drivel, but in his rhetoric about Muslims, Mexicans, judges, etc. etc. ad nauseam. There was never a legitimate \"debate\" about Obama's birthplace (or his religion or his education); this was always and only a racist effort to portray him as the \"other\": not one of \"us\"; not a Christian; not smart; not white. By the time Trump was prancing around the country in 2011 pushing this lie, it had already been thoroughly debunked. There was never a legitimate debate about this.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Scheer is a bible thumping clown and should not be a leader of any party. We are currently under a religious regime run by a high power catholic and its time to get religion out of the government altogether. We need a leader who does not believe in mythology and fiction.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The myopia of catholics in the developed/wealthy world leads them to ignore places like eastern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean, where they've ordained married men for centuries.\nIt's the same thing with gay clergy/religious; you think that North America and western Europe (and the middle class parts of those) are pretty much the whole church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Until then we must abandon all attempts to convince the stupid person. This state of affairs explains why in such circumstances our attempts to know what \u2018the people\u2019 really think are in vain and why, under these circumstances, this question is so irrelevant for the person who is thinking and acting responsibly. The word of the Bible that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom declares that the internal liberation of human beings to live the responsible life before God is the only genuine way to overcome stupidity.\nBut these thoughts about stupidity also offer consolation in that they utterly forbid us to consider the majority of people to be stupid in every circumstance. It really will depend on whether those in power expect more from peoples\u2019 stupidity than from their inner independence and wisdom.\"\n- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from \u2018After Ten Years\u2019 in Letters and Papers from Prison (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works/English, vol. 8) Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2010. (FINIS)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Such a beautiful view of Padua...grace and (past) virtue building on nature to create such beauty, contrasted with the ugliness of sin, misuse of the gifts of sexuality, unfaithfulness to God, and the self seeking of these orgiastic gay priests.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Funny thing...If anyone were to ridicule the beliefs of any other religion, you would be horrified and leap to chastise.\n\nBut not Catholicism. What hypocrisy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We are supposed to get mentally ill people help. I'm pretty sure there are more mentally ill Christians in the country than Muslims, but i'd be willing to bet the tenancy towards violence stems from a massive, and culturally accepted on the right, marginalization of that community. Stop trolling and enlighten yourself.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is silly. Hardly any Catholics believe that contraception is wrong. \nhttps://www.americamagazine.org/content/dispatches/us-catholics-hold-mixed-views-religious-liberty-issues", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You say so because you seem to be unaware of how downright insulting and unchristian it is to call someone a liar, a fool and a hypocrite to their face just because they disagree with your views.\nMillions of Catholics from the Pope down disagree with the views you express here, saints through the ages have believed and taught that the Magisterium should be obeyed without question. Do you consider them all liars, fools and hypocrites too?\nMost civilised folk who cannot resolve differences of belief agree to differ, they don't launch into tirades of name-calling or liken each other to Nazi war criminals. Every time anyone posts a comment here which you don't agree with you label them liar, fool, hypocrite or all 3 and even worse.\nNCR changed to CC precisely to root out such abusive commenting.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Commonsense: \"It's not an opinion when you are literally trying to take equal rights from groups of people.\"\nHUH?! What groups of people? WHO is trying to take equal rights away? The Mayor of Portland? - taking away the Free Speech Rights of Trump supporters? You must be speaking of White straight Men? -for they are the Only one's who are NOT a legally \"Protected Class\". ALL Others are MORE than \"Equal\" -with Special rights!\n There was NO Racism involved in the attack by Mr. Christian. That is 'fake news spin'. It is an attempt to spin it into More than it was. Not liking or even hating Muslims is NOT \"Racism\".", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And you want everyone to ignore the thousands of Muslims who are killing homosexuals under their sharia law. And killing the adulterous under their sharia law. \n\nThe Christian nut jobs in this country don't have the law enforcing their barbarism like Saudia Arabia, Iran, Qatar etc. etc.\n\nThe whole point of the anti-sharia marches yesterday is that we in the US will NOT tolerate it here!\n\nYou apologize for barbarians just because they only do it in their countries.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I feel it's important to point out that the rally in Charlottesville was not just racist. It was anti-Semitic and it was anti-LGBTQ as well. The slurs the Nazis and KKK were using moved from racial slurs to gay slurs to anti-Semitic slurs with frightening regularity. They wanted to make sure they terrorized certain groups of people and they did just that. Jewish folks, LGBTQ and people of color are now feeling trepidation when walking home alone at night in Charlottesville (and many other areas of this country). \nI only mention this because Trump has already broken his word on \"supporting LGBTQ people\" and it makes me wonder if that's who he'll hit next in order to rally his base AGAIN. Since the Nazi's were very vocal in their gay hate rhetoric in Charlottesville, I think it's a subject that should be discussed openly and honestly before something bad happens and Catholics wish they had spoken against the homophobic rhetoric being spewed by the Nazis. \nMy two cents worth.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately religion has been used to justify really bad policy. It's supported discrimination against gays, lesbians, the transgendered, hiv-infected (as punishment from god), other Muslim races, etc. \n\nGovernor Burns was aware of the hypocrisy of Catholics but respected the church. Perhaps the same can be said of the Pope. It's different with a fervent belief coming from religious lies.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Just because Wente professes not to understand the point of white privilege doesn't mean there isn't one. In fact, she should look around the Globe offices and ask herself, \"why is almost everyone here white, and why is the executive team and editorial board exclusively white? Especially when the city we live in is 50% non-white.?\" She might also engage in some reflection on this city and province's history, where the franchise was originally limited to landed white men, where slavery existed, where black people were enslaved, and where the Family Compact reigned for many years, excluding not just non-white people from power, but non-Christians (and non-Protestants), as well. This country, this province and this city were founded on the idea of white supremacy. As BLM has said, \"the system isn't broken, it was built that way.\" And, indeed, it was. Whiteness, of course, is not the only privilege there is, but it is a privilege, whether Wente wants to admit to it or not.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Islamophobia\nif you think there is Islamophobia\n\njust count all the CATHOLIC PHOBIA in these comments", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is fair. Maybe Pope Francis sees his role of changing the tone and focus of the Church to one of mercy and compassion, laying the ground for more substantive changes in the future. You read some conservative Catholic websites like catholicvote.org and it seems like we are approaching a schism with these groups, which I'm sure Francis does not want to be part of his legacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pew researchers find in polls that an atheist or Muslim presidential candidate would have an uphill battle getting elected in the US. Christianity (of some sort) is still \"decent\" in the US and primarily the reason for a two party system. But in time that could change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well one can always cease to be Catholic by leaving, nobody is chaining anyone to the Church.\n\nHow is it not a free will choice. I get that it may be difficult for those who are living as children under the roof of their parents, but once they are adults it is their choice, like it is for 100% of all Catholics.\n\nA friend of mine grew up as Sikh and converted to Catholicism, an absolute free choice, just like the free choice of someone who is baptised to simply stop believing or believe in something else.\n\nI really don't see how anyone is forced to either become or remain Catholic, do you have a specific or hypothetical example?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Overwhelmingly calls itself Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jay: In the Nicene Creed the word \"catholic\" is spelled with a \"small c\", and many separated brethren retain catholic beliefs. However, an increasing proportion of independent \"Sola scriptura\" Protestant/Christians reject the early unifying councils and the Nicene Creed , due to the decline of mainline denominations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The public should also know that this order does not target those who practice a specific religion.\"\nIIRC, according to the NYTimes article on the provisions of the executive order on its face targets Christians for preferential consideration/treatment. Are you too focused on defending Trump that you forgot the order does target those who practice a specific religion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To quote a friend, the one who tells the stories owns the culture. As long as men, exclusively, tell the stories in Catholic Christianity, there will be no inclusion of women. Simple as that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More hyperbole from the Progressives. \n\nA number of countries on the list are failed states or actively support terrorism. Never mind the other 90% of muslims aren't affected as it spoils the narrative. \n\nIran is on the list because of AIPAC which holds considerable sway over U.S. Foreign policy in the region. \n\nIran has been fighting ISIS more aggressively than the U.S. (overlooked for some reason by MSM).\n\nCatholic Services makes big bucks from .gov to settle immigrants...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Justmaybe\nI think MANY Catholics are there, and have been for a while. None of that matters however, until those with the power to DO something about it have a change of heart. And that's the problem: once you have a sincere change of heart, you will see what you've never allowed yourself to see. Once you've had that change of heart, you'll burn with a zeal to make things as right as possible.\n\nConversely, UNTIL you've had a true change of heart, you'll likely see those who complain as malcontents, \"the problem,\" or even a threat. So should those sheep leave the flock, clearly that would be a win for everybody, right?\n\nI'm sure that somewhere, within episcopal logic, there HAS to be a reason why these guys believe their silence is a better solution, but for the life of me, I don't see it. And if the answer is that they honestly believe they are right because \"Jesus will protect them,\" I suspect many if not most of them are in for a shocking surprise...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The mere fact that Mr. Martin and Mr. FitzGerald used the word Muslims and Christians is a give away that these 2 opposition journalist know little, if nothing, about the 7-nation ban.\n*", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not confused about any of the issues you suggested - you are. \n\nAs for the Seder Meal that information is literally from the Book of Exodus and if the Messiah didn't follow those instructions than that would have been proof, in Jesus' time, that he was not the real Messiah. This is why he did follow these instructions perfectly.\n\nJesus was a Messiah from Judaism, not the Catholic interpretation of Judaism desperately trying to justify sexism. Those men and women Israelites who did not eat and take full part of the sacrificial lamb at the first passover (which is what all future passover meals are based on and symbolize), they could not leave Egypt with the rest of the Israelites, per the directions given to Moses by God, to enter the promised land. This is why every Seder Meal is a Family Meal and why the Last Supper would have been the same way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry - what a stream of consciousness mess. In fact, MSW correctly summarizes what catholic moral theology has taught for centuries before the JPII/Benny reaction and the ideological twists of the right wing catholic media.\nBut, yes, your last sentence is correct. SAD", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People who voted for Trump aren't necessarily racist, but they did decide that racism wasn't a deal-breaker.\n\nAnd this:\n\n\" forcing them to pay for birth control and abortion, \"\n\nInsurance that includes birth control costs LESS. No one is making people pay for birth control. It is part of an insurance package, and the people using the insurance can choose it or not. It adds NOTHING to the actual cost of the insurance.\n\nThe problem is in forcing non-Catholic employees to adhere to Catholic dogma.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\n\nImagine a more lively and spirited Christian adult.\n\nShe learns to \"use\" all the events of the day to grow in her closeness to God.\n\nRed lights, burnt toast, delays, setback, rude bosses, disruptions, twisted ankles, work demands, demands from her many children, etc.\n\nShe deals with all these events - with God, asking Him to help her grow in her love for Him THROUGH those difficulties and demands, not wanting to lose one moment or chance to grow in the image of Jesus Christ. \n\nShe uses the material events of every day to grow in a thousand virtues and in the intimacy of her continual conversation with God, referring all matter to Him - like a trusting child of God!\n\nShe learns to control her temper, learns to deal with small pains, hunger, aches - and more she learns to take all these things in stride, cheerfully, because she's converting it all to prayer with God, offering this pain for that daughter, this setback well handled for her husband who is traveling for business.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LOL... pretty much knew you would sink to the level of insulting my vicar. You further decide that the entire parish is deserving of your scorn, a position which truly leaves me wondering if you see anything worthy in us progressive-minded folks even remotely worthy of your praise and acceptance. Not that I seek your praise of course, not in the least, but from a Christian perspective your sense of \"brotherhood\" is sorely lacking.\n\nIf I provide you with some scholarly historical references would you actually read them? This is puzzling to me as they are not hard to find, I am currently reading a volume called The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era by James Jeffers. There is not one \"anti-Catholic\" reference to be found, just a pure, in-depth study of the early church and its many influences--mostly from the ante-Nicene period but there is no shortage on the Constantine era also. I am happy to provide some titles if you would like, I can promise it will be eye opening for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He did say he was focusing on Christian Syrians refugees or do they don't count because they are not muslim? It did seem Canada and the US ( obama) seem to think Syrian Refugee's did not mean Christian and Muslim only muslim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They don't understand how Catholicism works and have a rigid and superficial understanding of it as well as bringing their bad Evangelical habits with them like their worship of far right politicians and love of the culture wars.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have long predicted that by the end of this century, Christianity will survive in congregational communities instead of denominations -- which, by the way, is the way it all began.\n\nWe don't need to heal the schism and become one big, flabby, lifeless, implicitly-or-explicitly sexist denomination. We need to get back to the Gospel. Ash Wednesday is a good time to start.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"There will come a day when the Bible is read much like those ancient fables\". If Dan Brown had made the same statement about the holy book of any other faith, he would be denounced in the mainstream media, charged with spreading hate speech and perhaps even forced to defend himself before various human rights tribunals. His career as an author would be over. Instead, he is lauded in the mainstream media, one of the many vehicles used in the worldwide onslaught against Christians and Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish that liberals would learn that lesson, It seems that conservatives and Christians are repeatedly trying to pound that notion home to our educators across this country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please note: \"We're just going to MAKE all of you Muslims\" compared to \"WE WANT all of you guys to become Christians\". Sorry, pastor, you are not all on the same page.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hogwash - Are you actually claiming to know the motives of everyone on \"the Right\" ? I could share with you the number of Christian scientists, but that would most likely do nothing to open the mind of an obvious (and demonstrated) bigot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You need to read the meticulously researched \"The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise: Muslims, Christians, and Jews under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain\" by Dario Fernandez-Moreira. It totally debunks the propaganda that life was sweet for non-Muslims under Islamic rule in Andalusia. Read it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To the person who wrote this --> \"Christians,\" who espouse bigotry and racism, don't care about anything he does, including grabbing women's privates\" (WOW!)\n\nI think that commentor should head straight down to this Texas High School and inform these students flying Christain flags on their vehicles of the facts. You know, how they (being Christians) espouse bigotry and racism and all...\n\nI am sure they will welcome you.\n\nProbably their parents will be very excited too.\n\nHave fun.\n-------------------------------------------------\nA group of East Texas students are not backing down after a Wisconsin-based organization demanded a local school remove religious symbols from their campus...\nhttp://kxan.com/2017/10/19/texas-students-fly-christian-flags-after-religious-symbol-removal-demand/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just seems odd that a religion can pull 185,000 people out of an organization. How does that happen? Letters? An email or text? Wonder what would happen if the Muslims or Catholics did something like this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, and popes can't move away from magisterial documents published before 1962? How about \"Mirari Vos\" written by Pope Gregory XVI in 1832? In it he spoke about the freedom of the press, and stated \"this loathsome freedom which one cannot despise too strongly.\" And the Vatican, the dioceses and Catholic news publications [both swinging to the right and the left] are in existence.\n---------\nCitation \"Acts of Gregory XVI, pp. 170, in Hubert Jedin, ed., HISTORY OF THE CHURCH [New York: Crossroad, 1982, vol. VII, p. 287.\n\nOr how about Pius IX's the \"Syllabus of Errors [1864]? Pio Nono stated that it is wrong to have public education of children in \"any Christian State.\" It is erroneous t propose that the Church could not use force to impose it beliefs, or that it does not have temporal power. \n\nLikewise, Pius IX condemned the idea of separation between Church and State. And, he stated, that in Catholic countries, there should be no freedom of worship granted to other religions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We agree except on one thing. Most Iraqi Sunni don't support Da'esh--some Sunni clerics and a LOT of their rank-and-file folks have been murdered by the Da'esh because they denounced the latter's vile, anti-Islamic behavior. They also murdered a Shi'a scholar for denouncing their slaughter of Iraqi Christians.\n\nI won't call them \"ISIS\" because they're neither Islamic nor a 'state'. They're simply the most recent and foulest fungus growth derived from the criminal Wahabbi movement, originally armed and financed by the Anglican British to fight the Lutheran Germans' Ottoman sock-puppets, and maintained today by the good 'Christian' Americans. Or is that \"secularist\"?--take your pick.\n\nAgain, Einstein's definition of insanity applies--American foreign policy-makers watered the Taliban/Al-Qa'eda/Da'esh trees with the blood of the people of the Middle East and Central Asia. We're harvesting the rotten fruits. We can't say \"no blood for oil\" anymore because the two are thoroughly mixed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One should at times simply dismiss \"strategy\" and consider what is right and just - but on the other hand....\nPersonally, I don't think that married priests will solve the problem of the shortage of priests; nor will acknowledging women ordination.\nThere is, I also think, an \"order that is sensible\": a) Ordained men who have, with permission, left and left and married should be allowed to resume. The very fact of change, the presence life experience, of wives and children will begin to expand thinking and comfort. b) Married deacons, next; similar results. c) Women should be welcomed including women priests as already ordained.\nIn any case, no man worth his salt, or of pastoral ordination, should enter, return or resume until or unless women's ordination is acknowledged and welcomed. \nThe institution of the Roman Catholic Church as presently (and intransigently) understood is not sustainable. If so, one might ask -what really is the sense?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Faithful Catholic wrote \"Catholic hospitals will not script birth control--but women do not have to go to Catholic hospitals to get scripts for birth control now do they?\" For some areas, particularly in Washington State, Oregon, the Dakotas, Iowa, and Alaska, over 40% of hospitals in the state (which also cover outpatient clinics) are operated under Catholic auspices, meaning that anyone who seeks reproductive health services may have to travel hours to find a non-Catholic hospital. Remember that Catholic hospitals are not allowed to intervene when a mother is dying as a result of serious complications of a pregnancy and there is no hope that the fetus will survive, either. For those women, Catholic control of hospital services that cover huge swaths of a region could be a death sentence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This point below might explain the gap of understanding that we have. \n\nMy view is that each Christian should feel greater responsibility for the state of the soul of every person in the world, than most people do. (and there should be no \"zero sum\" view of responsibility. No lessening.\n\nThere is a secular view hat exists today that tries to assign and overly narrow responsibility....or to blame even more abstractly.\n\nIn some fashion or other, how you live your faith affects my ability to live my faith. And vice versa, of course.\n\nGrace and prayer operate on the supernatural plane...and if we see things with mere human eyes..we tend to \"shrink\" responsibility.\n\nGod grants and distributes graces as He chooses. This understanding of course underlies two marvelous aspects of our Catholic Faith: Intercessory prayer and the Communion of Saints. \n\nHow well I live my marriage...can change, on a supernatural plane, all marriages. We are connected \"under the covers\" in ways unimaginable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course not. The power of the imams requires Crusaders to go after. The Jews and the Christians used to be \"People of the Book\" in previous centuries; today's terrorists have gone back to a meaner time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unless one is employed by the Roman Catholic Church, then to come out is the quickest way to losing one's job. This surely is an anathema as we all know priests who identify gay.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd say that the false prophets and false Christians who embrace Trump, who is the antithesis of Christian values, are more of a threat to the religion than DP. Somehow, they've managed to put politics above Jesus without so much as batting an eye.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How refreshing to see an article in NCR finally about the plight of the Mideastern Christians. \n\nFrom articles and comments posted here continuously about the future of Muslim refugees, one would think the Christian refugees forgotten or that they do not exist. They too, lest we forget, have been forced to leave their homes...and many have been tortured, murdered - subjected to indignities beyond comprehension. \n\nThey feel abandoned by other Christians. Reading articles and comments here, I'm not surprised...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have regularly attended at least seven different 'Christian' style church denominations from Catholic, Lutheran, Baptists (of several versions), LDS etc. etc. in my lifetime. I even taught 'Sunday School' once. Church of the Nazarene, that was. \n\nI have attended Jewish services. I have attended Muslim Services. \nI have read extensively about Zen, the Kama Sutra, 'Il Qur'an, the Torah, the Book of Mormon, Buddhist texts, the Bible, Druze, Shi'a and Sunni, Gaiea , Druids, Norse Gods, Egyptian Gods, Greek/Roman Gods, Animistic religions, Aztec and Incan Gods, etc. etc. \n\nThose who have 'faith' seem pleased with it and themselves.\n\nReincarnation would be neat and consistent with the scientific theory about matter and energy and its conservation. Several religions like that concept.\n\nMoral values can and do exist without the crutch of divine involvement by any sort of deity or any shamans, witch doctors, priests, bishops, imams, cardinals, popes or other money grubbers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, if you exclude war, Christian countries have the highest murder rates. Myanmar is the first non Christian country at number 28. Turkmenistan is the first Muslim country at number 34.\n\nNice try.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of sin as follows:\n\n\"Sin is an offence against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is a failure in genuine love for God and neighbour caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods.... It has been defined [by St Augustine] as \"an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law.\"\n\n\"Sin is an offence against God.... Sin sets itself against God's love for us and turns our hearts away from it. Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become \"like gods,\" knowing and determining good and evil. Sin is thus \"love of oneself even to the contempt of God.\"\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Roman Catholic hierarchy has been aware of priests and bishops and cardinals and popes raping children from the early church. They don't care enough to stop it. Transubstantiatorss still get to transubstantiate, regardless of heinous crimes against children. Women all over the globe are starting to learn what was done to their children and the children of their ancestors in the Name of Holy. \n\nAW", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You might have to wait a while longer: \n\nAs an agnostic I am about 3.3% of the US population according to PEW Research Group. The athiests about 2.4%.\n\nAccording to a 2012 review by the National Council of Churches, the five largest denominations are \nThe Catholic Church, 68,202,492 members\nThe Southern Baptist Convention, 16,136,044 members\nThe United Methodist Church, 7,679,850 members\nThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6,157,238 members\nThe Church of God in Christ, 5,499,875 members\n\nThe Southern Baptist Convention, with over 16 million adherents, is the largest of more than 200 distinctly named Protestant denominations. In 2007, members of evangelical churches comprised 26% of the American population, while another 18% belonged to mainline Protestant churches, and 7% belonged to historically black churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but you don't get to decide who's Protestant and who's Catholic. I stated that Gumbleton's approach is consistent with mainstream Catholic Scripture scholarship, and it most certainly is.\n\nDo a little independent research and you'll see that I'm correct. Or continue to take a backwards fundamentalist view if you prefer. I really don't care.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's an extremist political religious organization that doesn't follow many commands of the bible. I couldn't say if it was Christian or not. Seeing as how there is no historical evidence of Christ, I don't see the benefit of debating semantics of mythology. Pushing your mythology on others is ethically wrong, and there is a plethora of historical evidence to back that statement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cMontrealers, more than anyone, know that our diversity is our strength and this mass is a testament to that,\u201d Trudeau told the gathering inside the historic church.\n\n------\n\nA devout Catholic leading Canada?\n\nI'm sure our brave secular progressive liberals are busy commenting on Trumps tweet about his breakfast. \n\nBashing western religion is so much more fun when it's a conservative PM. Not so much when it's a liberal PM. Then we don't comment on religion unless it's a conservative and/ or we're supporting radical Islam with M-103.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is sad when a protest vote against the government asking about Religion gets morphed by bureaucrats into a serious Religious category. Obviously they didn't get the message.\n\nThe Stats Canada numbers are a waste of time any way. People lie and give Socially Conventional answers. That is, answering as they were indoctrinated to respond as children. Bibbiy (U Lethbridge) noted back in 1986 that for most Canadians being Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, ... has no significance beyond whether a particular ritual is performed when they are born, married, and buried. It is like saying they are English, French, Irish, ... A statement about their ancestors that has no relevance to their daily lives.\n\nCensus data is published, after a delay, but with the full details including Religion, Address, name, birth date, and other personally identifying information. The pressure to give a socially conventional response goes up when the government asks and plans to tell everybody in the future.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gail - let's fact check your inaccurate opinions:\na) you say: \"baby parts supplier in the country, namely Planned Parenthood.\" It is documented that your statement is completely false - still watching the Drudge Report\n\nFact Checker - http://www.politifact.com/virginia/statements/2016/feb/08/john-obannon/del-john-obannon-says-planned-parenthood-sold-feta/\n\nFact Checker - http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2015/oct/22/dan-patrick/dan-patrick-says-planned-parenthood-does-nothing-p/\n\nFact Checker - http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/oct/01/jason-chaffetz/chart-shown-planned-parenthood-hearing-misleading-/\n\nb) \".....commentators here are truly NOT Catholic\" Sad, back to the old meme that only Gail knows what a *true catholic is* - geez, bet not even Pope Francis is a true catholic in your book.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "501(c)(3)'s cover a wide range of non profits, but as they relate to church, it is easy to see that the prohibition on candidate issues are part of the same cloth as our tax exemptions. Remove one and you open the door to the other. It has been 65 years since California dealt with anti-Catholic challenges to our tax exemptions, it is not a history to be relived. Remember, the devotees of Christocracy see us as the other team, be cautious what you wish for...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The far left is allowed to have an opinion.\n\nBut not conservative Christians. Their opinions are \"hate\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a coincidence, so were Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. Sorry, sisters. There is nothing in the Catholic faith against the building of national infrastructure or the transport of natural gas, no matter how much you disagree with it. It's not a religious freedom issue. You'd probably have been better served by taking a different legal tack.\n2. Painting the blocking of travel from certain Muslim-majority nations and others that are Catholic or atheist majority is not a Muslim ban... it is a travel ban. As a consultant I see any number of Muslims from various countries (Pakistan, UK, Saudi, UAE, Indonesia) at meetings on a regular basis in the US. These have no trouble entering the country multiple times.\n3. I do hope that Mr. Perez and others are able to find a way to remain in the country. While I'm against citizenship if your first act is to break the law, I am for finding a way to allow those who have otherwise been model residents a means of remaining.\n4. Why is the Occupy movement against science? Do they reject AGW as well?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I sometimes wonder if MSW reads the publication he writes for. Everyone raise your hand if you have seen umpteen dozens of articles in NCR about dioceses, parishes, universities, regional groups, individual-Catholic groups, religious orders and conferences, plus scads of lay individuals, who have made and promoted significant and often costly change favorable to environmental causes. Yet, according to MSW's opinion, there was no \"wave of Catholic activism\" in 2016. \n\nMaybe NCR just isn't intellectual enough to grab his attention (or perhaps it's just not quoted enough by his contemporary literary idols).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I have that right, why was this comment censored on another thread? I asked, if forced to choose between Catholicism or Islam, which one a woman would choose, and then:\n\n\"As a woman, it would make a big difference to me. It's clear which is better for women.\n\nCatholic women have always acted as full members of western society. They even founded religious orders of their own. They went out freely in public, whether they were peasants or aristocrats. They were never told they should not socialise with unrelated men, and so had important roles in social life, from village life to court.\nIt is because they were already active in social life that western women were able to push for full equality in other spheres.\"\n\nAnd this was judged \"uncivil\"? Why?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I still don't understand why this went all the way to SCOTUS, but I guess some Christians still feel that they should be entitled to special rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Believe as you wish. Everyone will one day will stand before God in judgement. Abortion is a grave mortal sin. The Catholic Church teaches this important fact. A well formed conscience also knows this fact. You have stated nothing that refutes the fact that Trump won by the Christian vote. The liberal Democrats have abandoned any religious faith and finally they incurred it's consequences.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Monica,\nI agree. I think it important to understand that our sense of God has ALWAYS been informed by the collective sum of the then-current knowledge across human history. Joseph Campbell wrote well on the role of myth in human history. Myth not only has evolved with humankind, but has changed in nature to reflect \"where we are\" (if you will). So, for example, so much of what we hear from and about Jesus takes on a different nuance if one understands that in the world of his era, we were moving away from the greco-roman multi/poly theism, to the monotheism held by the Jewish faith. \n\nIn today's world of the internet et al., myth means something very different. Just as cosmologists and theoretical physicists attempt to expand what we know, and tie it all together, theologians need to work in much the same role. Alas, there seems little \"room\" for that in the church today. Benedict did the church no favors by putting boxes around theologians. And the church is paying as a result.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish I could vote up on that 100 times. \n\nI lean left and while I'm not a veteran, I do come from a military family and I'm christian, heterosexual, male, AND over 50.\n\nMy dad WAS a vet, right leaning, pro-choice, and not a supporter of the christian right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only quibble here -- the Catholic Church, not the Roman Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The mainline Protestants ARE VALIDLY BAPTIZED!!!!! And they are recognized by the Catholic Church as Christians. Furthermore, the Catholic Church, at Vatican II recognized that Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox comprise the Church, not just Catholics only.\n\nLumen Gentium, 14.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Millions of Lebanese did not go to Brazil. At best 500,000 people from Lebanon and Syria migrated to Brazil and they were overwhelmingly Christian. Michel Temer, current President of Brazil is of Christian Lebanese origin.\n\nBrazil declared war on Japan in August 1942 and participated from Sept 1944 to May 1945, last 9 months in the war. Its forces fought in Italy. By Sept 1944 Japan was largely defeated and there was no pressing need to place Japanese Brazilians in concentration camps like the USA and Canada. Brazil did not suffer the terrible and unprovoked surprise attack on Hawaii which traumatized Americans.\n\nJapanese Brazilians were subjected to a series of restrictive measures, requirement of safe conduct to travel the country, closure of 200 Japanese schools, thousands of Japanese immigrants arrested or expelled from Brazil on suspicion of espionage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Brazilians#Prejudice_and_forced_assimilation\n\nTry posting less hyperbole and more facts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is the Organization of the Islamic Conference doing?\n\n57 Muslim countries\n\n-\n\nmust Christian west now fight Buddhist Burma to protect Muslims?\n\n-\n\nChristians (NATO) already fought Christians (Serbians) to protect Muslims in Bosnia and Kosova\n\nwhat thanks?\n\n-\n\nnow let Muslims fight to protect Muslims", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "JJ: Maybe you should Google his BIO? Might change your outlook, (I do not care whether it does or not). Here is one of MANY writings by Ken, aka Acid Head Kesey: I was raised a Christian and was a stone-faced acid head. Another, It's time to move on to the next step in the psychedelic revolution. We've reached a certain point, but we're not moving any more. Another, I've been to too many Dead concerts. There've been smokin' holes where my memory used to be.\n\nEvery time I see the Kesey statue, I get sick to my stomach. It shows him reading to children. I would not allow my children to be read to by an ACID HEAD DRUGGIE.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no conflict at all, of course there is separation between the office and the individual, the morality of the individual plays no part in the Sacraments he confers.\nHow can ordaining women be a proof of validity? (I have looked in vain for a meaning of 'down-check' and haven't been able to find one in even in the Urban Dictionary. Please, try and use terminology which English speakers worldwide understand).\nThe Catholic Church has declared that it has no authority from Christ to ordain women. Are you expecting Him to come down from heaven and grant them this authority?\nIf these non-Catholic ecclesial communities have no valid male priesthood, how can they possibly be taken seriously when they 'ordain' women.\nYou have hit a brick wall here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everyone knows what the book of revelation says. But the majority of the earth's population doesn't believe it. However, those who do are certainly within their rights to do so. Personally, I prefer Nostradamus. But if this guy is really a numerologist, he cannot be a true Christian. Jesus warned his followers about such people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The idea of a universal court is terrifying. The idea that everyone else should be coerced into being like us is fundamentally self-grandiose and arrogant and is just the latest Western attempt to dominate every corner of the globe.\n\nWe have no problem embracing the importance of diversity when it comes to race and sex, but apparently ideological diversity with regard to what it means to be human is something to be eradicated. We now look back at hundreds of years of Western imperialism with disdain, but today we send 'human rights NGOs' to 'developing countries' instead of 'Christian missionaries' to 'pagans' -- nothing has changed; we still think we know best and we still demand submission to our vision.\n\nI am glad to live in a Western society, but there are billions who are glad they do not live in a Western society. It is time that we stop trying to bully them into submitting to our 'leadership', and shaming those societies for opting out of the ICC is completely unacceptable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are wrong. Which \"spirit\" are you speaking of...? It must be an evil spirit. Abortion is ALWAYS INTRINSICALLY EVIL! You may call it growing and developing, as you try to change truth, but you cannot change the truth. God is NOT mocked!\nMaybe at America's next big celebration of our Independence from England, the Queen of England with join in the 4th of July celebrations! That would be even less ridiculous than the Pope of the Catholic Church joining in the Lutherans' 500 year celebration of their break from the One. True, Holy Catholic Church. It's EVIL, not Ecumenical. Then, there's the P.R. garbage and the constant barrage of name-calling to try keep the solid Catholics too afraid to comment and call out this wrong doing. Have you ever heard of the story, \"The Emperor's New Clothes\"? People were so afraid to stand up to the emperor to tell him the truth, except for the honest child. Well, it is time to expose the truth and say that this joining in with the Lutherans is WRONG!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can anyone criticize the president-elect before he is sworn in? I think we must recognize there there are those who fail to submit to the leadership of the Church, and our leadership in the USA wanted us to vote Trump. Why doesn't MSW write an article praising our Courageous Bishops and the Catholics that obeyed them by electing this True Christian Leader?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If more people were seeing this. Unbelievable how liberal politicians backed by corrupted liberal media managed to brainwash such big segment of the population. Lebanon used to be a Christian country a few decades ago. This liberal experiment will not end up well for our children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So strange to have one\u2019s Catholic faith contingent upon who sits in Peter\u2019s Chair.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ambiguity, choice, options, conscience. The world needs more discernment not rote dogmatic rigorism. But...you can be what you choose, just don't impose a tyrranical mindset on others- even other Catholic adherents. \nIf I were closer to my old Thomist volumes, I would find that Thomas of A never denied I Cor. 13.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Totally in agreement with, Dawn, but would expand the premise of gun control to Americans selling weapons to other countries that are used against humans. Also, The Church, as my catholic Uncle Tom, referenced should speak against America's alliances with ISRAEL, Saudi Arabia, England, Egypt any country that causes harm to children, humans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is so. However, there's a strong scholarly consensus for an historical Jesus. Some of the most prominent defenders of HJ are atheists, agnostics, Jews and Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\n\nAnd you call yourself a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you had doomed all protestants and dissenting Catholics to sink with the \"vessel of all truth\", rather than (metaphorically inconsistent) \"sicken and die\" I might have given you a \"smiley\" for trying. Your lack of Christian charity dooms you to the continue to wallow in the depths of the virulent bilge that keeps sucking the church to the bottom.\nOtherwise, blessings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More of the same - knee jerks to one or two scripture quotes taken out of context and now used to justify your position about divorce. Your interpretation of those scripture passages to justify your issue have been repeatedly rejected by scriptural experts. But, trolls persist.\nhttps://www.ncronline.org/blogs/faith-and-justice/what-god-has-joined-together\nFirst, taken out of context (and Mark does not agree with Matthew)\nSecond, reading one remembered statement literally\n\nJesus does not list any punishment for divorce and remarriage. He does not say such persons will be consigned to hellfire. He does not say they should be excluded from the Christian community. He does not even say they cannot go to Communion. He does not say they cannot be forgiven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The R (Republican) Catholic Church hierarchy", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mighty \"Christian\" of you Sylvia assuming I have never studied the Bible. I have an uncle who is a Sacerdote, and have spend consider time at a Benedictine Monastery in NM.\n\nHard for the GOP to carp on \"coddling law breakers\" when a convicted criminal like Arpacio pays no price for his crimes, right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"nom de plume\" is so I can be free to post my ideas with reduced fear of reprisals. To answer your question, I put a \"War Is Not The Answer\" button (FCNL/Quaker) on my backpack strap. That's when the harassment began, culminating with the vandalism of my car and my termination shortly thereafter. When I complained to management, I was told, and I quote: \"Yeah well I saw those stickers on your car, you deserve what you got.\" I've never worn anything, nor put anything on my car, to indicate my Christian values ever again. So much for Freedom Of Speech, and Freedom of Worship.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I want religion to be important in our society, just not any one religion. Given the huge divide that exists in fundamentalists (Protestant or Catholic) and those who are more tolerant - I don't even want to live in a nation in which the Christian faith has power. Influence, yes. But not power. \n\nBut maybe religious tolerance is a dream that can't be realized - the American dream of tolerance seemed to work when Christians were the majority and when Christian culture was everywhere - ten commandments in government buildings, every city had Christmas lights and manger scenes in city parks. The few people of other faiths were easy to \"tolerate\" because they had to fit into the established Christian ethos. Shoot, Protestants even came to be tolerant of Catholics so much so that the intolerance has almost disappeared - I have been called a \"Papist\" in years.\n\nBut look around the world. Religious intolerance has gotten worse. Is \"religious freedom\" really possible? Even here?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wasn't asleep. It was Obama who threw Hosni Mubarak under the bus by supporting the Muslim Brotherhood who then went after Christians and other minorities. It was Hillary that orchestrated the removal of Qaddafi at Obama's direction which turned Libya into a terrorist haven and got Chris Stevens killed. Hillary supported giving Iran billions of dollars who has now used that money to further the cause of terrorism. If you think that Hillary can't affect your gun rights, then perhaps it is you who is asleep? I'm not nuts about Trump either but I think that he'll screw up the country a lot slower than Hillary will.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you've been retired for more than three years, you already got back whatever you paid in. The contributions you made over your working years don't come anywhere near paying for the benefits your will receive. Every year the Muni has to kick in a big chunk of money to keep the system solvent, and that money comes from Anchorage taxpayers.\n\nThere are lots of people who worked a lot harder than you, for a lot less, and yet you denigrate them as lazy moochers. You should be thanking them, for paying for your nice retirement, you should also try a little humility and Christian charity, for a change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Crossan is a rationalist historian of first-century Christianity and I am sure he does not care if someone calls him a heretic, He is in the tradition of Harnack and had a keen eye for historical plausibility. Where he fails, I think, is in his descriptions of the resurrection/appearances as hallucinations. Since resurrection is present beyond the boundaries of reason, he is unable to do otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It will be to the lasting shame of the church in the United States that many Catholic clergy provided 'aid and comfort' to Trump voters by either directly or indirectly supporting him, even from their pulpits.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "His statements show he is a Christian in name only. He has no ethical standards or beliefs beyond being the strongest, and leading the strongest country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I absolutely hate the idea of anyone wearing face coverings in Canada during court proceedings, voting or for any other purpose. Look to France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and other places around the globe where one small step allowing headcoverings has led to further demands and now rioting and killing. We must stop this craziness. When in Canada, assimilate to Canadian ways on the streets, in the courts and in the churches and schools.. I do not want to see prayer mats for Muslims in schools where Christians are not allowed to pray. Our leader needs to look after Canadians or our blood will be on his hands.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that rather than bash the Pope for one small section of amoris laetitia, Catholics concerned with the sanctity of marriage should be more worked up about the annulments given to couples who, to put it nicely, have very colorful sexual and marriage histories. As in any kind of legal proceeding, of which the marriage tribunal is one, money and social standing seem to have a great deal of weight. In this case, former speaker of the house etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where was Justin's special envoy when You Know Who perpetrated crimes against humanity against the Yazidis in Iraq and genocide against Christians in Iraq, Syria and Libya? You just know that in this case the groundwork is being laid for the justification to take in thousands more people whose religious and political leaders and laws will not allow them to integrate and respect our Judeo Christian culture, values and democratic laws.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since when does Catholic Answers have infallible teaching authority? They have no more authority than does Pat Robertson and are almost as shrill at times.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not the only one making 'public accusations'. And it is not only MY vision for the Church. There are millions all around the world who are 'sick' of the totalitarian concept of church that was foisted on the People of God by JP II [sainted or not] and Benedict XV. And who are disgusted with these hierarchs who live' tax-free in villas that are available below market rents.'\n------\nF. Di Giacomo, \"Il Venerdi di Repubblica\", 10 January 2014.\n\n\nThere is nothing that I've stated that is 'foreign to the Gospel or to Christian mindset'. Where did Jesus ever state that his followers were to live like princes, dress like princes, and to rule like kings over others? \n\nAnd if you want to go back in history----go back to the actual Gospels----not to the \"dubia' of gentrified nobility who are not only 'ladder-climbing hierarchy' but a group of backward looking 'wheeler-dealers'---who would stop at next to nothing to feather their own nests at the expense of ordinary Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Where is the Catholic church?\"\n\nFor some young women, it's where Ms. Mertens is. Hearing your religion teacher decry sexism, utter the words \"rape culture,\" and put Donald Trump in context will have an impact on many of these students.\n\nBut for others, the Catholic Church will be in another place altogether, blaming the Pill and the sexual revolution when the truth is far more complex. Men's treatment of women has always had the potential to be violent and has, in many situations, *been* violent. Women's dependency covered this up to a large degree, placing males in positions of power and authority. For many men, this was sufficient to curtail their aggressive impulses, especially if it was the only way they could get sex. \n\nUndo dependency, and problems are bound to follow. It must be remembered how unprecedented this social innovation was. As men and women, we haven't worked it out yet. Unfortunately, the Church's pronouncements on the subject have been singularly unhelpful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I completely agree. Just understand that Christians have slaughtered millions in the name of Jesus, including 'bad' Christians. We have little room to lecture Muslims.\n\nThe Muslim church have thousands of churches with different ideologies, We should nurture those who seek peace, and there are millions.\n\nDon't get caught in a stereotype based on sensational media.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's turn those mock airport terminals and fan-shaped amphitheaters into something reflecting authentic Catholic theology. Add a dose of Ratzinger to buildings influenced by the worst ideas of Rahner. (Ideas which in the true \"spirit of Vatican II\" \"we no longer believe\"!)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rome hated Jesus AND His followers. They crucified Him and persecuted Christians for hundreds of years thereafter. Rome is now ancient history, but the words of Jesus live on. \"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away\" Mathew 24:35 For 2000+ years that has proved to be true. It will continue to be true for 2000 more and beyond....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, I said what the Church the mayor thinks he belongs to *teaches*. And has taught for 2000 years. I certainly didn't invent it. It is *not* as a matter of historic fact a \"personal\" action \"between the communicant and God\". It is a very public act within the Church and it is the Church that is the minister and guardian of the sacraments. People who don't believe that are under no obligation whatever to stay in it, but are bound by simple honesty to follow the same practice as everybody else in that Church. The mayor excommunicated *himself* by contracting something he calls marriage and the Church does not. Why would he want to be so dishonest as to seek communion in a place whose teaching he so obviously rejects? If as you say, the action is not of the Church and the mayor thinks that as well, he is what is called a \"Protestant\". They've been around for several years now and some of them believe as you do. Catholics, and incidentally Orthodox Christians do not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You, and no one else, condemned a man to hell because he did something YOU consider immoral -- an actual Christian would deem it not only moral, but laudable. I was simply stating the facts. That you don't like these facts is simply too bad. You should reconsider the attitude that you showed in the posts where you damned that man for doing what is right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding voting for Catholic principles, the Official 2016 DEMOCRATIC Party Platform specifically supports abortion, supports funding of abortions, and it supports the United Nations (which openly attacks church teaching, and which spreads abortion throughout the world through funding). \nThe Official 2016 REPUBLICAN Party Platform, on the other hand, specifically supports the life of the unborn child, opposes funding for abortion, will strike down any edicts to the states regarding the new bathroom issues, will fight for school choice, believes that the Bill of Rights protects the people's rights to PRACTICE THEIR FAITH, supports the right of business owners to conduct business according to their religious beliefs, and opposes the adoption of treaties that would weaken American sovereignty.\nAccording to Pope John Paul II's Evangelium Vitae, abortion is an intrinsic evil and must never be promoted by the law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you want to live in a country where the church dictates policy to a secular population, I suggest you move to Saudi Arabia. Or Vatican City.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, there is this annoying little thing called the Constitution. The courts have been pretty consistent - if you're going to allow any expression of religion in a government meeting you have to allow all religions. Not just yours.\n\nWe've seen that with holiday displays (if you want to set up a Nativity scene on gov't property you have to allow displays reflecting other religions), the distribution of bibles and other \"Christian\" literature in schools (in Florida one group sued to be allowed to distribute Bibles in local high schools - they won but the court also ruled that if that was the case the Satanic Temple could distribute their material - funny but two days after the court issued that second ruling the school board announced that no-one could distribute stuff on school property). And we've seen it with after school clubs - if Christian groups can run them then others have to be allowed the same privilege.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is not a racist and your accusation is simply slanderous. If true slander is a sin and must be confessed. \n\nIf you were the type of person that went on and on about how people in the past did this and that to you, you would be the most boring person in the world. This would preclude you from having friends. This is because people know that obsessively dwelling on the past is a real turn-off. This is because it does no good, is a waste of time and we should all get over past sins and move into a positive and bright future. This is what Christ teaches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "See, I remember things a bit differently. I remember much rumbling and many who were \"older Catholics\" in the 60's who did not adapt so well. I also remember a good number of people who were not so much \"older\" who resented the way that the changes were implemented. Many of these who were RCs showed up in Ukrainian Catholic parishes, where Liturgy was celebrated in Church Slavonic and then in Ukrainian, both languages that they could not understand. Those whom I met personally told me that this was a big reason that they came -- worshiping in everyday language was just not sufficiently reverent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "History doesn't seem to be your forte. The beginning of the Crusades is usually dated to 1096 when a Crusade was preached by Pope Urban after the Byzantine Emperor asked for help after the Muslim Turks invaded the Byzantine Empire and defeated the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 in eastern Armenia and proceeded to conquer Christian Anatolia. Muslim invasions of the Christian Middle East (and also the Zoroastrian Middle East) began in 634, proceeded to Christian Tunisia by the 660s, Christian Spain in 711, southern France in 721, and was stopped by Charles Martel in the middle of France at Tours in 732. On your reading of history, Charles Martel must have mistakenly attacked some Muslim tourists in Tours.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So how do you explain the sermon on the mount and the feeding of the five thousand? How do you explain that so many people had gathered to hear Jesus that he had to get into a boat to speak to them?\n\nYou just make sh1t up and pass it off as some mythical Church teaching, then blame Vatican II for everything.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John Paul was factually and rationally in error on all of his points, as detailed:\n\nCatholic Church: Problems with Her Newest Death Penalty Position: The Catechism & Section 2267\nhttp://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2015/03/catechism-death-penalty-problems.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is really what I have a problem with...\n\nYou've forgotten the purpose of your religion. I'm not a Christian because I hate God or don't believe in God. I'm not a Christian because Christianity has been hijacked by people who think they know everything. Which is the antithesis to faith. \n\nWhen The Bible was written people didn't know what we know now. In fact, devout people have died simply for speculating that the stars might be other suns. People who were right, but had the nerve to question what the Church \"knew\" was right. \n\nYou don't disagree that the stars are other suns. You agree that we have overwhelming evidence that they are. But to ancient people these things were intimate mysteries. The wonder of the heavens was above you (and still is). Faith was very much about your relationship with the unknown. \"God\" was a placeholder for the unknown. There is something bigger than us, and it wants us to do right to ourselves and to each other. That is what faith is about. (cont.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"However, will receiving $286,000 from the diocese somehow make all of this go away? Will it make all your suffering vanish, all the damage heal? Will a big check suddenly make you whole again?\nAnd what of the other innocents who will suffer as a result of these payments? Schools that will not be able to offer scholarships to promising children of modest or low incomes; soup kitchens and nursing homes that will face cuts in diocesan grants; young men struggling to pay more tuition in seminaries; parishes with cuts in diocesan funds or increased assessments from the diocese...and on, and on. What of them?\n[...] It seems to me that offering counseling and medical treatment and other services are appropriate, big checks are less so.\"\n\nThe more the Church pays in compensations the faster the cover ups will disappear because Bishops, Cardinals, and the Vatican will be forced to do the only right and moral action: call the police instead of applying Church Law to clergy pedophilia cases.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problems with religious sects running the government results in the Taliban. That's why we have separation of church and state that right wing extremist Christian groups are trying to overturn. Some folks just have to legislate their religious beliefs on others and with trump we are coming closer to losing our religious freedoms.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've read the Bible several times, cover to cover. All of it. Even the obscure prophets in the second half of the Old Testament. I was thoroughly indoctrinated into Christianity - by parents, school, church and state. \n\nI found the answers in the Bible unsatisfactory. In fact, reading the Bible is an excellent way to become an atheist. God condones some truly vile stuff in there, like slavery, rape, and killing children for mocking a pious fellow's baldness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is fascinating this sentence was buried, down deep in the eleventh paragraph, mentioning a religion by name:\n\n\"Chechen strongman Kadyrov has brought a measure of peace, employing draconian means that include promoting fundamentalist Muslim values.\"\n\nI have a suspicion that, if the events had involved a Christian conservative group in America, the religion would have been named a lot earlier than the eleventh paragraph.\n\nIndeed, in this paper, \"Christian\" made it in paragraph three of \"Dr. Tiller's killing was no surprise\", about abortion clinic violence.\n\nSimilarly, \"Lutheran\" made paragraph three in \"Why, in the name of God?\", also about abortion clinic violence.\n\nAnd \"Bible\" made paragraph seven of \"How a fugitive turned into a folk hero in Appalachia\", also about abortion clinic violence.\n\nAnd Hindu, Buddhist and Christian terrorists were named first, before Muslim ones, in \"Dealing death in God's name\".\n\nThat placement - coincidence, or politically correct planning?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you make a great point. Why would someone point out the rather blatant lies of a cardinal, except through hate? As a true catholic, I know that Cardinals are a higher form of life, hardly to be compared to mere laity. They were chosen by the Holy Spirit after all, not some political move by a mere mortal attempting to secure his power in a human institution. No! When a cardinal speaks, he speaks the Truth, and we should accept that, regardless of facts and history and reality to the contrary. Our reality should be what the cardinals say it is. To insist otherwise must be mere hate of the church. What seminary are you attending?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one OWNS Christianity. I am curious about where you got your historical facts. You are probably correct about the forming of a denomination, except for the part about putting together a bunch of Scriptures. This would make a fascinating discussion on another forum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued,\nHowever, you do not realize that indeed you became a 'better person', whether CI (Catholic Institution) was corrupt with hindsight or not. \n \n\".. if those at the top don't share that desire for that great yes, then why do this at all?\"\nNo, I myself can't do with 'those at the top', however, I can't stop my spiritual journey to God, my true self, regardless of how sick 'those at the top' are!\n \nIn fact, I was falling apart, last three years, I could not sleep at night in tears thinking about those suffering sex abused children and their families. I thought that we are for sure living 'h@ll' on earth. \nJust a while ago I realized that I have met so many 'better' Catholics on this NCR posting sights that indeed Lord was with me all along!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, Francisco. John Hobson's example is right on target. \n\nWe aren't erasing history. What we need to do is be sure what we consider historical is properly understood, in all its complexity. Why are we surprised that what we once glorified is now seen as awful? We don't throw Christians to the lions any more, do we? Understanding increases and changes over time. \n\nI don't think you can make one rule about changing names of cities or roads, or whether or not a statue in a public place is appropriate. A lot of the \"if\" will be in the story of why the one \"honored\" is now considered dishonorable, and how bad the story is. It will also be in changes in the power structures of societies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Laity meaning the people in the pews or laity meaning \"professional Catholic\" parish staff and paid busybodies. If it's the latter, forget it!\n\nThey're not all bad, but the stories of a Director of Religious Education choosing inadequate materials that don't teach the faith when the laity want their children to learn solid Catholicism, or a music director who refuses to do what the Church is explicitly asking for fear of complaints from a few baby boomers, or elderly parish paid-help conspiring against young or young-at-heart priests who preach challenging sermons and re-Catholicise Sunday Mass are all too common.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does Christianity scare you? \nBooga Booga", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rebecca Davis,\n\nI wonder whether you have ever encountered the only, living, true God YHWH Elohim? I doubt it! \n\nOf course if you are the SAME kind of \"Christian\" as you seem to think Jacob Zuma is, \"a self-professed devout Christian who spearheaded the 'moral regeneration movement' over a decade ago\", well then you are NOT a Christian, and of course I doubt that you are. Until you have met the living, true God you will NEVER understand the need that this beloved country is in and the TRUE moral regeneration that is desperately needed in all the echelons of government and of society.\n\nThe fact is that this beloved country of ours is marching inexorably to certain disaster, politically, economically, ethically, morally and in just about every sphere of life and the ONLY person that can turn this around is the Lord Jesus Christ and this beloved country falling to its knees in repentance and turning to the living, one true God YHWH Elohim. 85% of South Africans claim to be Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If reports are to believed, the French forces the Canucks are deploying to 'assist' have been a fighting a tribal/religious war between Catholic and Islamic militias in the C.A.R and in Mali. Or, according to the UN, they've been acting like sex tourists with females of either side. It's our NATO duty. \n\nThese parts of the Sahel, formerly part of the French Empire have been well-poked over the decades since independence by frequent French military deployments to 'defend' them from aggressive neighbors, to stifle 'uppitiness' getting in the way of business or to change unwanted regimes. The recent episodes seem to be taking on the 'failure to win' dimensions of the kind of Quagmire that wasted so much in Afghanistan.\n\nBy the away Canada's new 'focus' for foreign aid is, where, somewhere in Africa? We did so very well spending billions in Afghanistan - sad that here, too, all we have to do, first, is create an environment of security for the do-gooders. That's why the bang-bang.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is stories like this that give me hope for humanity. Sometimes it seems as though we live in a \"dog-eat-dog\" environment with everyone looking out for him or her self. But that is the surface of things. Underneath this layer of crud lies the unity we all feel with one another and indeed the whole world. For me, as a Christian, I call it the image of God in us. Fundamentally, we know we are connected and that we need to look out for one another, and whenever a crisis hits we get to see this on display. Our challenge is to make it a way of life even when the crisis has passed. It is possible. We each must do our part.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm convinced that too many people, especially who comment here, are weighed down with anger, hurt, or have other axes to grind against the Catholic Church. The result is a loss of objectivity and balance.\n\nWhat does this report tell us:\n\n- Lots of allegations from the past, including fairly far back (1940s), were brought foward -- mostly by lawyers, in the wake of a law inviting new submissions. Common sense tells you to be leery of these.\n\n- The number of new accusations is very small: 25. Of these, almost half are \"unsubstantiated.\" Two have been substantiated, the rest are still being looked into. All these were reported to civil authorities.\n\n- An interesting detail if you read further on page 19: much of what the report lumps together as \"child sexual abuse\" turns out, upon closer examination, to be \"more of a boundary issue and not sexual abuse.\" \n\nOnly for someone truly embittered is this a bad report.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well I do not know for sure their motivations. They might be different from one to another. But I noticed that the personal religion of many if not most Christians is not strictly related to the Bible, but rather to some community of faith. The present Christendom will stand as it is without Bible. If one day the Bible will completely disappear from the world, they will not notice, will not miss. Many are more interested in how much their religion is relevant to the more and more secular culture. If we are a small minority, this is no special problem. True believers in the history of salvation have been always a minority. But to be a minority is not by itself a mark of the truth. By the way, evolutionists are not \u201dso many\u201d in Adventism. They are a small minority. May God decrease every day their number.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Only non-Catholics 'ordain' women only non-Catholics regard contraception as ok.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This reflects some comments I heard from some young Polish Catholics: that they believe in the Catholic faith but not in the Catholic Church. That's very revealing coming from such a staunch Catholic country as Poland.\n\nIn para 3, Bishop Tobin states: \"For starters, a high number dropped out because they are unhappy with the church's teaching on sexuality \u2014 abortion, homosexuality and birth control.\" Note the order he put them in. I think the priorities for young people should be the reverse order. One of the major mistakes made by the Hierarchy and ultra-conservative Catholics is to assume that anyone who is pro birth control is also pro-abortion. It does not follow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Am I mistaken but are Fr Rohr and Greer Gordon taking part in this conference where prayer sessions are as follows:-\n\n\u23fa Dancing with the Spirit of Mother Earth; Roman Catholic Womenpriests\n\u23faThe Persistent Call for Justice: A Eucharistic Celebration; Ecumenical Catholic Communion\n\u23faPraying with Catholics in the Diaspora: Living Baptism; Owen Borda\n\u23faA Prayer for our Daughters, A Prayer for our Church; FutureChurch\n\u23faFollowing the Radical Message of Jesus: Celebrating Mass with Spiritus Christi\n\nAs far as I know aren't Roman Catholic Women Priests and Spiritus Christi proscribed organisations whose members have been excommunicated? I don't know who Greer Gordon is or is responsible to but Fr Rohr will have an immediate Franciscan superior so why is he not prohibited from having anything to do with this blatantly anti-Catholic organisation?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a good reason for the USA....\nA. to amend gun laws\nB. to admit the biggest threat to Americans is Americans\nC. to come to grips with the fact that colour and ethnicity have nothing to do with extremists killing in order to get their way.\nD. to see there are terrorists right in your backyard posing as white middle classed christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cEurope\u2019s political climate is more hostile to Jews now than at any time since the second intifada,\u201d he wrote. But he concluded that it wasn\u2019t Muslim anti-Semitism leading the trend; rather, it was the far larger populations of Christians. \n-----------\n\nhey Doug Saunders\n\nNot convincing at all\nWe see through your agenda\nWe hear your dog whistle", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I bet their Catholic family members want Church weddings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where you make the mistake is that God took human form in the Person of Jesus Christ His son not to 'confirm' but to 'restore' the righteousness of mankind which had been lost at the Fall. Faith and reason tell us that this is the only purpose He could possibly have had.\nWhere you learned the Catholic Faith is an absolute mystery to me as the doctrine of \"original sin\" is an article of Faith yet you deny it. Our greatest joy at Christmas is that God became incarnate in order to redeem mankind from all his iniquities yet you regard this as a \"sad state\". What woefully strange take upon Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Am I still a Catholic?\"\n\nI hate getting into these kinds of things. The easy answer is -- Yes, you are still a Catholic until you formally join some other church. One could also say that the \"reward\" of a good Catholic Christian is not to be closer to the pope, but sanctity, to be closer to Christ. (One can be both, too. They are not mutually exclusive.) However, for a cradle Catholic (like me) in communion with the pope, as it were, the Petrine Office is far more favorable to the unity of the internal and spiritual resources of the 24 different Catholic Churches (Eastern and Western) than no office at all, no convergence, no focal point of unity. If one prays as I do that \"all may be one,\" a believer would want this -- 24 Catholic different Catholic Churches attempting to live as one in Christ, sacramentally and organically. With that said, I do think you are still a Catholic, following your conscience, more to be understood and appreciated than to be followed by someone like me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "youtube can teach me most of what i want to learn. teachers trying to teach teens things they have no interest in is futile. education is the largest single business on earth and until parents dig around on youtube to see just how they were indoctrinated, and how their kids are being indoctrinated, education will remain the exclusive realm of the rich. depending on your socio-economic status your kid is being groomed to be a prince harry, a kushner, a day laborer, a soldier or a homeless person. the internet can have a levelling effect if our education, if administrators incorporate it 100% into the curriculum. it could work since the rich have separated themselves from humanity by money and christians by home schooling. that just leaves the poor and marginalized, who just happen to be the majority of us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He supported Rabbi Shemmai and decreed that the family of origin should not break up a marriage (\"When a man marries, he leaves his parents and clings to his wife, indicating some kind of family interference was happening in his day as it happens in ours with gay couples - or rather happened, since Catholic Health Association guidelines now prohibit families of origin from messing with the rights of gay marrieds, or even gay companions.).\n\nThe_priests_were_at_least_in_active_ministry._These_Cardinals_are_not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great article about a great man of God!\n\nPoor Cardinal Bernardin's legacy was forever tainted by a man who falsely accused him of sexual assault. Even though the man who accused Bernardin later confessed that he'd made up the whole thing, the stain of guilt stuck, human nature being what it is. It's a pity, because of all the men who have worn the red hat, Bernardin is easily one of my favorites: a man of gentleness and compassion, intellect and forgiveness. The manner in which he forgave his accuser is what will always stay with me. I don't think I'd have it in me to do what Cardinal Bernardin did for that man, but Bernardin's witness of true Christian love will always be an inspiration to me. I'd like to think that one day his unfairly sullied reputation will be revised in the court of public opinion. It's about time, and time does heal all wounds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "swimmer9 writes:\n\n\"Tsarnaev brothers, born in Chechnya, got their American citizenship after coming here as \"refugees\".\"\n\n--\n\nThat would make them Americans, as I said.\n\nWorst terrorist act in Canada?\n\nOh, that would be the Quebec Mosque massacre.\n\nThe accused in that is a born-in-Canada, white, Christian, right-winger.\n\nSo what do you propose that we do about these born-in-Canada, white, Christian, right-winger, terrorists among us?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You wrote:\n\n<>\n\nI see, we are in the realm of the post-fact. Yes, there actually is such a thing. It's called \"civil marriage.\" Its authority is U.S. law.\n\nYou wrote:\n\n<>\n\nThe United States doesn't view marriage as a religious absolute. Your argument boils down to a desire to impose the Catholic view of marriage on a pluralistic society. Now THAT would be unconstitutional.\n\nYet more evidence that the religious right is instinctually theocratic and autocratic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with Chaput that he is a backward-thinking Catholic. I disagree with him when he says his thoughts are based on the Scriptures. Chaput's campaign to get tax cuts for the wealthiest is in jeopardy and he is panicking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Studying the history of the Christian religion does not render someone a theologian, as your posts have demonstrated for years.\n\nMy statements about psychological and psychiatric evaluations of famous folks are fully supported by the ethical standards of both professions. If believe otherwise, show me to be in error.\n\nI see you worked in \u201cignorance\u201d but left out \u201cEichmann\u201d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the bishops wonder why people leave the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As absent as those reports are the stories of the actions of Radical Christian Activists ( just like any cause - activist and terrorist now seem interchangeable). In the US alone if we just set aside the 9/11 attacks ( due to far too many deep problems with the official story line) the number of deaths of US citizens in their Homeland ( US mainland + territories ) caused by those who invoke their christian religious teaching and offshoot ( activist ) precepts exceeds those without a doubt attributed to the Radical Islamic terrorist. Each of those deaths are against a target group that can defined based on race/creed/colour/ethnic origin, or sexual/gender identification. Trump surely will not be decrying the involvement ( lack of) by the mainstream media in these under-reported cases.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic bishops could have backed Father Liteky, and saved a lotta lives! But they were too busy getting chummy and then climbibg into bed with the GOP. And they STILL do not get it!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is satire, right? The word \"God\" was just recently included on our currency in the 50's to inspire nationalism against the Soviet Union. It had nothing to do with faith. Our first amendment protects all of the citizens of the U.S. from a state established religion, that's it and it certainly doesn't mention Christianity at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not surprise about the cover up by the Church hierarchy in France. Indeed, it will not be a surprise at all if all Catholic Churches in the world are found guilty on similar charges.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So our leaders again say we are ready to hear the youth tell us what they really care about? \n\nBut in reality they come up with a highly contrived survey, that asks no risky questions our leaders don't want to deal with and seems mainly concerned with did you leave because you are mad at Jesus or just have no faith in anything? (of course, could they be angry with the church never is really asked). It wants to hear why aren't you getting married sooner, or at all? Could it be that you are waiting because of a job to marry & have kids? is that really the best goal or do you think technology and online media have possibly just convinced you these things are more important? Have you considered being guided by religion?\n\nOur church leaders know from past surveys why our youth are gone:\n\nSexism-not ordaining women priests, bishops and cardinals.\nChild abuse by priests mishandled\nWe push conservative politics \nToo clerical - laity have no real voice\nWe condemn LBGT\nNo married priests", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right, David Lewis! That was a cheap shot by Jim Lieb\u2026to imply you might be Muslim-motivated. Mr. Lieb is just having an ongoing crisis of faith. Comes with the territory. These \u201cJesus actually existed\u201d letters to the editor can maybe\u2026barely\u2026give some indication that there actually existed some living person upon whom the biblical character of Jesus Christ was\u2026rather loosely\u2026based. From that premise on\u2026it\u2019s an empty sack because... \nThe problem for any and all deity-based, messiah-based, faith-based religions is that, while the desire for eternal life is understandable on a rather child-like level\u2026there is absolutely no logic or evidence in any of it. Quoting Isaac Asimov is just an attempt to make the illogical appear logical!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On balance the comments are not disparaging. There are even flattering ones, albeit backhanded praise. So our religion is \"systematic\" and that conservative politicians would rather convert to Catholicism rather than to Evangelicanism. They seem to be very familiar with Catholic social thought. Maybe they've read the Popes' social encyclicals. They may be fallen away Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I, personally, have no trouble imagining holy, wise, intelligent women coming to the aid of the Church as priests in these days of priesthood shortage. I do, however, submit to the Church's greater wisdom on this subject, especially when I see columns like this one, which talks about \"the official church's\" --- is there any other?? ---\"inability to move away from the traditional teaching on the distinctions between male and female that has formed Catholic theology over centuries.\" Formed not only Catholic theology but, until the sexual revolution, the morality of Western Civilization. Now, the writer implies, there are no such distinctions. For now, I can only smile in disbelief. Yes, this is how far we've come. There was no real difference between your mom and your dad. Still, there are those holy, wise, intelligent women.\n\ncont'd", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis could well do with looking at the greatest crisis that the modern the church is currently experiencing right in the eye of the storm .... ACCOUNTABILITY .... for the hierarchical management of the clerical & religious child abuse scandal, that has gone far too long. He needs to be able look the victims right in the eye and and dialogue with them to \"to show that the church cares\". Dialogue is a two sided coin and calls for understanding; openness and bravery. Very little of that has been evident. There IS great \"pastoral risk\" which to date has not been exemplified by his brother bishops; who choose instead to take refuge and hide behind a wall of lawyers. He should get Cardinal Parolin to arrange in-depth courses on how to \"dialogue\" and make it mandatory that all bishops from around the world attend. Pope Francis can now set the example by \"doing\" rather than \"saying\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now that \"there are activists, attorneys, survivors and other experts\" and, of course, the media spotlight in their corner, women can certainly achieve so much more than they once did. Woman's role in the world continues to evolve. Whether it evolves in a way that is complicit with Catholic/Christian values is entirely up to us women. Like the Francis prayer, \"Let it begin with me\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Papa Francesco is about as good a pope as we could ever hope for - certainly from this all-male feudal priesthood. At least we know that Papa Francesco has even read the Beatitudes and tried to shape his ministry with mercy and forgiveness.\n\nAfter all, Francesco was elected by most of the very same corrupt hierarchs who have betrayed their priesthood and high office - to say nothing of breaking faith with millions of Christians around the world. Francesco has very few degrees of political freedom in which to maneuver before he runs into one of the \"lepers\" that voted for him. Politicians of any ilk never cross their base voters. \n\nTo paraphrase former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld speaking of the occupation of Iraq that wasn't going so well: \n\n\"You reform the church with the hierarchy you have, not the hierarchy you wish you had.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Declaring war on other countries was simply not enough. He declared war on Republicans, an intifada on Christians, a jihad against natural marriage, to name but a few of his domestic attacks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While 88% of the French population is technically Catholic, only one in twenty regularly attend mass. Within that context, this article is much ado about nothing. Statistically speaking, the division of the Catholic vote in France is insignificant to the point of being practically meaningless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your glass isn't half empty, it's half full (of toxins).\n\n\nOr, as some Christians argue against what is really important about the First Amendment, you have freedom OF pollution, but not freedom FROM others' pollution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Saw a bit of Kerry's speech - vigorous and full of hard truths like noting Israel's current far right and religiously influenced government.\n\nNetanyahu's response however is in the realm of alternative reality right wingers are vigorously claiming for themselves. \n\nNo peace for the holy lands in the foreseeable future. Doesn't help that fundamentalists Jews, Christians and Muslims all hold apocalyptic views of how the world is going to be resolved and allow the right to rule in heaven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Deny the evidence all you like and remain a party of one.\n\nNo apology is due. The political operatives revealed in Wikileaks, most of whom are Catholic themselves, said nothing outside the common discourse among Catholics.\n\nTrump is losing big time, and you're grasping at straws.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Welcome to the Christian Taliban who will be even more fired up to create and lobby for more restrictive laws on our fellow citizens while they declare they are the ones being persecuted. Messing in politics, these church's need to pay taxes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I admit it is a difficult question and one's natural sympathy would have to be with the sex slave.\nIf the actual prohibition is based upon that all sexual intercourse should be open to procreation it is difficult to see how even a sex slave can justify the use of a condom.\nThe converse argument is that its use as a prophylactic in an act not consented to by the sex slave is not primarily intended as contraceptive. The suspicion is that it could be both of equal importance.\nDespite this, such is human nature that exceptions that are made for hard cases are quickly applied to 'soft cases'. Catechesis, the teaching of the Faith wherefrom most 'ordinary' Catholics learn their Faith and Morals nowadays comes via the secular media and alas, via headlines and soundbites, most Catholics do not read Catholic publications and the classroom and the pulpit have long since ceased to be where Catholics learn and study their Faith.\nI would leave this one to God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I read here in these posts is not only not Catholic, it isn't even Christian. The immorality condoned and promoted by HC's is never condoned nor excused in the Scriptures and to suggest otherwise is laughable. NOWHERE in Scripture is there justification for excusing sexual promiscuity or adultery. Nowhere. The Law and the Prophets condemned it and it is condemned throughout the New Testament. No idea what sect HC hails from, but based on her/his comments, it is patently obvious it is not Catholicism. The Catechisms and the Scriptures CONDEMN her/his positions here in detail as anyone who has read or knows even a minimal amount about the teachings of the Church already knows. Cheers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The ordained positions are not offered to women--hence continual stagnation for the all male clergy and decreasing number of laity going to churh services for more than 20 years!\nEqual Rites would be one more pastoral and practical example of \"smelling like the church\" in Catholic parishes and other Catholic services.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Administration rather than \"ben(ding) over backwards to accommodate religion\", wrote rules implement the ACA under Kathleen Sebelius and over the objections of a wide range of religious institutions, which redefined what constituted a religious belief in violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). \n\nThe Supreme Court in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby struck down a portion of the rules.\n\nThen, in the case of Zubik v. Burwell involving similar issues, which consolidated six pending suits by Protestant and Catholic organizations, the Court sent the Government packing when it revealed that it had been able all along, and knew all along, in supplemental briefs ordered by the Court that its main assertion in the case was a fabrication.\n\nThis makes the assertions the \"real agenda of the bishops was their desire that no one should have contraceptives\" and that they want to \"dictate according to our views,no matter if you share them or not\" appear absurd, which of course they are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I don't know enough to comment on what you suggest is an \"English\" fixation -- i.e., the way they do things in England? But I think your first instinct is likely to be correct. Or more exactly, it's an example of creeping evangelicalism, seeing how conservative Catholics and evangelicals have been political allies much of the time for a few decades now, and how young Catholics without much discretion avail themselves of the very numerous online \"resources\" offered by evangelicals. Another sign of this is the not uncommon belief among young Catholics that the theory of evolution is counter to the doctrine of the Catholic church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We can love people without embracing their sin. No person, made in the image of God, is defined by their sin. To \"despise\" as person requires hate in one's heart - the very antithesis of Christian love. \n\nNow, of course, we must avoid judging the hearts of others and condemning them. However, we should encourage those who are living objectively sinful lives to repentance, as one sinner to another sinner, not judging culpability. To do so is a spiritual work of mercy. \n\nDid Paul \"hate\" the Galatians when he wrote?\n\n\"The impulses of nature and the impulses of the spirit are at war with one another .... It is easy to see what effects proceed from corrupt nature; they are such things as adultery, impurity, incontinence, luxury, idolatry, witchcraft, feuds, quarrels, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, dissensions, factions, spite, murder, drunkenness, and debauchery. I warn you, as I have warned you before, that those who live in such a way will not inherit God\u2019s kingdom.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder what our ancestors would say when they saw how many \"Catholics\" today support abortion and homosexual behavior. I'm sure they'd be disgusted. And rightfully so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is withdrawal from a toothless, unenforceable agreement more apt to \"undermine the shared trust\" (as if that ever existed) than ignoring the document altogether, which is what I though this administration might do. It's a long way from \"objectively sinful\". That particular theologian ought to have his / her teaching credentials revoked (unless that participant was not Catholic; a possibility, I suppose), an be held to public ridicule.\nMake an enforceable treaty, submit it to the senate immediately prior to an election, advertise the heck out of it to get voters to pressure congress on the issue, let the chips fall where they may.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you read the Scriptures and believe that they are the Word of God you will find that everything the Catholic Church teaches with regard to the Moral Law is contained therein.\nIf you don't accept the Scriptures as divinely inspired then why are you posting as a Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "[Pete Vere, JCL] I stopped accepting this argument after witnessing Catholic political neo-conservative casuistry while advocating for waterboarding in the prosecution of the War Against Terror, defending Sheriff Joe's deplorable treatment on undocumented immigrants and refugees, and of course acting as enthusiastic advocates for capital punishment. \n\n1 - St John Paul II was very clear on what constitutes torture and that despite the Church's past unfortunate tolerance of torture in more barbaric times, that the use of torture is intrinsically evil. (Language usually associated with abortion.) \n\n2 - Our Lord is very clear throughout the Old Testament (cf Deut 10 for example) that he defends the foreigner (immigrants and refugees) alongside the poor, the widow, and the orphan, and that he will punish harshly those who mistreat the aforementioned.\n\n3 - Successive popes, the world's bishops, and orthodox Catholics outside the U.S. are near unanimous in opposing capital punishment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From Dublin;\n Bishop Thomas Tobin; you obviously have strong Irish roots and as a person who grew up in Ireland in the 1940's and 50's; you would have fitted in perfectly, with the ecclesiastical culture of clericalism, at the time. Issues of sexual morality were top of their list of priorities. Voices were raised from the pulpit and we were left in no doubt about our destiny.\n\nThe American hierarchy has not been exposed to Judicial Reviews, similar to Ireland & Australia and therefore can still bluff their way around the clerical paedophile cover-up. A side-stepping of the facts. Our generation will probably be the last of what it was to be an Irish Catholic and your brother bishops across the Catholic world are to blame for the total collapse of credibility in the institutional church, because of their cover-up. The pews are emptying because of the \"loss of faith\" in the episcopal ranks; not in God; by both the old and the young. \"Deflection\" is not an option for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know. But no matter how you try to portray what the teaching magisterium tries to say, they are not the ones who lead the way to end slavery. It took other people, most not even Catholic, to teach the hierarchy of the Catholic Church a moral lesson on the dignity of everyone and what that means. Who lead the fight? It certainly was not them. They came late to that freedom party.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But let's also be clear that there are plenty of faith groups that support LGBT. It's not gay-vs-Christian, much as the Evangelicals and conservative Catholics want to make it, and we really should push back on that simplistic framing.\n\nAlso Remember Catholic laity are amongst the most supportive of civil marriage equality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My brother tried for years to stay in the Catholic Church. Finally, he said, \"Who am I trying to kid. They refuse to accept me.\" He did not fail the Church, the Church failed him. \"Intrinsically disordered\" is not \"a difficult thing to hear\", it is an insult. An insult uttered in official, high level documents. Why should anyone care to be in an institution that insults him or her? The insult shows not a scintilla of the love the Church claims to show to everyone.\n\nNo, my brother and several others I know have, if not been turned away, been told in no uncertain terms that they are unwelcome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".....................\"the church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question\"....................Who am I to Judge?.............\nInstead of lying and trying to soften, minimize and distract from the \"Giant Contradiction\" which this organization has become. \n\nI wish they would just be truthful about what kind of \"Church this is\" by issuing a press release like the one I have suggested below.\n\n.................... Pope Francis, with guidance from a recent \"saint\" and a charismatic retired religious scholar, wishes to inform you that we are cutting our ties with Christ and his teachings. Christ's examples of including, loving, ministering to and hanging out with the most marginalized (undesirables) is just not convenient anymore. Why muddy the waters up with Christ's teachings when we have so many princes of this church who have a better grasp of what is right and wrong and who belongs and who does not?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jeanne Dixon had her own timetable, with a person who approximates the prophesied Great Catholic Monarch arising soon and being run off by anti-christ in 2030, followed by the seven years of tribulation and the final battle between Michael and the Prince of Tyre. The GCM, aka the King of the North (the Romany) will be a champion of the workers, aka anti capitalist. Right wingers will think him the anti-Christ and many will then follow the real thing. In the end, Michael will bring about the 1000 years of peace. Of course, the scripture that says that may be discredited as 1900 year old whining about the loss of judaizing Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You sound like a person who showed us all a picture of the slaves singing by the fire and said, See, look how happy they were. As I said , I think your probably a good man, but when I was in Viet Nam I saw how the white southerners talked about and to the black GI's. We were totally segregated. Black and white hooches and all. \n President Johnson pushed the civil rights legislation through congress and almost every southern congressman hated him for it.\n Christians may have died for getting slaves freedom, but most southern Christians stood by and did nothing, because they believed in white supremacy.\n And your right, those marchers who spilled their blood just did the small work. Really\n As far as Obama again your right, he had the gall to think a black man should be president. \nAs far as me helping our country, I left 8 years ago when the hatred got to much for me to bear. After the last 6 mos I know I will never return because I don't recognize it any more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any country that has an independent foreign policy is automatically enemy of the U.S.\nAny country that has a military the Pentagon don't like is enemy. \nAny country that buys oil in the open market not using the U.S. dollar is subject to sanctions, and even outright invasion. \nAny country that tried to protect its sea lanes of trade is enemy requiring war by the U.S. carrier battle groups. \nAny country that is more successful in a trade agreement with the U.S. is subject to cancellation, even economic war, even when all trade rules are complied with. Head if win, tail you lose. \nAny Muslim country is enemy, by coup or by the Pentagon. \n\nU.S. foreign policy: We rule, we run, we war, we hit, you're either with us or against us. It's America Only. God Bless America. Christian God that is. \n\nHistory confirms there is only one end for such an empire. Check the British Empire. Ended only after 2 world wars as it fought 2 upcoming empires that challenged it - Germany/Japan. 60 million dead.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, I believe bishops responding to the defense of the pope should happen. Bishops should teach and they can certainly contradict the group that try to keep the Church self-referential. They do not need to be long winded about it but should keep reminding us who is doing the \"knocking.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "if yo cannot tell the difference between anti-clerical and anti-Catholic, there is little hope for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree, we must support ordinary peaceful Evangelicals and the tenants of their faith that subjugate women, stone gays to death.\n\nOh no, wait...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The RG should always publish letters from all sides, even from people who hold views completely invalidated by history and human nature. It's called \"know thine enemy\".\n\nOutsider77 is right. No nation has the right to interfere in the internal affairs of another no matter how altruistic the justifications officially given by the nation interfering or how horrid the conditions within the nation being interfered with. The excuses are usually lies as a little follow the money research often shows.\n\nThat I hold this view does not mean that I approve of murderous, thieving dictators. It's why I oppose corporate oligarchy in America, for example, and right-wing Christian theocracy.\n\nHaving interfered in Syria and the Middle East in general which has prolonged and intensified the brutality Western nations including the U.S. are obligated to take in the refugees from those conflicts even if we risk importing terrorists. The lesson of non-interference must be learned the hard way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My faith is not in the institutional church nor dependent on actions of bishops, priests,nuns. I choose to remain Catholic because of the Eucharist and deep rich history of theology and many holy, loving people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cMy question to you is about your understanding of the result of Christ's call. You seem to imply, and I may be wrong, that Christ's call inevitably leads to church membership, perhaps in your mind, to Catholic church membership. I am not sure if you are Catholic or not.\u201d\nFor me everything naturally happened to lead me to Catholic Church. It was not my plan to become a Catholic. However I grew up and I was so smitten by the Christ loving touch that I felt like I was Christ\u2019s most favored youngest daughter. When I go to church, I felt Christ smiling loving eyes following me from the altar.\n \nHowever, Christ leading others to where he sees best for each loving children since as Pope F said \u201cGod is not a Catholic\u201d. \nPeople who sincerely seek and worship God can\u2019t really insist all people to become Catholics.\nOne can only help people with the best of your ability to teach the truth of your faith!\nYou can't teach truth with your hidden motive or agendas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For instance Colkoch...Reuters 2016 reported:\n\n\"By Philip Pullella | ASSISI, ITALY\nPope Francis and leaders of other world religions said \"No to War!\" on Tuesday, vowing to oppose terrorism in God's name and appealing to politicians to listen to \"the anguished cry of so many innocents\".\n\nFrancis flew by helicopter to the central Italian hilltop city that was home to St. Francis, the 13th century saint revered by many religions as a patron of peace and nature and a defender of the poor.\n\nThe head of the Roman Catholic Church closed a three-day meeting where about 500 representatives of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism and other faiths discussed how their members could better promote peace and reconciliation.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I speak for me, a youngish Catholic who had experienced both forms of the Roman rite. Who do you speak for? My experience is there is perhaps a handful of EFs available in the major metropolitan archdioceses I've lived in. EF is one of the Church's best kept secrets, and little is done to promote it, and a lot is done to suppress and downplay it. It's near miraculous it's survived with how much was done to disappear it. I think that if you study the two liturgies side by side, the EF clearly expresses the Mass is the Holy Sacrifice. Someone who hasn't been to both can't make that assessment. Obviously, many disagree. Is my \"contempt\" any more scandalous than Pope Francis' comments on rigid young Catholics who prefer the Traditional Mass who have something behind their love for the EF Mass?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tue, but I'm not sure they want to dialogue. Why would we think they want to? I don't know that those with the JPII attitude, who see any disagreement or desire to be open to discussion as essentially treason and/or heresy to be smacked down, even can dialogue -- how could they see it as anything but surrender to and cooperation with evil? \n\nNot easy to open up to more attacks when one's been sneered at and slammed as not really Catholic throughout the last two papacies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a repeat historically of how anti-semitism develops. Other oppressed people (think Russian and Polish peasants) earlier in history participated in pogroms against Jews in order to vent about and \"remedy\" (as if) their own history of oppression and oppressed state. But this was convenient for the ruling powers and classes to escape responsibbility and blame It was easier to blame the Jews. Same with racial oppression and lynchings of blacks by poor whites (see Bob Dylan's \"Only a pawn in their game\") All the participants in this game of needless, wasteful, immoral hatred of anti-semitism (and anti-Arsian sentiment) are being manipulated by the powers that be. We all of us --African Asian, Jew CHristian Muslim -- are being split apart when we should be united, together. Alas human nature -- such a shame", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sir, what don't you understand about the fact that Catholics believe that abortion is a sin and never morally justifiable? What don't you get about that fact? Why would you expect a bishop to stand by and do nothing when a Catholic hospital performs an abortion? \n\nThing is--if that hospital believes that abortion is justifiable in certain cases, all they have to do is shed the Catholic name. That is it. What is so hard about that? If that \"sister\" wants her hospital to do abortions and if she has no problem with abortion, shed the Catholic name, let her leave the convent and have at it. \n\nStop with this nonsense that an abortion is the only viable option when a women's life is in danger. You do what you can to save both lives. Period. That is the option. You liberals are just so darn determined to make abortion the only viable option in these rare cases. It isn't. I am sick of liberal false dichotomy and duplicity. BOTH lives are of equal importance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did I claim that motherhood, in light of Mary's role, is the ONLY way women are valuable to God? (btw, nice work denigrating motherhood to the level of \"breeding stock\"; by the same token I imagine you see fatherhood in an equally flattering fashion)\n\nDid I claim that men, in light of Christ's ultimate self gift, are ONLY valuable to God if they are being publicly executed?\n\nThe essential claim is that the dynamic of the Incarnation and Paschal Mystery means that being male and female has a deep theological significance. Try and argue against it using Christian sources and tradition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately, yes and no.\n\nThese guys that commit murder in the name of ISIS often don't have any real affiliation with ISIS. They've watched videos on line until they are warped out of their minds. When they start shooting, ISIS is perfectly happy to claim them. How is this different from folks that live on line until they are sure the government it out to get them, or they have to shoot up a planned parenthood in the name of Christianity, or they just have to kill people because we are all part of the darkness in the world.\n\nThere may be some guy out there today reading this, thinking they need to show us all. Us gun grabbers, or us gun owners, or us heathens, or us Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What hypocrisy we have about American politics. We condemn the leadership of many states around the world because they are \"Muslim theocracies\" while we turn a blind eye to all the Christian prayers and bible readings by preachers and priests during the Trump inauguration as some kind of bizarre normalcy. Everyone needs to read Religion in American Politics by Frank Lambert for a little grounding in reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And speaking of this, EWTN did a fluff interview yesterday with Sebastian Gorka about his \"Catholic faith.\" As some might be aware, Gorka has ties with Hungarian neo-Nazis, a party called Jobbik. Imagine what would happen if EWTN did a fluff interview with Joe Biden about his Catholic faith. It's sad that EWTN doesn't take the intrinsic evil of racism with the same seriousness that it does abortion. \n\nWhen will the bishops speak of and condemn Trumpism as anti-Catholic? If they actually had a backbone, \"Catholic\" officials like Gorka would be excommunicated for their promotion of bigotry rather than being interviewed on Catholic TV channels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are at least thirty statements on video that would have disqualified any other candidate. And the hate of Hillary was created largely through the millions spent by Rupert Murdock and Fox News. When you look at her fibs versus his outright lies, again you have to wonder. When you have so called conservative Christians who have thrown in the towel as they will need to have quite a conversation with St. Peter when they are asked about their commitment to their values. And the leadership of the GoP has been exposed as they are only concerned about power, not the United States, not their constituents, not really to anything but raw desire for power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So sadly predictable in so many ways.\n\nA comment lacking in so many of the basic Christian attitudes.\n(So no doubt we will get, by way of reply, a pious list of the Lol's virtues.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You just went full circle, FC. The choice to not have a baby would be to include on insurance policies, all forms of medically indicated BC. To refuse that to others then would be reckless and heartless. Indeed some who call themselves the real or true catholics or even who serve as catholic bishop are in fact reckless and heartless caught up in the ideas of authoritarian theology. \"Do as I say because I say so..\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He did not addressed the wrong spouses, but Shammai did. You know the whole thing about scripture and tradition. The debate is part of tradition and useful in improving doctrine.\n\nTwo men clinging to each other (or two women) are freed of their families of origin by the same saying. For decades, Catholic hospitals, indeed, all hospitals, shut them out. That is now illegal and even before the law changed, Catholic Hospital Association members started treating gay spouses justly. Had they done so 30 years ago, the drive for marriage equality might never have occurred.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "[for every [quote from our founding fathers that] you think you might be able to find, I'll find 10 quotes from our founding fathers all supporting the notion that they made us a Christian nation under the Judeo Christian paradigm.]\n\nBy the rules YOU established, ALL I have to do is post quotes that I \"think\" I \"might be able to find,\" and you will come up with 10 quotes from our founding fathers all supporting the notion that they made us a Christian nation under the Judeo Christian paradigm.\n\nThere was no requirement for me to refute anything. That was a condition you tried to apply AFTER the fact when you realized you were losing badly, and have been frantically attempting to weasel your way out, ever since. You got busted bluffing. No two ways about it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Forgive me, but I like Mbalula's \"badass\" attitude towards criminals and, while Christians will have me believe that there's no small sin, I recon you should stop hounding this guy for a 'mere' R 380 000 which was not lifted from the public purse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Give me an example worldwide in the last 20 years of mainstresm Christians murdering non Christians due to what the Bible states. Today in the year 2017 and previously in countries ranging from Indonesia, Philippines, Burma, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq , Saudi , Syria and North Africa there a multiple examples of murder committed by superstitious fundamentalist readers of the Koran against non believers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My surmise differs somewhat. Clerical/priestly life was, before the abuses became evident, the best and most honored profession within Catholic communities. So I surmise that many heard that call as from God. If one was aware of gay desires, priesthood would be even more attractive because it embedded one on a community of committed men. I doubt if any gay person ever entered seminary with the prospect of abusing boys somewhere down the road. Which is why the percentages far outstripped the low percentage of gays in the population: one could just avoid temptation and count on supernatural grace. During seminary days that worked for the most part. But when stuck in lonely parishes with perhaps less congenial pastors and curates, priests began to look elsewhere. Gays to boys or men, straights to women. Nevertheless, the church does itself a disservice to pretend gays are few and identifiable, doubling down on its refusal to acknowledge sexuality as quite human for everybody. Pax.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In other words, good advice is sometimes feminine,\" Ravasi said. \"In the Vatican that is a new discovery.\"\n\nThe problem is that women have always given exactly the same kind of advice as men. Women & men do not see the world differently, as most people to not decide things with their private parts unless the question is do I want sex or not. The truth: The Cardinal & The Pope still want to treat sexism as though it were a culture issue & not the Human Justice & Human Dignity Issue that it is. \n\nWomen deserve, from birth, like men, in the Catholic Church, to have the same access to all sacraments because they are equally capable, equally called by God, and equally worthy for ordination as men are, and this is true regardless of the fact that women are just as good at doing all the other things men are equally capable of doing, of which this Cardinal mentioned. \n\nWe don't say men should not be allowed to lector because they are allowed to do other ministries. \n\nNO VOTE = slavery.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This business of fetus funerals is weird. It's an historical fact that the Catholic Church has not always treated abortion as murder in the past. If it had, late-term abortions and miscarriages would have called for treatment of the well-formed fetus as a person, calling for baptism and Christian burial. But this was never the case. The subject of abortion is not scriptural, is not treated in the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, or anywhere in the Jewish Scripture, the New Testament or the creeds and the early ecumenical councils. Augustine? He could never find in Scripture \"anything at all certain about the origins of the soul.\" And Thomas Aquinas, \"lacking scriptural guidance\" and using Aristotelian distinctions, \"denied that personhood arose at fertilization by the semen. God directly infuses the soul at the completion of human formation.\"\n\nThus spake the august Fathers of Holy Mother Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The masses fear any diminution of their lifestyle. Threatening that will always get them to seek other options, even false ones. Until homes in Florida start washing away, warming will be a theoretical option.\n\nThe GOP seems stuck with most of the Heritage Foundation's health reform. Sadly, satisfaction with Romney/Obamacare will keep a single-payer plan or a British National Health Service off the table. I wonder how many younger doctors would work under an NHS if they had the option?\n\nWe should leave Melania alone. If she follows her heart and receives Communion anyway and finds it efficacious, then she is like most Catholic remarrieds who seem to be ahead of even A.L. I am wondering how she feels about her husbands new pro-life stance - whether she is relieved or bothered.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The rebel is definitely very critical of many of the controversial aspects of Islam, I emailed a request that they post more stories critical of evangelicals to pacify the left wing element in Canada.\n\nI guess it's all about perspective.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right here sport: \"Bummer for the kids that have to read it, though. Not great literature by any stretch. Hope they get to read classics like \"Catcher in the Rye\" and \"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn\" too.\"\n\nIt's pretty clear that you are stating that the school should make them read them. After all, I would assume you would know that they are allowed to read whatever they want on their own time. Therefore, your comment was stating that the school should have them read the books, as if the school is having them read the bible. And it's humerus how you took the opportunity to make a thinly veiled shot at faith (of course singling out Christianity even though Jews read the bible, the old testament part anyway). Personally, I don't care what you believe or don't believe. But it's pretty immature to take a pot shot at the other side. It shows a lot of insecurity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is the irony of a nation UNIQUELY created with quite impressive governing laws, with checks and balances even, never before in history allowed for such a massive citizenry sprawled over a large continent and Earth's greatest ocean. The irony is the latter day troubles accumulating in the nation because the nation had hastily circumvented the letter and spirit of its own laws. Today, SIGNIFICANT populations of alleged Hawaiians are Christians, US veterans, intermarrieds, multi-cultured, uncultured, alienated from their aboriginal language, capitalists, ambitious, ambivalent voters, techie reliant, tourists in their motherland's forests and mountains, Vegas butterflies, fast food junkies, druggies, prisoners....in other words, true Americans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many white Christian immigrants would be inadmissible under Leitch's anti-Canadian values test, assuming they told the truth?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fadl deliberately ignored the 1400 year vicious schism between the two great Islamic denominations, Sunni and Shia in his analysis. Is this an error as Muslims fighting Muslims worsens? He focused instead on the extremism typology between the \"puritans and the moderates\" or literal versus figurative interpretations advanced by both. \"It is important to note that the two orientations described in this book cut through the Sunni and Shi\u2019I sectarian divide.\" The rift in demonominations is older and deeper than the tensions between Protestants and Catholics, which bedeviled Europe for centuries. Courageous leaders in Europe gave their lives for a renaissance of more enlightened religious thinking. Islam needs the same renaissance away from the invidious fundamentalist extremism of ISIS. Fadl wisely says Muslims fear of fitna (sedition and divisiveness), a grievous sin is creating the risk of losing \"the very soul of Islam\" from apathetic indifference. (page 15).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have ordained ministers on both sides of my family. I was a confirmed Lutheran, and then spent a lot of time in charismatic Pentecostal churches growing up until my early twenties. \n\nI went through a very \"anti religion\" phase but I've since calmed down. I just want to see people learn. If you believe God is the source of creation then why not spend a lifetime discovering creation as it really is? The Bible is full of allegory and symbolism and if you want to derive meaning from it because you think it brings you closer to God - by all means do. Just don't ever assume you know or even can know all there is about the cosmos. It's always surprising and inspiring in ways we can't even fathom.\n\nWhen I was a kid I was certain the earth was only 6,000 years old and \"science\" was fooling itself (what all the adults in my life told me). How absurdly wrong and closed-minded I was. The universe is much more amazing than that - God or not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're joking, aren't you? Don't you know that one 'infallible' pope (Pius XII) contradicted another 'infallible' pope (Gelasius I) over the doctrine of Mary's assumption? Gelasius declared it a heresy; Pius a dogma. (Duh!\ud83d\ude29)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words, let the poor die. Great idea, Peter, and I'm certain that if by accident you lost everything, you would gladly die to spare some taxes for your \"betters\". As Cain said to God, \"Am I my brother's keeper?\" God marked Cain and cursed him to homelessness. Pretty ironic God we have, hey, Peter? \"The poor will always be among us.\" Jesus said that, but that was a long time ago.\n\nI have paid my taxes, including withholding for Social Security and Medicare, starting at age 17. I'm 70 now, and I'm getting those taxes back. That is, until people like you take that away because it is a societal \"indulgence\".\n\nIf \"The System\" is brought down, it will be because of people like you Peter, and not because of \"indigents\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John, your \"translations\" continue to get the better of you. I think it's actually that I you like making straw man arguments.\n\nI'd prefer the poor be taken care of first by their family, extended family, then friends, then neighbors, then church or other non-governmental/volunteer organizations.\n\nThis is \"exercise free gift of self at the lowest level first\" is the Catholic principle of subsidiarity.\n\nIt is \"preferred\" because it causes the most \"growth within the system\". It causes growth and greater opportunity for more sincere friendship at the lowest level. That's where the Holy Spirit likes to operate.\n\nYou'd prefer (here I am using your style of argument) that everything be automated and run top down...auto payments directly from the Federal Government into some poor person's bank account.\n\nNice and neat. \n\nBut that approach totally misses the actual purpose of real sacrificial charity. And as a long line of failed government policies from the 60s shows, it fails as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The 1998 \"translation\":\nThe one that studiously avoided the pronoun \"His\" because the Father's fatherhood is inconvenient (and previous generations evil for talking about Him that way?) So we were to chant \"Glory to God in the highest and peace to God's people on earth\", as though the Latin is \"Gloria in excelcis Deo et in terra pax populo Dei\"?\n\nThe one that has us in the Creed possibly claiming that Christ died only for those reciting the Creed (because \"men\" is likewise a four letter word)?\n\nThe one that leaves the threefold \"mea culpa\" out of the Confiteor because it's not nice to force ourselves to acknowledge our guilt?\n\nThe one that skips Memorial Acclamation A because it's too Roman Catholic?\n\nYep, dodged the bullet, indeed! People are right to criticize 2011 for being too Latinate but compared to the substantial problems with 1998 such problems of style are minuscule, motes as compared to beams!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"As the country sits transfixed with one of the strangest, divisive and most unpredictable presidencies in the history of the United States, lost in the madness has been the increase in Islamophobia since Donald Trump was elected president.\"\nIt's a shame you have a wobbly president. His fear is viral, it's contagious and it shows in many a post on N.C.R. He has even got into my peace..'locked and loaded' for North Korea....millions die. We all need to put our trust in the Lord and pray for all our leaders. Jesus Christ gave us a new Commandment..'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself'. ( I find the 'love thy neighbor' a great challenge. But, hopefully, one day I'll see anew ) Jesus also asks the question, 'Who do you say that I am?' (there is an interesting article posted today in 'Spirituality') \nPope Francis says, 'Build bridges, not walls'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because most emotionally mature adults can separate truth that's provable from \"truth\" that is entirely subjective and completely unprovable. I'll clue you in AlwaysThere. Most people don't really care all that much about what kinds of fantasy stories either Muslims or Christians (or religious people of whatever faith) have thought up over the centuries. Most people bank on what they can demonstrate to be true--gravity, the earth revolving around the sun, anything having mass has an equivalent amount of energy, etc. and not questions like whether some 1st century prophet is a god or an ordinary man. Really, few modern educated humans give metaphysical questions much thought. They're more worried about provable things like aging and concrete problems such as what they're going to do when the Republican party destroys Medicare.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't care if the next pope calls himself Peter II. He cannot be going back to the Baroque Days of JP II and Benedict who LOVED the past. They saw the Church to be like a theater: buildings, pilgrimages, palatial receptions, processions, stage productions [with a world actor like JP II] on it. And all of this surrounded by church law and magisterial administration. The people honored with canonization were priests and nuns who lived in the 17th - early 20th Century. The theology accepted was from around World War I which divided simplistically the gospel from the world.\n\n\nAnd that's the same tripe that we are getting from some of the Traddies on this site. They fail to see that Catholicism is never living in only one period, is never fully engaged by the present epoch or represented solely by one 'golden age.'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"gender usage\" is down to the official Vatican translation of the original Latin.\n\nManaged by the same clique that mangled the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and more recently the Roman Missal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wasn't talking about science, I was talking about natural order and natural law. Original sin is not a man-made concept. It is a reality that God has revealed through his Church and scripture. I didn't mention the Incarnation and the Trinity, but my theology on those them is not off, it is the teaching of the Catholic Church. The Church teaches about natural law and no one has disproven it. That would be like trying to disprove reason. Natural law is part of reason. It is implanted in the mind. \n\nScience is committed to the naturalistic and mechanistic view, not to reason and logic, so scientists come up with naturalistic and mechanistic explanations for everything, which are contrary to reason and logic wherever they deal with the origins of things. \n\nGod destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of sodomy. The people of Sodom practiced unnatural sex and the men and boys raped people who visited their city. They wanted to rape the two angels who visited Lot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No greater threat to 'freedom of religion' in this country than the bishops themselves. Not too hidden from public view are the bishops support and endorsement of the republican agenda. If only the bishops were totally in support of the works of mercy contained in 'what you do to the least of my brethren' or as Francis would say 'smell like the sheep' there would be no issue. Alas the bishops parry on in science and politics, with their opposition to social issues favored by the vast majority of the faithful; contraception, civil unions, stem cell research, ordaining women, divorced and remarried Catholics receiving communion. The list then goes on to science, with the church accepting beliefs as truths, from the first centuries, over what science knows to be alternative facts, over the relativity of quantum mechanics by accepting a static world of ancient myth and superstition. While the bishops insist on improvidence, their mingling in science and politics, becomes fiction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To understand Pope Francis, you have to study and understand the meandering mind of Juan Peron, the political hero of Pope Francis. This is what the Argentinian Catholics tell us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Orthodox Catholics who believe what the Church teaches have no problem in knowing who Jesus is. Non-Catholics and I include amongst them so-called catholics who reject what the Church teaches may or may not know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What exactly was the issue at hand? How did the Archdiocese substantiate the inability of Ms. Joanne Fratello, to advance the school's Catholic value? What did she do, what did she fail to do? \n\nThis entire article is meaningless without the substantive evidence for the suit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I generally enjoy this comic but this little bromide is beyond the pale. \"Islam\" is not \"God\" (nor, for that matter Catholicism), \"Christian Europe\" is not \"God\" and neither is monolithic or homogeneous. Unfortunately, this particular comic is a visual \"Kumbaya\"; come on Mr. Marrin, I know you can do better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our very \"lustful thoughts\" - along with everything about our humanity - during the Eucharist are consecrated into the Body and Blood of Jesus and are a constitutive element of our Holy Communion with each other.\n\n[Actually white people of \"un certain age\" - especially white men - should generally NOT be encouraged to dance in public - regardless of how the Spirit moves them. It's just not a pretty thing to watch. Who wants to have those images stuck in our heads? ... sorry ...]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow! So glad I recently discovered the NCR, a Catholic newspaper that actually speaks to me. It is so wrong and disheartening that my liberal city, New York, has such an il-liberal archbishop/cardinal. I pray that I live long enough to see Pope Francis do for us what he has done for Newark, NJ, and give us a man of the people. Viva Papa Francesco!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The solemnity of the declaration and the language used by the Pope are enough to convince me of the infallibility of OS. It must be definitive for the future for the Pope explicitly says that the Church has no authority from Christ to ordain women to the priesthood.\nIf the Church has had no authority up to now to ordain women then it is difficult to see where it is suddenly going to obtain this 'authority' from at any time in the future short of Christ Himself publicly ordering the Church to change its teaching. Any pope who claims to have have had a personal revelation from either Our Lord or the Holy Ghost is going to have an impossible task convincing the rest of the Church.\nLeaving all that aside, the experience of the Episcopalians and Anglicans who have ordained women has been catastrophic for those churches. Were the Catholic Church to follow suit it would precipitate the greatest split since the reformation. Look at the strife a mere footnote in Amoris Laetitia is causing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pierre Trudeau was Catholic yet he decriminalised homosexuality. You're right though in the sense that the Catholic church may have had more lobbying pressure in Germany than here. Also PET was very tough-minded.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Bill,\nThank you for giving us such a dramatic example of being a \"scoffer\" (as in 2 Peter 3:3).\"\n\nWilliam Noel, show us how you defend your faith by objective non-negotiable teachings in the bible instead of your incessant affirmation that you know you are right because you have the Holy Spirit.\n\nThe objective doctrines and teachings of the bible are how any true Protestant decides what is truth, vs. what is vain speculation based on human enlightenment.\n\nJohn says, \"Try the spirits to see if they are of God.\" And he does not mean decide if you are right or wrong by your own subjective impressions and experience to determine what is true, but examine carefully what the doctrines of the bible are and see if your teaching and experience is in harmony with bible doctrines.\n\nI don't see any evidence you follow this biblical formula or confess faith in this formula as the determining factor of what is true, and what is speculation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nice reminder of the meaning of easter that gets to the core message of christianity. Although a republican and a conservative, Gerson has been a vocal critic of president Trump. We should have hope even when the world seems dark, but I would add this quote: \"pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The US bishops have not said much about transgender ideology. The Polish bishops are against it and Pope Francis agreed with them. The US bishops only said that Obama shouldn't make it illegal for churches to tell transgendered people to use the bathroom of their biological sex. Pope Francis would agree with that. In the Vatican men can't use the womens bathroom either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes......and by the spiteful, jealous, underhanded Joseph Ratzinger. Kung and the other hundred-plus theologians silenced (well, sort of - many were hired as professors anyways) were all pawns in +Ratzinger's attempts to make himself the sole voce of Catholic teaching. Now he is just a ghost walking in the papal gardens, unable to hurt anyone further. I wonder (perhaps you have a news flash for us Marty?) how many of his opinions have changed since he move down the lane from the Apostolic Palace?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not sure if it is a good idea to reunite Catholic Church with the protestant churches. I doubt it will happen. \n \nWe have witnessed the corruptions of monarchical clergy structure and still fighting CI (Catholic Institution) clergies, men\u2019s, dictatorial abuses. We should always remember that clergies are a mere human neither God nor holy or enlightened. It seems only the few individuals reach holiness and enlightenment. We are lucky if these clergies are not the criminals. We have seen downright criminals through the clergy sex abuse scandals. And we should try to avoid at all cost from fortifying the corrupt monarchical organizational structures. \nIt will help to communicate and share the notes of spiritual matters and collaborate on charity works.\nAccording to Teilhard we are moving from individual consciousness to Global consciousness. He call it a Second Axial Period. NCR should explore the ramification of we, human family, living global consciousness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The moneychangers in the Temple didn't represent \"consumer culture,\" a luxury of modern capitalism. They were more likely symbolic of the Temple elites' collaboration with the Roman occupiers and the exploitation of the devout.\n\nThe disruption of the Temple was probably intended to hasten the arrival of the kingdom of God, when the human condition would be transcended and justice would prevail. Of course it set into motion the series of events that would result in Jesus's horrific execution.\n\nThe gospels don't portray Jesus as polite about this mission. He was extremely critical of hypocrisy and corruption. So should we be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Dutch Church, like the Belgians is in decline cause they went full into \"Spirit of Vatican II\" mode.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a shame but I agree with you. I think the clergy even those with the best intentions are simply in denial about the role of the church and their fellow clerics. They blame everyone else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, thank you for the Latin tag \"promoveatur ut amoveatur.\" Somehow the ubiquity of this wisdom sounds more noble in Latin!\n\nSecond, who was the first cardinal assigned as auxiliary bishop? Sounds really weird. Was the Ordinary also a cardinal?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're absolutely right - only Callista is the adulterer here. Newt gets a free pass (or two, in this case) and manages to slither through - he wasn't Catholic at the time he was fooling around with Callista behind Wife #2's back. He only became Catholic after he dumped Wife # 2 for Callista. Saved by a technicality in Catholic doctrine! As Dana Carvey's Church Lady would say, \" How conveeeeeenient!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic colleges should have more concern about their relationship with , Tim Busch,Napa institute ,the Koch Brothers and the wealthy Legatus Catholic businessmen\nA educated a population ,reduces misguided ideologies .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you would read, you would discover I was responding to Paul Scott's question on welfare reform, and I know a checker at Safeway who watches people come in all the time spending their Oregon Trail cards at Starbucks..\n\nYou take just a few teachings of Jesus completely out of context. And I can share many verses that would debunk your \"conclusions\" on Jesus. He worked, and did heal those who were sick, and fed some. How did he treat those who were taking advantage or those who were just lazy ? I can show you some examples if you are interested, but I am sure you already know those.\n\nhttp://hotair.com/archives/2011/12/07/in-oregon-food-stamps-will-buy-you-starbucks-frappuccinos/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A few comments: Stanley Rother was murdered in 1981. As the article states he had been warned that he had been placed on \"lists\" earlier that year. He emphatically told his bishop that he had never met with any individuals known to be rebels, but they operated in the area of the mission. Guatemala had been colonized for 350 years, yet in 1980 it was estimated that 75% of the the rural population did not know or speak the Spanish. So Rother had translated most of the New Testament into a phonetic version of the locals language (Tutzwil), and made major efforts to broaden the evangelism by training laymen in presenting the Gospel. These were the principal victims in the local atrocities as the army moved into the area. Rother had protested the entry of uniformed army members onto the mission grounds and kidnapping parishioners who later were found dead. The day before his death, he had taken a parishioner some distance for treatment of a gunshot would that was not healing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, we need to tighten the borders. Obama has sent back more illegals than Bush did, The borders between Mexico and the US have been at net 0 for three years or more, simply, the number of border crossings with illegals has declined due to first the Mexican economy is good and there are jobs, ( my new jeep was made in Mexico) and that Catholic women are going against the archaic teachings of the their church and using birth control and not having a dozen kids leading to poverty. My senior friends who retired in Mexico get annoyed when they hear other Americans who have never been to Mexico bash their winter home with all sorts of tall tales. Yes , there is crime in Mexico and so there is in the US and yes the Mexican citizens in their small communities are educated, have nice homes, dress well and drive nice cars just like in the US. Who knew? The majority of those who attend Trump rally's are white. So where is Trump's huge diverse supporters hiding?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From my perspective, the pulling back of V2 reforms is what caused the incredible lack of education that results in the fact that so many Catholics continue to take the Bible literally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wave, Always bothers me to watch the Pope on international tv being delivered up to the Vatican wearing his jewels in the silver Mercedes Benz. While people who are dying in the streets put their last pesos in the beautiful church's collection box that is on the beautiful ornate wrought iron gate. The priests vow poverty but don't live it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If only more people knew of this organization, of the fine religious men who belong to it and run it, I think that alone would increase vocations a bit. It is one of those best-kept secrets of the real life Church that needs to step into the actual events of Catholicism. I know a good number of the superiors who belong to the CMSM and am gratified to have them working on my behalf and that of all my confreres. Pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in their work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So go to a different hospital, everyone has a right to their own beliefs including Catholics and there are a hell of a lot of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have many here in the USA who would love to do the same. They think that Christian churches and believers should have numerous religious carve outs from secular laws, that their particular religious beliefs should be enshrined in secular law and everyone else be forced to follow them. We are even seeing the violence against those who do not follow their particular belief system or \"morality \". Jews, Muslims, LGBT, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The ordination of women (for one example) is a non-essential, compared to something like the dual nature of Christ. It is only those who take the rules of the Church too seriously who maintain that the two are equally important.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The brutal attack of an innocent kid is inexcusable. Perhaps Brits fear that allowing more asylum seekers into their country will result in more no-go communities for white Brits, and more harassment of single white women who dare parade the streets without dress deemed to meet Sharia standards. \n\nWhen those of evident eastern origin start writing about the isolation of their co-religionists and their unwillingness to accept the customs of the countries into which they have so graciously been allowed into to seek asylum, perhaps more people will empathize with their plight. As it stands, the overwhelming majority of hate crimes reported in the media are committed by Muslims against other Muslims, Christians and Jews. I hate to see a kid hurt because he's brown, just as I hate that people kill because they don't approve of another person's religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The 13 million people living in shanty towns in Argentina, in Paraguay, in any country is NOT a result of Jesuits---that is the result of defective governments.\n\nYou are biased against Jesuits and it shows. That is why our church does not possess the entire truth---it can't recognize the God-given charisms that each religious community possesses and appreciate it. It can't recognize the gifts that the laity possesses and celebrate it. The church is filled with envy, jealousy, and half-truths that it spews out to be accepted by the gullible. The educated and the young see it---and they distain it. And unfortunately, you demonstrate that bias----that is the opposite of the TRUTH", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joe Rinehart wrote: \"Groveling did not work with Obama lets see how he does against a man.\"\n.\nSo Joe, you're claiming that Mike Pence is more of a man than Barack Obama? I'd love to hear the basis of your argument. I think Mike Pence, who is an evangelical Christian, and who disparages the rights of women, LBGT citizens, and atheists - both by his words and by failed legal attempts to demean/dominate them, is not someone to look up to. How is Pence a \"man\" and Obama something else?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis is probably on the way out . . .\n\n1) Pope Benedict was COERCED into retiring, rendering the act invalid. Remember, Pope Benedict became Pope Emeritus, the contemplative member of a novel papal ministry, which could just as easily have a novel way of dealing with an invalidated pope. \n\n2) Pope Francis was never a valid pope to begin with because of the lobbying efforts of the Sant Gallen mafia, as first disclosed by the papal biographer himself, and later confirmed by one of the Cardinals in his biography. Under St. JP2's Apostolic constitution, this renders his election NULL and VOID automatically.\n\n3) A pope ceases to be pope automatically once he manifests just one heresy. Pope Francis has the unfortunate luxury of many heresies.\n\nWhat I find really interesting and, frankly, quite scary is that Pope Francis's strongest support among Catholics come from people who support abortion, homosexual marriages/gender ideology and euthanasia. Like I said, scary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bob, This has nothing to do with our brothers in the Episcopal Church. It has to do with the spirit of the Faithful and the Holy Spirit guiding non clerical catholics. Obviously many Bishops are ignoring Her more loving views on life and death. These guidelines or rules are indeed horrible. We must bury our dead gay and lesbian humans as we must bury dead bishops who eschewed clerical rape. The Bishops in the US are way out of line and they would do much better if they would understand that the Holy Spirit Guides all of us. When the Bishops pretend that only they have access to Her, They indeed are ignoring the whispers of our Great God. It has become time for the laity to speak out again and again against such poor uncharitable behavior that is not at all Christ like by our Episcopal leaders. Every one of us do things that our wrong, the Bishops are quick to jump on what they view as wrong in others but do nothing about their own faults. To Shame!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They don't claim such authority. They let the facts speak for themselves. Resorting to authority blocks inquiry, even when it is necessary. The fact is that every generation creates its own view of the truth, indeed, each individual. Being Catholic does not make us drones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AltRite, you have the most profound comments eva. Probably change your name to Jesus instead of all right. All kidding aside that's some pretty deep psychology you threw down there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't speak for NCR, but as an academic theologian, I do oppose the university's decision to fire Dr. Seifert. Although I strongly disagree with his opinions about Pope Francis, I believe academic freedom should protect him. However, I understand that he works for a diocesan institution, which means that his position is under the control of the local bishop. That is not the case with the vast majority of Catholic colleges and universities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church wants to know they buggered boys not girls in a boy's body. The priests have standards to uphold.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then why follow what The RCC teaches at all? You're just as educated and smart as those with a doctorate and who can read The Bible is its original languages, right? (You do know, of course, that the there was no punctuation in the Aramaic, right? And you do know what the lack of punctuation can do when you're trying to translate?) You know Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic -- and all the nuances of each language. You don't need The Church, The Pope -- all you need is The Holy Spirit, The (English) Bible and you -- what you think is right and wrong. Good! //// The Episcopal Church is a social WASP church. I was an attendee of an EC parish for almost three years, and no one cared that I was agnostic. You can believe almost anything you want to and still be part of The EC. I have had very good EC clergy friends all my life, and they agree; and they also agree that what The EC lacks is strong leadership. But RC parishes should copy their love and care for each other. It is palpable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe that Jesus started his first and only Church, which is the Catholic Church. I agree that Jesus wants all to join his Church, which I also want all to convert to the one true faith. There are great differences between the Catholic Church and the other Protestant Churches. The seven sacraments and the devotion to our Blessed Mother being the most obvious and important. One Church is correct in its teachings and the other are wrong. I obviously believe the correct one is the Catholic faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are so right. I planned to take my secret of repeated rape by a priest as an altar boy to the grave. I stuffed down the emotions for years but things like smells would trigger horrible panic attacks. Once in a while I had bad nightmares/terrors. I was lured into the Milwaukee Archdiocese bankruptcy, the archbishop asked all abused to come forward and promised resolution and healing that I knew I needed. It took me months to find the courage to come forward. \nThe archbishop lied and spent five years and millions on demeaning legal efforts to throw every victims case out. We all were emotionally devastated. This betrayal was more than I could take. I have frequent severe panic attacks and night terrors so often that I am afraid to go to sleep. I truly do not know how long I can hold on. \nIt was too much to ask for a church to reach out with loving concern.\nUnfortunately, I learned that most of my fellow Catholics want victims to be treated well.\nJust not the ones in their diocese", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I don't think I can picture Christ ever saying \"good riddance\" to anyone.\"\n\nJesus talked about hell. Can't get there except by mortal sin. But when one does get there, it's by Jesus's judgment. He will say, literally, \"Go to hell.\" \"Good riddance\" would be mild by comparison.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Among the unmerited gifts of my life was Gregory's tutelage in Toronto. His weaving the personal and social dimensions of faith together has had a lasting impact.\n\nOnce in conversation he offered an observation that has long helped me understand diverse pulls in the Church. We were reading Johannes Baptist Metz, and he grounded that remarkable thinker's life's work in a personal question, offering a clarifying contrast.\n\nMetz and Ratzinger were roughly the same age, raised in nearby Bavarian villages. Their early social and religious experiences so similar, yet their life work so different. The Holocaust set the question with which Metz has grappled ever since: How was it possible that, in such devout Catholic setting, fervent, believing Catholics offered so little, if any, resistance to the rise of absolute evil in history? Whereas Ratzinger felt deeply the loss of that peasant Catholicism in the face of modernity.\n\nOne of those concernss became Gregory's, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Portugal and Spain had large Moorish populations (that were converted under duress to Catholicism). I would call them diverse - the Moors originated in North Africa. The Spanish Empire had a lot of interbreeding with the natives in Latin America. The Portuguese intermarried (and may marriage is a loose term here) with local women from Brazil to Goa. While the top positions were held by the \"purebreds\", an empire needs a large number of middle and lower middle class workers, soldiers, bureaucrats, etc. In Latin America, these obs were filled by the mixed races. The pure blooded natives were at the bottom, like the blacks in the USA.\n\nAs for China, as pointed out, their empires contained Chinese, Mongols, Koreans, Burmese, Tibetans, Naxi, Central Asians, etc. Those who don't know much about Asia might think all these countries are the same, but they are not. They speak different languages, have different religions and customs, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Despite Norman Lear's attempt to make the Carroll O'Connor fictional Archie Bunker character appear ridiculous, his effort was not a complete success. Many of Archie's instincts were actually morally defensible from a Catholic standpoint. He was opposed to abortion, premarital cohabitation, and same sex arrangements. While he may have been caveman-like in his views on the role of females in society, he correctly understood that while men and women are created equal, they are not interchangeable. His patriotism is admirable, as is his sense of guilt when he finds himself attracted to women other than his wife. If anyone should be ridiculed, it should be the Meathead, with his near perfect record of being wrong on practically every moral issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem occurs when the lawyers won't tell the Church no or tell them to do things that are in their particular financial interest rather than of all the faithful (as in the cases of abuse). Mainly, they are getting bad advice on whether Roe can be overturned. It can't, not with this Court or without overturning everything from civil rights for Latinos and southern Catholics (who the majority believes are followers of a paper anti-Christ) to gay marrieds, hetero and homosexual sodomites and contraceptors. Overturning Roe on jurisdictional grounds (abandoning federal supremacy) brings back rule by state religious mobs. There was one Justice who believed in doing the latter. He died. We may never know if any of these matters come up again - it takes four votes to do so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a free thinker who studies subjects before making decisions, I pride myself on having the ability to do so. Leftist, rightist, conservative, liberal, whatever. I am a Native who sees through the haters that use their bullying to get what they want. In the end, we all pass on to our next journey, and we all have to answer to our lives actions to our Creator, whatever name we have for the Creator. I would rather have a life of compassion to better the lives of my fellow humans, than to have to explain that I lived as a hater who didn't care how many people suffered and died as a result of my hate, or though I mouthed the words of jesus, that my life was filled with doing hateful, unjesuslike things, to my fellow humans.\nBesides most of the haters are latent homosexuals who do the bug dance and pass draconian measures against gays and lesbians because the haters want to punish themselves and others like themselves, for having homosexual thoughts.. Like flagellants flailing themselves", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you serious. Your response is that you wonder if when you die god exists?\n\nWhat does your religion have to do with Trans people serving in the military? \n\nI am getting kind of tired of ignorance being pushed off as religiousness and bigotry being passed off as the word of god.\n\nJesus said love everyone. He didn't stammer or stutter. He even said love your enemies.\n\nStay on track. This is about Trans people serving in the military not about your queries into your own mortality and how you are coping with it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or do some research into the Ismaili sect of Islam. These Muslims believe in separation of mosque and state, educating their children, and using critical thinking skills rather than blindly following the Koran to guide one through life. The Aga Khan museum is a testament to how enlightened this sect is and what other Islamic sects should aspire too. \n\nOf course amongst the Christians we still have our wack jobs too who believe that evolution never occurred, men and dinosaurs roamed together, and that the Bible should be followed literally. The difference is that those Christian believers in the West are a minority while the equivalent Muslim wahabbists who want Sharia law are the majority in the faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another journalist pretending not to get it.\n\nWhat is at issue isn't people's skin colour, but the values they bring to the table, and the fact that Canadians are increasingly non-religious is precisely what causes tension with extremely religious immigrants, particularly those of a religion that makes evangelicals look like raving feminists.\n\nIntermarriage between \"old-stock\" Canadians and people of various hues is now commonplace, no one has a problem with it, it happens when immigrants are well integrated and open to such intermarriage themselves.\n\nWhat people do have a problem with is when those newcomers are NOT integrating, NOT socializing with \"old-stock\" Canadians, NOT open to intermarriage, etc., that would be clear to anyone actually listening to what people are saying rather than trying to shut them up.\n\nWhat IS dismaying is the glee with which some are applauding the disappearance of \"white Europeans\" just for the sake of seeing them disappear, \"diversity\" be damned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"What would our homes, our families be without the mother's presence?\"\nI love that sentence. It applies also, so aptly to our \"Mother\" church that excludes women from that place with the father at the fullness of the table. We survived as church by the \"male\" mode of stricture, structure and statement. \"Mother\"sat quietly. That age is gone. The \"father\" church, as in society, can no longer control we \"growing-ups\". It cannot survive ( let alone thrive) through edict. So, we need the mother more than ever. Not to replace the father, not to compete with father, not to be in power, but to be for us, for family in Christ.\n\n\"Mother Church\" that false metaphor of male prerogative, must become a \"parent\" church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course, we all know the \"Left\" - both politically and theologically - are far superior in every way to normal, everyday folk and \"pew-sitter\" Catholic sheep.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With respect, Jude had a lot to say about false teachers too:\n\n\u201cWoe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam\u2019s error; they have been destroyed in Korah\u2019s rebellion. These people are\u2026 shepherds who feed only themselves\u2026\u201d (Jude 11-12a).\n\nSo who were those guys? In their own way, each was a religious phony. Cain thought he could make up his own way to worship God, and became a killer (Genesis 4). Balaam was a false prophet-for-hire, just in it for the money (Numbers 22). Korah was a Levite who thought he could do a better job of leading Israelite religious services than Moses (Numbers 16). \n\nIn sharp contrast, Jesus said the greatest among His followers should be servant of all (Matthew 23:11), so a minister\u2019s first duty is to feed and care for the congregation, not draw a paycheck or play church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alas...I guess it up to me, Asian American guy, to put in the proper corrections. Unbeknown to you, Miss Thrope, racism has part of every day life since the dawn of time and practice by every single culture, color and whatever. Your own forefathers practiced racism as did mine's. You are in no boat to judge. And like it or not, our nation was founded on Euro-Christian culture and sure, most white people were racists back then. But then so were everyone else. You forget the blacks sold blacks into slavery. Atlantic slave trade would have been impossible without black slave traders racking in the money. Explorers who named names get the credit. Everybody knows that. First black slaves were not slaves but indentured and most were freed later on. Some of them ended up owning black slaves themselves! Still exploiting old myths?? History is politically incorrect, Miss Thorpe. Since bloodlines of racist lies within our blood, who are we to judge white folks today??", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) Confirming the brethren (clarifying the Church\u2019s teaching) is a fundamental role of the successor to Peter. If \u201che doesn't need to\u201d means it is not his job, then you are in error.\n\nIf \u201che doesn't need to\u201d supposes there is no bona-fide question, the numerous articles in every Catholic media about conflicting interpretations that are diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive contradict you.\n\n2) While there may be a variety of opinions on a matter of doctrine, once the matter is decided these less-than-magisterial opinions count for naught. That one cannot validly remarry without an annulment is a settled matter, which renders putative remarriages of that kind sinful.\n\nDoctrinal development builds, not reverses. That is the principle of non-contradiction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not just American Catholicism, it's Irish/Anglo Catholicism. This trend can also be seen in how the child abuse problem was handled. It was all about laws and how to get around them. Mental reservation was the coping strategy to maintain the facade that all was perfectly fine in the Catholic kingdom. If any kind of discernment had had any value at all, things would have been very different. Unfortunately, discernment was not a highly valued spiritual skill in Anglo seminaries....and neither was truth or transparency.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jones has a shtick, and it makes money from the viewers who like to get turned on by his hate speech. He's basically just an actor, living in character, spouting ludicrous conspiracies to juice up his base. He knows it's an act, he said so during his divorce proceedings last month. I would have no problem with him living in his tiny alt-far far far right hole if it wasn't for his comments about Sandy Hook. That brought him down to Westboro Baptist Church level of despicable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's make proper assumptions, lest we get off on the wrong foot. \n\nFirst of all, the Church is not essentially a non-profit institution. That is only a secondary categorization, for the purpose of organization vis a vis the government and its rules for incorporation and taxation. The Church is essentially the Bride of Christ who enjoys mystical union with him -- a metaphysical reality that is reflected, however hazily, in the sacrament of marriage. Even if you are talking about the legal organization of the \"Church\", you need to make clear which Church (denomination, parish, etc.) you are referring to, and you need to cite the wording of such articles or by-laws that bind it.\n\nThe nasty word \"discrimination\" did not always have a negative connotation. It used to be a common understanding that a \"discriminating customer\" was one who knew the value of fine products and was commended for his/her good taste. Homosexual \"marriage\" is not a fine product, but rather a cheap counterfeit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bishops really need to have an open discussion of what \"pro-life\" means and the link between poverty and the abortion rate. Many Catholics voted for Trump because of the Supreme Court but we know that judges appointed by Republicans recently upheld Roe vs. Wade.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So now we alter \"ascended into heaven\"? Ascended, but changed directions? Of course, this is all just complete nonsense as it is based on the childish belief that heaven is a physical location somewhere in the universe. Might as well populate the place with Zeus and Odin while we are at it. The notion heaven occupies a physical address in the universe ranks right up there with the idea that god is an old guy with a flowing white beard. Surely you aren't putting forth such elementary-school nonsense as being a part of Catholic theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, for the moment.\n\nWe both understand that in the long run - as unpleasant as it may be for us - the Holy Spirit protects the Church from Maltese bishops, Borgia popes, and the NCR.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish those employees seeking justice from church affiliated hospitals to expect nothing and be shocked if they land on the winning side. Religions teach about social justice but in their workplaces seek to find all possible paths to thwart its existence if that is in their best interest.\nAs a person who was party in a labor dispute in a Catholic school, I learned well how our board of trustees sought to foil every effort we made to seek bargaining for a satisfactory contract. The employer refused to bargain, brought persons even religious across our picket line to replace us. \nYears later they were found in contempt of eleven counts of violation of state labor law. Fortunately most of us had found much better jobs in the private sector and for that I personally am today extremely grateful.\nI won economically but suffered the loss of trust that a religious institution really knows what social justice is. I would never work for them again and counsel others not to as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The common thread is that Theocratic countries are down with murdering gay people. Nigeria is half Islam, 40% Christian, and 10% indigenous beliefs. I'm betting it is not the indigenous portion that let to the anti-gay laws, and considering Christian missions have been actively pushing anti-gay rhetoric in many African nations http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/world/africa/04uganda.html it is just as likely that they are responsible for the laws. \n\nThe objective fact is Theocracies are never good for a given portion of the population. If the 1st Amendment didn't protect us from the the Family Resource Council and their ilk of \"Christianity\" we would also be a Theocracy on that list.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What about Catholics like me, who are disgusted with the Trad voices who insist I must vote for the pro life issue or else I'm a baby killer, and also the Prog voices who insist I must vote for open borders, or else I'm a racist bigot?\n\nI'm doubly victimized! I need two priests and perhaps a brother, and perhaps a video by fr. Pavone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What the Pope is doing is to get rid of the strong control that those clerics have on their followers and reverse the situation where it is the congregation that defines what services they NEED from them. Pope Francis has the courage to follow up on his goal to remove the evil of Fundamentalism in the religion he represents so that other extreme religions may do the same. It took courage to come out with such a bold statement seen by his staff as \"radical\". He is courageously rejecting those cardinals for their hypocrisy and unwillingness to give up their rigid and unchristian-like rigidity and control over their congregations. That unwillingness to give up the reigns of cruel and merciless stone-age dogmas is what is causing members to leave the church in droves. Francis is espousing the golden rule in his efforts to bring peace to the world. He is against power that is in Fundamentalism . He decries the rampant hostilities and is fighting for the adoption of the real truth, Love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Bishop Gumbleton, for another inspiring homily. That the woman at the well became St. Photine in the Greek Church and St. Svetlana in Russia, was a real revelation to me! And thank you for your courage in speaking out about opening the priesthood to women. I can't help thinking that having some women in Catholic Church leadership would be a boon in taking on our problems with the sexual abuse crisis. Women often are more collaborative, and they also know how to clean house!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You misunderstand the Gospel.\n\nMartyrdom is love. But there are many forms of it. There's red martyrdom and then there's the white martyrdom of everyday life. Little Yeses when we want to say no..and little no's when we want to say yes to something. \n\nObedience to the moral laws of God is also love, which may require us setting aside or better aligning our desires with His will (a form of dying to ourselves). \n\nAccepting natural suffering (the will of God) is love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Destroy right reason and one destroys civilisation. Given the corruption of basic rational truths these days, i.e. Christian truth, the trajectory seems well and truly set. People are losing the facility to reason. The only question is whether the tipping point has been passed. Talk about flying over the Cuckoo Nest. \n\nMaranatha - Veni Domine Jesu", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Morality is what dictates right and wrong. Legislation dictates what is legal and illegal. As Christians we must first understand what is right and wrong by our morality which can be found in our faith. So yes, you can break the law and still be morally good or right. The easy example is that it is legal to commit an abortion but our Christian faith still would consider it immoral. With this understanding we need to ask what does our faith determine to be moral in response to each citizen's unique circumstances.... Don't forget Jesus was executed because he was found to be a criminal by the legal system of the day. So being a criminal doesn't by definition make you good or bad, right or wrong. That is a question for morality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You do realize that you are disparaging a collection of over 1 billion people? \nShow me any group of 1 billion humans and I will show you examples of wonderful charity and love, and unspeakable evil. \nHold those responsible who are guilty. Show understanding and charity to the vast majority of Catholics smeared by association.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because it's a thing Obama did. These people's minds are overcome with irrational hatred. If he professed that Roe v Wade should be overturned and Christian prayer be mandated in public schools, they'd fight against him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "http://www.crisismagazine.com/2017/accompaniment-never-names-sin#.WS21Zw8o-DI.facebook\n\n\"If naming the reality of sin is incompatible with our pursuit of \u201caccompanying\u201d fellow Catholics, then our claim that we are accompanying is itself an unreality, a sham. Such false forms of \u201caccompaniment\u201d as described above cannot\u2014must not\u2014win the day.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The teachings on the Trinity are agreed-to for unity of belief and worship within the Church. They are to aid us in this world, there is no orthodoxy test-for the next. If you are ignoring charity for these issues you may just go to Hell. Such beliefs are not worth killing for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "?\n I think thee protests too much Father Reese.\nFolks like Banon cannot even claim POW status as confederate soldiers as Roman Catholic poets Fr John Bannister Tabb and Sidney Lanier. Never was taught them by my Jesuit college profs but Lanier was brilliant with poetical theory. They erred but they were time and culture bound.\nYour Mr Bannon and Mr Gorka CHOOSE to associate themselves with the entire spectrum of alt right folks. \nDid they not read \"Anne Frank's Diary\" ?\nDid they not go and see \"Shoah\" or \"Shindler's List\"?\nDid they not read Alan Paton 's \"Cry the Beloved Country\"?\nDid they not read Toni Morrison's\n \"Beloved\"?\nTom Merton's writings?\nJohn Howard Griffin's \"Black Like Me\"?\nDid they not read Jean Vanier?\nThe list goes on and on as how as educated white males they could have chosen to expand their vision and perspective.\nThey choose to support hate.\n\nThese two won't go away but I hope some day a version of the Nuremberg Trials will put them in their place.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The document is a transparent deceit, a studied lie. (Isn't lying a sin? Oh, well! As long as it is done for Jesus, I suppose it's acceptable. )", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most posters here are immune to Sacred Scripture because they are post-Christian in their thinking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True but according to Jesus and others that is the WAY, certainly not something I can claim I excel at, but I have faith it is the right thing to do. Though I must admit I have been failing recently. Hopefully your path finds you in better stead.\n\nI guess I have always steered more towards the non-literal side as I fear distortion from humans with motives (ex. not all Gospels were included). Many non-Christians, such as Kabir and Ramakrishna have come closer to God realization than 99.9% of Christians; but they would not believe it was through faith in Jesus. So if they were just like Jesus how could they be excluded? \n\nOf course I also believe God is in everything and not a man overseeing us. I also worry when peoples faith comes from fear; whether that be fear of God's vengeance, non-believers, Hell or whatever. In my heart I believe too many conservative believers tend towards this spectrum and it pulls them further from their true hearts and God etc. A Sufi saying", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "White Catholic entitlement is a tough issue to beat in the American Catholic educational setting. The only thing in my life I have found perhaps somewhat similar in growing up Catholic...I graduated from the very Carroll College MSW cites above, was White Irish Catholic entitlement. It's tough to get whites to see they practice tribalism, and it's tougher to get Catholics to admit it. I've never quite understood why that is so tough for Catholics to grasp when our parish history is cluttered with parishes serving specific nationalities and sometimes within blocks of each other. I hoped Catholic colleges would be less ethnic, and they were on the student level, but not on the level where the policies and academic programs were generated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've thought for a very long time you consider NCR com boxes your personal apostolate. I'ts like you will get more OD brownie points for chastising progressive liberal heretics' than run of the mill Catholics. I certainly can see where there is more adrenaline rush for you on this site than the other NCR, but when you've been reduced to pretending you don't know \"who or what an ed hu is\" you may want to consider another playground. Your obsession with this one is eating at your soul.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal DiNardo said he had \u201cbigger fish to fry\u201d early on when Francis reached out to remarried divorcees than worry about Francis\u2019 declaration. There is a moral problem with Cardinals in Burke et al refusing Eucharist to some politicians\u2014that\u2019s really judgmental. In addition, gays are not the luxury of civility but raging dogmatism. NOW divorce is ok, but other outdated human sexuality and women priests are not\u2014judgmental is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You draw your brush too broadly if you believe that \"Gerson's God\"(particularly the Catholic one and the Baptist one) supports abortion or anti-capital punishment, just to name a couple of issues which don't match up to your interpretation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems that when I read articles such as this, it is the author, who is reading its thoughts into this...\n\nAlthough the list is multifarious I have some thoughts;\n\n1. The church is not what it says it is.\n\n2. The church uses many phrases which seem manufactured; e.g. 'the Word of God'. \n\n3. The church's doctrines and dogmas are representative of a time when the world was deemed static and unchanging.\n\n4. The church's beliefs of the first few centuries are accepted as proofs despite evidence to the contrary.\n\n5. The church labels. Gays are called objectively disordered. Contraception which Catholics use is called 'intrinsic evil'. Add many, maybe all of the paramount social issues of the day, and the church opposes them despite the preponderance acceptance by the flock.\n\n6. The church is becoming increasingly irrelevant and distancing itself from our concerns.\n\n7. The bishops don't listen or truly care.\n\n8. Truth matters...science seeks truth, religion does not has belief", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ratzinger was and remains a dyed in the wool leftist. You don't see him as such in today's world because you progressives have become so extremist that rationality is no longer possible.\n\nMSW a \"Trad\"? In what universe? Clearly you have no understanding whatsoever of Traditional Catholicism.\n\nDemocratic Socialism is still nothing more more than legalized thievery. You can repackage it to fool the unthinking man all you want, but forcibly taking what doesn't belong to you doesn't become morally acceptable just because you plan to help others, even if you don't line your own pockets first. \n\nKeeping the murder of innocents legal because you're unsure how to go about supporting them is extremist, irrational, and evil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trad, your weakness is actually the same weakness our leadership and many Orthodox Jews have had throughout the ages. That is, that you are more interested with what sexist men have contrived, from clearly opposing scripture writings to what they have contrived, than being interested in actually seeking obvious truth from what the scriptures did genuinely state. \n\nI did not interpret the Exodus' scripture regarding Passover. The directions do not call for separating women out & many Jewish traditions- old & new -do not do this either. In fact, Exodus teaches those who do not take part are condemned to remain in slavery. There have been, throughout the ages, many different Jewish Religions, i.e. Pharisees & Sadducees, like the many different Christian Religions now. \n\nIf you read Exodus rather than ask any man's opinion of Exodus, you will see that I am correct. All members had to take part of the sacrificial lamb in order to be freed and travel with the community out of Israel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Elaine, your citations a fabulous example of the straw man fallacy. Father George Searle defines socialism (1) as rejecting any morality beyond the popular will, and (2) rejecting private property as intrinsically evil, and then rejects this two-headed straw man as non-Catholic. There are many different ways in which avowed socialists define themselves, and none of these fit Searle's definition. I suggest Searle is indeed harping back to the cold war duality I referenced in my last post.\n\nI should have added there that Capitalism and Socialism, understood as economic models (contrary to Searle) are really a continuum; and critically, one must distinguish between socialism as a means of production (which can then towards limiting property rights) and socialism as equitable distribution of wealth, as social justice.\n\nI repeat Catholic social teaching is highly socialistic in this later sense. \n\nEnough, my dear Elaine. I am doing all the heavy lifting, and you are throwing verbal pebbles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\nWe'll disagree about whether teaching about human sexuality is central to the Gospel; but I readily acknowledge that human sexuality is central to each person's self-awareness, and of her or his relationships with God and with other people. Birth control, pre-marital sex, homosexuality, masturbation: few people get out of this life without wrestling with one or more of these.\nThe combox is not a place to do the history; but while Christian dissent about the sexual teachings of the church burst into public view at the 1930 Lambeth Conference, the theological, biblical, historical and sociological work that preceded it had been going on for at least a century. That may still seem \"recent\" in a church that is 2000 years old; but 2000 years from now it won't seem so recent and people will wonder why it took so long. \nThe church has a rich treasury of research and experience from which to draw as it reflects on human sexuality; but it is boxed in by the false idea that it can't change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My maternal Dutch ancestors, emigrating in 1640, who helped to settle Brooklyn, probably did have means and merits since they were quite successful in (whatever this country was called then). My paternal Polish ancestors who settled in Pennsylvania in the 19th century to work the in coke industry had few merits beyond strong backs, a staunch Catholic faith and the recipe for some kind of magical potato dumplings I haven't had since my dad died in 1962. \n\nLook at the MILLIONS of people (native-born Americans and immigrants) who educated themselves, worked three jobs to save money and became examples of \"American success.\" Who is without merit? \n\nHow do you account for God blessing you to be born a citizen? Birth is not the only pathway to citizenship. As for merit, I'm going to leave that to God's merciful judgment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In this case the box happens to be the Catholic Faith. Ordination is incorporation into a sacerdotal priesthood whose primary function is as priest in the Holy Sacrifice.\n\nThe papal Bull declaring Anglican orders invalid does not even mention \u201ca call to serve\u201d - no one doubts that many Anglican priests have served their flocks - but deals solely with the power to offer sacrifice, the essential difference between the ordained and unordained. Were service to the Church the goal, there would be no WOC.\n\nIt is no accident that every sect or denomination which ordains women has a defective Eucharistic theology.\n\nOur genders were divinely created as iconic of a truth which is being submerged in the West.\n\nThe Eucharistic prayers clearly shows that the presider is saying and doing what Christ said and did to bring into our time and place the eternal reality of Christ\u2019s one sacrifice. Were your interpretation correct, ordination would be unnecessary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a whole new twist on WWJD!\n\nWould Jesus molest that 14-year-old? You are damn right he would!\n\nGOP, party of family values everybody.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now it's difficult to determine what if any role religion plays in politics.\u2014Ken Briggs.\n\nReally. Religion through the Way of the Crucified Christ teaches it is truth that ought to determine politics, rather than politics. Fact-checkers have a clear preference between Hillary and The Donald.\n\nHow could people who are ostensibly the bearers of strait-laced morality vote for a wheeler-dealer who seems to have his way with women, denigrates non-whites and cheats sub-contractors out of their agreed-upon compensation, among other things?\u2014Ken Briggs.\n\nHow that happens is by letting church politics (Roe v Wade) override the truth that with The Donald at the helm, the nuclear holocaust would be in the hands of a mercurial narcissist, potentially destroying the born and the unborn, both.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Okay...LGBTQIA??\n\nPlease believe me, I do not intend to sound snippy. But how many more letters are we going to add to this appellation? And I looked it up in the Urban Dictionary and even the University of CA, Davis....The \"Q\" stands for \"Queer\"? I thought that was a taboo word now. And what is \"Intersex\"?\n\nAnd can anyone tell me what equal \"treatment\" the LGBTQIA are looking for at Catholic U?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have witnessed several denominations agonize over whether women and gay people should be welcomed as full members in their church. I cannot help but admire such open discussions with allowance for contributions from their members. After all, doesn't the Spirit speak through each one of us. Or do we think that the Spirit only speaks through bishops and cardinals (and pope).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One reality that can no longer be avoided is the scarcity of vocations. My impression is that the patriarchal hierarchy of the Church is the root cause of this pastoral disgrace. The sensible thing to do is the allow Christ to call women to the priesthood and the episcopate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find Michael Sean Winters use of the word fascist very telling. He uses so many ideas that are purely religious without any scientific backing and then calls those who demonstrate against religious ideas as fascist. If anything Catholics belong to an authoritarian religion. We have a hierarchy that swears allegiance to their bosses rather than to their God. Their is no policy of democratic election even of the leadership. So, be careful, Mr. Winters of your misuse of words that are meant to inflame rather than to reach out to solve any problem...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus' death was for the sake of politics? I can die peacefully, now, because I've heard everything.\nWhile I think we can agree that anything Jesus did was of infinite merit (we could have been saved by his napping, had God so pleased), Go - Infinite, Immutable, and Ineffable knew from all eternity the necessity and manner of His death. Blood sacrifice is tied to the remission of sin in the OT and Jesus, as the fulfillment of the law, had to suffer and die.\n\"As Jesus got further and further along in his ministry, he knew that there were those plotting his death, even among his chosen followers.\"\nI hope you didn't mean this because, again, He knew from all eternity that he must die - that His Blood was the required sacrifice for the redemption of mankind. Jesus or the Father could have stopped the whole bloody process at any point, but the cup did not pass, the cross was not lifted, the angels did not relieve Jesus of his passion. For whatever reason, Jesus Blood was demanded.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding \"The phrase \"liturgy wars,\" unfortunate as that might be, crept into the discussion because liturgy became the subject not only of heated debate but also of a kind of ecclesial subterfuge in recent years.\"\n\nIt was sad that NCR couldn't resist carrying forward this use of violent language adjacent to the word that represents God's love for us in the Mass.\n\nI think NCR goes too quickly and too often for \"click counts\" and \"dust ups,\" seeking internet traffic. No doubt. \n\nI would think that a peace loving Catholic group could rise above use of such sensationalistic language, instead, it seems they gave in to lesser motives.\n\nPutting the word in quotes doesn't absolve NCR; that's just the cheap way, handy and obvious side-step. \n\nHumiliation is a necessary part of growing in humility, whether it's in an individual or in a news site such as NCR. \n\nLooking forward to growth here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\n\nActually, there are passages in the gospel that appear to represent dramatic conflicts introduced by the emergence of the Jesus movement.\n\nLuke 14:26\n\n\u201cIf any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.\"\n\nChristianity is a radical religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems that as long as the primal teaching by the Seventh-day Adventist church is that our salvation can be gone in a moment of weakness after a lifetime of effort, existential fear drowns out love. I am reminded of a teaching colleague privately offering back in the '60\u2019s, \u2018I just hope to meet Jesus after dying between two clean white sheets.\u2019\n\nFear is a many splendored thing among a great deal of Christianity. Seventh-day Adventism could well make a name for itself, without having to change its name or abandon Revelation 14, by proclaiming the everlasting gospel that our salvation is not of our selves, and thus utterly reliable as Paul explains in Romans 8 \u2026 \u2018I am persuaded that \u2026 [nothing] shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.\u2019\n\nImagine that hope loose in the world. Adventist educator and theologian Fritz Guy imagines it here https://www.andrews.edu/library/car/cardigital/Periodicals/Spectrum/2005_Vol_33/2_Spring_2005.pdf#page=18", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" Okay, robot, I get that you have a fixed script and appear to lack the ability to step outside the boundaries of your programming.\"\nYou have a problem following the dictates of logic. I even supplied to you the objection that would have done me in, had it been true, but you are oblivious to logic. Even robots are superior to you in that regard. You are the programmed one, dear ATF. \n\nYou say: \"I think we can only surmise God's will once we are past \"love God and love one another.\" So much of what the apostles remembered Jesus said was explained in cultural conditioned understanding and is limited to the knowledge of the time Jesus knew them.\" \n\nForget Catholicism; with the premise you just stated above, it's astounding you even call yourself Christian, for it's clear you don;t put much stock in the NT. I'll be counting sheep tonight, thinking of you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Prediction: there will be much talk about defying the law, but no one will be willing to go to jail for it.\n\nThe \"Dorothy days\" of Catholic civil disobedience are long gone. We are in the era of Catholic SJW keyboard activism, i.e., much talk about fascism and taking a stand, but no action.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fascism is the politics of identity. What you are ( Aryan, white, black, Muslim, christian etc) is more important that who you are ( a good person, smart, charitable). Thought control, newspeak and censorship. are how fascists enforce their own identity on others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "White Supremacy is the Catholic value for Catholics like the Kid. They would never consider themselves overtly racist, just better and entitled to the benefits they enjoy in a predominately white culture and white ethnic Church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "evil things like the kkk and others are no better than isis terrorists. KKK has hijacted the christian cross and maliciously perverted it by linking it with their evil hatred ideology. Those who steal religious symbols and flasify their meanings to the benefit of evil commit the worse kind of deed.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This opinion piece is laughable beyond words. How can the Globe publish such nonsense. \n\nI'll welcome the writer's perspective on the fate of Christians in every single muslim dominated country in the world. And there used to be some jews too... but 99% are long gone.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If by 'Christian' you mean hypocrites.\n\nEvangelicals threw their lot in with Trump.\n\nIf you back Trump, you can't claim to uphold 'christian values or ideals'.\n\nBacking Trump puts the lie to that claim from 'evangelicals'.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A pathetic heading, Catholic Louisiana Congressman ... maintains religious tribalism. Was the shooter, James T. Hodgkinson, RC?\nDid Catholic News Service highlight & identify Timothy McVeigh of the Okla. City bombing as RC?\nScalise as a Republican bent on making the poorer poor shouldn't be highlighted as Catholic. Matthew 24 has no impact evidently on Republican RCs like he. Embarrassment to the RCC such Republicans?\nSimply to report on the shooting of all victims of the violent act would have been appropriate. \nTo single out the Catholicity of one patently distorts the proper emphasis.\nWho are the supporters of guns in Americans? Republicans? RCs?\n\"Put back the sword\" of Jesus, even in self defense, doesn't register with RC politicians\nThey support the anti-life mainstream.\nWill Scales when he recovers become a partner with Gabby Giffords in diminishing, not expanding, gun access? I'm not holding my breath. \"Gun bless America.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am white and in favour of legal immigration.I guess that makes me a nazi, white supremacist, rapist, ummm what are the other buss words they use...I guess all of the above. Oh yeah I didn't say if I was Jewish, Christian, Muslim, or an Atheist. I just believe in the rule of law.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity was aggressive removed from pubic school but Islam has been welcomed with open arms. There is a huge hypocrisy by both the School board and Muslims. Just like animals, some religions are more equal than others", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "All of the interviewed retired on fat government pensions after years of drawing high end paychecks to pay for all of their toys. Prime example of the clowns infesting government agencies, i.e, law enforcement, privatized military, fire services, et. al. At the same time hating all other government employees, elected officials, liberals, non-christians or non-fundamentalist christians, while continuing to gain wealth by selling books, arms, survival goods, and real estate to those gullible fools subscribing to the sky-is-falling fear propaganda. Just the most recent escapism started back in the 1960s with the same fools invading the Redoubt areas to move back to the land until they overrun the area and move on as they created the same conditions they were fleeing from. All of it based on white supremacy, christian racism born and spread from the Old South. Too much money and too little sense.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Registered Christians\"??? Where do they register?? Regardless, what does this have to do with anything? Democrats aren't constantly touting their \"christian-ness\", like these hypocritical republican \"christians\" who don't give a damn about the people they are lying to - They only care about their wealthy donors. Not very \"christian\" of them, huh?!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Listen, Muslims are human just like the rest of us. But Islam teaches that infidels need to be killed or converted. Christians that use the bible to justify violence and hatred are not being Christian. Christianity teaches to love your enemy. Islam teaches to kill people that won't believe your way. Do you not see the difference or does that put a damper on your smoke screen?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Funny thing...If anyone were to ridicule the beliefs of any other religion, you would be horrified and leap to chastise.\n\nBut not Catholicism. What hypocrisy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "They should be charged and deported to their original home. Come in the legal way or go back. As well, there should be a Muslim tax to pay for all the atrocities of Christians that are killed in the name of Islam, the religion of peace.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "But if white people connect religion and science, then in a heartbeat Civil Beat would present a very perspective ridiculing Christian conservatives.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And how the usual suspects will post: what of the many, many, poor priests wrongfully accused? It's all those greedy lawyers doing! SNAP is bad! Elitist media! Let's blame the gays! Vatican II and liberal priests! It's all been fixed! It's anti-Catholic to criticize the church! \n\nThere, got that out of the way.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope is the Infallible leader of the Infallible Church. He and the other leaders of the Church, chosen by the Holy Spirit, have made it clear the clergy are what matters, not children. Therefore, we must accept their Moral Instruction, and recognize the Jesus Christ wants the Church to care for, protect, and comfort child abusing priests. The only other alternative would be to decide the Church is led by morally bankrupt scoundrels and the institution is perhaps no longer anything but a pathetic fraud. And that can't be the case, can it?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims have been murdering Christians and Jews for too many years with gutless politicians like Trudeau and Obama turning the other cheek to not offend Muslims. It's about time someone like President Trump stood up for the common man.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Given the huge amount of homosexual priests, Bishops and Cardinals, the position of the Church is dishonest and risible.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I hope none of you claim to be Catholic, lol. If you support Hilary or vote for Hilary you cannot be Catholic. Sorry culture warriors, the farce known as global warming and victimization of the poverty issue are not even in the same conversation as abortion or truth about homosexuality. Hilary has a deviant and evil record as well as her mistreatment of the women her husband Bill raped and molested. Trump was right on bringing Bill's sex-capades into the mix because Hilary supported him and dehumanized these women. Michael Winters is a dishonest \"Catholic\" and journalist, who needs an awakening. \nYou all need to properly form your consciences and actually learn your Catholic Faith, because reading this crap makes it pretty bleak for the future of the Church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A horde of vulgar homophobes nests in the social media, calling themselves \"orthodox Catholics\". Their \"arguments\" consist of (1) biblical and magisterial fundamentalism, (2) gibes more worthy of a lavatory wall than of a public forum. Very many of them are wrestling with their own sexuality and busily projecting their self-hatred onto chosen targets. Behind these internet blowhards lies another bigger and more dangerous horde, that of the everyday bullies who prey especially on innocent youth.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Are you advocating that \"bearing false witness\" by lying is perfectly acceptable to Christians? What is your evidence that the \"gays were deliberately trying to sabotage Phillips?\" Or, are you\"bearing false witness\" to make a political point?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A sexually abusing priest needs to be removed and if sick provided with specialist assistance within the legal implications of his acts.\nThat is a far cry from a \"sane\" Bishop who fails to remove, fails to advise the legal authority, fails to protect the children, fails his vocation, fails Christ.\nYour identification of the two is itself a perversity of minimal integrity.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Comparing Trump to Fascist figures from the 1930's is mostly a result of historical ignorance. \nBut it also can indicate the speaker suffers from Melodramatic Personality Disorder, a condition for which Catholic bloggers seem to be peculiarly at risk, characterized by high levels of theatricality, intellectual unseriousness and a penchant for colorful ritual.\n\nMPD is often coupled with Blame America First syndrome. (\"Central American gangs are killing people because the US makes them do it!\" \"Middle Eastern terrorists are killing people because the US makes them do it!\", etc.) The two conditions seem to be related.\n\nSurprised to see Newark-Tobin indulging, however tentatively, in this sort of hysterical nonsense. Thought he had some sense.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cI think the government has to do something.\u201d\n\nHow about this: remove all British forces from occupied Middle East lands, no more military invasions and occupation, no more assassinations, and mind your own business? I think it should work wonder. \n\nNow before everybody spill hatred on me, check history. Were there any Jihad attacks on the UK before 1990 when it was pretty much minding its own business? No. Were there any terror attacks on Spain, certainly a most Christian fundamentalist country? NO! Spain minds its own business. \n\nOh yes, blame the Internet for this attacks? Take your pick: a stupid mind or a sick mind.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Your comment ignores the fact that probably 90+% of US rapes and murders are committed by baptized and/or in-some-fashion nominal Christians. So I'm curious how you'd justify not deporting all these nominal Christians, too, given that this religion is so highly represented in the criminal demographic you note. Merely because they were born here? \n\n100% in favor of letting \"Christians be Christians in Christian countries.\" Problem is that too many of them clearly fail at it here in the USA. You're scapegoating. It's profoundly hypocritical.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This column is just lunacy. Not even worth rising to the bait.\n\nJust bear in mind gentle readers: Every time these SJW Catholics condemn Trump as a racist (and here, as a \"dictator\" -- the inflammation of the inflammatory language continues to progress), they are calling...\n\nEvery single Trump Voter a racist.\n\nThat is the Catholicism here at NCR.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sodomy was condemned by the Church and by saints as a grave evil, an abomination, one of the four sins that cries to heaven for vengeance. In Catholic civilization and culture people regarded sodomy with revulsion, and Catholic governments had sodomites put to death. People today talk about homosexual orientation, but that is misleading. Everyone is created by God to be sexual complimentary to the opposite sex, regardless of whether or not they are sexually attracted to the opposite sex. It is God's plan of creation and it is natural law. He made men and women to be suitable mates for each other. For people to behave in a sexual matter with others of the same sex in ways that are only appropriate for those of the opposite sex is contrary to the order of creation and to nature, and gravely offensive to God.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What scares the dickens out of gay marriage is not the gay sex but (which is natural for people born gay through epignetics, no one choses it) that no one is in charge. The Christ as bridegoom model has the hierarchy stand in for the husband with a subservient laity. No one is subservient in gay marriage and no one should be subservient in the Church either (except for the hierarchy - or have you forgetten Holy Thursday's washing of the feet already?).", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "An insane fundamentalist christian despot determined to destroy human rights in any form as a full member of the Republican Terrorist Traitor Party. Demanding the state and nation be turned into a theocracy joined with a Kakistocracy to form a Kleptocracy destroying the U.S. Constitution in all aspects. This traitor needs to be run out of government on a rail. His Hitlerian idealism is traitorous to every value found in our legal system based on Constitutional Law. Every voter who voted for this mental dysfunctionaly illiterate should be banned from ever voting again. The threat to the state and nation reaches volcanic proportions. Time for a Revolution starting with the defunding of all exemptions for religions to end their traitorous acts against humanity.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Many were great. Some were misogynists, adulterers or idiots, especially the Popes who ruled Rome and the Papal States for its profitability. Gregory slandered Mary Magdalene, thinking because she had seven demons exorcised from her (which is a poetic way of saying that she sought the Lord's help in overcoming the 7 deadly sins) that he called her a whore. She was not. Pope's can err and you know it - although those errors can be as pernicious. Of the Popes of the last 500 years, I would put Leo way above to both Pius IX and Pius X and certainly above Pope Alexander de Medici.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Alabama Evangelical Voters Don't Care How Many Underage Girls Roy Moore Molested-- Here's Why\nFrom rape to who got abortions, to how evangelical churches protected their pedophile molesters, one story emerged: Protect the 'Work' at all costs! The children who a pastor rapes are told to keep silent less they 'Hurt the Lord\u2019s Work.' And the children are blamed: 'Your skirt was too short! You led him astray!'\nThere's never any acceptance that a pervert walks among them.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "False equivalence. In fact, illiterately false equivalence.\n\nThe bishop objected to Voris' use of the word \"Catholic\" because he used it to advertise the site as Catholics publishing news. \n\nNCR has been perfectly clear that they use it to advertise as a newspaper publishing Catholic news, not necessarily all written by Catholics. NCR is not pretending to teach doctrine; they're doing journalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is definitely a stab in the back. The Catholic Church has done so much to engage with Jews, in fact open and blatant anti-antisemitism is no longer the norm for the church. Isn't it enough to have stopped openly preaching condemnation and hatred for the Jews? Must we now confront every little abuse and atrocity committed in the past?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gosh, didn't I mention the Sabbath and the Lord's Day? That would be Saturday and Sunday in the vernacular. We get Sunday off because of Christianity. Not long ago we worked a half day on Saturday. Jews, of course, always had Saturday off.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who cares? A Christian University requires student athletes to obey loyalty rituals. \n\nNow if Trump wanted public schools to bring prayers back, that's a problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A wee bit more than 2/3rds-- around 3/4ths counting those who believe in God but are not Christians. \n\nIs that answer satisfactory?! (I am thinking it won't be-seems to be a desperate clutching at straws going on)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW,\nI wonder how many of those Catholic clerics you quoted voted for Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, the bullies are the Catholic hierarchs who say to their employees, \"You must live according to our religious beliefs, whether or not you share them\". You are demonstrating something that I have believed for some time, that to conservatives, \"I believe in the freedom of the individual\" carries the rider, \"but only when the individual is doing what I approve of\". Or, to put that more simply, the conservative says \"I do not believe in the freedom of the individual\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank god the people of Douglas County came to their senses. Stop Betsy DeVos and her clan from siphoning off public money to fund their Christian madrasas!! Moving in the right direction!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Catholic asked to support seminary formation with donations, I am insulted by the men (that is, the hierarchs) who consider women as sub-human (that is, not created in God's image and likeness) and refuse them one of the Seven Sacraments. When women are ordained to priesthood I'll untie my purse strings. I'm not holding my breath and my bishop shouldn't either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a shame, especially since more Scripture readings is one of the reasons given that the OF is an improvement on the EF...let our priests can choose to hide bits of the Scripture from their parishioners. No wonder some Protestants don't think Catholics respect the Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My view is not a extreme Catholic view...it is the Catholic view. I believe what the Church teaches and what she has always taught. My personal beliefs are of no merit and no consequence.\nThe emphasis on the mass as meal is an innovation since VII. Recent popes have emphasized this aspect at the expense of the much more important aspect of sacrifice. So much so that many regular churchgoing Catholics are frankly scandalized when you tell them the mass is first and primarily a sacrifice and only secondarily (distant second) a meal In fact, traditionally the Church has taught that the mass has four ends: adoration, reparation, petition, and thanksgiving. You will note that \"having a meal with all your friends\" does not appear. It is argued that the meal aspect of the mass was emphasized (and the sacrificial aspect downplayed) so that our protestant brethren would feel more comfortable at mass. How'd that go? Also see Trent Session 22 for elaboration on mass as a sacrifice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a cradle Catholic who made the mistake of going to an Anglo-Catholic Church for a while because I found it more Catholic than what the Church I was brought up in had become since Vatican II. Alas, 'women priests' put an end to all that.\nI notice that you are no longer taking this discussion seriously rather you are using it to try and score cheap points at my expense, I am therefore for the sake of civility, not going to continue with this back and forth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hello Rod Sheridan,\n\nYou mention Alexandre Bissonnette and Marc Lepine and Timothy McVeigh and say \"there are many Christian fundamentalists who use their religion as a motivation for mass killings.\"\n\nUm, hello?\n\nTimothy McVeigh was not a Christian fundamentalist. He did not yell out praise for Jesus as he killed. He was motivated by anger against the US government in areas such as gun ownership rights and US law enforcement against gun owners.\n\nMarc Lepine was not a Christian fundamentalist. He did not yell out praise for Jesus as he killed. He was motivated by anger and hatred against feminists and women, having been raised in a home where, routinely, his Muslim father violently beat his mother.\n\nAlexandre Bissonnette was not a Christian fundamentalist. He did not yell out praise for Jesus as he killed. He was motivated by anti-immigrant sentiment and had expressed praise for Jack Layton, the NDP, The Bloc Quebecois, Richard Dawkins and Marie LePen.\n\nCare to try again?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you.\nMatthew 25:34-45 is my favorite passage of the entire Bible, Jewish or Christian Scriptures -- and I'm Jewish. In 12 verses, Jesus of Nazareth sums up the entirety of the Jewish prophets' social justice message.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I only hope that we Catholic women and allies can do the same for future generations of the church. Whether it is midnight or close to dawn on the journey to justice, only heaven knows. What I do know is that we are needed to take our small shift on the long night watch for Catholic women's equality.\"\n\nIf we look at the fight against slavery, women's suffrage, or civil rights, the march towards justice can take a very long time. Often, movement is so slow it seems nonexistent. Nonetheless, the fact that reactionary forces within the church spend so much time belittling the campaign for equality for women shows that they know they are losing the argument.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Allan Ross believes it's mere coincidence that nearly all suicide bombers espouse Islamic beliefs, that it's mere coincidence that not one Islamic country across the globe has yet embraced constitutional democracy, and that it's mere coincidence that Islam is unable to peacefully coexist anywhere with people of any other religion, whether Christian, Jewish, Hindu, or Buddhist.\n\nIt's all just a series of coincidences.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Me, you, everyone. You must question your belief in a religion if it incites violence based off ones interpretation. \n\nChristian\u2019s blame all Muslims for how a small % interpret the Koran. The religious right follows their interpretation of the bible written by a man supposedly from God\u2019s words; yet the same religious right make mock Mormons for Joseph Smith\u2019s \u201cvision\u201d which led to the creation of the Book of Mormon. Westboro Baptist Church protest of military funerals, anti-gay picketing, and protest Jewish institutions, all under the name of God. \n\nA supreme being is seen in many forms, God, Buddha, Allah, Krishna, and each has zealots. If there is a supreme being, which one is it? Who is right and who is wrong? And as man, who are we to decide when we cannot even agree what \u201cour\u201d good book says?\n\nMan makes God, but man can never live up to Gods expectation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By your definition than, all religions are cults - it had to start somewhere, with someone. The practice of polygamy was done for many reasons, none of which are the sick, twisted reasons in your mind. See how far back and who exactly practiced polygamy and I'm sure you'd be enlightened to know that it happened way before the church was organized. You probably even have ancestors who practiced polygamy. The church did not rewrite, or translate, the bible to suit their own needs. The church uses the widely used KJV version. Every other version has been rewritten to suit the needs of the interpreter. Charles Manson and David Koresh did reprehensible things to people. Please site examples of what the Mormons have done that are similar to the aforementioned. You have no idea how much good the Mormons have done in the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pre-V2 Catholic, Bible-challenged. Never learned to fling Scripture at people. Oh well....anyhow, you would have needed to re-read the bit about that beam in your own eye needing plucking first to get where you were, and that is good. You had the chance to learn something anyhow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You continue your inane -- and that is the proper word for your view -- position that an unmarried man has better knowledge of what married life is than actual married couples. \n\nWhen \"the successor to Peter\" is talking through his hat, then it is quite proper to reject what he says.\n\nAs, in fact, you do. You reject Laudato Si' apparently in toto, and at least part of Evangelium Vitae. So clearly your sole criterion for determining is something is part of the authentic magisterium is \"do I agree with it\", which is the definition of \"cafeteria Catholic\". Stop blathering that we should follow the pope since YOU do not do it. \n\nYou tell us to take Eichmann as our model when you say that we should not question the magisterium. I notice that you do not actually address this. You p!ss and moan about my bringing in Eichmann, yet you do not say \"following orders is not the way to behave\", which is the clear response to what I say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Comments wow. I thought my fellow Catholic people are anti-abortion? Hillary and her VP are pro abortion. I hate politics but there is only one choice in this election. I would highly recommend that everyone pray about the choice anyone decides to make. The damage may already be done to the USA. If not whomever wins will make serious changes that will last for many decades to come", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They had better figure out something fast, lest some ad orientem, Holy Communion-on-the-tongue people return and start practicing Catholicism there. Good heavens, they might even offer Catholic catechism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You felt sorry for the Cardinal? looks like he was having a great time to me! how can he sit by the abortionist Hillary and look so happy? MONEY! Our church has been bought and paid for with greed for money. The good Cardinal should have done exactly what donald trump did and denounce her on many issues especially on her horrible comments on catholicism and abortion!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I attended Catholic grade school and high school we were assured that there was no pressing need to study scripture or theology because the Church had already done that on our behalf. With a great deal of confidence the priests and sisters told us that if we took the Baltimore catechism to heart and lived accordingly everything would be fine. It was enough to know that we were in the one true Church and other Christians were beyond the pale. We were not concerned with defending our faith or debating the merits with non believers who were likely to go to hell. It was a much simpler time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The college president mentioned in a speech that a student union group on campus had been seen to be involved in three negative things, immature hazing and bigoted bullying and monetary shenanigans, \"about hazing and bullying and treating the most vulnerable students with disdain (mocking Muslim students and) financial malfeasance.\"\n\nHello?\n\nWere the three things true? Did the three things happen?\n\nIf the answer is \"yes\", then sadly what Saint Michael's College faculty and librarians are doing sounds a bit like what the Catholic Church did for too many year with pedophilia within its walls: Sweep under the rug, keep hush-hush, rearrange the deck chairs.\n\nIt sounds like the college president there is a welcome ray of bright and disinfecting sunshine. They should give him a medal and a promotion, not a letter of whining.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "the building is important but one can live without it. clerics are important but one can, and has lived and thrived in the Lord for centuries without ''clerical input.''. what a parish cannot live without is a community made of members who seek the Lord, and to love one another as themselves. we don't need ornate, expensive 'attachments' or clerics to achieve that. we the community are loving mothers,,fathers\u2026sisters \u2026.brothers..friends\u2026.grandparents etc etc who see and seek to find the Lord in themselves and in community. ornate buildings and clerics are an after thought and not a christian but a constantinian add-on that is at the basis of the ruin and perdition of the 'church ' of today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I frankly don't really care if you're a Christian or not. Your religion is your business so long as you don't try to force it on others. I have many good friends, including my wife, who are Christians and are great people. However, I know others who profess to be Christians and are real creeps. I include our President Trump in the latter category. \n\nYou, as you've stated, had parents of \"the 60s era hippie \"generation\" and clearly had an unpleasant childhood. I'm sorry that happened to you. However, please remember most of us who are of that generation are very different from your parents. You condemn an entire generation based on a very limited sample. \n\nNegative posts.....\"\"just about anti-everything I believe in\"....well, we do, indeed, have different perspectives. \"bygone generation\"....I presume you realize Donald Trump is seventy years old and a part of my generation,....not yours. Also, remember, Trump got 37% of the Millennial Vote and Clinton 60%....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. That is not what I am saying. Let me say what I am saying.\n\nI am saying one cannot pass on what they do not have. The Apostles were given the commission. They then passed that on to their successors. Their successors in turn passed it on and so on to the present day. The Apostles passed on their office to no women that I am aware and neither did their successors. There were break way Christian sects that did attempt to ordain women, but every time they did the groups and the practice were condemned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think I am called to be a priestess-just an ordained Catholic Priest. \n\nI will repeat the truth & facts again. There exists TWO-Only Two ex cathedra statements in our church & they both are regarding Mary. \n\nThe other teachings brought up are considered Dogmas but aren't also ex cathedra teachings. They also are not contested by any Catholics because they are supported in the Gospels rather well & are accepted by the vast majority of Catholics without having a needed vote of all bishops officially stating them as true or the pope declaring them ex cathedra. Women's Priestly ordination might be voted to be allowed by our bishops in this age & would have possibly been so in the past too. The law & tradition has never been fully accepted as correct, even by all bishops, in any age & it has no Gospel support which is why JPII was told he has no foundation to considered it an ex cathedra dogma & why he did not make it one. Our teachings have changed in the past already.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your answer is a dodge!\n\nLast Sunday I went to an Episcopal service celebrated by a woman priest, and she was terrific. I've encountered lovely Catholic priests, but they're the exception not the rule. There's simply no credible argument for keeping half the human race out of the priesthood, especially when there's a priest shortage, the US is importing priests from abroad--depriving less privileged countries of priests, and there's a shortage of vocations. It comes down to arbitrariness. At least you're honest and admit you just like the status quo and don't resort to specious arguments about how Jesus picked 12 male disciples therefore...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like it or not, Christianity has both overtly and subtly permeated Western culture for two thousand years. Western culture cannot be separated from Christianity. From the outset, Christianity was informed by Greek philosophy, so these things are not as unrelated as you might think. And believing that Christianity is simply a \"male-centrist, death-worshipping, cannibalistic religion\" shows a lack of any real knowledge or critical thought on the subject.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is just another way the Catholic church is out of step with reality. This man has been a loyal deacon and to not allow him to continue functioning as a deacon after he remarried is unbelievable. The rule to not marry again needs to be eliminated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"for everyone of mine.\" [sic] -- yes! correct: you have not found ONE.\n.\nLOL- Nice quote! That one came from Madison when he wrote a letter to William Bradford, discussing the persecution of the Baptists and Presbyterians from the other Christian sects! In that same letter, he states:\n\"The Sentiments of our people of Fortune & fashion on this subject [of practicing any Christian denomination we choose] are vastly different from what you have been used to [in England]. ****That liberal catholic and equitable way of thinking as to the rights of Conscience, which is one of the Characteristics of a free people and so strongly marks the People of your province is but little known among the Zealous adherents to our Hierarchy.***** (Emphasis mine)\n.\nYour little section was about the growing power of the clergy in those battles- it is NOT a refutation that Madison et al believed in the power of their Christian faith (which he states in THAT SAME LETTER) as their guiding light. Whoops!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd like to share a comment written in response to the article \"Clarity beyond clericalism: Bishop Long at the Royal Commission\" published in the Australian on-line journal \"Eureka Street.\" The article elicited this response from one reader, who referred to Catholic schools:\n\n\"If there were a significant risk of abuse, then enrolments would have fallen off dramatically. They haven't... so I conclude this is a witch-hunt...and not a realistic assessment of any widespread problem.\"\n\nTo describe Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse as an unrealistic \"witch-hunt\" addressing a manufactured problem sounds bizarre to me. However, this commentator is not alone; there are others.\n\nThose of us who believe Church reform is sine qua non need to be talking to these folks. Conversation can be a slow process, but if there is no meeting of minds, no willingness to listen, we're dead in the water.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read elsewhere of David Zubik meeting with young RCs at a \"Theology on Tap\" session and he expressed that his great concern was getting people into heaven.\nThe problem isn't the physical structure but the internal structure, a theology that is thread barren.\nJesus needs to be reincarnated again. It didn't take.\nIf the Father sent him once, why not again?\nEspecially when what has been wrought in his name is in shambles.\nMaybe Jesus' first trip was so distasteful that it's become a mission impossible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So was Aristotle, Plato? What about Egyptian Kings/Pharaohs? The kings of Persia, Babylon? All ancient history filled with anthropological stories etched into walls, hieroglyphs, stones, sculptures, and manuscripts. Does that mean ancient Jewish tradition on recounting the first two pair of humans (one male and female) is merely non-historical? Or, did the human race stem from the first man and woman on earth? The recounting of the event in the Old Testament (Judeo-Christian) tells about the first two human beings for which the whole human race stems from. And is historical (actually occurred - real people.) Or, do you believe the human race did not stem from a man and a woman?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Yummy, yummy, yummy. I've got Jesus in my tummy.\" Lyrics from 50 years ago. I don't recall if the song's intent was sarcastic ridicule, or meant to convey the concept to toddlers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's either St. John Paul, John Paul the Great or Pope John Paul. St. Pope is redundant. It's also St. Pio or Padre Pio but not St. Padre Pio. The cult of John Paul started with his youth and vigor, giving way as he aged to counter-revolution - a return to moral certainty in a complicated age. That is a kind of moral childishness. Pope Francis upset that certainty, hence the rebellion. \n\nThere is no such thing as Catholic Lite. What Weigel sees as Lite, most of us see as much needed progress. Following rules is easy. Depending on God to guide you through change is where real faith begins.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I appreciate the fact that there are enough allegations, and enough evidence to reflect negatively on Mr. Clinton. That doesn't mean that he is a \"convicted sexual predator,\" nor is Mr. Clinton running for office. \nThat Mrs. Clinton has forgiven her husband seems to be ignored or mocked as weakness by people purporting to be Christians while they only seem mildly put off by jocular claims (as well as accusations of) sexual assault puzzles the heck out of me. \nI'm not the biggest fan of Hillary, but she's world's different in capabilities and temperament than her opponent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop Tom,\nIt was really a mind-boggling \u201cleap into outer space\u201d for Joseph to accept something so contrary to the belief of the entire world at that time: that human life could possibly be passed along only by that plenipotentiary \u201cstaff of life\u201d of the all-important patriarchal macho. It was not until the year1827 that science demonstrated that the female has a 50/50% role in producing new functional human life. Before that date the female sexual apparatus was considered as nothing more than a handy natural incubator. And so, logically, Pope PioNono in 1854 declared the \u201cImmaculate Conception of Mary\u201d as a dogma of faith. She had previously been \u201cdefended from the sinful macho-line of descent from Adam\u201d by the dogma of the \u201cVirginal Birth\u201d of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for clearing that up. But I just love how these men like to muddy the waters of that understanding. Ukrainian Catholics are not Latin Rite Roman Catholics and they have always had different traditions than Roman Catholics so this example is like apples and oranges.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That actually makes a lot of sense to me, and yet Jesus chose twelve men as his closest companions and evangelists. So what to do as a Catholic, accuse the New Testament as a sham?\n\nI would personally prefer a priesthood consisting of people with traditional masculine traits of strength, logic, and lack of emotion, regardless of anatomy. Seems like a lot of the priests nowadays are men, but possess those characteristics stereotypically associated with women, including sexual attraction to men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope people will go and check the links MW has included and listen to the audio or read the writings in full. Look at Holy Mother Church's dogmatic teachings on things like contraception, abortion, sexual morality, the Eucharist, Confession, and so many other things. Look at Church Militant's teachings alongside the writings of the Church Fathers. Then look at Cardinal Wuerl, Father Martin and those MW praises alongside the same writings. See which ones match up with those writings and which ones conform themselves to this age. Do so in a spirit of prayer and humility.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many black Christian church-goers are worried about murderers, arsonists and bombers among their white neighbors, with good reason; and we hear about that.\n\nWe have little more reason to be wary of Muslims in America than of white home-grown terrorists, in fact far less, since domestic terror attacks are mostly carried out by gun-toting white males. I myself have never run across even a threatening Muslim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Donald Trump didn't pen that letter to Catholics - he's incapable of thinking in such terms. That letter, like his bestseller \"The Art of the Deal,\" was ghost-written, undoubtedly by his group of 33 Catholic advisors. That letter bears their smudge and their smell and sounds nothing at all like Trump. As with everything else about the man, it is all a sham. \n\nNothing here to see. Move along.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you think it is Christian to put words into the mouth of a priest you could never have known or heard utter them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can easily show you one: Lisa Sowle Cahill, a prolific author of scholarly articles on bioethics and sex, as well as such books as \"Theological Bioethics\" and \"Sex, Gender, and Christian Ethics\" (you could visit, for example, the index of the latter to find Dr. Cahill does engage \"biological-emotional-hormonal\" complexities). Professor Cahill has directed dissertations of dozens of doctoral students over the years. I'm afraid I don't have time to refer you to some of their works. (P.S. I'm always grateful for you comments on this NCR site.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What they forget to tell you is that Judson Memorial Church is NOT a Catholic Church. \n\nIt's history was as a Baptist Church. I'm not sure it still is...I'm not at all sure it is aligned with any particular denomination any more. Something called the United Church of Christ, which is an extremely liberal Protestant sect according to a quick Google search, founded in the 60's I think, and seems to be what Ms. Shaper was aligned with. It seems to be some sort of Congregational church. Judson is known as a \"radical arts place.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "we basically already have, we call it X-mas, which is now marketed in our stores 24/7 365 days a week. Curious to note; the ignorance of many Christians lectures how us sinners blotted out Christ in Christmas with Xmas...failing to grasp it was Christians who came up with Xmas...X being a symbol for Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not talking about abortion helps Democrats win elections. Instead of Catholic Democrats trying to change their party's militant pro-abortion platform, they insist that Catholics forgot about entirely. So not surprising that NCR editors would advocate for silence. St. Thomas Moore once said, \"Silence is consent.\" He too went against the majority and suffered the consequences for doing so.\n\nNCR writers often advocate political advocacy for every other political and social ill facing the world and the United States, but for some reason, when it comes to abortion, they prefer that we remain silent and say nothing about the sacredness of all human life.\n\nWhy is this? How can one say that they are uncomfortable with abortion but don't seem to have problems with supporting those in office who aren't. Abortion on demand, in all 9 months of pregnancy for any reason whatsoever is the Democratic Party's platform. Heck, they even celebrate it with T-Shirts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Muslims want the kosher products the deli offers, then yes, they must provide them.\n\nCan the maid service refuse to clean the home of a Christian? No. If they provide a service they must provide it equally to anyone.\n\nDoes the welding shop create any statue for anyone? Then yes they need to provide that service equally. However, they can choose to not provide any religion-based statues, as that would be equal service (non-service) regardless of religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any Catholic, who is 'thrilled with the new POTUS' is not familiar with Catholic justice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians may recognize that nobody is perfect, but it doesn't stop there. Christians are expected to ask for forgiveness and atone for their sins. When has Trump expressed any remorse at all for his immoral behavior? That people would be angry that Trump BRAGS about things like sexual assault is not \"asking politicians to be perfect\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For the sake of Mercy, the Catholic Church should put its money where its mouth is and leave all the doors open and unlocked in every church from Mexico to the Vatican.\n\nSo that anyone who wishes can simply wander in at any time, with or without the permission of the church. A locked door is a wall, and most un-Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The three-fifths compromise, the slave trade clause, and the fugitive-slave law all point to the Framers' intentions in the creation of the Constitution and prove that it neither authorized nor prohibited slavery. \n\nOver many centuries, the Catholic Church did protect the institution of slavery. Do you also find it strange that Catholic churches are allowed to exist?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article illustrates still once again that having an \"ontologically different\" clergy just isn't working. Reforms? What reforms have taken place? Does anyone really think that reforms are coming? As I have said before, while it will not happen in our lifetimes, a future iteration of Catholic Christianity will be one without clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" . . . Fr. Robert A. Sirico, whose Acton Institute is the horrid love-child of Thomas Aquinas and Ayn Rand.\"\n\nFrom a still timely piece in Commonweal Magazine:\n\n\"Morbid Symptoms: The Catholic Right\u2019s False Nostalgia\"\nGene McCarraher\nCommonweal Magazine\nNovember 5, 2012", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He hits 11 on the 1-10 CREEPY-O-METER in sooooo many ways. Super fakey evil 'christian' for sure ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The difference is that Islam prescribes that a religious observance take place at set times during the day. Christianity doesn't. As a Christian, however, you could assert the right not to work on Sunday. I've seen that accommodation made myself more than once.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic Social Teaching includes the Principle of Subsidiarity--according to which the PRESUMPTION is AGAINST federal involvement with \"the poor,\" edumacation, etc. And Catholic Social Teaching does NOT require abolition of the death penalty, pacifism, etc. (The opinion of the Pope is not Catholic Social Teaching.)\n\nSince There is NO ONE in America who is opposed to \"worker's rights,\" that isn't even a political issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"You\u2019ve got to love Christians...\"\n\n.....And yet you *don't,* do you Barkley. The funny thing is that despite your passive and faux outrage, nowhere is anything being \"pushed into your face.\"\n\nIf you are greeted by Mormons or other like-missionary at your door, and you tell them you're not interested, they smile, thank you (they even might pray for you and your family on the spot), an walk away.\n\nIf you do the same to Muslims in many other countries, they'll gnash their teeth and kill you and your family on the spot. Your version of *religious persecution* is so far removed from what our Founding Fathers and those in other countries face- it's not even funny. I think a little perspective is in order-- if you choose not to, please don't make that our fault.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Taqiyya:is Islamic Deception. Muslims are permitted to deceive infidels, Jews, non-Muslims about their true beliefs and intentions, in order to defend and conceal jihad for Islam. Taqiyya is as basic to Islam, as charity is to Christianity. Taqiyya is a moral duty. No other religion has such a thing as Taqiyya. It is anathema to western thought, and so it is hard for non-Muslims to not simply understand that it actually exists, but to grasp the degree to which is it used against them.\n\nThe worst part is that the police are now doing the taqiyya for Islamic deception voluntarily, rather than telling us the truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, I get you--\"Why expend effort learning when ignorance is instantaneous?\"\n\nAnd you can no more hold your fellow atheists at arms length, than I can--as you claim--with respect to the Da'esh or other Salafis. The difference is they were my enemies before you ever heard of them. And these Wahabbis and their even worse outgrowths like the Da'esh are--WITHOUT EXCEPTION--the creation of western imperialism and Anglo-American foreign policy. And we can thank the good \"Christians\" for the Ottomans. Frankenstein is ever a reflection of his creator.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The media hasn't done this. People have just taken due notice that hate groups have found safe harbor in the republican party and the \"Christian\" church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or Christian / Muslim bakers, florist, musicians and artists creating their art for activists involved in activities or lifestyles which are considered immoral according to their individual religious beliefs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The % of Catholics, like all brands of Superstition Cults, is steadily dropping as the old Zealots die off and fail to recruit enough younger Zealots to be able to afford to keep the Roofs from leaking and the heating plants running.\n\nHere in BC \"No Relgion\" (thank you very much) has already overtaken Catholic as the #1 response when Stats Can pokes its nose into that aspect of our lives. The last time they had a Pope visit BC they blocked off streets, not allowing people to drive out of their driveways, and even laid on a special \"Pope Train\". It was a total bust, the expected traffic never materialised and there has never been another Pope visit to BC. Bishop O'Conner pretty much shredded any credibility the Catholic Church had left in BC. Other province are behind the times, but will catch up with BC and the Yukon.\n\nhttps://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/disgraced-bc-bishop-dead-of-heart-attack/article1079249/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did it ever occur to you that Cardinal Caffarra truly believed that anyone engaging in homosexual relations would be risking his/her salvation? Is it possible that Cardinal Caffarra was only concerned with souls getting to heaven, and believed it was his duty to educate others on the teachings of the Church, which he clearly had faith in. The good Cardinal was a believer in the Fatima apparitions, which according to Sr Lucia, our Blessed Mother stated more souls go to hell due to sins of the flesh. \nYou and others on this forum attempt to paint him as a homophobe, which clearly he was not. He simply followed his beliefs, which happen to be the beliefs of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is possible to turn this around without dividing a nation. In most Christian religions which are a major part of American life, kneeling is a sign of respect If hundreds of thousands of sports fans started to kneel not out of solidarity for the initial purpose, but as an enhanced sign of respect for the anthem and flag, Trump would end his Twitter campaign and the current controversy would blow over.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Likewise inconceivable to the Catholic \"orthodox,\" who think that RC hierarchs and Vatican bureaucrats can do NO wrong!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps you should consider your motives in posting here. As an alleged Catholic, and therefore Christian, you should have the love of God as your principal motive. That motive unifies your life, it integrates, and simplifies everything. There'd be far fewer \"needs\" for shrinks if people rectified their intentions for everything they do (even holding on to grudges) to \"for the love of God\". \n\"for the love of God, I push aside this resentment\"\n\"for the love of God, I am going to work to do my duty as vice president, husband, worker\".\n\"for the love of God, I am going to soften my injurious barb, personally aimed on the internet\".\n\"for the love of God, I am going to stop being snarky and nasty in my postings\".\n\"for the love of God, I am going to begin to be completely honest, even when posting on the internet\".\nIt is something worthwhile to contemplate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings......Being a Christian I cannot really in all good conscience feel that voting for either Clinton or Trump is morally ethical. Clinton is not a caring progressive as she says....but a Pro Choice Republican and Trump is off the charts as a greedy Narcisstic Fascist", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I care more about how we treat each other and whether we are nice to each other than I do about the consensual sex life of adults. I wish the Catholic Church would focus on that because there are so many bullies who purport to be Catholic, especially among the Catholic right.\n\nAnd I find it rich that American EWTN Catholics are lecturing people about their beliefs given their blatant disregard for Matthew 25:31-46. I think that is more central to the Catholic faith than denying divorcees Communion but that is just me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Five things that are recognized as inherently harmful in Islam and when they are repudiated and nullified will a true Muslim Reformation have been achieved:\n1. Muhammad's semi-divine and infallible status along with the literalist reading of the Qur'an, particularly those parts that were revealed in Medina;\n2. The investment in life after death instead of life before death;\n3. Sharia, the body of legislation derived from the Qur'an, the Hadith, and the rest of Islamic jurisprudence;\n4. The practice of empowering individuals to enforce Islamic law by commanding right and forbidding wrong;\n5. The imperative to wage jihad or holy war\nThose 5 points must be addressed by the Muslim's in Canada and around the world, otherwise we'll always have a problem. The Christians went through a reformation, which took time and I'm sure Islam has the ability to do this too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Westerners took control of India because of their desire to increase their wealth and their power. They were not especially concerned about the \"less than humanitarian\" practices, and they were not very concerned at how poorly they themselves treated the people of the country they had conquered. \n\nWhite people do convert to Hinduism. I know some of them. \n\nSOME Indian christians are being persecuted by SOME Hindus. SOME Muslims are attacked by christians in the US and elsewhere in the west, and many Hindus were attacked by christians not so many years ago. Since so many Americans are not knowledgeable about non-christian religions, there have been SOME Sufis attacked because their attackers thought they were Muslim due to their turbans. \n Sufi turbans. SOME Muslims attack christians today also. \n\nGeorgetown's outreach is to be commended. It is time to stop hating .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Mike, my kids could read before they went to school. They were well instructed to avoid the indroctinatation of the liberal left. Personal beliefs are a parents and individuals right. Would you allow the Christian church in because you don't believein it?? How about the NRA? That's a 2nd amendment right. Where do you draw the line??", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), who succeeded Newt in the House before moving to the Senate, declared that \u201cone of her great, great persuasive talents is to not only convince Newt to marry her, but convert him to Catholicism.\u201d\" \n \nThe nuns in Catholic school taught us: \"if you can't say anything nice about a person, say nothing at all.\" So I've been sitting here wondering how to address that remark from the Senior senator of my state.\n \nI am baffled by the logic (?) of Isakson that would commend Callista for getting Newt to marry her after 6 years of cheating on his second wife. Newt also cheated on his first wife who was dying of cancer so he could marry that second wife. But Callista didn't mind, she was in her adulterous 6 year relationship with Newt, so in the eyes of good old boy senator Johnny Isakson, all was good.\n \nI wonder how fast the nuns who taught me are spinning in their graves?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No they don't, it just comes in a different form-thinking they are superior because they are \"kinder\" or Christian, or because they think that they work harder because more people in rural areas do manual labor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Farmgrrl:\n\nYou know the objection to lionizing Columbus is not based on his navigational skills, right?\n\nIt's more like, all the killing, looting, enslaving, spreading disease and forcing \"christianity\" on folks and stuff like that - after he got to his destination.\n\n(And given your dismissal of both the Pacific and Polynesian journeys - not sure you're much of a sailor either. Pretty hot take on criticism though.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The liberal religion requires acceptance of all religious faiths, Muslin, Catholic, Protestant---unless a liberal's election is at risk, of course.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you John!\nBTW, do you mind that I call you John? \nI have a bit of guilty feeling regarding learning a new truth/things!\nI always eager to learn a new truth however I entered the end phase of my life, & reflected about what did I do with my learning. To my shame, I haven\u2019t done much with what I learned. Thus my feeling guilty about learning now. LOL! You must feel proud that you taught many young&old peoples! :-)\nOh well... May be the next incarnation?\nSo you recommend 'Beside Still Waters, Christians, Jews, and the Way of the Buddha'? \nMahayana Buddhism is a distinct from main Buddhist teaching?\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Vatican said that what Curran pedals is not Catholic theology. The Holy See has only direct jurisdiction over pontifical faculties, so it could not \"order\" a Catholic university that is legally an independent entity not to hire. On the other hand, Ex corde Ecclesiae makes clear that bishops ought to say publicly whether an entity that calls itself \"Catholic\" is or isn't: in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there actually was some concern among Catholic academics that bishops might take that task seriously, as John Paul was urging them, so nobody picked up CC. Over the years, Catholic colleges figured out that the Pope was far away and the USCC-NCCB toothlessly supine. I would not be sure some \"university in the Catholic, Jesuit tradition\" today might not have do differently if l'affaire Curran happened today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Surely as a CHRISTIAN, you agree that we are all created in Gods image,Shisaisama, so you are discriminating against God in your narrow interpretation of a flawed book called the bible. Seems like the Hale Koa should cancel this event at their facility.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also, while Canada is largely secular, some of the immigrants that he talks about may come from religious countries or be religiously-minded and may actually like the option of a publicly-funded religious school system. I teach at a school with a large immigrant population and many chose the Catholic system because they wanted religious values to be part of their child's education. Some of those families are Christian, many are Muslim. There are also many non-religious families who chose a Catholic school because they prefer our board's philosophies on education and how we run our system, where we direct our money, etc. compared to the public board. In a land of freedom such as Canada, choice is a good thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know what to say. During my long life I have come across many, many unorthodox understandings of the Gospel and Christianity but never have I come across anything as bizarre as what you are preaching to us here.\nEither you are making it all up as you go along; a new religion or you are getting it all from a source external to you. If the latter, please, tell us what peer approval you have received.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dennis, the Republicans have had more than enough time in office to do something about abortion. They did nothing. Their rhetoric has always only ever been to attract the gullible Catholic vote. I find it incredible - absolutely incredible - that these same people harp on about terrorism when more people are killed by guns in the United States at the hands of fellow US citizens than have ever been killed by jihadists. It's also time that America looked at its two party political system and how those parties are funded. It's not working for the benefit of its citizens.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Calvin rejected Transubstantiation -- which is nothing more than an ingenious explanation, based on Aristotle's Physics, on how the Real Presence of Christ is confected in the Eucharist. Calvin did not reject the Real Presence, he said Christ is \"spiritually\" present, not physically present.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I said before, any sinner can be Catholic. But not every sinner can receive the Holy Eucharist. Perhaps what Chaput means is that those in mortal sin should not defame the Eucharist by receiving it without repentance. Jesus decides what sin is, not popular culture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why doesn't Arch. Lori & company have an RC bible study group? Certainly enough RCs in name as potential members.\nProts would be up in arms that pope intends to subvert US political institution to favor Roman Catholicism.\nBring on the religious wars!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In fact corruption is nothing new in almost all Catholic organizations worldwide.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why be Catholic if we are so wrong and the Lutherans are so right about everything? It sounds like you would be happy if the Catholic Church made itself Lutheran. Some of us like being Catholic and actually agree with Catholic teachings and don't adhere to specifically Lutheran ones? Why surrender our beliefs and who we are?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nowadays, we call them CINO's or cafeteria Catholics...if they insist on being called Catholic. \n\nIt does appear that many are more closely aligned with Protestant beliefs....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny thing, CM only supports authentic Catholic teaching. Is that what you're referring to as \"right-wing paranoia?\" I take it you're not Catholic???", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Non-Christian, and proud of it. I'm voting for neither Trumpy-the-Clown or Hillory the Blood Countess. Guess that leaves Bernie. He's not a Christian either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A. I decline to state due to privacy reasons. I don't need anyone doxxing me. I am a student at a fully accredited private Catholic university in the United States, at their graduate level theology school. That's all you need to know.\n\nB. Priests are assistants of the bishop, yes. But they are ordinary ministers of the Eucharist. Show me any theological document, preferably magisterial, that supports your idea of them not being ordinary ministers. There can be more than just one ordinary minister of a sacraments. Bishops, priests, and deacons are all ordinary ministers of baptism. Just because priests and deacons serve the bishop doesn't mean they aren't ordinary ministers.\n\nC. Not sure what you're trying to say here, really.\n\nD. Are you really trying to say that priests don't consecrate? Why are you even arguing for this?\n\nYou have no ability to criticize my education. I pity the fact you think yourself able to reinterpret what the Church has always taught.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He can't restrain himself from this petty, diminutive exercise and is deaf to anyone telling him that behavior undermines his effectiveness in his role, which expects reasoned and prudent judgements and restraint from impulsive statements. Once more, he's playing to his base who apparently relish his sort of bullyspeak, just like accolades the Romans received when feeding Christians to the lions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How very Christian of them. As they might ponder, what would Jesus do? He hung out with the outsiders of society, remember?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Was/is the \"shooter in Quebec\" a Christian?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not a Christian by any stretch of the imagination and am not one due to their historic violence. That being said, the only group of people I've encountered with greater violent, intolerant ways of doing business are progressive constructions: Democrats are just plain violent, intolerant folks. They go to government to get their way just as religionists do: this is due to the fact that government has the exclusive monopoly on the use of violence in our society. You do it our way, or you go to jail and lose everything-just because we don't like you! And you get the privilege of getting shot if you run.\n\nThis is the kind of initiative I would support as it seeks to bring some sense to this enviro-commie, socialist, violent America that folks turned upside down this last November. Due to laws like this: expect the rational movement to continue to build!\n\nIt is little wonder the Dems want to rid the nation of guns: then they will really never be able to say no to government intrusion!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Quebec receives proportionally more Muslim immigrants than the rest of Canada, mainly from former French colonies in North Africa.\"\n\nQuebec has itself in a pickle. It would prefer French-speaking immigrants to keep up its French majority, but the most likely French-speaking immigrants are Muslims from the former French colonies. Meanwhile, as a culture that is strongly secular with Roman Catholic roots, it has trouble dealing with a \"third religion\" of Islam. To keep up its French identity, Quebec had to find a way to accommodate its immigrant's religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A Catholic is certainly free to believe that,Rule and Raven, but that's NOT what the Scriptures teach per Romans chapter 8. When Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born again, He,Jesus,was talking to him,Nicodemus,NOT any corporate body of believers, and so it must be with EVERY individual Christian, there is no doubt of that.Romans chapter 8 is clear: ANYONE who does not have the Spirit of Christ,he(or she) does not belong to Him.What do you think that the great Apostle Paul was talking about in Galatians 2:20? What Scriptures are you reading?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The latest tax dodge! Form a \"Christian\" church, live the life of the Trump and not pay taxes, in addition to the more traditional denying of services to gays or anyone else you don't like.\n\nStephen J. Remington", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes! Icons help focus our thoughts on the sacred and transport us, even briefly into a sacred realm. Contemplating an icon is prayer; even glancing at a familiar icon constitutes (or can constitute, I guess) prayer. \nBut icons do not belong only to the Orthodox. Eastern Catholics also have icon s in their homes and churches.\nI, for one, am glad that RCs are learning more about icons and iconography. As long as they are treated with reverence, icons are a wonderful gift with deep meaning, one that ought to be shared.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because there is no rational downside to immigration, racism must be at the core of any objections. I suspect if all our immigrants were white, blond Christians, there would be little or no objection from \"old stock\" Canadians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The KKK was an avowed Christian protestant movement, so that accounted for anti-\"papist\" bigotry. That still existed among non-KKK protestants in the North, in my childhood. Anti-Jewish prejudice is still widespread throughout the US, including among self-described Christians. Many if not most of our home-grown religious bigots (I didn't mention the KKK, YOU did) are self-described Christians. But that's the point. Certainly there are a lot of Muslims who are religiously bigoted, but there are far more that are not, witness the 1500 years of religious tolerance toward Christians, Zoroastrians, Yazidis, Jews, and others in the Middle East until the twentieth century.\n\nMy comment specified the religious intolerance of MILITANT Islamists, who I compared to US bigots (without mentioning the KKK) (I didn't call them religious bigots). You are the one who brought in the topic of religious bigotry in the US, while I was talking about mostly racial, ethnic, and sexual bigotry, not the KKK.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bible says Jesus was fully human and fully God, the second part of which you chose to leave out. If you or anyone chooses not to believe it, fine, but there is no need to misrepresent what The Bible says.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.\u201d\n\u202d\u202dColossians\u202c \u202d2:8-9\u202c \u202dNLT\u202c\u202c\nhttp://bible.com/116/col.2.8-9.nlt\n\nChristmas is the day Christians celebrate the birth of Christ, though most of us know it is not the actual date of His birth. Whatever the day has meant to others, it is unlikely it would be celebrated to any extent at all were it not for the significance of Christ. Otherwise it would be called by another name, right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelicals support Trump for exactly one reason: he promised to appoint anti-abortion judges to the U.S. Supreme Court. Then, they will hold their noses for the next four years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm supposed to relate to another Christian fanatic? Don't think so !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a cradle Catholic, I am really tired of ultra conservative convert types like Douthat who don't understand how Catholicism works - the rules are more suggestions than actual hardcore rules. If they could just stay Evangelical Protestants, that would be great.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Putting aside all teasing and baiting of you for a minute to respond to this: \"Perhaps it would have been more prudent to let them have their silly little rally and moved on? \" \nNo, this was not a \"silly little rally.\" I think when people hold rallies to illustrate hateful, despicable, un-Christian, and un-American positions, those who disagree have an obligation to stand up to hate and say so. That takes courage. Sometimes speaking out is necessary, because, as the old adage goes, \"Silence gives consent.\" Don't make out that the violence perpetrated against the anti-protestors is their own fault.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What powers not enumerated to the Federal Government are reserved for the Several States, or the People.\n\nThis whole thing starts with subsidiarity. I as the individual am commanded to do my part and more, churches and civic organizations take up slightly larger causes (keeping in mind that the People still fund these groups), then towns, counties and States. What may work in Maine might not work in Arizona.\n\nThe Liberal in almost every other case, wants the Christian to shut his mouth and bake a cake for some group whose lifestyle he disagrees with, but then hammers us on the head that we're not doing our Christian duty. Huh?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Frustration, I have no frustration except perhaps with republicans who have consistantly fought against anything good. Immigration reform should have been passed years ago but good ole republicans aka Tea Baggers fought it tooth and nail. Well now they have no choice. They either come up with something or The Donald will back track in 6 months. Lets see republicans do something for a change. \n\nThis is far better than professional wrestling. Of course the Donald may be gone in 6 months after the pee tapes are made public. Time will tell. Will God fearing Christians accept their president being involved in pee games? I don't know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pauline Christianity is still with us. Judaizers have gone and Revelation, which was supportive of the latter, never happened.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Moral and dogmatic theology by plebiscite. How very catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"You need to defend the assertion that not ordaining women to the priesthood somehow makes the Church patriarchal.\"\n\nAccording to my Merriam-Webster Dictionary, \"Patriarchy\" means \"social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family, the legal dependence of wives and children, and the reckoning of descent and inheritance in the male line; broadly : control by men of a disproportionately large share of power\". Given that positions of authority in the Church are limited to the ordained, obviously the institutional Catholic Church fits that definition. Please do not do your typical traditionalist bending words out of all recognition so as to pretend what is real is not real.\n\nThere is a reason women are not ordained. That reason is sexism of the men who say women cannot be ordained. That, sir, is a fact. Just because you conservative traditionalists are insecure with women being treated equally with men. You are the ones who are insecure, not us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a matter of cold, hard FACT, a majority of Swedes are members of the Church of Sweden. Your characterization of Sweden as \"atheist\" is a gross distortion of the truth and an even grosser inJustice to Sweden and its diverse population!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the baker was any religion other that Christian, we wouldn't be having this discussion. Most other the people here spewing their vitriol against the baker would be conspicuously absent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This evil scandal threatens the very legitimacy of the institution. Do the \"ontologically different\" actually believe what they preach? Are they preying rather than praying? Do their words align with their deeds?\nThe days of the clergy are slowly coming to an end. A future iteration of Catholic Christianity will be one without clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It means if you are a Christian it is good to commit sin because then you will have something to be forgiven for. You can see people are very greedy and they earn a lot of money then feel guilty later in life and give it away to charity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A lot of cradle Catholics don't actually understand the Catholic Church. \n\nI think someone who has studied Catholicism and made an adult decision to join up knows more than someone who is just Catholic because of their family background and not because they believe the doctrines.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you're equating a Muslim religious group sounding like any number of Christian religious groups out there as justification for Dimbulbski's accusation that Jones is involved in stockpiling weapons and building a secret compound in Alaska? Seems like a rather broad jump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My beef is with HRC, not gay people, who feared winning or the makeup of the court. The resulting 8-1 decision shows why they should have filed suit sooner, like against the Virginia anti-marriage rights amendment. The entire federal bench, save Scalia, supported gay marriage. I share your position on gay marriage v. the rights of the Catholic mob in state legislatures.\n\nMy comment was that Blaine cannot be overturned until someone files suit. It should have been done decades ago. Sadly, tension with the teachers unions is a problem. If the bishops promised to unionize, we could do this in a weekend.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You make the jump from failing to protect to being \"dead set on harming children.\" I didn't. I didn't equate the Church with NAMBLA, you did. \n\nI am a Catholic because I was baptized Catholic. No mechanism for withdrawal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The refutation of Protestantism by both the Catholic Church and the Ecumenical Patriarch was on theological grounds. If. Politics were involved then it would have been to the Patriarch\"s advantage to court the Protestants as allies against the Roman Church. There was no love lost between Rome and Constantinople at that time.\nJeremias II conducted the first theological exchanges between Orthodoxy and Protestants. Lutherans Jakob Andreae and Martin Crusius from T\u00fcbingen presented the Patriarch with a translation of the Augsburg Confession. Jeremias II wrote three rebuttals which established that the Orthodox Church had no desire for alliance with the reformation. It also set out clearly the theological differences between the Orthodox and Protestantism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Conservative bishops? Been there done that FC, where have you been? While decentralization is good (and necessary) for the Church as a whole, your average pew dweller acts according to his/her own God-given conscience and pays little/no attention to utterings from the bishop. This is a learned response on part of the laity as a result of witnessing decades of their (bishops and popes) inability to grow/mature/develop a more meaningful and authentic expression of faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That was the begining of the empire, not the end. It ended when Muslims sacked Constantinople after the Western crusades weakened it at the insistence of the Pope. Rome the city became a backwater when the empire left. Its see was venerated but not authoritative.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not a liberal. I'm against policies that target religions. Christian or otherwise. \n\nYou said Trump did not call for a \"complete shutdown of Muslims entering the country\" I showed you that he did. You somehow think because he said \"until our leaders figure out what is going on\" or because of terrorism that it's okay to do that. It's legally not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nobody who studies it seems to think the province CAN legally unilaterally force the Catholic school boards to amalgamate with the public ones.\n\nI think the government is doing the smart thing - slow motion curriculum changes that committed Catholics will find intolerable. Eventually, maybe they'll be willing to give up the government money if it's conditional on teaching things that offend their dinosaur-like social perspectives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wanted much more, though, didn't you? I wanted to hear more about the particulars--what Christian feminism being \"fully compatible with the deepest truths of the Catholic faith\" would look like. Maybe this venue didn't poke into that and maybe Farley gave a brief acceptance speech instead of a talk. Maybe next time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Liberals are still crying over the fact that Mateen wasn't a white Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Great Goddess\" is not the God of Jesus or of the Catholic Church but an idol.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, why can't we go back to the time when all children, regardless of the beliefs of their parents, were forced to chant Christian prayers in public schools. How sad that people fight for religious liberty, which occasionally takes the form of \"get your invisible-friend cult out of my child's face.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good for you Cait.....whilst here women were being manipulated by lawyers letters behind the scenes when the Royal Commission began showing it's teeth\nWhat made it more unbalanced, at least one member of the Advisory Group was a religious who was advising a lawyer with his own agenda! \nI often ponder on the words on face value of Francis when stating \"there's a \"Christian\" cunning that differs from that of a crook\" ......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I think it would not be good for all of Christianity if it were \"under one roof.\"\n\nOh yes... Jesus was wrong again... when repeatedly encouraged, demanded and prayed for UNITY ... little he knew of the wonderful gospel of political correctness ... :)))) He should have read the NCR ... :))", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Imagine what an amazing and radical Congress we'd have if those CALLING THEMSELVES Christian were actual followers of Jesus and the Gospel...just as for the rest of us and our fellow \"Christians.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do so many peol,e comment with no idea about what is going on?\nPolitical thought is not protected. You do not have tomserve democrats or republicans. So a baker could legally refuse, no problem, no law broken. It had been this way forever. \n\nthe baker is a big baby and a terrible christian. He will not participate in the wedding, it is a business transaction.\n\nWhat if one man had shown up asking for a wedding cake for John and Kim, what is the problem? \nMaybe Kim is a man, maybe Kim is a woman. The baker would not know if he was not told. Would the baker refuse to make the cake because maybe Kim is a man? What does it matter?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"how large Christiandom is in the World. Take Brazil for example, it has a large evangelical population.\"\nI hear it also has one or two Roman Catholics. But they don't fit your worldview.\nMost of Christendom does NOT believe in evangelical Christianity, Rapture, post-millennialism, pre-millennialism, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis says many things that are impressive, but does not always back them with action. This article equivocates big words with big deeds - a real non sequitur. For example, he failed to remove Cardinal Sodano from power and his wealthy apartment. Cardinal Sodano was the protector of Maciel and spiritual guide to Pinochet who was a murderous thug. That would send a message. He also failed to open a wider investigation into the recruitment, selection and ordination of pedophile priests - so there you have recruiters, seminary staff members, spiritual directors, diocesan vicars for priests (once they are ordained), etc. None of which were ever held to account. Pope Francis has minimized the situation to the products of this system and left the system intact. Finally, pedophile priests are not fixable by medicine, psychological treatments, etc. The switch has been flipped and now they can't shut it off. Remove them and put their pictures up in every parish and catholic school.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In was responding to what Mike wrote. I think your vision and version of the Gospel and Jesus' words of peace and non-violence are severely twisted and misguided, and I don't wish to engage with you now (or ever). \n\nChristians are supposed to be building the Kingdom. If we were doing our job (if we had done our job over the past 2000 years), there would be no reason for any country to be armed. PEACE is the goal, not something to fear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I understand, Mike. I disagree with the Federal law in this case. That practice only helps to perpetuate stereotypes, which we so badly need to move away from.\n\nI think it's very dangerous to lump political beliefs and religious beliefs together as being \"one and the same\". That's where you end up with theocracies, things like \"Sharia law\" becoming the law of the land, etc., etc., etc. Also, your categories are incredibly broad, and thus misleading. The Middle East, for example, is hardly entirely Islamic. There are quite a few Christians and other (non-Muslim) religious groups in the area. Also, to paint the GOP as being \"Judeo/Christian\" while poking fun at the Democrats is inaccurate and unfair. For what it's worth, I am an independent, though I lean liberal. I have voted all across the political spectrum, including for Republican candidates. I am truly saddened by the path the GOP has taken over the last several decades. Trump's hijacking of the party is its death knell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Given that it was an opportunity to hear from Catholic voters, the absence of non-Catholics is not surprising.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I said that Christians were free to read the Bible as they please. Of course some of them choose to be fundamentalists, but those who leave a fundamentalist sect or attempt to reform it don't have to live in hiding or under police protection, like for instance Ayaan Hirsi Ali.\n\nAnd since we're citing Wikipedia, \"the majority of modern Islamic jurists continue to regard apostasy as a crime deserving the death penalty\".\n\nOf course there are Islamic reformers who want to take a less hard-line view of the scriptures, and the vast majority of Muslims don't want to go out and slaughter infidels. That doesn't alter the fact that Islam has never undergone an Enlightenment that allows reason to take its rightful place over archaic screeds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, I handle it easily since I'm not Catholic. I left a few years ago so I don't really give a flying fig what a priest thinks about me being pro-choice, or anyone else either. Cheers!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Above all, a person who wants to become a saint must eat food containing gluten. \n\nRules from the bible are not equally important. In the middle of the 10 Commandments there is a commandment saying that it is illegal to mage pictures of anything in the heaven or on the earth, but nobody cares about that. Also people have stopped caring about the biblical death sentence for working 7 days per week. \n\nIt is very practical that the pope and the Christians can forget about the bible and instead make their own rules. That makes the pope stand above god. That must be fun for him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Jesus lived, preached, and joined the outcasts in today's America, he would, given the fact his origins are Middle Eastern, have been arrested, tried, convicted, and locked up, if not crucified - which is what some \"Americhristians\" would be itching to do. (See John Pavlovitz' blog entry: Freeing Christianity from Americhristianity).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A \"tolerant\" (Christian etc) does not try to ban abortion, rather he/she says \"It's not for me, I am not comfortable with the idea, but you carry on\". The could even go further and say \"It's between you and your conscience\". \n\nBut banning something so important to so many people is not being tolerant. A social-conservative isn't compelled to have an abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've read the Quran annually (a well as the Bible and Catechism) for a number of years now. Was stationed in the Middle East in the late 70s and traveled widely while I was there. \n\nThe Quran reminds me of the Old Testament prophetic books and the writings attributed to Paul in tone and content. Islam, like the Jehovah's Witnesses, seemed to me to be branches of Arianism. Since they believe in Jesus, and teach charity, almsgiving and mercy, I considered them to be a branch of Christianity. \n\nThe problem is, even Christians can't agree on who Jesus is, Mormons (who share with Islam the adding of books to the Bible) and Protestants (who have taken books out of the Bible) will tell you how wrong Catholics are (to them) and vice versa.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not only is fascism far right, but so is the nation of islam. \n\nhttps://www.britannica.com/topic/fascism\nAnd just as liberal Christians are not terrorist (it is far right christians that are), the same is true of groups such as AQ, ISIS, and nation of islam. NONE of those are considered liberal or even moderates. They are far right. \nhttps://www.thenation.com/article/islamic-terrorism-is-right-wing-terrorism/\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_terrorism\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-wing_terrorism\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda\n\n\nThe rest that you mention are left or even far left. \n\nJust because you do not like the group does not make it right or left. \nIt is their beliefs, but mostly their actions, that make them such. \nFor example, the GOP screams about deficits/debt, yet, they have ran up the massive spending, without funding it. \nLikewise, they are as a group opposed to helping our nation, yet, will gladly help a totalitarian nation like China (fox conn).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then let's say for sake of argument it's all 3. I say we should still err on the side of safety for American's citizens, and set a very high bar of qualifications for anyone coming to the U.S. from a radicalized Muslim nation.\n\nI think this is a wiser strategy than the author's apparent strategy of an immigration policy that is based on personal and somewhat romantic sentiment of proper American identity and Christian duty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The nones are a diverse group that can hardly be stereotyped as shallow consumers. They include many who appear more thoughtful and humane than many Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Peel District School Board has halted any notion of secularism in schools for 2 decades now. \nTheir approach is unbalanced.. They started enforcing secularism by reining back on any Christian celebrations in the 80s and 90s, but when Muslims began demanding fasting rooms and prayer space, the Peel Board succumbed. \nWe MUST start asking WHY.\nIt's because the Peel Board and all school boards are terrified of complaints.\nThey are also losing students to private schools which should be banned in Canada. Religion is a private matter that should be taught outside of school. Students should be attending secular public schools to avoid enhancing divisions in our society.\nWith this decision, the Peel Board has opened the door even wider for religion in the schools., but not in an equitable way. There should be none.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are mistaken in your understanding of me sir, I am not dad I am enraged at the legacy trump supporters are stealing from my sons and their descendants by his total corruption of our nation. He is dividing us to prevent us from stopping his looting, and the billionaires are now oligarchs. To be blissful in these conditions is to be ignorant, whether willful or not, or at the very least sociopathic in that your ability to empathize with your fellow humans is crippled. I am not Christian but I respect Christ's words when he said 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'. Our country has been perverted to such a point that this guidance is meaningless to so many.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's Catholic about it?\n\n\"relatively painless\". Totally you mean.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"And now I see, as if through a glass darkly.\" Paul gets a glimpse into God's wisdom but admits that he will never know it all. Even his own conversion was not instant. Yes, he was knocked from his horse but, he had to be nursed back to health (grace?) by Ananias. It was not instant. \nSecond, the Church pounces on all sins pelvic (except their own) and yet I wonder if the \"challenge\" isn't to gay people at all (because they are not disordered but God's own children). Rather the challenge is to the hetero to \"judge not lest you be judged\" and to \"love your neighbor (all men, everyone, as told in the Good Samaritan) as you love yourself\". We are never told by Christ to love only those who are just like us.\nThe folks in Twelve Step recovery groups offer the idea of \"spiritual progress, not spiritual perfection\" similar to that which is taught in the parable of the Prodigal Son. We could take a page from their book.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apart from the many studies that show a \"net economic cost\" to American citizens, there is common sense. It is hard to imagine that the mass immigration that America has been experiencing is economically beneficial. How can millions of poor, unskilled, unassimilated immigrants produce a positive economic result. It makes no sense. \n\nYou stated that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native born Americans. Assuming that this is true, I am sure it gives little consolation to those who have been the victims of crimes perpetrated by immigrants. If your dead your dead, whether your death was caused by someone who was \"less likely\" to kill you or someone who was more likely to kill you. \n\nThe Catholic church has never taught that any country should adopt the lawlessness and general patterns of how America has been treating aliens over the last 30 years. For example, read what Aquinas says about immigration.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What still distinguishers Catholic schools are parietals. There were women\u2019s and men\u2019s floor or single sex dorms, sign-ins after 10 and guests were out by 2. While the rules agaisnt sexual activity were never enforced, they were still on the books. In graduate school, at American, there were no such rules and floors were co-ed. As for the student\u2019s themselves, there was no marked difference in chastisty in either university (or Catholic U., where my R.A.\u2019s girlfriend slept over most nights). Any \u201dCatholic identity\u201d in this area was for show. I suspect it always has been. Prior generations simply had to be more creative in their fornicating.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't leave out any context. The context is that Pope Francis said that abortion was an \"absolute evil\". And the many, many Catholics, including the NCR community, voted for the candidate who supported absolute evil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I just pointed out that we aren't really supposed to know. Basically to reserve judgement. It's one way of looking at it. Of course you can deduce someone's behavior as being helpful or harmful - but to be absolutist about it and treat them any differently than with the grace and patience you've been supposedly shown by God is where I tend to land on those issues.\n\nAs it relates to this issue there are a lot of LGBTQ people who have received harsh judgement from their families, communities, and churches. I think that kind of treatment is a bit hypocritical. Jesus didn't treat the people he spent time with that way. He improved lives through servitude, forgiveness, and love. He only outwardly judged the pious. Too often people who are hurting receive judgement from Christians. \"You can't live here if you choose to live that way\". That kind of thing. I'm not saying you are doing that, but I'd implore you to hear that side of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I read that 80% of the Harvey aid actually delivered has come from Christian Non-Government Organizations. So much for the \"we're all socialists in a disaster\" myth. The writer could have delved into this and many other liberal/socialist myths but needed to stick with his main platitude: that alt-right and alt-left are one in the same in their worship of big government. BTW. Just how many alt-anythings are you seeing down in Texas or Florida while Christian NGOs are doing all the work?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I may have to \"duck for cover\" but to my knowledge it isn't a matter of Catholic faith to be against the death penalty [i.e. you must agree with bishops--under pain of sin] as Kaine claimed while defending his record. Also, Kaine wasn't effective using insults to highlight the insults he attributed to Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do the Cardinals [who wrote the dubia] treat lay Catholics so miserably? Jesus was a sign of contradiction for those who wanted to keep the status quo. Just like their Jewish high priest forefathers, these hierarchs believe in acting like the Jewish hierarchy did back in Christ's time. They \"tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves re unwilling to lift a finger to move them.' [Matt. 23:4-5].\n\nThese cardinals place all types of barriers up so that the people who MOST need Christ, in his Body and Blood, cannot receive it. Their treachery to God's people and to the Pope, marks them as wolves, pretending to be shepherds. They believe that there is an unbridgeable gap between doctrinal rigor and mercifulness. These snarling wolves only employ baited traps and cling to their backward-looking vision all in their attempts to hold onto their wealth and power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One by one, NCR's main posters are revealing themselves as either non-Catholic or anti-Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To the contrary, that is what Disqus attempted to do, rather miserably.\n\nThe approach Civil Comments appears to take is two-pronged:\n\nThere is an algorithm that attempts to detect certain inherently uncivil posting and filter them without posting.\n\nThose that pass the algorithm post and then are \u201ccrowd sourced\u201d to other posters for rating as to civility.\n\nSince this is a new process, it is still a work in progress.\n\nIncivility, as I see it, consists of direct attacks on persons and their beliefs: \"You are a *&^%$\".\n\nSince this is the National Catholic Reporter, I also rate direct attacks on the Church as uncivil - e.g. referring to a Catholic as a \u201cmackerel snapper\u201d, as well as juvenile attacks on the Church\u2019s hierarchy - e.g. \u201cBishop so-and-so is a fascist\u201d.\n\nThey will respond to reasonable inquiries - \u201ccan you give me some insight into why this post: (text quotation) was considered uncivil?\u201d, which is a heck of a lot more than Disqus ever did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We just wonder how one \"dances with the dinosaur\" while hitting him with rocks like \"intractable Vatican culture,\" and \"the hard-hearted\" or statements like \"The naysayers will continue to complain and twist in the wind no matter what\". \n\nIsn't this the very subtle attitude that keeps the sometimes vicious Catholic polarization going round and round?\n\nIs it perhaps time to realize that, in the spirit of the 23 other differentiated interpretations of Catholicism in union with the Pope of Rome...\n...it might be time let go the hopes of beating each other into left/right submission one to the other\n...no matter how kind the left/right insistence of either side to bring the other around to its light.\n\nFollowing the Second Vatican Council, many Catholics SEE theology, governance, liturgy differently...not a bad thing! Polarization is part of Church tradition and has only been remedied by allowing \"differentiation in order to unite\" to paraphrase Jacques Maritain.\nGoogle RiteBeyondRome.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "9/11 terror, shootings and death by trucks in france, shootings in london, crime from refugees in europe aren't being done by buddhists, jews, krishnas or christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God has spoken that apostasy shall not overcome the Light [prevail forever]; but, we are in the midst of great crisis. The children of Christian civilization have repudiated the foundation for Blessing;...Law and [B]order. The Truth of Liberty and Freedom has been transformed into liscence. And now the walls have fallen for uncultured hoardes of uncivilized savages to rape, rob, and plunder. A plague of devouring locusts sent for judgement to destroy the blessings. JOEL 2:3\nWhy do the clergy cast off all fear of God?...holding to a servile sycophantic cult-like addling, mesmerized by this messiah of apostasy like rats after the pied-piper.\nThe Mighty God judge with fire the judas-clergy aiding and abetting this globalist criminal enterprise.....or, better yet, let fear have her imperfect work. Proverbs 9:10", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Archb Chaput does not grok Catholicsm and certainly not Christianity. \n\n\"You know nothing\", Charlie Chaput.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The prohibition against women priests has nothing to do with Catholic beliefs. It is something written into canon law, and canon law can be changed. \nIt's not clear to me why you would think that this has anything to do with the core beliefs of Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Trump weren't empathatic, his campaign rhetoric would not have demonized entire groups of people due to their skin color and religion. At one time in history, a major world country was suffering severe economic strains. Scapegoats were found - an entire nation of people were demonized (the Polish people), and all of those of a particular religion (the Jews, if that's not obvious). The leader appealed to people's self-interest, casting blame on \"the other\". As we know, \"good\" christians backed this leader wholeheartedly, millions died to further his agenda. Millions also died in gas chambers, and working as slave labor. \n\n If Trump were not empathatic to the alt-right, he would not have used some of their symbols in his tweets. But the most damning evidence is this - if he were not empathatic, he would not have Bannon as his chief strategist, hidden away in the shadows now, with the press officially banned from access to him. Please open your eyes to the danger.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "only 3.5% of the Irish Republic is Protestant. There are twice as many Muslims as Presbyterians in the Irish Republic. Until Protestants can be made to feel welcome and until Ireland moves well past its theocratic beginnings when the Catholic Church enjoyed great political influence and power will the Northern Irish people consider re-unification. I hope that day is not too far away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We seem to be looking behind every rock for human rights violations but hey John, how about shedding some tears for all the Christians in Syria, Iraq and Egypt who are being persecuted and murdered. Do they not rate your sympathy? These are people most at risk.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't do this back and forth stuff because it's a waste of bandwidth and I have my say and you have yours. But..\n\nWell then if your not a Repub then you must have the Repub mentality. Iow, you don't believe facts or if you don't know then you just doubt what you don't know.\nSooo, do you believe that the church is involved in American politics? I sent an email to him on Dec. 14, 2004 and asked him to please stay out of American politics. On Feb. 28,2005 he made a public statement that the Catholic church was not involved in American politics. Of course the pope was lying. He who also denied involvement in pedophilia also was very much involved in our politics. \nI put a certain phrase in my email and the pope used that very same phrase in his signed response. \nDo you also know that that Popes Pius XI and XII were aligned with Hitler before (Reichskonkordat of 1933( during and even after WWII?\nSo try to not believe everything the church prelates say about many other things. \n\n'nuff saud", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You mean free speech as long as it is Christian and conservative. If a Muslim speaker were to come to a college campus you would probably get your panties so twisted you couldn't see straight.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Huh? What? Did I just read this article in the globe??? Wow, he dares to call attention to the (supposed) fact that Christians in this country are treated worse than Muslims, by figures of authority?! Oh dear, someone get Miss M103 herself Khaled on the horn!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sad reading. This \"professor of political science\" voted for someone who has no respect for constitutional principles and will walk all over the freedoms contained in the Bill of Rights. That will do far more damage long term to the religious liberty of Catholics than Hilary Clinton's views on abortion. I suppose he feels that all the crony capitalism and corruption he and his fellow Catholic Trump voters have now imposed on us is worth the protection of his small minded Catholic traditionalism. No concern that most Americans don't share his confessional beliefs. We will ALL pay the price for the civic irresponsibility of these sectarians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "St. Augustine has certainly messed things up regarding sexuality. Abortion is faced in the Catholic Church BECAUSE sex is ONLY for procreation! It was good for him to demand celibacy AFTER his years of whoring around! Sure, he had TWO courtesans and then held that a Christian should be celibate. And his \"dualism\" mind or spirit good, body evil, dualism from neo-platonism, made the idea and teaching of the Trinity almost impossible. The Trinity disregards the dualistic mind for the one with The Christ, not just Jesus. I can applaud my own comments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't want to give you a heart attack, but I am proudly gay and Catholic. I attend Mass weekly. Say the rosary daily. I am an avid reader of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and yes, I am in a loving, committed relationship with a man. It's been my salvation, in the truest sense of the word. Oh, I teach in a Catholic high school.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dead on.. In any event, all this blather about religion causing evil is just that, blather - people do evil. They take religious (or political) ideas and twist them so that they can justify running riot over others. \n\nThe ideals of Christianity - as Jesus Christ spoke them - are actually quite beautiful. As are those of many other religions and prophets. \n\nClever unscrupulous men and women twist these ideals, and provide their weak-minded followers with justification for whatever nastiness they have in mind. It's actually astonishing how many weak-minded followers are available to the right leader - just look at some of the ones in our modern and secular world.\n\nRemoving religion from society won't change human nature, and in some cases might even remove some barriers to bad behaviour. \n\nJust my 2 cents, since the 'religion is the root of all evil' line is really rather lame. It's stopping people from seeing the real problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A lot of cradle Catholics are blas\u00e9 about their faith and don't know what the Church teaches or what is required of them as Catholics, and sadly a lot of priests are happy to keep them in the dark. People can go through 12 years of Catholic school and get a rather superficial idea of \"how Catholicism works\" and then present themselves as an authority on Catholicism because \"I went to 12 years of Catholic school.\" Converts have to dig deep and really embrace Catholicism instead of go through the motions and pass through milestones of cultural Catholicism (getting \"hatched, matched, and dispatched.\" It's not rigid to think that embracing a religion should have any bearing on how I live my life any different from a follower of something else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And speaking of gratuitous sarcasm, how would an individual referring to \u201cTrump's obvious intolerance, racism, and misogyny\u201d ever develop an \u201cunderstanding why a conservative Catholic (or anyone else) would vote for Trump\u201d?\n\nAre you kidding?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "15,000 signatures on a petition is pathetic.....\n\nWhy not use Change.org.....a kid in Oakland got 94,000 signatures on a Change .org petition to protect teachers at Bishop O Dowd high school in the mess of a teacher contract deal....this boy was 17-18 .\n\nWhen, when dear God are Catholics going to grow up and organize professionally....???\n\nGetting groups on board is great....getting significant petition response is a no brainer. THIS petition effort reminds me of the totally inept Vatican effort to solicit worldwide response prior to the Synods...\n\nThis is the 21st century....grow up you guys and USE 21st century social science methods and products.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your comments. Two things I will say in response: a) I think it fair to say that Catholics throughout the world have grown tired of apologies, expressions of regret etc which in too many cases sounds self-referential. \n\nWhat people are looking for is transparency, and accountability in gestures of repentance from the Pope to the local bishops for the crimes of clerical child sexual abuse, for the shocking damage done to entire families and acknowledgement of Institutional cover ups; b) the excision from Canon Law of 'Secreta Continere' which enjoins the Pontifical secret on bishops and Leaders of religious institutes and forbids them from handing over a pedophile cleric to civil authorities except in jurisdictions which require mandatory reporting.\n\nThe leadership of the Catholic Church has, since the secrecy legislation of Pius XI in 1922, been complicit by commission or omission, in the cover up of child sexual abuse by clergy.\n\nMass resignations would be prophetic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "WOW. I am amazed Will did not render the English language incomprehensible for most by using words only used by anal retentive English professors, but I'm even more amazed Will is addressing what republicans created when they were he11 bent on restoring America to a Christian nation (sic) and were going to restore \"morality.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sure there were many heroes in the Catholic Church prior to Francis who were doing good work but my experience in the 1980s / 1990s was that it was all about the rules and the things that we shouldn't do. I remember learning about everything that was sinful in Catholic school and all the stuff that was bad and wrong, especially everything related to sex, but I was never taught to develop a personal relationship with God. I always envied the Protestant kids because they got to go on mission trips while we just prayed the Rosary. And Catholic parishes are cesspools of gossip and backstabbing, not communities of faith. I believe that this is because of the \"leadership\" from Rome under JPII/ Benedict which encouraged people to tattle and try to outdo each other with purity tests. Benedict said he wanted a smaller and purer Church and it isn't shocking this trickled down to the parishes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure I understand your last question, but here goes anyway.\n\nTrump's radical right supporters like what he is saying. They want our country to violate the articles of constitution so America can guarantee it will always be what they consider a \"Christian nation\". Our founders were clear that religious freedom is a principle that unites us, and that religion should not be used to divide us. \n\nTrump has chosen to raise the constitutional issue of establishing religion by consistently saying his intent is to ban Muslims. The radical right and Judge Trenga are choosing to ignore this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well said. NCR, Negative Catholic Reporter, mainly one dogmatic perspective on politics.\n\nImagine someone trying to piece together the principal (or even the incidental) Gospel messages from a week's worth of articles or from the comments.\n\nWhat a distorted witness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ha, ha, this from a Trump supporter. Nothing like an extremist who stands against the principles that really made our country great. Seems I'm not the one who misjudges reality.\n\nI would definitely brag about supporting a DEMOCRATIC socialist; a Jewish guy, whose ideology and compassion far better mirrors that of Christ than the faux Christians, who preach bigotry, selfishness, and greed. It's reassuring to know that the Trump folk are in a dwindling minority albeit we have a long battle to restore integrity to our country in the face of voter suppression, gerrymandering, and an EC that ignores the will of the majority of the American people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As in Puerto Rico, after the Spanish American War 1899, so in Guatemala, the US government policy of using protestant missionaries such as the Evangelicals, Pentecostals, and 7th Day Adventists from the US as an instrument of division among the people. This policy would disrupt the Catholic Church's effort to organize to challenge and transform the oppressive structures and systems that left so many powerless to make sustainable change. Evangelicals, Pentecostals, and 7th Day Adventists were willing collaborators with the US and the oligarchy, whose interpretation of the Christian faith, inoculated various peoples of Guatemala with a highly sentimentalized Christianity, with little to no concern for the present world, wallowed in their personal relationship with Jesus to the detriment of the work for justice and systemic change. That kind of institutional conversion required the collective power of organized people that the Catholics could have brought to bear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why shouldn't politicians cherry pick from the bible? The Roman hierarchy and Christian preachers of any suasion do. Different standards?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The most depressing story for a Christian is the Pizza shop incident (Please, media-that means you WaPo- stop using the kooks designation \"pizzagate\"). Mr.Welch, and his circle in North Carolina seem so aimless, un-tethered, and despite their chronological age, innocently unsophisticated. The textile mills and furniture manufacturing and other industries dotting the Tar Heel state have been replaced with office desk type work, and tech and financial companies near that state's cities. Rural whites are clearly adrift and prey for every conspiracy charlatan empowered by the net. Both of our major political parties have failed them. One exploits and inflames their fears and situation shamelessly for electoral gain; the other too often sneers at them and blames and shames in the name of identity politics. We can do better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I spoke with the witness that saw Pisano shoot him 8 times in the parking lot (at what had to be Steve in the doorway and then go in and shot someone inside) He called the police right away and reported the creep taking off in his car after shooting. You are one heartless soul...there's a difference between genuine christians that walk the walk and those that call themselves Christians but are do not act it. I know the difference...And by the way, Daniel Mccreadie had custody of his little baby girl so what you say has to baring on this horrific cruel and evil crime. You are either just a very hateful uncaring person or friends with the killer. No matter what...killing 3 people doesnt account for the fake story of an argument with one and still no reason to kill in the first place. If Pisano had an issue with any of them, killing 1 or all 3 is not the answer. And shooting Steve 8 times is not self defense. Criminals always lie and make up stories especially someone that killed 3 people", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Ciezadlo presents basically one side of what is happening. Assad is a ruthless blood-thirsty dictator as was his father. Many of his opponents are not much better but their weapons are not as lethal as his and so they come across as more benign. Some of his opponents are secular and progressive people but many are really blood-thirsty jihadists many of whom are not Syrians. The percentages of each group are debatable. Many of Assad's followers are Alawites, Shiites, Christians, and other minorities who have suffered at the hands of jihadists and are very fearful of these jihadists among Assad's opponents. Think of the Bolshevik revolution in 1917 Russia where many elements were against the Czar but eventually the most blood-thirsty group, the Bolsheviks, ended up on top.\n\nThe violence on BOTH sides needs to be condemned and an inclusive comprehensive political solution is the only answer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Progressive Catholics want the rest of us. . . .\"\nGotta love those broad generalizations!! LOL!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic priests who diddle boys are bad, but Boy Scout leaders who diddle boys are good?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a Christian school. What is so hard to understand about that? Did someone drag her to this school? Did someone threaten her and make her go? No. When you decide to attend a school that has these rules, keep it in your pants. That doesn't make them holier than thou. It just means they are enforcing their rules. Go to public school if you want a horrible education and do whatever feels good attitude. People would be so much better off if some form of standards were put in place. Just basic standards, not even things that hard to do. Instead, it's anything goes and we can't hold anyone accountable. That is the worst plan I have ever heard.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How does the NCR retain the word Catholic in its title when publishing articles such as this?\nContraceptives are harmful to women's health and also may kill the unborn child...they can\nact as an abortifacient", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In a limited context, we must trust the majority in church government until and unless our personal convictions will not allow us to agree with the decision they make. And this is where we are today over male headship vs. WO. The bible must rule, period.\"\n\nWhat does male headship have to do with ordination? Herein lies the contradiction of anti-WO supporters. They refer to male headship to deny women's ordination when male headship denies women AUTHORITY. And EGW was the highest doctrinal authority in our church. They have to use Paul's writings to support an anti-biblical practice of WO because if they took Paul at his word, EGW would be thrown out the window. Let us keep in mind that Paul, though intitially in agreement with the church council of Jerusalem regarding their insistence for Gentiles to keep certain Jewish practices, later went against those decisions. The GC is not always right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "actually marty E is a bot, not a person. It is a conservative novus ordo bot poorly catechized and programmed who can be counted on to get nearly everything wrong on doctrine and dogma, as all novus ordo bots are ignorant of catholic doctrine. For example, Marty E bot believes the world is 6000 years old and that humans lived concurrently with dinosaurs. Now does catholic doctrine require that belief? Not at all, but the marty bot is poorly catechized so it thinks it needs to believe Genesis literally in all cases to be a good catholic bot. It also has no understanding of the relationship of the church to science, which is why it was programmed to deny climate change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Failure to believe in God seems to me akin to a failure of imagination and higher consciousness. I understand perfectly rejecting the church, not because of the ideology of Jesus Christ, but because religion was set up to control and limit the implications of true Christianity, and later even injected spiritual paternalism and authoritarianism and cultural genocide of the multilateral spiritual world that existed before they declared and waged centuries of war upon it. \n\nSo why not just worship the great Goddesses Inanna or Artemis? They're pretty spiritually amazing, you know, and they stand for a lot of what we think makes civilization and culture and humanity worthwhile. Their wisdom and benevolence opposes the wickedness that despoiled western spiritual freedom in earnest starting 1700 years ago. Why atheism? Why not pick up something old, older than Abrahamism itself. Step back in time and recover the beauty that was wrongfully taken away by such extreme cultish exploitative men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In these troubled times, when our country and religion are under attack from all sides, as the social order degenerates into open strife, it is good to have strong men who will step forward and assert their will and lead us. Archbishop Kurz is one. You know who the other is. The point is that the time for turning the other cheek or loving your enemies or that other soft-sounding stuff is past. Now it is time to strike back and wage war upon all enemies, foreign or domestic, real or imaginary, that threaten our catholic faith and our catholic nation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're quoting the Old Testament. The Old Testament is nothing more than the history of God's people. Christ came to be the New Covenant, i.e. the New Testament-which supersedes the Old-but I would point out that the New Testament condemns homosexuality in much the same way the Old Testament does. In short, all those laws in Leviticus, about which you complain, no longer have any force-unless you're Jewish.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's interesting that the concept of evil is integral to Catholicism. And yet, when evil acts are done to others, progressive Catholics tends to be upset if anything is done to prevent such acts. Very hard to understand such people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I had the pleasure once of being involved in a mission church where service to the poor and disenfranchised was the core witness. Half-year and year-long sabbaticals were offered so that parishioners could participate more fully in the process and the church ran a bakery staffed by formerly homeless persons. This unified purpose brought everyone together--a lot of polarities disappeared because there was no need to talk about them. \n\nConcerning the hot buttons . . . sometimes it's also necessary to stick your neck out. Has anyone been following the Aussie referendum on SSM? Two-thirds of Catholics will vote yes. The heads of two prestigious Catholic colleges issued public statements defying the Church's ban, saying, \"there is almost total unanimity among the young in favour of same-sex marriage, and arguments against will have almost no impact on them,\" and people can have sex \"for reasons beyond procreation.\" Hope NCR picks this up.\n\nBoth of these tactics are needed to change things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Although I wouldn't be opposed to women priests, as long as they are orthodox Catholics, this is not going to happen in the Catholic Church for one main reason:\nThe Catholic Church wants desperately to reunite with Eastern Orthodoxy, but Eastern Orthodoxy will never ordain women priests. Therefore, the Catholic Church will do nothing to undermine that goal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sexism is saying \"women are inferior to men\".Thus, we have women being paid less than men for comparable work, the \"glass ceiling\", women having the vote for less than a century in most countries, women being arbitrarily denied ordination by the Catholic Church (and yes, \"arbitrarily\" is the correct word).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A. The Annulment \"reforms\" have had virtually no impact on most people getting an annulment. The few people I've heard of who have tried to begin the process after the \"reforms\" were in place have complained about it as being as daunting, bureacratic, expensive, and time consuming as it was prior to the reforms. \n\nB. Having to get an annulment is itself a burden that people shouldn't have to deal with especially if the divorce was messy/ painful or the ex-spouse is abusive. \n\nC. Even if people choose to ignore it, they could be outted by the tattletales who enjoy running to father and informing on others' lives. They also may run into issues when they try to get their children baptized, enroll them in Catholic school, or register with a parish.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or my favorite:\nThe Spanish Inquisition wasn't from \"real\" Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's talk about the freedom to indoctrinate children with supernatural claims. Sure, parents have the right to express their religion, but as Dawkins has so famously pointed out, children are not born, for example, Christian children, but the children of Christian parents.\nThe state may try to protect children from indoctrination with beliefs such as \"Blacks are bad\" or \"Women are chattels\" but when it comes to \"There is a magic universe creating agent who watches you all the time\" or \"This statue of a man being tortured to death on a cross is actually representative of something good\" the state backs away.\nI support the notion that children be educated about religion, otherwise it's difficult to understand the behaviour of some of our fellows, but schools are rightly prevented from\npromoting one set of crazy beliefs over another. Thus the freedom of religion is also the freedom from religion. If reliant on strength of argument to convince skeptical youth how long would religion last?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<- slowly hakes head. This goes far beyond Christian as I have addressed. Furthermore, if you truly were interested in learning you would have googled the issue and got your own answer without wasting my time with such a sophomoric question. here's one of many for you", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But most Catholics favor the ordinary form.\n\nLook, I'm fine with the EF where there's a demand. Why must they be mutually exclusive?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Love of neighbour, including one's enemies.\n\nTaking someone's life against their will is scarcely an act of such love. Yet, institutional Catholicism has traditionally approved, for example, the death penalty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Western foreign policy is a pathetic excuse for all these Islamist terrorist attacks. If anything western foreign policy has been assisting ISIS and other Islamist terrorists (certainly that has been the case in Syria and Libya). Anyway, ISIS have killed more Muslims than anyone else. They have killed, tortured and brutalized religious and ethnic minorities who have got nothing to do with western foreign policy (Coptic Christians, for example). Their supporters (such as the Manchester suicide bomber and the three Islamist terrorists in London) don't care about foreign policy. They are just angry and frustrated because Islam can't be imposed on western society. That's why they targeted pubs and a pop-concert for young girls.\n\nIf we have a failed policy it is a failure of integration or domestic assimilation not our foreign policy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Father Hall, look on the bright(er) side. You could be ministering to the Catholic faithful on the other side of the Delaware River in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. \n\nYes, indeed, our current spiritual leader, when he was leading the Catholic faithful in Denver, Colorado, deemed it necessary, right, appropriate, etc. to support the local Catholic elementary school's pastor decision to deny enrollment for children registering for the elementary school because their parents were lesbians. Of course, a similar incident, i.e., of kicking an excellent religion teacher to the curb because of her homosexual relationship, occurred at Waldron Mercy Academy in June 2015.\n\nBishop Myers and Archbishop Chaput - perfect together !\n\nFather, thank you for your work, diligence and service to all people of faith.\n\nMichael Skiendzielewski\nCaptain (Retired)\nPhiladelphia Police Dept.\nSt. Joseph's University, 1974", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In June Pope Francis said that the church must say that it is sorry \"to this person that is gay that it has offended.\" \n\n\"I will repeat the same thing I said on the first trip,\" Pope Francis continued. \"I will also repeat what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: that [gay people] should not be discriminated against, that they have to be respected, pastorally accompanied. The matter is a person that has that condition [and] that has good will because they search for God, who are we to judge them? We must accompany well -- what the Catechism says. The Catechism is clear.\"\n\nWe are still awaiting the Church's apology. And now this ... a veritable slap in the face.\n\nBut there are many angles from which to view the current impasse. Francis will change nothing without the collegial consensus ... this might be his way of showing how the system is broken, and needs change. I know that James Alison has argued thus ... http://www.thetablet.co.uk/features/2/7164/love-in-a-changing-climate", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Cont'd)\nSo, for those who \"simply\" accept Church exclusion as pastoral decree of Jesus intention. Wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Russia is, as it most often has been in its bloody history, a centralized authoritarian state run by despots and oligarchs. What appeals to a certain element in \"the West\" at this point is its deep-seated white nationalism, evangelical orthodox Christianity, and assault on women's rights and the rights of LGBT people. The world war alliances were marriages of convenience to squeeze the Axis powers in the middle, alliances that did not last in peacetime. Putin is an unpopular, ruthless, murdering former spy with a stranglehold on his country's institutions. You might also want to look up why Canada passed its own Magnitsky act to sanction Russian blood money. People in Russia are hungry, protesting, fleeing. People in the satellite states it wants to retake are in a bad spot. It takes a bit more than Google to research this one: It takes an actual history book or course. Though if that's too hard, you can watch some TV: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/putins-revenge/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Nazis wanted to eliminate anyone who opposed them, not just Jews. One trip to Mauthausen concentration camp -- which \"housed\" mostly non-Jews -- highlights that truth immediately. The Jews were only the first on the Nazis' long list of undesirables, which included millions of Catholic Poles, Slavs, dissident German Catholic and Lutheran people, Communists, Spanish Republicans, etc. The \"selection bias\" would eventually include hundreds of millions of people. Ironically, the Nazis would not include prostitutes, however, because there were brothels at most of the death camps for SS guards and their \"helpers\" (as they were at Mauthausen). Indeed, prostitutes (women \"residents\" forced into prostitution) were constitutional options for hard working SS personnel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus had nothing to do with holy orders .... a man-made action.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because God it the source of light - I said that above. If he wills a day to \"exist\" before creating the sun and stars then it can be, and there are other sources of light besides our sun, you did know that right ? And this is really an issue of semantics anyway. I am claiming the Bible as the source of truth, I am not attempting to prove anything to you as it is fruitless to do so, you are a hater of God, that is clear who chooses to believer her own fairy tales.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kurgan and many on this site labour under the misapprehension that corporate institutions can sin. This is because under civil law such institutions are considered as 'persons' and can be criminally prosecuted and sued.\nNot so with the Last Tribunal where each and everyone of us will stand in the dock before Christ at the Last Judgement. Christ's Church will not be on trial as a corporate entity.\nThe process will see individuals arraigned for what they have done and first and foremost the abusers will have to answer for their sins. Those who covered for them will be judged according to the levels of their culpability. \nRemember, this is the Last Judgement after which souls enter heaven, are consigned to purgatory or condemned to hell for all eternity.\nSinners, criminals and malefactors may escape punishment here on earth but cannot escape Divine Justice. God is absolutely merciful but never forget He is absolutely just.\nModern Catholicism seems to ignore that there is life after death.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I want advice on how to run my business, i'll consult my accountant and economists. God does not have a position on my business practices. Tell the bishops and nuns to shut up about my hiring of illegal immigrants at slave wages and my dingy apartments that I force them to rent out from me, thereby making them de facto indentured servants. \nDestroying a woman's fertility is very much a God, Biblical, and Church issue (as is the way business owners treat their employees).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is way over due that prelates mudding Catholic Institution are removed!\nI hope these clean up the rotten apples will continue!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our paper reported to-day that the more conservative among Roman Catholics are against Pope Francis's rather liberal attitude towards divorce and remarriage. He favors Mercy over punishment which denies communion to divorced couples civilly remarried who have sex before their first marriage is annulled or declared invalid by the church. It is unrealistic for Catholics to abide by those unreasonable rules , knowing human nature and love. I love Pope Francis for his compassionate attitude. He has received, unfortunately, death threats from Fundamentalist Catholics for being so Liberal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Mary, the mother of Jesus, was about 2 weeks pregnant, when she was addressed as \"the mother of my Lord\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I love that Pope Francis has a learning curve like every good person does. And that he has the guts and humility to own it. So hopeful now. His spontaneous remarks are so much more authentic than the prepared, vanilla remarks. Love him!\"\n\nAssuming that Pope Francis knew nothing of the child sexual abuse crimes by priests and cover-ups by Bishops before becoming Pope, 4.5 years for a learning curve shows that, unfortunately, Pope Francis is either not very smart or simply contributing to the Vatican strategy of wasting time until all current enabling Bishops and Cardinals are dead.\n\nMoreover, your comment reveals that you have read almost nothing about these issues. You can start by reading \"Potiphar's Wife: The Vatican's Secret and Child Sexual Abuse\", by Kieran Tapsell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What has changed in God's intention or our understanding with respect to adultery and divorce such that the Church should change it's teaching on it? From my perspective what has changed is the misconception of what marriage is and the reasons that people get married. That, and a secular society that has decided to make marriage a temporary institution. Catholics know or should know before they take those vows of the consequences of divorce; that is part of the deal with God. \n\nWhat's changed in the Church is the infiltration of liberal-minded priests who assume that people are too weak to honor their commitment to lifelong marriage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"What are we American Catholics to do?\"\n\n52% of Catholics voted for Trump. I cannot remember any Pope speaking specifically against someone running for POTUS. He couldn't have been clearer with his thoughts about Trump and his wall building. The Bishops could have backed Francis but remained silent. \n\nThe first thing American Catholics need to do is get their own house in order and demand leaders worthy of their position.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cannot help thinking that the fallout from the pedophilia scandal that we as Roman Catholics are still trying to get over pales by comparison to the one for which we would only have ourselves to blame if we, as Church, did not promote St. Maurice to the nation. The number of suicides by victims of predatory priests is, thank God, infinitesimally small when measured against the more than five thousand young black males annually claimed by \"urban\" violence.\n\nBecause of Protestant denominations' unfamiliarity and discomfort with our own hagiographical traditions and sensibilities, I've long believed that the reintroduction and popularizing of this black saint to be a uniquely Roman Catholic obligation and one that grows ever more desperate and increasingly urgent.\n\nhttps://twitter.com/VoxSMauritii/status/846536228929490945\n\nhttps://twitter.com/VoxSMauritii/status/845376597788180480\n\nhttps://twitter.com/VoxSMauritii/status/844632919008301056\n\nSANCTE MAURITI, ORA PRO NOBIS!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Doh! The Newfoundland Parochial school system illustrated the waste of having 5 different sets of administration, the public one and 4 different denominational school hierarchies.\n\nWe have seen cases where two sets of school buses made the rounds, when one would have sufficed. The Catholics were terrified that their Precious Snowflakes might interact with non Catholic students on the bus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder who made the conservative Catholics conservative. After 2017 years! Any good guess?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ok, Got your pure opinion. I am sorry that you are not up to understanding that even us Roman Catholics must continue to grow and develop through each generation as the Spirit exposes us to new bits of truth. There is nothing that is always intrinsically evil or always intrinsically good. Unfortunately in the real world reality of what is happening is indeed important. Your idea of why a Lutheran might or might not want to receive the Catholic Eucharist is a little obscure, you see it was Christ who apparently said is all that it takes is the presence of \"two or More, He did not mentions that their beliefs must be exactly the same. Perhaps what Francis is doing is trying to convert both sides to a deeper understanding of the more bits of truth we have all received over the generations and perhaps even he is willing to listen and be taught.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Take and eat, for this is my body. (Bad proof texting on your part). We have faith in the witness of the apostles for the Resurrection. That witness means more than all the Sacraments. \n\nI believe what the Church teaches. How it operates is the issue. The fact that you are getting personal means you have no counter-argument. You cannot even see the paradigm you operate in.\n\nI can see why magicism is the rule of the day in the hiearchy and among trads. In a magical paradigm, women can not be ordained for questions of validity (good magic). If you have a faith paradigm, there is no reason at all not to do so. I used to think it was just sexism, but I am changing my mind. That is also the reason behind Continence, which has poisoned the entire well of Catholic sexual theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RD, like many other conservatives, doesn't like having the government jelp the poor. He prefers, for purely ideological reasons, that the poor go hungry, be sick and homeless. His claim to be a follower of Christ is dubious at best.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bring them into a Church which is guided by the love of Christ and our neighbors, not by a rule book or the misogynistic homophobes you love someone much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RD doesn't approve of those whose priorities are different from his. He is against fighting social injustice (he is a white, heterosexual Christian male who is apparently well off, so he is at the top of the heap).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the Roman Catholic Church does need to be reformed on key issues like women and LGBTQ issues but Thomas Tobin makes a good point here. The numbers game gets bandied about too much. The Catholic Church in the West is in decline. So are mainline Protestant Church(like my own, Anglican) that have liberalized their views on these topics. \n\nBy contrast in places like Africa the Churches their are booming and exploding in record numbers. Same thing in places like China and South East Asia. So people aren't really leaving Church because of those controversial issues, though it can be a fact. It's just the general trends in Western society to reject belief in God in general.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Fr. Thomas,\n\nThank you for writing this article. Of course, the identity of the Church's priests is a very important thing: they are first and foremost servants of God. What I can't understand, then, is why sexual orientation need be an important aspect of that priestly identity: you seem to agree, insofar as a man should not be turned away from seminary based on sexual orientation.\n\nAt the same time, would the irrelevance of sexual orientation in selecting priests not also carry over into the active lives of the priests? It is perfectly irrelevant that a man is attracted sexually to this or that category of people when that man is a priest. Hence, there is no meaningful classification of \"gay priests\" or \"straight priests\", but only priests as such. What good is to announce one's \"identity\" as a \"gay priest\" if that is irrelevant to his duties as a servant of God? That only exacerbates issues through the prism of identity politics and needless sensation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, what's with the personal attacks and the refusal to address the substance of the filial correction?\n\nAlready, the San Diego bishop has already extended the logic of AL to include active homosexuals. Some bishops in Canada have already extended the logic of AL to include final communion for people who choose to kill themselves by euthanasia. \n\nNotice something? Instead of the age-old teaching that one must use the sacrament of confession to be in a state of grace to receive the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, this pope is gradually reducing it to a symbolic meal, regular medicine in the field hospital of life. But what kind of medicine is it really if you can't even be bothered to change your sinful ways to receive the real Presence? What makes it diabolical is that this pope is actually encouraging people to compound their original sin with the sin of sacrilege by using their conscience as the sole guide to determine whether to take communion or not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The probability is that most older divorced and remarried couples know that their union is adulterous and would not presume to come up for Holy Communion.\n Since Vatican II almost everyone goes to receive Communion regardless of whether they are in a state of grace or not. Such a situation prompted a bishop or cardinal to marvel (sarcastically, of course) that it was good to see so many members of the congregation in a 'state of grace'.\nI imagine that it it could be quite galling to discover that one's EEM who is distributing communion or the deacon's wife is actually on the pill and yet you, as a divorced and remarried, cannot receive the Sacrament. This situation is by no means hypothetical, believe me. I did know an EEM who let it slip that she was on the pill.\nOne can tell from the comments here that younger Catholics, and, sadly some older ones too, have absolutely no understanding of the Catholic doctrine of Eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"And now we have the 'Last Generation Theology' ministry...\"\n\nBill,\nFor several times in the past the heresy of Perfectionism was pushed into the SDAC, by different agents. They never succeeded because the Church always expunged the false teaching quite quickly.\n\nWhat we are witnessing now is the same heresy being presented under the disguise of a fancy name - LGT! It's bad that so many people appear unacquainted with the heresy and are not recognizing it in he LGTarian movement.\n\nWhat is worse this time though is that there has been no word, absolutely none from the top administration to denounce this heresy. I am personally persuaded that Ted Wilson actually supports it; which means that this time the LGTarians (aka \"perfectionists) were able to infiltrate the Church's barracks to the top of the administrative pyramid.\n\nMore than anything else, the LGT heresy is the biggest danger threatening our Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would go back to where in Geneses where it says \"Know and you shall be like gods who know what is good and what is bad\". I guess the Church decided that the more the Priest knows the more he is like God, but somehow they forgot who that statement came from. First sin? I'll tell you the truth, the more a person Loves the more he or she is like God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "i am not much around priests these days, but when i was, i heartedly resisted referring to them ''Father.'' every molecule of my body and mind cried out : ''you are NOT my father!!!!!''' it got so for me that i would not call the priest anything but his own name. a bit rude, but i find the title to be disingenuous and an insult to my own father. the sooner we come to reality and stop with the 'shepherd\n and the 'flocks'\u2026. and the 'father' etc --the better and the more christian we will become.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cNo one should be afraid to revive the centrality of conscience in Catholic moral theology.\u201d\n \nWho have \u2018the centrality of conscience in Catholic moral theology\u2019?\n\nFrom Pope F, the Vatican prelates/bishops to the diocesan priests, they practice/promote clergy sexual abuses of children. There are no possible conscience of Catholic moral central or peripheral exist, is there?\nHow could they, if they had even a trace of moral conscience, all of the clergies could practice silence at the monstrous clergy sex abuse of children scandals and multitude of suicides of clergy sex abused children. Even now, today, the Vatican prelates, Cardinal Gerhard M\u00fcller fight to eliminate Pope Francis' Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors! Is this article some kind of sick joke?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Always beginning with an insult to hide your lack knowledge. How I missed you Frederick In Sh' Allah. Why don't you just flag my post like always? I see you let this one pass. Well, thank you. You are using the typical liberal / get whitey tactic of making the exceptioni the rule; so the details make the story. Doesn't work this time brutha Fred. Basically, Islam was a rip off of the Judaic/Christian story in my view. M'hmd said 'hey those Jews have a good idea there...'. You know, jumped on a white horse, went to heaven and Jerusalem etc etc. Like em or loathe em, the jews cast their lott with the Europeans centuries ago whereas the Muslims tried to conquer us with swords. They were repelled. \n\nThey will be repelled again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, we tyrants who believe that we should not discriminate against our LGBT brothers and sisters. How terrible we are to actually practice Christian love. No wonder conservatives oppose us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's \"on going\" in the sense that it's permanent.\n\nI have seen perhaps a half dozen of these situations over the years, and studied them going back into the late 19th century with the Poles and Russian Catholics, and they all follow more or less the same course.\n\nThe bishop and the pastor are not going to change anything, the folks who exited (in the Polish areas they were given the nickname \"the kickers\") will live out their lives and their children will have zero interest in any of this and go to the church nearest them, those who left for different faiths were already in trouble, and in a generation it will all be a memory.\n\nThese are people problems, not Church problems.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "During the final hearings of the Catholic Wrap Up of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse, the Commissioners heard from Fr Gerry O'Hanlon sj, theologian and former leader of Irish province of the Jesuits. When asked about the strategies adopted at the highest levels of governance in the Church to deal with clerical sexual abuse of children, Fr O'Hanlon remarked, \"Culture easts strategies for breakfast.\"\n\nNo just, transparent, accountable and effective strategies to address the hierarchy's 'criminal negligence' (Archbishop Fisher of Sydney) will ever make it through the Curia's culture of clerical protectionism and 'management by inertia' (Francis Sullivan, CEO of the Australian Truth, Justice and Healing Council) unless Pope Francis dismantles the entire system of Church governance. He has to get rid of the career priests, bishops and their clericalized lay courtiers and fill their places with sane, decent laity from across the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesus obviously thought He was Messiah\u00a0. . .\" Wow, Brother W! You know what Jesus thought? That is something his dejected, disappointed followers didn't, especially in the light of the dishonor of his criminal execution.\n\nHis disciples, as his best buds, sure didn't. And it isn't clear that he did. There were a number of self-proclaimed potential Jewish Messiahs running around, from which he wasn't much differentiated. He spoke once (erroneously) of the coming of the Son of Man (contextually obviously not himself) to be so soon living people would be the witness. He didn't seem to know he was scheduled for that role, apparently.\n\nThe written record, the Gospels, and Mr. Paul, are so indefinite there is extensive debate, still active, over whether or not he knew his role as Messiah. His \"Jewish mind\" imprinted with the Jewish version of Messiah showing off in a grand entrance of great power and glory.\n\nI would like to know how you learned what Jesus thought!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims and the migrants are as horrified by this event as anyone else. It is cheap and easy to use this as way paint all Muslims with the terrorist brush. The American just convicted of the terrorist killing of the black church goers was a white Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And those with Downs syndrome have no less dignity as a person than you or I. Justifying their destruction in the womb has nothing in common with Catholic social justice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, okay, but \"lip service\" seems off to me when talking about Obama. I think his connection with Christian beliefs, especially in a \"blacker\" church, is more based in the spiritual importance of human actions (the \"doing\") and he sees governmental action as action involving people to help each other--a very basic American idea of community engagement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But, should we really be that surprised about 'black surprise'? We European whites are theologically fixed in skin color. We presume Jesus was white; ergo, God is white.\nWhat sense can we make of the reality that whiteness has to do with place of evolution? More people in the world are not white; ergo, God is not white.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry not to see my parish listed. But not surprised, I guess. Our pastor is extremely liberal in his outlook, carefully inclusive in all his remarks, and would, I am confident, be completely welcoming to all. I think one reason there is not a particularly visible LGBTQ presence in our church is that Black LGBTQ people have a lot of difficulties in the general community, and there is much less broad support for mainstreaming than one finds in more privileged communities. \n\nThere's a Black protestant church not far away, that is, I am told, THE church to belong to, as an LGBTQ person of color. I attended a sad and difficult funeral there, and was moved and impressed by the way the pastor spoke to the conflicted responses of those attending. A woman pastor, with great gifts. If I was queer and Black, and looking for a community of worship, I imagine I would be drawn there, rather than undertaking missionary work in a Catholic church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Native Americans, Muslims, isolated African tribes et.al. have theories of creation and the progressive left celebrates it as culture, and learning and understanding that culture is the epitome of enlightenment. Conservative Christians have a theory of creation and it's to be mocked as anti science and backward thinking. Please have the courage to have some consistency in your convictions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wrong, attack on New Years day was against the Catholic calendar. That was according to ISIS statement. Dont let the facts get in your way!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God did not establish scripture scholars with His Truth to preserve and spread. He established His Church for that duty. It just amazes me how you and so many here twist things around that you can no longer even see how what you believe is so contrary to Sacred Scripture. You go along with the world, yet Our Lord says that the world (as a whole) does not know Him. You put your trust in the science of people with 3 lb. brains against the Wisdom and Knowledge of Him Who is behind the Science of All things. Because of the sinfulness and fallibility of men within the Church, you turn your back on the human and Divine institution that God set up to preserve and teach the Truth, and instead trust your own sinful and fallible judgments and those of scholars that you hold in high esteem over God's wisdom and His Church. Unbelievable that you cannot see your own hubris.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A willfully entertained fantasy\" IS often a daydream, indeed, it could be an accurate definition of such. And in today's pragmatic, bottom-line, metrics-based world, daydreams should be valued, not chased away. \n\nDo you not day dream intensely and, at times, incessantly about some one or some thing? \n\n\"A willfully entertained fantasy\" is not to be averted or discarded; it is to be cherished. Heck, isn't that LITERALLY what a poem is? Or a love song? Or a love story? Or science fiction? Or...a day dream? \n\nJust as its wrong to objectify a woman, it is wrong to objectify a daydream. \n\nYou say I sound new to Catholicism. You sound new to love and romance. (Just as you are wrong, I might be also). In any case, this might be a great discussion for you and your significant other to have. Without a rule book! And ask her/him what they daydream about you!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you were in Sweden when the PM was assassinated by a Right Wing nutter, and during the Summer Camp massacre by another Right Wing Christian nut case?\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Olof_Palme", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God bless these good people. If the normal \"Good Catholic\" means of trying to discuss these issues or in attempting to get a hearing, have failed, the folks need to use other means. Write articles in the major newspapers in Charlotte, get on talk radio, use protests and sit-ins---and do the same in Waynesville.\n\nSend letters complaining to Josephinum Seminary---telling them that instead of training pastoral priests---they are mass-producing SSPX versions of the pharasees. They should gather the Latinos, Native Americans and everyone else who has been effected. They should continue swamping the Vatican and the others with individual letters, which should be well documented. \n\nRiehl, and others like him, were sent to these outlying places, because the bishop thought that these Catholics are just a bunch of 'hillbillies' who will accept and put up with anything. The days of Catholics having to 'shut-up and put up' with these priests who are \"little monsters\" is over.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was Catholic. Now I'm tired of the liberal bent. I quit!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The KofC's politics are the mirror image of the hierarchy's dark politics - only the hierarchs can't say those hideous and repulsive things in public. All these associations with really dark political forces - especially on the political right-wing - reflects almost perfectly the political activity and ideology of the hierarchs that is always just below the radar of most Catholics in the pews. \n\nChief among them is the hierarchs' anti-feminine, misogynist ideology that demonizes and tries to shame all things female - and to support their self-loathing homosexuality which they must be suppressed for public consumption. \n\n[The hierarchs' sappy adoration of the Virgin doesn't count because they have leached all the real humanity/femininity out of the Mother of God - making her the perfect feminine placeholder they need for their pantheon of the demigods they worship. Don't look for the Gospel to have any sway with them.]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unreal....I bet you consider yourself a Christian don't you? I prefer to live in a world where the fortunate help take care of the less fortunate not in a world where it's every man for himself.....I feel sorry for you......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're sure are you? \n\nOriginal list of intervenors:\n - Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) Canada\n - Advocates\u2019 Society \n - Canadian Bar Association\n - Christian Legal Fellowship \n - International Coalition of Professors of Law \n - National Coalition of Catholic School Trustees \n - Lawyers\u2019 Right Watch Canada \n - Criminal Lawyers\u2019 Association (Ontario) \n - Canadian Civil Liberties Association\n\n3 Christian organizations, 6 law/lawyers organizations, 0 LGBTQ organizations", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In some sense, the pope, like the president, is responsible [for the ban on gay seminarians], but it is not earth shattering....Interest groups are capable of making something that is not that important seem earth-shattering and, conversely, minimizing the downside of the proposals they advocate.\"\n\n\nSorry, but if you're a gay man who seriously believes you are being called by God to be a priest and the church tells you you either have to lie to your superiors about who you really are in order to proceed with your ministry or forget about it and do something else with your life, that is earth-shattering for the people involved. And since Pope Francis did verbally reaffirm B16's ban on gay seminarians, it matters not that he didn't sign any document to that effect - the ban still bears his imprimatur. That local reporter was right to ask MSW about that story because it is indeed newsworthy and MSW is wrong in downplaying its significance simply because it makes him uncomfortable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Icon66, you said that all Christians are responsible for this permissive attitude concerning violence towards women. Which woman? The woman in the womb of her mother whom the mother is aborting in a violent way, whom a Christian would speak up for in order to stop the violence against her as the unborn?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A possible exemption if the purpose of the new wife is to provide a \"mother figure\" for young children?\nRemarriage for a widowed deacon only if the woman serves a practical purpose?\nI shudder to contemplate what this says about the intrinsic worth of a woman in a sacramental Catholic marriage. \nA truly awful view of marriage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clerics and Rabbi made the rules speaking for God. Whether they were listening properly when doing so is a very open question and depends on natural law analysis of what they came up with. Unprivileged natural law teaching on homosexuality is not looking good for the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic parents and churches can teach what they want on their time; meanwhile, publicly funded non-biased sex ed curriculum is taught on school time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our country has a strong commitment to standing up against human rights violations, as long as \"everybody\" looks the other way when it comes to abiding by treaties signed with the native population (yes, I mean Native Americans). Having said that, the plight of illegal immigrants is one that can not and should not be ignored either in a true Christian and moral sense. So let's see what a UN human rights commissioner had to say about our NAFTA trade partner and its commitment to human rights: \"Mexico is one of the countries where illegal immigrants are highly vulnerable to human rights violations and become victims of degrading sexual exploitation and slavery-like practices, and are denied access to education and health care.\"\nRead more at http://www.wnd.com/2006/04/35594/#fYVZ3IifjPQ4JZDV.99\n\nIt makes perfect constitutional sense that the US wants to do better than that. So let's start where we really have a moral duty, let's honor our original commitments to Native Americans first.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remarkable that Jesus had nothing to say about abortion or same-sex marriage, both of which existed in his time also, and very little to say about remarriage after divorce, about which we find a plethora of divergent and hard opinions. For the most part, Jesus left the black-letter law to the lawyers, about whose pharisaical attitude Jesus had more to say, especially that we should not get caught elevating ourselves above the sinners of our day and pretend that we are better than they are. So Jesus shared food with these sinners in an obvious act of friendship, and even endured scoldings from his disciples. That's enough right there to make me and many others think that archbishops should befriend sinners and maybe even have a burger with them. That could explain why McDonald's is looking at a possible Vatican site. Oh Happy Meal! Ah! Happy Meal!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's as may be, but there is no comparison with the Archbishop. All are welcome in the Church to learn and grow in the faith. He's concerned that people are being led to Hell by a false secular and humanist Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gee, Israel has a huge wall, and huge restrictions of immigration. Is Israel also to be linked to \"the Rape of Nanking\"? (I guess the Nazi comparisons are too tame for you now)\n\nMSW, your columns are getting more and more shrill, and more and more ridiculous. \n\nMeanwhile, the President's approval rating keeps climbing with every week he's in office. Well above 50% now.\n\nThe more you try to link American conservative Catholics to abject Evil, the more you damage the Catholic progressive movement. \n\nI expect you'll be remembered as a Feeney-like character -- an extremist Catholic spokesman.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I belong to the institutional Church because there is only one Catholic Church.\n\nYou have an opinion on what the Church does, along with as many opinions as there are topics.\n\nI have worked closely with the marriage tribunals in more than one diocese and have not seen one iota of evidence to support your claims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you (hate to say this, James) a quitter? I wish I could say now what my heart orders (but which NCR would not allow) about Vatican 11 bishops. I'll be diplonatic: bishops, including Pope Francis, are NOT the Church. Rejoin the fold...and repel clerical arrogance. (You'll find the experience exhilerating.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is not magesterial. It is simply an exhortation, which is merely the opinion of the Pope which is not news to most and is not binding. The problem is that many do not know the difference and think Francis can change Doctrine: he cannot. In order to prevent confusion on the indissolubly of marriage, the Cardinals are seeking clarification, as well they should. Simply reading the responses on this cite, one can see the damage such ambiguity can cause. Perhaps the Pope is not answering because he painted himself into a corner: he knows he can't change Doctrine and he can't defend chapter 8 of AL without either stepping over that line or having to retract his statements. That's a fine pickle he got himself into.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe Hamer and King accepted suffering, the Cross, as a consequence being faithful to Christ's Gospel, the Gospel's law of love and forgiveness. But they never embraced suffering or believed in it as an end in itself. Their end was to follow Jesus, his law of love, forgiveness and mercy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nonsense, an ex- priest has no authority to perform a Sacramental Marriage in the Catholic Faith. The Sacrament of marriage would be no more authentic than if the ex-priest Martin Luther himself performed the ceremony. I am not talking about a civil marriage. Next you will tell me that the so called \"women Priests\" that claim to be Catholic priests have the authority to perform the Sacraments as well. For a third time - Do you believe the Fatima apparitions are authentic? A simple yes or no answer would suffice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To me, no.\nBut we're talking about the Catholic Church here, a religious organization protected by the First Amendment.\nAccording to the Catholic Church, racism is a mortal sin and so is homosexuality.\nI didn't make the rules, the Church did.\nWould you prefer this example instead: \nWhat if I wanted to form a group which promoted abortion? \nNow, as a conservative civil libertarian, I'm pro-choice, but I don't expect the Catholic Church to support my views.\nIt is a private, religious institution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One must understand that Muslims are where western Christians were back in the 12/1300's hundreds. Their medieval mode of female dress is a cultural product, not religious. We have no obligation in a civilized society to either approve it or accept it. Quebec may have overreacted somewhat but that's not so bad given the way our society worships political correctness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "IC was a developed doctrine based on the question of how original sin would not be passed on to the Christ. It is less necessary if the the original sin has to do with blame rather than some kind of stain passed on by sexual acts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's about bringing someone closer to God, their true good, not just in the hereafter, but today, now.\n\nThat's every confirmed Catholic's MISSION, given to us by Jesus Christ.\n\n\"recruitment\". \n\nI can hear the Apostles...\"throw nets out to fish for men? My Jesus, that's just recruitment!\"\n\nlol.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh no, I meant to compliment Eliane on so deftly demonstrating how the Church serves Jesus Christ by protecting the wolves who prey upon the flock.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to these same \"experts,\" transsexual gender identification is not a mental illness.\n\nIn any case, if what they experts say about priests raping boys *not* being an indication of homosexual orientation, then wouldn't we expect to see the same high rate of men interested in boys in some other area of society besides the Catholic church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Michael Sean Winters is simply obeying Christ's command \"Feed my sheep.\"\n\nAs the article picks up more comments, you\u2019ll hear the \u201cbaahs\u201d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks to the Republican right wing, there has been more money waisted on investigating Hillary than any other candidate in history. When Donald says she should be in jail, what about his own income tax evasions? What about his reported fraudulent University. What about the bankruptcy of his casino and all the other bankruptcies. What about all the workers who he simply refused to pay and told to sue him. If Catholics believe in upholding the Ten Commandments, how can they support a man who seems to have broken most if not all of them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LittleBear, it is more of that ugly innuendo and guilt by association and the incredible fear that causes people to throw stones to stop the wind. \n\nI am really sad to see another bishop giving in to fear mongers and tattle tales and those who refuse to see the good that is also there with Girl Scouts, LGBT people, those who disagree with them but still love God and neighbor. \n\nWhen will there be a bishop who tells one of these people to tend to their own hearts and souls - and maybe get a little psychological help? What the bishops do in heeding this kind of hatefulness is assure the divisiveness grows, building walls that divide rather than paths that unite. \n\nBishops who think \"The Christian believer is a simple person\" treat grownups like children, don't challenge them to grow up, and so what they get is childish adults. Go throw stones at the wind along with the children, bish; see if you can stop it.\n\nNot preaching at you, LittleBear, just took the opportunity you provided.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She was a \"deeply flawed person\" because of her actions and her choices - private email servers and more than 33,000 deleted emails; allowing American embassy personnel (including the ambassador himself!) to be viciously murdered in Benghazi, despite their repeated requests for more security; decades of controversy and investigations tied to her and her husband.\n\nBut more seriously, she was \"deeply flawed\" because of her political positions: pro-choice, pro-late term abortion, pro-gay \"marriage\", pro-Obamacare, pro-embryonic stem cell research, pro-tax, anti-religious liberty, anti-Catholic, anti-free market, anti-business...she would have continued the trend of pushing this nation and its citizens to the extreme political left, all the while demeaning and insulting those who disagreed with her (\"deplorables\") and never once trying to persuade, just use the power of government to coerce and impose.\n\nHer flaws had nothing to do with her gender, and everything to do with her character.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Better late than never, Pope Francis. Here's what the top commenter for Ross Douthat's latest offering had to say about the sexual abuse crisis in the church:\n\n\"You\u2019d think that an institution that got away with molesting children for so long would lay low and praise the Almighty that they still exist. Putting the Vatican on the auction block to pay reparations to the survivors might have been a reasonable punishment for their unspeakable crimes, to be followed by jail time for those who aided and abetted serial molesters. But instead, they merely kick out the old pope, hire an affable guy to put a smiley-face on the problem, and signal that the Church is now hip, cool and loose. The strategy seems to have worked. The new pope is popular. When asked about the old dogmas, he shrugs. \u201cWho am I to judge?\u201d\n\nThat's what most people think about the Catholic Church. Pope Francis is nice window dressing, but until he gets serious about prosecuting offenders, window dressing isn't enough.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re 1st sentence: Yes, faithful Catholics sometimes disagree with their ordinary.\nRe 2nd sentence: Kudo, excellent rebuttal of by sloppy fingers. ;-}", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the media manipulated the election in ways that are yet to be discussed. The blatantly pro-Hillary progressive media managed to have much more qualified GOP candidates undermined during the primary season thinking that Trump would be the easiest of the Republican field to beat.\n\nUnfortunately, Mrs. Clinton is a more flawed candidate than many voters could stomach. Faithful Catholics could not stomach her support of abortion. Over 50% of Catholic voters opposed her. The revelations of Wikileaks and a flawed documentarian highlighted the shortcomings of a Clinton presidency.\n\nObama's legacy is Donald Trump. The disaffected voters wanted something different than what we have experienced the last eight years. Obamacare has hurt the average American household. 93 million Americans have left the workforce because jobs have not returned. Still, the media misrepresents these failed programs.\n\nGod works in mysterious ways with flawed souls. Let's pray for our new president elect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Terrorism is a religious phenomena. \n\nAnti-terrorist activities do not address the problem, they simply try to cope with the barbaric results of right wing extremism. Without addressing the source little to no progress will be made.\n\nRead the Bible and the Koran and you will find that they are filled with hate speech. This is the well spring from which the far right derives its justification for heinous acts of violence.\n\nUnfortunately in west religion is protected and untouchable. Terrorists are tolerated and condoned behind the walls of churches, mosques and temples around the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a huge step forward. Remember when even musing that there may come a time when it might even be openly discussed would get a bishop removed from his see and sentenced to obscurity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey, I was pointing our that by YOUR criteria, you are not a Catholic. Also, you completely misstate what I accept and reject. But then, setting up stray men is something you do well. It means that you do not have to address what I actually believe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even going to church is dangerous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "dont tell trump or sessions what we are doing, or most evangelicals. they will try to prevent your common sense approach to this very real problem, just another of many, facing the lgbtq community.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with you that surprise about what that man is doing is more than disingenuous. It's actually offensive, given that 60% of white Catholics voted for him, with the backing of most of the hierarchy. However, Maureen Fiedler was never a Trump supporter. And, please don't give up on immigration. There are many of us who are working to hold to as much of the law as possible. We need as much support as possible from everyone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let me correct your wording. It's not Christians that are hung up on sex. It's the sinners who are hung up from getting to heaven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lyman, your post is disingenuous. Wallace was the at the end of the southern Democratic era. Democrats and Republicans changed positions on equal rights. It is like republicans today laying claim to Lincoln as one of their own while in truth they were and continue to be like George Wallace. When the current Republican President has White Supremacist and radical Christians as vocal and high profile supporters it is more than enough proof of the republican philosophy. To accuse democrats of following Wallace just because he had a \"d\" in front of his name is either ignorant or intentional instigation based on fallacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lmao sure a dissertation now is it? Please look up words before using them so you can at least use them properly. \nSecond I'm not left wing or right wing like you obviously are and a nut in your own right since you want to defend your own crazy party members. \n\nI'm an independent that's one of the few ppl in the middle who happen to have and use our brain. And in case you're not sure what a brain is ... try this... \nBenefits \nRisks \nAlternatives \nIntuition (what does it tell you)\nNothing (what if you do nothing) \n\nI feel sorry for both of your parties throwing around words you don't understand like \"nazi\" (natzi isn't a word)\n\"Nazism\"\nThe ideology and practice of the Nazis, especially the policy of racist nationalism, national expansion, and state control of the economy.\n\nMy suggestion was to be wary of any extremists Muslim or Christian and what was your looney tune answer? Hmm see above you crockpot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Erroneous autonomy is the erroneous belief there is such a thing as a Catholic who can have a private relationship apart from God, The Ordered Communion Of Perfect Love, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, and remain in communion with Christ's One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church; one can know through both Faith and reason, that a Catholic cannot be autonomous and in communion, simultaneously.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Catholic health systems, women may get contraception if they were raped, provided conception has not yet taken place. Once conception takes place, what would be the point giving a women contraception? Wouldn't contraception be moot? Oh, right--you mean Catholic hospitals refuse to perform an abortion... And why does that bother you? You know how the Church feels about abortion. Why would you expect the Church to allow abortions in a Catholic facility? \n\nAs for a tubal pregnancy, once again, Catholic hospitals do treat those--even when the side effect is an abortion. The hospital will not do a direct abortion, instead they will cut out the effected tube, saving the life of the mother, but nonetheless leading to the death of the child. \n\nCatholic hospitals will not script birth control--but women do not have to go to Catholic hospitals to get scripts for birth control now do they?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR: \"Catholic teaching counters the worldview built on the need to demonize the other and create enemies.\"\n\nIn practically the same breath, NCR characterizes the view that half of America approved of Nov 8th as \"a reptilian response,\" among people of \"a seething anger.\" Among other nice things.\n\nFew things more pathetic than a editorial that talks out of both sides of its mouth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In my opinion, calling it \"religious freedom act\" is nothing but hypocritical when we examine its content. It is like saying, I want freedom for myself, but I restrict the freedom of others.\n\nThis is not right, in my opinion, especially when businesses provide services or sell goods to the public. They must obtain a license to operate, with the goal of providing the public with their needs. Everyone is included. How can they then discriminate against some people under the argument of \"religious freedom?\"\n\nIsn't a \"Christian who discriminates\" actually an oxymoron?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Germany they have safe houses for teenagers who run away from their religious parents. Canada needs the same so children can get away from their Christian and Jew parents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church will always have corruption in it, because the Church is made up of sinners. The fans of modernist architecture are just as much sinners as the fans of more traditional architecture. \n\nKeep in mind that one thing Jesus never attacked was the Temple. He never said, that it was money wasted that should have been given to the poor. In fact, he got angry when people started treating it as a market. Now lets remember, that in every active Catholic Church, there is a tabernacle that houses the body of Christ. Jesus lives in many places on the Earth, but make no mistake, he lives in a special and extraordinary way in those Churches. Shouldn't our first purpose in building a church building be to remind everyone who actually lives there?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you suggesting the Muslim Assad and his regime are not terrorists when they slaughter their own people including babies in Syria?\n\nAnd when all Muslims must follow Islam and when followers of Islam, who have been moderate for years, suddenly lash out and attack, maim and kill innocent non Muslim, non believers in many countries, how does one tell the moderates from the radicals?\n\nAnd, if Muslims aren't following Islam and the verses in the Qur'an when they attack Christians in Pakistan and Coptic Christians in Egypt and bomb and burn their churches, why are Muslims attacking Christians in Pakistan and Egypt?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unless she explicitly states his comments we have no way to know if she is just being ridiculous or if she has a point. \nThis is propaganda not an advice column meant to push Islam down our throats, that is all this is - giving religious privileges to Muslims that we correctly removed from Christians decades ago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wondering what motivates the 6 assembly members who believe in taking away their constituents' rights. Big egos who can't be bothered by the First Amendment? Fragile minds who need the right juju before getting down to their oh- so- important borough business? \n It can get mighty uncomfortable living on the central peninsula- all the smug Christians living in their tiny little worlds. \n The fifty grand will just be the beginning. Do they plan to appeal after losing and paying costs to the ACLU? Do they foresee going to the Supreme Court on our dime? I have lived here a long time and do not know anyone who isn't appalled by this invocation nonsense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Home grown, but Muslims.\nTwo of the Charlie Hebdo shooters were brothers of Moroccan parents who were French born, educated, and spoke French as well.\nThe Europeans who have a handle on this plight are the Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Romanians, and Hungarians. The Catholic Poles repulsed the Islamic invasion once, and will leave the Euro over it. Polexit?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He said the ascension didn't happen. The Creed says that \"I believe...he ascended into Heaven....\" This is our faith. \n\nThere's a lack of rigidity and then there's rejection. I'm no Catholic scholar, but I'm pretty sure that the Creed is of a significantly higher level of teaching than, e.g., whether one takes the host in their hand or on the tongue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Layla: Because of mindless hate being spewed by people like you. You are part of the problem.\n\nIt is up to Canadians to shout our ur ideals and support our multi-cultural country. As a Christian I will be doing so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"you can't claim to be Christian and subscribe to racism.\"\n\nNothing says \"White Power\" like worshiping a Mideastern Jew!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah- \"go thee my children and flaunt thy laws of thy land, thou shalt be forgiven as many times as art necessary\". Crazy anarchist, that Jesus.\n\nI love when leftists who despise Christianity (but contort to defend Islam, funny) attempt to co-opt teachings of Christ when they (ignorantly) think it fits their latest warped narrative du jour.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The custom in the Catholic Church is always to use a shotgun approach and see if it helps.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you would say this also for the American crypto-Talibanis, the pathological theocratic types, and the confused actual antichrist-worshiping Fundamentalist faux-Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Trump violated Protocol or made jokes that were not funny, too bad. The church faces a powerful anti-Catholic adversary in Hillary and the Secular Liberalism she represents. If Doland and the American hierarchy want to play nice and have a good time with Hillary that is their problem. \n\nIts shameful that a not-so-committed Protestant presidential candidate, has to do what the American hierarchy has failed to do over these last 30 years or so: Call out the enemies of God and his church, and tell the people the truth about the real dangers presented by the likes of Hillary. \n\nWhen Trump said Hillary hates Catholics (or at least the Church as an institution) he was telling the truth and reminding us all of the anti-Christian ideology that Hillary and her fellow Secularists represent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RELIGIONS AND... MUSEUMS\nIt is obvious to any well-educated, contemporary person, that all religions are nothing more than ancient and misleading mythologies, unreliable beliefs and\u2026 deceptive \u201cmiracles.\u201d Thus, by objectively, scientifically and\u2026 logically examining the cultural value of religious symbols \u2013 whether these are Christian crucifixes, Muslim niqabs / burkas, Sikh turbans etc. \u2013 we become aware that these symbols belong strictly to historical museums, and do not merit exhibition\u2026 under the noses of civilized humans. Thank you. A. C.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reasons that Quebec has this law are that they hate religion, and they had to bring in French speaking Muslims because their policies drove out the Anglo Quebecers. However, every French Quebecer goes to Church at least twice in their life - for baptism and burial.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"However, white Christians, once predominant in the country\u2019s religious life, now comprise only 43 percent of the population ... Four decades ago, about eight in 10 Americans were white Christians.\"\n\nDemographics are the moderates' friend.\n\nThe United States is NOT becoming whiter, more Christian, or more rural. Diversity will save it from the extremes of a white-nationalist fringe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Assuming that Catholics only hire and associate with other Catholics is utterly ridiculous.\"\nIt is not about an assumption but, as noted before, a reasonable interpretation. The law doesn't care about what is or is not likely to happen but what is and is not within the scope of the proposed initiative. As noted previously with fighting words. It doesn't matter that the people and the legislature that enacted the laws criminalizing their use assumes it will only apply to unprotected fighting words speech, the reasonable interpretation of the rule includes punishing other protected speech.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Church understands sex better than any other human institution.\" \n\nThat statement makes you SUR-real Catholic. \n\nFor starters, I'll take marriage as a human institution that better understands sex. And I'll include loving couples as \"doctors of the Church\" on this issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes there were commands for the JEWS to engage in warfare to PROTECT the nation by, YES, Killing people, (that is what happens in warfare) even non-combatants, but the NT contains no such commands. Please tell me where Christ orders anyone to commit murder, come on, I am waiting.\n\nWhen was the last time in MODERN history, you have seen a Christian Jihadist blowing up people ? Before you bring up the Crusades (which were Catholics), don't bother, and don't bother bringing up the lone wolf wacko's who kill the abortion Doctors, the New Testament contains no such commands of violence. I am sure there are peaceful Muslims, I know quite a few of them, but, the fact is undeniable that there are those Quran believing Muslims who desire to commit Jihad and murder innocent people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, he certainly has his imperfections. I don't like the comment he made to Ilio Delio.\n\nHowever, he raises questions and talks about issues that need to be discussed. I do think there is something greatly amiss in the Christian vision of sexuality. The view of \"the flesh\" as somehow inherently bad and the spirit as pure repudiates God made flesh in Jesus. I do wonder how Christianity, but especially now Catholicism, came to so equate holiness with lack of sexual expression. I am creeped out by the whole attempt to equate the relationship of marriage to that of Christ and His Church, Christ is the head and the rest of us are the body. I think the \"magic man\" priest and tying that to celibacy are both ridiculous. Although, what else can all male priests be but eunuchs if Christ, a male, is \"married\" to the Church???? \n\nHow did the ideas about human sexuality become so difficult for religions to deal with?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry Scott, but even Protestant historians disagree with your debunked premise. Let's be clear. Your position isn't that Constantine's policy regarding Christians (allowing them to worship, making Sunday a non-work day, making bishops available to the poor who could not afford legal representaion and all the rest), the underlying sentiment you are attempting to apply is that somehow Constantine distorted Christianity, founded the Catholic Church, and made it a political entity instead of the Christ-filled entity it originally was. Did I miss anything? Needless to say, all that is pure rubbish, proven by the existence of the Church, its hierarchy, and the work of the early fathers long before Constantine was born. The revisionism lies solely on your shoulders, at least in this discussion.\nFunny that you would mention the need to brush up on history since you so clearly need to do so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry Kurgan, but re the threat of an apocalypse and hell, however one theologically dices it, the buck stops with Jesus. \n\nIf one holds that Jesus was just a prophet, it's apparent that he was quite on board with such mass annihilation.\n\nAnd if one holds that Jesus was indeed God, then it follows he was the architect of these things.\n\nThere is no way to separate Jesus from the fate he ascribed to sinners.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/18/obituaries/norma-mccorvey-dead-roe-v-wade.html?_r=0\n\n\"When she emerged from anonymity a decade later, strangers shrieked \u201cbaby killer\u201d and spat at her. There were death threats. One night, shotgun blasts shattered the windows of her home.\"\n\nGee, I might also get religion and denounce abortion if nut case christians with guns were out to kill me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and therefore, you do not have the right to force your aberrations on others. should a christian butcher be forced to make a moslem sacrifice? NO. should a christian physician be forced to perform an abortion? NO. shameful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Progressive Catholic ethno-masochism #closet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christine,\n\n I find your sense of outrage to be misdirected. You should reserve your disdain for the Catholic Church covering up and in some cases, aiding and abetting pedophiles within the church in the guise of spiritual leaders. So while you whine about some internal discourse on the political aspects of your faith you should step back and consider the countless children sexually abused by those leaders of your faith. Now they have a right to be outraged.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Christians are responsible for the Desertification of a major Northern portion of the Sahara region...during Roman Times, a vast amount of this area was still covered with plant & animal life. But the Romans needed to capture large quantities of predator animals to use in the circuses held in the Coliseum at Rome, to \"eat\" Christians. In order to do this, they would set large swaths of the Sahara grasslands on fire to aid in the capture of required animals. The burned-over grassland never recovered & caused the direct increase of vast areas of \"Desertification of the Sahara...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nonsense. Give your false opinions to another Protestant. This is a Catholic website.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are so right Hooded Claw. Those radical \"Trollers\" are sabotaging such discussions for fear that people might be influenced to see clearly how their extreme fundamentalism and evangelicalism can cause harm to others and that is definitely against the law. I love the National Catholic Reporter as opposed to the National Catholic Register that those \"trolling\" individuals probably subscribe to. I doubt if they will ever change and modernize as the NCR has.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree, and it also not uncommon for these Christian fundamentalist to have criminal histories too...Makes you wonder...#MAGA", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A lot of that same group also considers themselves 'christian', too - but they don't follow any of Christ's teachings. Crazy, isn't it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"His right-wing, fear-based campaign also portrayed the peace accord as threatening family values because it recognized the rights of gays and lesbians.\" \u201c[A]nalysts reiterate that the \u2018no\u2019 campaign backed in the name of the family, mustered consensus among parishes and Catholic organizations and movements.\u201d (lastampa.it/vaticaninsider/eng/) \n\u201cPope Francis\u2019 blistering attacks on \u2018gender theory\u2019\u2026 is emboldening Catholic bishops in Colombia.\u201d (cruxnow.com) \"Uribe campaigned against what he framed as attempts to promote a \u2018confused gender ideology\u2019 \u2026. \u2018Saying that one is not born female or male, but that this is defined by society, is an abuse of minors, a disrespect of nature and of the family,\u2019 Uribe stated.\u201d (Washington Post) \"Pope Francis has commented a number of times on the \u201cideology of gender\u201d and even the \u201cideological colonization.\" All men and women are called to accept their sexual identities.\" (USCCB)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't have a church with a theological agenda. I don't have a church. But there can be NO Christians in the Old Testament, your bad. In the Old Testament there were the Ten Commandments. To love others as yourself is the only New Testament directive. And remember, the Muslims have been killing each other in the name of Allah since the 10th century, when the Sunni-Shiite split occurred.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is all this KofC right-wing politics a surprise to anyone? I'll bet you that most KofC's members voted for the racist, misogynist, fascist, and traitorous Donald Trump.\n\nMost of the wealth of the KofC comes from their low cost insurance programs that they started over a century ago to support Catholic widows and orphans. As any rapacious Repub would say: the miracle of compound interest adds up.\n\nAs long as the KofC is putting money in the holes of the hierarchy they will be tolerated, promoted and supported by the hierarchs - whose first value in life is always MONEY, and never the Gospel. But, as the history of the Knights Templar, the Knights of Malta, the Legionnaires of Christ, SSPX informs us, once these secret societies have outlived their utility for the hierarchs, they will be suppressed - and sucked dry of all their wealth. \n\nHierarchs will never tolerate real political power in the hands of mere \"lay people.\" Get real.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It can probably be refused -- because being Hitler is not a protected class. However, if the baker said \"No, because I don't bake cakes for Germans,\" that would be illegal. Bakers can turn down any business, practically speaking, if they are careful about it: \"I'm all booked with weddings for that weekend, sorry\" is ok; \"No, I don't bake cakes for women/gays/Christians/Asians, get outta here\" is not ok.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hope these militia declare war. Then the US military go in and conquer them. Then put them on reservations with phony baloney treaties. Convert them to any non-Christian religion and don't let them speak English. It's tradition!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump foolishly attacks America's second most popular religion. No, the most popular is guns. Christianity is in third place.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know if Janetta is an evangelical christian tribalist but she sounds like one. Some of the commenters below definitely are religious extremists. Americans should understand what these evangelical tribalists believe and how it's a threat to American values and democracy. Evangelicals believe that everything happens for a reason--not a \"natural consequences\" sort of idea but rather harmful actions committed by humans are all part of god's plan, for better or for worse. \nFor the evangelicals, ours is not to question why 59 people were murdered the other day. It's part of god's \"plan\" and if Stephen Paddock \"accepted jesus as his savior\" before killing himself, he's now in heaven. For evangelicals, whatever evil they commit they need not worry. They're already forgiven. Their imaginary friend jesus has their atrocities covered. Evangelicals are nihilists and their belief system--when politically weaponized--is dangerous and a threat to the security of all Americans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh ... dear ..now you call me 'Honey\"? :)) How sweet ...\nBut, I think it is you who, needs to re-read the article.\n\nWhen some people on this blog advocate for the removal of tax exemption from the RC Church for \"interfering\" in political life, that is considered acceptable. But when Le Pen tells the pope that he should keep out of political fights in another country, then she is the nasty, hate-filled populist. :) I Just love this double standard. \n\nBTW, where in the article is any reference to \"kicking out all the dark skinned people and Muslims\"? :))) Just a quick quote will do ... :)))", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When a progressive cause is silenced with a ban, NCR publishes a story decrying a curtailment of free speech on the American campus.\nBut when a violent mob shuts down the free speech of a gay Catholic at UC Berkeley (as happened last week with Milo Yannapoulis) NCR won't even bother to mention it.\n\nMy conclusion is that NCR sides with the thugs who use violence to stop the free speech they don't like -- and so do comboxers who react to this post by banning it from the forum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What would Jesus do? I doubt he would go for profit and reject the sick poor people. Just saying. Are you really sure the GOP and Christianity are compatible? Seems like they worship money more than anything else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Estimating (generously) 10,000 homicides by gun per year in the U.S. since 9/11/01, that adds up to less than 150,000 total. And no indication if the perps were Christian, Muslim, white, black, or anything else, nor is it known if the victims all were \"Americans.\" So when it comes to 500,000, Peggy basically is just making stuff up because she's not very intelligent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a new epithet that applies and is taking on new meaning here: \"that's awful Christian of you\"- you probably don't get it though do you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is not about hate or racism. Radical Muslims have made their mark throughout the liberal European countries and many citizens sadly regret their (too late) choice. What liberals do not understand is that Muslim ideology and Christian ideologies do not and cannot co-exist in a single environment. Islam is dedicated to the decimation of all 'non-believers'.\nTrump's action is not directed at 'all' Muslims, as many share some Christian values, but are select and meant to weed out the Radical elements of that society. Why can't you understand this? How do you tell one Muslim of good intent vs the terrorist bent on mayhem? If you can come up with a better system of protecting Americans, present yourself or stop complaining.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mike Smith post: \nIslam is a political system, NOT a religion, and unless and until humanity wakes the hell up and STOPS referring to it as a religion, there is no hope. Islam is a hyper-aggressive, militaristic...\n\n\u2014 Rich Seibert\n\nExtremist right wing christianity is a political system and until humanity wakes the hell up and STOPS referring to it as a religion, there is no hope. Extremist Christianity is a hyper-aggressive, militaristic, expansionist, totalitarian political system designed to create a super-rich micro-oligarchical ruling class with a massive, destitute, genetically handicapped underclass below.\n-------------------------------------------------------------------------------\nthose are the words of Ann Barnhardt, Mikey!\nit comes back to Mike is an atheist or islamist, because there is no jihad in christianity - READ THE QURAN!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know about any \"Osmonds\" (???). But \"fake news? lol! The Duggar pervert/molester admitted what he did! So he's the source of the fake news? I don't know what public interest there is in the Duggar cult and their Christian Extremism. Hopefully somebody puts birth control in their local water to stop their litters of new cult members from expanding further.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2/2\nRadical Christians of both the left and the right struggle mightily with the challenge of being Christians in the world but not of it. They have more in common with each other than with the great mass of Christians in various middle positions. I would love to know how Fr. Berrigan would have reacted to Rod Dreher's \"The Benedict Option\"; I think he would have been sympathetic to it.\nYou insist on describing Fr. Berrigan's teaching as \"foolish\"; but he took the Gospel seriously, preached and practiced it faithfully, and suffered for it. With St. Paul, he was a \"fool for Christ's sake.\" Not bad company.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Surprising that a Bible Believing Christian would be behind legalizing a drug that is already all too common and accessible in our Schools as it is. I do not worry about my three boys as they already show great wisdom at 9, 10, 12 about drugs because we have talked about it, am I saying they will never partake ? I don't know, but they do see the dangers of making a dangerous drug that leads to more drugs, partying, teenage sex, etc. The rational of marijuana being good because it compares to the other drugs uses the same logic as saying, hey - It is fine for my daughter to walk around in a bra and panties because the Victoria's Secret girls do it. I had a discussion with our Elders when the Pot bill was passed and we were all in agreement that just because something is legal, it doesn't make it right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You practically went airborne in your haste to condemn me, John. That's not Christian, is it? You failed to note that I limited my remarks about gay married couples to instances where the couple was so to speak \"in your face\" and one or both was in a position of prominence. Such people have disdain for the Church's teachings and for those who adhere to those teachings. Don;t be coy or hypocritical; you are among those who disdain adherents to Church teaching on this point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Only white christian men can serve in leadership roles for the U.S. military. No, wait. That was the Confederacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again with the irony andy, suggesting that I need to \"calm down\". You're the one posting hyperbole and fear mongering saying that the school's sex ed curriculum is leading to \"gender reassignment surgery\". Seriously? What next? You worried that dancing will lead to sex standing up?\n\nCurious that you're now talking about \"christians\" and not \"Catholics\" when the topic here is Catholic schools. There are numerous Christians who support LGBT rights and equality. There are also Christian fundamentalists including such extremist groups like the Westboro Baptist Church who very clearly do vilify homosexuals. To claim otherwise is either wilful ignorance or self delusion.\n\nThe Catholic Church has this to say: \n\"homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity\"\n\"homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered\"\n\"contrary to the natural law\"\n\"Under no circumstances can they be approved\"\n\"is objectively disordered\"\nthe above courtesy of\nhttp://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I notice that you did not respond to my main point: That it is perfectly acceptable to disagree with the magisterium on some of the more peripheral points while still being a part of the Catholic Church. Or are you going to claim that refusing to ordain women is a doctrine equally as important as, say, the dual nature of Christ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Last I looked, Jews and Christians were not committed to trying to kill us in the name of their religion. That dubious distinction belongs solely to radical Islam, to use the example of Israel or a Christian Syria to make your point is to ignore reality. To be more concerned with what the rest of the world thinks than our own security is equally shortsighted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"An article in a Vatican-reviewed journal released this week blasted evangelical and Catholic allies of President Trump for attempting to impose a \"theocratic\" worldview and practicing \"apocalyptic geopolitics.\"\n\nCNN reported Saturday that an article in\u00a0La Civilt Cattolica blasted \"value voters\" who support the Trump administration for becoming a\u00a0\"community of combatants\" in America.\n \n The article's two authors, who are\u00a0close confidants of Pope Francis, accused Catholic and evangelical voters of coming together over a \"xenophobic and Islamophobic vision that wants walls and purifying deportations.\"\n\nLet's have yet another religious war! The Pope versus the evangelicals! \"God\" will sort them out after they are dead!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The promotion of division has always been Satan's number one ploy.\"\n\nExactly. And Satan's preferred strategy is to get people to believe that a human institution is Christ's church. Once Satan has people hooked on institutional loyalty, the divisions will multiply. For instance, not everyone can be loyal to a human institution that sells indulgences, or a human institution that fast-tracks a pedophile-protecting pope to sainthood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The pundits are going to get egg all over their faces again.\n\nThis is a ranked ballot, not a winner takes all ballot.\n\nMichael Chong will win. I'm not even a Conservative supporter, I am in no way a Chong supporter.\n\nAs a second choice candidate for all the \"front runners\", he will clean house like Dion did at the last minute in the first Ignatieff/Rae \"front runner run.\n\nChong is a Conservative, he is moderate, and he (quite politely, I might add) is the antidote for the reason that everyone hated Harper with a passion (many in his own party, I might add). The original Reform movement was all about bringing power back to the MPs, and allowing free votes, so he will garner the Reform vote. He is also not a Christian right zealot, so the red Tories will find him attractive, far more so than mad Max or Leitch. \n\nLeitch is also a lesbian, which while I wouldn't care about her sexual orientation, the Christian right wing certainly will object to.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You keep changing your story. First you blamed the Obama administration for being too lax in vetting immigrants and by way of example cited a case irrelevant to immigration. Then you made a specious connection between the irrelevant-to-immigration case of native-born American Hasan and the Good Samaritan. Then you protested that Islamic Terrorism is a problem, which no one disputes. Then you returned yet again to Hasan, who we're informed \"promoted radical views.\" Again, undisputed. \n\nYou assumption here is that \"liberals\" or the \"admin\" are complacent about terrorism and \"pretend none of the above matters.\" Of course, this is sheer nonsense. However, liberals and (some) Christians don't think all Muslims should be barred from entering the country, as Trump proposed, because it's unconstitutional and flagrant religious bigotry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words, Durand, you are a fundamentalist christian willing to drive the nation down the road into religious fascism and one party dictatorship violating human and civil rights under the Constitution. Really specious reasoning and illogical thought.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I stand by my statement. The extremist right-wing faux Christians, do the exact opposite of Christ's teachings -- they support cuts to programs that support our nation's most vulnerable -- the sick, the disabled, hungry children, the impoverished, and the elderly. \n\nFly all the flags you want; it's actions that count. The Trumper's, who support the above, including voting for a guy for our nation's highest office, a guy who lies constantly, brags about groping women, relies on childish name calling to belittle anyone with whom they disagree, and saber rattles to the point of risking nuclear war, they are not Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump refuses to say the words \"radical white supremacist terror\" or \"radical christian extremist terror\" and merely vaguely talks about \"violence\". \n\nThis attack and the numerous other white supremacist or radical christian terror attacks on Americans by Americans are not merely \"violence\". they are politically or religiously motivated and therefore meet the text book definition of terrorism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Will you allow the Christian church and the NRA into our schools to further their education?? After all the school isn't teaching about faith and how to defend themselves?? If you don't support that then you are the ignorant bigot using your logic. \n\nSo what will it be?? You must have all or none. I eagerly await your thoughts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I just believe that the church\u2019s fixation on defining us by a sexual act\u2014a nonprocreating sexual act\u2014to be [an] absurdly myopic, viewed the wrong way down the telescope. And I think it\u2019s sustained, unfortunately, by a lot of emotionally crippled gay men who run the church. And they\u2019ve done a great job in the last ten years of making sure that no one with an independent mind or spirit can really enter the seminaries.\"\n\n\" . . I\u2019m not a Catholic because of issues like gayness. I\u2019m a Catholic because of what I believe to be its revelation of the truth about everything. And either it\u2019s true or it isn\u2019t. And it\u2019s possible for it to be true on some core levels, and yet mistaken, and misplaced, and misguided in other areas. And if you look at the history of the Church, it\u2019s full of it. So I try and hang in there, and let God do the rest.\"\n\nAndrew Sullivan", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church chooses this amazing, enlightened, humble pope who is a beacon for Christianity around the world. Then you read about this kind of behavior and it flushes all of that progress right down the toilet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My2centz,\n\nIf God tells you to do something one way, why would you insist on doing differently? God has a word for that: disobedience. Jesus never told us to tackle the ills of society, so why do you imagine that is what He wants you to be doing, or supporting? That's disobedience, whether you are doing it or endorsing it.\n\nJesus modeled one-to-one ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit because there is so much we can do to relieve the suffering of individuals. It is only after we have learned to minister one-to-one in the power of the Holy Spirit does God give us more power and greater tasks. So trying to solve societal ills, whether real or perceived, before you have that experience is a fool's race to failure because you will be disobeying God and doing it without His power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If a true act of humility were to be undertaken such as I have proposed 'the damage would be dealt with' now\"\nPerhaps we are talking past each other. You seem to be focusing on the damage to the church and I am focusing on the terrible psychological damage to the victims. Right now, the Church's strategy is pretty words, grudging financial payoff, and waiting for the abusers and abused to die off. Unless the Church can repair - concretely and unambiguously - the psychological damage it has caused, there will be no new structures, just the old corrupt structures. Or to use an unhappy metaphor, as long as Law's retirement community is the Vatican, the institutional Church is rotten to the core.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thomas Morse: It's not always nature that people have different needs for like sexual partners. Sometimes it can be nurture, possibly from a parent or people that has power over a child and abuses this kid. The Bible says it's an abomination for a man to lay with another man in the way of a woman. There are some other references in the Bible that I don't believe they are being interpreted correctly by believers. As far as I know, there aren't any references to the Bible that it's an abomination for a person to have dark skin or to be fat, ugly or to be physically handicapped. Your argument doesn't hold water. I believe that a Christian has a right to follow their religion. If they don't want to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple then they shouldn't have to. My thought...the LGBTs have gotten the right to get married. How much more are they going to push for. When are they going to be content with the progress they have gotten? That they are pushing for more pisses me off!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Selling the Vatican, Ceasing all operations and closing every last Catholic institution or organization and otherwise no longer having a Catholic Church or Faith is not an option.\"\n\nNice straw man you have built there. Your false dichotomy is laughable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics helped elect a madman and I feel that hypocrisy stunning. Enough . I got up , walked out, and am taking my financial support with me. The bishops do understand money. I will support charities or causes that benefit humanity....the Southern Poverty Law Center because hate attacks have increased and The Sierra Club because the climate deniers are about to put this planet under siege. No arguments are ever won here, so stop debating the negative and do something positive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You and your straw man arguments. The fact that you picked a mosque, not a church or a synagogue in your hypothetical, is really only undermining your case against resisting the made-up term \"Islamaphobia\".\n\nCould it be perhaps because exactly what you describe has already happened? Western-based imams radicalizing members of a mosque? \n\nWhen Christian and Jewish ministers/rabbis start convincing their congregations to kill non-adherents of their religion, we'll have a balanced debate. Until then, you are just talking out of your PC a$$.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and I remain anonymous because the angry conservative \"Christian\" right have targeted gays for centuries - with death and violence and incarceration. Not just gays, but atheists as well. Non-believers. People of different religions or faith, including the rant against Jews earlier in the thread. Jews! That kinda cracks me up.'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"The report provides a detailed history of how the church from its earliest times regarded child sexual abuse as a sin, punishable in the next life, but by the Fourth century it was also seen as a crime punishable by imprisonment, as a minimum. That tradition was turned on its head when the 1917 Code of Canon Law abrogated seven papal and church council decrees that required clerics who abused children to be handed over to the civil authorities. \"\n- Now, with certitude, we can say that the Holy See / Roman Curia made a concerted effort to suppress necessary information about the history of development of ecclesial law concerning the rape and molestation of children and young people.\n- Due to the suppression, not doubt part of the the Holy See's and Holy Office effort to suppress the role of history and doctrinal development in seminary training, there have been generations of clerics woefully ignorant of the church's ancient stand about these crimes and their legal remedies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You clam to be a Catholic so I naturally assumed that you adhered to what the Church teaches, that we agreed upon basic premises; i.e. the inerrancy of Scripture and Tradition. \nIn accusing me of being homophobic because I repeat what the Catholic Church teaches means you accuse your Church of the same thing. \nNow that I know that you admit that you reject Catholicism, further discussion is pointless.\nIncidentally, perhaps you can explain how words you allege I \"borrowed\" can at the same time be my own.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians have provided liberation.\n\nNot just viscously conquering.\n\nI can sense your distaste for the American christian family loving male. As you keep reverting to irrelevant white supremacy.\n\n\noh they weren't? Were they wahhabi?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do the Orthodox Serbs qualify as christians by your definition? Mass murder and mass sexual assaults were part of their war plan against the muslims in what was once Yugoslavia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Monsignor seems eminently qualified for OD leadership.\nHowever, I must admit that I still have reservations about OD. For me, it is an almost scary organization. It has always seemed to be an aggressive, volatile and militant group who place them selves above everyone else. They seem to be in the mold of the last two popes, Burke, Dolan, etc. Far Right wingers who despise everyone but themselves. \nIt seem that some of these 'inside' groups are a threat to EVERYONE else just as Hitler was a threat which materialized into a world destructive group. I am forever WARY of such secretive groups who hate for God. Their idea of God is not just very different from mine it is extremely different from mine which is based on the teachings of the wonderful Ursuline and Dominican sisters of our Catholic school and high school which I will not name as the viciousness of the Right wingers is so dangerous, those Aryan-Catholics who are now totally and tightly aligned with the Aryan Protestants.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I highly doubt Mr. Leavings has ever read the Qur'an or any book on Islam not put out by the \"Muslims are here to kill us\" cottage industry. Muslims are a religious group not a homogenous ethnic unit. The single largest group of Muslims in America are African-Americans at 35%, where would you send them off to? As if this needed saying muslims have sworn allegiance to this country (and yes, even on the Qur'an) beginning with the Civil War. The first person of a culturally Muslim background arrived in Eugene just over 100 years ago, selling tamales from a horse drawn cart down Willamette Street he later operated a wholesale poultry and egg business for 50 years on the present site of the Hilton. \n The causes of terrorism are complex; mostly relating to poverty and oppression by authoritarian governments (often backed by the US) repression breeds extremism in certain kinds of people. Its not like misguided people have never acted in the name of Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kurgan, my mother, and other parents knew that this 'sickness' of child abuse was occurring in the 50's. (the offending priest was moved on) Of course, back in those days, the Church demanded that the laity pray, pay, and shut-up. This was in the Cesspit diocese of Ballarat, Vic. Australia. \n\n'Moving on' seems to be the only way to deal with a pedophile priest. Saunders suspended, Collins resigning..well, they've been 'moved on' too. The Vatican offices and the Council of Cardinals are ignoring the sex crimes and 'moving on'. And, the victims! They will always remain! Could all victims be added to the Liturgy! Maybe, the spot where the prayer is offered for the local Bishop? So, why not add 'and all those sexually abuse by clerics'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How's this, the devil incarnate himself, has evangelical advisors. I think it's working out well, lol", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One wonders how many \"owners\" on the board actually live in the building. One also wonders how many of those \"owners\" own multiple units that they rent out. Strange that the Board refused to vote on the matter. The board did vote it's personal pocketbook by refusing to vote.\n.\nLike Pontius Pilate they washed their hands of the matter. Like The Christ, their constituents were crucified because of their cowardice. Disgusting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The issues is \"Should adults have the right to enter into contracts with a school that requests certain conduct in line with the social standards of the school?\" The rule is universal with one exception: anyone is free to agree or leave . The actions of the LGBT justice warriors is an attack on free choice, as they try to force their own biased view on others. Would LGBT interveners go after Muslim Islamic schools that actually teach homosexuals should be killed because they offend Allah (as happened in Orlando)? No certainly not. That would be called Islamophobic, even by the LGBT community. Christians, though, are easy targets. This enters the realm of persecution rather than equal rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Martin Luther King, Jr., \"Letter from Birmingham Jail\":\n\n\"In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: 'Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern.' And I have watched many churches commit themselves to a completely other worldly religion which makes a strange, un-Biblical distinction between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "wow. religious racism. rare but not unheard of. If he were a person of color, would you tell people of his race to fix it? People have been distorting religion for centuries to benefit themselves and turn people away from the primary message, in the case of Christianity, is Love. Clearly Grisham is willing to do and say the most outrageous things to get attention - thus his selfies, his radio show, etc. The gates of heaven may not be so welcoming for him...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The rallies today are 'against Sharia law'. \n\nThe things I cite support those rallies. As does your post.\n\nI object to knee-jerk liberalism which equates any disagreement as bigotry, racism, Adolph Hitler, the anti-Christ, demons, or zombies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not really, Beatleman.\n\nDo you actually know the description of the Anti-Christ as describe within the bible?\n\nI do.\n\nAnd I have read ALL the religious texts, both new and old testaments, the Quaran, the Torah, the Book of Mormon, etc.\n\nALL written by humans, not God.\n\nAnd humans that pick and choose what information they shall put forth, based upon their own beliefs.\n\nI base mine own belief that Hillary is the Antichrist, because the individual is pure evil, so as to promote their own agenda over and above ANY agenda that supports, and helps, the individuals that they so purport to support.\n\nHillary does not give a damn about those individuals.\n\nShe only cares about those individuals within what they can give unto her.\n\nHillary is the ultimate divide and conquer empress.\n\nDivide the citizens into groups of her choosing, and pit them against each other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the clergy sex abuse of children and the vulnerable that were reported by bishops, etc., from around the globe and consequently sent to the CDF, but rather than strangely these were not important. They simply weren't addressed. One could almost say ignored by the CDF. So, I ask, why, in the name of God should the Pope concern himself or acknowledge the sheer existence of the CDF office.\nFurthermore, Pope Francis, himself, \" was removed as rector by the Jesuit superior-general Peter Hans Kolvenbach because Bergoglio's policy of educating the young Jesuits in direct pastoral work and in popular religiosity was opposed to the worldwide trend in the Society of Jesus of emphasizing social justice based on sociological analysis, especially promoted by the Centro de Investigaciones y Accion Social. (Wilki)\nAnd surprise, surprise he became our Pope. I say beware of the 'priestly Judas'....as they will have much to account for when they meet their maker.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\nAnd for some, at least, tragic. Tragedy manifests itself in self-loathing, irredeemable loneliness, alcohol/drug abuse and addiction, unhealthy and abusive relationships, sexual abuse, and suicide. It is important to assert that whatever value may be found for some people in the message and ministry of Courage, it is not the only option, and not always a good option, for GLBTQ Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let us talk about why Islamic State claimed the Recent Massacre at Las Vegas Nevada, do you know why Islamic State Claimed that. Do you know what is located there that would cause Muslims to want Revenge. Before you say \"people that grew up in America\", ask yourself what was the Culture (not Religion) that the Mass Murders were of. Islamic Laws of the Holy Koran state that All Muslims MUST Join the Jihad against the Declared War Against the Christians, Jews, Unbelievers (Kafir) without any excuses to prove that they are Muslims. Ever since the Muslims, Iran, Iran's Qods (Quds) Alliance with the Mexican Drug Cartel Families, using the Millions of Illegal Aliens as Pack \"Mules\", the numbers of Made In Mexico for the Mexican Military Full On Military Automatic M-16s and M-4s have been flowing across the U.S. Borders, these are NOT sold in Legal Firearms Stores, Nor Gun Meets but by the Mexican Illegal Alien Gangs at the U.S. that are also the Wholesale Drug Dealers for the Mexicans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a pathetic rant. Really. Do you want to know who is really living in life and death situations today? The Christians living in the Middle East who are fleeing for their lives, literally. Or the Mexican families (who I met recently) who are fleeing their homes due to the violence and personal threats from Cartel gangs that has really been ratcheted up in the last few years. I am well aware of what groups of people were sent to concentration camps- over 60 years ago! What about those who today are living in refugee camps in foreign countries? \nSpare me your rant over the \"plight\" of today's homosexual. They are doing quite well actually and seem to be winning most, if not all the suits they are filing against those who will not bend to their will.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Christ the Lord is risen again, hallelujah......\"\n\nOh look! Plastic eggs from a helicopter!!!!\n\nHe is risen!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To say no one likes communism is a presumption. Millions throughout the world advocate Marxism, here in the UK our Labour Party preaches Marxism and would impose it if they gained power despite the fact that as you say it has failed everywhere, why? Because it advocates centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.\n\"White-wingers\" is a play on words, another derogatory term coined to malign decent white people who felt it was in their economic interest to vote for Trump.\nBlack people mobilise to look after their interests and no one criticises them. We have Black Policemen, Black Catholics, Black this that and the other. If white people even raise a little finger to state their case they are branded as racists, fascists and even compared to the KKK and not just in the media also in the judicial system. \nImagine 'The Association of White Catholics' not being condemned by the USCCB.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Holy smokes!\n\nThis is confusing because we were told repeatedly by Ted Cruz\u2019s family that God TOLD him to run and now he\u2019s up and quit. I\u2019m no theologian but it seems to me that folks who disobey direct orders from God never come to a good ending. There very well could be some smiting in Ted\u2019s not-so-distant future. All I can say is that I wouldn\u2019t want to stand too near him in a thunder storm.\n\nAnywho\u2026 More importantly to America, where does the Christianist vote go now?? Surely not to Donald Trump, who has already extolled the virtues of Planned Parenthood and a desire to not kill off all The Gays. It\u2019s a bit of a conundrum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Throughout Latin America there is little or nothing for Catholics to apostatize FROM.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another day, another abuse issue. Why would young or old Catholics believe these lying bishops? As another poster stated, \"it has been 15 years\" in the US, ten years in Ireland and Gr. Britain, Poland etc. And that doesn't even consider the entire continent of South America which has untold abuse issues! So, so sad that another generation is growing into adulthood with these church leaders as \"models.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is baloney.\nIf a straight white male believes he has been fired because of his age, he can file a discrimination complaint. No different from someone who feels they were fired because they are gay or Christian or disabled.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On the contrary! Lawyers for sexually abused plaintiffs have been instrumental in forcing the Catholic church to acknowledge its considerable problems and at least to provide a small measure of justice in some cases. There's a LOT more hunger for honesty and accountability from bishops than there is for money, on the part of lawyers and victims! Coverups are NO excuse for bishops to plead statutes of limitation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Victor,\nTo answer your question direction, I suspect that at least some of those great minds may well be in female bodies...\n\nI think Vatican II generated a great deal of excitement about what could be in the church. And just as quickly as that hope was kindled, it was quashed while the old guard worked to buy time so that they could control the direction of whatever may have sprung from the Council. The end result is that the younger generation of potential seminarians have grown up in a world wherein what was valued in the church was NOT that hope triggered by Vatican II, but by Machiavellian maneuvers to undo Vatican II, to and to rebuild the power of the clergy. As such, I'm not at all surprised that what we've seen now for a few decades, are young men drawn by THOSE kinds of antics. These guys have likely never experienced the kind of hope so many of us felt during and after Vatican II.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dennis, what makes this such a shameful area for the church is that so many priests, Bishops, Cardinals are gay.\n\nIf we are going to lie about such a fundamental, core issue, then we will lie about women, about evil behaviour towards children, we will cover up that evil. \n\nA priest in Dublin, Ireland came out to his congregation the Sunday before the referendum on gay rights. He was given a lengthy standing ovation by his congregation. These people clapped, and very emotionally, not because they shared a common view on the issue, but because their priest had taken the risk of trusting them with the truth. \n\nWe've had Benedict and Burke dressing themselves up like drag queens while attacking homosexuals, (gays don't even get offended by them now, they just howl with laughter.) I even heard an interview with a member of the hierarchy who claimed he hadn't had a sexual thought in 75 years of living.\n\nYour 3 points will happen because the truth always trumps lies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So does Mary McAleese. Remember her? I wonder if she still gives a spit about Catholicism?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill, you're a liar. Jesus was a person in history and by all accounts he personally stood for values that one does not find espoused by evangelicals who are political. I never mentioned any animus against the now dead historical figure named Jesus and evangelicals like you do not own or have a monopoly of knowledge on this figure of history regardless of any relationship that exists in your mind. For the record, I'm all for imaginary relationships that help people to be better citizens. \nTo the extent, however, that your imaginary relationship causes you to believe that, thanks to your imaginary relationship with whoever, you have some sort of right to dictate to others what kind of medical care they're entitled to access, to that same extent your imaginary relationship is problematic. Imaginary relationships do not carry the weight of law like the relations of one citizen to another, for neither citizen is imaginary but rather real. I have mass. I count. Your fantasies have no mass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"And we also have the duty to avoid prostituting our Catholic identity by appeals to phony dialogue that mask an abdication of our moral witness.\" (Archbishop Chaput 2009)\n\nWhat a nasty comment!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yesterday I made a post with reference to Divine Mercy with a link attached I would like to thank those who acknowledged reading it, I am most grateful.\nSince 2013, Pope Francis has endeavoured to shift church culture\nI have an article on http://www.v2catholic.com/background/2015/08/2015-08-15the-web-of-clericalism.htm\nThat deals with the culture of clericalism that spider that has caught so many in its web of deceit and arrogance.\nPerhaps some of you may consider read it.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I sincerely applaud trying to get a Canadian citizen released from North Korea. Now can we all ask what the heck was he doing there?!! The humanitarian things he's trying to do there are great but let's face facts.. the Christian underground does all it can there to undermine that government. A crazy government paranoid to be sure, but we know that. Why do Canadian citizens of non-Christian faith have to pay time, money, energy and diplomatic effort to free the 'good' Pastor? Will his Missauga church repay the very expensive cost for his personal religious decision ? Why are missionaries not held accountable for very unwise and risky decisions? Can the Canadian government simply deny citizens the ability to travel to places like North Korea ? Freedom of religion does not entitle one to be exempt or ignore strong government advice. The church should be paying this bill with all that tax free cash.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems to me that \"slimy underbelly\" is just another, less polite phrasing for \"disgusting\". True, misogyny is \"The World's Oldest Prejudice\" (Jack Holland, 2006- a recommended \"intro\") and not limited to Catholicism. However to accept it today with rationales that are lies hiding the virtually insatiable demand that women be \"available\" to and \"usable\" for men is disgusting. The fact that its is widely accepted by religions that proclaim that all persons are equal before God in spite of the rationale, can be termed: \"the slimy underbelly\". If the sexual abuse of children and youth by trusted authorities, whether of UN Peacekeepers in Africa or by Roman Catholic clergy and their cover-up is a \"slimy underbelly\", so is the legitimization - by any religion - of and practice of exclusion, diminution and all other forms of abuse of women across the whole spectrum of abuse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not talking about ISIS,I'm talking about a religion that in 2017 is light years behind the Judeo-Christian world in tolerance of gays,Jews and women.Incidentally,not exactly values we espouse in the West.If you don't see any truth in the above statement you are just another leftist truth denier who'd rather take the politically-correct road and not have a truthful open discussion for fear of being called a bigot,a racist or an Islamophobe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A commission on child abuse formed by the pope who canonized the man who spearheaded the protection of pedophile clerics cannot lose relevancy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's Called Christian Sharia Law and it creeps like a half seen mist into the Political World of our Secular Nation .. It's a intellectual blight a drain on the rational brain a death of Science and light and understanding.. It is Organized religion in all it's insanity and hypocrisy .. Not of GOD but of Man , where the Truth becomes a Lie and a Lie the Truth ...all for the glory of the Morally Challenged ..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article is great and all but what about the fact that HRC is a criminal? Ever think that might have something to do with why she did not get elected?\n\nDo not try to tell me that my status as a human being is lessened because an incompetent, dishonest, evil, woman was not elected by the American people. When a qualified woman runs for president and deserves to win, she will.\n\nP.S.- As a Catholic website, one would think you would understand that some people, including the white women that are targeted in this article, did not vote for HRC because she is not pro-life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump's biggest supporters are these often sleazy \"evangelical\" \"churches.\" Trump loves phony as that is what he is. \n\nClose down \"churches\" that exploit people and keep them in terror.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ms. Suu Kyi is just a puppet! The strings are pulled by the Generals. \n\nTrudeau needs to realize this fact. He also needs to let the Muslim world (1.5 billion people) speak for and defend these people. \n\nHow about defending all the Christians (and other religions) that are being massacred around the Globe?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dennis, you are correct, much more to the problem. I have a question for all who read this comment, how can it be possible for a human being or an organization that has heard countless stories from victims of clergy abuse as children, they have heard the tragic consequences like destroyed childhoods, not being believed, carrying lifelong shame and pain, the destruction of families, daily partial suicide either by substance abuse, severe depression or just hopelessness that many times leads to ending ones own life. \nMost victims were hurt even worse by the callous response to their pleas for help from bishops. So often the children were knowingly put in harms way by bishops who knew a priest was an offender. Most children became victims because of their desire to become closer to Jesus by serving mass or getting more involved with the church. \n\nWhy was knowing about all of the pain caused to Catholic children not enough of a catalyst for this church to change on its own?\n\nSee pg 2", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reason the Conservative motion was better was because it was more inclusive and protected both Muslims and others. Just today, all over the US news is the rise of anti-Semitic acts, which Trump and Hillary denounced. It is wrong when Muslim leaders suggest that including in the motion is protection for Christians, Sikhs, Jews etc.. is unfair to them since protecting all religions from discrimination does not harm but identifying only one to protect necessarily infers that the others don't warrant protection.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Catholic Social Teaching, even while affirming the right of sovereign nations to regulate immigration, nonetheless also teaches us that all people have the right to emigrate when they are unable to provide economic security and safety for themselves and their families.\"\n\nReally? Where does it teach there is a right to ignore national laws, immigration control and a a nation's sovereignty? Could you cite a Papal encyclical supporting your assertion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...educated Catholic citizens....\"\n\nNot necessarily. Go to some of the wealthier towns and you'll find highly educated Catholics -- of all ages -- still very supportive of the parish's mission. Remember, nationally, there are more educated Catholics with incomes over 100,000 dollars (nearly 14 million of them) than there are Jewish, Episcopal and Presbyterians combined. Many are in Ct. Bishop Caggiano is well aware of that, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A Cardinal Archbishop does not share a platform with someone who is connected to an organisation which funds abortion, whatever the proportionality of that funding. \nCatholic charities are a law unto themselves, Caritas and the Knights of Malta spring to mind. Taking even a penny from an organisation which funds intrinsically evil practices makes them complicit.\nWhat is the point of dialogue? The outcome is nearly always 'we agree to differ'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of two) What will his legacy be?\u2014Pat Perriello Again, wrong question. The better question is what will the legacy of the Faithful be in the context of Trump.\n\n\u201cSince them no prophet has arisen in Israel (or in the USA) like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face\u201d (Deuteronomy 34:10). But the Faithful are beyond Deuteronomy and in a new dispensation, able to act not only like Moses, but like Jesus Christ himself. \u201cBlessed be God who filled my soul with fire!\u201d (Psalm 66: see 20a and 10b) fire to cope with current injustices in the body politic. \u201cEntrusting to us the message of reconciliation\u201d (2 Corinthians 5:19). \u201cIf your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault\u201d (Matthew 18:15). Think not about Trump, but about the USCCB. See Mary O\u2019Malley among the Comments. Liturgy of the Word, Reading 415, Wednesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time I.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus invited everyone to follow him. Jesus was not about power and control. Jesus was not about doctrine or dogma. Jesus was about tolerance and healing. Jesus was about helping others in a humane way. \nThe traditionalists use some quotes where Jesus used fear if they were sinful. I doudt they were historical. When you look more deeply, the theme of his message was very simply Caring, Healing, and Relationship with Him. In other words, Love. Jesus was ecumenical. He was a Jew who healed Samaritans and Atheists, Poor and Rich.\nWhy do we continue to fight with others? We are asked to treat others as we expect them to treat us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Illinois is a perfect example of my point...Gay adoption issues caused the Feds to REDISTRIBUTE large sums of money FROM catholic chairities in that state to other service providers....in that state....\n\nThe only change? Local Catholic Charities which had received very substantial funding...no longer did. The services continued and staff relocated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I strongly disagree with this statement, and do not think much of the attitude with which it was apparently written. Destroying the dignity of women is already very bad, and in itself should be bad enough. But seeking then to justify that destructive, cruel and unjust action in pious talk of humility and submitting to God's will, from a professed Christian yet!, is all the more grievous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for this article. The centenary should be observed by Christians and anyone else who believes in justice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He's not a Christian.\n\nNot defending Christianity, but it's not true.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Do the authors of the editorial realize that the conclusion of these statements is that the vast majority of Canadian Muslim women are NOT practicing their religion (in the editorial\u2019s view), because they don\u2019t wear a burqa?\"\n\nI'm guessing that the authors of the editorial realize that there's more than one way to practice islam, as there is for christianity and most other religions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And \"Marty E\" presents only data which he thinks will support the extreme positions of the Catholic right-wingers. That's been especially noticeable in this thread!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, like Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Christian Democracy like Germany et al, which is not far away on economic policy. None of these places are dictatorial, although France seems to want to give it a shot by letting a Trumpist run.\n\nThe product of labor is the percentage of product cost or value attributable to workers. Employers calculate it every day and try to make sure that pay is less than that amount because they have the leverage to do so.\n\nPeople don't want to be owners because they don't know the benefits, although I suspect that seeing CEO lifestyles may have changed their minds. They most likely believe they can never attain such ownership. The job of people like me is to show them that they can and that doing so has benefits in terms of cash and prizes.\n\nI have mostly been a public employee, an entrepreneur and a beltway bandit (government jobs which have been privatized). My next gig is to consult with employee owned firm.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not sure who warned you, but this hardly any mystery.\n\nThose who rejected the Church's teachings in the uproar a couple of generations ago fell into two camps: those who continued, at least at Easter and Christmas, to go to church; those who were reasonably catechized but at the minimum accepted that the parish offered the ordinary means to salvation.\n\nIn the first group the next generation was as likely to not attend the parish at all, or to wind up in one of the liturgical Protestant sects.\n\nFrom the second group came the vocations, and those came from the most Catholic of the families.\n\nAnd they are now being ordained and heading out into the parishes.\n\nSmall groups like those pictured will engage in sturm und drang over this transition, but they will be no more successful than their sedevacantist predecessors were forty or so years ago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"The effort, now dubbed V8s for Vocations, has also surfaced as an unanticipated \"rallying point for evangelization, and I just didn't see that coming,\" Keller told National Catholic Register.\"\n- Mimics the diocesan literature for the presbyterate: pictures of young men doing athletic things, thus emphasizing the vocation call is to manly men.\n- Where have all those men gone?\n- It is not manliness that makes a presbyter. We have only to look at the clerics, recently ordained to elderly, who work for the body of Christ, the parishioners, in the parish to see the characteristics which actually matter. Those characteristics resemble those of Jesus who was loving, spiritually strong, gentle, creative, prayerful, able to work hard, and devout.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2/2\nThe costs of this \"thin line\" include the jettisoning of the substantial, the underlying traditions of most of the unlikely allies: Christ, Christian values, reason, reality.\nFor example, the most visible product of this \"unholy alliance\", this \"ecumenism of hate\" is Donald John Trump, President of the United States of America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just FYI - the evangelical churches are also losing lots of people,especially their young adults in droves these days. For the very same reason they are leaving mainstream Protestant and Catholic churches. Need to catch up on the research I guess.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is what is important to Cardinal DiNardo, president and thus spokesperson for the USCCB today? He is leading Catholic bishop in Texas where the immigration issue is causing so much suffering to Latino Catholics and he has to dwell on the so called by him \"onerous\" HHS mandate. SHAME ON HIM! His pastoral sensitivity is nil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great Idea! But I would go further. All Roman Cardinals, Bishops, Priests should go back to their pastoral duties. In their place should be professional managers (there are thousands world-wide). Moreover, women should form a substantial portion of these professionals. After all some the world's financial and political institutions are led by women. As regards the Cardinal's dilemma on non-Catholic marriages how about the Pauline Privilege?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That may well be good for you Groucho, but that isn't sound advice for the other 99% of the population who are not Adventists. You should watch the movie and then encourage your friends, workmates and neighbours to do the same. It may be the only singular opportunity that they will get to being exposed to Adventist ideas on such a world stage. \n\nBest leave our theological purity at the door and be a Jew to the Jews and a Gentile to the Gentiles. For all your legitimate concerns of \"Hollywood\" (not sure if Mel Gibson could be seen as part of that set given his pariah status) best learn to get in the mud as Doss did in the imitation of Christ. \n\nI've seen the movie and it presents Adventists in a very good light. It is so refreshing not to be portrayed as crazy religious fanatics ala David Koresh and Wayne Bent style!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many of these old Methodist congregations leave behind buildings more suitable for Catholic liturgy than some of the theater-shaped or circular buildings misguidedly built by Catholics in the last 50 years. Often the WASPs were in these places long before Catholics, so in some towns the Protestants have good buildings--even if their tabernacles are empty--and the Catholics have shopping mall/airport terminal stuff ill suited to participatio actuosa and sacrifice of the Mass\n\n It is too bad there isn't a trust of some sort to buy them and hold them until a diocese or religious congregation (or association of the faithful) can purchase them for use as a chapel or as a replacement for a poorly done parish church. They were built for Christian liturgical worship (however defective) and built to last. It's a shame to see them put to worldly use.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If one studies the history of public housing one finds that it was initially begun for the middle class for the vets who came back from the war and needed low income housing for college and medical residencies\nMany folks were born in the first public housing projects as was my husband\nI think Ernest Bohn was one of the first organizers and supporters of public housing\nHe was Catholic\nI would hope someone will enlighten Dr Carson on the history of public housing in our nation\nOne also would hope he learns the history of public housing around the world\nMozart's grandfather lived in a public housing project in Ausberg,Germany\nHe also needs to learn the history of Columbia, Maryland", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The footnote to the last sentence (#68) refers to Pope John Paul II's encyclical, 'Evangelium vitae' #56. \u0013\n\nPope John Paul personally amended the Catechism to leave almost no wiggle room for capital punishment, and no wiggle room at all for a country like ours. I'm the last person to deny that a Catholic has a right to dissent from Catholic teaching, and I certainly respect the right of Catholics to dissent from this teaching (though intellectual honesty ought to compel them to acknowledge that that's what they're doing.)\n\nKaine's moral problem was not that he dissents from the teaching, but precisely that he accepts and agrees with it. I thought he did an excellent job of explaining how he wrestled with that problem and how he resolved it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't have a very good grasp of history do you?\n\nJews are only the last tribe of Hebrews still practising the Hebrew religion.\nChristianity existed long before the Byzantine era.\nIslam existed long before the Ottoman empire.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To put it succinctly, the US is a secular country with a large Christian majority. It is NOT, in any sense, a Christian nation. And I thank God for that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics ARE christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The writer overlooks some very important points. In some areas there may be no other business to serve customers. Then again, if a business is serving the public, public accommodation laws, both local and federal, take effect. Further, if we allow personal beliefs to override public accommodation laws, then we must allow all personal beliefs: so an individual at the DMV might deny women drivers' licenses if they believe women should not drive; another might deny service to blacks or Christians with the same claim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because of Jesus I am rich with love and I love working to make Alaska more productive so I can help our young students get a good Christian education, thanks for asking!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But they'll know we are Christians by our love! That works for people who don't want to identify publicly as Catholics in the wake of the clerical sex abuse scandals and cover-ups. And, there are many many!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"These people\" do not want a home in the DemocratIC Party anymore. They think the Democrats are at odds with their brand of right-wing Catholicism. That's why the Zubik/Little Sisters cases bounced at SCOTUS! That's also why Conservative Christianity and Conservative Catholicism are even now, already vanishing species!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent set of arguments sky. Unfortunately we'll never know what Richard231's response would be. He simply said he'd pull his child out of a class taught by a woman in a veil. No explanation - which is what I was asking for when you chose to respond.\n\nWhere was your distinction about extremists when you were calling for all Muslim columnists to prove their loyalty? Where is your recognition that wearing a veil may be a woman's choice or are you assuming that she has been co-opted and brainwashed to think she has no other choice? I'm curious about your basis for a \"human right\" to deal with people face to face. There are numerous times when we don't do that. Phone calls, Catholic confessionals, and don't forget that the wearing of a veil has long been a tradition at weddings and funerals in the Christian world. And given that the number of veil wearing women in Canada is extremely small and that it continues to be a controversial issue, I'd hardly claim that it's being \"normalized\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hawaii was once two party territory and then state. Then the Christian Right was embraced by the Republicans. That was popular in some states but not in ethnically and religiously diverse Hawaii. The party became radioactive and strong members defected. We need a two party system and I hope the Republicans get back to their roots.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You mean Catholics and fundamentalist Christians right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The natural order is a logical construct. Natural law derives from human nature and must be open to science, which studies human nature. Natural law is a method, not a dogma. You don't prove or disprove it, you use it. Matters of natural law can be argued and proven or disproven. For instance, before Evangelicuum Vitae, most Catholic ethicists believed that life did not begin at conception because twinning can occur until gastrulation. Rome's interference does not prove them wrong, it proves Rome wrong. Sodom and Gomorrah were places that were destroyed, probably by a meteor or comet, but that had nothing to do with the myth in Genesis, which used that destruction as an object lesson. Jesus taught that bad things don't happen because of sinfulness (an Old Testament explanation). See what he said about the Tower of Siloam falling in Luke.\n\nJust wondering, who do you listen to for this POV?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I do want the Catholic Church to hear and listen to and learn from the Spirit. And, I love the idea that people like Mary Hunt, Jamie Manson, other women theologians, sisters, married lay women, even lay men for that matter, would be part of that \"hammering out\" of differences. But that is not, so far, the ecclesial practice or policy and certainly not the traditional way the Holy Roman Catholic Church operates. \n\nI stay because I do believe the Catholic Church has much to teach the world of God and what it means to live as God intended us to live. But, that doesn't mean we can't learn from people of other faiths - Protestant, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu and more. What I hope is that the powers-that-be inside the Church learn to listen to the Spirit that speaks outside their narrow group.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I recall correctly, the Globe, like all major media in Canada, refused to publish the Danish cartoons of the prophet Mohamed. Why was that? Was it because the Globe was afraid of being labelled Islamophobic? On the other, cartoons of the pope and evangelical Christians have appeared in the Globe. Why the double standard?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. I will take it up with the Church as I believe Jesus would be more compassionate than the Catholic Church is being. Shoving away someone who is abused and telling too bad that his/ her first spouse was abusive and punishing them for it is not how Jesus would treat these people. \n\nAs for the annulment system, it is a maze of bureaucracy and red tape that has no place in a spiritual organization meant to welcome all. An abusive spouse might not want to have to deal with his/her ex abuser. (And I know of cases where the former abusers have dragged annulments out for years just to continue to harm and control their exes and the annulment tribunal is set up in such a way that it makes it really easy to aid them in this. It is really a great aid to abusive spouses.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Last I checked, the Catholic Church was open to all; perplexing is that it's expected to single out unrepentant sodomites. The Church is open to all REPENTANT sinners, and should not be encouraging sinful lifestyles!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The IRA was a political organization opposed to British rule. They were not out to destroy British civilization or Christianity.\n\nThe US sects that you mentioned were actually never bothered anyone. They were completely crazy, but they were happy to mind their own business and recruit followers. Only when it got to the point that the US government intervened did a flash point occur. And I don't recall any of them recruiting people to destroy a society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That would have happened anyway...and in many cases, did. The solitary aim of capitalism is to maximize profit. If that meant cutting 99.9% of workers to do so, so be it! Your opinion clashes with a 100+year tradition of Catholic social teaching. How do you square that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you judge the actions of a few and hold the whole\naccountable. Interesting. \nYou say that Christians are trying to force others to live by their religious beliefs. How so I ask. Are they holding a gun to your head or other threats of psychical force if you do not comply ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What Z really said:\n\n\"No. It is not necessarily sinful to pray for the end of a pontificate, one way or another.\n\nHowever, it depends on why and on your attitude. I urge people not to have hate in their hearts for the person of the Holy Father. He deserves our prayers. That doesn\u2019t mean that we have to like him or what he does. We do NOT worship the Pope. Popes come and go. In our prayers, we can, without sinning, discuss with God about His time table.\"\n\n\"First, I tried to convey that one should NOT have hate in her or his heart for the Holy Father. There is an old phrase: \u201cCatholics love their Popes\u201d.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"seventh\" day in the Fourth Commandment (a practice never given to Christian believers) was not always the 7th day using our western calendars. The Israelites counted 7 days after the first full moon, 28+days, and that day became the Sabbath (FYI: check the numerous times \"New Moons\" and Sabbaths are tied together in the Torah).\n\nBut there are countries and areas where their week does not begin on western first days, or Sundays, but many have a Thursday-Friday weekend (Iran, is an example), as the Muslims holy day is on Friday. Why must Western Adventists impose a day free from work which has nothing to do with the calendars and work week of other countries foreign to them?\n\nRequesting freedom to worship on the seventh day in the West has often gone to U.S. courts and been well received. But the U.S. courts and U.S. religious liberty laws cannot apply to other countries. Does Kenya have such laws in place on which to arbitrate?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mormons are considered conservative Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ok, since we all know the Gospel here, is divorce and remarriage permissible? Because the Catholic Church has been giving out annulments -- divorce by a different name -- like party favors for decades. \nIs pre-marital sex permissible? How about heavy petting? I wouldn't want to ask people in church too many questions on that score. \nIn fact, there are lots of very common sexual practices about which the Church remains curiously silent, although it can be quite vocal about same-sex issues. That leads me to believe that the Church's attitudes have more to do with taboos than anything else.\nSo I can't agree we all know the answers to all the questions sexually active people ask, and I can't accept the idea that James Martin is wrong to ask the same questions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I like where you\u2019re going with this. we need to take care of unfinished business and try as best we can to not hold hate and grudges in our hearts. Check negative karma with Jesus\u2019 empowering grace. Buddhists might call it \u201ctonglen\u201d (compassion practice). Theresians might call it \u201cthe little way\u201d. Whatever it is it is compassion-in-action and I believe Christianity should once again 7 x 70 pick it up again and keep working on it\u2014and Trusting the mysterious Mercy of G-d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This fine Bishop recognizes what so many do not: catholic conscience is not some internal or emotional mechanism. Our conscience is provided to us by the church. We have a thousand years of bishops and popes telling us what is right and wrong. All we need do is consult the catechism for answers to any vexing moral questions, then do as we are told. If necessary, ask a priest what to do. Until the laity recognize that its vocation is to obey those selected by God to lead the church there will be continued confusion. And there is no need for confusion. The church has set out the law and Jesus taught that we would be saved by obedience to every provision of the law. We need only stop thinking, start obeying, and like the good sheep, follow the lead of the shepherds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are probably right about most catholics but those who know and understand their faith, orthodox Catholics are concerned at this lurch towards Protestantism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...and that hat sits atop a white Catholic male's cranium, the very definition of \"rights-holder.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're so right: everything is not about \"me, me, me.\" Jesus' Church is about the Body of Christ, the followers of Christ, those men AND WOMEN who are united in humanity with Jesus and our common baptism. \n\nPriorities which insist on the integrity of those specific commonalities are most certainly not misplaced. Thinking that men alone hold power and control in the RCC is misguided and just plain wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for saying 'some' Christians. \n\nThere is no scientific proof of God. What is measurable are behaviors motivated by faith. I've seen happy loving people my entire life and most were strengthened by their faith. I'm a fan of N.V. Peale and the power of positive thinking. I've known what being in 'the zone ' means when everything falls into place. \n\nI liked the RG artical on the roll of faith in volunteerism. I do not need a physical God to appreciate the value of love and compassion that I've receivered throughout my life. I happened to put that in a Christian context, and image of the human Jesus that was taught to me as a child. It works for me", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you take Mr. Leavings claim at face value? What verse is he referring to? Just like in Christianity, historical context is important when looking at a text. Muslims approach the Qur'an much the way Catholics approach the Bible, in that many supplementary traditions and commentaries written over centuries are used. This phenomenon of literal interpretation of every verse without any historical context, is a modern practice that began in the 20th century, and has never been practiced by any decent percentage of Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The society may be founded on christian principles, that doesnt mean it is a theocracy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As an aside, there have been some comments regarding Michael Sean Winters salary and the like, please remember that National Catholic Reporter is a non-profit and it doesn't have the money that comes from the Catholic church. That's why you will sometimes see comments from bishops and such wanting the paper shut down because it's not Catholic enough for them or that NCR doesn't report on the church flatteringly enough. If someone sees the emperor and he may not be wearing all his clothes, then he should be told.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trid, your truth depends on duality or binary mind set. When the Moors invaded Spain, they allowed religious freedom. Christians, Muslims, and Jews lived together in relative peace. After the Moors were driven back to Africa, the Catholic kings demanded conversion to Christianity or they were told to leave. The inquisition also demanded doctrinal obedience with punishment as the penalty for failing. Muslim religious buidings were replaced by Catholic churches. Religious intolerance became the Truth all in the name of god.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is the telling statement in Schandelmeir's article: \"The past few seasons, I have seen dead seagulls, porcupines, fox and other critters abandoned by the roadside.\" \n\nWhy would someone shoot a seagull? \n\nTwo reasons: Machismo, PBR, Takerism, and frail egos steered by peer pressure cause killers to mistake their d++k with their weapon. They wave it wildly hoping for approval from their equally stunted comrades.\n\nChristians are to blame for the second: in their bible is this instruction, supposedly from thier god: \"Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.\" To christians, to rule means that every other being with whom we share this planet is lesser and not worthy of compassion and respect. To me, seagulls, foxes, porcupines and the rest of our fellows are \"not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations\" (Beston).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Moderate doesn't mean anything to these people. In fact, the more careful and sensible the person, the more infuriated they become. The problem is that even moderate views are deeply threatening to fundamentalists. One example might be Brown's observation that the wedding feast at Cana is not about a wedding, but about messianic revelation and the nature of Christ's relationship to his mother: \u201cNeither the external nor the internal evidence for a symbolic reference to matrimony is strong. The wedding is only the backdrop and occasion for the story, and the joining of the man and woman does not have any direct role in the narrative.\u201d\n\nYet for those anxious to link this passage with \"God made them male and female\" and \"for this reason a man shall leave . . . \" and the bride and bridegroom and all the rest of it, this suggestion will never do. Scripture must point in the direction they say it points in. This usually means where the RC Church says it must go.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cthou dost in us command.\u201d Who is the 'Thou' referred to ? Could this be a christian deity of some sort? That is even worse than the version we have now. Instead of substituting a gender neutral phrase the Conservatives want a reference to some imaginary being?\nWhile we're at it - let's get the other mention of 'god' out of our National Anthem !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...but their views on public policy are.\"\n\nLet's hope their faith comes through, whether Orthodox or Catholic. I know Wilbur Ross is an alumnus of Xavier High School, Manhattan. Hopefully, something, some Gospel-inspired message that he picked up at that elite school will surface in his policies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sister do you ever hang out with Catholics?\nSister do you ever attend pro life vigils? \nSister do you ever say the rosary? \nSister do you pray the office? \nSister to you believe in Jesus Christ as the son of God and the only Saviour of the world? \nMy 5 question dubia submitted to the author of this article and to most liberal CINO sister?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, it takes a Bishop of Rome to remind the leaders of the EU of their original Christian political ideals. Sad, but reassuring.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did DiNardo think it was okay for Dolan and him to criticize Francis about the Synod because they are bishops but not okay for Weinandy to criticize Francis' actions because he is only a priest/theologian? Was it a status issue? Or, has DiNardo seen that he has fed a partisanship that has now gotten out of hand? The disinviting of Reese to give a talk, the firing of a teacher at another college, the incredible support for what Weinandy did at LifeSite news? The divide is growing and the tone has simply grown more rabid. \n\nI admit I have probably fed it - I am constantly negative about JPII and BXVI - won't even give them titles and spend the characters to type out their names. \n\nI think most Catholics don't get involved in all this hullabaloo, just those on the left or right who want to argue about it. Both sides are a minority fighting to be heard and ... for power and influence? Will we have a smaller church for the \"pure\" or a larger church for imperfect human beings?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...since 1969, the number of Catholics in the archdiocese has declined by 69 percent and the number of priests by 65 percent.\" \n\nCatholicism, like mainstream protestant denominations, are having a hard time attracting and retaining millennials. If this doesn't change, then within the next decade or so, the church will not need any priests and the doctors of the law will be reciting canon law to no one but themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians don't celebrate morning mass - Catholics do. Mass is often at 5pm so no conflict with school hours.\n\nChristians of all denominations are free to celebrate on their own time because Sunday's aren't school days. Neither is Christmas or Good Friday. These religious accommodations are so ingrained that you're ignoring them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, so Catholic Social Services and Catholic Charities are not part of the Catholic Church, nor should they be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well I can dispel that untrue belief easily.\n\nI, personally, have met both many men and women who said I can't be a part of a misogynistic church any longer. \n\nI have met many couples who can't reconcile bringing their daughters and sons to a church that teaches women are less sacred than men by its example, when the point of going to church is to help teach their children about justice, and goodness, and how everyone should treat everyone the same, without bias, as a matter of human dignity. \n\nUnequal ordination is sexism, and this is an ugly hatred that is too obvious in our practices to be able to hide in the common age. \n\nA recent study, sent out to those young people who left their religion for non-affiliation to any religion, stated as 2nd on the list of biggest reasons for leaving their churches: People in traditional religions do not act very christian. \n\nIf you don't know if this change would bring people back or stop them from leaving, maybe you just have not asked them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. Ah yes, eminent Scriptural scholars, my favorite breed of experts who determine what Christianity truly is after all these years after all of their esteemed predecessors (Augustine, Jerome, Aquinas, Chrysostom) were just not esteemed or learned enough to know the truth!!! If only those poor wretches had the \"Jesus seminar\", form criticism, and the Q source they would have seen things so much more clearly!!! The fact they the knew Greek/Hebrew and had committed the entire Bible to memory clearly wasn't enough!\n\n2. \"Misogynism\" that is, for the modern thinker, \"making any distinction between men and women\". Perfect.\n\n3. Male and femaleness and human personhood ALWAYS go together. Being a person doesn't precede being male/female nor does being a male/female precede being a person. Jesus IS forevermore a human, male person.\n\n4. Indeed. Women weren't ordained by Jesus so therefore Jesus has relegated women forever to status of baby/male pleasure machines. Excellent. Sound reasoning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are certainly many examples globally of individuals, communities, even large segments of the overall Institution that follow and model Christianity -- just not as many as profess fidelity. We can't denigrate the sincere members of the Body of Christ filled with and driven by the Spirit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LOL...those are not facts. 1) The ACLU defends anyone or any group that has their civil liberties violated including Christian groups. 2) Because David Duke may have endorsed some Dem in the past it does NOT make him a Dem. He is not a card carrying member of the Democrat party. 3) Yes the KKK was in the past aligned with the Democratic party but that all changed when LBJ and other Dems tried to pass and successfully passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. When that happened all the southern Democrats left the Democrat Party and joined the Republican Party where the racists have resided since. You don't seriously think that all those KKK members and Nazi's that were in Charlottesville this past weekend were Hillary supporters do you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus did use the Catholic Church He built to civilize the world, from a global population of 250+ million during His time to 7.5+ billion today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have no issue with the other Christian denominations, my issue is with inter-communion. I believe my issues with that are explained in my earlier posts. If the other denominations accept the seven sacraments of the Catholic Faith, then I could accept the matter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That was hardly a letter supporting \"Judea Christian values\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see your bitterness, ED, RD, Life of the Lay. This article is course written about a hard to deny academic study. It shows that the Roman Church will either change the clerical system or more mature and educated catholics will leave, because of the failure to change a horrible clerical leadership of authoritarianism. Perhaps you are right only the very few authoritarians will be left. The rest of us will practice in \"The Way of Christ,\" and you can practice authoritarianism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For years we lived across the street from two families who were totally racist. They spent years trying to out do each others racism against my family. The mother of one household spent years drinking brandy wine with breakfast & be passed out by noon. When school got out she would wake up & start yelling. The other family was a pipeline family. Dad was gone, mom was a church goer. Everyday she'd go to the Catholic church. They moved when it became clear Father Murphy was sexually abusing the boy. I looked up the abused boy about a decade ago. What I found was a wonderful human. He lives in the lower 48 & works to convict sex offenders. What I learned from that childhood experience was white families got lots of issues & they like to only focus on other peoples issues. Not their own. Like my dad said, they got lots of problems & being racist is only a cover up. Mom would make us share her homemade cookies with those kids. Every week. Thank god for moms cookies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"there are no public spats\"\n\nPerhaps the Catholic bishops' cultural memory is still focused on the Tudor Star Chamber and, a century later. the fate of the Stuarts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neither Christ nor the apostles nor the early Christian movement required elaborate vestments to celebrate the miracle of the Eucharist. It's primarily an innovation of the Middle Ages. Like any tradition, it's subject to reform and change. We must avoid divinizing human tradition; such is a form of idolatry. Personally, I prefer simple vestments during ordinary time and daily masses, reserving the more elaborate dress for high masses especially Christmas and Easter. I think it adds to the significance of those feasts when there's a factor of foreignness to it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Shouldn't the Pope be the message bearer for the Catholic church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"So you have the Church involved....\"\n\nYes, the Rwandan Church -- one tribal fraction against another -- was involved in the death, but not the pope at the time. John Paul II spoke out very forcefully against the slaughter, hoping to galvanize the West to intervene. However, Washington (under the Clinton Administration) and other Western governments not only failed to speak out more forcefully during the slaughter, but also failed to support the tiny force of UN peacekeepers in Rwanda at the time who were attempting to save some of the besieged people. Indeed, US Intelligence reports today show that the Clinton cabinet and Clinton himself were told that the Hutu militants \"planned a final solution to eliminate\" all Tutsis long before the genocide peeked. But Washington and other super powers did nothing. That Catholic Hutu parishioners were killing Catholic Tutsi parishioners is one of the tragedies the Rwandan Church has to live with (as US northerners and southerners had to in 1865).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi! Scott\nIn the Sense that it\u2019s teaching on the moral law will always hold true, as in Humanae Vitae for example.\nTo Peter\n\u201cI will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.\u201d\n\n I see this binding and loosing, as seen in the common language of the Jews, signified to forbid and to allow, or to teach what is lawful or unlawful. \nThe apostolic tradition\u2019s condemnation of contraception is so great that it was followed by Protestants until 1930 and was upheld by all key Protestant Reformers.\nOne has to ask did they bend with the wind?\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I read the page http://prayerofheart.com/. What I find funny is the preoccupation with the Russian monks, when Christianity started in Kyyiv.\nBut the prayer of the heart, or the Jesus prayer, is something with which I am very familiar. I consider it a good way to pray.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cool. You go around and explain to the elders that they are losing their healthcare and social safety nets because we are tired of taking care of them. Because that is your message.\n\nI would pay more taxes to ensure the elderly and infirm were taken care of. It is the Christian thing to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"we were bought for a price\".\n\nLanguage of \"stewards\" \"talents\" \"bought for a price\" \"you're not your own\"....all of these passages point to the fact that God entrusts us to take care of His creation, He expects us to use it to do His will. \n\nIf you're looking for the word \"loan\" you are adopting a \"fundamentalist\" \"rigorist\" approach to reading Scripture...and you must be a disappointed Catholic. \n\nMaybe one of the more fundamentalist protestant denominations would be a better fit. \n\nThe Catholic Church looks at the words of scripture....but also the meaning...and the embedded intention, drawing all together for a deeper and more connected interpretation. \n\nI don't recommend your fundamentalist approach..it leads to unpeace and confusion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which means the overwhelming majority of non-white Catholics did not vote for Trump. Race trumped religion in the voting booth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only reason why there are Christians is because Jesus Christ ordained them to be before the beginning of the universe. God can use any means he wishes to accomplish his means, even people like Luther and tompaine...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"ever asked Canada to accommodate their political-religious believe\"\n\nSo why do we have religious school boards? Or Christian holidays? Or Sundays off?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AT: We could continue this debate forever....or until you disappear in the Rapture, leaving me behind. You have your own definition of Christianity and Christian Church, asserting it is THE TRUTH according to Jesus. I find that amazingly presumptuous. \n\n You and I could hardly be more different on this issue: I readily admit I don't even know if there's a god. You claim that not only is there a God, but you speak his TRUTHS. I've asttempt to supply factual information regarding the definitions of the terms and concepts we are discussing. You dismiss them as \"puff piece propaganda\". I'm actually not interested in propagandizing anyone. I'm simply engaging in a discussion about a topic I find very interesting and, frankly, rather disturbing. Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that many Americans are so certain that America has it right, that they see no reason to taking the perspective of others. If one is certain that one is completely right, then one often believes that one's job is simply to make others see the error of their ways and adopt one's view instead. Looking at things from the perspective of others simply muddles matters. It's a bit like some in the Catholic Church are so convinced that they possess the Truth that they need not take the belief's of others into account. \nI believe that many, including those in the media, don't even notice the inability of the US to consider the perspective of others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He was made a saint in the Ethiopian Church and is on the calendar of the Catholic branch off the same church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anglicans and Roman Catholics have been sharing a church building built specifically for that purpose in Milton Keynes, England, for may yeas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For me, the power of John Palovitz's work is an indictment of Roman Catholicism and Evangelical Christianity in the U.S. (and I would add Europe). The bottom line is that what these denominations are selling, people aren't buying. People are no longer compelled by fear, shame, or guilt. If Christianity is to reset itself the U.S. and Europe it will need to organize around radical hospitality, total authenticity, true diversity, and a\u200b true community. This is a tremendous value shift which is far beyond personnel staffing or married male clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One word to all Christian religious leaders - excommunications. Let's start excommunicating some of these alt-reich types because just condemning them isn't working.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I read that George Brown, another Father of Confederation, who also founded the Globe, used his newspaper to promote \"the strident speeches of ex-Catholic priests Alessandro Gavazzi, which incited mob violence in 1853 with nine dead in Montreal\". So the guy clearly has blood on his hands. I therefore think George Brown College should be renamed after the victims of the mob violence, and the statues of Brown on both Parliament Hill and at Queen's Park in Toronto, taken down.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think there are two issues; (1) the abuse, and (2) the cover-up. The cover-up seems to be the topic of the editorial. THAT is an issue exacerbated by the clerical culture. The abuse itself is sourced in lust and pederasty. I would also assert that the abuse itself is often \"justified\" in the mind of the abuser by the clerical culture he is a part of. Many of the comments herein would seem to support that the \"arrogance\" of the clerical culture of the Catholic Church is itself an issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've talked to several people turned off of him due to the article WWeek published about Bailey being Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As the embodiment of the definition, one would expect a demonstration of the definition, and herein we see it....perhaps....it would be better to find a definition of christian and attempt to be the embodiment of that ideal...as would only be expected of one claiming membership in that belief system....apparently claiming membership does not entail participation in a particular pattern of conduct???? However, here we see the tangent continued...sowing discord....quarreling...off-topic messages....disrupting normal, on-topic discussion...so much for the beatitudes....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you're right: our history (American, Catholic, and American Catholic) is not a proud one (though there are, of course, some outstanding exceptions) with respect to race. A good source: \"Racial Justice and the Catholic Church\", by Fr. Bryan N. Massingale.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have nothing to disagree with. I know compassionate Cristians, compassionate Jews, certainly mystics like the Dali Lama are wonderful. \n\nIt drives me crazy to know people of very similar values fight about where there inspiration comes from! \n\nI have never thought Christians or any other faith have preference in Gods eyes. It's the human ego that's forces us to rank each other. I'm the right religion, race, smarter,stronger,prettier, work harder...\n\nDoes the rose proclaim they are are the only flower of God? \n\nI'm fine with mystery. How, do we explain those moments when our brain quiets and we are in silent awe? \n\nLove, beauty, sacrifice, compassion have no set formula or explanation in the physical sciences. \n\nDoes it matter how we learn to love as long as we get better at it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can believe as you wish, Dave. You have a closed mind and a liberal one, I expect. So you think forcing Christian businesses in this country to violate their consciences is OK as long as the ones expecting them to cave in to their wishes are given their due? Due to homosexuals in Oregon, the Kleins had to finally close their bakery for good. These people are deliberately picking on Christians that they know will not do as they ask so they can sue them; it is nothing about hurt feelings. And how about the Christians in the mid east? You think they are treated well? Well, they are not. If you convert to Christianity, you can expect a very short life there. Thanks to Obama and his Muslim agenda, we have more Muslims here now than ever, and they are not our friends. They want to impose Sharia law here, which fortunately has been struck down. They blow up our buildings and kill our people. Finally, you don't know what I read, but I'll bet it's a lot broader than you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill O'Reilly started the bogus \"War on Christmas\" some years ago because people were saying \"Happy Holidays\" to him, not \"Merry Christmas\". He seems to forget that not everyone in this country is a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2. The Pope is now reaching out to the SSPX: one really has to ask why. The Pope and the SSPX have absolutely nothing in common, poles apart. Previous overtures to the Society have required a public acceptance by them of all the documents of Vatican II. It would seem that under Pope Francis such niceties as doctrinal agreement are no longer that important; the priority appears to be to get the Society back in at all costs. That should set alarm bells ringing among SSPX priests. Vatican intervention in orthodox Catholic institutes in order to wrest control of them from orthodox Catholics and reform them to make them more accommodating of the secular values being embraced more and more by the modern Church under this Pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You wisely included the disclaimer \u201cTo my knowledge\u201d.\n\nIt was the position of the American episcopal conference that the inclusion of coverage for abortion and birth control was incompatible with Catholic beliefs. They began a campaign to oppose the Administration\u2019s attempt to narrow the application of religious exceptions from its historic dimensions:\n\nhttp://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/conscience-protection/index.cfm\n\nIn 1968, Pope Paul VI spelled it out in Humana Vitae. Not only was artificial birth control immoral, it was \"an evil thing,\" he said, to make it easy to break moral law.\n\nMichael Sean Winters is hardly a paragon of detached objective analysis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Whatever is not worth doing, is not worth doing well.\" That's a humorous spin on an old maxim, but I think it's appropriate here. Theologians and biblical scholars do their jobs very well, but it's a wasted effort, contrary to the assertion of Mr. Tammeus. It made sense before the discovery of science, when people had no other framework for understanding their world. Now one biblical assertion after another has been proven false, textual criticism has revealed how impossible it is to take much if any of the Bible literally, and science, reason and a healthy skepticism make it clear that, rather than being made in the image of God, we have made many gods in our own very diverse images. Jesus' \"living presence,\" and any faith, is so amorphous as to be both the inspiration for incredible good as well as incredible harm. The history of the Muslim and Christian faiths is testament to that, and the fact it took so long for the Catholic church to apologize for its past reveals a lot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I well remember that Reagan and his wife were very much into New Age spirituality, and only occasionally took awkward photo ops at an Episcopal church for appearances sake. Nancy regularly consulted an astologer about her husband's daily schedule after he was shot. In today's political environment I wonder if he could even be elected in a GOP primary since Evangelicals firmly reject New Age religion as demonic. But ya never know... politics makes strange bedfellows. Like Donald Trump today, Reagan did not adopt an anti-abortion stance until running for president on the GOP ticket to appease the Religious Right. Prior to that he was all over the place, like Trump. That's just one example of 'useful' religious/moral words. I was scratching my head both then and now.\n\nI put more stock in someone's actions (walking the walk) than words (talking the talk). Reagan and Trump talked about Christian religion, but I don't see that it formed their lives and values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The sainthood is an institution in the Church that has endured as long as the Church itself, and the saints are a powerful force in the Church.\"\n\nI beg to differ. People like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Mariam, Rebeccah, Rachael, David-the Prophets and many, many others--were not declared 'saints' by the Catholic Church. They ARE saints, were declared to be so by the Jewish people. The Catholic church recognizes them as saints---but there was no canonization process to do so.\n\nThe early saints in the Church did not have to go through this long, drawn-out process. They became SAINTS by popular acclaim. And there was no canonization process for them, either.\n\nThis current process leaves out most of the laity to be even considered as canonized saints. Families do not have the money to push this forward and they can't dedicate members of their families to become Postulators [those who promote the cause of sanctity] from one generation to the next.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh I am talking about the National Front Party in France as well as the Freedom Party in Austria. Francis should declare both of those anti-christian like Pius XI did with Accion Francaise, which also tried to wrap itself in Christianity while being the farthest thing from Christianity. And he should excommunicate some of the politicians if they don't relent in their bigotry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican II did not confirm the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It wasn't written yet. If anything, the CCC put reverses on some concepts from Vatican II, after all Joseph Ratzinger was the prime author of the CCC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics aren't murdering gays. End of story.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When the Church demanded a lot from its people (prior to 1965), the Masses were full to overflowing. Now that the Church has \"protestantized\" itself (since 1965), and asks little of its people, the Masses are empty.\nHey you libs and trads: I'm not referring to the Pauline or Tridentine Masses.\nI'm referring to Catholic identity and practice.\nGo figure.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She isn't a Roman Catholic ...she and her cohorts are considered anathama until they repent of their scandalous behaviour", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you also fail to provide any evidence, no different than Neko. Church Militant is clearly against same sex marriage and same sex acts, but show me any proof that it espouses any false Catholic Church teachings. I won't hold my breath for any actual response to my comment above.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pressure needs to be put on Cardinal O'Malley to inform Francis how critical it is to the faith lives of millions of Catholic/Christians in every country affected that he take immediate action on this matter in order to calm waters that are at a boiling point. Victims must be represented on the commission by very savvy, articulate male & female victims as well as a no nonsense advocate...Thomas Doyle or his like would be great. \nWe want to believe that Francis has our best interests at heart, but actions speak louder than words. As for all the blather about the commission being underfunded and understaffed, surely bright, young seminarians or even exceptional Catholic/Christian university students would give their eye teeth to intern usefully in commission offices to facilitate letters to victims; as well, I'll bet there are many wealthy Catholics who would love to take care of that particular funding. Let's get our heads & hearts in gear folks & get moving!! Time's a wasting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Assumption is tradition. The archeological evidence for the Ressurection and Crucifixion are copies of early Pauline letters, which prove that Christianity was not some Fabulist creation of the second century.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not lobbying for hand-holding during the Lord's Prayer. I'm just saying one can make a case for it since, in Catholic theology, communion with God and communion with neighbor are intimately bound together. \"Forgive us as we forgive\" suggests as much to me. \n\nBut, yes, I did think about hand-holding preempting the sign of peace, and there is something to be said for not overloading the liturgy with clunky, sentimental gestures. \n\nTo cut to the chase, there are some hills worth dying on theologically. But this ain't one of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And how does the overly legalistic hyper-technical approach you espouse reflect the supernatural? I only ask because, I like you, am a True, Traditional Catholic. I hope your change of medication had been effective.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think this is a very pastoral approach, much better than some I have come across. Would that more of the JPII and Benedict priests were open to being this way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "i lived in pohnpei in the early 60s and there was one catholic and one new england protestant church on the island. five years later there were seven day, jehovah, mormon, baptist, unitarian and three or four others all fighting for a slice of the pie. it seemed that whichever church had the best bbq or singing group on friday got the largest crowd. it also began animosity that wasn't present before. one island, kosrae, has introduced ordinances to ban any religion not based on christianity. all these religions target poor, contented, isolated areas because they dont want to confront the reality of inner cities worldwide. it is reported that the mormon church spends less than two percent of its seven billion in tithes income on helping poor, non mormons. hawaii has about a thousand or so churches with six hundred thousand people claiming a relationship with the christian faith, and seven or eight thousand homeless. go figure.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In good old legal and good old Catholic tradition, silence is not disdain, it's assent. Pope Francis has no need to dialogue with you because he is aware not everyone's personal conscience is going to come up with the same answers. By the way, the tradition of Catholic conscience has a very long and traditional history in Church teaching. It just doesn't have the same emphasis in the teaching as some other concepts like rote obedience, and that can change from time to time depending on the cultural circumstances.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Citing the Bible in cases like this is what gives Christianity a bad name, just as in the case of the Lakewood baker.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously you haven't a clue about Ukraine. The majority of its population are Ukrainian Orthodox believers; there is a smaller Ukrainian Catholic (or Uniate) church in western Ukraine. The indigenous population of Crimea are the Crimean Tatars who prefer Ukraine over Russia. And the language most people use in daily life in Ukraine is irrelevant to their political identity or loyalty. Most of Ukraine's soldiers and minutemen fighting the Russian invaders speak Russian. They are Ukrainian patriots nonetheless. Today Ukraine is fighting a war against Russian imperialism and the illegal occupation of Crimea.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Almost every developed nation in the world provides universal health care for its citizens. The provision of health care to all is the mark of a nation that cares about its people. The repeated attempts by some legislators in Washington to kill public health care is rather like a back-alley thug bludgeoning a victim to death for a few bucks. On Capitol Hill, we have the spectacle of the better off bludgeoning the poor to rob them of health care. Jesus said Christians would be known by their love for each other and for the poor. \n\n\u201cWhen we handle the sick and needy we touch the suffering body of Christ\u2026 We need the eyes of deep faith to see Christ in the broken body and dirty clothes under which the most beautiful one among us hides. We shall need the hands of Christ to touch these bodies wounded by pain and suffering.\u201d (Mother Teresa of Calcutta).\n\nIt would be wonderful to see voters elect more Christians in 2018, and it would save a lot of lives!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, Francis has learned that the type of reform via one great reformer rarely works. He is trying to provide structure, example, and outlines to challenge episcopal conferences, individual bishops, priests, people of God to identify and implement their own reforms. \nAction is greater than ideas\nDialogue is greater than *one pope*\n\nMSW - thank you - one addition. Note that this Emmaus *couple* INVITE Christ into their home - Emmaus is about *hospitality* and *invitation* which leads to recognition and mission. We need to first - INVITE.....the stranger; the minority; the poor; the resident alien (which is what Luke calls Christians), immigrants, homeless, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe that each person should study a teaching, pray for guidance, and make up his or her own mind. The Buddha said, \"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.\" I think that is a rational, adult attitude, not the \"whatever the magisterium says is not to be questioned\" attitude you espouse. Because, even though you don't want to admit it, the magisterium has changed its teachings.\n\nYes, I accept my gay brothers and sisters. I cannot do otherwise and continue to call myself a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Speaking as a Catholic, \"bread and buttered\" in Philadelphia (as the Irish say), I laughed out loud at MSW's reference to \"the newly minted Cardinal Dennis Dougherty of Philadelphia.\" Dougherty was known for his ability to raise money and was known as the \"Great Builder\" for the many parishes, schools., etc that he built during his 31 years as Archbihsop of Philadelphia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This 500th anniversary of the Reformation comes at a very interesting, delicate time for the Catholic Church, and in particularly the papacy of Papa Francesco. The Catholic Church - especially its ruling hierarchy and priesthood - stands in need of a reformation just as dramatic and critical as it was in Luther's day. Papa Francesco seems to understand this.\n\nIf Catholics and Lutherans begin worshipping together, there are numerous opportunities for cross-pollenation between the sectarian religious cousins. Could it be that Catholics will discover that we don't need their dangerously alienated and hopelessly irrelevant hierarchy anymore? That we don't need our celibate priesthood anymore?\n\nPerhaps after 500 years, Luther's intended goal of reforming the church's hierarchy may come to pass. We can only hope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Andrew, what is wrong with muslims running their own schools with tax dollars? \nThe Roman Catholics are fully funded by our tax dollars and no one complains--except the UN which says that all religions should have tax dollars to run their schools; not just the RC's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"You can interpret The Bible in similar extreme ways.\"\nThat is a true statement, however bare in mind [1] There are those who miss-interpret the bible simply because they are educationally untrained in the discipline of Christian theology though these individuals mean no harm toward others. [2] There are those who miss-interpret the bible to \"justify an ideology\" which is foreign Christianity and Christian theology with the intent to harm others. [3] There are those who miss-interpret the bible to simply advance their anti-Christian ideology. And bare in mind that those who fall into categories 2&3 are extremely educationally untrained in the discipline of Christian theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't understand the confusion. I fully support the Vicar of Christ, considering he walks in the shoes of Peter and was appointed by the Holy Spirit to lead the One True Church. Since Our Holy Father has chosen to handle the abuse scandal by pretending to care while actually doing nothing, then I must assume that is what Jesus wants him to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God has spoken that apostasy shall not overcome the Light [prevail forever]; but, we are in the midst of great crisis. The children of Christian civilization have repudiated the foundation for Blessing;...Law and [B]order. The Truth of Liberty and Freedom has been transformed into liscence. And now the walls have fallen for uncultured hoardes of uncivilized savages to rape, rob, and plunder. A plague of devouring locusts sent for judgement to destroy the blessings. JOEL 2:3\nWhy do the clergy cast off all fear of God?...holding to a servile sycophantic cult-like addling, mesmerized by this messiah of apostasy like rats after the pied-piper.\nThe Mighty God judge with fire the judas-clergy aiding and abetting this globalist criminal enterprise.....or, better yet, let fear have her imperfect work. Proverbs 9:10", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In August, 1940, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge stood on the floor of the United States Senate and quoted the following from the Episcopalian Bishop of Massachusetts: \"If our civilization is to be a Christian civilization, then Christ must be behind and beneath it. The man or woman, however humble, who is by life and teaching, trying to lift just one person up to a finer character, is at the very heart of the movement for international peace.\" There was anger in the Congress at the time because President Roosevelt was seeking an unprecedented third term, Congress the day before had established the SEC, Americans' standard of living had declined precipitously from 1930 levels, and a year later America would enter WWII. The Bishop finished his remarks by quoting the Apostle John: \"Little children, love one another.\" I'm not sure what any of it means, but I think Pope Francis is talking about it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And when private charities, the towns and the states are unwilling or unable to help those who need it? That's why the federal government got into things like Meals on Wheels. The Christian should APPLAUD the federal government for doing this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RD can't miss an opportunity to sneer at both Pope Francis and Jimmy Carter, who are both actual Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Part of what may have compelled the former president was Trump\u2019s insistence that the executive order mirrored what the Obama administration did when it stopped refugees from coming into the U.S. from Iraq for six months.\nThe fact-checkers have sided with Obama on this dispute, noting that Obama was vocally critical of any ban on refugees that prioritized one religion over another, as Trump\u2019s does.\nAfter some Republicans called for only Syrian Christians to be allowed into the U.S. in the wake of the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, Obama called such potential policies \u201cshameful.\u201d\n\u201cThat\u2019s not American. That\u2019s not who we are. We don\u2019t have religious tests to our compassion,\u201d he said at the time.\"\nExactly. To say America - and the world - misses President Obama is a vast understatement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remember that not all Christians are the same. Many do believe in peace and goodwill. Maybe most.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Francis discerned the Sultan's religious, cultural and political situation and circumstances. He greeted the Sultan as a child of Abraham and a brother. Francis presented the Good News, not to convert the Sultan, but to confirm Allah's universal loving and merciful fatherhood. Francis and his family were entrusted with the custody of the Holy Land.\nFrancis advised:\n\"The brothers who go [among the Saracens and other non-believers] can live spiritually among them in two ways. One way is not to engage in arguments or disputes, but to be subject to every human creature for God's sake and to confess that they are Christians. Another way is to proclaim the word of God when they see that it pleases the Lord.\" (Regula non bullata, chapter 16)\nPreach the Gospel. Use words if necessary. Do so when it pleases God and makes every human creature, sinful though they may be, happy because Jesus says to all repentant sinners, \"Today you shall be with me in paradise.\" (Lk. 23:43)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Independence from the clerical dole, and from clerical control, is no small achievement! That's the price of Truth, and a Church which worships God, rather than play-acts by wallowing in the commentary of the Catholic far-right. Thank you, Tom Roberts, for your thorough professionalism and your Truth-telling! Sto lat -- may you live a hundred years, and more!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Canada is losing its old-time religion. Ninety per cent of Canadians identified as Christians in 1970. Today, it\u2019s two-thirds, and will be just over one half by 2036. Christianity is not being displaced by other religions \u2013 only 7 per cent, at most, will identify as Muslim by 2036 \u2013 but by no religion at all. A quarter of all Canadians today identify with no faith, and that number could reach a third by 2036.\"\n\nThat is great news!\n\nMost developed countries are increasingly atheist. In my original country, Scotland, more than half the population have no religion. In fact I think the latest survey revealed 75% didn't believe in god(s).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't understand. There are plenty of jobs that require you to work Sundays and holidays, even if you're Christian. It's up to the business to determine what's required.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "noun\n1.\na person who has received Christian baptism or is a believer in Jesus Christ and his teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Simple. You fashion \"Christian\" to it, we fashion \"Islam\" to it . . .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't, which is why solving it can't be left to the GOP, who must continue to preserve it while only appearing to fight it to maintain an electoral hold over conerservative Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your statements demonstrate neither an understand of Jesus and his ministry nor an understanding of Christian/Catholic leadership today---which tries to imitate the Gospel mandate of Jesus as found in Matthew 25:31-47.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So let us pivot from the \"Catholic progressives here\" to Berkeley students and Maxine Waters. Then, having redefined the category of people involved to include whomever, let us reach a conclusion and declare it is not opinion, not mere belief, but fact! Why bother with logic, when there are so many creative ways to justify one's beliefs?\nI am opposed to violence and believe the actions of the Berkeley students are an affront to freedom of speech. I guess you are unaware of the ACLU's condemnation of the suppression of speech at Berkeley?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You claim that the laws of science were not arrived at by accident and did not just pop into somebody's brain, but even if they happen after years of work that is exactly what happens according to you. \nEven if you do not want to admit it, the Lord is communicating with you constantly. And yes, He wants it to be a two-way conversation. Some of the communication is thru the words on the screen. Some is thru the Bible, some is thru friends and neighbors.\nAs far as how you will react to meeting God face to face, check out these lyrics from a song by a Christian music band. \nhttps://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/mercyme/icanonlyimagine.html\nNobody should approach God without a little fear and intimidation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is often a hard fact to face, for some or many, that the basic structure of the Catholic Church will never change. The office of bishop, from the earliest days of the formation of Christian communities, has always and consistently been that it holds a high degree of autonomy, and is the principle teaching authority within local church, and with the Bishop of Rome, speaks to and for the Universal Church. That is the reality, that is how we have functioned since our founding, and it is how the institutional Church operates. The centralization of power can be reversed, as it is composed of moves by power-hungry bishops over centuries without any true ecclesial, or thoughtful, reasons. The mechanisms of oversight of bishops do not exist (except in the most critical of situations) and they will not be created, as it goes completely against the Church's understanding of Christ's charge to His Apostles. The better question is how the Curia should be structured and what its role is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In such an evangelical approach, any attempts to then align divine & natural laws with positive laws, whether ecclesiastical & canon law or civil & criminal law, will inevitably devolve into an exclusivistic ecclesiology with moralistic, legalistic & even ritualistic rigorisms.\"\n\nThat is all especially true when you leave out scientific laws.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Similarly, if the Catholic Church were to introduce more lay involvement in decision-making tomorrow, the immediate consequence would be a rightward lurch in the consequent decisions.\"\n\nOh, the horrors! So it is not so much that the laity would be involved in decision-making, but rather that some decisions may have a rightward bent. What a crock of BS. \n\nI noticed in the litany of education and training of priests mentioned by the author, not one iota of training in the business side of operating a parish (which is in some effects the equivalent of running a small business), nor training in dealing with employees and teachers, nor in the intricacies of running a budget. Fine, let the clergy make the spiritual decisions, but don't give them dictatorial powers with respect to corporeal ones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it outrageous that someone who teaches at a Catholic university is not demonstrating even basic skills at the academic process here. He should be embarrassed to submit a piece like this. If I were his professor, I would probably fail this paper. This piece is loaded with inflammatory rhetoric, faulty logic and very little documentation to support claims. I could probably spend an hour just dissecting the first paragraph. Sentence after sentence is chock full of misleading and outright false statements, one right after the other. But his supporters will just dismiss these concerns because 'any critique is just the secular left who can\u2019t handle the \u201ctruth\u201d of their brand of Catholicism'. The formula is: 'They are right because they have the truth, and opponents are wrong because they disagree.' I am not surprised when I find this with uninformed fundamentalists, but when this brand of anti-intellectualism is rewarded with the statue of a professorship, I cringe for the future.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well - the election is over and Trump won the Catholic vote. When are Catholics going to realize there are more issues than abortion? That the number of abortions does not decrease in a country where abortion is illegal? How much are Catholics willing to risk for this one issue?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd like to know which rich Catholics are financing and egging on Burke. You?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Royal Commission is expected to report on the role played by canon law in child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. There is nothing more systemic than law. It has not done so yet. The report will be presented to the Australian government, not to Pope Francis. He will no doubt hear about it, just as Benedict XVI did with the Murphy Commission Report. There have been a number of submissions to the Royal Commission about canon law, including mine, and the Commission called a panel to discuss it. The previous decrees that prohibited absolution that I mentioned had specific exceptions in the case if someone is dying. Canon 982 does not have that exception, but my recollection is that there is another canon that provides for such an exception generally. For example, a laicised priest can also hear such a confession. The chances of this happening are remote.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lumen gentium # 25 does not require any \"explicit\" papal declaration and, as far as the ordinary magisterium and contraception is concerned, papal teaching since 1968 has pretty much made clear that Humanae vitae is not a discretionary part of Catholic doctrine. (Whether the \"alternate magisterium--Curran et al.--believe that, frankly does not interest me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know. And Eastern Catholic churches don't require it for ordination. \nAnd then, we know the history of that rule.......\nIt's all so silly....\nIt seems to me that we should all go back to the time when celibacy was optional.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've been to both those sites and I haven't a clue what you are talking about. Nothing I have seen there could possibly be taken as contrary to the Catholic Faith, in fact everything is unadulterated Catholic doctrine.\nIt is easy to make unsubstantiated accusations but if you expect people to believe them you ought to provide some evidence to back them up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I sure do miss the mature days of Harper putting together a party of TheoCons, skipping around the issue of abortion and foisting his Christian bible thumping views on foreign nations through his billion dollar Maternal (non) Health Care initiative.\n\nThe modesty of Harper and his cabinet too was thrilling and Jesus like. \nMother Canada Statue comes to mind. Conservative values are Canadian Values, Canada's Back - all very mature from The Harper Government.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're so right! What many of the thinking, educated Catholics saw was a split between what the Church publically taught and practiced. What was taught was published. What it practiced, self-protection and aggrandizement, was hidden out of sight from the public.\n \n\nIn today's world, the media, discussion with family and friends, and personal experience makes it difficult for the official church to hide behind its curtain of secrecy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please note that in the \"good old days\" it was the church ( Catholic, Anglican, .... ) who governed education policy - not the ETFO. The ecclesiastics were in charge. It was the missionaries who destroyed the cultural infrastructure of the native communities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I saw that first hand in a copy of a letter from a Vatican Congregation, one Excellency to anothe to support a decision made in the negative against a sad old friar who wanted to release his child from not being publicly acknowledged through a valid process.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'\n\u2026.yeah, I hear self styled christians calling for other religions to police their own.\n\nHere's a chance for those 'christians' to clean up their own house.\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholics preferred the poor, but the poor preferred the Pentecostals, as the saying goes.\n\n\"Wallowed in their personal relationship with Jesus\"?! Yikes. I guess you know better what the poor need than they do...maybe if Catholics stuck with preaching Catholicism instead of liberation theology, it wouldn't have left a vacuum for the Protestants to focus on the spiritual side the poor people's yearnings? Liberation theology doesn't inspire the poor in the manner the Christianity of the evangelicals does. When the Catholics focus too much on the material and not enough on the spiritual, people go elsewhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, it is a response to a posting falsely equating immigrants with people sent here by the church to serve in parishes where they lack the education to be effective. A necessary posting to counter someone using the discussion to make an implicit attack on immigrants. Rather odd, considering the poster claims to be Irish. I guess after a few generations, it is ok for the descendants of immigrants to treat new immigrants as badly as the descendants' ancestors were treated. Again, common for Trump supporters, completely at odds with Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, a lot of them are. I keep having traditionalist Catholics tell me that I MUST follow the magisterium in all things. Trid has said that to reject even one thing the magisterium says is the same as rejecting everything. These same traditionalists tend to say that the magisterium has never, ever changed a teaching, a belief that can only be supported by denying historical fact. \n\nI believe thats the sort of thing justmaybe means.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I disagree with the spirit of this article for two reasons. \n\nMr. Sheer is religious. I am religious. He is entitled to his opinion on abortion. I'm entitled to mine. He has voted against my view. He respects my opinion by saying the abortion issue is not a front burner issue for the Conservative Party.\n\nThe inference of the article is that you can't be religious if you support abortion. I'm not Roman Catholic. I think for myself as opposed to be told what to think by a Pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, this year all of us who do not celebrate Christmas get to hear the same hollow phrase from ChinaTown. I hold my tongue and do not ask why they did not wish me a Happy Hannakuh or just Happy Holidays since we are in the midst of the Christmas and New Year holidays. But it sure seems Christians are thin-skinned and can easily be offended by the words Happy Holidays. Well, I have freedom of speech but even in these days of Trumpian no political correctness I have to watch what I type because you Christians would (and have) flag my comments because I might offend your religious paradigm.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to a 2012 review by the National Council of Churches, the five largest denominations are:\n\nThe Catholic Church, 68,202,492 members\nThe Southern Baptist Convention, 16,136,044 members\nThe United Methodist Church, 7,679,850 members\nThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6,157,238 members\nThe Church of God in Christ, 5,499,875 members\n\nTrying to determine what the 70% of the US citizens who consider themselves to be \"Christian\" think about any person or concept is a waste of time. They can't even agree amongst themselves about theology; that's why there are so many different varieties.\n\nTrying to do that for the 15% who are atheist or agnostic isn't possible either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for this. May I suggest a three pronged interdependent project: sacred space, civility and discernment\nIt seems to me that we are so preoccupied with what we think \"Christ-ianity\" is that we neglect what underlies our religion and out of which it emerges. I don't think that any \"denomination\" has not \"bought in\" to the belief that a) we are (somehow) created in the image and likeness of God and, b) that we are made to know, love, and serve God and be happy with....\".\nSo, starting with \"sacred space\" let's have one year where specific churches buy into BEING sacred spaces of listening, sharing and discussing. Of course debate, but respecting good faith in the offering. Secondly, civility, though related is the constant acknowledgment within sacred space that we are mutually dependent, in relationship as human and as in Jesus. We treat each other as the \"Big Threesome\" does.\nThirdly, we get some serious help in coming to understand, appreciate, practice discernment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not saying that all sects of the Christian and Jewish religions made the \"conversion\". Rather, at various points some parts of them did. And incidentally, there are lots of female Jewish Rabbis, just not in the conservative sects of the religion .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus apparently took into account the very real limitations of those among whom He walked and chose to only teach them what they could comprehend and, eventually accept. One must believe that God would have known that people would eventually come to a better understanding of themselves and would realize that women are, in all ways, equal to men. It is certainly not the fault of Jesus or of God that, even today, there are those who resist the knowledge that God has laid out beofre us and stubbornly refuse to ordain women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" . . . [as] cultures evolve religions need to engage their adherents where they are, not abandoning foundations but ascertaining what our culture as grown to accept as reasonable.\"\n\nWhat our culture has grown to accept as reasonable regarding marriage is contrary to the teaching of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not just Christians are protected by the First Amendment. In fact, everyone is protected--Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Wiccans, even atheists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not fake news and we know that for sure because everything the Alt Right is saying in this article is on Alt Right and Russian media. McMaster has been under attack by these groups who call him a \"leaker\", and member of the \"liberal, globalist, elite\" and opposed to the shared values of Russian and US nationalism. Aleksandr Dugin, the philosopher leader of Russian nationalism was just on Alex Jones Infowars radio show (one of Trump's favorite sites) and both agreed on the need to get rid of McMaster. Steve Bannnon's former publication Breitbart is full of pro Russia and anti McMaster arlticles. Well known white nationalist Heimbach has been interviewed pushing the #FireMcMaster movement. Lee Stranahan Alt Right leader who has a show on the Russian owned media outlet \"Sputnik\" is also strongly opposed to McMaster. In addition to Sputnik, Russian hackers have said they are also joining in to support shared Christian and White Nationalist values with the US.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.\" Absolutely so...and beginning to end, it is absolutely Grace. There are ethical choices, however, inherent and inseparable from that new horizon and decisive direction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder if this panel has any straight up Christian members who speak what the Bible says on such topics, or if a person like that would be branded a hater and censored. No one in this group of panel members seems to be such a person, so I wonder why that is the case.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, another Catholic who believes that his moral model should be Adolf Eichmann. You will remember that Eichmann attempted to defend himself by saying that he had his superiors make the moral decisions and all he did was accept what they told him. You are telling me that Eichmann was correct in doing that. \n\nNo, what you want is the sort of Thought Control that Orwell's Ministry of Truth wanted. Yours is a wholly totalitarian mindset.\n\nI follow Thomas Aquinas who wrote, \"Every judgment of conscience, be it right or wrong, be it about things evil in themselves or morally indifferent, is obligatory, in such wise that he who acts against his conscience always does moral evil.\" -- Quodlibet 3, 27\n\nHis discussion on whether one is bound to do what an erring conscience calls for in the Summa Theologica I-II, q 19, art 5 expands on this, but the bottom line is that every conscience binds, even an erring one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And many of them ended up as refugees. So, now, they close their hearts to others in the same boat? How incredibly Christian of them!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course the \"rebel\" group can call itself anything it likes....but it is NOT Roman Catholic. They are excommunicated. \n\nIs it not a sin to deliberately mislead people and lie?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only people leading the Catholic Church in the U.S. are women, it has been like that since day one. These religious women are just too polite to admit they are the leaders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Given the Great Commandment and any corollary indicating the equal worth of ALL humans, why is this even considered an either/or proposition? \n\nThere is plenty of Catholic need, and Christian work to be done, to justify both. \n\nThe introduction of financial reasons should not trump general Christian tenets. If it does, then it isn't the Christianity I understand.\n\nAnd if the specific Catholic beliefs of the worth of ALL individuals differ from general Christian practices of that subject, well -- it is another reason for the disillusionment that is leading to more and more Catholics becoming \"nones\", \"dones\", or members of other denominations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All lives Matter. I absolutely believe that. Christians do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First of all it is the priest who absolves us from mortal sin by the power he receives from God at his ordination and Sacramental Confession is most certainly necessary. This is the teaching of the Church which is binding on all Catholics. Why else do you think Our Lord would have instituted the Sacrament of Penance? \nCatholics who are conversant with what the Church teaches will know when they are in a state of mortal sin and that to receive Communion in this state is a further mortal sin. \nA priest would be enforcing the law by refusing Communion to couples openly living in adulterous relationships for the sake of not only their souls but also for the sake of his own. A priest who gives Communion to couples in adulterous relationships collides in the commission of a mortal sin. No bishop can order his priests to commit a sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wouldn't want the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. or some other evangelical Christian in charge of research into why so many states in the U.S. have abysmal standards of reproductive health for women. \nLet's face it, it is Christian institutions and practitioners of that faith (Catholic, evangelical, etc.) who are responsible for the institutionalization of lowered standards of health for citizens who are women in the United States. If Mr. Kristof thinks citizens are unaware of who bears responsibility for creating the atmosphere in which violent attacks against women, women's clinics, and the physicians and staff who work in them, have taken place, he's sorely mistaken. \nIf a scholar is a Satanist and tries to incorporate the tenants of that religion into intellectual debates in a university setting I'm going to bet that that scholar will face discrimination. Most reputable scholars keep their personal religious beliefs for the most part private, especially in the work setting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not necessarily. It varies. Even in papal documents and addresses. In Germany it is simply called the Catholic Church alongside the other dominant church, Evangelical Lutheran Church or just the Evangelical Church, both of which are about demographically even (with 30% of the population identifying with each; 60% together).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Whitfield, you may have reasons to disagree with the Christians or conservatives that you so despise, but before you jump to your own conclusions and scatter derogatory labels against those of us who don't reach those conclusions, you should take a deep breath and list the reasons for your disagreement with us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not all that bothered by the crazy \"pyramids-built-to-store-grain\" theory. If government officials were disqualified for believing something residing in ancient history that is unprovable and that most of the world views to be outlandish, there wouldn't be many Christians in the government. \n\nI hope that Dr. Carson can draw upon his problem-solving skills developed as a surgeon to think out of the box to solve long standing urban housing problems.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ahhh, yes! The usual rad-trad response when no other argument works: \"leave the Church.\" How tiring, how old, how un-Christian. Would you like some help in thinking of other, more charitable responses to those who are such a \"mystery\" to you, so \"Faithful Catholic?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He doesn't claim to be a Christian. He sort of claims to be an OD Catholic. The two should never be confused.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, democracy was practiced much more in the early church than it is today. In NO place in the gospels, did Jesus ever condemn democracy. But Jesus did not have kind words for those who placed heavy burdens on the backs of the people and did not lift a finger to ease the burdens. Jesus also was quick to point out that John the Baptist did not wear the fine clothing of those in palaces. Jesus, himself, wore home-spun clothing, walked to most of the places where he preached, and did not have a place to lay his head at night.\n\n\nIn THE ENCYCLOPEDIA of EARLY CHRISTIANITY there is a whole article about the \"Election to Church Office\" [by Everett Ferguson, 1997]. People in the early church centuries DID elect their own bishops. Examples of this are the bishops Sts. Ambrose of Milan, Augustine, and popes Sts. Polycarp, Cornelius, and Leo the Great. Democracy is a good thing. The opposite of it is an absolute monarchy or totalitarianism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus Christ never NEEDED a vicar on this earth. Bishops need vicars [general]. But Jesus? The concept of any pope as \"Vicar of Christ\" is medieval. Peter was not Jesus' vicar. The Holy Spirit is quite capable of directing the Church. And she did a great job when the cardinals elected Francis. Even the infinite patience of God couldn't stand any more the back-peddling, reactionary policies by JP II and Benedict. \n\nThe Church is all of us----not just the magisterium or the clergy. But that was the concept created and promulgated by John Paul II and Benedict during their pontificates. JP II especially saw himself and the Curia as BELONGING to those governing. The world's bishops were to assist and carry out the requirements of the pope and curia---and run their dioceses accordingly. And the laity---were supposed to keep their noses out of Church business. It was a complete negation of the documents of Vatican II and of the discussions and debates that took place then.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey Josh, here's your chance: \"Lay out\" the \"Catholic Republican ...agenda\" for us ... please! Let's have it ... spell it out for us. Just what is it that you and your political ilk seek to impose on the rest of us? Don't get distracted by calls for you to be 'intellectually consistent' - after all your Catholic hierarchs [Chaput & Burke come to mind, n'est pas?] abandoned that fiction long ago. [Just some friendly advice: if you can't find anything except fascism and misogyny on your agenda, it's probably better just to keep it to yourselves.]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Personally, I like following and contributing to the Southern Poverty Law Center. They have been in the business of combatting racism for many, many years, and have been successful in bringing many Nazi war criminals as well as white supremacist hate groups to justice. They provide materials for use by teachers to promote tolerance and relentlessly shed light on the emergence of hate cells across the country. In my book, founder Morris Dees is a saint.\n\n SPLC recently published a lengthy booklet on fighting hate. It is has many great ideas that uphold Christian values (although it is non-denominational--am not sure, but I think Dees is Jewish) and espouses Martin Luther King's non-violent message. Bishop Murry would do well to get it for his committee. It is available for groups like his, free of charge. Or you can download it on the internet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Weinandy seems like a conservative mentally ill person who still cannot understand the truth (core) of what Jesus taught: mercy and compassion. And there are many like him in the Church including bishops and cardinals. Francis Arackal", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I invite you to consider \"Just Prayer\" A Book of hours for Peacemakers and Justice Seekers. Paraphrasing from the front matter... In the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, justice anchors human beings within their communities. The Judeo-Christian meaning of Justice is best understood as right relationship among people who who live together. Justice describes a communal life where each person flourishes, where each person is able to express his or her own human dignity. COMMUTATIVE JUSTICE seeks fairness between individuals. People similarly situated are treated similarly. DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE allocates good and burdens, rights and responsibilities.... Finally, CONTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE recognizes peoples rights and duties to contribute to society. It insures that people can participate meaningfully to the structures and laws that govern there lives.\nForgive my poor abbreviated version.. Just Prayer, is a prolongation of the Eucharist, a Mystagogy for the Anawim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Found Allen's piece to be *fluff* - must have been a slow news month? So, he came up with an idea about how styles appear to compare and match? Really, only if this lightweight opinion piece (feels like rewarmed rumors) can stand on the cherry picking that he uses. This fails to pass any reasonable test for analysis, objective standards, peer review, etc.\n\nHey, Allen - read any number of biographies/autobiographies of catholic bishops who JPII decided he did not like - they quote JPII\"s words, behaviors, and comments. In fact, an analysis could be made whose thesis is that JPII treated and managed the bishops exactly like the autocratic Communist leaders he learned from in Poland.\n\nFrancis has deliberately decided to put episcopal conferences in the forefront - making the Vatican dicasteries be supports for those conferences rather than have the dicasteries run the show. Note - no mention of the G9, etc. ......just a harebrained comparison that he behaves like Putin?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who says we shouldn't be attentive to the state of a souls?\n\nIsn't this an act of love, like being attentive to their physical needs?\n\nThere is an illness among many progressive Christians....they aren't that familiar with the whole of Scripture..and so they glom on to \"do not judge\" missing the whole point of the Gospel.\n\nThe motivation of course is to build subtle spiritual walls between people...this allows each one to wallow in whatever proclivities they want to and not be reminded of the higher calling that Our Lord told us (again their unfamiliarity with Scripture weakens them): \"to be perfect as My heavenly Father is perfect\". \n\nWe were meant to be a web, a community self supporting each other, such as when God pulls one person toward Him, we all move in that direction. \n\nBut with the \"spiritual isolation\" that you're suggesting that desire of God's is frustrated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the one preaching to Trump before the inaugural preaches against Catholics!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your comment yjin117\n\n\nWe must continue to pray and fast, God willing change (Repentance) will come about\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're right that scholars have long wondered about Jesus' relationship to the Pharisees, specifically whether his movement was a breakaway from a Pharisaical school. I'm not aware of anyone who has made real progress on this subject, however.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, even if he called himself a Christian and taught a Bible class apparently he missed something.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no one, not even you, Trid, who accepts everything the magisterium says. What makes us Catholics is that we accept the essentials of the faith. Whether or not the divorced and remarried can receive the Eucharist is a long way from being essential to the Catholic faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When culture-warrior Charles Chaput was appointed Archbishop of Philadelphia in July 2011, everyone expected him to be made a cardinal. What no one expected was that a year and half later, Benedict XVI would resign and Jorge Bergoglio would succeed him as Pope Francis. On the 9th of this month, Francis skipped over Chaput for the third time when naming cardinals, instead choosing the \"peace-and-justice\" Archbishops Cupich and Tobin. Ten days later, Chaput gave a speech in which he called for a smaller Church, made up of \"more faithful, more zealous\" Catholics, and rejected the idea of inclusivity as \"a form of lying.\" The speech blatantly and radically opposes Francis's vision of Church. Sour grapes?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'Catholic technicians'. Yes, that is a high skill area for some posters here as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the Roman Catholic Church has taught definitively that freedom of religion is a right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, Buster1960? You are way off base. I have a very big dog in this fight. I am a member of the Catholic Church. My diocese declared bankruptcy because of this scandal. Who pays? That's right: me and people like me. It is the victims who have not gotten the due process.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They have aged out of pastoral responsibility. They have no stake in the answer or question. They are acting like the pharisees that pestered Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With respect to ecumenism, it is hard for me to understand how any self-professing Christian can be opposed to this concept--in both theory and practice. It seems to me that those who object to ecumenism are largely, and primarily, strict adherents to radical expressions of faith. I suppose this is why Pope Francis is on record for stating that (ultra) conservative Catholics literally \"scare him.\" Perhaps it is his recognition of the dangers that lie within such rigid strictures of belief.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is she right or wrong about white and black evangelicals being divided politically? Icon is very partisan but I she said nothing racist.\n\nDon't be so sensitive Don", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One explanation for the trial and execution of witches in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe holds that the accused witches were the objects of externalized rage. Most accused witches were in fact alms-seekers; their accusers had refused to give them alms, against the mandates of Christian charity, and projected their feelings of guilt onto the alms-seekers. Rather than confront their own moral failings, the argument goes, the well-to-do charged alms-seekers with diabolical motives and malefic magic. Once the accusation had been uttered it was difficult in the extreme for alms-seekers accused of witchcraft to recover their good reputation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Despite holding no religious beliefs of my own I am well aware that a great many religious people are doing many good and important things in this world and not asking for publicity about it. The religious people who only seek to divide us against each other and carve out political power for themselves, meanwhile, find their way into the news by any and all means possible. \n\nAs someone who has observed religion from the outside for many decades and who has traveled in Protestant, Catholic, Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic countries my takeaway is that religion - regardless of which one it might be - inspires good people to become better and bad people to become worse. \n\nIn the long run the good that people do will outlast the bad. Judge them first and foremost by how they treat others. If they are kind, genuine and generous, nothing else really matters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nice post motley. It is no surprise that people who have seen the video's of carnage and written statements of intended violence,take the threat serious. Put in the context of religious fervor, just makes the threat of seem that much more plausible. \n\nIf the Christian church had/has such violent sects I would be cautious with them as well, but I wouldn't propose compromising the civil rights of all Christians, based on the action of a minority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't take physics.. could you provide any proof tht 'much' of what was leared forty years ago is considered garbage. \n\nSience, unlike mythology, leaves itself open to change and modification. We can only know what been proven, that doesn't not mean that we will ever know everything. We just aren't that bright. Science knows and accepts this premise, which is why scientific theory is often modified in light of new evidence. \n\nA very conservative Christian minister I know laugh out loud at the thought that we could ever understand the mind of God. How could we know but a fraction of a being that can transcend space and time? We couldn't. Yet millions are convinced they have 'the word/truth' and they alone can believe that God loves them most. It's a part of religious text worldwide. \n\nWhat is called the 'inspired' word of God, can be little more than the insecure human mind that is seeking self importance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The opposite of Catholic Progressive Social Justice Warriors (CPSJW) would I think be Catholic Regressive Social Injustice Warriors. \nWhy would the RCC promote regression or support injustice?? Both seem antithetical to Jesus' message. \nInjustice is sinful. If the person has been unjust, they can seek forgiveness and mercy will be theirs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And I do not agree with either of you. My equally Catholic vote counts just the same as yours, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"the Irish were Catholic and Catholics were suspected of infiltrating the government, being loyal to a foreign leader and wanting to impose creeping Catholicism unto unsuspecting Canadians.\"\n\nAsk Quebecers about their experience of Catholicism and the quiet Revolution. Once they were Catholic and Anglo-Protestants were considered bigots if they criticized them as \"church ridden\", etc., but today they would be the first to tell you about how proud they are of having overturned the dominance of the Church and become a secular society.\n\nThe best thing that happened to lay to rest those fears in Canada was the general secularisation of society after WWII which put religion in the background. Religious affiliation stopped being a major aspect of social and personal identification, and so religious conflicts largely disappeared.\n\nThe return of religion as a major factor of social and personal identification is not good news.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If they were Christians, Trudeau himself woudl tell them to get out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am tireless in defending the Traditional Catholic Church, which is under attack on so many fronts. Otherwise, we may see this great nation devolve into a secular wasteland, like England, populated by a generation of \"nones,\" all doomed to the pit due to their parents' lack of zeal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are saying that all Catholics must obey without question, which makes the comparison with Eichmann spot on. YOU don't like the comparison, because it points out the fundamental flaw with your attitude -- that you are letting others make your moral decisions for you, just like Eichmann did. \n\nThe magisterium has been wrong in the past, it is very likely wrong now. Catholics who know the history and are capable of honest thought acknowledge this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Cupich had a public conversation (Chicago, violence and the Catholic Church, 11th August, SIX10, S. Michigan Ave) with Julia Stasch, head of the McArthur Foundation which substantially funds Planned Parenthood and other organisations which fund abortions.\nI wonder what Fr Spadaro would have to say about that unholy alliance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is the place this \"problem\" needs to be. How the Church has handled - or failed to handle - the problem of child sex abuse is fraught with issues that concern tradition and doctrine: priests as \"ontological\" special; bishops as even more \"ontologically\" special; justice for laity within Canon Law; the whole concept of how the Church in each country relates to the laws, customs, and governmental structures of that country. So much is embedded in Catholic tradition so old it can't translate into today, into a world where globalization is apace, people are educated, relationships are not embedded in hierarchies, and governance is shared with the people. \n\nThe problem is the presumption that the Church hierarchical structure and roles are somehow blessed by God when it was simply an organizational form/roles suitable to the times in which it was created and grew. Who/where else within the Church can this be studied and addressed?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "His \"pastoral\" concern didn't seem to apply to hundreds of thousands of abused children, nor to the Catholic poor of El Salvador.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Truth be told Hillary Clinton would have done the complete opposite of the issues I mentioned. The way I look at it, if Trump resigns or is impeached, we Get President Pence, who I think will do an excellent job. \nHow any Catholic could vote for Clinton truly amazes me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, WS,\n\nYou seem to want to autonomously define your own God. \n\nThat said, autonomy is the original deadly sin found first in the heart created blameless in the anointed cherub, the King of Tyre, Lucifer the original light bearer.\n\nBut you and I have no autonomy. We only think we have autonomy because of Adam, our common created forefather, Paul affirms. \n\nAutonomy is the heart disease the First Angel of Revelation 14 cures with the light of the everlasting gospel, the angel's words translated being: \"Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.\"\n\nFear, glory giving, and worship are the inescapable recognition that we creatures live and breathe and have our being at the will of our Creator.\n\nThis recognition causes the collapse of Babylon which opportunistically preaches the blasphemy of mutual autonomy.\n\nWe are all Babylonians still, until the First Angel speaks. No?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was a beautiful liturgy, and a great example of ecumenical possibilities, that a Catholic oratory host an Anglican liturgy and installation, with the presence and participation of Catholic cardinals and bishops too. Thanks, Josh, for sharing it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well said sir. I applaud your historical 'Catholic' (whole) truth .\n Governing by the consent of the governed, is harmonious\n with natural law, but not ecclesiastic law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I seriously doubt you are going to move to another country as an undocumented immigrant unless you are moved to desperation by political or economic circumstances. Our Lord called us to treat such people with compassion. That to me is being a faithful Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is exactly this sort of thing that justifies the USCCB's fortnight of freedom! How dare a secular authority attempt to charge a Prince of the Church with a crime? Fortunately, the Cardinal is in the Vatican, where he is safe from extradition and prosecution. Our Holy Father will keep him safe and regardless of any judicial activities in Australia, we can count on this Cardinal remaining where he is safe. Naturally, all true catholics must now rally to the defense of the Cardinal, and continue to do so regardless of anything that happens.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is often a surprise to the trads, but it ought not be here; we have no writings from Jesus, no one who witnessed Jesus wrote about Him, nor the Gospels. We have no original Gospels, not even close to it. There is considerable controversy and studies regarding what Jesus said in fact...no notes were taken by the illiterate apostles. What we have is all too many speaking and writing about Jesus when they know not in fact. It is best to stick to moral intents expressed in Matthew's Gospel (corporal works of mercy) regarding what we 'do for the least of our brethren', rather than being statically glued to legalisms and literal interpretations and passing judgments of vindictiveness onto faithful loving Catholics. That is the shame.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "maybe because most of the laws (especially in this state) are anti-conservative Christian. Plus, we are not the only ones. How about prayer rooms for muslims?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Important to note that the UN has embraced the topic of peace and nonviolence also and is working on a new program that will interface with Pax Christi Internationale and the Catholic Nonviolence initiative. Here is a link... https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/03/the-UN-has-a-plan-to-restore-international-peace-and-security-will-it-work/ There you will find a 6 point reorg program that would provide a welcoming environment for the Pax Christi/ CNI/ Pope Francis initiative. Wonderfully, providential timing. \n\nPeace and all good", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, I didn't 'miss' it. If you had read through all of the comments, you would have seen that I have referred to 1 Corinthians chapter 6 - more than once, in fact.\nAll of these 'quotes' (as you call them) confirm that God created everything. As a Catholic Christian, I accept and believe this.\nMy disagreement was with Ed's idea that God has \"loaned\" our bodies to us. And then someone else chipped in, with a comment about God \"owning\" us. These strange notions arise not from Church teaching, but from their originators' commitment to property theory and law. Yours too, I see.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that married priests should be ordained ASAP, starting today if possible. Yes, it is a tragedy that women are not being ordained and it is my constant hope that they will be soon. The priest shortage is so desperate that we need them badly. The church has an obligation to see that the Eucharist, Reconciliation and Confirmation are available to all Catholics on a regular basis. At this point in time, that is not happening to major portions of the world, even here in the USA at times. We need priests. Then we can work harder on getting women ordained.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hatred of any group is considered immoral by most Christians and society as a whole, so yes it is relevant.\nOn another note, it always raises red flags for me when someone says I cannot say something.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are indeed \"two sides\" to every issue--the Catholic side and the wrong side. To equate the issue of infanticide with \"programs to help people\", is disgenuous at best, heretical at worst.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It amazes me that the separation of church and state is contradicted more in breach than compliance.\nState essentially means the people of common destiny united and organized for security, peace and common interest: the common good. It is intrinsically based in and arises from the increasingly complex relationships of people in common and between states. Of course is makes sense for these processes to be informed by the interests and acumen of religion. Of course it is reasonable to see conflict. \nThe real challenge of state is how the pursuit of the common good is determined and how inevitable variations of views are resolved rather than devolving into conflict.\nIf there is a \"natural\" expertise in \"natural law\" it is, or should be, the state. (We Christians should have confidence/\"faith\" in this as we are \"in the image and likeness of God\". Shhhhh...)\nChurch violates natural law by dogmatism & pretense of member representation\nState violates its \"common good\" by dogmatic religiosity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Listening to you here, would anyone call you a Christian? Would anyone see in you the face of Christ, welcoming the marginalized, the not wanted? Do we bring the Love of Jesus ... are we a sign of His Peace, His Salvation? Would anyone call you holy? Would anyone name you Emmanual God with us... are sinners welcome within the embrace of Jesus Christ... Are either of us, people living the Beatitudes, the fruits of the Mercy we have received? Blessed the one who comes in the Name of the Lord... Peace and all good...\n\nthis... is soul force... known by love ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How long has it been? We are profoundly blessed in our priest, so it's just been a few hours now. But I have only been attending church since my wife became Catholic last year. She doesn't drive. I have scant basis for comparison, but it sounds like you know what you are talking about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Who says google is collecting data as part of this project?\" Is the Pope Catholic? Do bears . . . never mind. Collecting data is their business. Why would they stop for this project?\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are, sadly, confusing 'cultural practices'[kissing the priests hands....] with Faith. Our faith belief is contained in the Nicene Creed. That is DOGMA. That is what we believe.\n\nDoctrines came to clarify the Dogmas [at first], but later, cultural/social practices, became the gist of doctrines. Just as a very small example of this---- is baptism. In the Gospels---only adults were baptized [Peter did baptize a whole Gentile family], but usually only adults. Why were they baptized----to be washed from Original Sin? NO---[no Original sin mentioned in the N. Testament]. It was to reject personal sin, and to accept THE WAY, the teaching and way of life that Jesus taught.\n\nAfter the 7th Century, and for centuries after---even down to Vatican II---babies were to be baptized soon after birth. Parents worried about having their babies die and be unable to go to Heaven [in Limbo] forever if they failed to baptize the child. That was a doctrine. Today there is no Limbo.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "beyond the evangelical crowd who immediately disposed of their decades long self-presumed moral high ground of being values voters while tossing away any remaining speck of credibility along with all claims to the Christian faith, those who voted for Trump were primarily the ill informed, the totally uninformed, and the screw information because of an obsession with hating Hillary crowd, who for the most part would have shriveled up and blown away years ago had Obama not completely reversed W's nation killing economic collapse and put America back on a solid 7 year path to recovery and the strength we enjoy today for at least those with investment capital, and which will disappear in about 2 months if Mr. Disaster actually takes office. there was also a force of Hispanics, college ages, women, those ashamed to admit they'd vote for Trump, and your typical non voters, who all made a historically horrific decision to put an international bad joke in the world's highest office. not good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely amazing admission from you, who posted a comment on a very nice article entitled \"Christmas then and now.\" But then, many of your postings are tenuously connected to the subject or theme, if at all! So typical of pro-birthers and the entire Catholic ultra-right wing!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So were Christians responsible for this? What group would do such a thing?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is morality 'founded on reason and logic'? Only partly. \nChristians (and others) have other foundations too, as you must know. \nAnd your 'reason and logic' are not mine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul was speaking to Christians in general:\nFrom a commentary: Allusion is made to the cruel spectacles in the Roman games. The thought that many eyes are upon believers, when struggling with difficulties or temptations, should encourage constancy and patience. Whatever the disciples of Christ suffer from men, they must follow the example, and fulfil the will and precepts of their Lord. They must be content, with him and for him, to be despised and abused. It is much better to be rejected, despised, and ill used, as Paul was, than to have the good opinion and favour of the world. Though cast off by the world as vile, yet we may be precious to God, gathered up with his own hand, and placed upon his throne. (My comment: Paul-like Christians, with God's Spirit within, are a spectacle to the universe; a peculiar spectacle ;)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am reminded of a bible study I attended led by a Jesuit priest . A member would show up now and then and debate the topics using Buddhist ideas. The priest was very patient till one day he said to him in front of all of us that it was a catholic study and no more input from his Buddhist alternative thinking would be welcome. He stopped coming all together. The man later jumped to his death over a bridge. The priest told us he had met with him many times one on one and had invited him to the study, but that he had emotional problems and was very sad about his death. There are reasons people do not grasp what is True and turn to substitutes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're missing the point. I've made no argument against the \"true EF.\" Where there's a critical mass (so to speak) of people who prefer one form over another, I have no objection. What I do object to are stumbling blocks to religious experience.\n\nFortunately I have other sources of spiritual sustenance than religious life in the Catholic Church. The church is so politicized that religious practice becomes fraught with tension. Scandal and culture war have corroded the church. Furthermore, the church is theologically hidebound. A pity, since the church has many riches, and the Catholic Mass can be among the most exquisite of things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks Sister Christine...hope your knee gets better asap. I struggle to understand why not only the world, but also Christianity, Catholicism is all so torn, battered and bruised ...it's as if my heart has fallen into a rushing tear-filled gutter. I understand why Jesus wept over Jerusalem....it's a powerful image for me. The Gospel reading last Sunday is somewhat pertinent as to why we must trust in the Lord in times of difficulty.....Although I think I would have sank as did Peter but on the other hand I would have still trusted that Jesus would rescue me as I sank Lol) Renewed thanks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" One day, Christianity could be a minority too. Consider that.\"\n\nI think that people have considered that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Still better to have the people who fund and support their own local school district than someone, say, in Denver. School districts are unique in that they are an extension of their own communities, Governed by local school boards. I suspect the bigger concern of some of the posters here is the issue. Christianity is something they find hard to accept. If the issue were switched and were in Denver I doubt many would want the case heard in a largely Christian based community.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alright, let me try this another way.\n\nSince you get to reject church teaching on abortion, marriage, sexual ethics, authority in the Church, and pretty much everything else that makes the Catholic Church, well, Catholic, and still call yourself Catholic, do I get to reject Catholic social teaching and still call myself Catholic?\n\nDo I have the exact same rights as you do--when it comes to picking and choosing--or do only liberals get to dissent?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excuse me, but it was NOT Donald Trump who backed up terrorist organization ( categorized as terrorist organization by State Department ) named KLA and sponsored by Albanian mobsters located in Western Europe. It was NOT Donald Trump who ordered ILLEGAL bombing campaign against sovereign European country who fought radical Islamic terrorist in 1999. and was fighting them not overseas, not in foreign but in its very own country. It was NOT Donald Trump who covered up criminals and let them get away with crimes over THOUSANDS of Croatian and Serbian Christians committed by Bosniak Islamist's. It was NOT Donald Trump who abolished Muslim general for slaughter of 3000 Serb Christians in Bratunac ( Bosnia). No, it was not Donald Trump.. So called \"Demo(n)crats\" did that. Clinton's and their war hawks, to be more precise\n.\n.\nGeneral Lewis Mackenzie: We Bombed The Wrong Side - Kosovo's Independence Immoral\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy1JzwpJ9ec", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hegelian, \nScheer is Catholic, Trudeau is Catholic, and Singh is Sikh. If you don't think religious people are useful in politics, who in the world are you gonna vote for?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But worshiping \"in spirit and truth\" and worship at Mass, at a Eucharistic liturgy, are not mutually exclusive, especially for members of a liturgical church community (otherwise, join some non-liturgical church like the Baptist or Congregational churches). \n\nThe purpose of Catholic liturgy, among other things, is to remind us how difficult it is to remain just one person in worship, especially when our church doors are open, and guests and regular worshippers can come in and out at will. \n\nWe are also communitarian worshippers at heart (in the broader sense), whether in church or in our neighborhoods. Mass simply reconnects us liturgically to Christ -- in a unique way, sacramentally -- to serve Him better in our neighbor. \n\n(The young people and older in parishes in CA, FL and New England with which I am familiar understand this only too well.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "while I agree with most you say ... I think you are a tad too optimistic. If we don't move on this vision today ... us ordinary people inspired and guided by Spirit - our species won't make it to the end of this century never mind a couple of centuries. \n\nGood news, as I have increasingly realize in last months - my faith is in Spirit and I grieve our rich Catholic social Teachings have been disappeared (why I stayed and hopeful within RCC) - realized hope not in Church but Spirit within us and all Creation ... towards life affirming LOVE for all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church and St. Thomas guarantee my freedom of conscience. People like you claim to be Catholic-and you are-no cachet there-but you are not CHRISTIAN, which is more important, in my view. \nDo you know what a Christian is? I do not think not being one guarantees one's perdition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Saying who sings the same song as who else seems to me to miss the point.\nIt may be amusing journalistically to point to unexpected bed-fellows, but what is really important is the motivation that lies behind the option ...\n\nIn some cases the motivation is ideological. In other instances (one hopes) it is Gospel-inspired. \n\nI see no reason why the sidelining of an ideologue should stop sincere Christians from continuing to defend Gospel values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To take your two examples of comments after the leadership race - first, that Scheer voted against civil liberties and second that Scheer was supported by social conservatives, as evidence that the Liberals are \"anti-Christian\", is a bit much. Did you park your logic at the door?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is redeem or die. For the Roman Catholic Church to learn from its sexual abuse scandal; to stand boldly, for the rightness of it all. It is forgivable now. Later- no.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well...if that's true - why do they continue to attempt to portray themselves as Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "3/4 or 5\nNow here is the hard part. \n\nJesus sees and understands both perspectives, but he also sees deeper. He can see whether someone holding either perspective is fully self-honest, fully human in that belief; or whether either believe is somehow a matter of our having being indoctrinated or even of self-centered convenience. In a word, Jesus knows that either position could be a Matter of Conscience, a matter of deep conviction; and if so, Jesus respects our holding either position, even if he knows it is false. And we are invited along with Jesus to respect the honest conscience of others just as Jesus does. That's what he meant when he said Do not judge, do not assume that others' views are dishonest.\n\nWe want, we demand that our honest religious convictions be respected by others; and by our demand, we grant the same right to others. This has now been codified as a core Catholic belief by V2...its called Freedom of Religion = Freedom of Conscience. \n\nNow it gets even harder.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "See here is the problem, Trebor wants to decide, who may receive and who may not; Yes, Sean, this very public action is personal between the communicant and God. Not you, not Trebor, not the church. Laws and rules are not the ways of Christ, they are the ways of men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"Left-Lung\" of the Church are the Catholics of the Eastern Rites. Or, don't you know that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I fear that you worry to much. Given your theory we should remove all the \"no parking signs\" or \"no drinking or camping in the park signs\". This is a church..... sacred ground? I'd say so. A church. that opens it's doors to very needy people.. The signs are the ten commandments. Not a new idea.... as old as the bible, As ordinary as the menu in any McDonalds. What would you expect in a church. Soda refills for dining in customers only?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I am confused, I thought that Roy Moore was a devout Christian.\"\n===========\nOkay, here are some \"facts\" that will obviously confuse you more:\n(1) Roy Moore denies the allegations.\n(2) What happened to \"innocent until proven guilty\"? \n(3) Why weren't these allegations raised when he was on the State Supreme Court? She wasn't 14 then. In fact, she would have been about 38. \n============\nI am not saying the allegations are not true. I am looking at #1 #2 and #3 and am deferring to something more concrete than a \"surprise revelation\" of something that happened almost 40 years ago that was revealed just a month before a special election.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For what it is worth the Italians lynched in New Orleans in 1891, after the mistrial and suspected jury tampering of the mafiosi on the murder charge of the killing of the Police Chief David Hennessy left a legacy of sorts. Firstly the event supposedly is the origin of the word \"Mafia\". Secondly it left the cardinal rule for criminals \"do not kill or harm a cop\".\n\nFurther to comment on your post: No, the church is not absolutely convinced that it does no wrong and follows Jesus Christ. The church is absolutely convinced that it is immortal and follows Jesus, but sometimes in a piecemeal way.\n\nOther parts of your post, such as about ergot mold relates to rye mold, which is associated with witch hysteria, mostly in German areas of the 17th century. This mold causes hallucinations and was a big root cause of witch hunts by Protestants and Catholics at that time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sure that it is entirely cynical of me to presume that there is a linkage between the Catholic Church having the strictest rules on marriage and divorce, and that these rules are drawn up entirely by the unmarried.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Brownback; \n\na professed Catholic who does not seem to practice Christianity, \n\nmemorizes the ten commandments of the old testament but seems to ignore the two great commandments of the new testament, \n\npossibly practices the spiritual acts of mercy but shows no proof of practicing the corporal acts of mercy.\n\nNot really a very good choice for this position, though I suspect Kansans of all religious persuasions are rooting for him to get it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bosses who publicly throw employees under the bus almost always end up with employee morale problems. Disgruntled employees sometimes act like petulant children. Wise bosses understand that they must rise above that sort of thing for the long term good of the organization.\n\nBesides, spite is not a Christian virtue. It never has been.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mighty Christian of you, James.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can it be that no Catholic bishops spoke out against these wars, when on the eve of the Iraq war JPII famously said \"no to war!\" \"[war] is always a defeat for humanity,\" etc.?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Eldo,\n\nYou know that \"parochial school\" covers a broad range not inclusive only to Christian private schools, right? I'm happy to know all of the \"taxpayers\"who send their children to private Christian schools will be just as excited for their non-Christian neighbors who will get to take the \"future\" vouchers to apply towards their children's education in Hebrew schools, Muslim schools, Scientology schools, etc. as the vouchers will have to be given equally across the board to everyone. \nI would prefer we continue funding only public schools with taxpayer funds. If you don't like the public school system, you're more than welcome to send your children to the non-public school of your choice on your dime not mine. \n\nGladys", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your reply is the exact reason why this should not be done. The Catholic faith is based on the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist, not a \"legal\" matter, but a matter of truth, plain and simple. You espouse Protestant views. That is what makes the difference. By the way abortion is always intrinsically evil - also a tenet of the Catholic faith. Why would a Lutheran desire to receive the Holy Eucharist at a Catholic Mass if they don't believe in the Catholic Church teachings? If it was important to them, then why not convert? Lastly only an ordained Priest in the Catholic faith can consecrate the Holy Eucharist. That is a big difference. That is why I am a Catholic, because I truly believe it is the one true faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If the Catholic Church teaches that remarried Catholics may receive communion, you are confident in that answer?\" \n\nThe Church has the fall back position defined, and that is the supremacy of one's well formed personal conscience. Now, we can argue just exactly what is meant by 'well formed', but in the end we stand alone before God, and not holding any Pope's hand. At that point, I will do what Pope Francis has asked, and trust in God's infinite mercy....and I don't actually mean that as a joke. It's my truth. I believe in a God that has to know we poor humans flail through life as best we can given the circumstances of our birth and the junk life throws at us and He will show us a level of mercy we probably don't deserve. I am hoping God is much bigger than Church teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islam believes in theocracy which is antithetical to the United States. Christianity does not express an interest in overthrowing government.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If one pokes around the activities of the USCCB in the late '60s and '70s, it's bittersweet, to say the least. Take the Bishops' Vietnam Assistance Program, launched to provide health care to the people of South Vietnam, which actually put nuns and priests with a healthcare background on the ground, and which resulted, for a brief period of time, in a cooperative and working relationship between the US Catholic Church and USAID. Even as late as the mid-'80s, The Pastoral Letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy struck a tone you don't hear much today--in fact, that thing was so well-written, they keep on releasing the anniversary editions. Now we get an entire industry on the \"defence\" and promotion of marriage. Admittedly, the USCCB continues to make and contribute to many effective statements about poverty and global issues but these statements don't define them the way they used to as the keepers of Christ's message on Earth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fore, I have indeed moved on and am very happy to have been led in what I experience as a more authentically Christian direction. What I experienced was more than a quarrel - that's where I'd put disagreements over liturgical music and the like. For me, it was a matter of conscience regarding justice issues as addressed in the Gospel by the founder and fulfiller of our faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As opposed to the Catholic faith according to Fr. Zed?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The double-precept of charity, spoken to us by Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, requires that at the level of individuals and institutions, Christians speak the truth and warn of the dangers of sin, disordered desires, etc. Such words should be written\u2013spoken virtuously (it's not about making people feel bad); but even so, it's unavoidable that the worldly-minded may misunderstand or take offense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The trouble with the BC is that it's not even wrong. On its own terms it is unimpeachable. All of its answers are true and all of the questions important. Yet it fails at communicating the Gospel and at forming a conscience because it provides little hint of the thought behind the answers.\n\nIt is no wonder that the generations formed by the Baltimore Catechism were defenseless against modernists and post-Christian moralistic therapeutic deism, so easily led astray by the charlatans who used \"Vatican II\" without reference to the council itself as an alibi to preach a different gospel, and unable to pass the faith on to the next generation. Let's not forget that everyone who made a mess of things in the 70s and 80s--from Dearden and Hunthausen down to bad CCD teachers--was formed before Vatican II!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...\"If Jesus did not secure for us a way of knowing with certainty who He is and what is required of us then He is profoundly unjust as our salvation is gravely at stake because we can't be sure about what God desires from us.\"....\n\nYou express well the fundamental need for ''dogmatic' Christians. it is the attitude that divides many of those who post here.\n\nFor many of us, though, we can be quite comfortable with a Christianity in which what Jesus asks is that we trust in Him and his Love and in His Mercy. I don''t need to be 'sure' about all the rules and regulations. I don't need to 'know with certainty' all that is required of us.\n\nThat's why I trust in Him as my loving Savior. All He expects of me is that I love God and strive to love one another. If I do the best I can to follow the best truth I have available, I'll leave the rest to Him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We've parted company with all manner of notions and ideas down through the ages. Gnostics, Donatists, Pelagians, Nestorians, etc. We cannot rebrand Christianity so that it's primary purpose is to pull everyone in, no matter what, because the cost of that is that it will shortly cease to be Christianity. Everyone can come, they just can't bring everything with them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Convert, God does not read labels. God considers each of us His children, gay, straight, young, old, Christian, non-Christian, male, female, black, white, yellow, red, or brown. Ignore the \"disordered\" nonsense and rest in God's love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "BTW- just found out that Imago Dei is Conservative Baptist, i.e. the church of the Duggars, Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz. Still like'em? Or is Ted Cruz nuanced enough? \"Cuz he reads the bible the same way that the pastor of Imago Dei does.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your above statement IS YOUR DOGMA. YOU ARE A \"DOGMATIC\" CHRISTIAN. Your dogma is that Christ is generally unconcerned about specific moral actions, He's big on overall \"intentionality in life (try to be a good person)\", and He can be counted on to easily let people into heaven unless they have been seriously, crazy, murdering/molesting awful people, repulsive to the core. \n\nThe claim that He is a \"loving Savior\" is a DOGMATIC CLAIM. I'm assuming you base it on the Scriptures/Christian Tradition. It's what you've been told and what you've encountered (hopefully). You're correct! It is CRYSTAL CLEAR unequivocal dogma that Christ is a loving savior. If that was not absolutely indisputable dogma and there was a chance that Jesus was indeed God but a psychopathic, power mad sadist giddily hoping to deceive us so that He might derive sick pleasure YOU MIGHT WANT TO LIVE YOUR LIFE DIFFERENTLY OR FOLLOW SOMEONE ELSE. But you don't. Because you are dogmatically secure in your belief.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When Francis was elected I was asked by non-Catholic friends, \"what do you think of the new pope?\" I said, \"he is a PR man. Look what he did in South America.\" Sadly he has proved me correct. Francis hasn't permitted the Vatican Commission to accomplish anything, not one bishop is in jail (church or secular), and he has never grasped the severity of the child abuse problem. PR man to the rescue!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you seriously suggesting that the Church's teaching on contraception is only 100 years old? It may have been challenged a century ago but existed long before that. In fact it was the teaching of all Christian churches prior to 1930 when the Anglicans decided to change it. I don't know where you get your information from, certainly not the history books.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but I disagree. So do a majority of faithful Catholics. As my high school theology teacher, a Franciscan Brother, used to say to comments like yours: \"God sees through your sophistry.\" And He does!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No John that doesn't imply anything of the sort.\n\nWhat makes a good Christian is one who stays very close to Christ, and who doesn't run from the Cross that Jesus tell us to carry \"daily\". \n\nThe spiritual formation of people around here is pretty much on the 6th grade level.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Um, Mike? \nWould you then consider that President Kennedy was not catholic? Because it was he along with McNamara who articulated the very same mutually assured destruction policy that Mr. Trump referenced today. The philosophy of course was that if the other side knew they would be destroyed, they wouldn't start anything.\n\nIt has been the policy of the US and our allies for 54 years, some tweaking along the way, but never abandoned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"EWTN, if it wanted to, could do great damage to the bishops and the pope.\"\n\nJust like Fox News with the Republican party. Threat via intimidation. How nice. How Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's try this again, since my response got decked the first time:\n\nYou mean Hell as a place somewhere in the cosmos where sinners are tortured for eternity? No, I do not believe in that Hell.\n\nIn retrospect I don't regard my research into Fr. Gruner and the Fatima as a waste of time at all, though at the time I regretted the attention paid to a bunch of conspiracy theorists on the fringes of the Catholic right. It turns out I was right to be alarmed by the pro-Russian sympathies promoted by \"Father\" Gruner and the Fatima Center, even as a bit specimen in a broader, corrosive movement.\n\nOf course I've researched Fatima and consider it fanciful nonsense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many years ago when I was in high school, I distinctly remember there being a non-denominational Christian group that met on Fridays at lunch. For the few Muslim students, a small room was booked so that they could hold their Friday prayers during the lunch hour. You know what happened? Nothing. I did not become a Muslim nor a Christian, and I ended up drifting away more from Judaism because I didn't care. The Muslim students did their thing, the Christian students did their thing, I did my thing. I learned that people should mind their own business if someone else is doing something that is not affecting them, but I guess that certain people want to dictate other people's lives, people they know nothing about...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, nothing you said or did not say invalidated my point, which stands on its own. Studying through the lens of Christianity is not the same as indoctrination. The Dean specifically mentions that students are not held to their beliefs, even though they sign a nominal statement of faith. \n\nSo you found Christianity unsatisfactory because you didn't know what God was doing with his sexual organs? \n\nAt any rate, based on the way you characterized Christianity, why should anyone assume you hold a thoughtful, complex view on the subject? What if I described Islam as death-worshipping, chauvinistic, and primitive? Would that seem like a just statement to you? Or is it that criticizing Christianity has become fashionable? Do you have a priori beliefs that cannot be proven? Do you have faith in anything at all? Do not be so hasty to dole out judgment, or you risk closing the doors to knowledge and understanding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I did not. The Apostles were the twelve, the disciples are usually considered the 72.\n\nBeing precise is not pedantry, and suggesting that it is meets the definition of uncivil.\n\nYes, as the Gospels make clear many Jews interpreted the prophecies to mean a civil resurrection of the state of Israel and the removal of the Roman boot from their necks.\n\nJesus made clear that what not his mission.\n\nOf course I have an idea of what Jews thought about Jesus. He is extremely precise in using word coding that spoke directly to individuals who had huge sections of the OT memorized, who were immersed in a reality unlike our Western thought where the spiritual and physical were one reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, he acted in the name of Christianity? Of jesus? He was quoting the New Testament? I must have missed that.../s", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The book is \"FDR and the Jews,\" by Breitman & Lichtman, as noted.\n\nOn what basis do you claim that \"the 'facts' are plainly nothing of the sort?\nIt's \"plain\" from your own comment that you did not check out the source to verify whether I was stating facts or falsehoods.\nJesus died in defense of the truth.\nThe least we can do as Catholics is double-check the words we speak/write, that are used to demonize others to the point that we are prepared to kill them, or to disrupt lives in a substantial way -- i.e. wage war.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I regret that i cannot write to Mr Kelly directly since his piece on nostalgia is one of the most exceptional columns I have read for a long time. He frames it in solid logic endowed with insight. At risk of stirring up the closed minded I can only say a simple and genuine thank you. Having spent nearly four decades as minister trying to save and rescue faith from the religious noise that passes for Christianity today I fully realize that the pull to go back and live in the past is illusionary at best and not nearly as fulfilling as embracing the present. Thank you Mr. Kelley", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But you should applaud his removal. He disagreed with the pope, therefore he was not authentically Catholic. That is the standard you profess.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do people still believe that a Christians must follow a secular body, such as American Medical Association over God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The evidence is all around us. We don't have the \"gene\" identified for heterosexuality but we know it's there. It's obvious to biologists that homosexuality is an evolutionarily derived adaptive trait. It's people with narrow minds and don't understand that homosexuals still can pass their genes on indirectly thus fulfilling the biological imperative Christians\u200b are so obsessed with.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The real fake news is the liberals and the Democratic party who still have a \"hangover\" with lots of sour grapes against President Donald Trump. They just can't get over this hangover that America elected Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. Nothing pleases these liberals. Last year they were calling for the head and firing of FBI Head James Comey. President Trump gave them their wish. You would think a time of rejoicing from the left but instead much hate against anything President Trump does.\n Because a Hillary Clinton Presidency and her agenda will secularization of America which means wiping out all Religious rights and Godly Christian values. Clinton Democrats represent a political correctness (opposite of common sense), progressive and atheism, a non-belief in God Almighty.\n Christians around the nation prayed and God answered and gave us Donald Trump. It wasn't the Russians, but the ultimate of the power of prayer that gave Donald trump the victory.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That may be true in English Canada but what about in the province of Quebec where it was the Catholic church that previously controlled society and the legal system is based upon French civil law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The entire membership of the CDF congregation, along with Opus Dei's Father O'Callaghan and many other church \"authorities,\" would have done well to acquaint themselves with that best seller of yesteryear, The American Way of Death, by Jessica Mitford, whose own funeral cost under $600. Reportedly, that book was a favorite of JK Rowling of Harry Potter fame. While never a favorite of the (American) funeral industry, it remains a hit with many families who try and make some sense of a loved one's death. The \"authorities\" might have learned something from a married Catholic priest of my acquaintance, whose family used his handmade wooden chalice box to receive his cremains. And his was not the only instance!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The uninformed, reactionary responses here are appalling. \n\nFirstly - Christian prayer was abolished in schools because it was forced on all students and presented as a school sanctioned, \"state\" religion excluding all others.\n\nSecondly - Muslim services are not mandatory, they are only for those students who wish to attend.\n\nThirdly, schools were having problems with students not attending on Friday due to it being the Muslim holy day, just as Saturday and Sunday are for other religions. Having services in the school on Friday allows for students to attend classes and services.\n\nFourth - consider that the school calendar is current not secular in the first place as it avoids classes on Christian holy days.\n\nFifth - the arguments that the students have made about freedom of religion and avoiding state interference, all entirely justified, follow the best traditions of our country and aren't all that far off of the anti-government rants often posted here by the usual reactionaries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My point is that there will always be wingnuts who do reprehensible things in the name of religion. That doesn't make the faith bad. If you were to learn something about the basic tenets of the Muslim faith you would realize it doesn't differ much from Christianity.\n\nBut there will always be those who drape religion over atrocity in order to make it palatable to credulous followers. The current trend is to use Islam, and it's effective, since there are many Muslim countries that have a right to be ticked off.\n\nI have several Muslim friends at work. They are even more shocked and saddened than me at Boko Haram and the rest. They don't proselytize and their politics are moderate. They represent the vast majority of Muslims.\n\nAnd if you think no one does crazy things in the name of Christianity, think again. David Koresh and Jim Jones are two examples from modern history.\n\nIslam isn't nasty. Fundamentalists who use religion as an excuse for barbarism is. No matter what faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians are not bringing Sharia law to the United States. Jesus said the first commandment is to love God with all your heart and strength. The second law is to love your neighbor as yourself. Our world would be much better if we were disciples of Christ and followed God's commandments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What does being a Christian have to do with it? Are Christians supposed to willingly allow their countries to be invaded by muslims who outbreed them 3:1?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Some Indian Christians are being persecuted by some Hindus.\"\n\nIt is far more complicated. When tribal people and lower caste Hindus become Christian, traditionalist Hindu organizations target Christians. These Hindus fear that success among lower caste Hindus will dilute the national Hindu voice and vote. Even Gandhi was opposed to Christian missionaries, calling into question the appropriateness of conversion itself. Many Hindus also see Christian educational efforts (especially Catholic) as a threat to the social order, destabilizing it, pitting lower castes (most of whom are Hindu) and tribal people against upper caste elites. (Remember, many Jesuit/Catholic schools -- very tolerant -- have predominately Hindu students.) Needless to say, educated Christians do better on human development indices in education, LITERACY, neo-natal and post natal care, etc. This can pose a threat to the Hindu social order. Ironically, tolerant Jesuits are inviting \"worried\" Sharan to Georgetown! lol", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Says who? In the Catholic Church, it's a matter of time...\n\nhttp://pelicanweb.org/CCC.TOB.html#CHRONOLOGY\n\nTipperary is around the corner... :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "After reading the 49 posts here, none of which discussed a single thing from the Kristof column and the very many good explanations in it, it is clear no one changed anyone else's mind despite a few interesting arguments.\n\nThose supporting Christianity certainly failed to back the science believers into the untenable corner of explaining how every, and I do mean every scientific theory, even when considered proven rests on assumptions. But what are assumptions if not faith that something unproven and possibly unprovable is actually truth? How is that any better than religious faith? The religious at least acknowledge they cannot prove their beliefs by scientific methods, which are not designed or intended to deal with philosophical constructs. But the science believers do not admit there are things science cannot prove upon which their entire belief system relies!\n\nScience is very useful in helping us improve our lot in this world but supposing it disproves religious tenents is absurd.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part three of three) While Cardinal Newman was not infallible, neither was he a heretic after his conversion. The RCC does not canonize heretics. The canonization of Cardinal Newman was an implicit recognition that people of different ages understand Christian dogmas in different ways.\n\nCiting Vatican I as a \u201csolemn declaration\u201d, without specificity is unseemly at best.\n\nThe Magisterium errs when it fears rather than uses the social sciences. The RCC does not have a monopoly on what humans discover as newly true, particularly through scientific discovery, such as that of Galileo.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Catholic practice imitation Evangelicalism, the Evangelicals will always do a better job being Evangelical and people will go for \"the real thing\" if Evangelicalism is what they want.\n\nBetter to be the best Catholics we can be, without watering down or compromises. It's not attractive to others when we try too hard to be something we are not. Let us offer our own gifts and quit putting our bushel under the basket, running away from our traditions and seeking the lowest common denominator in all things. It usually ends up backfiring on us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously. Still...\n\nWhy would anyone want a real role in Church governance?\n\nDoes it bring you any closer to Jesus?\nDoes it help you any more closely follow Jesus?\nDoes it help you in any particular way follow the New Commandment?\nDoes it make you any better of a candidate to reaching eternal life?\nDoes it give you any clearer understanding of the Gospel?\n\nIf there were 2nd class citizens in the Church it would be people who are forcefully cut off from encountering Christ.\n\nIs that the reality of women's situation because they can't be ordained? Or married males? Or 4 year olds? Or those with any other impediment that prevents them from being ordained?\n\nIf you have full access to Christ through the Church having power in governance should be utterly irrelevant to you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "La R\u00e9volution tranquille ended the corrupt collusion between the Catholic Church and Qu\u00e9bec politicians. \n\nThe Catholic Church ruthlessly exercised its control of Government Funded but Church Controlled Health Care Facilities, Schools, and Colleges.\n\nThat sad state of affairs illustrates why Canadians should be wary of Politicians who still believe in supernatural beings.\n\nCatholic Churches in Qu\u00e9bec used to hang blue banners to direct zealots how to vote.\n-- \n\"C\u2019est le temps qu'\u00e7a change!\" Jean Lesage\n\n\"L'enfer est rouge et le ciel est bleu\" Catholic Bishop Louis-Fran\u00e7ois Lafl\u00e8che\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF0XBHCp31M", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I appreciate this critique by MSW. I had no idea what Archbishop Kurtz was alluding to in the video. It's the Wikileaks quotes, really? So Democratic operatives expressing sentiments widely shared among American Catholics is some kind of threat to religious liberty. Got it.\n\nChristians are actually being persecuted elsewhere in the world. Perhaps the archbishop could trouble with distinctions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We\" didn't \"convert\" anyone. Again, Sudan was a Coptic Christian area since the Second Century. Aside from Animism, the \"native religion\" in East Africa is effectively Christianity, a Christianity that predates Lutheranism or any other European variety.\n\nThe only people who have \"converted\" anyone in East Africa were the Islamists who waged, and continue to wage, a centuries long campaign of religious imperialism and extermination against pagans and Christians in the region.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I choose to have phone service I can afford. The jail has chosen to contract with a vendor for the priciest solution to inmate communication. There's no need to \"tie up phones\" if you let folks walk in the door & talk over an intercom handset or use a payphone. \n\nJail is not a pleasant place nor should it be. However, making it costly for families to communicate & making it difficult to maintain family ties is going overboard on punishment. It's unnecessary & vindictive. And again, bear in mind that this is also being done to people who haven't been convicted of anything but lack resources to post bail. So let's make it so they can't talk to their families by setting up a $1.50/minute fee. Yeah that'll teach 'em.\n\nCome on, you brag about being a Christian on other threads, then gleefully support penalizing those who would visit someone in prison by not allowing them to come at all, and charge family and friends to communicate with the prisoner so someone profits from an inmate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interestingly, the church that persecuted Galileo, condemned the Encyclop\u00e9die of Diderot, and fulminated against the Enlightenment, still runs provincial schools in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta at the expense of all taxpayers there, teaching children the facts that the late BVM (Blessed Virgin Mary) was bodily assumed into heaven (infallibly proclaimed in 1950) and that she visited Portugal in 1917. The premier of Saskatchewan has invoked the notwithstanding clause of the Constitution to ensure that teaching these facts to non-Catholic children is not interrupted by a ruling from a justice of the court of Queen's Bench.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "3/8\n\nAusten Ivereigh is also British and is reporting at the Crux. Crux is a subsidiary of the Boston Globe, also a \u201cprogressive\u201d publication, which was set up to cover \u201cCatholic\u201d news.\n\nIt has more or less followed the Tablet\u2019s narrative, e.g.:\n\n\u201cFar from being an autocratic intervention in the affairs of a 'sovereign' state, the pope's decision to appoint a delegate to govern the Order of Malta following the resignation of its Grand Master reflects his duty of care to a Catholic organization in need of serious reform. Despite attempts to portray Francis as an autocrat, he's doing no more than what popes have always done for Catholic groups in similar circumstances.\u201d\n\nIn other words, the same things that St John Paul II and Benedict XVI did that were reprehensible autocratic abuses are now the beneficent application of papal love to accomplish needed reforms.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Instead, he should have deeply bowed, like the former president.\n\nClearly, this is a faction of the Catholic world that just can't abide real leadership. Or even recognize it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, the Jews ate at a table, with a cloth, candles plates and cups upon it. That is what the table looked like at the Last Supper and that is what our altars look like today. The cross was used by the Romans to execute criminals. The cross was not used by the Jews to even slaughter animals for sacrifice. \n\nThere were no priests celebrating the liturgy for at least 2 centuries. The MEAL was celebrated in house churches, by presiders---men, women or husband-wife teams. THAT was how the Eucharist was first celebrated. Why? Because to be a Christian is to be priestly. To be priestly is to somehow mediate the things of God to the world and to bring the hopes and fears of the world before God in worship and prayer.\n\nThe reason why YOU are having difficulties with this is because YOU really don't understand the documents of Vatican II and what it means in TODAY'S world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most Christians don't engage in high speed car chases, or fail to provide minimum cooperation with state or local police.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Only in the Roman Church, Eastern Catholic Churches require a priest for validity, even if being married in the Roman rite. No priest, no marriage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How does st. Paul put it in 1 Corinthians, when talking of a new Christian whose spouse is still pagan....\n\n\"it is God's pleasure that we may be at peace with one another.\"\n\nThat seems to be a part of 'God's Law' that never gets considered. When we make just one passage in section of Scripture an 'absolute' without consideration of other passages on the topic, what we end up with may not actually be 'God's\" law at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Over two centuries ago, Thomas Jefferson and certain other founding fathers in our \"Christian\" nation actually debated whether a Muslim could be president. The answer was \"yes.\" See Denise A. Spellberg's THOMAS JEFFERSON'S QUR'AN: ISLAM AND THE FOUNDERS.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One key part of Catholic intellectual development, which you mention in your final sentence, is forming an awareness of the realities and dangers of \"NSDAP\" [ie, Nazi Party] ideology and similar.\nSuch development would be well worth a try, I suggest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that Spadaro isn't slandering all Evangelicals. He is criticizing a subset of far right Evangelicals and far right Catholics who ascribe to an odd mixture of Dominionism and Prosperity Gospel and who hang around Trump. There is a huge gap between the moderate Evangelicalism espoused by Gerson and Moore and the hard right type espoused by Bob Jones University, the Quiverful Movement, etc. Spadaro (and Pope Francis) are clearly hitting the fundamentalist strains that are most closely connected with Trump and the bad effects that they have had on American Catholicism, especially the Catholic laity. If you go to rightwing sites, you will notice that conservative Catholics have begun to embrace some of the heresies of fundamentalist Protestants such as the \"prosperity Gospel.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "JBob, you reference the Last Judgment in Mt 25.31ff. \n\nMay I invite you to assist me in a little experiment here? I think everyone in our society, whether Christian or not, has a vivid image of the Last Judgement scene (Jesus sitting on his throne, sorting out the good on his right and the bad on his left) but we tend to mis-remember what Jesus said, what virtues and vices Jesus ascribed to the good and to the bad. Its not that we don't remember, but rather we tend to substitute our own morality into the mouth of Jesus. \n\nIf you are willing to be a data point in my ongoing survey, first please pause and write down the kind of activity you think Jesus lists as worthy of heaven and worthy of hell; and then go read the passage. \n\nWas I right about our tendency to read our morality into the scene? \n\nThen reread your last message...\"its not about someone else\"... ironically, it is entirely about others. ;-}", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The title sort of gives it away - a balanced, critical piece? Did Bergoglio choose it with his well-known humility? Or was it Vigan\u00f2? Not only did Bergoglio make him the Prefect of the newly created Secretariat for Communications but he also put him on the Congregation for the Clergy and the Congregation for Catholic Education. He is even on the Italian Episcopal Conference and all this without any significant pastoral experience. No wonder he is at home with the ros\u00e9 and light lunch overlooking the Mediterranean - no smell of the sheepfold here! His mentor, Cardinal Martini, must be pleased. We can surely expect a lot of impartiality that's for sure. Winders will probably do a great job but, then again, so did Leni Reifenstahl! Let's have something more reflective than a wellmade fluff piece, how about a debate (cage match) between Kasper and Burke? I don't need a title from Vigan\u00f2 either: \"Arsenic and Old Lace\"!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And your mountain of real life evidence that there was ever a historical Jesus? \nI know there was a historical Buddha. I have confidence in that. I have the same amount of confidence that modern Christianity is a con job, though when it is part of a social system that lets ordinary people relate and serve their community it does serve a purpose.\nJesus was never real, and so those who force others to bend a knee are...\nHugh", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Sixth, Clinton rightly insisted that we all need to agree on the imperatives of decency and civility, and to work harder to achieve both agreement and \u2014 as George Weigel once reminded us \u2014 disagreement on matters of public policy.\"\n\nIn our increasingly acrimonious society, the Al Smith dinner provides the one place where both candidates were expected to come together and treat each other civilly and respectfully. A little light hearted fun, some not too harsh but humorous acknowledgment of the political differences and poking at one's opponent is fine and expected. \n\nCardinal Dolan did a service to this country in this years election in reminding us of that - the importance of and the need for civility. Because the Cardinal attends the dinner, his presence reminds everyone of the Christian call to recognize we all all God's children, made in his image.\n\nThe Al Smith dinner is not a venue for pushing esoteric Catholic causes but it is a chance to demonstrate Christianity in action", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RIP Archbishop Quinn. One wonders if he ever participated in the commentary here? At any rate, with Cardinal Bernardin, he was an example of what the Catholic Left should be. May Pope Francis continue to be guided by his words.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I for one find your posts hilarious, and always like them. The subtlety of your humor is lost on many, if not most. The truth would be nice post was comedic genius coming from someone who works so masterfully to be disingenuous, specious, and spurious with virtually every post. Your persona is a little too far-fetched at times, but generally your send-up of certain types of \"christians\" is spot on. Keep up the funny, and don't hesitate to respond with the mock outrage and threats. Others don't see the obvious joke, but some do! Keep up the funny!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article presumes the \"sophisticated\" interpretation of Catholic moral theology to be the truth, but yet it turns out to be a novelty when held up to 2000 years of Church teaching. Like most things, there are very serious misunderstandings on both sides, but yall seem to have forgotten that the Church is meant to safeguard the truth, not create a new one every 50 years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I entered the USAF in Texas in 1962, the \"no meat Fridays\" didn't apply to Mexico. The line of cars from San Antonio to Ciudad Miguel Aleman on Friday was legendary.\n\nWhere there is a Catholic Want, there is a Catholic Way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your kidding right? Or are you simply that unable to connect the dots from the quote? \"unity in necessary things; liberty in doubtful things; charity in all things\" plus the links I proved. WOW [?] \nHere is a clue. There is only ONE TRUE Christian faith, not multiple or some [secular humanism versions] as you like to suggest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Biblical stories get used for all kinds of things. I don't know if Jesus literally drove them out or it was intended as story about dangers of mixing a spiritual life with the pursuit of money. If literal, Jesus did not kill or maim any of the venders as far as the story goes, he did get angry \n\nJesus was fully human, he got tired, he got angry, he loved his family and friends. Many Christians seem to be afraid of making him too human, I find it comforting. We'd probably get along fine on this Motley, I don't have the answer for others, I can just relate my own experience.\n\n'Oh Jeez' - Archie Bunker", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All baptised Christians accept the Creeds. What distinguishes a Protestant from a Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A petulant vindictive piece of writing , almost devoid of any theological or even spiritual insight. Basically all he is saying is \"Ha ha Weinandy , now the Popes men are doing you orthodox Catholics what you did to us progressive Catholcs in the days of JP11 and Benedict\". \n\nFr Reece seems to have zero appreciation of he importance of upholding the teachings which have been handed down by the apostles and safeguarded by the church for two thousand years.This is all Fr Weinandy is trying to do. It seems such thinking is an anathema to Jesuit philosophy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tri, you may want to think the liberally minded agree with your premis but I certainly don't. \nAs Bob Dylan said the times they are a changing. The Gospels of Jesus were written in the context of the late first century and need to be understood in that light. Otherwise, they can be a cause for much misunderstanding and abuse. The same can be said of church teachings that came afterwards. The 21st century is a different context and we need to understand Jesus' teachings for today's changed society. We need the help of the Holy Spirit that Jesus told us to follow to guide us. Let the Spirit be our guide.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Westboro Baptist Church for starters.\n\nOr perhaps you can post links to more moderate Christian leaders denouncing those parts of the Bible since the original posters has called on Muslims to do the same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, if everyone in the country were Catholic, then it could be that there would be a different consensus about what is right and what is wrong. That is, after all, what many of our laws are based on. Eg, as a society, we agree that stealing is wrong and harmful to the social order, so we outlaw it. There was a time when domestic violence and marital rape were not seen by society in general as being sufficiently wrong to be against the law. That has changed. If the population of this country were all Catholic, their views might be more in conformance with the teachings of the church, and laws might be changed to reflect the views of that type of society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not quite sure what makes a terrorist eh Dennis?\nWhat country were the 9/11 terrorists from?\nDid Syria under Assad (who is a tyrant) not allow for Christians to live in peace?\nDid not the USA arm the Nusra Front and ISIS (to a degree) allowing these civilizations to be destroyed?\nYou confuse tyrants with terrorists and you omit the worst tyrants of all (the Saudi's). How convenient. BTW tell me what Nation in the ME outside of Israel has the most Jewish people? It is Iran....shhhh the USA and Israel do not want you to know that because their friends the Saudi's would not allow them in....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Staying out of other people's business is not necessarily a 'Christian' doctrine...it is just common courtesy...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think one obscure reason relates to whether the bulk of practicing Catholics swing Republican or Democratic in national elections. This Catholic vote is sometimes nicknamed the \"Holy Grail\" and somehow it seems to always go with the winner. In almost all of the post war elections Catholics were solidly Democratic and the issue of clerical sex abuse was not a public issue, even when it was much more serious in the 1960's and 1970's. Catholics went Republican for Bush in the contentions election of 2000 and the \"Great Lent\" storm hit in Boston in 2002. This went on for several years then began to die down after about 2008 with the Democrats getting a thin margin of Catholic voters. But Trump had the \"Holy Grail\" in the 2016 election earlier this month, so I suspect another storm is coming. I think this is a way of \"payback\" from groups in society who really are not all that concerned with pedophilia in general. Regrettably in our time and place all has become political.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Canadian Charter of Rights should apply to all citizens including immigrants.\n-\n\nNot only to the French, the Natives and Christians Canadians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do agree with most of the teachings on faith and morals. I am not \"personally ... deciding what is Catholic doctrine\". I am personally deciding what I believe. You would have me take Adolf Eichmann as my model -- he was told what to think and do, and did it. I believe that Eichmann is a poor model.\n\nYou don't claim to be the magisterium. The claim you make is that your opinions and the magisterium's teachings are identical. I have shown that in at least one case, you disagree with what the magisterium teaches; by your own criteria, you are not truly Catholic.\n\nWhen the magisterium teaches, I give it careful, prayerful consideration. If I cannot accept it, I follow the dictates of my own conscience. Aquinas said, \"Every judgment of conscience, be it right or wrong, be it about things evil in themselves or morally indifferent, is obligatory, in such wise that he who acts against his conscience always does moral evil.\" Quodlibet, 3, 27 That is a magisterial teaching I agree with.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of three) \u201cThe inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them\u201d Cardinal Daniel DiNardo and Archbishop Jose Gomez as pictured \u201c . . . because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth with their single-issue politics that helped elect Donald Trump President \u201cBut after the three and a half days,\u201d The Fall Conference of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops lasts November 14-16 or about three and a half days \u201ca breath of life from God entered them\u201d (Revelation 11:10-11) giving the Faithful hope. Liturgy of the Word, Reading 502, Saturday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time II", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reading comprehension is clearly not one of your gifts. Continue on friend, there's no story here. At least not one that you are willing to consider or discuss with respect for dissenting views. Again, what does this topic have to do with Christianity? You are like a broken record, using every chance you can to bash Christians or Christian influenced thought with insult laden comments, but you are the only one bringing the bible or Christians into the discussion. If your hatred defines you, then I am sorry for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope he explains to them that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church, he's infallible, and Jesus did not want priests to marry, much less be female. Once they understand their error, no doubt they will want to join and we can put this \"reformation\" business behind us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you saying there aren't people in the US who fervently believe in what the Old Testament preaches? You arbitrarily assume that \"contemporary Christianity\" eschews the teachings of the Old Testament when anyone who has studied history or read the Old Testament can plainly see it is the foundation for so-called contemporary Christian and Christian militarism. Did you pay any attention to the religious agenda in the Bush wars? Did you pay any attention whatsoever to the last 20 months? How many millions voted for Trump and his evangelical side-kick, Pence? Wake up.\n\nOh, and I'm not agnostic; I'm atheist. I'm not arguing for any religion, period. I don't agree with many of the tenants of Islam or that of any religion that advocates oppression and death to believers and non-believers alike. But your argument ignores those who practice what you would call \"contemporary Islam\"; those who do not adhere to the dangerous precepts that you--and I--find so objectionable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ROHR Continued\n\nJesus was only given to change our mind about the nature of God! (Imagine what we are saying about the Father, if he needed blood from his son to decide to love us! It is an incoherent world with no organic union between Creator and creature. No wonder so few Christians have gone on the mystical path of love, since God is basically untrustworthy and more than a little dangerous.) For Duns Scotus, Jesus was the \u2018image of the invisible God' who revealed to us a God's eternal suffering love for humanity, in an iconic form that we could not forget. He was not \u2018necessary,' but a pure gift. The suffering was simply to open our hearts, not to open God's -- which was always open.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely sincere; why is the Holy Spirit leading so many of us in different and often opposite directions.\nHere's an example the Holy Spirit is telling me through the teaching of the Church, following the very words of Christ Himself in the Gospels, that to remarry after a divorce is to commit adultery, therefore gravely sinful. Many, posters here claiming to be guided by the same Spirit do not believe that to remarry after a divorce is gravely sinful at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't read it as not welcome. The food bank serves a specific community need, however regardless if you show up needing food they will help you and then redirect to the main local food bank.\n\nAs for the religious accommodation- you do realize that it has been going on for years for christians and Jews. For the christians it's easy as most major holidays are stats. For those of Jewish faith - the schools I. north York and York university have been scheduling around the fall holidays for years.\n\nPersonally I don't have a problem with prayer rooms in schools especially if it means that students will make Friday afternoon classes - when people get all upset about this they forget that we don't have school on Saturday or Sunday so it doesn't interfere with Jewish or Christian services.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Balderdash. The correct term would be we \"celebrate\" the liturgy. The notion of \"assisting\" is rejected by the very word \"liturgy\"--leiturgia in Greek, which means a PUBLIC act, something in which everyone \"participates.\"\n\nBTW, mjMcHale, your use of the phrase \"assist at the Holy Sacrifice\" suggests to me you do not in fact know in what sense the ACTION of the Eucharistic Liturgy is indeed a sacrifice, our sacrifice offered to the Father; and that \"sacrifice\" in this sense is probably the most primordial from of \"worship\" (the word you reject) in human history, uniting not only Christians and Jews but also polytheistic paganism and some aspects of animism. Sacrifice is simply the primordial human form of worshiping God by acknowledging our dependence on God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, Bill, our comments should address the fact that you write from the standpoint of a Presbyterian. Because the origins of Presbyterianism draw heavily from Calvin, who taught absolute loathing for Transubstantiation, it seems we have an irresistible force meeting an immovable object. The Catholic Church cannot change regarding the Eucharist without ceasing to be the Catholic Church. Likewise, Presbyterians/Calvinists cannot change on that point without ceasing to be Calvinists. Thanks for a thoughtful column.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the opinion of most Catholics I know. In contrast, everyone in Chicago loves Cupich.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Catholic churches in our area, the practice is unfortunately all too common! Brides and grooms as a result are electing to have their weddings in non-Catholic venues of all kinds, dispensing with the ministry of the priest. That is up to the couple. I have never had any problem of not getting paid by a couple!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Cont'd)\nWe, the custodian of Sacrament have allowed ourselves to become and to tolerate intellectually and religiously, to become an integral part of ideological \"doctrine\" of dictate. We should rather be demonstrating, teaching, exemplifying, exploring more deeply the humanity and humility of civility, compassion, of reason, conscience, discernment, and practice.\nJesus was and became human, within humanity, within civilization and taught \"civility\" of the great thinkers from family to community to humanity and took us beyond, not TO love but to greater love and further AND THEN He redeemed it, the image of His Parent in creation.\nI really wonder who are the real Christians. Wake up Church. Put your boots into the mud with us. The country would be better, safer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic Institution clergies \"proves beyond doubt that evil does exist\"!\nLOL!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with your main point. But at our small Baptist Church -- located in Fredericton, NB -- we do take more of a literal approach to the Bible and prayer. But we emphasize Christ's love both to the outside community and our own church members. This entails a fairly large food-and-toiletry bank, free weekly Sunday lunches, and free monthly \"dinner and a movie\" nights. We also evangelize about Christian love. Albeit Baptists are seen as \"conservative\", this doesn't mean we eschew Christian love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelical Christianity existed 2000 years ago?\n\nNot true. And only a true wacko would adhere to all the rules laid down in the Old Testament.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi all. For anyone who may be interested, I decided to take this a step further and set up a Catholic#MeToo website. It can be found here (www.catholicmetoo.com) Would love you all to visit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly my point, that you are not really contributing the debate about what kind of politics would flow from being \"in Christ\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's time to exchange the bottle for a Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are correct, but you have left out an important bit of context. The estimate that 52% of all Catholics voted for Trump is correct. But 60% of non-hispanic white Catholics voted for Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry to report that in Quebec Mr. Trudeau better understands that veiled women are not well accepted. They look a lot like the gone catholic nuns from years ago.\nHere people simply want religion OUT of sight. It took so long to get rid of the domination of the catholic church that tolerance is near ZERO.\nThe feeling is that the charter is used by newcomers to impose their will instead of doing like ALL the other immigrants and integrate as well as possible.\nMuslims always have other needs, it looks like a well organized and financed opposition to the locals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. You're not understanding. Taking pleasure - seeking suffering for its own effects- may be what DSM calls masochism, today. [Tomorrow they may classify it as an 'identity' or 'personal choice' who knows given the drift of DSM].\n\nBut that's not what I have said. I am saying we should and can seek Christ in all the natural events of our human existence, and that is what brings joy! Our unity and intimacy with Him. \n\nGod allows suffering. And so He must have an idea in mind about it. \n\nSo we don't seek suffering. We seek Him in ALL events..joys, sorrows, pleasures, pains. A whole life of unity, in a very natural way. \n\nI think some people get themselves wrapped into their DSM to think supernaturally enough. And then the rest of your rant sort of makes sense.\n\nJesus told us to 'take up our Cross daily' for a very good reason.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi zug,\n\ntalking to you is like being in Groundhog Day, as if our last conversation never happened...\n\nHere goes, again:\n\nA culture can't be defined in a few words, but comprises fundamental assumptions the people who share it share, not superficial ones.\n\nFor example, we share a language, English, and 2000 years of shared western culture and history, based on Roman-Greek-Judeo-Christian-Enlightenment views of the world, which includes the assumption that women have an important role to play in social life. Women have always been part of social life from village fairs to court life, not hidden at home or as mere observers behind visual barriers, as in other cultures.\n\nEven our modern pop culture is based on that history, even when you develop in opposition to a culture, it is still based on that culture. Our culture is not based on the Bhaghavad-Gita, Confucius, Buddhism, Shintoism, the Koran, etc. Anyone who has traveled enough is quite aware of the differences between cultures.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Comrade Stalin did even more he gave women the right to vote, government daycare,\nlegalized abortions, reduced the influence of the Christian churches, put women to work in factories, outlawed anti-semitism, his government was the first to vote for the creation of Israeli and he gave aid at critical time in their history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The other approach to this is to find places in the institutional Church--orders, seminaries, institutes, etc. where pederasty (and the usually concomitant stealth Arianism) is not tolerated, where pederasts promoting each other, covering for each other, and making things difficult for any who may object is called out for what it is, and where the harm pederasts have done (think of Weakland's influence on his local seminary and on liturgy nationwide) is recognized, and support these faithful men and women as they rebuild the Church. And pray for, encourage, and if you can materially support vocational discernment in upright, manly young men. \n\nIf the local bishop is part of the problem there are always other initiatives--ICKSP, Oratory of St Phillip Neri, many Dominicans, Cristo Rey schools, the Benedictines in Chicago--you could support.\n\nYou can leave (but where would one go?--eastern orthodox?), and leave behind sacramental life, or you can stay and be part of the solution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for the pithy clarification. I'm under the impression that Pius XII's formulation still stands:\n\n<>\n\nThis notion is untenable. We are to believe that no sooner had humans developed moral consciousness than they were brought to the test and failed, thereby condemning the human race to a fallen state in perpetuity until redeemed by the Christ and brought to fulfillment on the last day.\n\nAs you say, evolutionary biologists and anthropologists have discounted the probability of a \"first couple.\" I have seen apologists jump through hoops to insist that yes, there was a first couple, in a desperate attempt to rescue what is clearly a myth about the origins of humanity and moral consciousness. A bit of a problem for Christian theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin~ \n1. Pt 2 of your initial response to me implies that you are associated with the Assoc. of Catholic Priests. Are you? Yes or no.\n2. As a \"suggestion\" - prayer is useful. It declares our unity, purpose and our dependency on God's love and will. \nOur history demonstrates that it does NOT \"confront evil\". \nIn some significant respects it constitutes complicity in the very culture, tradition and mechanics of divisiveness, exclusion, and worst of all the abuse of authority (human and divine) that facilitated sexual abuse. Just in case you still don't get it: prayer, fasting, rosary, \"ejaculations\" and other traditional markers were intrinsic to the culture and tradition of the sexual abuse of minors by clergy AND to its management, facilitation, denial and obfuscation by hierarchy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, but it did raise some questions about your ability to communicate with anyone who does not share your views or participate in a charitable Christian discussion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ok I was not clear. I should have said that the purpose of canon law is the salvation of souls. by and large penalties exists to be medicinal - to restore the person to grace ( for want of a better word) and to protect the innocent. excommunication is fundamentally to eject someone from the church in the hope that feeling the loss of fellowship and eucharist the person will correct what is necessary and come home. excommunication is not at its base punitive. \n\na former student with whom I worked closely committed suicide which was caused by mental illness that I was convinced was set off by his being sexually abused by a priest who was celebrated for his insightful rhetoric in a portion of the catholic church in this country.\n\nfor about 15 years I was infuriated by what happened to him and to others whose stories I was to learn. over the past year or so as we were working through the gospel of luke in the sunday gospels I became convinced that my reaction was inconsistent with it", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And St. Francis preached the Gospel trying to convert the Sultan.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "SmarterthanGOP. I have to disagree. Sure some innocents will accidentally be executed with the death penalty but look at how well that has worked out for Jesus. After being wrongfully executed over 2000 years ago he's still packing houses around the world every Sunday not too mention achieved eternal life. You have to take the good with the bad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You confuse the essential beliefs of Christianity -- of following Jesus in the Gospel -- with the ills of an institution that has become an ingrown behemoth, filled with bureaucratic elitism and error.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I admire you for considering your situation as you do, and especially for giving such high regard to the interests of your son, and showing him loving protection.\n\n\"Hell-bound\" strikes me as too pre-emptive a condemnation, on the church's part, for it to be strictly accurate; Catholic moralists usually speak to the effect that no one is destined to damnation, and there's hope for everyone, provided due repentance (and self-obliteration?) precede. But in fact I don't know the actual \"teaching\" on transgender people, which could be distinct from what is said about gay people.\n\nMuch more important, though, is the actual respect you are or are not receiving from the Catholics around you. And if it's not there, or you can't count on it, then you do the right thing to seek out a truly welcoming Christian community. Best wishes.\n\nInteresting that you're in Charlotte, which has sort of become Ground Zero for transgender rights. How your government has betrayed you!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I don't understand the progressive left..\"\nWALLe, excellent question. At the risk of collecting scowls I'll suggest some answers--\nAs a liberal I do find some of the practices of Sharia objectionable, and if someone were actually trying to force Sharia on us I'd be out in the streets protesting with you. However, as no such threat exists, I'd say the American thing to do when it comes to religion is \"live and let live.\"\nNot all Islamic societies enforce Sharia or similar values, though Saudi Arabia, Trump's current friend, unfortunately does.\nMore important, one can find similar teachings in the Old Testament used by Christians or the similar Tanakh used by Jews. Some horrific stuff-- stoning of adulterers, wayward sons and non-believers; God's command to trick another tribe's men into circumcision so they could slaughter them, etc.... \nBut such fundamentalist abominations are not practiced by most America's Jews and Christians, just as with most America's Muslims today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure why the writer would argue Toronto needs a secular school system. Education is a provincial domain. It would have to be decided at the provincial level and be province-wide. Speaking of provinces, why are New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and Newfoundland still separate provinces? Surely they could be amalgamated. Same would seem to go for Saskatchewan, which has never grown to the a population that might have been hoped. Perhaps it could be divided, one part given to Alberta, one to Manitoba. Why do we still have a Senate when it is not democratically elected? Why do rural ridings have fewer people, some perhaps 60.000, when an urban one may have 110,00? The Internet cuts the travel that used to be the issue for the rural MP.\nThe point being, these things are hard to change, and how important is it to change them?\nThere are 4 million Catholics in Ontario. It would be political suicide for any political party that made it their mission to do away with the Catholic board.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't really see a problem in the issue, however. The Theory of Evolution, for example, is not the intractable problem that Protestants (and some Catholics) seem to make it or that some proponents of evolution would use as some vague proof for their atheism.\nOne of the memes I see, regularly, here goes something like \"Oooh! Oooh! Evolution means there is no Original Sin since Adam and Eve are myth.\" Whether evolution is fact doesn't negate the Dogma of Original Sin; it either causes one to explore the idea further or decide that, regardless, it does not matter to his faith.\nI don't agree that we have \"ongoing revelation\", in the theological sense. I do believe that Divine Revelation (to the world) ended with the death of the last Apostle. That said, I have no issue with reaching a better understanding how those doctrines develop - e.g. the necessity of the Church to salvation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did Jesus love the money-changers when he braided a whip and drove them out of the temple? Forgiveness is for those who repent. I feel more compassion for T-rump's many victims. When he shows that he feels guilt and apologizes for his many crimes, then, and only then, should he be forgiven. To forgive the unrepentant is to ask to be stabbed again, or for him to repeat sins against others. The only way to deter him from further evil is to hold him accountable for it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just an observer of the panoply of everyday reactions seen at a typical Mass, distracting people from Jesus Christ.\n\nHand holders!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I think if the writer is going to use his experience as justification to upend the Catholic Church, he should explain what happened.\" This sentence, to me, states the essential mistake in thinking at the root of the clergy abuse crisis... Victims and Survivors did not upend the Catholic Church. Perpetrators and Bishops and Cardinals and Popes and Priests and Nuns and Ordinary Catholics Who Turned A Blind Eye upended the Catholic Church. Survivors might be the only ones WHO CAN SAVE IT... Should we???", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The liturgy does not belong to me, to you, to any priest-celebrant or to any individual Catholic.\nThe liturgy is given to us by the Church as a means of participating in the worship of God as a family of believers who have come together to worship in unity with the Church.\nFor this reason, any personal or idiosyncratic alteration of the liturgy by anyone involved is an insult to the unity called for and required of us by Christ when he said, \"that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.\"\n- John 17:21.\nIn our personal prayer outside of the liturgy we are allowed much greater leeway to pursue piety as our hearts direct us.\nBut during mass we are called to unity in Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course all Catholics need to be loyal. To the Gospel. To the Pope, too, mainly, and of course not only, but still importantly, in the form of loyal dissent. Unthinking slavish loyalty is utterly dangerous as it falsely elevates the papacy into a cult of blasphemous idolatry. The Pope is, after all, not the Church. It will also be beneficial to the Church if Pope and bishops are loyal to their fellow Catholics. St. John XIII lived that fearless loyalty, as does Pope Francis. I take it Cardinal Marx is aware of this? I tend to think so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Return, rebel Israel, I will not remain angry with you; for I am merciful, says the Lord ...I will appoint over you shepherds after my own heart, who will shepherd you wisely and prudently.\" (Jeremiah 3:12, 15)\n\nEven though there may not be many well-known or popular \"bishops and higher up clergies including Pope F. of course!\", still and always, there are good pastors who guard and guide our human fold.\n\nWhile \"sickening and sad\" may describe unresolved realities of the \"Catholic Institution,\" honesty and hope are the animating graces of the followers of the Good Shepherd.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Sigh) With the exception of King Henry VIII, most of the disasters of the church are caused by the \"ontologically different\" clergy. The current structure of the church just isn't working. While it will not happen in our lifetimes, a future iteration of Catholic Christianity will be one without clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays, but they don't make a big deal of it. Unlike Hobby Lobby, Chick-fil-A's doors merely say \"Closed on Sundays\".\nHobby Lobby plays Christian music in its stores? If that's what the owners want to do, fine by me, I even hum along. But if I hear \"My Sweet Lord\" on a store's PA system, I don't assume the store owner or manager is a devout follower of Hare Krishna.\nOn the one hand, I don't believe Steve Green's tale for one second of \"mislabeling\". He bought Iraqi relics for his Bible museum, and wasn't at all concerned that the Iraqi people may have wanted them to stay in Iraq.\nOn the other hand, Ms. Martin's first paragraph sounds over-wrought. Go to Hobby Lobby because you like the merchandise, or because the staff treats you nicely, or because their basket-weaving kits are better priced. Not because the owner proclaims his Christianity on his sleeve.\nCar dealers love to fly the biggest flag available. That doesn't make them patriots. Or Betsy Ross.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It has been established on this website by Faithful Catholics that holding hands during the Eucharistic Liturgy is disrespectful of Jesus. Therefore I would conclude it would also disrespect Jesus to comfort a suffering person during the Eucharist, especially when that person is a mere woman.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right. And some Catholics rationalize away the evil of abortion and some even rationalize providing the Holy Sacrament to unrepentant serial sinners. It doesn't make what is intrinsically wrong somehow \"right.\" The failure to admonish Rohr's dissidence does not change the nature of his error. I would suggest heeding the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ, rather than Rohr, as a surer path to truth and salvation. May God bless you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The editorial board nailed it in the last paragraph. We know the all-male structure is one of sanctimonious entitlement (by virtue of appointment), opacity and distorted moral and ethical self justification. The Church's real salvation lies in women taking positions of spiritual, liturgical and organizational leadership. When women see themselves reflected in these places is when the Church becomes a true \"Catholic\" family for the first time. The exercise of power would stand a chance of achieving some balance. How many can bring themselves to face this reality? While we may be moving forward, this simply reminds us of how far we have to go.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My condolences for Linda to her family, it is never easy to lose our love ones. I was there 8 years ago and I know they say these countries are safe to travel in, this is just not true. Arab countries are not safe so please all Canadians stay home, have people come visit you here. We do not have the history, it is not warm here but these arab countries are dangerous, the people do not think like us, you are a non believer, the Christians who could left a long time ago, they need money but let it not be your tourist money.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The beplumed and sworded Fourth Degree Knights are fixtures at big Masses presided over by bishops, archbishops and cardinals. It is totally non-liturgical and quite antithetical to Gospel values, yet there they are without challenge. Can you imagine a Catholic organization of women being allowed to do something parallel?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Comparisons between Presidents Donald Trump and Richard Nixon have begun to percolate more loudly than a noisy coffee machine on a cold, quiet morning.\"\nRidiculous.\nOnly a far left winger would make that comparison.\nSir, you will be very surprised, as you were last November 8, when Trump is re-elected POTUS in 2020, and Mike Pence is elected POTUS in 2024, due to Catholic support, once again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The real priesthood is that of Baptism. Holy orders was a Johny Come Lately egotistic mumbo jumbo!!! People in their homes for many generations, consecrated the Eucharist before any such thing as holy orders existed. The real test of Apostolic priesthood is and has always been baptism. It is clericalism, itself, that is the problem. Baptized men and women you already have the power and even the duty to keep The Sacramental Way of Christ flourishing. History has shown that clericalism is an attempt to control not to introduce spirituality. . It was a bad idea and remains poor leadership.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NO regards? At all. Hm.\n\nI guess if you can state that unequivocally, then I can therefore state that Christian cultures don't either. None. Not a scrap.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Natural Law argument was worn out by the Catholic Church. But this \"law\" was concocted by the church, not by God. The very fact that God creates within every species of animal [including humans] some members that are 'homosexual' [for of a better term] is evidence enough. This fact has been researched with hard evidence. The so-called 'natural law' is purely artificial.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The west crossed the Rubicon when Martin Luther stood up to the Roman Catholic Church breaking the hegemony the RC's had over western society. This brought about the Renaissance, and then the Industrial revolution freeing up humanity from the ball and chain of a defunct 2000 year old version of society. Eventually the Church and State went their own way and society flourished.\n\nIslam has never had such a moment. Name a single Muslim state known for its progressiveness, science, secularism, child and woman's rights. You will find that it does not exist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And YOUR bigotry has several names. Anti-Christian is just one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Veils don't have to be removed, it's the face coverings that are offensive to many. Some Catholic nuns still wear veils. As do women belonging to Mennonites etc. But their faces are not hidden.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NPT: Not really.................I've known some \"hard core\" fundamentalist Christians. They simply have \"blind spots\" regarding religion. They would not agree, but would consider that I have \"blind spots\". Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes but they always had married priests and still it took many hundreds of years to get women equally ordained to priesthood. \n\nMany of these married men to not support women being ordained priests and if they wanted to help women genuinely then they would refuse ordination to priesthood until women were being ordained as a matter of Human and Christian Justice. \n\nIf black men were not being ordained priests, and ordaining women could worsen or cause any delay in these men being ordained, then I would indeed be a sinner for supporting women being ordained when black men were not. \n\nWhy is it Catholics only care about extreme injustice when it is being done to men? Optional Celibacy is Gender Segregation with all men having all voice and control and women, including all the ordained women deacons, having no voice. Deacons have NO Authority at all. It is time the laity demanded we treat women like human beings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Overthrowing the U.S. Constitutional Republic one institution at a time. First, state legislatures and governors; 2nd Supreme Court; 3rd Congress & Executive; Still to come, all judicial entities; All the result of the billions invested by the Koch family, fellow oil billionaires, Karl Rove, Bush Family, et. al. in the form of \"think tanks\", Corporate Media purchase; Outright bribery. All begun by formation of ALEC by Daddy Koch and his fellow Oil Monopoly billionaires in the 1970s as a reaction to the forced resignation of Nixon. Creation of Moral Majority funded by the same traitors to get all of the Christian minds right. 1970s Alaska was the petri dish for installing one party dictatorship orchestrated by the same oil monopoly. Now the nation is perched on the ultimate establishment of a Republican Dictatorship. And so it goes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill, thank you for the thoughtful post.\n\nMany of my comments do depart from the received liberal or dissenting Catholic party line. They're diverse and provide a bit more of a demanding personal perspective...what can each person do today/now, from where they stand (mainly within their family and close reach) vs. pointing to rome, pointing to a bishop, pointing to a politician, etc. \n\nThese reminders of our personal limits (and yet demanding personal obligations) upset some people here who seek \"saviors\" or surrogate decision makers around every turn, or fast, perfect answers. \n\nAnd my comments aren't as \"clerical\" as most stories and comments here are, which seem to always focus on rome, clerics, sisters, \"papa francesco\". \n\nWe have to look for all manner of \"walls\", where people who are comfortable are exposed to diverse and challenging viewpoints, and want to reject the stranger. \n\nNo walls. I love this site, and plan to spend more time here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Western Christian civilization abolished slavery, invented science and capitalism and democracy, resulting in the drop in the world dire poverty rate to 5% today from 70% 200 years ago. To think that the development of Christian theology was not at the foundation of this is naive and uninformed. Do we want to plunge into the future without this? Looks very dark to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No misunderstanding whatsoever. Any publication with the word Catholic in it would be expected to support the teaching of the Catholic Church in its editorial policy. NCRegister and the Catholic Herald by and large do this.\nReporter, however, makes common cause with those who dissent from and reject the teaching of the Church. It encourages those Catholics whose lifestyle is not Catholic to think that it is. It is basically an anti-Catholic publication. Anyone stumbling across its website could hardly be blamed for coming away with the belief that the vast majority of Catholics are in favour of contraception, abortion, stem-cell research, divorce and remarriage, same-sex marriage, etc. They fail to point out that the Church in Europe, in Latin America and the U.S.A. is in meltdown.\nThe Reporter promotes a false interpretation of Primacy of Conscience which is tantamount to saying 'whatever turns you on'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(continued #3)\n\"2. You are celibate, or in the state of widowhood, or sometimes responsible for family, or even mothers and sisters of priests, because you were called to give your help to a priest or a priestly staff. You have therefore realized that you have given your life to a great cause: that of the Catholic priesthood, indispensable for the presence and activity of parish communities. But how to persevere in this vocation of lay Christians without maintaining in you beliefs of faith on the identity of the priest, on his mission as minister of Christ acting in his name for his Body which is the Church, on the scope of his responsibilities of pastor? You will never thank the Lord enough for having given you the grace to choose the service of priesthood help.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It surely is \" important for the Catholic faith that adherents to the religion support the pontiff,\" as the headline says.\n\nBut it is far more important that the pontiff support the Catholic faith. There are many Catholics -- too many to always agree -- but one pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article inadvertently points out one of those uncomfortable seams between science and faith that gets conveniently ignored when people write well-meaning essays about how compatible they are.\nScience observes that nature routinely \"thins out the herd\" in most species by allowing the weak and poorly-adapted to die. Christian Faith, on the other hand, moves us to preserve (and value) the weak and poorly-adapted because, allegedly, God loves them or has a preferential option for their welfare. If people of faith choose the latter option, it becomes difficult to reconcile that preference with one of the most fundamental elements of evolution. \nI'm not arguing for thinning out the human herd and leaving non-producers at the mercy of the elements, but simply pointing out that science and faith give us very different perspectives on life, and facile statements about their compatibility are wishful thinking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The pope can dispense any Catholic from anything he wishes. He can also dissolve any religious entity he wishes as well. In this case the Knights would be made a totally secular organization with no ties to the church. The pope is an autocrat and is not bound by Canon Law, as we saw numerous times under JPII the Great Enabler and the recent Benedict reign.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny how NCR has turned into a lesser MSNBC, yet using Catholic topics to sort of fill in the space between political screeds. human interest type stories with a lean. \n\nNice mix.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sad that you don't hold to what the Church teaches regarding the Scripture in Dei Verbum, assuming you profess to be Catholic:\n\n\"Holy Mother Church has firmly and with absolute constancy held, and continues to hold, that the four Gospels just named, whose historical character the Church unhesitatingly asserts, faithfully hand on what Jesus Christ, while living among men, really did and taught for their eternal salvation until the day He was taken up into heaven (see Acts 1:1). Indeed, after the Ascension of the Lord the Apostles handed on to their hearers what He had said and done. This they did with that clearer understanding which they enjoyed (3) after they had been instructed by the glorious events of Christ's life and taught by the light of the Spirit of truth.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...fit in the Catholic 'package' ....\"\n\nMaybe not the Irish Catholic package to date, but I like to think God fits in the Canadian Catholic package, as it were. They have issues, but I am impressed with their diversity and ecumenical gestures. (Of course, the Canadians have a different history and were never oppressed by the UK government as Ireland was, hence Canada is still part of the Commonwealth countries. But that is beside the point.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no \"Christian Church.\" There are, however Christian churches and sects that are, across the globe, remarkably diverse. Some of these Christians observe a day of rest/worship that they may refer to as the Sabbath. Google \"sabbath definition\" if you want to learn more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian presence pre dated Islam by over 600 years, but followed Jewish presence by 1300 years. Israel treats its Christians no differently than its Jewish inhabitants.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trid, for once I am in complete agreement. Dan Brown should not be taken seriously in a discussion of Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "V. Do you reject Satan? \nR. I do. \nV. And all his works? \nR. I do. \nV. And all his empty promises? \nR. I do. \nV. Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth? \nR. I do. \nV. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father? \nR. I do. \nV. Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting? \nR. I do. \n\nBTW,_the_Holy_Catholic_Church_includes_all_5_ancient_patriarchies,_not_every_pixel_on_the_Vatican_computer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Zeus and Apollo are the real gods. Prove that Apollo and Zeus aren't real and get back to me. \n\nSee how that works? You can't prove something doesn't exist. The burden of proof is always on the one with the assertion something DOES exist. It's a little something called \"the scientific method.\"\n\nBut since you worship the Christian god, maybe you can explain why you worship a serial killer who has killed more humans than the biblical devil by millions. I refuse to worship a killer. Why do you worship a child killer?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Michael Winters hit it dead on when he said that the secular left needs the Catholic left. Maybe what we have to say is valuable to hear?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "i have been on catholic social services veterans list for about five years now. i have never received a single call or notice about the status. i update my information every year like they require and every year the tell me the same thing. they have no idea when a unit will be available.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder if they will want to hear from people outside the Catholic \"box\", including former members?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fran\u00e7ois Jourdan, French islamologue et th\u00e9ologien eudiste;\n\u201c...Islam is very frozen for many centuries and basically lack of freedom - today, it must be said clearly that we cannot build a society of one religion, Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist... or atheist. \nThis phase of human history is now overtaken by religious freedom and human rights. Secularism requires not the ban but the discretion of all religions in the public space as other citizens have the right to have another way of life. This isn't the Koranic trend where Islam does not consider itself \nas other religions and must...DOMINATE !...\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ">>If society was secular, would Christmas be a public holiday? But not Hannukah, Eid , Diwali, etc?\n\nYes - it will be since it being part of Millennia long tradition it has inevitably intertwined in the social fabric of Christian based society. \n\nAnd secular societies, based on Christian culture, have bet backwards accommodating the other cultures, to a point that you don't get to put a Christmas tree, or issue a \"Happy Christmas\" greeting in offices anymore.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Honesty?? After how long?? Does one honest action - if something self-aggrandizing qualifies as purely honest - wipe out long term dishonesty?? and now magically, one becomes honest? That's a question for the moral theologians here...\n\nAs far as Betty's comment - it was not accurate. Betty herself stated exactly what I said she did in her second comment, so her intention was clear. \n\nWhether I read the letter or not, I gave & read enough of the commentary, columns, snippets and summaries to determine he resigned. I gave you ample citations, and there are many, many more. Did he use the words \"I resign\"? Perhaps not - but when one announces an intention to marry, it pretty much is the resignation of a Catholic priest.\n\nSo, enough nitpicking. The intent was clear, and he was NOT fired merely for coming out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Susan you can easily find other cases under which the Morsey v Fredrick has been applied to the conduct of students being under the schools ability to control student actions. Bong-hits for Jesus was a free speech issue not illegal drug promotion. It a clear case involving when does a school have the right to control a student as part of the schools local parentis responsibilities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus obviously thought He was Messiah and He thought Messiah had to die. That was Jesus of Nazareth's understanding of prophetic scripture. No need to pretend otherwise. The texts make the above assertions crystal clear. \n\nIf the tomb wasn't empty I'm sure it would have been brought to somebody's attention. The tomb was empty and the resurrection is the very heart of the Jewish idea.\n\nSo...? \"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:\" I'll call it The Jewish Mind. I will believe, \"Someone greater than the temple is here.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part three of three) \u201cwhen they limit comments to a specific number of words\u201d\u2014monicadeangelis But that limit can be broken up, with the result there is no limit.\n\n__\n\nwe are limited to a 1000 characters per comment\u2014AnonAJ I have found that 860 is more like it.\n\n__\n\nThe Catholic Church is fully capable of responding to any governmental violation of human rights\u2014monicadeangelis Capacity and interest differ. The monarchial structure governing the RCC remains unfriendly to all human rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Concerning women being ordained \"that they are assumptions that liberal dissidents make but never prove\"---about women in the church. \n\nYOU don't know or haven't studied the History of the Catholic Church---the teachings of many of the Doctors/Fathers of the Church, practices in the Church down through the centuries that did nothing BUT teach demonstrate that women are inferior. That also included Thomas Aquinas---who questioned EVERYTHING but the assumptions of Aristotle concerning women.\n\nEvery year Church historians are finding more and more documents [that the male historians didn't destroy, that demonstrate that women did hold office [legitimately] in the church as ----deacons, presiders and even bishops.\n\nIf people don't read and study [and too many conservatives are loathe to do that], then of course, they think that the old Catholic status quo that was taught to them as kids----was instituted by Jesus. IT WAS NOT!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Croesus: <>\n\n[Warning! Neon Antisemitic Catholic hate site.]\n\nhttp://www{.}realjewnews{.}com/?p=476", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Never said I was a Christian or that I believed in a god or gods. I can't prove that one exists just as you can't prove that one doesn't. So it's an opinion not a fact.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nora, you are quite right about Latin America, especially in Brazil. The lay preaching is tremendous as is the music in any number of churches there. Nuns also do a lot, running so many institutions and filling in or working along side active or designated lay people in parishes. But the homilies or preaching is what strikes one and the music, with whole congregations singing, loudly and stoutheartedly. Of course, bishops in many of these regions simply accept it. There aren't enough priests, so lay people take over. They allow it or simply look the other way, let it ride. One thing's for sure, however -- you don't hear of mergers, not when Congregations can come up with designated lay people -- lay preachers, deacons, advisors, administrators, etc. And although some Brazilian bishops have asked their fellow bishops as a national body (in the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops) to ordain worthy men to the priesthood, the Conference hasn't opted for that (yet).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course, if they've convinced themselves that contraception is g a sin, it's not that far of a stretch to convince yourself that the other sexual sins aren't sins, that missing Mass isn't a sin, and soon enough the only sin is not being \"nice\" and not recycling, and you are basically not Catholic anymore in your beliefs. This is the road to apostasy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is an argument I have used against those here who whilst claiming to be Catholic, post comments which unequivocally reject the Catholic Church's teaching and actively advocate and promote the faith and structure of Protestantism. I can only conclude that their ties to the Catholic Church are no deeper than cultural much in the same way as Jews are drawn to return to the family for the rituals of Pesach, Hanukkah, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is not that Jesus was not male. My point is that maleness is a limitation of the human condition, not essential for his priesthood. Divine persons cannot be reduced to the limitations of human gender pronouns. God the Father is not exclusively male. God the Son was not a male before the incarnation. For the redemption, and the sacramental economy, the masculinity of Jesus is as incidental as the color of his eyes. If my theology of the priesthood is incoherent, then the patriarchal theology of the priesthood is even more incoherent and utterly incompatible with the \"new creation\" brought about by the redemption. Again, please study St John Paul II's TOB (for example, section 8:1) on the difference between bodiliness and sexuality. Let me know if you find, in the Gospels, any explicit revelation about the maleness of Jesus being instrumental for the redemption. See also the TOB 114, 116, 117 on Tobit. I find nothing on masculinity having intrinsic value apart from femininity", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...all three religions have traversed periods of extremism, such as the Spanish Inquisition (Christianity) and, more recently, the fanatic Jewish settlers in Israel\u2019s Occupied Territories whose religious claims to the land eschew the rights of others.\" That seems a little harsh on the Jews of Israel. Are you seriously comparing a virtual genocide in Spain to fighting terrorism in Israel? Jews in Israel who commit crimes face a court. The Inquisition was the court. The population of Muslims in Israel has steadily increased. The population of Jews in Spain was wiped out with the exception of the conversos. Israeli Arabs, Muslim or Christian, are free to hold jobs, buy land, vote, go to court all the rights of a Jewish Israeli or any other Israeli citizen. Jews are not permitted to walk or drive in some Arab cities of the \"West Bank\". They are not permitted to buy land in Hebron. Whose rights are eschewed? I don't think it's the \"fanatic Jewish settlers\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just think how differently Catholics would be socialized if as children they received Holy Communion before experiencing the required indoctrination of confession first!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So find a Protestant church that defines marriage the way you think it should be defined and enjoy!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't know or care about the existence of CAIR until the article came out. You on the other hand have a national profile and a long record of political activism. You are not local in any way shape or form and you clearly come here with a purpose specific purpose.\n\nStill living in Austin Texas?\n\nThe Name is Council for American Islamic RELATIONS. Crude of you to pass on your bias and try to put it into the name of the Organization.\n\nNo one dismisses that there are dangerous people in the Muslim religion that preach extreme bias and violence against other beliefs. The Christian religion has certainly had it's share of radicals as well. No one dismisses that there is propaganda on all sides of the issue of integration of Muslims into American culture. \n\nWork on your problems in Texas, we can take care of our own. Oregon will extablish our own relationship with CAIR in the state. The Muslim folks in the state deserve a voice, we'll see if CAIR is one that works.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have had more than one conversation with someone cohabiting in a nominal second marriage with an apparently valid previous marriage unresolved. I have assisted more than one with processes of having the validity of their marriage considered.\n\nI have observed none of them in that situation present at the rail for Communion. My Catholic friends and relatives do understand the Church's teaching and discipline and don't hold themselves above it.\n\nIf they do such a thing based on some rationale or other, I would hope they would do so where they are unknown in order not to compound their error with scandal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think anyone believes that the bishops equal God. They are, however, successors to the Apostles and as such are endowed with the Apostolic teaching authority. \n\nThe Church moral teaching concerning sexual ethics was not based on the need for lots of children to help assist with the family economy. It has always been grounded in revealed truth. As for overpopulation, that is a myth. We could fit the entire population of the world in Texas. The problem is not with over population, the problem is that some populations are too concentrated. The problem is also with imbalance regarding food. \n\nTell me--if I am a racist but help the poor and such, am I going to escape the judgement of God just because I supported social justice? My point is that social justice is all well and good--but if a person is not of good moral character, they aren't going to escape God's judgement. In other words--there is more to the Christian life than being a do gooder.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Unquestionable\"? Look at the official Catholic encyclopedia, and read what it says about the origins of the rosary. It completely dismisses that hagiography of St. Dominic. It dismisses other fables as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ms. Marshall - what about that claim? \nFirst - Roe v Wade does not impose abortion; rather, it allows that medical procedure following certain regulations (that various states have added to). No one makes anyone have an abortion (first fallacy of the claim)\nSecond - PPACA merely covers the cost of some contraception because PPACA sees this as....a) part of women's healthcare and PPACA was designed to provide male/female health equity; b) contraception and education are seen as part of overall wellness (another PPACA goal to correct prior health deficits (2nd fal)\nThird - no one is forced to use contraception; coverage is required but, again, catholic morality sees that as a very distant cooperation and many theologians argue that the dignity of a human being; employee rights, etc. suggest that folks such as Hobby Lobby, etc. violate other folks' freedom of religion. i.e. Humanae Dignitatis vs. Li'l Sisters of the Poor.\nFourth - every study proves that contraception reduces abortion", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Opus Dei doesn't decree or have a politics. Its \"agenda\" is focused on helping ordinary Christians pursue personal holiness and apostolate in the world (less focus on the parish): How are we drawing closer to God in our ordinary day, how are we helping God by bringing souls closer to His love, etc.\n\nIt doesn't do protests and make nice flashy banners.\n\nThe formation given by it, however, might touch on how various attachments or vices or habits that we have accumulated in our lifetime could be keeping us from a closer and more lively relationship with God and others.\n\nWhat resentments do I have, hold on to, nurse?\nHow does my pride drive my motives, interior monologue? \nHow do my preferences and tendencies try my wife's patience?\nDo I seek consolation in technology (or in my reputation, or in my credentials, or position, or writing) or do I seek the will of God using the instruments that God gives me.\n\nOr five thousand other points of growth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for your reply. Thomas Merton wrote about the Zen masters from a contemplative perspective comparing Satori with Christian mysticism.\n I have thought for some time that Christians may need enlightenment, in the sense that they become aware of themselves and others in the light of truth. That is accomplished with the aid of the Holy Spirit, which has manifested in religions world-wide as Sophia, or wisdom. \n There is nothing I have said here that is not found in the documents of Vatican II or the writings of the spiritual masters. The imperative remains to think critically and take responsibility for what one believes to be true. Merely accepting authority without conscious and informed conviction is not enough. \n The Catechism was written by and for the Curia. It contains many theological blunders which go unnoticed because they are fundamental to maintaining the status quo and the hegemony of Canon law. St. Paul wrote: \"We are not under law but under grace\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Peggy and the \"current Economist\"\ncould spend some time pondering on \n\nreligious persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "HL's antiquity collections and its alleged \"anti Catholic\" propaganda are two different topics. \n\nI kept reading the article for an example of the Green's anti-Catholicism, but there were none to be found. Par for the course in what passes for journalism on this site.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps His Holiness secretly favors Ms. Zagano's position on the ordination of women as Catholic priests. He's merely allowing his cardinals some time to get on board before he makes his stance very public!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which judges do you think will uphold the 9th Circuit decision? I think only Kagan and Sotomayor may do so, and maybe not even Kagan. If Sotomayor finds herself 8-1, she may even recognize she is way out of step and flip. The other justices have ruled for religious freedom many times, and won't change just because minors are involved. This is not presented as a bet, just a prediction. Christians don't gamble, as a general rule. Trying to change the subject to football brain injuries or Trump won't help your case. So we will see in due time. But I think you are riding a long shot, Hugh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was also fully human which is one the unique features of Christian ideology.\n\nIf 'truth' is universal it is available to other religions. \n\nI do not use Jesus as my 'get out of jail free card'. I try to behave in attitude and action that is consistent with his life and teaching. \n\nSince your prefer a literal interpretatoon, just how many souls will be taken to heaven at the rapture? What makes you think you are one who qualifies? You seem fine judging my fitness, try it on yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You do realize that things have changed in Russia since 1917? Communist Russia closed most if not all Catholic Churches, who in turn were forced underground. For some reason Putin has become close with the Russian Orthodox Church. Hopefully his conversion is real, even if he has ulterior motives, his views on morality regarding Christian values are similar to the Roman Catholic Church. I don't trust Putin for a minute, however that does not mean I cannot agree with some of his actions involving the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic families are large. Follow the reasoning from there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What could be more important you can do that recieve the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ on Sunday?\n\nWanting to be anywhere else but physically with the Lord on Sunday, now that's sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@Noa\nFour members have been Prime Ministers of Canada, \nSir John A. Macdonald (father of \u00ab Canadian Federation \u00bb of 1867\nbut not \u00ab Father of Canada \u00bb which is Sir Samuel de Champlain in 1608 ), \nSir John Abbott, \nSir Mackenzie Bowell (a past \u00ab Grand Master \u00bb (?)), \nand John Diefenbaker. \nIn 1927 the \u201cOrange\u201d movement gave birth to a more intolerant and racist group, the Canadian Ku Klux Klan, which had its deepest roots in small towns in Saskatchewan because of the \"yellow peril\", but also because of the blacks...Jews...Catholics...\n(The \u201cKu Ku Nest\u201d in the province campaigned against= teaching French + wearing the religious habit + the presence of crucifixes in schools.)\nIn 1972, there were an equal number of members across Canada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's put a 10 Commandments sculpture for Christians, a Ganisha for Hindus, a goat for Wiccans, etc. \nIt's a public space and shouldn't be a platform for religious claptrap.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your friends might be correct but your conclusion does not make sense. Nothing in the Bible requires Christians to wear crosses, but the cross is connected to Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The real catholics are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Europe's issues aren't a secret: Rotherham, Theo van Gogh, Charlie Hebdo, cultural segregation - the height of Europe's politically correct impotence was in full display after the Charlie Hebdo massacres, only a qualified defence of free speech, even in these pages. Qualified in the sense that the violence of killing cartoonists was denounced but then suggestions the cartoonists shouldn't have \"provoked\" the reaction to begin with. Cultural relativism makes it ok to skewer Judaism and Christianity but any satire of Islam is unconscionable to \"enlightened\" progressives. Why is that? Why is Islam beyond reproach? Blasphemy is punishable by death in certain jurisdictions, it makes burning witches in Salem seem normal. Perhaps a 600 year grace period is in order? \"Progressives\" are champions of head coverings but fail to adopt the same courage towards secular female muslims ostracized for choosing not to cover their head, it's not like their forced to wear it, unless they are...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, nothing to do with anti-abortionists, except they have no chance on either gay marriage (or any other gay equality issue) or on abortion in federal court. Promising differnently is fraud but none of this has anything to do with parish pastoral care (until people start demanding Catholic gay weddings).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All this yammering by supposed Christians about how all the horrible things that happen, i.e., mass shootings, hurricanes, etc. are due to some imaginary deity's anger is simply asinine and a demonstration of how far behind the times far too many Americans are by comparison with most of the rest of the developed world. \nYeah, sure I guess white Evangelicals have yet to reach the full-blown insanity of ISIS tribalists but they aren't that far behind. Ms. Overholser, you want the Ten Commandments on display? Put 'em in your yard but just because people can read them doesn't mean they have to follow them and since these Jewish laws have been adopted by evangelical Christians but not necessarily by everybody else, let them be the first to follow them. Problem is they don't. (People claiming to be) Christians fornicate, Christians are adulterers, Christians steal, Christians cheat and Christians kill. The price America is paying is the price of having ridiculously irresponsible gun laws.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The actual truth is Jesus the Christ is Lord and Savior of EVERY Born-Again,Blood-bought,Spirit-Filled child of Almighty God, something that I have been since 1976. And whoever the Lord our God used to compile His Word, it's STILL called The Word of God. I myself believe every word of it, from Genesis to Revelation, and I was/still am taught the Truth of The Word of God by the only True Teacher of Holy Spirit,the Author of it, The Holy Spirit, who Our Savior said would be our Teacher per the Gospel of John chapter 14; and trust me,He is a FAR better teacher than ANY mere man.(Or woman,for that matter.) So...that's all I have to say on this issue, my friend. I will leave you with this:\" Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths\"---Proverbs 3:5,6. That is my everyday guiding verse and principle, and in 42 years and counting it has NEVER failed me. PEACE TO YOU IN CHRIST.---\ud83d\ude01\ud83d\ude01\ud83d\ude01!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ONE MORE PLEA FOR REASON: \nAs an early \"boomer\" I was surrounded with repeated stories of Nazi's horrible evils. I know now this revealing, painful AND HIGHLY PERSONAL. All of it was accompanied by one cry! \"NEVER AGAIN!\" My reasonable Catholic friends, this is the exact tactic Father Frank Pavone used! It is the most important work of the faithful, shed light in the darkness! Abortion is NOT a private act! It is the act of some, willfully taking the life of another! The sweet baby on the alter, dead and alone, was that victim! As a Catholic, learned from holy Rabbis this extremely IMPORTANT TRUTH! He had survived, and spent his time studying the truths surrounding evil. This, he said is the greatest truth. \"Evil needs darkness!\" Catholics should not agree with darkness. No good person should agree with darkness!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Even lowly serfs knew the doctrinal points in the Creed\". They RECITED them on Sundays. Just as tots can be taught to spell word like M I S S I S S I P P I----but not know the difference between vowels and consonants, syllables, or even what Mississippi is. The lowly serfs didn't know 'doctrinal points'. One of the reasons why Guilds had Morality Plays---was to teach the people about Christian living. The reason why churches/cathedrals had stained glass windows depicting scenes from Christ's life/saints etc. was to teach the people about the life of Christ---otherwise they would not know about it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd hesitate to speculate on what Jay Edward or any other poster thinks, but I will share my own thoughts on the matter. \n\nFirst, just because a belief system isn't Christian doesn't mean it is automatically demonic. Like any religion with deep historic roots and a large membership (including Christianity), Hinduism has a mixed record, but it would be unfair not to acknowledge all the good that has been done throughout the world by Hindus.\n\nSecondly, the difference between faith and magic is that faith is based on trust in God's goodness, and magic is based on the belief that the physical world can be manipulated by certain words and actions. The notion that a person enters the realm of the demonic just by assuming a certain pose smacks of magic, not faith.\n\nAs for the Demon Deacons, I'll confess to having a soft spot since their Men's Basketball Coach is KU legend Danny Manning. One must bow to royalty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why the drop in the number of Christians in the West Bank, & increasing in Israel?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandering to all sides is not bringing back respect. If he stands for everything, he stands for nothing. That would make him not a Catholic, but a Universal Unitarian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, you could have voted for the ONLY christian on the ballot. The only one who has remained faithful to her husband and has kept her family together. The one who is modest and kind. And incredibly well qualified.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I also think this is good, public coverage of a difference of opinion within the Church. Good articles in secular press showing even those inside the Church are not in agreement. Of course, it is Jesuits speaking - God Bless them! The bishops really cannot use the imperial \"we\" when talking about what Catholics believe, as Archb Hart tried to do in his pastoral letter and U.S. Lori tried to do so many times in talking about what Catholics believe on \"religious liberty\" here in this country.\n\nWhat is important to me is we are seeing bishops backing down, being forced to back down. And, maybe, listening, finally. We are seeing Catholics with influence publically breaking ranks with the bishops. This could never have happened 10 years ago. \n\nCatholic bishops in Ireland had some lessons to learn from the laity. Maybe the Australians bishops are also learning that \"everyone leads.\" It is really not all them and they need to listen before they speak.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are too many problems with the empty tomb to establish it historically as anything but uncertain.\n\nFor one thing, Paul makes no mention of an empty tomb, even in the credal profession he transmits in 1 Cor 15 that states simply Christ \"was buried.\" Nor does Paul make any mention of Mary Magdalene or other witnesses to the empty tomb, instead attributing witness to Christ's \"appearance\" to \"Cephas and the twelve\" (itself an intriguing discrepancy from the narrative that Peter was one of the twelve and presumably by the time of the Resurrection Judas was on the run or dead, though maybe Mary Magdalene was the thirteenth and \"twelve\" retained as a trope).\n\nBut let us grant there was an empty tomb. The gospels offer apologetics in response to contemporary skeptics who assumed Jesus's body had been stolen, or its whereabouts confused. Further, at least two if not three of the canonical gospels copy from Mark, so there appears to be ONE extant source for the empty tomb.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not our first trip through your privacy anxiety. Nor the second. Nor the third.\n\nYour assertion that priests \u201cnose into the living arrangements\u201d appears to be unfounded. He is a pastor, not simply a clerk, and if you self-identify as a Catholic and parishioner, you\u2019ve only yourself to blame.\n\nIf you\u2019re concerned about a record of Baptism, get a notarized statement that you performed Baptism using the valid form and date and time with witnesses. At worst the child will be conditionally baptized later in the unlikely even that she or he every marries in the Catholic Church having been raised in an environment where what he or she does is none of the priest\u2019s business.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...they have to be given some voice in what is done and some share in the power....\"\n\nI wholeheartedly agree with you. I also tend to be more optimistic about Australia, which has an excellent Catholic secondary school system, run, for all practical purposes, by the laity. (The Australia Church educates one out of five Catholics in the country. That is impressive.) Right now, I think Australian lay Catholics are given, on a local level, a lot of \"voice,\" as it were. And that voice will only grow. I am not sure about Ireland, but that Church also has an impressive Catholic school system, run mainly by the laity. The bishops will have to listen to the laity. I just think, owing to this mess or crisis, the laity in the developed world, at least, will have a much more engaging say in the running of the Church as a whole in their respective communities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thus history has been white-washed in this regard and needs a serious re-writing and show the truth about Judaism: They moved on to Christianity, then to Islam, then to other things a *LONG* time ago. Some people today find incredible power drawing from our real human history. They took that power and created a a global war to re-create the apostate religions we see today. Even this was history repeating itself.\n\nThe Truth: Zionists have always paid/provoked Christian Zionists into fearing Islamic Meccanists and thus crusading against real Islam, real Christianity, and real (Palestinian Talmud) Judaism. \n\nThis is why the Palestinians have 97% DNA match with Abraham and Sephardi Jews (like me) have nearly 0%. And there you have it", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only reason we put up with Rome is to author the rites. Even a Catholic Leftist like me knows that. Still, if there is enough heart burn with the Ratzinger liturgical camp, expect pressure for an independent English Langauge Patriarch to take these functions. So far, I have not seen such pressure. Maybe over female ordination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Buster, I see your point. My apologies for my unintended implication that you or any other Catholics could have sheep-like allegiance to anyone. It was judgmental and unChristian of me to do so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If a church is a hospital ward for believers then the church people should tend to the sick(os) among them and leave other people alone. I'll agree that evangelicals need something for what ails them. You say \"eventually\" their deeds will come to light. Some of us aren't waiting for some imaginary judgement day. If the Republican party--at the behest of evangelicals--continue their woman-hating agenda that seeks to remove basic rights--healthcare rights, workplace protection rights--these same evangelicals are going to see campaigns and protests where they \"worship.\" We will politicize their so-called faith and will seek to tax their churches and bring to light for all to see the routine abuses that go on behind the closed doors of these churches. It won't be Sunday as usual for evangelical churches. It'll be hello protests every Sunday. We'll invite the Satanists to join our efforts. They're a fun crowd.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Headline: Catholic organization seeks youth, find little interest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's no evidence that the Koch's oppose Catholic social teaching.\n\nSupposedly, Pope Francis's pronouncements define about what is and what is not orthodox \"Catholic Social Teaching\" But his words are so vague they remind me of the book of Revelation. Or a book by Marx, and in that case, not so vague.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Doctrines are NOT sacred! And you just can't seem to get it through your mind that Jesus did not 'pitch his tent among us'----because he loved our doctrines! Jesus did it because God [Father, Son and Holy Spirit] loves us.\n\nAll your carping about what is required of Catholics is empty. What is required of Catholics is to mirror Jesus [spiritually] and continue his mission on this earth. Your judgment of people----indulging themselves is most un-Christian attitude. You don't know the sorrows that many have had---and you don't care. Only doctrines seem to matter. \n\nWhen Jesus stated \"Father forgive them for they know not what they do\"---he wasn't judging---but apparently you are. \"Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For the judgment you make, you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.\"\n[Matt. 7:1-3].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And...over in the UK the faithful have some of their feast days back--Epiphany on 6 Jan and Ascension on the Thursday nine days before Pentecost. Such a happy development, probably the most significant Catholic news of the day, and not a word about it written here!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rmiller101 said:\n\n>>Northern Ireland should hold a referendum with the option to quit the UK and reunify with the Republic of Ireland.<<\n\nEasy to say, but harder to put into action, for a variety of historical and political reasons. However, for the right odds I would put a bet on a united Ireland before an independent Scotland.\n\nIn Northern Ireland, demographics are inexorably leading to Unionists (Protestants) being in the minority in the next 20 to 30 years, partly due to a higher birth rate amongst the Nationalist (Catholic) population and a higher emigration rate by Protestants (I am an example of that; we left in the late 70s at the height of the Troubles).\n\nThere was going to be an increasing clamour for a \"border poll\" in the 10 years ahead. If Brexit turns out to be bad for N/Ireland (re-imposition of a \"hard\" border etc) then the calls for a border poll will only increase. All it will take is more moderate sections of the Unionists seeing more benefit in the EU than the UK.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's time for Angus and his followers to move on now we are not in the middle ages anymore. Prayer does not work in reality. It works like the placebo effect. People are fooled that they are doing something when they are not. SA is not only a Christian country. So it is advisable to keep your ideas in Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Register does not attack the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "4. How do we participate in the life of God? Has it ever occurred to you that it might be by following His rules for a start?\n5. The early Church was fraught with schisms and heresies until it became more centralised. Democracy was obviously found to be responsible for everyone doing their own thing and rightly abandoned. When one reads what the polls say about the views of today's American Catholics one can imagine how much more of a chaotic state the U.S. Church would be in than it is already if U.S. Catholics were allowed to elect their bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Constantinople/Istanbul has been a capital of Turkey for a long time as well as Byzantine (Roman Christian empire) . Jerusalem has never been a capital for any nation other than the for the Jews.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read Jesus through the lens of the reign of God. He was about turning us in a different direction, away from the direction of line drawing and toward being more responsive to the Spirit within.\n\nI have no special expertise, and I struggle like everyone else. But I have a sense that I am not in the right direction when I take a literal reading as the standard. Everything Jesus said about marriage was in reference to the very low bar of Deuteronomy 24:1. To his audience, what he said called them to a different perspective, one of possibility and promise because it is driven by love of the other. To take what he said literally deprives his teaching of its essence: the reign of God. Jesus did not set a higher bar, he called us to a change in direction. \n\nBut if I lack the joy of love -- which does happen -- then a literal reading is what Christ intends for me. But what Christ hopes for me continues to be the reign of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic life isn't about race in these terms.\n\nGod gave us \"race\".\n\nOur job is to sanctify it, not mute it, not use it to frame our thinking about everything, not use it as part of our \"editorial pattern\", but to sanctify it, with Him Who created it. The PC crowd, clearly NCR, simply thinks about race in mere 2D. \n\nGod wants us to think of things like race in 3D, seeing the supernatural element in it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Due to their experiences, the Christians you speak of may harbour Islamophobic thoughts and feelings. And you know what that means these days.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cWe love the pope and we are with him\u201d - circa March 13, 2013.\n\nAs to whoever the next pope is, NCR may or may not love or be with him.\n\nIt seems liberal Catholics think the man is more important than the office he holds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your interpretation of what I said is very wrong and I think you know it. My interpretation of the Catholic Church is Lucas's idea of the Force, but when people believe that they know exactly the perfect doctrine they can not let in the light. They indeed are likened to the \"Dark Side.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians remained the largest religious group in the world in 2015, making up nearly a third (31%) of Earth\u2019s 7.3 billion people, according to a new Pew Research Center demographic analysis. So 69% are NOT Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very similar to my journey. I have found \"Roman Catholic Women Priests\" to be more 'Christian' than the 'official' Church.\nThe refusal to Ordain Women appears to make all other 'Dogma' questionable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The one that has us in the Creed possibly claiming that Christ died only for those reciting the Creed (because \"men\" is likewise a four letter word)?\"\nMen is not a four-letter word. I am personally quite fond of many men. But I don't feel included when people speak of men. What wrong with \"Christ died for all\" ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One line of thinking Pope Francis' MO is to get SSPX a personal prelature and then abolish Summorum Pontificum, thus putting trads in a sort of ghetto away from other Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Francis faces opposition because of his radical stances on issues like social justice for the poor, his embrace of liberation theology, his attacks on clericalism as well as tackling corruption within the Vatican. \n\nOn the sex abuse front, \"placating victims\"? So prosecuting priests from El Salvador for sex abuse is just \"placating\"? Getting the courts in Spain to prosecute and judge 10 Catholic priests guilty of sex abuse is placating? Setting up Tribunals to investigate Bishops is placating? Even people like Fr. Thomas Doyle, who has been an outspoken advocate for sex abuse victims, has praised some of his recent moves on the issue. \n\nAnd yeah I am harsh in my words. Because your statement \"he's sorry they got caught\" is despicable character assassination. People like you wanna have your cake and eat it too. If Francis does nothing, that proves that he isn't genuine. If he does something, then his actions are useless anyways. So your not actually really interested in a solution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As it should be! Easter is the greatest of feasts, Christ trampling down death is the completion of the nativity. God uniting to man and redeeming through sacrificial death so that those who die with Christ also may be glorified eternally!\n\nAs for the Eastern praxis, it is strignent, but they do it in a truly pastoral manner instead of the sometimes legalistic approach in the Latin rite. Instead of having one set minimum bar to reach, they guide their flock towards the ideal.\n\nThe same can be done in the west, except of course for the pastoral guidance beyond the minimum requirements, which I think is lamentable.\n\nAre you Eastern Catholic by any chance?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As for my \"apostolic succession \", my orders are four steps removed from the consecration of Arnold Harris Mathew by the Dutch Old Catholic bishops, regarded by Rome as valid but illicit. Interestingly enough, the Dutch bishop's lines of succession and therefore mine, are for the most part the same as most of the modern day popes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perfectly timed for the 50 Anniversary of the Summer of Love and the start of the peace movement against the Vietnam War.\n Hippies loved the \"Indians\" and always said Canada should return their stolen lands. Remember they used to wear feathers and head bands and loved camping out on the land, Anywhere would do. Even the street. They had more moral courage than any folks to hit the planet since the first Christians. They were on the cutting edge of every political, social, economic and cultural change necessary. They were decades ahead of their time. Many paid a big price for it.\n The 1960's hippies changed the world. Today's young can't even provide clean water to our indigenous people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent rebuttal .\n\nMy goal is not to brand all religions/denomination as evil. But a church is much like a human life with periods of maturity, fear, joy, growth, sickness and in rare cases a real psychosis.\n\nBoth the Christian and Muslim churches are large human organizations with a lot of diversity in ideology and behavior. I believe Muslims are unfairly stereotyped. \n\n\nIt's equally clear that the concern for radical Islamic terrorism is based on very real evidence of extreme violence, justified as religious commands. *At it's center are men grabbing for power and resources. That's a human not devine motivation. \n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then why do so many Protestants with intelligence, scholarship, knowledge of biblical language, come up with so many different interpretations of scripture? I agree, \"Roman Catholicism isn't a scriptural or doctrinal monolith\". There are many things that are unsettled and we can legitimately disagree about. However, faithful Catholics are agreed on the fundamentals of our faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(continued)\nthose who are such poor Christians they cannot tolerate difference in perspective even from those who are in basic agreement. This is not the kind of mindset that speaks of a truly mature adult. And not, even, of a faithful Catholic who is secure in their own belief. Attacking someone's innate dignity and worth is not \"defending the faith,\" but instead violates the direct teachings of Jesus, Our Savior. Your determination of Sr. Chittister's \"right\" to be called sister is not yours to make as you have no standing in the Catholic community to do so, no canonical right, and the fact is that those who do still address Joan as \"sister.\" That you won't is simply a testament to how you use Catholicism when it is convenient for you, but without a full commitment to what it really means. You want respect for the unborn? It can only happen when you demonstrate a basic respect for those of us already here. I again ask you to reconsider your approach to the rest of us here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course changes to Medicaid will affect the poor. Only the poor are eligible to receive Medicaid. Cuts to the NEA will affect the arts; cuts to HUD will affect those receiving government housing; cuts to the CFPB will hurt . . . people who like British period dramas (?).\n\nWhy don't you just say what you mean? The only government programs that that the Catholic left is fine with cutting are defense programs. If Republicans even mentions cutting anything else, they will vilified, even by the bishops, as anti-poor, anti-elderly, anti-child, not pro-life, and un-Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Examples:\n- interpreting scripture literally e.g. creation stories, miracles of Jesus\n- starting with canon law as the core of Catholicism (condemning all others who do not stat with canon law\n- believing that there is no difference between dogmas and doctrines\n- believing all papal pronouncements to be infallible\n- believing the *magisterium* = God\n- using *intrinsic evil* incorrectly\n- use of atonement theology exclusively\n- liturgy must be in latin\n- the church is not semper reformada (using this pretext to condemn anyone who sees the church trying to both walk in faith and read the signs of the times)\n- those who reject VII (SSPX is an example)\n\nIn other words - (1) over-simplification of beliefs, (2) dogmatization of those beliefs, (3) villainization of everyone outside the group", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow totally false information to deflect religious ownership for mass murder.\n\nPlay on words to say atheists killed more. \n\n Hitler was raised in a very religious household whose father was very violent\nThis is what Hitler stated:\n\nMy feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Saviour as a fighter\u2026\u201d In his autobiography Mein Kampf (1.2), Hitler stated:\n\n Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.\n\n\nMao Tse Tong raised in a very Bhuddist household.\n\nStalin's father was a priest who was a violent parent to Stalin.\n\nPol Pot was initially educated at a monastery in the capital city of Phnom Penh and later attended a French Catholic school. \n\n\nSo you see all the 'atheist' murderers were raised in an intrinsically violent religious household with religious education.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, MSW - a better approach would be to say that Chaput is also on the list of four politicians. The Church is not a country club only for certain folks who meet a subjective measure - that is what is horrible about Chaput.\nChaput sees himself as judge; he does not accompany or walk with us - he judges. He believes that he is the elite and then hypocritically judges others for being elite.\nYou say - \".......that do no cohere with Catholic social doctrine regarding the sanctity of human life\" Sorry, you fall back again to a meme about what is pro-life (you do later state abortion but you waffle around whether this is pro-birth or more comprehensive). You leave out so much in terms of the sanctity of human life - thus, the four mentioned all meet the pro-life measures for the economy, climate change, feeding and bringing healthcare to the world sufferings; immigrants; access to health equity for all, etc. Like Chaput, you use old, narrow categories. Sad!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't believe I said that at all, did I?\n\nIt is always best to have the facts all available, pure and without spin, before fudging and judging the actions of the past with contemporary eyes. Realizing of course, the circumstances of the situation (rightly or wrongly, the child had been baptised), understanding the LAW at the time (that a baptised child could not be raised in a non-Christian home), what was Pius to do? Break the law? Become a party to apostasy? \n\nThere is much to consider. One would hope this movie will not merely be another form of Catholic bashing that has become so popular. \n\nPerhaps he can follow this movie up with the stories of Irish Catholic children kidnapped on the streets of NY and Boston, claiming they were \"orphans\"....and sent to live with Protestant families in the West. Perhaps when Irish Catholic children were gathered up in Ireland & sent to England during the dock strikes....to Protestant families, of course.\n\nInteresting stories all....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I never claimed to be representative, though I think that my conclusions are quite defensible. Mr Bindner's idea of giving it a few months is a good one. Let's see how it goes. What Catholics across the board want is as yet unclear to me at any rate and I read a lot of sources! what the Hierarchies involved are willing to do is also unclear - though I did note the comments from Ireland. No one expects a return to Latin - strawman. Have a good one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, you must believe in all of the crazy - not just some of it. Or you could succumb to bring a rational human and realize ALL the gods ever worshipped had one thing in common - they were man-made. \n\nThe Christian god should be sued for plagiarism - they basically copied earlier religions. Just look up Epochs of Gilgamesh. And how ironic the pastor simply can't admit the Bible is not clear, when there are literally a hundred different interpretations and denominations. They can't even agree whether people go to heaven right away or after a rapture. It's all so bogus - only believed because of childhood indoctrination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catechism of the Catholic Church is not and never has been in conflict with Jesus' express and clear teaching on love, especially love of enemy. It may be in conflict with your interpretation thereof.\n\nThe Natural Law is not a dynamic. It is the rules built into the creation, one of which is Man.\n\nSince the fundamental right of men is life, taking the actions to preserve it is consistent with the Natural Law. In fact, not taking actions to preserve your life, the life of your family, and the defense of your society may itself violate the Natural Law depending on the conditions.\n\nThis is hardly a \u201cpeculiar position for the Catholic Church\u201d since its uncompromising teaching against abortion is based on the divine command \u201cYou shall not commit murder\u201d. That same command renders attacks on civilian population centers, such as the atomic bombing of Japan or the firebombing of Dresden during WWII intrinsically immoral.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I could not agree more. All of our old \"institutions\" (church, government, education etc) are imploding right now. The reality is that Catholics all over the world are \"growing up\" and taking responsibility for their personal development. The clergy has not embraced \"growing up\". Instead, they sit in their bishop chairs, proclaim from on high and have no idea what faith struggles are today. \n\nCatholics can't depend on their \"church\" for direction but rather follow Jesus and look at what Jesus would do. The credibility of bishops does not exist, and their only answers to problems is to blame someone else. The diocesan seminarians of today(at least in Detroit), are being trained as they were in the 1950's. \n\nThe lack of women in the Catholic Church structure only deepens the issues of today. I see little hope except with Pope Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "DonInKansas,\n\nYou are absolutely correct about the title given to the Superior General of the Jesuits. This title came into use after the Council of Trent, when the Jesuits put Trent's decrees into action. The Jesuits then, directed by Ignatius Loyala, took a special vow \"to serve the Roman pontiff as God's vicar on earth and to execute immediately and without hesitation all that the reigning pope or his successors may enjoin upon them.\"\n\nAnother bit of history about the Jesuits: within twenty-five years after their founding in 1540, the Jesuits had attracted over a thousand of the most educated, zealous, reform-minded men in Europe.\n\n\n:-) Pope Francis IS the REIGNING POPE, so he can't be elected as Superior General of the Jesuits.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They will make the fatherland great again, they say,\nby weeding out the non-Christians and \"dangerous\" ethnic people,\nby slashing aid to the elderly and care for the poor, and by building the greatest military the world has ever seen.\nThey will publicize government-sponsored lists intended to demonstrate the \"criminality\" of the ethnic other.\nThey condemn revelation of inconvenient facts as merely the continued plotting of the L\u00fcgenpresse.\nAnd they brag to their admirers about the inspiration for all those plans, not being the least bit shy about doing so.\nCall it what it is\u2014and call Republican support for their plans what it is, as well.\nTrumpism = Fascism = Nazism = Republicanism.\nThe right adopted Trump and his agenda, all of it. The Fascism, the Racism, the Nazism.\nThat's what winning looks like.\nYou're a winnner.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From the Christian perspective, \"human life\" = \"immortal life;\" and to use traditional theological language, understood as immortal, human vs animal life comes into existence with ensoulment. The immortality of human life does not come into existence as the result of the evolution of homo sapiens, but is a unique creative act of God in each and every instance of each and every human person. \n\nWe have no revelation as to when ensoulment occurs, so over 2000 years, theologians and philosophers have attempted to infer when ensoulment occurs on the basis of whatever biology was available to them in any given century. With the modern discovery of DNA and the fertilization process, in our time the Church faceted on conception as the biological moment when ensoulment seems likely.\n\nRelatively recent information to the effect that as many a 75% of fertilized eggs are unable to implant and are thus thus naturally aborted is beginning to raise doubts about this assumption.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or we could pay attention to the most obvious form of misogyny, and take a real stand against the foundation of most misogyny, which is the kind of misogyny found in religion, including Catholicism. Misogyny doesn't get much more obvious than only men are sacred enough for all of our sacraments, only men can be priests, only men can have a vote and voice in our church and become Bishops, Cardinals and Popes. \n\nCulture more often than not has come from our religious beliefs. So even though neither Jesus Christ or any of the original 12 apostles ever stated women could not be anything they wanted to be, and felt called to be by God, we continue to discriminate and oppress all of our women. Creating a church that really only values our women, as recently pointed out by our Pope, while in Europe, as baby makers who produce male ordainable priests. I believe he told European women you have so few children thats why you have no priests. (not because I won't ordain all the women called.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic colleges in the sixties and seventies were like many schools in their opposition to the Viet Nam war and their support of civil rights. Even Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa had civil rights protests and sit-ins. Is that a Catholic thing to do? Of course. Also a Christian thing to do. Was there a huge pro-life pressence? Not really. Central America attracted as much or more attention when I was a student in the early 80s.\n\nI found the chapel to be well used and there were plenty of students who never went to Mass, whether it was because their parents had stopped at home or they were tasting freedom, I cannot say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Michael\nQuite right that Augustine and many others added to St. Paul's concept of 'original sin' \u2013 but I think it did have it's origin with Paul and his desire to 'mythologize' Christ as the 'bringer of Life' to the world, and so made a mis-connection to a 'first man who brought death' through disobedience.'\n\nIt is Paul who first twists the myth - first by not recognizing it as a myth \u2013 and then making the disobedience as 'bringing' or causing death, when in the myth itself it is clear that 'Adam' was created with death expected, and would have had to eat of that magic 'tree of life' in order to prevent it.\n\nWhen the myth story has God saying \"When you eat of the forbidden tree, you shall 'surely' die, the emphasis should be on the word 'surely'. Before that, it wasn't 'sure' yet, since that 'tree of life' was still accessible.\n\nMary being 'conceived without original sin' turns out to be quite factual, since there was no Adam and Eve, and so no sin. 'Original sin' is the myth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't take professors from Wyoming Catholic College (an unaccredited institution that is only slightly more legit than Trump University), assorted former Anglican ministers who jumped sects because lady bosses give them cooties, and Young Earth Creationists seriously. Sorry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Define \"Catholic\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here we go with the Faux Christian thing again! What would Jesus do?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's just reality. Amazing what some people take offense at. They seem \"spring-loaded\" to take offense nowadays. Seriously.\n\nUnderstanding the Church's teaching on the moral life is a life long task (and it should be a happy life long task, something else that most people won't understand...they'll say..\"what do you mean happy?), and unfortunately, most Catholics stopped learning about their faith at 6th, 8th, or 12th grade.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for the excellent summary of the report of Cahill and Wilkinson on sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church around the world. While my own research, (in \"The Church Reborn\") fully supports the extent of the abuse and the incredible callousness and disregard for future victims displayed by those in authority n their anxiety to escape responsibility I have never realized how far back this problem existed in history. Neither did I realize that Pius X and Pius XI were responsible for an increase in the problem by lowering the age for confession and imposing strict secrecy on reporting such crimes in the new Code of Canon Law.\nBut the most outstanding contribution seems, to me at least, to be their account of the history of the problem over the centuries and their analysis of how the clerical culture concealed the crimes.\nThe two authors will probably not receive the thanks they deserve but they may achieve the changes we need in the Church.\nThank you both.\nBill Keane", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How does one live without property? (Money earned, clothing, food grown or purchased from someone else, shelter - not just land holdings?). Unless you consider homelessness \"living\"?\nWe are obligated by Christian charity to take care of the immediate, necessary needs of our neighbor. That does not mean we must provide for anyone's ongoing health insurance which is always being improperly redefined to include birth control, abortions, (speaking of the \"least of these\") and even sex change mutilations. There is no comparison between the right to property and healthcare because healthcare is a service, not a right.\n\nPeople need food to live. Does that need give them the right to take what others have labored to grow? People need cars to travel to work and back, tires, gasoline and maintenance too. If healthcare is a right, why not these things or anything and everything else?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know what the Bible says - which is Jesus is the WAY, the Truth and the Life. Gravity is a theory, and I said that Thermodynamics is a law didn't I , but besides being irrelevant to the discussions BOTH of these are a Quantum leap from the Hocus Pocus \"theory\" of the big bang I described above.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's right! It was all about politics as far as Pope Leo X was concerned. Unfortunately, after the Reformation---there was a very bleak aftermath all over Europe. The seventeenth century started off with Christians fighting each other to establish their respective beliefs as superior to each other. It was not only Catholics and Protestants fighting each other, but also Protestants fighting each other as well. By the time that the eighteenth century began---many educated Europeans didn't want anything to do with Christianity in ANY form.\n \n\nBut as you know from history, England eventually captured Spain's supremacy on the seas. And Henry, \"the Defender of the Faith\" ran the Church of England just as authoritatively as any pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Amen (no pun intended).\n\nAnd does anyone see something peculiar in Mike Pence's famous July 2016 assertion \"I'm a Christian, a Conservative, and a Republican, in that order\"?\n\nWhere does that leave being an American? Fourth? Further down?\n\nAnd this man was joyously elected VP by the Christian Right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Having only been to a few remote Alaskan communities, and never for more than a couple of weeks at a time, I'm not prepared to dispute your claims. However, I have seen similar situations in American (and Western) Samoa, where some Mata'i and despotic church leaders wield power which enables them to grievously abuse and exploit their own folks. The ruling elite of the \"Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa\" being among the worst. In Western Samoa they've burned down churches of other denominations and drove their congregants from the island.\n\nOn a global scale such individuals used to be called \"neocolonial administrators\"--i.e., locals who could be bribed and/or hired to keep the \"natives\" in line. Diem, Saddam, Pah'lavi, Noriega, Mubarak and Marcos were among the more prominent examples. Some \"slipped their leashes\", some were driven out by their own people, and some were betrayed by their imperialist \"benefactors\" when it became convenient and/or profitable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not for Catholic organizations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting story. Thanks for sharing.\nWhen my mother referred to the faith of her ancestors, I believe she was only including her Christian ancestors; she never spoke of the paganism with which you're associated.\nIf one were to truly be accurate when speaking of European history, I suspect all Europeans descend from pagans if we trace their heritage back 2,000-3,000 years.\nDo have a great day!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "FC is once again saying \"Neither I nor any other Catholic should think for themselves. If you question the magisterium, you are automatically in the wrong. Adolf Eichman is my role model, as he agreed with me that moral decisions should be made by others, and their orders must be followed.\" \n\nYes, you do set yourself apart from \"dissidents\". We think. You do not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR says: For the Catholic point of view, run to the nearest pro-abortion activist outfit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A few years ago (quite a few) I attended a commencement at at Catholic University outside of Philadelphia. The administration chose a recently named auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese. The students were very vocal in their protest claiming he wasn't famous enough. It made all the local papers. When the bishop addressed the graduates, he thanked them for making him famous. They gave him a standing ovation with much cheering.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. I said the Body of Christ not the People of God. Whilst there is nothing wrong with the latter term itself, these post-Vatican II generations mistakenly interpret it as the Church becoming a democracy where doctrinal decisions on Faith and Morals are subject to universal suffrage.\n2. I don't know what you mean by \"old institutional concepts\". The laws are Gods Laws, the bishops' task is to preach them and all Catholics whether lay or clerical are obliged to keep them.\n3. The old man with the beard is in your imagination and you insult people's intelligence by pretending that older, orthodox Catholics have that concept.\n4. It is all very well talking about \"a relationship with God\" but you don't define it, it could mean anything and it sounds Protestant.\n5. Once again the Church is not a democracy and never will be. The only laity who seem to want to be involved and change everything are liberal dissidents on power-trips.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish Trump supporters actually understood how our government works. Neither HRC nor Trump can just magically make things happen. They have to go through congress to enact laws and pass budgets. Obama found out how that doesn't happen when one side refuses to do their constitutional duty.\n\nFinally, I am getting really tired of Catholics using the abortion card as some holy litmus test that allows them to ignore any other moral issue. That is spiritual sloth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't believe that the Most Holy Eucharist is the actual body, blood, soul and Divinity of Jesus?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The comment \"your comments exactly parallel X\", if X were also posting, would be civil.\n\nSince in this case \"X\" is not present, your memory is demonstrably not all that precise, one would expect Catholic comments on many issues to parallel, and the entire enterprise is simply an elaborate ad hominem intended to impugn the writer rather than discuss one or more issues, it's not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A key to perspective on NCR articles.\n\nWhen you read an article like \"Catholics, health care advocates react to latest executive orders\"\n\nadd at the beginning: \"a few..\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Memo: In the Catholic faith, there is but ONE Supreme Roman Pontiff.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I speak for no one but myself. But I am commenting on the facts. And multiculturalism goes beyond a white/non-white binary. That said our character as an overwhelmingly white Christian country is changing, and will continue to change as a result of immigration and also birth rates among different groups.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "internet pornography is a new topic for which the pope has new words--but his old words are still spinning in the echo chamber that is the Vatican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to Trudeau and the globalists because I am white, Christian and middle class\n\nthis is not my country anymore", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Annie,\nUnless you read that I had written that I was Ukrainian Catholic, how would you know? :-)\nI truly wish that more RCs recognized that we exist and learned a bit more about us.....\nOh, well ....\nI appreciate your interest and your openness to learning. I think that there are so many things to learn, and once we stop learning, we wither up ....\nBut that's just me. :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"... a theological college which confers a Degree in Theology....\"\n\nInteresting you raise that point, Red chook! Religious/monastic orders -- with their rule of celibacy -- have theological colleges of their own for their own seminarians (Jesuits at Jesuit universities, Franciscans at their universities, Holy Cross Fathers at theirs [Notre Dame], etc.) but bishops prefer to have their diocesan candidates study at their own diocesan seminaries. Not sure why, but that is the way it is. (Maybe the theological programs at Catholic universities are too liberal? Not sure.)\n\nAnd of course, Francis has already proposed ordaining married men to the priesthood to National Conferences of Bishops the world over, but our Bishops don't want to go that route. You figure!!!! \nMaybe they feel that it's enough that they have to put up with married clerics of Eastern Catholic Churches, married convert clerics (formerly Protestant), and married Ordinariate priests, they don't need to contend with more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yup. Shows you the sad state of Catholicism in the U.S.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If this saying can be traced back to the historical Jesus, which many biblical scholars question, it remains true that Jesus would have been speaking about a Jewish marriage, which was ritually celebrated in two parts (beginning with betrothal) by the respective families, and did not require the presence of an official witness. Such a union did require formal dissolution for the parties to remarry, but -- as you point out -- there was never any indication that the parties were cut off from the life and worship of the faith community. Whether these words, if historical, can be applied to contemporary situations is doubtful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity is not solely Catholic, and there are plenty of women ministers within Christianity. However the various particular aspects of a religion, shouldn't be an excuse for not integrating within the society you live in. The jewish ghettos that dominated Europe for centuries have now become Muslim ghettos, which are hardly compatible to integration.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"You claimed that the Catechism supports your claim, but you cannot cite a reference because there isn't one.\"\n\nIncorrect. I have cited the Catechism. I'll do so again. See 2321: \"The prohibition of murder does not abrogate the right to render an unjust aggressor unable to inflict harm. Legitimate defense is a grave duty for whoever is responsible for the lives of others or the common good.\"\n\nYou say: \"You claim to be familiar with the Just War theory, but you don't seem to be aware that it is rooted in Natural Law reasoning, from pre- and extra-Christian sources, not in Scripture.\"\n\nI quite aware that just war theory is rooted in Natural Law. In fact, that's what I was alluding to when I said that Jesus' approval of the use of force in self-defense is supported by reason. You yourself are see no rationality in NOT using force to defend the country, otherwise you'd accept what you THINK Jesus taught, and advocate disarming the country. Stop posing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Freedom of religion\" means something quite specific to conservative Catholics. The Democratic Party views religion in terms of non-discrimination. That is, no one should be discriminated against because of their religious beliefs. In addition, the Party notes:\n\n<>\n\nhttps://www.democrats.org/party-platform\n\nI doubt \"a majority of Americans\" would disagree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No wonder the right and Abe Lincoln Republicans are con-fused. So many flavors of cons to pick from..... Fiscal Con., Social Con., Cultural/Christian Con., Neo Con., Paleo Con., Constitutional Con., Libertarian Con., Traditional/National Con., Progressive/Liberal Con., Clickbait & Crunchy Con.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I Know after talking to them about this?\nThey really don't care and its their right not to care but?\nwhat Im saying after doing research ?\ncurrently only 4 Christian radio stations near by?\nKHPE in Albany , KWIL Albany , KLYF based in Coquille , and in Springfield...KQFE or 4?\nNow that when KORE goes back on the air?\nNo more Christian format. True there are some very loyal listeners to Christian radio I know as I stated I worked at KORE as a DJ.\nAnd I had my loyal following , true friends relatives ,,but still they listened . \nsome as an ex girl friend did not want me working in any formats unless it was Christian. her right \nand my right to dis agree , I saw nothing wrong with working at either KZEL, OR KSND. True secular but. I still believe that in order to get a good look at the radio industry one should work \nin secular.\nI have thank the lord I am almost 13 years sober, but I figure I must live in the real world, where I shop for groceries don't they sell beer and wine", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2/2\n\nCharacteristic of Teaching Churches (Catholic, Lutheran, etc): Unquestioned and unquestioning submission to authority, Group-think, Strict hierarchy of bosses, Absence of permitted dissent, Compliance codes, Loss of conscience rights, \u201cBanned books, movies, lectures, articles, etc.\u201d, \u201cOutright disdain for subtlety, ambiguity, or nuance\u201d, \u201c \u2018We are Right; the rest are Wrong\" claims of access to Truth\u201d\n\nTeaching churches typically have hierarchies, dogmas, rules, and bind participants in various ways. For those who disdain that, there are congregational churches and trees in the woods.\n\nThat leaves: Obsessive fear of punishment and other reprisal, Inside spies commissioned to report deviant behavior", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Who knew that taking history seriously could be so costly, or considered such a dangerous undertaking?\"\n\nTaking history seriously is always a dangerous enterprise when there are people who want certain truths ignored, swept under the rug, or forgotten. Congar got into big trouble in the years preceding Vatican II. Fortunately, the council called by St. John XXII rejected the fear dominated thinking of the pre-council years. We are all richer because of Congar's work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Land grab is an understatement!!!!\n\nIsrael finally has been exposed. This is ONLY the beginning .\n\nCongratulations Mr. Obama for having the courage to support fairness.\n\nP.S. Jerusalem should remain an international and neutral city...belonging to the Jews, Arabs and Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fair enough sky, although you must admit that you've posted critical and anti-Muslim posts here often enough in the past that your motivations and biases can easily be inferred. As for your quote from the Koran, so what? Many religions include modest or chaste dress in their beliefs. Personally I'm not in favour of women veiling themselves but if that is a woman's choice how does it affect you personally?\n\nIt's also a bit patronizing of you to think that even though other religious followers, notably Christians, can approach their holy books with a modern viewpoint, adjusting their religious observances accordingly, yet you seem to think that Muslims must all march in lockstep, following the Koran to the letter.\n\nAnd following on our recent exchange about your demand that all Muslims prove their loyalty, have you asked your non-Muslim neighbour if his reasons for not attacking you are legal or ethical?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It would seem that presumptive arrogance of ecclesial position prompted Card. Muller to respond in writing to Ms Collins' letter. Actually, it is fortuitous that he did. It is a glaring example, a teaching moment, of the kind of clericalism that would prompt a sexually abusive priest to deny with impudence. It is also a glaring example and teaching moment, as well, of the Bishop who would deny sexual abuse, facilitate its continuation by denial, obfuscation and further demeaning the victim(s). \nThe presumption that \"sacred trust\" of ordination and \"elevated position\" are sufficient to carry a lie over the sad truth of an \"abused person\" of no apparent leverage is at the core of a clericalism that infects the uber-traditionalist catholic, the seminarian, the priest, bishop, cardinal and even some popes. It is a prime example of systematic and systemic abuse.\nThank you Ms.Collins. An ironic thanks to Card Muller- you caught yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "During Lent Catholics do well to realize when they run across needy people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your observations are correct, TheBlackCloud. Evil messengers of Satan are bringing disrepute upon the True Faith, with all of their false predictions.\nThe countdown (within that generation) won't begin until the ten lost tribes of Israel (the Northern tribes) are returned to the land of Israel. Right now mostly only the Southern tribe, Judah (which is why all modern Israelites are called \"Jews\"), part of Benjamin, and Some of Levi are occupying the land of Israel. The Bible even says that just prior to the last days, many will say that the supposed time has come and gone, and Jesus still hasn't returned.\n1800 years ago, the Christian faith was changed from a dynamic relationship with God, and turned into a superstitious religion. The ones referred to as the \"Unchurched\" may possibly be where the majority of the few real Christians can be found right now.\nI believe that most of them are in countries where they are being heavily persecuted, even being put to death for their faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Traditional\" Catholicism IS authoritarian!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Williams cannot get a job in Catholic journalism on any site other than Breitbart because he knocked up Mary Ann Glendon's daughter and is persona non grata in most Church circles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sacred! They have found religion. Don't they realize the Hawaiian religion was banned by Queen Kaahumanu and King Liholiho, Kamehameha II in thje early part of the 19th century. There was also a huge battle at Milolii Hawaii between those who wanted to restore the Hawaiian religion and those who wanted to be Christians and wanted the ban to remain place. The victors were the Christians and those opposed to the Hawaiian religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Saskatchewan the opposite often happens. Children expelled by the public system often go to the Catholic schools for a second chance with a clean start.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just move it to 'McSorley's\" in the Village. I was there several times in the 60's and it was festooned with Al Smith posters and the beer was cheap. Saw dust on the floor and the broken window leading to \"the\" toiler just said \"toilet\". In Belin last year I was surprised to meet a German lad and a young New Yorker who had not only affirmed that it has survived but is now \"co-ed\" - a big step ahead of the Catholic Church.\nHard to be uncivil at McSorley's - you might just have to stand up and be, well, \"accountable\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Body of Christ has a lot of vestigial organs, and the CDF is one of them. The real test for the long term health of the Body will come with the next pope. It seems unlikely that the College of Holy Celibates will want to make the same mistake twice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Sean O\u2019Malley on sexual abuse crisis: \u2018There is so much denial\u2019 News\nMay 4 2014 - 8:02pm | Josephine McKenna - Religion News Service I read that too. Do you have any more recent ones? That is my point! You may be interested in economic justice for the poor and workers rights for your personal reasons. However, for Catholics, he is the man who need to work on the clergy sex abuse problems instead! And he failed miserably. So, you go work on your agenda with someone else. To a mother/Catholics, child being raped especially by clergy is a thousand time more urgent then all other problems combined period!!! Without resolving clergy sex abuse of children, we may lose our religion all together.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I just don't get it. If you are so unhappy with Catholicism--become Protestant. It is that simple. \n\nDon't worry--you can keep the high church trappings of Catholicism if you like the pageantry--become part of the New Catholic Church or the Anglican communion. They have all of the Roman pageantry--but none of the substance. (Catholicism lite.) That might be a better fit for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did He not show that love to the adultress in John 8? Including the parting exhortation to \"go and sin no more\"?\nIf your argument, as well as bootie's, is centered around \"christians\" and their frequent abusive attitudes towards other sinners besides ourselves, then we have no dispute. However, if, like bootie, you're implying that Christ approves of homosexual \"marriage\", then we indeed have an issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bannon is probably still mad about 9-11 where Israeli's killed over 3,000 of our people or maybe he is still angry about the bombing at the King David Hotel where they killed over 100 of our guys I don't think he is old enough to still be mad about the USS Liberty or Deir Yassin or about the 60 million Christians and Orthodox Russians that the Jewish Bolsheviks killed. We don't know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She is a master of taqiyya, the deception and dissimulation used by Muslims against infidels, kafaars, Christians and Jews to protect Islam from scrutiny. She knows Islam is creating a mess across Europe but she will blame the Europeans because it is her solemn duty to protect the name of Allah and Mohammad. Islam uber alles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus did not found a Church. He taught us to develop a relationship with God. He told his followers that he would send the Holy Spirit to help guide them.\nIt is sad that the doctrines have interpreted Jesus' words to suit its purposes.\nYour concept of ecumenism seems limited to Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stefan,\n\nPatriarchal, matriarchal or shmatriarcal, what does it matter? We're supposed to have our attention focused on God and seeking His ways, not our own. All this argument about who can or cannot serve as pastors ignores the question of whether or not God has called a person to serve and the ample evidence the Holy Spirit gives to support their calling. Ignoring that evidence is clear evidence of unbelief and disobedience instead of faith that God can honor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The issue is not who the customer is, but who the bakers are. They are a Christian couple who do not believe in same sex marriage and cannot morally participate in it without offending their deep beliefs. The gay couple and the state should respect the 1st Amendment rights of the bakers and find another baker as they easily could have. Then everyone gets what they want, instead of the bakers being fined $125,000 and losing their livelihood. That is discrimination against Christians, basically forcing them out of any business that involves weddings. So it\u2019s not about them disliking and discriminating against gays, but about being allowed to follow their own religious beliefs, which was why Europeans originally settled this continent if you will recall. Where can they now go to be both Christians and bakers? Nowhere. But the gays could have found another baker and all would have coexisted just fine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All the bishops in England, Wales and Ireland except one lost their sees at the Elizabethan Reformation. After this the Pontifical was replaced by the Edwardine Ordinal which was declared an invalid Rite by the Papal Bull, Apostolicae Curae of Pope Leo XIII in 1896.\nBy the time the Anglican ordination rites were modified in a Catholic direction in 1662, the Bull states that even if such modifications could have validated the Rite there were no longer any validly ordained bishops in the Anglican Communion.\nApostolic Succession was lost in 1559.\nThe recognition by the C of E of Methodist and other Protestant Orders and their ordination of women are ample proof that Pope Leo XII was absolutely correct.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As to your first point, I guess it's time we realized that a multi-national corporation has taken over the White House. Trump's no Nativist; that was just campaign BS, like when Obama said he was against NAFTA.\n\nBuy American, Hire American...? Think Trump's going to do that? HA!\n\nChristian conservatives are going to have a hard time rationalizing their support for a serial fabricator---but that's on them. Do us all a favor and don't tip them off, ok?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Divorce may be untenable to you but it is realty to many.\"\n\nWhether divorce is untenable to me is beside the point. It was untenable to Christ, and we know this because he said so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The religious right is in steep decline. \"\n\nThat's when they become most dangerous. Cromwell's Puritans were not in the majority when they imposed a Taliban-like regime on England and Ireland. The Iranian mullahs were not in the majority when they seized power in Tehran. The teetotallers who gave the US Prohibition were not a majority of the population.\n\nA tightly organized group of true believers, willing to use violence and intimidation to enforce their world view, can overwhelm a populace that is not organized and determined to defeat them. That's how fascist and communist movements have taken power in many countries.\n\nThere is no suggestion in The Handmaid's Tale that the religious right took power in Gilead by winning at the ballot box. A fundamentalist Christian revolt could happen in the US -- I'm not saying it will -- and one of the precursors would be the Christian right's perception that it is losing ground. That's when it's time to go for broke.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not a question of being \"progressive', Jay. We Catholics don't 'attend' the Mass, we 'participate' in it. It's an important distinction. The Mass is not an entertainment.\nYou used the term 'attend Mass' in your earlier comment.\n'Hearing Mass' is a term which Catholics usually use to describe participating in the Mass without receiving Holy Communion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, if the standard for statues is going to be how you explain to your fifth grade daughter why this guy is considered so wonderful, Catholic churches are going to need some new decorations.\n\nFor example, that shining example of piety, St. Aloysius Gonzaga, who took a vow never to be in the presence of a woman if he could avoid it, and, when he couldn't avoid it, to keep his eyes fixed on the floor to avoid defiling himself by seeing a woman. I bet your fifth grade daughter will be really impressed with him.\n\nOr St. Augustine, who demonstrated his new-found devotion to Christ by booting his concubine back to Africa where she never saw her (their) son again, so his mother could arrange his marriage to a girl he liked \"as soon as she was old enough.\"\n\nThis could actually be a good thing. Goodbye kitschy graven images. Hello Jackson Pollock tapestries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You might have a more favorable view of Christianity if you did what I do. I ignore 99% of the Bible and only follow the few pages of statements actually made by Christ. While there are not that many pages left after doing this they still make sense after 2000 years and still provide a moral compass which seems to be lacking for many. Adam and Eve, Noah and Jonah that got swallowed by a whale are good stories. But I've read better....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So these are your priorities? I hope you do not value your faith so little, if you do than what is the point, just for cultural identification? \n\nIs this the kind of lukewarm faith that Christ said he would vomit out?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Christ said unto them, \"go make cranky judgemental posts on the RG comments section.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought some of these guys already signed something else, like the guy from the non acredited Wyoming Catholic College. If you want to do something, a blog isn't a very professional place to do so, is it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you not notice that I said no conversion is necessary? But repentance from breaking God's laws is. Mankind sinned, missed the mark, at the Fall of Man. But God began putting a plan in place, Genesis 3:15, to redeem mankind that culminated at the Cross (John 3:16). And it is God who is immutable. But you are right, our soul is created in His likeness. Sin leaves a God shaped hole in everyone and He desires to fill it up again upon repentance and acceptance of Jesus work on the Cross (Colossians 1: 18-20). Religion has nothing to do with a need to regain a relationship with God. Religion is what we do as people to act out our beliefs. A simple definition of Christianity is: God reaching down to man and man responding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So...do you think that Jesus of Nazareth is the Eternal Son of God who literally rose from the dead? If yes then you need to re-visit your opinions about revelation. The fundamental idea of Christianity is that God took flesh to reveal Himself to us concretely, face to face, so that we might actually know His true nature and His desires for us. This Jesus, according to revelation, also proposed adherence to Him as the only pathway to eternal salvation. If Jesus did not secure for us a way of knowing with certainty who He is and what is required of us then He is profoundly unjust as our salvation is gravely at stake because we can't be sure about what God desires from us.\n\nIf you don't then you are by definition not a Christian and you can carry on saying what you like.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Take a look at the Delio link in my comment....it's on evolutionary Christianity....it's long but very compelling.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While you are absolutely correct that the Christian Community comes first and then scripture, in the precise sense that it was the faith of the community over several hundred years that choose what was in and what was outside scripture. \n\nBut is is also true that what is in scripture is normative for Catholics as well as those who ascribe to \"sola scriptura.\" Our Catholic insistence on Scripture + Tradition is grossly abused when it is invoked CAVALIERLY as warrant for elevating Cannon Law or traditional practice over the clear message of scripture.\n\nThat does not make calling priests \"Father\" immoral, but it sure the hell is weird, and it sure as hell contradicts the plain meaning of scripture. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if the spread of the practice of \"Fathering\" priests were associated chronologically with a time when lay Catholics were fed more Baltimore Catechism than scripture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "-\n\n. . . . \u201cHard sayings\u201d\n.\n\u201cThere is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day\u201d.\n.\n'Not one iota'\n\u2018You shall not commit adultery\u2019\n\u2018But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery\u2019\n\u201cFor this reason a man will leave his father and mother (continuing the creative process) and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh\u201d. (The Truth of this statement can be seen in any offspring they may be blessed with) And this visual Truth defines marriage (as been OPEN to the Creative process) sexual union, \u201cSo they are no longer two, but one flesh\u201d\u2026\u2026 let not man put asunder\u201d\nThou shall not steal etc. \n.\nWe all fall short of His inviolate Word so how do we create a union of believers, in our human weakness, so that the world my see proof of the divine origin of Christianity, giving credence to the belief that the Father sent the Son into the world.\n\n1 of 2", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus rebuked His Apostles on more than one occasion. The Church's mission is to bring people to salvation, to see and love them as God's children and to support them in overcoming sin and temptation. It's not there to tolerant sin, make people \"feel good\" or to give false reassurance. \n\n2 Timothy 4:2: \"Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.\" \n\n1 Timothy 5:20: \"As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.\"\n\nJames 5:20: \"Let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are behind much of the oppositions to Pope Francis in the Catholic Church. The Catholic right has merged with the alt-right. Just read some of the far right, near schismatic type blogs or Twitter feeds. Rorate Caeli's reads like the official feed from Russia Today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True, many more will \"enter the Kingdom of Heaven\" sooner because of what the bishops have done. That includes the at-risk Little Sisters of the Poor who are saved from the sin of signing a form which would be, at most, remote material cooperation with evil. Compared to that, what does it matter that millions will lose health care, we are back to people dying because they can't afford to fill prescriptions, can't afford health exams that discover life threatening illnesses early enough to treat them. We are back to bankruptcies because medical costs take literally everything a person has. But, the integrity of the Little Sisters is intact. What would Jesus say about what was paid for that integrity ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You, again, are so right. Rules assure unity, if not uniformity. Rules address commonality of goals, if not commonality of tactics. \n\n My issue is the rigid insistence that non-conformity with rules and canons constitutes--each and every time--SIN. \n\nThis approach homogenizes essentials with non-essentials, to me a \"sin\" in and of itself. And, to me, it dilutes the concept of sin---making sin anything that doesn't conform with the legalisms of the day...or the era.\n\nWe have cried \"wolf\" so many times when it comes to sin that we have lazily failed to elevate core essentials from the non-essentials of our faith. We have downgraded Christ to former head of the CDF. \n\nMaybe its something the Catholic Right and the Left can agree on: we need to focus on condemning the few (circa10?) true sins, freely admitting that there is indeed sin in the world.\n\nBut Catholics are guilty of \"sin creep,\" having over-used, misused, and mega-legalized what sin is. Indeed, we've actually created sins.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought I weigh in on this subject. For the past 8 years I have held my hands in prayer and done a slight bow after \u201cHallowed be thy name\u201d and during \u201cGive us this day our daily bread\u201d. \n You see I was brought up Protestant and converted over 8 years ago. We said the Lords\u2019 prayer and also received communion, but the true present of our Lord was not in the bread we ate. As a Catholic I want to acknowledge during the Lords\u2019 prayer that his name is holy and before me is the true bread of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Diane is not big on Catholicism and thinks people can't separate themselves from their religious belief... like she has done. \n\nDiane has seperated herself so far that she's now the leftist dopplganger of John McCain.\n\nTheses two are deeps state and they are those who CAN NOT BE TOUCHED!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This just in....God has spoken to me (last night) and he/she now says that was a mistake and wants them to return it. God please stop speaking through me..... I know they kill children but Israel just won't listen to your updated message.....apparently you haven't spoken in 3000 years to the Jewish people...afterall Jesus (a Jew) was disregarded as a quack by them and he only preached love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No they didn't; read the history. Donatists claimed basically that 'sinners' could not confer valid Sacraments. Neither the Eastern or Western Church accepted this; neither did the fathers of the 'reformation'.\nArchbishop Chaput is not advocating Donatism at all.\nIt would be astonishing that a bishop who is advocating orthodox Catholicism should come under such an attack 'a sign of the times' perhaps. We only have to look to the drawn-out struggle St Athanasius had against Arianism against a preponderantly h*eritical Church at the time, even against a vacillating pope.\nAthanasius was vindicated. The Pope eventually supported him and Arianism was eventually eradicated.\nCenturies on it has raised its 'ugly head' once more. Today, the humanity of Christ is preached and promoted by many Catholic bishops and priests over against His Divinity putting His 30 year sojourn amongst us only on a par with Mahatma Ghandi and Nelson Mandela, et al.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well we certainly got an amazing women's coach from Gonzaga for the Duck Women. I've always liked their program. \n\nTwo Pella kids played for Dana at Creighton and I've watched his teams for what seems like 20 years. Kyle Korver and his younger brother Kaleb were my pastor's son's. He had two other boys, one played at Drake the other at KC -I think he might have played with the kid from North? \n\nPastor Korver (RCA) took some ribbing for sending his kids to a Catholic school, but he attended all the games and most of the time the team Priest sat with them, Pastor thought enough of Dana to put two boys in his care, that's testimony counts for me. Creighton dominated the MVC while Altman was coach, but honestly, he's even better that I thought he might be at the major college level.\n\nGonzaga is not all NW kids, I know Sabonis was someplace out Waaaay east.\nhttp://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/team/roster/_/id/2250/gonzaga-bulldogs. \n2 kids from the NW, 3 from Europe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. The KKK was founded by Christians who invoked their faith to support their bigotry. They use the story of Ham to support white supremacy and racial segregation. There are \"Christian\" churches that propagate racial and other kinds of bigotry (eg. the Westboro Baptist Church), but the fact that they root their bigotry in a perversion of Christianity does not make them Christians, nor does the perversion of Islam make terrorism \"Islamic.\" Trump insisted on a lie: \"radical Islamic terrorism\". Obama was right to avoid the lie and to speak the truth about terrorism.\n2. Nonsense. It was Trump who pranced around the country lying about Obama's birth place. Obama was a young man of color, and Trump couldn't and can't stand it.\n3. I addressed what you said precisely.\n4. Obama spoke about terrorism precisely and correctly; Trump doesn't.\nOn Saturday, Trump did not name white supremacy as evil. Today he did, but it doesn't matter. No one, not even the bigots, believes anything he says.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just as a historical note. When I was in graduate school in Social Work at a major Catholic Institution in the late seventies, early eighties Sexual Abuse was just beginning to be discussed. The faculty had a special workshop with a police officer and faculty member. The emphasis was on incest. However, some students in the workshop later went on to realize they had been abused as children a kind of \" oh that was what it was\" illumination. Frued's works on hysteria were still being used and the history of his original theory of sexual abuse and its subsequent trashing by his medical peers and himself was just emerging. Later on I was at a large urban hospital where the sex abuse cases were sometimes at one a day. The concept of clergy was never mentioned though I know the Protestant grapevine had tales. Unfortunately, from what I know of offenders clergy abuse fits all too well. I just don't understand how - why it was under the table - buried - and what forces of evil kept it there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, it wasn't about getting religion completely out of schools, and yes, kids were forced to recite the christian prayer or conspicuously absent themselves.\n\nThe Mississauga situation is recognized, ordinary law of reasonable accommodations. Here's what an Alberta court said last year about a similar situation:\n\n\"Webber Academy characterizes the tribunal\u2019s decision as a \u201cprecedent-setting decision with far reaching implications\u201d With respect, that is not an accurate characterization. The tribunal applied well-established principles of law. For many years, public and private schools have been required to adhere to human rights legislation in offering their educational services to the public.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why should LGBTs settle for anything less than full equality? The \"religious liberty\" grievance is a ginned-up non-issue. No religious non-profit is subject to equal opportunity statutes unless it accepts taxpayer dollars, in which case no right exists to dictate to the government the terms of accepting public largesse. Church and state!\n\nThe controversy over the ACA was political. Catholic institutions has long provided insurance plans that included contraceptives, but as a house organ of the GOP the USCCB seized on the contraception mandate to oppose President Obama's plan to insure millions of uninsured Americans. Oh the tyranny of sending the feds an opt-out notice.\n\nThe driver of the \"religious liberty\" canard is the loss of privilege in a country where Christianity is the dominant religion. This is what passes for \"persecution.\" There is actual, horrific persecution of Christians outside our borders. The church's energies might better be directed to addressing their plight.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\n\nThere was no \"secular\" society in the 1st century Mediterranean world, and the early Jesus followers were, of course, Jewish. It's impossible to determine from the gospels whether Jesus ever \"changed His teaching.\" As you know, the gospels were written decades after the Crucifixion by unknown authors who were almost certainly not witnesses to Christ's historical ministry.\n\nHow many Christians give all their wealth away to live like a lily of the field until the Day of the Lord? Though I admit I'm feeling more apocalyptic by the day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know what point you are trying make.\nThe Catholic Church regards all marriages between baptised Christians as sacramental, providing there are no impediment. One impediment would be if both parties were of the same sex. Catholics, however, must have their marriages witnessed by a priest or deacon.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, come on, he is pushing the boundaries of orthodoxy, choosing his battlegrounds. He is canny enough to know that he cannot fight on all fronts. Communion for the divorced and remarried will go down well in countries and cultures where divorce and remarriage are rife, the USA in particular and other First World countries and he feels he can weather the storm.\nThere used to be a poster on Crux, Paul or Saul of Tarsus, a very avante garde commenter who used to end his comments with the words, \"chip, chip, chip.\" He meant by this that every little 'chip' of the heterodox chisel would in time contribute eventually in the collapse of the edifice of Catholic doctrine.\nMy take is that Francis is slowly chipping away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your payments to Christian Healthcare organization are not tax deductible as it is not insurance. The not for profit I joined has limited coverage for preexisting, but thousands of members make voluntary contributions (tax deductible) beyond the required monthly costs to help members pay for pre existing conditions. I personally contribute at least 25% to help pay for pre existing conditions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey John,\n\nI did not have enough space, but wanted to add that Kim Davis was not the only employee able to issue marriage licenses. From what I understand, as long as there is another employee who can do a job that goes against someone's conscience, then it is okay and the employee is not forced to either\ngo against his/her conscience or be fired. If a Jewish or Muslim person works in the kitchen of a restaurant that handles pork or anything for that matter that they cannot touch/eat, they are not in danger of being fired as long as their are employees in the kitchen who are able to do this. They will be assigned to work with other food in the kitchen - for example, salads, soups, etc. I grew up in a very Jewish area with many Jewish Deli's. No one I knew or know would ever go into a Jewish Deli and demand to receive a product that went against their religious beliefs. It was showing respect for someone's faith. The same respect should be shown to Christians/Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Happy birthday, MSW, and may there be many more. \n\nI am one of those who sometimes find your perspective on things Catholic to be thoughtful and enlightening and sometimes infuriating. But, you make me think - so, thanks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Every word, every hesitation, every thought is scrutinized by the Progressive Left Media to try and find some way to spin it in a negative way.\n\nHow many times did this same Mass Media make excuses for Obama and Hillary? Hundreds of times!\n\nRemember this same News Media going through Sara Palin's trash trying to dig up dirt on her? But they conveniently forget Hllarys treason and Bill Clintons rapes! This is about Communism and God. This is about Satan and God. This is about Good and Evil.\n\nSo this is an ideological war. This is not about Republicans and Democrats it is about ideology.\nThe Progressive Left Communist Media embrace Islam, embrace Antifa, but are viciously opposed to Patriotic Americans. Progressvie Communist News Media are viciously opposed to Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clearly, you know nothing about Cyril, who owes his canonization to his defense of orthodoxy. You obviously didn't bother looking him up, even in the Catholic Encyclopedia or Wikipedia.\n\nThe one making the unsubstantiated assertion is you, with your \"one sign of statehood is joy\" statement. If it is formal teaching, then the person who taught it is wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting that the dominant tone of your article is that of racial stereotypes, of \"white people\" and what they supposedly want and support. Perhaps your research excluded social media of the gathering on Saturday, and that of many other Christian meetings and Buchan meeting for that matter, as it is clear as daylight that Christianity (which includes his following) is one of the most racially inclusive \"places\" in our country. When last did you visit a church before you wrote this article?\nYou have it very wrong if you think that now only people are entrusting G-d rather than Parliament. Christians in this country have never stopped praying to our G-d for our government.\nLet me ask you this; would you have written an article with this tone if it were people of Islam faith that had gathered? Or if it were only black people at such an event? \nBe honest and say who it is your article is really aimed at, as Angus Buchan has become a soft target for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What services do Christians have to worry being denied simply for their beliefs? Where does this bigotry manifest itself?\n\nI have NO issue with Christian beliefs or lifestyles. If you never want to consider birth control, gay marriage, or sex outside of marriage then there is NOTHING stopping you from doing so. But if you're someone who doesn't believe a collection of identical cells has a soul, or that two consenting adults who are the same gender can choose to be together suddenly you're met with a world full of bigoted Christians slamming the door in your face and passing intolerant laws to FORCE you to adhere to their belief system.\n\nNot to mention public schools. It's not enough to believe in creationism or that sex education is taboo. Christians push for policy-level changes that forces their belief system to be taught. \n\nSo excuse me - because people simply aren't Christian they are somehow bigoted? That is what I'm hearing.\n\nIntolerant actually means being \"illiberal\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, \u201cAll authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.\u201d (Matthew 28:16-20\n\nThe eleven were the one's to whom the commission were given. They passed that on to the successors they ordained to take their place. Notice Mary Magdeline is not mentioned as being present, nor any other women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "we do tolerate Xmas, it is everywhere . If I happily accept the greeting of Merry Xmas then person who greeted me will think I am a christian . I don't want anyone to think I am a christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are we back in the Middle Ages yet ?\n\nThe Catholic Church may not have executed Copernicus or Galileo, but Facebook and Twitter ain't so generous with contrarians and non-mainstream thinkers.\n\nPerhaps, the best thing to say these days is nothing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On immigration, we do hear from Cardinal Tobin and Cardinal Cupich, but why aren't all the bishops more vocal. This is a pro-life issue especially when you consider the damage to children's mental health when they fear that their parents won't be in the house when they get off the school bus. So many of these children are our fellow Catholics and our fellow citizens, and they did not choose to \"break our laws\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would never vote for anyone who wanted to offer tax credits for private schools. I disagree with that profoundly. I also disagree with the funding of the catholic schools, but that is a done deal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry but gotta have women priests first! as a matter of human justice. Then married priests. \n\nThere is little point for the young to come to our church, so they can learn how to be less Christian than they are now living in the secular world. The young have not become post- Christian. It is Catholicism that has become somewhat post-Christian. Treat (ordain) all the same who feel called and are qualified does not really require an enormous heart or strength of faith, or wisdom of theology, Yet we are not doing this. The Gospels are clear, treat all the way you want to be treated yourself. This commandment applies to Bishops and women equally, and no treatment is excluded by Christ with this command. Ordination is a form of treatment. It is something that we do to someone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joey, Mike Pence brought the issue of religion into the debate when he challenged his opponent as a Catholic for being pro-choice in the abortion matter. Not every religion views an embryo or pre-viability fetus as an ensouled person, though some religions believe that only they have the absolute truth. The issue is complex enough in various medical situations without soundbite politicians trying to garner votes by appealing to one or more groups' religious beliefs... as Mr. Pence and others have done.\n\nWhen a politician claims to be pro-life but votes to give the wealthy tax cuts, then (ostensibly to balance the budget) votes to cut funding for pre-natal care, health care for families, food subsidies for families, education, housing, etc., ...their actions tell me their words mean nothing beyond vote garnering. Those latter issues are also human rights issues that directly affect children and their ability to live and thrive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with all of what you say until it becomes an excuse to do nothing to change Rome. Neither Jesus or St. Paul tells the people not to correct their leaders when they do obvious harm to the body. It is part of being Christian to fight for our church to remain Christian in its actions & its teachings.\n\nIron sharpens Iron but if the iron on both blades has been allowed to grow dull then no blade can become sharp again.\n\nIt is right and necessary to demand a teaching of hatred be immediately done away with as a matter of protecting the church leadership & laity from becoming increasingly self-destructive, just as keeping this bias as a law which is against the Gospels & the humanity of all women has resulted in diminishing the church from what it could have been. \n\nJesus told the apostles & the other male & female disciples, that if there is a wrong done by any one follower to another they should bring it ultimately to the whole church body if it is unresolved-Much like Democracy!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you're saying that Jesus wasn't perfectus Deus, perfectus Homo?\n\nThat his humanity wasn't assumed perfectly into His divinity. That there was an imperfect relationship between the two. \n\nWrong. \n\nThat's not Catholic theology (read, no pray, the Athanasius Creed).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's time to give Mr. Khadr a break and leave him alone to become a valued contributing member of society. Maybe he deserves some criticism of his actions as a child in Afghanistan but if we relentlessly hounded every person suspected of wrongdoing on the international stage we'd be faced with dealing with millions of military, police, intelligence agencies, governments, etc. Where does one draw the line? Christians believe we can be granted forgiveness for our sins and the least we can do is extend that courtesy to Omar Khadr.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really? What has happened to Indigenous peoples was straight-up imperialism, if it wasn't a scorched earth campaign.\n\nConverting and assimilating Indigenous peoples was the 'christian' thing to do as a matter of policy. Guess you skipped history; good grief.\n\nWhat the heck does subsidizing have to do with an apology? Nothing in the article about it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is the pope the Vicar of Christ or the Vicar of Constantine?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "PS...Hillary also did a very nice set of comments on Pope Francis...and how well loved he was by folks all over the place....not just Catholics....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is racism an act of charity?\nIs ageism an act of charity?\nIs handicapism an act of charity?\nIs elitism an act of charity?\nIs sexism an act of charity?\nIs discrimination against veterans an act of charity?\nIs persecution of Christians an act of charity?\nIs confiscating property without due process an act of charity?\nIs snobbery an act of charity?\nIs terrorism an act of charity?\nIs throwing acid on people...as the Islamics are doing in England..an act of charity?\nIs shutting down someone's right to speak an act of charity?\n\nIs throwing pee onto a crowd (Antifa's technique) an act of charity?\n\nI grant you that each of these topics gives NCR something to write about each week, making their little site appear that it's offering something new; but the focus of Christians needs to be on a more demanding criterion called charity\n\nOrdinary every day every minute charity\n\nEyegouging someone as you are wont to do on the internet is just as bad as racism because it's an offense against God first.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is acceptable to say a republican or some republicans are low lifes...one wouldn't be deriding an entire group of people just because they are part of that group. Also, I there is a difference between referring to a political party (a set of ideals....a platform...intangible) and referring to a political party (all of the people who are members of that group). e.g. \"the gop is in crisis mode\" doesn't mean that individual rep's are in crisis. I think perhaps Tam is referring to it as the former...though I'd have to go back and reread it to be sure... I am too tired to bother. It is an idea that I sometimes struggle with myself. e.g. Roman Catholic transubstantiation, when I sit and think about it, is weird and disturbing to me....which makes the faith weird and disturbing to me, but certainly not the people. I might find it crazy that someone believes in transubstantiation, but I wouldn't necessarily say that the person is crazy. (sorry, little off topic, but it's been on my mind.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since the Catholic Church measures change in centuries, I suppose the idea of adult faith is fairly \"new.\" 200 years ago, the average lay person did not have advanced education, psychological theory was basically unknown, and most people spent decades bearing children and doing grueling physical labor, then died relatively young.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would say the same to the original comment. As a Catholic I could never vote for Hillary Clinton. Period. As it turns out I did not vote for president this past election.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, there are some good reasons why all of these regimes fought the Church. Although it's true that part of the reason that the Church was repressed and persecuted was that these who came to control these regimes wanted total power over their subjects, it's also true that in most countries, the Catholic Church (or Orthodox, in the case of Russia and most of the countries of the Soviet Union) traditionally sided with those in power, who had wealth and who lorded over the needy. In western Ukraine, the Ukrainian Catholic Church was mostly an exception to the rule, but that was because western Ukraine was ruled by the Poles, and the UCC mostly allied itself with the Ukrainians in their struggle against foreign domination. Because of that history, our Church was suppressed by the Soviets, while the Orthodox one was infiltrated and used, but permitted to exist. Catholic hierarchy traditionally has not been on the side of the angels in many countries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank God, my kids are grown ups. If I had to put them through school again, I would 100 times rather choose Catholic (I\u2019m not religious) school, then this ideological indoctrinatination of the public school system.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What Vatican II said about reform:\n\"Christ summons the Church to continual reformation as she sojourns here on earth. The Church is always in need of this, in so far as she is an institution of men here on earth. Thus if, in various times and circumstances, there have been deficiencies in moral conduct or in church discipline, or even in the way that church teaching has been formulated - to be carefully distinguished from the deposit of faith itself - these can and should be set right at the opportune moment.\" UR 6\n\nI try to hear and understand what the Church says. Given your rejection of the term \"reform\" how do you differ from Luther?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ever since the election of Pope Francis, I have found Republicans voicing extreme anti-Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "EXACTLY!!!\nDominion politics follow dominion theology - both overreach reason and conscience - which are personal prerogatives, anathema to bully religion and bully politics.\nWhat universal conscience calls for is 'CHURCHES UNITED' on the common ground of reason informed faith, of science-informed conscience. Conscience always remains open to reason-informed faith, as should all churches. All life is one in ecological dependency in the 'Naturalis Sacramentum Ordinis'. Nature is Primary Sacrament, Primary Church.\nMartin Luther, our brother, thanks for challenging the Catholic Conscience!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church teaches that an individual should not be discriminated against for sexual orientation. I completely agree.\n\nThe discussion is about how the civil law should reflect that teaching, and how Catholics should approach possible compromises.\n\nI believe that Obergefell v. Hodges was a bridge too far.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where is the USCCB? We hear from Archbishop Gomez but where are the others? The Church should be promoting a strong, passionate, united front against the pain so many of our fellow Catholics are experiencing throughout the country. Leaving it up to bishops from the border states and California, and maybe Cardinals O'Malley, Tobin, and Cupich to speak out is not enough to fight this grave evil!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you take into consideration that the remaining Catholic Priests are overworked and have to rush around to several different parishes trying to service the remaining faithful? The Catholic Church has to import Temporary Foreign Worker priests from backward 3rd world countries to keep their remaining franchise outlets open.\n\nAt Anglican Ceremonies I am always struck by the irony of the fake \"Your Afterlife Insurance Policy is Fully Valid, there is a Room / Mansion waiting for your immediate Occupancy and your family can join you there later\" line. \n\nPontificated with such conviction, but real products sell themselves and don't need such a desperate pitch line to sell them. It almost seems like the priests are trying to convince themselves that it is not a scam, not just the grieving family.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you think it would look and operate more beautifully and elegantly than what God put there already when we conceived of us, then maybe so, that it would operate with such a marvelous complementarity on several levels with your spouse, in the image of Christ's love for the Church. Maybe take the idea to Him in prayer and see what He says about it.\n\nGod wrote half-unity on our bodies because He didn't want us to be confused about His intended end for us. \n\nMarvelous magnanimity of Him, yes?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's that you and the other loons here believe in a non Catholic brand.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our patriarchs have preached this but these ideas have no basis in the Gospel. \n\nThere is no such thing as an annulment in the Gospels or in Judiasm. In Jesus' vocabulary, that of Judiasm, you are married, unmarried, or divorced. One cannot enter into a marriage that later on can be deemed was not really a marriage.\n\nJesus, in the Gospels, condemned all breaking of the legal marriage contract, once made, as divorce and sin. He told us why - Marriage is not merely a paper or flesh contract but a spiritual contract made also with God. Therefor what God has brought together let no man tear apart. The only valid reason Jesus gave for divorce was adultery but even then he told us that those who break their marriages for this reason & marry another are still committing adultery. \n\nThat was the point of my comment, our patriarchs taught against what the Gospels teach on this subject. So why are we condemning others who do so too.\n\nEucharist is not earned - it is a gift for healing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And here is my counter argument to that - Christmas was celebrated in Asia, even when it wasn't commercialized. Those countries made a conscious choice to celebrate a minority religion. Just like many Islamic countries made the decision not to celebrate Christmas. Similarly, Christian countries made the choice not to celebrate non Christian holidays. Because in a Christian country, Christianity has the position of state religion. Even today, the Queen is the head of the Anglican Church, and cannot be a Catholic. Her successors are not allowed to marry Catholics either. The American President has to take an oath with God and Country. Even if he doesn't believe in God, or believes in multiple Gods like Hindus do \n\nhttp://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/01/19/6-facts-about-faith-and-the-inauguration/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those are not equivalent.\n\nThe difference is that a prayer room is for actual, you know, believers, to perform a religious ritual of their actual, current, religious belief. It is a mini mosque, temple, church, etc.\n\nThe crucifix in the Quebec N.A. is an historical artefact reflective of Quebec's cultural heritage, which does not reflect current religious beliefs or rituals of Quebecers any more than having the fleur-de-lys on the flag represents current belief in loyalty to the King of France.\n\nInsisting on destroying traces of one's religious past in the name of current secularism should be as abhorrent as the destruction of monuments of past religions by ISIS, or France destroying Notre Dame Cathedral or Chartres in the name of secularism. Ironically, Catholicism is a crucial part of the culture of Quebec, because that is what people rebelled against. \n\nI personally don't care whether it stays or goes, but I object to the mischaracterization of what it represents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Alfred seems fixated on whether there is a D or an R next to someone's name, rather than who they are, what they stand for, or what they actually do in the political arena.\n\nHe doesn't understand the Democratic coalition that FDR put together of Southern whites, labor unions, liberals, farmers, ethnic and racial minorities (especially Catholics, Jews and African Americans) and how that coalition split over the question of civil rights for African Americans. He ignores Nixon's Southern Strategy, and the realignment of white southern politicts. \n\nThere is a reason David Duke, the white nationalist, politician, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, Holocaust denier, convicted felon, and former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, Josh, it sure is quite black & white when one examines the school of bishops ordained under JP2. It is insufficient - and deceptive - to only mention a handful of cardinals (all of whom, I believe were bishops at Vatican II as was that pope) and neglect the far more critical and broader picture of the entire Church episcopacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Does he { the author} really believe more traditionally minded Catholics \"fear those who look different\"?\"\n\nThey voted for Trump so the answer must be \"Yes.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are allowed to post here, aren't you? In most conservative Catholic blogs, liberals are chased away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I may add few things about Elise's misinformation. Back in 1490s, Italy wasn't a nation. That didn't happened until 1850s. Italy in 1490s was subdivided into various independent city states, often in constant warfare. Even the Pope had his own little nation called the Papal States. It was not unusual for Italians back then to offered their services to larger and more powerful Christian powers around Italy, like Spain, France or the Hapsburgs. They do so to escape the unending warfare in Italy. There is nothing wrong back then, for Italians to escaped the chaos of constant warfare and take service in foreign lands. Don't Elise support the refugees of today??", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've been busy the last few days and I haven't been keeping up with comments on this site, so forgive me if this has already been addressed. But among his other red flags, Stephen Bannon is also a member of the aggressive Catholic \"Church Militant\" movement. He referenced as much in a 2014 speech he gave at the Vatican.\n\nI've been expecting NCR to pick up on that but there's been nothing so far as near as I can tell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Alexandra,\n\nIt is interesting how when a couple desires so very much to have a child and experience difficulty in conceiving, but then become pregnant - well then they boast about \"being pregnant\", \"expecting a baby\". I have yet to hear, \"well the baby is hardly a child\" or \"the embryo is not fully formed\". No, they simply say, \"we are expecting a baby\". It is only when someone is pregnant and is considering destroying the child, that we hear, \"the embryo is not fully formed\" or \"it is hardly a child\". When someone is pregnant, it is always a baby - it is always a life that has been conceived. We have to be honest - say the truth. We cannot have it both ways - it is a clump of cells when we do not want the baby and it is a baby when we want the baby. We are deceiving only ourselves. I have a lot of respect for women who have regretted their abortions, humbly repented and received Jesus' abundant forgiveness, mercy and graces in the Sacrament of Confession. It is a Catholic paper!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Denis,\nI think you have nailed it pretty well Dennis. The lamentable fact is that women such as Phyllis Zagano seem to identify authority in the Church with the tokens of clericalism. I hope she has become a close student of the drapery and behavior of female clerics among the Episcopal and Anglican peacocks.\n\nA far more important factor in this endless debate, conversation, whatever, is just how many Catholic women and men in the pews give a damn about women deacons, priest, bishops or popes. I think a large number of them would become very interested in seeing non ordained women and men running dicasteries such as the CDF, the CDW and the Secretariat of State.\n\nThanks for the informative and polite conversation, Dennis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder how long it will be till the Islamists publish their next reports of increases in Islamophobia now that London has been attacked and deaths have been caused by a Muslim. When a Christian dude or a LGBTQ dude gets insulted or experiences a crime, there is an overwhelming pressure from those communities to label it a hate crime and that the dominant Christian culture is now not so dominant or is being reduced to minority status. Boohoo.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You and others also gave a reference to the Christopher Lamb/Christa Pongratz-Tippet piece in The Tablet on this latest event. This paragraph makes the point well: \n\n\"The President of the knights\u2019 German Association, Erich Lobkowicz, told the National Catholic Register that his had been a 'battle between all that Pope Francis stands for and a tiny clique of ultraconservative frilly old diehards in the Church \u2014 diehards that have missed the train in every conceivable respect'.\" \n\nThe Knights seem to have that same split of liberals and conservatives that is seen among Catholics, Catholic media, Catholic religious, Catholic clergy, and those who comment on articles about the Catholic faith and living as a Catholic. We have \"untraconservative frilly old diehards\" and ...whatever is the opposite. Someone more poetic that I will have to come up with that descriptive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "During the history of the Christian Conquest of Savages without Souls, it has been preceded by Soldiers at Arms, Traders, Disease & then followed shortly thereafter, by Religion, & Whiskey...After the defeated pagans were deprived of their religious, ancestral land, & family heritages, their children were stolen in the name of Salvation for Saving of the Souls of the Damned. Alcohol is a serious mental depressant, now add hops to the brew, which contains other strong chemical depressants. What do you expect to get with this abusive & toxic brew, when you have multiple generations trying to survive as a family unit, in a Government/Religious instituted mental Combat Zone...?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You describe a moral analysis using situation ethics criterion. Situation ethics has been condemned as unacceptable by the Catholic Church when placed in opposition to the moral law.\n\nThe Church ban on abortion does not hinge on whether or not the fetus is a \"person\", which is a legal term, or murder. While some do not consider abortion a sin, a Catholic is bound to do so.\n\nAs a Catholic I feel completely comfortable opposing your position with my votes and presenting reasons why your analysis is morally deficient.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree. I would add that besides NCR and Commonweal, America does a decent job of presenting broader views, although they are somewhat more constrained. Am not surprised that official Catholic media breeds Islamophobia, more by what they don't cover than what they do. Am so glad efforts are being made to combat it and to educate Catholics on what true Islam teaches.\nWe could all do our part in small ways to reach out to Muslims. When Trump was elected I wrote a note to the local Islamic Society assuring them that most Americans do not share his views and we would support them if discriminatory steps were taken against them. I received a very nice thank-you note.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul did not have a horse. That is a later embellishment, probably by some medieval artist. But it might clarify to note that the historical Jesus in his New Testament mission to Israel choose only Jews, symbolically twelve to represent the twelve tribes. Paul himself in his letters says he had a revelation from Christ and had seen the risen Christ, while Luke in Acts has three versions of the encounter, in one of which Paul asks his vision to identify himself, when the risen Christ does so, saying I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. There is no mention here of anyone chosen, no matter how chosen, as priests. The only New testament text that speaks of Christ as a priest is Hebrews in developing its Platonic theology of sacrifice as the instrument of our deliverance from this world of change and decay to the changeless realm of the Sabbath rest in the new Jerusalem. Before Hebrews, ca 100, no priests at all, except for the temple priests, the Saducees.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In your response to the letter writer, you falsely conflate God and Christianity. \n\nThe letter specifically dealt with the false claims being made by certain Christians. Nothing to do with God per se.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What has that to do with anything? The fact is that the magisterium can and is disagreed with by Catholics who are proud and genuine members of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's also quite lucrative. Ask any Catholic radio apologist how much he makes in year with his catechetical (sp?) career.\n\nAsk Patrick Madrid how much he gets paid for 1 short \"cat\" speech.\n\nAsk the director of the Coming Home network how much $ he makes interviewing ex-Church of God members.\n\nA degree from Steubenville is probably worth more than a degree from Notre Dame.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good questions. How many individual opinions by universities, seminaries, professors of religion, who may or may not even be Christians, does it take to make Holy men of GOD moved by the Holy Ghost?\n\nIf they are hired or created to teach our children, why do they have opinions? Why would we care about such opinions created from cuts and pastes of selected texts? If they are teaching their opinions, why would we want them around our kids?\n\nShould men not have wives? The BIBLE creates far to many requirements in accountability and responsibility to have slaves, but how does this remove the Gift in a helpmeet that GOD provided? We see far to many pleading and praying for husbands in a world that is definitely not the same, because many made it that way. We see far to many decisions made to the world and not HIM.\n\nWhen do we stand and fix all this self bias?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A good start. However, I think that the link between socio-economic stress and \"persistently hardening attitudes to immigration and to the increase of visible minorities in the population\" is an over simplification of the reasons for the concerns of many Canadians. The suggestion that the majority of Canadians with concerns regarding immigration are irrationally scapegoating our economic issues/fears onto innocent immigrant by-standers is simplistic. Actually, I'm very happy with my life, but I have concerns about immigration because I'm aware of what has been happening in Europe and Canada. I'm aware of the results of the policies of the Trudeau government. And I, as a Canadian Christian, am just as concerned as many Canadian Muslims about what is happening. If you want to know what's really happening look up the following names on YouTube: Sarah Haider, Mosab Hassan Yousef, Anne Marie Waters, Tarek Fatah, Raheel Raza. And watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYPy_68TbWo", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the hardest challenges to make a marriage work is fundamental differences in opinions. A Catholic and a Jew marry, and only serious love and serious respect will prevent the Jew from trying to convert the Catholic and vice versa. Same with a Muslim and a Hindu, or any religion and an Atheist. Even a tolerant member of any of these religions will rapidly get fed up if the other partner in the relationship is not so tolerant and starts forcing his or her beliefs on the first partner. \n\nMy parents are a good example of when this works. Mom and Dad are about as opposite politically as you can get. Mom is a Flower Child Liberal. Dad is an Ex-Marine Conservative. Couldn't be more different, but they've stuck together for 4 decades (and had me!). How? Well, let's just say the closest they ever came to splitting up was when Dad got all foul about Clinton's win in '92. Mom damn near left him over the asshattery. \n\nHe cut that out real quick when she threw the gauntlet down.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If not me, you certainly require someone to tell you what \u201cad hominem\u201d means. More amusing is the fact that direct negative assessments of others\u2019 positions is a characteristic of your own posts:\n\n\u201cThis is both false and a weak attempt to discredit an entire academic discipline with conspiracy theory.\u201d\n\nPaul was apocalyptic in the sense everyone should be apocalyptic. That position is not only not eccentric, it was the only position on Paul\u2019s epistles for 1,800 years or more.\n\nPointing that out is not an attempt to \u201cdiscredit an entire academic discipline\u201d. It is an attempt to point out that the modern textual criticism that you seem to prefer is post-Christian, decontenting, and in the big picture a dead-end.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is this an either/or proposition LotL? Indeed can a priest authentically minister Christ's Sacraments without himself reflecting on the consolation Christ offers?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now that the election is over, it's time to ask Catholics who voted for Trump because of the abortion issue to join with parishioners who stand with immigrants and refugees because immigration is a pro-life issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've had grad students [Roman Catholic] studying in Greece. They did attend Divine Liturgy and received Holy Communion. Many times, no problem. But they also were pretty well acquainted with the Divine Liturgy of the Greek Orthodox.\n\n\nThat's the key---know what to expect when you go. Not only is Communion received differently [very deep 'spoon'--for want of a better word], but one should be comfortable with their liturgical texts [written in modern Greek, of course] which are used extensively during Divine Liturgy. Homilies/Sermons are in modern Greek also---so knowing some of the language is very helpful.\n\n\nMy \"kids\" dressed like the rest of the folks---and none of them were blond and blue-eyed---so they did fit in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Peter told Jesus He would never wash his feet. Then Jesus told him if He didn't, he would have no life in him.\n\nThe pope in washing a Muslim and Hindu's feet isn't hewing to Jesus' example of washing the feet of His closest disciples. Was Jesus wrong, not inclusive enough for not making a point to find a Samaritan and a pagan to participate in the first foot washing at the Last Supper? A servant is not greater than his master, as the Scripture tells us (John 13:16).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Creative Thinker: The problem, of course, is that most Canadians - well, at least among those who follow politics closely - will precisely understand Mr. Vaughan's intent because the unified Conservative Party, which incorporated the Reform Party faction, has long been portrayed as providing safe harbour for the Christian right in Canada. (Mr. Trudeau rather clumsily suppressed this crowd in his party, of course.) I believe self-styled, identity-obsessed \"progressives\" have coined a term for such euphemistic criticism - \"dog-whistle\" politics. Usually, the criticism is cast against those who challenge the progressives' agenda, but it's also very easy to identify the tactic when the shoe is on the other foot, something Mr. Vaughan and his Libs might not have considered.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi! yjin\nThank you for contacting me, I did not doubt your commitment\nI did fast, we all pray differently; generally I only say the \u201cOur Father\u201d and contemplate on the Truth/Mercy/Love of His teachings and life within the Gospels especially in relation to my own fallen nature, apart from when I go to mass on Sunday that is.\nIf anyone else joins in our commitment of pray/fasting each Friday I will contact you through this link to our posts and make a comment to you, perhaps you will do the same.\n\nhttps://www.ncronline.org/blogs/spiritual-reflections/forgiven-forgivers#civil-comments\nyjin you shall be in my thoughts and prays every Friday.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You would think that Catholic pious souls would at least respect and practice an often slighted moral virtue called intellectual honesty. In no way was Vladimir Lenin a traitor to the Russian people, to the vast majority of working class Russians. And nothing RACIST about him. He made impassioned speeches against anti-Semitism - a norm in Czarist Orthodox Russia. A study of history will show that revolutions HAPPEN with or without the approval of the various and contradictory official \" voices of God \" in gaudy vestments-and often with state authority.\n The best authorities on the morality of the Russian Revolution in 1917 are the ones martyred by Joseph Stalin- like Leon Trotsky. Read Trotsky's \" History of the Russian Revolution \". It is more instructive than the TV drivel of Saint ( ?) Fulton J. Sheen in the era of Cold War McCarthyism.\n Not for nothing the famous astronomer Carl Sagan smuggled Trotsky's history into Russia just before the collapse of \" communism \"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope. You originally wrote: \"for every [quote from our founding fathers that] you think you might be able to find, I'll find 10 quotes from our founding fathers all supporting the notion that they made us a Christian nation under the Judeo Christian paradigm.\"\n.\nAbsolutely correct-- and true to form, I found \"10 quotes from our founding fathers all supporting the notion that they made us a Christian nation under the Judeo Christian paradigm.\"\n.\nYou haven't found a SINGLE one that refutes this..... when will you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not so. They definitely lived family life until they were 18.\n\nMost Catholic married people - if they're living their faith well - and haven't had an early death of a spouse have an N = 1 base of experience in marriage.\n\nThere's a myth floating around that married people are experts on marriage!!! \n\nThey have statistially an infinitesimal amount of experience in marriage, one more than a (most!) priests. \n\nSo you're wrong on that point.\n\nMost priests if they're living their vocation well learn far more about how couples generally live or don't live married life than a married couple via spiritual direction, counseling and confession. \n\nThey, unlike you, know the norms.\n\nBesides experiences (as limited as it is for even one couple, given my earlier point) isn't the only form or even the most useful form of knowledge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Last I checked, a majority of Canadians support the separation of Church & State. I am happy that Mr. Scheer is guided by his Christian values in his private life. But Canadians would no more accept a leader whose agenda is guided by Christian values than they would accept a leader whose agenda is informed by Sikh or Muslim or Buddhist values. Sure Trudeau is meeting the Pope, who is worthy of admiration, but he is not seeking guidance from him. If Scheer's voting record in parliament suggests he follows Christian values rather than accepted Canadian values and votes HIS conscience rather than the wishes of his constituents than he should expect to be criticized.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good catch. It appears that when Quebec amended the Constitution to eliminate Catholic and Protestant school boards, it used the notwithstanding clause to allow a transitional period of instruction in those two religions - its temporary use being foreseen from the beginning.\n\nWhether or not it's used for a negative purpose is in the eye of the beholder, isn't it? Ask gays and lesbians what they thought of Alberta's effort to stem the tide of same sex marriage. \n\nAnd I understand a lot of Quebec anglophones were pretty unhappy with early versions of that province's language laws. In fact, that's precisely what gave section 33 such a bad name in Canada. You know, the kind of thing that prompted that guy to call it \"an ugly boil on an otherwise beautiful document.\" \n\nIt may have been a political necessity, but I wouldn't expect anyone in favour of rights and freedoms to be happy when it's used.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus did not advise excommunication. I suppose you refer to Mt 18:17 where Jesus says treat them as you would a tax collector. But Jesus is talking to his disciples. In all things, the disciples are supposed to follow the Way of their Teacher. Notice that passage starts out with \"if your brother sins against you,\" and concludes with \"forgive 70 x 7.\" So this is a passage about forgiveness. It is followed by the story of mercy where the servant fails to forgive. Disciples were servants of their Master -- those who do not show mercy and forgive are not worthy servants. Also, do you recall that Jesus dined, not just with tax collectors, but also with Pharisees (Lk 7:36), with whom he disagreed. Jesus did not shun those he disagreed with. Instead he DINED with them. So treat them like taxcollectors means - go dine with them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very helpful. However, I believe the part about Adventism and Islam agreeing on original sin is mistaken, at least in part.\n\n******** \"Sin: Muslims reject the Roman Catholic doctrine of original sin, emphasizing sin as an act and not a state (Surah 53:38\u201341; cf. Eze. 18:20).[15]\" ********\n\n\u2013 Nature of Humanity\n28 Fundamental Beliefs, 2015 Edition\nhttps://www.adventist.org/en/beliefs/humanity/nature-of-humanity/\n\n\u2013 Human \u201cNature\u201d\nSigns of the Times, Sept.2008 https://www.adventist.org/en/beliefs/humanity/nature-of-humanity/article/go/-/human-nature/\n\n\u2013 Our Unfortunate Inheritance\nSigns of the Times, June 2011\nhttps://www.adventist.org/en/beliefs/humanity/nature-of-humanity/article/go/-/our-unfortunate-inheritance/\n\n\u2013 Wikipedia: Original Sin\nScroll down for what Seventh-Day Adventists believe about Original Sin.\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_sin", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I would say that both secular people and Catholics, seekers and believers, in the dense thicket of branches filled with many birds, must move toward each other with a new openness.\"\n\nSuch pretty, florid language is at odds with a man who went out of his way over a long period of time to silence any and all dissent from people with whom he disagreed. B16 was an absolutist and a dualist to the nth degree. Such attempts to gloss over his long track record of acting as the Vatican Gestapo (a technique he no doubt learned from his time spent with the Hitlerjunge) won't do. He was the power behind the throne in JPII's waning years when a \"police state\" approach to doctrine was the norm, an approach which continued throughout his own pontificate. I think it's fair to say that if any one person carried the water for dualism and opened the door for the marriage of convenience between like-minded conservative Catholics and evangelicals, it's B16. Perhaps it's time to come right out and say so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Buster, you call this sentence of ours \"grossly hyperbolizing and broadbrushing?....\"Let NCR talk about the bishops accountability and our understanding of Catholicism that we could be so sheep-like in allowing the bishops to lead us astray.\"\n\nNevertheless, the bishops' main objective, as TCPete states above was: \"Instructing the faithful that abortion is a deal-breaker...\" Your claim that the bishops offered a \"laundry list of social concerns the faithful Catholic was to prayerfully consider when voting,\" as you so aptly put it... well, that is exactly what the U.S. bishops did...intentionally or unintentionally demoting the \"laundry list\" of social concerns that Jesus addressed in the Gospels to sub-issue status under anti-abortion. \n\nAnd so we repeat, \"Let NCR talk about the bishops accountability and our understanding of Catholicism that we could be so sheep-like in allowing the bishops to lead us astray. https://RiteBeyondRome.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Fr. Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the public affairs committee of the bishops' conference, said he is not discounting politics as the reason for the failure of the franchise renewal, especially because Catholic Church leaders have been vocal in criticizing President Rodrigo Duterte.\"\n\nFascism has come back to the Philippines.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is \"don't fear people who claim to follow a religion with frightening doctrines but, in fact, really don't believe.\" I agree. But fundamentalist Christians openly condemn homosexuality on very good scriptural authority. Nothing to worry about? Well, some like to call it hate speech. The Pew Research Centre survey of American Muslims found that 59% believe that following the Quran and Sunnah is essential to their identity as Muslims. So that includes the punishment of stoning adulteresses, and don't even think about fornication! Although the Islamic Supreme Council of America helpfully points out that the standard of proof for an accusation is so high that it's hard to get a conviction. Africa contains 1.25 billion people. In Pew's survey of countries with Muslims, most wanted Sharia as the law of the land (1 country @ 35%, 2 @ 47%, the rest 50% + up to 86% in Niger). As a convinced secularist, I think that I should be wary of irrational, absolutist beliefs and the believers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was struck by the absence of nurses who have seen the harm done to women and children by their significant others. There were no women who are or were in shelters. There were no women who were left to support children because of men leaving the home and not paying child support. Patriarchy has been the bane of women and families with the Catholic church as their standard bearer. Listening to educated women is a start. Listening to educated women and mothers would be better while listening to all women across the board from rich elite, educated to uneducated, working poor, stay-at-home women to the poor and starving. Not one women listened to talked about how the church can make the lives of everyday women better. Discussing how women can be listened to within the constraints of Catholic magisterium is useless to the vast majority of women. Oh, and the church MUST stop treating women as if they were a different species. Hey guys, without women NONE of you would be here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic Social Services brings them and drops them on the welfare system. Hooks them up with all the forms and applications for every dole program and helps them apply. Nice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Ireland metaphorically barred the door on the church's influence on public policy when citizens voted overwhelmingly for the legalization of gay marriage in 2015, making it the first country in the world to do so by national referendum. Now some devout Catholics fear that door may be locked ... .\"\n\nPerhaps it was in fact rampant Irish ecclesial arrogance, clericalism and overreach which ultimately barred the door on the church's influence on public policy?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except no one uses \"pro-life\" to mean \"pro the life of the woman and her right to choose\". You can't redefine a term like that. Hillary is not pro-life and holds many major positions that the Catholic Church does not agree with.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A practising Catholic, Ms. Raitt said as leader she would not reopen the abortion debate, but would let private members have their say. \u201cI\u2019m being clear right from the beginning, I will not introduce legislation even through the back door,\u201d she said.\"\n\nThe abortion issue was resolved a long time ago in Canada. Absolutely nothing has changed to justify re-opening the issue and yet here we have two faced Ms. Raitt trying to use the issue to appeal for support by encouraging discussion about it while at the same time pretending to be satisfied with the status quo. Mr. Harper had the courage at least to take a firm stand with his MPs on this matter. Of course, he was already leader, not running for the position like Ms Raitt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It would be liberating if we could just admit that female deacons is a good step in the right direction of equalizing the gender roles in the church. The church hierarchy can be sooooo EXASPERATING.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I just read somewhere that \"what yesterday challenged orthodoxy could become orthodoxy in the future. That\u2019s how change occurs.\" Can't recall where and who said it, but it sure seemed to make sense in a variety of contexts. The Boston Globe's overdue questioning of the Catholic Archdiocese in that city comes to mind.\n\nI also saw recently in Oregon Quarterly that \"Schill plans to hire 100 tenure-related faculty members in addition to replacing professors who will retire or leave. Each professor will need to be proficient at scholarship and teaching.\"\n\nEliminating tenure at Oregon would seem to mean also searching for yet another president, at which this university has become famously practiced. Maybe, just maybe, Lillis's asking the question wasn't tantamount to his firing a starter's pistol.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For goodness sake.....sigh....\n\nThat women held offices in the Church is something no person denies. It does not follow that women were priests. Priesthood is not just an office.\n\nThat women and men exercised certain liturgical roles is not in dispute. That women and men lead worship is not in dispute. What is in dispute is whether they celebrated or con-celebrated a Mass. \n\nThat women were ordained is not in dispute. Ordination, however, does not and did not imply the reception of Holy Orders. \n\nThat doctrine developed and grew over time is not in dispute. No one argues that a fully developed theology of Holy Orders came hot of the press in the early Church. No one argues the Apostles themselves had a fully developed theology of everything. That is not how things work. Why this should be troubling is anyone's guess. That would be like expecting a fully developed presidency in 1776. \n\nSee- scholars write these works, then jump to conclusions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "90% of this article is a strange interpretation, well, strange from the standpoint of an orthodox (Roman) Catholic, although perfectly understandable from a liberal Protestant viewpoint. That part would be the bulk of the article that focused on homosexuality and women with regard to ordination. The other 10%, dealing with the ordination of married men, on the other hand, while very interesting and perhaps a likely expectation, is nonetheless a speculation, at least as it concerns the Roman rite. Eastern Catholic Churches, readers and NCR should be reminded, ordain married men. And even in the Roman rite, there is a growing number of married priests. The indicator of a large shift allowing married men to become Roman priests will be when the Latin Church drops the modifiers when referring to deacons. We will no longer have \"permanent\" or \"transitional\" deacons. We will simply have deacons. Some will be married, some will not. Some will go on for ordination, some will not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just like the groups of Christianized European newcomers to North America after 1492 that eventually hunted down the native peoples of North America were just a small percentage of the total Christian settlers, right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for the insightful reply. I think you are quite right about the great value that an institutional infrastructure can have for the human community that constitutes the Body of Christ. And, as you suggest, it is important that the institution serves the community and the values of Jesus, not the other way around.\nBut I sometimes wonder if maybe the Body of Christ includes all individuals who put into practice in their own lives the message of Jesus in Matthew 22:35-40, Matthew 25:31-46, Mark 12:28-31, and Luke 10:25-28. I realize that ultimately this line of thought leads to Perennialism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, all that matters is what Jesus taught. He gave us Two Great Commandments -- love God and love God's children. That's it. That's all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I want to catch the last fish in the Pacific and feed it to the homeless. Funny how business works. Get the fish and feed the people. Jesus feed the multitudes with 12 tilapia and 12 loaves of bread and there was enough left for doggie bags for those that wanted to take some home. Don't need a politician to tell me that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In his article, Sarah had claimed that the pope's motu proprio did not change his congregation's authority to impose new translations on bishops' conferences when the congregation decided the bishops' efforts did not match the original Latin texts closely enough.\"\n\nObviously, Sarah is positioning himself as the conservative/reactionary candidate in the next conclave.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joy in suffering is masochism, pure and simple. There is no intimacy in this perversion. It is an attempt to control others by asking them to be joyful, as God wants us to even when we suffer physical or emotional pain. This is Pure and simple perversion. Too bad it took until recently for some of the Church leadership to begin to understand that sadism and masochism are interconnected. Unfortunately those in charge of the infamous cult of Opus Dei still cling to the idea that they can control people by perverting them. The idea that God pre-plans our lives and we should take joy in our suffering is false theology. It is an attempt to control by perversion. So ED, please go back to engineering where you might have a better understanding of what you are doing....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Danger? Maybe... but I don't think we need to despair. Don't forget we have separation of powers that (in theory) will save us from ruin... also, let's not forget how far the church has strayed over many decades/centuries and although it is in rough shape, we finally have a pope who seems interested in gospel-centric reforms. Four years compared to four decades (or centuries even) seems like small potatoes in the grand scheme of things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Glad to see that Gov. Abbott is not bringing his Catholicism to bear on governance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Considering, if the polls are correct, that a majority of Catholics today would not say what your father said, do you think he was right or wrong in saying it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...as Catholics, I do think we can and should look at everything differently....\"\n\nHappy birthday, Michael.\n\nI believe without a doubt that religions, including Catholicism, can provide a gateway to a more sensitive, aware, holy, and integrated way of being alive. I do doubt, however, whether any one particular religion can be that gateway for everyone. People vary in their temperamental constitution and in the experiences they have lived through and learned from. A religion that serves one person perfectly might be the wrong thing for another; it would not bring sensitivity, awareness, holiness, or integration, or it might bring them in a faltering way. I think it is good for us to be mindful of the truly substantive differences among us in terms of our spiritual needs and proclivities. Some people are Catholics for a valid reason. Some are heathens for a valid reason. Some are Protestants for a valid reason. Some fill their spiritual lives with music for a valid reason. And so on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you so much for your comment. \n\nSometimes we Catholics forget that sin and evil sometimes come merely in the order of priorities that we choose to set. \n\nJustice and Human Dignity for women before greater privilege for men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Someone who is \"legally married\" under civil law may opt to live like brother and sister because they consider their interior spiritual life to be superior to their carnal life; they consider the teachings of Jesus to be above the precepts of the civil law; they identify primarily with their spirit, and wish to live the discipline of spirit over flesh. The same reason that married people choose to be monogamous, even though it might be fun to sleep around; the same reason men and women accept celibacy when they take up vows, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True. My parents forced it on me, but by about age 7, I figured out it was total BS. Most of my family turned out to be evangelical whack jobs though.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are correct, Elaine.\nPraise, Jesus!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I always felt there was a very interesting story to be shared of Tamar's own path. Yet, from all I have read about Dorothy and Tamar, Tamar seemed so private, it seemed to me it would be an intrusion to ask about it. Still, I am grateful for what her daughter has shared. \n\nThe untangling of faith from the rigidity of Catholicism is a painful and, sadly, often impossible, conundrum for many. Nonetheless, it is the path so many are called to travel. I understand and respect this puzzle is resolved in many different and holy ways (I recall having read that Tamar had a Catholic funeral).. \n\nJohn David", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you make a good point about the marriages. I highly suspect if my sons marry a Catholic, they may go to Mass...if they don't, they won't. What is a \"sbnr\" ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Community of Sant\u2019Egidio opens the laundry service located within its 'People of Peace Center.'\" (lastampa.it)\n\"The Vatican offers three apartments for migrants who arrive in Italy through the work of organizations such as the Comunit\u00e0 di Sant\u2019Egidio, the federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy and Tavola Valdese.\" (cruxnow.com)\nShowers for the homeless: Barbers and students from a hairdressing school volunteer their services. A change of underwear and personal hygiene articles are \u201coffered free of charge by various firms and private individuals.\u201d Krajewski thanked \"all parishes that are contributing to this project and especially those who contributed to the building of the shower block beneath the colonnade.\" Medical care is provided by the Supportive Medicine Association \"along with those of FAS and the Policlinico (hospital) Tor Vergata.\" (lastampa.it)\nThe Peter\u2019s Pence collection was \u20ac378 million in 2013 and the IOR gave the pope \u20ac50 million.\nHe can afford to be charitable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I love the undocumented Christian brothers and sisters I know and support. If the America people actually knew them, you would not find the hate you see manifested by a minority like you see here. I actually prefer them to many Americans. Family values on steroids. Will work an American into the ground. Loyal, noble and honest.\n\nThe one fault I will point out is that too many are too slow to learn English. Some I have known for 15 years and they will not learn but a modicum of English. I can see the men not doing it because they are usually working, but many of the women, we make it too easy for them to continue to not learn English because virtually everything is in Spanish.\n\n\nKudos to you como-estas for learning English although you still prefer to use Spanish as your user name.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is indeed in ruin. Who and what ruined it? I don;t recall it being in ruin just before Vatican II.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm on to remaining Catholic.\n\nWhat are you on?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope. I'm impressed with her confirmation, considering there were 70 million American Catholics more qualified for this position. With her in Rome and Newt cruising, when do you expect Wife #4 (present Mistress X) to appear?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you mean the Flying Spaghetti Monster as the creator? Does the D of I say which Creator? Of course not. LOL. FYI, the \"D of I\" has zero laws in it. It is what we told England when we broke off from them. What is legally binding is the constitution which contains the first amendment that says the government shall make no religious test for it citizens. Sorry to be the one to break the news to you that we aren't and never have been a theocracy. That is unless you point to a constitutional law that says everyone must be a Christian or some other cult? If not, consider the matter settled.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your assertion is that assisted suicide is a mortal sin. If Christ did so, the assertion is false.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for asking. What played the critical role here was ultra-conservative Archbishop Chaput's report to Rome on the \"situation.\" Interestingly, no public mention is made of \"her*sy,\" \"disobedience,\" or anything of that sort, fervently though the Catholic chirch right-wingers were hoping and anticipating. Bishop Bill's confreres in the Australian hierarchy were rather conciliatory to Bill, after the hatchet job by one of the USA's culture warriors in chief!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People fell for lack of knowledge, study the truth of God he's word is the same yesterday ,today forever,people who don't know what Jesus said judge not least you be judge let the sprit teach you truth people who don't go to church yet talk about those doing God's will I'm not ashamed of Lakewood church it's my home till I die .learn the fruits and the sprit of God to know God's word .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Moore's biggest problem is being confused with Roy Moore. He has solved that problem. I would urge him to consider Catholicism, although far too many of us voted for Trump as well. Everything he said was right and, sadly, prophesy usually has no relevance until doom happens. It is not Moore who is in trouble.\n\nThe Democrats need to go back to the Obama-era argument that the pro-life is a GOP front with no reasonable agenda to do anything for the unborn. That is doubly so without Scalia, unless Gorsuch wants to tilt at the windmill of overturning Roe. No political movement will ever do anything for first trimester embryos and fetuses, because giving them status makes miscarriage a public event - which won't happen.\n\nAny treatment that recognizes the term Working Class rather than lumping them in the Middle Class is progress. Of course, this came from the BBC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quote from the article: \"What I would like is a clarification about martyrdom in odium fidei, whether it can occur either for having confessed the Creed or for having done the works which Jesus commands with regard to one's neighbor,\" Francis said then.\n\nWhy not either/both? Or is that what Pope Francis is suggesting? Faith is action. Faith explored in one's mind and not experienced in the heart is an interesting mental exercise - such as working the Sunday crossword puzzle. Fr. Rother returned to Guatemala knowing there was a threat to his life - and he was killed. \n\nWhile on this subject, is there some problem in recognizing the 2 nuns and 2female church workers who were raped and killed in El Salvador in 1980? Is there some different criteria for priest versus nun versus lay, male versus female? I get it that it has been hard to get the Church to recognize modern day martyrs, especially from the Americas. And I think Fr. Rother needs to be recognized - but so do the women!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What sustains the sex abuse culture is the lukewarmness of the lay:\n\n- Our pathetically shallow and infrequent and insincere confessions.\n\n-Our shabby and thin prayer life, \"drive through mentality\". Stopping prayer when it \"feels\" dry or cold. \n\n- Our praying for \"feeling\" not for love of God (that is, praying especially well when it's dry / seems long). \n\n- Our dismissiveness toward the teaching of the Church about the purpose of the sexual gifts.\n\n= The shallowness of our understanding about this teaching. Our know it all attitude. \n\n- Our addictions to disordered sensual (not just sexual) pursuits.\n\n- Our poor reception of His Holy Sacrament knowing full well that we are \"receiving unworthily\" (grave sin on our soul). \n\n- Our total disregard for Church teaching, while increasing the volume of our own complaint against the clergy.\n\n-Our stirring of resentments and critical spirit.\n\nNo wonder the body of Christ is suffering. \n\nWhat happens in one part affects the other parts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think I mentioned EWTN, but I used to watch it regularly for about 10 years and they NEVER claimed that Jesus dies again at each Mass. Please give more specific proof of that. EWTN is or has been when I was watching it, very true to the teachings of the Church and the Bible. At the Mass, Christ's ONE-time sacrifice on the cross is re-presented and we who are in attendance are on Calvary. The Mass is more of a re-presentation of Calvary , not just a remembrance of the Last Supper. That has been lost to modern-day Catholics. See CCC 1330, which states that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass makes present the one sacrifice of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many governments have used Christianity to govern people as it has a strong emphasis on Moral behavior, which is something the SCOTUS and POTUS are now doing away with. I did not read the ad, did it imply that the \"Founding Fathers\" were all Christians ? Or did it imply they used Christian Principles to craft the Constitution ? I believe you might even find this helpful and scholarly and it might even help to dispel the stereotypes you commonly use : https://www.gracechurch.org/sermons/7112", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As the Lepanto League suggests by their own name, traditionalist Catholics look back to before the Enlightenment when human rights didn't exist and monarchs ruled through \"divine right\" and the Catholic Church was the state religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...there's a church in the Bahamas that needs my help,\" he said.\n\nIn reality, he said, he'll go wherever he's needed.\" \n\nThis is the job I want, doing God's will. \n\nBrother Randy, I will pray for you and your new mission! May God bless you and your friends and family.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cite your references that our bodies are not ours. I can cite my references that our bodies are gifts to us by God. They are NOT on LOAN to us [as if God would recycle them and give them to somebody else]. In Sacred Scripture, we are told that God will raise our 'mortal bodies' and we will be resurrected.\n\nFrom the Letter to the Philippians [3:20-21]\n\nBrothers and sisters;\nOur citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior,\nthe Lord Jesus Christ.\nhe will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified Body\nby the power that enables him also to bring all things into\nsubjection to himself. \n\n\nThis is ONE of many reading read at funeral liturgies, which\nI have read many, many times at funerals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Danno,\n\nYou might remember Tom Doyle highlighting three bishops in the Catholic world, who had the courage to speak out and be critical of the church's handling of the abuse scandal. They were Diarmuid Martin (of Dublin) ; Robinson of Australia (to the best of my recall) and an American bishop. Tom indicated that both the Australian and American bishops had been \"retired\" (stood-down) and that Archbishop Diarmuid Martin was the only man left in place.\n\nDiarmuid Martin had a diplomatic career and was the Vatican's rep at the U.N. when he was returned to Dublin, to replace Cardinal Desmond Connell ; who as an ultra conservative, had mishandled the clerical abuse scandal. The Judicial Review Report into the Dublin Diocese was extremely critical of him. He was the Cardinal who defined the \"Mental Reservation\" tool, to the Judicial Review.\n\nArchbishop Diarmuid Martin would make an excellent replacement for Muller. He would however, be a great loss to Dubin. He is an honest broker.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the mass does not engage us, why should we bother with it?\n\nPeople are losing faith in the Church more than they are losing faith in Christ. The institutional Church has been giving us little reason for us to stick with it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The real work has to be done by German citizens who actually have to declare they are no longer members of the Church. Most of them fail to do so. However, I do appreciate your point about refusing sacraments to those who have taken the step to remove themselves from the Catholic tax lists. In most cases this involves funerals and it has caused aforementioned cardinals some push back from the pews. \n\nI could make a case that the USCCB is just as bad. They appear to have skewed the emphasis in their teaching priorities to keep the money coming in from conservative Catholics. Selling out is selling out no matter the reasons.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And yet NCR chief writer Michael Sean Winters flies to Europe on a super polluting, climate-destroying jet, for a whimsical conference in Italy.\n\nYet, NCR is appealing to Catholic readers to do whatever they can to save the planet.\n\nThis sure makes sense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings......It's a sad situation we find ourselves in when a bishop preaches about lack of faith and will not listen to the faithfulls cries for help in the abuse crisis within the Church! Benedict thought by retreating behind the Vatican walls and making the Church a smaller and select group he could save the Church.....How wrong he was........Now sitting still in the Vatican halls all he has are his ermine capes and velvet slippers!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued (4)\nJohn\n\nI would further add in reference to your comment\n\n \u201cAlso, God seems merciless and relentless in pursuit of justice and honor -- or if not merciless, helpless by being fenced in by the divine law\"\n\nThe Truth knows (embraces) itself, it can do no other, those who refuse to acknowledge/accept the living Word of God, once they have heard (understood) it within their hearts, are destined to eternal separation from God, as it could be said, that our Father is restrained by His own essence, as His essence (Truth) is not within them\nkevin your brother \nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just a little touch of whitewash and favorable editing of historical memory there, Gray. I had ancestors, not on the Mayflower but on one of the shortly following ships to the Mass.Bay colony. Religious 'freedom', as we think of it now, was definitely NOT on the agenda. What the Puritans wanted was the freedom to practice *their* version of christianity w/o State prosecution - and it fairly rapidly became apparent that that included the 'right' for their church and local/village gov'ts [pretty much 1 and the same] to deal w/'unbelievers' in any way the 'rightous' saw fit - often as, or more, brutally than they had been dealt w/in England. \nSome other colonies were catholic or church of England - but rather more indifferent to an individual's religious persuasions [it was hard to be Less tolerant than the New England States]. Other colonies were just generally protestant, or largely commercial and indifferent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"question at hand\" that I was referring to is the question of whether the Bible teaches oneness and not equality. That has nothing to do with how a denomination handles money or with a congregational or other form of structure. The priesthood of all believers means that in terms of spiritual leadership/authority all believers are equal as compared to the priesthood of the Old Testament and the priesthood of Catholic tradition in which there is no such equality. The Male Headship concept relative to ordination to pastoral ministry is rooted in the OT/Catholic type of priesthood and Adventist theology does not allow for this notion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Benedict XVI to the Curia, Thursday December 12, 2012:\n\n\"The profound falsehood of this (gender identity) theory and of the anthropological revolution contained within it is obvious. People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given by their bodily identity, which serves as a defining element of the human being. They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves. According to the biblical creation account, being created by God as male and female pertains to the essence of the human creature. This duality is an essential aspect of what being human is all about, as ordained by God.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus asked us to help the least of our sisters and brothers in Mathew 25. In other words to love the poor, hungry, homeless, and others in need. No mention of fire. Just encouragement to live a life of love as God loves us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have no opinion whatsoever on your son's subjective state with God.\n\nObjectively his second marriage appears to be invalid, if for no other reason then it was done outside the Church altogether. He appears to have an admirable character to not join his father in ranting at the Church.\n\nYour allegation about the bishops is simply more of the unsupported \"if you don't do it my way and/or see it my way, you're ....\". As far I have been able to determine the errors were made in good faith, in particular that there were \"cures\" available for certain strong tendencies.\n\nNeither the civil authority nor the Church can substitute your nebulous sentimentality and by-the-seat-of-the-pants approach to law and order, or right and wrong.\n\n\"I'll know it when I see it\" doesn't work as a rule in either milieu.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some diocesan papers still do some good reporting and Maryknoll is just one example of a magazine. There are others. \n\nNot to make too much of it, but I do happen to know this organization pretty well and I have a lot of respect for what they're about, especially in the current Church climate.\n\nThat said, we largely agree about NCR. I just want to see them up their game.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" If you go to rightwing sites, you will notice that conservative Catholics have begun to embrace some of the heresies of fundamentalist Protestants such as the 'prosperity Gospel.'\" Thanks for pointing this out.\n\nI didn't even have to go to rightwing sites, all I had to do was attend a few parish prayer meetings to discover not just \"prosperity gospel\" heresy, but also claims that the Supreme Court had been inspired by God to \"anoint\" George W. Bush in 2000.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\nFor centuries, it was assumed that the call to priesthood was predicated on a simultaneous call to celibacy, and that the call to celibacy was binding equally and similarly on all candidates for priesthood, prescinding from sexual orientation. In these latter days, the Vatican has discerned a way to scapegoat homosexuals for the sex abuse crisis.The Instruction institutionalizes that hypocrisy. It creates a problem for all candidates for priesthood. The language of \"intrinsic disorder\" is not just wrong; it represents a dangerous and false understanding of human sexuality that will be troubling for any mature and healthy person contemplating priesthood. To the extent that the 'powers-that-be' intend to implement this directive, to that extent Catholic seminaries will be increasingly unhealthy places; the priesthood itself and the whole People of God will suffer accordingly. We should not pretend that the Instruction is a sane, safe or serious approach to priestly formation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Federal Government is compelled by the Constitution etc etc... to not engage in discriminatory practices. While not every Catholic Charities offers adoption services, would need to comply with nondiscriminatory practices. And that would also be true of funding channeled for other programs regardless of the affiliations of the NGO. \n\nshort course on USAID.... http://web.mit.edu/urbanupgrading/upgrading/resources/organizations/USAID.html\n\nUnder methods.. \n\nUSAID establishes partnerships with the people and governments of assisted countries, U.S. businesses, non-governmental organizations (NGOs \u2013 here defined as those in the host country), private voluntary organizations (PVOs \u2013 defined as NGOs in the United States), academic institutions, other U.S. government agencies and international assistance etc .... also\nPrograms are created and maintained through these partnerships.\n Over 80% of USAID\u2019s grant funds go to United States NGOs and businesses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't confuse doctrinal/moral confusion (PF) with a more universal translation.\n\nWhat you were \"used to\" was a poor translation to begin with...and departed in meaning from what other Catholics around the world were saying at Mass. \n\nAnd some of the translation was just \"cheaper\" and more superficial. \n\nTake the introductory greeting....previously ending with \"...and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit\".\n\nThat was a cheap superficial version. Fellowship is lighter. \n\nTo instead say...\"and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.\"\n\nsays much more than mere \"fellowship\". It instead means intimate union and deeper exchange of persons (i.e., what happens in every Mass).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"SOME\" of their money is taken in taxes, some of which is squandered in a very wide range of abuses and extravagances. Your use of \"their\" is surprisingly sensitive to \"other\", that belies your sense of individualism? Services to you, some of which I suspect your cherish or at least depend upon are also the result of \"taxation\". \n\"...and absolutely no one is entitled to anyone else's money\" . Even you cannot but see what a ridiculous generalization this is - unless of course, you can explain it rationally. Are you again being empathetic or really referring to yourself as an aggrieved member of a community that you resent?\n\"Rights\" can only be understood in the context of relationship(s). Relationships can only be understood in terms of reciprocity, responsibility and the inevitability of condition. Such absolute inanities are clear signs of fanaticism and the avoidance of rationality. \nAs a \"TradCath\" surely you can understand, and as Jesus asks- go further?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Very noncommittal\" = not engaging in attempts to create a public fight between the pope and his opponents. Very wise. And he has no requirement that he HAS to respond to anything. I wish you traditionalists could get that clear.\n\"Pope Francis has changed NO doctrine\" = he hasn't enforced the most ridiculous/hurtful doctrines either. He uses the same approach every other predecessor has, ignore the ones that do not meet his Petrine mission. Sad that this is so unclear to you as well. But there is ample evidence that +Francis will indeed change some aspects (at least) of specific doctrines, and it may be by the further development of an existing one (possibly lifting many of the restrictions on who in the Church may receive Holy Communion). I know the claim of the pope changing \"nothing\" is reassuring to some conservatives, but it is a denial that - like most primitive defenses - turns a blind eye to fact.\n(continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's bible study, not gospel study. The Old Testament vengeful nationalistic God is in play. That's what's truly scary about our cabinet members studying under an Evangelical Dominionist. People should stop wondering why Civilta Cattolica ran the op ed by Spadaro and Figuerora.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I could not get the edit in. I don't think a dead language should be the normative text. It is reminiscent of the great crimes of the Church in history. Latin was not the language of the early Church; it IS the language of Empire, Roman particularly.\n Benedict betrayed the People of God in allowing this return to the past and enabling the spiritual corruption of the Church. \n As for a return to what Jesus said and did at the Last Supper, the turning of the alter to face the laity is an example of what I referred to. I am not changing anything I said, except your understanding, over which I have no control. \n In fact, no ex-Nazi should have been allowed to become Pope, much less head of the CDC. Forgiven, yes but he cannot help but repeat the errors of his past, albeit in new and novel ways, such as his imposition of a literal translation from a dead language while keeping a modern English translation of the Scriptures. \nWhy not the Douay-Rheims then? (rhetorical)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Nonsense. Human relationships are based on trust and respect and not on any \"right to know,\" virtually without limits.\"\n\nNewsreader, it is exactly that attitude that Bernard Law and his fellow bishops had when they nearly destroyed the Catholic Church in this country. They demanded obedience while keeping their dark deeds secret.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This guy is too much. When confronted with Benedict's explicit ban on gay men in the seminaries, he gives a legalistic dodge to the press, and declares that the ban is \"no big deal.\" \n\nWhy? Because, MSW explains, he's afraid that if he criticizes Pope Francis even a teeny bit, it will hurt the progressive Catholic crusade for the environment!\n\nAnd in an essay about the awful reality of \"media bias,\" and people with \"an agenda\"!\n\nYou can't make this stuff up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm Veteran so lets put that into the mix of the conversation. I offer two contemporary examples for examination. A Documentary on Desmond Doss, Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient during WWII while serving in combat and never carrying a weapon. UTube available about an hour, speaks to people who grew up with him and people who served with him and people who persecuted him for his faith. The second is Assassination of the monks of Tibhirine in 1996. This is best considered in the film Of God's and Men. Their responses 'grew' organically out of the whole of their faith/life experience, and as you will see in both examples it is choice reaffirmed in so many ways across time, down to the minutes. And both examples are rooted in faith. I found it very humbling to witness these two examples & witness the fact of their 'right' response. Humbling because I know I would be far from it.All are called to be \"saints\", - these show me what a saint looks like today, like Jesus not like me", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The thing that Bill does not get--but you implied it in your own statement is that Priesthood is a vocation, not a career path. For Protestants, ministry is what they do, but it is not necessarily who they are. For Catholics, priesthood is who they are, not just what they do.\n\nSo a priest might be a pastor--that is his particular assignment at the time--his \"job\" if you will. But priesthood is who he is. He will never cease being a priest, not even in heaven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm certainly familiar with it. Of course, his statement and personal opinion on the matter are opposite of his predecessor popes. He certainly wasn't very orthodox. I disagree with him and side with the Church's teaching of nearly 2000 years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Always, \nOnce again, this hits at the credibility of church leaders. Whether intended or not, Francis appears to be effectively trying to \"play\" the laity. When the heat got pretty high a while back, he announced Tribunals. When he couldn't deliver, he came back with a Commission. After three years of being out in the hinterlands, the two (token?) victims on the group left. Again, the heat spiked, and what do you know, the Pope decides for the FIRST time to actually meet with this Commission. And in perfect theatrical form, he abandons the script and makes \"off the cuff\" remarks that would seem, to the uninformed to suggest that he's seeing things a bit more clearly now. Again, a dash of balm, trying to cool the heat a bit. \n\nI can't help but believe that if these bishops understood, even a little, they'd be outraged at what the church has done. Instead, virtually every last one of them continues the charade, hoping this will all blow over.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think you know what Jansenism is but it is the following condemned propositions:\n\nThat there are some commands of God which just persons cannot keep, no matter how hard they wish and strive, and they are not given the grace to enable them to keep these commands;\nthat it is impossible for fallen persons to resist sovereign grace;\nthat it is possible for human beings who lack free will to merit;\nthat the Semipelagians were correct to teach that prevenient grace was necessary for all interior acts, including for faith, but were incorrect to teach that fallen humanity is free to accept or resist prevenient grace; and\nthat it is Semipelagian to say that Christ died for all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes God loves us. According to Saint Aquinas, He continues to Love those in Hell. It's us who have a problem loving Him back.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"No one is telling you that you have to change.\"\n\nChristmas concerts now prohibited in public schools, Christian prayers having been cancelled decades ago. But in some Toronto public schools, Friday afternoon classes are cancelled in order to facilitate Muslim prayers in the same classrooms - prayers during which female students must remain at the back of the room, and from which menstruating female students are prohibited entirely.\n\n\"No one is telling you that you have to change.\" Yeah, right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I found Kieran's overview very helpful too...my concern for kids safety in the undeveloped world was thoroughly challenged by Kieran's citation of the number of orphanages that still exist in such areas....we know that orphanages in Ireland, Canada, the US et al were locations of great abuse!\n\n\nKieren:\n\"The incidence of abuse in Australia has dropped significantly over the last 30 years, but then many of the systemic features that provided opportunities for abuse have declined or disappeared: the fall in the number of priests and religious; Catholic schools now staffed almost exclusively by lay people; the collapse of the altar boy system; and the church's withdrawal from boarding schools and orphanages. That is not the case overseas. The church still runs 9,492 orphanages throughout the world, most of them in underdeveloped countries.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let us hope and pray that the people of Gary, both Catholic and non-Catholic see some strong, positive actions as a result of the Synod. There are so many issues that today's people face. Bishop Hying is to be commended for attempting this and not doing what some bishops do---hiding behind chancery walls, pretending not to see the dilapidation in the buildings and the concern in the people's eyes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There have been 17 million immigrants since 1867. Since about 2006, 2 million. Many are doctors, hockey players, accountants, engineers, etc. What part are you upset with? you certainly seem to suggest it is a racial issue. But in the 1800s, there was fear of the Irish Catholics. The Jews were none is too many for the government in the 1930s. All the Hungarians in 1956 where Communist infiltrators. The Sikhs, the Vietnamese, etc, etc. All have made this country a better place. And let's not forget the skilled trades the Italians brought after the wars.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. To my knowledge the church had never before raised such an arcane objection in regard to providing health insurance. To characterize opting out of the contraception mandate by mail as a violation of religious liberty is disingenuous and expands the notion of religious liberty beyond any reasonable standard. NCR's own Michael Sean Winters is rather more harsh than I:\n\n<>\n\nhttps://www.ncronline.org/blogs/distinctly-catholic/msw-replies-becket", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jack,\nThat is true, however climate change is a little bit beyond the scope of what man can do. I know Jesus said that with enough faith you could move a mountain, so if we could change the climate it would be by faith and not 'works'. \n.\nWhat is polluting the earth and 'ruining' it today is depravity, drug use, murders, child abuse, drug trafficking, violence, hate and the list could go on. It is not being ruined by smoke or 'greenhouse emissions' The Gospel can work on a person's heart to change those things, but not the climate. That is truly in God's hands.\n.\nUltimately we will adapt to the climate, it won't adapt to us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have to be a Quebec outsider to seriously believe that Catholicism receives any kind of special affection from Quebecers other than a fondness for Christmas trees and songs. La Charte did nothing other than express what was already there: a tiredness to endlessly accommodate all foreigners (a trend that started in the '90s) to the point of supporting their values promoting inequality especially against women. It is ludicrous to hint that la Charte (which failed) caused actual harm or encouraged violence. As usual, we are 24 hours after the incident and the media bases its analysis of an entire province on the actions of a ridiculously small minority performing isolated actions. Let's please not compare graffiti on mosques with mass shootings, let's maintain some argumentative dignity for once.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR is sparking a revolution in interest in Catholicism among young people? Pull the other one, it's got bells on it.\n\nSeriously NCR. Your fundraising blurbs are about as desperate as Kathy Griffin's attempts to stay famous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And I am sure that you're right \nIt's just that I am also sure that much of the hatred towards the Easter Catholic Church is based in nationalism and Russian imperialism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As long as Americans continually get pushed to the centre nothing will change. The Reps. have been taken over by a coalition of tea party/evangelicals, The Dems need to be taken over by progressives.\nCaplan seems to have that boring pragmatism of Mulcair, just isn't to fly in this new zany world of ours.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here again these letters are talking TODAY'S moral and religious views and applying them to what the Founding Fathers were thinking. The Founders didn't say a Christian Nation, so America must not be a Christian Nation. Okay pat yourself on your back, but so what. Others think we were founded on Christian principles and morals. Words and principles are different. Principles are the guardrails that keep each of us from going over the cliff, and they guide the words we use. Look at this new posting sight, it's about civility. Civility is a principle to guide the words. The more we learn of the Founding Fathers the more I see how exceptional these men were. We ALL have inalienable rights given to each of us by our creator. In 1700 who was the creator? They didn't say God, because at that time they didn't have to.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed. But not US Catholic clerics, exactly. US Catholic clerics, mainly the hierarchs are enablers, rather than imposers, which is not far from the same thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do you know \"Hitler had no time for the Lord?\" Did you listen to the Schmidt video? Are you aware that H. attended a Benedictine HS, sang in the choir and considered becoming a priest?\n\nIs it a characteristic of Catholics to make fact-free judgments, based on what -- your digestion? Voices in your head? The football score? WHAT? What is the basis for judgments you make? When it's War or Peace, do you think it's important to think carefully?\n\nLet's try something else:\n\nDo you agree that this video clip is not a fake, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgcd1ghag5Y that the person speaking is Hillary Clinton, and that she is rejoicing over the death (by sodomy) of another human being who was the legitimate leader of his country? \n\nDo you maintain that such a person reflects Catholic Pro-Life values?\n\nDo you believe it is better or worse to be responsible for the destruction of a sovereign state - Libya -- and the death of its leader; compared to having talked about groping women?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@ RockChalkWombat thank you for your comment\n.\nI do not think that you will see this spider on a Synagogue, Mosque, or a Greek Orthodox Church; as their leaders have more respect for God and each other.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cont....\nYet, certain right wing groups with episcopal support maintain ideological schools that little reflect Land O'Lakes (e.g. Wyoming Catholic College; University of Dallas, Ave Marie, etc.) - how does this support LOL's call to lead in scholarship, research, and discovery (vs. cultic ideological roots/purpose)? And what about diocesan college or university seminaries (e.g. Denver, St. Gregory the Great in Nebraska, or even Mundelein)?\n\nOn another note, the reference to the Biblical Quarterly (which is a research publication and not to address *relevant* topics) points out *intra* issues for Land O'Lakes:\n- are they countercultural?\n- e.g. publish or perish (thus, link to Biblical Qrt) - this results in adjunct, non-union employees - is that catholic?; PhDs rarely teach - use teaching assistants\n- cost of catholic education\n- ability to lift migrants, those in poverty\n- student debt\n- issues such as DBS, openness to right wing speakers (Koch & DeVoss support)\n- global campuses", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Witness,\n\nA true witness shares their testimony about experience with God and since you never share even hint of a testimony about God working in your life, I can only conclude that His power is not in you and your use of scripture is the same as Satan tempting Jesus. Your persistent arguing makes God a stench in the nostrils of others so they do not desire to know Him. So if you value the salvation of others it is time for you to be silent and open your eyes to see how God is working.\n\nIt was the working of the Holy Spirit that caused the early church leaders to see God wanted the Gospel taken to the gentiles. My testimony to you is that I am seeing the Holy Spirit empowering the ministry of female pastors to bring people into saving relationships with Him. I will be happy to discuss this further with you only if you first take the time to watch and see what God is doing so you will have firsthand testimony to share about Him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop Tom,\nWe tend to limit our \u201chuman kindness\u201d to those famous \u201cdeserving poor\u201d just to avoid personal problems and inconvenience. In the days and the country where Jesus was born, the shepherds were famous -- but not for their poverty. humble simplicity and goodness, but rather for their clever thievery from their neighbors\u2019 flocks: the wool, the milk and especially the new-born lambs recently birthed out in the open common fields. For us this is what makes \u201cthe shoe pinch\u201d .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is imposing his views on others. His \"orthodox\" Catholic views are to deprive me of vital health care. If the author was in charge, he would not only ban abortion but also all forms of contraceptives and he would probably demand that women who miscarry prove they didn't abort like they tried to do in Poland.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1] The Body of Christ is What? It was a term that meant the Church and the Church is the People of God. Secondly, you have a 'gripe' with Vatican II. It was legitimate Council with more bishops, from every place on the planet, than any other Council that was ever held[2,190 attending the first session of the Council].\n\n2. Old institutional concepts are just that. They are no more \"God's Laws\" than the laws that stated that Catholic should not eat meat on Fridays. This law was subjective, because areas of the world, did not have to follow them [Latin America did not].\n\n3) The old white man with the beard is no more in my imagination than is Michaelangelo's painting of the Creation of Man in the Sistine Chapel. And this concept of God is how most people picture God. And that is no figment of my or anyone's imagination. THIS is how God has been pictured in art down through the centuries even to today. And this view of God is from an OLDER tradition---not today's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We did not have catechisms since the First Century. It took almost four hundred years to sort what we believed about the nature of the Trinity---how Jesus is related to God, how the Holy Spirit is related and interacts. This was worked out at the Council of Niccea, Council of Constantinople1, Council of Chalcedon. And there were a few Councils after that---because there were still questions. \n\nCatechisms are a result of the Council of Trent----because it was then that doctrines were defined.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not Canada ...with a bunch of \u00ab Loyalists \u00bb Orangemen. \nThere is no place for a bunch of Ku-Ku-Klowns in Canada.\nAfter the establishment of the Canadian Federation (1867), the English speaking several provinces attended helplessly to the adoption of several LAWS and regulations, anti-Catholic and anti-French in English Canada, especially in that regard to denominational schools outside Qu\u00e9bec.\nAnti-Catholic and anti-French attitude drew its source, among others, the fact that many of the Loyalists who came to Qu\u00e9bec after the American Revolution of 1775 (Eastern Townships/ Ontario and Western Provinces) were \"Orangemen\" convinced. Orangemen advocated an anti-Catholic and anti-French doctrine, inspired by the reconquest of England in 1690 by the Protestant Prince William III of Orange.\u2026\n\t\nAnd Paf ! Problems started across French Canada ever since !\n(more to come)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It certainly did not take long to work \"Adolf Eichmann\" into your posts.\n\nVatican II reiterated the constant Catholic teaching that one must follow one's conscience.\n\nHowever, it also reiterated that we are morally obliged to correctly form our conscience.\n\nIf we do not, if we stick our fingers in our ears, fail to avail ourselves of the resources available to us - particularly as Catholic, disregard the moral law and habituate ourselves to sin, we commit a sin in doing so.\n\nAnd having done that, the sins committed by following our erring conscience may be imputed to us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no reconciling Lutheranism and Catholicism. Lutheran theology is radically opposed to Catholicism. Talk of eventual reunification is naive and a waste of time. There is only one true way to reunite Lutherans with the Catholic Church. Lutherans as individuals must convert to the true faith established by Christ Himself--The Catholic Faith.\n\nLutheranism represents a grave heresy that has done inestimable damage to the church. Pretending that this heretical body deserves continued \"dialogue\" serves only to lend credibility to error. Rather than wasting time trying to reunite, the Catholic Church should do what it has always done--intensify its efforts to preach the Gospel and build God's kingdom on earth. Christ will do what he will to those who have separated from His church, in his own way and in his own time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All too familiar. Someone announces they reject some or all of the Church's teachings, and then denounces contra opinions as \"traditionalists\", ossified, knuckle-draggers.\n\nCertainly Q has its defenders. So does the notion that Christ did not rise from the dead.\n\nAs a Catholic I understand that the source of the canon, the Church, filters the cacophony of \"scholarship\" under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, just as it provided the canon itself.\n\nYes, that is the nature of modern scholarship, where getting published requires asserting 1+1=3. I am not at all \"discomfited by it\". On the other hand, I am considerably less gullible than some people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yjin, for the past 40 years I have been doing Buddhist-Christian theology, trying not only to step back as understand scripture in its full context, but also to step aside and consider the insights and truths found in Mahayana Buddhism. My latest endeavor is reading Ephesians and seeing if the Chinese master Chih-i and his threefold truth can aid us in understanding the undeveloped trinitarian themes in Ephesians. Maybe most read is Beside Still Waters, Christians, Jews, and the Way of the Buddha. I have an unattended web site: Mahayana Theology. Moved by Vat II I committed myself to Buddhist Studies, i.e., language, history, and doctrine, to enrich our understanding. To me most theologians pronounce on other faiths from a deep and intransigent lack of knowledge.\nLiterally sic means \"thus,\" but signals either an error or some disagreement", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That quotation is from Deuteronomy, the Old Testament - the book written before Christ's time.\n\nCan you find anything in the New Testament that encourages violence towards non-believers? No? I didn't think so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Could Trudeau be Jesus in disguise?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 2\n\nin that marriage should not be trampled on, the place where True Lovers sit and leave the fruit of their love the little flowers unprotected.\nIs not this not why He was insistent on the indissolubility of marriage? \n\nJoy is found in the service and obedience to our Fathers Will, leading us to the full spiritual reality of eternal life.\nAnd this obedience is/should be manifest through the Sacrament of Marriage as an outward sign of inward grace, for better for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance. \n\nThis is the place where true lovers sit and most not be violated (Put asunder) by man and in this obedience to His Will we teach our children and future generations by example in our belief in His inviolate Word (Will).\n\nI have proposed a way forward in that any baptized Catholic may be able to participate in Holy Communion, no matter what their state. \n\n\nContinued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholicism was always part of the separate school system, and was one of the things that distinguished them from the public boards. The teaching of religious based courses have always been a key component. Public boards have pretty much been secular institutions, and prayer was never a feature of school life. Leave it to the Human Rights Commission, which has its reach far beyond its original mandate to interfere in this matter. If ever there was a government agency with virtually unlimited power, this is it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you really believe we don't have Jesus' message passed down to us, what is the point in your opinion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can you give any examples over the last 20 years of deliberate, meticulously planned terror attacks by rational young men in Europe, Asia, Australia who followed any Christian sect? Please just one example.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "See the above quote, \"We should be 'following the example of Pope Francis.'\" I'm sorry you don't know there's a connection between fossil fuel and corporations that pollute and poison and climate change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for telling it like it is Mr. Tammeus. When folks within our Church believe that Latin was the language of Jesus, (!!) something needs to be done. In our diocese (if it's not a nationwide movement, it should be ) Catholic college professors will soon be coming in monthly to bring the laity up to date on current thinking about Theology, Sacred Scripture, Who is Jesus Christ? What is the Church? Vatican II and the Church today and Spirituality. In a future extension of the series, I think the Reformation will be extensively discussed. The cost of the evening program is $300 . with scholarships available. Everyone, without exception, needs a spiritual, intellectual tuneup every now and then and, as you've indicated, ignorance of these subjects is pervasive throughout Christendom. With a program such as the above for backbone, Catholics-Christians may feel more confident about entering interfaith dialogue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the \"in persona Christi\" is the sacerdotal role and no, it is not part of the diaconate.\n\nYou seem to be confusing \"sacerdotal\" with \"ordained\".\n\nCCC 1538 Integration into one of these bodies in the Church was accomplished by a rite called ordinatio, a religious and liturgical act which was a consecration, a blessing or a sacrament. Today the word \"ordination\" is reserved for the sacramental act which integrates a man into the order of bishops, presbyters, or deacons, and goes beyond a simple election, designation, delegation, or institution by the community, for it confers a gift of the Holy Spirit that permits the exercise of a \"sacred power\" (sacra potestas) which can come only from Christ himself through his Church. Ordination is also called consecratio, for it is a setting apart and an investiture by Christ himself for his Church. The laying on of hands by the bishop, with the consecratory prayer, constitutes the visible sign of this ordination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Given his delusions about Christendom I'm shocked he is using the froggy and not the Crusader knight meme.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part II)\nThe fact that the later phrase does not appear in the other gospels has been found to be quite suspicious - though there are many other incidents, but none as important, reported by one gospel and not the others and have gone unquestioned. A stronger objection is that the word for \"church\" (\"ecclesia\" in Greek) occurs only twice in all four Gospels. Another question is, based on the timing of this reported event, would Jesus of Nazareth really have been thinking, at such an early stage in His public ministry, of founding a church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't agree with what you have to say, therefor you don't have a right to say it.\n\nBeing critical of religion will not be tolerated in guantanamos Canada.\n\nHe only says this after bashing \"evangelicals\" however.\n\nI'm not sure why.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps practice varied, around the country. The expression 'hearing Mass' was never used where I lived. \nAnd the expression 'attending Mass' (which Jay used) wasn't used either; it suggests that the Mass is like a spectator event, which of course it isn't.\nI see, from a quick glance at the CCC (in its English translation), that the Church \"requires the people to participate in the Eucharistic celebrations\". Whether or not Holy Communion is received, one participates in the celebrations.\nYour mother sounds like a good and faithful woman, may she rest in peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, more thinking and work is needed by you.\n\nThe Church believes in subsidiarity (look it up).\n\nWhen his statement was made it was rather breaking news. \n\nHe was correct to assume that the matter should be best and initially dealt with at the source and locality.\n\nAs it turned out, Boston local Catholic authorities screwed it up, and it later had to be raised to a higher level (well after his statement was made).\n\nSo he was correct, and you - using your hindsight - are incorrect to judge him.\n\nYou've shown that you reject the Catholic principle of subsidiarity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bible is chock full of contradictions.\nYou must beleive in all of it.\nMatthew 5:17-20", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims are not a single group with consistent values and behaviour, just as Christians aren't a single group with consistent values and behaviour. Every religion has its members who go to far, who accept violence as an acceptable solution to problems, who treat people who don't share their values as evil.\n\nDon't kid yourself by pretending otherwise. There have been plenty of LGBT people beaten and murdered in North America by Christians. Women are raped and abused in our culture just like they are in their culture. Where I see a difference is that many muslims live in third-world conditions under oppressive regimes where archaic values are maintained rather than marginalized as they have been here. Under those conditions, backwards practices dominate, like they do in many parts of the Third World.\n\nThe problem with preventing terrorism is ultimately the same as preventing any other kind of murder: how do you do it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Scotus was the best of all the medieval theologians, IMO. I loved his speculation (and that is all any theologian can do, speculate, even Tommy boy) that even had the fall not happened, that Christ would still have taken on our humanity purely out of love for us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you're going to prioritize the gravity of moral issues, you should consult scripture for Jesus' criteria: Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, etc. No mention of ABC, SSM, abortion, impure thoughts, second marriages. I could go on and, but you get the drift.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unlike you, Fr. Rich, is able to recognize wisdom coming from many sources. Jung is no dolt, but Fr. Rich has never called him a biblical prophet.\n\nI don't think you smell napalm but the sulfurous fires bidding you \"Come now or later---but you will come.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. Fillon figured out there was a subset of Catholics within France and exploited it in the conservative party's (LR) primary. Unfortunate for him, many Catholics (or people in general) don't approve of public corruption. It would be interesting if France developed a moderate sort of Catholicism however. When I was there, it was mostly right wing extremes. The SSPX has a presence in France and those types tend to support FN.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Soooo... Mr. Kempton, is your electoral choice going to get the Human Life amendment passed? \n\n Or is it okay with you that Republicans will milk the abortion issue for all they can for as long as people like you let them. Why go the Roe V. Wade route when a HLA can just breeze on through? \n\nThink of all of the babies that will die in the process of abortion rights going back to the states and the states fighting it out. And at least some states will keep it legal. Is that ok with you and other \"conservative Catholics\"? \n\nShouldn't a place like Steubenville be drafting the HLA?. What are you going to do when Republicans won't pass it? \n\nI'm anxious to see \"conservative Catholics\" and the Republicans they vote for show their true colors in the next couple of years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus, in bringing out the spirit of the Jewish law on divorce, does, in fact, make an exception for divorce, and by understood implication remarriage, in the exception clause in 19:9 \"...m\u0113 epi porneia...\" which translates as \"...except for adultery....\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Try this:\n\n\"We have heard opinions like yours for years and years, and haven\u2019t moved yet because dissident values are self-righteous and self-centered, and anyone who can add 1 to 1 and arrive at 2 should have disdain for them. What you makes you think you have original angle to present that would change our good, decent, Catholic values? Intelligent people stopped listening long ago. In case you have not guessed, this is a forum of the National CATHOLIC Reporter, not the National PROGRESSIVE Reporter, because we\u2019re not Protestants.\"\n\nDoesn\u2019t do much, does it?\n\nThe sort of overheated rhetoric you presented doesn\u2019t advance a discussion, but then you\u2019re really not interested in a discussion, since you stopped listening to anything but what you like to hear long long ago.\n\nBtw, I don't have or present any \"original angles\". God is still three in one, and the Church remains the one which Christ founded.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus gave Peter authority to bind and loose, and Catholics are bound to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. \n\nIs giving God one hour a week too much to ask? Considering He comes to us in the Eucharist at Mass?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope that the Supreme Court, prior to ruling on this case, will take a moment and consider a fundamental problem with the notion of religious freedom in the United States. You want to talk about a slippery slope, how about the fact that I've had talks with as many Biblical Scholars as I can find, and very few of them agree that the Bible condemns homosexuality in the way one constantly hears and reads about in the conservative media and among conservative Christians. In fact, the condemnation of adulterers and divorced people is much more prevalent. Meanwhile, what is a religion? Is it just Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity? Could anyone have the legitimate right to make up his or her own religion and practice it? And would that person have the right to do whatever he or she wanted in the name of that religion? Where does it begin and end? If I believe in Shariah law, and it's my religious law, should I be able to apply it against you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tertulian\u2019s early vision of apostolic succession was quite clear: In his Prescription Against Heretics, he recognized a need for apostolic succession to connect a widely disbursed group of churches. \"Let them produce the original records of their churches; let them unfold the roll of their bishops, running down in due succession from the beginning in such a manner that [that first bishop of theirs] bishop shall be able to show for his ordainer and predecessor some one of the apostles or of apostolic men\u2014a man, moreover, who continued steadfast with the apostles.\u201d\n\nI appreciate your citations from Cardinal Kasper. His broad concepts of a \u201ccollegial membership in a collegium\u201d and \u201cfull communion in faith, sacramental life and shared apostolic vision\u201d merge the objectives of \u201cone holy, catholic, and apostolic church\u201d separately stated within the Creed. These evolved Roman Catholic views sidestep, or eliminate, the original necessity for an individual unbroken chain from the apostles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If I'm reading the Pew article correctly...Nondenominational Protestants...Pentecostals... are underrepresented.\"\n\nNot really, MattinTX. Non-denominational Protestants and Pentecostals are always put under the generic label \"Protestant,\" in Congress. In Pew, Gallup and other pollsters, the \"Protestant\" label includes Evangelical, mainline, Pentecostal, and \"non-denomination\" along with any and all other non-Catholic, non-Mormon, and non-Orthodox Christian groups in between them and among them. Thus when Pew researchers say 46% of the US population identify as Protestant, for example, they put all of the above self-identified, highly diversified groups (in Congress, too) -- Evangelical, mainline, primitive Baptist, Southern Baptist, Black Baptist, Pentecostal, neo-Pentecostal, non-denominational Christian, etc. and hundreds more -- under the label \"Protestant.\" Catholics, Mormons, Jews, NONES (more than 24%), Buddhists, Orthodox, Muslims, etc., make up the other 56% of the population", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dennis, that is my exact reaction. If Neko is being railroaded out and our resident conservative snipers stay, there is something rotten in the system. I personally am up to my eyeballs in being instructed on the fine points of the catechism or OD's 'way'. I have read the catechism, I don't need it thrown in my face as the ultimate in truth because it isn't. I wish Civil Comments would automatically remove posts which quote the catechism. If people want that they can go to Catholic Answers. The tolerance for that kind of mind numbing post is pretty much destroying my desire to comment in this system.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Heartbreaker. You are not entirely consistent in making your point, because you also have left out a lot. In terms of capturing what Jesus was about, Father Reese leaves out less than you do. But your comments are nonetheless provocative, and helpful. Thank you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Palestine it is said that the sheep followed the shepherd, perfect imagery for the followers of Christ, the Good Shepherd who doesn't exploit His sheep: He died for them.\nThese sisters think that they can set up a Vatican II Rite equivalent to an Eastern Catholic Rite. This Rite apparently will ordain women, allow same-sex marriage, divorce and remarriage and a host of other nom-Catholic practices all with the blessing of the Roman Pontiff. Can you see this happening?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We can do both. At minimum, because individuals and Churches have not stepped up (indeed, the Church does not even excommunicate Catholic business owners or share holders who refuse to supply a living wage nor does it provide it to its own workers), the state must step in. If there were a living wage law without subsidies that required middle class sufficiency, companies would not employee people with lots of kids. Their supply cost would be too high. Subsidiary DEMANDS governmental action.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In a pluralistic society, we need to transcend these concerns of yours. Birth control. same sex marriage, and kosher should not be a problem if we are understanding and respectful of others. \nSin is in the eye of the beholder. Others are not bound by your opinion of sin. If you insist on imposing your views then you risk isolating yourself. You will be ignored. The Catholic Church has suffered a similar fate by insisting that their teachings must be obeyed. The days of imposition are past. They must meet their needs of today to be considered and accepted.\nYou can follow your conscience but it is yours and others have theirs. To find the common ground is paramount to live in harmony with our neighbours.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When we are judged, in the end, I believe the Bible notes, the question is \"what have YOU done\", not your neighbor, not the state, but YOU.\n\nThere are organizations that help mothers & mothers-to-be, Birthright & Catholic Charities for starters.\n\nSo there, you can start walking the talk.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rome\u2014Pope Francis has placed a new sign on the door of his room in the Vatican's Domus Sanctae Marthae hotel. \"No whining\" it reads, warning that offenders \"are subject to developing a victim complex, resulting in a lowering ... of their capacity to solve problems.\"\u2014Joshua J. McElwee\n\n\u201cDo not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you a great nation\u201d (Genesis 46:3). \u201cThe Salvation of the just is from the LORD; he is their refuge in time of distress\u201d (Psalm 37:39). \u201cWhen the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you to all truth and remind you of all I told you\u201d (John 16:13a; 14:26d). \u201cWhen they persecute you in one town, flee to another. Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel\u201d (Matthew 10:23). Liturgy of the Word, Reading 387, Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time I on the memorial of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, saying much the same thing, \u201cNo Whining.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 2\n\nto be able to partake of the Bread of Life and in doing so live.\nI am not saintly, I am that Broken image and I thank God that He has given me the means to know it and because of this I would have others know it also, so that they too might live.\nHere is another link, with more information relating to the true Divine Mercy Image the Image of Broken Man, and my question, do you think it could be a way forward for those who find themselves entangled in sin and are unable to receive the sacrament of absolution in been permitted to receive Holy Communion?\nI am asking a lot of you to read so much and comment, but it could be most worthwhile \n(Do take your time) Hopefully we will continue later. \n\n\nhttp://www.v2catholic.com/background/2015/02/2015-02-21only-God-can-square-the-circle.htm\n\nAlso read this link and links within.\n\nhttp://www.v2catholic.com/background/2015/08/2015-08-15the-web-of-clericalism.htm\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In a Santa Rosa Press Democrat article written by Chris Smith dated August 27th 2016 stated that the Bishop of Santa Rosa, Bishop Vasa said ...\"I have no concerns about former Bishop Nienstedt \"the former Bishop from the twin cities is living in Napa and says Mass at a Chapel on the grounds of the Meritage Resort and Spa owned by Tim Busch. The resort has an institute. Tim Busch is the owner of the resort and a lawyer from Orange County. that declares it mission to be \"to equip Catholic leaders to defend and advance the Catholic faith in the \"next America\"- today's emerging secular society\" Bishop Vasa is shamefully aware of Nienstedts mishandling of the offenses in the twincities yet says of him the resort chapel is \"a suitable place for him to celebrate Mass\" Enough said!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes because we know that only those who completely surrender their will and intellect to the Roman magisterium are capable of proper discernment. Natural Law theory proves, in fact, that liberal-minded Catholics are not even capable of discernment because they are so far removed from the holy and medieval group think upon which all truth is founded.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was referring to the Sabbath rest, not temple practice; the two are not equal. The liturgy is solely about our public worship of God. Fidelity to Jesus' message re God and neighbor does not require that our public worship of God include something that you and I decide is appropriate (or some \"liturgist\" employed by an ostensible \"Catholic Community\") simply because we want to include love of \"our community.\" \n\nOur love of neighbor is for us to do, individually, as we seek to put God's message into practice once we leave the liturgy. It is God's unmerited mercy through Jesus' gift to us that we celebrate during the sacrifice of the mass.\n\nThe mass is not about you or me, it is about God and our worship of Him. So while the liturgy is made for us, it is designed with a purpose that does not include... is not intended to include... a people-focus beyond that peoples' duty to public worship of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Umm, no. Your \"analysis\" is based on biased hatred toward the Church founded by Jesus Christ. It is your opinion, and a poor one at that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him (God, the Father). Beloved, we are God\u2019s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure\u201d (1 John 3:1-3). John is addressing the bias of which Clooney writes. \u201cSing to the LORD a new song, for he has done wondrous deeds\u201d (Psalm 98:1). A new song, that is start all over again, setting aside previous biases. \u201cI did not know him . . . I did not know him\u201d (John 1:31 and 33). Liturgy of the Word, Reading 206, January 3.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, Father Reese, do all these reborn \"Papal Loyalists\" now accept Church teachings on: contraception? On abortion? On homosexuality? On divorce and remarriage? On women's ordination? On papal infallibility? On the reality of Judgement and eternal damnation?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LOL. \"Fake News\"?!!! A liberal newspaper, in fact THY liberal newspaper of record in the U.S., has an x-Wall Street Journal opinion writer, and you call that \"fake news\"?! I'm not looking for respect, I'm trying to reach people like yourselves on a Catholic website who are willing to promote the leftest propaganda that God made a mistake when he created ALL LIFE dependent of Oxygen and Carbon dioxide. I dare you to watch and listen to Prager U's 5 minute talks on Climate Change on YouTube and say afterwards those experts don't know what they are talking about. Do you even know who Dennis Prager is?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Name even one (1) significant change to our social policy that can rationally claimed to be an initiative by social conservatives. Just one ... take your time but don't just scurry away.\"\n\nAre we counting permanent changes, or just changes that were reversed after Harper left office?\n\n1. Defunded Planned Parenthood in foreign aid spending.\n2. Defunded and closed Status of Women offices.\n3. Changed federal science funding so that faith based institutions qualified for funding.\n4. Office of Religious Freedom\n5. Made a chiropractor and creationist (Gary Goodyear), the Minister of State for Science and Technology. This isn't a policy, but is a pretty good example of how Evangelicals were given direct access to science funding infrastructure to control.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is #POTUS saying?\nPresident Trump is careful with lives of the innocents. We are handling 3 Generic Group, their Followers & also many Sister Clans who have mercilessly decapitated approx 1.7 Million Ethnic People & around 17,000 Noble Christians in the region of Al Sham. Now they are in Euro zone.\n\nIn order to control them 2 things are needed at first - Complete knowledge of Services of any business | Ethnic profile (Christ Principles). Referring to these, Terrorists can be made to run without a goal. As per Crusade Principles, once you turn them vague they will sought revenge in their Own Clan & Collection. My plan - make their collection weak. #CIA #Barcelona", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Twitter) \"If that guy's Catholic, how come he wears a yarmulke? Crooked Francis!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, you don't \"got it.\" The issue is that you avoid the fact that it has been the GOP that successfully influenced the Catholic US bishops, not the Democrats. There is certainly proof of that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "it's not the Deposit of Faith \"rule and\". Its 'R and R' made up interpretation which does not follow Christ. Christ was simple, clear and direct and loving. We'll follow Him. Others can follow the madeup stuff that human mere men made up after Christ ascended. I feel no interest whatsoever in what men made up, miles and miles of it. None.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Was the purported victim an altar boy? The Holy Roman Catholic Church has a tradition of venerating altar boys and has a special place for them in every church sacristy. Perhaps the entire event involving the Vicar General was a simple misunderstands of a sacred church rite.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr. Girzone (The Joshua novels) warned me away from the Catholic Answers forum. They had excommunicated me forever because I unwittingly offended one of their members by debating purgatory. (At least I think this was it. They never told me what I had done to so seriously offend the faith of Catholics). \n Searching online I found many sites hosted by those with a mortal in mentality about Sunday worship. Then there are the two Catholics I know locally, one from a parish in the next town I am familiar with and another with whom I attend a seminar on classics in religion at a local library. (I presented on Thomas Merton recently.) Both in discussion believe it is a mortal sin to miss Mass on Sunday. \n Then there is a book on Catholicism where the author writes that he thinks this idea is the greatest mistake the church ever made. (I can think of worse.) \n It is an issue that can keep the intellect challenged. Boredom and mediocrity are worse. Thanks for your reply.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "William Patrick's previous attempt at a comment was deleted for incivility.\nInterestingly, he seems to be completely unaware that Merton was (and is) accused by some Catholics (including on this NCR forum) of the very same thing for which he accuses the NCR.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Laws protect the right of citizens.\n\nRender unto Caesar.\n\nSt Joseph followed the edicts of the government...he traveled a great distance to simply register in the census.\n\nJesus helped St Peter pay the tax.\n\nIt's these proof texters that cause such short sighted understanding of our faith.\n\nGod gave us a brain and our heart, and he wants maximum use out of both.\n\nHe doesn't want us to just bleed our hearts empty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It took me forever to find your comment. I've never read any of your links. I guess that makes my useage of pro choice outdated, and yet in my mind more accurate, so I will continue to use that term. If I'm going to get really honest about my terminology, I consider GOP pro lifers to be nothing more than pro birthers, and too many GOP Catholic bishops to be nothing more than pro conception.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would suggest that you are wrong that MOST parishes and dioceses have special programs for those who are NOT Married, who do not have families---who are SINGLE [by choice]. I stated nothing about youth, seniors, or parents of LGBT.\n\nMost unmarried would NOT attend any program geared for THE married.\n\nMy point is that THESE individuals deserve to have programs geared specifically for them. The single state has been officially listed for decades and decades as a legitimate state for Catholics. But very little has been/is done to address those [young or older] who embrace this state in life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So is the \"progressive Catholic community\" Catholic first and progressive second, or the other way 'round?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Two unrelated events conspired to dull the moral sensibilities of the Catholic clergy: the pro-abortion stance of the Democrats in the 1970s and the Southern strategy adopted by the Republican Party after the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts in the mid-1960s.\"\n\nDon't blame the bishops callous disregard for anything but abortion on those who seek to keep abortion legal. The bishops chose and they are responsible for their choices - to ignore racism, to ignore basic health care. The bishops are responsible all by themselves for their obsession on one issue to the exclusion of all others. Trump is in because they would not address his sexism, his racism, his crudity. That millions could lose health care doesn't matter as long as they get to keep their \"religious freedom\" to dominate others, to deny them the ability to make their own health decisions on something as normal and simply as contraceptives or as life saving as sterilization which would reduce abortions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "wiliki, forget Jesus Christ, Neville Chamberlain is your savior.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 3\nPlease note that I do not prescribe the restrain I advocate for Catholics on this issue as a moral principle for others. The American value of democracy as the way to determine laws is not challenged as a very good way for humans or organize themselves in polities. It is just that we Catholics on this issue find ourselves stuck between two critically important moral judgments: (1) abortion is wrong, because the fetus is already immortal, and (2) we must constrain ourselves from impinging on the freedom of conscience of others. \n\nIt is precisely because we acknowledge that without our belief in the immortality of the fetus, we recognize as rational the contrary (and false view) that the fetus is only potentially human. It is in particular because we recognize the rationality of the arguments against us, that restraint ought to be obvious to all Catholics. \n\nUnfortunately this in not case. The reason for this is to be found in the moral development schema of Kohlberg,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century an English three Canadians was a member of the white supremacist organization Anglo-Saxon, WASP equivalent to the United States (\"White Anglo-Saxon Protestants\"). \nFour members have been Prime Ministers of Canada; \nSir John A. Macdonald (father of \u00ab Canadian Federation \u00bb of 1867\nbut not \u00ab Father of Canada \u00bb which is Sir Samuel de Champlain in 1608 ), \nSir John Abbott, \nSir Mackenzie Bowell (a past \u00ab Grand Master \u00bb (?)), \nand John Diefenbaker. \nIn 1927 the \u201cOrange\u201d movement gave birth to a more intolerant and racist group, the Canadian Ku Klux Klan, which had its deepest roots in small towns in Saskatchewan because of the \"yellow peril\", but also because of the blacks...Jews...Catholics...\n(The \u201cKu Ku Nest\u201d in the province campaigned against= teaching French + wearing the religious habit + the presence of crucifixes in schools.)\n\"...That should be a teachers job, not erasing history...\"\nyou said ? Hard to do, eh Jato20 ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Holy Spirit doesn't take orders from the Vatican or any other place on this earth. The attempts of the popes after Paul VI to turn back the clock to the \"good old days of the totalitarian state that they, [JP II and Benedict] were comfortable with---was in direct violation of what was in the documents of Vatican II----approved by more than 2000 bishops attending.\n\nWhat Christ wants from us is spelled out in Matthew's Gospel Chapter 25:31-47 {The Judgement of the Nations]. This is the \"answers\" to the \"final Test Questions\". There is NO DOGMA, DOCTRINES, etc. It is just plain and simple statements as to what Christ will be asking at the end of time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "wow because the ultimate aim of a shepherd is to be liked, to be accommodating, to accompany, to be popular, to given in to the madness of the world instead of calling people to repentance and conversion...just like Jesus said...let me check my new world order bible of Vatican II spirit for the direct reference", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Steven.....another piece of Spadaro's comment that I relate to, particularly right now in the US is:\n\n\"Francis\u2019 outlook is profoundly evangelical, prophetic and open: He is one of the few figures who gives hope.\"\n\nNo small accomplishment....these days!\n\nAnd I am \"hopeful\" that Francis will continue to give us hope and appropriate \"counsel\" if things get horribly goofy here.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If God has no bias or prejudice, neither can we, if we profess to believe in God. If God loves unconditionally and without measure, so should we who call ourselves God's own. Because God has repeatedly assured us, \"I have loved you with an everlasting love, I have called you and you are mine!\" so we are to assure one another. (See \"I Have Loved You,\" a song by Michael Joncas, based on Jeremiah 31:3.)\nhttps://www.ncronline.org/blogs/spiritual-reflections/beyond-us-and-them\nA profoundly challenging observation to the dominant male psychology long prevailing and yet controlling in hierarchical Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1905; Saskatchewan and Alberta\nNo constitutional guarantee was given to French Catholic minority of these new provinces, while the federal government (John A. Macdonald) did not show no will to protect these rights, any more than it did at school conflicts in New Brunswick and Manitoba. \nThe \u00ab School Act \u00bb of Alberta imposed English as the ONLY language of instruction.\nIn Saskatchewan, the \u00ab School Act \u00bb of 1909 made English the ONLY language of instruction, but allowed limited use of French in primary schools.\n(1927; the Ku Klux Klan in the province of Saskatchewan campaigned against teaching French, wearing the religious habit and the presence of crucifixes in schools.)\n(1929; a third law of Saskatchewan yet abolished the French in schools that Act adopts the 1918 and shed.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"NCR is not necessarily the most representative organ of Catholic opinion.....!\"\nAnd I would venture that you are not, either, orientstar. There are many sources one can use, if wanting to broaden a perspective, that all contribute to conclusions that are different than your own.\nCatholics across the board do not like the current language of the Mass. They want a change. Period. And they do not want a return to Latin. A majority of Church Fathers went in to Vatican II not wanting or expecting change, and came out as wiser and convinced of the need to change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have knowledge of Catholic superstitions and know why they are there. I am just unwilling to keep repeating them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do not have an opinion about Hebrew. But I have been led to believe that in this case \"sons\" as in the NAB and Grail Psalms (and RSVCE, and Jeruslem Bible...) is a mistaken rendering of the Hebrew. \n\nInterestingly enough the Douai-Rheims has \"children\" where the Vulgate has \"filii\" which means the rendering as \"sons\" is not even traditional in the anglophone Catholic world. (And since the Douai Rheims was to be a translation of the Vulgate it means the understanding of the Vulgate even centuries ago was \"filii\" for plural children of any sex!) And strangely, the NRSV, notorious for having \"inclusive language\" of the kind the decades long pressure campaign to reform English wants, has \"sons\". \n\nIt's also not at all analogous to the gripe about \"Men\" for \"Homines\" in the credo since \"man\" and its plural \"men\" is a word for our kind in today's English but \"sons\" has been masculine only as far back as we know it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for chipping in again, WS\n\n\"Why do you wish to insert your opinion and then complain of others inserting Scripture and Prophesy?\"\n\nSo a lay preacher friend approached me after church and let me know he would be providing the sermon the next Sabbath. His title he said was 'Not done yet' and he offered his text. I opened the bible and began reading from the first verse in the chapter; his text was the 8th verse.\n\nHe interrupted me and said, 'Don't read the context. It doesn't work.' \n\nI began reading the specific verse and he said, 'Not the first sentence, just the last.'\n\nTrue story. Actual quotes.\n\nI'm thinking you and my lay preacher friend ... well, who knows. He may be you, actually. \n\nDo you ever smile when you sense something in Scripture that confirms your experience of God?\n\nDo you ever sense in Scripture something you never knew about God?\n\nShare your experiences, please.\n\nThey would be so useful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does history progress? Hegel and Marx thought so, at least in ecoomics and our understanding of God (Hegel, not Marx). In the life of any orgaization, people like the myth that things have always been as they are, particularly among the Catholic Curia. Any reading of Church history shows that all doctrine is renewed with each generation and the movement is generally in the direction of human freedom. Bad news if you think women will never be ordained.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's not correct. It's correct to say there was no DIRECT human male involvement in the conception of Jesus. \n\nBut what about Joachim's (not to take away from St Anne) upbringing of Mary, which clearly helped Mary stay disposed to saying Yes to the will of God, which was required. \n\nWhat about St Joseph's loving (and protective) care and cooperation with the pregnancy, not turning her away, protecting her, fleeing when there was danger, helping her stay on the good side of the law (Census, shielding her from shame of divorce, etc.).\n\nParenting is much more than conception and the physical act of giving birth. Gracious. \n\nThe secular world has such a shrunken understanding of so much, parenthood, faith, God, love, Scripture, sin, grace, the communion of saints, our cooperation with God's will and plan for the world...etc. \n\nAs the pope has pointed out there's also a much bigger understanding about feminism which the secular world and fundi-cats don't understand.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, children have been sexualized all through human history. It was even a problem in the early Church, with Christ saying that leading one of the little ones astray should be punished by drowning. He was talking abuse, not doctrine. I think the marital age should be after-10th grade, at which point students should be paid for school and receive a child tax credit for any kids they have.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part 2); many sacrifices were made to make it all work... I wouldn't change one iota of it, nor would I change my decision to get \"snipped\" to prevent further procreation of new life. (This decision aided by a parish priest as I alluded to above; although I would have likely done it anyway as the best decision for our family.) How anyone can perceive this as \"denying another the opportunity of life\" is far beyond me, given that my wife and I already had as many children as we had hands to clothe and feed them. \n\nFurther, Kevin, for you to imply that our decision \"is sinful and this is known innately by mankind\" is not only insulting but it is equally ludicrous. Are you not aware that Catholics use contraception at about the same rate as other faith traditions and secular society as a whole? HV is \"bunk\" for the very reasons I stated above, but you have bought it hook, line & sinker because celibate Roman prelates have decreed it. (Cont to part 3).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is this what you were taught in the Catholic Seminary? As a priest you will be held responsible for any disparaging comments about our \"EVER VIRGIN\" Blessed Mother. You know the \"Woman\" who was conceived without sin, the virgin birth of her son Jesus, the Mother of God who was also assumed into heaven body and soul, and who will crush the head of the serpent very soon! We are approaching the 100 year anniversary of Fatima. You need to contemplate what this means.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting that you, who lives in England, would cite statistics for the US. But if you researched a little more, you would have found that US attendance at Mass began to slip well before Vatican II, and that was true of Europe (including Great Britain) as well. The vocation crisis was occurring before the Council as well, and even noted by a bishop from Italy who wanted the Council to proclaim that all Catholics should produce more children so there would be more boys who would become priests! The problems (or, it can be seen as, growth) you are so distressed about have their origins long, long before the 1960's. Good analysis of statistics always helps to put the hard data in to context. Just one example of where you do not is all of the declines in the sacraments and ordinations you mention also having some roots in things like population decline. It is the examination of the wider picture that gives us the accuracy of our views, don't you agree?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Incorrect. Please read Sacrosanctum Concilium and some of the related volumes about the reforms introduced by that Council document. You are citing, I believe, the rationale for the pre-Vatican II liturgy (pick one) and not the conciliar return (recovery) of the early Church forms that were closely based on what Jesus of Nazareth actually did. That seems to be the differences in the current arguments: one advocates for the original form(s) of the early church, and the other desires the form(s) developed over the years by clerics that deliberately excluded the non-ordained from any involvement outside of a few responses to what the celebrant says or chants. This article makes our arguments quite moot, as we now have a clearer magisterial statement from the pope about the need for continued reform. We really should be discussing further liturgical development, and not rehashing old forms that no longer apply without substantial reasons. Jesus never said to face East.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, not end of story. The leadership (but not all) are officially homophobic, but there are gay positive groups within the Church trying to change it from within. There is also The Old Catholic Church which has a very gay positive attitude (some variance from nation to nation, but all except the Poles are quite liberal). (Full disclosure, I'm not Catholic.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can't really put my finger on where I equated Jesus with the human leadership of the Church...merely made the point which you seemed to accept that as far as a knowable historical character, the transmitter of the Jesus story has always been the Church and its male hierarchy...\n\nMy question still remains though: if you are deeply suspicious about the holiness/saintliness of the women I originally mentioned because it is the Church who tells us they are saints, what exactly do you find holy/saintly/worthy of emulation about Jesus? Do you have the same suspicions for Him as you do for the female saints you seem to toss aside? If you don't, why not?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My mother was deeply protestant until my father took her to a Latin Mass. She loved the mystery and still loved it after Vatican II. How deeply Protestant? My ancestered were involved in founding the Presbyterian (Puritan congregationalist), Quaker, Anabaptist and Disciples of Chirst. That is deep Protestant. Still, I don't mind the Roman Missal. And with your Spirit is fine. The more univeral credo is fine, but the prayers during the Mass, from the Introit to the prayer after Communion and clunkly in translation. They are so bad, each parish liturgy committee would likely do a better job. An exageration of course, but not by much. Maybe the USCCB could have a committee prepare better prayers when necessary. Regardless, what Francis just did reasserted his authority over the Mass. Hopefully he uses it wisely, especially on translations issues. For those Trads that value obedience, please domonstrate that value here and quit relitigating Vatican II and the liturgy since then.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Only God can judge. The Vatican is trapped in a prison, ecclesiastical patriarchy, and it may be that they just don't know how to clarify the conflation of patriarchal gender ideology (the gender \"binary\") with our sacramental theology. It could be that they are concerned about the possibility of schism in the Church. They have been struggling with this issue for the past 50 years:\n\nhttp://pelicanweb.org/CCC.TOB.html#CHRONOLOGY\n\nIt could be they really think that the Church is not \"ready.\" When is the Church going to be ready? It is a pastoral disgrace. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit can the Church escape from this prison. \n\nWonder what is happening with the \"commission\" about women deacons. Are the going to say \"yes\" to women deacons, and \"no\" to women priests? On what basis? All we can do is pray and keep insisting that this vexing issue be resolved, for the glory of God and the good of souls. Otherwise we must submit, as Christ submitted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes Tridy, in the man you are worried about being a false product I see the Christ inside him. It seems like you would like to portray me as seeing Christ as knowingly devious, and of course that is very false. \n\nYes you are confused Christ did tell us to treat each other better to love each other even our enemies. Our Lord became man to prepare us to Love God and neighbor. In doing that it requires us to listen to the Spirit in each and every generation. We do not know what eternal salvation is. For to do that we would need to know the mind of God. We can however use our talents and behavior to help our fellow men in our generation so that we might do as Christ told us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus didn't come to get us to make this world some kind of utopia but to lead us into eternal life. Yes He told us to practice corporal works of mercy but the new Heaven and new Earth He will bring at the end of time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nora,\nMany RCs don't understand that the term \"Roman Catholic\" refers to a Rite within the Catholic Church and is not the name of the entire universal Catholic Church. I am sure that Jim meant no harm or disrespect. \nBut the fact is that the Eastern Churches (including the Ukrainian) that have married priests are part of the Catholic Church. Somehow, these Churches have not disappeared, nor have been destroyed by thunderbolts for having married priests. So, it is completely possible for the Latin Rite to follow our example and have married clergy.\nUnfortunately, we do not have women priests, because that is forbidden by Canon Law that obligates us as well........\nI often think that God musy shake her head at human folly regarding the myriad rules, just as mothers often shake their heads at the folly of silly children who insist that this or that just must be so.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps the author should consider voting for the American Solidarity Party candidate, Mike Maturen if he is available as a write in candidate in her state, as he is both pro-life and pro-Catholic social teaching. \n\nhttp://www.solidarity-party.org", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I like to help people in need especially the hungry and the homeless by contributing monthly to charities focused on these two missions in Toronto.\nOur parish together with many others in Toronto have sponsored Syrian refugees and help them to get started in a new country. It includes finding a home, clothing, and helping with other needs. I have heard that most are able to be independent in a year.\nWe are the hands and feet of God's active love and they are the children of God and our brothers and sisters. You seem use fear to excuse your behaviour. Jesus told us very often in the Bible, \"Be not afraid\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In terms of style of worship, we all have different needs, different ways of praying and these preferences change with life's journey. So, the more diversity and flexibility, the bigger the umbrella to accommodate one and all. It all comes down to our institutional church \"listening\" versus \"telling\".\nDogma is very much the same. No one lives a theoretically ideal life. As much as the theoreticians who came up with these rules would like us to believe, life ALWAYS finds exceptions to these rules. Christ taught us a way to view life that unburdens us all and yet still fulfills the law (dogma). The goal is the same but the route is different for each of us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How much better it would have been if the bishops, at some point, had realized that people ought to be taught that what is written in the Scriptures is allegory and symbolism, because that is the only way that we can approach the Almighty, whom our minds cannot grasp. If only we had been taught, a long time ago, that the Nativity story was simply theorizing, and based on symbolism and mythology (but good mythology, not bad mythology -- for those of you who are already in a dither). I think that we could see this holiday in a much healthier light, and it would avoid some of the questions, like the ones raised when we talk about Joseph's dilemma. Yes, Jesus had to be born, but are the exact details of that birth so important to us? Is not the symbolism more important? The fact is that most of us believe that God can do anything that God wills, so why can we simply not be willing to accept some mystery into our spiritual life?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Salvation comes through faith in and living your life in conformity to the words of Jesus the Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Slick, this gal is totally off side here. The Globe is becoming a refuge for guilt ridden progressives. And, what she and others of her ilk won't even mention or touch is the mis-treatment of Christians, Jews and Sikhs in most of the Muslim world. As an example, most Catholics have been driven out of Iraq and Syria. This is never mentioned in the MSM, or for that matter by the Liberal Party of Canada or the NDP. No wonder working people are getting fed up with all the media for filtering out stories that don't conform to the Progressive \"narrative\". Have a nice long weekend.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree, but the question is whether the love of God is the source or the goal of each and every action. The creation and incarnation happened. The love of God has been displayed and given irrevocably. This is our faith. The question is whether we believe strong enough to act accordingly in our relationships with one another (and with the whole world), or not. If we can, we will discover God in the face of the other that makes me I, in everything we do. This is what Ignatius of Loyola describes as \"contemplation in action\". \n\nIn other words, when I am changing a baby, or looking after a sick, or building a bridge, I am not thinking about the mysteries of God. I am intently focused on what I am doing. But, if I do what I do by being motivated by the love of God, I will discover God in everything I do. This is the greatest glorification of God (I do not 'give\" or 'provide' glory to God, I recognise God's glory.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Natural law and the obsession of it as an \"absolute\" is why the Catholic Church has backed into such a corner. Natural law treats every situation as the same \"evil\", so an abused woman who divorces and remarries is treated in the same way as a rich man who divorces his first wife to marry his secretary. This absolutism makes it impossible to differentiate between the two circumstances.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Non sequitur\" in logic is an invalid argument where the conclusion could be either true or false (because there is a disconnect between the premises and the conclusion), but the argument nonetheless asserts the conclusion to be true and is thus fallacious.\n\n\"Your point is irrelevant whether it stands or not.\" is clearly not a non sequitur, it is an assertion that without regard to the poll numbers, the President has made a decision.\n\nIf your point had to with minority views, \"Fact: Most Americans are not against distribution of contraceptives overseas.\" would have been appropriate rather than \"aren't right-wing Catholics\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The disciples had Jesus in their lives on a daily basis and could not believe what was coming until after the Resurrection. We have the benefit of the whole story but we only find him in the words of scripture and in Communion. We have not seen, but we believe. The challenge is whether we use the Cross for self-justification or to bring mercy to others. Do we believe in St. Anselm\u2019s bloody ransom or a Christ who feels the despair we feel and how does that impact our view of sin?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Was it written by a Cardinal, or at least a Bishop? They, after all, are chosen by the Holy Spirit to teach and lead the One True Church. It follows that all others should defer to their divinely inspired teachings. Otherwise, one might be inclined to question many of the Inerrant and Unchanging Teachings of the Only True Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes she was----but you notice she was not given the general commission the other apostles were? She was given a very specific mission from Jesus: go tell the apostles what she saw and heard. She was not part of the general commission given only to the 11.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Christians of Tertullian's day didn't make anonymous slash-and-run comments in internet comboxes, so I imagine his observation was without irony. Then again, some of those drawings on the catacomb walls were pretty snarky. \ud83d\ude0a\n\nThis kind of communication has it's good and bad points. A bad one is that, because we aren't face to face, we become tempted to see those we communicate with not as human beings but as abstractions. \n\nWhen we have real relationships with people we give them permission to be different. We know them, so we don't reduce them down to ideologies or points of view. For example, I love my ultraconservative uncle and I know he's a good guy, so I don't form my view of him based on politics alone. But that doesn't happen here. \n\nI've often been struck by the thought that posters on this site could be saying some of these rude and cutting things to their own friends and family members without realizing it. I try to keep that in the back of my mind whenever I post.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any of these Liberal MPs want to stand up against the Catholic School System in Ontario?\n\n\n\n\n(crickets)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi! Colkoch\nCould you clarify as I am not sure what you are trying to say.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the point is the overemphasis on receiving the sacraments and the lack of some sense of how to incorporate that moment with Christ into the rest of our lives. What should be \"food for the journey\" is some sustenance, but it does not really provide the tools needed for the journey. In fact the \"tools\", the dogma and doctrines, meaningful for someone living in the Middle Ages, are not much help today. \n\nThe real issue is: how do we live what receiving the sacraments should mean? I believe in birth control and sterilization as indispensable tools for modern men and women to plan their lives. I believe that abortion is a woman's decision when it is any threat to her life. I believe LGBT people are as completely made by God exactly as they are, as are heterosexual people - and God made them, too, to experience love and family. I don't believe in the infallibility of popes or the Church - human persons and a human institution, guides not rulers. \n\nAnd, yet, I am Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is nonsense - The Bible is either true in it's entirety or it is the biggest pack of lies foisted on humanity in the history of the world. You cannot have it both ways. Want to hear about a Myth - How about this:\n\nNothing became something - then somehow \"energized\" - then exploded - and somehow created solar systems with perfect spherical planets - non life became life - and without dying off \"evolved\" into all we have today...and you guys believe this with no proof, other than an 1860's crackpot scientist who had a list mental and physical to long to list in 1000 characters.\n\nSorry Charlie - I will stick with God. And BTW: It is Revelation NOT RevelationS (plural) and it stands for the Revelation of Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many Catholics are afraid of new ideas and a spirituality that includes an open mind, heart, and body to the Divine Presence. These can take the form of loving-kindness meditation, creating or studying art and poetry, Lectio Devina, yoga or Tai Chi, and many other activities. Fear not , they can help us to grow a healthy mature spirituality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have to admit the truth of what you say. I would feel bad. Everyone is affected by the way they are treated, and I would not like it one bit to be the target of discrimination or beatings. If you are a gay person, then obviously you do not consider that you are \"disordered\" as the Church expresses it. However, the view of the Church in this regard is hardly an innovation. This has been the view of the Catholic Church and most other Christian churches for centuries, as well as every other major faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you deny Jesus' teachings on this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings...your assessment of the post Vatican ll Church rings true for many baby boomer Catholics here in the USA. The stifling of the+ Holy Spirits+ charism and needed reforms were led by the Curia, JohnPaul ll and Benedict XlV. All of my 4 siblings have left the Church for this very reason. I still attend the Church and work for continuation of needed reforms. Peace to you\ud83c\udf0d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's unfair because the accused, in a stunning and unprecedented turn of events, declares his innocence. Therefore, all Traditional Catholics must leap to his defense, because he is a Prince of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "-- https://cruxnow.com/analysis/2017/04/06/pope-francis-delay-sspx-agreement-pending-abuse-probe/\n\nPope Francis should delay SSPX agreement pending abuse probe\n\nThe article's author, Austin Invereigh, is FAR from a fuzzy-headed librullllll! --", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Chalice\" is a direct translation of the Latin \"c\u00e1licem\", from \"calix\".\n\nIn English the distinction is made between an ordinary cup and a cup used in the Christian Eucharist, normally referrred to as a \"chalice\".\n\n\"Consubstantial\" translates directly \"consubstanti\u00e1lem, from \"consubstantialem\", the essence of the thing.\n\nThese are not \"Pellisms\" but accurate translations reflecting at least four hundred years of constant English usage up to the \"Dick and Jane do Eucharist\" paraphrases of the ICEL.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Millions of women of childbearing age work for religious organizations that object to paying for contraceptives? I would be very surprised if this rule actually impacts anywhere near a million women. Someone tell Nancy Pelosi this is only for religious organizations not already exempt. Churches were already exempt from coverage. I doubt LSOTP and similar organizations are such major employers of young women who believe Catholics should pay for contraceptives.\n\nNo one is stopping anyone from buying or using contraceptives. If you are worried about the cost of that particular medication, don't go to work for a religious organization whose principles differ so much from your own.\n\nAnd I continue to be amazed that the Obama administration decided contraception must be free to the user while drugs necessary to maintain life, like insulin and Epipens, are not", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trying to link Pope Francis to the far right Catholics to discredit him is very complicated analysis that sometimes causes one to have to take contradicting positions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As to the shrinking of the church, I'd ask this: what is there in the church today to get/keep people excited? By that, I do not mean entertainment value, but the life of the mind?\n\nWe live in an era where few of us have the luxury of large amounts of unstressed time blocks to think, reflect and ponder. I think that applies whether we're talking about science, religion, politics,etc. there is IMMENSE competition for what little time we have. In that context, religion must compete for that slice of our time. So when I sit down to read something for a bit, am I more likely to want to dig into a nuanced tome by a pope Benedict, or a piece giving me info on the upcoming total eclipse, or perhaps an article about today's political news, or the Middle East, etc? Which of these is more practical? What impact does the church's ongoing handling of the scandal on our decision, or how we might view what Benedict might have to say? All of this, and more will have to be addressed soon...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is it you do not understand? \nArius said Christ was fully human.\nMany said Christ was fully divine.\nSome said a mix of human and divine.\nAll but Arius affirmed that Christ was divine, and was human, that this was the faith they had brought with them and that they recognized in the Creed.\n\n \u201cMore than three hundred bishops, remarkable for their moderation and intellectual keenness, were unanimous in their confirmation of one and the same faith, a faith which has arisen in agreement with the truths of the Law of God. Arius alone had been misled by the devil...\u201d as Constantine put it. \nI do not see how you can use that history as an example of \u201cobjective truth tells us both cannot be right.\u201d It was not side A versus side B, and B changed to agree with A, as you would have it. It was 300+ bishops, with 300+ opinions, who each saw their faith reflected in the one creed.\nIf you see it differently, I\u2019d love to hear how.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course those who do not have theological or philosophical qualifications have a right to their opinion, and to those opinions being taken seriously (up to a point). However, the object of letters like this is to apply pressure, particularly when published as this one was. The object of listing the names is to impress the reader with their seniority and expertise. This is particularly clear from the way most of them have listed their positions. My point is that a significant portion of the people on the list do not have that expertise. If this was meant to indicate the mass nature of the controversy, a representative mass of names would have been more appropriate than a small selection of academics. I'm sorry, I thought my comment was clearer.\n\nAs for \"massive controversy\", the only place I hear about this is in a fairly small group of Catholic blogs. So I suppose we must have different definitions of \"massive\", and \"controversy\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus will return from the East? East of what? If he appears at any given point on the Earth, he will be West of at least some people. \nIf the Sanctuary is the head, the nave the body, then the front door must be...\nShould people enter the church at the sanctuary, then, and exit at the end of the mass through the front door? Analogy is such a problematic thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't it say somewhere in the constitution that state and church shall be separated? Or something like that? \nTypical reptard. Who care about the constitution. And don't get me started on them SOB churches not paying property tax. Prevo comes to mind. Oh i am getting mad!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe in the power of God, but the Holy Spirit will not lead you contrary to the word. And you mentioned those in Christ's time that were \"word only\", you have miss applied the truth to fit your narrative. The truth is they weren't word only. If they had known the word they would have accepted Christ because the word prophesied the Christ. What is fascinating to me is that you can see an in context scripture like 1Cor.14:34-38 (the most authoritative scripture) that speak against it and you keep coming with your own personal view based on your experience. Its a scary place to be on the shifting sand of relativism where personal experience establishes the truth. It is liberalism. That is how and where heresies get started. It puts the idol of experience and notion above scripture. I don't want to put my experience above the Word of God\u2026.may it never be.\n\nGod bless \n\nDave", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Institution must be protected. An occasional bit of public relations, like setting up a do-nothing commission, is necessary now and again, but the important thing for the shepherds is to protect the fellow shepherds. This is the code by which Our Holy Father and his Brother Bishops live, and as mere laity we must accept that. Now if this was some \"faith\" based upon the words of the \"son of god\" things might be different. As Francis and the Bishops demonstrate repeatedly, that is not what their church is all about and they have no fear that they will face any consequences. They are the Princes of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The women left the Annual Council, rejoicing that they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Every day, in the Conference offices and from church to church and school to school and house to house, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So many \"yes...but\" responses. Preoccupation with traditional pious templates that eschew the human, the here and now, are part of what turns young (of age and mind) away from the institution. Clericalism is not only the sense of clerical entitlement but the persistence in the \"yes, but\" from conscious-sentient reality to the etherial. Our religion is founded on the \"heavenly\" and Incarnation/Resurrection. Noone is denying either, however the former is only found through sentient conscious living (of Jesus and us) and seeking the ultimate joy towards which we can only begin to journey in its experience. \nOf course \"Seeking consolations can turn us quickly into a disordered mess...\". That is the challenge, the risk of being human rather than being a \"scaredy cat\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "King, Lord....think what Handle's Messiah would be if we tried to force God into one human word. \n\nhe will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Authentic Liturgy in Functioning Church:\nLet\u2019s get down to earth about (R)religion, and take our heads out of the hot ether of exclusionary theological conjecturing and conjuring, and get down to earthly realities.\nWhat constitutes \u2018holy family\u2019? The \u2018(H)holy (S)spirit\u2019 that shapes the love between mothers/ fathers also confects children in mind and body.\nIn all things, authentic parental relationships, in Godlike manner, weave the mind/ body fabric of intentional, familial love between mothers/ fathers/ children. \u2018Holy\u2019 spirit bonds intentional faith/ hope/ love in trustful communication, informed consciousness and committed conscience.\nFamily is Primary Church.\nFemales and males together are equally responsible in intentional spirituality, in confecting together the bonds of (F)faith/ (H)hope, and (L)love, whether in Church, whether in Family. Eucharist pertains to liturgy, to authentic bonding/ provisioning in family.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Aren't we lucky that we are so much more intelligent and knowledgeable than those gone before us. That we have this 'deeper' understanding of Christian history and the teachings of Jesus. I would, of course, hesitate to reprimand Our Lord for lumbering previous generations with relative ignoramuses such as the Fathers of the Church, Saints Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, Theresa of Avila among others.\nWhy couldn't Hans K\u00fcng, Charles Curran, Matthew Fox, Jacques Gaillot, Eugene Kennedy et al have been born several generations earlier when they could have teamed up with Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, Zwingli, Bucer and the rest. \nWe would have had a comprehensive world religion today headed by the United Nations in New York rather than in the centre of the Old World.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Papacy actually used to relocate in the summer. That's kind of how they wound up in Avignon for 68 years in the 1300s. The Pope died while there, the new Pope was French, and he decided to just stay in Avignon.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The truly conservative needn't gnash teeth at all. Good pope or bad, God is in charge and the institutional Church will muddle through as it always has.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus does remove requirements and the need to think like a Pharisee. Walk the extra mile. Turn the other cheek. Give your tunic also. Stop counting the number of times you forgive. Sit down and eat with them. Let every meal be a Eucharistic encounter whether bread and wine, or loaves and fishes, or a tete a tete with a tax collector, or dipping bread with the Judas who just betrayed you. Lighten up a bit. Probably you have exhausted me. Bye for now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "JS Fry,\n\nMy prior story noted Lawson has a bachelor\u2019s degree from Oregon State University in electrical and computer engineering from 1983 and a master\u2019s degree from Northwest Christian University in business administration earned last year. I mentioned the high school in this story to show his ties to Eugene.\n\nSincerely,\n\nChristian Hill\nReporter, The Register-Guard", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't say jumping off a cliff would lead to death - that would depend on height and what was below. The effects of gravity remain the same.\n\nDo we know more now than 4000 years ago about the purposes of sex and the desires of men and women, natural and unnatural? What \"new knowledge\" has been given us by God that would reverse 2000 years of constant Church teaching and practice about men, women, love, sex and marriage?\n\nAs Jesus said:\n\n\"Haven\u2019t you read, that at the beginning the Creator \u2018made them male and female,\u2019 and said, \u2018For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh\u2019? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't be jealous that NO liberal Catholic outlet has near the supporters that EWTN has.\nThe proof is in the pudding: EWTN is a multi-million dollar operation unequaled by any and all liberal or progressive Catholic outlets put together.\nIf all liberal or progressive Catholic outlets put together have 50,000 readers, I'd be very (very!!!) surprised.\nCase closed.\nLOL!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. Not sure just how many Canadians actually 'carry guns'?\n2. Who is judging? \n3. Voting is always a compromise for Christians;\n4. Who says we don't?\n\nJust who is keeping children in the dark, by encouraging struggling, confused and impressionable young growing minds towards a destructive, non-reversible path to surgically alter their bodies to match their confused mental state before they have reached full mental maturity? It is the height of cruelty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If white, straight, Christian males can contribute to humanity's future with with same brilliance as they have in the past -- Mozart comes to mind immediately -- I say, get out of their way and let it happen. Or just let them contribute with the same level of respect accorded to nonwhite, nonstraight, nonChristian nonmales. Let us not sneer at anyone who wishes to contribute, regardless of his race, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "WOW, what a bunch of drivel. Almost nothing said here was taken in context or relates to the actual message given. Rather, a particular line was pre-decided and then supported by out of context facts. Also conveniently forgetting that what was said is from a Christian perspective and doing nothing to explain what that perspective is. \n\nWhen they state things like Angus believes in male dominating the female, it shows a complete lack of understanding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As illustrated by the laughing react button\"...\n\"Most Catholics don't know who we are and what we are about and why would anyone be attracted to people that don't seem to take their own message seriously?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: \"Souki\u2019s popularity may have been affected when he pushed his members unsuccessfully to approve a medical-aid-in dying bill earlier this session.\" Souki's power began to crumble during the McKelvey fuss. After that, Souki said and did nothing to see the bill moved through the House Health Committee where it was deferred. Saiki covered for Belatti as did Luke. Their close relationship with Belatti is well known. IMHO, the large conservative Christian coalition led by the Catholic Church scared the hell out of them all even though the legislature was not hurt at all during the 2012 election immediately following the historic Marriage Equality passage. As I understand it, Belatti is a Catholic. Then there's Marcus Oshiro conservative Christian conversion some years ago. He's rabidly against Death With Dignity despite his careful public positioning during the House Health Committee hearing. He should take up acting. Then there's the Trial Lawyer connection which is worth investigating.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about we all focus a little less on the flaws and vices that other Catholics have? You would need an infantile, naive understanding of sin to think that all Catholics are good people. (edit: just to be clear, not calling the original poster \"infantile\"; I realized this could appear to be an ad hominem attack) Any rational adult knows that is not the case and that the people around us are flawed deeply, not matter what religion, nation, race, or ethnicity they come from. What good does it do to rant, complain, and dwell on it and act like you've discovered some new. How about we just strive to be excellent and to brings other all others along with us", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pentecost as the birthday of the church was a *cute* liturgical stance for awhile. The Church became Church with the resurrection and appearance of Christ on Easter - our birthday is celebrated at the Easter Vigil (not Pentecost).\n This opinion is not universally held, however. A writer from an \"Orthodox perspective\" argues that the Church Fathers held that the Church had no beginning but that it existed before all things. See http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2009/06/is-pentecost-birthday-of-church.html A similar argument is made from a Reformed perspective at https://garynealhansen.com/ispentecostthebirthdayofthechurch/ and at http://www.reformedworship.org/article/march-1988/pentecost-birthday-church. \nPentecost is only mentioned in one chapter in the New Testament. Paul, for example, does not refer to it in any of his letters. He is more focused on the death, resurrection, and especially the parousia. John has Jesus giving the Spirit on Easter Night.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fundamentalist Christian Sharia Law For All. Mango sure does hate the Constitution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In your haste to bash EWTN and Raymond Arroyo, I think you might be missing a much bigger story.\n\nThe fact that Trump would carve out precious campaign time to do a sitdown with Arroyo is a strong indication of what his campaign's internal polls are telling him. And that is, he is hemorrhaging Catholic votes, including white, conservative, Republican-leaning Catholic votes, to such an extent that he has to go onto an \"interview\" show with a tiny, niche audience on a network with its own niche \"preach to the choir\" audience in order to shore up votes that he should have had in a slam-dunk.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Monica, I agree with what you say here. I especially like your insight re turning a highly eschatological concept into a dialectical one, or into an operational value - one that has implications for daily living. IMHO we cannot fit the gospel into our lives, we have to fit our lives into the gospel, and how we chose to do or not do this is the process of our journey. What I find many folks don't like, especially these days, is the trust and openness this requires on our part. It seems to be a matter of believing 'in' Jesus as opposed to believing 'about\" Jesus. If we believe the right things then we know, and can judge others who do not know as/what we know. Pastorally this is a problem, especially these days. What is especially great about what you wrote is that neither condemns nor absolves people a priori. Many commenters in these pages do not go along with this. They know, and, therefore, can judge the rest of us. Time for espresso, and work on Ash Wednesday homily.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The changing season means the cardinals must change as well. No more whites, since it is after Labor Day, time to go for earth tones, dull reds and other Fall colors. Gold lace and gold trim are always in fashion, but perhaps mix in some bronze, especially on this season's miters. Save that silver cross for the holidays, now is the time to shine with gold, but don't overlook a touch of copper as well. Remember, you are a cardinal now, dress the part. Don't worry, the laity are buying and Francis recognizes the importance of cardinals, even if he sometimes sounds like he's not completely devoted to the clergy. Ignore those who suggest a little less costume and a little more Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And also there was NCR's constant whining about those priests who used their \"in persona Christi\" to exploit little children. Doesn't NCR know that one of the Ten Commandments is \"Do not bring Scandal on the Church\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This issue is framed, incompletely, as 'religious freedom against gay and lesbian rights'. To be clear, TWU's Community Covenant also denies entry to heterosexuals who do not subscribe to the university's prohibition against sex outside of marriage. \n\nReligious freedom includes the right to be agnostic. Section 2 (a) of the Charter has been interpreted by the SCC to include protection from the imposition by others of religiously motivated sanctions against conduct that is otherwise legal. The covenant infringes therefore on the rights of heterosexuals broadly, and - given the obvious double standard governing premarital sex - discriminates against women in particular. \n\nTWU, of course, claims exemption on the basis it is a private Christian university. What the SCC must decide is whether that exemption compels the legal profession and justice system, which ostensibly stand for fairness and equity, to accept the graduates of a university that openly repudiates those principles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tomas - have you seen the names John Paul II and Benedict XVI have been called by posters on THIS site? Intimating that anyone who praised them did not meet THEIR standards of Catholicism? That those two Popes were not THEIR popes?\n\nSeems it's pretty much a two-way street.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks NCR, and how about this?\nWhat we, all humankind, need to understand, including, and especially the Trump Administration, is that understanding life's common values is critical to their political application. Common religious values are to be universally shared, not used to advocate conflict, much less violence.\nResolving values-conflicts requires understandings of religious/ political mutuality that bond universal values.\nThe violent cult of self-interest religion, in conflict with life\u2019s common interest, is socially lethal and a root-cause of wasting Nature, and ourselves! \u2013 what the major religions need to understand and teach, including Roman/ Orthodox Catholics, inter-denominational Christianity, Islam, and all world religious \u2018isms\u2019.\nWe must awaken to the reality that our cult of inter-religious/ political violence is CRAZY KILLING us. \nhttp://secondenlightenment.org/Eucharistic%20Worldview.pdf http://www.secondenlightenment.org/Beyond%20Conflicted%20Religion.pdf", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This WAS the Northern Ireland election for Westminster seats. The NI Parliament elections are a different animal and will not affect Westminster. On the other hand, a strong showing by pro-EU and Catholic supporters at Stormont will weaken May's hand further. I hope May's coalition falls part quickly because the potential for violence in Northern Ireland is very high because of this tone-deaf move.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fans of Miranda believe that you can only understand what he believes when you use the \"special translations\" that support him, that our current \"Christianity\" was created as a tool of the Roman Empire circa 313, that only the cognoscenti are familiar with the hidden teachings of Jesus, and so on. It's the typical Gnostic cum Jesus Seminar stuff.\n\nKnown as \"el Jesucristo Hombre\" (\"the man Jesus Christ\"), his followers gave him the title of Melchizedek on his death.\n\nJust another cult.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\nFair enough. That didn't seem obvious to me, but of course I accept your word on this.\nAgain: the salient questions are: Did the pope's representative in that meeting misrepresent him, or fail to represent him? Why and how were the pope's wishes in this matter contravened? The investigation should yield the answers to those questions. I won't be losing any sleep over when or what they report -- but I will be interested. That fact alone -- that I'm interested -- puts me in a distinct minority among Catholics, most of whom have little idea who Cardinal Burke is, and even less who the Knights of Malta (or the Knights of Columbus, for that matter) are.\nHave a good weekend!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Freedom means rights in society enforceable by the Courts regardless of group opinion. I doubt the Hacidim are ready for this, or some Evangelical or Trump voters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We, sadly, have too many bishops [appointed by JP II and Benedict XVI] who still occupy many of the dioceses in the United States. These men manage to be leaders who are, for the most part, un-scriptural, un-theological, un-Christian, and coercive [in a very cruel sense].\n\nToo many of these bishops fail to contemplate Christ's words, \"Come to me all you who are burdened\". Instead, these 'pastors' build walls around the Tabernacle, Jesus's tent pitched in the Church, and gather all the hurdles that they can muster to make the divorced and remarried, LGBT, and any other sinner jump over in order to be 'found worthy to partake of the Eucharistic Banquet.\n\n\nWe have far too many of these warped, self-righteous, misogynous hierarchs who pretend to know both the mind of God and that of every individual Catholic seeking Holy Communion. I agree with Michael Bindner---we need someone like Cupich.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When it comes to peace making, no step is too small. Step away from the war networks and step toward the Peace Networks. Like, Pace e Bene. Get a copy of the American Friends Service's \"The Local Peace Network Handbook\". Find what you can do and leave others to do what they can do. Some think that peace and nonviolence is for times past... November a film Desmond Doss will be in theaters, Hacksaw Ridge. Nonviolence takes faith, courage and deep humility. Bear witness to what nonviolence can do in the midst of war. Take the experience home and find a small step. What will I do 'daily' to advance the cause of peace? Explore the internet networks of peace and nonviolence. Find my place in the conversation. Find a personal most violent action - and disarm your own heart. Ask, who can I make peace with today? Search out signs of peace, wear them, wave them, carry them in my heart. Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace-- give praise and thanksgiving each day. Do what he calls you to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Horatio Alger ....\nI came across this piece: http://www.bachelorsdegreeonline.com/blog/2012/11-myths-about-horatio-alger-every-american-should-know/. It might be interesting.\nI think that everyone who is so keen on \"cutting costs\" is just trying to hide the number of people and circumstances that helped them get where they are.\nAnd these are the folks who have accused so many of us of being cafeteria Catholics and of lacking humility.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The left has some of this, but I don't think it's quite parity. Even polls on positions before and after this president* \"won\" show that the Democrats mostly stayed unswayed on many key issues, while the Republicans were basically reprogrammed on key positions. \n\n\nAnd while the left has its vaccine deniers and a strange, nearly superstitious, reaction to nuclear, vaccine denialism is not entirely on the left. I know extremely far right reactionaries that also don't vaccinate. And the original resistance came from Christians that thought getting a disease was \"God's will\" and something like vaccines was thwarting that will. Obviously, most xtians rejected such extremism...thankfully.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Groucho,\n\nReflection offers more than one response to \u2018Why Jesus hasn\u2019t returned by now?\u2019 What if the answer, It is all our fault!, may really be all our fault?\n\nWhat if humanity plays no role whatsoever in determining when Jesus will return? (Matthew 24)\n\nWhat if everything of importance that happened on October 22, 1844, happened on earth? (Matthew 24)\n\nWhat if what happened in the hearts of embryonic Seventh-day Adventism the morning of October 23, 1844 is the determinant truth of Seventh-day Adventism? (John 14-15)\n\nWhat if the human+divine hybrid religion of Babylon (confusion) is what collapses as a result of the universal proclamation of the divine-only everlasting gospel? (Revelation 14)\n\nWhat if the Three Angels Message is deeply original Seventh-day Adventism, but is not what has become historical Seventh-day Adventism? (Revelation 14)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've never before heard anyone claim the Ten Commandments as doctrine of the church. Strange...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When one group says that behaviour \"X\" is perfectly acceptable even good and claims this has been revealed to them by the Holy Spirit and another says that behaviour \"X\" is gravely evil because the Church guided by the same Holy Spirit has always taught that this is so, you don't think that is confusing for many people? Who are they are to believe? Such is human nature that many will plump for what is congenial to them rather than what is true and right. We are not talking about hypotheticals here but real, concrete decisions which affect people's lives.\nThe internal forum is grossly misunderstood and has become an euphemism for wilful self-deception. The last thing God the Holy Ghost does is sow confusion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, in 1943 the theologians decided that the previous 1900 years of the Church should be reevaluated. Sorry, but saying that the theologians support the theologians is like telling us that the psychologists support the psychologists. And 20 years later, Vatican II and the practical destruction of the Church. \n\nThe dichotomy is those who think the Church should change (Protestants or Protestants masquerading as Catholics) and those who think that 1900 years of survival and growth is a good basis on which to continue the existing teaching.\n\nThere is much literalism in Catholicism, be it the Creed or the words, \"This is my body.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh I see, you wanted them to express it in terms of traditional Roman Catholicism... well then I stand corrected. LOL!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd be more concerned about the Pope being right with God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\nFor two reasons, I can't figure out why MSW would point us today to Crux for the story about Burke and Francis as, arguably, cut from the same cloth.\n\nWhy point to an article he effectively recommends skipping? And why not point instead to the Crux headlines story with the provocative title \"Eastern rite Canadian bishop reflects on married priests after meeting with the pope.\" \n\nhttps://cruxnow.com/interviews/2017/04/02/eastern-rite-canadian-bishop-reflects-married-priests-meeting-pope/\n\nIt turns out the title is misleading, suggesting as it does, that we might learn something more about Francis's views on a married priesthood. In reality, the story mostly provides a down-home glimpse of Francis interacting with a small group of bishops on their ad limina visit from the perspective an enthusiastic fan.\n\nThe bit about married priest is at the end of the interview, and it has nothing to do with what Francis thinks.\n\n...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesus has not come because the people of this world are not ready.\"\n\nThis has been Adventist's message from the beginning, but how what are the people of this world to do to be ready? Usually, the guilt is directed from the pulpit that the audience listening are faulted because they have not yet become ready.\n\nSince you're a true believer in Adventism, what should people be doing to hasten His return? Are the people to determine when they are ready, and then give Jesus the signal: \"Now it's time to come\"? Or should we remember that only the Father knows when all will be ready and then Christ will come? We do not control the Second Coming, but according to many who blame the church for not being ready, we must \"get ready\" (what does that mean in actuality?) then we can tell the Father, \"O.K., now's the time?\n\nSo many Adventists through the years have piously quoted this idea of getting ready: an ambiguous and meaningless phrase which has become part of the verbiage", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Mark. I'm certainly not disparaging Fr. Berry, so I hope I didn't come across that way. \nTo your first question, however, I'll only answer that a Catholic may be interested in any number of things that are faith-neutral; Chevy v. Ford, Colts v. Ravens, an affinity for science fiction or chipped-beef gravy on toast come to mind. One may dress such up with quotes from clergy that seem to favor the idea, but it doesn't change the fact that it does not impinge on what is Catholic beyond the fact that some Catholics may like it.\nThe story is categorized under \"blog posts\" so I suppose I shouldn't read any more into it than an opinion piece.\nI trust you are well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I read many of these comments it seems that the more education one has the more complicated salvation becomes, when it is quite simple, Love your neighbor and Love God. You could say Love is the Flesh and Blood of our risen Christ, who happens to be our Brother as well. There is not enough said about Jesus as our Brother.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am quite concerned that some of the regional, lesser well-know Catholic colleges will not be able to survive long term. There are fewer Catholic high schools now which in previous times funneled their graduates into local Catholic colleges. Recently, Aquinas College in Nashville announced plans to dramatically shrink its operations, essentially becoming a teachers' college for the Dominican order that has operated the college. I do not think that all Catholic colleges and universities are facing survival problems, especially the larger, well known ones, but I worry about the smaller, basically liberal arts colleges.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Way to miss the point of John 13:1-17! Francis is following Christ as a disciple who serves. \" If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another\u2019s feet.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Relax everyone................ it wasn't terrorism.\n.\nIt was just a white Christian \"good old boy\" exercising his second amendment rights in good old Virginia", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is so wonderful. Thank God for sending Pope Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When we truly become \u2018the followers of Christ\u2019, there should be no national boarder but all become a citizen of the world. This whole earth belongs to God not belong to the arbitrary nations. \nBesides, this America is a vast land and could hold & feed millions more God\u2019s children for thousands of years!\nSo stop being so selfish/spoiled and embrace people already living here among us for heaven's sake!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought we were supposed to imitate Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed. Nothing wrong with modern scholarship on the scriptures. Pius XII approved it. Nothing arises from it contradicting doctrine or dogma. You all know I am no fan of the novus ordo, because it has caused a backward reaction in the faith, for example, Marty E et al. Before vatican II good catholics had no conflict with science. Copernicus used to lecture on heliocentrism to Pope Clement in the vatican. Now we have ecumenism of the most pernicious kind, instead of a true ecumenism, because we were all baptized into the true church, there being only one, but now divided.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Church has a right to be its own law and above the law of the land, in my view, as a practicing Catholic who is ashamed that the Catholic Church has been allowed to become too powerful and has been able to charm or in other ways manipulate judges, lawyers, police, politicians, and even parents to protect them from accountability to civil and criminal law when they abuse their position and cover up for the predators in their ranks who sexually abuse / rape children and vulnerable adults around the world. This has to change. Popes and bishops have chosen to ignore Jesus' command to protect the innocence of children for too many years already, in my view. Maybe it is because they do not listen to the Jesus of the Gospels, but rather choose to follow man-made church rules and their own desire for power over others, rather than service to others. All churches, including popes must be subject to our civil and criminal laws, in my view.\nSincerely, Dr Rosemary Eileen McHugh, MD, MSpir", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And in June 2015 a white, born-here, raised in a Christian society young man killed 9 people at the Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, SC, hoping to incite a race war. In Dec. 2012 a white, born here, raised in a Christian society young man killed 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. \n\nHow is it different what Dylann Roof and Adam Lanza did versus what was attempted at Ohio State? Shouldn't we be more afraid of white, native-born men raised as Christians since they are more effective - kill more people and even target children - than darker skinned immigrants who were raised in a different religion? \n\nYou cannot point to the criminal acts of a few Muslim immigrants and pretend that those same crimes aren't also committed by a few people who are just like the majority of people in this country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\nBut the point is that Erasmus was explaining why he didn't leave. Your posts would make a little more sense if you took the trouble to think about what you've read before you respond to it.\nYour \"my way or the highway\" drivel is pure nonsense. Unfortunately, many Catholics have run into that drivel and, taking it seriously, they are gone. Fortunately, many others recognize it for the nonsense it is. Otherwise, the Catholic Church would have long since ceased to exist. One of the joys of my life has been to help some family members and friends come back to the sacraments, or not leave in the first place, over issues like birth control, homosexuality, and divorce/remarriage. These issues are too important to leave them to bishops or priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well spotted. \nIt was a question ('You have set yourself up as Pope?'). \nAddressed to you. \nDo you have an answer?\nFailing an answer, I will assume your answer is 'Yes', - given that you believe that Vatican 2 is \"erroneous\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No doubt Harper is conquering the market in the Bible Belt, where they love dogma and authoritarians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi! yjin117\nI have read some of your comments on the site and your sincerity of heart shines through them.\nI struggle also with this scandal I pray for transparency and an acknowledgement of the misuse of power by the elite within the church and that this acknowledgement should be accompanied by a public apology by all of the bishops before God and mankind in a symbolic way that cannot be understand in that it conveys sincerity.\nJesus teaches\n.\n\u201cAgain, I tell you truly that if two of you on the earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven\u201d\n.\nTo cast out evil Jesus teaches us to pray and fast, if we both were to do this say every Friday others over time may join us and then we/many would see the truths (Power of pray) within the gospels actual working.\nWill you join me yjin and perhaps also Lynne in this endeavour?\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR managed to hire one of the people responsible for bad Catholic church music...you can't make this up!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And too, many purchased old Protestant churches which came with pews and they left them in place.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Historically speaking, being \"willfully morally blind\" when democratic principles are attacked may be a Catholic institutional thing. Examples include Catholic support for Generalissimo Franco in Spain and Mussolini in Italy, and the fact that the Catholic Centre Party in Germany voted in favor of the Enabling Act which allowed Chancellor Adolph Hitler to assume dictatorial powers in Germany. \n\nConnecting the dots from the past and extrapolating to today may help you understand why the majority of white Catholics joined in common cause with neo-nazis to elect Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Shar,\nAgreed. I can't claim to have \"the answer,\" nor even an answer to cover it all. What I do have are some basics:\n1: A basic, almost \"reptilian brain\" kind of sense that what we've seen in wrong, at the level of something that cannot and MUST not be allowed to be \"explained away.\" Abuse of children is wrong, no matter who, where, when. \n2: That sense is amplified, and \"burned in\" because I've held my three daughters moments after they were born, and have shepherded them as best I could into their 30s, and all that entails.\n3: I was brought up catholic, went through Catholic schools, and had it DRILLED into me about how the hierarchy works, their \"charisms,\" etc. I know what the church teaches, and this ain't it.\n4: At my age, I know that human behavior rare changes without an incentive.\n5: They aren't even close to solving the real problem, as that will require a change of heart, not just words, promises, or what we've been given so far.\n\nThey aren't there yet: not even close.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The declining membership in the church, as Tommy clearly understands, is caused by a failing in everyone, except, of course, the Bishops of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The teaching on \"religious freedom\" is most certainly dogmatic, please see QUANTA CURA and Vatican I's PASTOR AETURNAS.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've read the book. In fact, that's why it was on top of my mind. I had just finished preparing a talk to be given to a group of Catholics this month on some related matters. \n\nI think next month I may give a talk to the same group on the \"Proper use of original writing; how to avoid plagiarizing\". \n\nI can send the time/date/location if you are interested in attending. LMK", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis is the best Pope the Mainline Protestant Church has ever had! :) I mean that sincerely. I realized that I could not follow the teachings of Pope Francis and Vatican II in my Lincoln, NE diocese, so I am now experience the presence of the Lord Jesus at the United Church of Christ. It's ironic that I have to go to a Protestant Church in order to find the Catholic Church i fell in love with during my RCIA many years ago (we used Christ Among Us as our catechism). That was when the windows of Vatican II were still open and before JPII started running around, slamming the windows shut.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have often said a return to Latin and the pre-Vatican II church would solve all these attendance problems.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What an offensive column. For starters, this is not a television show. \n\nThe people of Saint-Apollinaire have stated they do not want a cemetery in the backyards. They don't want a Catholic cemetery, a Jewish cemetery, a Chinese cemetery, or a Muslim cemetery. To immediately think it's got something to do with antipathy toward brown-skinned people is completely off-base. \n\nIs there not another suitable piece of land in the entire Province of Quebec where the Muslims can have their cemetery without having to play the racial and religious discrimination card? \n\nThe path to a conflict-free cemetery is there - no need to make a Federal case out of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"MAYBE being a male or female goes beyond simply having a certain type of genitalia?\"\n\nAbsolutely. In addition to the genitalia, there is an enormous amount of cultural programming.\nIt is difficult to believe that Jesus placed much value in the spirituality of cultural programming, but if the bishops say it is so, then it must be so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very few divorcees see annulment as a solution as most do not think that their first marriage simply never existed. The possibility of an annulment is therefore only practicable for a small minority, as it does not solve the problem.\nThe permutations for the reason for divorce are endless as they cover the full spectrum of man\u2019s fallen nature, to try and manage the situation by offering some annulments and others not is fraught with difficulties, as individual self-justification is often badly flawed, but more importantly it calls into question the Inviolate Word of God and in so doing undermines the authority of Gods Holy Church on earth.\n.\n\n Only God truly knows the full reality of each individual and it is only Him and Him alone who can show Mercy\u2026\nPlease consider reading only-God-can-square-the-circle.htm in the link below\n\nhttp://v2catholic.com/background/2015/02/2015-02-21only-God-can-square-the-circle.htm\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An enlightening article. I say that because I can relate to the conflicts I surmise you went through throughout these years of your journey. Towards the end, I suspected a bit of bitterness there, though unsure of its source. And it is those \"hard feelings\" (my Grandma's saying)that I wish to address. I have felt bitterness along the way of my own \"travels\"; and at present it has come to the fore quite often. However, as I read your article and the comments that followed, I realized that that is what has happened throughout our Church's History before it has made important changes in itself. From my observations, the central issue at present seems to be centered around bringing the Church into better relationship with people who are maturing in their spiritual life..allowing them to more freely explore who they are in God within the confines and structure of the Church. I, too use the sources you have mentioned. They are a breath of fresh air. Be encouraged, God has your back!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's sad is; this political move has some people commenting on his character, his trustworthiness, and even projecting him as a saint! \nWhat...you think he woke up a few days ago and said: \"Oh dear Jesus my name is Robert Lee!!!!\" We only know the timing was great for politics, bad for the church, and nothing more...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And why many have left the Catholic Church in Rwanda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Trad,\nI appreciate what you are saying. But, name for me one nation in history that has been able, no matter how powerful, to remain King of the Hill for more than a few centuries. Someone more powerful eventually appears and takes over only to eventually be overthrown by another more powerful. The problem is that we have reached the point where that power has grown of great that it could literally destroy the world. Yes, lets engage in an experiment. Let's really attempt to follow Christ and love one another as we are loved by God. To treat every man, woman and child as family and do all we can to insure each person has access to whatever he or she needs to live with the dignity of a child of God. May take a while to catch on and we can always hold on to our weapons until it is safe not to, but the world will never be save as long as we have them. When we learn to treat others as we would be treated perhaps, just perhaps, we will find peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(con't)....\n\nWe must remember the audience he was addressing - he was talking to housekeepers! He never said that women are only good enough to be housekeepers, that men were so much more important - he was praising those who found it in their hearts to do that work. He praised them for \"giving (their) life to a great cause: that of the Catholic priesthood, indispensable to the visibility and vitality of parish communities,\" and asked them as their strength permitted to advance to the things quoted above.\n\nVery different from the impression that was offered by the author.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was speaking to what I presume is a Catholic auidence, not to secularists or Frenchmen, That's why Catholics act contrary to their religion by entering marriage as an \"essentially private contract of limited duration.\" This is not a Catholic marriage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where in the name of heaven do you get such bizarre notions; first that Jesus was married and now that He committed suicide!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I leave the intra-RC kerfuffle to you, good people. May the Holy Spirit guide us in all things, and may we remember the \"new\" commandment Jesus gave us \"to love one another, as I have loved you\".\n\nIn a mainline church which has fractured over many things (and contrary to the religious right not just over women clergy and/or pelvic issues), I've seen the relationship with secular politics change over time. The advance of the \"nones\" particularly among young people here and abroad, has delinked faith from the most activist persons on the Left. \n\nThe decline in power of the mainline churches allows both sides to marginalize us. If Pew research is right, we're down collectively to 17 percent of Americans. Therefore the idea that there is parallel \"integralism\" among mainline and progressive forces with political power equivalent to the RC-Evangelical axis is delusional. It is apples to oranges in terms of impact, money, and power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Humanae Vitae is twaddle. It is based on a belief, promulgated by unmarried men, to whom sex was evil (gnostic dualism is heretical, but it still lives on in Catholic moral theology) and had to be \"justified\". The way to justify sexual intercourse was say that it was to be used for procreation. For example, Augustine's \"On the Good of Marriage\" says that any married couple who have sex without the express intention of procreating was sinning.\n\nHere is the heart of HV's argument, from section 4: \"This kind of question requires from the teaching authority of the Church a new and deeper reflection on the principles of the moral teaching on marriage\u2014a teaching which is based on the natural law as illuminated and enriched by divine Revelation. No member of the faithful could possibly deny that the Church is competent in her magisterium to interpret the natural moral law\". That says, \"We know it's true. How do we know? Because we say so.\" Sorry, but I've given up circular reasoning for Lent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The rest of us know better and that GOD found us. That is not because of you and like, but in spite of. We preach HIM, you preach you.\n\nThe rest of us are all happy to have our name in the Book and to live by example and speak of HIM to help others to HIM. We are not children that think we are the latest and greatest, but we know HE is and we have nothing to offer others but HIM. You seem think you are a pope and priest that offers a way.\n\nWe have no autonomy but and because of HIM. Truly fear GOD and give HIM the glory, there will no longer be you or option in mutual autonomy of Babylon.\n\n4 \"These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb\"\n\n8 \"And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not a very astute observation of contemporary religion and faith at all. You completely neglect the fact that a large part of the problem with all denominational religions (and even the Evangelical churches are running in the same problems) is that the rituals and observances you strict traditionalists love and are devoted to, are not attractive to the two or three generations younger than yours. Those under the age of 50 are also opposed to the discriminatory practices of many Christian churches, and especially Catholicism. So, while you look to fasting and bans on female clergy and Forty Hours and all of that, you can't see what is really happening outside the vestibule of your parish church. Which is why most of us younger then you do not want or need your counsel: we have heard it all before.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just another in the long line of dictatorial edicts from the absolute dictators ruling throughout the hierarchy of the Dark Ages, Feudal Roman Catholic Church. Absolute obedience to priest, monsignor, bishop, archbiship, cardinal, pope and blind faith in their every insane decision. This example certifies the need to end all tax exemptions for this relic of old empires controlling too much of the nation's populace and wealth. Remove all religious control of healthcare institutions to remove the restrictions placed on individual's rights to secular, scientific healthcare by the same dictators. All tax exemptions of any kind need to be ended, now. All of the televangelist fundamentalist christian empires taxed to counter the insanity created by their brainwashing propaganda to the overal mental health of the nation. Immediately arrest and prosecute the preachers delivering political edicts from their pulpits. This nation needs another era of enlightenment of heal itself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While your solution does make one feel good and even hopeful, I am very skeptical about its actual success. This approach hasn't worked in luring folks away from gangs in Chicago, LA, and New York. I doubt it would be successful in an environment where ideology plays such a strong motivating role. You know, I would have agreed with its potential if you would have said, let's offer them the Gospel of Jesus Christ which has the power to transform lives and then give them economic opportunities. That I think has potential (perhaps the on,y potential) for success.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Men pretending to enjoy celibacy, and Catholics pretending that their priests enjoy celibacy. \n\nThat's the problem, not clericalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, \"...every reform can have unintended consequences.\" Yet is it really all about reforming a Rome that refuses to reform, one that stands long and hard on its ability to resist reform? Isn't that the charism of Roman Rite Catholicism? \n\nRCC will spring back to to its fundamentalist core after Pope Francis leaves the throne...because Roman Rite Catholicism is about knowing all the answers and providing the security that fearful people need in a risky paradigmatic global cultural shift. \n\nSo why do we keep trying to get Roman Catholicism to change? \nMight that reform have unintended consequences for both the Roman Rite and the Church at large? \n\nPresently, under Pope Francis, Vatican II lies in the nebulous world of attitudes and behaviors as opposed to the fearsome world of re-worked theology/doctrine. New modes of governance and liturgy/spirituality will follow re-worked theology in a Vatican II Rite in union with Rome. Google Rite Beyond Rome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Second attempt:\nPresident Trump doesn't care about climate change. He's got his. He doesn't care what happens after he's dead. The same is true of the Koch brothers and many other energy company owners or CEO. They've made their millions.\nIf the climate heats up, why, all the poor folks around the world just have to turn up their air conditioning a notch.\nThere's also another factor. Millions of American conservative Christians believe in the End Times. The worst things get, the closer the End Times are coming and they all get Raptured. So, those Christians don't care either.\nThere is so much rain forest loss and so much warming in the rain forest regions, that those regions are decaying and releasing CO2, instead of absorbing it.\nBu, hey, Trump has removed energy-efficiency guidelines on SUVs, so life is good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic church' s stand on women's ordination is neither universal nor constant. That which can be decreed can be revised, can be reversed, can be ignored. Catholic church history is full to overflowing with such instances! Women's ordination, married priests and other \"unthinkables\" are now actually being thought through, though not by all!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've really begun to rethink the whole religion out of schools issue. Asking Canada to become un Christian is like asking all of us to give up English. Why? I'm not particularly religious, but I think Jesus was an okay guy. Not all religions are equal. One in particular is much more violent in both word and deed. Why can't we make such a distinction and fund one and not the other?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow. That's telling them. Bravo Pope Francis. May the Holy Spirit be always with you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Pat two of two) So long as the American Association of University Professors continues to censure the administration of The (Pontifical) Catholic University of America for not affording professors a hearing before canning them, the institutional Church, at least there, will not be able to commune even with its own professors. \u201cMy soul is thirsting for the living God\u201d (Psalm 42: exact verse not cited. More sloppy arrogant scholarship emanating from the United States Council of Catholic Bishops). The attitude is picked up in Philippians 1:25) I shall remain and continue in service of all to you.\u201d The knack of it all, \u201ceveryone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted\u201d (Luke 14:11). Liturgy of the Word, Reading 484, Saturday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time II.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your premise assumes that I am talking about an individual case. I am talking about excommunication, which goes against God's love and grace. Father Tony is about love of God, family , and the world. He has demonstrated this in his community and they love him. Father Tony was not excommunicated. He was loved! The Church threatened him, but he followed the Holy Spirit and now the People of God rejoice in his celebration of Mass after years of injustice for striving to show us that God is also a woman.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NOBODY can make a 'coherent case' as far as you are concerned! The Church needs change and renovation quickly, or it will die on the vine. And we're not even speaking of reaching out in growth. Jesus did not tell his disciples to only preach to the Chosen People---but to the entire world [which God loves]. But individuals like you---are fearful of any change, of pushing forward. These are the times that require mercy and compassion toward the 'so-called sinners'. And joy, kindness, gentleness from the rest of us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cNot everyone who says \u2018Lord, Lord\u2019\u2014 but he who does the will of God.\u201d John 15:1-2. Doing God's will requires keeping the commandments, a critical point apparently lost on rules-averse Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "License is provided by law. Tolerance is part of a peaceful heart. God expects his Church to not be like the Pharisees in their personal purity and unworkable teachings. He even said so. Don't confuse the twisted sexuality of an asexual hierarchy (gays rarely become bishops) with the-will of God. As for the moral order, Jesus never talked about it. It is a philsophical contruct from Plato and Aristotle accepted (along with stoicism) by Paul, Augustine and Aquinas. They should have left such mental masturbation with the Greeks. Indeed, the moral order should be denounced. It is a construct to deal with the problem of perfect God not being able to be harmed by sin (which Plato got right and Anslem missed). Then, God is enforcing the moral order out of justice, not some harm done to Him. Baloney. The concept of the moral order is make believe. What exists are people, ourselves and others, who are hurt by sin. Jesus taught forgiveness as the remedy for that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It will get worse, and the ONLY hope is Jesus Christ! Repent of your sins now, before it is too late!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They don't, but it was explained to you why it happened to be Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Whilst it may be relatively easy to deceive oneself., . . .\"\n\nWith all respect, dear Tri, I have to disagree with you on this. I don't think it's easy at all to deceive ourselves. Of course, I can only speak from my own experience, but my experience has almost always been that when I'm alone in contemplation, without distraction --- as when reflecting on the days events before falling off to sleep --- I speak to myself in the most genuine way. It's at times like these I come to really know whether I accept or reject what Jesus taught. I cannot easily hide from myself. That;s just this one man's experience, but I have no reason to think I'm unusual in this respect. God bless you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I disagree that there are never a sufficient number of clerics and installed acolytes...its more a question of getting the people out of Mass in an hour or less and giving lay people something to do. You don't think the goal is to one day phase out EMHCs?\n\nAs for the EF, there will always be people who discover and appreciate the beauty and riches of our Catholic tradition and the Mass that nourished our forebears in faith. In the words of the pope emeritus: \"There is no contradiction between the two editions of the Roman Missal. In the history of the liturgy there is growth and progress, but no rupture. What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful. It behooves all of us to preserve the riches which have developed in the Church\u2019s faith and prayer, and to give them their proper place.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some fifty years ago there was a former church (denomination probably Catholic) used as a restaurant/grill in eastern Missouri. The owner had himself painted into a very large portrait of the Last Supper as a waiter. Guys from St. Louis going west always stopped there.\nAfter first posting this, I thought \"what a way to commemorate former pastors\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"To hear the many howls\" Mr. Dionne not nearly as loud as my Catholic friends laughing at you this moment in your pitifully failed attempt to do damage control for HRC. What was that you wrote.... \"the emails, which are 4 to 5 years old.\". Most unfortunate for you Sir, the Wiki Leaks e-mails of concern are dated 2015, details matter which makes you out to be a public liar. I won't waste my time on the rest of your foolish nonsense, I'm very sure my Catholic friends will make short work of you.\n\ncc:\nMr. Dionne\nThe Washington Post", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mormons use the income from farms to pay for their welfare program; they run for-profit shopping malls, but the majority of their income derives from the required tithing that every \"faithful\" LDS person must pay. Each year they meet individually or as a family with their local leader and provide an accounting of their tithing. A refusal to pay can result in the withdrawal of a \"temple recommend\". Without it, Mormons cannot participate in the highest rites of their church. The closest comparison for us would be to have to get a \"GoodCatholic\" ticket punched before we can stand in the communion line. Come to think of it, Archbishop Chaput would probably be just fine with that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Francis IS doing his job. He is following the great emphases of Vatican II, that of making Scripture the soul of theology, having it inform every part of Church life. It is high time that the \"Cardinals Four\" understand that Christ's mercy is and must be the hallmark of the church. Even these cardinals are sinners----and are in need of God's mercy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks. Why do so few Catholics know this \"teaching of the Church?\" \n\nSeeds of today's anti-Catholicism in the USA were surely sown by such attacks from Rome on democracy, freedom, and separation of church and state. By a future SAINT! \n\nDo some in the hierarchy today secretly support the anti-American views of Pope St Pius X? Are any Americans among them? \n\nHas anyone ever apologized for the \"most pernicious error\" by a pope condemning the separation of church and state in our democracy? Since there was no ambiguity in the saint's condemning of that evil \"thesis,\" I don't see how it can be walked back or be misinterpreted. \n\nMany American soldiers, including many Catholics, have DEFENDED with their very lives a core value a sainted pontiff called \"pernicious\" and \"false.\" That's a fact. \n\nWhat am I missing? And why isn't this Church \"teaching\" against \"Americanism\" talked about more? \nAnd why doesn't anyone say, \"Pius X was wrong!\" Maybe we should ask Judge Gorsuch if he agrees.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The letters represent separation from one another. Jesus taught inclusion and found sin with the Pharisees because they sought separation (dualism) using Scripture. To follow Jesus' example, we need to embrace the entire alphabet and show inclusion to all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Bible is clear that death came because of one man's sin: Adam.\" \n\nWell actually no. You have interpreted the biblical text as stating the death of all living things was set in motion as a result of Adam's sin. The text can also be interpreted as referring to only the death of humankind. As such it says nothing about about the death of other living thing.\n\n\"Evolution claims that birds evolved from dinosaurs\"\n\nWhy are you bringing up the topic of evolution?\nErvin is talking about the how conventional scientific evidence shows that dinosaurs existed before humankind. He makes no assertions about the mechanisms as to how that sequence came about.\n\n\"And the methods for dating fossils are unreliable.\"\n\nAnd again .. well actually no. There has been cases when the carbon dating technique has produced strange results and YEC adherents often point these out, but there are many, many other forms of radiometric dating and they are generally very reliable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry to disappoint you, but no one is going to throw you in jail for being opposed to abortion or same-sex marriage. It's pretty grotesque to fantasize that fighting culture war is comparable to being tortured to death like Jesus. You might show some tact about the reality that Christians are genuinely persecuted elsewhere in the world. Wow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On this Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, repealing and replacing Obamacare is heartless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is misunderstood by Mr. Kristof, and Mr. MacLaren I presume, is that Jesus of Nazareth didn't found a religion, he claimed to be the religion. He didn't claim to be the way to real life, or a better life, or a good life. He claimed to be the life itself, when he stated, \"I am the way, the truth, the life. Nobody comes to Father, except through me.\" That is different than founding a way, or revealing the truth, or showing how to live.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you do not eat lobster nor labor on Saturdays? Was your mother removed from the city limits after your birth until cleansed? Have you made the necessary sacrifices this year? No? Jesus expects us to accept all of the Law of Moses, not just those that tickle our fancy and using complex theological arguments to pick and choose is just a sophisticated form of cafeteria work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"This is clearly a pope who is addicted to making headlines.\" One person's opinion. Years ago, people said that John Paul II was addicted to theatrics. So it goes. Those of us who appreciate Francis and his loving outreach to people of all walks of life recognize a vessel of the Holy Spirit when they see one. That takes true surrender and, of course, \"risk\". It is said that, while still in leadership in the Argentine Church, he noticed the success of evangelistic Christians in his district, \"risked\" a dialogue with them, was inspired by their work and after many subsequent conversations with one of the ministers, humbly allowed himself to be prayed over by him. Most of us glimpsed him for the first time from the balcony after his election. Again, he humbled himself and allowed US to pray over him. This is truly a man of God, folks, and not one to be feared or ridiculed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reason working with faith. The Catholic way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words, you and the majority of today's clergy are rank relativists. Vatican I's DE FIDE teaching {PASTER AETURNAS} on the immutable nature of dogma: \"...the meaning of the sacred dogmata is ever to be maintained which has once been declared by Holy Mother Church, and there must NEVER {my emphasis} be an abandonment of this sense under the pretext or name of a more profound understanding...If anyone says that it is possible that at some given time, given the advancement of knowledge, a sense may be assigned to the dogmata pronounced by the Church which is different from that which the Church has always understood and understands, let him be anethama\". BTW, B XVI and JP II were not traditionalists; they were merely less heterodox than Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesus saw that one coming 2,000 years ago: \"A good man,\" he taught, \"brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.\" Luke 6:45. When I get a louder horn put in my car, and I have a 'snap' attack - I quickly find out what I've been filling my heart with. Not pretty. Then I encountered Meg Funk OSB the person , her \"Matters\" series. Where does Prayer of the Heart fit in this \"filling of the heart\". And when my \"ship hits the sand\" what comes out of my mouth wasn't Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. What about those psalms from Liturgy of the Hours. Why do monks memorize them. Steep their souls in them. When do words become The Word. What is my 'cell' teaching my heart about Living Psalmody. \nMy \"words matter\" My \"thoughts matter\".. read Meg's \"Into the Depths: .. a journey of loss and vocation.\"\nit is planting heart seeds...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "52% of Catholics watch EWTN? Somehow I doubt it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Short sighted.....and displays the little you know about the true esoteric nature of religion that all the great faiths share, from Buddhism, Taoism, Christ, Mohammad, Hindus etc. Just because the less bright (not you, more like the Taliban and American Evangelicals) distort it for their own ends does not mean we should throw the baby out with the bath water.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"drain on jobs???\" So these children brought by their parents illegally, are stealing your jobs? If they weren't employed, you'd be complaining about them being free-loaders on the public dole. Is there any reality you can find to sell your anti-immigrant screed? Polls don't lie, including the last election, who the public favored, not who they voted for. Just try and let your party start rounding up kids in college or with jobs and shipping back to a country they never knew. The people need to really know what your party and screed is really about and it has nothing to with Christian values. Now that you're getting to \"walk the talk\" we'll see how the public responds come future elections!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is an Alaskan opening, diocese of Juneau - 15,000 catholics. But why should they be punished? Per church law, you do not want Burke to be an active bishop - power comes with that. He is also past the legal age limit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"never worked a day in his life before entering the Oval Office (\"Community Organizer\" was the extent of his resume)\" You really should get your information from other sources than you do...\n - 3 years working for Catholic Church setting up job training and tutoring programs (that's 'community organizer' to you)\n - 12 years as a constitutional law professor at Univ. of Illinois\n - 13 years as practicing attorney in 13-man practice\n\nAny questions?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus didn't ordain anyone and the church does not deny this?\n\nThat's funny, because this is what the Church teaches:\nCouncil of Trent Session 23\nOn the sacrament of Orders\n\nCANON II.--If any one saith, that order, or sacred ordination, is not truly and properly a sacrament instituted by Christ the Lord; or, that it is a kind of human figment devised by men unskilled in ecclesiastical matters; or, that it is only a kind of rite for choosing ministers of the word of God and of the sacraments; let him be anathema.\n\nSeemed you have it backwards. The Church does in fact teach that Jesus ordained the 12 Apostles (at the Last Supper) and says that those who deny it are anathema.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cWe must strip from our Catholic prayers and from the Catholic liturgy everything which can be the shadow of a stumbling block for our separated brethren that is for the Protestants.\u201d - Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, main author of the New Mass, L'Osservatore Romano, March 19, 1965.\nPerhaps an apology is due to David Lanfranchi.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hola, Old_Abuelo\n \nDo we not see Jesus through the lens of the reign of God in His statement?\n\n. \u201cFor this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh\u201d\n\nIn the beauty of parenthood (Marriage) and its unifying bound the creation of a new life?\n\n.\nAs the TRUTH of this statement can be seen in any offspring they may be blest with as this statement is truly life-giving. \nWas His intention for us to focus through the guidance of The Holy Spirit to be more responsive to the protection of children (Innocence) And for them not to be robbed of their birth right, the love of two parents male and female, and His insistence (\u201clet know man put asunder\u201d) in that marriage should not be trampled on, the place where true lovers sit and leave the fruit of their love the little flowers unprotected.\nPlease consider reading my article see link below\n\nhttp://www.v2catholic.com/background/2015/02/2015-02-21only-God-can-square-the-circle.htm\nkevin your brothers\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hogwash - Are you actually claiming to know the motives of everyone on \"the Right\" ? I could share with you the number of Christian scientists, but that would most likely do nothing to open the mind of an obvious (and demonstrated) bigot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This matter is of utmost importance, as it involves clergy and protocol regarding precedence of rank among the princes of the church. The abuse scandal involved victims who were mere laity, therefore it was, and is, of secondary importance to the Vicar of Christ and the Men who Run Jesus' Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As one whose childhood and functional adult life was destroyed by repeated molestation + rape by a priest when I was altar boy in Milwaukee. My Catholic parents died when I was a kid. Dad when I was 15 mom when 17. The Milwaukee Archdiocese and the Catholic Church had several opportunities to try to make things better for me and others. The Church made choices to selfishly squander every one. Dolan hid assets in bogus trusts to cheat me and others. He secretly used donations to bribe the priests that raped us 20k each to quietly leave. Dolan was rewarded + promoted for such criminal, un-Christian and evil behavior. Listecki lied to me +others causing us much pain. Francis was well aware of the hurtful tactics in Milwaukee and let the victims hurt but protected the ordained and money. \n\nThis line from the article above says it all\"Bertone himself was not facing inquiry\" the corrupt ordained benefactor is again rewarded. 6500 Sq. ft lavish living \nNice (Church) hey?\nPathetic!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Jesus just got rid of those dang rules. He started it. \n\n\"your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength\".\ntake up your cross daily\nif your eye causes you to sin.\nUnless you....(this and that)\nTake My yoke\nHonor your parents\nBeware of leaven\nDeny yourself\nDespise not little ones \nBeware of covetousness\nForgive offenders\nHonor marriage\nBe a servant\nBe a House of Prayer\nAsk in Faith\nRender to Caesar\nLove the Lord\nLove Your Neighbor\nAwait My Return\nTake, Eat, and Drink\nBe Born Again\nKeep My Commandments \n\n---\n\nlife would be so much easier if He hadn't asked us. We're dang Americans after all. \n\nAnd we want life to be ever more easier, don't we?\n\nWe want custom cut crosses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are some things one cannot disagree with and still be a Catholic. If one were to deny the divinity of Christ, then that person would rightly be considered a non-Catholic. Believing that women should be ordained or that contraception is morally acceptable doesn't even come close to making that cut.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another attempt to whip up a certain class of Catholics into a lather, a specialty of the author.\n\nThere must be an old tempest in this teapot that we can stir up again.\n\nNo letter returned yet, Marge?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that the Power of the Keys, that you mention, is the crux of this issue. The power to bind and loose in earth and heaven, suggests that Church is free to define its story, to develop ritual, and a culture that supports the Proclamation of the Gospel. If a female priesthood is necessary to the effective proclamation of the Gospel in the concrete situation of our present world, then the Church is free to ordain women to that priesthood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Yet all liturgical ministers, clerical and lay, are properly vested (no readers and Eucharistic ministers in street clothes!),\".\nWhich means that if Jesus turned up at your church and asked if He could do a reading, He would have to be excluded, as he never went around in vestments during His whole 3 year ministry. He just wore neat \"street clothes\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just one little quibble: we Ukrainian Catholics certainly consider ourselves Catholic and we are part of the universal Catholic Church, but we're not RCs (Roman Catholics). You all are. That's your rite -- the Latin one, with it's different rules and different Liturgy.... :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus wasn't concerned about earth bound kingdoms. I doubt he would have lost any sleep over an election. That fact that both you and Charles call his/her name does not make your crisis, God's crisis. \n\nComments like these shames the image of God, with the trivial nature of temporal politics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the spiritual works of mercy is to pray for the living and the dead. \n\nKind of weird the mentioning Catholic doctrine at a Catholic Mass would be insulting. Funeral Masses shouldn't be canonizations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know this is what is how it works within the Church - Canon Law jurisdiction. But, no priest can \"practice\" in a diocese without the bishop's permission. I have some concern that bishops may have learned of abuse by religious order clergy and did the nothing they did when it was a diocesan priest. But, if someone had experienced abuse in a setting under the supervision of the bishop, I think the bishop should have responsibility under the civil law because he is the one who allows that person to work in the parish. More, if there were complaints about the behavior of the clergyman or religious person, that would probably have gone up to the same people within the diocese whether the person was a diocesan priest or a person in a religious order. \n\nWhy should what is recognized and permissible under U.S. law have to conform to Catholic Canon Law? So far, I think U.S. law has recognized the distinction. But I think it is disingenuous of bishops to make that claim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So? The vast majority of Americans \"varied\" their stance on same-sex marriage to the point of that majority supporting it's being written into law. I fail to see any point in what you are writing, and unless you can clarify it, it is easy to conclude that you are simply being a Trumpette and looking to win the election through unfounded accusation. If you are a single-issue voter, then you are correct in not voting for HRC, but if you think you are going to get what you want with Trump, he has supported abortion rights until pressed to go for the evangelical vote (which he is losing steadily now anyway among the voters who have separated from their leaders) and then **POOF** he magically switched sides. It is always, always important to look at history for either progression in opinion, or sudden shifts to \"fit\" a particular group.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pete Kelley also has a pamphlet on the proper use of cruxifiction he would like to distribute...and some baby Jesus figurines he sells on his down time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@ti-Rogers (& his ROC friends) said; \"...human rights abuses...\"\n-\nThis is not Canada ...with a bunch of \u00ab Loyalists \u00bb Orangemen. \nThere is no place for a bunch of Ku-Ku-Klowns in Canada.\nAfter the establishment of the Canadian Federation (1867), the English speaking several provinces attended helplessly to the adoption of several LAWS and regulations, anti-Catholic and anti-French in English Canada, especially in that regard to denominational schools outside Qu\u00e9bec.\nAnti-Catholic and anti-French attitude drew its source, among others, the fact that many of the Loyalists who came to Qu\u00e9bec after the American Revolution of 1775 (Eastern Townships/ Ontario and Western Provinces) were \"Orangemen\" convinced. Orangemen advocated an anti-Catholic and anti-French doctrine, inspired by the reconquest of England in 1690 by the Protestant Prince William III of Orange.\u2026\n\t\nAnd Paf ! Problems started across French Canada ever since !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of three) Today is the anniversary of Pope Saint John the Good, the XXIII who showed the way for us old geezers. God may need to send us another XXIII, just as happened with Prophet after Prophet of old. Paul shows the way, \u201che received all who came to him (in prison in Rome), and with complete assurance and without hindrance he proclaimed the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 28:31). This reading does not appear in the Sunday Lectionary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" I'm clinging to the past, it is true. I'm clinging to the biblical past.\"\n\nBrother William,\n\nDid you read the chapter about the 1919 Bible Conference, that was linked in Monte's article?\n\nwww.sdanet.org/atissue/books/bradford/prophet-18.htm", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"I cannot discern any necessary connection between affection for the Old Mass and a disposition to a particular school of moral theology.\"\n- This is a good article.\n- The desire of the 'pure catholic church crowd' for, well, a purer church is the common thread.\n- In there scenario the Body of Christ, the Eucharist, Holy Communion is nothing but a reward and a prize for righteous living, and correct teaching.\n- For the catholic church which is union and communion with the Archbishop of Rome, whomever he may be, the Body of Christ, the Eucharist, Holy Communion, is food and medicine for all whom Jesus was sent to save; everyone one of us.\n- The Triune God never intended perfection from the imperfect. The Word was sent to the always imperfect who needed food and medicine, in order that they become full of humanity, not full of perfection.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure I'll live to see women priests, let alone bishops. A woman cardinal is of course already possible, but I doubt that will happen before women priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That which has been de-fined can ipso facto be re-defined, re-fined, or simply superseded! The current \"definitions\" are in fact re-statements which occurred some one thousand six hundred years into the Catholic church's existence!~", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are also Catholic theologians who know that Dromig10 does not know all things for all time. Dromig is giving nothing more than his opinion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many socialists are not even Marxists. The cooperative ones are often Catholic or Disciples of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The writer of this article seems to be anti-Christian. Their assessment of the debate is flawed in so many ways that it is almost worthless to comment. Civil rights are natural born rights, which we all have. A person is born either male or female, excluding birth abnormalities. The falsehood is the assumption that people can simply \"identify\" as the opposite sex or both (homosexuals) and are naturally entitled to civil rights for their new concoction of themselves. It's time to get out of lalaland. No special rights should be given to anyone based on how they self identify. A black person cannot simply identify as a white person, just like a man cannot simply identify as a woman and expect a reasonable person of faith to accept it as normal. As Christians, we follow THE TRUTH, which cannot be debated. The truth is marriage was created and implemented by God as the union between male and female. Genesis 2:24-25. Same sex marriage is a falsehood unlawfully imposed on America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From the Apostolic Age to Trent is a very short distance, in terms of teaching, based on extant writings. The Gospel of Jesus is quite different from the Gospel of Imagination that many want to follow in \"small-c\" church that, regularly and strikingly, misinterprets Vatican II.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, let's test that theory. In Matthew 19, Jesus' opponents -- priests and scribes, if I remember right -- came to him with a question about marriage.\n\nOne party to the discussion advocated making allowances for marriages ending in divorce, although there was debate over how wide those allowances should be.\n\nThe other party said no remarriage, no divorce, period.\n\nRefresh my memory: who took the hard line? Who offered to make allowances?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Increasingly he revealed himself \u2014 and confessed to being \u2014 a man who put the institutional church first, second and third. He also revealed a man deeply deficient in compassion and empathy.\"\n\nIn other words he is an Australian version of Bernard Law. We need clergy who live gospel values and not company men who put the institution first and the Gospel way down the line.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "____\n\nwhy do dissenter types like to \"shrink\" God's word to the few words of Jesus?\n\nHave you ever noticed the tactics...\n\"the old testament is well, old..we don't need to follow it anymore\".\nDid Jesus say x, y or z Himself....dismissing the other books of the New Testament?\n\nThis article is an example of shrinking Jesus, the Word of God.\n\nSad, but too common. \n\nThere is of course a very selfish reason why people seek to \"shrink\" the Word of God...it \"expands\" their room for sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You will note also that the battle of the Boyne was 327 years ago and the Ulster Unionists still have their \"marching SEASON\" when the have march after march celebrating victory over Catholics. In early July each year it is so obnoxious that some citizens of Northern Ireland flee south across the border temporarily to get away from it. I happened to have a holiday booked in Donegal around that time, and my accommodations had a water problem: talk about a tough challenge to find an alternative place. So by all means Sein Fein should try to forget some things, but it could be made easier.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Gospels say differently:\n he said to them, \u201cWhy were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?\u201d... \"a voice from heaven said, \u201cThis is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.\u201d.. The devil said \u201cIf you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.\n \u201cFor God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, .. because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ...he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. ... the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. ..Whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.... The Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. ..Peter's\u201cYou are the Christ, the Son of the living God.\u201dwas praised\n\nWhile Jesus liked the Daniel title 'son of Man', he also accepted & used 'Son of God' either exact words, or the opposite God is my Father\n\nI find the Gospels full of that.\n\"You had better go back and read your Gospels.\" indeed!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where to begin? Lets start with the \"infallible teaching\". Only those teachings which are expressed ex cathedra are infallible. There have been two of them, thus far, and neither discusses the priesthood.\nJesus chose twelve apostles (that is messengers) who represented the Twelve Tribes of Israel. He neither chose nor ordained any priests. There were already an abundance of priests in Israel and He showed no particular fondness for them. Mary's vocation as the Mother of God would have dovetailed nicely with being an apostle (messenger) and we have every reason to believe she helped spread the word after His ascension. (I doubt she spent her remaining years knitting.)\nThere is no biological, theological, or psychological reason why women can't be the servant-leaders which priesthood requires. If we are \"all one in Christ Jesus\", either ordain women or stop baptizing them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Go study History Pattyjane. And as far as Israel, Israel is the ONLY Democratic Nation on Planet Earth that actually works. Before you start with the Palestinian Situation, go read History of how that started, as the British Protectorate of Palestine, when the British Colonial Empire by British Military Force seized the Kingdom of Israel (including Palestine, Jerusalem, West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights), part of Trans Jordan, Lebanon, Gaza, and much more, then naming that the British Protectorate of Palestine, the British then by British Military Force kicked out the original inhabitants of Palestine and Jerusalem the Jews and the Christians, afterwards the British gave all of the British Protectorate of Palestine to their Allies The Muslim Arabs. Very Recently if you want to see how the British Colonial Empire were up till about the 1970s a recent TV Series about the Aden Emergency is on, The Last Post. And yes I have been to Yemen also, shut down Osama Bin Laden's Training Camp", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus said \"\"Love your enemies; and do good to those who hate you\" to persons trying to lead moral lives, not to the State.\n\nThe death penalty, as with all laws, crimes, and penalties, belong to the category of things that are Caesar's. The role of the State in traditional Catholic teaching is quite different than an individual's role.\n\nAn individual cannot take upon herself or himself to decide a law, apprehend violators, and inflict punishments.\n\nIf the victims you mention grabbed Roof and strangled him, that would be vengeance, which is morally prohibited.\n\nThe reason why other First World countries have no death penalty is the same reason they have abortion on demand: Man is the center of everything and this life is all that counts, so grab it all and satisfy yourself. Do what feels good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@\n\nThank you John for your response\nIt seems a very hard response; I can understand the priest reluctance to advise you to have vasectomy. I suppose at the end of the day we are all accountable for our own actions before a merciful God. Although the first three pregnancies were very difficult I assume successful and that you now have the joy of three children. \nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're stretching the \"bride\" metaphor to an absurd and, frankly, perverse extreme. Forgive the bluntness, but Christ does not have marital relations with the Church. This \"marriage\" is not a sexual but a spiritual one.\n\nThis sort of linguistic tap dance is symptomatic of the duplicitous way some in the Church deal with the language of Scripture and Tradition. They're fine with symbol and metaphor when it suits them but can turn on a dime when it's to their advantage to interpret something literally. But when it's something as clear and forceful as Jesus' admonition to resist creating a culture of religious paternalism (Matt. 23:8-11), they write it off as hyperbole. Incredible.\n\nThis will be my last post on this thread, so respond or not as you please. I will only say, in parting, that I personally know several gay priests and they are holy and dedicated servants. I can say, without hesitation, that they are in no way impeded from \"espousing\" the Church as Christ does.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the original purposes of the Curia (or what became the Curia) was to administer the Papal States. Since the Papal States are a thing of the past, why is the Curia not a thing of the past. The message from the Vatican seems to be, \"We don't have the Papal States any more, but we are still sovereign and important, a force to be reckoned with in the secular world. And our ever-growing bureaucracy proves it! So there!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"NE had the lowest church affiliation, and that is a harbinger for the nation.\"\n\nIn one way, many bishops wish it were a \"harbinger, \" as it were -- that the CC in NE could be replicated, duplicated elsewhere -- especially that Southern NE (i.e., RI, CT, and MASS.) could be \"reproduced\" in other regions of the country, especially in the Northwest, US (and even in parts of the South). The CC in southern New England has one of the most sophisticated and successful educational networks of primary and secondary schools, Catholic colleges and universities in the country, educating well over 100,000 students -- in an geographical area only a third the size of Oregon. The CC in NE is also the largest faith community in the region. Compare that data with the CC in Oregon, with its single Catholic university (the University of Portland), and one begins to understand why Oregon and Wash. CC bishops would welcome a duplication of southern NE (especially its educational network) in their states.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know what they say, \"follow the money.\" In Frank's case, the big money coming in from America's conservative Catholic coffers is too big to ignore. Frank will tread gingerly around the subject of Trump in order to keep the flow of conservative money from America rolling in, although I'd love nothing more than to be wrong about this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the growth in the South was due to Catholics making disciples instead of Catholics moving to the South from elsewhere, that would be impressive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Money money money, and the Good Catholic.\n\nLet's look at what some Professional Catholics make:\n\n1) Bill Donohue -- $500,000 annual salary\n\n2) Fr. Robert Sirico -- $200,000 +\n\n3) Marcus Grodi (Coming Home Network) $185,000\n\n4) Karl Keating (Catholic Answers) 200,000 +\n\n5) Jimmy Akin, Tim Staples and other CA apologists $100,000 +\n\n6) Patrick Madrid, radio apologist (salary unknown, but $2500 plus expenses is his speaker fee)\n\n7) Lord only knows what MSW is paid.\n\n\n\"May the Holy Spirit lead us on a true journey of conversion, so that we can rediscover the gift of God\u2019s word, be purified of the sin that blinds us, and serve Christ present in our brothers and sisters in need.\"\n\nAmen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the panel, as reported, and even the many posted comments are an important part of the churches not simply following the culture, but attempting a difficult discernment which both enlarges traditional Christian understandings and seeks to serve the larger culture by bringing such traditional and developed Christian understandings into an often (even typically) simplistic cultural debate and movement. I just wish there was as much passionate discussion about support for the kinds of marriage and childbearing that the vast majority of people in our culture still seek. Yes, developing our understandings is crucial for our LGBT brothers and sisters, but tremendous focus on their good has tended (in my judgment) to derail sustained attention to the far larger and far more important crisis in sexual-marital-familial relationships among the rest of us. Francis' \"Amoris Laetitia\" has given us a context for such attention and discussion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just watched \"God Grew Tired of Us\" an amazing documentary about the Lost Boys of Sudan displaced by the civil war there. Kakuma was a refugee camp in Kenya. I understand many of them also went to Uganda. \nWhat an amazing story of courage and resiliency. It seems to me that America has a lot to gain by admitting such courage into our country. Many were Christians who were targeted for their faith. A special welcome to Mr. Amadi and Mr. Moambi. God bless and welcome to Alaska.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We live is strange times indeed! From the article:\n- \"The church, he said, now had an urgent duty to remind them of the truth of its teaching about the human body.\" So Gender Dysphoria is a fact according to the American Psychiatric Association diagnostic guidelines. Time for the church hierarchy to swallow it's pride, reconcile it's teachings to the facts of science (yes, the earth is round) and care for it's people.\n- \"He explained that medical advances were driving a culture in which, he said, individualism thrived\" This statement is just so wrong. We are encouraged by scripture to mature as individuals and form our conscience. To remain theological children, following what the church hierarchy has decided for us is neither healthy nor Christian.\n- \"But he warned CNS that one of the consequences of the changing mores was the emergence of intolerance toward people who did not accept the new ideas.\" I guess he means that if we object and refuse his ideas we are being intolerent", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sort of my question, too, Don. It would be incomprehensible, and one more unbelievable excuse based on self protection by the Vatican and the Church itself, if no cleric of rank was not found to be chest-deep in the abuse of finances. I grant that some of it will not be released as it has to do with actions involving other entities too sensitive for public knowledge, and that is fine with me. It is the open misuse of money, the lack of accountability, the flagrant violation of standard banking procedures and legal requirements both domestic and international, and the curia's use of money to buy silence, create resistance to undermine some popes and for personal\nenjoyment of various kinds, that bother me so greatly. This is a sterling chance for the Pope and the new Vatican financial watchdogs to gain some real respect: if heads of some prelates and other clerics will roll for the rampant wrongdoings proven to have been done.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To his credit, McElroy treads where most clerics will fear to follow, even if a venue like the CTU which will be more critical than an adoring KofC crowd to a bishop.\nEasy to be a \"darling of the talk circuit\" when most bishops are unwilling to step outside their adulating Catholic bubble to speak in more challenging venues, especially totally secular. Not sure even if McE. has spoken in any of these?\nHow did McE make it to bishop?\nHow few like him among clerical ranks?\nUltimately, wherever a bishop speaks focus should be more on action than words; be ye not hearers of the words but doers. \nBut action is where \"rubber hits the road.\" \nBlah, blah, blah is safer.\nOr, as that great musical theologian Eliza Dootlittle observed, \"Don't tell me, show me!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks John!\n\nFor others who may have been wondering the same, the Congregation for Divine Worship \"is the congregation of the Roman Curia that handles most affairs relating to liturgical practices of the Latin Church as distinct from the Eastern Catholic Churches and also some technical matters relating to the Sacraments.\" \n\nI assume then that they will keep their day job but have no further involvement in management of liturgical practices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Historically, about 75 percent of the world's population lived in Asia. About 60 percent lived in China and India. I notice you have not referred to them. So most of your references are to the people who formed 25 percent of the world population.\n\nAs for Islamic invasions, Spain Portugal and Sicily were ruled by the Arabs. Eastern Europe was ruled by the Ottomans. But every Muslim in Spain and Portugal was told to convert, flee or die. In the Ottoman Empire, large Christian communities lived for centuries. That is why Eastern Europe is still majority Christian.\n\nThe Spanish and the Portuguese forcibly converted all South American natives to Christianity. The Brits, French, Germans, Portuguese and Belgians forcibly converted Africans to Christianity. Slaves from Africa were also forced to convert by their European masters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But perhaps you are confusing what you think are Jesus' rules and Church teachings?\n\nSometimes they are the same ... but far less often than you seem to think.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would like to point out that, based on the summary of Catholic social teaching on the USCCB website, I agree with barely half. So to make it a criterion for evaluating any presidency is to invite a discussion that, in my opinion, the bishops cannot win.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This whole discussion has turned into a sort of post-modern farce: the various cliques of the Catholic media-blogo-academic establishment all screaming at each other, \"You evil dualists! The Holy Father says dualism is evil! Renounce your evil dualism, you evil dualists!\"\n\nIt was funny for about two days, but it's pretty tedious by now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued\n\nThe basis for the journey of unconditional love is one of humility (St Bernard-Humility a virtue by which a man knowing himself as he truly is abases himself). \nWe see ourselves in our brother and in doing so see him with a compassionate heart we can do no other as we know his heart as we know our own.\n\n \u201cTake My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest for your souls\u201d\n\n For me this statement by Jesus is saying that He knows the reality of His human nature and because of this he knows ours. \n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well said Juergen may you always remain on that path\n\nI am sure you agree that we are justified, declared righteous, at the moment of our salvation. Justification does not make us righteous, but rather pronounces us righteous. Our righteousness comes from placing our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. His sacrifice covers our sin, allowing God to see us as perfect and unblemished.\nFor me this is the situation of the tax collector and Joe who are entangled in a sinful situation .\n\nMatthew Henry from the link\nhttp://biblehub.com/luke/18-10.htm\nThe Tax Collector \n\u201cHe owned himself a sinner by nature, by practice, guilty before God. He had no dependence but upon the mercy of God; upon that alone he relied. And God's glory is to resist the proud, and give grace to the humble. Justification is of God in Christ; therefore the self-condemned, and not the self-righteous, are justified before God\u201d.\n\nThank you, Juergan for all your efforts.\n \nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Being Roman means having a great sense of appreciation and enjoyment of the Roman Ritual in it's fullness. In other words--a liberal use of chant, processions, smells, bells, Latin, etc--the whole of the tradition. In other words--liking the pageantry of high church worship. \n\nOne of the things I like about Pope Francis is that he prefers simplicity. He does not have the appreciation for the pageantry that his predecessors had. While I do not share his theological ideology, I do appreciate his liturgical sense. A lot of the younger clergy tend to have that appreciation for the pageantry. Most are also conservative also.\n\nMy point was that there is not necessarily a connection between an appreciation of the Roman pomp and being conservative. One can be high Church without being conservative. Just look at the American Catholic Church or the Anglican Church. They have all the trappings of traditional high church Roman pomp, but little to none of the substance of the theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is an example of the strictness of pre-vatican II teachings without having adopted the broader spirit of the council. Post council attitudes embrace inquiry and discussion. As a member of the \"dubia\" group he seemed opposed, or perhaps fearful, to accept any evolution in church teaching. He is one of the reasons for the shrinkage in the numbers of the faithful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess the bishop's ideas about what brings \"scandal\" are not shared by the majority of people.\nIt seems as if the \"unwashed masses\" are quite able to speak for themselves.\nNow, I believe the bishops had good intentions, but good intentions for Catholics do no equate to good intentions for those outside the fold.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do we know Bishop X is real? \n\nIf he is, then this is a breakaway catholic sect. If he's not, then this is a simulationist heresy. Not that I give a hoot either way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I dunno, Kag, most priests are against women using the pill because they believe that there is always the danger that it might fall out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If we should forget, even for just a moment, that mercy is what God likes the most, all our efforts would be in vain, as we would become slaves to our institutions and our structures, no matter how reformed they may be.\u201d\n\nGood Pope Francis, it would appear some of those who work for you have forgotten and not for just a moment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are talking about sentimentality, the Eucharistic sacrifice of the mass is not a sentimental re-enactment, but an oblation of grace for communion with God, physical, spiritual and mental communion. God became man, physically, spiritually and mentally incarnated so that we may be uplifted and become like God. It is called deification in the west and theosis in the east, but it is the whole point of our faith. \n\nThis is alone attained by cooperating with Gods grace as is given to us primarily through the sacraments given to us by the perpetual sacrifice of Jesus Christ. \n\nI truly recommend reading about the mass and its origins why certain prayers are present and in general what is going on. Coming from an atheist background when I became a seeking deist I read a lot because I wanted to understand what the point of the mass and the other sacraments were. If you need help finding some sources let me know the theology of the mass is so central to Catholic faith so I hope you consider.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued \nto bear witness to our original maker\u2019s gift of life given by God through the action of our parents, to deliberately denying another the opportunity of life, is sinful and this is known innately by mankind.\nBecause I know this innately for me it is not open to debate (discernment) as I know it to be a sin rather than justify myself I would look for God\u2019s Divine Mercy, you cannot form a relationship with our Father in heaven based on a lie.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ\n\n FWIW ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Love seeks ever closer unity with the beloved.\nWhat gets in the way of such intimate unity? (an intimacy greater than sexual intimacy). \nNot letting go of one's pride...\nperhaps, one's vanity..one's desire for mere human respect...accolades, the \"desire to be consulted\", etc. \none's \"hurt\" from 50 years ago being bullied.\n\nLots of things.\n\nThe interior life that Jesus seeks with each of us requires a lot of detachment from various things.\n\nThe moral law which is given to us by the Church..it is the interpreter...may have criteria associated with it.\n\nThose aren't rules, but pathways to every closer unity.\n\nGoing on a good retreat..a good one...gives one time and quiet to \"take up\" these things in prayer with Our Lord.\n\nEspecially things that we have allowed ourselves to build \"self-justifications\" around.\n\nThose must be opened up, and shown to God, as a child shows a nasty scab to his or her parent, asking for help.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The ERISA definition of a church plan is a plan established and maintained for \"the employees of a church or a convention or association of churches.\u201d \n\nHave the courts taken too narrow a view of church? Are the plaintiffs really church employees? Out of curiosity, I checked out one of the defendants' websites ... Dignity Health in SF. Here's what I found. \"Dignity Health is a not-for-profit organization, rooted in the Catholic tradition, but is not an official ministry of the Catholic Church.\" So Dignity wants to treat hospital employees as employees of a church ... but one that doesn't have a ministry?\n\nI had almost forgotten something from my decades in the employee benefit field. More than once (a lot more), notices of certain legal requirements delivered to organizations like these elicited a response that amounted to, \"But those rules are for others, not us. After all, we're doing God's work.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John, \n\nThe Communion of Saints involves a whole plane of supernatural action - how grace and sin fully operate in the world. \n\nA prayer or fast you offered 40 years ago in Vietnam may be still having a supernatural effect in Puerto Rick today. If we doubt, then Jesus will be unable - as the readings of the Mass told us recently - to perform His work in us and in the world. He will have to find another way to help us. \n\nWe have to have more faith (and humility) that we don't know the means that God uses to help us. We cannot live with mere human vision. That's what faith is about. \n\nSo my un-generosity tomorrow can have repercussions widely among the children of God..and my prayer and \"beginning again\" can as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 2\nMany of us will have seen the fertilization of the female egg by sperm on TV and subsequently the cells dividing at a quickening pace to form the basis of a new life (conception) It seems in bygone times a quickening was confirmed by the midwifes been able to feel movement in the womb we can now actually see a quickening (Movement) taking place at conception\nFrom my perspective there is no need to take this any further our catechism teaches the beginning of life as hominization (ensoulment) upon conception.\nkevin Your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Ratzinger has been proven WRONG over and over again---because his interpretation of Gaudium et Spes and Dignitatis humanae 3 \"In all his activity a man is bound to follow his conscience in order that he may come to God, the end and purpose of life.\" \n\n\nPeople are not guilty of sin---if they do not know the moral law [as defined by Judeo-Christian teachings]. Ratzinger, construes conscience largely in terms of conservation, the past, memory---but no in terms of conscience as a place of encounter with what is new. He does not distinguish between primary and secondary precepts of the moral law no does he delve into the complexity of identifying the moral law in markedly different cultural contexts. Ratzinger, who was better in dealing with airy objectivity, rather than with REAL people sees folks as being guilty of sin---when they are ignorant of moral law.\n\nHe and people like him are too quick to condemn people of committing sin---where God would not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The word troll gets thrown around so often, usually by progressives attempting to intimidate those of us who are Traditional Catholics. It is unfortunate that this happens, but, sigh, one must bear the burden. If we do not come here and speak the Truth, then there will be no hope for others here. Of course, that may mean responding in kind to name calling and even lashing out at those with whom we disagree, but that is the price of spreading the Word.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Merely the opinion of one bishop, not yet selected to be the Vicar of Christ. As with any statement made in the past by any member of the clergy, or for that matter, the Magisterium, it may be disregarded or distinguished as necessary to support the current position.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry to break the news to you, but we've been paying for others all along, including long before the ACA. Look at the size of the amount next to \"Charity and uncompensated care\" on your local medical facility's financial statement. Then notice that the facility is still in operation and has been paying its bills. It doesn't take much to figure out that the rest of us pay more to cover those who received care without insurance or other means to pay. ACA isn't perfect, but with it, more people have access to appropriate care, which fits with the Christian ideal of caring for those less fortunate, and more pay toward their own personal medical care, which fits with the expectation that people should do what they can to support themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for this clarification. In am not aware of the Tierney case. Did you mean to say \"as the lawyers [instead of plaintiffs]...decided to abandon their client\" (otherwise I don't understand). \n\nIn very general terms, I think there are three levels of failed responsibility: first the perpetrators (and by extension, as you put it, those at the scene of the crime who failed the victims); second the bishops collectively driven, say I, above all by the desire to avoid scandal rather than empathy for the victims (and in the early days, by their lack of understanding of the nature of pedophilia, a deficiency then shared by society at large); and thirdly, the Vatican and pope for supporting rather than correcting the college of bishops. On this, I take it and accept that we are completely at odds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, maybe you're rusty on measurement. There is no agreed upon measure or method of crowd size for marches in DC. None is in place. \n\nEach marching group seems to generate their own numbers, or various press outlets (of different leanings) decides to generate their own! No standard, no agreed upon modulus.\n\nThe best way to measure such events is through - believe it or not - portajohn volumes. It just happens to be a good proxy measure for crowds, a proxy of some sort, but it does tend to bear up. \n\nBut your point is similar to the problem of each Catholic getting to decide the criteria for moral behavior. Babble and worse (e.g., abortion is argued by some to be moral behavior). So you've added unwittingly to the argument that the Church needs to be the provider and interpreter of the moral law. Tks. \n\nSo you've self revealed the problem with the Catholic left, quite by accident, of course.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well done! Along with reading about the rise of fascism in the U.S., may I suggest an Italian film \"Christ Stopped at Eboli.\" LIght viewing, and not a Christian film. adastra", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am sure he felt his refusal was witessing to the couple that their sexuality is sinful in hopes of converting them through social pressure. He failed. He witnessed to inolerance and patisanship, not Christ. His rejection of the Spirit of Love in his clients is an example of why blasphemy agaisnt the Spirit cannot be forgiven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article had a different take on corporate mentality than what I originally thought of when I saw the headline. Another example of a diocsean \"corporate mentality\" is the micromanaging of the \"output\" (if we are to use corporate speak). In my diocese the parish churches are encourage to adopt top down structures with limited lay participation. When a priest in one parish left in controversial circumstances, the diocese used it as an opportunity to have their new priest shut down all the lay ministries (had the priest himself running all education programs). End result was they basically killed a thriving community and many fled to my (non-diocene) parish.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Huh? Jesus said \"for you and for many\" in the Gospel. How is staying faithful to what is written in the Gospel regarding the institution narrative contradicting Our Lord?\n\nYou can't get the message of God and His Kingdom right if you mistranslate Scripture in the liturgy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You remind me of a family member of mine who one day upped and left his wife of 20 years and kids, after meeting someone online. He just packed his car and left for another state after he got off of work one day. Then a few years later he claimed to had been \"born again\". Ever since his supposed conversion, he would and still does, take weekly swipes (like you) at Bill Clinton on Facebook and other media, regarding his White House affair. \n\nTo this day, things have never been the same with this family member and our other family members. This person never tried to make amends to his wife. He simply believed that all he needed to do was pick up a Bible and all was good. The process of forgiveness requires some hard work. I believe the Clintons worked on their marriage since those dark days and continue to do so, unlike my die hard \"born again Christian\" family member.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Walter, the many lies taught to me in Methodist Sunday school is one of the biggest reasons I am disappointed in most Christian denominations. Why do they find it necessary to teach as literal truth the stories of Adam & Eve, Noah, and many other stories I'm happy to forget? How does teaching children these stories as fact rather than fairy tales (or the attempts of ancient people to explain phenomena they don't understand) help further Christianity? If you have to lie to children to get your message across, something is wrong with your message! When I became old enough to realize the obvious limitations of two people being the progenitors of all humans or the fact that no human ever lived much past 100 to 120, much less 400 years or more, I ask why was I fed these lies?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For those of you asking \"what is Canon 915?\", \"Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.\"\n\nThe number of people currently excommunicated or placed under interdict approaches zero as a limit. Cupich agrees with Pope Francis that being divorced and remarried is not an automatic bar to the Eucharist. Thus, it really is a nullity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These comments by the Cardinal certainly do NOT seem to open up the floodgates to Communion that the media and many here apparently have anticipated. \n\nRead beyond this yet-again click-baiting headline. The Cardinal calls for accompaniment and \"ecclesial authority\" including the parish priest and often the Bishop. This suggests to me that a path to annulment and having the marriage blessed in the Church is not tossed to the side. \n\nAnnulment is not the great evil perpetuated by the Church to harm people and embarrass them that many have come to portray. Most Dioceses in the US have also greatly reduced or eliminated the fees totally. The process can be painful and remarkably healing and strengthening from what couples have told me. Something to consider.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic church still has a lot of influence in Germany, so that explains in large part the country's slowness in accepting same-sex marriage. This will likely be a tougher sell in Austria, however, because the majority of Austrian people are Roman Catholic, at least nominally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The farce of the Catholic Clergy closet is still a safe space for some high ranking clerics. I doubt we will see any letters coming from the four cardinals on this document.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well Arlene you did say Jesus would have carried an AK47 which is clearly a reference to the Bible since you spoke of Jesus! DUH", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The statue of limitations exists to protect the right to defend yourself.\n\nTo extend them indefinitely to the point where the accused is dead or suffering dementia, then, is incoherent, unjust, and should never be done.\n\nTo extend them to the point where no reasonable defense could be assembled since witnesses are now dead or suffering dementia, physical evidence is unavailable, is incoherent, unjust, and should never be done.\n\nAs to the crime of abuse of minors, the evidence supports the conclusion that is more prevalent in public schools then in Catholic schools or churches, more prevalent in Protestant churches than in Catholic churches.\n\nIf, consistent with paragraphs 2 and 3, a legislature chooses to extend the statute of limitations, it should then do so consistently for all cases of that offense.\n\nTo single out Catholic persons or organizations is incoherent, unjust, and should never be done.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is amazing how the forces of reaction tried to control things and the reformers were able to out-flank them, including in Amiercain government with Msgr. Ryan helping draft Social Security. After the war, America had a Catholic moment where the Church enjoyed a great deal of cultural power, usually on the reactionary-side. It could not withstand the radicalism of the late fifties and after. While Cardinals may have led reactionaries in the past, there now seems to be a more even split. This year\u2019s elections will be a classic example of this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one is forced to become a Catholic or remain in the Church if they have such a low opinion of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That must explain all the young people I run into in various parishes.\n\nThat explains a Russian Orthodox parish I recently visited that was chock-a-block with young couples and teenagers.\n\nThese problems are self-correcting. As John Hobson has recently been pointing out, the children of critics Church wind up outside it, and the children - and there are more of them - of orthodox Catholics, Orthodox, et al stick around and repopulate.\n\nVoila! Problem solved.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I get what the bishop means by a significant \"structural response\": it is potential focus. I doubt that it will be used to its potential and it is missing the point. This COULD have been an efficacious instrument for the bishops to confront the eruption of the Trump phenomenon which is most offensive, to the widest swath of people of good will without changing their position on abortion, same sex whatever. But they missed it. \nOf course racism is vile, but the racism that has been refurbished, enflamed, armed and set loose by Trump is set within a spectrum of \"HATE\". What really is the sense of objecting to racism, when the \"bully pulpit\" is also enflaming violence, homophobia, misogyny, deceit, lies, manipulation of the information deprived, the logic deficient, all underpinned by an egotistical hate and disdain for decency?\nOne can believe that homosexuality, same-sex marriage, is outside the norm, be against abortion, but respect the intrinsic right of other to be and be in peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A young \"bollettino\" would be fabulous. The Venetians used to snatch a boy from the street when a new Doge had to be elected. So, why not pick a Pope in the manner of the Copts? At any rate (pun intended), may wise Pope Francis remain healthy and alive to the benefit of the church and the world. Keep them cardinals coming!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thankyou so much for your comments. As a physician and as a Catholic, I am ashamed that it is popes who have demanded secrecy and denial of the truth of worldwide clergy sexual abuse of innocent children and vulnerable adults, including Pope St John XXIII and Pope St John Paul II. \n\nAs Cardinal Pell is being protected in the Vatican by Pope Francis, I learn that the Royal Commission in Australia, called by a female prime minister a few years ago, to investigate sexual abuse in all the churches, has found that at least 45 young boys and young men have committed suicide in the hometown of Cardinal Pell in Ballarat, Victoria, when they gave up hope of their stories of being sexually abused and raped by their priest and brother teachers being believed, because of the denial of the truth by the sexual predator clergy, by their superiors, and by the hierarchy. That prime minister was soon replaced by a buddy of Cardinal Pell. Such is the power of the Catholic Church to cover up its crimes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From Trump's letter to \"Catholic leaders\":\n\n\"For instance, Hillary Clinton supports forcing The Little Sisters of the Poor who have taken care of the elderly poor since 1839, pay for contraceptives in their health care plan (even though they have never wanted them, never used them and never will), and having the government fine them heavily if they continue to refuse to abide by this onerous mandate.\"\n\nMake literacy great again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics actually do know about the Eucharist. Not a secret. There is a problem that a minority in the Church do not think the majority know about the Eucharist. But they are wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The path to union with Christ leads also to the poor. Very few things are clearer in the Gospels. It isn't just a matter of kindness, but of metanoia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Martha- you stated: (Yes, I do believe marijuana is a gateway drug as more than one former druggie has told me.) There are radicals in any institution, including religious. Don't use one to paint all the others as zealots or crazies or Hitlers...\"\n\nYou do see the irony / hypocrisy of your statement, I hope! \n\nYes, adults do have the latitude to indulge; people who are prone to addiction are readily addicted to many different things- not just booze or drugs. Too many studies have already been done that confirms marijuana is not a gateway drug, in spite of the efforts of the far right, which would like to ban drugs, booze and other personal choices. \n\nRampant over-prescribing of opiates to help remedy chronic pain has been the nom du jour for years now. People don't smoke weed and then decide- \"wow, I think I'll go shoot up heroin!\" \n\nThe SC majority opinion dealt with Catholic hospitals which had been expanding through acquisition (in Ohio, I believe). Will look for it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Falsehoods and omissions:\n\"Francis urged him [re] Paris climate accords.\" The Vatican press release: \"during the course of the cordial encounter, the two men discussed the good bilateral relations that exist between the U.S. and the Holy See. They also spoke of their 'joint commitment in favour of life, religious liberty and freedom of conscience'.\" The media-savvy papal press office later stated Parolin and Trump discussed climate change.\nPence mentioned especially the defense of religious liberty, noting that last month, in the presence of the Little Sisters of the Poor, the president signed an executive order \u201cto restore religious liberty in the public square. I couldn\u2019t have been more proud.\u201d \n\"Catholics split their votes...\" The ANES 2016 Time Series Study referred to began in early Sept. and continued into Jan. as the polls swung one way and the other. The exit polls: 60% of white Catholics chose Trump. It was OH, PA, MI and WI where Trump won the election.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Having dealt with St. Pius X\u2019s Syllabus of Errors on Modernism, which you can find at http://xianleft.blogspot.com/2017/03/syllabus-of-errors-by-pius-x-on.html, I decided to analyze the Syllabus by Pius IX. As before, the writings of Pius are numbered. They can be found at http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9syll.htm My retorts are in bold. These were not as bad as I thought they would be reading Garry Wills, but most are easily refutable and reflect the biases of an age that no longer exists. Interestingly, as a political scientist, my own ability to do so is carries more authority, although my authority as a Catholic is enough to question the Church. Those who cling to these condemnations are practicing Catholic Relativism.\nYou can find the 17 pages of refutations on my blog at http://xianleft.blogspot.com/2017/04/responding-to-syllabus-of-errors-of.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From your view, does a sovereign country have the right to sovereign borders? Does a sovereign country have the right to regulate who is permitted in to the country for the safety of it's citizens and the stability of the country?\n\nDoes Catholic social teaching in your view, mean that Catholics must call for and embrace open borders? \n\nFrom your view: if I go to Mexico or any other Latin or South American country illegally, and I get caught and they deport me, are they morally justified in doing so?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The guard would be morally culpable in this life according to the laws of the victors. His actions would be judged objectively evil. Based on my reading of the OT, where it reads that God occasionally approves of genocide, don't know what God might make of the guard's behavior. The bible to me seems a tad bit self justifying when it comes to humanity's penchant for destroying 'others'. The morality of such acts is usually determined by the victors. God is beyond my comprehension. I will let God be God and hope and pray His reality is way beyond the petty self justifying vision of mere men. In reality the Nazi guard is not so far removed from the torturers of the Inquisition--and they were judged to be doing God's work in a great victory for the Church. I happen to think that according to current Church teaching the Inquisition was doing Satan's work, but in the end, my opinion doesn't count.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, Chicago is a place where there is a very visible Ukrainian presence. My daughter went there for a conference a couple of months ago, along with her husband and daughter. Her husband is learning Ukrainian and was delighted that people in stores knew that he was speaking Ukrainian with my granddaughter. One saleswoman even knew a couple of words in Ukrainian. :-)\nBecause I bless myself differently than do RCs, I've had many people ask me if I was really a Catholic and express surprise at the fact that I would be allowed to receive Communion at a Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think it's quite clear that this is what Pope Francis has been trying to do! It's so sad that a bishop can't lean on his own relationship with Christ to make pastoral decisions but needs a conference to prop him up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What has the US done for democracy at home or abroad in the last 50 or 200 years?\n Nothing but make democracy look like the biggest fraud since Christianity.\n The US has never wanted democracy abroad simply because their puppet dictatorships make the labour cheaper, the people obedient, the imperialist occupations so much easier.\n At home, there's no longer democracy because the multinational oligarchs and bankers who run the world see how enormously profitable it is to trade and speculate without democracy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wheres your list of transgender incidences with children in bathrooms. Your whole issue is a fictional scenario that is very unrealistic most chomos identify as being straight, and christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Violet, I felt inspired to further reply and explain the artwork in the Roman missal that you are talking about. It depicts Jesus crucified, not risen. The Blessed Mother is standing there to receive His Precious Blood flowing from His pierced side into a chalice. A priest offers sacrifice. Mary in the image is receiving, not offering. As to why you think the cloth on the rock is a shroud and that means He is resurrected is beyond me. He is nailed to the cross and bleeding. Perhaps the cloth is a shroud- the shroud that He will be wrapped in when He is placed in the tomb. \nThe Blessed Mother is the Mother of the Church, the Body of Christ which we baptised are members of, so she is our Mother also. She is receiving His Precious Blood flowing from His side for us, for all the members of His Body, the Church. This is based on solid Catholic theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Other than Jesus Himself being male, being the High Priest - also male, all genders being male in the Koine text, his Sonship being mentioned, his Kingship at the right hand of the Father, things like that there is no reference to Jesus\u2019 \u201csexuality\u201d (sic, apparently gender).\n\nHebrews is the most intense dense description of Jesus as the High Priest in the entire New Testament. It is heavily quoted in the Roman Canon.\n\nYou and I have crossed this bridge before. You have never been able to provide a coherent theology of the priesthood, and I conclude that is largely because Hebrews is Greek to you.\n\nTobias was a typo, Tobit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Merry Christmas\" is my Battle cry! I hurl it out at every opportunity and watch to see if any challenge my usage. It goes without saying this is how Jesus would want us to celebrate his birthday.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article states this training is for only those in Vatican City State...... The only area that the pontiff is responsible for. \nI suggest a form letter that will use innuendo to prepare the victim to be ready for the abundance of healing and resolution that will quickly follow. \n\nDear, Mr. Mrs Ms. Victim/Survivor.\nWe received your recent letter and we are sorry about your misunderstanding of the interaction you had with a member of clergy or a nun. I have talked to the bishop of that diocese, he is very concerned and he mentioned setting up some kind of trust account and said it had to do with victims, so that sounds promising. \n\nThat diocese, like most, has a special healing team that includes the bishop a vicar and 9 church lawyers. We recommend that you meet with the healing team alone. The bishops all seem to agree, better resolutions are accomplished this way.\n\nGood luck and Gods blessings, (You will need them both)\nCardinal Muller's Secretary. \nFr. Dewy Cheetum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What motivates my comments? Love of God and His Church.\n\nI'm tired of hearing constant complaint by the lay of clerics. Griping about homilies, the Mass, Rome, Bishops, \"pay, obey\".\n\nWe're given the opportunity to go to Mass, most of us every day! \n\nTo attend our own Redemption.\n\nAnd we gripe about homilies? \n\nAre you kidding?\n\nCome to be present at your own redemption, and receive grace that will help you help Jesus save the world. That's right, help Jesus save souls.\n\nand we want something else?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with your view. While I'm not a Latin Mass devotee, I do think there can be some mutual enrichment in theory. After all, it was the form of the Mass for many centuries. Unfortunately, in my experience however, the true Latin Mass devotees have a kind of \"siege\" mentality that does not permit them to see anything of value or worthiness outside of the cause to which they have become devoted. A lot of them view any kind of \"dialogue\" as a watering-down of Catholic tradition. Even Benedict XVI incurred their anger when he revised the old rite to disallow praying for the conversion of the Jews on Good Friday. It has become a stand-in for an ideological worldview which unfortunately has re-enforced divisions & dis-unity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The parable of the widow\u2019s mite (Luke 21:1-4) is that the poor widow who gave only a small amount to the treasury gave more than the rich who gave out of their abundance fits well with the economic theory of the declining marginal utility of money.\u00a0 \n\nThe more money a person has, the less a new dollar of wealth adds to their wellbeing.\u00a0 \n\nBy transferring resources from the wealthy to the less wealthy, the resources are placed with those who value them more.\n\nThe parable of the good Samaritan told of two men who knew that they should have helped another who had been robbed and wounded but did not, and a third man, who did not have an obligation, but did (Luke 10: 30-36).\u00a0 \n\nA progressive tax may force wealthy free-loaders who believe that aiding the poor is not their social responsibility to meet, the obligation that they wish to avoid.\u00a0 \n\nAdd it all up and one could build a case for public policy to take that into consideration.\n\nA true Christian couldn't object.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would guess that abuse of the children is part of the problem. We see our statistics on abuse, physical, mental, sexual and the bullying that goes on in the villages by kids and adults. It is a learned behavior, probably introduced by the missionaries and their Christian culture, and continued on without a break in the pyramid of abuse. The kids get abused and escape the abuse by using drugs and alcohol and end up getting sexually and physically abused further and the downward spiral ends with the suicides of the kids.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you telling us that these \"simple\" people began to bring their \"Christ\" into the public square?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No it's the author's words that are at issue here. And I gave them twice. You took the full length of a civil comment to meander around making small remarks, and never got to the author's words.\n\nAs the Athanasian Creed says (it's a masterpiece and should be read in full frequently. Marvelous prayer material). Had you ever read it your intellect would have been assaulted when you read the author's words that I gave. \n\n\"...As God, He was begotten of the substance of the Father before time; as man, He was born in time of the substance of His Mother.\nHe is perfect God; and He is perfect man, with a rational soul and human flesh.\nHe is equal to the Father in His divinity, but inferior to the Father in His humanity.\nAlthough He is God and man, He is not two, but one Christ.\nAnd He is one, not because His divinity was changed into flesh, but because His humanity was assumed unto God.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, McHale, for confirming that you have abandoned the Roman Catholic Church -- and thus, unfortunately, by YOUR criteria, are automatically damned. I have hopes for your salvation, but you cannot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.\nGod\u2019s Word is manifest through his lovers.\n\nGod himself still speaks to mankind through his lovers.\n\n\u201cMy Father is working still and I am working now and for ever.\u201d\nIs there no one among all the intellectuals who visit this Site, who can refute what I am saying?\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Cobbled together as the Mass is, in my heart I know that the risen Christ is there among all of us imperfect Catholics and random sinners. I just can\u2019t get over that the God Jesus called Abba, Father, freely and gladly gives himself in his holy word proclaimed. It blows my mind that the Lord Jesus gives his whole risen person \u2014 and whatever that means it\u2019s a cosmic concept \u2014 to us in a little bread and a sip of wine.\"\n\nMitch, thank you for this column. Yes, bad homilies, poorly translated prayers, and third-rate music can be painful. Nonetheless, Christ promised us that when we gathered in his name he would be among us. I believe that no matter how disappointing the human side of the Mass is. Also, I agree with St. Augustine, no matter how unworthy the priest may be, the Sacrament is just as valid.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very true John. \n\nI read in the tablet today that in Britain there is a Catholic School that would not promote its acting Head Teacher permanently to his position because he was divorced and remarried. All I could think of is all the LGBT that have been fired for reasons of irregular marriage too. This teacher had several hundred teachers, students write into the Bishop to please hire him back. The Bishop refused and the school lost an amazing teacher. \n\nI wonder how perfect will lay people need to be to be allowed to work in Catholic positions. It amazes me how we pretend this isn't condemning the person. A different teacher, in the same school, might have 12 corpses in his basement but because we can see the remarriage we must squeeze out the sinner altogether.\n\nWe are getting worse not better. God reminds me \"don't worry, it is always darkest before the dawn.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics and Orthodox share the same Nicene Creed? I thought one of the gripes the Orthodox have with us is the Filioque.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The petition seems cynical. The petitioners know:\n- The State, having determined that Shanley does not satisfy the criteria for civil commitment, has no legal authority to file against him now.\n- The Archdiocese of Boston, having imposed the penalty of laicization on Shanley, no longer has any authority over him. Laicization is not intended to protect families or communities; it is not even intended to penalize errant priests. Laicization is intended to protect bishops by severing the relationship between them and men whom they once described as \"sons.\" \nSean O'Malley will not lift a finger or spend a dime to help Shanley. The policy of the bishops is to discard accused priests by laicizing them. No one should think that the community is safer as a result of that policy. It isn't.\nWhat Shanley needs is what we all need: safe, secure housing; adequate healthcare; appropriate professional services; and friendship. That's what builds a safer community. Shame on O'Malley for turning away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think so. I think the church knows it cannot defend its teachings in the face of the real world situations that people confront today, especially women. All they ever say is you have to obey.\n\n Marriage today is not marriage of 1000 years ago. The roles of women in the world are not the roles of women 500, 1000, much less 2000 years ago. And yet, the Church wants to act as if what they created as doctrine and teachings all those centuries ago still applies. Patriarchal, divine-right rule is disappearing from the world, but the Church still insists that an organizational model they copied from the Roman Empire is the only organizational model God allows. Gimme a break. \n\nThere is too much idolatry of the Church within the Church. I want the faith to continue on into the next centuries. It doesn't have to be \"the Church\" of today, but the faith needs to go on. It is not faith in the immaculate, infallible Church - it is faith in what Jesus gave us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bad theology will not convince me. We do not earn grace. Repentance or Change is part of the Jesus' process.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Rossier School of Education at USC is now granting degrees worldwide with online faculty...instead of granting 35 degrees annually as was the case a few years ago...they are now granting several thousand annually....worldwide\n\nU2 which is a niche business on the big board is now assisting very major universities nationwide to provide their services worldwide....take a look at who is playing!\n\nWe are on the cutting edge of technology and education....\n\nIt has been argued by experts (some in my own family) that funding education is a broken business model and that a mix of distance learning, alternative funding (generated by products that emanate from certain academic professions) et al is the future....\n\nI don't see small catholic colleges as players...think there will be an exodus...I do see major school like Georgetown as involved...kind of think that they are involved with U2 at this point?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes it is when Catholic sexual morality is based upon concepts from the Middle Ages that can't be proven by any DEMONSTRATED facts. This was the same nonsense that the Church used to condemn Galileo. \"The Bible says....\" The Bible was written in a pre-scientific age and it was never intended to be either a scientific, genetic, nor a code of endocrinology. But ignoring writings and studies about current scientific/medical studies---we have people bent on using their religious teachings [from bygone centuries] to support their bigotry.\n\nThe sad thing is, that the concepts of Catholic sexuality were constructed in the early Middle Ages by men who had little or NO sexual education themselves. And the CCC was largely written by Joseph Ratzinger, who left home to go to a seminary school at age 11.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are really mixing a number of issues together into quite a murky soup here, gewaite. The Latin rite (Roman Catholic) is a far larger and a separate church than the Maronite or Byzantine rites, and has been totally resistant (for very poor and questionable reasons) to following its Eastern brothers (I'll leave it at the all-male doorstep for now), so to raise it in relation to this report isn't very useful. In addition, the Orthodox are in need of a good deal of renewal as well, otherwise they will face a decline unknown to date. What we Romans need to do is to have a very careful theological discussion about the totality of priesthood, and not equally influenced by culture or tradition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But he endorses the idea of complementarianism; they all do. That is the issue; you cannot be for women's equality and be a complementarian. Also, both Cupich and Good Tobin would likely support Pope Francis' bizarre comments on gender theory.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now you just watch yourself, Monica, you're suggesting that one day there might be a church (or not) which worships the Father in spirit and in truth! \ud83d\ude07", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would be interested in reading Hormisdas' condemnation. The best that I've found was vague reference to a re-iteration of pseudo-Gelasius which, again as I read it, is establishing canonicity v. declaring heretical the doctrine / dogma of the Assumption. The book on the infancy of Jesus is also on the list of apocrypha - do you think Gelasius was condemning the Natavity?\nIn stating my opinion re pseudo-Gelasius, I follow that of those more expert in the topic than myself. I have looked for contrary opinion contemporary to those which deny his authorship and have found none. I'm willing to go where facts point, regardless of the outcome. But there is a tough-row-to-hoe if one is choosing the Assumption as proof against papal infallibility.\nSend me Hormisdas and I'll gladly look at it (Latin or English, if possible; French or German, if not; if you only have a Greek reference, as I've commented to others before, it will be a struggle for me to read in any reasonable time).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Baptism, the Universal Call to Holiness -- foundations, the cornerstones of our faith. Having served in vocations ministry, we too found that by focusing on Baptism and the Universal Call to Holiness and the centrality of missionary discipleship -- we were able to then celebrate the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Fruits of the Holy Spirit without the divisions and divisiveness. It was though a challenging effort, as is evident in this conference as they walk the same road. Drawing a mindmap helped by placing Baptism at the center with the 4 vocational calls branching from it, we could begin to map missionary discipleship. An exercise you can try at home too. Quite insightful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One man's \"inordinate\" is another man's \"normal\", one man's \"scrupulous\" is another's \"ordinary\".\n\nI really don't give a fig what your personal use of them is, they are not objective terms, since your \"norm\" is not everyone else's.\n\nIf you can provide an object norm, please do so.\n\nI would normally not use liberal, faithful, conservative, authentic, radical, extreme, or \u201ccoherent organization\u201d.\n\nIf I use authoritative, binding, immoral, traditional, ordered, and change I would use them in their ordinary senses to a Catholic, explain them - e.g., ordered sequentially from 1 to x - or be prepared to explain.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Liberals: \"When it's against Clinton, it's a conspiracy. When it's Trump, it's Gospel!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again, you ascribe implications to my position that are down right insulting. You can not rationally attribute implications to a position that you clearly could not possibly understand because you steadfastly refuse to declare for or against the premise of the position you mock.\n\nOne last time, do you agree that our Catholic position against abortion is ultimately dependent upon our understanding that homo sapiens sapiens are immortal beings, and that our immortality is acquired by a direct act of creation by Yahweh long before we are born? Yes or No?\n\nWithout that premise, with the counter assumption that homo sapiens sapiens are merely the product of evolution and standard animal sexual reproduction, rational reflection on the status of a fetus is transformed. \n\nPlease engage on this premise, or admit that you are cruelly attributing implications to my position that you can not possibly understand. To do that is a rather poignant refutation of your pen name.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis might not be clear to the \"black & white\" crowd (yet somehow I think they find him to be overwhelmingly clear) ... since the calculating mind demands easy answers to difficult questions! Pope Francis is quite happy to admit to having more questions than answers. But his intentions are abundantly clear. To the contemplative mind, he is very much Pope Francis the Clear. Though I much prefer Pope Francis the Merciful. For far too long now the neo-conservative elements have insisted on setting the narrative ... and now that we have a pontiff whose narrative is too Christ-like to appeal to them, they descend into a huff. There is a very good reason that Jesus so often dealt with the b&w crowd by using parables ... ponder upon it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The church clearly is going to have to find a way of stopping the declining numbers of nuns...\"\nThere is no need to stop the decline. Less reason to increase it. They served a purpose for a moment in history, and time to move on, die out. Historically, in the West, women as nuns, sisters (technically according to RCC's Sharia Law there is a difference) were one of the rare options for women who did not want to marry nor have a sufficient dowry to marry, and who preferred the company of women. Fortunately, we are evolving where patriarchy is on the decline. This is what should be hastened altogether. Equal disciples for the Kingdom. Not this top down power usurpation of the gospel. Some RCs are nostalgic for ye old days where nuns, sisters were in burqas. Maybe these RCs might wear a RC version of the hijab to simulate sisters of the past. Seems BT was flailing about for a column?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ATF, \nJust read the article, and laughed out loud at one of Coolerage's quotes:\n\nHe explained: \u201cIn this, the call of the Royal Commission and the call of Pope Francis converge in what looks to be one of the strange disruptions of the Holy Spirit.\u201d\n\nI SERIOUSLY doubt if this disruption should be laid at the feet of the Holy Spirit, and even less do I find it strange. Makes me wonder just how blind these guys really and truly are! Seriously, that statement suggests that the bishops don't understand why there is no trust in their leadership, why attendance is down, why people are angry and won't listen to them. And his conclusion is that the Holy Spirit is to blame for the turmoil in the church! Good Lord...\n\nI'm sorta caught between laughing and crying on that one...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I actually passed the NETWORK number around to staff today. One of the points I made in yesterday's meeting is that the conservative politicians in Billings, MT, by far the largest city in Montana and very conservative, were going to have a lot of explaining to do when their streets were suddenly full of homeless mentally ill the Community Mental Health Centers used to be able to provide for. Tax payers have a big decision to make with the mentally ill and the drug addicted: You can pay big money to keep them all in detention of some sort, or let us in Community Mental Health do our work for much much cheaper bed rates.\n\nThe whole thing irritates me no end because it is opting for inefficiency over efficiency...not to mention, it's not at all Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And some Catholics are bewildered when others call them a cult! Cultish behavior belongs to cults, not churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No tears from 40,000,000 Syeds (progeny of Mohammed) today over this icon of anti-Mohammedan, anti-Koranic Kaliphate.\n\nBetween 2 Abubakrs (the first Kaliph and last) Kaliphate was a drag on civilization curtailing trade and human progress for 1,400 years no less.\n\nSocrates was done in by big business and banker Demos. 1000 years later Mohammed, allied with Christians to rout his Meccan Demos, ushering a new era of peace, justice, women's emancipation, free entreprise, and free trade.\n\nBut upon his death the neocon moneyed Demos hijacked his progressive revolution morphing it into Kaliphate of gore, glory, conquest, and colonialism, picking needless fight with Christians, imposing Tariffs (Arabic word) on East-West trade, finally blocking it altogether thus starving Christian Europe into half, and forcing them to find new routes to Asia and new lands.\n\nLet us bury the Kaliphate and its symbols forever. Divine Hand bombed this one; is Mosque of Umar, the second Kaliph next, god willing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not dismissing eye-witness testimony - I'm dismissing testimony that was handed down by word of mouth until it was written down a century or so after the fact. Have you ever played broken telephone? then you understand why I am sceptical of biased accounts that have a century of word of mouth between them and the first time they were committed to paper.\n\nAlso, I could get ten thousand atheists to testify to the fact that the Flying Spaghetti Monster touched us all with his noodly appendages, but unless we have evidence to back it up, we would be called out for it. And that's what I'm doing to the bible - calling out the fact that there is literally no evidence (outside of the testimony of his followers - which is hardly unbiased) to suggest that god existed then or now. I've never disputed that historically, a man called Jesus Christ once lived - just that when he claimed to be the son of god, that's all it was - a claim. Where's the proof to demonstrate otherwise?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is the clarity of emotion. That emotion screams for a financial solution on behalf of private property owners that may not now have the resources to pay their liabilities, social costs, and assure their neighbors against death. It's emotional that the fortunate investors smartly buying a condo in 1970 are now elderly. Yet, despite our breaking hearts, this logic of emotion doesn't extend to taxpayer mandates. Rather, this emotion screams for nonprofits and NGOs, but not government, to immediately step up in charity for those \"program deserving\" private condo owners. Gov\u2019t has provided income tax breaks for nonprofits, since forever, in order that this kind of heartfelt burden not default onto the taxpayer. Where's the aloha of Aloha United Way? Catholic Charities, Clarence Ching, Weinberg, et. al.? They get tax breaks so them first..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As Jesus taught, do not cast the first stone unless one is sinless. From that pandiddly develops the theology that, once another has cast a stone, or is perceived to have cast a stone (and that perception can be based on anything, including own's own misinterpretation), then cast as many stones, in all directions, as one wishes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "really----- these priests, bishops , lay who tolerate this are not Christians\u2026they are Constantinians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In our community, everyone in the altar party wears an alb, that is a seamless white garment. Priests and Deacons wear stoles and chausubles and dalmatics over it respectively. An alb is similar to the long white tunic worn throughout the Roman empire in the first century. Dalmatics and chasubles were the outer garments work during the same time period. That Jesus wore some or all of these garments is highly likely. The Roman Catholic custom of readers and Eucharistic ministers in street clothes, quite frankly, in my personal opinion, looks rather \"bush league\" and is disrespectful to the dignity of the liturgy. I fully understand that some people find merit and meaning in slovenly, informal liturgical practices, but as pastor, I have made a conscious decision not to go down that road. Here we do liturgy \"decently and in order.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The use of a weapon in self-defense does not require a \"warrior.\" And even a priest is allowed to use force to defend himself. Thus, the fact that Jesus was neither a warrior nor a priest is no bar whatsoever to the legitimate use of force in self-defense. In fact, the Catechism states: \"Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a GRAVE DUTY for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility.\" CCC 2265.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do not condemn anyone, Gary, I do not have that authority. Yes - The Bible does teach that people who do not believe in Christ are condemned. If would gladly explain it further to you in person if you wish, but you have told me don't bother several times. Someone is right and some are wrong, Everybody isn't right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sister Sara Butler treats this very point in her book on Women's Ordination.\n\nHer argument is that the Tradition of the Church bears out that while the Church has understood Jesus actions in choosing only male Apostles to be authoritative and revelatory about Jesus intention for Holy Orders, the Church did not understand Jewishness as being essential. \n\nThe Apostles themselves began to relax some of the Jewish regulations. We see this happen at the council of Jerusalem. The Apostles don't seem to think, however that they had the authority to ordain women--since we do not see them doing so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Parishes don't exist to play \"anxiety allaying\" games.\n\nThey exist to bring us Jesus Christ in word and especially Sacrament.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's much more than \"not [the] Catholic ideal\"; rather, it has been repeatedly condemned. Pope St.Pius X, VEHEMENTER NOS: \"That the Church must be separated from the state is a thesis absolutely false, a most pernicious error.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The cardinal was speaking about female deacons that would NOT be ordained.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would be wary about saying that the Holy See has no jurisdiction over Festing or the Knights. Par. 1, Article I, Title I of the Constitutional Charter of the Order of Malta very clearly says that the Order \"is a lay religious Order\". Par. 1, Article IX, Title II of the Charter also states that the Knights and Chaplains belonging to the First Class - and Festing is one of them - \"are religious for all purposes of Canon Law ...\" Now, since Festing is a \"religious for all purposes of Canon Law,\" he may well be subject to Canon 590, No. 2, which says that individual members of institutes of consecrated life are \"also bound to obey the Supreme Pontiff as their highest superior by reason of the sacred bond of obedience.\"\n\nConsidering that Festing and his cohorts have all but slammed the door on the investigative commission created by the Pope, his \"highest superior\", I seriously doubt he will come out of this fiasco unscathed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"the re-establishment of the mass in Latin (it's the language Christ spoke after all!)\nBut there would still be an issue. It is well known that Jesus used the vernacular Latin of his time and place. He did not use Church Latin. The Pope needs to immediately appoint a commission to determine which Latin is the real in persona Christi Latin. Or perhaps the issue could be expedited if Cardinal Sarah would issue a ruling.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No wonder people join the Episcopal Church. It is so much more tolerant than the Roman brand. It is open to high Mass facing the altar with ornate vestments, incense and chant. It is also open to modern innovations with a \"cosmic\" liturgy. It is gay friendly, women clergy and yet kneels for Communion and sings glorious traditional hymns on the organ with boy or girl vested choirs. Some parishes have Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, private confession and Marian devotions. Other prefer Morning Prayer and simple vestments. Why do Romans fight each other over preferences in liturgy, etc? Why not look at the tolerant, gentle acceptance of different views in the Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church welcomes you!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Independence\" can bring dangers. We learned from Jesus about what happens when branches are off the vine. \n\nWe can see this in some of the religious orders who are known for \"independence\" from Rome....they're shriveling up, unfecund. They are off the vine.\n\nFine line to walk. Declining attraction is a sign of being off the vine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ordinariate priests make up only a tiny proportion of priests in the U.K. and have enough problems with the Catholic bishops to be bothered unduly about what is going on globally. Orthodox Catholic websites are much more numerous in the U.S. than in England.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It has become patently obvious to me that you have totally misunderstood my argument despite the numerous occasions I have tried to clarify it for you. Whether this is by accident or design, I will not speculate although I do have my own thoughts on this. Throughout the exchange you have never said whether you accept the Church's teaching re: the sins against Hope, viz: despair and presumption. My fault, I made the mistake of assuming that you did.\nI am not going to rehearse my argument again as I feel it will again meet with the same degree of obfuscation. Well-catechised, orthodox Catholics will understand what I am talking about and hopefully the not so well-catechised will acquaint themselves with the Church's teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the context of Catholic teaching, it's not merely \"alternative\" thinking. Heterodox involves a rejection of Catholic teaching, of which there is only one, at least when it comes to doctrine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am glad for this article addressing important issue. I have caveats about the Catechism giving the best reason for telling the truth. The foundations of the covenant are not shaken; the one telling lies may be doing himself and others harm, but the covenant we have is not with the Law but with Jesus Christ in spirit and in truth. \nEveryone (excepts psychopaths) has a conscience and has the ability to discern truth from falsehood. \nThe question may be posed whether Trump has a personality disorder. But when it came to telling the truth, where was Bernard Law? In the movie SPOTLIGHT he gave a copy of the Catechism to the editor of the Boston Globe after his interview with him.\nThe Catechism was not enough to inspire honesty. May I suggest that there are better justifications for being honest and forthright with others than this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Viz\" was famous a the white hole in the African American donut. Today it is the only Catholic parish left open in that area as about a dozen that surrounded it were closed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't want to accept that there is such a thing as civil marriage. In the real world, it is extremely common. As such, the courts quite properly rule on it.\n\nBy the way, even religious marriages have ramifications in civil law. The courts quite properly rule on that as well.\n\nIf you are going for an annulment in the Catholic Church, the actual first step is getting a civil divorce. Civil divorces are handled by the civil courts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Baloney! The church in 1017 didn't know all the truth! God is eternal----not the human lead Catholic Church. God inspires----but God doesn't make Canon Law or the teachings that have come over the ages---that we DON'T follow today [and there are lots].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I understand that some people may be upset that \"their\" church is closing, but it's important to remember that 1) no one 'owns' the church.. each local church is united to a larger, more universal Church. Yeah, your traditional \"Irish\" parish may close, but that brings me to a second point, 2) You can't complain about your church closing if you only attend it twice a year (Christmas and Easter). The fact is this-- the number of people attending mass weekly has declined severely, and in case you haven't noticed, the pews are typically filled with people over the age of 60. You cannot expect \"your church\" to stay open when you literally enter it twice a year.\n\nThe Spanish-speaking Catholics, Filipinos/Vietnamese, etc. have been the ones who bring FAMILIES to their respective churches. I grew up in an Italian parish (we'd have mass in Italian certain times in the year, hymns/feasts) but guess what? The Italians either 1) died out or 2) stopped attending mass all-together.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspect the impending election is also causing some internal distress amongst conservative hierarchy....relative to court appointments, populist legislation for those on the margins et al...Hillary is their worst misogynist nightmare and they have worked against her....\n\nIn my view potentially jeopardizing our Republic. \n\nIf memory serves it was Chaput who said something to the effect that he was a Catholic first over political preferences....I remember thinking at the time I wished he would be moved out of the US. \n\nNothing simple here...but I agree with Francis who commented on Trump that it wasn't Christian to build walls but rather we were to build bridges.....and we should inform ourselves, pray, follow our consciences and VOTE.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just curious how you think Jesus teachings turned the Church upside down, he did say to Peter in Mat 16:18\u00a0 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.\n\nIn what way did Jesus teachings affect the Church ? Do you accept all of Christs words are infallible ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Headline: \"Trump's environmental rollbacks lack 'moral compass,' Catholics say\nPlanet, people take back seat to business since election.\"\n\nThe \"moral compass\" is jobs. N\"C\"R seemed to be dozing during the Obama Administration, in which the recovery from the 2008 downturn was exceedingly sluggish, and annual growth was mediocre. That translates into far fewer jobs created than might have been, stagnant wages, and fewer opportunities, particularly for those in historically disadvantaged situations, such as young people and racial minorities. \n\nHeard on NPR this morning, from a woman in coal country who voted for Trump: \"We just wanted to have someone there who wasn't our enemy.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When we use all our intellect - until we run out of reason - in order to get to know God, then we're giving some part of us that He didn't have before. He's happier when we \"give\" this part of ourselves to Him.\n\nWhen we give Him our faith in Him, we're \"giving\" Him a part of us that He didn't have before.\n\nWhen we give Him our worries, our doubts, our sorrow..He gets a different \"part\" of us, He wouldn't have without our Yes.\n\nWhen Peter reached out in hope and trust to Jesus, he was giving Jesus something that Jesus desired - more of Peter.\n\nHe wants all of each of us.\n\nWe thus learn to love God, \"beyond reason\" with our faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You make a good point. The Church should not be out and about, sailing the seas. It should remain in port, in Rome, stationary, unchanging, never erring. Hopefully the next pope will bring things back into order. Once the Church returns to is stationary state those who have left the church will begin returning. I am sure you join me in hoping all the \"nones\" come back, before it is too late and they are eternally doomed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At least you dropped the fictitious \u201ccitations\u201d this time to non-existent cites in the Babylonian Talmud.\n\nThe Jewish view:\n\nhttp://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4366&context=caselrev\n\nin the Talmud appears to provide an exception for abortion when the life of the mother is at risk. It could be interpreted as \u201cself-defense\u201d but that is not what it says.\n\nThe relevance of this to a Catholic viewpoint is unclear. The Jews did not share our view of Man as body and soul, nor did they have any clear idea of an afterlife.\n\nI am unaware of any moral calculus acceptable in Catholic teaching that would provide the basis for weighing the moral \u201cgoodness\u201d of one death versus two. However, in Catholic moral theology an intrinsically immoral act cannot be justified by citing a \u201cgood end\u201d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...the fresh air of scientific learning and societal development into our understanding of doctrine.\"\n\nEvery Catholic can do that, following one's conscience, IQ, etc. We are not judged for our doubt because we are unable to understand Vatican II, for example, or the teachings of first Church Councils. Applying scientific learning to our understanding of a personal God is challenging, not least because of the way science and theology use language, metaphor, etc. so peculiarly, making it difficult for the 2 disciplines to catch up with each other. But it is not impossible to at least approximate an understanding, however provisional, between the 2. \n\nIf we don't, the RCC will go the way of the dodo.\"\n\nSpeak for yourself in that regard. The CC will be around until the end of time -- which actually could be quite near, according to Stephen Hawking, who raises disturbing questions about the end of our century. Indeed, the \"way of dodo\" thru lost scientific territories of space is near.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) Undergraduates generally know relatively little, so their judgement can be questioned.\n2) What you say about sociology and psych is what many non-lawyers say about the law.\n3) You believe that the task of university and sociology department is to teach \"a Christ-centered meaning of life\"?\n4) While it's true that many law school grads, or grads from other programs are not tending bar, I would venture a guess that chasing the almighty buck is not necessarily a Christ-centered life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is all pretty new for me Lynn. We simply didn't have homeless people in my small Iowa town. The vast majority worked until retirement. We did have a Christian Opportunity Center that helped 100-200 mentally challenged folks, some who stayed on their campus, some who stayed in apartments with some drop in assistance. \n\nThe strength of the community was it's focus on the children. Outstanding schools, lot's of extra curricular opportunity and extended family for support. It also helped that we had two large privately owned manufacturing companies that provide good pay and benefits for parents (pulling from other surrounding communities as well).\n\nIt was a very conservative community, the strong work ethic was normal. Also had a four year liberal arts college that provided diversity of thought.\n\nIt was a weird place I'm finding out. My 'normal' has taken a beating in Eugene. \n\nFrankly, our lives are sometimes luck of the draw. \"Values\" are learned, not universal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Abortion & institution \"trumped\" civility, decency, inclusion and real love for white Catholics led by clerics and hierarchy. \nThe \"abuse of human life\" begins where, excludes what, ends where?\nI used to be impressed by the few photos of collared clergy marching during the civil rights marches. I remember, only later understanding, the gentle teasing by Reverend Martin Luther King asking why we clerical garbed Jesuit scholastics were in attendance at his sermon. \nThe Roman Catholic Church is built upon the salvific act of Jesus. We neglect at our peril that it is also built upon the fragile rock of humanity, of civilization, that is civility, compassion; the consistently intelligent processing of our evolving reality in mutual interdependence. If it is not demonstrated in and led by a contemporary intelligent and compassionate \"more\" of Jesus, it is working against itself, against its Jesus, against the Parent in whose image we are, supposedly, in and becoming. \nToo little, too late.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow! \"Catholicism will and rightfully SO be continued to be treated with suspicion and severely curtailed.\"\nThat's quite a statement! \nIn Ukraine, there is much effort on the part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Catholic Church to bring about cooperation and mutual understanding and acceptance. It's sad that the patriarchate of Moscow chooses a different path.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fairly good, but he seems to have stopped halfway\n\n\"Sometimes I think we get the idea that if I do the right things, if I act according to God's commandments and so on, I earn God's love.\"\n\nYes, and sometimes people who hear this shortened version of the Gospel stop short! They get the idea that God doesn't care very much whether, upon hearing about God's warm and fuzzy love for us, we correspond faithfully and fully to His example & gift to us. \n\nAs well-trained American consumerists, we tend to be overly influenced by what in management school is called \"the power of the low performer\"\n\nThis is the powerful idea that in any group the person who has greatest influence on the majority of people is not the high striver, performer, achiever, but instead the felllow 'bringing up the rear' (as they say in the Marine Corps).\n\nConsumerist Americans look over their shoulder and say \"at least I am not like x\".\n\nGod wants us to be focused on Jesus, Who took us to the Cross and said love like Me", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's good that Bishop Stowe addressed the New Ways Ministry gathering. But his address could have been stronger on three points:\n\n1. We need to hear that the traditional objection to same-sex orientation and activity, based on \"natural law,\" is in fact based on an inaccurate and unacceptable view of human nature. \"Natural law\" in this case is a falsehood.\n\n2. We need to hear that to demand of a group of people who have no vocation to the single state that they must live all their lives with no amorous union or relationship looks unspeakably unjust.\n\n3. We need to hear that those Catholics who treat the lives, minds and activities of LGBT people as matters of great moral gravity, and who condemn them for living honestly and in sincere cultivation of love, themselves have a warped faculty of moral judgment, and are themselves to be condemned for letting their personal hostile prejudice impede the workings of justice and charity in their own hearts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill: First you say such tragedies are NOT the wish of God. Then you say He allows them to happen. That's just a tad contradictory. If you, I, anyone else or God or god or gods \"allow\" something to happen (something we're capable of stopping from happening; that's implicit in \"allowing\") then, clearly, we WISH it to happen. As a believer and a Christian, I presume you credit God with be omnipotent....so clearly He,She, It or whatever, has the power to stop something from happening and, if it happens, was aware of it (omniscient) and didn't stop it. Therefore, god either \"wished\" it to happen or just didn't care one way or the other. Frankly, when I see tragedies such as hurricanes or mass shooting, I have real trouble accepting that god, if one exists, is really a very \"loving-god.\" Gary..hard-core agnostic...Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like most monopolies, benefiting from inertia and aggressive mediocrity.\n\nI know of a parish (in the Fremont, CA area) which renewed its liturgical practice, to the point where Sunday Mass was making intentional disciples out of lukewarm Catholics. At the request of a couple of dozen disgruntled families, the religious order running the place replaced the priest after 11 years of a 12 year term with an ideologue backed by that faction who threw out all of the renewal in a month's time, proving once again that it's far easier to destroy than to build.\n\nThe first thing done: shutting down the 1 Mass (out of 9 on Sunday) where things were being done by the book--the one producing most of those intentional disciples. The second thing: hardbound missals from Corpus Christi Watershed were put in the closet (or thrown out) and replaced by Breaking Bread.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Truth telling .. Catholic Reporter falls very short on the Catholic Truth telling! The leftist progressive agents inside the Church are throwing hissy fits because Donald Trump is President and their Globalist Socialist New World Order plans are being thwarted. This article is nothing but a Saul Alinsky tactic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All cardinals are orthodox - that's why they get to be named cardinals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe the vast majority if they were to look honestly at my statement above would acknowledge it to be true, but to practice the teaching of Humanae Vitae is beyond most of us, so self- justification has become the norm of the day.\nI wonder if anyone who reads this has the honesty and courage to serve the Truth by acknowledging that at some time in their life they have felt the natural inclination of a tinge of sadness or/and been aware that they have participated in the possible loss of a new life through an act of using a method of contraception, if you have and still use contraception (for many) this sadness/knowledge will be now buried under a self-justifying conscience as right judgement and spiritual growth will now be stifled.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I personally appreciate that Pope Francis doesn't use the authoritarian tactics of his predecessors. It takes a lot of prayer and patience to bring about change in the Vatican environment, and hopefully without splitting the Church apart. Unfortunately, some individuals prefer to think in terms of \"all good\" or \"all bad\" instead of seeing progress on a continuum... sort of like the OT stories of the Hebrew people in the wilderness endlessly complaining to Moses, and ultimately being stuck there for forty years. They might have gotten to the promised land sooner if they had been grateful for the blessings they already had. \n\nIn our drive-thru, I-want-it-now culture folks dislike delayed gratification. I prefer to see the glass as half full rather than half empty, and give thanks for that. In my view things are moving in a progressive direction in spite of Vatican naysayers digging in their heels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article does not mention that the majority of America';s Catholic Bishops, especially Cardinal Burke, wholeheartedly supported Trump -- Burke claimed there was only one possible Catholic choice. Our Catholic bishops sold out the African-Americans and Hispanics with full knowledge of Trump's racist statements throughout the campaign. The deportation of 800,000 children is an intrinsically evil act against human life, just as abortion is. The bishops picked three issues -- abortion, birth control and gay marriage -- and ignored the person of Jesus, the Gospel, and the \nBeatitudes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The major economic blow to Detroit, besides the massive 'white flight' to the Suburbs was the flight of the auto industry to Southern states for their 'right to work' laws. In any event, downtown Detroit is not the arm pit too many people seem to think it is, and that has a great deal to do with the Illitch family....a truly committed Catholic family who get social justice issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Contraceptives prevent abortions, but the Christian funda-mental-ists are opposed to family planning. How we they let women control their bodies ... (sarcasm)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RE \"Pope Francis is firing back ...telling an interviewer that \u201cthey are acting in bad faith to foment divisions.\u201d\"\n\nPope Francis' responses to Burke et. al. appear to be papal-speak for \"The Catholic Church is like a bus that must always continue to move its passengers forward with more attention to what lies ahead than what is in the rear view mirror. I'm the current bus driver. You can be on the bus, or under the bus...your choice\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is correct, though, that the US Constitution - and the Colorado state constitution (framed with extensive input from Susan B. Anthony) prohibit imposition of Catholic and Abrahamic laws and legal fictions on children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, the Church, the People of God, needs to follow the Jesus of the Gospels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, it is true. Jesus said if they take the coat give them the tunic too. Jesus is profoundly radical by today's standards, by any standard! Tipping over a few tables is about as wild as He chose. He didn't kill. He didn't punch. He forgives. Loves enemies. Wants us to follow Him. He gives us the Beatitudes to show us what is his way of responding. Very difficult stuff. So, when I say I am a follower of Christ I am aspiring by the Grace of God to conform to Jesus Christ. Currently, I'm not doing so well.\nIt is still too easy for me to find \"a really good reason\" to use my weapons of choice, my car horn and a computer key board. Oh and I can give ya a look that will melt ear wax. And, this radical, Jesus Christ keeps giving us reminders that we are still to enter through the narrow gate. Amend my life according to your will, O Lord.\nThe quality of my eternity will not be put to a popular vote, nor saved by a loophole in the fine print. I belong to Jesus Christ, who died for me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why should the Church resort to the court of the pagans? (St. Paul) Calumny and detraction are forbidden by the Commandments. Self-righteousness is denounced by the Gospel. The reason the 'world' wants to judge the issue and the persons involved is not because they are seeking justice but simply to promote their own self-righteousness. If these persons were actively seeking to promote the Gospel they would be active in many more areas, not excluding a good examination of conscience in the light of the same Gospel they claim to follow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can dress it up in whatever flowery language you like, however, the priest himself said he has been using the internal forum for \"many years.\"\n\nAs for your statement: \"Folks on the AL side want the internal forum to be able to say \"don't care what the tribunal said, we've reached an alternative decision, the marriage was invalid.\" You are wrong about this too as decisions made via internal forum will never reach Rome's sacred and imperial tribunal. This is a positive development for the vitality of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tobin comes from a legendary YUGE Irish RC family. Statistically, gotta have gays members. Usually persons who have close contact with a gay family member, friend, etc. tend to be less rejecting of gays. (Exceptions of course, like the RC perennial political candidate Alan Keyes who rejected his lesbian daughter.)\nRE: Parishes in Howell, NE. Finally, ecumenism comes to RC parishes - because of dwindling numbers! So, so tribal these many years. More faith in the tribe than the Jesus. Reminds me of two Polish parishes in Pennsylvania. Immigrant members from same part of Poland but different sections. So they had separate Polish RC churches in same town with only a parking lot between them.\nMethinks with dwindling numbers only parking lot is left!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bakers and doctors are different. Not wanting to participate in your wedding is different from giving you a stitch or aspirin.\nYOU don't get to decide the \"christian\" position on anything. Some Christians accept the gay life style, some do not. The Christians that do not hold that Christian position.\nThis is not racial discrimination, you should avoid making such comparisons because what is at issue is a lifestyle.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Comment 2 \n\n[continued] how to respond to the Royal Commission\u2019s final report and how to restore trust in the Church. \n\nThe Royal Commission was very critical of the clericalism of the Catholic Church, of the efforts by bishops everywhere to protect the reputation of priests and of the Church with (an utter) disregard for the need to protect children and deal with sexual abusers. Among many issues raised, there was discussion of the lack of females in decision making/governance roles. There was also pointed discussion regarding mandatory reporting of information received regarding child sex abuse, including what was/is learned in the confessional. \n\nThe Australian Bishops Conference has also called for a national Plenary Council to be held in 2020: \u201cIt\u2019s clear then that the Church here is passing through a time of deep, painful and permanent change \u2013 which is why the bishops have decided for a Plenary Council, [continued]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fine. Good for you that you followed your conscience and joined a church that believing Catholics -- millions of men and women -- don't believe is the right church for them, in a deeply moral and ecclesial way. \n\nCatholics women (I know) also don't feel shriveled to reflect positively on their own church's self-evaluation as the Body of Christ. Nor do they feel the need to go to Protestant Episcopal posts with frightening almost narcissistic projections of their own \"despair\" that Episcopalians are doing harm to marriage and family (owing to their position on gay marriage, among many, many other moral issues). \n\nI also know some former Episcopalians who would never think of going on an Episcopal post as you do (on a Catholic post), however much they are shocked at the moral direction their former church is taking. The door swings both ways. To the credit of former Episcopalians (in over a dozen US Ordinariate parishes), you rarely see them with their visors down attacking the EC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When the teaching on sex is aberrant (based on asexuality and stoicism, not Christ), when the clergy cooperate with this, often because they are closeted asexuals then the objections are legitimate. Catholicism is a thinking faith, or at least started as one. Lay theologians often make up where priests used to fill the roles. Sadly, they had to be filled when Pio Nono and Pius X tried to impose authority onto dialogue and truth, although that sin goes back to Trent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Father Reese does not know to distinguish a metaphor from reality. What Jesus said about marriage is not a figure or a metapher, like in the other Jesus word's he quotes. On marriage and divorce, Jesus alluded to the beginning in response to the jews: \"Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning\" [...] \u201cHaven\u2019t you read,\u201d he replied, \u201cthat at the beginning the Creator \u2018made them male and female,\u2019 and said, \u2018For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh ? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.\u201d\nThe Lord is very clear about marriage and divorce. \nMarriage is a divine institution that shows in a visible way how God's love to every soul is: unconditional and for ever. Even if we are unfaithful, He remains faithful. He never \"divorces\" a soul, even if he or she are unfaithful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Catholics in this county recognize civil LGBT marriage as an important civil matter.\"\n\nRight. Real Catholics follow Church teaching, and \"recognize civil LGBT marriage as an important civil matter\" that should be strongly opposed, as it against God's law.\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope this Synod succeeds. And I hope the media reporting on it doesn't descend into clickbait and theological/political tribalism. I also hope that the reporting and commentary on it doesn't have such a Western bias as well, because there are more issues the Catholic Church and Churches have to deal with than contentious culture war debates in the West. \n\nThere's a massive refugee crisis in Syria and South Sudan, there is a migrant crisis from North Africa. There is a massive ecological crisis affecting the planet. And all of these as Francis pointed out wisely in Amoris Laetitia affects families, particularly families in the developing world and they also affect the younger generation in the developing world as well. So accompanying young people not just culturally but spiritually to face those challenges as well across the globe is important.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi!, Life of the Lay\n.\n\u201cwe pursue holiness relentlessly\u201d\n.\nI would say that when we continually walk in humility (St Bernard-Humility a virtue by which a man knowing himself as he truly is abases himself) before His inviolate Word/Truth we walk in holiness.\n.\nWe see His Path/Way of spiritual growth in the Matthew 15:21-28 \u201cJust then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, \u201cHave mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon. \u201d But he did not answer her at all.\n.\nWe see the courageous hope of an outsider approaching in humility one who she perceives as a true man of God.\nAnd Jesus in His humanity walking in \u201cfaith\u201d responds in humility to the \u201cTruth\u201d His own \u201cEssence\u201d, to the truth within her statement, in that she is also a child of God. \nAnd in doing so illuminates our understanding of His Way, the Path of spiritual growth (Enlightenment) that leads to eternal life. \n\n\n1 of 2", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics can't support Hillary Clinton because she thinks women's health is important. \n\nIt's a one sentence essay. Why all the extra verbosity?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Trump won 80 percent of the white evangelical vote and has earned some of his highest approval ratings from the group throughout his tumultuous presidency.\"\n\nIf you're an adherent to the teachings of Jesus with great fervor, being 'born again' into the love that he preached, why it's completely understandable that you would also cling to a thrice-married, foul-mouthed, pu$$y-grabbing philanderer that dabbles in casinos, wage theft, education fraud and serial prevarications. \n\nAfter all, it's just like Jesus to forgive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, it is not a requirement. It is not a matter of human rights either. Jesus also had the right to be married, but chose to remain celibate \"for the sake of the kingdom.\" It is a vocation, a voluntary choice, not an obligation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have been working in the facebook field hospital all morning and all last night. Consoling those that feel truly threatened and trying to get along with those that actually believe the things Donald has told them. I think I have tried my best to argue for common sense among my friends, especially my Catholic friends who voted for him anyway...because the Bishops told them to. Well, here we are now. I am a realist, I will wait and see what happens now. The one silver lining, is that with a Republican house and Senate...the administration will have no more excuses and no one to blame if they don't magically take us all back to some utopia that they have created. All I can say is...shocked, and yes very afraid. God have mercy on us and especially on all the marginalized groups that have woken up to this nightmare.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican Radio used \u201chard hearted\u201d in their headline, MSW quoted it. Seems odd to me, since Francis organized his talk around \u201cfolly.\u201d\n Not hearing the word of God is certainly the focus Francis gives, but I am pretty sure he doesn\u2019t mean \u201cas interpreted by men.\u201d He contrasts those who hear with ideologues, idolaters, and the vain, not with those who disagree with him. It is as much a call to himself as to others, I imagine.\nMaybe he should have used \u201chard hearted\u201d with Matthew\u2019s rejoinder about building on a firm foundation, not sandy soil, perticularly building the Church on a rock. Then we would have known he was talking about himself= Peter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you have disagreements with, or trouble understanding, the Word of our Lord in the Bible and the teaching authority of the Church that He instituted as well? Either way I'll pray for you on this, because I have no Heavenly idea how you can square support for Hilary Clinton and Tim Kaine based on their anti-life positions and the following information!\n\n\"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you\" - The Lord\n\n\"The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation\" - CCC 2273\n\n\"Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception ... Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense\" CCC 2271 and 2272\n\nWoe to those who call evil good and good evil and to those who fail to stand up for the Lord and His most vulnerable, for He will do the same for us, or more accurately to us, come the day of our own individual or particular judgements", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some may suggest the Extraordinary Form, since nowadays it's easier to find the EF than a good OF Mass, but for newcomers who didn't happen to learn the Mass as part of their education and even for some cradle Catholics the silence in the EF is too challenging.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you believe the sacraments were instituted by Christ, then you go to mass, even if it's boring and people are mean to you. If you stop going to mass, you need to ask yourself if you've stopped believing that Christ instituted the sacraments to bring us to salvation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where in the New Testament are followers of Jesus told to take physical violence against anyone for any reason? Christ did command \"turn the other cheek ... go the second mile ... love your enemies,\" did He not? Why do those who are zealous for following the Bible so often ignore Bible teachings? In the end are they following Scripture or their own, sinful ideas?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, the person baptized is configured to Christ.\" (CCC 1272)\n\nBaptism configures to Christ. Once configured, one cannot become 'more configured' by another sacrament. Once pregnant, one cannot become 'more' pregnant. \n\n\"configured to Christ the priest in such a way that they are able to act in the person of Christ the head\" (CCC 1563)\n\nIn ordination the priests is configured to act 'in persona Chrsitie', in the community gathered in prayer, because in fact it is Christ who is praying in and with the community (not the priest personally). In this sense, the 'special character' received is restrictive to specific situations and purpose. Note the contrast with the prayer of the unordained: they act/pray in their own names, as individuals configured to Christ. The 'special' dose not mean better, it means different (in this case, restricted). \n\nIn short, there is no difference in degree of holiness. Nothing can improve on Baptism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, you are OK with accepting any and all accusations willy-nilly without testing their veracity first? My Bible calls that false witness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "YES! I wish that people would stop using \"what Jesus said\" as the reason to behave in a particular way. As you say, we have oral tradition, transmitted in writing, with all of the errors, embellishments, and changes that this entails and with the results of literary traditions of a given time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The whole of the scriptures don't teach about us needing \"a closer relationship with God\". Scripture teaches of a fallen nature of mankind in need of saving, which Christ's sacrifice on the cross accomplished.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Imagine, just imagine that Pope Francis stated formally that 1) the equality of men and women as persons before God and in the world supersedes their differences and impels us to accommodation of difference rather than exclusion based upon difference. 2) that their \"complementarity\" essential to the the human race, is also essential to the sacramental integrity of the Mystical Body of Christ and within the institutional custodianship of sacrament, message and mission.\n3) that it will require patience, reconciliation and cultural effort over time to amend and accommodate and invite significant leaders to begin the process, for it is right and just to do so.\nIt would take time and set-backs but imagine the impact it would have on the suppression of the \"rape culture\" \"...in the church and in the world\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\".. one element of the document could in fact be seen as allowing pastors latitude to give divorced and remarried Catholics Communion.\"\nWhat P. F. done amount to adding jourys to listen to peoples story with intuitive mind before deciding the punishments like our criminal court system do.\n\nIt is needed and long over due.\nBravo Pope F.!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obedience is surrendering one's thought to God and listen to God's words.\nObedience is listen to the voice of God from others. \nObedience is ways to practice dropping all for the voice of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Addendum to Steven Shea: \"The priest sex abuse crisis was not just about the bishops and their henchmen who covered up these crimes...\"\nIt was also about the complicity of militant, conservative lay people who discredited and targeted victim advocates in every way possible, assisting the clergy in clever, well planned humiliation & shunning tactics. Mental illness was insinuated. Phone harassment and stalking were common. These 'dirty tricks' took a toll on family relationships as well since family members could not always believe what we were personally experiencing. Knowing that there were Mafia connections within the damage control mechanisms of the Church made some of us advocates fear for our lives.\nYes, the web of deceit in this issue was/is much bigger than most Catholics can even imagine; and the fallout has only just begun.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Without transparency and honesty, Dolan's fund becomes just another tactic to make sure the New York archdiocese doesn't answer for its actions -- an accountability dodge that ultimately hurts children, victims, parishioners, and the church's own chance for redemption\" -\n\nThus, the cardinal is derelict in his duty, and Catholics are forthwith morally required to disobey him and pursue justice by any and all means at their disposal. \n\nThis travesty also reveals the scope of the clericalist filth that has befallen the Body of Christ, as many \"old boys club\"-hierarchs (think North American College in Rome, for example) continue to be absorbed by their lusts for sex (made worse by their attempts to suppress their sexuality) and money and the power and influence it buys.\n\nCardinal Dolan may think he's got a deal. In truth, however, he behaves like the money lenders and traders in religious and other tchotchkes in the Temple Court.\n\nJesus' response to them is abundantly clear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then you don't understand leadership! Inspiring hope in the sick and in their families [especially in the sick who are terminal] is Christ-centered leadership. Those who work among the poor, who have often experienced 'life's short-end of the stick' and inspiring them to 'try again, to trust again, to pick themselves and experience a feeling of their own self-worth---are demonstrating Christ-centered leadership. The focus of leadership at CTU [which as an institute you have insulted] is not to foster leadership as you understand it, but Christ-centered leadership. There is a world of difference in that type of leadership. But you don't seem to get it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We do! And he is!\n\nI did lobby in CA for the Catholic Conference, Catholic Charities and my local agency relative to certain pieces of legislation and their impact on the poor.....I also assisted in the founding of JERICHO a statewide ecumenical poverty lobby, modeled on NETWORK ...Sister Simone worked in both entities....\n\nSO I can't completely remove myself from the legislative arena as a believing Christian...My point is that activity in that arena has to be professional, and measured. Folks on either side of any issue need to be thoroughly informed and capable of making mature judgements based on intellect and conscience.\n\nI do agree, with these caveats, that the debate belongs most emphatically in the political arena!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK - to quote Denzel Washington...explain this to me like I'm a six-year... I responded to a poster who stated flatly that certain public figures \"were not practicing Catholics.\" I wrote her that I thought it was inappropriate for any of us to judge other people's relationships with God and gave some solid facts about VP candidate Tim Kaine and his lifelong Catholicity, and I said that judging other's people's worthiness said more about the commenter than it did about the one commented on, and I had my comment deleted. What kind of standards are applied when someone can judge someone else's standing with God and one who questions THAT gets deleted? Maybe I'll just leave.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I love these lyrics of Leonard Cohen's. Especially the ones \"There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.\" And those that say \"we are stronger at the broken places\". To me they sum up the \"human condition\" and renounce the premise that we, as Catholics, must strive for perfection. I believe in one of the first slogans I embraced in AA was \"Progress, not perfection\". And it has worked for me for 36 years now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neither did I. \nDoesn't mean Kenney has a magic solution like many of his supporters seem to believe. HE says he's magic: he threatened to cut sending gas and oil to B.C. if B.C. blocks pipelines even though he can't order private companies to do that; said he would have a referendum to renegotiate equalization when equalization is in the constitution; and oh yeah \"clean coal\" is a thing because he said it is. AND he wants Catholics to be free to teach anti-gay stuff in schools because, well, a magic cosmic force doesn't like those people. Magic man.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wyoming Catholic College sells this T-shirt in its bookstore: \"WCC, The Only School in America Where You Can't Have a Cell Phone But You Can Have a Gun.\" I am told this is literally a policy statement there. \n\nThis article cries out for the perspective of \"Who ARE these guys?\"\n\nIf four cardinals and these \"scholars\" are all you got, you're in trouble in the Catholic academic marketplace of ideas. \n\nWho is NOT on this list...what universities are NOT on this list----that's the story.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It behooves us to read a history of the Catholic Church's ministries to African Americans. Wish I could recommend one off-hand but can't. Having had personal experience working in the RCC with both minorities (also the American Indian), I can say it was mostly good. The abuse & neglect must have been there too but I did not experience it personally. I feel it's really important to be fair in our judgment of the Church while at the same time recognizing and repairing the abuses. On the other hand, it's my experience and observation that the Church's hierarchy and priests largely stay out of the fray of race relations, working quietly behind the scenes in many good ways.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not killing babies in the womb and being against gay marriage are Christian values. To support Levesque and his cause is anti Canadian. How can Liberals tolerate this ? Junior said Quebecers are better than the rest of us. Junior thumbs his nose at Canada even Quebec.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's all very interesting, but he question is why, if dialogue is so valued by NCR, that NCR seems to never engage in dialogue with conservative Catholics. \n\nIt seems that the people truly interested in dialogue are CUA and the Koch brothers. They are working together, whereas I'm hard pressed to think of who NCR is working with, besides a few progressive Sisters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Watch, O Lord, with those who wake, or watch, weep or sleep this day, and give Your angels and saints charge over all those who worry and are frightened.\nTend Your sick ones, O Lord Christ.\nRest Your weary ones.\nBless Your dying ones.\nSoothe Your suffering ones.\nPity Your afflicted ones.\nShield Your joyous ones, and all for Your love's sake. \nMake us instruments of your peace, and a sign of your love for us... Amen", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Should you ever get cancer, remember this posting. Jesus suffered a few hours. He wouldn't have forgone painkillers if he suffered for years like so many of his followers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, there is a song that goes like this: \"You can't always get what you want.\"\n\nLike it or not, Catholic hospitals cannot do things contrary to the Faith. People are aware of this. If they don't like it they should go elsewhere for their healthcare.\n\nAs for the rape: what I am saying is that as long as the drug given is contraceptive in nature and not abortion inducing, if the woman was pregnant it would not matter. They could still give the drug-assuming the drug would not affect the child conceived.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Currently it is theologically the Episcopal Church [i.e., the Protestant Episcopal Church, official title].\" \n\nQuite right, Marty E! The Old Catholic Church is different from the Catholic Church, theologically, ethically, and in ministry. And none of the great Catholic cathedrals throughout Europe are even remotely attached to the \"Old Catholic Church\" -- Cologne Cathedral, Munich's Dom -- any Catholic Dom in Germany, any Cathedral in Paris, Brussels, Vienna, Prague, etc. even remote Aachen Cathedral-- none of these cathedrals acknowledge the \"Old Catholic Church\" as a peer institution. So why bring it up if European Catholic communities dismiss it. Architecturally and even demographically, it is invisible in Europe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2/3\n\nI know I sound cynical, but I don't think what you're saying is different from what I'm saying: the bishop who (personally or through his predecessors) recruited, trained, formed, ordained, assigned and reassigned the man now washes his hands of him and declares that he has no responsibility for or to him; let the community beware. \"We don't care\", the laicization declares, \"where he goes, how he lives or whether he lives; we don't care whom he hurts or who hurts him. He's not our problem.\" It's cynical, hypocritical, dishonest. The bishop/church has an obligation not only, or even so much, to the priest but also to the community to do what is available to do to assist accused/removed priests to live healthy, safe lives. That may be especially true of accused priests who were not prosecuted, which is most of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The diminution of parishes - on the part of the laity - is the evolving sense of community. One can opine that it is in decline or that current realizations no longer meet the need.\nOn the part of the institution, it is the realization in practice that the Church uses the word \"community\" but either does not understands it; doesn't believe in its own rhetoric, ie is hypocritical; or both. \nClosing churches; consolidating, amalgamating parishes is the \"earthly\" response to an economic model of institution. It is only conceivable in \"the companionship of the followers of Jesus\", if it is moving into a conscious, elevated and more contemporary relevance of the meaning. \nThe sense of Pope Francis and of our communities of religious women of our essential interelatedness with each other and with creation is a microscopic beginning....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"love Jesus\" remark is inflammatory, or you possibly meant it to be. How is it relevant? I love Jesus but totally disagree with the actions/rhetoric of Mr. Schaefer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no evidence that Our Lord disrupted the Temple worship or sacrifices. He lashed out against the sellers of sacrificial animals who plied their trade in the Temple forecourt.\nOur Lord demonstrated that God indeed did require a sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world, not a bird or a lamb or a bullock but the perfect Sacrifice which no animal or human could be the fulfilment of. God Himself because He so loved His Creation, therefore, became man, the perfect and only acceptable Sacrifice that could be offered to Him for the sin of Adam and the subsequent sins of his descendants throughout time.\nChrist our High Priest offered Himself as the perfect Victim to redeem mankind from the consequences of Original Sin.\nIt strikes me that you equate the Jewish Temple with the Catholic Church, you couldn't be further from the Truth, there is no comparison. Christ founded the Church to succeed the Temple the veil of which He rent in twain.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clear words and spirit of Pope Francis?\n\nWhich Spirit? The Spirit of the World or Vatican II, which always confuses and always seeks novelty, or the Holy Spirit, which always inspires?\n\nWhat clear words? That God will sometimes allow you to commit adultery and any other mortal sin in order to do good or that it is no longer a sacrilege to accept the real body and blood of Jesus Christ even if you remain in a state of mortal sin so long as you go through a process of discernment that requires no sincere amendment of behavior and your conscience is clear?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That idea had nothing to do with Trump, he has never given a damn about any of that extreme religious fanaticism. This comes from promises he offered to Pence when he offered him the VEEP when others refused to run with him. Pence and his coalition crave to increase the power of a theocracy. The US is acting like an Islamic theocracy or kow towing to another religion like the catholics banning abortions in Ireland or in many latin american countries because of the power of the bishops.\nPence would have us return to Puritan times when they could hang Quakers or Catholics and Maryland could jail protestants for not paying tithes to the Catholic churches. We keep trying to separate church from state, but zealots still want to make sure everyone follows their rules in the long run. They pretend moderation and tolerance until they get dominant power; Then EVERY religion demands control.\nCongress will make NO law to establish religion; pro or con, support or oppose, belief or not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John F. Kennedy's acceptance by the public had much to do with two things:\n\n1) WWII erased a great deal of America's bigotry toward Catholics, because during the war protestants served alongside Catholics and saw first hand that they weren't slaves of Rome. Before then, much of America was isolated into pockets of parochial believers, and so had relatively little contact with those of other sects.\n\n2) JFK really did have unusual charisma, and people tend to make allowances for Alphas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remember that chapter in the bible where Jesus was going to feed all those poor people, but first he had ICE check their papers to make sure they were deserving of food?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ignoring for now the pure charade of this, to say \"Many people in the Vatican do not know how to respond because they lack the psychological, theological and juridical background,\" said Zollner, who also leads the Pontifical Gregorian University's Center for Child Protection.\" read:' the administrators in Rome of the whole of the Catholic Church, comprised of more than 1 billion people, are not competent after over 30 years of high profile cases the world over of composing a letter acknowledging receipt of a victim's letter'. Any reasonable person believing that? No.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you divest churches of their conservative religious beliefs, they cease to be churches. I've attended a few United Church functions. There's no mention of religion, just about doing good works.\n\nI had to point out that doing good works means following Christ's message to be able to put it all in some religious perspective.\n\nI fully support the good work of the United Church, but I wonder if they are shortchanging people on the religious aspect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Fear-filled Christians\" is exactly right. How do they even get up in the morning and leave the house, when the world is filled with so many heathen traps for innocent, unwary souls? One of these days, these reactionaries are going to learn that algebra was discovered by followers of Islam, and they'll start decimating math departments in the schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the quote more accurately goes: \"It is not they who say 'Lord, Lord' that enter the Kingdom of Heaven but they who do the will of my Father in Heaven\".\n Hoping, not in vain, that others are reading these comments may benefit therefrom. It has been difficult to reconcile the role Catholics have had in electing Trump with my affiliation with the Church-harder than scandals and Pope Francis' limitations. I expect more from a paper that has such a great responsibility as does the NCR to promote a commitment to truth and integrity in the institutional church. \nMore important, is the benefit I may get from resolving this issue for myself to the end that I may retire from engaging in an activity that claims an unreasonable amount of my time and attention when it might be better spent elsewhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'Raymond Cardinal Burke is asking the Holy Father to exercise his Petrine function...'\n\nCorrection... +Burke is threatening the Pope with an ultimatum. I wouldn't respond on those terms and I'm happy Pope Francis hasn't", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not my experience, I'm happy to say. My church hired a Mormon music director who happened to be native Japanese, whose mom was once a Catholic nun! His kindness was a whole lot more than superficial, as was evident from the amount of time he spent at his job, not including the free (FREE) music and piano and organ lessons he gave to parishioners! He re-taught us to sing, in more ways than one!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree, all male-designed religions (which is more or less all of them) push the idea that God or the gods made women to serve, obey, nurture and satisfy men. Even religions that have godesses usually place them lower in the divine order than mortal men, usually on a par with male warhorses.\n\nBut Catholicism distinguishes itself in its conviction that God is horrified and disgusted by women and its view that the best and holiest life and the one most pleasing to God is a life lived in the complete absence of women.\n\nSt. Robert Bellarmine said, in his case for the canonization of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, that the latter was so perfectly holy that he took a vow when he was twelve never to speak to a woman and never to be in the presence of one if he could help it and to keep his eyes fixed on the ground when he couldn't help it, in order to avoid looking at her.\n\nNot a saint likely to appeal to normal healthy men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Piano2,\nI am a firm believer in everyone's right to the Freedom of Speech but not violence.\nNone of hate groups are new. They just haven't been vocal for awhile. \nI remember when they use to march in parades in uniform to flaunt their freedom in our faces. \nThe best defense against hate groups, and I include the Anarchists and the newer groups, is to be aware of them! \nThen denounce them and peacefully protest against them. \nBack twenty plus years ago, our community in Lower Southeast Alaska, every post office box holder and address received,the most vile,hate filled,racist, bigoted mailing. It was full of hate for people of every color but white, religions (Catholic, Latter Day Saints, Seventh Day Adventist, Jehovah Witnesses) it also targeted the President and former presidents and the SCOUS. The return address was a church in Missouri but was mailed from a neighboring island. I was proud of our community's outrage and how people returned the mailing as \"refused\" which cost them $$.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He commanded you to humbly and docilely accept all that Holy Church has dogmatically declared. Roma locuta est, causa finita est.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah..no....but if the main work of Catholic charity by religious becomes how to navigate government benefit programs, one needn't fill that \"billet\" with sisters who have had 8 years of formation and/or a law degree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So why are leaders on both sides of this policy question finding it so difficult to compromise? Because some on both sides are convinced this is not a matter of Church Policy but one of Theological Principle. To bend would be to violate their own deeply held convictions.\n\nBut in such cases are we called to enforce our views on others? To act as conscience not just for ourselves but for our fellow brothers and sisters?\n\nBoth Jesus and Paul offer examples of avoiding unnecessary offense to those whose consciences are \"weaker\" rather than imposing our \"stronger\" consciences on them. Something those on both sides of the present question, who seek to impose their \"stronger\" consciences on others, should carefully and prayerfully contemplate.\n\nDitto for those who comment here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is the chefs\u2019 and bakers\u2019 business. They are in the business, so it is their business.\n\nWhy did Jack Philips choose to disoby the law he said he would obey in writing? When you sign a business application you agree to abide by state law. Jack Philips knowingly broke the law.\n\nMaking a cake for a gay wedding does not mean he is complicit with or in favor of gay weddings. Jesus knows how much Jack Philips hates gays, so that is not the problem. \n\nJack Philips is not even good at being Christain. He is cherry picking parts of the bible to follow. \nHis rights are not being restricted, he could choose another profession or not make wedding cakes. It is very simple.\nWhy do you hate equal rights?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The majority of French people cannot be accurately understood or described by silly political correct dogmas. They seem to have a unique sense, zest for life that is realistic and pragmatic, and cannot be easily. pigeonholed. 83%-88% of French describe themselves as Catholic (about the same as the French in Quebec, Canada). Their Catholic identity is much deeper than showing up for mass once a week. \n\nGood example is their attitude to same-sex marriage. France was one of the first nations introducing same-sex unions, but consistently refused to redefine marriage (as I said they have a realistic sense about facts of life). After Hollande, a second-rate socialist ideologue he is, forced the redefinition of marriage on the people despite nation-wide protests, it is no surprise that the Socialist received an amazing 6% support in this election. Obviously, this was not the only reason, but judging from the nation-wide protests at the time, it was clearly part of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) But would a later hookup with Miss Grundy make the sin retroactive? See what happens when we get so legalistic about sin? \n\n2) On derivatives, who performs the inferring rigor I admit should be part of the discernment process? You can't believe how some priests have told me I should interpret the Bible about marriage--180 degrees away from what 40 years of on-site learning has led me to infer. The most misunderstood word by clergy is \"lust.\" I say misunderstood, because they all can't be wrong...or right. It ranges from harmless fantasy to \"strategic intent\" to sexist objectification to unhealthy preoccupation to demanding behavior to imposed relations to \"just ask me if you have questions\" to \"I really don't know; you're the one who knows far more about these things than I do.\" \n\n3) Is the absence of trust in fellow Catholics a derivative sin from some commandment? Please tell me it is; I have some sinners I need to admonish.\n \n4) Your mom and dad sound just like mine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether orders is about power, on the one hand, or conversion and service on the other, is not a function of the sex or gender of the minister; it's preposterous to suggest that women who seek orders are motivated by power and men by a desire to serve -- preposterous and demonstrably false.\n\nNonsense! It is preposterous to suggest that in the polity of the Catholic Church, the sacrament of orders is distinct from power; indeed, power in the Catholic Church (the power to teach, govern and sanctify) is invested precisely in the ordained, and fully in the bishop. We might hope that being a priest or bishop (or deacon) is not ONLY about power -- but it is, for sure, at least partly about power; and that is by church law and by definition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "May God Bless Rev. Sosa Abascal in his leadership of the Society of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What did we learn from the Detroit Uprising/Riots of 50 years ago? And this administration has just authorized a more militarized police department-- what will that lead to come the next Ferguson, and the next Ferguson will come! It came to Dallas with 5 police officers down and how they are still coping with their own next time.\n\nSo here... I'm going to do a little cross pollination from across Christian Communities...\nBECAUSE of what these columns did within me. The first, said -- what my lips can't because it means speaking truth to power and to family. https://www.christiancentury.org/article/myth-white-innocence-detroit\n\nAnd this one 'calls out' the trajectory of this journey from 1967 to now and next month...\nhttps://www.christiancentury.org/article/how-can-we-fell-demons-hatred\n\nNeither one is an easy - feel good read. It is more than 'unsettling' to have somebody wiggle the plank in my own eye and remind me just how far I, yes I still need to go. Check yourself too my friend.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Realize that the Catholic schools system is better than the public school and many of the students attending are not Catholic, because it's a better school system.\nPerhaps, more research on your part is necessary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Monica,\nI think that's already happening. I also think it's larger than just those that leave (millions...) I suspect that many Catholics have done their own reflection, discernment (etc.) and come to peace in wherever their journey took them. Most likely won't talk about it publicly, but they've decided internally, even if they play along.\n\nI think your point DOES hit on a huge issue though: the impact of what we see in our bishops, on our personal faith. I cannot, for example, accept some of what the church teaches, unless I'm willing to ignore other things the church teaches. So if I'm to believe that women are to be subservient, or ABC is wrong in all cases (etc.), then I cannot also accept that God is truly loving and \"knows us each by name\" (personally). The point is that what these guys have been doing is MUCH more corrosive than can be tracked by the mere exodus of millions. \n\nSo that faith development is going on, but outside of the institutional church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with you. Sadly, the thing is that anyone who is in the position of spokesperson for the Catholic Church will say only what he (I cannot imagine a female spokesperson at this point in time) is supposed to say. The official Church line was denial and obfuscation; when that was not sufficient, then deflection was considered appropriate. What better way to deflect than to call it an \"American problem\"? \nI do wonder how those men sleep at night.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "President Kennedy famously once indicated to his friend journalist Ben Bradlee that it would have been easier politically for him if he had not been a Catholic.\n\nCould you imagine the apoplexy and near public riots that would originate in the fascist Christian right-wing of the Repugnant party if a Joe Biden, Tim Kaine or Caroline Kennedy would get close to the White House?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course it would.....why? Because the morality expressed by the international community is inconsistent with the contract that has been signed by god/jesus/insert whatever other deity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@Grace Ann\n\"Would certainly be wonderful IF the \"princes\" of the church could get on board by remembering the lesson/mandate that was given at the Last Supper to those who would lead in His name\"--------------------------------------------\nMy vision for the leadership of the Church\n\n\nIf I were a Sheppard what would I do\nIn trust a bowl and towel I would bring to you\nA Bondsman to the one above\nTo All, this must be truly understood\nIn poverty we only serve love\nWater with grace to clean your heart feet and face\nAs I wash your feet the Masters heart I will seek\nYour heart to mine will surly speak\nNo one can divide if in the light of the Spirit we reside\nOur opinions are no longer truly our own\nThe Word of GOD (Will) is all we own\nTo Bishop on his throne we will take our towel and bowl\nAs we wash his feet his heart we will seek\nNo one hides from where Christ truly resides\nFather\nwith tongue and flame give us unity again.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You jest. Card.Ratzinger/Pope Benedict seemed to engage in the theologically abusive practice of extending selective dimensions of metaphor to literalism and elevating that selection to theology and/or authoritarian directive. \nExample: He quotes from Genesis, \"...and he shall rule over you\" as God's literal and literally \"definitive\" sentence to Eve and all women under the titled document that addresses women \"...in the church and in the world\". This from the CDF Prefect and \"noted\" scholar theologian. This is one element of what Daly seems to id as the \"slimy underside\". \nMaybe, this kind of indefensible contributed to his \"retreat\"?\nSee also the senseless defense of \"natural resemblance\" below.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From November 29, 2016, online published Crux Article , \" Vatican judge says cardinal-critics of pope could lose red hats\", the head of the Vatican\u2019s main working court, the Roman Rota. Father Pio Vito Pinto said. \u201cWhat they [the cardinals] have done is a very grave scandal, which could even lead the Holy Father to take away their red hats, as it\u2019s happened already in some other times in the Church,\u201d \nFather Vito Pinto said. \"Faced with what the Church calls \u201cirregular situations\u201d- which he didn\u2019t specify, but which could run from divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to gay Catholics in a civil marriage - Vito Pinto asked: \u201cWhat do we do? Turn the Church into a prison? Stand at the door of the parish and say: \u2018You yes [can go in], you no?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Emmett,\nI honestly don't know in what form accountability may come, but come it must. Personally, I think that the laity MUST have a major, if not THE major voice in the process. That letter demanded by the bishop may be deemed extortion under civil law, while being almost admirable under Canon Law for all I know. I think we are rapidly approaching a point where there is little that any internal and closed system in the church could do that would be trusted by the laity.\n\nThe bishops clearly have had NO problem sacrificing victims so as to protect themselves and \"the church.\" Yet they have no stomach for applying the same to themselves.\n\nI think this has gone well beyond the lack of discernment by a local bishop. The simple truth is that these guys CAN and DO operate as they wish, with little reason to care what others may think. Silence is a weapon for these guys, as is the secular legal system.\n\nThe church really does deserve better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then you should immediately come to realize that the Concilium Tridentinum (Council of Trent) is now nearly five hundred years behind! To substitute its teachings for those of Our Lord, after the current fashion of ultra-right Catholicism, is to mock Our Lord, and worse!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If they are not pretending that Vatican II \"never happened\", then they have surely bought into the nonsense of \"the reform of the reform.\" Vatican II happened and it is still waiting to be fully implemented, which was put on hold during the extended papacies of JPII and BXVI . Oh happy day...our wonderful Pope Francis I announced in the last few days that THE REFORM OF THE REFORM IS ENDED... we will now fully implement the teachings of the Second Vatican Council!!! I don't know if that last is out to the public yet, but I learned of it yesterday from a very highly respected priest-theologian friend of mine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/newfoundland-votes-for-secular-schools\n\n'Newfoundland's schools had always been controlled by the Protestant and Catholic churches, and the status quo was guaranteed when Newfoundland entered Confederation in 1949. As an August 1997 Globe and Mail article explained, \"Church control of schools is about as old as Newfoundland. It was made formal in the 1927 Schools Act and it was continued in the Terms of Union when Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949. Measured against the rest of the country, this church control seems curiously dated, a quaint anachronism in a secular land.\"'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, during the Eucharistic Prayer, we are all (People of God in the assembly, including the priest, who is said to be acting in Persona Christi at this moment in time) facing the bread and the wine on the altar (symbol of God and of the sacrifice of Calvary) as the Holy Spirit is called down upon the elements in the epiclesis. We are all facing the Divine who is manifest under the species of bread and wine. The focal point is surely the Eucharist, the Real Presence of Jesus, and not nautical directions, not the priest, etc, etc. And, quite pragmatically, the priest is not standing in our way, obscuring this point of focus from our line of sight!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely agree. The annulment issue doesn't get to the heart of what ails us. We focus on marriages that fall apart due to failings of one or both spouses. I see a lot of that in my mental health career, but many other problems rarely get any air time. Some Catholic married couples have canonically valid marriages, but after 30, 40, 50 years, relationships have grown resentful, strained and superficial. They stay married for whatever reason but instead of \"the joy of love\" it is an endurance contest. Some clergy hold immature ideas of what marriage is like-my husband and I help with the marriage prep weekend and we have to give \"Father\" advice to stop encouraging unrealistic ideas. We want to label certain behaviors as \"unselfish\" or \"kind,\" but conflict avoidance and running from emotional discomfort is the true motivation. Real self giving and mutual love involves painful but rewarding self-examination and vulnerability, and a lot of us never want to go there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know what Francis means by \"you must take things as they come.\" As often happens, his lack of clarity invites misunderstanding. But reading his comments as a whole, it seems he is simply trying to emulate Christ's approach to the woman at the well. Christ did not immediately condemn her, but out of love, corrected her and tried to set her on a new, Godly path. If Francis is instructing us to approach sinners this way --- aren't we all? --- who could argue? If on the other hand, he is advocating situation ethics, there would obviously be a lot more to say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No they've suddenly realized that if the GOP plan is successful, Catholic hospitals will be left with thousands of uninsured patients who, by law, they must treat, but won't be able to pay the bills. When it comes to pronouncements by the bishops, follow the money first before you start looking for any reflection of the words of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's the question that I always ask when people speak of \"converting\"from one tradition to another: Is it the SAME JESUS? I await ANYONE'S reply...[ Is it possible that Scripture could be used to bolster whichever position is taken? Thanks!]---JESUS IS LORD! \ud83e\udd81.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, like the Church.\n\nThe Power of the Keys (Matthew 16:19) finds its explanation in Isaiah 22, where \"the key of the house of David\" is conferred upon Eliacim, the son of Helcias, as the symbol of plenary authority in the Kingdom of Juda.\n\nIt is a grant of ecclesiastical authority in a sense peculiar to St. Peter and his successors in its fullness, but to the bishops according to their role in the Church. The potestas clavium includes:\n\n- the power of order, namely power exercised in regard to sacrifice and sacrament,\n\n- the power of jurisdiction, and\n\n- the power to define in questions of faith and morals. \n\nOnly God is sovereign, Maker and Sustainer of all that is, and Supreme Author of Laws.\n\nIn fact, if the Church tried to override God's commands on things such as orders or marriage or abortion it would be trying to infringe on God's sovereignty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Your essential argument is that as a conquered people, Hawaiians should assimilate to the colonial government institutions or leave their native lands\"\n\nFalse. A scurrilous personal attack. My essential argument is that Hawaiian natives welcomed European, American, and Asian newcomers as full partners. The unified Kingdom embracing all islands and all people had never before happened and could not have been achieved without newcomer participation. Natives supplied land. Newcomers supplied capital investment, labor, and expertise. Natives eagerly engaged in cultural appropriation of written language, Christianity, and rule of law. It is both illegal and immoral for descendants of one partner to now demand land and power for themselves exclusively, which is what the proposed constitution for a \"Hawaiian nation\" clearly demands. You may disagree with what I say, but I will not allow you to falsely ascribe to me a viewpoint which you can then use in a strawman argument.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a deacon in the Archdiocese of Galveston/Houston. Why in the world would you use the terms gang, mafia, etc. in any context when discussing the Knights of Columbus? Are you a practicing Roman Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm hoping that the recent Catholic Press Association award for Third Place in General Excellence, behind NC Register and tied with Our Sunday Visitor (!) will inspire NCR to make some changes. There's too much \"I just read a book and now I think what the books says\" passing for insight and/or analysis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The New Testament was written by \"everyone but Christ\", but some parts are the apostles' opinions (such as those sexist parts you eventually found), and other parts are transcriptions of Christ's own words, among which you'll find nothing counselling sexism or violence.\n\nBut in your world, there is some equivalence between that and the words and deeds of a polygamist, pedophile warlord. Then again, you also think that Pakistan and Bangladesh are \"open and democratic\" societies whose females \"aren't so oppressed after all\", so there's no reasoning with someone like you. Perhaps you should ask some female acquaintances about how they'd feel if their employers wanted to transfer them to those countries, even temporarily.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it sad that a Catholic newspaper would attack such a fine organization as the K of C.\n\nYou equate them to a business in your editorial piece Mr. Winters.\nThey're a fraternal religious non-profit organization.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Talking about my parents and the other sorts of abuse filled up our hour long sessions. When I recovered memories of the abuse, he was one of the first persons I called. Repressed memories needs a lot more study. The human brain is a fascinating organ. Memory is a complex part of that. There are those in the field who deny the existence of repressed memory. There is also a group who have studied it and find it to be valid. I find it to be like climate change. There are those of us who see evidence of it everyday. There are others who deny its existence. I used to get very upset about people like Buster who deny my reality. Most of those people were apologists for the Catholic Church. I have been at this for some time now. My library is full of books on the subject. I have an e reader that is also full. I have not used a therapist in several years. Reading books has been very useful. I suspect that as more research is done, repressed memory will be more widely accepted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus often spoke of the imperative of obeying natural law. Scripture is full of references to natural law. The absolute right to self defense is why Jesus and his followers went armed and fought their way out of trouble whenever necessary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The letter to Trump should be distributed at each Mass in each parish all across the U.S.A. This is the kind of \"continuing education\" on important social issues that Catholics do not hear about often enough. More importantly, this letter could incite the local parish based action that helps people to realize that just voting is not enough. They must keep up with what politicians are doing and make some effort in-between election cycles to keep their elected officials aware of what they consider important.\n\nI am especially glad to see this as I think it important that the bishops not be seen as the only voices representing Catholicism and Catholic citizens to local, state, or national government or to the public at large. We are not narrow people focused only on a few \"culture war\" issues nor do we all think that we can or should sell one issue down the river in order to accomplish another - an important consideration in today's political divisive landscape.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He's not celebrating Luther. He's reaching out in goodwill to the Lutheran community at a moment that has great meaning for them. That is the purpose of the trip, you know.\n\nBesides, he'll celebrate Mass with the Catholic community as well. So relax.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For the record, I purposely avoid going to Mass very week so as to avoid being manipulated by patriarchy and adopt the idea that I somehow earn my blessings, grace, time out of purgatory or whatever nonsense the powerful use to manipulate the ignorant and the credulous. \n When I DO go I go for Jesus, a re-enactment of the Last Supper (this is not a re-enactment of Calvary, common sense will tell you that) and the Word of God. Incidentally, if I meet anyone who shows hospitality during the \"kiss of peace\" I am grateful. More often than not there is someone who is going through the motions and finds it easier to pretend he or she doesn't see me or recognize I am there. \n If you go to an Anglican church people step out into the aisles to reach out to others. I sure they are more civil in other Protestant churches. What the victims of clerical brainwashing don't see is their complicit role in perpetuating a system of abuse and manipulation by maintaining a distant ritualistic piety.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gender exclusive groups always inspire sexism and imbalance. The church should not support gender exclusive groups any more than they should support race exclusive groups in our church. We claim we are divided but all we do is support dividing ourselves constantly. Then we complain when there is constant friction instead of unity. \n\nTime to learn the lesson. Dump the Knights of Columbus as a Catholic Order, they have clearly developed an agenda of their own and it is not good to have rich political groups with unique and powerful access to our Bishops' ears. Time to call this Political Action Committee out for what it actually is and release it to go out and do its secular, political thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Was it not Budda who said all persons deserve love regardless of their sexual orientation, so the Pope is reiterating what a large segment of the earths population has been practicing for centuries.\nIs Catholicism somehow more relevant than Buddhism, I think not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church probably will and it will hopefully apologize to those who felt natural being gay but thought they had to make a choice between Heaven and their own natures.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And who really cares? It makes no real difference...it is a matter of pastoral vision that is of vital importance. Save the ideological battles for other sites, and let us focus on helping he Church be like Our Savior, Jesus Christ on earth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"self-identity\" is limiting illimitable! We, human are also unknown to self and others. \nBy letting go of \"self-identity\", naturally you unite/enter into God.\n\n' \"Concentrate on your breath, your breathing...\" yes, go into yourself focus.' \nIt is not going into yourself focus. Yourself is your mental image of yourself, we call in the West, EGO.\nBy focus on your breath, you are focus on your natural biological rhythm. \nThus, helping you some free moments from your constant EGO thinking. \n\nIf it does not help, try the Centering Prayer which extracted from 'The Cloud of Unknowing'.\nIt suits Christian better because it focus on the presence of God with your 'gentle love' for God. \nIt also help you focus on the presence of God and your love for God that if practiced with some regularity and diligence, it will help you to experience of some free moments from your constant EGO thinking!\n\nIt builds inner silence over time!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for twisting the post I made to Neko although I can't say it surprises me, nor does your ad hominem attack upon me.\nI do not berate people for their lack of Catholicity, I simply post what the Church teaches in response to those who distort or reject it. Neither do I belittle Protestants, rather I admire them for their honesty. As for caustic responses, I suggest you try reading your own.\nI have never made a secret here of my stopover in the CofE. It is not that the CofE \"didn't come up to scratch\" it was that it changed considerably over the years I was there.\nReturning to the Catholic Church, I found it to be little different to what I had just left. I did not say the congregation weren't good enough, merely that most of them I spoke with had beliefs more aligned to Protestantism than the faith I learned in my youth and in the seminary.\nOf course this presents a problem for me which I am solving by bowing down my head and praying for God's mercy and His help.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It didn't take more than a heartbeat on FOX 'news'. They started right in about the \"First shot of the civil war.\" So where did FOX 'news' get such FOXlike 'news'?\n\nThat's right...The Catholic church minions are already raising money by raising the temperature of the blood to near boiling. They describe this dude as \"a liberal terrorist\".\n\n\"Before opening fire, the liberal approached the group on the field, asking if they were Republicans or Democrats. The players informed the would-be terrorist they were Republicans.\" \n\n...and, of course, the obligatory bashing of the media. \n\n\"The media is feigning surprise.\" it continues...\"Yet, this morning's terror attack should have been expected. And we need to brace for more. Here's why.\"\n\nSurprise??? Expected??? Brace for more???\n\nIt was not a surprise, we all know there will be more. Why? Because of the gas being poured on the fire daily. \n\nThis is a very FOXlike piece...nuff said.\n\nhttp://www.catholic.org/news/national/story.php?id=75193", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The March for Marriage, the third such march, is scheduled three days before the US Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in a case that could preserve traditional marriage laws throughout the country, or impose same-sex 'marriage' in every state in the nation. Speakers and special guests attending the march include:\n\nSenator Reverend Ruben Diaz of New York\nArchbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, The Apostolic Nuncio of the Holy See to the United States of America and The Organization of American States\nMost Reverend Joseph E. Kurtz, Archbishop of Louisville and President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops\nMost Reverend William E. Lori, Archbishop of Baltimore\nMost Reverend John Joseph McIntyre, Titular Bishop of Bononia and Auxiliary to the Archbishop of Philadelphia", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "St John Paul II didn\u2019t need sycophants only the support of orthodox Catholics in his Curia. Alas, he only tried to stem the tide flowing against Catholic orthodoxy rather than drive it back.\nPope Francis is using those who fawn upon him, Spadaro, Coccopalmeira, Paglia, Farrell et al to disseminate the deviation from hallowed, Catholic teaching and praxis he is trying to introduce without getting his own hands dirty.\nThe Church is of divine Institution so its governance cannot be compared with those of secular enterprises.\nElections do have consequences, I agree. The lobbying for Jorge Bergoglio by the Sankt Gallen \u2018mafia\u2019 as revealed by Cardinal Daneels brought a hitherto peripheral unknown to the Chair of Peter. Such blatant electioneering, common in the secular world of politics and commerce has no place in a Papal Conclave.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A ship without a rudder? What a joke! I talk with fellow Catholics all the time at church and socially. How many times has anyone ever even mentioned Amoris Laetitia? That's right: ZERO. I haven't noticed anyone's faith shaken. I have noticed right wingers getting their underwear in a twist, including these guys.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"Kill a Commie for Christ\" mandate was proclaimed \"half in jest, all in earnest.\"\n\nKill but don't masturbate was real-----I heard it--and it scarred a generation more so than Humanae Vitae did, because it exemplified teachings and attitudes that life and living led us to see as anti-Christian, but pro-Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for your question. Catholic Answers' sources are: Evangelium Vitae 73 (abortion and euthanasia), Pontifical Council for the Family CRF 4b (embryonic stem cell research), Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith RHL 1:6 (human cloning), and Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith UHP 10 (homosexual \"marriage\").", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "that's very kind of you to defend us all from our thoughts and protect the catholic church.\nnow, why don't you head off and proselytize to the members of ISIS? they're online. they need to hear the good word.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agree completely. Deportation of illegal immigrants was one the top issues Trump ran on. He screamed about it every time he got near a microphone. If any Catholic bishop wanted to make a statement in favor of allowing them to stay, the time to do it was before the election. Yet not *one* *single* Catholic bishop or (AFAIK) priest spoke *one* *single* word of criticism of Donald Trump, during the entire campaign. \n\nThe Catholic clergy had their priorities: (1) maintain the status quo lip service about how much they care about those adorable, precious-wescious, all-important fetuses and (2) keep the female away from the position of prestige and authority. \n\nNow they've noticed their priorities might mean their pews (and baskets) will be somewhat emptier and they're crying. The miracle is that they think anybody in the Trump administration cares what they want. AFAIK, the only devout Catholic in Trump's inner circle is the rabidly anti-amnesty Stephen Bannon.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you stopped posting your laundry of disagreements into every conceivable discussion, I bet that you won't \"keep having traditionalist Catholics tell\" you anything.\n\nYou've never demonstrated to my satisfaction that the Magisterium has ever changed a teaching.\n\nEvery example you've provided over three decades has hinged on your misunderstanding the teaching or misidentifying an opinion or discipline as a teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey Michael Sean Winters,\n\nJust wanted to congratulate you on a job well done over the last year. So many editorials telling the world that anyone who would vote for Trump is clueless and cruel-hearted.\n\nMSW, just wanted you to know that I hold you in the same esteem as that other great professional Catholic essayist, Austin Ruse. \n\nYou guys are like, awesome.\n\nSee you in church,\n\nUtey", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many Catholics see teaching or doctrine as \"optional advice.\" They don't wish to pretend to assent to something they no longer feel or believe. Fine. But they shouldn't expect Catholic institutions to abide by their moral leave-taking, to become deserters to church teaching, to violate it. Teaching or doctrine -- any teaching of the CC, for that matter -- isn't based on something you somehow have to deserve or like. Turning the other cheek, for example, or forgiving someone (who has betrayed you) 77 times 7 pardoning times isn't something you have to like. Catholic teaching isn't a mating with democracy, with majority opinion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will completely accept this notion of authority. As every pope since who knows when has been a cardinal this essentially puts his name on the ballot and still makes no sense. JP2 who appointed him auxiliary, B16 and Francis who makes him a papal candidate have all passed over him when appointing ordinaries. It is rather like saying he can be trusted with the entire Church, but not a diocese other than Rome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The operative term there is \"Church tradition\" (it should be a lower case 't'). Peter was almost certainly not bishop of Rome, because if he were, Clement of Rome would have undoubtedly mentioned it.\n\nThe office of cardinal was not invented until the sixth century, and the office was not formalized until much later.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fatima Crusader, The/International Fatima Rosary Crusade\nConstable, NY\nIHM Media\nRichmond, NH\nIHS Press\nNorfolk, VA\nIn the Spirit of\u2028Chartres Committee\nCarrollton, VA\nMost Holy Family Monastery\nFillmore, NY\nOMNI Christian Book Club\nPalmdale, CA\nRemnant, The/The Remnant Press\nForest Lake, MN\ngeneral hate cont\u2019d\nRobert Sungenis\nState Line, PA\nSlaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary\nRichmond, NH\nTradition in Action\nLos Angeles, CA Continued SPLC", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have chosen to issue a preemptive apology to me for your proclamation that most of intolerance comes from christians. I don't know why you are issuing this apology to me. I am confused on that.\n\nAlso, you never directly answered my question as to whether a conversation like that between Norman Lear and Reagan could happen today. I challenge you read the discussion again. Try not to focus on whether or not you agree with one side or the other. Focus instead on the level of respect (or tolerance) that each person gave the other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The constitution of the Church is hierarchical (apostolic) but not necessarily patriarchal. I choose to keep hoping for clarification, because it is a critical issue that must be resolved as the patriarchal phase of salvation history passes away. The crisis of vocations is a symptom that the conflation of hierarchy and patriarchy is hurting the entire body of Christ. Allowing nuns to be ordained would double the number of priests overnight. Why not? Prayers!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about Jimmy Carter? Morally speaking, he was squeaky clean. But few people liked him as president, in spite of the fact that he was for 7 years a career officer in the USN, holding the rank of lieutenant and specializing in nuclear propulsion training and operations for submarines of the Seawolf class. Also he was, and still is, a devout evangelical Christian who has dedicated his life to charity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well let's compare. There is light weight smear and then there's heavier weight FACTS: The titles of articles today on National Catholic Register don't seem all that \"pablumatic\" do they?\n\nIn fact they seem down right positive and helpful. Just a few examples:\n\n- This Advent, Prepare Yourself and Your Family \u2014 and Our Nation\n- Advent Is Mary\u2019s Time\n- Why (and How) to Return to Sunday Mass and Confession\n- Pope on Advent Mission: \u2018We Are Called to Enlarge the Horizons of Our Hearts\u2019\n- He\u2019s Not Afraid of Evil, but Young People are Scaring This Exorcist\n- An Eyewitness Account of a Friary Invasion in Rio de Janeiro\n- Mother Teresa's 15 Tips to Help You Become More Humble", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A bit of personal backstory... some years ago I heard of a dad who received a terminal illness diagnosis. To care for his daughter into the future he would not be around for, he created a Council of Dads. Inviting individuals from his life network to serve on this council as \"the go to guy\" when a problem or issue arose that his daughter needed a Dad's advice.\nImpressive concept. As I was slipping into my elder years, I realized that I needed a council of women, women who might guide or mentor me into a season of life for which examples of women bearing witness were scarce. \n\nI mention because a woman can form her own council of women, without pressing for the universally accepted and acclaimed qualification OR limited to Christian, single, married etc. What I discovered is we don't even think of the 'elder' years of women.\nMary, Mother of Jesus.... 14 ish at birth plus 30 has Mary at 44 at the beginning of his public ministry + 3 that's 47. Now, she's on my council -- \n\nTry it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agree! \n\nit's not just MSW's articles that are less than significant/persuasive...I often find Catholic News Service (bishops news service) to be less than helpful. There's one on Puerto Rico that leaves a lot to be desired/covered....in bed, it seems, with the Administration.\n\nI am glad to see new authors and the AP and would welcome more mainstream news media....think RNS is closer to reality as a rule.\n\nBut most of all really think it's terribly important right now that we focus on the major serious issues of our country/world....WITH reputable reporting!\n\nTrivia is a luxury we can't afford.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is a 'raving liberal?' A person who aggressively promotes peace, loving your enemies, heals the sick and gives food to the starving, invalid and broken? That is so anti-American/christian. Its only logical we round up all of those nambypamby free-thinking radicals before they teach somebody to read about history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chaput is a phenomenal leader in the Catholic Church. After Jesus referred to Himself as the bread that came down from Heaven, many of His followers left. Notice, Our Lord did not go after them. Yes, Christ came to call sinners, but that assumes that people will repent of their sins and follow His teachings. In fact, Christ began His entire ministry with a call to repentance, not a call for acceptance of sins. It is not caring and pastoral to lie to people by watering down Church teachings, a point which Pope Franics makes in Amores Laetitia. The Church needs leaders who are devoted to Christ and His teachings. It also needs leaders who speak the truth with love. Chaput is the best of both worlds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I never said it is a requirement, but Jesus expressed admiration for celibacy (Matthew 19:11-12) and he made a personal choice to be celibate. So it is not a requirement but, according to Jesus, it is a laudable vocation. There is room for both celibate and married priests. The crucial issue is the ordination of women, not celibacy. Personally, I would be in favor of ordaining celibate women first. Celibacy is clearly a matter of discipline. It is the *doctrinal* patriarchal inheritance that must be overcome!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@ DC Toronto yet we tax the smokers and put an age limit. If we imposed those same tobacco standards on all religions, then (Minimum 18 years to go to church and taxed its revenue) this generation would be the last of Catholicism and all mainstream religions in Canada. Religions have only stood the test of time when they are money machines (have power to influence) and can indoctrinate the young. There will be the odd outlier that joins as an adult but they are an incredibly small percentage of the believers that aren't worth the major real-estate present. \u201cGive me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.\u201d -Stalin\n\nBut yes your other comments would help.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus\u2019 adherence to the Hebrew scriptures is a double-edged sword. Some claim that where details were not known, the Gospel writers filled them in from scriptural sources. It is up to the reader to decide which view is correct. I prefer to read the Passion narratives as one. It allows for a fresh perspective which goes beyond the Hebrew canon. \n\nAll of the protagonists save one, Jesus, forgot about the Resurrection and even Jesus did so for that one brief moment after he told his mother that he was dead to her and his disciple that he should care for Mary rather than make new disciples. That moment of despair allowed him to feel our hopelessness so that we can bring it to him for our salvation. We are all at the cross, every day of our lives. Jesus allows us to come down by going up to get us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm more than a bit shocked with any assessment that thinks progressives should miss Steve Bannon. His global strategy was hardly global and didn't care about peace for the world. His crusader mentality was not what I hope God has in mind for the Middle East. His trade policies might have gone parallel with Bernie, but not all of us progressives thought Bernie had the economic answers for global solutions.\n\nAnd there is the white male supremacy of Breitbart fueled by Bannon and now embodied in Trump. There is no rational or moral justification for any of that. Fr Reese might just as well be asking progressive Catholics to swallow the 'one note' line of conservative voters by substituting trade policy for abortion and just holding our noses while we voter for utter immoral chaos.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This parish is beautiful - traditional sanctuary, completely and totally in accord with Sacrosanctum Concilium, lovely church, vibrant community, holy priest, active in the pro-life movement, Hispanic community, a website chock full of Catholic teaching and resources...would love for my parish to be like this one!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your comments bring to mind (THANK YOU!) that no biblical text is properly interpreted in isolation from the entire deposit of faith. With regard to the ordination of women, \"Ordinatio Sacerdotalis\" was an \"executive order\" (nothing less, nothing more) to decree a HIATUS in further official discussion of the issue by the bishops. The subsequent \"Responsum ad Dubium\" was an exquisitely orchestrated, and undoubtedly well intended, exercise in ecclesiastical \"fake news\" in order to suppress legitimate doubts about the doctrinal content of \"Ordinatio Sacerdotalis,\" which bluntly makes \"definitive\" the fundamentalist exegesis in CCC 1577 without making any distinction between the patriarchal priesthood of the Old Law and the sacramental priesthood of the New Law. But the time will come when, like King Canute, a Pope will have to tell the Vatican staff that attempting to stop the tide is no longer possible and is no longer for the glory of God and the good of souls. Peace be with you!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is only in relatively modern times, specifically the Victorian era that this was so. Like it or not, vulgarities, slang, whatever you want to call it are a part of our vernacular and always have been. In fact, many have a longer history in our languages than most so called proper terms. I remember when I was with the Franciscans and the old Friar who taught us pointed out that in one story St Francis told a novice who was being bothered by a vision of Christ that Francis knew was actually the devil. Francis told the novice (according to our book) to tell the devil to open his mouth so the novice could empty his bowels in it. The old Friar teaching us laughed and said the original Latin was much more graphic. And this was in one of the official lives of St Francis from the Middle Ages. The same Friar told us that an uncensored version of most medieval sermons if properly translated would be condemned by the modern church as too filthy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK...time for truth!!!!! To all those Conservative Catholics who demand an end to confusion (\"Confusion is of the devil,\" Archbishop Chaput) and who say we need clarity, not obfuscation...clarity, not ambiguity...the clarity of objectivity, not the delusion of subjectivity...courageous straightforward clarity, not nuanced two-sided fog...I ask you to be clear, or to forever cease calling others CINOs or Cafeteria Catholics: \n\n\"An authentic Catholic voting in the U.S. Presidential Election must vote for this candidate on the ballot_________.\" \n\nRemember, you have condemned those who follow their answers with self-interest qualifiers, with \"but....,\" with \"that being said.\" Remember, you have condemned those \"cowards\" who call for a re-framing of the question instead of courageously answering it. End the confusion Archbishop Chaput decries. Be clear. And thank you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Eucharist is central to the Catholic Faith.\n\nWhat you call \u201csexism\u201d appears to be what most the world calls either \u201crevelation\u201d or \u201cnatural law\u201d.\n\nYour opinion of either teaching appears to those personal opinions you hold in such disdain, as is your opinion \u201c(n)either one is truly central to the Catholic faith.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Matt - \n\nNot only are liberalism and Christianity NOT opposed to one another, Jesus was quite liberal. All that as you do to the least among you you do to me, turn the other cheek, help the poor, etc.\n\nIn Canada one of our major left parties, the NDP was established by a Baptist minister. The Greens today are led by a woman studying to be an Anglican priest.\n\nIt's just that the US can't get anything right when it comes to politics and religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, William, does how one understands biblical inequality determine if one will be eternally with Jesus? It seems not, as you believe the bible 'is a story about God choosing whom He will choose.'\n\nIf not, then demanding that the church sort out such details will lead to what Garrison Keillor illustrates in his book, Lake Wobegon Days. \n\nHe describes his family's Sanctified Brethren heritage, \"Once having tasted the pleasure of being Correct and defending True Doctrine, they kept right on and broke up at every opportunity, until, by the time I came along, there were dozens of tiny Brethren groups, none of which were speaking to any of the others.\n\nOut Lake Wobegon bunch was part of a Sanctified Brethren branch knows as the Cox Brethren, which was one of a number of 'exclusive' Brethren branches--that is, to non-Coxians, we were know as 'Cox Brethren'; to ourselves, we were simply The Brethren, the last remnant of the true Church.\"\n\nHow do we avoid this, William?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, the actions of Jesus in calling only men as Apostles seem pretty clear to me.\n\nThe above statement is extremely easy to refute. All you have to do is produce one female apostle.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Cupich's unqualified admiration for Pope Francis may have led him to exaggerate the so-called \"Francis effect\", but there's undoubtedly an echo of sorts, in reaction today to Francis' papacy, of the heightened expectancy among a generation of Catholics at the time of the Second Vatican Council. And there's the worry. For many that expectancy was dashed by reactionary conservative elements in the Church hell-bent on scuppering Peter's newly refitted barque. The successors of those elements (you know who you are) are as pro-active and as hell-bent now on mutiny as were their predecessors. And, ominously, they've had some success.\n\nA strong captain isn't afraid to use the lash judiciously. (Mutiny is best prevented.) Has Francis that strength for the welfare of the Church? I'm prepared to wager, on current form, that he has, since he seems his own man, appointing kindred minds to the prelature.\n\nCupid thinks Francis has no \"template\" for reform; I think he's wilier than that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"When women have the opportunity to fully share their gifts with the whole community, the community ends up \"transformed\" in a positive way, the pope said.\"\n\n \"Therefore, it is a beneficial process -- that of having the growing presence of women in social, economic and political life on the local, national and international levels, as well as in ecclesial life,\" he said.\n\nSo we can expect that later today Pope Francis will finally be ordaining one the many already fully trained women to priesthood, and then consecrating a nice group of women cardinals, under the age of 75 so they can vote in the next conclave?\n\nI really don't understand where this is coming from unless finally Pope Francis is trying to prepare us for the change most needed in our church - Justice for All. Equal ordination for all people called, male and female, finally, in our church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What you refer to as \"rigid dogmatism\", 1900 years of saints, martyrs, popes, crusaders, doctors, fathers, and billions of laymen refer to as the most Holy Roman Catholic Church. And you fail to answer the question: What if a future pope decreed Vatican II null and void, what would you do then? Do you not see the logical folly of the modernist position{ That was rhetorical--of course you don't}?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "corrections: C. Dolan was hiding 57 millions not 5 millions.\nI suppose to the Vatican prelates, sacrificing two clergy rape victims to the death was well worth the Dolan's con jobs? \nWas that why Pope F. praised:\n\"I am also conscious of the courage with which you have faced difficult moments in the recent history of the Church in this country without fear of self-criticism and at the cost of mortification and great sacrifice. Nor have you been afraid to divest whatever is unessential in order to regain the authority and trust which is demanded of ministers of Christ and rightly expected by the faithful. I realize how much the pain of recent years has weighed upon you and I have supported your generous commitment to bring healing to victims \u2013 in the knowledge that in healing we too are healed \u2013 and to work to ensure that such crimes will never be repeated.\"\n\nI wonder St. Peter will say the same at the pearly gates?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. We the lay have a huge effect on the clerics as I briefly described to John.\n\nOur infidelities, our lukewarmness, our bitterness, our resentments, our lack of faithfulness make it impossible \"for Jesus to perform miracles\" here!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is hard to figure what Francis is doing or attempting to accomplish. My sources say he doesn't want the Anglican \"communion\" to disintegrate any further between UK, American and Canadian churches, on the one side, and Gafcon (predominately African) churches, on the other. He supports the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury/Justin Welby's attempt to keep the different Anglican bodies together, some of which ordain women bishops, women priests, allow same sex marriage between clerics, etc. while other don't. These fractions are so divided that their own bishops won't even celebrate the Eucharist together. In the US, Anglican/Episcopal churches are suing each other for the control of properties. So poor Francis walks a fine ecumenical line (as does Welby, who, for example, didn't pair Anglian women bishops with Catholic bishops in a ceremony a few months back when the pope commissioned pairs of Catholic and Anglican bishops to work and pray together in their home countries). Go figure!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ignatz, one of the most scandalous events during Benedict's 'reign' was the Synod on the Eucharist in Rome with over 300 Bishops in attendance. One of its main remits was to look at solving the problem of providing the Eucharist for millions of Catholics around the world who did not have regular access to it. The ordination of women or of married men would have solved the problem (and many others) over night. Benedict made it clear that such solutions were NOT up for discussion.\n\nThe Bishops stayed in Rome in the plush 5star St Marthas 'hotel'. They mooted the possibility of reopening Junior Seminaries (!!) but eventually agreed on the status quo, no change.\n\nOn the last day they gathered for a sumptuous meal to close the Synod. The Tablet published the menu which involved three different wines, one a champagne, to go with each course. At the end of the meal Benedict spoke, \"It was not unintentional that Jesus chose the image of a banquet as presaging heaven..\"\n\nThe poor stiffed again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims and liberals excoriate us about Islamophobia, but we should bear in mind Islam's entrenched racism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, anti-Semitism, hatred of Christianity, Europe. Israel, and America. Islam's destructive iconoclasm is destroying historic treasures across the ME: in just one year Notre Dame in Paris has had three close call bomb threats. They even have Islamophobia against each other. Ancient tribal wars between Kurds, Shiite, Sunni, Wahhabi, Druze and other Islamic sects, ISIS , Taliban and Al Qaeda are the root causes of most of the wars and social chaos happening around the world today. It is worse than anything expressed in the west, even by Trump or LePen", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anyone who challenges the creed of the liberal-progressive ideology is a member of a \"hate group\". There's just no tolerance for \"heresy\". \n\nThe Center for Family and Human Rights is a research institute/think tank, founded to monitor and affect the policy debate at the United Nations and other international institutions. Referring to human dignity and a conventional understanding of related law and national sovereignty, it describes its mission as \"to defend life and family at international institutions and to publicise the debate\". A core value is \"Fidelity to the teachings of the Church\".\n\nThe Southern Poverty Law Center designated C-Fam an anti-LGBT hate group, characterising the institute as being \"heavily focused on global anti-LGBT work\", citing its opposition to United Nations efforts to protect LGBT rights. \n\nPresumably, the Catholic Church herself is a \"hate group\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No church for old men: Cardinals called to be grandfathers, pope says\n\nOne can't help but take a flip on this one.......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed, the Eucharist is not exclusively masculine because Christ is not exclusively masculine. Only in patriarchal gender theory is a human being either exclusively masculine or exclusively feminine. \n\n*** What about the divine \"feminine genius\" in Jesus? ***\n\nOrdinatio Sacerdotalis is not an infallible definition of revealed truth. It is an edict to stop discussion of CCC 1577, which is obviously a patriarchal rationalization of the exclusively male priesthood and may well be the weakest link in the entire catechism. CCC 1598 is better: it literally says that the male-only priesthood is a choice (first sentence) and who can male the choice (second sentence). Saying that the Church cannot ordain women is an excuse to buy time. By the power of the keys, the Church can ordain women at any time a Pope decides it is time to do.\n\nThe Church is \"ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, AND APOSTOLIC\" PERIOD. To assume that \"APOSTOLIC\" means \"patriarchal\" is not a matter of faith. Do your homework! :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who says it is, LG? I do think that some things, like the Eucharist in a Catholic mass, are a given. Not to say that adding Eucharist is a problem, but I'm not sure why there is a need to critique them as though something bad has happened, when it does not seem to have happened. It seems more like an attempt to diminish them without cause, does it not?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I meant by \"run of the mill woman\" was the majority of women who do not live in fear of being raped or have been raped. \n\nThe case of rape is an extreme case. Even if I could grant that abortion is morally justifiable in cases of rape, we do not form the rule by the exception. For whatever reason liberals constantly seek to form rules by the exceptions. They bring up some extreme case and say \"There. The fact that women might get raped and get pregnant entails abortion on demand. It also entails we must force Catholic hospitals to conform to our secular, liberal, atheistic, humanist ideology.\"\n\nNo, it does not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kag , I suspect there are as many causes of a vote for Trump as there are those who voted for him . \nHow to account for the woman who thanked him for making it possible for her husband to go down into the coal mines thus making it easy for him to suffer from Black Lung Disease which , by the way is even more likely now than previously . \nPeople who benefit from welfare voted for him . Where were they when Trump promised to destroy such programs ? \nThe backing of Trump by Republican Catholic bishops astounds me .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church has been patriarchal since you became a Catholic (and long before then....). Now you protest that culture? Operative word is \"protest.\"\n\nWhat does the Church stand for if it changes like the wind at the demand of the current culture?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My 'commoner viewpoint' believes that the Establishment of Religion Clause has been so perverted from the original intent of those who wrote it as to be nothing but a title. At the time, Maryland had been established as a Catholic Colony, for one example. That is what the framers were trying to prevent. \n\nBanning religious symbols such as the cross on Skinner's Butte as 'establishment of religion' is nonsense in my 'commoner viewpoint'. \n\nAs a non-religious person, I can have no valid opinion on any religious belief. \n\n Forcing my non-religious opinions on those who have them seems wrong to me, however. When the government chooses a policy which directly attacks such a belief, it should only be as the only alternative; not just because the majority has the power to do so, in my opinion.\n\nAs an example, Islam requires female genital circumcision. I believe that religious belief to be sufficiently perverse to be banned by our governments. I see no alternative.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would hope no one renounce his or her baptism. I was addressing E.B. and her comment which showed little to no regard for the sacrament. \n\nI don't feel we need to have this conversation. It is only in liberal circles where it is still entertained.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sirach's passage is all about the good and proper end of our freedom \n\n\"If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you;\nif you trust in God, you too shall live;\nhe has set before you fire and water\nto whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand...\"\n\nThe Psalm offered to us by the Church is: \" Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!\"\n\nSt Paul speaking to the Corinthians reminds us of the virtue of Wisdom, a gift from the Holy Spirit, which helps our mind and soul be responsive to divine things, directing our mind to God. \n\nIn St Matthew's Gospel, Jesus teaches us of the perennial personal value of the Old Testament, properly understood. We apply the OT through the lens of Jesus, the perfection of the Law Himself. He is the Word of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article says the reason is because of a recent Vatican publication \"condemning the way some American evangelicals and Roman Catholics mix religion and politics.\"\n\nPeople can and should meet and talk things through, El. I think such open discourse was a major idea behind V2.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For lonely people in search of community, I should think the appeal of the megachurches' built-in social structures would be rather strong. On the other hand, I've been told that the expectation to fully commit to these groups is strong, and that non-conformity is not always well tolerated. My own sister, who left Catholicism when she married a Presbyterian, said the one thing she misses most about the Catholic Church is the fact that people leave you alone when you enter a church out of respect. She likes the fact that you can go into any church, say a quiet prayer, and no one will hassle you and begin accosting you with personal questions. In a word, Catholics let you be. Evangelical megachurches won't leave you alone. That would be a deal-breaker for me, never mind the bad theology, the bad politics, the bad art, the bad music, the bad worship services, the bad preaching or the bad hair!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"... one doesn't have to go whole hog into pantheism, as this essay suggests, to accept the notion of the Cosmic Christ.\"\nIf she's headed to a Matthew Fox \"cosmic Christ\" she's way off; if a Chardinian version (via the Ratzinger rehab)... \"Eh, OK, I suppose\"; if as you indicate, (ref. Luke 19:40), I on board. I'd rather read an article on your point than try to decipher this \"gobbledygook\". Care to give it a go with NCR?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As an atheist, I find this letter as a good reminder not to lump all Christians together in terms of their stance on such matters. Common ground can be found if we're willing to search for it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A lot of them okay? A meaningful number.\n\nThis is an under-reported story- the fact that a handful of evangelical christians have shaped homeless policy in an undemocratic way by handing out lots of camping supplies. They reject any criticism and reject any input from neighbors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll look into those issues. The world is full of miserable people doing miserable things to each other, from all ethnic and religious backgrounds, whether Jewish, Muslim, so-called Christian (real Christians are followers of Christ; if they're doing the opposite of what he taught, well then refer to Matthew 7:21-23 \u201cNot everyone who says to me, \u2018Lord, Lord,\u2019 will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, \u2018Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?\u2019 Then I will tell them plainly, \u2018I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!\u2019), other religions, atheists, Israeli, Palestinian, American, whatever. The foundational problem is us, human beings, when we don't have God indwelling and working within us - Jeremiah 17:9 \"The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why is conservatism and hypocrisy so inextricably linked?\n\nIt is not xenophobic or \"racist\" to fear fundamentalist Christians. Their holy book teaches them not to love their neighbor but to convert that neighbor and impose the medieval system of oppression known as Christianity. \n\nLet' s say that the fundamentalists are a small minority of right wing evangelicals. \n\nWhy do they always quote their holy book, the Bible, when they do the most heinous acts you could ever imagine? Murdering doctors, wiping out entire cultures and ethnic groups, hanging and imprisoning homosexuals, and wiping their religions and languages from the earth all in the name of Christianity!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am always amazed how ignorant many Christians are about the origin of their own holidays.\n\nOf course, if they were better informed, they would know that their beliefs are simply superstition.\n\nhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/03/easter-pagan-symbolism\n\n\"So, eventually Christianity came to an accommodation with the pagan Spring festival. Although we see no celebration of Easter in the New Testament, early church fathers celebrated it, and today many churches are offering \"sunrise services\" at Easter \u2013 an obvious pagan solar celebration. The date of Easter is not fixed, but instead is governed by the phases of the moon \u2013 how pagan is that?\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Canada is becoming like Germany in the 1930's - free speech must be eliminated ! It is interesting that only the Islamic faith is protected by this bill, it is still ok to slander and defame Christians and Jews.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm guessing your a woman and you appear to be running away from yourself with all the foolish garble you're posting. Give it a rest and study the Bible a lot more. Your biblical understanding just might set you free from bigot thoughts of your community and neighbors.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Typical sweeping generalization by hostile, Christian-hating liberal.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Koch Brothers are pure evil. They are the poster children for the lying hypocrites who claim to be Christian, but regard greed as the ultimate virtue. They own Cory, who is now caught between his dark masters and any chance of re-election. His attendance at this gathering of evil makes It clear he has chosen the dark side. When a Koch says he is \"optimistic\" it means he sees a day when slavery is legal again and he won't have to deal with inconveniences like labor laws or environmental laws.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Verses in the Bible call for stoning to death unbelievers, homosexuals, masturbators, witches, adulterers, and more. King David and King Solomon took child \"wives\" along with slave concubines. As far as sex with animals, there is a lot of that right here in the good ol' USA.\n\nMost of us look down on all that stuff; but let's not attribute it exclusively to a religion that some of us, unfortunately, despise with little good reason, while upholding the \"purity\" of Christianity. People are people.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And I betcha he couldn't name one \"Catholic men, women, priests and religious Sisters\" who marched in the Civil Rights movement, or teaching or staffing hospitals or even who work in the \"pro-life movement.\" Mr. Trump and his entire campaign team are so disingenuous it is an affront to our sensibilities.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why don't they apply these laws to alcohol?\n>\nHow many parents give their teenager and friends booze? Give them 14 years in prison.\n>\nWhy are people allowed 3-4 beers and still legally allowed to drive? Make zero tolerance for them to, 10 years in prison.\n>\nOne has to wonder are the Liberals so ignorant that they actually think that marijuana is so dangerous or are they just virtue signalling to their Christian constituency?\n>", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Duturte needs to focus his efforts on the Muslim terrorists taking over his country. If he goes after them with the same enthusiasm he does drugs, they should all be dead in a month. Never mind negotiating, you can't negotiate with people who target Catholic priests and parishioners because they don't share or convert to their religion. There's only one way to deal with such people and Duturte is uniquely qualified for the task.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Where are all the white Christians, denouncing their activities? Where are the protests?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Only French Catholics allowed, right sky? Better build a wall around that town to keep all the others out, right? No Muslims, no blacks, no Jews, no WASPs even. \n\nGood grief.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Skookumpete writes:\n\n\"Islam has never undergone an Enlightenment that allows reason to take its rightful place over archaic screeds.\"\n\n--\n\nMany denominations of Christianity have never undergone an \"Enlightenment\"..\n\nI note that you interpret Christianity in its best light and Islam in its worst.\n\nAnd denominations of Islam have indeed \"undergone an Enlightenment\", as the links that I've provided attest.\n\nBottom line: Much of Islam has characteristics that you don't like, and you're not shy about pointing them out, but you're happy to ignore or dismiss the same characteristics in Christianity.\n\nThanks for posting.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Evil is your government sans the Bill of Rights. Duh. However, I'm not a Christian, so sell your evil nonsense down the road. But can you believe crime exists? Crazy, huh? And what's even crazier is that the public and cops commit plenty of crimes. What should we do? But first, put your helmet on.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Back in the bad old days of forty or fifty years ago, violent extremism was usually the province of revolutionaries, people who were so unhappy with the status quo that they were prepared to kill people in order change it. \n\nNowadays, it seems that most of the violent extremists are defenders of the status quo; you might call them pathological conservatives. Islamic extremists perceive, correctly I think, that the flood tide of western materialism is undermining their \"old-time religion\" as relentlessly as it has undermined classic Christianity. The right-wing Christian extremists that are found mostly in the US have much the same perception and motivation. They see their religion, their culture and their whole way of life being eroded by secularism and tolerance of difference; where they can get control of the levers of government they react oppressively; where they are kept out of formal power, they react violently. This fellow in England seems to be more of same.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I agree but remember we are a free nation and they can pray what ever they wish. The same goes for Muslims, Jews, Budhists, Hindus, Etc so long as you're not harming others. A verrrry small and highly publicized \"Christian\" church advocates terrible garbage. That's not the same as a global religion with a HUGE radicalism problem. To say otherwise is intellectually dishonest.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ok, here is a question for our citizens who are also Christian. \n\nHow is a Christian proclaiming \"God never fails\u201d in response to a favourable court verdict or court plea different than a Muslim stating \"God is great\" with respect to some other positive or negative human activity?\n\nBoth seem absurd.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Well, one of the white nationalist bozos just used a car to mow down a bunch of innocent people after being inspired by alt-right Internet memes and Hitler cosplay. So I am not seeing a difference other than the fact that one is based on faux Christian/ white superiority and the other is based on faux Islamic/ Arab superiority and that the Islamic fanatics are more competent.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christians just aren't cool with the kids on the left...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "this is so ignorant and does not go according to facts: first, the constitution gives the president this authority for whatever period he/she feels is necessary to protect the country; second, carter sent 15,000 iranian students home, clinton initiated travel bans while obama issued bans 19 times and NOBODY complained; third; the DELAY is for ALL people from those countries, christians, agnostics, atheists, etc, NOT only muslims so the DELAY is NOT discriminatory based on religion; fourth, OBAMA picked these countries for the DELAY; fifth, hawaii probably has less than 1% of its tourists coming from those six countries; sixth, probably less than 1% of the work force or the student bodies come from those six countries...so just how the heck does the DELAY do harm to hawaii...it does NO harm to hawaii...this is nothing but liberals continuing to attack trump because they cannot accept that they lost...watson was appointed by obama and was obama's law classmate...get the picture....", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Igl shows a gross ignorance of Oregon 1920's history by writing \"Support for Prohibition, not racism or anti-Catholicism, was probably the No. 1 issue of the 1920s KKK.. Crain wrote of Eugene Klan members in Oct. 26, 1922: \u201cThey joined without knowledge of the dangerous nature of the organization .. they joined what they thought to be a patriotic fraternity.\"\nFrom the Oregon gubernatorial election, 1922 Wikipedia entry \"In the early 1920's the Klan had become a powerful political force in Oregon. Ben Olcutt (the current Republican governor from 1919) refused to endorse the Klan. Olcutt's actions nearly cost him the Republican nomination to the Klan backed candidate..The Klan threw their support behind Democrat Walter Pierce who also backed the Klan's Compulsory Education Act..a deliberate attack on Roman Catholic private schools. Both Pierce and the education initiative won wide victories in Nov. 1922\" In 1925 the US Supreme Court struck down the Klan backed Oregon education act.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If someone says Happy Hanukkah to me I don't get freaking insulted! I say \"Happy Hanukkah\" back to them, with a big smile on my face. And I'm a Christian. So why should being nice to someone by saying \"Merry Christmas!\" be insulting to anyone? Ridiculous.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Catholic Church and other Christian bodies are \"hemorrhaging its children,\" who no longer are involved in religious groups that say that God created men and women, with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people marginalized, she said.\"\n\nMillennials see these ostracized groups as natural variations. The traditional Christian teaching that these people are \"intrinsically disordered\" is leading to the growth of the \"none\" population.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"....that I still love. \"\nDo you think you don't blame Pope F. is loving Catholic Church?\nDid you settle for Pope F. letting clergies rape children because other clergies are resisting? So Catholic religion is a religion where priest rape children in confessionals, and Pope down to every clergies are OK with that? \n\nWou, you mean you will simply sit there recite mantra 'I don't blame Pope Francis.' while Catholic religion turn into 'dev!l's religion?\nI will fight 'tooth & nail' until my last breath on earth!!!!!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Your response(s) are so typically lame: There is NO \"Catholic left\" - that is a figment of your delusions that you share with your ideological bedfellows in Opus Dei and Legionnaires of Christ. \n\nNeither you, nor you hierarchal demigods, have any right to interfere or criticize the religious expressions of people during their liturgical celebrations. The Liturgy is for us - not priests, not even God. The Liturgy is for all of us people. If you can't come to bring yourself to greet another at the eucharist with a sign of peace: stay home.\n\nYou'd think you [EFC1127A] would get a clue from what Jesus had to say about the pharisees of his day: \"You, whitened sepulchers: On the outside they are beautiful, but inside they are full of bones and filth. That\u2019s what you are like. Outside you look good, but inside you are evil and only pretend to be good.\" [Mt 23]", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So do you \"keep an eye\" on every Christian you encounter as well? I mean, plenty of extreme christians around, quoting from a religious text that glorifies a vengeful, angry god that wiped out a planet full of people--innocents included--and preached hate, discrimination and divisiveness. And let's not forget Christian history--the Crusades, the Inquisition, etc.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know about Sweden. But I live in the US, and in particular Minnesota, and I assure you that the immigrants here, Somali, have made crime rise by a good margin. I am also not sure what the purpose of bringing up skin color is. This is not about being anti Arab. Christian Arabs have lived here for many, many years, and have NOT acted like this. In fact they really were refugees, running away from Islamic violence. Sadly it has now followed them here. The fact is that being overwhelmed by Muslim immigrants has many minuses, and absolutely no pluses. Yes, we do have cities in the US where you just can't make the crime rate any higher., but that isn't where the refugees choose to live. They insist on going to the best places in the USA, and making every one of them more dangerous. I would advise Sweden to NOt turn into New York. But tell me, if Sweden isn't experiencing a rise in crime, what about the rest of Europe? Like Germany? Can that be explained away too?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How can these people call themselves a Christian , when they can support those who spit in the face of Christ everyday.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I might suggest looking up \"The Lords Resistance Army\" They are very much Christian terrorists. I might also suggest looking at the terrorism perpetrated by the IRA, again, Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't it a bit ironic that Catholic Churches ring the Church bells on Patricks day to welcome destroyers into the country, and, right on cue one such savage kills our people in London. The clergy are complicit! They step up to the pulpit and pray for 'world peace' as if they are dimwitted beauty pageant contestants. The clergy have despised their noble birthright and sold it away for the sod pottage of social-work. 'Preaching' enviromentalism as incompetent 'scientists'; they make themselves fools addled alongside 'global warming' hot-shots who have been ridiculed for decades. [even 'global-warming' has had to have been changed to 'climate change' because the 'scientists' are always repudiated by the evidence...which contradicts 'warming']. [Or, 'cooling';...because in fact the nature of it is CYCLICAL; driven by the sun][indict me for mortal sin of 'climate denial', or, call me Capernicus]", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Your form of Christian belief and behavior is the #1 source for the \"vile intolerance\" that you claim comes from our city.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This Is exactly what is wrong with modern Christianity. Seems to me that Jesus himself was killed for being a subversive to the Emperor.. !!!!! Yeah, go ahead and 'splain that one away.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Devil has a far better enemy of Christianity than Islam. It's \"Christians.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Tobin's invitation to LGTB people is certainly welcome news, but until the Catholic Church stops treating gay people as defective second-class citizens, the cardinal's welcome amounts to little more than saying \"come, have a few leftover crumbs from our banquet,\" as the favored ones, the straight people, retire to the parlor for cigars and cognac, leaving the gay folk to distribute the meager crumbs amongst themselves. But a start is a start, and when the starting point is absolute zero, that's something, I suppose. \n\nMeanwhile, several other Christian denominations have been saying to gay people for a couple of decades now, \"come, enjoy our fine wine and the full fruits our banquet has to offer.\" When choosing between the two, the choice for gay people is rather easy, and many have made that choice. The Catholic Church has a long, long way to go before it finally catches up with other branches of Christendom in that respect. Sadly, I will not live long enough to see that day.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I hope Merkel loses. Europe is forcefully being Islamized by an uncontrolled migrant crisis coming from Northern Africa and the Middle East, vetting is not being done properly or not at all, it's a free for all, and to top it off Soros, Global Elites and corrupted politicians are working with human smugglers and NGOs to moved these economic migrants (Trump ended the war in Syria, so that is no longer an excuse) across the Mediterranean Sea into Europe, mostly through Italy. This corruption has destroyed most of Sweden as we knew it, which is now the rape country of the world. Look up Malm\u00f6 to see what the future holds for the West. The Mainstream media, owned by the Globalist elites, are also pushing this agenda of flooding Europe with some dangerous migrants that believe Allah wants all Westerners, Jews and Christians dead. Shame on you.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If you want to see similar state agency failures resulting in the death of a child, go to the website https://lightingtheirwayhome.wordpress.com. It will make you start to question everything you thought you knew about this world. Between the obviously criminal negligence and the cover-ups, to the fact that none of the state employees ever get fired and some actually get promoted. Those rare employees that see something very wrong and try to fix it, are quickly gotten rid of. Bizarre and discouraging, to say the least. Jessica Smith falls right in line with the rest of them.\n\nIf people keep refusing to see what's all around them, no one can complain. After school Satan clubs to promote Satanism? Seriously? How are you all apathetic to that? Hey, liberals, that's a religion - but you're okay with it as long as it's not Christianity, right? How can we let such ridiculousness rule our nation?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "People quick to blame all Muslims for what the Islamic State does, should apply the same logic to this case and blame all Evangelicals for what these criminals did. Sadly, and this from a non-believer, the many good people in a religion are overshadowed by those few who use believers' faith to commit crimes.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Let's all stand up for the Palestinian Muslims who follow Islam with its verses that call for the destruction of Jews, Christians and non believers; who have a covenant to destroy Israel; who have recently stabbed and maimed or killed innocent Jewish civilians in the streets; who sent terrorists to kill Jewish Athletes at the Munich Olympics; who sent suicide bombers into Israel to blow up and slaughter innocent Jewish civilians; who have kidnapped innocent Jewish people and who keep lobbing missiles from Gaza into into Israel to try to kill innocent Jewish civilians.\n\nDoes everyone feel better now?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Lars Bauer: BS! Christian delusion is frequently pushed in our faces. And it seeps into politics and public administration. Its always good to separate government (and it supposed adherence to objectivity) from the idiocy of supernatural influence.\n\nYour portrayal of christians v muslims is simplistic and meaningless. Its as if Don Young or Donald Trump said it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "<\"Leaving aside the whole debate about whether homosexual acts are intrinsically sinful in a way that heterosexual acts are not .... \">\n\nWell, no, let's not leave this central issue to one side! \n\nA person who dies unrepentant of willfully committed grave sin, with full knowledge and assent, is, according to Church teaching, facing God's judgement and eternal damnation. Their lives have been lived outside of God's grace and their eternity will be the same. \n\nTo offer a Catholic funeral Mass for a person known to be publicly embracing a gravely sinful homosexual lifestyle cannot but fail to give a false message to others that God, in His mercy and compassion, judges nobody and that homosexual sex acts are acceptable.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mrs Khan, you live in our beautiful country! Please let me know which theory makes more sense:\n\n#1 'Many felt that it was difficult to live as a Muslim in a hostile environment that left them feeling stigmatized and/or marginalized.' \n\nOR:\n\n#2 Many fell for the Islamic State propaganda and 'felt' it would be so much more exciting to be given machine guns, to be able to decapitate and kill , to drive tanks and cool jeeps in the desert......to have young Hazidi, Christian or Shia young women as sexual slaves ...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing like exploiting a tragedy to try and get your way on a travel ban, spreading the bigotry that serves to radicalize home-grown terrorists. No surprise that Trump will do anything to try and win, including fear mongering to further divide our country. \n\nThis is not leadership; Trump is playing into the hands of the terrorists, who are enemies of Islam. It's sparking violence such as the stabbing deaths and wounding of heroes trying to help two innocent women threatened by a right-wing extremist -- an extremist whose last name, ironically, is Christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So, if you get sick you are a loser. Is that what are you implying? A possibly life-threatening illness is the same as totaling your car? Nice monetization of human life! So very \"christian\"...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The ban against abortion in most societies, including Islamic, predates \u201cPolitical Christian Fundamentalist and Evangelicals\u201d. It was based on natural law principles and the longstanding abhorrence of civilized people of the killing of the unborn.\n\nOur current situation is not the result of a democratic process leading to a consensus, it is a judicially enacted Constitutional amendment that ran roughshod over the democratic process and has led to an intractable impasse, the direct result of short-circuiting our system of government.\n\nIn the event that a democratic consensus passes a Constitutional amendment banning abortion, it won\u2019t be relevant whether the people supporting it are members of any religion or no religion, it will be just as valid as the Eighteenth Amendment was.\n\nPeople can bring any darned beliefs they wish to the debate, and their votes will count just the same no matter what they believe.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Clericalism - the root of all evil in the Catholic Church. The Roman Curia are doing all they can to prevent the Catholic laity from having any decision making responsibilities, especially with respect to disciplinary actions involving sexual predators who were ordained.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And the arabs got the number system from where? They didn't invent it just like most if the other knowledge they thankfully safeguarded against an idiotic european dark age perpetrated by amongst others the ran catholic church. Also those were different times, whilst the west had the enlightenment and finally rid science of the yoke of the church, much of the muslim world has gone backwards into fanaticism.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Blame for not protecting Americans from Islamic terrorism is not only on Obama but Bill Clinton & Bush-2. With Clinton it was Osama Bin Laden & Al Qaeda. Bush-2 was not only Bin Laden, Al Qaeda but also the rise of Isis in the Middle East with Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz\u2019s fake war in Iraq & Saddam for the 2nd time. Obama did. ot properly deal with Isis. Obama in his own words admitted he was a Muslim to George Stefanoupolis but that is irrelevant. Trump is Christian & is not much more effective because he wastes time on petty things like size of his inauguration crowd & now has to deal with his alleged collusion with Russia. His distorted sense of ego that fired James Comey started the process in which the feds will get him with not only obstuction of justice but crimes of his campaign staff for tax evasion, perjury, money laundering, etc. Just like if the Kealoha\u2019s did not frame a relative with mailbox theft which got the Feds involved, Trump should NOT have fired Comey.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And then, there are those who will sinfully and without just cause attack other human beings; many I've known in Alaska\nwho hide behind their Bible and Flag, are like bullies who will do whatever they wish so long as they come out on top. \n\nCharacter assassinations and the whole ego power trip, to include labeling others who are no less Christian (or often moreso, that's the rub) as gay, liberal, or any number of odd things to distract from their own imperfections, lies, hateful and ungodly unchristian acts of vulgar mean-spirited spite. \n\nI'm one of those closet christians whose life has been forever muddied by your 'faithful bigot Christ R US' materialistic gain society. OK to rob us of dignity, huh? \n\nCall me gay or queer, and sell the idea to keep me from a full life in a small population state. Can I class-action sue all of you Posers in Christ? I won't because God is watching. LOL :)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Listen, sitting duck, I'm talking about now, not the past. You can misdirect and point your finger all you want. But you won't change the facts. Jihad is being carried out all over the world. Maybe you haven't noticed. But all these suicide bombers and suicide truck drivers and mass indiscriminate murders are NOT by the kkk( whom I find abhorant), not Christians, not Jews and not Hindu. Muslims, thats who. And I respect all religions but I don't believe Islam is a religion, I think it's a dogma. Having said that, we can all look for a Fatwa being issued to have my head. Wish me luck, its no joke. I can't even say what I feel needs to be said without fear of death in my own country. A country I fought for and am a disabled Veteran. So kill me. Fine, maybe then I'll be a martyr and can go to heaven and get a hundred virgins. Oh no wait, that's what whoever gets that kills me, not me. Lovely religion, huh?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Charlie Bussell -- 4 hours ago, said:\n\n\"The evidence of the Obama Muslim roots mounts each day....America must stand against the OBAMA/Clinton CRIME families on November 8th...\"\n\nWhy isn't this considered hateful and anti-Christian? Or just plain ignorant... Or is this just another unhappy 'birther' comment since that topic had been worn out eight years ago?\n\nThat a tired old slam about our President even made way into these 'Comments' is a sad testimony to how this can be gamed. And I flagged Mr Bussell's comment; something I don't do, because of how I allow other opinions (by my vote here) to be posted regularly. Just so long as they do not cross the line. \n\nThere were plenty of valid reasons (war criminal, etc) to say negative things about GW when he was in office. Charlie: why do you continue to be a 'double-headed richard' about our President? Are you racist, too? LOL! ;)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Religion is often a source of immoral behavior. Just look at Muslim terrorists. Christianity historically ended up being violent as well. \n\nBut religion also has done a lot to help mankind. Our health care disaster started when we switched from religiously run hospitals to a for profit system that is in reality a monopoly.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Progressive Catholics\". Allow me to translate: Modernists, relativists, and heretics.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sure, we can all agree or disagree whether religions should be kept out of classrooms and those public funded catholic schools abolished or not. There is absolutely no need to tear up and trample on the Koran. \n\nIf that is not racism and extremism, I wonder what is. Their children should be removed from these parents' care. Likely, they will distort their children's mind and poison them with hatred. In other words, they are not fit to be parents. And, they should be banned from schools for good.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A Fascist Republican Corporate Fundamentalist Christian in charge of regulating the industrial Corporations of America? Can't possibly be a problem, eh? A declared hater of all regulation other than Catholic/Christian dogma over individual human and civil rights couldn't be a problem for Environmental Protection Agency, eh? Oklahoma born and bred in the midst of and elected to office by the Oil Monopoly and Big Ag must be a populist protector of the land, water, and beings occupying same, eh?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Nope. Differing opinions are fine but she is doing to Christians what she is saying they are doing to trans people. It's just as hateful. She's lowering herself to the same level as those she is ranting against. Although I have come to expect that from her.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Utter Nonsense. We all know what would happen then....as you do I am sure. \n\nMany in Israel already claim the same religious sites that are currently operated by the Christians and Muslims in Jerusalem and want to take these areas forcibly. This includes the Dome of the Rock. This pressure is growing. \n\nTheocratic states like Israel are on a slippery slope to greater religious extremism and this has infected its politics and society. Israel has a nasty record when it comes to even the most basic human rights of those who are not of its \"faith\"...not least of which we have witnessed first hand by its 50 year Occupation and expropriation of the Palestinians in the name of religion. This desire is symptomatic of this religious extremism and it should be condemned. \n\n.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Her debate answer to Trump on partial birth abortion was unartful, she should have simply said that this debate was over, that it was illegal and raising it now was simply more proof that the pro-life movement was about electoral politics, not reducing abortion. She would have had the same share of the Catholic vote as Obama who used that approach (which I gave him). You mention the double effect but the campaign was the end justifying the means. You used evil, you gave us an evil psychotic in the White House.\n\nI would never think myself excommunicated for proclaiming truth and I challenge any prelate who disagrees to do it formally and publicly with due process rather than offering the observation that I have done it to myself, which is cowardly on his part.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is desperate. The republicans are desperate. The worst lot of that bunch are the fake Christians. The preying ones. One guy (his name escapes me) even said on Fox News that God would hold them accountable if they voted for Hillary and she won. Jerry Falwell sure got his thirty pieces of silver worth with his endorsement. All that lacked is a kiss on one of Trump's cheeks. (ew..) Now about those Americans who are dying of drug overdoses in epidemic proportions..............(Trump yawned)....and threw them under the bus.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You know, if those Jesuit priests hadn't busied themselves with raaping women and children and telling many FN & Inuit that they were going to helll .... maybe they wouldn't have been burned \"at the stake\". \n\nSome churches have taken responsibility for their actions, the Catholic church not so much.\n\nDecimate means to reduce by 1 in 10. Are you thinking Genghis Khan? Because in areas like the NW Coast for e.g. there was raiding and temporary slavery - no decimation. In fact across this continent, pre contact, trade was largely the name of the game.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"LGBT students may be expelled if they express same-sex attraction in a way that causes \"confusion or distraction\" or insist on following gender norms of the opposite sex.\"\n\nThere you have it - in a nutshell the reason all the contortionist rhetoric and pretzel-twisting attempting to bridge the wide gulf that exists between the LGTB community and the church is ultimately pointless. If concern over \"confusion\" about church teaching trumps gay people's ability to be ourselves and lead normal lives in which love and yes, sexual attraction are as much a part of everyday life as everyone else's, there is no hope for any kind of reconciliation. The church should simply be honest and just come right out and say there is no place for gay people in the Roman Catholic Church - because the truth is, there really isn't.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Jews are people of the book in the same context as Christians and Muslims.\nLike Middle Eastern Arabs, they are Semites , the forefront of advanced civilization in antiquity .\nBy time lines, the Jews accept the Old Testament , Christians the New Testament and Muslims the Koran.\n\nJews were mostly driven out of Palestine by Christian Crusaders 2000 years ago, and their collective became the Jewish diaspora in Europe .\nSome remained peacefully with their Semitic brothers in the Middle East u til, driven by the pogroms and the Holocaust in Europe by Hitler, they moved back to Palestine under the British protectorate during and after WW2.\n\nThe Jews called it restitution of their homelands since Moses .\nThe remaining Jews in the Middle East then were persecuted and driven out of Middle Eastern countries subsequent to the formation of Israel.\n\nIt's regrettable that religion has caused so much strife in the world .\nReligion should be abolished for a common universal moral code..", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Re: \"The society sent the government a letter saying such alliances are incompatible with their Christian beliefs and the mission of their schools.\"\n\nI'm all for freedom of religious belief, but in this case, they don't get to call them \"Christian beliefs\".\n\nChrist Himself was silent on the topic. \n\nBut I know of no Christian religion that has, as a tenet, 'Thou shalt not associate with My gay and lesbian children!'", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No. Catholic clergy, both priests and bishops, are still deeply into child sexual abuse and cover-up. They are simply not to be trusted on anything relative to sexual morality, including contraception.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "All religious schools should be banned in a modern Western democracy.\nIncluding Christian...they cause social division.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "My reading of the statement at issue is that the Roman Catholic school board condones a man forcing his wife to have sex, because marriage trumps consent.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "granted, yes, this is not a troll. i still think it presumptuous to anoint oneself defender of the faith in the combox of a catholic publication. \nthe notion that conversations need to be overseen and corrected by a catechism wielding rigorist for the salvation of the souls of the readers is ridiculous.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Rev. Jeffress is the most disturbing kind of Dominionist. Sadly, the Prosperity Gospel adhered to by the Donald probably has them consider the President a living saint. As far as Kim, the report on an imminent nuclear capability is fake news.\n\nRyan Ellis is an idiot. There are no free market solutions to dealing with schools in need of money or unscrupulous bond traders that depend on the court to back their play.\n\nThe GOP hates the idea of raising the gas tax because Clinton did it (not even Obama). The best way from NY to Detroit now seems to be through Ontario.\n\nTrinity Lutheran is likely the final nail in the coffin of the Blaine Amendments. It is time for an out and out assault from Catholic school systems demanding funding.\n\nI don't think converts are just upset about the Pope. The synod itself was fairly unanimous in its views. I think some converts were craving doctrinal certainty. Unwise in a sect that is ripe for change.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The 32% of deplorables still adore him, and the evangelicals think he\u2019s the second coming of JC, lol", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Alabama Evangelical Voters Don't Care How Many Underage Girls Roy Moore Molested-- Here's Why\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFrom rape to who got abortions, to how evangelical churches protected their pedophile molesters, one story emerged: Protect the 'Work' at all costs! The children who a pastor rapes are told to keep silent less they 'Hurt the Lord\u2019s Work.' And the children are blamed: 'Your skirt was too short! You led him astray!'\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThere's never any acceptance that a pervert walks among them.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is hogwash. When Pope Francis Bergoglio describes the Church without \"consciousness\" instead of without \"conscience,\" there is indeed a method to his madness... to mitigate the eternal responsibility of grown men who, in the name of Holy, turned their backs on children and their families while their colleagues raped them, and then busied themselves around altars and sacraments. \n\nThere is no ignorance here and Pope Bergoglio knows it. Roman Catholic hierarchy had more info on child raping transubstantiators than all groups on earth. \n \n\"Without conscience with a penchant for sexual violence against kids\" aptly describes these sociopaths, both the rapists and those who kept \"the Pontifical Secret.\"\n\nPerhaps Mr. Gregory Burke, the pope's spokesman from Fox News, can explain to the pope that it doesn't take a \"prophet\" to understand that transubstantiators shouldn't be allowed to rape kids.\n\nAW", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "One could obsenely physically violate the Pope in front of a sermon here in Alaska,hire Rex Butler,and end up found innocent and awarded an ample litigatious amount .\n \n Criminal Justice Syste....er,Industry", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "For people of religion, they forgot to write that their jesus Christ was a refugee, fleeing a guaranteed death from a Imperial Roman Empire propped up despot, very much like the kind our government props up to allow corporate parasites to go in and steal their resources and lands. \nI see the Republicans like to prostitute themselves to \"evangelicals\" and Baptists and Protestants and Catholics. So where do the souls of our corrupt government figures go after they die, when they make deliberate decisions to invade and occupy countries to allow theft of their resources and lands, inflicting suffering and slaughter of untold millions? Where do the souls of their supporters go, like the racist supporters of Trump on these posts?\nYup their white mans jesus lived and died to help the same people his purported conservative and religious supporters are grinding their jackboots into", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The 'pious' Catholic who believes that women have the right to kill their unborn children or the ex-Catholic who believes in the sanctity of human life?\nIf in ceasing to be a Catholic results in losing one's soul, would that be worse than not only losing one's own soul and being complicit in millions of others losing theirs?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If the priest has a husband, (actually, it was a Church employee who got married), no problem at all. About half of priests are gay and a significant number are not chaste, so it would be better to get rid of celibacy so they can be married rather than on the down low. As for giving money, yes, to every child regarldess of parental wage.+You should too if you claim to be pro-life. Ever here of Milton Friedman and Pope Pius XI? They agree. i would rather be in the part of the Catholic cafeteria that does justice rather than the one who persecutes what they do not understand.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Doesn't matter if it is true or not, the evangelicals will always throw God under the bus if it means getting their right wing, nutjob, conservative elected to office", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Right. Hillary Clinton hates Catholics so much she picked one to be her running mate.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Steve Bannon, now again head of Alt-Right Breitbart, can continue to lead the far right extremists in this country. The Klu Klux Klan, the White Nationalist Supremacists, Christian Supremacists, the Neo-Nazis, and other racist sexist misogynist xenophobic hate groups, have again a news and propaganda outlet led by Steve Bannon, to promote, espouse and spread their hatred and bigotry", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "When Trump boasted about his perverted sexual predations, the right fell all over themselves to excuse it and attempt to normalize it as 'just how the boys do'.\nEven the self-proclaimed and self-styled 'righteous' evangelical extremists decided they'd just go ahead and accept Trump and hold him close, never mind their Christian hearts might go all aflutter.\nUsed to be, for those self same evangelicals, even one divorce would summarily disqualify a candidate, but today, with Trump, they don't care if he runs through wives like some people do the number of new cars they might buy. And the boasting and admitted perverted sexual predation? LIke Trump didn't boast and admit his crime.\nSexual perverts should pay for their crimes. Period. As one, as a society we should condemn them and not allow them to escape punishment.\nBut, if you're a right winger, you only act like you're outraged if it's not a right winger caught in their perversions.\nNo better example of the right's hypocrisy", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And the blind continue to try to lead the blind. In the end it really leads to those educated all their lives in Catholic institutions refusing to give any economic support to the bishops and even to their parishes. What you are talking about is not spirituality but clerical control using sadomasochistic ideas. You have no idea of how far sadomasochism goes if you believe it is just sexual..... Sexual sadomasochism usually follows but the practitioner is ignorant of the perversion.... WOW", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Haha wrong and wrong - i'm a scientist who hates the faux Christian political right. The Nazi and whites supremacist groups in America all believe they are doing Gods work. Westboro trash. Focus on the family trash. Right wing extremist terrorists have launched more attacks on america than Muslim terrorists in the last 15 years.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Will the bishops who advocate the denial of communion in other matters, I wonder, recommend the same for racist Catholics?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Who is this Minnery . Why is it always christians complain about being discriminated and persecuted in a society where 70 something percent Identify as christian there the majority. The majority is never discriminated against. while they keep trying to pass laws to discriminate against people who don't share their beliefs Pure Hypocrisy but then again that has always been the religions motus operandi. From killing scientists, stoning women who speak out, genocide thats the churches history. Always hating on plan parenthood but not ever providing an nation wide alternative for female services. Hating on abortion but preaching birth control is a sin. Just 100% pure Hypocrisy based of a belief in fairytales. Mental illness plain and simple.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently Civil Comments doesn't want people to hear about radicalized Christian domestic terrorists who bomb abortion clinics, leave bombs in backpacks at Olympics, and walk into African American churches and shoot people dead while they pray. \n\nSo, you have exceptions to your rules huh? I have nothing against protection if it is in fact about protection and not just discrimination. In this country, I have just as much possibility of being killed by some radicalized, far-right angry, white Christian male with free access to guns or even cars and improvised bombs as I have of being attacked by an Islamic terrorist, but your president can't even use the words \"radical far-right white Christian domestic terrorist.\" So, protecting us is not his main motive.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Although I am casting stones, this has to be the work of a hateful Christian Trump supporter.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"gamergate troll-boy \"traditionalist\" movement\" That is great Purg. Yes indeedy, our very own Catholic alt right in the true Catholic tradition.....in which 'tradition' means never having to deal seriously with women.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Then, as now, the question was not religious freedom, it was religious power. The 1950s were the height of Catholic power over both the nation\u2019s sexual life and its entertainment. Like any tyrannical regime, it was overthrown. Some Catholic organizations wanted religious power over their employees regarding use of birth control. They wanted it so bad, they let Valerie Jarrett of Obama\u2019s White House turn an innocuous regulation into a war on women. After goading pro-life politicians into making idiots of themselves, they put forth what would have been the original language and it was ratified by the Supreme Court when they forced a compromise.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What a crock. But anything to help deflect attention from the hassle the church is facing from the criminal behavior of it's child molesting priests. \"Mother\" Teresa had a pain and death fetish and had the entire power of the catholic church to act on it with.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I find it laughable that Catholic's would talk about how culture teaches us that women inferior. What is the lesson that the Catholic Church has provided on the role of female leadership? Before you preach to the American electorate you might want to get your own house in order.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I can tell you that I have a real problem with infidelity Gary ...it's just not normally considered to be a value the gay left recognizes or respects. Most of us on the right value life, value monogamy and value the nuclear family. The problem for Christians like myself comes when we are asked to choose between competing values but in this case and I'm sure Crispina will agree I would rather have an adulteror in the white house than a serial killer", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why does he surround himself with Muslim children? Because it would be politically unacceptable to surround himslef with Christian or Jewish children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The 1915 Klan had an explicitly Protestant Christian terrorist ideology, basing their beliefs in part on a \"religious foundation\" in Protestant Christianity and targeting Jews, Catholics, and other social or ethnic minorities\"\n\"Hundreds of civilians are seeking refuge inside a mosque in the Central African Republic\u2019s border town of Bangassou amid ongoing attacks by Christian militias that have killed up to 30 civilians\"\n\"The NLFT is a rebel group that seeks the secession of Tripura, and is a proscribed terrorist organization in India. Group activities have been described as Christian terrorists engaging in terrorist violence motivated by their Christian beliefs.\"\n\"November 2015 Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooting, in which three were killed and nine injured by Robert Lewis Dear\" who \"claims to be a Christian and is extremely evangelistic\"\n.\nInstead of \"Islam\", maybe its is just Religion that is not compatible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's similar in Catholicism, where even the Pope has said that Catholics who attend mass and belong to social justice associations are worse than atheists! \"\"There are those who say 'I am very Catholic, I always go to Mass, I belong to this and that association'\"\n\nI'm not sure what he's saying. Most of the social justice Catholics at my parish belong to associations and groups, volunteer groups, etc. and they talk openly about being in them. Is that bad? Atheists are better than activists who are proudly in Catholic groups?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's not forget the teaching, offered in many a book on Catholic marriage and sex, that a man's organs are *outside* his body, which means he belongs in the outside world of ideas, politics, business, etc. And the woman's are on the inside, which means she's an \"inside\" person uniquely suited to home, husband, and children. \n\nOf course, a man made up this twaddle. \n\nYou might as well base life on innie and outie belly buttons.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Life of the Lay:\n\nThe Holy Father (not fRRANCIS, as you call him) does NOT suggest you should \"draw up walls around yourselves.\" This article is suggesting something much stronger than that: it is suggesting that you are WRONG to work towards (much, maybe not all, but much) of the Conservative \"Christian\" agenda, which the article says is theologically unsound and un-Christian (not all of it, perhaps but enough to disturb these writers). I know this is harsh; I'm sorry. But it is the Holy Father's role to tell us when we are off the path: the chaos is only an unfortunate side-effect of this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Freedom\nI have no feelings on Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, whatever. \n\nI don't know how a series of US Presidents can claim to be Christians and do Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and others. \n\nSimilarly with Canadian P.M.s. and Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. \n\nReligion seems to have a negative effect on conduct. \n\nDo you think that Islam is the only religion with problems? What do you think of the behaviour of Christians in positions of power?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does anyone else think it's bizarre that Ms. Naili, born & raised in Canada, & now a convert to Islam from Catholicism decided to don the niqab? It always seems that the converts are the ones who go to extremes & are guilty of misinterpretation of their new religion. Religious scholars maintain that face-covering is not mandated by Islam & that anyone who claims otherwise, is misguided. The late, great Christopher Hitchens was very familiar with the Qur'an & challenged anyone to find any authority in this text that called for concealment of the face. Face & full body coverings for women are cultural, not religious, & originated in the desert for practical reasons. They have since morphed into something more insidious. With respect to burkas & niqabs, Mr. Hitchens questioned why it is that Europeans & Americans (& now Canadians), \"seeking perhaps to accommodate Muslim immigrants, adopt the standard only of the most backward and primitive Muslim states.\" I wonder why too!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "actually... fascism is another strain of socialism is just as communism is.\n\nThis is analogous to Protestants and Lutherans both being Christianity.\n\nThis is also analogous to Shiites and Sunni's both being Muslims.\n\nRead the Quote again!(I bet you agree with every word) ... Hitler is a socialist! You are speaking of the Left/Right political Paradigm in 20th Century Europe(not the same in North America).\n\n\" abysmal ignorance by trying to claim Hitler was a socialist no matter what he claimed. \"\n\nIt is in fact you who is ignorant... as I've cleared the facts up for you. Furthermore... it is pretty haughty and arrogant of you to presume that YOU knew better than Hitler did... what political ideology he prescribed to.\n\nJohn Snow... is that you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Riiiight! According to you, black and Hispanic Christians vote Democratic because they're all on welfare. Your comment implies that 94% of black voters are on welfare. Your comment implies that 71% of Hispanic voters are on welfare. \n\nThis propaganda from the Republican rank and file on the internet that African Americans and Hispanic Americans are all on welfare is EXACTLY why more POC don't vote Republican. Who would want to join a political party that has such a low opinion of you? Newflash: a lot of people might just be voting against the racism and divisive exclusionary Southern Strategy in the Republican party and recognizing that the Republican party disdains and mocks them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "kyoki\n\nMy source is Lord Kinross seminal book on Ottoman history. Suleiman \"Qanooni\" attempted one major invasion of Vienna that was repulsed. The Ottomans spent far more time fighting the Safavid Persians, the Russians, etc than the western Europeans. \n\nThe Ottomans also got assistance from France in later dates, who used them to fight their Habsburg enemies.\n\nAs for Holy War, let's not forget they treated Jews and Christians a lot better than Muslims were treated in Spain and Italy. In those two west European countries, every single Muslim and Jew was killed, converted or expelled.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Patti:\n\nThere can be no level playing field when the lone Christian is so vehemently opposed and personally lambasted by a team of bitter secularists. They can deem \"not civil\" any comment by the Christian with which they disagree, no matter how civil its manner is, and thereby disqualify it from getting posted to the thread.\n\nI have done my best to steer clear of argumentum ad hominem, and to write from principle, but in a forum like this, where the journalist, the editor, and most of the readers appear to be secular statists who oppose Christianity on the whole, and some are caustically sarcastic about it, the deck is stacked against me and my efforts seem to be futile.\n\nShisaisama", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul, surely you understand there's a difference between being PERSONALLY \"pro-life\" and being politically \"pro-life\" which means of course that one mistakenly believes they have the right to force their views on their fellow citizens. It is this latter group whose actions will not be tolerated anymore. I do assert that they are terrorists and I do not tolerate their harassment, intimidation and violence. What is more, if Americans do not intervene to prevent this misogynist culture from further lowering standards for citizens who are female, people like me are going to make things unpleasant for those people closest to these pro-life fanatics--their fellow Christians whose excuses have facilitated the victories that this violent movement has enjoyed. \nAs previously stated, the woman-hating society goes or we bring these ugly politics to the churches. If that qualifies as \"divisive\" so be it. Some of us do not buy into the theme of woman as the eternal victim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But do you claim to be the moral guide of the entire world? The Catholic Church does. Is it too much to ask that they live up to their own billing?\n\nGays are rejected by the Church. \"Intrinsically disordered\" iso universally seen by homosexuals as an insult, as indeed it is.\n\nIf you are a Church employee who marries a member of the same sex as you, you can expect to be fired, even if your marriage does not affect your job in any way. If you are an actively pedophiliac priest, you at least used to expect to have it covered up. Granting, for the sake of argument, that same-sex marriage is sinful, is not pedophilia a more grave sin? Besides which, if the Church were to fire all its sinful employees, there would be no one left. \n\nThe institutional Church treated my brother is a wholly unloving manner, and my son left because the Church did not practice what it taught. Do not blame either my son or my brother for the failings of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Disgraceful article. You know exactly what he means. All I have to do is mention some names like Nancy Pelosi, Joseph Biden, Tim Kaine. They are not practicing Catholics. Unless you love the Lord and follow His teachings why are you claiming to be a Roman Catholic. I am sure you know that was the reason for his comment Ms McGiven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, should all crime stories begin by naming the perp's religion or just the ones that confirm your prejudices?\n\nI can see the stories now - \"Drunk Christian driver kills four at crosswalk\", \"Buddhist lawyer convicted of defrauding customers\", etc., etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a white Evangelical Christian.\nI proudly cling to my Bible and my guns.\nI am a member of the NRA.\nI am a proud American.\n\nI am your worst nightmare.\nAnd there are about 100 million of us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those who view all Muslims as potential terrorists or as individuals who would be supportive of strict Sharia Law are racists and bigots. Yes.\n\nRacism is assuming that someone's race determines their worth or behavior (statements along the lines of \"All Muslims believe dangerous violent things\"). Bigotry is the intolerance of views that are not your own, which there are plenty of comments here about how Sharia law is fundamentally anti Christian and anti-American. The argument is not if or if not that is true in some cases. I agree that there obviously are cases where it is. But when members of our own community are assumed to be associated with those things, or are assumed to be complicit with those things that is a bigoted view of Islam. The inability to see the differences between Muslims can be racist and bigoted. It doesn't matter if it's rooted in a moral opposition to clearly abhorrent things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again an attack on Christianity. We are about to change Canada and there will be no turning back. SAD \ud83d\ude22", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The primary mission of the university is the search for truth. Of course, free speech is part of that search. However, in the first 100 plus days, we have been seeing a presentation of lies, falsehoods, fakery, double and self-dealing, and his apparent obliviousness to all of this, including the famous misogyny statement (\"...just grab em by the ...they let you do it...\"), discredits his self-righteous cloak of true-believe Christianity. Not to mention his \"...no knowledge of\"...) statements about the national security advisor, or blind ignorance to the greed going around him. Those who walked out are exercising their right of free speech by refusing to listing to self-aggrandizing and phoney pap spewed by unctuous faux Americans. Those who walked out are stating that the search for truth ended sometime before he entered the room!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is the crux...many think the Church's teachings about sexuality are wrong, for both straights and gays. I'm not sure of the exact figure, but more than 50% of US Catholics don't think homosexual acts are immoral. If there is a failing in Fr. Martin's book, it's that he doesn't call on the Church to change its teaching on homosexuality. It's understandable. The Church hasn't changed its flawed teaching on straight sex, let alone gay sex. It's also true that in many countries Catholics don't accept the morality of gay sex. A number of people like joanp have said the problem is the Church hasn't been forceful in teaching about sex, but if they were, it wouldn't be accepted. It would be interesting to know how many religious actually believe the teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sure all the Good Christian people of Alabama will be clutching their pearls in Outrage over Dump's use of foul un-Jesusy language. \nWhatever Will We Tell The Children", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The issue at hand is the kind of dystopian, totalitarian government described by Atwood, and whether it is likely to be imposed here by Christian fundamentalists and Trump (who is not a fundamentalist, anyway). \n\nThe point is that where it HAS already happened and IS happening, right now, is by fundamentalists of another religion. That should tell you something.\n\nYes, fundamentalists of any religion are bad news, but have you been defending mainstream Christianity against those predicting that totalitarian dystopia here and now the way you are defending Islam? Of course not! If there is any misplaced paranoia, it is as much on the left about Trump as about Islam.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump has destroyed our reputation! There may be no way to ever get it back unleash they remove him , pence, Ryan, and put John Kelly at the helm. According to Bible however, USA is mystery Babylon and our destruction will be by Russia nuking the US in 1 hr. To true believers, not the Christians who have learned watered down teaching of Jesus, I suggest you bone up seriously in old and new Testament. Our days are very numbered to only a couple yrs now. And you can really tell God is showing His promises now. America wake up! We were sternly warned by Trumps election. Maybe we can extend our time with him out, but God put him there to start the process of destroying us, and it's already worked and GOP don't give a hoot! They will soon see, but it will be too late! I believe uts too late already if you see escalation in Russia sanctions and their aggression! Nobody can prove me wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am opposed to Muslim immigration. I've read the Koran and the Hadiths. I know that Mohammed had a split personality and his last version was violent. I don't think Islam is compatible with the West. He is no role model to follow for tolerance. \n\nI also don't like cemeteries. Land should be for the living. Soccer parks should be built. Not cemeteries. \n\nHaving said all that, the culture in Canada is to have separate cemeteries for people of different religions. So, the Muslims should get a place as well. The only proviso should be Muslims who die via some kind of violent martyrdom (aka Jihad) should not be allowed burial in the cemetery as it will just attract more radicals to the burial site. \n\nThe Middle East was once a vast Christian territory. The same is true of Iran and Egypt, and Lebanon and Syria. Why do Canadians who are non-Muslim think Muslim immigration to North America and Europe will play out any differently? You've sold your children's future. Hijra and Jihad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is nothing arrogant about it at all. I have never made a secret of it. Have you never heard that there is much rejoicing in heaven over one sinner repenting? \nI know as much about the Catholic Faith and the Catholic Church as you or anyone else who posts here does. I know what Fr Rohr teaches and what he supports and it is not what the Catholic Church teaches or supports. I am entitled on these grounds to criticise him and his order for allowing him to publish his erroneous opinions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope you don't see a question mark if it were an exclamatory statement. I only see periods in my statement. Grammar lesson aside, we both seem to agree that false Christians will not upset you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".... and if you are a Roman Catholic you're fair game for abuse by Democrats. We are being shown the anti-Catholic bigotry that fuels the Clinton campaign. She has openly stated she would appoint a Supreme Court Justice that perpetuates abortion and same sex marriage. No Catholic, no Christian, can in good conscience vote for her.\n\nAs one British blogger has stated: \n\n\"This is enmity with Christ.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I endorse Francis' appointments, especially Joseph Tobin and Blase Cupich. They don't want to be \" elitist and entitled\" princes of the Catholic Church, rather they choose to smell like the sheep they serve--bravo!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Christian, Old South, Racist White Supremacist Sessions begins his assault on all non-christian, non-heterosexual beings. The escalation of corruption in a corrupt judicial system led by the Supreme Court Gang of Five Roman Catholic Dictators. Time for a Revolution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry if I made it out that it is all Christians, it is a very vocal minority of jerks that make the rest look bad, kinda like with most things. I have had some great philosophical discussions about religion with some very evangelical Christians, the deal is that as long as they don't try to covert me we can continue the conversations. They have given me things to think about and I have given them things to think about. \n\nI figure that the basis for most religions is \"don't be a jerk\" the rest is in either the definition of what a jerk is, or in practice and tradition. And jerk isn't the term I usually use ;-)\n\nI had the opportunity to be in Jerusalem for Passover and Easter a few years back, and that was something to see. The various Christian denominations and their processions in one part of the old city and the Jews at the Wall. It was nice to see everybody getting along.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fair enough. My analogy to Islam is that I think there are circumstances in which members of a faith may certainly label others as not \"authentically Muslim.\" I agree that in Catholicism, we should do so cautiously. As a left-leaning Catholic I am all too familiar hearing that my vote for Obama meant that I was not a true Catholic, but I have no problem with the folks at Church Militant being labeled as not authentically Catholic. Maybe that makes me a hypocrite. Or maybe their views are so extreme that some separation from those extreme views is ok.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why would understanding of Jewish history lead anyone (christian, jewish, hindu etc.) to a conclusion that the settlements in the occupied territories are anything but illegal?\n\nNot just illegal, they are amoral.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The world has never been Christian that it can be post-Christian. The system is a Godless machine that seeks to enslave people under imperialistic authority structures that are manufactured by humankind, rather than created by a loving God. There is nothing Christian about the world - the only difference between the religious public narrative of post-modernity, compared to modernity, is the lack of religious lace to sacralize wickedness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alabama elects great leaders: Former speaker Hubbard sentenced on 12 counts of corruption, Bentley charged with abuse of power in covering up affair with top aide; and now a pedaphile, a steadfast right-wing \"Christian\" extremist, who will likely win the Christian vote if he runs -- simply because he's a Republican, who espouses bigotry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More people generally went to church on Sundays. Catholics were threatened with hell for not going--more control.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He's unfit for office in many ways. Yet the extremist \"Christians,\" who espouse bigotry and racism, don't care about anything he does, including grabbing women's privates, because of his promises to support integrating their religious beliefs with government policy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a liberal. I don't care if Barrett is Catholic, Jewish, Muslim or Hindi. I don't care if she comes from a Catholic, Jewish, Muslim or Buddhist town. \nWhat I do care about is whether she will issue rulings on the basis of her faith or her impartial understanding of the law. Now what is pertinent and what those senators were getting at is that numerous groups take serious issue with Barrett because she fails this test. Barrett has repeatedly given interviews and lectures in which she implies her faith may be a more guiding principle than the constitution and the law. Shes opposed Roe v. Wade, she's opposed same-sex marriage, she's opposed equal protections for LGBT persons, and she's supported the Hobby Lobby ruling.\n\nThere's real issues with this nominee to the 7th circuit, so lets focus on the \"loudly\" part of Sen. Feinstein's question. Its not just living, its living LOUDLY and PUBLICLY from someone who needs to be an impartial arbiter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "rangerMC, you are still batting 100%. rich, white, christian male is all you listen too. nice touch by hawkins using two black women in the only picture in the article to show what is morally wrong with us. society is not going back to the rich, white, christian male dominated agenda of the 50s. forget it. it is all the little rangerMCs of the country that are responsible for the systemic racism, degradation of minorities, bigotry, poverty and intolerance that persists. do what you can but your time is limited. start loving your black and brown brothers as yourself and see how good it feels. make your jesus proud.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Georgetown also held events throughout the day to honor the descendants and reflect on the university's historical ties to slavery.\"\n\nGod Bless the Society of Jesus for their bravery. This country still hasn't come to terms with the legacy of two and a half centuries of slavery. How could it when it elected a racist like Trump?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding \"insufferable\".\n\nRead Francis, he gets it. \n\nHere: https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2017/02/28/joy-tribulation-mark-true-christian-pope-says/\n\nThere are so many Christians who really really really don't understand \"the Cross\".\n\nThey think any suffering is awful...that we should run from the Cross. They want a cross tailored fit also. \n\nThe Cross is where we can meet Christ.\n\nFrancis has spoken about this SO many times. \n\nOnce Christians get over themselves...they realize how incredibly joiyful it is to live a fully Christian life, which as Jesus, St James, St Paul, St John, St Peter tell us..and pope francis too...tell us involves the Cross.\n\nBut the sign that someone doesn't get it is that they use words like \"insufferable\" \"miserable\" or they make silly and chidlish references to hairshirts.\n\nLiving the Cross well, and happily doesn't mean doing different things...it simply means learning to convert the ordinary things into constant and intimate conversation wtih God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK, Bill, it seems we agree there are Christians who are really good people and there are some who are really creeps. Being a Christian does not guarantee you're a good person and not being one doesn't guarantee you're a bad person. Frankly, from all I've read and seen, religiosity might be statistically irrelevant as it relates to morality in individual's behavior. I'm an agnostic and haven't the foggiest idea if there's a god or not, so the concept is foreign to my moral code. I simply try to follow the \"Golden Rule\"...do unto others as you'd have them do unto you... simple, secular and central to morality. Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You cannot open a business to the public based on bigotry (an intolerance for views that are not your own).\n\nBill. I fully understand the mind of the baker. I used to be opposed to gay marriage. I get the \"love the sinner hate the sin\" thing. I do not think that this baker \"hates gays\" or was rude to them. I get that the baker sees gay marriage as a fundamentally immoral thing. You are not making a strong argument by saying \"You just don't understand the baker. He's a good guy who is being bullied for his faith\".\n\nThe thing I'd argue that you're being blind to is that you are only on his side of the issue because you happen to agree with the baker. As soon as the tables are flipped you'd cry discrimination.\n\nIf a baker can deny services to people based on who they are then anyone would be allowed to do it. I could join the church of satan and open a daycare that doesn't allow Christian parents and children.\n\nYou don't understand the precedence you're setting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NOT with that name.\nDo you not see that you and yours are always in argument with everyone else. It never ends. \nI and others have spent way-far too much time with your back and forth. Nothing moves forward. Nothing ever changes. \nI refuse to participate in your type of endless back and forth. \nI still don't know whether you are a fundie Catholic and/or a fundie Republican or a fundie Trumpeter or a fundie hater of people OR a fundie antagonist. Stop provoking. Just say your beliefs and stop punching other\nStop taking everything to the personal level than act amazed when you get the same in response. Then stop saying SEE!!! When you don't treat people respectfully don't be surprised at what comes back to you. We can engage in aggressive rhetoric also, we choose to not. \n\n'nuff saud.\n BYE, end, fini.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic, Protestant, blah, blah, blah... ever given any thought of being a Christian (like the early Christians, not the Roman variety that came later)?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What? It was a letter to the editor - not authored by the RG editorial board. They don't edit spelling or grammar in letters and they certainly didn't \"maliciously embarrass an obvious ESL christian\". Your comment is a perfect example of a christian mocking reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's good that people are standing up to the \"Catholic police\" bullying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians claim a high moral path and insist it is the only path. That leaves the rest of us as the Other. Christians fear the Other. The Other may reveal truths that are not welcome. \n\nOnly accepting jesus as savior is welcome and true. Every other belief is worthy of sympathy but also contempt. \n\nA christian is weak and fearful and willing to relinquish all personal sovereignty in exchange for an unlikely afterlife. \n\nChristian beliefs frighten me. At least they shouldn't be encouraged by allowing prayer before a governing body.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Guess that leaves out Jesus. And probably the Hindu & Muslim God's as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dang Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And to some very desperate right wing Catholics, that is what they call \"orthodoxy.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have plenty of neighbours who are immigrants and/or members of religious or ethnic minorities. They're friendly, polite, hard-working and take care of their properties.... which is more than I can say for a lot of white, Christian Canadians I've met in my life.\n\nHow about setting aside your childish fears for a moment and meet somebody different? You might even learn something.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While a fixed pension return assumption is foolish, we shouldn't think that the money the nation needs to address these problems isn't available. If we had the will we would be looking at the root causes of our extreme inequality in wealth. Do we really understand the total glutony spawned by unlimited wealth? And we admire this as 'success'? \n\nAs a Christian, I know the bible has much to say about wealth, most of which 'liberals' would agree with, ( but would deny if put in a religious contex). We have diminshed positive spiritual values by confusing them with church doctrine. Its a pity that the universal doctrine of the human Jesus, has become so fragmented by relgious arrogance. \n\nhttp://www.idesignarch.com/inside-donald-and-melania-trumps-manhattan-apartment-mansion/ How much is enough? \nhttp://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/inside-george-soross-monstrous-monkey-house Interesting article on happiness", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your thesis is incorrect. The left doesn't like dogmatic religions that attempt to legally enshrine their morality and belief structure on secular society. It's like Ghandi said, \"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How much aid did Ottawa supply to Syrian Christians being killed by Muslims? None.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By objective or ideology I agree, the white supremacist are a different cat. But in terms of using anger and intimidation to get what you want, I'm not impressed with the anti-fascist actions that I've observed. \n\nI'd be happy to stand with those who are pledged to non-violence in speaking against that wrong headed hateful screed of white supremacist, which by name implies all races are NOT of equal value. I find it particularly repugnant when these racist groups add in a Christian cross and claim to Jesus died only for their sins. \n\nBut if Antifa has so little self control that they want to be first to escalate to violence, I'm not going to stand with them. *It's not an easy call by the way, the true fascist will not hesitate to use violence and history says that must threat must be met with violence. Mine is a personal choice for non-violence, but I acknowledge that's a choice/risk that I can only take for myself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not a snowflake Catholic and I understand \"men\" in the context of the Creed means humans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hasan promoted radical views, and ended up acting on them, resulting in quite a few deaths of American citizens.\n\nWhat this has to do with immigration is to illustrate why a very liberal attitude toward Muslims who espouse radical views is a concern for immigration policy. Who has such radical views? Typically, it is far more likely for people from radicalized nations to harbor radical ideas that involve sharia law, killing people who disparage the Prophet, etc. Is there any evidence of this, or is it just based on bigotry? Yes, there is evidence, viz the problems throughout Europe where Muslim immigrants from radicalized countries are proven to be far more likely to commit acts of terrorism in the name of Allah than are native Europeans. Is it likely that such problems can happen in the U.S.? Yes, the already have, ie boston bombing. Should we just be \"Christian\" and \"American\" and pretend none of the above matters? No, I don't think so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Republican Billionaire Baron financiers attempt to foul the educational systems of the nation with blatant fascist, racist, bigoted mouthpieces extolling all of the traitorous rhetoric contained in their anti-human ideology. All riding the fundamentalist christian, white Supremacy bandwagons of lies and deceit. Every aspect counter to our Constitution and the human rights contained therein. From the Koch family through the Trump family through every Wall Street predator, Citizens United, Scalias' traitorous gift, the drive to brainwash the citizenry and rig the entire election system continues the dismantling of the Constitutional Republic. One traitorous decision by a bare majority of the Gang of Five Republican traitors condemns this nation to a Trump presidency and a Republican majority CONgress. All dedicated to the destruction of all freedom and democracy in the entire nation. Time for a Revolution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "-private Baptist schools , private Catholic schools, private Muslim schools, private Jewish schools, private Christian schools- all indoctrination centres. Get religion out of schools", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No wonder 'Catholic' Universities in the U.S. are in such dire straits.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican 2 was a step in the right direction. But the last two Popes failed to implement the reform. Yes became a sad joke. The Catholic Church has moved away from the Spirit and the Teachings of Jesus. That is the problem. Pope Francis is trying to move the Church back to Vatican 2 and Jesus. I support him. I guess you don't see God in everyone and everything in God's Creation. Jesus didn't start a church, at thhe moment He died on the cross he opened the Holy of Holies so all of us can access God directly. He sent us the Spirit to guide all of us. A mature spirituality requires us to develop a personal relationship with the Divine like the mystics have done. Jesuit Theologian Karl Rahner said the future Christian will be a mystic or nothing at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians are an easier target.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why, I am the one speaking truth. You are not going to like Jesus if you think humanism is atheistic. Erasmus either. Catholics believe in the Resurrection and Sacraments. Letting people think for me is not part of the deal, especially when they are objectively wrong and subjectively aberrant in their own sexuality (but won't admit it).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "absolutely NO public monies to religious schools. as a Christian: NO NO NO NO NO", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Francis were a good Christian Pope, he would do his duty and respond to the 'dubia'. of the Cardinals.. and we won't hold our breath since two have sadly died.. they deserved an answer! he would lower the walls that surround the Vatican and bring in his own refugees.like Pius XII did during the war, he would not take political sides such as the left... he who throws the first stone! (he should also stay the hell out of American politics; he should get on his knees and thank God for Trump, since Trump is the last straw who is saving Christian civilization, yes the Catholic Church... this Pope doesn't get it. and says a ream of 'dumb'statements.. i never thought id' see it. )", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My response was directed to today's \"Cafeteria Christians\" who comb through the Bible, find the things they like and that rationalize their personal biases and ignore the teachings that they do not personally like or that made them uncomfortable in the Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The fact that the \"religious liberty\" crowd never uttered a word of disapproval when Donald Trump declared that he wants a moratorium on all Muslims entering the country revealed their rank hypocrisy. Anyone who's genuinely concerned about the preservation of religious freedom would have been appalled at such a statement, Catholics especially, since there was a time in this country when \"No Catholics need apply\" signs were rampant. What the religious liberty folks really mean when they talk about religious liberty is freedom to practice MY religion the way I see fit at everyone else's expense. That's not religious liberty, it's just plain old selfishness.\n\nMuslims are justified in their worry about a Donald Trump presidency - he gave them every reason to be afraid - very afraid.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" He helped lead national Catholic outreach for President Obama's 2012 re-election.\" Hale is the author of this and now wonder its against Trump. He is a supporter, as well as adn., of the failed obama admin and is crying over losing yet again. He is a lobbyist for the Catholic Church....a lobbyist on the losing side.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I really am tired of having to cater to the neediness of the ultraconservative more Catholic than the pope set. They got gold stars and cupcakes from the last two popes and were never challenged and now they are being challenged and don't like it while the vast majority of Catholics, who were ignored by Benedict and JPII, are finally getting attention. Perhaps if they weren't such thin-skinned bullies, I would care about their concerns. But they are so I don't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Zeigler just ensured his political career was over. How very Christian to use the Bible to defend pedophilia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I inadvertently confused the timing involved in state civil and federal criminal statutes of limitations. I make no difference between Bishops, teachers, coaches, doctors, police officers or parents when it comes to reporting (or not reporting) allegations of pedophilia to police. \n\nWhat is necessary to understand is that many teachers, coaches, doctors, police officers and parents simply did not believe (and some people still do not believe) that a Catholic priest or a Rabbi or an Imam (or any religious authority) could be a pedophile or could cover up pedophilia.\n\nThe five people you mention regarding MO law should be prosecuted.\n\nOther thing that is necessary to understand is that teachers, coaches, doctors, police officers and parents do not claim to be messengers of God, but Catholic Bishops and Rabbis and Imams (and any other religious authority) do, and therefore they are to be judged by a higher standard of morality, which does not include cover ups due to Church Law orders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\".... a recent study by ..., a Georgetown University research project on Islamophobia, showing that Catholics who regularly obtained information from Catholic media were more likely to unfavorably view Muslims than those who did not\"\n\nThis is sad, but not surprising. Too much of the American Catholic media lean to the far right, happily following Trump down the \"all muslims are terrorists\" rabbit hole, repeating non-facts as \"truth\". My EWTN -type Catholic relatives were shocked to learn (from me) that Muslims are only 1% of the US population. They believed that if they didn't vote for Trump, sharia law would be just around the corner, that there is a Muslim plot to take over. \n\n Due to the heavy hand of censorship in the Catholic church, only a few in the Catholic media are able to present broader views - NCR is one, Commonweal is another. Both are run entirely by lay people and cannot easily be silenced or censored by bishops. The Catholic church has never liked a free press.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Episcopal church is disintegrating . It Would vanish in UK with only 2 % of Uk citizens going to weekly mass. Were it not state religion of UK it obviously would VANISH without Gov. subsidies and recognition It is forced in North America to merge with Dying Evangel Lutherans and in UK with dying Methodists. ............. Other liberal protestant Evangl. Lutherans face the same problem in Central Europe. Only subsidy by German and Nordic gov. and merger with Dying Calvinists there keep it in existence at all...Anglican Ordinate has left that dying sect and rejoined the Catholic faith. Millions of Orthodox Anglican and Anglican communion protestants have abandoned dying liberal Anglican Episcopal rump church in Droves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Eastern Catholic Churches, who celebrate Mass in the Eastern rite, mimic, as it were, Eastern Orthodox protocol: diocesan clergy marry or can marry; bishops can not and are celibate, drawn from unmarried diocesan clerics and/or monastic communities. Women in the Eastern Orthodox Churches are not ordained to the priesthood. Global Orthodoxy does not call that \"protocol\" or tradition, as it were, misogynistic, a term of generalized classification or a label -- like liberal, conservative, racist, globalist, radical, etc. -- attached to some group by another not in agreement with it (or not in agreement with its philosophy, politics, theology, etc.) with the pleasure of giving offense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Father thus-and-so has the right to tell me, a Catholic, not to have an abortion. No priest has the right to impose on me, an American citizen, a mandate on how to vote. Or to judge the \"sin\" of how one voted. That just irritates me to no end.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By the same token, Catholic students should not have to pay for atheist an other non-faith based schools. Why do I have to pay for heathens and infidels to receive state based filth?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another make-believe christian who loves Trump. I guess it is logical because Trump is a make-believe christian himself. What is bothersome is that he appears to be in love with Putin one of the most ruthless leaders in the modern world. What type of damage do you think Putin and Trump can do to our world when you mix evil and ruthlessness with ignorance and over confidence I'm glad i am too old to serve our country again because mixing these two worthless human beings together and it is a recipe for world wide war and chaos.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The better question is what percent of their elders were abused when forced into Catholic boarding schools to teach them how to be just like good white Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why don't we see any Catholic Wonder Women? Because the second women show real spiritual power in this church that does not include birthing any children, they are instantly criticizes as feminist, witchy, pushy, bad for the church, told they are mistaken as to their own calling in Christ for Priesthood, if they are called by God to the Sacrament of Holy Orders, and then told they should just become a nun & shut up. \n\nOur church is horribly misogynistic to its own self-destruction. I remember watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer Series, which ran for 6 years, & being surprised how much my husband & many young men really liked this show with a female leader with supernatural powers. Men, as much as women, hunger for women of power to stand next to them as they desire to become men of power. Healthy men seek true equals not subordinates in religion, home & work. \n\nWomen need powerful spiritual role models, who equal the power of men, in the world and in religion for their own health.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is clear, you are a glass is half empty person, my wife is a Catholic of that I am proud, you are way way wrong on most of your assertions, most Catholics do not live that way. You call servive a waste? Are you aware of all the good the Catholic church does and what Priest and Deacons and Nuns do every day in this community, in this world? My wife has asked them to help others financially and other wise in her capcity as Social Worker they have never turned her away, ever. Mother Threasa was a Catholic as was St Francis, and Pope Francis now is a shining example of love and service. Have you turned your life over to serve others selflessly as they have? Catholic Social Services feeds HUNDREDs of people every day, and house them and clothe them. Shame on you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You've hit on the one thing that has truly irritated me about the white Catholic vote, and that's the hiding the white part behind the antiabortion mantra. The culture war issues have served to do nothing more than hide the inherent racism of the Southern Baptist Convention. That Roman Catholic bishops linked the US Church to the same ideology is sad, considering the anti Catholic hate rhetoric that was part and parcel of the history of the SBC and the KKK.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everyone has Achilles heel, even Francis. I am more interested in his punishing the bishops who coddled the abusers, which he seems to be doing. The abusers should simply be turned over to civil authorities to be jailed and publicly shamed for the rest of their lives as sex offenders. As the Lord said, any who leads astray one of these little ones should have a millstone tied around their neck and thrown into the sea. That this line was attributable to Christ shows how far back the problem goes in the Church. That Francis is easier than Benedict on this no shock. Maybe a bit of scorn is necessary for him to see how serious the rest of us are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With all due deference to your excellent comment in the Times, kag, here's another one I liked:\n\n\"Wait. We're supposed to believe that Bannon is a Christian Traditionalist?! He's been divorced three times, fathered children out of wedlock, been charged with domestic violence and battery. \n\nSeriously?\n\nHow about a self-important christian opportunist?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You clearly are not a one issue voter as you support abortion, gay marriage, gender fluidity, socialized healthcare, taxpayer birth control, euthanasia, and the fact that humans are able to manipulate the coarse of the planet. Way to go Bill! you are the star of the liberated Catholic voter! All Catholics know that the doctrines of the Catholic Church are way out of step with the culture!\nHey, wait a minute. I don't think I just properly described the Catholic faith, sorry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it hypocritical of this paper in 2012 judged a renewed popularity of Catholic women who wear chapel veils to be \"a sign of veiled paternalism;\" yet, defend Muslim women in this article, \"They [Muslim women] view it alternately as a sign of religious devotion, discipline, freedom from Western expectations, or simply a way to be in a continuous state of prayer.\" The 2012 NRO article - https://www.ncronline.org/news/spirituality/head-covering-thinly-veiled-patriarchy .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And that is the problem with the single issue folks... they are not accepting the \"fullness\" of Catholic teaching, just a narrow slice of teachings. They have placed one issue above all others and then condemn anyone who doesn't agree with them, calling them heterodox or worse. That smacks of cult behavior. Thankfully, our Lord gets the last word in the matter. Really.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian Serbs killed tens of thousands of Muslims in Bosnia in the 1990's. Should all Muslims now say the same things you just said except say it about Christians? They can also point to a number of other attacks such as the Norwegian mass murderer, etc. We don't tar an entire people due to the actions of some extremists just as I won't write off all Canadians due to the extremist rantings I see in the Globe blogs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, but if you want to dip your greedy fingers into Catholic peoples' pockets for an easy payout, \"repressed memory\" is a dandy way around statutes of limitations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Jesuits feel the need to recognize and remember and atone for what previous members of their order did. Let us say, as Jews do when we recall the Holocaust, \"Never again!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What insufferable nonsense. It was Jesus -- not Cranmer -- who instituted the Eucharist in the form of a meal. If you have a beef with that imagery, take it up with him.\n\nI've about had it with those who get their panties in a twist over the Novus Ordo. There are much more important things to be concerned about than variations in forms of liturgy, especially when the evidence suggests that the practices of the early Church reflected much greater variety than what we see today.\n\nTriumphalist liturgy is a vanity exercise to be indulged in only by those who like pageants and frippery. Nobody on the front lines of Christian witness cares in the least about this stuff.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another land mine in the life of a catholic gay(me); not being invited to the burial of my beloved Aunt Mimi. I can't help but think of Luke 9:60: \nJesus said to him, \"Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This isn't really about moral issues as much as it is about ideology. Many Catholics can't tell the difference. This is especially so for lay Catholics. \n\nIt's a moral issue if you are pregnant and trying to figure out what to do. It's an ideological issue when it's about someone else you don't even know personally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bumpy, another fundamental Catholic value is freedom on conscience, which obliges us to respect the moral decisions of the very large number of our fellow citizens who do not share our view that abortion is immoral. \n\nJust as we say about free speech, we support the right of others to say profoundly stupid things; so too we ought to say about freedom on conscience that we support the right of others to exercise their moral conscience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bishops have no business lobbying for or against anything on a ballot anywhere, let alone putting financial resources into it. Their role should be to teach and speak on moral principles and then let the body politic do what it is supposed to do.\n\nSo now recreational marijuana is the latest moral imperative added to the ever-growing list. Have you ever been to a social gathering of Catholic clergy? Next time you are, take a look at the open bar, and then tell me if the Church has any credibility for saying anything about recreational drug use.\n\nThe bishops make themselves look more and more ridiculous every time they take an official position on a ballot initiative. And the most ridiculous ones are those who still flatter themselves to think that anybody still cares about their opinion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"... one thing you don't see is many media-made Angry Conservative White Male villains.\"\nPlenty of angry conservatives have killed multiple people. What you never see is a mass-murder described as an atheist. When you consider the majority of American citizens consider themselves as Christians, I guess it's a safe bet that most killers are part of that religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just as yoga has been repurposed by exercise enthusiasts, the vast majority of whom have no interest in its Hindu roots. \n\nMy ultra-Catholic sister-in-law is one of those people. Try telling her that she's flirting with eastern religion and she'll likely look at you as if you're goofy. Then she'll inform you that all she's flirting with is trying to stay limber as she enters her 60s.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree 100%. I am ashamed to call myself a Christian these days because of the rampant hypocrisy of those who claim to follow Christ but who behave exactly the opposite of his teachings. Love thy neighbor? No - build a wall against them. It is easier for a camel to pass through a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven? Tell that to Trump and Joel Osteen. Help the poor and less fortunate? No, spit on them like commenter John Carlucci seems to want to do. It sickens and saddens me that people spew such hate in the name of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What on earth is wrong with Guam now? \n\n\nWhy would you insult the Catholics of Guam? \n\n\nCardinals are 'too good' to serve the people of Guam?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus Christ was dogmatic. That's where our dogma comes from. Secondly, the Catholic Church and healthy society can never promote or condone the use of reproductive organs in the way gay men use them. That will never change. The Church has always been opposed to sexual sins of that nature.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It surely is not hypocrisy.\nIf we take your assumed progressive/traditional divide, we have liberals supporting liberals and criticizing traditionalists. There is no hypocrisy there.\nThe more real situation, where a variety of viewpoints exist, Curran was a scholar whose academic freedom was threatened while Weinandy is a Church professional who is supposed to support loyalty to bishops and Pope. W failed badly in his job with the US bishops while Curran has a long active career as a scholar. W deserves to lose his job, but not his academic appointments, if he still has any.\nThere is irony in Weinandy\u2019s situation, if not hypocrisy, since he once criticized those who opposed the Pope, and now has lost his position for criticizng the Pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, I have an issue with way that Pope Francis chooses to discuss whole swaths of people. His words are offensive and hurtful. I doubt that many gay people are lining up to be \"accompanied\" by the Catholic Church after hearing that they are apparently waging a war against marriage. He could take a traditional stance on marriage and discuss the situation in measured tones rather than hyperbole. \n\nSecond, with \"gender theory,\" we are discussing programs for women's rights. What is causing Pope Francis vapors are attempts to decrease the wage gap and tell girls that they don't have to be housewives. I didn't know that this is at all controversial. Being opposed to professional women is so far out of the mainstream that any conservative backlash should be ignored.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another immigrant success story. Thank you, Catholic Social Services. Hope the State Department paycheck was worth the degradation of our community to that of a third-world banana republic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The overwhelming vast majority of Muslims who are fleeing places like Iraq and Syria and migrating northward into Europe are peaceful, law-abiding people who were displaced from their homes because of a needless war the president YOU voted for, George W. Bush, started in order to prove that he was a real man to his daddy (and also to line the pockets of Dick Cheney and Halliburton.) By voting for Bush YOU helped start that war - and now you want to ignore the plight of millions of people whose lives were completely ruined because of YOUR decision to vote for George W. Bush. What a good Christian you are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does anyone know if Trudeau has sent a letter to those responsible for attempting to eradicate Coptic Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "African-American Catholic communities can be just as exuberant, and the dignity of the Holy Eucharist suffers not one bit as a result.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Looks like the liberals wrapped up the entire investigation with root cause and all just in a few hours. They even named the suspect, all white Christian male Trump supporters living in the country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"That is impossible; no clergy, no Mass and no Sacraments therefore no Church\"\n\nThe only thing left will be the living Body of Christ free from the clerical cancer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR is a private business and their annual financial reports are available for any interested person to see, as your message proves. They are not withholding information from those who contribute to them.\n\nMore to the point, NCR has never shied away from shining a spotlight on Catholic organizations. At this very moment they are running a piece on the dubious financial investments of the Knights of Columbus. Knowing this publication, it is daft to think they would have any interest at all in protecting Immaculate Heart radio.\n\nBy the way, there's no such thing as a professional Catholic. There are professional people of various sorts who happen to be Catholic, but church membership in and of itself is not a paid position. Would that it was.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was talking about the high period of clerical child abuse, viz: the 70s and 80s. Sadly the taboo is well into the process of being of being removed thanks to the media and the behaviour of those in the entertainment industry. With a majority of so-called Catholics in the US approving of same-sex relationships there is no need for homosexuals to enter the seminary to hide their sexual preference when they can remain in a world which f\u00eates and adulates them on account of their publicly proclaimed preference.\nOnce upon a time it was the prayer of every Catholic mother to have a son a priest and/or a daughter a nun. Ere long her proudest moment will be to announce to the world that she is the mother of an homosexual son or daughter in whom she is well pleased and be lauded for her acceptance of diversity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I too read this posters story (normally I ignore and scroll past.) I am stunned at the revelations. This poster has consistently attacked the catholicity of scores of people on here, told them to go off and be Protestants, belittled them and given caustic responses to genuinely decent people.\n\nAnd now the reveal - this poster walked out of the Catholic Church years ago and went to an Anglican Church instead (only to find eventually that, that Church didn't come up to scratch either!) Now they are back at a local Catholic Church but the people in the congregation there - surprise, surprise! - aren't good enough.\n\nAnd not once on that life journey, through all of his/her sanctimony, snobbery or bitterness towards others did it ever cross his or her mind that the problem - the considerable problem - happened to be he or her self.\n\nIt's now very obvious that this blog is simply an outlet for their own wretchedness and misery. What a tragedy. And Missa Cantata ain't gonna fix it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What if they gave a war and nobody came?\n\nCheeto Jesus should invite Lil' Kim for a beer at the White House.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A verified teacher within the Church who goes to Mass every day but who thinks original sin is a myth, yet claims to be \"very Catholic,\" even though the Church says it is an essential teaching of the Church. You're in the shape of a pretzel, my friend.\n\nAnd I never said we are perpetually in a state of mortal sin. You come close to assuming I did --- a strawman.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bible recorded both the good and the bad of the most revered patriarchs. Why should AT be any different? Can we not learn a lesson from this very, very sad event even as we have learnt lessons from Abraham's lies and Jacob's thiefry?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I think the left actually wants to characterize most of the Catholic moral teaching as having to do with sexuality.\"\n\nReally, R.D.? When I ever hear some self-described \"orthodox\" Catholic talk about morality, it is always sexual morality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Elaine. You are beating a dead horse to death with your silly rant about abortion again. There are often extenuating circumstances whereby a woman may need to have an abortion and it is none of your bloody business to interfere. This is between the woman and her doctor - nobody else. The POTUS has no business meddling with a law that is constitutional. A president cannot change the law but the president must uphold it because it is legal and this is not a Catholic country - the president must be president for all. So let's drop this nonsensical issue for God's sake and let's focus on more important and pressing issues such as a decent living wage for workers, free health care, free college tuition, better maternity leave for parents and changing the laws so that the fat cats don't get off Scot free from paying their fair share of taxes. These are the issues that would improve the quality of life. Don't tell me we can't afford it - we are a wealthy nation when we can fund wars.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Meggsy, you can comment on what you like, anyone can. And apparently you feel sufficiently \"challenged\" by my posts to keep commenting. \n\nLet me know when female Catholic priests start feeding people and running shelters will you?\n\nOf course if you read the article you'd know that the Muslim food bank also provided food to anyone as well.\n\nAs for school boards, you are aware that they are a provincial not municipal responsibility right? Although it's odd you claim we are a secular country when there are Catholic Schools Boards receiving public funds in several provinces. Tell us, isn't funding Catholic schools discriminatory against all other religions?\n\nNot that it's relevant but I was born here over 50 years ago and my family roots go back 200+ years, you?\n\nLastly, nothing in my post indicates whether I feel this Muslim food bank is engaging in discrimination or not. I simply pointed out that you were getting hysterical. And still are as evidenced by your ridiculous attack on me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't link them all to money--I didn't link them ALL to anything... I used a qualifier, please go back and read what I wrote. Do you deny that \"certain obligations required of MT\" were formulated out of a desire to bind the masses to the ruling Roman class? Do you think that is what Jesus had in mind in his Sermon on the Mount?\n\nI would further argue that Rome's \"teaching\" about the authority of 'Holy Mother Church' is also fallacious. The institutional church doesn't teach anything--people do. Same with any institution of higher learning, they are only as good as those who are entrusted to teach. So who in their right mind believes an institution made up of fallible humans can teach infallibly? (PS - I know the RC argument against this, I'm simply not willing to distort reality in order to fit this Roman construct.) \n \nCursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength. (Jeremiah 17:5)\n\nIt is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. (Psalm 118:)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The republicans are livid Obama has shown no regard to the constitution, therefor they are justified in doing the same (sic). Their story immediately changes if the role were reversed, and therein what absolutely disgusts me of both party's today as their intellectual bankruptcy knows no shame. What the right wing pseudo conservative and pseudo Christians fail to grasp is they are the political twin of Political Correct liberals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Knights of Columbus spent more than $6 million nationwide to put the kibosh on statewide efforts to legalize same-sex civil marriage prior to the 2015 Supreme Court decision, thereby attempting to deprive millions of citizens, most of them non-Catholic, their 14th amendment right to equal protection under the law as well as the 1138 rights and privileges civil marriage affords, many of them financial. I wouldn't call that altruistic I would call that sadistic, which is why the Knights haven't seen a dime of my money in years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Starbucks sells food and drink, hot or cold. SNAP covers food that is not heated so all hot drinks and food are off. Cold drinks (frapaccinno), juices, and cold sandwiches, and fruit are accepted by the Starbucks in grocery stores. What makes you think you and your nosy checker friend can judge what others eat? Is there a new mandate for Christians to watch the checkout lines to scrutinize shoppers purchases? Sickening.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's Wednesday, brother. \n\nSay hello to your new president, Donald J. Trump, who was put into office by white Catholics.\n\nThis is the end of the Black Left and Obamanomics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The ordination of women is tied up with the institutional Church's ingrained sexism. Nothing more, nothing less. Marty supports this sexism, which he should not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've never studied Calvin. I studied the Bible. Notice how you run from the issue of faith, Bill. Notice how you run from the text you yourself quoted that states all mankind rejected Christ, none chose him? Notice how you run from text like Eph 1;4-5? Notice how you keep deflecting to other issues, like John Calvin?\n Tell me Bill, exactly how can I, a man conceived in sin, born in sin, a slave to sin, who is incapable of doing good, and is completely void of faith, believe in Jesus? No man can come to Christ unless the father draw him, Bill. That;s your cue to call you god a liar, again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the Catholic church says Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. But who cares.\n\nWhat I care about: why does this site continually publish SJW columns that imply everyone who voted for Trump voted for White Supremacy? \n\nSPENCER HAS NO CONNECTION WITH TRUMP WHATSOEVER. \n\nTrump condemned white supremacist support. Condemned it in no uncertain terms. Google it.\n\nWhy does NCR continue to insist that this isn't so? Why does it continue to insist that Catholics who voted for Trump are racists?\n\nThe Communist Party USA endorsed Hillary -- do we read anywhere that Hillary is a communist? That those who voted for her hoped that a President Hillary would go full Stalin on the USA?\n\nHow ridiculous. \n\nJust because a fringe group endorses a candidate means absolutely nothing about the mass of people who voted for that candidate.\n\nNCR, you can't just throw out hate speech, and in the same breath talk about how kind and tolerate you are.\n\nYou are out of line. Morally and intellectually.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More ridiculous speculation, offered merely to undermine the Church. \n\n\"They\" also say he was murdered to prevent restoration of the Tridentine Mass. Funny you don't mention that in your recitation of conspiracies....\n\nEven NCR wasn't buying your theories....\n\nhttps://www.ncronline.org/blogs/all-things-catholic/debunking-four-myths-about-john-paul-i-smiling-pope", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And your evidence is? You fail to mention the context under which our nation \"invaded, occupied or bombed these muslim countries...\" I can't remember occupation forces in Iran. Can you enlighten us all? Or the \"invasion\" of Somalia? I thought we went there to feed kids and starving people. Whom, exactly and concisely, did we \"bomb\" in Lebanon? Was it retaliation? If so...are you saying our nation should not retaliate when attacked and just lay down and shishi all over ouselves and sing kumbaya? Did you know that muslims have killed more muslims than any one else on the planet all combined? And a lot of Christians, Jews, Copts, etc. Should we all just not do anything when they attack? Or should we do something? You use a lot of feelings to describe our reasons for doing what you say we did, but no context. Are you a leftist?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chaput has indicated that Satan is real...a presence in society. Well, Jesus accepted and in fact, invited sinners, the outcast to be with him and to eat with him (maybe not at the Last Supper, but certainly this could be viewed as foreshadowing to that meal.) so, maybe it is Chaput that is the devil in disguise, since he is not acting \"personna Christi.\" If we look at what Jesus might do, and then what Chaput is doing, can we really reconcile his rhetoric? His actions? I personally don't think so. If you are going to talk black and white, you'd better act black and white in the spirit of Christ, not as the devil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus well understood the Jewish teachings concerning homosexuality, and apparently did not feel the need to say anything specifically.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Contemporary anti-discrimination laws have reduced themselves to absurdity. In the 1960s, national legislation against racial discrimination \"affecting interstate commerce\" made sense, because racial equality was an issue forced upon the nation by history and numbers (about 12% of the population was black), and one which affected the well-being and future of the United States in numerous practical ways. From that common-sense beginning, we've arrived at quarreling at the level of townships about laws governing the use of bathrooms by perhaps 0.1% of the population. What's next, Christian bathrooms for those who don't want to pee next to Muslims? Asexual bathrooms for those who don't want to be gender stereotyped by a sign on a door? Vegan bathrooms for those who object that meat-eater poop stinks so bad?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is the old joke about children asking when Children's Day is, and mom replying that every day is Children's day.\n\nEvery responsible parent understands that one.\n\nWhile Mother's Day was originally a Church Sponsored Christian thing, wasn't it hyped by Greeting Card companies to peddle paper, with Father's Day added to the commercial bandwagon?\n\nYou Father experience may vary. My father was a literal burden on my life, who stole my dish washing income as a child and who speculated openly about forging cheques on my bank accounts not being a crime because I was cursed with the same first and last name. He really seemed to think that it was his money and that he just had to find some way to get it away from me. That is exactly the mindset of pickpockets. Truly pathetic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is excellent. Really! \n\nI regard the First Nations of Canada as our National Treasure. When I first read the writings of Archibald Belaney known to history as Grey Owl, I wanted to be an Indian. My parents were not prejudiced against anyone. They taught that racism is a false god. When I was in my late twenties, I had the chance to live for a year on the Six Nations of the Grand River. Because I respected the people, I was treated accordingly. One night while on the way to a dance off the Reserve, I asked the driver if only Indians would be there. He replied, \"You're an Indian, sort of.\" Nice!\n\nCanada's treatment of the First Nations sanctioned by the government under the aegis of Christian clergy unleashed a legacy of racial terror upon children of the First Nations. Only when Canadians en mass come to terms with this blight upon our historical pass, will Canada attain its high destiny. Drew Hayden Taylor's article is a reminder how far we have to go. \n\nAll my relations", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clearly, you don't understand what the Magisterium is. Your comment shows not only a profound ignorance of the Church, but also a profound and flippant arrogance. It is nonetheless not surprising given that this is the National Catholic Distorter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump's fast becoming my hero. Not only is he exploding the republican party, but he's doing the same to the evangelical right. Bernie didn't quite get there with the democrats, but he got the ball rolling.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jews say a Hebrew version of the Lords prayer. I recited the English version in public school. I do not recall it being a 'Christian' prayer. We had a large Jewish majority. There was no issue. We also sang God save the Queen. I refused to do so. I proudly sang 'O Canada' and I still do.\nThings have changed, we are no longer a white Christian country. There should be no religion at all in public schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Science has nothing to do with what we do with sexual attraction.\n\nThat requires a moral analysis.\n\nSuch an analysis is why we consider things like rape and incest both immoral and unlawful.\n\nI generally do not spend a great deal of time trying to discuss anything along these lines with anti-Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Priestly Society of the Holy Cross is an association of Catholic diocesan priests which is integrally united to the Prelature of Opus Dei.\"\n\nIntegrally united to OD. Same dangerous difference. A cult.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Conservatives love Milo because he's against marriage equality for Gay couples. They love him because he's a provocateur who loves to poke the LGBT community in the eye; it seems to be how he gets his jollies. They love him because he fits the stereotype of a preening, promiscuous homosexual with a taste for well-endowed men. But is there anything truly redeeming about him? I don't think so. I wish he would simply be ignored, rather than giving him the attention he so desperately thrives on. Conservatives DON'T tell him he needs to find Jesus and change his wicked ways, because he's more useful to them in his current role.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These are simply forms of progressive Catholicism of a non-white culture. Who are we to judge?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can't unring this anti-Christ bell. tRump should invite the Pope and let's see if tRump goes into convulsions like when he mimicked a disabled journalist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's too facile a response. Ebes gave a reasonable answer to the question. I don't agree with him, and I would believe that the number of \"confused or former Catholics who may visit this site looking for guidance or information\" is minimal. But he has a reason for being here, unlike some of the traditionalists who seem to be here merely to troll.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have no idea who Trump would nominate, because he has no idea himself. Look how many times he's contradicted himself. Said what he thought his followers wanted to hear. The only religion he has is greed. Do you think that just because he cozied up to the evangelicals to get their endorsement that he'll actually do anything he promised? Look at his record of past business dealings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sort of. I was pointing out that while you may be a perfectly legal and law-abiding Muslim in the US, some will still target you just for being you. The level of hate for anyone not white and Christian at the moment is spilling out into the kind of spontaneous violence we saw on the bus.\nOf course the perpetrators will be prosecuted, as they should be, and this incident shouldn't be used to generalize white Christians as a group, but it can't be denied that all the anti-Muslim rhetoric we've been exposed to for the past decade is having an effect. Trump's elevation seems to have exacerbated it, or at least put it more in the public eye.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" I want the Gospel challenge to love and care for all of my brothers and sisters on the journey.\" Apparently that does not include \"traditional minded Catholics\". They are your cross??? Are you serious?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't apologise. I have not read Potiphar's Wife but I am familiar with the opinions of its author. \nI am opposed to Catholics like Kieran Tapsell adding to the plight of his Church by publishing books maligning it in the public square. We have so many enemies outside our Church, we could well do without the Fifth Column.\nThe molestation of children by clergy on the scale it has occurred since Vatican II is over. In the future it will sadly still occur here and there such is the imperfection of human nature due to Original Sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not true! It was Kamehameha's most beloved Queen Ka`ahumanu, whom, acting under the influence of Christianity, broke the Kapu system!\n\nFurthermore, how ironic (as well as narcissistic!), it was for the Christians to come here & call us \"heathens\" & \"barbarians\", when Hawaii had a palace that came complete with indoor lighting via \"electricity\" (thanks to Thomas Edison), & indoor plumbing, before the White House & Buckinham Palace whose leaders were relegated to the poor man's out-house & candle lights!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many Christians are registered as Democrats, believe in God and, support keeping abortion legal. The most effective way to reduce abortions is to promote use of contraceptives. Providing assistance to mothers is also effective as well as taking a firm stand against sexual assault. My political views are consistent with and arise out of my Christian faith.\nI was at the gathering. It was a lovely celebration of beliefs held in common by Jews, Christians, and Muslims-- that is the welcoming of strangers as spoken of by Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. This was organized religious gathering more than a protest. Notice there were few signs, and the one's that I saw had Biblical quotes. I found Dr. Barbour's speech moving and well worth standing in the cold together with my brothers and sisters regardless of how many other people were there or not there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, I'm sure when he blames somebody else for \"misinterpreting\" him, or for not carrying out his legislation the way he intended, or for all those ills being \"fake news\" because all the world and real Americans loves him, they'll believe that it's somebody else's fault. They might even feel sorry for him when he laments how so many liberals/Democrats/foreigners/non-Christians/non-whites/etc. are trying to destroy him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have to remember that to Pandora, \"Catholic teaching\" includes homophobia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well said; point well made. Killing may be done only to protect life against attack by an unjust aggressor. What Magliano seems not to get --- and by this time in his life, he seems to consciously avoid --- that Jesus never taught us to refrain from using deadly force against someone who is about to shoot or stab our children. The notion that we should is not only NOT taught by Jesus, but is so contrary to instinct and reason that I doubt the bona fides of anyone who takes the position that Magliano does.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hate bigotry of all sorts. My Jewish mother lost many members of her family in the Holocaust, including her parents. My younger brother is gay, and has been discriminated against -- and was chased out of the Catholic Church -- because of it. My daughter-in-law is black; both she and other members of her family has known racism. Even though I, myself, am a straight, white, Christian man, those near and dear to me have been affected by bigotry. My mother taught me to abhor it, my Christian religion teaches me to abhor it.\n\nYou have been explicit about your support of bigotry. You sometimes played shabbes goy -- whoop-de-hairy-do. Just the other day, I held a door open for a black woman, which by your standard proves that I am neither racist nor sexist.\n\nYou said that you approve of those who would refuse to deal with others for any reason. \"Any reason\" includes bigotry. Thus, you, yourself, say that you support bigotry", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have been given free will. You can do whatever you want. However, a scene comes to mind....\nIts a beatiful ballet.... Prince Charming runs toward his princess, as they meet she lifts him high above her head twirling, she then throws him in the air and catches him just before he hits the ground.\n\nWe as Christians take Jesus seriously. We love following Biblical teachings and they really work for us. You should never feel like you should waste your time trying to understand or follow or argue these issues.....YOU ONLY HAVE A FEW DECADES TO LIVE!! We have eternity though.\nJesus never tackled the issue of gender roles. Paul, the apostle who wrote most of the letters contained in our Bible did. Jesus spoke of core issues of the heart. One comes to Jesus first to sort out your heart...then you move on to more intense issues like husband-wife relationships. Its almost like Christianity 102. \nAn ungodly man might take the teaching and become a horrible dictator. Its a Christian only rule", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, of course. How silly of me! I should have realized that it is a completely irrelevant fact that Pope Francis has already met (more than once) with precisely the kinds of evangelical ministers that Winters says he should not meet & that his close advisors Spadaro & Figueroa castigate conservative Catholics for being locked arm-in-arm with to spread hateful political ideologies! \n\nFYI - RNS's Cindy Wooten reported at the time that Pope Francis extended the invitation to Copeland & others (including Sen. Mike Lee). Of course, even when Rome DOES state that a meeting has the intent of expressly showing Pope Francis's support - as it did when Pope Francis visited the Little Sisters of the Poor, you simply take that inconvenient fact & explain it away to ensure it doesn't contradict your view.\n\nCareful, Mr. DeHaas - someone will accuse of you showing your \"bias\", or of lacking \"nuance\" or \"objectivity.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The vast majority of protestors were peaceful, and you called them \"unAmerican\" and \"unChristian.\" (sic) I was so embarrassed and disappointed when I saw your post. Embarrassed because I voted for you for State Auditor, even though I generally vote Democrat, because the Auditor position is one that shouldn't require partisan politics, only integrity and a sense of fairness. Disappointed, because as the a State Senator for the 30th District, you are supposed to be representing all of the people in the 30th District, and I am one of those people.\n\nIf you hate the protesters, you hate me. I too am angry and fearful of what's to come. The protesters came together to support one another and overall it was a beautiful display of solidarity.\n\nIt wasn't anyone's twisting of your words that flipped my view on whether you are a good representative. It was your exact words, and the apparent disdain you have half the people you are supposed to represent. Normalized hate. It's unacceptable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again Madame Defarge and her women are knitting as the tumbrils role by.\nPeople post here as 'well educated' both clergy and lay, yet when a situation like this becomes public they are the first to cast their stones.\nOrthodox Catholics here are pilloried on account of their so-called intransigence yet 'liberal' Catholics, (can there be such Catholics?) are the most intransigent of all.\nAny disagreement with them results in personal abuse such as that endured by Josef Seifert at the hands of the Archbishop of Granada and his sacking by the same archbishop.There will be no outcry against this as there has been when previous popes had censured dissident theologians: liberalism being in the ascendency, pro tempore.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Deacons are not the subject that matters. We need to ordain women to priesthood. Deacons are just another voteless, voiceless cage women would not be allowed to move beyond. Priest are the ones that are promoted to bishops & cardinals & popes & women who are called to priesthood need to be allowed to do the vocation they were called to by God without sexist hatred being allowed to keep them from it. \n\nI read a recent survey with a group of young people who were Christians, from various churches, including Roman Catholic, as to why they left their religion to become non-affiliated.\nThe 2nd highest stated answer among them all was that the major religions did not act very Christian, further down the survey sexism LGBT hating, & too judgemental and arrogant were added to this concept of not very Christian behavior. \n\nSo our problem now is that the hate is obvious not that it is new. People, especially our young, are no longer willing to tolerate it which is very Christian of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The biblical prophets (that we today admire) who railed against the sins of their people were during their time scorned, ridiculed and exiled. In contrast, the temple priests (those Jesus lambasted as \"hypocrites\" and a \"brood of vipers\") served the established order and were thus granted privilege and status.\n\nIt is clear to which tradition Canada's Israel lobby group belongs to.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I followed MSW's link to the video \"A Disgrace to the Chair of Peter\", and the pope in question referred to as a disgrace was Benedict IX, not Francis. Benedict IX reportedly raped and murdered men...I would hope all Catholics would find such a pope to be a disgrace to the Chair of Peter. CM gets a lot of criticism that it puts its head in the sand over some of the problematic things Pope Francis says (unlike One Peter Five). CM goes out of its way to avoid reporting on Francis. Of course NCR would be fine if Voris made this video under the papacies of John Paul II or Benedict.\n\nI think MSW was being misleading and disingenuous in his characterization of this video as an attack on Pope Francis but rather ultramontanism. Does MSW subscribe to the theory that every utterance of the pope is infallible and magisterial or does this only apply to popes named Francis?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You mean like your writing not being up to snuff?\n...... when Cardinal Burke told parents to reject their gay children, he was not \"beige\" a homophobe. That was just the first lie \"in\" have seen from you.\nPeople who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.\nAnd incidentally Cardinal Burke did not tell parents to reject their gay children, that is completely untrue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you invite an expulsion as a Satan ? Do you truly wish to distract from the important business of dialogue over issues critical to the Catholic community? Are we to be subject to the trials of Jesus and be offered command of the world if we only bow down to worldly powers and principalities? In an earlier post you have explicitly declared your intent to employ the tools of the DSM to direct your conversations here. The introductory information on the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for psychiatric diagnosis proclaims broad proscriptions for the use of its contents, especially outside of a highly supervised clinical environment. If you are a licensed professional, I would love to be a fly on the wall at your next performance review. I think you will find most of the contributors here thoughtful and empathetic. They, however, do not suffer fools gladly. Don't be afraid to be your self , and make your case. I have been humbled and edified here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On some level of animal cunning, Ted Cruz knows God doesn't do a blessed thing. Why the Human institution of religion has always been allied with or sucked up to politics...which has some power because the real powers---the economic elite---control politics with their pocket change. Cruz is a political lackey...and therefore a pawn of the intensely wealthy who really run politics. Evangelicals for Trump...it's an ancient story that began when Humans invented politics and religion...both bought and paid for by those who own us. Now it has taken a decidedly fascistic turn.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesus had two dads.\"\n\nThat is an absolute lie! Jesus had one Father, and one Father ONLY; God Almighty! He had a step-father whose name was Joseph. Please read the scripture, and you may discover the Truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have a moral obligation to support Kurds. they have proved to be the worthy US partner in the fight against ISIS and the only nation in the Middle East who is capable to live in paeace with Christians and Jews", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians are welcome to hate whatever they like just like everyone else. What they are NOT entitled to is to expand their hate to include engaging in actions that extends that hate in a material way to the lives of their fellow citizens. The right to hate, like the right to free speech, is not limitless. You can't yell \"fire\" in a theater and if a Christian decides they \"hate\" the idea of women getting abortions, they should not be able to harass, intimidate or promulgate violence against them without legal repercussions. The reality is that such activity would trigger women's second amendment rights to self-defense. I hate people who harass, intimidate and engage in violence against women seeking medical care and that right to hate is protected by the 1st amendment. I reserve my 2nd amendment right to defend myself against anyone who harasses, threatens, intimidates or otherwise attempts to prevent me from exercising my right to medical care and I carry a firearm.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good grief!! What perverted poor excuse for a nun or priest taught you your Catholicism? I find it hard to believe anyone ever taught you these things. My own father --- one of the most sexually conservative Catholics I ever knew --- absolutely reveled in marital sexuality and taught us to think of it as one of God's greatest gifts. Conservative and old-school as he was, he could not have had a more healthy, joyous attitude towards sex. There wasn't a slither of daylight between what the Church taught him and the way he lived that lesson. Do yourself a favor: Get some counselling from a good, manly priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trudeau will not even condemn ISIS or Boko Haram, and join other international leaders in calling the massacres of Christians and Yazidis genocide. Do not expect him to decry the slaughter and repression of some meaningless Shi'a peasants by his paymasters in the House of Saud. This man is the worst Prime Minister in the history of this nation, and he needs to be voted out of office at the earliest opportunity before he irreparably damages Canada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't have to convince myself of my position, since anyone with knowledge of the subject would agree with me. But aren't you the one who said women aren't second class citizens in the Church? \n\nI wasn't making a \"personal attack\". I was saying that your belief that the institutional Catholic Church does not try to control peoples' bodies is wholly out of touch with the way things are. \n\nI want the teachings that are flat out wrong to be changed. Humanae Vitae is based on a view of human sexuality which says that sex is nasty, and has to be \"justified\" by saying it is for procreation. The men who push this view are either virgins or else have sex in ways they say are sinful. \n\nThe refusal to ordain women is based on a view that women are inferior to men, which the institutional Church has officially repudiated, but clings to tenaciously. I want women ordained because \"the most just of all societies\" should live up to its own advertising. I reject the egotism of the men who reject this", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tens of millions have left the church. A great many millions more continue to leave the church. Pope Benedict even called for that. He only wanted Republican Catholics and their war/hate machine. He wants to get rid of we Catholics who can't take the church duplicity that rules. \nWould Bp. Tobin like to say he never protected a priest pedophiler and exactly how many of them. IF he protected even one than he should have a millstone hung around his neck. We all know the last two popes did so. Truly, they must be in hell. For me there can be no other judgement for the whole bunch of them. And the same applies to those blind supporters of the church who al;ign with it and it's pedophiles. They who scream the loudest and the most vicious are among the damned. \nThen there is they who laundered money. Another of the damned. I have as yet not mentioned the church sex parties, etc,etc,etc!!! ...and the beat goes on... \nThan there is the church Pro-lifers who believe it's alright to wage war.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good point Hugh. \n\nI've found it impossible to find the words to describe a few key moments in my life. I also agree that gray beard God is a creation of man. If there's a singularity, God, we're far to stupid to have anything close to real understanding. I'm OK with keeping it a mystery.\n\nThere is a phrase in the bible, I'll try to find it, that suggest words alone are not enough............\nHere it is And Jesus said: \"Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven\". \n\nKids don't read, they don't quote scripture, why would Jesus want them? \nDoes that mean our own 'child' has already been accepted?\nHow is the statement above congruent with \"spare the rod and spoil the child\".? \n\nJust shows the very contradictory nature of the Biblical compilation. \nIt's also part of the fun, similar to interpreting poetry or a work of art.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Jesus said, \"Enough! Put away your sword. Those who live by the sword, die by the sword.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. John does not get to launch his attacks & be considered \"civil\" - while the response is deleted. That is the height of hypocrisy.\n\nTherefore - repost.\n\nYou state no facts about me...ever. What you do is spin, distort, mislead, misinterpret, call names (even while proclaiming not to), misrepresent facts...all in order to put down someone else and put forward your peculiar version of actual facts. It is sad and despicable.\n\nYears ago...three, I believe...I gave you the EXACT quote from Cdl Burke's interview. You did NOT like it, and since then have done nothing but call me a \"homophobe,\" \" liar,\" and other things. You refuse to read or understand the whole of the quotes in light of Catholic teaching, and have gone forward with the campaign of your \"truth\" which is what you perceive YOUR opinion to be, slinging mud at anyone who disagrees or offers actual facts or quotes instead of your interpretation. Your opinion does not give you the right to call names.\n\nStop it John. Just stop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Increased access to contraception also correlated with a sharp drop in unintended pregnancy & abortion rates during 2013 & 2014. This should alone be all that is needed to get Bishops to offer birth control out of their own charitable coffers.\n\nHowever, we see this is not the case because Pro-lifers & our religion's & Bishop's stand on both birth control & abortion have really only ever been about controlling women thru their reproductive organs. Never have they really cared about saving the unborn or helping women or even helping the poor. Otherwise our bishops would change their stand on these laws attacking women's benefits & healthcare which have already been proven to only increase abortions, increase the women who are injured & die on account of abortions, while they increase the poor, as the most affected group of women by this rule are poor women, who often can't afford birth control or another child.\n\nThese stands are unchristian & sexist & why many women leave Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The neocons have demonstrated that yhey are driven by ideology rather than spirituality. When we LGBT Catholics were pleading for dialogue with the hierarchs (rather than incessantly being spoken down to) the neocons told us we could leave the church. Now that Francis calls for dialogue and pastoral accompaniment, the neocons call him a h#retic! The problem lies with the neocons and their inability to read the signs of the times ... with their failure to discern the prompting of the Holy Spirit. So very sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would not claim to be an expert as my knowledge is a bit dated.... but was once paid a lot to examine the Venezuelan international business practice / track record. Two things. \n\nFirst, they are typical of emerging nations with corrupt law and politics.... macho in attitude and violent. They suckered American and European companies into heavy investment every few years for decades. I could not find out why the suckers kept coming back. \n\nSecond, it is a big world. Why look at Venezuela until it is evident that they have culturally become honorable with the capacity for truth. This is the sort of society one sees as a result of a poisonous mix of Catholicism and nationalism. 500 years in the making, it will not change much for at least another 100.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously, the Civil Comments system has failed. This white nationalist (mt333) in all his/her glory (don't be fooled by an internet moniker) now posts regularly here. I am never asked to review main comments, only replies. What gives with that system? Totally vulnerable to the Bannon fan club which is infesting this site. Speaking as a non-RC Christian , let me assure Roman Catholics, this opinion to which I'm replying doesn't represent me, or the views of many Protestants. Yes, we did have a fundamental role in the shaping of our country, its culture and ethos, but we also allowed for religious freedom and immigration of others. We suffered from the wars of religion in Europe, and wanted no repeat here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Newfoundland Quebec had no problem doing it.\n\nAlso, there is nothing in the Constitution that requires 4 separate school boards, one English Public, French public, English Catholic and French Catholic. It can all be administered by one school board. There is a lot of waste that could easily be reduced or eliminated with no changes to the Constitution needed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So very interesting to hear what bores you, Ken.\n\nWhat bores me is the endlessly repetitive harp of many puritanical neoconservatives who believe that the root issue is human sexuality. All other issues are, in their myopic view, peripheral niceties.\n\nPope Francis breathes fresh life into the wizened old fossil that is meant to be the Mystical Body of Christ ... that is meant to be Sacrament to the World/Cosmos. This bag of dry bones has lost its saltiness, and its light is a wavering flame on the point of being extinguished.\n\nThanks be to God for Francis!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everyday, I thank God for Pope Francis. I pray that God give him another 10 years on the chair of Peter that he may appoint good bishops and good cardinals. We must storm heaven that God may have compassion on our corrupt church and corrupt world. We need more lights on the hill.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can anyone who calls themselves \"Christian\" support this vile and profane man? They must bless the p***y grabbers in their services now. God is s'posedly all powerful yet desperately needs money to do His work in this world? And lots of it. And some of those who raise the most money \"for God\" are obviously evil. Religion is a sure sign of gullibility.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As a Christian I'm appalled at the rejection of the bid for a Muslim cemetery in Quebec . \nDoes freedom of religion only apply to some religions . \nWe're all created equal by God , brothers and sisters . You'll take their money for housing , schooling , taxes , etc . But not to allow the Muslim community a place to bury their dead . \nShame , shame on this town . \nTo the Muslim community my sincerest apologies for the ignorant , racial few .", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's official: Donald Trump is more accepting of gays than the Catholic church.\n\nRejoice! Despair? Your choice.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The author who said that was Mary Gordon. She is a very negative, mean-spirited former Catholic who has become thoroughly anti-Catholic.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So it would be better if Angelo Roncalli had let all those Jewish people die in Auschwitz instead? Is that what you want to argue? And yes, if that is the Catholic Church's understanding of sin, then it is rigid and ridculous. Of course it isn't sinful for people to lie and cheat the Nazis to save lives. It is a GOOD thing that should be applauded; Roncalli certainly thought he was doing a good thing when he was forging those documents.. The fact that the neo-Thomism idea of sin that permeated the pre-Vatican II Church and that came into vogue again under JPII/ Benedict is the issue.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "UC Berkeley Student Paper Publishes Five Op-Eds Defending Violent Riots\n\nA riot that shut down the free speech rights of a gay Catholic.\n\nThis is the most violent assault on free speech and Catholicism is decades, but NCR refuses to even comment on it. It would rather allow voices to justify violence in the name of silencing Catholics.\n\nhttp://www.mediaite.com/online/uc-berkeley-student-paper-publishes-five-op-eds-defending-violent-riots/", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Where were you when obama \"negotiated\" the Nuclear Deal with Iran? There were a few Americans held by the Iranians, most notably Pastor Saeed Abedini of Boise, Idaho, jailed for preaching Christianity in the land of the Religion of \"Peace and Tolerance\". For years, these Hostages (let's call them what they really are) languished in Iranian prisons with NO intervention on obama's part. Then suddenly, they're released. obama would have liked to claim it was HIS Nuclear Deal that won their freedom. What most of the media failed to point out was that we paid Iran $400 MILLION for their release. I know a RANSOM when I see a RANSOM, regardless of what the obama administration would have you believe. Good going, obama. You've just given every bad player in the world motivation to seize more Americans for profit. But, for all you Trump-haters, you selectively hear what you want to hear. Hypocrites.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed. But lets also give accuracy some due here. Pope Francis has removed many priests, bishops and Cardinals over this issue. He laicized Josef Wesolowski in 2014 and put him on trial in 2015 in front of the Vatican Tribunal. In 2014 again in his own backyard in Argentina he laicized Jose Mercau who was convicted and pled guilty to sex abuse charges. \n\nHe has also done the same actions when it comes to bishops and cardinals such as defrocking in 2013 Luis Bambaren who was the former head of Perus Conference of Catholic Bishops and just recently his removal of Cardinal Mueller as the Vatican's doctrine chief which is significant because it was Mueller as head of the CDF who stonewalled a lot of the abuse commissions proposals. \n\nSo Pope Francis deserves legitimate criticism on not issues such as not ending the Pontifical Secret or changing Canon Law on this issue of sex abuse. But saying he's trying to protect child rapists is not one of them.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I can't think of a more ridiculous way for anyone to spend their time and energy than making holiday greetings a political issue of \"right\" vs \"left.\"\n\nI have my opinion, which is that the \"War on Christmas\" is really the war on everything that is NOT Christmas---And that this time of year has been a holiday season long before christianity came along---But I'm not about to hassle anyone saying \"merry christmas\" to me.\n\nOf course, if the phrase \"merry christmas\" is enforced on a national level, in public meetings, at school, etc., it will earn my scorn for the ignorant policy that it is: A war on mulit-culturalism is a war on what really made this country great---Ironic in the extreme for the season of peace and goodwill...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Says a man working for the pedophile-riddled Catholic Church. What was that about casting the first stone?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that evangelical \"worms\" DO tend to turn to the 'right' - contrary to Christ's (VERY) liberal message of inclusion. Graham's message is the 180-degree opposite of Christ's message.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You disapprove of the transgendered and shoot us gobbledygook to support your disapproval. All you have shown us is your lack of love and support for the transgendered. And you undoubtedly believe that your lack of love is Christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There is no winning here on either side. If the cake baker wins, it opens the door for more of this crap by so called Christians. If the gay couple wins, it opens the door for forcing businesses to do things they don't want to do. In the end, no mater who wins, this will be a pyrrhic victory.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ummm, they aren't. They are just asking that you not treat them like dogs. Seems fair to me.\n\nThey are NOT trying to force YOU to be gay, like you seem to think, but YOU and YOUR KIND are trying to force EVERYONE to say christian prayers and live by christian doctrine (10 commandments at state capitols, etc..) And that's just WRONG of YOU.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for this calm, rational statement about sexual orientation. I don't understand the terrible myth out there that gay priests are responsible for the sexual abuse crisis. If anything is responsible for the clergy sex abuse crisis it is homophobia in the Catholic Church. Just my humble opinion...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The clergy blaspheme the Holy Pulpit; exploiting its high dignity; ....communists 'preaching' high treason against the Nations, the sedition of globalism. These have transformed themselves into evil POLITICIANS and have made themselves fair-game for ridicule. The vatican has become hillary clinton wrapped in a cassock; ....many authentic catholics now refer to jorge bergoglio as 'the vicar of george soros'. Even EWTN is beginning to anticipate a schism, and no Christian is going to be following team bergoglio ['the forces of evil'] headlong into this apostasy. [why hasn't this apostate vatican defrocked 'fr' tony flannery? ..maybe because he is spiritual-brother to this 'pope'; even now denying the Resurrection while, professing the essential things like climate change!]", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Are you saying that Nick should leave the Catholic Church because he is transgendered? I suppose that he can expect damn all support from the institutional Church, because it refuses to accept him as he is.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And released when no longer a danger. Their personal sanctity is their own affair. One hopes for it but it is not a public goal to impose it or even measure it. Now, if you want sanctity, tell Catholic hospitals to do all late term abortions by induction so that they can baptize the child before it expires from what was going to kill it and/or its mother anyway.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "_\"Why do the Khans get special and national exposure at the DNC? Because they\u2019re Muslim. It\u2019s PC BS pure and simple.\"_ -- 4:20\n\nIn fairness, I think the reason that the Muslim parents of a soldier who died in combat were provided a forum is to emphasize that not all Muslims are terrorists (just as all Christians don't follow Christ's teachings). Of course, the Khan's were speaking only to people who don't have hearts filled with hate and minds filled with Fox News garbage.\n\n-- Paul", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A remarkable out poor of Christian hate. Very moving ...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What you don't get is the alt-right, radical religious fundamentalist \"Christian\" folks will flock, en mass, to these businesses. \n\nRemember Kim Davis and how the right championed her and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for her? Remember George Zimmerman and how people bought his art for the same amounts? \n\nThe \"free market\" won't work here because the hate filled ignoramuses fortunate enough to have thick pockets will buy tons of goods/services they don't need to send a message to the good people on the right side of history. You need legislation to provide legal recourse to victims of discrimination. The fact that we have expanded the protected categories in Anchorage is very progressive, intelligent, and fair. \n\nAlso, Minnery, you wanna see some turnout in a municipal election? Anchorage won't let you do this crap. We are more diverse than your congregation and we can be riled up just as fast.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So now I guess if a player calls another \"b*tch\", which of course is a perjoratie word that devalues females, the player will be similarly suspended?? How about anyone who uses the word's \"Goddamn\" or \"Jesus Christ\" in vain? Will apologies be given to Christians and can we expect the offending player to be suspended? After all, equal rights for all and special privileges for none must surely dictate!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "do you think Israel cares a rotten fig about Christians there? you do realize that most Israeli Christians are PALESTINIAN ARABS don't you???? they don't like them any more they do the Muslim ones. you do realize that Christians are considered second class citizens don't you? the only reason why they are treated as well as they are is because Israel knows the west would throw a fit and no longer send them money, guns and bombs if they didn't.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Excluding transgender people from RCC institutions is just wrong and so judgmental. How can our church hierarchy pretend to spread the gospel of Jesus and the act his way. In what way is this walking the way Christ taught us. Shameful.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "EVERY SINGLE Catholic I know has a big problem with female priests. If one wants to be a female priest, go to the Episcopalian church. There is no place for them in the Catholic Church, now or EVER.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You mean the drunken, grotesquely fat Martin Luther that was known as a glutton? The same one that published various books inciting hatred against Jews? That guy?\nBy the way, you probably already know, but what the heck: for more than 1500 years, the only reason there was such a thing as a Christian is because there was a church. Care to guess which one that was?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You are absolutely right Utilitas. I have been more than a bit angry about these kinds of duplicitous situations myself. The treatment of Father Hall by his fellow priests is despicable, but I saw the exact same thing happen to a priest friend of mine after he was removed from a teaching position at a Catholic college for being gay. Twenty five years down the drain and only a handful of his fellow priests and less than that of his fellow professors called to see how he was doing. We both felt the lack of response was due to fear by association since he knew half of his brother priests were gay. It still sucked.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I would swear I'm living in Idaho, not Oregon. If you really think things will hit the fan, you should be active in keeping it from happening. IMO millions have fallen to prey to fear by way of conservative media and the constant drone that everything is falling apart. Of course now that we have an emotionally unstable President, it's probably the liberal democrats, not the conservative Republican who will continue the 'sky is falling' propaganda.\n\nThis idea of the coming end of the world, is just as stupid as has been for the last 2000 years. Generations of Christians have looked forward the end of time, thinking that it is only THEY who will receive salvation. Not that you are Christian, but I know this as fact by way of having been told this by Christian.\n\nYou mentioned that you question emotions working in decisions. I'm telling you that both your and Eugene are victims of emotion based propaganda. There are people, with profit motive, pushing your buttons.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "AAwesome post !! Thank you Mike AA!\n\nI wonder what would have happened if this man would have murdered someone and was acquitted by some ridiculous legal technicality. I think that the Vatican would have bounced him out of the priesthood.\n \nI bet that if this mans crime would have to do with embezzling funds, he would have been banned from the priesthood.\n\nIt seems that catholic clerics place such little importance on child sex crimes. \nThey minimize these crimes by calling them abuse and boundary violations and treat them as low level sins, just mere indiscretions and mistakes. \n\nI feel that many of the ordained ones are sick and twisted with repressed sexual desires. \n\nI think that the most ambitious of them are among the most dangerous. \nEgo maniacs that demand to be called \"your grace\" like Meyers, and slick glad handers like Dolan, who routinely lie, are very selfish and dangerous men.\nLook at the pain that their leadership has caused to scores of others.\n\nHow sad and pathetic!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No, Catholicism is about Christ. Liberal America has turned everything into being about sex, not the Church. \n\nBut------if I have made Catholicism all about sex, have not liberals made Catholicism nothing more than charitable work--as if Catholicism is nothing more than glorified social work and charitable outreach.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "She is a master of taqiyya, the deception and dissimulation used by Muslims against infidels, kafaars, Christians and Jews to protect Islam from scrutiny. She knows Islam is creating a mess across Europe but she will blame the Europeans because it is her solemn duty to protect the name of Allah and Mohammad. Islam uber alles.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Natives to inherit the earth after the Christians and Muslims eat each other up. All the above you wrote is preventable, but for the greed and avarice of a few. Think back to the Imperial Roman Empire and their invasions and occupations of other countries in order to leech like parasites, off others resources and lands that belong to the Natives. Today our CIA has destabilized most of the 3rd world countries so a few balding old pasty orange faced privileged leeches can profit off the pain and misery of the unchristian Natives that comes with the slaughter, from the capitalist policies of the colonial leeches.\nSo what was the root reason we were attacked by Saudi Arabian and Egyptian terrorists on 9/11, and why are we mired down in Afghanistan and Iraq instead of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, to whom we send the dictatorial despots billions a year. \nAnd how did the anglo oil companies magically get Iraqi oil contracts after being kicked out since 1972?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cMark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.\u201d This quote is from that well known liberal, Barry Goldwater.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "When you're a politician, you have to go through the motions of attending church, etc in order to curry favor with the \"god fearing\" electorate and church bosses that tell their sheep how to vote.\n\nLook at our current POTUS...do you REALLY think he was a church attending, god loving \"Christian\" before he kow towed for the Religious Right's votes???\n\nToo busy P * # * Y grabbing...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The people who 'know' the mass murderers, or the incestuous fathers or the pedophile Catholic priests always seem to show surprise when the truth about them comes out, too. \n\nThis is just a Greek Orthodox priest who paid for his sex instead of grooming and assaulting his victims in the sacistry like the Catholic priests or many of the other priests in this country. \n\nOr even like all those school teachers in Thurston, or Eugene, or all over Oregon who do the same. And lets not forget those police officers you keep reminding us about and their sex crimes!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "My family in Iraq is threatened by this madness--therefore I claim a little more right to speak on it than the bigoted ignoramuses in here who arrogantly attribute it to my faith. The Da'esh represent the fruits of trees which the mighty \"enlightened\" west watered with Muslim blood. Your good Christian Germans raised up their Ottoman sock puppets, and your good Christian British did the same with the criminal 'Sa'ud' family to oppose them. After the sun set on the latter's bloody \"empire\" the US and USSR stepped in as the new puppet-masters. The DIRECT result of their greedy manipulation is what we see now. You arm and finance murderers and when they do what you HIRED them to do, feign that you're \"appalled\" by their crimes. I previously compared this insanity to a bird of prey that attacks the targets of its choice upon release from its master's glove--including its master. Malcolm X (Rah'matullahi alayhi) put it another way: \"The chickens have come home to roost.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't it a bit ironic that Catholic Churches ring the Church bells on Patricks day to welcome destroyers into the country, and, right on cue one such savage kills our people in London. The clergy are complicit! They step up to the pulpit and pray for 'world peace' as if they are dimwitted beauty pageant contestants. The clergy have despised their noble birthright and sold it away for the sod pottage of social-work. 'Preaching' enviromentalism as incompetent 'scientists'; they make themselves fools addled alongside 'global warming' hot-shots who have been ridiculed for decades. [even 'global-warming' has had to have been changed to 'climate change' because the 'scientists' are always repudiated by the evidence...which contradicts 'warming']. [Or, 'cooling';...because in fact the nature of it is CYCLICAL; driven by the sun][indict me for mortal sin of 'climate denial', or, call me Capernicus]", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I spend some of my time at religious websites because I want to see if all \"Christians\" are like the homophobic, misogynist, racist, brain dead ones who voted for T rump. Thankfully, I find many people here, who are of good heart, judgment, mind, and concern for their fellow men and women; despite being Christian or not! Good people are good people, doesn't matter whether they are Christian or not. Some people who are deeply religious are inspired by their faith to super human feats of service and love for their fellow man. Others (Bible Thumpers) cherry pick any verse in the Bible in order to demonize people such as LGBQ. I find a mix of all kinds here and whether I agree or not, I want to hear what people are thinking.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "He got in with lies and not facts,\nand real quick called up Goldman Sachs.\nWhen the poor loot stores\nor die in Trump's wars\n---as the mentally ill can buy guns again and the NRA's stranglehold on democracy strengthens...\n...as Christianity begins to call the shots more often in supposedly secular government...\n...as national parks and protected lands get occupied by industries and ruined...\n...as the rich get richer...\n.....you'll realize that rhyming and calling people who are justifiably scared \"whiners\" was ridiculous.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity is responsible for more terrorism and oppression than any other human institution. Read up smarty pants !!!\n\nBottom line is Islamic Extremists are no different than antisocial serial killers and need to be eradicated. This really has less to do with religion and more to do with criminality and mental deficiency. They are defective humans.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\u201c\u2026and if black guys weren't so heavily involved in violent crime\u2026\u201d\n\nI\u2019ll let you ponder that blatant bit of \u201cnot part of MY group\u201d exclusive thinking, and how it might have affected those who are not part of \u201cyour group\u201d\u2026 after NOT being part of YOUR \u201cgroup\u201d for the last 200 years. \nYour post is a perfect example of how white, Christian, Americans are blind to the advantages they enjoy by being white\u2026their \u201cwhite privilege\u201d, and how they are easily exonerated from the misdeeds of their group\u2026unlike the \u201c\u2026heavily involved in violent crime\u2026\u201d black guys, or the terrorist Muslims.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I was just \"loathing\" several of my Christian friends last night whom I had invited over for dinner. We had a good time. Loathing can be fun, I guess. There was a bit of distracting noise from the backyard next door. Probably some infidels were being beheaded, but I cannot be sure. It could have been the neighbor's weed whacker.\n.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You are quite right:\n-God created women to serve the sexual \"needs\", reproductive requirements and otherwise serve men -\"..in the church and in the world\" (CDF Prefect)\n-\"Every sperm is sacred\" says the church. God says 1 in 250 million, +/- per try (or not)\n- ANY abortion, for any reason is obj'ly evil; personal sin. God say 40-65% of conceptions terminate in natural \"abortion\" so early they are not perceived. \n-EVERY egg is sacred says the church. God says 1millian at birth, 300,000 at puberty, 400 ovulate. OMG! \n-Being Gay is an \"intrinsic disorder\". God creates/the church condemns. Wha?\n- Bishops build and own/I pay\n-Should we go on?\nYoung people are discovering the connection between clerical institutionalism and used car sales\"men\".", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Read your history. The KKK was a para-military branch of the democrat party. And don't give me that southern democrats turned into republicans drivel. The democrats have always been the party of control at least as far back as Andrew Jackson. When the South became a better place to do business due to less control, their economy improved. people became less dependent and they went republican.\nRadical groups? Ever hear of the Weather Underground, the Black Panthers,the FALN? What side has been doing all the rioting over the last eight years under Obama. What party seems to coddle the Mosques that produce our own homegrown terrorists, while hammering little Christian bakeries over gay wedding cakes.\nBetter look at who got the most donations from the dreaded Top 2 percenters while you're at it. It wasn't Trump.\nDesperate uneducated? I long ago learned what the term educated idiot means. Book smart; real world challenged, to put it nicely.\nAlt Right? The latest democrat, boogeyman buzzword.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It is being sexually active where they disagree with the Church. They see neither a casual hook-up or a live in relationship as wrong, nor masturbation or pornography. The clerical obsession with sex and the need to confess them simply seem backward to them. If the Church would treat these matters as inadvisable rather than evil (raping drunk girls-being the exception) because they complicate life and go against the natural inclination to more permanent connection, it would have better luck. Even St. Paul condemned fornication as a sin against oneself, not as an insult to God, who cannot be insulted. Only the pietous are insulted. They need to get over it or people will continue to stop coming.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I watched a few minutes of the ceremony but it was too painfully saccharine and just plain synthetic to bear. While I am sorry for the terrible acid attack on Malala, I can't help feeling we are being played for suckers. How many people would remain in the Catholic church if throwing acid on school girls is church doctrine? Yet such violence is intrinsic to Islam.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't realize the Church was to be ruled by polling data I didnt realize Aquinas should have held a townhall before penning the Summa. Perhaps the great popes, doctors, evangelists, etc. should have held a vote before compiling 2000 years of magisterial teaching. What a bunch of marxist/humanist nonsense.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I'll come right out and ask the question, alwayspuzzled...Who is, or should be, the patron saint of pedophile priests? (Or pedophile Roman Catholics,for that matter?)--I await your reply. \ud83d\ude0e.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Man I know that Catholics have the whole infallibility thing in their view of the Pope since Vatican I but come on. Many of the Conservative and Liberal Catholic commentators here read so many far fetched and ridiculous things into what was suppose to be a joke from the Pope. \n\nI mean seriously. Can Francis not be a human being and joke around with his associates without people reading ridiculous things like \"he's talking about not complaining about women's ordination or child sex abuse\" or the most ridiculous \"this reminds me of fr maciel and the legions of Christ\". Really? \n\nI bet if the Pope made a joke about the simpsons people would be reading ridiculous social implications of his statements. Lighten up people", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You mean the article written by this uber right-wing-nut, rabidly Catholic, anti-birth control, anti-Muslim, terrorist supported, Robert Spencer?:\n\n\"As the director of the Jihad Watch blog and co-founder of Stop Islamization of America, Robert Spencer is one of America\u2019s most prolific and vociferous anti-Muslim propagandists.\n\nAbout Robert Spencer\nHe insists, despite his lack of academic training in Islam, that the religion is inherently violent and that radical jihadists who commit acts of terror are simply following its dictates. His writing was cited dozens of times in a manifesto written by the Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik. Spencer was banned from the United Kingdom as an extremist in July 2013.\"\n\nThis guy? Yes, I'm going to believe everything the man who was banned from the U.K. because of his extremist and hateful acts writes.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The \"violence against conservatives\" comment is ludicrously hypocritical when one considers the rash of horrific violent crimes commited by right wing extremists like Robert Dear, Dylan Roof, and Jeremy Christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Those Somali and other \"refugees\" are big bucks for Catholic Social Services. \n\nDr. Youssef Barbour is correct about Syria. A beautiful country...BEFORE Barry Soweto and Hildabeast - aided by neocon warmongers like McCain, decided to help blow it up, kill, maim, and displace millions. Where was his outrage then? \n\nThese demonstrators are nothing more than useful idiots. At least they aren't destroying property like their Soros-Funded Progressive counterparts are doing elsewhere.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Because as far as color goes, the dominant gene is the black gene and the child will not look white. It is also because of a bias against blackness by some groups. If a child has a certain percent of black heritage, they are considered black. This is not at all unusual nor limited to black and white. It is a way of preserving culture, hence a child with a Jewish father but a Christian mother is not considered Jewish. Bias is not always about hating something. It is about a love of something too. That Obama was scarred says more about his lack of proper upbringing than about racism. He should have been taught to love himself and his enemies and to overcome evil with good rather than vengeance.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And so tonight the filthy, racist, criminal president has pardoned the filthy, racist, criminal ex-sheriff for the sheriff's long, public, defiant violation of the human, political and civil rights of persons with black and brown skin. Despicable.\n\"The politics that Christianity requires\"?\nMSW has never written truer words than these:\n\"There is a moral obligation to resist him, tooth and nail, day in and day out, with all the moral fiber and intellectual rigor we can muster.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "But christians make it so easy to mock them! From virgin birth to bringing back to life a dead guy or claiming all humans are sinners and must give up autonomy for some unproven heaven place. I could go on and others will and have.\n\nBut the cool thing is that great dino track!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Are you saying that human beings KNOW everything that there is to KNOW about God? God is ALL TRUTH----and we haven't even scratched the surface of the TRUTH that God is.\nGod has revealed MUCH to us----but EVERYTHING? NO, NO, NO! \n\nAnd guess what? The Catholic Church acknowledged that during Vatican II.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, Jesus taught that Moses departed from the law of God in allowing bills of divorce since it was not so from from the beginning, the two become one flesh, and what God has joined let no man put asunder. \n\nIf this passage was about not forcing women to be beggars, why does Jesus also forbid a man from marrying a divorced woman, calling this adultery too?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Koch's fund a department at Catholic University of America? I would love a reference to support this please.\n\nI whole-heartedly support your recommendation for folks to buy and read Jane Mayer's Dark Money ... as well as Arlie Hochchild's Stangers in their Own Land.\n\nWhat I don't understand is why hasn't someone - using out Catholic Social Teachings as the criteria for evaluation ... not analysed the methods and policies of the \"dark\" network identifed by Mayer and the lived realities documented by Hochchild. \n\nAgain - with the wealth and resources of the Knights' Supreme Council and their professed love for St. John Paul II, why have they not done a comprehensive analysis using JPII 1991 Centesimus Annus - particularly from 58: Love ... is made concrete in the promotion of justice. - it requires above all a change in live-styles, models of production and consumption - established structures of power - orienting them towards an adequate notion of the common good - \" for all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He's not a Christian.\n\nFrom his very easy to find Facebook profile, he's anti-Christian if anything. Death metal, nihilism, marijuana, lots of death and \"dark thoughts\" type stuff.\n\nWhat we'd normally write off as edgy teenager stuff, if it weren't his age and his crimes.\n\nHe prides himself on being an 'ex con' and having assaulted people in the past. Has mugshots on his profile and his email address is a variation of 'ex con' at gmail.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The best cure for Christianity is reading the Bible.\n\n\u2015 Mark Twain", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "warbirds, you're the one who wrote: \"does that include retro fitting a room in a Catholic high school into a muslim prayer room for 24 students?\" It kind of looked like you were talking about the Peel situation - the one the article was about - and were misinformed. So don't tell me to \"broaden my outlook\" to accommodate your misinformation.\n\nCanadian law, including the Constitution, requires reasonable accommodations of the kind made in Peel. If you don't like that, you and your supporters may want to shop around for another place to live. Your choice, though.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Doesn't NCR know that Catholicism has a professional Catholic who calls himself a \"major motion picture producer\" for making one low budget documentary that went straight to video?\n\nQuiz: name that professional Catholic!\n\n(hint: he has the same name as a famous TV star of the 1980s)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jeet09\nWhat Columbus did, as a Christian, was not in keeping with the practices of his time.\nUnless you want to find the bits of the bible where Christ demanded his followers smash the other cheek.\n\nThe old testament has a provision for slavery but even there the slaves are to be set free every 7th year.\n\n(Not even sure Columbus was such a great explorer. Others claim to have sailed those seas and certainly Columbus seemed to be lost - thought he was in India. 4 trips did sort it out for him.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. He was a very interesting writer. Those Southern Catholic writers. We really need to re read them. How would he and Flannery write and think now? I miss their words not written.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't see your point. Don't Christians claim the entire thing is the word of god?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Correct, Petrows. There is a thickness of mind to someone who uses the Hindu religion as his Commentator pen name whilst constantly attacking Christianity and the West (the historically Christian West being where he presumably chose to live) while defending Islam which, being the national religion of Pakistan - I'm sure Hind is aware of the history as he has regaled us with his \"Fractured Fairy Tales\" version of it ad nauseam - is neither positively viewed nor much-tolerated in modern India. Gives new meaning to, \"The enemy of my enemy is my friend.\" In Hind's case, the phrase would more accurately be reframed as, \"My hosts, the targets of my enemy... are therefore also my enemy!!!\" Doesn't make much sense, does it. But imagine Hind crouched in front as Celest gazes up into the nether heavens and all will become clear as the stars in an overcast sky. No doubt difficult for each of you but for sanity's sake, try, just TRY to listen more than you speak, read more than you write.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Conservatives like you remind us that all lives don't matter in this country. That includes children. Even the so called pro-life Christians don't care as much about those children, than the unborn. I don't hear you or the pro life Christians caring about the children of Flint. This is another story that exposes the GOP as little more than a white identity death cult. They have had 3 years to speak up and they have been silent on the children of Flint. There is no limit of dead children for them as long as their deaths lead to profit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fun...but not funny . Gays, woman, jews, atheists, christians, buddhists, hindus, kurds............and on and on and on down the list.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, there will be many so-called Christians standing before the throne in judgement (Rev 20:12)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "3rd day of the month of Ilm (Knowledge) 173 B.E.\n\nInterestingly, there was a new calendar, instituted by the Bab (Gate), from Shiraz, Persia, in the historical province of Elam, where Daniel had a vision.\nThis calendar began on Naw Ruz (New Year) March 21st, 1844. (Actually, it was after sunset March 20th, but sunset marks the new day.)\n\nThe above date was also the 1st day of the 3rd month of the year 1260 AH of the Muslim calendar, 1 Rabi I 1260 AH.\n\nThus, the year 1260 AH = 1844 AD = ONE BE\n\nThe intersection of these three calendars is not coincidental, but rather reflects the ancient prophetic traditions mentioned in the Book of Daniel, as well as Revelation, and provides insight into the connectivity of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions as part of a single process of progressive revelation.\n\nA quick Google search of a Muslim Christian Calendar Converter confirms the numbers of the years mentioned above, and further research into the Baha'i Calendar confirms that as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "False equivalence. Please study Catholic doctrine and Islamic Law and get back to us, rather than by attempting a junk argument of religious relativism by invoking superficialities. \n\n\nThanks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I agree with most everything in the article, I firmly believe Trump's only values are ego, power and money. His political mechanizations are solely geared to supporting these values. In other words, he is using the alt-right and their anti-Christian values as a means to achieving his goals and he will use any other person or group if it benefits himself\n\nIf you are looking to define Trump by Democratic or Republican socio-political values, it will not work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" ... on the heels of reports generated by a United Nations investigation and a Guatemalan truth commission that established that the United States had not only propped up a series of brutal military dictators but also had trained many of the military leaders involved in ordering and overseeing horrendous human rights violations...\" Even more important was the Catholic Church's own Project to Recover the Historic Memory, which the bishops created after the peace talks established a truth commission with a criminally weak mandate. It wasn't the U.N. which spoke the painful truth about Guatemala's painful past. It was the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a strange little conversation this is!\n\nGHorsnell you say, as Jesus said, (and as leaders have said in almost every religion, it seems) that we should love our neighbours and treat others as we would like to be treated. Fine. Then you rate Christianity at the top because of that. Can you spell h-y-p-o-c-r-i-s-y? Because I suppose this must mean you would want your Muslim, Jewish, atheist, neighbours and neighbours of all faiths to treat you the way you have treated them, which would be for them to tell you why they think their religion is better than yours. No one needs that!\n\nI don't know for sure, but I think Mahatma Ghandi might say you would be a good Christian if you were to help a Jew be the best Jew they can be, or likewise for a Muslim, a Hindu, and so on. We are who we are. Religions and spirituality help people claim an identity and still live in peace with others. Religions have been less than perfect in achieving that, but let's support one another in it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I morn for people not a community. People are being singled out all over the world for religious beliefs, not dressing appropriately or just for being in the wrong spot at the wrong time. Christians groups have been slaughtered in the middle east. Where is the out cry by the LGBT? Dont turn this into we are different and we need special protection. We all need to be diligent and make sure we put a stop to this for all,not only one group. Stop the victim crap, we are all victims when this kind of violence happens against anyone, it is not a platform for LGBT to further \"we are being picked on\". Grow up its not just one group of people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only important thing to conservative Catholics is that you say you are going to vote as they want; they really don't care much what people do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Atheists don't look for the Church for anything. Christian humanists, however, call on the Church to change. From Christ to Erasmus to this newspaper and your humble servant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Labor unions are great -- except when adjunct faculty and grad students try to form them at liberal Catholic universities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mayor & protesters get in touch with reality, suggest you read the order entirely, I have, Bottom line these 7 nations harbor & support ISIS members. Why are these muslim immigrants seeking refuge in Jewish & Christian nations vs other islamic countries , inalienable human rights. Saudi, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain etc. are not accepting them due to fear of terrorism, effects tourism, expense & costs. With 911 and the following 50 based islamic acts in the U.S. we have lost close to 4,000 innocents. Those with pre-approved visas & green cards are and will be coming in. Give the plan sometime to work and get fine tuned. WE WILL NOT GAMBLE WITH AMERICAN LIVES", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...continue to be the Christian outlier....\"\n\nMost of Christianity is in outlier territory -- with their baptismal crosses and communal beliefs fixed like an eternity there. I am sure gender issues will surface in time, but right now the so-called Christian outliers are the majority of Christianity. I just checked Pew data.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remove the plank from your own eye. I know you're Catholic and a Democrat. Being a Democrat and Catholicism is in complete contradiction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Take his test to see if you are biased or truly against anyone regardless of their religion being allowed a quiet space in our schools to pray.\n\nAsk yourself this; if there is a Christian or Jewish group in this school that has , for years, been granted a vacant classroom to meet should they be now told that they are not to be allowed a vacant classroom to meet in ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr. Martin speaks well within the Catholic tradition, which is not based on extreme ideological politics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't listen or watch EWTN. It provides a great service to millions and millions of faithful Catholics, and many many Protestants too. EWTN has brought many many many souls into the Church. \n\nIt's paradoxically and profoundly similar to NCR in a way, in that they both have a largely \"clerical view\" of the Church.\n\nFor me, too many stories from both NCR and EWTN revolve around \"clerics, Rome, bishops, USSCB, sisters\", with NCR being largely negative on those things..but unable to stop talking about them, and seeing all events through those lenses, and EWTN being largely positive on those things.\n\nThe key difference is that EWTN brings millions INTO the Church..I can't tell you how many former protestants that I know ran across EWTN on cable and eventually entered the Church, proud to say that EWTN was the impetus. \n\nAND NCR doesn't bring anyone to the Church..it basically serves as an \"exit\" sign, piling on gripe after gripe that eventually these people just leave the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Say, do any of these bishops understand what \"Christian responsibility\" is? And if they do, why is it that so many sexual abuse victims are being shunned by bishops, while the bishops themselves remain unpunished for their considerable roles and for their cover-up?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AA is not \"christian\" in any way that would be familiar to a regular churchgoer. It's founders were members of the so-called \"Oxford Group\", which held a peculiar set of quasi-christian beliefs in the early 20th century. AA's theological underpinnings are more problematic - although ostensibly christian, there is no mention of Christ in any AA literature.\n\nThe biggest issue with AA is that it insists that alcoholics are essentially powerless and hopeless. In my view, this is not a good underpinning for recovery from any addiction - in fact, to truly recover, you have to believe that it is possible, and that you are capable of accomplishing it.\n\nAA may work for some (although there are numerous reputable studies that show it's effectiveness to be limited), but only at the cost of subordinating the individual to the AA group-think. Not a particularly welcome choice in my mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pastor Korver did a great job with that. He never cast shame on those that sinned. But he was also very good at showing the harm to ourselves and to our relationship with others and God, when we 'sin'. He shared my belief that sin, even the image of hell, is the state in wish we are separated from the love/ God. Hell is isolation from love, security, hope, growth, life. He was very good at showing the harm/pain to the sinner and never used the legalistic condemnations of society.\n\nI would say the right has to learn that they are not the ones who know absolute truth, and they are not the one that are supposed to sit in judgment and falsely proclaim themselves holy. \n\nThe historical Catholic church wrongly used their 'Holy' status for power and submission. (As are political protestant). They were for a time the exact Pharisees that Jesus so fiercely condemned in the Jewish church. Happily the new Pope is looking again at the mission and wisdom of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fine, but don't masquerade as a faithful Catholic priest and ignore your bishop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neko, those \"rapid Roman Catholics\" are busy helping the minority poor in the inner city raise their children and escape from being forced by circumstances and pressure to abort their children. If that's rabid, then count me in!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ok, you don't agree with the Church's teaching on abortion, fair enough.\nWomen are free under the law to kill their unborn children for whatever reason, it is up to them whether they heed the Word of God or ignore it. The punishment will probably not be in this life although it sometimes is but it most certainly will be in the next. The Church simply points out the eternal consequences of this choice.\nThe Church does not have the back up from most secular authorities anymore to preserve a Christian state. That, however, does not mean, that the Church should keep its mouth shut and not be an advocate for Christian morality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The apostles were \"those who are sent\". That includes all of them and all of us. The Twelve were chosen to (eventually) judge the Twelve Tribes of Israel. They were not ordained as priests. The Jewish priesthood was quite active during Jesus' time and His words directed to them were not flattering. Jesus Himself was a layman Who chose only laypeople as His first followers. The hierarchical, doctrine-spouting institutional church doesn't look much like the earliest Christian communities. Unfortunately.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder how long it will be before the conservatives attempt to spoil Catholic participation in this movement? I'm thinking Amnesty International and abortion here. It didn't matter to them what humanitarian causes Amnesty supported, how many individuals or groups they helped, they were denounced as pro-abortion and a lot of Catholics - some very high profile - withdrew their memberships.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "SPLC is a Marxist group that supports every anti America, anti Israel & anti Judeo Christian agenda!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church supported Mr. Trump.\nPlease advise where I can find that specific endorsement, okay? I must have missed it...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope. No where does our canon forbid women priests. It merely states only men can (currently) be ordained priests. This is not now, nor was it ever, official dogma, and since the 2nd part of the Greatest Gospel Commandment is \"to treat all the same as yourself\" - or you sin against God, is dogma in our church, and this applies to all treatment of all people, including treatment of women by men, and bishops too, it is actually against the greater dogma of our church to not ordain women the same as men. Ordination is a form of treatment it is something a Bishop does to those called to be priests. The Council of Trent does not state women can't be priests either so I have no idea why you are bringing that up. Doctrines and Traditions and Laws have changed throughout our church history and this hatred based rule will be destroyed as Jesus puts this evil and dividing principality of misogyny under his feet and this will happen very soon. Of this truth, I am confident!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thankyou, Emmett Coyne, for speaking so much truth. Pope Francis continues to protect Cardinal Pell in the Vatican, as the other bishops try to do damage control. When will the pope and bishops resign and close the Roman Catholic Church, which is a legalistic, man-created church that worships an institution with its man-created rules and regulations and ignores Jesus and Jesus' command to protect the innocence of children and make the sexual predator clergy accountable to criminal and civil laws?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can you not say anything nice? Just hope for a good meeting, a good exchange of ideas and understanding, and let it go at that? Or provide some actual helpful criticism or thoughts?\n\nNot to just pick on Steven...but doesn't anyone else see that this type of constant sniping is not exactly helpful or even Christian.....the very things many here complain about concerning others but never themselves?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you will notice that government has not outlawed any of those. Government may have worked to find cures, but they sure haven't outlawed them. I am sorry that you are not a fan of Christianity and the bible. I use this argument due to the reight's always saying God is on their side. God is not their side.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Council of Trent Session 22\nCANON II.--If any one saith, that by those words, Do this for the commemoration of me (Luke xxii. 19), Christ did not institute the apostles priests; or, did not ordain that they, and other priests should offer His own body and blood; let him be anathema.\n\nYou were not called to the priesthood. This is a provable fact given, not just that you're not a man, but because how could you think to be so called when you don't seem to know much of the Catholic Faith? The cannons from the Council of Trent quite obviously show just that.\n\nWhat about \"Feed my sheep\", or \"I am the good shepherd.\" And certainly Christ was aware of his impending death, which He chose to sacrifice for us.\n\nNot ex cathedra? So what!? It is a part of the de fide sacramental theology of the church for Pete's sake!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@Joe Cool\nBeheading ? Traditional form of punishment for nobility in England. Burning alive ? Done all over Europe for centuries. Mass murder and gang rape ? I recommend reading up on the Crusades. And, what's better, done by so-called Christians against other Christians. We have very little to be proud about in these areas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There you go, assuming the worst with a blanket statement. I have already heard Muslims across the world make statements against radicals. Maybe if you looked, you would too. \nIt is not a problem with the religion, it is a problem with the people interpreting the Koran to suit their needs. No different than Christian Americans trying to tell everyone else how to live while ignoring the teachings of Christ. The problem with this world is how people use religion to worry about others when the concept centers around the self and your relationship with whoever you think is their moral guide. \nAsking religious people to coexist? The whole concept of religion, having one god while disrespecting others is the recipe for what is taking place.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are all Christians Catholic, then?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think it's difficult for most of us in the West to understand the thinking and motivation behind religious extremism. The extremists behind the Sunni/Shia conflict are essentially throwbacks to medieval religious thinking, where someone who doesn't follow your strict interpretation of your religion is instantly an apostate who can (and should) be killed straightaway.\n\nChristianity went through the same sort of thing a few hundred years ago, and thousands upon thousands of people were imprisoned or killed outright. Just in the last century, there was a rumbling of discontent about Jack Kennedy running for President - he was a Catholic, after all, and while nobody overtly said that all Catholics were apostates, there was no doubt that there was sectarian disapproval.\n\nOf course, oil and international diplomacy play a big role in the Middle East, but we can't downplay the religious extremism that is at play here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A Catholic priest from Lithuania asks a Catholic reporter from America how it came to be that Donald Trump was elected president and the one-word answer is never uttered: Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one with your skewed viewpoint and false claims can be pro peace.\n\nOnly a small number of nations in the UN are Arab. And Muslim nations as a whole are an overwhelmed minority compared to Christian nations. The entire western hemisphere is Christian, without a single Muslim country.\n\nThe international condemnation of Israel's policies isn't about Muslims hating Jews, it's about humanity hating injustice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"There is NO \"Catholic left.\"\n*****\nAre hypoglycemic or just in your usual semi-coma? Try this: Google \"Catholic left\" (if you still remember how) and see how many hits you get. Ironically, one is titled, \"How Pope Francis Challenges the Catholic Left,\" posted right here on NCR by Michael Winters --- not exactly a fan of Opus Dei or Legionnaires of Christ. (Aren't I lame so far? But let's keep going, just for fun.) \n\nYou say: \"The Liturgy is for all of us people. If you can't come to bring yourself to greet another at the eucharist with a sign of peace: stay home.\" But, with all due respect --- and pardon my lameness --- we weren't talking about greeting people at the Eucharist with a sign of peace. We were talking about holding hands at the Our Father. As a matter of fact, you were so hasty to be nasty that you also forgot my having said that if someone extends a hand at the Our Father, I take it. I also shake hands at the sign of peace. Now go to bed. You need rest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A number of Christian Groups also avoid alcohol. Mormons also avoid caffeinated drinks. Asking never hurts and gives the impression, at least, that you care and are making an effort.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The thuth is one. Popes have to defend truth, not democracy. Pope Jhon Paul II and Pope Benedict defended the true catholic doctrine like all their precedessors, against dissidents who wanted to change it. If pope Francis defended catholic doctrine like his predecessors the former dissidents wouldn't be now loyal to him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting concept.. perhaps the best we can hope for is an uber ultraconservative successor pope who will send Rome's twisted brand of Christianity further down the path of total irrelevance.\n\nLet the Roman hierarchy become a church unto itself and see how they fare on their own.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If one thinks that the legal and cultural regime is inconsistent with your perception of Catholic doctrine then it is one's duty to get out of it, leave it behind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus said a lot of things, but we have the traditions and catechism of the One True Church, and canon law to guide us now and they teach that the Church must be protected from Scandal. Hence, the actions of our courageous Bishops, who suffered so much as a result of the scandal, although their selfless devotion to the Church was at least recognized when the Holy Father lauded them for their courage. And we must not forget, the greatest of them all, Pope Saint JPII, tirelessly worked to protect clergy, all because in his exalted state he realized that a few, or many, children harmed, a few, or many, lives ruined, were a sacrifice worth making to Protect the Institution. Surely a Saint would not have aided and abetted child abuse unless it was moral and right, albeit on a level that we cannot understand. The only alternative would be to conclude that the bishops and pope were morally corrupt and devoid of basic human decency. Surely that cannot be the case!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hitler was Catholic. \n\nBut yes. It's safe to say religion doesn't determine your morality. Your morality determines your morality. \n\nThe important thing to remember is to remain skeptical at all times. If you're not skeptical you're up for grabs. Faith or no faith, we should all be skeptics and not agree with something just because a Christian, atheist, conservative, or liberal said it. \n\nRemember the golden rule and treat others as you'd wish to be treated and we'll all end up okay. If you start treating others how someone in your group says they should be treated you might fall short or slip into arrogance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Church could not teach truth back then, and for all time, than isn't the church worthless, unreliable and useless as a moral teacher?\n\nI came from atheism, to deism and then to the Christian faith in some ways due to a search for objective truth. \"I am the way the truth and the light\" and the Matthew chapter 16 15-20 Is an utterly false statement if the Church of Christ could fall into catechetical error over so central in human life in communion with God that marriage is regarded as a sacrament where according to the Church grace is given. \n\nWhen exactly did the Church turn to error, and in what degree, there is not one place in either tradition and scripture that advocates for remarriage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islam is an extremely young and sect-riven religion, probably at a level of evolution comparable to the Christian controversies of the first and second centuries AD. (Which relative is the *real* conduit of Mohammed's version of God's instructions to his people?) This is so absurd, so painful, so avoidable. But because of Religious Pride, civilization may end where it began, barricaded or in catacombs at the Tigris and Euphrates, all because of an Islamic family dispute that goes back many hundreds of years. Forget about the current Salman. \n~~~\n\nIslam, Christianity, and Judaism are all intimately interrelated Faiths. Yet like the First, Second, and Third Churches of some Faiths that we can all recognize, they refuse to come together and would rather foment WW III. And alas, look at who we have as Leader of the Free World!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a terrible week it has been in the US! I urge bishops & priests to use their \"bully pulpit\" this weekend to preach on racism at all Masses, in parish bulletins, newspapers/newsletters and on diocesan websites. We cannot afford another week of marches, beatings, and Nazi/racist terrorism. I applaud Arch. Charles Chaput for his direct comments and encourage other members of the hierarchy to do the same. The time for \"prayerful reflection\" and fuzzy words is over: American Catholics need to hear from the ordained now!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Turkey became secular under Ataturk in 1923. Before that it was the Ottoman Empire and had ethnic cleansing of Assyrian and Greek Christians as well as Armenians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good question. I once knew a Lutheran who was surprised to hear me say I was Catholic first and an American second. The answer to that question may not be as uniform as you might think. But despite my being Catholic first, there is no tension (on the issue of immigration) between my being Catholic and being American. There isn't if you keep certain facts in focus: 1) These are God's children. They're entitled to love, compassion, and respect on that ground alone. 2) # 1 does not entitle them to be here legally. Every nation --- Christian or non-Christian --- has borders that must be respected. Short of true necessity, as when a shipwrecked seaman swims to shore on Cape Cod, on land owned by the Kennedy family, aliens have no right to be here without following the rules. What we have seen is not so much strict necessity as sheer desire. Lots of people would desire to be on the Kennedy compound. That bare desire confers no rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now we should tax churches. Especially those massive 'christian' churches that wont even open doors in catastrophe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, there's that whole mess with priests raping kids and the Catholic hierarchy covering it up. Simply stealing money looks fairly minor in comparison. \n\nI give Francis points for trying to stem the corruption.....though I would suggest he not drink that bedtime tea.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus' mercy, compassion and love certainly apply. But, remember, we're not living in 1st Century Palestine. Catholics are not members of the ancient Jewish faith, and we were not raised in its observances. The world, society, and our Catholic faith expresses itself differently.\n\nThe pontificates of JP II and Benedict marked, if not a wholesale repudiation of Vatican II documents such as Gaudium et spes---it marked a retreat from the vision enunciated in it---that the laity could share the responsibility for the development of ecclesial and social life; \n\n In Veritatis splendor, however, John Paul II----almost in abstraction from the rest of the faith community---writes, \"it is my intention to state the principles [so ta we can give] a reply that possesses a light and power capable of answering even the most controversial and complex questions\" [VS 30]. He elevated the role and competence of the hierarchy and debased the proper contribution of the lay faithful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who is the ruler is actually pretty irrelevant to the status of ordinary women. The women in Christian countries have always had much more freedom and equality than those in Muslim countries. That's why many come here, including a woman I know who risked her life crossing the border illegally while pregnant to give he daughter (and son) a better life.\n \nShe went back with her daughter once, the daughter refuses to go back, ever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tell your tale of non-bigotry of conservative Christians to Sweetcakes, or the guy from Google, or any of a number of colleges where they have been fired or discriminated against. Some of what you say may be true in some parts of the south and/or midwest, but in this state, it is the conservatives that get the door slammed in their face. As far as what is being taught in schools, it is because liberalism is being taught in schools. It is because a belief system that they disagree with is the ONLY belief system that is being taught in schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islam warred against christians too and it is nearing a millenium. \n\nIt all started when Urban II decided that the 1st Crusade would be a\njolly good way to raise some cash. But I'm sure Urban II was a \nloving pope.\n\nAnd its worked out so well for all concerned ever since hasn't it ?\n\nYeeesh", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So was JPIIs blue-eyed boy, Marcial Maciel Degollado, a gay man? He sexually abused underage minor seminarians and yet was fathering children with a female paramour or two. Being a sycophant, he was able to swindle vast sums of money from traddie multimillionairesses and funnel it into Vatican coffers. When the charges were brought against him the catholic neocons besmirched the victims as liars ... the Neuhauses, Weigels and Donohues spoke of this pedophile as a man of radiant holiness and trumpeted his innocence as \u201ca moral certainty\u201d... all while JPII extolled his work with the youth! Your repeated, vile and vituperative invective and calumny against gay priests has been flagged yet again, Ken. https://www.americamagazine.org/content/all-things/john-jay-report-not-blaming-homosexual-priests", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This post is insulting to all Christians and, actually, blows it all right back upon its revealing the mentality, the spirituality of the poster.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Belief in God, or gods, requires magical thinking. When it comes to things we can see and touch, science has mostly supplanted magical thinking, even to an understanding of the concept of the self, which formerly was thought of as the soul, whether mortal or immortal. There is still room to posit a cosmic clock-winder outside of space and time, containing everything within it, in some sense. That would be the omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient God of Christian theology. Germanic and Nordic people believed that at gotterdammerung, all the gods died and went to hell, which was a very cold place. That bleak vision was replaced, sometimes at sword point, by the rosy promise of an eternity in heaven, the Christian promise. That's all pretty simple, as it has to be for most people to grasp it.\n\nThanks for your replies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Meanwhile in Hungary today:\nAs Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban delivered his annual 'State of Hungary' speech in the Varkert Bazar (Castle Gardens Bazaar) at the foot of Castle Hill in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, Feb. 10, 2017, he also said; \n\"Naturally, we will take in the real refugees,\" Orban said to laughter and loud applause. \"The panicked German, Dutch, French and Italian politicians and journalists, Christians forced to leave their countries who want to find here the Europe they lost at home.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Couillard, and Quebecers in general, I think, are more pro-secularism than anti-any- particular- religion.\"\n\nHaa haa funny! Quebeckers attack Muslim women, had a aneurysm about Sikhs and their little knives and stood firmly behind having Christian religious symbols in their legislature.\n\nI think, Couillard & Quebecers in general, are more close minded, intolerant of others and especially bigoted toward any religion other than christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trost is a dinosaur in his views on gay rights. He would be more at home in the Christian Heritage Party and should go join there. People like him is what will keep the party in opposition and the party would be best to tell him to take a hike.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It appears the idea of the Alaska House and Senate is to support the welfare of a Billion Dollars a year to BP Exxon and Conoco and go after all Alaska's infrastructure and every one of you -Kids too! \nThen they can bring back their idea of a Civil Christian State as determined by those productive folks in Wasilla North Pole and Big Lake that really don't do much but raise the devil. It interferes with their Chapters of Gospel -not the apocrypha of the internet to kids in school!\nYou vote next week in Anchorage, and next August all over, and you determine your best interests, 'cause you voted for these scallywags as Jay Hammond called them to begin with. They are your meat and majority! From Nome and Bethel and The Pennisula you elected them to knock you offline! So get with it. Or eat your cake.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In response to the \"far right\" Christian response we get the \"far left Christian\" response. Surely there is middle ground. Perhaps not for Minnery or Patkotak but certainly for the more sane of us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We Christians take the 10 Commandments and John 3:16 as selected quotes all the time. Is that dishonest?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether we like it or not, monica, this story is highly relevant to the mess that is already a permanent part of archdiocesan history. And if Peter Laird eventually addresses his situation publicly, it would be highly useful to an understanding of what went on in the archdiocese, as well as what may still be going on there. I have Catholic relatives there who have a lot of questions and are still looking for answers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This would be like requiring the Catholic Church to inform attendees of the principles of the the Wiccan religion as a suitable alternative they might also consider.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It has strayed from the Teachings of Jesus. Jesus didn't start a church. He didn't start a priesthood. He taught us to love one another. In other words to care and share. Direct access to God, the Father and the Spirit. A spirituality of love. There was no intermediary called church.\nToday, the Church is stuck in the mud with its adherence to dogma and doctrine which Jesus criticized coming from the Pharisees. If the job of an Ecumenical Council is to explain the status quo theologically, then it is a waste of time and money.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They have no flocks. There opinions carry no more weight than any other Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Self Labelled 'leftist' Catholics are really just Disobedient Catholics who want to ignore the Church's teachings they disagree with, and usually are more aligned with their political party or group than they are with the Church on any given issue. The same can also be said of Self Labelled 'Right Wing' Catholics. The Church will side with those organizations policies promoting the most important good's and opposing the most vile evils of the day. I must say that the Democratic party in general, if you take all the issues, is the party pushing the most vile and immoral policies today. I am not party affiliated. Though the Republican party is not inline with the Church on many issues, these issues tend to be of lower moral gravity than the issues with which the Democratic party platform is contrary to the Church's teachings. If you disagree, line up the issues where the RNC Platform is at odds with the Church, and those where the DNC is at odds and compare.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"On Oct. 13, 2007, 138 Muslim leaders signed \"A Common Word\u00a0Between Us and You,\" a document stating that Christians and Muslims share two great commandments \u2014 love of God and love of neighbor \u2014 and should work for peace together.\"\n- This is a good article.\n- A next step for groups such as the one in this article is to specifically identify and renounce by name those parts of sharia or any fatwa that enables forces of violence in Islam. That is, reject the laws and thinking that violent people use to justify honour killings, rapes, slavery, murder, religious persecution of anyone everywhere in the world.\n- The renunciations need to be done in a manner that inoculates young men and women from the 'romance of violence'; especially young men.\n- Followers Islam, Christians, Jews, and people of other religions, and men and women of good all need to be part of disabling violence as a 'religious expression'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear sister. As a writer, I have done a great deal of research over 4 decades on the Catholic church and the most recent popes. I believe that every pope is a soul for whom Christ died and that not all popes will be lost. Take for example the vilified Pius XII, also known as Hitler's pope. Did you know that he had a 7th Day Adventist cousin that lived in New York? She sent him a Desire of Ages and a Great Controversy. A priest, father Rivera, who later became Seventh Day Adventist, was granted an audience with the pope, while he was still Catholic. He saw the Bible opened and those 2 books at either side of the Bible in the pope's private office. That was when he started making changes in the church. He was found dead and no autopsy was allowed. He had been healthy up to that moment. Years later, pope John Paul I was elected and lasted only 33 days. He was asked about his action plan and he replied that he would continue the reforms of Pius XII. You know what happened to him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While Jews under Christendom suffered two millennia of systemic persecution as \"Christ killers\" culminating in the Holocaust, they (and Christians) as \"People of the Book\" co-existed and even prospered in the vast Muslim world for centuries before the forceful carving of a Jewish state out of predominantly Arab Palestine poisoned relations.\n\nTrue, non-Muslims were second-class Dhimmis, but this was at a time Americans owned slaves. Persecution of minorities (including Jews) existed everywhere and the Muslim world was no exception. But no one disputes (not even pro-Israel scholar Bernard Lewis) that historically, Jews fared far better under Islam than Christendom, until Zionism appeared.\n\nThe seeds of conflict were only sown in the 1880's when European anti-Semitism gave birth to a Zionist movement that sought to recreate a Jewish homeland in an already populated Palestine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And just a while ago, NCR's Michael Sean Winters flies to Europe on a super-polluting jet, apparently sponsored by concerned Catholics for the environment. \n\nAlt-left Catholicism in its glory.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you equating the Bible with Husler magazine, JS Fry? I'll have you know that's Ezekial 23:19, a passage Jehovah inspired Ezekiel to write one day when he was feeling particularly randy. Maybe the problem with Christianity is that Christians don't focus on the right parts of the Bible enough.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have tried hard in your post to make the point that it's not about race \"see, white guys do it too...\". That is fine - I actually agree that this should not be framed as a race issue, and instead, an issue of culture. On that basis, you cannot deny that there is a cultural precedence with islamic terrorism over the last few decades featuring incidence rates that make homegrown \"christian\" or \"nationalist\" terror numbers look like a rounding error. The stats don't lie, and you are being disingenuous in your attempt to subvert that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This type of loving care for the dying renews my hope for the Catholic Church. We hear so many, many failures of love on the part of the church, especially in respect of clergy abuse, that I become disheartened and disgusted with the whole edifice. I read the venom and hatred towards Pope Francis on the trads websites, and I read of and experience the narcissistic clericalism of the hierarchy. It seems the Catholic Church is in its death throes on many fronts, but these small seeds like Samaritan House generates hope that following the way of Jesus is still happening. Lord, let these small endeavors grow and blossom and multiply. They are the lights in the darkness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can put your faith in man all you want. It's your right. Putting all Christians into one basket is like saying all Muslims are ISIS. You can't legitimately lump everyone into one image.\n\nI wish you the best in your life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Every budget proposal from every Republican president since at least Reagan (probably earlier, too) has been denounced by liberal Catholics as the epitome of immorality. I detest Trump as much as Mr. Winters, & am concerned by some of the budget cuts, but at a certain point these protests take on a Chicken Little tenor to them. \n\nAs for the cuts to the EPA, US emissions of greenhouse gases have been on the decline since 2005 - without either of the Clean Power Plan & Paris Climate Agreement taking effect. Why? The market has shifted decisively away from coal generated electricity to cheaper, cleaner, less harmful natural gas. If liberals really cared about seeking effective means of lowering carbon emissions the answer is staring them in the face: let the market's shift to natural gas continue & stop wasting political capital (& money) on plans that have achieved little. Trump can thunder on all he wants about coal jobs; they aren't coming back with or without the Clean Power Plan.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Despite what is stated in the article above, it would seem that, far from living \"in seclusion\" in Rome, Figari has continued to mingle with Church prelates - including Cardinal Errazuriz. \nThis reflects very badly on all concerned, I think, including Pope Francis (who this week has met the Chilean bishops in Rome).\nSee this report, for example (Spanish text), with evidence of the continuing links between Figari and Errazuriz:-\nhttp://m.elmostrador.cl/destacado/2017/02/17/la-vieja-amistad-del-cardenal-errazuriz-con-figari-el-karadima-peruano-acusado-de-pederastia/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps it's just a little karma for the Catholic Church forcing virtually all indigenous tribes in the New World to give up their traditions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If it is the ad I just looked at it, it only contains historical quotes, if so what is all the Hubbub about ? Is history that offensive ? Should we just do away with it because some don't like it ? The Bible is also (in part) a historic book, should we do away with that as well because some don't like it ? Many quotes in the ad were Deistic and not even \"Christian\" , is the thought of any God that offensive ? I suggest this is a reflection on the maturity level of this country, it reminds me of my kids when they were 5, they just could not accept the possibility that someone was in authority over them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"acted to make further assaults on human dignity that strike at the heart of Catholic social teaching\"\n\nlike defundnig the largest abortuary in the country. \n\nAgree. Sooooo against Catholic social teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Santa is a very far drift from a Bronze Age Indo European god responsible for initiating young men into warrior societies in the dead of winter. He's apparently been culling from the naughty and the nice in some sense or another since the ancestors of the Hebrews were still polytheists with an uppity storm god eager to get more air time.\n\n*And* true Christians shouldn't obsess about Jesus getting one day of the year, since every day should be lived in emulation of his example as best one can. Obviously Grisham is full of fail by that metric.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the USA was supposed to be a Christian nation, why did the Founders forget to mention it? Why did the Founders only mention religion when they said it has no place in government?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Consider India, where Hindus are so of the most tolerant people on the planet, a place of the birth of Buddhism and Jainism. Have you ever heard of of Buddhist, Jain or Tibetan or even Hindus committing acts of terrorism? The Dalai Lama teach the religion of peace, has a Tibetan Buddhist ever commit an act of terror, even though they have been exiled from their home?\nIt was in 1942 India split with Muslims for them to form Pakistan and Bangladesh. In India many religion co-exist even Christians. The Christian practice universal love type of Christianity. Even the Indians could not co-habitat with Muslim Indians and Indian are the most tolerant and adaptable people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"And yet the liberal Catholic churches don't seem to be able to grow substantial lay membership\"\nIt strikes me that this about \"disssident\" rathaer than \"liberal\" Catholic churches and I would list some of the various \"Anglican\" groups among the more successful of these in recruiting members. They see themselves as broken away from the Episcopal Church and are more \"High Church\" and closer to the Catholic Church in my experience. I am also somewhat familiar with the \"Antiochean Orthodox Church\" which seems more stable in organization and membership. \nWhile I remain a loyal Roman Catholic I recognize the essential fidelity of these groups to the doctrine and authority of the Catholic Church and wonder if we are not being led by the Spirit to accept them under a broader umbrella as the \"Christian Church\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once Republican lawmakers get the backing of Catholic bishops in an election over opposition to abortion and gay marriage they're done with them - at least until the next election. In the meantime it's all about tax cuts for the rich. That is literally their one and only concern. They couldn't care less about health care for the poor. If Catholic bishops are so na\u00efve as to still not comprehend this then they're even more out of touch with reality than I thought.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One example of Jesus telling someone to follow their conscience please? Plenty of Gospel admonitions to keep His commandments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wait but the conservative Catholics have all assured me that everyone in the Curia hates Pope Francis and they all want him to resign? I guess that is another \"alternative fact.\"\n\nThis is a really great story. I'd love to read more about the \"real\" Vatican to counter the lies and hysteria on the right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I read The Handmaid;s Tale years ago and even though it is set is a post apocalypse Christian world, it seemed to me a world based on Islamic fundamentalism, as if Atwood was using the very real abuse of women by Islam as a basis to slag Christianity. Forcing the women of Gilead to wear the handmaids gown is no different than forcing women to wear Hijabs and burkas. The message was: if we are not vigilant, we will wind up like therm. \n\nSadly, we are not vigilant and are winding like them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Under Clinton - multiculturalism - with its anti-White, anti-Christian,\"\n\nDid you happen to notice that Mrs. Clinton is white and Christian?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Using a both sides are bad argument, well we are racists but so what they are muslim.\n\nAre you kidding me. This is weak logic. This is calling out your brother because you both stole cookies from the cookie jar and you got caught.\n\nGrow up and attempt to post something of some actual meaning and not just a defense of racism. Yes we know racism is a world wide problem, but still haven't figure out how you talking down Islam with your both sides are bad argument, is going to fix anything. If anything you are simply propagating the hate by attempting to rationalize the hate of the racists.\n\nThe nazis that marched and killed someone are christians. Do you really want us to start painting all christians by the atrocities that have been committed in that name or the current small band of followers? Because unless you do, you should probably stop trying to shift blame onto muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This fiction of \"catholic teaching\" is one that many contemporary conservative Catholics think is genuine orthodoxy. If fact, an unbiased study of history will show that this \"fortress church\" is an illusion.\n I am one that many \"true defenders of the faith\" do not count as a real Catholic, baptism and confirmation notwithstanding. I have studied the saints, Catholic and other, read Merton (God bless him) and more recently Richard Rohr and I have come to the conclusion that there are many who do not \"get\" what grace is, nor do they understand what it means to be Christian. \n I regret sincerely that some of the writers for the NCR do not measure up to the standard of journalism once maintained when Tom Fox was editor (read Penny Lernoux's PEOPLE OF GOD if you care) but Catholic they are. Christian they are. As for you, I have no such assurance. Thomas Merton wrote in effect, \"Better an inculpable atheist than a religious egotist\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My question is \"Which September 23rd? Is it here in the western hemisphere or in the eastern one?? \n'cause if it's in the Eastern one that's like day after tomorrow; otherwise it's the next day.Next question: which calendar is the guru using? Is it Hebrew, in which case the days don't match. If things are happening here, is it the Nicaen calendar?? Or is it the 'Morrison Raise some furor to avoid paying the bills Calendar?? that one seems to make more sense. And, is it just me, or is \"Christian numerologist an oxymoron? or maybe just drop the oxy?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I fully expect that others will join me in defending Our President. Just as we must blindly obey and extend all presumptions in favor of our Bishops when they are accused of (or convicted of) wrongdoing, so we must defend Our President against all criticisms, regardless of evidence, facts or reason. And for the same reason: he, like they, defends and stands for conservative christian values and he, like they, will defend this nation from all threats to our western, christian values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And from one cherry picked verse in a letter grew a tottering filing system for ranking sins as though they were elements on a periodic chart. And, of course, that isn't Jesus talking in 1 John, is it now?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your question was \"What specifically was wrong with the pre-Conciliar Church that needed reforming?\" I pointed to the situation among Catholics in the 1930s and 1940s, where German, Italian and Spanish Catholics supported unjust regimes that committed atrocities.\n\nI agree with you that the reform has not gone far enough, as Catholics still tolerate evils. We still need to turn to the Lord. The Word needs to be preached better. I don't know how that can be accomplished, but I am pretty sure it will not be by returning to open warfare, genocide and totalitarian governments. I doubt that anyone wants that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Colkoch,\n\nDo Catholics/Christians need a compelling case for the legal concept of full personhood at conception? In Jeremiah 1:5, God said, \"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you\". All human life - including that of the unborn is sacred in God's eyes and must not be wantonly destroyed. When the Blessed Mother was pregnant with Jesus, Holy Scripture tells us in Matthew 1:23, \"Behold the Virgin shall be with child, and bear a son.\" Jesus Himself began His earthly human life as a tiny embryo. In Holy Scripture Jacob and Esau are called \"children\" while they are in the womb. It is improper and I have no doubt hurts God terribly to use language when speaking about a child that has been conceived as \"a clump of cells\" or \"tissues\" or \"tumors\". But we can see why - Imagine talking about abortion honestly and actually admitting that it is a \"baby\",\"child\", \" human life created by God\" that we are aborting? If all contemplating abortion were told/believed this, they would not abort.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is a Christian in Alaska responsible for what some kook does in a mall in Texas?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "U need to reflect upon your last few post. Reason Christmas tree name was changed according to Obama was it was offensive to non Christians nothing to do with pagan roots.\nObama called news conference because he wanted to get back to his pagan roots. Never happened.\nEase up on the Bushmills and Harp. Think about what u have written it does not make sense...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, your post was reviewed by folks who can\u2019t distinguish Catholicism from political agendae.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No discussion of residential schools and the sixties scoop should omit the role played by the United Church of Canada, the Catholic Church, the CCF (now the NDP), and the Liberal governments including the Liberal governments of Mackenzie King, Louis St. Laurent, Lester Pearson and Pierre Trudeau. The residential schools and the sixties scoop initiatives were seen at the time as progressive and positive initiatives. Were the Liberal and the CCF politicians evil in promoting them or the United Church and the Catholic clergy evil in implementing them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The pope isn't going to challenge Trump. \nThe pope knows that a majority of Catholics voted for Trump and he will not bite the hands that feed him and the Catholic Church. \nHe gave an interview on the plane coming back from Fatima and the pope told a reporter, \"I don't proselytize in the areas of religion or politics. I will not challenge him [Trump] on those issues [immigration and climate change].\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From all the slimy, disgusting, horrifying, even multi-suicidal depositions and court documents I've read, Ballarat (Pell) appears among the most egregious to me...alongside the abominations in Ireland and, of course, in our own country. \n\nIf the status, prestige and ontological superiority of ONE offending senior cleric stands before God as more precious and important than ONE abused child, then why the heck do we all pretend to be Catholic Christians? \n\nI will no longer believe any of their lies, their subterfuges, their weak excuses, their phony penitential statements, their cover-up commissions, their despicable money maneuvering, until perpetrators and their superiors wear orange and walk in shackles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm all for that. Can Catholic charities provide comfort dogs, hot chocolate and crayons to every American and Catholic who feels threatened by reading twisted out of context combox reports?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually it was $200,000 in 2008. Have you seen any of those videos put out by the Christian Right? They are disgusting, if you ask me. Planned Parenthood does a lot of good work besides providing funds to educate women concerning their rights about abortion. What's your point?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whining that a private organization didn't want to host VDare isn't advocating for free speech... it's whining about a private organization's decision to not host a particular group.\n\nBy that standard, maybe we should protest Christian booksellers for not carrying playboy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's my main point: if I notice bigotry against Christians I am 100% against it. \n\nWhat we are talking about is not bigotry, but rather Christians upset that they cannot act in intolerant ways. Your whole concept of \"freedom of association\" is in direct opposition to an open and free society. You don't get to open a business and then decide who may walk through the door based on your personal views.\n\nWhen it comes to schools: simply talking about subjects in their entirety is not pushing ONLY one belief system. It's the exact opposite. Children are instructed on many methods of family planning. Abstinence and marriage are one of them. The fact that contraception exists is not bigotry. It's up to the parents to inform children in public school about their own personal family values.\n\nPolitically active Christians are not pushing for more tolerance and openness. They are almost always pushing to limit views and limit choices. Or make their view the defacto standard.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Struck by your sentence with, \"theological roots that exalt suffering\". It reminds me of something J Krishnamurti said years ago, that Christianity is the veneration of sorrow. It's difficult to imagine how all this gnashing of teeth and sackcloth wearing evolved from a gentle man who taught us to love one another as he loved us!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Masses were packed in prior generations because the belief in a belief in God was common. Whether true belief ever existed is always questionable. As for sexuality, yes they largely disagree with the Chruch\u2019s treatment of homosexuals (they are correct, but I wish they would stay and fight), on abortion they are mostly pro-life, but when they become sexuality active, they learn to keep this to themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your question \"Why would a benevolent God do that\" is answered in the Bible, the book that is most criticised by those who haven't read it......all of it, like criticising a movie after watching the trailer. Excellent question though, you should take the time to find the answer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yet more profound words and actions from Francis. I like the way he 'managed' this, adding an extra day onto his schedule in order to celebrate Mass with Catholics of Sweden and beyond. But of course, there will be a crowd of detractors waiting to pounce. The gospel about Zacheus will drift past them on Sunday as it has always done. \"How dare he eat with those Lutherans!\", they will moan. \"What about us?!\" They don't do irony.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Could it be it is because gay couples are not discriminating against bakers, gay teachers are not refusing to teach in Christian schools or governments forcing church's to put up secular symbols.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good! I'm a Christian. I pray to God on a regular basis. But if I were an elected official I would not want someone else dictating to me what my prayer ought to be. I also believe the law should be strictly observed at all public gatherings, if only as a Christian courtesy to non-Christians or non-believers. I do not believe Christ would want to be used in that way. Like St. Francis said, \"preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary, use words.\" I'd like to think Christ prefers that approach. It's more persuasive than imposing your views on unsuspecting others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's the United Kingdom, PNW, not England. I'm assuming too that you are not a Christian, all this talk of solving the world's considerable problems by military means. Germany built a massive army in the lead up to WWI, and again at WWII. That ended well, didn't it?\nHave you learned nothing?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do people rush to judgement and misinterpret what I write? \nI don't read the hearts and minds of my parish community, I make my judgements of people upon what they actually say not what I think they think. I make no judgement on anyone's spiritual health nor is their disbelief a burden for me as there is little or nothing I can do about it, it is ultimately between them and God.\nHow you can arrive at your conclusions I don't know. All I said was I have little or nothing in common with them regarding what it means to be a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not pretending that adultery doesn't exist, nor am I saying that Jesus' followers cannot/should not speak out against adultery & even against divorce. I take absolutely no joy in divorce in itself & much less in adultery. We have to work as much as possible to strengthen and affirm our own & others' relationships. And as Catholics/Christians, we uphold the symbolic model of Jesus' relationship to us, his followers, as a model for how our devotedness should look.\n\nBut what is by some called adultery isn't what is called adultery by others & I believe that the two become confused. As I've said, it's a different thing to be unfaithful to your partner behind his/her back than to engage in a new romantic relationship after being abandoned/abused by a previous partner.\n\nJesus didn't absolutize his prohibition against divorce. He spoke against its lax practice in his time, but even made an exception for unfaithfulness. How much more does this apply to victims of unhealthy relationships?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, the enemy is disunion from God. \n\nFear is a mere emotion. \n\nFear may cause disunion from God, our letting emotions run lead us around by the nose. \nSin really is a deliberate act of disunion with God. \nDisobeying the commandments does is an act of disunion with God. \nPride = disunion.\nVanity = disunion.\nNursing resentment = disunion. \nLove of sensuality (all forms) - putting your security in the material/sense world is an act of disunion. \n\nAll of these acts cause a disordering in us of our orientation toward God, and thus injures our union with Him. \n\nPray is an act of union with God.\nSetting aside our pride out of love of God is an act of union with God.\nApproaching reconciliation with a sincere desire to begin again (with God) is an act of union with God.\n\nCommunion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I respectfully disagree. The church, infallible, inerrant, unchanging, does not do horrible and unloving things, its just that others apply those definitions to the church's actions. Naturally, the church, because it is the only true church, founded by Jesus when he gave Peter the keys to the kingdom, defines horrible and unloving in its own, infallible way. Thus, whatever the church does is right, and good, and godly, because it decides what is right, good, and godly through its infallible Magisterium. Some might claim this is circular logic but, of course, the mysteries of the one true church transcend logic. History is replete with examples of the church transcending human logic, common sense, or even human decency. Which is ok, because it does not operate on human standards.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The claim is that Trump is a \"none\", which refers to someone who religiously self-identifies as \"atheist\", \"agnostic\", or \"nothing in particular\". Trump self-identifies as Christian, as Presbyterian; and he was confirmed at First Presbyterian in 1959. He has never repudiated such self-identification. Thus, he is not a \"none\". Whether he has a well thought-out theology or attends church regularly are separate questions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On Tuesday this week, many acknowledged [I refrain from using \"celebrated\"] the 500th anniversary of Luther's beginning the \"Reformation.\"\nThere is irony in all this present controversy; i.e., now we have Weinandy and other Catholics questioning the Pope in a similar way but with a huge difference. The difference is that the present Pope introduces new apostasy and his antagonists represent the old apostasies, some of which Luther questioned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And we have to ask ourselves....has the prior focus around these narrow categories..which has led to an \"institutionalizing\" of them (job postings, departments, measures, paid advocates...whole ecosystems organized around these narrow categories) done anything in terms of unity, strengthening, reduction of resentment, slowing down of law suits, slowing down of complaints, grievances?\n\nNo.\n\nPeople are ever more spring loaded to complain.\n\nDid you see the sad story about the non-Latin American women whose restaurant was protested because they were \"expropriating\" someone else's culture and because they themselves weren't from the culture.\n\nReally? \n\nLand of the free, home of the brave?\n\nThat protest is an assault on freedom. \n\nThat might make a good article in a Catholic news site.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have writers lost what Andrew Greeley referred to as a \"Catholic imagination\"?\n\nA self-described \"shanty Irish-American Catholic\" like Andy Greeley grew up in a different America when Catholics grew up in Catholic neighborhoods. Those neighborhoods are gone. Now Americans live in class/income based neighborhoods. Race and class are more determining factors in our society than religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "4. I'm also reading a recent UN-affiliated Asian human rights document complaining that Bangladesh has for decades exploited the Rohingya situation to settle Muslims in areas of Bangladesh where Muslims are a minority. Christians, Hindus and Buddhists in parts of Bangladesh are complaining that this is deliberate govt policy to weaken their political influence.\n5. A big part of the problem appears to be the non-citizenship status of Rohingyas. I think this should be addressed. But I also read that within all ethnic groups in Myanmar granting citizenship to the Rohingyas is a very unpopular proposition. Thus the Myanmar govt does not have any easy answers available to it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is definitely a must-read, and thanks for bringing it to our attention. \n\nEye-opening stuff:\n\n\"Furness has just asked Dr Ranson about God and God\u2019s gender.\n\n\"Furness: But in relation to what you have described as the patriarchal imagery of God, there is no question that those who represent God on earth are male. How then should one see the image of God in other than patriarchal terms?\n\n\"Ranson: Because God is neither male nor female, and so there are many other ways of imagining God.\n\n\"Ranson has just said a lot of words that defy translating here, but we are back to how the church\u2019s patriarchal culture \u201ctranslates into systems and structures of power and submission\u201d.\n\n\"An 'exclusive patriarchal sense of God', as demonstrated within the Catholic Church, translates into . . . clericalism.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Gene! One study of academia doesn't \"trump\" the other- two totally different diciplines, so not sure what you meant, there. It now also sounds like you're not really interested in clarifying history or actually talking about the central-ness of the Judeo-Christian paradigm on our society, and maybe a little more interested in simply attacking organized religion, generally. I do hope, though, that I'm incorrect about that part.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul VI himself makes clear that Populorum Progressio (PP) is fundamentally a political document, particularly in para. 47. PP is not meant simply to be a treatise on personal piety, and cannot be analyzed or interpreted from that viewpoint, as many a traditional Catholic has attempted, at the expense of a diluted and distorted Gospel! The late Peter Hebblethwaite's bio of Paul VI is a good backgrounder, and points out that PP flows logically from Paul VI's address at the UN in 1965 (politics on a global scale!).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, you DO LOVE TO BELIEVE THAT, don't you? Only God is infallible! We've had too many mistakes by some popes/hierarchy who believed that they were infallible. They only succeeded in painting the Church into a corner that, even after long passages of time, the Church still cannot get out. And the entire Church suffers for this delusionary belief. \n \n\nBetter for the leaders in the Church to admit that they have been and ARE very fallible in how they view issues and in how they \"call issues\". The analogy used in the article is very apt and 'on target'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Georgetown, Fordham, Notre Dame, and all the rest, ceased to be truly Catholic around 1965.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our Nation is not one that has ANY state or favored religion. We are not a Christian nation.\nOur Constitution states that \"no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States\". (US Constitution Article 6 clause 3).\nAs a result anyone of any religion or none can freely be the Chief Executive or any office holder in the land. \nYou are therefore correct that a Muslim can be President.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unity in diversity. Think about it. And, think about anniec's description of the \"wagon wheel\" form of Christianity. All focus on Christ, but see Him from a different perspective, probably based on personality, experience, education, and culture. God did not create robots; He created humans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a religion based on Ayn Rand's work. It draws on fundamentalist Christianity, much like Santeria and Santa Muerte practices draw on Catholicism. I don't know if it has a name, but it's practiced by a number of politicians in the US. Although it's adherents often affect crosses, the primary symbol of the cult is a capital \"S\" marked with two vertical bars.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Baptism is so essential to salvation.' Vatican II's \"Nostra Aetate' [Relationship of the Church to Non-Christians\" was an earthshaking document. It began as statement only about the Church's relations with the Jews but was widened to say that the \"truth\" is present outside the Body of Christ. It is to be respected wherever it is found, mentioning in particular Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, as well as Judaism.\n\n\nThis document was approved on October 28, 1965 by a vote of 2,221 to 88.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many people thought it was UNWISE to create the Separate School Board -- done by a politician looking for votes in Ontario at the time. Self-serving politics, as usual. Quebec had a Catholic school system, but it got rid of it to ensure children were able to learn within a creative, questioning, and modern secular system, unencumbered by unsubstantiated old divisive beliefs that engendered a sense of 'indentured servitude' forced upon children who had to pledge devotion unquestioningly ... or fear 'eternal damnation', as a punishment forever. That is NO way to learn. I think children should not be exposed to religion until they can think for themselves and are permitted to question the ideologies. Hence, no religion in schools, until a comparative course in high school that examines different contexts behind the old ideologies -- but such a course should not run longer than a term. There are other subjects & skills, including socialization, to learn first in early grades.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I haven't posted in what seems like years, but as one who was formed in a Roman Catholic Seminary and then later ordained an Episcopal priest, I think that the systems are similar enough for comparison. From start to finish the discernment process is a journey at the parish and diocesan level with the candidate and both lay and ordained people who consult the bishop. When the candidate is admitted to postulancy they begin formal theological which ends in their ordination. The Bishop cannot ordain on his/her own whim, it must be with the consent of the ordained and lay members of the Diocese. The same as to Episcopal Elections. Both lay and ordained must elect the Bishop and then the each Bishop and Diocesan Standing Committee must consent before the person in ordained a bishop. The Presiding Bishop is elected from the House of Bishops. As with all systems sometimes it works well and other times, not so...but it is a system that trust the Spirit to speak through everyone involved.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If the job of an Ecumenical Council....\"\n\nSo Vatican II was a joke? As all the earlier Councils were? If I were Unitarian or even a Primitive Baptist, I would agree with you. Church Councils are a waste of money. Christians are a church apiece, or should be, with each Christian making up his or her own mind, as it were, with the keys of the kingdom on each person's precious belt. The Spirit operates on a battery of individualism, right? That's seems to be the only \"image of Spirit\" you wish to look at in your theological mirror. But as a Catholic, that is childish, incoherent. We Catholics do theology through Church Councils, with theologians, the faithful and leaders examining the longest woven cloth of belief in Christian history -- as we have for two thousand years. Newman notes this in his work, including his last major work, THE GRAMMAR OF ASSENT, as have our greatest theologians. You're free, Kari, to step on the feet of these watch-people if you like, but to no effect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm going to post this again: \"The 'Catholic' in NCR is not about being a faithful Catholic. It designates that NCR specifically reports on all things Catholic or touching on Catholicism. I wish people, even in jest, would stop bashing NCR for not being faithful to the magisterium. It just shows their ignorance and bias about the use of the word 'Catholic' in this context.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill, Evangelical Christianity is demographically invisible in Europe. I think you mean John Palovitz's work indicts (1) European Protestantism (i.e., 12% of Western Europe is Protestant [all denominations]-- the state [Lutheran] churches in the Nordic countries, Lutheranism in parts of Germany, Calvinism in parts of the Netherlands, Scotland, and Switzerland, and the established Anglican church in the UK); (2) European Catholicism (46% of Western Europe is Catholic); (3) US Catholicism; and (4) US Evangelical Protestant Christianity. Four religious blocks. Fair enough. \n\nWe'll see what happens over the years as Europeans and Americans alike plunge into the digital/ technological tasks and demographic challenges of daily survival. Will they survive or not? Will the churches survive? Or will they just sink into decadence or irrelevance? We'll see. Maybe the tasks and challenges will effect reconciliations between and among the different churches. We'll see.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks, Br. Robert. \nThe group selected by the Vatican to study the Church's teaching on contraception, was comprised of men and women [some married], clergy and hierarchy as well. It was representative of the entire Church. But Humanae vitae was written because of a fear of 1) violating the teaching papal infallibility which would have be demonstrated by 2)abrogating Pius XI's encyclical 'Casti connubii' [December 31,1930]. This encyclical, prohibiting contraception and abortion came on the heels of the July 1930, Lambeth Conference, [Resolution 15] which produced a relaxation of Anglican attitudes toward birth control.*\n\nAs you wrote, 'the bishops prohibit the sensus fidelium to enter into their deliberations and pronouncements\"--which precluded the involvement or the whole church.\n---------\nNotare, Theresa, \"A Revolution in Christian Morals': Lambeth 1930, Resolution #15: History and Reception\" [Ph.D. diss., Catholic University of America, 2008]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A well-written article, and maybe we are all cultural Adventists. I can't imagine anyone not having these feelings at times or even all the time. I resonate with the view of non-Adventists (depending on the sphere) and especially other Christians. They are as kind and even more so than many church members. I used to wonder why socialization was so difficult in college. (I was baptized at 17) I think it had to do with the insular life-style. All the guys seemed terribly shy and we had no guidance on how to interact with each other,\n I wouldn't change my Adventism. It got me out of a lonely existence in a rural area and because of its emphasis on education, allowed me a pathway to college. Of course, I can't relate to the author's family situation, but I can see the stifling effect it must have had on him. I must say I am comfortable with my personal faith if not the organizational goings on. I find much intellectual challenge in the theology and feel free to disagree with some of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, some Protestant services have practices that are more Catholic than your usual Novus Ordo parishes (ad orientem and receiving at an altar rail). \n\nI think there will always be Protestants offended by this or that Catholic practice - otherwise they\u2019d be Catholic. \n\nPersonally, I don\u2019t have a problem with the Ordinariate for former Anglicans where folks come into full communion and keep liturgical traditions that aren\u2019t in conflict with Catholic teaching.\nI also think we are much closer to the Orthodox and would be better served seeking reunion with them first. I wouldn\u2019t have a problem going back to saying the Creed sans Filioque...I don\u2019t think most Catholics would miss it and totally get why the Orthodox have an issue with us having added it. I think that\u2019d be seen as a bigger gesture of good will whereas were we to get rid of praying for our dead or Benediction, they\u2019d shrug and say, we\u2019re still gonna stay Protestant. They might even say, that was cool why\u2019d you get rid of it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any and all Christian churches are those that are founded on the Word. No particular denomination can lay claim to being the only one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Washington Post is no friend of the Catholic Church and from the article the author demonstrates that he/she has no idea of Catholic sexual morality by giving credence to the opinions of a handful of dissident priests and nuns.\nAnonymous sources again, as I said pure speculation so far but of course you will believe what you want to believe.\nDo you think that the Knights of Malta would be naive enough to believe that the Pope would threaten to take over their properties just on the say so of Cardinal Burke? They are a sovereign order not beholden to anyone. They do not need the patronage of the Catholic Church and since that article was written they have told the Vatican in no uncertain terms to mind its own business.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent point. The school calendar already accommodates the Christian faith. Imagine the uproar from those that want to keep religion out of the school system if classes started happening on a Sunday.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "[-- REFUTING the fact that our founding fathers made us a Christian nation under the Judeo Christian paradigm, correct. That was both explicit and implicit in the post-]\n\nWhere is REFUTING explicitly stated in the post?\nIt's not.\nTry again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Papa Francis is in a lose-lose situation....\"\n\nNot really. No pope wants to go against other first millennial churches -- none of which have opted for the ordination of women. (It is different with the Reform Churches -- Lutheran, Anglican, etc.; they are not first millennial.) The CC could, of course, opt for it on its own, at some future Vatican III Church Council; but even at an Ecumenical Council, I doubt any of the CC delegates would unilaterally want to move in that direction, without Orthodoxy.\n\nRegarding the Anglo-Catholics in UK: they are so tiny, those who truly follow Rome (and we are not talking about Anglicans who dress up in Catholic costume, liturgical vestments, etc. but permit same sex partnerships among clerics, etc.), that it really makes no difference. People like Bishop Philip North are rare. The UK Anglican Evangelicals, however, are more powerful, have money, have ear of the bishops, are quite Protestant, and count. That is what I found in UK earlier this year.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even after V2, pretty much the only Catholics who are big Bible readers are converts from protestant sects.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for this interesting piece. I love Osip's works of poetry and read his wife's memoir. Also read Fr. Walter's account of his imprisonment. It behooves everyone to read Russian literature and historical accounts of Russia. Every nation that we as a world power interact with - and that means all- has a history and artistic lineage. Every account and voice is important. Until we are able to see each other as human beings whether through a humanistic or Christian humanistic lens we are doomed to creating ruin rather than rising up and encircling the earth hand by hand. These people and many, many others suffered at the whims of cruel despots.\nI would like to hope this can be stopped from happening in our nation and that their voice and lives and their candle in the dark light will not be extinguished .Does anyone remember the Christophers' prayer?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings.....I hope Pence is never President of the USA! An ex Catholic, born again Evangelical with Trumpian low life ethics is scary indeed! Him,Trump and the Republicans are trying to pull our country out of the \ud83c\udf0f UN..... Dropping out of Unessco is an example.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No spin..it's in VII documents! \n\nThis is the problem..people operate on their own self spin, never actually grounding their opinions in the reading of formal documents.\n\nYour example is a pointer to the partial failure of VII: the lay aren't putting their shoulder into their own formation...they operate on the surface, loving to characterize things as spin. No depth.\n\nGod allows people use their own freedom, and He gives us the grace to help spread His Gospel to the ends of the earth, as the early Christians did.\n\nHe chose the Jewish people to begin, because their religion was monotheistic and personal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't forget 'Father's' personal friends whose marriages have hit the rocks too, Kag. The rules which govern everyone else in the church suddenly become surmountable in their case. \n\nI also was aware of many people who approached priests but were told flat out that they simply wouldn't be entitled to an annulment so there was no point in even starting the process. (The reality was often that the priest couldn't be bothered with the paperwork.)\n\nPeople tend to think that Canon Law is their enemy. In fact, it can be the opposite. EVERY Catholic who appeals for an annulment is fully entitled to have their marriage investigated, EVERY CATHOLIC. They are just unaware that this is the case. Canon Law gives them that right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Judeo-Christian ethics\"? So, are citizens who do not subscribe to Judeo-Christian religions less American?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ken Smith, good letter. There are additional early sources beyond those you mention, hostile to Christianity (the best witnesses), who also testify to Jesus's existence, and as you said, \"It is also compelling that hundreds of followers of Jesus died horrific deaths in loyalty and praise to someone who never existed\". Yes, people will die for a lie, but almost never for what they know to be a lie. You aren't going to argue people into faith who don't want to (don't want, not can't) believe because they don't want to deal with Christ's teachings about their souls, eternity, and the consequences of dying unreconciled with God, in their sins; it's the cheap easy shortcut to try to claim Jesus never even existed, then they don't even need to get into dealing with anything else concerning Him, or so they hope. \"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life\" vs \"yet you refuse to come to me to have life\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Introductory remarks in the 2017 report urge church leaders not to assume that sexual abuse of minors by the clergy is a thing of the past and a distant memory.\"\n\nOur American culture tells us the past is in the past, let bygones be bygones, but I believe that even if not a single child were ever abused again starting today, we still must accept that this trauma is forever woven into the fabric of our Catholic history. We all must grapple with integrating it into our understanding of Church as both an institution and as the people of God. Real corporate healing is a process where the victims, the perpetrators and the bystanders all come to an understanding of the role they have played, the impact of the trauma on their individual and corporate lives, and what they must do to overcome the scandal and live renewed lives. We have not accomplished that yet, by a long stretch.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, and hey, if there are any non-Christians here, we need to know who you are.\n\nhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-non-christians-raise-hand_us_57ec9600e4b024a52d2ce788?\n\n\"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out\u2014\nBecause I was not a Socialist.\n\nThen they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out\u2014\nBecause I was not a Trade Unionist.\n\nThen they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out\u2014\nBecause I was not a Jew.\n\nThen they came for me\u2014and there was no one left to speak for me.\"\n\n-Pastor Martin Niem\u00f6ller", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think anyone has accused Pell of defending abusive priests, though. In fact, one of the reasons he was so unpopular with Melbourne priests was that he instantly suspended them at the first whisper of an accusation. (This isn't given a lot of publicity nowadays, but it really did happen - I was there). The Royal Commission did question him about abusive priests who were not suspended, but transferred - but he was quick to point out that he wasn't Archbishop at the time, and that the (now dead) Archbishop had made all the decisions about those priests. He also said the Catholic Education department didn't give him the information about the abusive parish priest even though he was the auxiliary bishop. (Barney Swartz mentions this in the article).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are quite right. Does this legitimize the \"Hobby Lobby\" venture to engage in an evolutionary throwback? This is more akin to a \"felix culpa\" moment than an \"ok\" for the Greens, in my opinion. (It is also a moment to demand that our hierarchy get themselves beyond the fundamentalist Christian cult agenda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The clergy blaspheme the Holy Pulpit; exploiting its high dignity; ....communists 'preaching' high treason against the Nations, the sedition of globalism. These have transformed themselves into evil POLITICIANS and have made themselves fair-game for ridicule. The vatican has become hillary clinton wrapped in a cassock; ....many authentic catholics now refer to jorge bergoglio as 'the vicar of george soros'. Even EWTN is beginning to anticipate a schism, and no Christian is going to be following team bergoglio ['the forces of evil'] headlong into this apostasy. [why hasn't this apostate vatican defrocked 'fr' tony flannery? ..maybe because he is spiritual-brother to this 'pope'; even now denying the Resurrection while, professing the essential things like climate change!]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A lot of Christians don't like to ask the hard questions about their faith, but if you believe that the original scripture is God breathed then there is no fear that culture or science will steal away your thoughts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One cannot tell what \"the act of Eucharist\" is but you are setting it and elevating it above \"host\" which is to say Christ the Victim on the Cross (\"Hostiam puram, Hostiam sanctam, Hostiam immaculatam\" in the Eucharistic Prayer) so you are therefore claiming that something other than Christ's sacrifice makes sacred what we do at Holy Mass. Which is not a Christian (Catholic or not) position in the least.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one tries to control your morality. You are free to leave the Church at any time and join a Protestant Church that teaches the liberal, secular, atheistic humanistic Gospel you are looking for. You are also free to live by the morals of liberal, secular, atheistic humanism if you so choose. \n\nIs anyone putting a gun to your head and forcing you to be Catholic? If, per chance, you aren't Catholic, why do you care what we believe?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "WOW. Looks like Trump was correct again. An attack against Christians (who else would be shopping at a Christmas market?) by ISIS. After accusing him of making unsubstantiated allegations against Muslims terrorists, CNN has yet to apologize or admit he was correct.....yet again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wasn't rich enough to send my kids to private school, but I did send them to Catholic school even though we weren't Catholic. That's because they were better at imposing discipline and not catering to the lowest common denominator of political correctness (i.e. there were Christmas concerts and it was okay to say Merry Christmas). Private schools are able to accommodate these interests even better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is also showing the forever accommodating being done towards Muslims or other religions other than Christian. I am not a religious person, but we have seen the PC people get rid of Christmas Trees, Christmas Concerts, saying Merry Christmas and Halloween Costumes......but prayer rooms for Muslims have been added to Public Schools, along with Prayer time....and the media, schools, politicians, and courts are all working hand in hand in this promoting/demoting process. Why?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unless you have some particular connection with the \"mind and heart of Christ\" heretofore unrevealed, I simply note your personal opinion.\n\nThe discussion involved sin. I could have included any sin which would preclude receiving communion. I chose murder since most people would recognize that as serious. Your comments indicate despite your obfuscations you \"got it\".\n\nAlso, I am certain you aware that a \"failed marriage\" is not a sin and does not preclude receiving the sacraments. It is the sexual activity that is the sin and precludes receiving the Eucharist.\n\nI never said anything along the lines of \"pagan = godless\". I knew exactly what I was writing and meant it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd love it if someone far smarter than I could explain to me how it is that \"religious freedom\" for one group becomes violation of the rights of other groups. Has the US always had an ambassador to serve this particular agenda? Where stands the consulate? Who carries the pouch? Although I hesitate to pose this last question, will the religious freedom of Muslims be addressed with the same concern as that of Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The early Christians, as described in Acts, got enthusiastic and sold all their property and gave all their goods to the Apostles in an attempt at 'Christian Communism'.\n\nFirst result was that it laid on the Apostles work beyond their 'job description'. They couldn't handle the distribution of goods and so turned to the 'laity' to nominate 'deacons'.\nA second result was that when famine hit, Paul's communities had to take up a collection for their support.\n\nThe 'solutions' meant well \u2013 but they did not recognize the underlying problem : that people were selling all they had and expecting the apostles (Bishops) to manage everything.\n\nOur problem today is similar. We have created a system of 'clerics' as episcopal delegates and turned all authority over to them.\n\nIn the early church the 'laity' had all the chrisms needed to 'build up the body of Christ'. We need to acknowledge that the Bishops CAN delegate their functions to laity. \n\nOur 'system' is our problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The words \"good, financial, practices, Catholic, church\" should not be uses ins the same universe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Karl Rahner had it right. \"The Christians of the future will be either mystics or they will not be Christians at all.\" Mystical experiences are not necessarily related to who had ritual power. There will be no future for women in the Church unless and until Catholics get over the power of ritual and move to the connections in mysticism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I often say that there is no problem that would not be made better is given the leaven of Catholic social doctrine.\"\nThose are probably the most profound words of this heavy and profound editorial comment.\nOne might ask: where was/is it?\nThe \"social\" dimension has been so absorbed into institutional ideology and warped that it has become in fact divisive, impotent, abused. The institutional church has shown that it cares more about itself and its ideological and political intransigence - elevated to \"doctrine\" - than the \"social\", the community of persons.\nBy \"Catholic\" I also mean that we have coopted what is human, human values, responsibility, accountability, and virtue into pseudo-religious ideology rather than giving the redeeming Christ His rightful place as a civilizational leader. \n\"Catholic social doctrine\" is first civility - THE natural law of community, of nation. Jesus came to it, of it, He furthered it and as a profound intellect He furthered it AND then elevated it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are right--surgery is always risky. You are also right that when possible we should always choose the less intrusive and less risky option. When the life of an unborn child is involved, however, we cannot opt for the less invasive approach for reasons obvious to all but abortion supporters. While the child still dies even when the tube is cut, nevertheless the way you go about something matters as much as the outcome. The ends do not justify the means. A direct abortion is never morally justifiable. an indirect abortion can be.\n\nProfits, notwithstanding, an institution that is Catholic must adhere to the Faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"Catholic\" faith may be all of that but once it became \"Romanized\" it absorbed all sorts of pagan, Jewish and Hellenistic thought... a far cry from what the early Christians set out to do, this enculturation was established early and often and the meek and humble gave way to the formidable and imperial. These are just the facts of history, you can't dispute them but you will undoubtedly claim that your medievally-contrived tradition trumps all of that. \n\nTo conflate \"truth\" and Roman tradition is a mistake of epic proportions, responsible for untold volumes of bloodshed and calamities. It's what happens when civilizations are indoctrinated into believing their eternal salvation depends upon temporal/external conquests, all the while Jesus promises the Kingdom of Heaven is within us (Luke 17:21) and admonishes us to worship the Father in spirit and in truth (John 4:23). Alternatively, of course, free will allows you to buy into Rome's rigid and exclusive, imperial \"way of life.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everything you said is perfectly true, now what?? I've emailed Seattle's Mayor many times. His idea of affordable housing is out of reach for gethe majority of our homeless. Now I read that contractors can pay a fee and avoid holding a percentage of units for low income.\nWe at Lake City Christian have been sheltering three families living in their RVs and have received complaints because it looks messy which it does. Life is messy especially when living in a confined space. Basically many want them to go away so we don't have to look. Go where??? On the street they are forced to move every couple of days. God change people's hearts. Become real Christians as in following our Lord.\nMalinda ewis", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Turkish Ottomans were Sunni. The Persian Safavids converted Iran into Shi'ism. They both had a far better record dealing with Jews than the Europeans, who at best forced the Jews to live in ghettos. The Orthodox peasants of Eastern Europe preferred the Muslim masters to their potential Catholic liberators - the Habsburgs.\n\nThe Berbers may have terrorized the North Africans, but were not the primary Muslim Empire.The three primary Muslim Empires of the Middle Ages, in order of population and economic size, were the Mughal, the Ottoman and Safavid Empires. The Mughals integrated their Hindu subjects, and created a syncretic Hindu-Muslim culture which flowered with musicians like Tansen, Sufi saints like Kabir, and buildings like the Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Humayun's Tomb, Badshahi Mosque, Jama Mosque and countless others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If every Catholic save a small remnant apostatized, would our author say \"the people have spoken\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus chose some men for the role of 'apostles.' No mention of Jesus making priests. The 12 and the 70 (or 72) were both appointed for the same mission, same Greek verb appointed. You can see some of the 70 are present at the Last Supper (compare Luke 22:35 and Luke 10:1-4). The key is who is without \"purse, bag, sandals.\" It is the 70. For the 12, it is a different set of accoutrements. Not likely that among the 70 and among the 120 (Pentecost) and at the Last Supper there were no women and it was strictly a boys club. The apostle Junia, a woman who was in Christianity before Paul (Romans 16:7), may have been one of the 70 apostles -- in the Eastern Church the 70 are called apostles. There were women deacons and women presbyters and women bishops in the early Church. In the earliest days of the Church there were no priests. Instead, there was a 'priesthood of all believers' (Revelation and 1Peter). Jesus said 'do this in memory of me' to all apostles and disciples present.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have not read Ron Dreher's \"The Benedict Option\" (and don't think I will, given the kind of people who have been recommending it most highly). But it should at least be pointed out, first, that St. Benedict ca. 500 CE, and his spiritual ancestors in Egypt in the 300s, did not expect that many people would follow them into their respective anchorite retreats. Secondly, the society they were leaving behind was one in which Christianity had great prestige, and serious committed Christians had the most powerful positions in society. Thirdly, the monks did not condemn the society they left behind, even if they found it not suitable to the Christian practice they were called to. Finally, it would be most unfair if Dreher were dismissing the work of some fine Benedictines, including Trappists, who have done a great deal to share the lessons of their founder with lay Catholics, regarding prayer amidst work, \"lectio divina,\" Centering Prayer, and the cultivation of the \"school of love.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One can believe anything, but that does not make it true. Pell's record demonstrates fierce orthodoxy. It does not show love. If you read the Bible, you'll note that St. Paul elevated that particular value over all others for Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have a really well run parks and rec department but this is a huge burden for that department to deal with. Catholic social services (Beans Brother Francis) is really good at bringing people in to eat free and party. So humanitarian at everyone else's expense. More and more poor people from around the world and from the bush to live on welfare and in the camps. Anchorage is a rapidly changing place.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2/2\n\nShe learns to temper a bit her initial response to crises and demands, she doesn't seek consolation in FB, she brushes aside urges of vanity, or pride. \n\nShe lives Christian frugality, tempering her own desires just a bit, giving good example to her family. Cheerful gift, sporting spirit.\n\nShe doesn't seek consolations of alcohol. She delays taking headache medicine just a bit longer than she wants.\n\nOver time she grows into a very calm person, not buffeted by emotions..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think these discussions tend to get lost in the weeds. Like \"it was ten years years ago\" or \"it was locker room talk\" or \"it is the Christian thing to forgive\". \n\nRegardless of whether he did what he was claiming or not, he thought what he was describing was cool. So cool he was bragging about it. His behavior and words during the campaign have included plenty of examples to indicate these attitudes have not changed. It is revealing of a perspective on the use (abuse) of power, highly relevant to what he would be like as president. \n\nHe has not asked for forgiveness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Deuces,\nAnd before the Germans were Christian, they worshiped, that's right, pagan gods. That's why the Germans had the tree in the first place.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting, because I see that repentance ---> love ---> repentance. Right relationship with the Creator is one of love, but in order to truly do that one must repent which, in turn, leads to a deeper love motivating one to further recognition of one's need for repentance. It is cyclical rather than simply serial. One can believe without loving or repenting, though it is a shallow sad \"faith\". I don't think it too odd to recognize that our response to God can be both / and vs either / or, as you seem to think I'm stating. Joy could be a childlike response, which is laudable, but the expectation that \"I must be 'fed' or I ain't goin'\" is a rather callow reply of someone supposedly raised Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks, Jim. I couldn't get the second link to work, but read the bit on the first. I am unsurprised that there are more options in the Bay Area. I'd assure the pastor there, however, that his church is not the only one in the US hosting a Black Jesus. That's how He's styled here at St. Sabina.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you take the \"law\" aspect out of the equation, this pension question seems to me like a gross violation of the basic employer-employee relationship based on respect, fairness, equality of opportunity in the marketplace and all the other adjectives that describe a decent place to work. This is akin to the exceptions granted religious employers regarding discrimination in the workplace. Why would a truly righteous Catholic/Christian employer even seek these exceptions/exemptions? Humane rules are for the other guy who isn't a \"religious\" employer? \n\nIs this going to be the basis for the rallying cry of a new fortnight movement? \"Fortnight for keeping all advantages to the religious employer?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no need to provide facilities to celebrate Christian holidays like Good Friday, Christmas and Sunday because the schools are already closed on all those holidays.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually Tom, for the record, the church's teaching is officially not to support abortion or all Catholics must agree abortion is immoral and wrong. I actually do believe it is both immoral and wrong and sin regardless of why a women gets one as certainly it can never be considered a faithful act and so must be a faithless act and therefor sin. However, our church's teachings do not outright demand we agree on the best way or method to seek abortions end in our world. Our laws do not outright state that me must believe illegalization of Abortion is the best or even a good way to fight abortion. Given the facts, this method increases rather than decreases the immorality so I am choosing a different method of fighting against abortion which I have stated previously. As for our teachings on homosexuality, we do not state to condemn homosexuals themselves or anyone else, including women who have had an abortion. We are all supposed to forgive each other -that is Christianity 101.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Weapons are never a deterrent, they are an assault, they threaten.\n\nI am a citizen of the United States. I have no weapons. People who do molest me with impunity.\n\nI was arrested in Coventry Rhode Island because someone told police I thought I was Jesus. I am agnostic. Agnostics do not have religious freedom in Catholic Rhode Island. The Catholics in Rhode island are no different than the virulent Christians that made Ritter Williams negotiate religious freedom for his people\n\n.I am held to the dictated of Catholicism at the end of a gun.\n\nI was molested and humiliated publicly for this.\n\nI have no weapons at all. What I do have, is designs for all seven stars from the book of revelation and I can show how they tell the story of creation. I am agnostic.\n\nI am just a human being like all others. I am not special to any God. Neither are you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, all these Muslim academics are suddenly drawn to the media outlets to voice their opinions and concerns for Muslim well-being after an attack on Muslims. Where have all these voices been in the wake of attack after attack on Christians and Jews throughout the world. If you truly denounce the actions of radical Muslim groups then step and say so. Perhaps your Imam forbids you to do so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Evangelicals need to ask themselves: Would Jesus refuse to heal the poor?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Andrew Sullivan's credentials as American/English AND Catholic- that makes him a real authority!! I must not question his views now!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Too much anti-Israel propaganda promoted by schools and Catholic publications (dotcommonweal, e.g.) by editors, bloggers, professors, etc. who know little or nothing about Israel.\n\nNCR used to allow TWO anti-Israel writers to post their blog here. What happened to those two guys?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our security comes first. Too bad if they don't like it\nIt isn't like we forgot Obama turning Christians away, remember the big family that were trying to seek asylum and we're sent back to Germany.\nMuslim values don't mesh with ours, what is wrong with acknowledging it. We are a Christian country that has lead the world for good and moral values. We have always done good despite the cost. Go Trump\n..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Third World War has Been in effect, for a number of years, it is a religious war, Muslim extremists, against those of non-muslim faiths, (Christians) Infiltration under guisegaining support or friendship with important powerful people, mentoring them to the muslim desires, and needs is just the beginning!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Soon to be ex-President Barack Obama, who will doubtless earn big speaking fees from Goldman-Sachs and other huge Wall Street Investment Banks for his decision to put Wall Street Insiders into virtually all major Financial posts in his administration, and did virtually nothing to the big banks, speculators, and crooks who almost destroyed the world economy, and which he promised to punish and regulate....well Mr. Obama and the Globe and Mail might persist in calling Angela Merkel the last hope of western liberalism, but in terms of where her party the Christian Democrats sits on the political scale, he's more than a bit out. \n\nChristian Dems are not neo-liberals, are not Thatcherites, and aren't the right wing deregulate crowd in America. Christian Dems are a political movement that came out of the christian social tradition in European politics, a tradition which supports a mixed market economy, centre left in economics. To wit:\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_democracy", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wha does your personal opinion on my personal life, here-> \"You give such opposing viewpoints as to what your morals are. Typical christian. Whatever fits you at the moment\" have to do with North Korea being a cruel regime and God opposing evil in the world? Which is what I said? \n(Hint-it has 100% nothing to do with my post, so what is your reason for posting your response? To simply attack for attacking sake or?)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Kochs give CU money. Lots of money. So what if they oppose every scintilla of Catholic social teaching? They are good for millions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So your suggested course of action is fatalistic? The seems very close to some Christian Evangelicals who hope for the promised Armageden in their lifetime. Are you sure you aren't religious Motley?\n\nSo you have a day job that would make some of the most qualified scientist in the world have any reason to answer your question? \n\nShould we never attempted any scientific challenge where we didn't fully know the results?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "what the GOP new bill wants to dump...while lives are caught in a political firestorm... Trump is out playing in trucks.\u20142Be4Peace The message is loud and clear: \u201cLook, the heavens, even the highest heavens, belong to the LORD, your God, as well as the earth and everything on it\u201d (Deuteronomy 10:14), meaning that healthcare is a human right rather than a truck for sale in the \u201cfree\u201d marketplace. \u201c`You shall love your neighbor as yourself\u2019\u201d (Mark 12:31). Liturgy of the Word, as used at St. Mary Church, Friday, March 24, 2017. Meaning the vagaries of healthcare are better in a non-competitive single-payer risk-pool, than a competitive winner take all. The hierarchs who supported Trump to get him elected are silent, especially the bishop of the Catholic Paul Ryan. Then the Faithful act perplexed when the young, preached to this morning, graduate to find worshipping in other pastures. God help us all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see...you ask me a question and then answer it for yourself according to your views...so I will not waste any more time. I taught theology in a Catholic University for 35 years and was on my parish RCIA team for ten years. You don't want to hear the truth, that Catholic moral decision making is far more complex than you seem to think, so you just hug your little prejudices to yourself and I'll go on trying to bring the Light of Christ, accepting all people, since that is the Gospel imperative, and feel sorry that you want it all to fit into your little narrow confines. Have a nice day!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have close friends in the same business as my family who have spent decades working in the Middle East and there are gay people there to. Although homosexuality is not officially \"tolerated\" in the Middle East it does have a place there where for the sake of public decency on the site I will spare the details. So saying that homosexuality in the Middle East is not as \"unaccepted\" as people would think and your statement is a real \"blanket\" statement when it comes to referring to the ideology and the general customs of any culture. Simply, we know in this nation that all that practice \"Christianity\" are not all alike and some do not share even some of the most common beliefs about the tenets of the Christian religion. Therefore you have no argument and you don't even have any proof that most Muslims hate \"gays\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except the Roman Catholic Church has not \"thrown away the anathemas of Trent\". The declarations and anathemas of the Council of Trent have never been revoked. Indeed, the decrees of the Council of Trent were confirmed by the Vatican II.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...Christianity is a dying religion worldwide.\" \n\nNot that I'm a believer but I do know Christianity is shrinking in North America and Western Europe but booming in Africa and Asia. Made worse by the fact that populations are following a similar trend; shrinking in NA and Europe but growing in Africa and Asia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I am a Catholic, I know who I believe.\"\nI am happy for you. And as proof of my happiness for you, I will not mention your error in grammar.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But thank goodness Americans are God-loving, God-fearing, neighbour-loving, church-going, Christians who believe in the Ten Commandments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"doctorate comes in\" by citing wiki? did you cite wiki while preparing your dissertation or thesis? Why don't you try something a little more Catholic, like Aquinas or the Baltimore Catechism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The headline should read: Dissident groups that claim to be Catholic . . .\n\nAssociation of U.S. Catholic Priests - not Catholic. FutureChurch - not Catholic. Voice of the Faithful -not Catholic.\n\n\"Enriching dialogue\" with NO chance of anything happening is futile and a waste of time.\n\nThis will probably get rejected for being too harsh or judgmental.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am pretty sure Christians (and other religions) give through donations more effectively than a central buerocratic system wih little accountability and a high sense of self preservation\n\nI am all for taxes. Especially those to programs for systemic, catastrophic, or societal issues. Most government programs are bloated and wasteful. And don't mix 'give' and 'take less' when it comes to taxes\n\nTell me, do you take the standard tax deduction to take less of your earnings or do you donate to non profits that are generally more effective at supporting your causes and beliefs?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A fine celebration by good Christians on this hallowed day.\n\nhttps://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/04/14/filipinos-re-enact-christs-crucifixion-in-gory-good-friday-ritual.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't say the country was Christian.\n\nThe Establishment Clause just stops the government from forcing people into a certain religion by lawmaking and stops the government from interfering with people practicing their religion. If a government official wants to preach about Christ, and the People continue to re-elect that official, there's nothing unconstitutional about that. It becomes unconstitutional when that official does something that has the power of law that forces people to be religious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about we start by following the example of Jesus healing of the sick, and the example of our Church (the first public hospitals were the creation of Christians to server the poor). We know we have much more wealth at our disposal that was available in first century Palestine or medieval Europe, so it is really for us a simple matter of choice. Do we value the health of our fellow citizens as much as we value the education of all of our children?\n\nThe example in scripture and Church history is very clear. The choice is ours. \n\nMocking sharing the wealth in mutual health insurance for all as giving everyone a car, gold bracelet, and a trip to Disney is running away from the issue of what our Christian attitude ought to be on this issue. Mocking is not an argument...it is a ancient rhetorical device for sidestepping rational debate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can you imagine the audacity of this woman. Questioning in a public forum the veracity and memory of a distinguished Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. What has this world come to. She obviously does not know her place in the\" Lower archy\" As a member of this lower class, one has been taught to never bring shame and disgrace to the Hierarchy. One will never get to heaven this way. Cardinal Muller, on the other hand had a guaranteed pass from the time of his ordination. And not only is this a woman but also a clerical sex abuse victim, or so she claims. As a Church, we have done all that is worldly possible to put a lid on all of this. How many Masses of healing do we have to say. How many pleas of forgiveness do we have to issue. Certainly, it is time to move pass this. We have told these victims what they need to do in order to make things right with God and they will not listen to us. It is all up to them now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to a report in the website of the Association of Catholic Priests:- \"No member of the bishops or church authorities in Ireland or Rome made any contact with the priest over the Mass.\"\nSo that means: no phone calls, no emails, no letters, nothing. No words of any sort - neither of reproof nor of encouragement.\nWhat are the Irish bishops so frightened of?\nWhat is the CDF doing?\nPope Francis had some words for the Irish bishops, at their recent 'ad limina' visit. Including these, according to Archbishop Martin's report: \"We should meet with people the way they are\". \nMeet with people. How difficult can this be?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Washington Post attacks on President Trump now morph into an attack on Christians in a naked attempt to dissipate Mr. Trump's base of voters. The Post -- well known as the source of all morality -- has built a house of cards in claiming Mr. Trump is racist, and now extends that claim to all Christians who may have voted for him.\n\nLook around you at the many Christians you may know. Does this ring true? Are they all -- or are any of them -- racist? Will you now demonstrate on the sidewalk of your Christian neighbor and chase them from your neighborhood? Or could there be other reasons why good, non-racist people voted for and still support Mr. Trump? Could it be that the Post is behaving shamefully in printing such a charge against so many people you know to be upstanding, loving citizens?\n\nThe Washington Post is owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, the new owner of Whole Foods as of next Monday. As a Christian, I will not be patronizing any of those businesses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "History records that there were several Catholic Hierarchy supporting Hitler's government.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian crosses, widespread in staunchly Catholic Austria, should be allowed in classrooms, Mr. Kurz said, referring to the country\u2019s \u201chistorically grown culture.\u201d\n Let the fun begin...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope, that is binding and loosening. Example, the Church no longer teachers that error has no rights - you can be a Protestant and go to Heaven and societies where Catholics dominate or with a Catholic prince may not be run like a Catholic taliban state. Indeed, most agree that when the Church finally gave up the Papal States, the whining of Bl. Pius IX notwithstanding, both Italy and the Church were better off. If the Pope denies agreed upon dogma from the ancient councils, he would be a heretic and not Pope. If he listens to reason on moral issues then he is exercising his teaching function - better late than never. Anyone who protest, especially if they appoint an anti-pope, would be sedevacantist heretics, including you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "as long as those religions aren't Christian right Rod?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's just about how important the clerics have become, even in the Catholic world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just the opposite, John. When gov't gets into the charity business it drives out Catholic Charities, Lutheran Services, any number Left, Right or Center. Then the gov't demand that if a certain church organizations wants to get funding to continue their mission, they have to follow gov't guidelines. Many Christo-centric programs are very successful, but because of these stipulations, lose a lot of effectiveness.\n\nI believe the individual knows best how to spend/donate/waste better than any bureaucrat. It is why I advocate for unlimited charitable contributions be given to ANY qualified organization. If you think Planned Parenthood does an admirable job, as many in Hollywood do, let them fund it to their hearts content. But, let it be up to the individual.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny how it works. This story is important and people should be allowed to comment,however even with the few comments so far , they are anything but civil. Christianity and its failings and there are many make no mistake, have always been fair game in our culture, and there has never been a shortage of criticism. Now when Islam comes up the comment boards tend to be closed, or are closed down after there is a certain amount of criticism. Why is that ? As I said, funny how it works, isn't it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do people who want to know what God wants ask anything of the Cardinals, who wrote the \"dubia\"?\n\n\n\nJesus didn't always follow the teachings that the Jewish religious leaders set forth, either---even from ancient times---like healing on the Sabbath.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The American press, like its English counterpart, is attracted to conflict, whether real or imagined, because it sells the media. I have been a cradle Catholic for 68 years and very active but I don't detect any schism or even negative thoughts about Pope Francis. Most people just go on living their lives largely oblivious to outside (church) influences because are not germane to their everyday lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Philip Elrod: Christions made up the human agency concept to help explain why, if god is all powerful and loves his children, bad things still happen. It's a clever dodge. Your post fits with what I know of christianity: confusing, irrational and dangerous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting observation. I've always wondered why certain people (or companies) won't work on Sunday, when the biblical Sabbath is on Saturday. (That was changed by the Roman Catholics so that they weren't celebrating the same day as Jews.) And what people do or not do on the so-called \"holy day\" has evolved by custom more than by religion. If a person needs to work on Sunday, and if that person won't, then he need not apply for that job at that location.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Had to read further too. But I am blown away by the Catholic church photo. \n\nTook many pics in B&W during my first trip to Vegas, including one of Route 66.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can chalk that up to religion. The various religions teach their followers that they are always right and do no wrong, but in fact it was Marx who spoke the truth when he said that \"religion is the opiate of the masses\" That applies to ALL religions. Muslims and Christians are the worst,but now the Hindus are starting to attack Muslims because they dare to eat beef. Before people start ranting about me being an atheist, not that there is anything wrong with being an atheist, I believe in God but not religion. Huge difference. If we could eliminate religion we would have a much better world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church isn't mine, yours, or Francis', but Christ's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "great point last Patriot, they always zero in on Christians, it never fails. And they want to force us to accept abnormal behavior. I will never accept it, same with everyone I know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you go right ahead and help whoever you want to help. I will do likewise. I am not saying it is the role of the Church to enforce immigration law. Obviously Christians help whoever needs help, regardless of their immigration status. I am also not suggesting we call ICE when we help someone we know to be illegally here. \n\nIt does not follow that the government does not have the right to immigration law--as any other country has immigration laws. It does not follow that the US has no right to border security, as other countries have that right also--as the Vatican has that right. \n\nMy point is that I am not going to call out the government for enforcing the laws of our nation. We have the right to sovereign borders. The government has the right to enforce immigration law. There is nothing unjust, in principle about the notion that a sovereign nation has the right to regulate who is allowed in or who is allowed to stay.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But Pope Francis what if the young people who are women are discerning a vocation to priesthood, according to the Faith God gave them?\n\nWill we ordain them and help pay for their education, as we do with young men? \n\nSt. Mary is a great woman because due to her faith that nothing is impossible with God, she conceived a child thru the Holy Spirit, her own Messiah. She is a great disciple because she always led everyone, Male and Female, to follow her son's example instead of her own. If we are to follow her example, women finally being ordained the same as men, in our church, is not at all impossible either, and we should begin doing so as a matter of Christian Genius and Justice immediately.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When will Christian students be allowed to recite the Lord's Prayer in our public schools again?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The abortion issue is not really an issue because there are no real proposals to deal with it. Democratic Catholics are ill-served by politicians who don't explain why Roe was rightly decided rather than invoking pluralism. The solution to abortion is adequate family income. The Democrats should lean on this one heavily, proposing a $1000 per month per child tax credit for employers to be distributed with payroll. If this sounds socialistic, good, it is. It is also mandated by Catholic Social Teaching, from Leo to Benedict and especially by Pius XI. Of course, until the Democrats propose it, the Republicans can't be embarrassed into enacting it. Whatever it takes. The Democratic problem is not abortion, it is neo-liberalism, which is Republican Lite - a way to pander to rich donors. Until they take care of families, you might as well accept equivalency.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "His \"experience\" consists of a distant cousin, Carter Heyward, who was ordained in a illicit ceremony in 1974. This part of the run-up by supporters of women\u2019s ordination for the 1976 General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, where she and the other ten illicit ordinands were retroactively accepted as priests in that denomination.\n\nThat led to St Louis Affirmation the next year by Anglo-Catholics and marked the beginning of the end of the Episcopal Church.\n\nImplicit in \"From my experience with Anglicans, women priests were generally welcomed\" is the unsaid \"by individuals as contemptuous of their laws and traditions as I am of ours.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's a deeper story to that 44%. There are some who support him because they think he'll be good for America. Fine enough. But there are many more who support him because--and we have seen these very words here--he makes \"libs heads explode!!!\".\n\nThink about that.\n\nInstead of support for a common love of America as an ideal, it's support for a common hatred of fellow Americans who are labelled as \"libs\", \"lieberals\", \"libtards\", etc. These are people who would, by their own admission, call themselves religious, God-fearing Christians. Contrast what the ideals of Christianity espouse with what they have seen their President do and admit to doing.\n\nOf course the door swings both ways.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 2\nSimply put, all of this can be reduced to taking the heartfelt desire Jesus expressed the night before he was killed that We all might be one.\n\nThe \"ecumenism\" that all ecumenists (not just liberals) are against is the alliance of (1) a sub-set of Catholics (various labeled traditionalist, conservatives) who are generally four square against ecumenism as just defined, clinging instead to the former demand all other Christians simply convert to Catholicism, and (2) American Christian fundamentalists, based on a shared xenophobia and Islamophobia, with a shared enemy that includes fellow Catholics (despised as liberal, progressives) and liberal secular values.\n\nIt is, ultimately, an alliance of hatred focused on differences; and as such contrasts in every conceivable way from the V2 ecumenism of shared commonalities and mutual respect.\n\nThus the irony that the one word \"ecumenism\" is proffered for diametrically opposite attitudes. \n\nSure hope that helps, Jay. Not difficult really.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This only shows that in history that a huge number of citizens can destroy a great nation. Mighty Rome fell from the actions of lot of bad and useless wealthy politicians who pandered to the masses to get their support by entertaining them and giving them stuff to gain their undying support beyond all reason. Part of the domination off the lower classes by Rome was strengthened by a war with the early Christians. For politicians, some other group to hate is a good thing. No kidding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I never cared for the esteemed general, John Kelly. He was a do nothing general and mired deep in the swamp. Trump has betrayed all of us and is playing his own little game while still misleading the Christian coalitions. Trump will get what he deserves, time will tell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's right. The Catholics are buried next to Catholics and Jews next to Jews because they have their own cemeteries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Almost.\n\nThe essential message here is that the supernatural dwarfs the importance of the natural and that the supernatural isn't that \"rare\" a moment. We run across the supernatural realm a thousand times a day, but we don't normally appreciate its strain to reach us. \n\nAll human events need to be seen through the eyes of God, through a supernatural lens as it were. \n\n\"Discipleship\" has been watered down in this article. \n\nThe most important thing we can do in our lives is to grow each day in our union with God, and to bring others a bit closer to Him, mainly through our happy and struggling imitation of His Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, leaving our selfishness behind. \n\nThat's the more demanding form and image of discipleship.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Miss Thrope and others have brought up the condition of this world which is not really what the newspaper article is about so I'm taking their lead in presenting a solution to their concern for this place we live called Earth. \n\nGod gave Christians an answer to the world issues. I don't want to step on anyone's toes, but maybe what God says in the Bible is the best thing for this earth and that's rapturing out all the born again Christians and at some point Jesus will return with these people to a new Earth and a new life far better than the one we are in. I liked this option the best so I became a born again Christian.\n\nGod Bless You All!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Catholic history has ample numbers of female saints who might/might not be considered a Wonder Woman for their time. They offer examples to be emulated. But they do not offer leadership for our times.\n\nLeadership requires an active woman of today. A Christian Wonder Woman is one who has the necessary qualities -- and the qualifications.\n\nIn the Catholic Christian arena full ordination completes the qualifications requirement. Anything less than full ordination is an institutional decision that a Catholic Wonder Woman cannot exist, and/or is not wanted, and/or is thought to be of no benefit to the church as an institution or to church members personally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Progressive parishes seem to make people feel good and affirm them where they are and not issue challenges other than \"be nice\", when Christianity is much more than that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This atheist both agrees and disagrees. \nThe ancient religions are mostly superstition and hokum, mixed with some pretty darn good literature (Christian bible).\nBut, my dictionary defines religion as the \"quest for the values of the ideal life\". I did have to search for the right one, of course. \nWe all have a religion, and within our religion have a belief system. Most have a group of family to belong to. Without that circle of humanity, we humans sicken and die.\nIf they would just let me write the introduction to the New Testament, offering as truth that humans in our ignorance and fear learned to worship hopes and fantasies, but today have learned their are no Gods on Mount Olympus, and no supernatural power watching our every action. So take the old words as cherishable artifacts of people just learning about the universe, add to their lives and words with your own...\nIt would be nice to unite all religions and go to churches without feeling anti-science.\nHugh Massengill, Eugene", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Their gravestones have all the necessary information. Christians in this Nation are not being persecuted. \nI have been a baptized Roman Catholic for 78 yrs. and for 13 yrs. a member of the Order of Preachers. I would not define myself as shy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God used to hurl lightning bolts. Now it's just the separation of charge within a cloud. God used to send plagues, now it's just communicable disease. Birthmarks were a mark of Cain - now they are just irregular skin pigmentation. Miracles seem to be confined to things that fall within the range of normal events. Spontaneous remission, images of Jesus on toast, chance survival in an accident - these are today's \"miracles\". Not one airliner filled with children has been lowered safely to the ground. Not one limb regrown. \n\nA quote attributed to Epicurus sums it up fairly well:\n \u201cIs God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.\nIs he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.\nIs he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?\nIs he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?\u201d\n\nBy declaring that god can be as obscure as you want to imagine, you have full license to make any claim, supported by reality or not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pot, meet kettle. \n\nMSW accuses CM (a site I am not particularly fond of) of not being authentically Catholic without any sense of irony.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've read the Bible for myself, and personally, I love it! The world's great religious texts contain wonderful philosophical, psychological and spiritual wisdom, not to mention absolutely beautiful language that is as perfect as any literature humans have created.\n\nReligious texts can be inspiring, but we aren't supposed to interpret them through a material lens, as Christians almost invariably do. Anyone who thinks Jesus was here to tell us how to run government or politics missed the most important points in the entire book, starting with the first words. Neither are we all supposed to convene together every week and decide how Christians or anyone else should act. \n\nIf religion doesn't foster an individual's understanding and connection to their own spirituality - Paul's \"Christ within\" - so they can know from inside themselves how to see the world and conduct themselves morally, with or without a church, then religion is just social control and nothing more, as it usually is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Buddhists also have a Lord. They also believe in heaven and held. They also hold their hands in prayer just like Catholics. And while they do not attend church services every Sunday, they frequently visit temples and shrines to offer prayers to their god.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can someone tell me why this is news, and why anyone cares? I mean other than he thinks Tebow is great because he claims to be a \"Christian.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are talking here about settled doctrine which has been undermined by a handful of prelates led by Cardinal Kasper. Communion for the divorced and remarried was never an issue prior to the Synods.\nThere was no consensus within the Synods for a change so the status quo should still prevail.\nThe vast majority of the First World laity may consider themselves highly educated but that is no proof that they are. Catechesis has been so poor and haphazard that most Catholics' knowledge of their Church and its teaching is in the 'little learning' category which we all know is 'a dangerous thing'.\nAs for the internet, I agree. It provides a smorgasbord of differing takes on Catholicism, enough to persuade anyone that their particular vices are no longer immoral, in some cases even virtuous. Everyone these days seems to have an opinion on what 'Jesus would do' when faced with today's situations: usually what Jesus would do is what they, themselves, would do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the early 1970s St. Francis de Sales Cathedral (Oakland, Ca) and First Baptist Church of Oakland participated in pulpit exchanges around Reformation Sunday. On one Sunday the cathedral would assemble there and then march to FB for a joint service. Both choirs sang representative hymns and the pastor of SFdeS would give the homily. Then a Sunday or two later, the reverse would happen and FB would join the Catholics, with their pastor preaching. These were some of the very best attended services of both congregations.\n\nLong ago, far away, never repeated once the 1989 earthquake destroyed the Cathedral and the parish dispersed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks Island girl31; in a profoundly existential way, it is my belief that Eucharist is the Grace that affirmatively empowers evolution. In Eucharist, all things work to the good. In the final analysis, it is Eucharist, 'Eucharistic Ecumenism', that bonds not just Lutherans and Catholics, but all religions, all life. https://nortonsafe.search.ask.com/web?q=%27Eucharistic+Ecumenism%27%2C+Sylvester+L+Steffen&o=APN11908&prt=cr", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No commenter has noted that both chambers of the Alaska State Legislature begin every daily floor session with a prayer. It's not necessarily a Christian prayer, though, and I don't think the presiding officer has anything to do with selecting that day's \"chaplain.\" I believer the Chief Clerk arranges for \"chaplains.\" If the chaplain is a no-show, the presiding officer asks a member to give the invocation, as Ramona Barnes asked Rep. Joe Sitton in '93 or '94. Joe, who had, as was his habit, held down a barstool at the Alaskan the night before, was initially shocked to be asked, but then he delivered what might have been the best invocation ever offered in the AK House: \"Lord, forgive us for what we are about to do to the people of Alaska today.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "as a counterweight to the antics of Donald Trump, I hope she wins in a landslide.\n- \nMerkel and Trump are of same political species\nHer party is\n-\nThe Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic[2][8][9] and liberal-conservative[2] political party in Germany. \n-It is the major catch-all party of the centre-right in German politics.\n.\nThe leader of the CDU, Angela Merkel, is the current Chancellor of Germany. \nWikipedia", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Christianity\" in practice and declared belief are big, big differences.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "oh yes! sometime in 2012 he got himself ordained priest and then bishop by some vagante or possibly a bishop with Old Catholic orders, so he's got orders and probably \"valid\" ones too. he was pretty well versed in that sort of thing and I don't think he would settle for ones that wouldn't stand up. (he is an odd duck, but not completely crazy and I am told by folks from St. Mary's who knew him from his SSPX days, quite likeable and pleasant.) he has a lovely website and blog. http://pope-michael.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bawden http://vaticaninexile.com/\n\nAnd has even had a documentary made about him. you can watch it for free here. https://popemichaelfilm.com/\n\nAnd you can also be his friend on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/Pope-Michael-205851636111421/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, of course, America should let all comers into the USA. You have the funds and resources to provide the necessary housing, education, health and money to them and their families. And, of course, the bonus is they will vote Democrat once granted the right to vote. It's a no-brainer. \n\nBut wait .....\n\n\u201cPlease, try to understand us, your liberal and democratic principles are worth nothing here. You must consider again our reality in the Middle East, because you are welcoming in your countries an ever growing number of Muslims .... Also, you are in danger. You must take strong and courageous decisions, even at the cost of contradicting your principles.\n\n\u201cYou think all men are equal, but that is not true: Islam does not say that all men are equal. Your values are not their values. If you do not understand this soon enough, you will become the victims of the enemy you have welcomed in your home.\u201d\n(Amel Shimoun Nona, Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Iraq)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The subject is restrictive \"Christian\" domestic social policies.\n\nWhy all the Muslim and Middle East comments?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part four of five) The Catholic church . . . is on the skids\u2014Ken Briggs, as if anything else might be expected from an institution that hails the patron of the sexual-coverups as a Saint.\n\nIdentifiable Christians are nowhere in the secular rankings of leadership\u2014Ken Briggs try the Sisters on the Bus, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden. The list goes on. The hierarchy ousts identifiable Catholics when they dare think outside the box of Saint John Paul II.\n\n\u201cWe ourselves are proclaiming this good news to you that what God promised to our fathers he has brought to fulfillment for us, their children (in the Domestic Church), by raising up Jesus\u201d (Acts 13:33) in the hearts of the Faithful. Liturgy of the Word, Reading 283, Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter I", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You may be overlooking the fact that when it comes to the Catholic Church, those who don't love it DO leave it, by definition. That kind of \"leaving\" is not the same thing at all as national repatriation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The claim that American is a land of religious tolerance is one of the biggest lies of history. That claim, which has never been true, has been exposed a big lie by the work of noted scholars John Corrigan and Lynn Neal in their book (Univ. of North Carolina Press, 2010) \"Religious Intolerance in America.\" The book documents the long and sordid history in the U.S. of prejudice and violence directed at Catholics, Jews, Mormons, Aboriginal peoples, and 'new religions' of the 20th century. Religious intolerance in America began with the arrival of the so-called Puritans, and has continued unabated to the present day. In most cases, the driving force behind the pervasive religious intolerance that consistently characterises U.S. history is the so-called 'Christian right' in American that often takes its cue from xenophobic groups like the KKK. Indeed, today we have a President who has elevated bigotry to the level of public policy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not Catholic yet, but am going through a conversion. I'm surprised to read there is a controversy here. I'm surprised to read there is an alt-right, and a progressive side, in the Catholic Church. I thought Catholic doctrine was straightforward. The Catechism of the Catholic Church? Holy scripture? I have believed there was just Truth. Now I learn there is an alt-right and a progressive side. It's very disappointing. It's very sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a christian attitude. She fled for her life, she put in paperwork 7 years ago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tesa Ann: I've spent my whole adult life wondering about religion and, in the case of christianity, the whole salvation thing. Jesus, the bible and the church present an attractive package. Except for one thing. There is no evidence for any of it. Provide me one iota of evidence that will send me into the glade to ask which church is correct (ala Joseph Smith)?\n\nGive me a place to start please.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What constitutes legitimizing and cornering holiday's that non-Christians celebrate? Happy Holodeck!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess it is tough to have a pope who doesn't support your version of catholicism. Perhaps we should just prop John Paul II's corpse on the throne and declare him Perpetual Pope?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Because much of what passes for \"orthodoxy\" and has been passed off as the \"Catholic Faith\" is little more than abstract neoplatonic philosophical-theological theorizing.\"\nThat is a very sweeping statement, can you justify it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, pleeeze! During the 1 and 2nd Centuries of Christianity there were NO CHURCHES at all. People attended home churches and celebrated THE MEAL [as the Eucharist] was called then on the Day of the Lord---Sunday.\nThere was no crucifix, no tabernacle, no kneelers, no altar rails any where in these homes. The Christian communities grew and grew. This was not because of any of these items. The Church grew because the PEOPLE of these Christian Communities demonstrated the Life of Christ present in them. What drew others to become Christians themselves was what they observed \"See how they love one another\" and not 'look at the crucifix, tabernacle, statues and kneelers in the church.'\n\nUnless Christian/Catholics themselves demonstrate vividly the life of Christ living in them, nobody is going to go from the streets into any church to look at crucifixes, tabernacles, altar rails, statues and kneelers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You'd like to see Pence in? The man is a right wing Christian zealot who would like nothing more than to convert the US into a theocracy. He's openly stated that he's \"a Christian first, a conservative second, and a Republican third\" - no mention of \"American\"\n\nBut would you really want someone with his finger on the nuclear button if they thought this life was just a warmup for something better in heaven?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm in complete agreement with DeSanctis. In fact, as a post-Vatican II Catholic, this nostalgic re-envisioning of church interiors and ritual is one of the reasons I decided to leave. I was raised and then educated, formed and worked as a lay minister by and in an institution who worked very hard encourage full participation of the laity, creating less of a sense of the priest being superior in some way. Under Benedict's reign, I saw these acts of encouragement and welcome slowly (and sometimes not so slowly) stripped away. The two final straws for me was when our Parish Director was stripped of her preaching rights, and when our new (conservative) pastor re-instituted a formal ceremony for installing the left-over hosts in the tabernacle. I swear to God, as the communion ministers bowed in supplication and then turned the key in the lock I heard the heavens shout, \"Jesus has left the building.\" Indeed, it seems he has. \n\nLauri Ann Lumby\nTemple of the Magdalene", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church says and has done for well over 1000 years, that they are Christ's words. Some biblical scholars, mostly Protestant, say they are not. I am a Catholic, I know who I believe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Muslims in Canada have to accept Easter and Christmas as public holidays. The weekend is the Christian day of rest. They have to accept the Protestant definition of marriage (one wife, with possibility of divorce).\n\n Isn't that an example of diversity?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If only it was \"public opinion\" that was being rejected.\n\nIn the 1960s, the Vatican created a Commission that studied the Church\u2019s teaching on contraception. That commission included theologians, doctors, scientists and married couples. The commission members were not radicals or dissidents, but educated and respected Catholics who took their assignment very seriously. After much study, discussion and prayer, the Commission issued its majority report, concluding that contraception was not intrinsically evil. 51 of the 55 who voted supported this conclusion, along with seven of the eight cardinals appointed to examine the report independently.\n\nTrue, the Church is not a democracy. Neither was the Commission. It's members were hand selected for their knowledge, expertise, and commitment to Catholicism. It's one thing to dismiss the findings of an random poll. It's something else entirely to dismiss the conclusion of respected, Vatican-appointed experts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One might want to do some research on the finances on this couple. Washington Post and Forbes have some information. I do not see any sense of Catholic based charity or actions in regard to national or global missionary works or causes. Go figure!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can call yourself anything you like - that does not mean you are.what you claim.\n\nUsing the words \"Roman Catholic\" in their group's name is meant to confuse and attempt to convince people that they are Roman Catholic. But - they are NOT in Communion with the the Roman Catholic Church at all. They are certainly NOT \"within the Church\" - but most assuredly outside it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"True Christianity\"\nThat's too funny.\nTrue Christianity. What is True Christianity?\nChristians have been calling each other's beliefs heretical and schismatic for roughly 1,800 years.\nEmperor Constantine convened the First Nicene Council in 325 CE to nail down \"True Christianity\", and immediately disputes broke out.\nEastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians got into a dispute over whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, or just from the Father. That caused the two main divisions of the Christian Church of the time to split, each proclaiming itself to be the One True Church.\nThen came Martin Luther and John Calvin and a bunch of other people, each proclaiming their own version of Protestantism is the denomination closest to what Jesus wanted.\nAnd for hundreds of years, Protestants fought Roman Catholics, and vice versa, and each other.\nThe beauty of the American government is that it treats all religions the same, and ideally keeps them at arm's length.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, the comment is about France. My tangential reference to Quebec is about the number of French people considering themselves Catholic. And according to recent census and research data that is true for both France and Quebec. :) Nice try for a diversion ... sorry, it did not work. And .. now, would you care to respond to the comment? :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remember our Lord feasted with apostles the first bishops, our priests and bishops are indeed able to self commune with methods that the laity are discouraged from like inticntion(dunkin donut style). \n\nAberration does indeed carry some negative association if I overreacted in this or another comment I apologise. \n\nThe entire discussion of how to receive is depressing and pedantic, what would be more fruitful is an honest discussion of whether most Catholics even know what the mass is and what is mean by true presence. In other words teaching the theology of the mass is vitally more important. \n\nIn all honesty if people truly grasped the meaning of the Eucharist we would complain that there is no way of receiving while lying prostate on the floor. If our Jesus came corporally how should the Pantocrator be properly greeted besides in meak supplication.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really. The Jesus I see in the Bible is uncompromising. Faith is not belief in things unseen; faith is belief in *the evidence* of things unseen. I cannot see the wind, but I can see and hear evidence of the wind. I cannot see gravity, but I can see evidence of gravity. Such is the meaning behind \"the evidence of things unseen.\" It's not really like believing in Santa Claus. \n\nThey don't give up their families or livelihoods or wealth to follow him. They teach prosperity and all kinds of earthly values that he never taught. Jesus didn't say, \"Go to church, y'all, and agree on stuff, okay?\" No, he didn't say that. But he did go to the desert and walk among the people on his own.\n\n\"I would have given you living water from which you never thirst again.\" These Christians don't want real faith and living water, they want material and earthly power. And we know what he said about that . . .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I for one am rejoicing to hear the prophetic voices in the U.S. Catholic Church. The Respite center here in McAllen, Texas is a prophetic voice, not only of Bishop Flores, but also the mayor, Mr. Darling, the Salvation Army, volunteer lawyers and medical personnel. Makes me proud to be a follower of Jesus in contrast to identifying with the title Christian of those who support the Religion of Empire.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Factoring economic reality into community standards and practices regarding marriage is fully in line with Catholic Social Teaching. Pope Francis is recommending a pastoring style that takes into account all the realities that affect married life, including economic . It would be good if more pastors in the institutional Church would work harder to draw upon and cultivate the considerable capacity of ordinary people to rely upon the Spirit within them, and not place so much emphasis upon rules that seem sensible in an idealized world but oversimplify actual life and smother the teachings of the Spirit alive in the human heart.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, again words put in my mouth which I never uttered. Again I ask why.\nI talk to people and find out that their adherence to and their knowledge of the Catholic Faith is totally different to my own. I condescended to no one nor did I condemn or pass judgement upon anyone.\nTo receive Holy Communion during Mass is a fine thing. However, to receive it unworthily is a sin of sacrilege. There are times when I would not dare to present myself to receive Communion yet the rest of the congregation seemingly was without grave sin. Different criteria exist especially according to Amoris Laetitia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"Christianity\" within Catholicism in the 1950's was unrelated to real Christianity based on the gospels but was a product of over-institutionalization. We went to church because we'd been promised hell if we didn't -- just as hell loomed for neglecting all other church-related practices and devotions, or for daring to use our own brains and consciences. Vat II didn't happen in a vacuum -- the counter-revolutionary church until the 1960's may have appeared to be devout, but it was a sham filled with fear, oppression, abuse, overpowering clericalism and an absence of real love...none of which are remotely connected with Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no place in this country for *ANY* law that is specific to any given religious group.\n\nI don't care if it is Christianity, Islam, Judaism, whatever, they are all religions, they deserve the exact same legal treatment in terms of freedom to practice and protection from discrimination and hate-crimes, but none of them deserve special status.\n\nIf there are problems with hate crimes and discrimination against Muslims they should be dealt with through broad and consistent legal frameworks, not a law specifically singling out one religion.\n\nKeep the church (mosque, synagogue, temple, whatever) separate form the state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Alexandra,\n\nI am aware that you are Catholic but not Roman Catholic and I did not believe Jim meant any harm to the Ukrainian Church but he did mean harm to the women he did not bother to mention have been discriminated against for no just reason. Many of these groups push married men for priesthood but should first push for the human justice issue to be resolved regarding our abuse of women. \n\nCanon Law that breaks the Great Commandment to treat all the same and with love must be done away with and it is the laity's job to demand we support justice for all of our members, in any church. We must do more than shake our heads, as sexism in religion has been proven to directly cause violence, rape, terrorism, poverty, child abuse, slavery, genital mutilation of women and many other horrid results globally. This can no longer be treated like a joke or not a real problem. We are culpable to God for the abuses to human dignity that we allow with our obedient silence to such laws.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perfectly timed for the 50 Anniversary of the Summer of Love and the start of the peace movement against the Vietnam War.\nHippies loved the First Nations people and always said Canada should return their lands. Remember they used to wear feathers and head bands and loved camping out on the land, Anywhere would do. Even the street. They had more moral courage than any folks to hit the planet since the first Christians. They were on the cutting edge of every political, social, economic and cultural change necessary. They were decades ahead of their time. Many paid a big price for it.\nThe 1960's hippies changed the world. Today's young can't even provide clean water to our indigenous people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "China has not exactly been any American president's best friend when it comes to North Korea. Obama actually accomplished a tad bit more than Bush. It was Clinton that lost the best opportunity to actually be effective. \n\nI have been watching the despicable events unfolding in Charlottesville, and once again the man you voted for refuses to identify white supremacy as a problem. I really and truly pray that every white pro life Christian that voted for the supposedly 'pro life' president meditates on the license they have given for others to hate and hate and hate and be proud of their 'patriotic' hate. Please don't ever again tell anyone here their 'hatred of Mr Trump color everything', when Trump supporters are marching to paint this country exclusively white. The silence from the white Christian Trump supporter is as equally despicable as the virulent white men screaming 'blood and soil'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly your comments don't follow the catholic way...No true follower of Jesus would support someone who has no moral compass. You don't have to vote for Clinton. There are other people running. You should have stopped him while you had a chance. But he bullied even the Republicans. She never said anything about Catholics. Why should the government run by Catholic rules? Keep your faith as Jesus did, and show your faith as Jesus did. No judgments...just love and acceptance for all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hedzer: Here is but one example of what lesny4 is talking about when he says Christianity takes a different form in the United States.\n\nhttp://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2016/12/12/santa-claus-exist-texas-pastor-heckles-children-parents-waiting-meet-santa-mall", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe the greatest resistance from within the church to Pope Francis comes from priests, bishops and lay Catholics who are all about the rules and regulations. The same ones who push for judgements on others, rather than pastoral care for all. Prayers for Pope Francis to live long enough to re-shape the face of our faith, top to bottom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't worry. It wasn't all bad back then, They taught us about the role of conscience, the conditions of sin (meaning that you don't necessarily sin just by committing an action or omission) and the mission of the Church to carry the good news (not, apparently, to police every individual's actions while getting myself into heaven). . A lot of the stuff you hear from us oldies is a perversion of what we learned in grade 3. I can assert this because I'm an orthodox Catholic. Tridentinus has said so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As were the Ch. of England clergy as well. The use of \"Father\" by Anglicans was slow to develop and came about as a result of the Oxford/Tractarian movement of Pusey, Newman and others in the 19th century. It was controversial at the time, and still is not used in the low church wing of Anglicanism.\n\n As Bill T. pointed out, high church/Anglo-Catholic places call women clergy \"Mother\", which is used by you good RC to describe the head sister (religious order) as I understand it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That a really ugly look at \"public\" education. I went to a private, Catholic high school that treated with more respect.\n\nShe'll win a bundle, but her lawyer needs to change the venue from Western Slope Jesusland to a fair jurisdiction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seems to me that the Middle East forces who condemn \"Western powers\" wouldn't themselves want to move to the West, nor would they want Muslims under their control to move to the West....so why would they object to Christians being given preference to move to the West?\n\nPatriarch Sako, pass the appease, please.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul, go you really believe that religious extremists and white nationalists are not \"activists\"? Or that once in power they would respect the free speech of people who were not white or not of their religious persuasion? \n\nRadical Christians have already indicated their willingness to take away women's freedom of choice and reproductive freedom. \n\nAnd . . . do you also think that \"The Party\" (!) hasn't ALWAYS listened to the \"activist\" voices of banks, big corporations and the financial and insurance industries?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bp. Braxton,\nWe certainly know who the Catholic prelates have voted for over the past 36yrs, since the election of Pope John Paul Ii. The pope with blood on his hands. \nI truly hope and pray that Pope Francis show all of you the way of Christ instead of the way of Reagan, Pope John Paul II and the GOP. Money and political power have been a corrupting thing for the Right and the Religious Right!!\nYour article cannot undo what has been done. Nor can Pope John Paul II near death bed apologies make nice. \nI am always amazed that the Right and the Religious Right actually believe that they really have the right to USE other peoples lives for their 'gain'. AMAZING!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with this post totally! If you don't believe in what the Catholic Churches....like abortion....I guess you should find a religion that better suits your needs. This way your would be comfortable in your practice and beliefs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Unkown Commenter, I agree with you 100%. An absolutely excellent comment. You are a extremely gifted writer. Yes, I am a white Christian family man. I am not afraid to comment on these classes of people, I am not afraid of harsh criticism, (as it comes from these protected classes), and, I will not be held captive by these classes of protected individuals. \n\nThere is a \"Men's\" bathroom, and a \"Women's\" bathroom, and they should be used accordingly, based on your gender at birth. Read the Sign,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People who are nominally Catholic, yet do not believe what the Catholic Church teaches are not de facto members of the Catholic Church. Why is this so difficult to get across?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think yazidi's are Christian, but point taken...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have to remember that for Trid, the definition of \"being Catholic\" is \"he or she agrees with ME\". Trid has said (1) that his opinions are congruent with the magisterium and (2) anyone who disagrees with the magisterium in any way whatsoever is not a true Catholic. He also says that the magisterium has never, ever changed a teaching, which simply demonstrates his willingness to lie about Church history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Sexist\"? Oh Monica......didn't the Gospel talk about unity in the Mystical Body which is the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church; outside of which there is no salvation?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. This is largely untrue. What has changed is how people define the terms conservative and liberal when asked, and the terminology is so unclear that it now means very little. For instance, at one time there were Christian liberals but not any more; now there are only Christian conservatives and non-Christian conservatives. At the same time some priests and preachers have become less conservative as they fight for market share. Above all we should not let newspapers define those terms.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Im not surprised.... Ive heard stories of some Christian churches in Korea too. Evangelical priests believe they speak the word of God and can do no wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bubbles, thanks for the truth. That's why I believe Larry Simoneaux erred in listing Catholics, as such, as singled out for persecution and extermination by Hitler. Hitler may have killed a lot of French Catholics in the Resistance when he conquered France but it wasn't because of their faith. Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the majority of Germans Catholic and Lutheran Christians?\nI applaud the French Catholic community in New Orleans for \"starting \nthe ball rolling\" in removing the hateful Confederate symbols, statues, and monuments.\nDitto for South Carolinans for removing the Confederate battle flag.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whoops, Gropin' Donnie does NOT believe in abstinence. He just pretends to when it's politically convenient. The \"Christian\" right clergy pretend to believe him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only honest answer is \"I don't know.\" Groucho is right in stating that biblically and theologically death couldn't have existed before sin. It seems incompatible with Christ as our salvation, His death and resurrection. How do you answer that and remain a Christian?\n\nThe scientific theory is we know how to measure elapsed time by our dating. I am not convinced of that. God is outside of time. It's also possible dinosaurs existed in another part of the globe at the same time or may have been part of another creation. Since the biblical term \"earth\" or \"world\" could have meant the known world, we can't know. That's just my opinion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Alexandra, but I don't have much confidence in the flagging system. In fact, I see that NCR Comments often serves as a platform for members of the alt-right/Catholic far right, who game CC moderation and find company with the resident reactionaries who've trolled these threads for years. A steady stream of bigotry of one kind or another winds its way through Comments unabated. I'm taking off for Lent, and it will be a relief.\n\nUtilitas has been around as long as I can remember, and he's been spamming anti-Islam histrionics ever since the election season started. Obviously NCR tolerates it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Christian, I would love the example you provided because I know that Jesus rose from the dead. As a non-Christian, I would be offended that you are inferring that i'm misinformed. On the other hand, your example is too clever by half.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a bunch of nonsense excuses and examples to justify discrimination by the church of the american taliban under the diguise of their version of christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you consider \"In God we Trust' exclusively Christian?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bubbles,\nNo, you live a world that lacks empathy and forgiveness. I do not denounce Trump, nor should I. I don't have to agree with everything a president says or actually 'does' to support what he is trying to do. unless the Lord Jesus returns tomorrow, all we have are imperfect people to 'lead'. You, Bubbles, are no better than Trump, believe it or not. He's a sinner and so are you. There is only one way out of it. Guess what that is?\n.\n It is not Christian to call some one a 'fat pig' or ridicule another's small hands. That doesn't mean that person is suddenly not a Christian anymore, except in your world Bubbles. It means they need to repent and ask God for forgiveness. Christians are still sinners and need to repent when they have hurt someone or sinned. For their own sake.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and many of those persons and groups were not even Christian or possibly not even religious of any sort.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clericalism definitely has something to do with it -- the conviction of \"ontological superiority\" that they feel entitles them to lord it over the laity and that they believe gives them the right to command and to define the rules of faith. IMHO, they've got to make being pastoral (and honestly so, with integrity and charity in its truest sense) the priority if the preaching of Christian values through the Church is going to be given much credence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If courage and fortitude were what mattered, Columbus could have redeemed himself by NOT raping, pillaging, murdering, spreading disease and stealing wealth on at least one of his 4 trips across the ocean.\n\nJust one.\n\nAll said though - it would be good to leave the statues if the trade off was a real history of Columbus, Spain and the Catholic church at that time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why are there so many ignorant WASPs who think they know what Islam is like. Honestly, I know a Baptist who doesn't even believe a Catholic is a Christian. Orthodox, Eastern Rite, Roman Catholic, Coptic, Anglican, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Evangelical, Morman, Jehovah Witness, there's a wide range of Christian believers and some are liberal and some conservative. The same with Islam. So don't be judgemental.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am disappointed that the conservative True Catholic like Panda have not posted here in defense of the Church, which, despite this article, can do no wrong, and never has.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought that Catholic liberals and the liberal interpreters of Vatican II wanted Catholics to think for themselves and not get bullied by the Church or the Pope.\nMaybe liberals don't like it, but Catholic conservatives are now winning at a liberal game.\nConservatives can now ignore church teaching just as effectively as liberals can.\nLibs ignore Benedict and cons ignore Francis.\nVatican II can be a double-edged sword.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer was pretty much just a translation of the Catholic Sarum Rite, and is older than the Tridentine Mass. But could you be specific? How is the Mass of Paul VI similar to the 1549 Book of Common Prayer in a way that the Tridentine is not?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Religion\" perhaps. However, Jesus does not conform to mankind. Jesus TRUE followers conform to him.\n\n\"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.\" Hebrews 13:8.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: Shamanism. It is harder to become and be a real human being, Inupiat, than to thread a camel through an eye of a needle. Translation: It is not easy in these times to be a real human being. In fact it is easy to become and be a christian, whereupon one can commit all sins and hide behind Jesus, which is a common christian practice. Being a real human means the only one one can hide behind is yourself, which is impossible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can't issues be discussed one by one without degenerating into the question of whether someone is Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neither the Catholic nor the Orthodox hierarchy would ever give up any of their much coveted \"authority,\" About the only thing that would cause them to re-unite would be if they faced mutual catastrophe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I could not help but be reminded of the comments sometimes seen here about how horrible the pre-Vatican II days were regarding Fridays of lent and Sunday pre-communion fasts from midnight. We've always been pretenders relative to our Muslim friends. \n\nBeyond the individual spiritual, psychological and physical benefits, Ramadan strengthens Muslim identity and community by being distinctly and conspicuously Islamic. \n\nThe worst damage done to the Church came when too many of us became ashamed of being distinctly and conspicuously Catholic", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and evangelical \"christians\" will be able to refuse services to idol worshiping Catholics as well. I know if I had a business and I knew who they were, I would certainly refuse business to anyone I knew or suspected of being an evangelical or a Catholic bishop. I believe that providing any kind of services to them is sinful and a violation of my religious conscience. as always, these things are a double edged sword and can easily be turned against those who agitate for them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In your face attitude\"?\n\nWith JPII and Benedict, progressive Catholics celebrated papal resistance as a splendid virtue. With Francis, they've seem to have done a 180, and call any disagreement with Rome evidence of an obstreperous \"in your face\" attitude. \n\nAt least as far as open borders and the environment goes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's the approach taken by Stephen Harper's former director of communications:\n\nHe states his article is in defense of religious tolerance but the only two quotes he can come up with don't even mention religion.\n\nHe calls Liberal assessments like: \"somebody who has voted against every single civil rights advancement in the last 25 years\" and \"far-right social Conservatives\" as \"this kind of anti-Christian sneer.\"\n\nTo no great surprise, he then goes on to blow the familiar nativist dog-whistle: \"you can get away with criticizing a Christian far more readily than you can for criticizing a Muslim.\"\n\nAndrew Scheer might gain a few points by rapidly and publicly disavowing this kind of approach.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Msgr. George Lemaitre was Belgian Catholic Priest, astronomer and professor of physics at the Catholic University of Leuven. He was the first to propose the Big Bang Theory.\n\nYour ignorance of the Teilhard case is obvious. He was never excommunicated (lovely series of alternate facts you introduce :) ) He was censored because of his ideas on original sin, and not because of his scientific research. The fact is that his groundbreaking (and often mystical) ideas cannot account for the reality of evil in the world. But the positive aspect of his visionary thought far outweighs its shortcomings. For this he has been widely recognised, and praised for, including the last three popes. \n\nIt is OK to be critical, but when ignorance gets mixed with hate ... well, it is a deadly mix.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are talking through your hat, as they say.\nThere is no such thing as 'corporate sin'. Sin can only be attributed to individuals and only individuals will be held to account at the Last Judgement.\nThese Cardinals have simply asked the Pope a question, how can that be a sin or a corporate sin? Is asking a question now a sin?\nPlucking unrelated quotes from Aquinas which are not relevant to the current situation smacks of desperation on your part. The Primacy of conscience is not a simplistic doctrine as you would realise if you studied it in depth rather than superficially. Culling quotes from Aquinas suggests that you really haven't a clue what he is talking about in depth.\nIf one does not think with the teaching of the Church, with the Magisterium that leaves one to be 'de facto' outside the Church of Christ. One can keep up the pretence if one likes and wallow in self-deception but one cannot deceive God in the long run; God will not be mocked.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gerson has been magnificent. But it is strange that Winters should lionize him here without acknowledging that Gerson was a primary architect of the rhetoric & views of George W. Bush which the Civilta article attempts to link with the broader \"ecumensim\" that it criticizes. Indeed, several of the most prominent Catholic conservatives who were influential in the Bush Administration have been some of the most vocally anti-Trump. That's one of the weaknesses in both the Civilta article & in this piece. If one only read the part of the Civilta article dealing with Bush, one would think that Gerson would be one of the primary targets. It was Gerson, afterall, who contributed the \"axis of evil\" concept into Bush's rhetoric.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr. Dwight posits a schism that exists only in his own mind. All Catholics believe\n\nJesus Christ is the Virgin born Son of God and that as the second person of the Holy and undivided Trinity established his church on earth supernaturally filled with the Holy Spirit ..., a divinely appointed institution established for the eternal salvation of souls...established by God\u2019s Son Jesus Christ our Lord for the defeat of Satan, the salvation of souls and the redemption of the world through the supernatural graces empowered by the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross.\n\nWe also all believe that the church will exist as God's instrument and the bride of Christ and the people of God until the end of time, but I think the differences may center around the question of whether \"stand firm\" is the only, or even best, way to describe what the church has done, is doing and will do during its existence. \n\n We also all believe that it is a merciful God, not the church, who saves souls.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm afraid there are a lot of people in this-same boat. Why do they all belong to the alt right? And they usually profess to be Christians. Republicans and Christians had best repudiate them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW, this is a masterpiece! As chasharr12 said below, \"less Roman, more Catholic.\" Thank you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, the operative is you seem to believe the Church actually knows something about saving an individual's soul. The Church can't even prove the soul exists. What Jesus taught is that we shall be judged on how we treat others, as in the least of us, not how we condemn others to make us feel good about 'saving our souls' vs them 'losing' their souls. Absolutely love can exist between two people of the same sex and they can most certainly desire the good of each other...and some of these couples, like many heterosexual couples, don't have sex or have gone beyond the need because of age.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you are a Christian who doesn't take Jesus, who is God, as binding authority?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Helen Alvare shills for the Catholic Church on complementarianism and therefore anything she says about women's issues should be discounted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So someone that \"cried at church services and watched television with a Bible in his lap.\" and \"proselytizing door-to-door, reading the Bible aloud at work and at home, and insisting that his wife follow the strict teachings of their pastor\" can't be called an evangelical Christian?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sixty percent of Catholic women voted for Donald Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read what the booklet contains. \n\nhttp://wdtprs.com/blog/2017/02/new-booklet-by-cardinal-asserted-to-be-response-to-the-five-dubia-of-the-four-cardinals/\n\nFor example:\n\n\u201cDivorced and remarried, unmarried couples living together, are certainly not models of unions in harmony with Catholic doctrine, but the Church cannot look the other way. For which reason the sacraments of reconciliation and of communion ought to be given also to so-called wounded families and to those who even though living in situations not in line with the traditional canons on matrimony, express a sincere desire to draw closer to the sacraments after an adequate period of discernment.\u201d \n\nWe now have Cardinal Muller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who said: Communion for the remarried is against God\u2019s law and cannot be changed, being contradicted by the Cardinal Coccopalmeria, President of the Pontifical Council, responsible for issuing binding interpretations of the Code of Canon Law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is this Catholic housing open to non-Catholics? Or is it restricted?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is your truth, not the only truth. I can get the exact answer you gave for any denomination,religion or sect in the workd. \n\nDo you speak in tongues? If not maybe you aren't a real Christian? How about snake handling, confession, do you eat fish without scales. \n\nJesus provided a model for the living, not the dead.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It did not sound from the article that it was just one person. Many non-Christians and agnostics were not happy about it. I suggest you re-read the article. It appears a large portion of the members did not agree with the religious restrictions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish Israel would do more to help Christians. That should be what inter-faith relations should produce, positive fruit. We should discuss what Israel could be doing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was just using it to point out how bad Catholic youth programs are. Very few people formally date in high school or college now. Yet Catholic social mixers seem to be geared to pushing kids into serious relationship and early marriages like the 1950s. \n\nHere is another example. When I was in high school, I was jealous of the Protestant kids got to go on mission trips. We did not. The Catholic youth group was geared toward middle schoolers and the young adult group was for people in their 30s who were married. There was very little for people in their 20s who are not married.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr. Orobator needs no education regarding women and the RC Church. He is wise enough to know that the talents of one half of the human race including baptized fully Catholic women, have had those talents hidden under a bushel basket. Time to move toward sharing these talents with all in the Church Community.\nIf you take a moment to look at our history even in the secular world you would understand the struggle we've had to take our rightful places there. Women were told \"they could not.......\" until they showed THEY COULD. Medicine, law Nobel prizes, service in the armed forces, art, music, ....need I continue? A recent study announced last night, stated that women physicians in hospitals delivered better outcomes in saving lives then male physicians. \nTo continue in this century to perpetuate the notion of our inferiority in ANY area, secular or religious is foolishness on steroids. Christians need to awaken to see and appreciate the gifts of ALL.\nPS..scripture was written by MEN.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "PS: I left the Catholic Church 53 years ago. I'm a Unitarian now. I am not getting a check from Pope Francis, Dolan, Bully Billy or the Sisters of Mercy to ask these questions. I was not planted by Opus Dei into the NCR comment section, I am angry at the RCC for years of abuse and cover-ups, I am not a Trump supporter, I'm against theocratic rule. bashing baby seals on the head and I'm for saving the whales.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All the norms LOVE Pope Francis; he is a big hit with the regular pew dwellers. Most Catholics have better things to do than fixate on this minutia. They don't watch EWTN and probably don't know who Burke is. My parents didn't until I showed them the pictures. If you asked them, they would probably say they are happy that their remarried friends can receive Communion but they only will talk about it if it is on the news or it affects someone they love. I'm shocked by the amount of hyperventilating over AL by the Catholic Internets vs. the little impact it has had on the ground. Go to something like a wedding forum or a divorce forum and there is literally no examples of AL impacting a divorcee in a positive manner. Most Catholics don't care about the debate because it doesn't impact them but if you asked them they would side with Pope Francis because they feel bad for remarried people denied Communion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can remember when apu was amu, a small christian college. It failed, and became apu, now again it failed and has a (new and exciting plan), same words, insert name changes and release to press. Just someone else to pay the bills.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps newsreader you might wish to consider that the group that erected this monument was NOT a religious organization, it was the American Legion. I would also wish to know if all those intended to be honored by this structure were Christian. \nMilitary personnel are laid to rest with a religious symbol reflecting their faith on their tombstone if they wish. No one is rejecting the faith of the individual service members.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not the lay people who make the rules [canons] of the Catholic Church, but the hierarchy. THEY make the rules, and levy those laws on the laity. Meanwhile, for centuries---it was the hierarchy who were the worst violators of those laws.\n\nIn the past, very few of the laity KNEW the dirty secrets of the hierarchy. But that is not the case today. Being a good Catholic is not keeping every iota of canon law. It's Loving God and Loving one's neighbor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In real life, as in his filmography, Martin Scorsese brings us closer to our God by his considerable abilities and by his equally considerable experience! He is also the director who took on \"The Last Temptation of Christ.\" Mother Angelica was not amused, so to speak, but at least it was mighty good to know that! Seeing him and Pope Francis together in one picture gives me hope for the future of Christianity and Catholicism!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American white nationalist, politician, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, Holocaust denier, convicted felon, and former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.[4][5] Duke speaks against what he describes as Jewish control of the Federal Reserve Bank, the U.S. federal government, and the media. Duke supports the preservation of what he considers to be Western culture and traditionalist Christian family values, abolition of the Internal Revenue Service, voluntary racial segregation, anti-communism, and white separatism.[7\" He is also an active sup;porter of Donald Trump...Such a fine, upstanding American.....\nGary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An interesting reply. To quote you; \" ... a major factor (but by no means the only) in the decrease of vowed religious men and women and priests as well is due to our withdrawal from high school education.\"\n\nThat sentence seems just about the reverse of what I thought. \n\nSo -- did fewer vowed religious contribute to increased Catholic school closings (my thought), or did increased Catholic school closings lead to fewer vowed religious (seemingly your thought)?\n\nI do agree that starting formation in the teenage years has never been a good idea. In the archdiocese of my youth it started at age 14! Recruiting occurred in elementary schools for the four year high school minor seminary that was 100% staffed by vowed archdiocesan personnel -- a live-in, go home once-in-a-while, controlled social environment plan I thought weird at the time and consider very wrong now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"Prelates in Germany\" are not the Catholic church in Germany. And neither the Prelates nor the church in Germany is \"lost\"! Even if the German pope emeritus thinks it is!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, R.D.? Your \"banks come first philosophy\" is one-dimensional Republican dogma. No wonder you put the Republican platform ahead of Catholic teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is not my opinion of mortal sin, it is the Church's teaching concerning sin. The Church has the authority to teach from Christ, Our Lord Himself \n, what authority do you have to back up your opinions?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since I happen to know the REAL Caiside personally, who is now on these boards as Caiside2, I feel I must flag your comment for misrepresenting her opinions. Why anyone would feel this necessary or even amusing is beyond me. If you are indeed a Catholic, I would hope that you will take time to think about some of the Commandments regarding this. I am concerned for you and I hope that that was civil enough.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article zeroes in on the reasons for the declining attendance in many churches which describe themselves as Christian. When pastors (and denominations) remove Jesus from the centre of preaching, make the study and understanding of the Bible irrelevant, and cherry-pick what is to be considered sinful (or won't discuss sin at all), people starve for spiritual nourishment. These congregations become primarily a social entity and invariably many, many cannot sustain themselves and close their doors. The crux of it is that people need to hear how only the God of the Bible, through Jesus alone, grants us forgiveness, gives us authentic purpose, meaning, love and a future with Him for eternity. When humankind develops its own solutions for these deep human needs apart from God, the solutions are invariably temporary and often harmful. If anyone reading this would like to know more about Jesus, here is a link for you. Thanks for reading my comment.\nhttps://peacewithgod.net", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians and other people of faith have become the minority. The right not to be forced to have an atheist education should be protected.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic boards attract students of all faiths -- including Muslims -- and is funded by taxpayers who choose to direct their money there because it provides a faith-based education. As long as the demand and the support remain high, the schools will continue to flourish.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously that was a typo. The issue he brought up is justified bigotry towards Christians, arguing a not for profit church should be taxed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I assume that Henry VIII was talking about the privilege of clergy that entitled them to be tried only in canonical courts and not in the State courts. This was essentially the dispute between Henry II and Thomas A'Beckett, but after the latter's murder, Henry II backed off on his demands. Henry VIII did cut back the privilege but it did not completely disappear in Britain until 1827. The 1532 moment has already happened. In virtually all democratic countries, the civil law takes no notice of canon law - it has as much relevance as the rules of golf, as one Irish judge put it. The exceptions are where the Vatican has entered into Concordats with sympathetic Catholic countries, the most notable of which is Colombia where bishops are above the civil law. Some countries in their civil laws provide for a form of privilege for religious confessions, but that is because as a matter of policy they have decided to include that in their civil laws.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. It is NOT a Christian \"position,\" and in fact is not shared by all Christians, or even non-Christians. If anything, it is an aspiration which is ineluctably linked to other human aspirations, and cannot stand alone, and ex sua natura, and cannot be enforced, as we have learned even before Roe!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What an appropriate essay for this, Easter Sunday. It brings back memories of my Catholic childhood, rushing on Good Friday to say 'The Stations of the Cross', getting a new hat for Easter Sunday mass and the family's Easter dinner. Catholicism kept the family together with its rituals and prayers and even though this writer no longer practices, the rosary has been used on bumpy airlines, through cancer treatments and the death of a child. In travels, sitting inside a church, temple or mosque one receives energy from all of those who prayed before us. Those Catholic nuns were the best teachers and the most educated women in the community, and provided girls with positive role models. Thank you for this lovely essay.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rohr teaches \u201ca faith alternative to the dominant consciousness\u201d (whatever that is) and thinks Christian beliefs and teachings need to be \u201cupdated\u201d to better conform to modern society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I want to know Ted though is this. If someone in a Muslim country says they accept Jesus as their saviour, even the Trinity, even the 28 FBs of the SDA Church, but then says he or she also believes in the Qu'ran and Muhamed as a prophet, will that person be saved? Can that person be an \"Adventist\" or \"Christian\". You seem to say no - why?\n\nYou seem to say such a person couldn't possibly exist - that it would be an impossibility - because of how Islam is usually interpreted by most Islamic scholars. But such people do exist Ted - they are real people. \n\nAnd they don't follow the views of these Saudi or Iranian Muslim theologians. They reject the Haddith for the Bible. \n\nThey might have a fringe view of Islam, so much so most don't consider them \"real\" Muslims. \"Messianic-Muslims\" so-named might well belong to a \"different religion\" than Islam. But they used to say that about Adventists too, trying to be \"Jews\" and not being \"real Christians\" as we upheld aspects of the Torah.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I would add to that his impressive record of recruiting and signing up new members - which is how he won the PC Leadership\"\n\n--\n\nHe won the leadership because Charles McVety and Monte McNaughton delivered a raft of insta-Tories from the evangelical and social conservative ethnic communities, all of whom have now turned on Brown after he betrayed them \n\nThat's how he won the PC Leadership.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "!This rigid and misleading \"take\" on clerical celibacy is revelatory of two other related problems in today's Roman Catholic church: Catholic marriage teaching, and human sexuality itself. The institutional Catholic church urgently needs to changs its unfeeling ways, or forfeit even more of its credibility!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A moment of silence, although reasonable on its surface, will be rejected by those pushing public prayer. The idea of leading a public meeting with an orchestrated 'christian' prayer is to show off the bonafides of the politicians and to proselytize. When I performed my student teaching internship many decades ago the school used a moment of silence since this was shortly on the heals of Engel vs. Vitale. The silent moment is a welcome one on several levels and the freedom to pray as one wishes, silently, is a great benefit to those who do not share the faith of the majority. This should be the fall back position of the SC but I'm not holding my breath.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh my, gotya, if you're going to reference a famous quote that huge numbers of people know about, it would be wise to get it right--otherwise one just might sound ill-informed.\n\nFrancis did not \"interject himself in an American election.\" He was asked a question about Trump's wall, which he clearly had never heard about before. Therefore, instead of responding with a comment about \"that wall,\" he created a new and very wise proverb, the gist of which is \"Christians should be building bridges, not walls.\"\n\nDo you agree with this aphorism about bridges and walls. Before you answer, recall that \"bridges\" and \"walls\" here is metaphorical....Trump's bridge is not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Tell me something - why is Sunday the weekend in a school? Is that for completely secular reasons, or does it have to do with the Christian day of rest?\"\n=======================================\nwe've moved on, obviously you haven't. Just be thankful some still have a day of rest in this 24/7 world. Good things often come from different beginnings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You missed my point : Liberals think churches should butt out on political issues . yet when Shultz writes , liberals think it's great. It's a double standard , and liberals like it that he doesn't appear to go along with traditional Christian beliefs .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He's like CS Lewis, but in reverse. The poster \"Aslan\" (the name of the Lion who many believe represents Christ in the Narnia books) can probably relate.\n\nBy the way, you don't need to be Christian to enjoy the Narnia books, although some of CS Lewis' other works may be tough going if you aren't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the child abuse disaster and Pell's response to it are two different things. I watched the proceedings of the Royal Commission when it was examining the Catholic response, and especially when Pell was being interviewed. At that time, there was no insinuation that Pell himself was a perpetrator. In fact, once he became Archbishop (and thus had the authority) he instantly suspended any priest against whom an accusation was brought. That there was concealment by bishops is undoubted. That Pell was one of those Bishops is very unlikely. He certainly had no hesitation in blaming his predecessors, as Barney Zwartz points out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My, my! What a Christian response! Guess what? The Kingdom of Heaven does not depend upon having churches with tax exempt status. Christianity spread under persecution because people believed in the message of Christ and the life-style of the early Christians. \"See how they love one another,\" was the great living witness to Christianity---not the tax-exempt status of churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islam isn't a \"culture\". It's a faith--a body of spiritual teachings and laws. So like phlogiston chemists, you're wrong from scratch (apologies to R A H).\n\nAs for Shari'a, (1) the burkha IS a cultural tradition and is nowhere mandated in Islamic tenets (Shari'a included), same for chlitorectomies and such \"cultural\" nonsense which is primarily, BTW, practiced among African Christians, (2) Muslims are the products of MANY cultures, including this one, and (3) are you prepared to discuss Shari'a from a position of knowledge, or only according to what you see on TV? If the latter, don't bother.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And some are becoming Catholic because they read the Bible. I know of someone for whom Catholic teachings on the Eucharist clicked because of John 6.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The real problem is the will is not there to confront clericalism, definition of CLERICALISM: a policy of maintaining or increasing the power of a religious hierarchy.\nFrom the link below \nRather than look at themselves with the penetrating eyes of Truth with regards to the abuse crisis cover up and acknowledge its historical culture within the Church in their own self-righteousness they staged a jamboree before all of mankind, to project their own sacrosanct image of themselves, in an act of arrogance before God, by making two of their own a personification of themselves, an intellectualized Pharisaical IMAGE of worldly goodness (Beauty). \nalso\nThe canonization of John Paul 11 before the world media by Pope Francis and the Bishops was an act of emotional violence on those who have been abused and their families \nPlease consider reading\nhttp://www.v2catholic.com/background/2015/08/2015-08-15the-web-of-clericalism.htm\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anyone who is a Christian and is still supporting Trump needs to have a serious internal debate regarding their faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your last paragraph is an excellent point. Some of us will see a connection with right wing Catholic authoritarian groups being given legitimacy by a pope. If you ever get far enough up the food chain, in a lay position with useful information, be prepared.....as Boy Scouts are supposed to be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The real Christian politics would be drawing down the Pentagon, ending military occupations around the globe, legalizing drugs while medicalizing addiction and making treatment mandatory and most importantly, enacting a $1000 per month per child tax credit paid with wages or individual educational benefits.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He needs to impose a 10 yr term limit or lower for priests in the Dallas Diocese in a given parish. My home town of Greenville has had a priest for over 10 yrs who has driven almost all of the local families with kids to go to Commerce rather than have them sit for hours at a time in the pews with a parent while taking their CCD instruction straight from the priest on Saturday mornings while their non Catholic friends are playing sports like football or basketball at the YMCA leagues or city leagues. After going through the rotation of the scriptures 3 times, it's a good thing to bring in a new priest with a different perspective of the scriptures in the homilies.\n\nAlso, it would help if the new bishop can learn enough Spanish to hear confessions in that language at the Cathedral if he cannot do so already.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I live in a very middle class to upper middle class area where most of people's energy seems to be focused on their mostly well-paying jobs, getting kids to and through school and to/fro all the umpteen things they are involved in. Politics is easy - it is Republicans for everything. People do support Habitat for Humanity and run for breast cancer awareness. But \"the plight of the poor\" is not apparent within our bubble of existence - most folks have well paying jobs, health insurance, fairly new cars, well maintained homes, decently maintained yards. \n\nCatholics are indistinguishable from the nearby Baptists or Presbyterians or those who's faith is not even known. One thing though, the Catholics almost match the Methodists in good works - those two faiths are distinguished by that.\n\nI don't mean for my comment to cast aspersions on efforts of Catholic change groups who have worked so hard. I have a little hope because of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And, at the time that slavery was legal, the Catholic Church found it to be morally acceptable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stole fees ARE quite universal! Dioceses in some cases have substituted an \"allowance\" for the actual stole fee tendered, though this is not universal. In any case, stole fees have long been considered priestly income and taxed by the IRS! As for qualified musicians, I are one, and I have never gotten so much as a nickel (or a penny!) from a priest, or a Catholic pastor! If you were to take a comprehensive look at the history of \"stole fees,\" and the Catholic practice of Baptism, you might conclude that these are incompatible with the very nature of Baptism as enunciated here and elsewhere in the New Testament (such as Acts 8).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lumen, I also have no direct knowledge about Muslim sensibilities re Allah and gender, and the use of pronouns to refer to him.\n\nHowever, the would think it is a reasonable presumption that the issue in Islam is similar to the situation among Christians. That is:\n* traditionally God is regarded as male and referred to with male pronouns\n* but it is also true, I assert, that if at anytime in the last 2000 years one had asked a professional theologian whether God is masculine, the reply would have been that obviously God does not have gender; and our traditional usage is simply a convention, but a convention supported by such central Christian artifacts as the Our Father and the Creed.\n* in recent times, scripture scholars have brought forward multiple female metaphors for God in the OT, and especially female references for the Holy Spirit as Wisdom. \n* therefore, it has become a common place among many Christians to stress the fact that God has no gender, by calling God Mother and her", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What we know or don't is \"a mystery\" now that the Baltimore has dropped its dogmatic instruction. \"The teaching on limbo\" may have been \"clumsily crafted\" but it was catechicaly and dogmatically taught. It has only recently been \"expunged\" from the Denziger compendium of catholic dogma. It is sad when intelligent people go along with thought control and revisionist history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Write your weekly checks to Catholic Relief Services or any number of charities that complement and/or support the mission of the Church. When the power company shuts off the lights for non-payment of the electric bill it may get someone's attention.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your always informed and much appreciated reply. I agree that the Bible is not an historical text. Nevertheless, Tertullian, and other men, interpreted Genesis to further their patriarchal agenda, and these harsh views lived on in unspoken misogynistic attitudes. I can't help but think of the Unwed Mother home in Taum, Ireland, where unwed mothers were seen as such a disgrace they were cast off by family and clergy and placed in dreadful State/Church homes, forced to leave their illegitimate children to be trafficked to wealthy Americans. Those were the lucky ones-- a large percentage of children died from ill-treatment and were buried in the remains of an old septic tank. This went on up to the 1960's. Such a dim and dark view of human sexuality is an atrocity, and a blemish on the Catholic Church. These antiquated doctrines must be revised for the sake of our humanity. \n\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/28/.../tuam-ireland-babies-children.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An important point. A candidate who's day-to-day was affected by Christian beliefs would be pilloried in the media.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These people do not understand that Roman Catholic religious ed is only for kids; the hierarchy does not want educated adults asking embarrassing questions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Matthew 26 and Mark 14 explicitly say that only the Twelve were at table with Jesus as He instituted the Eucharist. Luke 22 explicitly says the Apostles were at table with Him. No disciples present at the Last Supper in the synoptics. In John 13-17 the only disciples mentioned were those among the Twelve (Peter, Judas, Beloved Disciple/John, Thomas, and Phillip). Gospels clearly indicate only the Twelve (aka no women) present at the table. \n\nThe Acts 2 passage refers to explicitly refers to the community centered entirely around the teaching and ministry of the Apostles in Jersualem immediately following Pentecost. The easiest reading of the text suggests the Apostles are present in all events mentioned. Particularly the breaking of the bread.\n\nThe \"wait on tables' phrase you mention in Acts 6 refers directly to visiting widows' homes and not the Eucharist.\n\nAnd yes, Peter was married but clearly had left his wife to follow the Lord. My reference was to current Church discipline.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My thinking on this was shaped by the work of a Catholic theologian of whom you may have heard. His name is Joseph Ratzinger.\nAnd in particular by his work as a peritus at Vatican II, and especially his work on the drafts of Dei Verbum (Vatican II's dogmatic constitution on divine revelation). \nOne of his key insights is inviting us to acknowledge that Scripture and Tradition may be means of revelation, but revelation in se is something other than these means.\nI hope you will understand that I rate his thinking on this somewhat higher than yours.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Otherwise why not protest in front of a publicly funded Catholic School?...\n\nThe Catholics evidently aren't the ones with sharp elbows here. \n\nIf you're looking for a bigot I suggest the bathroom mirror.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Simple solution: kick them out, let them go national for their schedules. \n\nSchools like Regis Jesuit, Kent Denver, and Valor Christian easily have the money to develop national programs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A women does not become pregnant when implantation happens. She is already pregnant when that happens. This means that a drug that prevents implantation is by definition an abortion inducing drug--not a contraceptive drug.\"\nAnd how does the hospital know a woman has conceived given that she was probably taken to the hospital after the rape or the next morning? Emergency contraceptives have a very limited window to work. Does the attending physician check the rape victim's cervical mucus and ask her intrusive questions about her cycle and only give her the contraceptive if he is satisfied she hasn't already ovulated?\n\n\"Any institution that operates under the name \"Catholic\" cannot provide services that are contrary to the Catholic Faith. \"\nSo the Catholic Church shouldn't be operating multi-billion dollar businesses then and pretending they are non-for-profits.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The phrase \"economic freedom\" occurs in Centisimus Annus and Laudato Si. And no, I wouldn't say it is condemned (or praised). Here's a quote from Laudato Si: \"To ensure economic freedom from which all can effectively benefit, restraints occasionally have to be imposed on those possessing greater resources and financial power.\"\n\nIt's fair to say that laissez-faire economics, like socialism (see Rerum Novarum), is incompatible with Catholic Social Teaching. It's less fair to say that economic freedom is a \"condemned ideology\" instead of, as Pope John Paul II stated: \"only one element of human freedom\" and subject to occassional restraints in furtherance of the common good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the update Sean. I saw Bishop Doyle's site and it appears that clericalism is as much a problem in the Old Catholic Church as it is in the Roman Church. I have witnessed this to be true in many of the off-shoot \"Catholic\" institutions. In fact, I find this quite sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not a double standard to uphold equal treatment by a business while allowing another business to decline creating a political message with which it does not agree. Big difference. \n\nWhile I have sympathy for Mr. Phillip's position, I think it sets a dangerous precedent. What if someone doesn't have it in their heart to serve Christians? I wonder how the author would feel about that? \n\nThe part about the government wanting to \"put him out of business\" is pure hyperbole. The government has no interest in ending his business - only to see that it is conducted in accordance with the law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A key point to that story is that Jesus is God. The embodiment of God on earth. So, the focus isn't just atonement but is that God dwelt among the people and experienced rejection and death. Some Christian groups (non trinitarian especially) focus on the atonement of sins heavily, and some - not as much. There are as many ways to interpret it as there are denominations (and likely more). So it is hard to paint it all with one broad stroke.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lucrative? That is so far from my experience of carechesis! I would love to hear of a catechist who is well paid for catechesis, i.e. for teaching non-Catholics about Catholicism. (that should be non-Christians, but I will settle for non-Catholics.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow , what a lot of vitriol there is on a simple issue. First off there is no need to denigrate the American Heritage Girls (I in no manner insulted the GS). You belittle your argument when you engage in this name calling.\nIt is true I could have used a better analogy I will try better next time. The Bishops and the Popes position on women and there role in the Church and society is not captured in your comments. Women are the Life of the Church and play a central role in the Church and and society as a whole. Many of these comments seem to be regurgitated sound bites meant to insult rather than argue a point. I would hope we could have a dialog and a true characterizations of Catholic teachings. \n\nI hope we can all have an actual discussion and move forward?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "SNAP and Jeff Anderson exist to exploit financially and spiritually the sickness of revolting proportions that was allowed to overtake Catholic seminaries in the Vatican II aftermath. I hope you are not doing that yourself. \n\nI said nothing of victims in my post and you know it. I advise you to commit yourself to honesty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the early years of the Church, Justin Martyr expressed the proper 'Christian' attitude \n\nJustin First Apology - \n\u201cReason directs those who are truly pious and philosophical to honour and love only what is true, declining to follow traditional opinions, if these be worthless.\u2028For not only does sound reason direct us to refuse the guidance of those who did or taught anything wrong, but it is incumbent on the lover of truth, by all means \u2013 even if death be threatened, even before his own life \u2013 to choose to do and say what is right.\u201d\n\nThis attitude should be the first of our \u201cTraditional Doctrines\u201d in the Church.\n\nThe Spirit can only 'reveal' the amount of 'truth' that humanity, individually and collectively, is able to comprehend at any given time. It's the rule expressed by St Paul \u2013 'when I was a child, I thought as a child; when I grew, I learned to think as an adult'.\n\nIf we cannot grow in knowledge, we will never attain 'the fullness of truth' - there is always more to learn!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was clear that the crusaders were going nowhere fast, so one of the leaders, Boniface of Montferrat, visited his cousin Phillip of Swabia in what is now the Czech Republic. There, Boniface met Phillip's brother-in-law, Alexios, the son of the recently deposed Byzantine Emperor, Isaac II. Isaac had been forced off the throne by his brother, Alexios III. Prince Alexios saw Boniface as the head of a large and currently unemployed army, and offered Boniface a deal. If Boniface would help him get the Byzantine throne, Alexios would (1) pay 100,000 silver marks, (2) have the Orthodox Church submit to the pope and (3) have the Byzantine army join the crusade.\n\nBoniface hurried back to Venice, where he had little difficulty in persuading the rest of the crusader leaders in going along with this. Pope Innocent heard about it and told the crusaders telling them not to attack their fellow Christians in Constantinople. However, Innocent's letter was suppressed, and the crusaders set off.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ur a catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I taught CCD many years ago I would discuss both enumerations, Catholic as well as Protestant, wondering if something like this would actually occur. I was concerned my students would see the Protestant enumeration somewhere on the schoolhouse wall and wonder why they were taught something different. This is prima facie why the commandments should not be displayed because it separates denominations as well as entire faith traditions and emphasizes differences, not commonality. This feeds into our tribalism and is one of the reasons we are not seeing each other as equal citizens.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We should not feel too smug here in Canada.\n\nMy Trump supporting \"White Christian Pride\" nephew thinks he should be able to run over pipeline protesters without being criminally charged or sued.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It shows a lack of understanding of people who give their entire lives to the service of Christ and his Church. Trying to marginalize those who make that choice as weird or repressed makes it easier to attack Church teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "EWTN also owns the National Catholic Register ...purchased a few years ago from the Maciel's folks....\n\nIt would appear that both the news network and the newspaper are clearly Catholic in origin....Mother Angelica for the network and a local diocesan newspaper originally for the newspaper...very conservative and serve the purposes of the USCCBs conservative hierarchy but are not direct USCCB entities.....\n\nI'd really welcome anyone who could clarify these matters as my google run was relatively unproductive....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing wrong with that statement at all. This country was founded upon Christian principles and as such, our laws were based on those principles.\n\nAs for which god? Whichever God you choose to worship. \n\nSeparation of Church and State simply means we govern as a secular state. No religious teachings are to be mandated by government.\n\nYou're making a mountain out of a mole hill. The rule of law still applies to you even if you are an atheist. Consider yourself lucky, you're not living in a country where there is no separation of church and state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is theocracy. It is a violation of the First Amendment. Theofascism in the guise of Christianity/religion is specifically what Jesus opposed. (In his case, Roman dictatorship and corrupt church leadership, like we have now.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True. There will be Christians that support all four candidates.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You apparently don't know much at all about the \"community\" part of being an Anchorage resident, or you'd have a modicum of awareness about the local adult and child services long provided by Catholic Community Services and its volunteers. But then, negative and un-involved tend not to be very well-informed or engaged in building community.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "catholics pay taxes don't they?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Personally I am inclined to let the invisible hand of the market work it's magic; particularly when it comes to people pervert Jesus' message to justify treating others poorly. Just like there are business directories to help point people towards Christian businesses, there should be a business directory to point people away from people who claim to be Christian but clearly do not act Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Would you feel the same way if a jail denied a Christian inmate a copy of the New Testament?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nonsense - Listen to this debate - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anGAazNCfdY \n\nIt is from the 80's and between an Agnostic and a Christian Philosopher/Pastor. There are MANY logical/rational reasons for God, more so than Agnosticism/Atheism. It is only two hours, and you just might learn a little bit about your own position as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For it is written GOD called, CHRIST chose and ordained 12 to preach (Mark 3:14, John 15:16).\n\n\"Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.\" (Acts 1:22). The 12 then voted, providing another of HIS choosing.\n\nThis disproves your first \"given\" in \"Ordination is not scriptural\". The second part you specifically state is \"nowhere in scripture\" removing it as a \"given\". Many offices require a husband.\n\n\"But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; (2 Timothy 3)\". Where did you learn what you practice?\n\n\"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; (2 Corinthians 3:5).\n\nThere are diversity of Gifts, differences of administration and diversities of operations, but only one GOD (1 Corinthians 12). Is that not WHO you are interfering with?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That would be true if you primary motivation is spiritual evolution. However, if your primary motivation is religious obedience, it would be hard to swallow. It is a nice example of why so many of our youth are now 'spiritual but not religious'. Pope Francis is teaching Christian spirituality and not necessarily Catholic religiosity. It's pretty apparent some people don't like it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... same folks that suckle off defense contracts and vote for Cheetolini are gun owning 'christians'. 80% of the USA is beholden to 20% of these 'freedom lovers' who have been having their way w the USA. DON'T IT ... :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No I did not go to some pathetic psychobabble you googled I have been quoted specific text in the bible and showing you exactly how you are calling your own god a liar, and explaining to you just how clueless of your own religion you are. And BTW, Calvin didn't write the Bible. I am quoting the Bible, not Calvin. \n Here's another fact that will go over your head. For over 100 years Calvinism dominated the Christian church in our country, and as usual, when the pews started emptying the salvation Gospel was remarketed, just as the Bible has been translated into 200 different versions making it up as we go, just like how the bible was created in the firs place.\n You think it's the end of time; bible is clear, you will run to an fro and not find the Gospel on earth, but you will find false gospels galore, like free will. If Jesus is coming, it's because of antichrist Christians like you who make a mockery o \"Gods grace.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Asking for Christians to 'keep their ideas in church' is like asking secular humanists to 'keep their ideas at home'. It's lame. I prefer open pluralism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding:\"What is worse, as happened in the case of the trusteeism controversy, the lay faithful would always be tempted to use their temporal power to try to corral spiritual power into ways they found conducive. \"\n- Replace 'lay faithful' with 'bishops' and one has the state of affairs in the local churches in the US especially if the bishop falls into the 'culture warrior camp' or the 'pure catholic church crowd'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 2:\n\nThe 1971 Synod of Bishops (the second, I think, in the post-Vatican II years), the topic was \"Justice in the World.\" I suppose the document might seem dated now (I haven't re-read in years), but I think in most respects it will and does stand the test of time. You can probably find it online. The document is remembered for its assertion that \"\"Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appears to us as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the gospel ...\" \n\nVatican II marked a shift in emphasis from the legalism of the medieval manuals to the personalism of the Biblical witness as a way of thinking about the moral life. Fr. Bernard Haring's \"Law of Christ\" -- written mostly in the pre-Council years -- is perhaps a hinge on which that shift turns. It's fascinating to read it in the light of Vatican II, which it both anticipated and influenced. (cont'd.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It hurts the lowest income. Eliminating my PFD doesn't hurt me. It doesn't hurt others in the highest tax bracket. You are taking money from children. We should be more Christian and be willing to take on more of the burden.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sir,\n\nThe problem is that the liberal, secular, atheistic humanism people are looking for in the Catholic Church is not something they will ever find.\n\nWhy stay with an organization that does not have what a person is looking for? The liberal, secular, atheistic humanistic Gospel people are looking for can be found in the Protestant Church. It only makes sense to people like me that one go where they can find what they are looking for.\n\nIf I am looking for--say jewelry---why would I got to a laundromat--get mad when they don't have any jewelry--then demand that they sell it? Does that make sense? Does it not make more sense to leave the laundromat and go to a place that sells jewelry?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think those who are in the situation of being civilly married to a new partner while sacramentally married to someone else deserve an answer to the question. Something better than \u201cnot all lay people are called to Christian heroism\u201d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We should never say sorry for giving someone a truth about themselves.\n\nThis helps them get closer to God. Untruths distance us from a closer union with God. \n\nThe word \"sincere\" comes from Latin meaning \"without wax\". Wax used to be used to cover up defects in statuary.\n\nFacing the truth about oneself - for instance, that one has repeatedly purloined the intellectual property of others and presented it as one's own - is a good thing. \n\nThis person may have plagiarized for a number of reasons, but in the end, it is \"wax\" used to make one look better than one is. \n\nWords from today's Gospel (from Saint John) from the Holy Mass come to mind: \"He [Judas] said this... because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions.\"\n\nWhat \"contributions\" have we taken from others as if they're our own, John?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR has always been about church political news. Untold numbers of Catholic publications have for generations churned out some form or other of \"spirituality.\" What has always been difficult to find is reliable news about internal Catholic politics. \n\nNCR provided what as not previously provided, and thrived as a result. To measure its quality by the frequency of spirituality material versus political material is to entirely miss the point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"[T]he human race can achieve unity and \"healing\" the sooner we agree on a model of reality based on evidence . . .\"\nChristianity IS based on evidence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Elron... a very cool character. You're so funny! I almost choked on my lembas and miruvar while laughing. Ironically, J.R.R. Tolkien, as a Christian, did incorporate many Christian themes and ideas into his series; you might be able to learn something there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"judgment\" I make about those who write here is that they are smart enough to know better than to remain Catholic.\nCaveat: Applicable to those who are truly brothers/sisters in Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nice try,..........but you missed a spot. This has been a common theme in the history of nearly all older nations and cultures and is not exclusive to Islam in any way. Christian societies, nations and empires have done all the above and more and for about 700 years longer. The Catholic church itself lead wars of extermination, not just in the middle east, but in Europe and the Americans as well. Before you get too high and mighty on your narrow perspective on historical facts, consider who might actually have the phobias you are so focused. Check the mirror.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Decades of going to church, the church he was blasted by the right for attending, so he is either a Muslim or a Christian, which is it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Augsburg Confession did come from an Ecumenical Council, it was a Lutheran document, and it was not acceptable to the Roman Catholic Church. It may sound like a Catholic creed but is not for two reasons:\n\nFirst, Luther did not really know what St. Paul meant by \"faith\", or justification, for that matter, yet he built his whole system on his erroneous opinion. Second, Luther held there was no teaching authority outside of one's own reading of scripture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not avoiding the efficiency issue - I had stated that true equality could also be no religious holidays. Having only one group's holiday is the Orwellian principle of some people being more equal than others.\n\nAs for percentages, the percentage of Christians or Sikhs is 2 percent in India. Jains are less than 0.1 percent. At what stage does the minority religion become significant? 5 percent? 10 percent?\n\nAs for the public efficiency part, an economic fallout of Christmas is that all shops have to be closed (except pharmacies,maybe?). In India, when one religion is celebrating their festival, the stores and businesses of the other religion's traders and workers remain open. Why is the holiday enforced in such an anti-business way? After all, one should be free to decide whether to work that day or not. I believe that Boxing Day is also a required holiday for stores.\n\nFinally, I have heard a lot of whining about not being able to say Merry Xmas. Say it, and wish others on their day", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"While we did a lot of great progress, I need to be patient and build relationships and meet people where they are at,\".\nWell, good luck with that. We really need to reach out to young people, especially tertiary students. Sadly, the clerical abuse crises have been a disaster for the Church and also for engaging with this group in particular.\nUnless certain prelates pull their heads out of the sand, the Church is going to end up as one big religious museum once the current cohort of mainly elderly attendees passes on.\nMy local Diocese put on a function for returning WYD participants called \"Praisefest\". Its attendees were offered \"BBQ, adoration, praise session\". Just the thing to appeal to today's intelligent young Catholics. NOT.\nA local major university's Catholic society professes to be FTTM (Faithful To The Magisterium). As a result it attracts only a tiny percentage of Catholic students there. (It's in Cardinal George Pell's former Archdiocese - no need to say more).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, it is quite religious...it's described perfectly as a covenantal exchange, an exchange of persons. Does the following sound familiar to you: \"I shall be your God and you shall be my people\". That's covenantal. And that provides the basis or essence for the Catholic Church's conception of marriage. \n\nHere are just a few examples.\n\nGenesis 17:8\nExodus 29:45\nLeviticus 26:45\nEzekiel 14:11\nZechariah 8:8\n2 Corinthians 6:16\nHebrews 8:10\nJeremiah 32:38\nEzekiel 11:20\nEzekiel 37:23\nJeremiah 7:23\nJeremiah 31:33\nEzekiel 37:27\nJeremiah 31:1\nRevelation 21:3\nExodus 6:7\nLeviticus 26:12\nRevelation 21:7\nJeremiah 11:4", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, 16 comments so far - and no-one yet seems to have welcomed Msgr. Fernando Ocariz to his new ministry.\nI'm no great fan of OD, but what's done is done.\nIn his first comments, Ocariz has said 'that his program is to follow the program of Pope Francis: the mobilization of all Catholics to bring the Christian message, spreading joy to every type of person'.\nWelcome, and God bless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Admit that we already ordain everybody at baptism. Select, train and authorize (not ordain) qualified officeholders via credible democratic mechanisms. Unauthorize as appropriate. Irrespective of gender or marital status, of course.\n\nThen focus on more important things, like, um, Christianity.\n\nOkay, now I'm prepared for my (rhetorical only, if you don't mind) excommunication and crucifixion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's pretty simple if you want to be a part of a Protestant Church stay there, if you want to be a Catholic then respect the Churches teachings and traditions.\n\nFurther if you are not a practicing Catholic and not in the state of grace you should not take Holy Communion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians who practice yoga are an interesting bunch: http://www.christianspracticingyoga.com\n\nI saw Catholics and Baptists and others listed, but no Pentecostals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is time to have one school system . We are duplicating services. If the catholic community wants it's own schools they should pay for it themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting: no one saw this coming, but now everyone has a theory about why the other guy got it wrong. Maybe we have to admit that the Church, much like our nation, does a good job of listening to the sound of its own voice and doesn't bother to listen to the other half until they rebel. \n\nWhat does it say about us if we've got nothing but sympathy for sinners, and nothing but scorn for people whose political views are different from ours? We proclaim our calling to forgive sinners, but denigrate those who voted for the opposition. \n\nThe first Christians lived in a culture that wiped out their homeland and sent them wandering for almost two thousand years. It was during that time that they composed gospels about Jesus' call to love one another in spite of our differences, because that kind of love is of God. And they had to deal with guys like Nero and Caligula.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It isn\u2019t just \u201cConservative Christians.\u201d Any such ruling would apply equally to Orthodox Jews, Fundamentalist Muslims, and any others who do not like being forced to sacrifice their faith-based principles in order to conduct business.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bible permits multiple wives. There are Christians in this country who use the bible to justify polygamy. Should we be worried about the Assembly of God church secretly plotting their polygamist agenda?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What surprises me is why the Shia do not pick up arms, at least in self-defense? \n\nHave you ever heard of a counter attack by the Christians or Shia. Never.\n\n9/11, London, Paris, Madrid .... all are Sunni terrorists targeting Christians and/or Shia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, which dogmas are you confused about? Divinity of Christ? The Trinity? The Creed? What are these so important dogmas that you are confused about? Or do you mean actually that you simply disagree with your Pope? What did you tell those who disagreed with Benedict? Well say that now to yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not part of a course of instruction in religious theology. It is what the courts have determined to be reasonable accommodation in respect of freedom of religion.\n\n Our Constitution entrenches government funding of denominational schools (minority Catholic or Protestant schools as the case may be) in certain provinces as part of the Confederation bargain. This would be unthinkable in the US model. See Adler v Ontario (AG), [1996] 3 S.C.R. 609 where it was decided that Section 93(1) of the Constitution Act, 1867 requires the Ontario government to fund Roman Catholic separate schools fully.\n\nPrime Minister Stephen Harper observed that separation of church and state is an American constitutional concept and does not apply to the Canadian constitution. He went on to say that separation of church and state in Canada has meant, traditionally, that the government will not interfere with religion.\n\nWe do however provide reasonable accommodation for religion as with the kirpan case.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The four cardinals are the true defenders of the Catholic faith. Their faithfulness to the Church is manifested to their fidelity to Her uncompromising teaching. A faithful need not be a theologian to understand the plain and unequivocal teaching of Jesus Christ about the sanctity and sacredness of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony (this DOES NOT INCLUDE OF COURSE divorced and remarried couples, who are clearly living in state of grave sin).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marc Lepine was Muslim. His father from Algeria taught him women had no place in public life or school. When he returned to Montreal at the age of 9 he took his mother's maiden name, but the influence of his father remained. The killings had nothing to do with Canadian's Judeo-Christian culture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's the Catholic position:\n\n\"The Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae, with reference to judicial decisions or civil laws that authorize or promote abortion or euthanasia, states that there is a \u201cgrave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection. [\u2026]\n\nIn the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to \u2018take part in a propaganda campaign in favour of such a law or vote for it\u2019\u201d (no. 73). Christians have a \u201cgrave obligation of conscience not to cooperate formally in practices which, even if permitted by civil legislation, are contrary to God\u2019s law. Indeed, from the moral standpoint, it is never licit to cooperate formally in evil. [\u2026]\n\nThis cooperation can never be justified either by invoking respect for the freedom of others or by appealing to the fact that civil law permits it or requires it\u201d (no. 74).\" (Cardinal Ratzinger)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gee, you liked that line when another guy used it.\n\nRomans 2: 14 So, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, instinctively do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law. \n\nIt is a basic principle of moral theology that invincible ignorance renders one inculpable.\n\nAs far as I can tell the president-elect is not a Catholic and I have no idea what beliefs he has been taught. Do you?\n\nSo, like St. Paul, I can only say that we who know the law must keep the law, and for those who do not, they will be judged on the law in their hearts.\n\nOh, and by the way divorce and adultery are immoral, period, whether one knows that or not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think it is a day dream ... to have a long extended \"Silent Night\". We either have to achieve it ... or we all die - for one thing war is really hard on the ecosystems that support us. And then there are all the other wounds to individuals, their families, communities world wide.\n\nOur catholic Social Teaching tells us what we need to do ... unfortunately most of us don't know anything about them.\n\nGiven the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus claim to be patriotic and serving Catholicism - perhaps through the vast global media empire they help subsidize, like EWTN - they could ensure we all know from K up that for over 50 years ... we have been told development is the new word for peace. AND the last 3 popes ... even JPII ... said we needed to change our mode of development so earth's resources were used so that all God's children have life with dignity .\n\nWe must say no to war ... and all that leads to it! Insist on an extended \"Silent Night\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I appreciate the cordial tone in your response but I think we're talking past each other. My point is that S29's proclamation about Jesus as loving/merciful is dogmatic. The accusation he leveled at me was the I'm a \"dogmatic\" Christian and therefore in need of certainty. While I admit that I am that exactly that, my claim is that S29 is equally dogmatic/certain/rigid about his description of Jesus' identity and expectation for us. His ability to not need certainty regarding specific moral actions is based on a non-negotiable, no room for compromise dogmatic belief about Jesus Christ.\n\nI am likewise dogmatically, rigidly certain that Jesus is all loving/merciful. I base that dogmatic belief on the same Scriptures/Tradition/personal experience in prayer that S29 does. I would just go a bit further and claim Jesus most certainly does care about specific beliefs/actions because He directly says so in the same Scriptures/Tradition I get the merciful stuff from. Does that make sense?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, foremost and unabashadly, the Roman Catholic hierarchy is an SS theological club.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just a few examples: JP claimed that islamists worship the same God as Christians. JP denied that that the Old Covenant had been broken. JP, by way of approving the Balamand statement, rejected the notion that the Orthodox need to be converted. He claimed that non Catholic sects have saints. Benedict claimed that Jews are not excluded from salvation {barring invincible ignorance, they certainly are, sans conversion}. He further stated that a \"Jew, and this is true for believers of other religions, does not need to know or acknowledge Christ...in order to be saved\". Assuming he did not intend his audience to consider invincible ignorance, that simply isn't true. He rejects the notion, albeit indirectly, of the need for protestants to return to the Church and acknowledge the complete primacy of the Petrine Office. He claims we should not \"deny the saving presence of the Lord in the evangelical Lord's supper\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm always an optimist despite the temptation to cynicism many have on this and I'm a big supporter for this Pope to succeed so I'll say this is a good step by Francis. Now it needs to be taken further. (i)Reform Canon Law. (ii)Remove the Pontifical Secret. These two things are big problems for me whenever I read stories about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. \n\nLets also remember again, this isn't only a problem limited to the Church and here's what I mean. Accountability on the part of the Church comes by expelling those guilty of the crime or abetting it. But it's the criminal justice systems of the world that are responsible for actual prosecution. So the Church has to be working in conjunction with these organs to get justice done. \n\nIt's not easy and as I've pointed out in many threads, the 2015 case in Spain where Francis actually got 15 priests prosecuted proves that since the Spanish judge overturned the convictions. But it's still a start.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When will MSW talk about how the right wing noise machine can be overcome. Just listen/read sometimes the articles and especially the comments to see the rhetoric that can be found. And do not ignore the conservative catholic sites that praise Trump his economic policies including the building of the wall.\n\nThe task is great. The Bishops MUST play a leading role in the struggle against Trump policies. BUT will they? Doubtful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is there a proper Catholic way to teach math and science? I wonder what Galileo would say.\n\nNow as far as sweeping the floor, mopping the cafeteria, and scrubbing the toilets....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Father Ray Brown is an approved scripture scholar in the Catholic Church, and yes, he is well respected by his peers.\n\nAnd that is something I have never and will never understand. \n\nWhether Ray Brown is a good example of \"current\" scholarship I am not sure. He is certainly a good example of 1970's style Catholicism and theology. Catholic Scripture scholarship I think is beginning to move on. Even in the 70's, I think Brown was dated--compared to the liberal Protestant scholarship. Though I admit I am only telling you what I have heard. I don't claim to be a Scripture scholar. \n\nScholars I like--Scott Hahn in the Catholic circles. I also read a lot of Protestant scholars since I find it difficult to find anything good in Catholic circles aside from Hahn and professors like him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We get a number of conservative Catholics here because they have been run off conservative sites for one reason or another. Eventually they usually acknowledge that they hang better here than anywhere else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What, engaging in Catholic discussion? Avoiding personal attacks? Doing what, exactly?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with MSW that such a meeting would be to increase the profile of the evangelicals since hey have lost some credibility with many Catholics since the article in Civilta was published. However, the conservative branch of Catholicism, which includes the Restorationists, have had a great responsibility for creating the \"nones\". Recall that the third largest 'denomination' described by Pew Research is 'former Catholic'. These are also part of the 'nones' for good reason.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "3 things about Hinduism:\n\n1) Currently, Indian Christians are persecuted by the Hindu majority. And this is happening with the blessings of India's PM Modi.\n\n2) Traditionally, white people and other ethnic groups are forbidden by Hindus to become Hindu. It's a religion that's based on ideas of racial purity.\n\n3) The West did take control of India, but it was control of a society that honored suttee and other less than humanitarian practices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK, Robert, I read all of that. \nNo. Peter is speaking for all of us, including Christians, well those that would keep their snout out of our government and business anyway. You write a lot of words merely to justify your getting into other peoples' business because you believe your judgement and version of Christianity, among hundreds, trumps everything. That's the short of it all. \nI reject your elitism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I bet you're one of those \"Christians\" who keenly perceives how everyone else's misfortune is a direct manifestation of the allmighty's displeasure with their personal life choices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thought I was reading a story from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Iran, or maybe even Afghanistan, but no it was the great Christian state of Texas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mike, it is a western tendency to underestimate the differences. Also, there are historical reasons why the Orthodox Church doesn't believe in the filioque, purgatory, the Immaculate conception etc. . . but they're all the same reason. Those elements were added after separation from the West. \n\nWe also overlook the significance of the small things at our peril. For example, the Orthodox Church has no official catechism--not because nobody bothered putting it together but because we don't believe the truth, which continues to be revealed, can be reduced to a systematic formula. How about one Roman Catholic pope's decision to usurp the conscience of the Church by shutting down all discussion of women priests? In the Orthodox Church you can talk about such things freely, as at least two rather well-known Metropolitans and several theologians have, without fear of censure. Conscience and freedom of inquiry are incredibly important. \n\nJust a couple of examples.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is far more hate going on within Islam these days than there is between Christians and Muslims.\nJust the other day I asked an educated Sunni Muslim friend what she thought of the Ismaili Shiite sect (Aga Khan is leader) and she came right out and said that \"they were not Muslims\". I was shocked.\n\nThen we have the Saudi Sunnis angling for dominance over the Shiites from Iran. And look at ISIS killing their own religious brothers and sisters if they are Shiite or not orthodox enough. Where are the articles from this author suggesting that maybe Muslims need to look within and solve the sectarian problems in the Middle East before they run away to the safety of the West and then go apoplectic over a country wanting to keep those same ME problems out. \n\nHirsi Ali is correct in that Islam needs to clean up its own house before it starts lecturing those of us that have moved beyond sectarian hate long ago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is just another small example that having clergy doesn't work anymore. While it will not happen in our lifetimes, a future iteration of Catholic Christianity will be without clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sure, sure. Christianity is a great religion; a shame more professed Christians don't practice all of it rather than just the parts they like. Give money to Samaritan House and if you are a part of the effort to feed at Sox Place, good for you. You never follow links, we all know that. Many of us would rather take the awe of understanding than the awe of ignorance. May the covfefe be with you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What do you want them to do, cower in their homes? What makes you think that people are not grieving for the victims and Catholics likely are lighting candles but that doesn't mean that life should grind to a halt - it hasn't in London and Paris and it won't in NYC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I can be saved in the diocese of San Diego but in the diocese of Philadelphia I am damned. Both proclaim the Law of God. Is this the Catholic (universal Church)?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Buchanan provided a patina of academic legitimacy to the ideiology for hire desires of Charles Koch and the culture of profit over all, hardly a mark of Christianity or good economics. Later efforts to justify supply side economics gave us tax cuts, which along with union busting, kept worker salaries at the rate of inlfation while the productivity gains of these workers mostly went to the CEO class. Even the odd investor got a normal return. It must also be noted that even thoug Koch is a libertarian, he is willing to let ALEC go down that pro-life road to keep the masses happy, both in the Tea Party and in parishes and Chanceries across the nations. They have no real plan for success, but they want to keep the base fired up, just like the gun manufacturers do on the Second Amendment", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No.\n\nOur position as Catholics is not to weigh how well our candidate comports with his or her sect, religion, denomination, or philosophy\u2019s beliefs.\n\nOur position as Catholics is to promote as well as we can the common good.\n\nAbortion is per se contrary to the common good. It is per se contrary to the common good whether either candidate likes it or not, or you like it or not.\n\nThere is no question that the USCCB wants Catholics to identify with the Gospels and therefore the common good.\n\nIf you are a Democrat first and Catholic second or third, that presents some problems.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I'm looking for in political representatives are people who put people first; muslim, christian, atheist, gay, straight, man, woman, trans, ---The people who actually make up our nation and our world. I don't want someone who views his or her office through the narrow confines of ANY religion: The law and the constitution have to come first in that job, and the ability to represent all people who happen to be citizens on that criteria alone. Our ongoing experiment in liberty is too important to have it otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps Raymond Cardinal Burke, could be be offered the opportunity to enter into the same spiritual retreat from the concerns of the world as his equally esteemed colleague, Keith Cardinal O'Brien. Sharing a small house together would create enormous domestic economies that the whole Church could applaud. Not to mention the spiritual benefit they might enjoy in such fraternal company: Every morning they could serve each other as Acolyte for their daily Mass ; they could hear each-others confessions ; they could read the Catechism of the Catholic Church together antiphonally over lunch, or some other spiritual reading approved for retired clerics. Their selfless obedience to silence would, of course, edify all of Christendom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cOn the other hand, there are westerners who don't value the freedoms we have.\u201d\n\nI think we\u2019re closer in values and motives to each other than you think. But I suspect many may lack a historical perspective on this. Here\u2019s a quick overview (all facts):\n\n* Islam emerges in the 7c.\n* After the first century, it conquers northern Africa, which had been Christian to a large extent.\n* By the middle of the 700s, Islamic armies are in central France (Battle of Tours).\n* For 7 centuries, Islam controls the Iberian Peninsula.\n* In the 16th c. Islam conquers Constantinople.\n* At the Battle of Lepanto (1571), the West narrowly avoids having an Islamic naval fleet take over the entire Mediterranean.\n* And as RECENTLY as 1683, the Battle of Vienna takes place. In other words, Islamic armies were in the very heart of Europe decades AFTER the founding of the American colonies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Simply telling the ordinaries in Uzbekistan and Philly that the meaning of AL is as written and if they cannot abide the bishops cannot abide they can retire early should clarify things. Chaput needs to go anyway. Burke playing the Pharisee does not change that. Personally, I would love it if Francis did answer the Dubia along the lines I mention, but Francis is more of a gradualist. He is not seeking a basic debate on those issues. He and Synods essentially clarified actual current practice over recent decades. Catholics married a first or second time in other religions or civilly whose marriages have endured have had them blessed in the rectory for a while now, with a return to Communion (assuming it stopped). AL does not break new ground. I suspect gay marriages will be accepted the same way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, the entire goal of our existence (according to Jesus) is to love God and love our brothers and sisters. That's it. That's all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why in this country are white Christian terrorists like the Bundy clan ignored? Why has Trump taken the step of removing white christian militias and white supremacists off extreme surveillance and instead focusing this surveillance only on Islamic threats? Was Oklahoma City not bombed by a white militia member? Have white supremacists not shot up black churches and just recently a mosque in Quebec? In the Quebec case the shooter was a confirmed Trump supporter and after initially getting it completely wrong the Trump administration is now dead silent on this event. Did the Bundy's not engage in armed stand offs with federal officials? Are we to believe Trump and Bannon are taking the POV that if it's white, it's right, and not a terrorism threat? To be honest, I am far more concerned with right wing white militias than I am imported Islamic terrorism. Trump/Bannon are taking the opposite view and I believe they are being purposely myopic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you so much for a very revealing and (probably unintentionally) honest comment:\n\n1. \"Well, if progressivism means tearing down the social and economic structure of the West, then it too is UnChristian.\" You clearly measure the worth of Christianity only to the extent that it supports your politics.\n\n2. \"Super broad generalities get us nowhere.\" Exactly what many of us try to tell you about your comments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On the contrary, there's nothing to distinguish one person from another until he or she chooses to do so. A fair-minded Christian finds those who proselytize in a vain attempt to assert their superiority to be off-putting, and you happen to be on the record as one from that latter flock. When two of you square off, it's mildly amusing. That's all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course, and I wouldn't necessarily disagree with them. It's why I'm not a consequentialis. It's why I hold fast to one of the first ruleS of Catholic morality - do no evil that good may come of it. There may be \"gray\" in matters of motive and intent. However, objective intrinsic evil exists and causes harm.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed. The Catholic Church will never be able to get out and lead on issues like this, when its own teachings on ordination and the Trinity imply that females are not quite as made in the image of God, not quite as equal, not quite as inherently dignified, as males. This is one of many issues of justice where I have to move forward by my own conscience, as I don't have a lifetime to wait for the Church to start leading.\nHowever, I have hope in all these sexual harassment headlines that have broken in the last year, that the tide is turning. Victims are believed, the powerful, entitled predators are dropping like flies, \"boys being boys\" isn't passing the test the way it did even a few years ago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, it is high time we Americans saw our similarities instead of differences, put efforts into cooperating for the greater good instead of treating each like enemies because we go to a different church, or no church. Once we label someone (as 'liberal' or 'conservative', Muslim or Christian or agnostic), logic goes out the window; no further thought is expended on that person or the real facts. A human being is a human being. Stop putting labels on each other and remember we are a lot more alike than different.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was not a Catholic. But he certainly was welcoming to ANYONE who embraced the LOVE of God and LOVE of NEIGHBOR as the heart and soul of Jesus' message. If you read the Gospel of Matthew Ch. 25:31-47, Jesus describes the final judgment of all nations. Jesus accepts ANYONE from any nation, any culture, any religion who has reached out to others.\n\nBenedict is EMERITUS. And yes, Sarah is a Cardinal. But just as you feel that you can cast aspersions on Pope Francis, people on this site can also criticize Pope Emeritus Benedict and Cardinal Sarah. The revanchist Liturgy that was imposed upon Catholic in the Advent of 2011 was an attempt to go back into a time in which we no longer live. The Curia is not the MASTER of Episcopal Conferences---it is their servant. That concept was defined by the Documents of Vatican II. The past two papacies worked very hard to reverse many of these documents---to make their own positions foremost. But this is not what Jesus ever taught.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think anyone's arguing that violence exists outside the Islamic community; that it does is self-evident.\n\nThe problem is fundamentalist interpretation of religious doctrine, be it Christian or Muslim or anything else. Once you truly believe that God is on your side, then all bets are off and you have given yourself permission to carry out immense atrocities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Try and follow the argument.\nNothing in the entire section you quote invalidates what my comment said nor the original comment (in defence of which my comment was made).\n\nLet me make easy for you:\n1. a comment evoked the basic traditional Catholic teaching that we must ALWAYS follow our conscience\n2. this was contested by a comment which quoted one para from the CC\n3. I pointed out that this contestation was faulty, because the CCC itself acknowledges point 1\n4. pointing out other paras (as you do) does not invalidate the force of the para that validates point 1", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Still, whether you're fretting or laughing your heads off, it's wasted time not spent actually reading the information directly and trying to understand it. This is all about better understanding our faith and remaining in Christ's Truth. \nIf you did read Amoris Laetitia and the 4 cardinals' request for clarification, I don't see how you could find their questions unimportant. As a matter of fact, they expressed very respectfully and eloquently some of the concerns I had when I read AL. On many points, I had the thought: \"I wonder what that means?\"\nIt's wonderful that Pope Francis is proclaiming God's great love and mercy in Amoris Laetitia. Since there are bishops with completely opposite ideas of how to implement it, clarification is obviously needed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Shouldn't all Christians be speaking for God? I think so. That's what the apostles and disciples did...the early Christians, the saints. Yes. But it takes work. Lots of prayer, spiritual direction, reading Scripture, examination, humility. \n\nBut yes we should be constantly struggling to speak for Him every day...being his lips and his arms and legs for the world, solving a lot of problems for the people He put right next to us.\n\n\"The Lord has need of these.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the mistake Bishop Tobin makes is to confuse the vehicle with the passenger. We are called to believe in God through the gospel of Jesus. The Church is simply the vehicle by which God and gospel come down to us. When that vehicle functions as it should, it brings God and gospel to the people. When it malfunctions, it sets up shop and invites the people to come to it, largely on its own terms, which is what I read Bishop Tobin's comments to imply: young people should remain in the Church because the Church has the sacraments. The sacraments, by definition, are not grace, but vehicles of grace and, as such, they are meant to bring God to the people. Once again, the Bishop assumes the sacraments are the possession of the Church and the people should come to it, whether the Church speaks their language or not, whether the Church is a flawed vehicle and countersign of faith or not. As a result, he sees tens of millions of Catholics leaving the Church and thinks he's just fine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding authority, Jesus made it clear God is the ultimate authority, and it is by God's will that others are put in positions of authority over us, such as President Trump and Speaker Ryan. Nicholas Kristoff is in no such position. We are to follow the authorities as long as they do not ask us to do something against God's word. We are also fortunate in that our form of government allows us to participate, which we should do as best we can by following God's word. Kristoff is overall a good man who helps others. But he twists the words of Jesus to fit his political views and wants us to follow him. That is a dangerous thing to do, for both him and us. Compassion and aid should be a part of our national character, which can only happen through our personal character. Delegating that to an impersonal government which necessarily will use it for political purposes is not the way to accomplish that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you are claiming to give lessons, then I am afraid you sold your students short.\n\nYou SELECTIVELY shared a CCC paragraph (1783) explaining the principle. \n\nThe bottom line in traditional Catholic teaching is that conscience, even it is erroneous, should be followed. \n\nCCC 1782 Man has the right to act in conscience and in freedom so as personally to make moral decisions. \"He must not be forced to act contrary to his conscience. Nor must he be prevented from acting according to his conscience, especially in religious matters.\" (DH 3 \u00a7 20)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure about Max but a moderate CPC leader could defeat Trudeau handily at his rate of lying, overspending and undemocratic crew.\nAND \npandering to Diversity and Feminists for votes\nwhile taking OLD WHITE MEN and CHRISTIANS for granted\nJustin, you ignore the mainstream at your peril\nSee Justin in temples and mosques but have you seen any Photo Op of Justin in a church?\nnot even for Christmas or easter", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh my. I believe in stewardship of what we have been given by our creator. Keeping the air and water clean and helping our neighbor is not Socialism, it's what Jesus wants his followers to do. So, call me a liberal Christian. I'd rather be liberal in loving my neighbor as Christ would want me to do than conservative and holding it back for myself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unless I missed it in all the comments, I'm surprised no one has addressed the real can of worms opened by this article. The problem for the Catholic Church, as with Judaism and Islam, was called out for the world to see in the Diet of Worms in 1521 by Johann Eck, assistant to the Archbishop of Trier and spokesman for Emperor Charles V, when he addressed Martin Luther: 'there is no one of the heresies which have torn the bosom of the church, which has not derived its origin from the various interpretation of the Scripture. The Bible itself is the arsenal whence each innovator has drawn his deceptive arguments.\" The Bible, like the Quran, is full of the relics of bad theology. God by definition cannot have a \"change of heart,\" but clearly over the span of time the Bible was written, less so for the Quran (which is puzzling, given its many conflicting commands toward peace and Jihad), the people's understanding of their God changed. Unfortunately, the Church left these relics in place.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you calling for the Church to become an Institution of Man? To set aside God and well-being of the soul for contemporaneous, earthly concerns of Man? To politicize of Church from it's timeless philosophy and path to salvation?\n\nThat's only what can be disseminated from \"Church politics need to evolve in context with global realities/ needs.\"\n\nI'll pray for you and your misguide of believing the Catholic Church as as equal and not greater in value to the United Nations and Red Cross Foundation", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dignitas Humane Institute... I think that it is loosely connected to some unsavory characters in the alt-right, especially in Europe. I am not sure what this group is or what it does but no respectable Catholic NGO would host someone like Steve Bannon. Not only that but they also posted it on their websites like this is something to be proud of.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where did Jesus say:\na) adultery? literal? Please\nhttp://www.theway.org.uk/Back/34LaVerdiere.pdf \nMark's Gospel, however, did not intend to issue legal prescriptions so much\nas to address a social situation not unlike our own where marriage was seriously\neroded by soaring divorce rates. Such also has been the purpose of conciliar and\npapal pronouncements, not so much to provide legal prescriptions as to\nchallenge our society with the gospel regarding areas such as marriage. In\nMark, Jesus' teaching on marriage and divorce is an integral part of a long unit\non following Christ to the passion-resurrection (8:22--10:52), delivered in the\nuncompromising spirit of prophecy, teeming with hyperboles, allowing neither\ndistinctions nor exceptions. We therefore turn to Mark not for prescriptive\nnorms but for a prophetic challenge, proclaiming the gospel of Christ's passionresurrection\nand applying it to marriage and married life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who is deluded?\n\nStraight white christian males make up about 26% of Canadians. \n\nMales about 50%. Christians about 67%, Straight maybe 90% to 95%. White 86%.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hmmm.....Let Me Guess.....A Beans Caf\u00e9 \"Client\"....That's the Right Word Isn't it, The Word that Beans Administrator uses to describe the Chronic Inebriates Trouble Maakes that Beans Proliferates & Enables Their Behaviors..When are we going to start enforcing the Laws about Public Drinking & Intox???. Why cant We arrest these people (and I'm using that term VERY Loosely) and show them that Anchorage is NOT Open to Their BS Lifestyle Choices.....Also too, Why don't We Shut Down Beans,...We Funnel MILLIONS (Yep, City of Anchorage pays Millions to The Catholic Social Services Church to \"Run\" Beans) to this program and All I'm Seeing is More Chronic Inebriates..This Approach isn't Working...Unless of Course Your a Serial Alcoholic/Inebriate/Social Misfit...When Do We Say Enough Is Enough.....???", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church invented the Church's priesthood. The Church needs to dissolve it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Donald Trump is pro-life, picked 100% pro-life VP Mike Pence, and has an impressive list of his 20 potential future pro-life (and pro-America) Supreme Court Judges. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, SPECIFICALLY STATED that she will insist on pro-abortion judges. This is consistent with her Senate voting record in favor of partial-birth abortion. Please see the 5 Non-Negotiables in the \"Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hello Pat, I am sorry if I was curt or rude. I noted before that I can be impulsive and the immediacy of the internet encourages this. I believe that you will enjoy Edward Pentin's talk - he is not a polemicist. As for its location (The Remnant) that is another thing. It is the polar opposite of the Reporter but listening and assessing the honest views of Catholics across the spectrum of belief can be useful. The end result for me is that I am not committed to any \"party\" or faction - maybe another result is too much cynicism! I should probably pray more and read less on the internet! Peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican II on ecclesial communities arising out of the Reformation:\n\"Though the ecclesial Communities which are separated from us lack the fullness of unity with us flowing from Baptism, and though we believe they have not retained the proper reality of the eucharistic mystery in its fullness, especially because of the absence of the sacrament of Orders, nevertheless when they commemorate His death and resurrection in the Lord's Supper, they profess that it signifies life in communion with Christ and look forward to His coming in glory. Therefore the teaching concerning the Lord's Supper, the other sacraments, worship, the ministry of the Church, must be the subject of the dialogue.\" (Part II)\n\nDo you hold to the teaching of the Catholic Church in Unitatis Redintegratio?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely, you are correct, folks here appreciate good humor and I think many, if not most, recognize the hilarity of your posting! A few spoilsports might find the juxtaposition of Christianity with the many unchristian postings to be in poor taste, not realizing the goal is obviously to demonstrate how some \"traditionalists\" don't realize how anti-christian their behaviour is. And sometimes the hyperbole goes a bit far and the feigned hysteria and general histrionics, so well demonstrated these past two weeks, are not everyone's idea of funny, but do not worry, generally your posts are taken for the jokes they are! Please, do not deprive us of your satirical masterpieces! Love the expose on \"idear.\" Comedic gold! LOL!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John David, I'm disappointed Pandora didn't reply to your posts. According to Pandora, her longing for civil, substantive discourse is thwarted by \"childish\" tormenters with a \"gang mentality\" who hijack threads by being \"nasty\" due to her commitment to \"fairness.\" If not for them she would not be forced to routinely threaten posters with action by Civil Comments, and we could expect to see the caliber of the commentary rise above the level of Patheos twitter.\n\nNo one can dispute the gentlemanliness and exemplary Christian charity of your responses. Where's the beef, Pandora?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's about integral development of a person, and as Pope Blessed Paul VI said: \" Man is not really himself, however, except within the framework of society and there the family plays the basic and most important role. \"\n\nAnd \"The natural family, stable and monogamous\u2014as fashioned by God (37) and sanctified by Christianity\u2014\"in which different generations live together, helping each other to acquire greater wisdom and to harmonize personal rights with other social needs, is the basis of society\" \n\nAnd \" In the task of development man finds the family to be the first and most basic social structure\"\n\nthanks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only imperfection in the Mass is our un-love, our distractions, our interior complaints, our self focus..our lack of love.\n\nSt Paul's words are useful.\n\n\"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking* in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church\" (Col, 1-24).\n\nwhat could be lacking (imperfect)? \n\nMy Yes, My love, My Serviam. \n\nDo we rejoice in our [let's face it, minor] sufferings?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, not only do you not know about Vatican II and Trent, you also don't know about Luther.\n\nLuther did reject some books in the Vulgate OT, those not found in the Hebrew Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good point, Kevin57. There was a time when a Catholic organization could be at risk of losing any official Catholic Church support and affiliation if it were to partner with another organization that might have a website link to a link to a link to a pro-choice effort. Personally. it makes all the sense in the world to partner with organizations on common causes even if we disagree on others, but the anti-abortion crowd has never been fond of this approach... until Koch money came to town.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Birds of a feather.. .. (you and Jaded)\n\nin the sense of so many \"Christians\" have never actually read the bible\n\nHow many \"Christians\" have you polled ? There are billions (historically)\n\nYeah...Just what I thought. Then you wonder why you are scorned and laughed at by \"The Right\"...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have a source Gary - and it is based on the same methods we govern the country, there is no difference whatsoever. Marrying Homosexuals is a law of the land, but is not part of the Christian Church that Christ said he was building in Mathew 16:18. Homosexuality is clearly condemned numerous times in the Bible, and what is most shocking to me is the fact you refuse to accept this document (the Bible) as the governing principle in the Christian Church, I have even conceded that any other \"Church\" can marry whoever they please under the laws of the land, just don't refer to it as the Church of Jesus Christ. It is clear you do not like it, that is fine, but don't claim to be an authority on the Christian Church or Biblical Doctrine on this matter, you are not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@Dennism\nThank you for your comment Dennis,\nAnswer to question one, No\nPerhaps I should have said drawing attention to evil, rather than confronting evil.\nWhen people pray outside abortion clinics (Institutions) are they not drawing attention to evil actions?\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"A deacon candidate for a rural Minnesota diocese sued his bishop this week on grounds of blackmail and coercion after the prelate allegedly threatened his ordination if he didn't renounce a prior revelation of sexual abuse by the diocese's former vicar general.\"\n- Accepting that this story has merit, then this is the first verifiable evidence in the US that ordination is treated as commodity by the episcopacy., e.g., this for that.\n- The civil authorities should seize the chancery's files and records and archives, and insist that the Apostolic Delegation and the Holy See submit all records on this bishop and the diocese to the civil authorities involved in this.\n- Fortunately Trump's executive order regarding involvement of churches in political matters has made less strict the separation of state from church. So, the state should be able to retrieve church records here in the US and in the Holy See (which in these matters is not the Vatican City State).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey, Bubba: the results are staring all of us right in the face and right now.\nTalk is cheap, actions are actions. We're living the results of what Parnell, Hawker, Chenault, Meyer and Micciche, McGuire, Fairclough/Mackinnon and the rest of the right wing zealots and their enablers have visited upon this state and its people. \nAnd you call yourself \"Koncerned?\"\nMore like, \"What, me worry? - I got mine.\"\nThat's downright prosperity gospel Christian of you, \"Koncerned\"...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John, what these people fail to see is that 'welcome' is the foundation stone to everything we believe. If there is no welcome there are no sacraments, no Mass, no preaching, no Eucharist, nothing. All these things are built on welcome.\n\nGod bless you and especially your brother. I hope one day he gives the Catholic Church the privilege of his presence again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Um, what? That may (effectively) have been MSW's muddled message, but don't pin it on the Catholic Left.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian pilgrims amassed in St. Peter\u2019s Square on Wednesday morning received a double treat in the form of huge video images of U.S. president Donald Trump meeting Pope Francis.\n------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\nEric, you have to be kidding. I guess this was your little joke for the day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Meh. Plato is better, and had more influence on the Bible that most people acknowledge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe our nation made a commitment to all American child to give them a basic education. The wealthy are welcome to this subsidy. But I will be very unhappy if my money goes to paying for an elite education for those that can afford it.\n\nI'm fine with non union school systems that abide by local control as long they obey all civil law. My daughters had a great education in such a public school. There was an alternative of Christian schools for those who chose that direction. *My Christian evangelical pastor put all the Korver kids through public schools. He did it with purpose because he believed in respecting all people regardless of race,creed, color,wealth or gender.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In his homily he reflected on the day's Gospel reading that included Christ's instruction on how humans should interact with one another: \"Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.\"\n\nThose simple words developed into what is now known as the Golden Rule, he reminded the congregation, but noted that today that rule is under serious assault.\"\n\nI know Bishop - I keep asking all you bishops to immediately start ordaining women and treating them like they were equally human as you are but you keep ignoring that golden rule. Apparently, you believe only immigrants deserve to have their human dignity upheld and not your Catholic sisters who have been called by God to the same Holy Orders you were called to. \n\nThe Golden Rule means same treatment, which means same sacraments, opportunities, and supports, for all, in our church, without bias against a person's flesh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ms. Pfeiffer I would suggest that since we have the ability to zoom in on planets in the solar system to minute degrees to see whether or not there is evidence of life or the necessary elements for life it negates your very shallow supposition that since life is not evident from great distance then it doesn't exist. Same with life itself here on planet earth. We have been given the gift of reason, of rational linear thought but we squander that great gift when we don't look beneath the surface of our religious and political beliefs. We have been given the gift to question and reach conclusions based on scientific methods and peer review. That is the gift Mr. Lewis is using to question the BELIEFS of christianity. He finds no evidence of the existence of that man Jesus of Nazareth in his research, his beneath the surface examination. Beliefs are built on ideological, tribal superstitions while science is based on linear, deep research that is then challenged by peers. Challenged is key.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is obvious what Pope Francis is saying. He is saying the same thing Jesus said, \"Love your enemies.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Constitution of the United States seems to by incorrectly cited in arguments about as often as are the various versions of the Christian Bible. Here's a link to the National Archives' very nice site on the Constitution which provides a transcription and various commentary on this brief but quite fascinating document.\n\nhttps://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They're living it over in Santa Clara, making converts, and making intentional disciples out of nominal cradle-Catholics. Right now, today, not in some bygone era. \n\nAnd the situation was similar across the bay from there at St. Edward's in Newark before a real clericalist character (who hates the rail...) was made pastor in 2015. (Is 2015 a bygone era?) The building was a Protestant-style prayer barn but with a sanctuary rail and some improvements, the community was active, people were getting on fire for the faith, and nobody in his right mind thought of that rail being about the personal elevation of the priest over the laity.\n\nOLOP isn't my parish (and by choice, since it's closer than where I go) but I can't say they're not doing some things right.\n\nOf course one could always mention Cantius as another example. And for all practical purposes that parish community dates to the Bernardin era in Chicago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Last October, the peace treaty was narrowly rejected by voters. \"The 'no' campaign backed in the name of the family, mustered consensus among parishes and Catholic organisations and movements [because] one paragraph of the peace agreement mentioned the need to include everyone in the peace process, including 'people with different sexual orientations and gender identities.'\" (www.lastampa.it/2016/10/18/vaticaninsider/eng)\n\u201cA crucial element of the propaganda [for the NO campaign] was the myth that the peace deal would have implied the imposition of a \u2018gender ideology\u2019 that could have shattered the traditional heterosexual family unit.\u201d\nwww.opendemocracy.net/democraciaabierta/leonardo-goi/colombia-s-peace-requires-disarmament-of-gender-fear\n\"Pope Francis has commented a number of times on the 'ideology of gender.'\u201d http://www.marriageuniqueforareason.org/2016/08/05/pope-francis-ideological-colonization/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Catholic institutions are going to fire gay employees for being gay or for getting married in a civil court, which according to those doing the firing amounts to \"scandal,\" then the church should at least acknowledge the fact that many, many heterosexual employees are able to \"pass\" when it comes to their under-the-radar use of contraception. I know a few people who work for the Catholic Church in my area who have admitted to me that they lied on the form they signed agreeing to abide by the church's moral standards. But of course these people are able to keep their jobs, unlike their gay colleagues who cannot \"pass.\" This discrepancy is the real scandal, if you ask me, and to this day the church refuses to acknowledge it. Then there are those straight people who have gotten divorced. Back in the day that was considered a scandal. Not anymore. When was the last time a straight church employee got fired for the \"scandal\" of being divorced?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't believe that people are saying that those on the assembly can't or shouldn't have beliefs. I nor are most of the others want to deny any of them the choice to believe in God and worship Him or to not worship Him. I think you are mistaken if this is what you are getting out of many of the posts. \n\nAlso, I think, at least for Christians, it's important to put God's name with a capital G and Him has a capital H. I noticed that you used \"god.\" What god are you referring to?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "David Grisham:\nHow unbelievably short sighted of you. I suspect you permanently drive more people away from religion with these stunts, way to be short sighted. That stunt will drive em' away early. Ask Jerry Prevo how to lure kids, he's an expert. From a social standpoint, it is not your place to decide how others' families should conduct themselves. From a religious standpoint, you can't tell a stranger they are wrong without first passing judgement on their actions. FYI, Christmas is more in line with the pagan holiday Yule, not Jesus' Birthday. (They estimate to be late November)\n.\nSanta is an abstract idea manifest as a person. Santa is the Spirit of giving, sharing and family. This concept doesn't have to be contrary to Christianity.\n.\nMerry X-mas", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mystical theology is found in the writings of John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, etc. I guess my mind just doesn't work that way (or I don't care to do the work). As to this book, I'm not sure what it may mean for the whole Church; it rings a bit Congregational to me. I hope that when you read it you will come back and give your thoughts. Happy Easter Season.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where is Canada's concern for the millions of Christians who are being threatened and persecuted in Muslim-majority countries? Why does Canada not accept them as refugees?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm appalled at the actions of the school. The principal has made a serious mistake. Removing her from leadership is appropriate. While they had the right to remove her from classes and graduation, it was the wrong thing to do.\n\nEqually appalling is the harassment on Facebook by other parents and students. Clearly such things should be addressed by the school as well, and if the school code does not include Christian standards for social media behavior toward other member of the school community, it should. Let's see those self-righteous mamas have their angels pulled from the graduation lineup. \n\nI'm impressed, however, with the young lady, who has chosen to take this adversity and use it in a positive way. I'm impressed by her parents in their support for her. I wish her well with her baby, her college studies and her future.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Somehow this doesn't sound a bit like Francis who is inclusive, welcoming and merciful:\n\n\"In a stark prognosis for contemporary Catholicism, a leader of the conservative wing of the U.S. hierarchy has said that \"a smaller, lighter church\" of fewer but holier believers is preferable to one that promotes inclusion at the expense of traditional orthodoxy.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Boy Clayton McDowell, you don't know a thing about Christianity. Tolerance and looking the other way when one sins is not apart of Christianity. It is a Christians duty to let the person who is engaging in sin to pull them aside & let them know their sin. If they don't quit what their doing & confess before God their sins & ask for forgiveness in Jesus name, then its no longer our duty to tell them anymore. People have a right to make choices, even bad ones. And again, if immigrants don't get jobs when entering the country, they just come here & milk our countries benefits for our own people. Thats why our govt. can't hardly pay for our own citizens is because people are coming from other countries, don't work and collect our social security benefits.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope you follow ALL the restrictions cited in the New Testament. Just a few...A priest should be celibate, women should be veiled, woman should not wear jewelry and the ONLY reason for divorce is adultery and the adulterer can not marry again. I could go on and I am sure you have lots of excuses as to why none of these matter any more. It's called hypocrisy. Something quite common in those who judge and cast stones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the answer. I am not sure I follow completely. On the one hand, post secondary degrees have become increasingly important in terms of job opportunities. On the other hand, the arts and humanities have certainly become devalued as well as the need for full time faculty. Buildings seem to be an ever more important way of pointing to the accomplishments of university administrators.\n\nMy main problem with the article is stated by a few others. Although I am all for decision making roles for women, I think it would have been more appropriate to call attention to the increase of lay people of both genders in higher ed. I also think it is did not give enough credit to the qualities displayed by the nuns in the 19th and 20th centuries in the education of Catholic women. I believe that those involved in the higher education of women were quite qualified.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These evangelical advisers aren't the heads of denominations and they don't represent ecclesial authority. They represent only their own interests, which are highly politicized.\n\nYou may recall, when Pope Francis made his statement some time back about how those who build walls aren't Christian, I was critical because I thought it was ill-advised for a pope to get involved in the internal politics of a particular nation. I oppose this meeting for the same reason.\n\nI also opposed the pope meeting with Bernie Sanders during the campaign, again for the same reason. I can't speak for anybody else's commentary or lack of it, but that's my position, and it has been consistent.\n\nI hope that helps with your confusion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have you considered at all that it is (this) NCR's long-held position to offer ideas and thoughts and facts and opinions from a wide variety of perspectives within the progressive-liberal schools of Catholic/Christian experience, plus a few moderately conservative essays and articles thrown in to the mix? I didn't find any of that in any of your comments, Josh, so I thought I would mention it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This has nothing to do with teaching anyone to fish, but the fact that the way the economy has suffered under Republican policies, many families cannot even afford a fishing pole. To equate social welfare with slavery is a gross abomination because of the extreme horror that slavery is. It's an absurdity to compare helping people with enslaving people. Again, please look at Ben Carson's life ... he benefited his entire life from public welfare, including housing, food stamps and his very education -- and then when he gets his success, he wants to pull the ladder up and not let anyone else climb it. \n\nWas Ben Carson a slave, or did social welfare help him achieve success in his life?\n\nAgain, please no more comparisons of Christian charity with slavery.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the Gospels, Jesus said \"be not afraid\" very often. We need faith to combat our fears. Another word for faith is trust in God. We should be thankful for all of God's blessings in our lives. We should reflect on how God touches us everyday in the other people we meet. We should respond with kindness and caring as Jesus would.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. I did not start with optimism, the 'optimism' was in the post I was replying to which I judged from Catholic teaching to be 'presumption' rather than 'optimism'.\n2. I didn't switch to hope. Hope is one of the cardinal virtues so it was intrinsic to the discussion which concerned presumption or despair of salvation and was absolutely relevant to the discussion.\n3. Go back to no: 2.\n4. I never mentioned pessimism once in my posts, nor did I endorse it or promote it.\nI am glad that at last you finally concede that my comments were solely to point out that the general \"after life\" ought to be distinguished from the particular \"eternal salvation\". That was my sole intention several comments back.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\", 'I wonder what the minimum knowledge necessary for salvation is.' \"\n\nThe minimum knowledge for salvation is all you can comprehend in any given situation. With the understanding that you will be held accountable to the \"full extent of the law\", and thus, a true believer has a \"safety net\", namely, the person of Christ. Or, as EGW has well said, \"When we do our best, He becomes our righteousness.\"\n\nEquality to God is the ultimate accountability. Thus, a believer defends the divinity of Christ of who equal to God. We approach God by way of Christ and \"do our best\" on a relative and moral level.\n\nSo, we have a 100% commitment to be 100% committed to God and Christ. If we work on this principle with an honest intention, we will pass the final judgment with flying colors.\n\nAny theory that undermines this principle is of the devil. And in the end, we have fear and assurance coupled together as the true motive to be a Christian and obtain a fitness for heaven. Christ is our title.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Today Holy Mother the Church celebrates the life of Saint Anthony of Padua, patron saint of lost articles while my wife and I celebrate 53 years of happy marriage, happy that, somehow, we found one another. The whole celebration seems out of step with notions of ecofeminism. We do much better receiving spiritual guidance from one another than from celibate males who do not read. We find prudence from each other, when considering such things as ecofeminism. In the final analysis, \u201cLord, let your face shine on me\u201d (Psalm 119:135a). \u201cThe one who gives us security with you in Christ . . . has also put his seal upon us\u201d (2 Corinthians 1:21-22). \u201cYou are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden\u201d (Matthew 5:14). The role of husbands and wives helping one another as spiritual advisors appears nowhere in the current clatter of spiritual advice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, RD? How do secret groups like Opus Dei make all Christians one?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"That is probably true of Christians in the US. Condemnation of an entire people for their religion is irrational, and it results only in unnecessary conflict.\"\n\nDon't even try to pull out the racism card, nobody was condemning \"an entire people\" trigger man. Islam is a religion or ideology, not a person, people or race.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is there to miss about the old \"values\" of America where I was raised deep in the heart of the old white Catholic Church were it we were taught to be the only true religion and were not allowed to associate with non-Catholics. America where there was deep poverty, low wages and many children went to bed hungry. Where my talented mom was not expected to get a job. Where my dad ranted on all sinners and minorities while he cheated on my mom on the side. While we had a lot of subjects like sex we were not allowed to talk about and my high school friends went off to Vietnam to die before they had a chance to live. Where my wonderful gay uncle had to hide in a closet. Where my dad was born to an unwed mom and could not talk about his own father so I never knew my own grandfather. Where divorce was impossible to get and couples who hated each other stayed married. Should I go on? The America that citizens dream to go back to was a bigger myth than anything Disney can come up with.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does that apply to publicly funded Catholic schools too?\n----------------------\nNo it does not\nunless you want to change the Constitution which allows Catholic schools\n\nFight the Constitution if you wish", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mucky- you either agree with that fact that our Founding Fathers made us a Christian nation through their Judeo-Christian paradigm, or you don't. The fact that you haven't refuted a single one of my quotes means you either agree with it, or can't refute it-- which one is it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again, She has distorted the truth to fit her anti-Christian bias. But this is ADN and they support anti-Christian agendas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your pastor is very, very wise, as is your entire parish. You are examples of what Vatican II called us all to become.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill, my posts are consistent with Catholic teaching. If you disagree with Catholic teaching and you want to change it, then you have to talk about it, not hide behind \"love\" and \"sex.\" \n\nThe Catholic perspective is not merely that certain behaviors are wrong, but that they are harmful to the individuals who engage in them. Catholic teaching not only calls out the sin, but instructs on how to help those with same-sex attraction become united with God. \n\nWe never talk about groups like \"Courage\" (and its successes) here, because no one speaks about that which has led to the need for that group. To me, that's uncivil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The percentages are quite quite small. \n\nLiberals (and trial lawyer$$) inflate the numbers because it seems to give them power to remake the Church into the image of something other than God, especially Church teaching when it comes to morality, mainly sex. \n\nThe devil targets sexuality because of its unique and quick ability to corrode the integrality of a person's functions...their will, their intellect/conscience, their body, their passions or appetites. \n\nThe devil is always working against the \"unity\" of things, of persons, families, the Church, even our understanding of God.\n\nIf you look at most formal \"heresies\" they generally involve a division of something meant to be a unity (the nature of Christ, etc.).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly. It is also way late for the bishops to say they care about \"Christian values\" when they support tRump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I certainly agree that we should want to know what we are getting for the money we pay. I also would agree it would be better to find ways of rehabilitating prisoners. If adopting Norway's system could be shown to work in our country, I would be all for it. But Norway is far different than the U.S. 86% of their population is ethnic Norwegian, and half of the remainder are from Western cultures, leaving only 7% from other cultures. 80% are Christian. Then there is the fact that the country is socialist, meaning it costs them little more to incarcerate and feed a person in what seems like a middle class apartment than it does to provide for a free person. And since they have 90% less crime, they can afford it. None of that works here. Until we have something that does, I would rather criminals be in jail instead of loose to commit more crimes. For me in Springfield, it is literally a few more dollars.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Palin is a product of the anti-government education imported and, ultimately, overthrowing the Alaskan governing system replaced by a privatized, one industry rule. Nixon began the privatization of government by eliminating rail passenger service and privatizing the U.S. Postal Service to benefit the airline, trucking industries, and Big Oil. Alaska was invaded by the Texas-based World Oil Industry overwhelming all local governing and control with industry propaganda and power. When Nixon's reign ended, the same Texas-based Oil Barons, i.e., Daddy Koch, created ALEC(American Legislative Executive Council) dedicated to the control of the governing systems at the local and state levels. They succeeded in changing the political dialogue through bribery and back room deals until they controlled many state legislatures, continuing to today. A key component was the funding and establishment of fundamentalist christian religious dictators. The One World Government already exists-Alaska.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AP \"The documents leaked Friday were widely circulated on U.S. far-right sites.\"\nPossible Fudge\nWere they widely circulated on all kinds of web sites, including these? \nIf so, a better report might have read\n\"The documents were leaked Friday and were widely circulated, including U.S. far-right sites\"\n*\nThe Guardian reports they were initially leaked on social media\nThey were then made available through 4chan and pastebin\nFrom what I could see, 4chan has all kinds of stuff on it, including anti-Christian, anti-semitic, anti-Hollande/Macron, anti- Trump, etc etc", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Male opposition to women priests endures because they are seen as temptators in sexual matters, which also justifies the unnatural positions the Church holds on sex, marriage and homosexuality. With time (we already have the knowledge), these positions will all change and a female priesthood is a good place to start.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words, you AGREE that (Christian) doctrine(s) are NOT God's revelation to us, just as 1Little Bear has commented!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Think more deeply and comprehensively.\nHere's a very likely and logical pathway to how confession could be corrupted and destroyed...[one of the goals of the devil is corruption of the means of grace]\n\"Father, this is Tommy Anderson....I am pretty sure that my brother sexually abused a child, I'm morally confused..what should I do\".\nFirst it's first person. Then it's second person. Then it's second person but a lie to get back at his brother or friend or former wife...\"\nThe priest could say: \"Let's go together to a police station and I will support you while you report this issue.\" The police will investigate and if the report was a lie then police could charge the accuser for making a false report. In this way, the priest would follow a moral path instead of trying to protect pedophiles, pedophile priests, the Pontifical Secret, and enabling Bishops and Cardinals. \nI am surprised that many conservative Catholics around here do not think deeply and comprehensively.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"She\" must have been at least a Catholic Bishop or higher, no?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The idea that newcomers are aiming to change the United States is paranoia, though, no different than when people feared the same of Catholics and Jews migrating to the US in past ages. That paranoia is fed by propaganda machines like Fox and Breitbart, who continually exaggerate the risks that immigrants and refugees pose, lacking any kind of reasonable perspective.\n\nIn reality, the US has strong institutional structures that make it quite resilient to the kind of change that people fear. There is really no risk, for instance, of Muslims breaking down the separation of church and state that effectively prevent most of what people seem to be afraid of. On the other hand, the risk posed to US government institutions is much greater when you consider those that claim to be defending them -- which is why it is very alarming when the US president employs rhetoric that challenges the independence of the judiciary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes: Catholics need a new autochthonous rite where honoring women and all of humanity are valued, where the Beatitudes have centrality, where mercy and forgiveness replaces the dead christianity of canon law. \n\nLet the Romans keep the Vatican where they can parade around in their medieval costumes thinking big clerical thoughts - good for the tourists. \n\nThe rest of us can try to start over respecting the charisms that come down to us from the primitive 1st century church. \n\nLet the People Decide!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I really liked what my Congressman, an Iraq war veteran, had to say at a recent town hall in my urban area. There were a lot of very angry people there who were worried about their healthcare. My congressman did not dismiss their anger, but instead suggested that they grab a coffee with a more Conservative friend. When I heard him say this, I reflected that my boss and my colleagues are HUGE Trump supporters and I am not. When we talk politics, and we do a fair amount, I will often witness for them about my Catholic faith and what that says to me about refugees, etc. I think letting them know that I think they are good people does more to illustrate for them that there are good people on all sides.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You may consider it a \"cult\". That is certainly your right. Many people consider Christianity - or at least some sects of it - to be cults.\n\nThe thing is that we are blessed by the First Amendment:\n\n***Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.***\n\nhttp://www.billofrights.org/\n\nTo treat any one religion as a \"cult\" while not treating ALL religions as \"cults\" would violate the Bill of Rights.\n\nThere is no \"ruling religion\" in the US.\n\nWe also have laws which require reasonable accommodation of religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And if the USCCB agenda is \"piddling\" it is because milquetoasts like Cordileone [who won't go into public unless he has a personal body-guard], Lori, Sample and Chaput are hiding behind the walls of \"business as usual\" and not demonstrating a bold and joyful witness in personal dedication to Christ who commanded \"Go out into all the world...\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the issues covered in the article probably defines what is happening in Canada, that of the very rude dismissal of someone who is not on the same page as the Liberals. The more this persists the more the notion of the liberal elite becomes ingrained and it becomes just that much harder to counter it. The was a time when people just went out and voted , and then got on with their lives. People often didn't care much one way or another how you voted. No anymore. People don't talk to long time neighbours now, simply because they had a lawn sign , that was the opposite of who they supported. Politics for some has become the new religion, with the same divides. Throughout much of our history there was great divide between Catholics and Protestants, and through time this faded into the background. Now it's politics, and the animosity towards those with different political beliefs is as bad or worse then the days of religious conflicts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well here we go again, schismatic me, but I have always believed that \"bonus opus\" and \"bonus opus\" ALONE, is the ticket it. What about all the good people on this earth who never heard of Jesus, let alone the multitudes who lived upright lives in the millennia before Christ? Or what about all the good people on this earth who learn about Christ, but then see Christians in action and are revolted by them? Indeed, the number of hypocritical daily Mass Catholics that I have met who are just downright cruel people defies count. I believe Frank concurs, when he said, atheists who do good work will be hanging out with him on the other side.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Acton, which gets lots of money from the extraction industries, was one of the leaders in the effort to diminish the authority of Laudato Si' within the Catholic community so it makes sense they would link up with evangelicals who oppose environmental protection on the dominionist grounds.\"\n\nActon is a rightwing propaganda organ. They DO have a dog in the fight. Their dog wants to discredit Pope Francis as he does not do their bidding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. It is doing unnecessary harm to people and causing division in the Catholic Church. It is a pity that someone didn't decide to air Lepanto's dirty laundry like someone finally aired Voris' dirt. What comes around goes around. \n\nAnd I am not a fan of Chaput but he wishes to be engaged in the conversation with people like the Mayor of Philadelphia. The fact that a far right bombthrower thinks that these people are a bunch of fundamentalist cranks who are up to no good tells you something. The organization needs to be condemned and ostracized by the US bishops (and probably the Vatican if they are behind the kerfuffle with Burke and the Knights of Malta.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just to be clear, Catholic Social Teaching demands a just wage for families. When a child is added, enough income must be added through the public and private sector to fully fund that child\u2019s needs at an acceptable middle class lifestyle. The current tax law does not do that and the proposed reform helps little, if at all. Shfiting the child exemption to a credit is helpful, but it needs to be a refundable credit. $1600 is progress, but it should be $1000 per month per child. The current system is an F and the proposal does improve it. Getting rid of TANF, SNAP and even some housing subsidies would be fine so long as they were replaced by cash. Replacing the mortgage interest and property tax deductions with an improved Child Tax Credit would actually get us close to adequacy. The bill takes away some of the MID, but it sends it to business owners and the Executive Class. Epic fail.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another Montana Catholic..............", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear, Michael Sean Winters;\nThis is out of place, and with lack of view to the actual issue. Hilary should have not been there to begin with. Do you think that if Bishop Sheen would of been alive, would of accepted an advocate for abortion to participate in a Catholic event as if it did not matter? What happened to Catholic teaching, Pope Encyclicals, Scriptures, the Church Fathers, Councils, etc. It's a shame that Donald Trump not a Catholic, defended the Catholic faith and that he was the one that actually upheld Catholic values in the entire place. What a shame that you sir, don't uphold them in this article. Do you think tha St. Paul would of given an OK? No sir. The most shameful thing of all, is to see an Apostle of Christ and the Church, fall so low as to worry more about appearances than the Salvation souls. This article is shameful. The Gospels and Mother Mary, say repent. Donald Trump will be Catholic, thanks to people like you who persecute Truth. Please, repent. Choose God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clearly we have a secular government. Judges and juries in our court systems do not accept faith-based arguments, they demand evidence based arguments. Public schools use evidence-based curriculum, not faith-based. However, a majority of Americans identify as Christian, but that will not last.\n\nIn the U.S. Atheists, \"non-believers,\" etc., are the fastest growing demographic in the category of belief. Thanks to the internet, educational institutions, and plain old common sense, every advanced democracy is becoming less religious. More and more people are rejecting popular superstition in favor of reason and science. Worth noting is that the least religious democracies are the happiest and healthiest societies on Earth.\n\nHobby Lobby and company are losing the battle and they know it. That's good for America and good for the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That was very astute, it seems to me, of HRC to approach Francis only in terms of the presence of Apostolic Nucnio Vigano, Francis' ambassador, he he speaks in the US for Francis, rather than list all the other Catholic luminaries. She is well advised, in seems to me, on inner Catholic workings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is it not healthy? I'm reaching perimenopause so my cycle is not 100% regular like it used to be-which I know because I chart it. Due to this we have decided to temporarily abstain. I don't see how that is in any way unhealthy. God forbid my husband and I behave like responsible adults and good Catholics!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reading all these posts is a hoot! Such varied reactions. Goes to show you that James Joyce was right when he described the Catholic Church as \"here comes everybody.\" I love it!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hilo and Kona residents believe they don't have an \"I\" and \"eye\" problems especially the Protestants, Buddhists, Catholics, and the atheists adults and children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"There are orthodox Catholics and heterodox catholics, you are confusing politics with religion.\"\nActually, no. There are simply Catholics who hold differing opinions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm leaning to here in Australia at least, things are tad incestuous with Kieran Tapsell the only real independent voice in my opinion.\nWith the Truth Justice and Healing CEO on the payroll of the Catholic Church representing them, saying all the right things and nothing new than already established including by the church itself, [attack being the best form of defence] and parroted by others.\nI was at an Interfaith fund raising dinner sometime ago and heard the casual references made by Denis Cahill and a discussion evening were CEO Francis Sullivan was giving the run down was enough for me to draw my own conclusions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm 75 and started attending Ontario public schools starting 70 years ago.\n\n\"Never the twain should meet\"? Says who?\n\nFor years they did. My recollection is that we often started the school day with the (Christian) Lord's Prayer.\n\nI'm sure we celebrated Remembrance Day with a (Christian) church service of remembrance in which (Christian) hymns were sung.\n\nI don't feel these overtly religious practices damaged me in the slightest. \n\nI now feel that comparative religion education should be offered to our students at the high school level. The more students learn of the ethical precepts of the major religions, the better they will be equipped for adult life.\n\nFor that matter, classes in our schools should also accommodate the works of Darwin that postulate that evolution is a strictly natural phenomenon that occurs without any divine intervention whatsoever. \n\nKnowledge of the ethical, spiritual and scientific background of various religions (and non-religions) is useful in adult life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I imagine that the pope and Christian princes of the day would disagree with you there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I lived at the Mission during the early 80's and am still in awe of its work and those who do the work. I am not a Christian, but view the Mission as a great example of what quiet devotion to one's principles can do. And there were many stories of men who not only got food and shelter, but companionship that gave them the will to keep on keeping on. \nSure, I wish the Mission would find a way to cooperate with Lane County to act as the official emergency shelter, seeing as how Lane County has none, but the Christian community that supports the Mission can be proud of what their dollars are doing. Some of the finest men I ever met lived at the Mission, slept in its beds and worked on the trucks gathering newspaper for recycling. Some struggled with major demons, but with the help of the Mission they were able to keep breathing and have a sense of dignity. \nHugh Massengill, Eugene", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem is that the government funds students to attend Catholic schools but not any other religion-sponsored schools. The s. 33 override applies to sections 2 and 7 to 15.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Happy to stand by someone who will go with her own gut over so-called 'Christian charity'.\"\n\nGood one, really good one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I may be wrong here, I was once before. But, I thought the first amendment was to keep one religion (say Christianity) from becoming the religion. I thought it was to protect all of us from a religion prescribed by our leaders in government.\n\nSeems to me that is exactly what the Assembly is doing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trid, I always had a feeling you went back into the realms of antiquity. \ud83d\ude0a\n\nYour sweeping comment about Americans isn't accurate. I think you'll find we're not of one mind on matters of heritage and tradition. We are, perhaps, generally less inclined than Europeans to cling to tradition for the sake of tradition, but that doesn't seem to me a bad thing.\n\nPersonally, I like the traditions surrounding papal successions, including the funeral customs for the deceased pope and the customs and rituals involved in electing the new one. \n\nI might modify how cardinal-electors are selected, but I wouldn't do away with the college itself or the secret conclave, which I believe are among the most distinctive and cherished traditions of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are 2 groups of Catholics in Greece; the Latin Rite and the Eastern Rite - Greek Catholics. Although both are distrusted, the latter because they SO resemble the Orthodox, are disliked even moreso and seen as \"poachers\" amongst \" the Orthodox faithful. Perhaps writing to \"Aid to the Church in Need\" and suggesting in light of this article that a special collection be set up to help both Latin and Eastern Catholics would be of great help.\n\nGreece is bearing the brunt of the Moslem refugee crisis with few resources to help their own people. Also, the Balkan Wars of the 1990s that were/are seen as the demonization and destruction of Serbia a fellow Orthodox country by the United States/Germany/NATO/Vatican has resulted in deep anti Western and Catholic resentment among Greek people; probably they take it out on the Catholics there. The unwillingness to forget and forgive always has tragic consequences.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It also isn't a stretch to think that Sayyid Qutb and Osama Bin Laden and other's rhetoric may have resulted in the mass murder of Muslims, Chiristians, Jews, and anyone else working on the wrong floors of the World Trade Center.\n\nIt also isn't a stretch to think that Abu Hamza al-Masri's rhetoric may have resulted in the mass murder of Muslims, Christians and anyone else in the wrong cars on the Circle and Picadilly Lines on their way to work.\n\nRise above the rhetoric of all who spread hate and division. \"Love your neighbour as yourself.\" \"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.\" \"Take care of Mother Earth and all her children.\" That's all anyone needs from religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah yes, the nebulous \"spirit of the council\". Dogma does not \"evolve\" because Truth, by its very nature, does not change {see dogmatic constitution DEI FILIUS}. And you have the temerity to blame \"shrinkage in the number of the faithful\" because of some prelates' pre Vatican II \"strictness\"? Talk about putting your head in the sand; it is because of the post Conciliar laxity, modernism, and heresy that we have shrinkage. See '\"A Statistical Analysis of the Catholic Church Since Vatican II\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Figueiredo said he and others in his department are well aware of the economic and security fears governments might have in accepting refugees and immigrants, but that is no excuse to abandon the Christian message of welcoming the stranger.\"\n\nIt's not an \"excuse.\" They are reasonable concerns based on actual evidence on what has happened in Europe and in the U.S.. They're not baseless\"fears.\" \n\nWhat's clear is that Catholic leaders like Figueiredo define \"welcoming the stranger\" as code for open borders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bazil---thanks for the letter...I feel your pain and frustration too. Too much power politics maybe, or perhaps they are saying this but we don't have access to their words...I suspect this is true for some... Without exception the pope has been clear and, while I'm not a Catholic, he seems to be consistent. We don't ask much of our leaders...and when they share their concerns, politics and power intercede. We do hear loud and clear from a few about a few things, but there isn't a morally consistent lesson....yes I would love to see a convocation of leaders condemn war, violence, hate, murder...but I fear they are preaching to the choir. The underworld is still there, louder and clearer.\nSo please, keep reminding us...we need the help! Ryan", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Irish Association of Catholic Priests has been calling for the appointment of priests to be bishops in the diocese of their incardination. They are addressing the ecclesiological dysfunction caused a the national Celtic form of tribalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why can't the church treat it like divorce? You can't get remarried in the Catholic Church, but they don't try to make it illegal. And they don't think they have a say in whether NON-Catholics get remarried.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Homeless are considered reincarnated Hindus in the Hindu belief. Cow gods are the highest if you do many good deeds. As long as non-christians are atound, the homeless will continue to grow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bku, the Catholic Church, like every other religious group or religion, is full of complex, messy human beings, all of whom are on the journey of faith... it's a journey, not a destination. It has been said that if we go looking for a perfect church, and then join that perfect church, it won't be perfect any more. We all carry our expectations and failings with us. No matter where we go, there we are.\n\nRemember the gospel story about Peter walking toward Jesus on the stormy sea. Everything was going well until Peter stopped looking at our Lord and began to focus on the stormy water. Then he sank. I can tell you that I, as a practicing cradle Catholic of six decades, have never known a monolithic church. We have always been a passionate, scrappy bunch. Unity in Christ is not the same thing as uniformity within an institution. Keep your focus on our Lord and tune out the noise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Only the Catholics teach transubstantiation - you are wrong again Eric. Christian communion is symbolic in accordance with the command of Christ to do this in remembrance of him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings.....laying of hands on Trump in the Whitehouse? Really! Burke&Bannon the new leaders of the Calvinist Catholic Church ! Pope Francis is wise to the American Catholics who like Trump as their new Prophet!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Got it William. We can't make the differences in understanding go away on our own. Agreed.\n\nUsing the same basis, we can't make the remedy in Acts 15 go away either. The path forward is accommodating in the Lord one another's differences in scripture. \n\nFirst Century Christianity. \n\nFounders of Seventh-day Adventism. \n\nRevival and reformation. \n\nIt has never been about uniformity, but always about unity in diversity. \n\nThis is the everlasting gospel: We don't change to be worthy, and the gospel doesn't have to change to accept us. See Revelation 14.\n\nOh, and for a practical illustration, in case you missed Hansen's link, check it out here: \n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wgzjlLl3BU", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like EVERY OTHER ecumenical council, Vatican II is magisterial. Paul said that the emphasis of the council was pastoral, but, as every true Catholic knows, Vatican II's teachings are fully part of the magisterium. \n\nYou don't like some of what Vatican II taught. Too bad. It remains the official teachings of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We obviously see things differently. Little Jacinta did not need any further faith development, as a child or an adult. She had reached the highest level, much more than I can ever achieve on this earth. At such a young age she and her brother clearly understood their faith and purpose here on earth, which was clearly displayed by the way they lived their short life after the apparitions. As I stated before if anyone has a problem with believing in the Divinity of Jesus, they obviously are not a Christian. Thanks for the discussion. Good day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm no theologian, but I am a Catholic who was fortunate enough to have had at least some of the pre-Vat-II teaching instead of the Protestant worldly \"teaching\" that tries to eliminate God and Heaven from Jesus.\n\nMy non-theologian interpretation of the story in which Jesus was being criticized for being annointed with expensive perfume is that Jesus was saying that He - God - was where we should be focused.\n\nJesus wasn't out drumming up money to make the world a better place; he was saying to let God take care of things, and even showed us by performing miracles and spending his ministry as a wanderer. This isn't new, radical thinking on my part: ancient churches are filled with depictions of heavenly Jesuses. \n\nPersonally, I think that once we start focusing on God, the secular stuff takes care of itself: rather than being forced to good deeds by worldly humanists and government redistribution, we perform good deeds because of our embracing of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know the 1977 book because I did a seminar on it at the time, so I know the history of the sacrament, and am also aware of a hermeneutic of continuity that recognizes that the Catholic Church has consistently maintained the inadmissibility of a second \"marriage\" despite its tolerance of Orthodox epikeia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, DonInKansas, for sending me the online copy of the Gospel of James. I particularly like the fact that you treated my comment with respect, and answered my question without a lecture, a catechism lesson, or whatever. Or, in particular, about the fact that most of us hold the Gospels with respect, with affection, and do not consider them as mythology akin to Greek, Roman, and Norse/Germanic mythology. I am willing to read this online copy of the Gospel of James and, once more, many thanks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a life-long Jew, Jesus lived by rules: God's commandments. But he explained that complying with the rules in and of themselves is not the whole point. It's what's in your heart that counts ALSO. He explained this when talking about committing adultery in practice and then extending it to one who thinks about committing adultery in his heart.\n\nRules are important; they provide the framework for doing God's will. But it's also important to consider WHY the rules exist, and the answer to that is to bring us closer to God. \n\nA man who saves a person's life has done a good act for the life that he saved. But if he saves the person's life because, e.g., it's his wealthy benefactor and he wants to keep the cash flowing his way, that's not an act in furtherance of God's will.\n\nWhat's important about performing good acts is that they fulfill an important - wait for it - RULE: Love one another.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The disciples all ran off when he was arrested. Paul organized the community that has become the Christian Church(es).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a (former) Catholic academic, I can say one thing: the key issue in any race should be the most basic civil right that is at stake: the right to live, to be born. America, you chose well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I understood quite well. You said that dysfunctional families was \"the only thing serious Catholics should be focused on\". You may have meant \"the family\", but you were going on about dysfunctional families. \n\nMy family is not dysfunctional, so dysfunction is not a concern of mine. My wife's health is, and a major part of that is paying for her health care. \n\nObamacare has been a godsend for us, and you conservatives would like to take it away and replace it with nothing. You are pro-death.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting, though it most calls to my mind the equivalent distress I saw imposed on so many faithful Catholics back in my home archdiocese, Milwaukee, during the sad era of \"the spirit of Vatican II.\" \n\nQuite specifically, I remember growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, the era of miserably saccharine and puerile hymns that tried desperately to sound like pop songs. Damian Thompson demolishes their faults beautifully here: http://bit.ly/2kyxB3r. \n\nBut at bottom, when you realize these songs posing as Catholic church music were really self-centered pap that drew our thoughts away from God, you're filled with revulsion.\n\nDon't start me on the faux-primitive banners or secularized sermons or the imposed abolition of reverence. I thank God daily for the Church's recovery from all that. \n\nThe many faithful, reverent priests and people of Milwaukee and elsewhere needed better. Gratia Deo for the revitalization of Mother Church that has been delivering it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We already have women priests among us, albeit 'excommunicated' by the self-proclaimed and self-perpetuating leadership of the Church. Ordaining women deacons without accepting the women priests, is just reaffirming the status quo which is blatantly anti-Jesus, who included women. At best you will get a 'female diaconate,' not the same as the men's. The women will be allowed to serve doing 'womanly' things suitable to their supposed 'feminine geniuses,' like arranging flowers, vacuuming, and reading lesser passages. You are talking about an intensely misogynist organization that did not allow women to vote at the Synods on the family. Not one woman was allowed to VOTE. So pathetic. And bizarre. First show support for women priests and their parishes, women reading the Gospel at Mass, women preaching at Mass, women as cardinals and heads of departments. Don't be creating another female ghetto. Encourage self-respect among Catholic women who have few opportunities for it in Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The USCCB is partly responsible for saving America from going over the cliff it's been headed toward for 50 tears. Decent-minded Americans --- Catholic, Protestant, Jew, and those who value our country, Constitution, and culture --- are in a conspiracy with the USCCB to take this country back.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ken Wilber has a hard time believing in evolution, and has endorsed new age cult leaders who hurt many people. His view of Catholicism is that it's a low on the scale religion. So I'll pass.\n\nIf people are pitted against each other, the left must bear much of the blame. Until it does, there is no way forward.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quote from the article: \"The thought and behavior of today's millennial Catholics will likely have a profound effect on the future of the church in the United States,\" given that millennials are \"removed from pre-Vatican II Catholicism,\" CARA said of the study results published in its quarterly, The CARA Report. Many of those have Catholics parents with \"little or no experience with the traditional Catholic practices and catechesis,\" CARA said, adding that this doesn't mean they are \"anti-religious\" yet.\n\nNotice that last word: \"yet.\" It doesn't help to kick lgbt catholics out of participation in the church. It doesn't help to try to teach a medieval human sexuality to post modern young people - not only do they not get it, many find it not understandable, weird, unbelievable. More, they will have even less acceptance of the hard core authoritarianism of the old role of bishops who's teachings must be accepted.\n\nIts' gonna be interesting. Bishops need to listen before they speak", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tom, take heart. Institutions have their place in this world as without them anarchy would reign. They never do and never can live up to the ideals we have for them. I encourage you to take solace in the example of Jesus. You'll note that he didn't take a lot of time defending the institutions of his day, or, following with any rigor the doctrines of the faith of his upbringing. My suggestion is at once both easy and difficult to follow - simply be Christ to, and, receive Christ in, every single person you encounter each and every day and you will experience peace both in your heart and peace in your relationship with the current iteration of institution of the RCC. All else is distraction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At first I didn't see the \"s\" on Catholics...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"Any bishop can visit virtually any Catholic school and talk to the Latino children and he will discover how scared they are. \"\n- No doubt children of other immigrant groups are experiencing the same fear.\n- It is a problem that when anyone says 'immigration' a large number of listeners, and pundits, hear 'latino' or 'mexican' or 'hispanic'.\n- The immigration issue in the US is a mirror of the movement of peoples throughout the world.\n- From a global perspective those who wish to help immigrants needs must see the 'immigrant issue' as a spectrum: why did the person come to the USA?; why does the person want to stay?; if sent back to country of origin -- will the church be ready to assist? how do we send US citizens to their parents country of origin and avoid planting seeds of animosity against the US government?\n- It is a mistake that bishops see their role as only helping persons to stay; their role includes helping people to leave and find aid in countries of origin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, that is very true. I already dealt with christian pedophiles acting as community leaders (I was not a victim, others were) and now I am supposed to go through ground hog day of another religion that hides it under script, not English, therefore fool the public of Canada; by the *few* that can read script.. and preach that script.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What aboutism at it's worst on this post. So because the Catholic Church has failings on the sex abuse issue, it therefore shouldn't be concerned about the dangerous affects that war has had on the planet? \n\nI mean have you just been having your eyes closed to what's been happening the last decade with things like the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Drones which kill civilians left right and center, the vicious and the criminal war in Syria right now. \n\nIn a world that's ravaged by war and a world where the Catholic Church has 1.2 billion followers on the planet, Churches need to have as part of their social witness a witness against militarism and violence that summons the teachings of Christ, St Francis of Assisi and figures like Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day. You can walk and chew gum at the same time. \n\nGotta say this post comes across as pretty selfish and self-centered.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fifty years plus for me too, Jesuitical. I hope you\u2019re kidding and not really despairing (maybe just depressed like most of us). I hope your companion is OK too. Funny you reminded me of the \u2018sin of despair\u2019 as I also had learned of that in Catholic school. I think rather there is no such thing as a sin of despair, as despair could not be a sin. There are so many incongruities in this religion, and it is wonderful you keep encouraging people to think.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And while we are at it....let's take a look at those \"other\" social work professionals in the Bay Area. All of whom are well educated, professionally competent, and competing for those very same federal and other grant dollars!\n\nIt's a myth, I think to suggest that any one of these agencies is better than the others...generally the same staff moves fluidly to wherever the grant money is....that's the predictor.\n\nIt isint the religious OR independent non profit status that dictates agency excellence ....all these guys are good...I never worked with anyone in any agency that I didn't respect....thoroughly remarkable people....\n\nActually I learned a huge amount from a Protestant minister who headed up a segment of that agency....and later went on to run CROP (world hunger) we later served together on the California Coucil of Churches Bd!\n\nMy catholic charities gratitude is to the taxpayers....and the bishops should regularly acknowledge them! If honesty and gratitude are issues!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think a lot of parents only send their kids to Catholic schools ( which are not run by the Church anymore) because they still celebrate traditional holidays. It really is special that kids can celebrate Christmas and Easter and on Thanksgiving they can acknowledge God. In Public schools you are basically denying the culture around you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For your information, The National Catholic Reporter has long been a member in good standing of the Catholic Press, and an award-winning member at that. Shame, double-shame for attempting to post your alternative facts on the award-winning NCR blog!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh MartyE, you are excessively kind in the credit you give me!!!\nYes, i've been in business for many years and know that success depends not just on truth in advertising, but more importantly, truth in the product one represents.\nIn concert with Pope Francis, the present focus of my efforts is 'CHURCHES UNITED'\nhttp://www.secondenlightenment.org/Churches%20United%20Flyer.pdf", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the pope has to respect the Sacred Tradition of the Church when it comes to such details as liturgical translations. God only told us the relatively few laws about his divine order of creation that we could never figure out on our own in order to save our souls. He generally leaves the details to his Church to formulate and develop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Christianity is born from here. It is not an ideology nor a philosophic system but a path of faith that begins from an event, witnessed by Jesus' first disciples,\" the pope said.\nIn the true Christianity, there is no elitism sanctioned by God; the Call to discipleship is universal; altar servers, female and male, are on a par with popes. http://www.secondenlightenment.org/Finding%20the%20Light%20Switches.pdf", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Here we go again, the Boston Globe...is having another pop at the Church.\"\n\nNot really, Tridentinus. Some of the narratives in the story were very moving, revealing that the BOSTON GLOBE isn't what it used to be, popping the Church, as it were. But the sales price says it all (regarding its value, influence, etc.). The NEW YORK TIMES bought the privately owned paper in 1993 for 1.1 BILLION and sold it 20 years later for 70 MILLION to a sports owner (owner of the Red Sox), John Henry (whose current wife is of Italian American Catholic background). But from 1.1 billion to 70 million says it all! (Needless to say, Mr. Henry's primary interest is the Boston Red Sox.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi, I'm a Catholic and found this story interesting. Got a question though -- what's a \"bible\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The People of God are the Church----96% of the laity and 4% of the clergy/hierarchy. You keep on identifying the 4% only as the Church. All of us have had relatives, friends, neighbors, and co-workers who have divorced. And guess what? We understand that very human people get married, and marriages do not always work out well.\n\nSecondly, Jesus, as a historic human being, lived at a time---when women could be handed a writ of divorce at any time. And SHE could not contest it. Jesus was offering a support to the women. If priests can be laicized and go back to the single state---why not married couples? Both the Sacrament of Holy Orders and Matrimony are Sacraments of Service. But apparently, the hierarchy of the church only give a way out only to the men who are priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Signing the petition is a no brainer for those of us who are tired of episcopal pomp & all the circumstances that go with it. Of course Christ would never have behaved as this bishop has behaved. As a returned, lapsed Catholic, still hurting from the backlash of conservatives and an eventually, shamed bishop in another diocese, I found the words to \"All Are Welcome\" very reassuring and the music soothing. Hearing Marty Haugen's hymn, \"Shepherd Me O Lord\" at a new friend's funeral touched me deeply. The only real complaint I have about the average repertoire of Catholic musical selections is that they are pitched too high even for practiced vocalists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're surrendering to shadows on that one! It's not going to change -- that a creature of flesh and bone becomes a bearer of the divine, of Christ in the Eucharist. If you are a believing Catholic, of course, you could nuance it as many do: a priest is \"another Christ\" as any \"least\" person is another Christ -- as in Matthew 25: \"I assure you that whatever you did for the least of my brothers you did it for me.\" Literally, Jesus is saying, when we feed the hungry, we are feeding Him.\n\nFor non-Catholics, it is mythology. Emerson reminds us that in the US there is a religion apiece, a myth a piece. Each person is free to believe whatever he or she wants to believe. So if I squeeze wet clay in my hand and believe I am in touch with God, I am -- in my mind and belief system. Or if I am a Tantric Buddhist and believe I can invoke deities by magic and rituals, I am -- and that's OK too in the US. Is calling a priest \"alter Christi\" any more a sick joke than Buddhist practice or Hindu?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 1\nOh my, R&R! You appear to entirely misunderstand the meaning of ensoulment, and far more importantly, the fact that a direct act of God is required in the creation of each and every one of us. Neither the evolution of life nor modern biology is sufficient to explain what we Christians mean by a human person.\n\nMy reply to Common Catholic with these distinctions follows:", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Hmmmm. First I've heard that Venden was an apostate. Guess I've been out of touch. I thought what he said made a lot of sense, although I thought it was \"righteousness by faith.\"\n\nRighteousness by faith alone, is Christ alone. Sanctification is not \"Christ alone\". Sanctification is never \"righteousness by faith alone.\" This is what Venden taught.\n\nSanctification is by faith in Christ and human effort. Justification before God by Substitution and Representation is \"Christ alone\" and \"faith alone\".\n\nChrist alone merited for us the gift of eternal life. But you don't obtain a fitness for heaven \"by faith alone.\"\n\nLike many SDA theologians, Venden simply didn't know what he was talking about. Why discipline Ford, and let people like Venden and Maxwell dump their false doctrine all over the church? \n\nChurch leaders were too ignorant to know the difference and still don't. Adventism is a \"Johnny come lately\" church that knows very little about basic bible Christanity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If your first statement is true, then it applies also to conservatives. Take the popes (by common consent, I think, among the most conservative, at least morally).\n\nThey, for the most part, have never liked Jesus' exercise of authority on loving enemies. No; this was too much for these men, since they approved the death penalty and declared it a moral imperative that the lives of enemy soldiers be taken in battle. \n\nNo; the basis of authority in the Church is not 'calling' (what a massive presumption!), but the presence of the Spirit in EVERYONE.\n\nSadly, the Church works exactly as the world works. That's the problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The 'stacking' Pope Francis is doing is acting on his own theology of calling on all Catholics to view the Church from the peripheries. He is not setting up some sort of pro-Francis team of clones who will automatically go to the default position on his death and elect a like minded. He is doing an enormously valuable service to the People of God by putting the 'catholic' back into Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Come one Allan, we all know your #progressive bonafides are beyond reproach. 57 members of the OIC, how many respect homosexual rights? How many protect gender equality? I notice you brought up Orthodox Jews, I was shocked to see there were no pride events in Tehran this year - cultural relativism or are there no gays in Iran? And Catholicism, I agree the official position on birth control is inexcusable but is it any different in countries \"governed\" by Islamic law? If anything it's worse, especially for victims of sexual assault. Are we talking about politics, culture, or religion, I guess with Islamism it's the same thing, perhaps we should give a 500 year grace period because of Salem witch trials and Inquisitions etc. I mean women can drive in the Kingdom but meanwhile Erdogan is rolling back 90 years of secular progress in Turkey so it kind of cancels out. Ontario religious schools teaching boys and girls they are forbidden from physical contact with the opposite sex, #diversity?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Likely isn't going to matter much anyway. The dolts who throw their kids in schools expecting the schools to do the parenting and ensure the kids get good grades won't benefit whether it's a public school or a private one. The ones it will hurt are those who actually want to succeed but won't be able to afford a good education using more of the private system. But, the Christian right knows Jesus doesn't care about those people...only the ones with money.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm inclined to agree with you, Fr. Coyne. For months and months ( since way before the primaries), NCR has been \"all politics, all the time.\" The worst part is, most of the writers, bloggers and invited commentators are NOT professional political pundits, as are, I'd bet, none of our own posters). We have been given personal opinion, occasionally legitimized by a few random facts, stats and/or \"alternative facts\" -- but I don't give these articles any more credence than I do to the few Tweeters I follow, which is a brief glance and occasional chuckle or frown.\n\nIf a political issue has a DIRECT CONNECTION to a Catholic or moral issue, then fine -- let's hear all about it. This isn't the National Catholic Political Reporter...is it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now, as a parent and teacher, I used to think that there should be only secular schools funded in the province. However, these schools don't support much diversity of opinion. Teachers in these schools are solidly left on all political issues. I resent that there is no diversity in the teachers in these schools. \n\nI don't agree with Madrassahs being funded either. Why should tolerant Christian schools or other schools get the red light because Islam is intolerant? I'm not sure what the solution is, but making a monolithic school board all funded by the state does not support diversity either.\n\nMy son will be attending a Catholic school for high school. Why? Because I think the education he gets there will be better than the public school system - and I teach public. I'm not Catholic. He will learn about values and there is more of a community feel to the school. I'm quite happy for him to learn about moderate RC Christianity. I will modify his instruction at home for my own beliefs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, to seek the greatest good means to seek what God wills for them, total unity with Him now and in the hereafter. \n\nFor Catholics, that means they must use what God gave them, and that means their fecundity. \n\nGod reveals His will for us in a number of ways....he imprinted \"made for unity\" on our body.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not any more. Catholics in this county recognize civil LGBT marriage as an important civil matter. I suspect most would not be terribly upset if the magisterium found some way to recognize that (just as the sun does not circle the earth) LGBT people are as God made them and He loves all of their human-ness, including their sexuality. LGBT people have a whole whale of a lot of other aspects to their personhood than their sexual orientation - there are some wonderful people out there who's \"wonderfulness\" is ignored because they are LGBT and seek to find a loving relationship just like any non-LGBT person.\n\nMarriage was a civil contract for the first 1000 years of Christianity and the Catholic Church. Maybe we should return to that earlier Tradition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well we disagree. Catholicism holds there are immutable moral laws inscribed on our hearts from our Creator and revealed in scripture and through the indefectible teaching authority of His Church. \n\nMoral theology is a \u201cnormative\u201d science as it seeks to discern good and evil, how we live and act well and rightly . Normative sciences, such as logic and moral theology, seek to establish the right way of doing things. These contrast these with the \u201cdescriptive sciences\u201d, such as sociology and psychology, which purport to study the way things actually are. The latter change with the seasons. The formed do not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear NCR/ Dennis Coday:\n\nPlease let Monica D edit and fact check MSW's columns before they are published. Or I can do it. But someone has to do it.\n\nSincerely\n\nThe Rogue Catholic", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Douglas already offers Public AND Charter. In fact, we have more charter schools than any other district. IOW, we have more choice already than any other district in the state. \nThe REAL issue here is, will we allow our tax money to go to Catholic schools, Satanic Schools, Sharia Schools, etc. To the best of my knowledge, NOT A SINGLE PRIVATE school being offered in Douglas is none religious. I would think that military might be interesting.\nMy son wants to go to St. Johns Northwestern back in the midwest, but that is private and we would have to pay for it. Should we be allowed a voucher? After all, that is choice?\n\nThe answer should be NO. The idea of Public school WITH CHOICE, is to have public and charter in which both have to obey a set of regulations. Beyond that, schools are different. BUT, the religious private schools want public money, with ZERO regulations. \nThat is not choice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My response to Susan's article is, of course, intended to be humorous. In logic it's called \"reductio ad absurdum.\" Of course I eat vegetables. And also animals, except for primates, whales, or other species recognized as having high levels of sentience. My underlying belief is that each individual creature should be presumed to have approximately the level of sentience generally ascribed to its species (yes, similar to racial profiling but applied to animals instead of humans); and that humans are entitled to dominion over all animals and plants because we have the highest level of sentience (or, if you're a Jew or Christian, because God gave us dominion over all the creatures of the Earth). I live in hope that the superhuman Andromedans will never discover Earth -- they might drop us into pots of boiling water for dinner (When I lived in Boston I imagined I heard the lobster screaming when my friend did that to it).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are perfectly entitled to say that you would be his follower ... but that does not make him \"a great Christian leader\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued....\nCONTEXT:\nIn Mk 10:5-9, Jesus spoke to the Jewish context of very early Christianity, where divorce was possible only for the husband. There were exceptions, but these were far too few to influence the moral climate. Jesus' radical stance could be seen as defending the position of wives, who were quite vulnerable and could be dismissed for little or no reason at all. The broader intention, however, was\nto strengthen the marriage institution among the disciples and align social realities with God's design in creating man and woman. As such, Jesus' prophetic message was an integral part of his proclamation of the kingdom of God and the need to repent and believe the gospel (1:14-15). \nMark helps us as a people to focus and m a i n t a i n the ideals of married life while dealing with the contingencies associated with the difficulties involved in realizing these in the modern world. Mark's purpose is never to tell us what we must do but to form us as a people", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"If he had consulted a book about the history of the Catholic Church in the U.S., Tammeus would have learned that this episode of lay democracy, known as the trusteeism controversy, was a disaster for the early Catholic community, inviting ethnic rivalries, empowering wealthy contributors, and creating venues for mercurial clergy.\"\n- Plenty of historical evidence that the bishops of the US were very unwilling to work with the lay trustees simply because they did not take what the bishop said as gospel. \n- Also, it does not take much research to establish that much of the fuss and bother was cover for the bishops to latch onto assets and real estate of the parishes.\n- It was very much -- if you want a presbyter, you have to sign over your assets to me, the bishop. Wait! ArchbRaymond tried to do this with an ethnic church before he was removed from St. Louis? (Later he was dismissed from the Apostolic Signatura,and then side-lined as chaplain for the K&Ds of Malta.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Canadian Constitution provides for catholic schools in Ontario, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. It used to provide for them in Quebec and Newfoundland, but those provinces amended the Constitution to remove that right. It only requires the consent of Parliament and of that province's legislature.\n\nThe Supreme Court of Canada has held several times that the constitutional requirement for separate school education for those provinces includes public funding. Here's one statement:\n\n\"In other words, Roman Catholic parents could choose between two publicly funded educational systems -- one Roman Catholic, the other non-denominational. Section 93 gives constitutional protection to this publicly funded choice.\"\n~ Adler v. Ontario, [SCC, 1996]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether \"Abortion is per se contrary to the common good\" is precisely the issue of contention. Some judge that the common good requires for the right of the woman and family and doctors to make judgements about it.\n\nThe Gospells say nothing about abortion, though the Church does. And whether everything in the Gospels woks for the common good of a present day society seems to depend a lot on how one interprets and applies a passage. \n\nThe attempts at living a Christian Communism was a disaster even for the Jerusalem Church. The Pauline communities had to take up a collection to bale them out of the consequences.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I am required to believe...\" This comes from the Church. Jesus only asks us to love God and our neigbours and enemies by helping, caring, healing, feeding, ....\nFortunately, the Holy Spirit is not guided by anyone but rather LOVE!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think probably the idea of inviting the presidential candidates to the Al Smith Dinner is no longer appropriate. Cardinal Dolan found himself in the unenviable position of literally (and apparently reflexively) turning his back on Trump. I wouldn't think he'd want to set up that scenario again any time soon. \n\nI would not invite one candidate and not the other; but if you're going to exclude on the basis of \"attacking virtually every Christian value ...\" surely you would also exclude, although you do not say so, the racist, fascist, misogynist, serial adulterer who is the nominee of the Republican party.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All very Catholic practices. Rather than redefinition, I would suggest expanded definitions based on a clearer, more complete understanding of scripture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At age 89, wouldn't he basically be \"retired\"? Why be so mean spirited to officially take his diaconate away from him? And even lay duties. Makes no sense and seems very un-Christ like.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The DUP are not merely social conservatives but are implicated with terrorism by association with Protestant paramilitary groups that intimidate the Catholic population.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Keep reading. The passages refer by way of ANALOGY to early Hebrew Christians' disparagement of gentiles as \"unclean\" because of lack of circumcision, etc. It refers to PEOPLE not food, and ended with God admonishing, \"Call not thou unclean what I have made clean.\"\n\nBesides, Peter's Boss said in Matthew: \"Think not that I come to destroy the Law (Torah) nor the Prophets\" (teachings in Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc.)--\"I come not to destroy but to fulfill\" (he challenged the Torah scholars to find ONE law he disobeyed). \"Until HEAVEN AND EARTH PASS AWAY\" (look around, they're still here) \"one yot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law until all has been fulfilled\"...\"He who breaks the least of these commandments, or teaches others to do so, will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven.\"\n\nIf the Impostor Paul is resurrected as a cockroach in the Kingdom of Heaven, it'll be more than he deserves. He taught against the Law throughout his ministry. Same for the \"Christians\" he's misled.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Married Catholic women aren't asking the government to compel taxpayers to pay for their birth control. It isn't very expensive, when I was getting out of the Corps and figuring out employment my wife paid $30 at PP a couple of times for new packs of it, sans insurance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In spite of what Bishop Tobin states, there are many reasons why people leave the church [and it isn't all FAITH related. Apparently what he expects from the laity is HEROIC SANCTITY. Some reasons for leaving:\n\nOne area is the clash between Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy. Too often the official church [hierarchy/clergy] expects people to believe, \"We've always taught this----\" forgetting that there is such a thing a \"Fact-Check\" in today's world. People can get on line and check out---if a teaching has ALWAYS been taught. More often than not, it hasn't. \n\nLikewise, people expect to see their priests, bishops PRACTICE what they preach. While some priests and bishops certainly do----others live, not like those who serve the people of God, but rather, LORD OVER the people of God.\n\nFinally, the documents of Vatican II and the 1983 Code of Canon Law refer to the need to consult the people on issues. Yet, we have no formalized structure for reading the public opinion of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...great cloud of witnesses and the power of intercession....\"\n\nQuite true, Jay Edward. The writer Flannery O'Connor probably best understood this \"cloud of witnesses,\" among other things, this Catholic mist whose vast assemblage and grace-filled multitude in the past was created by ordinary folk who venerated them -- in spite of the experts, the priests, the theologians. By contrast, the virtues of O'Connor's good respectable \"Christian folk\" like Mrs. Turpin (see short story, \"Revelation\") were the vices of Catholic saints, \"virtues\" to be avoided, expunged from their Christ-like witnessing. By the end of the story, those \"virtues\" (in Mrs.Turpin's epiphany) had to be burnt from Mrs. Turpin's kind of people before making it into Paradise, before linking up with the communion of saints (people, from Mrs. Turpin's perspective, who were ugly, paralleled in physical deformity -- in bodily appearance, parts, in the tracks of lines, blemishes on their faces -- to low life and murderers).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except he used the word Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because I am blessed to have the privilege of worshipping in a Catholic Church made up of folks from 45 countries we have an International K of C. Unfotunately we are an exception rather than the rule. Much work needed to make the hymn many of us sing, \"All are Welcome in this Place\" sincerely meant. We even have a companion Capucian monkey, named Katherine, who comes w/ her parapelegic person!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the many things Catholics can learn from secular humanists is how to cope with change and new knowledge. We're not so good at that. It took us 400 years to admit Galileo was right. Now we admit that Darwin was onto something after 125 years. So I suppose we're getting better. Catholic doctrine has changed and evolved over the centuries. I hope it will continue to do so. Otherwise we may as well join The Flat Earth Society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Jake for being a real Christian. For being a man of the Gospel of Christ, rather than man of mere flawed orthodoxy - Roman Catholic or any other kind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ok, just regulate what all men of God say and how they shall act. Born and raised a strict Catholic we have for the priest and nuns regulations of their conduct created and approved by the Pope and the Catholic Church hierarchy. All those years in Catholic School I observed my teachers ( nuns and priests) as they marched lockstep on carrying out those rules of conduct. However, many of the nuns and priests despite the regimen of their lives often brought in their own personal views and personalities. It was interesting to observe how despite the restriction of their lives they managed to be their own people with their own thoughts and ideas. Some were cranky and God like, some were always smiling, some hilarious with jokes and some with a different insight into life that they knew as one priest told me, you will enter the real world and you will have to know other things besides being a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sure, that would work as long schools remain open on Christian holidays so that they can \"pray on their own time\" as well. Deal?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just to demonstrate how much the left are utter hypocrites, try substituting: \n\n\"Someone steeped private Catholic school values who is wary of science's role in schools ...\" \n\n... with a description of Jagmeet Singh that reads: \n\n\"Someone steeped in radical Sikh values who is wary of science's role in schools ---\" \n\nBingo - suddenly you are a racist!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "America is the New Rome, the current dominant Empire.\nMoney and power as never seen before.\nOther challengers to the throne (and geopolitically strategic countries like Turkey) send emissaries to the seats of power within the Empire through official and unofficial channels (hello Mr Flynn)\nThis article is the sound of a \"second shoe dropping\".\nThe first shoe being the non-disclosure crisis that triggered Flynn's exit. \nOn a related note, consider the article \"Amal Clooney denounces UN\u2019s inaction as genocide of Yazidis by IS continues\"\nwww.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/human-rights-lawyer-amal-clooney-denounces-uns-inaction-as-genocide-of-yazidis-by-is-continues/article34262535/\nRussia (Syria), Turkey, and America (Iraq) have a \"Kurdish problem\".\nTurkey has been playing Russia and America against each other as fading \"regional powers\" will.\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidis\nThe Republican Party has much to answer for in a truly democratic America.\nOnward Christian soldiers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Accepted psychological understandings\" do not render sinful activity as sinless. I've no doubt that accepted physics understandings would say that the bread and wine does not become the body and blood of Christ at mass. So shall we ditch that little tidbit of Catholic teaching?\n\nThe high numbers of homosexuals and homosexual apologists in the psychology community is well known. It's all political to force acceptance of same-sex relationships on society. Sympathy for people who accept homosexuality as an identity has proven time and again to be destructive. Look at what's happened to the priesthood and their pubescent boy victims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As for the New England Patriots, Brady, Belichick and Kraft appear to be the minority in a deep Blue state. Chris Long, who caught at least three passes from Brady in the Championship playoff, Devin McCourty, Martellus Bennett, possibly Malcolm Butler, whose star rose because he caught an interception in the Superbowl with the Seattle Seahawks (yup, THAT interception) and used to work at Popeye\u2019s before the Patriots called him up, and Matthew Slater, who plays on Special Teams and is vocal about his Christianity, all oppose President Trump, with Bennett choosing to not even go the White House celebration. Slater impressively received the Ron Burton award for community activism. Go Patriots!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "so much anger in the church between trads, liberals, no common ground possible it seems. I try to reach out to liberals they shut me down, ditto with trads. I attend a sedevacantist mass but I am not a sedevacantist, but because of the beauty and reverence of this mass of the ages, which has bound all catholics together for so many centuries. From trads I get this narrowness and disrespect for science and progress, from liberals I get dismissed as too conservative because I don't think gays should be married in the church. woe is me, woe, woe...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are all dependent on the mercy of God. Being a \"faithful\" Catholic isn't some kind of \"get out of hell free\" card.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My mother and her brother were both Jews who married Christians. None of their children are Jews.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's a \"Christen\".. Ten Chris's, is that the gospel according to the 10 Chris's? Or do you mean Christian?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words, there is a concerted push by Catholic media to deny the real terms and the accurate statistics of the sex abuse scandal.\n\nThese Catholic media apologists for sex abuse try never to mention the topic of the scandal, but when they do remark on it, they invariably do so in a way that completely absolves the Church from any real responsibility for the thousands of young lives ruined by deviant priests.\n\nOn the other side of this propaganda machine is SNAP. \n\nIf SNAP does seem to be pushing too hard against the Church, it's important to remember that the Church is now (and has always been) pushing even harder to deny what happened to so many children by so many priests and bishops.\n\nLet SNAP continue forever. It's one of the few bulwarks against those Catholics who care more for the Church than for children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am an alumni of two Catholic universities, one of which is Franciscan University of Steubenville. Any university will have it's own set of challenges. I really enjoyed my time at Franciscan. I have many fond memories of the many good people that helped, shaped, and loved me. These include fellow classmates, professors, parents, and staff. I did not have a good opportunity to go to Gaming but heard many wonderful stories of trips to all over Europe due to extended weekends and breaks. While in Steubenville, I was able to travel to places I probably would not have seen like Niagara Falls, NYC, South Bend, Canada, and WI. I cannot say that FUS is some kind of isolation from modernity, rather it was more like a place of higher education. I met my spouse at FUS and she is from an island in the Caribbean. The university educated me as well and I went on to earn two graduate degrees way outside my studies of bachelor of arts from a different Catholic university not listed in the article.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, there's no escaping the fact - fact, not opinion or assertion - that terror threats across the world emerge primarily from Islamic roots.\n\nIt wasn't always that way, of course. In the early/mid 20th century the religious wellspring of unrest were the alliances between the Catholic right wing and Euro-fascism. In the 1960/1970 era in Northern Ireland, it was primarily Protestant extremists.\n\nTo be sure, there are localized threats and actions made by fundamentalist right-wing groups in the US and other places, and they need to be taken seriously. But those threats aren't part of a world-wide movement like Islamic Jihad is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Probably not. Mike asked a question about the likelihood of LSN condmning an anti-life position taken by Trump. There was no question of whether they were Catholic or not, just about support or not for a particular position.\nPandora responded by asking if JFK was a catholic, something of a non-sequitur unless you consider Catholicism an integral whole where disagreeing on one issue means you are not catholic. There are apparently a number of posters who take a psoition like that, so their participation in the discussion generally raises the question of whether someone is Catholic. It is the price we pay for hearing the opinions of people who think that way.\nTo answer P's question, JFK was a catholic, but he did not accept the Church's repeated condemnations of nuclear weapons and mutually assured destruction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So would 3 years in Russia or North Korea. One country is Christian and the other is atheist.\n\nUsing Saudi Arabia as an example is like using the American South in the 1950s as an example of Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only problem is that Jesus specifically addressed the laws of the Old Testament and said that they are to endure until the end of time - that's all of them, not just the ones you like\n\nMatthew 5:18-19, Luke 16:17, Matthew 5:17, John7:19", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I first encountered the phrase (best version of yourself) reading a book by Mathew Kelly (Dynamic Catholic), a blog, in copy of an earlier book REDISCOVER CATHOLICISM, a present from the local parish for Christmas 2015. I later encountered the same phrase in another book by the same author published earlier that same year, REDISCOVER JESUS. While the first book was a major disappointment, the second was inspiring, none the less because Kelly uses quotations from the New Testament throughout. \n He states unequivocally that he had come to an impasse in his walk with the Lord before writing it, partly due to his disgust with things going on in the church. \n This is FYI. I have thought about that phrase and think that the \"best version of yourself\" is still not good enough. Let that self die and be born again in the Spirit and it will become clearer what it means to be a saint. It is a work of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill: actually some form of the Golden Rule is encapsulated in all ethical belief systems. \"The Ethic of Reciprocity -- often called the Golden Rule -- simply states that all of us are to treat other people as we would wish other people to treat us in return. Almost all organized religions, philosophical systems, and secular systems of morality include such an ethic. It is normally intended to apply to the entire human race. Unfortunately, it is too often applied by some people only to believers in the same religion or even to others in the same denomination, of the same gender, the same sexual orientation, etc.\" http://www.religioustolerance.org/reciproc.htm\n\nI think it's fine that it's included in Christian teaching. I think it would be even better if more \"professed\" Christians practiced it. For example, the Westboro Christian Church...here's their website \"http://www.godhatesfags.com/\" Many Christians are great people, many others aren't. how about just following that G.R", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I knew here on this earth exists \u2018heaven&hell\u2019, but I never knew that I will find more of \u2018hell\u2019 than \u2018heaven\u2019 exist in Catholic Institution!!! :-(", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Kaspar the Great Theologian, or apostate? A quote from his book \u201cA number of miracle stories turn out in the light of form criticism to be projections of the experiences of Easter back into the earthly life of Jesus, or anticipatory representations of the exalted Christ. Among these epiphany stories we should probably include the stilling of the storm, the transfiguration, Jesus\u2019 walking on the lake, the feeding of the four (or five) thousand and the miraculous draught of fishes. The clear purpose of the stories of the raising from the dead of Jairus\u2019s daughter, the widow\u2019s son at Naim and Lazarus is to present Jesus as Lord over life and death. It is the nature miracles which turn out to be secondary accretions to the original tradition.\"\nThis great theologian also doubts the physical resurrection of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good question. This is actual political correctness at work, not the bogus kind that the low-info always bellyache about. When is the last time you've heard Christian terrorism labeled as such in the MSM?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"All religious ideas have pagan roots.\"\n\nThat was my not so subtle point\n\n\"correct name is Julian Calendar.\" \n\nYou would be surprised how few Christians know the history of their own calendar. I love the guy from Duck Dynasty saying you can't be an Atheist if you use the Gregorian Calendar.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When you go to get surgery, it will be conducted by somebody who has received all the necessary training, passed all the examinations and spent the requisite amount of time working with more senior staff in a Residency. The surgeon could be male, female, black, white, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, whatever but they will be qualified.\n\nNobody is going to eliminate the requirements in order to get broader representation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Conservatives excel at virtue signalling - for Kenney it's all about Catholicism, Christianity and a very vague \"entrepreneurial/free market\" propaganda.\n\nYou just happen to prefer Con high horse moralizing at everyone else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nora are u reading this as a Catholic/Christian??? doubt it!! if they go back U SHOULD GO FIRST!!!! the NATIVES OWN THE LAND...NOT U OR TRUMP!!! then Spanish came in and invaded much before the Brits, etc\nthe south of the NOW US belonged to Mexico...can u see the names of states, cities, rivers etc etc in Spanish??? where did u come from???from the potato famine on Ireland??? Trump/Drumpf came from a tiny village in Germany, he should go back too!!\nhope you all pray for good in your hearts...U AND ALL ARE IMMIGRANTS...most Mexicans are NATIVES also, and whites from Spain\nBTW Hispanic is NOT a race, there are only 3 main races...Latino LOL they don't even speak Latin....and I am NOT one of them...just FAIR!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems your finger has a singular propensity for waving at others. What you have listed here are COMMON MANIFESTATIONS OF BEING HUMAN (not sensuality alone), and keeping them in check does not preclude \"knowledge that you are a child of God.\" In fact I would argue it is this very \"knowledge\" that helps us keep them in check, with varying degrees of success and/or failure depending on a host of biological and environmental factors. \n\nYou appear quick to assume the bad intentions of people... is it your opinion that only pious-speaking, traditional Roman Catholics give proper credence to the value of examining and \"rectifying\" the will?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would point out lying is a sin in reference to \"believes the world is 6000 years old and that humans lived concurrently with dinosaurs\" which you have been corrected on five times previously, but I get the impression that reality and you are not on a talking basis.\n\nBtw, this is The National Catholic Reporter blog, not The National Climate Change Fanatic Reporter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \u2018Ode to Earth\u2019 project offers: \n1. Beauty. Singing \u2018Ode to Earth\u2019 unites us in sharing beauty, hope and sister/brotherhood, locally/nationally/internationally\n2. Relief/Affirmation. As we sing, we heal ourselves; re-affirm our core beliefs in love and humanity; relieve the dismay and impotence so many feel at today's greed, fear and xenophobia; re-energise ourselves to build a just, peaceful and green Earth.\n3. Challenge. Its beauty challenges our putative leaders\u2019 myopia and destructive behavior; ourselves to change our own unsustainable way of life (av. US citizen uses 500% more resources than is just); the merchants of death, selling us essentially anti-Christian catastrophic consumerism.\n4. Action. Christians are 31% of world population. We have the key: Act on our core belief that we are all sisters/brothers - we heal Earth. And, in the profound care for others that implies, find true happiness. Join us in peace, justice and beauty: http://paulbaker2004.wixsite.com/windyday", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jamie, you have the perspective on human sexuality that the Roman Catholic clergy urgently need if priests and bishops are ever to regain their credibility or any part of it! Please keep at it! As the Romans used to say, Gutta cavat lapidem-- a drop of water hollows out a rock. Thanks for your ministry!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know a woman who said she has EWTN on in her house, broadcasting all day into every room. I had a very uncharitable thought: Sounds like the Catholic version of waterboarding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good article and important points made. Weigel needs to be rebutted, alternative views presented. It is especially important that reality be seen - there should be no pretending that the world of today is the same as the world of Trent, Vatican I, or even Vatican II. It is especially important that it be recognized that Weigel only speaks of a narrow understanding, one formed by his own history, biases. But, then, that is true of all of us. \n\n \"Vocation\" today is not just men are single or married or unmarried brothers/priests; women are not married and open to every pregnancy, old maid aunts, or religious sisters. \n\nHow are our U.S. bishops preparing for the Synod on Young People, Faith, and Vocational Discernment? I hope they are talking to/listening to young people, especially young women - are there any diocesan synods for young people to speak and bishops to listen? They need to include young people who are only \"occasional\" Catholics, not just those always active.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As usual, Bill, you ask the right question.\n\nIf Catholics familiarized themselves with the Vatican 2 Documents, we would see that 'priests' are delegates of the Bishop to assist in 'making the Bishop present' in the function of Preaching and Teaching, Presiding at Worship, in Administering Sacraments, and in Administration.\n\nIn our Catholic Tradition we have become accustomed to demand that such delegation - for the most part - is only to celibate 'Clerics', who make a full-time professional, life commitment.\n\nThere have been growing 'exceptions'. Especially as to the 'Administration' functions; and more and more to the administering of some of the Sacraments, and teaching.\n\nThe question, really, is: does this delegation by the Bishop need to demand a 'full-time' life-long dedication? Does everything demand that it be a 'cleric'? \"Lay\" people who are trained & qualified could be 'delegated' to carry out many of the Bishop's functions far as long as they are willing, able, & capable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dennism,\nI believe all of creation is theophany and all of humanity is invited to be Christophany. God resides, sometimes buried deeply, within each of us. I guess my first responsibility as someone who attempts to follow Christ is to allow Christ to transform me so that I can be Christ to others. I don't do a very good job so I try to understand when I have difficulty seeing Christ in others that I have no idea what they are dealing with or through what eyes they see God or life. Perhaps they have as hard a time seeing Christ in me as I in them. I have a long way to go, but then I'm just a work in progress.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fine, Then my kids shouldn't be forced to listen to the pledge of Allegiance, and it's \"god\" reference. If public schools are forced to push \"God\" on everyone, then businesses that benefit from society and government can provide equal protection for health care rights. In other words, you can't have it both ways. It's un-Christian zealotry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pro Lifers now eat their young? Sing along: And you'll know they are Christians by their love, by their love ....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus didn't teach anything about weapons. He taught about unresolved anger. He taught about reconciliation. And he taught about mercy and peace. He also taught about the downward spiral of violence (\"Those who live by the sword ...\"), but he didn't teach anything specific about the use of the weapons.\n\nHis actions, as recorded by the Evangelists, were mixed when it came to weapons. It is true he admonished Peter to put away his sword after severing the servant's ear, but on the other hand he also drove the money-changers out of the temple with a whip.\n\nI agree with you in spirit that Jesus was devoted to peace-making. But it's a far reach to think that the Gospels have anything definitive to say about the issue of gun ownership.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That same website claims that charges against Card. Pell are \"...trumped up...\" and also \"...For years, Pell has been exposed to bogus accusations. He is hated by the commercial media for his strong Catholic leadership....\". I'm not sure I would consider this a valid source of un-biased news.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While you have an impressive lexicon, you have unfortunately missed the point. Explain to me why it is wrong to teach our children to be truthful and peace seeking? Why would we want to tax Christian institutions when they are so willing and able to clean up humanity's mess when we endeavor to do things our own way?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Much of St. Augustine\u2019s writings and his personal opinions were never part of the Church\u2019s teachings.\n\n\u201cPaul is annoyed at the slave girl. She\u2019s telling the same truth Paul and others claim for themselves. But Paul is annoyed, perhaps for being put in his place, and he responds by depriving her of her gift of spiritual awareness. Paul can\u2019t abide something he won\u2019t see as beautiful or holy, so he tries to destroy it.\u201d - Former Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, preaching on Acts 16:16-34 in All Saints Church in the town of Steenrijk, Cura\u00e7ao, May 12, 2013.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was a logical choice for anyone with an IQ over 70 gary. Donald Trump or Crooked Hillary, who, in collusion with the Donkey Party, rigged the primary election to eliminate her competition. Thank God the Russians exposed that vile corruption to American voters before the general election, giving Donald Trump the win 304-227.... and yet another shellacking of the Donkey Party which is 0-4 in state elections since President Trump was elected. [yuge LOL]\n And don't forget, you lost a $100 bet on that election. {that must have hurt bigly} Did I mention that Donald Trump is president of the United States of America and there's nothing you can do about it? It's amazing.\n\nRomans 13 [note to Christians] ; Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ms Fukumoto -Chang voted against Emergency Contraception in the ER and against Marriage Equality. Her major supporters are Evangelical Christians. If she wishes to become a Democrat, she has a lot of rethinking to do.It is unlikely her supporters will be happy with the new pro choice, pro marriage equality Beth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So they train a dog against it will to to attack a person when the dog should not be there in the first place over a traffic stop. I don't know the details of this person or the entire situation . Poor dog . I am looking at all these comment of negativity, kill the person hang them shank them.. you people never herd of compassion, and more then likely you all clam to be good christian folk.. the man made a mistake and should be held accountable, but is it really necessary to brew soo much hate within your self over something that has no direct reliance within your life did you really care personally about that dog?? why do you feel so emotionally compelled about this situation you are not the dog or the officer that owned the dog i think your just trying to inflate you ego and find some sort or public approval because your a good citizen and want the world to know", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your figure for Catholics is approximately right (2014 Catholic directory said 434,232), but not that for diocesan priests: same source says 334, of whom only 252 were active.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have been arguing for a single public system for at least 38 years - as my daughter is 38. But I'm old enough to have gone to Swansea Public School when there was no Catholic school in the area so all children - of all faiths - went to this school. And we learned from each other and supported each other. It works.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Paul VI is to the Catholic Church what LBJ was to American presidential politics. It was LBJ who pushed through the liberal social vision of Civil rights, war on poverty and the Great Society, all ideas Kennedy couldn't get through when he was alive even though he was the charismatic face that overshadowed LBJ. \n\nIn the same way it was Pope Paul VI who actually implemented Vatican II and saw it to completion even though John XXIII either gets more recognition or credit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Someone should tell the Haitians crossing the border from the US that they should convert to the M-103 religion if they want to be accepted for asylum in Canada. As Christians they don't stand a chance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"As Americans have left organized religion, they haven't stopped viewing politics as a struggle between 'us' and 'them.' Many have come to define us and them in even more primal and irreconcilable ways.\"\n\nThis attitude seems at least as evident - many would say far more evident - among the majority of the pewsitters in evangelical, fundamentalist, and conservative RC regular church attendees than among the unchurched or those still hanging in there in mainline Protestantism and progressive Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The extent to which NCR will go to ensure the success of progressivism has, with this article, reached a new level. The very title of this article proves it: \"It's past time for abortion issue to be disassociated from politics.\" It's unimaginable such a thought should be expressed by a publication that even pretends to be Catholic. Politics inevitably involves moral choices: whether to go to war; to extend the Voting Rights Act; to pay for a new missile system rather than WIC supplements, etc. etc. Why should moral act with life or death consequences --- literally --- be \"dissociated\" from politics? Answer: To leave it on the table will continue to reduce progressives' chances at the polls. This country is still divided by the Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, a decision that unconstitutionally took the decision whether allow abortion away from the states. One of the country's great legal scholars, who knows legal BS when he sees it, wrote a \"famous\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Macron practices Catholicism in his own way. The French hierarchy does not get bogged down by gradations of practice. The head of the French Bishops Conference said that -- quite explicitly -- after the Ipsos study was taken. The French relish diversity of practice among seasonal, strict, cultural, devotional, etc. Catholics. Their mantra is that you can't measure the whole French Church with one single yardstick (as many Americans are apt to do).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hate the thought of conservative Catholics getting involved with this kind of litigation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So the answer is no, you are not an Alaskan. Look Mr. Donkel, you can state your views anytime and anywhere you wish but please do not make it sound like you are an Alaskan. You can do that after you move your family up here to live. As to buying a house, I suggest you contact a reputable realtor in Alaska.\nBut if you family lives elsewhere then you really aren't an Alaska just because you own a house here.\nA home yes, but not a house.\n\nYour religion isn't part of the discussion. I could care less if you are a Christian, Muslim or no religion at all.\n\nBy the way, where exactly do you live?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you and I disagree on what the Church reaches then only one or neither of us can be right. The one thing certain is we can't both be right.\nI take what the Church teaches at face value I do not interpret it to suit myself. In fact, I find adhering to the teachings quite difficult but I do not reject or deny them because of that, I try to live by them. The Ten Commandments summarise the Moral Law detailed in the OT not one jot or tittle of which did Christ abolish, He told the adulteress, \"sin no more\", not that adultery was no longer sinful. Proscriptions such as 'thou shalt not' require no interpretation, they are quite explicit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wasn't implying anything about how you many interpret scripture, but that Pope Francis and the majority of bishops do invoke Matt 25's \"welcome the stranger\" as Jesus' endorsement of open borders. \n\nOne can invoke tradition as the most reliable indicator of correct Catholic social teaching. But history tells me that tradition doesn't trump reason and conscience. \n\nAn example: Catholic bishops in the South never admonished the Confederacy for its stance on slavery, and even after the Civil war, some churches had segregated schools and pews. My conscience and reason tell me this was an error; yet the Catholic social teachings of those times said it was just. What would Catholic leaders of those days have said about their fidelity and interpretation of Catholic tradition? No doubt they'd have been sanguine they were in the right.\n\nBy the same token, I feel that Francis and the bishops are not entirely correct, not absolutely right, in views about immigration.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I have tired many often referring to the great conundrum of the church. We do have a church which accedes to science and slides over to it in a sense. It has gotten away from a literal interpretation of the Bible, yet says the message is inerrant. Pius XII says that Adam and Eve can be figurative but the even is primeval, meaning that there has to be a first couple...science says otherwise. Despite the church's attempts to come to grips with what is now known, it does not know what to do with its major tenets e.g. Original Sin. How does it justify what never was. Does allegory work for it. The church has the obstacle of stating first century beliefs are truths, then the world was viewed as static, and its doctrines fixed and unchangeable...that is its dilemma.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: appealing, what would be the point if the judge in this case applied the law correctly? Appealing all the way to the Supreme Court would cost Saskatchewan many millions in a losing battle. On the other hand, accepting the ruling could cost tens or even hundreds of millions in new education costs. \n\nThe Saskatchewan government's policy of funding non-Catholic students at Catholic schools is reasonable. Nevertheless it falls afoul of the Constitution according to Justice Layh. Premier Wall is saving everyone a lot of time and money by invoking the NWC, and doing so harms no one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey Kevin FYI - I was not implying above that we should keep on sinning on purpose because God is merciful. What I mean is that as long as we are here on earth, we have not been made complete. We are made complete upon our entrance into Heaven. Until that time, our souls are in need of purification - God's mercy. Going to Confession regularly - the First Fridays of each month is a good time - the Feast of the Sacred Heart, receiving Jesus' body and blood in the Holy Eucharist, kneeling before Jesus in Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament, praying the Holy Rosary and living out our Christian faith (following the 10 Commandments, meditating on the Good News of Holy Scripture, believing that Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life - NOT US - trust in Him rather than our own understanding) in words, deeds and actions help us to avoid sin or the occasion of sin. \n\nJesus is extremely merciful to the repentant sinner! Our bodies are His Temple. The sin of impurity dishonors and hurts Him!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know not a single Catholic who believes the earth's age can be measured in thousands of years and man lived concurrently with the dinosaurs. Nor do I know a single Catholic whose references begin with Trent and go backwards. Hans K\u00fcng, of course, took issues with Vatican I and Vatican II, particularly on the Church's teaching on infallibility.\n\nObviously if you begin with the assumption that one teaching is as good as another, or that there is no teaching, that the Gospels are myths, that Jesus was unaware He was God (or wasn't divine), and so on then you can read pretty much whatever you want, just as you do.\n\nBut then why, with that wide field open, would you want to read such a boring self-important super-annuated tedious writer as Hans K\u00fcng?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The guidelines also include instructions for talking to people in various \"scenarios,\" such as an unmarried heterosexual couple wishing to enroll their child, a same-sex couple estranged from the church, or a current student coming out as transgender.\"\n\nJust tell them the Protestant Church is right down the street.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What the sisters taught you when you were an 8 year old the Catholic Church still teaches today. You, however, obviously no longer accept this. Just as a matter of interest, how did it come about that you now reject this teaching? What influenced you to reject it?\nDon't answer if you don't want to but as I have often stated before, I cannot comprehend how someone can reject core, Catholic doctrines (Original Sin and the subsequent Redemption) and still claim to be a member of the Church. No one yet has ever given me an explanation which I have been able to understand.\nIf God sent His only Son to His death merely to reform Judaism, then it all went horribly wrong, Judaism refused to be reformed. This makes the institution of the Church sound like plan B.\nAs I said feel under no obligation to reply.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you might need a mirror to see the log :) I simply stated what many Christians did with this election and that our God is powerful enough to put in place people He chooses according to His plan. God tells us to do exactly what I said we did in...... \n2 Chronicles 7:14 \n\"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.\"\nAnd to pray for our leaders.\n2 Timothy 2\n I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;\n2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.\n3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour\n\nBe careful with your judgment of others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He's preaching the Gospel in a secular, humanist culture that \"bleaches out strong religious convictions in the name of liberal tolerance, \" where Catholics are abandoning the church of our baptism to the new 'church' of our ambitions and appetites.\"\n\n\"Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction. For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires.\"\n2 Timothy 4:2-3)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tell us Jay, what is the \"truth\" about Catholicism that prog Catholics and non-Catholic Christians don't understand? Some of us would like to see your hand-written manifesto to examine its true worth.\n\n(In your own words please, we don't need trite references to the CCC.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I couldn't disagree more and I'm not bothered to point out the obvious. Anyone can access sites like home schooling Prager U, (\"We take the best ideas from the best minds and distill them down to five focused minutes...to create the most persuasive, entertaining, and educational case possible for the values that have made America and the West the source of so much liberty and wealth. These values are Judeo-Christian at their core...\") and find \"the numbers\" they want to see. \n\nYup, five minute videos concocted by paid trumpitistas to change the world \"five minutes at a time\"Meanwhile, hundreds of accredited scientists worldwide are measuring and gauging the human effect on climate and the data. \n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_opinion_on_climate_change\n\nhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/06/02/why-dont-christian-conservatives-worry-about-climate-change-god/?utm_term=.fac549ba7dc4\n\nGod will fix it? Nah, I'll go with reliable scientific data every time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or not. Most Catholics don't experience any loss of union with God for most of the grave sins promulgated by the Church as such, especially those having to do with remarriage. That the Catechism repeats the same errors is of no consequence. See Garry Wills book Why Priests? for more about how the Church is proof texting Corinthians badly. If you want to authoritatively refute him, you had better speak biblical Greek as well as he does.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic universities are businesses. They have revenue (tuition, contributions, earnings) and expenses (salaries, maintenance, other overhead). For many years some Catholic colleges & universities have operated in a phony world of raising tuition & fees at will. They believed that the pool of potential freshmen would always be there, and now it isn't. Competition from public schools (two & four year), on-line courses, and other private institutions is proving difficult to overcome. I suggest that Catholic schools look at Sweet Briar College in VA as the \"canary in the coal mine.\" It and several other private schools are faced with closure or merger. Some Catholic schools with poor enrollment, weak endowment, and a lack of legitimate academic excellence will soon be out of business.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pointing out that fundamentalists belonging to any of the Abrahamic religions have far more in common with each other than with other members of their own religion is not \"pushing Americans to embrace Islam.\" \n\nIf it were up to me, we'd all advance passed iron age mythology, but lacking that, I at least understand that all three of the Abrahamic religions include some very foul teachings, as well as very peaceful and caring teachings. The fundamentalists go for the foul stuff; misogyny, intolerance of other faiths, anti-LGBTQ teachings, etc. While the more enlightened go for the peaceful love thy neighbor teachings. I appreciate the latter, whether they be Jewish, Christian, or Muslim. \n\nAttacking all of Islam is something fundamentalists do, and those who do the attaching have more in common with the Islamic fundamentalists than they do with the enlightened of their own faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry you feel my heartfelt support for you is sarcasm. I applaud your efforts at learning, but I fear the progressives are not open to your attempts to teach them. After all, if they were open to learning and education, they would spend more time listening to courageous men like Archbishop Chaput and studying the catechism, so they would know what thoughts are proper and acceptable, and what questions should not be asked. They would also know not to question the actions of the leaders chosen by the Holy Spirit to wear the miter and lead the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Richard,,,,there are only a handful of scientist, not thousands. Actually it works out to 1%. This is the same proportion of scientist who deny evolution. These handful of scientist are pretty smart, but they are restricted by their adherence to a particular religion, typically Christian, mainly \"born-againers\" or have politcal leanings. Actually the consensus is pretty overwhelming.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can stop the ocean from rising. Just sign the petition. \n\nBy the way, with so much professional Catholic interest in saving the planet, why is it these Catholic environmentalists aren't advocating veganism?\n\nIf every person on Earth adopted a vegan diet \u2013 without milk, meat, honey, or any other animal-sourced foods \u2013 the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the food system in 2050 would fall by more than half compared to 2005/2007 levels. That\u2019s one of several striking findings from an analysis of food and climate published in the recent Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.\n\nEverything is about flying jets to conferences, and organizing petitions...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Their behavior was scrupulously moral. He denounced the scrupulous moralism that they imposed on the people.\n\nCatholic sexual teaching has been bad for a long time, due to the idealism of Plato, the asexuality of Paul and guilty conscience of Augustine. Attributing the body of teaching to something other than pharisaic piety (say the asexuality of the teachers) is an advance that won't be ignored, nor will ideas of healthy sexuality - or evolution and the lack of an Adam and Eve, as well as the inadequacy of any first homo sapiens parents as candidates for an Eden golden age. You can call resistance to change traditionalism or conservatism. Label yourselves as you like, but give gays and lesbians the same privilege.\n\nJesus being humble of heart is God being humble of heart. Not wimpy, but not the point is, not self interested in morality. He wants it human centered. God does not need our morality nor does any hypothetical natural order.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) Three weeks before the Senate bill was unveiled, the chairmen of four U.S. Catholic bishops' committees urged senators to live up to their \"grave obligation\" to make sure their health care reform bill respected life, provided access to adequate health care \"for all\" and was \"truly affordable.\" \u2014 Mark Pattison, Catholic News Service. This paragraph is misleading because now that the bill is unveiled, the episcopate is eerily silent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course if the Catholic Church's norms for other things (like abortion or contraception) apply to non-Catholics, logically the rules about marriage and divorce would apply as well. \n\nJesus was talking about all marriages when He said if you marry when divorced you are comitting adultery. Maybe Jewish ones, specifically, since that was who He was talking to. \n\nMany argue that if Jesus said something, it is universal. Makes no difference whether \"Trump is not a member of any church, sect, or denomination which has a problem with divorce and remarriage.\"\nThe argument should be whether Jesus has a problem with it.\n\nSame with treatment of foreigners and immigrants. May not be against Trump's 'Religion', but question is whether it is against the religion of Jesus -- and ours.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis needs to be more circumspect? Would you have said that of JP II or Benedict? There were times that they weren't very circumspect. Benedict cannot think on his feet at all. He couldn't respond to questions without having to have 'time' to do so. He was a failure as a professor at Tubingen University[one of the most creative and important centers of Catholic thought---a position which he received because of the kindness of Hans Kung] during the late '60's and early '70's because he couldn't deal with theological students asking him questions during class. He left to help form Regensburg Seminary---where students only raised their hands in class to ask the professor to please repeat what they just stated---so that even punctuation marks could be recorded accurately.\n\n\nBTW----Cardinal Muller of the CDF is a graduate of Regensburg and Cardinal Walter Kasper is a graduate of Tubingen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Prairie Messenger is a Catholic weekly \u2013 we've been publishing a paper under various names since the Benedictine monks of St. Peter's Abbey began in 1904. For the past 30 years, we, in our publication, have referred to priests as \"Rev.\" because our esteemed former (now deceased) editor Andrew Britz, OSB, saw the problems inherent in the title \"father.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea\". Matthew 18:6. Are we really empowering the youth by telling them that we accept any and all behaviour now matter how abhorrent? The real 'accompanying' of the youth is much more difficult than 'rubber stamping' their un-Christian lifestyle choices (used to be called sins) but challenging them to embrace the cross and be true to their vocation as sons and daughters of God. What surprises me is that so many good bishops and priests have embraced the lies and half truths of Fr James Martin in the absence of any good understanding of the human condition and what actually leads us to happiness and fulfillment. This is a real betrayal of the confused youth they seek to serve.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is not an issue of contention for a Catholic. Since God is the greatest Good, his will can only be considered intrinsically good, no amalgam of woman, family, and doctors withstanding.\n\nThis is one of the basic reasons situation ethics is condemned by the Church.\n\nThe Gospels say nothing about fornication. That is because, with minor exceptions such as the divine law on marriage indissolubility, Jesus came to fulfill, not to replace it. The moral precepts of the Old Testament and the Natural Law - including \u201cYou shall commit no murder\u201d - remain in full force and vigor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some points to perhaps consider on Labor Day. \n\n\u2022\tIs my overall intention for my work each day to give greater glory to God? To do His will? To serve Him through each of the little details of my work?\n\n\u2022\tDo I have a mature and supernatural sense about my work? Do I see my work as a natural extension of God\u2019s work and will?\n\n\u2022\tDo I let one hour pass without making an interior reference to God?\n\n\u2022\tIs each contribution that I make at work done as well as it can be? Is it of the highest quality and service, fitting as an offering to God?\n\n\u2022\tIs my overall way at work one of cheerful and quiet service, bettered each day?\n\n\u2022\tDo I work carefully, with calm and deliberation, in contemplation of God and in conversation with Him?\n\n\u2022\tDo I work with patience, trusting in God\u2019s help even for very minor tasks?\n\n\u2022\tDo I live a unity of life at work, or do I leave my Christian way for home or for Sundays?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, the plural of one Hindu is two Hindus.\n\nIn the same way that the plural of \"one boy\" is \"two boys.:\n\nSecond, a significant portion of the Tamil population have the Christian faith.\n\nThank you", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our episcopal pastors have travelled with our American Catholic Church to the point and moment where and when our national electorate has chosen a new president, administration and congress. What part and support do our religious leaders accept in procuring this result? Hopefully, they admit that they were fully cognizant that any statement by the USCCB would smack of or be watermarked as a sanction of, premise and/or participation in the American experience. Official and ecclesial blessings and prayers have played an essential role in the resulting, continuing and challenging situations our national Christian family faces. \nFrancis of Assisi said, \u201cLet us begin, for up until now we have done little,\u201d because he understood that we have confused and confusticated what we call and recognize as living the Beatitudes and the responsible fulfillment our duties to Ceasar and to God.\nMemini, hominem. Remember, man.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's a start. The rigorists assume a concept of truth which is positivistic: truth is merely stuff: that which is. They consider truth to be something essentially dead: dead, grim reality. This option also corresponds to a rejection apriori of every philosophical or metaphysical thought which is squeezed out, outlawed a priori. This conception is at the same time profoundly anti-Christian. The Christian finds his truth in the Word. The rigorist holds that the Word is not the final truth, that behind it there is grim reality, death. Their philosophy is in final analysis pagan. This ideology about being and truth accounts for their thinking regarding conscience. Conscience becomes a function of dead truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's pretty funny. \n\nDid you ask where Call To Action, Catholics in Alliance, Catholics United (for example) get their donations? I believe you'll find George Soros to be a big contributor ...\n\nActually? Your comment made me wonder about large contributions....so I looked at NCR's 990. Odd. The names of those contributing more than $5K are not available - just the dollar amounts. Perhaps you'd like to ask about that, too?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 2\n\nIn its Gospel content, Mary's virginity was a sign of the life-giving power of God. Over the centuries, the church made it as a sign of a superior and unattainable asexual purity that is most closely approximated by a life of consecrated virginity. However, this ideal casts a shadow over women such that all other women live under a cloud that darkens all sexuality, even within committed marriage. If Mary is, as one hymn to her states, the \"virgin mother undefiled,\" how are all other mothers to be understood?\n\nOne of the most unfortunate aspects of this attitude has been the second-class spiritual status long felt by married women and mothers in the Church. It has too often put married women/mothers and women religious into a competition rather than a rich source of mutual inspiration and support. This experience has generated an antibody attitude that separated Christians from God's good creation as well as from a full realization of the wonder of the Incarnation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cuda's coment is puzzling. How does theology desecrate law? St. Paul writes in the Epistles that (in answering objections that the Christian is not under law grace) that \"On the contrary we uphold the law\".\nAs far as God not being immanent AND transcendent, what is the Incarnation all about? How are we temples of the spirit of God if God is only transcendent? (Rhetorically put.) \n As far as religion (elsewhere in the article) having nothing to do with philosophy, what of Soren Kierkegaard , the Danish Existentialist?\n Cudos for the subject of the article, but if we now live in a post-factual world there must be dissenting voices to alert us of the iceberg ahead, before the institutional Titanic meets an immovable object and sinks with all aboard. \n As for the adoption of Greek philosophy to make theology a critique of religion, this does nothing but please the vain and intellectually proud. The Word of God is still good news for those who can receive it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2005 is quite a bit before 2016. My point, which may not have been expressed well, is that Clinton's campaign did not create either of these groups in an attempt to split Catholicism. They predated her campaign by a decade.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It sounds as if you are advocating papolatry. I thought that liberals abhorred the notion that Catholics had to treat every word uttered by the pope as infallible.\nWhilst St John Paul and Benedict never taught anything heretical I certainly disapproved of some of the things they did: the Assisi gatherings for one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because there is no need to clarify AL. It is clear that the Gang of Four want Francis to walk it back, because what Francis wrote does not please them.\n\nThe traditionalists here get all hot and bothered when I and other progressives don't accept various magisterial teachings. Either yesterday or today, Marty said that I was not a true Catholic because I find that the magisterial teaching on abortion to save the life of the mother makes no sense. But the traditionalists are full of support for Burke et al when they question Pope Francis' teaching. Is a little consistency too much to ask for?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Spoken like a true Catholic seminarian, which Kenney once was. I imagine that the Premier does indeed have the ability to influence what is taught and how throughout Alberta.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a difference, at least for me, in treating a person with dignity whether he or she has same sex attraction or not, and allowing a person with same sex attraction to be ordained as a Catholic priest. In Christian theology, Jesus is the Lamb provided by God himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. The Catholic priest, in offering the holy sacrifice of the Mass, participates as an essential person in the mystical process whereby Jesus Himself becomes present. The Catholic priest, in the sacrament of Reconciliation, hears the deepest secrets of the penitent, who must have utter confidence in his silence even in torture. The Catholic priest, in all the sacraments, must have the full acceptance and respect of the faithful, and his presence should not be the source of thoughts outside the sacrament itself. A priest who \"outs\" himself creates an untenable situation, which the church seeks to avoid by ordaining only persons who will not be the source of anger or pain to others", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then I guess you count among the \"Catholic right\" Holy Father Francis and the Catholic Church, as they see the issue EXACTLY the way the \"Catholic right\" does.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Always there -\" Then you wonder why you are scorned and laughed at by \"The Right\" - i wonder? i could care less at what amuses the \"right\" here in comments - you forget i witness their weak snarky name calling and logic fails. so lets just say i would consider the sources. scorned? lol..i'm amazed some of them can type...or even read.\n as to YOU ASSuming anything .. ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? that is one of most asinine things i've read in comments - and there have some real winners - but you reach a level of ignorance that required excavation. how dare you assume what i have or have not read. how many versions of the bible have you read? how long have you studied the nuances between versions and why.\nhow many \"christians\" have YOU polled? HOW DID YOU - YOU - POLL BILLIONS - BILLIONS of christians, yourself? do you have a CLUE AS TO WHAT YOU ARE SAYING? yeah - just what i thought .. need holes cut in the gut so you can see....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For us Christian\u2019s the continuity of gender (Male Authority) is nullified, as the sacrificial image of Christ is genderless, as it is reflected in both male and female, this truth gives Christianity the authority over all other religions to heal the divide between the sexes.\nalso\nThose who dwell on the Tree of Life (true vine) are sustained by the sap of love/truth (Holy Spirit) and bear fruit, in unity of purpose, the Will of God is singular and gender conveys no privilege.\nTaken from my post in the link below; Post @17 \nPerhaps some may consider reading it\n\nhttp://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2013/10/has-pope-francis-a-major-blind-spot-regarding-the-role-of-women-in-the-church/\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dr. Spencer is an advisor to the Cornwall Alliance, an evangelical Christian group that claims environmentalism is \u201cone of the greatest threats to society and the church today.\u201d He has done work with other religious groups denying climate change including the Evangelical Climate Initiative.\nHis climate assertions have been proven wrong.\nhttps://www.desmogblog.com/roy-spencer", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe that you may know too little about the matter, if your comment here is genuine. Do not confuse the theological necessity of open discussion about any or all Church teaching with being disloyal. Do you have any information about Cardinal Marx \"and others\" in open rebellion over Humanae Vitae, or having issued public challenges to a pope? As for the \"Traditional Latin Mass,\" a Church Council addressed all of that and a Latin Mass is by no means a test of one's Catholicity. Your comment lacks not only a sound basis in fact or reason, but most of all, in charity and truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is there a reason that you do not mention the belief systems of the two worst terror attacks inside Canada? They were both done by right wing Christians. And the worst terror attack in Canadian history was by a Sikh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even those who have read it: if it doesn't jibe with political opinions already held, most Catholics won't even consider Francis' message. Don't let \"faith\" get in the way of politics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is looking at Afghanistan as America First. He has been told of the mineral riches that are to be found there. His corporate supporters want to get their hands on those riches. This reason is being carefully hidden, but it has been mentioned in many places.\n\nThough it has been known for many years, the Bush administration had enough wisdom nit to mention it directly. They unlike the current president knew that the idea reeks of colonialism. It is also an excellent recruit tools for ISIS, Al Queda, etc.\n\nWhen I was in high school being taught by the Christian Brothers, our history teacher mentioned that when one is looking for reasons for conflict, follow the money. The money in Afghanistan is in the ground and without a strong military presence in Afghanistan, it will not be safe or feasible to get the minerals out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The church is fortunate to have so many converts, who often are stronger in defending the church than many cradle catholics. As we see here, many life time catholics feel the church should be held to human standards of decency. True catholic, like you, recognize the need to defend the church, and repeat its defenses, justification, obfuscations as necessary. For example the \"others do it too\" justification so excellently deployed in your original post. And now, the \"it doesn't happen any more\" gambit! Well played. Cardinal Law and Pope Saint John Paul II would be proud of you. Shame about the kids who suffered and will suffer, but we must defend the Church against all criticism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Dennism,\n\nNot really sure what you mean \"these devotions should stimulate you to look upon others more benignly\". To whom am I being unkind? I did not say a word against anyone. It is precisely my praying the rosary, going to Mass and Adoration and Confession that encourage me to live out\nmy Catholic faith. I need God. I cannot live without Jesus, present in the Holy Eucharist - therefore, my desire to receive Him as often as possible at Mass. I am a sinner, in need of God's forgiveness and mercy - therefore my desire to humbly approach Him in the Sacrament of Confession/Reconciliation. So many Saints before us sinned terribly and repented and in turn led others to Christ. Saul/Paul was blinded and fell to the ground before his conversion. He was persecuting God's people and therefore, God. I too have persecuted God in a different way. I was blinded by the sin of impurity. Do not conform to this world but be transformed to the Will of God\n(10 Commandments).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do you get that Cal was pushing his faith when all he did was identify an Iranian Christian pastor who happened to be one of the hostages that was paid ransom for? He quoted the Pastor. That is not pushing his faith, as you put it. Since Last Patriot already pointed out the other discrepancy I was going to address, I will leave it at that and thank you for your response .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dennis Galon, Lutheran ecumenists would like intercommunion between the two churches, especially in western Germany; but astute Catholics like Cardinal Kasper first want a change in canon law that prohibits divorced and remarried Catholics from receiving Communion -- before any further talks of intercommunion between the churches. That's a no brainer! Why give all Lutherans, especially \"divorced and remarried Lutherans,\" desert, as it were, and a whipping to divorced and remarried Catholics? Why have talks of intercommunion between the two churches when some Catholics in their own church cannot communicate, cannot receive Communion, because of their marital status? Catholics need to get their own house in order first, certainly in regard to the reception of the Eucharist, before opening the liturgical altar to Lutherans (of every marital and gender status). Once that is settled, then theologians can tackle the membership requirement, which many believe ought to be re-evaluated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your second point is wrong. Even if every person in this country were catholic it would still be immoral and illegal to conform civil law to church teaching. We have a secular government and Constitution, no matter what the religion of our populace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think we have to openly confront the fact that the National Catholic Reporter and the National Catholic Register/EWTN, say, present very different views of Catholicism---and that's OK. But when we start reading words like \"heresy,\" \"sinful,\" \"un-Catholic,\" \"dissent from truth,\" schisms;\" etc. we must be discerning consumers of Church news and information. When a medium--on the Right or on the Left--claims to present the \"authentic\" voice and voices of the Church when it very selectively, very obviously, and very consistently reflects only the voice and voices of assent to their views, the sins of pride and hubris are unavoidable and quite apparent.\n\nTo me, there is a wider gap between the NCRs than between Fox News and MSNBC. I would love to see a doctoral dissertation analyzing the advocacy and dissent journalism as practiced by each and both. There clearly are \"opposing camps\" in Catholic journalism source/subject selection; just look at the topics and authors of daily blogs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Could not the gospel writer have been a bit sarcastic in his use of the word, \"rock?\" After all Peter was the least rock-like of the characters in his gospel. Wasn't Jesus being a bit ironic in his statement? Isn't the message that the person, who was to be the leader of the apostles, was a fallen, weak, very fallible man? All the Gospels point that out. Yet to our great comfort Jesus chooses him, a fallen man like us. Certainly Peter should be humbled by the choice, but as the gospels go on he can still very mistaken, more fallible, can he not? Is there perhaps a message there for all the members of the Church, that leadership is not granted only to the super holy? We see often it is not. \"Rocks\" like the one Jesus confers leadership on are all over the place in the Church, are they not?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Morgentaler was tried 3 times in Quebec for the same offence, and acquitted by a jury all 3 times, Jury Nullification of an unjust law. Each time the jury took less time to reach a not guilty verdict, less than an hour in the 3rd jury trial.\n\nThe Catholic Quebec AG found Catholic judges to re-approve the same charge for the same alleged offence. At that time there was no Morgentaler Amendment, so Judges were free to keep rolling the dice, hoping that a jury would not once again ignore judicial direction of a guilty verdict. \n\nThere was no Canadian Equivalent of USA Double Jeopardy protection against being tried again for the same alleged crime.\n\nAt one point authorities let TV News crews into the pretrial prison Morgentaler was being held in. One reporter asked what he though of being in prison. Morgentaler replied \"I've been in worse prisons\" by which he meant Auschwitz & Dachau & talking his way out of the automatic death sentence when he was recaptured after escaping from Auschwitz.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I was a teenager in the mid to late 1950s the church could have used Martin Buber's message of relationships being I-Thou rather than I-It, person to person rather than person to object. The church taught that certain things were wrong. Period. That perhaps helped me not think of girls as sexual objects, a term we guys did not use back then. But it taught me to think of them as occasions of sin. No positive message about relationships, about how to relate in a Christian manner.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, but I do think the Australian Church has turned the corner for the better, so to speak. It is a wealthy church, heavily lay run (with lots of lay visibility -- the prime minister is a Catholic), with lots of resources (educational and pastoral) and is only 5 and a half million strong (in a rich country of only 22 million people). Other less resourceful churches -- in less resourceful countries -- I worry about more than the Australian church. The Australian bishops have been hit hard by the Commission and I can't imagine them not going forward with its recommendations. Hopefully Australia will go the route of Canada which is doing rather well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a traditional conservative catholic, and thus a supporter of the man our courageous bishops endorsed for president I have a visceral negative reaction to any article that criticizes the president. To do so is to criticize the bishops which is to criticize the church which is equivalent to criticizing god.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There has always been divorce, even in the days of Jesus and Jewish marriage. The church's absolute rule does not take into account other scripture passages.\nIf Jesus gave the church that power to 'bind and to lose' and to 'forgive and retain' it ought to do more 'loosening' than binding, and more 'forgiving' than retaining.\nThe Church should learn to work with people where the are, as 'Joy of Love' recommends.\nA look at divorce rates ought to give us an inkling as to whether the church 'rules' are in accord with the reality of people's lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oscar Wilde said that the Catholic Church was for saints and sinners whereas the Anglican Church was merely for respectable people. Archbishop Chaput seems to have it the other way around.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It's not an institution of Man to glorify Man\"...Thank you,Chesterton! I was looking for a description of the Roman Catholic Church; you couldn't have said it better! Thank you!! \ud83d\ude06.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There can be no compromise. Our Bishops are appointed by God, and know what is Right and True, so they cannot change their position. Jesus would not want them to do so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "continued-\nHitler publicly criticized Steiner\u2019s philosophy, which was part of why Steiner moved to Switzerland late in his life, and when the Nazis took power in the 1930-40s, they closed the Waldorf schools in Germany and banned Steiner\u2019s philosophy and writings. In my daughter\u2019s class, for example, there students who are Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, agnostic and atheist and when my daughter shares her thoughts about her rainbow array of artwork and the lessons that inspired them, I have never detected even the slightest whiff of a lurking white supremacist symbolism. In fact, her class is quite ethnically diverse for Eugene and students are expected to be inclusive and kind to all of their classmates.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm wondering what role education or political affiliation plays in a successful marriage. Well, then there is the question of love.\nIf we take as a given that there is salvation for non-Catholics--which i believe that the Church actually teaches, does it matter much if some children in mixed marriages should become believing protestants?\n\nI have an aesthetic bias, but is there a compelling theological basis for it.\n\nWhen Fr. Reese suggests the pastoral need to present Catholicism in an attractive, engaging manner to children of mixed marriages that won't insult the intelligence of the Child, or the religious convictions of the non-catholic parent, doesn't that really mean that Catholicism needs to actually be attractive and engaging? For many, many people Catholicism is just simply neither.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Revelation finished with the last Apostle, since then no new truths have been discovered or revealed.\"\n\nSorry Tridentinus, on this we utterly disagree. I believe the Spirit has been active inspiring humanity, drawing us to God, from the moment we evolved as homo sapiens and we became immortal. I assert that real organic development is evident throughout the OT and in the NT and down through the history of Christian theology. \n\nIn the past I challenged you on this topic re the early Greek councils of the Church. The trinity and that Jesus is fully God and fully human are fundamentally new understandings beyond the death of the last Apostle. It is true, that have accepted those doctrines, we easily read them back into scripture. What we refuse to acknowledge is that at the time of those early Councils, different theologian read different things in the scriptures. \n\nHere we part ways, and there is no middle ground.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just for balance, I'm a Christian and I have no problem with accepting evolutionary theory. I don't agree that the future is predestined or that our lives are mapped out by 'God's plan'. Those who believe in an authoritative, controlling and punishing God are welcome to their belief, but you do not represent all Christians, \n\nWe have plenty of biblical references to love, forgiveness, reconciliation, humility, kindness and more to create an image of God that we can Verify in the good hearts of our neighbors and community. We see the strength of life reflected in the natural world by the amazing growth/adaption of life to new threats, or drawn to new opportunities over millions of years. I might even call it miraculous, (because I'm unable to internalize such a length of time).\n\nOur nature is to survive and survive using all the resources of intellect and heart that we are given. If we do it for love, we will survive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Breitbart is a not a news outlet, but a fiction service that is \"all lies, all the time.\" It serves the forces of darkness and promotes intolerance and bigotry. That's why it is so popular with those who try to make their hate 'socially acceptable' by attempting to disguise it as part of their faith or somehow compatible with being a Christian. Breitbart is to news what Judas was to Jesus ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, this has indeed been a rather substantial disagreement regarding Church architecture, but mostly among \"church-folk\" like pastors and bishops and priests and - particularly - liturgists and some architects. It is simply one more issue that the divided Church wastes God's time in thrashing it about. Many find the lack of a communion rail, for instance, a great improvement and a far more inclusive arrangement that the Liturgical reforms from Vatican II ushered in to the modern Church. Others somehow interpret it as a degradation of reverence for the Eucharist. I believe that these \"differences\" will continue to diminish as our younger generations of Catholics - much, much smaller with each passing year - become more of the ones in decision-making positions in their parish and diocese, and begin to again re-conceptualize worship space according to the current environment they find themselves in. The past is the past, but there for us to learn from (not duplicate).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I see a brave Christian witness against fear, I cannot but applaud his gospel efforts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Where does the word REFUTE appear in the above? It doesn't.\"\n.\nOnce again- critical reading would have saved you: when told for every quote supporting your claim, I'll find you ten that say otherwise-- that \"say otherwise\" portion necessarily implies REFUTE. Mucky- you either agree with that fact that our Founding Fathers made us a Christian nation through their Judeo-Christian paradigm, or you don't. The fact that you haven't refuted a single one of my quotes means you either agree with it, or can't refute it-- which one is it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Finally, when Henry discovered that Anne Boleyn was pregnant, he forced Clement's hand. He pushed some laws through Parliament, one saying that marriage questions could be settled locally, another saying that all English clergy owed their first allegiance to the crown and a third saying that the Peter's Pence collection (an annual collection in each parish going directly to the Vatican) and the Annates (a Church property tax that also went to the Vatican) should go to the Exchequer instead of to Rome. Clement was Not Amused, and decreed against Henry's annulment.\n\nThus, the actual reason for Clement's action was politics and money.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Christian community received apostolic advice to speak to those violating the commandments, and if unsuccessful in that endeavor, to excommunicate offenders.\n\nIn a believing community the notion of \"privacy\" does not include scandalous behavior, which impairs the community.\n\nThe importation of Liberterianism into Catholicism is precisely the sort of importation of pagan concepts and beliefs that Cardinal Gerhard M\u00fcller has warned about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What happens when DeVos gets her way and public money goes to these Christian schools. Is it inappropriate then?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But how is that different from the personal discernment that led to \"break- away\" denominations? \n\nIf truth of God is left to personal discernment alone what happens when two people reach two different conclusions, isn't objective revealed truth become meaningless?\n\nHow do you discern wrong from right if there is no standard on which to judge from?\n\nWe can find this same kind of personal discernment when people chose not to help the poor and not see it as a sin. St. Basil the great even regarding owing an extra pair of clothes as theft against those who had no clothes. How many who follow personal discernment recognize this as a sin? \n\nTo me it seems to lead to a path of most comfort rather than the narrow path, the church even in the bible spent time admonishing the faithful for following paths in contradiction to the teachings of the apostles. Galatians, Nicolatians, Ebonites and so forth. Were the apostles wrong from the get go?\nWhy not informed discernment based on the teachings?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny thing is many palestinians are Christians\n\nBut Israel and US are a case of the tail wagging the dog", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Add to the fact that the Catholic Church is against gay marriage, abortion, assisted dying, and the ordination of women priests. \n\nIt's hilarious seeing Kathleen Wynne and her supporters attack social conservatives for their beliefs when the province of Ontario spends billions funding Catholic Schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Such a fine article. And doesn't It speak to so many Catholics who grew up in the tradition of Catholic social teaching, in the spirit of Dorothy Day who saw no difference between herself and the least of these, who was ultimately hospitable, and who love those who happen to be gay, lesbian, transgender, however they were made by God. There are those Catholics, God love them, who think they are God, and know exactly how to judge others. There seems to be only one category of sin that obsesses them, regardless of what scripture may say. I don't know God's mind, but I cannot imagine such cruelty is in the Spirit of Trinitarian love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That narrative makes sense if you assume that every politician is a \"corporate tool\". Trump clearly didn't start out his role as a public figure being on the extreme right. I don't think that he personally holds those views. As to why he bent over backwards to embrace the far right, and evangelical Christians, will probably always be open to speculation. I don't claim to know but I have ideas.\n\nI hope he's doing it for the right reasons. But one thing to remember is that the ACA was not the Democrats first choice. People seem quick to forget that the Republicans were so unwilling to compromise on every level over the last 8 years that they literally shut the government down, and denied the public a supreme court appointee. In that regard I'm glad to see the kinds of statements that Trump made in the recent congressional address. If he is really a trojan horse for the American people then he will be someone who speaks towards the center and not to the far right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All the promises made over the years for immigration reform have come to nothing. Reagan granted amnesty to illegal immigrants in 1986, saying that immigration reform must be a priority. It didn't happen. Bush had a good proposal for immigration reform - it was defeated by his own party.\n\nIf someone has to wait 20 years to immigrate legally to the US - IF there are family or employers to sponsor, it will be way too late to save the family. \n\nAs christians, do we have a moral obligation to help others who are not as fortunate as we are? Who were not born in the 'right\" place\"? \n\nRead Matthew 25:31-46\n\n35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,..\" \n\nDo you knowLes Miserables? Stealing a loaf of bread is intrinsic to the plot. Pay attention to the Bishop - and what he says and what he does. He was an example of Jesus' love in action..\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG-gojr493E", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If something separates us at such a high level, does it not make sense to revisit it and all of the nuances related to it? i would think so. What separates all this: humility or pride? People are confused, prelates of the Church sound confused, and yet the Pope does not heed their concern. Could they all be wrong? I pray and hope that our Holy Father sees the situation and helps to clarify it further as we need not controversy in our Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chicago is \"a Catholic town,\" you say? Facts disagree. Your perception is not reality, Mr. Kass. According to Pew's survey in 2015, Chicago is 34% Catholic and 35% Protestant. The largest population is \"no religion\" \u2014 atheists and agnostics are 37% of the population. So, the reality is, saying \"Chicago is not a religious town\" would be more accurate than saying it's \"a Catholic town.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dialogue? In the Catholic Church? Wow!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That was never stated, never intended, and never referred to. Please try to not distort what is clearly stated. The truth is that Vatican II was true to Church teaching, but approached it all in a way that invited the full participation of all Catholics: that was what was revolutionary about V2. All previous councils took the position of reinforcing doctrinal laws, the caste system of the Church, condemning this or that. Vatican II completed the work of Vatican I and created various paths to bring the Church back into alignment with its roots. So, what's not to like?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This Church you speak of, the one not ruled by these 6 or 7 thousand \"old men\" where does one find it? Who are its leaders? From where does it derive its authority? I have never come across this Church unless you are talking about our separated brethren.\nI would also be interested in knowing what teaching of which Ecumenical Council I am denying and which perennial teachings I do not accept. As far as I am aware, I deny no teachings of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well why do Christian symbols and Confederate history of the U.S.A upset the Left so much", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sometimes we need to admit that some beliefs are not compatible with the West. Certain part of the world are still living in the middle ages where they believe in slavery and women as possessions. What we fail to understand is that that particular belief system never stopped their expansion but it was only slowed down a few century ago. The west almost lost with the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire, Greece was under the Ottoman Empire 4 centuries and that not far from Italy. Spain was also Isamic and if you study that , it meant Europe was being squeezed on two sides. It was Germany, Spain,France , Poland that stood against the complete fall of the Christianity and the evolution of our western values. Look at the world map, see that islam have made its way into Indonesia, Malasia, Philippines and India. The spread contiued in the Philippine Island until the Spain put a stop to it. The spread into North America will create divisions where peace exist", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is nothing more than a damage control from the Broncos' PR department! These overpaid elitists took advantage of the game and media as platforms to air their grievance. But, what platforms do our Vets who come home in boxes and with no limbs get, so they too, can air \"their\" grievances? Will the biased media give them the same amount of air time? They didn't with Tebow and his Christian beliefs, but they can sure give plenty of air time 24/7 to these overpaid thugs! The NFL and the owners are a bunch of leftist hypocrites. At least now Americans are learning who they really are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So instead of an apology you just doubled down on using derogatory terms towards Christians as long as they identify themselves as such, and justify it as their own fault by mischaracterizing their genuine concern for the eternity of others as an attempt to assert superiority. Your replies continue to be revealing, at least to others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Gratitude is the first sign of a thinking, rational creature.\"\u2014Blessed Solanus Casey, OFM Capuchin I\u2019ll buy some of that. \u201cHere I am, Lord; I come to do your will (Psalm 40:8a and 9a). \u201cthe gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflow for the many\u201d (Romans 5:15b). Gratitude for Jesus Christ and for fellowship with those filled with his grace, praise God. \u201cBlessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival\u201d (Luke 12:36), that means being a thinking, rational creature, well beyond pay-pray-and-obey.\u201d Liturgy of the Word, Reading 474, Tuesday of the Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time I.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This story always reminds me of Garrison Keillor's tale from Lake Woebegone about how, on Reformation Sunday, the kids at the Lutheran Church thought the preacher said that Martin Luther nailed 95 FECES to the door of the cathedral. Needless to say, things went pretty much downhill from there!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Kevin, I did not think my reply was printed. Anyway, I wanted to go on to say that through the Sacrament of Confession and the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (and yes, it is definitely more sacred and full of abundant graces when received in this order) have been what give me the strength to live chaste. Since my very tearful confession about my sinful life of sexual lust, I have remained chaste (and am open to marriage with the opposite sex). I know it was wrong, a sin and against God's Order to become physically intimate with someone of the same sex and that it is also wrong, a sin to become physically intimate with a person of the opposite sex outside of the marriage covenant - so that we complement one another physically and if it is God's Will bring forth life). Jesus gives those who are truly sorrowful the grace to avoid sin. His death and resurrection have freed us from our attachment to sin. We are sinners and will continue sinning but God is merciful when we humbly repent!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Question?....how come no one talks about the $79 million dollars the U.S. gives Mexico in aid every\nyr???? ....is it being used to repair roads, fix poor towns....thus putting their own people to work???\nand the catholic church celibate priest forbid families in Mexico from limiting having children, more\nto their pews???.....only doctors should be telling parents what to do about having so many children,\nit takes a toll on women's bodies...then they ship the children into U.S.....for us to care for???.\ni have friends on the border in Texas and Calif and the stories i hear are heart breaking....i know one\nparish who is constantly asking for money to care for the illegals that land on their door step...\ni challenging anyone of you to call your senate and reps...and ask them what is Mexico doing with\nall the millions we give them.....and it is NOT \"for drug stopping\" more drugs are coming in since\nwe give those millions to Mexico??.......dncrowley", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope St. John Paul II---didn't write his own documents. Cardinal Ratzinger wrote them. JPII was quite a good philosopher. But he needed Ratzinger to construct the theology in his writings.\n\n\nThere is more of \"Jesus\" in Francis' documents than anything written by either JP II or Benedict. Jesus, himself, would have had a hard time finding anything that he stated to or for the people contained in their encyclicals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will remember your mother and your family in my prayers during these holy days.\nOne thought I had about the situation you describe is that your mother's parish needs a ministry to the sick, and especially to those who are confined to their homes, that does not depend on the priests. If we are the church, and we are, then we can, must and should minister to each other. While the sacraments of the church remain, always, an essential feature of Catholic ministry, the ministry of accompaniment, of prayer, of consolation -- the gift of time and presence -- is not reserved to the clergy. The fact is, some of them (the clergy) are very good about that kind of ministry; and some of them aren't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It isn't useful to include St. Pope John XXIII in this, as the scientific research on homosexuality was just getting a start at the time of his papacy, with nothing of worth to report until after he was gone. But every pope since John had the benefit of the research and chose, repeatedly, to ignore it and instead provide every ignorant statement and teaching about it, when the Church's own backyard (and front and sides) were full of homosexual priests and religious - some chaste and celibate and the best of our ministry and some not - that the blind eye of Catholicism simply made believe was non-existent. While St. John XXIII was without question ahead of his time, he was a bit too early to have the full benefit of much of what science found of God's wondrous creation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Ordaining women in the Catholic Church....\"\n\nPossibly they will decide at Vatican III, but I rather doubt it (certainly not until Orthodoxy ordains women to the priesthood). Rome listens more to first millennial churches -- Orthodox and Oriental Churches -- rather than to \"recent\" (from Rome's perspective) Reform Churches like Lutheran, Anglican, etc. But a married priesthood in the Latin/Roman/Western Church could come about -- via Brazil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Generations of American Catholics made do with \"temporary churches\" in school gyms and school basements. And the architectural statement of that day was Our church is growing!\" Today's Catholic priests are no longer in harmony with a growing church, unless it's growing more traditional and conservative, regardless of the expense both of building and of maintaining traditional styles of whatever size. Whatever the design of the church, it sure would be nice if both church architecture as well as Catholic clergy were much more people-friendly, in every sense of that term, and that the people had a voice and a role in the design and reconstruction of the facilities they are expected to support.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe your friend's report. Some years before I returned to the church (I'm a cradle Catholic) I tuned in to EWTN out of curiosity; it must have been during the 2008 election season. I was immediately struck by its ham-handed political partisanship and Southern fundamentalist aspect. I watched with horrified fascination for a time before abandoning it altogether. Clearly EWTN was little more than a GOP house organ with a Catholic kitsch shop attached. Just a travesty. Though the broadcasts from St. Peter's were nice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a staunch liberal atheist but I cringe at the blanket labeling of all American Christians as such. The overwhelming majority are very peaceful, even if they vote in a way we don't like. Let's not act like Christians are beheading everyone who doesn't agree with them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How the universe was created does not invalidate the what Genesis tells us.\nGod created the universe and everything in it and saw that it was good. He gave man free will whether to obey Him or not. Man, chose not to obey Him by choosing evil over good and thereby alienated himself and his progeny from God for infinity.\nGod out of His absolute goodness became man in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ in order to redeem His fallen creation. Christ offered Himself to the Father on the cross, the perfect and only acceptable sacrifice which fallen man could make.\nNone of this depends upon how long ago or exactly how the universe came into being or where on earth man was when he disobeyed his creator.\nGenesis 1 and 2 were never meant to be a scientific explanation of the creation surely you recognise that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With well in excess of 70.6% of the people in the US claiming to be \"Christian\" and another 6% or so claiming some other religion, and many such people being voters or legislators, 'religious input' is not going to go away.\n\nAnd even the non-religious are not all into sexual abuse or ownership of women.\n\nThere are quite a few in both groups who see the predators as the problem.\n\nThe increasing number of designations of sexual offenses, even on the internet, as mandatory minimum jail sentences in both Federal and State laws, is a reflection of the direction this is going. \n\nTen (10) years in a Federal pen is partially punishment, partially prevention of predators re-offending.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Profound eulogy! Peter paints the whole canvas of a person's life and we see through the complexity of the person what was the dominate thread in Barbara's life - a burning passion for justice. Alas, there is little justice, divine or human. She was certainly a Don Quixote.\nJoan of Arc got canonized (not cannonized, militarist though she was) for taking up arms for her king.\nBarbara was militant in lifting up the plight of the least ones. The RCC will never canonize her because she challenged the corruption of power of the church' royalty rather than taking up arms to defend them like a Bill Donohue, Timothy Dolan and ilk. But I doubt if canonization was ever on her bucket list.er\nShe has left a universal, catholic legacy that millions will be heir to, unlike Jean d'Arc, a nationalist icon.\nGenerations will call Barbara blessed!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians are always welcome and willing to accept other peoples thoughts outside of a Christian classroom environment, why on earth would you use that as an example ? And if the government wants to give me back some of the tax money I already pay so I can put my child into a school where they focus on EDUCATING kids rather than indoctrinating them then that is my right as a taxpayer, and one I will take full advantage of.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another bloviating non-answer from RD.\n\nCome on, RD, tell us why you believe that my wife should be denied health insurance. Be specific. While you are at it, tell us how your belief that health insurance be taken away from millions of Americans can be reconciled with the Catholic faith you claim to profess.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH - why should anyone listen to us when we do not practice what we preach in the places where we have absolute authority, and could easily create real equality, that not only would effect our church's horrid record on pay, opportunity, and authority disparity between men and women but also effect dramatically, by its example, those elements outside of our churches worldwide.\n\nWe pay appx. $400,00 for each male priesthood bound seminarian for education, housing, food and clothing while we pay nothing to women. Many of these seminarians do not even get ordained and they don't pay all that money back when they don't, and some become priests only for a year or so and pay no money back. Priests or above can become Bishops and Cardinals and Popes even though many of them are not well qualified for their positions and women can't even apply. The best paying jobs in our church always go to men. Cure the sexism, by ordaining women priests, before lecturing others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus' teachings and actions are fine with me. It's the merciless interpretation of Jesus'\nteachings that are defective. God cannot be denied his freedom to forgive and love anyone who has sinned----and that is ALL of us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your \"two for one\" response is the same I heard from a Catholic pro-contraception woman who is anti-abortion. Is it possible hers is the voice of reason, common sense, morality, and life? \n\nIf pro-life is intrinsically \"anti-abortion,\" can we not stipulate that reducing abortion is the goal? Pro-Life AND reducing abortion. TWO FOR ONE! My friend does note that, more and more, only zealots at both extremes deny her thinking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW, like everyone else pontificating, are on the outside of this \"project\" looking in. For four decades I've been on the inside, so I have a personal and unique perspective. As a charismatic Catholic who used to be a member of the Moral Majority, the Christian Coalition, and the Catholic Alliance, and a conservative Republican (my uncle was Vice Chairman of the RNC) who meets with Evangelical Christians on a weekly basis focusing on prayer and Bible study, I can honestly tell you we have never been interested in establishing a \"theocracy.\" What we have been interested in reviving is a sense that America is special because it is a constitutional republic established by deeply Christian men and women from Europe (Pilgrims, Puritans, and, the early colonists) and that its laws should reflect that fact. We have no interest in supplanting the three branches of the federal government with a Christian Ayatollah; we just want America to keep faith with its founding principles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The 2015 Pew Research Poll of US Catholics reports that 40% of Catholics have left the Church and not returned. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/09/15/half-of-u-s-adults-raised-catholic-have-left-the-church-at-some-point/\n\"There has been speculation that the popularity of Pope Francis and the atmosphere of change around his 2-year-old papacy might inspire many former Catholics to return to the church. But when it comes to ex-Catholics, Francis has his work cut out for him. Only 8% say returning to the church is something they could imagine doing.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dennis,\nI've long marveled at the neocon's ability to take what is by Christian definition, to be the greatest gift to mankind in history, and to turn that into something bordering on a negative. If one believes that Jesus did in fact free us from the bonds of sin, then I think the traditionalist view of catholicism must be seen as the imposition of a very stiff, very heavy, lifelong probation. Joy, hope and even (dare I say) humor, are to be replaced with a constant looking over one's shoulder for that Jesus who although he literally died to make us free, now patrols the world looking for all manner of \"gotchas\" so that he can reimpose our original death sentence... The logic behind that mindset suggests to me a terrible fear of freedom, a terrible lack of trust in the gifts we've been given.\n\nIf we really could believe that we HAVE been freed, why would we not live joyously, freely, thankfully and creatively in this freedom? It makes no sense to me. Never has...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have no inside track on the intricacies of a presidential campaign. I\u2019m a pastor. I don\u2019t endorse candidates or place bumper stickers on my car. But I am protective of the Christian faith. If a public personality calls on Christ one day and calls someone a \u201cbimbo\u201d the next, is something not awry? And to do so, not once, but repeatedly? Unrepentantly? Unapologetically? Can we not expect a tone that would set a good example for our children? We stand against bullying in schools. Shouldn\u2019t we do the same in presidential politics?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(a) \u201cIs what we state in the Creed our belief about God, or is it Jesus' belief about God?\u201d\n\nPerhaps Jesus was deluded, we are deluded, or both.\n\n(b) \u201cIs the Book of Revelation ALL that we can possibly know about God and the end times?\u201d\n\nThe revelation that ended with the death of the last Apostle didn\u2019t end; special people are in direct contact with the Holy Spirit.\n\n(c) \u201cIs John the Apostle the composer of the Book of Revelation or is it John of Patmos, who is another person?\u201d\n\nThe incorporation of a text into the Church\u2019s teaching and Scripture is void if \u201cscholars\u201d question the attribution.\n\nWe seem to be discussing post-Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am proud of my organization for taking this position, and furthering the review and discussion of a Church teaching that clearly no longer applies (probably never really did) in a religion committed to Gospel teaching. If we are the True Church of Jesus, should we not do our very best to follow what He taught us?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chestnut Hill seeking to know if the way they treat students (and, I would suppose, faculty) can be overseen by the state for fairness and non-discriminatory practice. I am increasingly concerned by Catholic institutions that employ and serve citizens and their children wanting to operate outside of laws that protect citizens. It is important that religious groups are not allowed to set up fiefdoms within the U.S. where people can be mistreated. That is not \"religious freedom\" for those they purportedly employ and serve. \n\nSeattle University's Symposium on Homelessness becomes an opportunity for real study of causes and effects of homelessness. This is important work.\n\nBenedictine College and yoga. Good grief. Great example of showing students how to shut down their minds and react to the miasma of fear and suspicion of that which is different. Lost opportunity for shepherding young people through a process of discovery, discernment, and adult decision making.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's enough to conflate political differences with bigotry - now Mr. James Mason 77 is conflating religious differences with bigotry. As a baptized Methodist married to a Catholic I attend both Mass with my wife and the Methodist church with my mother, I am sickened by those words. Shame on you sir... Just more soiling of the First Amendment. If people took as much responsibility with the First Amendment as most do with the Second discourse we could provide solutions rather than just more problems.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your well framed and excellent example. Diminish someone's rights and yours are diminished--unless you live in a Radical Christian Theocracy. We re headed that way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Second paragraph -- \"The grapevine has it that ... \"\n\n'Grapevine' seems to connote rumor. But what follows those words about what \"many Catholics\" have done, and continue to do, are far removed from rumors -- they are facts. \n\nGiven the Catholic hierarchy's inability and/or unwillingness to adequately address the issues stated in that paragraph, I expect the exodus to continue unabated.\n\nThe \"two-man show\" is seemingly headed to a \"two-person congregation\", also.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a victim of repeated brutal rape and molestation by a priest. I have forgotten more than you know on this topic. \nPope Francis can, with the stroke of a pen wipe out the Pontifical secret. He refuses\nPope Francis can and always could punish complicit bishops. He refuses\nHe sure could remove the bishop of bling quickly or at a record pace put together a trial for people who leak his dirty secrets.\nMy problem with people like you is your lack of true knowledge shows through your weak comments. People like you enable inaction and put more children in harms way.\nYour lack of comprehension of reality is amazing. Francis has been pope for 4 years and has done nothing of substance in regards to clergy rape and molestation of Catholic children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic Common Ground Initiative betrayed its original calling almost immediately after it came into existence by refusing to allow ordinary members of the laity to attend their erudite 'conversations'. Turns out it was only a discussion group for the 'elite', not for the masses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Byzantine Catholic Churches and the non-Byzantine Churches in union with Rome use the same liturgies as their Orthodox brothers and sisters. Union with Rome does not mean giving up one's liturgical practices or accepting the western liturgies. Pope John VIII in 879 approved the use of the vernacular Slavonic language for use in the mass (divine liturgy) in areas converted by Sts. Cyril and Methodius and said \"Nor is it in any wise opposed to wholesome doctrine and faith to say Mass in that same Slavonic language (Nec san\u00e6 fidei vel doctrin\u00e6 aliquid obstat missam in eadem slavonica lingua canere), or to chant the holy gospels or divine lessons from the Old and New Testaments duly translated and interpreted therein, or the other parts of the divine office: for He who created the three principal languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, also made the others for His praise and glory (Boczek, Codex, tom. I, pp. 43-44).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The government didn't force the students to attend the Catholic school. It was a voluntary choice because the parents didn't want their kids to have to be bused in order to attend the Public school.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you deny that the magisterium teaches that workers have the right to decent wages, working conditions and healthcare? Trump would beat down unions, cut OSHA's budget and eliminate health insurance for millions. The CCC also calls for rich countries to help poor countries, Trump would slash foreign aid. The Bible says that feeding the hungry is required of Christians, Trump wants to eliminate Meals on Wheels and severely cut back on food stamps. \n\nBlathering about \"dogmatic\" teachings is just blather. You traditionalists merely use it to dismiss teachings they don't like, by saying \"these aren't dogmatic\". It's the way you try to justify your Cafeteria Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic Community Services has a long time history of helping all people in need, including homeless, those with family problems. This is just one of the things they are proposing to do. As for our money...most of the local money and effort will not come out of taxpayers pockets. You can choose to focus your efforts and donations in your neighborhood and help others abroad. Or do neither. As for money..tell your congress person you want the US to change it's committment to helping with the refugee crisis. There are no special jobs for refugees, they are the the market for a job like everyone else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True, wasn't that long ago that Harper was ladled a racist because he wanted to fast track Christians and other minorities from genocide in large parts of the Middle East. Who could forget the dead boy on the beach face down and fake news reporting it was Harper's fault \nYou cant even try to tax foreign buyer from buying our homes and sovereignty with out the racist card being played. Lets not even talk about restricting or openly discouraging illegals from walking into CANADA - still waiting !!\nI have lost complete regard for big media, the alt left and any hope of our country not becoming deeply divided as seen in Europe and America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rotary, Catholic Services of Lane County, and Habitat for Humanity are three community services I volunteer with. Nasty comments? The one's you disagree with? I call em' as I see em'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you haven't you seen articles coming directly from the Vatican that includes at least one photo with Bro. Diop shaking hands and bowing to the pope? I have, from Rome! In fact our ministry receives updates, news and reports DIRECTLY from the VATICAN because we want to show people, especially OUR SDA PEOPLE what time it is, that it is way too late in the day to be luke warm Christians. You can check out the Catholic website for yourself or Google to find it. The Sunday Law is about to be passed because the papal wound is healed, but how many SDAs know this? Probation as a denomination with close after the Sunday law is enforced but again, how many SDAs know this important kind of information? No, because they are too busy being sensitive and touchy about the wrong things, and busy writing or reading about the crimes of SDAs in Africa!!! No sister it's time to shut the door on worldliness and open it heavenward. Time to spread the gospel so we can go home with Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Couldn't agree with you more RG, thanks for your insightful comments... to my mind the primary factor resulting in this \"punitive\" mindset is one of idolatry. More specifically, I'd place the blame on the decision to enshrine the medieval theory of \"transubstantiation\" into doctrine. Without getting into the reasons for this \"enshrinement,\" what would the Church look (and act) like if the decision of \"worthiness\" was left up to God? I can site a passage from the Didache (\"Teaching of the Twelve\") that lends good evidence of how early church fathers viewed the Eucharistic celebration, and it was nothing like the fetish-ness in which traditional Catholics would describe today. Even if you believe marriage to be a sin, do we really need to compound the problem by excluding the \"sinners\" from partaking in the bread of life?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That reminds me of the 1920's in Oregon when the Legislature, at the behest of the KKK, prohibited non-public schools to close the Catholic Parochial schools.\n\nIf that is your plan, you need to read some history.\n\n\"In 1922, the Masonic Grand Lodge of Oregon sponsored a bill to require all school-age children to attend public schools. With support also of the state Ku Klux Klan and 1922 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Walter M. Pierce, the Compulsory Education Law was passed by a vote of 115,506 to 103,685. Its primary purpose was to shut down Catholic schools in Oregon, but it also affected other private and military schools. It was challenged in court and struck down by the United States Supreme Court Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925) before it went into effect.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not blaming the school. People are saying that parents pay huge sums of money to have their child access an elite prep school with a long Christian tradition that promises moral discipline and instruction along with excellent teachers, facilities, programs, opportunities etc. These 3 students seemed to have missed the opportunity. Some have legitimately asked why.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I laud these parishioners who instead of leaving are fighting back!\n\nWe must protest outside churches, Chanceries & Seminaries and protest against funding seminaries that teach this horrible version of clericalism. We must demand equal ordination & sacraments be made available for women and then married people. \n\nWhat this church needs is a revolution within, even if it ends up as a sacred civil war. All leaving does is surrender our church & religion to the sexist traditionalists so they can continue to use their example of hatred to create poverty, oppression, violence, child abuse, slavery & even terrorism in our world. \n\nWe need to fight for our church because all that is necessary is our church to just fix the few things it does wrong, which could result in mammoth changes for good in our world. \n\nEnough of sexism, fear tactics, homophobia, clericalism, & arrogance in our leadership. It is time to take back our church & make it a truly Gospel based, Christian Religion again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that Christ is, fearlessly, liberal. Imagine if he were to appear without identifying himself and then talked and acted like Christ, he would be so condemned and vilified in this place and in these times.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I object to is that in these prayers, the girls have to sit at the back of the room, and the menstruating girls have to go way to the back, behind the other girls, separated by a moat of space. This is outrageous sexist patriarchical behaviour that cannot be condoned in any public place, let alone a school. Then again, in the Catholic schools, girls are not allowed to be priests. That should also not be condoned by our complicit provincial government. The Catholic system must be ended.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely right, Steven. Theologians [today many if not most] are members of the laity. They don't MAKE the laws in the church. Cardinal Burke has been 'picking away' at Francis' initiatives since before the first synod on the family in the fall of 2014. Just one example of this was when he came to Steubenville, Ohio and spoke with a group of people at Franciscan University there, giving a negative thrust to the whole content and process. Burke has also, put the blame of many changes in the church on the \"Feminization\" of the Church. MAYBE, he's blaming Francis for that as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hmmmm . . . I seem to remember reading somewhere about this fellow called Jesus who exhorted people to sell all of their possessions and give the money to the poor if they truly wished to follow Him. He also said something to the effect that if a person has two coats, he/she should give one to someone else who has none. This Jesus guy also led a rather nomadic life, moving from place to place with His friends, all of them subsisting on communally shared resources. Indeed, Jesus life of ministry with His disciples is an excellent example of truly living in community, or to put it another way, of communism. He was an interesting fellow, this Jesus. You should read about Him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Until Catholic Charities USA makes it a major program in each diocese and seeks government funding to do it, my criticism is valid. It must be a big enough thing for no one to ever get an amnio again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I was speaking ironically. The point is that by the Pope's definition of the word, Jesus would fit into the category of \"rigorist.\" So I think those of us who are the targets of the Pope's invective on that point are in pretty good company really. As for the rest of your point, goodness, Jesus showed mercy to the woman and told her to stop sinning. You really have to torture language and logic to come away with any other interpretation or understanding of that scene.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm pretty sure it's a big tenet of Christianity that Joseph *wasn't* sleeping with Mary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"not a now grouchy pope in Rome.\"\n\nLifeoftheLay, do you believe this is an accurate depiction of Good Pope Francis? Obviously, you haven't been paying attention.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neither extreme liberals nor extreme conservatives handle the problem of poverty very well. Of the two, it seems conservatives are somewhat better at it, at least if you believe the NY Times, who says that conservatives give more to charity than liberals do. Whatever, . . . The fact is, a liberal would do well to go into a project and see what their tax money buys --- more squalor and indolence. A conservative would do well to understand how far behind a child in such an environment is in relation to the better off. True Christians WANT to help those who cannot help themselves. I almost said \"want to help the poor,\" but thought better of it. Where do we get the notion that ALL \"the poor\" --- even the indolent --- have a claim on own pocket-books? Conversely, realize that those who cannot help themselves DO have a claim on our wealth, and that we will be judged by what we do for the least of our brethren.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The petition would enlarge the male-only exclusive priesthood to include most qualified males, to the extent that men are willing to marry (and a lot of couples don't marry these days), and to the extent that gay men are willing to deny their sexuality. Wouldn't that be inadvisable to deny one's God-given sexuality? !!! The petition is a disappointment because it furthers the oppression of women. It is not inclusive of all.\n\nCan't the discussion rather be focused on the inappropriate Vatican documents that promote clericalism (\"in persona Christi\") and deny women the priesthood? What are the ways that practices can be modified to achieve equality and be in conformance with Gospel ideals of inclusiveness and service? That is holiness worth striving for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will listen to the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, but I would also check their story. Anybody who truly thinks that any 450,000-500,000 men would not have some issues at the current or any time with this is naive. Any anyone who is going to try to negate the whole 500,000 now over 30 years after the main problems are over is simply a bigot of sorts with an agenda., and they should not be listened to. I am a practicing Catholic, attend Mass not daily but often and I also desire a personal relationship with God. I know of no abusive priests personally and I have not met anyone who tells me they were abused by a priest. If you are truly looking for pedophiles, I suggest you look elsewhere. As far as \"SPOTLIGHT\" is concerned it is a dramatization of events decades ago. And it is also somewhat ludicrous for Hollywood of all agencies to make a film about pedophilia when Hollywood itself has long been and is currently a truly cesspool of pedophilia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dennis, in so many ways, we are faced with similar questions that the original disciples had. You presented a number of them. Do we pull a bushel basket over us, sit in the dark, and wait? Or do we \"walk in the light\" using the new and unknown situations to grow as the disciples of Jesus? Do we stay with the certitudes coming from the traditional markers? Or do we move into the bold light of Christ, and the unknown?\n\nWe know that Jesus challenged his disciples THEN and he challenges us NOW. Light or Darkness---what will we choose?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Would you describe a Catholic allowing a non-Catholic physician or surgeon to save his life as a case of situation ethics?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Deists deny the Trinity, the inspiration of the Bible, the deity of Christ, miracles, and any supernatural act of redemption or salvation. Deism pictures God as uncaring and uninvolved. Thomas Jefferson was a famous deist, referring often in his writings to \u201cProvidence.\u201d\n\nhttp://www.gotquestions.org/deism.html\n\nHope this helps!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Today, Fr Stanley Rother. Tomorrow, the Five Missionary Sisters of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, killed in Liberia in 1992?...I live in hope...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In addition they just like to box with authority and get involved in battles.\n\nOver in the Episcopal Church they'd be the ones in charge and the subject of the slings and arrows.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some Anglicans have been meeting together for decades with some Orthodox.\n\nDitto some Anglicans and Old Catholics, some Anglicans and Catholics, some Anglicans and Lutherans.\n\nOf those groups, the only concrete results have been intercommunion with the Old Catholics - who are a tiny sect - and some Lutherans.\n\nThe Orthodox women deacons are what Latin Rite Catholics call sisters - they are not in orders.\n\nThe rank and file don't have a say in whether women are ordained in Orthodoxy. Outside North America and some small support in Western Europe, it is a non-issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really? Are you privy to every Catholic's charital giving or lack of it? I do know of some on the left who refuse to give charitably because they pay taxes and the government then uses that for charity. Really, that's what they've said. So, a Catholic who has donated to Catholic Charities or CRS, while maybe not the best of charities to donate to, is perfectly correct in thinking that they, a Catholic, helped to provide funds to the charity. I myself choose to do most of my charity on a more local and personal level, giving to those in need in my community.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find JP2's position on Liberation Theology was harmful to the poor in Latin America. He confused it with the Marxists in his home land, Poland. Pope Francis has a more enlightened point of view which challenges the powers in Latin America to respond to the problems of the poor. \nB16 was more troubled with \"thinkers\" who challenged his Catholic orthodoxy. Fortunately, Francis has refocused Catholics back to the teachings and actions of Jesus. Mercy, compassion, caring, sharing and kindness reign over doctrine. \"Love is all there is\" is the message and the medium is Francis as Jesus was 2000 years ago.\nThe next step is to make message universal to all people of all faith traditions. Jesus' message or Way of life, is also a universal paradigm of love, inclusion, peace, and understanding for everyone. Jesus (the medium) is the message (Love).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rik,\nGod created nationalism. He did it at the tower of Babel. And the purpose was to keep man from creating a 'one world government' even way back then. The 'nations' are God's plan not man's. Someday the whole universe will worship Christ and will truly be united, but not by force or evil fascist intent...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Myth. Nobody thought the Earth was flat in the middle ages. Catholic doctrine did not teach Earth was flat. Europeans knew Earth was found and its correct size since 400BC. Europe didn't know about the Americas however. This, assuming the correct size of the planet, reaching Asia sailing west was impossible for fresh water and food would run out long before the ships would arrive in Japan. Columbus thought the Earth was smaller than it really is. So he thought it was possible. He got lucky. Had the Americas not existed, they would all have died 1/3 of the distance to Japan", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I totally agree with you that it was not some divine payback. But we believe that Jesus is fully divine, and fully human, both God and man. As such His divinity yielded full to God's Will easily, I believe, because He is the begotten Son of God, He is God, the Second Person of God. That being said, He is also fully man...the human son of Mary, the Virgin Mother. As such, He agonized in His human self in prayer in the Agony in Garden, even to the point of sweating drops of blood. His human nature struggling, but submitting to what He knew God was asking of Him. (Luke 22, The Agony in the Garden.) Jesus in His Divine nature doesn't do this, for me, in His human nature He struggles and submits to this. Why? Like you said, not because He needed to do as some sort of \"payback\".I prefer to see it as profound message to us humans as to what may need to submitted in our individual lives if we decide to follow Him. This serious commitment we have seen in the lives of many holy ones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a survivor of clergy abuse, I continue to be heartbroken by the response of the Church. I used to attend an urban parish, and see so much \"acceptance\" of terrible things. A man was removed from our catechist program a few years ago due to inappropriate behavior with children, but a picture of him with children remains on the front of the parish website (despite complaints by parents). There have been other incidents that demonstrate the Church's insensitivity to safety and to victims of abuse. I told a priest at my church about my abuse, and he (an outgoing preacher whose homilies speak so often about justice and mercy) fell completely silent, never acknowledging what I had shared. The Church still turns a blind eye to abuse, safety, and justice, particularly to those most vulnerable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Nuncio is always involced in the Josephinum, as he [sic] is its Chancellor. He reports to the Congregation for Catholic Education in matters pertaining to the Josephinum. One of the best definitions I ever heard of \"pontifical\" came from a student there, long ago -- \"Bogged Down in Trivia.\" But he ultimately graduated and was ordained!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sounds good, because people are people, and no one really likes rules, which are so . . . constricting. But to your point: When asked by the young man what to do to save himself, Jesus answered: Keep my rules. Or must I say, \"my commandments\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At my church most do hold hands, but if someone doesn't care to, it's not a big issue. We just hold our hands out (the prayer gesture used by the priest when praying) and the persons on either side are free to take the outstretched hand or not. It does not have to be a big issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "cont'd\n\nThe right to sexual expression and mutual support afforded by \"suitable partnership\" is exclusive, denied to countless of individuals and couples because the Church finds \"homosexual acts intrinsically disordered\" (Catechism of the Catholic Church #22357), even though heterosexuals practice the same acts.\n\"Catholic teaching on other matters of sexuality\" is still in an adolescent stage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even better was the one for last year on August 22. (MT 23). He was condemning the Pharisees with their focus on the moral law and forms of worhsip. They were the Trads of his day. Modernists love this Gospel and its condemnation of the holier than art thou religious caste of the day. The modern equivalent is the Roman Curia!\n\nAugust 21 is in honor of not my favorite Saint (given his network of informants and his opposition to modern scriptural research and natural law reason). It starts with an OT reading about Baalists, who essentially sacrificed their children so that they could have economic prosperity, which is what women who face abortion often contend with. Sadly, the Church is not strong enough in suggesting the practical measure of a $1000 per month per child tax cut.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but you are the one who has it backwards. The sacraments do not exist because of tenets and creeds. Vatican II revived the 'principle of sacramentality' with regard to the human person. In the sacraments, it is God's initiative FIRST to us that makes the sacraments efficacious. The action of the sacraments are FIRST Christ's action which confer grace in and of themselves. The sacraments do not give grace merely because of the believer's faith, knowledge [Eastern churches baptize, confirms and give the Eucharist to infants]. Likewise, the lack of sanctity in a priest cannot nullify the effectiveness of the sacraments. The grace of the sacraments is not earned. Rather, in the sacraments, the believer responds in faith to God's initiative.\n\nMany of these ideas about the sacraments first came out in the Council of Trent. They were reformulated and up-dated at Vatican Council II.\n-------\nA HISTORY OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT, trans. Ernst Graf, vol. 1 [St.Louis: Herder, 1957].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, to what play are you referring? I'm unfamiliar with what you're talking about.\n\nAlso, I'm curious. When you write \"funny to liberals,\" what exactly do you mean? Funny to all those who call themselves liberal? Funny to some of them? Or, perhaps, funny to those you decide are liberal?\n\nI never find it helpful when people reduce others down to broad, amorphous labels instead of treating them as individuals. Why would we expect all members of any group -- liberals, conservatives, African Americans, Caucasians, Catholics, Protestants, women, men, etc. -- to think and act the same? It just wouldn't be consistent with human nature.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, there is no such \"split\". We revere Father Abraham, Ishaaq and Yaqub (alayhimus-Salaam) as holy prophets of Almighty God. And, according to direct Commandment in al-Qur'an, we follow Jesus (alayhis-Salaam), whom Qur'an identified as al-Masih, the Messiah--the one who cured the crippled and the lepers, gave sight to the blind, raised the dead, and was born of a virgin woman; who was exalted as 'Ruh'ullah'--a Spirit of God, 'Ayatullah'--a Sign of God (by his very existence) and Kalimatullah--a Word of God. THAT's the Jesus (alayhimus-Salaam) we follow.\n\nI submit if you're following a different 'Jesus' from that, you're following the wrong one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've eaten there before, but no goat for me. I just remember the food was good. Although the rice was plain looking, it was very tasty. I enjoyed the people that have the restuarant. I know a couple of them from the Catholic Social Services Refugee Assistance program. Very nice people and I don't think they have an ounce of terrorism in them. I don't really think ambiance is necessary. Also, when I have been there people were always there eating. I think some folks come in to visit since there is such a small community of refugees in Anchorage. I think they also sell foods that are acceptable to their religion. Maybe people were just picking up some groceries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not hard to know why many are leaving - they have told us over & over. \n\nWe are Sexist in our ordination practices, we are Clerical and make lay people feel less important than clergy (often thru our liturgies, & by giving ordained deacons work over laypeople), we protect pedophiles, we don't allow married clergy, and gaybashing.\n\nAlso, a side note, if NCR itself is really interested in seeing less people switch away from Catholicism to the NONES, they might consider no longer accepting advertising support from groups like the AUSCP, Association of US Catholic Priests . This group seeks optional celibacy but not equal ordination for women in our church. This would result in complete gender segregation of rule and sacramental power in our church, and would represent the most heinous version of sexism in our church's 2000 year history. This is true because the last time married men could be ordained priests there were women presbyters leading parishes and presiding over Eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you're sure that Catholic spirituality has?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ATF - All Pope Francis needs to do is ordain a women, preferrably one of the many already educated and fully trained RCWP women, in public, and this law is made null and void. No one can invalidate such an ordination validly. There is no dogma stopping him from ordaining a women and he is capable of declaring the Great Commandment is Dogma, and demands all people called to priesthood be treated, assessed, the same, and ordained the same, without allowance for discrimination by him based on a person's flesh as Christ did not allow for this. There is no higher bishop with the authority to invalidate such an ordination. We need to hold Pope Francis accountable instead of give him excuses.\n\nWe need to stop pretending this is hard ourselves & stand up against this discrimination in every parish by protesting and holding back funds from things like Peters Pence and even Catholic Charities. Without funds to Catholic Charities no diocese can fund the formation of any priests or deacons.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "tRump was New York celebrity, too. So that should be included in tRumps seduction of the fundamentalist Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is it that the gospels have Jesus saying about the log in one's own eye? And then there is that parable about the Pharisee and Samaritan .....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, it's not. At least not according to Catholic dogma. Unless the catechism is mistaken, which I highly doubt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good heavens! Have you been to Quebec Province recently? Nothing is \"gone with the wind,\" as you say. The Church in Quebec does quite well, especially since parishes aren't closed but restored and renovated as part of the religious heritage of Quebec. About 10 years ago the Province entered into a partnership with the church in financing these religious sites. And though various reasons or meanings are given to Quebec \"regularity\" and \"practice,\" still more than 82% of the population self-identifies as Catholic there (only Mexico has a higher percentage in North America). Finally, they tend not to color or shade every form of participation or belief with a class or moral category of identity: good Catholic/bad one; weekly/seasonal; cultural/ observant, etc. They are tolerant of all fellow Catholics in that regard (but could be a little more tolerant of Muslim women). The CC there is quite different from the way it was 60 years ago, but not by a long shot is it \"gone with the wind.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm Catholic, and I do NOT want Trump there, or anywhere, for me. As the old saying goes,if you have a friend like the Donald, you don't need an enemy!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the space aliens from Nebula 4 wanted to understand Catholicism and had only NCR to go by, they'd likely assume that Catholicism is made up of a Pope Francis, two underlings named Cupich and McElroy, and a priest with the initials J.M.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Spirituality, from a Catholic perspective\"... with which i'm quite familiar; and,\nyes, i know all about \"sine cera\", but you didn't speak to the immediate material, physical aspect of spirituality, consciousness, etc., that are IN THE PRESENT AND, NOWHERE ELSE (?). Not?\nIf somewhere else, except residing physically in the present, where? where?\n[Maybe Tridentinus has clear and precise answers. :-).]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the scriptures are myths, and Jesus was not the son of God, if the whole religion is false, why do we go to mass? I actually agree that the whole lot is myth from beginning to end. So why am I at mass every week?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The man leading the bible study is a \"dominionist\" who seems to want to change the US by establishing an unofficial theocracy \n\nhttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/leader-of-trump-cabinet-bible-study-god-only-hears-prayers-of-righteous-christians/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True. And, generally all of those people (except Jews) shared a common religion, Christianity, and as a result, similar shared morals and values. (And even as between Christians and Jews there are significant shared values). The acceptance of woman in society during the 20th C is a great example. For sure, these shared values helped with integration. To a large extent, the same isn't true with Muslims and I think we're seeing a clash of values, and I'm not sure that it will ever be fully reconciled...in many ways, this is uncharted territory. Views and tolerance of woman, homosexuality, shame, freedom, to name a few, all require a great evolution in thought.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Suggestion to NCR: make use of other media to reach young people, hire young writers as spokespersons for your message. Retire the anchor epicenialmsw for someone that the general public can identify with.\n\nNCR and other Catholic media need to move beyond the grand grandparent generation if it wants to attract the next generation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "i support Francis on roe v.wade. I did vote for Hillary for other reasons, anti-Trump vote, but my priest would deny me communion if he found out. The issue I have is at some catholic hospitals where women having miscarriages do not get the very best care, because the church thinks the process should be natural. However, there are dangers there because in medicine one doesn't wait for infections and life threatening conditions to develop before action is taken.I also believe that the life of the mother should always be paramount in any medical situation. What a rational catholic I am ---if that is not a contradiction in terms...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Americhristianity is also embodied in Catholicism with the existence of Church Militant, which is much more angry evangelical protestant than Roman Catholic.....and covering the stench with Marian pictures, devotions, and sweet piety, doesn't make it any more Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is astounding that some Churchmen cannot accept that they are not lawgivers, but pastors. Cardinal Sarah is a good man who should be present as a witness in his own country. To keep him in Rome is squandering talent. A lesser functionary could fill his role. The Church needs priests, not legislators.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When we run out of writing about Christ, then we can write about why we don't love Him enough and why we're so focused on our little identities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Roy, you poor thing. You have got to be just exhausted. Are you actually going out to say that Jesus never existed on earth? Are you actually trying to attack Wikipedia's article on Jesus? You cannot possibly be this oblivious.\n.\nPlease, just for our edification, go on record right now as stating whether or not you feel Jesus' life is well accounted for and documented, just so I can hear you say I'm right. Otherwise, you're just being argumentative for arguments sake, which is a waste of everybody's time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is better to hold your silence and be thought a fool than too speak or write and remove all doubt.\n\nThe mid-1800s Depopulation of Ireland was called exactly that by the British Press at the time. Depopulation and Ethnic Cleansing are nothing new.\n\nThe English Speaking reaction in the USA and Canada was quite negative.\n\nAnti-Catholic Riots occurred in both Countries. They were only averted in New York by a threat to turn the City into \"another Moscow\" (burnt to deprive Napoleon of shelter) if authorities didn't do their duty to suppress riots.\n\nhttps://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-depopulation-of-ireland-from-illustrated-london-news\n\nhttps://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/anonymous-the-great-hunger\n\nhttp://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/nativist-riots-of-1844/\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursuline_Convent_riots\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_riots\n\nhttps://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/03/14/19th-century-toronto-irish-immigrants-a-lesson-in-upward-mobility.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In \"Mere Christianity\" CS Lewis points out that Satan always sends out errors in pairs so that in our opposition to the one we draw closer to the other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I so much agree with you, ATF - yet I issue a word of caution here. We can't burden +Francis with everything needing to be changed, or at least re-examined. What he is doing - with great success if one looks closely - is laying the institutional and spiritual groundwork for the exact changes you so wisely mention. If this beloved - and exceptionally wise and strategic - pope accomplishes that foundation, that openness and affirmation of John XXIII and of Vatican II, and rids us of the many limited men who are bishops and cardinals from JP2 and B16, then we will call him a saint and honor him for all time for the gift he has given us: a Church that is far closer to Christ Jesus, one open to all with equality and love and respect, and that allows Christ to call everyone (back) to His love as expressed through the Church. But lets give a bit of a break to this pope - not break his back with so much! I am always so pleased to see your comments here!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You read his book...good for you. I have less than no desire to.\n\nHe is no longer to act as a Roman Catholic priest. Period. \n\nWhen you write a letter describing your intentions to do things defying the organization you work for, blasting that organization, thanking someone for past tepid support, and separating yourself....I think most companies would accept that as an indication of resignation. \n\nI am not the only one who sees it that way, as the citations I gave you indicate. There are many, many more of course. \n\nNot an excellent priest at all in my estimation - but someone who acted with subterfuge and dishonesty until it suited him and he could make a big splash for his book and ego...and who perhaps was used by those with a certain agenda. No. Excellent would be an honest, forthright man acting with dignity and respect instead of flair and ego.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The male-only priesthood exacerbates clericalism. My impression is that the best was to mitigate clericalism is to have an integrally human hierarchy, male and female. Having a hierarchy is indispensable for maintaining the apostolic mark of the Church via apostolic succession. But having both men and women in the hierarchy would be the most effective way to mitigate clericalism by making visible the \"feminine genius\" in Jesus. It is time to ordain the \"Greek widows\" rather than just adding more males to the pool of servants, including deacons, priests, and bishops. We don't really need a new model, but we need a new discipline that removes the patriarchal scaffolding that renders the \"feminine genius\" in Jesus practically invisible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"he chips away at the constitution and thwarts the laws and precedents of this country. He is setting up an autocratic situation slowly but surely\"\nThe remarkably ironic thing, at least in my nonpartisan perspective, is that Republicans for years complained about exactly the same thing about Obama based upon his position and policy, ie. his thoughts on the matter, even though his conduct pretty much strictly adhered to legal and constitutional doctrines. In other words, Republicans claimed such on purely ideological disagreement. Now the Republicans are silent when Trump's conduct, not just his position or policy, is in violation of the Constitution (providing preferential treatment for Christians on the amnesty ban) or law (placing Bannon on the NSC). Actually, I shouldn't say \"silent.\" It seems their response is for Democrats and the media noting such actions should \"stop whining.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, CLINIC and the Justice for Immigrants Campaign do an excellent job, but many of the bishops seem to be afraid to bring up \"illegal\" immigration, ICE raids, and discuss the role of US foreign policy and corporations in the problems of Latin America - even though so many of our fellow Catholics are Latino. They need to really study the writings of Saint John Paul II, Benedict, and Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just adding some points:\n\n-- Assad was always a darling of the West because: 1) He is a dentist (?), educated in Britain; 2) Has a beautiful wife; 3) At the begining of Syria's civil war, she was in London, buying expensive stuff to one of their several palaces; 4) Her only worry (the personal emails were published by the Guardian, at the time): \"I hope this is not upseting you, dear\"; I've just bought some nice furniture, etc.\n-- I doubt that Mr. Trump knows exactly where Syria is, but: 1) Nothing better to stimulate the economy than a good war -- the bigger the better; 2) Following the \"cathecism\" of Emperor Constantin, you shall impose, by force, a unique \"christian\" faith in order to rule the world.\n-- Mr. Trump is forgetting an old rule: never put yourself in the middle of a generalized civil war; and, by the way, were not napalm and agent orange chemical weapons?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suggest that you read Paul's Letter to the Romans---Chapter 16. In it Paul recommends Phoebe---a deacon [not deaconess], and asks that she be given every that she may require. Phoebe, in fact as a patron, underwrote the mission to Spain---which was important to Paul. It was why Paul was writing to the Romans in the first place. Paul then greets Prisca [nick-name for Priscilla] and her husband Aquila---who worked side-by-side with Paul. This couple heard Apollos speak boldly about Jesus in the Jewish synagogue---but not correctly[Acts 18:24-26]. Luke writes, \"they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately\" [Acts 18:26].\n\nPaul commends Mary, who worked very hard in Rome. Paul calls Andronicus and Junia, his relatives, early Christians and prominent among the apostles.\nThese women DID speak in church. They did teach adults and they did put their lives on the line for the sake of Christ.\n \nNone of the apostles would recognize the Church today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Scott: I am sure that BRO will answer helpfully. I want to refer you as well to two comments I posted this evening in the thread under the article \"Trump's pledge to Catholics.\" I was addressing the case of two clerics -- a deacon and a priest -- who separately endorsed Trump. They apparently went even further than the priest you describe, who seems to have posted a denunciation of Clinton without explicitly endorsing Trump (although it would appear to be a fair inference that your guy will vote for Trump and wants his readers to do the same.) I think that's a very inappropriate thing for a cleric to do for reasons I posted in the other thread.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I support LGBT rights and women's rights in the Church but seriously. The Pope was joking. People hang way too much weight on every single statement the man says. Maybe people should realize that sometimes when he says things it isn't some calculated ideological plan. He's just being himself, speaking in normal conversation. So that point in the article I really don't buy and just seems like a petty reason to critique the Pope over nothing. Criticism of the Papal document he just signed could have come without that unnecessary bit. \n\nAlso....why are people surprised about Pope Francis's stances on these issues? He's made clear that he is a \"son of the Church\" and adhers to all of it's teachings. So he adheres steadfastly to the Catholic Church's teachings on the Preferential Option for the poor(earning him praise from liberals). He also holds steadfastly to the Catholic Church's views on Gender and Sexuality(earning him criticism from liberals). One thing you can says he is consistent", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am afraid not.\n\nYou're confusing the offering of grace from God in the theology of the sacraments with the history of the Church.\n\nThe community, for example, could not have a priest to \"do this in anamnesis of Me\" had Christ not instituted the Eucharist and ordained the apostles, which of course are \"tenets\" - the reality of the sacrament, the \"creed\" of ordination and consecration, and so on.\n\nYes, the sacraments are effective \"ex opere operato\", but that only establishes that we need to know how a sacrament is validly effected - tenet - before we can perform them.\n\nWe cannot even baptize without first knowing the formula - a creed or tenet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 3\nIt is not \"an adulation nor [an]idolatry of Vatican II\" when educated Catholics throughout the U.S. and world don't accept any hierarchy's reversion to the safe, predictable and controlling governance over the laity and society in general. The casualties of JP II and Benedict's authoritarian leadership was a death of community identity, communion and the bonds of trust. This was shattered when the patronizing elite hierarchy assumed that the baptismal gifts which were given to all, should be doled out like presents [as if they were a privilege] rather than see them as a RIGHT given to ALL.\n\nMost Catholics no accept being treated as children. That is the concept of infantilism, and no longer works in the modern world. In a world that is more open and questioning, the official church struggles to maintain the loyalty of its members. What is said to Catholics must pass through the lens of reason and experience. It must make sense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My response to this is best said in a famous quote,;\nNiem\u00f6ller\u2019s Famous Statement \n \n\u201cIn Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.\u201d --Martin Niem\u00f6ller, 1945", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If people are driven out of the church by the comments of Brother Abbott and the like then perhaps they were never convicted and converted of the basic pillars of the Adventist faith? I have been a convert for almost 20 years and have seen, heard, and read many a wind of doctrine and a lot of unsavory things on both sides of every divide but not for one moment did I ever consider leaving the church and grant the devil a victory. If God called me into His last day remnant church then nothing will drive me out by His grace and mercy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe it's time for Catholic universities to not honor any politicians by giving them the office of commencement speaker. Supporting different political positions and having academic debates on campus is not the same as putting a specific politician in the limelight at a commencement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems like there is a hot potato that no one in the Vatican wants to hold and actually do something with it. Committees, recommendations, new committees, new recommendations, and now special training on how to write a reply letter, I thought most priests had about 8 years of collegiate training so they should be able to compose a letter. Victims, like all of humanity, have a finite lifespan. I think St. John XXIII was correct in his response when asked how many people work at the Vatican--about half.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Disciple said, \"The anger and the mean spirited comments are truly upsetting. ...\n'If you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all.' National Catholic Reporter has its own difficulties with the truth....\" \n\nWell, as long as you're just \"nicely\" criticizing the NCR's problem with truth.... (And Politico was founded in 2007. New?)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Abbott,\n\nI think it is both pitiful and tragic that people get all twisted-up in the issue of authority and feel threatened by the idea of women in leadership roles because that completely avoids the far more important issue of all of us needing to be co-workers laboring in harmony under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who should be our supreme authority. Satan celebrates when he is able to distract us with illusions like authority and create divisions in the church because that renders the church spiritually impotent. I prefer instead to be a co-worker under God's guidance and laboring in His power as He directs instead of worrying about who He has put in leadership over me. I prefer to be growing the church instead of killing it. Please, let go of the issue and focus instead on being a co-worker under God's authority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "FC,\nIt's probably petty easy to take that kind of position, as long as you're either in full agreement with what the church teaches, or willing to walk away from what your own mind and experience may be telling you. I say that with no rancor whatsoever. \n\nOddly however, I've seen no shortage of folks here who might post what you posted, who seem to get pretty worked up when somebody like Francis seems to lean in favor of making changes that make them uncomfortable. Then it becomes something very different: a problematic (or worse) pope, a camel's nose under the tent wall, etc...\n\nBut it seems to me that to take the position you take in your post would require a willingness to accept ANY changes made by the hierarchy, and accept that change as being from God. Surely one can't have it both ways, right? Or is there a working assumption that only conservative voices can know and learn the truth?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I remember, about 25 years ago, sitting at lunch with a highly respected First Nations jurist in BC, and him telling me how much he appreciated what the nuns at a Catholic Residential school had given him. Just sayin'. Of course there were decent people teaching in those schools, along with the sadists, and there were students who got a basic education that made it possible for them to advance in the professional world. Was a lot of damage done? Definitely. Would there have been a much better way to achieve this? Doubtless, but we haven't come up with the solution yet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then it does make perfect sense for a Catholic not to read the bible\nsince he/she can't have \"the church\" at hand to understand. After many years as a Catholic I finally noticed that there are those outside the Church who understand the bible where Catholic priests don't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sensing bewilderment, brawn and brains presumed a challenge and assumed a \u201cbrains vs. brawn\u201d stance.\nIt\u2019s not a challenge. It\u2019s an invitation. Let\u2019s be brawny and brainy.\nAlmighty and all-knowing God,\nmay we accept the grace of baptism\nwherein you offer divine brawn and brains as inheritance to your children\nthrough your Son, our Brother and Lord Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I love the Liturgy! I love the weave of the elements of the Mass coming together each as a reference of another element. The Hymns fit the Liturgy of the Word, the Liturgical Season, and the Holy Spirit carries \"ALL OF US\" into the Liturgy of the Eucharist fully present, engaged, soaring. Each one bringing their gifts and their brokenness to the altar... I'm 70 and the Mass that I found all that at is the youth Mass on Sunday --- 4:30. I keep coming back - Sunday after Sunday. Why? because its all about the Source and Summit of our faith! Who would have thunk it. The observations made in the column and in the comments I've made. It is what had me wandering from parish to parish and Mass time to Mass time. I know I am were God looks for me because I am simply one in the Body of Christ. I'm not the music critic nor the climate controller for heating, cooling or lighting. I'm not caught off with an analysis of the Homily or the placement of the announcements. I found my field hospital.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus lists \u201cthou shalt not commit adultery\u201d amongst the commandments one must keep to enter into life in His dialogue with the rich young man.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CHI Franciscan is not going to relinquish one fraction of an ounce of it's power to a secular hospital or clinic anywhere. They have grabbed every possible chance to impose Catholic religious power and doctrine and will do anything they can to keep and increase it over everyone in every possible way at Harrison. They say Harrison is still secular, but ask them to explain how they deal with an ectopic pregnancy compared to what are considered best medical practices. Ask them how they will treat a patient dying in pain--will they give the patient enough pain relief even if it may eventually cause their death, as is permitted by a decision of the United States Supreme Court, or will they, according the Catholic ERDs, try to help the patient appreciate the \"redemptive power of pain\"? Will they honor the patient's religious beliefs to treatment or will they impose Catholic doctrine on them? \n We need a secular community hospital in Kitsap County rather than having to go to Tacoma.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article doesn't mention a motive for the bombing for some reason. Bet your life it if it had been a bombing of a Planned Parenthood clinic, Christianity would be in bright lights. \n\nWe are however informed that thousands of daffodils are being planted in solidarity. In solidarity with what exactly?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "National Origin...can also be Austria re Hitler. Just fyi. \n\nIn this Colorado cake bakers case-he simply stopped making all custom ordered wedding cakes quite a while ago. Exactly what the excellent ACLU attorney told me years ago;\n \"Do for one, do for all or do not do at all.\" \nYep.\n\nNext, understand very clearly I do not care at all what people do in their private lives and in fact have several LGBT friends but! \n\n * Sure will be very interesting when the next religious (not necessarily Christian) cake baker states both vocally and publically what they think of LGBT-because they can do just that by law. ***Then they must make the cake of course.***\n\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The cardinal says it sufficiently reflects a) Church tradition and b) the consensus of the highest prelates------as if the data, information, knowledge, and wisdom of the laity, including women, are not worthy of equal weight, let alone any new knowledge and research that might be enlightening.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What about the moral duty to not impoverish one's hardworking neighbors by enslaving them to your socialist agenda? \"You shall not steal\" is one of the 10 commandments. \"You shall provide unsustainably expensive medical insurance to your neighbors\" is not.\n\nJesus told Christians to feed the poor and care for the sick PERSONALLY. He didn't say \"Hold a gun to your neighbor's head to force him to feed the poor and care for the sick on your behalf.\"\n\nI am probably one of the most personally charitable people around, but I refuse to force my neighbors to give to my pet causes. I PERSONALLY owe God a moral duty to support and participate in the ministries He has laid on me to support and participate in, but that's because of a covenant between myself and God. I can't obligate anyone else to fulfill MY ministries. Other people may have ministries that are very different from mine and they need their income to fulfill their moral obligation to God's commands. Stop stealing from one another!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We don't punish people based on what they \"may\" do but what they actually do. Neither Catholic moral teaching nor U.S. law accepts the premise of preemptive punishment, and certainly not preemptive capital punishment.\n\nBesides, violent crime inside prisons isn't done just by convicted murderers but by a variety of offenders. Do you think we should execute them all?\n\nWhat you're talking about is a matter of prison reform, which I'm entirely for. But it makes no sense to say that we should execute people because prisons aren't safe. That doesn't fix the problem, it just compounds it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"He should just shut up and stop being a leftie politician\". Being a student of history, you probably already know that the magesterium that surrounded Jesus said pretty much the same thing about Him. \"Who does this guy think He is\"? He was tampering with minds that had become stagnant with performing meaningless rituals and outdated laws. He was upsetting all that had previously been deemed \"holy\". Prior to His manhood He had history of being a migrant to Egypt during desperate times and well understood the fear and anxiety of people forced to leave their homes thru no fault of their own. Hospitality was a given in His culture. Maybe this \"bogogilo Jesuit\" who loves Jesus so much ponders these things about His Master as he moves us forward to something more in keeping with Jesus's original vision for His Church. It ain't ever going to be perfect for any of us, Petrus, No matter what's out there in the way of Catholic ritual, your mere presence honors Him appropriately.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see it's still impossible to make any kind of comment about Trump's popularity or positions here, without people chiming in to say that I'm trying to sell Trump to the forum. All this does is sidetrack the conversation. \n\nWhether you think Trump is pro life or not, the fact is that judging from Catholic media, a great many Catholics do believe his pro life position. \n\nIt's certainly not George Weigel's opinion that Al Smith should be shut down, because of Trump's past.\n\nAnd as for the pro movement, they are actually divided on Trump. One Lifesite columnist's view:\n\n\"Another reality is that there are differing views on Trump within the LifeSite team, some pretty intense. LifeSite management considers that to be healthy for objective journalism.\"\n\nSo let's have a reasoned discussed here, a civil discussion, without resorting to \"nice try\" and other shots that you wouldn't care for if they were directed at your views.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Ordinariates were set up with parishes like OLA in mind. In fact, they pioneered the Anglican Use. No other AU parish was impeded by their Latin rite bishop to join the Ordinariate. Anglican Use parishes should get the same deal the Eastern rite Catholics get to protect their patrimony from unscrupulous Latin rite bishops who view them as a cash cow or who don't like that cradle Latin Catholics find a home there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An out-of-touch academic if there ever was one, this DeSanctis. Circularized churches are distracting to us pewsitters and de-emphasize the union of our prayer to that of the priest offering the sacrifice of the Mass. We didn't ask for them and they are jarring. And fan-shaped naves with stadium seating are too similar to theaters, contributing to a habit of being there to be entertained and not to participate actually in the Mass.\n\nAnd Catholics know that the sanctuary rail is there for reasons of liturgical theology, not clericalism. It has to do with what happens at Mass; inflating the status of the priest is a reason simply made up by wreckers of the past generation. Nobody who advocates rails does so for reasons DeSanctis makes up for them.\n\nFeuerhard would've done well to interview a few practicing architects (maybe even Stroik!) and some of the laity who seek out and prefer the arrangement that grew up with the Church over the centuries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "you know Jesus CMD?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus asked us to follow Him and Love God and our Neighbours as God loves us. In other words, be loving and merciful as God is loving and merciful. Everyone is invited. Noone is turned away. Some Catholics seem to think they are the only ones worthy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Trump pledged never to forget...the people of faith who put him in the White House.\"\n\nWell, of the evangelical Christian faith, anyway....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Knights have quasi-diplomatic status; in that realm, they claim to be \"Sovereign.\" But they also have the characteristics of a religious order; in that arena, do you think their 'sovereignty' trumps that of the Sovereign Pontiff? Some members, including the leadership, make the traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience; others make simple promises. As a Catholic order, they surely recognize the authority of the pope and will defer to him. Or maybe they won't. If they don't, they can sever the relationship with the church. That may not make much difference to them. They can certainly carry on the trappings of a military order without the ancillary trapping of a religious order.\nObviously the American Sisters are better religious than the Knights are, and take their religious vows more seriously than the Knight do; but then the Sisters aren't trying to do double duty as a medieval military order.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Michael, there were hundreds of Cardinals who remained silent as clerical abuse was covered up. All of them! That was their sin. Corruption and heavy handedness were way down the food chain in comparison. \n\nSome of the Traddies have been getting their cilicies in a fankle over Francis' address to the Curia. Francis got it right. Any claims members of the hierarchy may have had to sanctity or to consider themselves moral arbriters over peoples' lives, disappeared over the previous two Popes. 'Worms', he called them.\n\nYou are correct that it's time we got it right. And Francis seems to be acting with great wisdom in that department. Those who acknowledge what they did, you have a repentant man, a solid requirement in my book, for any leader. Those who don't and who want to continue their Catholic 'routine-ism', - careful the door doesn't hit them in the @sses on their way out.\n\nThe number of departments and how they are organised would then become less relevant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words, since the Knights don't support NCR's PC socialist utopia ideal, they are \"divisive.\"\n\nLook at this this way, NCR. The Knight's popularity with Catholics is the reason why they are so well funded. On the other hand, NCR, popular support of progressive Catholicism is on a steady decline. You guys being the flagship of the ProgCath movement, I can see how you're worried about the Knight's success. Maybe it's time to come up with a more compelling message to the public; you might start with choosing a different chief spokesperson, i.e. one whose main interest in life isn't his pets.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would guess that 99%+ of lay Catholics, and readers of NCR, have no interest in these debates between Latin Mass aficionados and aficionados of the post-Vatican II Mass in the vernacular that MSW seems so fixated upon. It's just not something we ever think about. Whatever type of Mass people want to go to, let them go to it. The divisions between conservatives and liberals in the church are not based on this question but run deeper than this and the Mass question is largely just an outlet for these deeper divisions. Also, to some extent this feels like a generational issue. For most of us post-baby boomers, this feels like an argument we walked in on, don't fully understand, and don't care about. I would guess most boomers also feel this way. Let's just all try to do better to get along. Latin Mass devotees should reach out and befriend a vernacular Mass devotee and vice versa. The polarization in our country is promoted in our church by articles like this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I rated it as both good and civil. Too bad it's gone.\n\nI don't know how or why we'd expect the people who perform abortions to treat those remains respectfully, but I absolutely expect it of a priest, especially one who has made a career of crusading for respect for all human life starting in the womb.\n\nAgain, the off-topic bit about saints, whose relics and remains are kept in special caskets and reliquaries. It's hard to imagine a church that has such high regard for canonized saints to treat their human remains in any but a respectful way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And like many former Catholics, bet she had good reasons!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trying to eliminate the religious wars supposedly based on Machiavelli only gets you back to 1512. But then, 300 years of religious wars eliminated is better than nothing. \n\nYou can eliminate:\n\nThe War of the League of Cambrai, sometimes known as the War of the Holy League \nand the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.\n\nand the Spanish conquest of Yucat\u00e1n\n\nand The First War of Kappel (Erster Kappelerkrieg) was an armed conflict in 1529 between the Protestant and the Catholic cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy during the Reformation in Switzerland\n\nand The Second War of Kappel (Zweiter Kappelerkrieg) was an armed conflict in 1531 between the Protestant and the Roman Catholic cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy during the Reformation in Switzerland.\n\nand The Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549 \n\nand", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The pre-Vat II church only preached the gospel of fear, not Jesus' Good News of love, service, forgiveness and peace -- I was there for 25 years of it, complete with 100% Catholic education. There was plenty of \"hell\" included then, especially for the grievous sins of eating meat on Friday, \"impure thoughts\" in an curious eight-year-old's imagination, sassing a priest, etc. We learned an awful lot about the rules, rules, rules, the primacy of an abusive institution, yet very little about the essence of Jesus' Message of hope and love. \n\nThe Council was called for many valid reasons.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jim, your clear about where you are in this process. You didn't waste your time in all the years you have worked to bring understanding to people about LGBT issues. You and many others made a difference and it shows - in wide acceptance of the full humanity and an insistence on equal rights by LGBT and non-LGBT people. \n\nI has happen in some faith groups and not other, particularly not in the Catholic Church hierarchy. But that speaking up has made a difference in the attitude of most Catholic people here, in Ireland, and in many European countries. And many of us are not going to stop speaking up. I haven't been fighting this battle all my life and I still have some energy left to give it.\n\nSo, still keep speaking up here and where ever else you comment. No one else has your pith, your voice, or the vast store of quotes that make sharp and often hilarious points. Whether you will it or not, you inspire. And I thank you for that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic understanding of \"love\" is willful and happy sacrifice for the true good of another.\n\nAnd it's this sort of love that results in true joy!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the staff and followers of CM celebrate the sacraments and try to build up unity in the church.\nI really don't think they have anger toward anyone. \nPerhaps they have some disagreements with some of NCR's writers and readers. Then again I don't \nagree with everything in NCR as well as I don't agree with everything in the Nat'l Catholic Register.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So what else is new? Nothing, only the degree. The MatSu was invaded by the spillover from the Pipeline/Oil field boom of the 1970s. Most of the farmers(Old Depression Socialists)cashed out the land and retired to the Lower 48/Hawaii. The real estate barons carved up the farms into 1 acre plots for new occupants to \"live off the land\". The Texans/Okies flush with oil cash created anti-government enclaves where \"free market\" criminals roamed the land with virtually no law enforcement. Gangs of adults and youths burglarized at will with little to impede them in \"off the grid\" houses hidden in woods from criminal activity. The entire borough has been a haven for criminals ever since. Add in anti-government Republican government, no taxes, fundamentalist christian religion, no law, for the pure petri dish of anarchy masked as CONservative Nirvana. No end in sight in a state in the throes of imploding from the massive looting by the Oil Monopoly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The rejection of much of what Christians believed regarding Faith and Morals. \nAbortion, contraception, divorce and remarriage, co-habitation, sex outside of marrriage, homosexuality are now accepted in society. The same with lying and cheating as long as one gets away with it and especially against the State or large Corporations. These things always went on but were recognised for what they were, wrong, sinful. No longer is this the case.\nWhat is wrong with obedience? Obedience is submitting ones will to the will of God out of love of God. The most sublime example of this is Christ bowing to the will of the Father, \"Not my will but Thine be done.\"\nSt Paul tells us that, \"Christ became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, because of this God exalted Him and gave Him a name which is above all other names.\"\nWhy is it different now? Do we no longer have to obey the will of God? How else would we know the will of God except through the His Church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "SCOTUS member Justice Sonia Sotomayor says that she is a \"lapsed-Catholic\", so I would suspect that since she was a heroine of the liberal set, she was not asked about her religious ties with her church. She is only one of six members of the court who are Catholic. Justice Roberts, Alito, Kennedy, Thomas and Gorsuch all are Catholics, as was Justice Scalia. Were all of these men grilled about their religious ties so viciously by these leftist Senators?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rochdale68, how much does a teacher in your private school make? And is it a fair wage? \n\nI hope it's a venerable private school with some history and not the kind of place that might file for bankruptcy. I had a friend who was a teacher at a private school in Alberta where a former PC Premier was on the Board which went bankrupt two months after he began teaching. He lost a month's pay and parents a half year's tuition while the public system had to pick up the pieces.\n\nI hope your kids are at a good private school. Some don't deliver what they promise. Some are havens for troubled rich kids. \n\nOf course, some parents move their children to the Catholic School system because they think it's more rigorous. I'm not sure of that. And some people pay more for a house in a good school district.\n\nMy kids did just fine in the public system. And they're doing great at post-secondary institutions. Much has to do with what happens at home. Education is a family affair.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I anticipated that this sort of thing would come up sooner or later when the ordinariate was established. It isn't just Roman Catholicism these people were attracted to. They were also attracted to a particular brand of independence from central authority that doesn't jibe so well with the hierarchical model of the institutional RCC. Conflict was probably inevitable.\n\nIt also sounds like there is a bit of a cult of personality forming around Fr. Phillips, and that is always a red flag for a bishop. If Archbishop Garcia-Siller is concerned about that, he's wise to pull Phillips out sooner rather than later. Delaying action in these situations is almost never the right move. It only gives people more time to dig in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah Catholic church censorship ... I remember it well here in Ireland. Gay Byrne , host of the \"Late, Late, Show\" on national tv; was having a lighthearted quiz among couples from the audience. They had separated the individual members of each couple. out of earshot. He asked one man what colour nightie his wife wore on their honeymoon; he replied that it was transparent; she replied that she wasn't wearing any. That was a Saturday night in 1966 .\n Next day being Sunday; Bishop Thomas Ryan of Clonfert (east Galway) denounced the \"Late Late Show\" from the pulpit at Mass and said \"he was disgusted by the disgraceful performance\". The newspapers had a field day.\nDuring the 1950's/60's at the height of the \"Showband\" scene & dance halls for young people; the hierarchy banned dancing during Lent each year across the country. Thousands of musicians were out of work for 46 days; unless they went overseas to entertain Irish communities. \nThese are just two lighthearted examples.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have also the ACTIONS of the early Church, continued in the middle ages, continued during the renaissance, through the enlightenment, up to the present day. \n\nContinuity, unchanged, unbroken. A witness going all the way back to Jesus's time. \n\nRemarkable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you have the Jesus thing figured out pretty well. EFC makes two errors, commonly associated with fundamentalists, in his/her attempt to use Luke 22:36 to suggest that Jesus approved of violence: First: s/he fails to account for the context of the passage -- Jesus\u2019 exasperation with his apostles\u2019 continuing failure to understand his mission. Second: s/he tries to lift one passage from one Gospel and set it against the witness of the rest of the New Testament and of the early church. This is sometimes referred to as \u201cproof-texting\u201d; it\u2019s not a catholic (small c intended) approach to scripture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "D'Souza's Wikipedia bio seems a little harsh...\n\nIn August 2010, D'Souza was named president of The King's College, a Christian liberal arts college then housed in the Empire State Building in Manhattan... On October 18, 2012, D'Souza resigned his post at The King's College following a press report that he had shared a hotel room at a Christian conference with a woman whom he introduced as his fiancee, despite still being married to his wife of twenty years. D'Souza called the report vicious and \"worthy of Christian condemnation.\"\n\nIn January 2014, D'Souza was indicted by federal prosecutors for campaign finance law violations\u2026 In May 2014, D'Souza pleaded guilty to one felony count of making illegal contributions in the names of others\u2026 the court sentenced D'Souza to five years probation, eight months in a halfway house and a $30,000 fine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You stated beautifully what I was thinking. What most offended me was saying that we're concerned, as Catholics, with \"religious liberty,\" which is code for \"hating gay people.\" What MOST concerns me as a Catholic is income inequality, private prisons, nuclear proliferation, and global warming. He's trying to do the whole \"Evangelicals and Catholics\" artificial grouping that Evangelicals try to do when attempting to appeal to my sensibilities. It's obvious after reading the letter he's never spent any time ever actually talking to Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"highest structural response possible\" is the formation (eventually) of an ad hoc USCCB \"committee\" on racism is an appalling comment.\n\nIt is also an appalling statement indicating a management quagmire of ineffectiveness that masks as a religious leadership organization. Where \"statements\" eventually rung out of such a committee pass for pastoral leadership, and are expected to \"solve\" the issue.\n\nThe \"highest response\" possible is for all 200 bishops plus in the US heading up all those dioceses to immediately and publicly condemn the recent horrific comments and behavior of the president and the behavior of the anti Semitic, anti black, anti just about everything protesters.\n\nAnd immediately these bishops in all these 195 dioceses should instruct the clergy in these dioceses to address these issues with the faithful and evoke appropriate response....\n\nAnything less is nowhere good enough.\n\nBut it WILL satisfy the USCCB, which is a feckless organization, unlike Jesus in the Temple", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...negotiating with a certain dictator in Germany....\"\n\nYou mean why did it go \"so wrong\" for you, but certainly not for me and Catholics I know. The tragedy is that the Reich-Vatican concordat and the earlier concordat with the Weimar Republic and the concordats with Bavaria, Prussia and Baden didn't stop National Socialist attacks on the CC during the 1930's, especially after Pius XI's encyclical MIT BRENNENDER SORGE -- which only triggered the Nazi state to levy accusations and charges against priests and increase their arrest throughout Germany. All the concordat asked was that the state give the CC the right to fulfill its mission to proclaim the Gospel and administer the sacraments, which was giving to God, God's due, the worship due to Him through Catholic practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In my casual understanding of the story of homeless on the palace grounds I have been impressed by the (Christian) tolerant and compassionate response of the palace administrators, which seemed to me much in line with my admittedly uninformed thoughts of \"what would Liliuokalani do?\" However the actions of a few cross the line and make an untenable situation. There are no easy answers and ultimately this is a homeless issue not a palace issue. Hawaii and the nation need wayyy more mental health and drug treatment/education. I recently spoke to a very kind and gentle homeless man on the street who had obviously just been released from a hospital (still wearing his wrist band, bare feet) yet he could not string words together into a coherent sentence. How could this man be sent back onto the street? In a different case I followed the online blog of a young man who was trying to get treatment for meth addiction and there were no treatment spaces open to him for months.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems to me that the evangelical leaders should take it up with the authors of the article, not with the Pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe Sr. Simone does good work but she also needs to stand up for equality of ordination in our church and she has not. I have written her on this issue and received no answer back. \n\nNuns do not get a free pass with me. I fought for them with bloggers and other Catholics during the attack on the LCWR by the CDF. I am a bit peeved with how the LCWR was not transparent during the discussions with the Pope and Vatican and rather took for granted the support of the laity. They seemed to forget that not only nuns but all Catholic Women are hurt when they compromise the dignity of women and don't stand up for equal ordination in our church. Risk or not, what good is it to fight for the poor if you are causing more poor thru continuing to support one of its main roots, sexism? Everyone is accountable to stand up for Justice in our church and I have found our nuns lacking, and willing to compromise women's equality in our church to be left alone by the CDF. \n\nIt is disappointing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Archbishop Chaput's desire to have a smaller but holier Catholic Church reminds me of today's Gospel reading of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the temple. I felt, after reading the article, the Archbishop wanted both characters in this Catholic Church he envisioned, the faithful and the sinner. Does the Archbishop, then envision himself as the new Peter?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"trend\" you denigratingly refer to is the second Vatican Council. Meanwhile, another \"trend\" was wreaking havoc on/in America, the Vietnam War, which was based on a lie (Tongkin Bay) - a \"trend\" which, as Ken Burns and Lynn Novick show in their currently airing documentary, is a major cause of America's mayhem which grows worse by the day right up to today. Americhristianity has its source in the division sparked by the Vietnam War and the protest movements against it. It is a cult masking as \"Christian\" in which all of America's ugly traits, personified in Trump, whom WE elected, and who is the latest emanation of America's self-damaging refusal to come to terms with the reality of its own house divided. Rather than undertake the painful but healing Self-Examination, it is easier to flee from it with the call for a Leader, the Gun, and a cross draped in the flag (white supremacist ultra-nationalism). THIS is the \"trend\" which is the reality today. America grates itself kaput.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What \"Francis is trying to do is make our church a more pastoral one\", meaning a church that is people-focused in liturgy - what is consistent with the meaning of the word \"liturgy\".\nThe change is profoundly under way; it will not be stopped from moving in the direction of 'leitos ergon' (people-work) -- of course, we do want Pope Francis to have a long life so as to root more deeply the people-direction of church transformation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually the Church is okay with priests being married. There have been and still are married priests, especially in the Eastern rite. I would have no issue with married priests being permitted. The Church can change its mind on this matter since it is not a matter of doctrine although it has a few good reasons for making this the exception rather than the rule.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I bet you that evangelical Christians get elected in ridings with large evangelical populations and Chinese people in ridings with large Chinese populations. Makes sense to me, it's called being representative.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you wonder why countries like Canada are relatively peaceful? A large percentage of Canadians are NON-RELIGIOUS !\n-----\n\n\u201c Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law \u201d \n\nYou live in a very religious country where faith is enshrined within our highest democratic doctrines. We currently have a PM who is a devout Catholic. \n\nWhat you are espousing is the replacement of one set dogma for another. One set of intolerances for another set of intolerances. Ones set of bigotry for another set of bigotry. \n\nTrinity Western\u2019s legal win sets up Supreme Court showdown over Christian law school- vancouversun\n\n \u201cThis case demonstrates that a well-intentioned majority acting in the name of tolerance and liberalism, can, if unchecked, impose its views on the minority in a manner that is in itself intolerant and illiberal,\u201d concludes the 66-page unanimous decision signed by Chief Justice Robert Bauman and four other justices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The CDF used to be a part of a larger system of censorship where all Catholic scholars would seek imprimater and nihil obstat from their local ordinary and his theologians, with the CDF as a resource for that process. Going outside that process could get you on the Index of Forbidden Books. The CDF is a vestige of that process, most of which was gotten rid of in Vatican II and the papal degrees thereafter. Nowadays, if the CDF condemns your book, sales go through the roof. If you look at books that were once on the Index, you will find some of the best works of science and literature. So much for the infallibility of the Holy Office.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hopefully this courageous american bishop can teach the bishops in Guam based on the lessons learned here, on how best to protect the church against the attacks of the press and politicians who seem to believe they can dictate minimum standards of decency and then enforce them on God's One True Church. Of course, it goes without saying, as a member of the US Courageous Bishops, this man will be able to provide the Guam church with many new ideas about how to preserve the church's assets. I have no doubt Our Holy Father will handle this matter with the same propriety as he has past scandals. Perhaps his commission on abuse could get involved although it is probably very busy already, based on the results it has already produced.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 2\nFurther, we will make seek out alliances with secular thinker about abortion to see if perhaps very broad society-wide agreement could be reached about outlawing late term abortions. For instance, it is quite possible that an overwhelming number of people in some societies might agree that once a fetus has developed to the point it is viable outside the womb, abortion should no longer be allowed. \n\nFurther, since poverty, specifically a mothers anticipation she will not have the means to properly rear her children, is motive for abortion, we will make common cause to fight for generous welfare support of children to insure no child lives in want in our rich societies.\n\nFurther, we will encourage the Catholic community to be generously open to adopting the newborns of women who might willingly carry their unwanted pregnancies to term, even is this means not having their own. \n\nEtc. etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting article - that speaks to many truths. Over 40% of Republicans have more trust in Putin than their own current President! Trump is, without doubt, an abomination as a human being, having few real redeeming qualities. His worship of money, power and himself is pathological - and he makes no attempt to hide or sugarcoat it. Even supposed devout Christians and Evangelicals support him, while knowing that Christ teaches that Trump (and those like him) represent the antithesis of their supposed Christianity.\n\nA mass delusion, coupled with irrational hatred has taken hold. Men with young daughters see no problems with Trump's crude misogyny. His overt racism and contempt for the poor goes unchallenged - even by those disadvantaged by Trump's own actions!\n\nWe can only hope that the fallout from all this madness is not too crippling for the rest of the planet. Trump's clear agenda of profit before humanity and all living things, threatens us all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What matters is the divine institution of any given sacrament, and the signs are related to the grace, and to the divine command.\n\nMelchizedek was a king - male. He was in the same category in Judaism with Elijah, the Messiah ben Joseph, and the Messiah ben David. All are described as being \"without father and without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the son of God abiding forever\".\n\nIn short, he was a prefigure of Jesus Himself.\n\nJesus is not a gnostic genderless \u201cbody-soul\u201d but an actual male human being. He did not die a genderless \u201cbody-soul\u201d but died as human male.\n\nThe \u201cbody-soul\u201d reference appears to be coming from the gnostic-theosophic literature as you are using it.\n\nhttp://wn.rsarchive.org/Books/GA009/English/RSP1965/GA009_c01_4.html\n\nhttp://theforbiddenreligion.com/body-soul-and-spirit.htm\n\nBut the Catholic Church teaches that Jesus was a man like us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR is the publication we need if we are going to keep young people to the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are any of these the same Eastern churches who will be benefitting from the Ash Wednesday collection in the US? Just wondering, since we Western Catholics are being asked to help Eastern Catholic churches \" to rebuild facilities and establish ministries\" (from my parish's Sunday Bulletin).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are the one jumping to conclusions on flimsy evidence - that's called prejudice.\n\nI do not have to defend myself against your prejudiced conclusions.\n\nHowever, I'll be glad to expand further because I enjoy rational argumentation.:-)\n\nIf the citizens decide that everything considered, having the cemetery is a good thing, good for them. But if some don't, there are good reasons, too. Not everyone appreciates the necessity of living next to a cemetery, even one where their relatives or neighbours are buried, let alone one that has no connection to them or their town, so will attract crowds of outsiders. They are running out of space for their own apparently.\n\nMost question the need for separate religious cemeteries at all. Ironically perhaps for some, the more religious Catholics are the most sympathetic.\n\nBut I question the rationale given for that necessity, which does not sound \"rational\" at all. See above.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are the words in the title intended to be as they are?, or are they just an example of a common error in grammar? Viz. \"science and religion's search for truth\": if we think, as we might, that science and religion have their own respective searches for truth, then the first word should be \"science's\"; but if the writer is making a point that they both share one and the same search, then let it stand.\n\nGuy Consolmagno is quite right, that a theology based on scientific ignorance isn't worth the worship. But such a theology comes not so much from Christians' alleged principled objections to science as such, but rather from their (rather modern) idolatry of the Bible, and their finding their own security only in a strictly literal interpretation of biblical texts. Fundamentalists were first foes of critical biblical scholarship before ever they became foes of deep-time cosmology and geology, and Darwin's theory of the origin of species and their subsequent diversification.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cI wonder sometimes if Jesus liked everyone he loved. I don't think so\u201d\n\nMariam I responded to a similar comment recently \n\n\u201cFather, forgive them for they know not what they do.\u201d (Luke 23:34)\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t doubt that Jesus found His way of compassionate, forgiving and unconditional love difficult at times\u201d---------------------------------\n.\n\n My reflection on Jesus in His human nature is that He had to struggle with the reality of sin He would have been aware of its corrupting influence on the human heart and would have had to struggle with it; He would know the inner reality of every man in the reality of Himself as a fallen man.\nWith this struggle with His own human reality in humility He would see His own human nature and because of this \u201cdifficulty\u201d does not come into the equation as it is a known reality in that he sees himself in those who persecute Him he \u201cknows\u201d what they do hence\n \u201cFather, forgive them for they know not what they do.\u201d\n\nContinued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"That means their critiques are amplified by a media industry dominated by, and geared toward, the English-speaking West. Catholics and churchmen in the rest of the world often scratch their heads at the debates that inflame the faithful in North America.\"\n\nExactly! The dumbing down of the news media in the English-speaking world directly led to Donald Trump's election as president. The media now spread lies, hate and fear with shameless abandon. It is little surprise that the media regurgitates Ray Burke's bloating bile and gives air time to loudmouths like Bill Donahue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Some\" Catholics seem not to care, I would suggest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Patriarchal sex/gender theory is *not* revealed truth, well except for the revelation of the Father and the Son, oh also that thing in St Paul about wives being subject to husbands, oh and that extensive work - Hebrews - which describes in some detail Christ as the High Priest - a male only role in Israel. And a few other places.\n\nQuestion 1: see above\n\nQuestion 2:\"patriarchy\" was assumed in the OT, is part of the Natural Law, and the TOB is not relevant to the priesthood\n\nQuestion 3: Trent did not answer impertinent questions.\n\nQuestion 4: The Catechism is a compendium, not an exhaustive treatise on the theology of orders.\n\nQuestion 5: The answer is not relevant to the question being answered.\n\nQuestion 6: See 5\n\nQuestion 7: A priest in the Divine Liturgy is the icon of Christ the High Priest, a male, offering wheaten bread and wine of the grape in this anamnesis of the perfect Sacrifice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very bad news for you: it's doctrine, not discipline.\n\nConfirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Unction, and Orders can only be administered by a validly ordained bishop or priest, Orders only by a bishop.\n\nThe Church has faced this issue many times, most recently in the West in the Protestant Revolt, and the Catholic, Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox churches all agree.\n\nIn the case of the Catholic Church, this was formally declared at the Council of Trent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My comment was in regards to your statement about Cardinal Burke. He is a man of great intelligence and knowledge regarding the Catholic Faith. Cardinal Burke, Bishop Schneider, Cardinal Sarah and a few other good prelates, with the help of our Blessed Mother, will be the shepherds that lead the flock back from apostasy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why does the National Catholic Reporter call millions of Americans \"evil\" for voting for the current president?\n\nMichael Sean Winters should be fired, TODAY.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The four cardinals have become the birds of prey, the colors they wear remain the same, but vulture like behavior betray them. If they get their way the church will not flounder into the 21st century, it will become irrelevant. Pope Francis is a profile in courage. We no longer can remain still in a static world known in the first centuries. If the issue is 'worthiness' to receive communion none of us can take the measure. Rather, communion MUST be heralded as; NOURISHMENT FOR THE SPIRITUALLY IMPAIRED. If the question is asked; who might they be, all is lost among those doing the asking. Jesus did offer to Judas, did He not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "See, Judge and Act have always been great bywords for those of us called to social justice. As a moderate, I find Bishop McElroy's statement somewhat extreme and would hate to think of young progressives rolling into battle under his banner on behalf of immigrants before considering what young, Catholic conservatives are promulgating about the issue from their own camp. \n\nhttps://townhall.com/tipsheet/timothymeads/2017/10/29/the-catholic-church-actually-has-pretty-good-standards-for-immigration-n2402088\n\nLike most readers of NCR, I prefer my religious and political news as unfiltered as possible. As well, I try to keep abreast of both sides of an issue searching for truth wherever it can be found. Hope the above lends some balance to the discussion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ken Paxton, YOU forced me to send my daughters into the same pagan coven where my niece was impregnated by and then married to her stepfather. YOU protected the blood-soaked altar under the pentagram (aka \"the Texas star\") and YOU protected the abuse that led directly to the murder/suicide committed by a wounded 16-year old boy. I am a Christian and I stand with my President. States with \"official\" religions will be states without my federal tax dollars.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If it wasn't for the laity, the abuse scandal would still not be public. The Catholic people of Ireland dragged the truth out of the Bishops. \n\nOne of the most damaging events was fairly recent when their Cardinal was found to have been involved, as a younger priest, in the silencing of victims, making them sign papers in which they promised to be silent and never reveal what happened to them. When this came to light there were calls for him to resign immediately.\n\nHe responded by saying that he would spend the time between Easter and Pentecost in quiet reflection to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit on whether he should resign or not. Pentecost came and, lo and behold, the Holy Spirit had discerned the the 'good' Cardinal should stay on. Quelle surprise!\n\nThat was the last straw for a lot of Irish Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I made the reference in response to the explicit comment above how communion had been viewed in the history of the Church. Answering your question (no) doesn't resolve the underlying suspicion I have about the purported view above. They are distinct issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your bishop, like every other bishop, cannot go too far in discussing in public what is currently forbidden by the Church magisterium. It is a very difficult position they are in. For example, the study group formed by Pope Francis re: women deacons, hasn't issued a single word yet of their deliberations. It includes some very well known - and very vocal - advocates of ordaining women as deacons (i.e. Phyllis Zagano) and I have no idea how their work is progressing. But the issue is undergoing an important examination theologically (I will repeat here the problem of there being no solid evidence of ordained and fully invested female deacons in the entire history of the Church; and that I do not see that as being a reason not to do so now, only that we will have to \"invent\" the proper basis for a new doctrine) and we will have to, including our bishops, be patient and see what develops. Don't burden your bishop with what he cannot really do. Be your own voice and speak loudly!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No matter how much the US-based OSBM sisters of yore were Latinized, they still must have retained a certain amount of Eastern theology, because we did not get as much of that. And, then, at the end of grade 5, my family moved to an area where there was no Ukrainian Catholic parish (so, my parents started one), and they did not want to send us to a Latin-rite parochial school, because Latinization was going on full-force in the US at that time. So, I was spared much of the spending ginormous amounts of time in Purgatory.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sir, dissident Catholics might have \"moved on.\" \"The Church\" has not. What dissident Catholics believe is quite irrelevant. Do not confuse and conflate \"Dissident Catholics\" with \"The Church.\"\n\nNo one cares what what these guys think about human sexuality? Who cares what dissident Catholics think either?\nThe Church is not a democracy. I am sure the Arians in the fourth century thought the same thing: no one cares what these guys think about the identity of Christ. Heretics in every age have been saying that. \"Who cares what the bishops think? We are going to do it our way!\" Go do it your way. Go found another Protestant Church and show the bishops how you think it should be done. \n\nNo one threatens someone with eternal damnation for opposing the social teaching of the Church? That is news to me. Jesus seemed pretty clear that those who do not love and care for the poor are eternally doomed. Ever hear of the rich man and Lazarus?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"After the scandal, The Church has done more to protect kids than any other institution.\"\n\nI was 19 when my Mom called me at university and told me that our parish priest had been arrested for sexual offenses against children. I had to tell her on the phone that, no, I hadn't been touched when I was an altar boy but, yes, the rumours flew around, and, yes, we suspected x, y or z kid had been affected. Within three months, 11 kids came forward.\n\nAnd that was his FOURTH parish.\n\nNo institution that actively fights in court to keep this secret, who shuffled priests around from parish to parish when the rumours got too heavy, and who actively intimidated and bribed victims into silence gets to pretend that it's NOW got lily white hands and is the champion of children.\n\nSell that malarkey somewhere else. The church has to own those sins.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "i remember singing this song as a kid. \neven when i was 7 i understood there was something fundamentally wrong with it. \nwho were they teaching us to go to war with? i was a soldier in a christian war? really? i was 7!\n\nthe bible is as full of misogyny and subjugation as the quran. two peas in a pod. \n\ni love how modern christians judge their neighbors with the old testament and themselves with the new testament. lol", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It a sense, knowing that Trump will make a lot of things worse, but NOT knowing what, where, nor when, increases the trauma for politically aware sensitive souls like us. \n\nI would very much like to hear when you niece was in the heart of this storm and what she learned. Not reading Ukrainian, it is difficult for me to follow events closely, and I would very much like to hear about her experience. I'll send you my email address if anything you might convey should remain private (same procedure we used in Disqus to exchange private information, also works in Civit Comments).\n\nI know a Canadian-Ukrainian Jesuit priest who was at the Maidan, and reading one or two short reports from him was striking. He stressed the religious/spiritual nature of the event for many of the protesters, and the cooperation of Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's missing here is forgiveness and the inability to recognize that people can and do change. If we used the same criterion for St. Paul who persecuted Christians for many years during his life, we would have missed out on everything that this spiritual giant had to offer us in the New Testament. Why be so quick to judge past actions so many years ago without looking at the totality of a person's life. Whatever happened to the concept of metanoia (a change of heart)? Few people are perfect from the day they were born until the day that they die. I think it is wonderful witness to the grace of Christ that this man who was steeped in racism as as young man was able to shake off these shackles, turn his life around and dedicate himself to building up the people of God. It should be people like this who we look up to because of their dramatic change and hope that with the grace of God we can accomplish as much in our own lives!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RusselAnthony,\n\"However, during his time, he probably knew all of his followers, each by name.\"\n\nTrue. And if Jesus was around today running things, He would know everything about the church bureaucracy and those running it. I doubt He would have let bureaucratic dead wood and duplication of functions get in there that is normal in most all bureaucracies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A venn diagram would help explain. Lots of people are Agnostic Atheists. Probably are some Catholic Protestants and Protestant Catholics as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not civil. Your recent comments seem to have a certain \"stalkiness\" to them. \n\nAs Jesus said evil begins within us..not what goes in the mouth, but what comes out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And when the evidence based theory/fact of evolution is brought up, how many of the faithful come a scoffing. Jesus ( if he existed ) could have been all three, started out a good man, progressed to becoming a good liar before finally reaching the exalted pinnacle of lunacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd like to believe that tourists will know that the Museum is the work and instrument of fundamentalist evangelicals with literal views of scripture. But, such is the religious illiteracy of Americans (added to the Museum's self-validating location near the Mall) that many will see this as the \"official\" view of Holy Writ. Will the culture warriors in your church, good RC, do a partial disclaimer? Will they say the Hobby L.folks are allies in the wars but be careful how they determine the canon or read the text?\n\nThe Bible as lit. course of study in public education could be OK where the curriculum carefully places the book within a secular history of the ancient world, makes no claims on the historical validity or literalism of the text and scrupulously avoids anything approaching religious proselytism. Does anyone think the proponents would agree to that? Therein lies the problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Under worship on their webpage is a man an child and they are dressed as chickens.\"\n\nActually, this was the Sunday School, and we don't know the reason for or context surrounding the dress-up. \n\n\"Music says \"eclectic\" and mentions Prince songs.\"\n\nPrince was an excellent musician, which is why his work has been turned into a symphony currently being performed by a number of North American orchestras. It doesn't seem a stretch. \n\n\"Christmas Eve celebration mentions the \"legend of Jesus' birth\" and the \"kooky characters\" involved.\"\n\nDo you not agree that there are \"legends\" that have surrounded the birth of Jesus, such as the date of his birth? Or the setting? In the West, it's a stable; in the East, it's a cave. How about the wise men? Did they arrive on time or much later? While I agree that the word \"kooky\" may have been an unfortunate word choice, there's nothing in this particular line-up that is flagrantly anti-Christian or Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, the Winnipeg statement was addressed to the faithful, who had been thrown into quite a state of consternation by HV, and it was designed to try and reconcile them to HV. That was the concern of the Canadian bishops. And it was obviously justified. \n\nThey were not \"calling out\" the Pope. I don't know a single person who is confused by AL. As far as I can see, the claim that it causes confusion is only made by people who elevate simple \"yes-no\" propositions over the frequently (if not always) \"ambiguous\" and \"confusing\" parables and actions actually used by our Lord to convey the Gospel teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's say something as well about the odious National Catholic Bioethics Center, which releases \"papers\" on hundreds of topics based on cherry-picked sources and research conflated with Fr. Tad's opinions or personal testimonies solicited to back up their positions. Nothing to do with science whatsoever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed and well stated.\n\nMSW - you might have wanted to read this post that has experts and came out days before:\n\nhttp://www.praytellblog.com/index.php/2017/07/05/is-summorum-pontificum-divisive/\n\nRead through the comments - some context:\n\nPaul Inwood was liturgy director for the UK/Wales bishops and says:\n\n\"Not only is SP divisive, it was known in advance that it would be divisive. I have said before on this blog that the Bishops of France and England & Wales, who saw the document prior to publication, begged Benedict not to promulgate it. They and their consultants realized how divisive it would be, and what this document would do:\n\n(a) curtail the authority of the bishop as chief liturgist of his diocese;\n (b) encourage proselytising by those who have never accepted the post-conciliar liturgical reforms.\n\nBoth of those came to pass.\n\nNote - folks such as Knaweiski from the Wyoming Catholic College are part of the right wing backlash that do not accept VII.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What if he's the resurrection of Jesus?\nWhat if he's the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler?\nHow about we just stick to reason and judge him on his track record...which isn't good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our pope needs to understand that while he secures the hatred of sexism in our church, he is one of the biggest deflaters of many women's big hopes and dreams. He is the one telling them they don't count and don't matter because he would fix the wrong in this church crushing women called to priesthood if he felt they did count and mattered. \n\nPope Francis: Be the change you want to see in our world and in our church. \n\nThere is no unity, peace, joy without equal treatment, sacraments, and justice for all members of our church. \n\nHateful discriminating ordination practices and rules diminish & drain the humanity of all women in our church, even the ones that don't wish to be priests. \n\nPeople can't just forget about continuous abuse - you need to attack the problem of misogyny, not just call people secular when they point out the real damage these rules cause or say they are enthusiasm dampeners when they say this abuse needs to end.\n\nIt is within your power!-change what is wrong!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "JP II ceased being pope more than ten years ago. JP II himself had NO power to bind his successors to any particular perspective, whethe it agreed with his own judgment or not. The same must be said of Pope Francis, as well as his successors. There are times when discontinuity in church teaching is necessary and called for, and this is one of those times!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I don't quite see how you read this to say that the Norwegian Union is threatening to secede from the SDA church. They are enumerating possible outcomes.\"\n\nLoren, the implications are obvious. You don't state the possible outcome in this context without it being a \"threat\" as a possible option they would exercise if the situation was such as it demanded this option.\n\nGod has used the SDA church for His intended purpose and had the church remained loyal to God's intended goal, it could have been what God intended from the start.\n\nThat's not possible now. The early church could have been the only church, but adopted Sunday and dis-qualified itself with no possibility of turning back.\n\nThe SDA church adopted and endorsed WO and now there is no turning back. It is simply not possible. How long God can still use this instrumentality is unknown. Just like the early church still taught some gospel and people were converted. But the die is cast. No turning back now. Too late.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Devos attended private christain school through high school, an has a bachelors degree in Business administration&political science from a christian college. She has No experience in Education and is severely uneducated for the position. She also owns sudo science medical clinics that make unscientific claims and do not release findings for peer review. This is another attempt to push religion, and creationism on children, It's an attack on separation of church&state, and education itself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cWhy don\u2019t you talk to me?\u201d Pilate demanded. \u201cDon\u2019t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?\u201d Then Jesus said, \u201cYou would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above.\" John 19:10-11 (NLT)\n\nFor all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. Romans 13:1 (NLT)\n\nMany in our country prayed prior to the election for God's hand in deciding who became our next President. Now it is reasonable for us also to pray for God's hand to be upon our new President, to give him wisdom, to surround himself with wise counsel, and to have an open heart and be led by God's holy spirit in every decision he makes.\n\nMr. Trump, having been given his position, power and authority by God himself will also be held accountable to God for how he uses them. The manner in which Mr. Trump uses his authority will determine how successful he is and we are as a nation. God IS there, as proven by leaders both good and bad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like all Traditional (True) Catholics, I am breathing a sigh of relief now that we have a Christian Leader set to take over the White House and end the War on Christianity. With the Bishops' Chosen One in charge we will see this country led to a New Golden Age of Christianity, in which Christians, taking the cue from the New President and the USCCB, begin to treat one another as these leaders treat others, and the Country truly becomes the Nation the USCCB deserve.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I imagine it is a truly profound experience, to open a coffin and parcel out a corpse. It absolutely does not reek of medieval superstition and is completely consistent with Jesus' teachings emphasizing the importance of material objects.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't see a post from \"Smarty Alec\" today, but perhaps I could answer for him. No one minds admitting the supremacy of God. The supremacy of those who claim to speak for God is much more questionable, which is why we separate church from state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are walking out on Pence, and you say that they would walk out on Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but unless 'Revelations given by the Saints' are declared a DOGMA, the universal church does not have to consider these revelations as binding at all.\n\n\nI certainly agree with your idea that the 'true Divine mercy Image' is an image of a Broken Man. And I agree with your concepts of extending Absolution to those who haven't been able to receive Holy Communion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"That idea of \u201cwe are at our best when we are together\u201d is one he hopes the regional World Meeting can lift up as a counternarrative to others that emerged during the presidential campaign -- primarily, narratives expressing xenophobia, racial hierarchy, and inequality as a result of scarcity.\"\n\nThis is exactly how the church can be counter cultural. When it walks with the marginalized when hate and racism are trendy, the church can live Gospel values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He may have lost the argument in the minds of lay 'Catholics' and most citizens but at least he will find that he has won it on the Day of Judgement before the throne of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lauren Markoe's article makes the common (but unacceptable in a religion reporter) error of generalizing eucharistic theology. She also gets Real Presence confused with transubstantiation.\n\nShe claims that Protestants only believe in symbolism, by which she apparently means \"memorialist\". We gather only to remember the Last Supper because Jesus told us to do so. Except some of us do so much more, like liturgy, and epiclesis and offering a sacrificial offering of praise and thanksgiving, and believe as J.C. said that we take his Body and Blood, thereby receiving the great graces of that sacrament. How he is present we leave to mystery or consubstantiation depending upon denomination. Scripture does not say which grain was used at that supper. It simply says bread, and if you are obsessed with historical fidelity, why the bleached tiny wafer?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For 35 years during the pontificates of St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI, the so-called conservatives held sway in the Vatican. During more than three full decades, policies conceived, created and implemented by conservatives directed the Church in matters great and small. It is no secret that our beloved Mother Church is in the midst of a long decline in attendance in the developed world, and that the conservatives really have no idea how to cope with it. It is time for a new approach and emphasis - one that is geared to serving, not being served, and one that desires mercy, not sacrifice. We've had the 'authoritarian church' for 35 years - let's give the 'serving church' a try. You can't go wrong imitating Jesus ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your argument is bolstered by the fact that female ordinations are limited to the European and North American branches of the Anglican Communion. Elsewhere it is rejected or accepted only in rare instances. First world Anglicans have always had a certain \"gentry holy club\" feel that is far different from Catholicism which exists largely as a complete subculture. It a recipe for schism among Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, the trolls are out to get the Liberals. It might be wise for someone to educate them on not putting their feet in their mouths. Trudeau is a Catholic, for example. He just met with the Pope. Who is hate-mongering--the columnist? The Globe?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I said, I did. \n\nNor am I an apologist for \"this man.\" \n\nAnd yes - you have made your points. I am sorry you seem to be close-minded on the subject, but I guess you accept as truthful those who will take random, parsed quotes out of context and in conjunction with other buzz words intended to incense, use them in order to further their point of view and disparage those with whom they disagree...even when it is pointed out that is a disingenuous and yes, even dishonest, thing to do.\n\nI'm not at all sure that's the Christian thing to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@Spanish Castle Magic What bygone century are you living in? Or was that an attempt at satire?\n\nEven in \"Catholic\" Qu\u00e9bec most young couples raising children aren't bothering to get married, let alone by a Cleric in a Temple. \nHere in BC \"No Religion\" has overtaken Catholic as the top response when Stats Can pokes its nose into that private topic.\n\nhttp://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/quiet-revolution/\n\n\"Most notably, the Catholic Church's role in society diminished\"\n\nhttp://www.people-press.org/2002/12/19/among-wealthy-nations/\n\n\"Religion is much more important to Americans than to people living in other wealthy nations. Six-in-ten (59%) people in the U.S. say religion plays a very important role in their lives. This is roughly twice the percentage of self-avowed religious people in Canada (30%), and an even higher proportion when compared with Japan and Western Europe. Americans\u2019 views are closer to people in developing nations than to the publics of developed nations.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"For example, mercy \u2014 mercy means putting the core of the Gospel inside the heart of the church. Not rules, not problems, not norms. The center of the church is the mercy of God.\" \n\nTherein lies the heart of this pontificate ... a pontificate not of black and white but of grey. A ponticicate that will be remembered for its two pillars ... the pillars of discernment and of mercy. Deo Gratias!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately, the majority of these Mexicans are Roman Catholic. If they could renounce Catholicism and convert to Islam, Justin would appreciate it. We only support and protect certain religions in Canada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no problem. Don\u2019t register with the parish and don\u2019t initiate contact with the pastor. You mind your business and he\u2019ll mind his.\n\nChildren are routinely denied baptism if there is not a sound belief that they will be raised as Catholics.\n\nSince anyone, even the unbaptized, can baptize, you can handle that yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Statement from Bishop Patrick J. Zurek\n(Bishop of Amarillo)\n\nNovember 8, 2016\n\n\u2022 Priests for Life, Inc., is not a Catholic institution, but a civil organization, and it is not under the control or supervision of the Diocese of Amarillo. \n \n\u2022 Father Frank Pavone has posted a video on his Facebook page of the body of an aborted fetus, which is against the dignity of human life and is a desecration of the altar. We believe that no one who is pro-life can exploit a human body for any reason, especially the body of a fetus. \n \n\u2022 The Diocese of Amarillo deeply regrets the offense and outrage caused by the video for the faithful and the community at large. The action and presentation of Father Pavone in this video is not consistent with the beliefs of the Catholic Church. \n \n\u2022 The Diocese of Amarillo is opening an investigation about all these matters.\n\n(https://amarillodiocese.org/news/statement-from-bishop-patrick-j-zurek)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Pope Francis now and Popes JPII and Ratzinger particularly, but previous popes for 2000 years, make a mistake thinking that the idea of women as priests has to be justified by history. That mostly men were leaders of religion in the past, as they were rulers of nations in the past, is historical and cultural. NOW, women are no longer limited to the roles it was once assumed was all they could do by their physical, emotional, and mental capacities. \n\nWe have come a long way, baby. \n\nQuoted above, JPII thought: \"the Church has no authority whatsoever\" to ordain woman as priests, citing Jesus' choosing of only men to serve as his twelve apostles.\n\nThe Church has no authority whatsoever to deny women as priests, either, since Jesus never said only men could serve in leadership. That is an assumption, based on the fact that he chose 12 males as apostles. They were also circumcised, wore beards, and most were married. Why one characteristic and not others?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As much as I admire Papa Francesco and his season of mercy, it's good to remember that he is a very successful politician in the world's oldest, all-male feudal oligarchy. Francesco has very few political degrees of freedom in which to operate. Francesco was elected in the conclave with the support of many of the most regressive hierarchs. As a politician, those hierarchs are part of Francesco's political base.\n\nHow can he reform the church, or heal the wounds of sexually exploited children, without these very same hierarchs [think: Raymond Burke] who are maneuvering every day to block every one of his reforms?\n\nThe only real way out of this mess is for Francesco to call for the resignations of any hierarch who was even remotely complicit in the sexual assault and exploitation of children by priests and bishops. \n\nThis will take the courage and faith of an apostle like James, Peter and Paul. The question is: Are there any men in Catholic hierarchy today of that caliber?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's not surprising that Holy Mother Church would support a ministry for gays who hate themselves. HMC is very good at instilling shameful self hate around sexual issues. It worked with most Catholic women as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus isn't asking you to redeem the world by yourself.\nHe's asking to be close to us in every aspect of our life, bar none.\nHe knows that closer unity with Him in not just the tragic times of our life - relatively few - but also in the ordinary of our day will help us infinitely.\n\nIn fact, by practicing the presence of God during the ordinary parts of the day - dealing with difficulties, work, joys, little things - helps us greatly in finding Him in the most difficult parts of our lives. \n\nThe Church offers such a marvelous set of \"means\" to learn how to do this. It teaches various forms of prayer: mental/conversational prayer, vocal prayers for when we're too tired or scatterbrained to pray conversationally (\"let one form of prayer rest another\"), the Sacraments, forms of examination, spiritual direction, the Holy Mass, etc.\n\nSpread-loaded across our day and week these \"approaches to God\" help buoy us, allowing us to avoid bitterness and cynicism. They make us more like Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't \"sexist\" in your dictionary a synonym for \"Catholic\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing uncivil below. If this gets rejected there's some seriously bad censorship going on at NCR\n\nYou asked me what motivates my comments? \n\nLove of God and His Church.\n\nI'm tired of hearing the constant complaint by the lay of clerics. \n\nLay griping about homilies, the Mass, Rome, Bishops, \"pay, obey\".\n\nWe're given the opportunity to go to Mass, most of us every day!\n\nTo attend our own Redemption.\n\nAnd we gripe about homilies?\n\nThe Church invites us to come to be present at our own redemption, and receive the grace that will help us help Jesus save the world. \n\nThat's right, help Jesus save souls and we want something else?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately, that's not the case in the Philadelphia Archdiocese! Only the poor, inner-city schools have closed; the wealthy, upper-class, white parishes are all building bigger churches and big schools. If we would follow the lead of the other large denominations (Jewish, mainstream Protestant) and put our money into high-quality children and youth programming instead of spending it on big school buildings and full-time teachers, we would have the kind of unity in our parishes that we have never known here in the Philly burbs!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Amazing how this diocese got selected for coverage about this topic, rather than some other, i.e., the nearby Archdiocese of Chicago which has a more significant plan for the future of its parishes and schools. The Diocese of Gary has got to be one of the most conservative dioceses in America. Its current bishop has his hands full in terms of making a difference and having any influence. The diocese has shown little if any interest or leadership in the area of stewardship, for example, paying lip service at best. Very conservative preaching/pastoral leadership/uninspired liturgies/music/racism abundant in the diocese and where I reside in one of the poorest rural counties in America, La Porte county Indiana, also part of the diocese. It will be interesting to see what influence the new archbishop/cardinal of Indianapolis will have on the church in Indiana. A new vision for Catholicism, one that is relevant for the 21st century, is sadly needed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They DO understand the RCC -- the pre-Vat II RCC. They are also the vehicle through which the phrase \"spirit of Vat II\" has become fundamentalist-Catholic watchwords and source of unending misinformation and ridicule about every change/update made since the Council. Their collective feet are firmly anchored in 1955, to which they all ardently wish they could return in a gold-plated time machine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am afraid Pence confirmed the unattractiveness of certain aspects of his newfound evangelical faith. He gave the combined image of the Pharisees\u2019 tendency to say one thing and do another with Lucifer\u2019s cool, cunning smoothness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Personally I think the Catholic Mass is a gem and prefer it to any other service. But to sit in the pews aware that one is supporting an institution that for all its blather about the dignity of the person regards women as fertility vessels with souls, and LGBTQs as \"disordered,\" and whose institutional leadership is conspicuously aligned with an authoritarian, neo-Confederate political party dedicated to the interests of a tiny economic elite in direct contravention to the gospel vision of justice for the poor and marginalized: No.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it difficult to take seriously articles on NCR about the theologies etc.. of JPII and Benedict when they both behaved the way they did towards real disciples of Christ, Arns, Camera and Romero, to name but three. Put the cover up of abuse on top and the silencing of dissenters and I really don't give two figs for whatever their theology or Christology was. Ultimately it was a dumbing down of the gospel, no matter how intellectual it sounded.\n\nIt's good to see Francis doing the groundwork now for more of these genuine Apostles to emerge and influence the Church and world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know what you mean by \"rainbows,\" but I am certain it is a slur of some kind, utilitas. Typical. You betray your own disrespect for others in comments like these. You may want to pray on it for a while.....ask Christ for insight.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you've made some good observations in some of these parts of the world -- working for peace in ... let's say, unsettled areas, providing shelter for those experiencing violence, providing health care and supporting social justice, care for the environment, care for refugees. They are responding to what they see and hear from the churches, the solace and comfort of Christ.\n\nI think here, and in Europe, we see and hear such contradictions. Yes we care for the immigrant -- but don't let 'em in the door. Yes we care for the poor -- but don't use our tax dollars to feed 'em. Yes we care for the sick and want them to receive care -- but only if they don't use contraceptives. Control, not care.\n\nAnd the abuses of other parts of the world may assume much more significance if or when those abuses explode in their own parishes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with you completely, Ms. Nussbaum. I am a cradle Catholic who left the RCC for the Episcopalian Church when I was in my mid-fifties. Apart from finally finding a true spiritual home, I am so glad I made the move to a denomination that treasures and sings beautiful, profound, historically significant hymns. Hymns that are not sappy and sentimentally superficial, as so many of the hymns sung in Catholic churches are. Music is a very important part of worship for me and I am so glad that I belong to a denomination that understands this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Mary Therese , it indeed is ! The people of God as members of Christ were led to choose Ambrose . \nWe need to ponder why we today are so attached to legalism : only two weeks in the catechumenate !!!! Pagan sympathies !! et al .\nPhilip joined the Ethiopian eunuch in his carriage , asked the question , interpreted the Scripture and before long ... \"there's a river , what's to stop me from being baptised ?\". Absolutely nothing .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm afraid Archbishop Chaput is lazy. He really didn't study the documents of Vatican II. The most radical declaration of Vatican II is its definition of the Church as the People of God. The Church as the People of God is NOT the monarchical and totalitarian structure that the church had developed in imitation of imperial Rome and then of medieval feudalism. It is not the vertical structure in which power was invested in a single monarch [John Paul II's concept], his authority divinely ordained, who, with his his court [\"Curia' means court], rules over obedient lay subjects.\n\n\nCatholics, for the most part, do not dissent over the essentials of faith---proclaimed in the Gospels and articulated in the Creed. But they do dissent over restriction and prohibitions in clerical celibacy, women's ordination, contraception, divorce and remarriage, homosexuality and same-sex marriage. NONE of these areas affect the Creed that we Catholics all profess.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find myself watching Pope Francis and wondering if there is going to be anything more to his papacy or, in the alternative, it will be remembered for his inspiring words and gestures, and a few structural changes, but nothing radical in the sense of getting at the roots of the malaise that afflicts both church and world. There is so much to admire in the man, it seems almost petty to dismiss his tenure as so many bold words without enough bold gestures. \nPerhaps it's wrong to expect great things of popes these days. Perhaps my expectations of greatness aren't his. But I have this feeling we've been blessed with a holy chaplain or spiritual director, when what we really need is a reformer. I don't know how much longer the church can survive in a world of Nones without someone to inject fresh blood -- not just plasma, but new whole blood -- into its veins.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you disagree, it is not because of the arguments on what is Dogma, what is constitutional liberty, or Catholic ethics. Your disagreement must be on overall point of view. You essentially argue that moral hierarchism is the natural state of Catholic teaching. You are entitled to your cherished notions, however most of the Church in the pews has moved on and if the Church wants to keep them there and get those who fled such a toxic moralism back, it should probably not listen to your side anymore. Luckily, Francis and his new bishops are not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am indifferent to those that wish to believe in it (as long as I'm not forced to live with their beliefs and where it leads them). But that is far different from my objecting to an educational institution wherein instructors must be of a certain faith and that has students sign a religious pledge and that purports seriously to examine scholarly works many of which were prohibited by Christian authorities throughout the ages. \nRegarding Darwin (a \"he,\" incidentally, and not an \"it\"): \"not all\" is rather weak gruel.\nThat said, I applaud a school that actually teaches the texts and does so in the Oxford (or Socratic) manner of small discussion groups.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would take the teachings of Jesus and the Church he founded over any worldy view, even though the teaching be hard and the teacher severe I would humbly take it. Jesus was divisive ! He said \"scary\" things that made people run away! But he was clear and consistant.\n See. Jn 6:66. \n\"From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some catholic nations in Africa do. It's against the law & the authorities want to make it punishable by death.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't see how any type of \"political considerations\" or any fear of schism, or any desire of any type of synodal process, or any other tings for that matter, could trump a concern for the safety and well-being of children on the part of moral person, but, most especially on the part of a leader of the Catholic Church. To me, the motives are irrelevant. It is all so terribly, terribly wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Archdiocese of Westminster has an archbishop, four auxiliary bishops, and 603 priests for 488,000 Catholics, or one priest per 810 people. Most dioceses of that size in the US have one bishop and perhaps 150 priests. So I'm not sure these guys have a good handle on the problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I converted from Roman Catholicism to Orthodoxy in my thirties but in so doing, merely returned to the faith of my forefathers and mothers. My parents were actually the people who took us in a completely different direction. \n\nVoistinu voskrese!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I said \"a couple hundred celibate males.\" You turned that into a question about Christ. Who is being unclear here?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems many (most?) U.S. bishops consider the three greatest weaknesses of Francis's leadership to be: 1) Ambiguity; 2) Confusion; and 3) Nuance. Indeed, Archbishop Chaput has famously (and, to me, incorrectly) said, \"Confusion is of the devil.\" History will show the Pope's legacy of \"personal dialogue,\" \"pastoral sensitivity,\" and \"taking each situation as it comes\" to be among his greatest gifts. \n\nIt might sound alien to American Catholics, and to many bishops, but in many cases the Pope trusts the laity. And, sadly, THAT'S confusing!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church accepts legal separation/divorce under those rare conditions. \n\nBut a divorce is not an undoing of the bond in the eyes of God. \n\nThe secular world has lost the meaning of the marital bond.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who's judging? The Church is perfectly entitled, indeed it is obligated, to teach the Gospel message clearly to the living. The dead person will be judged by God; and when they are dead it is too late to love them out of their sinful life or to pray they will change. Offering the rite of a funeral service for a person who died in open defiance of Catholic teaching, without repentance, is tantamount to the Church publicly endorsing that sin and thereby threatening the salvation of others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Doesn't repentance (in the Catholic sense) require some sin for which one must repent?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I had an insight following Mass earlier this week that bears on the title of this article.\n\nI was reflecting on the Gospel from Friday's Mass (\"Our Lady of Sorrows\", two choices were provided; we had the first one from St John's Gospel; \"Behold, your mother.\"\nAnd from that hour the disciple took her into his home.\").\n\nIt occurred to me what a beautiful and powerful \"secret\" this Gospel passage gives to us.\n\nIf our mind and spiritual eyes are focused on the suffering Jesus, and His suffering mother...how ready we become to do anything He asks us to do...how could we \"refuse\" Him anything, as St John so quickly complied to what Jesus asked of Him, and what Mary certainly did for St John.\n\nSo we too can do this. If we can occasionally meditate on the Passion of Our Lord, using our intellect, our imagination, and will...in order to bring that precious scene from the Gospel back to mind...how easy it becomes to do the will of God, even when we're tired, or wanting to do our own thing!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus would have disagreed with a whole lot of the types of policy positions that were promoted by both Democrats and Republicans over the last while....I usually find that those who use Jesus in a reference imagine Jesus as a kind of \" go with the flow\" kind of guy, rather than the \" I forgive you, but now go and sin no more \" type he is written to have actually been", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I count myself among those who hope for greater clarity from Pope Francis and consider his gift for creative ambiguity a stumbling block for Catholics whose natural orientation is perhaps more juridical than pastoral. I think in some passages A.L. is like the Song of Songs: glorious language about love, but what we really need is an instructional video. (Not that I have any such videos....)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "FC Says, \"Why do liberals get to impose their belief systems on others if I don't? Why do liberals get to force institutions to cover contraception? Why do liberals get to impose abortion and gay marriage on the country?\nYou talk about not insisting that other's believe what I believe. The other end of that is that others get to impose their beliefs on me.\"\n\nContraception is part of good prophylactic heath care. No-one is forcing you to believe this but most physicians and most people in Catholic pews use BC. No one forces you to use BC pills or other devices, no one forces you to have an abortion. What most want is the right to decide for themselves what to do. Good contraception comes in many forms and each form should be available to a man or woman. After all contraception does decrease the abortion rate...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As Archbishop Ganswein said of the pope a year into his papacy, \"You never know what he's going to say today.\"\nI really don't worry about what Holy Father Francis says or does. \nWe all know that another pope down the line, a year from now or 20 years from now, can reverse what Francis said or did with the 'stroke of a pen.'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the Synoptic gospels, Jesus quotes these words from Genesis 2 in the context of whether divorce should be condoned. For cultural reasons, only opposite-sex couples were married in Judaism, so Jesus bases his prohibition of divorce on that circumstance. It is mischievous rhetoric to misinterpret the words to imply a condemnation of same-sex relationships.\n\nThe historical Jesus likely had the same prejudices against such relationships as his Jewish contemporaries, but who knows?, he held a number of surprising counter-cultural opinions. And he foresaw very little, actually, since he was a true apocalyptic, and expected the arrival of the Son of Man at any moment.\n\nThe Jesus of the gospels says nothing about LGBT issues and rights at all, though he says plenty in general that ought to give us a firm moral foundation for treating LGBT people with justice, peace, and love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope, never been to Notre Dame U. The Oath of Fidelity is taken at Franciscan U by teachers in Philosophy and Theology - though I believe that teaching Literature is also \"directly connected with teaching Catholic doctrine on faith and morals\" too. At least by \"authentic Catholic scholars\" as you claim Ms. Weiss to be. Basically though, my contention is simpler, why would a parent pay (and it's not cheap) for Franciscan U expecting an orthodox, Catholic education and the student receive something other?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I was in HS, no one was encouraged to explore their sexuality in any way. But I would agree that measures to protect and educate young people about sexuality is a good thing. No one wants young people to experience alienation, no one wants suicides.\n\nOn the other hand, I do think every young person should be encouraged to be heterosexual. And along with that, a recognition that we still don't know much about human sexuality, especially how it's formed. \n\nThe flip side of that would be to encourage all young people to be whatever they feel like being -- creating conditions where they may be coerced by ss attracted people in their group to ss acts.\n\nAt least one thing good has come from the Catholic sex abuse scandal -- so many of the abusers of children have reported they were abused themselves at a tender age. This has to mean that ss activity while young can have lasting effects on a person's sexual formation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is heavily ingrained but I believe it is proper to change this custom as a matter of preparing our church for women in priesthood, & female inclusion in the whole episcopacy, as well being a matter of doing what Jesus specifically taught: \n\nMatt 23:9 9And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.\n\nI was called to priesthood in my teens and one of the things I was often asked, \"Well, what would they even call you, Father, Mother?\" After prayer, I realized the best title for any priest is to call him/her what they are ordained, that is \"Priest\". I was called to ordained Priesthood & it is the one thing our leaders keep telling me God has no capacity to make happen. I know this is a sinful & sexist statement & belief, on their part. However, more than anything, God willing, when I am ordained a priest someday, all I really want, as a title, is Priest Nora, or just use my first name like many priests I know.\n\nThanks Bill for writing this", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sensus fidelium became the LAW after Vatican II. People must have opportunities to be consulted, to be engaged in discussion, and have their thoughts and suggestions taken SERIOUSLY. Pope Francis is doing just that. Too many of American bishops ignore this. While other bishop do try to solicit the people's ideas and input.\n\nNo hierarchy can make laws for the laity, that only effect the laity---and then try to force these laws down the throats of the laity. That is what the hierarchy has too often done. They practically stated that THEIR man-made [and I do mean MAN-made] laws are matters of faith. \n\nIf you think that I am the only one who believes that many of the hierarchy [and I'm speaking of the U.S. members of the hierarchy] don't get Jesus' message [and certainly don't get P. Francis']\nyou are out \"in left field.\" Both the Sabbath and Law were created for God's People---not the people for the law. MANY believe as I do---and you have seen it on this website as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your narrow American-centric view of religious freedom is not true for Catholics. V2 proclaimed freedom of conscience/religion for every human being. In historical context this decree is arguably (pushed incidentally at V2 by American theologians and bishops) one of the most dramatic breaks with the past in Catholic doctrine.\n\nDo you really not know this? Do you really not recognize freedom of conscience as a fundamental human right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a good post. I'm not sure of Kristof's faith, if he has any, but his image of Jesus is spot on, (minus the intent of sarcasm, but sarcasm can still offer a learning opportunity). My experience with my many Christian friends is that they too hold the image of compassion and acceptance of others, including strangers and even ones enemy. Of course none of us live up to our good intentions to be like Jesus. \n\nLet's face it , we put Jesus on a pedestal. ;-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus made no such choice. Rather, men [sic] have made that choice, repeatedly and uncritically! And there is NOTHING here that forbids changing this ill-starred tradition as soon as today. Not even papal decrees of any sort!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As one who was once an active player in the Old Catholic/Old Roman Catholic/Independent Catholic movement, I found this an interesting read. I firmly believe there is a place for these groups in the wider \"Church\" life in the world. Often these groups, never very large and often scattered, minister to those who fall through the cracks. They are attempting to make Christ present in a fallen world. Are there scammers, abusers and others who abuse their ministry, yes, they are there, just you find the same in the mainstream denominations. And those abuse in the name of religion are all the same, no matter where they come from. But I myself have had the ability to minister to those who would never darken a church door. I have baptized, married, anointed and buried those in need. I have communicated those who would never been welcomed at a RC altar, but were at mine because I welcomed anyone who felt the need of communion. I don't own the Sacraments, they belong to Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"as mere laity\"!!! You have it wrong. The Church is made up of all it's baptised people and not just the clerics. Looks at the facts. The Church has 1 male Pope, 70 odd male Cardinals, some 45 thousand male clerics and 1.2 billion laity. The clerics are just equivalent to an all-male club who arose as an elitist group in the time of the Byzantine Emperors, some 1650 years ago, who used them to administer an empire and gave them privileges far beyond their original purpose. The Church clerics have clung onto those privileges ever since and continually advanced their own cause of elitist, narcissistic clericalism. Are you telling me that some 45,000 clerics have more wisdom and a greater sense of what is right and wrong than the baptised 1.2 billion Catholics? The Clergy seek only to protect, preserve and ensure the wealth, dominance and dogmatic elitist \"club\". The early Church of Christ was a different deal where the slave, poor, widow, merchant and elder each had their equal say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those personal experiences and different approaches certainly contribute to the perceptions among Catholics that we're seeing expressed in opinions here. The priest who acts entitled, the priest who quietly accepts, the priest who makes mention that the deceased had a particular charity they would prefer supported. The laity who believe those paid-for prayers are essential for the good of the dead or that they make a difference to the dead, the laity who ask for them in memory, in kindness, in love. What have we seen, what were we taught in younger days -- all impacts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most Catholics read the Divine Office? Come on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus is alive ! Our sin killed Jesus. Repent and ask Him to forgive you and be Lord and Savior of your life and you will get understanding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am surprised Presbyterian Bill Tammeus did this, too, as if Catholics abiding by the courtesy, protocol, of addressing priests as \"father,\" were deprived in some way of some deeper gospel revelation, or of some better Presbyterian way of doing things. By its reflection in Catholic shop windows, as they say, it is called \"polite proselytism.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To foreshorten3, I feel no contempt whatsoever for people who are content in the Church.\n\nDennis, I think Mrs. Gingrich is a poor choice because I don't find her positions on matters and her conservative brand of Catholicism to be in sync with the average American Catholic or Pope Francis. Fairly left-leaning Francis and American Catholics will be stifled by her positions on religious liberty, economics, immigration, climate change, LGBT rights, etc. The Vatican is riddled with clerics who will synchronize well with Mrs. Gingrich but they are the very people who have obstructed and continue to obstruct Francis' agenda. The relationship between Francis and Mrs. Gingrich will not advance beyond \"polite.\" Her appointment is a wasted opportunity to advance the Church and the faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I too hope he is evolving as we all are. The truth is that Republicans control the presidency, both houses of Congress, 2/3 of the country's governorships, and the state house and senate in approx 2/3 of the states. They will pick up more senate seats in 2018 and we are looking at a having conservative Supreme Court for a generation. The left's focus on social issues and demonizing people with evolving views has failed. People don't care, ....they care about jobs, safety, family, etc. . Remember, Evangelicals supported Trump.........he ain't no bible thumper...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even MSW cannot put any kind of a smilely face on this HUGE GOP - Catholic church mess, for which, once again the people will pay the price., just as we have over the past 36years.\nHopefully Pope Francis can do some good. \nThe true test will come when the College of Cardinals has to elect the next pope. Will they have learned anything??? Doubt it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "WE ARE A NATION OF IMMIGRANTS ~\n\nImmigration has always been controversial in the United States. More than two centuries ago, Benjamin Franklin worried that too many German immigrants would swamp America\u2019s predominantly British culture. In the mid-1800s, Irish immigrants were scorned as lazy drunks, not to mention Roman Catholics. At the turn of the century a wave of \u201cnew immigrants\u201d \u2014 Poles, Italians, Russian Jews \u2014 were believed to be too different ever to assimilate into American life. Today the same fears are raised about immigrants from Latin America and Asia, but current critics of immigration are as wrong as their counterparts were in previous eras.\n\nImmigration is not undermining the American experiment; it is an integral part of it. We are a nation of immigrants. Successive waves of immigrants have kept our country demographically young, enriched our culture and added to our productive capacity as a nation....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can't believe APD doesn't require volunteers to sign a confidentiality agreement. A volunteer working in the name of Jesus should've known better. Saving and blessing souls isn't this couple's motivation. $$$$$$$", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 3\n\nRather than \u201caccompaniment\u201d which I believe will inevitable turn the Inviolate Word of God into relativism.\n\n see link below\n\nhttps://www.ncronline.org/blogs/eco-catholic/mercy2earth-seizes-weekend-earth-day-divine-mercy-sunday-align#civil-comments\n\nIf you use the link it will show Most Reactions in the Sort Box, which my post has, but my post that commencing with \n\n\u201cPius XII put the writings of Sr. Faustina on the Index of Prohibited Books, Why?\n\nSr Faustina's writings would still be gathering dust in a Vatican Archive, where Pope John XXIII sent them if she were not Polish\u201d\n\ncannot be found, even on extended comments, my post with many others within its link are not shown.\nIt can only be found by repressing/reinstating (Most reactions) and ensuring that it is initialized. \n\nI realize that my post is contentious to some, nevertheless I believe it bears witness to the Truth.\n\nkevin your brother\n\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How profound a ministry is this... healing, compassionate, gathering community, bravely not hiding from the trauma of such loss. \nTruly, a Holy Spirit sign of God's love...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gosh, your tax dollars go to the Catholic school system. And we give Christmas and Easter off as holidays. We also close the schools for the Sabbath and the Lord's Day. Seems to me public money is accommodating religion every which way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sigh, you sound like some Jesuit. \n\nSir, again, please put down the Ray Brown/Charlie Curran/Hans Kung theology book and read a real theologian. \n\nYes, sir, the human race stands and falls together. We are all connected in a mystical sense, such that what one does effects someone else. Adam and Eve, our first parents were the original head of the human race. When they sinned, they passed on their sinful nature to their off spring--whether spiritual or biological. Whatever the case may be.\n\nJesus, is the new Adam. Jesus is the new head of the human race. When we are incorporated into Christ through our Baptism, we become part of his body.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A big part of the reason why Milo Y. and Andrew Sullivan are popular (and MSW is not) is that the public can tell when someone is faking. \n\nThat faking colors their whole message, and tells the reader their pontifications are so much hot air.\n\nThat is, they don't support closeted Catholicism, closeted professional Catholics, or a culture where gay Catholics feel it necessary to stay in the closet.\n\nFunny that some progressives feel otherwise. mm mm mm!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Credal, have to do with the creed and the associated councils (that Rome never attended because they were heretical at the time). Credal matters have to do with the Trinity, the existence of the Church and the resurrection of the body (although believing in the resurrection is not grounds for denying cremation or even forcing it into cemetaries, that is practice and pastoral). Evangelical communion is not real because they don't believe it to be, but that is practice, not dogma.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which nothing stops any of us from doing the 167 hours a week we Catholics are not obligated to be assisting at Mass.\n\nYou seem to elevate Jesus' presence in His Mystical Body above His presence in His Eucharistic Body, which is counter to the teaching of Sacrosanctum Concilium. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Priests have to much freedom after their ordination. People in power of any organization public or private are accountable for their performance, or the dereliction of their duties but not priests. Most of the times, their wrongdoings only come to light when it is too late. To restore the trust of the adherents, the Church must have a better way to control these men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In addendum: Fr. Keating in referring to the invitation to the wedding feast in the Gospels suggests that not receiving the invitation as a gift is tantamount to rejecting it altogether. A pastor of a conservative parish once said in a homily that salvation is a gift. although we like to think we earn it. Of course, there are the Gospels and the Epistles. \n Then their is the Capuchin chaplain while I was an undergrad. who said: \"Going to church will make you a Christian in the same way sleeping in a garage will make you a car\". The point being that I am not speaking only on my own authority. Furthermore I don't believe you must be a Christian to be saved-only do the will of the Father as Jesus taught- no judgement is implied.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No man, or no church is or can be infallible. The idea that we have the Spirit until the end of times is needed here to show us better ideas as our human minds grow and expand. The Council of Trent was simply a reactionary approach against the need for us to change. We should have listened to Martin Luther then as we have agreed more recently that what he said was almost entirely correct..... No the council of trent was no more infallible than my dog Fito.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Looking at the increasing number of priestly vocations, especially in the past 5-6 years, the message by the Assoc., seems to be ignored by most practicing Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part One: RELIGION & POLITICS\nCommon Good Consciousness is both religious and political. Our worry is: will progressive consciousness swallow Catholicism or can Catholicism adapt? 'Common Good' consciousness equally obliges religion and politics.\nReligion and politics run on parallel rails, mutually working. If rails diverge, the cultural train derails. Our times are fraught with religious/ political divergence. 'Progressive' consciousness should mutually inform religion and politics.\nAndrew Latham puts it, \u201cwe must work to shape and inform a state that\u2026would allow citizens\u2026a\u2026truly authentic form of pluralism, one suited to the realities of the postmodern/ postliberal era.\u201d [COMMONWEAL, 12/2/2016, Vol. 149, No. 19, pp. 12-19].\nRadical disagreement regarding the \u2018good\u2019 life precludes a consensus regarding the common good. He calls for \u201crevising Catholic political doctrine to shape a new way of political engagement suited to the social, cultural and political realities of our time\u201d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dangerous?? As compared to what? \nAlcohol overdose deaths 6 per day, from consuming too much in one sitting. Does not include traffic deaths, does not include deaths while under the influence of alcohol... Marijuana overdose deaths since the birth of Christ... Zero!!! Ones loosely related to deaths associated while being under the influence of marijuana... Less than 200 a year. \n\nSo please tell me what you mean by dangerous...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The dangerous fiction is being propagated by those who call objections to some aspects of a religion, \"racism against brown people\".\n\nIslam is a religion, not a race. Muslims come in all colors, as do Christians.\n\nSo unless that young woman identifies herself as a practicing member of the religion by wearing an outward sign of it, she will not be identified as one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "See Post 3\n\nI am clearer that there has been a battle going on in the KofM, and something was found in that investigation that has made the KofM more amenable to Vatican \u201chelp.\u201d There is to be another Crux article tomorrow, from a Canon Lawyer. I don\u2019t know if that will help or simply add confusion. \n \nAs to where Card. Burke and Secty of State Parolin fit in all of this \u2013 it doesn\u2019t look good for Burke. He appears to be consigned to the sidelines and I think that is a good idea. Parolin also appears to be sidelined \u2013 or he is being very quiet given criticism of how he has participated so far. Per Jan 27 Crux article re Parolin correspondence with the KofM \u201cThe tone of the letter, reported by the National Catholic Register and confirmed by the order, made clear that Parolin believes he is now calling the shots.\u201d Of course, it does matter who is judging that \u201ctone.\u201d \n \nThe titles of the Crux articles still seem to insist this is a Vatican \u201ctakeover\u201d of the KofM. Is it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Speaking as someone who follows the preconcillar fasts, I am not forcing my view, but will offer my perspective. \n\nA lot of the scrupulosity comes from some regarding fasting as a prayer, not just a personal one but a corporeal prayer of the entire Christian body. Just as we have fixed prayers for corporeal worship we also have a fixed fast, if that makes any sense.\n\nThe spiritual aspect is there, but the focus when people come online is on trying to do things right, the same way someone praying the rosary for the first time might seek advice on practicalities rather than meditative aspect which are the real \"meat\" of the devotion. Likewise fasting itself is more of a frame, and the true \"meat\" from fasting comes once you go from how to why. \n\nThere is also the fact that nowadays there is little help to find in pastoral guidance when it comes to asceticism/mysticism in the west. The East can expect great help from their priests when it comes to this. Rules are a pedagogue not the ends", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There was violence in casting out Satan, violence is not evil. It is simply a degree of force. People always say what would Jesus do?they don't probably know what their doing. answer this. What would happen if someone put their stinking hands on his mother. (Violence for sure", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let me explain Layla4.\n\nB.Causeiknow was alluding that the person killed was not a REAL Canadian but instead a person of Arab descent with Canadian citizenship; either born here via immigrant parents or by applying for and gaining Canadian citizenship as an adult.\n\nsnufflupagus was agreeing with B.Causeiknow, and saying that he should have referred to the person as \"Canadian\", the punctuation signifying not a \"real\" Canadian.\n\nLet me put B.Causeiknow's and snufflupagus' bigotry at rest. The woman killed was a white Newfoundland native, almost undeniably Christian. Therefore, in their view a \"real\" Canadian. \n\nBut then perhaps not...perhaps they are the wonderful sort who consider Newfoundlanders as not \"Canadian\" either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I really don't know what universe the Cardinal is from.\nAfter Vatican II (I was in my 20s at the time), people were in a state of confusion. \nI don't remember all this \"hope and joy.\"\nWithin 5 years, my parish's Masses went from being 100% full every Sunday, in 1962, to being 30% full every Sunday by 1967.\nEven reducing the number of Sunday Masses from 5 to 3 didn't fill the church.\nMy parish had 5 priests living in a large rectory in 1962; by 1967, there were 2 left.\nAlso within 5 years, 80% of the sisters in our parochial school left the convent for good: We started with 10 sisters in 1962, and then there were 2 left by 1967.\nThe school was shut by 1970.\nThese halcyon days following Vatican II weren't lived by most Catholics I know.\nToday, happily, I'm a former Catholic who is currently a Unitarian religiously, and a libertarian politically. \nThe backbiting in the church and the endless arguments between the \"left\" and the \"right\" sent me running out the doors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Cardinals simply asked the pope to connect the dots.\n\n\"Jesus said A and B; The Church said C; The Pope in AL says 34. Connect this for us. Truth can't contradict Truth\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We share that desire. Twenty first thinking includes the influence of quantum science. The Church is not noted for including current science in their traditional self affirming theology. \n\nI do want to commend you for your observation about Jamie's social science take vs revelation. After some time to think about it, I think your point was passed off too easily given the prominence given biblical quotes by defenders of tradition. I doubt those defenders are open to accepting current biblical scholarship which situates the Bible in historical/anthropological analysis. To think that particulat mindset, clergy or laity, is willing to accept a view of homosexuality that includes epigenetics is folly at this point. It will take a succession of popes to make much of current scientific reality a true reality for inclusion in natural law theology. It's too bad people can't see, touch, taste, or feel, quantum dynamics, it might impact their view of reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part three of three) Their sin may have been anger at God for letting the Passion and Cross happen. In an analogous way, spouses may be angry with Holy Mother the Church for denying them sexual pleasure that is not open to reproduction. \n\nIf such an anger is at the unconscious level and is projected on the resulting children, the children may then choose to leave the Church in order to be free to enjoy sexual pleasure that is not open to reproduction.\n\nAcademic freedom is necessary to figure out if there is any truth in such a scenario. Forbidding Catholic moral theologians from thinking about updating considerations of hymn sexuality based on experiences of the Faithful, tends to make the RCC hierarchy irrelevant.\n\nThank you, mjmchale for this opportunity, for an old man at least, to think about Church authoritarianism in the context of family values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe as 'Catholic' by Religion\nand\n'American' by citizenship.\n\nThey are just different methods of categorizing. Hopefully they are not mutually exclusive. Certainly they are not mutually inclusive.\n\nMaybe if I am talking to the Church, or in Rome, I would be an 'American' Catholic. If I'm talking to Americans, I would likely say I'm a 'Catholic' American.\n\nBoth 'identities' are important to me. Which I list 'first' depends on context.\n\nHow do you answer your question?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Jesus weeps .......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here are some of the major reasons the Church is failing:\n1) Lack of Catholic Identity.\n2) Intermarriage.\n3) No nuns in Catholic schools to educate the children in the Faith and encourage boys into the \npriesthood and girls into the convent.\n4) Small families; 1 or 2 children instead of 6-12 children.\n5) Pedophile scandal and cover-up.\n6) Our anti-religious/hedonistic/secular culture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tridy, Many feel a glimpse of who is a true reflection of what is happening and who is not. I see much of the Christ that I was brought up to know in him. You seem to fear that he is false. To me it looks like the Cassandra principle in action. This man is not attempting to be knowingly devious. He is sees a different and better world. You seem to prefer an older unevolved status. One thing is certain, Things will change because if there is any certainty on earth, it is that of change...... Nothing stays the same here no matter how hard we wish it might.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God creates each one of us, but not what we each become. That is called free will, and is necessary for us to be able to choose to love God and follow His ways, or not, and to choose to love our neighbor and treat them well, or not. Treating someone well does not mean letting them do whatever they want, but rather treating them according to God's word. If you do not love God or know and believe in His word, you are unlikely to consistently treat people accordingly, and you may incorrectly judge those who are. Gladys Kravitz seems to have overlooked the pope's point about the person with a condition \"that has good will and who seeks God\" not being judged. That is a crucial point. Those who are not seeking God, but who are instead focused on continuing their sin are in deep trouble. Treating them as if they are not dooms them to be without God forever, due to their own choices. The pope certainly does not intend Christians to do this. Too many misinterpret his comments, intentionally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW is channeling George Will's style of writing now.\n\n\"Voris and Church Militant stand in relation to the Catholic Church in the U.S. as Charles Maurras and the Action Fran\u00e7aise stood in relation to the church in France in the first decades of the 20th century. \"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Francie,\n\nMy, my, my, are we a bit pinched up today? \n\ngodless and God are not the same. Many of us offended by the Hobby Lobby ad, and Hobby Lobby in general, believe in God and Jesus Christ. \n\nMyself, I would rather take my next vacation to the Vatican and have a private audience with Pope Francis; I get inspiration from him daily that comes from Jesus.\n\nEnjoy your day,\n\nGladys", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/3\nThere was nothing offensive about your question. I'm pleased to take a shot at it. I notice that others have commented on the \"vain repetition\" aspect of your question. I would also point to this article; it offers what I think is a fairly standard Catholic comment on Mt. 6:7. And so the rest of my response is more personal -- my experience of praying the Rosary and why I (a progressive Catholic by almost anyone's standard) pray it (nearly) every day. I have carried a Rosary in my left front pant-pocket since I was in grammar school. There were periods during which I did not pray it -- I was \"too busy\", or worse \"too sophisticated.\" Still, it was always in my pocket, and often I inserted my hand to touch the beads. Ours is an earthy religion: we pray by sight, by sound, by smell, by touch; we value water, wine, bread, wood, metal and mortar. And so I like to touch the beads and move my fingers from one bead to the next. I hope I will be clutching them as I take my last breath.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The environmental destruction polluting land, water, and governing system by the Corporate Oligarchy continues. Real people/populist actions by the Billionaire Barons as their Fascist Republican employees begin the process of dismantling the entire governing system to be replaced by Der Fuhrer/CEO Trump with his Republican Board of Directors dismantling the entire governing structure. The only regulations remaining will be those imposed by Fundamentalist Catholic/Christian Dogma to keep those unwashed/working classes under control with minimal wages, in their bedrooms, and in their required patriarchal family structures. Women back to the kitchen and out of the workplace. Ban contraception in order to birth maximum numbers of babies to be indoctrinated in Catholic/Christian schools. Sounds new, but wait, doesn't this sound like past Native American policies? A nation poised on the brink of destruction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True enlightenment is the highest achievement of man. Few have reached that goal. The words \"Christ,\" \"Buddha\" and Krishna\" all mean the same thing--the Enlightened One. When they achieve that status, they become master spirits, and don't have to come back to a life in physical form.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why don't they become Anglican? Actually what would be the difference between the CC and the AC if the Catholic Church did as they suggest? Wouldn't it be the exact same thing?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(continued) \u201cYou,\u201d Black Catholics and others marginalized, especially in the current political climate, \u201cwill draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation\u201d (Isaiah 12: (see 3), despite racism, misogynism and other marginalizing factors of society. \u201cif the master of the house\u201d in charge of continuing evangelization to all the marginalized, had known when the thief was coming\u201d to deny Black Catholics, for example, their dignity in the Church, \u201che would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, \u201cbe prepared,\u201d as the Boy Scouts put it, \u201cfor at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come . . . Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more\u201d (Luke 12:39-40). Liturgy of the Word, Reading 475, Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time II.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus mentioned divorces marrying up where exactly?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is built on the entire life of Jesus Christ, not just the Resurrection.\n\nMary's Yes\nHis teaching as a young man in the Temple.\nHis obedience to his parents.\nThe prompting of Mary at the wedding feast; His response to her pleas.\n\nEven His mostly hidden 30 years prepared the people in the area for His teaching. \n\nHow He must have worked before His public ministry, as an artisan/craftsman, diligent work, just prices, perfect service, and no doubt smiling; He had to have worked with perfect charity, and every human virtue!\n\nWe must use our intellect to \"penetrate\" this part of Jesus. \n\nAnd even MORE than the ENTIRE life of Jesus, the work of God extends intimately and crucially to the entire OT too. That was part of it....it's not \"borrowed from\"...it's the will of God in nascent form. It prepared us for the priesthood, for the life of the Sacraments, and even the Mass. \n\nWe have to regain a wider understanding of how big the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would think Ruhr would agree with you; this is precisely what his ministry is doing - and he is far from drawing a wall around himself. The very heart of Christ meets people where they are and, in dialogue, draws them beyond where they are to a new relationship with the God who IS Love - this is what happens to each one who turns to God on a daily basis. The heart of Christ reaches out to diverse people and meets them in diverse ways, yourself included. It is a great mistake to think that what draws you to God will automatically draw everyone else. People are diverse, thanks be to God (literally).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now this, coming after the exposure of the evils of the Magdalene Laundries. Not \"mothers and babies\", but \"bad girls\",exploited and abused by the righteousness of the Catholic Church .\n.\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalene_asylum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Priests can say the Mass alone, it is no longer called 'a private Mass' because no Mass, strictly speaking is private. It is more properly called 'Missa sine populo' (Mass without people or a congregation). The Mass, whether it is offered by the priest alone or before thousands is the re-presentation of the saving sacrifice of Christ before God for the sins of the world whereby the merits of that sacrifice are meted out to those present and to those for whom the priest offers the Mass.\nWhereas Our Lord is present spiritually when two or three are gathered together in His name, at Mass He is actually present under the appearances of bread and wine. \nWhen we receive Him in Holy Communion we are actually eating His very flesh and very blood. When we kneel in adoration before the monstrance we are not adoring just a piece of bread.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Slavery was legal when Jesus lived. Abortion was practiced since the beginning of human history. It has always been and it will never end. Let's keep abortion safe. You cannot force a woman to continue a pregnancy that she does not want.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bad urban planning destroys cities. Read Luke's Gospel when the disciples asked if there was some sin that condemned the people who died when the tower of Siloam fell. Jesus said no. His statement can be applied to those five cities. Complimentarity is a philosophical concept, not a natural one. What happens in natural is what is natural, including a certain number of people being gay and a certain number being asexual, with the vast number being hetero. About half the priesthood is asexual. If you are a seminarian with that orientation, please quit assuming that everyone else is not wired like you, it will be better for your flock and the Church as a whole. And please examine your sexuality in a mature manner in a supportive community so that you deal with others charitably. Oh, God cannot be offended. God is perfectly happy. The natural order cannot be offended. There is no such thing outside human discussion. There are only people and what you say is hurtful to them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except that the purpose of marriage in the Orthodox Church-- also part of the Judeo-Christian tradition--is not procreation. Also, some gay marriages protect children already born and allow the other partner to adopt them for the first time. Surely this can be considered supporting family, not overturning it. \n\nIt is still difficult to see how the dilemma facing a transgendered person regarding sexual reassignment (or the parent of that young person) incites marriage breakdown. The notion itself suggests an unfamiliarity with how either situation works.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it amusing that the 4 cardinals are trying to figure out how to keep divorced people away from the sacraments while hundreds of Catholic Churches are closing in Europe and the US for lack of interest. Wouldn't a more welcoming message be appropriate?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You may be right in the perspective you describe, but he has emphasized the role, the legitimization of conscience on those matters that has been diminished, if not denied, by the Church hierarchy. That, though not \"new\", is virtually revolutionary in his demonstration.\nWhere, I think that he is revolutionary is also by his distinct departure from the \"tradition\" exemplified so clearly by Pope Benedict XVI and predecessor John Paul II, who virtually demanded, erroniously elevated to dogmatic declaration, that mercy was conditioned by \"truth\" as defined by them. For Francis, one begins with mercy as the perspective in which on seeks truth as opposed to submission.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As for 6 literal days, if Moses had meant us to understand something else, he could easily have written it differently. The Bible states that \"He spake and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast.\" If \"progressive creation\" was God's method, He could have said so, rather than inspiring David to declare it to be ex nihilo.\n\nScience has not proven evolution or millions of years, only that most scientists are committed to their religion, because they \"must not allow a divine foot in the door.\" The faulty methods for dating rocks and fossils are not so easily explained away, although they are to be commended for their persistence in trying.\n\nAs I've said before (and many have said this before me), if we can't rely on the Genesis record, we can't rely on the 4 Gospels or any other portion of the Bible. Paul said that it was all inspired by the Holy Spirit, and He was there at Creation. If the Creation account is unreliable, then so is the Resurrection. Both are unscientific.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Al Smith Dinner isn't going anywhere. For all of its perceived flaws and this and that, it raises a huge amount of money for NYC Catholic Charities - especially for services to children and families - and therefore provides for enormous good. It is located in one of the richest cities in the entire world and there will always be an ample pot of cash for the occasion. It will return to normalcy of political wit and banter once Trump is shoved out of the equation. The event took on a terrible tone and content because of the nature of the current campaign. It was never that way before DJT entered the ring and started to blindly swing his fists, devoid of decorum or understanding of the situation he was participating in. See you all at the next Al Smith Dinner.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you'll be advocating for women to be ordained as Catholic priests then right?\n\nAns no body is stopping you from questioning Islam. Just learn to do it civilly and rationally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are so very funny! The cappa was not in use in the 6th century. It was nothing more than an ostentatious court garment to show of prelatial money and power. As for the Transfiguration,it was a theophany, Jesus allowing his divinity to shine forth for the apostles and if I remember correctly, all is says about his clothing was that it was glowing white. Burke is not Jesus, not even remotely God like and as a supposed successor to the apostles, should be following the admonition \"go, sell all you have and give it to the poor, then come follow me\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was expecting the comments to be something else than what I've read. The comments are pretty well done, and thoughtful. I guess that \"all be one\" is a nice idea, but we're already one is so many far more important ways that jurisdictional rules and expectations. We all have the Scriptures, especially the Gospels; we all have the Eucharist; we have a shared understanding of Holy Orders and the Sacraments. And we all have diversity--diversity growing from different geographies, different cultural backgrounds, different political environments. Pope John Paul II spoke of the two lungs of the Church and that's a fine model; I add a third \"lung,\" the Anglican Communion. God bless us, one and all!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ahh... The Catholic wing of the alt-reich. I've noticed that online stories by our buddies over at Lepanto and Lifesite News get picked up by RT and then Fox News and the British far right tabs. It is like it is all related.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am old enough to recall when JFK was running for President, many Republicans claimed he would be influenced by the Catholic church because of his religion. Now some 57 years later, Donald Trump is doing this and the Republicans are silent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What opened Pandora's box was the lack of faith in the Conclave by JP II and Benedict. If there was an underdeveloped or \"evil\" change it was the refusal of these two popes to have faith in their own church to change in the necessary ways pointed out by Vatican II. This did begin when Cardinal Otavani convinced Pope Paul that the church should not accept Birth Control Medications. It is very interesting that you continue to bring up sexual license, promiscuity and homosexuality as all were part of the terrible clerical scandal that JP II attempted to eschew. These two Popes very much decreased the hope of the laity. However in the story of Pandora, remember that Hope was kept in the box. There are hopeful parts of our church today that are so often obscured by the condemnation by so many reactionary thinkers so fearful of proper changes. Of Course these two Popes did nothing about the laundering mafia monies in the Vatican Bank. Lots of hope lost there.....!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 1 of 2 You wrote \"Almost everything is wrong\" with my comment and all you have proven is that you found some news of the 13 cardinals' letter that is nothing close to the recent coverage given to the KofM. \nMy comment is about the mendacity of the US media. Only a handful of Catholic media is covering the pope's attempts at reconciliation with the SSPX, the latest being that they may be offered the status of personal prelature ala Opus Dei WITHOUT first accepting Vatican II\u2019s declaration Dignitatis humanae (religious liberty) and Nostra aetate (Jews) https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2017/02/03/traditionalist-leader-says-prelature-may-best-option-unity/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are all parts of the body of Christ.\n\nSome of us are happy fingers or fingernails in the Church..some aren't very happy being fingernails. \n\nSome are called to be eyes and the head of the Church, the decision makers. \n\nI wasn't called to be the head of the Church. I wasn't called to Rome. \n\nI am very happy being a father, husband, worker...nothing is stopping me from being a saint right where God placed me. Only pride and vanity make us want more. \n\nOur pride and own defects are what makes us unhappy, not content.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is it with reactionaries who create institutes in the name of those who oppose them? Susan B. Anthony must be rolling in her grave at the use of her name by the anti-feminist Susan B. Anthony Fund. Lord Acton, who publicly condemned Pius IX and his notions of papal infallibility would likewise cringe at the use of his name by Sirico. Francis is simply not a pope he would criticize. No futher comment seems necessary. As a libertarian, if he stuck to his old social libertarianism and ministered to gays in the Church, he might have a worthwhile witness. That he has taken the Prosperity Gospel of the Pentacostals into the Roman Church serves no one. While he is right to educate the Church on liberty, most don\u2019t care about the factions, just the distinction between social and economic liberty. Francis may be more of a social libertarian than we have seen since St. John XXIII. He is not at all an economic libertarian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christs's teaching can't be argued with. The Church's teaching can be, but carries a heavy presumption of correctness, especially when based on centuries of traditional teaching, and is directly implied by what Christ taught, The Pope's personal teaching comes last in the hierachy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is not being persecuted supposed to be an ideal that is too high and unrealistic? No one ever achieved freedom for their people with that kind of poverty of low expectations. \n\nI hope that if I was ever placed in a situation akin to the Chinese Catholics I would make the right choice, but the saying \u201cwe must obey God rather than men\u201d comes to mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hillary got a standing ovation when she came in....this very republican Catholic crowd with lots of local politicians...was/is plenty savvy and the fact that they booed is totally out of character....\n\nTrump did his usual hate filled \"corrupt and need official pardon scenario\" and it didn't play well in this crowd or God willing, the country.\n\nThe good news is that it's almost over...the other good news is the polling results....AND 6 million dollars was earned for children's services at Catholic Charities....\n\nAlso Hillary did a nice job with Dolan's dilemma of inviting two such opposing guests...she quoted the Cardinal as saying \"if he wanted to dine with saints he'd be eating alone\"\n\nHillary also did a really nice job of honoring Al Smiths legacy and his relative and the implications of being a candidate from a religious group that was unacceptable.....As a woman she may have some special sympathy....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, if the Christian baker ONLY made a wedding cake and iced it, but refused to name the couple on it, and also did not place a same sex couple on the top of the cake since he did not order, nor intends to order, any same sex couples, would the Christian baker be made to do those two additional things to satisfy the couple?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Shattered lives.\n\nJesus brings healing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The issue is The Papacy and its importance to institutional Catholicism.\nIn times of Church over-reaching laity, hierarchy doggedly supported the Papacy.\nIn these refreshing times of a Pope determined to give laity their due and end the over-reach, we should all the more give Pope Francis our affirmative support, notwithstanding hierarchical chagrin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How did Jesus \"cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves\" (KJV)\n\nIt wasn't using a peaceful parable the way I interpret the KJV of the Bible. \n\nMatthew 21:12", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pt. 2\n6) Paul Bittorf, MDiv 2010---received Life Services Network Award from Presence health for his chaplaincy work.\n7) Dr. Han Sang Cho, DMin 2012---appointed Professor of Spirituality at Busan Presbyterian University in South Korea.\n8) Adrienne Curry, MDiv 2001---accepted a position in Lexington, KY as the Director of Parish Social Ministry for Christ the King Cathedral.\n9) Ladine Housholder, Cert. in Biblical Spirituality, 2001 recently published THE WELL WOMEN--CROSSING THE BOUNDARIES.\n10) Margie Kast, MTS, 1987---recently had her essay, 'Symbols: Forest of Ambiguity' made available through the online magazine ' Numbero Cinq'\n11) Kathleen McGourty, MA 2010 wrote an article on social responsibility published in 'US Catholic' magazine.\n12) Megan Murphy-Gill, MA 2011, Associate Editor at 'US Catholic' magazine recently published a note in the magazine about her fellow CTU alums.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Students have to endorse TWU's evangelical religion to be admitted.\"\n\nThat's a false claim. I suggest you educate yourself about TWU before making others. Students of all faiths, or no faith, are accepted at Trinity Western. Students don't have to endorse TWU's Christianity, they simply agree- voluntarily- to follow TWU's covenant. The covenant requires no religious observation at all- it requires only that students behave in certain ways. It's a code of behavior, not a religious commandment. You should read it some time. It's not the evil manifest you think. \n\nIf LSUC is basing its case on \"it was within the rights and traditions of LSUC to refuse to accredit a law school that would require religious adherence as an additional entry criteria,\" it will go down in flames at the SCC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"Links\" are slowly turning into a stream of insults. Even if they're deserved, they're not representative of Catholic social thought any more than narcissism is. If this is supposed to be personal opinion, then it should be called that. \"Links\" implies that readers are being informed, not subjected to editorial bias.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "W, two principles are the basis of faith. First, you choose what you like, and second, you act as if it is true. Mr. Paul acknowledges it in his statement that faith is the substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not seen.\n\nHe makes a similar statement that if Christ isn't risen, preaching is in vain as is faith. \n\nHe chooses the concept of a risen Christ. And he affirms it is based on hope and unseen things. He recognize it might not be true by acceding \"hope\" as operative in the first instance and \"if\" in the second. But he acts as if it is true with his post-tormentor lifetime investment. \n\nNo one knows for sure if the tomb was empty, why, and where the body may have gone. Not you or me, W. The gospels have differing accounts as does Mr. Paul. Eye witnesses are unreliable even now where we have cameras and instant deposition.\n\nThe theory that Paul ever saw Jesus is myth. But you believe it and act as if it is true.\n\nBelieve what you like, W. Mr. Paul did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You should check out the history of separate catholic schools.\nIt is not an easy knot to untangle- and no politician wants to touch it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please look up the Texas catholic dioceses - most, especially on the border provide excellent and comprehensive legal services via Catholic Charities or actual diocesan administrative immigration departments. In Dallas, we have an excellent diocesan staff of attorneys who provide education, flyers materials, etc. to all parishes at no cost and represent and work with families with legal issues. The prior director was part of the USCCB national immigration committee.\nBTW - it costs roughly $500 to manage a DACA case - parish St. Vincent DePaul Societies have been covering individual family costs and requests.\nCatholic Charities is now working with DPD and City of Dallas to address the fear that immigrants have.\n\nCatholic Charities of Dallas will be coming to Holy Trinity Catholic Church to inform eligible DACA/ DAPA applicants about the requirements necessary to apply or prepare for these presidential executive actions", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm 62 and went to Catholic School for 12 years.\nEvolution was taught to us as scientific fact.\nI cannot believe the earth is 6 to 10,000 years old.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis accused bishops and cardinals who disagree with him of \u201c legalism,\u201d \u201cclosed hearts,\u201d \u201cblinkered viewpoints,\u201d judging \"sometimes with superiority and superficiality,\" lacking \u201cunderstanding,\u201d unable to \u201cdiscern,\u201d cowardice in \u201cburying their heads in the sand,\u2019 \u201ca nasty spirit in order to sow division,\u201d and psychologically \u201cborn from something missing, from trying to hide one\u2019s own sad dissatisfaction behind a kind of armor.\u201d He warns that they are a \u201ccancer of the Church\u201d in pursuit of glory rooted in \u201cthe logic of ambition and power.\u201d\nRegardless of what a Catholic thinks about the issues, these cruel ad hominem attacks are fanning the flames of the pope's uncivil war against those who cite Jesus' words (Luke 16:18 \"Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.\u201d) and constant - until now - magisterial teaching as their defense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I say the Creed the same way, onlein, and I know other women who do the same. I consider it a form of non-violent resistance to this archaic translation of the Creed that ignores the full humanity, nay even the existence, of women. And by the way, why do we say Jesus was \"born of the Father before all ages?\" Isn't it obvious that we can only be born of a Mother?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A spokesman for the Newark archdiocese told NJ Advance Media last week the Vatican ruled that church law, known as canon law, prevented Gugliotta from being punished for something he might have done as a layman.\"\n\nThat's the problem in a nutshell. The Church still thinks of this as a matter of \"punishing\" priests rather than protecting children. The rights of clergy are the only thing that matter. The idea of keeping a dangerous person away from future victims doesn't even enter into the equation.\n\nThis is also the inevitable consequence of treating child abuse as a moral failing rather than as a crime. We can't say this often enough or loudly enough. When priests break the law of the land they should be removed from active ministry and reported to competent legal authorities. Period. End of discussion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Every week is Holy Week\nMonday Tuesday Wednesday the public ministry of Jesus Christ\nThursday the fellowship of the table, conversation becomes communion\nGood Friday Living Psalmody... desert day\nHoly Saturday silence, Marian\nResurrection Eucharist, Source and Summit of Faith\n\nstruggle- not to get \"stuck\" or lost in any one day \nStuck in Good Friday means separating The Cross of Jesus Christ from the Resurrection of Jesus Christ\nStuck in Easter Sunday means suffering avoidance, prosperity gospel.\nSkipping the tension and the mystery of Holy Saturday encourages a disconnect between the\nThe Cross and The Resurrection. The silence of Holy Saturday, Silence of Solitude, the witness of The Blessed Virgin Mary Our Mother. Mary's Silence of Holy Saturday...\nTo have the Cross of Jesus Christ... there need be the horizontal and the vertical, One and yet Two\nTo have Redemption, Salvation there need be both Good Friday inseparable from The Resurrection\n\n\nmy faith Totus Tuus\nUnitive Communitive", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus repeatedly out witted the Pharisees who were trying to entrap him. That's exactly what Good Pope Francis is doing. Considering Burke is leading the gang of four, that shouldn't be too difficult.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which shows that Trent could proof text as badly as Luther. Still, it is a valid conclusion, although Passover is as well and it says nothing about what the Church could do. Indeed, if there were women at the Last Supper, which is very possible because they traveled with Jesus, then THEY would be ordained by the same token.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is a bizarre bible quote from Jesus (allegedly) on taxes:\n(Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, there was a two-drachma temple tax)\n\"But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.\"\nMatthew 17:27\nExact change!\nThey don't quote that one in church very often, do they? Because it does not match reality. Most Christians do not know it is there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let the light shine in we have walked in darkness as a church far too long . This is sinful and sin does still exist as we were told today. The sin can only be fully forgiven if the sinner makes their peace with God and those they sinned against. There has been little evidence of this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The original post I responded to asked if the Koch brothers were Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Certainty is not the opposite of doubt. Certainty is the opposite of faith. Jesus said, \"Your faith has saved you\". In this life there is no certainty - that is reserved for the next.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ">>>What is missing from your approach (and from that of all too many other commentators here) is the fact that the primary sense of \"the Body of Christ\" is the one given to the baptised/confirmed\n\nI'm well aware that we are one body in Christ. That doesn't change the fact that certain people are ordained to perform certain ministry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The author asks if Humanae Vitae is the teaching of the Church....currently it does not appear to be \"received wisdom\" of the Church as less than 2-3% of western Catholics actually use NFP and somewhere around 10-15% of Catholics in undeveloped countries may actually support it. (Univision worldwide poll)\n\nAND that brings us to a discussion of poverty in undeveloped countries and access to contraceptives....AND what is actually the right thing to do for these folks with no running water, sewage on the ground, no food, medical care, education, employment et al...today's Sundays newspapers identified the huge percentage of such folks in sub Saharan Africa....and we have been discussing it for years on NCR....\n\nI do not find the authors defense of the Knights of Columbus to be all that persuasive...think he Knights should be encouraged to understand the global impact of narrow \"unreceived\" catholic teaching...think they should join the 21st century...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"They might put a leash on our big-hearted Jesuit. Or even convert him.\"\nYeah, about as much chance as the Pharisees had of converting Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess I was trying to say that allowing pastors more officially sanctioned leeway to discern and do the right thing is not a confusing concept. And allowing the bishops conferences and individual ordinaries to decide how far they want to go with it makes sense. This is not a big deal. I know that you and the four disagree, but you need to get over it and move on. Let's see how it works itself out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am tired of living in fear from being attacked by roving gangs of pedestrians, and it certainly seems as if these hooligan pedestrians seem to be predominantly European, and even Christian.\n\nWe need laws passed, and security crackdowns, so that all car or truck drivers, especially those representing the religion of peace, can be free to drive without the fear of unprovoked attacks by these bipedal thugs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's clear -- and enshrined in our Charter that religion has no bearing on State, including our public ed system, and yet Premier after Premier has allowed the hypocrisy of providing for catholic education as part of public education. Without this, there would be no grounds or discussion whatsoever on providing for prayer of any type in our secular schools. Queen's Park has allowed and stoked this protest in Peel by failing to actively protect secularism in our public schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sarah gave it his best shot, but he was no match for a Pope who respected Vatican II, even though the council fathers are mostly dead now. He had the ear of Benedict, but Benedict abdicated and whether he tried going to Franics first or not, he has been rebuffed by the Vicar of Christ. The Magisterium of Pope Francis is now clear and of the Church as well. Unless you wish to commit the mortal sin of sedevacantism, I suggest you practice saying \u201dand also with you.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Little Bear,\nI think you're right, and your question a good one. I do believe there will be people of faith out there, but that faith will look different from what the traditionalist Catholics see today. \n\nMore and more people today are trying to look beyond the symbols, to the meaning behind them. And surprise, surprise, as they begin to discover what some of that meaning it, they are called to dig deeper, to think differently, and above all, to grow. That growth will take them where it leads them; I doubt it will be the church as it exists today. We're at a 500 year watershed, and what comes of this will not be what it is today. I'm sure there will still be a very small, highly vocal group of folks, much like a cult, decrying the world, pointing fingers, condemning those who led to the demise of what \"once was,\" etc. What emerges will be what always was: people seeking God using whatever tools they can find. When the church ceases as an effective tool...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Omg, you're right. I was young, and I remember The Diocesan \"Catholic Woman of The Year\". Year after year, she was someone from the rich part of town, with a rich hubby, she didn't have to work, and she had two kids. But the poor Mexican women in the barrio, who followed The RCC's teaching on birth control and had eight kids -- they never were given that 'honor', of course.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A few years ago, I was Protestant and wanted to dispel the pop culture myth of women religious. I was in awe of activist history I found in the research for an undergrad paper I wrote. A few months later after some research into Catholicism I decided to attend Mass and go through RCIA and couldn't be happier. From the very beginning I've felt a call to religious life.The activist type Sisters and the traditional ones both live an admirable life. There should be no habit vs. no habit debate. I believe they should co exist peacefully.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems to me that whenever this church comes around to gathering opinions of the Laity, ( and especially young Catholics), they get only the trace thoughts of the tail end of the bell curve. I believe this is actually engineered to insure continued control of the dialogue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lepanto Institute publishing half-truths about people and using the \"false news\" to get people they don't like fired. A perfect example is this kerfuffle with the Knight of Malta as well as the smears against Catholic Relief Services. Even Chaput is against them, just to show how out of the mainstream they are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well why pick out the issue of divorce specifically? Look at Jesus's entire teaching, Christ was much more lenient than the teachers of the Law in his day. In Matthew 9 when he's with the Tax collectors and the outcast he tells them \"Go and learn what it means I will have mercy and not sacrifice\" and that \"I have not come to call respectable people, but outcasts\"(Matthew 9:12-13)\n\nWe know during Jesus's day there were two schools in Pharisaical Judaism. The House of Hillel and House of Shammai. Shammai emphasized a strict, legalistic approach to the law. Hillel emphasized a more liberal approach to the Law that focused on it's heart. Christ and his disciples and apostles were clearly influenced by the teachings of Hillel and clashed with the conservatives and legalists of their day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a common misconception, which is not found anywhere in scripture or in canon law! Neither you nor Chaput is authorized to define the meaning of \"Catholic\" the way you are doing!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By \"free exercise\" I mean \"free exercise\". As in, for example, a right to not be pressed into service to celebrate a homosexual \"marriage\" with expressive activity, or a right for the Little Sisters of the Poor to not buy insurance policies covering abortion.\n\nBut you'd go further than that kind of oppression. According to your post scorn--an attitude--is not a right. So not only is the exercise of religion off the table, but some thought is forbidden, too. \n\nNow as orthodox Catholics we don't \"scorn\" gays who attempt marriage but we do detest the sacrilege and maintain the belief that marriage between a man and a man is simply impossible. Perhaps you'd forbid those thoughts, too?\n\nNot here. Never, ever again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a 75 year old product of the \"old Toronto\" (largely Protestant Christians) whose grandmother was discriminated against when she arrived in Canada in 1908 (by signs in stores advertising sales vacancies but stating \"no Irish need apply\"). Yet, my grandmother was also a member of the Orange Lodge, which discriminated against Roman Catholics.\n\nUntil I entered U of T, I had never talked to a jew or a black. When I did, I found them acceptable as friends. In 1968, while interviewing job applicants, I met my first Sikh. I had to mentally talk to my self to concentrate on his words and not on his appearance. He turned out to be a fabulous employee. In time, my department expanded to include both a muslim and a Chinese Canadian woman - all of which added to its strength. \n\nI have become used to muslim women wearing the hijab. But, I still am uncomfortable with the niqab. Why? I suspect because I have not yet had a meaningful personal interaction.\n\nTime is the answer; not a ban.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To be fair, we think we are the original Church Christ founded too, even if we have become more diplomatic about it and some are outright embarrassed by this. \n\nI think this article highlights that ecumenism has been a flop and we should just go back to being Catholic without trying to people-please others because it doesn't work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...without any of the elements...of the institutional church.\" \"...(e.g. - the hierarchy, the magisterium, doctrines...rituals, etc.)....\"\n\nFor Catholics (not Quakers, other non-hierarchal churches), the Eucharist/Mass, the sacraments are a little MORE than embroidery. It's so easy to blur essentials with a \"People of God\" coloring, as it were, reducing church to a nebulous uniformity of vague shades and unsettled tinges. \"People of God\" makes sense only when we know something else has no been enthroned in place of Scripture, doctrine (Church Councils), Magisterium. Other than that, we're left with half a wheel, if that, with no real circumference.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, you need to take that up with Jesus, as it was His words. Besides, lustfully looking involves more than a fleeting attraction which most of us are capable of resisting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, unfortunately. There are a lot of negative and outdated old world concepts about women still floating around the Eastern churches. According to a comment by a Byzantine theologian, when it comes to human right issues, the Eastern churches have a dismal record, unfortunately. The Eastern churches will have to change because the young people are demanding it. Consequently, attitudes about women are changing at the parish level, but not for the bishops or hierarchs. It's made even more difficult as converts from strict evangelical churches have entered the church to adhere to what they think is \"right order\", making progress more difficult.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are certainties and absolutes. 2+2=4 is absolute, you can't escape that. Truth is object, not relative, 2+2=4 does not change based on perspective. There are some relative truths, such as my favorite food - changes from season to season. The confusion from the devil is when a population is convinced there is no objective truth, all is relative, yet postulate that all must believe like they do, or they are bigots. What is good is called bad, and the bad, good - this is from the devil.\n\nThe danger of clarity is not in the vision, but in how the vision is shared. Jesus Christ has never been the problem, how some people shared Christ was and is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the olden days, the Catholic Church supported the arts directly (Sistine Chapel) with money extracted through tithes or religious people supported the arts being told that would get them to heaven. \n\nThen rich people supported the arts (Mona Lisa) or royalty supported the arts, operas, paintings, the Spanish Riding School, Mozart etc. etc. with money extracted through taxes.\n\nNow, in Oregon, the taxpayers support the arts through the 1% requirements our legislature put into law on expensive roads and buildings.\n\nAnd PBS has to be supported by Federal tax dollars when right-wing people spend enough for Fox News people to be worth $40 million dollars (Hannity). Even the woman Trump picked on has a net worth of $15 million. \n\nPay for your own art and news and entertainment. Leave my tax dollars alone!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ironically, the Newman Society has put that idea in reverse, bemoaning Notre Dame, Boston College, Georgetown as minimally Catholic and praising Franciscan of Steubenville, Ave Maria, and Wyoming Catholic as model universities. \n\nEach time I say Notre Dame, BC, Georgetown, Fordham, and some others are among the few who can make this claim: Great Catholic University and Catholic Great University, I ask the Newman Society to tell me \"their\" universities that can make that claim--and I never get an answer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The leaders of religions based on lies spout the platitudes of peace and non-violence while all of them have been responsible for the genocide, war, and devastation throughout the world for 2000 years. The justification for the \"Christian Discovery\" doctrine for the conquest of North America and the rest of the world came right from a Roman Catholic Pope of the Holy Roman Empire. Much of Africa and Asia and all of the Middle East were conquered by Muhammed-indoctrinated Islamic armies and terrorists. Genocide is acceptable for religious winners; victims irrelevant. But the lies continue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stephane Dion didn't lose because he can't speak English well. He lost because on top of that he had no charisma or political appeal whatsoever. He looked like a kid who got regularly beat up at summer camp. He was tax and spend Liberal plotting to green tax us, lied about his plan to form a coalition with the NDP as soon as he finished coming in third, and so people didn't trust him.. Chretien and Bernier both have strong accents but it hasn't slowed them down. They were big and charismatic. Larger than life. Chretien had a certain old school Liberal Catholic practicality. Bernier is a hard core fiscal conservative. Both seem small town but comfortable with leadership. Trudeau is a child posing as Leader. He had never held a job of any substance in his life and had literally no accomplishments. None. He still doesn't. He's a cheerleader taking selfies. Trudeau looked fresh and sexy beside long tenured Stephen Harper. But now his vanity is creepy. He's no Mad Max.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whaaaat? Just what is this \"entire school\"? Care to name names? I've certainly never read any work by this fanciful cabal. However, I've encountered your charge before; a caricature designed to dismiss NT scholars as a bunch of nefarious conspiracy theorists. Another weak ad hom on your part.\n\nAgain, I have nothing to to do with determining which letters are undisputed. It is NOT my \"opinion.\" It is the position of a robust scholarly consensus. Your argument is with the academy. Good luck with that.\n\nI will take your answer as an \"I don't know\" or \"Paul doesn't describe Jesus in Johannine terms.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did Tobin mean to send this to the National Catholic Register?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u2026the great movement of apostasy being organized in every country for the establishment of a One-World Church which shall have neither dogmas, nor hierarchy, neither discipline for the mind, nor curb for the passions, and which, under the pretext of freedom and human dignity, would bring back to the world (if such a Church could overcome) the reign of legalized cunning and force, and the oppression of the weak, and of all those who toil and suffer.\n\nWe wish to draw your attention, Venerable Brethren, to this distortion of the Gospel and to the sacred character of Our Lord Jesus Christ, God and man, prevailing within the Sillon and elsewhere. As soon as the social question is being approached, it is the fashion to first put aside the divinity of Jesus Christ, and then to mention only His unlimited clemency, His compassion for all human miseries, and His pressing exhortations to the love of our neighbor and to the brotherhood of men. Pope St. Pius X", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The role of the peoples' opinion in teaching is to confirm their beliefs to those taught by the pillars of morality and wisdom who lead the One True Church. Where the people find themselves not completely aligned with the Bishops, then they know they are in error and must change. It's all very simple. It's what Jesus taught. Or if He didn't, it is what the Church taught, and it is infallible, as it teaches, so it must be obeyed, even when it is saying things Jesus never dreamed of.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When was the last time you saw an ordained Catholic male working in a convent or mother house, washing the nuns underwear and cooking their meal's and being paid $1.00 a week?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More censorship is the answer to progress, and if we can't have censorship in the Al Smith, then let's just shut it down?\n\nTrump is the most pro-life presidential GOP nominee, perhaps ever. I would think Weigel would be pleased with that fact, and doubly pleased at how Trump has attacked Hillary on the abortion issue. But Weigel wants the Al Smith shut down altogether, because it \"showcases\" Hillary? Neither Trump or Hillary said a word about reproductive rights during the entire event. How then did the dinner have anything to do with abortion at all?\n\nWeigel is an educated man. Doesn't he understand that even the president of the U.S. has no power to make abortion illegal? Doesn't he know that Roe is still law, even in the last 30 years of a Catholic SCOTUS? And that therefore, the claim by Trump that he will easily overturn Roe isn't to be taken seriously?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued.. 2) \"the Bible, is loaded with errors, contradictions, historical inaccuracies, editing, re-editing, and based on copies of copies.\" Actually, no (except for the last point; we don't have the very very original books of the Bible as personally written by the original authors, but there are thousands of early fragments, some dating to within years of Christ's death, showing remarkable accuracy in transmission over the years. The issue isn't really that the Bible isn't accurate to original sources, it's whether or not Christ's teachings are true, a different issue). Over the years I've come across a lot of good-sounding objections and criticisms of the Bible, but when I investigated them thoroughly, found them to be false. Whole books have been written on addressing these concerns - I can't cover it all here. You are beginning with a foundation of not wanting to believe that God exists, and that Christ's message is false, and then looking for material to support that position,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The word \"definitively\" does NOT make this a definition, because the entire document is written in past and present tense, and says NOTHING about what the Church can or cannot do in the future. Therefore, it is \"definitive\" about the past and the present, but cannot possibly be definitive about the future, because it says NOTHING about the future. \n\nCan you find, in the entire letter, a verb conjugated in future tense? If so, please let me know. My understanding is that \"Ordinatio Sacerdotalis\" makes CCC 1577 \"definitive\" as long as we *believe* that the choice of the 12 male apostles, a choice made under the OLD LAW, also applies under the NEW LAW. But this is a ludicrous and fundamentalist exegesis. \n\nThe power of the keys was given to the Church to OPEN the doors of the reign of God, not to close them. \"This catechism will thus contain both the new and the old (cf. Matthew 13:52), because the faith is always the same yet the source of ever new light.\" (Fidei Depositum, 2).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Futurechurch! Because the one Christ established just isn't doing it for the fringe anymore!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "THatcher: Greetings\n\nDead on. Capitalism's divide et impera always stood in way of world integration.\n\nThe thriving Old Silk Road was cut short in 632AD by Sunni Capitalist Kaliphate sitting smack in the middle with Tariffs, an Arabic word.\n\nThis cartel of Sunni muscle and Jewish money milked the world till Christians expelled them both from Spain, opening a way to new routes (and lands). Western Capitalism took over, and repeating Kaliphate practice of trade route control.\n\nToday, China flush with cash intends to integrate Asia, Europe, and Africa in one land base market with NSR/OBOR. Capitalism again wants to throw \"monkey's wrench\" as you say by controlling the route.\n\nThis time they will fail. China, Russia, India are all creating Shia Crescent with Iran in lead. The Shia and Christians have always favoured free trade and integration - were allies even during Crusades whose primary objective was to free trade and re-open the Silk Road. It failed then, but there will be no encore.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AT: Actually all those Churches are the ones defining themselves as Christian Churches. I simply refer to their definitions....I don't provide them. You and your particular Christian denomination (a recognized autonomous branch of the Christian Church. synonyms:\treligious group, sect, cult, movement, body, branch, persuasion, order, school; church \"a Christian denomination\"\" from Wikepedia.) You, it seems, define your particular denomination, or perhaps others who belief exactly as you do, as the only \"true\" Christian Church and exclude all the other Christian denominations who don't have your particular beliefs.....including regarding homosexuality and same-sex marriage. \n\nWere I teaching \"comparative religion\", indeed, I would teach the there are numerous denominations of the Christian Church and their beliefs differ regarding many topics. That is the FACT I would teach. cont..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mormons can have their own religion, they are free to do what they want. \n\nThe objection I have is the clever and obnoxious ruse they used by putting \"Christ\" in the name. \n\nThey used the name and some traditions,then built a completely different doctrine around it. Man as ascending God. They don't encourage their people to spend a lot of time on doctrine issues. They do encourage them to be good people. \n\nThe entire idea that God was a man who somehow became a god and that it is every saints goal to do the same is non-christian. The idea that you will end up ruling a planet surrounded by your wives and progeny is non-christian. Just by definition they aren't christian. Its not a right or wrong thing, it's just what it is.\n\nMormonism is the Scientology of the 1800s.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Socially moderate? Hardly. Just before announcing that he would not be putting forward any policy during the leadership campaign, Kenney attacked Alberta's school curriculum as fostering \"politically correct themes like oppression and colonialism and climate change.\u201d Subsequently he endorsed the Catholic school boards' proposal to refuse to teach that condom use can reduce STIs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "4/5 \nAs Catholics, concerning abortion, we are required to hold two conflicting things in our minds. On the one hand, life is the womb is immortal, and thus fully human, and thus not to be snuffed out. On the other, we are required to respect the freedom of conscience of those who hold that we are not immortality, that life in the womb, up to some point, is merely potentially human, but not yet fully human. That's what Jesus sees.\n\nHow resolve this conflict? \n\nFirst, it would be utterly immoral for us to attempt to impose our convictions about immortality and thus about life in the womb on others, and therefore, in a pluralistic society, we may NOT attempt to make our conviction the law of the land. To push for a law outlawing abortion is no different that condoning the inquisition, which in our past, imposed religious views on others.\n\nSecond, we must do everything we can to diminish the frequency of abortion, short of imposing our views on others at the point of the sword of the law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This letter is full of hogwash. Galileo wasn't under house arrest because he went against the \"scientific\" community. He went against the church and the Bible.\n\nAnd then this gem: \"So let us be skeptical of scientists who receive grants to prove the existence of global warming . . .\" Science doesn't 'prove' anything. It either reinforces or refutes hypotheses and a hypothesis can be replaced with one that does a better job of explaining the data. \n\nDo you, Dale, have a better hypothesis to explain the changes we can measure in our climate? If so, what is it? Where's the data supporting your hypothesis? Engage in the scientific process. We're waiting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So your point is that no one can do anything differently than Jesus did?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is that all Christianity is about---morality and formulaic doctrines? Apparently this is Burke's point of view. But Pope Francis sees Christianity as a matter of \"inner transformation\" to the point of \"putting on Christ\". [it is more than wondering what would Jesus do---it is acting like Christ]. \n\nDoctrines and the morality that surround them have no meaning unless people's lives are deeply changed by the experience. We have no power to obey the law or follow any ideal like loving others, caring for others, or the careful and humble use of power except in our life in and through God. If we aren't transformed----sadly all we see is black and white. And that is how we judge others as well---in the two colors of moralism----BLACK AND WHITE.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Senses fidelium did not become LAW after V2, do you have any idea what Sensus fidelium actually means? There are, we are told, 1,2 billion Catholics on the planet of whom Americans and Europeans are no longer in a majority.\nSenses Fidelium to you means whatever you want it to mean. \nBecause you are educated Americans you assume to speak for the 1.2 billion. It strikes me that you are modern-day Pharisees whose interpretation of Catholicism is the only acceptable interpretation throughout the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neither Le Pen nor Macron could be considered practicing Catholics nor is Macron a leftist. Macron is a \"third way\" type; probably the best comparison to his politics is Tony Blair. He used to be in the PS and was in Hollande's govt but left because they rejected his pro-business reforms (and because he clearly had personal ambitions.) Macron is much more enthusiastic about capitalism in general than Pope Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent letter, James Ungerecht. Unfortunately, the history of christianity and the Judaism from which it sprung is dominated by military actions, war, and conquest along with genocide and torture. Ever since the creation by a Pope and his intelligentsia to join with the Holy Roman Empire to use the military might to carry out the same, christianity has been anything but peaceful or loving. Founded on lies as to the very existence of any such being(s) mouthing and writing words of love and peace while waging allout war against all daring to dissent. Man Made God by Barbara G. Walker documents the true history of this dominating religion and its subsequent creation of a madman, Islam, out of the same swamp. Until this nation and the world sheds these anti-human religious lies, humanity and all life on the planet will continue to suffer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. The fact that they were the same periti rather proves my point. SC was full of contradictions, e.g. demanding the retention of Latin in the liturgy yet at the same time permitting its replacement with the vernacular.\n2. To say that the Council Fathers were unaware of what they were voting for most certainly is a criticism of the Council.\n3. The Tridentine Liturgy is far older than Trent, everyone knows that.\nIt is rather strange that of all the extant rites in the Catholic Church the only ones singled out for 'reform' were those in use in the Latin Church. Well perhaps not so strange as Msgr Bugnini freely admitted that anything which Protestants objected to was stripped from the Mass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I had hoped, perhaps, quoting the language of one of your gang would make an impact, but apparently the lesson fell upon deaf ears. Sigh. At least we are no longer seeing the sad claims of having secret email evidence to reveal. Perhaps, having failed to rally support for criticism, you will pause to consider the very real possibility the definition you are obsessively quoting may be accurately directed towards yourself? I cannot imagine how the postings involved can be reconciled with good catholic conduct, which leads to the conclusion the poster is attempting to besmirch the church by claiming to be a devout and active catholic, while behaving such an unseemly and nasty manner.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again, there are confused ignoramuses who mistake the legal secular definition of marriage (hetero & homo unions) with the religious definition of marriage, otherwise known as \"MATRIMONY\".\nThe US Supreme Court left MATRIMONY ALONE & IS NOT TELLING THE CATHOLIC BELIEVERS WHAT TO THINK!! It is just reminding them that their behavior can't be discriminatory under the guise of religious practise... they ought to practise the tolerance towards people that Jesus Christ modeled throughout his life...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I understand that Sr. Christine needs to have hope that Francis is improving the situation of women in the Church. Unfortunately, the facts contradict her position. As long as women are kept out of the priesthood, we will not be fully equal in the Church. And as long as the clerical culture is maintained, the Church will suffer. Francis has done nothing to enable the ordination of women or to dismantle the clerical structure and culture in the Catholic Church. \nTelling women to wait and be patient is no different from what those opposed to dismantling segregation loved telling African Americans -- just be patient, and your time will come .....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I waiting with poised laughter for some of the conservative actions. For example: lets end the EPA and then the water in Flint Michigan will be safe to drink. End the child safety laws because it is safe to allow a 12 year old to operate all machinery. Reverse the mandatory wage laws on federal projects as the future can be great when there is no minimum wage for anyone. Lets end allowing those Cuban cigars and rum to be brought into the country. End Obamacare and doctors and hospitals will not keep the highest rates in the world for services. End all this fuss over prayer in school as everyone is Christian or their just heathens that do not matter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "D.D.,\n\nI totally agree.\n\nDid you notice that the pastor who challenged the group to pray was a woman? I take that as confirmation that your gender doesn't matter to God, just your willingness to follow Him and be used by Him. \n\nWhat amazes me in gift-based ministry is the many ways we can improve the lives of others and draw them closer to God without having to say a word about Him. No Bible study. No doctrinal discussion. Just loving them and feeling God's power warming each person's heart. I've long since lost count of the times I've done a repair at someone's home, or led a team doing a bigger job, and at the end heard the owner praising God for the blessing we had given them. Those are the days I go home feeling like I may have received a greater blessing than I delivered and utterly humbled knowing God used me to bless someone else. It is a blessing I wish more people would allow God to give them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He was a gracious and smart person but his full throated defense of free market capitalism was wrongheaded. In the mid 1980s he teamed up with William Simon and other prominent conservative Catholics, mostly from the business community, to counter the US Bishops' pastoral letter, ECONOMIC JUSTICE FOR ALL, with their own letter that incorrectly presented subsidiarity as opposition to central government. This \"Lay Commission's\" work influenced such politicians as Paul Ryan.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tim Tebow can take a knee while waiting for the pitcher to throw the ball (it would considerably shrink the strike zone) if he wants. Players taking knees in prayer are fine.\nBut Tim Tebow proselytized every chance he got. That's why you love him so much.\nReporter: What did you think of your game-winning drive?\nTebow: I'd like to thank my lord and savior Jesus.\nHow about telling the reporter about the game-winning drive?\nIt's no different than when President Bush, jr was asked about civil same-sex marriage and his first sentence was \"We have all sinned and fallen short in the sight of God!\"\nThat's a fine theological statement, and has nothing to do with civil same-sex marriage.\nBut, it sure made certain Christians happy that Bush, jr, and Tebow were using every occasion to evangelize, to spread the \"good news\".\nSo, if Tebow can take knee to evangelize during a game, what is so horrible about players taking a knee in respectful silence during the National Anthem in peaceful dissent?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As Catholics we are called to help the poor. There is nothing in Catholic teaching that says it must be done through the civil government.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tell me about how the Episcopal church with women clergy is thriving.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The same mindset led to the shameful internment of Japanese Americans in WWII. To signs in Alaska that read \"No dogs, no Natives\". To the signs that read, \"No Irish need apply\". To the hanging of Quakers in Boston in the 1600s. To the lynching of African Americans in the South. To the Virginia Colony banning Catholics. \n\n\"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out\u2014\nBecause I was not a Socialist. \nThen they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out\u2014 \nBecause I was not a Trade Unionist. \nThen they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out\u2014 \nBecause I was not a Jew. \nThen they came for me\u2014and there was no one left to speak for me.\"\nMartin Niem\u00f6ller", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, was Jesus ignorant of \"THE REAL WORLD\" when He gave us His teaching?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And I should ask the \"Catholic\" university of Notre Dame or Boston College, or any of the Jesuit colleges in the US if I could give a speech defending traditional marriage and Catholic teaching.\n\nWanna bet how far that would go?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is fake news. Shame on you Daily Maverick for posting it. Google 'christianity in schools South Africa\" and you find the EXACT article, word for word, except Swaziland is replaced with South Africa in that story.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who decides what roads are taken? You decide for yourself JKirkLVNV. And it is okay for you to decide that you do not want to walk in company with LGBT people. That is fine and I wish you well in life. \n\nBut your attitude doesn't speak for all Catholics. The majority of Catholics of this country do not support or live by the \"teachings\" of the magisterium on a number of issues. Some of \"us\" do want a more inclusive Church, we do want and need that dialogue to better understand the non-heterosexual viewpoint, experience, and how life can be lived well and faithfully. We do think the teachings and understanding of the Church on human sexuality are way out of whack. \n\n More, we need theologians, bishops, priests, straight and LGBTQI people, women, scientists, social scientists, medical professionals to join the conversation. Mostly, what is needed is people who don't think they already know it all, people open to finding they may be wrong and have a lot to learn. Can you do that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The archetypal definition of the word \u2018liberal\u2019 via Webster\u2019s An American Dictionary of the English Language, 1853 - 1st publication 1828 Part 1\n\nLIB'ER-AL, a. [Fr., from L. liberalis, from liber, free. see Libel.] \n1. Of a FREE heart; FREE to give or bestow; not close or contracted; munificent; bountiful; generous; giving largely; as, a liberal donor; the liberal founders of a college or hospital. It expresses less than Profuse or Extravagant. 2. Generous; ample; large; as, a liberal donation; a liberal allowance. 3. Not selfish, narrow, or contracted; catholic; enlarged; embracing other interests than one's own; as, liberal sentiments or views; a liberal mind; liberal policy. 4. General; extensive; embracing literature and the sciences generally; as, a liberal education. This phrase is often, but not necessarily, synonymous with COLLEGIATE; as, a collegiate education. 5. FREE; open; candid; as, a liberal communication of thoughts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus said \"be perfect as Your heavenly Father is perfect\". \n\nPerfecting means getting ever closer to acting out of pure love of God.\n\nIf you call that pompus, we're done.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And by rejecting personal responsibility,RD is attempting to reinforce the Catholic clergy culture, quite contrary to the thrust and substance of the editorial. And it's worth noting here that RD's style is distinctly Opus Dei.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I want the US Government to do is most certainly NOT irrelevant. The healthcare system as it exists in the United States is, as you yourself have just admitted, unfair and inequitable. As Catholics we have a RESPONSIBILITY to point out such injustice, whether it directly affects us or not. (For the record, this particular debate DOES directly affect innumerable friends and relatives, including my wife and daughter, both of whom are dual Canadian-U.S. citizens).\n\nAnd the fact that majorities of Americans are able to be manipulated into acting against their own best interests by self-serving politicians backed by heavily-funded lobbies and super PACs is NOT sufficient as a basis for claiming that an approach is appropriate. If the majority chooses to do something that is immoral, then the majority shares in the immorality of that course of action. Their superior numbers have no bearing whatsoever on the appropriateness of their choice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is, unfortunately, more then just Vatican-speak. It is the \"voice\" of the exact mindset that the entire Vatican - popes and bishops combined - that forced the abuse crisis, and any resolution, underground. With a few steps forward in the past 10 years or so, we remain woefully at the starting point in effective Church-wide prevention (witness the recent collapse of the papal commission, headed by Cardinal O'Malley, the Church \"model\" for confronting the sexual abuse method of 'ministry.') If you listen you can still hear Navarro's voice repeating over and over \"It is an American problem!\" in the halls of the Vatican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article is from Religious News Services, not an NCR original. National Catholic Register also carried an article on the same subject, but with a different slant. Thankfully, we in America still have freedom of the press and can read more than one slant on the news whatever are are biases of political leanings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I said \"Socialism comes in many forms\". Jesus said we need to help the poor, sick, hungry and homeless. He did not define how we do it. He said that we will be judged based on the our ability to meet the need. I think we have a responsibility to address the poverty today BOTH individually and with Government (which is all of us). You are free to drop out and be judged. Please don't tell me that this problem will be solved individually or that Jesus said the poor will always be with us and we should accept that. Jesus loved the poor and to turn our backs is not following Jesus or God's will and is a problem we need to act on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe there is much to the comment about Hillary and Catholics, as long as one understands that there are true (traditional) catholics and the others. Hillary is fine with the others, but not the properly catechized followers of the True Church, the church of Pope Saint John Paul II, the Great, Augustine, Lorenzo the Great, and so forth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's not what happened though. The Gospels were written by men that witnessed Jesus life first hand, or in the case of Luke (a medical physician of the time, and at least initially, a skeptic), on commission from a Roman general to investigate it. I would also be a little sceptical if what you are saying was actually the case. I'm not arguing for or against the existence of God, so let's not try to take the discussion in that direction, it's completely pointless. As an aside, the current bibles are translated directly from these original documents, so a broken telephone is the least of my concerns. Flippantly explaining away the resurrection is much harder to do when looked at purely evidentially and applying correct literally criticism to the available documents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He may be thinking of the Catholic Church model, where you just spend as much as you want, produce little of value, and send the bill to the people. Adam Smith called this \"the invisible maniple\" of church economics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I recently met with the head vicar (i.e., the administrator) from my local parish, he essentially agrees with your viewpoint. The sole purpose was to discuss the pope's reforms and the future direction of the church, which he graciously accepted my invitation to discuss. He is a whiz in church history which explains the reason for his balanced understanding, but based on the interpretation of some I guess that makes him an apostate as well. He assured me that the new gospel-centered, pastoral approach is here to stay, citing the many progressive cardinals recently appointed by the pope. I tend to agree with this, however, the mismatch between doctrine and pastoral practice remains a serious problem for the church universal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent analysis. Last year, a member of the order argued that the opt-out form is a burden because it is \"a permission slip where we authorize the use of our religious health plan to offer services that violate our beliefs and waive our protections under federal civil rights laws. That\u2019s why they need our signature.\"\n\nShe then went on to compare it to pop machines being offered in schools, which are \"bad for people\": they don't become acceptable, she noted, just because the company pays for them. (The comparison rankled--comparing the needs of adult fertile women to pop-loving highschoolers. . .) \n\nI'm not a lawyer, but when she referred to it as \"our religious health plan,\" is she right in any sense? It seems to me that this is not \"their\" plan but the insurance company plan that they contract with. And she ignores the fact that their employees are not necessarily Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is complicated. I agree with him on a couple of things: racism is an illness and that you can be redeemed through Jesus Christ (or whatever faith you subscribe to, even if that \"faith\" is in humanity). You can't have it both ways - you can't claim to be Christian and subscribe to racism. It doesn't make sense. This is one reason the kkk is so nonsensical, in addition to being terrorists. He was lost, now he's found, and his past has caught up to him. Perhaps he can be redeemed through working with young people who are caught up in this illness and dysfunction, and help them to understand how destructive their thinking is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm trying to recall any New Testament text that could be misinterpreted to demand the killing of those who do not believe that Christ is our Savior. Yes, we've had our crazies forcing conversions, but I don't recall on what Scriptural basis they did that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did the Vatican investigate the charges against the priest? Or, does it not matter any more if a civilian court dismissed the charges? Should this man still be a priest given the charges against him? That is a question only the church can answer. Apparently, if the civil court won't try him, neither will the Vatican. Makes it clear who is really in charge when it comes to Catholic justice and the Vatican surely takes second place. \n\nAnd they complain about a secularism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When the good thief said, hanging next to Christ, that his and his fellow criminal's executions were just, why did Christ not explain that the death penalty was wrong? In point of fact, Christ rewarded St. Dismas with paradise, for accepting his justice and asking forgiveness. Mercy can be found in the fact that, despite our sins, as long as we seek forgiveness we can still receive our eternal reward. In the case of Capital Punishment, executing criminals humanely is an example of mercy.\nIs Capital punishment the reason for high murder rates? Hardly. If the death penalty does not act as a deterrent it is because the convicted spends on average 13 years on death row. If the sentence was carried out swiftly, it might well be a deterrent. Murder is barbaric. Its just punishment isn't. By not carrying out justice the state devalues the lives of the victims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Joseph Zen, archbishop emeritus of Hong Kong, is warning Pope Francis against betrayal of the underground Church. The agreement at hand is that the Chinese gov't proposes the candidates for bishop and the pope selects from this list. This gives de facto control to the gov't. Zen fears this will endanger Catholics in the country who do not want to submit to state oversight in their worship. 2/28/17 \"According to a new report from US-based NGO Freedom House, persecution of Chinese Christians and other faith groups has intensified in recent years.\" (cnn.com)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joshua writes, Francis \"is not expected to focus on interreligious dialogue...\" Why not? Mary was a Jewish maid from Nazareth; the village is called Fatima after the youngest daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, and Mary is the mother of Jesus, also a Jew, but the instigator of the renewal movement that became Christianity. As I've noted in Southeast Asia: it takes a woman to unite the three Abrahamic religious traditions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am focusing on Jesus\u2019 words \u201cIf you love Me you will keep my commandments.\u201d\n\nYou\u2019re focusing on \u201cHow can I talk my way out of this one?\u201d\n\nAs always, good luck. I hope it works out for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe the reactionary Catholic press is so angry because they get nothing like this access to the Popes, whether it by Fr. Z, Church Militant or George Weigel. They simply don't understand. Of course, on Francis, it takes a lot of work to be spontaneous, as when he demanded that his bags be brought back to him so he could carry them himself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "have you read the Old Testament of the Bible?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If they know what Jesus says about divorce, remarriage and adultery, there is nothing to be scandalized by. The uncatechized who don\u2019t know any better might be scandalized by the idea of refraining from going up to Communion in a state of grave sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is rich, one of the most divisive publications in the world calling for unity. The way to unity if you are serious is to confess your sins and follow the teachings of God and his Church, the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your comment just raises the thought about \"saints\". We paint, illustrate pictures of unique individuals and use them \"as if\" they illustrate what the whole church is/does. \nGiven the messianic teaching of Jesus, is being even in the sidelines, let alone, reactionary or neutral, \"marginal\". As in: not voting is really a particular kind of vote.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"After nearly 30 years of watching a decline in the number of Catholics applying for marriage annulment\"\n\nWell, the main reason for that is that the number of marriages (both sacramental and civil) has been steadily declining over the past decades as well. \n\nWhile some of the changes make the new process somewhat simpler, and that and the media attention to the process may have contributed to a temporary increase, it is unlikely that it will lead to a sustained increase.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sin is a problem for the sinner. The Church and her pope offer healing.\nUnless you include profanity, we don't see much blasphemy outside mental patients.\nSacrilige is rare unless you misread Corinthians, which you must do, because the term \"mortal sin\" as we know it and confess it did not exist in the early Pauline church. Indeed, confession was to a fellow Brother, not to a priest (there were none). Apostacy (the real kind, where you denied Christ to the Romans) was the most common such sin, but the translation made by Wills shows that chapter had more to do with bringing food to the Agape meal and not sharing. And yes, I trust Garry Wills more than you. Garry went to primary school with my mother-in-law and led her brother into the Jesuits.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is the phrase \"ontologically superior\" found in Catholic theology or doctrine? I know of the \"sacramental character\", which like that conferred by baptism and by confirmation is \"indelible\", but I do not know of it being described in terms of ontological superiority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Finally, Pat Perriello, two things:\n\n1) I am an ordained minister in the Free Methodist Church and I run \"Clergy in Support of the 2nd Amendment\" page on Facebook. ( https://www.facebook.com/Clergy-in-Support-of-the-2nd-Amendment-436340226444357/ )\n\n2) I would love to dialogue with you on this important issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics who join other denominations learn how to do this quickly. They rise to the appropriate level of expectation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The spread of Cardinals throughout the world, as it is now, reflects the decline of Western Civ. as holding hegemony over church officialdom and the Church's intellectual life. \n\nIt also portends a more conservative Church. Non-Western Bishops and Cardinals tend to be more conservative than their Western counterparts. Perhaps the West has lost its hegemony for good reason. Christ is the head of His church and he is phasing out the Liberalism represented by European and American Bishops. As the Influence of the west declines and other Bishops from other parts of the world increase in number and influence, we will find a more traditionalist and conservative church. \n\nI always knew Christ would figure out a way to rid the church of all of the liberal, unorthodox non-sense that has been such a powerful force in the world and the church since VAT II. Praise be Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do you know how I got my information? Perhaps you need to live in Quebec, or study more Quebec history. You are clearly misreading the data. The fact that people declare themselves Catholic in this situation means very little when it comes down to actual tenets of faith or Catholic identity. Getting married in the Catholic Church? A public gesture, not a spiritual one, in Quebec. You're confusing the motions with spiritual intent. \n\nCheck out the companion article in NCR, about the Quebec bishops' visit to Francis, in which they discuss the profound secularization of the society and the extent to which the \"church is pushed almost completely out of most people's lives.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, if you can't afford travel, go to the public library and read up how other people on earth live and believe. It will widen and deepen your own Catholic faith. \nPope F. said God is not a Catholic. At least, I give him credit for that talk!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed, except that there have been two issues among the Catholic hierarchy of late, not one: abortion AND same-sex marriage, or anything else that advances the lives of LGTB people. Those are the same two issues about which Pope Francis said we need to stop \"obsessing.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are not alone in being unable to question the premise that indissolubility is a rule made by Jesus. I read an article in First Things earlier today in which the author tried to set out different and opposing views on chapter VIII of Amoris Laetitia, but he held to the same premise in describing both views.\n\nIt is a serious problem for the church. Rules are about drawing lines. Jesus was about something else. St. Augustine put it concisely: \"love God and do what you will.\" The value of the pastoral focus of Pope Francis -- and he is not touching the rules -- is that it gets in touch with the real lives of people and turns the church toward a different way of teaching. Instead of teaching rules, teach getting in touch with the God who loves us. \n\nIf indissolubility is taken as a rule rather than an exhortation, there are too many palpable injustices in the real lives of real people. That's the way rules are, which is why ascribing this as a rule of Jesus is idolatry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What was the commission Christ gave the apostles? According to both Matthew and Mark, they were to go forth to teach, preach the gospel, and baptize. In other words, they were to be missionaries.\n\nDespite the fact that only men were given this commission, women are serving in the missions where they preach the gospel. They teach in our schools, universities and even our seminaries. And, while women are not the usual ministers of Baptism, they can and do baptize.\n\nIf it is true that women can't be ordained because the apostles were all men, then it also must be true that women can't teach, preach, and baptize, since that commission was given only to men. If women may do these things, then women also may be ordained. Simply stated, the Church can't pick and choose when to follow Christ's example. His example is either binding in all cases, or it is not binding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The scope of the network connected by these representatives is thrilling. Keeping vigil, prayers and fasting in solidarity with the conference and in contemplation of Pope Francis' \u201cNonviolence: a Style of Politics for Peace.\u201d \nThere is also this from the NCR archive... a Christmas Prayer for Peace. That begins, with gratitude a pillar of joy... https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/road-peace/christmas-prayer-peace-2\n\nyou can blow out a candle, but not a flame...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican II clarified the real and definitive place in Church teaching of personal conscience.\n\nWe are obliged to follow our conscience, but we are also obligated to correctly form it. As Catholics who have access to the full revelation, that obligation weighs more heavily upon us then it does on others who rely on the law written in their hearts or fragments of the revelation.\n\nThere is no dispute about conscience.\n\nThe sole question is whether the Church can endorse the conclusions of improperly formed consciences, and in fact do so without regard to the revelation.\n\nThe answer, of course, is \u201cno\u201d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Couple of things.\n\n1st Joseph is instructed to take Mary home as his wife.\n\n2nd, there is a possibility that Joseph may have later married his dead brother's wife, to raise up posterity for his brother. After Joseph's death, the \"other woman\" may have married Cleopas, the two noted, on the road to Emmaus. For those people, that would give Jesus siblings, & Mary a sister.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your reply. I very much disagree with the premise of your opinions, that all 'dissent,\" however one defines that, is wrong. If one carefully studies Church history, they will find one incident after another where such \"dissent,\" or advanced thinking to many, was met with official derision yet proved to be correct and developmental in guiding the Church in doctrine and practice. There is, as well, much that the Church has needed to correct - and certainly needs to now - that theological study is one important (vital) step in the process of refining doctrine and practice with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. A very rigid view, which you espouse, (1) negates the involvement of the Spirit in our efforts to better understand what Christ wants for His Church and His people, and (2) ignores the many ways Church practice has been changed and modified through the centuries based on the insights of theologians, saints and others. I would hope you would be more open to this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK - I defend your right to believe what you wish, God is most certainly beyond our comprehension, but he has, in fact, given us a message. You use many sources to create your own God, and one of the most poignant verses I gave you was from Christ himself, unless you are going to claim that is one of the false parts...You are what the Bible refers to as an Idolater, one who fashions his own God and worships it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As for me and my house, we will continue to serve the Lord. We are answerable to Creator God if we do not encourage and empower the women in our church families to minister both to their congregation and to the wider community, as He has ordained/blessed/imbued each one with unique talents. Down under, yes SPD, Women's Ministries is alive and well. There is little 'church sanctified ordination' can do to change the direction God is leading, or the abilities He is bestowing on, the majority of members. \nNothing, no edicts, decrees, pronouncements, editorials, agendas, authoritative statements, will stop the spreading of the good news that Jesus' sacrifice saves, God loves, God forgives, God wants us to come home. Why, oh why, are some so adamant that the mouth/voice which shares this simple truth, must be equipped/backed-up by male hormones? \nBrothers and sisters in Jesus - speak to someone today - \"Jesus loves you, He wants you to come home\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was dissidents the last two popes disciplined and dealt with them lightly in my opinion, far more defrockings were called for rather than merely withdrawing their licences to teach.\nPope Francis has been punishing good, orthodox Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "well----1. leaving the constantinian institutional church has nothing to do with my continuing as ''a christian'' and my wish and attempt to live my life in the Lord. sadly, the two have nothing to do with one another. 2. no, it was not a 'compulsion', it was a 'free choice' which i had been contemplating for a long time. i thought that i would be losing a lot in losing my parish, and feared 'letting-go.' . but\u2026.one sunday, our so-called pastor started berating the ACA as his 'homely contribution. the church and its reps are always so adverse to not being able to continue to make decisions relative to the health and protection of a woman's vagina. . that was enough for me!!! --- my 'first commandment' is the support and protection of the 'separation of church and state.' his ''homely\u2026.directive\u2026.political statement'''' allowed me to see the 'bottom of the well''' and leave. not regretted it for one single minute.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"As long as Graham wants to appear with the president, and not at a White House event but at a campaign rally, I think those of us on the Christian left need to become yet more vocal about the ways this president offends against not only particular policies that strike us as moral, but against the kind of politics Christianity requires, a politics of respect for human dignity and pursuit of the common good.\" \n\nWell done, MSW! It is writing like this that has made me a NCR subscriber for decades.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Residential schools were Implemented and supported by the Government of Canada and allowed the Catholics to do what they wanted. Now Trudeau want's an apology from the Pope? How about Canada taking responsibility instead of pointing figures at others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" Perhaps Mr. Sorensen would enlighten us as where someone who wishes to work full time might go to obtain a full time job in the current economy.\"\n\nWell, Dr. Taylor, maybe you should go ask the present Democrat president this question who promised a better USA by way of his administration and been in office 8 years?\n\nAll Christians should be more than willing to help the poor on some level. But to gender entitlements with the idea \"everybody owes me a living\" is hardly the agenda that helps anybody.\n\nAnd if I don't get what I want, I am entitled to plunder and loot to get it because it is what I deserve. But this is the attitude our present President has advocated on various levels.\n\nNo one has divided America and gendered hatred between people and races than our present leader. If you deny it, you have your head in the sand.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My mother pulled me out of Catholic schools in the seventh grade because not enough of the sisters were wonderful. I had two in six years that had a clue on how to handle a classroom of fifty kids, the rest relied on shame and emotional abuse and a few times physical abuse....just like mothers who had the biggest families, the often praised 10-12 range in kids. It truly does take a tribe to raise children, not sisters and not overworked mothers. \n\nNow a days there are very few extended families to help with all the kids and no Catholic school has 50 kids in a classroom. Society has changed dramatically. I keep wondering when the Church will leave the 1950's and recognize the change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think there is nothing more stifling, insular, and cloistered than an Adventist \"ghetto\".\n\nBut many Adventists thrive by being wrapped in this cotton wool environment.\n\nThe ancient Israelites were similarly insular. It amazes me that after the crucifixion followers of God/Christ were commissioned to go out to all the world to recruit new converts.\n\nHow was it that the Israelites, who had the true knowledge of the one and only God, never were commissioned to proselytize and spread the Word to neighboring tribes? Their only instruction was to commit genocide against their neighbors!\n\nAdventists in ghettos, may donate funds to spread the gospel, but other than that, they are doing little to evangelize the world if they are in quarantine from their \".unholy \" and \"non Adventist neighbors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ending mandatory celibacy would benefit the Church in many ways. Married priesthood is the Apostolic Tradition preserved in the other Rites of the Roman Catholic Church & in the Orthodox Church. It would, according to a survey done by the Knights of Columbus among their own sons, increase vocations by 16% among their sons. THAT says a great deal. (That was over 20 years ago before so many became disillusioned by the scandals of course.) My own father and brothers would have been priests & good ones had married priesthood been an option.\n\nThere will always be playboys & sick pedophiles, & the sexually immature priests but the specific sexually arrested development we have seen come to light would be more easily spotted if those running formation programs were themselves mature, both married & celibate priests. It wouldn't be the hiding place it has become.\n\nStil, there are these children & mothers & we are bound by Charity toward them regardless of current clerical celibacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We see the refusal to ordain women as misogynistic. How completely unreasonable of us. Even you must admit that the ordination of women is not a core belief of the Church. \n\nLet's say you belong to the \"The Rent Is Too Damn High Party\" (an actual political party in New York City), which, as Wikipedia says, \"is in favor of writing off all taxes owed to the state, cutting property taxes for homeowners, consolidating the rent boards in New York, seizing unoccupied apartment buildings, reforming the state court system, and providing tax credits for commuters and free college tuition. The party opposes any cuts in spending related to education and elderly care.\" Now let's assume that you disagree with the \"tax credits for commuters\" suggestion, but agree with everything else. Should you leave because you have a disagreement on one or even a couple of things, but agree on the rest? Of course not. So why should we leave the Church because we do not march in lockstep with you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: \"Is it that Trumps agenda is Christian or is it that it's Conservative?\"\n\nNeither. It is that it is un-Constitutional.\n\nRe: \"Why shouldn't religion and politics mix?\"\n\nAgain, because of the Constitution. You really don't seem overly familiar with it - just like Trumplethinskin.\n\nIt isn't secularists who \"think that they're better than everyone else\". Not in America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"(T)he majority of climate change deniers are older.\" Those old enough to be educated before \"Progressive\" education commandeered public schools learned a little about critical thinking. We actually know what constitutes 'science', and we are not seeing it in 'Climate Science' any more than we see it in \"Christian Science' or in 'Scientology'. Hans 'Dolph' Lundgren (M.Sc. Chemical Engineering, \"He-Man\") is better qualified to understand the physical chemistry of the atmosphere than Bill Nye (B.S., Mechanical Engineering, \"Science Guy\").", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A man showing us all what it really means to be Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is a brief list of terrorist attacks predominately in the west in 2015 or attacking westerners. Room doesn't allow for all terrorist attacks:\nJanuary 7th; Charlie Hebdo shooting\nJanuary 8th Murder of a French police officer\nJanuary 8th, Porte de Vincennes hostage crisis\nJanuary 21, terrorist attacks 12 civilians on a bus in Tel Aviv\nJanuary 28, Man stabbed a number of time in Northern Ireland by an Islamic extremist\nFebruary 3, Islamic terrorist attacks 3 military police officers guarding a community centre\nFebruary 14-15 Copenhagen - Gunman opens fire at an art exhibit killing 1 spectator and wounding 3 police officers, later a Jewish security guard was murdered outside the Great Synagogue\nMarch 6, Bamako, Mali, terrorist attack killing 5 people in a western tourist area.\nMarch 6, Terrorist rams a crowd of border police and attacks them with a knife in Jerusalem.\nApril 2, over 140 dead in Garissa University attack in Kenya, targeting Christians.\nJust a sample.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tony as a MD, PhD, and a person who studied Catholic philosophy in the seminary, I think you are verbally abusing our profession. Seems maybe Dr. Tony knows little of philosophy and almost nothing of medical ethics by his failings to recognize in other postings the necessary for medical profilaxis when it comes to women and pregnancy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He won't answer your question, John-- he likes that they \"did their homework\" in grilling a candidate with religious conviction made from a Conservative. Of all the things to ask- of course they centered it around their [Christian]faith. The fact is that if the same \"homework\" were done on a Muslim/Black/fill-in-another-Leftist sponsored \"victim,\" he would summarily call such \"homework\" racist and uncalled for. You're absolutely right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's what happens when you try to change things with a wink and a nod due to the constraints of your office. \n\nThose of us who strive to be faithful to the perennial teaching of the Church that receiving Holy Communion in the state of mortal sin is sacrelige will carry on as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting that China is taking a syrong interest in Slaska now. It seems strange considering our government continues to follow the saudi Arabian Sunni Wahabbi sect's foreign policices that propagate confrontational situations with the Russian Federation that now is a Christian value nation that secures secularism in the Middle East and their Chinese cohorts that afford religious freedom that strictly adhere to non-government involvement. Does this event of a Chinese President the preamble of a potential future conquest where the USA is devided up like a piece of pie and China wants Alaska as the spoils of war?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A second NCR issue on the same blather! Pence, apostate RC, is lesser of two evils!?\nYet no NCR article on the horrific crisis in South Sudan, a large RC enclave!\nEven Joshua McE in his international briefing allude to it.\nWhere are NCR's priorities? In house issues seem to be the feed!\nThe Tuam, Ireland graveyard of infants, an RCC concentration camp hasn't seen light of day yet in NCR reporting while Bill O'Donohue of his \"Catholic\" League is already denouncing it as \"fake news!\"\nAgain, where are NCR's priorities? Evidently, articles like Winter's are!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If ever Muslim societies became secular, I would still expect their culture to reflect their long history of Islam, in their official holidays, their expressions, their art and music, etc. \n\nSecularism does not mean pulling your culture out by the roots to reform it. The French Revolution and the Soviets and the Chinese Cultural Revolution tried that, with disastrous results. ISIS is doing its own cultural cleansing\" by destroying those monuments which predate Islam.\n\nThat is destructive and unnecessary. The French don't need to destroy Notre-Dame and all evidence of Christianity from their culture to have a secular society, any more than Turkey needed to destroy all its mosques, art and music.\n\nXmas is now a fun holiday people all over the world enjoy for what it is today, with little understanding of its religious roots. Even in Pakistan!\n\nhttp://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/christmas-big-hit-islamic-republic-pakistan-n270666", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A counter view, one from a more trusting and sporting Catholic perspective.\n\nThe thesis offered us in this article is simply one of seeing a problem with mere human eyes.\n\nImagine the effects of 300k fueled by the Sanctifyng grace of Holy Communion who enter the fray of this storm damage to fix homes and hearts with the sweat of happy sacrifice and constant prayer. To not count to cost but to self empty in order to bring order and calm to the area's souls, not gouging on repair work. Working long hours building friendships.\n\nAnd imagine those Catholics directly affected who resist taking the \"woe is me\" path and instead cheerfully dust themselves off in a more sporting spirit, encouraging by their sincere example their non Christian neighbors. God's Holy Spirit moving through those people.\nGod can draw unimaginable good out of this disaster.\n\nDon't let the gloom and doom writers cast the message unchallenged or unfazed by the message of the Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW - guessing that you will focus on Land O'Lakes' key principles:\n- free from clerical control (including episcopal control)\n- catholic autonomy\n\nFor example, the Association of Jesuit Colleges & Universities(28) is significantly involved in issues and current events \nhttp://www.ajcunet.edu/\nKey purpose is to educate/train catholic leaders for tomorrow including their own institutions (many Jesuit universities are now led by lay leaders)\namong 221 Catholic institutions/1,600 independent colleges/universities in US, American Jesuit colleges and universities are part of a network of 189 Jesuit institutions of higher learning throughout the world\n\nDePaul University just welcomed their first lay president July 1st.\n\nThese religious order sponsored universities have focused on their charisms and developed lay leadership.\n\nOr, the role of catholic universities in education (we are no longer second class) - yet, recent developments at CUA accepting millions from the Koch brothers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"When I hear a conservative Catholic argue that setting the minimum wage is a mere matter of prudential judgment, I cringe because they are unwittingly denying that how we treat our fellow men and women is called to reflect the love within the Godhead itself. When I hear a liberal Catholic argue that God has nothing to say about human and sexual love, I cringe for the same reason.\"\n\nThat same conservative Catholic always says, \"Let the market set wages.\" That is just amoral as a liberal saying, \"Sexuality has nothing to do with God.\" God has a place in all human relations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Francis is skipping by 'catholic religiosity' in his press conferences and over seas trips. At least for the most part. He is stressing Gospel imperatives in a spiritual sense that forces people to evolve. On the other hand, he is supporting Catholic tradition and institutionalizm on his home turf...best evidenced in his refusal to deal with the clerical abuse crisis, his basically non reform of Vatican finances, his turning over day to day PR to Opus Dei, his courting of SSPX, and his Mariology. I find the man a total conundrum. Maybe I will have to start some kind of devotion to Mary the Untier of Knots.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was God. He holds together all reality, supernatural and natural. \n\nSaying love is love is called a tautology. Meaningless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...Of course, in the name of Jesus and Allah.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, she made no anti-Catholic comments. What was hacked was a group of her Catholic staffers grousing among themselves. Hillary is a lifelong Methodist whose social justice values are almost identical to the RCC's. Second, Trump has no religious or social justice values anyone has been able to discover. Third, Hillary was born and raised middle-class. She remained that way until after she was out of political office and was able to capitalize on capitalism. Trump, on the other hand, was born with a gold foot in his mouth. Fourth, Hillary hasn't been driving for much of her life because her Secret Service agents wouldn't allow it. What's Trump's excuse? Fifth, the fact that Hillary has worked for her country most of her life is not a disqualifier. God knows, Trump has only \"worked\" for Trump. Did I cover it all?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cEverything we\u2019ve come to expect from you and less.\u201d\nAre you Pope F. in disguise with pseudo screen name?\nYou at least are a royal clergy, right? \nYou talk for CI (Catholic Institution), I noticed.\nCI is beyond defensible organization. Find yourself some employable skill before it is too late.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We've gone from the sacred need for gluten to the dangers of romantic fantasies--and we wonder why folks think we're too focused on rules, scrupulosity, and non-essentials.\"\n\nI don't think anyone said there was danger in romantic fantasy. You, however, seem to confuse romantic fantasy with lust. I don't pretend to be above a bit of lust myself --- I love it, actually --- but I don't confuse the two. Seems you're new not only to Catholicism, but to romance. \n\nFunny you mention \"Daydream\" by the Lovin' Spoonful. Custom-made for a daydreamin boy. I happen to sing that song in my 60's band.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pan knows all this full well ... he's merely baiting and diverting the discussion from whee it should focus ... on a LGBTQ+ group struggling to find permission to run from the executive administrators of a Catholic university.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with you. However, I do think churches and church institutions have the right to use religious criteria in personnel decisions regarding those positions that are properly ministerial: clergy and catechists. Beyond that is a slippery slope and I think the church is best advised not to straddle the slope. Terminating choir directors, Eucharistic ministers, etc. may fall within what they can legally do -- but it falls far short of what they ought to do. I read recently about a gay man who was not permitted to sing the Ave Maria at his grandmother's funeral -- despite the fact that the man is a life-long Catholic, was not in a relationship, and was known to the priest. What enormous damage this priest did -- and not only, or even especially, to the young man and his family. He inflicted a wound on the parish and on the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again you confuse needs/desires/wants/spiritual beings/human ideas. A big mess. \n\nAnd you might want to do a time line...lucifer had been thrown out well before Jesus incarnated. \n\nIt's just too big a mess to get a toe hold.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Orthodox have a different take on re-union. In his book, ORTHODOXY, Timothy Ware notes: \"Orthodoxy recognizes that, in the early centuries of the Church, Rome was pre-eminent in its steadfast witness to the true faith; but we do not believe that, in his teaching ministry, the Pope possesses a special charisma or gift of grace that is not granted to his fellow bishops. We recognize him as first -- but only as first among equals. He is the elder brother, not supreme ruler. We do not consider that, in the first ten centuries of the Church, the Pope possessed direct and immediate power of jurisdiction in the Christian east, and so we find it impossible to grant such power to him today.\" They wish to see the Pope's ministry and honorary seniority spelled out in pastoral terms, not juridical terms.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The pope is reaping the rewards of his effort to weaken church teachings.\n\nWhat is his goal? I wish I knew.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It will certainly be interesting....\nI am glad that so many people are showing their utter dismay in so many ways. My brother is a history professor at a college in the rural rust belt and says that most of the students at that school are apathetic.....\nNow that we are again conversing cordially, perhaps you could tell me about your experience at the Ukrainian Catholic Church that you had said that you were going to go to in the summer?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How 'Jesuitical' of Pope Francis, the Missioner.\nI love it! His global dimensioning of the cardinalate!\nChurch politics need to evolve in context with global realities/ needs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm referring to the numbers reported by the major Pew research Center poll reflecting the period between 2007 and 2014, published in May 2015. Although evangelicals fell from 26.3% to 25.4% of the US population, this is regarded as essentially staying even. \n\nIn the same poll, the RCC fell from 23.9 to 20.8%, and mainline Protestants fell from 18.1 to 14.7%.\n\nVery few Pentecostal churches have female pastors, or were founded by women. I have attended many, and except for the ones that you see on TV, less than 2% have a female pastor.\n\nhttp://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's a story out tonight that Cardinal Pell has been formally charged in multiple sex abuse cases in Australia. I can't help but wonder if the pope's having new Cardinal, who was questioned in a financial brouhaha, might have been an attempt to somehow protect this new Cardinal. I'm guessing (hoping?) ncr will report on this tomorrow, so perhaps comment n that specific matter should wait til then. \n\nIn the context of THIS article however, I'd note that if Francis is telling his new cardinals to look at the situations of Catholics in their care, and serve them as brothers. I would suggest that a significant part of those \"situations\" include having a church leadership you don't trust, that clearly believes half do you cant be what they are, and that continue to act in a manner that completely rejects personal accountability for themselves, even as your kids were at risk is sxual abuse... Like it or not, that IS a part of the Catholic situation today...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1LB, the two Vatican councils were composed of fallible men. Is it your contention that the councils are somehow \u2018infallible\u2019, and that every one of their outputs is perfect and completely free from error?\nV2 re-affirmed the infallibility of the pope, which remains the single biggest stumbling block to oecumenical unity, and attempted to pull the mantle of infallibility onto the bishops as well. As I noted previously, it demanded \u2018prompt obedience\u2019 (which you might call infantilism) from the laity. There is little to disagree with in G&S; it\u2019s a bland document (war is bad!) more noticeable for what it DOESN\u2019T say: no mention of communism, western secularism, or the sleeping giant of Islam (which now of course has re-awakened).\nOf course, when most Catholics think of V2 they think of the liturgy. Here V2 made some modest proposals which in light of experience were mistakes. I don\u2019t want to blame the Montini rite on SacrCon because we all know that liturgy took liberties ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the idea of Jesus gradually developing an awareness of what it would mean for him to be part of what God was doing is eminently consistent with the theology of Mark. Although he begins his narrative by announcing that Jesus is Messiah (son of God), Mark portrays Jesus as preferring the title Son of Man, which in Daniel and Ezekiel was an apocalyptic title. Schweitzer and others have used Mark's portrait to state that Jesus thought of himself as a prophet of the end times, and only gradually expanded his self-awareness as his mission evolved. \n\nI agree with BROTHOR that a discussion of the historical Jesus would be much more useful than the speculation we tend to spend so much time on here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But MSW didn't take issue with the fact that Thomas Williams was a Legionary of Christ. He took issue with the fact the Williams is (as I understand it) laicized.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am currently befuddles my my dedication to the 100% normative nature of science for theology. According to Wiki, Gould was inspired by Pius XII's Humane Generis (HG) in postulating his two magisteria. In HG, Pius IMHO effectively grants that science/evolution is 100% normative, but adds that, in the case of evolution, Catholics are stuck with the assumption that our immortal component (\"soul\" in HG language) is directly created by God.\n\nI buy that; and I have been assuming \"us\" began with anatomically modern homo sapience 200K years ago. For me, the apparent fact we (except for Africans) have remnants of Neanderthal and Denisovian DNA acquired after we emergence as modern humans is problematic. If that stands the test of time (ie, if this DNA could not have been acquired prior to 200K years ago), than theology MUST adjust; and I don't see how. Since God is the ultimate author of the nature science discovers, theology must cede precedence to established science.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".\nNot likely, there's no evidence she knows what a real university is.\n\nShe attended a Christian variation on a madrassa.\n\nFrom their website, this describes their 'mission':\n\n\"Calvin College ... prepares students to be Christ\u2019s agents of renewal in the world", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are completely correct. All must acknowledge The Most Supreme Roman Pontiff, Our Only Holy Father. To do otherwise is to buy a one-way ticket to Hades. All other beliefs must be opposed, and if possible, suppressed. The Holy Fathers in the past warned about Democracy, and now, with the election of Mr. Trump we have a chance to correct this aberration and return to the type of government endorsed and supported by hundreds of years of Supreme Roman Pontiffs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To quote AnnieO \"Why would you?\" What makes me wonder are those who appear to place more value on, what Pope Benedict VI termed \"traditional markers\" than on the substance of their faith.\nBenedict offered - that a return to these \"traditional markers\" was the proper response, repair, reparation and restoration of the glory of Catholicism in Ireland in his response to sexual abuse scandal in the Irish Church. This to me is a substitution of \"aids\" for substance, and, in that sense a facade.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, YOU did not mention the German bishops, Ms. Zagano did! You're simply complaining about Ms. Zagano's reporting. So you might want to correct your invective here! You're trying to create the \"alternative impression\" that you are defining \"orthodox Catholics\" as exclusively those whom you alone deem orthodox! Not even Kellyanne Conway can get away with stuff like THAT!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I simply see a great logical fallacy in your position. On the one hand, you want us to believe that the Spirit is somehow actively involved on the earth, in such a manner that would prevent church leaders from making an error in what they teach. That clearly suggests an active involvement by the Spirit: a choice if you will. \n\nThe logical extension of that would be that the Spirit chooses to intervene on that point, but NOT on the abuse of children, nor (by your apparent believe) the likely path to hell of 85%+ of Catholics who don't buy into HV. That's an interesting choice. Does the Spirit actively prevent people from exercising their free will? I doubt it. So if a bishop or a pope chooses, of his own free will to ignore the counsel of the laity, why would the Spirit choose to intervene there, but NOT when that same guy makes a horrific call resulting in the abuse of children? You clearly want it both ways. I doubt it works that way, as the model diminishes God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "IF ? Your the one who claims to know it all . While it's none of your business , I haven't been retired that long. No one worked harder than me---again , you don't know this ? My beef is with those who have their hands out who didn't work , yet want free stuff. The one's who sit on their rear ends because they figure they can get more by doing nothing and not working . As for Christian charity , you ought to look in the mirror . I'm living the dream because I earned it. Hang in there kid , you might get there someday too----if your willing to work for it .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The two sins against Hope are despair and presumption. St Thomas tells us that presumption is an immoderate excess of hope where we presume prematurely (whilst still alive) that we possess eternal salvation. Despair is the opposite. Giving up hope prematurely of ever possessing eternal salvation. Both, Aquinas, says are sins against the Holy Ghost. (ST II-II Q art 20 & 31)\nSeattle Catholic's optimism, \"no matter what, life is good, after death life will get better,\" seemed to be more like 'presuming' than 'hoping'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But in those almost two decades post-council, those who left religious life or he priesthood, mostly remained Catholic. Under Pope John Paul II is when many of them left the Church completely, or stopped attending altogether.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sharon and Terry were the true epitome of Christian benevolence, as I watched while they were there for my mother, Dolores Mode. I know Sharon and mom are singing up a storm! I will miss your mother's beautiful smile and face. She was truly a giving person to all. I know you will miss her terribly but she accomplished much here on earth. We feel mother and Terry went together and were waiting for Sharon. I hope as time goes on your pain will ease as mine has. My prayers are with you all.\n\nLyndene Fritts", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For those who claim to have \"dubia\" over alleged Francis \"ambiguities,\" you have a clarity call you can't escape or misunderstand. (Or add to, \"that being said....\")\n\nThe Pope said our Catholic \"fanaticism\" can't be focused on whom, when, how, and where we love, but on THAT we love. It's not about the rules of love but on the roles of love. \n\n\"Love RULES\" turns an abused noun into a living verb.\n\nI hope his warning about our misplaced zealotry will be part of his intra- and inter-faith legacy. I hope his call to see \"the other\" (his word) not as an enemy to be overcome but as a brother and sister to be loved is declared an unconditional doctrinal mandate, because it already is an immutable truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Keep in mind there is a massively bloated bureaucracy to fund in the way of *four* separate boards; English Public, English Catholic, French Public, French Catholic. We're not just paying for redundancy, but quadruple the redundancy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Emeritus Bishop Geoffrey Robinson addresses much of this in his book \"Confronting Power And Sex In The Catholic Church\" Subtitled \"Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus\". (Liturgical Press 2007).\nThe book's publication was followed by criticism of it by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, part of which reads: \"This (questioning of the Magisterium) leads in turn to the questioning of Catholic teaching on, among other things, the nature of Tradition, the inspiration of the Holy Scripture, the infallibility of the Councils and the Pope, the authority of the Creeds, the nature of the ministerial priesthood and central elements of the Church's moral teaching.\"\nIn other words questioning the status quo, which is the method by which humanity progresses, is not allowed.\nRemember this was 2008 when Benedict XVI was calling the shots.\n\nA good starter would be what you have mentioned, and also would be to bring the Church's understanding of human sexuality out of the 16th Century.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh so holy Father Brennan must have skipped that part in the Gospels about millstones. Or maybe he quit reading the Bible when he chose to replace Jesus with Canon Law as his God? Either way, he's made it clear he is on the side of pedophiles and thus, opposed to Jesus Christ. Wonder if he feels so strongly because he's already covering for others? Or are others covering for him?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not only did we \"socialize,\" they attended my wedding and were with my wife and my THREE YEAR OLD daughter and my TWO WEEK OLD son at the airport the night I left for Vietnam. She died while I was overseas, so I never got to truly say goodbye. They were not rich, and she gave us a bed sheet set as a wedding present. Although now worn out, we keep it in my wife's cedar chest to be handed down with heirlooms from my mother and my wife's mother. White STATESMEN fought entrenched politicians to pass civil rights legislation, marching only brought the issue to the forefront but did NOT change the law. That had to be done in Congress, so Blacks and Whites worked for passage. Christians DIED getting slaves to freedom and were the catalyst in forcing emancipation. The war only ended slavery. Only when people like you get over it will true racial reconciliation occur. Barack Obama set race relations back to before the Civil War. Will YOU help us move them back to where they belong?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Francis is certainly a change from the Eurocentric Popes of Catholic history. Catholicism has hardly been known for religious tolerance. I like this Pope.\n\nThanks for the info, You don't happen to have a link to the Catholic artical do you? I'm sure I can find it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rome was allowed to appoint the High Priest and there is nothing to indicate that Jesus criticized the practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Federal Law and Private Businesses\n\nTitle II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 -- the federal law which prohibits discrimination by private businesses which are places of public accommodation -- only prevents businesses from refusing service based on race, color, religion, or national origin. Federal law does not prevent businesses from refusing service to customers based on sexual orientation.\n\nSo, in this thread, only the coffee shop owner who refused to serve Christians is breaking the law, technically.\n\nIf all shops refused gays, let me know. I'll open up a bakery that serves gays and make a heckuva business.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem as I see it, Walter is an anti-Catholic and science poseur anyway...with no clear understanding of what science itself teaches. Rather he mounts specious attacks on matters he clearly doesn't understand using the cover of \"scientific criticism\"...just an opinion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ironically RD other than the last item in one community, and the Haugen item-all of those things you mention are most done at two different chapels or churches attached to two different orders I attend mass at regularly, & both of them are considered some of the most liberal & progressive worship communities around. They also have large lay participation and are quite lively and have confession whenever you want it after mass any day of the week and one of them has two daily masses at 7:30 and 12:05 and they get about 15-20 people every day at each of these masses (more than that in the morning mass). So conservative & traditionalist ideas do not add up to vitality in reality & it often shuts vitality down.\n\nThe second community actually has confessions for 4 hours every Saturday and Sunday and always lines as this is also a Shrine. Progressive Catholics are not against any sacrament, including Reconciliation. I bring my children of 12 and 14 to confession too-so you assume wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Boston Globe recently carried two opinion pieces about Trump and his potential successor - Mike Pence. One argued that it is better to have a hobbled and ineffectual Trump for 4 years than to have Pence as president. The other focused on Pence's foibles and very significant defects. These pieces convinced me that Pence may be a worse fate for the US than Trump in terms of potential new legislation and Christian values. I agree that Trump is unfit to be president, though \"Realpolitik\" makes me believe that the future of the country and the world may fare better under a hobbled Trump than an ultraconservative Pence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your comment suggests that if one thinks for himself and, as a result of such thinking, acts contrary to Christ's commandments, Christ is fine with that. Tell me how you got there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't remember reading of him complaining of Black British actors taking American film roles when he was the Star. Tink people. The Democrat Party was exposed by WikiLeaks, Donna Brazille(\"the Holy Christian Woman\") exposed by Megan Kelly! Bill \"lied\"(if it's in your vocabulary) lied until the Blue Dress showed up, Hiillary deleted thousands of emails and wipe it with a cloth to never be seen again! The list of examples can go on and on... . lol. Barry lied, you can keep your medical plan, doctor and rates would not go up! Yikes! I bet you and Barry never heard or he never said those lines to the public. The JV flourished under Barry and TheDonald has to clean all that up and now the CIA an intelligence agency itself got hacked and revealed under Barry's watch of 8 years! Barry double our National Deficit! The list goes on and on", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jim; you may not be far off the truth .. but in reality ? Cardinals do not need to be ordained; they are an advisory group close to the the pope and have a vote in the papal election, until they reach their 80th year. Mary currently meets both requirements and has been studying Canon Law in Rome since completing thirteen years as President of Ireland. Her background was obviously the crucible of her mindset. To state a fact; she has been more than challenging to the hierarchy and the Vatican. As a Professor of Criminal Law, and a Canon Lawyer, she would be more than a match to tease out the detail with the Vatican.\n\nYou are obviously familiar with all of that but I just thought I might help out those not familiar with our Mary. She is a force to be reckoned with and could not be viewed as a shy lady.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Kevin,\nYou asked, \"Has Joe not changed direction?\" In your example you said it was unreasonable for Joe and his wife to live chaste (abstain from sexual relations). I do not believe this to be true. I believe if we truly go to Jesus, then (this is important) put our trust in His Word, that with Him all things are possible (not with man alone, but in cooperation with God's mercy and grace). Joe and his wife can make this act of love to God if they choose to. I said earlier, the choice is theirs - God does not force anyone to change, to live in a state of grace rather than sin but He wants more than anything that out of love for Him, we want to do this! Kevin, I am not sure what you mean by Joe publicly confessing his sin of impurity (with his second wife). Does he go up to the altar and say that out loud that he is living in sin? I have never seen this done. If he were to do this, I have no doubt that the Priest would certainly seek him out in private after Mass. (Continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Holy Spirit only interacts with people through the doctrine and dogma of the church. It doesn't actually move around the planet touching people. That's what the clergy are for. The closest we can come to a direct line with the Holy Spirit is by reading the catechism and writings of learned men of the church, properly vetted by the holy men who lead the church. Our relation to the Holy Spirit, like all else in the faith, is an intellectual exercise involving study and obedience to all the rules of the church and directions of the clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bob, during JPII and Benedict's 'reign', politicians or representatives of governments who wished a private audience with the Pope, had to apply and then were given a date which would be suitable. That date could be weeks or months ahead.\n\nThis modus operandi applied to all governments with the exception of one - The United States of America. They were accorded 24/7 access. Now we know why. \n\nYou are absolutely correct to state that the Vatican were up to their necks in what the US was doing in Latin and South America. Romero visited JPII and Ratzinger armed with a dossier of photographs of the disfigured bodies of hundreds of murdered El Salvadoran Catholics and proof of US involvement in these deaths. The gruesome twosome ignored Romero's pleas for support. There is film footage of him leaving the Vatican in tears in the knowledge that the people of El Salvador had been abandoned by their Church. Romero was shot dead six days later.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you. I agree wholeheartedly.\n\nI still surprises me how many people completely overlook the model of ministry Jesus provided over and over again in the Gospels. First, serve the person. Then they'll be willing to listen to what you have to say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who are the Church?\nAs you and I disagree fundamentally upon nearly all matters of ecclesiology, Faith and Morals, we cannot possibly both be the Church. One of us is right, the other wrong or neither of us is right.\nWhilst at least one orthodox Catholic exists the Catholic Church exists and functions. When orthodox Catholicism dies out only then will the Church cease to exist and function. This, of course is impossible on account of Christ's promise, \"..... and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.\" Matthew 28:20.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder if this business of being disowned after leaving the priesthood is more of an issue for diocesan priests than religious priests?\n\nAlthough not ordained before leaving the Jesuits after V2, I know that I and many others have been welcomed among former Jesuit colleagues. As far as I know, the experience would be be same for those who left the Society of Jesus after ordination, although I happen not to have contact with anyone in that category.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The four are severely chastised by Bishop Fragkisko Papamanolis, president of the Greek bishops\u2019 conference (see http://tinyurl.com/zfxlajk ) What must have particularly stung the Burkeites is his use of the ultramontane against these cafeteria ultramontanists: \u201cIt is clear from your document, that in practice, you do not believe in the Pope\u2019s supreme magisterial authority, backed up by two Synods of Bishops from the whole world. Obviously the Holy Spirit inspires only you and not the Vicar of Christ, nor even the Bishops gathered in Synod.\u201d He fears \"your mental categories will find sophisticated arguments to justify what you are doing, so that you will not even consider it a sin to be dealt with in the sacrament of penance, and you will continue to celebrate Mass each day and receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist sacrilegiously, while you claim you are scandalised if, in specific cases, a divorced person receives the Eucharist and you accuse the Holy Father of heresy.\" Ouch!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...You can't correct a spoiled child's behaviour by giving him/her anything s/he wants...\"\nThis is not Canada ...with a bunch of \u00ab Loyalists \u00bb Orangemen. \nThere is no place for a bunch of Ku-Ku-Klowns in Canada.\nAfter the establishment of the Canadian Federation (1867), the English speaking several provinces attended helplessly to the adoption of several LAWS and regulations, anti-Catholic and anti-French in English Canada, especially in that regard to denominational schools outside Qu\u00e9bec.\nAnti-Catholic and anti-French attitude drew its source, among others, the fact that many of the Loyalists who came to Qu\u00e9bec after the American Revolution of 1775 (Eastern Townships/ Ontario and Western Provinces) were \"Orangemen\" convinced. Orangemen advocated an anti-Catholic and anti-French doctrine, inspired by the reconquest of England in 1690 by the Protestant Prince William III of Orange...\n(more to come for YOU Oldgit and yours ROC friends)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So what exactly is the problem? \nIs it that Catholics are not a minority?\nIs it that non-Catholics are attending Catholic schools?\nIs it that Catholic schools get provincial funding and other non-Catholic private schools don't?\nThis article doesn't do a very good job of explaining what is really going on.\nOnce the notwithstanding clause is used the floodgates will open around the country.\nAn explanation of which parts of the charter cannot be overridden by the clause would have made the article more useful too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NCR is the best newspaper in America, religious or secular. It wins the Catholic Press Association award for general excellence almost every year and deservedly so. All of us should support NCR in its work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's a world of difference between genuine Christians and false Christians. God, in the New Testament, is very aware of false Christians as well; (Matthew 7:21-23) \"\u201cNot everyone who says to me, \u2018Lord, Lord,\u2019 will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.\u00a0Many will say to me on that day, \u2018Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?\u2019\u00a0Then I will tell them plainly, \u2018I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!\u2019\", versus Galatians 5:22-23 \"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,\u00a0gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A few people still recall the case of Louis Billot, the French Jesuit created a cardinal by Pius X, who alone among twentieth century cardinals resigned the cardinalate and returned his red hat to Pope Pius XI. Billot was a supporter of Catholic Action in France, while Pius XI was not. Perhaps history will now repeat itself shortly, four times over!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have me thinking. One can leave a church and yet not be gone at all. One can be in the pew every week or every day and be very gone. People making sincere decisions about their spiritual life, not driven by habit, guilt, or fear, are probably not gone within the big spiritual picture. The realization of this among people, combined with the obstinacy of the Church, is a membership issue, but probably not an issue of healthy spiritual life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We define ourselves simply as Catholics, everything else is just gravey.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, I don't think you can assess any of those issues for someone else, let alone a poster on a blog who might be talking about things that you don't understand. There are limits to all communication. \n\n\nAs to your assertions about whether or not there are fruits from the changes of V2, the evidence doesn't seem to reside on all one side. The ones who left were most impacted by being raised pre-V2, including many of the posters on here. I was raised in that time; however, like many others of those from the pre-days, I moved well into the post-days. I am not fallen away at all. \n\n\nI agree with you that none of us should declare that we understand the workings of the Holy Spirit, one way or another. \n\n\nAs to your assertions that the few Catholics who 'go trad' are 'the many', that is not the case in the U.S. Not sure what country you are in, but the post-V2 Church has been a surprise to outsiders looking at the U.S. because of its health and liveliness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jay Edward, you have it completely backward. It is in registering that we put on the Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anyone who seeks Jesus will find Jesus in these words: \"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.\" (John 1:1, 14) Jesus is the Word of God. But Jesus is not the sugarcoated all-inclusive God so many imagine. \"He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God \u2014 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.\" (John 1:11-13) To be \"born of God\" and be given \"the right to become children of God\" actually requires something: those so blessed must first receive Jesus and believe in his name. The common worldly misconception is that all people are children of God. But the truth of Scripture tells us something different.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Walker doesn't come across as one of those jam religion down your throat, conservative christian extremists that infest the Alaska legislature but in allowing HB 156 to become law, he sure acted like one. \n\nI voted for the man and support his approach to our fiscal calamity but the fact that he didn't prevent this ignorance-based abomination from becoming law is precisely the kind of thing that will cost Walker my future support. In my mind, it really is that big-of-a-deal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regrettably, Catholic schools have constitutional protection in some provinces.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is obviously a change happening in how people want to worship and how they want to form a worship community. This is as true among Catholics as among other religious groups. Judson is an example of a different ways some non-Catholics have responded. There are lots of calls for change among Catholics - just look at recent articles here and in other sources. \n\nWhat has given momentum to the calls for change is how quickly Australian and Irish Catholicism have ...well...crash landed. It doesn't help that bishops almost everywhere refuse to even admit a problem with declining participation and a declining priesthood until way too late. They still totally ignore a declining acceptance of the patriarchal/authoritative nature of Church governance and the rejection of some teachings. \n\nSo, since they won't deal with it, we all need to be thinking about what alternative structures would help us live out a faith in Jesus and pass on that faith to a new generation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you doubt that God intends to draw great good out of illness. \n\nHe either doesn't want to do it, or He can't do it, according to you. \n\nWhich one of these alternatives do you believe?\n\nBoth are grave sins.\n\n\"Great good\" could be: tens of thousands of acts of (happily given) charity from her husband to his wife, or to their children. \n\nor it could be: reconciliation among family members, as sons/daughters, brothers/sisters draw closer to the dying person to help, to remember, to forgive, to ask for forgiveness.\n\nor it could be 100 thousand acts of humility\nor 150 thousands acts of abandonment. \n\nor it could be 200 hours of prayer...great intimacy with God. \n\nor it could be simply the smile that your wife gives to the hospice person.\n\nOr it could simply be a husband who doesn't give in to despair. \n\nWho knows what God wants to draw out of our illnesses and death..but you must have faith that He can do it, if we have faith. \n\nThat's not blather; that's our Catholic faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope John called Vatican II because the pews were already emptying at an alarming rate in Europe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It doesn't seem that preaching/teaching in the 60 odd dioceses has changed very much of the conflicting ideology of the 2/3rds who are Catholics. Too much like Rwanda - killing each other over tribal hate. 67 million people need peace and economic stability not rival armies determined to divide the spoils. If these Catholics can't hear the pleas for peace, who will?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ever heard of Protestantism? Been there done that. They threw out the \"Old model of Church\" and see where they are at today? Dying.\n\nTell me: if throwing out the \"Old model of Church\" works so well, why is mainstream Protestantism dying? Why should Catholics adopt a model that continues to fail?\n\nYou know what churches are growing? The ones that actually stand for something and believe in something. The ones that are growing do not take their cues from pop-culture. The ones that are growing do not take their cues from Hollywood elites. The ones that are growing are those who believe God's Word informs the community--rather than the community informing God's Word.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By the same token, using your deductive logic there is no real proof it won't work. Of course, you must first discount or disprove the 58 countries with successful models now in existence:\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_universal_health_care\n\nYou have commended yourself and your views formed with your experience as a minister. In my opinion, Jimmy Carter said it more succinctly than even the Bible: \"If you don\u2019t want your tax dollars to help the poor-- stop saying you want a nation based on Christian values because you don\u2019t.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't believe that USCCB Presidents bring their own staff, which is why you have a consistent group of Republican leaning staffers who nourish their relationship with the GOP on the pro-life issue. They are true believers who seemingly don't understand that Roe will not be overturned in such a way as to turn it over to the states (nor will gay marriage, sodomy, Latino rights, etc.) - and that the GOP mostly uses them to get out Catholic conservative voters from the pulpit.\n\nSecularization is a sign of an emerging middle class. Using guilt and self-mortification was how the American clergy tried to deal with these issues in the 50s. It was a miserable failure. Raising up the poor and the other is much more in line with the Kingdom of God that Jesus announced.\n\nOssoff should try to not sound like a cultural elitist. Still, a pro-lifer is not the ideal candidate. Putting abortion into perspective as a non-issue will work better. Obama won on it. Attacking Trump should do the rest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I really like your comment, but you get one point terribly wrong when you say \"the very base of their belief is that we humans are sinners beyond redemption.\" It's the very opposite. They believe that most people, or at least many people, are inherently good. But, they think, there are SOME inherently bad people (who if we only ostracized them from society, everything would be fine). It is the justification of the gulag, among other things. \n\nThe church, on the other hand, believes ALL men are irretrievably fallen and can only be saved from this corruption by Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah..the protestant's error.\n\nAs St Augustine said..\u201cHe who created us without our help will not save us without our consent.\"\n\nOur Yes, our cooperation is essential, necessary. \n\nWe can't open the door by ourselves..Jesus opened it, and we have to walk through.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let us not forget \"Cafeteria Catholics\" - of course, according to the \"conservative\" accusers, the lunch crowd only dissented over things which I have heard referred to as \"pe*v*c issues\". The imaginings of the hierarchical guys as to what goes on in rooms intended for slumber boggles the mind, and anyone who lives in the real world knows the times in which we live. A younger woman friend of mine I tell \"You're me, 25 years ago\" - husband, kids, jobs, commutes, lost childcare...I told her that I thought our hierarchy thinks we layfolks are having waaay too much fun in that chamber for slumber.\" Her response, \"Are you kidding me? I'd settle for fifteen minutes of private conversation. \" Maybe we should start some kind of program where a priest cannot be ordained until he has walked a mile in married people's moccasins...then he might have something with which to counsel those hanging on by the fingernails besides \"BUT THE CHURCH SAYS\" - not too helpful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent point ! Conservatives have assiduously sabotaged the mandates of the Second Vatican Council and are satisfied with their infantilized version of the Liturgy just to have their way. Progress on the negotiated development of the new mass, as mandated by the Divine Revelation of the Council, has been effectively stymied and we see the results. No effort has been sustained to redevelop the core values of the tradition so that new illuminations may be revealed. I hesitate to question the motives, only God Himself can judge, but the effects have been stultifying. Perhaps the great Doctors of the Church will yet formulate an Rx for what ails us. For me, I assume an emetic is indicated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They'd steal Christ off the cross and come back for the nails :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Secularism has nothing whatsoever to do with this man's bad decision to father children when he has been described as paranoid, depressed, anxious, prone to irrational fits of anger and being cruel to the family pets. He lives with ailing, aging parents who can't assist him. Unlike prospective adoptive parents, he did not have to pass a single test of fitness in order to procure these embryos whom he now routinely neglects as children. Unattached people make fine parents and many have adopted successfully with the blessing of the Catholic Church or have used non-commercial surrogacy. The intent to parent without another partner to raise children is perfectly moral.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ fed the poor and healed the afflicted. Those were the most important of his great works on Earth, and he intended to be an example to all of us. I think many people don't care whether the poor eat or have health care. It's one thing to say nice things to make yourself feel better, but when it comes to doing anything for the poor and afflicted, most of those same people won't do a damn thing. Republicans in Congress, especially, and they make no bones about it. They are for the rich. The rich have money to give them for doing their business. Republicans have always been the party of wealthy businessmen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I point out the NCR has refused to even mention one of the most egregious and disturbing incidents of mob rule to shut down the free speech rights of a fellow Catholic.\n\nWhat happens? \n\nMembers of the forum are so uncomfortable that they rate the remark \"uncivil.\"\n\nA member calls it \"libelous\"\n\nAnother member calls it a \"rant\" that should be ignored, because it's not \"conversation.\"\n\nFunny, I didn't know conversation means banning posts, referring to them as libel, refusing to simply say whether one is or or against what happened at UC Berkeley, and counseling others to ignore the \"rant.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your sense of church history leaves much to be desired. So-called 'traditional teaching' only goes back to the Council of Trent---which FINALLY established that there are SEVEN sacraments. It confirmed traditions that had been in practice since the twelfth century [but not from the apostolic period].\n\nBack around the year 1000, most poor parish priests [and most of the poor] did not receive the Sacrament of Matrimony. They had common law marriages. Only the nobility [laity and hierarchy] were married in church. The reason for not having poor parish priests marry in church, was so that bishops could bestow parishes upon their own sons.\n\nAmazing that you stated that the \"pope's personal teaching comes last in the hierarchy\" when JP II's teachings [many of them personal], became the dominant law of the church for decades---and he practically rendered bishops' conferences null and void. What Francis is teaching IS supported by the consent of the MAJORITY of cardinals and bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Update: 225 are graduating (not 300) this Saturday with Elder Oaks speaking........Open House for the renovated Dorms Hales 4 & 6 is Wednesday Feb 22, 2017 from Noon to 2pm (all invited, refreshments too). \n\n

Dedication of the Dorms is this Saturday at 2pm by Elder Dallin H. Oaks from Salt Lake City Utah, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Days Saints (worldwide membership of 15 million and growing).\n\n

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallin_H._Oaks\n\n

https://www.lds.org/church/leader/dallin-h-oaks?lang=eng\n\n

2450 are enrolled for Spring Semester.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Respectfully disagree. The sainthood is an institution in the Church that has endured as long as the Church itself, and the saints are a powerful force in the Church. Romero has been dead for 37 years as of last week. Yet he has risen to become the most universally acclaimed Salvadoran in his country's history--this, despite concerted efforts by Salvadoran governments to blot out his memory for twenty years straight. For the first ten years after Romero died, no marches were allowed during the anniversary of his death. The first year they happened, 10,000 turned out. As Cardinal Amato rightly observed during the beatification ceremony in 2015, \"If his persecutors have vanished in the shadow of oblivion and death, the memory of Romero on the other hand continues to live and gives comfort to the poor and the marginalized of the earth.\" Ordinary Salvadorans acclaim Romero and they await with bated breath the Church's word on his canonization.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Orthodox Church permits divorce. Same Jesus. Same Church for 1000 years.\n\nThey arrived at a different conclusion. Who says the Roman Church is correct?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is there a problem with the Gospel? Do we not believe that the message of Christ is magnetic? The NT suggests that Christ favored welcome, invitation, and proposal over litmus tests. We certainly see metaphors related to vigilance, but the demeanor of Jesus, and of his disciples post-resurrection, reflected a certain magnetism; due to both the message and the messengers. It's a cop out to suggest the weakness of Catholicism is found in lukewarm politicians without a parallel and proportional recognition that rank and file church leaders today are at least equally on the hook for the failure to offer a message so compelling and an evangelization with clear momentum as to attract followers.\n\nToday's churchmen preach with a guilty conscience and most people instinctively regard the church as morally bankrupt. Simply examine Chaput's interventions at the Synod on the Family; his silence re: the scourge of sexual abuse in families is reflective of a moral and pastoral bankruptcy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In all my years as a cradle Roman Catholic, I have never witnessed anyone refused the sacrament of Holy Communion. And I hope never to see such horrible behavior. I have known, taught and worked for and along side numerous priests, none has ever denied anyone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus spoke more about politics? See, that's why you liberals don't understand the religion to which you profess to belong. You want to use religion as a political tool rather than a source of grace for salvation.\nHow many times did Christ admonish people not to sin? I suppose his disciples had no clue what sin was unless Jesus spelled it out for them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, the institutional Church is not about to let go of the clerical culture, because all of those who make the decisions are clerics. Few of them are willing to forego the perks that clericalism has brought. \nSomeone in this thread states that priests are delegates of bishops, but I'm not really sure how they help people along the spiritual journey. Bishops apparently mostly have degrees in canon law, hardly the realm of spirituality. From what I have been told, priests' education focuses on philosophy and apologetics. That does not give them the tools to help us understand the Scriptures or the over-all message of Jesus. Most are not sufficiently trained in psychology or counseling to provide needed support to people. It's not clear to me how their preparation makes them any more capable than any other baptized, believing Catholic to preside over Mass. As it exists now, the priesthood in the Catholic Church does not seem to serve any real purpose.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about a companion piece: Suggestions for Trump for his meeting with the pope.\n\n1. Don't worry too much if the pope smiles a lot but doesn't make any sense when he speaks. (see recent example):\n\n\"I think it\u2019s a political problem. And that also the Catholic conscience isn\u2019t a catholic one of total belonging to the Church and that behind that there isn\u2019t a nuanced catechesis, a human catechesis. That is, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is an example of what is a serious and nuanced thing. I think that there is a lack of formation and also of culture. Because it\u2019s curious, in some other regions, I think of the south of Italy, some in Latin America, they are very Catholic but they are anti-clerical and \u2018priest-eaters\u2019, that \u2026 there is a phenomenon that exists. ...But here there is a work also of catechesis, of raising awareness, of dialogue, also of human values.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"\u201cWe Europeans must really take our destiny into our own hands.\u201d(c)\n\"She also publicly declared that Germany suffers not from \"too much Islam\" but \"too little Christianity\"(c)(Wik)\nDidn't Merkel open up the doors of Europe to a sea of migrants in order to gin up the population of Germany to work due to a declining population... millions invaded Merkel's Europe, who do not give a dam about Europe's Westernized ethos..\n\nMerkel has been Chancellor of Germany for approx. 12 yrs now & has devolved into a nerdy righteous windbag whose political tenure is over. The pontificating religious 'mommy' persona can only fly for so long -- Holy Dr. Merkel needs to step down - asap.\nBy the way -- how many female German citizens & German schoolchildren have been viciously victimized due to the Merkel's trite selective personal morality?\n\nAnd, didn't Barack Hussein Obama visit Merkel the day prior to her meeting with Trump?\n\nSeems old Barre sure likes to stir-up the cr@p in order to push his own agenda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They're far easier to measure than \"curial reform\", that's for sure.\n\nAnd yet there are ways to sense the vitality of the interior life of Catholics, including the lay.\n\nHere are some:\n\n- Higher Mass attendance; people asking for an earlier Daily Mass than 9:30!\n- Longer confessional lines\n- Full prayer intentions for every Mass\n- Priests commmenting to each other...eventually working back to the local bishop...that the \"confessions have been unusually frank, sincere, specific, earnest, \"abandoning\", but still not \"scrupulous\".\n- Fewer Mass attendants chewing gum as they receive communion (no kidding)\n- Fewer people doing mail on their phones prior to Mass\n- Less complaints to the pastor, less 'critical spirit' among the lay\n- More volunteering\n- Greater financial giving\n- Few parent teacher conferences (teachers and parents on the same page) in the parish school\n- Happily tired priests, rather than burned out priests.\n- A certain cheerfulness and higher tone at all other Church events", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I grew up in El Paso. Bishop Seitz was not the Bishop of El Paso when I was there, but I can tell you that the Bishop's words matter a lot to a community like El Paso. El Paso is very Catholic, left-leaning, and what the Bishop says matters. It was a big deal when the Bishop came to mass at our parish growing up. This message needed to be sent and it needed to be sent in that community. Good on you, Bishop!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Didn't Jesus cause a massive disturbance in the Temple precincts, albeit in the Court of Gentiles? The disturbance was heard in the inner courts, too. \n\nSeems if one has compelling-enough reason, one is biblically justified in protesting a grave injustice during a church service.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Truth.\n\nEvery good retreat will have at least one preached meditation on the last things. \n\nIt's good that we think about our end, and the end of our loved ones, briefly each day, even if it's for a second. \n\nIt has a way of rectifiying our intentions during the day.\n\nNo need for morbid thoughts....instead a happy, bright and clear view of Jesus walking with us, encouraging us on to love until our last breath, using even our own death and physical failings for great good, especially the good of others. \n\nEven our death should be apostolate, , just as Jesus's was and remains so today. Our death can have and will have eternal effects.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The secrecy of the confessional is drilled into all Catholic children and of course into all priests. To betray it is considered the worst crime imaginable, comparable to desecrating the Eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gladys: I think secular schools are fine. I think any religious school is fine. Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and any others. I would even favor spending some amount on home schooled kids. Government, for government, by government run schools, in which the daisy chain of money goes from taxpayer to schools to teachers, some to unions, and some of that to fund political campaigns to elect only Democrats, costs us $250,000 a year of more to have a classroom of 20-30 kids being taught by a teacher whose pay and benefits are maybe a third of all that cost. Somebody is getting ripped off. The public school education is the charity that only spends a third on the kids. I hope Vos overturns some apple carts. How can Oregon kids do worse? Last in the US for education of white kids? They are 75% of the Oregon student population. 50% more girls graduating from college than boys? Where is the Title X for boys?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I quite agree. \"Reform\" can have several meanings, depending on context. But the word \"erform\", when used in the context of the Catholic Church, conjures up one \"reform\" that went terribly awry, and so the word is loaded with baggage. You can reform the curia without reforming the Church. If that's all that's meant, no problem. (In fact, GOOD). Unfortunately, that's not how the word is usually understood when talking about reforming the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "SVDP receives no money from the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "JFK was definitely for equality in civil rights and opposed racism. He also fought the mafia and the union leaders run by the mafia. The list is short of Dem politicians who are highly visible that can claim they took on part of their base with the unions. Further, he opposed the socialism found today in the far left antifa and socialist groups counter-protesting. The USSR and the Soviet bloc, Cuba and Castro, for examples. I wonder if being a Catholic, visible and as open as he was about it, would be a concern today?\n\nJFK was more the exception rather than the rule.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"What pained (Eli Wiesel) the most was that the people of Sighet had erased the Jews from their memory\".\nEli escaped death at Auschwitz, but he and his father were there and in Buchenwald and sub Nazi labor camps to the end. His father died 3 months short of liberation. No one has depicted the Holocaust as well as Eli in his many books and in his \"Dialogues\". His own sufferings and his thoughts on forgiveness have helped many a survivor deal with their own. At risk of being repetitive, from his Dialogues, I cite the following...\"No one should place the burden of forgiveness on the victims\". When the above sermon comes up year after year along with its self righteous comments, it does just that. Still, for Eli, being forgotten added to his constant misery of dealing with forgiveness. Already, new generations of American Catholics are clueless about the Holocaust and are encouraged to not be too curious about the pedophilia crisis. Christ said \"Remember Me\". Let us not forget any of it!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem is that your idea doesn't work at all. Rural folks wouldn't get anything and handicapped folks would be out of luck too. Healthcare is a moral thing and we should do the moral thing and heal the sick. It's exactly what Jesus did do, he healed the sick even when they were poor. We should actually start acting like a Christian country for a change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In my opinion, the Church is losing members because it doesn't have a message that states why one should be Catholic. Prior to VII, the message was salvation. After VII, it became something different -- perhaps \"building the kingdom of God on earth\" -- and people felt they could do that without being members of a church. When the Church decided to cling to ideas about morality that seemed unconnected to the idea of Kingdom, many people felt there was no need for the to be there. I think a new model can and will emerge, but that this generation will die first.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well there you go. \"Never forgave\" is a selfish way of looking at marriage. Work to do.\n\nThe Church (or well formed Catholc) could have helped her understand the purpose of marriage (to get each to heaven) and life and death. \n\nThanks for this especially good example. Crisp.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Abortion is not a mortal sin when the circumstances and intentions of the mother free her from culpability ... \"\n\nJust what \"circumstances and intentions\" would they be? \n\nThe clear and uncompromising teaching of the Catholic Church is that the taking of innocent life in the womb is always gravely sinful. God would never lead a person to this decision. And it isn't a private matter. Murdering innocent children, with the State's permission and funding, demeans us all and speaks volumes about our culture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "each Old Catholic jurisdiction is usually independent of any other. each group usually has characteristics of the founding cleric. some are very forward thinking and totally unlike the Roman Church. but as you noticed, some are even worse than the Roman Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am Catholic. I find strength and joy in my faith in ways, perhaps, that you do not. But the same holds true for you - what gives you strength just may not be what gives me strength. We do not all live out the Catholic faith in exactly the same thing - we don't all like the same music, the same form of Mass. Many of us do not believe all the magisterium says, but I do believe most listen, weigh, pray, discuss issues. Some of us arrive at different conclusions on some things than others do. \n\nI would like to think there is room within the Catholic faith for both of us. I am perfectly okay with your seeking perfection in our faith your way. May we both grow in peace, wisdom, and God's grace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "correct. it is from Aristotle, but if you are sure that a blastocyst is not an independent life form yet and that it becomes one at gastrulation than birth control in all forms is perfectly legitimate. The rule used to be that the occurrence of twinning was enough to justify birth control - but the cardiologist who wrote Evangelicum Vitae ignored Church tradition and reasoning. Mostly this branch of ethics has been dominated by papal fiat since Consortia Canubi, which is a perversion of natural law reasoning and must be rejected by thoughtful Catholics as implicit relativism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is there a \"sacrifice of the Mass?\" Wasn't one sacrifice by Jesus enough?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Behind an attitude of rigidity there is always something else in the life of a person. Rigidity is not a gift of God. Meekness is, goodness is, benevolence is, forgiveness is. But rigidity isn\u2019t.\u201d\nIn many cases, the pope continued, rigidity conceals the leading of a double life; but, he pointed out, there can also be something pathological.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Confidential to MJ: I did not realize that bad proof texting was a requirement for Catholicism. I know of about six promises I had to make at my confirmaiton and on behalf of my Godson, but there is no other test.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"Back 50 years ago, Fr. Frank Murphy taught us North American College students that our main task in presiding at the Eucharist wasn't to say the right words or employ the proper ritualistic gestures, but to help form the participants into the body of Christ. \"\n- Yup! This is totally not being taught. Seems that the more 'smells and bells' a seminarian or priest is the less concerned about the body of christ assembled together in worship is he.\n- Happily, the current english translation of the 3rd typical edition of the missal from rome (the JPII missal) which memorializes by faulty translation and incipiently questionable theology the roles of the cleric over and above that of the body of christ assembled together is steadily approaching suppression. \n- BTW, the bishops of the US need to educate parish staff that the 'donation' for a mass request is just that, and that the donation is legitimate even if the 'donation' is zero.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Patriarchal abuse is still a problem in the Church, but is no longer the main problem; the main problem now is patriarchal irrelevance, because it is also corroding the apostolic mark of the Church. Hierarchy and apostolic succession are not the problem. RELIGIOUS PATRIARCHY is the problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"bring out RC's in droves\"........\nI'm sorry, is this not the National \"Catholic\" Reporter? Of course not, it really should simply be called the National Catholic Hater.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Infanticide is already banned under the partial birth abortion act. It should not have been an issue in this election. Obama promised changes to include more kinds of abortion in the ban in exchange for putting in more specificity on which trimesters reply, but the right wingers would have none of it (and gory D&E abortions continue). No one in the Church disputes that abortion is wrong, although I know they occur among Catholic HS girls who get pregnant and whose parents want to cover up their children's sexual activity. As for marriage, the Church is just wrong. Doctrine state that marriage is made by the couple, not the Church and that functionality rather than fecundity is required (it must be a sexual union - that some don't like how some perform thist is none of the business of a celibate clergy, including when heteros do the same things). Both are moral and therefore natural law teachings, not covered under the Syllabus on Modernism. Marriage is about practice therefore mutable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Truth is a burning fire it looks not at man\u2019s desire \nPopes cower before it denuding power \nBishops it mocks Priests defrock \nLeaders stand in disarray it\u2019s all relative they say \nBut honest it is not integrity is the loss \nThe denial of goodness to make it dark is to lose ones heart. \nTo look into the living flame is to know ones shame \nTo bend ones knee is to be set free \nThe spark to become a flame in every mortal frame. \nWe are to become as lamps \nWe look within and acknowledge our own sin \nWe bow are heads as by the Master we are led \nWith cleansing grace we start to see His face \nThe air becomes clear as we relinquish fear \nLove and clarity of thought \nIs what are suffering will have bought \nAs we stand by His side His Peace (Will), will reside \nWe no longer struggle alone as The Master leads us home. \nBefore the break of the new day \nAre lamps will light the way. \nSuffering and blood\nFor those who would serve the Truth\nThe essence of Love\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sure is.\n\nI just wish the bishops would be this tough on abortion. It is really easy to stand up for Catholic social teaching--because it is politically correct.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Pope Francis can handle the rest?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) Campus Notebook will remain dysfunctional as long as (since 1990) the administration of The Catholic University of America remains censured by the American Association of University Professors, for abusing one of its theology professors. Notice the focus of the article is on what the schools are doing. Doing is teaching. OK. Bu good teaching is based on good research. No mention is made of community colleges, where at least of all college students attend. Research happens in those places too. Those professors are not in the \u201cpublish or perish\u201d syndrome of four year and graduate schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "it is with great relief that i read of c\u0336a\u0336r\u0336d\u0336i\u0336n\u0336a\u0336l\u0336 ...sorry...archbishop chaput's fair-minded comments on this election. \nWhile offering reasoned criticism of the content of leaked emails, he went on to affirm the deep rootedness of the catholic faith in the 10 commandments. reminding us that theft is indeed as a violation of the 7th commandment, is indeed a mortal sin, and that those who engage, encourage, and profit from the stealing of the dnc emails bear great culpability and endanger their soul's relationship to Almighty God.\n\nArchbishop Chaput further affirmed the commitment of the church to the the 8th commandment, not to bear false witness against our neighbour, and reminded us of the suspect nature of the emails themselves, readily conceiving they, in fact, be russian fabrications.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously, not ALL US bishops gave support to Trump's election. Be careful to not brand all with one hot iron. If some US bishops speak in one voice with the people who are directly affected, then they will be listened to by many. We criticize them (rightfully so) when they preach meaningless words from their pulpits, but so should we acknowledge their best efforts in being Christ-like when they do so. May God bless those prelates who find the strength of heart, mind and character to speak in defense of a powerless group of people. We have waited so long for it......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You missed out the bit about first telling the pastor his insurance was out of date. If you are going to create analogous situations try getting the facts right.\nThe Pope was asked to months ago for clarification not just by Cardinal Burke but by several other Cardinals who no doubt were representative of a larger number of prelates, priests and laity; he has not responded to the genuine concerns of a substantial number of the faithful and it seems he is not going to. \nHe continually preaches on the necessity of being pastoral yet his behaviour in this matter is anything but pastoral.\nHe did, however, respond to a request by Argentine bishops who asked if their interpretation of AL was the same as his. He replied privately that it was. Privately because as his interpretation was at odds with the constant teaching of his predecessors, his public endorsement would have caused a furore, which it has since his reply was leaked.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for introducing me to Tina Beattie. An NCR article about her (https://www.ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/theologian-gender-insights-challenge-priesthood-theology) said: \n\n\"She traced Catholic theological dualism on sexuality to the emergence of Aristotelianism in the medieval universities 'in which the copulative relationship between paternal form and maternal matter is the basic building block of creation.'\n\n \u201c'Inseminating forms acts upon receptive matter in order to bring the world of differentiated bodies into being. This gendered account of the nature of being encompasses all that is, and it has profoundly shaped the western understanding of gender.'\n\n \u201c'Form is associated with fatherhood, perfection, order, beauty, rationality and therefore with spirit and the divine, while matter is associated with lack, chaos, passivity, materiality and therefore with nature and motherhood.'\u201d\n\nThe Aristotle here is from \"De generatione animalis,\" and I have long felt this is crucial.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I agree that Paul VI was a \"great pope,\" I also recognize that he - like ALL popes - had/have their limitations. No matter how your slice it, Papa Montini made a huge mistake with HV in its ignoring of the recommendations of the papal commission, of bowing to the orthodox minority (so significantly in the minority!), and of not stressing enough the theology of the primacy of conscience in relation to human reproduction. That these gaps in consideration reverberated against the fact that modern contraceptives were the product of American medical science - so it is no surprise the US Catholics would react with the negativity they did, and continue to along with so many throughout the entire Catholic world. I am not sure what case MSW is trying to make here (a difficulty I have with most of what he writes), but I see the lack of a wider view that often renders such essays as lacking in important ways.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you referring to a certain Jesuit?\n\nI will add this about Michael Voris, whatever temptations he faces, he doesn't ask the Church to change the teaching she has received for him, he doesn't pretend the teaching is other than what it is under a mistaken idea that doing so is being \"welcoming\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This reminds me of a story that appeared in a magazine some years ago. I think it was Playboy. There was a full page story about Jerry Falwell, the lunatic fringe evangelical televangelist, having sex with his mother in an outhouse. It even had cartoon pictures of the outhouse with a half moon on the door. Falwell and his church sued the publication (or was it Larry Flynt the publisher). The story was so off the wall and funny that no one would possibly believe it. \nThe judge asked Flynt's lawyer if he believed the story and the lawyer said of course not. He then asked if he knew anyone else who believed the story and got the same answer. And, that was the end of the trial. I don't remember if Flynt then sued Falwell but he probably did. Does anyone remember any more of the details about the story or have any corrections? It was a long time ago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not possible that it is in any way related to the CM website. They started only 10, 11 years ago-online ONLY- and were named RealCatholicTV. Their initial intent was to put authentic Catholic teaching out there, to counter the \"spirit of Vatican II\" mindset. Do some checking before making blanket assumptions, please.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know your American-Catholic experience, but I do see what's going on:\n\nWe rationalize cozying up with those who condemn our theological essentials just because they agree on the cultural non-essentials. Our ancestors wouldn't like that. At. All. \n\nAnd our ancestors would fight to defend the Catholic family where folks at the table disagree on the Church non-essentials all the time. So, they'd fight (probably literally) against, say, a cardinal who suggests they not invite a gay family member and his partner to THEIR Thanksgiving dinner. \n\nYes, some of our ancestors followed Father Coughlin. But most--by a long shot--despised the Right's interference with their culture...their faith...their family values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think there's also a combination of factors at play. The first is that in American politics abortion, gay marriage and gender politics are more touchy, hot button issues than others like food stamps for the poor, climate change, or even immigration and gun control which can be hot button but still doesn't rise to the same level. So if a Bishop says they are against Marriage equality, that gets more media coverage than a bishop who stands with undocumented migrants. \n\nThe second i think is the nature of Catholic social teaching. It doesn't fit neatly into liberal-conservative, left-right categories. It's conservative on reproductive issues, marriage, the family, gender, sexuality which are all the hot button issues in American culture. It's liberal on social justice for the poor, workers rights, the rights of immigrants, abolishing the death penalty, being anti war, etc. So it also depends on which issues you might prioritize in how you look at the Catholic bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) I'd rather give our \"extra\" taxpayer money . . . go to homeless veterans who earned it.\u2014xswzaq9 Misses the point. xswzaq9 assumes a zero sum economy, i.e. there is only so much pie, rather than assuming larger and more pies are possible, which happened with Bill Clinton.\n\nHave faith. From the Liturgy of the Word for Reading 156C, thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time\u201d Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full\u201d (Psalm 17:15b). 2 Maccabees 7:14 is instructive. \u201cIt is my choice to die at the hands of men,\u201d e.g. Greece mentioned above, without approving Greek lack of prudence, \u201cwith the hope God gives of being raised up by him; but for you\u201d worried about debt rather than love of neighbor, there will be no resurrection to life\u201d that is a reinvigorated economy. \u201cMay the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ\u201d (2 Thessalonians 3:5).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What we consider \" objective moral truths' seem to be based on' Jesus said so' - in the Gospel. A version of \"The Bible tells me so'.\n\nStrictly 'objectively' the moral truth for most people seems to be that people should not continue living together in a toxic relationship. \n\nEven St. Paul allowed for divorce in cases of a new 'believer' married to an 'unbeliever' who would not live 'in peace'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The NYTimes is just getting around to this story? Wow...it's over a week old.\n\nAnd NOWHERE is it claimed the Vatican is warning conservative Catholics. The two that write the article allegedly are friendly with the Pope...but neither the Pope or Vatican spokespersons have said anything near what you claim.\n\nIt's like a really bad game of telephone around here....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would take what Mark \\Coleridge says with a grain of salt.\nHis reputation as a narcissist cleric himself points back to the Australian Newspaper *The Age Anglican Ire at Catholic Bishop's Abusive Email and judge for yourself, he just didn't count on it being published and you learn more about a person when caught off gurard.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The pronouncements of the USCCB have the full and obedient attention of the trads, but in practice, most everybody else ignores them. In time, the USCCB will have reduced itself to a vestigial organ in the Body of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The current lack of backlash produced by those who fear the very thought of self -induced death is stunning. The Bishop's letter is not being followed or even read in many, many Catholic parishes. \nJustice without mercy is simply retribution. If anything, it is cruelty. Over 80% of local voters support medical aid in dying. This is a just and righteous cause.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "the Pope supports this but most American Catholics do not support illegal immigration.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This ongoing \"offensive\" against the Knights is getting very old. How many articles?\n\nNEWS FLASH: \nThe Holy Spirit WANTS us to be influential! \nWants us pursuing the good and the true, in service to the Church.\n\nIt seems like NCR is bending the meaning of \"influence\" in an overly negative and dark hue using innuendo alone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rude as I would expect. I formed my questions and opinions on the nature of morality before any talk of sex. I was in 4th grade when I wondered why Jesus had to die (could be Father issues, but not that father). Also wondered why in John\u2019s Good Friday Gospel, Jesus drank the wine after promising not to on Holy Thursday. Deep questions, eventually found and shared the answers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bishops are called by Christ to condemn hatred and racism. That's what this column is about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I haven\u2019t drunk the special kool-aid so no go on that communication with your big kahuna. Why any being that could create the universe would give me or any other insignificant human (as all of us on a cosmic scale or even planetary scale) the time of day is a mystery defies any conceivable, rational explanation whatsoever. In fact, why instead of a pleasant chat, he wouldn't rain down plagues on us for deliberately destroying his handiwork would defy explanation. But whenever a inconceivable, irrational explanation is needed we can always turn to the Bible. It has all the answers, just pick one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is \"one, holy, catholic, and apostolic,\" but not necessarily patriarchal. It has never been dogmatically defined that masculinity is a requirement for apostolic succession.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So abortion is absolutely fine. A right wing pseudo Catholic and a like \"mind\" have admitted it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wasn't rich enough to send my kids to private school, but I did send them to Catholic school even though we weren't Catholic. That's because they were better (perhaps only marginally better, but still better) at imposing discipline and not catering to the lowest common denominator of political correctness (i.e. there were Christmas concerts and it was okay to say Merry Christmas). The public school system was terrible. From what I gather, it's even worse now. Teachers were encouraging kids to tell their parents to vote NDP.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bishop spoke the truth about Christ and His message. Perhaps he has his eye on a prize greater than earthly advancement. \n\n\"What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't hold your breath my friends, you just can't take the Rome out of Roman Catholic!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'Religious liberty' is an excuse for a modern 'Jim Crow' reaction to any group that strives for inclusion and civil rights. The bishops are marketing themselves to the base of the Republican Party just as their benefactors and fellow politicians are doing. Jesus said 'Love thy neighbor'. I don't recall reading that he qualified that statement to exclude any group.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Muslim Brotherhood thanks you for your service. Tell us Alceste, is it \"Islamophobic\" to point out the fact that gender equality, freedom of expression, and freedom of sexual orientation are absent from every society \"governed\" by Islamic law, without exception? I missed the pride parade in Gaza this year... oh well, the irony of defending a system of beliefs that criminalizes homosexuality seems lost on the self-titled \"progressives\" who's useful ignorance furthers the goals of Islamists who believe society should be governed by religious codes. Monty Python, South Park, and Family Guy can make jokes on Christianity, Jesus, Judaism, Moses, Buddhism, Buddha but not Islam or any \"Prophet\", because it's 2017? Maybe you can try the cultural relativism angle that tries to defend female subjugation as different cultural norms and ideas of \"modesty\". 57 members of the OIC - all just beacons of human rights and individual freedoms... oh but we can't talk about that, again #it's2017?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This recounting of the Catholic chaplain is so outrageous - it deserves to be written into the screenplay of the movie, \"Apocalypse Now.\"\n\nThank God you \"justmaybe\" survived those killing fields ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another needless, self-inflicted wound to the Body of Christ. The hierarchy harkens to Genesis to defend marriage as one man, one woman but selectively ignore's Genesis' wisdom, \"It is not good for man to be alone.\" It is forever touting the natural law but doesn't extend it to what is most natural, vial for well being, human companionship. Even the Trinity is a community of persons. St. Aelred of Rivaux proclaimed, \"Wonderful is he who can do without friends, more wonderful than God himself.\" Religious order clergy have some semblance of an extended family, not diocesan clergy, largely loners. In my travels to 1500 parishes I've experienced too many lonely clerics. In the days when there were housekeepers, understandable that many clung to them.Seminaries inculcated fear of particular friendships. Aren't all particular? For well being, clerics need to find a significant other themselves. I lament rather the true tragedy of immigrants forced from their homes than this faux one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I like being Catholic. I completely respect the passion and dedication being deployed. Fr. Andrew Greeley has written that the young tend to focus on principle, but principle is only the beginning of a solution, not the end of one. They will mellow. The good Father has also written, \" When you see a good fight, get in it ! \".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I recently visited a number of European countries. I found about half the churches (Catholic and Protestant) were either closed or used for other purposes such as exhibits and events. \nLatin and Greek were the major languages of the early church. But living languages evolve and change. The Church cannot be a modern tower of Babel. Italian has replaced Latin in Rome. Ancient Greek has evolved into a modern version.\nI doubt Latin will stem the exodus from the church.\nThe role of religion is to help us develop our consciousness and love to go out into our communities to fulfill the mission of Jesus (Reign of God).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When we place the fossil fuels industry, the 'don't worry gods got it' christians and the greed of the exploiters first in our considerations, its hypocrisy for don to claim he's putting the American citizens first.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Odd that one who has a Master's degree in Theology would find the sacred tenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints a \"giggle\".\n.\nOdder still that one purporting to have an advanced degree in Theology conflates the terms deist and theistic. Once again one must ask from what institution of Higher Education did you receive your degrees? The answer to that question would serve to answer many related questions as well.\n.\nCould it be that the font of your wisdom is Google U?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hm. While I don't necessarily Bible thump, I have read it and working on the Tanakh now...but some people just get lost in it's meaning and it's about that journey to knowing God. \n\nYou are right about some people of faith saying non-believers are damned which is not at all true. Jesus was constantly doubted by people and his disciples even after SEEING his acts. One instance in particular that proves my point about non-believers not being damned is in two quotes: \nJohn 4:48 \"unless you people see signs and wonder, you will never believe\" a bit later, after Jesus' resurrection Thomas says he will not believe it's Jesus until he puts his finger in his wounds he saw happen. Which Jesus meets Thomas later and says for him to place his hands here and here and here\" Thomas of course then believes.\n\nThroughout the Bible it is said God knows what is in your heart, and I think he will know how misguided preachers such as this are. The children aren't worshiping Santa you know?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It took me about sixty seconds to find the name of Fr. Benedict Van der Putten\tof the Society of St. Pius X in the Database of Publicly Accused Roman Catholic Priests at BishopAccountability.com.\nYour challenge has been more than answered; but did you have a point in making it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since God is infinite, perhaps the Catholics and the Lutherans are both right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess the question is why that is important? Why does one need a role in the \"governance\" of the Church? All we need is the unchanging teachings of Jesus and the availability of the Sacraments. Anything more sounds like clericalism to me. I take it by governance you really mean ability to promote progressive change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We must be careful NOT to hate Donald Trump for fear of crossing Jesus' admonition to love our enemies...and for fear that we ourselves come to enjoy that self-righteous hating. Clearly a difficult task in this situation, but nonetheless vitally important...if our faith is to have any credibility in this world, no?\n\nStill, how do we love the \"Donalds\" everywhere? And there are a good number of them (in varying degrees) in the U.S. and other countries...Fearful yet proud people raging back at those of us who look down on them in our \"incorrectly political\" moments of thought...and then some. How do we feel when others even imply that we are less intelligent, less Catholic, less whatever than they are.?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Myself, I returned to the sacraments when I saw the Catholic faith being attacked at the first Synod...started attending the Extraordinary Form in 2015. \n\nI will never give up the Catholic faith but I do know others who talk about becoming Orthodox with every new Francis scandal. I don't think anyone is coming back because of AL, and AL might be causing some people to leave. Most intended beneficiaries of AL who wanted to receive Communion probably already found themselves a liberal priest who does the wink wink nod nod business, and others will just keep on not recieving because they know that no Pope can make sacrelige OK.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If this article doesn't pretty much confirm what so many of us have been long saying about the church's response.\n\nTo begin, note that the Commission is asking the Pope to create a new Vatican Office to provide training. We're asking for (yet another) Vatican office.... to train prelates.... to write letters.... and we have to ask the pope....\n\nSeems to me this just showcases how little power that commission has, and how much \"small ball\" is being played here. Such a \"small\" piece of a very large picture, and they are asking permission...\n\nO'Malley should have had all the powers needed to make that kind of thing happen. He shoulda been able to hire a contractor to take the points from the commission, have somebody build the training, let the commission approve it, and then have the contractor give the training. Done, let's move on to the bigger stuff. \n\nThis whole thing suggests to me that this commission really is just window dressing...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dignitas Humanae does not mean Catholics need to pay for something sinful, that is a creative interpretation though!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think MSW is confusing God with hierarchical church. Dogma is man-made and therefore imperfect. It can never be considered synonymous with God's intent. I like the quotes he chose and would readily accept them as God's dogma, but the theology of the sentiment expressed in these quotes are too vague for some. Therein lies the problem, along with the need by some to control others. \n\n\"Bear not hatred toward a brother or sister, to take no revenge and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.\" Living by this creed is not mere sentiment and any pagan who lives by this dogma is in my eyes \"holy\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article should not be too disappointed at how the vote on moral and social issues went down. The political noise coming from the flight deck of the USCCB is the sound of one hand clapping. All of the groups cited are examples of directives from the top of the pyramid that never really make it to the pews.\nIn a church that fails to regularly evangelize and teach from that top, and instead chooses to extemporize and condemn with the tip of their index finger, it is no wonder that the faithful have become tone deaf. \n\nIn California I was disappointed that the death penalty was not disallowed, but I heard not one word from the altar to support this important measure. In the Catholic structure and in the rare air of the Episcopacy, there is too much talking among themselves, self congratulatory back slapping, and \"look good in Rome nonsense\" that doesn't go anywhere. \n\nIt is time to come down from the mountain, roll up your sleeves, and stand in the mud with the rest of us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus told us not to pull the weeds from the grain. Something we should all contemplate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Categorizing the sins of other is above your pay grade, which is why the church has done that for you. As to the demands I mentioned, I'm glad you clarified it because I thought for a moment that progressive catholics were demanding female ordination, nuptial masses for gays, and communion for those who are shacking up. I'm relieved to hear that they are not demanding these things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Many radical environmentalists can accurately be\n\nlabeled \u201cnature mystics.\u201d And many of them express\n\naffinity with religions they generally consider more\n\nnature-beneficient than occidental religions, such as those\n\noriginating in Asia such as Buddhism and Daoism,\n\nreligious beliefs or practices surviving among the world\u2019s\n\nremnant indigenous peoples, or being revitalized or\n\ninvented anew, such as PAGANISM and WICCA. Paganism\n\nand Wicca are considered to be (or to be inspired by) the\n\nAboriginal nature religions of the Western world, which\n\nhave been long suppressed by imperial Christianity and\n\nIslam.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I cannot say for certain, but I believe Australia still has a statute of limitations on criminal acts, although there was talk about expanding it when it comes to minor victims. In any case, Pell, a true prince of the church, chosen by the Holy Spirit to teach morality to the laity, is safe in St. Peter's Holy City, far from the reaches of mere secular law, and Papa Francis isn't going to turn one of his brothers over to secular rulers. Like his sainted predecessor, he knows Cardinals are more valuable than children. The victims don't matter, the Princes can rely upon the protection of the man chosen by God to be Christ's Vicar.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do the poor want to be politicized though? I think the fact they haven't embraced liberation theology and instead turned to Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism gives us the answer. \n\nSolidarity with the poor doesn't mean replacing the Gospel with politics though. Jesus told us His kingdom was not of this world. Did He focus on getting the Roman Empire to redistribute wealth or did He encourage His disciples to feed the poor, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, etc.? Did He tell us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness or to first seek our material needs?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Self righteous?\" You think I am \"self righteous?\" \n\nSir, I confess that I am a fallen sinner in need of redemption. I am not trying to suggest that I am perfect. What I am saying is that I believe and profess everything that the Roman Catholic Church professes and believes to be revealed by God.\n\nNothing in your post suggests that Jesus ignores sin and forgets about it--which was what my original point was.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This has Zero to do with Jesus. I'm betting it has to do with the fact someone didn't get his Weenie Whistle under the Christmas tree when he was 5 years old and has decided to ruin Christmas for everyone else then to spread the word of God.\n\n\nBlessed Yule!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting that those denominations that do have ssm, contraception, divorce, female ordination.....are also losing membership at increasingly alarming rates. \n\nSo, it is apparent that there are other factors at work here. Odd that no one cares to mention that....\n\nPerhaps it is the increasing secularization of our minds. Perhaps the increasing \"me, my, I\" mantra. Whatever it is, it is not just affecting the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, with \"unspun\" information, we can, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, think for ourselves. The problem is we don't receive that type information - we get sound bites, parsed comments, edited comments, agenda driven interpretation....remember how the Pope said he was aggravated at some news reports - \"\u201cThey said: 'The Church opens the door to deaconesses.' Really? I am a bit angry because this is not telling the truth of things.\u201d\n\nHow many posters here actually READ Archbishop Sample's pastoral letter before making up their minds on it? I doubt very many...\nhttp://archdpdx.org/documents/2016/10/PASTORAL%20LETTER%20A%20True%20and%20Living%20Icon%20FINAL-1.pdf\n\nSo - how do you think for yourself when you are given \"adjusted\" information? Yes - clarification is necessary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I lit the gas, for the kettle to boil\nThe fridge is on, so that my food won\u2019t spoil\nI took the car, I burnt some oil\nThe washers on so my clothes wont soil\nI don\u2019t want to work or toil\nI vacuum every day to keep the dust at bay\nThe heating is on as I hum along\nThe means for change are there\nBut it is so hard to leave the teli,\nFrom my comfortable chair\nA Wind Turbine near my home?\nComfort and easy, but not near my home please\nAll the lights are on, as Lemmings we scurry along.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bubbles, You seem to like citing sources in your comments and I am citing from a very reliable source, the Bible. If you're feeling any stones believe me, it's not me but God's word that you feel. It is convicting us all of our own sin. God's word does not lie, nor can any man lower God's standards, including you or me. Our standards are already very low compared to God's. \n\nGood night and thanks, I always have pleasant dreams!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The apostles were not politicians with \"agendas\". But it appears that you have your own. As St Paul stated: So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.\nAs to what you have stated a preponderance of Christian biblical scholars believe other wise. In the end we will not be judged by our scholarship although the faithful scholars will be like the stars in magnificence such as Saint Thomas Aquinas, rather we will be judged by our love and if we guided people on the path of and to God. \n\nFrom what you have said it is almost like disfavor and disregard when you talk of a collection of documents so blithely: It is the Word of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good article.\n\nI think this one point, however, is errant: \"The wounds of Jesus had not disappeared, but they did not define him and the forgiveness he offered promised that those wounds need not define those who inflicted them.\"\n\nHer sentence falls short and mutes a much grander and pastoral point for us. \n\nI think Jesus's suffering - his self-emptying love for you and for me - DID in fact 'define Him'. \n\nThe Crucifix is the precise image that Jesus gave - and the Church gives us today - to know what real love is. It's self-gift, often a painful, obedient, going against the easier grain Yes. \n\nJesus \"converted\" suffering (costly self-gift) into love, and in so doing gave us a \"secret way\" to divinize all moments of our life, in a \"Midas-touch\" sort of way. \n\nWe should want to let His way of loving \"define us\". We should let the image of His wounds impregnate our own loving action during the day, quietly, perhaps in a near constant chatter with our Father God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess it could be that, as long as we define \"discrimination\" as a recognition that straight business owners and Christian schools have no rights, and they must do whatever any individual tells them to do -- or be sued out of existence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Education is about asking questions, not being given answers. My Catholic education seems to be a good investment. It was from a time before St. John Paul started rooting out dissent (anyone who disagreed with him), before Evangelicum Vitae, when we were taught in ethics class that twinning meant that life did not begin at conception. It was only in the JPII era that the canard that a second soul was added to cover up the inconvenient truth. And you think doctrine does not change?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've never read nor heard your interpretation of that passage in The Gospels. That's a new one on me. And altho' I think it's a perfectly rational one, I think you're interpretation is very wrong. //// I can tell that we're not communicating at all. What I will say is this: you are certainly entitled to your opinion, but support, among US citizens, decreases every year. It's now at about 50/50. And, God willing, we won't have it much longer. Even Pope Francis calls it very wrong: \"The death penalty is inadmissible to matter how serious the crime committed. It is an offence against the inviolability of life and the dignity of the human person, which contradicts God's plan for man and society, and His merciful justice, and impedes the penalty from fulfilling any just objective. It [the death penalty] does not render justice to the victims, but rather fosters vengeance.\" I'll hang with Pope Francis and The RCC on this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was Barbara Mikulski, outgoing ultra-liberal Democratic Senator from Maryland, in 1970 at a conference at the Catholic University of America regarding \u201cEthnic Americans\u201d. The (code word) was \u201cethnic\u201d.\n\nShe parlayed that into a House election out of her largely Polish-American neighborhood, then to the Senate where she sold out her Polish-American neighborhood just like the folks she decried in 1970.\n\nShe is a microcosm IMHO of how the Democrats lost their base.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, how much room do I have here? Pretty much every sentence was from opposite land. This is not \"from a small segment of Christian Far Right\". 99% of people think that men & women should be allowed to keep their existing rights of equal treatment to use their own restroom. It's the .0001 super radical left who are trying to take away people's rights. I could care less what LGBTQRSTUV people do in the privacy of their homes (except their child molestations). The problem is that they are working to FORCE everyone else to change & accept & extend special privileges. Working to take away everyone else's rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Colossians authorship is disputed. Even if Paul wrote it, what he is saying is that the Church does not seem to get the full value of Christ's suffering, so the witness of suffering is still required to convince them. Remember that at this time, there were no Gospels or theories about them or how salvation worked. We know a bit more now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. \"Conservatives,\" as you call orthodox Catholics, teach their faith to their children, who will soon become the remnant of a once vibrant and dominant church. The residual Catholic religion of those who abandoned the transmission of faith will died with them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We know that the Vatican sent every cardinal a first class round-trip ticket to fly to Rome for the conclave in 2013, and that Cardinal Bergoglio turned in his for a coach class ticket. I would not have begrudged a 77 year old man, on a long flight, the extra leg room. Nor do I begrudge those cardinals who have to fly to Rome every month for meetings, and who have to hit the ground running upon arrival a more spacious seat on the plane. But, we should think about such things.\" -- Michael Sean Winters in 2015\n\nWinters has also written here about flying to Europe to attend conferences, and flying to other countries because he was upset about the results of an election.\n\nHow are we to believe the Vatican and progressive Catholics really care about Paris & climate change?\n\nUh, we should think about such things....along the lines of what \"do as I say, not as I do\" says about these climate moralists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do not think that Sister Mary McGlone is fair to Mel Gibson or Leonardo da Vinci here. She posits a false opposition between them on the one hand, and Saint Paul and the Prophet Isaiah on the other, but there is no evidence in the art of the former two to suggest that they are ignorant of the inspired words of the latter two. For example, there is no more stirring depiction of tender strength on film than what Gibson gave to Mary, the mother of Jesus, in \"The Passion of the Christ.\" And when da Vinci chose to paint women, he gave us the Mona Lisa, who is arguably the most famous woman in western art next to Mary. That da Vinci did not include women in his painting of the Last Supper means only that as a supremely competent artist, he knew good and well that it's hard to paint more than 13 people in the same frame. Sister McGlone's pining for inclusivity seems misplaced, as does her implication that \"Suffering Servant\" and \"atonement\" theologies are at odds with each other. Not so!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<\"Except in the narrowest circumstances, no one should be forced to choose between living out his or her faith and complying with the law. To the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law, religious observance and practice should be reasonably accommodated in all government activity.\">\n\nVery liberal, tolerant and secular - and entirely consistent with Catholic teaching. Why should any group be permitted to impose its world view on an another? If conscience can be accommodated to the\"greatest extent practicable,\" and this is \"permitted by law,\" then what's the issue? Why should a Big State (or small activist lobbies) be able to bully and force people to act in ways that contradict their faith unless just cause can be demonstrated?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. \nMaybe he has decided Jesus had a point when he said \"Call no man Father'?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please pardon my pious outpourings.\n\n1. \u201d... how does it fit with Vatican II's vision of revelation (as in Dei Verbum)?\nJoseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, identified three overall themes in Dei verbum: (1) the new view of the phenomenon of tradition; (2) the theological problem of the application of critical historical methods to the interpretation of Scripture; and (3) the biblical movement that had been growing from the turn of the twentieth century.\nRegarding article 1 of the preface of Dei verbum, Ratzinger wrote: \"The brief form of the Preface and the barely concealed illogicalities that it contains betray clearly the confusion from which it has emerged.\u201d\n\ncont\u2019d\u2026", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure where you are getting your version of events - lifesite or some other unreliable source? \n\n Find a legitimate source - much of what you relate is untrue. His background and activities are both fascinating and frightening. He did learn that she was a lesbian before the mass. He did refuse to give her communion. He did leave the altar while she gave a eulogy for her mother (permitted). And he did refuse to go to the gravesite. He did not attempt to find another priest to help the family, but one was found by someone else, a priest who understands what being a priest means. He is from another country; he was removed from the parish by the Archdiocese. Cdl. Wuerl has publicly stated that he opposes denying communion to Catholics. Wuerl has refused urgings from the Catholic right to deny communion to many Catholic politicians living in the DC area who are pro-choice (which is not the same thing as pro-abortion) and who also regularly attend mass and receive communion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When my two now adult children were in public high school, it was discovered that one of the music teachers that taught at their elementary school had sexually molested several of his students. Neither of my children had been taught by this teacher and as a victim of child sexual abuse many years ago by a Catholic priest that was a great relief. But I was quite interested in how the school district and the local authorities handled the case. The teacher was arrested, charged with the crime, prosecuted and sent to jail. The school district sent letters to all the parents of children this teacher had taught from the time he was hired until he was fired. They were anxious to find other victims, if there were any, to get them help. Contrast that with how my claims were dealt with by the Catholic Church. Or more precisely how my claims were not dealt with by the Church. In 2002, I wrote a letter to the editor of the Philadelphia Daily News, describing how I was sexually molested in 1961.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our faith is not democrat, liberal, progressive, republican, conservative. Our faith is Catholic, it's universal, it's following Jesus. Jesus was not a social worker, he was a miracle worker who loved everyone, rich and poor, male and female, he loved all. He didn't say, \"Blessed are those who are called bleeding hearts, for they shall inherit the kingdom of God\"' or \"Blessed are those who want to punch you in the face for they shall cry tears of joy\". No, he said we need to be humble. Humility is not choosing sides of liberal or conservative. Periodicals such as NCR has made people to think that our Church is a political system, but it's not. Our Church is love and this is God's love. He is merciful, but woe to those who continue to sin and encourage the sin of others. That is not conservative thinking, that is what Jesus told us. Follow Jesus, not democrats or republicans, because Jesus was neither.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ye gads, and what do ye think of the Christ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It doesn't take a real close reading of the scriptures to see that Jesus seldom -if at all- told sinners to believe in him or face hell. He told them that if they believed in him they would receive eternal life.\nHowever, He did have plenty to say about hell; and it was always directed to the religious class. \n\nI can't really picture Jesus acting like this guy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. \" ... spurious attacks such as in the opening paragraph: 'Illicit trade in antiquities' and 'questionable scholarship'.\"\nPlease provide evidence for this assertion, otherwise it is YOU who are making the spurious attack. \n\n2.\" I think the thrust of the book is the same old same old apologetic that says 'one cannot simply take the Bible for what it says, or doesn't say, but must have an official interpretation from a priest'.\"\nI heard something entirely different, especially in the context of opening a Bible Museum: it requires genuine scholarship to tangle with the Bible authoritatively. No, it doesn't need a \"priest\" ... especially if they were trained in the years when the Bible was used as ammunition for proof-texting. \n\n3. \"papyrologym\" Why would anyone have heard of a word you seem to have invented?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do we know \"human life\" begins at conception? How does the RCC define \"human life?\" Is the conjunction of a sperm and egg a \"human life?\" If not, when does it become a \"human life?\" How can a mass of cells that cannot exist outside the mother's body be a \"human life?\" Why has the RCC made women the lesser sex for two thousand years? Why is the RCC pushing for legislation in the US to define life as beginning at conception; this has not been a position of scholars, theologians or a majority of Americans. Why doesn't the RCC believe in keeping religious beliefs out of the public sphere? Why does church leadership refuse to separate church and state? Is a theocratic society the next step for the US?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That sadly is what the Catholic Church seems to be preaching, preaching its way out of existence.\nAs someone brought up during the reign of Pope Pius XII, I cannot believe what I am seeing or hearing. As a Relgious novice and later seminarian in Rome in the late '50s, I am one of the last witnesses of true Catholicism on this planet.\nWho would have thought then that Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church would have been advocating divorce and remarriage without annulment, same-sex 'marriage', Holy Communion for adulterers, acceptance of self-mutilation (so-called gender reassignment surgery), abortion even euthanasia.\nShould one despair or still hope?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was not a priest.\nJesus was in conflict with the religious authorities of his day. His comments about them could not be described as complementary.\nJesus never \"ordained\" anyone.\nJesus always considered himself to be a loyal Jew.\nAfter the destruction of the Temple with its Aronaic priesthood, Judaism continued -- thank you very much -- without clergy.\nSaint Peter didn't know that he was a Pope. The Apostles didn't know they were bishops.\nThe various scandals and abuses in the long history of the Church have almost always been caused by clergy.\nThe current structure of the Church is a way that it can be, not the way it always was; and not the way it must be.\nHow the Church will be constituted in the future, I have no idea.\nBut the time of the clergy is slowly passing. It doesn't work very well any more.\nWhile it will not happen in our lifetimes, a future iteration of Catholic Christianity will be without clergy", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"How could Catholicism not lie at core?\" \n\nMaybe also make a distinction between Catholic faith and Catholic culture when talking about \"Catholicism\"? \nCatholicism often lies \"at core\" in different ways, implicitly and explicitly, in different poets like, for example, English poets (all Catholic) -- G. M. Hopkins, John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Siegfried Sassoon, Chaucer, etc. In one context, one could ask, What would the poetry of Hopkins be like without his Catholicism, meaning his faith? But Hopkins, an adult convert, was not as immersed in \"Catholic culture\" as much as Milosz (or Dante or Chaucer). Yet his poetry is far more intensely religious (with Catholic symbolism) than Milosz's poetry, who was immersed in \"Catholic culture.\" I don't doubt Milosz was a devote Catholic, but he did not write poetry drawing on traditional Catholic iconography or symbolism. His Catholic roots were more implicit in his work than explicit, thus broadening those roots in non-traditional ways.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The title should read: \"...SOME Catholics say.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many ... as in \"many European Catholics\"... are many;\nMost ... as in most European Catholics ... are most.\n\nRight on, Papa Chico!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the link. I agree with Mr. McCaffery: forgiveness, like respect, must always be earned. The one seeking forgiveness must first demonstrate true contrition. Without that there can be no forgiveness. Even Jesus presumed as much when he said we must all forgive \"not seven times but seventy-seven,\" as we heard this past Sunday in the Gospel reading.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have looked for an answer, but failed. I hope someone here can find it. It seems to me that ordination to the episcopacy would indicate that the man is a diocesan priest. This would be specifically true of diocesan bishops (ordinaries) but also of auxiliaries who are canonically subject to the diocesan bishop in the same way as the diocesan priests are. Every bishop who is not a diocesan bishop (auxiliaries, Vatican officials, etc.) holds a title to a (usually) suppressed diocese, a symbolic nod to the theological proposition that a bishop, by definition, is pastor to a particular church. I think that when the pope nominates a religious as bishop, the religious superior must release him from his vows to the community (especially if the vows include stability). Some bishops from religious communities return to those communities when they retire; some don't. Most continue to identify with their communities by wearing their habits, using the community's identifying initials, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Clearly Jesus felt no need to add an exception clause...\"\n\nAh a mystic! One who has discerned the thoughts and intentions of Christ Himself which have escaped the pages of Scripture, the entire Tradition of the Church, and every saint to comment on these verses.\n\nDonald Trump is certainly in a boatload of trouble due according to Jesus' words. Like mortal sin, serious risk of losing his soul.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a mighty bold (and unfounded) claim to say that 4 men who have given decades of their lives in service to the Church as pastors/bishops have managed to do absolutely nothing for the poor, sick, or homeless. Leave the ad hominem \"they are doctrinally conservative so therefore they must not care about the poor\" bit at the door.\n\nAs for the rich young man, it's plausible that he had a change of heart; doesn't help your point at all. Jesus still let him walk away, downtrodden, due to His rigorous demands on the young man's life. \n\nAnd of course Jesus didn't tell followers they could not marry! Celibacy is a recommended way of life for those who feel capable of living it. \"Some make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Those who CAN accept this SHOULD accept it.\" - Mt 19:12\n\nPut all these questions aside though and my original question still remains: how is it consistent with the Gospel for Francis to govern based on creating tension? Why not seek communion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Rigid outdated doctrine and elitist triumphalism\". Modernist speak for what simply is the 2000 year patrimony of the Church and Her dogmatic and Divinely revealed truths. Do any of you modernists ever stop to consider a scenario in which a traditionalist is elected to Peter's Chair, and declares VII and its fruitless branches to be null and void? That would be a \"reform\" or a manifestation of the \"prevailing spirit\", would it not? What will you do then? Yearn for that \"golden age\" of the post Conciliar/kumbaya Church? I honestly don't understand why, if your ilk so despises what the Church has been for 1900 years, you don't just run down the street and join the Unitarians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Patriarchal sexism is a universal wound of humanity rooted in original sin (Genesis 3:16). As long as the Catholic Church remains patriarchal, we continue to reinforce the patriarchal paradigm of male domination and female subordination, until recently taken for granted as \"natural law.\" A male-only church hierarchy cannot make visible the divine \"feminine genius\" that abides in Jesus Christ. \n\nThere can be no integral human developement, and no integral ecology, as long as there is no integral complementarity *between* man and woman, an *within* each man and each woman. For this reason, the ordination of women to the ministerial priesthood is the most critical priority pursuant to integral human development, an integral ecology, and the new evangelization.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From the perspective of His Father - who is not bound by space and time - He's also still redeeming us on the Cross..this is why at every Mass His Sacrifice is made fully present to us. \n\nPoorly formed Catholics seem to want to jump to the party at every turn.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Antiochian Orthodox Church learned that with the mass conversions some time ago. They even had some schisms in the church over it. They were finally able to get things under control again, but it was a very rough time for them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course, his fierce orthodoxy, the hallmark of any true follower of Jesus Christ, far outweighs any mistakes he may have made in when it comes to the abuse of children. His theological politics, as with Saint Pope Saint John Paul II the Magnificent, are more important than children. It's what Jesus would want.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read Edward Feser: \"By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital Punishment.\" He puts forth a very compelling case. Since he argues for the position far more ably than I can---give it a read. \n\nI want to note that he has written many other works on philosophy which from my view are very good. They challenge contemporary metaphysics--which is based largely on Hume and the modern philosophers. Feser is no easy read, however. If you do dare to read him, you better make sure you have some time on your hands and are wiling to struggle with very heady concepts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Curt, It all came from a Papal Bull issued over 500 years ago in 1493. It is still used by our US Supreme Court. Research the Doctrine of Discovery. Also watch this video by Bill Moyer as he discuses American Indians and Savage Anxieties with the Indian Lawyer, Robert Williams at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24IeWTVX840\n\nBasically this Doctrine gave Christian Nations the moral authority to conquer non Christian people and do as they please with them and their land as long as the new colonies were blessed by a Catholic priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I told you that I don't have a problem. You told me that 'my problem' was that I was following the teaching of the Church and not following the teaching of the historical Jesus. I replied that I saw no difference between what the Church teaches and what Jesus taught. \nIt is you who seems to have a problem in pointing out the differences you claim to exist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And murder. And incest. And lying. And stealing. And divorce. And so on.\n\nThat doesn't mean any of those things are \"a part\" of the religion known as Christianity. It just means it happened.\n\n\"Jesus replied, \u201cMoses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.\"\n\n\"\u2018For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh\"\n\nMatthew 19: verses 8 and 4.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article states: \"celebrate the scientific legacy of Msgr. George Lemaitre, one of the fathers of the ... 'Big Bang theory'\"\n\nThe author is simply wrong. Lemaitre, a Belgian Catholic Priest, astronomer and professor of physics at the Catholic University of Leuven, IS the father of the Big Bang Theory, and not \"one of the fathers.\" \n\nHe was the first to propose the expansion of the universe NOT Hubble. He was the first to derive what is now known as Hubble's law and made the first estimation of what is now called the Hubble constant, which he published in 1927, two years before Hubble's article.\n\nAnd he was the first to propose the Big Bang Theory, what he called \"hypothesis of the primeval atom\" or the \"Cosmic Egg\".\n\nGetting the facts straight would help!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is your classic example of conservative mean spiritedness. They typical defer to fear and mongering to hide this human nature, but his one they can't dance around. Session's claims about stealing jobs and suggesting these \"non-choice immigrants\" are a danger, just doesn't hunt. Obama gave Congress many years to come up with a bill, but of course the same do-nothing GOP who accomplished nothing during the 8 years of the black guy in the white house, refused so as not to give Obama any credit and feed their anti-brown-immigrant constituency their raw meat. The WWJD Christian value again, \"left the building.\" So Obama stepped in. So now that the black muslim is gone, where's the GOP now, who could of easily passed a \"better\" ;o) ;o) bill then DACA? So now Fake President to honor his campaign promises and feed his angry hoard, passed the buck to Congress. Do you really believe the biggest DO-NOTHING congress will pass something? It would require showing a little compassion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With Francis' insights, actions and insistence on the presence of God's infinite mercy and love -- and our obligation as Jesus' followers to share in and extend both mercy and love -- the failure of institutionalized religion becomes more and more apparent. Your \"relic of primitive religion\" isn't really a relic; it (in the RCC, at least) has been alive and functioning through Fr. Coyne's \"Theology of Fear\" since early centuries and peaked with the oppressive counter-Reformation Church of pre-Vat II days, remnants of which linger on in fundamentalist Catholic agendas. Maybe in a couple of centuries, historians and cultural anthropologists will be able to point to Vat II, John XXIII and Francis (among others) as the point when ordinary people responded to the Spirit in both rejecting Roman primitivism and seeking the essence and essentials of the Gospel. Great numbers of \"former Catholics\" and \"nones\" indicate to me religion's failure. Francis' viewpoint is completely valid, IMO.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have just sent a check for food relief to the Diocese of Machakos P.O. Box 344, 90100 Machakos, Kenya. The Thatha Roman Catholic Mission is part of the diocese.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you remember this story from 2012? \n\nThe Benedictine abbot of Einsiedeln in Switzerland, Abbot Martin Werlen, penned a brochure which has caused a bit of uproar: \u201cDiscover Together the Embers under the Ashes.\u201d The abbot of Einsiedeln is a member of the Swiss Catholic bishops\u2019 conference.\n\nAll the baptized and confirmed of a diocese, he suggests, should be involved appropriately in the naming of their bishop. Maybe cardinals could have term limits \u2013 \u201cFor example, people from the whole world, women and men, young and not so young, could be called for five years into the college of cardinals,\u201d wrote the abbot. Further: \u201cIf, for example, these people could meet every three months with the Pope, it could bring a new dynamism into the leadership of the Church.\u201d\n\nHe said, \u201cFire is missing. We have to face the situation and see what\u2019s behind it.\u201d\n \nOf course, it went no where. Above is from http://www.praytellblog.com/index.php/2012/11/13/swiss-benedictine-abbot-calls-for-church-reform/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "yeah he joined with russia to reveal some embarrassing emails from hilary clinton's campaign manager. \"hey vlad, can ya get me anything on podesta?\" \"we're on it don, we're on it\". \"ok, don, we got some stuff.\" \"whattya got vlad?\" \"we got podesta mocking catholics, some excerpts from clinton's wall street speeches, and some woman named donna brazile shared a debate question with cnn.\" \"great work vlad! that's all we need, thanks!\" \"now, vlad, once i win, i am going to let your country do whatever you want to repay you for these emails\". \"great don, this is gonna be great.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your corollary between between conservative US politics and conservative Catholicism is shaky at best. Your average pew dweller, as well as your average voter, knows nothing of Tobin's and/or Cupich's understanding of Catholicism. They likely don't even know who they are. A better argument could be made that conservative media outlets did a better job stumping for their man. Sadly, our sound-bite ridden society reigns supreme in America and \"conservative\" sound bites play right into the moral-high-ground mantra that wins people over... the veracity of which often goes completely unchecked by the average voter--Catholic voters included.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the response, Blue- I also love *History,* but never mind all those amazing scientists who were also devout Christians and were called to discover *Because* of their faith...\n\nI *Am* glad you mentioned chromosomes. *AT CONCEPTION* we are complete beings, yes? We have a perfect and complete chromosomal make-up, and we are factually and completely *Totipotent.* From conception, science, logic, biology, and reason all declares we are and will always be human from that moment on.\n\nYou're right: I *do* love science.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Supreme Court does not have authority over marriage. They can only interpret what is in the Constitution and marriage is not in it. What they imposed on the American people is a falsehood. I said this before, that marriage is purely religious. Jesus confirmed the path to marriage in Matthew 19 by citing the first divine law, Genesis 2:24-25, as the union between male and female. There is no such thing as \"secular marriage\" therefore, any true person of faith can not service or participate in any event that celebrates mockery of the divine law. This is an egregious sin and has eternal consequences. If there is such a secular law for marriage, cite its authority? Stealing divine laws and claiming them to be secular is a deception that will not be overlooked by the people of faith. Further, the Supreme Court violated the first amendment with the marriage decision since it clearly states that the government shall make no law respecting religion or the free exercise thereof.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A final thought from Adam Gopnik for those who can't seem to process the parallels between Trump and Hitler or Mussolini:\n\n\"It is the essence of fascism to have no single fixed form\u2014an attenuated form of nationalism in its basic nature, it naturally takes on the colors and practices of each nation it infects. In Italy, it is bombastic and neoclassical in form; in Spain, Catholic and religious; in Germany, violent and romantic. It took forms still crazier and more feverishly sinister, if one can imagine, in Romania, whereas under Oswald Mosley, in England, its manner was predictably paternalistic and aristocratic. It is no surprise that the American face of fascism would take on the forms of celebrity television and the casino greeter\u2019s come-on, since that is as much our symbolic scene as nostalgic re-creations of Roman splendors once were Italy\u2019s.\"\n\nOr, as Molly Ivins famously said of a Pat Buchanan speech, \"It probably sounded better in the original German.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But you can have female priests and gay weddings! There are so many Christian denominations offering this why not join them!? I simply don't understand, is it a pathological need to have everyone do what you do and think? Why can't Catholics remain \"backwards\"? \n\nYou don't believe in any of the dogma anyway, why persist? Please explain I can't understand.\n\nAlso as far as I know the Orthodox don't have female priests or gay weddings, are you thinking about Anglicans?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, if Jesus (in one Gospel passage) says that people can get divorced for reasons of \"porneia\", why don't you just take his word for it? He seems clearly to be talking about porneia during the marriage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I think you're wrong. The scriptures are worth discussing to anyone interested in Jesus of Nazareth and early Christianity. And you clearly have no idea what Biblical scholars actually do.\n\nYour argument is theological, not historical or textual. What you fail to grasp is that your beliefs or my beliefs are irrelevant to the issue of who wrote Hebrews and why. Text and historical criticism is evidence, not theology, based. If you can't compartmentalize that much, you're right, there's no basis for discussion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you don't understand. No where does Jesus preach universal salvation, the Bible is clear that at Final Judgement there will be dual outcomes, one for the just, and one for the wicked. To deny this is to follow another Gospel than what Jesus preached.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ok, for your sake I will concede some latent passive-aggressive tendencies in my prose but, again, that is secondary. \nI am not speaking of mistakes people make in large organizations but systemic problems in one claiming to be divinely-inspired and founded by a saint and therefore unchangeable.\nIt's telling that you see civil discussion about verifiable issues as wacky or conspiratorial.\nI did not recommend ODAN, a static site but not imbalanced. If you have any questions about which pages of that site are most useful, let me know. I happen to know their backstory. If you are interested in the Spanish universe and can tolerate Google translate, the site Opuslibros.org has volumes of quite varied correspondence of the types I alluded to. The letters are updated every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Further, and for some reason better translated by Google, the French-language www.lenversdudecor.org addresses Opus Dei and several other Catholic groups with similar issues. Pax", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ooooh, the sacred 2nd amendment, written by men with wooden teeth. Must be GOSPEL.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your comment is evidence of a very common misunderstanding of yoga, equating the whole practice a an equivalency to asana/postures. A profound bow, done mindfully is a version of ardha uttanasana. Rosary is mantra practice. Both the Rosary and the Liturgy of the Hours focus mind and regulate breath (pranayama) and heart rate. Samadhi can be understood as contemplative prayer. \"Yoga citta vrtti nirodah.\" (Yoga is the containment of the fluctuations of the mind.\") Yoga has to do primarily with the focusing of the mind. The Yoga Sutra-s mention Isvara, but does not define that concept theologically. You may find Thomas Ryan, C.S.P.'s work helpful in addressing yoga ad Christian meditation. As for idolatry, the Yoga Sutras have a good deal to say about harmful attachment and the mind. Given that grace builds on nature, and yoga is about understanding and mastering an aspect of the natural, there is nothing idolatrous about yoga---unless one mistakes the path for the end.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Familiar with the water table? Aquifers? I don't think so. But I guess you think Jesus rode dinosaurs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Forget it! It is time to follow Jesus and ignore the USCCB. They are not interested.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding about these issues. Canada does not have a constitutionally mandated separation of church and state as set out in the US constitution.\n\nIn fact out Constitution entrenches government funding of denominational schools (minority Catholic or Protestant schools as the case may be) in certain provinces as part of the Confederation bargain. This would be unthinkable in the US model. See Adler v Ontario (AG), [1996] 3 S.C.R. 609 where it was decided that Section 93(1) of the Constitution Act, 1867 requires the Ontario government to fund Roman Catholic separate schools fully. \n\nPrime Minister Stephen Harper observed that separation of church and state is an American constitutional concept and does not apply to the Canadian constitution. He went on to say that separation of church and state in Canada has meant, traditionally, that the government will not interfere with religion. \n\nWe do however provide reasonable accomodation for religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is so exclusive to be part of a family? Your right to be part of a family comes from being born into that family. The same way is it with God's family. If we want to be part of the family of God, we have to be born into it, not through the flesh, but through the His Spirit. \nTo be born of the Spirit or born again, means that we have to confess the name of Jesus Christ, believe in the work that He has don on the cross for us and be willing to submit our lives to His Lordship.\n\nThis invitation is open to everyone.\nThere is no \"exclusiveness\". We deside if we want to be in our out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Misogyny in Catholic doctrines regarding both sexuality and female ordination are very serious and a very apt subject for discussion. The fact that in an age where the value of women in society has not quickly led to female ordination in the Catholic Church is a stain on its soul.\n\nThis is the first Pope not to be explainable by St. Malachy's prophesies, probably because Benedict still lives. Soon, however, according to Malachy, Rome and its primacy will be no more. The formal rift between Rome and Constantinople has been healed, with mutual appearances at coronations and councils. Now there is simply the matter of supremacy and that is also serious. Rome has no claim to having its model called superior - one patriarch with a huge number of diocese. The Orthodox model is much more workable, with each national patriarch its own head. It will be interesting to see how that would adapt to our cultural forms and how quickly we ordain women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's no question Jesus saved that man. Those other people were just in the way. Of course if you're a Muslim it was Mohammed who saved the guy. I'm not sure about the Buddhist position on this fine example of divine intervention.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alright, put on yer larnin' hat. Since the Jewish inception,Jaweh is one of the many names they gave their \"God\". In the old testament Abraham took a slave to get a son, and Ismael was born. Then, unexpectedly his wife, had a son. She had been sterile for 40 or so years. And she had a son and named him Iassac. She did not want to compete with the slave girl. nor her son with Ismael.So she condemned them to death. Abraham snuck them out and helped them to escape. Then. while Jesus of Nazareth came later, they called themselves Christians and worshiped God. The same one the Jews worshipped. 400 years after Christ, Muhammed, the ancestor of Ismael, the slaves son. came along and started Islam. Around 700AD they took control of the middle east by war and offering to all \"convert or die\". They split into two factions, Sunni and Shiite, each believe the other worthy only of death, as they do any infidel, like you and me. Thats the short version.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Statues, kneelers, etc. do not constitute the FAITH. Imitating Jesus in our lives DOES. The term the \"Holy Sacrifice of the Mass\" came much, much later in church history. Do you believe in a god who is so blood-thirsty, that only the blood sacrifice of a BELOVED Son could appease him? When did Jesus present his Father that way?\n\nSince July 25, 1968---when 'Humanae vitae' was promulgated by the church, women---by the thousands LEFT the church and took their families with them. These women, now, are senior citizens. Neither they, their children nor grandchildren are registered in any church. The \"Stone-wall riots\" [June 28, 1969], came to symbolize the inaugural movement of the gay liberation movement. And this has continued on for 5 decades. People have left the church because of the hierarchy's pronouncements concerning \"intrinsic disorders\". \n\nSadly, you associate \"having faith\" with the hierarchy's[and JP II & Benedict's] obsession with the \"below the belt\" mandate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can you know the rule if you see people around you receiving Communion in the hand without any problems? And the other priest put it into their hands without problem. Also I have seen plenty of broadcast from the Vatican and many, many people, including those who were given Communion by the pope, received it in the hand. Also in recent months, well after our time in Rome. So it is perfectly permitted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" And, in the winter of 1977, the Vatican issued Inter Insigniores, declaring its \"inability\" to ordain women because women lacked a \"natural resemblance\" to the male Jesus.\"\n\nWhat a shocking statement! Is this what we are afraid to change. How much importance did Christ lend to the body? Niente. He always spoke of spirit and of a kingdom that was not of this world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And of course, it is the males who have determined, still determine what is \"orthodox, faithful, very productive.\" \n \n\nBut much of what constitutes \"orthodoxy\" has been and still is based on an 'androcentric system of values and symbols as society'. The official church lapped up this system and imposed it on the people as 'God's Will'. But androcentrism was not part of the message of Christ---no matter what the Church taught [and still tries to teach]. Christianity/Catholicism only reflected the culture from which it emerged. It really did not prayerfully reflect on Christ's dealings with non-Jews[strangers from other cultures], the poor and women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For centuries, the RC hierarchy has been a secular institution. Why would it now abandon its TRADITION of secularism?\nIn the current situation, the USCCB has chosen those tribal markers - largely related to pelvic issues of one sort or another - that will be most likely to keep the loyalty of the TRADITION minded among the laity. After that, close a parish here, sell some property there, and the result is a smaller, holier Church. Because Jesus said, \"Upon this rock I will build my smaller, holier Church.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you are preferencing the gloomy voices of those who didn't like the changes of V2 by listening only to the sour ones as your leaders. Pope Francis is the kind of pope that we all would have expected after V2, and finally we have one graced by the fruits of the Council. If you think that educating others to scrupulosity toward rule-keeping is what Jesus wanted, read a bit more of the New Testament.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You made the reference to Perez in the context of the discussion of Communion for the divorced/remarried. My question is simple and straightforward; Should the bishop issue a decree of excommunication for divorced/remarried Catholics?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "they call us cafeteria Catholics, but don't see the same in themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From Pew Research - - maybe the illegals aren't as Catholic as most think...\n\"Mexicans made up 52% of all unauthorized immigrants in 2014, though their numbers had been declining in recent years. There were 5.8 million Mexican unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. that year, down from 6.4 million in 2009, according to the latest Pew Research Center estimates. Meanwhile, the number of unauthorized immigrants from nations other than Mexico grew by 325,000 since 2009, to an estimated 5.3 million in 2014. Populations went up most for unauthorized immigrants from Asia and Central America, but the number also ticked up for those from sub-Saharan Africa. Increases in the number of unauthorized immigrants from other countries mostly offset the decline in the number from Mexico.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A person is not defined by a sexual orientation,\" said Bochanski\" \n\nOh yes they are says Rome:\n\n\u201csexuality is not something purely biological, rather it concerns the intimate nucleus of the person\u201d (The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality, Pontifical Council for the Family, 8/12/1995).\n\n\"Sexuality is a fundamental component of personality, one of its modes of being, of manifestation, of communicating with others, of feeling, of expressing and of living human love. Therefore it is an integral part of the development of the personality and of its educative process\u2026 Sexuality characterises man and woman not only on the physical level, but also on the psychological and spiritual, making its mark on each of their expressions.\" (Educational Guidance in Human Love, Congregation for Catholic Education 1/11/1983(?))\n\n\"there is no right to homo-sexuality\" (sic) (Some Considerations Concerning the Response to Legislative Proposals on the Non-Discrimination of Homosexual Persons, CDF, 24/7/1992)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@Dennism\n\nThank you for your comment \n\nMy comment was a suggestion of a possible way forward for all those who would server the Truth to come together in Unit of Purpose and in doing so confront evil (the ongoing culture of cover up) by drawing the attention of the faithful to the reality of the situation, either in pray or fasting on certain days in unity and in doing so draw in others, to creating a base of authority, as authority comes with Truth and those who serve it.\nA possible Model of discipleship ?\nHave you any Ideas?\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps with your stated love for God & children, you might ponder what God says to the prophet Amos, 1:13, or Ex 21:21 (original Hebrew version) with respect to abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stanley Rother was indeed a holy, brave, and tremendously good man. When I taught in Catholic school, I read stories about him to the students. He is far worthier of admiration than most more famous people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is that really true, or is it that governments just think it might be true?\n\nI forgot where I read it, but apparently almost as many catholics (80%) as the population at large (84%) favour MAID too. This somehow doesn't seem to factor into the government's calculus as much as the optics of being lectured to by the clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We now know that dinosaurs became extinct millions of years before human beings appeared on this planet.\"\n\nNo we don't know that. That would mean death before sin, and the Bible is clear that death came because of one man's sin: Adam. And even evolutionists don't claim that Homo Sapiens existed \"millions of years ago.\" It would also mean that Genesis is wrong, no matter how it is interpeted, since it has birds before land animals. Evolution claims that birds evolved from dinosaurs, in spite of the lack of evidence and the insurmountable changes that would have been needed to change from reptile to bird. .And the methods for dating fossils are unreliable. This has been proven over and over.\n\nWhether or not the ancient Hebrews believed that the earth was flat or not, is irrelevant, since the Bible does not teach that. They believed a lot of unbiblical things. Jesus called them on it more than once.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Canada is not a secular country. Our Charter of Rights and Freedoms declares that the role of God is fundamental. The coins in your pocket bear the initials D.G. which reminds us that our head of state and supreme legal authority rules us by the Grace of God. Our current Prime Minister\u2019s reluctance to support minority rights reminds me of Prime Minister Laurier\u2019s lack of support for Manitoba French speaking Catholics. Sunny Ways indeed!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dionne did forget to use the words \"seems to\" but let's look at what the article says about Dionne's claim that trump doesn't worry about whether \"branding\" or \"politics can devalue faith.\" \nThe question is did trump question Romney's mormon-ness and and the validity of Carson's Seventh Day Adventist version of Christianity? \nLet's look:\n\"I love Iowa. And, look, I don't have to say it, I'm Presbyterian,\" said Trump. \"Can you believe it? Nobody believes I'm Presbyterian. I'm Presbyterian. I'm Presbyterian. I'm Presbyterian. Boy, that's down the middle of the road folks, in all fairness. I mean, Seventh-day Adventist, I don't know about. I just don't know about.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That would assume that both parties would adhere to that action. Given the vagaries of a woman's menstrual cycle, so called Natural planning would be of little benefit to most women most of the time. I guess that is what Pope Francis meant when he opined that Catholic families didn't need to breed like rabbits. As for the woman I mentioned, her last two pregnancies were mostly spent in bed rest, one at home and the last in the hospital. From your tone I take it that the woman is at fault. Physically, it takes 4 years to replace a woman's body what it takes to create a baby, not 4 months. Obviously natural planning doesn't work for her nor is her ob/gyn at fault. She has had two along with a surgeon who advised her to have no more babies for her own welfare. Obviously her husband is no help and obviously he did not stick to the regimen counselled by our priest. God would not want her to kill herself nor should the church or her husband.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will keep my Christian denomation to myself. As far as it being up to me to decide who is Christian, Jade is right, it is not up to me.\nAlso, I believe very strongly our Constitution makes it very clear this country is not of any particular religion. The USA is a republic not a theocracy. For those who want to force their religious beliefs upon others in this great nation, I suggest they relocate to the Middle East where theocractic governments seem to thrive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lynn Adams makes a very good point. I read posts from very conservative Christians who are supportive of Mr. Trump, his actions and his comments. Surely, these folks suffer from severe cognitive dissonance. As Ms/Mr Adams notes, Trump is the antithesis of the Christian values of morality and decency. I find Trump and his \"best buddy\" Scaramucci absolutely disgusting individuals \n\n I'm an agnostic....a secular humanist.....and don't presume to speak for Christians. . . I do share with Christianity those beliefs in \"inclusion, love, compassion and humility.\" If you Christian folks believe in those values, like Lynn Adams, I ask \"How on earth can you defend Donald Trump?\" That cognitive dissonance must be giving you a terrible headache. Gary Crum", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I know! Maybe not Parker specifically, but the pent-up anti-rich-christian animosity was certainly ready to burst at it's seems, wasn't it? ...my sentence was kind of like stabbing a shovel into a piece of bloated road-kill.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"quite frequently violent\" Absolute and utter Hogwash. Have you eve seen Hogwash Icon ? It is slimy, stinky and filthy slop. There are many countries who are not \"Christian\" that have much stricter abortion laws than we do, exterminating children for the sake of convenience has little to do with a persons \"religious \" choices. You deserve to live the paranoid life you do.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What you are talking about is the classic leftist hypocrisy - \"it's funny when we do it, and xenophobic racist nazism when you do it\" Colbert and the like made a career criticizing conservatives and made Christians look like kooks. That is mainstream now, and has caused unbelievable harm (undeniable influence of the antifa movement). But God forbid conservatives \"parody\" Islam. Notwithstanding that it could literally result in death (Hebdo), closer to home, it manifests in the form of some ridiculous anti-free speech legislation. Textbook left.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Patrriot, I'll try to type slower next time just so you can understand better. \nOkay seriously, if you can't understand the difference between Radical Islam and mainstream Islam, the problem is yours. It's like saying that the KKK represents Christianity. \nI despise radical Islam as much as anyone. But I also know that most Muslims also despise it because it makes innocent people targets of hatred.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Daniel R. Kempton wrote:\n\n<>\n\nThis is a deplorable attempt at writing a sentence, much less even-handedness. \"Abortion\" is not a protagonist. Planned Parenthood locates in poor neighborhoods because poor women need their services. It's grotesque to distort this fact, as anti-abortion fanatics have long done, into a racist campaign against the poor.\n\nNeither are the poor passive ciphers to be exploited by conservative Christians in their crusades. The poor are autonomous agents who act as rationally as anyone else to their circumstances. The government forces not one woman to get an abortion. Not one.\n\nMr. Kempton is yet another man determined to insinuate theology into the public sector and call it virtue. For this mentality we have an ignorant loose cannon poised to become leader of the free world.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Go take your anti catholic bigotry somewhere else", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Paul Scott, You are an infidel, worthy only of death. The Qu'ran. A Christian must love one another as you love yourself. The Bible. You don't get it do you? Both are bottom lines describing the given religion.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hairy,\nBefore you question my Christianity, regard the foul mouthed Trumpet who belittles women and handicapped citizens in public forums regularly. Why don't you question his evil tongue?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Dumboski is part of that group in our country that has an elected leader that promotes this attitude. It will just get worse in the next four years. But let's not forget....it's all hidden by a Christian facade.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Seat of Power of the Catholic Church is Italy, not Ireland, Ire. At this time the Catholic Church if they are following procedure have started a Study, Investigation, on behalf of the Pope so that when or if he opens his mouth about these issues he does not sound like a fool and embarrassing the Entire Catholic Church. \"Back in the Day\" the Jesuit Priests as the Logical side of the Catholic Church and as the Researchers and Investigators of the Catholic Church did the Research, Inquiries, Investigations, on occasion thru the Catholic Church Requests thru the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Army Special Forces did Investigations on behalf of the Catholic Church especially at \"Hostile Nations\", \"Potentially Hostile Nations\", \"Conflict Nations\", \"War Zones\", \"Disaster Areas\", \"Muslim Nations\". Before you start screaming misappropriation of U.S. Military, start digging really deep why, so as to not make yourselves fools. American Colonies were founded with Christian Ordinances Law.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure why Cheetolini's behavior should surprise ANYONE, us unwashed masses have known for centuries the rich expect folks to look the other way when the microscope is aimed at 'em ... those that voted for this monster are going to rot in h-e-double hockey stick for this vote for sure. Your votes on W and Reagan already had y'all heading that way any way ... 80% of Cheetolini voters consider themselves Christian. Lol ... that's RICH!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Just being born a Christian, Jew or Muslim does NOT make you spiritual. That is the big lie being told.\n\nJust reading a book over and over again or going to some building once a week does NOT make you spiritual. Again the lies.\n\nTo gain inner knowledge requires work on your self, it is process. It requires hard , not just repeating some mantra. This is how we create so many narcissists in Canada with these religions.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A clear example of a hateful post, that G&M refuses to take down. Replace \"Christian\" with \"gay\" or \"muslim\" in the above comment, and it will get removed. I tried it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Um, this \"christian\" conference isn't a debate forum. It rather seems to be a pep-rally for hatred.\n\nJust sayin' ...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "White nationalists, American Neo-Nazis and the KKK make me ashamed to be a Caucasian American. They blame anyone who is non-white, non Christian, of foreign ancestry and God forbid \"liberal\" for their personal circumstance. In reality it is their own ignorance, hate, bigotry and personal shortcomings that doom them. Hopefully such Deplorables and Trump will be properly buried in the 2018 and 2020 elections. These haters cannot see, much less accept, that they are the wrong side of public opinion, reality and history. Like it or not, America will continue to be more and more multicultural. America will be more and more inexorably tied to the global economy.\n\nAmerica will never, ever become the Great White Christian Society that these pathetic and insecure cowards want. They are not Patriots; they are pathetic human beings who need to crawl back into the Neanderthal caves that Trump encouraged them to crawl out of. They should move to a remote Pacific Island and celebrate their pureness.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Even if Clinton wins, and the Senate flips to the Democrats, it will only delay the inevitable. The lunatic fringe of \"Christians\" (I use the term with a great deal of skepticism), racists, conspiracy theorists, anti-intellectuals and robber baron capitalists is going to eventually propel the Republicans into power. What happens then will be the stuff of nightmares. Canadians should be doing their damnedest to elect a government that is going to start preparing to deal with a neighbour that will not just be benignly neglectful of its relationship with us, but will be actively hostile to many of our goals, contemptuous of our sovereignty, and likely to be willing to use force to take whatever we have that they want.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That is exactly what the Christians in Canada do, lie.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Not only Islam, but Christianity as well needs to be extirpated just as Christianity preached extirpating Natives to allow Christians the legal means to stealing Natives resources and lands. What does one say about people who call upon a nonexistent being they say they idolize but who they would persecute as a refugee today. And they would also rub in his face the defunding of the same health and social programs that prevent the unnecessary deaths of over 50,000 Americans a year, although the jesus supposedly lived to help the sick, weak, diseased, poor, hungry and the dying. That don't sound like Christians to me unless todays christians are following the words of syphilis infected Christopher Columbus, famed slaver and mass murderer who died with a gaping hole where his nose used to be.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So, why don't you like white Christians?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Another superficial piece of journalism from Saunders. Has he ever googled anti-semitism in Sweden? It wouldn't take him long to find articles on Malmo and the hostile environment that the city's Muslims have created for its Jewish residents, or what's left of them. The attackers at the kosher food store in Paris in 2015 were not Catholics or Evangelicals but Muslims. Perhaps Sanders ought to stick to reporting on anti-semitism at places like Ryerson and York universities in Toronto.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I get you disagree with my comments but no need to be disrespectful. If you don't believe my statistics go do your own research - and you will find that my statement is still true - most terrorist attacks are not carried out by Muslims - but by all sorts of actors (left leaning groups, right-leaning groups, christians, jews, nationalists, white supremacists, etc.) There are many bad actors and I just wanted to be clear that blaming one religion for 'terrorism' is inaccurate.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, that type of information is the State's business, as well as being the business of special interest groups.\n\nYou see, what conservative types fail to understand is that State bureaucrats and special interest lobby groups are focused solely on love. Families however, especially those with judeo-christian religious beliefs, are inevitably quarrelsome and toxic, which is why the State must impose morality.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If we're going to talk about which group is being demeaned as evil and demented I think it would be the one who you're calling baby-killing communists who hate America. Just a guess.\n\nA gay marriage is not obscene. If you don't like the idea of making cakes in a country where gay people have the freedom to marry then move to Saudi Arabia.\n\nIn regards to your broken analogy nobody is telling Jews to serve non-kosher food or Muslims to serve pork. If they DID want to serve those things, then they should serve those things equally to every customer.\n\nNow, if a pharmacy doesn't want to serve the morning after pill they shouldn't be forced to carry a product they don't want. I agree with you there. But when Christians pass legislation to limit the choices for everyone, that I disagree with. We cannot make a world where Christians never have to encounter things they disagree with. That is a world of special privilege. He did not make the cake, he chose to stop making cakes all together.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "-Private Baptist schools , private Catholic schools, private Muslim schools, private Jewish schools, private Christian schools- all indoctrination centres. Get religion out of schools", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trump still hasn't mentioned (or been informed of) the latest terrorist attack by a white Christian mass-murdering Trump supporter .............", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why do Muslim followers of Islam want to attack, kill and injure innocent civilians in western countries like England?\n\nWhat is influencing and inspiring Muslims to attack, kill and injure innocent civilians in so many countries around the world?\n\nWhat are those Muslims tying to accomplish? What is their mandate and goal?\n\nDoes it have something to do with Islam, the hadiths and the verses in the Qur'an that call for the destruction of Jews, Christians and non believers?\n\nAre they simply following their religion?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes try immigrating to Saudi Arabia as a Christian and see how far you get. \nThese people need to get over themselves and see the hypocrisy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It is blind obedience [and stupidity] not to challenge both the theological rationale in both the Catechism and Canon Law.\n\nI teach church history---the concept of celibacy was first brought up by Spanish synods in the 4th Century. But this concept was not widely enforced. Pope Siracus believed that engaging in sexual contact [and remember that priests, bishops and popes were married], caused a minister of the altar to be 'impure' in celebrating the Liturgy. He insisted that in Rome all priests be celibate. Eventually, by the year 1000 AD this became the practice and DISCIPLINE in the Church. In the Apostolic times---and the Apostles themselves, were married.\n\nMarried love and sexuality is not dirty, impure, demeaning or any other degrading term. In our time, any concepts such as this should be condemned to the hilt. AND, we have absolutely NO EVIDENCE that Jesus was not married [he could have been a widower]. It was the task of Jewish parents to secure a wife for their sons.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Openwater2010 - good thing you're criticizing Christianity...if it were Islam, I think we'd all agree you were islamaphobic.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "ISIL wants to kill all of those who have tried to kill and repress them and their families. if it is true as you say that they want to kill the Pope, then it would be because they see the Pope as some kind of ''leader''' of those who have / do oppress them. Francis is a hero... a martyr.... a role model for all christians. he has had his road to Emmaus and has reaped the benefits- for us.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "1) As far as the Tobin article (\"Is Cardinal Tobin's Outreach to LGBT Catholics About More Than Optics?\") is concerned: Tobin is a good company man. As long as Francis is pope he will appear open to the gay community, but if a conservative pope is elected he will keep his distance from the gays. He'll go where the power is.\n\n2) As far as shorter and pithier homilies: I'm all for them.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "God gave Israel to the Jewish people, those descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The moslims are from the illegitimate union of Abraham and Hagar. And like jealous children, the moslims continue to hate their half-sibling. But God is very clear: He loves Israel, and curses those that hate her. Is Obama the anti-Christ? I don't know. But I hope that whomever we elect from here on out isn't stupid enough to bring down the hammer of God on this country by mistreating Israel. And it is possible that the joke will be on the invaders; there is theory that the Temple Mount, is not, but merely a Roman army post, where they could look out and keep watch over the Jewish people. There is not water there, and the Temple required a great amount of water. Too funny.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Probably Jewish people before they lose their rights for Islamophobic protests - There are already more anti-semitic protests in Canada than Anti-Islamic !\nMuslims are playing the victim card - Why don't Muslims try to assimilate instead of trying to be different ie; Hijabs , Burkas and Face Veils when taking oath of Citizenship before becoming a Canadian !\nCanada was founded on Judeo - Christian values - Islam is a direct opposite !", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am not so sure that this particular crowd was appalled at Trump's positions. I have run into a good number of conservative Christians who have told me that Muslims ought be kept out ....", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Kag, the \"cesspools of gossip and backstabbing\" may be a bit hard for catholic communities to acknowledge but you do have a point. However, such behaviour was also common in early Christian communities. We are human beings. But wasn't that the point of the incarnation? To be faced with our own failings and acknowledge them and become merciful ourselves. Merciful gossips \ud83d\ude07 Then perhaps one day, just merciful.\n\nYou are correct though, JP II and Benny wrecked that spiritual progress for many.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I find it amazing that such a small Canadian Muslim population , continues to garner so much attention. The various Christian faiths are never in the news, whereas not a week goes by, without some grievance or slight that Muslims feel has happened against them and their religion, and the papers feel they must report it. Perhaps one day they will have the good fortune to be like the other religions and cultures in Canada and just fade into the background of every day life. However when you have much of the western world reporting the same problems, you can down one road and say that the whole world is experiencing group Islamaphobia, or you can down the other road and question whether the problems Muslims are facing are due in part to their failure to fully adapt to the society they live in .", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Many Christians are relatively lightweight believers. To be a true believer, make you politically incorrect in so many ways in our liberal society. So many Christians just adjust and adapt what works for them and they create their own comfort space to adhere to the norms of our time. At least Muslims are not that weak or hypocritical. Like them or not, their belief will not compromise and they will not bend to the political correctness of our time. You got to give them respect for that.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm thinking of the 168 people killed in Oklahoma City by a pair of conservative Christian bombers.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The president has broad power to control immigration policy in the united states, however the recent executive order has a number of problems, even if you are for reducing immigration and travel from traditionally muslim countries. It appears the administration did not do a good job vetting this EO in terms of legal or administrative implications, that is why the courts are issuing injunctions against it. Once those kinks are worked out there is still a much bigger legal issue of if it is constitutional to a have a religious test (i.e. exemption to the ban for christians and other non-muslims). There is of course the larger policy question of if it really protects america or has the opposite effect of threating our security by isolating us from our allies.\n\nSome of the protesters probably are whinny brats, however most are just americans concerned with making sure this country lives up to the ideas enshrined in the consitution and on the statue of liberty.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A \"Christian\" saying its OK to beat up anybody, any prisoner in custody is not much of a \"Christian\". A \"Christian\" who supports the threat of violence against another \"Christian\" is not much of a \"Christian\". To support a President who is willing to have police rough up a person in handcuffs is not very Christian.\n.\nSee the HYPOCRISY. \n.\nLove they neighbor, but beat the hell out of a prisoner in custody!!!!!!!\n.\nYou call me UN-CIVIL.\n.\nAnd Harry I could have deleted this for being uncivil but I didn't, I wanted people to see you for who you really are.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "There are six dioceses in Switzerland let's do some simple math here. If there was just one victim in each of those dioceses that $493 thousand would come out to $82 thousand + or - per diocese. With just one victim per diocese (which is low ball) that is a paultry amount per victim. This is just another bunch of loud mouth Catholic bishops putting on a worthless act for the media and in front of cameras. I live in a diocese where the idiot bishop is putting out $55,000.00 PER YEAR for ONE priest abuser alone for his living and housing expenses (because the priest was never laicized). Then this same bishop expects the victims of this priest to keep their mouths shut.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"show the world that Eugene Oregon is a great place to live and raise your children.\"\n\nTrump appears to be possessed by a most Malevolent spirit. The only way that we could effectively protect our children from his evil influence would be to invite some Catholic Priests to the rally tonight, to perform an Exorcism on him.\n\nEugene needs an Exorcist!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Last I saw, it was a white male Christian mindlessly killing unarmed Canadians at prayer in their house of worship.\n\n...and yet we are surrounded by white male Christians. That makes me feel uneasy. I would feel better if we could ensure that the firearms possessed by this subset of the Canadian milieu were removed. That would make us all safer.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. Of course, there is systematic racism and birth control doesn't stop that. But the issue is the author suggesting that NGOs want to prevent poor minority women from having kids because of racist and classist concerns rather than acknowledging poor women don't want to have a gazillion kids just like rich women don't. This is one of the classic far-right Catholic arguments. They regularly accuse NGOs of pushing contraceptives because of racism.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Religion in public space is why there were non stop wars in Europe from the 16th to the 20 centuries.\n\nReligion teaches people to convert or kill non believers. The reason that South America or Africa has Christians is that they were threatened by death.\n\nAnd the Taliban mixed religion and politics quite successfully. Are you saying most people are Taliban-esque?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Capitalism has no conscience.\" True, unless industrial development is guided by moral\u00a0values and a democratic structure, it can create great misery as well as great wealth. Many historians believe that American Christianity, while sometimes exalting the elite, even at times justifying slavery, served as a break on capitalist excesses, and spurred compassion for the poor. \n\n On the other hand, amoral Social Darwinism, as seen even today in the adherents of Ayn Rand, places no such ethical restraints on profit-taking, as we saw last night in Trump's arrogant response to criticism of his cruel business practices, with his cocky grin, and \"That's business.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Well, the Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches venerate Stephen as a Saint but all the representations of him actually have actual stones shown, and since he actually was a Jew killed by Jews in 48 AD, according to the biblical references, I'm having trouble finding a marijuana reference that fits. \n\nBut theology is so changeable, maybe in another 50 years or so that will be the new doctrine according to one of the religions who already see him as a Saint or a new religion will emerge with that 'truth' as part of their catechism.\n\nMore of those mysterious ways we keep hearing about, no doubt.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If the religious people in America who had protested the telescope on theological grounds had been white Christians...\n\n... this board would be full of post after post of angry denigration and ridicule for the religious folks.\n\nAh, yes, but ah, these are Hawaiian native folks with native religions vaguely comparable to the belief systems of the Nootka and the Haida.\n\nAnd so, en masse, the Canadian post writers desist.\n\nWe are such a parochial people it makes me want to weep. And it is the worst kind of parochialism - the kind held by people who nonetheless somehow see themselves as worldly and sophisticated...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What is disturbing, is the guillabillity of supposed educated people. Religion is just a means of controlling the masses through illogical thought and lack of knowledge. \nEducated people have been educated to a MINIMUM of what is needed in a profession but have NOT developed the skills of investigating what they have been taught.\nAt the age of 6, I realised that religion is a lot of nonsense and totally illogical. Then I set out and did the worst thing I could have done. I started reading the bible from Genesis 1 :1 till the last page of Revelations.\nWell, it is one of the sickest, depraved, pshychoticically abusive books ever published by mankind.\nBeware christians, muslims and jews, if you have ANY morals, unlike your god, you too will become an atheist like hundreds of thousands of people that read these books and studied them\nSo please, continue in your ignorance, or shake the brainwashing that you have been processed with, and live a free and burdon free life.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Abuse of Catholic children in a Catholic school? Unusual.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "An entirely bogus spin job on Trump's vile rhetoric. Trump has implied that very thing on many occasions during his repulsive campaign, and he still does it today. During the former he conceded once that \"*some* are good people,\" [emphasis added]; he has been repeatedly stoking paranoid fear in the American populace ever since that refugees fleeing horrific violence include significant numbers of potential terrorists. Even though the fact is that they must undergo \"extreme vetting\" already -- a minimum two-year-long INS appraisal. There is *no evidence* in support of such paranoia, and of the *very few* though admittedly spectacular terrorist incidents in the US perpetrated not by far-right \"Christians\" and/or \"white nationalists\" but by \"Muslims,\" only a very small number of offenders were immigrant American.\n\nYour alternative facts aren't going to go over very well here.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No Thanks. I think we should just try the Anglicans instead. They seem genuinely more interested in re-uniting as long as we give up the women hating and LGBT hating rules of Catholicism. Much easier to accomplish and truly a far more Christian direction for Catholics to take.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Welcome to the real Alaska. Ruled by White male republicans Cheistian fanatics. Hey don't try to be inclusive for Christ sakes! Because you know have to maintain your thread of control. This is Alaska people. Half really progressive and the other half mired in religious guilt and xenephobia.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You are a poster child for why gay people flee the Roman Catholic Church. Congratulations. I'm sure that makes you happy - and I mean that seriously.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's increasing starting to feel like we need a list of orthodox parishes.\n\n\"[T]he Church needs to do a better job ministering to the QTBGL Catholic ... We are marginalized, unjustly discriminated against, and regularly face demeaning \u201corthophobia\u201d (irrational hate for, and fear of, right-thinking Christians) not only from fellow Catholics but even from secular society.\n\nThe level of orthophobia is getting worse, in fact. Within the Church, we are called \u201chaters\u201d and \u201cbigots\u201d simply for accepting and affirming what the Church actually teaches us about liturgy, justice, virtue, and, of course, the human person and sexuality (natural law). Outside the Church, orthophobes everywhere are trying to curtail our religious liberty, take away our conscience rights, and subject us to ridicule and hate simply because of who we really are.\"\n\n\u201cQTBGL\u201d stands for \u201cQuietly Totally Believing God\u2019s Law\u201d. \n\nhttp://www.crisismagazine.com/2017/orthophobia-marginalized-qtbgl-catholic", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Christianity is the religion of peace.\"\nExcept for those parts of the Bible where God commanded people to sack and destroy entire cities, rape and pillage, take slaves, kill children, and then wiped out the entire world in a flood. That's a religion of peace?\nWhen you considering that most of the people in America identify themselves as Christians, or at least profess a belief in God, that means a majority of killers are also Christians.\nI'll remain an atheist.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is yet another embarrassment to the Catholic Church is America. Bishops can't be bothered to remove sex priests that abuse children from ministry, but they obsess over providing insurance that would cover contraceptives that no one is required to use!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Parallels to Vegas, killing conservatives and now Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The abuse was so widespread, on a global scale. To claim ignorance is to lie. Like the pagans condemned in the Bible, the bishops and popes sacrificed children. They were not servants of Christ, but priests of Moloch.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If he'd shot santa would it have been christian terrorism? Or 'just' a mentally ill person? Just sayin'.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So what's A Real Conservative? Bible-thumping, gun lovin', woman-hating (unless they also dress in Real Tree and bake pies), semi-educated folks only?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Whether or not that is true (I can't find anything confirming it)Dear was a pretty big fan of people like Bill O'Rielly, Alex Jones and radical, religious right-wing personalities. He told a reporter that he is convinced Barack Obama is the literal anti-Christ. The man is a right-wing fanatic (and also crazy, no matter which party he formally registered with.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "THe subjugation of women in Islamic cultures is a subject feminists and LGBT females have steadfastly avoided. it is easier to blame conservatives and Christians from the strange things muslims do.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trump's election on support from racist and white supremacist feelings, especially among Catholics and Evangelicals is the primary evidence of how far we yet have to go.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Learn your history vis a vis the portugese before writing nonsense. Christians in the state of Kerala are about 50/50 latin (portugese influence) and syriac (non portugese). So saying that the community is largely the result of colonialism is very offensive.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Longenecker's ignorance about building a wall and the right for national security is breathtaking.\n\nHe quotes from the catechism - \"second duty is to secure one\u2019s border and enforce the law for the sake of the common good.\" (note - the catechism is not the final word.....this only reveals another *shallow* understanding of catholic social justice principles. Not every principle is equal.)\n\nSecurity of the border - he quotes from the 2013 USCCB document (which has been criticized for being too vague about immigrants' rights, etc. but at least he focuses on his two favorite:\n- increasing lawful entry (but he never mentions the pending immigration reform bill that goes back to Bush - why not?)\n - \"Surely a wall\u2013in and of itself\u2013is not necessarily racist, ugly and exclusive.\" Really?? Guess he has never visited Israel; has no historical sense of apartheid measures in South Africa; and given US and Canadian border history - why would a pastor say this. It is ugly and exclusive.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Check out some of the people who helped Trump get elected. National Policy Institute--OR--white supremacist \"evangelism\"--you make the call. Either way they're racist kooks. \nhttps://youtu.be/1o6-bi3jlxk", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, there must be compassion for pedophile priests, and in that respect, the Church has done a stellar job, compassionately protecting some of them for decades while they raped children, moving from parish to parish, even country to country. And you are completely correct, once a victim of clerical rape has become an adult, it is incumbent upon them to forgive the rapists, even if they do not ask forgiveness. And, naturally, the unrepentant Church that aided and abetted the rapists, and deified the pope who led the efforts to aid and abet the rapists, would be deserving of forgiveness, except that, as the One True Church, it never needs forgiveness.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "For the liberal Catholic fundamentalists (fundi-cats) who are always saying \"where did Jesus say it was ok to have any army, engage in warfare, have a free market, not abort children, etc.\"...let's ask the same question...what did Jesus say about the importance of feminism?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"I believe that the 2nd amendment is a God-given right\".. is that in the Bible somewhere? Is that before or after Thou Shall Not Kill? How do we know Trump really isn't Satan in disguise?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "but gary, let's be intellectually honest, just this once. It is NOT just \"bake a cake.\" it is a custom cake ordered. Had the LGBT simply bought a pre baked cake for sale and put whatever they wanted on it, we don't have a problem. Curious to note...why didn't the LGBT give their business to a baker that wasn't a Christian? This was IN YOUR FACE.\n Now, to address the issue you keep avoiding. Shoe.com called 15 bakers, and tried to place an order. They were not just denied service, their orders were denied in a hostile manner. Where's the prosecution, gary? Where are the heavy fines? This is a vulgar double standard that is political and has nothing to do with equal justice under the law as puked about this in your face BS targeting Christians.\n and of course you do into denial when insulting Christians like my grandma as I am now expecting such intellectual bankruptcy from your hypocrisy,", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly. It is downright *hilarious* that the Reporter and MSW - both whose dissent and disgust against official Church teaching has been widely documented - have accused someone else of not being \"authentically Catholic.\"\n\nOf all writers in \"Catholic\" media who call themselves \"Catholic,\" MSW is surely the most mean-spirited, vulgar, divisive, and dissenting voice of all. He is truly a disgrace.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Gary, I appreciate your efforts for Ms. Shurtz. I'm sure you are a humanitarian. How much forgiveness does she need? She had 300 years of history to learn from. Black folks have given white folks 300 years to show us what they learned from Jesus. Trump is the result. Exactly how much patience and forgiveness do white people need from minorities in general and black folks in particular? It is not like Africans stole white people from Europe to rape and make us rich, like white folks did to us. Heck, the country still benefits from that history. The Ivy League was financed by the slave trade, for example. Today, I'll settle for equal protection under the law. Our criminal justice system has failed to deliver that. What ever Ms Shurtz is teaching has failed to produce that out come. What exactly makes her competent? She needs to successfully complete diversity training and have a comment put in her personnel file. If that happens, she can keep her job and her PERS.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The writer is a shill for the pedo homo Anti-Christ we came to America in express covenant with God to escape; now terminally threatened as the Spirit of God unites anti-pedo anti-homo anti-papist Russia and America, they've long attempted to divide and conquer.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Promiscuity harms everyone. AIDS comes from promiscuity, not homosexuality per se. People acting out their natural sexuality appropriately harm no one but the reputational authority of those who care more about their doctrinal consistency than gays and lesbians, who often lose heart on religion because of such bigotry. (A correct term, because it is scorn ignorant of knowledge).\n\nPederasty is the most sinful thing because it is a form of rape. It is mentioned in the Bible. Do you really think that when Jesus said any who lead one of these little ones astray, he was talking orthodoxy? It did not exist. Pederasty did.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Your premise is in error --\nYou cannot act \"any way you want\" in a public business -\nShould you be able to post signs saying \"Whites only\"?\", or to fire people who date interracially? How about banning gay or inter-racial couples holding hands in your restaurant? Public really does mean open access!!. Otherwise, you need to make your place a private members-only business that serves or employs members only.\nSort of like a Klu Klux Klan flower shop, or a Straight Christian vegan restaurant.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Marie for standing up for all of us. I believe that more Catholics need to stand up and say enough is enough. We need to stop supporting Diocese with Bishops that are uncaring, bullying, and not following Christ. I am tired of hearing homilies on how we are to be more like Christ, yet there are priests, and bishops that are not practicing what they preach. As Bishop Fulton Sheen said \"It is time the laity take back their church\". It has always surprised me that the hierarchy of the church continues to think that they don't need us. Where would the church be without its sheep and the sheep's money? I say to all, stop supporting bad bishops and take back your church. We also know if the church did get rid of all the bad bishops, there would not be many left. I do have to say not all priests and bishops are bad, it is time to weed Christ's garden.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"I know of homosexual priests who live chastely. They recognize that they have a disorder, and they succeed in working around it ... Such priests deserve our respect.\n\nOn the other hand, there are homosexual priests who are \"gays\"\u2014they have chosen to live the homosexual lifestyle. It is from the ranks of these priests that most (not all, admittedly) of the abuse cases have arisen. The priestly scandal has not been so much about priests abusing children as about homosexual priests acting out their homosexuality with teenagers and young adults ..... \n\nIf the priesthood in this country were healthy, little or no harm would come from ordaining chaste homosexuals whose homosexuality is kept private. But we do not live in ordinary times. We live with a priesthood that has been damaged by \"gay\" homosexuality. Until the damage is repaired, we should operate conservatively.\"\n\nhttp://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/the-gay-priest-solution", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You seem to have figured out exactly what he meant. That is, after all, his ongoing message. The good news is that the more he yammers on about how terrible Catholics are, the more he is ignored.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Enemy at the gates. The beginning of the next Muslim war against Christianity. Islam in America is the final Hijra. The Q'uran speaks of 3 great \"migrations\", hijra (hish'ruh in Arabic). Islam in America is the 3rd and final migration. There are NO refugees. Only a vanguard of the Muslim hordes bent on invading, conquering, and turning America into a sha'riah dominated society. We must never forget it was the illegal alien and Muslim King Obama who, like the traitorous Spartan at Thermopylae, opened America's gates to those sworn to wipe her from the face of the earth and make rivers of blood of her citizens. Obama was never for America's good. He said so. His fundamental transformation was more men in girl's bathrooms. It was about turning Christian America into a Muslim country.\n\nhttp://www.onepeterfive.com/the-final-hijra-a-warning-on-the-refugee-crisis/", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "2000 years of Holly Wars is not hard to look up. For that matter you can bet the Enola Gay was on her mission with a Christian prayer. Native tribes 'converted'. Protestant/ Catholic wars. How much more do you need?\n\nI'm not justifying Muslim violence at all, it's horrific. But Christians don't have the right to be self-righteous looking at a longer history of each religion. \n\nYou can preach a ton of violence, rape, mysogeny, racism, all found 'endorsed' by various Christian sects if you look.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Aren't \"Latino whites\" overwhelmingly Catholic? That's the agenda with illegal immigration, to expand the territory because they've overpopulated Latin America - and because previous rounds of Catholic immigration want to validate themselves with more of the same. They are seeking to take advantage of the declining fertility rates in the US (the declining fertility rates in the US that are below 1.0 are though to be just a developmental stage).\n\nThe \"Latin\" in \"Latino\" actually refers to the language of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That's what I meant. Thanks for pointing out the danger of a rhetorical question. There should be no problem with a \"repentant sinner\", or even \"sinner\" (aren't we all). It is really the context, circumstances and motive - as well as the advertised legitimization of qualification. \nIf she were a real Catholic she would have refused to serve. As SNL so beautifully and accurately pegged Trump's daughter - COMPLICIT. \nAs complicit she is the carrier of the trash bag of - motive, circumstance, context and source.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Is he weak, insincere, a closet trad, or is he really what we had hoped? An alternative view. Reflecting on the 'trumpine' links with Russia, I could not help but point to Trump's braggadocio about being the consummate \"deal maker\". Intrinsic to this type is \"quid pro quo\", right? An equivalence of power that - e.g., \"US\" back off Ukraine; \"I\" get business preferentials in Russia? If fits precisely with the \"best deal maker ever\". Relevance?\n\"Curial types\" obviously do not operate on the \"Jesus principle\". Aletrnative? Pope Francis does not have an organized leverage sufficient to exact a \"quid pro quo\" with the curia and \"curial\" types. It seems that he would have to become \"them\" to get reforms done. We deceive ourselves to think the Pope is \"supreme authority\" - in action.\nUntil Francis accepts that it is the \"institution\" that is in schism and risk it all, the status quo goes on. \nThen who would follow? How would it fold out? No grand design. White Catholics as in the US?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Only if we can dismiss the word; heresy, and while at it all the other labeling. That would include calling gay Catholics 'objectively disordered', calling contraception an 'intrinsic evil' and so forth. If so, that might be a positive.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't CC (Catholic Church) to convert people to follow Christ teaching and stop raping children? Here CC is raping children too then why bother having CC? They clearly do not follow Christ teaching! If CC do not follow Christ teaching, they are obsolete religious organization! \nWe can suffer with other organization monsters without adding CC\u2019s monsters needlessly too!\nIs clergy rape of children truth only CC can points to us, is that because only CC can provide clergy to rape children? \n You clearly need some professional help, don\u2019t you?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I don't see how the Liberals are being anti-Christian here. They are being anti-social conservative. They would be against the same anti-choice, homo/transphobic views if espoused by a Jew, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, those schools have been taken to court by teachers and other WHO WERE FIRED for no other reason than they got married. The CCC you traditionalists love so much says that homosexuals should not suffer \"unjust discrimination\", a statement honored more in the breech than in the observance.\n\nJohn,\n\nHomosexuals should not suffer \"unjust discrimination\". I agree, but isn't the employee who does not agree with Jesus' teachings on marriage discriminating against the Catholic School/Church by forcing them to go against their own Mission. (In other words, teach that Jesus said, \"You have heard from the beginning that a man shall leave his mother and father and cling to his wife and the two shall become one..........\" and then condoning the actions of teachers in a same sex marriage. I believe when an employee of a Christian / Catholic School, University / Organization / Institute, etc. does not agree with its teachings/Mission, they should not take them to court because of their beliefs.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, there are no other choices but speaking up, since worshiping God and raping children, doing dev!l\u2019s work, can\u2019t co-exist! \n\n\"No one can serve two masters;\u201d Therefore, RCI (Roman Catholic Institution) is serving \u2018dev!l\u2019 in allowing clergy rape of children!!! \n \nHow on earth Pope F. does not know that Christ is the answer to all the problems on earth, big and small? In God all is perfect already. It is not matter what cleaver idea one could come up with or not. It is how one(we) abandon our endless automatic chatter of unconscious living to enter into inner silence where God dwells. \n\"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.\" (John 4:24) \nSeminary needs to teach the contemplative prayer path. Anyone who is serious about God, sooner or later enter into the contemplative path!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"If paedophilia is an incurable illness, then demanding punishment at all cost is ... well, not exactly merciful. Or is this the way to heal the patients in our mental institutions? I guess the \"Year of Mercy\" did not have much of an impact ... after all.\"\n\nHere we have another conservative Catholic who would like to see no punishment for pedophile priests and enabling Bishops.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The USCCB needs to come out with a very strong statement very, very soon, which unequivocally makes it clear that anyone who harbors racist feelings, considers him- or herself a white supremacist, or feels the need to continue to support the present wreck called Trump Administration, can no longer be and is no longer a Catholic. If they fail to do so, then Pope Francis needs to do that for them by means of an Encyclical, in American English, addressed to American Catholics first (pun intended), and Catholics worldwide, using the same title, and issuing very similar warnings, as the famous Encyclical of Pius XI. in 1937, which was published in German: \"Mit Brennender Sorge\". Its American equivalent will need to be \"With Grave Concern\" (San Diego's brilliant bishop can draft it). The trouble is, not a few US bishops wanted Trump in office - for reasons well known, but this basest of abominations is what they got. Shame on them! So much for their moral leadership and authority.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I suppose it's none of my business, but I think you might've misunderstood GayFordhamPrepGrad's now-deleted comment. I think he was jesting that no Catholic should be surprised by hypocrisy in the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The hot bed of evangelical Christianity in Canada is on the Prairies, not in the East. There are a lot of devote Catholics in the Territories. Yes, there are some antiquated rules in Atlantic Canada but the real zealotry is in Alberta, IMHO.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you have the Church involved in the death of 800,000 people on top of world wide child rape and cover ups, plus the usual Vatican banking scandal and intrigue. And you wonder why people no longer buy what the Church is selling? Why they leave for other faiths or no faith at all? Why would anyone trust the Church when despite its teaching and the charity work, it has shown it is all about itself and the collection plate?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you think it is 'civil' or even Christian to accuse someone of lacking the essence of what being a true believer in Christ is all about? It sounds rather Pharisaical to me. Who are you to judge?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They could complain about the calendar which is based on the death of Christ. AD OR BC.\nThe present calendar used in Canada is a Catholic calendar called Gregory named after the Pope.\nPrevious calendar was Julian. Islam has their own calendar which is based on their prophet.\nMuslim world it is 800 AD after the death of their prophet. \nThousands of Irish were killed by the English for using the Catholic calendar. The English considered the use of the calendar to be not loyal to England and a traitor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cue the raging bigots that think it is acceptable to condemn 1/4 of the earth's population based on the actions of a small small minority. Considering most domestic terrorist acts are committed by far right ideologues can we put some of these posters on an island just to be safe? \nDoes it make us all hypocrites that we sell weapons to the biggest exporters of terrorism (Saudi Arabia)?\nDo our actions of always vilifying an entire culture (religion) perhaps have as a consequence hostility towards us? As an example look how the far right reacts when their intelligence is routinely questioned (hostile). Or, how they foam at the mouth and would love to lock up left wingers. The same thing the USA endorsed throughout the globe while arming pro-right fascists to murder people on the left (Greece, South America, Asia). \nWhy are those on the far right always so anti-Christian? Just like the far right ISIS and them being anti-Islam....... Merry Christmas and peace to all. :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It actually does matter. You guys go on and on about an onslaught of Islamic terrorism, yet for some reason, Europe in particular has had times like this before and it wasn't just Islamic terrorism. In the 70s and 80s many of those terrorists were Christian groups like the IRA. Yes, what is going on today is bad, but the reality is that this seems to be a cyclical problem in Europe and the sky is falling panic that some seem to be pushing is just silly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And yet, the Mormon and Catholic youth you mention don't seem predisposed to strapping on a body bomb or driving a vehicle into a crowd of innocents? You can figure out the difference can't you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read the news\u2014sexual crimes are not reported for years for many reasons including the fear of an assailant with authority, age and community standing, the shame, and pressure from others to \u201cforget it\u201d. Look at how long it took men to report sexual assaults by Catholic priests when they were boys, or the boys raped by Jerry Sandusky the Penn State Coach, or all the women who were assaulted by Bill Crosby, and Harvey Weinstein\u2014 and many more. The courage to report after trying to forget and hid from sexual assault comes as others report and bring back the memory and provide the courage to come forward\u2014 as this is happening now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are lucky that Canada is geographically situated above predominantly Roman Catholic Spanish speaking populations and not Religous Ideological Muslim populations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The current bishop of Manchester, NH evidently hasn't read Francis' comments, or if he has, rejects them. Yesterday he was reported in the Union Leader newspaper coming out against any RC parish being a sanctuary church. So far only one parish designated itself as one, and not diocesan clergy. The bishop came out strongly referring to illegals, contrary to what Francis says in this article. Immigrants anywhere are desperate people. If people can survive at home, they'd stay. He claims sanctuary is \"false hope.\" What is Paul's \"hoping against hope,\" then? He is oblivious, ignorant that sanctuary has had a long tradition of over a 1,000 years in Christian tradition. Ironically, he comes down strongly on the law while clerics, even Francis, are still dragging their feet on turning over pedophile priests to civil authorities. Priests are still protected species but not immigrants. If a parish declares itself a sanctuary will he become a law enforcement agent and remove parishioners?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More stuff and nonsense. \n\nJust as clarification for anyone who might actually read what nic posts, I used the example of the Irish Catholic children because I am familiar with the events. I, for one, do not usually talk about things I know nothing about.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So very Christian of you. Obviously you feel that it was ok to nail Jesus to the cross? Sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because it is an antiquated concept and it is time we move past it....no one is denying they did or do not exist....... The question we should ask is, would a Jewish person let me be buried in their cemetery, would a Catholic, or would the Muslim......if anyone of them answer NO.....they should be banned from having the cemetery.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The thesis of your original comment is quite absurd. You needn't worry if non-Catholics make the cut. It's not up to you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry - it is not discrimination to ask to be served in a store open to the public. As someone else said - if you don't want to deal with the public, don't go into business serving the public. I am really tired of the far right \"christians\" trying to take over the representation of Christianity - their version is perverse and the antithesis of what Jesus taught. I hope real Christians (the ones who actually practice what Jesus preached) step up and reclaim the mantle of Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With Martin Luther King praying for the voters! With the monks of the desert, praying for the world and saving it with your prayers. The Christian foolishness that saves the world. God bless you Melissa Nussbaum for this thoughtful essay.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you saying that a Catholic can believe everything if he wants to or nothing if he wants to or anything in between and still call himself a Catholic?\nIn other words, every member of the human race is a Catholic even if they are unaware of it?\nIn order to call themselves Catholics, converts have to solemnly declare that they assent to everything the Catholic Church teaches. Does this requirement not apply to cradle Catholics; converts may not hold \"differing opinions\" whilst cradle Catholics are free to hold \"differing opinions?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good for them (i.e. Polish women). The current Polish gov't is scary. \n\nAnd Pope Francis is the first Catholic priest, including some very conservative ones who didn't believe in gender equality, to go on and on about \"gender theory.\" This only seems to be an obsession with priests on the very far right who think that women wearing pants are sinning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Okay. So why IS the a strong candidate? He's white. He's male. Probably \"christian\". You're right--a shoo-in!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have a couple of (DISTANT!) relations involved with groups like \"Culture Guard\". Under the guise of being \"Christians\", they are among the most uneducated, bigoted, arrogant, willfully ignorant and meanest people I have ever met. They also don't believe in evolution or climate change. One of them told our son that he would go to Hell unless he got \"saved by Jesus\". Our son was 15 when this happened; he's a pretty bright spark and quipped back that at least it would be better than spending eternity with your kind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many of the values the Liberals are critical of in Scheer are also Muslim family values. Will Catholics be made to bear responsibility for all social conservatives of Canada, or will the Liberals name Muslims too for holding the same unacceptable attitudes as Catholics. No, certainly not. That would be considered \nintolerant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Mrs.Aziz. Point taken.\nNow would you care to comment on the deadly attacks on Christians by Muslims in Egypt today?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am afraid the cardinal is intrinsically unable, as his bible is The Book of Canon Law, not the Gospel. His is a severe case of nomophilia. Utterly incurable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Newt - Good Christians don't wager bets.\n\nAnother \"educator\" exposes his cognitive dissonance. The reigning world champion is garycrum.\n\nBTW, the \"8th century Hebrew prophets\" were 8th century B.C.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Europe, and the rest of Christian-majority nations are enemies of Turkey. \n\nOld habits die hard (true for Christians).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can't blame just the Christians, \n\n The Jews have their anti-homosexual passage right next to their Ten Commandments. Right next to their pro-slavery and anti-witch passages. And the Muslims followed their lead on that.\n\nMillions of people now living disagree with homosexuality and they aren't all \"angry conservative \"Christian\" right\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The KKK was founded by the Democrats as a terrorist organization to resist the victorious Republican Party which had been founded as an anti slavery party and which had fought and won the Civil war to free the slaves under the leadership of that great Republican President Lincoln.\n\nThe modern day KKK is a white suprematist organisation that is anti Jewish, anti Catholic ( in fact every Christian denomination has been condemned) neoconfederate organization that has shrivelled and become a figure of ridicule...it has become a political ' donkey's tail' that is pinned on the backs of one's innocent political opponents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You identify with Empiricism. \n\nCanadians are Buddhists, Atheists, Fundamentalist Christians, Hindus, Muslims, followers of Eckhart Tole, and on and on and on. There are so many different way of living our lives.\n\nI believe it to be wrong to judge each other as \"wrong\" if we think differently than each other and it's disturbing to think that anyone would expect our leaders to think or feel as we do. That's too much to expect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes it's a problem with the religion but you don't know that because you don't study the faith. Instead you offer the same religious relativist goobledygook that every other theologically clueless secular liberal dishes up on cue like Pavlov's dogs every time another Islamic terrorist attack happens. \n\nYes, there IS a difference between loud-mouthed Evangelicals and bomb-bearing Muslims. I shouldn't have to tell that and they are NOT comparable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"\u2026 there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.\u201d (Luke 15:7) \nIn the same spirit, the heaven will rejoice over one of us show love and concerns for one suffering clergy sex abused child then defending the Catholic Institution.\n \nThe most chilling aspect in this whole of clergy sexual abuse of children scandals is how all of CI (Catholic Institutions) clergies ignored the sex abused children and their family\u2019s suffering.\nWhat moves human and other creatures on earth the most are love and beauty. I would say love is the beauty. In that respect, the whole of CI clergies are the most ugly &miserable unloving group of people on earth!\n\n\u201cBy this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.\u201d (John 13:35) \nAre CI clergies Jesus's disciples or Dev!l's?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ah yes, when your only contributions are negative and that is pointed out, you then resort to a ad hominem. Guess what, I've dealt with cynical, negative folks like you all my life - you fill catholic parishes and the corporate world. So, you live in LA - and yet, you appear to be insensitive to Mark's pastoral. You might want to spend your time in LA with the IAF organization, One LA. Look it up. Carping - exact and good description of most of your posts - thank you. Addled is when you comment on something you have not completely read or understood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do not hold Islam responsible for ISIS. ISIS uses Islam, cherry picking its texts just the Inquisition and White Supremicists and the Serbian Christians and the KKK and the Waco cultists and Jim Jones and Pat Robertson and the Israeli settlers cherry pick the Judeo Christian holy texts..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems clear that most on here don't want exclusive cemeteries. It's time to put an end to Catholic, Protestant and Jewish only cemeteries. It just leads to anger and hatred of these groups and clearly it is their own fault. Which one of these should we start with?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"They have every right to set up separate schools if they wish, but not to demand that they get funding from the public purse. As it stands, taxpayers at large end up paying the freight. That\u2019s unfair. It\u2019s also discriminatory. Why should government help Catholic schools, but not Jewish schools or Islamic schools?\"\n\nDid the Jews, Zoroastrians and Muslims found the country and write the Constitution? And isn't the point of the separate school board to have the mixing up of religious and secular students that the author so desires? The current school market shows there is still high demand for the Catholic school model despite the dropping proportion of Catholic denizens.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" ..., Iran is still the biggest sponsor of Islamic terrorism world wide.\"\n.\nSimply factually wrong.\n.\nIt isn't Iran that is exporting Sharia.\nIt isn't Iran that is exporting Wahhabism.\nIt wasn't Iran that was the cradle of Al-Queda, or of IS/ISIL/Daesh.\nIt isn't Iran that prevented democratic government from being established in Libya.\nIt wasn't Iran that was behind the counter-revolution in Egypt.\nIt wasn't Iran that crushed popular democratic protest in Bahrain.\nIt isn't Iran that is bombing a popular uprising for self-determiation in Yemen.\nIt isn't Iran that is funding Madrassas and intolerance, esp. in Pakistan.\n.\nSaudi Arabia is, by far, the biggest funder and exporter of extremist religious instability.\n.\n(True, white American evangelical Christians are probably better funded, but they tend to do most of their worst damage at home: see Election of Trump, Donald; election of Bush, George W.\n.\nBy contrast, Saudi Arabia is a big exporter of trouble.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a perversion of Christianity to say it is un-Christian to kill those who kill innocents in the name of ISIS. Go buy a sword, Christ told his apostles. Christ un-Christian? I think not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm reminded of the Christian churches - and it was NOT all of them by any means - that flocked to support Hitler and became fervent Nazis. They thought Hitler was an instrument of God, and we're hearing the same sort of blasphemous nonsense from Trump supporters! It's very sad to see certain churches and certain alleged Christians rallying to a President who says that white supremacists and Nazis are \"fine people,\" that Mexicans are rapists and muggers,who demonizes Muslims for political gain, and who attacks the poor repeatedly. Jesus asked the hypocrites 'why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you?\" It's a question we should all be asking of those who support what is an undeniably anti-Christian White House agenda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some people have no sense of humour.\n.\nYour original post criticized renaming a \"Christmas tree\" a \"holiday tree\". \n.\nYour comment was completely off topic. It had nothing to do with Trump's disgraceful treatment of the Press, or of his inability to be a good sport.\n.\nFurthermore, you chose to harp on a point that cannot possibly have been important to anyone but yourself: That (allegedly?) President Obama changed the name of a Christmas tree.\n.\nNonetheless, using your non sequitur post as a starting point, I pointed out, in what I thought was a tolerably humorous manner that, in fact, Christmas trees did not start with Christians, and that the original change in terminology centuries ago in fact represented a similar change in societal sensibilities, and that, in effect, your post was both hypocritical and shallow.\n.\nYou seem not to appreciate either historical commentary ridiculing your position, nor humour.\n.\nNo worries, though. Lots of other readers seem to have got the joke.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...the proposed Catholic curriculum which suggests that gay people are going to burn for all eternity in a lake of fire....\"\n\nThat is an outright LIE.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "my2cents: unbelievers are \"sticking their noses into other peoples business\"? Its not the unbelievers who are hell-bent on missions and churches, its the christians. And christians sure want to poke into my bedroom and my bathroom.\n\nI'm an atheist and only get PO'd when silly, destructive, irrational, and evidence-free beliefs get in the way of good deeds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tens of thousands of Americans have lost their sons and daughters to war, all heroic. Why do the Khans get special and national exposure at the DNC? Because they're Muslim. It's PC BS pure and simple. What I saw on stage was a misogynyst who forces his wife to cover herself from head to toe, won't allow her to speak, and then preaches the US Constitution to others. And the libwingers had nothing to say about it.\n\nAnd if, as Khan says, Islam has nothing to do with ISIL, then anything Trump says or does about Islam will never drive a good young male Muslim to ISIL. Muslims just don't do that. [wink]\n\nLiberals potty mouth Christians 24/7 and I never see any young male Christians beheading Muslims or Arabs. Do you?\n\nBTW, Obama pulled this same baloney with muslim Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl, allowing his Muslim father to speak in Arabic to the entire nation from the Rose Garden. I don't recall any Christian parents of soldiers getting that same special treatment. Do you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For someone like yourself who makes your religion up on the hoof, of course for the Church to be fallible is in your interest.\nChrist said to His apostles, \"He who hears you, hears me.\" Luke 10:16. The bishops are the successors of the apostles so logically he who hears them hears Christ.\nWhat is illogical is to claim to be a Catholic yet deny and reject what the Catholic Church teaches. You are only concerned about the Church insofar as it doesn't teach what you personally believe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Crimes against Christians are at a all time high in the world. Egypt (coptics), Iraq all Christians expelled, Pakistan and Turkey which denies the Armenian Genocide.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not the one who made the claim...You did. And just FYI, there is no way to determine how many Christians have NOT done something, it is a logical fallacy:\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proving_a_negative\n\nProving a negative or negative proof may refer to: Proving a negative, in the philosophic burden of proof. Evidence of absence in general, such as evidence that there is no milk in a certain bowl. ... Sometimes it is mistaken for an argument from ignorance, which is non-proof and a logical fallacy.\n\nYou really need to be aware of posting such nonsense that is so easily debunked.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "SD - how many Muslims have been beheaded by Christians in the last decade?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RELIGIONS AND... MUSEUMS\nIt is obvious to any well-educated, contemporary person, that all religions are nothing more than ancient and misleading mythologies, unreliable beliefs and\u2026 deceptive \u201cmiracles.\u201d Thus, by objectively, scientifically and\u2026 logically examining the cultural value of religious symbols \u2013 whether these are Christian crucifixes, Muslim niqabs / burkas, Sikh turbans etc. \u2013 we become aware that these symbols belong strictly to historical museums, and do not merit exhibition\u2026 under the noses of civilized humans. Thank you. A. C.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians don't do this sort of thing. Although, by and large, it was Christians that fought and defeated Fascism in Germany, Italy and Japan. Christians are taught to love ones enemies and at the same time \"do unto others\" as well as 'resist evil' Turning our heads or closing our eyes to unimaginable evil was not an option in the 1940's. Destroying evil is actually \"showing love\" to ones enemy as well as \"your neighbor\". The young thugs, most of them being young males, are not Christians nor are they even conservative. Their 'actions' betray their identities. They were members of INFATA or other radical left wing activists dressed up as Nazi's or KKK. That is my firm belief. Their violence in Charlottesville perfectly mirrors the violence we've all seen in the past from these leftist agitators. That is a good word too.' Agitate' is exactly what they did. And its all they did. They had hoped to paint Trump supporters as slimy Fascist and they failed miserably.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe \"kooks\" is a bastardization of \"Kukes\" as in Ku Klux Klan, the notorious right-wing Christian terrorist organization.\"\n\nI submit...\n\n\"Ku Klew Katchew\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Odd, isn't it, that christianity has become such an intellectual exercise requiring lengthy study? If we devote the time necessary to ponder the theories of theologians over the past 2000 years or so, when will we ever have time to do the things Jesus told us to do? Was it Jung who thought theology is an attempt to rationally argue one's way into a belief one does not have? Maybe, instead of asking us to spend more time studying, we should ask theologians to spend more time feeding the hungry, caring for the poor, etc? Crawl out of academia and do something useful in the real world?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you \"don't see attacks on Christians and Jews\", then you're either blind or not looking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is that why only one British muslim in three would report a terrorist plot?*\nI'm surprised that your post containing a Christian blasphemous swearword was deemed \"civil\".\n\n*ICM Unlimited. 2015. Survey for the documentary \"What British Muslims Really Think\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think my reply was appropriate. You said, \"Take a bit of time Gary and look at the sheer number of Muslims who while not part of the violence do in fact support it and then with an open mind look at Christians and what minuscule percent support violence. You really want to again make the comparison?\" And I replied with an example of a phony war in which a half million children, women, and old men were killed by the US, which is a majority Christian nation.\n\nI have the truth on my side. Muslims are no worse than Christians, we are all the same. But we have a free nation, while Muslims are fighting for freedom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You should be interested in them. Your Pope is. Vatican II rooted out abuses in practice, like the Index and the belief that being Catholic was a requirement for salvation and especially that the Church had to be the dominant moral force in secular society or imposed on everyone where it is the majority. No wonder St. John Paul hated it so much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They're all lies. The only superiority in Christianity lies in the fact that most people who profess to be Christians don't really believe it, and most American have enough sense to keep fundamentalists from completely taking over the reins of gubmit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a way for the evangelical Christian extremists who worship the Bible to pretend to be martyrs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those are the shameful news. No one noticed, not even the Vatican?\n\nI would like to ask: is the North American \"Church\" still Catholic, or a cocktail of Evangelism, Mormonism, and... (add yourself the cherry)???!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"true equality could also be no religious holidays. Having only one group's holiday is the Orwellian principle of some people being more equal than others.\"\n\nIt isn't Orwellian to expect that the society that has existed here for centuries should be ready to pull out its roots because these are Christian, to accommodate a small number of new arrivals who object to the culture that is already established here? Our holidays reflect our history and culture. Why such resentment of the established culture you have chosen to come to? \n\n I suggested at my workplace that instead of 10 days holiday at Xmas for everyone, everyone should have 10 days to take as they wish. The most horrified response I got was from a secular Jew who liked everyone being off at the same time, rather than sectarian holidays by religion...\n\nI believe now that is correct, shared common secular holidays like Xmas are enjoyed by everyone but a small but vocal group of the intolerant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Are you a Christian?\"\n\nLOL. Trump's about as Christian as Jerry Prevo.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do Christians not believe in the Old Testament? Or only when it suits your needs?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Essentially he was a no show, if compared to how other presidents had participated. And I believe that at one of the prayer breakfasts he insulted Christians, did he not? Can you do better than that example? Something in the Denver Post, for example.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some very valid points around the hypocrisy. However Scheer is clearly a confused Catholic where his beliefs are antithetical to Jesus to begin with. \nContempt for the poor as an undeserving class - strike\nWill further enrich the already filthy rich - strike\nWillingness to engage in war where Jesus was a pacifist - strike\nDisdain for the environment where Jesus believed in Pantheism - strike\nJesus stated to never take oaths and never go to court.... Scheer is no Christian just a typical confused Conservative. \n\nHe would have blindly followed the evil Pope Innocent III and ignored Francis of Assisi.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously they're both wrong. What's the logic in that? Christians don't condone beating women and neither do most muslims, but burqa wearing cultures have absolutely no regards for women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're sure it's okay with you if I believe as I wish? Frankly, I doubt that. \n\".. forcing Christian businesses in this country to violate their consciences\" Well as long as you bring it up, I do think it's good for society to make laws requiring equal rights and equal treatment; you Christians act as though you are some elite, protected class who shouldn't have to rub shoulders with the rest of us. It's sausage making, and yes it's messy, but the goal is there whether you like it or not. \nI am well aware of the plight of some Christians in the Mid-East, that's not news. Muslim agenda? You don't sound Christian to me...\n\"They want to impose Sharia law here, which fortunately has been struck down.\" LOL. I must have missed that vote! An extremely small percentage of the 1.6 BILLION Muslims in the world want that-you call them Muzzies, that's very nice and very Christian of you. Please tell us what you read, Sarah? Muzzies? You said that. But Christians need extra protection, right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only risk is to live a lie with all of its consequences following someone else's guidelines. No intelligent being believes some human-created invisible entity controls all of the universe. Everything attributed to the one god theory contains the same characteristics found in humans; therefore a creation of the humans. All of the rest of the tales come from past humans existing on the same planet and selectively adopted by the subsequent religious creations, i.e., christianity, islam, et. al. with additional tales created by the following adherents to continue to build on the original lies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I just don't see how he can possibly have the support of Evangelicals. He is so un-Christ-like.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. Or either naive about sexism. A lot of women are, especially from strict patriarchal Christian and Islamic families, who don't even know they are being subjugated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I did not think that Trump could sink any lower than his lascivious assertion that a woman's genitals were available to his self-pleasuring, just because he was who he was. \nTo me he has now demonstrated that he is not worth the rock he has crawled out from.\nJust read that he has claimed that the murder of six Muslim brothers and sisters and the serious wounding of twelve more in St.Foy, Quebec - my country - by a home-grown, \"white\", likely baptized Christian, legitimizes his ban on Muslim entry into the United States. \nWHAT A REPULSIVE, DESPICABLE, PERVERTED, DEMENTED thought, let alone statement.\nThe White House will require disinfecting when he is repulsed and evicted.\nWhere is the United States of dignity and sign - if not reality - of justice and truth?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pretty much all religions repress women. One great way to do so is to force them into procreation...by lack of access to birth control. The Handmaids Tale recognized that thought. Many liberals misguidedly are shying away from criticizing any religion, even though the behaviours and values shown are repressive. Values that include the repression and covering of women, forced marriage, no access to birth control or abortion and yet exclude them from the religious hierarchy. Yes treat people well and how you would like to be treated, but do not adapt our secular society to the misconstrued and misogynous values of antiquated religious doctrine practiced by Catholicism, Islam and such.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The whole idea that the hierarchy and clergy who are the perpetrators of this evil pedophile scandal are going too bring about reform is absurd..They can be counted on to use obfuscation and denial. Do they really think that the laity would trust them with children and the vulnerable ever again? The incredible answer is that they probably do!\nTheir actions have called into question the very legitimacy of the church itself. The age of the clergy is slowly drawing to an end. The structure cannot stand. While none of us will live to see it, the future of Catholic Christianity will be one without the clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is de Souza kidding? The fifth floor of the USCCB is a great place to look. The whole Religious Freedom effort is really about religious power. The panel of Catholic Bishops and Priests who fell into Valerie Jarrett\u2019s trap and testified about contraception mandates, thus spawning the temr War on Women. The opposition to the Affordable Care Act and the acts of retaliation against Catholic Health when they helped it get passed. Priests should not lie like that, from de Souza to the bishops. I did not know that the Civitas authors were so close to the Holy Father. Now I get the anger. It is mostly fear and it is justified. They should consider themselves warned.\n\nSadly, on abortion, the left talks about pluralism when it should be educating Roe about the 14th Amendment, why part IX of the decision makes sense and what can and can\u2019t be done as a result and especially why pro-life Democrats are playing with the devil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You think Jesus would bake the cake & put his stamp of approval on the false ceremony? Doubtful! He would most likely convince the 'couple' to repent, pray to God for the strength to at least attempt to live righteously. Nobody is \"afraid of a cake\", but being forced to be a hypocrite by accepting $ in exchange for a symbolic stamp of approval on a ceremony that God considers an abomination is a very scary concer for a devout Christian. Scripture is very clear about God's view of homosexuality. \nI personally would not want someone making a cake or providing me any services for my wedding if for any reason those service providers had issues with doing so. \nIf you are going to force me to cater your wedding against my will, do you really want to eat the food - lol good luck with that", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Less than a year ago, I brought my middle school aged child to an open house at a nearby private Catholic school. My goal wasn't to force him to go to the school, but rather to expose him to choices he has in pursuit of his own education. I reached out to the school well before the open house asking that they make sure there was some diversity present in either the presenters or the interested students. There was none. My request was not borne out of some misguided pc kumbaya notion. My brown skinned Asian son's spontaneous reaction: I'm not going here, Dad. There're only white people, nobody looks like me...just like the student in the article said. With that, we left and have never gone back. To be very clear, many white people do possess an appreciation of what it must be like to look different from everyone else - I'd like to think I'm one of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right now it would seem that the U.S. president has bigger fish to fry than Syria, which is best left to the Russians, who have a naval base there and aren't going to leave anytime soon. Their view is that replacing Assad with something worse would be unhelpful, certainly to the minorities such as the Christians and Alawites. The U.S. had its chance under Obama and flunked. It's not Mr. Trump's problem to solve, and certainly not Canada's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not true, Jerusalem was Jewish 2000 year before it was seized in bloody massacre by Islam's genocide armies. . The entire middle east had been Roman and then Christian 500 years before Muhammad married his 6-year-old bride. It was Islam and Mohammed who invaded and destroyed centuries of western culture. Constantinople, Syria, and Jordan were all Christian and the Crusades were failed attempts to take back what was rightfully western from the forces of bloody conquest and death.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most of our terrorists are homegrown, the powers that be just refuse to call as such. I worry more about armed to the teeth white, \"American\", \"Christian \" terrorists than I ever have anyone from another culture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Save the Republic???? People who constantly have betrayed it by allowing concessions to religion in a system where it is the republican duty of the individual to keep religion out of public life???? Yes Le Pen's father relied on the standard French right: catholic and monarchist.... a nutty 5% of the electorate.\n\nMarine wants to save the republic while the others want to destroy it through insane immigration policies.\n\nIt is not an issue of left versus right. It is an issue of nationalists versus globalists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are missing the point. That person I used to admire, approved of the behavior of that cop because the child was black. That is the real world Ebes64! A white woman in my community that probably thinks she is a decent, Christian woman; tried to excuse police brutality against a child because the child was BLACK!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really this paper cares, ok what about muslim countries, why are they even called that its racist, especially since almost all of them are in the high 90 percentile of being muslim in those countries, when they didn't start out that way, coptic christians in egypt disappearing and systematically killed or driven out, syria,iraq,gaza strip, somalia, congo, India had no muslims at one time now they lost a huge swath of their country to a new muslim majority called pakistan, what happened to the Zorrastians in Iran gone with the wind. And lets not forget about saudis arabia and dubai,kuwait and the other rich gulf states, whose citizens are filthy rich and have all their labour done by third worlders from other countries who work for cheap wages and have no right to vote or other rights at all. But they get a free pass. Those white people in Canada how dare they live in some community all to themselves, bring the pitch forks thats racist. So sick of double standards.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow! When you consider the Dominionists, who I hear will be represented among the speakers, it's really spooky how similar the two faiths are.\n\nI think that's what puts a lot of folks off of \"christianity\"---Their blatant political activism, trying to get articles of faith passed into law, a constant clutching at power and money, and the dark forces lurking just under the surface, who want to do away with freedom and personal liberty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The false narrative that I use a \"they do it, too!\" argument is a handy distraction from what I have to say about the subject. My own very real experience functions as a study in contrast. It poses a very legitimate question: when it comes to where I feel safer with my kids, do I concern myself with 30 year old unproven allegations against deceased Catholic clergy, or do I concern myself with the proven pedophile pastor of the Baptist church on my back property line? Which of the 2 pose a real threat to my kids and grandkids? I think y'all barkin' up the wrong tree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Leviticus has more to do with Jewish law than with Christianity. Leviticus also prescribes various dietary laws which Christians don't observe. Leviticus also demands that prostitutes be executed, but Christ saved one by suggesting that a sinless member of the execution mob should cast the first stone. Generally speaking, most Christian groups view homosexual acts as a sin, but not as a crime warranting death.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"... Whatever differences there are among the libertarians is less important to the pope than what they share, an inflated understanding of the autonomous self that distorts their anthropology and an outsized commitment to liberty at the expense of the common good. This whole discussion about the varieties of libertarianism is a dodge.\"\n\nI find it very difficult to understand why a Christian (Catholic, Episcopalian, Baptist, or even Unitarian) could throw in with Libertarianism. I have, for the past 40 years, seen it as a much worse philosophy than Communism as articulated by Marx and Engels (I'm not wild about them either). At the heart of Communism, at its founding, there was sympathy for the plight of the worker. As it evolved (via Lenin and Stalin) it didn't work out at all, but at least Communism grew out of a concern for others. \n\nIn my opinion, the Church should spend as much time fighting Libertarianism as it did fighting Communism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes it's hyperbole, but it is a statement worth listening to that's about more than women's rights. These commenters have not seen or given much thought to what is really going on in the Handmaids Tale. It is not a stretch to imagine a future in which horrific environmental pollution reduces birth rates and turns nations into closed off mutually-hostile garrison states where (esp women's) rights are gone. When we have totally trashed the planet we will get sick and turn on each other and will cease to be prosperous and free. As in the past, religion will be used as justification to control people. Christians are no innately better than people of any other religions, and presented with the awful circumstances in the Middle East would be just as bloodthirsty and cruel. While Pence and the Focus on the Family nutjobs are focusing on end days because of Jesus' second coming, they should be focusing on the more probable end days they are hastening by their own greed and shortsightedness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Professor Taylor,\n\nYou insist on using the title and thesis, \"Neo-Medieval Adventism.\" This is indefensible. The Seventh-day Adventist church is organized like a modern business corporation, not like the Roman Catholic church. We have constitutions, by-laws, constituencies, business meetings, executive committees. You are behaving like, and being treated like, a dissident shareholder. Seventh-day Adventists don't have heretics, and you are no Luther. Everybody knew what Luther was talking about, agree or disagree. You might as well be calling Dr. Zinke and Elder Wilson Neanderthals. You've written an incoherent essay, arguing vague similes are profound insights.\n\nYou write: \"[Faith should be used as evidence? Whose faith and evidence about what?]\"\n\nThis is the heart of Christianity: Medieval and otherwise. Faith in Jesus, in His divinity, in His resurrection, in His Kingship, in His atonement and His soon return. \"Faith is the evidence of things not seen\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Uncharitable? You want to know what's uncharitable? Callista Gingrich has freely chosen to align herself with a man who has openly boasted about grabbing women by the p*ssy because he could. That's uncharitable to women everywhere. For that one thing alone, never mind the avalanche of everything else Donald Trump represents that's sordid, uncharitable, and un-Catholic, Gingrich deserves every bit of contempt that can be heaped on her because of the choice she made with her own free will. That's my opinion, at least. You're free to think what you like.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yet you can bet that right wing 'Christians' would have a hissy fit if the tables were turned on them and people refused to serve them based on their beliefs. Discrimination is only legitimate to them when they are the ones doing the discriminating.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Adding a holiday is obviously a red line to cross, or too difficult. I suspect any percentage of Jews in the early 20th century would not have made any western country adopt their holidays as western holidays. After all, you will admit that anti-semitism was rife in North America in the early 20th century. It is a primary reason Jewish refugees were not allowed into Canada/USA before and during WW2.\n\nSo that is why I had suggested removing all religious holidays. I don't care about any religious holiday. But there are people who do, and they forced to adapt. I have a Sikh friend, and her kids (she and they were born in Canada) know more about Christianity than Sikhism. My friend isn't religious, and doesn't care. But plenty of people who are non Christian will hold tighter to their religion and culture. Does that explain radicalism among some of the first and second generation immigrant? As I pointed out earlier, that is the reason for the large number of ISIS members from the west.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The birth control mandate, if originally inserted in Obamacare, would have just as easily passed. Why? Because it is essential that Western Judaea Christian America continue to contracept itself into oblivion for a successful \"fundamental transformation\" by the Godless left to occur.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh my. Liberal Christians aren't a welcome part of the flock. Do you segregate by pews or zipcodes? Do they rate lower than conservative atheists/agnostics(rumor has it some do exist)? I thought we were all \"his\" children? Such anger and division, tsk tsk.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am Catholic. I believe abortion is wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God is more than wrathful, he is merciful and loving! Your chess piece metaphor is all about the doors God constantly opens and closes, and otherwise guides. That's the way it goes. Christians like me show goodness of heart in gratitude, thanks to what God has done for us, namely, saving us on Calvary so we can be eternally with him. You guys (atheists, etc.) believe there is nothing after death, which I couldn't even conceive. But that's between you secular guys and the very God you don't believe in. LOL", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our hearts and prayers are with the loved ones of the victims of today\u2019s horrifying terror attack in Berlin. Innocent civilians were murdered in the streets as they prepared to celebrate the Christmas holiday. ISIS and other Islamic terrorists continuously slaughter Christians in their communities and places of worship as part of their global jihad. These terrorists and their regional and worldwide networks must be eradicated from the face of the earth, a mission we will carry out with all freedom-loving partners. - Donald Trump\n\nFinally a Western leader willing to speak the truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which proves sexism is a form of brainwashing. Why else would anyone vote for the continued and increased abuse of their own kind. \n\nUnfortunately, Religion, including Catholicism, is the worst producer of this kind of sexist brain washing. It really is up to us laity to demand repentance and change from this misogynistic, unholy attitude of heart.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one can claim that they didn't know the amoral character, and yes racism, misogyny, etc., that is who Trump is... not the least of which was that he led the birtherism charge against the previous president for Obama's two terms in office. Yet, over 50% of all Catholics voted for Trump, and 60% of white Catholics voted for him. Among the Trump Catholic voters I've spoken with (laity and clergy), it was their single issue of abortion and Trump's laughable pro-life claims, that ostensibly gave those folks moral cover for their vote. It's easy enough for some Catholics to avoid accountability for their own covert racism by claiming shelter under the antiabortion mantra... and yes, Catholic bishops, I'm talking to you too. If we are going to 'talk turkey' about racism and other 'isms' let's at least be honest about the dynamics and who is contributing what to the present situation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You may disagree with Burke --- disagree intensely --- but saying he goes into \"inane ramblings\" does no more than call your own credibility into question. Where did he publish or express \"inane rambling\"? Why is Burke's right to express himself \"different in kind\" from typical Catholics, even the bishops? Some might have said the same --- at one point, some DID say the same --- of Thomas Aquinas. Once again, PC --- that wolf in sheep's clothing --- wants to stifle free expression. \"Freedom of speech for all --- on my terms.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hungry children surrounded by Catholic priests? That sounds like a feeding frenzy of a different sort.\nIf I remember the usual payoff was 2 Snickers and a Hail Mary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What heresies? From Catholic Christianity? No heresies from there, however, if you believe there are, then why do you stay in the Church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A \"Christian\" and Trump fan committed a massacre in Quebec the other day. By your \"logic\" we should keep out Christians and Trump voters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tridy, Yet the Catholic Church had the good holy war doctrine. What happened to Thou salt not Kill? That doctrine was a Catholic Doctrine that has now with Francis and even Benedict that was changed. Your thinking is so linear, so black and white as to make it reactionary and even dangerous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Many if not most of our home-grown religious bigots (I didn't mention the KKK, YOU did) are self-described Christians\"\n\nYou have no proof of that Eric. You might stop to consider that the majority of all Americans, good or bad, call themselves Christian. When naming bigotry, if you do nothing but hit the standard statistical distribution, some will be Christian.\n\nEither way your implication that Christian teaching in any ways encourages racial bigotry is completely contrary to my 60 years of personal experience. And to say that the Muslim church is LESS ethnocentric than the Christian church is reckless conjecture. (and we are living post 20th century, past statistics are irrelevant). You won't find Christian hit squads murdering Muslim citizens and putting it on TV, nor hanging the bodies for public display.\n\nWe agree that many, if not most followers, in both Christianity and the Muslim faith do not promote violence as a form of evangelism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is NCR not a participant in the very culture wars it decries the KofC from engaging in, by attacking Church teachings Catholics hold dear? At least if KofC can be accused of being culture warriors, they are acting in defense of the unborn. They didn't look for this fight but you got to fight back when the innocent are attacked.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nonsense. Christians did not disappear in Japan. Please inform yourself before you make a statement like that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To properly phrase it, I believe that \"You shall not commit murder\" applies to both the mother and the unborn. We cannot save either life in the long run since, in the end, everyone dies.\n\nThe position that you must choose which one to kill is the pro-death position.\n\nThe refusal to discuss this stems from the fact that I believe that \"You shall not commit murder\" applies to both the mother and the unborn, that I believe situation ethics to be a condemned moral calculus, and that simply noting those ends the conversation from the Catholic perspective.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The comments in NCR are often mean-spirited, vile and mocking. JPII, Benedict XVI, Archbishop Chaput, and Cardinal Burke are routinely ridiculed and savaged. Even Mother Teresa has been attacked by some enlightened progressive Catholic commentators. \n\nNCR is guilty of every charge that is hurled against Church Militant. When the archbishop of Detroit asked Church Militant to remove the label \"Catholic\" from its name, it complied. The National Catholic Reporter has been asked by at least two bishops to remove \"Catholic\" from its masthead. Of course, it has refused.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Overlooking, of course, our shameful past dealings with Native Americans, Blacks, and others,\" \" who would snatch a valley kid and dump him or her in Hong Kong \"? Who is it that does things like that Paul? Why that would be \"a dyed-in-the-wool Attilla the hun conservative, that's who. These people were allowed to sneak across the boarder (by the multiple millions) so they could make our hotel beds, pick our crops, work in the slaughterhouses, and do every insidious job a white person would'nt do. And who is it that profits from these look the other way acts? \" A dyed-in-the-wool Attila the Hun conservative \", that's who. Your an oil rag Paul. You shouldn't be delving into such acts of moral judgment. What's next, hateful remarks concerning Trumps base, Nazis and the klan. Watch it Paul, you know what happens to those who go against Donald. The base will be dubbing you a George Will liberal. As Christians, how is it we're supposed to treat our fellow man? It's written in RED LETTERING.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The other Americanism is essentially neo-conservative foreign policy, which is more Roman Empire than Jesus. Justifying this type of Americanism, with its economic extensions over workers and resources, it the Catholic/Evangelical project. Using natural law to speak for power rather than speaking truth to power, is the kind of pathetic dogmatism that is fooling no one.\n\nThe Mass is different. It is an exercise in Faith, not Reason and is welcome to all who share that faith, as should be the Communion line, especially those who speak truth to power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I said, it takes a higher degree of intelligence to be truthful and be able to verify and substantiate ones comments \n.\nEven the intelligence community said they had no proof Russia did it, just a high degree of confidence that they hacked Podesta's email account.\n.\nVerify it Harry!\n \nLike the fake Christian you are you continue to bare false witness and make up fake comments\n.\nHarry wrote'; Bubbles has just reported that \"the intelligence community said they had no proof Russia did it, just a high degree of confidence that they hacked Podesta's email account.\" He quoted, out of context from his 'named' source \"Harry 904\" who has claimed it was his 'opinion' based upon numerous articles that are most readily available on the worldwide information highway, known as the Internet. In other words, look it up!\n.\nBubbles has just reported - All your words and all are FAKE. Bubbles Never said it, nor wrote this comment. \n.\nCalled substantiating ones comments.\n\nroar wruf, wruf\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "After his speech about fighting wars only to win or not fighting at all, sounds like he's planning a 'war to end all wars' #Asif and with a massive buildup like that, it will be vs a major power - China is my guess.\n\nHe's badmouthed China a lot and China is the primary focus of evangelical Christian zealots' hatred. Not to mention they charge Donald and Ivanka too much for their merchandise. And, not to mention Russia is the alt-right's new best comrade in the white supremacy movement.\n\nSee how is all comes together?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are telling us that the pope's word must be accepted. When the pope says something you disagree with, you say it can be ignored. Cafeteria Catholicism at its finest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"No shirt, no shoes, no service\" does not violate the civil rights act. The law says you cannot discriminate against people based upon race, color, sex, religion, or national origin. \n\n\"You must wear shoes\" is not a discriminatory act. However, it is illegal to say \"we don't serve mexicans,\" or \"we don't serve christians,\" or \"we don't serve women.\"\n\nThe issue of businesses denying homosexual people comes into it because it is sex discrimination. Saying \"I won't serve you, because you're the wrong sex\" is wrong, whether you're pointing at the customer or their spouse.\n\nTo make another example, let's imagine a pair of restaurants across the street from one another- one Kosher, one Halal. Either owner can decide not to eat at their neighbors restaurant, as is their right. But neither can refuse to serve the other based upon their differing religions. \n\nDoes that make sense?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm an orthodox catholic. You must be so deep into that LGBT bubble of yours that you find our supernatural God only \"interesting\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "christianity:\n\nthe belief that a cosmic\u00a0jewish zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, the part of this story that is fascinating is the film footage from Havana:\nBoth Cuba and Puerto Rico were hammered by the Irma-Maria hurricane one-two punch.\n.\nBut, without help, Cuba picked itself up, and is back running again, and nobody in the international news services is saying anything more about hurricane damage in Cuba. (I checked, not a single story yesterday - NYT, CBC, BBC, RFI, DW, Al-Jazeera, NPR, PBS - nothing).\n.\nMeanwhile, in Puerto Rico, the richest country in the world is letting its citizens die.\n.\nYesterday the White House has just discovered that Puerto Rico \"Is an island. Surrounded by water. Big Water. The Ocean.\"\n.\nWe are told the response is \"Incredible\".\n.\nWell, that's one word for it.\n.\n.\n.\nPuerto Rico is full of people who are poor, Hispanic and non-white.\n.\nIf Puerto Rico were full of old white evangelical Christian Republican men, would the mayor of San Juan be begging for help?\n.\nMaybe she should have asked Havana for help, not Washington.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I recently had a heart-to-heart with a buddy of mine who is struggling with keeping his marriage together, one aspect of that being that they no longer have sex. He has met another woman to whom he is sexually attracted, but he's a good Catholic, and as much as he knows it's wrong to pursue her, he's struggling. It's hard when we are tempted to engage in immoral relations, now matter which sex we're attracted to.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This will have to wait. I'm working on a federal brief for a disabled woman and can't spare the time. I'll be back to you on Monday afternoon, I hope. I gave you a partial response earlier, but since you invite some comparing and contrasting, I'll be happy to get into that, just not now. Justthink for a minute though: When did you see large numbers of conservatives marching in the streets to undo the Obama election, shouting \"F___ Obama\", or calling for his execution, or putting on a highly publicized play about his assassination, or showing his severed head? Liberals --- not the kind who emulate Christ's liberalism --- are that way because they're excessive, and somehow think that liberalism means being excessive in your thoughts and actions. Liberalism used to be a thoughtful response to the excesses of conservatism. It's become a thoughtless, fascistic joke. So go ahead; defend liberalism's rhetorical excesses if you think you can. Nobody listens anymore. We'd rather vote Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seems if a lot of Protestants hold Catholic beliefs, the Church should be reaching out to them to join us. We know poorly catechized Catholics make easy converts to Protestant groups looking for new members. \n\nThis quote stood out to me: \u201cIn other words, perhaps religious ignorance really is bliss. If you don't care about it, you won't fight over it.\u201d Perhaps this attitude explains why since the 70s, Catholics have not been properly taught what the Church teaches? Because those in charge think you can\u2019t handle knowing your faith without fighting with others on it. Rather patronizing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Difference is no one is equating \"conservative Christian\" with \"KKK\". Not even me.\n\nDumbitchski is equating \"American Muslim\" with \"terrorist.\"\n\nThat is tantamount to encouraging the first wack-job who has a worse than usual day to do something nasty to some hijab-wearing woman taking her kids to the store, or old white-bearded geezer like me wearing Muslim head gear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, indeed so much more effectively that Catholics there now tolerate abortion, contraception, divorce, homosexual unions with euthanasia just around the corner.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is the Catholic Churches version of 'black on black ' crime.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow buddy ...you should know ..the beacon is a leakin'. They need to build a wall all around the US and put a lid on it. Most major cities have more murders in one year then all of Canada. They have more home grown mass shootings than any nation, race issues, trillions of dollars in debt, more military than workers, more churches than factories...there's your beacon and its flashing red. Just to make matters worse then are being led by a giant ego with a 12\"comb over that looks like he crawled out of a bag of Cheetos. Islam is no picnic I will say that, but the US is doing everything possible to be worse.\nNow cancel abortions to appease the Christians ? Whats next for your beacon...with any kind of luck it will stop shedding its dingy light on the rest of the world soon.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You make the whole catholic religion look like the bigoted people that outsiders see them as. You are an example of all that is wrong with religion. You can't see that people treat their emotional problems with alcohol and drugs? Your residential schooling caused generations of social problems that all of canada will be paying for and trying to correct. In the mean time, you will blame them for their problems instead of accepting that a serious mistake was made and trying to rectify it. I'd call you what you are, but I'd get the post deleted. If you destroy the family structure, you destroy the people. It was cultural genocide and not cultural integration. These people have no family structure to build their new family on! This will take generations to rebuild.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The American Catholic bishop's are doing nothing, but they also worked very hard to get him elected. I consider them complicit in every death, every freedom lost, every negative effect that comes out of this administration, including the public expressions of violence, racism, misogyny, homophobia, Islamophobia that have suddenly become acceptable among Trump supporters. They assisted the opening of that Pandora box and they need to be held accountable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would recommend you go back to grammar school. Here are three examples from your comments above illustrating your tenuous grasp of the English language..\n\n1. ...themselves to blame for selling their sole.\nsole is the bottom of a shoe\nyou sell your soul\n\n2. \"Personally, you got mail bits...\nMail is for mail carriers\nMale refers to the gender. You can't even use the proper word when insulting someone.\n\n3. ... thumb suckers who are incapable of excepting the election results\nexcept refers to an exclusion or omition...everything on my sub except for onions\naccept is the consent to receive or recognize\n\nMaybe you should ask Trump to invest in education instead of more war and nuclear weapons.\n\nYou probably also use irregardless (not a word) and I seen it.\n\nFor a group a people who claim to be good Christians you certainly spend a lot of your time insulting and badgering others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "the catholic school system is a massive waste of money and resources", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Personally have never been comfortable with the expanding settlements but the fanatical amateur in the White House is almost guaranteeing future war. Since the 1967 war the consensus has always been for the parties involved to be in agreement and having this laughable amateur try and impose a settlement is frightening. The Arab world does absolutely nothing to help out but that is of no concern to a Jew-hating, white hating christian hating Muslim in the White House. Remains to be seen if Trump can salvage anything out of this disaster. Highly doubtful given the huge gap between the left and right in western society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Breaking News: Donald Trump opens fire on 5th Avenue--several wounded; in a strong show of support, pro-life Catholics rapidly come to his aid.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We need to stop pretending like Buckley, a member of the liberal globalist Council on Foreign Relations and the nasty anti-Christian secret society Skull and Bones, was a real conservative. Buckley did more to destroy conservatism than any liberal ever did.\n\nWhen he attacked Birch founder Robert Welch, true conservative leaders like Catholic Phyllis Schlafly, sided with JBS. (She wrote a letter to Buckley demanding her subscription to National Review be cancelled so the money could be sent to Welch or the Pope!). The liberal media, on the other hand, pretended like Buckley \"spoke for conservatives.\" Why do you suppose that is? Because the liberal media HATES conservatives.\n\nThe idea that Buckley \"purged\" JBS is ludicrous. Trump just got elected on a JBS platform (after National Review tried hard to stop him & failed. Even the libs admit JBS is the dominant force on the right today. The idea that he \"purged\" Ayn Rand is ludicrous too. Her book is the 2nd most influential after Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alas, diversity of the sexual sort is still sadly lacking. In the Catholic Church it's still all about straight men only (or at least those who can pull off pretending to be straight.) All others take a back seat or step outside the door, please.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I must admit I am often in doubt whether the CC is the barque or if it is the Orthodox, they don't seem to be plagued by heterodox priests and bishops like the Latin rite of the CC is. \n\nI'd guess its because of the persecution they have suffered in the east that they have held more tightly to the teachings of the church fathers. Or because they actually do believe in their church's teachings and don't live as hypocrites.\n\nI really have yet to understood why people like those priests who call themselves Catholic but don't actually believe in the church's teachings. I get not adhering due to difficulties, but outright disbelief I don't get.\n\nIt seems odd to me to want to be a part of a religion you don't believe in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One example is love your neighbors or that there is such a thing as a \"good Samaritan\". Rich men have as easy a time getting into heaven as a camel has trying to get through the eye of a needle. I'm not a bible thumper, but I know most Christians don't follow his advice about love and peace. Our war machine is proof. We have military bases in more than 100 countries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have this feeling that a short time in the future, the hierarch will become aware that there are very few people left in the Catholic Church. They will then be flabbergasted. It will never occur to them that their positions re gay people and women had anything to do with the situation. None is so blind as one who will not see.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is apparent to YOU that same sex marriage is not valid. The law sees differently. Catholic teachings hold that civil divorce is invalid, yet do you deny that the state has the authority to issue divorces that are legally binding. Similarly, the state has the authority to say that same-sex civil marriages are legally binding.\n\nYou are arguing in favor of willful ignorance. It is firmly established, at least as far back as Aquinas, in Catholic moral theology that a person who is wilfully ignorant is as morally culpable as one with full knowledge. If Mr Tennes truly believes that only those the Catholic Church says may marry can get married in his venue, it is clearly his duty to ascertain if either (or both) members of a couple who wish to marry in his orchard are divorced and to drive away those who do are. He is endangering his soul and the souls of the couple by permitting them to marry in his orchard. Or are his (and your) indignation selective?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I flagged this comment, because the \"Ms. Schenk\" cheap shot amounts to an insult to all Catholics everywhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians claim discrimination all the time.\nYou like the unequal status between gay people and conservative Christians.\nEverything conservative Christians have done recently in the area of gay rights is about conservative Christians wanting to discriminate against gay people or couples under the guise of religious freedom.\nBut anyone who discriminates against conservative Christians would be violating discrimination laws, based on religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not true. All are called to a relationship with Jesus Christ in the Church he founded. For each of us--including those who experience same-sex attraction, this involves some form of sacrifice. One cannot be a Catholic on one's own terms.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Surely there is evidence of this white supremacy in the Catholic church. But if there is, I wonder why author Alex Mikulich didn't cite some of it.\n\nThe best barometer of a person's feelings is their actions. What actions of the Catholic church are demonstrably racist?\n\nAnd by Catholic church, I don't mean the just the bishops and other clerics, but lay Catholic organizations of any kind.\n\nMaybe Professor Mikulich is reading this post. If so, it would be helpful if he would point out these Catholics acts of racism, so we can heed his plea, and confront them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If he did that's not good news.What's wrong with Opus Did, Pandora17? It's an organization that began in Spain and was especially popular among Franco's supporters in and out of his government (right-wing Catholics should never forget that the only reason Franco won that war was due to the military help he received from Hitler and Mussolini; Spanish Army volunteers fought with Hitler's Wehrmacht on the Russian front around Leningrad). The recently retired Archbishop Myers was an open sympathizer, if not a member. Regular readers of NCR will recall that he had a hideously expensive retirement home built for himself. OD types go in for self-flagellation and other dangerous and stupid practices. As an example of their know-nothing's, they prohibit their members from reading the biblical commentaries of the late Father Raymond Brown, probably the greatest biblical scholar of the 20th century; oh yes,\nPandora, they still seem to have their own little Index. As And please, do not cite to us", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RG,\nYour being logical and Christ-like in your concern for the poor and less fortunate -- BLESS YOU. \nRepubs hate facts, logic and Christ-like behavior. They love MONEY and Trickle-down economics as the godless, soulless predatory Fascist corporatism as espoused by Reagan and his pal Pope John Paul II and their love of such human killing actions as Iran-Contra, the Dirty Wars, etc. \nAll the best to you and yours. \nbob", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes especially the women and children. The number of women leaving the church is reportedly fairly high (forgotten the percentages). The church is blind to it and will continue to until the money drops off significantly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "None of that even remotely relates to what I said, but I do find it amazing how many lies you can cram into a character limited combox. \n\nI am an older convert. I am a survivor of childhood abuse. I am also a volunteer in my parish. As a volunteer, I am required by both civil law -and- by Church statute to report even the suspicion of child abuse directly to the police. As a survivor, I have a pretty good idea what actions and behaviors justify suspicion. You darn tootin' I will always support the Church, and that support includes weeding out the perps when necessary. However, to date, I've not seen or suspected a one. What I have read here over the last 6 years does not even come close to describing the Church that I've actively been a part of. \n\nYour false narratives are sickening. Stop lying about me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They're both sins in the Bible. Also, see eating shellfish and wearing of mixed fiber clothing. But only the gay thing is \"controversial.\" Why? Because it's based on bigotry, not actual biblical beliefs. If it was, they'd treat divorcees with the same level of scrutiny. Also those who had sex before marriage. Hypocrisy and pick-n-choose dogma reigns.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK understand your point now. But I think it makes more sense to look just at what happened in Charlottesville where condemnation clearly goes to the Nazis, KKK, and other white supremacist groups because of what they did. They came to a liberal college town armed (including AR Assault rifles (which they say were not loaded), with young toughs in \u201cNazi Fight Club T-shirts\u201d), and yelling racist and anti-Semitic chants and led by leaders who ordered attacks and movement to strike counter protestors\u2014 older men and women\u2014and evade police. They used the terrorist tactic of driving a car into the counter protestors.They came to spread hate messages, intimidate, and provoke physical confrontations. This would be like armed muslims chanting and taunting in front of a Christian church, beating them up, running some over with a car, but blaming both sides.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Jesus or god really cared about abortions then he could prevent miscarriages. But nope - lets them happen en masse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can't believe this guy is a professional writer when there is barely a coherent thought in the article. Plenty of cliches, innuendo, and hate of Christians, but no new ideas or thoughts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He was \"fired\" because he said he was in an active homosexual relationship and that he intended to leave and to marry. And wrote a letter to the Vatican describing his intentions to do so? What do you call that??\n\nTell me - how many priests do you know, gay or straight, hold public press announcements claiming they are going to marry - and remain a priest? Have they changed the rules on marriage? gay or straight?\n\nNo....not just because he said he was a homosexual, no matter how you want to interpret it", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Straw man. Pat Perriello isn't advocating \"silence.\" He's calling for the end of one-issue Catholic politics.\n\nAnd, no, voting for Trump did not make you St. Thomas More. It made you complicit in the election of a disgusting demagogue who knows nothing nor cares about sound government. It's not a question of whether Trump's dangerous, but how dangerous. You realize Trump wants to back out of the Iran deal, withdraw from the Paris Agreement, and appointed for National Security Advisor a wingnut who wants to fight a crusade against Islam? Culture of death.\n\nAs an American I find this intolerable and so am out of the door.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is particularly Christian about being anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-trans? Why not anti charging interest, or anti war?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why can religious institutions be exempt from some laws but not others? The Bible is cool with stoning to death of women for adultery (men are exempt), monogamy and slavery. Why go half-way?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agirl: How are things down in California? I gotta disagree with you on this one. I personally am against the BSA and the Catholic Organization because of one thing. They RAPE and MOLEST young boys, and now they are accepting girls. You and everybody else knows whats going to happen. Its gonna BLOW UP. Example, Bob and Helen's 10 year old daughter Annie goes on a 2 day camping trip with her troupe that is of course chaperoned , Annie gets raped. I just do NOT understand why anyone would want to be involved with them in anyway shape or form.....\n\nFor all the Naysayers out there, sure, there are a few straight and reputable Scout leaders and Catholic priests, and there are some people that had a pleasant experience in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts including myself. As far as the Catholic school experience, NO. I attended a large Catholic school grades 9-12. When I was a freshman I had a Priest TRY to RAPE me. My father who was a pilot in WW II taught me (cont.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very pathetic for any true Catholic to be whinnying about not enough socialism and forced federal redistribution. Is too much to ask the US Catholic Church to go back to it's glorious roots and promote subsidiary and charity vs government confiscation and dependency? The US Catholic Bishops have gotten too cozy with politicians only to see a secular and morally corrupt government and politicians like Hussein, Hellary, Podesta and the Democrat Party stick a knife in the back of religious people and Catholics in particular. \n\nThe DNC just announced that there is no place in the DEMONcrat Party for pro-life people. \n\nIt\u2019s fair to\u00a0say that\u00a0once a political party cites baby murder as\u00a0a fundamental value, nothing else it stands for really matters including government handouts. \n\n\"Do not be deceived: \u201cBad company ruins good morals.\u201d\n(1 Corinthians 15:33)\n \n\u201cLeave them; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.\u201d (Matthew 15:14)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Confucius said the first step to peace is \"using the right name for the right thing.\" Thank you Father James Martin for using the name LGBT in a Catholic setting. Thank you Bishop McElroy for calling the ultra-conservative Catholics a \"cancer.\" Amen \ud83d\ude4f", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Zero tolerance as a term in civil law is often associated with unfair mandatory sentences. But even where there are no mandatory sentences, there are expectations in the community that amount to zero tolerance. These may vary from place to place, but if you kill someone while driving drunk, you will go to jail. If you are convicted of murder, you will not be given a bond. Canon law also has zero tolerances. A person who procures an abortion is automatically excommunicated. In the secular professional field, zero tolerance is practiced for lawyers who steal money, doctors who sexually abuse sedated patients and teachers who sexually abuse pupils. They are permanently deregistered. Archbishop Coleridge told the Royal Commission that he requested Pope Francis to dismiss 6 priests who had served prison terms for child sexual abuse. Pope Francis only agreed to dismiss one. If he does not believe in zero tolerance for clergy sexual abusers, why does he keep claiming that he practices it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You see some of the old clergy rape victims are better off getting some hush money handout at C. D\u2019s discretion? And hide CI (Catholic Institution) criminal behavior of hiding and condoning clergy rapes of children is find to you?\n \nSo what kind of faith journey are you leading? You are not saying that God of Catholic is OK with clergy rape of children? Who wants to worship God with the child rapist organization? \n \nIn that case, why bother with religion at all? Surely the child rapists are OK by CI, divorced/remarried or LGBT fork are angels and even abortion are OK too since the clergy rape victims kill themselves often. \n \nWhat kind morality one grew up with to not see that the clergy child rapes can\u2019t co-exist with any kind of religion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're being contentious for the sake of being contentious. Like I said, I'd be interested in backup for either claim. Of course the data would be useful to me: I would be forced to reconsider my view that abortion is not the most important issue to voters.\n\nDishonest of you to put \"rabid Roman Catholics\" in quotes as if I ever said such a thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Either way, it cannot be demanded as the price of salvation. It must be a free choice. Again, you are confusing personal piety, which is fulfilling, with using your brain on hard issues, like a pregnancy that has no chance of coming to term and is endangering the mother, needless end of life suffering and the requirement that gays deny all sexuality when they are, by nature and God's design, not only beings but homosexual beings. Love means seeing their plights with acceptance, not inflexibiltiy and pietousness. The Law is for people, people are not for the Law. I understand the Gospel just find. That is the essence of the Gospel. You confuse stoicism, pharasaic legalism and neoplatonic absolutism with Chist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see absolutely nothing here about inclusion of LGBT Catholics, or ministry to them Will this aspect of family life be the unspoken elephant in the synodal room?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well that makes it easy. Even non-christians have common sense. Don't use the good book to guide your actions. Do whatever you want to and then go back and find the proverb that best fits your actions after the fact. \"Simple minded\" is the kind of personal venom that the Prince of Peace advocates, right? Just curious, is that Old Testament or New?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can keep repeating to yourself whatever conclusion you want.\n\nShe stated that we shouldn't be \"persecuting\" Muslims (whoa! emotive language, much?) by criticizing aspects of Muslim culture and pointing out that large minorities of Muslims support FGM and honour killings. What did she mean by \"persecuting\" if not offending? Is the West oppressing them or disallowing their holidays or places of worship?\n\nThen she compared real honour killings happening every day against women in the Arab world to Jews and Christians reading Old Testament passages that nobody takes literally. Not even Fred Phelps killed anyone in the name of religion, and he was as crazy a fundamentalist Christian as you get.\n\nShe is a whackjob apologist for Islamist extremism. Why hasn't Trudeau kicked her out?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hillary, and the Secular Liberalism she represents, hates Catholicism and will do everything in her power as president to undermine its independence and influence. But lets respect protocol.\n\n Trump is not as naive, and as two-faced as America's Catholic Hierarchy is. The Hierarchy should have called out the Secular Liberal agenda years ago rather than giving into it. Now it takes a not so committed Protestant, presidential candidate to do what the Bishops should have been doing over the last 30 years. \n\nPROTOCOL? These are serious matters and if you think that playing nice and having a good time with the likes of Hillary and her minions, then the church is in more danger than I thought.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, R.C.? There is racism within the Catholic church. What's your point?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, many in the South did claim and still claim that their discrimination against Black people was/is Bible based. I don't know what they cite - in part because I never even tried to get in a Bible verse back and forth with a Biblical literalist - useless. Equally, true I would have lost any such battle since my religious upbringing didn't include memorization of vast sections of the Bible. I was raised on Catholic catechism and good manners. \n\nI think a modern society has to have some rules about how far someone with strongly held religious beliefs can go in expressing those beliefs when that impinges on the freedoms of others. And that includes how far bosses can go in a business that serves the public and hires people of different/no religious faith. Think health insurance and LGBT marriage. \n\nHow to reconcile fundamentalism with individual freedom and opportunity is what we are trying to figure out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't it time that \"thinking Muslims\" took the bull by the horns and decided that their religion needed some updating. The \"Christian\" bible has had many revisions over the centuries. Perhaps some Imans could start deleting many passages from the Koran that modern Muslims do not accept and radical Muslims use to support their atrocities, they could start by deleting \"kill the infidels\", and ensure that females are treated equally. This, of course, would not be accepted by many \"purist Muslims\" and perhaps it would be necessary to create an offshoot like the \"Reformed Muslim Church\", regardless of this, any attempt to update the religion would be seen as a giant step in the right direction by non-Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I might add that it is difficult to take evangelicals seriously when they endorse an amoral thug like Donald Trump. Kind of blows their Christian credibility.\" Amen, Mr. Bonora! Evangelicals constantly trumpet their moral superiority and \"family values\". They constantly flail about denouncing homosexuality, etc. Then Donald Trump, a known gambling supporter, serial monogamist, admitted adulterer, and economic cheat denounces abortion and has a surrogate announce he's borned again, and evangelicals swoon all over him.\nMr. Waldman with \"our creator\" and Ms. Rossi with \"they would not have found it necessary to bring attention to it in these documents\" not only miss the boat, they completely miss the ocean the boat sits in. The Founders of this country, in the Declaration of Independence, purposely avoided invoking the Christian concept of God. In the US Constitution, they avoided God totally, for the US Constitution is a secular document concerning the running of a secular government.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are no non-Catholics in heaven? What about the BVM?!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have posted a similar comment. However, I think it hopeless to expect the entire religion to change. There has to be a great schism, as happened to the Catholic religion (leading to the Protestant Reformation), lead by North American Muslim leaders. It may be that the European Muslims are still too enmeshed in their religion, reinforced by growing discrimination against them there, to hope that the break can come from Europe. The problem NA Muslim secular leadership faces is that I believe almost all, if not all of their religious leaders, are from the Middle East and I am certain they would fight tooth and nail against any major reform as suggested. You need not read Ali to find out the problem with the religion. Our own Canadian Muslim \"heretic\" (lesbian and liberal), Irshad Manji, who wrote The Trouble with Islam, describes her education in a Madrasah in VANCOUVER, laden with anti western and anti semitic diatribes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joan,\nAgreed. But I think it's about a LOT MORE than having more options. It's not lost on people that the Vatican prefers to silence theologians rather than engage them straight on. Nor has the church made ANY ref fort to even try to advance, even as we have had a steady stream of exciting and thought provoking info from the sciences, in communications, nutrition, medicine, etc. and then you have the church's leadership , seeming to WANT to be a boat anchor on human development, even as its leadership still blames it's problems on the laity, on society, on \"secularism,\" or just about anybody but themselves.\n\nI too was raised in that rigid church. I didn't to eave it over bases to liturgical music, because I had a heavenly visitation.\n\nThe church has become not just boring, but embarrassing. The railroading of JPIIs canonization would make party leaders (either party) proud. The simple truth is that Jesus has become lost in the fog...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He was a lone wolf, and that's all . Obviously he was a sad lonely man with mental problems, and certainly he is not representative of any form of disdain for Muslims by white people. He certainly wasn't Christian. It says in the Bible \"Thou shalt not kill\". Certainly he had no family, no friends, no allies, no connections to anybody. One can only wonder what he was thinking. I guess we shall never know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps these miscreants uttered death threats, or worse. Already crimes under our criminal code.\nOr alternately a group of rational adults pointed out that within the basic defining scripture of Islam.... is pure unadulterated misogyny, homophobia, and worse. No different from Christianity.\nIs there a responsible reporter out there whom might provide facts before castigating judgements??", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not amused by the ignorance of so many Catholics who know next to nothing about Vatican II. It was the largest assembled body of church hierarchy in its entire history [with about 2600 bishops attending the opening session]. It opened on October 11, 1962 on the eve of the Cuban Missile Crisis [October 14-18], which threatened the planet with nuclear annihilation. That alone was a tense and sobering experience.\n\nIn analyzing the history of ecumenical councils and challenges of the TIMES that prevailed during and after it, there are definite shifts in the theology that endured. Instead of the formulaic, dogmatic style of Scholasticism used at Trent, Vatican II adopted the modern language of Christian humanism and with it, new semantics were used in order to frame and articulate Catholic faith. For example, at Trent, the scholastics with their fixed idealized understanding of the nature of the universe and their airy 'deposit of Faith' theology carried the day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for not Giving Steve Maman credit. Steve Maman didn't rescue even a single Yazidi or Christian from Iraq or anywhere. And he had absolutely nothing to do with the resent Yazidi boy brought to Canada today! Steve Maman and CYCI is a scam. He uses the genocide to make/raise money. I was there with CYCI in Iraq. I saw the scam first hand. I even have interviews with the families Maman claims to have rescued.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read the Social Encyclicals ALL of them---and then re-think your comments about \"cafeteria Catholicism\". YOU only select those teachings that YOU think are important. You are every bit a cafeteria Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's the choir boys preaching to one another! So let's blow the heck out of them and bring democracy to the world. Wasn't that the plan by George W. Bush, to bring democracy and Christianity to the heathen Axis of Evil, North Korea, Iran, and Iraq, summed up in two words, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. Iraq war deaths 4,486 American deaths, Afghanistan 2,345, 1 million US troops injured in both wars, millions of displaced refugees, cost 6 trillion dollars for both wars. \n.\nConservatives, if they aren't sending US troops into war or threatening war all over the world they are trying to cut peoples health care and they call themselves Pro-life. \n.\nAnd it's one, two, three, what are we fighting for?\nDon't ask me, I don't give a damn, next stop is Iran and Rocket Man\nAnd it's five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates\nWell there ain't no time to wonder why\nWhoopee! we're all gonna die.\n.\nI'm sure Harry and Cantaloupe will be the first to sign up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Khaled was concerned about religious discrimination, perhaps she could have focused on all religions (Muslim, Jewish, Christian, etc). The earlier Conservative motion correctly condemned all forms of religious discrimination versus the Khaled's soft version of the Cairo declaration. \"Islamaphobia\" first gained prominence in the 90's, pushed by the Muslim Brotherhood to further an Islamic political agenda by silencing any critical analysis of Islamism. Phobia is defined as a fear, such as a fear of heights, spiders, confined spaces, and can vary depending on someone's own experience so the term itself is highlight subjective but that seems lost on the perpetually offended activists behind the motion. Fighting Islamaphobia (as noted by Barbara Kay) is more likely an attempt to suffocate critical analysis of Islam under the guise of fighting religious discrimination. The irony of individual freedoms (or lack thereof) in Islamic countries seems lost on Khaled (note 57 members of OIC).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I'm glad to be up to speed on the latest conspiracy theories cooked up by the Catholic far-right.\n\nYou forgot the part about one-world government, though.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is, without a doubt, one of the silliest things the Catholic Church does: fires men who are ministering because they remarry or marry while admitting non-Catholics to ministry who are married. \n\n It's no wonder we get laughed at.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suppose it's nice to know that the one thing all Catholics can agree upon is that we gay people shouldn't be beaten to a pulp. How reassuring. Affirming the basic dignity, worth, and fundamental humanity of any marginalized group is usually the first baby step toward changing things for the better, so the statement of the Network of Reform Movements is welcomed and to be commended.\n\nOf course, American society at large began having this conversation almost a half century ago at the birth of the gay rights movement - the Church simply didn't want to participate in that conversation, except to offer blanket condemnation. But better late than never, I suppose. We'll gladly encourage whatever tiny little tiny baby steps the church is attempting. Who knows, perhaps fifty years from now the church will even deign to let gay people hold hands at mass the way you often see young newlyweds do, flaunting their heterosexuality before God and impressionable youth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Glad you brought that up. And before you continue to wax pious in defending 'poor Amy', consider just how much harm 'bearing false witness' can do:\n\nSix months ago a young Muslim jerk-wad in northern Nigeria named 'Al-Hajji Da'uda' falsely accused Bridgette Agbahime, a Christian preacher's wife, of 'blasphemy' and incited a mob of his friends against her. They beat her to death. Maybe beheaded her (although this was later denied). He was arrested, along with one of his friends. Doesn't help Mrs. Agbahime much.\n\nTHIS is why folks like me so vehemently object to Dumbitchski's making false accusations against Gregory Jones and his family. Because if she and her ilk keep REPEATING such lies, eventually one of her nitwit followers is gonna have a worse than usual day and take it out on the first hijab-wearing woman he sees shopping in Carr's. And/or her kids.\n\nI don't wanna see that kind of 'witness' (shahiid) here--not for me and mine and not for you and yours. Not for anybody.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... 'christains' have been voting for demons for the last 30 years. Something is seriously broken with American 'christians'. \n\nI suspect too much inappropriate touching by their religious leaders. Not enough hugs from their mothers. Didn't get breast fed. SOMETHING went wrong 1964 onward.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's never been an issue with women in positions of authority or not for I was reared with them and they were no shrinking violets when it came to men lording it over them. \nThey had to leave ministry if entering into marriage and took literally \"women to submit to their husbands\" and remained faithful to their vows.\nThere was never any divorce or separation either.\nA whole different kettle of fish for Catholics and an eye opener for converts such as I when it came to religious men and women. The spurious brother/sister relationship as a solution to \"sticky situations\" is another means of contention and nothing more than unholy bondage in my opinion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Never forget that the Church in Spain -- no, it is not about rain -- is reduced to a fascist form, with very few excepcions, which was exported to ALL Latin American. There, we have a \"fascist\" saint - Saint Jos\u00e9 Maria Escriv\u00e1 de Ballaguer y ALBAS --, another fascist but powerful lay group founded by Kiko Agnello and his \"madame\", and a Dictator still enthroned and revered in a basilica built on The Fallen Valey -- the \"Caudillo\" himself, Francisco Franco, on top of a mountain of corpses. Whoever has castles, is welcome. Perhaps, Hitler, Mussulini, Stalin... Great People must stay together. But Franco led a Christian Crusade, didn't he, just with the support of Moors from his Legion in Northern Africa. So Christian, isn't it?....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"My reference was to current Church discipline.\" \n Dear Enrico, \nWith all due respect you haven't been current in years. I appreciate anyone who defends what the Church teaches as long as they know what that is and clearly you don't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Keep laughing at the Christians... Let them move on into obscurity. The Islamic behemoth that you support will eliminate your attitude with one swing of the blade. Global warming is a hoax to destroy advanced society. Your inciting and inviting destruction.. I'm sure you will be first in line.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I actually think this was the point, to do away with religion in government. I don't care what silly religion one chooses to follow, but no one should force religion upon another... Especially on the government's time. Doesn't matter if its satanism, Muslim, Catholic, Christian, Scientology ect ect. If you allow it in a assembly meeting, someone is going to be offended, so just do away with it!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The guy who it's named after went all the way east to Indonesia. All along the way, raping, pillaging, subjugating muslim and non-muslim alike. Probably upwards of 10-12 million killed. Of course that was waaaaayyy back when, but still, muslims have killed more muslims than any christian, jew or what have you than the US has.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, it did overwhelm Hillary. He was not going to lose the pro-choice vote. She should not have taken the bait on partial birth abortion in the debates, since it is already banned under federal law. She should have used this opportunity to show that Trump was as much of an ignorant panderer as Sarah Palin was when she could not describe what she disliked about Roe and then she should have attacked the pro-life movement as an organ of GOP politics and that people should not be fooled, even if some of the Catholic bishops cooperate with their little game. Could she have won? Maybe. She certainly could not have lost any worse in PA, MI, OH, WI. She could have also said that when the two W. appointees were given the chance to overturn Roe, they did not do so. Its a powerful argument that the pro-life judicial strategy is bankrupt and should not affect elections. That and Booker should have been on the ticket.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That is exactly the flawed reasoning rejected by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. You're describing a distinction without meaning, because refusing to design for the \"event\" of a gay wedding is the same thing as refusing to make wedding cakes for gay people.\n\nYou should read the decision in that case, as well as the three others where activists attempted to buy cakes from other bakeries with anti gay messages. Those bakeries offered to sell the activists whatever cake they wanted, but refused to design the requested message. THAT is the appropriate remedy for the \"Christian\" baker.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That's all the Trumpies have left now, isn't it? \"Snowflake\", \"Crybaby\", \"Bless your heart\"... now that the thin-ice logic of the Trumpists are being challenged and you have no real response, you can only weakly and wistfully try to deny the opinions of others. \n\nYesterday I saw a widely spread video of Muslims attacking a Christmas tree at a mall. \"Deport these devils!\" was the gist of the comments. Hilariously, the video is actually a traditional tree climbing race of the Christian Kurds, filmed in Iraq, but the Trumpies see a few hijabs and assume it is violent mob (never mind that many in the crowd were wearing Santa hats). This is the kind of unchallenged dumbness that works to win an election but not in governance.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Witches, Jews, Mormons, Catholics, Muslims, women, black people, brown people, yellow people all sharing an American experience of bigotry. Honestly, this land was founded by white land owning men and that is where the privilege remains, even to this day. Don't believe me? Look at the prisons and the disparity in pay and the distribution of resources like infrastructure and security. America aint so great and it never was, destroying Germany and Japan in the last century only lifted America temporarily. Soon, due to our bigotry and greed, this century will reveal its center is in Asia. Its a shame, it could have been us, but we lack vision, patience and most importantly social homogeneity", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christians should demand Ash Wednesday services and morning masses too. Muslims can pray on their own time, just like everyone else. This religious accommodations are unnecessary and would be illegal and banned if it were any other religion but Islam. All animals are equal but some are more equal than others.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Not any more than your hatred for Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Koran says that it is permissable to lie in furtherance of the Caliphate.It also tells Muslims to kill Christian and Jews wherever they find them.T here's no such thing as moderate Islam or radical Islam.A true Muslin believes and lives by the Koran.All Americans should read the Koran and be informed and afraid of what's coming.\n\n\n\nWx", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder RCI (Roman Catholic Institution) clergies believe that God exist?\n\n\u201cDo you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God\u2019s temple, God will destroy that person: for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.\u201d (1 Cor 3:16-17) \n \nI know this is truth for so many times Christ talked to me from the deepest center of my being! \nHow can clergies sex abuse children if they know 'the Spirit of God dwells in children' and children are the temple of God? And the Vatican prelates/bishops hide pedophile and enable for them to continue rape children for thirty some years. And Pope F. and entire clergies, except a few, resist stopping the clergy sex abuse of children! I just can't believe what is going on in RCI!!!!!!!!!!!!! \nAt this point, I will believe if someone say Pope F. and the most of clergies under him are anti-Christ!\n \nGod have mercy on us!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's too bad the western religions have such a petty, violent god. It wouldn't be bad if their god was fun like some of the eastern religions. Also noticed that when in Asia, they never threw their religion in my face, other than simply trying to explain what the gods are (so many).\n\nSo, we have the Christians and Muslims cherry picking what they choose out of their religious writings, with some of them using it to justify violence. Pfft. Spare me.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Part II:\nAnd if SCOTUS sides with Masterpiece Bakery, the conservative Christian viewpoint will prevail over other religions in matters of how the law treats gay people.\nConservative Christians will be able to discriminate against gay people, by proclaiming religious or artistic freedom, but conservative Christians will be protected from discrimination by the very same civil rights laws conservative Christians want to deny to gay people.\nAlso, as at least one judge has pointed out, people who claim no religious freedom right to discriminate against gay people could still, in theory, be subject to civil rights laws that include sexual orientation. Of course, the result will be that everyone who doesn't like gay people will simply claim religious freedom. But gay people won't be able to claim the religious freedom to discriminate against Christians.\nThis is all about power.\nConservative Christians want the right to have an exclusive monopoly on what is moral -- backed by the government.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The usual Jihad apologists get right at their job every time innocents are slaughtered by Jihadists. \n\n\"Look...Muslims also died when Christians were targeted\" Is that supposed to make their families and worshipers of the same faith feel better? Christians don't want to Muslims to die along with them, Christians want to live and not be afraid to pray to their God.\n\nLike clockwork, the story about murdering Islamists attacking Christians is gone off the front page after just one day so we can carry one with our favorite topic: the grow of Islamophobia in Canada.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Its not unlike the Catholic Church selling Indulgences for people to get into heaven. The more you pay, the closer to God you get.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The guilt by association is a tricky thing. While I don't think all the people who voted for President-Elect Trump are racist, misogynistic, Islamophobic individuals they did vote for a candidate that courted those individuals. FYI, I know a large group of Christians that are hoarding weapons and ammunition, look for the NRA sticker in their window, it doesn't make them a threat.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No, my point is the left puts forward a silly storyline that the Catholic Church is fixated on Church.\n\nbut the evidence is far from it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was a carpenter. How do you think he'd run his business? What kinds of people do you think he'd refuse service to?\n\nThe only people Jesus ever rebuked or called vile were the pious pharisees. The only people he ever showed anger towards were the charlatans in the temple (and I suppose the disciples from time to time).\n\nYou have so much animosity towards people you disagree with. You think it's noble to refuse to serve them. You think you're standing up for what's right, but in reality you're standing on top of people you see as below you. The bible talks a lot about this kind of behavior. It's not what Jesus preached.\n\nIf Christianity today actually practiced what it preached and got off of it's politically-motivated high horse I probably would never have scrutinized it enough to leave. But I encountered so much hypocrisy and greed I had to reconcile my faith with my religion. My faith won.\n\nI'd follow someone like Jesus in a heartbeat, but all I can find is self-assured bigotry.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am going to start an organization so ALL ordained males in the U. S. Catholic Church can focus on their own deranged genital activity. Thus keeping their minds out of everyone's else's business.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ignorance and bigotry is the greatest threat in the world. Terrorists of any stripe, islamic jihadists, christian inquisators, communists, facists, they all gain power through ignorance and bigotry.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Policy: The Christian right has for 40 years highlighted a \"traditional values\" policy agenda.\"\n\nIf these self-proclaimed Christian conservatives want us to believe Donald Trump is the candidate of Christian values then they have even more contempt for voters than even I thought. Trump is the most amoral candidate for the presidency in the history of this country. The one thing Trump does represent is huge tax cuts for plutocrats like himself. These supposedly Christian leaders are guilty of hypocrisy at every level.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps bishops who support Chaput simply believe, as the Church has always taught, that the Eucharist is to be received only when free of mortal sin. All sinners can be a Catholic, but not all can receive Holy Communion. And by the way, many Republican Catholics support Trump because they CANNOT support a baby killing, lying, unethical criminal like Hillary. That is the only true and right position for any Catholic.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "When did Christians slaughter millions in the name of Jesus? The Muslims are killing thousands working towards millions, and the victims are mostly, by far, other Muslims now. And that's right now. Which to me is a lot more relevant than something that happened a long time ago, in place far away.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "White is more controlling than is Catholic. Nothing new here.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Another disgusting display of traitorous politicians misusing the death of a soldier to further their own interests. Crocodile tears of those responsible for the disaster invading another nation. False theater from the leader of a terrorist attack on another nation without war declaration and continuing the arrogant military operations crossing international borders. Aiding Saudi Arabia in its own invasion of Yemen with armament purchased from our own Military Industrial Complex. Meanwhile, at home, the locally grown terrorists continue to be emboldened by their leader, Der Fuehrer Trump as they attack non-christians and their worship houses and organizations just like 1930s Germany. Mein Kampf game plans fully operational.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Who is this evil Catholic woman enterpreneur who does not pay her workers properly? Can we name some names?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe it's the context.\n\nHere's more context for the quote you gave us. \n\n\u201cKill the unbelievers wherever you find them.\u201d Koran 2:191\n\u201cMake war on the infidels living in your neighbourhood.\u201d Koran 9:123\n\u201cWhen opportunity arises, kill the infidels wherever you catch them.\u201d Koran 9:5\n\u201cAny religion other than Islam is not acceptable.\u201d Koran 3:85\n\u201cThe Jews and the Christians are perverts; fight them.\u201d\u2026 Koran 9:30\n\u201cMaim and crucify the infidels if they criticize Islam\u201d Koran 5:33\n\u201cPunish the unbelievers with garments of fire, hooked iron rods, boiling water; melt their skin and bellies.\u201d Koran 22:19\n\u201cThe unbelievers are stupid; urge the Muslims to fight them.\u201d Koran 8:65\n\u201cMuslims must not take the infidels as friends.\u201d Koran 3:28\n\u201cTerrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Qur\u2019an.\u201d Koran 8:12\n\u201cMuslims must muster all weapons to terrorize the infidels.\u201d Koran 8:60", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You make good points! True blasphemy WAS punishable by death, and acceptably so. But...Our Blessed Lord WAS {IS} GOD, so no blasphemy existed. The Pharisee's {et al} refusal to BELIEVE God is mirrored in the Protestants' condemnation of Catholics as idolaters because of our belief in the Real Presence. Belief in the Lord's words \"This IS...\" in transubstantiated Bread and Wine is no more \"ridiculous\" than that God would be here and now as A MAN. {Many \"Catholics\" reject both}. And that God/Man Jesus nowhere in the New Testament condemned the PROPER use of the \"sword\". In fact, His servant St Paul goes on to clearly defend its use! {Rm 13}. So-called \"Catholics\" who condemn the use of the sword on principle are heretics. To condemn its use in some cases, as I and many other Catholics do in the USA only reflects what we know of its historically unjust application, not the principled right of it's use. Some criminals deserve death and there is no sin in its just application.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"My advice, just in case you need it? Open your eyes and your ears. Truth and justice are stirring all around us. It's an amazing time to be alive!\"\n\nWhere were you when innocent priests were imprisoned in Philadelphia, with one of them dying there from possible medical neglect? Where were you when a corrupt prosecutor was suborning perjury for a self-serving witch hunt against the Catholic Church?\n\nYes, these frauds are being put on the defensive and truth are justice are stirring.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"ISIS is also an enemy of Mr. Assad \u2013 but also partly his creation.\"\n\nNO IT ISN'T. Isis is a creation of America, \"Saudi\" Arabia and Qatar - and possibly a couple of others.\n\nStop parroting this nonsense.\n\nAssad is the lesser of two evils - and isn't decapitating Christians, so the West should support him.\n\nIs that so difficult to understand? If it is, turn off your TV and stop watching the war porn served up on the quarter hour by ratings chasing 24 hour news channels.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ethical? Ok so if it\u2019s ok for one business to discriminate against a gay couple, why not a Christian one? Or a white one? Or an internet troll?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Dixon writes \"Holy cannoli, we might hear about constitutional purity and the tired old post-World War II values of patriotism, religious freedom, freedom of speech, strong families, morals, reverence for God, and respect for all created human life.\" \n\nIf Mr. Dixon is old enough to remember post World War II values, then he is enjoying the security of medicare. He also knows in post-World War II, segregation was the law in many states; that martial rape was legal; that there was no medicare or medicaid; that marriage to a person of a different race was not only illegal, but a crime with jail time; discrimination based on sex, religion, race, was legal; prayer in the public schools was legal, but usually only Protestant prayer was allowed; ( I speak from experience as Catholic child I crossed myself before morning prayer and screamed at by a teacher who threatened to beat me if I ever did that again). Mr. Dixon is either lying or ignorant. \n\nI", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Free Ethnic Kurdistan? Good or bad - depends upon whom you ask.\n\nHumans yearn for coexistense and peace, but Corporate Capitalism loves divide et impera and war. Smaller entities are weaker foes for large MNCs.\n\nSunni Kaliphate were the first to divide the world - dar-ul-islam and dar-ul-harb. For 13 centuries this Sunni-Jewish cartel sitting smack in the middle of Silk Road prevented free trade by imposing Taxes and Tariffs (Arabic word of Kaliphate origin), milking food-poor Europe.\n\nCrusades to free trade failed. Then 100 famines in 100 years straddling 1300AD. Kaliphate starved Europe population to half. Sunni/Jewish gravy train lasted till Christians expelled them both from Spain, then found new routes to Asia, and new lands too.\n\nNow new imperialists do the same. Pakistan and Israel were created specifically to punish India and Sunni/Jews for their past by creating competing land claims for eternal enmity.\n\nThere are always useful idiots - Zionists, Indian Muslims. Welcome Kurds.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Matthew 7:5 AlwaysThere. Maybe focus on the sins of those calling themselves Christians and don't worry about others since there's much work to be done \"from within\" Christianity. Why, look at the \"Christians'\" own president--such a fine example of what American Christianity stands for! They've supported grabbing American women by the pussy for decades and now they've finally got their man in the White House. Too bad about that Russia thing though.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why are the white guys telling the blacks that their protests are no good, that the protests make the white guys sick because the black people are telling the white guys, that those policies of racial injustice, the stand your ground laws, the deliberate imprisonment of people of color, for crimes they did not commit. For the most part the supporters of the draconian laws and policies against people of color, claim to be Christians,\nSo as a Native who experienced racism first hand.. The thought of you all going to your Christian heaven seems a bit far fetched. That you all going to your rapture makes as much sense as the Mideast terrorists going to their Islamic heavens with their 72 virgins, after making life as miserable to people of color. Life on this earth is just momentary compared to the other journeys we make, but I am sure your Christian jesus will have a good talk with you all, before or after he whips you into limbo, purgatory or the hell all racists deserve.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And did you do your best to explain that's simply not true? To help them understand the true teaching of the Church? Explained that there are alternatives to killing an innocent child...that both the child and mother are not to blame?\n\nOr are you the one who came up with \"Taliban Catholics\"?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cIt\u2019s a way of showing that Focus on the Family and Mike Pence stand for very restrictive, \u2018traditional\u2019 gender roles, opposition to choice for women and anti-LGBTQ positions\u201d\n\nAn appropriate greeting.\n\nBut Pence is the sanctimonious \"Christian\" Republican hypocrite we are familiar with. Trump is an unhinged grifter and kleptocrat. Were Pence to replace Trump, he would not sweep in on a wave of popularity. He is disliked even in his own state.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I should have said the authority resides in the office of the papacy. \"Right now\" matters not a whit if what is being taught contradicts what the Church has previously and definitively taught. All I'm \"inflicting\" on you is the Deposit of Faith which every Catholic is bound to follow. Apologies if you and the other modernist snowflakes feel \"inflicted\".", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How do you define terrorism?\n\n You probably don't even know that this was the Truck attacker from France that communist merkel released because even though a 1000 people saw him in the truck, Merkel didn't find any of his DNA so he was released...\n\nwell some months later, look what we got...\nyou need to be slapped. That is reality. \n\nThe media defined the attacker as a \"bearded man\" in a \"gun incident\" if this doesn't tell you everything to know about the MSM you're still asleep.\n\nWhat about sensitivity to others with beards? Thats a broad generalization. Jews have beards, sihks have beards, hindus have beards, christians have beards... \n\nThe amount of Daesh (ISIS) apologists here is disgusting. \nThere are so many islamo-fascists in our culture its a reflection of the drugged up culture...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed, there is no real difference between Christian and Muslim extremists. Misogyny? Check.\nIntolerance? Check.\nAnti-gay? Check.\nPatriarchal? Check.\nTwisting their religious teachings to induce hate? Check.\nRely on the ignorance of their followers? Check.\nYup, two peas in a pod. \n\nCongrats faux Christians, you are building your very own Caliphate.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"What Pope Francis \"is doing all in his power\" is being the Head Pastor of Christ's Holy Church.\"\n\nSo, according to you, just by being the Head Pastor of Christ' s Holy Church, Pope Francis is already doing all in his power to fix the child sexual abuse crimes by priests and cover ups by Bishops scandals. Your reasoning is the perfect excuse for Pope Francis to have done next to nothing so far to fix such scandals.\n\n\"...but NO earthly authority can -fix- anything that happens at the ground level. That can only be -fixed- by those at the ground level.\"\n\nYour statement above does not make sense. The same can be said of Pope Francis' Christian strategy to fix the child sexual abuse scandals.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": ".\n\n\"Make America Great Again\" -\n\nRefers to the period when America was really, really, unbelievably, terrifically great .........for white males.\n\nOf course it wasn't so great for everyone else - women, minorities, gays, blacks, non-Christians.\n\nWhite males (of which I am one) have to get over their aversion to a new social order in which all are treated equally and being a white male does not automatically guarantee you access to the front of the line ahead of those who don't share your gender, race and orientation.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe The Donald should compare disaster relief in Puerto Rico with relief in Cuba.\n.\nBoth Cuba and Puerto Rico were hammered by the Irma-Maria hurricane one-two punch.\n.\nBut, without help, Cuba picked itself up, and is back running again, and none of the international news services is saying anything more about hurricane damage in Cuba. (I checked, not a single story yesterday - NYT, CBC, BBC, RFI, DW, Al-Jazeera, NPR, PBS - nothing).\n.\nMeanwhile, in Puerto Rico, the richest country in the world is letting its citizens die.\n.\nYesterday the White House has just discovered that Puerto Rico \"Is an island. Surrounded by water. Big Water. The Ocean.\"\n.\nWe are told the response is \"Incredible\".\n.\nWell, that's one word for it.\n.\n.\n.\nPuerto Rico is full of people who are poor, Hispanic and non-white.\n.\nIf Puerto Rico were full of old white evangelical Christian Republican men, would the mayor of San Juan be begging for help?\n.\nMaybe she should have asked Havana for help, not Washington.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Except thats not what I said. I said many movements start with agendas. This movement relates to discrimination - which in this country, there has been PLENTY of, especially towards blacks. That is why often in cases that involve movement, and discrimination (in THIS country), black people are often used as a reference. No one is saying the movements are the same or even close to equal - but both movements involved people discriminiating against them because they are \"different\" from what white Christians often refer to as \"normal\".", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No thanks. \"Prayers\" from sanctimonious hypocrites are worthless. The Messiah (alayhis-Salaam) said so explicitly: \"CURSED be ye, scribes and pharisees--HYPOCRITES! You REFUSE to enter the Kingdom of God and would hold the door against those who would enter!\" (gospel of Matthew 23:13). Therefore I'm not about to 'take lessons' from you.\n\nHere's the pathetic reality of your self-righteous \"denunciation\" of Qur'an. You haven't read it. I read it in its entirety at minimum--annually. I've read your bible cover-to-cover nine times, and continue to study it, and find that your own Scripture CONDEMNS you:\n\n\"Two men went up to the Temple to pray--the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee prayed thus with himself: \"God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all I possess.\"\n\n(CONTINUED BELOW...)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Now their descendants are mocking, degrading and demeaning those today who represent the Catholicism believed and practised by their antecedents. That's what I mean by pathetic.\nI read this morning on another blog someone wishing he could come across a Catholic bishop today who was as catholic as Anglican bishops in the late 16th century.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"a bishop who enables a pedophile priest should be excommunicated and in a prison cell\"\n\nIs Law in a cell in the Vatican's prison?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Michael....I want the poor helped ....here and everywhere!\n\nBUT I think it is just plain misleading for the Church to get credit for helping the poor when it was the taxpayers NOT the Church contributors who provided the funds....and Catholic Charities is a case in point as is Catholic Relief Service....\n\nThink we need \"truth in donating\" big time!!\n\nI am very tired of ignorant Catholics proud of the work of these agencies under the misguided impression that CATHOLICS had provided the funds....would far rather see these monies distributed elsewhere for the same functions and Catholics wake up to their LACK of personal charity..", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"UK Jihadist was British-born man\". \n\nThe left and their globalist immigration policies are responsible for this. Their media outlets (be it \"independent\" or state owned) mask the truth because saying it was another Muslim terrorist contradicts their position that islam is a religion of peace, and immigration is a good thing. \n\nHave a look at the radicalization of Birmingham (where this attacker and many of the other 8 detained are from). Everything from Sharia marches proclaiming Christianity and Western values to be dead, to self anointed \"Sharia Police\" patrolling for anything that offends them. Start reporting the truth. Pathetic.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I have never heard of so many stupid comments, Those of you who say the states shouldn't be there, are probably the ones who bullied innocent people when growing up and also think your child is so perfect they could do nothing wrong,\nAnd when some one says something your probably not listening to what is being said, \nHave you not heard that Kim was the one who started this, and then reached out of his country to murder people, Do your history before you speak, and study the bible as all of this is predicted, \nYes and to give you advanced warning from the word of God, The states will become a third world country very soon,\nSo - Why don't you who think that what is being done is wrong go over there talk to Kim and see if he'll listen before he tells you to go put your head between the cheeks of you know what and kiss it good bye!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You mean the pussy grabber? How could you evangelical far right Taliban style Christians cast a vote for such con man? Explain that and then tell us again how LGTB pose a risk to your rights as a citizen.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry to disappoint you, Chrizmart.\n\nI left for many reasons:\n\n1. Although I wanted to be a priest when I was young (I was an altar server and had 16 years of Catholic education), I chose not to because of the corruption in the Church: sexual, ecclesiastical, economic corruption.\n\n2. I realized that the Church was not a place I could any longer find peace and solace; too much ideological infighting, too much backbiting; too much clerical arrogance.\n\n3. The pedophilia scandal made me sick, literally sick. \n\n4. Finally, I don't believe most of the Church's theological teachings anymore: I do believe in a higher power, but I don't believe that a young rabbi in ancient Israel was the Son of God.\n\nSorry, friend.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And while the media has been hyper-focused on the constant clang and clatter created by this dangerously deranged buffoon, the Republicans have been waging jihad against everything that has defined American liberalism over the last 50 years in the name of:\n\n(1) Creating jobs, (by dismantling every regulatory agency in America), \n(2) Guarding national security, (except in the case of violent white supremacists), \n(3) Protecting hard core Christians, (from the ravages of the Constitution,, the Civil Rights Act and the separation of church and state), and \n(4) \"Making America great again\", (just like it was back in the 50's when white was right, queers were in the closet, women knew their places and nobody ever challenged the \"captains of industry\" about their Planet-killing business practices).", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe Presto can explain how come 4 out of 5 evangelicals in the US voted for a morally bankrupt, pathological lying, women abusing, mentally ill man named Trump? Maybe some other so-called Christians could enlighten us here?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This topic must be expanded beyond \"clergy sex abuse\" to abuse of all kinds by clergy. There are priests who engage in patterns of verbal and emotional abuse which are just as damaging to the victims, and if the victims report the treatment, they are ridiculed, intimidated and manipulated to keep silent by those in authority over these abusers, who go merrily on their way, thinking, \"As long as I'm not caught in bed with a woman, or a man, or looking at porn on a computer, nothing will happen.\" They behave like spoiled children, and those in authority enable and protect them.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How is Leviticus revelation? It did not come from Moses, it came from Levites writing a moral code to distance their ppeople from Babylonian morality. I believe in revelaion, but can tell the difference between it and natural law reasoning and its context.\n\nJesus is the one who his yoke is easy. If you have a problem with that, take it up with him. It was about the law serving the needs of humanity, ot piety.\n\nPaul knew he was flawed. He did not know his views were clouded by his perculiar sexual orientation. He was writing pastoral letters, not dogma for the ages.\n\nWhether you and I agree or not, the reactionary nonsense you call sexual morality is falling away with a newer generation, especially on gays and lesbians. You can guide the juggeraut but you won\u2019t stop it, nor will our Lord.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"We do get it. Unlike the celibate hierarchs, we know that procreation is not the only acceptable reason for having sex. We also have friends and relatives who are LGBT, and we realize that they are not the blatant sinners we are told they are.\"\n\nHeterosexual Catholics readily admit the sinfulness of normal sexual acts committed outside of marriage. Gays insist that their sexual acts are sinless. What a strange twist on sexual morality.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So, what are they, 'good pastors who will guard and guide our human fold' waiting for?\nClergy sex abuses of children have been going on for centuries! I read Australian Bishops waiting 50 years or so to let outraged Catholics to die and they must be willing to start clergy sex abuses of children all over again, since they never mentioned they will stop or correct the culture of clergy sex crimes!!! \nIt is truly amazing Pope F. and the rest of clergies do not know they are raping Christ immanent in children and reluctant to give up sex abuses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! \nTell me please how could that be possible and call themselves men of God?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You do realize your remark is insensitive and offensive to Christians, right? You do realize that Christians are the most persecuted religious group worldwide, right? Google it...as of 2016, that is. iChristians worldwide are tortured, raped, imprisoned, have land and homes taken away, are taxed out of same, shot with impunity and killed simply because of their beliefs. Or do you condone it because, well, after all, they're just Christians? Many actually are martyred. Over 90,000.00 last year, 30% at the hands of ISIS. 20 million, 10% of the global population, are severely disadvantaged because of their Christian belief. Not such a flippant remark now, is it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And millions of innocent Muslim men women and children have been blown to bits, starved to death, burned alive etc. etc. over the last thirty years. The US, NATO and other allies of ours have spent over a trillion dollars doing this. We have even propped up brutal regimes to continue our reign of terror by proxy.\n\nAnd of course, this trillion dollars has been spent by a proudly Christian country, that calls on it's god as justification for the carnage it inflicts.\n\nYou don't think that some of the families and fellow citizens of the millions we have slaughtered, would have any desire to strike back? Unlike, clearly, your own feelings?\n\nShould all Christians be held responsible, for what GW Bush referred to as a Crusade?\n\nUntil we in the West accept our own part and responsibility for what is happening today, we are doomed to repeat this demented cycle of death and recrimination. We MUST face the truth if we really do want to put a stop to this senseless slaughter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have a friend who's Catholic. Catholic school, mass every Saturday and so forth.She's very much a modern Catholic. Believes in birth control. Thinks the church and religion in general is oppressive toward women...and so on.\nShe's not a bible thumper at all and really is annoyed with the thumpers.\nThen something like this pops up, I show her and she wants to explode.\nLike Westboro church, these people don't represent the church in any way other than to sucker people out of their money. \"Help us fight liberal terrorism by sending in your money.\"\nStuff like this never sees the light of day 30 years ago. The internet made it possible.\nThe 'information age' is only enlightening to those who chose to have an open, sober, cogent mind. Lifelong learners. Then there's those who buy into stuff like this. Those folks shoot up abortion clinics. Support it with their dollars, time and effort. It begins a life of it's own and the mind is locked and shut.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2. (cont'd) remove the duty to take up arms and be prepared to engage in violence in order to defend the weak and vulnerable who require our assistance in time of danger. Yet prior to the succession of Constantine, in periods of persecution, there is no evidence that any Christians defended weaker ones by force of arms. Once Constantine legitimized Christianity and promoted Christian interests, of course, what is often thought to be the victory of the Church over the Empire was in fact quite the reverse; and the many centuries of \"Christendom\" that followed, even in a modified form to the present US, have always looked to true Christians such as Berrigan to be a moral failure and a betrayal of the gospel.\n\n3. Death is always an evil, a natural one, i.e. a loss or woe befalling a living creature. Killing is always an evil, a natural one when what kills is not a moral agent; a moral one when the killer is. Some killing is justifiable or excusable, as in self-defense, but always woeful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Senator Feinstein's religious test about Catholics mimics the KKK in Eugene when they nailed a US flag across the doors of the local Catholic church. That was also the reason why the voters made public school mandatory at the same time. \n\nThe evil Catholic nuns!\n\nThe KKK should come out in her support!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The trump base hatred stems from the animous of our President. That lit the fuse. The obvious ready made targets for the base is to hate Muslims. They pray facing west, Christians pray facing east. Donald is ready to release holy hell on this difference. Tribalism in all it's glory. I hope this country gets its mojo back. I don't want to sit by the back door armed in anticipation of the storm troopers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That would be absolutely Yes!! I've met many of our married Catholic priests who were tossed... A huge disservice to our church.. I've met women who would bless our church as priests.. Our church would show God it really is a church of faith!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree, Kevin. And as I noted already, the religious freedom argument can cut many ways. Some Catholic universities are already telling Trump that if he mandates mass deportations of undocumented students, they will not cooperate...citing religious freedom. \n\nHow do you suppose the champions of religious freedom will react to that?\n\nEven more so, as an article in \"Commonweal\" states, if the bishops do not protect the dignity of Muslims in the event of a possible Trump assault on their religion, what is one to make of their argument that all they care about is preserving people's religious freedom?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I had dealings with the Polish Catholic Church recently regarding an up and coming Baptism. O.M.G. It was like dealing with the Gestapo! Poland may have been liberated but the Catholic Church there is still woefully living in the past and attempting to control peoples' lives. But change will come....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny you should say that- from reading your comments it is clear that it is you who has a very strange view of what it means to be a Catholic Christian. You tell lies and have the arrogance to go by the name of \"truth to tell\". Why hide behind a moniker, a false one at that? What is your real name? If you won't give it, then stop using my name in posts to other people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How well is the \" True Christian Church West \" v the \" True Christian Church East \" dialogue doing - since 1054 ?\nIt's all about power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are they romanticizing this? What children need is both parents taking equal responsibility for meeting their needs.\n\nThe \"virgin birthery\" the Catholic Church (and the Abrahamic religions in general through the unwisdom of Solomon) promotes, the sentimentalization of motherhood, is not in children's interests.\n\nI'd rather see a law that considers every child to have the right to both parents taking equal responsibility, with a requirement that a parent take parenting classes, do counseling, on his/her own dime, to meet the standard of care.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Corinthians is attributed to Paul. It is recording Paul's views not Jesus'. Paul was a Pharisee. Property rights would have been a major issue for him.\n\nI don't believe hell exists in any meaningful after life scenario. It doesn't make any logical sense to describe God as love and then insist he sends 80 to 90% of humanity to hell for one tribal reason or another. Some form of reincarnation makes way more sense which is why it is gaining acceptance amongst Christians and is the after life belief of record for far more of humanity than 'god fearing Christians' .....whose God seems to conveniently send everybody but themselves to eternal hell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is most unfortunate that some so-called Christians cannot comprehend the message of love Jesus brought. The ultra-conservatives among this group are exclusive and even hateful to innocent people. Innovative teaching techniques must be tried to end these types of disgraceful prejudice!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Treating Jews and Christians with respect, for starters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is looking at American life in general. We have all heard of these scams. It is passed time the Churches were not given a free ride. The Catholic headquarters in Italy will really suffer. NOT", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From : Reformation Myths, by Rodney Stark...\nhttps://books.google.com/books?id=VQMvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT26&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false\nSimply go down to chapter two and look at Luther's perspectives regarding individual religion rights and freedom from religion. Further down one can read of the Roman's penchant for killing Christians, calling them atheists because they \"refused to acknowledge the divinity of Roman Gods\"...\n\nHugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We had popes who actually adopted heresies and made the dictates parts of church discipline. For example----the law of celibacy was supported by concepts from the heresy of Gnosticism. The popes and bishops supporting celibacy are legion. Nobody is accusing them of heresy. If secular news published what this Gang of Four was trying to do---ordinary Catholics reading this----who have family members and friends who are being denied Communion because of concepts that these cardinals are support----ordinary Catholics would condemn these Cardinals roundly. Sensus fidelium is a VALID concept in the church. If the people, who have to follow the law, do not accept what the hierarchy is trying to shove down their throats----the very law/teaching is not valid.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even Good Catholic Edgar Bergen Bannon is a serial monogamist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Fact under JPII, the Vatican Bank laundered CIA money from Iran that was used to wipe out so many Central American Natives. So the idea of sainthood in the Church has been altered. Make no mistake about it, the Catholic church if it is at all attempting to fulfill the goals of Jesus must learn to pattern themselves after others that than the hurriedly canonized former pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's actually not my problem if you have trouble understanding very clear words and if you are so insecure that any little comment makes you defensive. Nevertheless...I'm going to help you out; you have thus far 1) made the assumption that I know nothing of the Qu'ran. 2) Attempted to put words in my mouth 3) Deflected and projected 4) Put out a comment about a houseboy with the pure intention of eliciting a reaction so that you could in turn make some comment about how wonderful your family is.\n\nAnd I'm going to go ahead and answer your question re not talking about Taquiyya. The title of this particular article is \"Muslims humans like the rest of us\" - I feel such a statement is axiomatic and volumes are spoken when people feel the need to debate whether or not humans are humans...and it's not something I wish to engage.\n\nWhy are you not talking about christians who use the bible to justify their violence and hatred?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Writing as if the \"Christian Church\" is one united faith is just wrong. Many Christians and Christian denominations read the same bible and follow Jesus and are in full support of gays and gay marriage, believing that cherry-picking a few lines from the bible to justify the homophobia you were raised with (while ignoring all the other ancient rules of the bible you regularly violate) is just wrong and against Christ's true teachings. God creates gays and God doesn't make mistakes. And while we're at it, let's remember that there is no indication that Jesus himself was married, that there was one certain male apostle that he loved in a different way than the others, and that when he was arrested in the garden he was identified by the authorities because he was being kissed by another man. Just sayin'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I generally don't but many on the right in this country consider the USA to be a \"Christian nation\". It isn't but if it was, does not reflect well on Christian values. Thank God, its not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "David Barton is not a credible source. He's an amateur hobbyist who dabbles in pseudo-history and whose books have been repeatedly debunked owing to inaccuracies, omissions, and outright fabrications. His book \"The Jefferson Lies\" was dropped by its Christian publishing house for these reasons.\n\nHere's a take down of his work by a pair of Christian conservative historians who, contrary to Baron, believe truth matters:\n\nhttps://world.wng.org/2013/01/david_barton_is_wrong\n\nThe Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty has no use for him either:\n\nhttp://bjconline.org/a-critique-of-david-bartons-views-on-church-and-state/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "April,\n The point is, the Christmas Tree is a tradition, not a Christian symbol. It was always a pagan symbol simply appropriated by Christians. Nothing wrong with that, I have one every year. But it's informative to learn the actual origins of traditions before getting all crazy about what name we give them publicly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you assume that I am a Christian or religious? (I know - because you are a liberal who makes assumptions!) I'm not religious at all but I can look around and see that our society is going downhill fast due to socialism and freeloaders. We are enabling people with all of these free programs. I know young adults who are heroin addicts who have kids in order to get free housing, food stamps, welfare. Sad. If these programs were not available, the father would be forced to work to support his family. \"The best social program is a job.\" Jobs, even if they don't pay top wages, keep people productive, out of trouble, sober, busy, and supporting themselves. As it is, we have a massive drug problem and crime problem in our State.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Constitutional rights exist for a reason. There is no right to a Muslim education system enshrined in the constitution. There is a right to a Catholic education system in Alberta in the constitution. 93(2) Constitution Act 1867.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I wonder if NCR will be turning their sights on oh, I don't know....how about Call To Action and We Are Church for example?\" ... yes, indeed! We all know how these institutions are rolling in cash, having funded political initiatives to shape civil law, and how their leaders go around schmoozing Catholic Bishops, throwing money at the USCCB to influence ecclesiastical polity.\n\n(I seem to recall the KofC throwing US$1-million at California's proposition 8.)\n\nTrump seems set to pull out of the Paris climate deal ... probably the most glaring anti-life action of ANY political leader alive today. An act that could imperil the very survival of our entire species. And yet these KofC dark riders and monomaniacal bishops seem oblivious to it all. How utterly appalling.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And yet another progressive Catholic who argues that half of America is a covert KKK devotee.\n\nNow they're after the bishops to validate their unfounded views. Good luck.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do so many of us not respond like this?\n\nI would speculate that it is because our hearts are compromised by lack of honesty, either through a self-justifying conscience or in that we hide from the truth of our own fallen nature.\nIn the parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus draws us into the prerequisite of forgiveness and that is honesty\n\n \u201che would willingly have filled himself with the husks the pigs were eating but no one gave him any\u201d\n\nWhy did he not take one?\nFor me Jesus is highlighting honesty, as I think this thought would have resonated within the minds of many who heard this parable.\nPope Francis says we need to be a Church of mercy and so we do, but more importantly we need to be a humble Church, a Church driven by Humility, as Gods Mercy received in humility/honesty guarantees spiritual growth, which wells up into eternal life.\n\nSee link below\nhttp://www.v2catholic.com/background/2015/03/2015-03-07Kevin-Walters-a-Church-of-mercy.htm\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Will the church ever stop forcing people into confession for their sins, installing a sordid exercize to compel people to feel guilt and remorse as well as judgment? What if a bishop were to show up with his local priests and simply gather those same 3,000 people for simple individual sacramental absolution as a blessing for their ongoing lives? Soon that 3,000 would become 6,000 then 9,000 and later, hundreds of thousands returning from their journey away from the church. The experience we had in our parish with communal reconciliation services is that most people had minimal venial sins they were aware of. The very few who felt serious sin in their lives most often sought spiritual direction after experiencing a return to the reception of the Eucharist. I think that's the approach Jesus took, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Given that the Christian world isn't subjecting females to the torments cited by this story, it must follow that Christianity does recognize women as equals.\n\nBut Islam, Hinduism, even Buddhism...the same just can't be said.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In a world where Christianity ranges all the way from Pentacostals to Presbyterians -- to say nothing of several stripes of Catholics -- are you prepared to dictate to anyone how he should dress himself to respect his own religion?\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If he is a declared Christian than he is an apostate according to Islamic Law. I don't know and I don't care. I am just happy he is on a lifelong vacation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anybody ever heard of the newspaper term, \"Yellow Journalism\"? Why is that journalist have a higher calling to protect our Freedom Of The Press & Communications? A journalist could be a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Communist, Nazi, Christian, Atheist, Spouse Abuser, Muslim, Black, White, Asian, African, Murderer, Thief, CIA Spy, KGB, MI5/6, A Perjurer...the list goes on & on!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Link for your 70% Christian figure?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To put it bluntly, the war on Christmas has been led by Jewish organizations, financed by Jewish financiers, fought in the courts by Jewish lawyers, and lobbied in government, by Jewish influence. Underlying the whole campaign is the Jewish owned media. Extremist Jews who make up less than three percent of the population have prevailed over the wishes of 90 percent of the American people. I could and would be glad to list literally 100's of examples to back up what I said or I could start listing them until you aren't able to deny the truth of it. The Jews have been at war with Christianity for 3,000 years. They have been fighting against Christmas and public displays of the cross and nativity scenes for 200 years. This isn't a matter of opinion it's a matter of fact. Take for example the 25 year battle over the Mt. Soledad Cross ...complete with 2 trips to the US Supreme Court ...Who were the Plaintiffs?: Jewish War Veterans; more?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your attempt to compare professors who are there to teach the curriculum of the specific class to a preacher who is there to teach the word of God is lame at best.\n\nPeople are required to pay money in order to get the credits required to graduate with a degree. People go to church voluntarily to hear a preacher teach the word of God. They are free to leave at any time and there are no repercussions for doing so.\n\nBut then again... I think you knew that. You just wanted to try to take a cheap shot at Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am so flattered that you have assumed the role of John Bunyan's omniscient narrator, casting me as the local Graceless Christian. Please do continue to chronicle my journeys as the constant fawning attention is immensely gratifying. \n.\n Ironic is it not that the original classic was entitled: \"The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come; Delivered under the Similitude of a Dream.\"\n.\n\"Classic\" indeed, albeit by one somewhat lacking in that area.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "from above -\n\nIF you are expressing your opinions and/or feelings than you should SAY THAT. \nIn all posts you must never drop bombs, snark or hate and viciousness. \nSo Why - you ask? one reason is that we get that ALL the time from the Right and the Religious Right, including my religion - Catholic Trads and fundamentalists with all of their hate.\nThe other and possibly more important reason is that you add NOTHING to the discussion. \nThe third reason is that IF you would like your ideas, thoughts or opinions to be considered, you must STOP your constant ATTACKS!!! \nAttacking us only gets disgust from us and activates our 'fight or flight response'. And I can guarantee you that we are NOT going into flight. So you'll only get FIGHT and resistance from us. Please do not forget that we have been constantly attacked by the Right and the Religious Right over at least the past 36yrs. And it might be over the past 42yrs. \nBy NOT giving respect -- you get NO respect!!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I'm not sure what there would be for him after the Knights.\"\n\nThe Catholic River Wideners Association?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church giving a slap on the wrist for a crime related to children?!? I am shocked, shocked I say!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The lawlessness of the Hillary led Democrat Party wracked by the sexual predation of Harvey Weinstein, Anthony Weiner and James Comey are now trying to use this vile activity to destroy Judge Moore, a good Christian man who knows that there is no constitutional interpretation that keeps the Ten Commandments out of our society. The Democratic pattern set by the liberal attack of Judge Thomas and Herman Cain is on full display here as it has come out that Democrat Larry Flint has paid these women 40,000 dollars a piece. Even if it is true where does the line of redemption lie? All have fallen short and people are not born Christians. People have found their way because their lifestyle of sin or the circumstances of sin was too much for them to bear. True Christians will not abandon this man. It is telling for the ones that do...\n\nThe criminality descending on America will not stop until Hillary is \"bound and chained\". Criminals see her lawlessness and feel they can do likewise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How much healthcare does the middle class have to provide the entire U.S. for you to consider them legit Christians?\n\nIt's a serious question. Is the answer cradle to grave full pop free coverage for everyone, including all illegal aliens?\n\nJust tell us exactly how much healthcare you're talking about. We want to go to heaven too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First you say, \"This is a silly issue to get riled up about\", but then you conclude with, \"I can see how it would rile up religious people.\"\n\nAre these 'riled up religious people' \"silly\" then?\n\nTrust me, it is far from \"silly\". When so-called 'Christian' pastors advocate that some citizens be \"surely put to death ... like the Bible says\", that encourages congregants to do just that.\n\nThink a bit more about your post, sky.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree - permanent deacons male/female should not be at all since this ministry only takes work from the laity, making the laity less involved while being an example of sexism either because women are still not allowed to be ordained deacons or because that is all they are allowed to be ordained to do. \n\nThe worthwhile fight is the one for exact same ordination of women as men, starting with priesthood & women being made Cardinals right away. This fight will bring justice & genuine unity to our religion. \n\nWe need to get back to teaching the actual Gospels of Jesus Christ which condemned anyone treating any other person differently than they wished to be treated and never taught women should be treated differently than men. Christ picked 12 Jewish Male Apostles to satisfy the law regarding the inheritance of Abraham's lineage, (per Jesus words in 2 Gospels) rooting Christianity in Judaism. Jesus called them to be judges not priests. NO gentile or women could satisfy this rule.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I said your arguments are puerile.\nIn plucking out one's eyes or cutting off one's limbs Our Lord was obviously comparing the loss of an eye or a hand with losing one's soul. When reading Scripture, especially the words of Our Lord one has to use common sense. \nThe Apostles and disciples in the early Church knew how to interpret the sayings of Christ as there are no reports of a plethora of eyeless, handless Christians in the 1st century. If Fr Reese cannot make these intelligent distinctions, it is no wonder he lost his job.\nBearing in mind that the sole authority to interpret Scripture is vested in the Church, when one has difficulty understanding Scripture, one looks to the magisterial interpretation of the Church rather than the views of a dissident Jesuit priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do wonder what future historians will write of our religious bent. It is easy to see that the Greeks were irrational and kind of silly to worship fantasy as God, and it is equally easy to see that the Romans did the same. But in real time, we humans just have a blindness, a need to hold close illusion and a special relationship with a supernatural power. \nNone of my business what someone else thinks or believes. But I do wonder about this man Christ...is he the one of the Catholic Church, which owns a full block downtown. Or is he the man of the Baptists, or the...\nAnd what of the Orthodox Jews who don't see the divinity of that man? \nhttps://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/what-do-jews-believe-about-jesus/\nI do worship fantasy, but only as an escape. I am indeed full of confusion and bitterness, that is an inevitable outcome of living in these bat...crazy times. Thank goodness for Harry Potter and Captain Kirk and Jim Jeffries.\nHugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure why you're targeting Christians. Muslims just like Catholics don't allow euthanasia and will insist on keeping their elderly on life support even after they're brain dead. How does society prioritize? What's more important? Freedom of religion or protection of the state?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They were counter-revolutionary, however. As for heterodoxy, no. They did not deny credal teachings (except to the extent that all Western Christians defy Orthodoxy on the origins of the Holy Spirit, which was as much a cynical act of branding as anything else, which is also most of the reason the anti-modernist media from EWTN to LifeSite to Church Militant raise such a stink. Indeed, Casti Connubii was all about keeping a Catholic brand after Lambreth approved birth control and affirmed that implantation was the start of life. You are not arguing for Dogma, you are arguing for your Brand. Brands can and should change, especially when counter-productive or proved harmfull.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where were you for the past 10 years as Harper and his evangelical buddies tried to screw this country?\nHarper is a member of the Canadian Alliance church - literal interpretation of the bible !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "DD,\n\nI'm not doubting \"A house divided shall not stand\".\n\nI am wondering about spreading the everlasting gospel. I seem to recall someone prophesying the very rocks would cry out if the multitude were silent.\n\nBalaam's Ass wasn't silent. Judas Iscariot testified about the Son of God. His testimony was borne in despair but a powerful witness nonetheless.\n\nThose who crucified Christ proclaimed Him \"King of the Jews\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And sex abuse is a crime.\nThe secular law helped these people.\nI did not see compassion, mercy or justice from the Catholic Church until it was dragged, kicking and screaming into the reality of just what went on.\n\nComplaining is what exposed this travesty.\nComplaining is what will keep the Catholic Church honest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I had a job, was there long enough I made enough to buy anything I reasonably wanted, good health insurance, savings, loved to exercise in the morning and time to do it... For the most part, happy. Infact I made enough that I said I'm finally going to give back, and donated to FFRF. Christian management set there sights on firing me and we're eventually successful. That's not right. You want to damage people that disagree with you and tell people, \"don't listen to them when they complain about it. That's like saying, don't listen to the person you are raping complain. Don't listen to the person you are enslaving complain. Christianity has had a long history in sexual misconduct and slavery. I like the new pope. He is very progressive. But we all live in society together, part of that means at least listening to those around you. Christianity is about self rightiousness, not divine, and these statements just back that up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is what you intended it to be.\nThere is no such thing as a right-wing or a left-wing Catholic. There are orthodox Catholics and heterodox catholics, you are confusing politics with religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The baker is a terrible Christian.\"\n\nPretty certain that is between him and God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am glad you revealed that you are no longer a priest in the Catholic Church, nor a practicing Catholic. Hopefully you will not lead other questioning Catholics on this site astray with your disturbing beliefs. I hope you one day realize your grave mistake and return to the one true faith. It is never too late as long as you have a beating heart.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" But if there really is a God, and it indeed operates on the basis of sending everyone who doesn't choose to subscribe to 2000 year old rumours to hell as punishment for our skepticism\"\n\nBut that is not Christianity. That is what those hostile to religion like to believe to sneer at it. My own Catholic faith teaches that everyone gets to heaven eventually, though some may need a long spell in purgatory to get the hate out of them. And the 7 day creation is a metaphor for a creation process humans cannot fathom. Try investigating religion with an open mind instead of convincing yourself you are an expert on a country while having never visited it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Conservative Christian thought\"\n\nNow THAT is an oxymoron so perfect it could go in the dictionary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) I agree that simply choosing to believe something doesn't in itself make that belief true, but to hold a \"God doesn't exist\" position (versus a more honest \"I don't know either way\" stance), you have to deny the existence of all things supernatural, as otherwise opens a door of possibility for God's existence. You have to believe that all the tremendous matter and energy that exists in the universe just came from nowhere magically (and the laws of entropy don't allow for matter and energy to have existed forever), and also that life, or even just DNA and RNA, in it's tremendous complexity is a random accident. 2) Comforting? The Christian path, in this life, is a much harder path than an atheist \"do whatever you want as long as the law doesn't catch you\" path. Recognizing God's existence avoids the harder questions of life and death? Quite the opposite actually - atheists are trying to avoid those harder questions by pretending that you just die and that's the end of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the information. I supposed that the Rev. Ms Schaper was not Catholic but I didn't want to comment and set off the usual ordination for women types who write so often. The article is classic click bait in any case (liturgical dance, remove the altar rails, female ministers, no reference or relevance to Catholicism, etc) - I'm surprised the comments column has been so quiet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sure it does. There was no celibacy REQUIRED in the early church. And in spite of what you write, only 4% of all Catholics [world-wide] are priests and hierarchy. Yet there is hardly a diocese where priestly abuse has not occurred---not just by one or two priests, but by many. In the mid1970-mid-1980's, I worked in a Catholic Diocesan high school. The headmaster, a diocesan priest, abused 11 boys over his almost 15 years in that position. And he was just the tip of the ice-berg in that diocese.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Saunders quotes this guy as saying that \u201ca European anti-Semite remains far more likely to be Christian than Muslim\" based on data from Spain that doesn't even make an effort to see whether Spanish Moslems are more likely to be Anti-Semitic than Spanish Catholics. Can Saunders point to any massacres of European Jews by Christians in Europe, like the killing of four people at the Hyper Cacher delicatessen in Paris last year that left four people dead? No-one should demonize Moslems but it seems like the threat of violent attacks on Jews in Europe by reason of their religion is very much a Moslem threat in spite of the fact that Moslems are a distinct minority in the European population. Just four years ago Saunders wrote a book called \"The Myth of the Muslim Tide\" talking about how Moslem immigration to Europe was no big deal, the birth rates in Moslem countries were declining and so on. He was ludicrously wrong about that, but he is still given a column to be wrong about other things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hatriotism is widely embraced by USA 'christians' ... this was CLEARLY decided this last election, but really, since Eisenhower the NORM for Republicans.\n\nToo bad, Lincoln's Republican party would rather drop trow and take a dump on today's Republicans. Lincoln would spit in the face of today's Republican, a big ol' Kentucky/Southern Illinois super loogie throat oyster. Brain wrap proportions ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the Catholic Church should officially declare the prosperity \"gospel\" a heresy. Decision theology, too. Those people are destroying Christianity, and replacing it with the worship of the self, and the worship of Mammon.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope is not infallible. The Church - being created by the Holy Spirit - has a chrism of infallibility, and the Pope can officially declare doctrines that are infallibly true. He has only done so three times, and then only because there was some question about those doctrines.\n\nMany of the Church's most basic dogmas have never been DECLARED infallible, but they clearly are, like the efficacy of baptism, the Real Presence or the 27-book New Testament. If they ever become controversial within the Catholic Church, THEN the Pope might declare them infallibly true.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesuit Theologian Karl Rahner said the future Christian will b a mystic or nothing at all.\"\n\nYes, in 1966, to be precise, Rahner predicted that \"the devout Christian of the future will be a 'mystic'...or will cease to be anything at all.\" For Rahner, a genuine experience of God would be foundational for Christian life in a highly complex and global world. Rahner, however, (like the great Catholic mystics before him) never played down or divorced himself from a corporate encounter with the divine -- through liturgy, the sacraments, and in community/parish life with ordinary people. A corollary of the love of God was love of neighbor, love of those with whom we live and worship, whom mystics might be separated in degree, but not in kind. Thus it goes without saying, mystics and Rahner were very much at home worshipping in churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Churches can exist and grow so long as they meet a perceived need of its members. In the past in the western world, the need was a fear of eternal damn*tion. I suspect that is what is taught to many in the parts of the world where church growth is \"booming\". Once that need is removed, then there need to be other reasons. It seems that too many churches have lost their way and don't provide a true Christian community where love of God is seen through love of neighbor. There is no reason to belong to a community that only pretends to be something, but is not. If it is true that more people are rejecting a belief in God, I believe the fault lies squarely with the many churches who do not practice what they preach.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, I guess it's no surprise someone like Jerry Ludke is hiding under a rock somewhere in Clallam County. It's people like this harming our community and holding himself back from maturing into the 20th century. I certainly hope he hasn't procreated lest his offspring be as hateful as he is. Certainly not a Christian although he doesn't claim to be in his letter, which is a good thing or he'd be a blight on that too. Your kind of hate isn't welcome here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nazis represent such a small segment of our country, it is not possible that their votes could change any election unless they could prevent others from voting. One of the alt-right protest leaders, Richard Spencer has asserted \u201cOur dream is a new society, an ethno-state that would be \u2026 based on very different ideals than, say, the Declaration of Independence.\u201d These terrorist hate groups are not only anti-Christian, they are against the very principles our country was founded - the Decaration of Independence!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am guessing you were attempting to be funny, but your article is ruined by your use of harmful, inaccurate stereotypes about a religion. How would your article go over if you were speaking about a Jewish group event? Or Catholic? Or Muslim? Insulting stereotypes masquerading as snarky humor are still not okay.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't it a bit ironic that Catholic Churches ring the Church bells on Patricks day to welcome destroyers into the country, and, right on cue one such savage kills our people in London. The clergy are complicit! They step up to the pulpit and pray for 'world peace' as if they are dimwitted beauty pageant contestants. The clergy have despised their noble birthright and sold it away for the sod pottage of social-work. 'Preaching' enviromentalism as incompetent 'scientists'; they make themselves fools addled alongside 'global warming' hot-shots who have been ridiculed for decades. [even 'global-warming' has had to have been changed to 'climate change' because the 'scientists' are always repudiated by the evidence...which contradicts 'warming']. [Or, 'cooling';...because in fact the nature of it is CYCLICAL; driven by the sun][indict me for mortal sin of 'climate denial', or, call me Capernicus]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin Flynn: On the face of it, you're correct. Most Canadians who identify as being Christian associate with mainline Christian religions, including Roman Catholicism and mainline Protestantism, whose members in both cases tend in general to hew to socially moderate or progressive views. However, by highlighting Mr. Scheer's socially-conservative voting record and his reliance on the support of his party's socially conservative membership, one reasonably has to believe the Libs will attempt to reinforce the perception that the unified Conservative Party, which includes the former Reform faction, is the political home of Canada's socially conservative Christian right. Although I believe Mr. Scheer is a Roman Catholic, his leadership victory appears to have given the Libs a very loud dog-whistle to sound against the Christian right. I suspect the \"hidden agenda\" of the Christian right, which long haunted Harper's reign, is back in play in a big way for the Libs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And how does the Christian god makes things worse ? Enlighten me if you can.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not as simple as just letting priests marry -- or, more likely, letting married people be priests. There is the whole question of a formation that factors in a healthy approach to marriage and sex, instead of factoring it out and hoping for the best. \nIn my view, the Church has no idea how to do that, witness the fact that the great majority of Catholic scholars address sex as a concept instead of as a biological-emotional-hormonal complex. Catholic scholars still struggle to deal with long-decided questions of contraception, when real women are asking whether it's okay to give their boyfriends/husbands \"something special\" in order to avoid pregnancy -- and perhaps get a good night's sleep in the process.\nShow me a Catholic publication that deals with these questions. Show me a seminary that trains priests to understand the decisions women have to take every time they decide to be intimate. Show me one Catholic article about sex not written by a priest or nun.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes they should, we are called to love. So do not look to Christians to find good. Only God is good. We are all flawed and most people (who call themselves Christians )who hate are false Christians. Look at Jesus. People who liked Jesus was nothing like Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bishops do not equal God. The teachings that many still espouse came down from an era when lots of children were needed to assist with the family's economy. That was in the pre-industrial age. During Vatican II, the linkage between the regulation of birth by nuclear families and world wide concern over population growth had been explicitly expressed in \"Gaudium et spes [87], in 1965. Most nations of the world came out with family-planning, especially just before the AIDS pandemic of the 1980's.\n\nYou stated that \"there is much more to Christianity than social justice\". Yet, how do you equate your stance with the Last Judgment passage in Matthew's Gospel [The Judgment of the Nations 25:31-47]. I'm sure that those sent to eternal punishment were MORAL and ethically good people. Sadly, though they were concerned with orthodoxy, but not with orthopraxy. More is needed than just being \"a good Catholic\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're projecting again.\nAnd doing that supercool thing that I pointed out originally - giving a pass to the atrocities committed by christians every day who are using a 3,000 year old book of fairy tales as their justification.\nWhat does your houseboy say about projecting and talking out of both sides of your mouth?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LifeOfTheLay, what are you on about?\n\nFather Awotwi said:\n\n\"This time fulfills me immensely as a missionary and a priest \u2014 opportunity for personal prayer and ministry.\" \n\nThat is not statement about motive, about \"serv[ing] to be fulfilled;\" its an post hoc observation by this priest about the consequences of serving, that he as matter of fact finds fulfillment \"in personal prayer and ministry.\"\n\nPhrogge said:\n\n \"Fulfillment is a good word to describe a chaplain's experience of serving the Gospel. It is a gift from God. Fulfillment happens in many professions, kind of an encouragement to keep on giving one's best.\" \n\nAgain this is not a statement about motivation, about \"serv[ing] to be fulfilled; its an observation that \"serving the Gospel\" as a chaplain can result in the divine gift of being fulfilled.\n\nMore importantly, an assessment of one's inner emotional experience as a guide to discerning the will of God is a fundamental principle in all deep Christian spiritualities", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "when the board began reviewing whether to allow students to write their own sermons, approved by a school administrator, or be required to choose from six prewritten ones.\n------------------------\ndoes this mean high school students write the SERMONS for other high school students instead of an imam\n\nIs this how it works in Islam?\n\nIn Christianity the priest, minister etc would make the sermon\nsurely not high school students", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The founding fathers at the constitutional convention were asked (by Ben Franklin) to open their meetings each day with a prayer. The delegates, with the exception of two or three people, felt that opening with a prayer was unnecessary, and the convention went on for 4 months without opening prayers being held. I guess those founding fathers really showed us secular humanists what a Judeo-Christian nation this was founded to be, huh?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are too many walls between people of different Religions. My Dad's family were not Catholic, and we were afraid they could not go to Heaven. It was the first thing I questioned about my 'Faith.' \nNow, I'm convinced that the exclusion of Women from Priesthood and the Hierarchy is also a betrayal of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Calendars are starting to be the issue just look at the attack in Turkey.\nMany people of the Islam faith are not happy with the Catholic calendar and we need to satisfy their wishes. We dont want any thing terrible to happen here do we?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "joe, many Americans think liberals have passed a law forbidding a child to say a prayer in the school cafeteria before they eat. just not true, verifiable not true and that is the clutch. the Reagan-Leary exchange was conducted in another time, and place, but, conversations about religion and religious freedom are still taking place every day, in more countries than ever. anything that hasn't been proven is just a theory. religion has no basis in fact and is a theory wholly based on the bible. mike pence, running for vice president of the united states of america, proudly proclaimed to the world that he is a christian, a conservative and a republican, in that order and if elected, and if something happened to the president, he would do everything in his considerable power to undo all the progress towards religious tolerance that has been made in this country in the past fifty years. sorry, but most of the intolerance in the u.s. comes from christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"exploding \" Interesting you would pick such a word in light of fact that last night Clintons democrats 'Fire Bombed' a republican headquarter.\n\nhttp://controversialtimes.com/news/breaking-republican-offices-fire-bombed-messages-of-hate-painted-on-walls/\n\nhttp://nypost.com/2016/10/16/north-carolina-republican-office-torched-by-fire-bomb/\n\nI would imagine there are a whole lot of rational Christians praying about now the hate driving democrats don't fire bomb some church next. Especially seeing had badly there failed attempts at damage control over Wiki Leaks has them falling on their faces.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Conservative Christians opposing views are harder to tolerate since they want to create a state religion despite the US Constitution and they try and sometimes enact laws that are just intrusive in the lives of private citizens and are unnecessary and are directed on purpose to target and negatively impact specific groups of citizens.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd consider it pro-life situational ethics, yes. (by the way, the religion of a surgeon is ever relevant....how?)\n\nAnd we might agree, then, all ethics are situational when applied. \n\nConservative Catholics so, so often condemn \"situational ethics,\" as if it were somehow wrong to literally apply one's ethics, beliefs, feelings, discernments, and faith as called for by situations.\n\n It is the responsibility of an educated, informed, faithful, and prayerful Catholic to act at the nexus of belief and action and to make situational decisions accordingly. And, yes, to weigh---often painfully--ALL attendant issues. And if the doc saving my child were a terrorist or an atheist, I'd not give a hoot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a pity they gave up the Catholic brand after Vatican II. The more they pander outside of it, the more churches they wind up shuttering.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some say they are Christian, many say they are but behave like savages toward those who aren't \"true believers\" or righteous ultra conservatives. \nThen there are people like you, a loco version of little donnieT, who spew hatred, cultivate racism, misogyny, and snake handling, all under the name of \"Christianity\", a \"safe place\" to condemn heathens and political opposites.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I submit that anyone, particularly one with any significant rank and influence in the Catholic church, who denies any knowledge of paedophilia within the institution, is either unbelievably ignorant of the internal machinations of the church or just plain lying.\n\nI go for the latter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"if a church school is not evangelizing, equipping and empowering its students in its faith ...\"\nThen it is a lousy church school.\nThe purpose of a religious school is precisely to educate the children of the church's adherents in the tenets of that religion. Now, it's great if the school teaches a rigorous curriculum conforming to educational norms, but the purpose of a religious school is to teach that religion.\nJewish day schools or yeshivahs teach about Judaism. Roman Catholic parochial schools teach about Roman Catholicism. If they also teach algebra, American History, Biology (including Darwin), that's great. But they are there to teach about Jewish or Roman Catholic theology, values, history, etc. They are there to evangelize, equip and empower students in their faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And yet this same day, you were endorsing Alex Mikulich's NCR essay about the inherent racism within the Catholic church. Please make up your mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope. I know a few who have openly pursued annulments and were bitter and dropped the whole thing because the process is very long and they received no support. A few had gone through messy divorces with controlling husbands. And in at least one instance the ex-husband used it as a way to continue his battle with his ex-wife. (He was a very mean man.) When she was asked her \"advocate\" about her ex-husband's harassment, the priest essentially told her to suck it up and he could care less about it. She left the Catholic Church after that. \n\nAnd I do know of a few acquaintances who asked about annulments recently because they were misled by the media to believe the process was somehow easier. They were upset and felt lied to when they learned about the amount of time and paperwork involved as well as the high fees. \n\nAnd people who don't want to go through another divorce proceeding. They want to get on with their lives. Is it that hard to understand.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Shocking !\nThe thought of one Christian attempting to gain political advantage over another....\nShocking I tell you !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one spouted off against the Pope. They were apparently discussing exorcisms and what an exorcist alleged the devil said during an exorcism. I know nothing about these people except for what I have read, I'd never heard of them until the other day.\nIt is Andrea Tonielli up to his old tricks again trying to stir up trouble again. Grist to the mill for that former Catholic periodical, The Tablet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The initial \"sharp decline in faith practices\" was by the clerics. When they were caught in their generally unchristian, and specifically un-Catholic shenanigans, the populace rightly responded --- trust lost, practices questioned, doctrines ignored. \n\nThe populace then seem to have discovered that life got better. \n\nThe church has only itself to blame.\n\nI applaud the Irish for recognizing evil and taking steps to unburden themselves of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Luis, I think your theology would resonate very highly with some of those here who are Catholic! For me personally, I don't think Christ is limited to the Vatican Church. I don't think the Pope and his court have any authority that is not earned. They are not the legitimate government of the Church because they are non-representative. At least some authority to make priests and bishops resides in the people in the pews as in the first century, people gathered in women's homes and chose their own leaders and presbyters. The Cosmic Christ will continue to 'emerge' unimpeded by pointy hats in Rome. But it would be better for them if they followed the words of Jesus about loving their neighbors. I'm not much into the divine feminine in Jesus (Jesus as mother hen, etc). For me, he is just an example of a loving teacher, godly as are all us saints in the making, but not a god.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings...Archie Chaput does not speak for all American Catholics! Chaputs strange political alliances should cause Holy Father Francis some worry indeed! Acting like \"Episcopus Maximus\" drives further the political wedge between American Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that Catholic moral teaching is a great place to start and to begin the conversation. \n\nBUT...\n\nI'll bet you think that's also the best and, dare I say only, place to END the conversation. If so, then it's not an honest educational intra-faith conversation you agree to. \n\nAre you open to learning, to enhanced understanding, to admitting others might have a point or two, to seeing an other side, to appreciating the experiences of others, and to changing your mind about what are the essential and non-essential things re the teachings about human sexuality?\n\nWe--on the Right, on the Left--shouldn't fake it, and enter into a conversation if we preclude learning and growth as outcomes. \n\nI repeat the Wooden Law, learning is what happens after you think you know it all. Are you part of the learning process? Or are you closed to conversations that can educate you? \n\n Do you already know it all? \n\nDo you seek a conversation, or do you want a pledge of conformity and homogenization?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Francis' openness to studying the possibility of women serving as deacons could represent an historic shift for the global Catholic church, which does not ordain women as clergy.\"\n\nI think, more accurately, it is a return to origins and not a shift for the church. The further we get from Christ's time on earth the further we seem to get from his message and practices. We had female deacons, let's just reinstate them now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "meaning? if we Catholics think we constitute an island of political difference, better informed and of higher morality above the general public, our heads are in the clouds, imho...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well at least you are consistent in your public opposition and hostility to Catholic moral teaching on sex and marriage - yet you remain a Catholic. However, reason doesn't seem to be one of your strongest points. Unfortunately (for you, not the rest of the faithful), you are not the Magisterium and cannot authoritatively declare that sin is no longer sin but is now goodness and should be publicly endorsed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I remember Vatican II, which started when I was in high school. Many of us were filled with idealism and hope. As Wordsworth said about the French Revolution, \"Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,/But to be young was very heaven!\" I know what happened to the ideals of the French Revolution -- the red terror, the 18th Brumaire, and so on. The idealism of that revolution was lost; and the idealism of the late 60s was lost also. I will not speak of the political reasons for the loss of idealism: Vietnam, Kent State, Watergate; but our idealism was also in our Church.\n\nWe felt a spirit saying \"Behold! I make all things new!\" I have been to a Mass concelebrated by a Catholic priest and an Episcopalian priest, and we expected reunion between Rome and Canterbury because each would recognize the other as sisters in Christ. We were foolish to think such things, but it was such a wonderful dream, and far better than the more cynical attitude I have been left with.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A positive outcome...\n\n Nobody now can deny that there really IS a Catholic Cafeteria, where rigorous discernment, adult conscience formation, thoughtful weighing, and educated viscera all are legitimate and authentic guides.\n\nAnd maybe, just maybe, that's a good thing for Church unity, while terrible for uniformity. If in our church parking lots cars with Hillary stickers can coexist with cars with Trump stickers, maybe the drivers can walk into and out of Mass together too, without anyone being called \"less\" Catholic or \"more\" Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True this is a Catholic publication...and since this nation is an enlightened culturally diverse nation respecting all; its values exceed reputed Christian values with civil values which are humane, decent, accepted and respected and known as universal values of good will directed to universal care health, fitness, financial relief, housing, safety, education and so forth.\nWhen the church directs its activities to charities, housing, hospitals, nursing homes it is to be applauded. When the church invades the political spectrum filing suits contrary to the benefits bestowed upon citizens by ACA, civil unions, medical research eg. stem cell research, labeling its faithful as disordered, one issue voting, denial of its sacrament to divorced and remarried, it is not doing so well.\nFinally, a number of bishops have found a silent voice and have come forth loudly in support of immigration...what is needed are more 'profiles in courage'..specifically regarding the corporal works of mercy", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes I know you have read what I wrote to Neko and you couldn't wait to have a go. Naturally you misrepresent, twist and distort most of what I said about myself but then that doesn't surprise me as ad hominem attacks seem to be your forte.\nI'm sorry that you don't like me saying, \"calls himself a priest\" but quite honestly threatening to knock someone's teeth out is not what one would expect from a Catholic priest so you only have yourself to blame for causing that doubt amongst those who read your comments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you think Jesus got divorce, remarriage and adultery wrong, you're the non-Catholic one!\n\nWhat of the liberal clergy that also enabled abuse? Cardinal Danneels was picked to attend the Synod and he told a victim to keep quiet about his bishop uncle's abuse? I guess that cancels his vote in the Synod, right?\n\nIf a prelate was telling me to let my conscience lead me to adultery, why would I be sure they aren't abusing their conscience to justify some kind of sins themself?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those who expect Trump to have their backs should note that he changes what he says to the opposite every week or so, depending on which way the cheers blow. I wish someone would ask him about Catholic beliefs and see if they can get anything other than \"They like the Pope and Jesus.\" Remember this is the man who referred to Two Corinthians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If there is one thing that the Catholic Religion means to me, it is that it is a sacramental church where the reception of the Eucharist, Penance, Baptism, Last Rights, and Marriage are frequent and easy. What has happened with the decreasing numbers of Priests is that these sacraments are made harder to receive. The idea that the conscience of the individual when it comes to Birth Control or views on what is and is not abortion has taken center stage and Bishops have been all too active in asserting authoritarian power. It is purely masogynistic authoritarian to keep women away from the priesthood. It is not following the early church practicing The Way of Christ to keep married men from the priesthood. Holy Orders were began as an attempt to bring organization and leadership to the church, but clericalism has gone haywire. If the leadership does not change to allow more leaders to offer frequent sacraments without condition, then the laity will be forced to take control again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In lefty \"journalist\" code, if there is no description or mention of ethnicity, you know the suspects are members of a \"protected class.\" The media is just living for the day that they get their White, male, Christian conservative engaging in a heinous crime; until then, they don't want to talk about who really commits most of the crime in this Country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People are waking up to the taqiyya of Islam. Aziz,uses deceptions and twists events to protect , defend and deflect the truth about what Muslims are doing around the world with violence and death as tools for power. The purity of Islam must never be besmirched by infidels, non believers Christians, and Jews who expose what is actually going to happen. Taqiyya is to Islam what the 9th Commandment is to Christianity: it is a sacred duty and a blessed thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church cannot dictate to the whole country what should and should not be included in the the ACA. Not all religious groups agree with the Catholic Church. No one is forcing Catholics to avail themselves of anything they object to. Not all Christians share the view that Catholics adhere to. Catholics at large do not agree with the hiarchy of the church. Catholic organizations can opt out of the parts they object to. No one is forced to comply to parts they object to. Not all people in this country are religious believers. We can't force our views on the rest of the country. It is our personal responsibility to follow own values. We allow the death penalty which is against our beliefs. Many object to war and we all pay for that. If we had to please those groups our military would be gutted. We want everyone to have healthcare. Catholic bishops have contributed to the election of Trump. Many voted for Trump on that one issue, abortion and contraceptions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The followers of radical Islam (ISIS, et al) believe that they will reap eternal rewards by committing horrific acts against the infidels. They concentrate on that \"ultimate reward\" rather than recognizing the \"earthly\" harm they are doing to others. They believe that , as you put it, \"the good can and often does make up for the bad. \" Over centuries, Christian zealots have taken an all-too-similar approach as they \"coverted\" the heathen. \"Come to Jesus, or die.\" Religious zealotry, IMO, has led to truly evil acts far too often. \n\nI don't care what you believe....that's your business. However, if a religious person justifies either an evil act or the acceptance of tragedy as the \"wish\" of god, you lose me. Mr. Trump claims to be a \"Christian\"...I ask \"Can a true Christian be as self-centered and uncaring as Donald Trump?\" wow, I certainly hope not. I try to live by the Golden Rule...\"do unto others as you would have them do unto you.\" ...secular humanism works.. Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "See how easy that was to shut down debate...say, Islamaphobia 3 times fast and that's that. \n\nWill the Province consider bringing back the Lord's Prayer to accommodate the believers in the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ? Of course not....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is in response to Marty E, Busto1960 and others who insist on imposing their religious ban on abortions. Giving Islam as an example occurring before the abortion ban was instituted by radical Christianity is historically wrong. Islam is another example of a radical religion which incorporates both Christian and Jewish religions, mostly distorted to fit the prophet Mohammad's new religion which he tried to impose on both Christians and Jews. Those three religions are all male dominated and therefore treat women as possessions. The article cited by one of you regarding statistics on abortions with reference to the Guttmacher data, distorted those to suit the pr0-life agenda. Please read the Planned Parenthood pdf that I posted before this post and see for yourselves that pregnancies while life threatening in 1% of cases, do threaten the general health of women suffering from many other health problems. About 92% of abortions happen in the first trimester. Please mind your business.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And prior to 1967, many states (maybe most of them?) required that persons who wished to marry be of the same race. The racism of the miscegenation laws is no longer 'respectable'; the bigotry which heretofore prevented gay persons from exercising the civil right to marriage enjoyed by other citizens is now recognized, in law and by most people, as no more 'respectable' than the racism of the laws that prohibited interracial marriage. As an American, a Christian, and a Catholic, I am delighted that the civil rights of our sisters and brothers in the GLBT communities have been affirmed by the Court.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While Muslims excoriate us about supposed Islamophobia, we should bear in mind Islam's entrenched xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, Judeophobia and antisemitism , Christophbia, Europhobia, Americanophobia, democraceaophobia, iconoclasm, and even Islamophobia against each other. Ancient hatreds and wars of extermination between Kurds, Shiite, Sunni, Wahhabi, Druze and other Islamic sects are worse than anything expressed in the west, even by Trump", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm glad you're with her, Michael. Unlike so many Catholics who are more worried about yet-to-be born fetuses than the fate of seven billion people who are already born, I'm glad you're able to see reason with a clear eye. \n\nBut this sentence bothers me: \"I am not confident Clinton\u2019s appointments to the bench will be as solicitous of our religious institutions as I would want.\" Ever heard of the separation of church and state? It is not the place of any president to be \"solicitous\" of any religious institution, as the Catholic president John F. Kennedy understood, because the president is president of all the people, including non-religious ones. We live in a pluralistic country, not a Christian theocracy, and some of us Christians like it that way - it's better for the country and for ALL religions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Winters, thank you for a very thoughtful article. I have one issue and that is you saying Secretary Clinton is wrong on abortion. I understand that, for you as a Catholic, she is wrong and I would defend to my last breath your right to your religion and all its tenets. But as a Jew, my religious beliefs are informed by a different set of precepts, no better and no worse than yours. I agree with Secretary Clinton and I am not wrong. Nor are you. I believe we both are right, we both have the right to our views and the Constitution allows us all our individual religious beliefs and freedoms.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many years have you studied biblical history? I studied in Jerusalem under biblical scholars in preparation for my advanced studies in Catholic Church History---which now I teach. What language did the common Jew speak in Palestine? What language did the simple fishermen who followed Jesus use in celebrating the greatest feast in the Jewish calendar? It was not Latin---which was a language of subjection for the Palestinian Jew. \n\nIf you think that Church historians don't know what languages Christian people used in their celebrations of the Meal---you're full of hooey! The beginnings of the different Rites of the Church were in seed in these centuries. \n\nOh, and the Roman Emperors didn't persecute Christians? And Diocletian and Nero permitted the building of churches? Christians were persecuted either wholesale or in regions by the Roman emperors until the Edict of Milan in 311 AD. By CHURCH---I mean buildings that we call churches. Communities existed before.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "About the only thing worth reading in this article is the reminder that the use of artificial contraception is settled for Catholics.\n\nTrue enough, going all the way back, with clear teaching even from the Fathers.\n\nIt's a mortal sin and always will be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He didn't respect the pharisees or Romans? Not even the centurion who's servant he healed? And how about Joseph of Arimithea and Nicodemus? Of course, they were probably Saduccees, and you didn't stake a position on Jesus' respect for them. No, the bunkum is the cloaking of hateful bigotry in christian terms, and expressing one's cultural biases as chiristian values. \n\nLOL, Just kidding! Its all OK, if its in Latin and properly dressed!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I didn't leave the Republican party, the Republican party left me.\"\n\nHonestly, it's hard to really say what principles the Republican party is actually for these days, aside from catering to whatever the very wealthy and the ultra religious Christian types want, as well as the general defense of bigotry.\n\nThis is bad for the country not just because of what they want to push through, but also because without a functional choice of realistic alternate solutions to problems, we suffer. The left isn't always correct in its first answer to a problem - sometimes it takes a different perspective to come up with better ideas, or at least to critique and thereby give a better solution. But you can't have that when one party refuses to even admit that there are problems in the first place, be it with Climate Change, Network Neutrality/ISP monopolies, Income Inequality, the War on Drugs/Police Militarization/Mass Incarceration, Health care, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps a clever move by non-Conservatives--unless their financial support for the Conservative Party counts for more than their votes against Leitch.\n\nAs for the Conservative Party establishment, Leitch probably hopes to do to them what Trump did to the US Republican establishment: reach over their heads to tap into a mood of resentment and unease among conservative supporters, throw the party establishment into disarray, build grassroots financial support and make her issues the only issues anyone is talking about.\n\nIt's a clever strategy. Although her proposals are perverse and degraded on their faces (like Trump's), the strategy could work if she guessed correctly that white, mostly conservative Christian Canadians are also looking for a leader to channel their fears and resentments.\n\nIn this light, Leitch's calculus seems to be that, to really harness the right-wing vote, Stephen Harper didn't go far enough towards the alt-right view, rather than that he went too far.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It really goes back to the Donatist controversy in the 3rd century and to Augustine who argued that the church must expect to be made up of a \"mixed body\" of saints and sinners, refusing to weed out those who had become lapsed, defiled. He taught that the validity of the church's mission did not depend upon the holiness of its clerics or ministers (some argue, the sex or orientation of the cleric, too), but upon the person of Jesus Christ. Of course, if the cleric committed a crime, he or she like any citizen should be sent to prison (and seek forgiveness there) while making restitution and doing time. And in Chapter 25 (Matthew), Jesus reminds us how important it is to \"visit those in prison,\" but, at the same time, not let them out (implying that criminals should not be released until their sentence is up).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you not read Mehgit 569's link? \n\nJPII said: \" My first impression is women do have their place in the Church. Be happy that you can keep the residence of the priest clean and free him from material tasks which would absorb part of the time he needs for apostolic labours.\" \"Such material tasks\", the Pope said \"are more suited to the female charisms....you could never thank God enough for giving you the grace of choosing to serve the clergy\". \n\nIOW,: \"Pope John Paul II told church housekeepers to give thanks for their vocation to cook and clean for priests so the men could do their important work.\"\n\nClassic JPII when it comes to women.\n\nRepeating Mehit's citation please refer to\n\n https://books.google.com/books?id=Qg9PHud49PAC&pg=PA287&lpg=PA287&dq=pope+john+paul+ii+message+to+housekeepers&source=bl&ots=J2_sKcIxXO&sig=48WyCFrn-sjG6vXLvpf7WdQ_YYE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiDp--8ybXWAhVGzIMKHfVBAbsQ6AEIWjAQ#v=onepage&q=pope%20john%20paul%20ii%20message%20to%20housekeepers&f=false", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".\n>>The oldest Christian communities in the world are in Egypt, Turkey, Palestine \n.\nNot by virtue of Islam, which materialized 7 centuries later.\n.\n>> Building a mosque is illegal in the Vatican.\n.\nSo is building a mall.\n.\n>>There is no ancient Muslim community in a Christian ruled country in Europe.\n.\nIncorrect - in the Slavic countries in the Balkans (and Greece), which were part of the Ottoman empire for 500 years.\n.\n>>As for moving people from Europe to Asia and Africa, it happened for 500 years. It was called colonialism..Asians and Africans could not go to European neighborhoods, schools, streets, etc. \n.\nYour usual way of deflection - \"Asians and Africans\" are in European neighborhoods, schools, streets -at this very moment. But seems Muslim patrols in London do not allow non-Muslim crossing their neighborhoods.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The really funny thing about the Trump phenomenon, and the way it plays into partisan politics, is the hilarious fact that christian conservatives are now holding the bag for Donald Trump.\n\nSooner or later we as a country are going to look beyond \"left\" vs \"right\" and realize we're all being played off against each other so that a handful of wealthy people can have their way with OUR democracy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Catholic Church has no temporal aim?\" Why is interested in having political concordats with secular governments?\nAren't the Beatitudes about this world?\n\"Thy kingdom come in heaven?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Saudi Arabia [Islam] is a work in progress.\"\n\nThe same could be said of Israel [Judaism], and by association, the United States (Christianity?).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was your beloved John Paul the Corrupt who protected Marcial Degollado and left those he had abused out in the cold ... the mythical mafia you speak of pale in comparison to this neoconservative filth ... Pope Francis is sluicing out the Augean Stables ... he is most certainly the Vicar of Christ ... JPII not so much ... Jesus spoke of being thrown into the sea with a millstone around the neck for those who behave in such a black-hearted and callous manner! The sun has set on neoscholasticism ... we return at last to the Gospel, the Good News, of Jesus Christ!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So liberals and alt left protesters of black lives matter and antifa violently preventing conservatives and Jews from speaking on college campuses is Ok, but a Christian protesting the killing of babies is not. Got it. #liberallogic", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, there's a lot of truth to that.\nOver the years, I've heard many conservative Christians say, \"We don't worry about global warming, pollution, nuclear proliferation, overfishing, etc. Why should we? We're borned again! Jesus will save us!\" I think these folks are in for a big surprise from On High, but that'll be too late for the planet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There should be no Catholic school boards paid by taxpayers. Want that pay for it in private schools. I guess I m anti Catholic. Next, Muslims want to pray in public schools go to a private school. I guess I suffer from Islamphobia what ever that means.\nMajority of the food sold in grocery stores are Kosher. Jews and Muslims (halal) can have their own specialty stores like other cultures. COR u Prev on all packaging dont agree dont need religion in my grocery store. Again Anti semitism what ever that means. Semites are a language group related to Hebrew and Arabic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a good Christian one would say, let Kim hurt us if he wants to. Like Jesus said if you get hit by someone offer him another chance to do it again, but for heavens sake don,t act violent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These are not isolated incidents. I was being molested by a Catholic priest at a church just a few blocks from where our current President was then attending elementary school. My no nonsense father pulled our family out of the Catholic church and joined a Protestant church. Case closed?\n Not quite. When I was in graduate school at 22, a Catholic priest in my class approached me in this manner as I was driving him to an off campus class visit. If enough families followed the actions of my father, the message will hit home with the leadership of the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ISIS is hardly a major threat and would be no threat at all if anti-Muslim belligerence would end. The talk is unbelievable and, largely, founded on lies. People spew about things they do not understand. Any fool can tell that someone angry about the murder of Muslims will hear this stuff and, before you know it, do everything they can to retaliate.\n\nThe thing is, if the \"war on terrorism\" is going to be won, all people, including stupid ones, must look for the best in people and expect the best. Find ways to change your values. Accept that you might actually know next to nothing about Islam, or Christianity, or of any particular group or any particular faith.\n\nJust try to show us the good that is in you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Colkoch\nYou appear to not believe in an objective God, but rather, would wish to be God, changing doctrine just because you are afraid. Afraid of what? Afraid of a time when Christianity will be the minority? Afraid that few will even care for the Word of the Lord? Afraid of the possibility that the Church may have to go underground, lost of any and all of its pretty property?\nYou live in fear of the irreligious, and instead try to appeal to their skepticism instead of challenging it\nYou're a coward to sacrifice central church teaching just to gain wider appeal. Early Christians had to deal with being the minority, to thrive under hostile rule, and yet it's what you fear the most.\n\nThe Catholic Church teaches the Truth, not a subjective truth, the Truth. People will come around back to the faith as it stands once they're finished fooling around with chaos, much like the Benedictine Option.\n\nYou, on the other hand, will panic with fear as you make concession to evil for a number.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "my guess he is Christian", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know what my father did and said for most of the decades of life granted him . Once his tax return was audited by the Internal Revenue Service because for people of modest means he and Mama gave so much to charity . That's what the auditor told them . \nThey literally \"buried the dead\" , paying the funeral home and cemetery for friends who were indigent . Daddy was not a bigot or a racist . He was kind to all : strangers and friends . He sacrificed for his family . He and my mother cared for their Down Syndrome son . \nWell , you get my drift , Trid . \nSo yes he would say what he said because it bore witness to his faith in the loving father of our brother and Savior , Jesus . \nDaddy was forgiving . And he had plenty of practice in that virtue ! Only a profound prayer life made all of this possible . He was educated by Franciscans.\nToday's Catholics need not copy anybody . If Francis of Assisi was told in the 13th c. to rebuild church we can , too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis is building more bridges between Christians. Go Francis Go!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good point Paul. To be clear, I don't lump all Christians into a media version that brings ratings. I believe in meditative prayer that begins and resides in the heart, Christian or not. \nI've witnessed the abuse of Christianity throughout my life, mostly because I grew up in the states. Organized belief can be corrupted in so many ways as it's a human construct. How many have suffered and died because they didn't conform? Buddhists, Catholics, Jews, etc., have all felt the sting of power as it displaces the original intent. Sitting with Jesus would be sublime\nas our prayer for humanity would resonate with the message of peace, love, and hope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not heresy. It's science. Heresy is claiming the genesis story is factual and historical and claiming Catholics must believe it to be so. Your idiosyncratic version of Catholicism is entertaining, but very far off the mark. Further than any \"progressive\" or \"modernist\" who posts here. I fear you are very far into the realm of Schism, and your biblical views are not those of the Catholic Church, although you wold be welcome by the Southern Baptists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your citation is not an article about people being fired for being gay.\n\nIt is about people facing consequences for doing things which publicly contradict the Church\u2019s teachings spun by Michael Sean Winters into something else.\n\nThe communion at the funeral was particularly sad because the woman being buried was a devout Catholic and her daughter, and her son, are avowed enemies of the Church who specifically set up the confrontation to make the news.\n\nThe issue is one of scandal. Obviously if people - and their orientation is irrelevant - engage in public behavior which makes their employment problematic from the standpoint of teaching Catholic students or being in some other position, they are going to have a problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You think Christians are increasingly ineffective at curtailing civil rights? Afraid I have to disagree there. They just got Pence elected as VP. If you don't think the election of Trump and his evangelical wing man isn't a de facto attack on civil rights you haven't been paying attention.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Listening to victims should be the church's first step, agree advocates for those affected by sexual violence.\n\n\"This is the starting point for anybody in a dominant class or position of authority or power,\" Horan said. \"We need to be quiet and trust and listen to the experiences of women.\"\n\nMany years ago a liberal Archbishop in Milwaukee held listening sessions to hear the voices and concerns of women. This was to lead to a letter for women. Despite his other faults, he was one of few who truly listened to, and respected women. His brother bishops were scandalized at this and ostracized him for daring to ask women what they thought.. It has only gotten worse since then. The theological understanding of Imago Dei, all humanity created in the image and likeness of God, a basic Christian tenet, exists only in theory in the clerical world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "U: I am equally correct in saying \"Merry Christmas\" and it is not disrespectful in the least. Afterall why do we have a holiday season based around 25 December? Hint: It is not because of your birthday. True Christians are tolerant of other religions. It is you who is not tolerant. So from me to you - Merry Christmas!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right. So unfair. Why don't you start a gofundme account for Jeremy Christian to balance the books against the Muslim Community Center who has the temerity to show appreciation to the victims and their families. Gofund yourself too while you're at it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're going to have to do a lot better than \"I like it\" to justify this self centered distraction at the most Holy Catholic Mass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A serious comment ...\n\nNot to say the current situation isn't tragically and profoundly different; but to get a picture of what once was and what could be, you must read _The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain_.\n\nThe beauty and peace of this epoch makes your heart beat faster and your spirit pine. The demise of this great period was perpetrated by the most despicable of \"Christian\" believers, but abetted by Muslim fanatics.\n\nIn each of these religions there lies the potential for good and evil. My father a devout Catholic was beatific; and, if all Catholics were like him, our world would be a better place. I'm sure the same is true of many devout Muslims.\n\nWhat we must do is separate the religion from the behavior. There is little difference between the violent, anti-abortionist Christian and the jihadist Muslim.\n \nA criminal is a criminal. A Samaritan is a Samaritan.\n\nPeace,\n\n-- Paul", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'\n\u2026the state department lists are incomplete as they don't list all terrorist groups, only those originating outside of the country.\n\nIn America there are the Christian terrorist groups, just a couple of examples, the Army of God, and the Phineas Priesthood, \n\nThen you have other terrorist groups like the Jewish Defense league, and the KKK and the Sovereign Citizens.\n\nAnd this is by no means a complete list.\n\n.\n(and 44 is not even 90% of 50, that would be 45, \u2026so the 99.99% figure you're so fond of quoting still needs work.)\n.\nHyperbole is just that. Overblown, like some people's unwarranted fear mongering.\n.\nThere's no dismissing the Dylan Roof's, the Eric Rudolphs or the Alexandre Bissonnettes.\n\nNo one religion corners the market in terrorism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God Bless Father Pavone.\n\nWorry about the left-wing rot in the Church, not loyal Catholics like Pavone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fortunately, Jesus never said there was judge for the one who rejects erroneous teachings propounded by the roman catholic church. Two different things, Jesus and the man-made terribly fallible institution. Good to keep that in mind, or risk falling into idol worship.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Joan,\n\nSuper example - I am going to write more tomorrow but just wanted to you know I liked your reply. It is nice to see that when replying to hot button topics today such as abortion or same sex marriage from a Catholic newspaper that Catholics talk about God and His Will and not keep Him out of the arena/conversation. Jesus swam against the tide of popular opinion in His time and if we choose to follow Him, it requires picking up our daily crosses (which can mean refusing to follow public opinion when it goes against pleasing God / when it goes against God's Order. Thanks again, Joan and more tomorrow. \n\nJuergen", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I remember, even as a kid, not being moved by the liturgical calendar. In fact, I remember feeling annoyed and resentful that the Church assumed that the tides of my moods would somehow lock in step with the Church's calendar. It was just further evidence that the Church did not really care to understand us as unique creations but rather would look no further than putting us in gross boxes. But one teacher in elementary school taught that the better way is for a Christian to seek and find Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter in every day. This made sense. Finally. Could it be that the religious teachers who matter most to us are those who are willing to recognize more complexity and subtlety in things, who are willing to find ways for diverse individuals to shape their spiritual life as they need to?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jealousy, conspiratorial subtext, seigneurial belief that NCR knows better than the KoC about Catholicism... any or all of the above.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The vast majority of Trump supporters I know are white, middle-class, Christian, older and rural. And more than a few I know put forth \"immigration\" as one of their main reasons for supporting him. They are the scared, white middle of America, that sees itself and its influence gradually eroding as demographics change. Make no mistake, for many Trump supporters, this election is ALL ABOUT skin color. Is it racism? I don't know if it neatly fits into that category. But it is all about fear, and make no mistake - fear is all Donald Trump has. The fear of his supporters, upon which he has played masterfully.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"'Catholic Social Teaching' isn't Catholic.\"\n\nCafeteria Catholicism, conservative version.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well your money would be on Cardinal Burke here as he is the ultimate target, the hate figure. No one here cares one jot about the Knights, who they are or what happens to them, you only have to read the majority of comments here to see that that is the case, \nCardinal Burke is the b\u00eate noire for dissident pseudo-Catholics and everybody here is waiting to dance upon his grave. One really wonders how self-styled Christian people waffling on about love, forgiveness and mercy can become so consumed with hatred for this man. May God forgive you all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the logic of the argument is identical. So, all you have to do is demonstrate that the Apostles ordained women as they ordained gentiles and notify the Holy See.\n\nOver three decades the only reason you have put forth for the proposition that \"both arguments are equally bogus\" is that you happen to dislike the teaching.\n\nWhile I can appreciate that, it's hardly the robust fare of a coherent intelligent Catholic discussion, and your gainsaying is really not all that interesting to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alexander Cockburn wrote a couple times about SPLC:\nWhat is the arch-salesman of hate-mongering, Mr. Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center doing now? He\u2019s saying that the election of a black president proves his point. Hate is on the rise! Send money!\n\nWithout skipping a beat, the mailshot moguls, who year after year make money selling the notion there\u2019s been a right resurgence out there in the hinterland with massed legions of haters, have used the election of a black president to say that, yes, hate is on the rise and America ready to burst apart at the seams, with millions of extremists primed to march down Main Street draped in Klan robes, a copy of Mein Kampf tucked under one arm and a Bible under the other, available for sneak photographs from minions of Chip Berlet, another salesman of the Christian menace, ripely endowed with millions to battle the legions of the cross.\n\nhttps://www.counterpunch.org/2009/05/15/king-of-the-hate-business/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But one cannot help but pity the parents, knowing their non-Catholic children are doomed for all eternity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"More welcoming\" only to the divorced and remarried, an infinitesimally small number of Catholics who disobeyed the magisterium in remarrying but are obedient about receiving communion. This pope is as misogynist and homophobic as the cardinals who elected him and the men he has appointed since. Pope Francis excommunicated Fr. Greg Reynolds for supporting same-sex marriage and women's ordination, fired Fr. Krzysztof Charamsa from his Vatican post after coming out and refused to accept the appointment of Laurent Stefanini as French ambassador to the Vatican because he was openly gay. Like the pope, Cupich fired two employees, Sandor Demkovich and Colin Collette, for marrying their partners. Cupich defrocked Fr. Marco Mercado because of his \u201cinappropriate relationship with an adult man.\u201d Reform the curia? His first action was to make Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga, who supported the military coup against the progressive Zelaya in 2009, as head of his \"C9.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The same-sex movement didn't wait around for theologians to develop a new Christian anthropology that took their experience into consideration. They moved on and left it to the churches to decide if they wanted to follow. For better or for worse, most believers take their cues from culture, not church, and certainly not from theology. The culture now tells us that human nature, if there is such a thing, is more expansive and varied than we ever thought. \n\nThe challenge to the churches is to respond in ways that are faithful to both Christ and Culture (to borrow Niebuhr's terms). The challenge to the LGBT community is to articulate their reasons to believe within a community that can't figure out what to do with them. I'm not sure the twain will ever meet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But the fall was a myth that did not even fit the story it came from. Eden is an allegory about blame. Eve sinned in wanting the knowledge of good and evil (who is to blame for what). When God returned, the circle of blame started. THAT is the sin. You are typing Chatechism. Think instead. The movie simply reflected a different theology of God. You are repeating what St. Anselm taught, which produced great wealth for the Church in indulgences. God did not demand a sacrifice for substitutional punishment. He went to us in anguish on the cross because he could not feel the anguish we feel in his Heaven. I am not saying that sin and blame do not separate us from God, but it is not God's justice or a natural order that demands satisfaction, it is the fault in our hearts. Jesus gives us a way to heal that fault. When you eat this bread and drink this cup...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I think that's a very uncharitable and inaccurate view of the Pope. He is dealing with a 50 year crisis going back to John XXIII that spans the globe.\"\n\nThe clergy pedophilia crisis started in earnest in 1922 and therefore it is almost 100 years old, not 50 years old. Read the book \"Potiphar's Wife: The Vatican's Secret and Child Sexual Abuse\", by Kieran Tapsell. And it is likely that clergy pedophilia and cover ups by Bishops started when the Church decided to enforce celibacy since the 12th century: this has been going on for more than 800 years.\n\n\"There is no way he going to be able to just clean that all up in 4 years of his Papacy.\"\n\nHow long does it take for a Pope to fire the hundreds of Bishops that covered up clergy pedophilia because Church Law orders them to do so? Five minutes or five years?\nIt is obvious that the Vatican strategy is to wait until you and me and everyone alive today are dead and then pretend that the clergy pedophilia cover ups by Bishops never happened.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was addressing the reasoning behind same sex couples.\n\nAlso the thing you are missing is that it was not out of personal discernment that marriages were dissolved or annulled in the East but from the authority of the church. This is radically different from the ambiguous paragraph that leads to subjective sin. In the East it is the priest and bishop that has the final word.\n\nIn the East historically the remarried were not allowed to commune, this excommunication was reduced to a number of years towards the end of the millennium, despite consensus in both east and west that it was a sin. \n \nThe problem is not divorce or separation the problem is remarriage. \n\nIf you believe the one, holy, apostolic and Catholic Church of the first millennium is the East than why are you not Orthodox?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A validly married couple can no more divorce each other than Jesus could divorce the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If it is inarguable that more-available contraception leads to fewer abortions, is it not literally demanded, even for the most ardent abortion foes, to view non-abortifacient contraception as \"anti-abortion\"? \n\nPost Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc: After contraception is more available, abortion is reduced. If \"fewer abortions\" really is the main goal--and a USCCB-allowed single-issue voting premise--why isn't reducing abortion by every means possible a moral mandate? \n\nYes, many religions join with Catholics in arguing for religious liberty, but even the most pro-life, conservative, Trump-supporting evangelical pastors consider contraception an allowable--even an oft-commendable--aspect of family planning and marital relations.. \n\nMany are confused at the seeming equivalency Catholic leaders assign to the issues and, to be honest, feel it can get in the way of anti-abortion legislation advocacy.\n\nIs there not monumental irony here? What am I missing?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have a lot of compassion for the plight of these refugees and I hope they find a safe haven somewhere. \n\nOnce again, what are all the wealthy Muslim nations in the world doing about alleviating the misery of these people? \n\nLately, I cannot help but ask where the outrage is on the part of the media and our own government when Christians are oppressed and massacred in the Middle East but miserably fail to raise awareness about their plight, advocate for their safety, or God forbid, offer them a safe haven here in Canada. Hey Justin, how about showing a consistent message here? It is this type of double standard, hypocrisy and self-flagellation, among other things, that people are tired of and drove them to vote for someone like Donald Trump in the U.S.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To pull it back all together again is only to set the mechanism once again for its falling apart. The reason for that is the obstinacy of the orthodox church to tolerate divergence of thought and recognize the rationale for dissent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then, not surprisingly, you miss the full meaning of Christmas. Jesus, as Son of God, took human form to, among other things, confirm the innate goodness of wo/mankind. That was His greatest miracle - smashing the foolish human belief of any sort of what was later defined as \"original sin.\" How can you celebrate Christmas without joy is a sad state for anyone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus had absolutely nothing to say about gay men, or gay women either for that matter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, let's just steer clear of any claim that the left doesn't have its own doppelgangers. There has been an uptick of illiberal leftism in recent years. \n\nI would say the left does a better job of policing its own feathered-flocker hangers-on than the radical right. And it can afford to - it's not pushing an unpopular agenda requiring the peasants to be distracted.\n\nPutin too pushes a Soviet-transmogrified Russian Orthodox church. There's nothing special about Christianity that bigots can't appropriate its virtue as a cloak for their own dark agenda. The Devil often hides in plain sight where the lost sheep deep down want to stray.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quite so! And the message of Christ unadulterated is in latin, requires medieval-era clothing, and demands full belief in all the adulteration piled upon Christ's message by the Church over the centuries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good point Jim. I thought later, wasn't someone named God the father of Jesus? That makes Joseph the stepfather or just some smuck who had to pay the bill for the manger.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The author has some serious misconceptions about the perceptions of early Irish immigrants to America, in particular, Canada. There are sundry reasons why Irish immigrants were given a difficult time. A preponderance of Roman Catholics is just one reason. In urban centers, poverty was another, and Irish immigrants often got a raw deal in a society where relief did not exist.\n\nI feel sorry for the author. Her own misconceptions of the Irish tell me she does not have a license to speak in detail about the parts of history she is most concerned with.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So tell me what Christian University allows just anyone to make speeches with out being approved?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree, John, as that has been my experience too, even though my sons were immersed in Catholic school and parish activities as kids. Their cynicism began with the pastor's emphasis on incessant fund raising and solidified with the child sexual abuse horror. Their children neither understand nor respect the institutional Church's positions on women and LGBT persons, even though they have all attended Catholic schools through high school, and one has chosen to continue her education at a Catholic university. \n\nYour final sentence is absolutely true for me and my family.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought I explained it. If a supposedly unchangeable Liturgy could change, the expectation was that anything could change. Why was it the the largest mass exodus from the Catholic Church in the west began after the introduction of the new Mass? \nPrior to the Council there had been no worldwide rejection of Casti Connubii, after the Council there was a worldwide rejection of Humanae Vitae not only by the laity but by many clergy, too. Something obviously had happened to persuade people that this doctrine could be changed. Since then the whole moral and ethical teaching of the Church is being increasingly challenged most noticeably that on marriage; on the fact that it can only take place between a man and a woman and that it is indissoluble. Is it just a coincidence that all this has occurred since Vatican II?\nI say we have good cause to be anxious, considering what has gone on over the last half century.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Assembly approved religious group\"...absolutely chilling words. \n\nThose Christianists on the assembly need to quite trying to use the power of government to jam their religious views down everyones else's throats and stick exclusively to Borough business. And no, Blaine Gilman, your Christianity does not give you give you special rights when it comes the business of the Borough...not unless you want to afford those rights to everyone including the Satanic Temple lady...whose invocation BTW sounded pretty d*mn reasonable to me.\n\nIf Borough members need a prayer before conducting Borough business, they can say one silently to themselves...like the bible says...instead of resorting to their \"look at me, I'm praying\" public prayer obsession.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is the teaching \"self-serving?\" The Catholic Church could make things so much easier on itself if it sold its soul to the popular culture (like the Anglicans, starting in 1931) and announced, \"oh, well, if your intention is good and you plan on having kids (which is why you're using contraception) and you're married then it's OK.\" Then the married dropped out. Then the plan. Then the intentions. Then the sexual differentiation. Drip, drip, drip. The Catholic Church has not been \"self-serving\" on this topic; it has been truth-serving.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Feminist theology\"? \"Sustainability\"? \"Migration\"? The Jesuits strike again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think we are going about the abortion issue from the wrong angle. Of course, it is wrong. The church should always stay this course. But in reality, not everyone is Catholic and should have to follow. By allowing safe abortions and free birth control there are less of them. If we support women in all ways, they will develop self confidence. This is what will slow down premarital sex. Young girls who are not self assured are the ones that think a man will take care of them. They also believe that sex will get and keep said man.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sarasi1 - I flipped too quickly by a comment of yours saying that you will no longer be commenting here (and cannot find it now). Is that true? I will feel your absence to my core if it is so. I would like to convince you to change your mind, to stay and fight the good fight of knowledge and reason with those who have little of either as well as those of us wanting more. However, I have always trusted your judgment on, well, everything so I suppose I should do so now. But I don't like it. It was and has been you who sparked a real interest in our Orthodox churches and bringing me to attend a Byzantine liturgy last year (a first in my RC life!). It has been you who provided clear insights into Orthodox theology and doctrine that balanced these discussions more often than I can remember. So now, if you leave us, we will suffer a loss that I don't know if it can be filled. Yet I wish you every blessing that comes with Christ's grace, and know my prayers go with you. But stay?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, I disagree. Right wingers like to portray Pope Francis as if he's reckless. He is not. He is not rash or reckless. He has always appeared to me as someone who \"defers to the Holy Spirit\". He makes a bold move which he knows will cause many in the church to start having fits. Then he waits for the Holy Spirit to work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump Jr should indeed be chastised in the strongest possible terms, because I for one am tired of living in fear from being attacked by roving gangs of pedestrians, and it certainly seems as if these hooligan pedestrians seem to be predominantly European, and even Christian.\n\nWe need laws passed, and security crackdowns, so that all car or truck drivers, especially those representing the religion of peace, can be free to drive without the fear of unprovoked attacks by these bipedal thugs.\n\nOrangutan Junior should know this and talk to daddy about a ban on people walking on sidewalks", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well Pan, Notre Dame, amongst many other Catholic schools provide for birth control as part of their pharmaceutical package. It's not like these colleges and dioceses gave away birth control. Employees paid for them as well, both in their deductions and their co pays. I will be totally impressed if Notre Dame stopped paying for ED drugs for male employees under 55. I have never heard that happening, and I suspect I never will. Sperm being sacred and all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "About time ... Rohr is absolutely right: No real change pastorally for the church, no real change in the role of women, no reform of the priesthood an hierarchy, until Catholics first re-image God!\n\n[Men like Papa Francesco will never be able to reform the church as long as we Catholics continue to cling to this patriarchal envisioning of God! The revolution starts with us ...]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When my two professional daughters attended the University of California, tuition was only $3,000 a year. Since these were land grant colleges, this low tuition is the way it had always been. In fact it was nearly free until the time of Ronald Reagan. Now in California there is a new law that will allow students to go to public Community Colleges free for the first 2 years. The Republicans in California fought his for many years. When my daughters attended college there was a parallel Catholic Education, charging tuition but flourishing. There were many \"low paid\" nun and priest professors. Perhaps a better choice for Catholic Education would be to get more money from the diocese, but then there is the problem of Episcopal interference with the curriculum, but many schools already have that in the form of Bishops licensing theologians. I think for Catholic Educators to fear more free education will prove self-defeating. We must not allow the elite to dumb down people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, \"Buster\" you do know that stats from RC sources claim most fallen away RC become either \"nothings\" or (here in the USA) evangelical mega church attendees. Only a few join us in the mainline churches where they are most welcome. I firmly believe it has nothing to do with dogma and everything to do with parish RC culture. At the evo-fundie mega space, anonymity is allowed in such a big crowd just as it is in your 2500 family suburban parishes.\n\nBut in our mainline churches it is like \"Cheers\". Everyone knows your name and you are expected, at least sometimes, to go to coffee hour or socialize. I'm convinced most suburban RC would prefer root canal to obligatory socializing with semi-strangers. Run to that car in the lot while the recessional hymn is still playing!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And I hope that the rumor that you are a priest is untrue.\n\nI don't think I have ever seen you post ONE thing that was not derogatory or dismissive of the Church, Catholicism, or faith.\n\nWow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think many of the cradle-Catholics (I thought they would be the most deeply catechized) really knew what the bru-ha-ha was all about. In fact, I had to explain what it was. Out of 70 parishioners I asked, all of them said they backed their pope. Now I admit it was a small survey, but even those who were quite doctrinal and who I thought would back the Group of 4, they didn't. It was good to note that Pope Francis was \"their\" pope and they didn't care to think of anyone taking potshots at him. Several noted that in matters of faith the pope was infallible and also noted that they would have been handled by inquisitors in the past. That one came from one old dear that was having a tizzy fit because our parish voted not to go for the Latin rite at least some of the time. Go figure! I would be willing to bet most Catholics had more important things to worry about than four cardinals who should lose their cushy jobs for challenging the boss!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "internet pornography is a new topic for which the pope has new words--but his old words are still spinning in the echo chamber that is the Vatican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why liberals want to re-open the abortion and same sex marriage debate in Canada is beyond me. It's 2017. Enough with the fear mongering and deceptions already.\nMost faiths have social conservatism entrenched in their dogma and Justin is on record as being a devout Catholic who is also personally opposed to abortion.\nIslam and Catholicism mirror each other in their views on abortion and same sex marriage.\nCan you EVER recall a liberal bashing a Muslim for their views? No? Why? You will be labelled a bigot.\nCan you EVER recall a liberal bashing a Catholic for their views? Yes? Daily? Why? You are now a progressive.\nThe irony is, liberals have a strong Catholic base in Quebec, so liberals are in fact self-loathing in their ideology. Canada can't afford ideological leaders like Justin (all MP's must vote pro-abortion) and the identity politics emerging from this regime.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Msgr Ellis's stand against McCarthy and his fanatical Catholic supporters saved me from some possible danger. In an early school grade the Catholic kids on my block kept threatening me with violence because I said that McCarthy was wrong and a bad influence. I would not back down. I was never hit because the parents of my tormentors would have severely punished their kids (bullying was not tolerated). But after Ellis took his stand my pastor and all the priests spoke against the lies of McCarthy and the mob mentality of his supporters. That ended the situation because the parents listened to the priests. All along my parents thought McCarthy was a fascist. But keep in mind that Robert Kennedy was a fervent supporter of McCarthy before he learned to think more deeply about things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One tube short doesn't matter? Surgery is always risky. We don't know all the effects of lopping off a fallopian tube. When it is necessary, of course, it should be done. But if it can be saved and a less intrusive, less risky method is available, it is always preferable. \"Going under\" is not trivial, and neither is recovery from abdominal surgery. You seem to minimize very real risks. As has been said upthread, there are many states in which non-Catholic hospital and clinic care involves lengthy travel and thus is not an option. \n\nIf hospitals were charities that are sponsored and supported by the church to meet a glaring need, you may have a point. But hospital systems are businesses, first and foremost. Catholic values are just lip service, far down on the list for Catholic health care organizations (ask any employee) while revenue streams and competitive advantage are at the top. It's not like women (or men for that matter) are requesting reproductive services from a church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was an addition to the Gospel. Jesus never said it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Libertarianism takes many forms, not all of which are inconsistent with Catholicism. The economic libertarianism that puts the rich in the place of goverment, but with no accountability to anyone (including the workers) is very much against Christianity. Social libertarianism which is pure license is not compatible, but it is if it affirms human dignity and the individual\u2019s right to not only deal with her own moral situations, but also to decide what\u2019s moral. The governmental libertarianism which encourages the Church to take on social functions is very much consistent with Christianity. Social solidarity in unionism is how you deal with economic libertarianism. It is also how we get things like gay marriage recognized - including in the Church at some point (with input from more accepting sects).\n\nThe ageda of the conference and its focus on consumer capitalism is interesting, although it is missing a discussion of consumerism as a substitute for worker empowerment in the workplace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or, if you'r not in the mood for Putin praise videos, you could always kick back with this novel about how a resurgent Christian Russia will overcome the decadent West! Don't cheat and skip to the Epilogue!\n\nhttp://www.russiansunrise.com/default.aspx", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, if Tobit is irrelevant, why did you bring it up? Actually, Tobit is relevant by showing that bodily masculinity or femininity have no intrinsic liturgical value in isolation from each other. \n\nOur glorified bodies will be male or female, but people will not marry in heaven, so being male or female is of no sacramental or eschatological consequence. \n\nOur current theology of the priesthood is not coherent because it is contaminated by patriarchal gender ideology, which is no longer credible.\n\nWhat the priest does at the Eucharist is to act in the person of Christ, a divine person who became \"flesh,\" i.e., a \"body-soul\" in TOB terminology; and being a body-soul is much more fundamental than being male or female -- see TOB 8:1, especially the last paragraph. \n\nThe body is a sacrament of the entire person, but is not the entire person. Could it be that what is missing in our patriarchal theology of the priesthood is the need to make visible the divine \"feminine genius\" in Jesus?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Steven, our friend David misstates what Sacrosanctum Concilium tells us (which is very telling of what his agenda really is). Right after his quote about preserving the Latin language (which it has been in official Vatican communications of all kinds), SC says \"But since the use of the mother tongue [note: vernacular] whether in the Mass, the administration of the sacraments, or other parts of the liturgy, may frequently be of great advantage to the people, the limits of its employment may be extended.\" (SC, para. 36..2) It goes on, in the next paragraph, to grant to the diocesan bishop the right to determine the further use of the local language. So David L. is arguing against ecclesial authority (as did Pope John Paul II in his re-centralization of power) that made the laity what Vatican II was aggressively clear about: to make ALL of the Faithful: that by reason of our common baptism, the liturgy is required to include the \"full and active participation by all the people.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"when newly inaugurated President Barack Obama attended the commencement exercises, but those protests were mostly on the internet and at the margins\"\n\nIts nice to know that real Catholic concerns are considered \"marginal\" to the National Communist Reporter", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, we \"rightists\" actually love this country as it was founded and although we have made mistakes, we have a founding document that, if adhered to, has allowed us to debate and correct inequities in our society. The left likes to make the rules as they see fit and only enforce laws that they like. That's because they're morally superior and smarter than everyone else. don't ya know.\n We also believe that despite our wealth and power, this is the most generous and caring country the world has ever produced. And that all in all Americans are the luckiest people that have ever walked this planet. A work in progress, no doubt, but not evil. \nThe left (democrats) have always been the party of coercion. They don't just want tolerance they demand control. Ask any Christian bakery owner. Us rightists (conservatives) mainly want to be left alone to live our lives as we see fit but the left demands that we tow their line because, I guess, they think they got it all figured out in the 60s.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Minnery is a Catholic correct? Well the pope is like our president in the sense that he is the commander and chief of the \nChurch right? If you are a Catholic in good standing in the mainstream church you must agree to follow the popes teachings right? Pope Francis has announced to those who would listen that he wants the Church to be more open and less critical of all minorities including those who are gay. So Mr. Minnery needs to come into compliance or find another church. Not to mention Jesus would smile on him if he did bury the hatchet. Intolerance must end. And high five for the nonSullivan Assembly!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Harry,\nYes, 99% of Christian denominations profess the same belief as we do.. They also interpret the meaning of the bible verses with different hermeneutics. I am confident that I am attempting to follow the one true God's message for salvation, especially His primary commandment to Love One Another as He loves us.\nSo who is correct, you or me? Or Pat Roberts or Franklin Graham, or Trumpet, or Pope Francis? Perhaps the homeless woman drug addict?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The clergy blaspheme the Holy Pulpit; exploiting its high dignity; ....communists 'preaching' high treason against the Nations, the sedition of globalism. These have transformed themselves into evil POLITICIANS and have made themselves fair-game for ridicule. The vatican has become hillary clinton wrapped in a cassock; ....many authentic catholics now refer to jorge bergoglio as 'the vicar of george soros'. Even EWTN is beginning to anticipate a schism, and no Christian is going to be following team bergoglio ['the forces of evil'] headlong into this apostasy. [why hasn't this apostate vatican defrocked 'fr' tony flannery? ..maybe because he is spiritual-brother to this 'pope'; even now denying the Resurrection while, professing the essential things like climate change!]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because 56% of white Catholics voted for a man who represents everything Jesus inveighed against, that's why.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This just in. I guess if the CARDINAL had the ability to be at the Vatican he'd be told to \"stop whining\" about the treatment of Catholics in China.\n\nSmile, and stop whining.\n\nhttps://www.lifesitenews.com/news/cardinal-zen-pope-francis-vatican-is-backing-a-fake-church-in-china", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is rank relativism. Of course we can know \"something...objectively exists\", primarily through Revelation. God is not confined to \"particulars\", the \"contingent\", or the \"situation[al\". There is no such thing as \"pre Vatican II concepts\" where the topic concerns dogmatic teaching. Dogma, because it is Divinely revealed, does not change because truth does not change. Acts of perversion were mortally sinful in AD 17, 1017, and 2017. No council, pope, or modernist wishful thinking can change that fact. There is but one faith, one baptism, one church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As much as I like and respect Mr. Kenney, he is totally off base on this issue. From the comments made on the proposed Catholic curriculum, it would seem that they propose to teach the students that it is OK for one spouse to force the other to have sex and that homosexuality is evil, a concept that presupposes that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice rather than a gender that one is born as. These are concepts that have long been rejected by Canadian society and anybody that thinks that it is acceptable to teach such material to young people should not be in a position of responsibility.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CCODP is Canada Caritas. I think in the US ... the Caritas member is Catholic Relief Services. I think they are \"just\" an emergency relief agency ... but still attacked by the Lifesitenews (LSN) folks. Development and Peace takes its name from Paul VI - the new word for peace is development. We do education, advocacy and development as well as emergency relief in the so-called \"global south\". It is a partnership with locals and they discern the direction. LSN goes after us - as they do all Caritas partners because they say we partner with people who support contraception. All Caritas partners are vetted by local bishops and even though it has been debunked numerous times ... they keep spreading lies. Being a member of Caritas Internationalis means we have partners in over 160 nations. What attracts me is they are about addressing the root causes of poverty, inequality, environmental degradation, war, immigration, - anything that detracts from all having life with dignity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed. Here's something from an essay by ex-Evangelical Christopher Stroop in The Wheel, an Eastern Orthodox Journal (I love the phrase \"bad ecumenism.\" And it is tyrannical.) \n\n\". . . bad ecumenism is oriented not toward the general good, but toward the goal of conservative Christian political domination through the coercive imposition of shared \u201ctraditional values\u201d that in fact dehumanize and, when enshrined in law, discriminate against women, members of the LGBTQ community, non-Christians, liberals\u2014in short, a variety of \u201cothers.\u201d Perhaps because I was socialized in Christian Right institutions to become a culture warrior in this vein, when it comes to approaches to discussions of fundamentalism, I have something to bring to the table in dialogue with nonfundamentalist believers.\"\n\nHe goes on to talk about the \"current orientation of some American social conservatives toward Moscow as a specific example of how bad ecumenism operates.\" Archives, issue 6.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In this case almost 2,000 years of reading led the Church to the conclusionthat Jesus meant what He said - marriage is indissoluble.\n\nThat's what I read.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A response to your post ignores my earlier comment in this thread about the Catholic priest who was convicted of selling cocaine out of his rectory! He also ignores the story about the pontifical seminary student who tried to obtain a female infant from Mexico for purposes of abuse, and is now serving BIG time in a federal penitentiary. And there are many others, a great many others like them. Fact of the matter is that bishops are DESPERATE for men to ordain and employ, and many bishops prefer Traddies to any man [sic] who might let in even a little 'liberal' light!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "kag I have met the new cardinal, \"Good\" Tobin. He doesn't talk that way at all. It was his positive, realistic comments about women religious that got him kicked out of Rome under a previous administration. He is also perhaps the least clerical bishop I've ever met. \n\nI've been hoping for his new hat since he hit Indy, but thought he was too good for it to happen. Francisco is trying. \ud83d\ude03 A few more of these appointments and there will be a real shift in many areas including the respect for women in the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Southey believes in man or secular humanism who could annihilate himself at any time as in nuked. Man is lost. Trost believes in Jesus and the Word of God, the Bible, and you and most Liberals don't. Trost is a hero for standing up for the truth despite people ridiculing him. Google why the Bible is true.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Possibly. Unless someone clarifies for me I will hold that Ratzinger was the \"grey eminence\" behind Pope John Paul II and his own alter ego as Pope Benedict II.\nI would also suggest that his theological brilliance was of a pre-Darwin sort and was stalled in a pre historical critical mentality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...not all who say...really are.\" Well according to you then I can legitimately dismiss every one of 'em, wow that easy, thanks Faux Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus said that unless we accept Him and His teachings as a little child, then we will not enter His kingdom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Millions of Catholics have gotten angry and remained angry -- angry enough to have left the Church of their childhood/adulthood and never return.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The abuse scandal says it all about Roman Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If they are going to teach history, then it would be nice to get the facts straight\n-\" his teacher referred to Louis Riel as a \"madman\" \u2013 a term that stuck in the young boy's head as one of the times he heard Indigenous people described in a negative light\"-\n\nBoth his parents were westerners, and he is said to have had one-eighth Indian blood, his paternal grandmother being a Franco-Chipewyan M\u00e9tisse.\n\n--his mental and physical behaviour often revealed an obsession with the idea of a \u201cmission\u201d: he saw himself at once as the guardian of the spiritual well-being of the M\u00e9tis and as the prophet and priest of a new form of Christianity. \n-- Riel already had experienced a mystical vision and an uncontrollable emotional seizure\nRiel\u2019s continuous shouting and crying\nhis continued religious mania finally resulted in the interruption of a church service\nhttp://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/riel_louis_1844_85_11E.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marty, thanks for the effort you've put into your replies; it shows the seriousness with which you're taking this subject.\n\nI'm surprised you would narrow the relevance of Jesus' teaching at Matthew 5:44 and Luke 6: 27:, since Jesus is clearly addressing the treatment of enemies (plural); he is most certainly not addressing just two-persons conflict. Even if he were, the moral principle he is trying to impart to his disciples, weaned on a diet of regulated reprisal, is a new approach (God's approach) to dealing with enemy, whether he numbers one, or in in the tens of thousands.\n\nThe ancient Israelites, the Hebrews, or the Jews (they are referenced variously in the Bible, according to their timeline) forgot that love should inform relations with others and replaced it with a rigid legalism governing how one should act and react. Christians have done much the same. Both religions have compromised what was taught them by God.\n\nJesus is disavowing violence at Mt 26:52. Nothing more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A smug, arrogant, and repugnant display of disrespect for the pope and for the audience.\"\nThis describes the stance of this station and they are out of step with the direction that our church is taking since Pope Frances was elected and even before. I remember listening to their radio station a few years ago when one of the priests called President Obama \"a narcissist.\" However, they are mostly very devious. Bishop Morlino, Robert Royal and Fr. Gerald Murray can't hide their contempt for Pope Francis - at least not from me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One thing that Tobin has done is welcome the LGBT community. How unlike the unchristian Paprocki, who rejects them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And how exactly is your theorising about the historical development of the notion of religious liberty relevant to the fact that today, when we are so wonderfully enlightened about its meaning, Christians in record numbers are slaughtered and persecuted worldwide, simply because they are Christians? :)) \n\nOr are you just simply trying to justly your politically correct inaction?\n\nAs to the war in Iraq, are you suggesting that the unjust US invasion justifies the eradication and ethnic cleansing of the Iraqi indigenous Christian population? Don't you see that this is just the completion of the trend that was started centuries ago, when Muslims occupied the predominantly Christian, what is today known as Iraq? \n\nThe ignorance born of political correctness is one of the most cancerous social ills today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish I could upvote this a million times. \n\nThe Church will not flourish until it gets back to preaching the message of Christ unadulterated. Seeking to please and accommodate the world by not focusing on the parts that the world doesn't like has backfired. We can keep turning ourself into another NGO or social services agency and apologizing for our existence in order to try to appease others and get them like us, but they will never join us. Most Catholics don't know who we are and what we are about and why would anyone be attracted to people that don't seem to take their own message seriously?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...the mindset that still exists in the hierarchy to this day.\"\n\nToo general, like ALL bishops EVERYWHERE belong to that mindset? As mentioned before, I know of two who called the civil authorities first. You're like a bloody blanket that wants to soak in blood every bishop your criticism touches. Blame-all and praise-all are two blockheads.\n\nAnyway, my sources say it is more about politics (in the context of the article). The latest Ipsos poll shows Le Pen and Marcon, neck and neck, 25% and 24% respectively. Both forerunners with some Catholic followers are appealing to Fillon's heavily Catholic constituency. Delegitimizing the bishops voice, could help Le Pen, among so many other factors that play into an election as close as this one. Critics of the bishops should have arrived on the scene earlier, much earlier, before this kind of nasty political campaign got started. Bad timing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mark, I did not get your entire last full comment, for some reason it is not posted on this site. \n To prove my point for the last time, lets say I wrote the following comment :\n\" I want the Gospel challenge to love and care for all of my brothers and sisters on the journey. I pray I have the kindness to care for those like MarkWilliam who love the new ways, they are my cross. The folks who love all that 'progressive LGBT minded Catholicism,' are my cross. I suffer through them week in and week out. I wish they would all leave our parish and go to a LGBT parish.\" \n I would expect to receive numerous responses from progressives calling me out for such an outrageous comment. This is the comment Jon82 made, except it regarded traditional Catholics, not LGBT. Do you not see the hypocrisy? You would be the first one to call me out and rightly so. You take offense with my rebuke to Jon82 while apparently having no issue with his view point. That is priceless!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Local catholic hospital here is famous for \"turfing\" uninsured patients to the county hospital. That's the (illegal) practice of finding an excuse to send a patient elsewhere because they don't have money.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For MSW, Pope Francis can do no wrong. It does not surprise Us that MSW would seek to turn this into another example of Francis' brilliance and holiness. For some on this blog, it is unthinkable that Francis could be other than simply wonderful. And now Francis has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.\n\nWe do not think Francis to be evil. Instead, this is another indication the poor man is addled. This is the man who doesn't remember \"THE PARAGRAPH\" in his famous (or infamous) encyclical. This is the Pope who doesn't judge, yet hurls insults at imagined enemies. He ogles pretty young \"Kitty Kats\" on the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter. \n\nWe think it possible that Francis is not actually in charge of his papacy. It is possible that he is being played for a dupe by Spadaro, Kasper, and Freemasons in the Vatican. Pope Francis shows signs of being \"away with the fairies\" and vulnerable to easy manipulation. It would be best that he abdicate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe my point is clear: Jesus clearly taught salvation can only come through the Roman Catholic Church, and he meant for that church to be small and pure, with only a very select few allowed in. It is unfortunate, but obviously this means most people will burn for all eternity, in God's mercy, but that is their own doing by failing to submit fully to the requirements of the one true church. As Archbishop Chaput indicates, we must be careful, and only allow the right kind of people into the Church, and only those who follow the rules to the letter may remain. It's what Jesus taught, it's what he wanted for his church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those of us old enough to have lived through the scrapping - in most places - of the 1962 Roman Missal can to a certain extent identify with the difficulty of change, although the changes described in the article, and the previous one in NCR, seem picayune in comparison.\n\nBut when I read \u201cthe trauma destroyed their faith entirely\u201d, I hear \u201cthey don\u2019t love their mother anymore because she insisted on stirring their oatmeal clockwise rather than counter-clockwise\u201d, particularly considering what English Catholics gave to keep the faith alive.\n\nSince you report it to be your \u201cex\u201d parish, as the folks in this article describe their \u201cex\u201d parish, I would rather hear from those who remained for a bit of balance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John 16: 12 \u201cI have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.\n\nThat appears to have Jesus saying to the Apostles that they personally will be guided into understanding what has been revealed to them. It also echoes the admonition that the Spirit will guide the Church in its teaching mission.\n\nThat does not conflict with the Church's teaching and belief that the revelation ended with the death of the last Apostle.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Spot on. If those simpatico to NCR were to start their own church they know they wouldn't attract followers and would be less relevant than the most liberal mainline denominations. So set up an antichurch within the visible confines of the Catholic Church and take the advantage of the cachet accrued to the label \"Catholic\". NCR appropriates the label Catholic in service of their agenda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Catholic worshiping in the Lutheran tradition I cana tell you that we share more beliefs than ones on which we disagree- at least on the basic principles taught by Jesus. Yes, there are women ministers and yes divorced and remarried are accepted at the table but all is framed in God's grace and mercy (makes me think of Pope Francis!) and service is to others is a priority in every Liturgy. We are more alike than different and why not celebrate that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...\" end to mandatory celibacy for clergy \"...???\nWhat we need is an end to 'making clergy'. If 'Clericalism' is sinful, as Pope Francis points out, it seems obvious that the system that divides Christian people into 'clerical caste' and 'laity class' is the evil that creates 'clericalism'.\n\nWhat would happen if we went through Canon Law and simply removed everything pertaining to 'clerics'?\n\n\"Hierarchy' would not be affected -- just that it would be a 'hierarchy' of Laity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You of course mean to say that Archbishops Chaput and Sample are in accord with the teachings of the Church. \nWhat is needed, I think, is clarification - specific clarification - from Rome concerning what the Pope so colorfully says, contradicts, rephrases and says again - and not media reports and spin. Then we can all sit back and determine what it is we understand and believe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why all the schadenfreude regarding Cardinal Sarah, who it seems to me, is a very honest and pious person (though wrongheaded in some areas) who tries to express his points of view carefull? Why not employ the more sober and more accurate \"corrects\" instead of the hot-headed \"rebukes\" and \"spanks\"? This schadenfreude puts you in the same boat with the ultra-conservative media that spoke of Cardinal Sarah's mild and thoughtful (and perhaps partially wrongheaded) piece in the Wall Street Journal on the pastoral treatment of homosexual persons as \"Cardinal Sarah blasts Father James Martin.\" Tone down the rhetoric and you will communicate better and make your points better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You might want to get off the soap box long enough to read what is happening to GLBT folks in Africa, Islamic countries, South East Asia, India and Russia. Religious fundamentalists of many stripes pile on GLBT to distract themselves from their own failures. It's dangerous to be GLBT in these areas....far more dangerous than being a conservative Christian in this country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"An utter disgrace.\"\nBecause 56% of white Catholics disagreed with you? Apparently the 56% determined that is the way they wished to vote - freedom of conscience. I thought you approved of freedom of conscience....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We had a campaign and election of false equivalence and now we have a presidency of false equivalence.\n\nDog-whistle Don has salted his administration with people like Bannon, Miller, and Gorka after promising to \"Make America [white, straight, male, and \"Christian\"] Again.\"\n\nDid anyone doubt that white supremacists like David Duke and his followers would be emboldened by Trump's \"MAGA\" campaign and appointments? This is their dream come true.\n\nLet's fervently hope and pray that this deplorable presidency is the last of its kind and will immunize the electorate from ever choosing so badly again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The four cardinals are insisting on \u201cyes or no\u201d answers without allowing for theological argumentation. It appears they are setting the Pope up the way the Pharisees did Jesus. \u201cIs it unlawful to work on the Sabbath? Just answer yes or no.\u201d If they had phrased their questions differently, maybe they would have gotten a response by now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is incredibly subjective to assert that liturgical dance equates to \"ecstasy of immersion in the restorative grace of boundless mercy and joy\". Even people I know who support liturgical dance would call that a stretch. Dance in praise of God in scripture was a spontaneous expression of praise, not some choreographed, billowy performance. And, the Mass provides us with another way to participate in redemptive grace. It's called the Eucharist. By receiving the Eucharist, Christ unites us to his resurrected self physically and spiritually. Why would we \"strain a gnat but swallow a camel\" by trying to equate liturgical dance to such benefits when it's right there before us staring us in the face? Actual participation in the Mass means participating in what God already provides us in the Mass, not inventing some other shiny object and calling it active participation for its \"incarnational\" quality of creating ecstasy and joy or whatever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He has a right to make a living in the public square but no right to discriminate among customers when providing products or services. Imagine all the philanderers, contracepters, masturbaters, thieves, liars, and gluttons Mr. Tennes has already served and has probably rented his orchard to . . . so he already provides products and services to people whose conduct violates his Catholic faith.\n\nIf that's the argument.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have to wonder what Richard John Neuhaus would make of the current Trump spectacle. Given that the whole ethos of First Things was a merging of Catholicism with conservatism and the Republican party, you'd think that someone of his intellectual stature would be appalled at Trump's language and behavior. He must be rolling in his grave knowing that his readers have jumped in bed with such a repugnant vulgarian. Or maybe not. Who can say?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "you are totally full of equine fecal matter. none of those things have anything to do with this crisis. the only thing that has to do with it are the individual popes, bishops, priests and religious of both sexes who commit these RAPES and the popes, bishops, priests and religious superiors that cover for them. and, of course, the clerical culture of taking care of their own. I can't help but wonder if the Mafia were influenced by the church in their idea of omert\u00e0. in fact, people like you are a second major part of the issue, always wanting to blame anything but where the blame truly lies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think it's unfortunate that some people have this unreasonable prejudice that the only valid Bible is the old King James version. It just adds to the confusion. In the NIV study Bible there is no reference to the \"flower of her age\". That part of the passage is translated \"if she is getting along in years\" The footnote explains that there was a lot of hostility toward Christians in Corinth at the time of that book's writing and some hesitated to marry at all. There was also a possible alternate translation that it may have been addressed to fathers who were reluctant to let their daughters marry, but should maybe reconsider if they were \"getting along in years\". No, no magic age. But young women probably were married by late teens and considered past their prime for marriage if they made it into their 20s still virgins at home. That was true right here in our country up through the early 20th century", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is comprised of people---the very definition of the Church is THE PEOPLE OF GOD. People sin, and there is such a thing as \"corporate sin\". The Church HAS sinned, and sinned badly against many peoples of this earth. Let these Cardinals avail themselves of the Sacrament of Penance\n\n\n\nRight now, these Cardinals are sinning against Catholics who are divorced and remarried. They made a decision where they, in their consciences, saw and determined the good within a given situation. Even if they were wrong, they did the best as they understood the situation. As Aquinas put it, \"when erring reason proposes something as being commanded by God, then to scorn the dictate of reason is to scorn the commandment of God.\" [Summa theological I-II Q19, A5, ad 2].\n\n\n\n\"We should not even think, therefore, that 'thinking with the Church\" means only thinking with the hierarchy of the Church.\"\n---------------------------\nSept. 30, 2013----Pope Francis in 'America' magazine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All for show. Who did the Democrats pray to? Bubba or Barry? Christianity and Leftism are completely incompatible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "During the Eucharistic prayer he is praying to God on our behalf. But NCR and its followers cannot stand the idea that a priest has a special role that the laity do not have. We have our role and priests have theirs. Having the priest face the people really confuses things. I've had people think that the priest is conversing with the congregation during the Eucharistic prayer. I've seen priests ad-lib during the prayer, as if as written is just not good enough. Therein is the problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin, I do not understand why Joe cannot humbly go to Confession and live chaste with his second wife.Why does it have to be unrealistic? With God all things are possible. Without Him - then I agree with you - they cannot achieve a chaste lifestyle. When we rely on ourselves, rather than humbly go to God on our knees in prayer, by praying the Rosary (Our Blessed Mother who is without sin will turn our human prayers that may not always align with God's Will into prayers that will align with God's Will). Back on the Feast of the Sacred Heart (usually around June 6th or 7th each year) in 2015 after Mass I approached our organist (she was alone) who I had noticed never received Jesus in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. I asked her why and she responded, \"My husband died 5 years ago and for the last two years, I have been in a sexual relationship with a man who was married and until yet has not obtained an annulment. She felt she could not ask him to live chaste. TBC", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Was it Obama? The Pope? Someone (help me out here, anyone)...said that we shouldn't let the perfect become the enemy of the good. Just because we can never completely eliminate the last trace of violence from life doesn't mean we shouldn't reduce risk, eliminate avoidable deaths, do research to understand the problem better, and improve what we have control over. That all-or-nothing thinking is a cognitive distortion particularly entrenched in the gun culture. I think the subtext of believing that levels of violence will never change is the statement \"I will never change...because I am afraid.\" The gun culture is a culture of fear. If you ever watch those stump speeches of Wayne LaPierre, he plays people's fears like a violin: \"Bad guys are everywhere...coming to get you!\" Jesus told us not to be afraid of those who can kill the body but of that which can damage the soul. Our culture teaches us to be afraid of everything and everyone. Do we see that damaging our souls?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a garbled, inchoate, confused post. \n\n\"Most Catholics personally do not abortion and have choice about others because it is not a democratic issue.\" Say, what?\n\n\"Only comment say otherwise\" Huh?\n\nFind a relaxing pastime; this incessant commenting is bad for your blood pressure.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey Kevin,\nI never heard back from you but continue to pray for you and others I have been in communication with here at National Catholic Reporter. Kevin, it is my hope and prayer that God can use me as His instrument to help those caught up in the sin of impurity like I was (in the case of your example of Joseph being in an active sexual relationship with his second wife without having obtained an annulment from his first marriage) like He did with Evelyn. God can use me as His instrument to speak His truth in love to someone, but then it is His (God's) grace that the person will accept or refuse. This grace does not come from any human being - only from God and this grace is not forced on anyone. It is a gift, freely given by God to those who want it. I believe Evelyn accepted (after a period of a couple of days to ponder our conversation) God's grace (her heart was open) and she was able to immediately stop having sexual relations with her boyfriend). (Continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Christian means \"little Christ\" if a Church is found on Christ (as revealed in Scripture), then yes they can call themselves a Church. You are a dangerous man, Paul, one who leads people astray with this \"All Dogs go to Heaven\" nonsense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ivo Vegter\u2019s piece is a fine example of investigative journalism and commentary on a matter that has caused me concern for some time: deterioration in editorial quality and integrity evident in a leading article \u201cFree the mind, decolonise Christianity\u201d, M&G 7 October 2016. \n\nIt contained a glaring error an obvious typo but unforgivable editorial lapse. I was taken aback when Ron\u2019s and my comment was published under the title \u201cOur greatness is built on Christianity\u201d, M&G 21 October 2016 essentially what my co-author and I had submitted. We called Verashny Pillay\u2019s piece puerile with now standard references to white elites and the white West.\n\nFurther surprise when she announced her resignation in the same slot as our letter, suggesting that readers\u2019 comments had influenced her \u201cdecision\u201d and announcing her becoming the editor of the local Huffington Post. The only explanation: she has powerful backers somewhere.\n\ncontd....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 of 4\nSince our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the\nChristian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a\nbunch of single moms.\n\nWith the Blue States in hand we will have firm control of 80% of the\ncountry's fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92% of the nation's fresh fruit, 95% of America's quality wines (you can serve French wines at state dinners) 90% of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the US low sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I also had bad experiences in a Catholic school. My husband did not have bad experiences. We did, however, have like 42 girls in a classroom. That would not be accepted (today) by parents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good point. I happen to think Maher is full of himself and dislikable, but I'm agreeing that you keep the two worlds Church and State separated. But faith can't be seperated as part of ones character either. \n\nThe mistake is assuming that all Christions, even evangelicals, share the same religious or civil values - they don't. Maher's stereotypes of religious people is its own form of bigotry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God created us with free will and the resultant opportunity to experience the outcomes of our choices, good or bad. Kristoff seems to think government should insulate us from any bad outcomes.\n\nJesus taught us to freely practice personal charity. Kristoff seems to think we should rely on government to dispense charity and coercively tax us as the means to accomplish it, even when much of the proceeds are wasted or end up in the pockets of others not in need.\n\nKristoff has a lot of fun reinterpreting things Jesus said and making up things Paul Ryan has not said, but Speaker Ryan clearly has the better grasp on Jesus' teachings and government's proper role in society. Listen to Jesus, and ignore Nicholas Kristoff.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Liberals tend to use reason & logic, and by doing so they complete fail to communicate or empathize with the Trump supporters.\n\nNo, many of them are intelligent conscientious people who are deeply pained about what has happened to the American Dream. So they are expressing themselves from a raging emotional place. What Trump says and does is irrelevant; it is the emotional energy and appeal of his gestures that feed the voracious psychic damage that Trump supporters carry. It totally overrides high-level thought process, which is why your neighbor the patriotic military veteran college educated devout Christian businessman can completely inexplicably support a pathological liar like Trump, the antithesis of all those qualities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do not know what can be done about Michael Sean Winters. Stripping him of his laptop would only make him a tin-pot martyr in the eyes of his two fans. At the time he was appointed NCR's oracle of \"wisdom\", I offered the warning that he would have plenty of time to act like a troll in the recesses of \"Catholic\" media. Better to have given him a real job where he could be charitable, Catholic and kind! Cardinal Burke should ignore him as should other holy priests and bishops. Let Winters carry on, if he really wants to, shelling out nasty abuse on the internet so that souls are led astray and turned off the Catholic faith. He'll have to answer for it one day. And, we must pray for his conversion. With God, all things are possible, and only God would be able to change a heart so hardened as the one that beats inside the unfashionable sweaters worn by this man full of bitterness and invective, who hypocritically asks his commenters not to offer personal insults yet does the same himself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting, in my former home town, it was the Christian sect that got treated with kid gloves and they also supported genital mutilation, but of males, and general 2nd class/slave status for females but somehow no one was calling for Barbaric Cultural Practices Hotline to report them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If your church spends more time on 'social justice' than the Word of God you're going to have a dying church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Elections in Canada have become nothing more than power hungry ego maniacs trying to 'out Santa Claus' one another with absolutely no thought to the debt future generations will be forced to bear. Now than Christianity is the new 'smoking', Santa survives as the giveaway artist for the ages. Selfish knows no equal as todays voters.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "According to the Pew Research Center, 86 percent of Alabama residents identify as Christian, and 49 percent are evangelical.\nAnd 99% are morons. I wish we could just expel Alabama, Mississippi and other such states from the union.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Bad ideas should be mocked and ridiculed because, otherwise, they tend to infect later generations. That's why we have Christians today.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Disagreeing with you does not make me a liar.\"\n\nCorrect - what makes you a liar are statements like:\n\"atheists would like nothing more than to destroy the church\"\n\"You can't even acknowledge that other people have the right to hold beliefs that differ from your own\"\n\"In your mind, you know what is true and best for you and all others\"\n\nTHAT'S what makes you a liar; your lies.\n\n\"As such, I am muting you\"\n\nYou can't come up with any examples of atheists trying to \"destroy the church\", so you take the intellectual coward's way out. [golfclap]", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "'Thank God I'm not a woman' or whatever that Jewish prayer is/was. Male identity is largely shaped by 'not being' something. What that is is not being a woman, and moving out of the family world of women and children to become a (real) man. The final bastion of separate identity is the power of representing God. If women actually are seen as representing God then men are really not 'separate but more equal', which is what their identity has largely been built on. They are actually then 'less equal' in their own eyes because they can't give birth. That's one reason they push the strange analogy that 'women can't be priests like men can't give birth', which really makes no sense at all.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You seem to be very angry. Perhaps you should take a break and go outside for a breath of fresh air. Step away from the computer and the ridiculous fringe teachings expounded by some members of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So some Christians are proud to say the Founding Fathers were Christians. Most of them were slave owning rapists. So much for Christian morality. The Christians that elected Trump clearly don't care much about morality. It is those kind of Christians that caused me to become an agnostic. I love Jesus. I wish more Christians would follow his advice. Sunday morning is still the most segregated time of the week in the USA. It always has been since the founding of the nation. I don't know that those so called pro life Christians care one wit about the poisoned children in Flint. Those Christians have had 3 years to show they care about those innocent lives. The folks they elected poisoned them for profit.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Have you ever asked yourself what Islamophobia means? It's a totally BS word. It says nothing about Muslims - it is talking about their religion. An unnatural, irrational fear of Islam. I myself have a natural, rational fear of Islam. Read the book - Islam hates all outsiders and considers us fit subjects for severed heads. I have no problems with Muslims any more than I have with ignorant Christians like Harper and his minions - evangelical, fanatical christian taliban who should never govern this country.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Like Christians, who have an equally ridiculous theory.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is certainly true, according to St. Paul. Thus we find no condemnation of the Romans for executing Christians who violated roman law by following their banned religion, while we must condemn those who violated the laws of the land in the 1940s by harboring jews and others in violation of the laws of the lands. Or perhaps this is an overly simplistic view underpinned with St. Paul's idiotic opinion on law.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sure, but first let's see them get shot at by police and deported for being an immigrant minority. You sm$rt As#. White Christians have always had the upper hand, it's called privileged wh!tes.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What sad state of the Catholic Church is today!\nThe Catholic institution clergies holding hostage the holy Catholic Church, sexually abuses children and hiding and condoning sexual criminals in broad day light before the whole world! \nSo many of us had to leave our holy church and can't celebrate our Lord's passion!\nWhat sad state of the Catholic Church is today! :-(", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Religious people, even extremists, can be hypocrites. Holier-than-thou, self-identifying Christians aren't supposed to commit adultery or molest children, but it happens.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It really should be the other way around. Gay and Lesbain people, who are out and proud, should \"accompany\" the many pathetic celibates who are so afraid of their sexuality, that they have to create an AA group for it, into greater levels of personal truth and actualization. Perhaps some will remain celibate. Fine. But they shouldn't be as envious and jealous of those who find happy and fulfilling sexual /genital relationships. If they are truly called to celibacy I don't believe they would even bother with sexual behavior of others and fully devote themselves into some type of worthwhile ministry-- ministry to the poor for example. But me thinks they might be \"wolves in sheeps clothing\" and I worry vulnerable people will be sexually exploited or picked up. I have no trust of the \"celibate\" Roman catholic priesthood. None when it comes to sexuality and sexual maturity.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Well, the love you request will not evolve from a Hillary Presidency. What ignorance! \"US Has killed more than 20 million people in 37 \" Victim Nations\" since World War II,\" www.globalresearch.ca Nov. 2015. $38 billion to Apartheid ISRAEL for weapons to be used against PALESTINIANS, CHRISTIAN and Muslim, is immoral! There is only one candidate for Peace & Love, Green Party Jill Stein. Jill2016.org according to Green Party VP Ajamu Baraka, \" OBAMA has been a moral disaster\" \"one of the worst things that has happened to African-AMERICAN people's because black issues have moved more to the right and the president hasn't been keen on seeking justice for wronged blacks\". Hillary hasn't even visited Standing Rock where Indian Tribes and friends are making a stand for their water, their sacred sites. Hawaiians know that feeling. Hillary represents corporations, banks that could care less about people and the environment. Trump is totally repulsive. Johnson, Libiterian, unaware.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I agree Bill, and I think right-wing evangelicals should be the first in line to reap the positive benefits of super negative experiences. Chances are, after Trump gets done grabbing America by the pussy, lots of Americans will be looking at the group that most single-handedly brought Donald Trump into a position to really stick it to America. It's no surprise to me that a sex abuser like Trump would be so heartily supported by right-wing evangelicals. There are so many of them amongst that group. It's no wonder they identify with him.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Dangerous because they are the right wing religious Christian Taliban", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry. I didn't intentionally erase a tirade. What did I say to insult your father? I really don't remember, but remind me and I'll spruce it up a bit. And NO it is not true Christian behavior, so yeah, that's my bad. But I thought you wanted to roll around in the mud. Yeah, we're like a pig and a dog, fighting it out in a mud bowl. Are you the pig or the dog? Your choice.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I disagree, as our family still is being victimized by a local repeat pedophile who was released after serving time, then allowed to return to the area with support from his local Wanna be Mom gang who is ironically a VP at a Christian School. These perps continue to bully us, and tresspass and nothing is being done. Then add the lack of \"understaffed\" parole officers that frankly don't have the time to care about the victims. So basically, these pedophiles know they can get away with it with our failing justice system so they continue to re-offend! I say hang these perps the old fashioned way and save tax money!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Don't worry about demonizing Muslims and Islam, the U.S. will now be under Christian Sharia law. Enjoy.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Pew study is either intentionally misleading, or horribly naive. The number of congresscritters that claim adherence to Christianity is a political lie. Many claim being religious as a tactic to get elected. Country's leaders from Roman times lied to the great unwashed ignorant religious masses in order to control them. A nations agnostic or atheist super rich control the politicians who most often think just like their owners. The great mass of religious voters are ignorant dupes.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously, Jesus preached war. It's right there throughout the gospel. Fight, Kill, Destroy. He often preached just that.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I recall reading articles about the Beatles and David Bowie being involved in Satanic activities including strong alliances with Aleister Crowley. Great men you say as a practicing Catholic Priest? Your above comment about the martyrs being fools tops the cake.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The pussy-grabbing, Mr. Crum, has been made official policy. Virulent disrespect of women is widespread. We're going to expose the fraudulent traitor and sex abuser that [white] evangelical Christians have foisted upon the women of this nation. We have a perfectly legal right to bring the issue to the churches. What if the kind of treatment they have meted out to American women [and young girls for that matter] is turned on them? The tactics they use can be used on them. Lol, church attendance is already in serious decline due to the prevalence of---gasp! no!--not reasoning! Please, dear white evangelical god above, rescue us from the evil throes of information, logic and reasoning! \nWe can facilitate this decline by exposing these people for the fraudulent Christians they are. And maybe even have some fun while doing it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A typo maybe? Meant to say \"wrong\"? As in \"Muller, like Pope Francis continues to be wrong on the scourge of clergy sex abuse, preferring to continue the Church's policy of lying, covering up, protecting its own, placating the masses and otherwise behaving a manner more pleasing to Satan the Christ?\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Surely you jest\" would have been my first reaction, but then you are not known around these forums for your sense of humor.\n\nAnyone intelligent enough (including you and the author himself) can see the premise of this piece (as is usually, with the left apologists) -\"It is all West's fault\". \n\n\"... In fact, the notion of Islamic unity is a very recent idea, one that was created mostly by Christian racists....\" - when did the word Kafir, and its connotation as a whole, enter the Islamic vernacular? 20th century? As a results of European racism?\n\n\"....Europeans invented the idea of \"race\" as a defining and restricting human identity. ..\" - see my original remarks regarding Mulsim's reference to blacks. \n\n\"... postcolonial world of the 1990s\" - What colonies lasted until the 1990s? \n\nThe author is well traveled; no doubt knowledgeable on the subject. \n.\nSo knowledgeable in fact, that he steers clear off the inconvenient facts, while manufacturing white-guilt pieces.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No it isn't. Muslim bakeries in Dearborn Michigan are on film showing them refusing to bake for a gay event. No repercussions because they are muslims not Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "R and R said, \" Sex with teenage boys is not paedophilia. And 80% of the sexual abuse by male Catholic clergy was homosexal acts perpetrated against teenage boys.\" Once again, RAPE is RAPE and teenage boys and girls are still children. They are treated by pediatricians and are still in school. They should never be taken advantage of by older adults. So quit making these false pretentious of some rapes are not as bad as others. They are all rape and the kids must deal with them the rest of their lives. They are cruel soul murder.. Quit making excuses for clergy that diddle teenagers as if it is not bad... It is indeed Rape...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The contributions to a church are already taxed. The church is a non-profit, the money goes to many things, including supporting the homeless and other groups, even LGBT people in need of help.\nYour hatred and contempt for Christianity will all too soon be replaced with your fear of Islam. Muslims will be nice nice until they have the numbers and influence to rape and kill at will. Europe is the harbinger of things to come.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If your name is Mohammad you were born to Muslim parents, regardless whether you practice or not, or whether you apostate outright. So perhaps he's nominally \"Muslim\" like, say, Tammy Faye Bakker is nominally \"Christian\". Or an immigrant kid seduced by a permissive, degenerate society into violating his Faith's tenets. Allah knows, we know not. But there appears to be no doubt as to his crime, and I will neither excuse nor minimize it simply because he's (nominally) Muslim.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No Don, not a manly priest.\n\nI understand that many gay men are attracted to Catholicism, but this needs to end. \n\nThe problem with the church isn't the lack of women priests. It's the preponderance of gay priests.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Dennis, I'm not really sure historically how the sexuality of clergy ebbed and flowed. (I do know that seminaries were packed to the rafters just prior to and during the two world wars, which tells another story!)\n\nObviously I cannot say exactly the percentage of actively gay but it is high. In the Anglican Church its through the roof so I don't see why it wouldn't be any different in our church. The real tragedy is the amount of gay clergy who are in total denial. I found these guys to be deeply psychologically wounded. \n\nI'm in my early fifties. I too am shocked at the young conservative clergy coming through. I despair at times. But I guess this is the product of 35 years of JPII and Ratzinger. How the good people of God listen to the mince preached at them week after week by these young guys who preach with such authority, based on such little life experience, is beyond me. Our people deserve better.\n\nI wish there were more guys like yourself still around.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But the Court is better without him; too many Opus Dei Catholic judges.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't it the mission of the Church to evangelise the whole world so why would a Catholic not want the law of the land to based upon Catholic dogma and doctrine? I could understand anyone who is not a Catholic objecting.but not a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not the Christian fundamentalist who all expect to gather in Israel for the rapture when the apocalypse comes or some such.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Huck, good luck with getting honest direct answers from Trump voters that will make sense to you. I doubt they see the same world you do. Don't forget most of them had no problem believing Obama was not an American or a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The other two criminals fled the scene. Punahou has major problems. Christian school? Not a chance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a shame that the writer had to use his knowledge of the bible to belittle atheist. It IS very hard to not fight back when your personal beliefs are grossly misinterpreted by those who have never seriously attempted to understand a very complex/diversified approach to Christian teaching and emphasis.\n\nThe bible was written by humans and inspired or not, it isn't the clarion voice of God that some believers feel that they alone have heard. It only takes a quick look at Christian sects world wide, to know that each finds a different message in the same Biblical script. \n\nThe experience of a naturalist in a wilderness situation, that point that you blend seamlessly with other living things, is very similar to a small handful of spiritual experiences that I've experienced. The 'one true believer' syndrome is human, not holy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You didn't rebut a single thing in the last post, so let's try it this way: which one of the quotes you just provided do you think articulates that our Founding Father suggested that they did NOT make us a Christian nation through the Judeo-Christian paradigm? I understand you enjoy just Googling quotes and plagiarizing mine; but you're actually going to have to state what about your random and unrelated quotes you think articulates that our Founding Father suggested that they did NOT make us a Christian nation through the Judeo-Christian paradigm.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't point to specifically HHS, there are many organizations throughout the government that provide social services and subsidies.\n\nThe government is not the right delivery method for care, and the Church's cooperation or promotion as the delivery method has undermined the Catholic Church, all religions, families, and local communities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It's intended to cause disruption in the community so that people cave in and remove any Christian imagery from public places.\"\n\nYes it is.\n\nAnd when the religions you eschew are likewise denied their plot in the public square (on your dime, our taxpaying brethren), you'll perhaps consider thanking them for their foresight and effort...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are avoiding the issue of numbers, history, and efficiency.\n\nWe already have several holidays, many non religious, and every time someone suggests another, the issue of lost work time comes up. It is well know that in societies where life revolves around religious festivals, life is organized very differently than in efficient industrialized countries, and not very efficiently. We cannot organize life here around religious festivals.\n\nSecond, holidays reflect a country's history, and population. In Asia, there is a long history of Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian cultures, and conflict between them, and large populations of these. In Indonesia, Bali is Hindu, and very nervous about being part of a majority Muslim country. It has not always been harmonious there either, and fundamentalists are gaining ground. The government has to be very careful.\n\nWe do not have that long history with those other religions, and the numbers are still tiny.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As the election ended I find it appalling that so many of the Evangelicals are spouting off how God chose Trump. I doubt she chose Trump or any other candidate who won an election. For if she did select the winners of elections in the US she would also be responsible for those crazies who win in the 3rd world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you. I've read some of Lisa's works, including \"Between the Sexes: Foundations for a Christian Ethics of Sexuality.\" I put down \"Sex, Gender, and Christian Ethics\" after the introduction. In my view, Cahill remains within the circle of academic theologians who have to show how their views coincide or build upon the tradition, including scripture, Aquinas, etc. She's trying to provide a woman-positive \"foundation\" for Christian Ethics and Morality, but not getting into the questions and issues that concern most sexually-active people -- most of whom don't care what Aquinas had to say about sex. \nAgain in my view, I think until the Church learns how to speak about sex at the level of the questions we all have to deal with, theologians will continue to write books and engage one another in footnotes. But the teenagers at the drive-in won't pay any attention, because they're not speaking their language. - Monica.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh dear God if they did that there would be no one left to lead the Catholic Church except Joan Chittister and Elizabeth Johnson.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pruitt in the EPA job is as unacceptable as if the Catholic Pope did not believe in GOD!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the comment, Mr. VanHeerdan. If you could respond to me, I would appreciate your effort. \n\nYou mention \"a loving Father 'God' fulfills their childish yearnings.\"\nWhich believers do you mean: only Christians? \nWere you aware followers of Islam specifically denounce my belief of God as Father and humans as His children?\nWhy do they also believe in a Creator?\nHow does Muslims' denial of God as Father affect Freud's Father-longing insecurity diagnosis for believers?\n\nLastly, to an extent, I will describe myself as one of your \"needy people\"... while including all of us. Most Christians see humanity's labors as corrupt or \"chasing after the wind\". Yet, Lewis documents well, IMO, our species' meaning on this \"Goldilocks zone\" planet. Simply put, though, our best longings -- compassion, philanthropy, peacemaking, self-sacrifice like Yeshua (Jesus) -- lead me away from Freudian naturalism and Darwinism. Are these my \"childish yearnings\"? Would you suggest believers give them up?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hugh, you, the fundamentalists, and the belligerent atheists all need to set aside these vulgar and cliched and distorted conceptions of God if we are going to get anywhere. There actually is a long tradition of Christian philosophy and theology that takes the question of God seriously. God is not a cloud being. Actually God is not a being at all, not an object you will come across in space and time. Here are some serious starting points. God is the source and fulness of being, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. All things depend on God for every moment of their existence. God is beyond our comprehension and yet closer to us than we are to ourselves. A good introduction to serious thinking about God in this tradition is David Bentley Hart's The Experience of God. For a more poetic and personal intro, try My Bright Abyss by Christian Wiman. The experiences to which you were subjected as a child and as an adult--and I can say this unequivocally--do not represent this God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus didn't have a problem with the law, per se; what he had a problem with was the way the law was being executed by the authorities, presumably supported by the theologists of their time. To safeguard against this, Jesus set up the papacy to cut through all the analysis by the various interpreters. That's our faith. If you don't believe that, then you're in the wrong religion. This type of standardization is what accounts for the longevity of the Church, and, as I see it, the re-visiting of this concept with the invitation of Protestants to Vatican II and its execution is why the Church seems to be falling apart. Everybody's a theologian now: Cafeteria Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I give you the Crusades from 1095 to 1291 AD for length and deaths. \n\nI give you the Islamic Jihads of Shia vs Sunni since the death of Muhammed and continuing in Syria on this very day.\n\nSome conflicts fought as jihad since the 1980s include:\nIran\u2013Iraq War (1980\u201388, considered a jihad by the Islamic Republic of Iran)[165]\nKashmir conflict (Lashkar-e-Taiba, 1990\u2013present)\nSomali Civil War (1991\u2013present)\nAfghan civil war (Taliban 1994\u2013present)\nEast Turkestan irredentism (East Turkestan Islamic Movement, 1997\u2013present)\nChechen war and Insurgency in the North Caucasus (Arab Mujahideen in Chechnya, 1994\u2013present)\nNigerian Sharia conflict (Boko Haram 2001\u2013present)\nIraqi insurgency (Islamic State of Iraq, 2003\u2013present)\nAl-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen (Abyan Governorate, 2010\u2013present)\nSyrian civil war (Al-Nusra Front, 2011\u2013present)\n\nI give you Northern Ireland; I give you the \"30 -Years War\" where \"Christians\" fought Catholics. from 1618 to 1648.\n\nDeath and Religion are inseparable!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Battle against orthodox Catholicism\"? Come, now, Trid. The Pope is very, very, very orthodox.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The first generation of Jesus followers believed the Day of the Lord was IMMINENT. The theology eventually adapted to an ever-delayed Parousia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are always laughing at people's comments.\nDoesn't seem very Christ-like to me.\nOr maybe you don't care.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rather revealing response. I said \"many catholics.\" You read it as all white catholics. I don't know about progressive algebra, but an implicit confession, well, now, that's another thing. Weren't you using the name \"whitey\" when you started posting here? Whatever happened to that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am afraid the archbishop did not take the lesson from this Sunday's Gospel. Seems to me that the archbishop judges by external things and not the internal. Christ was very critical of the Pharisees. The way I understand Luke is that hypocrisy causes a them and us situation. Further, them often are in that position due to lack of power. An example is someone born gay, the leadership always makes this person on of \"them.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Sr. Julie Brandt, associate superintendent of schools and a School Sister of Notre Dame, said the diocese was open to changes.\"\n\nA suggestion. For a child to be enrolled, the Covenant of Trust should specifically require parents to pledge they will only use Church approved methods of contraception. After all, they would otherwise be in an \"irregular\" situation. There is no \"hope\" in these guidelines, nor love. What happens if you're a \"regular\" couple and support SSM in public? Would you be \"invited\" to leave? If you have \"irregular\" friends or family you associate with, isn't that a public rejection of the Church's teaching? School officials are in a difficult place because Francis said to be welcoming while Church teaching is not. Mr. DeBernardo of New Ways Ministry is exactly right. Most US Catholics reject much of what the Church teaches about sex. What would happen if Dioceses required everyone to sign a Covenant?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good point Smith. Let\u2019s just do nothing and see if anybody else does the same thing again. Let\u2019s have a reading of the names of the victims, a touching moment of silence, maybe some silent prayer and then ask our ole\u2019 buddy Jesus to stop the next mass murderer. So far Jesus hasn\u2019t stopped anything so I\u2019m more of an action guy. No offense to Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure what the Innitzer Prize signifies. Perhaps that someone was once absolutely fooled into believing in and promoting a Hitler kind of person/idea and then came to his senses? Don't think Chaput has made it to the \"come to his senses\" place yet, certainly not if he thinks Notre Dame should invite Trump to speak. Of course, I don't know if he really means it or if he is just trying to get a dig in on Notre Dame for having invited Obama and others Chaput doesn't like to speak. What sort of response does he invite?\n\nIs it any wonder that there is such poison in the exchanges between Chaput kind of Catholics and non-Caput kind of Catholics with this kind of example?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The basic problem is not who we are ordaining or not ordaining but a deeper issue of what we expect with ordination. That issue is Continence - the rule that you cannot have marital intercourse and celebrate Mass that day or the prior evening. This practice is misogynistic and it reflects the rot in Catholic sexual teaching. Being with a woman (or a man) or being gay or a woman does not render one impure to offer Mass. There I nothing intrinsically impure about sex. Once we get this one corrected, everything else falls in line.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you listen to the pastor all the way through? If no then you have no right to compare this godly, gifted man of God to Davidians and other cults. Are you a Jesuit or something? Do you even believe in Present Truth? It certainly doesn't sound like it! Be careful brother for you sound like those God and Sis White talks about calling evil good and good evil. Be careful, God is listening!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop Braxton might be right that there is insufficient 'inclusion' of Catholic. On the other hand, it might just be to the advantage of, at least, the clergy. It doesn't take much googeling to find that Catholics were a bit late to - and a bit mixed about - the process. A tardiness not totally obscure to Dr. King as well. \nA little story: In the summer of 1964 several Jesuit \"Scholastics\" in clerics and a woman religious, in habit were among the packed-congregation at the Riverside Church on Columbia U. campus for his rendition of the \"Knock at Midnight\" sermon. After the service they joined the long line of well-wishers who met with Dr. King, his wife and children. Scanning the five person line of solid black, he greeted each of them warmly as he shook their hands. While specific words are long forgotten, his genuine pleasure at their presence was tinged with a gentle tease.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ed Mazza Overnight Editor, The Huffington Post\nHillary Clinton is carrying out the work of Satan and Catholics who vote Democrat are going to hell. That\u2019s the message of a recent bulletin at a San Diego Catholic church. \n\u201cIt is a mortal sin to vote Democrat,\u201d a flyer distributed at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Old Town read, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. \u201cImmediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell.\u201d\nThe Oct. 16 flyer, called \u201cVoters Guide for Serious Catholics,\u201d was written in English and Spanish and tucked into the weekly bulletin given out at the church, which also serves as a polling place. \nThe flyer listed five Democratic policy positions at odds with church teachings. Two weeks later, a second flyer mentioned Clinton by name and claimed she was under the influence of Satan. \u201cImmediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps you weren't aware that the attack on a Thomas, a black conservative (and Catholic) was much bigger than a he said/she said with Anita Hill.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why would we universally acknowledge something that is factually and legally incorrect?\n\nI am an atheist but Canada unlike the US has not constitutionally entrenched the separation of church and state. There are no clauses in our Constitution Act of 1867 and we have no counterpart of the First Amendment of the American constitution. \n\nOur constitution actually mandates state funding of \"separate schools\" (Catholic or Protestant minorities only not other religions) in several provinces and that is constitutionally valid. That would be anathema in the USA. See Adler v Ontario (AG), [1996] 3 S.C.R. 609\n\nIn fact as PM Harper correctly noted in an interview several years ago the separation of church and state is an American constitutional concept and does not apply to the Canadian constitution. He went on to say that separation of church and state in Canada has meant, traditionally, that the government will not interfere with religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So it was Jesus who knocked Paul off his ride? I thought Jesus had already \"risen\" and \"ascended\"? So you obviously agree: Jesus did not pick gentiles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God save us from Vatican I clericalism. If even half this energy were spent on living the gospel and inspiring others in our communities, so much could be done. Instead it is all about collars and birettas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's something missing from this story...... People are quite clearly riled-up..... But I do know there are people who would like to keep schools secular. In my school days the teacher used to read from the Bible at the morning opening class - then a few years later it disappeared. Apparently due to complaints. Christians and Jews send their children to private school if religious training/worship is required. So, why does the school board have to accommodate Muslim's religious activities that quite clearly interfere with classes - they too can send their children to private school if they deem religious activities as essential...... Sorry folks, we live in North America - Not the Mid-East or a majority Muslim country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul--I think we are all looking for some 'center' or security, I just see too often these folks following the least right in favor of true Christians...B. Obama comes to mind as a true practicing Christian and yet the poison of our culture would try to destroy him...'cause a few were scared sh@tless by his true faith in God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Goodness, I think you've badly misread my post. I criticize Donald Trump as intellectually, emotionally and morally unfit to be President. That has absolutely nothing to do with his being, or not being a Christian. \n\nVP Pence is, as I noted, an entirely different situation. He is an ultra conservative and a fundamentalist Christian. I'm not sure you'd find many folks who would argue otherwise. I, indeed, disagree with Mr. Pence on many, many different issues. That doesn't make either of us \"intellectually, morally or emotionally unfit\" to be anything...including President of the United States. \n\nUniting the country? President Obama truly tried....and failed. He had two serious disadvantages: a) a GOP Congress openly dedicated to his failure as president and b) the fact that he had an African American father and was, thereby, considered Black and hated by millions of American racists for daring to be elected to the Presidency. (cont)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Republicans/Christians will use the Bible to justify anything. Is there anything about guns in the Bible? No? Time for a rewrite. They probably find it mentioned in some Dead Sea Scrolls.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is the second sad article posted by Adventist Today, WHAT IS GOING ON WITH OUR DENOMINATION? WHY ARE WE MIRRORING THE WORLD INSTEAD OF JESUS CHRIST? SMUT SELLS, WE KNOW THIS, BUT WHY ARE WE COPYING THE METHODS OF THE WORLD INSTEAD OF CHRIST? COULD IT BE BECAUSE OUR GC OFFICIALS ARE TOO BUSY IN ECUMENICAL MEETINGS WITH THE FAMED POPE FRANCIS TO EVEN CARE WHAT THE REST OF THE WORLD CHURCH IS DOING? DOES ANYONE CARE ANYMORE ABOUT OUR STANDARDS AND \"CHRISTIAN\" CODES OF CONDUCT? Our denomination is in GROSS APOSTASY FROM THE GENERAL CONFERENCE LEVEL, SO IT'S NO WONDER THAT OUR MEMBERS ARE LEFT TO KILL AND BEAT UP ONE ANOTHER, OR OTHERS. WE HAVE WORK TO DO, THE GOSPEL TO SHARE WITH THE WORLD, SOULS ARE DYING, BUT WHO CARES, OUR GC OFFICISLS ARE TOO BUSY PALYING WITH THE POPE OF ROME TO CARE! GOD HELP US P-L-E-A-S-E!!! WE HAVE LOST OUR SENSE OF DIRECTION AND PURPOSE IN THIS WORLD AND THE SUNDAY LAW IS ABOUT TO BE ENFORCED. WE ARE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, well done, Father Reese!\n\nFor me, the sense of what Weinandy did is summed up in this quote: \"Ironically, Weinandy complains about the pope allowing too much freedom of discussion and then takes advantage of this freedom to tell the pope that he is all wrong.\"\n\nMore than anything, we need dialogue in our Church. Francis is starting with trying to get bishops to really to be courageous in speaking what their experience tells them and seeing what the Church needs for today, for the state of the faith in the world as it is. He is also encouraging them to reach out to the people, the laity, who live in the reality of today and to listen to them. I don't believe the institutional Church can survive without the input of laity. The bishops simply do not live in the reality that Catholics experience in their day-to-day lives. \n\nSooner or later, they will have to open up all the doors that are closed and let the laity in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bible is not an accurate book, Jane. It has no validity. B'Tselem, CHRISTIAN Peacemakers, Jewish Voice for Peace, Friends of Sabeel(CHRISTIAN) are a few organizations that monitor ISRAELS flagrant violations of Palestinian Human Rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A fairer society means give and take, and not just take and take. When a Serbian was converted Islam under Ottoman, that Serbian is removed from his family and community -- new name, clothes, and no longer a Serb but a Muslim. He is denuded of his heritage thus becoming a separate 'racial' identity. If he would have had the opportunity to keep his family name at least , he could be part of his community. \n\nThen endless hours spent for full service with face covered in a new society. Its an unfathomable world.\n\nDoug focus on 'Christian racists' is his pure invention. A well informed journalist with myopic view on certain subjects.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly. Any Christian community, denomination, church succumbing to Americhristianity has ceased to be Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anyone who says that the Catholic Church is \"changeless\" is denying history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can't understand why it is verboten to criticize islam, but open season to criticize christian beliefs, and suggest that Scheer's christian beliefs will become the law of the land.\n\nSurely, Scheer is entitled to his personal beliefs as long as he does not impose them on anyone else.\n\nWould anyone be agreeable with not electing a quietly practicing muslim \"in case\" they tried to impose sharia law?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The native population is not the only population in Canada that has needed to reinvent itself over and over again. As the white Christian population in Toronto is overtaken, even Toronto the Good must remake itself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re 1st para: Wow! You assume the right to tell someone what they mean by a term, and then castigate them for inference you draw!! Now that has got to be the most unfair mode of argument ever invented.\n\nRe 2nd para: More precisely, what Francis did was ask every Catholic parish in Europe to accept accept and support a refugee family. Many did, and many additional parishes in North America did the same...so yeah, Francis had no problem convincing most Catholics that welcoming refugee was the Christian thing to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That last sentence is the part Christians ignore, thinking, somehow, that they are in the majority. But whatever the numbers are makes absolutely no difference to God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's the problem. We have always been allowed to criticize religion, all of them, and this motion isolates Islam from that. \nChristianity is evolving albeit too slowly to modern society but Islam is still stuck in ways that have barely changed in a millennium, the big one being sharia including severe punishments for apostasy and blasphemy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More of the \"Christian\" persecution complex. There are plenty of Christians who support LGBT marriage, transgender rights, and choice just as there are plenty non-Christians who are pro-traditional marriage and life, and opposition to transgender rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From a different Christian perspective (and with NO intention of getting embroiled in RC debates over your dogma, this Pope or a Cardinal's fancy robes) I'd like to pose a question. My understanding is that the requirement of a sacramental \"church\" wedding as obligatory for RC couples does not pre-date Trent. Before then, for a MILLENNIUM in fact most of the barely literate proles never had a priest preside over a wedding even if it was recorded in a register. Everyone west of Orthodox and Muslim lands was Catholic then (pre-Reformation). So, did they need a church annulment to remarry, or was that only something that worried aristocrats and royals who had married before a priest?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The making of a government more supportive of Christianity is an old strategy that goes back to Rome, when the traitorous Northern General Constantine sacked Rome by the sword and seized power and thereafter proclaimed Christianity the official religion of Rome. It wasn't for his spiritual beliefs (if there were any), but rather seen by him as having more control and support of the populous. 'Politics.' Not much has changed in respect, and of just what?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics pray to Saints sometimes. Are you saying they're not Christians? Eh. Not my problem. I will revere that great lady without a second thought about Christian sectarian squabbling, if that's what you're trying to dredge up here. Have enough of that to deal with in my own faith.\n\nPS: try not to come off so self-righteous. I believe the Messiah (alayhis-Salaam) cautioned that 'a contrite heart' was the preferred attitude for those seeking forgiveness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In early November, German Chancellor Angela Merkel (your hero) declared that Christianity is \u201cthe most persecuted religion in the world.\u201d Although met with predictable criticism, Rupert Short\u2019s recent research report for Civitas UK confirms Merkel\u2019s claim \u2014 we may not want to hear it, but Christianity is in peril, like no other religion. Short shows that \u201cChristians are targeted more than any other body of believers.\u201d Short is the author of the recently published Christianophobia: A Faith Under Attack. He is concerned that \u201c200 million Christians (10 percent of the global total) are socially disadvantaged, harassed or actively oppressed for their beliefs.\u201d\n\nFrankly, I don't believe most of these reports of Muslim or Jewish persecution by American citizens. That's because so many of them have been debunked. I do however believe there's abundant evidence for persecution of conservatives. \n\nWe all know, you're safer walking around town wearing a fez or a yarmulke than a MAGA hat.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is \"union with Christ\" a theological rambling???\n \nYour concept of power and participation in the Church disenfranchises and invalidates the participation of 99.9% of Christians in the last 2000 years who have not had positions of authority. \n\nEssentially you just want the Church to function as a democratic institution in which the voting power shared by all \"members\" = power and authority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a load of nonsense. There is simply no more faithful, authentically Catholic media out there than ChurchMilitant. I urge everyone to go ahead and follow the links provided - see for yourself how this author twists and manipulates what was actually said to make his false point. No wonder the Reporter is laughingly called \"The Fishwrap\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess if you call my Christian beliefs 'propaganda' - then the shoe fits.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why does PM Selfie Cute Socks never condemn the oppression and slaughter of Christians in the predominantly Muslim countries?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know with my own grandkids (clearly anecdotal) that acceptance of gays is a very big deal....and women's issues are too....\n\nTwo of my grandkids graduated from an excellent catholic high school with a strong focus on social justice.....so the Church's social justice teaching is I think alive and well if noted in the breech....and they clearly profited from this experience they also participated in the retreat program..\n\nI have thought from the beginning that social justice projects like Habitat, local hunger programs etc....are a great place for both ecumenical efforts and youth efforts....\n\nEveryone there can agree on the worth of the project....and who knows where that goes.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I recommend if one is going to give to Catholic Charities to earmark the work for very particular functions/locations.\n\nThis may take more work and investigation, but that extra work can be offered up for the work that CC does!\n\nI give through the annual campaign at work and I used to give to \"Catholic Charities\"..and then I found out some of the awful things that Catholic Charities ends up supporting here and there, and so I found out that there's a way to look up particular codes underneath the Catholic Charities category in order to better target the gift to something more aligned with Catholic teaching. At least this is how my company's program is set up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Normally, Catholic education is separated because Catholic educators don't want the students to have any contact with non-Catholics.\"\n\nI disagree with this assessment. Decades ago there were sufficient numbers of young people even in smaller communities to render parallel school systems viable. Now that's changed, particularly in smaller communities and rural areas. It seems to me that both sides likely want to maintain their enrolment numbers in order to justify funding and infrastructure. In the Saskatchewan case, it appears that public school officials are trying to prevent non-Catholic students from being funded to attend Catholic schools rather than the other way around. The viability of the public school system in some areas is obviously under threat. To get around this, and short of constitutional change (which should be examined), perhaps sharing resources in consolidated school buildings that accommodate all students is a good option that all sides should consider.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The conundrum is only in the minds of these two authors. Stuck in old thinking, legacy relationships. Suddenly faced a rude awakening by the arrival of Trump. Sad.\n\nOur past leaders Dief and Trudeau Sr. did not have such conundrum. They were not besieged by the 'I am holier' attitude of western Christian dogma. When in fact it's the basis of the most evil and bloody imperial empires. Instigators of too many wars to list, including two world wars, conductor of horrific slave trade, inventor of concentration camp.\n\nI must remind that the west have been practitioner of dictatorships until after WW2 - ruled by monarchs, fascists and nazi. A mere few decades of democracy and now endless lecture on China. The arrogance. \n\nDoing business does not mean compatibility or compliance with governance systems, cultural values, religion or ideology. Just comply with trade rules. Let's do business, big business with China. It's national prosperity, one threatened by that military empire down south.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... 'christians' have that mastered ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wouldn't tell that to the Jewish and Muslim people Judson's claim attend.\n\nAnd if not having Mass (as a Catholic) is \"good enough for (you)\"...well, that's your choice. Under worship on their webpage is a man an child and they are dressed as chickens. Music says \"eclectic\" and mentions Prince songs. You can access some if the sermons. Christmas Eve celebration mentions the \"legend of Jesus' birth\" and the \"kooky characters\" involved. The website affords space to the St. Praxedis movement, claiming to be part of the Roman Catholic tradition - which, of course, it is not. They sponsor a post \"service\" mystery school...where they may read some scripture or things \"not read in any other church.\" One sponsored group is \"God-optional\" - which may be odd when calling it a Church group, but whatever. One page says the Judson \"worships the arts.\" Well, it is in Greenwich Village.\n\nJust so we're clearer here on articles presented in the National Catholic Reporter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sad - you perpetuate the old *literal* interpretation of scripture. Guess what - the Catholic Church does not support *literalism* - it supports *contextualism* and various scriptural schools of interpretation. So, the Papal Biblical Commission actually publishes works about the differences between the synoptics and John; between the synoptics, etc. Each wrote for different communities and thus each described the historical Jesus differently. You disagree - fine....but it is your stance that violates church understanding. Please spend time educating yourself -\n\nhttp://catholic-resources.org/ChurchDocs/PBC_HistTruthFitzmyer.htm\n\n\"Because the Evangelist often transposed episodes from one context to another, it is necessary for the exegete to seek out the meaning intended by the Evangelist in narrating a saying or deed in a certain way or putting it in a different context - how the Evangelist-compiler has made use of the material in his composition\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Honestly I think your just doing your best to troll :) Anyway.. What are you talking about? The author said they should pray, right? I stated that many Christians did pray. You pop off with some rude comment calling me Moses. You ask if I'm two and say my feelings are hurt.. Just where did you get that? Please don't put words in my mouth. I never said your comment hurt me, I asked why you are unable to express your thoughts without rude behavior? I also asked what did I say that offended you? I'm sorry for pointing it out but most adults can say \"hey, i disagree\" without lashing out like that. \nI didn't claim anything, the word of God is sufficient.\nIf you don't believe the Lord that's your choice. Hence, I posted my comment to the author.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You may be trying to spin what you said, but it is quite clear from the rest of your post that you believe that is what Bill did say. So not just hypocrisy, but dishonesty as well.\n\nYour statement \"The Church has had, and has streamlined, a process for divorced and remarried Catholics to discern (pastoral accompaniment and deep understanding) and reintegrate themselves with the Church and the Sacraments... the sacrament of Reconciliation, annulment and convalidation.\" is simply traditionalist blather. My son's first marriage failed. It was entered in to with the best of intention, but it fell apart for various reasons. He has said that if he were to try to get an annulment, he would be lying. Apparently, you think that God would be honored by a lie. He remarried, and his second marriage is doing quite well. He refuses to say \"I am a raging adulterer\" because he is not. He has left the Catholic Church because the Church refuses to accept him and his marriage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You speak of a limited understanding of a dogma and doctrine and I would not argue with that.\nWhen St Thomas wrote of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist he was not reversing that doctrine, he was explaining it more fully. The Sequence, Lauda Sion, composed by him in the 13th century cannot be surpassed today as a doctrinal statement set in verse.\nThe development of doctrine most certainly does not result in that doctrine being turned upon its head, rather it adds further proof to the authenticity of that doctrine and refutes the arguments of those would reject that doctrine.\nWhen you speak of the Church admitting it's limitations of the past what would you say to its limitations in the present unless you believe that the current era is the golden age of Catholic learning?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Great, now that the UN. has listened to the gracious words of pope Francis.\nNow it is the Pope Francis' turn to provide TRUE and ACCURATE information requested by a United Nations committee about how the church handles investigations into sex abuse by priests. \n\n Francis can acknowledge that the Holy See was not being truthful when it reported that the pontiff has responsibility and control over only the people who live in Vatican City. He can now tell the truth and as pontiff he is responsible for and the leader of all Catholic bishops, nuncios, women religious and priests across the globe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am well aware of DeVos's position, that is one of the reasons why we voted the incoming administration in. Seems kind of strange an Athiest would send their Kid to a Christian School for the \"Safety\" aspect, it pretty much validates my point as the most dangerous things in the Government School system are the LIES they pass off as fact.\n\nAnd this is not \"TAX\" money, this is MONEY that I pay in that I SHOULD get back for NOT using the governments lousy school system, filled with activist U of O graduates and Alumni.\n\nChristian Schools would still be \"private\" under the voucher system regardless, so what is your point ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...if Catholic Christianity is to survive, its next iteration will be without clergy.\"\n\nGood lord! What planet are you coming from? No religious congregation or community pretends to sentiments which they do not feel or believe, especially regarding local leadership, recruitment, finances, some kind of clerical presence. Pew Researchers remind us that by 2050, there will be 1.5 billion Catholics in the world, all seeking oversight, leadership, guiding heads, leaders in the form of clerics and/or laypeople. But never without clergy of some sort, of some grace or talent, capable, for example, of discerning in Matthew 25 that our criminals bear a certain resemblance to our heroes in a congregation, especially at a parish liturgy, a sacramental fellowship, that highlights forgiveness, penance, the needs of others, the poor, the least of the brethren.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not too subtle, are you? Any Christian with ears to hear and eyes to see should be PROTESTing racial politics and POTUS.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The very first chink in my pre-Vat II Catholic indoctrination happened during a televised Vatican Xmas mass about 20 years ago, when I noticed, for really the first time, the astounding absence of any women, save a few habited nuns and those who were obviously mothers or grandmothers of the processing male wonders. It turned my stomach (literally) and I haven't lost that repugnance of absolute male domination in what we claim is Christ's own Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wasn\u2019t terribly surprised when it was reported a few weeks ago that Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore is tied to the \u2018League of the South\u2019, the pro-Southern secession/slavery apologism group that wants to lead the South in a second rebellion against the federal government in order to found a \u2018white Christian republic.\u2019\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n But I confess I was a bit surprised that Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who is currently the leading Republican candidate to succeed Sen. Bob Corker, does too.\n\n\n\n In 2004, Blackburn invited the Rev. David O. Jones, a neo-Confederate, secessionist and slavery apologist, to give the opening prayer in the House. \n\nAnd that happened and went largely unreported!\n\nhttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/marsha-blackburn-brought-neo-confederate-secessionist-to-deliver-prayer-to-congress", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cTrump cited the extremist group\u2019s atrocities against Christians and others and said: \u201cWe have to fight fire with fire.\u201d\n\nWhere exactly in the Gospels does Christ say that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wrong there! The European Old Catholics for the most part have women clergy and their Eucharistic practice and theology is the same as the Church of Rome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're so rad. What's the point of being Catholic if one can't angst over one's salvation?! :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're arguing against yourself. The fact 6 out of 9 members don't want a Satanist invocation before a meeting, but will allow a Christian one is the entire point of the lawsuit. Imagine if they didn't want to listen to a Jewish or Mormon prayer. This is the same thing. LaVeyan Satanism isn't evil at all. Perhaps people who seem to be misinformed about what Satanism actually stands for is part of the problem here. \"The mission of the Satanic Temple is to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people. In addition, we embrace common sense and justice. As an organized religion, we feel it s our function to actively provide outreach, to lead by example and to participate in public affairs wheresoever the issues might benefit from rational, Satanic insight. As Satanists, we all should be guided by our consciences to undertake noble pursuits guided by our individual wills. We believe that this is the hope of all mankind and the highest aspiration of humanity.\"-The Satanic Temple mission", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Y'know, I can't really see myself wanting to be employed pedaling bibles door-to-door. But I can see myself being employed on a fishing boat owned by an evangelical Christian. Seas get rough, I'll be praying my way while he prays his. Don't see how it would hurt--don't think my prayers would cancel out that Christian skipper's if we're praying for the same thing. Besides, that's what Qur'an says:\n\n\"Lakum diinukum wa liyyaa Diin--unto you your way, and to me my way.\"\n\nAddendum: just don't try to throw stumbling blocks in front of me. Jesus (alayhis-Salaam) wouldn't like it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder, is it the \"black\" in BLM that sets off those who claim to represent conservative catholic values? Just asking, because questions lead to the discussion of idears and things...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islam is as much political system of law as it is a religion, just like Christianity. But Canadian law is based on the Holy Bible not Sharia Law. Acceptance of Islam into the Canadian political system is the same as abandoning Canadian Law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It's not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting, it's that it has never been tried\". Chesterton", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm surprised and saddened that no older cathedrals have been ever been returned to catholic hands. How sad. Every one built before Henry XIII was built as catholic by Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly. The crusades began after Islamic hordes had raped and pillaged their way across the holy land, and only after they'd entered Europe as well. \n\nSimilarly, the Spanish Inquisition came at the end of the Reconquista, a centuries-long effort to free Spain from Islamic invaders.\n\nIt's noteworthy that Islamic apologists cite the crusades and Spanish Inquisition as their primary comparisons of Christian barbarism and Islamic... Islam, either without realizing or deliberately omitting that both were *reactions* to Islamic invasion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Removing the word \"Christians\" does not erase Trump's many statements on this issue. It does not erase Guiliani's statement that he was tasked by Trump with coming up with a Muslim ban that would be legal which he did.\n\nThese facts, it appears, have some bearing on this case.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Obergefell decision compels the \"religious right\" (which actually is neither!) to recognize that their pet definition of marriage no longer holds for the USA or any of its states, and also squishes whatever chance they have of establishing a sexual theocracy. At least we know what wing of the Catholic bird you travel on!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...many Catholics... just move on to another parish when the zeal to re-renovate modern design comes to their parish.\" For this and many other reasons, many of us just move on to another denomination. I miss \"being Catholic,\" sort of like the immigrant misses \"the old country,\" but I'm much happier where I am.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To be a dissident one has to publicly promote or teach something contrary to the Catholic Faith. So what heresy are they proposing which would make them dissidents?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The importance of this particular poster is demonstrated by how effectively she has turned this entire discussion from the article to herself. It happens all the time, because she is a bigly Catholic who, in keeping with the example of our Holy Bishops, only harasses, threatens, berates, belittles, and lies when the recipient deserves it. In this, she exemplifies the virtues demonstrated by the Bishops, and is thus a great christian. I have no doubt you will repent soon, in the face of such impressive logic and reason.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except that the article expressly mentions Bush's rhetoric in the war on terror as an example of a kind of worldview that is linked with Trump's. I certainly agree with you that now all convservative evangelicism is of a piece (it was actually a point I tried to make last week in response to your comments about the Catholic right). Nonetheless, I do not think the Spadaro article does a very good job of making these distinctions, especially when, as I say, it offers up Bush's rhetoric in its parade of horribles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I did not indicate that she did not have to present a passport.\n\nYour focus on religion is irrelevant. Most PM's over the last century have been Roman Catholic, which is at best around 50% of the population. Does that mean they do not represent the other half of the population?\n\nYour inattention to what I wrote is very instructive on the rest of what you post...you anecdotal story about your mother is simply that. And while I think long term Canada need a \"Head of State\" solution, here is my anecdotal story. My ancestors came from European Empires (none of which exist post WWI) that they were only too happy to leave, and be accepted by a country where they to swore allegiance to a Monarch (oddly enough blood relatives to the empires they left) that didn't send troops to their town to pillage, round up, and otherwise terrorize them\n\nYour post was convoluted, and \"cute\"...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Total nonsense. You have no knowledge of Catholic traditions, teachings and beliefs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I've written before, it has always amused me that the Al Smith Dinner is named for a Catholic politician who once famously asked 'What the hell is an encyclical?'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To the author and readers,\nThe information presented in the article above about the Muslim view in Jesus is loaded with misinformation. Please read \"The Islamic Anti-Christ\" available in Amazon for US $20 which was written with direct input by former Al Qaeda, Muslim Iman, and Islamic Professors in the US universities. I will not discuss the lslamic view of Jesus but I will mention only one and there are several which is hair raising. \nJesus was never crucified and never died. He will return in the Eastern side of Damascus. He will marry and have children. Jesus will carry out the work of Mahdi (muslim messiah) which is to kill the infidels and after 40 years on Earth then he will die. This is not the same Jesus that loves you and I. Please read the book and it will enlighten you. One word of caution while you are reading the book is to hold on to your Adventist belief and it will give you better understanding on how Satan has used both Islam and Christianity to confuse us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yep, greed, egotism, disdain for others and pseudo-patriotism. That's the conservatism that TradCath displays. He is doing the old \"taxation is theft\" meme. And he particularly irked because some of his tax money MIGHT BE USED TO HELP THE POOR! \n\nHe claims to be a Catholic, but he clearly does not give two hoots about the poor. He wants them sick, starving and homeless. That's the \"TradCath\" way!\n\nGive me one reason to change one word of that, TradCath.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump's comments yesterday are notable for their crudeness and for the contempt for women they represent. But I'm a little surprised, incredulous really, that anyone should be shocked or surprised by them. While yesterday's tape came from some eleven years ago, Trump's contempt for women has been on full display throughout this campaign (both generically and specifically: O'Donnell, Kelly, Machado, et alia.) What we heard Trump saying in the eleven year old tape we could have just as easily heard him saying eleven days ago, eleven minutes ago. This is who he is. It is not for nothing that I've been calling him \"Dirty Donald\" for several months.\n\nAgain: Trump's racism was also on full display again yesterday as he re-victimized the Central Park 5. This is a thoroughly dishonest, nasty man -- and the fact that so-called Catholic \"leaders\" are aiding and abetting him in his filthy campaign for president is a scandal in its own right. They must be ashamed, and they must say so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As of now about 25% of the global population is Muslim and it's expected that Muslims will outnumber Christians (30%) by 2050. Instead of trying to establish a \"caliphate\", a cynic could look at ISIS through another lens. Muslim extremists have ALWAYS trumpeted their quest for complete, global domination - and have also stated that it may take 100 years. What if the INTENT of ISIS was to instigate a mass exodus to allow the infiltration of like-minded Muslims (not necessarily terrorists or extremists) into Western and vulnerable countries? Looking at it from a one hundred year quest - imagine the increasing population coupling itself with the current trend of multi-party, coalition parties......can an Islamic political party with a non-threatening name be that far in the future? And with a significant slice of the population, could they one day hold the balance of power in a coalition government? And if so, what would the trade-offs be? Far-fetched? I don't think so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. There are many conservative Catholics who have repudiated the Gospels and even a larger amount of conservative Evangelicals. The Diocese of Syracuse is tweeting support for the despicable #MuslimBan. I gave the link to the Tweets.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Both of your views on the Christian church have truth. There is no doubt that religious affiliation has been used for very human objectives of great, power, wealth, even pathological anti-social behavior. It's also true that Christians have supported programs for the poor where none existed, worked hard for women's suffrage (and used against it as well), no doubt supported the equality of the races while at the same time was used to justify slavery.\n\nMy hope would be that readers do not jump to conclusions about those who are Christian, or Muslim, agnostic, atheist. We might very well share many moral/ethical values with ourselves, so creating barriers to understanding weakens a potential alliance.\n\nLeave the Johnson ammendment alone. It does nothing to inhibit the choice of faith practices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your \"Why could the RCC not have the wisdom to see the possibility of the same benefit to all?\" assumes that the Church could ordain women, when it has taught that it cannot, and that ordination is primarily aimed at service, when at its core ordination incorporates the ordinand into a priesthood in which the priest is the icon of Christ in an anamnesis of his offering Himself to the Father perpetually in the Heavenly Temple.\n\nIt is no accident that every sect and denomination which has a female ministry akin to the Catholic priesthood has a defective understanding of the Eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well to be accurate, all Christians have not just a right but a duty to tell you not to have an abortion. We must seek every person's GREATEST good. And a person's GREATEST good is not achieved by having an abortion. Because an abortion is the taking of the life of a genetically complete human being, one with a totally unique and complete identity.\n\nThis complete identity \"drives\" all further development. Identity precedes development.\n\nAll Christians have this duty.\n\nIn the same way that all Christians have a duty to stop people from killing themselves. \n\nThe priest in this case is just reminding his flock (he wrote it in a pastoral column for his parish) of moral criteria. \n\nBut there is no reason that any Christian should \"build up walls\" between them and the person contemplating abortion. \n\nWalls are bad, as Francis has pointed out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When you have to downsize by 45%, you don't need fewer parishes, you need a new model of church. These old, tired bureaucrats don't know how to do anything other than open the doors and count the collection. When they open the doors and there's no one there, they don't know what to do. \nThere is nothing in the gospels that requires the existence of large communities of anonymous Christians standing next to one another on weekends.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clearly YOU have an ax to grind. The Roman Catholic Church is made up of a billion people 99% of whom have no connection to this horrible situation. Islam has a billion people, too. The Pew Center said that polls show that 10% of Muslims (100 million Muslims!) support ISIS. Should Islam be \"shut down,\" too? Please use your brain, and not your emotions, in the future when commenting. Thanks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly, and not only are all Christians/Catholics not remotely the same, the fact is that Christ taught us to care for the sick and the poor and respect the golden rule, and didn't say *anything* about who I could marry or have sex with, so pretending that people who want to write laws about who I have sex with and not bother helping the sick and poor are \"Christian\" is so wrong it should be an insult to every good Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I can understand the sensitivity of discussing strategy for reaching those in Islam, in my own interactions with Muslims who have converted to be Adventists, I have come to believe that the most effective way of reaching them will be to allow the Muslim-to-Adventist converts to do the work in the methods that they believe are best.\n\nThe idea of using the Qur'an as a conversion tool is fraught with minefields -- not the least of which is that the Qur'an identifies Christians as blasphemers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John Amen. I haven't been to NCR in years but followed this story from over on pewsitter website. People need to separate politics from faith. I haven't seen many catholic's in these comments to this story so far. It's not a right left issue, but an issue of following what has been passed down to us all for the last 2000 years most of which has been watered down these passed 52 years, which happens to be my age. I wish I had been born before Vatican II when pews were full and priest actually spoke to the gospel. The Road to Perdition is overflowing. Funny thing is most on this site don't even believe in hell. In their minds we're all going to heaven. Pray the Rosary is all we can do and hope for an end to this madness soon.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll \"see\" your Bill Clinton and raise you a Dwight Eisenhower and Henry Hyde (of mine was a youthful discretion\" fame) We can play this game for as long as you like. There is no shortage of politicians across the political spectrum. Of course we can also throw in dozens of conservative Christian pastors if you like.\n\nI condemn sexual abuse and harassment by anyone...Democrat, Republican, et al; politicians, pastors, teachers, butchers, bakers, candlestick makers....using your power to treat others badly is deplorable....and sexual abuse and sexual harassment is just that. Gary crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"Foremost among these is the need to stop making Vatican officials either bishops or cardinals. The papal court must die and be replaced by a professional civil service. As long as Vatican officials are bishops and cardinals, they will see themselves as princes of the church. \"\n- The fundamental problem is that the Holy See and the Vatican City State are to entwined. \n- So, the universal church does not sign or enforce international treaties, yet those who should be pastors of the universal church more often than note speak for the head of the Vatican City State, the Archbishop of Rome, but are not responsible for the Vatican as State in the community of nations. That this is a problem is best seen in the fancy stepping of canon lawyers as they explain to the United Nations and World Court, 'no the treaties do not apply to the Holy See, but to the Vatican City State.'\n- In the end, the monarchy is kept safe and the retainers seek the titles of its court.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The internet information age has spawned a generation ready to move on -- get past old ways that stymied personal spiritual growth. \n\nThe Catholic Church is still the do-as-I-say, pray-pay-obey, follow-the-leader model. And that isn't acceptable any longer for discerning people of any age. \n\nAnd it is the internet savvy young of today who are more apt to question an institution that wants to make decisions for them -- who to date, who to marry, marital bed conduct, how to pray, who to vote for, what social cause is worthy of financial contributions, what movies and books are acceptable, which gender may be ordained, which people are banned from the Eucharist, etc, etc.\n\nThe RCC, in general, seems so busy being Catholic, it often forgets being Christian. I hope the \"young voices\" recognize this and act accordingly; to step in and unceasingly fight for reform, or with a clear conscience \"move on\"; whichever action utilizes their talents for societal good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Keala R., are you a Christian or involved in another religious faith? If yes, I guess you are just one of those religious actors that follows their religion's dos and don't that you want and killing another is OK?\n\nI wonder what he'll is like?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many of these 'doctors' are Christians like Kelly Lynch?\n>\nThere is no real evidence that marijuana is harmful, they are witch hunters who are getting desperate and will say anything to push GOD's will.\n>\nWhy don't they ban pollution? Pollution has been linked to many more diseases including mental illness.\n>\nWhat about alcohol and all those parents who get their teens hooked, i never hear about coming down hard on them? Alcohol is far more addictive and link to over 250 diseases!\n>\n Are these really doctors or just priests and rabbis pushed into power by a corrupt school system?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bible states frequently that God's laws are \"everlasting,\" \"forever,\" \"For a thousand generations.\" But I guess it's easier for them to ignore that part so they can wear clothes and eat food without having to inconvenience themselves with following god's laws.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't care what a person's religion is. That's a private matter. I do care if they have nonsense ideas like, \"Climate scientists are lying\", or \"Children should not learn about sex\", or Canada needs to be a (more) Christian country\", \"Muslims are inherently dangerous\", etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sometimes. When people want our laws in this country to reflect biblical laws. I believe in separation of church and state. Some christians don't. I've seen some christians use their version of faith to belittle and deny freedoms to others. I see some christians trying to pass laws based on their take of the bible. Yup, those people scare me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Posting this again, since it obviously does not violate the policy. Hurt feelings from reading hard truths aren't a legitimate reason to flag a comment:\n\nEmpty words and outright lies, told to an audience willing to believe them. Hard to reconcile Christian morality with someone so morally bankrupt and unrepentant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The commission can't be a platform to air grievances ad infinitum.\nNot at all.\nIt's like having victims of the holocaust be members of a commission on foreign policy!\nMakes no sense. They have nothing to offer, intellectually, technically. Nothing.\nIt's not a slight to them at all; it's just the hard reality.\nWhat can they do but emote and say rather shallow things, offering \"their\" perspective, which is always very distant and sad?\nOffering them a titular position on a Commission is silly.\nCan't be good for their souls, in any real sense, and a waste of time for everyone else.\nHighly symbolic, but that's why my comment will get trounced upon. The symbolic people will cry foul. Emotion and surface matters are all to them.\nThey don't really want to fix things at all...they want to use someone else's misfortune as a victim to change Church teaching on every matter under the sun!!\nWe all know this.\"\n\nHere we have another conservative Catholic revealing what the Vatican really thinks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It upsets him as a Roman Catholic? Oh, pray tell, what to do?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"a Baptist church a block away complained about alcohol being served in the house of worship.\"\nI along with many of my best Catholic friends imbibe alcohol in our house of worship at least once a week, sometimes more frequently. More than twice a month I serve it to others and have to help drink the leftovers. So far no complaints from our local Baptists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jay, I remember Wounded Knee. I thought the news footage was about Viet Nam. Same last night. I thought they were reporting on Allepo. I've noticed whenever something is about to be stolen from Natives, the first defense is, \"They warred on each other before we got here.\" I met Russel Means. He was with us when Alaska Natives set a protest net over subsistence management by the state of Alaska. I find the term, accessing resources pretty funny. Another English word for stealing....by a \"Christian Nation.\" And who shalt not covet? Or steal? Or kill? Or bear false witness?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd like to see your \"real\" Christians in this country, and what they do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another look at the numbers tells a slightly different story.\n\nIn this study, those raised in a Catholic-Protestant family tend to prefer Protestantism to Catholicism by a significant margin (38% to 29%). That suggests Catholics are losing a seemingly fair competition. \n\nAnd there's more bad news for Catholics here. In Protestant only families, we see more \"affiliated\" overall (86%) and only 3% crossing over to Catholicism. Compare that to Catholic only families, where we see 81% total affiliated and a whopping 16% crossing over to Protestantism.\n\nNot a good report card for our religion. Catholics are losing head to head, and Catholic families produce more unaffiliated kids than Protestants do.\n\nJust one study, I know. But this does not suggest that everything will be ok if we just marry Catholic.\n\nThe \"other guys\" seem to be beating us.\n\nEnjoy this latest opportunity to blame either VII or JPII according to your personal taste and prejudice. Then maybe try some thoughtful reflection.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Life is curious. For the longest time Christian Puritans were the enemies of free speech. It was the liberals who defended Lenny Bruce, and Hefner. then in the 1980's Al Gore's wife declared war on free speech, and went after the heavy metal bands and the evil they were teaching our children. Then came political correctness, the 21st century version of the 16th century Puritan.\n The double standard today is repulsive, and has no place at our institutions o higher education. You show me a racist bigot, and I'll show you their political twin, the PC bigot. The difference being the PC bigot is welcomed at the university. Remember when the U of O invited the worlds anarchists to come...and they trashed downtown Eugene in a riot?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd like to buy 5 bucks worth of Christianity please.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The calendar we use is called Gregory Calendar after the Pope. Just in recent times Turkey has switched to the Catholic calendar but many in Turkey want to go back to their Muslim roots,\nRecent attack in Turkey New Years day was against the Calendar. People in Pakistan protest against celebrating New Years day. In another 50 years they could all go back to their calendar (Muslim ) With computers with could have all calendars on the menu box (Catholic, Moslem, Julian, Hindu etc)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Judging by all the goodwill declarations, there's clearly been a warming of relations \u2014 but there's been absolutely no change in Russia's policy at home and abroad, and that's what most concerns people in this region[.]\" \n\nSince Russia has traditionally been a very difficult place for Catholics since Tsarist times, this comes as little surprise. Putin uses people for his own ends.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It would seem that most legislators claim to be 'Christian' but, as Christ noted, \"by their fruits you will know them.\" Christians do not reduce the health care available to the poor; Christians do not take from the poor to give to the rich; Christians do not practice the idolatry of wealth or the idolatry of self. This so-called health care bill constitutes a rejection of everything Jesus taught and the example he set during his ministry. If the folks who put this health care bill together are 'Christians,' then so was Pontius Pilate. If Jesus were to show up on Capital Hill tomorrow morning, he'd be in jail by noon!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article mixes ethnicity, race and culture/language. The Arab League\u2019 definition of an Arab does not refer to ethnicity, race or religion \u2018An Arab is a person whose language is Arabic, who lives in an Arabic country, and who is in sympathy with the aspirations of the Arabic people.\u2019\n\n\u2018Arabs\u2019 can be Caucasian, Black, or combinations. The majority of \u2018Arabs\u2019 are Moslem, about 15 million Christian. \n\nThe U.S. Census Bureau considers \u201cArabs\u2019 as white; \u201cWhite\u201d refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who indicated their race(s) as \u201cWhite\u201d or reported entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Arab, Moroccan, or Caucasian. However, in Canada, \u2018Arabs\u2019 are not considered white.\n\nWhat brings \u2018Arabs\u2019 into an identifiable group is language and culture, even though there are wide variations between the Arabic language spoken in North Africa, Egypt and the Near/Middle East.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Self-serving? According to you people the heathens and fallen-away catholics would fill the place and crowd the doors if only we decided not to think about this one issue and set this teaching aside.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"Married priests will remove much of the leverage for women priests. If there is no significant felt need for women priests, then it will be easier for the hierarchy to continue to say no to them.\"\n- Well, no. It is just as likely, that once the discipline of celibacy is removed as a criteria for ordination to the presbyterate it will be an easier step for women (married or chastely celibate) to be ordained to the presbyterate; somewhat of the Holy Spirit's in for penny in for a pound.\n- The real concern should be that the hoped for influx of 're-activated' married presbyters and newly ordained and married presbyters of both genders will not re-clericalize the church. \n- That is, the 'dearth' of the ordained in local churches should be seen as necessary medicine leading the body of Christ to actively include the laity in all church ministries. That is, it should be no problem for a lay person to be a pastor, than it should be for a married woman to preside at the Eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That progressive liberal pseudo-intellectual Pat Buchanan did the same thing with \" The Last Temptation of Christ \"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pence has often been quoted thus: \u201cI\u2019m a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order.\u201d\n\nPence forfeits the right to have that assertion taken seriously: he has sold out to the racism and fascism of the Trump campaign and is now committed to advancing Trump's racist, fascist agenda as Vice President of the United States.\n\nAs for the offensive post to which you were replying: that has prompted me to hoist a flag, the first time I've done so since NCR switched to Civil Comments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"But we have chosen to ignore that and have made a real mess of things\"\n\nExactly as Saint JPII and the bishops ignored the sexual abuse of children. We are just following the saintly example that they set for us. What could be more Catholic than following the saintly example of the bishops?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think people who are critical of Pope Francis need to consider and reflect on the following things in their statements. \n\n(i)It just isn't an easy thing to go against the grain of 2000 years of teaching. Catholic Moral teaching on Gender, Sexuality and Reproductive have been entrenched into Catholic Dogma for over millenia. Even Pope John XXIII, the most liberal Pope in Catholic history held traditional views on this topic. \n\n(ii)While Pope Francis has faced critiques from liberals over his views on topics such as Gender and Sexuality, he has faced a backlash from many conservatives over the same thing. Many conservative theologians have actually called for Amoris Laetitia to be redacted because of it's statements on the topic. \n\n(iii)The Pope himself I think would prefer not to speak about this topic at all. He wants his Papacy to be focused on economic justice, environmental justice, peace/nonviolence. The rancid nature of the western culture wars makes that difficult.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Roman Catholic leadership does not support the GOP. I would say that the RC leadership is very critical of the GOP on several issues.\nAs far as abortion goes, Pope Francis has called it an \"absolute evil\", a \"horrendous crime\", and the \"murder of an innocent person\". And Gaudium et Spes called it an \"unspeakable crime\" (you don't dissent from Vatican II, do you?).\nBut yes, a number of Catholics voted for Trump over Hillary because, as caustic as he was, we saw him as preferable to Hillary. Was abortion an issue? Yes. So wasn't Benghazi, her use of her private email server for national security matters, the sexual harassment of multiple women by her husband (why didn't she speak up?), her dullness as a candidate, her support from the rich elites.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whoa! After all the hundreds of words you've typed within this forum the past couple of weeks supporting extremely traditional Catholicism in its many manifestations, you applaud a decision to again start killing inmates? I'm positive you think of yourself as a \"pro-life Catholic.\" Do you see any pro-life stance in your terse \"good\" response? I don't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics should be the most optimistic people on the face of the earth.\n\nWhy is there always so much doom and gloom and \"it'll never work\" at NCR?\n\nSelf-loathing and self-pitying. \n\nYou can't read the Acts of the Apostles and get the \"NCR tone\" from it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "BHOOPER: \"I guess you agree that Trump has not lied under oath as the last I knew bears are not catholic and I believe the pope does not poop in the woods\" i would say trump lies under oath as easily and casually as blowing out birthday candles. the bear /pope reference as a lame attempt at a classic gag line.\nBH: \" women sexually assault men and extort them all the time. How many times have women said, don't do this or I will cry rape, or withhold sex if you do not do what they want. Women will also take advantage of drunk, drugged, or sleeping guys. Women will also physically assault guys.\" mostly what you describe is not assault but blackmail or extortion. \n can't think of one story where a woman was accused of sexually assaulting a grown man, besides lorena bobbit. i know it happens ,but so rarely in relation to women on men sexual assault. stories involving women and little kids...but no men.\n men nor women should get to the point of not knowing what going on around them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those 'catholics' who practise artificial birth control usually do not proclaim it to the rafters that they were using it. 'Marriage' to someone of the same sex is a public event.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And here we get the age-old argument yet again from the christians, i.e. \"context\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There were many different beliefs that later were defined as Gnostic simply because they were not Orthodox beliefs in the very early church. Many of the Gnostic churches were considered equally Christian to the more Orthodox ones in the early church. Orthodox churches have even changed over time too so if you are legalistic than anything not absolute orthodoxy is gnostic but gnostic was sometimes more Gospel adhering than orthodoxy. This is where we see orthodoxy has a problem. The apostles had no problems with women leading in churches and did not consider themselves separate priests from the royal priesthood of all the church. There was no ordination until hundreds of years after the Apostles so since there were presbyters that were female along side male presbyters when presbyters were the only ones who did what priests do today in the early church, then gnostics show a greater adherence to the Gospel in choosing to ordain women the same as men than orthodoxy does.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your commentary reads much like the same arguments used against giving women the right to vote! Here is one of many examples (if you bother to read history) of Christian opposition to government \"protection\": \"Who demand the ballot for woman? They are not the lovers of God, nor are they believers in Christ, as a class. There may be exceptions, but the majority prefer an infidel's cheer to the favor of God and the love of the Christian community. It is because of this tendency that the majority of those who contend for the ballot for woman cut loose from the legislation of Heaven, from the enjoyments of home, and drift to infidelity and ruin.\" -- Justin Fulton, 1869, in opposition to women's right to vote.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a bunch of guff. I'm 65 and I remember the \"old days'\" and I remember that constant appeals for money for the upkeep, etc. My currant parish was built in 1968 and it's as plain as plain as plain can be and our community likes it that way. As for the Millenials, they aren't dry behind the ears yet, as my sainted dad would say. WHAT do THEY know ? THEY think PBR is good beer. The way we worship now is a lot closer to the way the way the earliest Christian worshipped than those overbuilt edifices. Ad Orientem strike me as much MORE resembing worshipping the golden calf than our currant way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely right, John...\n\nthere are \"melanistically-challenged\" Alaskans looking to start the next \"race-war\", Dylan Roof-style. That one of them might be \"inspired\" by that little Christian creep in Quebec to do a \"copy-cat\" isn't something we can afford to ignore. Neither is the threat of simpletons like \"fish-killer\" thinking he can get away with running down Alaskan Natives in the street--particularly because our Superior Court is demonstrating on a regular basis that he probably CAN. I advise getting a \"screen-shot\" of fish-killer's comment, if you haven't already. MaSalaam.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's also a religious factor at play here - - Catholicism can't advocate that meat eating is fundamentally wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Blah, blah, blah. True \"peace\" will come only when Russia is properly consecrated to the Immaculate Heart. In the meantime, instead of some nonsensical, interfaith \"dialogue\" on \"race\" or \"poverty\", why don't we discuss the Four Last Things, rampant heresy, and /or ever declining Mass attendance? Our shepherds should be following their primary duty to sanctify, edify, and govern their flocks, and praying and working toward the conversion of all non Catholics to the one, true faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not long ago Christians were slaughter in the ME. This media published it, short time later it was buried somewhere, never to be found.\nSomehow I missed the Catholic nun who was immediately called by the Globe, to allow its readers her balanced opinion of a religion that is systematically been replaced in Canada by another political-religious culture with a certain recent history of extremism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Judging from reviews of \"Choosing Donald Trump\", it hasn't changed the views of conservative christians that voted for Trump -- God has a purpose for him they say. I'd say anti-christ is a better description. I'd read the book just to see what is not in it, that they need to hear. Hope there is enough time left to read it!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Salvation comes through the COMMUNITY. \"Upon this rock I will build my Church\" - this the moving principle of the Early Church as we read in Acts. Community is what differentiate the Catholic Church from the Separated Brethren where Community takes a back seat to Individualism. For them there is no 'communion of Saints' - as they say \"we don't pray to dead people.\" Every practice that affirms community should be promoted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And yet Christian countries like Germany, Spain, Russia, Portugal, Britain, France, the USA, etc have killed more people than non Christian countries. \n\nTrue Christianity is practiced by Middle Eastern groups like the Egyptian Copts. The turn-the-other-cheek variety. The rest of the Christian world follows a Romanized violent version.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I don't claim to be a Catholic; I am a Catholic. So are most of my gay friends, even the married ones.\" Anyone can say they're Catholic, but that doesn't mean they are faithful Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Welcome back. I hope your time in Rome was a wonderful experience.\n\nI do not think the Church has to remain as it has always been, especially when it isn't working to provide a spirit filled life to the 99% of Catholics who are not part of the ruling apparachnik. The ideas of the bishops equating to the Apostles was and is an attempt to make linkages between the way the Church structured itself and how Christ dealt with the Apostles, but it is not the only way that relationship can be viewed. I think the formation of the organization mirrored how power and authority were lived out in the times just after Jesus lived and for centuries later. Just because \"we have always done it that way\" doesn't mean it is a good way, especially now.\n\nThose times are not these times. The Curia is less a problem if power is decentralized. But the bishops ruling as minor despots accountable to no one - that is still a problem. So is the all male, patriarchical church. Time to hear women's voices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Syrian Christians support Bashar Assad. That war is more complex than you think.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cLiteralist drivel\u201d is simply code for \u201ca position with which I disagree\u201d.\n\nThe inability of you or anyone else to provide an actual endorsement of any candidate by any American Catholic bishop seems to support the conclusion that \u201cthe whole nexus of symbolism and subtext that informs communication\u201d is code for \u201cI have a big brain and you do not\u201d.\n\nThe evidence appears to suggest that Mr Bannon knew the hot button issues before the electorate better than his counterpart(s) in the other camp.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Catholic scholars\"? Katholyk bedwetters is more like it.\n\nThe spectacle of so-called \"Catholics\" being upset because a lifelong abortion fanatic has been defeated says everything that needs to be said about the necrotic state of \"Catholicism\" in academia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does POTUS have the right to ban YOUR travel just because he doesn't like you? Does POTUS have the right to ban travel of females (or males) simply because they are female/male? Does POTUS have the right to ban all Democrat party members' travel? Does POTUS have the right to ban all Catholics' travel? Does POTUS have the right to ban all non-caucasian travel? Does Potus have the right to ban caucasian travel? Does Potus have the right to ban all British subjects' travel (inasmuch as British terrorism perpetrators have been UK citizens). Only the last one. But he won't do the last one. I think he won't do the last one because of a sense (as opposed to any scientific data I have, so DEFINITELY scientific data POTUS does not have) that British subjects traveling to the US are predominantly caucasian - not because he's concerned with provable incidents or terrorism (radical islamic terrorism at that) by British citizens.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This story is not about the allegations. It's about Ziegler's defense argument for Moore, which is ridiculous. Mary and Joseph (supposedly) became parents without having banged each other. Remember? That is their whole claim to fame. Haven't you heard the story? So Ziegler is either a bad Christian or a guy who just pretends to be one...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When you say Christians, do you mean the people who actually follow the teachings of Christ or those people who call themselves Christians but follow the teachings of whatever televangelist happens to be ranting at them this week drawing their text from obscure portions of the Old Testament?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I just read as well that Dolan will be \"trumped\" by the queen of \"prosperity Christianity\", Paula White whose thesis is that God (or god) wants you to be rich, and will make you so if you pay her a godly fee.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In addition to catering to Hispanics of all backgrounds and experiences, youth ministry must also appeal to this demographic by trying to answer more complex questions, Padilla said.\n\n\"More and more, Latinos my age or younger are not necessarily fine with Catholicism as a cultural thing \u2014 it's more like, it has to mean something, it has to give my life purpose. And if they're asking the questions of purpose and meaning, and those answers are not being delivered by their faith or church communities, they will be found elsewhere, and they will move away from the church and the sacraments if we don't connect what faith life as Catholics means to everyday living as young adults.\"\n\nAS TO the above, I was pleasantly surprised to find out, during the synod surveys three years ago, that many S. American countries have more than 60% of their Catholic population who want women to be ordained priests. If we don't start acting like Christians, no one has a reason to become or remain Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since my original question to you was \"Show me one article from Church Militant that criticizes the Pope. Just one.\" You clearly failed to answer my question or provide proof. I did not change the subject, I have been going back and forth with Neko and Kag regarding the above article that clearly states CM is not authentically Catholic. The only thing that can be perceived by liberal Catholics as mean spirited on that site would be their stance on same sex marriage and acts. Neko and Kag have falsely stated that CM is pro Russia, that Fatima Crusader is pro Russia, and I merely pointed out that they agree with Russia's stance on those subjects above mentioned. CM, Fr. Gruner, Cardinal Burke and the Fatima Crusader are simply PRO- Roman Catholic and it's teachings. This nonsense about Trump and Russia needs to end, now it falsely has attached itself to traditional Catholic views and beliefs. Good luck trying to censor us by that failing tactic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gawd save us from the Christians that are trying to save us....save yourself and leave the rest of us to live our lives the way we want to. I was raised Catholic, and thru hard work and perseverance I was able to overcome their brainwashing. Save us from the infallible Catholics; who routinely protected pedophiles in their godly church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "TRad, You are justifying misguided wars by administrations that lied about why we were in Iraq and VN and killed many people. If you were a member of a family whose house was bombed and family members killed, you might have some very serious hatred of the America. As an American, these veterans did not serve a Christ-like leader or philosophy, but served only the war criminals who started these wars. Johnson lied about the Bay of Tonkin as Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction both took us into useless wars for reasons of fear and profit only. Where do all these lies take us as a country and who benefits from them? It is the responsibility of every Christian to know these answers and understand why we are killing human beings. We have been responsible as a country for mostly senseless wars since WWII. Until we get that, how can we dare call ourselves \"followers of The Way of Christ?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, Elaine? I am a cradle Catholic Christian via the waters of baptism and the promises of the Creed. The words 'orthodox' and 'heterodox' were/are nowhere to be found. There was not then, nor is there now, any hair-splitting within the sacrament over who is/was 'authentic' or 'real'. The tribal/cultic purity tests being imposed by a certain faction within the RCC is, as one bishop recently wrote, a cancer on our Church. The tired, tribal talking points are not helpful. Leave it to our Lord to preside at the Particular Judgment, not the rightwing noise machine of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When has it EVER bothered the Roman Catholic Church when it came to murder and killing their fellow Catholics, or just killing and murder in general? Crusades,anyone? The Inquisitions? The plunder and rapine and elimination of the indigenous peoples of North and South America?? Hello!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not only do I not make the mistake once, let alone \"over and over again\", I understand and make a clear distinction between the two.\n\nIn particular the indissolubility of marriage is first noted in the Gospels in the words of Jesus Himself.\n\nI completely reject your faux \"history\" of the Church, its theology, its sacraments, and this proposition particularly as Jesus Seminar fodder and pseudo-theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've become totally convinced that right-wingers no longer have the intellectual capacity to understand even very simple things like this motion. Why? Because they completely twist its meaning as exemplified in their vitriolic and often paranoid comments. \nNo... The motion will not be a step towards Sharia law, as some claim. \nNo... It does not discriminate against Christians. Or athiests. Or Jews. Or Scientologists. \nNo... It is not meant to silence freedom of speech. \nIt is simply a statement which suggests that a committee be set up to find ways to help stop ignorant people from irrationally viewing all Muslims as terrorists or a threat to Canadian society. They're not. \nRight-wingers won't understand that. But intelligent people will. \nCheck the up and down votes to determine which ones are in each group.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What if one genuinely thinks that the Pope is the Anti-Christ, is one not permitted to say so? Protestants have been referring to the popes as Anti-Christ, the Scarlet Woman, the Whore of Babylon, etc for generations with impunity and some still do so even unto this present day.\nI do not subscribe to such insults but according to you progressive/liberals, theoretically everyone should be free to speak their mind without fear or favour. Why then are you flagging such comments? Is it that you cannot answer them with logical argument or because you can't you stir up outrage to cover your intellectual inadequacies.\nRome was flooded with posters criticising the Pope yesterday morning on a variety of fronts, unprecedented since the sequestration of the Papal States by 'Italy' in 1870 and even then the opposition was political. Today's opposition is serious because it is doctrinal and it is obviously not confined to a few Vatican Cardinals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder what these Egyptian Catholics would say to the progressives here who so vigorously defend Islam as a misunderstood, peaceful religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not secular.\n\n-\n\nIf it was secular then Quebec would erase all the victimless crime, morality laws, they would end the witch hunts and snooping.\n\n-\n\nIt's a about Christian Supremacy.\n\n-\n\nThey are scared of Canadians converting to Islam. The real Canadian secularists are stuck in between these cults fighting, losing their freedoms and liberties day by day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is certainly a change. May we take it you believe in the prosperity gospel? That those who live good lives are rewarded with material wealth in this life? And conversely, those who are in poverty are in poverty precisely because they are not pleasing to God?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bringing religion into a sophisticated society is an obvious step backwards and inevitably leads to conflict. The old adage that more religion leads to less civilization and vice versa applies. \n\nMost would also recognize the rather obvious gaping hole in the argument being presented here. \n\nFor every \"principle\" the author claims is somehow a Sikh principle is also something that someone without religious beliefs can believe in and support and most Canadians, particularly those without religion do. There is nothing unique here. \n\nOn the other side there are many aspects of this religion that we don't support, and many actions undertaken by observant Sikhs that we don't support. This include factionalism, intolerance, violence, terrorism, and distorted views of honour and community. \n\nWe don't need to look very far to find an example of each in the Sikh community. \n\nThere is nothing modern or moral about 1st or 6th century religions - be it Sikhism, Islam, Judaism, or Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seems to me we agree more than disagree. You actually seem to be defending the melting pot, not the parallel cultures of multiculturalism.\n\nThe modern concept of nation didn't exist (and it means different things today in French and English), but the notion of \"a people\" certainly did. People have always spoken of \"the Greeks\", the \"Phoenicians\", etc. \n \nMy sticking point isn't about 'preserving Judeo-Chrstianity at all cost\", it is of preserving a shared culture, and in the West that means one based on Judeo-Christianity, just as in India it means one based on the Ramayana, in the Middle East on the Koran, in China on Confucius, in S-E Asia on Buddhism, etc.\n\n\"Are we open to adopting any good aspect of cultures around us or just the ones you like skyofblue? Rhetorical question, I know your answer.\"\n\nWhat a strange comment. Who likes and wants to adopt aspects of cultures they think are not good?? You?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think that St. Paul or any of the other Apostles would have opposed the Church's patriarchal organization. St. Paul says, in his first letter to the Corinthians, that \"the women should be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak. Rather, let them be in submission, as in fact the law says.\" He also says that \"every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for it is just as if her head were shaved.\" Finally, he points out that \"if they [women] wish to inquire about something, they are to ask their own husbands at home; for it is dishonorable for a woman to speak in the church.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Michael, it seems Fr Weinandy has struck a very sensitive nerve. Pope Francis is not a gentleman and has many times made pejorative comments about those he considers traditionalists. We thought that has been one of the things you like about this Pope. If you really believe that \"the vast majority of Catholics in the pews\" love Pope Francis, why are you so angst over Fr Weinandy's letter? If his letter is so obviously absurd, why does Mgsr. Strynkowski bother with a rebuttal in a Jesuit publication? We are certain the Holy Father can take care of himself and will ignore the letter should he think it to be of no consequence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "THIS JUST IN: Van carrying gas bottles rams into Australian Christian lobby office\n\nGlobe and Mail, you have not published this.\n\nWhy not?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Both you and AFT have raised great discussion points. Christians began to think of sex as dirty when the teachings of Gnosticism [one variety] squeezed in. Gnostics believed that spiritual realities were of more value than earthly realities. They mistrusted the human body, marriage and all material creation. Some of them were very ascetical, remaining celibate for reasons of \"purity\" and adhering to strict dietary rules so as not to cloud their spiritual perception.\n\nGnosticism [actually a branch called docetism = 'to appear']was condemned as a heresy when it taught that God had not really become a human in the person of Jesus. These Gnostics believed that Jesus was either a highly enlightened man or an angel who only APPEARED to be human. \n\nThrough the work of St. Irenaeus and others, Docetism began to diminish in importance by 200 AD. BUT, the purity part, for priests, came back with Pope Damasus [366-384] and continued until celibacy for clergy was mandated in 1139.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, I'm just responding to this NCR column, which implores everyone to accept his/her take on the immigration issue or else, this author tells us in no uncertain terms, they're fake Americans and fake Christians. \n\nI happen to disagree, as I think there are ample reasons for why it's better to err on the side of caution than on the side of (what I see as) blind sentiment.\n\nI think there is ample evidence that accepting people from radicalized Muslim nations is problematic. We've seen over and over again that people from radicalized nations are more of a risk than other immigrants.\n\nDoes the dem side recognize this? Given that the want to accept thousands more immigrants from radicalized nations, I don't think so. I think that itself is evidence the dem side doesn't take the risk as seriously as the GOP does.\n\nIn any case, the author is free to define American and Christian values as she likes. I just happen to disagree with his/her essay.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"While the Catholic Church teaches that universal, affordable health care is a human right \u2014 a teaching cited by Dewane in his letter \u2014 the American bishops issued dire warnings that Obamacare would lead to an unprecedented expansion of taxpayer funding of abortion.\"\n- Yes, the USCCB is walking away from the presidencies of Archbishop Francis of Chicago (RIP) and of Archbishop Timothy of NYC. As a result of USCCB leadership during these presidencies the GOP was able to position itself as the party to resist President Obama. That is, these two Archbishops aided and abetted the full throttle opposition to any and every ethical attempt to aid and assist the people of the USA.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When it comes to Trump and his cronies and their religious affiliations, \"devout\" is a rather fluid term. Bannon, his token Catholic, has been married three times. But moving on...\n\nI agree that the bishops showed their usual lack of spine during the campaign. They don't mind offending us regular folk, but they dare not say anything that will upset the episcopal fraternity. I'm sure there were some priests here and there speaking out against Trump's less humanitarian policies, but those voices were drowned out by the overwhelming majority of bishops spouting the party line.\n\nOne of the few good things that might come from this election (maybe the only one) is that the ridiculous notion of voting based on a candidate's personal character has been blasted to hell. The USCCB has thrown in with an undeniable moral train-wreck solely for policy reasons, and there's no pulling back from that going forward.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is nothing wrong in followint the teachings of one of the first socialists in history. There is just a bit of hypocrisy however when you claim to be Christian and then be republican who does about the opposite of what Jesus preached. I never said all sane people are Christians but many on the right insist on claiming that America is a Christian nation. It really is not but they like to claim it is. \n\nYou don't think the far right consider themselves Christian?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Here\u2019s another mystery: How could so many Roman Catholics and so many evangelical Christians \u2013 80 per cent of the latter, it seems \u2013 vote for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton? ...How could any woman vote against Hillary, let alone 53 per cent of white women?\n\nIn the case of many Christians, it's called abortion and other moral issues the Supreme Court makes decisions about. It is quite mind boggling that Mr Caplan can't even recognize what moral concerns move them or what they, as opposed to he or Mrs Clinton, perceive as their interests. Their moral views may be wrong, but they aren't that hard to understand. Mr Trump was sinking in the polls with these groups after the Billy Bush tape and other revelations---until the emails brought the unsavoury Mr Weiner back into the picture and reminded Americans how Mrs Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer and others condemning the unsavoury Mr Trump had earlier excused or overlooked the equally unsavoury sexual behaviour of Bill Clinton.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Mormons share the same basic lie as the Judaeo/Christian mythology: Their commandments were delivered on tablets that were lost, while the Ten Commandments, which Moses supposedly received from God, who presented himself in a burning bush were written on stone tablets. Then, conveniently the Mormon tablets disappeared, and--if I recall correctly--Moses destroyed the Ten Commandments tablets. What a convenient coincidence that there's no objective proof that either ever existed. As the saying goes, \"It's easier to believe than learn.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "W, I'm quite aware of the Jewish adoption of Christianity in significant numbers starting with the efforts of Mr. Paul. And yes, virtually all early Christians were Jewish, including Jesus. But official Judaism has never made that choice, has always looked for a different Messiah version and still do. Otherwise Judaism would be a Christian denomination.\n\nSo your critique is invalid, doesn't address the crux of my assertion. Plenty of Jews were killed by plenty of Christians in the last two thousand years because of universal, official, Jewish rejection of Jesus as Messiah.\n\nI have no problem with your profession of Christian faith that He is. Facts don't matter in the realm of faith. \n\nAs to what I might be smoking! Nothing! My Adventist mommy forbid it. Good for her! I do extensively study Christian and Jewish history, joyfully sniffing the aroma of ambrosia while thoughtfully reading facts amidst fields of it, however!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Classic smear from the extreme right, a lurid connection between social liberalism and \"anti-Christianity.\" The notion, that this CPC publicist would speak for Canadian Christianity, is the funniest part.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again you descend into an ad hominem rant because you cannot make a coherent case for your rejection of what the Catholic Church teaches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm pretty sure you meant this as humor.. it did make me smile a bit. Just in case you do believe in human culling, Hitler tried that. Cortez and the Catholic did it to the natives in Central and South America. Maybe we just need a real World War, one that hits every continent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of my ancestors 25-odd generations ago is alleged to have killed a lot of people in southeastern England who did not like his recently arrived boss and the fact that said boss had just killed their king. Ten or fifteen generations later, another ancestor laid waste to villages in western Ireland, essentially because the residents were Catholics and did not want new Protestant overlords. Guess that makes me a pretty evil guy.\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you think the New Testament is sick and that we read the Epistles of a sick man at Mass, I don't think I can help you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow. The writer of this column is incredibly uniformed, uses dialogue out of context, appears to have no understanding of English (how does discipline or submit even closely suggest abuse?) or have a vague idea of what Christianity is about.\nI always was of the opinion that news is about unbiased reports and not drafted and published in a pathetically poor manner as this. There are so many flaws in this article, which can be disproved easily from historical evidence to current data... but let's put it this way - a simple example of society's rather backward mindset : Take \"God\" out of the school curriculum...and today we are faced with massive increases teenage pregnancy, drug use, violence, kids burning down schools, etc\". \nIf this is your advice on how we modern folk should conduct ourselves, keep your failing system. I'll keep my Jesus", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yet, the last time I studied scripture, the Gospels were considered to be part of the Bible, albeit the New Testament, but a real part of it nonetheless. Unless you know some horrible truth kept from the rest of us! Your point is valid and a good one...religious study in the halls of our national government seem to always be based on the fundamentalist fire-and-brimstone sort of Evangelicalism. And then they put it into national policy. That's where the true abomination exists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Michael Binder in case you don't know is a prolific blogger himself. He has invented a new Christian sect. Google his name.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"Church Militant\" are Christians who think of themselves as earthly soldiers of Christ. They were responsible for the mass slaughter during the Crusades, and for the murder of various groups of \"heretics\"--all in name of God-- similar to how some extreme Muslims carry out \"Jihad\" or Holy War. To think that they are operational today, and that Bannon is one, (our president-elect's chief strategist) is downright shocking. These are very dangerous and dark dudes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The term \"sanctuary cities\" in paragraph 5 has nothing to do with lawfully-settled refugees. It has to do with shielding illegal immigrants.\n\nAlso, there is no mention of Christians in the executive order, but \"journalists\" have very freely extrapolated from Trump's campaign statements that this *must* be what is meant by the term \"religious minorities.\" Look up \"Genocide of Yazidis by ISIL\" for the story of one of many religious minorities in middle-eastern countries. In fact, if it is known that a certain group is being targeted for attack and they are not given priority over other immigrants or refugees, *that* would be analogous to the rejection of the Jewish refugees who were not granted any priority over any other immigrants or refugees when it was perfectly clear their lives were in grave danger.\n\nRight now, a whole lot of people resemble the right-wingers who prepared for the apocalypse when Barack Obama was elected. It's sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And your reply to my initial comment tells us what Mr. Hobson appropos to the subject matter? Men have enslaved other men since we've been human, but when ostensibly \"Christian \" entities endorse and propagate such cruel and dehumanizing enterprises, well...from my perspective they've ceased being Christian.PEACE. \ud83d\ude11.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ would have us all pay obeisance to the 'wisdom' of John Hobson.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A similar issue is in the air in Poland. The previous liberal government, after much hesitation, finally ratified \"The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence \". It was strongly opposed by the Catholic bishops of Poland, who claim it imports gender politics to Poland and undermines traditional family values. In October 2015, a right-wing populist (basically Trumpist) party won power, and it is quite possible that it will withdraw Poland from the Convention, as well as banning all abortions even when the health of the mother is in danger. The position of the state-sponsored churches is similar in Russia and Poland on this issue, except that in Poland women have shown the ability to fill town squares in angry protest, and the dismantling of liberal democracy in Poland has not yet gone as far as in Russia, Turkey and Hungary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God bless Father Riehl. My wife and I drive an hour each way to attend, revere and celebrate the Latin Mass in Charlotte. We are considering moving to Waynesville, specifically because the Latin Mass is celebrated at St. John's. The news report failed to include in the story that the Latin Mass is celebrated at St John's once a week on Wednesday evening. The eight other weekly masses are celebrated as Novus Ordo, including two Spanish Masses. Apparently one traditional Latin Mass per week is enough to drive some \"Catholics\" out of the pews, and in some cases into Protestant churches. Incidentally, this story is about two years old, and is routinely resurrected from the mothballs whenever it seems necessary to diminish, marginalize and otherwise slur those who find holiness and solace in the traditional Mass. Tolerance too often works only in one direction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Commenting from an Irish perspective, it strikes me that there are cultural differences reflected here. The Irish assoc. of priests, developed from a period of the clinical exposure of the clerical child sex abuse and how the hierarchy acted in managing the crisis. The facts were clearly established through Judicial Reviews; in a very small country, where less than 40 years ago, 90% approx, of the population were practicing Catholics. Ireland is a very close knit and informal country.The Irish church played an unhealthy dominant role in society and political life .\nWest of the Atlantic, I can hear reflected in the report above; voices of the established Catholic church, from times past; strongly justifying and defending the traditional status quo. While the Catholic population would be significant; it is still a smaller part of the overall population; at approx 20%. Therefore it never experienced the dominance of the church across every part of life and society. 80% were not Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"era\" of shrinking parish populations, consolidation, and \"shedding\" is expressed in the construction of monstrous burial tombs akin to the pyramids (and sex abuse settlements). One would think that the \"remnant\" would see that connection at least?\nThe \"church\" perceives itself as \"expert in humanity\" yet demonstrates such a lack, even perversion, of insight into \"community\" that belies, with even more declarative statement, the invocation that they know about God'ness. \nThere is an admonition somewhere in scripture that we don't build earthly monuments to self? Yet institution persists in gouging pockets to build self-congratulatory edifices as it retreats from Christ, from worship, from community, from existence. \nReflection: where does Jesus really live?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church should reach out to any person in need of spiritual healing, including priest-pedophiles. But it should never assume a supervisory role over them or maintain a formal relationship.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "U.S. bishops have done more than speak out on bathrooms in churches. Many of them have rushed headlong into endorsing knee-jerk legislation prohibiting transgender persons from using public restrooms of their choice in several states.\n\nMy issue isn't so much with their position. Many people, myself included, are still trying to come to an informed and just position on the issue of gender identity, and good people can disagree. My problem was the overblown push for a legislative solution without any thoughtful discussion, and the implication that there's a crisis in this country regarding proper bathroom usage.\n\nIncreasingly, the U.S. bishops are going all-in on conservative social legislation, and that strategy is backfiring on them. They'd be wise to do what Pope Francis is doing and encourage respectful dialogue instead.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The forced integration of Southern schools by federal marshals should have put those posse comitatus people on notice that public accommodations have to be open to everyone, so long as they wear shirt and shoes. People like the Bundys and their incompetent \"militias\" haven't got the picture yet. As for self-described \"evangelicals\", they seem to believe that Jesus only loves white people. and only a few of those. May they experience the \"rapture\" sometime before 2020. I know it's not politically correct to say so, but I don't think they're a bit better than anyone else, though they might on average have a better credit score.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reason I raised the query (and it was query not an accusation) is that you have given two examples of priests offering moral guidance to women in distressing situations that actually contradict Catholic Church teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You were lucky then. I grew up in both a small town and rural area of southeast MO, where the Ozarks met the Mississippi River bottoms. If you weren't WASP you were ignored at best and you don't want to know the at worst. My third grade school teacher was my Catholic godmother. My fifth grade teacher taught us about the evils of the Catholic Church and how it killed god fearing real Christians for reading the Bible and led prayers asking that we all come know Jesus. amen. There were at least three Catholic kids in that class. In high school my advanced French class was made to sing a rather nasty song about a monk who broke all of vows and the various ways he did so. Crosses were still being burned in the country and a barn or two as well. The neighboring county where my family came from, had no black residents into the 1990's. Any who tried to move in, even as hired help, would be warned it wasn't a good idea to stay too long...it was always understood too well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AM JUST WAITING FOR THE COMING OF JESUS CHRIST THAT ALL,. BECAUSE YOU THINK FIGHTING IS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM, ITS NOT BUT TO TALK AND ADVICE OVER EVIL AND GOOD CAN HELP TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS, PEOPLE WILL DIE MANY SOULS WHICH BELONGS GOOD WILL GOto GOD AND SOULS WHICH BELONG TO EVIL WILL GO IN HELL AND DONT CALL THIS WAR AS THIRD WORLD WAR NO ITS AMERICAN AND NORTH KOREAN WAR . THIS WORLD DOES NOT BELONG TO AMERICA OR NORTH KOREA ITS BELONG TO A CREATOR THE ONE WHO MADE IT IN 6 DAYS AND REST IN THE DAY OF 7 WHICH IS GOD HIM SELF .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yep, a bunch of cradle Catholics here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is a fairly uninformed post for a reader of the Globe. The number system you use is called the Western Numeral system, right? Wrong - it's called the Arabic Numeric system introduced to the west by people from that part of the world. Heard of Algebra? Compiled by a Persian named Al-Khwarizmi in the 800's and it set the stage for others to follow. Chemistry? It was Jabir ibn Hayyan who was setting the stage for Lavoie and Boyle who came around a thousand years later. Scientific method? Alhazen about a thousand years ago. Medicine? Ibn Sina (Avicena). It was people in these countries who safeguarded the works of the ancient Greeks while the Catholic church was destroying knowledge and crucifying heretics who said the world was round. It was thanks to them that knowledge survived the Dark Ages and was there to feed the Renaissance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good point. And from this one passage, we see that Jesus did not preach peace, but War.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RELIGION, POLITICS AND\u2026 HUMAN NATURE\nPolitics may be a factor in the support and legislation of Bill 62 in Quebec, but it is, obviously, an intervening variable in this equation. The independent variable is human nature \u2013 the great majority of the citizens of Quebec, who feel uneasy, uncomfortable and\u2026 probably fearful, when faced with a number of fellow humans covered, from\u2026 head to toe, by black garments. The miniscule number of these\u2026 strange shadows is immaterial \u2013 the psychological ghosts do not need to be numerous to terrorise some people. We should also keep in mind that the Quebecois have just managed to free themselves from the fangs of the Catholic Church. Thus, asking them now to make peace with other religions, we may be asking them for\u2026 too much. Thank you. A. C.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually Ronald Reagan was only one half Irish. He was the grandson of an Irish Roman Catholic. His pedigree would work out to being one half Irish, and the rest, Scottish and English. Despite being born poor, he had a pretty good life in his formative years, growing up in rural Illinois, largely free of the discriminatory pressures faced by the Irish in large cities.\n\nBad choice in choosing Reagan to advance an already crumbly argument.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "cont'd\nprohibit the sale of contraceptives. \n\nJust out of curiosity, suppose all the pharmacists in America were to suddenly go wild over traditional Catholicism, play Gregorian Chant in their pharmacies, and show \"The Little Flower\" every day at sunset. Suppose they also refused to sell contraceptives. What constitutional provision would require the pharmacists to sell the pill against their firmly held religious beliefs? Would it make any difference if, instead of Gregorian Chant, they piped in music out of the Bob Marley Hymnal?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Kevin, your position is clear enough, and I don't intend to dissuade you from it. (Though you might deserve some refutation, if in fact you are one of those many Catholics who have the bad habit of talking nice about \"the gift of life, given by God,\" and about how \"to deny another the opportunity of life is sinful,\" when in fact you don't care at all about the gift of life being given to countless nonhuman living creatures, many of whom in huge numbers are killed to serve the desires of thoughtless, self-serving humans.)\n\nThe point is, many of us Catholics DO think that the church's teachings are in error on some matters, including sexuality and marriage, gravely so, being based on false information and prejudice, and also on a mistaken sense of mission to arrange social relationships. Therefore it would violate our conscience, founded in the love of God and the gospel, to put aside our honest and honorable objections, and to obey such flawed teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A priest getting married will allow for more divorces among priests that Satan will be happy to have achieved his aim. Women will be given money by liberals like soros and podesta who are agents of devil to divorce their priests husband to cause more chaos. Church should not worry about married priests. God will help if we have faith in God. The universe is changing fast and more and more ppl are getting crazy. Church in television should be allowed", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In light of the latest revelation about Drumpf...how can any Catholic vote for him? He has proved too many times he is not the person for this country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...shielded news and accounts....\"\n\nQuite true, Michael T., and sexual abuse is still common in public schools today. So many perpetrators are never prosecuted. The problem is that many sexual abuse and privacy laws were not written specifically to deal with abuse by educators like your father, a principal; and sometimes -- even now -- administrators seem tone deaf to the unusual power that a teacher or coach has over a student. Private schools also have their share of sexual abuse. They are often exempt from many rules that do exist, such as requirements of license educators. The Spotlight team that investigated the Boston archdiocese has recently said that at least 110 New England private schools are facing allegations affecting 300 kids. Needless to say, it is everywhere, sadly not only in mosques, synagogues, churches (abuse was/is just as prevalent in Protestant churches as in Catholic), public and private schools, but also in families, most of all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "the fall of the US and Britain is clearly prophesied in the Bible.\nit's slowly becoming a reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We can't go into this question blindly,\" he said. \"There needs to be a responsible discussion within the church which is as broadly based as possible.\"\n\nWe need a real discussion on this issue and women deacons. The church is sagging under the weight of the paradigm left over from the Middles Ages.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Historically, this has been women, Jews, blacks, Hispanics and LGBT.\"\n\nAnd Catholics, too! As historian John McGreevy points out in his latest book, AMERICAN JESUITS AND THE WORLD (Princeton University Press, 2016): The Republican Party's anti-slavery program was coupled with an anti-Catholic one. The KKK targeted three groups, especially in the South: Blacks, Jews and Catholics. Can one forget Lyman Beecher's son, Edward, a well known educator and abolitionist, who, like his father, used to weekly sermon to warn his listeners of a Catholic conspiracy and one time even donated 4,000 dollars to fight \"popery.\" One of his anti-Catholic talks led to a crowd to burn down Boston's Ursuline Convent, with the local fire dept. refusing to respond to put out the fire.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Missing link:\nhttp://theinfluence.org/these-four-countries-prove-that-decriminalization-works-better-than-prohibition/\n\nThe War On Drugs has been lost. Sending people to prison for being unable to eliminate their addiction only makes life for them & their families worse. Then they get out with a criminal record, can't get work, and turn to crime to support their habit, costing you more. I would rather see a safe place for addicts to shoot up than have Peabody Creek filled with used syringes. At least then the addicts wouldn't be sharing needles, spreading disease (costing you more when they go to the ER) & could access help overcoming their addiction. \nWe've been punishing drug users for generations, and it hasn't worked & has made things worse. Why not try Jesus's commandment to love our neighbor as ourself? He said we MUST love EVEN our ENEMIES or we'll NOT see heaven. Why not take that commandment seriously, oh pious, authoritarian Christians? You're choosing to go to Hell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You haven't answered the question so I will put it another way.\nYou or I are divorced and remarried. Bear in mind that a civil marriage contracted by a Catholic is invalid. We go to a priest in Poland and he tells us that under no circumstances whatsoever are we to be admitted to the Sacraments nor can we take part in the life of the Church unless we live together as brother and sister.\nWe cross the border into Germany and the priest welcomes us with open arms and says we can go to Confession and need not repent of our adultery, receive Holy Communion and take part in the life of the Church like anyone else and continue in our adulterous relationship.\nTwo similar cases, two dissimilar outcomes. Now, one outcome must be right and one wrong; which is it?\nIf you are going to say that both bishops' conferences are right, what does the Catholic Church teach on this issue? Lucky in Germany, tough in Poland? In Poland you will go to hell, in Germany you won't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She was not a good Adventist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One thing for certain is that you are taking your own life into your hands when Bishops attempt to practice medicine without a license in Catholic Hospitals. Once again if you are Catholic, I am giving you do warning that you may potentially be harmed by going to a catholic hospital if you are pregnant or you are in need of good end of life issues. Some Catholic Bishops have set themselves up as omniscient, omnipotent medical rule makers in Catholic hospitals. The bishops ideas that BC is wrong and or that BC pills cause abortions are medically, scientifically and theologically inconsistent. There attempts at self promotion in median is a serious breech in ethics. It is as bad or worse than the sexual crisis because, the bishops who know better are not speaking out abut their this scandal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your post is illustrative. However, the fact is that no matter how many \"fifths\" of a person a woman might constitute she is somehow still incapable, unworthy, excluded (choose whichever or all the words) from the clerical state. Popes have declared over and over that men and women are equal as persons and yet at the same time have declared their exclusion from \"priesthood\"; that their created role is to serve men; their post original sin role is to serve or else - \"...in the church and in the world\".\nWe, as Catholics, believe the Mary conceived, gestated, gave birth to and raised Jesus, the Word INCARNATE. Priests merely \"confect\" Jesus in a mere moment of utter unworthiness. \nIs something wrong with the church? Or, more properly, we \"believers\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You need to grasp the difference between sin and personal culpability. \n\n\"Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey.\"\n\nBecause a person \"thinks\" or \"feels\" something is not sinful does not make it so. \n\n\" ... ignorance can often be imputed to personal responsibility. This is the case when a man \"takes little trouble to find out what is true and good, or when conscience is by degrees almost blinded through the habit of committing sin.\" In such cases, the person is culpable for the evil he commits.\" \n\n\"Ignorance of Christ and his Gospel, bad example given by others, enslavement to one's passions, assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience, rejection of the Church's authority and her teaching, lack of conversion and of charity: these can be at the source of errors of judgment in moral conduct.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You wrote:\n\n<>\n\nNonsense. In fact an interest in HJ preceded my return to the church.\n\nAnd now you've dodged the issue. \"The Twelve\" (disciples) appear symbolic of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. In the gospels they are sent out as emissaries, not priests. Jesus was not descended from the priestly Levite tribe (or so we are led to believe). The association in Hebrews of Jesus with the OT bit player Melchizedek is an anomaly. And the notion that Jesus could've traveled all over the Galilean countryside with twelve women disciples because he was God and could do anything he wanted to is ludicrous.\n\nThis excuse for denying women entry to the priesthood is both dubious and anachronistic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just a (much-needed) FYI: America is not a democracy. It is a Constitutional Republic. And, the Constitution specifically forbids the government to pass laws respecting of religion - whether it be one founded on Jesus Christ OR Mohammed or Joseph Smith or L. Ron Hubbard. \n\nIn such a republic, everyone gets to believe as they will - even the freligious frightwingnuterati. But it cannot \"establish\" any religion.\n\nYou seem very confused. Or, just ill-informed. There's a lot of that going around. I'll keep you in my prayers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, Bill, the signers are a whole lot closer to Catholic moral tradition and values than are Francis and his liberal friends. I mean, honestly, did you actually read the Correction? Where in Catholic moral tradition is the conscience held to be the primary arbiter of truth and goodness?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi! Scott, thank you for your comment\nGenesis\n\"Be fruitful and multiply,\nPsalm 127:3\n\u201cBehold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward\u201d.\n\nOnan wasted his seed on the ground in a Self-Serving act (Sinful,) what he did was displeasing in the sight of the LORD; so He took his life, as he had taken Er, Judah's firstborn who was evil in the sight of the LORD also.\n His sin became known as \"Onanism,\"\nContraception was so far outside the biblical mind-set and so obviously wrong that it did not need the frequent condemnations other sins did, as the gift of new life was seen as a blessing (Approval ) from God.\n\nWe see this in the statement by Jesus below, as it amplifies the mind-set of some of those who now teach in His name in duplicity \u201cBlessed are the barren\u201d In Approval of those who while partaking with our Creator in His Plan for new life, commit a deliberate act, of denying another the possibility of life.\nContinued 1", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do some people prefer to always wait? \n\nIt's if they say \"I'll love when someone else loves me'. That's not the Catholic understanding of love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for your question. The 5 non-negotiables (intrinsically evil and must never be promoted by the law) are: abortion, euthanasia, EMBRYONIC stem cell research (ADULT stem cell research is a great thing), human cloning, and homosexual \"marriage\". It can be seen in detail at Catholic.com (Catholic Answers).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is none where the ark of the covenant? Where is jesus listen in the text of the government that executed him or any text not withstanding the bible during the time he lived, wheres noahs arc? wheres the evidence of the flood ? The tablets of moses? In fact he is not mentioned in anything from the period he was supposed to have lived in. We know more about Romes conquest and barbarians from before jesus we also know Constantine choose and probably had authored your bible some 500 years after theoretical jesus walked the earth, There is not enough water on the planet to cover the highest mountains? What about dinosaurs? However we do have 7 different foreskins of Jesus pretty cool to have seven penis's even if i don't know how that would work. Also the slavery in Egypt is not in Egypts record that we actually have from the time period. So Yeah Science Einstein, Tesla , do not believe in the spiritual world. What historical evidence I would love to know?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you really believe there are so few heterosexuals out here that if the Church doesn't mandate heterosexuality, the human race will die out?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's Islamophobia Tabatha , not Muslimphobia. Why does the left deliberately enable superstitious fundamentalists of this particular religion? The left has no problem insulting and deriding Christian fundamentalists. It's perfectly rational to question, debate and expose the misogyny, irrationality, male dominated, gender separated, supremacist writings of this superstition in question. \n\n\nThe religion is Islam and its dogma is open for rational evaluation.\n\nChristmas and Easter are Canadian holidays. Soon it will be Islamophobic not to have a Canadian Islamic national holiday. Therefore to prevent islamophobia Canada should get rid of Christmas and Easter. Is that where this is going?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are liberal Catholics, Gene1935. The idea of rebellion will save them! We should have a high ceiling for all. (Worry when bishops start concentrating themselves on something so hated.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well you misunderstand.\n\nIf your main consern is your wife's health...guess what...your concern is where it needs to be: with your wife, that is, your family. So I was right. \n\nYour old enough that youre likely covered under medicare anyway...\n\nhttp://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-medicare/\n\nObamacare has already been collapsing for 12 months, with the premiums galloping away. \n\nAll of Obama's promises on this have proven to be outright lies. \"Like your health care plan? then you can keep it\"...etc. \n\nYah.\n\nIf your middle son is most concerned about the world his children will live in...guess what? He's concerned with the family.\n\nHe should renew his obigation as a Catholic (because I'm certain that you've lived the faith so well that he's also a happily struggling Catholic)....and he has set to the task to form his children in all the good virtues.\n\nThese virtues will ensure that no matter what world they enter...they can thrive with God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In fact, there was quite a bit of the specific elements of the Medieval world view that was not derived from New Testament Christianity.\"\n\nAs I pointed-out in my comments on Part I of this series, Ed Zinke's world-view is much more aligned with New Testament Christianity, than either Platonic-Augustinian or Aristotelian-Aquinas syntheses of the earlier and later Mediaeval Christian teaching.\n\nOthers have pointed-out the absurdity of the false Modernist-Mediaeval dichotomy presented here. Also for anyone who cares to study the question, just as Mediaeval Christian thinking diverged significantly over time, the same goes for Modernism. You can no more treat one uniformly than the other. Nor subsume all other world-views in these two.\n\nYet Dr Taylor persists in weaving his \"neo-Mediaeval\" mantle for Ed Zinke. Why? Apparently this bit of syncretist sophistry suits Dr Taylor's meta-narrative. \n\nFrom flawed premises can arise flawed conclusions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wouldn't be so quick to tout your so-called \"word-smithing\" skills, if your post is to be taken as an example--it reads like you're looking for an excuse to whine about \"reverse-discrimination\" or something. Don't bother.\n\nFolks of Spanish ancestry are overwhelmingly Catholic and just as saddled with the Inquisition's bloody heritage as Anglo-Saxons--if not more so. \"Moriscos\" (Muslim Spaniards) were its victims at least as much as Jewish and 'heretical' Christian Spaniards. One result: 3,000,000 Spanish Muslims were enslaved and sent to Mexico after \"Los Reyos Christianos\" took power in Spain.\n\nThen the Spaniards reached out and touched the Philippines, \"converting\" nearly its entire Muslim population to Catholicism at sword-point. Only the stalwarts inhabiting the thousand or so southern islands around Mindanao managed to keep their Islam.\n\nNo, it's hardly surprising a Catholic with some degree of Spanish heritage might sometimes strike out at Muslims. Old hatreds die hard.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or for that matter were certain popes raised up by God to their positions. I sincerely doubt this piece of our Catholic myth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic conferences in states.\n\nWell, it is important, then, that you write your state government representatives and make sure they understand your own, personal viewpoint in so far as your viewpoint is not the same as the bishops on a particular issue. And, make a point that you are a Catholic while doing it. One of the ways you give up your own voice and power and responsibility, is by being silent when others act as if you are included in some group being represented. \n\nThere are a number of issues on which my bishop does not represent what I think is appropriate political action - gay marriage, support for Planned Parenthood, contraceptive coverage in health insurance, the so-called \"religious freedom\" that is a masquerade for discrimination in the market places of goods, services and jobs. Don't let it slide by. An email to a state representative or senator can take only a few minutes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you have a legitimate take on the political situation between Le Pen, Marcon and Fillon. This is going to be a close election and the Catholic vote will be very important.\n\nAs to your first paragraph, my local bishop is heads and shoulders above the USCCB on the issue of child sexual abuse. My frustration stems from the fact there aren't more like him. Sort of the opposite of your scenario.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continuing...... That's why mercy becomes confusing to this line of thought. It's just ignoring God's immutable law so that someone can feel better while they sin, right? Never mind looking to see if they are loving, or trying to love, or trying to pray despite being told that the law says you are evil from the jump. Never mind whether gay or divorced people actually succeed in bettering the lives of those around them. Never mind whether women are truly leaders and guides, true confectors of the Body of Christ. And never mind the mercy shown me by a God who knows my daily sinfulness. All of that pales before immutable law and the need to tell others that \"God can't love you like that. God can only love you in the way I tell you, because God has revealed that (immutably) to me.\"\nWhen the law excludes people from a church that names itself Universal, I'll question it in faith. When (always sinful) people love, I'll uphold that. Because I've been taught to be Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So tell me, Trid, about your claim that \"Pope Francis has been punishing good, orthodox Catholics\" ... and your concern for this group calling itself the heralds of the gospel.\n\nEspecially in the light of the founder and now ex-leader of this Brazilian traddie movement relaying Satan's alleged words (from the mouth of a herald of the gospel priest), \"saying that the devil had told the Heralds priest that Francis was \u201cmy man\u201d. Satan said Francis is \u201cstupid\u201d and does \u201ceverything I want\u201d\"\n\nhttp://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/7367/0/vatican-investigates-catholic-group-after-exorcism-claim-that-francis-is-devil-s-man\n\nApparently they're under apostolic investigation! And the leader has hastily resigned! This delightful little group that you venerate.\n\nImagine your meltdown had the leader of a more centrist Catholic group spouted off against JPII or BXVI in such a manner.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Should Trump tell the pope that his Attorney General, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, of Alabama, an ardent Southern Baptist, is investigating the Church and its bishops for racketeering when it comes to the criminal cover-up and transfer of priests across the nation who are or were accused of pedophilia?\n\nPope Francis should tread very carefully. Very carefully.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Should administrators at Catholic colleges and universities be worried that they may have to underwrite the educations of many other African Americans whose ancestors were exploited as slaves like in the case of Georgetown University and the Jesuits?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The letter writer, like many people on both \"sides\", ignores the fact that the separation goes in both directions. Once we start forcing religions to be taxed (which is what government mandated birth control coverage for their employees is, via the SCOTUS decisions) they become eligible for real representation. Do we want a government that includes Christian or Muslim parties? As a believer in a secular government I think we need to be very careful what we wish for when wielding our ideology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To be clear: no Trump didn't. And you (the reporter) don't speak for all Catholics (including me). But I guess you do speak for Catholic bishops whose interest it is in to have Clinton in office so that millions of new Latinos become citizens and help boost declining U.S. Catholic Church attending and revenues. But LOL at the U.S. Catholic Church acting outraged over anything after they ignored their own huge sex scandal for years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a waste of recourses. For all the God fearing or the athiest, practice to yourself. Religion has no place in policy making and politics. Separation of church and state. I don't care who you pray to but it won't help determine tax rates and policies. It just distracts everyone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Be they First Nations Hawaiians or white conservative Christians - it really kills me to see scientists held back by people who believe in fairy tales.\"\n\nMuch to say about where Canada places their space observation equipment in - oh I know - a foreign country. I suggest you pick out a nice spot in the center of the Athabasca oil sands for the venture and then complain to your heart's content.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Younger women \"just aren't sure Clinton is the one\"--yes, this seems to typify their sentiment. What they don't realize is that if Hillary Clinton can't get women to vote for her, including young women, then the only woman that will likely be elected President in the future will be a Republican. She'll more than likely be white, will, guaranteed, be a Christian. She'll, of necessity, have to be against abortion rights, and will no doubt be an extreme fiscal conservative. In the eyes of younger Democratic-leaning women, Bernie's pure and untainted. What they don't seem to realize is Sander's political purity is a function of his former political irrelevance. Hillary Clinton has never been politically irrelevant. She's a political pugilist. This scares certain types of women.\nYounger women tend to be more psychologically dependent on male approval than women with more life experience. Similarly, married women tend to vote more conservatively. There's nothing new under the sun.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you must be right. When I was in seminary and afterwards as a cleric, no one ever mentioned, as far as memory serves, the sentence from 2 Corinthians. Rather, we were just to share in the one priesthood of Christ. In those ancient times, no one mentioned gender--until that nonsense about physically resembling Jesus' maleness, which does make having a penis a requirement for ordination. I attend an Episcopal church now with many gendered priests. Yet sometimes I would like a pope who is a little infallible, since some Episcopal churches can change essentials too easily. BTW, Buddhists teach that their doctrine, even considered to be a rather mobile skillful means, is indefectibe, i.e., cannot be overturned. We do long for some certitude, but that is better realized when the entire church functions in the presence of Christ. Which I take to mean acting in awareness of the indwelling Spirit of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"And Catholics in the pews don\u2019t seem averse at all to the Roman Curia and conservative hierarchs getting a bit of comeuppance\".\n\nA bit? That is, for this Catholic, far too modest. There's a huge hospital full of patients suffering from rather severe forms of clericalism and nomodoctrinophilia. Proper therapy and medication, strict supervision, and, if need be, exorcism are in order to at least limit or mitigate the nefarious effects of this incurable condition on other human beings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "held at the Canada Christian College after introduction of motion M-103 in Parliament. As the camera spans a boisterous, overwhelmingly Caucasian crowd, a middle-aged, bespectacled woman comes into focus. Grinning, she raises her right arm in what appears to be a lingering Nazi-salute. Four Conservative leadership hopefuls appeared at this event.\n---\nChristian, Caucasian, Nazi, Conservatives...The only words missing from this paragraph are crusaders and infidels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not cherry picking though. Evangelical christianity is mainstream. Those churches I mentioned? One of the pastors was asked to pray with George W. Bush after his inauguration. \n\nMost major political candidates give speeches at Liberty University (Trump read from \"Two Corinthians\" during one of his speeches). \n\nMike Pence is extremely open about his agenda and his faith. Then you have the likes of Sara Palin who you can openly find videos of her praying and preaching about this being a Christian nation. If anyone was remotely that devout or dogmatic about any other belief system you can imagine the reaction.\n\nEvangelical Christians are the most influential religion when it comes to American politics and they also pretend they are the most persecuted for absurd things like gays being allowed to marry or not being allowed to put a cross up in a public square.\n\nMeanwhile you have articles like this where Muslims feel they have to change their locks because their lives are threatened.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you subscribe to Marconianisn which holds that Old Testament God=bad, New Testament God=good?\n\n2 Timothy 3:16: \"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.\"\n\nBoth Old and New Testament form the canon, and Jesus mentions hell/eternal punishment many times in the Gospel...you seem to cut out those parts of Scripture you don't like.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John, I will still use the title \"Father\", especially in writing. Sometimes it is because I don't know what else to say, how else to title them and at least show some respect. Sometimes I use \"Father\" to acknowledge someone I think really does have an ability to inspire me, to teach me and bring a new realization of faith, a faith experience, to me - sheer, felt respect. \n\nI don't want to call any pope \"Holy Father\", either. What arrogance and what a \"trick\" to create an aura that links the word \"holy\" to a flesh and blood, very human, fallible person. He may have moments, but he does not live in holiness with every breath he takes. I might, out of sheer respect for Francis, call him Holy Father, but I try not to use it. I think it is a blasphemy when connected with some other popes who I won't name. \n\nWe need an entirely new kind of relationship with priests, bishops, and other powers of Catholicism. No more \"father\", no more \"your grace, and no more \"your holiness.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, the spinning and the 'pivoting' are things that can be learned. This article is about women being silent after being confronted with the type of behavior that Trump, for instance, has either lied about or engaged in, or both.\n\nLying/bragging about engaging in it, or engaging in it and then lying about it are both inexcusable. Why would those who profess morality/Christianity seek to minimize or excuse such conduct?\n\nPolitics simply 'trumps' everything for many.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"And, who can doubt that his fears that the neo-Malthusian agenda of the population control experts was a grave threat to human dignity? \"\n\nWell, myself, for one. The planet already has more inhabitants than it can comfortably support by a couple of billion people, and the population is exploding out of control exponentially. For Catholic hierarchs to bury their collective heads in the sand like an ostrich and pretend that we are not headed for a human and ecological disaster simply in order to prop up an ancient ban on artificial birth control that should have been tossed out eons ago is just plain ludicrous. \n\nDespite the other aspects of his greatness, the left was right to give up on Paul VI after \"Humanae vitae.\" He ignored his own advisory council's recommendations and made the wrong decision, the cost of which was the loss of moral authority for generations lasting all the way to the present day. That was a pretty stiff price to pay. Was it worth it? I would say no, it was not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since yours might seem like a downer (I do wonder about a cynic who thinks it's \"truly empty\" to call a next generation to improve the world), I'll match yours with Woodie Allen's \"speech to the graduates.\" \n\n\"Today, as never before in history, mankind stands at a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose wisely.\" \n\nAnd, you don't disappoint---warning us yet again about \"feelings.\" \n\nWhat IS it about feelings that bothers and threatens you so? Were you a heartbroken turned into a \"Heartbreaker\"? \n\nMy grad speech would be \"Feel More; Analyze Less.\" As Ted Hesburgh often told graduates, \"love and laughter\" are the keys. But I suspect you aren't a big fan of Fr. Ted's vision of Catholic higher education.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church teaches infallibly in Christ's name. It has always taught that the unjustified taking of an innocent human life, which is the very definition of abortion, is intrinsically, gravely sinful. This is a dogma.\n\nCapital punishment, on the other hand, may be used, licitly, under certain conditions. \n\nObviously, there's a difference between the two issues from a morality standpoint. Show me where I'm wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article is meaningless without context but several clicks revealed that this background is somewhat hard to come by. Fratello was a layperson employed at a Catholic school. When her contract was not renewed, she alleged gender discrimination, arguing that her lay status ought not to exempt the archdiocese from a discrimination lawsuit under the \u201cministerial exception,\" which normally covers religious and not laypeople. In other words, Fratello was arguing that her civil rights were an issue. \n\nBut there's more. She apparently wasn't Catholic enough, though we don't know why. The only tidbit floating around was that she displayed \"insubordination\" towards the local parish priest. Of course, this could mean anything from a full-blown debate about apostolic succession to casually mentioning, hey, the Church should at least TALK about women priests . . . \n\n????", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are all facing God, priest and people, in either form. The important part is Communion, where we experience God. God is not in the crucifix above or behind the Altar, it is in the Eucharist. Us old timers still genuflect out of habit at the consecrated hosts, but the reality is that it is only by faith that the host in the tabernacle or monstrance is a way to experience Christ. In fact, the only such experience is by reception. Anything else is belief and a bit of superstition, which white Europeans seem to still be really good at. Trads tend to conflate grace with magic, which comes close to idolatry. That is why patients in a coma are no longer given absolution and rarely anointing. The same superstition is why papal pronouncements which run counter to reason in moral arguments are seen as superior to actually conforming to both reason and fact. Faith is trusting God. Superstition is trying to manipulate Her.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"So does Dennis Priebe. Sin is an intelligent choice.\"\n\nSin is far more comprehensive than a choice. There are sins of ignorance that the sinner did not choose to do by way of an \"intelligent choice\".\n\nAnd even more importantly, sin is a state of being that we are all born in that by definition makes us sinners apart from any \"choice\" we make or made.\n\nWe are sinners by way of Adam's choice and not our own. None the less, God has provided a remedy that by accepting Christ we can opt out of Satan's kingdom and enter the kingdom of God.\n\nSo the LGT theology is bogus from the start and all those who advocate it are the heretics that Kevin Paulson would label anyone who endorsed the clear doctrine of original sin as presented in the bible.\n\nHe has three parts to his evaluation of the Brinsmead theology.\n\n\"THE BRINSMEAD HERESY AND LAST GENERATION THEOLOGY, PART 3\"\n\nFound at Advindicate. Paulson is the heretic and all who agree with him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you fail to note, having correctly identified that anti-semitism really means being against semitic peoples, that most of Israel's neighbours are Semitic peoples who are largely Muslim. The term anti-semitism is completely wrong in that its common usage is hatred of and bias against Jewish people and the Jewish religion. Its meaning has been further eroded by its common use, mostly by right wingers, as referring to any criticism of the government of Israel and its actions!\n\nNow Judaism is a religion which has mostly peace-loving followers but also some extremists who are not averse to taking the law into their own hands. Similarly Islam is a religion with the same characteristics but a far larger number of adherents. Religions have ideologies, sure but describing Islam as an ideology is only reasonable if you will describe Judaism and Christianity, the other Abrahamic religions, in the same way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not 50% of the public. According to 538, it's 45.5 of the electorate (nonetheless a shocking percentage willing to cede democratic norms to a dictator-wannabe).\n\nAs I pointed out in my quickly censored comment, everyone is racist and xenophobic on some level to some degree. The distinction lies in how seriously bigotry is taken both as a personal moral failing and a systemic social ill. Political discourse is full of leveling and comforting banalities that obscure this reality under the guise of \"civility.\" One must be operating in a fact-free vacuum to pretend that racism has nothing to do with Trumpism. The Trump campaign's CEO Steve Bannon, formerly of Breitbart, is a rabid white supremacist who exerts considerable influence on the candidate's rhetoric and agenda.\n\nAs for respecting free speech, in my experience Catholic sites have a dismal record on that score. As anti-religion as they can be, atheist sites permit free speech to a far greater extent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Benedict did not advocate a smaller purer Church he predicted it on account of more and more Catholics embracing secularism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quebec was one of the first provinces in Canada to permit same-sex couples to adopt children and the second province in the country to strike down laws restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples since those laws were contrary to the Charter. Quebec was not a holdout for civil unions. It sounded like you might have been suggesting that by extension. However, it isn't true. \n\nMoreover, you don't appear to know much about Quebec culture. They rejected their Catholic identity more than half-a-century ago for very specific reasons. They are one of the most secular societies in the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You typed....Christians......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So riddle me this, if they are the minority, how did Trump win? It blows away your straw man that white Christians are some super majority that vote in a huge block?\n\nIt would seem that your liberal playbook will lose a couple of chapters if this is true?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Love and support for the victims and their families. There are so many victims worldwide, of the Catholic Clergy Sex Abuse Crisis, who have never told anyone of their suffering. Most have not come forward. We must all promise ourselves and each other that we will believe abuse survivors from this moment forward. It is time now to give survivors the benefit of the doubt first. Then a thorough, impartial investigation of their claims... Survivors need to be believed. Put survivors first. The innocent few priests and nuns (statistics bear out that less than 5% of clergy abuse claims are false) will survive. But disbelieved abuse survivors may not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Blood Money\" defined by wiki:\n\nBlood money may refer to:\n\nBlood money (restitution), money paid to the next of kin of a murder victim as a fine\nThirty pieces of silver, in the New Testament, the price for which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus\nWeregild, in English history, reparational payment usually demanded of a person guilty of homicide or other wrongful death\nThe money earned for contract killing", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What if you read you read your post of \"What ifs\" in a sermon, Sabbath school class or church board meeting?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But she said that Jesus was making a reference to those who don't fit into traditional male/female roles, a reality that was recognized in the ancient world. (that is a stretch).\n\nWhat this article does not deal with is the fact that traditional roles are only the orthodoxy roles that happened to win out in the 300s due to the support of the Roman Emperor and not God, at least regarding sexism. \n\nOur Traditions about women were not scripture based from 100 AD and on. Jesus never led us to treat anyone differently than we wish to be treated or to even keep women out of same priesthood-or offer women limited sacraments compared to men - that is all Rome's Secular Influence and Pagan Influence in our church. We must correct this by ordaining women priests as a matter of human dignity and demanding women cardinals immediately. \n\nUntil equality is recognized in the sexes-God created Man-male & female he created them-one same creation. Homosexuals are left out too..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The hypocrisy of SNAP and others about laicization is breathtaking.\n\nFor years, SNAP and others demanded that bishops laicize priests who commit these heinous crimes. It wasn't enough to report them to police, and to remove them from ministry; no, SNAP insisted, they must be laicized -- i.e., \"defrocked\" or removed from the clerical state.\n\nFurther, SNAP complained loudly whenever the laicization process took too long. So the Vatican was criticized for the lengthy process.\n\nNow, look: when the bishops have done that, what does SNAP do? Complain that they have been laicized -- which means the bishops no longer have even minimal control over these individuals.\n\nThere's lots to criticize in how the bishops handled these things. But SNAP discredits itself with this tactic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suppose the Church's three prior dogmatic/ex cathedra statements, not to mention its universal and ordinary magisterial teaching, pale in comparison to the merely pastoral/heterodoxy of LG. Moreover, note the language you chose to cite--\"can be saved\". Indeed they \"can\", by converting to the one, true faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think much of it is fear. Both political parties have been selling fear for as long as I can remember. The Democrats will sell the fear of \"throwing granny off the cliff\" or \"climate change\" or \"abortion will be made illegal\". The Republicans will sell \"they are coming for your guns\" or \"there is a war on Christmas/Christians\" or \"that trans person will be in the bathroom with your daughter\". The Democrats sell a fear that is a bit more intellectual, the Republicans sell fear that is more of a visceral fear for many.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The same applies when two men cling to each other, and let no Catholic hospital ever again exile one of them from a hospital room where the other is sick or dying in favor of that mother and father. Actually, they changed the rules so such bad treatment is no longer acceptable in Catholic hospitals, they being CHA, not the government.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am disappointed to see that you know so many poorly catechized catholics. Using modern definitions of \"love\" \"conscience\" \"mercy\" etc., with all the touchy-feely connotations prevents us from fully appreciating how the teachings of the church have lifted us above such distressing emotional ties. One may love one's neighbor, in a church manner, while cordially despising him, emotionally. We need only look to our bishops for guidance, as God's chosen teachers of the faith we can rest assured their actions reflect Jesus' teachings, provided, of course, their actions comport with the ancient traditions of the church and the entirety of canon law and the catechism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would say the AL evangelicals and many adherents of Southern prosperity gospel are not Christian, but rather, they are Romans. It was not Christ who forced his symbols on others, it was the Romans. It was not Christ who sought worldly power, it was the Romans. It was not Christ who was so filled with hatred of others, it was the Romans. Those supporters of Moore have more in common with those who killed Christ than with the teachings of Christ -- sad!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus gave his reasons for castigating the religious leaders. He did not reprimand them for believing in his words:\nMatthew 19:9 \"I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.\"\nMark 10:11 \"Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.\u2019\nLuke 16:18 \"Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder if anyone ever read Richard Sipe's Never Another Pat.....\nAll the isolated Catholic priests dying of Aids and those who committed suicide.\n I regret I never saved it, maybe because it was so sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "don't know who ''johnpavlovitz(.) '' is but r-e-a-l-l-y: i don't want to be in any way connected to some one who refers to himself as a part of '''fellow-white-christian-friends'' even if said in jest. i just wonder how this comment got past the censors.. pretty awful", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, you're uniquely qualified to void Humanae Vitae because you have or at least had in the past sex. Oh, and you were married.\n\nAnd the Holy Father was unqualified because all he had was the shoes of the fisherman, a role as successor to Peter, leadership of the Catholic Church, which was given a divine command to teach all nations, and the keys to the kingdom.\n\nComparing credentials a reasonable conclusion can be reached as to which of you taught with authority and which made no sense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Phillip Elrod:\n\nI don't believe in anything supernatural and I can't explain many things in our natural world, the origin of the universe being one of them. But I don't need to. I'm fine with not knowing. Christians err when, in place of not knowing, they create an unbelievable, illogical, untestable explanation. Atheists don't \"do whatever you want as long as the law doesn't catch you\". We, like any other human, respond to all the governmental laws, social norms, lessons learned etc. These rules are man made just like those in the bible written under the guise of supernatural authorship. Most humans desire to be lied to, demand it and crave it. Evidence for that is religion with its promise of eternal life and the campaign of Donald Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Horrible young men\"? This is how you speak of men who have given up home and family, given up marriage and children, to serve you? Talk about ingratitude! Saint John Paul II, the Great, and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI were holy men, and their incredible example shines in the young priests and seminarians of our Holy Mother Church. They are truly men after Christ's own Heart. God bless and keep them all!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That was about martyrdom, not popular morality. We do not require everyone gay person, woman with a difficult pregnancy or divorced person be a martyr. Again, it has nothing to do with the issue of whether the hierarchy have been modern pharisees, who would surely be not only condemned by Christ, but would try to kill him again. Indeed, how they treat Francis is shameful.\n\nIf you want martyrs, have all of those who moved and quieted scandals about sexual abuse in their diocese (or shifted assets, like Dolan, or protected the Vatican from being touched by judgments) come forward and accept their shame. All of them. Including Francis. Better they admit it than bare the penalty that Christ prescribed for leading these young ones into sin. (pederasty).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ is presence \"especially in the Eucharistic species\" (SC 7), so no, His Eucharistic presence is not equal to His other modes of being present.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read the Gospel accounts together anew. Here is problem that started me thinking. The Synoptics and the Mass have Jesus saying he will not drink of the fruit of the vine until he does so in his Father's kingdom. Yet in John's Passion he says I thirst and is given the fruit of the vine. There are two possibilities. Jesus lied and Christianity is farce or we entered the Kindom at Eloi, Eloi....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Socialist hogwash>\"\n\nWell, Pete, I hate to pop your little bubble, but \"socialism\" isn't a scare word any longer.\nBTW, I don't remember the great4esat socialist of them all, Jesus, asking Mrs. Lazarus what insurance the family had before He raised her husband from the dead. Same goes for the paralytic, the blind girl, the leper, and on and on.\nHe just knew how to do the right thing.\nBy any chance, do you call yourself his disciple.\nIf so, did you meet his requirement that you sell ALL your possessions and give the money to the poor?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are entire essays to be written on the 3 subjects you listed in relation to actual Church catechises throughout the centuries and what was actually practised, not fitting for a limited comment section. Suffice it to say, that based on what I know the subjects are more complex, kind of the crusades were more complex than mere imperialism. \n\nRather I think it is more poignant to address your own beliefs. In your mind the Catholic religion is not credible in regards to its claims to an objective truth correct? Then as I asked before, why bother with an obviously deceitful religion. If the Church cannot teach in truth than what worth does any of its teachings have?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The evil of clerical child abuse so infects the current \"leadership\" of the roman catholic church, I doubt it can be addressed by them. I suggest rounding up all the current bishops, cardinals and popes, herding them into a suitable desert, and leaving them there to wander, in keeping with the example set out by God in Exodus. Being so infallible and powerful, they will no doubt be able to rely on their faith to feed, clothe and shelter them, so no need to provide them with anything but their vestments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic system does see slightly better results, on average, than public schools, but there's significant overlap and variations from board to board or school to school are much higher than any average difference between the two systems. Would you rather send your child to the best public school in the district or the worst Catholic school in the district? It should be the 'best' and 'worst' that you use to make your decision, not the faith component.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It needs to get a divorce from the Constantinian Catholic Church which means repudiating power, embracing service. \"Power corrupts & absolutely power corrupts absolutely,\" Lord Acton charged Pius IX. The pope is simple absolute power, an autocrat, king, Caesar.\nAin't gonna give up power for all the perks that come with it. Greeted in public, head seat at table, being waited on, etc. Not the one who will pour water at the table of the poor. Francis doesn't realize how indoctrinated he is. Can't think or act for himself outside the clerical power elite. \n\"What do you do with a problem like Maria?\" Fortunately, secular powers no longer cooperate with bonfires for dissidents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Carm, I apologize for my confusing statement and I do need to clarify. The Great Goddess was historically incestuous. The Gospel's Mary was a replacement for that myth. Mary was pure and not incestuous. So an improvement in mythology. The Vatican continues the work of eliminating the divine feminine by continuing to diminish Mary. I suppose that over the centuries, they will continue to make Mary less and less significant and she will just disappear. Many Protestant denominations have already jettisoned Mary. I hope this comment is clearer. Thanks for alerting me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Diversity isn't a big problem. Conflict is a problem. People will always find reasons to conflict. That's why people in remote villages from the beginning of time fought people in the next village over. Not because the diversity was too great to manage. But because conflict and looking for reasons to fight seems to be inherent in people. \n\nInfighting now isn't just about diversity, any more than it was in 1603. Look at the DP discussion boards. I'd bet the majority of commenters here are white Christian Americans from the Western United States, if not Colorado, and yet because of political partisanship, or sports team affiliation, or school pride, or class affinity or some other man-made demarcation, they go at each other every day, day after day as if they were from different species.\n\n\"Diversity\" is all around us. The search for homogeneity and purity is a never ending because it's a false, non-existent state of being; there will always be differences for cranky humans to fight over.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article smacks of falsehoods from someone who is ignorant of the writings of the Bible which is Jesus in Print. True Christians spend daily time in the Word so they may transform they way they think, speak and act. \nTrue Christians believe in ONE RAINBOW RACE under ONE KING...JESUS who is the final authority.\nTrue Christ...ians put Jesus first, others second and SELF last. \nTrue Christians die to self daily.\nThere is a vast difference between \"Christianity\" and legalistic \"Religion\"... Not everyone who calls themselves a \"Christian\" is a Christian...You will know them by their fruits, how they live, for where the mind goes man follows.\nTrue Bible believing Christians and followers of Christ live their lives according to the Bible and not according to the ways of this world.\nTrue Christians do not live in fear, are not insecure sissies, but trust in God with all the heart, mind and soul...\nChristianity is not a legalistic false religion...True Christianity is about relationship", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "C'mon...did you stand in solidarity with married couples when a \"fearless leader\" promulgated Humanae Vitae? Did you stand in solidarity with gays when \"fearless leaders\" called their loving \"intrinsically disordered\"? Did you stand in solidarity with women when a \"fearless leader\" declared forever closed the possibility of their priesthood? Maybe situational ethics and the Catholic Cafeteria are valid and wonderful concepts to prompt--not silence--intra-Church dialogue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What? He didn't mention fetuses? What about the fetuses? He didn't remind the faithful that every Catholic must always think constantly about fetuses, fetuses, fetuses? Excommunicate him!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi William,\n\nYou are making my point. The Holy Spirit isn't going to give a gift that He prohibits people to use. The gifts are given at His discretion as He sees fit. He has stated as a command that woman should not preach and that job is to be fulfilled by men. Saying that He is discriminating and wrong in His administration of the gifts is scary. Be carful that you don't over step your boundary\u2026stay close to the word my friend. The woman's place in church is clear 1Cor.14:34-38 is not a suggestion it is a command and it ends with \"if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.\n\nGet out the word my friend and make sure your experience is biblical. \n\nActs17:11Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.\n\nHang in there pal don't let your erroneous ideas get you into trouble..God is not mocked. If he says it\u2026its true not discriminating", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Being a christian - or any other religion - should disqualify a person from public office. Religion poisons everything. Its hypocritical, ludicrous, entirely unprovable and a corrosive on the most valuable American asset - reason.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic social doctrine is not owned by the \"left\". The Church was established by Christ as a hierarchical institution, not an egalitarian one; and was empowered to determine right from wrong based on revealed truths, not epistemic relativism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Devilfish! That being said, \"Christians\" always crack me up saying the things that they do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well its obvious that Munoz has no problem with child predation and rape. I guess that would make her a hero with the chi-mo gang in prison. Revolting. So maybe Cathy, if you had children, would you allow Jack or Chessica to babysit for you this weekend? I'll pay the hourly rate. You go enjoy yourself. Let their \"Christian Character\" shine through.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe we can be be inclusive by not highlighting groups of of people - Muslims, Christians, women, men, black, white, gay, straight - for abuse or for special treatment.\n\nIdentity politics, in all of its stripes, is toxic to democracy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your comparison is apt. Holding a Cardinal to accounts for aiding and abetting child abuse would be exactly the same as Jesus being condemned to death. Most people would not make that connection. But isn't it sola scripture to cite gospel for the proposition a cardinal who covered up the sexual assault of a child is the equivalent of Jesus Christ and a criminal trial for such conduct identical to the Passion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You people are so full of yourselves. The U.S. Catholic Church spends 50-100x as much money on \"social justice malarkey\" as they do on so-called \"conservative\" or \"culture warrior\" issues.\n\nSo stop with the grandstanding nonsense. When the $$$ spent are spent 50-50, give us loyal Catholics a call.\n\nWe need more God-chosen leaders and Catholics like Carl Anderson.\n\nNot you losers............", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What kind of \"Christianity\" do you propose? The Pat Robertson \"Las Vegas was the result of disrespect for Trump\" kind? No thank you. The Robert Jeffress \"Obama is the Antichrist\" kind? No thank you. Sorry but these \"Christians\" would not make for better and kinder citizens. They are bigots & bullies, pure & simple - just like Trump", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you read my comment, you will see that I said it's not up to us to decide what is \"authentically Catholic.\" There are many people who would accuse NCR authors and commenters of publishing hateful views, and we don't brand them as \"inauthentically Catholic.\" There are many people who believe NCR and its commenters are \"inauthentic Catholics,\" and we routinely decry their arrogance.\nI don't subscribe to the narrow views espoused by the people named in this article, but I can say that without branding them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Opposing prayer in schools doesn't equal racism. It's a point of principle that public education ought to be secular. I don't care whether they're brown Muslims or white snake-handling, tongues-speaking evangelicals - keep that stuff on your own time and in your own place.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very true. Many Christians already believe in a god who thirsts for blood, and will back up their beliefs with ample quotes from the old testament. After all, Jesus ordered his followers to sell their close to buy weapons, if necessary. No need to tell these Christians how god thirsts for blood, as long as the correct rational for the bloodletting is provided.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Senior imams and other Muslim friends routinely show their openness by joining the bishops for Catholic festivals. \"\n\nI am so glad NCR publishes news of Muslims who have bonded with their Christian neighbors. The mainstream media only reports news of Islamic terrorism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a seriously false denigration of the Church and the magisterium to say that \"the Church has no more authority in that area (conscience formation) . . . than a good mother or teacher or gay neighbor or a Jew or a Muslim.\" The magisterium is not a bunch of laymen --- gay or otherwise --- who sit around \"philosophizing\" like men do at a bar or barbershop, or women at a beauty salon. They are trained for years in theology, Scripture, and moral philosophy, and are guided by the Holy Spirit. Because of this, the Church correctly teaches: \"The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the college of bishops in communion with Him.\" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Art. 100).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sure the general public had the exact same mind set of \"no such threat exists\" 10 years prior to the nazi's taking over in Germany. You must realize that Islam is the only religion today that is teaching and carrying out these crimes, not Christians or Hindus or Buddhists or any other. You might google 'Europe's no go zones' and see what you get, it's starting to happen here too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Taqiyya is the Islamic practice of deception. Muslims are permitted to tell falsehoods to infidels, Jews, non-Muslims to defend Islam. Taqiyya is as basic to Islam, as charity is to Christianity. Taqiyya is a moral duty. No other religion has such a thing as Taqiyya. It is anathema to western thought, and so it is hard for non-Muslims to understand that it actually exists and is used regularly against western culture and political stability. \n\nThe worst part is that the police, and liberal media like the Globe, are now giving us the taqiyya voluntarily, doing Islams dirty work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul Ryan is an Ayn Rand acolyte. If there's one thing which Rand had the utmost contempt for, it was altruism. It's survival of the fittest, baby! The only form of \"Christianity\" that can be reconciled to Rand's message is that heresy, the \"prosperity gospel\". Those who are wealthy prove by their very wealth that they are favored by God, and those who are poor must have done something to warrant their poverty.\n\nMedicare and Social Security both would be on perfectly solid ground forever if the government just raised the upper limit on income taxes to pay for it, instead of letting the task fall solely on the shoulders of the middle class. And it would be taxing people who could very well afford it. But we mustn't have that! That would be inconveniencing those who have received God's favor! Altruism is for suckers and lovers of weakness, thus saith the Randians.\n\nMost of Trump's followers didn't vote for this. They're the ones carrying signs saying, Keep government out of my Medicare!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kenneth, and all who followed the recent election, know the unfortunate fact that the stated intent of this executive order is not to ensure that \"refugees who are Christians, Buddhists, and Jews who live in Yemen, Sudan, Somalia et. al. should be vetted as carefully as Muslims.\" At least according to Trump's own words, repeatedly uttered in his bigoted rants against Muslim immigrants and refugees.\n\nKenneth will probably also denounce Sebastian Gorka, Trump's counter-terrorism adviser, former editor for Breitbart News, friend of Stephen Bannon, Hungarian immigrant, and (it turns out) a formal member of the Nazi group, Vit\u00e9zi Rend. Look it up, Trump didn't.\n\nThe National Jewish Democratic Council, is calling on Trump to fire Gorka, \"Donald Trump has repeatedly said that the United States needs to implement 'extreme vetting' in order to determine if we should allow certain immigrants into our country, and yet, it seems like he failed to vet one of his most trusted advisers.\"... Ka-Boom!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When your only idea of how to evangelize is to kick out those you have deemed apostates, you have not only missed the message of Jesus, you have opted for the coward's approach. Yes, let's just keep building walls.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The headline should reflect that these are new residents of Homer\n\nThese people have moved here because Homer, the way it was before they got there, appealed to them \n\nBut now their intent, through threats, and through attempted intimidation, is to force Homer to adapt to their beliefs, \n\nto bend to their will, to serve only their interests\n\nHomer's long time residents should summarily reject these efforts to fundamentally change Homer into a place where threats and intimidation are practiced. \n\nThey should boycott their businesses and shun them in their community for their shameful and purely vindictive attempts to retaliate against public servants who were and are doing their best to represent all Homer residents, not just those who wish to change Homer to reflect only their narrow self-interests and purely partisan beliefs.\n\nThat many of these newcomers claim to be 'Christian' further heightens the hypocrisy in their actions despite their claims of piety.\n\nShame on these newcomers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church is just another 'basket of deplorables'. \n\nAmazing how liberals complain about 'stereotypes' and 'profiling' and 'painting with a broad brush' until one of their candidates gets criticized.\n\nThen, of course, demonization is clearly authorized and encouraged.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Both were legalized under the Liberals. Pierre Trudeau decriminalized Gay Sexual relations and was a Catholic.\n\nPaul Martin was the PM when Same Sex Marriage became legal and he is also Catholic.\n\nIf I am remembering correctly there was a bishop in Alberta that threatened to Ex-communicate both Martin and Chretien (the Ontario Lawsuit that started the legalization was 2003) for not supporting the traditional definition of marriage.\n\nPersonally I don't feel that religion has a place in our laws - when you are an MP/MPP you should have to set aside your beliefs and vote for what it right for all not just what your holy book says.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It really doesn't matter a bit what MSW thinks \"Rome\" (note the false collective) thinks of Trump. \n\nThe pope's power has been shot, sapped. He's stalled. Too many gimmicks and empty gestures. \"Mercy Doors\" while Christians are getting martyred in the middle east, and in civilized France.\n\nVague, un-worked out, rambling \"teachings,\" while Cardinals and at least one Polish bishop protest in public that his teaching contains substantial errors.\n\nIt's over. \n\nThe pope has divided the church, as Obama divided the US. Barack's power has waned, and the popes is on the down glide slope. \n\nWe're effectively in winter. \n\nBad ideas have bad consequences.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There won't be such a progression for Trump.\nTrump has done the math. He knows there are more conservative Christian voters than GLBT voters. That is ALL that matters to Trump. As long as Trump makes all the right noises about \"homosexuals\", and genuflects to the right right-wing causes, he knows he'll never lose his base.\nSo, Trump cancelled the Obama executive order that said federal contractors had to have sexual orientation in their nondiscrimination policies. He'll try to kick transgender people out of the military. He will continue to pursue legal avenues declaring that \"religious freedom\" overrides any and all state and local laws barring discrimination based on sexual orientation. He will have the solicitor general write an amicus brief that the Masterpiece baker has every right to tell gay people, but no other group in Colorado's civil rights laws, to get lost. Thank you, Judge Gorsuch.\nAs long as the Christian right supports Trump, Trump won't care what happens to gay people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And keep in mind the reason for the Crusades , the Muslims were expanding into what is now known as Europe, burning Christian churches and killing Christians. Kind of think that's an important fact everyone should realize.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More likely than not---the sign is for all the 'hot under the clerical collar' cardinals, arch/bishops, and priests---who have been gathering in little corners to complain about being expected to \"smell like the sheep\" [and all the other reminders to \n\nOf course, had these 'whiners' lived back in Christ's time---they would have had the pope crucified---just like they did with the other Guy who said the same thing.\n\n\nThe complainers have been used to living like nobility---rather than like humble disciples of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the situation had been reversed - a Muslim shooting up a Christian congregation - Trudeau wouldn't just be looking for \"root causes\", he would probably buy the guy a parka as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is one of the differences between D\u2019s And R\u2019s. R\u2019s celebrate sexual assault with their orange messiah. D\u2019s cast aside the sexual predators. Very Christian, the sexual assault that is", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah yes, spoken like a true Taliban type Christian. When someone calls you out on your hate you respond by passing judgement on them and pronouncing their fate. When did God surrender his wisdom to you become judge and jury? Your type of Christianity disgusts me. You're staining God's reputation with that hateful attitude that someday YOU will have to answer for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Africans themselves - Islamic ( Arab ) slave raiders - were the most prevalent contributors to the trade. The loosers in inter-tribal wars being sold off into servitude. The West ( Christians, British and American slavers ) did their bit too. But even prior to western contributors Africa was not a benevolent environment, climatic or tribal. More recently the population increases have been such as to negate any progress in the civilian environment, religious fundamentalism limiting any progress in birth management.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Venezuelans are starving, Christians are being murdered in the Middle East, and Francis - ever the compassionate sheep smeller - puts two light stepping Jesuit priests on the hunt of conservative US Catholics.\n\nAll fits.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When certain secondary aspect of the Catholic Faith are obviously in honest dispute among Catholics (among hierarchs and among the laity), and when a few cardinals (and not a few laity) choose to pretend that there is no honest dispute, but merely the obvious truth and obvious heresy. That's when. \n\nIf it is true the Burke was the one who presumed to tell the Knights that this firing was the will of the pope when it was not, \n\nand if it is true that the root issue here is the Knights being associated with NGOs that were distributing condoms to sex slaves, as has been reported, \n\nand if it true that Burke was behind the insane notion that it is immoral in any conceivable way to provide condoms to women who are repeatedly being raped, then,,,,,\n\nThat Yahweh objects to sex slaves using contraceptives is a notion that no one who has ever strived to enter into the mind and heart of the Jesus of the Gospels could possible entertain. Surely we agree on this, Tridentinus?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "James Dobson has signed on to the Trump campaign, calling him a \"baby Christian.\"\n\nStep up and take a number. Can Prevo be far behind?\n\nNo refugees, build a wall, killing the families of suspected terrorists. What could be more Christian than that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Possibly. I'll not judge where you are, spiritually, and would ask the same of you. I don't see this as a spiritual argument, but an intellectual one based on the long history of Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. Liturgy is not a matter of spirituality, however, but practice. Children and the ignorant are called to participate as are adults. Liturgy should nourish our life of grace and our spirituality, but it is directed to the Creator, not creation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\n\nThe notion that religious liberty for Christians is under threat in the US is preposterous. Those making this claim confuse religious liberty with religious privilege: the Catholic bishops endeavor to insinuate Catholic theology into public policy then cry foul when the secular rule of law is defended. And if the bishops were so conscientious about religious tolerance they could have opted not to support a bigot for president.\n\nSeriously, give me a break with these guys.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"NcR has refused to drop the word \"Catholic\" from their title, despite their Bishop demanding they do so. \"\n\nWould that be Bishop Finn who was convicted of covering up for an abusive priest and who resign in disgrace? We need more newspapers like NCR. It does more good for the Catholic Church than any other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's a disparity here, and some people are fine with it.\nIf a business wants to discriminate against gay people based on the business owner(s)' religious conscience, certain people seem all fine and dandy with that.\nBut!\nIf a gay business owner were to discriminate against conservative Christians, those same people would be up in arms. Persecution! they'd cry.\nThere's a power imbalance.\n\nAnd to all those people who think businesses ought to be able to sell or refuse to sell to whomever they please, I say put your money where your mouth is: Work to repeal all civil rights laws. Otherwise, you just want businesses to have the right to discriminate against gay people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Denounce Islamophobia, what are Liberal MPs Khalid, Joly and other Liberals talking about? A phobia is an irrational fear of something. How can one denounce an irrational fear? It needs to be treated or the reason for the fear removed .\n\nMaybe the Trudeau federal Liberals should denounce something else.\n\nHere is a verse from the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam . Qur'an (9:30) - \"And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!\u201d\n\nThere are about 100 verses in the Qur'an that call for the destruction of Jews, Christians and non believers.\n\nMaybe MP Khalid and the Trudeau federal Liberals should denounce those verses in the Qur'an.\n\nAnd maybe, if Muslims would stop attacking, maiming and killing many innocent civilians in many countries around the world, non Muslims wouldn't fear Islam.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump said he'd like to allow only Christians in. To think he's not targeting the whole Muslim religion is naive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus is clearly calling for us to love perfectly rather than behaving perfectly. Not sinning is simply self preservation. We are called to more than that. As hard as it sounds, we are not allowed to hate the Alt Right just as they are not allowed to hate gay marrieds or couples who do not conform to traditional marriage customs. As Christ calls us to love perfectly (especially the poor), we cannot be a Christian nation without accepting those we disapprove of. Hating gangsta teens who feel empowered by anti-cop rap video is not allowed, nor is hating the cops who abuse them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Social conservatives led by a born again Christian - a frightening combination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill - thank you but would have actually inserted the best of joint agreements. But your point is well made. You can see the same *ignorant* stance among some NCR catholic commenters - they don't know their theology, mis-use scripture, and rely upon a grade school rote playback of the catechism.\nSuggest - http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/ecumenical-and-interreligious/ecumenical/lutheran/upload/Declaration_on_the_Way-for-Website.pdf \n\nStarting point:\nCatholics and Lutherans should always begin from the perspective of unity and not from the point of view of division in order to strengthen what is held in common even though the differences are more easily seen and experienced. (post does the opposite)\n\nJoint Declaration\n Doctrine of Justification - Here Catholics and Lutherans demonstrated how, through sustained theological dialogues and prayer, a major doctrine once deemed to be church-dividing can\nbecome a teaching in which we find our unity through reconciled diversity", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The thing is, the white supremacists are neither true nazis or fascists. We ALL need to quit bantering about these words indiscriminately. Fascism is a form of government, and nazi refers to a member of the Nazi Party, which, in Germany supported the fascist government. In Political Science, we learned that fascism is at the far right of the political spectrum, and is characterized by intolerance of others, especially those who are different, and by extreme nationalism. The 2 world wars were fought over three, different governmental ideologies: Fascism, Communism and Capitalism. While there is none of the 3 governments that is pure (Each has some characteristics of the others.), people adhered to them so religiously that they felt it appropriate to go to war to defend them. We have some aspects of fascism and socialism in our own government. The people who call themselves Nazis, KKK members and white supremacists overwhelmingly profess to be republican and Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suppose if one can blow off Matthew 19: 3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, \u201cIs it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?\u201d 4 \u201cHaven\u2019t you read,\u201d he replied, \u201cthat at the beginning the Creator \u2018made them male and female,\u2019 5 and said, \u2018For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh\u2019? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.\u201d, there is no limit to what \u201cmost faithful Catholics would find it ludicrous.\u201d\n\nThe teaching that divorced and remarried couples in every case are committing adultery by engaging in loving sexual relations has been accepted by the folks going to Confession and availing themselves of the marriage tribunals. If that does not include you, that\u2019s between and your Creator. I would not expect the Church to give you an endorsement to suit your particular whims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can the lying, smiling, christian crusader, Mike Pence talk through two sides of his mouth at the same time? Easy, he has god on his side. I know he wasn't smiling yesterday, but he normally puts on a good face. lol", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religion is incompatible with democracy.\nIslam, Judaism, Christianity - equally - have no place in the boardrooms of the nation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe Mary was bodily assumed into heaven because Jesus wanted to keep the Church from pawing at her bones?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Active homosexuals must repent for the salvation of their souls, and remain celibate. The priests and bishops facilitating this movement are not saving souls but condemning them (and themselves) to a sorry fate. It is not affirmation these poor souls need, but the truth, God's truth. The Catholic Church has been infiltrated by dark forces indeed. We must pray for forgiveness and salvation from this evil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can't see how the 'Christians' that Donald Trump is picking for his team can ever remove the quotation marks from what they claim to be. After all, Jesus associated with prostitutes and tax collectors (traitors in His day), told His followers not to judge sinners harshly, advocated that His followers give away their worldly goods to the poor, told them to stay out of government and argued that religious rules could be bent to help people. If Jesus appeared today, most of Trump's 'Christians' would be leading the campaign to have him executed as un-American.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only people \"they came\" for - and that little anecdote about someone breaking down the door of Christian refuges doesn't smell right - are people who came here as a result of breaking the law. A more appropriate poem would be:\n\nFirst they came for the murderers, and I was not a murderer.\nThen they came for the rapists, and I was not a rapist.\nThen they came for the armed robbers, and I was not an armed robber.\n* * * * *\nAnd when all the criminals were kept safely away from the law abiders, they had to start all over again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What about christians sending drones to kill extra-judicially, with various collateral damage?\n\nOr how about Sammy Yatim and others like him?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's the thing...progressives are not talking about a New Church in your terms. What we are talking about is the world-wide, ecumenical, doctrinal and pastoral Second Vatican Council which as Catholics we are obliged to accept. Popes JPII and B XVI spent thirty-five years back-peddling as fast as they could to bring back the pre-Vatican II church. I could spend a ton of time quoting from Council documents to point out what direction the Church is obliged to take (it's called FORWARD) (sadly, so few Catholics have actually read and understood those documents)...no \"new doctrine\", no rejection of core Catholic beliefs, but there's a nasty underpinning which has nearly mortally wounded us as Church that allows some Catholics to reject these Church teachings they don't like AND struggle mightily to reclaim 1953. NO,NO and NO. If there's is a schism in our future, I am certain it will come from those who reject Vatican II and despise Pope Francis- us Vatican II folks are going nowhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Considering Nanos hasn't got a poll right in a long long time and that the Globe and Mail is on an anti-Trump campaign i'm going to suggest this is one of the dumbest ideas I've heard of or seen in print for years.\n\nYeah lets bite the hand that feeds us all for some theological ideas. Brilliant! \n\nGet this through your heads people. There is no god whether it be Christian or Muslim and the last thing I will ever do is stand up for the rights of people who believe in that foolishness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Can Catholic theologians, bishops, the CDF, and popes change their minds?\"\n\nThere is a reason why a mind-set is called a mind-set. And an institutional mind-set tends to be self-perpetuating. The resignation of Marie Collins (and the hierarchy's pathetic response) demonstrates how powerful the institutional Church's self-perpetuating mind-set is.\n\nIt may be that the Spirit works more through individuals then through institutions. Perhaps a Sister inoculating a child in Africa accomplishes more for the Spirit in a few minutes than the Curia accomplishes in a few days, or a few decades, or a few centuries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A priest forever is the term. If they can say Mass at home then their power to solemnize marriage is intact.\n\nOctober 13 will be just another day. Trump is not the Great Monarch of Christ and he is too stupid to be anti-Christ. Most end times prophesy is about the present when it was written, not the future. Conservatives are funny. They can control the economy and government and much of the Church hierarchy and still feel persecuted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pence is an ultra-right wing, arch conservative, fundamentalist Christian. However, he's not, as you say, Donald Trump. I don't feel Pence would be a threat to our country. I too would disagree with many of his positions....but, that's what the political process is for......Trump is a whole different 'ball game'.....IMO, (and I've said it many times) intellectually, emotionally and morally unfit to be President of the United States and is a genuine threat to the well being of our country. Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Why should anyone bow to the progressive's demand that no one have any privacy?\"\nWhy should anyone bow to the conservative Catholics' demand to protect pedophiles, pedophile priests, the Pontifical Secret, and enabling Bishops and Cardinals?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MoiLee,\n\n>\"Liberal lunacy ,along with the help of the Fake News media or the MSM are destroying the very fabric this country was founded on. \"<<\nThat is EXACTLY what they are trying to do!!! BUT, I think the Liberals are just being used as puppets, by their Puppet Masters, like George Soros, and his foundation, and others like him!!\nTHEY are the REAL ENEMIES of this country, and they are using things like this to play on the emotions of the Left , so they have become like \"useful idiots\" Once their goal is accomplished, they will have no need for, and discard their leftist puppets!!\nThe real America haters know they must destroy the foundations that this country was founded on, and what made us the Most Powerful Nation on the Earth! \nYES, we certainly DID make some mistakes along the way, and I do NOT claim perfection, by ANY means! BUT, our BIGGEST mistake was when we turned our backs on GOD, and the CHRISTIAN foundings of this country, and everything progressed downhill from there!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Celibacy for priests? No female priests? No contraception of any kind? No end of life assistance or information except to suffer as much pain as possible to the better end? As a teacher, all of these are infallible as to Pope's demand for absolute obedience of all catholics. Your denial of the infallibility of the Pope in the eyes of the church is just the usual attempt to spin lies to support the worst aspects of religion. You just committed a mortal sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can Christianity be important to being an American? There is no religious test for naturalization. Anyone who is born here or who is naturalized is an American. The only way to guarantee religious freedom is to have no preference for any religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump's actions towards immigrants and particularly refugees are disgraceful. So-called Christian evangelical hypocrites that turned a blind eye on his disgusting behaviour towards everyone imaginable are gleefully smacking their lips. In the end, America will become more hated than it already is now. Canada has shown the world how to treat refugees. We have a long history of humanitarian support for people who are disenfranchised. Vietnamese boat people who came to Canada have made Canada their home and have risen up to support this great country. American conscientious objectors who came to Canada have contributed greatly to Canada. Every waking hour, there are millions of Canadians old and new like myself who silently pray and thank God for being Canadians. Thank God I don't live in the United States soon, \"The Land of the Flee\". (poetic licence)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When Obama was in office, only 30% of white evangelicals would forgive a president's immoral behavior. \n\nNow it's 72%. \n\nhttps://t.co/c6FlHbziMi", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here we go again - the rant about the Crusades, which were the Catholics, when people use this argument they simply showcase their ignorance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right wing Catholics and Evangelicals voted on 2 issues and only 2 issues: abortion and gay marriage. All else was ignored to make that \"moral\" choice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Classic attempt at projection: attribute your own attitudes to others. If you truly want to boil down all the good works that people of faith have done to the success of this ridiculous initiative you are the sick one. People feeling that the initiative is bad does not translate into an overall attitude about Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's not it at all. Generalizing a bunch of negatives and tying them in that bow is decidedly racist. \n\nSame as if I did the same in return with generalizations we all know about Indians or blacks or liberals or democrats or atheists etc...\n\nYou can play the tired game of calling hypocrisy reverse racism (when it is just racism plain and simple) or say that minorities are incapable of racism, or that labeling things with white or Christian is de rigueur, but then what would that make you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...for whatever dark reason...\"\n\nHave you considered the reason may be, partly what the Quranic movement promotes? Have you read the Quran, the book promoted in mosques? There are many distasteful tones and messages. For example, here's one explicitly asserting that Muslims avoid befriending Jews and Christians:\n\nQuran 5:51\nO you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you - then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people.\n\nIslam is not just another 'great' religion, it is not a benign movement vis-a-vis a judeo-Christian SECULAR culture. \n\nif a Muslim quotes the (in)famous 'no-compulsion' verse (2:256) please note that it is followed by 2:257 - where we're told non-Muslims will burn in hell. \n\nThis in no way condones the murders, I'm just suggesting that people be aware of what values the Quranic movement is promoting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rapeing ancient cultures the hobby of the corporate Christian lobby.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just another reason why I don't take bishops seriously. Not that I ever really did.\n\nLike the Church and its protection of rapist priests, this bishop advocates breaking the law for the sake of the church's shallow interests (here, protecting the flock numbers).\n\nChurch first, law second? That's your morality, not mine bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The US Constitution bars any law that interferes with a person's right to exercise religious freedom. Yet, a Christian man is being sued for refusing to make a special-order wedding cake for a gay couple. Makes no sense given that gays are not granted special protection in the US Constitution as gays. Also left unprotected are transgenders who ignore science and common sense to try to justify biological males in female private spaces. A person with male anatomy is not, and can never be, female. God help us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Baloney! \nThey attacked Christians, namely him, by the fake news sycophants and haters. They said he turned people away, and he did because his church was FLOODED with 6 feet of water, which they SHOWED on TV! You can't house people in 6 feet of water! Yet they attacked him anyway. He told them they are draining the water and as soon as it is pumped out it will be open again. He also gave them alternative places to go to until they finish the job. \n\nStick to what you know....whatever the hell that is! \nWhy is Hawaii so full of people like you guys anyway? SAD!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As usual YOU missed the point here! WE are discussing the concepts of this article---not some idea that YOU have in YOUR mind about the general direction of NCR's contributing writers. \n\nIf any group has had its mind below people's belts, it's the hierarchy/clergy of the Catholic church. Bishops and priests under their direction still preach to people how they are to vote [only for candidates who are against abortion]. A colleague of mine, in the Cleveland area, told me that during Christmas week, he went to daily Mass and heard the priest preaching against abortion and homosexuality. As a number of other people did, my colleague got up and left during the homily.\n\nIf NCR reports anything about abortion, homosexuality, etc. , it is BECAUSE for the USCCB, sexuality seems to be the only issue that they are concerned about. Forget global warming. Forget about affordable, universal health care. Forget about the proposed deportation of DACA kids or their parents. Nothing but SEX!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I told you last week that HV used circular reasoning: What we are telling you comes from natural law, and we know what natural law is because we are the ones to say what it is. Their only source for their natural law argument is themselves.\n\nNow I am giving you a completely accurate description of the way the celibates who developed Catholic sexual morality reached their conclusions. They felt that sex had to be \"justifed\" by saying it was for procreation, because -- and I can quote all sorts of Church fathers on the topic -- sex was nasty and taking pleasure in sex was wrong.\n\nTo sum up: They start with a bad premise, and use bad reasoning in their argument. No one should take such statements seriously.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Protestant Evangelicals even more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The key point is that the GOP has elected an idiot\u2014they broke it and they own it. And it\u2019s not the first time that voters were told lies to get their votes by this crew...maybe the stretching of truth is part of politics but the minority party has had to create bizzare amalgamation to get enough votes to win born again Christian Nazis..and of course voter suppression and others tactics are all part of what they are abouttoo. Now they vote for a budget during a period of growth that will raise the deficit for the coming year to at least 1.5 trillion dollars. The lack of responsibility is grotesque! Morals? Who cares...we want to give tax breaks to the 1%. Policy, infrastructure spending, who cares about that boring stuff, we want to allow our peeps to become corporations and deduct everything while lower their tax rates to half the current rate. Oh yeah, we only want to tax wage slaves, so no taxes on estates over 5 million, no, keep your blood money for the kids.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These day's I'd be wary of any of them, all subject to God's law to protect his children and failing to do so. \nBut how about a dithering cowardly bishop who laid the blame of abusive clergy in his diocese at the foot of the grave of his archbishop!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Harper's only purpose in any of the \"apologies\" that he made was to a) make the Liberals look bad, b) make it seem like he meant the apology for real. In fact, Harper issued an \"apology\" to First Nations but did nothing for them but to cancel Kelowna which had been negotiated between the feds and First Nations and to lay financial disclosure requierements on them - no new schols, no improvements to water supplies, nothing. Harper's involvement with the Northern Foundation is a better indication of his attitude towards anybody who is not white and Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "this guy trot probably goes to church every sunday with a bible in his hands preaching the gospel of the lord loudly and clearly, 'love thy neighbour', but inaudible to everyone except himself, under his breath adds 'except if he is gay'. the dark ages which of course no one really knows anything about let alone me still seemed like a time of greater tolerance than that as practiced by some people of the trot variety today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow Icon you are one sick puppy! Killing another human isn't a privacy issue and opposing it isn't something just limited to Christians. Every decent human being with a moral compass opposes terminating the life of another for the sake of convenience. Take a close look at which direction abortion laws have been going over the last 20 years and prepare yourself for the day that killing your own child will no longer be an option.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Technically, there are other inferences to a HIGHER POWERS. But only four times is there any reference at all \u2014 \u201cLaws of Nature and of NATURE'S God,\u201d \u201cSupreme Judge of the world,\u201d \u201ctheir Creator,\u201d and \u201cdivine Providence\u201d \u2014 and in all four cases the references to a higher power appeal to the idea of human dignity, never implying a role for a god in government. \n\nThere are NUMEROUS references to what they also believed and put forth: FREEDOM to choose, NOT ONE RELIGION. \n\nThomas Jefferson, \"Christian establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all of which facilitate the execution of mischievous projects.\" \n\n George Washington, \"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution.\"\n\nOur constitution was written to give FREEDOM, not Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Il Duce Trump has just brought, front and center, the festering boil of hatred plaguing the nation since its founding. Il Duce Trump has made racism, anti-immigration, anti-poor, anti-union, anti-government, etc. acceptable in the public discourse. The Corporate Media aids and abets this neo-fascist daily as a profit vehicle for their Corporate Masters. The cockroaches no longer have to hide in the dark shadows. They believe the time is right to foment the White Supremacist revolution to return to the glory days of Old South Fundamentalist Christianity replacing human rights. If your friends vote for Il Duce Trump, they are no longer your friends, but colluding traitors to the very foundations of the nation and human rights for all. Sinclair Lewis warned during a previous crisis of national character, the Great Depression, it could happen here. It is happening.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is the Catholic Church obcessed with sex?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are also extremely anti-Catholic, so it is quite amusing to see them defended by our rank and file right wing Catholic wing nuts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd settle for a simple list. Donald Trump is evidence that more and more, a \"clear thinking Bible-believing Christian\" is an oxymoron. \nThese alt-right people are so clownish. They use words like 'horrific' and hint obliquely at what they're talking about (you wonder if even they really know) and, not surprisingly, give no details or specifics. When pushed they will bring up the horrors of Benghazi and her horrific emails. I doubt they actually care or know much about either. Mostly it's an exercise in regurgitating something they read on facebook or some silly alt-right website to justify the fact that they hate the idea of a woman being president.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The ACLU said in its filing that those being deported could face persecution or torture because many were Chaldean Catholics or Iraqi Kurds and that both groups were recognized as targets of ill-treatment in Iraq.\"\nThe words \u201cGive me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free\u201d ring pretty hollow I'm afraid.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If conservative catholics think this bill is in line with what Jesus would prefer,\nThey are deplorable AND delusional.\nKeep thinking that republicans have your best interest at heart.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Men who show signs of being particularly pushed around by their senses (sensuality, broadly considered, but certainly including sexuality) or by their emotions, ones lacking sturdiness of character, ones with fragile bearing, excitable types.\n\nA well lived priesthood is very demanding, requiring \"white martyrdom\" hourly, and sometimes red martyrdom. \n\nIn the words of St Paul and in the final words of the Mass today priests should always be \"carrying on in them the dying of Christ\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If articles like this are to become the face of NCR, I must wonder what's next. And if this kind of thinking is representative of what it means to be Catholic, perhaps it's time to repeal the \"catholicism\" of so many on SCOTUS, in Congress, and all through the halls of our government.\n\nI'm disappointed in Trump, so far. But I'm much more disappointed in the press, and the frenzy that it's creating in what it chooses to report, and what it does not. Give the man a chance, and vote him out when his term is up if you're not happy with him. That's the way it works. \n\nWhat we're seeing happen here is wrong, whether one likes or dislikes Trump. We can and SHOULD be better than this.\n\nNCR, shame on you for publishing this kind of stuff.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is because of pro-lifers like you and Pandora that has diminished the right of women to prevent the state from \" breaking\" into women's bodies in the third trimester, albeit for fewer of them. Those are the ones who may need emergency abortions which if delayed for time taken to decide if they are justified could be too late to save those women's lives. You decried that politics are involved in this sort of thing. Women's lives and health care have become a political football that power seeking pro-life people like you have pursued mercilessly. After re-reading your responses to my comments I realized that you have insulted and belittled me with your arrogant, patronizing verbiage. Your lack of respect towards women and insensitivity to their needs knows no bounds.I am just wondering if you have a wife or girlfriend, how you relate to them. Do you have children? have you ever been present when your wife gave birth? You could not be a real Christian or even a normal human.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sounds like a river in Egypt to me. \n\nThousands of youth are groomed every day by adults of all gender persuasions. \n\nCatholic priests most often seem to prefer male children; school teachers seem to be more of the heterosexual bent.\n\nBoy Scout leaders go where there are young males.\n\nI would be astounded to find that a Gay Men's Chorus was celibate!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Diocesan seminaries here in NY have gone rogue. Their graduates wear birettas, cassocks, lacy surplices, fancier and fancier vestments. Clearly they are trying to set themselves apart from their congregations a la the old Latin Mass Era of the 50s. Vatican II lasted only a few years and the reign of JP II was decades. Yet the conservative clergy seem to blame everything on Vatican II. If they think their new behavior will bring people either to the Church or back to the Church, they are sadly mistaken. \nI have spoken to many of them and I think their academic education is very lacking. If they are the best and the brightest, I despair for our future. It is the Bishops' control of the seminaries that scare me most. I think the average Catholic doesn't know or care very much what they say. I bet if you ask the average Catholic what the letters USCCB mean, they would have no idea. The people, who LOVE Pope Francis, have no idea many in the hierarchy and clergy hold him in low esteem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The cowardice and hypocrisy are on your side my friend. You say you believe Jesus would never allow us to fight a war of self-defense, yet you would have the country be armed with deadly weapons. You don;t have the courage of your convictions. Small wonder. Your convictions are highly suspect even to you. Did Jesus ever counsel us to wage war in self-defense? No. But when the right to do that is so plain, and when Scripture itself approves it, Jesus silence should be taken as a ratification of Scripture, rather than a repudiation of it. Then there is the business of Jesus telling his Apostles to buy swords, and Paul's telling us in Romans that the State has the right to wield the sword (an interpretation of Paul with which Aquinas agrees). As for turning the other cheek: Do you not see a distinction between a man slapping you in the face as an insult and a man coming at you with a hatchet? You read that passage in Matthew unintelligently because you see no difference.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The church makes a distinction between mortal sin and venial sin. His sacrifice was for the remission and forgiveness of sins, always when Christ forgives he also mentions to sin no more. \n\nIn the ancient Church hardly any of the laity received communion because people were aware of their own sins, in fact we had a classification amongst laity. This is no medieval invention read the didascalia written as a catechism back when the Church assembled in houses. They were not allowed to partake in the Eucharist and had to stand separated from the rest of the congregation. \n\nBeing in a state of grave sin negates the whole purpose of communion. Why do we take communion? In order to be deified(theosis) to partake in Christ's divine nature and resurrect. How can come into communion if we are attached to our worldly sins? Through confession we come into a state of grace, where we can be receptive to the gift of divine flesh and blood so we can become Christ-like.\n\nPick up your cross and follow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The hypocrisy of leaning on Christianity as a crutch that dignifies and attempts legitimacy is front and center, in the past, present, and future. So much to look forward too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"But what I'm really going to do is point to sensible analysis that shows that both sex-abuse and paedophilia are NOT uniquely homosexual problems ...\"\n\nI never said they were, nor believe them to be. I only point out that homosexual practices drove the Catholic priesthood sex abuse crisis. I said that because all empirical data lead so strongly to that end that it can be denied. As to what Ken says, I have no idea, but if he's honest he'll agree. And you need to stop citing purveyors of fake news to make your points. I don't read Huffington. Read Randy Engle.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I await the day some left wing politician dares to even raise the issue of teaching and preaching gay rights in Islamic schools! A Christian school which is uncomfortable with homosexuality will be blasted mercilessly, but an Islamic school? Ha! The NDP would fall all over itself making apologies and excuses and talking about the need for 'cultural understanding'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think RCIC (Roman Catholic Institutional Church) is already too big for mere men to serve instead lord over the people and it's corruptions.\nInstead perhaps open the door to anyone who wish to experience the worship services and it's teachings. \nIn human family, if ten children lives, there will be ten different relationships flourish between parent and children. \nI shutter at the thought if RCIC gets any bigger, what Vatican will try to force on people!!!!!!! \nThey probably force scheduled open clergy sex abuse of children sessions!\nThe way it is Vatican should be closed for it's open unethical practices and their corruptions!!!!!\nGod have mercy on us!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for sharing your story. There are many of us and though our individual stories and responses differ, put together they form a mosaic of lies and deceit, injury and pain, death and destruction, all in Jesus name. Amen. And we receive ridicule and taunts from way too many, who seek to minimize what we have gone through, from popes, bishops, priests, down to hate filled laity like we have posting here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't necessarily mean to suggest that the bishops have not talked about abortion the past 25 years.\n\nI am saying that the bishops do not talk as tough about abortion as they do about Catholic social teaching. Aside from a few minority bishops--what bishops have called out the \"Catholic\" politicians who support abortion? What bishops have held them accountable? No--it is all about \"pastoral sensitivity\" when it comes to that.\n\nWhere is the \"pastoral sensitivity\" now? They are hypocrites. They talk tough when talking tough is politically popular. It is easy to call out the president in a mob of people who are supporting you. That isn't courage. How about calling out the politicians who support abortion with the exact same toughness---when the mob surrounding you is hostile to such talk and threatening to take away your tax exemption. That is courage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Archbishops would have been well schooled on what to say during to the Commission by the Public Relations experts and lawyers hired at great expense by the church (actually by our weekly sacrificial giving money).\n\nI stopped giving any money whatsoever to the church when I first came across the appalling treatment of survivors and the money spent on lawyers to defend the despicable paedophile priests who eventually were prosecuted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know of any Evangelicals who approve of Trump's character. They voted for who they saw as the lesser of two evils. As for the rest of your argument, it boils down to, \"I think Evangelicals should be Democrats because I don't see why they shouldn't.\" Obviously, most Evangelicals disagree with that, and I think they are smart enough to figure out whose policies line up with their beliefs. I'm not going to argue with you on this, because your mind is made up, and so is mine, so we will be wasting each other's time if we go down that road.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish to retract the comment wherein I praised this person for his spiritual wisdom when writing about polarization in the church. \n This is dumb, brainwashed hype. The NCR has \"deplorables\" on it staff, and religious are included-Fr. Reese. \n It is a blessing in disguise that Trump got elected-first, because it allows one to see what the so-called \"common man\" is like, and also because it gives the dross a chance to surface in the Church, to the end that one is no longer deceived by the illusion of religiosity projected by some. \n It is a time of sifting. If we learn the lesson from having elected him, it will be for the best. As it is, to find the illusions stripped from the self-righteous Christians that rule in the Church and in the world is wisdom worth many times its proverbial weight in gold. \n Books are being written today about the decay and collapse of organised religion, particularly Christianity and how this too, is a blessing in disguise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church could easily create an online pedophile registry.\nDespite promises of transparency, almost all diocese' refuse to release of names or files, not wanting victims to come forward. \n\nWhen the arrest of an archbishop nuncio was eminent. Francis chose to protect Wesolowski by covertly sneaking him back to Vatican City to avoid the scandal and publicity of his arrest for sick child crimes in the Dominican Republic. Francis, did not follow procedures. After arrest, comes extradition, to bring back his offender to the Vatican. \n\nFrancis, showing his care for child safety, said Wesolowski was under arrest in the Vatican, until he was spotted \"alone, strolling around Rome\" free to prey on children. Then the pope said he was under \"house arrest\" . Under these constraints he filed his laptop with child porn.\n\nFrancis and this organization continue to operate using the same sneaky, self protective and secretive actions that got them into this mess in the first place.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You failed to mention how old you are so I can only speak of my childhood in the 1969 -1982 range. You espouse the the exact values to me why this country is headed down the drain. You are stating if your 13 yo daughter was indicating to you she was sexually active, your answer would be to put her on the pill so she does not need to get an abortion? What if your daughter also stated she was involved with shooting heroin with her friends, would your advice be to provide clean needles and a safe place with naloxone readily available to shoot up so she does not contract AIDS or overdose? How about being a parent, and not a friend to your child? I went to Catholic School from 1st to 8th grade. I went to a public High School, with 1000 students in my class. I did not know one pregnant girl .\n I now see why you have such a distorted view on how sexual morality has greatly changed over the past 40 years.\nI'm simply wasting my time with you on this subject. Good day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What about the Elephant in the room, nobody gives much thought about the larger threat here in the USA, radical Christian terrorism. Usually mentally ill angry white men, they have access to weapons but not mental health care.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The RC church is not A business, it is in fact several businesses operating under the umbrella of a BIG business controlled from the Vatican! And that's precisely WHY so many JP II/B XVI priests want to go there to \"work.\" Sweet deal for them, when they get promoted high enough, even God's rules mean squat, or less!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"She ate 2 raw eggs a day, some raw beef and occasional bananas or grapes. She had an unhappy marriage with no kids...\"\n>\nHa. Ha. Take that post-Christian vegans!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am convinced political correctness is a mental illness that is void of intelligence, cognitive reasoning, logic, and common sense. They remind me much of Pentecostal Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Michael, why you read Z and not more Catholic lefties like me is also disturbing. I never seek this particular blogger out. Priests should have better things to do than be Catholic Trolls.\n\nTrump seems to have no inner life, which explains remarks such as these.\n\nI never read Erick any more than I read Z, but he may have ulterior motives in predicting a GOP blood bath. Expect this to be a call to arms to right wing and pro-life fundraisers.\n\nLiberals live in several bubbles. There is the Sanders/DSA/Green bubble, the neo-liberal bubble, a very small Christian left bubble and separate Catholic left bubble (which may interact with the socialists),the femiist bubble, the union bubble, the African America church bubble and the Latino bubble. None of us look at Fr. Z.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When Trump boasted about his perverted sexual predations, the right fell all over themselves to excuse it and attempt to normalize it as 'just how the boys do'.\n\nEven the self-proclaimed and self-styled 'righteous' evangelical extremists decided they'd just go ahead and accept Trump and hold him close, never mind their Christian hearts might go all aflutter.\n\nUsed to be, for those self same evangelicals, even one divorce would summarily disqualify a candidate, but today, with Trump, they don't care if he runs through wives like some people do the number of new cars they might buy. And the boasting and admitted perverted sexual predation? LIke Trump didn't boast and admit his crime.\n\nSexual perverts should pay for their crimes. Period. As one, as a society we should condemn them and not allow them to escape punishment.\n\nBut, if you're a right winger, you only act like you're outraged if it's not a right winger caught in their perversions.\n\nNo better example of the right's hypocrisy", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Neither slavery nor WWII would have ended without intervention, but that doesn't mean it didn't involve soul searching on all sides. Whites and Blacks working together passed Civil Rights legislation. I described a lady who was like a second mother to me; she raised my siblings and me right alongside her own. Sorry her appearance doesn't meet your Beyonce-style standard. I will take radiant and pure and humble and non-assuming beauty over the disgusting icons of debauchery in \"the community\" today. Maybe the Mills Brothers don't meet your foul-mouth violent rapper standards, either. Our families did a lot together, just like good friends should. You must see everything through a prism of race. I do pity you. There is a whole world of freedom and love and peace for those of us who no longer rehash the evils of nearly two centuries ago. God didn't want anyone to be slaves, Christians were the driving force in emancipating them. Slavery is alive and well in the Middle East.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What does the Bible say about violence? According to recent studies, it is more of a violent text than the Quran. But I guess your hypocrisy blinds you to that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope the 13 year old child he raped has the courage and support AND cHRISTIAN LOVE to come forward and testify against this anti-Christian sicko. God help his supporters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This \"social gospel\" is a false gospel. Women's discrimination? How about discrimination against Jesus Christ, the Word of God? \n\nThose who say that the Bible has nothing to say in favor of male headship are clearly ignorant of Paul's teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What if one man had shown up asking for a wedding cake for John and Kim, what is the problem? \nMaybe Kim is a man, maybe Kim is a woman. The baker would not know if he was not told. Would the baker refuse to make the cake because maybe Kim is a man? What does it matter? \n\nWhat if a very effeminate man pranced in and asked for a wedding cake. What if the baker refuses and the man is straight?\n\nThis baker is a terrible Christian, a terrible man and from the looks of his dirty shop, goatee and no hair net, he makes hairy cakes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dramatic, so says so many Church Ladies...you must mean like a certain former, Reality TV show host or perhaps like watching so many Christian Evangelical TV Preachers playing to the crowd & cameras like an old fashioned Elmer Gantry. \n\nYep, got to hand it to Trump & Moore, they have studied from some of the best con artists this country has ever produced.\n\nOr maybe you mean the kind of \"drama\" that purportedly unfolded as Jesus was in his day, trying to cleanse the \"den of thieves\" aka, the Jewish Swamp of his day by expelling the merchants and money changers from the Temple. \n\n\"Lucifer\" Trump always steals a great message and then turns it around 180 degrees. \n\n\u201cBoth prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness,\u201d declares the LORD. Jeremiah 23:11 \n\nPeace and Light !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"\"Makes no sense.\"\nNeither does your argument on this point. Where is it you find people in the congregation facing in various directions? That's what is a ridiculous argument. I have been in many churches/chapels that also have the pews arranged in wings to each side of the altar (but not behind) so that the focus is kept on the liturgical action on the altar and not a compass point. SC was very clear about that. You seem to ignore the full content and meaning of SC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another papist preferring religious dictators over Constitutional Republic freedom. A column filled with blind devotion to anti-human, anti-Constitutional, anti-freedom religious dogma. intelligent analysis of the performance of Roman Catholic judges and legislators is falsely portrayed as somehow demeaning to all of the church and its followers. Since much of Roman Catholic dogma is anti-human rights, the truth just hurts too much. Claiming to be a democrat in the past is just one more example of the new Trump Truthers more than willing to lie through their teeth in any forum to support Il Duce.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Catholic asked to support seminary formation with donations I am insulted and disgusted by those men who enter with the clear intention of seeking sexual partners. Don't say this doesn't happen because I personally, as well as through public reports, have become aware of all to many personal accounts from their targets. If those who seek seminary life and priesthood don't want to hear criticism involving sexual misconduct, they know exactly what not to do. So just don't do it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thankyou for this thoughtful article by Anne Barrett Doyle. Anne knows the truth of what the popes and bishops have been covering up for too many years. Anne Barrett Doyle and Terry McKiernan have developed a website where one can get more information on bishop accountability and what is really happening in regard to clergy sexual abuse. What I find sad is that Catholic judges, lawyers, politicians, police and parents are being complicit with the Church leaders in covering up for the sexual predator clergy. As a Catholic myself, I understand the deference that Catholics have for clergy and the disbelief that a priest would rape a child and have no conscience about it. The truth is children and vulnerable adults are still being sexually abused by some clergy who are predators and who are still able to use the priesthood as a haven, since the bishops are covering up for them, when the bishops think they can get away with it. \nSincerely, Dr Rosemary Eileen McHugh, MD, MSpir", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't even know where to begin. This sounds like the same rhetoric from the left: if I don't put everyone else in the world first, regardless of their beliefs, character or actions, I'm not a good Christian. If I voted for Trump, I must be a racist. Crap, I'm just broke! Expanding our incredibly massive debt by letting every Tom, Dick and Harry cross illegally into the country and getting better care and concern than our own citizens...that's good? Destroying us economically is good? The people of the United States are the most generous in the WORLD. But we don't have the capability of rescuing everyone, nor the responsibility. Why aren't Muslim countries taking large numbers of refugees? I won't even touch on the rest, as I'm just wasting my breath. I pray to God to give all who seek Him \"eyes to see and ears to hear.\" \"Christian\" does not mean \"doormat.\" Charity, love, generosity are great words to live by. So are prudence, wisdom & discernment. God will judge us all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A large majority of the bishops in the US under late JPII and Benedict were awful. I really don't care who the archbishop of Vienna is because I don't live in Vienna; in contrast the USCCB directly affects my experience with Catholicism. (Also Schonbrunn was appointed because of the combo of being Ratzinger's student and a sex abuse scandal.) \n\nThe really bad bishops' appointments in the US are as follows - Burke, Cordileone, Sample, Sartain, Myers, Chaput, Morlino, probably Dolan, DiNardo, and Gomez (his flock is getting deported by Trump and he isn't angry enough.) Need we go on? The rare good appointment was in a place where there were sex abuse scandals like Boston or where it was a \"demotion\" like Good Tobin. But a vast majority of the US bishops are either culture warriors or careerists. If Pope Francis gave a majority pink slips, it would be a good thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are in denial of Romans 9, but not surprising. I don' know how much plainer Paul could have penned this, verse 15-16: For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.[16] So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.\n it I not of them that willeth, you call the Bible a liar, and claim it is of those who willed it through their imaginary free will, beyond clue to the fact you cannot be both a slave to sin and free willed.\n it's not that you do no want to take an honest look at Romans 9:17-24 where it plainly states he created some to destroy \"fitted for destruction\" it's that you do not have the intellect to understand these texts. My goodness Bill, it's in plain English, is not of them what willeth...and yet you are convinced you, a slave to sin, have a free will. Cant get more deluded than that, Bill.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The election was lost by coddled, neurotic white boys who would rather burn their country down than support a woman and who didn't even have the ba1ls to say they hated her for being a woman so they filled their blogs with long-ago-debunked lies about scandals and crimes that never happened and Aristotelian pseudo-scientific bu1lshit about fetuses and irrational tantrums about how she just wasn't \"likable\" enough to vote for. \n\n\"Let's make the country great by electing Donald Trump!\" says the Catholic Left.\n\"Everything must always be all about those poor, dear, adorable little fetuses!\" says the Catholic Left.\n\"Filling out a form that says I refuse to pay for contraception is supporting contraception!\" says the Catholic Left.\n\"Waaaah! She's not like my Mommie! She's not like Mary!\" screamed the Catholic Left.\n\n\"Women are so irrational and emotional,\" says Pope Francis. \"That's why Jesus wants the Church to be run by us rational men.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Something else our founding fathers stated, \"This country won't last if the principles stated in the constitution fall into the hands of Ungodly men (or women.)\"\n\nThis happened almost 8 years ago when Barrack Hussein Obama was elected, and thereafter, declared to all the world that the United States was no longer a Christian nation.\n\nThis isn't about racism. It's a spiritual battle that we are going to lose. \n\nGod states in His word that when a nation falls from His Grace He will send a Spirit of Delusion. Just look at Lying Hillary, Psycho Donald, and the self declared king and so-called savior of America, Barrack Hussein Obama.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "same shameful message that was said about Irish Catholics, Jews, Sihks, and Hindus. Perhaps you are the one who needs to live in a more homogeneous country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"What does it mean that so many in the FOX legions who count themselves faithful Christians adopt a set of \"rights and wrongs\" that undermine personal well-being and the common good?\nIt means that when people obsess in self-interest above all other, religion becomes fake in the charade of people exploiting people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No.\nYou want religious rights to trump everything else.\nFor example, you want businesses owned by religious-minded individuals to be exempt from anti-discrimination laws so they can refuse goods or services to gay people or couples.\nHowever, homosexuality or transgenderism are not religions. So, if a GLBT or trans business owner declines to offer goods or services to a fundamentalist Christian person, they'd be guilty of religious discrimination.\nYou want employees to be free to refuse to fill a customer's contraception prescription. But if someone refused to deliver something to a right-to-life organization, the outcry would be huge.\nYou want a power imbalance.\nThere's a solution: Eliminate civil-rights laws of all kinds and let businesses or employees serve or deny service, hire or not hire whomever they please, with the caveat that government could not engage in a Jim Crow-style environment.\nBut then, Christians wouldn't be protected from discrimination. They'd be on an equal plane.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was referring to a common comment heard from those ignorant and careless of their actions who seem to think anyone receiving a penny from them should pay to the bone for it in every way possible regardless of the increased costs and damage to all. \nfrankly, we can trace most of the tragic issues the entire planet is succumbing to straight back to faux Conservatives and fake Christians whom have the most incredible and ongoing history of pure evil. fortunately for Hawaii we've avoided much of their toxic effects, but we can see that changing as we speak...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Watching this sickening example play out on Capital Hill. No GOP politician that is up for re election has spoken out about Trumps hurtful behavior to a grieving widow of a fallen hero.\nIt reminds me of the cowards in collars, many looked the other way while they suspected their brother clergy of bad behavior with children and most others who were silent to such evil. \nIn Milwaukee only one brave priest spoke out against the horrific treatment of victims. The rest were silent, until Sunday preaching about Catholic values. This organization has long lost it's relationship with Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Uh, are you Catholic? Did you follow any of the things she and her campaign have said about catholics? And abortion??? The Catholic non-negotiable! Then there are the lies, the crimes and the unethicals. Whether or not you want to vote for Trump, as catholics, we should adamantly vote AGAINST this woman.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately they are comfortable with rulers who are not only authoritarian and autocratic, but who are also far-right xenophobes, seen as \"friends\" (with good reason) by white nationalists who are racist, anti-muslim, and anti-semitic. This is the case in France, but it is also the case in the US. In the US, the \"Catholic\" vote, and the (so-called) \"christian\" vote have more impact than the far right Catholics in France have in national elections as we have unfortunately experienced in our recent election. This turn to white nationalist, xenophobia has already been successful in Hungary and Poland, as well as in the US. Let us pray that the examples of Austria, the Netherlands and France helps to turn the tide against this very UN-christian movement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So the Jesuit who can't even refer to himself as \"Father\" in the byline apparently wants \"compromise\" with the \"gay agenda\"? In other words, he wants the Church to utterly reject two thousand years of dogmatic teaching. Even more incredibly, he laments the fact that the cult of Mormon is \"more flexible\" {translation: more willing to abandon its teaching} than the Catholic Church. You just can't make this stuff up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, well reading your comments I am not surprised that you choose to diss this good news. Apparently, the only thing that is good enough for you is if Canada is all white, all Christian and all conservative (oh yeah, and no Catholics allowed either). And of course you have completely ignored what I wrote, as is typical for your ilk. The article did not come from the Globe, it came from zero hedge who are possibly the most accurate alt/new news media out there.\n\nI feel sorry for you. It must hurt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, I am a liberal CATHOLIC. Just because I disagree with YOU does not mean that I am not a Catholic. And that is the crux of the matter. YOU have determined what makes a Catholic, which shows your arrogance. \n\nYou have said that you reject Catholic social doctrine. By your criteria, that makes you a Protestant.\n\nI reject YOUR bankrupt moral calculus which says that two deaths are better than one. Clearly, you don't give a damn about women, since you would blithely order their deaths and pretend that your doing so is \"moral\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If only Trump did cite the Bible in the Prosperity Gospel manner of Ken Copeland. \n\nBut he hasn't. So this is yet another silly NCR article that's long on sentiment but short on saying anything meaningful. \n\nOne thing we can say for Trump -- he was never a Professional Catholic, or a Professional Presbyterian.\n\nWhy not focus on money and the Church, without dreaming up false analogies about saving jobs in Ohio with the prosperity gospels of Protestant preachers?\n\nHow about an article on Immaculate Heart radio's current pledge drive? Just yesterday, a woman called in who was very distraught about losing her job, but donated money anyway because the Catholic fundraisers told her it was the right thing to do. \n\nWhat about an article about that, Bill? Or aren't you aware of the Church's lack of scruples re fundraising?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "#discriminationforjesus", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LifeSite News: the same folks (along with a certain staff member at one of our parishes) who took shots at Bishop Choby over the whole Father Ryan sex-ed curriculum thing last Fall. Don't let these \"pro-life\" folks fool you. \nThey are every bit the \"Cafeteria Catholics\" they accuse the left of being. Only their stock and trade is ad hominem attacks cloaked in fundamentalism and ultra-orthodoxy. Glass houses, people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for sharing that. You make a good point.\n\n A Milwaukee priest was arrested last week and charged with 4 counts of sexual assault of a child.\n\nI knew of his case and had a police report frm a 2013 that the Catholic DA did not choose to charge.\nIn the 2013 police report a teacher saw the priest rubbing a 6 year old girls groin area through her clothes.\nI had his file and there were 13 complaints 2 in the 1980's the rest 2002- 2010 all similar, Priest put kids on lap touching inappropriately too touchy with their child . The archdiocese called even the crotch rubbing a boundary violation in 2013. Liars. But what blew my mind. was how the parents worded their written complaints. I do not want to embarrass fr. or I do not want fr. to get in trouble I am sure this is incidental, Fr. is a little too touchy but I am sure it is innocent.\n Of course the archdiocese did not tell the parents about previous complaints. But their weak words put kids in harms way", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "yup only white hetero Christians can be racists in the eyes of the Liberals. brace for a pile of legislation censoring free speech supported by Biased Bev on the SCC", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, Monsignor Pope has just re-written church and sacrament history. He either is ignorant or believes in his own version of church history that more clearly can be described as a version of the catholic *flat earth* society.\nThree of his points are historically inaccurate;\nTwo of the other points skews moral theology into a black and white world. He is playing God and sowing at best, scandal; at worst, out and out lies and fear mongering (hell).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So hungry children without food, working people without housing, and elderly without medical care aren't important? \n\nWhy are right-leaning Catholics (including so many bishops) so stuck on sex and so light on actual lives?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one argues that gays should not be loved. Not Jesus --- who taught that men are created men, and women created women, for a reason; not the Church; not Christians who believe on the Church; not St. Paul, not Pope Francis, who despite letting you know that gays are loved, still teaches the sinfulness of gay sex. Your accusations against those who believe Church teaching are as tiresome as they are false. If you cared for your brother as much as you claim, you'd stop encouraging defiance of the Church's ancient moral teachings on homosexuality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We know pederasty is common among homosexual male culture. The priest sex scandal in America was almost exclusively pederasty with homosexual men preying on teen boys.\n\nCardinal Maradiaga, who coordinates the Council of Nine cardinals, recently confirmed the presence of a homosexual \u201clobby\u201d in the Vatican and revealed that Pope Francis is trying \u201clittle by little to purify it.\u201d\n\nThe Pope also acknowledged the presence of a homosexual network at the Vatican in June 2013. In the context of saying he found reform of the Roman Curia difficult, the Pope said: \"The 'gay lobby' is mentioned, and it is true, it is there \u2026 We need to see what we can do.\"\n\nElmar M\u00e4der, commandant of the Swiss Guard from 2002 until 2008, said his time at the heart of the Vatican had given him an insight into certain aspects of life there. \"I cannot refute the claim that there is a network of homosexuals. My experiences would indicate the existence of such a thing.\"\n\nConnect the dots .....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for passing judgment on my density. That\u2019s always appreciated from someone who doesn\u2019t know me. Stick with your liturgical snobbery. It seems to suit you. Just know that the frippery you celebrate has little to do with the sacrament Jesus instituted at the Last Supper.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus is the way, the truth and the light (life) \"as I have done, so you also must do\". Sense of prior life is true as is the sense of after-life; dominion theology has a skewed sense of prior life as it does of after-life..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Big issue and no doubt many studies exist that provide some answers much better than mine, but here are a few thoughts\nFirst, in the decades up to the 1960s/1970s, church attendance was part of the social scene. Belief was an element, but it was not a deeply held or deeply felt aspect of attendance and participation. The decline started in those years as social norms shifted and it started becoming less a part of the social scene, which then accelerated. The Quebec situation was exacerbated by the malign effect of the Catholic Church that was rejected as part of the Quiet Revolution. Once the habit was broken, then lack of deeply held belief and outright skepticism of the main tenants of Christianity meant that going back didn't happen and won't.\nSecond, conservatives in this regard retain belief and are not looking for anything to reflect on they want certainties that once provided work for them. Liberals find the fantastic aspects of faith impossible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The war between Iran and Saudi Arabia has been going on for centuries!\n\nThis internal change is just another facet of that war between co-religionists for power in the region. \n\nThe 'Christians' and Catholics killed over 6 million of each other doing the same thing back during the 30 years war time frame!\n\nOur mistake was our reliance and that of Europe on the oil in the region.\n\nWith fracking and such, I question whether it is still in the 'National Interests' of the US to continue to participate in their theocratic fight for secular dominance.\n\nIf the Europeans prefer Middle East oil and natural gas to Russian sources, let them send their soldiers to get it. \n\nWe'll sell them arms and ammunition, one of our big money makers in the region today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem is with you Oh Faithful Catholic fact he left religious life.......and married and that's between him and God.\nI could think of worse done in His name........", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Freedom off speech is not absolute (the yelling \"fire\" case proves that). If something provokes a certain community, and you do it just to provoke them, then surely you are partially responsible? The Danish cartoonist was challenged to produce anti-semitic cartoons, and his editor prevented him from doing so (and anti-semitism is as hateful as anti-islamism). But anti-semitism has a different history in Europe, so suppressing it is a lot easier.\n\nIf communities have to live side by side peacefully, then not provoking each other is a responsibility of both sides. Look at Islam in South and South East Asia to understand that point. It coexists with Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism and other religions peacefully.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When reading this article, consider the source. Former Harper spokesperson probably wanting to come back to a job in Canada.\n\nHe thinks the statements were \"Anti-Christian\"? No, simply a factual statement of Scheer's voting record. And to try to excuse it by saying that Scheer voted according to his Catholic beliefs is shocking. MP's should not be voting according to their religious beliefs. ANY religion.\n\nHis sleazy and deliberate mis-characterization of the statements as \"Anti-Christian\" is akin to randomly asking somebody \"Have you stopped beating your wife?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fair enough. The most violent countries to live in are Christian countries.\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate\n\nTurkmenistan is the first Muslim country on the list, at number 34. Myanmar, a Buddhist country, is the first non Christian country at number 28. Why don't you take a walk in an American ghetto, and tell me how safe you feel?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "when you close your doors to incredibly unfortunate people like the refugees from Syria I do not really understand it. Even Israel announced taking 100 children and their families from Syria and they remain at 'war' with Syria. \nNothing wrong with better vetting of immigrants from anywhere.\nI think his intentions are good , but it probably won't matter. Many 'terrorists'/ crazies are home grown anyways. \nI often wonder why all these people from Muslim countries want to come west anyways. It doesn't say much for their homeland. I guess it is for better life/ education etc. Can't blame them but why not improve their home situation so there is no need to leave. Has any Christian or Jew ever wanted to immigrate to an Arab country other than for a temporary reason (ie work related)? Bet it would be hard to find anyone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In a previous job I had, I attended a Bible study group run by an evangelical Protestant. I gave interpretations from a strictly Catholic viewpoint, and my input was welcomed by all present.\n\nI remember getting a laugh when we started on Psalms. Psalms 1:2 says \"But his delight is in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night\". I said that in his introduction to his On the Trinity, Augustine of Hippo wrote, \"I meditate on the law of the Lord, if not all day and night, at least whenever I have a moment to spare.\" Everyone there appreciated the honesty and the humor of the statement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Two points: \nWhere is the progressive, liberal, and NDP motion condemning the bad treatment of Jews, Sikhs, and Christians in predominately Muslim countries? Since he became PM, Trudeau has been lecturing other countries on gay and feminist rights, but he has been noticeably silent on this treatment in lands where Islam is the dominant religion.\n\nPoint two: you might want to do an Internet search on the following:\" Premier McQuinty + Sharia law + cancelled\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Under what circumstances, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church is homosexual activity not immoral?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It is not an issue of contention for a Catholic.\"\nPlease do not speak for all Catholics. \n\"...condemned by the Church\". \nPlease do not speak for the Church, the People of God.\nSpeak for yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You did not answer my question. What is the basis for claiming countries have rights?\nHow do you know Jesus intended for nations to declare themselves \"christian\" and have rights? By taking that position, sir, you are doing a lot of speaking for Jesus, aren't you? And how do you square up Jesus' teachings with the pragmatic decisions nations must make? How does turn the other cheek or blessed be the meek work on the international scale? As for your questions about the immigration policies of foreign nations, sir, how does that have anything to do with how a christian in the US should act? And it's little late to request this discussion not reference racism, being as you made that reference first.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's nothing poor about pope Francis, let's get that straight! No we should not live in isolation nor should we force our beliefs on others, but if we are just going to attend these meetings without going to witness for Jesus, then our appearance is in vain. Jesus never ever attended an event JUST to show His face. We are His representatives and are to do what He would have done had He been present at the event or function. I'm not being imaginary in my ideas I also know people who work in the GC and NAD. I also do research and do quite well in my research. I love our beloved Church, and I love Jesus even more. I will stand up for Jesus no matter what, but I will not compromise my beliefs to side with our Church in wrongdoing, and regardless to what you say, our Church from the GC to the NAD are both in apostasy and it pains me to see how Catholic and Jesuit false doctrines have been allowed into our belief system through our schools. This is a sad truth, but it is truth", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anyone who is outraged by the government position, needs to replace Catholic with Muslim and see if they feel the same way. It's amazing to watch but you can see them try to talk out of both sides of their mouth on this one - a right and acceptable for Catholics becomes unCanadian and \"them trying to take over and force their backward religion on us\" for Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sure, but I'll do better than try.\n\nQuestion: Before the priest sex abuse scandal broke in the media, which Bishop turned over errant priests to law enforcement?\n\nLots of bishops in just the U.S. Name one in the 1980s who had a policy of warning everyone in their diocese about dangerous priests, asking for parishioners to come forward with reports, and a strict policy of immediately turning over suspected priests to secular law enforcement?\n\nWhich bishops did that?\n\nCan you name one? I don't think so.\n\nAnd therefore, just who in the Catholic hierarchy would have the moral authority to severely punish any bishop for what was clearly a tacit policy followed by the entire church (that is, reluctance to cooperate with law enforcement for the sake of child welfare)?\n\nI would say, no one. We even know that JPII shrugged the entire matter of deviant priests aside.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the history of Catholic polling, Jesus wins the electoral college, but Mary wins the popular vote by a landslide. Admittedly a disturbing analogy....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the first place, the article is a false dilemma. If she remained \"silent\" that is her problem. Many people have protested various abuses in the SDA church, such as Claudia Burrows who was seduced by Morris Venden and she explained many incidents of this abuse that was ignored by \"the church\".\n\nSo to claim the issue was \"silent\" about all these situations is simply not true. She is not pointing out anything that has not been known for decades in the church. But since it was a convenient way to attack Trump, it was published here on Atoday.\n\nHopefully, no one who was a Christian would justify the life style of Trump or pretend it was a total non-issue. But we could and should point out that what Trump did while a private citizen building a self serving business, is no comparison to the Clinton's who \"raped\" the public while in public office claiming to \"serve the people\" of the USA. The difference is light years apart on the level of accountability.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems as though the church rejoices when a deacon's wife dies and they have yet another celibate in the ranks...women are still not valued in the Catholic church unless they are virgins...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "K of C money to be sure, but the real reason is because the adulterous spouse in this case slipped through the cracks on a technicality: he wasn't a Catholic when he divorced his previous two wives for the latest model. He only became Catholic after he married her, so voila! his slate is wiped clean as the driven snow. For homosexuals, alas, there is no technicality through which to slip. For them it's simply the trap door button and a curt \"buh bye.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reform of Paganism that was Paulist Christianity was short-lived. \n\nBriefly, it attempted to move Pagans (Gentiles) away from gender-based religion and male-female sex rituals in temples, self-castration by males, and incestuous male and female deities. The reform succeeded at much, but obviously, patriarchy and discrimination are still with us, as are gender roles. The Roman Catholic priesthood, which was unknown among the early Paulists, may be related to the celibate/castrating Galli priests of Rome and Turkey who dressed like women. The Paulists envisioned a holy community that was 'neither male nor female,' and a 'priesthood of all believers,' and a Christ whose members were both male and female, and 'one baptism.' Who remembers this? Probably not the women who have not put much effort into asking themselves why they follow Vaticanism.\n\nWe do not expect the Vaticanites, who hijacked the Church centuries ago, to go back to the earliest days and recapture that momentum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This editorial only provides evidence that liberal Catholics (and other liberal Christians) are envious of the strength and influence of the bonds that have arisen between faithful Catholics and Protestants (and don't forget faithful Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mormons, and Orthodox Jews are also in the mix). When the ecumenical movement took off in the early '70s, liberals thought that everything would end up pointing in their direction. They were clearly wrong. The greatest ecumenical energy has been on the side of the faithful and orthodox of many faiths. I've been to and prayed with Evangelical Christians and Orthodox Jews who support Israel. I've also been to prayer rallies against abortion and same sex \"marriage.\" Thankfully, these rallies have been full of faithful Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Orthodox Jews, Mormons and many like-minded priests, nuns, and bishops. This is truly the work of the Holy Spirit. Praise Jesus!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Article 11 of the treaty of Tripoli:\n\n\"Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen (Muslims); and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan (Mohammedan) nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.\"\n\n(From Wikipedia).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dennism,\nI believe Christ immersed himself in the reality of life at his time and we have to do the same in ours. I have no illusions about the \"evil\" that is out there nor of the necessity of confronting it. The word \"Yhwh\" has been translated as \"I will be with you, as who I am I will be with you.\" God will always be who God is. It is I as who I am that I must respond to God and to life. That does not mean that attempting to follow Christ does not call me to be more, but, for now, I am who I am as such must respond. So, yes, we can neither be naive nor stupid in our dealings with the world, but, I believe, we must strive to evolve our selves and our world as a more loving place to live.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Look, the good bishop said nothing that contravenes the Creed or the Catholic faith. He just provides us with other ways of internalizing the \"truth\" of what we belief as followers of Christ (first) and participants in Catholic theology (second). As many have said, his is a mature faith that is not rigid and not afraid of \"interrogatives,\" as Pope Francis has himself stated--would you like the direct quote or do you find the Roman pontiff to be heretical too? You'll have to bear with me, I tend to forget how many trads out there think they are more Catholic than the pope!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "the voting thing you mention , is a view from their followers , which is really old people in general I think, also; anti white , anti male, anti Christian, anti right wing views , anti business, pro Gay, and so on . Whats left is a circle of viewers that follow the CBC very closely and vote hourly !!! Who cares, few people view the channel anymore .... Fake News , slanted toward the politically correct left wing- nut bars ! You will get one point of view , that is slanted towards Pro Ottawa - their major funding ! I left the audience years ago for the most part . I do dip in to see what the left and politically correct is talking about from Time to time ! Sad , if this is what you depend upon for \"news\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The judges are upholding the law. The ban is discrimination with no functional reality. Have terrorists from these countries gunned down more children in schools than have US citizens? Does anyone really believe that 9/11 was orchestrated completely without any help from US citizens? Historically RW Christians have terrorized and killed and acted just like radical Muslims. Anyone who thinks a ban will be a minor deterrent to determined terrorists or is helping solve a problem is not seeing clearly. The problem is hate, and this administration is fueling it, not dispelling it. Additionally, while terrorism is a threat to individual lives, it is NOT a threat to our national security. None of the foreign terrorist groups are more than ants with NO power to overthrow our country and our principles. A much more dangerous threat to national security is sitting in the chief strategist's chair.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Atticus, Prospero, and Dinah are not golden mystics or ecstatic Christians. Rather, they are steely in their hunger for justice, reconciliation and compassion.\" \n\nGreat article, Robert! I propose three more fictional saints. How about Sissy Jupe from Charles Dicken's \"Hard Times?\" She is a simple child who suffers under the reign of terror of her teacher, Mr. McChoakumchild. Despite her poor education and lowly status, she never stops doing the right thing. Platon Karataev, Pierre Besuhov's fellow prisoner in Leo Tolstoy's \"War and Peace,\" saves Pierre from nihilism. Also, Bishop Myriel in Victor Hugo's \"Les Miserables\" is the very picture of a saintly do gooder. Not only does he give Jean Valjean a gracious welcome, but when Valjean steals his silver he tells the police he gave it to Valjean. Valjean converts on the spot and becomes a do gooder himself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know that I want to be in the same ballpark with Trump, or in any way be associated with his groping for votes and pandering to the basest impulses of the electorate. I am with the Evangelical leaders who have had enough of him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for sharing your story, Frances. The recent Charlottesville incident was horrific. From afar I see many an American swept up in following slogans and placket barers....and I find it difficult to see signs of 'love your neighbor' or 'don't judge others or you'll be judged the same'. This is purely an observation, from afar....I don't know how many read the world news but things aren't looking too healthy between North Korea and Mr Trump...but Mr Trump reassures us that he is 'locked and loaded' (from one of John Wayne's movies, lol)...in other words he is ready to commit, not only an 'horrendous crime' but cause a Third World War ...i.e. become a murderer of millions...and how many Catholics were told to vote for Mr. Trump by their clergy? Ouch.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Steven, very few have commented on the role white privilege played in the US elections.\n\nCoupled with this is the term \"male privilege\"; Having the possibility of a female president further erodes their \"male privilege\". Taken together, this highlights the voting behaviour of many white males.\n\nIn one candidate, they could sense how to restore that status once again; to be great again, whatever that meant. White catholics, particularly those who are fundamentalists in their beliefs, could sense a new champion in their midst. For too long they had suffered in their struggle to tell the world that abortion is an intrinsic evil and the only way to convince women otherwise is to declare it illegal once again.\n\nThey saw their white privilege strengthened once again; \"to be great again\" by voting for a candidate whose only attribute was that he was also a \"white male\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Catholics who are conversant with what the Church teaches will know when they are in a state of mortal sin\".\nBut, remember that until 1965 (in the U.S. anyway) that included eating meat on a friday.\nThe U.S. bishops went ahead of most of the World in applying the dispensation, which created the ridiculous situation whereby what was a Mortal Sin in many countries ceased to be a sin at all the moment one boarded an American-flagged ship or aircraft at the local port or airport.\nThat was when the authority of the bishops started to unravel (Humanae Vitae gave it a good kick along of course).\nThe bishops kept on thinking that they could invent sins and enforce them just as they had done in Mediaeval times.\nIf you want to know why people hardly ever go to Confession/Reconciliation nowadays is not because they don't believe in it; it's because of the way it has been practiced by many priests, and also the fact that some priests took the cover of the Confessional to abuse children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While what happened in Quebec City is tragic and does merit some review and investigative changes to minimize the reoccurance of these terrible things. The outpouring of sympathy is warranted and is typical of Canadian attitudes and values. It has to be noted however that this expression of anger against violent action had in no way expressed itself when 60 Catholic Churches were burned down in Arab countries nor any supports expressed for the 600 Christians slaughtered in those same lands. Canadians have a double standard as they try to show the world they care for the welfare of the opposessed but in the same breath ignore persecution against Christians and Jews in the middle east. Canada cannot be the safe land for all the worlds oppressed and must rationalize what the nation needs as opposed to what world humanity needs. Soon Canada will not have the economic clout to deal with their own poverty cases, malnourished children,the homeless, the elderly and the sick that must wait 1yr", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You bet your asana. Hinduism is a pagan religion, meaning its purpose is to understand mankind through divinities who are essentially human archetypes. We have nothing to fear from it, There is no need to find Christian yoga and meditation. Just appreciate the difference when it comes up. Hindus are not going to force you to convert. That would Christians who do that. It is religiously immature to think that there is still some competition going on here. Roman paganism was harmful because it was an organ of state loyalty. Forced atheism is in the same class, but that too is waning as modernity advances. Forced Islam is a problem, but usually there is a separate law for foreigners and ancient Catholic believers, unless the Wahaabi terrorists are after you, then leave, be a martyr or join the resistance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like late 20th century and prior era, Catholic Priests. Not so \"fun\" for their victims though. Priesthood celibacy goes against God's laws of nature, no?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A true Christian couldn't object\"? Is this not pretense? Jesus said on many occasions that He was the only way. If He was raised from the dead, which I believe He was, He has very much authority on true spirituality. He said that he will be the judge of those in this world. Julia's article is full of statements that are very extra Biblical. What authority does she have to teach such things? She claims that she is following Christ by being an apostate, but if you look at what Christ taught, its very evident that she is missing the mark of submission to Christs authority. About the poor and needy, it should be our joy and mission in accordance with the gospel to serve their needs. Forced giving by government or by the law is where the pretense seeps in. With the help of the Holy Spirit, may my life and those who seek to serve God be poured out for the Gospel. You see its not out of obligation but out of joy and gratitude.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gorsuch literally takes Scalia's place in thought word and deed. One more nail in the coffin of human rights and freedom formerly integral to the U.S. Constitution. The imposition of Christian sharia law will become the law of the land. All non-christians will be isolated and terrorized by all government forces. Welcome to Republicanland replacing the U.S. Constitutional Republic identical to Nazi Germany. Time for a Revolution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's get this in perspective. Ireland is a country of around 3 to 4 million people most of whom will have been baptised and educated as Catholics. In proportion to Catholics worldwide this is insignificant. The proportion who fulfil their duty of hearing Mass on Sundays and making their Easter Duty is more insignificant.\nThe referendum on same-sex marriage proved beyond doubt that Irish Catholics like most of their co-religionists in the West are pretty clueless concerning the teaching of the Catholic Church.\nThe ACP is a dissident group of priests who in times gone by would have been summarily defrocked. The largely anti-Catholic media in Ireland, however, give airtime to the ACP making them out to have some clout in ecclesiastical affairs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If there is such a thing as a just war, then there must be also such a thing as an unjust peace (or, at least, an unjust policy of non-military intervention).\n\nI am a pacifist by moral conviction but not, alas, by nature: if you come at me with a knife while I have a firearm, you'll be the first in kingdom-come.\n\nMy difficulty with the very idea of just war is that its intellectual and moral integrity depends upon the (to my mind) altogether dubious premise that there is a moral imperative to kill, or to be willing to kill. And this, for me as a Christian, is where the whole complex and nuanced weave of Just War Theory unravels spectacularly.\n\nTry as I might, I could not find anywhere in the Gospel even the vaguest ground for such an imperative. So while I shall kill if I have to, to protect my life or the lives of others, I really don't want to appeal to unconvincing Augustinian notions of justice to assuage my conscience. \"I did what I had to do\" would be my best defence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Portland Mercury reports that the suspect was a \"known local white supremacist.\" \n\nThe alternative weekly published photos and video of Christian at a \"March for Free Speech\" on April 29, to which he brought a baseball bat. \n\nDraped in an American flag, he yelled \"I'm a nihilist,\" and shouted profanity and racial slurs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you think an atheist should HAVE the right to say that they are afraid of religious people who use their religious beliefs to try to sway laws in areas such as abortion and gay marriage and the death penalty?\n\nDo you think an atheist should NOT HAVE the right to say that they are afraid of religious people and their religions and that they wish religions would disappear from Canada to be replaced by scientific schools of thought?\n\nDo you think an atheist should NOT HAVE the right to say they are afraid of Christians?\n\nDo you think an atheist should NOT HAVE the right to say they are afraid of believers in Astrology?\n\nI look forward to your answers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If an important politician is buried---that is permitted. Why not for the rest of the Catholics?\n\nActually, the priest should tell the people that the parish community prays for the grieving family, friends and loved ones as well. The deceased are in the arms of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "SNAP should consider themselves successful in this regard - the Catholic Church, at least in the US, has a ZERO POLICY of any form of sexual abuse. Upon any credible accusation, the accused priest, religious person ( sister, monk, deacon...), or lay persons must step aside from their duties until the accusation is investigated. Only until the accused is exonerated can the person resume any duties that may entail contact with others. \n\nIn recent years, you can count the convicted on one hand and have fingers left over. There seems to be very little or no opportunity for SNAP to sue for damages. No money, no organization. After all, that was the driving force, wasn't it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many Catholics agree with what I write. I got my understanding from reading many Catholic theologians. The word catholic means universal not uniform.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I think everything he said is actually false, but let us just start with the first statement: \"Obey the Pope as the infallible human gifted with divine power...\" The Pope is not infallible, and Catholic's don't say that he is.\n\nWhat Wolf Eagle is referencing is that the Pope is preserved from the possibility of error \"when, in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church.\" Just for context, there have been seven \"ex cathedra documents\" (infallible statements) since 449, the last one in 1950. None of the things listed by Wolf Eagle are covered by infallible statements, and most are a gross misrepresentation of the beliefs of the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First of all Trump is not saying anything different from the GOP beginning with the Koch bros in 1973, then Pope John Paul II and his pal Ronald Reagan and the GOP have also been saying ever since JPII got elected. Their litany of long collected grievances is no different. \nActually, the Catholic church has been manipulating and killing people ever since Fatima, 1917. \nSo NO different.\nTrump also bought the USCCB by proclaiming punishment for women who get abortions -- their favorite topic. \nTrump made a lot of promises to a lot of different groups. Those groups voted for him based on 'expectations'. Now Trump must live up to all of those promises. Along with his living-up will come much destruction, very likely including another economic crises. Therein will be our economic downfall. \nThe Wall St crowd will promulgate/perpetrate another family destroying ( and again against the born and the unborn) Trickle-down mess. So people had better put their money into the best banking system", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks NCR! Why do women continue to accept shameful chauvinistic structures? My gender does not limit me, it informs my becoming\n\nOften the issue of women priests is presented as a matter of equal rights, or missing the gifts of women. All true. However, the big issue is What Would Jesus Do? And how well are we following the examples in the New Testament of including women. Certainly Paul relied on women to act as missionaries and apostles. Women were deacons in the Church. Are Catholics being true to their roots in scripture? The Anglicans and Lutherans have women bishops, and now women archbishops, so I\u2019m convinced there is no impediment. \n\nHowever, the Galli priests, now preaching Jesus instead of Attis, will not allow women or hetero-men to be part of their exclusive club of other-gendered persons who wear women\u2019s gowns. The Galli priesthood was in places where Paul founded his new Church. This exclusive club really has nothing to do with Jesus of Nazareth, and never did", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gibbons wrote, \"I do not believe that there is a bishop, priest, or even a layman in this country who knows his religion and utters such enormities. No, this is not, has never been, and will never be our 'Americanism.'\"\nDespite Gibbons' reassurances, the Paulists withdrew Hecker's biography from publication. Eventually, the Americanist controversy ended. But it had proven to the American Catholic public that American Catholicism was still suspect in Rome's eyes. \nAnd it soon became obvious to both proponents and critics of the 'fortress mentality' that a people who fearfully hide behind walls cannot bring the gospel to the world. By hiding in the fortress of past ideas, the Catholic Church was, in effect, admitting defeat. Then, just like TODAY, it was saying, \"The world's ideas are so frightening and shocking, that all we can do is hide our heads in the sand and hope the world goes away.\"\n\nIs this why the agenda for the USCCB's 2017 meeting so \"piddling\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quite a quantum leap to make a judgement on Canadian society, based on comments on one paper, of which comments in your own words are \"half hidden \". Religion as a motivator for violence has been around for centuries, long before the coined terms left wing or right wing, and will go on being a motivator in the future. Islam happens to be in the forefront now, but for a long period Christianity did its fair share of killing people in the name of religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know you think you're saying something significant or important when you throw around words like \"dissident.\" You aren't. Today's dissident is tomorrow's cardinal (e.g., Henri de Lubac). The word is meaningless. Cardinal Burke is a dissident. Do you want to throw him out?\n\nCatholics forming and following their own consciences, as adults are required to do, are not dissidents; they're merely Catholics.\n\nBut it could be; it can constitute its government in any fashion that works best at a given time and place. The way the church is organized and governed today owes more to the Roman Empire than to the New Testament. It's time, and past time, to consider whether a medieval structure is appropriate for the twenty-first century. \n\nGood point. Where does he say that masturbation or contraception can send you to hell?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"How does Hobby Lobby benefit? First, since the Greens have unshared control of the scholarship and discoveries within their collection, they can also pilot any narrative about an item.\"\n\nThe Catholic church has been \"piloting a narrative\" about the NT for the past 2000 years (i.e., that Catholic \"tradition\" is the only legit lens through which the Bible may be understood). And part of that understanding is that there is only one way to read the Bible - - as a confirmation of the church's unrivaled legitimacy. \n\nWhether the church's narrative-piloting is Truth is for each to decide for themselves. But it's a bit thick to ring alarm bells because the Green family might also want their say on what the Bible is saying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I should also note that I believe your assessment, \"Jesus was killed because the Jewish priests were afraid of his popularity and Roman were threatened by his Kingdom. Jesus suffered and died to show us we too will suffer and die and that life does not end with death,\" is incomplete. His death was intended and understood from eternity and is not due to the caprice of Jewish authorities or Roman rule.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is the site making up stuff, or it factually accurate?\n\nThis site foments anti-trad animus, according to many trads anyway. But I don't call NCR a \"hate site.\"\n\nThis is what I mean about polemics. \n\nWhat if the essay had been written by a Trad, about abortion being against American and Christian values?\n\nWouldn't you at least agree there is room for argument on both sides of that issue?\n\nI would, even though I largely fit into the pro choice category, I understand there is a valid argument from other other side.\n\nI wouldn't label those who disagree with me as Un christian, or un American.\n\nThe author of this essay was so bold as to do just that on the imm. issue, which is why I say the essay is a polemic.\n\nI think the author went too far.\n\nIt's not a big deal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Eradication of racism will require a President who understands that you don't find \"good people\" in Nazi / white supremacist demonstrations. The hatred first preached against Muslims by President Trump is now being expanded by his supporters to also include all non-whites. As has been pointed out, the very repulsive notion of white supremacy is the very opposite of what Jesus taught and, as such, is incompatible with Christianity. Frankly, Nazis / white supremacists have chosen to align themselves with the Prince of Darkness in opposition to everything Christ and Christian church stands for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To add on, I think it would be erroneous to posit characteristics based on a person's religious affiliation as well.\n\nFor example, I know Catholics who support abortion rights. I know other Catholics who oppose the Church's teachings on immigration.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, of course, a Christian shouldn't be interest in socio-political values such as honesty, justice, equality ...\n\nSo having said what you \"discount\", please say what would count for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Latin Mass is already there for most Catholics. Another few years?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ATF, I agree.\n\nI guess the point I was making in one of my posts, is that in the current church mindset, we enter that \"bubble\" seeking that which is hold. Yet, when we look at the life of Jesus, it seems that HE sought that holiness not in the Jewish temple, but in the daily lives and experiences of those he touched. Yes, he went to the desert to refresh, to pray, etc. But those were the exceptions: what he clearly seemed to be saying is that holiness is among us.\n\nYour point on the dissolving ethic is spot on, and oh-so-important as we try to understand what's happening in our society, in our religions... \n\nThe real opportunity here is to step back, and rethink the whole thing. What do we mean by holiness? What role should an institutional religion play in our very personal spiritual lives. [I think there IS a role to play, but perhaps not the one it plays today. So I rather like your idea of spiritual direction, or the idea of a \"spiritual hospital\" of sorts...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Padre Reese, the real question in these polls whether examining RC voting or \"evangelical\" voting, is this: how do you define the terms? Take it from a non-RC, those \"evangelicals\" (by now a near meaningless theological term having been so stretched by the media) who overwhelmingly voted for Mr. Orange, rarely darken the door of a church. They are self-selecting in their description, having already attempted to monopolize the term \"Christian\".\n\nWe in a mainline church are a little easier to measure given our smaller numbers and cohesion. As to you RC, are the pollsters measuring any baptized RC, who is a cultural Catholic? Never at Mass, no check in the mail, in church when niece marries or when Uncle Vito dies, but otherwise never. If that is a Roman Catholic, then you folks are like our Jewish friends who can be agnostic but fully Jewish (well not in the minds of the black garbed ultra-Orth. but that's another story).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Pope Francis has referred to them by several names: protagonistas, social poets, sowers of change.\nThey are the family farmer, the immigrant, the community organizer. People living in poverty who suffer injustice, be it economic, racial or social, & who struggle against it. Workers in cities & countrysides with feet deep in the mud of an economy of exclusion & a throwaway culture that casts them aside. Those clamoring for the \u201csacred rights\u201d of labor, lodging & land.\"\n\nAhh! Pope Francis what about the most sacred of rights for all Catholics to be allowed equal access to all Sacraments regardless of how they are born - like women's sacred rite to be ordained to the priesthood equally to their brothers. \n\nSexism is one of the largest sources of poverty globally. Our example of sexism which causes the voicelessness of women has created poverty worldwide, as well as violence, child abuse, illiteracy & slavery & even more than racism. This \"Never to women priests\" makes you the abuser.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "BS. Read up on kids who escaped Christian Extremist families (Like the Duggars) where they in no way were equipped to face the real world by age 18. All their parents cared about was forcing the Bible down their throats and teaching fables. Absolutely sickening.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, L.G. but your theology is as dated as dead leaves floating in a swamp.\n\n1)I don't disagree with JESUS [historical, who lived in human time] calling God Father [Abba]. I disagree with people like you who don't understand what 'androgynous' means. NO GENDER, NO SEX ORGANS. God is pure Spirit. In Sacred Scripture, God demonstrated qualities of both genders in dealing with the Jews. \n\n\n2), The very words of Christ to \"take and eat\" DID occur in the Upper Room. [Mt. 26:26-29; Mk 14:22; Lk 14-23; 1Cor. 11:23-26]. That set the standard of receiving the Eucharist for centuries UNTIL Christianity became the State Religion of the Empire during the 4th Century.\n\n3) In the first three centuries, unordained people---trained others for life as a Christians, taught beliefs of Christian living, and led Christian communities. Bishops were no longer chosen by the local communities, but appointed as were popes [often by the emperors].\n\n4) Rituals had more to do with culture, than Jesus", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "[This isn't a \"game,\" silly:]\nLarsy, you made it a game when you wrote:\n\n\"for every one you think you might be able to find, I'll find 10 quotes from our founding fathers all supporting the notion that they made us a Christian nation under the Judeo Christian paradigm.\"\n\n1:10\n\nNow, because you're losing the game you're trying to change the rules that YOU set.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Polish bishop Wesolowski did go through a canonical trial in the Vatican, which resulted in his laicization in June 2014 - based on canon law. The trial that was pending at the time of his death was a criminal trial, under Vatican City State criminal law (not canon law), for child molestation and possession of child pornography. The Vatican argued at the time that Wesolowski could not be tried for child molestation in either the Dominican Republic or his native Poland because, at the time of the criminal behavior in question, he was a Vatican diplomat and subject only to the law of the Vatican City State.\n\nPresumably Apuron in Guam cannot be considered an employee of the Vatican City State, and thus the Vatican proceeding will likely be a canon-law trial probably resulting in laicization. If there's to be any criminal trial in the Apuron matter, I'd guess that will be up to the government of Guam. I don't think that the changes implemented by Francis cover criminal action.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...The hierarchal culture of the institution needs to be dismantled, he said.\"\nThe very hierachical structure is on its face a calculated structure of sexual abuse because it premises that females are secondary (inferior) to males before God. This presumption sets women up for abuse by males, as history documents, and as still occurs.\nThis fact alone requires dismantling of the hierarchical structure if the root causes of sexual abuse within Church are to be exposed and extirpated, and the Church is ever to have credibility.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope I will be forgiven for mentioning that there is very little evidence that Jesus ever existed except as a mash-up of various religious writers. So they who say Jesus would do this or that, well, isn't it all fantasy? To hold our fellow humans to a standard that is more invention than reality is silly. It is like having kids try to be more like Superman, or understand that the Gods on Olympus would be mad if he didn't eat his peas. \n\nWe are the gods that we mumble about worshipping and all religious writing is out of the mind of man. Good chance we wouldn't have so many bomb victims if we didn't have religions and religious wars and true believing Presidents. Of course, those of us who don't \"believe\" are shut out of most elections. \nThe Romans had their twelve gods in the Pantheon, the Greeks had their twelve Olympian gods, and Americans have...\nNot sure what form American Christianity has taken in reality...it is so many voices and imperial temples. \nHugh Massengill, Eugene", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) Noting that an ad hoc committee is \"the highest structural response possible\" from the U.S. bishops, Bishop George Murry of Youngstown, Ohio, announced today that he will lead such a committee against racism, citing the need for \"a concerted effort at this moment.\"\u2014Heidi Schlumpf Unimpressed. I have no recollection of Bishop Murry at the National Black Catholic Congress XII in Orlando, July 6-7. There is a half-page add on page 47 in the program from the Diocese of Youngstown that includes the name of Bishop Murry. Murray was not listed as a presenter at the Congress.\n\nMurry also chairs the bishops\u2019 Committee on Catholic Education as the administration of The Catholic University of America continues to ignore the censure imposed by the American Association of University Professors in 1990 of abuse of professors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sam, I think the leadership in the church has been woefully lacking for a long time, and all too sadly, the Vatican seems ever more like a place for unseen puppet masters, rather than a center for moral leadership. Francis promised tribunals, then backed down. So he set up a \"Papal Commission,\" with a lot of hoopla and fan fare. That group was rather quickly relegated to mundane stuff. Even when it lost the last of the two lay victims, there was nary a peep from Francis. His intent is pretty clear.\n\nThe church is already a war zone. By their actions, the bishops send messages that they don't care what those they lead think, want or need. It seems to be a race to see who can set the lowest moral bar these days. \n\nFrankly, if change would bring fireworks, then bring them on, for change really is needed. What has the church to lose at this point? Its credibility is in tatters. If the leaders of the church can't get fired up enough to change over the sexual abuse of children...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nora, thanks, I am so very pleased to see you have raised this issue, as I couldn't find it in the article nor in all the comments I read so far. The hierarchy of the Church is 100% male. A big concern is how this 100% male KofC further distorts the message of Jesus. That there may be 'auxiliary' ladies groups associated with the KofC in no way ameliorates its gender apartheid. KofC's influence on the Church has to be hugely negative as the KofC is unbalanced gender-wise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "((CONTINUED))\n\nThe LGBT are wrong to make a case out of this because, even if they win on whatever legal grounds there are, their case will change nothing in the minds of people who hate. As Jesus said to His Disciples when he sent them out that if the people will not listen to you, shake the sand off your sandals and move on. ((Matthew 10:14; Luke 9:5). In Mark 6:11 Jesus says, \u201cAnd if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.\u201d In the Matthew 10 account, Jesus clarifies His meaning: \u201cTruly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town\u201d (verse 15).)\n\nThe LGBT people should not want a baker to make them a cake if the Cakeshop doesn't want to do it. There is no telling how bad the Cakeshop would make the cake. The LGBT folks should just consider the Cakeshop people for what they are, hypocrites and haters, and go somewhere else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics need to recover both a feast day mentality and still be able to do penance appropraiately, that is, cheerfully, willingly and heroically.\n\nHappy St Patrick's Day. Festive day in this diocese. \n\nWe changed our purple band on the family Crucifix in the living room over the fire place to a bright green one so that children will have a visual reminder of the feast day.\n\nCatholics know how to be festive. Fun food tonight, and a little bit of music thanks to Pandora", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Americanism was and is a bit of a red herring. It is not that Americans seek a divergent morality (although there are those here who believe in reform, as in Europe), but that how a constitutional republic reponds to such issues needs to be considered, although the latter was soft pedaled until Dignitas Personae made the \u201dheresy\u201d a matter of canon law. No Democratic politician as had the skill to link abortion pluralism with Dignitas, but I suspect some will. They should certainly use it to then explain the details about Roe as constitutional rather than legilstive issue to Rome and why its repeal would represent Catholic mob rule.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reconciliation does not mean erasing the crimes that have been committed against the people. Before there can be reconciliation, there has to be admission of the truth and an acceptance of responsibility. \n\nThe head of the Abuelas is absolutely right when she says: \"How can you reconcile the parents of the victims with those who made their children and grandchildren disappear \u2014 when we still don't know where they are?\"\n\nAnd given the sordid history of the Catholic Church in Argentina with regard to its support of the military, the \"call for 'reconciliation'\" indeed does seem to be an argument for impunity.\n\nI hope that the people of Argentina get the truth which they seek.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What do you think of women like St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Gemma Galgani, St. Maria Goretti, and St. Gianna Beretta Molla?\n\nAre they just unfortunate souls who have been elevated to sainthood by a conniving hierarchy to manipulate women into buying into a certain version of what it means to participate in the Church as a woman?\n\nDo you think they relied on a Curia to live our their lives of holiness?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"More often through good intentions (Must deliver west coast \"savages\" to God). No argument.\"\n\n Are you kidding?\n That \"God\" bit is the ugliest part of the genocide and cultural genocide. Along with the deliberate starvation and \"donation\" of disease-ridden blankets to the Indigenous people.\n That's largely why the hippies became supporters of the First Nations and why they renounced their religion.\n Virulent fake \"Christianity\" was the... ugh...\"moral\" rationale for the slaughter of people all over the British, French and Spanish empires.\n \n Hard to believe in 2017 anybody would still be trying to defend colonization. The history of the last 100 years is the attempt of people everywhere to get free from the destructiveness of empires. How would you like to be colonized?\n If Columbus hadn't reached America, we might all be living very comfortable lives in Britain or Europe. And the First Nations would have lived happily ever after. All of us free of endless imperialist wars.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not all Catholics understand nor believe that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those who sincerely desire to receive Jesus will approach the wedding banquet wearing their wedding garments - in other words they will come with a clean soul, having repented of sins and being resolved with the help of God not to sin again. Those who don't wear the wedding garments are not sincere. They will be thrown out of the wedding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Violet, not sure if I am being serious or not but I think there is a point to what I offer here. I take issue with your sentence: \"The faction that controls the Church is at one end of the spectrum\". \nThere is a psychosis of priesthood. Clergy, particularly the top-end, attempts to take itself outside, or even above, \"the spectrum\" of gender and they/it suffers the consequences - and- it is offed on the institution, the mission of Christ, on us.\nA tiny example: IF there were a Natural Law as they conceive and impose it, then a celibate priesthood is as intrinsically evil as is, they claim, homosexuality. If, natural law is really the intelligent reflection and reasoning that precedes from experience, perception, judgment of what is real as held in demonstration and consultation as normal then it includes acknowledgement of what is \"outside the norm\" to be as real as what is within. Even in this scenario, celibacy and homosexuality are \"outside the norm\"- equally evil or equally not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"That is not how organized labor views the world, nor is it how the Catholic Church views the world.\"\n\nI guess you missed the comments of the various labor leaders Trump met with yesterday gushing over how much respect they had been shown. Trump is a buffoon, but on this issue, he is skillfully exploiting some tensions within the labor coalition. It is no accident that he revived the Keystone & Dakota pipelines on the same day he announced pulling out of the TPP; labor has also supported those projects.\n\nFinally, while I support TPP & Free Trade generally, & am alarmed by certain elements of Trump's \"nationalism\", I don't see the logic in the leap from opposing TPP to \"the kind of jingoist, nativist nationalism Trump is peddling\"? Is a \"Buy America\" effort nativist? Nor do I really accept the assertion that the Catholic Church opposes some of the economic protectionist measures he is floating (such as a tax, for example, on corporations that move operations to foreign nations).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A confused and vulnerable young woman manipulated by unscrupulous people pushing their abortion agenda. Thankfully, Jesus seeks and finds the lost sheep and brings them home. \n\n\"The Conversion of Norma McCorvey\"\nhttp://www.priestsforlife.org/columns/conversionofnorma.html\n\nEternal rest, grant unto her O Lord\nand let perpetual light shine upon her.\nMay she rest in peace. \nAmen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "thank you, I think they are too. I am a very lucky man in that regard. my very devout Catholic family is very supportive too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You guys should be elated, Jack. You have been \"freeing the slaves\" for several decades. And in our neck of the woods, they have been ramming women on the church as fast as they can. WO is the new liberation of Adventism from following the bible.\n\nI see they have \"staked me out in the front yard on a short chain again.\" I can post one a day. The bad dog can bark, but he can't bite.\n\nBut Atoday is more liberal than Spectrum or Fulcrum 7 or Advindicate (which is now a Kevin Paulson cult.)\n\nI can post on Educate Truth, The on line Review and here now and then. But my greatest freedom is teaching in a secular jail the kingdom God that is not even a religious atmosphere.\n\nThe SDA church never moved beyond the start of what God envisioned for this movement. It is now a cult that does not know, law, gospel, atonement and salvation in a bible context. And Atoday is certainly not helping the situation.\n\nI'll be on my way for now.........", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My mama told me never to debate on the issues of politics or religion. She was right. I believe you know what the way is...I am not going to debate doctrine of each religious group. If your church was built on the gospel of Jesus Christ, I need not walk you through the scriptures and point out where he shows his children the \"way.\" That is your calling. Walk your faith! Amen?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Im playing a devil's advocate and opposing the blatant animosity for Christian beliefs, it's sort of a sociological study. I believe the Satanists brought upon civil protection to defend themselves from not being included in future invocations, honestly lol I don't want self proclaimed satanists around any part of public policy, Vey left them plenty to manipulate with but that's all it is.. an empty shell. The atheist are supporting their rights to equal turf for their own political agenda which is globalization. At the end of the day, this is all it's about. Do you remember the term \"indivisible?\" Well, as anyone knows, divide and conquer..I'm opposed to the division. I will stand for the Christians when attacked (some who I do respect), I will stand for the indigenous when attacked, I will stand for my fellow countrymen and women when attacked by anyone trying to divide this nation of ours willing to spit on their neighbors. The only thing we have is US!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Comparing the last 300 years of North American development by Europeans and the Judeo-Christian values that built these 2 countries to the last 30 years of immigration from developing and Third World countries is like comparing,actually and literally,Canada and the US to India and China.I expect the usual ,\"you bigot,you racist,\" response from the leftist,'progressive',Trudeau-loving,pro-dope,pro M-103,right-wing hating regulars on this site.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reason is the loss of faith, brought upon us slowly by the reasons mentioned above, including the Catholic Church moving towards Protestant views. The sex abuse scandal did not help as well. No need for the Seven Sacraments, then no need for the Church. Plain and simple.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Mostly it's because he is a middle-aged, slightly pudgy white man who is also a devout (Catholic) Christian with deeply held personal beliefs. In other words, he belongs to the most reviled demographic in Canada.\"\n\nOh man, this tired shtick again. We poor white people don't stand a chance in this world! Boo hooo! And the irony is that hacks like Wente will then turn around and attack \"the left\" and their \"identity politics\". \n\nKenny's problem isn't his race or religion. It's his stale, fake-populist, corporatist, divisive, culture-warrior, platform. He's on the wrong side of every issue. His approach to climate change policy alone - his commitment to build more coal-fired power plants, fight carbon pricing, etc... - is just one concrete example of his wrongheaded view of the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jay, Catholics say \"new\" because we don't say \"revival\". The idea though as I read it is, that we are now hiding inside our churches the way the Apostles hid in the upper room... afraid to go out... I've said that there seems the passive expectation that if someone can get up the church driveway then we'll tend to you. Faith too often stops at the end of the driveway...\n\" We need to go out to meet individuals, families, communities, and peoples to communicate to them, and share the gift of encounter with Christ, who has filled our lives with \u201cmeaning,\u201d truth and love, joy and hope! We cannot passively and calmly wait in our church buildings, but we must move out...\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree that church's shouldn't make endorsements of any kind. Church and state is just bad mix. An honesstly, it's the church that comes out the worst for wear. Jesus by all accounts was not a political person and his kingdom had nothing to do with our earthy kingdoms/nations/states. \n\nWhen the church becomes sponsors of poltical representatives, it diminish the vision on an eternal soul guided by universal principles, in exchange for the intoxicaion of human power serving human ego's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a \"religious website\"?\n\nNot sure about that. This has morphed into a pretty much politically left-wing website that merely has \"Catholic\" on its masthead...and very occasionally offers an article mentions some sort of complaint about the Catholic Church, her teachings, Cardinals / Bishops / Priests......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have the Bishops stated with firm, united assent that self-ascribed messianic cults like the Lepanto Institute are really \"hate groups\" and formally identified as not in an any way consistent with the values of the companionship of Christ? \nIt is useful though to get a glimpse at the \"mental\" and \"spiritual\" source of some of our more virulent members.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What do most Catholic apologists/catechisisesist (sp) make?\n\nJimmy Akin: $110,000 a year\nTim Staples: $120,000 a year\nPatrick Madrid: Salary for radio show unknown, but demands $2500 plus expenses for giving a speech.\nMarcus Grodi of the \"Coming Home Network\": $180,000 a year\nDirector of Immaculate Heart Radio: $120,000 a year\nDirectors of Catholic Answers: Over $200,000 a year\nDonohue: $400,000 a year\n\nThese people are making money from religion. I've heard several of them, on air, basically telling listeners to give because it's what the Lord wants them to do, and that giving their money to Catholic media is a \"good investment\" for their hopes of salvation.\n\nIn my view, their salaries are obscenely plump, and they are taking advantage of people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a Republican and support President Trump. He was not my 1st, 2nd nor 3rd choice in the Presidential Caucus. But he won fair and square. And to dispell any other assumptions; born and raised on Oahu, I'm Chinese, Portuguese, German and Korean, grandparents immigrated to Hawaii, both parents worked very hard to send siblings and myself to Catholic Parochial schools and live in the same house for the last 65 years, have friends of all ethnicities, all political persuasions, Republicans, Democrats, Independents and Libertarians, all religious preferences and sexual preferences. There are more citizens like me than Democrats and media would like to acknowledge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An even better one, from Jesus: \"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.\"\n\nAnd it's reasonable (and helpful pastorally) for us to contemplate our own judgment which is closer to us now than it's ever been.\n\nWhen Jesus, our Lord, Law Giver, and Judge says to us: \n\n\"And how did you my baptized/confirmed child 'go out and make disciples of all'..how did you help others to become baptized?\"\n\n\"when did you go out...\"\n\"where did you go out...\"\n\"How did use My time to go out to all?\"\n\"When did you deny, dismiss, demean, reject this mission I gave you, each of you?\"\n\"Where were you too lazy, too hesitant, too proud, too wrapped in yourself, your ideas, your hypotheses...\"\n\nAnd so we each need to be ready to answer these sorts of questions, but probably far more penetrating ones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In todays world, in the USA, women's rights for equality far exceed men's rights. Claiming, in the beginning they needed \"equalizer laws\" because women are the weaker human being, our lawmakers redefined \"domestic violence\" from riots to families inatead of ccreating new laws identified as family violence. Subversion of the Constitution came forth where women's identities are hidden from pubkuc view, resulting in the same victim being used over and over again by the state; no evidence is needed, as if a woman's words were from Jesus Christ himself; spouses and family members being forced to testify against one another to sustain government theries without a shred of evidencw;There are more deaths to family members and police since before these constitutional subversions. Families are destroued while they must divert their monies to lawyers resulting in a 50 percent divorce rate. Women's rights or feminiat musandrist bigotry collectively destroying American men?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stephen, Ever follow Mike Tyson's trial, the one where the young Christian, testified under oath, that she was a virgin and was raped by Mr. Tyson. Later came out in a sworn affidavit by another young man that he had an intimate relationship with her. When her father found out, she also accused the young man of rape\n\nThe girl continues to claim she was raped as a virgin, in spite of sworn testimony to the contrary. People lie but it is difficult to tell who is the liar.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When evangelicals support Trump, they show us that being white is more important to them than morality, or being a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "GOD -- PEOPLE PRESENT\nFocused attention on God Presence makes God Present INTENTIONALLY.\nGod-Present Consciousness seeks to conceptualize in real-world terms all good that is effected in human experience. The authentic conceptualizing of 'The Divine', the Source of all Goodness, speaks specifically to Godhead and Intentional Divinity.\nHuman conceptualizing of 'The Good That Is' makes God Present intentionally in human understanding. Food subsistence, in the deepest sense, speaks to Divine Prevision/ Provision and conscionable human enablement.\nFood culture is Divine Work. Grain in many cultures is mainstay of subsistence, in the form of bread. In His Final Social Act, Jesus broke Bread and shared Drink with His Intimates. Closeness in God-Present consciousness celebrates this event in Christian Churches as symbolic of Eucharistic Self-Giving, now and in the future.\nThis Mass event intends to be inclusive, not exclusive - women and men together -- All People Together. Exclusion violates", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's \"Roman Catholic Womenpriests\"!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am more and more convinced that MONEY is the root of all evil. And follow the money. Look at Trump: he wants to ban travel from six Muslim countries, but not the countries he has investments in. And suddenly the Right has embraced feminism, except if it's phrased in Equal Pay legislation or in a rebuke of Roman Catholicism or Orthodox Judaism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cIf we truly wish to encounter Christ, we have to touch his body in the suffering bodies of the poor, as a response to the sacramental communion bestowed in the Eucharist,\u201d states Francis. \u201cThe Body of Christ, broken in the sacred liturgy, can be seen, through charity and sharing, in the faces and persons of the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters.\u201d\n\nBeautiful.\n\nMe, you, today, now, nearby.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First the traditionalists claim church doctrine is fixed and unchangeable. As such there is no need to affirm that. There are NO disagreements as to 'meaning' that is a euphemism for 'disagreeing'. Traditionalist know quite well the meaning, they just don't like it. The pope is acutely aware of that folly you present.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you don't recall how it worked during the dictatorship?.. It was part of the constitution [Article 2] the church as the recognised religion in Argentina was financially supported and they in protest could've refused to accept the blood money as it would've been to make a statement.\nThousands of Catholics were murdered never accounted for pitted one against the other......\nand the government did deals choosing new bishops......one's who wouldn't rock the boat.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The support for Trump from the Evangelical Christian (EC) community in the United States, symbolized by the adulation offered by Rev. Robert Jeffress, proves the true morality and motivation of this specific group of people.\n\nThese SUPPOSED god-fearing folks that live by the St. James bible (SUPPOSEDLY including the 10 Commandments - http://www.bibleinfo.com/en/topics/ten-commandments), willingly, EAGERLY support, praise and most importantly, VOTE for a man that lies, cheats, steals, cannot stay true to his wife and treats others \"the way he would do unto them since they aren't nice to him.\" (Notice the play on \"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you...\")\n\nOften, the justification is that man is imperfect (Trump ESPECIALLY so) and one needs to accept the good with the bad (see Sarah Huckabee Sanders for proof of this attitude). This proves that the EC community is ONLY concerned with political power, and issues of religion are moot when conflicting with the need for power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The fact that the Catholic Church would support the ARENA party is an indication of the lack of a moral center.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one has a problem with the Lebanese. Lebanese came here in droves because of the religious conflicts in Lebanon!\n\nMost were Christians or Jews. There was no push by Muslim Lebanese for shariah law, or \"accommodations\".\n\nSame thing with people from North Africa. There were lots of Jews who came here escaping Muslim oppression, as well as Christians, and no one had a problem with those \"brown\" people.\n\nWe are told \"they are only 3%\", yet that 3% has managed to get a lot of attention precisely because they don't just integrate, they have been demanding accommodations to shariah law. Had they been as successful as the Christians and Jews in integrating, there would be no issue either.\n\nWe have spent the last 100 years, and particularly the last 40, fighting for women's rights, why should we be appaluding mass immigration of people who do not believe in them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Concepts such as privilege, oppression, and violence have been broadened to implicate everyone belonging to a historically enfranchised group in the systematic subjugation of minorities.\"\n\nTranslation: Leftists now hate you simply for being white, being male, being Christian, or being straight, and if you are all of those things, oh boy, look out. If you don't stand up and fight against this sort of thing now, your children and grandchildren will be hanging from the gallows. The time for inaction is over. Fight or die.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chaput's \"vision\" of a smaller, more faithful church is the antithesis or direct opposite of the Father's business that Jesus was all about, according to the Gospels. Which is to say that Jesus was all for bringing people in, and not in the least about keeping anyone out! And Jesus saw sinners, even grave sinners, at the head of the line!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church stated many things years ago, that are not so today. One can't sell indulgences. But popes, bishops, and priests once did to raise money to build St. Peter's in Rome. The Church used to teach that if a baby died without baptism, its soul went forever to Limbo. There is no Limbo. The official church ['official' means hierarchy] has taught things about human reproductive systems that it knows little about. Most priests didn't receive much of an education in biology as seminarians, at all. Few have degrees in genetics. What they DON'T know about instances of same sex orientation in all species of animals is sad. What they don't UNDERSTAND in same sex orientation in humans is frightful. \n\nMost of the people on this site [and others] condemning people with the same sexual orientation don't know any personally. Most bishops don't know any as individual people, who are just as unique as hetrosexual individuals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church was being formed and being guided even before Jesus was incarnated! Your Church history appears abbreviated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many professors of philosophy are like religious zealots when they are preaching the gospel according to Marx. The whole article is argumentum ad hominem, a logical fallacy in which by he is UNFAIRLY attacking the character or other attributes of Donald Trump because he disagrees with Donald Trump.\n\nAs for Mr Andrew Sullivan and Professor Kingwell's comment on Donald Trump being mentally ill; I assume they are alright with Hillary Clinton who with new age psychic Jean Houston, co-director of the Foundation for Mind Research, held s\u00e9ances at the white house to \u201cchannel\u201d with the spirit of Eleanor Roosevelt. She said she had talks with Eleanor Roosevelt, Mohandas Gandhi, and even Jesus Christ according to Carl Bernstein. Former President Clinton has stated she still regularly communicates with Eleanor Roosevelt. See here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRav-34ufcE. Mrs Clinton's mental stability is definitely suspect if she is hearing voices and channeling with the dead.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Today it is just a big drunk. Is that respect?\n\nIn the 19th century, the parade was a battle ground. There were 22 brawls between the Orange Order and Irish Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As long as the Catholic Church believes the clergy did nothing wrong they will continue to deny the acts of these pedophile priest and this denial includes the Pope himself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a difference between took form, and incarnation, one assumes that Jesus was more spirit than man and only took appearance of a man, this is a heresy and assumes Christ had no human nature. He incarnated as a man in flesh and spirit. It may seem arbitrary but it is a distinction that exemplifies that salvation and justification is attainable by humans by being Christ like. By saying taking form one could misunderstand that the incarnation was akin to other religions idea of avatars, I had this mistaken understanding until I read more about the early councils of the Church and St Augustines \"City of God\".\n\nThe priest acts in persona of Christ in his liturgical and sacramental priesthood, in this way the priest is a husband and father of the church, these are distinctly male roles. \n\nThere is no basis for female priests in scripture, tradition or theology. If all these things are invalid on this central issue than isn't Catholicism pointless and false? Please answer my other post", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our Constitution isn't inconvenient -- until and unless -- it gets in the way of a popular opinion. Setting boundaries, determining how far is too far -- is uncomfortable when it is about mine but not so much when its about theirs. And that's the role of a constitution. It is't the role of FEMA to make people or businesses or institutions whole again after a disaster. \n\nI got to tell ya though the face of Christ was every where in the flooded streets after Harvey. Floating rafts, carrying kids, hugging pets... the Face of Christ shoulder to shoulder is bigger than any building. Go God!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Being protected by a Christian in the pay of the father of George Soros (Schwartz) doe not alleviate him of his participation in identifying other Jewish people and as you know not from the often discredited Snopes, The Christian did not take the property nor did the Christian then arrest and send the Jewish families to Auschwitz the Hungarian Nazis did those deeds. Turning these innocent Jews over to the Nazis knowing what the outcome to be is not laudable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a woman of the Catholic faith and Irish DNA, I will always support ALL immigrants and their human right to find a peaceful country where they can reside. As for the Langley city council - this is such an insignificant issue for a city of this size. Where is the closest federal agency or armed force that's going to be spying around Langley to find an illegal immigrant? Can't your time be better spent on studying how to get sewers installed on Edgecliff and all the environmentally sensitive areas in the city? Reducing water and sewer costs WILL contribute to economic development as developers and buyers will be encouraged instead of deterred. Filling the Dog House, Mike's Place and the Edgecliff with tenants or new buyers should be a target with a by date attached. Where are all the tour boats that we were all told to be so excited about 3 long years ago? Get out of your council chairs and generate dialogue to convince buyers and developers to come to Langley NOW.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The records paint a picture of a diocese that repeatedly assigned priests accused of sexually abusing children to posts where they could abuse again, the Albuquerque Journal reported.\"\n\n\"The Journal reported that Sigler was never reprimanded by the church and was instead thanked for his service when he decided to leave the priesthood to get married.\"\n\nJesus weeps.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Herriman's sort of schizophrenic view on life is, indeed, very catholic. We have some not-so-nice hierarchy protecting pedophiles while condemning the divorced and re-married. A pope who has done much to correct this; but also looks the other way when his colleagues act in evil ways.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think his 5th Avenue remark really drove home the existential truth about his base supporters. At least for me. The subsequent release of the Billy Bush tape drove home the duplicity and rank cowardice of the GOP in the face of Trump's base, and it also proved once again, the base's willingness to accept that for them Trump is not just above the law, but above any notion of common decency. What happened in Charlotesville will be repeated and it will get uglier. We have not just Trump's racist base to thank for that, but also white Christian pro lifers who put potential life above above any sense of the national common good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop McElroy - start here: I promise you, more young adults read The Huffington Post than read NCR...http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/catholic-church-democrats-go-to-hell_us_581c1493e4b0d9ce6fbb1c3d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Selection of new Cardinals is a critical task in changing the direction of the church in any lasting way. If the church does not change with the times, it will just become another chapter in the history books. Long life PF, we need you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really. This just makes me so mad. This isn't who we are as people and as Americans. I actually donated $ to the International Rescue Committee last night and I would love to do something else to help. Trump represents the worst of America and the protesters the best of America and I hope that the best wins.\n\nAnd Cupich's statement - I remain in awe of how strong that was. I hope that all the pastors in Chicago read that statement during Mass and conservative Catholics reflect on whether they are going to ignore this outrage because \"tax cuts\" and Supreme Court.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Never mind bigotry or hatred. What about misogyny? lying? cheating? having affairs ? adultery and divorce? assaulting women? All Catholic virtues?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reminds me of a time at Goose Lake Park in Anchorage, I think it was in 1974 or 1975. There was a group of people from some church that had gathered together and had contacted the local media to draw attention to their anti-marijuana use stance. So Herb Shaindlin who was from channel 13 came out with a camera crew. The group of devout followers gathered together in a circle holding hands they were surrounded by all of the stoners, not really surrounded but they were outnumbered by the stoners in the surrounding area. The devout group of secular people started chanting Jesus in a sing song manner with great zeal and they were met from most every corner of the park from almost every one else who had gathered together to celebrate a sunny summer day with one word......marijuana. \n\nThe encounter was filmed to be shown on the 6:00 news.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's because you have a poor understanding of what it means to \"offer it up\".\n\nYou have the myth and you hold on to it (and there's a reason for this holding on that I won't go into today).\n\nWe offer something to God spiritually as an act of communion, an exchange with God. \n\n\"Here is my pain/my struggle/my limitation/my problem, please give me grace like You promised you would. I am only a child and can't do this anymore. Help me. Hurry.\" (acts of humility, abandonment, faith, hope). \n\nWe can offer things for various reasons..all good ones...all enabling a different and deeper unity with God, dialog with Him, encountering Him amid our troubles (or our joys). \n\nWe can offer some distasteful work well done as an act of petition for someone else.\n\nRather than offering you a tissue, I offered you about 5 ways that you could quite quickly and beautifully sanctify this period of your life with God. \n\nThat's an act of charity. If you want a tissue of sympathy see a Jesuit priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where has the Catholic Church NOT stood up against violence against anyo e including the LGBTQRST?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And I'll say something else for Michael Voris: He had the courage to come out of the closet.\n\nNot all Catholic gay men have that courage. I can think of one in particular.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Dubia cardinals have been exceedingly polite and patient in their writings to the pope and I fear you judge them rashly by ascribing sinister motives by asking the pope to affirm Christ's teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have found it very easy to feed the hungry, reach out to the oppressed, teach children and care for the sick (which I do professionally) without worshipping in a Catholic Church. Even though I was born and raised a Catholic I find it easier for me to preform these tasks without supporting some slimy bishop living in a mansion. I have even preformed these tasks while dealing with cancer. I have also had a slimy bishop suggest that I lie to my family and not tell them about abuse that happend to me. If you enjoy supporting a church in this country that is controlled by corrupt MEN like this bishop that is your choice. These bishops love the income they receive from those that stay (even knowing all of these scandals are still going on).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The paragraph \n\n\u201cTo me it\u2019s a prayer,\u201d said Lara Neri, an artist and Byzantine Catholic from Dallas. \u201cIt\u2019s probably the most intense prayer that I do.\u201d But experts in the U.S. say the broad interest is often welcomed.\n\nOccurs twice in the story. Editor, fix this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. There have been steps taken by Pope Francis that at least reduce the many ways in which women in the church (as religious and as faithful Catholics) have been silenced, ostracized, deliberately not looked at, kept behind a veil as surely as a woman in a full hijab. Francis has opened the door a crack, just a bit, so that voices can be heard, somewhat, and allowed women to occupy some small spaces on the outer peripheries of Vatican life and power. \n\nBut no women are really inside in a capacity to influence decisions. Is what Pope Francis has done, cracking to door open a bit, the beginning of a larger change Pope Francis hopes to see? Or, is this the meat-less bone thrown to the starving dog? I no longer know.\n\nI am grateful for what Pope Francis has done. But, if these small, tiny steps are to lead anywhere, it is time for the next step. And, it needs to be a larger step than has been seen so far.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So what you are saying is they are idol worshipers who have erected their own false god of canon law, and abandoned Jesus? Good luck enforcing canon law on judgment day. Some might end up wishing they were being tossed in the ocean with a millstone necklace (Francis, JPII, Law, etc...).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fittipaldi\u2019s \"Avarice: Papers that Reveal Wealth, Scandals and Secrets in the Church of Francis\" and Nuzzi\u2019s \"Merchants in the Temple\" give proof that of the 378 million euro given to the pope in 2013 for his \"charitable works\" only 20% was given to the poor. In charitable bank accounts in the Vatican bank, out of hundreds of thousands of euros, the amount was miniscule or nothing. \nOn Sept. 1, the pope said,\"\u201cMigrants should be treated according to certain rules, because migration is a right, but one which is highly regulated\" and \"if a country is only able to integrate 20 [refugess], let\u2019s say, then it should only accept that many.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The institutional Church is still in denial, almost to the point of maintaining a code of silence, about the origins of the problem in different ways in major and minor seminaries. Minor seminaries are gone and with them part of the problem, but there will always be a need for major seminaries. Zero tolerance after the fact is not a solution if in some places the Church will ordain pederast priests and put vulnerable young men in environments where they may be steered toward pederasty.\n\nAnd the topic of pederast clerics looking out for one another and doing what they can to get their fellows promoted or in good assignments is still barely acknowledged.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Facts, all sexism, and especially sexism birthed in religion, directly causes and creates the hellholes, in the various countries around the world that surround our churches, temples and mosques. It is high time we cut down the evil at its route. Sexism does not come from God or Scripture or Jesus. It comes from men and women misinterpreting all of the preceding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're right about that. Such good Catholics, they're as tribal as the Bundys.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is actually funny. History has PROVEN, the ONLY time the church moves forward is when the secular world DRAGS them KICKING and SCREAMING into somewhat modern times. His comments aren't newsworthy. They are proof the catholic church is, and always has been, a criminal organization", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why would ANY Catholic school--even one run by Jesuits--have \"chaplains from other faiths {cults}\" on campus? EXTRA ECLLESIA NULLA SALUS.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Totally irresponsible for Eijk to assert without any serious source this statement, \"He said even Catholic parents were beginning to accept that their own children can choose their genders partly because \"they don't hear anything else.\"\n\"They don't hear anything else?\" This is more a Trump mindset that blatantly makes unsubstantiated claims without any \"fundamentum in re.\" Shame on Eijk! This only leads to needless deviation on the complex issue of gender. He evidently hasn't walked in the sandals of any such person (or a serious one-on-one conversation with a person) who seeks to be true to self. Mother Nature is not always precise. \nEijk ought to explain a creator's hermaphrodite mistakes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was a horrible lose of decorum in the presidential debates and it doesn't apply here either. \n\noh I am kept up. But its hard to keep up with someone who's spinning around in circles.\n\nThere is NO connection between oil prices and terrorism. These are radical ideological movements not economic ones. \n\nSo ISIS propped up and started torturing Christians, killing gays, ( ours and theirs) because they wouldn't contract with us for oil? Please the tinfoil hat is getting a tad tight around the head.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually there are some priests, brothers and sisters who do enjoy celibacy. \n\nHowever, as long as we ordain female married priests too, but not until we are, I am for optional celibacy in the priesthood.\n\nThis nonsense,in this article, was not created by celibacy. It was created by clericalism, arrogance, and sexism. The belief that ordination means one cannot possibly end up in hell. A false belief which Jesus himself refutes just as he told his disciples when he walked on the earth: \"Your righteousness must be greater than that of the scribes or the pharisees or you will not enter the kingdom of God.\"\n\nSexism clearly plays a part in this issue. Certainly, priests and bishops who treat women this way, do so because they believe women are less valuable to God than men. This belief comes from having women restricted from the Sacrament of Holy Orders, without any reason in the Gospels to do so. Where sexism is allowed so comes the automatic abuse of women's human dignity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is past time for the RCC to scrap most of cannon law and begin again to follow the Way of Christ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stan, agree with your sentiments especially a desire and obligation to be on our best behavior when on the mainland or in a foreign country. But I disagree that things were different in Inouye's, Patsy's, or Burn's time. These are good, even great people, but they didn't stop the anti-Catholic years prior to Kennedy's election, the fear of communists domination of Hawaii labor, abuse of selective service system, or the accusation of Larry Mehau being the godfather of organized crime. \n\nI think if the 24hr news cycle brings inconvenience to Ms Lyons Kent, she'll just move back to the mainland. Hawaii's just another place now-a-days.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world and 4.5 million Irish.\n\nDuring the Irish conflicts there was no blanket condemnation of Protestants or Catholics.\n\nConvicting the masses based on the behaviour of a small percentage is a knee-jerk reaction founded in ignorance.\n\nIt would be like profiling white males because the largest proportion of mass shootings in the U.S. are perpetrated by that group.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Holy Spirit selects the Pope.\nThe Pope must be listened to.\nExcept I don't like this Pope and what he's teaching.\nThe Holy Spirit obviously doesn't choose the Pope after all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The boomers had the best chance in the history of the world to change the world. We changed many things but because we didn't permanently make the economy less unequal, leaders like Reagan, Thatcher, Mulroney, Chretien and Harper were able to push Canada much further to the right wing than the 1960's boomers ever could have imagined.\n The secure, inclusive, love and peace Canada we envisioned faded out of existence, leaving us with the nuclear arms race, Christian evangelism, corporate takeover of government, attacks on liberalism, racism, sexism, xenophobia, austerity, and the continual drift to the right wing that has made the lives of generations X, Y and Z much more insecure and less prosperous.\n\n Boomers have been stuck between those who loved us for liberating them and those who hated us for not liberating them. Their response has been to keep busy making lots of money.\n lol.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What about the parable of the Good Samaritan? Mercy was shown to the injured man who had done nothing. The idea of mercy to another human (I would include non-human beings also) who had done no wrong was given in the teachings of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\nYou're right: this is a complicated history. One of the many tragedies within this scandal is that we're not going to get an accounting that answers the famous Watergate questions: What did they know? When did they know it? What did they do about it? Clergy sex abuse clearly did not begin on John Paul II's watch, but the crisis exploded while he was bishop of Rome, and he failed utterly, miserably in dealing with it. We need and deserve an accounting of how and why that happened, and we're not going to get it. The canonization of JPII is a scandal within this scandal. \nRatzinger was Prefect of the CDF from 1981, but didn't acquire jurisdiction in sex abuse cases until 2001, by which time JP was failing; enter Sodano. But the dossier on Maciel dated to the 1950s, and the accusations against him by members and former members of the Legion of Christ were public in the 1980s. What in the world could have prompted JPII to describe this man as \"an efficacious guide to youth\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bro. Abbott, gender equality is rooted in the Bible, not \"isms.\" Genesis makes it clear that the woman is created as the man's equal. She is created from a rib, not a foot. She is defined at creation by God as a companion, not a servant. The submission language comes into the story many generations later, from human culture, not the words of the Creator. Paul's reference to \"nature\" is post-Fall nature, not God's original created nature. Paul puts the submissive wife in the same passage with his advocacy of slavery. He consistently advocated traditional Roman Empire culture because of his fear that the infant Jesus movement would be destroyed by the heavy hand of the ruling elite. Adventists left those traditionalist ideas behind in its first generation under the spiritual leadership of James and Ellen White. Perhaps they interpreted the Bible wrong, but not due to any \"ism.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is quite sad that one chooses to respond in a manner that some might find insulting. But I realize people have different ways of talking and what would, for some, be rude or uncivil, is merely a form of speech for others. What is also troubling is the tendency of some to react defensively to comments, claiming a victim status that is just inappropriate under the circumstances. I believe that all true catholics need to work together on this board to further the traditions of the church, the recognition of the supremacy of the heavenly ordained clergy, the primacy of ritual, that inspiration of awesome vestments and papal pomp which differentiates our great and unchanging church from the other organizations calling themselves \"churches\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was born after VII and missed the worst of your experience. However, my first few years in the Church (as an adult convert) involved this merit based salvation, then after a few years of trying to be the perfect Catholic, constantly feeling guilty and fretting about not being good enough for God, my moment of transformative grace came in surrender to the reality that I am a failure...and God loves me that way. The freedom of not having to be perfect has energized my spiritual life and love for God in a way that perfection never could have. I now understand St. Paul when he says \"the letter of the law kills, but the spirit gives life.\" I think (I am riffing on Richard Rohr here) that strict, rule based, merit based religion is a necessary stage of growth on the way to spiritual adulthood. Some people mistake an adolescent spiritual rebellion for real freedom, others take the opposite tack and are so afraid of rebellion that they never grow to adulthood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are things that I like and don't like about the church. But sometimes you have to take accept the negatives to stay in relationship with those that give your strength and happiness. \n\nI was lucky to have a pastor Kevin Korver, who read a ton of books and often used references outside the realm of the strictly religious experience. He had lived in a mostly black neighborhood in his father parish in L.A., he often told the story of his personal Shame, when he met a dying AIDS patient who saw his fear and said \"why don't you shake my hand preacher boy?'. He was not your run of the mill rural/evangelical Iowa pastor.\n\nThe image of that church's evangelism was Always on the positive, believing in the strength of God's love for all. I never heard condemnation of the non-religious in that church. They offered kindness, acceptance regardless of your current status, including criminal and any skin color. Not every member followed his lead, human's are like that! ;-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do people shrink the gospel into a few sentences which happen to suit their own prejudices then use these texts to justify the most unChristian behaviour towards their own brothers and sisters. Beats me!\n\nSomeone once called it, \"snatching at scripture texts then erecting them into the sole criterion for good and evil.\"\n\nAnd who would crucify a man who went around Palestine helping old people cross the road and patting young children on the head? Who would do that? It makes no sense.\n\nThe set punishment for blasphemy was stoning to death. The set punishment for criminals (thieves and political transgressors) was crucifixion. We know Jesus wasn't a thief, so...\n\nJesus was a political threat.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Minnery and his ilk use the \"clobber\" verses from the OT frequently to try and justify their hateful actions. Sorry, but you can't have it both ways. You either follow Jesus or you live according to the OT law. \nAnd yes, I am well-versed in theology. At the root of Christianity is Jesus. The great I Am. Christians are supposed to be those who follow Him. And Jesus didn't say a thing about homosexuality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Censorship is alive and well in the USA. Some college campuses don't allow white supremacists and misogynists to sell their vision to their students. In most red states, the public school books teach things like General Kelly's version of the Civil War, which is not true. There is enough guilt to go around for everyone that can pull a trigger. Honesty is not one of our national virtues. In fact, the only truth tellers we love are dead. For example, MLK was hated by the majority of Americans while he was alive. He told the truth about our national lack of honesty and morality in how we have abused people for profit and spite from day one. Heck, Jesus would be killed again if he came back today talking about loving and caring for the poor while looking like an Arab with long hair and a beard. More than a few Christians would call him a terrorist, a communist, or a socialist. His message of love would be called fake news today. We just elected a president that has no concept of empathy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ON THIS EARTH---we do not grasp the ETERNAL TRUTH. We cannot comprehend God who IS ETERNAL TRUTH. God can only be loved and enjoyed---which is the best way to know God and respond to God. \n\nAs one who teaches Church history, we see the church teaching many things that were colored by the times, by politics, by the hierarchy's desire for greater power. For example, we tried to know and explain God through objectified knowledge. This is crazy! That is why we have so many mass-produced fundamentalists and practical agnostics inside the church---and sincere atheists outside of it.\n\nThe church of 1017 does not speak to us any more than the concept of a flat earth does. Our Church has recognized that the Protestants have much good to say to us and much truth as well. The Holy Spirit doesn't fail to inspire any who sincerely pray and that includes any man or woman of good will.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the response. I was taught in seminary classes (1964-65) that double effect was a valid principle. The example then given was a drug store clerk selling contraceptives and the conclusion was she was moral in performing her job duties, despite strictures against contraception. (I long since have rejected the notion of contraception as immoral, as have most Christians of all denominations). I do think that principle applies in the Kansas hospital case, where the aborting of the fetus was simply a necessary step in saving a life rather than killing two lives by inaction. So I do not accept that moral acts have an \"intrinsic\" status. We always have excepted massive killing in war, even if it involves \"collateral\" unintended damage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for the link. My point exactly. Do your own research.\nI'm sorry that this prompted a nasty back and forth response from both sides. It's the pre-election all over again.\nHarry is entitled to his belief, although I always find it a bit hard to agree with men who believe that since they are never in the same position as women who make that choice. \nbut I do think it's amazing that pro-Trump voters can ignore all of the hurtful things that he and his group have said throughout, and are still saying them. certainly not christian or inclusive or constructive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Synod of Bishops met in Rome in 2005 to discuss this matter in particular and to come up with suggestions on how to facilitate getting the Eucharist to those who do not have easy access to it.\n\nConclusion: the status quo (but the suggestion to look again at the reopening of junior seminaries.) \n\nThey did enjoy a sumptuous meal together, three different wines, one for each course of the meal. At the end they were treated to a fine piece of scripture study by Benedict when he opined, \"It was not by accident that Jesus chose the image of a banquet as presaging heaven.\"\n\nThis group of bloated clerics actually sat there and clinked glasses, toasting each others religious hedonism, while totally ignoring those who have access to neither the Eucharist or the food or drink this lot guzzled down.\n\nEveryone of them should have been sacked for dereliction of duty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you were a professor at one of those liberal colleges 'filled with snowflakes', you would do well to read a book by Emily Post, as kag suggests, and not call your students pejorative names. If it be a Catholic college, it would even be better if you actually THOUGHT of your students as individual people rather than as a group of bad dudes or something. As to the 'serious trouble' thingie, college is an excellent place to discuss these ideas in an open forum. That's part and parcel of an academic institution. The 'getting in trouble' thingie mostly has to do with stand-your-ground-shooter-types as professors who can't engage this discussion. The kind who would be calling their own students \"snowflakes\". You, for instance. My free advice: don't be a professor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is ok to celebrate Indigenous Day, but it is time to take a stand against the democrats and not let them control the narrative....they lost, remember. They are trying to take the word Christmas from us because it has the word Christ. They are trying to take our flag, our crosses, our Anthem from us . They are effectively using our indoctrinated youth at college campuses to shut down free speech and use them for violent riots destroying vehicles and businesses. They are inciting minority groups and having them destroy monuments. Take a stand, our country is not run by mob rule. It is we the people that should be voting on each and every issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus Christ did not found the RCC. His followers were known as the followers of The Way. Orthodox and several Protestant churches have as much claim to following the Way as does the RCC. The RCC was really founded by Constantine. Leadership of all denominations including the RCC, have had at times very poor leadership. I think what Egalabas is saying is that the perversion of clericalism particularly the perversions since Vatican II which attempted to solve some of the problems have him throughly disgusted. I am disgusted too but perhaps not so completely.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many people personally meet presidential candidates? How does meeting someone reveal the entire person? What would meeting Trump prove for Ms Nelson\u2014that she was or wasn't also assaulted? And if not assaulted, how is that evidence that others haven't been? Ms Nelson and all of us have a right to consider the serious evidence there is without being dismissed as politically motivated. \n\nThe argument that we have to forgive Trump as a fellow sinner is irrelevant to whether one deems him fit to be POTUS. The reasons for placing anyone in responsibility depend on a person's qualities and stances\u2014not on Christian forgiveness. By this reasoning, we'd have to put a child molester in charge of a daycare if he repented. \n\nDespite your assumptions and objections that others are being political, you write as a partisan supporter of Trump. You're openly opposed to the Clintons despite their being \"imperfect sinners in need of God's grace like the rest of us.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To the extent that the essay is seen as a weapon it simply elicits a rebuttal weapon. Ordinary catholics and ordinary evangelicals can and mostly do get along. We catholics, of all people, know how we are \"used\" by leadership for ideological purposes. \nAs the awed child noted as he viewed the morass of excrement: there's gotta be a pony in there somewhere. For starters, we are largely referring to elitist ideologues who:\n-are smart,\n-entertain hidden aims that are shared secretely, \n-shun real uaccounability for ideology or leadership \n-pander to gain, satisfy, keep followers\n-manipulate and use \"simple\" followers for these hidden aims.\n-will throw anyone - even children - under the bus to hide, preserve, further.... \nWe \"ordinary sheep\" need to watch the \"fight\" together, listen and learn what we really should reject: gurus of hate, ideologues, radical fundamentalists, whether they be Catholic, Protestants, Jew, Mulsem, Evangelical, atheist...\nThink, talk about what we should embrace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jimbob7,\n\nWhat if reading the whole bible is the problem? What if the bible was never meant to be read as a whole? What if the bible is a collection of vastly differing human experiences with a common God?\n\nWhat if the bible is, form Genesis to Revelation, a continuous, undeviating repetition of God\u2019s creative engagement with humanity no matter our spiritual plight, for which God has taken full responsibility (Genesis 3:10-15)? \n\nWhat if the bible is summed by Jesus, God\u2019s son and humanity\u2019s creator become genetically bonded with the creation, affirming us in His death while we remain his enemies every time we doubt God\u2019s grace by seeking to know good and evil for ourselves? \n\nWhat if our personal attempt to know good and evil denies the everlasting Gospel declared by the First Angel of Revelation 14 and evidences a clinging to Babylon\u2019s hybrid salvation after Babylon\u2019s collapse? \n\nWhat if persistence is the antithesis of the patience of the saints?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for this. May I now ask for your opinion on changes in this proportion over time? My guess would be that the percentages were lower at the time of V2, then increased as many seminarians and religious left (being disproportionately heterosexual), and then increased again as those entering seminaries became more and more conservative (with heterosexuals being far less willing to forego marriage). (Perhaps I should mention that I was a Jesuit seminarian for 8 years in 1960s, so I am one of those post V2 exivits.)\n\nBTW, I am not surprised with your higher number for gay clergy, but I am surprised with the high end of your estimate of those who are actively gay.\n\nAgain BTW, I am 72; and I would be overjoyed to learn that you are much younger. Theologically open-minded, pastorally-brilliant priests my age are not a rarity, but among the young....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2/2 continuation\nAn anecdote: In South Africa - the Anglican Bishops met with their first black Bishop to discuss what position they would take on the new marriage laws being imposed by the Nationalist government. They were all agreed that apartheid was morally wrong and would stand shoulder to shoulder with people of all and mixed races etc etc. They then broke up for lunch and went to the restaurant next door - all except 2 of them (the black bishop who was not allowed into a whites only restaurant, and one other who accompanied him). They went without lunch. None of the others were aware of their privilege or behaviour ... until afterwards. It was this bishop who told the story - without rancour, with good humour and with forgiveness - what a witness to Christ's grace. \nI repeat this story, not to point fingers at the Anglicans but to illustrate how easy it is to be 'righteous' in our decisions and yet unaware of our own collusion in racism (or any other privileged '-ism'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your point? Since everyone is having fun being bigoted toward Christians, then as you point out, Victimitis should have the courage to say the same thing about Islam... Should Victimitis be condemned for bigotry? What about Uberalles (nice handle HH).\n\nWhat exactly is Islamophobia? Is there a defined, accepted definition as from what I've seen it pretty much encompasses everything to do with the religion, culture, politics you name it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Real obedience comes when you disagree\"\n\nClearly, Jesus miserably failed the test of \"real obedience\" to the religious authorities of his day. Does the CDF know about Jesus' failure of \"real obedience\"? Is this something about which you need to alert them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "hallelujah baby jesus! I'm going to faint from joy.\n\nbreak out the choir! I'm not even religious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As for the Dark Enlightenment, let\u2019s just call it fascism and leave it at that. It is against the free thought of the real enlightenment, which tells all kinds of authorities, both police and ecclesiastic, to shove it.\n\nThe alt right\u2019s real purpose is to justify capitalism, the domination of the bosses. Catholic social doctrine can help, but it only goes so far. Something akin to cooperative socialism, which includes democratizing both ownership and control of the enterprise is needee to stop the vulnerability of the white working class to the alt-right, although to do so it must respect the views of the religious without becoming subservient to the Church. Distributism is a quaint idea, but will not work in practice.\n\nAs for countering the alt-right leadership, ridicule may be best, although sometimes that just radicalizes their followers, so it must be really funny.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They talk about diversity but look at who makes up the BRT? Everyone on the team obviously thinks exactly alike, why isn't there someone from the athletic department, someone from the law school, someone from the Christian or Jewish student body. Not once did i see mention of bias toward white students or maybe the BRT doesn't believe that could even happen. Diversity i guess is in the eye of the beholder.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I have watched our vice pres. sit down and lie, it does not draw me to vote for him. The first time I had seen Pence, was his debate for the election, he lied throw the debate. I watch as this VERY christian person who does not accept the 10 commandments,except when his wife is close.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seriously, Barbara.\n\nWhat is your problem with Catholics?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The phrasing chosen by journalists, in these modern times, could use a bit more in the way of evolution.\n\nThere is a part that reads: \"Ladner parent Michelle Wilson said Ms. Simpson's response and the support she has gained simply reinforces the work that still needs to be done to educate people on SOGI issues. Her daughter, Tru, was behind a human rights complaint against her Catholic school district because it could not accommodate her request to be treated as a girl.\"\n\nHello?\n\nCould journalists please simply state that plainly, rather than presenting a puzzle-piece for readers to solve?\n\nHere is how it could be presented plainly:\n\n \"Ladner parent Michelle Wilson said Ms. Simpson's response and the support she has gained simply reinforces the work that still needs to be done to educate people on SOGI issues. Her transgender daughter, Tru, was behind a human rights complaint against her Catholic school district because it could not accommodate her request to be treated as a girl.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All that is very nifty but unless all baptized in the church are playing on an equal playing field without discrimination then all your answers are biased against the groups which are being abused. \n\nIt is not healthy for people or the church anywhere to ignore the hateful and unequal treatment of women in our church by this continued denial to all sacraments that our church offers men. \n\nAlso South American Catholics seek women's equal ordination as well. Justice must be upheld in our church before we can truly grow and become a healthy church in the world. South America is losing many Catholics to the Nones too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with you. Having been educated at Catholic grammar schools, an all girls Catholic high school, and even a Jesuit University, I do not remember any class being offered on the social gospel. All we have been hearing for too many years is the American bishops preaching to us on sexual issues, when they themselves have allowed the sexual abuse and rape of children worldwide. It is shameful to me that popes have required the bishops to pledge obedience to them, even when the popes have chosen to ignore the command of Jesus to protect the innocence of children. Why should we, the people of God, listen to these pompous men who never listen to us? Sadly, the leaders of my Church worship the man-made institution of the Church with all of its rules and regulations, I do not think many of them know Jesus or listen to the Holy Spirit in their lives. Our Congress is full of self-righteous Christians who want to take away any support for our most marginalized. Very sad!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeesh Booz, what a life you've had. Thanks for sharing it, it might help somebody else. \n\nSome people are more inclined to compulsions including food, drugs, alchohol, sex, badmittin....... Your 'toughen up' worked well for you, It's very similar to what a friend used on his addicted son, 'tough love'. Different ending, his son died, I believe of an overdose, the next year. Would you agree that maybe different people need different approach's?\n\nThis is from wikipedia: \n\n\"Hughes served as Governor from 1963 to 1969. During this time, he continued to reach out, as a Christian and an alcoholic in recovery, to people still suffering. He established a treatment program in the state and was an effective spokesman for a more enlightened view of the role of alcohol in society. The new treatment program was viewed as an alternative to the state mental hospitals. Hughes wrote that the goal was to reach alcoholics \"before they reach rock bottom.\"\n\n*I read Hugh's autobiography.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Bill,\n\nMy point was that if one actually reads the motion it is easily apparent that it includes racism and discrimination in all forms, thus including Christianity and Judaism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Terror source\" countries? Ridiculous. According to People magazine (why not?): \n\n\"Trump\u2019s ban did not include any of the Muslim-majority countries where the Trump Organization \u2014 which is now being run by his sons \u2014 holds business interests. Those countries reportedly include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, the U.A.E. and Azerbaijan.\n\nHere\u2019s a look back at the major terrorist attacks that have taken place on U.S. soil since 9/11, including the nationalities of the perpetrator, or perpetrators.\n\nOf this list, zero fatal attacks were carried out by immigrants from the seven Muslim-majority countries targeted by the ban.\"\n\nMoreover, it's accurate to call it a Muslim ban because not only are the targeted countries predominantly Muslim, but also, Christians from those countries are exempt.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The comparison is ludicrous. Jews weren't killing people all over the world and encouraging others to do the same. They weren't creating brigades of young murders and strapping bombs on their children. A Syrian in America has all the rights and protections afforded any person entering our country legally. We as a nation admit more refugees/immigrants than any other nation on earth, by a wide margin. Europe is rethinking it's open door policy with good reason. We're constantly shown the pathetic orphan boy or girl each time the subject of Syrian refugees comes up although the majority are adult male Muslim. No explanation as to why only 4% admitted in U.S. so far have been Christian. Surely they're in as great a need for asylum as the fleeing military age male Muslims.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics aren't supposed to eat meat on Fridays. Millions do. So your point is ridiculous. Not all Muslims are orthodox to the nth degree. Many are very Liberal and just want to live their lives in peace while raising their families like everyone else.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, so you believe in punishing women for having been raped? This is a Christian stance?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Islam is not the enemy, \"\nQ 4:34, husbands are allowed to beat their wives if they \u201cfear disobedience;\u201d Q 2:282, the testimony of a woman is worth half that of a man\u2019s; Q 4:11 and Q 4:176, a woman should only inherit half as much as a man does; Q 65:4, sexual relations with females who have not yet had their menstrual cycle (i.e., prepubescent girls) are permissible;Q 4:24, having female sex slaves, \u201cthose whom your right hand possess\u201d is permissible. It demands that Christians and Jews be fought and brought under submission for their beliefs (Q 9:29). It states that the punishment for \u201cthose who sow corruption on the Earth\u201d which can include large swathes of people, is to be executed, crucified, or mutilated (Q 5:33). The Qur\u2019an commands that Muslims be harsh against unbelievers, and merciful amongst themselves (Q 48:29).These verses are all from the Qur\u2019an, the most authoritative source for Islamic doctrine and praxis.\nMaybe not your enemy. Also, please do not harbor criminals.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Meh, Christians are just as ugly. Just the opposite side of the same coin if you ask me.\n\nAnd I can't begin to talk about Sweden, a country I know nothing about. But a quick Wiki search indicates that unlike the majority of countries in Europe, crime data in Sweden are collected when the offence in question is first reported, at which point the classification may be unclear. In Sweden, once an act has been registered as rape, it retains this classification in the published crime statistics, even if later investigations indicate that no crime can be proven or if the offence must be given an alternative judicial classification.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "the drunk Christian or Buddhist lawyer do not follow a Whacko religion that wants to kill apostates.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hopefully the house of cards is about to collapse and the roadkill-haired orange idiot will follow. To use a playing card saying, he's going to be Trumped.\n\nTrouble is, the VP could be even worse, him being a right wing Christian fundamentalist who rejects evolution and believes in the Rupture. God help us all, wherever she may be.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This story is bovine fecal matter mixed with leftist propaganda. To begin with, this garbage of an article is built upon faulty logic. Just get a load of the slanted sub-headline: \"The food makers say that once they open their doors for business, they don\u2019t get to choose their customers.\" THAT'S NOT THE ISSUE!!!!\n\nI've been to Mr. Phillip's shop more than a few times. Anybody and I mean ANYBODY can walk in and buy anything, I say ANYTHING! As long as you're wearing clothes, come on in! \n\nBut what do you expect when you ask a sincere and dedicated Christian artist to create a piece of art that celebrates anal sex? This was a set up from the get-go. The real crime is the \"gay couple\" (that are conveniently not named in this article) that are forcing their will and beliefs upon Mr. Phillip and denying HIM the freedom of self determination that this Country is built upon.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Shes nuts... but no more so than Christians who think \"god\" speaks to them. Sounds like a perfect Republican candidate to me.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Stop spewing trash and speak the truth. Hawai'i monarch's never gave those lands to anybody. Those were \"leased lands\" to the western \"sugar barons\" whose Christian raised children conspired with others, including the American military to overthrow the Hawaiian government to take control of these islands and eventually stole control of everything under the Hawaiian sun. It's difficult to get clear title for land purchased in Hawai'i. Land ownership in Hawai'i is challenged all the time due to the records from the great Mahele which are housed in the DLNR (Department of Land & Natural Resourses) building. So are you saying Hawaiians are better off with the US occupation rather than with Russia? International crime is a criminal offense no matter where you are on this planet. You criminal minded people always use the wrongs of others to justify your own criminal acts.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "When will gay Catholics like Don make amends for the thousands of children raped by gay priests?\n\nNot much self-awareness in that campy camp.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"....by the same twisted folks who contort themselves mindlessly defending a 6th Century religion that throws gays off buildings, stones women, believes in honor killings, and forces women to cover themselves.\"\n\nTo be fair, I don't think all christians are like that...just a lot of 'em.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If you are interested in violent racist mobs, then google \"Videos of Evergreen State College students attacking professor and college president.\"\n\nThese videos are a visceral representation of the toxic anti-white, anti-male bigotry which is enveloping most college campuses.\n\nWith respect to the Portland stabbings, if Mr Christian is found to be both sane and guilty then he should receive a harsh sentence. It sounds as if he is completely deranged.\n\nBigotry against any group should not be tolerated.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The catholic church has abused their power over the years until the Reformation, which broke the bonds the church had over society and helped usher in The Age of Enlightenment. Stating that religious communities are responsible for neoconservative activism, colonialism and neo-colonialism is a stretch to say the least, I could even make the argument that such a statement is bigoted and Christianophobic. Many factors contribute to these three \"isms\", religious communities certainly are not solely responsible.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am 77 and way too many years have gone by for hope to remain. I maintain a curiosity about Catholicism as, at best, a familiar anachronism. I have fond memories of my earlier albeit naive years when I still considered myself to be practicing. I now believe in the gospel of St. Rhett Butler: Quite frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. To those hopefuls: stop wasting your time. Things will not change substantively. Spend your time working for some possibilities rather than silly wishful thinking. Sorry if I have hurt feelings ... actually, no, I'm not sorry.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Although the individual in this case must be considered innocent until proven guilty, the record of the Catholic Church in this area is a disgrace. In my opinion, it reflects the gross irrationality of its view that sexuality is evil and acceptable only for procreation. Instead, it should be considered a profound celebration of life. The celibacy required for Catholic priests is abhorrent.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Kleins can go ahead and say whatever they want to say about their religious beliefs as \"Christians.\" But don't sit here and pretend like this was some courageous act by two God loving Americans. Their Christian beliefs DO NOT require them to \"have nothing to do with promoting homosexual behavior.\" Christians DO NOT believe that \"promoting\" homosexual behavior puts their immortal souls in danger. This is complete and utter garbage. This is not Christ. Jesus Christ would have been the first person to serve these people, with no judgement or need to condemn. You sir are the absolute scum of the earth. Using Jesus Christ's holy name to slander and condemn an entire group of people for fear of your immortal soul? Yes Christ, who never ONCE mentioned to openly and adamantly take a stand against homosexuality, but did mention 11 times in the Bible to love one another. The Klein's ARE NOT VICTIMS. Take your faux Christianity elsewhere, you're making the rest of us look bad.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am so ashamed that I have ever subscribed to NCR, and WILLNOT EVER renew. This is incredible and shocking that this paper/news source claims to be associated with the Catholic Church. How in the world can you ignore the EVIL nature of Hillary Clinton, who goes against the moral teachings of our Catholic Church? TRULY....HOW? You would rather judge Trump on some of the foolish things he said or did years ago...against a woman who supports and promotes abortion( can you say thou shall not kill?), gay marriage, transgender men in women's bathrooms, who has taken millions and millions of dirty dollars from dirty countries in the name of 'charity' then spends it on her and her family's lavish lifestyle. This same woman who has ruined reputations and lives ( again, can you say thou shall not kill?) protecting the perverse sexual habits of her dear husband? The sad thing is I could go on and on in writing about her evil nature! I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR A RESPONSE FROM NCR.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity just took a BIGGGGGLY HIT on November 8, 2016. Not the faux exclusive type. Wake up sheep of the faux flock!!!!!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The CCC which was mostly the work of Joseph Ratzinger, is going the way of the Baltimore Catechism. It has no sense of the importance of some truths over others. Everything is presented as of equal importance. So the Trinity, the Incarnation, and guardian angels are all on the same level [BTW, I'm all in favor of guardian angels]. But they aren't the center of our faith. AND the CCC is hard to read and BORING. The CCC is not a book one would read for spiritual guidance and growth.\n\nFr. Rohr never makes that mistake. What elements of Catholic truths are important ARE important to him, as well. His books are very readable and his books are for spiritual guidance. Secondly, you would be hard pressed for any credible Catholic group to list Richard Rohr as a heretic.\n\nWhat you are spreading here is nothing but orthotoxy. And it is not Catholic or even Christian. This only shows that what you read in the CCC has not made you a real Christian---but \"arrogant and intolerant....\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Even worse, they encouraged people to flee to the U.S. Hundreds have died this year trying to cross the border. This shows how P Catholics are a worse problem than errant priests.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder if there's a fallacy when one dismisses kkk, skinheads, white nationalists etc as \"...not true christians\"\nwhile at the same time putting every single Muslim into the category of terrorist?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Nobody should be force to speak french it is ridiculous.\n|\nCanada needs to be split into four separate countries: French, Native, Catholic and Agnostic.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't mention Scheer. If you perceive slagging, maybe your defensiveness is getting the better of you. The article argues that Liberals are anti-Christian, when in fact they are officially pro-Charter and pro-Supreme Court. Whether someone's beliefs about gay marriage, abortion and LGBTQ people stem from a religion of any kind or from nostalgia for a more rigid past social order, they do not trump the law of the land. This is the Liberal position.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I know Trump is a liar, cheat, racist, and a phony; that was obvious during the 2016 campaign. What is so disturbing is that he is supported by roughly half the people in the pews with me each weekend! Yes, my fellow Catholics voted for him and many continue to support him today. Why? Why do they not speak out about the overt racism, rise in white nationalism, and lies that spout from his mouth? What \"tradition\" are these Catholics upholding? What example are we offering the next generations?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trolling the news for anything that, however remotely, could confirm your bias against Muslims?\n\nLittle is being officially said about the event so far, other than that the police say there is no danger to public safety.. So obviously the driver was either a Chechen, Pakistani, or a Syrian refugee. Oh but what's this? Apparently the Australian Christian Lobby's big thing lately has been to condemn same-sex marriage, lest it pollute the vital body fluids of true Australians. So amend the description of the driver to read: \" Gay Chechen, Pakistani, or a Syrian refugee.\" LOL", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "VERY different-please dont play that silly game. the so called Christians were mocking gays by handing out a picure of rainbow colored hands holding medical waste-very disturbing. Customers complained and the freaks were kicked out.It was all staged", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christians are in fact worse off spiritually then many liberal democrats for they unknowingly worship the man God Jesus Christ and his cross which is nothing more then Paganism/Idolatry or even a Yeshua in Messianic Judaism.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ok, to your first point look up like five posts and you will see I sad that exact same thing. We are all of us called to both the contemplative and practical. \n\nI was so wondering if someone at NCR was going to go there, and lo and behold, it finally happened. I'm grateful you did not call be an \"alt-right\" Catholic at least. Stormtrooper in the sense of the guys in silly white armor that can't shoot the broadside of a barn. Not the freaking SA! I hoped that would be obvious", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"paid leftist thugs\u2026 should stomp those cockroaches too.. no?\"\n\nMaybe after the \"paid leftist thugs\" have conquered almost all of the free nations of Europe, murdered six million Jews by gassing them, starving them, using them for gruesome experiments, incinerating them, as well as countless gypsies and homosexuals like the Nazis did; and then after the \"leftist thugs\" leave a path of lynchings of black men, torture, castration, rape and terrorizing with burning Christian symbols, and passing Jim Crow laws, then maybe we could call them cockroaches, too. You Think?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I think you'll find the great majority of terrorist activity is homegrown white males.\n\nAre you suggesting that the shooter in Quebec City was a Radical Islamist? Or Marc Lepine?\n\nHow about Timothy McVeigh?\n\nAll Jihadis are not Muslim, there are many Christian fundamentalists who use their religion as a motivation for mass killings.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So, is it just the Catholic priests that are the pedophiles, or are you using Catholic's as a general depiction of the wrong-doing. I guarantee there are other religious organizations that have priests, pastors, reverends.... that are guilty of the same. Would have been nice if you could have made a more general statement that does not discriminate/incriminate against the Catholics.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ex corde ecclesiae was in perfect harmony with the totalitarian pontificate of JPII. He destroyed that ideology in Poland but couldn't bring it to Rome fast enough. Cardinal O'Boyle was a coward and Catholic University lost a scholar.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Last February, the Archdiocese of Mexico called America's immigration measures to limit immigration and expel illegal immigrant criminals as \"migrant terrorism\" and \"a true act of terror.\"\n\nSo we have bishops of Mexico saying it's morally right that 15 million Mexican Catholics illegally entered the U.S., that any and all Mexicans have a right to U.S. citizenship, and that any legal American who objects to it is a terrorist.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Of course you can have intimate non-sexual relationships. But, should all intimate relationships of LGBTQ and divorced Catholics only be non-sexual? That is ludicrous.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "rangerf, according to pew researchs latest survey, the two you mention have been approved by a majority of you and me (the government). we do need to be more vigiliant and demand open meetings of all of our offices. you are right, we need term limits and public financing for every elected office, no relatives can help and every candidate gets the same number and amount of sidewalk time, stickers, tv and door knocking time. republicans cant win here because there isnt a old, white, christian male majority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reader jeanll posted a link to a recent poll of American Jews about their views on Israel. The results were very interesting. I summarize them here:\n\n1. A large majority of American Jews are not in favour of Israel's settlement policy in the West Bank. That majority includes secular Jews and practicing conservative Jews.\n\n2. There is only one segment of America's Jews that is in favour of Israel's settlement policy: Jewish fundamentalists, ie Orthodox Jews. Interestingly, they are joined in their support for the policy by American Christian fundamentalists, who are even more in favour of the policy than Orthodox Jews! (There are about 600,000 Orthodox Jews in the US, and about 90 million Christian fundamentalists.)\n\n3. Among American Jews as a whole, support for Israel matters but it's not a high priority in their lives.\n\n4. No segment of the American Jewish population, including Orthodox Jews, believes the Israeli government is negotiating with the Palestinians in good faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What do you have in mind, regarding Cupich's \"theological shortcomings\"? On the basis of this article, I note he seems prepared to accept as \"Catholic\" those good people whom more stern types might condemn for their doctrinal heterodoxy. And a few of these stern types make their presence known, often enough, among NCR commenters.\nI for my part am very glad to consider this attitude of Cupich's a real \"sign of hope.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\ud83c\udfbc And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes the'll know we are Christians by love...\ud83c\udfbc", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You suggesting it be from a Roman Catholic perspective? God help us (and the children).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is forcing a Catholic university to fund something against its beliefs not an imposition of secular beliefs upon a religious institution? If only universities that fund contraception are allowed to exist, this discriminates against Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You might want to learn something about history. Hitler was a Christian. And the Nazi's pushed Christian doctrines into the schools as well as their laws. Hitler was NEVER excommunicated nor condemned by his church. Matter of fact the Church felt he was JUST and \u201cavenging for God\u201d in attacking the Jews for they deemed the Semites the killers of Jesus. \n\nBut you might want to read this\n\nhttp://tinyurl.com/lc9er2y", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Life.\nI agree !!\nThese OD people are church fundamentalists. They will defend the church no matter how many churchmen are pedophiles and no matter how many children are pedophiled. Christ did no wrong. But they think the church does no wrong. \nPersonally, I believe that they may be supremacists. \nI don't consider myself any better than anyone else and conversely no one is better than I. But I just don't think these OD are of that kind of thinking. \nI hope they are now different. If they follow Pope Francis than they will be different and much better than in the past.\nHope...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Icon66's Biblical quote was removed for, I presume, being offensive. But isn't this the same bible used everyday in every christian church in America and large parts of the world today? Are we so prudish and childish we take offense at scripture in the bible?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's the radical progressive view, but as with most of their anti-catholic positions, they're just nonsense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When christians told atheist crusader Christopher Hitchens they were praying for him, Hitchens invariably replied, \"If it makes you feel better, then by all means pray\". Same thing here. The fundamentalist politically correct are always searching for ways to make themselves feel better. Useless though it might be, it validates them - in their own eyes!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church will not continue to function without us, all of us. We ARE the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Young people are leaving the church in droves because, unlike older people, they know injustice when they see it, and they see injustice in the Catholic Church everywhere: in women who are denied access to all the sacraments, in gay people, who are denied access all the sacraments, and they rightly make value judgments based on what they see. Until injustice is replaced with justice, another synod isn't going to make one bit of difference in attracting more young people or convincing them to stay in the pews. It's just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In all my time away from the Catholic Church I did not try to deceive myself that I was a Catholic. My criticisms of Catholics who, rather than stay \"and live out their Faith,\" as you put it, actually reject it yet cling on to the notion that they can do this and still remain members of the Church are perfectly legitimate. I am only applying the same criteria to them as I applied to myself.\nYour analogy re: the Prodigal Son is way off the mark, my situation doesn't resemble that parable one iota.\nAlso your 'judgement' of me not having a \"humble and contrite heart\" is laughable when one looks at your 'humble and heartily contrite' comments on this website: knocking people's teeth out whom you perceive to have humiliated you, dragging Cardinal Burke around strapped to a commode, etc.\nNice try.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "America never offered the world equality and has nothing to live up to. It offered Western Europeans equality of various Christian sects who were persecuted in Europe. This is one of the biggest lies of the left that equality is/was offered to everyone. They use it as a tool to make the country divisive and hope for anarchy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If we are fortunate Francis will live and reign for the next 10(15?) years to give him sufficient time to replace the DiNardos and the rest of the appointees of the interminable Woytola-Ratzinger regime. Fr. Reese May be correct about the bishops priorities, but the culture war issues always \"trump\" the other issues because there is always an implied threat that Catholics are required to adhere to these outrageous positions. Nothing less than a good old fashioned Stalinist-style purge(minus the firing squads and the Gulag, of course) of malcontent bishops will do for Francis to get his agenda to be executed by the reactionary American hierarchy.\"Cadre is everything!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Courts shouldn't make the laws surrounding religion in schools (or outside it). The policy when I was in school was the Lord's prayer for everyone. A court used Trudeau's charter of rights and freedoms to remove this prayer from the classroom. This is wrong. If the courts continue to vilify Christianity then why shouldn't people vilify Islam as a sort of revenge?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic church should be big enough to cope with this kind of thing. We have always been a church of saints and sinners. It will be fascinating.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are free to go to your local Separate School if you want Religious Education in Christianity as part of the curriculum.\n\nThe current situation isn't about teaching Islam in schools. It's about provide space for Muslims who need to pray during the school day on Friday.\n\nNo Imam will be calling out prayers over the Public Address system. No pop quiz will be required of non-Muslim students. Indeed, most non-Muslim students won't even be aware that something is going on.\n\nI bet you can't even recite the Lord's Prayer. If you would, you might realize that tolerance and accommodation is at the core of it. \"Forgive us our trespasses...\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trouble is, those who ardently believe in the OT retributive God -- and how are \"going thou and doing likewise\" -- aren't the one's building churches. \n\nDouble Trouble -- their retributive scriptures aren't focused on Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, but on Christians and Jews. And even others of their own faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "hmmm.... what? Iran has 4 recognized state religions with Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian members in the parliament. I'm not muslim and I grew up in Iran. It always boggles my mind how North American neocons can compare Iran and Saudi. Iran is light years ahead of Saudi (and yes, both are lightyears behind Western societies).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK. I missed the Catholic part, saw the millenial part. So, even without a Muslim, they did not choose a representative group.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That conclusion is by \"your logic not mine.\" The Pope decries the Fundamentalism, the political nature of the Roman Catholic religion that he is in a position as its pope, to change. He is calling upon the other political religions to follow his example. Political, Fundamentalist religions, like Roman Catholicism seek earthly power by imposing controlling bans not only on their congregations but on other non-Catholics. That is what is happening in the US via legislation based on claims by pro-lifers that women who abort or use effective contraceptives are killing the unborn from the time of conception. This , pro-lifers believe gives them the right to control women and tell them that they have to carry every pregnancy to term no matter what. That is what I mean by taking away women's rights and giving them to their unborn thus dehumanizing women and treating them as baby-making machines. I hope this explains \"my logic.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, It's better if we Christians and our leaders cower in shadows and not be present in the public events of our country.\n\nMaybe we each should have a number assigned to us...and put it some place permanent so others can see that we're Christians. Stencil or something like that with ink, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reason that stories like this one about predator-priest Kevin Gugliotta keep coming forward is that both priests and hierarchs CANNOT be publicly honest about their fundamental personal truth.\n\nNot only are some priests criminal sexual predators, but most hierarchs and priests are overwhelmed with shame and guilt about who they really are as persons. Hence, hierarchs invariably fail to excise these predator priests from the community because the hierarchs know they come from the same insulated celibate clerical culture that produced the predators. \n\nCatholic hierarchs are dangerously alienated from and hopelessly irrelevant to the lives of the masses of the very people they are called to serve. This is how the corruption and complicity begins.\n\nThis is why Catholics must have the courage to completely reform and renew the priesthood from parish to pope - hopefully before the Catholic community disappears at the end of this century.\n\nLet the People Decide!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think we have to recognize that Catholic theology has been largely dualistic at least since Augustine, and that dualism has deep roots in the Fourth Gospel and the Gnostic groups that influenced early church thought. I'm not sure the problem is dualism per se, as much as a tendency to see what we believe as good and what others believe as evil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My guess is that it will look more like Pope Francis than the doctrinal watchdogs, since \"mystery\" in the NT comes from either a root verb meaning \"to close or shut the mouth\" (mu\u014d) or form another meaning \"to be initiated into mysteries\" (mue\u014d). In both cases it seems to mean participating in what cannot be said. So Gregory of Nyssa, after contributing so much to the development of doctrine, could still say that whenever we speak about God, we are liars. The point, I think, is that the fundamental spirit experience of life in Christ is first and foremost a passive act of being grasped by a reality that cannot be enunciated, even though it has immediately to be communicated if we are to have any gospel at all. It is a consciousness of an experience that in its directness arrests the usual progression into insight and judgment (doctrine), only then to be said in whatever language is available. Francis' directness with people seems more \"mystical\" than any insistence on being right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Could you please elaborate on that?\n\nBTW, I assume that you are not a member of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately a lot of white catholic males feel that their traditions are being ignored and criticised. They now have elected a president-elect who is not ashamed of his traditions and will make those traditions \"GREAT\" again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Andrew Scheer followed in Stephen Harper's footsteps. Harper tried to win the last election by vilifying muslims and the wearing of the hijab. Andrew Scheer's focus on this story underlines his alignment Harper and with christian fundamentalists in the US. \n\nWhile I'm not a Catholic, I appreciated the recent critique of American 'evangelical fundamentalism' in La Civilita Cattolica. Take special note of the cringe-worthy photograph of fundamentalists 'laying hands' on Donald Trump in the oval office.\n\nMr. Khadr was radicalized by his father and involved in a fire fight at the age of 15. During that fire fight he 'allegedly' killed an American soldier and wounded another. I say 'allegedly' because his confession was obtained under torture. However, even if he was responsible for the death of a US soldier, he was at the time merely 15 years old and a combatant. Since when has it been appropriate to incarcerate and torture combatants who were captured in battle? Isn't that a war crime?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm defending them by their Constitutional rights to free speech, which includes any citizen's views on religion.\n\nWhat are you suggesting Don? That no one has the right to criticize Catholics?\n\nTalk about things that are amusing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We should learn the word TAQIYYA. the pious Islamic practice of telling lies to deceive non believers to promote and defend Islam. . It is very effect on soft headed liberals. It is as important to Islam as charity is to Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Long before whitey showed up Native American's had many mascots. When our land was taken and we were put on reservations that became sovereign Indian Nations, we created mascots keeping our traditions and culture. We were proud of this until Political Correctness starting teaching our youth to be ashamed of our mascots just like Christians taught our youth to be ashamed of our gods. The tomahawk has always been a mascot, and even part of a coat of arms as whitey isn't the only one to have those. The tomahawk chop used by the Seminoles, and now found everywhere, is nothing more than a rallying cry. For thousands of years when Native American's held competitions you found all types of mascots, and many types of rallying cries. Furthermore, white people never have a problem if I a red skin Chickasaw, dance in a line or square joining in, in their traditional fun, and some even giggle when I do an Irish jig. (to be continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It threatens the institution of marriage. It gives out the message that the primary purpose of marriage is sexual satisfaction and that procreation is now merely an option to be taken up by those who desire to have a child or children. It is an attempt to overturn the long held Judeo-Christian concepts of marriage, love and family by confusing 'agape' and 'eros'.\nThe Church is seemingly powerless to prevent the advance of secular mores which contradict the Divine Will but there is every reason that it should try to for the sake of souls, lest its failure to do so be construed as condonance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or perhaps young folk, even those raised nominally Catholic, who have enrolled even in a prestigious institution like Notre Dame have been sheltered from the Catholic Church\u2019s teaching on contraception and genuinely are surprised contraception isn\u2019t in the health care plan?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We can be glad that such a high Catholic authority in America, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, has endorsed the position that the Bible is THE spiritual authority that should govern the lives of Christian believers. My Bible condemns lawlessness in no uncertain terms; thus, while we must always care for those in need, we can never provide political cover and support for known unrepentant law breakers, aka illegal aliens.\nBannon was correct in perceiving an unspoken motive behind the Catholic Church's support for illegal immigration, but he missed the mark on the actual motive...economics is secondary, while their true primary motive is political power! Always has been, always will be. The RCC ever seeks self-aggrandizement and the power to compel others to follow the dictates for their unholy papal dominion. Thus, support for primarily Catholic illegal immigrants is a bold-faced calculation to increase Catholic influence at the ballot box and in the halls of political power!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you don't get that healthy sense of \"striving\" of pursuing holiness with all our being (as I noted earlier) from the words of Jesus or from LG?\n\nWhen Jesus says \"Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect\"?\n\nwhen Jesus says \"take up your cross daily?\"\n\nwhen Jesus says in John 12:24 'Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies...?\"\n\nwhen Jesus says in Luke 10:27 \u201cHe said in reply, \u201cYou shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.\u201d\n\nAND when LG says \" that all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity\"\n\nI could go on all afternoon.\n\nYou're not connecting things together.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mike....if you want to prevent future molestation of innocent little kids....you don't just throw the priest out...so he is now a potential public offender with little or no oversight.....rather you keep him in house in the system but very strategically placed and herein lies the difficulty...\n\nAs I recall in Philly, there is a treatment center that is supposed to house these guys AND keep them contained but I also recall that on Catholics 4Change there has been much discussion about the effectiveness of this \"containment\"....\n\nI recall an Order that houses its own guys that allows them to wander in an area complete with both a grammar school and a middle school...again it's all about supervision...which is costly and as far as I can figure out relatively naive in its trust (\"we trust father, dressed in civvies, when he signs out to go where he says he is going\") and slovenly in their management style.\n\nMy criterion would be what system protects a potential future victim best?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is not that I believe sex abuse cases should preferentially be prosecuted in civil courts. I prefer that criminal charges be brought whenever possible where the perpetrator is alive, to get them off of the street and advertise their name widely. It is just that I do not begrudge victims their right to compensation in civil court.\n\nFor what it is worth, Buster, I am aware of a couple of fraudulent \"me too's\" in a civil case involving more than a hundred victims of one priest. I do believe, however, on the reports of others, that such fraud is minimal. The possibility of fraud is not reason to malign legitimate victims, say I. \n\nYou last sentence concerns me Buster--on the basis of any evidence you like, do you believe the Church is guilty of gross negligence; especially since the broad nature of sex abuse of minors become widely known?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You never tire of characterizing, classifying, and name-calling.\n\n\"Adolph Eichmann\" is simply one of your chants.\n\nGod did not have a son name Adolph Hitler. He did have a Son named Jeshua the Christ.\n\nObviously, since I am a Catholic, I have a reason to follow my superior that Adolph Eichmann did not.\n\nI do note that Joseph Goebbels believed that repeating a lie was the best course of action, and I note how often you repeat disproven errors.\n\nIt is a settled matter in the ordinary magisterium that there are four reasons a punishment may be levied by the state: to accomplish justice - which EV calls \" primary purpose of the punishment which society inflicts\", defense against the criminal, deterrence, rehabilitation.\n\nhttps://www.firstthings.com/article/2001/04/catholicism-amp-capital-punishment\n\nEV notes punishment \"also fulfills the purpose of defending public order and ensuring people's safety\" and in that context, the SECONDARY purpose, makes the comment you quote.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But these chickenhawk priests were just building a bridge, just trying to show young Catholics that there's nothing intrinsically disordered about that kind of love.\n\nSociety is to blame.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspect those Christians that support Trump believe that being white and male is much more important than being moral. Sunday morning has always been the most segregated time of the week in this country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Luis, I applaud your advocacy for women called to priesthood. However, I do agree with others here that the celibacy requirement for our current, male, priesthood has been both unfair and counterproductive. For those who adhere to it, there may be unnecessary suffering; for those who do not, there is the pain of hypocrisy and secrecy. Not a healthy situation for anyone, and one not required by Jesus of his apostles. Medieval inheritance laws are not necessarily signs of the reign of God!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, clearly you have not read or not understood HV, because it makes a significant advance on previous Catholic teaching in terms of the relationship between \"love\" and the sexual act.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I never said women who have had an abortion are murderers. I did not see your response but did you say that I am vicious and advocate rape and incest victims bring the child in their womb to term? As a Catholic aware of my sinfulness, I do not advocate destroying the child that has been conceived. Should a woman in such a situation turn to God and people who will support her during the pregnancy and afterwards (whether she keep the child or puts the child up for adoption), she will be blessed and rewarded by God either in this life or in eternity. Of this I have no doubt - not for even a second. God gives us all free will - the decision is ours. How we respond will depend on our relationship with God - how much we trust Him to get us through even the most difficult situations in life. This includes women diagnosed with a threatening disease during their pregnancies. Doctors are to do all they can to save both lives. Should the baby die during surgery to save the mom, it is not abortion", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We can't be good Catholics and good Americans. We would be more leaned to one than the other, and viseversa. we most Choose the Cross over the flag. The flag and saves no one, yet the Cross is the Goal, the Path, the Life line. We have to be Catholic first, and let our Catholic faith, guide the rest of our life's. Please repent. Choose eternal Life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\nFor centuries, it was assumed that the call to priesthood was predicated on a simultaneous call to celibacy, and that the call to celibacy was binding equally and similarly on all candidates for priesthood, prescinding from sexual orientation. In these latter days, the Vatican has discerned a way to scapegoat homosexuals for the sex abuse crisis.The Instruction institutionalizes that hypocrisy. It creates a problem for all candidates for priesthood. The language of \"intrinsic disorder\" is not just wrong; it represents a dangerous and false understanding of human sexuality that will be troubling for any mature and healthy person contemplating priesthood. To the extent that the 'powers-that-be' intend to implement this directive, to that extent Catholic seminaries will be increasingly unhealthy places; the priesthood itself and the whole People of God will suffer accordingly. We should not pretend that the Instruction is a sane, safe or serious approach to priestly formation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with Bruce_Hedley. The left didn't tolerate the Shafias killing their daughters, but rather the justice system gave them a fair trial and jailed them.\n\nThere are vast numbers of reports of North American men, many of them caucasian, perhaps many of them \"Christian\", killing or abusing their wives and children, or their girlfriends. Why decry an entire religious group because of rare extreme acts of violence while ignoring the extreme acts of violence motivated similarly by control issues, wounded dignity, the view of women often as property, and, no doubt, some feelings of offended religious principle.\n\nWe all need to stand against intolerance, violence, inequity, and extremism, no matter who is promoting it or enacting it. We need an intolerance for intolerance, when it is activated primarily by skin colour, ethnic origin, or religious preference. Our world won't be made better for any of us through hateful exclusion and finger-pointing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hebrew and Abrahamic males took many wives (it was still allowable even in Jesus' time and polygamy was probably permitted and accepted but not as common in the early church). It was also permitted to have concubines. There was no \"sacrament\" of marriage until more recently. Your historical and cultural understanding of \"marriage\" is quite weak and your understanding of the 6th commandment is also weak. Adultery laws had to do with protecting women as \"chattel\" to be sold.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "seal off the sanctuary area as a polished and exclusive arena for clerical liturgical action.\u2014Peter Feuerherd\n\nOn this Holy Thursday: \u201cIf I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another\u2019s feet\u201d (John 13:14). As for the Faithful putting up with new hot-shot priests: \u201cOur blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ\u201d (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:16). \u201cThis day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution\u201d (Exodus 12:14). Liturgy of the Word, Reading 39ABC, Holy Thursday: Evening Mass of the Lord\u2019s Supper.\n\nSpend less time worrying about the inner workings of the Church & more time taking the Gospel to the peripheries.\u2014Bjohn. In other words, pay-pray-and-obey. Nuts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Name a local football stadium after Rob Ford?\n\nAside from his crack cocaine and alcohol abuse, there are these facts directly related to his time as coach of the Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School football team: \n\n* Ford hired an assistant coach using an assumed name, knowing he had a criminal record (according to court records).\n\n* On the way back from football practice with a City employee he had convinced to be another assistant coach, Ford downed a mickey of vodka in two minutes (according to an affidavit).\n\n* The head of the High School parent council (who had voted for him) said: \"All I want him to do is stop slagging our school . . . It is hurtful to the kids. He has to stop using our school and our students \u2013 putting them down to make himself look good.\" \n\n* In 2013, the Toronto Catholic District School Board fired Ford as coach for reasons not made public.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry Pat, I'm even more unclear now. Are you now saying that discipline is violence? I don't disagree, provided we are using \"violence\" in the same context (I'm thinking of metaphysics). I just want to make sure that terms are clear.\nI would agree that fasting may be a metaphysical violence, but it is one prescribed and practiced by Jesus in the clear text of the Gospels. Do you suggest that, in this case at least, we don't follow Jesus?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Top-down authoritarianism, muscle over mind, as in male-sex survival-of-the-fittest violence, can take and has taken different political forms through deep history. Globally, psychological consciousness evolves, notwithstanding deep imprinting of counteractive politics. Instantaneous, inter-personal, global communication in the modern context tends to be an equalizing factor within control politics. One senses that female persuasions are in the ascendancy, in interests of common survival. Something of a religious rebellion is happening.\nOne cannot help but believe that the 'politics of religious sense', whether Roman Catholic or Orthodox Catholic, are being impacted by evolving psychological (female) common sense. Male dominionism, whether Orthodox or Roman Catholic, is not the wave of the future; one might believe, however, that 'EARTHEOLOGY' is. http://www.secondenlightenment.org/ABOUT%20Book%20III.pdf", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's skip the \"button words\" for just a moment and consider the proposition that \"(1) Raymond Cardinal Burke is asking the Holy Father to exercise his Petrine function of confirming the brethren so that he is not compelled to, like Paul with Peter, formally raise the issue of orthodoxy\". It's a whole different proposition, and has the advantage of your version of being non-inflammatory and an example of begging the question.\n\n\"Burke\" does not have a problem, the Church does. The two synods concluded in agreement with the cardinal. It's Footnote 351 of the Exhortation that appears to have headed off to LaLaLand in interpretation.\n\nAs Hungarian Cardinal Peter Erd\u00f6 said frankly during the Synods, it all just comes down to a choice: either you give a certain group of people Communion or you don\u2019t.\n\nWe await Francis\" rebuttal, clarification, cough, whatever.\n\nHow familiar are you with this Pontiff's career prior to his elevation to the papacy? This is not his first waffling rodeo .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Okay, your words describe you as anti-Church teaching, anti-clergy, anti-Church hierarchy, anti-Church tradition, but not anti-Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Too add some more seasoning, the other EWTN poster boy priest ordained at the same ceremony was John Corapi, who also has an interesting path to ordination. One should also understand that Mother Angelica turned EWTN over to a board of lay people who were almost all Evangelical to Catholic converts. It's no wonder EWTN is in the tank for Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess Archbishop John Myers was correct when he suspended me from 27 years of good and faithful priestly ministry because I'm openly gay and therefore unfit. Just ask all the people I had the joy and privilege to serve how unfit I was!\n\nSadly this just continues to reveal the dysfunction at work within the Vatican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The implicit third:\nWords have profound meaning and deep roots as they are \"institutional\". As recently as 2004,* the papal approved, Ratzinger written revival of pseudo-Tertullian theology upgraded in more contemporary anti-feminist terminology is absolutely clear that \"womanism\" is from \"Father\" God designed for sexual release of men and reproduction. \"Feminism\" is a refusal (as FATHER God so clearly stated after the first sin) to contribute their unique gifts of nurturing, patience, counsel, to men \"....in the church and in the world\".\nThis is Francis' \"world\". \nContribute through men. \nHe can say whatever he wants, even what we want, as long as he defines the terms. The roots and consequentials of church diminution and exclusion go so deep and are so web-tangled that it must be confronted unequivocally, persistently, completely.\n*\"Letter to the bishops of the catholic church on the collaboration of men and women in the church and in the world\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your post is the elephant behind the mouse that few will acknowledge is there: what is \"priest\" and \"priesthood\". Is there really an \"ontological\" \"mark\" that intrinsically \"changes\" a person into \"priest\".\nAnother side of that multifaceted coin is, in my opinion, the absolute (not infallible) need to preserve institutional core - not as stagnant, selective ideology - but as identifiable, organized, evolving, quest'ing, dynamic spiritual and religious body that builds upon itself. \nOthers: the nature of norms, selection, formation, certification, oversight, etc. Catholicism is deathly afraid to \"appearing\" to be ugh, p-r-o-t-e-s-t-a-n-t.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I made no comment on your name. I do not even know what your name is. I did comment on the aptness of your chosen \"nom d'ecran\" - which is not your name at all.\n\nAlso, I commented on your comment here. (\"Trump is banning EVERYBODY from seven countries from entering US, be they Muslim or Druid or Christian or atheist. The Globe and Mail's headline is glaringly inaccurate and misleading.\") I won't be chasing down other articles where you've made other comments. The comment here indicated you were not aware of the fact I linked to. That you now claim you were aware that there are going to some exceptions made for Christians refutes your claim that \"Trump is banning EVERYBODY\" - when clearly, observably (i.e. provably) he isn't. He is, as I stated, targeting Muslims with \"surgical precision\". \n\nYou neglected to/were incapable of refuting my claim. But, you are correct in that he \"does not have a leg to stand on\". \n\nAnd now back to the Google recall ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is Christian about being intolerant?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes--proudly.\n\nWhy would I vote for Hillary? Hillary supports abortion, she is anti-police, anti-law and order, pro-gay marriage, pro-liberal SCOTUS justices, pro-forcing the Catholic Church to cover contraception, and she is pretty much antithetical to the values I hold. Why would I vote for someone like her? Obama was also pretty much antithetical to the values I hold. Why would I vote for another Obama term? That is what Hillary would have been--Obama's third term. \n\nThis is not to say I think Trump is great. My vote for Trump was more a vote against Hillary. Trump was unfortunately the Republican nominee. What choice did I have? The only way I would consider voting Democrat would be if the Democrat was pro-life and the Republican was pro-abortion. \n\nIt was also a vote for decent justices on the SCOTUS. That was the main reason I voted for Trump. Whatever else could be said of him, I knew he is our best chance for decent SCOTUS justices---and possibly overturning Roe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have Friday off, classes on Sunday instead and have the Christians change their services. \n\nIs that any different than your response kaganovitch?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even as an agnostic, I am not willing to demonize the 70.6% of the citizens of the United States who identify as Christians. \n\nThe agnostics and athiests total 7.1% of the population. Even if they are all sainted cognoscenti and even if there were enough of them to hold all the political offices in the country, they are still impotent without the other 92.9% of the population. \n\nIn other words, get over yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pride, one of the seven deadly sins. To be proud of a vice is surely a grievous sin. Considering the shambolic state of the Vatican II Church it is no surprise that you are teaching in a \"Catholic\" school. I will pray for you, earnestly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can you imagine the strain that would put on Cardinal Muller and his staff. Having to respond to all those letters from people from around the world who have been sexually abused by Catholic priests. They certainly have more important things to worry about. What kind of wine to have with dinner, where to take your next vacation. Should we really be surprised by this reaction. This has been the institutional response from the Catholic Hierarchy since the crisis erupted. As for me, I am still waiting for the sympathy card from Archbishop Chaput. Sorry we stole your innocence and ability to trust, sorry we ruined your life, sorry you failed when you tried to take your own life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are confusing Islam with Christianity. There is no injunction against making yourself pleasing to your husband, just to any other man.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Every fascist government that has existed in the past century successfully erased history and indoctrinated its youth into believing the present is the truth and the government is the sole provider for all. It was successful in Russian thru several Czars, it was successful in Germany under Hitler, it was successful in China and successful in Cuba. While it was necessary to change or eliminate history altogether, it was also necessary to remove God from the equation. Why? Because among Christians, God is held supreme over government............In order to completely enslave and totally demoralize their helpless citizens, they forbid, at the threat of death, any public or private Christian worshiping...........\n\nSo what country is currently succumbing to legal pressures applied by left wing organizations to remove any Christian figures from government properties on specific holidays and prevent football teams from holding a brief prayer before their games and afterwards?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually the Catholic school boards are preventing the formation of these groups so that's a pretty effective way of stopping kids from joining.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Virtue signalling. \n\nThe Yazidi, Mandeans, and Christians are still being massacred in Iraq and in the middle east.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Nones on the Bus view the Church through a rear view mirror. As they pull out, they hear the fading sounds of \"All are welcome..\" and they feel the pain of irony and lies. They are women who practice birth control amid a \"sinner\" cry of celibate cardinals; they are students at Notre Dame and Georgetown told by the Newman Society they aren't at authentic Catholic universities; they are young kids told by the bishop Grandma and Uncle Mike aren't invited to the altar with them; they are gays told to follow as truth apparitions in long-ago places but to distrust their consciences; they are laity told \"It's not about clerical power,\" then ordered to know their place; they are young couples told by old men when, how, and why to have intimate relations; they are activists in a democracy who received a letter from the bishop proclaiming to not tell them how to vote--then tells them how NOT to vote; they are told JPII is \"Great,\" but Francis is confusing; they are told EWTN has truth...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope. The ultra-conservatives have divided the Catholic Church, especially Ray Burke and friends. They have politicized the Sacraments and the Eucharist and attached the Church to an ugly hate movement. My understanding is that Ray Burke is attached to Steve Bannon and actually heads an organization associated with the alt-right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another lie. He never said.... \"you believe any and all Christians to be intellectually, morally and emotionally unfit to be President\". Nor did he imply it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Liberals are not anti-abortion, they are pro choice. And rather than anti-Christian, they are anti-intolerance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is this \"anti-Christian\"? Not all Christians have the same conservative political views. Why do right-wing social conservatives always kidnap the label \"christian\" for themselves alone? Bishop Tutu, Jimmy Carter, the Pope and the leader of the Ku Klux Klan are all Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian countries in Latin America and Africa suffer from a much higher crime rate than Muslim countries. In fact, most Muslim countries have a lot lower crime rate than the USA.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a pity that Fr John Riley and the others are making such pronouncements without an adequate knowledge base. Yoga is a science, not a religion. While many great teaches have also a personal faith practice of Hinduism, there is a distinction. T. Krishnamacharya kept his guru's sandals to reverence, but not his yoga teacher's. My yoga teacher, Gary Kraftsow, who studied with Rev. Raimon Panikkar (one of the theologians who worked on Nostra Aetate of Vatican II) quoted him as observing that Catholic liturgy is kriya yoga. The chancellor would do well to connect with those who have much experience in Christian-Hindu dialog and who also have a significant understanding of what yoga is and is not--for example, DIMMID(dot org) Monastic Interreligious Dialog. If Fr Riley can understand that statement of Rev. Panikkar, and grasp the accuracy of it, he would likely reconsider his decision.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sometimes on holiday at Mass in a church I've become aware that pretty well everyone in the church is white, and it feels rather strange. But of course that's in a town where there don't happen to be many others.\n\nIn the church I go to, which is in a midsized town in England, our congregation is very multiethnic. Maybe one in three of us are some shade of brown or black - Africans, Indians, Philipinos, Vietnamese. And the whiter ones of us are pretty diverse, as well as English, Irish and Scots we've got Poles, Maltese, Portuguese... \n\nAnd I don't think we're particularly unusual in English Catholicism. Where the population in an area is made up of people with different ethnicities, so are the congregations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your frank and wise respond! It brought tears to my eyes! I feel I can hear those clergy sex abused children's cry day and night.\nI agree with you everything you said here. And I thank God for you being here. \nI am heart broken about Christ Holy Church being destroyed by these evil clergies as bad. Is there any clergy stand up for Christ immanent in those sex abused children? All of the clergies stand with the evil Popes?\nMay God have mercy on us!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "DC: I agree with Mike Clark. Ken Kesey was a documented DRUGGIE. Ken Kesey was arrested for drug possession and spent time in jail, Ken Kesey stated, \" I was raised a Christian and was a Stone Faced Acid Head\". \n\nRead the Sign: There is NO HONOR among ILLEGAL Drug users.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Secular schools should be mandatory without the option of even privately paying for Jewish, Catholic or Islamic schools. The latter being the most problematic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you catch the trick? MSW defines alt reich by citing Richard Spencer, and then suggests that this Spencerian movement is quite popular across America.\n\nBut there's no evidence that's so. When Spencer last gave a talk, 200 people showed up.\n\n200 people?\n\nIf Spencer is the leader of a huge movement that truly threatens America, where are the followers who, like Spencer, quote from Nazi literature and disparage Judaism?\n\nMSW doesn't say. But he does say this:\n\n\"Let those of us in the Catholic left help some of our more extreme colleagues on the left see how their antics provide kindling for the alt-right and let our conservative Catholic friends do their best to take away the alt-right's matches.\"\n\nI'm guessing that what Mr. Winters is referring to here is the recent UC Berkeley riot that shut down gay Catholic Milo Yiannopoulos. \n\nBut I'd only be guessing, as he won't cite particulars. Wonder why?\n\nCould very well be MSW is more afraid of the left than of the alt reich.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Almost all the conservative catholics are prolife and see that as the only issue in any election. Almost all conservative catholics actually don't care about people at all. They are the first to cheer when someone is put to death. They do not care about people at all in my experience. So why are they \"prolife\"? What is your real aim in this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And would you stay an clap for a president who \"passed\" on a bill banning infanticide, or supports abortion?\n\nDo you think Jesus would want followers who support shedding \"innocent blood\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi, Mokantx\n\u201cThis concept of ignoring the present, and focusing on some unobtainable future is part of why there was and is so much anger over the scandal, the promised tribunal(s), the Commission, etc...\u201d\n.\n Yes I agree, because evil by its very nature will happily play tit for tat (Debate), and kick the can down the road continually \u2026.. To avoid a conclusion, that is one based on the Truth (Christian morality).\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wrong, \"Jews were mostly driven out of Palestine by Christian Crusaders:\nJews were defeated by the Romans in 70AD (nothing to do with Christ or Christians) and expelled.\nThey had an uprising against the Romans.\nTherefore blame the Italians for this mess!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "the new catholic church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Scaring children and disrupting families is not Christian. This is not about Christ, it's about Grisham and his ego wanting attention....as evidenced by his obnoxious \"selfie\" video. \"Folks, MY name is!!\" are his first words to the crowd. His motive seems to be the glee of turning all eyes to himself--unfortunately away from the example of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is it that giving Muslims the right to pray in schools removes your rights?\nIf you are asking why can't they change their day of prayer then you would have to ask the jewish community to not do it Friday either.\nAnd by the way the reason we have a Monday to Friday school system is due to Christianity.\nSo if you are suggesting changing one religion to accommodate you, why don't we change Christianity so we can go to school from Saturday to Thursday?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your opinion may well be of consequence, but not to me personally to respond to.\n\n- a guesstimate beyond anything reasonable that happens to support your position\n\n- citation of a pundit whose area of \"expertise\" is in a wholly different area\n\n- rejection of the natural law and the Church's teaching\n\n- advocacy for basing teaching on \"peoples' lives\" instead\n\n- suggestion that unless the \"church institution\" adopts your viewpoint, it is \"dead, clinging to the skeleton of a past glory while ignoring the needs of presently living people\"\n\n- a zany assessment of Anglicans, including a \"Tiber\" reference\n\nGiven that this is the blog of the National Catholic Reporter, what do you think the odds are I have not read this entire content once before? Every day? Hundreds of times?\n\nBut don't let that discourage you from doing high fives with similar-minded commenters.\n\nMy opinion should be of no consequence to you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is simply time to let it go and move forward. This Pope owes us nothing. The events that transpired a generation ago cannot be restored and the Catholic Church certainly owes us nothing. The horrible deeds of men thousands of miles away cannot be turned over. Nor does Rome need to pay reparations for expanding the Roman Empire, nor Germany of WW1 and 2. Its all been paid in full. Time to quit living in the past.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely. I've said it before and I'll say it again: one of the big benefits of this election cycle is that it exposed a bunch of people who call themselves Christians as phonies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm talking about the basic philosophical differences between Christianity and Buddhism. In Christianity, as long as you accept the religion and/or Christ, your prior sins are forgiven. There's not necessarily a drive to avoid all sin now or pay the consequences. Heck, I could be a near-perfect person yet still go to hell because I haven't \"accepted\" Christ. Or, I could have done bad things, accept Christ, and I'm saved. Buddhism doesn't have those allowances. Do bad things, you'll pay for it, no matter what you believe.\n\nYou mention that group in Myanmar. Sounds like there's an internal religious war going on from both sides. Yeah, it isn't good. But, how can a Christian nation like ours justify what we're doing in the middle east? Myanmar is tiny potatoes compared to the dead bodies we've created. Also, Christianity has a long history of forced genocide under its belt...justified by the believers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think it is yourself who needs a more reliable teacher.\nThe ouncil of Trent on the Sacrifice of the Mass.\n\"CANON III.--If any one saith, that the sacrifice of the mass is only a sacrifice of praise and of thanksgiving; or, that it is a bare commemoration of the sacrifice consummated on the cross, but not a propitiatory sacrifice; or, that it profits him only who receives; and that it ought not to be offered for the living and the dead for sins, pains, satisfactions, and other necessities; let him be anathema.\"\nThe Masss is not a \"re-enactment\" it is the re-presentation of Christ's sacrifice on Calvary.\nThe Council of Trent specifically taught this against the Protestant reformers who like you claimed the Mass was not a sacrifice but merely a memorial meal. If you disagree, show any teaching of the Church which contradicts the doctrine of the Sacrifice of the Mass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "oldgit\nThis is an excellent example of what propaganda can do and how good the West's propaganda is. The west, especially Britain and France have abused the Middle East Muslim countries for almost a century. The west is decadent and evil, especially from the Muslim experience. What have the Muslims done that can compare at all with what the west has done? 9 11. One shot. Look at Palestine. Not with a Christian or Jewish outlook but from an Arab Muslim farmer point of view. Are the Palestinians and friends decadent or evil or just reacting in a way one would expect. \n\nIf I can feel sorry for the Palestinians, imagine how other Muslims feel. They could be expected to retaliate. They did. Every country which has been attacked had attacked Muslims.\n\nWhat in the world did you expect the Muslims to do. I hope that the West would accept that retaliation could be expected. And since the West had killed thousands of innocents, why should the Muslims not do the same thing. Where it hurts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The facts are that the Christian church has been used to endorse war efforts throughout its history after becoming a social force in \nWestern civilization. The Catholic church has standards which allow it to define a 'justifiable' war.\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_war_theitsy\n\nSo we may have a difference in terms here. Using the term holly war was a mistake. (Spanish Inquisition) Western nations have regularly sought endorsement from the Christian church to support war. The height of mixing religious ideology with state objectives was in Europe and the power of the Catholic church.\n\nWhen church and state become synonomous, (as in many Muslim nations), this will, IMO, do far more to distort the message of Jesus or Allah , than it will to modify the behavior of a state that is looking to build a very Human kingdom on earth.\n\nMuslim nations are corrupting their faith to justify very human desires for power and control. There are Muslims followers that feel the same way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian, Jew and Islam are the same three religions. They have no leader, no teacher, they all died 2000 years ago. \n \nWe just want peace but the people of the book are always fighting, this has been like this since the 60's. The christian and muslim fighting with the jews in the middle. I want no part of it. We just want peace. But people with rules and books and narcissism are never about peace, they always want to fight. That is why there is so many problem in America today, so much crime, poverty, prisons, drugs, homelessness etc.\n\nWe need a secular and agnostic country, one of true peace, a place to live in safety and freedom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is too much hatred and fear in the Church. People forget that Jesus taught us about following and living his consciousness of God's love for ALL of creation. That consciousness leads us to salvation, not the laws and rules of the Torah. This consciousness includes the ambiguity of the Prophets and the Wisdom teachings of Jesus. \nThe social justice gospel includes all of us!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Monica, you and I disagree on many things, but I have always respected your insights, intelligence, and wit. You are a reasonable liberal whose voice needs to be heard above the din of so much nonsense that appears here. I urge you to stay, so that if you won't make certain Catholics more conservative, you can at least make them more reasonable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The institutional church discriminates by not choosing women but Christ didn't?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Confusing comment, Neko: Are you saying Bibi is a Nazi? Or do you deny that Netanyahu disrespected Pres. Obama, and that Israel disregards international law and US policy by continuing to build settlements on Palestinian land?\n\nWould you be in favor of banning all Palestinians -- Christian as well as Muslim -- from entry to USA?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It must be nice to be a Christian and still not have follow the dogma, doctrines and teachings that come with Christianity. I am willing wager that her counterparts in Judaism and Islam adhere closely to the teachings, doctrines and dogma of their respective faiths. I am sure that people who followed the Buddhist, Hindu or Shinto belief, also follow the dogma, doctrines and teachings as required. Only Christians I guess, can make up their own rules as they go along. Just chuck the Bible out the window because it too strict and too politically incorrect. I don't think Rev. Julia Seymour is an apostate. She sounds more like a Deist, then a Christian. Nothing wrong with that. I am one myself.....much like George Washington before me. \"God is love\" (1 John 4:8) to be the highest truth and guide in my life\" is what she wrote. Most Christians I know tells me that accepting Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, adhering to his teachings\" marked a Christian. Who is right???", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Totally agree. I hope you noticed that the highest rate of murders happen to be in Christian countries.\n\nAnd one shouldn't blame Christianity for murder. Just like one shouldn't blame Islam for terrorism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are only two ex cathedra dogmas and they are both about Mary. Period. You can dance and do a jig but those are the facts and they are not changing because you do not like them. \n\nDogma and Ex Cathedra are not the same things. Some things are teachings and called dogma but can change because they are not official Ex Cathedra Dogmas. Any teaching of the church or tradition can be referred to as a dogma but most can be changed and many have been. \n\nYour highly defensive final statement regarding women being ordained priests is proof you are not convinced yourself that this rule excluding women from priesthood can't be changed. And definitely proof Christ wanted women discriminated against is necessary to continue excluding women because otherwise we sin continually and continue to weaken. There is no proof Christ desired Bishops to treat or ordain women any differently than men so we do sin while we continue this bias. And the Gospels are my proof.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, let's see...Trumpty-Dumpty wants to 'register' all Muslims and keep any more from entering the country no matter who they are. We have the so-called \"Christian right\" who pretty much feel the same, and we have the so-called \"liberal\" secularists and atheists who openly call for the banning of ALL religion. Sounds like a whole buncha folks are being stirred up and driven down the \"divide-and-conquer\" cattle-chutes. Perhaps we should talk...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you trying to suggest that one person is representative of the views and positions of the left? Thanks for the laugh.\n\nAlso, learn something about black identity Christianity, maybe have some black friends you're close enough with to regularly have dinner in their homes, then you might be able to make an intelligent comment about Wright. The short of it is, bombastic comments are used to motivate people to overcome and succeed. Every black kid growing up had an uncle, grandfather, or pastor, who made such bombastic statements as a means to motivate them.\n\nSee, you can choose to try to understand people who are different than you, or you can use misunderstanding and ignorance to try to score political points. But which you choose reveals your own character.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is made up of sinners, of which I am the foremost, no one is suggesting otherwise. There is a difference between someone committing a sin, and the hierarchy saying that because of public opinion the sin is no longer a sin. A lot of Catholics drink to much. Does this mean the hierarchy should say that there is nothing wrong with drunkenness because \"no one listens to those silly rules anymore\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church doesn't dictate what you or anyone else does, unless you want to be a Catholic. If you don't want to be a Catholic, that's fine. So, yes, only married couples should have sex (not sodomy), and they should be doing it without artificial birth control. Notice the word, \"should.\" We can only do the best that we can when it comes to sin, and we should confess when we falter in our efforts to adhere to Church teaching. But if you flat-out disagree with what the Church teaches, there are plenty of Protestant sects available to accommodate your desire to have guilt-less sex, that is, sex the way YOU think it should be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and THERE you have the nut of it......you believe any and all Christians to be intellectually, morally and emotionally unfit to be President or in your unspoken words, hold any other public office. So cute of you to feel the need to use words like ultra, arch etc. all to tell us how much you detest close to 1/2 of America. News flash for you gary, this country is very divided, became more so the last 8 years with a president who often offended people not in his party and at this point the only thing I see changing is the atmosphere continuing to get worse. Your team certainly offers zero hope of any leader who has any ability or desire to attempt to unite the country again. Especially with todays left wing media at work. So on we go", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Being a good Catholic is . . . Loving God and Loving one's neighbor.\" And don't bother about canon law. \n\nWhat indifferentist tripe. So typical of NCR. Lots of people love God and their neighbor. If you think that makes you a Roman Catholic, you're not even rational.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know who Harriet Tubman is. So do my kids. So do my three oldest grandchildren (other two only four and two years old, respectively). Someone called you on your underhanded insult and now you're backpedaling. If your kids go to Prevo's \"Christian\" school, it's hardly surprising they haven't heard of her--honors or not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our problem today is that people do not see themselves with a 'vocation' to be a CLERIC. ie: a male, called to a full time commitment, for a lifetime, requiring celibacy.\n\nOur custom is to require that anyone 'ordained' to priesthood or Episcopal office needs to be a full time CLERIC, dedicated for life. \n\nIn the early Christian communities of Acts and the Epistles, that was not a requirement. These new greek-named 'deacons' were part of the 'laity'. The people Paul describes as having all the various gifts the community needed to 'build up the Body of Christ' were all of the same 'class'. Christians were not yet separated into 'laity' and 'clerics'. \n\nAs long as we divide Christians into 'professional clerics' and 'laity', we will have 'clericalism'.\n\nMaybe THAT is our present problem. \n\n'Priests' are just people whom the Bishop delegates by ordination to share in his Episcopal functions of administering Sacraments, preaching, teaching, presiding at Liturgy & administration.\n\n(more)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As of now, it's the joint anti Islamic hostility and the subsequent support of the Iraeli State that binds Evangelicals and militant Catholics. The Evangelicals see Jerusalem as the destination of the Second Coming and it looks to me like militant Catholics are looking for another Lepanto. Jerusalem would be fine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ever had a brave pastor that ordered a tuna noodle casserole? or that smelly frozen cod inflicted on generations of Catholic school children? of course, since the designation of Friday as a day of PENANCE, maybe give the retired priest salmon and everyone else a grilled cheese?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Feel free to launch into your lecture about abortion, acceptance of gay people, rising atheism, and the lack of conservative Christians in all phases of society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To tell the government you are Muslim when you are Christian is an act of apostasy. \n\nThere must be a better way to resist, one without denying our belief that Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and not merely a prophet, if Trump tries this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That was the Catholic church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The author of this Article is just another hypocrite, like virtually all the Globe and Mail writers and editors.\n\nThe Globe didn't print any of the Charlie Hebdo or Danish cartoon depictions of Mohammed, but regularly pillories Christianity and Christian practices.\n\nThe Globe claims to be in favor of women's rights, but won't print even one article questioning or criticizing Islam's treatment of women.\n\nThe Globe claims to be in favor of secularism, but won't print even one article that questions whether Islam as currently practiced is compatible with secular constitutional democracy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And at one time everyone believed the sun circled the earth and that slavery was okay with God, that adulterers should be stoned to death and on and on.\n\nMarriage no longer only means a union between a man and a woman just as a man and a woman getting married no longer necessarily means they want to have children - but will have sex. All this idea about marriage WAS ONCE all tied up in a neat little bundle - and it no longer is.\n\nI don't think the Supreme Court was \"perverting\" the Constitution but was recognizing the fundamental equality of people to participate in the society and the \"common good\" created by that society. At this point, LGBT marriage is accepted by a majority of citizens and I think the Supremes waited to make a decision until it was evident that there was that acceptance. You may dispute the \"liberty\" of gay marriage all you want - but you have already lost the argument in the minds of lay Catholics and most citizens.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think there was a city council, too, that said only Christian preachers could deliver the opening prayer at council meetings (why there was a prayer at a city council meeting is beyond my ken). They got sued and then had to allow Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, and...duh, duh, duh! Satanists! LOL! If I remember rightly, they cancelled all prayer before the council meetings then.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So they train a dog against it will to to attack a person when the dog should not be there in the first place over a traffic stop. I don't know the details of this person or the entire situation . Poor dog . I am looking at all these comment of negativity, kill the person hang them shank them.. you people never herd of compassion, and more then likely you all clam to be good christian folk.. the man made a mistake and should be held accountable, but is it really necessary to brew soo much hate within your self over something that has no direct reliance within your life did you really care personally about that dog?? why do you feel so emotionally compelled about this situation you are not the dog or the officer that owned the dog i think your just trying to inflate you ego and find some sort or public approval because your a good citizen and want the world to know... An eye for an eye will leave the world blind", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not entirely. The pope met with the Little Sisters of the Poor in the US. Trump promised \u201cIf I am elected president. [t]he Little Sisters of the Poor will not have to face bullying from the government because of their religious beliefs.\u201d\nIn the final days of the campaign, Trump again sympathized with the Little Sisters of the Poor on EWTN. \nTrump won 60% of white Catholics, critical for his win in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin.\nIn the White House Rose Garden ceremony May 4, Trump decried the \u201cattacks against the Little Sisters of the Poor\u201d before signing his executive order on \u201creligious freedom.\u201d He invited the sisters present to stand beside him, and shook the hands of two of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"please do not call yourself a Christian\" It's not really up to you, is it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Huh, first time I ever heard from a priest that Jesus' ascension didn't happen. What other parts of the Gospel does this priest think didn't happen? The last supper? Crucifixion? Resurrection? \n\nGumbletonism. A reconfiguration of the Gospels to align with the current political climate and popular culture. Protestant sect # 9,347.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nico, just try to put on the hat of a (militant) atheist like myself. We have Christianity, Islam and all other religions forced on us, by those \"believers\" that find it difficult to \"believe\" that somebody might not \"believe\" in any deity or supernatural power.\n\nWhen I hand out R5 or R10 to the beggar or car guard I get \"God bless you\", how should I feel or react?\nWhen I get unsolicited emails telling stories of miracles performed by some \"god\", asking me to forward the email to 10 friends so I can also receive the blessing of said \"god\", how must I react?\n\nWhen do we as atheists ever interfere or force our views on the \"believers\" other than when we can no longer remain silent or tolerate the religious bombardment??", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely so, Mike. This comes from those members of the hierarchy, clergy, religious and laity---who think that Jesus is Catholic and wrote a catechism and canon law. Jesus clearly demonstrated what the \"Will of the Father\" is---but these folks don't get it. And they don't get Pope Francis either.\n\nReality is the issue---not theory. Reality is a part of CHANGE---a 'dirty' word for too many of these members 'in some corners of the church.' Change brings about different realities that people face---live in and die within as well. Realities change----and it requires a willingness to grow, to engage in introspection, to do research, to discuss with and meet people where they are TODAY, not where people were 20+ years ago. Sadly, it's too much like 'work' for those pretending to be shepherds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Imagine living in Ontario in 1838 and you can't be a lawyer simply because you're Catholic. I find it bitterly ironic that anybody would regard LSUC as being motivated by a desire to restrict religious rights when what they have been doing consistently over generations is working to ensure that everybody has the same opportunity to participate in the profession without discrimination, starting with people of different religious beliefs in 1839.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Jewish ghettos were formed by completely different people, in a completely different time, for completely different reasons. This is not a fair comparison, at all. I suggest you read the old novel \"The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich\". This novel clearly explains Hitler's rise, the jewish ghettos, and the reasons for. There is NO comparison between immigrants not assimilating, and Jewish ghettos and Christians. Please do not make such comments when it is obvious you lack the contextual knowledge.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is just that for a long time the Dutch Church has been anything but Catholic, it is nice to know that there are some clergy who still are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"But the meta-question is, should the Catholic Church still believe that doctrine must be logically coherent? \"\n- This is a very good question.\n- Doctrine or magisterial statements can be set aside when the facts of the matter show that either the doctrine is misconstrued, or that it has been so poorly stated as to be unhelpful.\n- However as to the concerns of the 4cards and their hidden supporters the real issue is not 'if this, then not that', or 'there can be no 'ands' connecting magisterial statements and or doctrine', but that doctrine and magisterial statements are connected and found worthy in pastoral practice. \n- If the church has discerned that pastoral necessity requires a new 'lens' to see, then it is for the church to determine what lens that might be. That lens might not be everyone's cuppa but if the bishops with the Archbishop of Rome says it has merit, then we can only work for its success, until in practice it does not work anymore.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This comment was only noted in the Gospel of Matthew. Not in Mark's---the first Gospel written nor in John's the last. If this was such an EATHSHAKING pronouncement---it should have been in at least one other Gospel. \n\nJesus didn't set out to establish a church. NO apostle believed that either. They saw themselves as Jews completely. AND they believed that Christ would come again in their lifetimes----so why found a church? They saw their ministry to be what Christ commanded---\"Go preach the Gospel'. Jesus didn't state \"Go set up the governance structure of a church\" [which they wouldn't even know anything about]. \"Ekklesia was a Greek term---not Aramaic or even Hebrew.\n\nIt took until after the Apostolic Age---before the Christian communities began to see that Jesus may not be coming back that quickly. What do you know about the second Pope---Linus? I bet next to nothing [as with most Catholics].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"So. The case is being handled. The accused is in jail. The priest has been removed from ministry. Those that apparently tried to cover up the story are being dealt with. Norms and directives are being followed.\nWhat exactly is the issue here?\"\n\nHere we have another conservative Catholic who thinks that it is not an issue that Pope Francis' zero-tolerance policy does not include Bishops contacting the police about clergy pedophilia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well it seems that he is in favour, perhaps he doesn't share your opinion of them.\nEurope is being swamped with Muslim immigrants who will if not checked change the culture of this Christian, albeit nominal, continent. I do not want to see my grandchildren and their progeny subject to Sharia Law. Why would that be described as prejudice, where your desire to preserve Jewish culture is not?\nVoting for Brexit here in the U.K. was not necessarily to keep out Eastern Europeans who can assimilate easily, it was to keep out economic immigrants from without the EU who once in because of the 'open borders' policy could legally settle here. It is this which accounts for the rise of nationalism in Europe, not a return to Nazism.\nIn the U.S. at least the culture of the immigrants from the South is Christian, not so here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sounds like that interpretation is tainted with Christian guilt. The old ways honored and welcomed the spirits of departed loved ones and hoped for them to visit. Evil spirits were warded off through bonfires, costumes and other rituals. Guilt at departed loved ones didn't enter the picture. The gifts were simply tokens to honor the departed. Christianity has historically always tried to take anything they feared or was not of their religion and twist it in order to convince the heathens to convert and adapting local or foreign religious ceremonies and customs was a way to make the converts feel more familiar and comfortable as religious conversion began.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"First off, freedom of religion per the constitution meant freedom of various Christian Sects and not any and all religions of the earth.\"\nAre you saying that the right to practice religion in the USA applies only to Christians? Your understanding of the Constitution is very poor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Catholic is obliged to answer a call to violence even if uttered by one of the Church\u2019s bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes they are. I just laugh now when our church grumps about Trump. He hates the planet, he hates immigrants whah whah whah. Well Pope Francis maybe you should have told your bishops to stop pushing the GOP and TRump on your people to vote for. Better yet - tell them to stay out of politics all together. \n\nJesus told our shepherds (male and female) to preach the truth and let the hearers come to God to discern what they should do with that truth in their lives, Jesus didn't say to push for politics to control women or anyone else. He didn't tell us to make any laws at all in any country. He told us to love each other, teach (not force) what is right, and do not judge or condemn anyone.\n\nTime we laity refused to support any group of men or women who are sexist or racist or have a purely political agenda but hide as a Christian group. I remind the folks reading this comment that the K-K_K- has always considered itself a Christian Group and that is why they burnt crosses on lawns.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's comical is that Mormons tend to be consistently the best behaved out of the entire Christian bunch. I've personally known 6, and each and every one of them were faithful to their spouses, to their families, to their friends, are honest, and are very hard workers. Christians? Very inconsistent and many times hypocrites.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ">>Afghan and Iraqi civilians died in the last 15 years, killed by NATO? About 50 times more than died in India in 2002. Judge not, for thou.......\n\nBut you do argue anti-Muslim sentiment, and deaths because of that ( throwing in a Nazi analogy in the mix, to 'solidify' your argument against a Western country).\n\nIt is a convenient all-catch false argument to use anytime one lacks a real argument.\n.\nThe civilians deaths are collateral that will happen in any armed conflict. NATO did not set out to bomb civilians because they were Muslim. \n.\nThere were Christian civilian casualties in Serbia too, when NATO interfered to protect Muslim minority.\n.\nNow many Muslims have died in the suicide or car bombings perpetrated by the other Muslims, which continue today? \n.\nAll you do is cherry picking out-of-context facts to support your anti-western sentiment. \nWhile comfortably taking advantage of the benefits provided by that very same society, I might add.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "James, I agree. As a former small business owner I rarely agreed with the Chamber's positions. They did not work on my behalf.\n\nYes, there are more budget cuts to make. Let's start with any State funds that go to the Chamber of Commerce! Then follow that not by taxing religion, but rather churches. This would reduce the funds available to the Christian Taliban.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"our most potentially dangerous adversary, Russia\" With what I've seen from the middle east Muslimville, I would prefer the phrase \"our ally, Russia\". America has far more in common with Russian Christians than it does with Muslims. It's time our foreign policy reflected this. Take your twisted anti-American article and take a hike!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent observation. From my perspective and experience, the vast and endemic poverty that exists in Mexico is not a natural occurrence. The Church, sadly, has been complicit in this process. Mexico is owned by about 100 biological families. Their absolute power requires the tacit protection of the Church. Mexico should be prosperous. It has all the necessary ingredients for a sound economy. Yet it remains a place that people are trying to leave. The Church does have a role here. It can let the Mexican Elite know that it is past time for them to release their control and democratize Mexico. And those in America who prosper because of these conditions should be told in no uncertain terms that our Catholic Church is here to spread the message of Christ---love you brother.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh the cesspools that Catholic parishes are! : ) \nBut those saintly Protestants - - no bad behavior there, ever!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A great column.\n\nSmall quibble with \"Coptics, an Orthodox-Christian group,\" - there are Catholic Copts. Majority are Orthodox, including the ones who were targeted on Palm Sunday.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suggest that you really read accredited documents about women in the early church [by early---I mean from the time of the Apostles on]. There were NO priests in the early church. There were no church buildings. In the time of the Apostles and Paul----there were home churches, where Christians gathered. The Meal [original name for the Mass---Eucharist, a Greek word that eventually became our name for Communion], was celebrated by a 'presbyter' who was chosen by the people there. It could be a man, woman or husband-wife team. There were bishops and deacons. Some history citations:\n\n1)Ute E. Eisen, WOMEN OFFICEHOLDES IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY: Epigraphical and Literary Studies, tr. Linda M. Maloney [Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2000].\n\n2) Kevin Madigan @ Carolyn Osiek, eds. trs. ORDAINED WOMEN IN THE EARLY CHURCH: A Documentary History [Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry but this goes to the very heart of the 1st amendment. Back in the day if the King was Catholic everybody had to be catholic. You were not entitled to the rights of the state if you weren't a member of the government sanctioned religion. The comments by the president of the assembly shows a total ignorance or disrespect for the constitution of this nation. It was because of this type of arbitrary authority that this amendment was (the 1st amendment to the U.S. constitution) was included. I am Presbyterian, if I become the President of the assembly does that give me the right to deny Catholics or Hindus from being eligible to pray at the assembly meeting. A private personal prayer before the meeting would be far more appropriate than trying to chose a state sanctioned religion.P.S. using the test you suggest just might result in some very interesting organizations as the feds don't care who your God is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, you go read it. Doesn't sound like any Christian religious groups I know. \"Those who disobeyed and those who did not enjoin what was right received a severe punishment from Allah.\" And then l-Sheikh Gillani also said, \u201cWe must condemn these acts and declare a social boycott of all who do not stand against same-gender marriage, in an effort to save ourselves. We must stand up. Only then will we be saved.\u201d This is a CALL FOR ACTION...not only against gays, but against anyone who does not stand AGAINST them. It's the only way to save yourself. Pretty strong stuff. But that's okay, eh? And Demboski did not say that Jones is stockpiling weapons. She basically said we need to be vigilant. And I agree with that. Especially after reading about the group he's from!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, yes! Good Christians just need someone to scapegoat, exclude, see as the enemy, and condemn! This was done during the Middle Ages as heretics were burned at the stake. And in 1486, when two Dominican members of the Inquisition of the Catholic Church, under the directive of Pope Innocent VIII, began a tragic period of ecclesial and civil violence, this quickly spread beyond the Roman Catholic Church to the Protestant communities.\nAll across Northern Europe, the British Isles, and the British colonies of North America, a witch-hunt began with largely targeted women. The most vulnerable were women who were poor, had birth defects or skin diseases, who raised gardens of medicinal herbs, or who for various reasons didn't marry or were widowed. Some 200,000 people over the 150 year period were tortured and burned at the stake for being witches.\nGood Christians are doing the same today. Pointing fingers, burning reputations, accusing---it makes us feel good that we're not like them!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What Muslim has just won leadership of one of Canada's largest political parties?\n\nCan y'all quit with the anti-Mulsims/Christians be persecuted , bigotry?\n\nOf course you can't - and that's one big card the Harper brain trust will be using all the time against everyone in Canada who doesn't think as do they. To Scheer's benefit and he can just grin like a Keebler Elf and look to victory.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, that false and distorted Protestant meme has been debunked countless times. Constantine allowed the Christians to come out of the catacombs and for the first time in hundreds of years they were able to openly worship and communicate with the various Christian communities. One could easily consider the resultant spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire the work of Divine Providence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "by that logic Christianity and Judaism are also cults. cults that get to skip on their fair share of taxes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Listen, most modern christian sects, from Catholic to various evangelical protestants also have some highly illogical precepts and beliefs. Why pick on the Mormons. While their conservatism is not my thing, i dont think anyone can deny the overall decency, work ethic, community mindedness of the overwhelming majority of people of the Mormon faith. Every religious group has skeletons in their theological closet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(1) \"Companies were covering birth control until conservative Christians threatened to boycott those companies, so they dropped it.\"\n-\n(2) \"Obamacare tried to restore women's contraception coverage. I think the mistake was to mandate that the coverage be provided at no cost, instead of at the same cost as generic or trade-marked drugs of similar status.\"\n======\n(1) And how many non-Christian Boycott's have there been, or are you just singling out the \"Christian\" ones? I have heard of a few \"non-Christian\" boycott's that were total disasters...because of all the Christians, Conservatives, Republicans, etc etc etc who specifically went to the \"boycott places\" to show their non-support-of-the-boycott.\n-\n(2) My point is the same: Obamacare tried to Create-By-Mandate a \"universal product/service coverage\" that is not \"universally accepted.\" If a market exists, Insurance Companies will fill the void....if a market truly exists....for all \"legal products and services.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where a Christian shot five people at random?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The national anthem, the flag, the Constitution etc; were crafted only to benefit the WASP with property. It only branched out to White Ethics ie; Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Mormons, Jews later. It has never extended equal rights nor protections to POC. Colin knelt to protest Police Brutality and murdering of Blacks due to alleged fear for their lives, yet armed and fleeing Dylan Roof who murdered innocent Christians didn't make White cops fear for their lives! Why is that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks Elagabalus... I also would wonder if such an order would allow me, based on my religious beliefs to not serve Evangelicals, Fundamentalists, Right Wing Catholics? Maybe Muslims wouldn't want to serve Jews or Christians? The list goes on. It is Pandora's Box. If such a law went into effect, I'm pretty sure I would find ways to legally discriminate against conservatives. I'd like to do it, now, but I don't because of rule of law., not Church teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All the things you suggests would be intelligent and Christian gestures, especially no. 4. We reviewed and scrapped centuries of antisemitic texts at Vatican II.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Leftist comedians in the U.S. satirize the well-to-do Christian RIGHT that exercises so much power in the States. Pence and co. The hypocrites who side with the rich over the poor, loathe 'loose women,' and want to throw the criminal poor in jail (rather than pay for social reform)--all direct no-no's according to what Christ says in the New Testament (and cf. what the Bible says about how you should welcome immigrants. The Christian Right is a hypocritical joke. Leftist ideology, atheistic or otherwise, is intensely New Testament in its inclinations. In its care for the downtrodden. You'll never see Leftist comedians make fun of poor Christians in other contexts, say, states in Africa.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".\n.\n.\n\nWHY ARE PEOPLE SO SUPRISED TO SEE, \"CORPORATE cHRISTIANITY HAS NO MORALS\".\n\n.\n.\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The estimate is that somewhere between 3% and 5% of women in this country use NFP. It is not high in most countries where women are educated and contraceptives widely available. They represent a very small percent of Catholic women and so represent a view held by only a very small percent of women who have the choice. \n\nI do not say that women who use NFP should be excluded. Read my comment again. I think women who use NFP and find value in their marriages and in their lives from doing so have their own story to tell, a viewpoint that also needs to be talked about and shared. But it is a minority viewpoint for most women, including Catholic women, in countries where contraceptives are widely and easily available. What should not be ignored any longer is the huge majority of Catholic women and their Catholic husbands who do not accept NFP as a reasonable method for managing family size, the timing of children, and even assuring the health of the woman.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is excellent Tom. When I served in Vietnam, I dreamed of writing the great Vietnam war novel. There is one scene (based 100% on truth) I always was going to use to frame the surrealism, absurdity, disconnect, gaps, disillusionment, sickness, and sadness of the Middle-Class Catholic Baby Boomer Vietnam Era experience. \n\nI had in-country training with the First Cav, a renowned and tested infantry division. After the training, they gathered us by religion to hear from respective chaplains. I stood with infantrymen who--within days, maybe hours--were going to kill a fellow human being or be killed by a fellow human being. I gathered with frightened boys-to-men about to be maimed or to maim. I stood with virginal kids who never would make love to a woman. \n\nThe profound moral questions of our time confronted us.\n\nAnd the Catholic chaplain recognized a moral drama in a surrealistic way no novelist could invent: With stern fervor, he warned us of the danger before us: self abuse!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed. If Christians acted and lived like Christ, their example would already have converted the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The right generally insist that this is a Christian nation. Do you deny this? Anyway just saying it is vry Christian of you, not that you are Christiasn. See the difference?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My comments about Grisham's behavior are attempts to clean house (if I understand you). Christians aren't any better at policing their own than anyone else, I'm afraid; hence Westboro, Warren Jeffs, the fact that the KKK won't let you join unless you profess a Christian faith, Joel Osteen's tax-exempt 10.5 million dollar home, etc. The irony that some Christians insist that all Muslims must be radical terrorists yet retain the right to be outraged when associated with the examples I just named, isn't lost on all of us. There are many Christians who help others quietly and humbly; the Salvation Army, for example. The many Christians that do the good work are often unseen or ignored in favor of loudmouths of Mr. Grisham's ilk. It doesn't mean good work is not getting done.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any time Pope Francis talks with reporters on the papal plane, you know something interesting is about to happen. This time was no exception.\n\nWhat strikes me about his comments isn't that he said anything new (he mostly reiterated traditional Catholic teaching on gender identity), but that he resisted making a blanket condemnation or speaking negatively about transgender people. Instead, he went where he usually does, encouraging personal dialogue, pastoral sensitivity and taking each situation as it comes.\n\nI can't help but contrast that with the knee-jerk way many U.S. bishops have dealt with the issue. I wish they'd take a page from Francis' book and let their default mode be one of conversation rather than edict. It could only improve their low stock with U.S. Catholics.\n\nOne minor quibble about the headline. The pope never said that morality is determined case-by-case, which is not only misleading but bad theology. How 'bout we lighten up on the 'click-bait' headlines?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can anyone be against the death penalty for people that rape and traffic kids? If they are incarcerated they WILL get out again. Our CJ system is much like the Catholic church. Let them out to do it again and again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The best women I know --- a sizable number --- are traditional Catholics, all of them quite holy, strong, and intelligent as hll, and they do not consider themselves to have been discriminated against by the Church. So stop the divisive nonsense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am afraid that you are contradicting yourself. The government is there to serve the people. On the one hand you agree that the Government should not interfere with the people's rights. Then you say that it can force the people to Fund a religion other than theirs which they do not wish to fund. It is up to the Muslim congregation, just like any other religion's congregation, to fund it, not the government which is there to protect other people's rights too. What the Establishment clause says is that you can do your Catholic thing just as other people with other beliefs can do their thing. That is why it should not treat any religion differently from another. That is how it guarantees your right and mine to practice whatever religion or no religion, that we want to. It protects everybody's religious rights. I cannot explain this in any better way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why shouldn't they? Surely you don't think \"the Vatican\" gets to decide who or what is Catholic? I know that some of the people who work there probably still think that, but beyond the Vatican, not so much. The church is comprised of so-called \"cafeteria Catholics\" from across the ideological spectrum. Some of them are interested in what \"the Vatican\" has to say, but few of them are moved by it in their daily lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LOL, yep and that third eye has had lense replacement surgery and sees crystal clear. Unlike you, my awe of God is such that I can let God be God and don't have to use Him as an excuse to berate my fellow Catholics for their myopia and lack of faith just to make myself feel saintly and righteous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, RD? Dependence brings dangers, too. Who was it that reported on the priest sex abuse crisis when no one else did? Was it the National Catholic Reporter or the papers controlled by bishops?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Answer to Mark Slama:\n\nNone of the above. It was an imprecation, i.e., my asking God to curse the idolatrous, self-worshiping white-supremacists just as King David (alayhis-Salaam) asked God to curse his enemies. I don't get to \"dictate\" to God what form His curse takes--or if He'll even accept my imprecation. He's the Authority, not me.\n\nFor another thing, conversion at sword-point, mass-murder, burning alive have been and are Christian bailiwicks, not ours. Islamically speaking, we're prohibited from all three, and those among us who have done so have egregiously violated Shari'a and the authentic Islamic tenets on which it's based.\n\nSame for crucifixions--the accusations of \"cruci-fictions\" of Christians my Muslims in southern Sudan were mere British Christian \"agit-prop\". In fact Muslims have been crucified by Christians far more often than vice-versa. The first two Muslim missionaries sent to the \"holy\" Roman prelate in Jerusalem were crucified.\n\n(CONTINUED BELOW...)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't you know, he is not responsible for what happened in Ontario because he is now a Liberal. Like a Born Again Christian, he was washed of his sins in the holy water of the Liberal Party. Hallelujah. Forgiveness was delivered with a seat in Parliament. All NDP failures were bestowed unto Mike Harris.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ATF\nIt does seem that the church will usually only take action when it is about to be badly embarassed. Would that the driving force among church leaders be about doing the right thing, and truly ridding the church of this problem. Even here, the guilty are priests, not bishops. Getting awfully hard to believe that the church sees no guilt in any bishops, save for those who themselves were caught in the act...\n\nFrancis has, at various times, said promising words. But at the end of the day, he's pretty much side-railed the very Commission he created, and we still wait for anything at all with respect to holding bishops accountable. Hard to not conclude that nothing will ever really change in the church, as it seems to appear that each generation really just wants to kick the problem down the road to their successors. \n\nThe cancer continues, sad to say... For now, if all we can get is action against parish priests, I guess that's what we'll have to take. *sigh*", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Catholic Church's certainty with regard to its own position runs the risk that Rome will believe that it is not being heard when it is simply being listened to (respectfully) but not then being obeyed. It is always tempting to blame the inability of the messenger to reach an audience rather than to acknowledge that the (truthful) message lacked enough persuasive force.\" Conor Gearty, \u201cUncomfortable Truths,\u201d The Tablet, 13 February 2010", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "http://members.efn.org/~hkrieger/crypto.jpg\n\nAmazing! Your pic of the Catholic church near the Luxor on the Vegas strip evokes Francis appearing at \"an outdoor Mass . . . [with] the backdrop of the Pyramids.\" \n\nOr is it the other way around?!!\n\nWhatever the case, I am enjoying your work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about Catholic priests molesting children and being shielded by the Church? Does that turn people off Catholicism?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All because they want real estate bubble by immigrant.\n\nAll because they were told that immigrants will pay the entitlements of 50 years of public sector abuse.\n\nAll because the virtue signaler wants to destroy Canada and the white culture that is here making it a melting pot of warring immigrant factions and 600 no-go zones where police won't even tread like in Europe.\n\nIn 20 years white culture will be wiped out as immigrants take over the parties and ban Christian assembly and doctrine. Sharia, East Indian, Asian gangs roaming the streets like a Mad Max movie.\n\nGlad I moved to the US where they are not afraid to say Radical Islam", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Life does begin at conception, it is where one has all the genetic material that makes them a unique individual from their mother and father. A unborn child is created in the same image and likeness of God as are the child's mother and father. That unborn have less rights to than the born and can be disposed of at will is not Catholic teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A \"multicultural mosque\" is a ruse. When Moslems reach a demographic tipping point, they exercise influence beyond their numbers by intimidation. violence. \"Multiculturalism\" is then inevitably annihilated. Koran: \"Fight until all religion is for Allah\", Koran: \"Kill the unbeliever wherever you find him\". Mohammed: \"I am made victorious with terror\" (Bukhari). Koran: \"take not Jews or Christians as friends\". Current mildness & accommodation=part of the \"refugee\"(strangely refused by rich Gulf States) ruse, a waiting game played in the Dar al Harb (non-Moslem world-\"world at war\"); .Immigrate, outbreed, kill, deny, donate, get concessions, repeat. AB welcomes hijrah/emigration jihad (that changed Egypt centuries ago & now has Europe in fear) b/c Islam is the sword of the globalism & social engineering beloved by the elites. Any religion one can freely join but cannot leave without death threats is a threat 2 the freedom of every free person. Where Islam thrives, freedom dies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have been involved in several parishes over the years, and I have read plenty of news items about disputes in Catholic parishes. The ideas I suggest are not at all unprecedented, based on those experiences.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RX, to ask others to accept ones religion it is important to have a basis for the faith or belief system. Face covering is not a part of the written texts. Many muslims do not adhere to the practice. It is not reasonable to suggest that a protected part of religion is anything that an individual wishes. We correctly limit certain religious practices (selling women as required in the Christian bible is a good example). The law in Quebec dictates how one behaves in society, it does not limit personal freedom in private spaces.\n.\nyour understanding of religious freedom is too basic, leading you to very simplistic reasoning on the subject", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The election even caused most evangelicals to change their views on the importance of personal morality in politics. During the presidency of Bill Clinton, sexual impropriety was considered a disqualifier by evangelicals. They no longer felt that way when Trump was the candidate. They gave little credence to his critics and were ready to forgive him for any indiscretions.\"\n\n Only after Trump got the nomination did I have to vote for him against HRC. The polling during the campaign that indicated Trump was preferred by the majority is suspect. Trump should have been rejected by decent folk including the meaningless term \"Evangelicals.\" \n\n\"They also fear his anti-Muslim rhetoric will feed into the ISIS narrative that there is a war on Islam.\"\n That's BS. ISIS doesn't need to have that \"narrative.\" They are at war with free people; we are not \"at war\" with them, we are tolerating them at our peril.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I said about Fr Martin was true. I simply provided his own quotes. I never questioned Fr Martin's sexuality, and it is not appropriate for you to infer he or any other priest may be asexual, homosexual, or heterosexual. A chaste life is the only thing that counts for Catholic priests. Good day, Mike", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I reply to my own post with the admission I did not know the political leanings of Ryan's bishop. \n\nThe assumption was that the bishop was a man of Christian charity as defined in the beatitudes, the works of mercy, and the two great commandments.\n\nThat he is not, and that other bishops are like him, is a crying Catholic shame.\n\nBut I still hold the opinion that clerics of all religions and ranks should march through the halls of congress and confront the lawmakers who are derelict in their charitable actions. Petitions and letters are not adequate substitutes for face-to-face interaction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So now that we Catholics have canonized recent papal deniers of sex abuse, perhaps we should tern to the person who really did something for those who were abused and canonize Barbara Blaine!! I would tell my grandchildren to emulate her but never ask them to emulate JPII or other canonized popes that denied and did nothing about the sexual abuses that have plagued our church!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is the duty of a Christian to co-operate with just laws, and to resist unjust ones. Any law that results in the deaths of half a million children in any nation is immoral and unconscionable. That a previous president would decide a sanctions policy that was killing children daily was 'an acceptable price' to pay, or that a current presient would attempt to elevate bigotry to the level of public policy, simply shows the need to re-evangelise North America, all the way up to, and including, the White House. In the meantime, a medal of honor for Huck and Kubasak would be a good, symbolic start to public repentance for the sin of mass infanticide caused by western sanctions!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Mr. Tamura, as you say, \"Christopher Columbus was a man of his time. Sure what he did to the Indians were wrong by our standards today but they weren't so wrong by his standards back then.\" He was a product of the culture created in Europe by the Roman Catholic church, which I show at http://CatholicArrogance.Org/MoralRelativismLatinAmericanStyle.html had so destroyed the conscience of its followers that they had no qualms about murdering, raping, and enslaving their neighbors! \nThere were more civilized people in Europe even in those days, but they risked persecution and death if they dared publicly challenge the immorality of the Holy Roman Catholic Empire.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"This is a church that still does not acknowledge that ugly history nor has it admitted its own current sins/crimes against the young.\"\n\nYou are mistaken if you believe that. Both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have acknowledged and apologised for the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll do that. By the way, Jesus said nothing about abortion, same sex marriage, or reception of the Eucharist by annulment-free remarried Catholics. He did, however, have lots to say about hypocrisy, laying heavy burdens, loving our brothers and sisters, and forgiving our enemies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do not agree. Encouraging abstinence and chastity does not cause these problems. An oversexed society seeped in pornography, child sexual abuse, adultery, abortion, etc. is the cause, or rather, it is the result of society no longer adhering to the values and morals of Christianity. Not to say that people were perfect back then either, but we have really slid very far down in a fairly short amount of time. \n\nScience cannot teach us anything about morality. No amount of scientific discovery can do that. It is outside of it's expertise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is incongruous to associate the US Catholic Bishops so intimately with the agenda of Donald Trump. The Church has \"bedded\" with evil over the centuries to achieve or preserve its institutional advantage. We blithely think that those days were over or, at least, greatly diminished and modified. Modified to suit the age, yes. Diminished? Not at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"Under his [Ratzinger] leadership, the congregation took a decidedly proactive stance in defining church teaching and in criticizing or warning theologians.\"\n- In retrospect Ratzinger / Benedict xvi appears to have been easily manipulated. So one has to ask, who was behind some / all of he decisions of the CDF in those days. Granted, Ratzinger / Benedict is a brilliant theologian, and he worked closely with JPII, but often it appears that there was a tug boat bumping his QEII to orient his viewpoint and thoughts.\n- The ground for this possibility is that many of the decisions of the CDF and of Benedict's papacy are now found to have been unhelpful, or misguided, or even flat out wrong.\n- In the end the perduring mark on history from this period is that Ratzinger / Benedict for some reason thought / acted as if the church would be purer, easier to manage, and the people more secure in their faith if only they could control the theologians, and other catholic writers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's wait and see about *moral relativism* \n\nBTW - moral theology flows from catholic social justice theory - not the other way around and moral theology does not come first. You really do live in separate category land and fail to understand basic catholic theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I agree with your argument about manners. The reason I comment on many of your statements also has to do with manners. A large percentage of your comments lack all manners. Your constant attacks on the Catholic Church, statements about broodmares, former Popes, Cardinal Burke, the teachings of the Church and traditional Catholics show a clear lack of manners. I have never witnessed or heard of another parishioner being \"tattled\" on by another. \n In truth, many divorced and remarried Catholics have been receiving communion with the unauthorized \"approval\" of certain progressive priests for years. Many Catholics have been cohabitating for years with a similar \"approval\". The issue I have is that it appears that the Church is now giving authorized approval, which in effect is now classifying a sin no longer a sin. That is a major problem that will result in disastrous consequences.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Recently there was a wonderful article in the Washington Post written by a millennial mainly for Protestant churches, although the thrust of the article could just as easily extend to Roman Catholicism. The title, \"Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church \u2018cool,'\" gives the gist of the article, found here:\n\nhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jesus-doesnt-tweet/2015/04/30/fb07ef1a-ed01-11e4-8666-a1d756d0218e_story.html?utm_term=.8716a7384258\n\nA couple of quotes: \"Millennials are not disillusioned with tradition; they are frustrated with slick or shallow expressions of religion.\u201d\n\nAs for why young people leave religion, this supports VictorVictoria's point: \"I was looking for a truer Christianity, a more authentic Christianity: I didn\u2019t like how gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people were being treated by my evangelical faith community. I had questions about science and faith, biblical interpretation and theology. I felt lonely in my doubts.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...Just the most recent escapism started back in the 1960s with the same fools invading the Redoubt areas to move back to the land until they overrun the area and move on as they created the same conditions they were fleeing from. All of it based on white supremacy, christian racism born and spread from the Old South. Too much money and too little sense....\n\nYep. The locals hate 'em.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is indeed a balancing act, but by supporting what we see as real wrongs (and I include the misogyny of the all-male priesthood) we DO participate in those wrongs. I miss the Church, the liturgy, Communion and community -- but since the institutional Church has ruled I am not equal either in humanity or baptism to men, and since very few bishops/hierarchy have been held accountable for child sexual abuse, I don't see how I can participate any longer. I'm sure God understands, even if you don't. I don't understand your feeling of \"insult.\" You are free to follow your conscience as are those of us like Nancy and me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Look to how your coreligionists in Russia are treating homosexuals and then get back to us Catholics. \n\nThe fact we have a largely celibate priesthood means we have many same sex attracted men in the priesthood and you will rarely hear a peep from the pulpit about sexual morality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You offer the only argument you can. Sure, it's horribly weak....but, hey, nothing else is available. The argument: anyone who self-identifies as a Christian but does not share your specific religious and moral values is, ipso facto, not really a Christian. Don't you realize how bankrupt that argument is? Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"He said he would pay for the wall by confiscation of property,\"\n\nSo all the US drug runners, murderers, and rapists will lose their property (pretty much as most do now) - wonder if that will include the Catholic Church.\n\nStill doesn't explain how he will get the Mexicans to foot the bill.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are working with an inaccurate caricature of modern Muslims. \n\nI can't say I've discussed it in depth with my Muslim friends and acquaintances but from what I see of how they conduct themselves they are very modern in their thinking. \n\nI can honestly say that I know people of European descent who treat women worse than do some Muslims I know. \n\nI'm not saying Europeans are worse, I'm saying that you can't make blanket statements as you've done. \n\nAs for the bible being updated, it hasn't really. Since the King James edition it's unchanged. The Old Testament in particular is full of some ridiculously barbaric stuff. What has changed has been interpretation. I'm no expert on Islam but from what I see it's interpretation has evolved too. \n\nTrue, there are some very backward sects, but there are backwards Christian sects. \n\nI think we're all better off if we address Islamic extremism as an issue separate from Islam as a whole. \n\nRight? Six innocent people just died a couple days ago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you have to force the Catholic Church to bend to your whims when there exist a number of declining denominations that do what you want. Why can't you leave those of us who accept what the Church teaches in peace?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rational Ideas: You're correct, of course, although I see your post has now been removed by the moderator. Funny that, eh? We tolerate the inherent intolerance of some while we castigate socially conservative Christians. In this context, Adam Vaughan's attack on Scheer is just sheer hypocritical opportunism. Don't get me wrong here: I believe all religious dogma should be removed from politics, but it hardly seems reasonable to require a purge of one religious group's beliefs while apparently promoting understanding and tolerance for other brands of socially conservative religionism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When has the Globe posted hateful cartoons of the Pope or evangelical Christians??? You seem to be seeing things. And why would the Globe want to repost cartoons from a Danish conservative publication? Ernst Zundel used to publish cartoons mocking the Holocaust, but I wouldn't want the Globe to repost those just to express their Freedom of Speech. Get real!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder about what \"Muslims\" can do to avoid getting caught in such incidents in North America and Europe? I mean, do Christians, Buddhist, Hindus or Jews getting discriminated or wronged just because who they are and what they look like. Maybe Jews get harassed a bit here and there but that's probably for different reasons. what makes Muslims more vulnerable to such things and see if they can find any opportunities or areas to help themselves in bit more to stay safe and secure.\n\nI think the guy may not have necessarily acted due to religious or faith differences, but more like because of social and cultural outlook differences. Generally, someone won't care or notice about you much if you are Hindu, or Buddhist or Muslim or christian unless there is overwhelmingly different about you in your over all outlook and lifestyle than the mainstream people around us....and if that some one is a lone wolf or a group of ideologues, you might get into trouble before society can protect you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The guy admits he's Presbyterian. Why is his opinion on Catholic discipline being allowed to air in a Catholic publication? Oh wait, there's already doubt how \"Catholic\" this publication actually is, so maybe it shouldn't be surprising that he's allowed to spew his nonsense here. He needs to work on his bigger problem - not being Catholic himself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You need to be a little more nuanced, back in the day some Catholic women seemed to lack wisdom or capacity for compassion, and maybe at a higher percentage than the general population. I certainly experienced my share, but that's changed drastically as opportunities for women have opened in society. The IHM sisters, some of who were truly terrorizing when I was a child, are certainly not the same group today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks be to God, most Roman Catholic Churches no longer have altar rails. What RUBBISH--defile the divine liturgy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What people forget was that until about 1830s when the British banned slavery it was normal throughout the world. \nRomans had slaves (the vast majority white). The Muslim Ottoman Turks had white Christian slaves in their navy and army, the Chinese had slaves, the Africans had slaves, medieval Europe had slaves (again white). \nYou have to condemn everyone in the past if you insist on judging them by todays standards.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are the very model of the Catholic you are so vehemently criticizing, here and elsewhere, without a solid foundation even in Tridentine theology and ecclesiology! I am surprised that you cannot see that!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I support Fr. Flannery, a true brother and a true Christian and therefore a true priest. \n\nHowever, there are many priests in the Association of Catholic Priests who only support Gender Segregation, thru optional celibacy, being given to only male priests. We must as a church fight hard against any married men being allowed back to serve as priests or being ordained priests until married women are equally being ordained priests. \n\nTo offer women called to priesthood, the diaconate, which has no more real authority than lay people is to offer a lie, dressed up to look like progress but is truly a great insult against the human dignity of all women. Women are equally Man, and therefore equally human, and therefore equally represent Christ, as much as men do, and therefor should demand the same rights & equal access to all 7 sacraments of our church which they should never have had stripped from from them to begin with.\n\nWithout genuine equity there can be no genuine peace or mercy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I quote the article:\n\"Seminarians today represent a mixed heritage of St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. \"\n\nWhy does the article mention two Popes that protected pedophile priests and enabling Bishops?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John Lennon is dead1 Please crawl out from under your bushel basket. You probably would like to live back in the 'good old days.' Life was much simpler then, too But we don't live there now. And\na firm faith in Christ, not in a very humanly run institution, is what is needed today.\n\nThere are many non-traditional Catholics whose dedication to walking in the foot-steps of Christ would put many so-called 'traditional' Catholics to shame.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Less Roman, more catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course he was Jewish ! My point !\nHas anyone ever been declaimed a \"saint \" who committed a miracle other than an RC ?\nCould someone explain to me who has done more for humanity at his family's peril than Salk ? \nI grew-up in the 50's when polio caused quarantines. (for those oblivious to this do your own research)\nThere's an old engineering expression - NIH - not invented here....\nIf you aint catholic - you are a substintant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When you sign a business license application, you agree to abide btpy state laws. The baker knowingly broke the law. There are bible verses about that. \nLike most people, you do not understand the word \u201cunique.\u201d\n\nYou can argue art all you want, but it is a cake. His purpose is to make money. \nHe could make a custom cake for a wedding between Kim and Kim.\nHow does he know if it is for a gay wedding?\nHe would have to ask. \nWhat is the difference? He makes a wedding cake and does not k ow if it is going to a gay wedding or a straight wedding.\n\nHow can he be offended by that if he dows not know?\nThe answer is the baker is being an immature baby that does not want to make cakes for a protected class of people. \nHe is a bad Christian, he went back on his word. He is choosing to be offended over something that is not his business. \nHis \u201cart\u201d can be recreated by any number of bakers. His are not special and certainly not unique. Religion is not an excuse to discriminate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Avoid the \"vain\" part. Meditate on the actual mysteries. Contemplate the life of Christ. Basically, be like Jesus when He, as virtually every other Jew of His time, prayed the \"Shema\" day after day after day, not as vain babbling but with heartfelt devotion. Same way He prayed and repeated the Psalms day after day after day. He prayed them as an actual expression of His relationship to the Father. \n\nDo the same thing with the Rosary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just another nail on the coffin , under the 'freedom of religion' , Christianity is slowly but surely replaced by Islam. If that's a good thing, then be forewarned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Patriot, really? Christians? Jews? So in that vein, Muslims? But yes, any grand father that has Alzheimer's and as well, is, or should not be licensed to drive a vehicle. Intelligently leave it to a panel of psychologists, that are well respected from both the right and left. We have layman juries that decide on guilt and innocence, thousands of times daily.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If this decision holds I'll be the first one to stand up and applaud Trump for taking what I consider to be a principled stand. However, with Trump nothing is ever as clear as it seems, and as others have noted, he's generally guided by the last person with whom he spoke, even if that person holds a position 180\u02d9 away from the position he took ten minutes earlier. Trump has gone one record, however, saying he is open to signing executive orders that would enshrine \"religious freedom\" laws of which Catholic bishops are so fond, and which exist for the sole purpose of denying gay people housing, jobs, or even service if a person with a \"sincerely held religious belief\" decides said gay person should be denied housing, accommodation, or any kind of service at any place of business. So we shall see. This story is only beginning. Where it ends is where the proof in the pudding will be found, and the jury's still out on that. But for now I give credit where credit is due. For now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Father Martin understands that the commandment to love includes EVERYONE. Not just one's preference. The abuse suffered by gay individuals who struggle to remain connected to their Church is one of the great heartbreaks of this era. Thank you Father Martin for your courage and your commitment to educating the poorly informed. I commend Catholic LBGT people for their courage and their willingness to remain in a body that so ill treats them. Jesus never would have. Why don't people read the Sermon on the Mount. Its the most ignored passage in the Gospels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't agree with the publishing of these dubia, but I find it odd that a publication that has championed the right to question church teaching would now ridicule other Catholics for exercising the same right in print.\n\nOr is the point that only people who agree with the author should have a right to express their views?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your help in deciphering parts of that review. I don't think I will try to read the book, since I do not have the background - or maybe the intelligence - for it.\n\nThe idea of a \"dialogical church\" intrigues me. I do think many teachings just don't make sense in the world of today - on the idea of original sin/redemption, the nature of God in an evolving universe, sexual matters, women in the world and in the Church, absolutists readings of the Gospels, the rule against contraceptives in a world with 7 billion people - and growing. \n\nI was born a few months before I could be counted as a baby boomer, so I was raised in the \"obedience or hell-fire\" model of Catholicism. But I am not the child I was. I struggle for an adult faith and wish for a place where discussions of \"teachings that don't make sense\" could occur. Not just for me - I am the only one still left in my family who claims Catholicism. So much just doesn't make sense - the Church needs the conversation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Father Hall, look on the bright(er) side. You could be ministering to the Catholic faithful on the other side of the Delaware River in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. \n\nYes, indeed, our current spiritual leader, when he was leading the Catholic faithful in Denver, Colorado, deemed it necessary, right, appropriate, etc. to support the local Catholic elementary school's pastor decision to deny enrollment for children registering for the elementary school because their parents were lesbians. Of course, a similar incident, i.e., of kicking an excellent religion teacher to the curb because of her homosexual relationship, occurred at Waldron Mercy Academy in June 2015.\n\nBishop Myers and Archbishop Chaput - perfect together !\n\nFather, thank you for your work, diligence and service to all people of faith.\n\nMichael Skiendzielewski\nCaptain (Retired)\nPhiladelphia Police Dept.\nSt. Joseph's University, 1974", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tell me the who penned the book of Romans and you'll realize you're wrong. It was Paul by the way, not God who said these things, whom also persecuted Jesus' ministry at first before beginning his righteous journey. There is a path from sin as God knows what's in your heart. So it is of no consequence what someone's sexuality is in my opinion. \n\nIn regard to the article: I think the point of this petition is to dually respect business owners' beliefs and not force them to participate. A Roman Catholic for instance, may find it difficult to abide this human law over their beliefs and that not should be the case. If they are more comfortable with sacrificing customers then so be it. It's not as if same-sex couples won't find someone to make a cake for them, or any other services they may be request of business'. Business' will suffer the revenue loss, while others who are accepting will flourish and we should let that equilibrium take place imho.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, it is too bad the Bible is far more often referenced than understood. God through His Son Jesus Christ was quite clear about his belief in need to bear arms. See the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:2\u201311:\n\nBlessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.\n\nBlessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.\n\nBlessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.\n\nBlessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.\n\nBlessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.\n\nBlessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.\n\nBlessed are they who bear arms: for they shall be called the children of death.\n\nBlessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.\n\nBlessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.\n\n(The veracity of this \u201cKing Jones\u201d version has been questioned.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religious freedom is not the same as religious privilege. They want the privilege of hurting LGBT people. Funny how no one complains about making a cake for anyone els.e BUt LGBT people are still the safe ones to hurt.\n\nJust think: if they had their way, a paramedic could refuse to treat a man with a heart attack because he's married to another man. Indeed, before marriage equality nationwide, there were several cases of partners being denied access their dying spouse. How kind. How Christian. Is this the world you want to live in?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For me, the photo says it all. All men. All old men. All white men. Men in dresses and beanies. Not one woman in the photo. So bizarre. This is the leadership of the Irish Church. Tightly closed-up even against their own priests who resort to having their own priests' association. And these bishops all meet with the Pope and not one of them will bring up the subject of married priests or women priests. I guess not. They wouldn't want to associate with such. Preferring to be in their closed-up caste, acting in persona Christi, the High Priest. But there is only one High Priest -- Jesus. How will young people react to the photo? The young people have sense and aren't coming back to bow and say \"Your Excellency\" or \"My Lord Bishop.\" The days of kings who would uphold hierarchical privileges with violence are no more. These days people get to choose. Why would they follow someone who is an appointee of an appointee and who doesn't listen? And doesn't know how to work with women!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"abandoning people of color, Muslims or immigrants\"\n\n The inclusion of Muslims as a specific group bothers me. Wasn't this country founded on the concept of the separation of church (insert any religious building, e.g. mosque) and state? Is not a Muslim like a Christian (or any other religious person) a person of color (includes \"whites\") or a possible immigrant? I think democrats are playing with fire.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and you will get neither the justification or acceptance of tragedy as the wish of God from me. What you will get is that God allows these things to happen to happen for specific purposes and reasons. He would much rather that humans had made other choices. I also agree that religious zealots can go too far. I have no use for them either.\nI hate to disappoint you, but that Golden Rule you are so proud of is not part of the secular humanist doctrine. It is part of Biblical teaching. Matthew 7:12, part of Jesus's sermon on the mount.\n So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jamie, I think you -- however understandably -- may be missing a different perspective. Two points. First, because the Spirit blows where it will, one way traditionalists listen to the Spirit is by reading traditional language in a way that is not traditional. Second, from such a perspective, could not the stark contrast, between a Church that supports the ordination of pre-clericalist young men and a Church that opposes the ordination of women, be seen not so much as humor but as pathos, a pathos that calls -- to the traditional mind -- for just the reverse policies by the Church?\n\nWho is Pope Francis trying to make think? Not liberals, who already see the injustice of excluding women. Traditionalists, by contrast, will hear this story as a reminder of clericalist pomp. And they will ask, why are women in that story? Jesus did something similar in a different story, told to Galilean peasants, who were disoriented by the implicit question, why is a Samaritan in this story?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Francis' 2015 encyclical Laudato si called for a 'broad cultural revolution' to reverse the effects of human activity on the planet. He has called upon Catholics to have an 'ecological conversion,' telling them to confess sins against creation, such as using 'plastic and paper,' not 'separating refuse,' and not 'turning off unnecessary lights.'\n\n\"Under Francis' watch, the Vatican has hosted numerous conferences on topics such as the environment, sustainability, and population, involving some of the Church's most vocal opponents to Catholic teaching on life, marriage and family. Some of these speakers include Bernie Sanders, Ban Ki-Moon, Jeffrey Sachs, Paul Ehrlich, and John Bongaarts.\n\n\"The Vatican's most recent conference, titled Biological Extinction, featured the pro-abortion population controller Dr. Paul Ehrlich. He told LifeSiteNews in an exclusive interview just days before the March conference that he was 'thrilled' with the direction Francis is taking the Church.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't like the centralized control of health care because of the religiosity in both parties. The Democrats are \"virgin birthers\" who imposed a medical fiction of \"virgin birth\" on children in the ACA, pretending in the reproductive health care, preventive care, and mental health care that women are the only genetic, biological and psychological parents of children and the only ones responsible for them.\n\nIt is true also that there is outright medical fiction in the private health care system. The Catholic hospitals are just horrendous in their anti-science stance and they have too much control in Colorado.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In order to understand the term \"islamophobia\" we must also understand Islam's own misogyny, homophobia, hatred of Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Europe, America, democracy, dogs, free speech, human rights and now even Canada, and everything else forbidden (haram) by Islam. Even open and blatant racism against white people is now halal (permitted).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Thou shalt have no other gods before me\" \n\nSounds like a standard non-compete clause to me. One that has nothing to do with law or anything to do with the secular state we all live in. In fact, the first 5 have nothing to do with our heritage as a nation. The two dealing with adultery and coveting kinda go against DJT - the man very many of these Christians support. Not the sort of thing we make many laws about in any case.\n\nThis is just an example of Christians marking their territory and giving the imprimatur to their version of religion as a part of government.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Magisterium (practically speaking, the bishops) is not the Church, and I proved this, definitively, by quoting the Magisterium's own words from the Catechism. You believe that the Magisterium IS the Church, because you made it perfectly clear that should the bishops all expire at the same moment, the Church would cease to exist.\n\nYou believe in the Magisterium, and yet you don't. You have contradicted and destroyed your own argument.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings.....By addressing all that he is the bishop of Rome, we should all take notice that the Holy Father is first and foremost a pastor. He has from day one of his pontificate been about reaching out to the Sheep! Making Curial cardinals hear confessions.....visit the aged....the sick.... are a few examples of the spiritual connection he wants his fellow priests to embrace! Blessings to Holy Father Francis the Reformer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Call it family values, Christian values, personal integrity or whatever you like. I consider myself to lucky to have be taught that when one is wrong one should admit it as opposed to lying in an attempt to cover it up. Then the correct course is to apologize to those who were wronged. Not taking step two is what most people would call a half hearted or disingenuous apology. Do this and things always go better for both parties involved and there is some closure.\nMr. Trump seems to have never learned these two basic things. He is surrounded by yes men and women who fear him enough to never be critical and never say a mistake might have been made or an apology might be warranted. I suppose you can run a business empire that way and fire those who do not agree with you but this is where business and politics differ. Politicians, being elected to pubic not private office, need to act differently. I doubt Trump will ever learn what most people already know. A habitual offender. Next case...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since turibles are much less in use these days, it would appear this condition has life-long lasting effects from early exposure to incense. The open question, in my mind is whether the disease is triggered by all incense or just the generally horrible stuff the one used to find used in the Catholic Church? I hypothesis that quality incense is innocent. and it may even be the quality incense is very less objectionable to those who are aroma challenged. \n\nFurther research is required.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope. Pius XI (who was so good on economics), claimed that the Pope had the last word on natural law, which is a logical impossibility.\n\nSexual doctrine in the Church has not come from observation nor is it open to change due to scientific advancement. Scientific facts like gastrulation and epigenetics are ignored. It is an argument from \"first principles\" and is deeply flawed because the first principle is Continence. You ignore that, because it defeats your entire sexual ideology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow.....you post an anti-Catholic website used by religious bigots as some sort of evidence of evils of 1490s?? Should I look for your next link to the Daily Stormer?? Ray, you forget that in 1490s, it was before the Reformation. Whole of Europe, were part of the \"immorality\" of Roman Catholic Church. We are not counting here, anything east of Poland where the Greek Orthodox Church was evolving into Russian. We should not forget that this was the age where some part of the European coastline were void of life, due to white slavery practiced upon by the elements of the Ottoman Empire, the supreme power in Europe during that period. Spain just reunified their nation. Wars and all of its cruelty was part of the European culture without any help from the Catholic Papacy. Columbus acted no differently then another other European of that time period. It is unfair to judge any people or person in such way. Just remember that 100 years from now, what we do normally, may be judge wrong!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Witness (aka Witness (aka multiple names here) wrote\"\n\nDo I have multiple names here? Provide your proof. Provide proof of your accusation of Mr Trump, especially the non-consensual part. Were you hanging out with questionable people to hear Mr Trumps comments, since you contend them so bad?\n\nYou must live a sheltered life to not have exposure to much worse. Not helping those in need or spreading HIS Word in bad areas could be the reason. That is the very same reason we want our wives and daughters protected from these situations, as commanded of HIM. How does anything you are promoting protect them or our children or anyone?\n\nI would hope that CHRIST is as forgiving of you as you are of Mr Trump, what ever you think he has done. I would hope HE overlooks the cascade of evil that has been not only sanctioned, but harbored.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly:\n\nPope Francis condemns arms makers, yet surrounds himself with an army of well-armed men to protect him.\n\nPope Francis condemns walls, yet lives behind massive walls. Does he even know the history of how and when and why they were built?\n\nPope Francis claims to love the poor, yet is desperately striving to keep the Marxist government in Venezuela in power, while the people there continue to starve.\n\nPope Francis falsely equates Islam with Christianity and dismisses any concern with Islamic terrorism.\n\nPope Francis ---- Jesuit.\n\nPutting a Jesuit in charge at the Vatican is like putting Gilligan in charge of that two-way radio that the Professor just found on the island. Bad things are destined to happen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I vey much agree with you Sarasi1. Countries who have authorized legal suicide have had far too little safeguards in place, and far too many \"loopholes\" for those with comorbid problems, issues and disturbances - most often found in the mentally ill groups. States in the US who approved assisted suicide are just beginning to see where the thinking behind the laws have started to be distorted for many reasons other than the original intent the relief of unbearable physical suffering, where no treatment has been effective and there exists no chance of recovery. The \"bleeding\" of how such laws are applied is a major pathology of its own. As Christians, we are called to stand opposed to most of what is going on with this. And I particularly sympathize with the Brothers of Charity who are caught in the middle of this misguided social \"advancement.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But they ARE syncophants! Both of them lip-sync far-right Catholicism, always have and always will! That's not healthy, for them, the Catholic church, or the Catholic right-wing!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sarasi1 - I did see a report on Black Monday in Poland. What I noticed from the accompanying photos was that they were mostly younger women - the younger generation of adult women - the ones being isolated from the Church even in strict Catholic Poland.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We think it would be of great benefit to sit together and to discuss these things. Then, when we disagree we can do it within the context of friendship.\"\n\nSounds good in theory. The problem is, the president Johnnie Moore and the other evangelical leaders are advising has no interest in disagreeing with anybody in a \"context of friendship.\" For him, disagreement is always cause for attack.\n\nThere's nothing to be gained from meeting with Trump's religious front men. Francis shouldn't take the bait.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When Bishop Morlino took charge of the Madison diocese he wasted little time in writing in the Catholic Herald that the city of Madison existed below a \"moral minimum\" and had \"virtually no public morality\" specifically mentioning that the local lesbian and gay community theatre was evidence of the utter depravity to which the city had sunk. Obviously, Bishop Morlino has a talent for ferreting out the evil in communities. He should be transferred to Las Vegas", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump tweets:\n\"Today I ordered ban or restrictions of people from 7 Islamic terror states!\"\n\"Today I ordered deportation of undocumented Mexicans and Central Americans. There are 14 million of them so soon they will be gone.\"\n\"Today I ordered deportation of non-Christians and non-Jews from our great country! Feel so good.\"\n\"Today I ordered invasion of Iran. I just don't like them. All other terror states of the world, take notice! Except Saudi of course.\"\n\"Today, I ordered the Constitution of the U.S. unconstitutional !! I really don't need it.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, I am a Catholic and often the faith does not deal with women of 2016 and our real issues. Many of us have to ignore the Church's teachings. Besides I never believe in a man on earth who is the appointed leader of millions of followers and speaks for their deity no matter what religion as being infallible which is a Catholic I was taught and expected not to question. When one stops questioning anything they are easily led and abused.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think it's precisely because of the developing world that Francis is moving at a snail's pace on the question of women's inclusion. The developing world is dominated by males and the Church competes directly with the Islamic world whose attitude towards women has just started moving fractionally on the concept of women's equality. Genital mutilation and honor killings are still way too prevalent. I wonder sometimes if the pace of change in the RCC isn't being dictated by the misogyny still so prevalent in the developing world and the best the Church is willing to do is show a somewhat 'kinder gentler face', of the same misogyny. Or as the GOP might call it, compassionate misogyny.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Treat priests like that and then wonder why there is a shortage of priests. People who want to have no say whatsoever in the selection or affirmation of their own bishop will no doubt flock to this dictatorship", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What about the Catholic Church coming out in several instances saying to vote for Hillary was a mortal sin??????", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Mark,\n\nWhy is it prejudiced to say that there are women who choose to carry their babies to term even when they have been raped? Some women do see a connection between themselves and that child growing in their womb. I never said that all women feel this way. I am just saying that turning to Jesus and trusting in His grace (that He gives to those who humbly approach Him) to help them deal with even the most difficult of situations (whether that be being married and pregnant but fearful of not being financially capable of raising the child, becoming pregnant through a one night stand or being the victim of rape or incest)! With God, Mark all things are possible. Mark, I do believe that abortion destroys God's creation. God created man and then created the fish in the sea and the animals but He gave man dominion of the fish in the sea and the animals. He gave us fish and meat to eat. I am against killing animals or fish just for fun, but it is not a sin to eat fish or meat! TBC!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I was responding to your comment, which defended Bolcon, who has repeatedly said that the Church hates women. And I went on to say that her accusation was scandalous. I did not attribute the accusation to you, or even imply that you had made it. \n\nI don;t question anyone's constitutional right to say what they want. I do question their right under Canon Law law to tell such scandalous lies against the Church. Get the difference, prof? (You're getting worse with every thought.) \n\nI also question the stability of a woman who belongs to a Church that she says hates women. It's like a black man wanting to join the Klan.\n\nYou say, \"I don't have the time to do mind-reading. . . .\" But that's exactly what you took the time to do --- and not very well --- with your unfounded comments regarding what I know about Canon Law and the Woman Priests' movement. Now put down that bong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's the Catholic inculturation thingie.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspect it refers to the response to the firing of all those Catholic school teachers and music leaders who got married to their same sex partners.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nice guy - naive too. Its a shame. We are losing women, especially young women, to the Nones, and just in general, more than even protestant churches but not one mention that maybe we need to treat and ordain them as equals in this article. \n\nAs I reminded a Catholic Friend of mine lately, there is freedom to discuss, on our altars, the lives of child molesting, gay and transgender murdering, prostitute, priests, with three wives on the side, but I better not suggest God ever called any women to ordained priesthood. \n\nI do believe we need to work something out for LGBT in the form of them having a way to avow to each other fidelity in their relationship before friends and the church. At the present, just having rules enforced by pastors that these families must be treated the same as heterosexual families and welcomed the same would be a huge improvement. We also need to have bishops who don't allow LGBT teachers to be fired from RC schools. There is no excuse for this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus acted within a culture and a time. I do not believe He would have any problem with women in leadership in today's world - because women are accepted in leadership today in ways they absolutely were not in those centuries ago. There is nothing sacred about the roles - that was all human. \n\nTruth is God. We are not God and we cannot possible know Him. We can listen to the Spirit and try to understand what God is trying to say. But everything we hear and see and sense is filtered through our own humanness - at every point in time we are limited in knowledge and influenced by human created culture. It is foolish to think we have ever gotten it perfectly right. We have always only done the best we could based on the limits we had when decisions needed to be made.\n\nAnd it is the worst hubris to think we have ever gotten any understanding perfect for all times. \n\nI have faith. You want certainty. The two are not the same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are in this case - do you seriously think that only religious rights are at stake here?\n\nIn fact, that was the concern - Christian intervenors allowed, LGBTQ, not so much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Meaning, of course, that you aren't Catholic at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's what passes for Catholicism in these parts: they pray for the end of the world because it's so bad&they think God needs their help;outrage over those who go to Communion but not confession every week;don't believe in climate change because God gave man dominion over all;claim parishes&schools are closing because of all the money paid to sex victims of priests;support Israel because they are God's chosen people;outraged over killing of Christians in the middle east,but others can be killed,doesn't matter;annoyed Pope Francis took in refugees,they are terrorists;don't believe refugees running from violence,believe they want to come here for free stuff;abortions are for people who just don't want kids;if you have made it,you have God's favor;otherwise you're just a loser;think gays&gender issues are life style choices,not random occurrences in all animal kingdom;don't recognize that the \"love one another\" command applies to everyone not just those like you. More than sad", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He seems clearly building a resume or portfolio for a move up to some next rung of punditry. That's why he is constantly watching and criticizing Weigel or Robert George. In liberal catholic circles, such a circle doesn't exist. 'America' maybe, but what's that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are now.\nBut they were widely despised and persecuted throughout much of the 19th Century. Their towns were burned down. They have held on to their scripture(s) and basic theology, but have fashioned themselves in the mold of a conservative Christian church.\nFor example, I think Mormons fight so hard against same-sex marriage because they don't want anyone to remember their former support of polygamy and think they are back-sliding on \"traditional marriage\" or \"family values\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To show love, thanks and respect to God, we have to first and foremost honor His Words in Holy Scripture and in the Ten Commandments. Yes, God created all human beings and put us here on earth temporarily to love, serve, adore and obey Him. Human beings, created by God, have decided that they know better and have decided that to destroy an embryo in the womb of his/her mother is okay, but killing anyone outside of the womb is a crime, punished by law. We think we are better than God and have decided to deliberately ignore God's Word in Genesis and then repeated by Jesus (during His three years of public life) in Matthew, Mark and Luke regarding marriage. How can we talk about destroying God's earth without mentioning how we are destroying ourselves (physically, spiritually and mentally). What about the sin of impurity (against chastity)? We cannot save the earth if we do not first seek to save our souls by repenting, asking forgiveness and stop abusing the gift of sexuality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many are leaving the Catholic Church because of the official stances supporting misogyny and homophobia. Those are things the institutional Church can and should change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CMD: Slice of pizza.....bake a cake...(not catered,BTW)...are both services/accomodations provided. Both are subject to statutes regarding refusal of services to protected classes. Perhaps you don't think LGBTs should be a protected class. That's fine. Perhaps the bakers didn't feel lesbians ordering a cake for a wedding should be a protected class. That's fine too. I think 55 mph is too \"slow\" a speed limit on highway 99 north of Eugene. That's also fine. However, I'm well-served by obeying that speed limit. I guessing you see the point I'm making. regards, Gary Crum BTW: I'm not sure mentioning that it's primarily \"right-wing fundamentalist Christians\" who wish to use First Amendment Religious Freedom as a justification to discriminate against homosexuals is quite the same as \"using the N-word.\" again, regards, Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was killed for that reason. \n\nWe all should be living out at least a \"white\" martyrdom, dying to ourselves daily as Jesus instructed us to, the common priesthood, that some people have never heard of since they are so focused on clericalism of one sort or another.\n\nThe second part of the \"words of institution\" should be more deeply understood. The \"do this in memory of Me\" wasn't to be simply understood as \"do the Mass\" but instead a grander call to pour ourselves out for the good of others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just like Jesus said, let them all die if they can't pony me up my cash.\n\nMost of the people against single payer healthcare are people over 60. These people are already in most cases on medicare.\n\nI just love being a Gen-Xer that has been paying their medical bills being told I am going to have the ladder kicked out before I get to the top.\n\nLet me guess, no healthcare is a \"for the kids thing\" right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This comment is cont. from comment below: so why does this report give a false impression about celibacy & homosexuality influencing child abuse in priests & refuses to state that having women priests & bishops would automatically lower future abuse rates simply because women have always abused less often and usually not sexually? Simple answer-These experts want married priests as they are ex-priests themselves & they don't care that this would not change any rate of abuse to children in our church because that does not get them what they want. They themselves are sexist & don't really want ordained women priests so they use the Future Church mode of speech & say the church's lacking female authority & leadership roles? may have made abuse more likely. Sexual abusers go to where there is best access & the least threat to be caught. Children would likely tell a woman priest in their parish if their co-pastor was hurting them. We need to do what is right and ordain women priests now", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I said, 'the Church works exactly as the world works. That's the problem.' Of course, if it works in this way, then it will think in this way, too. How did Jesus put it? You think as men think, not as God thinks.\n\nNo, Jesus did not have to die, in the sense this was his incarnational mission. He came to live in loving obedience to his Father, for which the world would put him to death. The Father did not seek his son's death, yet knew that this would happen. God is a God of the living, not the dead. (Think it says this in one of the gospels, possibly Luke)\n\nHow can you even consider that God might approve the death penalty? 'Let he among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone.' This is a universal condemnation of capital punishment. And no, it doesn't mean I'm more sympathetic with murderers. That's silly.\n\nAs for the Spirit, there is only one, and HE leads. What's more, he is in all. Leadership must be collective, therefore, to be effective. But will Rome listen?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Something I have wondered -- the current environment, based on the election, seems strongly against immigrants. While some hasten to add that it's just illegal immigrants they're against, in my observation it's antipathy against anyone darker complexioned, non-English speaking, of any but Christian faith, a general sense that they're not welcome \"here\". I could see these non-US priests, from Africa, India, wherever, who don't speak English very well, becoming targets.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What on earth is Jesus on about in the gospel this weekend with all his glorified social work 'Happy are those who grieve...' stuff and nonsense??\n\nHe clearly doesn't 'get' Church teaching. None of this girly crying please and let the grieving pull themselves together. A stiff lecture on the cleansing fires of Purgatory is what God requires at funerals and none of this 'talking up' the stiff!!\n\nAnd the same goes for the pure in heart and poor in spirit. Get your acts together, get the Latin brievary out and stop all the whining about your situation! We all know that, that's what Jesus really meant.\n\nYou and I both know you won't be praying for me so skip the condescension. I'm way too far gone in any case. Dressing up just doesn't do it for me. Being cruel to suffering people certainly doesn't float my boat. A pox on those for whom it does.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, yes, the old criticism of anyone who doesn't slavishly follow the version of catholicism offered by the critic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a rare, refreshing, factual report on China foreign policy. Largely devoid of the knee-jerk anti-Communist you-are-evil ideology that dominate western reporting and analysis on China. \n\nChina have never been an imperial empire and its Buddhist culture does not permit it. This is an exact opposite of western Christian-centrist highly self-righteous cultures who, of course, practiced empire since Alexander the Great (the Evil from the conquered viewpoint) established the first western empire 3 century BC.\n\nChina have done the unbelievable: it invented and operates an economic model better than American-Euro capitalism. It lifted 500 million Chinese and 100 million foreigners out of poverty into the middle class. Give them hope. At the same time, America and Europe dropped 200 million people from the middle class. Removed hope.\n\nAnd now China offers its hands to try to solve some of the world most intractable, deadly problems. All are leftover mess of western empire conquests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For the love of christ , please will someone muzzle this guy !\nOne does not have to be a conservative or NDp, just because they disagree with your thoughts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course they do! Catholics like any other religious group have a constitutional right to raise their children in accordance with their respective faith. If you do not think sex as taught in public schools is not based in a particularly ideology, you are not paying attention.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Utilitas, you make so many errors in this tiny post it is difficult to know where to begin. Your description of Pat Periello's beautiful column is pure bunkum. Jesus taught us to welcome the stranger and visit the prisoner. He didn't say, \"Deport that Samaritan!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do you feel about schools discussing gay marriage, transgenderism, gun issues, the Confederate states and participants, or any of the other \"hot button\" issues in today's society? So many condemn Christianity (or other religions) but demand that issues more to their taste should be openly discussed, no matter the audience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The other day I was thinking about all the difficulty some of the Bishops, Priests and People have with Pope Francis' declarations, and writings. I wondered at the time, \"What kind of a reception would Jesus receive?\" Pope Francis is, I think, trying to get all of us to think from Jesus' point of view, to dialogue with listening hearts and open minds. Jesus didn't condone all the minutiae of the Pharisees. So we need to pray for open hearts and understanding. WWJD?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "TomQuinn ---- I agree, The institutional church does not care about \"womenpriests\" -- but they should. \n\nThe \"womenpriests\" are dedicated, learned, religious Catholics who are capable of leading the Church every bit as well, and in most cases better than, the current male hierarchy. Their qualities are many. Do not underestimate them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, a snails pace response from NCR, along with a bare-bones report of the story and no call for a similar inquiry here in the States. Pretty much like complacency. So now we here in the States have the shame of the abuse, the shame of victim blaming and bullying, the shame of the decades long cover ups and lies and the shame of not having the courage for a commission like investigation here. Hard to understand anyone calling themselves Catholic and not being outraged at our collective failures. I can only hope that the Lord and those abused while we did and do nothing can forgive us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Marie, It's truly sad that your only recourse in this debacle is to write a reply to the NCR. It would be so much better if you could actually have this conversation with Pope Francis, either in person or through correspondence that would actually reach his desk.\n\n1. You have done nobly and well. The resignation of the other survivors from the commission confirm the frustrations with the delays, obfuscations, and actual obstruction from the CDF and the Curia. Sadly as well is that Cardinal Muller simply does not understand what you are talking about - whether because you are a woman or a lay person - because he only speaks cleric.\n\n2. Cardinal O'Malley had seemed to penetrate the cataract of blindness that impedes Cardinal Muller, but - from my reading of his response to the situation - it may be that his vision only penetrates so far and no further. My desperate hope is that Pope Francis' vision is not so limited.\n\n3. If our Pope does nothing, you and your cause are lost.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a dreadful tone, and worse yet myth-promulgating piece. So 'Canada is losing its old-time religion'. Which one would that be John...protestant or catholic? If you had written this same column in Canada in the 1800's you would have been screaming about the 'floods' of Catholics arriving and forever changing this country, and worse yet they also were not English speaking but Gaelic speaking. Either learn your history or stop writing such WASPish, dangerous, and misinformed tripe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Jesus had chosen all female apostles, today's all-male clergy would have nothing to do with priesthood. It's not about theology. It's all about privilege and not having to deal with reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Contend 3 ....\nSimilarly, Pope Francis after appointing Cdl Sarah as Prefect of the CDW realised that the hitherto non-vocal Cdl had gained a voice. Having ousted Cdl Burke and Cdl Ca\u00f1izares from the Curia another ousting of an orthodox Curial cardinal might appear to be too much. Answer, leave the Prefect in his position but change the membership of his dicastery and isolate him.\nDo the same with the St John Paul Institute and replace them with people St John Paul would never have countenanced.\nYou must acknowledge that there is a crisis in the Church where reception of Holy Communion by divorced and remarrieds is acceptable in some diocese but regarded as mortally sinful in others. How is this to be resolved? Ought not the Pope inform the Faithful what is the teaching in this respect and answer the dubia or leave everyone in no-man's-land through his persistent silence.\nIs he feeding us bread or stones?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you believe everything you read, even in the Catechism of the Catholic Church?\n\nHistorically, excommunication has been used as a weapon of social and political control, not an act of charity. Nor is it Christ-like, since Christ excluded no one, not even Iscariot from the Last Supper.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are not limited by our anatomy in all things. We are more than our bodies. Expressions of love and fun have a great deal to do with our humanity - we are more than animals. And that is what is missing from the view of sexuality expressed by the Church - the limitation of sexuality to procreation only when it is also a function of emotions, of love, expressing love, and enhancing bonding.\n\nI do argue for sexual boundaries- when it comes to force or children. And, I do believe in sexual faithfulness in marriage. But God made the LGBTQI person, too, and God does not make mistakes.\n\nI do not know at all that God has made clear what He wants from us, other than to love Him and love one another, be kind, helpful, respectful, honest, and all kinds of ways in which we show care and concern for others. \n\nGod made us to learn and grow, to evolve, to reached beyond established knowledge. If He didn't, we would still be in the Stone Age. Be open to what we discover; we never have been perfect", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But Ken, you already know what the John Jay researchers found:\n\n\"[T]he researchers found no statistical evidence that gay priests were more likely than straight priests to abuse minors\u2014a finding that undermines a favorite talking point of many conservative Catholics. The disproportionate number of adolescent male victims was about opportunity, not preference or pathology, the report states.\"\n\nhttps://www.americamagazine.org/content/all-things/john-jay-report-not-blaming-homosexual-priests\n\nSo why keep repeating your egregious calumny against gay priests? Incessantly repeating a lie doesn't make it a truth!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stop making the priesthood \"unappealing to heterosexual men?\" \n\nWell, as long as we are making celibacy optional--because it is \"unappealing\" why not do away with the commitment marital couples make to each other for life? Why not just leave it at \"As long as you both shall love?\" That might make marriage more appealing to couples that otherwise might not marry.\n\nAnd while we are on the subject of making Catholicism more appealing, I find Catholic social teaching quite unappealing as a Conservative Republican. Should we do away with Catholic social teaching and bring Catholicism more in line with my own personal whims and ideology? \n\nOh--we can't change social teaching--because it is written in stone and unchangeable? I should just deal with it if I want to remain Catholic? But of course we can change the things liberals don't like--right---those are changeable because liberals say so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You mean, of course, that you will try to respond for the first time, since your previous response consisted solely of an irrelevant Bible verse (which you did not actually quote) and a personal attack.\n \nHowever, this post is simply more of your \"suffering is good\" blather, which again has nothing to do with your statement, \"If one has a lively interior life with God, death actually INCREASES the intimacy we have with those who have died (if they died loving, not rejecting, God).\" Address that, RD. Don't remind us that your knowledge of actual suffering is at the same dismal level as your knowledge of logic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've read both the Bible and the Koran. No mention of Shia and Sunnis in the latter. Nor of Catholics and Protestants in the first. Give us some more of your insights, Sir, Sir and Sir.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's another Latin quotation, attributed to Julius Caesar's father-in-law, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus: Fiat justitia ruat c\u00e6lum -- \"Let justice be done though the heavens fall\". All too often, the Roman Catholic Church, which Bellarmine described as \"the most just of all societies\", ignores justice. Preaching justice while practicing injustice is hypocrisy. Such hypocrisy is one reason Catholics are leaving.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It must be nice to be a Christian and still not have follow the dogma, doctrines and teachings that come with Christianity.\"\n\nTell us who you think it was that established that dogma and those doctrines and does this teaching? \nIt wasn't God or Christ themselves but rather men who self-appointed themselves as representatives of God and Christ. And I hope you realize that the bible is not the word of God or Christ, rather it was written thousands of years ago by men trying to make sense of a world they didn't understand and couldn't comprehend. \n\nSo why do you think the words of those men from thousands of years ago are more important or relevant than Rev. Seymour's word of today are?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Michael, no matter how you spin it, your not a Catholic if you are willing to support an anti-catholic like Hillary. And abortion matters. It is entirely more important than any other issue because it attacks the very fundamental right to life. Immigration, gun control, social programs, military strength, diplomacy, etc, mean NOTHING to the dead.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"\"Mr. Trump immediately distanced himself from Mr. Gillespie's loss. \"Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for,\" he wrote on Twitter on Tuesday night.\"\"\n.\nWell, other than misogyny, homophobia, Islamophobia, xenophobia, narcissism, a desire to pander to white evangelical Christians and to Russia, what do you actually stand for, Mr. Trump?\n_________\n\n\"[Mr. Gillespie] \"will totally turn around the high crime and poor economic performance of VA. MS-13 and crime will be gone,\" he wrote.\"\n.\nApparently Virginia has the 6th lowest crime rate of any state. Violent crime has fallen in the US by 60% since 1990. But don't let the truth distract you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently your comments are not based on any scientific studies. The so-called 'thousands of years of human understanding' is faulty. Shepherds of domestic sheep have known and observed for thousands of yeas that their rams often sought out other rams for 'companionship', even when surrounded by many ewes. Every other species also demonstrates members who are 'homo-sexual'.Today, there is an abundance of material concerning 'homo-sexual' animals and humans. Sex is not just for procreation, even among animals.\n \nHomosexuals are attracted to each other because of Love the same as Straight couples are. They are not LUSTFUL more than other humans. You do not speak for God----who created both animals and humans with very similar sexual attractions. It is the official church, with its heretical antipathy for SEX to begin with, wrote teaching, back in the days when most Christians were illiterate, stating that sex is ONLY good for the procreating of children within marriage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You get it! Thanks. I long have advocated editors challenging \"abortionandcontraception\" as a Catholic collective \"sin\" noun. But with little luck. \n\nAnd, like you but unlike Bishop Tobin, I find it a moral non-sequitur when sexuality and abortion are so linked. I recently even read on a conservative Catholic site a litany that linked \"as assumed moral equivalents and as always-directly-related issues\" abortion with infidelity, divorce, masturbation, contraception, pornography, and homosexuality. \n\nWe must say: credibility on teaching about the evil of abortion is sacrificed (so unnecessarily) by celibate clergy's preoccupations with views on sexuality that young and old reject for many valid and moral reasons. \n\nThe Church that too often cried \"Wolf\" on matters of sexuality, is doubted and sadly often ignored when it warns of the evil of abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2.\nd) that the reality of mankind- in the belief that we are in the (pale as it is) image of God - that humanity it self and in relationship is as valid a source for God's meaning and teaching as is what we know in our Book(s) (the ordinary person, the Peter, is the rock upon which church, whatever that is, is built).\ne) that our mission is to meet in sacred space, in communities of good will, intelligence, discernment, in respect of our body of tradition, to re-search what a, b, and c mean and to evolve a renewal of Christ in community in creation.\n\"Magisterium\" and \"hierarchy\" are to be guide, mentor, consolidator, recorder, consensus finder, enabler.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not Singh :)\n\nIt appears you are backtracking: you made no claims about who offered invocations, you claimed their content is always Christian, and neither of us mentioned anything about the chaplain(s). I don't mind--my goal is not to convince you, but to ensure others reading this don't become misguided by your inaccurate claims.\n\nAgain, you are making false claims: the 10 Commandments are not written above where the justices sit; the tablet above them, according to the designer himself, refers to the Bill of Rights. There are no bronze gates leading to the building; there are bronze doors, and here's what's on them: https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/bronzedoors.pdf. The inner doors do have tablets bearing I-X on them, which, as already mentioned, also refers to the Bill of Rights elsewhere in the building. There is only place where a definitive reference can be found: 6-10 are depicted in Hebrew on Moses' tablet inside the building, where he is joined by 17 other lawmakers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those who oppose equal rights for people who are \"different\" miss the point. It's not a \"trans\" issue; it's not an LGBT issue; it's a human rights issue. So much for so-called christians who ignore the message that we are all god's children and that Jesus implores his followers to love one another.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gonna paste this all over the paper? Gays and abortion, cloaked in christian righteousness. All the talking points you will ever need.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The NRA has spread fear and hate to this kind of mental midget ever since the Reagan and Heston era of Alzheimer's-driven drivel. Decades of propaganda to arm the entire populace against some bogus fear of attack on 2nd Amendment rights. NRA leaders led by Heston and subsequently LaPierre urging all members and other like minds to build arsenals of arms and ammunition far beyond any personal defense or hunting needs. The same creeps fully invested in arms manufacturing corporations booming to the point of supply lacks for ammunition throughout the nation. All generated by fear and hate mixed in with a full complement of Posse Comitatus Militia, racism against non-whites and non-christians, Old South Confederacy idolatry including flying Stars and Bars over Stars and Stripes. Il Duce Trump is the poster child for all of these cretins as he laughs at their gullibility from his mansions and billionaire, non-taxpaying status. Now we pay for his armed protectors and his White House.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your humor is top-notch. I always look forward to your posts. Based on this, Cardinal-elect Cupich is headed for the slammer...who knew??? Given that there are more \"Christian\" churches in this country than there are grocery stores, I don't think I'll hold my breath waiting for the repression! Maybe we could get serious about some other justice issues that actually exist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Focusing on the punishment of the abusers is the wrong approach. The Church would be most effective in setting up a process to prevent any such scandals. The Holy Spirit, through St. Paul 's letter to Timothy, reveals the qualifications for selecting priests. The most crucial is that a priest must be married; it is not an option. \"For how can a man who does not know how to manage his family manage the church of God?\" The Church has resisted, neglected or denied this mandate for about a thousand years; the rampant sexual abuses didn't just happen all of a sudden. The pope is not the only one late to the party.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good preachers always preach to themselves first and foremost. Do you have some reason to believe the pope isn't doing that? Or are you just a tad irritable that he's holding us accountable to that pesky, inconvenient Gospel?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You might want to scan linkedin.\n\nYou'll find lots of Opus Dei priests listed as priests of OD. \n\nThe point about discretion and the \"use\" of the name OD is never to give in to the weakness of saying \"because Opus Dei says so\"...the answer would instead be \"Because the Cathholic Church teaches beautifully and rationally about some matter....and let me explain why...\"\n\nAnd there isn't a requirement that members of OD only go to priests of OD. That's a falsehood.\nYou're way off the mark here. \n\nAnd you also might want to broaden your understanding about the full value of Confession; it's not limited just to having one's sins forgiven. Some good advice and preventive medicine can aldo be given by priests. \n\nToo many myth here..just about every paragraph has 2 or 3 myths in it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why not simply be humble and accept what has been taught by the Church for centuries, through scripture, tradition, patristics , councils and exegesis.\n\nNobody is advocating biblical literalism, just that the Church sticks to objective moral truths. If these truths are subject to the changes in human society, then they are not truths an are merely relativistic constructs. If we reach that point why even bother with religion, it is meaningless and useless without objectively true teachings. \n\nIn any case, the church has not made a bigger case about divorce than helping the poor, it is tone of the largest charity provider when it comes to NGO's. This did not happen overnight, people have heard the gospel for centuries. The issue is that helping the poor has never been contested as much as divorce. It is narrow path of the cross that people object to when it requires uniting our deepest sacrifices to our Lords.\n\n(1/2)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\n\nI distinctly remember my mother saying to me, when I announced I had bought a Bible, that \"we Catholics don't read the Bible.\"\n\nOf course when I started reading it I was shocked.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As unpopular as this comment might be: how many catholics read or care about encyclicals?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I assume Massingale's \"buzzing with justice\" parishes would ultimately mean white parishioners would be \"invited to leave,\" a la Evergreen college. \n\nThank goodness the Catholic faith isn't race based, like some other religions. It can even tolerate clerics who promote racial nonsense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I do not berate people for their lack of Catholicity\". You do exactly that with regularity. You have told me, in as many words, that my rejection of Humanae Vitae and Ordinatio Sacerdotalis mean that I am not a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Gene,\nThe Old Testament was written long, long before Jesus was born. It was scriptures from it that He corrected, e.g. \"It is written 'an eye for an eye, but I say unto you do good to those who do evil to you.'\"\nThis on its own would seem to support the argument that Christians should, as Harry, you, and others here suggest, sit down and shut up when Trump does evil. There is however an example of how someone announcing the coming of Christ behaves in relation to power being abused.If you believe that Jesus is coming again, as He promised, then consider the example of John the Baptist, who scripture tells us came proclaiming the Messiah's arrival, but also speaking \"of all the evil things the king had done.\" Indeed, this is what cost him his head, not his religious prophecy. If we do not condemn evil we become silently complicit with it. Trump IS evil.\nSo there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ronin, that's Conservative Spin. The accurate fact is that NK carefully couches it's \"destroy US\" rhetoric basically with, \"IF\" US attacks, then we destory US. \nI don't think NK is saying, \"we will attack for the fun of it.\" That's the problem with what's going on right now. Trump is giving NK every reason to believe the US is pursuing regime change. \nBasically, there is a lot of hate towards the US based on fear, emanating often from the existence of foreign governmental or radical approaches that conflict with US foreign policy and US interests. Those not in line with the US view the US as a threat to impose its will upon them, and thus, a good part of the hate.\nWe tend to think, as a nation, that our way is right. That our Judeo-Christian values are the \"best\", that our form of government needs to be imposed, that our economic interests are of forefront concern and that therefore we are justified in imposing international policies that pursue or protect those interests. . .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Precisely my point, if Biden ran he would be President. Maybe you can explain why the majority of Catholics voted for Trump? The simple answer was they voted against Clinton. Clinton and Podesta lost the Catholic vote for a good reason. Her militant pro abortion views coupled with the interesting emails of Podesta cost her the race. Hopefully she can attend the next \"spirit cooking\" event or sacrifice a chicken to Moloch for the next Presidental race in 2020. By the way I did not vote for either one of them, but I believe Clinton is clearly more evil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right. The sins of Texas created Harvey. Really?! In John 9, when Jesus was asked about whose sin created a human tragedy, He responded that it wasn't about sin, but\"happened so that the works of God may be displayed.\" Have we seen the \"works of God\" throughout responses to this storm at a time when our nation desperately needed to come together? I think so. It is a dangerous and typically unhelpful thing to label any disaster (be it 9-11, Katrina, Harvey or whatever) as the result of people's \"sin\" - that is basically what you are doing - Let God interpret the event and let Him be glorified through it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When it comes to protecting our children, the pope and bishops must be held to the highest standards because of the evidence that so many stooped to the lowest. Restoring their credibility on this score may or may not be possible, and clearly a lot of the bishops and priests have given up and reverted to pre-scandal behavior. \n\nRepentance seems the only answer as it was in 2002, but it hasn\u2019t happened. Too many church leaders simply don\u2019t believe it is necessary to repent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "InEarnest: Ordinary Knights should promote on behalf of their wives and daughters to have equal voice within the organization in order to give some sense of balance in the conversation and in the future of the organization.\nPresently, one gets the distinctly misogynous sense that money means more to Knights than women. That is the ultimate corrupting meme that bedevils even Roman Catholicism from times in memorial.!\nGod sent a clear message to me. (S)He made me a parent of six daughters. No sons.\n:-) !!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Church had allowed polygamy in the time of Henry VIII, it would have limited his concupiscence not one whit and saved six women's heads.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a shame that so many consider Muslims evil. They are not. They are just like any other group where there are good people and not so good, Islam has a lot in common with its relatives, Christianity and Judaism. I could care less if Obama was Muslim. Fact was he was a decent president, unlike what we have now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I can hate Islam and not hate Muslims, just as I can hate Christianity but not hate Christians.\"\n\nPerhaps you're that one-in-a-billion person who, despite the fact that he hates a religious belief, nevertheless is utterly calm and rational in how he views those who profess the belief he hates. On the other hand, perhaps you're just a bigot who can't admit it.\n\nWhen it comes to things that are intrinsic to a person's identity, hating that thing is no different than hating the person. If you hate homosexuality, pretending that you have no animosity towards gays is a transparent lie. It's the same with any characteristic that the Canadian constitution deems fundamental to a citizen's identity. If you hate it, you can't help but hate the person who embodies it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure about that, but Christians often are mindless nationalists -- the flag of whatever nation they live in flying on their altars, despite the scripture that says \"To God the nations are meaningless, and as dust on the scales.\" I know lots of \"Christians\" that supported Reagan's illegal war on Nicaragua, during which he even sold weapons to Iran to raise money for the Somozas Contras. I got to ask a Nicaraguan Church of the Nazarene pastor what he'd like us to tell our rep's about such support, and he said if we continued the church would be in the graveyard in Nicaragua. Hypocrisy is rife in Christianity. Many are called, but few are chosen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think it is fair to say Christianity has modernized a little. I don't know about Islam. I am not a Muslim.\n\nBut what about this? I know pretty well for a fact, being a fairly well educated 21st Century Christian, that Western Christianity has evolved into a colonizing religion, and it seems likely to me that Islam, whatever it might have been 200 years ago, has evolved into a colonized religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But how many christians still obey the Old Testament vs how many Muslims still obey the quran? How many Muslims have christians beheaded in the name of their god?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really Steven Spielberg? Is this how you repay Catholic efforts at inter-faith relations? Inter-faith relations between Jews and Catholics, I'm sad to say, are always a one way street: that involves Catholic concession to the Jewish perspective but NEVER vice-versa.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Minnery is no Christian, and Jesus will not save his kind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The alt.christians will come up with some bible story to justify their lying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly, the detractors are so blinded by their hate of Christianity, they can't even think clearly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis and bishops like \"Good Tobin\" and even Cupich are talking out of both sides of their mouth when it comes to women. Francis cannot compare programs to reduce gender inequalities to \"nuclear warfare,\" wax condescendingly about women as nurturing mommies and special compassionate angels, and wholeheartedly endorse complementarianism while expecting women to want to be \"accompanied\" by him. Complementarianism is sexism and as long as the Catholic Church is making men and women fit into neat little boxes with gender stereotypes, it cannot be pro-woman.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jack, That's right. True humility is beautiful. False humility is not. It is not Christian to let error pass for truth or watch your friend, or neighbor, or even your enemy walk blindly off a cliff without saying \"something\" It might even hurt the person, temporarily, if you yell at them sharply to \"stay away from the cliff\" In the end, though, you may have saved a soul. Is there anything wrong with that?\n\nFunny how Bubbles throws insults and then questions other peoples basic honesty. he does it with me and I see him do it with others. He assumes a Christian is hypocritical to fight back. Not. I think he knows hypocrisy intimately. Sorry, a Christian is not required to stay silent or neutral. In fact it is their duty to speak up. And their right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So does Wiki (explain it that way) This misinformation as well as all the stereotyping about anyone who tells the truth about Muslims , Islam and the Quran is nonsense. The Quran is clear on what it teaches, do all follow that ? Of course not, but some do, and some also twist it to motivate Jihadists, that much is clear. When was the last time you saw a Christian Pastor advocating Christian Jihad, and before you use the worn out Crusades, Domestic Terrorist, or Abortion Clinic bomber examples, please share with us all where in the New Testament (or even Old) where modern day Christians are ordered to kill anybody ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I realize that pretending to be straight is a tradition of some conservatives, but aside from that, wow in the world is MSW not of the Catholic left?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gays can get \"married\" civilly, but not in the Catholic Church.\n\nOur nature and our body tell us things: We were made for both union & procreation; integrated self-gift\n\nThe Chuch looks at us as wholes - integral development and gift, whereas you look at us as parts, a buffet line of dis-integrable parts. \n\nMarriage represents the union of Christ & the Church; total self gift, one for the other. No picking parts. \n\nHow can there be a union of an X and X? Where's the complementarity/union of that?\n\nWhere's the fruit of that mimicked union?\n\nYou believe that \n- sex can be separated from marriage,\n- marriage can be separated from children,\n- sex can be separated from its natural effects,\n- love can be separated from sex (and vice versa),\n- sex can be separated from responsibility\n\nDivision, diablo.\n\nYou believe love is a feeling, not the willing sacrifice of one toward the other's good.\n\nYou believe all these things, whether you've actually articulated them or not to yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So in your opinion, LGBT people can and should be discriminated against? That does not sound very Christian. Or very American. Or very human.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church does not have a meaningful set of rules about sex. They amount to \"thou shalt not\". The only ones allowed sexual activity are heterosexual married couples, and only if they pretend they are procreating. These rules are drawn up by those who are officially forbidden to have sex, so that they adhere to a theory.\n\nThe central dispute is between Catholics who believe the church should set the agenda for the world, and those who think the world set the agenda for the church. Those are ideals: in the real world, most Catholics will be a mixture of those orientations, but one predominates.\n\nWhen it comes to sex, the ones who say that the world has nothing to say to the Church predominate. The problem is that just about everyone ignores the rules. 90% of married Catholics are using or have used contraceptives. The divorced and remarried often go to Communion. Gays are still having sex. Clerical celibacy is regularly more honored in the breach than the observance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When the sense of obligation left with Vatican II, many took their freedom and ran. The belief in a belief in God was less necessary in families and society. When I was a boy, we lived with my Grandmother. Our Uncle, Aunt and Cousins lived down the street and we all talked about who we saw at Mass. I don't live down the street from my siblings and no one is making them go, so they don't. Two of my siblings married Catholics. They still don't go (and the gay Catholic couple stopped because they were made to feel unwelcome). I mostly go. My ex-wife goes each week with my daughter because they live with her mother. She is moving out in two weeks. I doubt Mass will stay on the agenda, at least during the summer. Is this hedonistic or anti-religious or is it just honest?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Singling people out based on religion (as is being done with refugees) is certainly a violation of the constitution. \n\nIf this was for national security, then why only Muslims? Look at the history of attacks in the North America...they were caused by Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, etc. Why not ban them all then?\n\nThis is a media stunt by Trump to placate the mass population who don't understand the first thing about Islam or the Middle East, and based on the ignorant comments here, it seems to be working.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As you seem to be unaware of, every time a diocese are forced by a court to make public their archives. It has been proven that bishops , many times for decades have been lying about not having priests in ministry with substantiated claims of abuse. Several diocese have been forced by courts to post their names and pictures on diocese websites.\nNeed I explain more.\nMr. genius, How come pedophile priests are listed on some diocese websites?\n\nThere exists a likely mind blowing number of never before identified predator priests being secretly harbored by the Catholic Church in almost every diocese in the US. Many of these admitted pedophiles are retired, still priests and not on any watch list and not being monitored in any way.\nDo I need to explain this danger to you ?\n \nAnd you wonder why these priests still are raping kids?\n\nIf the church would have called police instead of hiding and transferring these animals in the first place. The State would put them on parole and watch lists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not at the cost of the Human diginity of all women called to priesthood. Justice First or we are not really Christian. We are merely haters of women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Too many, even Christians, believe that our only choice is a strained cease-fire brought about by threat of force, or \"judicious\" use of violence. They believe that true peace is impossible, that non-violence is foolish. This is an exquisite despair.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I cannot believe what I am reading, I cannot believe we are having discussion about this in 2016. Mr. Gilman, they have state approved churches in North Korea and China they did in the Soviert Union, and Nazi Germany. Congratulations Kenai Borough you are now in the company of Iran, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. Your very comment smacks of ignorance \"I\" have a right? I have a right to push my faith on others because it is the right one? You are totally missing the point no one objects to your beliefs of prayer they object to you bring them to work on the peoples time. For the record, I am a Christian but also believe in seperation of church and state. Lest some one like Mr Gilman gets to decide my beliefs are not approved.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What history has really taught us is that no change of any sort can take place when one stands with the status quo. All positive (and, unfortunately, negative) change comes with effort, with at least some degree of organized action, of changes in public attitude and perception. With the Nazi regime that you cite, resistance was dealt with by immediate death, but it survived and grew as an \"underground\" movement, yes? And, if I am correct in my study of history, Hitler and his group certainly were overthrown and he died hiding and cowering in a bunker. Your final sentence is so \"empty\" of thought, I can't believe the lack of logic. But to offer some clarification, the point is that they came for homosexuals, they also came for the disabled, the immigrants, the Jews, the foreigners, the Catholics especially clergy and religious - all of those who did not fit in to their vision of a \"pure\" society or who opposed them. If you pick up a world history book, you will find it all there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just the demolition of the Democratic Party hijacked in the 1970/80s by the Old South solution to losing elections by moving further to the Right to accommodate the ruling elite. Led by the fundamentalist christian, Jimmy Carter, continued by Bill Clinton and a host of Congressional South Senators and Representatives to cater to the Wall Street Corporate Oligarchy through continuing the deregulation of the entire economy. Deregulation leading to massive transfers of wealth to the wealthy paper-hanging Wall Street elite; massive transfer of jobs to foreign, cheap labor lands; changing the banking rules to allow junk bonds and LLCs to protect corporations from any real liability or criminal prosecution for criminal economic actions. The list goes on as the protection built into the system in the Great Depression were jettisoned for the Ayn Rand fictional free market looting of the world. Disgusting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "PRECISELY. What I've been saying all along. What you seem not to understand is that applies just as much to groups \"perceiving\" themselves to be \"Christian\" as it does to those \"perceiving\" to be \"Muslim\". The Grand Dragon of the KKK is a Southern Baptist Minister named Thomas Robb. I don't attribute his vile words and actions to the Messiah (alayhis-Salaam). And the vile words and deeds of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (leader of the Da'esh) are not attributable to the Most Noble Messenger Muhammad (Saala Allahu alayhi wa Ah'liihi wa Salaam), no matter how much you wish they MIGHT be so you can continue to bask in your own delusions of \"spiritual superiority.\" Before you make such generalized statements that my Faith is the only one which hasn't undergone a reformation, you may stop to consider that I know far more ABOUT my faith and its authentic tenets than you do. Consider rephrasing your statement as a question if you wish to LEARN rather than merely declare your own ignorance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Zarqa,\nI love your writing and I thought \"Little house on the Prairie\" was funny and informative. It would be wonderful if life were like that and Muslims lived in harmony with Canadian society, but you have written a story as you wish it to be, and it is not reality. \nThere is a reason why we don't have Amish-ophobia, or Jehovah's Witness-ophobia or Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter day Saints-ophobia. or phobia of any of the dozens of religions that intigrate into Canadian society. People have real reason to be afraid of a religion that is berserk around the world. And polls have consistently shown that a large minority of Western Muslims (around 30% of youth) support the aims of the most violent death cult in our history. The issue has nothing to do with the cemetery. It has to do with fear of Muslims. \"Fear\", not \"Hatred\". \nCanadians, whether rural or urban, are not the enemy of the Muslim community. Those within your community who support violent extremist philosophy are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So there are people who belong to organized religions in the new administration and some of them practice bad stuff? Stop the presses.\n\nI don't care whether or not Reince Priebus is Greek Orthodox or Steve Bannon is Catholic. I do care about what the Trump administration is going to do to restrict immigration for refugees and make life harder for those living on the margins. The personal religious hypocrisy or lack of it among Trump's cronies isn't of interest to me but their views on public policy are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny you should bring up \"those people\" who planned to flee Trump's US. \n\nI ran across this quote from a letter Abraham Lincoln wrote in 1855 when the Know-Nothings (the American Party) feared for the country's safety due to the immigration of Irish Catholics.\n\n\u201cAs a nation, we began by declaring that \u2018all men are created equal.\u2019 We now practically read it \u2018all men are created equal, except negroes.\u2019 When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read \u2018all men are created equal, except negroes and foreigners and Catholics.\u2019 When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty\u2014to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.\u201d\n\nLincoln decided not to emigrate to Russia and stuck around to help \"negroes\" into the created equal category. Unfortunately \"foreigners\" are still on the list, though we've managed to replace Catholics with Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If that was true, Spain, Portugal,Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Georgia, Armenia, India, etc would have been fully Muslim.\"\n\nThat's a silly argument. People fought back, that's why they aren't.\n\nLuckily, it's been quite a while since Christians stopped trying to convert people by force.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You aren't a Christian if you voted for Trump, period. If you think you are, you are delusional.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The boro government is forcing christianity", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hell, have you seen what they're teaching in CATHOLIC schools? Pulled my kids out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You speak for the others? You know them?\n\n1. Many of your (you, personally) posts over the last week have been to denigrate Pope Francis. How you can call yourself in any way Catholic is a nonsense.\n\n2. Much of the rest of YOUR contributions over the last week have been to wallow in Trumps victory, to jeer at those who voted against Trump like a petty, spoiled school child. None of those posts had anything to do with defending Church teaching.\n\nI asked for an honest answer and you haven't given it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islamophobia?\nWhat about all the CATHOLIC PHOBIA in the comments\n\nmaybe we need a Motion like M 103 in Parliament for Catholic phobia", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, Trad Catholic, what a great example of empathy for women (NOT). Are you aware that many men, including many Catholic men, routinely raped their wives/partners in the privacy of their own home - under the assumption that this was their right/entitlement to do so? These patriarchal men think they own women's uteruses and have no empathy for the outcome left to the woman. This is nothing short of sadistic. This issue is about women's bodily integrity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islam is no different than the violent Christian history with witch hunts, crusades, and inhumanity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was a non-Christian from the Middle East. \n\nTrumpence conservatives would either ban Him from entering the U.S. or put His name in a registry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Persecution of Christians worldwide .... this is an old and very real issue. Finally the NCR fought up with it... sort of.\n\nNow if they ... anyone, would have the guts to name who is doing most of the persecuting and why, it would be helpful.\n\nFor examle, how much of the persecution/killing is done by Muslims, by atheists, etc... and why?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just as I think that having to pay to give churches tax exempt status and pay for catholic education is a bloody disgrace. Unfortunately neither one of us gets to dictate what out taxes do and do not pay for. Its called a democracy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nice straw man! Dude, seriously?\n\nAs if liberal dissidents think for themselves. They just think whatever Hans Kung, Charlie Curran, Gary Macy, The National Schismatic Reporter, The Women's Ordination Conference, Catholics for a \"Choice\" or other dissident tell them to think. \n\nWhen it comes to politics, they just think whatever MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, The New York Times, the Boston Globe, The LA Times, Ellen, Rosie O'Donnell and other rich elite Limousine liberals tell them.\n\nIn short, liberals are no better at thinking for themselves than any conservative.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ed Op,\nAre you uninformed, or use your statement to deflect the real truth.\nChristian prayers were taken out of schools only to later be replaced by accommodating islamic ones, in the same schools.\n \"nobody is forcing religion\", another false statement, what is this \"it's just a motion\" anti islamophobia issue, soon the government will be coming up with 'recommendations' as to how combat those who dare to speak against Islam.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other news 450 jobs lost in Montreal area (food manufacturing closing)\n-World population growing at alarming rate 7.4 billion as of yesterday. Majority of the growth in Africa\nand Muslim world.\n-Massive demonstrations in Indonesia demanding the death sentence to a Christian leader.\n-Turkish government denies the Armenian genocide of 1915 (2 million Christians killed)\nWhat we need is more selfies..............................", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To put it bluntly, the war on Christmas has been led by Jewish organizations, financed by Jewish financiers, fought in the courts by Jewish lawyers, and lobbied in government, by Jewish influence. Underlying the whole campaign is the Jewish owned media. Extremist Jews who make up less than three percent of the population have prevailed over the wishes of 90 percent of the American people. I could and would be glad to list literally 100's of examples to back up what I said or I could start listing them until you aren't able to deny the truth of it. The Jews have been at war with Christianity for 3,000 years. They have been fighting against Christmas and public displays of the cross and nativity scenes for 200 years. This isn't a matter of opinion it's a matter of fact. Take for example the 25 year battle over the Mt. Soledad Cross ...complete with 2 trips to the US Supreme Court ...Who were the Plaintiffs?: Jewish War Veterans; more?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Bartons oppose allowing openly gay or transgender students or parents in Catholic schools because they believes it constitutes a 'passive affirmation' of their lifestyle and could be confusing or 'a near occasion of sin' for young impressionable children.\"\n\nYou want a \"near occasion of sin\"? How about bringing up your children to loathe their LGBT brethren and sistren.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You prove that it is crazy christians who are pushing this mass migration of fellow fanatics: The catholic church was gifted 600 million dollars in recent budget for Immigration Services. 500 + another 100 mill. Look it up.\nNo, this is North America we do not want a bunch of religious nutjobs of any faith but most certainly not islamic ones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Secrecy of the confessional is the term of art in Catholicism. Privacy is about the right to use birth control, abortion, sodomy and gay marriage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Duke, from what we have gathered so far, we know that he hates Muslims, that alone is an ideological position. We know this because eye witnesses quoted him saying \"I want to kill all Muslims\". Over the weekend, he referred to another Muslim as an \"inbred\" and has been kicked out of pubs for \"cursing Muslims\". His Twitter account also followed leaders of the far-right incl. the political party, Britain First whose missions statement is \u201cWe will restore Christianity as the bedrock and foundation of our national life as it has been for the last one thousand years.\u201d I'm sure we'll learn more in time. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/19/finsbury-park-attack-suspect-named-as-cardiff-resident-darren-osborne", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not everyone acknowledges your god. And I don't trust you to make decisions for anyone besides yourself. That is a very arrogant response. Also to be blunt, the Catholic Church has shown callous disregard to its victims of child abuse, and has no moral leg to stand on regarding innocent lives. The 1st amendment says NO establishment of religion. So, neither your god, nor anyone else's, has any say in the Constitution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the Catholic Hitler Youth Groups are SO moving.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have a V2 Pope. If by making immoral behavior a Sacrament you mean Gay Marriage, it already is a sacrament, but self celebrated. The Church should still join the families. I am sure there are Knights with gay grandchildren who will want a Catholic wedding at some point, provided the Knights are around in 20 years. If so, people who are now 30 will be 50 and they are fine with gay marriage. If opposing it becomes a litmus test, your ranks will thin. At this point they have become, like the pro-life movement, an adjunct of the GOP. I assure you that a large number of Catholic men over 50 are not Republicans and if you were not so partisan, we would join you in the Knights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Buddhists and Secular Principals, Teachers, Administrators, office workers, and students who all go to at the same churches are all troublemakers in and out of school. They have been persecuting Christians kindergartens to 12th grade. And they love it!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's happened in Egypt since the fall of Mubarek is very bad, but that's not my country, this one is. I doubt the Egyptian government gives a lick about how Canadian citizens feel about what is going on in Egypt.\n\nIf there were Christians murdered or churches torched here in Canada damn right I would be outraged and I would expect the government to take action.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see we've turned Catholic against Catholic. Sparado is the same guy who published and embraced an interesting article about how the church should never have disclosed the sexual abuse or turned in predator priests to authorities. That is one credible guy! Hate is hate. It's equally bad for all. It comes down to liberals vs. conservatives. Out of curiosity tell me what changes we need to make to the Church that was founded by Jesus Christ? That's the first question I always ask when I genuflect toward the tabernacle: how can we make church pleasing and palatable to us? Should we change the abortion narrative? Change the definition of what constitutes marriage, allow some adultery, premarital sex? Drug infused homosexual orgies are just fine. They happen in the Vatican so feel free to indulge. Women priests? Redefine marriage? Every Catholic here should take in at least one refugee from Syria especially if you have daughters! I've read these comments. Clearly we know more than God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Christian Cosmology\"!?\nI almost fell off my chair laughing. I know nothing about Alan Arakawa, aside from his stupid and blatant religious bigotry with respect to sacred rocks and Christianity.\nYour conflation of \"Christianity\" with \"Cosmology\" is equally vapid, and this entire opinion piece is saturated with a hypocrisy precisely the same as Alan Arakawa's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholics still actually eat the body and drink the actual blood of Christ every time they participate in Mass, so they are merely ritual cannibals. \n\nBut that's better than the Aztecs and the Maya who only quit when Spaniards made them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are quoting Huffington Post, CNN, New York Times and George Stephanopalous verbatim. I don't feel I can take YOU seriously.\nAre you a Catholic and a Christian - if so you must subscribe to a pick and choose buffet were only the things you agree with apply.\nHillary has far more lies than Trump. . . . and her lies were while she was in public office.\nBenghazi was the first time an embassy was attacked and we GAVE ORDERS to our people to stand down.\nIf a group of special ops guys hadn't disobeyed those orders - another 28 people would have died - on top of the 4 we lost.\nShe was head of the State dept. when it happened - top dog - and she left our people out there to rot!\nI've had all I can stomach from her - and then her lies about a video causing everything . . . . .\nThere was LOTS of evidence - but of course the Justice dept is in the Clintons back pocket.\nWonder why Bill just happens to have private meetings with Loretta Lynch right before Hillary's hearings??", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have lived in England which has not removed religion from the state. The Queen is the head of the Church. And one can hear Members of Parliament debating about Chuch issues from time to time.\n\nAt the time of Canada's founding settlers were either Catholic or Anglican. Dissenters had to apply for exemption from Religious Education. And Tradition, as you call it, is Religious Tradition.\n\nYour assertion that I have posted in the past my support for Sharia Law is libelous. I have not. Nor have I sought to build a framework for it. I'm not sure what the purpose of your BIG LIE is, but I must demand you retract it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is obvious that the left uses this as a ploy against any white person involved with the Republican party,or those who claim to be a Christian or a patriot and especially if they want to follow the Constitution and elect conservatives to office. Many of our colleges and universities are loaded down with leftist professors who's plan is to indoctrinate our children with this nonsense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The what else is that I didn't clumsily define the difference between Christianity and other religions. I could accuse you of being clumsy when you write \"I'm familiar with the myth.\" That is, if your definition of clumsy is that you disagree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This \"lost hope\" idea has nothing to do with Catholic values. We had a healing country that elected a black president who then tore all that healing to shreds with his incendiary remarks and false accusations of racism. He brought about the racial divide he decried. He escalated police violence and black distrust of whites. Excruciating to live through as a Christian. We are NOT black or white to God. We are souls. His children. And there was NO attempt to unite but only dictatorial actions and stances. There was an attempt to destroy democracy and to put the whole WORLD in turmoil by staging protests, creating unrest, pushing amorality wherever the President could. I watched his wife run to try to catch up to him as he ignored her descending a plane or walking to meet someone. He was no example of a good husband I would want. He watched Christians be slaughtered around the world and closed his eyes to discrimination against whites and religious people in the workplace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nonsense! Given your hateful comment misjudging Richard Rohr, you show your limited knowledge of Spirituality and Christianity. \nThomas Merton said it was actually dangerous to put the Scriptures in the hands of people whose inner self is not yet sufficiently awakened to encounter the Spirit, because they will try to use God for their own egocentric purposes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess Pandora's indefinite suspension has finally removed that one from coming here to defend the indefensible and lead this discussion off on some pointless tangent. If Francis and the Vatican were capable of shame, they would be ashamed that the lone survivor has left their fraud of a Commission. But they proved themselves to be shameless when they canonized a man who did all he could to protect those who harm children. Hardly a good shepherd and not a saint by any stretch of the imagination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Has NCR ever referred to the Right without adding the modifier \"extreme\"? \n\nBy the way NCR, tell us more about the KOC and how its members are renegade Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "let's see, the Orange didn't like the Irish Catholic immigration. The Hungarians of 1956 were Commie infiltrators, for the Jews, none was too many in 1939. All have been successful Canadians. Why do you think the current immigrants will be any different? Or are you just echoing the same short sighted, ethnocentric nonsense of previous generations?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here are Bible quotes that refer to killing people for various reasons, including nonbelievers:Death to Followers of Other Religions\nWhoever sacrifices to any god, except the Lord alone, shall be doomed. (Exodus 22:19 NAB)\n\nThey entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. 2 Chronicles 15:12-13 NAB\nSuppose you hear in one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you that some worthless rabble among you have led their fellow citizens astray by encouraging them to worship foreign gods. In such cases, you must examine the facts carefully. If you find it is true and can prove that such a detestable act has occurred among you, you must attack that town and completely destroy all its inhabitants, as well as all the livestock...(2 Chronicles 15:12-13 NAB)\n\nChristianity is not peaceful either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like Ryan,none of the above posters have a solution. I wish Kasich would have won the republican nomination. \"Let them Die in Place\", is a solution they're looking for. Very Christian like. The pro life gang is like \"let me be born,but take away the health insurance and let em suffer\" lol.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I actually thought that it would take time for progressives to get around to the idea of ending religious rights and privacy for those who wish to confess to a priest. I see I was wrong. The progressives are already fully on board with the idea.\"\n\nI actually thought that it would take time for conservative Catholics to defend the excessive religious rights and undue privacy for those who wish to confess child sexual abuse crimes to a priest. I see I was wrong. The conservative Catholics are already fully on board with the idea of protecting pedophiles, pedophile priests, the Pontifical Secret, and enabling Bishops and Cardinals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Segment 1 \nWhite Supremacists....SPLC\n\nWHITE NATIONALIST\nWhite nationalist groups espouse white supremacist or white separatist ideologies, often focusing on the alleged inferiority of nonwhites. Groups listed in a variety of other categories - Ku Klux Klan, neo-Confederate, neo-Nazi, racist skinhead, and Christian Identity - could also be fairly described as white nationalist.\n\nWhite nationalist groups espouse white supremacist or white separatist ideologies, often focusing on the alleged inferiority of non-whites.\nGroups listed in a variety of other categories - Ku Klux Klan, neo-Confederate, neo-Nazi, racist skinhead, and Christian Identity - could also be fairly described as \"white nationalist.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everyone is the U.S. who didn't want to tear down a General Lee statue is a Christian terrorist?\n\nThat's clearly not true, and absurd. But even if it were true....what in the world does it have to do with the reality of Muslim extremist violence?\n\nAre you saying that because of the Charlottesville crazy guy (and he was crazy), that no one may mention what Muslims are doing?\nhttps://www.thereligionofpeace.com/attacks/attacks.aspx?Yr=Last30", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good work as usual, Alex. When is the predominately white Catholic clergy going to address \"white privilege\" and white supremacy? I am not holding my breath. Peace!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am hopeful too. The Australian church is heavily lay run with flourishing schools. One out of every five Catholics goes to a Catholic school. Their secondary schools are excellent and their new Catholic University -- Notre Dame -- is growing, with nearly 20 thousand students at their main campus and satellite sites. However, the bishops, most of them, are real losers, a sad bunch; but I doubt Australia will allow them to lose anymore, short of running them out of town. Sadly, none of these bishops have been put in jail.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you're saying we should blame the terrorist attack on a Black church in Charleston, South Carolina on White, Southern, Conservative Christians? Should we now establish an effort to banish them from the country? Or should we hold the individual(s) involved responsible for their own actions?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope this is serious. Like I stated.\nGov. Ige, Chun, Watson, etc. welcomes All to Hawaii with open arms: ISIS, Taliban, AlQueda, Antifa, BLM, MS13, gangbangers, Loui/Bill/Harvey/Larry/Anthony(the gang of 5 sex addicts), Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton/Jeramiah Wright(supposed Reverends but racists), Donna Brazille( who hid behind the robe knowing how it feels to be a prosecuted Christian Woman), Kim Jong Un, DNC Debbie hiring IT cheats and possible spies, etc..\nWelcome to Hawaii, just don't you Tell", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not the reason Christians are cleansed from BetLehem to the point of becoming a minority. Look what Arabs do to Christians in Iraq, Iran or Lebanon. Look at Syria. \n\nArab countries are the ones where the flow of Christian refugees starts, not at Israel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Don Meredith is being held at a lot higher standard than most politicians especially Progressive ones. Underlying this narrative is the continued attack by Progressives against Christians and Christian values\"\n------------------------------------\n\nthey need a \"pathetic face\" for comments like this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A lot of Catholics don't love Haugen-Haas music, but that's all that gets play in a lot of parishes. Way to empty the Church of men to sing \"Jesus is my boyfriend\" style music. \n\nAfrican American spirituals are nice, but cringey when white suburban choirs decide to engage in some good old cultural appropriation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "icon666, I put an extra 6 on your moniker because YOU need to be recognized and associated with the MARK OF THE BEAST. I am a WhiteFace Christian, and YOU can PUKE all over YOURSELF. \n\nicon 666, Dr. Cleanup believes, Your problem is not with AlwaysThere being a CHRISTIAN\"';........ it is just that HE is RIGHT and you are WRONG................... \n\nSame goes for motley, who I believe is one of the most intelligent people around. You state you have respect for him and that is because;........ HE is more INTELLIGENT than YOU and HE is RIGHT and you are WRONG...................\n\nSave yourself some time and DO NOT Threaten me with statements that you can, or will, demolish me either rhetorically or OTHERWISE. I am NOT AFRAID of people like you. Ooh Rah..........I was trained to move around undetected in the daytime and nightime.....Ooh Rah............\n\nBTW, I identify as a \"MEAT POPSICLE\". Not a mutilated male or female..........\n\nRead the Sign: MEAT POPSICLE.......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not the same God, unless you believe the God of Abraham sent a prophet to preach such things as:\n\n[5.51] O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianaphobic - Contempt or Fear of Christians\n\nIs this always how you deal with facts you don't like ? Sarcastic humor ? I have a very giving wife, I don't need to look at pictures, how bout you ? Been deprived for a few years Motley ? And your schizophrenic insults mean very little on an anonymous blog. The most amazing thing is you boast about being without knowledge on Christianity, but are a supposed fountain of wisdom on everything else. Pride goes...Then the fall my friend.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Im not saying you specifically do this, but lets consider a couple things. People in this country, especially conservatives which includes the lion's share of people who identify themselves as \"Christian\" seem perfectly happy telling Muslims to \"fix it\" when it comes to terrorism and Muslim extremism. Using that metric, which plenty of Christians have been happy to apply, why should Christians be allowed to pass the buck on people like this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics believe that dogmatic decrees of General Councils are infallible and irreformable non-Catholics reject that in the same way that you do.\nThe notion that human minds grow and expand is arrogant nonsense. There may be more knowledge available today but who is to say that the minds of the early Christians would not have also understood what we understand today had the knowledge been available to them. The intellect is a part of the soul and therefore cannot evolve.\nThe Spirit is not constantly feeding us with new ideas, He ensures that the Church does not err on matters of Faith and Morals.\nYou may believe that Luther was correct, the Church most certainly doesn't. Trent was indeed a reaction, a reaction against the heterodoxy and errors introduced into Christianity by heretics such as Luther. \nI really do wonder where you learned your 'catholicism'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, they shouldn't go broke. You just want them to, because you want the poor to have not healthcare and you also want old age to mean penury. You claim to be a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My point isn't so much about \"evangelicals and white Catholics\", it is more about, let's call them \"traditionalists\" to expand the group. Religious folks are just a part of the overall traditionalist group ( a Venn diagram would help here). The democrat/progressive/liberal agenda moved too fast and went too far during the Obama years. It got too far out in front of what too many people found acceptable at this time. A little bit slower and Hillary would probably be president right now and the democrat/progressive/liberal agenda would probably have another eight years to expand. This is what the traditionalists reacted against and Trump used to his advantage, along with the electoral system.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, it isn't the first time Liberals have masqueraded as Christians, and for sure it won't be the last. This entire article is an absurdity, a statement of fealty to a system of government which hates Christianity and in fact hates all Traditional religions. It's pathetic. How quick so-called Catholics like this writer forget the massacre in the Vendee by Liberals, who butchered Catholics in their thousands.\n\nYou know as well as I that ALL of the great saints and church fathers would be DISGUSTED by Modern society, and would want it destroyed. That is what we intend to do. In the vein of Maistre, and of Codreanu, we will eliminate the heresy of Liberalism, by any means necessary. God wills it.\n\nAnd remember, our principles, including those surrounding race, are only those that before the French Revolution, every well-born person considered sane and normal. You are a disciple of Robespierre, not of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Piano is lying. All 3 men were kind spirited genuine christians. I saw them every day delivering their mail. It's truly painful to know the horrible cruel death they suffered. I recently became Facebook friends with Daniel Mccreadie. He came up to me the day before his murder to tell me his testimony of Jesus Christ. His face was glowing as he spoke about Jesus and the ministry he was doing. He had so much peace and joy in his face. All were very sweet people. This monster, Anthony Pisano should be faced with the full extent of the 3 murders he committed. He is an arrogant narcissistic lying sociopath and has taken away 3 lives besides ruining many lives, family, babies of the victims, children and the community that loved them. PLEASE DO NOT LET THIS CREEP GET AWAY WITH THIS. GOD WON'T !!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, fundamentalist fascism must be condemned. Whether it calls itself Islamic, Christian or Jewish. The KKK claims to be a White Christian organization. And yet I seldom see critics of the KKK denounce all Christians at the same time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the driver/suspect is Christian/Jew/Hindu/ Buddhist/Sikh/ , Merkel-gang will publish it with lightning speed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah Prog, humour is lost on you once again. It must be so strange living in the literal world you inhabit when the rest of us live in one of nuance and complexity and subtle variation.\n\nTell you what though, how about you start by listing what is \"primitive\" about Islam since that's what started this thread. It certainly wasn't any reference to cemeteries and certainly I never claimed that people having cemeteries isn't normal - I really have no idea how you made that bizarre mental leap.\n\nThen go ahead and define the \"we\" you are talking about and the \"predominant majority\". Or is everyone a white anglo-saxon protestant in your view? How do you rationalize that with the Catholics, Jews, and others? Are the English or French? What about Italians, Chinese, Ukrainians, Blacks? Did the Muslims who have been here since Confederation not found and build up this country along with everyone else? What about the Indigenous peoples? Aren't all these groups all part of the larger \"we\"?\n\nHmm?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am totally shocked and deeply disturbed that abuse of minors is still happening in the Catholic Church. Are you? If you are not shocked and disturbed then you are part of the problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, the USCCB does not fund EWTN. They actually tried to compete with it back in Mother Angelica's day and failed miserably. Now they have reduced themselves to a parasite for some programming, and some members appear on occasion to give themselves legitimacy with a certain segment of the Catholic population.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"sexual complimentary\"\n\nI think you meant \"complementary to the opposite sex.\"\n\nThere appears to be a correlation between Christian homophobia, bad usage and malapropisms. Figures.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"There are legitimate critiques of some of the things Pope Francis as done(i.e not tackling the repeal of the Pontifical Secret) but this report has nothing to do with Francis himself.\" ... \"Francis is not perfect but more has been done under him than the past Popes.\"\n\nAnother conservative Catholic trying to explain the inexplicable.\nPrevious Popes since early last century ordered Bishops, through Church Law, to cover up child sexual abuse crimes by priests. According to Kieran Tapsell, since 2010 Bishops are ordered to cover up clergy pedophilia in places where Civil Law does not require Bishops to report pedophile priests to police. Therefore, it can be said that Pope Francis is, unfortunately, complicit in current cover-ups. As a result, the report has a lot to do with Pope Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics are too hung up on the taking of innocent human life. They should just let this issue go. Innocent babies are not worth arguing over, not when the real issues are free contraception, allowing men to marry men, and spreading the wealth. So medieval, these Catholics. They actually believe in the sanctity of human life and the right to property.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Lords Resistance Army has nothing to do with Christianity. Sure, you can call yourself anything you want. But your behavior tells who you are. Their murder, rape, and pedophilia is their deviant behavior, they are not Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a long discussion on ceremonial law and moral law. I have been a Christian for many years and have never personally met one person who was not sympathetic to homosexuals. Homosexuality is a serious sin biblically speaking, but so are many others. There is a culture war and Homosexuality and Gender \"confusion\" are being ramrodded down our throats right now - Christians want to be able to put their kids in school without having some U of O educated counselor try to persuade them they are really a boy (or vice versa), this is happening, so Christians have no choice but to fight back (figuratively speaking), I suspect that is why is such a \"hot topic\" currently. I cannot think of one homosexual who has been lynched, can you ? Muslim countries may be a different story. The Bible tells us not to steal, should we NOT obey that one as well ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump and McConnell and the Freedom Caucus and Paul Ryan and Rand Paul deserve each other. Lots of sound and fury and no real plans, no real friends, no real reason for being there outside of looking for their moment of fame with foks who are afraid of strangers or feel they are superior due to an accident of birth or want a Christian theocracy instead of what we have. How I wish that they would quickly just quit and go away so we could get some business done for our country. These goof balls are a danger to society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will repeat the actual fact that you are wrong. There are more than just two ex cathedra decrees. I named two others. I also told you where you could find a collection of them all. See, I\u2019m backing up my facts with evidence. You are relying purely upon your foolish pride. I have also explained to you the difference between de fide dogmata and ex cathedra dogmata. It\u2019s called \u201ctheological certainty.\u201d You seem to imply, erroneously, that ex cathedra dogma is superior in some way to de fide dogmata.\nConsider that you actually stated that the Church does not teach that Christ ordained the 12 Apostles. I provided you with the canons from the Council of Trent with made it clear that Christ both instituted the sacrament of Holy Orders at the Last Supper, and that He ordained the 12 Apostles at the very same time. You have been proven wrong in every one of our disagreements, but through your foolish pride, you will not admit it.\nWomen can never, ever be validly ordained, period.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 symptoms of institutional Adventitis are (1) the constant ..\"Jesus is coming soon\" and (2) \"God is in control\"reactions to paranoia caused by current events. At potluck , just this past Sabbath, I sat next to a new student who just started Andrews. I shared with him ideas related to homiletics and outreach. At the next table the conversation was about the media reports on TRUMP. Those who are 1 JN 4:5 carnal churchian criminals don't want see JESUS....EVER!\nTime for a wake up call & reality check in the SDA denomination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A few weeks ago I was at a Catholic gathering/discussion and Gays etc came up. The leader (an assertive women many many years a Catholic) stated bluntly that everyone was made by God thus we HAVE TO accept everyone no matter what/who etc they were. There were about 3/4 senior/older Catholics (all women) in the group and not one peeped a dissent. There are \u00b1 1.2 Catholics in the world so perhaps that part of christianity is safe for Gays?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, it would be better for you to not believe at all than to be a hypocrite, because if you don't believe at all, then at least you are doing it honestly, but if you justify intolerance or fanaticism towards others in the name of Christ, then you have perverted the meaning of Christianity. It's really quite straightforward.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "catholic organizatiom seeks youth, find little interest. \n\nThere, fixed that for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bottom line, Anita, is that Christians enjoy chocolate cake, greed, and adultery as much as the next guy. They just refuse to openly admit it. \nAmen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As long as this law only protects the killing of those \"others\", I'm sure the good Christians that voted for Trump won't mind the body count.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So basically what you are saying in your second sentence is anyone who has the temerity to disagree with you is a \"troll.\"\n\nTHAT is what is \"SAD.\"\n\nNow. The Church has had, and has streamlined, a process for divorced and remarried Catholics to discern (pastoral accompaniment and deep understanding) and reintegrate themselves with the Church and the Sacraments... the sacrament of Reconciliation, annulment and convalidation. \n\nNo heresy there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes yes a history of Protestants vs Catholics bla bla bla.\nHow the ragging left love their toe tags with anyone that doesn't fall in line. .\nThe nice thing about your dribble is how quickly its being rejected on a global stage.\nThe NDP are done in Alberta just as Kathleen is done in Ontario.\nWe have seen the lies,the corruption, the debt,the job loss, convoluted weak immigration policy's and punitive energy cost.\nI will muse as the alt left squirms with their removal from office. in 2019, yes their wouldn't be a conservative Premiers west of Quebec.to salvage the train wreck. \nThe alt left is desperately attempting to censor vital details and free through with the use of political correctness. A modern day version of the GULAG that desperately attempts to represses our right to think on our own!!!\nWe see you Marxist and we reject you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "if a white student or professor had said the exact same words except substituting - muslim - black - palestinian - latino.... you better believe there would have been a human rights trial and conviction and dismissal.\nSo, I call bs on this as the progressive, left wing racist baiting thugs like this woman and the staff who support her pull this hypocritical baloney.\nShe should suffer the same fate as anyone who was white and Christian would for saying these hateful things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And a lot likely be derived from other religions too, if you wanted to look. \n\nI'm not aware of too many religions that advise, \"Covet thy neighbour's wife\".\n\nAt any rate, this is about the Quebec Government treating 'Christianity in the public sphere' the same way it wants to treat all other religions so as not to appear hypocritical.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church has never definitively stated who is in hell, or indeed, whether anyone at all is in hell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But what about Christ's commandments? Not suggestions but commandments. When does \nJesus begin being God in your mind and where is he simply a really cool social worker. He calls his disciples to abandon family and suffer for him, to deny oneself for the sake of him and others. \n\nThe 2000 years prior to Francis did not come out of the blue, the massive charity efforts of the Church providing a 4th of the entire worlds healthcare and on of the largest charities, all this before Francis. We have had spiritual manuals on how to have a personal relationship with Christ since the 3rd century!\n\nThe caricature of the Church as some apathetic monolithic organization is grossly dishonest, usually found in protestant circles.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Zinke is the Queen of England apparently. There are some entitled nuts in that administration.\n\nAs for Planned Parenthood, it does have too much influence on the DNC just like Evangelicals have too much influence on the RNC. It is time to leave the culture wars behind. They are tearing the country apart.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "After reading other reviews of this movie that went into greater detail I\u2019ll be sitting this one out. I never saw The Passion of the Christ and had to leave the theater during Braveheart. You just can\u2019t do a realistic movie about war and disembowelment and death by crucifixion without it being horrific. I don\u2019t expect any filmmaker to clean things up for my sensitive soul\u2019s sake. There are lots of other movies out there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church teaches that it is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action since it is using sex outside of it's purpose, which is in marriage. According to the Church (and to Our Creator) the purpose of sex is procreative and unitive and to be engaged in within a covenantal marriage. The rest of us must be completely chaste. \nI think you way over-exaggerate how telling a 15 year old that masturbation is wrong will harm them psychosexually. As to being punishable\" by God in the fires of hell for all eternity\"; masturbation and all sex acts outside of God's plan and purpose for humanity is gravely sinful, but it is not up to you or me or even the Pope to determine a person's culpability in the matter. It is for God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"... on the 'zero tolerance' policy that is the keystone in the church's response to the abuse of children.\"\n\nWhat zero tolerance policy? What do those words mean? It appears to mean a priest is stood down from his duties when an accusation is made and until some determination is made as to the charges. At least it means that in the U.S. and some other countries when it comes to diocesan priests. Have no idea what it means outside of Europe, N. Amer., and Australia. Religious order priests or brothers or sisters - a mystery.\n\nIt does not mean priests are removed from the priesthood if found guilty, because something like 40% of cases that go to the CDF are not removed from the priesthood. It certainly does not mean that bishops complicit in the coverup of child sex abuse are stood down. It certainly does not mean that bishops are to inform the police - except where required to by law. And, it doesn't mean anything about how the victim is treated, about justice for the victim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Leaving the nun that I didn't know, I ran home which was about three blocks from the Church. When I got home, I frantically tried to get my mother to come with me and help the other boy. My mother who did not drive and had no car and had my youngest sister who was only seven months old and five other kids could not go with me. Eventually, she agreed to call the rectory. Whoever answered the phone at the rectory assured my mother that everything was ok and it was simply my childhood imagination run amok. Some imagination. Later that day, I went back to the Church with one of my sisters. I was still concerned about the other boy. I never told my mother that I was sexually molested by the priest. I didn't go to the local police department and file charges. Today I realize that the priest was guilty of sex abuse but also false imprisonment and possibly kidnapping. I didn't have a lawyer on retainer. I talked about what happened Saturday and Sunday. My mother told me to forget and I did", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alabama Evangelical voters don't care how many girls Roy Moore molested .......... they voted for the orange haired groper too", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps it might be good for you to research his books, to compare Hebrew, Greek and Latin texts, as he does. Certain issues are 'softened' and others given an importance they do not deserve. For example, there are very few references to sex in the Gospel, and indeed in the Bible. But there are hundreds of references to money/riches. The Church has libraries full of books and teachings on sexual morality but, in comparison, relatively little on the misuse of money. Why?\n\nAll the translations you googled are based on early translations which Miranda argues were corrupted at that point. (Not forgetting the fact that Christianity sold its soul at the Edict of Milan anyway and much of what Jesus' Teaching meant was conveniently dropped.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since \"biggest\" in context seems to mean \"most important\", which is a value judgment, and the authoress of the statements are both apparently \"rabid Roman Catholics\", data is not going to be of much use to you given your stated values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you've read my other comments, you'd know that I'm a straight shooter; if I was \"revealing\" anything, you'd know it. For the record, I probably should have said \"Christian\" RW instead of \"true\" RW, if only to stop people of your ilk from assuming that I'm a white supremist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some would see them as white Christian invaders, and nothing to celebrate their D-Day voyage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This comment was rejected the last time I submitted it. If you disagree, say so. But don't censor me because you simply can't refute my comment.\n\nThis goes waaayyyy beyond just serving everyone that frequents your business. The far Left lumps ALL Christians into the same category as the Far-Right wackos. Just read back through the comments in the DP forums and you will see this true. The exact same people that condemn anyone that doesn't differentiate between radical Muslims and mainstream Muslims condemn all Christians equally for their beliefs. Just look at the vitriol spewed toward anyone that dares send their child to a private school. The Left immediately assumes that they MUST be doing it because they want their child going to a Religious school, even when when the school specializes in STEM, or serves the special needs community. It is said that hypocrisy is blind, and it is true. People are unable to recognize when they act in the exact manner as those they criticize.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, atheists (the shooter's blog was full of atheistic comments) are mental cases. All the genocide in the last century was by atheists (Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Castro, Hitler, etc.) they were responsible for 100 million deaths last century. Christianity is the religion of peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Certainly not! Merely a question / observation.\n\nPersonally? I find many of the put-downs and criticisms offered by him of Catholics and Catholicism, to be quite \"rude\" -", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims and liberals excoriate us about Islamophobia, but we should bear in mind Islam's entrenched racism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, anti-Semitism, hatred of Christianity, Europe. Israel, and America. Islam's destructive iconoclasm is destroying historic treasures across the ME: in just one year Notre Dame in Paris has had three close call bomb threats. They even have Islamophobia against each other. Ancient tribal wars between Kurds, Shiite, Sunni, Wahhabi, Druze and other Islamic sects, ISIS , Taliban and Al Qaeda are the root causes of most of the wars and social chaos happening around the world today. It is worse than anything expressed in the west, even by Trump or LePen", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no \"Alt-Left\". This is a Trump fabrication. There are positions left of Trump and the GOP, Left, is not the opposite of Alt-Right. If Alt-Right is bigoted and racist, anti-LGBT, Pro-Christian (to the demise of other faiths) then the Left is merely rational equality of all people and intolerance of prejudice, nothing more. The Left is not the same dark, loathsome force the Alt-Right seeks to be, it is the Left that has fought for equality and human rights. Alt-Right has no place in a democratic republic that provides safety and prosperity for all its citizens under the law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No I choose not to believe it because none of those you mention are eyewitnesses to the events. NOT ONE. There is no archaeology evidence supporting any of it. We have lots of evidence World War 1 existed. We have people that were there, pictures of it. Look at the holocaust. We have the same evidence of that happening but you have deniers that it never took place. All we can do is shake our heads at their stupidity. Writing at the time of Jesus was not as it is today. Very few people had books available to them. It was easy to change what was written. Did you know the oldest bible (180 CE to 220 CE) that exists differs from your bible with about 15,000 differences? The bible has been used to control the masses for a long time. Too bad more believers don't have the curiosity to check it out themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"So either she plagiarized Michelle Obama, or she's a liar.\"\n\nI suspect both are true. Whether she wrote the speech or not, she's the speaker of record and the plagiarism is on her. But, for what it's worth, I also suspect the \"wrote it with as little help as possible\" line is a crock. Her English just isn't that good. Anyway, the conversation with Lauer was damage control in the wake of a highly embarrassing moment, so I take it all with a grain of salt.\n\nFunny you should mention my Christian charity. Actually, lately I've been feeling too tempted to compromise it because of my anger about the state of our government and the world. I don't like feeling this way. I don't like feeling pulled into being uncharitable by what I see as the uncharitable behavior of others.\n\nSo maybe my sympathy for Melania is a bit of compensation for my negative feelings about her husband. Who knows? But what I do know is that she's harmless, so extending compassion to her really doesn't cost me much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Such an enlightened comment, backed by so much evidence that the statement must be true. Let's forget that it was Christians that embarked on pogroms, or that massacred other Christians, Jews, Muslims in this part of the world. (The latest episodes being Iraq, Syria, Libya)\n\nStill a working synagogue in Afghanistan, and throughout the Arab and non European Christian world (India, Ethiopia, etc..). \n\nThis conflict is not religiously motivated, no matter how many articles are written this way. In fact Hanan Ashrawi, who is quoted in this article is a Christian! It's about justice, which is pretty universally understood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In spite of addressing the breath of Catholic social teachings and suggesting we can form our consciences according to our own prioritization of what we believe is most important, the conservatives always negate the balance of teachings in favor of one aspect of right to life. That is not the only issue and the only way it can be addressed is through a paradigm shift in our culture. That will never happen with divisive pols like Trump who divide us rather than uniting us. And that goes double for the clerics whose narrow mindedness adds to our divisive culture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And this from someone who claims that he hasn't quite got the 'Catholic mentality' yet. A little knowledge is indeed a dangerous thing.\n\nLet me help you. I don't know who has been filling your head with the insulting tripe you are spouting on here - \"amazingly selfish, and utterly pointless\", indeed. Whatever your 'problems' were with your previous church, they are not going to be solved by convincing yourself that this new set of \"rules\" is the answer. It isn't.\n\nThe Pius epoch is gone and it isn't coming back any time soon. You are on a road that leads to nowhere. Vatican II happened and it's here to stay, grow and develop in the minds and hearts of Catholics around the world. Benny failed in his attempt to \"rupture\" it. He's now in a field chewing crud. Bertone, Levada and the rest of the herd are with him and Burke is about to join them. It's over.\n\nAnd for the record, one of the greatest \"tenets\" of our Catholic Faith is transubstantiation. CHANGE.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately, the majority of these Mexicans are Roman Catholic. If they could renounce Catholicism and convert to Islam, Justin would appreciate it. We only support and protect certain religions in Canada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The crazy variants of conservative support were always there--it's just that Harper knew he had to gag them to get a majority. So he did. But they've been itching for release.\n\nTheir angel of deliverance, Trump, has risen. They want the same revolution here now: the necons with no sense of citizenry and world; the Christian right who are anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-other faiths; the general old stock folk who think that being told they can't be anti-brown or anti-gay or mindlessly anti-immigrant is \"oppressive political correctness\"; and the generally uneducated who fall for every false Facebook post they see that get 'em good and angry.\n\nBut this is Canada, not the U.S. Their rise and their Trump clone candidate will spend years in the political wilderness until another Harper comes and hushes them. Actually O'Leary won;t stick around that long. He'll lose then go back to his businesses. Pull a Belinda Stronach basically.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The crippling first teaching on Catholic sexual doctrine is Continence. It's disrespect for nature, marriage and women is the original sin at the root of a lot of bad teaching. Until this flawed piece of rubbish is burned, the Church has no legitimate place in teaching anyone about sex.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church is the only body I know of where ignorance of a subject and a total lack of experience with it is not considered a problem when it comes to making policy on that subject. That is what I was getting at.\n\nThe policies on marriage and the place of sex in marriage are made, in their entirety, by unmarried men. You don't see a problem?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And what right is being violated may I ask? Honestly, I don't see the human rights violations that are being brought forth. Are they being drug off to concentration camps? Arrested for being another race/religion/gender without provocation or possibly violating a law? Maybe educate me on all the alleged violations that are being imposed on people. Homophobe? I haven't heard any statements coming from the White House declaring such a mind set exists. Maybe it's because Pence is the VP and he's a hard core christian. So, now we attack his beliefs? I love comments about homophobia, especially in this day and age. Anyone who makes that call is just seeking attention from either side. No one cares what you do you in your bedroom or what your gender is anymore!! Do we have to create special legislation just for specific groups? Why can't we all just be humans and Americans?\nDo what you want and be who you want to be within the constraints of societal norms but quit being such media whores.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't it funny how the controlled corporate mainstream media calls this anti Muslim rhetoric , blaming whites for being concerned about favouritism of a specific group of people . First of all when Christians ask to bring back the lords prayer in schools , all hell breaks loose , all the left wing media groups scream bloody murder along with all the their left wing followers . They claim that prayer is better done in church not in the schools , however when Muslims want to have prayer time in schools , and the right speaks up against it , the controlled mainstream media and the lefties cry racism and islamophobia. All religions and their theology should be kept out of the schools and remain in their churches or mosques and the problem would be solved . the real culprit to this mess is Justin Trudeau and the Liberals , from their M-103 ruling to the turning of a blind eye to illegals crossing the border and his mass immigration policy and basically giving Islam free reign in Canada .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The John Jay report in it's summary does not support you. It talks about access and how altar boys provided unbelievably easy access for a priest... who knew those boys were predisposed not to talk or their parents to believe them. Altar boys were a pedophiles paradise. You do a great disservice to the Church with your ranting about gay priests because that is a red herring blinding you to the fact you know nothing clinical about pedophilia. Try looking into Jerry Sandusky who was serial pedophile of young boys primarily because of ACCESS when in point of fact his adult orientation was heterosexual and he passed muster for decades because he was a 'good' Catholic husband with lots of children. He is now in a Pennsylvania prison after conviction, and after taking down the Penn State football program whose coach Joe Paterno protected him for over a decade precisely because Joe believed a good heterosexual man like Jerry couldn't be a pedophile preying on boys.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again this horrors of evil story brought tears to my eyes! We Catholics can't escape the responsibility of causing/neglecting the horrible suffering to our children and to our Lord!\nHow are we going to answer to Lord about all these children's suffering?\n\nI was thinking clergies promise of obedience to the clergy hierarchy is a big part of the problems. \nYes, chastity, poverty, and obedience are the three evangelical counsels.\nHowever, holy obedience is faithfulness to the living God himself; and disobedience is the decision taken in favor of the super man, who personifies the will-to-power.\nSo all these Catholic clergies being silent about the clergy sex abuse of children are being disobedient to the living God!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "250 million viewers, LOL. It is basically for a few little old Catholic grannies who watch it. And KOC is powerful but the bishops could definitely push back against the EWTN nonsense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At least it's not the priests and bishops of the Catholic church sexually molesting innocent little boys again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am pretty sure we all know what the main issue it here; the fact that the club is encouraging students at a Catholic school to \"embrace and accept\" a homosexual identity and all the actions that come with it. Did Jesus tell the woman at the well that she should \"embrace and accept\" her multiple marriages? How about the woman caught in adultery. Did Jesus \"affirm\" her lifestyle? He showed both of them love, but he did not endorse their sins. I think we can all agree that these students need our prayers and support, but I (and apparently the school administration) do not see affirming homosexual behavior as a good idea as it leads people away from God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another person who says \"if you don't agree with ME, you aren't a Catholic\". Such arrogance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How on Earth can establishing a powerless, segregated all-women consultation group be progress? Just more gender-apartheid! \n\nThe real progress was JPII putting up a simplistic and easily-overturned argument against women priests, \"the 12 apostles were male,\" and dropping the argument that only males could image Jesus, a male. Women are members of the Christ and can image it. Now it is up to Francis to sweep away all the remaining 'in persona Christi Capitis' clericalism, which holds that priests are like Jesus the High Priest, and act in his \"person,\" based on a sentence in Aquinas and the Vulgate's translation of 2 Co 2:10, a translation now restored in the NAB/NABRE Bible on the Vatican and US Bishops' websites to read \"in the presence of Christ,\" not \"in the person of.\" Yes, priests have authority, but they are not Jesus-representatives. There is only one High Priest and he is Jesus. Your pastor is not Jesus or even a stand-in for Jesus. Clericalism idolizes priests and maleness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the United States it is a felonious act to fail to report child and adolescent sexual abuse to the authorities immediately.\nConsidering this almost all of the men who are clerical leaders i.e. Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops and diocese vicars of the Roman Catholic Church are criminals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the parish that I grew up in in suburban Philadelphia, we had two pedophile priests. We had three priests in total. One of those priests preferred altar boys like myself. The other preferred the breasts of young female teenagers. He was found to have admired a young ladies' breasts while she was in traction in the local hospital. He had also molested several of her sisters. It worked out real well for the two pedophile priests. They could molest kids, confess their sins to each other and were free to molest other kids. It didn't work out too well for the kids. I know! I know! Rules and regulations! AS a young Catholic boy, I followed all the rules and regulations. It was the two priests who forgot them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The greatest irony of calling these people white supremacists is that they are clearly inferior to almost everyone else. You'll never see amongst them a person of talent, worth or accomplishment. Just a bunch of redneck, loudmouths. Not supreme in any sense.\nI wonder when American so-called Christians are going to stop siding with them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Personal insult renders your comment unacceptable per the commenting guidelines here --- I thought. The ad hominem remark is snide and irrelevant to opposing forced abduction of Christian girls.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just another church scandal. At least this time it's not the Catholic church molesting innocent little boys again. Is there no end to what these \"people of God\" keep doing?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Looks like they were targeting the White Judaha Christian Minority whats wrong with that..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No church should be harboring an admitted fugitive lawbreaker. These clergy should be removed and all of them should go to confession.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please give one citation - one official teaching - that supports your accusation. \nI must admit, I have never seen an Church teaching \"supporting misogyny and homophobia.\" I have not seen one teaching that says \"Catholics must hate homosexuals\" or \"Women must be despised.\" I have seen your interpretation claiming it - but that doesn't support your claim. \nIn fact, as a Catholic woman, I feel appreciated and loved for the gifts and whatever little talent I am able to share. There is so much I can do - and I don't need to be a priest to do it. I don't need to be the one with all eyes on me...for it isn't about me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Silly,\nThe issue of secrecy in the church is one of the ways where the bishops and Rome have \"won\" in all of this. They have managed to be able to keep records secret, unless absolutely forced to turn them over. And even then, one must wonder how many were shipped to Rome in a diplomatic pouch, and stored there beyond the reach of any secular law, anywhere. These kinds of things are not \"events,\" that happened to the church, but current and ongoing policy by the church's leadership to protect themselves, no matter what the cost to the rest of us. \n\nThe worst of it is that the Vatican could change so much with a few strokes of the pen to Canon Law. \n\nThat's why I find this \"patting themselves on the back\" as they now claim to be a leader in the handling of abuse worldwide to be almost nauseating.\n\nSo much change is needed, but so little will to change. I wonder if perhaps the drop in vocations, and the impact of that on the hierarchy may not be the Spirit's doing to get change...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don, you and I are usually on the same page, but we seem to disagree on this one. If we don't want the Church to meddle in social legislation regarding things like gay marriage and human reproduction, why should we want them to meddle in this issue?\n\nThere is nothing intrinsically evil about self-defense. The question is a technical one about which means are appropriate. It isn't the role of the Church to get involved in debates about karate lessons vs. knives vs guns and technical conversations about the difference between automatic and semiautomatic weaponry. Those are things that should be discussed and debated by citizens within a free society.\n\nI favor strong gun control legislation. But inviting the bishops to weigh in on the minutiae of the matter isn't going to bring that about. It will only make the Church look even more meddlesome, ridiculous and irrelevant than it already does.\n\nThis is one issue where the bishops need to keep quiet and let the laity drive the conversation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why focus on 1 of the accused, when this is systemic in the \"Church\". Jesus cast out the money changers in the temple, but these pedophiles went unchecked? If these men heard the \"callling from God\" to become a priest, what God would \"choose\" these men and why didn't all the \"prayers\" stop this from happening. If this was ever a religion, it left that building centuries ago. The Catholic Churches in the US file bankruptcy to avoid paying their victims. That is a business maneuver to save the untold billions of dollars locked away in the basement of the Vatican. It is time to shut the Church down.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whats interesting is that if you read the bible, it showed that Christ had more compassion for the sinners than the holy men of the day. He frequently berated the Pharisees and Sadducees for their self-righteous practices and spoke kindly of the sinners. I suspect Jesus would have the same sentiments with some of these self righteous \"preachers\".\n\nAdmittedly, there are some wonderful churches in Anchorage filled with great people. Unfortunately, I had bad experiences from \"preachers\" like this guy as a teen. Their smug hypocrisy and constant judging who is more \"holy\" than the other was absolutely sickening to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So where was all the hand ringing when a major gallery (not in Canada) mounted an exhibition called 'Piss Christ?' Where were the expressions of concern when Mary was portrayed as a woman who had been raped by God? The core of the problem here is not so much Muslims, but the incontrovertible fact that the Qu'ran tells the faithful to go out and kill infidels in the name of Allah. And for a Muslim the Qu'ran is absolutely co-terminus with God. The word Islam means 'to submit.' And ultimately this means that there is no room for anyone in a Western democracy to be or do anything other than submit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please stop pretending this meeting will be anything more than a photo opportunity, or that one side will listen to the other, or that either man would accept your advice. Unfortunately, there's just as great a chance that Francis will leave the meeting with a commitment to grab women as there is that Trump will leave the meeting committed to the Catholic worldview. In other words, zero.\n\nI don't know why NCR runs pieces like this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Heritage Foundation has a conservative agenda, but that doesn't mean the facts are wrong. Refusing to face truths you find inconvenient ensures that you cannot help fix the problem.\"\n\nThe \"problem\" you speak abut is that those who are on the top rung of the ladder are doing their best to keep others off that rung.\nWassa matta, 70% not enough for you?\n\nBTW, the Heritage Foundations is \"conservative\" in the same way that the Westboro Baptists are \"Christian\" - the ultra far right wing of each.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The therapeutic class continues to \"depress\" themselves with nearly every event or bit of news.\n\nThe only consequential major \"religious\" news this year is the continued murder of Christians in the middle east. And that's not depressing either. It's terribly sorrowful, but even in this real event, we should rejoice daily that God is drawing nearer to us. These Christians are choosing to die for Christ. \n\nHow infrequently do we the comfortable \"die\" in little ways for Christ. Dying to our vanity, our desire prop up our ego, dying to our desire to slake every appetite right away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for your article. \nAs a Christian myself, I absolutely hated the \"I'll pray for you\" blanket phrase that was thrown at every victim when our religion calls for action. I thoroughly agreed with everything you said...until the whole \"God is an evil kid with a magnifying glass\" comment came into play but that's for another time.\nI just want to say that we're not all like that, honest. Just like you call yourself a decent atheist, I am, I hope, a decent Christian....but first and foremost, a decent human being. We just have some wackos about that sadly make us all look like loons.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The real problem is our development of the custom \u2013 and eventual 'canon law' \u2013 of restricting ordination only to those willing to become 'clerics'. \n\nBishops are extending their 'episcopal presence' more and more to people who are 'laity'. We just need to keep moving in that direction. \n\nThere is no inherent reason why 'laity' can' be ordained. In the early church, everyone was a 'lay' person. Even Apostles and Bishops and Elders. Separating christian people into a 'cleric' class and a 'lay' class was invented later.\n\nDeclare everyone to be 'laity' \u2013 Popes, and Cardinals. and Bishops, and priests, and Deacons! There is a 'hierarchy' of offices, but not of 'class'. We are all equally Christians. And should all be 'open' for any office our grace and talent and calling confers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "New NCR Board of Directors--like NCR itself: ELITE BUT NOT ELITIST\n\nI especially look forward to their expertise and experience re Catholic higher education, so often these days unfairly attacked by the Newman Society and others on the \"Right,\" who seem to think Franciscan, Ave Maria, and Wyoming Catholic--but not, say, Notre Dame, Boston College, and Georgetown--are the exemplars to follow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And he said two swords were enough -- and he was manifestly opposed to using them to harm another person, even an aggressor (see his rebuke of Peter.)\n\nIf Jesus would not permit Peter to use a sword to defend against an aggressor, who can imagine him using, or approving, the \"Mother of All Bombs\"? A Christian has to be, at the very least, troubled by the distance between the teaching and practice of Jesus and his earliest followers and the compromises we have made against that witness during the two millennia since then.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think you'll find many Canadians with such views. Contrary to popular belief, science and religion are not mutually exclusive. Also contrary to popular belief, Galileo was not an enemy of the Catholic church, which , along with scientists of the day, readily abandoned the geocentric theory for the heliocentric theory once it could finally be proven through science by means of a demonstrable parallax shift.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1 of 2\nThank you Ann for your comment I was not trying to infer that people of other faiths do not confront evil, of course many do, as do many Christians but some do not as the post below made by Colkoch points out. \nI was pointing towards the fact that their symbols do not \u2018confront\u2019 evil in the sense that Jesus was a \u2018willing\u2019 victim of evil, in freely giving His life upon the Cross, the victims of the Holocaust were \u2018persecuted\u2019 victims.\n\nWe are taught that God is Love but the essence of Love is Truth.\nOur Father gave of himself in his Son to reconcile mankind to Him. The essence of love in His Son is Truth, and He bears witness to it, Jesus teaches us not to resist the evil doer and He is true to his own Word, he can do no other but submits to his own essence which is Truth and bearing witness to the Truth permits the evil in man to murder him, He is lifted up by mankind for mankind\u2019s redemption, \n\ncontinue", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Aren't biology/culture intrinsically linked to theology by virtue of the Incarnation and the fact that salvation history happens to real, biological human beings placed in real cultures and contexts in history?\n\nFar Eastern religions/philosophies propose what you are proposing that theology is essentially divorced from the actual drama of human history as it unfolds across real people's lives and cultures. Judaism and Christianity claim the opposite in that God reveals Himself precisely in and through real people's specific lives and cultures to bring about the salvation of all people.\n\nDo you really want to make the claim that gender has no actual theological significance?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey Faithful Catholic, I am a Faithful Anglican, and I can tell you that your understanding of the \"Protestant\" concept of Sacrament couldn't be further from the truth. If you saw Pope Francis at the Anglican Church in Rome, and listened to what he said, you'll find that you are at odds with the Holy Father. I would't presume to make any broad-sweeping judgements about the Roman Catholic faith, but I think being at odds with the Bishop of Rome cannot be good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Playing semantics doesn't negate the fact of all of the various isms result in total dictatorial rule through one political party and/or total economic control. The ultimate goal of Capitalism is owning and controlling all aspects of economic systems. The melding of both is fascism. Republicanism is nothing more than a falsely named party no longer resembling anything of its original ideals devoted to a Constitutional Republic of individual human and civil rights under a Constitutional system of laws. The current \"Republican\" party is made up of fascist individuals denying human and civil rights, advocating a national christian religion violating those same rights, and free market capitalism whose ultimate goal is Corporate Oligarchy control of the economy through market manipulation aided and abetted by a political dictator in absolute control of government. Working in collusion, they create the Fascist state which is just one more form of Totalitarianism. No individual freedom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "i believe that Robinson meant to write : ''college\u2026learning\u2026.exposure helped (him) to leave the church.''' in my case, college reinforced most of my 'family inspired traditional leanings.''' however, the wonderful day finally came when i felt that i had no choice but to leave the ''institutional constatinian church ''''' and accept christianity. it was absolutely the best day of my life!!!! that decision brought many losses with it, mainly in terms of parish relationships. however, nothing was as great as knowing that i didn't need to support the farce anymore. '''FREE AT LAST\u2026FREE AT LAST!!!! as they say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You must remember that we are not talking to Catholics on this site. Most people who post here have long since abandoned the teaching and the Catholic Faith in favour of a securalist agenda; pro-abortion, pro contraception, pro-women's ordination, pro-divorce and remarriage, pro admitting unrepentant adulterers to the Communion rail. Their belief in the Mass and the Sacraments is also suspect.\nWhilst you are right that Pope Francis is not on their side, he does not make the effort to come across that he isn't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ Himself spoke on these matters, condemning men who even look lustfully at a woman as adulterers. That is a pretty high standard! And, just because a majority of people reject a teaching, that does not mean that the teaching is either false or invalid. Remember that the VAST majority of people in Galilee and Judea rejected Jesus and His teaching, and that, even today, more people globally are not Christian; therefore, using your logic, that means that His Gospel is false and invalid. \n\nPeter denied Jesus, Thomas doubted Him. All but John ran away in cowardice when He was arrested and crucified. By the logic of your comment, because of their history in this, the Apostles should have \"shut up\" on all matters of the Gospel. Yet, thanks be to God that His grace, and His Spirit, made up in them what was lacking, just as He does in the Church today, just as He does in each of us.\n\nIf the Bishops ceased preaching the Gospel in full, it would be a sin of omission.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think the article is saying the K of C don't do a lot of good. Rather - K of C Supreme Council seems to have \"captured\" the capacity to shape \"the Catholic narrative\" in the public square on many issues - beyond marriage rights. They have great influence in shaping how people including priests, and bishops understand Catholic Social Teachings - which is actually at odds with our CST. For over 100 years our CST has stated the need for unions. Where have the K of C organized to stop union bashing? Where have they stood up for wages that could actually support a family when they go on about \"family values\"? Where are they organizing to ensure people have pensions and a social safety net? Why did they lobby to have the US State Department frame the persecution of Christians as a genocide when many more Muslims are being killed ... and no concern for Middle Eastern Palestinian Christians being killed by Zionist Israelis? Where have they made truth in politics an issue?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"True Christian Church\" is a matter of faith, theology and doctrine. \n\nAs an agnostic, I don't do any of those.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "E, I believe Episcopalians consider that their denomination exemplifies a 'via media' - a way that proceeds between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant. They retain much of typical RC belief and liturgical practice, including faith in the presence of Jesus in consecrated bread and wine by the power of the Holy Spirit. In my experience, a significant difference lies in the third item among their principles - Scripture, tradition, and reason. This commitment (which includes the affective dimension as well as the rational) supports prioritizing love over law, as Jesus so often did, and truly welcoming all, despite social status, cultural determinants, etc, as Jesus so often did. Hallelujah!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is this a Christian attitude, to arm our citizens?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ATF, what really concerns me is the idea that obedience to church dicta is more important than following the Gospel, or that church dicta are the exact and only words of God, or that this is how Jesus would treat people if he knew them as folks who share this viewpoint know them. It seems for some of this viewpoint the church is more important than God. IMNSHO, the USCCB as a group is a Francis-free area, as might be clear from the agenda for the upcoming bishops conference. Fortunately there are some pastoral bishops doing good things and who are largely unknown outside their own dioceses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The funeral liturgy is not always celebrated in the context of a mass. It is perfectly legitimate, though not quite ordinary, to celebrate the funeral liturgy in private. This is the possibility the vicar is suggesting for cases in which the deceased was known to promote an agenda at odds with the Catholic faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"practicing Catholic\" where did you get that idea?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If, as we are continually told Catholics ignored HV and many priests and even bishops turned a blind eye to it why would any Catholic leave the Church on account of it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I really don't care where someone chooses to send their child to be educated, if you want to send them to a Christian School that is your choice. I just don't believe that funding for those selective private schools should come from taxes. When and if Trump and DeVos get their way are you willing to watch those funds go to a Muslim School?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Santa is named after a St.Nicholas an honest to God saint.\n\nThe historical Saint Nicholas is commemorated and revered among Anglican,[8] Catholic, Lutheran, and Orthodox Christians. In addition, some Baptist,[9] Methodist,[10] Presbyterian,[11] and other Reformed churches have been named in honor of Saint Nicholas.[12] Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers and students in various cities and countries around Europe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't see how a faithful Catholic can align themselves fully with either political party in this country. The Democrats serve Moloch, the Republicans, Mammon, and we serve Jesus Christ.\n\nI voted for the American Solidarity Party, but there aren't too many that feel unable not to settle for one of the big two political parties in this country. I wonder if a pro-life, pro-economic justice, pro-peace party were as prominent as those Spadaro and Figueroa decry they would still be criticized for being pro-life and pro-family?\n\nAnd of course, a liberal Christian/secular leftist alliance to increase immigration and prioritize climate change would not be criticized in the manner of a Catholic/Evangelical alliance (and that's what it is, a political alliance and not really \"ecumenism\", but ecumenism between Catholics and Evangelicals based on shared convergences would give the vapors in certain corners.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Salvation, by the way, is the sinner identifying with the sufferings of Christ, not as some terrible sacrifice but as a way for God to feel the pain of the sinner. Experiencing the release from that pain the Sacraments how I consider myself a Catholic. Even excommunicates are still Catholic, which I am not. Sadly, you won't understand most of this. Old wineskins.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Would that I were so insightful.\n\nIt's the Catholic Church that recommends a rich and regular Sacramental and prayer life, frequently returning to Our Lord whether in Mass or in Confession and approaching Our Lady in the Rosary.\n\nJohn finds these things old and unhelpful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Giving taxpayer money to Wyncliffe Bible Translators and private Christian universities wasn't pandering?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How did I prove your point? That there's just so many versions of Christianity that your version deems as incorrect?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do I believe in God? Yes!\n\nWhether it's a Christian God, another Being, a collective Awareness or The Universe - I believe that there's Something that is keeping us from harm. \nDo I go to Church? No. I don't believe that God cares for that half as much as the person sitting next to you in church does.\n\nLet me ask you a question\nDo you have a child? Are you sometimes scared for that little person that doesn't understand the basic threats that exist in this world? Who do you ask to keep them safe? Caregivers? Teachers? Doctors? The person driving while they cross the road? The person driving the school bus? These are all people...normal people with no special powers of higher knowledge, or understanding or concentration These people, although they would like to give their best and always do the right thing perfectly, are after all...human...\nSo who do you ask to help you through this life? Who do you ask to keep your family safe? Do you just leave it to chance? Or do you have faith?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not so! Being even a nominal Catholic trumps being a saintly person, and there's nothing God can do about it. So Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa go to heaven, and Roberto Clemente can only hope for Limbo, which is just outside Buffalo. Mariano Rivera, an Evangelical, may sneak in in relief of the saintly Pete Rose.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've read the tale of the good Samaritan. You might want to read the website, religionofpeace. \n\nReading some of these editorials, it's like the author is under the impression that one of the candidates just went and made up stories about muslim extremism in the world, and about the now embedded problems that afflict all of \"good samaritan\" Europe. And about attacks on American soil, and the many dead as a result. All just stuff he made up.\n\nAnd somehow, we're to buy the idea that being a Christian means voting for open borders, I guess.\n\nWell, that's one way to look at it. But I can see others ways, most I'd wager to be just as Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Though I paint Christians and Muslims with a wide brush,it is up to the sane ones to say something or put a stop to the ones who are misusing their religions to forcibly push their belief system on others, 99% of the time meant to provide any kind of leverage to legalize or justify their bloodbath", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It appears from the article that the Conservative Roman Catholic and Evangelical Christian leadership candidates and their interim leader are all lining up together to vote against the motion. It will be interesting to see if that continuity in a free vote spreads through the other parties...just an observation from the article...\n\nThe article quotes Kellie Leitch as saying she is a Roman Catholic and won't be supporting the motion because \u201cno religion should be enjoying any special privileges.\u201d\n\nIt does make one ponder if support of a single public school system in all provinces would be one of her tests for Canadian values and an interesting question to pose to all leadership candidates at the next debate even if it's not a federal issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians are persecuted throughout the world. Why does that not make the news? Every Moslem run country work hard to exterminate Christians. Do you know why it does not make the news?? This is because a Christian lives in this world with a very strong faith that God will watch over them. Christians know that life in this world is not what is important but life after death is. That is why Christian persecution hardly makes the news. Now I am not saying that Canada is not doing a great deed by saving homosexuals from torcher and death but Canada should do a better job of saving Christians especially since they are more widely persecuted than any other group of people in the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Statistically few Christians - systematically aided and abetted by successive national governments for generations. Clearly not the same thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To Danielle, the menace are those who fail to uphold the doctrine and morals of the Catholic Church and a too large number of these are bishops who do not understand the concept of subsidiarity and all Democrat legislators, (the adamantly pro-aborts and anti-Americans.) Beside most Catholics, voted for President Trump. The ones who did not largely lack understanding of the Catholic faith or they would never vote Democrat.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The time he compared Obama to Hitler and Stalin is one of the lowest moments in the history of the American Catholic episcopacy. Considering the competition...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one is arguing about the Primacy of Conscience or against Thomas Aquinas. It is quite clear that anyone who believes his conscience is telling him to do good and acts against it intends to do evil. No one is arguing about that either.\nThe question is to what extent does one's conscience have the authority to override the Magisterium? You obviously believe that each one of us is the supreme arbiter of what is right and wrong and not the Church which receives its authority from Christ. This is much like saying as did Adam that one is greater than God.\nIf one sincerely believes that the Catholic Church's teaching is false then it is very difficult to understand how one could honestly remain a member of it. To say, \"I believe in the Holy Catholic Church would be a complete lie.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The first sentence nails it. We are in a sickening cycle where both of the presidential candidates are manifestly unfit for office and their running mates are decidedly more presidential. They present an interesting and troubling contrast for the Church. One is a practicing Catholic at odds with Church teaching at moral foundational levels and one who is technically an apostate Catholic who embraces those teaching in many, though not all, ways. The two bits of good news: this election is over on November 8, 2016 and the winner leaves office January 20, 2021.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good luck. Catholics helped elect him, now you're stuck with him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The RCC is a denomination of Christianity just as are the Protestant and Orthodox. We are all part of Gods people and God's Christian Church....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for sharing this.\nRecently I have attended a Catholic funeral and Mass. It had been 5 years since I left the church.\nI realized how little I had missed the church, yest a tiny part of me still yearns to belong to the church of my youth in the 70's. A vibrant active church that I can no longer see.\nIt is sad, so many people I know have left.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That Catholic School Board has zero backbone. Simply say it is at odds with Catholic teaching and hence will not be shown at our Catholic schools. It is absolutely at odds with Catholic teaching. It \"attempts to teach children that gender is fluid and can be chosen, rather than a biological fact and a gift from God\" (https://cruxnow.com/commentary/2016/08/09/pediatricians-back-pope-francis-gender-theory/). Catholic teaching is very clear on this through the logical consequences of scripture and tradition (as with all its teachings) and in this case science as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are certainly dodging the question. The underlying problem with your premise is a misunderstanding of God's omnipresence and misapplication of Christ's words:\n\"Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them\" (Matt.XVIII,20). This promise refers only to the spiritual presence of Christ with His grace. You (and others) are making a false equivalency between this spiritual presence and the substantial and physical reality of the Sacramental Eucharistic Presence. This was one of the earliest faults identified with the new, non-Catholic theology of the NOM, and your (and others') loss of Faith regarding the Real Presence was one of the earliest predictions made by those who critiqued the NOM.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't 'ride' anybody out of anywhere, people 'ride' themselves out of the Church through their wilful denial and rejection of the Catholic Faith and the Law of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The differences between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion are totally dogmatic and doctrinal.\n\nAs the Anglican Use demonstrated, the non-dogmatic and non-doctrinal differences are no obstacle to union.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have seen allegations that Pandora uses multiple names, and now I have been added to the list with Marty. I have been posting on this site for at least two years now, and I think Pandora and Marty have also for years. Our only similarity is that we profess traditional beliefs and have strong views on such. Why would that cause someone to suspect we are the same person? That seems ridiculous to me. Anyways it really does not matter in the least. Hooked Claw identified himself to me as a Catholic Priest in the past, so I was more curious if he was a retired priest like many of the clergy here. In regards to him remaining anonymous I would offer a much different opinion than being noble. Regards, Mike", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Inconsistent a key word when ownership decides something?\\\nA true but sad story ?\nwhen Ronald Reagan was SHOT?\nI was on the air at KORE at the time we had a News Wire device typing out news an features 24 hours a day?\nI saw the latest news come over and without hesitation I pulled the copy pre read it and then put on the air?\nI think to this day I might have beat both KUGN and KPNW with my interruption with the music?\nno matter I got into trouble for what I did?\nagain I don't think some realize if?\nWe are paying rent for a news wire?\nthen why not use it, plus don't Christians want to hear the latest news???\nA mis understanding of what radio is be it Christian or secular format in my opinion.\nbut as the late rick nelson sang you cant please everyone?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"But the proper reaction to crimes committed against homosexual persons should not be to claim that the homosexual condition is not disordered. When such a claim is made and when homosexual activity is consequently condoned, or when civil legislation is introduced to protect behavior to which no one has any conceivable right, neither the Church nor society at large should be surprised when other distorted notions and practices gain ground, and irrational and violent reactions increase.\"\n\nFrom LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tell us about the Catholic immigrants who massacred innocent Americans, like Muslims did in San Bernardino, Boston, Orlando, Queens, Garland, Ft. Hood, Little Rock, etc.\n\nCan't name any? You see, not all cultures are the same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see no sub-text unless it is amidst the myriad of opinions and interpretations this Exhortation has been subjected to.\nCatholics expect that the Holy Father's should prevail. Without any clear and public declaration to the contrary by the Pope then the Universal advice to the divorced and remarried not to receive Holy Communion remains in force.\nIn his failure to reply to this 'dubium' the Pope has apparently answered, \"sic et non\" (yes and no) thereby leaving it to local Churches to enforce the law.\nThis the bishops are doing each claiming fidelity to AL, according to his interpretation of the Exhortation. Therefore we must expect that in some dioceses it will be mortally sinful for divorced and remarried persons to receive Communion yet in others it will be perfectly acceptable to have both the sin of serial adultery absolved without repentance or firm purpose of amendment and such persons being allowed to receive the Holy Eucharist with a guarantee of immunity from mortal sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reality is that the Democratic party has become anti-Christian (both Protestant and Catholic). Trying to hide that is dishonest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AlexandraI: Kids and women back then were little more than property. My mother was an extremely religious Catholic woman. She followed all the rules and regulations. This included all the rules the Church had on contraception and birth control. My parents had kids despite the fact that they couldn't afford them and were incapable of truly caring for them emotionally, psychologically or any other way. At the same time, I truly felt sorry for my mother. Her husband liked to make babies but did little to take care of them once they were born. She was truly by herself in taking care of her children. My father slept at our house but mostly he was working or at the bar. Later in life, she considered divorcing him but he developed lung cancer and she decided to stay with him. When I recovered the memories of the sex abuse, I went to talk to my mother. Of course, she had no memories of that day. She went to the local pastor of her Church who convinced her I was making it all up.Very sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religion follows politics / politics follow religion: what is said here in regards to politics, might be said equally to religion. \"The late 1960s and the bulk of the 1970s constituted the darkest, most ominous time in America's postwar path\" -- which coincides with the \"Catholic experience\" regarding the people-impact/ reaction of/ to Vatican II within local churches.\nThe awakening of 'competitive democracy' (people versus hierarchy) has challenged Catholic Church history with respect to alienation of men and women due to false pretenses of male cultic dominionism within the RCC:\n\"remaining stuck in our polarized politics of nostalgia\" is not a workable option for the future of Church;\n\"It is time for the grown-ups (in Church) to take over the conservative movement and the Republican Party\" (Church) -- what is certainly a dynamic occurring within Churches at the present time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're right...it's a matter two things, both necessary.\n\n- Catholics must know the teaching SO WELL, deeply (fully..not simply their opinion of it), \n- Catholics must know what real friendship is, being able to develop unhurried friendships with people. Sincere. Not bent on \"conversion\" but instead sincere friendship. And over time, as friendships develop...topics move from the superficial..weather, food, events, feelings...to the substantial....truth, beauty, the good...to the supernatural...God, our purpose, our end, sin, real love. \n\nWe have tocome far better friends to our friends...we need to take real ordinary ownership of our faith, and the true good of our friends.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How insulting to the existing population you chose to join.\n\nYes, the world has changed a lot in many ways in the last sixty years, for many reasons, immigration being just one of them.\n\nWhat would you say about someone who recommended mass immigration of whites to non-white countries, or Christians to Muslim or Buddhist countries, on the basis that it would greatly improve those countries' societies?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"What business is it of yours that the man is a former priest? \"\n- Perhaps the finger wagging of the Legionairies of Christ, especially by way of their journalists and newspapers, still casts a shadow of suspicion on those still and former Legionairies who would persist in journalism or other public expressions of the educational or intellectual vocations.\n- In short, the issue is not that Williams is a former presbyter, but that he was a Legionairies of Christ, the congregation that put a lot of effort in leading the pure catholic church crowd.\n- Allbeit, presbyteral and episcopal aspects or personal histories do cloud MSW's view of issues at times..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Some Christians want to be buried in a Christian-only cemetery, not because they\u2019re racist, but because it\u2019s tradition.\" Actually, some citizens have objections to the whole \"getting buried in the ground\" thing en masse, given that land is finite and humans, less so. Compounding this is the idea that corpses remain sectarian post-mortem, which is equal parts appalling and sad as a notion. If I lived in a village with a modest graveyard of any provenance, I would prefer not to see it expand for the use of anyone. Including atheists, who never seem to want their own partitioned dirt naps. Is this possibly a case of discrimination? Sure, but perhaps not in the sense implied in the article.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Bishop Tobin,\nI have faith in Jesus Christ, the church? Not so much!\nI don't believe the church represents what Jesus taught.\nNor do I feel as a women included and valued by the church.\nI know many people like me, who feel the same way. Some continue to attend Mass many others have left.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marty is standing against JPII, who taught that ALL forms of slavery are intrinsically evil. Cafeteria Catholicism strikes again!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly I believe they are or were priests in the Catholic Church. I respect that Fr Coyne uses his actual name, but clearly the other Priests fear using their actual names because of the repercussions they would possibly face if their heretical beliefs were uncovered. Our Lady of Fatima clearly called the upcoming state of the Church involving the clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Israel is not a theocracy. Muslims and Christians have full rights in that country. All their neighbors, on the other hand, are radical theocracies.. Well, ex-Syria, but Clinton was determined to turn that into a theocracy as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chaput's book reminds me of this phrase from Francis:\n\n*self-absorbed Promethean neo-pelagianism*\n\nThis appears to capture the criticism of many commenters and MSW. Or, in other words, Chaput is convinced that his way is the only way to salvation - perfect Pelagianism.\n\nTo quote - \"..dour Christians who confuse \u201csolidity and firmness with rigidity; - today\u2019s Pelagians are convinced that \u2018salvation is the way I do things.\u2019\u201d \n\n\"....(Chaput)ideology is the \u201cPelagian solution. This basically appears as a form of restorationism. In dealing with the Church\u2019s problems, a purely disciplinary solution is sought, through the restoration of outdated manners and forms which, even on the cultural level, are no longer meaningful.\u201d\n\n\u201cInstead of evangelizing, one analyzes and classifies others, and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his energies in inspecting and verifying - In neither case is one really concerned about Jesus Christ or others.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are there greater sins than 'adultery'? Jesus did not stone to death the woman 'caught' in adultery - just pointed out that \"let the person who is withiut sin\" start the execution. And He did not even go looking for the man involved in the act. Just said \"sin no more\". And for the Samaritan woman with adultery 5 times over, He didn't even require that.\n\nThen there are the other Gospel passages that says \"no divorce - except in case of adultery\" - or even lesser sexual sin, in recent translations.\n\n Or St. Paul in 1 corinthians who advised divorce from a non-Christian spouse who would not live in peace, 1 Corinthians 7:15 (ESV) \"But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace.\"\n\nThe Joy of Love suggests that a prime consideration be the well-being of the children involved in a divorce or a re-marriage situation. That seems to be obvious common sense. Harming children is the greater sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No doubt some \"discover\" Francis through discussion of 'Amoris Laetitia'. The question is which one and is he Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you - you correct the *long distance* sniping from the east coast bubble lifers. Doubt Monica has ever been to Texas; much less El Paso but she pontificates, none the less. \nNote the back and forth above - Mark clearly puts his job, credibility, and life at risk with the actions he proposes (given Monica's replies, it looks like she either didn't read the whole pastoral before pontificating or she missed key sections of what Mark wrote.)\n\nAdd to that her own ignorance around Texas politics, the catholic church in Texas, and her negativity towards leaders who try to organize based upon lived principles.\n\nWhy the need to pick apart an diocesan pastoral - nothing she has said contributes to improving or supporting what Mark comprehensively states.\n\nThere is a prophetic role for local bishops especially with the special session which started Tuesday - might want to read the front page of the Dallas Morning News today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And in prayer and examination perhaps in the Real Presence of Our Lord in front of the Tabernacle we could ask: \n\nWhat do my daily complaints say about \"Who do I say that\" Jesus is?\n\nIf people heard my ordinary interior dialog during the day, what would they conclude about Who I believe Jesus is?\n\nOur real witness is our interior dialog, isn't it?\n\nThat's a more demanding call to unity with God, isn't it?\n\nHow faithful does our interior dialog (especially when we are dealing with difficulties) form an image of Jesus Christ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So Nazism was related to Christianity too? After all, they did practice age old anti semitism that Christian establishments had", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Only one bishop spoke out strongly against those wars, the Romanian Greek Catholic eparch of St. George in Canton, Ohio. If I remember correctly he went so far as to declare it an unjust war and forbade and members of his eparchy to take part in it. For this he was unjustly vilified by many in the right wing of US Catholicism. From his Wikipedia entry: \"Botean achieved a measure of national and international notice in his Lenten pastoral letter of 2003[2] which spoke out against the Iraq War. The letter was a direct condemnation of the conflict, and termed it \"objectively grave evil, a matter of mortal sin\".[2] These were the most outspoken terms committed to paper by a United States Catholic bishop over the war.[3] No other US ordinary has directly condemned the Iraq war.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agree - the Commonwealth article says a lot that needs to be said.\n\nInteresting to think of two points raised in two different articles cited above.\n\n\"FOR THEIR PART, American bishops showed a stunning lack of leadership at a time when it was needed most. \" Commonweal article regarding the election.\n\n\u201cWe had always been raised not to question authority figures. He\u2019s a priest \u2014 what he said is holy writ,\u201d Oviedo told the AP. \u201cWe never imagined he was a phony.\u201d Washington Post article about fake priest.\n\nBack to Commonweal article: \"My suspicion is that the majority of churchgoing Catholics experience their parishes as institutions for \u201cdistributing\u201d the sacraments. If this is in fact the case, it may account for why so many Catholics voted for Trump. Catholics too often fail to connect how they think politically with what they profess to believe religiously.\"\n\nThink maybe \"not questioning authority figures\" and \"sacramental filling stations\" go together. Catholics need to grow up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "`I wasn\u2019t terribly surprised when it was reported a few weeks ago that Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore is tied to the \u2018League of the South\u2019, the pro-Southern secession/slavery apologism group that wants to lead the South in a second rebellion against the federal government in order to found a \u2018white Christian republic.\u2019\nBut I confess I was a bit surprised that Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who is currently the leading Republican candidate to succeed Sen. Bob Corker, does too.\nIn 2004, Blackburn invited the Rev. David O. Jones, a neo-Confederate, secessionist and slavery apologist, to give the opening prayer in the House.\nAnd that happened and went largely unreported!\nhttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/marsha-blackburn-brought-neo-confederate-secessionist-to-deliver-prayer-to-congress", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, we must be Christians that are \"first to forgive.\"\n\n\"Think nothing of it..how was your day?\" Just that quick and natural. \n\nWe should be so quick, practiced and refined in our forgiving that the other person doesn't even realize we're helping them!!\n\nThe reason we make such a big deal of \"offenses\" is, of course, because we think we're a big deal!!\n\nWe lack humility. We say that we appreciate the virtue of humiliation, at a distance, but we abhor humiliation. We violently retreat from it. \n\nIt's the sting we hate, the injury to our reputation. That's why pride is behind every sin & most defects.\n\nTake plagiarism. It's a form of lying...but it's often done for vanity purposes, and in the end, at its root, vanity is an issue of pride, wanting to control how things go, in this case with our reputation. \n\nIf we had true humility, we'd be able to forgive far more easily (and far far more quickly). \n\nAnd we wouldn't keep bringing up offenses from years ago, or even minutes ago!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's also her hope that the Christian community will begin to see the refugee crisis and rise of xenophobia as a \"perfect opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus.\"\n\nExactly! If we call ourselves Christians we need to welcome these people in need. If we turn our backs on them then we need to stop calling ourselves Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ohhh, I like that. As a non Catholic charitable institution it would not have need for a cardinal as its patron, would it? Thus freeing \"you know who,\" for other opportunities, such as papal nuncio to North Korea or some other worthy post.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it interesting and more than a little sad that Trump has used his influence in limiting enforcement of the ban on political preaching, while also directing ICE to step up its enforcement of harsh deportation regulations that results in separating parents from children, all the while AG Sessions is directing prosecutorial efforts in the direction of draconian punishment in the \"war on drugs\" which we in reality lost about 30 years ago. \n\nI also find it beyond ironic that Trump evokes The Gospel in a speech at a Christian college, when one would have to look long and hard to find even the smallest remnant of Christian values or virtues in his character or life's actions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The liturgy gathers in prayer all those who seek to listen to the Gospel without discarding anyone; it summons the great and small, rich and poor, children and elderly people, healthy and sick, just ones and sinners.\"\nIn my opinion, this is the idea it's so hard for us to understand: it's the power of the gospel, illuminating and illuminated by the liturgy, that calls us to conversion. Conservatives often fail to understand that the gospel can't reach everyone unless we welcome them all and trust the gospel to work through them. Liberals often fail to understand that even when we welcome everyone, we're all called to reform our lives, not the meaning of the gospel.\nThe Catechism has no power of its own and remains lifeless apart from the gospel and liturgy. Social justice is secular work unless it flows from and into the proclamation of the gospel and celebration of liturgy. An inclusive church is one that welcomes everyone and challenges everyone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church has never, and cannot, \"improve on Jesus' parameters\" on matters that are part of its divine constitution. There are seven sacraments, not six, not eight. The matter of the Eucharist is wheat, not rye, not rice.\n\nJesus chose male Jews since He was Jew and came to the Jews. \"Salvation is through the Jews.\" Within his lifetime there were gentile disciples, and within their lifetimes the Apostles were ordaining gentiles.\n\nOn the other hand the Church always and everywhere treated sects which ordained women as heretics, accepting their male clergy into the Church if the sect became orthodox but not their female, and never counted deaconesses among the clergy.\n\nCelibacy is really not relevant. It is a discipline with roots in the Apostolic age. It can be dispensed with since it is not an intrinsic component of Holy Orders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do you feel about Jehovah's Witnesses not reciting the pledge? When did that start? The christian offshoot started 150 years ago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly the church feeds off the fear and powerlessness of the ignorant, and the money is still rolling in. \nThis latest debacle in Spain is another example. At the moment it is well placed financially thanks to Franco's concordant and never been challenged overall these years after his death and any separation could jeopardize it. \nThereis now, once again Catholic fighting Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of two) A local major university's Catholic society professes to be FTTM (Faithful To The Magisterium). As a result it attracts only a tiny percentage of Catholic students there. (It's in Cardinal George Pell's former Archdiocese - no need to say more).\u2014Red chook the ying and the yang.\n\nand\n\nIt takes a special talent to be both part of the institution and hands-on practical. To the detriment of the institution, not a lot of people can negotiate live-practicality in the fossilized institutional environment.\u2014sylvester(pat)steffen ditto.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If evidence of 'being taken seriously' is by the way parishes have picked up on it and given it serious study, as in Catholic Schools, and in sermons, my sense is a resounding \"no\"!\nI pray God i am wrong!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I seriously doubt that the American Legion that erected this monument intended to honour only Christians, to the explicit exclusion of those of different faiths. More properly, in those days, the cross, despite it overt Christian origins, was regularly used as a memorial symbol without thought as to the sensibilities of non-Christian soldiers so honoured.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Aristotle's thinking has had a profound influence on Catholic theology. You may have heard of Thomas Aquinas. If you haven't, he was a significant Catholic theologian, and Aristotle figured prominently in his thought.\n\nYou seem to find nothing wrong with unmarried men making policy on marriage. I suppose that you would want admiralty law written only by people who lived inland and had never gone to sea, or the laws governing the use of automobiles written only by non-drivers. In both cases, with no input from the experienced.\n\nHumanae Vitae is a brilliant example. Written by a celibate -- indeed, the man was very likely a virgin -- and who had never in his career had what the Anglicans call a \"cure of souls\". He was a man who didn't have a clue about the place of sex in marriage -- clearly the sort of man you believe should be setting policy on the subject, since you make it quite clear that you prefer the inexperienced to deal with matters rather than those who know the subject.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The one factor that needs to be considered in regards to the next pope is that it will all depend on how many \"+Francis cardinals\" there are at the next conclave. The more they are of the sort that +Francis has been choosing, then we are pretty much assured of a successor who will continue much of what this pope has started. Many of the cardinals from St. JP2 and from +Benedict XVI are all aging out of voting rights, and/or have passed away. This will create a pretty sizeable block of rather progressive/pastoral cardinals not to be ignored or minimized at the conclave. The chance of getting a \"restorationalist\" pope went out with the previous one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see, it is quite legal to wander back and forth without documents into and out o the U.S. Who are those people who are referred to as \"illegals\" then? I take it that the word 'illegal' means the same in American as it does in English.\nYou ask why I am active on this site. Have you ever stumbled on something which absolutely shocked you? Well, when I first came across NCReporter I couldn't believe what I was reading, I couldn't believe that the writers and the commenters were actually Catholics. I was hooked and found the experience compulsive and irresistible. When I see Cdl Burke or your President is the subject of an article, I can't contain my glee in anticipation of the inordinate loathing, hate, and vitriol which is about to be served up in the comments.\nMy antipathy towards the U.S. stems mainly from the importation of its brash culture into W. Europe but also because I would never visit a country which has the death penalty or whose judicial system is suspect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I accept you challenge, and I invite you to respond in kind to my last question. Deal?\n\nThe Church is NOT against socialism, and never has been. The problem is that \"socialism\" is a confused concept among many Americans, a confusion that does not exist in Europe or anywhere else in the west.\n\nSome people see a duality: It is either Democratic Capitalisms or Totalitarian Socialism/Communism. \n\nConceptually and factually as a way to characterize governments, this is a false dichotomy, a dichotomy that confuses two modes of government (Democracy vs Totalitarianism) with two economic models (Capitalism vs Socialism). \n\nWhen the two concepts are distinguished, you have four options: (1) Democratic Capitalism, (2) Democratic Socialism, (3) Totalitarian Capitalism, and (4) Totalitarian Socialism.\n\nThe Church's opposes Totalitarianism in favour of Democracy (except for itself!). Although it avoids saying so, analysis of the Catholic social teaching is essentially socialism, IMHO.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic social services brings hundreds in and dumps them on the welfare system. The feel good do gooder sponsorship ends with help filling out the applications for every welfare program. These are not the well educated skillful together people with something to offer and have no intention of living on welfare. No the really useful people can't come. Doesn't feel good to help someone who isn't downtrodden. The back story isn't good enough.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Personally, I like when the USCCB, et. al. argue against Catholic teaching when invoking \"religious freedom:, to wit:\nhttp://religiondispatches.org/union-busting-for-god-catholic-colleges-invoke-religious-freedom-to-violate-catholic-teaching/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "PART II\n- As a result of the 'Land O'Lake', the episcopate, at least in this country, have to accept and work with the authority pertinent to those qualified to teach and operate schools and universities.\n- Episcopal authority operates best when instead of declaring who is not 'catholic' the episcopal authority works to insure that a deep sense of catholicity pervades an educational institution, which takes time and is never ending. This 'works' requires conversation and learning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know, many Christians would have a hissy-fit if a non-Christian used his or her religious beliefs to govern. Yet they don't seem to understand why secular folk or non-Christians, or even Christians from other denominations than theirs, might be very nervous about THEM governing according to THEIR particular Christian denomination's beliefs that are then pushed upon everyone else who doesn't share them. They seem to believe that, as long as it's their particular denomination's beliefs that are being used to govern, then everything is okey dokey because, of course, their particular beliefs are absolutely the only Truth. What's wrong with this picture?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excommunication and separation \"from the love of God in Christ Jesus\" are two different things.\n\nYes, there is such a thing as excommunication. Yes, Jesus advised using it. Yes, any Jew would have known what it meant.\n\nPutting one's self ahead of the Church's teaching authority is a quick way to test your hypothesis.\n\nhttps://www.ncronline.org/news/global/australian-priest-advocate-womens-ordination-excommunicated\n\nThe relevant Canons are 751, 1367, and 1369.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The economy issues you bring up are superficial. For example, the employment rate is down only because more people are employed by low income wage jobs. Substantial wage earners and middle class business owners have actually suffered in the last eight years. Likewise, medical services are skyrocketing and premiums and deductibles are overwhelming the average wage earners. Regarding social issues, society has taken a swift turn in the direction of increased crime and terrorism, a provocation of race relations (undermining all of Martin Luther King's hard work), and a dramatic decrease in rights and protects for minors, the disabled, the elderly, and religious organizations(specifically Christian based religions). Even patriotic respect for the flag and for our country as a whole is on the decline. An entire paper could be written regarding the sharp decline of the fabric of American society in the last eight years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no evidence he was a Christian, where does that come from? Or are you assuming that any white Canadian is \"Christian\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, John500AF, we have members who were extremely religious prior to becoming atheists and seeking out our group. Some were raised their entire childhoods and spent their early adulthoods as strict adherents to churches and religious sects. They were taught apostasy was evil, then through thoughtful analysis realized what they had been taught was entirely unsubstantiated and counter to the truth. It is pretty common, actually. We have members who are former Christians, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lynn: I'm not sure who you've been talking to, but I don't think you will be shunned it you say \"Merry Christmas\" to someone. Indeed, Christmas is the time for Christians to celebrate the birth of Jesus...that's no problem for me. At the same time, It's no problem for me if Jews, Muslims,Buddists, or what ever, celebrate their own religious holidays as well. \n\nI don't mind your religious beliefs or your celebrations. I do mind that, somehow, you seem to feel that everyone in our country should share them with you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 2\n\nContinue within my link. Post 2\n\nhttp://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2015/12/mercy-cannot-be-codified-legislated-or-judged/\n\n\u201cJesus calls us as church to metanoia\u201d.\n\nDivine mercy \u201cthe grace that transforms all\u201d (metanoia) can only be received by standing before God in humility and the path that leads to this humility is the absolute Truth, the living Word of God as defined by Jesus Christ living within the heart.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which meets next week in Baltimore and will be choosing its own leadership team, is as divided as America itself. Instead of binding wounds and heralding a path of justice, the bishops have not reached a consensus among themselves on how to move forward in unity. ... But four days before they gather, that doesn\u2019t seem likely.\"\n\nIf anything, this nation is, to quote Pope Francis, \"like a field hospital\". Rather than cultivating division, the US Bishops are presented with what Olivier Messiaen calls \"choq de grace\" - the shock of Grace coming to the Church and its leaders in the guise of its opposite (to quote that wise reformer, Martin Luther).\n\nNow is the time for the bishops to lead the whole church as wound dressers, without first asking about the right cholesterol level or blood pressure.\n\nIf they remain hard of heart, then Catholics and all people of good will are morally obliged to disobey them and do what Jesus calls them to do: heal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "really! who is banned? people are banned from countries regardless of thier religion. get over it. The temporary halt to refugee admissions does include exceptions for people claiming religious persecution, so long as their religion is a minority faith in their country. That could apply to Christians from Muslim-majority countries. there is no christian exemption, please post facts", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Post Christians or Post Christmas (Boxing Day, New Years, Xmas, or Solistice Celebration)?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think your posts are interpreted as ridicule of Melania, but they do seem to carry a lot of snark directed at other posters. It is unfortunate to see this...apparent behavior...from a staunch Catholic who frequently points out his pride in not engaging in the mudslinging that...alas...so often occurs on the internet...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus already decided that only men were called to the priesthood when chose the apostles. He had plenty of women followers, and yet he chose only men for the role of priests. It is worth noting that Jesus did not even appoint his own mother (who would seem to have been an excellent choice given that she was completely sinless) for this role. At the end of the day the only reason to be Catholic is if you believe that it is the true faith as ordained by God. If you believe that the Catholic Church is wrong on this one issue, then why could it not be wrong on others? What criteria should we use to say that we know better than centuries of the Catholic thinkers? Why could we not someday decide that Jesus is not really present in communion or that he really didn't rise from the dead? The role of the Catholic Church is not to provide personal validation for every individual's personal beliefs, it is to preach the truth and bring as many souls to heaven as possible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Being a Christian ( or your chosen faith)has nothing to do with this argument on taxes....\nHelp the poor yes but helping the state government skirt its' responsibility of balancing the budget because they can't or will not and forcing a few to pay for all is not right or justified any way you present it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The progressive Catholic world is furious about the election and what it means for their dream of an open borders USA, and has resorted to complaining that Catholics and Evangelicals \"unfairly\" teamed up to support the winner's prolife, controlled borders and business friendly agenda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The controversy around Amoris Laetitia made me think about the question of what constitutes repentence and what constitutes penance, in their sacramental dimension. Penance is something both spiritual and physical. Ecological thinking and ecological action can be a very real form of penance for the sins we have committed against our neighbor. There is something very sacramental and very Catholic about that: about giving importance to small-scale, personalized actions whose soul is the re-establishment of justice: penance. (Though arrogant, thoughtless and superficial people will call it a waste of time.) Penance is ecological. Penance has an ecclesiological dimension, and therefore it has also a cosmological and thus ecological dimension.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But applicants -- whether Catholic or non-Catholic -- know what to expect beforehand (as applicants anywhere know what to expect were they to apply to Yeshiva University [Orthodox Jewish] or Brigham Young [Mormon], or Wheaton College [evangelical]). I am sure the Enrolment management people at ND familiarize applicants, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Are you saying that Christians believe because they don\u2019t have any common sense? Be honest\u2026\"\num, yes. YOU said it very well. \nif it isn't lack of common sense, it must be something much, much more dangerous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RD, your babel is exactly that. The community of saints doesn't void individual responsibility for one's own sins. You are just make very lame excuses for doing nothing on a scandal that is an existential threat to the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can remember growing up in the 1940-50's in Ireland. We were constantly subjected to lectures and sermons about sexual morality. Both the so called \"Christian\" Brothers and priests ranted and railed about the sins against sexual morality. They were the experts; they had a full understanding. We were the sinners; we needed forgiveness. \nThe problem was then and is now, that institutional loyalty outrank and supersedes all other issues for the hierarchy. What they really do not understand or accept, is the untold damage that has resulted from their misplaced loyalty. They have exposed the underbelly of hierarchical thinking within the church and therefore one questions all aspects of their decisions regarding faith; morals; and civil responsibility. \nThey are the architect of their own demise. There is absolutely no reason to justify the continuation of the commission; it is just another form of abuse, to obscure the truth and reality of what is happening inside the Vatican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The article in La Civilt\u00e0 Cattolica, which is reviewed by the Vatican before publication, says some Catholic conservatives in the U.S. have built ties with fundamentalist evangelicals for political purposes that evince \"enormous differences\" with Pope Francis.\"\n\nConsidering that many conservative Catholics follow Donald Trump instead of Pope Francis that is not surprising.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "St. Augustine said that an unjust law holds no moral authority over the Christian. Agreed that as a practical matter those here illegally can't be surprised, but the Church is called to resist a system that is broken, immoral, and hypocritical.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What exactly is \"traditional ecumenism\" to Reese?\nThe ecumenism of V2 is hardly \"traditional.\" It's syncretism, condemned by earlier popes.\nTraditional ecumenism is employed when Christians of differing sects or churches work together for a genuinely common good. It does not mean suborning Catholic teaching, or watering down our dogmatic faith, to appease those who believe and worship differently, or even to except any other religion as salvific.\nThe authors are right to call out specific individuals whose message is based upon an adulterated and false interpretation of Scripture. But their efforts are entirely political. Where were they when other individuals such as Richard Rohr, Richard Sipe, Roger Sch\u00fctz and other modernists needed to be called out for \"using scriptural texts out of context to give theological justification to belligerence\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While the Church is shrinking in the 'West' - much because of the spread of secular humanism and materialism, the Church in many poor areas of the world, such as Africa, is spreading and growing at a incredible rate. This is the history of the Church. In some centuries the Church flourishes in certain areas of the world. Then it may diminish there, but flourish in other areas that had been previously evangelized. The Church overall is still thriving.\nEven in terms of what the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH accomplishes each year, it is thriving.\nThere is no other organization in the world, including all governmental and UN organizations, which even comes close to the charitable help given to the poor, destitute and needy all around the globe, than thru all the Catholic organizations, not the least of which is Catholic Relief Services.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" Think of the so-called \"watch dog\" groups that monitor Catholic universities and colleges to assess their \"Catholic identity\" but constrict such identity to matters of sexual purity and never ask: Is the Catholic school doing anything to combat violence in its city? Does it permit its workers to organize? Does it pay a just wage?\". \nMSW appears erodite and we'll informed on the surface but then reveals in most articles the enormous gaps in his theology, especially moral theology. These groups are speaking about negative moral norms. Positive moral norms don't allow for such discernment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 1\nNice attempt to play with words. How about a bit of clarity.\n\n\"Traditional Ecumenism\" is what has been called \"Ecumenism\" since V2, and is still called \"Ecumenism\" in almost every other circumstance except the special context of this article. Ecumenism has diverse components in practice, but the core notion is simply an attitude of good will towards all other Christians (replacing a former attitude of hostility). This good will gets expressed in myriad ways on multiple levels. At the episcopal level, we see pope and patriarchs and primates hugging, saying nice things about one another, supporting common projects. At the theological level, we see multi-denominational commissions working hard at mutual theological understanding, statements of agreements, and shared positions. At the parish level, we see cooperation among denominations of just about every conceivable sort; perhaps the most important of which is simply visiting each other's churches, something formerly frowned on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no morality, let alone nobility, in undercutting the right and duty of sovereign nations to regulate immigration within their lawful borders. I say \"no' to demagogues -- particularly those who hide under the guise of Christianity when all they really want is to subvert and destroy it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well thanks for the thread although Fr de Chardin words are still in part redacted.There comes in certain times the need for more than just hope and more than just a voice in the wilderness. Christ- though he did have a place in Capernum did not walk alone in his life. Even Simon was there including Veronica to acknowledge and share in a small way his aloness in suffering. My question would be what if Fr de Chardin was not alone but others enacted his actions during WWI?\nWe as a church and world would have been so much different.\nThe lack of acknowledgement of the recent vote in the House is telling.\nWe have missed the boat and woe to all of us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tu quo que fallacy there. The Cardinal is wrong for having those stocks in that controversial mining company. It doesn't take away from the fact that the Catholic Church is correct in joining indigenous grassroots movements in opposing this construction project that Evo Morales is proposing. \n\nThe Church in this case is not just the Cardinal here. It's the Pan-Amazonian Church Network as quoted by the article as well as leading priests and bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The church should be using women and married men. \nMarried Episcopalian men priests are allowed to convert to Catholic and take on priesthood.\n\nWomen were integral to the early church as St. Paul has written; SEE:\nPhoebe \nFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia\n\n\u201cPhoebe was a first-century Christian woman mentioned by the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, verses 16:1-2. A notable woman in the church of Cenchreae, she was trusted by Paul to deliver his letter to the Romans. In writing to the church that almost surely met in her home, Paul refers to her both as a deacon and as a helper or patron of many. This is the only place in the New Testament where a woman is specifically referred to with these two distinctions. Paul introduces Phoebe as his emissary to the church in Rome and, because they are not acquainted with her, Paul provides them with her credentials.\u201d\n\nAlso look up Deaconess in Wikipedia, for more on women in our early church, AD 55\u201358.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, according to YOUR criteria, Pope Leo was not a Catholic since he rejected a magisterial teaching.\n\nThat's another problem with saying \"one must accept all the magisterium says\". One must sometimes get two contradictory teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": " This has taken place over 100 times across the country now, and yet not one of us denying Christians service catering their events, has been fined and prosecuted. Only the Christian is singled out, creating an obnoxious double standard that is as intellectually bankrupt as it gets, gary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is important to note that there was a huge turnout from several Jewish Templea as well, not just Christians and atheists supporting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nora,\n\nRespectfully, you are illustrating my point. The protestant church has over a century of wrestling with this issue, but then we wrestle with everything, what with \"the priesthood of all believers\" and what not. We couldn't agree on a single doctrine. For many us converts, the draw was precisely that we find the Catholic Church with it's apostolic succession and direct line of authority to be the main draw that brought us in. I may not agree with every doctrine of the Church, but I gladly submit to her authority. Believe me the weight of deciding each doctrine for yourself is a heavy burden to bear. I say that with great love and affection for former colleagues. I am in no way fearful of the ordination of women, but am content to accept the position of the church until those God has placed in authority are guided by the Holy Spirit to do otherwise. Funnily enough the job passage from today's liturgy of the hours seems to address this very thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's like a reprise of the Firesign theater's \"Everything you know is wrong.\"\n\nGroups where there's much zeal and many vocations? Oh dear, they are probably not from the Lord.\n\nReligious leaders who rebuke are clearly in the wrong. Add this to my long list of rebukes.\n\nProselytizing is bad. To \"Go Forth\"is good. The difference is found in EN, which says \"The New Evangelization of the Catholic Church calls each person to deepen one's faith in God, believe in the Gospel\u2019s message, and proclaim the Good News. The focus of the New Evangelization calls all to be evangelized and then go forth to evangelize others. It is focused on re-proposing the Gospel to those who have experienced a crisis of faith.\" But don't proselytize.\n\nFatima, which is riddled with inconsistencies and dire warnings, is good. Medjugorje, which is hopeful and a huge source of conversions, is bad, clearly not of the Lord.\n\nWouldn't surprise me if \"dogs flew spaceships\" is coming next.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd love to see how \"school choice\" proponents would react if a taxpayer funded Muslim school sprung up in Douglas County. Would they be ok with their tax dollars going to a school of a different religion than their own? What about a school for Scientologists? Freedom of religion is a cornerstone of American democracy, but there's a reason it is separated from government. I'm all for religious or Christian schools - as long as you're paying for it. This \"school choice\" argument is a giant facade for taxpayer funded, religious education, and it is flat out unconstitutional. The school playground issue has little to do with vouchers for schools - very different cases.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To Lumen\n...\"our theology is not based solely on Scripture \"....\n\nNot 'solely' true enough. But 'Theology' is supposed to be the study and knowledge of \"God\" and we have claimed that the core of that knowledge is based on 'God's Revelation' as found in the Scriptures -- and then made deductions and reasoning from that original 'core'.\n\nScripture, in the Gospels, is the only source we have for the knowledge and teaching of Jesus. The logic that leads to a Church begins with a believe in the very fundaments of Christianity - the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sin.\n\nThat's the Jewish conviction, that God is appeased by sacrifice, that the coming Messiah would suffer and die. 'By his stripes, we are healed', etc.. \n\nThe fact that there was no Adam and Eve to commit and pass on an 'original' sin, shows that Jesus must be redeeming us for our own sins. Jesus is the Savior for each one of us. We each commit our own 'first' and subsequent sins.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If they were made by a Catholic, members of the USCCB would apologize for it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why can't you understand that on account of the practice of our Saviour, women cannot possibly receive the Sacrament of Orders because Christ's Church has no authority from Our Lord to bestow priestly ordination upon women.\nThat is the argument. It is not at all whether female 'priests' would be better or worse than Catholic priests. In counselling they may well have a function but then counselling is not necessarily a priestly charism.\nIf women feel that they have been downtrodden in the past then ought they not to be grateful that they are not considered so today?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I am more than aware of the history of the Perez situation.\n\nMy point in raising the case was not to compare Perez's moral position to that of divorced & remarried Catholics (in fact I am sympathetic to Pope Francis's efforts at reform in this regard). Rather, the point was to question the assertion about how communion had always been viewed as a means of reconciliation & never denied. That is obviously not the case in Church history, as that of excommunication shows.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The thing is, with liberals, disagreement is hate. And papering over it for a superficial sense of agreement is a virtue. The fact that Catholics and Evangelicals can put aside their differences to work on anti abortion work should be applauded. Where is your evidence of hatred between the two? The only hatred I detected in the article was against Evangelicals and conservative Catholics. Photo ops are nice, papering over differences, questionable but to say Catholics and evangelicals haven't done theological exchanges is just not true. Some Orthodox and some Lutherans are just as anti-Catholic in outlook, but dialogue with them is OK as long as it promotes a leftist agenda of open borders...how is it not a type of fundamentalism to tell a country like Italy it has to accept all the migrants that want to settle there in spite of the fact their government is having trouble taking care of their own people?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not at all. If you follow the pope, even when he errs, it will be as if he did not. Catholic Relativism. It is a truism. If you believe what you were taught, you are not responsible for the error of the teaching (see Pius IX and his attempt to turn Italian politics into a moral matter rather than his personal ambitions being dashed). It does not validate teaching that is objectively erroneous, it protects the faithful who obey it from the error of the Pope and Magisterium. The Spirit of Prophesy in the ancient Church was all about correcting these errors when they occurred. It still is. Not only does sexual teaching need a reboot, but fearing the Masons is calumy. My Masonic ancestors were in no way sinful by joining the Lodge and it is unjust to imply such and rude.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gary - That is part of the Christian concept of repentance which is part of being \"saved\". Repentance involves and changing and attempting to make things right, even though it may be difficult or impossible to do so in some instances. I am unsure where you are getting this concept from but it is not historic orthodox Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "National Catholic Reporter has been a larger factor in my catholicism over the past few years than the Roman Catholic Church. The more compassionate and realistic perspective - including poster companions - has been a significant factor in helping me retain an eucharistic relationship. \nI would add that the the perspective within which the traditionalist positions has been presented and defended as well as how \"it\" relates to the progressive has given me greater confidence and peace in the route on which the Spirit has led me", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To be fair, Ottaviani had gone well beyond the 10 minute allotment of time for an intervention at the Council during the first session of the Council (1962).\nYet, at the last session Council (1965), he was warmly applauded for his intervention on war, which he began with the words. \"War must be completely outlawed.\" \nI find Ottaviani to be fascinating. His comment when the Bishops were discussing the bishops as a collegial body was that the Bible records only one collegial action of the bishops and that was at the Garden of Gehsemse when \"They all fled.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is interesting that the CEO's, who business interests align perfectly with Trump's, have a better moral compass that the Evangelical \"Christians\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why are these priests not laicized instead of just taken out of priestly duties? \n\nWe need to admit when we have ordained the wrong people. We also need to admit we have wrongly kept ordination from thousands of Catholic Women who have been legitimately called by God to priesthood and ordain them as is their sacred right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not mocking anyone. I am asking what I think is a great question--one that for whatever reason no one wants to answer.\n\nIf you hate everything the Catholic Church stands for, how does it make a lick of sense to stay? If I didn't believe what the Catholic church teaches and professes, I would leave and join a Church that I liked and agreed with. The reason I am in the Catholic Church is because I believe the Catholic Faith.\n\nDissidents complain about being controlled and manipulated. How are they being controlled and manipulated when they can leave at anytime? What pope, bishop, priest or deacon is holding you at gun point and forcing you to stay? Who is controlling who, sir? If I thought I was part of an organization that was manipulating and controlling me--I would get out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks, Juergen, for this long, interesting comment of yours. I have respect for your experience of God and the Catholic church, and for your decision in choosing the particular kind of Catholic practice you have chosen. And while I don't doubt the sort of experience of pregnant women that you describe can happen, and might be made available to certain women who now are pregnant, given the right manner of communicating with them, that's not something I can comment on. It belongs to women to comment on that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The demonstration was entirely appropriate. Ultra-religious Mike Pence is a strange creature.\n\nIn July 2016, when he accepted the Republican vice presidential nomination, Pence famously said \"I'm a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican \u2013 in that order.\"\n\nAnyone notice anything missing in that list?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"She points out that the religious symbols used are Christian- because the book is set in a future America- however the problem is with any fundamentalist society in which anyone's rights are abused.\"\n\nYes, too bad most people commenting favorably on it miss this point and focus on the \"Christianity\" part.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So strange. You see Vat II as opening a Pandora's box, \"failed in its objective of renewal\" so that \"retrenchment was called for.\" \n\nAnd I think that Vat II did not fail - implementation was not carried through after a few halting steps that scared everyone - or scandalized them. It wasn't so much that people rejected a \"prewar christian moral consensus\" as it was time for change even in what had once been widely accepted issues. I do believe that wider education, women's getting the vote, the invention of contraceptives, two devastating world wars - were groundbreaking events that led to an absolute need for a new vision of our Catholic faith and how it operates in our lives. Now, massive changes in communication technologies have added another layer to the fact you cannot go back.\n \nRetrenchment was the last thing the Church needed to do and it is what JPII and BXVI tried to do. Francis is working on Vat II implementation rather than running away from it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because I can and I don't need your permission. The subject is an ultra-christian who chooses to diss the OCF and the people who attend.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Would you say the same about the civil rights movement? That \"crap\" you're referring to would have fallen flat on its face if it hadn't connected to women of the time. Even my Catholic mother read The Feminine Mystique, and while she couldn't up-end her life because of it, she found much to agree--and regret. Because that's the way stuff works. \n\nChange also occurred quickly--within 50 years--whereas males had more time to become formally educated and advance professionally. That's where the \"lists of famous people\" come from--when generation after generation has mentors in the field. Women have only just developed their own mentors. But it'll come. It's a beautiful thing to celebrate, not denigrate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have you read Leviticus and Kings in the Christian Bible? Check out God's conversation with King Saul. Publicly repudiate that and then we'll talk.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So too apparently is the author of the piece in the Baltimore paper, and the author of this NCR essay. Both say not a word to precisely why any candidate or Christian citizen would be for extreme vetting of people coming from Muslim countries. They are making an extreme pitch for immigration, and cloaking it with the mantle of Biblical wisdom. Conclusion? Anyone who disagrees is not a Christian. How much better it would have been if they had both delivered a more balanced message on the immigration topic. Instead, what they gave us was a polemic filled with half truths and misleading sentiments. That's just my opinion anyway.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's all good, Paul. My point was historical, not about contemporary religiosity. It was merely a sneaky way of reminding everyone that Jesus was not a Christian but a Jew, as were his disciples, and that his movement remained Jewish for a generation or so after Jesus' death. Even after the movement became discernibly \"Christian,\" \"Christianity\" bore only a passing resemblance to the contemporary religious currents we use that word to describe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not in the Catholic Church. But I'm sure the Lutherans would love to have you. BTW, do we really need to debunk--yet again--the modernist version of the Galileo matter?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This priest is a prophet. My 70+ years of experience as a woman deeply involved in the Catholic Church, as a wife for 50+ years and a mother have taught me the very lesson which Orobator relates. I am particularly in agreement with his sense of urgency about the discrimination. His image of the obirin meta is perfect! More symbolic, I think, than Andrew Rublev's icon. Far more illustrative of the creative, loving and devotional character of The Divine than the old man with a beard or the Dove, in my opinion. I feel truly blessed to read this wonderful theology. Thank you Joshua, for the article. And just in time for Christmas!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like I said, as long as you are willing to in the name of freedom, be willing to submit proof of ability to pay before treatment and waive any right to file bankruptcy if you go over the limits, go for it. Like I pointed out, my co-worker who claimed to be a \"Christian Conservative\" was immensely proud of being able to game the system and I can pretty much guarantee that he isn't the only one who did exactly the same thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And a Catholic as well, where I will continue to speak out and insisting on that freedom in religious thought.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What evidence have you got that suggests that the \"far right types' as you call them, desire \"a very mean, very strident God\"? They like \"the far left types\" will have to face the same God so would not the 'God of nice' be preferable to them also?\nOrthodox Catholics are however, realists. They realise that God is absolutely just as well as absolutely merciful. It is not easy to see how absolute justice and mercy can be exercised simultaneously, only God Himself knows that. \nWhat we do know however, is that Christ said loving God necessitates keeping His Commandments, all of them as they relate both to Him and our neighbour. The heterodox look for loopholes in them, ways of getting around them, and create for themselves a warm, fuzzy, comfortable religion where sin and self-sacrifice no longer exist with a God who benignly tolerates their rejection of His Laws and Commandments. Orthodox Catholics do not make such presumptions neither do they despair: they hope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that it needs to be addressed by revisiting the issue and admitting that it makes no sense at all to base Catholic teaching on an understanding of human beings that dates to the Middle Ages. It's high time that the Church admitted that human sexuality is much more complex than was traditionally believed and that gay and transgender human beings are normal and deserve to be treated and seen as such. I think that the Church's opposition to same-sex relationships needs to be abrogated. Only then, will we be able to say that the Church respects LGBT people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You seem to be very good and pointing out what you feel is wrong with Pope Francis and the Papacy. And there are times where there is much need criticism and accountability. But since you make it seem as if his job is such an easy thing I would simply just ask you a couple questions. \n(i)How would you go about bringing about the changes you want him to make if you were in his shoes?\n(ii)How would you do it in a practical manner that can actually work?\n(iii)What would you do in terms of getting over hurdles such as 2000 years of Catholic Dogma? \n(iv)What would you in response to fierce conservative criticisms and backlashes you would have to face(like what he is facing now). \n(v)How would you do it in such a way that includes the opinions of all the voices in the Church(leaders in Africa, South America, Asia, etc) because the Church isn't simply what people in the West wants. It's what the Church community as a whole wants as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tell that to the Christians in Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued ..Continued \u2026\nI do not know whether you are a convert from another Christian church or from Judaism, Islam or anywhere else.\nI don't know how you came across this website, perhaps by chance like I did some years ago, because it has the word \u2018Catholic\u2019 in its title. I am a cradle Catholic yet I was appalled by what I was reading here. Naively, I believed that Catholics throughout the world believed in what the Church taught. Mind you I had naively ignored several warning signs within my extended family that this was not so. I am at least grateful to NCReporter for waking me up to the fact that my relatives' beliefs and behaviours were not untypical of modern Catholics, all of whom have abandoned the Catholic Faith save for rites of passage, Baptisms, weddings and funerals.\nI post on this website to reassure those like yourself that what you read here is not Catholicism. The teaching of the Catholic Church is perennial, not just what you read here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your mention of Norman Vincent Peale reminds me of what Adlai Stevenson said in the 1956 presidential election. \n\n\"Stevenson was introduced for a speech with: Gov. Stevenson, we want to make it clear you are here as a courtesy because Dr. Norman Vincent Peale has instructed us to vote for your opponent.\" Stevenson stepped to the podium and quipped, \"Speaking as a Christian, I find the Apostle Paul appealing and the Apostle Peale appalling.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Part of what may have compelled the former president was Trump\u2019s insistence that the executive order mirrored what the Obama administration did when it stopped refugees from coming into the U.S. from Iraq for six months.\nThe fact-checkers have sided with Obama on this dispute, noting that Obama was vocally critical of any ban on refugees that prioritized one religion over another, as Trump\u2019s does.\nAfter some Republicans called for only Syrian Christians to be allowed into the U.S. in the wake of the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, Obama called such potential policies \u201cshameful.\u201d\n\u201cThat\u2019s not American. That\u2019s not who we are. We don\u2019t have religious tests to our compassion,\u201d he said at the time.\"\nExactly. To say America - and the world - misses President Obama is a vast understatement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Political leaders' religiosity has been known to influence their political decision making.\" Of course someone's personal beliefs influence their political decision-making.\n\nWe all know what fundamentalist Christian beliefs are, and Muslim ones, but how many know what Sikh beliefs are? They are not the same, but few people seem to know this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Given that there are no laws, and nothing in the constitution, protecting religious liberty, it is wise of our Courageous Bishops to look the President to issue an executive order on the subject. And about time, I grow weary of the terrible oppression meted out to Christians in the US, Catholics in particular.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are manipulating language to score points.\n\nThe Church (using scripture and thousand years of reflection/experience/theology) has determined that a right to healthcare is part of *human dignity* and the *human person*. Nowhere does it say *free healthcare* - it leaves up to society how to ensure the right to healthcare happens. And, per you and the Repubs, just saying - we all have access - does not meet catholic social justice that all have healthcare.\n\nThis also means your last sentence is vapid FOX News copy. BTW - you can walk into any catholic hospital with serious or life threatening damages and be treated at no cost.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "he may be great, but the constant nonsense about his \"bespoke suits\" or being a \"style maven\" is not enough to make me overlook his religious orthodoxy - and I would apply that to any overtly religious person: muslim, christian, jew, hindu, buddhist or sikh - wearing the trappings of their faith while purporting to represent all Canadians? I think not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I watched what you suggest in action over a period of four years in a suburban parish.\n\nAs a young priest began to preach on Catholic teaching, say prayers for our military overseas, change the appearance of the church itself to resemble a Catholic liturgical space, and reinstitute Catholic devotions to parish life, a small but relatively loud segment of the parish complained bitterly and many eventually left. I would estimate the young end of this group to be 50-55 years of age.\n\nWithin a few months young couples began arriving as word spread, the age of the population of the parish shifted downward, infants and toddlers became common in the congregation, and the parish around the three year mark had to increase the size of the parking lot by 50%.\n\nSometimes things change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I also wandered through the Festival of Trees on Thanksgiving afternoon (in Valley River Inn, a private business) and was amazed by the forest of fancy trees and fancy prices for the trees and the prize packages they come with. While there were trees with a Starwars theme, Curious George, sunflowers, etc. I think Mr. Compte is correct, I don't recall seeing any decorations such as angels, nativity scenes, etc. I'm not sure if Cascade Health Solutions (also a private business, not a government organization) has any sway over the tree designers, but it is perhaps a little unusual as Mr. Compte notes, that there was a lack of any Christian Christmas symbolism in any of the decorating schemes. Maybe Christian doesn't generate big buck donations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic moral teaching is not based on popular opinion. If popular opinion strays away from said moral teaching it clearly isn't Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm solidly in support of stronger gun control legislation, but that is a matter for civil society to decide. It would be a mistake for the Church to get down in the weeds on this issue. It would only be one more public policy gaffe for an institution that has made too many already.\n\nThe Church should articulate moral principles, not terms of legislation. And the moral principles pertinent to this issue (respect for life, the limited right of self-defense, the good of society, etc.) have long been established in Catholic teaching. If that teaching hasn't made a difference in the proliferation of guns in American society so far, why should anybody believe that forming some sort of public policy position will?\n\nSorry, Mr. Lim. I fully support you in your noble work as an advocate to keep guns off college campuses. But that battle needs to be fought on a societal front, not a Church one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Principles are universal.\" So, can we say the America was founded on universal principles rather than Christian ones? Human beings of all stripes across religions and cultures adhere to these human values, right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Mr. Tebow were anyone other a than smooth-talking Christian ever ready to blame hostility to religion for his misfortune, his \"promotion\" would barely make the front page of the local Florida papers.\nHe had a possibility of a career in the NFL, but refused to be anything other than a high-paid quarterback. He didn't make the grade. Now he's trying his hand at pro baseball. But major (and minor) league baseball must be swamped with players hitting .222.\nDuring the time he was a great athlete at the University of Florida, I wonder if Mr. Tebow earned a degree? The University gave him a fine scholarship because of his athletic skills and Mr. Tebow paid that scholarship back with his performance, but it would have behooved Mr. Tebow, in between his daydreams of playing in the Super Bowl, to use that scholarship and actually earn a degree.\nMaybe Mr. Tebow ought to take that degree he earned and seek a job in the field he chose.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Always wondered why christians would support Trump", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, that's the basis for Christianity, belief in Christ's death and resurrection as atonement for sin and reconciliation to God. Jesus said \"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me\" -John 14:6 \n\nNot sure what you mean by a caste system still exists. One of the basic principles is every person is considered to be loved by God, and salvation (forgiveness of sin) is available to those who believe and accept that Jesus died for their sin. If those aren't your beliefs, then you aren't an adherent to the Christian faith. No caste system. No one is blocking them from belief and inclusion in Christianity but the person themselves. The Bible says there are not to be different levels of salvation or that some people are not allowed to receive salvation even if they believe in Christ as their savior.\n\nSomeone who doesn't believe is not lower caste or irredeemable. They simply don't choose to take part in the faith. They can change their mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"because I'm Christian, I'm Catholic, all my decisions stem from my core belief.\" So the rest of your constituents can just go blow I guess.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your post merited it, Jack. Bill is attempting to get Christian denominations to see what they have in common, work together and be more understanding of eachother. Your contribution is to weigh in immediately with a sledge hammer. It must be disheartening for the author.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics (including priests) went for Trump 52-48. Incredible! A total rejection of Catholic Social Justice teaching. Why - abortion. The Dems have to make it clear that Pro-Lifers are welcome in the 'Big Tent\". They have to break away from the no-holds-barred abortion rights adherents. These are single issue people who are holding the Democratic Party hostage (Tom Perez is a glaring example). Pro-Choice (based of Vat II teaching on the primacy of conscience) is different than Pro-Abortion. No practicing Catholic politician has gone against the Church teaching on abortion. Remove the causes (of which economics is paramount) of abortion and it will become a non-issue. Rates of abortion have been falling since 1994, except for an up-tick in 2009-11. The USCCB (often referred to as the Spiritual arm of the Republican Party) can help by reaffirming the efficacy of the teaching of the \"seamless garment\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We must love and pray for those who misrepresent and misinterpret our Catholic faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So punishing the baby by killing it in the womb is a Christian stance?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. If a poll gave the same alarming results about Christians or Hindus, I've be just as critical.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Iqra Khalid urges MPs to take unified approach in Islamophobia study\"\n\nAre not all Canadians - of all ethnic backgrounds and religions; currently protected by Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms?\n\nIf not, we have serious issues with the way our politicians go about their business.\n\nIt is patently wrong to select one specific way of life - i.e. \"Islam\" for special treatment. And why not \"Muslim\", \"Hebrew\", \"Buddhist\", \"Christian\", Sikh\", etc., etc..\n\nIf this study is needed (again I say if) then it should apply to all Canadians regardless of their religion and ethnicity.\n\nTo do otherwise simply encourages the divisiveness in Canada's society that the Liberals think they need to get re-elected.\n\nCreating targeted segments of Canada's citizens is not appropriate.\n\nCannot our politicians learn from history or do they even care what damage they do to Canada as long as they get re-elected?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Biggest lesson many kids are learning, Rich Mole, is that\n\ntoo many requests for accommodations leads to a backlash\n\nHow come Hindus, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists, evangelical Christians don't ask for religious accommodation", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So will the 52% of Catholics voting for Trump be heralded as the wisdom of the lived experience of the People of God?\n\nFull disclosure: I did not vote for either major party candidate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm hardly a warrior. I do strive, as best I can, to be a Christian, which does include both a social element and a commitment to justice.\n\nWhat it doesn't include is license to make sweeping judgments about people I don't know or the right to smugly label them. But I get the feeling such concerns don't trouble you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"People should go there and listen to him out of respect. Not to bob one's head in agreement, but respect.\nThat 'Respect Factor' seems to be missing lately. Maybe respect is no longer a spelling word in school?\"\n\n1) Yes he is our VP. However, nowhere does it say in the Constitution that the VP is entitled to respect. If anything, he should be respecting ALL Americans....not just the Evangelical Christians.\n\n2) The \"Respect Factor\" is missing lately? Where have you been? What makes Pence or Trump more deserving of respect than Obama, or Bush, or the Congressmen from both parties that were shouted down at town hall meetings back in 2009 and 2010 by Tea Party types?\n\nThat should tell you all you need to know about why it is hard to take you seriously on this topic.\n\nBTW- You gonna stand for the Anthem while watching football from home this weekend?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...sadness, suffering and sickness, amid the anguish of persecution and grief...\" are always with us. Isn't 'religion' about being conscious and considerate for the anguish and grief that is our common lot? What is sooo wrong, is for Religion to pile on! Retooling Confession is also an urgent task confronting institutional Catholicism!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I personally believe that religion in public schools should remain out of the class room but I see no issue in having a space dedicated for religious worship which can be utilized on a students spare time. However, the space should be open and shared by to all religions and faiths such as Catholics, Native spiritual practices, and whatever else. Would people rather \"Muslim\" schools open up over such a simple issue as this and further alienate the Muslim population? And as I have said, this space could but used for other forms of worship such as Native spirituality, a recommendation on this has all ready been made regarding that particular item. Why not kill two birds with one stone. Keep it out of the classrooms but accommodate a space just like any other club, seems simple to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The roots of the so-called prosperity gospel lie in the biblical theology of retribution, found in many parts of the Hebrew scriptures (but interestingly challenged in both Job and Qoheleth), according to which faithfulness will be rewarded while infidelity will be punished. \nOne of the most often quoted texts is that of Dt 30, where Moses is portrayed as saying to the Hebrews as they were about to enter the Promised Land \"I set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse....\" This same idea worked its way into Calvinist thought and found expression in, for example, the famous speech to the settlers bound for the new world in 1630 \"A Modell of Christian Charity\" and has remained part of many congregational churches -- resurrected by radio and TV evangelists who depend on gifts for their living. In their proclamation, however, \"fidelity\" to the Lord\" is replaced by \"show your faith by giving and you will be rewarded.\" In its most extreme expression, it is self-worship.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What you are telling me is what I said. Traditionalists deny the Holy Spirit might have new information because traditionalists need to believe the Holy Spirit exists solely to support the old information...especially for the people who are unwilling to hear. This is almost the exact opposite of what Jesus actually said. The Church is too vested in itself and what they have always said, and besides, Jesus did not create at Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What the?? If it was a crime, then he would be causing harm. He was voted in on this promise. Until the Muslim religion fixes itself and the religion itself condemns the crimes that it commits against other religions in the name of Islam, then what Trump is doing is protecting his people from harm. The Spanish did this in the late 1700s and look at it today. Syria, Egypt, Turkey and Iraq were all Christian countries before they were overrun by Islam. Look at them today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal Ratzinger really demonstrated the depth of his understanding of Catholic theology with the addition of the word 'unjust'. I'm not being sarcastic. His entire Halloween letter, which included the 'intrinsically disordered' language, is a masterstroke of using traditional theological/philosophical reasoning to justify the unjustifiable. I though it quite appropriate it was released on Halloween.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I do, however, fear that every time one of these films pops up it can easily refuel hatred toward the Church even though the Church has already repented for that particular transgression. \n\nBr. Robert, there are 1.2 Billion Catholics in the world, I think we can take it. \nI appreciate your courage in admitting that you originally posted in haste, humility is a rare web quality. \nPeace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Sunday morning has always been the most segregated time of the week in this country.\"\n\nEspecially for Christians as opposed to those who think they know something of Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that until the Church admits that what John and Edna say is true, the credibility of the Church's teaching on abortion suffers because it is seen (by expert Catholics who actually do the loving) as part of an anti-sex agenda. \n\nAnd we must stop using \"abortion and contraception\" as a collective noun.\n\n Discerning, loving Catholic men and women KNOW to their very core that the perverted--right word--view of Augustinian thinking is, how should I say it, WRONG. Yet that view permeates Church teaching, discerned wisdom of laity lovers to the contrary. \n\nTo dismiss and to mock the learned wisdom of Catholic couples is to (sinfully?) assert a myth that those lovers who \"know\" have less prayerful insight than those who do not. \n\nUntil the Church says \"We are called to trust prayerful and conscience-formed couples to make decisions about how to fully love each other, responsibly guided by their ROLES as faithful lovers more so than by unaccepted-by-conscience RULES\".......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bible is only useful for sola scriptura types. We have the traditions and rituals of the infallible church, which supersede the bible and overrule it if necessary. Remember, when Jesus ordained Peter the first Pope he gave the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church to bind on earth and in Heaven, thus ceding the sovereignty of God Himself to that of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. In your opinion. Period.\n\n2. That depends on the circumstances and the applicable law.\n\nI could see, were the conditions right, a suit for a conspiracy under RICO if the business were acting within the law and an identifiable organization with assets led the boycott.\n\nHowever, we can stop here since you\u2019ve made it clear this all about power and politics, not implementing Christianity. If we ask WWJD, we can be pretty certain He would not be complaining and leading a boycott.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rohr has a following for the same reason that Osteen has a following...he makes some people feel good. \n\nRohr prides himself in writing faux intellectual points....recently he wrote: \u201cIf the Promethean is heroic expression, stoic spirituality is heroic repression.\n\n?\n\nThen he asserts that \"Jesus never advocates either asceticism or heroism\"...ignoring about 20 explicit passages of Jesus to the contrary..and his followers who were with him.\n\nBut we're supposed to believe a revisionistic priest 2000 years later, breaking from 2000 years of Church teaching about the centrality of the Cross in Christian life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ">>Balkans to be broken?\nYou seem to equate Balkans with Yugoslavia (which was part of the Balkans). \n\nAfter the (Balkan) fall of the Ottoman Empire, Balkan countries were always proxies (sometimes willing, sometimes forced) of the Great Powers, in most cases seeking to gain territories from their neighbors.\n. \nYugoslavia was an artificial state (federation) already \"breaking up\". The Western intervention was not what it caused the \"break up\".\n.\nCan't think of Muslim nations coming to Christian rescue modern days, though?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find nothing comforting about news that more Catholics voted for either of the two major candidates for President. Either way, it's bad news.\n\nAlso, I note the chart omits those who voted for someone *other* than Clinton or Trump. As far as I am concerned, those two deserved ZERO Catholic votes, and only that chart would really encourage me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 of 2\nwe see a reflection of the \u2018evil of the Cross\u2019 within ourselves (own actions) as He submits to the Will of our Father, bearing witness to the Truth (their own essence).\nThe Truth knows (embraces) itself, it can do no other, those who refuse to acknowledge the living Word of God, once they have heard (understood) it within their hearts, are destined to eternal separation from God, as our Father is restrained by His own essence, as His essence (Truth) is not within them as they have rejected it.\nAnd this is why the Cross of Jesus Christ, that dominates the skyline offends the sensibilities of so many none believers.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul is writing to the Ephesian Christians, read the whole book in context, the \"Us\" refers to those who believe, that is indisputable and clear when you read the book in context.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "H.R.C. should never have been invited to the event with her history\nof attacking virtually every Christian value, let alone Catholic values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "News,\n\nWhich of these two scenarios do you think most of the world (including Catholics) believe to be more scandalous:\n1: Priests who have dedicated their lives to serve the people in a diocese object to the selection of a bishop from somewhere else to run their diocese, or\n2: Decades (if not centuries-long) of the problem of predatory priests sexually abusing children, and church leadership that systematically chosing to protect the priests over the children?\n\nI can't help but sense that it's the pope here who is choosing to use church law to conveniently protect HIS power. \n\nSo to answer your post, I'd offer this. I think Francis is the one making the convenient interpretation here. A convenience that doesn't make sense, unless one sees the law as something rather divorced from basic human morality...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I understand it religious minorities are still allowed... including the Christians and Druze from Syria... which would make them.... Syrians. So are ALL Syrians banned then?\n\nWhat a terrible article.\n\nGlobe=Fake news.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There was nothing catholic about Vatican II.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope protected his 'flock' during the nightmare that was Hitler's reign. He also protected and saved many Jews from certain death and Catholic priests gave their lives to protect the many. Its simply untrue to paint Hitler as Christian. He wasn't anymore Christian than Saddam Hussein or Joseph Stalin.\n.\n Hitler detested Christianity and considered it a weak man's crutch. Hitler may have been baptized as a baby, it didn't make him Christian. Becoming a Christian involves much more than infant baptism.\n.\n Look up \"Catholic resistance to Nazism\" thru Wikipedia and prepare to have your eyes opened. Many other Christian individuals helped the Jews s well, remember Schindler's list? it was based on a true story. Oskar Schindler was Catholic as well. \n.\n Of course it was America, a nation founded on Christian principals that was primarily instrumental in destroying an evil German death/war machine", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again - wrong on many counts....but thank you for your input.\n\nMuch of what is posted here that disagrees with the prevailing view is categorized as you just did - \"rigid trad Catholic\" or \"GOP operative\" behavior. Although more traditional than you, I am not rigid; and I am an Independent, not a GOP operative. \n\nBe careful of labels - it shows your own prejudice. I wonder if you do not realize what precipitated this discussion between us? Do you recall pretty much telling people who disagree with the more left leaning thought here to leave? And yet you would take me to task for questioning that? Perhaps your apology us in the offing?\n\nAnd again - peer review is tossing comments aside for disagreement - not civility.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You left out Chaput. LOL. Your first sentence is totally true. Trump is finding out what happens when there are equal branches in a government structure designed to stop an authoritarian from dictating our legal existence. \n\nUnfortunately, the Vatican has no such checks and balances, and Francis is taking too much time figuring out how to get there. I suspect the biggest conundrum for his potential solutions is the fact his own position is considered 'infallible'. I get that depends on who holds the papacy, what the topic is, and who is doing the viewing. This is why we could easily revert to a sad form of Western 'Catholic' Civilization is the end all and be all of human civilization. That particular belief has promoted a whole lot of devastation for non Western cultures who had the misfortune of intersecting with Catholic Europe. In the 21st century I guess it's supposed to be American Christian civilization. When does this end, and the Gospel take real effect?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was relying on Madigan and Osiek in their book of 2005. The Catholic Biblical Quarterly is quoted on the back cover, \"Finally, readers have a single compendium in English of the evidence that women did hold church office as deacon, presbyter, and bishop, not simply as spouses of male officeholders and not in h\u03b5r\u03b5tical sects but in their own right and in the Catholic Church.\" As for the Last Supper, Jesus did not make priests; rather, he reportedly said to all the men and women who were present, 'Do this in memory of me.' The New Testament (written long after Jesus) has bishops and deacons but still no 'priests.' No mention of any apostles presiding at Eucharist, although Paul and the author of Jude don't mind giving the Gentiles instruction on how they should reform what is essentially a Pagan ritual, i.e., 'eating body and drinking blood.' Jews do not drink blood as it is against their religion, and it is not likely the Jewish Christians did that even symbolically.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Also to Richard Corbeil): If you go into business as a bakery, and someone comes in and wants a cake, that's not forcing you to do anything you didn't set out to do. If the person is rude, verbally or physically abusive, hasn't paid in the past, or is obnoxious in some other way to the point of being a public nuisance or hazard---You should be able to refuse service to that person, regardless of race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation.\n\nIt's when you make the decision that you shouldn't have to serve a type of person based of prejudice of that type that you get into ethical trouble---Say, if you don't like christians because they're pushy and try to get tenets of their faith passed off as law. Sooner or later the christians who want your services are going to have legal recourse to come back and say, You can't refuse service to me because I'm christian---You have to make my wedding cake. You can still refuse---But then there are legal penalties. So much for semantics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus is the Son of God, Second Person of the Trinity. \n\nFrancis is human. He isn't God incarnate, come to fulfill and perfect the Mosaic Covenant. He's the Pope and is charged with listening to his bishops, promoting the unity of Catholicism, and with teaching and preserving the Deposit of Faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A redefining of clerical discipline to open it up to leadership elected by the community of believers is nothing more than a return to the original Christian Church. So, no it's not impossible. I suspect it's inevitable. Sometimes really old tradition actually does hold the clearest truth. After all, you are banking on the passing on of the Mass as true from these original Christian communities as part of the defense of your current argument.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish we stopped portraying Muslims in the media as either feared terrorists or victims of horrible persecution. They are just like the rest of us (Christians, Hindus, Jews, Wiccans, Agnostics - sorry if I missed someone) - two legs, to arms, two ears, a loving family, a huge mortgage and a long commute to work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly. The Christian no less.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trudeau is not a church-going Catholic. He spends Sunday mornings watching cartoons in his jammies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do the Catholics know about this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you think that everyone always gets everything right? Not only councils although this decision by JPII was not made with a council of people who were free to present what they really believed - it was made by someone who assumed his own perfection and then reinforced by someone else who stretched an understanding of \"infallibility\" until it no longer has a context. \n\nWe have to turn loose of the idea that there is infallibility and that the teachings have never been and can never be wrong. Jesus promised to always be with us - He did not promise perfection. That is another distortion, a stretching of words into meaninglessness. Jesus will be with us -right or wrong as long as we seek Him.\n\nI, too, am Catholic. I have come to understand that the Church, while having much to give and to teach, is far from perfect and that growing up and accepting responsibility for my relationship with God and Jesus, actually brings me closer to to a loving God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, I agree that the Catholic Church will not change its teaching on this subject for many years, if ever. The conditions for change to exist simply are not there, from the perspective of the hierarchy. I hope I'm wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Technically a catechism,\"to teach orally\", is the summary or exposition of doctrine used in catechesis rather than a printed document. That has been the case since the Apostles, who had catechumens (those undergoing catechesis) who wished to become Christians.\n\nSince documents were handwritten and not all were literate, these were often in the form of simple texts that could be memorized along the lines of the Apostles\u2019 Creed.\n\nWhen printing became available, small books of instruction appeared. The use of a question and answer format was popularized by Martin Luther in his 1529 Small Catechism.\n\nWhile called a catechism, the Catechism of the Council of Trent published in 1566 was not for the laity but a reference book for priests and bishops. Trent was NOT the first Council where doctrines were defined.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I think those genuinely wanting to know Christ feel more comfortable speaking with Christians they come in contact with than pastors.\"\n\nThat statement I believe is very true. Why the great push to ordain women? Why isn't NAD placing much more emphasis on the great good a mother and wife can do for the Christian home? The Christian is an important building block of civilization as well as the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Current comments are at 138. Anyway, I'm reminded of Fr.Greeley's reply to Phil Donahue at the start of \"The Catholic Myth\". Catholics are Catholic by and large because they like being Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I remember rightly 'substantia' means the underlying reality, thus we say the Real Presence. The accidents of bread and wine retain their physical properties but in reality are no longer bread and wine but the very Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.\nThe word substance has many meanings in English including a philosophical meaning akin to the Latin, 'that which stands beneath'. Most Catholics will not be aware of this and need not understand Aristotelian metaphysics. Most Catholics can not be expected to be philosophers and theologians and therefore acceptance of what the Church teaches is essential.\nIn this matter the Church says to its members that the bread and wine cease to exist at the Consecration. From then on they are the actual Body and Blood of Christ regardless of whether one believes it or not: it is, in fact a miracle effected by the Words of Institution. If you believe it you are a Catholic, if you don't, you are not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The R (Republican) Catholic Church hierarchy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW's review fails to enlighten, and he often shows a poor grasp of economics. \n\nWhat precisely is the author trying to say other than that christians need to reflect about the choices they make in spending their money? This is not a new concept in christian thinking. I assume that the book is a bit more clear than MSW but this review does not entice me to spend $60 to buy it . Google \"Cloutier\" \"Commonweal\" for an article on the subject.\n\nI am an economist , not put off by economic discussions and occasionally involved with academic publishing. Is this a \"publish or else\" kind of work, something academics excel at, knowing few read their books other than students who are forced to buy them for class. I am also a bit amused that B16 is cited as a source of inspiration, given that he was the most visible example of ecclesial conspicuous consumption in recent decades, inspiring those like Burke and mansion-building bishops to indulge in luxury. Rationalized as \"festival goods\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Doesn't Jerry Prevo fancy himself an evangelical Christian?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The issue organized religion just can't seem to deal with is that authoritarianism is a dead end. I see Trump and his right wing authoritarian support as the last gasp of a dead energy. Cooperation among different spiritual systems is the future. I used the term spiritual systems as distinct from religious traditions. Pope Francis has been masterful at preaching Christian spirituality. He has been pretty dismal at doing anything about Catholic religiosity. Who knows, maybe he needs to lay the groundwork for something way beyond institutional Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Roman Catholic nuns used to wear a habit when I was young. I found this strange; but acceptable - since that is what \"freedom of religion\" implies.\n\nThe majority of women in Canada / Quebec who wear the niqab do not appear to have come from Saudi Arabia. From what I can learn, they seem to have come mostly from the former French colonies in Africa - although I have seen reference to Christian converts to Islam among niqab wearers.\n\nIf the women choose to wear the niqab of their own volition to honour their religion, their choice must be respected. But, if they only wear the niqab based on the demands of a father or husband in the name of family \"honour\", they should be protected. That, too, is what \"freedom of religion\" implies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In ancient times, all Christians were referred to as saints in life and death.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thank you for your comments on my posts. It is terribly difficult to live in a place where the bishop is such a bad fit for the community. Suffice it to say that former bishops Niederauer, Levada, Quinn, none of whom are \"liberal\" by any stretch of the imagination made a real effort, successfully, to be pastoral and approachable. Before our current fellow arrived, he had already stated for the media that he was going to \"clean up\" the situation and he came here having poured millions of dollars into defeating Prop. 8. He does have \"covens\" - my husband and I were mistakenly sent an invitation to a private cocktail party at his residence for Catholic CEOs & wives...God forbid that a CEO could be a woman...I am a retired Catholic School teacher and my husband is a Catholic Worker...no CEOs here...when we called to inquire, we were told that they assumed we were rich because of our contributions to the Archbishop's Appeal. We aren't. We just rejoice in our parish and leave it at that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please quote the \"Christian teachings\" that calls for the government to tax people so they can provide for free health care. I must have missed that part of the Bible.\n\nDoes you \"universal\" health care also allow anyone to use any hospital they desire? So the military hospitals will be open to the general public and the native hospitals also open to anyone that wants to go? Please explain how your utopia is going to work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no anti Christian bias in this article. These Christians believe they are victims simply because other people have the same rights. It's called entitlement and those days are over.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for pointing this out. Many in the Catholic leadership are complicit in Trump as well. Willing to overlook any and all other sins including the death penalty, blood for oil, oppression of poor and minorities, raping children, if you only say the magic words \"I'm pro-life.\"\n\nIf a politician says an abortion is acceptable in some circumstances, how can this politician be pro-life in the eye's of one issue voters when the Church's position is absolute? Doesn't making abortion illegal in all circumstances mean imprisoning women who choose to terminate dangerous pregnancies? Devoting resources to imprison women instead of programs to support women and lift them from poverty does not sound like what Jesus would do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I pointed out, there are many decent Christians, but that does not change my views on religion. Those of my friends and family who are religious, I love in spite of their faith, not because of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about this from a Lutheran minister at The Federalist?\n\n\"For those with little understanding of and less regard for the Christian faith, there may be no greater image of prayer\u2019s futility than Christians being gunned down mid-supplication. But for those familiar with the Bible\u2019s promises concerning prayer and violence, nothing could be further from the truth. When those saints of First Baptist Church were murdered yesterday, God wasn\u2019t ignoring their prayers. He was answering them.\"\n\n\n___well, okie dokie.\n\n\n\n\nHe goes on to talk about what it means to ask God to \u201cdeliver us from evil\u201d in the Lord\u2019s prayer.\n\nThrough these same words, we are asking God to deliver us out of this evil world and into his heavenly glory, where no violence, persecution, cruelty, or hatred will ever afflict us again.\n\n\n \n___He is suggesting that saying the Lord's prayer is a direct request to die.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The allegation that the pastor is a \"priest, who is 'on loan' from another diocese evidently because he had a turbulent history there\" is a scurrilous slur with no foundation at all.\n\nI made some inquiries in the Diocese of Knoxville through Fr. John R. Dowling, the pastor at Holy Ghost Catholic Church, and found that Fr. Christopher Riehl, a late vocation, was ordained in Knoxville in 2009. As with a number of priests in that diocese he is trained in both the current and 1962 Missals.\n\nAfter going through some training in various venues in the diocese he was assigned to St. Mary\u2019s Church in Johnson City to a bi-weekly Mass using the 1962 Missal in response to 25 years of requests by the Five Rivers Deanery.\n\nThis was in addition to his serving as associate at St John Neumann parish in the Knoxville suburb of Farragut.\n\nIn 2014, where the article begins, he was incardinated with Bishop Stika\u2019s permission in the Diocese of Charlotte, which is still short of priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's true. We can have a desire to love someone in the future...and we can be glad that God helped us to love in the past, but we can't really sacrifice (that's the Catholic definition of love..it's the one that Christ gave us on the Cross) in the future or the past...the act of the will to love is only available to us in the present moment.\n\nAnd that's why God doesn't want us dwelling much on the past or dreaming about the future...He wants us to love Him in the moment by serving someone near us.\n\nMy wife knows this...she understands that love is a decision, not mere shifting feeling. Love is a Yes, let it be done to me according to your word (and will).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oops! you're right. I just attended their last meeting on Tuesday in the Makiki Christian Church. Hence my mistake.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It is not up to our hierarchy to determine or decide who is naturally allowed to be called to any vocation, based on their flesh.\"\n\nYou do not understand basic Catholic belief.\n\nYou believe the Church is just another HUMAN organization, with decisions being made strictly on a natural basis, guided by -'flesh'.\n\nThe Church is guided by the HOLY SPIRT.\n\nThe Church has survived 2000 years, and is stronger than ever, in spite of 2000 years of persecution, misrepresentation and attacks.\n\nChrist said to Peter: \"Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it\" (Matt. 16:18). \n\nAnd you are wrong, it IS up to the hierarchy to determine or decide - through the guidance of the HOLY SPIRT - who is allowed to be called to any vocation.\n\nOnce again, the Church is not, never has been, nor never will be - a 'democracy'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I think all Catholics agree the US should have entered that war. Historically, wars in the Middle East usually result in satisfying outcomes for all concerned and peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only other person who consistently opens a comment to me with \"Really, Marty?\" is Steven Shea.\n\nI said \"I know not a single Catholic who believes the earth's age can be measured in thousands of years and man lived concurrently with the dinosaurs.\", not \"There is not a single Catholic who believes the earth's age can be measured in thousands of years and man lived concurrently with the dinosaurs.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought conservatives despised Theocracies, especially of the non-Christian flavor?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religion should be taught at school but in a completely different way. Overview classes covering Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism and others should start early. Teach what each believes, why they believe it, etc etc and let kids make informed decisions as they mature without all the fear of the unknown. Religion should be private, no groups singing or praying in school, just allegiance to your country (Canada) and the values that allow open discussion without fear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "simpleton conflator of facts...the members of the first Christians in Israel were exclusively Jewish. Must make all Christians today, not really Christian, but Jewish. The only thing your post proves is how small your mind is and how cons are in love with always moving backwards. Yeah, too bad no other president (R or D) had the guts that LBJ had, when it came to overcoming the objections of certain Rs & Ds con-tentness with the status quo of civil rights in America. Your post proves your light bulb is burnt out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The ancient Greeks, Roman, Mongols, Eastern Christians (following Greece and Rome) and pretty much every civilisation and religion have long understood that the earth is a sphere (or roundish anyway). \nFlat earth theories are about as rooted in fact as Dan Brown novels are rooted in actual history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is hard to imagine how that compromise would be structured. As citizens of the United States, men and women ought to be able to enter any business establishment and contract for goods or services. Men and Women ought to be able to partake of comestibles in public restaurants or drink in dives. Men and Women ought to be able to purchase or rent accommodations anywhere. All of these without fear of humiliation, or physical harm. This is a birthright of every person and the especial heritage of each citizen of the united states.\n\nSome people seem to find in the Gospel of Jesus Christ the justification to refuse to do business with, or rent lodging to, or to employ fellow citizens. I'm not sure how a Civil society can encourage such behaviors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"One can't \"do\" church and openly criticize the Popes\"? \nWhen what Popes do, don't are lacking then, yes, of course. Being faithful as a Christian is as demanding as the Jewish journalist your referred to. The \"unflinching look at the truth\" makes faith and \"faithfulness\" difficult but it ultimately reveals real faith and faithfulness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"But how much better it would be if, instead of flabby agreement on \u2014 or disinterest in \u2014 previously divisive points of faith, we could understand in detail what we believe and why it differs from what others believe? That might bring us to the possibility of meaningful discoveries of surprising common ground or an agreement to live in peace despite our sometimes-profound differences.\" - Bill Tammeus\n\nI suspect two insights might become apparent if people actually knew the details of their faith from an outsider's perspective, and reflected on the fact that so many versions of faith exist - not only around the world, but just among Christians: 1) faith is not a virtue and is in itself divisive; 2) the human race can achieve unity and \"healing\" the sooner we agree on a model of reality based on evidence rather than the active imaginations of theologians and the ancient authors of \"sacred\" texts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A government shouldn't be doing this.\n\nTwo of many options.\n\nThe Catholic Church is free to help the Jewish Centers pay for this.\n\nOr better, Catholic lay members can help pay for it themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It isn't just a \"religious\" thing - you would probably consider me to be \"religious\" even if I don't, as a Christian - I don't care if anyone uses birth control and used it for many years, before I got a more permanent birth control solution, as I didn't want kids in my 40's and beyond... Abortion on the other hand, seems to me to be barbaric.\n\nI recommend that you watch Monty Python's \"The Meaning of Life\" and pay attention to the musical number early on \"Every Sperm is Sacred.\" I don't know if that will lend some perspective, but it will probably make you laugh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think we need to seek salvation at all times by following Jesus model of being of service to those who are in need. It could be a smile, a hug, kind words or deeds, advice, direction, or charity (food, clothing, money). \nWhen I show indifference or rejection, I feel that I have failed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Melania is not an effective advocate for children. She inflicted Aspberger-type problems on her own child by having him with an aged man. \n\nAlso, she acts out creepy Catholic, even Gothic, sentimentalized motherhood, rather than actual, responsible motherhood, which requires taking economic responsibility for yourself (and earning money by doing something other than taking your clothes off).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense. I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist.\" -- Pat Robertson 1991\n\nDayymm, I thought protestants all kind of got along with each other.\n\nI wonder how he feels about Catholics", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, a mandatory celibate priesthood was imposed on the Church and was accepted reluctantly. That's evident from any review of the history of the topic. \nThen, it became used as a mark of proof of the \"holiness\" and close proximity to God of the Catholic Church, as opposed to Protestants. (This, of course, from the Catholic perspective. :-) ) \nThe rule of celibacy has been questioned now for some time; this is not an invention of gen X or millenials. The exodus from the Church also started a while ago. It's a bit strange to me that only now it is becoming noticed, but, whatever......\nI do agree fully with your last sentence :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are two sides to this story and would suggest that your interpretation is both skewed and biased.\nEven the catholic bishops in Honduras were divided on this issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some conservative Christians love theocracies, but ONLY of the Christian flavor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The violent death of anyone is an evil thing and should not be sought out or glorified. However, the lives of these martyrs should be glorified, they refused to abandon what they believed in at the hands of murderous people. Violent extremism of any sort should be fought no matter if in Egypt, Syria, Iraq or the USA, no matter if they are committing these horrible crimes in the name of Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism or any other religion or philosophy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I agree with you, consolidating parishes -- leaving some parishes in the consolidation without resident priests -- isn't really the answer to the drop in eastern parishes, I also believe the Catholic population percentage-wise in the East is shifting to the south and southwest. And that is not the fault of Pittsburgh. For example, the Catholic population in the South (from Virginia to Texas) has grown from 17% to 24%; and if one includes the southwest, to 30%. That region of the US church is increasing while the east is decreasing (although southern New England is still around 35% Catholic; and NY and New Jersey have large numbers of Catholics). But can any eastern parish, for example, match St. Monica's parish in Santa Monica, CA, with 7,000 on a weekend? Anyway, I just hope the beautiful stained glass windows in the Pittsburgh churches (if later closed) are given or offered at a low price to new southern churches like a parish church soon to be dedicated in Viera, FL.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What you label an \"attack\" on Catholicism is (in many cases) a call for reform. As RockChalk mentions above, this is not a new development in church/theological evolution. You also might consider that ALL religions are man made and, hence, subject to interpretation and various forms of scrutiny. We simply cannot know the unknowable in this life so we do the best we can within the belief system(s) which our forefathers have constructed. If you can accept this you might even see value in certain Protestant beliefs, as well as other non-Christian faith traditions. I'm certainly no expert but there is ample evidence showing that Catholicism is moving in this direction, much to the chagrin to the traditionalist mindset. The lesson here, I think, moor yourself to the infinite/spiritual realm of Christ as opposed to the finite/literal/temporal.\n\nI post here as an open-minded, eternal seeker of God--not an academic either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your 'red herring\" wrt to Rome is noted. Ever wonder what happened outside of Rome?\n\nYour OT Biblical ref. are basically the same as what Jesus said, what did YOU do to help the poor, not someone else, but YOU. \n\nOr put another way, percent of your personal possessions are are you willing to part with, to help the poor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What...for defending Catholic teaching?\n\nLOL", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not to mention that even Christians say 'Happy Holidays' now and then. That expression wasn't just made up a few years ago, after all. It's an ancient greeting that originally meant 'Happy Holy Days.' Today people use it as shorthand to wish people a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.\n\nThe things some people choose to find offense in boggle the mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "*Three* redundant trips: Public-French, Catholic-English and Catholic-French.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The study finds a correlation between individual church growth and a more conservative or fundamental theology, and yonger pastors or church leaders. While the study provides more empirical evidence, it is not new, nor does it necessarily offer causation patterns.\n\nIn some geographies (Quebec would be pone example), christian church related activity is simply in decline, related partly to age, and partly to a historical distrust of all churches. In other geographies (Brazil would be a good example), fundamental protestant churches are all growing. In between, this congregation may grow, while that declines. What does church attendance provide - a social community, learning for younger people and for adults, enjoyment of music and music skill development, a social justice opportunity, a beleiving community, .... There are many reasons.\n\nYet, it seems still that, in large parts of Canada and northern Europe, church attachment is declining. Why?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you want a secular school system, stop giving exceptions to Christians and have classes on Sundays.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a story about a man sitting on top of a house during a flood. A rescue boat comes along and they say \"hop In\", the man says \"no, God will save me\". After awhile another boat comes along after the water gets higher. They say, \"get in\", the man says \"no God will save me\". the water is just about to wash the man off the roof and a helicopter flies up and the crew says, \"we'll lower a basket for you\", the man says \"no, God will save me\". Well the man gets washed off and drowns. When he gets to the Pearly Gates he says to God, \"I have been a devout Christian all my life and in my hour of need you failed me\". God said \"what do you want from me, I sent two boats and a helicopter? \n\nSometimes the circumstances are just telling you what you are doing isn't working. Adding divinity to it is optional.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Catholic Church in the U.S. opened its books it would make Donald Trump and the Mafia look like Snow White.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The description of the rationale for using the Filoque side-steps the scriptural issue neatly but in a manner that only the elite would know. What is unfortunate is that much of Scripture is still a mystery for many Catholics. My former teacher for religious studies in college was a daily mass attender and devout Catholic-but he said and I quote: \"I don't know the Bible\".\n The Fundamentalists have co-opted familiarity with chapter and verse, which is unfortunate, as Genesis is a theological narrative, not science. The issue is authority-and clericalism depends on the ignorance of the laity for its continued dominance. \n I think, rather, that Mariology has confused the issue of the role of the Holy Spirit in the church. Yves Congar, French Jesuit commented when perusing official documents was of this wise: \"Wherever I expected to find commentary on the Holy Spirit I found references to Mary.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The prayer for Wisdom is a good one....\"\n\nIt also makes sense why Dolan will be there: he is from New York, head of a powerful archdiocese, and will represent the many white Catholics who voted for Trump. The other five clerics -- like (1) Paula White, the Evangelical televangelist and personal minister to Trump; (2) the rabbi, Rabbi Hier of Simon Wiesenthal Center; (3) an Hispanic Evangelical pastor, representing the minority of Hispanics who voted for him; (4) Billy Graham's son, Franklin, another Evangelical ; and an African American cleric (5) , Bishop Wayne Jackson, representing the African American minority who voted for him -- all represent segments of our population who voted for him. Trump will also have the Mormon and Episcopal choirs singing for him. Too bad his religious tent won't include a cleric from the Moslem community. But a Muslim would taint the religious picture or image of America Trump wants to convey. Here, a prayer for wisdom (and democracy) is called for!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually there are many businesses that work around the clock, 24/7. I currently work in an establishment, that does just that. We work Saturdays and Sundays, regardless of religion. I am a Christian, but I do what my employer tells me to because I want a paycheck. My church is in my heart, not a building. The inmates don't run the asylum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I commented about this in your issue dated 4/19/17. I cannot believe the Vatican would allow the pope to meet with Donald Trump. He was fraudulently elected and espouses attitudes and governmental policies that are not in keeping with tenets of Christianity much less Roman Catholicism. What would they have to say to each other? If the pope thinks he can influence Mr. Trump, he's mistaken. Trump is looking for a photo op that implies that Pope Francis will kow-tow to an American president's bigoted and authoritarian agenda. He seeks reapproachment with the pope, not! The pope should make himself unavailable. Such a meeting will sow further discord in the American church. Is this the outcome aspired to by the Vatican?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suggest that it is impossible to provide a single definition for \"populism.\" There are family resemblances between the great numbers of descriptions, but that's how far it goes, especially, if there is an attempt to attach a value judgement to it (which almost always the case). \n\nOne could, for example, say that the first Christians were populists. The Christian message was a simple message (a simplicity that authors such as Origen and Alexander of Lycopolis considered a virtue). Its leader was charismatic and anti establishment, and most of his followers were simple, poor and unimportant. Does this make \"populism\" a Christian virtue?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just saying what you said. In addition Christianity is far from being the same. Big difference from being a Roman Catholic and a Unitarian. I think Judaism is the official religion of Israel? I don't know, but here in the United States, we do not have an official religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of our (meaning Catholics across the board) overarching problems with Liturgical music is that it is in competition with the celebrants at the altar and in the sanctuary. Catholic Eucharistic liturgies have not gotten even close to the true concept of community celebration. That's what the black Protestant churches - and the black Catholic churches by extension - have had down pat for a very long time. The form of music is secondary to the fit between it and the confection of the Eucharist. It has been - historically - a competition between the two. A wonderful liturgist I know told me not so long ago that it will always be so due to the nature of our particular form of worship that is rigidly set in one and only one way. Describes the whole Church, doesn't it? He went on to tell me of how many Church choir directors have intense competitions for who can produce the most thrilling music. One need only attend Mass at various NYC major churches to know how true that is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anyone who has trouble with the NYT paywall may read the Groome article here: \n\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/27/opinion/to-win-again-democrats-must-stop-being-the-abortion-party.html\n\n\"But for many traditional Catholic voters, Mrs. Clinton\u2019s unqualified support for abortion rights \u2014 and Mr. Trump\u2019s opposition (and promise to nominate anti-abortion Supreme Court justices) \u2014 were tipping points.\" I'm not sure he defends his thesis well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mark,\n\n\"Abortion should be legal out of regard for the interests of the pregnant woman.\" As Catholics, we believe that God created us in His image and likeness. Mark, God created us to know, love and serve Him. Abortion destroys God's creation and destroys the gift of Life that God has bestowed upon the child that has been conceived, whether it is the fruit of the natural marriage act, rape or incest. If one trusts in God (and not our own limited knowledge) and asks His help in a difficult situation, one will find the strength and receive the graces necessary to make a decision that pleases God, for example carrying the baby to term out of love for God and His creation and giving the baby up for adoption or and yes, it does happen in cases of incest and rape, that mothers decide to raise the child, believing that this child which was conceived, (even though under such unnatural and terrible conditions) and growing in their womb is a part of themselves not only the perpetrator.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A movement can be political without being a formal political party.\"\n\nYes, indeed it can. And if such a political MOVEMENT existed in Canada, you'd name it. But you can't. Nor can you name an Islamic political movement in the USA, Britain, France or in any other democracy.\n\nIslam is no more a political movement than is Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...the face of Christendom was forever altered?\"\n\nOne part of me was pulling your leg; another, suggesting that, among many other things, the pre-Constantine Roman church community -- antedating the \"Roman variety\" community (that came after Constantine) -- created no Christian paradise either. It was community that was basically Jewish. It had adopted a moderately conservative Jewish Christian stance about many things. It contained a good many \"sebomenoi,\" Jewish by sympathy (though self-identified Christians) and some Gentile proselytes. But early Roman church communities weren't all what some people make them out to be today -- unsullied by Constantine. And I think there were just as many holy people in the pre-Constantine Roman church community as in the post Constantine Roman church community. Sanctity can triumph anywhere, under any regime, and is always an indication of Christ's presence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We shall see. It looks like the ICEL doesn't want another round (Irish Catholic September 14) and many can't envisage spending the money involved on this issue. As for priests wanting it, well some do and some don't. The Partisans of 1998 (Reese , Flannery, etc) will obviously want a recount but they are at the senior end of things and not universally popular. I suspect that youger priests will not be behind it. Just like Catholics in the pews, there will be division based on many factors. NCR is not necessarily the most representative organ of Catholic opinion - though it's fun!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I explained above, it is not \"religious intolerance\" to say that \"an innocent human being's right to live cannot be dependent on the religion of the person who asserts the right to take that life away.\" The question is not whether the life taker is Jewish or Christian, but whether this this thing whose life is to be taken is human. \n\nYou say that the idea that life begins at conception is relatively recent. That, for one, is irrelevant. The same could be said two weeks after it was learned that the world is not flat. What's relevant is that as time progresses, and we learn more about the development of life in the womb, we have more basis than ever to say that human life begins at conception, rather than at, say, quickening.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"... the pontiff also called \u201cprophetic\u201d the men and women who urged the church for decades to face the problem.\"\n- No doubt among the prophets are those catholics, christians, and men and women of goodwill (almost all of them of the laity) who work in the secular press (radio, tv, newspapers, magazines, internet news sites). Included also as prophets are the men and women who worked in law enforcement and would not let the 'father and his bishop' off the hook. Hats off to those few clerics who also blew the whistle and walked the path of prophet.\n- The laity's involvement showed that the church is more than the hierarchical institution and that the laity must claim responsible for the hierarchical church as well as the domestic, parochial churches, and local or particular churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a clear and concise statement of what I have been saying for a while now. When speaking of this issue people tend to personalize this way to much to the individual sitting in the Papal chair when its bigger than that. It's the entire Roman Curia and Clerical Culture. And specifically the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faithful. \n\nMarie Collins pointed out how they and people at the lower levels who have specifically obstructing Francis's recommendations. And this isn't the only issue this has happened with. What this shows is that change isn't gonna come from a one man effort where the Pope is some sort a superman. \n\nIt is gonna have to come from a massive movement of dedicated people both in the Church structures, and those outside putting pressure as well. The Pope cannot change everything in the Vatican and Catholic Church by himself. It has to be done through a movement of pressure on the structures and institutions that make his changes easier to implement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A great way to help Christians in the Middle East is through \"Aid to the Church in Need\".\n\nIt was something to hear \"Thank You\" from Louis Sako, Patriarch of Babylon for Chaldeans, on the work of this group does.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do not see the word \"Christian\" in either of the quotes mentioned in this article. Adam Vaughan speaks of Scheer as someone opposed to civil rights advancements while Pablo Rodriguez speaks of Scheer as a social conservative. Neither of these comments is in any way anti-Christian. Many Christians support civil rights and have been prominent in the struggle for the recognition and protection of those rights. Not all Christians, by any stretch of the imagination, are social conservatives; and certainly not all social conservatives are Christians. Simply because some right-wing, socially conservative Christians may think they are \"truer\" Christians than those who support more \"left-wing,\" environmental, or human rights causes does not make it so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing about sex is dogmatic because Dogma is about what we agreed to at Chalcedom, Ephesus and Nicea. No Pope declared it (the Romans at the time were Aryan heretics), it was voted on by elected bishops. The rest depends on reason and the reality of evidence. The days when the Pope saying so or the Bible so outweighing reality are over. What I do rely on are what he said about himself (God) being gentle and humble of heart, his yoke is easy and his burden light. His morality makes us human, not divine. Charity makes us divine, both private and PUBLIC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought Cruz was Alaska's GOP preference? How many of Alaska's Christians and other Cruz supporters will switch to Trump, since Cruz clearly hates Trump, and Trump isn't a real Christian?\n\nSimilarly, how many of Bernie's supporters will switch to Hillary? At least Bernie openly endorsed Hillary...so there is less of a barrier to them supporting their party's nominee.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marriage and matrimony are two words in the English language defining the same thing. Look them up in any dictionary. \nAll marriages between baptised, non-Catholics of opposite sex are deemed to be sacramentally valid.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's good to hear someone speaking up for their beliefs in an honest way. The political arm of christianity seems intent on pushing supposedly \"christian\" beliefs on others through legislation, opposition to measures like this, and what seems like a constant effort to advance christian liturgy in the public sphere--And to support a well funded group of candidates and political figures doing the same; many of whom have voiced their goal of transforming America into a christian theocracy.\n\nThose of you who truly follow the tenets of love and acceptance taught by Christ are often lost in the large shadow cast by those trying to use your religion as a platform for racism, bigotry, hatred, and fear---And an unquenchable thirst for money and power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obama a Muslim, thats funny and Comrade Stalin was a good Christian. Nice try though.\nI agree with the facts regarding India but you still never answered the question regarding why Obama changed the name of the Christmas tree to Holiday tree?\nJust got done reading a book by Nehru Glimpses of World History and Soviet Russia.\nSubhas Chandra Bose was pro fascist and met Hitler.\nHave Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On that first Christmas night, the Angels sang '...and on earth, peace to men [people] of good will.' If only Catholics are uniting to dramatize the climatic changes, the President-elect won't even notice them. This has to become larger, encompassing other Christians, monotheists, other religious cultures and those with no religion whatever. This grass-roots efforts has to become a noise so loud that it shatters the deafness of apathy, partisanship and ignorance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The author, a Catholic sister, writes incredibly - quite without justification or substantiation - \"Why did Jesus speak in parables? In part, it surely put everyone in his audience on equal footing. \"\n\nAnd yet, let's look plainly at the actual words of the Gospel passage she supposedly meditates upon:\n\n\"The disciples approached him and said,\n\"Why do you speak to them in parables?\" \nHe said to them in reply,\n\"Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven\nhas been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. \"\n\nThe passage clearly indicates quite the contrary. Jesus is treating His disciples DIFFERENTLY than others.\n\nIt's not \"surely\" at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religion has no place in school and no religion should ever be accommodated. Not Christianity, not Islam. Any religious school should be privately funded. Problem solved. The same goes for workplace accommodation. \n\nOtherwise, I'm creating a new religion where I must take five 30 minute breaks per day to drink beer. I can't wait for my employer to accommodate this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder if either Callista or Newt would qualify to give a commencement speech at Catholic University", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not to nit pick, but this (a \"Christian\" university in Lakewood) doesn't matter. They have a great venue location, with accessible parking and easy security.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting reply, foreshorten3. What you state, e.g. \"However, alongside these mega-lay groups there will always be Christians called to -- who feel called to service-- in more traditional orders -- Jesuits, Franciscans, Carmelites, Trappists, etc. The Dominicans at Providence College, Benedictines at St. John's and elsewhere and Holy Cross Community at Notre Dame all seem to be doing well, too.\" This flies in the face of community self-reports that show steady declines, that no matter the size of incoming classes or first professed religious, it never covers the number of religious who retire, are too infirm to do active ministry, or who die (or even leave altogether). I have the notion that you are reporting out of opinion and not out of established fact. And the greater number of lay people taking up a religious commitment today in the US are not of the ones you mention. Look at the sodalities and lay affiliates of many orders, as that is where you find the new religious life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Janhoi,\nYour last sentence may be true, but in the grand scheme of things, he's still picking around the edges. And that's what makes this so frustrating. I suspect if you polled most catholics (current and 'fallen away\"), you'd find a remarkably small set of common desires. A HUGE one would be accountability, across the board, and not on a \"here and there\" kind of basis. Another would be mandatory reporting to the police, along with a proactive sharing of all historical and current records stored (whether at the chancery or Vatican). \n\nYes, Francis has done some things, and in comparison to his predecessors, he looks pretty good. But on the big ticket items, not so much. Clearly, his heart just isn't in this. His tribunal concept collapsed. His Commission was given almost no power, shunted to the sidelines, stonewalled for three years, and even Francis himself ignored them for 3 years... Hardly the signs of a true reformer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not a Christian government; the SCOTUS has made that very clear. What's left is the secular government's opinion of what is moral/immoral, and that has strayed quite a bit from Christian morality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is by leaving the Church, starting up something unrecognizable from the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, and slapping the word \"catholic\" somewhere in its title. Oh, and having some such mock \"ordination\" at a UCC or Unitarian Universalist church down the block, OR at a Holiday Inn.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only reason that there can be a Christian prayer before the meetings, is because it is protected under the First Amendment (per Supreme Court). The real question is that can the Kenai Peninsula Borough decide who is protected by the First? Should they be able to set their own guidelines as to who qualifies or not? Personally, I don't think that should be in their realm of power, and feel that universal standards would be more appropriate in this situation.\nI also find it curious that instead of just getting rid of the invocation all together (and I know that was voted on), that they vote to keep it, but also empowerment to determine the source of the invocation. This is clearly a path to discrimination to dissenting views about Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I read about the refusal of two members of the Pontifical Commission to participate, although a submission was made. Then the U.S. person who said he would participate decided a few weeks ago he would not. Then Dr.Marie Keenan who has done \"significant research into issues related to child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church\" and agreed to testify before the Royal Commission by video link from Ireland decided on Feb 2 that she would not do so. Did someone get them to change their minds?\n\nIt bothers me mightily that the worldwide Church refuses the opportunity to participate in the dialogue and discussion of what went wrong that child sex abuse became such a problem. This is a world wide problem and it affects not just clerical figures but individuals and families. The big guys won't find solutions by just talking to each other. They need to listen to victims and they need to listen to people who have studied this problem from a secular multi-disciplinary viewpoint.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Following on from the Irish War of Independence (with Britain) in the early 1920's; the Irish Hierarchy filled the vacuum and had the church, as a central rallying point. They over-influenced the emerging politicians and developed the culture that to be Irish was to be Catholic; the two were intertwined. That influence lasted well into the 1980's , with remnants lasting up to 2002; when the then Minister of Education Michael Woods signed off on a \"sweetheart deal\", for 18 religious orders in the forefront of religious child abuse. He capped their financial responsibility at \u20ac128M . The taxpayer had to foot the remaining \u20ac1.35B compensation awards. According to the Irish Independent newspaper report dated the 12th October 2003; Woods said \"that his strong Catholic faith made him the most suitable person to negotiate the controversial deal for abuse victims with religious orders\". He excluded the A.G. and his legal team from the discussions and signed off on the agreement himself .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder if this anything goes at the pulpit thing will apply to non-Christian sects?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You used a capital P, which tells me that I am being accused of being insensitive by very sensitive (snowflake) people. I used a small p to indicate pagans as in non Christian, not as in a follower of ???? that is an identifiable group.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a traditional conservative who was raised Catholic, but now I see myself as a nonaligned deist/unitarian. I don't need any ecclesiastical institution to tell me how to think or behave. As a free adult, I can make my own judgments and decisions. That being said, I totally support Israel's right to exist and consider myself a Gentile Zionist. Israel is also one of America's greatest friends and allies. Something we need in a dangerous world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have proved nothing whatsoever. You attempted to prove from the Catechism (the Magisterium) that the Magisterium is false.\nThe questions were not red herrings they were to give you the opportunity of proving that I was misapplying the word Church to the Magisterium. You didn't take that opportunity as you were smart enough to know that in doing so you would be blowing apart your personal theories regarding the nature and structure of the Catholic Church.\nIf you don't reply to the questions then I see no point in continuing this discussion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you even know this country's history Eugene dude? The Treaty of Tripoli...at least the version all of the other countries signed doesn't even have an article 11 in it and the US version that does have it only because someone added it at the last minute and the government claimed they threw it in there so when the Barbary muslim pirate captured our ships and enslaved its passengers the Christians would be singled out and mistreated. \n\nOne of the prominent members of the cabinet back then made a comment like \"The Senate, my good friend, and I said so at the time, ought never to have ratified the treaty alluded to, with the declaration that 'the government of the United States, is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.' What else is it founded on? This act always appeared to me like trampling upon the cross. I do not recollect that Barlow was even reprimanded for this outrage upon the government and religion.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is 30 years ago today the lords prayer was removed from the public school system in light of protests that is infringed on the rights of non christian and non believer. \nI am quoting a CBC news article 'A non believer and two other parents, among them a Jew and Muslim, filed a lawsuit in 1985 under the Charter of Rights, which was new at the time' that lords prayer in public school infringed on their rights. - 'Three years later, in September 1988, they won a decision against the Sudbury school board which had the Lord's Prayer removed from all Ontario public schools.' So so is history. \nI find it ironic that thirty years later, the same charter is being used to make religious accommodation. I can understand why this must frustrate those who once had the lords prayer to have it removed. It is unfortunate that my children will not have this since my generation but the intention is the public school system is secular and should remain this way. Religion should be taught at home.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 2\nnot a catholic, she remarries and has another child, a few years later Joe meets someone who helps him with his problems, he commits to a civil union, he now has two more young children, with his new partner, who is not Catholic although a Christian, Joe has a true conversion (He realizes what he has lost) in that all the errors/ sins he has committed come in upon him, he wants to recapture that which he has lost and return to the Church and in doing so wants his children to be brought up as Catholics, his partner is in agreement with him.\n He knows he cannot as he cannot receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation or partake of the Bread of Life, he is entangled in a sinful situation, in his heart he knows that he cannot leave his present family and he also knows that continence even if attempted is unrealistic for him and his new partner, if he is to maintain family harmony at this moment in time.\n\ncontinued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the course of achieving a Masters in Education I studied Waldorf and its founder Steiner. My impression was that there was a very loose connection between his \"occult\" practices and curriculum. Since Christian values are the root of our culture, one could just as easily say mainstream public schools operate under embedded religious values derived from principles handed down 2000 years ago in a book that contains the mystical words of a deity. \nIt IS good for all parents to know the underlying philosophy of the school their child attends. The parents at Waldorf school have made a decision that the actual activities of a Waldorf education fit with the goals for their child. For those who believe in local control, Waldorf, like charter schools and religious based schools, are as local as one can get.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The primary civil rights issue of our day remains the slaughter of more than a million children in the womb annually, but Reese et al. want to have immigration marches. Catholics are increasingly marginalized if they bring their faith convictions into public life, be it the baker who won't make a wedding cake to celebrate sodomy or the doctor who will not do abortions or prescribe contraceptives, but Reese et al. want us to get into bed with Bernie Sanders. No thanks!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"They were repurposed for Christian purposes.\"\n\nExactly. As was the Pontifex Maximus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nice to see Hawkes upholding Christian values. Spotlight anyone?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I read this and am at peace with my decision to withdraw my contributions to the Catholic Church and donate instead to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not if you are Christian. I suspect had these been Christian workers the ruling would have been different, and certainly the comments here supporting the workers would be far different.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians don't celebrate morning mass - Catholics do. Mass is often at 5pm so no conflict with school hours..\nCatholics are Christians too!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you want to learn the true legacy of Christianity, read \"A History of Pagan Europe\" by Jones & Pennick. This includes Halloween, Christmas & Easter, with all of the strange things that are included into \"true believing\" church services, all in the name of Christianity. None of which are going to be tolerated by a Second Coming Jesus...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Might be that Christians churches are a more diverse lot than some believe. For those of a particular nature, we are accepting of: diverse physical difference, helping the poor, saving the garden, showing open hands and not weapons when we 'meet' those not like ourselves.\n\nTolerance and empathy should be a part of the Christian tradition. Some of us also suffer from arrogance or piousness. In other words, Christian are very human - very diverse and all imperfect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "[Pete Vere, JCL]\n\nJim:\n\n1 - Are you my old friend James & R Scott? If not, ignore the next question.\n\n2 - When you strip away all the lawyering, how much of an improvement is this over its predecessor 'correctio' \"We Resist You to Your Face\" published almost 20 years ago?\n\nDifferent pope. But same spirit of discontent in my opinion. \n\nWhat immediately strikes me about the signatories is that none appear to be Eastern Catholics, or religious from contemplative cloistered or monastic communities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is one of the differences between a church and a denomination, with the Presbyterians being a denomination and the Catholic Church being a church in the usual 3 part church-denomination-sect typology. No surprises here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"You've sat in A/G services and you still reject Jesus Christ and Him crucified.\"\nYep.\nI do my own thinking and I form my own beliefs about God. I know it boggles your mind.\nI'm glad to hear your view of Christendom is broad, because many of your fellow believers don't think so.\nI refuse to believe God has \"saved\" 1 billion or 100 million people, and will condemn 6.5 billion or 7.4 billion people to eternal Hell solely because they view God differently.\nI happen to think Muslims, Buddhists, polytheists, and atheists will become part of God if they are charitable towards their fellow human beings, do not deliberately harm someone and made amends when they inadvertently do, treat the planet with respect, and take steps that benefit not only themselves but also everyone else.\nSuch as,\nRecognize human beings are having global effects on the planet and try to come up with solutions. We can argue about the solutions, but the first step is to recognize humanity's global impact on the planet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Millennia of migrations, inter-marriage and conversions make contemporary Jews related to ancient Hebrews as much as todays Roman Catholics are to ancient Romans.\n\nEven if they were, this would still not justify Zionism: my \"ancestral homeland\" 3000 years ago may well be Israel, Peru or Timbuctu, but that does not give me the right to displace or dominate those who lived there for centuries and have no other home.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you meant \"time\" instead of \"tie\"....\nI do wonder what you get out of these exchanges...the vitriol...the invective...it seems incongruous for a christian who is always a stalwart defender of the Church...is this what the Church wants??? Is this the way Christ taught his followers to act??? I cannot help but ask, not only to spark discussion of idears and things, but out of a sincere desire to understand how you square these postings with your profession of faith....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "areukiddingme writes:\n\n\"Certainly there was a time when Christianity experienced its share of inter-sect fighting but that hasn't been the case for hundreds of years\"\n\n-\n\nGoogle \"Northern Ireland sectarian Troubles 1968 \u2013 1998\".\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CMD: Please note the law and it's violation by the businesses who refuse service. The position of the radical-right fundamentalist Christians (and, let's be honest here, that's who has taken the actions of refusing services) is that their religious beliefs supercede the law regarding denial of service to protected classes of persons. ....essentially, that their First Amendment Religious Rights include the right to discriminate against protected classes of persons. \n\nI'll certainly accept their right to bigotry regarding homosexuals. I'll certainly accept their right to speak out and condemn homosexuality and same-sex marriage. I will not accept...and of far more importance, the COURTS , it seems, will not accept acts of discrimination which violate Civil Rights and the attempt to justify that discrimination on Religious Freedom grounds. Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't being Christian about loving people and tolerance. How did you pervert it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The difference between Christians and atheists are 1. Atheists are content with their condition. 2. Christians saw that their condition had a void in it and needed God to fill it. 3. Christians are not satisfied with people being damned and are reaching out with Good News in order to change the destiny of the billions who either have not heard or are open to what God has to offer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "James Joyce on the Catholic Church: \"Here comes everybody.\"\nArchbishop Chaput on the Catholic Church: \"There goes everybody.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are no new dogmas, only new definitions of truths which already exists like the Assumption. There is no dogmatic declaration that the Eucharistic elements ought to be bread and wine except for the fact that Christ used them at the Last Supper and the Church has continued the practice of Christ. Christ ordained the 12 apostles at the Last Supper, the apostles chose between 2 'men' to replace Judas, ordained 7 'men' as deacons. As LG states the apostles ordained 'men' to succeed them and this has been the Church's practice following Christ and His apostles ever since.\nAs I said, the author of TOB does not draw the same conclusions from it as you do, with respect I would say that St John Paul is in the best position to interpret what he, himself wrote.\nOrdinatio Sacerdotalis has all the hallmarks of an infallible declaration of a truth. The Pope was solemnly declaring, 'confirming the brethren' that the Church has no authority from Christ to ordain women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "actually the are based on several religions because most have similar morals in them, not just christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even if the United States was founded on the right of Christianity to join with the state in carrying out its particular vision, mission and scriptural code of conduct, that doesn't mean we should be doing today what our nation did in the past.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ISIS is a movement involving thousands of official members, and millions of supporters. It cannot be dismissed as irrelevant to the religion itself, any more than Protestantism could be dismissed as \"not really Christianity\" when it came up with a different version of Christianity.\n\nIn both cases, they could be called heresies by \"mainstream\" Catholicism and Islam, but to claim they have nothing to do with the original religion is \"a bizarre stretch of logic\".\n\nSimilar to those who claim Stalin, Mao, the Khmer Rouge, etc. have nothing to do with \"real Marxism\". They were an extreme version of it, not something totally different.\n\nWhile equating Stalin with Scandinavian socialism is unwarranted, to deny they are related at all is \"a bizarre stretch of logic\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. Female at conception.\n2. U.S. citizen at birth.\n3. Catholic at baptism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ">'evangelical christians'.\n\nI don't think you're accurate in the context of history of this nation and in the racial makeup of Hawaii's current evangelical population.\n\nSure, we'd all love to pin our problems on a single religious faction, and then destroy that group of people to solve all of our problems... Unfortunately life is more complex than that, and wholesale persecution of any group really hasn't seemed to work for anyone, ever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately there are many, in \"E1\" and \"E2\" as well who are under the spell of one or other of the \"single issues\" and perforce count themselves as \"unable but to support\" what is in fact the \"ecumenism of hate/exclusion. They, Catholic and otherwise, subscribe to the Ratzinger theory that \"...the ordinary Catholic (and Christian) is a simple person. It is the role of the bishop to protect these simple persons from the power of the intellectuals\" (read Liberals). \nThis may be particularly so for Catholics. As the \"Baltimore\" answers the \"why\" with: Because the Church teaches the truth, therefore....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These situations remind me of the lesson in the Gospels about the woman who was caught in adultery. The people wanted the law enforced! The law is the law! But Jesus taught them that nobody is without sin, and he showed MERCY and FORGIVENESS. What good is done by removing these families from America? The children are US citizens. Forcing the parents to take them to a foreign country, or lose them to adoption is not right. Are we Christians or not? Do we believe in MERCY, as Jesus showed us or not?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and Christian. Did you forget?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The difference is in the doctrine. The core doctrine of Islam is the Quran, which is seen as the direct word of God and the scripture contained within the Quran is view by all Muslims to be infallible, immutable and perfected. The core doctrine of Christianity is the four gospels (the only canonical books to contain the words and teachings attributed to Jesus Christ). The difference is that the Quran and the earliest Hadiths (commentaries) forms the basis for a legal system (i.e. Sharia law) Sharia law, in varying forms, is the law of the land in all Muslim-controlled countries (Sharia is also being practiced by parallel courts within the UK) while Christianity does not come with a legal system baked into it's text.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sin and judgement is NOT the Adventist message! The Adventist message is Sola Scriptura, by Scripture Alone, and Scripture describes a God whose love and compassion go to great lengths. Including John 17:20-21, where Christ prays for our unity and Matt 25: 34-40 where God describes those who feed the hungry and clothe the naked as righteous and welcomes them into the kingdom. Showing love and having standards is not mutually exclusive. And the social justice movement is not new gospel. The bible is a long standing record of God fighting for the oppressed from Genesis' deliverance of the children of Isreal to the deliverance of the church in Revelation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or they will blame on evangelical Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think both St Mark and St Matthew gave us the main and central Jesus quote, not St Josemaria.\n\nIt's the \"working with\" that quote (and in the squeezing of what we can from that quote into our ordinary every day life, which becomes our \"response\" to Jesus) which is in question.\n\nAs the Church says...faith is our response to God.\n\nSo it is quite reasonable for us to ask the questions I gave above, or equivalently demanding and probing questions.\n\nWe can dismiss or reject the universal call to holiness each Christian has received; we can try to make it smaller or less demanding (and less today, now) on us; but then we're left to examine (hopefully in prayer & not during our judgement) how was our response to Him?\n\nWas it full, complete, cheerful and trusting?\n\nDid we love Him w/ all our heart, mind, soul, & strength? \n\nOr did we \"define down\" the message from Jesus?\n\nDid we, through our own pride, ego, vanity cause others to \"define down\" Christianity?\n\nGood questions to work over.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't need eight years of advanced study in theology to know the most basic teaching of the Catholic faith and Christianity. A 7 year old in first communion class can answer the simple question \"Is Jesus Divine?\" without any difficulty. You may have difficulty with this simple concept but any actual Catholic or Christian does not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When it comes to \"true Christian values\", most of my Christian friends would put compassion at the top of the list. Ryz seems to organize his list differently.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "cf: Civilta Cattolica, \"Evangelical Fundamentalism and Catholic Integralism: A Surprising Ecuminism\", Antonio Spadaro & Marcelo Figueroa", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apostasy, leaving the religion is a capital crime in Islam. Catholics , Christians, Jews can all convert to otehr religions or become atheists if they want. Only Islam ordains death upon anybody who dares to leave. It would be good to know how many murders in Canada are actually \"honor killings\" of people who left Islam. Let's ask the Shafia women and Axa Parvaz. They know what's going on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm just pointing out that the breakdown of your analogy yields more fruit than the analogy itself. Yes, we have learned a lot more about sexuality and morality over the last few thousand years. Certainly, the new law given by Jesus is seen by Christians as an enhancement or fulfillment of the old law. Matrimony becomes a full sacrament only in the last thousand years. The unitive aspect of sexuality in marriage is seen as equal to the procreative aspect only in the last hundred years. And yes, we are still learning scientifically. Some advocate that learned truth can change old guidelines; others insist the old guidelines are by definition perfect. Our history shows that our perfection is overblown, and that we learn and grow as described above.\n\nTo answer your last question: I have read the passage and I believe its message, but your interpretation of its message doesn't reflect the love that Jesus offered and offers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Certainly not a Christian act!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting stuff. So you seem to imply that the state of Oregon had a prejudice against Catholic schools in particular? How does this link to the conservative protestant churches of today? Not questioning your history at all, it's fascinating. As a young Oregonian I had no idea of the reach of the KKK in Oregon at one time.\n\nThere are many abominations that have been justified through religious affiliation. That is NOT meant to be an indictment of all religious people, not by a long shot. But spiritual folks have got to be careful then don't sympathize with organization like the KKK or modern white supremacist, just because they use a label of Christian, Muslim, Jewish, etc.... It should be Christians who state with humility, that they will not support bigotry and discrimination. You can't defend bigotry just because it's confiscated your symbols of religious faith.\n\n*As a Christian I will not support any teaching of creationism as science.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The recent situation I was talking about-the Coptic Christians on the bus who were murdered, some where asked if they were Christian, to renounce Jesus as God (Muslims believe He is a prophet only) and they refused and were shot. You over think things and seem to get off track and miss the point. \nSelf denial involves being willing to let go of our own ideas and opinions and humbly deferring to the wisdom of God, as well as not over indulging ourselves in pleasures and too many worldly, material things. And that barely scratches the surface of the doctrine of self-denial.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And so are conservatives.\nDo you know your reasoning behind why Jefferson wrote about the wall of separation is also the reasoning used by others to explain the 2nd Amendment? So that Southerners could create armed militias to track down runaway slaves and put down slave rebellions?\nWho do you think owned slaves in the South? Buddhists?\nChristians owned slaves in the South. And they used the Bible you are so proud of to justify that ownership.\nWhy do you think Southern Baptists and Southern Methodists and Southern offshoots of other denominations formed? So that those denominations could provide a theological foundation to support slavery.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Believable in every horrifying detail. Our hearts go out to the victims and their families and the named (and unnamed) will be printed in our parish book of prayer. May the guilty be brought to justice! May this new revelation redouble the efforts of those committed to protecting the lives of innocent children everywhere, especially those Catholic youngsters most vulnerable now in the Southern hemisphere!\nMay the Laity Forward Movement be successful in getting the NW out of Guam!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe the lack of comments on this article proves, that like myself, no one sees the point to this Catholic Women Preach series. \n\nI have heard lay women preach during mass as well as lay men. This proves no one needs to be ordained to preach at mass.\n\nWhat is wrong, is not that we aren't hearing women preach outside of mass and church, but that we can't hear them, as priests, preaching the Gospel, during mass, in our churches. No one ever disputed, even in the hierarchy, that Catholic Women can't preach their socks off outside of church. This is how many women religious communities started. \n\nFuture Church, US Assoc. of Catholic Priests, and Voice of the Faithful need to stop pretending to care about the horrible discrimination against women, in our church, and start demanding that women be ordained the same as men, starting with priesthood. The permanent deaconate is not any form of equality, and it is time to stop playing games with the humanity of all women in our church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are no faiths that support ISIS. ISIS claims to be Muslim. There's a difference.\n\nPaul Bernardo could claim to be Christian, but that doesn't mean every Christian is... well... Paul Bernardo. There's a bizarre stretch of logic being applied here that many people seem content to overlook, and I'm not sure why.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The link was/is to an article that debunks your erroneous interpretation of Luke 22:36.\nThe Catechism does affirm the right to self-defense -- but it does not claim that Jesus advocated violence -- because he didn't. In the New Testament era, and for roughly three centuries into the Christian era, Christians eschewed violence. Over the centuries, Christians have wrestled with the problem of violence; but it is blasphemous to claim that Jesus approved it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think God kept his word:\n\nHere is the promise:\n\n\"And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.\" \n\nIsrael is indeed a great nation. I rejoice to take my portion with Israel. By faith, I belong to Christ and I am Abraham's seed and a heir according to the promise.\n\nAnd yes Bugs, it is in my imagination - that is the locus of my existential experience as a child of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't Gerhard Muller of the CDF supposed to haul these dissidents in and revoke their licences to teach theology at Catholic institutions? Oh, I forgot ... since 2013 we don't do that anymore. Thanks be to God for the pontificate of Francis!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Yiannopoulos is a self-proclaimed leader of the alt-right movement.\" \n\nThere's no record of Milo every saying he was a leader of the alt right, or that he even belong to the alt-right. Alt-right is a term that encompasses the people who are fed up with restrictions on free speech (quite a few of us to be sure), to the worst elements of the KKK (who are very small in number, and despite their views are remarkably quiescent)\n\nBut getting back to Milo: I'd thought that gay Catholics would at least respect Milo for a) proudly identifying himself as Catholic and gay; b) his frequent declarations that \"the Catholics are right about everything.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"This comment encapsulates the narrowness of your own evaluation. I am grateful that someone like Schonborn is in one of the preeminent Sees of the Church where he has been able to be a force for good.\"\nGee.. Has he helped one Catholic in the US? \nOh he hasn't. So I don't care. German cardinals don't influence the USCCB.\n\n\"Also, again, you ignore the fact that even in the good old days of the USCCB, the forces in the conference were, in fact, John Paul appointees. Bernardin being the prime example. \"\nI live in Chicago so I know exactly what happened to Bernardin, namely JPII personally ignored his suggestions about successor and appointed George, who swung the diocese and USCCB hard right. This was because the rich conservative types were upset about the seamless garment stuff.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This doens't have to do with your point, but it reminded me, I've often wondered about that verse. (Mark 7). I have two possible thoughts--One, maybe Jesus was testing the woman to see how she'd answer that. OR, maybe Jesus too was growing and learning, thinking first that his mission was limited to the Jews, but thru encounters like this one, he deepened his won understanding, eventually realizing that his mission was to all. \nWhat do you think?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catechism is a compendium of Catholic doctrine. The doctrine set out in today's Catechism is the same that is set out in the Baltimore Catechism and the Catechism of the Council of Trent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a white christian born in the 60s. I never owned a slave. I never discriminated against anyone. I have never systematically abused anyone, degraded anyone, or stripped anyone of their dignity. I have never caused any of your problems. I am not responsible for what someone did long before I was born.\n\nAre you suggesting that white christians have a collective responsibility for actions committed by others? If so, isn't that racist?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I read an article about the clergy that were there on Saturday in Charlottesville and how their focus was to calm things, pray and help people that had been hurt. This particular clergy woman named all of the denominations that were there. And she did say there were no Catholic clergy there on Saturday in solidarity with the counter protestors. I don't know if this true, but if it is, it's shameful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I love the article and the song is beautiful! I hope more music spotlights come out again soon! It's a great idea, especially for the younger generation that is thriving on Christian music!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is still quite influential in El Salvador.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Okay. Are you saying you want to read pieces that have a particular slant? Fair enough. But that particular advocacy should be stated in the mission statement...it is not exactly an \"independent\" paper reporting on Catholic issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do not know how many times you have equated me with a Nazi war criminal, I am beginning to be amused by it rather than upset any more; your Christian charity, it seems, knows no bounds.\nEverybody who disagrees with the teaching of the Catholic Church gives it \"careful prayerful consideration.\" The phrase is stock-in-trade.\n-I don't agree with the Church's teaching regarding abortion.-\n-I consider the question and pray to the Lord for enlightenment.-\n-The Lord enlightens me that I am right and the Church is wrong.-\nOne wonders how the Lord informs consciences. Why he informs one conscience one way and another in the opposite direction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is recovering from one of the darkest periods in her history, when reasonable complaints about some modern trends were distorted into a vicious anti-modernist campaign, when Christians fought each other on the battlefield, when Church \"doctrine\" was used to justify genocide, etc. That recovery has been impeded by overly rosy memories of a time when people knew they sinned when they ate meat on the wrong day, but not when they declared war on others.\nThe Church cannot be a bystander to war, as you want her to be. She is called to be a peacemaker. We are called to be peacemakers, not opponents to efforts to promote mercy. The Church that will not accept at least some blame when members war with one anoher is a Church that has not been evangelized, let alone catechized.\nPerhaps you should read the Divine Comedy to learn more about the sins that condemn us to hell, the sins that we must be purged of, and the joy of heaven. It is a complling summary of Aquinas' moral theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@WhatTheWhat & his friends\nFran\u00e7ois Jourdan, French islamologue;\n\u201c...Islam is very frozen for many centuries and basically lack of freedom - today, it must be said clearly that we cannot build a society of one religion, Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist... or atheist. \nThis phase of human history is now overtaken by religious freedom and human rights. Secularism requires not the ban but the discretion of all religions in the public space as other citizens have the right to have another way of life. \nThis isn't the Koranic trend where Islam does not consider itself as other religions and must...DOMINATE !...\u201d\nSo, He said;\n\u201c...Secularism requires not the BAN but the DISCREATION OF ALL RELIGION in the public space...as others Citizens have the right to have ANOTHER WAY OF LIFE\u201d, oui ?\nIslam does not consider itself as OTHER religions and MUST... DOMINATE !\ndon\u2019t you get it Canadians ???...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I felt the same way about the movie \"Spotlight!\" Here is ancient history being dredged up just to make the Catholic Church look bad and encourage attacks on the One True Church. After all, the Church has often apologized for the mistakes made in the past. Granted, the church never confesses to wrongdoing even when blatant, but it always acknowledges errors and misunderstandings, once it is caught and the evidence is publicly displayed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the person wanted to write to the Bishop, he or she would have.\nThey wanted the Vatican to know their pain, not to acknowledge it is a lack of Christian charity and kindness.\nBut it does not surprise me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And here it is, Monday. \n\nNCR mentions nothing about the Berkeley riot.\n\nWell, can't say I doubted that globalism is more important to Catholic progressives than free speech .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In quotation marks? Tell us where Christian doctrine teaches the loose sexual free-for-all these liberals prefer, since you seem to know Christian from \"Christian.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes that would be quite useful, to teach boys to respect girls would be a start towards enculturating men to respect women. The Church has this all or nothing thing going on with sex. There is the one idea that sex is only to be expressed in a monogamous relationship when children are the end goal. Then there is every other possible sexual act. I guess we need to teach boys to keep their hands out of their pockets as well as their zippers zipped. It makes me feel sorry for Catholic boys.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What denomination are you currently? Unlike other denominations the Catholic church has a lot of dogma bound in councils and deposit of faith, like the assumption and the ever virginity of Mary.\n\nQuite similar to the Eastern and Coptic Orthodox. These churches have prayers like suub tuum praesidium attesting to the common belief of Mary's virginity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like this, from the Pope.\n\nhttps://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-christians-are-never-bored-they-persevere-with-love-41723\n\nThe Pope is on the same point as I am here...nothing should take our joy away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It never occurred to anyone, in any culture, to consider slavery immoral, it was part of the taken-for-granted institutions of society, and the Bible reflects that. Neither the Old nor the New testament encouraged social revolution. \n\nSlavery was taken for granted in pre-Christian societies, and continued to be taken for granted after Christianity.\n\nHowever, by the 17th century, the Christian principles of charity, respect for the poor, injunction to \"do unto others as you would have them do unto you\", and \"In God there is no man or woman, slave or freeman\", etc., led some of the more strict Christians, the Quakers, to not only question the morality of slavery, but to start the abolitionist movement.\n\nThis is the first time in world history that people organised a social movement to stop what they saw as an injustice against another group, not their own. It could not have happened, and did not, without the basis of Christian principles as one of the factors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The decline of Catholic life in Connecticut\n\"... every shuttered church is one less mechanism for reminding people that there are moral and social obligations (not that any church gets them completely right) and one less mechanism for building connections among people and assuring them support, comfort, and shelter against life's storms.\"\n\nTrue everywhere. This is a really good piece of writing that speaks to hearts as well as minds. It echoes the story out of Iowa and Nebraska, and other places where there are population shifts, declines in participation in the practice of faith, and the decline in the number of priests \n\nWhat new forms can the gathering of people of faith take where there are not enough priests to go around and not enough people to afford to maintain the old church? What new ways to \"build the connections\" to keep alive the awareness of the moral and social obligations that naturally exist in a community?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think it's too soon to tell. \n\nDefinitely seems to be more contentiousness between conservative and liberal Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Speaking of teaching lessons, I was happy to see the Trump family, via their garb and reverent conduct, remind the pope that Catholic culture is uniquely beautiful and respectful of human dignity. I hope he takes the Trumps' example to heart, especially Melania's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Vatican would have to reject this nomination. The Vatican does not approve ambassadors whose personal lives are incongruent with Catholic teaching about marriage and family. France learned this when the nomination of Laurent Stefanini was rejected.\nDefenders of the nomination of Mrs. Gingrich will assert, correctly, that her canonical situation has been regularized. This only underscores the hypocrisy of the Vatican's rejection of Mr. Stefanini and of the 'pro-family' crowd's embrace of Trump, Gingrich, Giuliani -- all of whom cheated in multiple relationships and who have nine wives among them.\nThe nomination of Callista Gingrich would be Trump flipping the bird to Pope Francis; but unfortunately, I doubt that Francis will intervene to reject this nomination as he apparently did in the nomination of Laurent Stefanini.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How would Jesus have been if his words had been filtered by \"Civil Comments\" ?\n\nWould his words \"I am the King of Jews\" or \"Tear down this temple, and I'll rebuild it in three days\" have been deemed \"civil\" enough by the populace that preferred to release Barabbas instead of Jesus ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We need to remind those who have forgotten that we are all neighbors, and whatever we do for the least of our brothers and sisters we do for the Lord. \"\n\nPeople who are here illegally, or who are here to harm us, are not \"neighbors.\" True neighbors respect our laws and our government.\n\nJesus did not respect the pharisees or the Romans, and therefore the idea that being a Christian means blind \"respect\" (whatever that means, and here it means \"open borders\") is pious bunkum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Christians\" are no more monolithic in their social views than any other group. There are actually many of them who support a woman's right to choose, same-sex marriage, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus told her:\n\n\u2018You are right in saying, \u201cI have no husband\u201d; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. \n\nSo she was living with one as a husband who is clearly not her husband.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your charge against OS that it gives no actual reason why women cannot be ordained is totally false, in fact I doubt that you have even bothered to read the document with the open mind you claim to apply to all the Church's teachings before you decide whether to reject or accept them. All your objections to OS and subsequent documents are reduced to, 'women can't be ordained because the pope said so', and you expect people to take that as Gospel just on your say-so. There is now no reason to investigate further because John Hobson has pronounced upon the matter.\nThe dubia posed by the Cardinals are legitimate questions of vital importance to orthodox Catholics, that is Catholics who look to Christ's Church for guidance rather than secular 'wisdom'. The Pope's problem is that to reveal his true thoughts might leave him open to the charge of heresy whereas as long as Spadaro, Kasper, Sch\u00f6nborn et al 'speak' for him 'semi-officially', he can walk away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm just reading a book called: \"Without You there is No us\"by Suki Kim, an American/Korean who went over to NK to teach english. If you want to learn about the levels of citizen repression starting at a young age in NK this is a good place to start; it is written sympathetically about the people of NK. The school she teaches at is funded by christian organisations so the NK gov. knows about the links but what... they appreciate the funding? What is the link here? Is it officially approved to have religious organisations funding states that we have no diplomatic contact with? I am neither approving or disproving ... just curious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"Pope Francis looked back to call all to remorse for the misunderstandings and worse on all sides. More importantly, he looked to the present and, specifically, to the vast scope of common witness open to all the followers of Jesus Christ.\"\n- The common witness will be found best in the Domestic Churches, specifically those whose heads of the households are Lutheran and Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is going to take some time before the role of the Holy Spirit is understood in the life of the Church and the People of God. This is a very hopeful sign that the process is ongoing. For one who bears the scars of battle with more traditionally minded Catholics for whom Vatican II and Pope Francis are anathema, this is a gift from Heaven. \n I don't want to join the crowd that might say, \"I told you so, the Pope said it and now you have to believe it\". This would perpetuate the paradigm that is the source of the problem and make me like those I debated with.\n The real issue is where the authority really lies, where discernment is allowed to provide insight into the minds and hearts of people of faith. The power behind the throne, as it were, is the Holy Spirit-not just speaking though official channels but in everyone. \n The light of conscience is a sign of the hope of salvation and the presence of grace. Patience is needed to prevent bitterness from gaining the upper hd", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The anger and the mean spirited comments are truly upsetting. It would be nice if we would recall what we where taught as youngsters: \"If you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all.\" National Catholic Reporter has its own difficulties with the truth and citing Politifact is one of them. Politifact is a left leaning, liberal new organization dedicated to undermining this country by downplaying falsehoods from liberal politicians and hyping \"falsehoods\" from conservative politicians. The classic example is the claim by President Trump that his defense budget is \"one of the largest\". This is called puffery and is perfectly legitimate. It is not a falsehood and whether it is true or false, will not impact us personally. Compare that to President Obama's claim that the affordable healthcare act would allow you to keep your doctor and your plan. That turned out to be false and has impacted us personally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More than a religion, it's a culture, it's your identoty, it's also our identity too!! Judaism and Christianity, I put in the same group, they believe in GOD! And that's what Hawaii needs right now!! Hawaii is very much divided by believers and non-believers!! Our America was founded by people who believed in 1 GOD, I never meant to practice or force religion down anyone's throat, but we have overstepped our limits here in HAWAII. #Kaaihue2016", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The western patriarchy of the Orthodox Church, aka Rome, can have its own liturgy. I am a member of this particular faith and I seek the best of it, which is truth in dealing with the Church as a whole in Constantinople. They are not the schismatics, we are. What kind of Catholic would I be if I let my brethren persist in error?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I completely agree with you. The NCR does represent the views of a decent number of baptized Catholics in the US. I think one of the most telling things about NCR's audience is that, despite its representation of a large number of Catholics, there arent many strong voices on their side. I think it's an interesting question to ask why. I'm inclined to believe there aren't many voices supporting the ideas of NCR in the Church because the most Catholics who feel that way are apathetic towards living as authentic Christians. There's no fight because it's not worth fighting for, to some anyway. \n\nSecondly, I appreciate that, although we dosagree, you still consider me Catholic, as I do you. However, the question begs to be asked, who is right? If you and I disagree on the conclusion of HV, or, maybe a better example the Council of Nicaea, who is right. Objective truth tells us both cannot be right. Thus, i side with the Church, trusting in the Holy Spirit to guide (and I read the arguments", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does that apply to publicly funded Catholic schools too?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think I wouldn't! I just hold my kids to higher standards. My family is taught morals, and what's acceptable based on our christian values. Too bad about the rest of the world. \ud83d\ude15", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You would think that ordaining less than six or ten or five seminarians per year, coupled with the deaths and retirement of clergy each year, would give these bishops a clue that there just might be, possibly be, a drastic shortage of clerics. Add in the closings of parishes, schools and Catholic social service agencies/programs, and it actually is laughable when one of them clams there is no shortage.......unbelievable, yes?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know what you are talking about \"in context\", in the context of what?\nIt would seem that the modernists might have won the day as people like Fr Reese are allowed to peddle their heterodox views without hindrance. However, winning in this world means very little when you consider they will all have to account for their infidelity to Christ on the Last Day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Indeed, Monte,\n\nThere will come a time when Seventh-day Adventism will have leaders who will bring church members from across the World to rally in the service of the everlasting gospel, despite lingering differences over not just culture and ecclesiology but scripture, too.\n\nThis leadership will be informed and energized by a long ago affirmation: \u201cWe cannot then take a position that the unity of the church consists in viewing every text of Scripture in the very same light. The church may pass resolution upon resolution to put down all disagreement of opinions, but we cannot force the mind and will, and thus root out disagreement [thereby creating unity].\u201d\n\nhttps://text.egwwritings.org/publication.php?pubtype=Book&bookCode=11MR&pagenumber=266¶graphReferences=1\n\nThank you for reminding us of the enduring qualities of Seventh-day Adventism that are anti-fragile in the face of even ecclesiology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Roybal Caballero is correct when she says \"that our Catholic faith teaches that women and men have the right to make their own [moral] decisions ... based on the dictates of their own consciences.\" Indeed, everyone has a moral obligation to act according the dictates of an informed conscience.\n\nHer statement does not contradict what the bishop says: \"It is not morally permissible for a Catholic to support abortion or doctor-assisted suicide\".\n\nThe issue is more subtle: When should a Catholic oppose legislation regulating \"immoral\" behavior? Catholics do not seek legislation forbidding adultery or divorce. I see no reason, in principle, to oppose legislation regulating prostitution, gay marriage or euthanasia. Abortion is arguably different in that it involves more than willing adults. And even then, indifference about the consequences of criminalising legislation could itself be immoral.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lots of good and interesting statements in the OSV podcast with Bishops Coyne and Flores. Toward the end Bishop Flores got into technical language which I don't think most people would follow. I was disappointed that the question (probably the most contested one) about discernment and re admittance to the sacraments wasn't addressed. One priest was hammered in a deanery meeting when he was saying that Francis has changed some things. The other priests said, \"nothing has changed.\" Pope Francis statement on the pastoral letter of the Argentine bishops, \"they got what I meant\", has to be addressed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...their numbers are declining....\"\n\nBut all the US churches are declining -- whether of the far right or the far left -- or those in between. \nDown, down, down US Christianity goes -- from 95% to barely 70% today. We shrink at different degrees, too. Since the 1960's, Catholics from 24% to 21% and Protestants from 65% to 46%. And it has all been thought out beforehand, Pandora666. lol", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To describe Trump as \"pro-life\" is to make a mockery of the term and reduce it to meaninglessness. Using a \"pro-life\" argument to vote for Trump or to support him in any way trivializes the pro-life movement while providing an excuse to vote for a racist, fascist, know-nothing blowhard. That some members of the Catholic clergy have fallen for the con is discouraging but not surprising; so many of them have already demonstrated incredibly poor judgment over a range of issues and a number of years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Pope Pius XII was the first. I wouldn't say he \"radically broke,\" but he accepted the findings of science.\n\nThere are Catholic creationists. They have web sites!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He nailed the issues, Hillary didn't. That's about it. \n\nThe stance on the issues are what matter, what wins or loses elections. The endless condemnations of character, temperament and personality simply don't matter. They didn't win the last election. \n\nPeople in general, and Catholics (the majority, as you point out) care about who they deem to be on the right side of the issues for themselves, America and the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is refreshing to see Catholics defend God's creation. We live in a violently anti-intellectual and anti-science times. We must stand up to the bullies and tell the truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is deeply disturbing, for all of the reasons that Mr. Winters mentions. One other thing I've noticed is that some Bishops were much more critical of Trump when he was running in the Republican primaries than in the general election. Cardinal Dolan, for example, excoriated Trump in a New York Daily News Op-Ed on July 29, 2015, but has been much more muted in the general election, even as Trump's statements and actions that run counter to Catholic teaching have piled up. This gives the impression of a partisan motive and stands in contrast to the continued vocal, principled opposition to Trump by conservative Catholics outside the Bishops' Conference.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To be fair, the authors don't explicitly assert that these 7 people are somehow representative of the millions of female Catholic millennials. But NCR, like many publications, certainly presented the info about their hodge podge of 7 individuals in a way that irresponsibly (IMO) suggests to the reader that this group represents something more than what you'd learn if you walked around on the CUA campus and asked the first 7 Catholic millennial women you encountered about Monday's debate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed! Let's end profiting off of people's illnesses. Let's stop financially penalizing our sick, poor and elderly. Let's cut out the middleman insurance companies who only serve to drive up healthcare costs. I truly don't understand how the republican party can boast as being a pillar of the Christian faith and then cut social programs that care for the most vulnerable. How does someone reconcile that political dogma with the teachings of Jesus - a man who preached more about taking care of the \"least of these\" and that we should invest ourselves into the lives of others, not hoard our resources to ourselves (Matthew 25:34-40; Luke 6:30-38; 10:25-37; 12:15-21). To me, the republican party has and continues to do the exact opposite of these teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus, his divinity or any of his miracles?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a very well done in giving an understanding of the state of the Catholic Church in Guam right now. So many factors are at play, most importantly the shock that comes when those who have been sexually abused come forward after years, decades, of silence. One person of courage telling his story gives the same courage to another person and on and on. What was once a painful and deeply held secret is finally spoken and their is a chance for justice.\n\nI understand the tribunal in Rome investigating/trying Apuron has reached a decision but that decision is awaiting signatures. If Apuron is found guilty, he could appeal, so the decision isn't really final.\n\nAlso read that ++ Byrne is closing the seminary run by the Neocatechumenal Way at the end of the year.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The question of whether the practices in question are religious or merely cultural is one that each person has to answer for themselves. To take some Christian examples, does the Bible prohibit blood transfusions, or artificial birth control, or abortion? Whether or not the Koran requires women to wear burqas has a different answer for different Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The fact that so many posts \"did not meet civility standards\" only highlight the left's hostility to opinions that differ from their own beliefs. It's ironic that the most liked posts are also likely to be deleted by moderators is revealing to the general discussion in terms of the Globe's penchant for representating the perpetually offended vocal minority. Interesting how there haven't been any polls on M-103 but I would presume the majority of Canadians would not support the motion in it's current form, specifically because it highlights one religion for special mention over others. There is a double standard that says Christians and Jews can be ridiculed and made fun of but one religion is beyond reproach - it can't be criticized and any effort to point out the current state of personal liberties in countries where that religion is most common is met with calls of \"irrational\" hate. Free speech is either free or it isn't, that includes religious satire and comedy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora, why are you accusing Frances Robinson of lying? You sound like the Gestapo. You are so sure that he is guilty. I am glad that you admitted you were wrong and that the article is accurate. As far as equal rights for women to their Health care coverage are concerned,, men get their Health care coverage so why not women? They are the ones who carry the future generation and are trusted with the most difficult task of raising them. Their reproductive organs are more complicated and need at least as much care as those of men's. Being Christian is being caring for others no matter what their gender , creed or race.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As followers of Jesus Christ, we have no entitlement to compassion fatigue, as stated here. When we get tired of the face in front of us and the outstretched hand, that is when our behavior will count the most. \n\nI find the average person has little knowledge of the specific requirements laid on refugees and displaced persons. This information is available but sometimes hard to piece together. The international human rights community could do a better job ensuring citizens in receiving countries know the facts and not twaddle like \"they eat their ID so no one will know where they came from.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mokantx, you reside in America; I'm on the other side of the Atlantic in Ireland. Both you & I came to the same conclusion. I have gone full circle following the exposure of the abuse scandal and the findings of the Judicial Reviews. It completely shattered my belief in the institutional church. I questioned deeply over the years and eventually came to the same conclusion that you did i.e; that it was the gathering of community members, to come together and share \"the commonality\" , as you put it. I firmly believe that it is the \"gathering\" of people together, to be present to one another & share a common Christian belief, in their inner most thoughts. The celebrant provides a service to the gathered community. It's not about the priest, it's about the gathered community. The problem was that clerics put themselves center stage and that it was all about them and we were just onlookers who were expected to pay.. Now we know we are part of a great mystery of faith on equal terms.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This boils down to basic world views about life and the purpose for existence. Planned Parenthood has a published world view, which supports their moral justification of abortion and homosexuality. They are a propaganda machine for their world view, which stands in direct contrast to the Christian world view. They want to be in your school pushing their belief, as if they were facts and your children won't even know when they have stepped out in faith in such beliefs, until it's too late. The abortion rights issue is a bright light that exposes the intents of the heart, it shows you what you have believed and the ramifications of such beliefs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Francis needs to be more direct taking on the alt-reich. I would love it if he formally declared some of the far right parties like the National Front anti-christian like Pius XI did with Accion Francaise in the 1920s and excommunicated some of the founders", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And that same anti-Catholic, Nativist belief is maintained by the Blaine Amendment language contained in many States' constitutions. Even Alaska has Blaine Amendment language in it. The fear was that Catholic schools would be serious competition to the well-known Protestant public schools back in those days. Even the KKK supported James Blaine in his efforts to be President.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Am. It was the Pope's who initiated Catholic Social Teaching with Pope Leo and Rerum Novarum. And many of the Popes, including Popes like John Paul II speak of things like the need for a strong safety net.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, it's actually medieval history. Ancient history is the pre-Christian Era.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Embracing abortion is to think of it as a solution to teen pregnancy or poverty. Most politicians accept abortion because banning it would be disaster while not preventing many abortions from happening. Catholic politicians have been amiss in explaining support for legalization because of pluralism, instead of instructing the hierarchy and public on why Roe was rightly decided within the bounds of the 14th Amendment. Everyone on both sides knows that Congress could go earlier than viability to protect the unborn, but probably only 25 weeks, with any compromise ending the usefullness of the issue for fundraising and getting out the vote. It is not the left that depends on the issue (we have capitalism). It is the right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You might have mentioned Bannon's Turnings theory of history. It is quite well developed in his video Generation Zero (available on the web). It outlines his view of where we are in the cycle and predicts a crisis war to come. The photos and backgrounds are often juvenile. It also is pretty misleading history and not widely accepted, but it is the view of Trump's closet advisor. Bannon has explicitly stated he wants to destroy the establishment and reverse what he sees as the decline of the Christian west.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The essence of the Roman Catholic exclusion and diminution of women is likely held primarily to exclude women from priestly ordination and participation as peers in the leadership of the Church and mission of Jesus.\nHowever, the rationale encompasses all women, where ever, whenever, IF that rationale is to be \"sustainable\" in contemporary world of the reasonably well-educated and relatively un-controlled thought. That is some \"roit big\" challenge. Our church tried it and it flopped. With anybody who listened, that is.\nIn 2004, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, (CDF Prefect) with the approval of then Pope John Paul II released his \"Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Collaboration of Men and Women In the Church and In the World). Yes, \"....in the church AND IN THE WORLD\". His opening phrase claims credibility to decree for \"the world: \"The Church, expert in humanity...\"\nSummary: All women are to serve men \"..in the church and in the world\". God made it that way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Try to cite something from the essay on your third try.\n\nI've read the essay, and it's a very pointed polemic that immigrants from radicalized countries must be let in the U.S., and those who disagree are neither Christian nor real Americans.\n\nThat is what the essay clearly says, John.\n\nDo you see something in the essay that qualifies that polemic? I don't, but again, if you do, then cite it. There is no need or use in insulting me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I am left wing, the end of my fourth paragraph as all about the Church replacing government in health, education and social services. That looks pretty libertarian to me, but to do that, it can no longer be the High Church of Damnation, agents of the Pope (even this one) or the personal property (or personal trusteeship) of the bishops. Christian or Catholic Humanism is also more libertarian than liberal. Morals are for our sakes, not God's. In politics, that is Social Libertarianism, keeping the state out of moral matters and leaving them with the individual (not using the Church as a substitute for government). This is much better than being an economic libertarian and a social authoritarian, especially if the Church is to be trusted to replace the state rather than making the state its enforcer of morals and capitalist values. I can't see Jesus of Nazareth endorsing either of those propositions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If digging into the details of the inner workings of the minds of the voters were going to advance a Catholic discussion and not some intramural political squabbling, I might be inclined to respond with details.\n\nI know Steve Inskeep, who is very nice young man with his own viewpoint which he promotes in his programming. The pushback he began getting from people with other viewpoints as the campaign progressed was one of the reasons NPR dropped the comments section on their website.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A clarification of America's historic role concerning immigration: most if not ALL immigration came from Europe, of the Christian religion ( and its various sects and heresies ) when that was considered a universal - and excluding the ME. Also during most of that era \"nation states\" as such played only marginal importance. Most of Europe was under aristocratic governance ( royal ) and nationality was a quite flexible concept. One might argue that not until post WW1 did nationality begin to play an identity role. Unfortunately today the term nationality covers a lot of sins - such as that of the ME \"nations\" defined by the post colonial era horse trading devoid of respect for tribal and religious communities.\n\nWe came to Canada on an immigrant ship - assuredly not a single passenger was from the ME or Africa at the time. \n\nHow times have changed .-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "--Three bits of synodality in our early history:\n\nJohn England and The Charleston Constitution:\n\nhttp://www.fofweb.com/History/MainPrintPage.asp?iPin=ARL085&DataType=AmericanHistory&WinType=Free\n\nAmerican Catholic Lay Groups and Transatlantic Social Reform in the Progressive Era\n\nhttp://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/page/545\nThe Catholic Lay Congress of 1889\n\nhttp://www.patheos.com/blogs/mcnamarasblog/2009/11/the-catholic-lay-congress-of-1889.html\n--", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am married and Catholic clergy. I have known or met several married Catholic priests. The Eastern Catholic churches have ordained married men to the priesthood for centuries. The real problem in the Latin Rite or Roman Catholic Church or Western Catholic church is that our people do not contribute enough to support married clergy. I have known deacons who were in full time ministry on parish the payroll. Most were underpaid when compared to protestant ministers with similar duties. I have met several deacons who, like myself, went into hospital chaplaincy as the only full time ministry that would pay a living wage. Of course they also had to provide hours of volunteer parish ministry as well. I have a friend who is a Presbyterian pastor of a small congregation (couple of hundred families) he has a 6 figure salary and a large portion of it is not taxed because it is designated a housing allowance. \nYes money is one issue that stands in the way of ordaining married men priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the words of St. Francis, would that the Church had 'a forest of such junipers' who can cooperate with the Spirit in making us a more compassionate, inclusive Mystical Body of the Cosmic Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't forget, Spencer-they have brown skin like most of us don't, and, they don't speak English like we do-so there's that. Aaand, they eat food that we just don't consider. Oh, and they are part of that smallish minority of 1.6 billion. And that's a smaller number than Christians of the world, so there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"At least O'Hanlon knows what needs to happen....\"\n\nYes. I hope, as you say, ATF, that the bishops \"treat them as adults.\" And it is such a tiny church -- 3 and a half million, max (with 35% weekly attending liturgy) -- I hope Francis also doesn't get too bogged down worrying about it. That is the bishops job. It could eventually become like the French Church, split into five manageable categories: \"cultural Catholics,\" \"seasonal,\" \"observant,\" \"inspired\" and \"emancipated\" Catholics (more active in social activities than church activities). Such diversity gives the church great richness. Irish bishops should count their blessings, too, given the fact that elsewhere in northern Europe (i.e., Scandinavia) less than 3% of the population -- predominately Lutheran) goes to weekly services, liturgies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting quotes, from the New Testament no less. But you conveniently forgot a couple things:\n1) Those are apostle Paul's words, not Christ's words.\n2) Christians are free to debate and even disagree with those words, and if they should be followed.\n3) It is historically Christian countries which have moved most towards female equality under the law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The takeaway from the comments of members of the Clinton campaign; they want a liberalized, secularized, compatible-with-progressivism Catholicism. And they are willing to spend massive amounts of political capital to achieve this. Witness their costly war with the Little Sisters of the Poor. The tragedy is that what Clinton Catholics do not seem to understand is that the Holy Catholic Church has survived 2,000 years not by receiving truth from below, but by receiving it from above.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"And why don\u2019t we hear the bishops loud and clear with this message?\"\n\nBecause the bishops got everything they wanted from the election of Donald Trump: new Supreme Court justices will eventually be appointed who will end abortion and same-sex marriage, and Catholic institutions will eventually no longer be required to pay for contraceptive coverage. Eventually. So their work is done.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good God, Heartbreaker - tear down the walls of judgment that keep me in a state of rigidity? What kind of joyless Christianity are you trying to sell?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Ken Briggs is talking about the FOX viewership -- that, had it not been for the financial impact, FOX could have \"weathered\" the storm and kept O'Reilly. When found unworkable, he had to go. Even an Ayn Rand stellar personality cannot simultaneously be so credibly accused by so many women and still boast of his Catholic faith. (I heard him once bolster his catholicity by telling us he was once an altar-boy.) He walked away from FOX much enriched and with a group of FOX fans who will continue to buy his books. Let us hope that the court cases go forward and win large awards from the courts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to Christian Manion you are mistaken and the situation with ND is exactly the reverse . A good University is in the business of teaching not imposing its religious dogmas on its students.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately to many of our Bishops lack courage the other half are tied to the money machine . Koch brothers are designing programs to promote their ideology through catholic teaching . Chuput has Napa institute and Tim Bush . The church hides it's own children leaving their sons and daughters to spiritual and emotional grief. The US Bishops skirt the issue of climate change by minimizing Pope Francis teachings . Really we should have hope ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Finally, the poor and middle class can operate without the burdens, bias, and narrow-mindedness of the left. The half of the Catholic population that voted for Trump take the charge of living in faith seriously. May misery be rare.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Jesus said to her, \u201cI am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die\" (John 11: 25).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yup. I think I remember him, in one of his journals, writing about the update of his previous book -- so glad he did! My faves are also yours, particularly the journals. What an impact he had on American Catholicism -- thank God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reason the immoral minority has such a difficult time understanding the importance to Christians of living their lives guided by a set of bright line values and absolutes is because most of them have never had one that wasn\u2019t subject to modification, change, and abandonment the very first instant it becomes a burden or interferes with their pursuit of their hedonistic value free lifestyle.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kindly show me any dogmatic pronouncement on either of those topics. And what, exactly, do you mean by \"freedom of religion\"? Are you referring to the erroneous Vatican II--Dignitatis Humanae religious freedom? Or the true Catholic definition of the term?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mrs Gingrich, on the other hand, has always been Catholic, including during her 6-year affair with a married man.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those Catholic clergymen wanted Trump, So now they got him. Let them talk to Trump about the poor and homeless and just watch how far they get with him and the Right and the RRs (Religious Right) on all issues regarding humanity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unless lower levels have failed. They failed in the Great Depression and a Catholic priest helped FDR create Social Security. Public Education in the US, by the way, predates both the Constitution and Pope Leo (by 100 years).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh my Terri Hemker...I finally get meet a pro-choice Catholic! I'm genuinely interested in knowing how you handle this when going to confession and communion. I'm 71, and struggled to win many civil rights movements, and women rights was among them. But the abortion issue caused me to retire. Also, do you know a priest who's OK with you being pro choice? Could you perhaps, bring him on to help us understand this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dual meaning?? NO! Don't say this! Your colleagues here say there is only one acceptable Catholic meaning to anything Catholic!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One of the reasons Obama won Catholics is that we made this argument online constantly. People got.it. Hillary did not. Now that you have a pro-life President and Congress, don't bother trolling every discussion on NCR. Show us your bill and tell us who will sponsor it and when the Judiciary Committee is holding hearings. If you can't do that, quit moralizing on our politics, trolling NCR and wasting our time. Or admit that the best Congress will do is the status quo and join me and others in fighting for a living wage for families, which will do more for the unborn than any bill I just showed you how to draft. Get the GOP to cooperate with you or quit damning us for supporting the other guys. Your serial calumy is no longer tolerable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really? Where do the Gospels portray Jesus as having been deceived?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unless you are expecting to be an attorney, a botanist, a Catholic priest or major in Romance languages, I don't see the usefulness of Latin, particularly in high school. I certainly don't see a taxpayer subsidy to train a high school teacher of Latin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And this commentator is under the illusion that by assuming the title of \"Faithful Catholic\" ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dang, I took a lot of time to say what you said better in one line, your final one. \n\nI think you say a lot about conservative Catholic views of their own unworthiness and clerical authority: the power to punish assures the power to control. As you say, they actually believe a priest, a bishop, a cardinal isn't real or worth taking seriously unless he can refuse you absolution, deny you sacraments, kick you out, because, well, he can. Oh, and you deserve it. \"Because I said so.\" \"Because I can.\" No ambiguity; no dubia.\n\nFear is a great motivator. \n\nIt gets folks \"religiously\" to comply... to obey...to conform... to avoid jail, excommunication, and wind sprints.... to keep the rules...to think and act as one...to play it safe by the book and by the Book.\n\n\nBut fear of hell never----ever--motivates folks to optimally love...or to offer optimal mercy...or to receive optimal mercy. \n\n\nIt sounds like a great country-western song: \"Ya Won't Get Into Heaven Just By Escaping Hell.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you believed the Catholic Church was a monolith then someone sold you a bill of goods. It never was a monolith and certainly isn't now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I understand that the article this site linked to in NOT about students. If it were, I might be able to concede that these professors were, in some way \"leaders\" - though that is not the calling of the academic. In the ad, these adorn themselves with the title of \"leader\". I guess, had I signed the ad, I'd be a Catholic leader, too. While I'm sure that makes them feel good about themselves, its not a demonstration of leadership to assign that title to oneself.\nYou seem to forget that Aquinas specifically rejected a leadership role to pursue his calling to the Dominicans; to preach and teach. Influence is, itself, not leadership, though it may be a characteristic of that. The Very Rev. Fr. Francis managed to \"influence\" four additional \"staffers\" out of forty-six academic staff under his \"leadership\" to sign. That's leadership?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did he say this \"sign\" suggests the Rapture or the 2nd Coming of Christ?\nIf he did, I missed it.\n-\nEven Jesus told us their would be \"signs in heaven\" meaning solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, and \"special\" configurations such as this one that is described in Revelation 12:1.\n-\nMany people consider the re-birth of Israel in 1948 as a \"sign.\"\nDitto with Jerusalem in 1967.\nAnd this particular \"Revelation 12:1\" configuration, if it is correct, was last seen 5,900+ years ago (according to their astronomy computer programs). \n-\nIt's just another \"sign\".....along with everything else that has been going on recently....to let those who believe....understand....that the time draws closer every day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Per Pope Francis, \"I repeat what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: that they must not be discriminated against, that they must be respected and accompanied pastorally,\" Francis said at a press conference aboard the papal plane returning from Armenia.\n\"The Church must ask forgiveness for not behaving many times -- when I say the Church, I mean Christians! The Church is holy, we are sinners!\"\nRepeating the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church about respecting and not discriminating against gays, Pope Francis said that one could condemn certain behavior.\n\"One can condemn, but not for theological reasons, but for reasons of political behavior...Certain manifestations are a bit too offensive for others, no?\n\"But these are things that have nothing to do with the problem. The problem is a person that has a condition, that has good will and who seeks God, who are we to judge? And we must accompany them well.\" \n\nAs a practicing Catholic, I say to Pope Francis, \"Amen\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is ironic that when certain types of Catholic *want* so badly (not *observe*) for there to be a unified cry of outrage and resistance to Pope Francis's reforms, they are undercut by the general feeling of disconnectness from the Church that they have helped brought about by giving it the negative image of a self-concerned, judgmental global corporation. \n\nThose of us who recognize what our Church once was and still can be, however, view it as a community, a family, where we may build one another up (as in Paul's NT analogies), express selfless love, and enact justice. I have a feeling that I stand with the overwhelming majority of engaged Catholics who share a vision of such a Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The human body does indeed matter! And the bible tells us so! That most certainly mattered to Boaz and Ruth the Moabitess, both ancestors of David, Mary, and Joseph Plus, the book of Ruth is a whale of a tale which provides a great illustration of Brian Bantum's thesis here. Good work!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Simply saying that I would not work at an evangelical college -- or at any institutions -- which demands Catholic faculty assent to the college's creed, as it were, or mission statement. Catholic academics cannot teach at many evangelical schools, in the first place. That's fine with me. They won't even be hired or considered. That's religious power foreordained. That trumps my career and belief at many evangelical colleges. And that is fine with me. Why would a Catholic academic go there in the first place? If my values would be compromised at Brigham Young University or the evangelical Wheaton College or Calvin College, I wouldn't go there. Period. And it someone wants to fight that, hire a lawyer. Go all the way, as my dad (a lawyer) would say. Fight. Let the Supreme Court decide if Wheaton can trump my Catholic witness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"At the present time there is no such attitude since almost all the Catholic schools have been closed.\"\n\nPAcatholic: There are still, according to the National Catholic Educational Association, 2 million children in US Catholic schools (primary and secondary) and nearly 3 million in such schools -- if one includes Catholic universities and colleges. Some Catholic secondary schools in the Washington, D.C., Boston, New York and Chicago area, for example, do very well, with their graduates getting into excellent colleges and universities. Jesuit Nativity schools also do wonders for under-privileged students in the inner cities. So not \"almost all\" Catholic schools have been closed, as it were. Many, many are thriving.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently, \"to be an American\" means waging war on Iran.\"\n\n\nTo be American demands asking, WHY? Why does the Trump administration say that it intends to wage war against Iran?\nTo be a Catholic means, as the Catechism says, \"all of the following criteria be met at the same time in order for a war to be considered just:\n\n\u2022 damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;\n\n\u2022 all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;\n\n\u2022 there must be serious prospects of success;\n\n\u2022 use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.\"\nThere must be\n\u2022 Just Cause: \n\u2022 Comparative Justice\n\u2022 Right Intention War can only be conducted to satisfy the just cause\n\u2022 Last Resort: Exhaust all peaceful alternatives\n\u2022 Probability of Success*\n \u2022 Proportionality", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dan Schutte is also the guy who gave us the My Little Pony Gloria. \n\nhttp://www.ccwatershed.org/blog/2014/aug/27/Dan-Schutte-Mass-of-Christ-the-Savior/\n\nSad the dreadful state of liturgical music in much of the Catholic Church in this country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Nicholas for giving voice to what I suspect are millions of Christians by spirit, if not be religious doctrine. The Christian community is as diverse as most organization of 10's of millions of people. On this site alone we have those who insist on religious doctrine while advocating for harsher punishment, ignoring the hungry, supporting violent solutions to both domestic and foreign conflict. \n\nTo make a choice of faith takes a decision of choosing your priorities for living. Those choices will always lead to others speculation on our values, from other people of your own religious faith, from others in other religious traditions and from those who disavow any religious practice. \n\nYou have to be prepared to stand by your heart, even when you are attacked by those in the pew next to you, (let alone those who have grown to despise/mistrust any spiritual component in their own lives). It's a path of individual choice, not a corporate endorsement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can't be a good Christian AND a Trump supporter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And I'll bet you call yourself a \"christian\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ, man! Harper's amendments to the legislation did not meet legal requirements - the same reason so much of his stuff has been struck down by the courts, with more yet to come!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I agree with the pope's assessment. If a theologian is too academically unearthly, he or she is no earthly good to the Body of Christ. They must, instead, deal with the realties that afflict us all.\nI also like Francis's description of what a good pastor should be. What a difficult, balancing act! Kudos to those who manage to pull it off.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"take and read\" column has done what the editors said: \"... inspire, affirm, challenge, change, even disturb.\" But none has touched me so personally as this testimony. I immediately went to my book shelf to examine again my copy of this book. In this A cycle the Advent Gospels for the 2nd and 3rd Sunday feature John the Baptist. Schillebeeckx's Jesus, pp. 126-140 has been the basis for my preaching on these Sundays since my first reading. Now Taking notice of my notes and markings in the book tells me as much about myself as about Jesus. My Scripture professor in the seminary was still using his old notes. My own path led to studying for an M.A. in Scripture at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, 1980-82. It was there that I encountered Donald Senior, C.P., Eugene Laverdiere, Dianne Bergant, the rabbi on the faculty and other scholars. During the summer between the two semesters I made a conscience raising trip with Chuck Dahm, O.P to Central and South America. Conversion", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"They are in Christ when they are in a state of grace ...\" true, because it is a tautology.\n\nTrouble is, this article is about what kind of politics is coherent with Christian faith. \n\nI don't see how this comment advances reflection on that question.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In my opinion, to be correct, it was not simply the extension of funding to Separate secondary schools, but the extension of funding to include funding for grades 11 to 13....funding was already provided for grades 9 and 10. BTW, Catholic parents were already paying for these schools with their education taxes and were being discriminated against by the lack of funding for grades 11 to 13....they were paying twice - first for their taxes to be diverted to the public system and paying tuition for their children to attend grades 11 to 13 in Separate schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If this visit were merely a matter of \"making converts,\" and this year were 1516 rather than 2016, a pope might try that approach. But I'm glad the current pope sees the matter differently, and plans to do none of the above. Evidently Pope Francis is NOT being channeled into actions which would please the Catholic right wing of 2016!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Historically, since at least the sixteenth century, excommunication of public officials has not been a particularly successful tactic for the Catholic Church. The cases of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I come immediately to mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'd like to think Vatican II's Nostra Aetate, which called for recognition of Judaism and the rejection of all forms of anti-Semitism, changed Civilta Cattolica's perspective on Jews.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In his delightful The Melody of Theology, the historian of religion Jaroslav Pelikan said \"there was not a single Christian thinker before the Council of Nicea who could qualify as consistently and impeccably orthodox.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Evangelical Christians supported Trump\u2019s campaign for president in large numbers.\"\nWhat more needs to be said.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remarkable. Aren't any of you bothered by the statements made by Clinton's staffers? Or do you also see our Church as \"backwards\" and stuck in the middle ages? But more to the point, if you still haven't caught on to the fact that the political left is growing increasingly hostile to Christianity then you never will. Maybe you all don't really care that Obamacare forces Catholic employers to pay for contraception (ever heard of the Little Sisters of the Poor?). And maybe you also don't care that a fair number of democrats (including Hilary Clinton) think that late term abortion should be legal. If you can shrug off these issues, then I would argue that you are a leftist first and a Catholic second. You can laugh at political conservatives and disregard the the lay people and religious who have formed an alliance with them. But if you are honest, you must admit that these people are not welcome in the Democrat party anymore.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really?\n\nSo God has no place in the bedroom? Is that what you are saying? At the bedroom door God must leave? Morality and ethics stop at the bedroom door? \n\nSir, there is much more to Christianity than social justice. A whole lot more. The Church is not just another charitable organization, it is the ark of salvation. The bishops have the duty to preach the whole of the Word of God, not just the parts liberals like hearing about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Looking at exit poll data (if believable) Trump supporters included a large number/percentage of fairly well-heeled income people. Makes one wonder. White, \"Christian\", male, decently salaried, extra-urban - not only the dust-bowl and rust-belt unemployed. \nIt is so telling, as you suggest, that the clericalist \"war on secularism\" is actually resisting the leadership you suggest is needed. Sadly, I think that you are right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not Canada ...with a bunch of \u00ab Loyalists \u00bb Orangemen. \nThere is no place for a bunch of Ku-Ku-Klowns in Canada.\nAfter the establishment of the Canadian Federation (1867), the English speaking several provinces attended helplessly to the adoption of several LAWS and regulations, anti-Catholic and anti-French in English Canada, especially in that regard to denominational schools outside Qu\u00e9bec.\nAnti-Catholic and anti-French attitude drew its source, among others, the fact that many of the Loyalists who came to Qu\u00e9bec after the American Revolution of 1775 (Eastern Townships/ Ontario and Western Provinces) were \"Orangemen\" convinced. Orangemen advocated an anti-Catholic and anti-French doctrine, inspired by the reconquest of England in 1690 by the Protestant Prince William III of Orange.\u2026\n\nAnd Paf ! Problems started across French Canada ever since !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is false. Jesus was asked point-blank whether divorce was permissible. He said No. In fact, he went beyond that, and said that divorce granted by man's civil authority has no efficacy in the eyes of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Western religions? You mean like the Greek or Roman religions? Christianity is from the Middle East. So is Judaism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Obama defends 60,000,000 abortions; defends sexual immorality; and defends same-sex marriage.....things that no one of real 'Christian' faith could ever do\"\nWhat Christians choose to believe in is not up to you. Christianity is a multi-faceted religion. And the facets generate facets. Christians range from Assemblies of God to Mennonites. From \"marching as to war\" to pacifism. From complex explanations of the Trinity to \"Jesus is God -- period\". You and people who believe like you are one of the facets.\nThere are Christian denominations which perform same-sex marriage ceremonies, and denominations which leave it up to each congregation's minister. And denominations which regret abortion takes place but believe abortion is between a woman and God.\n\"Perhaps Jesus will come back 'soon'.\"\nYep, that's what you want, alright:\nIgnore nuclear weapons, pollution, climate change, terrorism, and income disparity. Just sit back and wait for Jesus to solve everything.\nThat's not how it works.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If anything brings gay couples back to the Chruch, it will be the children they already have and their families who insist that they are entitled to celebrate their sacramental love in the Church, and not just privately in a wedding blessing in the rectory or sacristy.\n\nThe Catholic Church breaking up into a more Orthodox model of continental, national or linquistic partriarchies will bring progress to at least some places, probably starting here, on gay marriage and female ordination.\n\nEboni Marshall Turman is not totally acurate. Our clergy is not full of heterosexuals. They left and we are left with celibate gays convinced that this is the only place left for them to go, non-celibate gays who could easily marry in the new regime and asexuals for whom celibacy is comfortable because it is natural for them. The problems is that their teachings on chastity are not natural for the rest of us. A sexuality that glorifies their natures is just not useful to most us. They need to be outed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Abortion is a personal choice. While not a fan,outlawing it will not stop abortion just make unsafe and certainly will not make the mother love the child. But when we talk about having a President we must look at the whole role of a President. He represents us- the American people. But instead of looking at that, we have elected a man who seems to have no problems with people suffering even more. What happens to the 20 million plus who have no health insurance. What happens to the disable and elderly when Medicare and SS is dismantled. What about those of color or people of other faiths. Trump has done little to separate himself from his racist views especially with who he is choosing who will be his closest advisor. All these things that Trump stands for are views Catholics and Christian should not support. Those who voted for Trump because of abortion has excepted his other evils as OK. Since abortion is a personal choice some women will chose it legal or not or who is in office.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The party that's guilty of baiting is the one based in Rome, not DC. You understand that it was the Vatican that charged Catholic as having done something terribly wrong, simply because they had a political alliance with Evangelical Christians.\n\nThe Evangelicals are simply offering a cordial response and explanation to these charges. That is how things are supposed to work in the Vatican II age, correct?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your question deviates from the theme. It has been asked and answered in various ways throughout the ages. Nevertheless, since you ask my view: I suppose that the capacity to commit evil acts is the unavoidable consequence of creating a universe in which free moral beings have evolved. Since God chose to create such a universe, God is \"responsible\" for evil. God's alternative would have been not to create a universe, or to create a universe in which free moral beings do not evolve. In such a universe there would be no evil. The Christian view is that in the universe that God has chosen to create, evil does not triumph.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lifesite news is working in collusion with Russia, one of the most pro abortion governments in the world? By the way Church Militant for the past three years has gone out of its way not to criticise Pope Francis. I know because it was one of my concerns over the website. I have heard others claim that the Fatima Crusader is also in Russia's pocket, how absurd, considering how Fr Gruner's complete desire was the Consecration of Russia to Mary, which called out the errors of Russia and their involvement in the chastisement of the world. I read an earlier comment of yours stating your belief that Lucia of Fatima was a fraud, but that her cousins did actually the apparition of Mary at Fatima. You are the true definition of a dilettante in matters of the Catholic faith. You are constantly full of half truths and lies .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to the magisterium of the Catholic Church, healthcare is a RIGHT. See, for example, Pacem in Terris 11 or Centesimus Annus 15.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is just too much. Fourth opinion article from a superstitious fundamentalist regarding recent attacks.\n\nWhy don't other identifiable groups and religions get as many opinions articles allotted to them after tragic events? Multiple German Christian opinions after 12 Germans killed in Islamist terror last month in Berlin? Such as multiple Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Catholic opinions after 5 Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois killed by Islamist terror in Africa year? Multiple Jewish/Israelis opinions after Islamist terror in Israel? Multiple Canadian military member opinions after Islamist terror attacks in Quebec Ottawa in 2015? Multiple Canadian Opinions after 2 Canadians were beheaded in the Philippines last year?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What do you mean by the NO has \"worked\"? Has it produced an increase in vocations? Has it truly conveyed to the faithful that the Sacrement is an unbloodied reenactment of our Lord's sacrifice on Calvary and not merely some protestantized supper service? Has it increased Mass attendance? Has it produced better catechized Catholics? Has it increased reverence for our Lord's Body and Blood? By what measure has the NO \"worked\"? To the contrary, it has been an unmitigated disaster.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is the Pope Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ms. Renzetti and the rest of the left leaning media are having a field day with this motion as they see it as a great opportunity to denigrate the Conservatives, as much as they see it as an opportunity to condemn intolerance. One has to wonder if the motion was condemning the treatment of Christians, in Canada or elsewhere, would the left be in such high dudgeon on the issue? Somehow I think not!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First of all, I'm sorry to have sounded patronizing. I really didn't mean to be. I read what you write, and I think you have a fine mind. I said to \"use your head\" because despite your not being a lawyer, that's no disadvantage to you, given your mind. Frankly, I was enjoying our walk, as you raised some significant aspects of 793(f) I hadn't thought about. That was a good experience for me. I'm sorry that my thoughtless expression \"use your head\" spoiled it for you. Please forgive me. Maybe we can continue walking.\n\nI myself have been silent on Trump's issues with Russia because I don't know enough about them to form a decent opinion. My silence is not partisan, though. I've often said here that I don't like Trump; I'm ready to criticize him and point out his falsehoods or breaches of ethics when I see them. \n\nMy criticism of Hillary is not partisan. I've often said here that she has done many good, Christly things in her life. She has also done un-Christian damage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I read the comments here, it is clear that some folks don't have any interest in making sure all Americans have access to healthcare. I guess patriotism doesn't apply to healthcare. Like the pro life movement, once one can breath on their own, they are on their own. How they square that with being Christians is beyond me. They have no interest in the values Jesus tried to give them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clarity comes with acceptance and implementation, not through mere promulgation. And it's already that the Catholic universe does not accept large chunks of what JP II and B XVI promulgated. Neither pontiff had the absolute power to legislate for all time, right up to the end of the world!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Point taken. PI seems to be confusing the Catholic \"left\" just as MSW seems to oddly identify with it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In thousands of years of history, there are many ups and downs, villains and heroes, and societies and religions influence each other, there is no religion abstracted from its social context, and picking a few villains to characterize a religion as a whole is pretty easy.\n\nChristianity has split into dozens of denominations and sects over those 2000 years, the mainstream ones have developed into very peaceful, progressive movements intent on doing good in the world, just as the western world has changed from what it was 200, 1500, 100, or 500 years ago.\n\nThe problem is with those who claim they are going back to \"fundamentals\" by ignoring any improvements and sticking to what they understand to be the \"original\" orders from God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Boy, a lot of hateful lefties commenting today (oooh Kenney's an anti-gay, pro-Christian, money-worshiper - typical lefty rhetoric).\n\nI guess they can smell the end of the Alberta NDP and don't like it one bit. The NDP was obviously elected due to a protest vote. How'd that work out for you? \n\nBeing in BC next door with another anti-industry, government worker loving NDP government, I can certainly sympathize. Hopefully Albertans have learned their lesson and will toss the NDP out permanently.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Stay on topic, Rule and Raven. We're not talking about sanitizing anything. We're talking about a priest who used sacred human remains to endorse a political candidate, this not even a few days after the Vatican issued specific directions as to how those remains should be honored and respected. In the course of his political action, Father Pavone has managed to be rejected by two of the more political archbishops our nation has known, but I bet he keeps his donors.\n\nBut as long as you bring it up, read all four Gospels. The sufferings of Jesus are recounted in as few words as possible with no graphic detail at all. The Evangelists didn't sanitize the crucifixion. They proclaimed it as Good News. Crucifixes are an artistic statement, and the nature of that statement has been different in various places and times. For what it's worth, I think the crucifixes in every church where I've served have been quite beautiful and edifying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sometimes in life you don't get second chances. The Catholic Church in Ireland probably reached that point of no return when the Cloyne Report was published in 2011. What that document revealed beyond any doubt was that the Vatican had actively sought to impede the reporting of predatory priests to local law enforcement in Ireland. Once that happened the final fig leaf of deference to the church's moral authority in Ireland fell for good, and the Irish haven't looked back since. When the gay marriage referendum passed in 2015 the people of Ireland sent a strong message to the Vatican: \"we no longer believe anything you say - leave us alone.\" The collapse of the church in Ireland should have been a cautionary tale for Catholic officials all over the world, but like the TV commercial for the clean-up company Servpro says, it's \"like it never even happened.\" As goes Ireland, so goes the rest of the church if business as usual is conducted. The people have spoken and they've had enough.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your article is misleading because of the 15-year time span. In the past few years, the numbers of Christian versus Muslim refugees is about even, and in FY 2016 the number of Muslim refugees exceeded that of Christians. The Pew Research Center noted in October 2016 that the Obama administration met its goal of admitting 10,000 Syrian refugees. Of that number, 99 percent were Muslim and only 1 percent Christian. To be fair, you should post links to the Pew data.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is the responsibility of the people of every community to decide where tax dollars are spent. If the majority of people feel this is important to the community, then it is important to the community. \n\nThe size of an organization has no reflection upon the benefit they provide to an area. For goodness sake the Catholic Church is a much larger organization than PP; more sites, more money. If you look at the number of services PP provides and the number of facilities operated throughout the country it is pretty amazing they can keep going on only $300M annually.\n\nThis community would benifit from more options for womens health care.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Problem? I have absolutely no problem with my Protestant brothers and sisters. Why on earth would you think otherwise?\n\nThere are differences in some of our beliefs - well documented differences - but so be it. I don't have a problem with it...\n\nThe only problem I have, Athanasius, is with those who would insist that Catholicism change to mimic our Protestant brothers and sisters. We are not Protestant, but Catholic. Vive le difference!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is safe to say any non-Muslim, perhaps a Christian \"child soldier\" in the same situation as Khadr would receive nothing from the Liberal government. it wouldn't even be contemplated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I only hope that the defenders of the faith who always rally around those accused of abuse, like Pandora, will flood this board with postings about due process, presumption of innocence and righteous attacks on accusers and their attorneys. It is what Jesus would want his followers to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can't listen to only one bishop if you want to learn as completely as possible what it means to be Catholic.\n\nI find that you cannot pick one point on the ideological spectrum that runs from conservative and progressive and expect to uphold all of Catholic teaching. The Gospel and the Catechism call us to act conservative in some instances and rather liberal in others. Sometimes even within the same issue we must be willing to move around a fair bit. Those Catholics who claim the mantle of \"conservative\" or \"progressive\" and actually try to live according to the political expectations of those labels tend to miss a good portion of what our faith calls us to be and do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi openwater2010,\n\nIt didn't occur to me that there is a shortage of Catholic priests.. Perhaps that's why I had a hard time understanding him, I was blaming it on the sound system.\n\nThe last Anglican funeral service I was at was mid-Anglican and not as bad as you suggest. But, perhaps that was because the presiding Bishop was a good friend of the family and had previously served at that church.\n\nAnd, to the point of your last paragraph, all religions need to push a \"reset button\" nd become more pertinent, and less politically correct, to their congregaions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Somehow the (conservative) Evangelical churches managed to live through the tumultuous 1960s and 70s without a mass exodus of followers and an infiltration of radical social leftists. Why should it be a wonder or a ill advised for those in the Church - who have watched their Church be simultaneously attacked, changed, and liberalized while the leftist radicals attacked US social institutions - to align with a religion that retained its conservative social morality that was previously accepted by all Catholics?\n\nIt's classic CONSERVatism against relentless attacks over the last 50 years against the Church. \n\nI think there is fear in the progressives, worried that this alliance of Church and Evangelicalism will lead to the undoing of 50 years of destruction of American culture and the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since our finite minds are not able to fully comprehend the physical ascension, Bishop G suggests that we focus instead on the theological meaning of this supernatural tenet of our faith. Jesus spoke in parables too in order to drive home salient points of His gospel message, why would you have a problem with that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is an op-ed piece, not a news article.\nKass is an opinion writer, not a reporter.\nIt's basically your standard conservative whine about how Christianity is persecuted.\nIt's another example of playing the \"victim card\" like Faux News likes to do every year with their phony \"war on Christmas\" meme.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But wages are low largely because of illegal immigration and exporting of jobs overseas -- the key things that Trump campaigned against and vowed to fix. That is why people voted for him, obviously. \n\nIt makes no sense to say all of them voted for Trump because he \"couldn't care less\" about the working class. \n\nWho really \"couldn't care less\" about wages for poor legal Americans? \n\nProgressive Catholics For Open Borders, that's who.\n\nAs for Cardinal O'Malley, I don't see where he's at at fault.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "May God bless and keep you on this Sunday, BossMan. You are sweet and blessed by the Lord and his tender mercies, and of course, you know it well, and love Him as much as Christian believers do. Now, take your meds and go for a stroll in the park and find some spiritual peace, bro.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I understand you could care less how much authority any scholar has. And I understand that actually finding the Church Christ founded and learning from it is not on your agenda because it would \u201ccramp() one's intellect\u201d\n\nIt's not the Church that drove you out, it\u2019s your fixation on being a bigger deal than your intellect can actually support. Humility is not your shtick.\n\nSince you\u2019ve dumped the Church, the bigger question is why YOU persist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I look at this a bit differently than you do. \nI think that it shows that many Americans discriminate against Muslims. \nAlso, I don't know it these polls question those who vote, or those who are of voting age. It would seem to me that older, more conservative people would be more likely to have problems with a candidate who is an atheist, than would younger, less conservative people. (I am an older person who is not at all bothered by this, but ....)\nI don't understand the connection between Christianity and the two party system.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Resources must be properly allocated and all parishes are given to the bishop by Rome to rule as he sees fit. A courageous bishop must make the difficult decisions necessary to maximize profits given the decreasing market for their product. At stake is the bishop's lifestyle and quality of his retirement. Remember, these men walk in the shoes of the apostles, they cannot be expected to live like common nobodies then retire to some little bungalow somewhere. Jesus wants them to live like the lords they are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also, I have to wonder why the American Catholic Church was so authoritarian in its interpretation of Humane Vitae. Wasn't the American episcopate at the time liberal?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ doesn't meet the expert criteria as Messiah, Judaism. Nope, he isn't it. The Christian version is imposed after his death. His role as Messiah is a revisionist opinion, a mind event. My evaluation has no effect on its reality function. You claim to know the \"workings of the almighty?\" So do others (not me), most of whom are different than yours. What gives?\n\nJesus prophesied, falsely albeit: \"Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.\u201c (Matthew 16: 27, 28) There is also an implication they would see death after Messiah arrived! What, no eternal life?\n\nThe context is clear, he believed the Jewish version of the end of the age (prophesied for hundreds of previous years) with the glorious event of the return of David or Elijah, not himself. In the Jewish mind he was eliminated as a possible candidate when he died as a common criminal.\n\nSorry, no Deliverer! Live a full life!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are correct in assessing the Right's misuse of God to justify political means, but conversely, you should mind that this does not mean the Left has any right to use God to justify political means. The Church exists as an immovable institution of God and spiritual salvation, not weaning to any contemporaneous politic or social pathology. It is not an institution of Man to glorify Man, which both sides of this political dishevelment believe it to be.\n\nIt is most disappointing as well to see misguided brethren falling into the same actions they assessed as wrong, wanting to \"catch up with [other] Christian denominations.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "GOP leaders did not \"bolt from Senate candidate Moore.\" They shamefully cast doubt on the veracity of the accusers \u2014 4 unconnected women who, with nothing to gain, spoke up against an abuser in a thoroughly researched and reported story that relied on more than 30 sources. But then this is the party whose leader has been accused by far more women than Moore has and who has bragged about committing sexual abuse. The \"if it is true\" response is repulsive, it is craven, it is morally offensive, it is political expediency, and it recalls that famous Republican coinage \"legitimate rape.\" Trump, lacking any sense of irony should have remained silent, realizing how inappropriate of him it is to defend another sex offender, but instead he joined the chorus of the supposedly Christian conservatives and spouted the \"if it is true\" defense of someone who for this and many other reasons should not be allowed anywhere near the Senate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"that\" and the \"how\" can be a bit slippery. The assertion if Christ's actual, substantial presence in the Eucharist is an assertion of a factual nature, a \"THAT.\" \"How\" he comes to be present, SUBSTANTIALLY, is, well, a \"HOW.\" \n\nTransubstantiation is a fundamental belief, and has been for hundreds of years, probably since the Last Supper. Whether or not this can be borne out is not the issue, however. The fact remains that Transubstantiation is fundamental belief of hundreds of years, and draws together those who are Catholic. Those not drawn by this belief should just acknowledge that they don't accept Catholic teaching. But why should Catholicism abandon a basic tenet of the faith simply for the sake of unifying with those who reject a basic tenet. The Church is what it is. No one is forced to remain.\n\nAs for your use of the phrase \"naming toward\": it's not self-explanatory, and I have no idea what you mean. If it's jargon, remember we're mostly laymen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The exact manner of death is not at issue. The kind of lives lived is not at issue. These individuals may well be canonized, but perhaps not as martyrs.\n\nThe killer must be non-Catholic. The killer must hate the Catholic Faith. The martyr must have died specifically for being Catholic.\n\nNumerous examples, including children, took place during the Spanish Civil War at the hands of communists and atheists, during the 1916-37 period of Mexican civil war, murdered out of pure hatred for the Faith.\n\nThe individuals you mention may have died \u201cin odium caritatis\u201d - \u201cout of hatred for love\u201d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree he is a sinner by any measure and not acting according to the teachings of Jesus, but if you are going to exclude sinners from being called \"Christian\" then the group is very small indeed!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is neither the time or place to pull the group into an extended theological conversation. I freely say I am not driven by religious text although I've spent a lot of time with it. Some find faith through text, service, nature, worship activities (song, dance, art). In a church introduction class my wife and I took a Spiritual Gifts class, both of us chose Nature as our primary source of God's revelations. That's primary, but does not exclude the other choices either.\n\n\nIn my own church, an evangelical church in a small Iowa community, we were blessed with very well read pastor, with a wide life experience including his time in a poor section of LA, at his father's church. His name is Kevin Korver, the church is Third Reformed Church in Pella, Iowa. You can watch sermons on line if you want. It took me a while to warm to Kevin, but I gained a lot by the experience.\n\nKevin suggested a book, A Generous Orthodoxy, Brian McLaren. Try that to start.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good thing this is not a theocracy. And an elected official has no business quoting the Bible in a speech. He can believe whatever he likes, but spare us the preaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This bill isn't about healthcare, it is about Wealthcare for the 1%. It is time to ask the question - Are we a nation that takes care of its citizens, poor or rich - or are we a greed driven Oligarchy? I can't help but notice that those who are most outspoken about their Christian background seem to be the least concerned with the teachings and principles of Christ (like Cory). I think it is pretty safe to assume how Christ would have voted on this bill.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please flesh out the connection between continuing the sacerdotal priesthood as Christ established it and grabbing women by the genitals.\n\nAlso connect the dots between \u201cThe Roman Catholic Church claims to be the one, true, holy representative of Christ on earth\u201d and \u201cThe United States of America claims to be the greatest nation ever on the face of the same earth.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Meggsy, firstly my comment about \"challenging\" was directed to Layla in response to her post. \n\nSecondly, I was pointing out that your reply to Alceste was a bit over the top in that he or she was not at all advocating \"dismantling\" Canada. In fact, Alceste gave specific examples of other such food banks. Will you be protesting them as well or just the Muslim ones?\n\nLastly, a \"special interest group that excludes everyone\" is, by definition, not logically possible as they would exclude even themselves. \n\nI can only assume that you advocate against Separate School boards, women only gyms, and the Catholic priesthood, right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Considering that Malta is about 98% percent Catholic, this is quite an adjustment in national attitudes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're right, Jesus being male is secondary to His taking on human nature as whole. No argument on that point. Still, the fact that it's secondary doesn't change the fact that it's tremendously significant!\n\nI'll cut to the chase. If ordained ministry were simply a question of suitability to accomplish tasks you would be entirely correct. Women can preach, counsel, run parishes, recite words in sacramental texts, wear vestments, advocate, encounter, bring the Gospel to people, etc. etc. just as well as men.\n\nThat is NOT though what the heart of ordained ministry is! Ordained ministry is at root the making present of Christ \"in persona\", the same male Christ who continually referred to Himself as the \"bridegroom\" a specifically nuptial/male role that simply is not conveyed with a female acting as ordained minister.\n\nRead Inter Insigniores 5-6. It's quality and deserves more attention than a comment thread.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe they don't stand with you but with Catholics they do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Elagabalus,\nI agree wholeheartedly on the nature of the real issue here. Branding suggests one is selling something, or perhaps changing an image so as to better persuade, or gain more power or control. But since branding is all about image, it misses the real point.\n\nThe relationship a bishop is supposed to have is on wherein he knows who we are, knows our names, our fears, our longings. He is to protect us. We rarely ever hear of that office in those kinds of term anymore, because that kind of relationship no longer exists.\n\nInstead, bishops seem to want to grab the mic and spotlight, and to speak \"for\" us (nevermind that hey don't know us, ignore us, or worse, treat us like we've seen in the scandal...) It doesn't matter that an overwhelming percentage of Catholics believe the bishops are wrong on ABC (or other matters). It doesn't matter that there is little or no accountability for them. All that seems to matter is that they protect each other: silence is consent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know it is not up to me, I am sorry if I offended anyone with that comment. I struggle hearing so many people wanting to do very unChrist-like actions towards others who are evil as if it's okay; I just want everyone who believes in Jesus to remember His commandment before condoning any format of inhumane treatment towards another human regardless of how evil the person may be.\nAlso, I know Ms. Peterson didn't proclaim anything in the name of Christianity, so I apologize to her if anyone thought I was calling her unChristian because of my response, not the intention.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. The giving of one's life is a witness to the power of the love of Christ who accepted his Father's will and dwelt among us . \nSometimes things are only seeming contradictions which we know as paradox . Personally I think Francis is offering us the opportunity to participate in the Work of salvation in a profound way by not handing it to us on a silver platter . \nI think the Jesus of the Gospels led his men and women in this way .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not about Catholics or any specific group. When Trump says something insulting (regardless of the group) his apologists applaud the fact that he tells it like it is. Unfiltered. If it offends, so be it. No PC there. Sticking it to the powers that be.\n\nBut if Clinton or anyone in her campaign tells it like it is all I hear is that she's being divisive, condescending, insulting, insensitive, reprehensible. No credit given for being politically incorrect, hence the appearance of a double standard.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He was just a kid when he committed his crime. Yes is was heinous but he was still just a messed up kid. What is the purpose of him being in jail anymore? Punishment? Fear of him committing the crime again? It sure isn't rehabilitation. Not with a sentence like that. He's been in jail for more than half of his life. The only reason to keep him there is for revenge. That isn't very Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually a sniper opened fire on a peaceful demonstration in Syria. By all accounts this was done by the U.S. you are aware that the Golan Heights belongs to SYRIA. It was taken in the 1967 war by ISRAEL. Israel has been illegally taking land since 1948, causing undue hardship to Arabs, CHRISTIAN & Muslim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity Today erroneously identified him as an ordained minister. He was not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course, prosecute them to the fullest. Certainly.\n\nBut it's helpful not to lose a sense for the much greater harm we do to the world, to each other, and rebuff to God when we sin. It's called by the Church \"a loss of the sense of sin\".\n\nThe smallest venial sin is a greater supernatural offense against God, than the greatest temporal effect of the greatest crime committed against us.\n\nAnd the reason it is...is that we are absolutely \"dust\" compared to God, as good Catholics will once again remind themselves tomorrow on Ash Wednesday.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"...blockbuster article in Civilta Cattolica by Jesuit Fr. Antonio Spadaro and Rev. Marcelo Figueroa entitled \"Evangelical Fundamentalism and Catholic Integralism in the USA: A surprising ecumenism.\"\"\n- Too be sure, a foreign newspaper did for the local churches in the USA what no church newspaper, e.g., newspaper edited by a bishop who is in union and communion with the Archbishop of Rome, would ever do for the Catholics in the USA.\n- Happily the authors of the article have hit the nail on its head.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Therein lies your problem. What the historical Jesus taught is different from what the Church teaches about Christ. You are free to reject the historical Jesus in favour of Church teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pence, a key leader of the American Christian Taliban, is all about hoping rather than doing anything about the problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, you could ask an astronaut what \"up\" is. It all depends.\n\nAnyway, Jesus' acts are not as important as his message: Love God and neighbor.\n\nThis all reminds me of an incident at my Dad's Catholic funeral. My nephew, a then recently converted fundamentalist evangelical, was beside himself with grief. My own children were angry because they said Gary was sure that Grandpa had gone to hell. It seems G. had tried to \"convert\" Dad with Bible stories, and Dad had told him good-naturedly that some of those were \"fairy tales.\" This was 30 years ago.\n\nI felt sympathy for Gary. But I just smiled and assured my kids that Dad wouldn't be offended and was probably laughing \"up\" there, and that if Gary or any of the rest of us lived as good a life as Dad, we'd all make it to the pearly gates.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, I was doing nothing of the kind. What appears suspect in your case isn't your word-smithing, but your reading comprehension.\n\nI was pointing out--fairly objectively, whether you choose to accept it or not--that it's not unknown for some Latin Christians to harbor hostility towards Muslims, and offered some of the historical background behind it. I know this from experience. My wife, who is muhajiba (a hijab-wearing Muslim woman) is from Latin-America. Spanish is her first language. Such hostility has on occasion been directed at us while visiting relatives there. Except for the personal example, the preceding accurately summarizes my post.\n\nSome Arab Christians harbor hostilities. So do some Jews. And atheists. And, being Shi'a, I don't hesitate to add Wahabbi Muslims frequently direct long-standing hatred towards we Shi'a.\n\nMr. Dillon's post was pretty much standard whining about \"reverse discrimination.\" As was yours. Not complaining--stating what is. Khalas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CHRISTmas is all about God changing man in to Christ's likeness, and forgiveness of sins. Yes, even this sinner.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your translation should be tweaked a bit. \"Soyez f\u00e9licit\u00e9es\" is more accurately \"congratulations\" - NOT \"be happy\" - \"be happy\" would be \"Soyez heureux.\" \n\nYou must take the all of what he said in context, instead of parsing out one sentence - do not forget he was thanking the housekeepers, not telling them their was nothing else they were suitable for. He goes on to ask them, as their talent and strength permitted, to become involved \"in the activities that make a parish alive and resplendent: catechetical teaching, group animation prayer and apostolic movements, the diffusion of the Christian inspired press, visits to the sick and isolated people, the preparation of liturgical ceremonies, etc....\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not just Russia -- Spain too.\n\nThe country's population was severely affected both by deaths during the Civil War, and exile. Franco (every year) had prizes for the largest families -- hero mothers and all of that. Same wine as the Soviet Union, just a different label.\n\nThe whole society conspired to suppress women's ambition and future. Most schools were run by the Church. Even those which were secular had to adhere to Catholic teaching. Catholic education, which in this country drove Catholics to be one of the best-educated groups, reinforced social and religious norms of how education for the poor. Boys got the better education overall, girls (like me) ended up with nuns whose goal was to make sure we learned enough to have a little job until we got married and popped out a child per year. \n\nContraception was illegal. Abortion was illegal. Sterilization was illegal. Women could not have a bank account in their own name. \n\nTo me, this is not fiction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know of one priest-pastor (parish priest) who actually objects when parishioners refer to him as 'Father'. He sometimes responds: 'I'm not your father ('your dad', in other words).' And he can be quite indignant when saying it. He prefers instead to be called by his first name. (Sounds like just another 'trendy priest', I know; but this fellow has been consistent for many years.)\n\nPersonally, I don't like the title, 'Father', as it immediately establishes a relationship with a priest which has a lay person in a subordinate role, theologically, spiritually, morally...and in heaven knows how many other ways! It instantly recalls for both parties the priest's supposed superiority over the lay person and reinforces the centuries-old 'them and us' arrangement, with clergy at the top of the ecclesiastical pecking order.\n\nNot an honest position for either clergy or laity. And not the arrangement Jesus intended.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "....\" Put down the Ray Brown commentary and read a real commentary!\"....???\n\nFather Raymond Brown is an approved Catholic Biblical scholar well respected by his Catholic peers and approved by the Church.\n\nHe is a good example of current Scripture Scholarship.\nOne does not 'have to' agree with every thing he might write, but to disagree needs to offer some kind of reasoning.\n\nI am curious as to which Scripture scholars you might consider trustworthy?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Roberto Clemente can't be a saint because he wasn't Catholic, does that mean games will now be on EWTN instead of ESPN? And why did Sandy Koufax win the Cy Young award if he was Jewish? Mother Teresa became a saint faster than Koufax made it into the Hall of Fame, which is the eternal reward of ballplayers, so maybe you're right. On the other hand, Al Kaline.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, not more contentiousness between con and lib; just the shoe has switched feet!\n\nSecond, by way of significant example, you gotta be living in a dessert secluded monastery not to notice that Francis was invited to speak in Egypt at the premier Sunni Muslim university about peace, and he brought to together major Orthodox, Oriental, and Catholic Christians along with Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"No matter our cultural background, we need to be aware that Jesus invites us into a communal movement.\"\n\nYes, we must welcome the stranger and we must respect his culture. And if Sharia law is part and parcel of his culture, we must respect that too. Our Christian communal movement is one of inclusivity and tolerance. \n\nIf those people in Orlando had just been more understanding....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The church does not possess ALL of the Truth. Truth is not like gold bars hidden away in some vault. \n\nNor is Catholicism living in only one period of time. It is never represented by ONE golden age that has \"all the truth.\" And the 'sheep' are not to be regarded as simple-minded, 'little people' as Ratzinger called them, but people growing in their understanding of the 'underside' of the church. \n\nWe are in an age that has questions that were not settled in the past, nor in the church's collective memory. When the entire CHURCH [infallibilitas in credendo]---laity, bishops and pope dialogue together---then the Holy Spirit assists the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You wrote:\n\n<>\n\nWhat is the problem exactly? Nidal Malik Hasan was born, raised, educated and worked in the United States. Ivan A. Lopez-Lopez was from Puerto Rico and an Iraq War vet.\n\nThe Department of Homeland Security has a budget of $41.2 billion a YEAR. Presumably the various agencies under their mandate are vigorously engaged in anti-terrorism. Any administration would support such efforts. No, wait, I take that back. When Bush assumed office his administration dialed back anti-terrorist missions. Until 911.\n\nPat Perriello didn't specify \"a very liberal immigration policy.\" He rightly reminded Catholics that the Judeo-Christian tradition demands solicitude toward the stranger and the dispossessed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ok....I'm almost 74...went to Catholic schools... \"the talk\" was in 8th grade in Girl Scouts....maybe it was the girls in my class but no one ever talked about sex where I could hear", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well the entire Catholic world, like the rest of the world moved on in time and history. If you like Tradition so much, why are you using modern means of communication? Why don't you post your comments by smoke signals? Why aren't you living as the Amish do?\n\n\nAnd why do you believe that the church should deal with today's issues of Catholic/Christian worship, living and practice using concepts from the past? What makes you think that God is from the past----and can only bless practices from the past? God changes ALL things without change Himself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps it's because they can see that these are two different issues, sky. On one hand we have the province's responsibility and right to determine education policy and how that policy applies to publicly funded education including a publicly funded Catholic school system. On the other we have the government interfering in people's personal religious observances. Not the same issue at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re \"what France needs right now\": a \"French Blairite\"?! Well, seeing that \"capitalism poisons everything,\" we should be able to do better than that, in France and elsewhere. On the other hand it's painful to observe the deplorable moral deterioration of what passes for \"left\" and \"liberal\" nowadays. We on the left still try to defend what needs defending, most of the time, which is good; but as for finding beyond that a much-needed transcendent vision, no, the wells of inspiration have dried up.\n\nRe Macron's baptism, etc.: The whole concept suggested by the title, \"Catholic divisions,\" surprises me, because the impression I had got, of France and western Europe generally, was that Catholic identity has long been associated exclusively with right-wing politics, and all that varies is how far right the particular Catholic stands. No one recognizes the existence of a \"liberal Catholicism.\" And that's probably the church's fault, for always being friendly with the rich and powerful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is this so surprising? the Obama administration practically shut down all construction in Jerusalem for years, but cities grow as population grows, and Jerusalem has always been the capital of Jewish people and not any other nation.\n\nJerusalem was not mentioned once in Qu'rahn. Jerusalem was never the capital of any Islamic political entity or even an important provincial capital during all its Islamic occupation. The name of Jerusalem in Islamic sources indicates that the city did not belong to the nation of Islam. Religious and other learning Muslim institutions were not established there. Jerusalem was almost always neglected and in oblivion under Islamic rule. \n\n Jerusalem has always been a real or symbolic capital for the Jews., Under Jordanian control Jews could not even visit, under Israeli control Christians, Jews and Muslims live and pray in security.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In a values scale of one to ten, where does this rank? Maybe, minus one.(?)\nIn my book +Burke messed up the Churches Center for Land and People and the National Catholic Rural Life Organization, as a onetime head of both organizations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A concept that was criticized when Yves Congar, OP introduced it before the Council. His books on The Meaning of Tradition and True and False Reform in the Church are still worth reading if you are interested in this topic.\n\nYou may read what I said as if the first 't' in tradition were capitalized, if we are using that convention. Is papal teaching part of Tradition? or is it part of tradition?\n\nThe Traditional Catholic response is Tradition, not tradition. That is what I mean by the term.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The move to more traditional sanctuaries is not to create a \"look at me\" moment but in reality it is the opposite. This is also a part of the move to ad orientem. As priests we want to be forgotten and allow Christ to be center. And Joseph Ratzinger's insight about modern church's circularity being evocative of the worship\u200bof the golden calf, \"the worship of the worshipping community\" is very persuasive to millennial priests. Plus we now live in a post modern world. Modern churches are as dated to the eyes of millennials as are traditional churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In truth, as in any institution involving and engaging the public (i.e. the people), you ought to have proper fitted person\u2019s in the field. If that means law enforcement, psychologists, child protective services, foster care, etc.\n\nThe truth is agents/entities/institutions already exist. Real authentic persons enrolled in the particular area\u2019s specializing in child protection ought to be working in an office of the Church. Does the Church get clergy to do the payroll for Diocesan staff? Or does She hire an accountant? Does She merely turn religious into mere teachers? Or, does She hire qualified credited persons who teach? I am not opposed to religious teaching. And even Pope John Paul II and Vatican II encouraged religious to earn/gain their credentials in what particular field they were working in the Church. Likewise, have real persons from actual Law, Psychology, and those who have worked in areas regarding protecting children. They should do the training.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So why is the Catholic Church placing additional burdens on people rather than helping them? Having an abusive or mental ill ex is a difficult burden enough without a nosy Catholic Church bureaucrat saying that the only way you can reconcile the Catholic Church is by starting a process that the victim knows will specifically set the abuser off. That doesn't strike me as very nice or Christian. Religion should be about helping people deal with their problems in their lives; it shouldn't be about placing additional burdens on them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think they are talking about the workshops that the Papal commission does on abuse prevention. This model actually started with the American Catholic Church in 2002 with the Charter for the Rights of Children issued by the USCCB. Since then it's actually been quite effective. The Vatican it seems has taken that and tried to internationalize that. \n\nAlso when we talk about the record of the Popes.....JPII deserves a lot of critiques for failing to act on the sex abuse situation, such as the infamous case of Fr Marciel. But it was under Benedict XVI that action started to take place through the process of laicization of priests. \n\nSo i think we need to speak with accuracy here when we talk about what has and hasn't been done while critiquing the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Much more research is needed on St Tekla of Iconium. If one goes to the home page of the Orthodox Church in America and looks up St Tekla, one sees that she DID preach (along side St Paul, maybe). \n\nNow, we would have to relook at all that has been written in the past about her in possible light of new evidence. This will not be easy and will definitely create major problems for many Catholics who have closed minds.\n\nI, for one, would be willing to wait with an open mind until the new research is completed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree! I'm praying that Francis lives long enough, and in good health, so that he can continue the important work he has begun both in the College of Cardinals and in the College of Bishops. One of the ironies of the papacy of Pope John Paul II is that the more he depended upon and wielded institutional power to impose his will on the church, the faster his evangelical authority eroded. Popes retain significant institutional power, but their authority -- their credibility, their capacity for influencing the People of God -- has changed. Francis is loved and admired around the world not because of the power of his office but because of the evidence in his life and teaching that he is deeply rooted in Scripture and in love for God and God's people. His efforts to renew the College of Cardinals and the College of Bishops are accompanied by his effort to restore collegiality and synodality in church governance. That is the great unfinished work of Vatican II.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just like in civil jurisprudence, the new overcomes the old. We don't have apostates stand in fromt of the Chruch anymore in sack cloth and ashes. Indeed, except in Syria where Islamic State attacks Christians, we no longer have apostates. There is no one else on earth who is being told to abandon Christ or be martyred. Maybe Pashtunistan, but I suspect most of the victims of Muslim Trads are simply killed rather than being given the opportunity to express faith in Allah, since Allah is Arabic for Elohim, which is Hebrew for God. Technically, saying there is no God but Allah is not apostacy because it is the same word. DH, by the way, gets us out of that mindset which has wars over religion or doctrine. That is not piety, it is sacralidge. DH is the final step in denouncing the past sacrliedges of the Inquisition, the 100 years war, the Crusades and the blood shed in the 4th Century over heresy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As WW2 raged in the fall of 1944 Comrade Stalin issued a decree; All ethnic Germans would be expelled from East Prussia, Silesia, Memeland, Poland, Hungary and Sudentland (Czech). Over 17 million deported by the Red Army by Summer 1945. Other terrible crimes which included rape and murder.\nChurchill, Roosevelt, Truman all endorsed his idea. This solved the German ethnic crisis which started WW2. Germany is now the most peaceful nation in the world. The west should expel all Muslims back to the Middle east and do a population exchange with Pakistan, Iraq we take their Christians. This would solve the Muslim crisis which has brought chaos and destruction. This would benefit all parties involved.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another note on Angela Merkel and her Christian Democratic Party. She is not a neo-liberal in the American sense. Christian Democrats have their own trade union movement in much of Europe, and in Germany, the Christian Democrats have been in coalition with the Social Democrats for 2 of her 3 terms in office. That union may be forced by political necessity, but it remains popular in Germany, with the CDP and SDP together being the preference of 55 percnt of German voters. \n\nThe liberal party of Germany are the Free Democrats, who were in coalition with the Christian Democrats til they fell below the 5 percent threshold for Bundestag representation in the last german election. \n\nThe Christian Democratic Party does not sit with the British Conservatives or other Thatcherite neo classical liberal groups in the European Parliament. \n\nPresident Obama and his Wall Street appointees and soon-to-be-payers-of-speech-fees may want to think Angela Merkel is neo liberal, but its not the situation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They don't go by any religion, really; maybe generically, protestant, although one of them -- Bill Koch -- is married to a Catholic (of a well known American Irish Catholic family). John Birch Society, I believe, is the more important \"denomination.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The lack of a British response was written about at the time.\nA deliberate negligence could be considered genocide.\nThe Georgia (Capital: Tbilisi, not Atlanta) famine in the early 1930s was a natural event exacerbated by the Stalin regime's deliberate indifference to the plight of the Georgian people in order to subjugate them. Most historians call it a genocide.\nSimilarly, in Ireland in the 1830s, there was a growing political movement to oppose British suppression. Then came the potato famine, which the British government ignored, until it was shamed into doing something, but only after roughly one-quarter of the population was dead, and another quarter of the population emigrated to the USA -- where they faced persecution and discrimination because they were Roman Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not your call whether or not I am a \"good Catholic\", but what I am is a decent father and husband that happens to be a recent convert.....and I also have seen the long term effects and consequences of birth control and a contraceptive mentality. Funny how a woman can in the present scream \"You're a man so you can't understand so don't tell me what to do with -my- body...\" and years down the road, expect the man to deal with and remedy and pay for the real consequences of that mindset. You can mock the idea that I am a \"Boy\" all you wish. Your body is not yours. It is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Why not try listening to Him?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wrong. \n\nI can speak all day in front of any audience and demand that the First Ten Amendments be repealed.\n\nI can demand that the Catholic Church be made the State Church of the United States and that attendance be mandatory.\n\nI can advocate doing away with all the 5th Amendment rights. \n\nI can demand that the 2nd Amendment about firearms be done away with. \n\nThousands of people do that one every day; I bet you are even one of them.\n\nI can demand that the Constitution itself be repealed!\n\nThat is just the way it is.......\n\nUntil the 1st Amendment about Free Speech is abolished. \n\nThen and only then, can I be silenced!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"To spread 'the Catholic faith'\"? The most plausible way to pu this is: 'To spread the Catholic faith according to NCR'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Try and teach a child without your subjective bias. That's literally impossible. I'd like to see this theoretical vacuum a child can be raised in. Better punch some holes in the lid if you try it.\n\nThe kid isn't a robot. Could as likely be he sees what's happening because of it and recognizes the faults. I did at 11...which is why I dumped the Christian religion even when it was being \"taught\" to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Guest chaplains or not, they give invocations. You stated, \"All of them- up to and including today\u2019s Congress- calls a Christian invocation before every session.\" That is incorrect. The invocations are NOT all Christian. The Congressional Record is the ultimate authoritative reference for this, and it documents the fact that invocations by non-Christian clergy have been performed many times.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And to my original point, you equate these things with only the \"Christian left\"? If that's the case, my own experience says bat guano to that. I know PLENTY of people on both sides of the Tiber that identify as conservative, and they have devoted their lives to working in the blighted urban core making things better for those less fortunate. Heck, in a couple of cases, it is the liberals that are trying to thwart these conservatives in their charitable work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW's contention is simply not true. Hate existed on both sides, and we know this from the video footage that shows the Alt Left attacking others. And this has happened over and over again. In California in the past year, there were multiple incidents of the Alt Left viciously attacking people who were simply exercising their right to free speech. \n\nWhen this happens over and over again, people start coming to events ready for violence. They can't be blamed for doing so, especially when the police refused to keep the peace. And it was and is the Left that is responsible for making every political event in America a potentially violent fracas. \n\nAnd now MSW wants Catholic bishops to take his side? How ridiculous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the most effective thing the bishops and religious superiors can do -- and I think they should do it -- is to recall the priests who work for Priests for Life, and suspend from public ministry anyone who fails to comply. Bishop Zurek sounds a bit defensive when he makes this point:\n\"Priests for Life, Inc., is not a Catholic institution, but a civil organization, and it is not under the control or supervision of the Diocese of Amarillo\",\nbut he is right. He can't control what a civil corporation names itself -- but he does have the authority to withdraw Pavone's permission to work outside the diocese.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continuing: Nora, I like your idea of the importance of blood lineage because I think part of the legitimacy of Paul\u2019s new savior (so similar to the dying and rising young Lords in Pagan tradition), was Jesus\u2019 supposed fulfillment of prophesy and his heritage in the glorious tradition of Jewish kings and their \u2018covenant\u2019 with Yahweh. So yeah, Gentiles, while benefiting from the Jewish \u2018rejection\u2019 of Christianity (and why wouldn\u2019t they reject Paul\u2019s remake of Pagan motifs?), had no part in the Jewish heritage which yielded 12 apostolic judges on thrones to judge Israel. Israel would not/ will not be judged by Gentiles. So Paul was not making Jesus ordain priests (Paul knew nothing of Christian priests as there were none then or he did not accept them as such??); rather, Paul and Gospel author(s) were intent on making Jesus into the divine and legitimate heir of a Jewish tradition of kings, covenants, judges, that was at least in popular imagination already 1,000 years old", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Typical liberal. Misses the point entirely. Let me spell it out for you more clearly:\n\nMy point was that the author claims newer priests are less \"doctrinal.\" The implication, of course, is that this is a good thing. I was taking that logic and turning it around. Liberal priests who constantly harp on Catholic Social Teaching, the environment, etc, are just as dogmatic and \"doctrinal\" as any conservative priest who harps on the moral teachings of the Church. How is a pope who constantly harps on Catholic Social Teaching somehow better or less \"doctrinal\" than past popes who were concerned about moral teachings and other church doctrines? \n\nI wonder if the author realizes that when he criticizes priests for being too \"doctrinal\" that such a criticism applies both ways. If it is too \"doctrinal\" to teach the Faithful about the moral demands of the Gospel, then it is too \"doctrinal\" to teach the Faithful about the social demands of the Gospel.\n\nIs that clear now? Crystal? Good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have no fear, there is no alt-right in the Catholic Church. There are orthodox Catholics, those who accept the Catechism, Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition. There are also many Catholics who disagree wholeheartedly traditional Catholic teaching, the Catechism and the Church's interpretation of Scripture substituting for it either the opinions of dissident theologians or their own innovative theories.\nThey label orthodox Catholics as 'alt-right', 'trads', '\u00fcber-trads' and more mildly 'traditionalists' and 'conservatives', the latter being a term usually applied to political parties. They do this in much the same way that left-wingers label those who disagree with them as 'fascists', nazis', etc. \nI can understand your disappointment and sadness but have no fear, orthodox Catholicism will prevail. Our Lord said, \".... and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it [His Church on earth].\"\nContinued ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I personally know a Catholic creationist. I do not discuss it with her. Neither does her husband, nor does her eldest son, who is a chemist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think it was 9/11, wasn't that when radical fundamental Islamist had planes fly into the twin towers, killing over 3000 people. \n\nArt, you're very bitter, how about thinking maybe Islam needs a peaceful reformation. \n\nRead \"Heretic Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now by Ayaan Hirsi Ali\". \n\nIt'll give you the point of view you need, one where peace reigns supreme and Islam is reformed and happier for it ... you know like the Catholic reformation and the Protestant reformation. Islam too needs to be reformed, let the moderate reformist Muslims speak. \n\nI'm curious, Art, why do you think Britain invaded Iraq?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The pope writes \"How can a priest in the service of Christ and his church cause so much evil?\"\n\nI write \" How can this pope promise to hold to account the bishops in the service of Christ who have caused so much evil and in 4 years not hold even 1 to account? How can this pope reward this evil by promoting complicit bishops and elevating 2 with horrible records of complicity to his elite council of cardinals\"?\n\nDon\u2019t be fooled by Francis' supposed grief and regret. These manufactured gestures mean nothing. \n\nPope Francis refused to supply information requested by the Royal Commission. That should show us how he feels about victims and promised transparency.\n\nThis pope is good at talking about clergy sexual assault but continues to do nothing of substance. \nWhat a sad state of affairs.\n\nI wish he would just keep his mouth shut about clergy rape and molestation until he is ready to finally take some action.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As usual. you conflate tolerance with license. Do you doubt that God, through His Church, expects us to be \"subject...to moral order\"? Do you doubt the \"object[ive] truth\" of this teaching? All humor aside, how do you call yourself a Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's not very Christian of you, Howley.\n\nBTW What's your take on Trump's deportation of your religious brethren ?\n\nhttps://thinkprogress.org/trump-sued-over-chaldean-christian-deportations-5049c1eeced8", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Attempts by muslims to build places of worship and even cemeteries are often met with challenges not found by christians. It's been in the news. Google it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The conservatives claim they are following the example of the correction of John xxii, not any modern example. If they had said they are following the example of the theologians who objected to HV, they never would have published anything. \nRead Donum Veritatis (1990). Valid discussion for a Catholic theologian includes not \"correcting\" the Pope as if your position were unquestionable, but offering opinions in hopes of a deeper understanding. A \"formal correction\" transgresses on the Pope's authority in a way that other forms of disagreement do not. I cant remember any formal corrections attempted against JP2 or Benedict XVI.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also...it's \"the\" bible. Not a scientific (or historical) work. Pi isn't 3, either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Children fail to remain in the church because they are poorly catechized. If parents would only teach them the catechism, so they fully understood the church, they would not only remain catholic, they would realize their very salvation depends upon it. But once taught the wonders of the institution, no one could ever possibly wish to leave. They would know how to answer the many attacks made upon the church for perceived errors, like the bishops and vatican's ongoing support fro pedophile priests, the rightfulness of large mansions and elaborate clothing for bishops, and so forth. Its really only a matter of education.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First they came for the illegal immigrants, but I was a LEGAL immigrant, so I said nothing.\nThen they came for the Radical Islamic Terrorists, but i was a Christian, and again i said nothing.\nThen they came for all the violent, anti-free speech Leftists and progressives, and yet again I said nothing, because I believe in the Constitution and the rule of law.\nFinally they came for me, and brought me into a beautiful reborn, prosperous Republic.\nAnd we all lived happily ever after.\nThe End.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's just close the Catholic schools and stop funding religious education all together. Tax churches, mosques and synagogues at a higher rate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a two time Delegate for the RNC up here in North Pole (Jeff Adams), I will without a doubt be voting for Mr. Miller, I have met him several times as a Ron Paul & Trump delegate as well as had a Q&A session with him at a Christian friends local residence in Fairbanks. He is an intelligent compassionate individual. I could go on with the values I share with him personally, but you should just go checkout the Facts for yourself and make up your own mind. \n\nHere's to defeating Lisa Merkowski the R.I.N.O in office, whom did not win the last Republican party ticket and had to weasel her way in as a write-in. She even crashed our Republican Convention in Anchorage and as a show of disapproval during her speech at our lunch-in half of the 500+ of us delegates rose to our feet and turned our backs to her. Lisa's speech was abruptly cut short and she finally got the message and left our dining hall. \n\nSearch Youtube for: Paul supporters take a stand with other disenfranchised.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is that so? Perhaps you should ask Canadian students of a Jewish background who attend UOIT, Ryerson of York Universities. Anti-antisemitism is on the rise and it coming from one particular group or culture. And they aren't christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "joe, as previously stated, the eighties are past and have very little connection with 2016. it would be interesting if someone changed their letters to tweets and see how it came out. its moot. almost seventy percent of americans say they are christians. nothing, good or bad, can happen without their direct involvement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A very sad, angry view of what has happened to American Catholicism over the past 50 years. The Church has never operated in a vacuum, isolated from the social changes occurring all around it, although it has been all too reticent in her responses to it. But the facts are (which I have the impression you will outright reject) that the decreases in Mass attendance, fewer vocations, and priests and religious leaving ministry were all happening long before Vatican II. The targets of your blame-game are quite misplaced, and based - I believe - on some poor grasp of the realities of a century of Church history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If there is conclusive proof bishops are guilty of such crimes and they have not repented before death, then I'd agree. 'm sure many people die in a state of grievous sin. But that's not the issue. It's whether these sins were public and stubbornly unrepentant. \n\nYour calumny against Pope Saint John Paul II is unworthy of further comment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Touchy are we? If life has soul, then soil has soul because soil is live. Catholics, and all humankind, need to grasp the inclusiveness of life, for except they (we) do, they misunderstand themselves. Culture, including 'catholic', treats soil like dirt - so much stuff to exploit for personal gain. If we thought of Eucharist connected to life in all its aspects, inclusive of soil, we might behave very differently on how we cultivate, respect life, land.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Consider that the early explorers - Columbus and later - \"discovered\" America and promply relegated the natives to second class, usually outright slavery ! The condescending arrogance was mind boggling .... The prime objective being treasure, gold, silver, pearls .... Settlement as such came much later ..... Usually the Church ( Catholic ) and missionaries saw to it that native cultures were denigrated and their religions being \"heathenish\" were obscured, ditto for any of native written records ( e.g. Mexico, Aztec .. ). The treasure hunters and church were perhaps the most destructive of native Americans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These issues are what the Vatican termed \"an ecumenism of hate.\"\n\nSupport for Israel, pro life, religious rights of conscience, and keeping men out of women's bathrooms.\n\nWhen even the Vatican succumbs to the use of \"hate\" as a rhetorical bullet to win arguments -- for issues that are clearly \n reasonable, moral and Christian -- you really have to wonder about the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Forget about Arafat and Palestinians. The problem of The Tribe of Judah are perennial and never ending.\n\n3000 years ago The Tribe was offered a better way by one of their own - Joseph gave them lands in Egypt. Let us not say what the Tribe did to Egyptians to make them enemies, and later to Josephite Israel.\n\n2000 years ago the Tribe was offered a better way by one of their own - love thy enemy. Let us not say what the Tribe did to him. \n\nThe Tribe lost its chance forever, and will thenceforth be surrounded by enemies, and never never live in peace - Romans, Christians, Nazis, Russians, and now Muslims 100 times their number. \n\nNo peace, no love for the Tribe. Serves it right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "India is not Mexico for an inquisition to convert everyone to Christianity. In USA you first treat Muslims properly. Then talk about other country's religious freedom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not unjust. Evil because it is based on fraud (that something will be done about abortion) and to further the power of the rich at the expense of everyone else, i.e. because it is about Republicanism, not Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Matt, please understand that RD, LotL or whatever current name he happens to use is only interested in our spiritual well being. His Opus Dei superior has tasked his with ministering to we schismatic and heretical \"Catholics\" in order to bring us back to the True Faith as taught by the thrice blessed Josemaria, Pope John Paul the Great Enabler and the Catechism of the Council of Trent, the only true rules of faith. But you can tell he is only doing this out of holy obedience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Correct, although I suspect DH applies more to Catholic politicians on life issues than to AL.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the parallel passage about binding on earth and heaven, it is the COMMUNITY that has that authority. While the proposition that Peter's authority to bind is inherited by successive bishops of Rome is open to dispute, the proposition that equivalent authority given to the COMMUNITY is inherited by successive Christian communities through history would appear to be beyond dispute. And the leap from there to the V2 concept of the Church as the Holy People of God as inheritors of this authority does seem a small step, provided of course one understands that Holy People to include everyone, clerics, theologians, lay.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obama on the United States as a Christian nation:\nObama, June 28, 2006 (prepared remarks): Given the increasing diversity of America's population, the dangers of sectarianism have never been greater. Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.\nWhat he actually said was delivered clumsily, but the meaning was the same:\nObama, June 28, 2006 (as delivered): Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation \u2013 at least, not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.\nFor a fuller explication, see: http://www.factcheck.org/2008/08/obama-and-the-christian-nation-quote/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Syrian people should say thank to Obama, Clinton, Arab Saudi and \"Progressive\" Western countries & media for the mess and ruins they created in Syria. If they did not interfere & mess things up in Syria, the Syrians, Coptic Christians still lived in harmony as they used to for the last 60 years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We need more media sources to publish this kind of article - and others like Hederman's. We even need more of it here, on NCR. Until laity organize to push for diocesan wide discussion on issues like these, nothing will happen.\n\nWe need priests and vowed religious to speak up, but we need public discussion even more. There is some good discussion going on at Association of Catholic Priests-Ireland and in some media there because Ireland is going through a great deal of separation of the influence of religion on government \n and religion on society, which gives rise to opportunities to bring issues into greater public discussion. The same is true in Australia because of the public beating the Catholic Church has taken in the Royal Commission investigations and because participation in practicing the faith was already waning. \n\nAnd here? Voices that want change are disorganized and bishops are long practiced in successfully ignoring them. I don't feel hopeful today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "drop your bucket where you are... a better question, \"so what do I do now\"? \nStart... here... Start ... now... Peace Sunday Jan. 15, 2017\nhttps://nonviolencejustpeace.net/world-day-of-peace-2017/\n\nWorld Day of Peace 2017 action suggestions, prayer (download and distribute) from Catholic Nonviolence Initiative-U.S.\n\nWorld Day of Peace litany of disarmament (download and use) based on litany written for the International Day of Peace 2016\n\nCelebrating World Day of Peace with children (download and distribute) from Catholic Nonviolence Initiative-U.S. and Little Friends for Peace\n\nCelebrating World Day of Peace in your parish (download and distribute) from Pax Christi UK\n\nWorld Day of Peace 2017 prayer card (download and distribute) from Pax Christi UK\n\nWorld Day of Peace 2017 Peace Sunday booklet (download and distribute) from Pax Christi \nUK\n\nThe courageous nonviolence of Jesus (download and distribute) from Pax Christi UK\n\nParish action kit (download and distribute) from Pax Christi UK", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A middle class Church, like Catholicism today, will want more control over its property rather than conceding it as the property of the bishop. Especially after this last bit of scandal which has parish property paying for the sins of the few.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But that too is a moral sin as all contraception is in Roman Catholic Dogma, the preferred religions of the two main speakers in this tale of Constitutional Traitors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Jesus thought non-violence to be the worst thing, He wouldn't have had Himself crucified, since it subjected so many people to such a degrading image of humans.\n\nI wish the pope would starting thinking with a supernatural mindset, so stuck is he into his temporal/1960s schtict.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic leader clarified the duty of Catholics as he discussed the politics of abortion. He emphasized a need to honor God above country, of \u201cCatholic identity taking precedence over everything.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re Catholics before we\u2019re Democrats. We\u2019re Catholics before we\u2019re Republicans. We\u2019re even Catholics before we\u2019re Americans because we know that God has a demand on us prior to any government demand on us,\u201d he said in a new interview with the wire service. \u201cAnd this has been the story of the martyrs through the centuries,\u201d Chaput said.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many Christians, even fundamentalists, and Catholics are perfectly nice people, few would deny that. That hasn't stopped criticism of Christianity in general and fundamentalist Christianity and Catholicism in particular, and particularly of their socio-political impact on our or American society.\n\nSo the fact that I know perfectly nice, fine Muslims socially, has no impact on what I think of the religion in general, and more particularly of its extremist version, and the socio-political impact it can have on our society when its practitioners become more and more numerous and politically influential.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "WellWell, the German Cardinal Mueller, B XVI's own protege and amanuensis, has now done just what you said can't be done, and just when you said it couldn't be done! This latest open-letter is a not-so-subtle signal for the Catholic ultra-right to re-think its hard-rock position on AL -- and to the \"Four Cardinals\" to repent, and cease and desist from causing further harm to the church! The Gang of Four may choose to return their red hats, as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are illustrating that you are not educated, at least on this topic. Consider that during these times the Church was suffering through the persecutions of Decius and Valerian.\nStephen did not \"wrestle\" control. He was the legitimate bishop of Rome. The only one (at that time) who tried to usurp the papacy was Novatian, the first anti-pope, shortly after Cornelius had legitimately ascended the papacy. Novatian had the support of just 3 bishops; certainly too underwhelming a number for any sort of credibility. All of the African bishops, including Cyprian, supported Cornelius. Stephen succeeded Cornelius. Cyprian certainly recognized and accepted his authority as such, writing him early on urging him to appoint a new bishop at Arles, where the current bishop had become a Novatianist. What prompted Cyprian to write his treatise, \"On the Unity of Christian Faith\", was the Novatian Schism...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am listening now - it is 6:28 Eastern. It is valuable to listen to this testimony, to watch the person speaking, to hear different points of view, and especially to hear the questions asked and answered. The Royal Commission is dealing with two issues right now which are \"tricky\": 1) Factors that may have contributed to the occurrence of child sexual abuse at Catholic Church institutions in Australia; 2) Factors that may have affected the institutional response of Catholic Church authorities in Australia to child sexual abuse. \n\nThese are \"tricky\" because they get into issues of hierarchical structure, clericalism, internal church law, the sacrament of reconciliation. How free is a religious institution in a society with a secular government, especially when it comes to compliance with civil law that protects the welfare of children? \n\nThe Church failed badly, everywhere. Does any government anywhere have a right to criticize or even require changes? How far can they go?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are drifting off topic. The article is about Europe and the overwhelmingly Muslim stream of migrants, many of whom cross 3-4 Muslim countries to demand refugee status in Europe. More exactly, to demand refugee status in Christian countries whose cultures are considered irreconcilable with Sharia Law and, as such, are considered bad, evil, or even unclean. \n\nI am not sure, how the USCCB fits into this picture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cWe created Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good to organize for a moment like this ... likewise Catholics United\u201d: source John Podesta emails\nProof that these two organizations so favored by MSW are not Catholic but are really fronts for the Democratic (read Clinton) party.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because taking those $X out from the public system weakens the one that it should be government's priority to strengthen.\n\nCatholic schools have the privilege that they can easily expel the behaviourally disruptive, knowing that the public system is there as a fallback that pretty much has to take them in and keep them no matter how much trouble they cause in classrooms. There are obvious advantages to the former for even non-Catholic parents, but if it's made easy, it eventually leads to the hollowing-out of the public system into little more than a dumping ground for the ADHD, autistic, and oppositional-defiant kids.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You claimed in a previous comment that you're fully well aware of various aspects of history. One of the many episodes which led to the final push for statehood was the fact that during the latter territorial era, people flying in and out of Alaska were required to be cleared by Customs upon landing. As the backlash against that helped lead to statehood, I'd like to see a backlash here which helps leads to independence.\n\nFurthermore, you said something about \"southern borders\" in a previous comment. According to the state labor department, Alaska's largest group of immigrants comes from the Phillipines. This is a country that's solidly Catholic and also a place where the older generations lived with 20+ years of Ferdinand Marcos as their leader. These folks come here and push that sort of \"do as I say, not as I do\" attitude upon native Americans whose background may include being taught to question authority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not going to get into a discussion of immigration at this time. I'll save that for another board.\n\nPrayer happens in public schools every day, as any kid who hasn't studied for a test well knows. The issue isn't prayer but organized group prayer, and it isn't only anti-religion folks who oppose it. \n\nMy son goes to a Catholic school, but if he was in a public school I'd want him to learn prayer in his home and church, not his school. My wife and I are not willing to surrender any aspect of our child's religious formation to the state, which is to say to some unknown teacher who might be an atheist or might be a evangelical fundamentalist for all we know. (That's one reason we send him to a Catholic school in the first place.)\n\nI want my government to be neutral about religion, and the best way to do that is to separate religious expression from state-sponsored activity.\n\nI'm moving on. Enjoy your day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Burns is the current chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People. He also is a member of the bishops' Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions and has been a member of their Administrative Committee.\"\n\nI admit to not having a clue as to how one would match a Bishop to a Dioceses... praise God, it isn't my job! Sometimes, as in this instance it seems to be a \"call\" to be in closer proximity to the members of USCCB and into negotiations with Texas Legislators than to bring some particular charism to the people of the Dallas Dioceses. That-- isn't a criticism! There is a team of auxiliary Bishops for those needs. Recent challenges ranging from the Texas Legislators blocking funds and services not to mention a fondness for detention centers, The Shepherd will have to go gather in those who have been \"cut from the flock\" and run off into the wilderness. The Icon of the Year of Mercy comes to heart... and mind. Pace e Bene", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics are their own guide in taking Communion. Most ignore the pietous direction to not take it if they feel guilty of sexual sins and do so without ill effect - in other words, they feel the grace of the Sacrament.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So do you only follow the parts of the Bible that are Christ's words? If that's the case, then you certainly don't have much to read, do you, given that the Bible was written by everyone but Christ.\n\nMuslims are equally free to interpret the Quran as they see fit. there are numerous verses in it that I disagree with, and I have debates and disagreements with my friends about them all the time. \n\nAs for your comment about Christian countries moving towards female equality, both Pakistan and Bangladesh have elected female Prime Ministers in open, free, democratic elections. Have Canada or the US done this yet? I guess women aren't so oppressed after all, eh?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Postscript:\n\"Perhaps Jesus will come back 'soon'.\"\nJesus is not a combination of Superman and Santa Claus. Jesus is not going to return, rescue us from ourselves, and then shower the \"good\" Christians, the \"right\" Christians, the \"proper\" Christians with goodies.\nIf God IS God, you're in for a surprise if you think you can just twiddle your thumbs, wait for the Rapture, watch the world fall apart, and be rewarded.\nWe made this beautiful world a mess, we clean it up. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The one we \"reject\"? You are truly delusional. It is one thing say--as heretical as it may be-that a dogmatic teaching has \"changed\", but to say that you and your modernist brethren \"hold to the true Catholic faith\" is beyond absurd. Unless, of course, you mean the heterodox post Vatican II faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I doubt that as the Executive Director of Courage would stand up for the Church's teachings in their fullness, including on chastity.\n\nAlso, being uber Catholic is a bad thing? Shouldn't we all strive to be as Catholic as possible?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you dissident, liberal Catholics always have to turn everything into an inferiority complex?\n\nThe relationship a priest has with his parishioners is on the level of Fatherhood. Why should that fact place the parishioner in an inferior relationship with the priest? Why does the relationship imply that the priest is higher than his parishioners? \n\nYou know, liberal dissidents are some of the most insecure people I have ever met.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "M,\nAs much as I love Pope Francis I have to admit that you make an important point in your post.\nUnfortunately, the case may be that the church structure just may be the problem. Please recall that all bishops are considered to be brother bishops and thus are equals. Pope Francis is the Bishop of Rome thus also one bishop among many. I'm thinking that is why he cannot simply order all of the other bishops to do as he says. Francis must do his teaching in an artful and Catholic way. \nMy dear friend, a Catholic bishop once said that many in his diocese were against abortion. So I said isn't that what you want and a good thing. He said\" yes, but. The but was because they were against abortion for some very wrong reasons like racial hatred, hatred towards the poor and just plain hatred. He pointed out that it was up to him to stop their hatred and TEACH them the real reasons why they should be against abortion. The Christ-like way to be against abortion. Many said he was soft on abortion.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Number one, the bible is a bunch of chosen stories out of many to promote an agenda of control (money) over a population. Number two, abortion has been around a long time:\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_abortion\n\nIf you think that early christians did not abort then you must believe they never had sex!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a priest in an independent catholic jurisdiction, Mitch, I find your classifying us by putting our \"Catholicism\" in quotes a bit condescending. A more respectful wording would be \"alternative Catholic churches,\" or \"independent Catholic churches.\" That said, as a pastor, I do find your faithfulness to attending Mass quite compelling. While some absences are excusable, like health reasons, mostly I hear that some real important relative has blown into town and that person deserves more attention that Jesus, that the parishioner has to go to some sports event, has to get on an airplane to go somewhere, or even worse, just felt like going to the beach. This mode of thinking is so foreign to me! Since I was a child, I have always moved heaven and earth to get myself to Mass. What kept me going was singing in choirs and serving at the altar. I can recall that, before I was old enough to drive, skipping family outings and taking the bus to church. Jesus has always been #1 for me!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ye Reap What You Sow! again and again on a daily basis as the drive to destroy the Constitutional Republic to be replaced by a Christian Dictatorship continues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm with you on integration. I think EVERY immigrant to Canada must be fluent in either English or French before they are awarded citizenship. I'm against religious schools in all forms, be they Muslim or Catholic, and detest areas where only one particular nationality or race reside. It sounds like a cliche, but our diversity differentiates and defines us, and we should embrace it as a nation and learn from each other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Comments 1. This is gonna take three comments - and even that is not enough. But here goes\n\njoanp - I grew up in the segregated South, when it was normal and reasonable for black skinned people to have no place to stay at local hotels, no restaurants to eat in but a few that would serve them out the backdoor, and could be arrested for drinking out of a whites-only drinking fountain even if there was no other drinking fountain available. Black people did not work in same spaces that white people worked, unless it was in a job that was a service to the white person. White people and people not white had separate schools and gues which schools were almost poorer in physical facilities, text books, libraries, and staff. \n\nAlmost all these white people were good, Bible-Belt Christians and included most Catholics living there, too. They believed that such segregation was Biblical, moral, right. And miscegnation - oh my!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Considering contraception was already not allowed when HV was promulgated and most priests soft pedal/ignore it, it\u2019s doubtful HV is the reason behind the decline, and there is a vested interest in proclaiming the Novus Ordo a success - note the calls to ban the Tridentine Mass and the fretting about young Catholics that like it. These are not the attitudes of folks confident the Novus Ordo is vastly superior.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You forget that Luther was an Augustinian priest---and a professor who trained priests.\n\nSecondly, the Catholic church, officially, has found most of his arguments/points as correct. We have more in common than not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any sharing of ecclesial tasks from Vatican to Bishops, Bishops to priests, priests to congregation will help create a church where more and more are engaged. Top-down exclusivism never works well because the deciders are so far from local conditions they cannot but repeatedly restate rules and regulations that may or may not be responsive to the many Christian cultures and people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not just Catholics. Evangelical Protestants believe that God tells them how everyone else is to live.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course, it's the RC (Republican Catholic) Church", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Remarriage after divorce equal adultery isn't from the Torah though, it's from the Gospel, so you are implying that Francis is tweaking Our Lord's teaching. The Pharisees asked if it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason, and Jesus corrected Moses who allowed for bills of divorce out of the hardness of heart.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not about removing Christianity! This is about leaving it out of publicly funded(by everybody!) schools. Outside of schools the kids can worship as they please.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are we discussing the Knights of Malta? Just a reminder that Pope Francis is still pope and he is a skilled politician who has navigated some really tough circumstances. Burke is all like well woe is me, there are American politicians who are Catholic and are in favor of abortion. And the Pope Francis is all like, I knew Argentine politicians who were Catholic and enjoyed torturing political dissidents and throwing them alive into the ocean out of planes. What is that you were saying about Nancy Pelosi again?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why bother to keep something like that? As I said, it warned all involved, including me. I pretty sure I am not \"Mr. H\" and pretty sure you know that and are only trolling with that comment. I am curious, how do you reconcile internet trolling with christian/catholic ethics? I mean, does the golden rule not apply to the internet? If you are going to claim to be a follower of Christ, aren't you bound to those restrictions on conduct?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@ dennism\n\n\u201cThat includes keeping the apostles honest\u201d\n\nWe proclaim to have bought into Roman Catholicism the one true Church who\u2019s teaching are still true to the moral law, we adherer to Church teachings don\u2019t we?\nThe Church has failed to confront the culture of cover up transparently, is this not a reflection of the whole body of the Church, one that is diseased by moral cowardice due to lack of faith.\nYes we all need to see and be a more faithful body of church that is true to Gospel teachings, but if this cannot be seen by mankind in its visible head (Rome/Lamp) do we cover it with a blanket and pretend that it does not exist or do we trim the wick and clean the lamp holder.\nOur faith has been purchased by Jesus Christ and many down the ages have bought into it, in faithfulness to His teachings, often at great personal cost, passing on their inheritance to us, do we separate ourselves from this inheritance or do we fight to keep it \ncontinued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Guess what - I went through the same system - so what? Time to move on and grow up. Education does not have to stop. I can add years of catholic graduate school to your list - but that is no excuse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder if Mr. Wollstein isn't aware of the 70 years of trauma that the PALESTINIANS, CHRISTIAN & Muslim, have lived under ZIONIST Israeli occupation? Much of IDF tactics are right out of the Nazi book. The holocaust was a tragity but so was seizing land from the PALESTINIANS to create zIsrael. Www.truetorahjews.org/mission Do not support the ZIONIST Government, a great number of Orthodox Jews view the ideology of the ZIONIST state called \"ISRAEL\" as diametrically opposed to the teachings of traditional Judaism. The US Gov. Needs stop supporting Israel's Evil. Many holocaust survivors did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I noted that almost everyone on this thread tries to change the subject.\n\nThe issue is very simple: FAN always argues against jobs for Americans.\n\nThe questions is why that Catholic org has such a dim view of workers and production.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The incoming Trump administration's threat to return to internment camps for immigrants, both documented and undocumented, should spur every American and Catholic who believes in liberty to action.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On the contrary! Catholic right-wingers have consistently been heard and seen to complain that This Pope should not be speaking extemporaneously, or be covered by the press! Censorship, by another name!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Church Law is equally binding upon Catholics as God's Law is. That is what the Church teaches. It's authority comes from God. Whether you believe it or not is up to you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Glad to meet you Christopher. First political rally; mom took me to see Nixon at Mac Court in what had to around 1967. I would have been 14 at the time. I saw McCarthy and Kennedy within the next 2 years. I was a Democrat most of my life, despite my dislike of LBJ at the time.\n\nI've been a registered independent for a decade now. \n\nIt would be a mistake to assume you know who I am based on your preset antipathy to the Oregon left wing. Most of my adult life, (35yr) was spent in the very conservative, very Republican town of Pella, IA. It's a white, Christian, conservative Republican community and I thrived working for closely held corporation. All my best friends owned multiple guns, common in rural Iowa.\n\n============\nIt's not a question, it's a fact, the President has not suggested any change to the Bill of Rights. When you ask a rhetorical question, it generally doesn't require a response.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Practitioners of open relationships don't consider them adulterous because the external activity is consensual to the non-participating spouse. They don't consider it cheating. The whole concept of adultery was forged when wives were the property of their husbands. No longer the case. Indeed, what scares the Church about both gay marriage and modern marriage is that the man is no longer in charge, which messes up their marital analogies about Jesus and the Church and the Hierarchy standing in Jesus stead as head of the wife.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can God expect , for example, Hindus who have never heard of Jesus to believe in Him. I remember hearing many years ago about a highly respected author and speaker who could rationally explain that the Catholic Church is the one true church but he, himself, did not believe because he did not have the gift of faith. Will God fault him for not having faith? I don't believe He will.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin, the early church knew nothing of Roman Catholicism as we know it in its present form--apart from the forms and strictures that were lifted from Judaism, paganism and Hellenistic thought... so I'm curious why you would proclaim RC to be the \"one true church?\" What would you call Orthodox and/or Protestant churches--fake??", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A van full of fuel cylinders blown in front of a Christian lobby group building. No casualties reported. It appears to have taken late in the evening.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Better and simpler: Humility brings us closer to God than do pride, vanity, love of comfort. \n\nWhen Jesus said \"I am the way, the truth, and the life\" He was giving the apostles\n\norder\nclarity\ncertainty\na rule\n\nWhen He appeared in an apparition to St Paul he wasn't giving St Paul an answer to a research question. \n\nWhen He told his followers that \"...on that day they will fast\" He wasn't showing them a new yoga position.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who are the \"ecclesiologists?\" Not quite a household name, even in the \"household of the faith.\" Are they an independent, non-institutional research group? Identifiable? \nEcclesia is mentioned only twice in gospels. A latter insertion?\nI perceive Jesus primarily as raising consciousness by questioning the given. \"But I say to you...\"\nLike the Buddha who didn't envision an ecclesia in his name, but focused on consciousness raising. \nThe meat of the matter is the message of Jesus encapsulated in the Sermon on the Mount, imo. \nUnfortunately, not at the center & core of the RCC which has created an anti-Sermon on the Mount morality based on fear, guilt and compliance, not questioning.\nThe Anabaptist tradition has sought to refocus on the Sermon on the Mount which espouses a morality that is embraced in the exception. Chesterton's assertion: Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.\nBrown remains an archeologist, digging at the root.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is a perfectly nice sentiment SteveK, and better than half of practicing Catholics would (arguably) go along with it... the problem is that the only votes that count are from those who adorn shiny red hats who feel it is their highest calling to protect and preserve their brand of institutional imperialism, all the while perfectly willing to obscure the infinitely more salient gospel imperatives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lots of causes need help, this article is about one. Try and at least respect the topic. Because there\u2019s nothing about copic christians that make them more important than any other human being in need.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps Pope Francis should ask Justin Trudeau to call upon Native leaders to apologize for the torture and murder of Catholic Jesuit missionaries from: \u201cSainte-Marie among the Hurons\u201d, who were martyred on various dates in the mid-17th century in Canada, in what is now southern Ontario and upstate New York, during the warfare between the Iroquois (particularly the Mohawk people) and the Huron.\nThe Martyrs are St. Ren\u00e9 Goupil (1642), St. Isaac Jogues (1646), St. Jean de Lalande (1646), St. Antoine Daniel (1648), St. Jean de Br\u00e9beuf (1649), St. No\u00ebl Chabanel (1649),St. Charles Garnier (1649), and St. Gabriel Lalemant (1649).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To what end? To come to our own realization that doctrine is doctrine for a reason? 2000 years of a religious survival says something about the religion's doctrine, don't you think? I love how the people of today think they're so much smarter than the people of yore. These aren't new issues, and we aren't any smarter than those who preceded us. The elitism of today's \"educated' Catholics is astounding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, let me mention that \"transubstantiation\" is not capitalized, even among the different capitalizations that Catholicism makes on its own. Transubstantiation is one way of trying to understand the mystery of the Real Presence, but not the only way of understanding. I have no problem with Thomas's writing about transubstantiation, but I understood more by learning about Thomas's experience of the Real Presence and his response that his work was but straw in the presence of the Real Presence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Equating Jesus with later commentators, like Paul? Explains a lot about a belief system that worships nonsensical traditions fabricated long after Jesus' resurrection. Jesus held as no more important than those who came after. No wonder a fantasy like the assumption can be taken so seriously.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One more time. What happened to the Syrian Christian refugees?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There should be more democracy in the Catholic Church, not less. Laypeople should have a role in choosing their bishops and priests and should be the ones ultimately in charge of their parishes. Bishops shouldn't be allowed to impose a priest on a parish who is confrontational to \"reform\" the parish's ideology or priorities. Also, laypeople should be able to appeal decisions regarding the Sacraments or a problematic pastor; this is especially important given the abuse scandal. I wonder how many lives would not have been ruined if laypeople were listened to on that.\n\nHowever, I do agree that democracy much have limits. The tyranny of the mob can be just as awful as the tyranny of a king. There must be protections for individual Catholics outside the \"norms.\" The parish mob shouldn't be allowed to harass or harm a single mom or remarried couple or gay couple.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" this time of year has been a holiday season long before Christianity came along-\"\n\nYou do realize that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ, Right? And that as such, it would be difficult to have this holiday prior to Christianity? \n\nOther than that, I agree with most of what you say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah so we had not saints in the church before Vatican 2 according to you, no great deeds of humility, charity and sacrifice?\n\nCome on you are acting as if the Church sprang up in the 1960's and hasn't had a continuous history of spreading the gospel for 1927 years prior to that. You don't get to be the 4th largest global health care provider in just 40-50 years!\n\nCharity, humility and sacrifice and missionary work are part of tradition. How much missionary work does the post Vat 2 church philosophy actually do in the secular world!? The church is going to go extinct in the west because it is not actually doing anything but serving platitudes. Humans don't react to that, most humans only react when they realise something is gravely wrong. The energy you warrant is within those youths because they actual want to convert the world to Christ! \n\nThe priests who don't wear their collars will never be approached for pastoral help, simply because no one can see that they are men of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes! We've certainly seen it on this site, that many conservative Catholics consider Trump to be their \"pope\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump was saying, mostly using code words, that he would put white, straight, Christian males back on top. These men, who felt they were losing out, bought it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...\"Why be Catholic then, from your view? \"....\nThat's maybe the question behind many of the 'disqussions'.\n\nWe'll differ in our answers, I'm sure, but for myself, I go with St. Justin Martyr, that \"\u201cReason directs those who are truly pious and philosophical to honor and love only what is true, declining to follow traditional opinions, if these be worthless.\u2028For not only does sound reason direct us to refuse the guidance of those who did or taught anything wrong, but it is incumbent on the lover of truth, by all means, and if death be threatened, even before his own life, to choose to do and say what is right.\u201d\n\nIn my words and thinking, I see the Church as Disciples of Jesus who are always seeking to understand more and to learn how to implement His Teachings better.\nthere is always more truth to be learned and better ways to implement it. We all work together to seek to make that happen.\n\nThat's why I remain a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, I don't understand your comment. Are you saying the berating the Catholics is only a PC matter? If so, we have different opinions on what PC is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For sake of discussion, let me ask you: why is it so important to have \"people committed to living out the \"evangelical counsels,\"?\" What specifically does the taking of those vows do for the Church, or the secular community? Is it possible that those rules, perhaps very useful at one time for whatever reasons, simply no longer perform an essential function? One indication for a resounding \"no\" is that the emerging forms of religious life mostly married couples - and men and women who want to someday marry - who have pledged a life of religious commitment and Gospel values, and who make a formal commitment to the religious community with which they are associated. Most vowed religious see this as a natural progression and guided by the Spirit and do not fear it. And by the way, the saints/founders you list are all long gone and lived during a very different time quite some time ago. We do better when we look forward, with a good understanding of what was, but not to relive it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... and when the \"enablers\" -you know, the Anchorage Gospel Rescue Mission, the Catholic Church Brother Francis Shelter, the food banks - are shut down; and we leave the spiritual side of the street to the \"angry\", stone-casting \"better-than-thou\" non-enablers who raise fists instead of open arms - what happens then Richard? Any plans for the mentally ill, for kids just aged-out of foster care or exiting abusive homes??? What's your NEXT step? Or is that all you've got? Complaining is not problem-solving.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes indeed... Sadly from my diocese in NC comes the following from the diocesan newspaper:\n\n\"Former seminarian sued over sexual assault claim\" (scroll down page a bit) \nhttp://www.catholicnewsherald.com/news/news-releases/90-news/local/1374-former-seminarian-sued-over-sexual-assault-claim\n\n...and yes, this fellow was amongst the retro-church seminarians being cultivated by our bishop, so the usual suspects cannot blame the behavior on so-called liberalism or homo$exual orientation. ... the victim was female this time. Since law enforcement and the chancery dropped the ball, now everyone is being sued individually and collectively in civil court.\n\nThe RCC has deeper complex problems within the ranks of clergy and prospective clergy, but the hierarchy does not want to admit that their ontological specialness and exceptionalism are not really all that special or exceptional. Until they do, predation and dysfunction will continue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Every charism is a response. The Church teaches it's a gift from and of the Spirit for our time. So it takes time to see why a charism exists. That's why it's not enough to be in and out of touch. And more than distant analysis, it's important to engage with those living a charism. See and experience their works. Judge the friendship and relationship that develops along with the writings and discourses they use. Like people, a Charism has a persona, it's alive. It changes and matures as it responds in time, and isn't always understood or agreeable. But that isn't a reason to dismiss it, but rather to engage. Lastly, experience also shows that the evangelical, traditional, liberal or conservative mold that we apply in America isn't so clear cut in experience and is too easy of a critique. And nobody calls it C&L. It's just CL.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no need to start the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance - that will only start the whole mess over again, as by law the Pledge includes subjugation to the biblical god. Just bang the gavel and start the meeting.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mind you, it does help make sense of your comments in other threads:\ntaking people to task because they are not in conformity with what you IMAGINE is the Church's teaching; \nIMAGINING what Pope Francis should have said ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Go and read the post again. I know you have difficulty in accepting that people actually mean what they write and feel that you have to put them right as to what they actually mean but in this instance you are saying that they mean exactly the opposite of what they write,\nEliane said the pope should support the Catholic Faith yet six people disagreed. Got it ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In this context, the body of those who to adhered to official Catholic teaching as it was when Francis became Pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God is three, God is one.\nJesus is fully human, Jesus is fully divine.\nThe constant substance changes while the changeable accidents do not.\n\nGive me an explanation of how the intellect holds those things together, and I will see if I can use that model to explain the current issue. Otherwise I have no idea what you mean.\n\nI\u2019ll even do it if you can explain how something can be both a wave and a particle at the same time.\n\nIs it the Mad Hatter who thinks three impossible things before breakfast every day?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So what is \"wrong\" about his ancestral name? A founding father of upper Mississippi river Catholic parishes was Fr. Samuele Mazzuchelli. The overwhelmingly Irish flock of his preferred Matthew Kelly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You embody this:\n\n\"In the wake of Donald Trump\u2019s election, the news is flooded with reports of abuse, assault, and harassment, largely of minorities, by jubilant Trump supporters celebrating the ascent of their candidate, a candidate who campaigned by appealing to white heterosexual Christian supremacy.\n\nOver the past 48 hours, women have been assaulted for wearing the hijab, property has been defaced with swastikas, LGBT Americans have been threatened, and African Americans have experienced election result-specific harassment by fellow Americans touting the election of Donald Trump as the dawn of a new America, apparently one where they consider that the ugliest of racial and social animus to have the seal of presidential approval.\"\n\nWhy hasn't Trump denounced this behavior? For that matter, why haven't his supporters? Oh, right: They're the ones doing it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's no way we can have a conscience unless we hit the books, study doctrine, read our catechism. This is why no one had a conscience in Jesus' time. They lacked a church doctrines to study.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know what you are complaining about. The Church DID let you witness. It was not going to allow you to hijack something to which you had no right.\n\nChrist, being God, knew all things for all time. The unchangeable teaching that the priesthood be reserved for men only was what He taught through His actions is not to be questioned with any hope that the teaching will be changed. Pope Saint John Paul II unequivocally stated that the teaching COULD not change: \"Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church's divine constitution itself, in virtue of Our ministry of confirming the brethren.[4] We declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful.\"\n\nTo question this is to question the Divinity of our Lord. He either did know this teaching would be hard to take, OR He did not know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "googling it, it is interesting what a difference in language time makes! Vatican 1 was back in 1870! The Church certainly grew by the time Vatican 2 came around! A Century later much of the old language and attitude has seen a change.\nThe Holy Spirit has indeed been active in developing greater understanding!\n\nI can't imagine you have not read the Document of the Second Vatican Council and accept what the Church today teaches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hold on for a moment. P.I. has a point. How many of us \"loyal Catholics\" don't see the ideological underpinnings of our denomination? Pope Benedict as CDF head articulated in no uncertain terms that God created women because Adam was lonely; to satisfy a need that otherwise would result in a \"baneful encounter with himself\". That was BEFORE the \"first sin\" after which God literally condemned women to serve man (...in the church and in the world). Many \"good people\" are unaware or reject the imputation that they are the willing servants and/or the dupes of an ideology that they would not otherwise endorse. In fact they would defy your accusation. \nP.I. is, in this instance, I think, referring to the \"enabled\"; you are referring to the \"enablers\".\nThe response of reasonable people of good will to the editorial is to see the difference and learn how to speak to it as appropriate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church Paperback \u2013 June 19, 2007 \n\nby John L. Allen \n\nLet's at least try to have some objectivity. You both state extreme positions and falsely describe Opus Dei.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Didn't he have his credentials as a Catholic theologian cancelled 35-40 years ago?\n\nIf he did, why would we want to read him?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think those in favor of things like liturgical dance can't abide the criticism and the fact there are many Catholics who find that kind of thing cringeworthy at Mass. \n\nNot in favor of \"vile yelling\", but Catholics should be able to attend Mass that doesn't run roughshod over the GIRM.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure where you got the information that this man is a former Christian but Biblically speaking, there is no such thing. There are people who profess to be Christians and they are, and those who profess it but never were. Both Jesus and his disciples taught that if a person claims to be a Christian and then recants, he never was one in the first place.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People in Christ's time did understand what Jesus did----but it took them time to comprehend it. We're had more than 2000+ years to reflect upon it. Sure we understand it better.\n\nAgain, neither I nor Cardinal Kasper are denying the miracle of Jesus walking on the water. But which miracle of Jesus is MORE IMPORTANT in demonstrating to the people the hope and promise of a future Resurrection---walking on the water or raising Lazarus from the Dead? Even our liturgies demonstrate that reality. The Gospel of the raising of Lazarus is used in Funeral Liturgies---not the story of Jesus walking on the water.\n\nAgain, you are not able to clearly understand what Kasper is writing. Stop condemning theological perspectives that your ignorance can't grasp.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A timely piece. When Jesus spoke out against divorce (which he did on a theological basis), divorce was perfectly legal under both Jewish and Roman law\u2014yet it was remarkably uncommon, far less common than in the modern west. One important reason was the economic implications of divorce: under most circumstances it would mean returning the dowry (initially paid by the bride\u2019s family) AND handing over a settlement in the same range as the marriage present (which was initially supplied by the groom\u2019s family). Such economic entanglements kept families together.\n\nFor all the deficiencies of Am.Laet, the pope does well to reach out to those affected by divorce. But one thing we rarely hear from the hierarchy: divorce harms children and it harms society, and should be restricted, if not banned outright. This is the counter-cultural message of the gospel and it\u2019s what bishops should be saying. We\u2019ve done the experiment with no-fault divorce and the results are evident.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You didn't answer my question.\n\nIf you get to disobey the bishops when it comes to the moral teachings--because you don't like them, on what basis can you appeal to the very same authority of the bishops when you demand that Catholics obey them on Catholic social teaching?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did anyone at this press conference ask the Cardinal about Canon 18 from the Council of Trent?\n\n\"If any one saith, that the commandments of God are, even for one that is justified and constituted in grace, impossible to keep; let him be anathema.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also Trad to continue - We also believe women must take part in this meal or be condemned as we require all of our members, as a matter of law, to take part in Holy Eucharist in order to be saved. This is as well as being baptized equally into the body. So what you are suggesting is that women can be saved without taking part of this Holy Meal and therefore it would be fine to refuse all women Holy Eucharist. \n\nThis belief is not only heresy against the church's most fundamental laws of sacramental purpose but also blasphemy against Jesus Christ, God's Son, himself, who stated the exact opposite in the Gospels and died so that all men and women might take part in his sacrifice and eat of his flesh and blood and be saved.\n\nThis is the grave danger of misinterpreting the scriptures to one's personal agenda. In this case, the desperate agenda to continue sexism in our religion, despite the Gospels having condemned such unequal treatment of women or any other group.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you believe in the Fatima apparitions? If you do I would expect you would be a champion of Cardinal Burke, because he clearly does believe,and everything he has been doing is because of same. The Synod of the family was an absolute sham. AL was even worse. He is a symbol of a true Catholic Prelate. What does he promote that does not fall 100% in line with Catholic doctrines and teachings. I would like to have some examples.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You mean these RCI (Roman Catholic Institution) clergies put a finite sinful men\u2019s organization before the living children who are \u201cthe temple of God and that the spirit of God dwells in them\u201d?\n\u201cDo you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God\u2019s temple, God will destroy that person: for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.\u201d (1 Cor 3:16-17) \n \nThat is what I call a sick, sick, SICK group EGO! Don\u2019t you know spiritual journey 101?\nLearn about your EGO & get hold of your beast (EGO) to train to cooperate in your spiritual study and work. Eventually let go your EGO to be united to God.\nNo wonder why clergies have an attitude!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would happily and ecumenically welcome any Orthodox person into the Catholic Church. Otherwise, there's not much to talk about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(I) The members of Trump's \"Catholic Advisory Council\":\n\n1. Sen. Rick Santorum, Former US Senator and presidential candidate\n2. Marjorie Dannenfelser, President, Susan B. Anthony List\n3. The Honorable Matt Schlapp, Chairman, American Conservative Union\n4. Ambassador Francis Rooney, Former US Ambassador to the Holy See\n5. Sean Fieler, President, Chiaroscuro Foundation\n6. Rev. Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life\n7. Chris Slattery, Founder & President, Expectant Mother Care\n8. Cong. Andrew Harris, US Congressman, Maryland, 1st District\n9. Janet Morana, Co-Founder, Silent No More Campaign\n10. John Klink, President Emeritus, International Catholic Migration Commission\n11. Marjorie Murphy Campbell, Founder & Publisher, New Feminism\n12. Deacon Keith Fournier, Chairman, Common Good Foundation and Common Good Alliance\n13. Tony Maas, President & CEO of JTM Food Group\n14. Patrick Walsh, Former Chief Secretary and Attache, US Embassy, Dublin, Ireland\n(cont'd.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Incorrect. Over75% of catholics favor gay marriage", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Two comments: \n\n(1) I believe the custom of calling priests 'father' is fairly new, beginning in the 19th century. So it does not go back to Jesus, even to the Council of Trent!\n\n(2) There is an old joke about two little boys, one Catholic and one Anglican, who both called their minister, \"Father\". The Catholic boy said to the Anglican in indignation, \"Yours is not a proper father - he's got kids!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently, so did 52% of Catholics who voted in 2016.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I understand when one can't logically defend a position within the binding precepts of the Church's magisterial teaching, one often resorts to ad hominem. So be it. You, sir, are simply not a Catholic, despite what you're {ill formed} conscience might tell you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Passer - I disagree that beliefs have to be based on reality. Orthodox Catholics believe that in communion they are literally imbibing the blood and body of Christ (who died for their sins) . Transubstantiation. \n That's really not reality and even high school chemistry students can deconstruct that one.\n\nBut as to your vital question about being around for eternity - where's the evidence you won't be? Maybe all house sparrows live forever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church as institution had an aura, a mystique, a supreme, deafening, ruthless, invincible, almighty power in the minds of people fully indoctrinated into its web. We see the horrifying results of this kind of worshipping, idolatrous, servile attitude. And we still have many Catholics who promote this kind of attitude, who in fact demean and threaten people who do not grovel to the imperious institution. But the institution, in this venerated form, has been found wanting. It has harbored and generated evil and harmed our brothers and sisters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So do I. Two important points in his homily.\n\n1) On God present within us: \"Fundamental to the Christian message is that every one of us is, in ourselves, a deep and profound mystery, no matter what our beliefs. That is why the Christian message so emphasizes the importance of the dignity of the individual.\"\n\"That profound mystery that is part of every one of us, I would say, is the presence of the divine, the presence of God in every one of us.\u201d \n\n2) On reclaiming the Eucharist: \"Acknowledging he still believed that at the words of consecration Jesus becomes present in the bread and wine, he also stressed that this was not the only presence of Jesus and God among us.\" Flannery said: \"He or She or whatever pronoun you want to use is just as powerfully present in this gathering, in the whole lot of us and in each of us individually. We have a new understanding of Mass and the Eucharist and it isn't just the work of the priests \u2014 it is the work of the believing community.\" \n\nAmen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, that's because we're Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Inviting & honoring one who supports abortion & infanticide does not seem in line with Catholic belief.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus had female apostles. It wasMary Magdalene who was chosen by Jesus (from them all) to be the first to proclaim the good news. For this reason she was called \"the apostle to the apostles \" and for this reason she is said to have started the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Block \"access\" to reproductive services and contraception? I am sure \"reproductive services\" is a euphemism for \"abortion on demand.\" It is true that the Catholic Church along with many others continue to campaign for the rights of the unborn. We make no apologies for this. \n\nAs for contraception, again people use euphemisms. \"Access to contraception\" is a euphemism for \"free Contraception.\" I do not see how access to contraception entails \"provided free of charge compliments of the Catholic Church.\" Any women who works for the Catholic Church is free to \"access\" contraception whenever she wants. It is just that the Church is not going to pay for it. \n\nHow I wish liberals would stop with the euphemisms and just say what they mean.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is so true. I remember the first time I spotted \"The Wanderer\" when I was a teen. It's lead article referenced the French Revolution as the turning point for where everything went wrong for the Church and society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would be very surprised if the US Catholic Church were able to survive the 21st century as much more than an ethnic minority church clinging to the past. Today's youth pay even less attention to the ecclesiastical hierarchy than they do to remnant royalty. For good or for bad, no one under 50 cares what popes and bishops write, and most of those over 50 seem to pay attention only when the content agrees with them -- which is a form of not caring masked as concern. The temporary influx of Hispanics gives us the illusion of a growing church, but that growth is not sustainable. More than anything else, the Church is crippled by its inability to articulate a compelling message that makes today's people put personal or corporate \"salvation\" -- whatever that still means -- above their own gratification. To quote a lesser mind, the bishops' conference could shoot someone on 5th Avenue, and no one would pay attention. (Don't believe me? Show the above photo to a teenager.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Every one who knows the history of celibacy knows it was about continence and not about property. Jesus said Mass once and there is no evidence he was not married and did not have sex within marriage or the night before the Last Supper, especially since he was sleeping at home in Bethany, presumably with Mary. I read Church history, especially about the classical period and how the doctrine advanced. America Magazine had an interesting piece on it when examining celibacy. Garry Wills' book on Augustine also shows the sexual ethics of the fourth century and it was very misogynistic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am pretty certain that the Holy Father and Jesus are not the same guy. \ud83d\udca5\ud83d\udca5", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's interesting, but none of it supports the implication that these writings are \"revelations,\" presumably by some supernatural authority. Any sentient person can be expected to adopt rules of behavior, they're implicit. There are those who think that antiquity confers moral authority, but I'm not one of them. As for the New Testament, if one collected all the various source materials for the various gospels, which were really not written with the intention of being collected together, one could probably assemble a very different book than the one the church elders have created for us. Some of the Gnostics didn't believe Christ ever became human and trod the earth, existing entirely as a mythic being. Thomas Jefferson's approach to the New Testament was to take a razor blade and excise all references to the supernatural and miraculous, leaving the rest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regular Catholics and even clergy were not to study scripture at all . Only very old explanations by long dead saints were allowed . But Pius XII knew there was excellent work being done in that field by many Protestant scholars and it was a bad idea to forbid persons who were catholic and willing to study SS to be discouraged from doing so .\nAs far as I know probably Pius envisioned mostly or exclusively clergy to go into the study involving ancient language , customs , et al archeology, etc. \nHad I known posting was for test credit might I have tried harder ? Dunno . I never studied theology because I felt I might end up in the looney bin . And I am not interested in all the discipline required for studies. My hat's off to all you who are theologians !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Jesus-likeness, it is up to us to be the good we expect from life. For control purposes, we institutionally over-wrought GOD (god); divine presence is like a child, is a child, filled with grace potential and goodness - no capital letters needed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Strawman. Catholics never said that works alone lead to salvation. Good grief!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can't imagine how the Church would condone one sin to eliminate another. Why not just get rid of both sins? Turn to God, not political correctness. Those who pray the rosary don't bully and don't commit sins of impurity. If they fall, then there is Confession.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And of course, the opposition to Pope Francis is very tied to the alt-right. Rorate Caeli's Twitter feed rotates between Tweets praising Russia, Tweets praising Trump, and Tweets whining about Pope Francis. I suspect that Steve Bannon and Ray Burke are somehow tied and that Bannon would like Pope Francis, who he despises, to be deposed or at least sidelined. Bannon is working to influence European elections in favor of far right bigots like Le Pen. So it isn't shocking that Bannon/ Trump (and ultimately Putin) would try to install leadership in the Catholic Church that is more to their liking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think he's right too . . . about the focus on poverty (or other forms of marginalization) because this is by far the best reflection of the Gospels. But a lot of people don't like it. It kind of surprises me. I can only conclude that certain individuals enjoy watching others being pelted with rules they cannot live up to and that the same people believe the final judgment will take place in a principal's office.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have just altered my travel plans for 2017 to include Berlin where I am going to search out and hug every obvious immigrant I can find. I don't pray, but my fervent hopes and wishes will be with Ms. Merkel and like minded people. \nI would not call Trump LePen Wilders Farrage et al a \"disease\" but they are surely a symptom of how fear of a few, a very few, mentally ill people can be used to turn us against our fellow human beings based on nothing more than the accident of their birthplace. I woud simply ask those condemming \"Muslim immigrants\" to remember the Oklahoma City Bomber, the Montreal massacre shooter, and take your pick of the most recent hundred or so mass murderers in North America. What percentage were \"Muslim\" vs \"Christian\" vs \"aetheist\" or \"native born\" vs \"immigrant\"? \nUnbiased reflection shows it is not \"immigrants\" or any labelled group that is the problem. It is our tendency to label and scapegoat others that is the root of this current \"disease\"..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How sad the world when in 2015 ISIS destroyed statues in Mosul's central museum and the UNESCO World Heritage City of Hatra. They claimed that these were false idols and violate their interpretation of Islamic law. In other words they were destroying historical artifacts and history because it did not agree with their current ideology. How does this differ from what is going on today. Removing plaques from the Langevin Block on Parliament Hill Ottawa to Covering statues in Halifax. They are tarring down statues in the US because in they do not agree with the current ideology. In this respect we are no different. Where does it stop. Maybe all memories and symbols of Queen Elizabeth I' should be removed due to her treatment of Catholics. \nThis is history leave it alone and teach what was right and what was wrong. It will be interesting to see how we are judged a few generations into the future. \n\"Those Who Do Not Learn History are Doomed to Repeat it\" George Santayana.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On the other hand, it must be understood that child sexual abuse is a heinous crime - and in most jurisdictions is a grave civil crime - for which there are severe penalties. The Vatican is a signatory to a number of international conventions including the Convention against Torture that states child abuse is a form of torture due to its degrading, cruel and punitive nature. If the Vatican wants credibility within this world, child abuse by clerics does have to be met with appropriate punishments. God may be Merciful to the soul of the abuser when it come to the Judgement and the Church can counsel the abuser in the spiritual domain. However, the Church should not provide a lesser punishment to a priest who has abused children than that which prevails in the civil legal jurisdictions of this world. Abuse is a crime before both God and man. Christ said, \"Suffer not little children to come unto me\". There is an imperative there that places the child uniquely within Christ's protection.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Christian population is never mentioned in the MSM because the media's role is to promote the one-world government agenda of the globalist elites. That agenda is based to a large extent on the de-Europeanization of Europe (and the predominantly white English-speaking countries), the destruction of the Western nation-state through mass non-European immigration and the de-Christianization of the world in general. Christians are the most persecuted religious group in today's world but one wouldn't know it from relying on the MSM for news.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your faith should represent all of mankind. Where are you on overpopulation or is it anything to get more put into the collection plate? Where are you to the cause of the problems facing man today? Maybe not seeing the reality of eventually standing room only and the lack of services to provide for the masses. The Christians and Muslims have been at each others throats for thousands of years and you think that bringing them to America will be lasting peace. Why is there so much trouble in the middle east that you want to bring to a peaceful area in such massive numbers. Is it because they overpopulated their countries and for a better life they want to come to other places that haven't made that mistake and spread the problems. Certainly it pains one to look at the children and see the conditions but how about doing something to curb the population problem rather than trying to put a band aid it and leaving it for future generations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis' third consistory approaches ... in total, come November, he will have appointed 44 new cardinals under the age of 80 ... that's 37% of cardinals eligible to vote in a new conclave. If the Divine grants our Holy Father another three years of health (personally, I'm hoping for much, much more), by then it could well be that three quarters of cardinals of voting age will have been appointed by him. John Allen Jr called Francis' first consistory the \"Consistory of the Periphery\" ... the other two have been in similar vein, thanks be to God! After decades of hopelessness, I feel buoyed up by this breath of fresh air ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.\" (Jn 13: 34-35)\n\"As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be compete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.\" (Jn 15: 9-12)\n\"The commandments, \"You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,\" and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this saying, \"You shall love your neighbor as yourself.\" Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.\" Rom 13: 9-10)\nFor disciples of Christ, there is only one commandment!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, forgiveness on the part of the person who has been wronged only helps the forgiver if the one who has done the wrong is truly sorry for the wrong committed. Isn't that what we were taught in Catholic schools many years ago. As a victim, I have seen no evidence that those who committed the crime and those who covered up for those who committed the crime are truly sorry for anything. When they can accept their own responsibility, then and only then, will I forgive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, we should believe Cardinal Coccopalmiero's \"chronology of sin\" -- not adultery if the kids are <18, presumably becomes adultery once they are emancipated but the adulterers continue to act like husband/wife; or believe the German Episcopate's \"geography of sin\" -- it's adultery in Pomerania Poland, but \"accompaniment\" in WestPommern, Germany. The absurdities of Amoria Laetitia and its proponents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Juergen for your response, and reading the article a Bond of Divine Mercy in the link provided, which is directed at the Church, to consider permitting same sex couples who have made a civil commitment to share their life together, to partake of Holy Communion. \nAs you are not in a committed (Civil) relationship, like all single people the Sacrament of Reconciliation is available to you, I was pleased to hear that you received the Sacrament of reconciliation. \n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mandering, roger that! At 68 years old, I'm STILL a recovering catholic and will be be until I croak.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow. Have to agree with some commenters that this amounts to mucho propaganda value but little else. If not for this episode, Gregory Jones would have been remembered as yet another Democratic sacrificial lamb candidate, one of many the party throws on the ballot to offer the false impression that it's still relevant. One such sacrificial lamb candidate in a fairly recent election sits on the local school board. Being a union hack, he's able to get re-elected unoppposed time after time in spite of the fact that he seems to have a problem actually showing up to meetings.\n\nWhile I was praying about a week ago, I received a message to take a long hard look at Psalm 119:78. The fact is, Christians are being persecuted for their beliefs and driven away from the mainstream. The concentration of so much economic power in the hands of so few is being used as a means to accomplish that. Shannyn appears to overlook that in the course of bringing up every other boogeyman out there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".\nThe downward spiral of euthanasia \n-\n\n\nStaff now needed to facilitate the suffering of others, \nChristians preferred we want them to join the herd.\nGood salary with special bonus for efficiency\nThe undertakers think our work is wham no more queue or jam,\nQuick turn around and your bonus will be found.\nComprehensive benefits for your whole family no need for Medicare as we take every care\nContraception including the snip if you wish,\nAbortion on demand any term you can discern \nAn abnormality at birth what is their life worth?\nCommon sense is our defense the wisdom of man is where I am\nCar accident, we will ease the pain, his life will never be the same again\nParents needing long term care, don\u2019t despair we will give them gentle care\n\u201cPension Plan\u201d?\nNo need comfort and ease your life will be a breeze \nWhen it is your turn to go we will let you know.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Yes, to seek the greatest good means to seek what God wills for them ...'\nTrouble is, you seem to set yourself up as the only true interpreter of \"what God wills for them\".\n\nJust look at your second sentence: \"For Catholics, that means they must ...\" Just who are you to be dictating what anyone other than yourself \"must\"? \n\nI am dreading the inevitable pious reply.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have visited a few different Trappist monasteries especially St. Benedict's Monastery, in Snowmass CO. for over thirty years. Every one of them I hear silence in their monastery ground. One beautiful February crisp cold sunny day I walked to the monastery and saw this saintly abbot Joseph was chipping the ice on the cement steps. I stopped to say hello, and for a few seconds it was Jesus who was looking at me. When I met with Fr. Keating, I felt God's presence because he was in the presence of God. \n\n One time I was having a private retreat at the New Melleray abbey in Dubuque, IA and had a car trouble. I met this monk who fixes the monastery cars and explained what is happening with my car. And I heard silence of this mechanical monk. I will never forget him. \n\"Plunge into the activities of life, we lose the faculty of listening, and we alienate ourselves from our very source, silence, God\" Raymon Panikkar", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\" as an active fund manager, Mr. Bradley would like to see a quicker shift toward indexing and away from the highest cost funds, particularly those qualifying as \u201ccloset indexers\u201d.......\n\n\u201cThe sooner they\u2019re gone, the better,\u201d he said. \u201cI would hope some of that would go to full-on active, but I concede that a lot of it will go to indexing, which is just fine.\u201d\n\nRead carefully....I don't think his comments are simply based on charitable Christian good will...\nActive investors love taking money from index investors :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When a conservative Catholic uses the term \"prudential judgment\", what he generally means is \"I proclaim that all magisterial teachings must be accepted without question by all true Catholics. This is a magisterial teaching I disagree with, so I will cry 'prudential judgment' and pretend that I am not rejecting the magisterium\". For example, Marty E disagrees with JPII's teaching on capital punishment in Evangelium Vitae, so he said it was a \"prudential judgment\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Magisterium is not 6 or 7 thousand bishops under the pope, it is the authority Christ gave to His Apostles and their successors, the bishops to teach in His name, to bind and loose. This gift or charism has been enjoyed by all St Peter's successors and the bishops in communion with him from day one.\nIn the unlikely, I would say almost inconceivable, event of all Catholic bishops dying at the same time, then I would have to say that without any bishops at all then there can be no Church. However, on account of Christ's promises to be with His Church until the end of time and where 2 or 3 are gathered together in His name, He is there in their midst, my Faith tells me that God would not allow this total catastrophe to befall His Church.\nI do not expect you to agree with any of this but this is what I and millions of Catholics of my generation were brought up to believe and nothing the Church has taught since contradicts it so I'll stick with it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Jesus did start a Church and no, He did not pick women among His twelve Apostles. \n\nHow does your Church differ from the Episcopalians or the Unitatians or a NGO? \n\nThe article was about the Catholic Church, priest shortages, and parish closings, so my comment stuck to the topic at hand.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ">The serenity and good humor with which the pope has spoken about the critics and the criticisms could cast his opponents in a negative light, by way of contrast. And Catholics in the pews don\u2019t seem averse at all to the Roman Curia and conservative hierarchs getting a bit of comeuppance.\n\nI think this is an excellent observation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Naturally everything the Pope says stands in stark contrast to the modern Republican party's entire platform on economic issues. Their raison d'\u00eatre as a political party is to decrease the top marginal tax rate to nothing, if possible - way down from the 90% where it stood when Eisenhower, a Republican, was president. That would of course increase income inequality exponentially. But if His Holiness ever hopes to reach his audience of American Catholics who voted for Donald Trump and his Republican congress because of abortion and gay marriage, he'd better spend some Vatican money and buy a little air time on Fox News. That's the only way he'll ever hope to reach that particular audience - not that Fox would ever allow it. Since Pope Francis lashed out at Trump's proposed anti-Muslim, anti-immigration policies before the election last year he has been labelled anathema by the right-wing media. Not sure how he overcomes that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was not a matter of Dogma but of epistomology and discipline. There was nothing credal about it. The reference in the Creed to believing in one Holy, Catholic and Apostalic Church does not mean the Pope's Chruch, right or wrong. You are still confusing loyalty and faith. You can certainly all a council doctrinal, but if the Council Fathers are given no freedom to deliberate, it is a sham.\n\nWhen are you going to comment on my latest abortion comments? I dare you. I double dare you. Seriously, debating the point leads to a possible solution to reduce abortion (it will never be ended). Comment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sr. Rose, I've mentioned it in another post. I do hope you can find a copy of \"Silence and Beauty: hidden faith born of suffering\" by Makoto Fujimura. From the jacket... ...Silence, took visual artist Makoto Fujimura on a pilgrimage of grappling with the nature of art, the significance of pain, and his own cultural heritage. His own artistic faith journey overlaps with Endo's as he uncovers deep layers of meaning in Japanese history and literature. He finds connections as to how faith is lived amid trauma and glimpses of how the gospel is conveyed among Christ-hidden cultures.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It looks like we need to make Fr. Rey a cardinal so he gets a Vatican passport. His bishop should call the President about his case. Trump just may buy it.\n\nThat a Third Way organization would be up against a DLC candidate is strange, although they may be reporting, not advocating. There were some people who wanted no Clintons and no Bushes. They won, but at what cost? On transgender bathrooms, that is in response to GOP social trolling, not a new initiative by progressives, who thought we had won this issue decades ago.\n\nAustin who? I have been following another Tweet Storm started when Bruce Bartlett called all Trump suppoerters racists. As for Catholic homophobes, read the NCR comments section. Funny and tragic that they are all Trads, which makes their entire agenda look more reactionary than spiritual.\n\nIf you have cable, Diary should be available on demand for a while for free.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will have to disagree. The first ban had a number of issues--effected current visa holders, greencard holders and other legal residents; contained language about a fast track for religious minorities, i.e. christians that amounted to a religious test; had an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees versus 120 days like the other countries on the list; and did not describe any security concerns or threats prompting the ban. These have all been address in the new executive order, leaving the only real issue being the intent of the ban, i.e. that because of president Trump's statements during the campaign its really supposed to be a ban on muslims. Of course there could be other issues that I am not seeing, we will have to see what the civil liberty organizations say once they have analyzed it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nonsense...but I understand why you have to convince yourself of your position. \n\nIt is not I living in a alternate reality, John. That the Church teaches is what they do...What you decide to do about it is up to you. I know, for some odd reason, you want to remain Catholic - but have the teachings change to accommodate you. That actually a control issue that YOU have....\n\nAnyway. Tell me just one other thing. Can you ever disagree with anybody without a personal attack? Just wondering.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "BRO, from your experience, what would you say those issues are? I think it's important for people like Catholic Mom to learn about this. There are simply too many people suffering from an extremely unhealthy attitude towards sex and hiding from the real issues by convincing themselves that they are being good Catholics. \n\nOn the other extreme, I recently went out socially with a guy who has 14 (fourteen!) children. When I introduced him to some friends and he informed them that he had fourteen kids, one of the group asked, \"Have you not got a television in your house?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From an article entitled, \"Women in Church Leadership,\" by Sr. Christine Schenk, at futurechurch(dot)org, supported by eleven reference texts in its bibliography:\n\n\"Hebrew women were not allowed to divorce their husbands, but could be divorced for anything from burning the dinner (Hillel) to adultery (Shammai). In a culture in which women did not survive unless they were linked to the patriarchal household, it was disastrous to be divorced. Seen in this light, Jesus' proscription of divorce is markedly protective of women. The raising of the son of the widow of Nain is another example of Jesus' compassion for the poverty of a woman whose survival was threatened by the loss of her link to the patriarchal household. Most Hebrew women had minimal property rights. Theoretically women could inherit land, but in practice male heirs had precedence. Even if a woman did inherit property, her husband had the right to its use and its fruits.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gary,\n\nThere is no scriptural basis for ordination. It is a post-apostolic tradition. In contrast, in the New Testament there is the \"laying-on of hands\" to give a greater measure of the Holy Spirit to those whom God has called to certain leadership and missionary purposes. We would do far better if we did away with ordination and instead focused on recognizing whom God has called and equipped to fulfill certain roles in His work.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are any of your family or friends bishops or a Supreme Pontiff?\n\nCatholics probably has a privileged place in this discussion since it deals with Fr. Reese\u2019 inquiry as to what compromises the Church and Catholics can make.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How does it favor \"life\" to cut foreign aid, Food Stamps, Children's Health insurance, WIC, and other programs that support children? How does it lower the abortion rate to cut off access to contraception? It's time to have a true open discussion among Catholics male and female on a workable approach to protecting children before and after birth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The idea of ordination flows from the belief that human nature is fallen and the great majority of human beings are unclean and therefore unworthy to stand in the presence of the Lord and represent the prayers of the people. Therefore, we set apart a class of individuals who agree to live by our (culturally-conditioned) standards of ritual purity and \"ordain\" them to serve in our stead. It was a mindset that flourished back when most people couldn't read, generally struggled to make it through the day and had little time for theology, and had less than perfect access to hygiene. The assumption that their spiritual condition matched their physical one was considered self-evident. \nToday, we have access to everything the ordained clergy have, are on average at least as intelligent, and generally smell better, if we count women among our number. The idea that we need ordained people to do for us what God won't let us do on our own is more pagan than Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Relatability rather depends on who's doing the relating.\n\nIf \"practising Christian\" is that big of a cornerstone for the guy, how relatable can he be to anyone who isn't one?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If all bishops read National Catholic Reporter and took its editorials to heart, we would have a much better Roman Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course the male-chauvinism and top-down corporation style management of Vatican, Inc. is so disgraceful\n\nThere does not appear to be an obvious way to enter adult spirituality via Catholicism. But if you read Vatican documents carefully I think you find there is rigidity on the surface, but under that, often some playfulness and a real understanding by authors that you cannot define the Indefinable. The faithful cannot be made to be Aware; rather, they are led into what appears to be a rigid structure, and then after some time, many come to a realization as you have, and emerge as new life like a chick from an Easter eggshell -- we are the graduates! The Bible is designed to transform -- compare the parallel passages in the four books of the Gospel. What you see is not dogma, but a shifting, kaleidoscopic landscape. Do you realize some church teachings are paradoxes? Consciously entering Awareness of 'nothing' necessitates casting off from guide posts that seemingly are 'something.'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So...was Jesus guilty of making a blanket condemnation of adultery?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I take it a face value. I assume everyone is trying to be a good Catholic, Christian, etc, (in her/his own personal and spiritual life). We are all so complex, really a mystery to ourselves, ultimately known only to God. So I let God be the judge of a person's fidelity, choices (or if the person is married, his or her spouse). But trying to figure out a person's moral or inner life is like trying to figure out a person's bone shape or guise or appearance or the person's heart valve from his/her discarded shirt. We are left with externals, only. We don't know a person's soul, inner life, really. Only God does. Christ's warns us repeatedly not to judge another person. Tells us to be merciful, forgiving and compassionate. If Gingrich is cheating, he is in antagonism with his own spiritual life, soul life, marital life, and that would be tragic. I wouldn't condemn him, but pray for him and his spouse and let God judge, mercifully. Only God know the antagonisms within his complexity", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are about 200 Catholic Universities and Colleges in the USA. When you research Franciscan University at Steubenville you will discover that in many surveys it ranks as one of the most conservative religious schools in the nation. No other Catholic school is even close. It is in the same league as Liberty U. and Bob Jones U. which are rather rigid institutions. Therefore, it is not surprising that there is little tolerance at Franciscan University for any instructor who is not an over the top cheerleader for conservative Church views. The professor seems to have been off the radar of school officials for some time because the students rated her a very competent and well liked teacher. However, I think it was her writing and off campus activities that put her in the cross hairs. \n\n The total cost to attend Franciscan University is $38,000 per year and they make the case that you are getting a CATHOLIC education for your money.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When we studied Canon Law, the professor taught us that \"Canon Law\" is sort of a \"Robert's Rules of Order\" for the Church. It just collects customs and gives guidelines for what to do in a given situation.\n\nIt's not intended to be The Ten Commandments of God's Law engraved in stone. It's just human customs.\n\nIt's about how Roman Catholics do things. Other Churches are expected to have their own customs and guidelines.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is a sad state of affairs that, truth be told, most traditionalist Catholics are far more comfortable with authoritarian, even autocratic, rulers - so long as they create a Christianist society - more than they are with democratically elected leaders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, if people know the Church teachings and disagree with them, should priests hide the Church teaching or pretend it is something else? who would respect a Church that changed its beliefs in a desperate attempt to keep people. The Episcopalians do everything liberal Catholics want (except destroying their altar rails) and they are in a worse decline than the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope and pray he invites the Knights of Columbus in every parish to learn dialogue skills ... and then have them head up dialogue circles, first in their parishes and then reach out to the community as a way to reduce polarization and to focus on what our actual teachings are as well as the teachings/life of love and compassion of Jesus. \n\nSupreme Knight Carl Anderson wrote a book: Beyond a House Divided saying how much more charitable organizations are trusted than a lot of folks ... so ... \n\nPerhaps they could begin with some of the actual teachings of St. JPII about the importance of unions to ensuring good working conditions and just wages on which people can raise a family - so all have life with dignity - and how we need systemic change. Then there is this bit about how St. PJII says abortion is not to be singled out from the other issues. Building on that foundation, perhaps the Knights could then lead dialogue circles on Laudato Si - and how all things are inter-connected", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Facts are irrelevant and reading comprehension not required when a True Catholic is called to leap to the defense of a Cardinal, Bishop, Priest or Pope. Loyalty to the Church is the highest calling for the laity. Innocent until proven guilty, a legal concept, is enshrined as long as it can be used, and if conviction occurs, the legal process must be impugned. Hence, the poster never admits Bishop Finn is a convicted criminal who protected a predator. This, after all, is what Jesus intended when he crowned Peter Pope and Bishop of Rome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus said to His disciples; \"That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us\" Jesus didn't make himself equal to God. He made himself of no reputation, in obedience unto death, even death on the cross. Paul tells us, just like Jesus, seek the lower seat. Follow Jesus' example, wash feet. That wasn't striving for equality.\n\nStriving for equality is Korah's errand: \"Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?\"\n\nA wonderful sort of equality exists for Jesus' disciples if they don't strive for it. They are equally the redeemed children of their Heavenly Father.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Hmmm.. in all his appearances I've seen him dressed in a regular business suit, shirt and tie, not even a kippa on his head. To the best of my knowledge, orthodox Jews are dressed, well, like orthodox Jews; with the prayer shirt, the black robe, long beard and a black hat, or indoors a kippa.\"\n\nYour knowledge is flawed. That's like asking why all Orthodox Christians don't walk around wearing their priestly atire all day long.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does anyone else see the sweet irony in a grown man ranting and raving about Santa / Jesus to small children because one of them \"isn't real\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hola, Old Abuelo\n\nYes we are still coming out of the mud (physical cosmos) into which we fell at The Fall metaphorically speaking.\n \nOur Father has life in Himself and He is Timeless.\nJesus tells us he came (was sent) \u201cTo save that which was lost\u201d this statement implies a former state, my understanding of lost is that we are lost in time and place; we all carry a divine timeless spark within us, we are more than a physical being\nOur Fathers living Word (Will) is singular. The Holy Spirit, Our Fathers divine essence Truth endeavors to enlighten our Consciousness in revealing the apex (Beauty) of His earthly creation, His living Word, manifest by His Son Jesus Christ who has now risen from the mire (Swamp). \nPlease continue with the link, Post@16; June 27th, 2014 at 10:14 am. \nhttp://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2014/06/irish-catholic-catechism-for-adults-and-the-fall/\n\nContinued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's one explanation: http://www.christianitytoday.com/pastors/2010/september-online-only/what-did-jesus-mean-by-judge-not.html There's a difference between discerning that an action is right or wrong, and stand for right, and deciding the person who did wrong is irredeemable. We are taught to discern right from wrong, but not to treat someone as garbage, because they committed a wrong act, aka, sin.\n\nHer actions were wrong, being against the school behavior code. That's discernment. And she is taking responsibility. Shunning her forevermore would be judging. So we have discernment, which is biblical, and discipline, which naturally follows. The discipline is not the judgment that Jesus warned against. The social media harassment is, and should have been addressed strongly by school leaders. Removing her from leadership is appropriate; pretending at graduation that all students are perfect angels, which is what they seem to want to do, is silly. JMO as a conservative Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Detroit Free Press. The article you cite seems fair balanced to me. Doesn't lean one way or the other. I'm for vouchers and Christian schools. Choice. I don't know much about Michigan but I do know about Detroit. A literal wasteland. Public schools shuttered and abandoned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A few quotes for you Larsy,\n\n\u201cThe government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.\u201d\n\u2013 John Adams\n\n\"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.\"\n-Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782\n\n\"But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.\"\n-Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782\n\n\"Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be one he must approve of the homage of reason more than that of blindfolded fear.\"\n-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787\n\n\"I am for freedom of religion, & against all maneuvres to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another.\"\n\n-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Elbridge Gerry, 26 January 1799", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This pope lives in a mythical world. He has so little support from faithful priests. \n\nHe may have some lingering support from the aging 1960s vocations,..and from a 'mustering' of over-refined priests...but few of the JPII era or Benedict era priests.\n\nThat leaves him with a few handfuls of cardinals and bishops that St Peter Damian warned us about.\n\nMost priests today have to gingerly remind their parishioners that a Holy Day is coming up! That's about the extent of the \"obligations\" this pope could actually find substantiation for his sad rant.\n\nHow many rants a week must we endure?\n\nLet's offer them up cheerfully for the health of his successor. \n\nGoing to Mass is an act of love...or at least should be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is also important to stress that the Supreme Court\u2019s redefinition of civil marriage has no bearing on the Catholic Sacrament of Matrimony, in which the marriage of man and woman is a sign of the union of Christ and the Church. In upholding our traditional concept of marriage, we are called to support those who have entered into this sacred and loving bond with God and each other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is nice to read an article finally that has no overtly political overtones or agenda - and yes, faith certainly involves life in God through Jesus....\n\nHebrews 11 is something that I have been taught since I was a little girl - we are a people of hope - \"Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.\" The entirety of that chapter binds us to those who came before us - of course, the following two chapters are wonderful, too. \n\nYes, \"faith is not just reading off a list of doctrines and giving ascent to those doctrines saying, \"I believe this. I believe, I believe. \u2026\" - but those doctrines and core beliefs certainly give us the foundation to build our relationship and uphold our hope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're right. The four cardinals and the dubia (the phrase sounds like the name of a new rock band), are not harming the Church because they are being ignored by the majority of the pew sitting Catholics on Sundays. The Catholics who are interested this debate are the ones who like myself spend most of their mornings and evenings reading about the Church online or Catholic educators, theologians, priests, bishops and scholars.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It took me less than an hour to do my taxes this year - 1040 EZ is pretty straightforward, doesn't seem very complex to me. What write offs would you eliminate?\n\nOn the wealthy, again your links show that every bracket is taxed about the same relative to their income, so why would you support extra breaks for them (removal of the AMT and Estate taxes only benefit those 1%ers, including Trump)? Do you really think giving Trump and his kids an extra billion or so is going to help us?\n\nLastly, you and I have very different ideas of a good father and a Christian. Praising your daughter's breasts and saying he would date her if she wasn't his daughter is just plain creepy, not good parenting. Also, why do you think he is a good Christian? Multiple marriages, philandering, sexual assaults, lying constantly, etc.? Of the seven deadly sins, he has checked the box by all of them, multiple times. He panders to Christians and conservatives, but he is decidedly neither.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK, so expect for false myth popularized by movies and a poem to attempt to eliminate Jesus, Santa has nothing to do with Christmas. Most of us knew that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed.\n\nThe reason they're dying is the abandonment of Catholic faith on justification, faith and grace. If personal conscience and private interpretation of scripture rules supreme, then each man is his own pope. And all sin - past, present and future - is forgiven once the one-off \"event\" of justification occurs. The rest follows.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, sure. A sign ought to do it.\n\nI remember a church where the first thing you saw was a sign saying that nobody should enter the building who wasn't properly attired. Shorts were singled out as a particular no-no. I understood (and, in fact agreed with) the sentiment, but I also thought about those mothers of teenagers who go through the weekly battle to get their kids to come to Mass. Do they really need another obstacle in their path?\n\nYes, people should be quiet in church. And they should be properly attired. They also shouldn't chew gum, or check their phones, or a host of other things. But let's worry more about feeding their spirits while they are there and creating an environment that compels them to return. The other stuff will sort itself out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Your comparison to Assad is obscene.\" How so? Fr Gruner made truthful statements about new Christian values in Russia. Because of this you and other attempt to imply nefarious influences and beliefs he had towards the country of Russia and Putin as a whole. What I said about Assad is no different. Christians were in a far safer place under his control.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"President-elect Donald Trump will uphold Christian values, a prominent U.S. cardinal has said.\"\n- Sadly, Archb. Raymond, once of St. Louis, lastly of the Apostolic Signatura, currently chaplain to the Knights / Ladies of Malta, has again found another petard upon which to rise before us.\n- There is no doubt that Donald Trump is aware of what is required of him by Christianity. Much of his criticism about and brickbats toward those he disdains is premised on Christian ethics -- do not steal, do not lie, do not commit adultery.\n- However, in this way he is not upholding Christian values. Were he to be upholding Christian values he would not have used the law to steal, would not have used the law to cover up his lack of truth telling, would not have used to the law to commit adultery and to practice serial monogamy.\n- Archb. Raymond's lack of insight into the relationship between what one says and what one does, especially for an elected leader is his own serious failure.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Author Bill Tammeus asks a question of \"Why does it require a seminary degree and ordination to be able to baptize people and to oversee the Eucharist?\" It doesn't; In the Catholic Church anyway. According to Catholic.com, baptism does not require an ordained priest nor a degree to baptize. The quote: The minister of this sacrament is the priest, to whom it belongs to baptize, by reason of his office. In case of necessity, however, not only a priest or deacon, but even a layman or woman, nay, even a pagan or heretic can baptize, provided he observes the form used by the Church, and intends to perform what the Church performs. The link: https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/baptism \n\nAs a metaphor, whereas, generally one would prefer a licensed Doctor to save a life, in the case of emergency, CPR and Heimlich maneuvers ought to be performed to save a life. Therefore a death bed baptism with no priest, I would argue as being legitimate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "given the level of theological inquiry that is part of the LCWR - and their trusting Spirit as they enter into cultures of encounter and solidarity and reflect upon what it is required for us to co-create authentic cultures of life where all God's children have life with dignity for the full continuum ... I suggest you look beyond the bishops to those sponsoring some of their conferences ... like the Executive of the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus (not all Knights). \n\nWhether intentional or not - the Knights narrow definition of \"pro-life\", their wealth and global media empire enable them to disseminate a \"Catholic narrative\" not consistent with our Teachngs ... but are with the stealth strategies of a few \"libertarian\" super rich outlined in Jane Mayer's 2016 Dark Money. \n\nWho would suspect such an amazing charitable organization of good men? Certainly not me ... until a lawyer misrepresented my questioning Anderson's endorsement of Trump.\n\nThey I started to dig.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is because being pro-life is not incompatible with support of the death penalty. For reasons liberals are either unwilling or unable to explain, they seem to equate the issues of the death penalty and poverty--as if these issues are on the same moral plane as abortion. They aren't. \n\nWhat confounds me about liberals is that they have no sympathy for an innocent unborn human life, but all the sympathy for criminals! What about the victims of their crimes?\n\nBeing for or against the death penalty is a prudential judgement. The state has the right to execute criminals in order to punish crime and protect society. Poverty has many causes, thus no one solution is going to work. Thus-one's approach to dealing with poverty is, likewise, a prudential judgement.\n\nAbortion, however is in a league all itself. It is fundamental. All innocent people have an absolute right to life. The state has an obligation to defend this right. Catholics have an obligation to defend innocent life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In_CCD_and_Catholic_classrooms_for_the_last_50_years,_it_pretty_much_has._The_promise_of_Christ_regarding_error_means_the_Church_will_change_and_survive,_not_that_it_will_become_a_laughing_stock.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The sad fact is that there was a time in the early Church where the link between life and liturgy was vibrant, real. If that were still true today, then the proposals in the article for a liturgy of healing would have some weight.\n\nFor too many places today (and from personal experience, that definitely includes the US today), liturgy means following the rubrics ... no connection with life.\n\nBut not just the US. \n\n[Just by the way, watched the televised Mass from La Sagrada Familia for the victims for the Las Ramblas terrorist attack, where it was abundantly clear that the MC was totally consumed by making the rubrics happen, but in a way that shows no respect for what the liturgy actually is about (agitating to get the acolytes to prepare for the Gospel during the second reading). Consumed by rubrics. Wanting to keep the show moving on. Whereas the liturgy says: this is a reading that everyone should hear. That means that no one does anything else during the reading but LISTEN!]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What Catholics? Is this coming from a man who utilizes slander, foul/sexist, language and believes that building walls between nations is what Christianity/Catholicism is all about?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian Taliban.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Tradition, one of the two sources of revelation in the Catholic Church along with Scripture, does not change.\"\n\nMarty E., not only is that utter nonsense, you just contradicted yourself. You claim that the Gang of Four are protecting \"Tradition\" by making sure the divorced and remarried don't receive the Eucharist. Jesus gave the Eucharist to Judas, who was in a far graver state of sin than the divorced and remarried.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Probably the deacon had the marriage ceremony in a civil or non Catholic venue.\nOr, perhaps he refused to sign the papers that he and his wife will raise their children RC!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Michael. That is a really nice compliment. I think you would make a good elder too. You are right about the family and house Eucharist too. This is already happening some in Europe with lay people having Eucharistic Celebrations, and Roman Catholic Women Priests often presiding in homes too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Somehow, characterizing Jesus as a superhero seems inadequate to me. Some superheroes (Diana and Thor) may be gods, but none of them are God.\n\nAs for 'The Passion of the Christ', it would take more than popcorn to get me to sit through that heavy-handed mess again. I saw it when it first came out and that was enough.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not a Catholic and don't always agree with everything Pope Francis says but, I really love the man for his heart is in the right place! Everything he said in this article is absolutely correct and true! If more people in power and government acted and spoke like Pope Francis there would be true hope for the survival of humanity and a brighter future for everyone!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I don't understand is the mockery and contradiction between different countries in relation to this subject.\nReading Francis DeBernardo's New Ways site and Catholic gays or lesbians, fired, forced to resign, had offers rescinded, or had their jobs threatened and got away with it, where as on the other hand, Australia's Bishops Conference are assuring Catholics quite the opposite.\nIf against church doctrine who's being fooled, Australians or Americans?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It seems as if MOST of God's people will go to hell because our pastors have been taught in our school by Jesuits or Jesuit trained professors, and they've been taught that the foundation of OYR faith is no longer important or valid.\"\n\nSuch accusations are defamatory and lacking in any evidence other than hearsay confirming previous beliefs. \n\nIf you truly believe this why are you wishing to protect the church, or is it your beliefs that are threatened? By whom? Please document your statement that Jesuits or professors trained by Jesuits are undermining Adventism. Such inferences only reflect on someone who would spread such untruths without any evidence and undermines anything you might say either now or in the future. You are not promoting the SdA church but your own distorted thinking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure why Christmas must be \"merry\"? One can take the merry too far. A \"happy\" Christmas sounds better.\n\nHere is a much better greeting from none other than MSW, our commenters' favourite distinctly catholic columnist:-\n\n\" ... I wish you all, the NCR readers, a blessed Christmas ... \".\n\n ... and from me too!!!\n\nAnd \"happy holidays\" to all our catholics who feel they are no longer free to wish us a \"merry Christmas\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Tom, for this honest, very insightful expression.\n\nWhy must understanding oneself (and reaching a spiritual maturity) lead so often to dissonance with the institutional Church? But it does, and, in my experience too, it must.\n\nJust as every loving relationship is unique, so too each person's loving relationship with God is unique. The institutional Church's refusal not only to acknowledge that but to rejoice in that uniqueness is, in my view, a big part of the problem. There is pressure to conform understanding, interpretations, and personal revelations into a matrix of orthodoxy that remains, as you said, immature. Eventually, we experience this as some kind of violence, some kind of disrespect and refusal to perceive.\n\nThere are, as you say, spiritual resources (and traditions and explorations) beyond Catholicism. But these are often demonized by the institutional Church\u2014one more piece of evidence of the refusal to acknowledge each person's unique path to God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It_started_because_of_bad_behavior_by_hospitals,_especially_Catholic_ones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yet again, this Sunday's scriptures are in total alignment with Pope Francis. The first reading specifically talks about David, not just being King, but shepherd to his people.\n\nThe second reading about people coming out of darkness and being welcomed into the light.\n\nBoth readings giving meaning to the event in the gospel. \n\nThank you, Francis, for liberating the Church, at last.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We all took something different from the inauguration and Trump's speech. For me it was particularly in Trump's speech the celebration of the religious right, or at the very least an affirmation that America was founded on Christian ideals. In the era of political correctness , religion particularly the Christian religion has taken a back seat, much to the dismay of many Americans.. He played to that base, but I think he played as well to those that didn't vote for him, but found that Islam , or at least the deference to it has become too prevalent. American's religious beliefs, or whether they feel religion has no place in politics at all, is not really our concern. However a step back from the political correctness that has suppressed the notion that the vast majority of North Americans identify with Christianity, and shouldn't feel they have to hide it, can't be a bad thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who is going to define who qualifies as an \"Artist\"? also What is the meaning of life? and also God, are you out there?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Dreher writes: \u201cWe are going to have to change our lives, and our approach to life, in radical ways. In short, we are going to have to be church, without compromise, no matter what it costs.\u201d But as Pope Paul VI wrote in \u201cEvangelii Nuntiandi,\u201d the church \u201cexists in order to evangelize\u201d (No. 14).\nIf we are church, WE 'exist in order to evangelize'. What is the evangelization scope needed in the modern context?\nTo evangelize is to communicate 'good news', and in a world globally racked by bad news happening with the wreck of nature, repeating the same old religious saws is not to the point of the evangelization needed in the times.\nREPURPOSING OUR SENSE OF EUCHARIST in context with times is the urgent good news needed for it speaks to the quintesssntial aspect of what religion is about, what life is about, and what needs to happen if we, and life-on-earth are to have a happy future together.\nReligion and culture need to come to an updated sense of 'The Eucharistic Worldview'. (q.v.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I am a fundamentalist for the Bible is the only fundament of my faith.\n\nFolks, there you have it... A Jesuit infiltrated in this forum. He's quoting directly from Pope Francis:\n\n\u201cI always try to understand what\u2019s behind people who are too young to have seen Moses walk down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, and yet still they want to obey them,\u201d Francis said.\n\n \"Sometimes I find myself confronted with a very legalistic person who follows the Commandments and I ask myself, \u2018WHY SO MUCH RIGIDITY?\u2019 This rigidity in following the Commandments always hides something, insecurity or even something else.\u201d\n\nYes, indeed, God's standards are very rigid, just like his law. He made all the provisions so we can get victory over sin. A downgrade of his standards is not negotiable, and is a clear sign of Jesuitism.\n\nYou have been unmasked!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is what it is. Are you familiar with the seven sacraments, one of them being marriage? Yeah, perhaps that's why the Church is so obsessed with people getting married.\n\nAny other sacraments that you think the Church should emphasize less so that young single people will stop by mass once in awhile?\n\nThe Church is under attack by secularists and radicals; has been for much of its history. So should it self-destruct by cowering to its detractors or stand firm and continue Jesus' mission for it? It's hard for young people to be faithful to the Catholic Church when there is so much pressure from government and well-healed interests pummeling them with propaganda. That's trouble for the youth, not the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, J. Bob? My ancestors immigrated here from Ireland and became farmers. When they came here, the Irish were the most despised immigrant group. That is why I am going to a rally for DACA students tomorrow. I have not forgotten my heritage like so many Catholics today. I do have a garden thank you very much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All positive actions are good and are too be highly recommend.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Uni administration and the Koch brothers are exactly the people Jesus would have taken his ropes to, and overturned their tables!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We might very well suspect that the law enforcement personnel in Euro-American North Dakota who drenched the Native American water protectors with water cannons in sub-freezing weather and injured many of them have been encouraged to be as tough as they like consequent on the election of a bigoted racist pro-oil pro-pipeline climate-change-denying bully for president.\n\nHow inspiring it would have been if there had been a greater Catholic presence in this coming together of religious leaders. Unfortunately the pope's messages in \"Laudato Si'\" seem not to have been of interest to very many American Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Holding to Catholic sexual morality is not bigotry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, in the Church there are many who welcome the \"disillusionment\" as part of a weeding out process, where only the \"True Catholics\" are left. \n\nTo them, to be disillusioned is to be unworthy. \nTo them, disillusionment is a sinful choice. \nTo them, disillusionment is choosing to be confused. \n\nBetter to have a smaller, clearer, unquestioning, more obedient Church where all believe \"confusion is of the devil\" (Archbishop Chaput), therefore to be exorcised.\n\nThe obvious solution, they say: Since disillusionment comes from not having questions adequately answered or having questions demeaned---stop asking the questions!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis: Bypass the bishops. Put this on Twitter----make it a questionnaire and have the kids send it back to you. If they want to physically participate as auditors---have them sign their name to this/address and get back to them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dennis, sadly, you may be right. I most certainly cannot explain what we've seen. It seems to me that if you have to explain the logic behind the actions of people who are supposed to be moral ,ethical and spiritual leaders you're ALREADY in trouble. Worse however , if those actions cannot be explained, then that leadership should be dropped like a hot potato. \n\nThat this is happening in the Catholic Church is beyond inexplicable.\n\nI continue to be amazed at the silence of most bishops. THAT remains a problem. If there are bishops who understand, their voices need to be raised. If they are not allowed to speak, that fuels the perception that the Vatican is stonewalling and hiding stuff, AND it screams that even if there are good bishops out there, they are weak and ineffective men. Neither perception can be good for the church...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He did preach in the synagogues where I presume other rabbis must have preached too. In fact weren't the chief priests concerned about Jesus cutting into their \"market share\" of followers?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and that is the very reason why so many nones have left the churches. the message of Jesus is no longer being reflected in the lives of the fundamentalist types and the youth see that. they usually really like Jesus and his message, but see the described pewsitters and want nothing to do with that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder what the Vatican pays Pope Benedict XVI to live in his lavish apartments with his staff, still wearing papal garb, receiving visitors and acting as if he was still the pope? Personally, I have stopped donating to Peter's Pense and donate instead to Sisters' of Charity. I decided they could use it more. I have always wondered what Jesus would say about the lavishness of his church today. I think he would shake his head and opine that they were like Pharisees, spending lavish amounts on themselves and little on the poor. That is left to parishes. He trashed the money-changers as thieves in his lifetime and no doubt would do so now. Not so with the Sisters' of Charity. Everything they have goes to the poor and ill. And they live in anything but lavish homes. The group in our area live among the poor they serve. Francis is notable because he at least lives frugally. He may not be perfect but is notable as compared to the rest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also:\n\nGo and learn the meaning of the words, \u2018I desire mercy, not sacrifice.\u2019* I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.\u201d (Matt 9:13)\n\nAnd, while Sacred Tradition is important, Jesus condemned it's heavy handed use:\n\nYou nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things. (Matt 7:8).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you rdp46 for your response \n\n The study of knowledge can be hard work and yes joy can be found in honest discernment of complex situations. \n\nSuffering to be understood, as in society at large, when injustice is encountered, if confronted can result in suffering, clarity of thought especially with regards to moral behavior, in the sense that an evil action can never be justified especially when seen through the eyes of our Christian faith, as The Truth, the Inviolate Word of God is singular/absolute.\n\nThe Holy Spirit, Our Fathers divine essence Truth endeavor\u2019s to enlighten our Consciousness in revealing the apex (Beauty) of His earthly creation, His living Word, manifest by His Son Jesus Christ, who has now risen from the mire/Swamp (physical cosmos)\n . \nPlease continue with the link, Post@16; June 27th, 2014 at 10:14 am.\n \nhttp://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2014/06/irish-catholic-catechism-for-adults-and-the-fall/\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can a 'referendum' be illegal in a free democratic nation? Its like an opinion poll, survey, or a petition. \nClosing polling stations, throwing people in jail, violence towards citizens wanting to express their opinion are the actions of a fascist totalitarian state. It makes Spain look like an ultra-reactionary catholic medieval monarchy. What's next? A new Spanish Inquisition?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you to the California Catholic Conference for speaking out. Hopefully we will learn from Scripture -and church history - that fear and violence are not the answer for these problems.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tom, I have deep relationships with several charismatic Catholics who bring a very special gift to the Church. My faith is more important to me than my politics and I find support for my political beliefs from my faith, just as you do. Faith is the more important thing, though. I disagree with you strenuously when you write that liberals don't vote on moral issues; we do, taking health care away from millions of people, some of them little babies, is anti-life and the repeal of Alabama Senator William Steagall's significant legislative accomplishment (Glass-Steagall), which came about because people's well being was threatened by Great Depression, was a terrible assault on hard working Americans,which Mrs. Clinton was complicit with. Liberals are generally moral and we vote on moral issues, just as our conservative brethren are generally moral and vote on moral issues. And your perspective is valued and unique. We are blessed to have it and better for it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why not call a person by the name he/she was given in the sacrament of baptism? \n\n(Of course, if the person was adopted, that sacramental name is hidden from her/him.)\n\nOr, call her/him what you will call her/him in heaven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It still says something about the society and the pro-life movement that it does not rise up to offer respite care and support when these births occur. The Catholic Church is particularly culpable. Conservatives seem to condemn these abortions up to the point where we start requiring them to pay.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As so often in these threads, I find myself calling for more nuance. Partly because of the limited chatacters format.\n\nYes, there is a very close connection between the way the Eucharist is celebrated and the words and actions of Jesus at the Last Supper. I believe that very connection is represented by the three synoptic Gospel accounts plus Paul's, but that those accounts are already influenced by the way the community is celebrating the Eucharist.\n\nSo, for example, in your critical reading of Scripture you might notice that in the original Greek, Paul and Luke use the verb eucharistein, whereas Matthew and Mark used the verb eulogein. Anyone who wants to say the Gospel pericopes give us an exact account of Jesus' words has a problem explaining this difference.\n\nThe simple explanation is that these scripture texts are presenting the Last Supper in the terminology of how the community celebrated the Eucharist. There was unity in purpose and intent, but diversity of actual practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop Tobin,\nHow sad it is that you have decided that you know better why young people are leaving the Church than they do. It would do you and all of your brother priests and bishops so much good to actually listen and hear what the people who are leaving are saying. By ignoring all of us (and, no, I am NOT young), you are ensuring that more and more people will continue to leave, until you are left with fewer lay people than clergy.\nYou say that if one's faith is strong, one will continue to attend. Well, it can be that strong faith in the message of Jesus that pushes one away.\nAnd as for the Eucharist -- surely you realize that it is not the priest, but the Holy Spirit, who transforms the bread and wine. That is what you pray at each Mass, is it not, that the Spirit transform the gifts?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Human rights violators are attacking their own citizens. The damage they do is outrageous but small indeed in comparison with the damage done by countries attacking other countries. \n\nAll the mayhem started by dictators and democracies is within their power to stop. Not by trying to stop others. Stop their own activity. There are human beings abusing other human beings while calling on other abusers to stop their activity. Heal thyself applies.. \n\nIf Christians are right, with the current activity, purgatory will be crowded indeed. \n\nWhat can Canada do? Not support countries which have invaded other countries . We can lobby our politicians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where in the Bible does it use the word \"rapture?\" The idea the righteous are going to be caught up in the clouds and be saved from the end times has about as much truth in it as this guy's claims. As with any story in the Bible God shows no respect to anyone, rather he tries his chosen to the limit, so forget about being coddled in the end times, but instead prepare yourself to stand against the evil one. It is only then will the reward you are looking for will be given.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed! American Catholics who want to know the truth would be lost without NCR.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, Jay! May I ask when is the last time you paid attention to the words of the Our Father?\n\n\"May your kingdom come;\nMay your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.\"\n\nJesus was a Hebrew culturally. Hebrew poetic thought (always visible in the Psalms and consistently in the prophetic books) is based on parallelism; and the most elemental form of this Hebrew parallelism is the couplet that says the same thing in different words in two lines, EXACTLY like these two lines in prayer Jesus taught us.\n\nWe have been praying our entire lives that \"some kind of utopia\" might evolve on this earth by our listening to the Spirit as we struggle to determine and then actualize God's will on earth, as it is already actualized in heaven.\n\nWe are co-creators, in the specific sense that what we deign to create by way of life here below actually comes about, and God would have us build according to his will for us. Beyond doubt, that would be a utopia. What else would any lover wish for their beloved?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I moved away, the climate changed, I no longer feel at home. when the laity was needed it brought us closer together, we made it our own. It is difficult to go back to sitting passively in the pews. An air of legalism took over and the lack of welcome to all left me out of kilter. Now living in a senior housing development, cut off from the present parish by limited transportation I find my need for spiritual food by participating via the internet in a reformed synagogue. I felt drawn to look for Jesus at the source, to understand the culture he and the apostles lived, what formed them. I feel sadness for the church who gave me so much and to whom I gave nearly 80 years of my energy. The animosity expressed here from people I guess are learned and in position of leadership makes me shake my head. I yearn for the church I experienced growing up in France, Praying with the Gelineau Psalms, signing the Credo and the Magnificat at home when the mood struck.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Reese should read Arlie Hochschilds' 2016 Strangers in Their Own Land ... as well as watch more EWTN if he truly thinks religion and religious leaders aren't having an impact. In my parish ... which is not even in the USA ... the divisions and intolerance grows ... . Being a cradle Catholic with a father and brother very active in the K of C ... and watching the numerous good men in my parish being indoctrinated into thinking \"giving and giving from our surplus\" is somehow consistent with life with dignity for the full continuum, not political and is consistent with the teachings of St. John Paul ... is tragic to me. It was JPII who introduced the term and notion of \"social sin\" into our Official Teachings. Why does every K of C on this planet not know this. He should also read Jane Mayer's Dark Money.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One does tire of reading comments along the lines of \"unless the Church sees it my way, it is doomed!\"\n\nReally, Marty E? That's what we hear all the time from people who say Vatican II destroyed the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill,\nI think what you mean is that natural law ethical theory as it has been used in Catholic moral theology since the high middle ages, is problematic. That method of natural law moral reflection is fundamentally \"deductive\"--it purports to start from unassailable general principles, and from these deduce moral prescription. \n\nI believe that our widely accepted codes of human rights are also derived by natural law reflection, but the process is \"inductive\"--one starts with concrete factual data, and from this attempts to rise up to moral prescription.\n\nThere is a third version of natural law used frequently by many bishops...you assert a moral conclusion is part of natural law, and expect that to end discussion.\n\n(I began to illustrate my point with examples, but ran into the character limits of this new system...bummer. I think Civil Comments website suggested replying to oneself as the device to expand the length of a comment, but I'm not ready to try that just yet.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our Church has a significant role to play in all societal problems. It could be Addiction as one of our sufferring behaviours. There are so many. We first have to acknowledge what Jesus would do in these situations. Jesus according to Him, reduced Himself to Life. \"I am the Way the Truth and the Life\". He also said before He died, \"May they be One as you and I are One\", to His Father We need to affirm all life that God is closer to us than our own flesh. And that we are all, in all and all in One and all in Life. It is not important that we change our behaviour. What is important is we are all God's children and our Church must go out of its way to support our Environment and Refugees and the Famine in the world. As a start our Church must ask forgiveness for our own bad behaviour from Our Father and forgive those who have trespassed against the rules of Our Church. This is what Jesus would do. Deacon'82 Social and Environmental Justice. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nc", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of two) The politics of \u2018might is right\u2019 are reinforced by the Creation-Story belief of male primacy and female dependency from/ on original maleness.\u2014Really. Such an approach stands the reality of the Creation Story on its head.\nThe 'might-is-right ethics' of dominion theology/ politics, initimately linked to male-primacy presumptions, radically infects the global violence of eco-social conflicts in our times.\u2014This looks like a troll for R. J. Rushdoony and Christian Reconstructionism at worst; like substituting a part of theology for the whole of theology at best.\nThis is Trinity Sunday.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You wouldn't even meet the \"Snark Squad\" if your comments and rebuttals even approached the standard for civility in this forum. I simply don't understand why you and your conservative cohorts can't be at least polite, non-confrontational and just plain decent when posting herein. I would certainly give your (often cogent) arguments more attention and consideration if I didn't also have to endure your sarcasm, snide-ness and bad manners while doing so. There is a perceivable \"tone\" in our postings here, and your consistent personal rancor overshadows your meaning far too often. We are all PEOPLE behind these names and avatars -- you know, those whom Jesus asks us to love as we love Him. Respectfully, I find no \"love\" in your presence here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one is denying the existence of gender dysphoria and homosexuality. It goes without saying that gender confused people need to be treated with compassion. Catholics are not the flat earth neaderthals you are trying to make them out to be.\n\nIt is simply not intellectually honest to say science has provided all the information we need to move forward on these issues. As with any condition, science needs to have the courage to find the cause and cure, while providing non-invasive treatments in the meantime.\n\nCatholics don't vilify people afflicted with these conditions. They don't hate gays. They try to manage moral conflicts with compassion , understanding, and guidance, rather than taking the path of the least resistance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To the best of my knowledge, the INCONTROVERTIBLE evidence 1LittleBear asserts for bishops and priests has not yet surfaced, but such evidence. IMHO, does exists for women deacons. The crucial question is whether women deacons were in minor orders or major orders (in Roman terms) or whether they received cheirotonia or cheirotessia (in Byzantine terms). \n\nAlthough you are right, the evidence is that women deacons had different ministries than male deacons, for those that understand Byzantine theology and liturgy, two facts cinch the major order status of women deacon in the 8th century (id est, while the East and West were still one undivided Church): (1) hands were laid on women deacons behind the iconostasis, exactly as with male deacons, priests, and bishops [minor order cheirothessia took place in front of the iconostasis], and (2) the epiclesis prayer said while laying hands on women deacons is structurally and essentially the same as the prayers ordaining male deacons.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, where to begin. Weinandy complains of \"ambiguity\" in the pope's writings and statements. I would call it recognizing the reality of the human condition. We have faith, we don't have certainty. The sky will not fall, the church will not disintergrate if we hold different views on various teachings on faith and morals. It has ever been thus. Relax , Cardinal. Live your faith and don't worry about alleged heretics in your midst. And asking God for a sign and it shows up for you the next day? Oh, my. I stopped doing that in the third grade.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apocryphal and heretical are different things. The writings of Clement are apocryphal but not heretical, for instance.\n\nYou may certainly choose to reject experts in a field of study. I haven't any reason to think that Gelasius' document, also, at times, attributed to his predecessor Damasus, meets the standard necessary for sound attribution.\n\nRegardless, naming a book apocryphal says nothing about whether it is heretical - only that it should not be included in the canon of the Sacred Scripture. Even if the book had been condemned, however, without an extant copy, we cannot know why it was condemned from the title alone. If I write a book and title it \"Jesus is God\" and then go on to try, in the text, to show that Jesus is not God, a condemnation of such a book is a good idea, regardless of the title.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"it isn't just the work of the priests \u2014 it is the work of the believing community.\"\nSpot on. Well said, Fr. Tony. God bless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The SDA-church has set herself in a serious dilemma.\nThe further we swim along this path, the deeper the water will get.\nWithout the guidance and wisdom of God, the church will alienate itself from the kingdom of God.\nWithout learning from the past, the ecclesiastical history of organizational petrification will be repeated.\nWithout prayerful humility from each and everyone, from the local church member to the administrators, we the people will suffer. The brightness of Christ's light through us will be dimmed.\nLocal and cultural differences can not be resolved with centralization of authority.\nQuestions of conscience can not be compromised away with pastoral talks.\nWe need to cherish Unity in Diversity.\nIn these matters we need to listen to the advice of Ellen White.\nBefore voting on the \"Unity in Mission\" document, every attendee of the Annual council ought to read the historical summary \"The role of Union Conferences in Relation to Higher Athorities\" written by Professor Knight.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Back in September of 2016, Cardinal Paul-Andre Durocher proposed strongly [with the approval of other Cardinals from Quebec], that women be admitted as permanent deacons. Where is the discussion of that going? Wasn't there supposed to be a meeting with women theologians/scriptural &\nchurch historians concerning that topic? Did it occur yet or what?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Students more than anything else need growth, intellectual growth, maturity, solidness, and growth in personal virtue. Hard stuff. Takes happy struggle and beginning again, with teachers providing stretchy encouragement. Teachers shoot too low \"and want to love them\". \n\nBut \"loving them\" should mean more than hugs and smiles, it means bringing them closer to the good, getting them to more fully develop their virtues and skills and gifts in the image of \"perfectus Deus, perfectus homo\", that is Jesus Christ.\n\nAnd if it's a secular school, we must still strive to bring them closer to their perfect form...gifts fully realized in order to serve the world (mainly their eventual family), but not themselves. because then they will be much closer to God, who gave them their gifts, and that \"nearness\" (whether it's poetry or in differential equaltions or in car maintenace) brings them closer to God, which is for their own good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To commenter, Richard Rhyner it's all about \"teaching respect and manners.\" I can assure Mr. Rhyner that I, as a little boy, would never have burst into a church shouting \"Mom, they killed Jesus!\" But preachers never miss a chance to nail home the lesson. Shannyn says \"As I walked out of the church I heard the pastor say, 'Isn't that how we all should feel?'\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is Donald Trump's \"sanity\" really the flashpoint? \nFrom a distance, I would offer that it is the Supreme Court of the United States. The sanctimonious evangelicals who continue to pander and excuse, to find reason that convinces the tragically angry to stay the course with Trump really want the SCOTUS and will sacrifice their \"sheep\"; any and every value that they rhetorically espouse; their daughters and sons, and, yes, Donald Trump himself to achieve the promise of reliably conservative (church?) mice at their disposal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Question? ....i have known and worked with over 35 priests who after serving faithfully for over\n10, 20, 30 yrs.....\"retired\" from the priesthood of celibacy and married...., a priest in a known\narchdiocese told me that the priest, just released from prison, \"wasn't a priest anymore and slammed\nthe phone down on me..., i was asking him why his dioceses had not helped him when he got out of\nprison......i called back , left a message on his phone....\"i do not know where you studied, but\ni was at the Greg in Rome and never found in Canon Law that the mark of priesthood\ncould be erased\",..... i slammed the phone down...!!!!....i was at the ordination to the priesthood of a married man ...his catholic parish is the most dynamic parish in a large city....,....i pray that the church allows married priests...., i know two isolated towns who have no \"assigned\" priests sent, maybe once a month to say mass.... both towns have a married priest.....they are asked to say mass,...dncrowley", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They could easily alleviate all this divisiveness by mandating that ONE, JUST ONE of our Sunday Masses in all the Parishes of the World be made according to the Tridentine Rite. All the other Masses can be made in a dignified Novus Ordo or some hokey experimental liturgy. Us Trads are not unreasonable. If Catholicism is really a \"Big Tent\", like you think, then why will the Church make no room for US?!? Maybe this might account for all the Animosity..?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have yet to find a dying Episcopal church. I can't say that of Roman Catholic churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If a gay couple needs counciling, go to a private counselor. Why would they even want a church council. \n\n I think freedom of religion means you can do what you believe in your church but if you want to run a business then you are subject to the laws of the land.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everyone has the right to choose. Even those who are dead. They can absolutely choose to not accept the baptism.\n\n\"Cardinal\" desires? That's what most people think but that's not true. Carnal desires had nothing to do with it. That's a product of your lust filled mind", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspect the bishops will spend much of the conference talking about these issues over cofee, wine or scotch. I am not sure if any of it will make it to the floor, as I doubt the conference will either seek a Dubya like clarification or go the otherway and scold those bishops who, like Archbishop Chaput, have been stubbornly resisting change in the spirit of AL. Frankly, I would be happy if they pick Cardinal Cupich for Pro-Life Activities and get moving on a decent Mass translation. Just those two things will send a message to the anti-modernists and the bishops and staff who support them or are among them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Republicans are in charge of the entire country. They are free to do pretty much whatever they want.\"\n\nYou got that right. It's started. Paul Ryan (Catholic!) just announced plans to privatize Medicare (vouchers!) for everyone born in 1957 and after. It's gonna be a very long four years. God help us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks, Kari. Not sure how many of the former disciples came back. I think we have to be careful not to buy everything Luke says in Acts, where he paints a highly idealized portrait of life in the early community in order to reconcile the rival camps of Paul and Peter. And the traditions concerning the other disciples are not what we would like them to be. Anyway, my reaction was to Sister's statement about Jesus having been a community organizer. I wish NCR would require their writers to do a little more homework before making such generalizations. - Monica.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tridentius, don't you realize that, as Emerson pointed out, the Truth is inside of you? \nYou have no need of religion or even of God. \nSelf-Reliance is the call, as much today as 180-or-so years ago.\nWhat the Catholic Church needs to do is preach that it is no longer necessary; find your own way to your truth and make it Truth. Then everyone is happy and peaceful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes to what you wrote about Dr. King and Fannie Lou Hamer. But that does not give any of us the right to be complacent about people's cruelty to others nor to see it as what people have to endure to secure their just rights.\n\nJesus chose to suffer for us, because God loved us that much. It is not an excuse to see suffering glorified because some members of humanity see their power and status as a right to impose suffering on others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My reaction to Gregory's \"May God have mercy on her soul\" was a negative one. Now, of course, all of us need mercy and so in one sense it is hard to speak against. It is what was left out that is so offensive.\n\nIn light of Barbara's life struggle for justice and her extraordinary accomplishments, all Gregory could think of was Barbara's need for mercy? What pray tell was so objectionable/damning about her that he could not even acknowledge her courage, love and outreach to survivors? We should be grateful I suppose that he acknowledged her as a woman of faith. She ran a Catholic Worker shelter for the homeless when he knew her, so a nod in that direction was perhaps an appropriate balance.\n\nGregory gave a carefully worded statement, perhaps approved by PR and legal counsel, that is remarkable for its safe language. Who would have any idea of Barbara's passion for justice, her pastoral care to thousands, her journey of pain toward healing? Not a word...spare me supposed sympathy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm probably much more to the center on economic issues than you, but I can't help but feel that the \"free market\" is for Liberal Catholics what \"the pill\" is for the conservative ones. They just repeat the same teaching over & over without seeing the underlying assumptions - moral, empirical, etc. have changed. The fact that McElroy - no intellectual slouch - continues to tout a \"top-down\" economic model after spending years in ministry in & around Silicon Valley is an example of this. His description of the \"free market\" must sound very strange to many of his millenial tech worker- parishoners.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is watering down and protestantizing the Mass an \"abundance'? P.S. Catholics don't \"worship\", they assist at the Holy Sacrifice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As long as it is translated correctly then it is Ok? But it seems to contradict what Jesus said. But you rarely mention Jesus or what He taught. Jesus (aka God) was open, inclusive, and forgiving (7 x 70). Jesus taught in Aramaic not Latin. He taught us about Love and caring for others especially the poor. \nMarshall McLuhan said \"the medium is the message\" and Jesus is the message in this case. McLuhan was a Catholic. \nLatin is no longer a medium for the message. It is well past its expiry date. \nGetting the message of Jesus right is Priority One! Hint: it is called the Reign of God (Beatitudes, Love all including your enemies, help the poor, at-one-ment,...)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. sir, and I think you know that.\n\nOn the surface, everyone can agree that the clergy and laity are equal, listening to the people and meeting them where they are at is always a great way to reach people, etc. Who could possibly disagree with that?\n\nThe problem is that dissident Catholics often use phrases like \"treat the laity as equal to the laity\" as a euphemism for \"women priests\" and \"meet people where they are at\" as a euphemism for \"Let divorced and remarried Catholics receive communion\" or \"Ignore sin, don't talk about sin. Just talk about social justice.\" Married clergy is a euphemism for \"Make celibacy optional.\" There is nothing wrong with allowing married men to become priests. However, that is not the same thing as optional celibacy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How's this analogy Mike Brooks?\n\n\u201cOne day when Francis went out to meditate in the fields he was passing by the church of San Damiano which was threatening to collapse because of extreme age. Inspired by the Spirit, he went inside to pray.\n\nKneeling before an image of the Crucified, he was filled with great fervor and consolation as he prayed. While his tear-filled eyes were gazing at the Lord's cross, he heard with his bodily ears a voice coming from the cross, telling him three times: 'Francis, go and repair my house which, as you see, is falling into ruin.'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it sadly amusing that Francis is bemoaning the loss of deals Europe, expensive as his alleged commitment to cleaning up the scandal lies in shatters at his feet. The church that preaches resonate accountability, preaches Justice, preaches the sanctity of life, and annually reads gospel passages of what Jesus as aid about children, has done virtually NOTHING to hold bishops accountable.\n\nLoss of ideals indeed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We generally skim over such texts and treat them as metaphors as often as passages about the cosmic Christ appear. Sometimes people take them as simply true: Christ rules the cosmos. My counterargument is that these ancient cosmic christologies were skillful means to communicate thee gospel mystery in their times, but serve ill for our time. So I am attracted by Stephen Jay Gould's tow magistera, where neither can invade the space of the other, but the excesses of both can be eliminated. The paradigm shift, as you mention, is indeed immense, since the churches tend to accept not only the heart of the gospel message but the cultural skin which encloses it in now archaic categories. \nEvolution should not be a problem for RC people. In grammar school I was taught the seven days were geological epochs. Teilhard does cause me some worry> He thought Chinese were genetically inferior and did see his work as a synthesis of theology and science. (John Barrow has an alternate Omega pt).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The issue is maturing in one's capacity to love others, not getting stuck with a preteen's need for black and white thinking characterized by defining their individuality in contrast to others. The problem I have with orthodox Catholics is they seem to define God as basically up above and against humanity where as Jesus incarnates the whole principle of God within humanity as one of us, and it's how we treat each other in compassion and love that is the definition of a follower of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"Unfortunately, the church has not always prepared its people for the discernment necessary for dialogue, he said. \"\n- A good place to start this training will be in diocesan seminaries and with training of permanent deacons.\n- The second place to start will be the with the training of clerics ordained since the election of JPII all the way to the resignation of Benedictxvi.\n- A third place to start will be with the associations such as the Knights of Columbus, EWTN, Catholic League, the Cardinal Newman Society, and et al.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really, when did that happen? How is it you know absolutely everything that's going in Catholic-land?\n\nKudos on your righteous comment in the Times! :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: \"The more the Church cow tows to personal prelatures...\"of which there is only one...Opus Dei. It is NOT the \"personal prelature\" that is the problem. The problem is that the Church has encouraged and continues to allow the Second Vatican Council to be suppressed within the strict politico-religious confines of \"Evangelical Catholicism\". (See George Weigel's book by that title.) \n\nRe: \"the simplicity of Christ's gospel messages\"...All well and good, but Catholicism needs structure...theology, governance, liturgy. The Second Vatican Council was moving Church structure in the direction of which you speak...until its shutdown under the very parties who had Escriva canonized.\n\nPope Francis is doing all he can to bring Vatican II back into the forefront of Catholicism. However, without a Vatican II Prelature or Ordinariate, leading perhaps to its own Catholic Rite/Church in union with Rome...Evangelical Catholicism will continue to rule the Church.\nhttps://RiteBeyondRome.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read the first, scanned the second.\n\nEverything in this world is designed to make it easier to get closer to God, not just \"salvation\". \n\nJesus's work before He turned 30 became part of our salvation, His bringing us closer to Him. \n\nWe don't have to \"understand\" salvation so much as we have to give assent to it. We actually can't fully understand it.\n\nOur intellect falls short...and that's why we use faith to go \"beyond reason\", to love Him \"beyond reason\". \n\nOften our pride rears up, and it wants to 'understand' something (normally something it finds uncomfortable to agree to), and that's why Our Lord spoke so highly of humility. And that's why all the Saints did too. \n\nOur intellect (and pride) can distance us from more intimate union with God...we need faith and we need humility.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ has left us His Body on Earth. Ever hear of the Eucharist?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This means Mount Cashel Orphanage for boys was a boarding school. We all know these innocent boys got a real good education when they were raped and abused by Christian Brothers. The same thing happened in many residential schools run by Christian clergy. At your so-called boarding schools, students are allowed to speak English, while at Canadian government-run residential boarding schools, anyone caught speaking their mother tongue was slapped or else in one case had a pair of pliers ready to yank out a child's tongue. Your so-called boarding schools have three square meals a day and students have comfortable beds. Many did do not did not die of malnutrition. And mostly any student at your so-called residential boarding school did not wake up in the middle of the night with some man's hands down his or her pants. Shameful!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's Archbishop Aquila's opinion on men who brag about sexual assault and adultery? And didn't Aquila have vapors about a remarried person receiving Communion because \"adultery.\" What hypocrites they are. And cheap ones as well. At least Judas got money for his betrayal of Jesus. Conservative Christians aren't getting anything in return for backing Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What does the Bible say about those who do not trust in Christ, Paul ? It says they are condemned, this is not me, this is the word of God.\n\nWhoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. John 3:18", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pharisees tried to trick Jesus into a trap, asking him if citizens should pay taxes. Jesus told them to hold up a coin and asked whose picture was on it. They responded \"Caesar\". He then told them give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Dubbed \u201cA Day Without a Woman,\u201d the action is meant to show that without the paid and unpaid labour of women, economies would grind to a halt.\"\n\nWell, in all fairness, the same could be said for us Irish Catholics. Maybe we should all just take the day off and go for a few pints. That'll show them how unappreciated we are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Romans have thrown away the anathemas of Trent, and the Pope can lead a worship service for Lutherans, and many top theologians think that we should have intercommunion with Lutherans, how is actually moving from a Roman to a Lutheran church a mortal sin?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No historical event has intrinsic meaning. Their meanings arise only from context, and since some events have multiple possible contexts, multiple meanings are found. The French Revolution, for example, has undergone at least four great interpretations, the revolutionary-republican, the Catholic-royalist, the Marxist, and finally the as the French civil war, between Paris and the countryside, that created the modern French state. \n\nSimilarly, our Civil War has always had multiple meanings. It was the war to save the union, and the war to end slavery, but not necessarily to the same people. Later it became the tragic war between brothers (as if it ever could have been avoided!). Now it is resurrected as only the apparent defeat of white supremacy. The many Confederate monuments that have been hiding in plain sight for nigh on a century are suddenly discovered to be evidence of this. They will be pulled down. But that will not end the war.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mike Regele in his 1995 book, \"Death of the Church\" perceptibly foresaw the needs of our current generation of youth and young adults for belonging. If there is no \"there\" for them, they will move on to something else. La Red, the Encuentro movement, the work of Hoffsman Ospino and countless others have moved that agenda forward in the Hispanic community. With the changes in IV Encuentro and the current V Encuentro, that story is being brought to a parish near you for all Catholics of all cultures. \n\nMake no mistake that the stain of a Trumpian style dystopia over anything not \"white\" hardens the hearts and dulls the hearing of too many Catholics. The exit turnstiles are spinning for young Catholics of all stripes, and our usual church language, our inadaptability, and our resistance to change will not slow them. \n\nSalgado's article is a call for transformation and we should pause to listen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but you seem to deny that people have the ability to GROW in their understanding of issues, and to get beyond the barbaric concepts that were once held centuries before. \n \n\nThe church used to force Jews to be baptized [in Spain] against their will. The church burned people at the stake---as heretics. It even burned a Saint [Joan of Arc]. The church destroyed the manuscripts of peoples whose cultures it did not understand, calling them 'diabolical' [Mayan manuscripts]. These were ACTIONS prompted by DOCTRINES----which believed that ONLY the Roman Catholic church managed God [\"Only we have the TRUTH\"]. All of this is nonsense based on a man-made conceptualization of God---that God sits on a throne and wants humanity to grovel and shake as they would before a human emperor.\n\n\nThere is a sea-change going on in the church----but Cardinal Burke and the other wolves disguised as shepherds are not going to reverse anything.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let me guess, the Lutherans don't need to ditch anything of their Lutheranism, while Catholics need to ditch aspects of Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More recently, Benedict XVI took a step back towards medieval-ism when he declared that God's word to \"the women\" after what he described as the \"first sin\" were \"definitive\". (He used this \"interpretation\" to affirm that man \"will rule over\" women for all time \"...in the church and the world\". But that's another issue. It does however demonstrate the perversity of clericalism) If that can be termed as anything but retrograde literalism I'll eat my gym sock. If that \"person\" is the authority who is consoling me about the meaning of pain and suffering I would put my wallet in a more secure pocket.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Spot on, DD.\nThe entire MSM narrative about Syria is fake. In government-controlled areas women are going to university right now. They are free to veil their faces or not. All religions are free to worship and there are interviews all over the internet with Catholic priests in Aleppo who witnessed the misery and death caused by the \"rebels\" we supported with millions of dollars. Now that they are cleared out of Aleppo the people who were brutalized by them for years are telling their stories, of sharia courts every bit as bad as ISIS. Yet the media lapped up all the lies and misinformation that came out of Aleppo because they were \"our\" rebels. Now these terrorists have retreated to IdLib and are regrouping for the next terrorist wave. The MSM, having been stung once, are no longer swallowing the propaganda that the IdLib terrorists spew out every day, but they have never apologized. \nYes, Assad is a dictator who crushes resistance, but the alternative here is much, much worse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Readers, Steven Shea does not represent the views of most Catholics.\n\nCatholicism doesn't hold that Whites in America are racist. That is the view of extremists like Steven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "SPLC is not considered a hate group by the civil rights division of DOJ, no matter who is president. That is FoxNews calumny that should not be spread by Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We accept the same Nicene Creed.\" Huh? You mean in the Greek?\n\nThe Greek Orthodox creed is quite different at least in their English translation at https://www.goarch.org/-/the-nicene-creed (official website)\n\n\"And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Creator of life, Who proceeds from the Father.\" Not the Father and Son. The Holy Spirit is also \"Creator,\" not \"giver\"\n\n\"came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man.\" Quite different from the Catholic, \"by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.\u201d Evidently, the Orthodox like to give credit to Mary, the Mother of God, for this event, not just the Holy Spirit. \n\nFor sure the Orthodox will not be persuaded to say the awkward Latin-ish word \u201cconsubstantial.\u201d (And why would anyone say it?) Instead, they say, \u201cof one essence with the Father.\"\n\nIt's interesting to see the marked differences even between the Catholic English and the Catholic French. Not a monolithic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good. \n\n H. L. Mencken", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Columbus didn't \"fail\" to find North or South America, because he wasn't looking for them. In his lifetime no one appreciated that there were two vast continents. He did fail to reach Asia, but I'd like to see how Patkotak would have reached it from the Caribbean Sea, had she been in his position. \n\nLike other men of his age, Columbus did not believe in the equality of man, either racially or socially. He believed that the Arawak Indians he found were inferior because of their simple technology and lack of complex institutions. He thought that, with conversion to Christianity, the Indians would eventually become civilized. The harsh treatment he meted out to them was standard in many parts of Europe.\n\nColumbus was very much a great man in the heroic mold. He conceived of something grand and dared to put his plan into action, despite years of disappointment in finding a financial backer. When he got his chance, the voyage was indeed a daring one for its day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Was there anyone who Jesus would not have a conversation with?\nWhy would anyone discourage a visit between Pope Francis and President Trump?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LOL,\nYou might recall that Londoners and a great many other Brits protested vigorously against Toney Blair (Catholic) and his pal Dumya Bush and did NOT want their wars. But like a lot of Americans protests did no good against you patriots who created these terrorists. So we must ask exactly who are the terrorists??? You, the Right and the Religious Right and the capitalistic OIL companies. Possibly?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Difference is the Catholics wouldn't go shrieking off to some government agency to complain they were being victimised. They would simply take their business elsewhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These \"pope as savior\" articles (as if the whole human race depends on what the pope says or where he visits) are a bit much. \"hopes shattered\"! Our hope isn't in the pope, or Obama, it's in Jesus Christ.\n\nAt bottom...they reinforce a disturbing \"clericalism\" by \"training\" people that the pope is a linchpin in every single action the Church takes.\n\nJust as EWTN over does \"clerical\" topics...NCR does as well. A strange similarity between these two news organs, as much as fans of one seem to detest the other.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump doesn't care one way or the other about GLBT people. But, he made allies of the Christian religious right to get elected, and he'll throw GLBT people under the bus at any time to keep the Christian religious right in his camp.\nI think his July tweets came when one or more of his sons got into trouble over Russia. So he needed something to keep his base happy. And, boy, is the base happy with this one. After all, it's not about bias. It's about national security, and not messing with God's natural order. Trump scored a two-fer.\nThe tweets came with no consultation with the armed forces upper brass, who were caught completely by surprise.\nGen. Mattis seems like a heads-up guy. I wonder if he's keeping the status quo for the next six months or so as a stalling tactic while Trump gets distracted by something else.\nMattis knows that Trump is often gung-ho on something -- until the next advisor walks into his office.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Praise God! now this is the face of Christ in our midst... living psalmody... \nIt is the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount today. Simply doing what they can do, while others do what they can do. Nonviolent, civil disobedience... bearing witness.\n\nPeace and all good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So many downsides to celibate priests, can even one serious reason for it be proposed against all these negatives? More \"freedom\" to devote themselves to the service of God's people? WHAT A JOKE!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It can't be an open question. Pope St John Paul II solemnly (confirming the brethren, cf Luke 22:32) declared that the Church had no authority from Christ to ordain women to the priesthood. His words were:-\n\"Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church's divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful.\"\nBy simply saying, \"I declare\" and from the text, \"..... the teaching that priestly ordination is to be reserved to men alone has been preserved by the constant and universal Tradition of the Church .....\" tells us that this document is upholding a teaching of the Church which has been regarded as infallible from its very inception. The CDF confirmed this.\nContinued.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have never believed in that ritual cannibalism. \n\nThat a 'priest' hands me a cracker bought at Wal-Mart and a sip of wine that comes from Safeway which magically becomes the actual \"body and blood of Christ\" and I am 'saved' as a result!\n\nRight!\n\nAnd pigs fly and unicorns cavort under double Rainbows next to the Easter Bunny as he lays his boiled chicken eggs every Easter!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, Jim, my reality is based BOTH on the ones I know AND the events I see in the news. I don't paint with a broad brush based on EITHER of those experiences.\n\nThe thing is, Jim, that worry about Sharia Law in the US is nothing but paranoia. We have a Constitution, and laws, that would have to be turned completely upside down in order to allow that. So folks are getting all worked up over nothing. The funny thing is that the only way that Sharia Law might find purchase here (and it's an infinitely small chance), is if the current efforts by Christians to breakdown separation of church and state with their \"religious freedom\" laws are successful. That's the only thing that could potentially crack our Constitutional protection and allow religion into our laws.\n\nAnd that Pew Research survey you are citing in this thread has it's share of issues, it's not the authoritative source that you are representing it as. If you are curious about that you can google and find analysis of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're counting as Catholics people who label themselves as such, but haven't graced a church pew in years. Those \"Catholics\" don't count. At my parish, I don't know of a single liberal. Maybe they're hiding from the authentic Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article says \"Any bishop can visit virtually any Catholic school and talk to the Latino children and he will discover how scared they are.\" This statement makes no sense as it implies Bishops can or should listen to school children. Bishops are not called upon to meet with people and find out how the people feel, they are tasked by the Holy Spirit to instruct people how to feel and what to think. Listening is for the laity, not the Leaders of the One True Church. Our Courageous Bishops are, no doubt, taking the steps necessary to secure the position of the Church relating to the man the Bishops endorsed for President. They will tell us what is decided when they decide it is time for us to know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Comment 2\n\nAny revelations after the first revelation now must be considered suspect, as from that time earthly hands were distorting the Word (Will) of God.\n\nThe Church has acknowledged that the Word (Will) of God had been given to her, its actions confirm this, we have a picture in God\u2019s House, with the words \u201cJesus I trust In thee\u201d But the picture is not the one commanded by God, it is a worldly image of goodness, it pertains to the senses, made in man\u2019s own image, it has nothing to do with Trust.\n\nThe present Divine Mercy Image is a self-serving IMAGE of Clericalism, definition of CLERICALISM: a policy of maintaining or increasing the power of a religious hierarchy. \n\nThe original picture by Sister Faustina in its brokenness relates to spiritual beauty (goodness) it pertains to humility. \n\n \u201cThe pure (humble) in heart shall see God\u201d.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would like to see an organization that does worship God, believe that Christ is the Son of God, however is not Trinitarian.\n\nSure there are alternatives to the trinity false idol however they all miss the mark. Pentecostal, Jehovah, Latter Day Saints, Universal Unitarians are not a real alternative to false Trinity.\n\nA group that believe Jesus is the Son of God, not God, not another God, not a man. That is all I want. A group that does not worship government or money. A group that does not adhere to silly rituals. A group that is not lead by a Pastor whom twist Scripture to feed his ego. A group that shuns nationalism. A group that strives for peace and not perpetual warfare. A group that does not secretly want to install greater Israel above all other causes.\n\nYou know, just people who believe in a higher power who sent a son for the purpose of salvation. No particular favoritism towards a certain people or nation. Basic.\n\nGood luck with your secular club!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would invite the opposition to \"put up or shut up.\" Issue their formal reprimand and see what happens to it. If Cardinal Muller of the CDF says there are no grounds for a formal censure, then the opposition can retreat to their corner and pout. But stop badmouthing a pope elected by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Priest can only witness on behalf of the Church, the wedding couple making the vows create the marriage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Jesus quoted scripture in Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic as was appropriate to the situation. By Christ's time Hebrew was for most people only a sacral language.\n\nTo the best of our understanding the Mass was said in sacral registers of the either the vernacular or more commonly such registers of the lingua franca, developing very quickly into a sacral language.\n\nGreek with Hebrew and Aramaic terms mixed in, then later Latin with Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. This isn't a purely Western phenomenon either; witness the development of Aramaic or old common Slavonic into sacral languages.\n\nInculturated for us, the sacral language is Church Latin, the sacral language for us in the West from the 6th century to approximately yesterday. Unless we're of deep Protestant heritage (and most US Catholics are not...) where it is prayer-book English, which is what the Ordinariate uses. To dispense altogether with sacral language, replacing it with nothing, has scarce precedent in Christian history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "sorry, like a lot of things, \"mega churchs\" get that way THROUGH greed. how else do they have the money to start churchs, own mansions, etc a church, as most define it (NOT JC though, to him the \"church\" was the people the worshipers, NOT a building, etc) is a building, with a preacher and some support, that their money supports in exchange for his services, with extra money raised for specific issues (building repairs, new bibles, starving people, shelters, etc) NOT for private planes, limos and mansions. the catholic church is one of the WORST at this, the richest organization and bank in the world, it got that way by TAKING from the people and NOT passing it on to those who needed it, but kept and used for THEIR comfort OVER the people", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Do unto others as you perceive them to have done unto you\" as Jesus Christ instructed his followers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis' words toward the LGBTQ community and feminists haven't been kind as of late. This question was posed to Pope Francis (and kudos to Josh for doing it!) because of a very ugly, very red meat culture warrior talk he gave in Georgia in Saturday. The topic wouldn't have been discussed if he hadn't essentially accused transpeople, gay people, and feminists of waging a war on marriage. It is really hard for me as a feminist to feel welcome in the Catholic Church when educational programs designed to help with gender equality are compared to nuclear war. Because of that I think anything he says about women's rights or feminism is a lie.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tridentinus ... I would highly recommend that you .... and anybody sincerely interested in the past present and future of the Catholic Church read Hans Kung's: \"Can We Save the Catholic Church?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, you need to read before you post, as the response was to Bill DeHaas above. So try harder next time. As for catholic institutions, your claim is outright false, for there is a decision now regarding Little Sisters of the Poor, and this will have an impact on many other catholic employers. There was no fake news, as to fakes you come to mind. For concerns about the \"fake\" news, go to the USCCB website to see their concerns, but no doubt they bought the \"fake \" news too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The congress critters and their families, like the bishops, will never lack for the best health care. Small wonder that robbing the most vulnerable of health care to give more tax cuts to the wealthiest inspires no empathy. They continue spin the Trumpcare monstrosity with an indifferent straight face. In the meantime the shameless Koch brothers have upped the ante... their PACs have threatened to cut off GOP pols' funding if repeal of the PPACA/replace with Trumpcare and the associated tax cuts don't happen. As for the USCCB... too little, too late with the crocodile tears. They knew what the Rightwingers would do if they got complete control of government, yet voted for them anyway and told Catholic laity to do likewise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic colleges can't cozy up to politicians, then act surprised when people expect them to make nice. Notre Dame set a bad precedent by inviting presidents and should end the practice, not substitute one politician for another just because he sounds less offensive, depending on one's perspective. What the Church needs from its leaders is strong action, not pillow talk.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishops call for Pope to clarify that this is the highest office allowed a woman in the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who was guiding that teen in his understanding of AL? I wrote on another aspect of AL, that one of my grad students told me about his younger sibling who is a senior at a private Catholic high school. The religion department of that school has a team of 5 persons teaching religion to the seniors. This semester, they were studying the traditional states of life in the Catholic Church----single, religious state, Holy Orders and Matrimony. When the young people were studying Matrimony, the Team had them look at AL All of the Team has advanced theology degrees and the youngsters were guided by the married couple and the priest in their reading of AL. The sibling of my grad student, commented that he thought that AL is \"cool\". It all depends upon who is directing the study.\n\nAs far as the 'dubia' is concerned---none of these cardinals are even heading a parish, never-mind a diocese. Their 'dubia' is meant to trap Francis, not to clarify anything.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolute nonsense. All 5 of the Catholic judges have publicly expressed their fealty to their religion over their duty to the Constitution and the nation. Scalia was the worst as he expressed those views in paid performances violating his office. He should have been impeached and removed from office long before he died.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, they are Catholics.\n\nAs posters here never tire of pointing out, anyone with a baptism is Catholic.\n\nAs I understood Polycarpio, he used \u201cCatholic\u201d in the sense of \u201cloyalty to the Supreme Pontiff\u201d.\n\nAs posters here never tire of pointing out, \u201cSay what?\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do you respect someone and disregard their statements? I was not there but I believe the first Mass was celebrated- that is the word by Jesus and his friends.I do not think He became so invested in the \"window dressing\" ,language,etc.that some are fixated on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The piece by E.J. Dionne Jr. is a bit sappy and unrealistic. The media bears a great deal of the guilt in sensationalizing the less important aspects of sport heroes. A comparison, if you will...The first Gold Medal this cycle was won by a woman, her 6th. She is a shooter, and an outspoken advocate for the 2nd Amendment. Yet, instead of large media coverage on major networks, one has to search on more conservative media sources to find anything about her. Compare that with the coverage of the saber fencer who \"is the 1st American woman to wear a hijab while competing.\" I'm sure we would have enjoyed coverage of any athlete who decided to wear a Christian cross attached to their head, during competition. Sadly, this kind of manipulation appeals to many today. Athletes competing at the Olympic level deserve accolades and not devious political maneuvers to further a dishonest agenda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Manuel.......What a touching memorial to the Pope who made it his mission to make the life of the average person less stressful and easier to understand the gospel of our+ Lord Jesus Christ+by emphasising the vernacular in Holy Mass! I pray to St John XXIII daily that he guide Pope Francis!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The previous poster presented it as an unfounded innovation from the 19th century. Could it be that the English world merely adopted and not innovated what is clearly an ancient manner of address? \n\nThe bible or at least the New testament is a product of the Church's tradition. As such the interpretation of scriptures is not something that is an individual interpretation but a corporeal interpretation. \n\nSola scriptura is not a Catholic doctrine. It is a simple fact that the bible would not be canonized unless by the authority of the Church that compiled the bible to begin with.\n\nThe cherry picking occurs when you personally or any individual holds their own personal opinion as an authority. You may be a member of the Church, but you personally are not the Church. \n\nThis is akin to when the church forbade people from castrating themselves in order to become \"eunuchs for the kingdom\" or any other literal interpretation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The commandments and beatitudes might be relatively few in number--but that is because they are general principles upon which we are to derive appropriate actions for specific circumstances. \n\nThe Bible cannot possibly speak to every circumstance we may find ourselves. The teachings of Christ and the commandments he gives, however, are sufficient enough that we can derive what the proper moral action is in a specific circumstance. \n\nYour statement, therefore, is true but misleading. It is misleading because it suggests that God expects little of us and isn't really concerned with sin. God expects much of us and is not about to ignore our sinful choices if we are not repentant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If we really want leaders to take us down a different path, then the moral leadership of women is essential . . . .\"\n\nThis relates to another topic posted here today. How can we seriously expect the number of Catholics to be on an up-tic when those like Chittister --- a Benedictine nun, no less --- are teaching our children that the Church as we know it is worthy of derision?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My friend who was my RCIA sponsor does this. I feel the love of Christ when she holds my hand and gives it a gentle squeeze after the prayer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This pope created the Secretariat of Communications and replaced the last Jesuit official in the Vatican with Greg Burke, former Fox News correspondent, as head of his press office.\nPope Benedict gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to charity and held dinners for and with the poor. There may have been other works of charity equally unreported. \nWhen in the last four years have you read a report about the Congregation for the Evangelization of the People getting any attention in this pontificate? The only valid purpose of the pope and the Vatican is a focus on Jesus' great command to his followers. The \"news\" should be about Jesus, not the pope always in the spotlight.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is this process of see, judge, act, not the same process used by Catholic Action?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's Catholic priests who did it, but they certainly were not acting on orders from the Vatican. Those are Canadians and Canada is a better option for an apology. Or maybe it should be France and Britain.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The idea that a priest is \"in persona Christi Capitis,\" meaning that he represents Jesus the Head of the Christ, is a recently blossomed idea with Vatican II. It comes from 2Co 2:10 which is mistranslated in the Vulgate to mean \"in the person of\" (now correctly translated in the Catholic NABRE on the Vatican website to mean \"in the presence of\"). Aquinas wrote one sentence on the mistranslation (thinking it was correct). A Pope in 1947 wrote one sentence on Aquinas'. The Baltimore Catechism has nothing on \"in persona.\" And yet you want me to believe this is part of the faith tradition, that the priest is like unto a god, a representative of Jesus no less. Nonsense. See #1548 in the Catechism for history\n\nJesus said 'do this in memory of me' to all apostles and disciples present. Compare Luke 22:35 and Luke 10:1-4. The key is who is without \"purse, bag, sandals.\" It is the 70 (gender not specified). So not just the 12.\n\nIn John 20:19-23, Jesus speaks to \u201cdisciples,\u201d not apostles", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even Christ's words have been heavily edited. I believe that He allowed this to happen because He wants us to look to Him first, and then to the written word to confirm matters. It is written that God gives us our instructions in our sleep. Then there are visions, miracles, and the many gifts of the Spirit, to show us what He meant by what He said ... or even said such at all.\nI believe that the Bible is our \"road-map\", which reveals God, and the path to Him to us, but it isn't the actual path, just a picture of it. Like the yellow lines and guard-rails ... we travel within those guides, those boundaries, but they aren't the road-way under our tires.\nWalking with Christ is considered by many to be just a figure of speech, but maybe it is more real than we would suppose. If you believe in a \"living\" God, then is it too far fetched to expect Him to personally guide you now and then? To personally clue you in on important matters, when you really need to know?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He isn't deciding. He is simply stating what the Catholic Church teaches and its policy on those who publicly oppose the Church's teaching by one's public action. It isn't a judgement of their interior life but their public action. Receiving Holy Communion is also a public action.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not a bad reflection.\n\nPatriotism is a virtue, a strength, love for one's country.\n\nSome on the right have 'shallowed' its meaning; most on the left simply demean even the idea of patriotism. \n\nIt's rooted in the 4th Commandment, as the CCC tell us. It's an extension of love for our parents. \n\nThere is no love without sacrifice. If you haven't sacrificed well for your country, you cannot love it.\n\nSacrifice doesn't mean military service, or combat service; it can certainly mean this.\n\nBut sacrifice can also mean raising one's children very well so that they learn what it means to love (sacrifice, self-denial, selflessness, constancy & cheerfulness of gift of self). \n\nSo that the children learn how to be \"big minded, good hearted, and strong living\" (generous, constructive-minded, not fragile sorts focused on the self). \n\nWe have generations of people who haven't learned how to love in this most Christian way, and who have raised whole families who have no idea what I am saying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I accept as you say, that the cost savings will be minimal.\n\nTwo school systems provide choice. For instance, there are some special needs that the Catholic school board satisfies far better than the public school board, and vice versa. So, I'd like to maintain two school boards, but I must say, it is inappropriate that there be a religious divide. My family has a choice of two schools, but the neighbors next-door do not. That's unfair.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Aren't Republicans the party that claim to be Pro-life? How does denying healthcare to millions of Americans equate to being Pro-Life? The short answer is it doesn't! By rights shouldn't all the Catholic and Evangelical politicians backing this repeal of healthcare, be given the bums rush right out the front door of their respective churches?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ANY religion which preaches their own belief as the only TRUE path to salvation, has stains on its conscience. Those who insist Christianity has not been guilty of heinous acts in the name of religion are either ignoring or never learned American history. Native peoples (Indians, aborigines, Hawaiians, etc.) labeled as 'heathen' were forcibly converted to 'good Christians'. The choice was often conversion or death.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Australian Bishops presentation to the Royal Commission failed to provide confidence to many Catholics. (Read his transcript at the Australian Royal Commission https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/case-study/261be84b-bec0-4440-b294-57d3e7de1234/case-study-50,-february-2017,-sydney). \nBishop Coleridge is a member of the newly established Professional Standard Board of the Catholic Professional Standards Limited (CPS), yet fails to mention that he and other Bishops are under a canon law directive to conceal clergy abuse. \n\nBishop Coleridge resides in Queensland, Australia where there is no mandatory reporting law for clergy, yet manages Catholic Schools. \n\nBishop Coleridge is on the Truth Justice and Healing Council (Catholic response and PR).\n\nTruth, Justice and Healing Council, Vice Chair, Elizabeth Proust recently state that 'the Catholic Church was unlikely to change'.\n\nIt is up to the people of Australia and Ireland to act to protect children from future clergy sexual abuse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree. I was a Roman Catholic seminarian for 10 years and went to graduate school at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore (another Sulpician institution). I underwent exhaustive vetting including psychological testing and endless hours of spritiual direction. There just seems to be something missing here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems to me that Pope Francis has responded to his questioners in exactly the fashion Jesus responded to His.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "PARENTING is Godly/Godlike, what is the dialogical dynamic of Word/Light/Love processed by Fathers/Mothers in open communication. How is Mothering less on a par with Godlikeness than Fathering?\nMale-only God is a calculated objectivity of male-dominionism, which is precisely the dynamic of political over-reach and exploitation. To be authentic Catholicism has to move beyond male-exclusive talk which is politically/ religiously defective on its face.\nDialog includes, not alienates - as it needs to be with religion as with politics. Yes, Trump-thinking and Pope-thinking need to face each other in open dialog; but that still is too much analogous to two roosters dialogueing, not at all like fathers and mothers together processing open-consciousness. Sense of conscience like sense of Eucharist and Godlikeness is in the balance of authentic parenting, of open communication and open consciousness.\nThe human persona is in 'Godlikeness' - female/male.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "eric, on this you are mistaken. gary specifically said \"zealots use religious doctrine and twist it to justify their actions\" he went on to compare \"\"radical Christian zealots\" who have bombed abortion clinics and killed abortion doctors. \" My point was that that is a far fetched comparison, and I will add, your comparison is even more far fetched. We are talking about religious zealots, not about a war that was approved by both repubs and dems. Keep in mind, both Clintons were for it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even Vatican II calls for Latin to be preserved in the liturgy, and only envisioned vernacular being extended, not a wholesale takeover. That Trent has anathematized the view that Mass must always be in the vulgar tongue has never been lifted. \n\nThat you disapprove of Catholics seeking out their liturgical patrimony and worshipping as their ancestors did does not concern me one bit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe it was Mr. Trump who committed treason (though not enough people are even discussing it) when he urged the Russians to hack Clinton's e-mails. That is inviting a hostile government to interfere in the American Presidential election.\n\nI suspect any \"coup d'etat\" that may happen will likely be from within. The Trumpster will likely be impeached since he refuses to put his business interests in a blind trust, and since he's already broken the 'emoluments' clause, and since he's insisting on blatant nepotism, and since he refuses to release his taxes (and continues to lie and insist they're \"under audit\"), and since ... well, the reasons are myriad. Mike Pence and his co-Dominionists (many of whom are in Trumplethinskin's cabinet - or will be shortly) can't wait to 'Make America Christian Again'.\n\nThe Globe will continue to publish letters that reflect the sentiments of the public at large and their readershp.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Context, context, context!!\n\nAs has been pointed out on here so many times, Betty. Go and study those texts with what we know now about the historical cultural attitude towards women and the Deuteronomic punishments meted out to women, coupled with the easy way the Pharisees awarded themselves divorces - signing a parchment of dismissal - and you'll find that a literal application of those texts is, at the very least, questionable.\n\nJesus attacked the Pharisees for doing exactly what you seem to be advocating on here - mercilessly applying the law. Had the law been applied to Jesus' mother, she would have been stoned to death at the front door of her father's house.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many people are missing the point. \nA teen from youth group actually said that he thought that since AL, the Catholic Church has changed its teaching. He thinks that adultery is no longer a mortal sin. What would you tell him? God has a commandment against adultery. We must obey God. \nThere are bishops with opposite views on this. They can't both be right. \nDid you read all of Amoris Laetitia? Did you read the dubia? If so, how can you consider those questions unimportant?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, and they didn't want to become Catholics which was mandatory under Mexican law. And they didn't like the strong central government, wanting a much larger emphasis on states rights instead. And then there were the economic reasons. The population was only about 50,000 people back then; roughly 5,000 blacks, 20,000 whites, and the rest Mexican/Indian, and even THEY preferred Texas Independence.\n\nI'm sorry, what was your point?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Colkoch for your comment, please see my post to AnneMargaret above\n\nkevin your brother \nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cI felt my spirit inundated by a mystery of light that is God and in Him I saw and heard: the point of a lance like a flame that is detached, touches the axis of the earth, and it trembles: mountains, cities, towns and villages with their inhabitants are buried. The sea, the rivers, the clouds, exceed their boundaries, inundating and dragging with them, in a vortex, houses and people in a number that cannot be counted. It is the purification of the world from the sin in which it is immersed. Hatred, ambition, provoke the destructive war. After I felt my racing heart, in my spirit a soft voice said: \u2018In time, one faith, one baptism, one Church, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic. In eternity, Heaven!\u2019 This word \u2018Heaven\u2019 filled my heart with peace and happiness in such a way that, almost without being aware of it, I kept repeating to myself for a long time: Heaven, Heaven.\u201d Sister Lucia of Fatima, before writing the 3rd Secret.\n\nIn time, 1 faith, 1 baptism, 1 Church, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Incorrect - the Georgetown Center did an indepth analysis and found that catholics voted for Clinton - 48% and voted for Trump - 45%. Most Catholic Trump voters were white living in the Midwest and Northeast. Catholic Hispanics voted for Clinton - 78% vs. 14%.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you are being unfair to Our Holy Father. The open wound, as he and his sainted predecessor knows, is not caused by the shepherds abusing the flock, but rather by the reporting of the actions of the shepherds, which caused Scandal to Church. Our Holy Father knows the scandal issue is more serious, despite anything Jesus may have said. After, Jesus is a nice concept and all, but Frank has a billion dollar church to run, and that ain't going to get done with a lot of beatitudes and humility. In the end, the most important thing to Francis, as it was to Benedict 16 and Saint John Paul II the Great, is the preservation of the Power and Glory of the One True Church, and if Jesus doesn't like that, well, no one's ever seen him in the Vatican, have they?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We are saved through faith in Christ, not by the magisterium of the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A lack of faith in the Church perhaps, not a lack of faith in God...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You will never have one church; the Orthodox can't stand most Catholics; most Protestants can't stand other Protestants; the Catholics are divided into the Vatican II types who wish Bobby Kennedy had become pope and the Pius XII-wannabees and the huge blob in the middle who use church for cultural/family identity ceremonies.\nPointless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any one who disdains God's awareness and affirmation of Self and to acknowledge it is unworthy of the rich tradition of Catholicism. Okay, the rote answers without question, but Catholicism \"the great\", nah.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In this case, \"Roma locuta, causa confusa.\" If the \"reasons\" given by St JP2 are good enough for you, not so for me. It is simply a repetition of CCC 1577, which is a fundamentalist interpretation of a decision made by Jesus during his mission to the people of Israel UNDER THE OLD LAW. It also violates a basic principle of biblical exegesis, which is that no text can be fully understood in isolation from the entire deposit of faith. That CCC 1577 is not persuasive for many people may or may not have been the reason for issuing the edict to stop discussion. There may have been other reasons but, having studied the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the Theology of the Body, it is hard to imagine that a man with the holiness and awesome erudition of JP2 really intended to define a dogma in such a defective manner Be assured that I am by no means trying to convince you. This is a com-box dialogue, an exercise in listening to each other, not a zero sum debate. Domimus vobiscum!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am courageous. I am revolutionary. I am whole.\n\nSad that expecting to be treated fully human would require one to be revolutionary. I can't imagine Jesus intended that things should be so. Maybe the men who wear the big hats and call the shots in Jesus' one true church should contemplate this issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hello John,\nI wish I could give you 100 stars! God bless you!\nI thought I was seeking God mostly independent of clergies. However, after this Sex abuse problem hit my home diocese, which I could not avoid, that I realized how much I relied on the clergies, at least their personal/religious integrity. It feels like a middle wall, clergies, which shielded me from the world is crumbling down. The Church was a sacred place, a sort of refuge, joyous place where my soul could breath and converse with God. Now it is a hideous place where clergies sexually raped children! It almost feel as though the devils are lurking in the corners! Now I need to stay outside of church to breath. I find some of posters on NCR the presence of Christ's helping hands!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I trust Pope Francis to deliver a message consistent with the Gospel of Jesus. Please don't try to muzzle him because you generally disagree with him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But 68% of white Catholics voted for him. \nIf the Catholic Church truly wanted to reduce abortions, it would support increased availability of birth control.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Healthcare is a responsibility, not a \"right.\" Every grown up knows that. \n\nAnd as for your use of Mt 25, 31-46 as evidence for your position, how is that chapter and verses explained in the footnote in your Catholic bible, because in mine it ask the question if this is referring to \"all people who are sick, or strangers, etc, or to a specific group of people?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have flagged me and told me that you have. Now you say you haven't, but if you did, you would have told me. Good to know. \n\n\nAs to my lying, HUH? Nice to throw out to the ceiling, but no evidence of it in a decade on here. So your assessing question is just a diversion, per usual. \n\n\nYou may not notice how well Trump speaks, she said facetiously, but other people notice. \n\n\nThe point of the spelling and punctuation, of course, had to do with the topic. Such related issues such as decoding. You know, elementary education stuff. Many, many issues related to coding and decoding, as well as the others. You and RD just started looking for my mistakes, which, of course, only give more evidence of my point. But neither of you got the humorous relationship. Again. \n\n\nEveryone has to use the same words to be Catholic. You both say. HA.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know hat went through the minds of the people who wrote the Scriptures. All that I know is that authors used those types of literary conventions at that time. I look at Divine inspiration differently than you do. I believe that the writers of Scripture passed on to us the very radical teachings of Jesus about the love o God and of neighbor. Those teachings are radical even today. \nRe Ehrman -- he is not telling people what to believe. He is teaching about how Scriptures were written, about the way that they were understood and received contemporaneously, about the beliefs of the people of the time, etc. He is very respectful of belief and does not suggest in his writings that people ought to reject faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have God's love in my life, for instance, I pray the rosary almost daily and participate in Sunday Eucharist weekly. Still, my husband and I make love nearly every evening, and I am as confident that God is fine with my \"sodomy\" as I am that He exists. Peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The priest feeds and nourishes his people with the food from heaven.\"\n\nIn the early years of the Jesus Movement, the members of each local community spiritually nourished each other. They did not need a priest who had some elevated ontological status. This was before the control freaks like Irenaeus and Athanasius hijacked the movement. \n\nThanks to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th century control freaks, we now have a clerical hierarchy that dictates and exploits rather than serves.\n\nIn the 21st century, the number of people willing to be dictated to and exploited by the hierarchs seems to be shrinking, no matter what label is applied to the local parish priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Divorce isn't adultery and dropping adultery from the roles of capital crimes should not lead one to think that he needn't fear damnation. An act that is malum in se, regardless of the temporal punishment, remains an evil act. The fact that the offense is no longer punishable by death should give the offender the opportunity to repent.\n\nRegardless, the two talmudic schools do not seem to provide any context to Jesus' instruction nor to the 2,000-ish years of practice. I don't mean to minimize the suffering of those who have gone through a divorce, either. I merely point to what is textually obvious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am very glad you mentioned this. I often worshipped with Eastern Orthodox (Orthodox Church in America) congregations many years ago, in relatively small and always pewless churches or chapels, and was always thrilled to observe how our standing posture altered the experience, and made a special demand of us for engagement. At the same time, there was always a variety of focuses of attention, given the numerous icons, which are MEANT to be looked at and visited and pondered over and addressed in prayer during the liturgy. And as you say, the priest's movement through the congregation with the censer engaged us in a special way. \n\nI should note, though, that in larger Orthodox churches, and perhaps by now all Greek Orthodox churches, they've assimilated to Western Christian practice, and installed pews, alas!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I seriously doubt you \"are going to move to another country as an undocumented immigrant unless you are moved to desperation by political or economic circumstances.\"\n\nThis is an assumption, and you could be right, but it's still just an assumption. I respect your view, but disagree. \n\nCaring about the poor in other countries does not require that we take them all in. Nothing says we can't do what's best for America --- it's clear we must do that --- while also doing what we can to help the poor of other nations, as Jesus would have us do. It's clear we must do that too. But a borderless America is not the solution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What would make more sense would be for the Church to admit that some people (including some seminarians) are gay, and encourage the gay seminarians to be open about it so they can be supported in their choice and efforts to remain chaste. Making people hide their sexuality does nothing to help people become pyschosexually mature.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"They didn't use insulting and demeaning language towards their fellow hierarchs.\"\n\nQuite simply, Betty, you are wrong. They used such language constantly. However, there was a big difference in the WAY that they used such language. Francis uses it in order to bring about reform. Benny used it to deflect attention from his own 'sins' and pass the blame onto others.\n\nIn 2010, Benny sent a letter to the Catholics of Ireland to be read at all Masses (pretty public, dontcha think?) In that letter, he accused the Irish Hierarchy of \"betraying\" the people of Ireland. He accused the hierarchy of giving an \"inadequate response\" to abuse. (Cover up.)\n\nThis attack on the Irish hierarchy would have been well deserved until you go back to 1997 to discover that it was Ratzinger himself who had ORDERED the Irish hierarchy to report cases of abuse to him personally and FORBIDDEN them to report these abuses to the police.\n\nYou don't like Francis. Fine. But please stop rewriting history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When children in their primary years don\u2019t receive stimulation and psychosocial support needed it can result in delayed fine-motor skills. Unfortunately men are not encouraged to play with their children believing in some cases that doing so could stunt their children\u2019s development and negatively impact their growth. Christian Children\u2019s Fund of Canada\u2019s early child-development project in Ethiopia supports brain development and family relationships. Local project coordinator speaks out about the positive impact their efforts are having in the following article: Why children need to be engaged in play - https://www.ccfcanada.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=672&Itemid=222", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1st, I correct my line. \"..which other priests do do have\" should be \"..which other priests do not have\".\nYou wrote: \"Some good advice and preventive medicine can aldo be given by priests\". Ah, but that is Reconciliation! I deliberately used the older term Confession as that would be Opus Dei's understanding of the Sacrament.\nThe average person is not going to look up linkin or whatever to find out the affiliation of a priest making comments who doesn't have any initials after his name. They assume he is a Diocesan priest. An example: Father John Flader who was born in Wisconsin, trained in Rome, and since 2009 has had a column in the Archdiocesan newspaper of Cardinal Pell's former seat, Sydney NSW. He never identifies himself as Opus Dei apart from his online bio.\nOpus Dei hides behind numerous fig leaves in its activities, and you have to ask why. It is \"affiliated\" with several schools such as The Willows and Northridge (Illinois), and Tangara and Redfield (NSW). Affiliated? Ha ha!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems to me that we have experienced a paradigm shift. The Hellenistic cosmos of the scriptures easily placed Christ as a cosmic figure, so exalted that he loses contact with Jesus of Nazareth. It would be best if we could acknowledge our faith tradition as a conventional discourse among many, freeing us to celebrate its power efficaciously to transform people, while recognizing other traditions - Islam in Egypt - as valid path, equally tied to their conventional discourse. We are indeed a place (locus) but no longer within the small geocentric cosmos of ancient times. Just our shire here. blessed by the Father in Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The question is not whether Weinandy did something wrong publishing criticism of the Pope; it's whether it was reasonable to can him for doing it. In Professor K\u00fcng's case, he had already been canned, years before he published the criticism you refer to. (Although he wasn't exactly reticent with his criticism in his youth either.)\n\nProfessor K\u00fcng was retired from the faculty of Ecumenical Theology of the University of T\u00fcbingen. Criticizing churches is part of Ecumenical Theology. Weinandy was employed by the Catholic Church as a doctrinal purity inspector. Retired professors can't be fired; their pensions are paid by secular taxes. Speaking freely on controversial subjects is one of the things they are expected to do.\n\nWeinandy is a member of a religious order. K\u00fcng is a diocesan priest in a diocese (Lucerne) which has a long-standing reputation for independence from Rome. It is not likely K\u00fcng's bishop had any objection to his letter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How does this explain the ancient usage of the term, or St. Paul claiming being a father to those he claimed for Christ. \n\nAs I mentioned before the term father for either a bishop or priest was used in other languages long before the baltimore catechism. \n\nWhich brings us back to the original idea of instead of humility we assert our own interpretation above that of the collective Church. In this case a simple affectionate term that was even used by the apostle Paul for himself. \n\nIf we look at the passage in its entirety in contains even more condemnations for calling anyone master, rabbi, instructor and so on. If we are to take the plain reading of this passage without the lense of tradition we should all become protestants, because every apostolic church has titles like those in use. \n\nAgain in scripture Christ is not listing things randomly, but instead rallying against hypocrisy, as the people should do sit in the seat of Moses but will only speak truth instead living by it(1/2)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes churches and synagogues are easy targets for Islamist terrorists all across the middle east.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I call on the state of Massachusetts that all of us should pray with true contrition of heart to confess their sins to God and implore forgiveness through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior.\" - Samuel Adams\n.\n[In declaring New Hampshire's official day of prayer] \"I call on the people of New Hampshire to confess before God their aggravated transgressions and to implore His pardon and forgiveness through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ....that the knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ may be made known to all nations, pure and undefiled religion universally prevail, and the earth be fill with the glory of the Lord.\" - Josiah Bartlett\n.\n\"Let us enter on this important business under the idea that we are Christians on whom the eyes of the world are now turned\u2026 [L]et us earnestly call and beseech Him, for Christ\u2019s sake, to preside in our councils.\" - Elias Boudinot", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Georgetown, along with many other supposedly Catholic colleges ad universities, have sold their patrimony for a mess of pottage - whitened sepulchers full of dead men's bones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a parent as well and if I would want to know if my child joined any GSA or any other activity in school. And if I were Catholic I would expect a faith based schooling.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My point is that banning abortion and Medicare and positive rights. Both require action by the state rather than a prohibition on state action (negative rights). The Jews had a negative right to be left alone by the state, which the state ignored. Women have the same right unless their unborn children are given a positive right of legal personhood. You have a negative right not to be killed randomly by a police officer. You have no such right not to have your wife kill you - protection by the police or retribution by the justice system are positive rights. Negative rights exist without government action (although they often take legal action to enforce - which includes gay marriage, which is a negative right to be treated like anyone else). Positive rights exist in the political process. Gotta have the votes. There is not positive or negative right to avoid taxation, by the way, not even in Catholic doctrine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Dave,\n\nI will read the article, and I will admit I am not an expert on Pentecostal Churches. However, the three pastors I already mentioned in Mass. pastor on their own. There is no lower or higher Pastor in their church. I do know there are a large variety of Pentecostal churches now, and many of them, are the equivalent of non-denominational, and may even list themselves this way now, but they follow the worship style, highly charismatic, etc. as Pentecostal churches. \n\nIt seems when these churches are interviewed, that they claim it is due their highly spiritual style of worship, that their people state they stay in their churches. Many like to have women pastors and some don't. \n\nAs for Protestant churches, many Episcopal churches would be in more difficult shape if it were not for ex-catholics joining their church because they allow women priests and bishops. Also, to note, in Protestant Churches, congregations led by men do not do better than those led by women priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The ancient Greeks knew the earth was round. Genghis Khan new. The Easter Christians, following the romans and Greeks, knew. Everyone knew. Sadly this is just blind pseudo-religion pretending to be scientific.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For 2000 years, the Church has been OK with the death penalty. Aquinas and Augustine both were OK with the death penalty. \n\nExodus 22:18 \"Wrongdoers you shall not suffer to live.\"\n\n The argument that evildoers should be allowed to live in the hope that they might be redeemed was rejected by Aquinas as frivolous. If they would not repent in the face of death, it was unreasonable to assume they would ever repent. \"How many people are we to allow to be murdered while waiting for the repentance of the wrongdoer?\", he asked, rhetorically. Using the death penalty for revenge, or retribution is a violation of natural moral law.\n\nIt was only V2 that the church said it was wrong.\n\nI know how I feel about it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW's article does not make sense. MSW omits verse 17 and 18 of this passage of John's Gospel in which Jesus answers the woman saying, \u201cYou are right in saying, \u2018I do not have a husband.\u2019For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.\" This is actually the conservatives argument. The woman is not married to this man. Jesus tells her the reality of the situation. She is not married to this man which she calls her fifth husband.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "the ministry to which they are called. One would find it incompatible with being in good faith to say that what defines the faith and practice of the Church is written in stone and has been defined in such a way that no human agency is involved save as an expression of the divine will. \n Herein lies the problem: all believers have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. They have the potential to serve in any capacity whatever given their spiritual gifts and whether the church as ordained them formally for service to the laity. One would wish to observe this form for the sake of charity and the good of the institution. Where private worship is concerned no such limitation exists. Lay people can have communion services using wine and a sacramental bread as conscience dictates, for spiritual communion and prayer to honor the Lord and remember Him. One would not call this a Mass per se, nor would one wish to advertise publicly as an ordained minister, or priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Answer: The dress and actions of the pubescent girl must never cause such issues to arise. Policing females' clothing and behaviour is an important--and practical-- element of Catholic dogma concerning male and female sexuality, overlooked at one's peril.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tridentinus is selective about which laws he is going to observe. It's Cafeteria Catholicism, traditionalist style.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ is the son of GOD. So if GOD forbids why would not the son. \nFor the Father and the son are one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can you just see yourself tying yourself up into knots, denying that Mary could be Queen of Heaven, not unless she got the position though her son the king, and not on her own merits, and not because there is historically, a 'Queen of Heaven.' Realize that 'king' means the Bridegroom in Pagan tradition, the one brutally sacrificed to fertilize the soil or whatever. Some 'kings' were even sacrificed in Yahweh's temple, presumably in front of a priestess representing the Queen of Heaven (the Bride), presumably after 'fornications' -- the sacred marriage. See (Ezechiel 43:7-9 (Catholic Douay)). Other versions might not show you 'carcasses of kings.' I'm not sure \"king\" is something you want to pin on the historical Jesus as did New Testament writers.\n\nJesus did not have a wife? John says the Bridegroom has a Bride (3:29)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our authority is Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Still more fun is to read comments like this one to see what the Catholic ultra-right has been up to lately. It always brings a good bellylaugh!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In what has turned out to be an ironic twist, my catholic education enabled me to get in to college, where I took a first year anthropology course that discussed primitive cultures, religions, and myths. It didn't take much critical thinking to start to analyze catholicism the same way, and realize it wasn't any different.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Protect itself from what? Protect itself from the decimation of its culture! A People's culture contains not only a shared set of values and ideals but it also serves as the basis of individual identity. To rob a people of their culture is to undermine one's very sense of self and the particular way of being human that the culture represents. Culture relates individuals to each other and the unseen world of what we call the spiritual realm. Culture is not a vague sense of anything, it is distinctive and is the filter through which the group constructs reality. Culture is everything. \n\nThe history of America does not teach us that our strength lies in cultural and religious diversity. For most of this county's history, it was overwhelmingly populated by people of European extraction. It spoke one language, was Christian and its dominant culture was WASP into which all were assimilated.\n\nA nation has a right to self-determination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, my God - what a puff piece for those who drink the Kool-Aid of biased, unseeing, unthinking liberalism. Too many things to correct, too many false narratives to challenge. - and this appearing in what is supposed to be a Catholic publication. When Catholic St. Augustine High School and St. Augustine Church are ready to change their names to something else besides honoring a Catholic African bishop who taught that slavery is the price a people pay for their original sin, then this article might begin to have some relevancy, and might begin to avoid hypocrisy. This article doesn't even begin to tell the real story of why these statues were taken down.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think in the most obvious sense, we all are. In my opinion, the church today needs more people to proclaim the gospel and many more people to receive it without twisting it into their own image.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sad - remarkable is the key word - and here is a sad response:\n\"I would like to point out that pastoral letters and encyclicals tend to be ignored by many (if not most) people. I think that's at least partly because their authors don't put themselves and their values at sufficient risk to challenge the status quo.\"\n\nThis is a pastoral for the diocese of El Paso, first and foremost.\nSecond - Mark will be able to leverage this within the catholic Texas bishops group that meets regularly - thus, bishops from Laredo, Brownsville, San Angelo can also leverage.\nThird, all TX bishops have the TX Senate Bill 4 fears and are struggling to organize and articulate to their parishes.\nFourth - pastoral letters such as Mark's will NOT be ignored in El Paso or some of Texas and is already getting national attention - think McElroy in San Diego. The cynicism expressed by one commenter is depressing and reveals little understanding of what is happening in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bless these Evangelical Republicans. Always willing to help those in need...depending on......\n\nI'm curious how they determine the value of any given life? Is it proximity to themselves? Is it financial status based? Is it color? Is it religion? Is it country of origin? Perhaps, just perhaps, we all have the same value and all of us are worthy of acceptance and aid. Pretty sure the Bible says stuff like that lol", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Amoris Laetitia is new wine from the Roman Catholic Church under Pope Francis. Many of the vessels into which he must pour the wine are old. He is creating new vessels as fast as he can, and trying to \"cure\" the vessels while the wine soaks in. Unfortunately, some old vessels are already too soured to be able to be useful as vessels of the new wine. \n\n\"Pope Francis, like his namesake, has dedicated himself to the task ever since that day when he bowed and asked the people for their blessing. It was a powerful symbol of a humble, listening and accompanying church. The new wine of God\u2019s unconditional love, boundless mercy, radical inclusivity and equality needs to be poured into new wineskins of humility, mutuality, compassion and powerlessness.\"\n\n\"The old wineskins of triumphalism, authoritarianism, supremacy abetted by clerical power, superiority, and rigidity are broken.\"\n\nBishop Vincent Long of Parramutta, Australia. Catholica calls him a bishop worth listening to.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe He was addressing the Apostles, not the disciples.\n\nMatthew 19\n\n28 Jesus said to them, \u201cTruly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.\n\nSee also Luke 22:25-30.\n\nThe twelve tribes, the 144,000, and other references are symbolic of the faithful, the new Israel, and the Kingdom to come.\n\nThe same type of language is used in Galatians 6:16, James 1:1, Romans 9:6, Romans 2:29, and elsewhere.\n\nJews were used to the symbology and knew exactly what He was saying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Al Smith Dinner is correctly recognized as a major election story, in each general election and certainly in this election, and not just by Catholics nationwide.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps what Crosby brings is the smell of the sheep. It was a 1971 document that informed Crosby's answer, his obedience to his calling. No surprise is it when his experience echoes each of the Beatitudes. I am grateful for this article for it is such a catechesis on the Beatitudes, though he closes with that insight and reminder... Are the Beatitudes fair? or are the Beatitudes Just? Are they about right relationship within community and as an individual. Blessed are... as defined by Jesus Christ.\n\nThe Beatitudes are a Mystagogy for the Anawim and we are all the anawim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We must be in the world not of the world. The problem is not just the ties with planned parenthood it is the indoctrination into teaching that conflict with those of the Catholic Church. I had reservations about the GS and my girl went through a few years of GS over 6 years ago . The Bishop, if you read his comments stated that it was not a severing of ties with the girl scouts but one of switching to a group that better prepares the girl in a more Christ like organization. You seem to have a lot of underling issues that are coming out in your writing maybe you should reflect a bit on that. \n\nIf I do not go with a friend to strip club and instead go to Church and pray for them, am I being a poor friend for not engaging in the world? Or am I being a bad friend if I choose to not have them around my young daughter? remember no one dies in a strip club I can't say the same for planned parenthood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clearly, peoples' memories need to be refreshed about the meaning of the season. This lesson is courtesy of Linus van Pelt. \n\n\"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this [shall be] a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.\"\n\nThat\u2019s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We do not live in a Roman Catholic theocracy (thankfully) and many religious groups disagree with the RC. While it seems to be hard for you to grasp, you do not get to impose your faith values in teh civil sphere on those of different, or no faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two-a of four) Dennism\u2014If, as you say - and I think you are right - the hierarchy won't be truly Christlike and humanly honest, what is the answer?...Our \"teaching authority\", from Popes, Magisterium, Curia, hierarchy and clergy have commanded us to be \"counter cultural\". This canard angers me as an excuse for avoiding responsibility for influencing and forming culture. \u201cFear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God!!\u201d (Isaiah 40:9) Liturgy of the Word, Reading 182, Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent I", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Lord, why do You allow such disrespect toward Your Church in this person?\"\n\"Father God, how can you expect me to tolerate such snotty disrespect for Your Real Presence in the Eucharist?\"\n\"My Dear Lord, how much longer will You tolerate such corrupt use of your gifts of sexuality and fecundity....give me grace to see Your patient plan...\n\nWhy are you writing to God on these posts? You know he doesn't read NCR.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Yes, Jesus comes from God. He also changed our understanding of God.\" \n\nNot an entirely unambiguous answer to my question. \n\nJesus is God; the Second Person of the Trinity. He is worthy of all worship. \n\nRevelation 4:11: \u201cYou are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<\"I know that I have to be prudent, and I hope to be so. I always pray to the Holy Spirit before I start listening to the questions and answering. And as I must not lose prudence, I must also not lose trust. I know that this can make me vulnerable, but it's a risk that I want to run.\">\n\nThe Pope is not there to think aloud and share his personal opinions and \"make a mess.\"\n\n\"The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law\u2026 He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God\u2019s Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down\u2026\" (Pope Benedict XVI)\n\n\"The Holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by his revelation, make known some new doctrine, but that, by his assistance, they might religiously guard and faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of faith transmitted by the apostles.\" (Vatican I)\n\nPlease exercise more prudence, Pope Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Fair cannot find himself believing that forgiveness is a gift from God. Instead, \"the memories of Iraq make believing that impossible. I need to earn my way back.\" \"\n\nDoesn't sound like a Presbyterian to me. Understanding penance for one's sins, in the context of God having forgiven us, and the merits of good works to promote sanctification, is not a protestant viewpoint. It's sound, just not very Presbyterian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Support for choice in the face of only less-just alternatives is not un-Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is similar to every republican candidate's pilgrimage to Falwell's Liberty university and those other mandatory stops. Stand up and mouth all of the proper words in the script so the ____ (evangelicals, NRA... fill in the blank) can then sign off on endorsing them. \n\nAnyone that believes that once in office Trump would genuinely support the 2nd Amendment utopia that gun worshipers crave is on mushrooms. About as much as he'd rule from a bible-centric basis. \n\nThe man is a transparent liar. Is Hillary too? Yeah. But why would any of us vote for either liar to be our president when there are other candidates out there.\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_third_party_and_independent_presidential_candidates,_2016", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"it's their fault that Christ was nailed to a Cross.\"\nWhose fault was it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Eichmann had the attitude \"superiors must be obeyed without question\", you have the attitude \"the magisterium must be obeyed without question\". Both of you have exactly precisely the same attitude: \"let other people make moral decisions for me\". It should be obvious that abrogating moral responsibility is not how a morally responsible person behaves. Yet that is what you insist must be done.\n\nGiven that HV says that, according to \"natural law\", the \"primary end\" of sexual intercourse is procreation. Essentially all sexually active persons know this is untrue -- it's certainly not why they have intercourse. Worse is their justification: HV 4 says \"No member of the faithful could possibly deny that the Church is competent in her magisterium to interpret the natural moral law.\" Which amounts to \"we know this is true because we say this is true, take our word for it\". Sorry, but I've given up circular reasoning for Lent. Saying this whole thing is twaddle is being kind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I say that God is neither a being nor rational, and that he does not know this or that. Therefor God is free of all things and therefore he is all things\" - Meister Eckhart\n\nThere is an interesting series of essays that delve into our ideas about \"Sex, Celibacy and the Nature of God\" by Tony Equale here: https://tonyequale.wordpress.com/2017/04/02/sex-celibacy-and-the-nature-of-god/ . Part 3 is titled \"Catholicism and the Solitary Ideal\" and is here: https://tonyequale.wordpress.com/2017/04/18/catholicism-and-the-solitary-ideal/\n\nI don't think what is written in these essays is all right or all there is to say. But, definitely thought provoking on issues of mystical/religious marriage and real marriage, on what a belief in God as spirit has done to our ideas about being flesh and blood human, about women. \n\nIf we come to understand that how God is described in ancient writings and current religious belief- if that is not sufficient and even wrong - a great deal else is questionable", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just imagine if Peter not Mary Magadeline and the women was the first to see the Risen Lord. Instead of the last supper as the center of our liturgy, I believe we would talk more about the Kingdom of God and resurrection times rather than the focus on the historical Jesus. It would be a lot easier to have an option for the poor than being worried about buildings and the power of the world,\nI don't believe we would have a USCCB.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Edited response) It wasn't immediate - except for those religious and ordained who found a freedom in society they never knew before - but started as a trickle. Most were please - and many came back - because of the promise of renewal and inclusion of the laity. Once that promise was blocked and then reneged on, the losses were more and faster. It is slower, but steady, now, not just in leavings but in not attracting and holding younger generations of what started out as Catholics. I assume you know all of this anyway, so I will leave my response here", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have not been here long enough to dispute or confirm your analysis. It is though a worthy one. I recall vividly the carefully supportive wordsmithing of John Allan Jr. that \"assuaged\" the John Paul and Benedict insensitivities and prevarications, unerringly honouring Benedict, for example, as \"the teaching Pope\" (when he should have been eviscerating the retrograde attempts to revive anachronistic institutionalism through perversions of scripture, reality, truth, authority, intelligence and honesty.) The price of \"in-ness\" I granted.\nHowever Truthtotell, NCR is also \"us\". \"Us\" the opinionated like me, the knowledgeable, the gentle and wise, the \"unsettlers\", the informed along with the adamant restorationists and defenders of institutionalism. \nNCR stands open to dissent, a conduit for dissenters and if it is to be at all credible, it must also be open to dissent to the dissenters and the status quo.\nBe better, but continue to be...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He can't find Ripple or Annie Greensprings anymore. He should at least remain Catholic and drink Blue Nun.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is the Body of Christ, we are all MEMBERS of that body as the Church has taught since the beginning and per Scripture, but we are not THE Body. To the extent that there are some within the Church, including the hierarchy, who insist that the baptised ARE the Church, they are furthering the notion that it is OUR Church to change as we please. IMO it is a very ill-conceived term, taken on by weak, fallible people within the Church including inside the Vatican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suggest that you acquaint yourself with people who at ONE point were considered 'dangerous' by both the hierarchy and the Inquisition [today's CDF], and who are now saints of God. They didn't write or act to either weaken the church or discredit the hierarchy. But what they wrote was often seen that way. \n \n\nBTW---one doesn't have to be canonized to be a saint. It is God who determines one's quality or worth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is the body of+teachings of a Pope or bishop. It can also be on a subject. The Church's Magisterium on Contraception is inconsistent with science, specifically on contraception and evolution, mostly because they have refused to take into account that knowledge of gastrulation allows one to follow moral caution about when life begins or does not begin vis-a-vis conception (doubt is removed, the moral principle is the extent to which you must be certain, understanding gastrulation provides that certainty). On evolution, the science is overwhelming and rejectionism is not the answer and so is Pius XII's counteroffer on first parents. In both cases, it is organizational pathology, the certainty that conflicting facts are false, that is toxic. It is a sign of stubbornness, not faith. What they should do is go back to the text and understand that the author was teaching a moral, not history. Original sin becomes a flaw in the human condition rather than inherited disobedience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the Book on the Infancy of Jesus is also on the List of Apocrypha, but the infancy narratives of Christ were already part of the Canon of Scripture. So Gelasius' rejection of the book did not mean his simultaneous rejection of Jesus' nativity.\n\nOne cannot argue this, however, of his rejecting the book on the assumption of Mary. Her assumption was not part of the Canon, which suggests (not definitively) that Gelasius rejected the very idea of the assumption simply because it had no biblical support.\n\nPope Hormisdas reaffirmed Gelasius' decree, as you said.\n\nWere these papal actions tantamount to declaring as heresy the teaching on Mary's assumption? In my opinion, yes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill makes the pseudo intellectual error of supposing that there are many Jesus Christs. He's not alone, unfortunately. It's a popular (trendy may be a better word) thing to do here in this site (and other little sites) to suppose of different Christs. \n\nThese people have willingly self-sprinkled too much starch in their shorts; and they love to banter about the \"Lucan Christ\", the Johannine Jesus, the Jesus of Matthew.\n\nThey're all in error or heresy. \n\nKeep this in mind. These people can't be dismissed totally because there's a soul in each one of them. A soul that needs to set pride aside and seek God humbly, with their intellect, but also with their will, with their body, with their faith. \n\nBut their soft sounding ideas should simply be \"waved on by\" like a traffic cop in a crowded intersection to avoid any collisions and distractions of others, treating these ideas like light distractions to the more serious and sober minded, ones less vain and influenced by trendy types.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Relevant Radio's Mission Statement on Charity Navigator:\n\nRelevant Radio was created in answer to a challenge from our beloved Pope John Paul II. He encouraged American Catholics to seize the means and methods of modern communication to inspire the faithful with a deeper understanding and commitment to Christ and His Church. We exist to assist the Church in this New Evangelization by providing relevant programming through a media platform to help people bridge the gap between faith and everyday life. Since 2000, the network has grown to include 13 stations, with three in the top 16 markets, and over 21 affiliates that carry Relevant Radio programming. Relevant Radio is also available to a worldwide audience via streaming audio or by downloading the mobile app from the App Store. Today, Relevant Radio is the largest Catholic talk radio network in the United States.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And end up schisming the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Various clerics and clerical groups owned chattel slaves as late as the 19th century, and no one in the institutional Church said they were wrong to do so. Obviously, the institutional Church found chattel slavery to be morally acceptable. \n\nWhile not all Roman slaves were chattel, many were.\n\nYour statement that the institutional Church has always opposed exploitation of people is demonstrably false.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, your quote from Galatians is often used as well by those who urge caution re: Marian apparitions; however, you might check out the following from Luke 9:49-50 in regard to tolerance of those who preach the gospel of Jesus, are self proclaimed Christians, but not Catholic-Christians. \n\"It was John who said, \"Master, we saw a man using your name to expel demons, and we tried to stop him because he is not of our company.\" Jesus told him in reply, \"Do not stop him, for anyone who is not against you is on your side.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy draws to a close, it would be a wonderful blessing if Pope Francis would reach out to all the former priests, who have remained faithful to the church, and invite them to return to active ministry (married or not). \n\nInstead of erecting ecclesiastical law roadblocks, every Ordinary should be bending over backwards trying to find a way to welcome (not just welcome but invite!), those who desire, to return in this year of mercy and reconciliation that has been so important to Pope Francis. \n\nArchbishop Sartain...call me I, you can be a leader in this new outreach that seeks out those who departed. While you're at the role of becoming a leader in the church, you can vigorously promote the cause of awarding, the last living American Vatican II father, a red hat. He's the bishop that truly exemplified the shepherd smelling like his flock!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I too am convinced Jesus Christ had a sense of humour.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If priests in any other country, including Germany, had refused to accept the appointment of a bishop from a different clan, I would imagine that the Holy Father would have intervened. A sure mark of any Christian, let alone an ordained Catholic priest, is belief that \"there is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.\" We are the Mysticsl Body of Christ. There is no room for petty tribalism here. There is no \"far away country\" here either ... I live in Africa ... Catholic seminary here teaches the same Gospel, which is universal ... i.e. Catholic. I thought that conservatives like yourself would have understood this!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, right wing nuts can pull funding of a recognized medically necessary procedure, but we can't protect our children from Christian propaganda in our schools or the pledge of allegiance, and government must fund religious organizations to operate health care , mental health care, and all manner of government funded activities ? The American Christian establishment generally demonstrates they are zealots, thinking at the level of a developmentally disabled persons when it comes to relationships, judicial thought, politics, and anything not concrete. \n\nRepublicans present as a morally, intellectually vapid group. Keep in mind that doesn't mean they can't learn how to change out an alternator or a liver. It just means they don't often have the kind of thought that represents true creativity or truly abstract thought. They have a tendency to steal others ideas, rather than have their own. \nTell me truthfully, you haven't noticed this to be a paradigm?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing to be sorry about. \nSecond first: \"Catholicism has been marginal to the African-American experience\", is to me actually, counter-intuitive. To stay on the margin on a significant value item that is relevant to Christ is itself a statement of betrayal to His mission. \nFirst: We \"designate\" a saint as patron for a value in the pretense that that value is actively - rather than rhetorically - supported.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I lived in Holland 23 years, precisely in the time in which Dutch euthanasia legislation evolved. One has to distinguish different things. Holland has fine traditions of social compassion and awareness of and care for the aging, for the handicapped and the mentally ill. On the other hand institutionalized euthanasia, wrapped in social/progressive argumentations, represents an attack against the very heart of this (Christian) humanism. One is before a riddle that needs to be carefully unravelled. As Pope Francis would say, one must discern with care in order to see where the Holy Spirit is leading us, to discern moral and social progress from the lists of Satan.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church of Christ, not the Church of What's Happenin' Now!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi yjin\n\nThat's Fine.\nI have not asked anyone to joins us as I was waited so as to let things take their natural course in the hope that some would join us after reading our posts, by making a commitment with us in pray/fast, to bring about change.\nI do not want to put any pressure on you to ask him if you are uncomfortable with this, if more are to joins us it will be God\u2019s will.\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Me, a troll? Maybe an ogre. I wouldn't call mine an interpretation, its more like a recitation of the text. \n\nI wanted to draw attention to the imaginary construct of the \"Equality Jesus.\" We have made an idol out of equality and reconstructed Jesus in its image. I'm arguing against the doctrine of equality. I think it is really a bad, even poisonous, doctrine that masquerades as justice, truly making justice impossible. I get these ideas from, of all places, the bible. That is why I keep alluding to the bible stories.\n\nJesus' example was primarily one of sacrifice and obedience. He did not think equality with God was a thing to be grasped. His gospel is not: \"we are all equal.\"\n\nBTW: The horrific killing, torturing and degrading of scores of millions of 'class enemies' in the name of equality is not imaginary. You can pretend this is not Satanic evil, but you cannot silence the blood of the martyrs, their blood still cries out to God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well many Catholics find Amoris Laetitia to be clear and unambiguous, and also find the \"pastoral letters of Chaput, Sample and others to be unclear, ambiguous and even noxious! My stock question to those who complain about ambiguity and lack of clarity is, after a month or so of hearing the complaint, is: just what have you been doing to resolve the alleged ambiguity and lack of clarity? So far, the typical answer is: Nothing. Your turn now, to answer, if you may so wish.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The church did take action before the storm of 2002, perhaps not the same everywhere, but as the stats show, this is mainly an artifact of the 60's and 70's. The media did not seem to care much when it was really more of a problem. I suspect it is because practicing Catholics in the USA were still voting Democratic as something of a bloc then. When this started to change, after the worst of the real problems of clerical abuse, especially after the contentious election of 2000 where Catholic swung to George W. Bush, it became front page. I offer this is a data point, not as an absolute cause of the media behavior.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 3\n\n as we encounter our brothers and sisters who stand and seek direction at the crossroads (Difficulties) of life.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You claim married Eastern rite, not just Byzantine, priests have no children?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mike Inman - I did not express any opinion in my comment to you. I simply reported the church's official position (which was misrepresented on this thread) and I corrected an error that presumed only 2 political parties. The Church leaves some things to the individual's prudential judgment. You are entitled to yours, as are the rest of us, but your position is not the official position of the Catholic Church. It is simply your opinion within the parameters in which we are allowed to have an independent opinion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus teaches us that to Love God and Love others is all we need. To serve, care, share with others is following Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is nothing un-Catholic about the moral pragmatism which is humanism. Indeed, I would call God a practical humanist and not thinking of God that way is to exercise an unhealthy amount of moral pietousness. Of course, there is no danger of humanism from the Trump Administration. The key question is whether the Cabinet Secretaries allow themselves to be informed by legal advice from the permanent government. Unless they actively work against it, there are many more SES member and high level managers who have a commitment to enforcing the law - which is the governmental substitute to the will of the shareholders. If they become \"captured\" in that way, they will mostly behave - although they may have fights with the White House. If they do not, we are about to have one scandal after another for the next four years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, dear a typo. Sigh. Your position: prithee can be spelled anyway you choose because it is archaic and there were no spelling rules. My response: chaotic spelling is allowed because it is tradition. Which was meant to imply that you justify your blunder with a claim of tradition. And that, as we True Catholics know, is the final argument. Tradition. If the Church has been doing it for at least 500 years, then it must always continue to do so. This is what being a Catholic is all about. But really, if you want to be cute and use a particular turn of phrase, then you should be a wee bit more careful, don't you think?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"These statements are clear and definitive and end the discussion in the minds of the critics of Pope Francis. \"Jesus said it. Case closed.\" But is it?\"\n- A great problem for those like ArchbRaymond, sidelined chaplain of the Knights and Dames of Malta, is that they use canon law specifically, or their favourite memories of catholic tradition as the lens by which to read scripture.\n- The effect is that their understanding of scripture and its role in tradition leads them to a view of scripture which in effect edits out all the bits that are not covered by canon law, or by their favourite memories of catholic tradition of which all of scripture is a part.\n- Thus, these matters go out of balance and the end result is a heterodox view of the eucharist -- a reward for the pure. While the orthodox view is that the Eucharist is food and medicine for all in the same manner that Jesus himself was for all and everyone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, well. So now we have an Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism. And so soon after disbanding the Special Task Force to Promote Peace in Our Communities, formed in 2016 to address racially related shootings around the country. \n\nBishops Murray is to \"pick up where the task force left off.\" Will we have more recommendations for \"prayer, local dialogues, parish- and diocesan-level conversation and training...?\" I hope he has something more in mind. \n\nThe public picture is that Catholic bishops support Trump because Trump claims to be anti-abortion and says he supports \"religious freedom.\" And, the Catholic bishops obviously decided that those are more important issues than the racism and xenophobia Trump displayed all during his campaign. We are where we are in part because of that choice the bishops made.\n\nWould love to see a Catholic organized March of Unity taking place in every state and large city within the next few months. How serious are the bishops?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure what that whole piece was about, Maureen. Kind of bizarre. \n\nThe real \"enormous public service\" Trump has done is to show you republicans the face of your own party. The rest of us have watched it devolve over the years into what it is today. We've seen angry ignorance, fear, and racism partnered with faux Christianity claim the mantle of \"conservatism\". Now you're seeing it too. \n\nSo what are you going to do about it? Continue to embrace it and sell your souls in the pursuit of political power? Or demonstrate integrity and separate yourselves from those elements? You're at the crossroads.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why don't you back up what you say with examples that are provable. PROVE that the 1st century prophet named Jesus is a god and that although he died he's 1) alive and well, and 2) is divine. Why don't you 1) provide examples of the the fantasies you claim I have repeatedly spewed, and 2) demonstrate them to be false. By the way, there is no such thing as \"Biblical Truth\"--even if you capitalize it!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Six million Christians and Catholics in the 30-years war is going to be hard to beat for numbers in a relative short period of time. \n\nThe Holocaust had nine million but a lot of those were political prisoners, gypsies, mental defectives, Communists, labor unionists and such. \n\nThe Jews matched six million number in the Holocaust, but the Jehovah's Witnesses were just a tiny portion who actually were killed for their religion. And the Jews were an economic issue as well as a religious issue.\n\nCrusaders Death toll: According to Wikipedia\u2019s list of wars and disaster\u2019s death toll) is estimated to take lives of 1,000,000 (lowest estimation) up to 9,000,000 (highest estimation) between 1095 \u2013 1291 religious wars. But that's over a two hundred year period.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reading the comments here I fear Pastor Matt is trying to convince a room full of Ayn Rand worshipers to give Jesus a chance. Apparently they're not buying what the good pastor is selling. I see one commenter who said something like Jesus told us to care for the poor and sick \"personally,\" rather than collectively. I wonder which poor and sick she's personally caring for. The vast majority of Americans still call themselves Christians. They keep using that word, but I don't think it means what they think it means. Chin up, Pastor Matt. We secular humanists are on your side.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have our history a bit twister here, Marty E. For example, you seem to be unaware that the commission (as formed by St. John XXIII) was originally intended to make recommendation to be discussed by the Council fathers. It was +Paul VI who pulled it - upon extreme pressure from the Holy Office Prefect Cardinal Ottaviani - from the council agenda, stack the commission with clerics and conservative theologians with +Ottaviani as the commission Chair, and insist that the final report, WITH recommendations, be made solely to the pope. If you are going to cite Church/Council history, please at least make certain your presentation of the facts is accurate. Thanks!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Surely, Jesus is bigger in His Consciousness than that!\nIt is unthinkable that He would want all people of all time to be squished in a political framework of church like the hierarchical structure of pre-medieval Roman Catholicism.\nEvolving consciousness cannot conscionably be constrained to such a time-fixed mind-state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Holy Mother Church wants to continue to maintain the integrity and fullness of faith -- and truth -- then she needs to ask her Scripture Scholars and Dogmatic Theologians to get together and reconcile what Scripture scholars are teaching and what theologians have 'traditionally' taught.\n\nThe 'post Vatican 2 Council' Church IS the only Church we have.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Pandora17, \nCertainly there are many Catholics who are not bothered; I never suggested there weren't. I was simply responding to Eliane's comment \"I would be hard pressed to name one Catholic anywhere who is troubled by the wonderful custom of calling them \"Father\"\" by offering myself up as an example of \"one Catholic anywhere\" who is troubled by that custom. I didn't intend to give the impression that I think all Catholics agree with me or even that all Catholics should agree with me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does a \"gay priest\" teach what the Catechism teaches about the sixth and ninth commandments and does a \"gay priest\" try to live those teachings also? \n\nIf so, I don't know what is \"gay\" about that priest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Francis was focused really on the interior lives of most Catholics....which is the MOST important by far thing he could do....he'd need far more courage...but he should open people up to a very difficult subject: Reform of the lay.\n\nHow much and well and regularly are they praying?\nDo they pray for the feelings they get from prayer, or do they pray for the love of God?\nHow much do they sacrifice daily, for the lives of millions around the world? \nHow well do they fast? \nAre they fasting cheerfully, quietly, heroically, offering their little suffering for the good of many others, hopefully most for their family members, for their own cases of un-generosity?\nHow well do the lay prepare for Mass? How much do they love the Mass? How much love do they put into the Mass? \nHow quietly and cheerfully do they put up with a bad homily? Are they praying for their priest?\n\nHow well do the lay work? Are they offering their work to God, as part of the common priesthood?\n\nReform the lay.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the EOHSJ (Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem) *both* the Knights and Ladies have equal standing and March into churches in their full regalia. Honors are equally bestowed on both.\n\nThere's nothing wrong with the traditions and pomp. It is fully in line with Andrew Greeley's idea of the \"Catholic imagination.\" And it's all AMDG.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Violet - thank you for your constant support and I had not considered the subject you brought up from John.\n\nI too learn from you and others on these threads.\n\nI am concerned though about your statement that you are very ill. Please know I will be praying for you and I will have our church prayer group pray for your health also. Please keep in touch Violet so I can know how you are fairing. Christ's Peace, Blessings, and Healing Be with you Violet. And Hugs too sister. \n\nNora", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think most (not all) people would be hard pressed to name a Catholic scholar who was dealing with the critical issues of our time. That may have something to do with the attempted suppression of creative thinking in the post-conciliar era, with many scholars now willing to fly under the radar and duel one another through journal articles. \nI'm especially concerned with the field of moral theology, where Catholic thought on human sexuality seems particularly truncated, stuck at the conceptual level where moral decisions are almost never made. If you had a pubescent daughter going to her first prom with her boyfriend, would you turn to a Catholic source for advice on how to handle the multiple scenarios that could arise? (Yes, I said \"arise.\" Let's be real for a change.)\nI'm not at all sure Catholic scholars have succeeded in putting Catholic thought at the cutting edge of modern society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"For example, giving Communion to a faithful divorced Catholic who has suffered in silence for years does not undermine the entire teaching of the church on divorce. \"\n\nCorrect. But giving those whose sin is manifest, grave, and unrepented for the idea that they should present themselves for Communion--and administering the sacrament to people in such a state--undermines the entire teaching of the Church on sin and on the Eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Donald Trump is your President, your Commander-in-Chief, and will be for a very long time. There is nothing that any of you can do to change the fact that your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren are going to live in a nation designed by President Trump and his supporters. The Obama movement has been decisively defeated, so further opposition is futile. \n\nAs for President Trump's poll numbers, those are courtesy of the same pollsters who guaranteed that Hilary Clinton would be elected President in a landslide. Neil Gorsuch will soon become YOUR newest Supreme Court Justice. The comments by American Catholic Bishops are the anguished cries of the defeated. Francis, Cupich, McElroy & Co. know that when they failed to break \"Trump's Deplorables\" that Francis would lose the war. It is time to cease this pointless resistance and destruction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholicism.\n\nPerhaps \"converted\" was not the proper term. Then again, perhaps it was. I need to explain what I mean.\n\nShe had a conversion from the ideas and principles she held as a liberal dissident Catholic sister. She is no longer dissident. She was very much like the Jesuit priest of this article.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop Tobin.\nI think your tone makes it clear that you think it is the laity that has failed. You may remember them: those people who have almost no voice in the church...\n\nI wonder if you understand that faith is a fabric: a fabric of what we're taught, but also something we learn, and that we test every day. We're not failing that test: the image of God that you want us to accept is what's failing here. That image lacks a lot, and seems to be focused on institutionalizing your role, rather than leading to Jesus.\n\nThis loss of faith may in no small part be the result of generations of teaching people to see God as the real Deux ex machina? When I look at my sister I find it hard to understand that we have two brothers who are priests, but she cannot be... When I see no accountability for bishops in the wake of the abuse scandal, when I see you guys preaching on human sexuality despite all of the problems in your profession, I can't help but sense that the fabric has unraveled...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Did the values you referred move you to resist the secularism and anti-Christian presumptions inherent in everything that Obama and Hilary believe[?]\"\n\nThe democratic values of Clinton and Obama are linked to their Christian faith, whether you like it or not. Abortion is not the only issue in the wheelhouse. \n\n\"Did you ever consider that the socialism represented by the left is against the teachings of the church and confers on the state unlimited power over the lives of everyone?\"\n\nDuh, like Canada?\n\n\"Did you stand against policies that have caused innocent Americans to suffer from the loss of jobs and crime, due to a lawless approach to immigration?\"\n\nUndocumented workers do not steal Americans' jobs and if they did, it would be at the low end of the pay scale. In fact, it has been shown that American-born workers and immigrants, legal or illegal, with no high school education do not even do the same jobs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church has not tried to \"control\" people's bodies, but teach and edify in accordance with Church doctrine and dogma. What we decide to do concerning those teachings is totally up to us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Unitarian Universalist Church and the United Chuch of Christ have been leaders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see Mr. Winters has a ideological blind spot when it comes to this issue. I thought that free speech was a hallmark of a civilized nation. I guess not, when it comes time to speech with which we disagree, which is a very illiberal notion. \n\nWhether Mr. Winters likes it or not, President Trump won with a majority of the Catholic vote, and it wouldn't surprise me if a majority of the students and their parents at Notre Dame voted for Trump.\n\nWe don't have to agree with the President in order to invite him as a speaker. I assume that a majority of Notre Dame's trustees didn't agree with Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, but they were invited to speak.\n\nIf one POTUS is invited, then all POTUSes should be invited.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is time to revoke the privileged position of Catholicism in the the funding of Canadian schools. Schools open to all students, respecting all students, and serving the needs of all students.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe we disagree with the why WOC didn't make their treatment more widely known-I think they were treated just like Jamie says above but WOC doesn't like to make too many waves lately. It doesn't want to upset the permanent deacon apple cart rolling thru Rome right now. \n\nWomen being made Perm. Deacons will not represent any kind of equality since Deacons are ordained to do what many lay people already do worldwide & they have no vote or voice in any synods & cannot rise to the higher ordained states of priests, bishop, cardinal or pope. \n\nI wish WOC would get back on track and remember its main goal is equal ordination & this means letting the decoys and fake versions of equality being offered to women be rejected for reasons of integrity of cause, and human justice. \n\nLaity will fight for women more if they know how badly they are being treated when protesting for Justice in our church. How many know that some of these women have been arrested many times in Rome in the past?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Personally, intercommunion seems far into the future. \nRight now, German bishops could issue \"guidelines for internal forum,\" as you say, but for members of their parishes, for Catholics, who are bound by canonical protocol, practice, responsibilities, etc.; issue them to confessors, on a one on one basis. I doubt, however, such protocol would be provided for Lutherans, as if above canon law, above confession, Catholic practice, etc. First of all, Lutherans would have no desire to go to a Catholic confession, nor assent to Catholic doctrine, etc. I think German bishops are thinking: why give the Eucharist to Lutherans without any of the duties, responsibilities, penitential pieties we impose on or present to repentant Catholics? To allow open communion (i.e., carte blanche) to all Lutherans would be like treating Catholics (into second marriages, with other impediments) like second class citizens, imposing duties, penance, on them, but not on Lutherans. Why is this so hard to get?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True, Marty, apparently they did not meet \"our\" standards, which were really not ours but those found in whatever document on priestly formation was then in effect. But, as you may or may not know, each case is judged on its own merits, with substantial discussion and dialogue with a student, a vocation director and the particular diocese. As to the particular discussion topic you raise above, I agree, it certainly would be interesting, even fascinating, given that the life of faith, the area about which I mentioned that some folks experience stunted growth, is one that grows organically, raises questions, doubts and disappointments. We all grow and develop as believers. Not even Jesus was exempt from that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As usual, Fr Tom Reese has given another superb article with keen insights. Indeed, a free and professional press is a service to the Church. \n\n\"The vote for chair-elect of the USCCB Committee on International Justice and Peace was the most revelatory of the current makeup of the conference membership. Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for Military Services beat out Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego for chair by a vote of 127-88. Moderate bishops (there are very few liberal bishops) voted for McElroy and the conservatives voted for Broglio.\"\n\nCould there be more deplorable petty behavior on the part of the bishops who voted for Broglio of the Military Archdiocese? A brother bishop encourages them to be more forth coming with Pope Francis' pastoral plan to renew the church, and they toss him off for a conservative. \n\nVirus of polarization - only one that it works for is the one who wants our souls.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or we can just go along like Europe, quite egalitarian and post-Christian, and welcome the strangers who show us the true expression of genuine religion. \n\nYou know, with runaway trucks, bombs, guns, machetes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The two Great Commandments are not an evolution as you call it they are a summary of the Ten Commandments.\nIf you do not regard the Ten Commandments to be absolutely binding upon Catholics why you does the Catholic Church continue to teach that keeping these Commandments is absolutely essential for salvation. The Catechism of the Catholic Church devotes an article to each of the Ten Commandments and you say that the Commandments are not part of the Church\u2019s doctrine or dogma! That assertion is absolutely beyond belief.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2 of 3\n.\nof the \u2018continual\u2019 need of His mercy.\n.\n From the cross \u201cFather, forgive them for they know not what they do.\u201d (Luke 23:34)\n.\nMy reflection on Jesus in His human nature is that He had to struggle with the reality of sin He would have been aware of its corrupting influence on the human heart and would have had to struggle with it; He would know the inner reality of every man in the reality of Himself as a fallen man.\nWith this struggle with His own human reality, in humility He would see His own human nature and because of this \u201cdifficulty\u201d does not come into the equation as it is a known reality in that he sees himself in those who persecute Him he \u201cknows\u201d what they do hence\n\u201cFather, forgive them for they know not what they do.\u201d\nThe basis for the journey of unconditional love is one of humility", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "peacemakers... find the place where peace already is, and build on that foundation. Music, that prayer and song of the heart is such a place... consider... the psalms -- songs and prayers of the heart. Brother Emile speaks such psalmody when says it is a mistake to move to fix things without gauging the pain. \n\nPausing there, moving to fix things without gauging the pain, ... music measures such pain, plumbs its depth.\n\nJesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom...\nJesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom...\n\nprayers for the Pilgrimage of Trust...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey Mark, By the way, I never said I condoned cruelty to animals. I, however, do not believe it is a sin to eat meat, although it should not be eaten every day - perhaps once or twice a week. As a Catholic, I have fasted from meat every Friday for years now, not only during Lent, the whole year. For the last 5 years now, I have also participated through a Catholic Church group in a strict fast the first week of Lent (starting Ash Wednesday) of not eating anything for 7 days. We only drink non-carbonated water - no juices, etc. It's not easy but we meet for Holy Mass every evening and then sit in a group and discuss a theme (topic) that the Pastor has decided on in advance. This year it was the 100th Anniversary of Fatima. During this week, we also have an evening of Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament and the opportunity to Confess. Going to daily Mass and Confession, Adoration, praying the Rosary often, help my decision-making. I'm more in tune to sinning. Conscience very alert!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Socialism is not the answer. Try reading the following: http://www.allaboutworldview.org/christian-economics.htm", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian perhaps?\n\nMy mother who was Catholic would not go out in public without a scarf covering her hair.\n\nI guess you would call that Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everyone should step back and examine our on lives and ask have you helped a starving child or family less fortunate than yourself? If you cal your self a Christain Would Jesus have hatred in his heart for his brother the( World of Ethnicities) to murder him,remember Thy Shall not Kill??? It dont hurt to love and care for Thy Brothers and Sisters, Jesus Did as Did His Father. Wil you pay the Ultimate Price as Heather Heyer stood up for??Reflect!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As his only political experience it's hardly an impressive qualifier for Premier of Ontario, is it?\n\nAnd beyond that, what would his qualifications be?\n\nAsk the people who put him into the PC Leader's office what they now think of him:\n\n\"Everything Patrick Brown has done to date leaves no doubt that if OntarioPC is elected under his leadership there will be no solutions implemented, corruption will continue, and Brown will make the party radioactive for years to come. Conservatives agree on very little, but we can agree on this: Brown deserves to lose more than Wynne deserves to win.\"\n\nhttp://imout.ca/\n\n\n\"For the sake of our children Patrick Brown must step down and allow a principled, trustworthy person to lead the party.\"\n\nhttp://conservativevalues.ca/cv/recallbrown/\n\nAsk \"Doctor\" Charles McVety, the evangelical poobah, Who delivered the evangelical Christian vote to Brown, what he now thinks of Patrick Brown.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The above article in full of errors. In South America, the majority of Catholics want women priests & this is from statics taken around the time of Synod so they are current. Many women seek equality including women's priestly ordination in Africa since many of these women already are leading Eucharistic Celebrations with previously consecrated hosts just like in S. America. \n\nOffering women the deaconate is an insult to their Human dignity & we should all demand an end to the permanent diaconate because all it has ever supported is sexism and clericalism. \n\nNo one should receive justice slowly as this is extremely harmful. Sexism rapes the soul. James 4:17 Anyone who knows the Good he ought to do and does not do it SINs. \n\nWe sin if we allow optional celibacy, as it equates to Gender Segregation since all men will have control over all women unless we demand it is on the condition we are ordaining married women priests too. \n\nCelibacy does not cause pedophilia but sexism does!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, Honorius is like the American Cheese of the apologetic world: it looks like the real thing until you examine it closely, then you find that, far from being a counter-infallibility argument, it is really an argument supporting the idea that the Church will be protected from even erroneous popes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ok let's stick with English for the moment. Give, Forgive, Lead, Deliver are not passive voice, but imperative voice--they are Commands, Demands; they are literally what Jesus tells us we should demand of God. On the other hand\n\"May your kingdom come/May your will be done on earth as in heaven\" is the subjunctive voice, little used, and very seldom recognized even by native speakers of English. The subjunctive expresses what we are told by Jesus to Desire, Want, Wish, Hope to happen.\n\nSince what Jesus tells us to desire is that God's will be done on earth, and the only way that can happen is for use to actualize that will here, then indeed the two subjunctive phrases taken together is that our desire we are to desire is to be brought about by use actualizing the God's will here. In short, we are to desire and built the kingdom, not passively await its magical appearance.\n\nWe are thus co-creators with God; we we collectively choose to do, matters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You present a favourite neoconservative canard, Ken. As the John Jay report found (see RNS), \"[T]he researchers found no statistical evidence that gay priests were more likely than straight priests to abuse minors\u2014a finding that undermines a favorite talking point of many conservative Catholics. The disproportionate number of adolescent male victims was about opportunity, not preference or pathology, the report states.\"\n\nSee the link for further edification ... let's hope that you will henceforth desist from spreading calumny against gay priests! I won't be holding my breath, though! https://www.americamagazine.org/content/all-things/john-jay-report-not-blaming-homosexual-priests", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"One of the bloodiest actors, Efra\u00edn R\u00edos Montt, an army officer trained in the United States who led a military coup in 1982, was hailed by President Ronald Reagan and his administration and by leaders of the religious right in the United States as a great leader and a man of God. R\u00edos Montt ordered and oversaw unspeakable atrocities in the Guatemalan countryside\"\n\nEfra\u00edn R\u00edos Montt, was trained at the School of the Americas with our tax dollars. He took the training he got there to terrorize and murder his own people. He was also a fundamentalist. The national security apparatus of the Reagan era believe fundamentalism was more in tune with Reaganism than Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your support of homophpbia. You are a credit to those who approve of denying others their civil rigjts. And the way you back up your desire to tell non-Catholics that they must live accordong to your religious beliefs further shows your close-mindedness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Vatican II days, seminaries were overly alert to homosexual acts, which brought immediate explusion. But we never named anything as sexual. There were in most seminaries a divide between straights and gays, but neexpulsionver acknowledged as having anything to do with sex. We were very, very naive, and nobody had to identify their orientation. Yet, the statistics show that the great majority of ordained priests from both orientations have been equally faithful to their vows (many of the straights left long ago!) and served their people empathically. If these \"exclusions\" were ever to be actually enforced, they would effectively exclude about half of the priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tell Jesus that caring for the hungry, naked, sick, homeless, imprisoned is not the MAJOR aspect of his ministry. Matthew's gospel passage [25:31-47] is the criteria that we'll be judged by. Not the criteria of card-carrying Republican bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Jesus listed all the mortal sins and the appropriate penances in secret to the apostles. Nothing has ever changed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently you feel that doctrine can be made up as you go along. Clearly you have no idea of what is required of Catholics in the practice of their Faith. No Commandments, no sin, no evil, anything one wants becomes a human need and it is completely legitimate to indulge oneself in whatever vice one is addicted to: in fact vice becomes a virtue.\nPersistence in sin keeps one away from the Eucharist not doctrine. Receiving the Eucharist in a state of mortal sin only serves to compound that sin not forgive it. Anyone living as a serial adulterer is deceiving himself if he thinks that this is compatible with loving God.\nChrist's words, \"Father forgive them for they know not what they do,\" are most apt in today's world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We might find it ironic that those who oppose abuse of authority want to cure the problem by negating any and all authority, period.\n\nRational people understand the abuse of authority does not give us a valid reason to throw out all authority so there will be no abuse. In fact, this was Satan's agenda in heaven when he accuse Jesus of abusing authority that he himself was well able to administrate.\n\nAnd like those who support WO, he finally attack authority on every level in the heavenly administration.\n\nWell, George, as the saying goes, \"You can fool some of the people all the time, and all the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time.\"\n\nMale headship is biblical even if some men abuse this system of authority that God has ordained in society, the church, and the family. Abuse does not negate the principle.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With all due respect, the question is not how does Mr. Trump's rhetoric align with the beatitudes, but rather do his political beliefs align with the needs of the bishops, and thus, of the church, in the USA. Our courageous bishops need a political leader who will fight for their freedom to practice and enforce catholicism, as they define it, and as bishops, they do define it. Ancient teachings of morality are all well and good, but out bishops must do what is necessary to defend the church against all enemies, real or otherwise. To that end, they have told us to support Mr. Trump. That is the end of the question. Remember, these great men were selected by God himself to lead the church. Who are we to question them. Imagine the soaring intellects and highly refined moral sense they must have, as the living heirs to Peter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope Viennese Waltz survives even if Western Civilization disappears from Austria (France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Sweden...)\n\nOptimism is that Eastern Europe (Poland, Hungary, Czech Rep, Russia ...) will hold the fort for Western Judeo-Christian Civilization\n\nas Western Europe falls", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quote given above: \"Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.\" --Ben Franklin\n\nWhere is the outrage of those parents? Aren't they affected? I am, but I'm not a Catholic. I'd hope that someone quotes those letters and gives it back to the pew sitters. I'd hope that at least a few are outraged.\n\nDanno - I so appreciate your continuing efforts to help us see. I can only imagine the cost to you, but I'd guess not keeping witnessing has an even higher cost.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hello, Dennis!!! Please tell me it's really you! I've found several here now who are not who they claim to be and it's very sad! You still sound like yourself, Lol! I am in good shape for the shape I'm in, which is round, (but a little less round!) Still fighting the good fight!\n\nThis election has me so depressed. As an Independent, I must say that I have my reservations about both candidates but, Trump is so horrible and the Republican Party platform itself is so offensive to LGBT folks, non-Christians, minorities, women, the elderly, the poor, children, and so on, that I wouldn't vote for a Republican right now if you paid me! (and I really need the money since the Republicans have cut my food stamps to $4/week! Let the Donald try to eat on that!)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Protestants don't 1) have daily Mass; 2) don't have a 'sacramental system' AND 3) never did have churches as large as many of our Catholic parishes. Their cathedrals had larger numbers of members, but not in smaller towns. Most Protestant ministers were married for centuries---so being married is NOT contributing to the decrease in main-line Christian churches. \n\nSure, the main-line Christian churches have problems---but they also have some interesting structures to deal with these problems that involve conferences of the laity as well as clergy and bishops. Our bishops could take note of that.\n\nYou stated there are larger numbers in graduate[Catholic] seminaries. Women and men in graduate classes of theology, history of theology, church history, etc. outnumber the \npriests seeking doctorates more than 3 to 1---places like Boston College, Weston Jesuit School of Theology, Creighton University, and Santa Clara Univ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "American Catholicism does practice Love of Neighbor, thank you! American Catholics still support generous assistance to those in dire or bad situations. On the home front---they support and buy items to fill up tote bags with food for children/youth whose parents get food from Food Banks. They donate good, usable clothing to St. Vincent de Paul and area Clothing Closets. American Catholics are often the first in line to assist others---not the last.\n\nOn the international front---Americans [including Catholics], give to the missionary efforts of religious ministering in foreign nations. They have sent millions of tons of food, clothing to Haiti after Hurricane Matthew struck the island. And not only that, American Catholics go THEMSELVES to assist in the distribution of supplies. I personally know a couple from the area who went to Haiti to assist with medical care any way that they can.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, many alums agree with me. And the issue of moral discipline and values at Punahou have been raised publicly and widely reported. Check the protest by Rev. Dan Chun and his wife, both outstanding Christian ministers, and Punahou alums.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So very sad :( Hug a loved one tonight and think of Christian", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Such misinformed people.\n\nHe doesn't function as a bishop.\n\nThe only thing a bishop can do that a priest can't is convey Holy Orders.\n\nUnless or until the Pope names him a bishop, he will have to find a a bishop or cardinal of pope to convey Holy Orders to men becoming priests in OD.\n\nThis was done for 8 years with Don Alvaro Del Portillo.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's have an article on the First Lady's Catholic faith.\n\nCome on. If Michelle Obama had announced that she was Catholic while in the White House I can only imagine the headlines here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The irony of you thinking I'm \"new to Catholicism\" will bring laughter to the many I will tell. I'm old enough to remember pre-Vatican II laughter:\n\n\"Father, I'm having those thoughts about Mary Murphy again.\"\n\n\"And have you entertained those thoughts?\"\n\n\"No, they've entertained me!\"\n\nI've been a practicing Catholic for many decades. I am somewhere between Kung and Ratzinger in my moral theology, and I think \"Why I Am A Catholic\" by Garry Wills should be read by everyone. I think Fr. Hesburgh did more for Catholicism than has Cardinal Burke. I think three errors of our Church are clericalism, legalism, and sexism (including anti-sex-ism). I think Paul VI is underrated and lament Ottaviani; I attended 40 Hours today; I feel more at home with nuns on a bus than with celebrants at the Napa Institute; I think a beer with Cupich would top one with Chaput; I would rather read NCR than watch EWTN; and I'd pick BC over Steubenville for grandkids. \n\nAnd I might be wrong. Deo Gratias.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) I didn't say empires were good or bad; 2) No, Etruscans were not the ancestors of the Romans, they are a distinct culture that once dominated the Romans and then was conquered by the Romans; 3) They weren't nations because the concept of nation did not yet exist. 4) The Romans also adopted Greek religion. But your big sticking point is that we preserve Judaeo-Christianity at all costs. Are we open to adopting any good aspect of cultures around us or just the ones you like skyofblue? Rhetorical question, I know your answer. 4) Why are you jumping to assimilation, melting pots and multiculturalism when the question I was responding to was a challenge to provide evidence for the value of diversity. Stay on topic. 5) Multiculturalism in Canada is the sense of an equal celebration of racial, religious and cultural backgrounds. Multiculturalism policy was officially adopted by the Canadian government during the 1970s and 1980s. Celebrating equally is not ignoring.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't see that altright religious websites are much authority. And I do wish you would stop with the stalking and bullying behavior. I begin to suspect your posts are, when taken in toto, an attempt to discredit Traditional Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The reason there is \"Silence\" is that no prayer or belief has ever saved believers from any of life's deadly cruelties. Asking ourselves whether we have sinned in any way is just the way Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism causes people to torture themselves with guilt feelings, guilt being the foundation of all those radical religions. The force that has created our world is not compassionate, forgiving, does not punish or condemn, it just is. God is just a powerful force not a caring supernatural being who watches over each human. Every living creature on this earth is subject to the trials and tribulations that life involves in its struggle for survival. No need to feel guilty. Radical religions simply add more suffering by making believers discriminate against each other, judge, condemn and punish. Pope Francis , in his wisdom wants us to become all inclusive, love, forgive and be kind to our fellow humans and animals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you were instructed that the Decalogue was the Catholic method of living a moral life (and especially if you were instructed that ecclesial laws were such), I feel sorry that you experienced that. All of the commandments are available to us by reason alone so, although the were revealed, the response of our conscience should always be one of love toward God and neighbor. My earliest instruction in the 40s covered the Ten Commandments, but we knew that these were a convenient skeleton for an examination of conscience; not an all-encompassing set of regulations.\nI think you need to review your understanding of Thomist theology or summarize it differently; as it reads, it is incorrect. Being a faithful follower of Jesus has no meaning without authoritative guidance to what is required.\nIt's true that there are plenty of theologies from which one may pick as one chooses. My reading of many of those makes me question whether any move us closer to God or further from Him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The facilities, brick and mortar may or may not be inferior, but any hospital that lets Bishops interfere with medical decision making when it comes to gynecology or end of life care is indeed not only inferior, it is dangerous... I agree that there are some good doctors and poor doctors in all facilities, but thank God there are not Bishops attempting to interfere in most good facilities. I am glad your wife got would you believe is good care, some Bishops actually know better than to try to act doctrinaire but too many do not and in recent years past, these omniscient bishops were the the favor of Rome and they pressured their fellow bishops with shame if they did not \"control\" what went on in \"Catholic\" hospital facilities, and universities. There are still many bishops attempting to practice medicine without a license and they have not been corrected by their fellow bishops and that leaves it up to good catholics who know better to speak out about such poor leaders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are the one who claimed that by rejecting the book with the Assumption of Holy Mary in the title, that he was therefore declaring any teaching of her Assumption a heresy. Unless you have something specific from him where he claims this very thing, then you don't know why and my saying that to you does NOT imply that I do.\n\nMost of the \"gospels\" and letters that the Church rejected were due to the fact that they were written much later than the Gospels and books that did make it into the NT. The NT was written within 100 years or less of Jesus' Ascension and had the support of oral Tradition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Catholic community in the US is to survive as a coherent community ....\nIt's not clear here what is the definition of this \"Catholic community\" of what \"coherent\" is supposed to mean. It seems to me that if the institution does not establish that it is meaningful, ever more people will drift away. In time, the term \"Catholic\" will become a historical artifact, not a contemporary term. \nAs it is, despite the cosmetic changes, the institution seems bent on becoming irrelevant in the daily lives of most people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ross Douthat is a brittle convert to Catholicism, and like all brittle converts believes that all the pegs that construct his own narrow view of religion must line up in exactly the right order or the whole house of cards comes crashing down. Phooey on him.\n\nMichael Gerson is the former George W. Bush speechwriter who helped Colin Powell write his now infamous speech to the U.N. selling the Iraq War to the world. He later defended the act of water-boarding, aka torture, since his boss ordained its use in war. He is hardly the person who should be lecturing anyone about the supposed ideals of conservatism when his very own work helped to destroy Edmund Burke's ideal of what conservatism should be.\n\nAs for the fearful \u00fcber-conservatives in the Vatican worried about their future: cry me a river. Those of us who've been dealing with the after effects of their work for the past thirty-five years are happy to see the shoe on the other foot. Might I suggest psychotherapy for them - or yoga.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When +Francis refers to \"feminism\" - and it might be \"feminine\" instead - he is not talking about feminism as a theology or a social movement. This pope is very culturally conservative about women as mothers and wives somewhat submissive to men and taking care of the home and of children, etc. He speaks more about motherhood as inspired by the Holy Spirit then in any sense of liberation or equality or non-traditional roles. He really, truly supports women - just in ways no longer acceptable to a large number of our faithful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your statement is false. I defend the FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT of people to wear whatever they wish. However I do not defend Wahhabism. I likewise defend the right of nuns to wear full habits, without defending the tenets of the Catholic church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think Jesus understood the plight of women in the first century Palestine because they were entirely dependent on them to survive and He did not want them to be abandoned by their husband. Today, women can survive when marriages fail. It is a new reality and as Jesus teaches us we should be compassionate as God is compassionate and find compassionate solutions. Divorce or annulment may be that solution for some people. AL provides guidance in helping people deal with marriage failures.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article does a poor job of presenting this subject. First, it portrays the laicized deacon as rather clueless: \"I didn't give it a second thought.\" If this is a fair portrayal, then it calls into question (a) the deacon's own judgment and seriousness about the vocation he embraced, and (b) the deacon's formation.\n\nSecond, the article fails almost entirely to present the theological, historical and ecumenical context of this. It has always, always been the case, for East and West, that having received Holy Orders, marriage was impossible. It is woven into how the Church, from the beginning, has understood the nature of the vocation to holy orders -- it involves a radical \"leaving behind.\" For this reason, in my diocese, married men who become deacons must greatly involve their wives in the discernment.\n\nFinally, this illustrates how much of the talk about married priests presents false hope. It's a new set of problems replacing old ones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "May God continue to bless you, Cardinal Piat, and give you more healthy years to be a shining beacon of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nice to vote one's conscience when one is a member of the protected group, white, Christian, and presumably straight. Interesting, of course, that minority Christians are largely unpersuaded by this line of thought and have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats since the 1960's. It should trouble us that we are a country in which whites don't trust Democrats to care for them, while virtually everyone else does not trust Republicans to care for them. Is there a chance we can foresee a future we can all support? I hope so, or we are well on the road to destruction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, Jesus himself got similar demands from the Pharisees who were not comfy with his parables. So give it a try! You might even solve the puzzles!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Monica,\nYou often point out to others their imprecise use of language. The Latin Church does not \"accept\" the rites that you list. Those rites are practiced within the Latin Church. There is no \"Eastern Church\" as such. There is a number of Eastern rites (and you forgot the Byzantine rite, which is the largest). These rites are practiced by the various Eastern Catholic Churches. All of those Churches, along with the Latin Church, form the universal Catholic Church. The various Churches which form the Catholic Church celebrate the Liturgy in accordance with the rite that the particular Church uses. The conversation about translations from Latin applies only to the Churches of the Latin rite. The non-Latin rite Churches never used Latin for their liturgical celebrations. Some have translated the Liturgy into their modern languages; others have not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Pope Francis is the strawberries on the last two pope's cake.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you not read I was responding to Rule and Raven's about if these remarks were made about Islam. Perhaps I should have wrote, if these remarks were made about Islam by a Catholic, the USCCB would apologize for them to make it clearer for you to understand.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Counseling and support\" are fine in-and-of-themselves, but occur only within the physical boundaries of the church property.\n\nWhat is needed is for the \"counselors\" and \"supporters\" -- namely the clerical personnel --- to personally go to the offices of the local, state, and federal lawmakers and \"counsel\" those who profess religious leanings, Catholics in particular.\n\nAs I remarked about the bishops on another thread --- it is time for the clerics to lead from the front. Hunkering down in the confines of the parish is not sufficient.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What these cardinals are pushing back against is the Holy Spirit moving among the snyod majority viewpoint, which Burke, et al., in his little band of warriors reject. It's worth remembering that the Holy Spirit moved within the conclave to bring us this pope... nothing short of a miracle considering the participants in that. Have these cardinals now set themselves above the Holy Spirit movement within the conclave, and/or as discerned by the synod participants from which AL emerged as a document? AL merely restated that discernment... and jolly well about time. Good for Pope Francis in standing his ground and calling their stubborn selves out! BTW, Jesus said the only unforgiveable sin was sinning against the Holy Spirit. Like the religious leaders of Jesus' day, these men are obsessed with nitpicking their absolute rules and promoting exclusivity, ...and Jesus condemned those legalistic actions as being not of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did the DACA \"steal\" the dreams of earlier immigrants to the USA for medical training or the lack of allotted public funding to educate all who want and have the smarts to become doctors? \n\nAnd would affirmative action and diversity have been necessary if all Catholics in the USA would have worked to build authentic inclusive economies and modes of development since WWII - which is actually consistent with our Official Teachings of the Church? \n\nPerhaps the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus could sponsor dialogue sessions in all parishes of the USA to enable our co-creating inclusive economies and modes of development that serve the common good of all God's children. Then provisions such as affirmative action and diversity wouldn't be necessary. Meantime - until that is done ... lobby your governments to open up more spaces while protecting the \"Dreamers\" in a manner consistent with our actual teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church's traditions include all her rites. Cardinal Onaiyekan, like many, ignores the fact that until the middle of the 20th century the Popes never had formally forbidden Eastern rite Catholics from practicing ecclesiastical divorce and remarriage and continue to receive Holy Communion. Also, sometimes the Eastern view prevails. Until the late 19th century the dominate Western view was that ensoulment occurs when the embryo was recognizable as human; at 40 days. But the Eastern view was that ensoulment is at conception. Now Rome accepts the Eastern view.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, the stars, the sun, and the moon are in that difficult passage in 1 Corinthians 15, not in Col/Eph. You do mark the cosmological passages that cause me to wonder, since they are not mythic, and thus not subject to any demythologization. They are first century science, from Stoic and Mille Platonic sources. Perhaps we can interpret them doxologically, celebrating the ultimacy of the risen Christ, but they were meant as a Christianized cosmology in their time and place. Do we really want to colonize the now vast universe with our religious images from 2000 years ago? Even John'sLogos is, I think, borrowed from Stoic philosophy, where it signifies the principle of rationality pervading the (then small) cosmos. Better to read the books published by the Vatican Observatory. There are many theologians who read scripture and try to understand it all in light of modern, not archaic, physics. Both they and I ask the Spirit's help in understanding scripture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The sex abuse crisis was surely a body blow. But the fallen-aways I know here in the West cite the Church's attitude toward women, birth control, and LGBT issues. And many of them have married non-Catholics and gone with that person's church. Even though they were raised in the Church, I am sure whether many can be called ex-Catholics. Did they ever really experience a conversion in faith as a Catholic? Have they ever taken personal responsibility for an honest and ongoing relationship with God as a Catholic? Or are they just drifting, deliberately, because life is so complicated and they have other priorities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nah, I don't think so. Google \"county-seat\". It is not the courthouse, it is not the county government, it's simply the city of EUGENE. Read the Skinner Deed again. Document A- http://www.mudcitypress.com/parkblockshistory.html - Same information goes to Christian Hill.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rocket - you miss the point. No individual doctor is required to do it. But a facility itself must provide someone who will do it or a referral to someone who will.\n\nThat's the difference. Even if you're religious hospital, you can surely still have 1 non-catholic on staff or better yet refer such patients to someone else who will do it. \n\nI can't see any valid argument against this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@Concordia says \"...but nationalism is a tendency of Quebec society...\"\nIn Canada, Qu\u00e9bec is \u201cofficially\u201d French speaking since 1774-\n(but we all know that it is since 1608) \nso why ROC are you crying for then ?...Who\u2019s LATE here ?...\nand who\u2019s got & MAKING a problem with it ?...\nThe past & present MINORITY of the Ghetto Anglo Montrealers (7%) of all of Qu\u00e9bec is to blame here for not consciously recognize the \u201cQu\u00e9bec Act\u201d \n(an Act for making more effective Provisions for The Government of the Province \nof Qu\u00e9bec in North America) \nwas a British statute which received royal assent 22 June 1774 and became effective 1 May 1775;\n- it re-established the French language rights (got it Anglo Canada ?);\n-+ Catholic faith; \n-+ French civil law...\u201d\n(It\u2019s (almost) \u00ab a State into a State \u00bb, oui ?)\nIt also began what was to become a tradition in Canadian constitutional history \u2013 the recognition of certain distinct rights, or protections for Qu\u00e9bec \u2013\nin language, religion and civil law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She asks if this is how it starts, \"the transition from a society that looks a lot like ours \u2013 with Uber, Tinder and women who have careers and independent lives \u2013 to a fundamentalist dystopian world where women are chattel.\"\n\nUm, rather than imaginatively casting your anxious eyes of concern at white Christians and their documents in Washington and Denver and Aylmer and Edmonton....\n\n... you might want to instead cast your eyes at, um, a different group with a different set of documents, in Saudi Arabia and Egypt and Afghanistan and thereabouts, and this eye-casting will not take any imagination at all...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The most important task the hierarchy has is to preach the Gospel. Leave it to God to decide our eternal fate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More so, he pontificates as if his opinions are the only legitimate ones and he belittles those bishops with whom he disagrees. I affirm his right to do so but I question his charity. The bishops are microcasms of ourselves. They represent the broader church in America. These are the same types, the majority of whom, who voted for Donald Trump. Like the pollsters, MSW got this election wrong as well. More Catholics voted Republican than in any previous presidential election and as a result forced more than 1000 democrats to lose their positions in state and federal offices. The GOP won bigly because of the Catholic voter in the Rust Belt. Our bishops reflect those same people and values. While the Northeast elite, like MSW, thinks that he, Capich, Tobin, know better than the overwhelming majority of us, they too will face their demise. Their brother bishops, as already demonstrated, aren't going to rush forward and beat up Trump or attack the GOP platform like MSW wants them to do so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not so much \"ignoring\" HV as much as completely rejecting it. The Church laity became aware of the suppression of the pontifical council's recommendations in 1971 (I think) when a certain National Catholic Reporter published the report for all to see. The rejection by the largest majority of the Church fit the theological criteria for the withdrawal of the teaching, but Rome would never do that, now would they? And you are very right in pointing to that entire debacle of doctrinal teaching as the point at which the faithful began to see the magisterium as having lost a great deal of credibility, and the need for them to discern it for themselves. A wise choice it was. And \"politely ignoring\" is a very useful and very appropriate way to handle dissent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Christian Law governs all western states. After all, the definition of marriage, divorce, inheritance, etc have been defined by Christianity. In Protestant countries, a man can have one wife and get divorced. In many Catholic countries, the man can have one wife and not get divorced.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The need for absolute permission from priests and bishops is deeply, deeply ingrained and a precondition for Catholic guilt (of which there is no such thing, say those ordained with permission to say so).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"Most Supreme Roman Pontiff\" tells us to follow the mercy and compassion of Jesus Christ as top priority. By the way, Pope Francis humbly calls himself the Bishop of Rome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are lay deacons in some Protestant churches but not in the RCC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Warren,\n\nI don't think anyone is denying that human trafficking is a problem. My argument is that we should not be diverting our attention away from the actual ministry needs God has placed in front of us because He's already given us a whole lot to do. Now, if you're not so busy doing those things Jesus talked about that you have free time to imagine human trafficking is an issue so large you should be concerned with it when you're not seeing it in front of you, then I would have to ask how much you're actually doing to minister His love, or if you're doing anything that makes a difference.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2/3 or 4\nWe need to be able to hold with respect all of the perspectives different people have on the same situation in our minds at the same time, for Jesus obviously sees and hears and understands all of the different perspectives people have on the same situation. \n\nCan we take abortion as an example?\n\nAs Catholics we have certainty that human beings are immortal, we simply cannot and will not cease to exist, and we believe that status is granted to us by a direct act of God while we are in the womb. Since immortality is for us a defining characteristic of what it means to be human, we are appalled and horrified by the idea of taking life in the womb.\n\nBut what about those who do not agree with us that human beings are immortal? If one seriously takes this perspective, then life in the womb is not yet fully human life, for the defining characteristics of being human from this perspective are not yet fully in place. Fetuses are evolving towards human life, but are not there yet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus would likely say to you, \"Get away, I know thee not.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@william. That's exactly my point. All conferences have the necessary resources based on my own experience to teach Christ in a thoughtful and immersive way. I think at times we abuse such resources and try to compete against other churches in way way to best each other to prove who has what and who is doing what when in all actuality, those same churches have to at least help each other and or assist in progressing closer to Christ. The article suggest a #whysowhite hashtag in a way to bring into focus what \"some\" consider major setbacks withing the Adventist Church. To me, that's actually taking focus away from the churches objective. I live in Florida and I can tell the difference between the Southeastern conference and the Florida conference. It even gets to a point where people call those conferences the black and white conference respectively. However, God isn't concerned about makeup and or structure model of said conferences. Are we saving/winning souls for Christ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm glad the editors finally saw fit to call out the late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus and his considerable role in forging an early coalition between evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics with the Republican Party. That has been the big white elephant sitting in the middle of the room that nobody wanted to talk about - until now. You can't begin to undo the damage caused by previous generations until you at least acknowledge their existence. Kudos to the editors for finally doing that. It's about time someone did - besides me, that is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly, as it was done in the past, so let it be done today! In the past, prithee, was spelled many ways, to modern spellings can be disregarded. We are in agreement. Clearly you have the respect for tradition that is the cornerstone of Catholicism. Excellent! Pity there are not more like you here to show the progressives and modernists just what can be achieved by True, Traditionalist, Catholics. But what is your obsession with Pandora, assuming arguendo you are not her?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The author appears to be addressing the emerging recognition of female leadership on all fronts and offers an observation about gender perceptions and how they are presented to the general public by various institutions. That he feels welcome to make his observations is high praise for the Ecumenical outreach of the Catholic Church. If we are truly confident in our traditions, a conversation about the topic could bear unexpected fruits for both sides. Protestant zeal can be very inspiring, and I welcome any opportunity to help enlighten their journey with the enormous gifts of the Spirit sustained in the Catholic Faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your comment Brian\nI have never found the same interoperation anywhere not even on the internet. Sadly no one ever commented on my interoperation above, that I have posted on many prominent sites over the last few years, thank you again Brian for your response.\n\nFor further information see my posts commencing @\n\nKevin Walters;13/01/2017 at 10:57 am in the link below\n\nhttps://acireland.ie/sexuality-nature-and-justice/\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't see what is childish about the belief in Heaven being a physical place, especially with what we've come to know about the vastness of the universe and how little we really know about the universe.\n\nThis is much different from God with a beard. It was witnessed by the apostles and described in two gospels and Acts. Jesus said his kingdom was not of this Earth. \n\nAre you a Christian or an atheist? It's hard to tell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What absolute tripe. Please do describe your experience as a zygote since you believe your life began at the moment of conception. As a Socialist, Liberal, and a Christian I am devoted to the happiness and well being of the living and not zygotes. Anti-Choice is about control and nothing more, if you really cared about life you would actively pursue national policies which ensure our living children are educated and have health care. That children all over the world have access to clean water, decent food, and the freedom of democracy. Push for that first and then you can push to limit a woman's choice to give birth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This so-called ecumenism seems rooted in a shared pessimistic theological anthropology, grounded in a much more Protestant dialectical imagination. A certain cohort of Catholics have thus forsaken what should be their distinct analogical imaginations, which would be much more robustly incarnational, much more profusely pneumatological, with a much more optimistic anthropology.\n\nResultingly, they don't just properly resist secularistic urges, they view the merely secular as completely unholy. They fail to recognize that secular vehicles - as well as other religions - can implicitly cooperate with the Spirit, articulate truth, celebrate beauty, nurture goodness, foster unity & gift freedom!\n\nWith such an impoverished pneumatology & exclusivistic ecclesiocentrism, they logically overinvest in the hard powers of legal, political & canonical coercions, not at all optimistic regarding soft power strategies like enculturation, pastoral accommodation or authentic dialogue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Church says taking part in the inauguration is voluntary, and notes that the Tabernacle Choir, which hails from Salt Lake City, Utah, has sung at such celebrations for five previous Republican presidents.\"\n\nIs the decision not to perform about whether the president is republican or democrat or is it about the individual and the kind of person he has shown himself to be?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"verifiable observation\"...VERY Fascinating - given the fact that none of the things you mentioned have ever been observed.\n\nThere is a mountain of evidence for the Bible - you simply do not accept it as such. There are eyewitness accounts, narratives, and explanations of the supernatural.\n\nYou also have this piety about you that puts off the vibe then no Christian could ever be a logical thinking scientist - which is another lie.\n\nIt is human pride that does not want to accept a supreme being that keeps men from realizing the truth, because being accountable to a creator is not something you can handle. Good Day !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics do not have any issues reconciling faith with science. We only protest when others force their misguided views which are contrary to objective truth and natural law upon us. Remember the Alberta government want to impose their misguided views upon us, not the other way around.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why should NCR remove Catholic from it's name? Catholicism has nuncios or ambassadors at over 170 countries. It has official status at the UN. Does the fact it also claims to be a religion offset any secular enterprise covering it's day to day operations? What other country or 'city state' would claim such freedom from the inspection of a free press. Make up you mind Ebes64. What is Catholicism? Is it a religion or a city state with global ambitions and influence? The Vatican seems unable to decide. Perhaps your wisdom will help.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Its like saying that the Church never made as big a deal about repudiating the co-redemptrix ideas and the Arian heresy. One was simply a bigger point of contention.\n\nLike all the hard sayings of Christ, these are the things where we as disciples must be obedient to our teacher if we wish to learn, if we truly wish for life everlasting and perfect unity with the sum of all good. Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect, we are all called to holiness, in some way or form consecrated lives that do not follow the ebbs and flows of changeable and perishable world.\n\nThe Church's teachings and teachers should help people grow in holiness, not acclimate them to a dying world and needs of the flesh. Why risk peoples souls like that, unless secular happiness in this life is your only goal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, Christ is known as perpetually virgin although explicit dogma is unnecessary to proclaim as He has no children and there has never been a question of His virginity (Dan Brown novels aside). The Gospels also clearly record Jesus suggesting perpetual virginity to male disciples for the sake of the Kingdom. So the notion of of virginity as a sexist proposal only targeting women is completely unfounded\n\nMoreover, I fail to see how championing a form of life (virginity/consecrated life) which results in women living totally independent of men, free of children to care for, often times pursuing years of study, integral service in the community, and providing for themselves achieves the ends of sexism. A proposal of marriage as the only acceptable life for women (a la Martin Luther) can be contrived as a sexist's dream of permanently tying up women's existence to male provision, child rearing, and a general stifling of their education. \n\nMaybe you can explain your claim a bit more", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... please show me where buying indulgences for salvation is located in Bible. Also tell me where the Pope is infallible is in the Bible.\n\nThe Bible clearly states in many places that the only way to Heaven is belief (faith) in Jesus Christ. No where does it say that good works alone will lead to salvation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I harbour a secret desire that one day a pope will suggest we begin systematically moving closer to \"our separated brethren\" in practice by listing all of our peripheral, unessential practices, that those brethren find offensive, or inexplicable, or in someway off colour. As a sign of respect for them, we Catholics would begin a quiet program of gradually dropping those practices, not by decree, but (1) by education and (2) by attrition. \n\nThe education would point out the history and rationale for the emergence of those practices (generally late, and for theologically unsound reasons), and elucidate why our brethren find these practices suspect (generally, a better theology). \n\nAnd the attrition would work by training priests to avoid these practice without explicitly denying them UNTIL they had become quaint remnants of our past. \n\nHigh on my list of such practices would be: mass stipends, indulgences, and benediction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I am beautiful. I am powerful. I am strong.\"\n\nMany young women can hardly speak these words aloud. They have not been taught to name the power of God's Spirit within them ...\" \n\n I almost fell off my chair when I read those words. The Catholic church does not teach women and girls that they also have God's spirit within them, that they are strong and powerful. Just the opposite. The church insists they need to have men decide what they can do and what they can not do with their lives and their bodies. Trump is a buffoon and should and would be in jail if he were not rich and white. However, those who wallow in his shadow are truly frightening. They take for truth any and all drivel that falls from his lips. He is losing so he stirs up his minions to war, to take back the USA from - who? I always wondered how National Socialism became a power and how Herr Hitler was democratically elected. Now I know. They need a wall to keep them in, not the rest of the world out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not so sure. The CC in the US is nearly forty times the size of the EC in the US, which, after all, is a small Protestant Church -- \"Protestant\" as its legal title states (\"The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States\") -- with an entirely different polity from the CC. Any Protestant church community, of course, can pull it off, can pull off having women admitted to ministry, priesthood. The Methodists were successful earlier as were other Protestant communities, including the Episcopal Church. But short of an ecumenical Church Council (a Vatican III), the diverse, huge, 1.2 billion church community -- with 23 Eastern Catholic Churches (tied to Orthodox practice) -- could never pull it off like you suggest, like your little Protestant Episcopal parish did. Only global Church Councils prevail in Catholicism owing to its size, its first millennial history and tradition (shared with Orthodoxy) and its Eastern ecclesial diversity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh poster child, anyone who reads your rants, fully understands. Also, not all Catholics are Roman!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "i know this may appear picky and have no desire to offend.\n\nbut technically the bishop is the pastor of the entire diocese and of each church.\n\nperhaps in imitation of the protestant practice the church in the usa came to call the ordained head of the parish pastor. the language of church law calls such a priest \" parish priest\" parochus.\n\nsince the issue at hand is church titles , hope this observation is to the point.\nalso it is worth observing that the american church has unique practices.\n\nwe are out of step with most of the church in this area of clerical addresses and historically our use of the title father for secular priests is an anomaly", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is it that in any conflict in the Middle East nobody wants to take notes of the native Christian population and their allegiance within that country. It has and is always been a substantial group. For example at one time, in sixties, is was as high as 40% within the Palestinian population .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think someone who is chosen to be on a Vatican advisory board should be someone who lives out the Church's teaching in its fullness. Ditto if it were a commission with lay men or priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Special class people like, gender challenged people, are not a protected class people! (i.e. Hispanic, Female, Black, French, Catholic people, etc...)\n\nEmotions do not usurp biology in a civil and lawful society...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He and his are the very definition of self-defining exclusive catholicism that the alleged mails of the leak correctly identified as anti-diluvian and, de facto, not really of the Catholic people.\nOkay, we are not a \"democracy\" but we are a people of the companionship and the absolutist hierarchal few are not the ultimate or unquestionable definition of the who and what we are. \nPersonally, I fault the pastoral ones for not standing against these oligarchs and for the \"incarnational\" nature of Jesus presence. \nWe need an \"institution\", a conservatory of our story, our tradition, our being in the present, however, our mission is to share and permeate and elevate not to restrict, retreat, fence off, exclude and diminish.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What bible do you have were Jesus does not forbid divorce?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wonder how the Coptic Christians, Sudanese Christians and the African Christian migrants who are tossed off migrant boats by guess who are doing? Any beheaded by ISIS Christians care to chip in? Not to mention the ever growing numbers of innocents killed by \"terrorist\" in the now highly unstable and volitile EU? Lets be clear most people see a bigger picture than this one spot. I would like to see these people go to Muslim countries .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course it concerns all Catholics when the Pope is hinting that marriage is no longer necessarily indissoluble contrary to the explicit teaching of Our Lord in the Gospels. He makes continual references to the message of the Gospels yet doesn't seem too keen on this message.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The somewhat recent book called Revelations by Princeton theologian Elaine Pagels puts the book in the context of the history and culture of the early Church. She puts John of Patmos in the Judaizer camp and even a facile knowledge of Revelation shows how this is possible. Prophets always look toward some kind of restoration, whether it be godly charity or the national of Israel (which had already been destroyed when John was writing, while Pauline Christianity (John's Harlot) was going strong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't believe like Catholics do that the Old Testament is the Word of God?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not entirely denying that it is, but in response now you have an age of people who only went to confession twice by the time they turn 20: Their first confession before their first communion, and the next one before their confirmation, which would become the last time they set their foot in a Catholic church. Am I exaggerating? A bit, not too much. \n\n(Also, is there a reason you have underscores under everything?)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The kids who are truly trying to follow Christ and whose parents are trying to properly parent them not killing each other. That is a fact. They are not perfect, for none of us are; but they are not torturing and killing one another and running around neighborhoods while people are asleep stealing what they can.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The text do not differ on the indissolubility of marriage.\n\nThe word translated \u201csexual immorality\u201d or adultery is the Greek \u201cporneia\u201d. The Arndt, Gingrich, and Danker lexicon states that the word refers to \u201cprostitution, unchastity, fornication, of every kind of unlawful sexual intercourse.\u201d This would include homosexuality, as an example.\n\nResolving this fully is well outside the scope of a simple discussion, but the Catholic interpretation of it is that it describes something which we would consider today a cause for a declaration of nullity, a radical inability to achieve and/or intention against at the point of marriage to monogamy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it interesting that Donnieau can claim I have \"privilege\" while knowing nothing about me. I find it interesting that her statement that I perpetuate \"fear and disappointment\" among young Catholics is deemed \"civil\" while again knowing nothing about me or the work I do with young Catholics. I find it interesting that she can claim I would not \"acknowledge (her) presence if I saw (her) in church\" still knowing nothing about me - and this is deemed \"civil.\"\n\nBut if I ask if she identified herself to young Catholics at a Catholic panel discussion as someone ... let's now say \"outside\" the Church - it is deemed \"uncivil\"......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fascism isn't exclusive to a party, or conservative and not liberal. Fascism can exist in the far right or far left.\n\nThe SPLC is a hate group. They labeled Tea Party members \"terrorists\", attack what the right stands for, and attack Christian principles and values. I suppose many years ago their opposition to white supremacists got them legitimacy with the FBI and the media, but not today as they hate on groups they simply don't agree with in many cases. They themselves are considered a hate group by other groups.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I disagree with what this Archbishop is saying. Most people in the media and the public have recognized for instance there was no shift in doctrine. But at the same time there was a shift in pastoral sensibilities. And that shift is very important for LGBTQ Christians, divorced couples, and so on. \n\nThis hard emphasis on the letter of the law is essentially the spirit of the Pharisees and Chief priests who Christ himself went against. It places doctrine over people, the Law over the example of Christ himself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really? I suggest that you take a poll of many of the inner city churches where the Bergolian concepts ARE alive. Oh, sorry---this is where African Americans and Hispanics live----and apparently to you---they don't matter. \n\nOr, how about going to South America---Argentina, for example. The Church is tilting to the Southern Hemisphere---where the poor live. \"Go and tell John [the Baptist] what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walks, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.\" [Mt. 11:2-7, Lk 7:18-23]. \n\nJesus always, ALWAYS favored the least and the marginalized in his society. Francis is doing that in our world today. If you take offense at that, I'm afraid that you would have taken offense at Jesus, too, in his mission.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our Lady of Fatima appeared to peasant children near a town 108 km north of Lisbon 100 years ago this month. Details of this historic event are taught to children in provincial faith-based schools in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta and will now be reinforced because the Pope will be going to Portugal to celebrate the centennial. This alternative fact is not taught in secular (evidence-based) provincial schools in Canada. Nor is the bodily assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven, infallibly promulgated by Pius XII in 1950. Belief in this dogma is required of students in Catholic schools and instruction about it is subsidized by all taxpayers through government grants to separate school boards.\n\nIntolerance of art that intends to open minds to tolerance is apparently also subsidized.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks. That is what I've heard as well. The initial application for the archdiocese of Chicago is easy so people are shocked when they get the actual form. I've heard people complain that they felt misled about that. Additionally, in some dioceses including Chicago, you have to start the process at a parish. This is an issue for Catholic reverts who might not be registered at a parish and might only wish to return to the Church and go to Mass if they can receive Communion. I've also heard that about Tribunal employees getting angry if petitioners follow up on their annulment's process. Some dioceses (I believe one is Trenton) don't even permit people to get a status update on their cases by phone.\n\nI think the whole situation with Pope Francis' annulment \"reforms\" are very cosmetic in nature and nothing in them made the process easier and more accessible. It is still a very bureaucratic and uncaring mess of legalese.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are dualistic again with you \"right or wrong\" quote. Jesus was not dualistic. He talked about grain and weeds growing together. Some countries find a combination of socialism and capitalism fosters an economy that servers a greater good to more people. In Economics 101, I was taught the economy was to serve the people. Jesus taught us social justice to serve even the poor, hungry, homeless, and the sick. Maybe your \"cup of water\" needs to be given freely to all those thirsty for God's love and ours.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, as Cardinal Wuerl points out, it is in solid line with Thomas Aquinas' understanding of good Catholic pastoral practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not Canada ...with a bunch of \u00ab Loyalists \u00bb Orangemen. \nThere is no place for a bunch of Ku-Ku-Klowns in Canada.\nAfter the establishment of the Canadian Federation (1867), the English speaking several provinces attended helplessly to the adoption of several LAWS and regulations, anti-Catholic and anti-French in English Canada, especially in that regard to denominational schools outside Qu\u00e9bec.\nAnti-Catholic and anti-French attitude drew its source, among others, the fact that many of the Loyalists who came to Qu\u00e9bec after the American Revolution of 1775 (Eastern Townships/ Ontario and Western Provinces) were \"Orangemen\" convinced. Orangemen advocated an anti-Catholic and anti-French doctrine, inspired by the reconquest of England in 1690 by the Protestant Prince William III of Orange.\u2026\n\t\nAnd Paf ! Problems started across French Canada EVER SINCE !\n(more to come)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rik,\nSociety has a right to defend itself. The means are not always 100% perfect. I'll just let the Bible speak on this matter....\n.\n\".Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.\" Romans 13:1-2", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jack, \n Yes, the world does have many 'god's' and religions, but for me there is only one true God . \"In the beginning was the Word....and the Word was God....The Word became flesh...all those who received Him , to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.\" John1:1-12 And His name is Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is much more blessed for all concerned that all [Catholic, Lutheran, or other] turn away from the idolatry of their particular denomination and turn to the pure gospel Christ didn't give the 12 apostles of Israel, but rather to Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles. (Romans 11:13.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope did say in order that all doubt may be removed ...\"Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, ......,\"\nThis is a direct quote cut and pasted from OS.\nThere is no need for the Church to define any belief until that belief is comes under attack. The issue of ordaining women has only come to the fore over the last fifty years or so. Prior to that it was universally accepted that only men could receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Whenever there were abuses popes and councils suppressed them.\nSince the agitation for women priests began due to Protestant practice, the Popes Paul VI and John Paul II and the CDF have made it quite clear that the ordination of only men is part of the deposit of Faith; they are supported in this by the Orthodox Churches.\nYou obviously disagree with 2000 years of Tradition, upheld by popes and councils up to the present day; that is your privilege. I accept the teaching of the Church as laid down in OS.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christine, our bishops are going to say NOTHING nor DO ANYTHING like the National Council of Churches. \n\nWhen civil rights activists during the 1960's were marching in the streets---the preachers and ministers were there. There were some rabbis there. Lay Catholics [included consecrated religious men and women] were there, but the Catholic bishops weren't even there in spirit.\n\nIt is the LAY Catholic who today carries the Christian message out alongside with other Christians----and people of good will---that the Common Good of All is in jeopardy as never before---and we won't be able to depend on the new President for anything.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good Sister,\n\nSupporting abortion and contraception are mortal sins. Maybe you disagree with the \"hierarchy\" about this. However, the person you are disagreeing with is Jesus, the Christ, who will be our judge at the end of our lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Recluse, Alberta's publicly funded catholic school boards don't want to teach kids that condom use lessens the risk of sexually transmitted infection. And you're just fine with that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You make quite a few assumptions in this post. The Sacrament of Confession is hardly the only avenue that requires a sincere attempt to change one's sinful ways. As anyone in a 12 step program, or in prison rehabilitation, or therapy, or just talking to a spouse or good friend would know. As to Eucharistic entitlement, I don't know too many Catholics who feel entitled to it, as much as they feel the Church is going overboard forcing people to jump through hoops and turning the Eucharist into some sort of Catholic trophy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God greatly desires our cooperation.\nLook at how Jesus admired the work of several men in bringing their lame friend to Him. \n\nHe wants us to struggle toward Him, toward the true and good.\n\nWhen we live that sort of happy filial struggle....we become much more talkative with Him..we pray..we converse more....a much more lively and deeper intimacy is attained when we do our part to draw (ever) closer to Him (daily)....vs. just pulling up to the trough to get our chow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Jesus gave the keys. Remember?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Geez, get a danged education. We are NOT A DEMOCRACY WE ARE A REPUBLIC!! Our forefathers purposely kept out any mention of a democracy as a democracy is always a failure in history! America was founded on Judeo/Christian philosophies, get over it. If you don't believe there is a God what's the issue, just leave that part out. The words,\"under God\" are not in violation of God's word, God says not to take his name in vain, confessing our nation is one under God shows we are nothing without him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bible stories are bereft of FACTS [they are fables or parables] and cannot be used to Prove or disprove real facts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A poorly catechized Catholic is one who prefers the CCC to the Gospels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2/2\nThe thought, attributed to Irenaeus comes to mind: \u201cThe glory of God is man fully alive\u201d. That aliveness is humanity imbued with and acting in community of intelligent good will and for the common good (of all). And I ponder: Christianity PRESUMES humanity; it is not a substitute for it. Christ CAME to humanity because the Creator so loved. \nPeople do not have to be Christian, or Catholic, or white, or western, politically partied, to be of good will; to be socially conscious to work to peace, security, and fullness of person. Quite the opposite is true in the \"humankind\" world of the Creator.\nIt is time for true leadership to seek the core of humanity where we are \u201cfully alive\u201d rather than \u201cdis-membered\u201d, feverish with venom, disowned and disowning.\nIf we Catholics believe that \u201cwhere two or three are gathered in my name\u2026\u201d then so be it. Just keep it to yourself and relish in the Presence and in the results for all. Let Jesus do His thing and not pretend it\u2019s \u201cus\u201d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lies. As the pope led Trump into the library and sat down, he was smiling. The pope was smiling as they exited and as he said goodbye. A statement from the Vatican press office said during the course of the cordial encounter, the two men discussed the good bilateral relations that exist between the U.S. and the Holy See. They also spoke of their \u201cjoint commitment in favour of life, religious liberty and freedom of conscience\u201d. [code for anti-abortion and the ability of Catholic agencies, schools, hospitals to discriminate against women and LGTBQ persons with tax-payer funding as follows]\nThe statement expressed the hope for a \u201cserene cooperation between the State and the Catholic Church in the United States\", which is engaged in service to people \"in the fields of health care, education and assistance to immigrants\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not their freedom of religion that gives them this concern, it's their Baptism which makes them children of God and by virtue of that dignity a great concern for the good - the eternal good - of all souls.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis has confirmed he will come here to Ireland in 2018 for the \"Family Conference\". I hope he will come with a true family spirit and set an example by restoring the status of his \"prodigal sons\" to their \"good standing\". The hierarchy have been responsible for changing the status of the church in Ireland to an unprecedented low level of credibility and all the implications of that. Other than a letter of apology from Benedict VI for the clerical child abuse scandal, in which he criticised the Irish bishops for their mismanagement; we heard no more. I hope Marie Collins and her family will be in the fore-front of dignitaries to welcome Francis, It should be a stark reminder of the failures of the hierarchy both in Ireland and at the Vatican; including his own commission; to which he appointed Marie and from which she thought necessary to resign from. Francis has a lot more to apologise for than his \"prodigal sons\". Perhaps he could start with the Pontifical Secret.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no such thing as excommunication. There is nothing (and no one) which can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know it survived, but it did not get the same effect from being persecuted that Rome did. Of course, what most people know is that the Monguls were Christian and the Japanese hated the Monguls (who later left Christianity) because they attacked Japan.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I'll be there for you\"\n\nIn terms of political concerns, we Catholics are not a cohesive group, so I cant help but ask who is the \"you\" to whom he is referring?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I were Pope Francis I would ask Donald Trump, \"Why do you lie so much?\" And then tell Trump about how Jesus said, \"the truth shall set you free\" (John 8:32) since Pious Don obviously can't recollect that part from his own supposed reading of the Bible. Maybe that's because the Gospels aren't included in Trump's favorite book, Two Corinthians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My issue is that they are not only upset about the government penalties but they also do not like the fact their stance may be unpopular in their communities. Even if the government penalties were lifted, gay couples upset by thr rejection might write bad Yelp! reviews, tell their friends not to go to the store, and even call the media. They want to get to reject certain community norms while not facing consequences for this actions. These same people demand radical counterwitness from divorced people who cannot remarry for instance but that does not extend to Christian bakers living in liberal areas. No siree. God did not call them to sacrifice for their supposed beliefs. They get to have their cake and eat it as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Individuals do not evolve in the sense that troubles you. But populations do evolve, constantly creating new expressions of their innate capacity for change. \n\nAnd the Church is a population: The People of God. This population evolves new means of glorifying God in the saints and martyrs of a particuar age. \n\nSt. Simon Stylites sharpened the understanding of the people of his age with regard to self-denial and contemplation; he's probably not very relevant to this age, sitting atop his marble column. \n\nBishop Romero speaks to this age, as does Mother Teresa. They are vivid expressions of the evolution of the Church, the People of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're thinking wrong about this. And I can tell by all the personally-aimed noise throughout your post, that you have some things you're working out. I don't need a single \"reminder\" from you. \n\nWhat one wears tells others what they can do, how they can serve various needs.\n\nA police officer wears a uniform to let others know various useful things.\n\nI don't really care what a brother or sister wears, at all. They serve a very different purpose than a priest. \n\nA priest serves a particular purpose, especially for those who have been away from God for a while.\n\nI have a cousin who is a Dominican priest, and he always wears his collar, especially when traveling. He told me recently \"It's rare that I don't hear 2 confessions on every trip through an airport.\"\n\nThe \"mute\" function is nothing more than a way to \"draw up\" a wall around yourself. Borders of a different sort.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More \"divisiveness\" articles, largely clerical. NCR is for sure a clerical minded news organization.\n\nLet's have some articles about how ordinary Catholics - not clerics - can \"use the summertime well\". \n\nNew skills to help our children develop.\nNew culture to take in.\nBooks (not about clerical matters) to read\nHow to develop better ordinary conversational skills \nHow to turn ordinary tasks into prayers, forms of intimacy with Jesus Christ.\nHow to think about \"death\" in a Catholic way, not in the secular way that NCR always seems to bring up these matters. \n\nA million other topics of than clerical/angst/divisive/identity politics/eco articles. These are getting very boring.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps the current generation of all-celibate clergy and their advocates will have to retire and leave the planet before an acceptable solution to the very-real priest shortage will be found and implemented. That solution may likely NOT include so-called Permanent, Lifelong Celibates in the tradition of Institutional Catholic Celibacy for all parish priests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's a pre- (or post) V2 Catholic? There are only Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So the patient will eventually die (which she is going to do anyway) - as a relatively pain free addict who obtains her supply legally and handles it responsibly. What is the problem? What? Put down your Bible for a moment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kellyanne is amazing ! , she could talk Christ off the cross and I want her to be my lawyer !!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That political operators seize on pronouncements by religious groups is to be expected. What I find jarring and rather troubling is to see so many Catholic groups and social media accounts (some with very \"Catholic\" names) forward and republish unfiltered matter that is purely political and clearly minted by political content generators. This cheapens the Catholic brand, smells of \"worldliness\" and of church groups scandalously embedded (in-bed-'ed) with petty, partisan interests.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well sola scriptura certainly says Jesus had siblings. But ancient church fathers guided by their personal biases corrected the gospel by creating a variety of \"beliefs\" about Mary that you now must believe even though they are fabrications, or the magisterium will send you to hell. Sorry that's the way it goes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good reporting, Joshua. I wonder how long it will take for theologians to recover from the Ratzinger years and produce inquiries that help Catholics sort out the questions implicit in 21st century life. Most of the Catholics alive today weren't born until well after Vatican II, probably live in Brazil or a neighboring country, and are not obsessed with the questions that occupied their ancestors in faith. \nTo stretch a metaphor, we suddenly live in a transgender universe that doesn't conform to our binary expectations. As an example, there's a review in the current issue of Catholic Biblical Quarterly of a book by John Keenan, who occasionally comments here: \"The Emptied Christ of Philippians: Mahayana Meditations.\" It would be helpful if NCR could put us in touch with similar works that explore the margins of faith experience because, in my opinion, the binary categories of traditional Catholic theology are inadequate to the task. All they will yield is dead ends.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The writing is on the wall. \n\nFrancis is suggesting that the discussions will continue. Married priests, both male and female, must be seriously considered. \n\nFrancis ' problem is the medieval hierarchy who refuse to listen to the true church, the people of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Okay, they sign a \"nominal\" statement. Then, only teachers that hold a specific belief and that are described as Christian teachers lead the discussions. Nah, nothing to worry about there, right? Students wouldn't be intimidated at all to disagree with their teachers who, one must assume, grade them? I hardly would expect those in the business of indoctrination openly to admit it. \nWell, if the rather obvious sexual organ question never occurred to you, I can understand your beliefs. Either man is in the image or not. So your god must have sexual and excretory organs. Or is the sacred text wrong about the design? How about that weekly creation time table? Until science a very few centuries ago rebutted it, unquestionably, penalties for doubting it were severe. \nYes, actually, I'd have to agree with you about Islam, to some extent, though they don't have services where they worship a man nailed to a cross and have services where they eat the body and drink the blood of their savior.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any easy step to enlist the female children of Our Father, would allow them to carry the \"Purse Strings\" of \"Holy Mother Church. And \"Give Us this day Our daily bread\", to nations suffering from famine. This is the kind of leadership role that would encourage all Christians to live, \"Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven\". There is no starving people in Heaven, nor should there be any on Earth. Peter, Deacon'82, Social Justice .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Fierce orthodoxy\" speaks much, much more to the idolatry of elevating the institution over its Founder than it does to following the Gospel. Love, service, kindness, forgiveness, peace are what Jesus preached -- never \"fierce orthodoxy.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I love how you basically just skipped the article where Sister Schenk, who has been fighting the patriarchal structures of the Church, just listed the things Pope Francis has done and you ignore it. \n\nNot to mention the stuff he's done outside the Church like the Cuba Deal between America and Cuba, as well as the impact Laudato Si has had on the Climate Change debate, along with the World Meeting of Popular Movements that takes place annually with indigenous, palestinian, worker movements, including people from Flint Michigan, being present. \n\nBut he did \"nothing\". Right.......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did Jesus say when people left Him after the discourse on the Bread of Life...\"let me water this hard saying down, this is negotiable, come back please!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why should the bishops rebrand? Most Catholics voted for Donald Trump in 2016, so clearly the bishops are with the majority of their \"sheep.\" The only people who don't like the brand are liberals and the mainstream liberal media. Who cares about them? I don't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What has remarried without annulment Catholics got to do with same sex marriage? You are mixing apples with snowshoes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian, I apologize for saying this, but sir you're missing the boat completely on these refugees. I'd encourage you to go to the Quebec/Vermont, MN/MB or BC/WA border. Talk to the refugees. They're coming over because their visas have expired and Mr Trudeau has said: 'Come on up here, we'll take ya.'\n\nSome came during the winter. Far more will start coming in the next few months. As ICE does their job more effectively each day. The answer to this is easy. Apply the same rule you do for the actual border crossing. Anyone not legal to enter Canada, cannot and will be sent back to the country they have entered from.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I think the pope should do:\n1) Remove Burke and order him, under the obedience he promised to Pope Francis, to retire and remove himself to a life of penance and seclusion. If he refuses, remove him from the cardinalate, reduce him to the lay state and then ignore him.\n\n2) Have a \"come to Jesus\" meeting with the nights and remind them that those in solemn vows do have to follow directions from the Holy See and offer to dispense them from those vows if they wish, reminding them that according to their own rules, it would remove them from office.\n\n3) Ask them to decide if they wish to continue as an Order within the church or if they would prefer cutting all ties the the magisterium and if so, dispense all from their vows, laicise any priests and canonically suppress the Order. Then move on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And here are the biblical references to infanticide. https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Infanticide", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In all too many ways, the Vatican II Church is a \"different faith\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Murray was one of seven children in an Irish Catholic family. He apparently learned Gaelic at an early age.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have not read The Words of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hallowing Life's ECOLOGICAL CONTINUUM is the urgent EUCHARISTIC MISSION of our time, of all time. Arguably, the 'original' and continuing 'sin' of humankind is the sin of exploiting and wasting Ecological Eucharist in self-advantage - what ignorance and arrogance do.\nPray tell, what is there more urgent about which to rally around than to authenticate Ecological Life's Eucharistic Purpose? What is and should be the Redemptive objective of CHURCHES UNITED!\nLet this be the coming together celebration on this occasion of the 500th Anniversary of Martin Luther's challenge to Roman Catholicism. Let the healing of Churches, the joined celebration of Eucharist, and the authentic hallowing of Ecological Nature be the common commitment of CHURCHES UNITED.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not at all. That is why the people rose up and elected not only a GOP trifecta in the federal govt but all over the nation, more GOP governors and state legislators are in power than have been since Reconstruction. I am not saying abortion was the only reason but you can't deny that Hillary's extreme position on abortion until the moment of birth was a factor with religious voters as Catholics learned Trump this election. http://www.speroforum.com/a/XRZNFHTMUN46/79210-Why-do-Americans-want-extremist-Hillary-Clinton-in-the-White-House#.WDCDAvkrKUk", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We're lucky to have your omniscient guidance but on rereading you should note I referenced nothing. I made it up. And of course the bible is of course full of allegory and metaphors, what else was it going to rely on, facts and science?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The whole of the teaching of the Catholic Church comes straight out of Holy Scripture, both Testaments. There is no abstract theorising about it at all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Clinton had spoken eloquently about protecting children in the womb, I would vote for her. But she wants to allow women to abort these children, even those with arms and legs and feet and a brain bursting with neural activity. Many of her supporters, lamentably, accept her thinking on this matter--even her running mate, a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...all of creation is theophany\" - That beautiful truth is also the mystery of evil.\n \"...(A)ll of creation is invited...\". Also true, but some not only refuse the invitation, but knowing that and where the \"event\" is happening, use the information to maximize destruction of that which and those they hate or disdain. That is the \"de more\" application of how the \"gurus of hate\" operate. \nIan McEwan wrote after 9/11 (\"First Love then Oblivian\", The Guardian) that if the terrorists could see into the minds and hearts of the victims they would have been unable to do what they did. \nBeautiful, but I disagree, they knew, they were trained by those who \"knew\" and trained to use \"the peaceful pursuit of life liberty, etc., to take it from them. Duped or complicit?\nWhen compassion and civility are not understood, not interiorized, are desensitized, the slippery slope is oiled and the danger sign for the peaceful, the Christ seekers, is obvious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course--same reasons--why would you even ask?\n\nYou think I would vote for John Kerry---who claims to be Catholic yet supports abortion? I would have had more respect for him if he said \"I am pro-abortion. I know this puts me at odds with the Catholic Church, but this is who I am. My political advancement matters more to me than my Faith.\" \n\nThe Democratic Party platform on moral issues can't be more antithetical to the Catholic Faith. What's more, they are, in many ways, now openly hostile to the Catholic Faith--at least a Catholic Faith of any substance.\n\nBe that as it may. What I said stands: I would vote for a Democrat who was pro-life over a republican who is pro-abortion. That issue is fundamental for me. As I also said: while voting Republican is no guarantee of a decent justice, a vote for a Democrat is a guarantee for liberal justices. Republican justices often times do not pan out--but Democratic appointed justices always pan out for the left.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's also a dark side to Burke, which many people in his previous dioceses have seen up close and in their faces. Ray was appointed to the Apostolic Signatura, not by JP II, but by his successor, the German pope, when it became evident that Ray had to leave St. Louis. Similar difficulties beset his ministry at the Signatura. Ray is now in open opposition to Pope Francis (holy payback?), and I can't blame Francis for replacing Burke with a cardinal who is no less expert at canon law than Burke. And kerfuffles and shuffles like Burke's occur rather frequently in the hierarchy, even in the cardinalate. The reign of Benedict XV a century is replete with examples!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cal is a right wing Catholic who has been passed by. Pope Francis does not sing in his choir. .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Texsi Hoover is a beloved soul and friend to many in our community. \n\nThere are many organizations he counted on for support, and for folks that care, I would suggest making a donation to them in his honor: Catholic Community Services, Egan Warming Center, St. Vincent DePaul's Service Station, and Food for Lane County among many others.\n\nA service for him will be held later in the month, and there will be an obituary with details in an upcoming issue of the Register Guard.\n\nMay peace be with Texsi, Joseph, Rachel and all the other folks in our community whose lives have been cut far too short.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus Christ should be the reason.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "everlastinghills.org\nHere are three intimate and candid portraits of Catholics who try to navigate the waters of self-understanding, faith, and homosexuality:\n\nDan, a gregarious artist who spent his life hiding a deep sense of isolation from those who loved him;\n\nRilene, a successful businesswoman who realized that twenty-five years with her partner did not provide the fulfillment she had hoped for;\n\nand Paul, an international model who, after a life of self-indulgence, found grace in the last place he expected.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Better than obama supporters believe that obama was Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was encouraging to hear Francis refer to Babette's Feast. Babette Hersant is an artist, a magician--some even think her a witch--but ultimately a Christ figure who orchestrates and presides over this feast for 12. In every way, she eclipses the usual roles for women envisioned by the Church. This is a good sign!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"Troops of St George\" were founded because some Catholic homophobes did not like the Boy Scouts admitting gays. Why am I not surprised that the homophobic RD touts them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I live just a few miles away from a Byzantine Catholic parish where the priest is married and has three growing children. His wife, like the wives of many Protestant ministers [male], works outside of the home. She is the director of nurses at a local hospital. Because the parish is small and most of the parishioners are elderly, the priest, also, does work at home. He is a draftsman [mechanical], and can supplement the family's income just as his wife does. The children attend the regional Catholic school.\n\nI do believe that just as Paul did in the early days of the Church, married priests and their wives will work to support their family needs and not depend completely on what they receive from their parishioners.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, what do we do from here?\nIn all practical purposes, we Catholics lost our home base!\nI was devastated, hurt, lost for a while. \nHowever, we have God, each other, this earth to stand on and more importantly our journey to our true-self (true home), to God yet to reach!\nFr. Thomas Merton perhaps had premonition that this is coming, left his last lecture delivered at Bangkok on December 10,1968 'Marxism and Monastic Perspectives' giving some advise. 'The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton'\nHe said \"From now on, Brother, everybody stand on his own feet.\" Appendix VII P. 326.\n\nHe said that we can no longer rely on being supported by structures that may be destroyed at any moment by a political power or a political force.\nIn our case CI (Catholic Institution) is destroyed by the clergies internal corruptions!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Gospels from this week's Masses are a marvelous reinforcer to discipleship.\nGod's demand for fruit.\"\n\nRD, the only fruit we see coming from your tree is snide rightwing trolling.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Leave it to you to take the low road. A lay pastor is a laymen who fills the role of pastor in a church when a regular pastor is not available. It is common. We have them in our conference on occasion. I'm not sure, but I don't think they get paid.\n\nThe State has no right to demand sermons or notes from any preacher, unless they're encouraging their congregations to overthrow the government. This is Gestapo-type tactics. Welcome to \"1984\" and the \"Thought Police.\"\n\nKnowing virtually nothing about this case, you've made a lot of unwarranted assumptions: insinuating that he might have \"usurped\" the pulpit; that his ideas about people are flawed; that he preached discrimination. His only \"crime,\" apparently, was that he preached what the Bible teaches about homosexuality. HORRORS! We've reached a sad and dangerous time in this country when one can lose their job and have Big Brother censor their sermons.\n\nBut, would you have been so quick to judge him if he had been white?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This highlights how Catholic \"Mercy\" is a term often used as a polemical cudgel.\n\nIn any given moral situation, it's not really possible to extend \"mercy to all.\" That is, if mercy is given to one side, then the other side is diminished in equal measure.\n\nFor example: extend mercy to criminals by putting them back on the street. The law abiding public pays for that mercy by being victims of crime.\n\nExtend mercy to 11 million people here illegally. 11 million here legally pay for that mercy by reduced access to jobs, or lower wages.\n\nThere is no \"win-win\" to this game of mercy. There's always a zero sum result.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus, of course, as God is the Author of Law. I suppose He can do what He wants. Do you believe the bishops who favor the \"Kasper Proposal\" can say the same?\n\nReally, Marty E? Your entire line of argument comes crashing down and this is all you can say?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John, you might just know the ONLY black man who is a member of the K of C. They are definitely \"white, male, Catholics\" and they don't necessarily look to encourage new members who are African-American, Hispanic or East Asian. Perhaps, the upper levels of the K of C, might look to Hispanics who are in business or government [money and power],\nbut they are not seeking fellows to join from the poorer levels of society.\n \n\nI remember many years ago, they sought new members from among high school boys [the title for the boys' membership was the Columbian Squires]. But that was before the sexual abuse scandal came out. I don't know it the K of C has chapters for boys in high school any more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin (continued)\nthat if they cannot remain chaste before marriage, how do they expect they can deal with chastity during their marriage. She told them to see their parents' situation for many years as a prime example and also said to them that there will be times during marriage to abstain from sexual intercourse (sometimes by choice, sometimes due to health reasons) and that learning discipline and offering up our chastity to God before marriage will help them during their married lives. \n\nKevin, many Catholics do not realize that marriage is a very serious bond/commitment that should not be approached lightly. One of the reasons many have been granted annulments indeed. Priests / pre-cana must be honest and prepare engaged couples for the lifetime commitment they are about to enter! These pre-cana courses have to include abstinence from sexual intercourse when a woman is fertile (be straightforward about the sin of contraception), about using one another as objects, (continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...the Church will overcome this inordinate attachment to patriarchal images in due time.\"\n\nLet it be so. I don't think it will be in my life time but I think it is important that it keep being hammered at. There is no real reason women can't be priests. The \"marriage\" of Christ with his Church and the need for a male \"image\" of Christ is just building hogwash on symbolism. And Jesus chose to first show Himself after Resurrection to a woman. If someone wanted to take an incident from the Bible and build a priesthood out of it, that is the sign that women should be priests as surely as men. \n\nThanks for good, interesting, well reasoned comments and for keeping this issue in discussion. This final word has not been spoken on this issue as long as someone keeps bringing it up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True. He should read for himself what Jesus said about homosexuals, instead of believing things that others thought they read.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A Peruvian court has upheld the right of Awajun and Wampis indigenous communities to be consulted about oil drilling on their land, in a case supported by Catholic Church leaders.\"\n\nI had to read that sentence several times because, at first, I was sure I was misunderstanding. A court has ruled that indigenous people must be consulted. Good grief! Has sanity finally made an appearance? Has a civil court finally recognized that indigenous people have some right to a say-so in how their own land is used? \n\nOne more surprise. \"Catholic Church leaders\" supported the indigenous people. I wonder if that included the bishops? I wonder how vigorous was their support? Perhaps my doubts are unfair - but my picture is that bishops have not been in the forefront of the fight for rights of indigenous people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Disappointed I am that you do not recognize Jesus as the divine Son of God, but equate Him to the human leadership of the Church. But you are correct: our entire knowledge of Jesus Christ is provided solely by the male hierarchy, which is today the same as it was in the time of Peter, unchanged and unchanging. Were it not for the male hierarchy, the Church would not exist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re point 3: Today on Catholic radio I heard Radio Nun go on at length about how it was absolutely wrong to visit a relative who wasn't properly married. More specifically, the question was from a mother who was seeking a way for her children to visit their Grandfather. Absolutely out of the question! said Radio Nun. You didn't break up the family, he did by choosing mortal sin, etc.\n\nWhere do Catholics get these ideas? The catechism's chapter on scandal.\n\nIf Francis truly wants to be a reformer, truly make the Church a place of welcome for all, then he needs to definitively amend that chapter. But as things are now, he appears to want to leave that chapter in place as law, and kind of talk around it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mokantx,\n\nI am finding this conversation to be helpful. My experience has not been that many who have left just leave religion, unless you mean \"spiritual but not religious\" crowd. There are many Catholics who are on the greatest spiritual journey of their lives, but not in the organized church. I made the run at creating change, but was unwilling to sacrifice myself to do it. Misogyny continues to reign in the Church. \n\nWe are told to follow our conscious. That is what I did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because you seem to feel embarrassment before them for your Catholicism. Just be fully Catholic and let them deal with that as they will. It's their problem -- if there is one -- not yours.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Tarl:\" I love it that, when asked about comparable violence by other religions, the most Islamist sympathizers like you can muster is over 600 years ago during the Crusades, and the IRA, which hasn't had a scale attack like this in over 21 years.\n.\nThe leaders of ISIS, Al Qaeda, etc. all have postgraduate and Doctorate degrees in Islamic studies and theology: they know more about Islam and its teachings than you ever will, and have committed most of their holy works to memory: believe me when I tell you that you have no place calling their religion- which they live and know more about than you do- a \"perversion.\" They do what they do explicitly because of their religion- Oh, they can't do that? Guess what- they just did.\n.\nFin Shen and Christian sects learned, grew, and evolved: why won't Islam?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"He surprises us by his refreshing return to the simplicity and joy of the Gospel and he surprises us by his conviction that St. John Paul II was right: Vatican II is \"a sure compass,\" guiding our church on the path of reform and renewal.\"\nJPII states V2 was \"a sure compass\" and then goes about silencing all voices of church reform. I don't think so. PF is attempting to re-ignite the fires of reform started by V2 so the process will continue. JPII and Benedict were both counter-reform (and counter V2) in my book. The church still has medieval teachings on the books and until that changes the reform must continue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, Tri. The wood of the barque of Peter is the wood of the Cross. If faith is in Our Lord, then the barque of Peter, which is faith in Our Lord, does not leak. What may leak is faith in the Roman Catholic Church, and all its human people, structures. The two are not synonymous. One is human; the other is divine. \n\nSSPX is the right place for some Catholics. If you find your faith strengthened there, it is the right place for you, too. I wish you well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a very good commentary offering lots to think about and ponder, leading to further civil dialog (hopefully). And also (hopefully) the comments section doesn't burst into verbal flames, as did the comments related to another article, after word gets out on the Catholic web that the article has been posted at NCR. ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She hasn't done enough to speak out against the violence and most of the people given Nobel Peace Prizes like Obama, Suu Kyi and others are not very deserving of their Peace Prizes. It is more symbolic than anything else.\n\nCertain people want only Christians protected but not others. That shows we want only like-minded people protected and not others. I think everyone should be protected but the news is very selective also in what stories get presented, and I mean that in that there are distractions but this is a legitimate story that needs attention that has not received attention for years.\n\nAnother important story not receiving attention is the massacre of Palestinians on a regular basis in the Middle East. A lot on the right wing support Israel in everything it does, including the complete destruction of Gaza and even women and children killed by settlers and the IDF. These are facts that can be easily checked.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bubbles,\nIt was Nazi's that were fighting Christians. Nazism is a religion in and of itself. It took symbols from different religions, even the Indian 'swastika' did not originate with Hitler but 'eastern mysticism'. How do you like that? The most prominent symbol of the Nazi's had nothing to do with Christ, His Church or Christians. It was atheistic and believed in the super 'man' of Nietzsche. No, it was not a Christian organization at all. It was very much anti-Christian and evil. To become a Nazi was to reject Christ. Still is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Those were not the words of Jesus himself (which we can only surmise); they are the words of the authors of the Fourth Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is not going to die - it cannot. It is not the LCWR.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well since the prognosticators believed there was a near certainty he would do worse with them given his rhetoric, I actually think it significant. Also just saw a stat from Pew that 26% of Catholic Latinos voted Trump.\n\nThe larger point I think is that economic security is an issue that has the potential to undercut traditional allegiances along race, gender, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ is the truth. Truth can never make a covenant with a lie,the sacrafice of the Mass is the everlasting covenant of our Lord", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cWhile you can believe almost anything you want to believe, you can\u2019t preach it from the pulpit,\u201d Gordon said.\n\nIf there was only one Christian denomination then yes, objectivity would be distinct. Unfortunately, like all religions, contrasting divisiveness is promoted and inclusion is forbidden. My God is the only true blah, blah, blah....................I know, because of blah, blah, blah. Religion is believing in whatever you want to believe because it's all made up by men who used it to make sense of something beyond reason, logic or reality. I respect people of religion as long as they respectfully understand that trying to establish your beliefs into law or on to others, is no different than another religion trying to do the same to them. Religion belongs in the heart. The Kings James Bible confirms it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My mother did not practice any organized religion. \nFor me, it was Christ who enticed me to Him. When I was a young girl staying at home alone; I heard man\u2019s voice tells me that \u201cyou were never alone but I was always with you.\u201d He said this a few times. \n \nAfter I became a Catholic and in prayer Christ showed me how he was sitting on a big rock and watched me, a toddler, sitting in the middle of farm field playing with dirt.\n \nMy two kids do not go to church any more, however one tells me that she go to empty church and talk to Christ now and then. The other one who is so independent yet when she was having a crying fit for few weeks, her most worry was she may have offended Christ. She told me when she was alone crying, she heard a men\u2019s voice calling her name although she was alone. \n\nChrist was always around me whether I was aware of his presence or not. I think Christ follows everyone and He will call everyone to himself sooner or later.\n \nBlessings", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As one of the last witnesses to True Catholicism on this planet, you must have passed along to your descendants your devotion to the One True Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued - John O'Malley, SJ from America Magazine:\n\n1.Insist Vatican II was only a pastoral council.\n2.Insist it was an occurrence in the life of the church, not an event.\n3.Banish the expression \u201cspirit of the council.\u201d\n4.Study the documents individually, without considering them part of an integral corpus.\n5.Study the final 16 documents in the order of hierarchical authority, not in the chronological order in which they were approved in the council.\n6.Pay no attention to the documents\u2019 literary form.\n7.Stick to the final 16 documents and pay no attention to the historical context, the history of the texts or the controversies concerning them during the council.\n8.Outlaw the use of any \u201cunofficial\u201d sources, such as the diaries or correspondence of participants.\n9.Interpret the documents as expressions of continuity with the Catholic tradition.\n10.Make your assessment of the council into a self-fulfilling prophecy. \n\nNOTE #3.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Mark, whose gospel was used in Rome made the teaching of Jesus gender neutral because in Rome upper-class wives could divorce their husbands.\"\n\nUpper class Roman wives often had property of their own. Lower class wives usually did not. So a plebian wife could divorce her husband, but doing so would leave her destitute.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics making comments about their own church? LOL", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're misinformed. I can use the word \"god\" to mean the God of the Bible (Yahweh, Whom I worship) or I can use it to mean \"a god\" that someone who doesn't worship Yahweh might worship. Allah is a \"god\" (little g intended). Yahweh is THE God (big G intended).\n\nThe word for \"god\" in Arabic is \"allah\" (little a intended). When Arabic Christians say \"allah\" they are not ascribing equivalency between Yahweh and Allah (big A intended). They reject Allah as God (big G intended), though they recognize him as the god (little g intended) of Muslims.\n\nTo the Christian, Yahweh is the only true God. You can play language tricks all you want, but they reject Allah as a false god, even while speaking Arabic.\n\nI don't wish to argue with Frederick Minshall, but I think he already knows that we do not worship the same deity. Millions of Christians have died because our God says we cannot worship any other gods. It's a non-negotiable tenet of the Christian faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It doesn't say that at all. It's one value the author feels strongly about. It's also from a perspective that you or I can't experience, being a legal immigrant to our nation. \n\nThere writer seems to be a gentle person, who interacts with a local faith community and wish's nobody any harm. Maybe you would be well served in maintaining your objective view of issues, by going to First Christian Church or attending one of the other organization the author mentions. \n\nGetting out of our comfort zone may create stress if our preconceptions are challenged, but that's where the heart and mind really start to grow in capacity. Your presence may help the immigrants who struggle to understand why they are mistrusted and threatened by their American neighbors.\nYou can be a part of a wise decision.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What people do in the privacy in their own home is none of the government's business.\n>\nThese Drug Wars and War on Sin's is just prove we live in Christian Theocratic society, where GOD is all knowing and watching you even in the privacy of your own home. Canada and the USA spends billions of dollars and have the world's highest incarceration rates for sinners.\n>\nHow is it we have put up with armed men breaking down the doors of our friends and family based on someone's idea of sin, a victim less crime no-less?\n>\nHow can they celebrate of of the most addictive and harmful drugs ALCOHOL and still condemn a herb that harms no one, less than even aspirin or paracetamol?\n>\nThere is something wrong with drugs law, yes. But a bigger problem is something seriously wrong with our government!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Salvation is for us. The cry of the suffering servant is more poignant if we know what happened before it and the drinking of the wine, the completion of the Eucharist, shows the sacrifice as the abandonment and now the death of Jesus. This should have a huge impact on the why of morality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obviously over the last forty years; this decline in \"Cracker Christians\" has seen America in much better shape...Huh?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bishops didn't suffer so much from the scandal; they caused it. They betrayed us. They lost the moral high ground and believed that the reputation of the institutional church was more important than the welfare of its most vulnerable members: our children. God gave you intelligence and a conscience. This is the time you must use them to find the truth. Good luck.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any right ordered society holds firm to the principle of \"innocent until proven guilty\". It's why God in His wisdom established the prerequisite of eye witness accounts before a Temple judicial process in Mosaic Law. \n\nWe saw how Jesus responded to frenzied mob rule and self righteous hysteria.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wonderful commentary! The same quote from Pope Francis (noted by Steven S.) also jumped out at me. In these troubled times we are called to rise above the lowest common denominator of human nature in order to build bridges rather than walls. The temptation to \"othering\" needs to be given up for Lent. We are all children of God. Thanks be to God for the prophetic voice of good Pope Francis calling us to our better angels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right.\nOr \"shackles\" of equal opportunity.\nOr \"shackles\" of help with student loans.\nOr \"shackles\" of lunches for all\nOr \"shackles\" of my property taxes, going for GOP/Christian/creationist/\"all you need to read is the bible\" ideology private school vouchers. \n\"shackles\" Like that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Trump re-election campaign would want nothing better for Tulsi to run for president. There is no way in H-E-double hockey sticks that America elects a non-Christian female of color. The Rock stands a better chance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jim, how many priests do you know personally? I just can't see how you could know that the statement \"Most clerics allow their fear and shame to overwhelm themselves...\" is true unless you know quite a few priests personally and have access to psychological evaluations. I just feel like this comment comes from a place of anger and disdain...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is complex!\nMy father's family were Irish Catholics on his father's side (hence the surname Quinn) and English Protestants on his mother's side; his mother converted to RC and he was raised Roman Catholic.\nMy mother's family were ethnic Lithuanians who moved to St Petersburg two centuries ago and converted to Russian Orthodoxy from Roman Catholicism. In St. Petersburg, her family did intermarry with Lithuanian ex-patriots and ethnic Russians. One branch of my mother's family emigrated to America in the late 1800s from St. Petersburg. Her surname is Lithuanian, therefore, her family still acknowledged their Lithuanian ancestry. Before my parents married in the late 1930s, my mother converted to RC, and I was baptized and confirmed in the RCC; they are buried next to each other in a RC Cemetery. When I spoke to my mother about her conversion, she always said, \"I came back home to the faith of my ancestors.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ken Smith: There is zero mention of Christ during his lifetime. No evidence and no documentation of his actual existence\u2026never mind what he said or did. However, Atheist Christopher Hitchens had the best argument that the biblical Christ character was based on an actual person. Apparently, the true messiah had to be born in the \u201chouse of David.\u201d Hitchens says the obviously phony \u201ccensus\u201d---which required citizens return to the place of their birth to be registered (rather than where they lived)---would indicate that the Christ character was real\u2026but was born elsewhere. Otherwise, he contends, why didn\u2019t they just have him born in Bethlehem and be done with it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. I have known Farrell and Tobin for a long time, and Cupich for a longer time. Farrell no longer stands in Wuerl's shadow, and he will surprise you! Tobin went ahead with a plan to resettle Syrian refugees in his now former archdiocese of Indianapolis over the objections of the soon-to-be former Governor of Indiana, Mike Pence. And Cupich is already rattling the cages of entrenched Chicago conservatives, Catholic and non-. As they say on airplanes, Keep your seat belts fastened, we expect some turbulence!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, since all the colonizers are now dead, what's the issue?\nBut it is good to see social justice warriors being taken to task for all the hate, racism, ageism, sexism, Catholic-phobia and hetero-phobia they spew on a regular basis. Of course, this is just plane Marxism, which demands social split in stead of cohesion to support the revolution.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely correct, Dennis! With Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict, defending ideology was more important that exegesis. For example, in publishing his book, JESUS OF NAZARETH: THE INFANCY NARRATIVES, Ratzinger gave very little evidence of any ongoing engagement with the critical issues raised about the complex biblical material in the decades since Vatican Council II. Although Ratzinger, was heavily involved with the principles developed in the Document 'Dei Verbum,' he seemed to disregard those very principals in writing this book or in supporting certain works by other theologians/scripture scholars. In other words, to Ratzinger, it did not matter how much critical evidence is presented to support a thesis, one must up-hold the official line as had been given. No new insights or understanding was permitted.\n----------------------\nJoseph Ratzinger, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE INFANCY NARRATIVES, trans. Philip J. Whitmore [London: Burns & Oates, 2012]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whether Jesus was \"interested\" in drawing a distinction between tolerating a slap in the face and tolerating a blow to the left side of the head with a knife is irrelevant. The fact is, there is a distinction, one so great that they differ not merely in degree but in kind. No one rationally takes an admonishment to turn the other cheek as a command to let a man armed with a knife stab you on the right cheek after he has stabbed you the first time on the left. One could reasonably take Jesus at his LITERAL word when he tells us to let pass a relatively minor insult, such as a slap in the face. Not so in the case of the man who has just stabbed you and is coming at you again. You draw a comparison where common sense tells you to see a conspicuous contrast. Thus, Jesus's telling us to turn the other cheek says nothing thing about the morality of war fought in self-defense. \n\nThat Jesus has a soft heart for the weak, helpless, and persecuted does not argue in your favor. \n\ncont'd", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So the Church is a woman with a female body and a male head? Read JP2's Theology of the Body. It clearly explains that the great mystery of Christ and the Church cannot possibly be reduced to a patriarchal analogy. It also explains that human bodies are male *or* female, but human persons are male *and* female; Eve is in Adam as much as Adam is in Eve. See also the Catechism of the Catholic Church (sections 239, 370, 2779) which clearly explains that God cannot be reduced to patriarchal gender stereotypes. Please do your homework, rather than just pushing patriarchal gender stereotypes manufactured by human hands, not God's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some background on D. Slawson. Doug was four years ahead of me in seminary. He was ordained a Vincentian priest for the CM Western province in 1974. (left and married) He studied under and was mentored by Rev. Stafford Poole, CM, PhD. Stafford is infamous for his in-depth studies and discoveries of what Bartolome de Las Casas actually said and did to protect indigenous people in New Spain (vs Church of Spain) In addition Stafford's research and books on the *myth* of San Juan Diego - via Stanford Press - The Guadalupan Controversies. \nSo, Doug has followed in Stafford's footsteps in terms of doing research necessary to address long standing *myths* and legends of the Catholic Church. OTOH, their research has not really debunked but rather laid the groundwork to understand the context of the people of faith at that time and what the key meanings of these legends are.\nDoug and I were colleagues for a few years on the Vincentian Studies Institute now based at DePaul University.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Father Peter Maher was parish priest of St. Joseph Catholic Church Newtown in Sydney's inner west for twenty plus years. At his Thanksgiving Mass on Retirement just a few days ago, his homily was a beautiful tribute to the inclusive community that has been built at that parish and his thanks to all in the community. He talked about the growth in awareness of ways in which we discriminate, or \"othering\", seeing those who are not part of the dominant group as \"other\" - to use Mikulich's story line, as Muslim, farmer, African American, Jew. And as Fr. Peter says: \"These and many more are not the \"other\" to be feared and kept at arm's length, but people to be included and honoured and valued as sisters and brothers.\"\n\nIt is well worth reading to see what can be done in a parish community when this \"othering\" is recognized and addressed as part of the faith journey. The homily is here: http://newtownfaith.blogspot.com.au", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please excuse my boldness...but I am a recent revert. Made my confession after 60 years away.\nI was precocious in my atheism...at six. My return to Catholicism was made because of the Eucharist and because the RCC has and holds for safe keeping the Truth! \n\nIn reading the comments...I have discerned that there may be two Catholic churches here. One tolerant, if not approving of abortion...perhaps primarily democrats. \nThe other willing to fight to end abortion...primarily perhaps republicans. \nI'm sorry for having intruded....I belong with the second group!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one saw the resurrection, but the fact that people saw the risen Christ, though he did not publicly manifest, is an essential part of the faith. These appearences were reported by Paul who received accounts first hand from the seers and Paul's existence and writings are verified historically. The noises you now hear are MJ and RD\u2019s heads exploding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I rather like the work on the Trinity that is being described by Father Rohr, in itself. Where he loses me is when he starts identifying God with the Progressive movement. He contradicts himself when he states: \"...we get stuck with an image of an angry God who only likes one particular group of people.\" His identification with the Progressive movement is an example of the very thing he warns us against. \n\nAlso, as a priest he should not be using an unsubstantiated set of broad accusations. This is slander. The good Americans who supported the Republican landslide victories on the federal and state levels, can not be characterized by such unqualified generalizations. It is slanderous and intellectually dishonest.\n\nToo much is made of this idea that God has been seen as being white and angry. Its not that simple. Just look at the history of Catholic art. \n\nFinally, The very same liberalism that the Demo. Party has taken on is militantly anti-Catholic in so many ways.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent investigative reporting from NCR and yet more confirmation that the institutional American church is a religious arm of the GOP.\n\n<>\n\nA harbinger of the embrace of militarism and \"patriotism\" in pursuit of political power that has come to characterize the Catholic right.\n\nThe KoC Museum happens to have a current exhibition on \"World War I: Beyond the Front Lines.\"\n\nhttp://www.kofcmuseum.org/en//index.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At last! A defender of the Church, here demonstrating classic church tactics. Don't address the issues raised in the article, the criticisms of the Cardinal inherent in the letter, which, being a response to a public statement is properly published, instead deflect the direction of the conversation to an unrelated subject and insert a criticism of unnamed posters. Excellent! A True son of the Church!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic University of America (CU) has chosen a Wall Street Journal columnist and former special assistant and speechwriter to President Ronald Reagan as Commencement speaker. \u201cNot to us, O Lord, not to us but to you name give glory because of your mercy, because of your truth\u201d (Psalm 115:1). \u201cIn past generations he (God) allowed all Gentiles to go their own ways\u201d (Acts 14:17) and now The Catholic University can show the way. \u201cThe Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name\u2014he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you\u201d (John 14:26) and the Faithful does need reminding, particularly since the administration of Catholic University of America remains under censure by the American Association of University Professors for the way CU treats its professors. Scripture is from the Liturgy of the Word, Reading 285, Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter I.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I seriously doubt any cardinal had a hand in Pope Benedict's retirement except those Benedict thought he needed to approve of it. That would not be the progressive wing of the Church. That would be the conservative wing Benedict consulted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Was inadequate for Jesus to call God Father and use \"He and Him\" to speak of Him?\n\nAnd no, God's Commandments are not idols.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also worth reading:\n\"The Catholic Church has at most 10 years to adapt,\" by Mark Patrick Hederman, a monk of Glenstal Abbey, Limerick, Ireland, published in the Irish Times May 16, 2017. \n\nThe article looks at a world that has changed dramatically in the last 100 years and a Church that has lost its influence and power, and doesn't know how live, preach, and move forward in that changed world. \"Discovery of the world of the unconscious; full ...acceptance of the dimension of femininity, both inside and outside ourselves, with all this implies in terms of gender balance and sexual diversity; ...the immensity of scientific discovery; ...ever-expanding technology...\"\n\n\"We have been slow to appreciate what the Pope's core revolutionary strategy is...a 'synodal church'... \" \n\"...we cannot have a situation where only priests can exercise power...a clerical oligarchy.\"\n\" ...Domination is the hallmark of the patriarchal paradigm. It should be replaced by a paradigm of partnership.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But that will depend on what you mean by worship. Do you see it as corporate celebration, gathered around a family table with Jesus as the head of the family, sharing the family Meal of Bread and Wine. Or do you see it as something is rigidly focused on the cult aspects of the Mass, with priest performing the ritual aspects while the people kneel in silence or having minimal participation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't be a poser, don't be \"yourself\", struggle with God to be the image of Jesus Christ, use prayer, the Sacraments, good spiritual direction, the grace of God, and lots of beginning again to be \"perfect, as Your Heavenly Father is perfect.\"\n\nUp the inclined plane, cheerfully, in a manly or womanly way. Sporting spirit, with God right next to you. \n\nDon't shoot low by \"being yourself\". Convert, daily.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one has argued that Aristotle was not a smart man.\n\nThe entire yadda-yadda about unmarried men is a five-decade-old non-sequitur, is unsupported by either logic or Catholic teaching, and I cannot imagine why you keep bringing it up with me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If anyone is sinning against the Holy Spirit, it is those who deny the sacramental love in both second marriages (so long as the first marriage was not ended specifically to contract the second) and in gay married couples, who I am sure stay married through the Spirit\u2019s gentle aid. \n\nAs for pharisees, some of them were those who blasphemed against-the Spirit by not recognizing her work in Christ when his charismatic love was clearly evident, as it is in Francis. Would it have been more convenient if A.L. had spelled out doctrinal changes or more reasonable interpretations of both the teaching on divorce (see above) and the teaching of Paul in Corinthians on Communion (that it spoke about recieving what is not believed in, not a teaching on mortal sin that would have been 1000 years early)? Absolutely.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Andrew, I don't know that I have any particular insight in this matter. What I can say is that I don't think I would have chosen this approach if I were trying to send a message to Catholics with whom I disagreed, even if I disagreed with them completely. I can't speak for others, but I wonder if most women would have approached the issue in this manner. But then, as I say, I'm on the outside looking in. Others may have better perspective.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wouldn't it be great if the Catholic Church in the U.S. returned all of the land they now own that once belonged to Native Americans. It would give the Church more time to focus on the work of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The author is confounding faith with attending mass and/or the RCC, while faith is exemplified by following Christ.\nHis attitude as part of the hierarchy of the church, is the real turn-off. Shame, he should know better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It might be useful to reflect on the origin of the idea of a sin offering and justice.\n\nWe didn't make up the idea of justice, of offering, or of redemption. \n\nIt was nascent and imperfect.\n\nGod implanted it in us. Jesus perfected it. \n\nIn the same way with love or even with ideas such as \"the good\". We had an idea of love before Jesus came into the world. We were attracted to it...because it came from God! \n\nBut Jesus perfected it, and He showed us how to love. \n\nJesus brought all these imperfect ideas of justice, redemption, mercy, and love into the highest perfection and completed unity on the Cross and in the Resurrection.\n\nIf we don't love (as He loved and died) we will die, and we won't be resurrected with Him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The issue at hand is not the meaning of \"the firmament,\" especially since there is no way of knowing the exact nature of the pre-Flood climate, and how the hydrologic cycle worked. It's pointless to speculate on something about which we can't really draw any concrete conclusions. The real issue is whether or not the days of creation were literal, 24 hour days. The context along with comparison with similar expressions in the rest of Scripture, are overwhelmingly in favor of a literal reading. If God had meant us to understand long ages of time, He could easily have inspired Moses to describe it that way. We wouldn't even be having this discussion if it weren't for the fact that too many Christians have put their faith in infidel scientists rather than the infallible Word of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Five hundred years of estrangement between US and THEM are indicative, each one of them, that the Reformers or \"Protestants\" were not solely at fault in the great split we call the Reformation, and in many respects were not at fault at all. On the other side of the split, some Roman Catholics erroneously believe that the Roman Catholic church, then and now, could not possibly at fault! And that's why the Spirit chose a leader like Jorge Bergoglio, to reacquaint us all with mercy!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'Ms. DeVos, a polarizing figure who has drawn protests and who many in education circles see as the centre of a movement to use public dollars to pay for tuition at private and religious schools.' ... if I recall, is that not the primary issue that defeated then PC leader John Tory by Premier McGuinty?\nPC Premier William Davis extended the funding of the Roman Catholic school board to Grade 13.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Professional Catholics -- any Catholic who gets paid for talking about Catholicism.\n\nThis doesn't apply to teachers in Catholic schools, but to the growing cottage industry of Catholics (usually men) who make a living as media pundits for Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am so glad that someone finally looked into the connection between Burke and Bannon. I've thought there was something there since I read Bannon's scary address to the alt-right Vatican conference that was posted on Buzzfeed. And I dunno about you but the #MuslimBan is an intrinsic evil and it is scandalous for Catholics to be associated with it and with the Trump administration. Perhaps Ray Burke can provide us with some insight into this based on Canon 915.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Extreme' is an apt description. You're talking about a group of people who largely deny climate change, responsible taxation, wilderness protection but believe God and Jesus will fix the province's finances.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Francis is planning on a married priesthood, one of the first things he should do is get the last sentence of this week's Gospel re-inserted in the version we hear at Mass. The second half of the final sentence has been airbrushed out - \"Joseph didn't have marital relations with Mary until after Jesus was born.\"\n\nNow why would they do that?\n\nIt is the natural end to the paragraph and to that part of the narrative. I checked with the USBC web page and, there it was again - gone!\n\nSomeone has an agenda.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The United Church of Christ has solved all the ecclesiological problems you raise. I've decided it's easier to be a part of a Church which has room to move with the Holy Spirit rather than wait for the Roman Church to listen to its best theologians and stop hating Pope Francis. I experience the presence of Jesus in the simple monthly communion (which I receive from a woman) as much as I did in the daily, elaborate Mass. It's not that one is better than the other, but if, after reading the ecclesiology of Schillebeeckx, Kung, and Rahner, why keep beating my head against the cathedral walls? The elements of salvation exist in all Christian communities, so I trust Jesus to find me and save me in the UCC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rule and Raven: I think Francis is also doing the study not only for the Catholic Latin/Roman/Western Church but also for other First Millennial Churches -- Orthodox, Oriental Churches (including the Coptic), and Eastern Catholic Churches. One hears of \"Orthodox women deacons,\" but never sees them or hears of them in the sanctuary. At times, one feels that these First Millennial churches prefer obscurity, indifference regarding this issue (i.e.,women's diaconate) instead of study, dialogue. Hopefully Francis will engage them as if against their own traditions to come up with a common resolution, one way or the other. Doubt and resolution grow with knowledge, scholarship.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Syria was destroyed because of a regime change agenda on the part of US NATO Saudi governments. Assad and Putin will not play the NWO politics and so are under attack. If Hillary won the election she planned war with Russia. Over 300 000 NATO troops wait on the Russian border. Trump appears to be more interested in friendly cooperation with both Assad and Putin. \n\nLet's finally do what is right. End the wars and allow immigrants to go home. The money spent on war can be used to help rebuild the destroyed cities. The terrorism will continue in Europe UK North America and Australia, all Christian cultures, until the wars end and ISIS, created by the US and Saudis, is no longer funded.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I went to a Catholic boarding school called St Edwards college for boys in a tiny island called Malta. I'm not Catholic. I was a \"heathen\" and wasn't allowed to do pretty much anything. I went there because the school needed the money and allowed non Catholics. I could fill volumes listing my experiences there. I will say the education was far better than in the USA. We were doing work that I did not experience again until the 12th grade back in the US, especially in English composition. Also I did not have to attend mass, especially morning mass. The Catholic kids sure didn't like attending mass either...ha. When the Headmaster came around in the morning to bless us and spray holy water from his salt shaker, us non Cathoilcs would duck from it, and if some hit us we would say \"It burns, it burns\" That really angered them...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sir, we can debate slavery, etc, but one thing I am not is a \"traditionalist.\" \n\nYou, like most of the dissident liberals confuse and conflate conservatism with traditionalism. You assume that conservative Catholics all like the Romish pageantry, bells and smells, Latin, chant, etc. Not all conservative Catholics are high church, sir. I am conservative, but I admit, I do not have the appreciation for the pageantry that the traditionalist have. As far as the traditionalists are concerned, that makes places you and me on the same plane! They would consider me no better than you or any other dissident. Don't get me wrong--I am not saying I like the flower power hippie masses of the 70's either--but I can do without the complicated pageantry. I have always thought our worship was inspired by Rube Goldberg. \n\nPope Benedict--was not conservative, he was progressive--center left, but he was was in to the pageantry. Because of that, a lot of people assumed he was conservative.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Sister, for your timely post. Seeing Jesus from both a human and divine seems to be so very difficult for us to do. I have some Lenten seasons looked at Jesus through his human nature; at other time his divine. Not often have I been able to wrap my mind around both at the the same time through this season. However, as I was reading your meditation, it popped into my mind that just a short while ago, I know how not how long, I read about a mother who put her body over her child to protect the child from an attacker. The child survived, but the mother died in this sacrificial act of saving her child. This image in my mind, helped me to understand that yes, Jesus yielded fully to God's Will to bring us mercy, forgiveness, of sins at a great cost. Not only what it cost God, but his humanity he yielded as well. So much so, that its brutality is recorded in Biblical history. Writing about events always diminishes its actual impact, as that differs by who is telling it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you saying God is governed by Catholicism 101? It is for God to judge and us to trust.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "3 of 3\nI took you at your word you see, you said. \u201cBe perfect\u201d, just like me.\nYou knew that my heart fell at the apple tree you did not tell, that you fell as well\nNow we have a picture on display, perfect in every way. \nWhose reflection is shown?\t\nWhy does hers, not hold the higher place, was not she the one with the grace.\n But for you Mother it will not do, it must be perfect to reflect you\n \nWill love find a way to show the truth, form the way and mould a heart so that it may pray?\nLet the children come and play, taste the water and feel the gentle ray\nSo that they might live in day\nVenerate the picture of broken man we reflect the Lords heart the best we can.\n\u201cFather\u201d we only have to turn to you and always you give the morning dew.\nYour heart is nailed to a tree, so that we dance free when we bend our knee\n Jesus I put my trust in thee.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes he is very popular with the world. Exactly as Jesus told his apostles to be remember \" preach a message that is easy and acceptable to the world that will make you popular, don't preach a challenging personal message of conversion preach one of accommodation and accopaniment in sin\"...did I get it right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Both you and mokantz make good points. The message of Christ has been so useful in my life, I cannot imagine what it would be like to be struggling with life's problems without it. I can't say the same for church teachings, but I have met and learned from certain clerics on my journey who have been good teachers and helped me find my way.\n\nIf there were no church, who will be the teachers? We cannot all study sufficiently to obtain the necessary knowledge and I don't think the bible is sufficiently self-explanatory or unambiguous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What we should know for a certainty is this. Once you take a position and defend it publically, it is almost impossible to admit you are wrong and \"repent\" and change your mind. It does happen, of course, but as I said, it is rare.\n\nWe have the apostle Paul who repented after working havoc on the Christian community for quit a long time. But we must see that this is not the norm when you defend error publically and then must humbly admit your error as Paul did and willingly so, in light of God's action to \"wake him up.\"\n\nThis is no small matter as day by day we are sealing our eternal destiny as we make decisions either for, or against the word of God. The majority in the end, is never right, never have been and never will be.\n\nIn a limited context, we must trust the majority in church government until and unless our personal convictions will not allow us to agree with the decision they make. And this is where we are today over male headship vs. WO. The bible must rule, period.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because there are centuries of tradition, of doing this in secret Mike & powerful men are used to doing business in secret ; whether it's Guam or at the Vatican. It is one of the five marks of the true church. You thought there was only four I bet; but they kept that a secret too Mike. Are you still with me? It's all about secrets. That's why they have Secret Archives at the Vatican and a safe for secret documents, in every Bishop's Palace. and that was also a secret ..... up to now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can only speak for my church, where I can tell you caring for the poor helpless (does it get anymore helpless than the unborn?) and hopeless takes infinitely higher precedence. My church regularly pushes sponsorship of 3rd world children,participates in missions around the world, and has a youth program that counsels almost 200 kids many from broken families on Kauai, certainly does not single out lgtb over any other sinful behavior, and never had any reason to talk about guns. I suspect your impression of Christians is mostly driven by media portrayals and secular bias than any actual experience in a church community", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the days when few colleges even imagined a woman as their leader, there was one corner of academe where women ruled: Roman Catholic colleges.\n\nUntil the late 20th century, a Catholic college president was more likely than not to lead a women's college, and to do so in wimple and veil rather than suit and tie. But as women have risen to the top job at more colleges overall, they\u2019ve lost ground in Catholic higher education, their ranks dwindling as colleges went coed and lay leaders replaced nuns. The number of women in the presidency at Catholic colleges is now at an all-time low.\n\nhttps://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/06/22/catholic-colleges-worry-number-female-presidents-falls\n\nThis was from just 4 years ago: yet this story says that the number of Catholic women presidents has skyrocketed in the past 16 years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then again...I have heard many Sisters and laywomen \"preach\" at missions, prayer breakfasts, and the like who were simply horrible.\n\nAlso, in the courses, seminars and Bible study classes I have taken post grad....Pretty much evenly distributed between men and women...some having more men than women. Guess it depends on what you attend....\n\nAnd how wonderful in many ways that we have been exposed to priests from different countries! What an opportunity to learn - and to be warm and welcoming. I mean, that's part of what everyone is talking about now, right?? Or do we only mean to welcome some people???", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dana Milbank is one of the worst leftist liberal writers there is...just despicable, IMO.\n\nThere is No Doubt whatsoever that Barry Sotero, aka Barack Husseing Obama is heavily invested in his self concept as a Muslim.\nAll one needs to do is read his comments he has made (and NOT made) regarding Muslims, juxapositioned with his non-pulsed reactions to Christians being murdered. \n\nHas anyone ever asked Obama why he changed his name?\nWe all know Cassius Clay became \"Muhammad Ali \" when he became a Muslim. \nWhy the big secret?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Try a reading comprehension course, Topsy.\n\nI clearly stated that Khan's policy is reactive, not proactive.\n\nHe refuses to acknowledge the terrorist disease: Islamic radicalism.\n\nKhan refuses to support implementing any of the common sense measures such as refusing entry to Britain to those who support Sharia Law or have fought for Daesh in Syria.\n\nKhan also has no problem with the practices of Islamic segregation in Britain -- e.g. special sections of libraries and airports reserved for Muslims. Imagine if there were special sections of public places reserved for Catholics or Jews.\n\nKhan's approach is one of creative appeasement. He claims to have post-facto sleepless nights, but he is not identifying and dealing with the Salman Abedi's, Khalid Masood's, Khuram Shazads, et al.\n\nAs was the case with Chamberlain, appeasement toward those who would destroy you is disastrous.\n\nAnd that's exactly the problem with Khan's approach. He believes that appeasement is the answer and it isn't.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "MSW is too generous in his \"not authentically Catholic\" proposition... one could argue that Voris and his rabid followers are not authentically human. Make no mistake about it, what these folks represent is nothing short of Taliban Catholicism.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Good for you for exposing this drivel. Nothing makes sense without context. The poster is plainly biased in favour of the idea that Obama 1. put down Christianity, and 1. elevated Islam. The End.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Can you say illegal alien or radical islam?\"\nI never use the feel-good term \"undocumented immigrant\" and I'm as willing to say \"radical Islam\" in the same breath as \"radical Christianity\" like with the shooter at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs.\nWill you join me with that?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Alaska, The U.S. of A.'s very own Banana Republic, with Statehood status too boot. We need Criminal Ethics laws for lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians in Alaska. \n\nHeck, Jerry Ward (Prison Scandal) just got appointed to a major federal position by the Trump administration. Look what Ben Stevens did. Ho about all of Mike Hawkers corrupt activities, and on, and on, and on........and no one has eve gone to jail for what would be illegal in any civilized State, or country. The Alaska Bar is corrupt,,,,,,,. Republican Corruption..................just plain out of control.\n\n\nSB 21 was corrupt, and our legislature is fundamentally compromised at it's core, on both sides of the aisle. Disgusting !!!!!!! Worship that money, and pretend your Christian. That's right", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Because people have an inherent right to confidentiality and privacy. It has nothing to do with conservative Catholics trying to protect themselves. It's about not letting the State take control over every aspect of our lives.\"\n\nPeople do not have an absolute right to confidentiality and privacy, particularly regarding concealing crimes. What you advocate has everything to do with conservative Catholics trying to protect pedophile priests, the Pontifical Secret, and enabling Bishops and Cardinals. The State has the right to take control of situations where people attempt to cover up clergy pedophilia.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Surprised that no one mentioned all the Christian Right evangelists that have called for the death of gay people ad nauseam over the past year or two.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Not everyone believes in your god. Not everyone believes in Barbara's god. Using religious ideology as a guise to deny equal rights to human beings who don't hold those same religious beliefs isn't a new concept - wars will continue to be fought for that exact reason for many more years I am sure. Pushing that \"Christian\" lifestyle choice on children that are not your own, and denying them a safe place to be able to feel comfortable and explore who they are and where they fit in the world with the support of their peers, is what is harmful and destructive. Punishing children for not thinking the same as you by denying them a safe place is despicable.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "In Reference To (IRT) Chuck Cohen, \n\nPerhaps if you took some University or College 600 level Cultural Anthropology Courses, Subject Muslims, what you are proposing would seem ridiculous to you. \n\nMuslim Culture is a Culture of War.\n\nThe Muslim Culture (don't say \"Religion\") was created by Mohammad as the Commander of Armies that were Conquering \"the Known World\", after Mohammad stopped the Waring Tribes from Killing Each Other, he then Unified them into his Armies.\n\nThe Very Large size of his Armies required All Nations to provide Logistical Support of Food, Water, Clothing, Money. To Make this Law, Mohammad then created the Holy Koran, that also Required All To Join the Jihad, there were no valid excuses. He defined what a Muslim Is or Is Not.\n\n109 Suras of the 114 Suras of the Holy Koran are the Declared War Against Christians, Jews, Unbelievers (Kafir). And that \"Collaborators to the Christians, Jews, Unbelievers Must Die a Horrible Murdering To Dwell In that Firey Place\".", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Church gave/gives reasons/explanations on what She believes and the rules in the Catechism. Many/a multitude of converts who opposed the Catechism (everything Catholic \u2013 Dr. Scott Hahn, Peter Kreeft, Jeff Cavins) read what She believes and converted not by stupidity/blindness, but with an intellectual foundation. Thus what you\u2019ve presented isn\u2019t true.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mr Townsend, I totally agree with you. I love many things about the 2010s compared to the 1970s and 1980s, but the selfishness, the cruelness, the hurtfulness? These things that are now standard fair in the US today? I sure could do without that. People have decided they don't want to hang out with other people, but would rather treat them like crap. Don't like the car they drive? Bash 'em. Don't like the sports team they support? Trash 'em. Don't like the color of their skin? Trash 'em. Don't like the politics they follow? Trash 'em. Don't like the computer they use? Trash 'em. Don't like the religion they follow? Trash 'em. We talk about how partisan we've become, but that's not the disease. It's merely the symptom. The disease is that we would rather spit on you soon as look at you, and that's left, center, right, Christian, Muslim, Atheist, Broncos Fan, Patriots Fan, etc, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah, oh my God make it [EFFIN'] stop! \n\nMakes me just want to up and move to Canada.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Or, much more interestingly, if a Muslim were to discriminate against a Christian... Imagine the outrage and meltdown.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I know all white people are not Nazis or racists. How ever we do allow our white domestic terrorists to walk around in public armed. We are the most violent and armed nation on the planet. Maybe we should stop selling bombs to virtually anyone with the money to buy them. Christians are no less violent than Muslims. All the terrorist that have tried to kill me are white Christians. This nation was built on race based slavery and ethnic cleansing of the natives. We are still arguing about statues honoring treasonous terrorists. We should clean up our house before we complain about the neighbors. We have killed many more Muslims than they have killed Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "... 80% of Cheetolini supporters consider themselves Christian, most of the rest of us have know these folks are super fakey back stabbing evil 'christians' who pray at the alter of greed and evil ... the USA is FILTHY with these folks was the surprising part, I guess the preachers ain't preachin' from the gospel of Love and they certainly aren't connecting with their audiences. You can't be a waste of human skin AND a good Christian.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If the Right wants to actively pass laws against Muslims when \"terrorist\" acts occur, that's fine. It's the hypocrisy of doing nothing when \"domestic terrorist\" acts occur that invalidates the first approach. Also, this \"thoughts and prayers\" act is insulting to many Christians as well.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"Assaults on Muslim women force some to rethink hijab\"\n- Sadly assaults triggered by issues of ethnic origin or by evidence of religious faith (such as a cross, or an hijab) occur world wide.\n- Currently in Europe, especially in countries who have opened their borders to refugees (a great many of whom are Muslim from worn torn countries) women, especially those not obviously Muslim are facing concerns of assault and rape by young men who are from countries routinely considered Muslim countries.\n- The solution to violence must needs be a global solution. \n- Leaders of Christian churches and of the various Muslim communities need to address this violence as a civil society / commonweal issue and as a faith issue. That is christian and muslim communities and the civil governments must emphatically declare on all accounts that any violence is not supported by Christianity or by Islam or by civil law and in no way do those of good will support the perpetrators of said violence.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I don't see the difference. This is a school division crying foul because it lost student enrollment notwithstanding that it was far easier for the children and parents involved to have them attend a local Catholic school? Sounds stupid..... And in rural Saskatchewan we are talking considerable distances..... not a walk around the block.... I still don't see a good reason for it.....", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Are they Shea or Sunni? Most people don't study other religions. The Islamist radical terrorists all all Sunni. Sunni's kill Shea and treat them like they are Christians. That being said, not 100% of Sunnis are terrorists. If this is about their religion then the difference might be important. I would bet they are Shea. I have nothing against him as a Muslim, but don't like him because he is a politician. As a politician he could give Muslims a bad name.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "criticism isnt racism nor is political dissent hatred - just goes to show how far te G&M and columnists will go to stifle free speech - she must support the Cairo Doctrine - violence against women, gays, Jews, Christians too - WTF G&M have u lost ur effing minds the editorial was load of scat and so is this column - get ur beggar bowl and go see the feds cant see ur product supporting the company", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And it's not Christian either. Sickening how Trump's phony \"Christians\" turn their backs on Christ's teachings.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Thats a tiny issue, Muslim nations refuse birth control, and so does the Catholic Church.\n-\nCatholics in the West ignore the Church teaching on birth control\nDon't know what Muslims in the West do", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ever since President Obama made fun of Trump at that press dinner years ago, Trump has been on a mission to destroy everything Obama tried to accomplish. Trump could care less whom he hurts while on that mission. That includes the working people he promised to help, the poor, and the environment. On his quest for revenge Trump will ignore advice from even those few people he trusts if it thwarts his plans to get back at Obama. Even if it hurts the entire planet and the futures of his own grandchildren. Such is the hateful nature and selfish stupidity of Donald Trump, Pussy Grabber in Chief, Hero of the Evangelicals and a majority of Catholics!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Marriage is a civil ceremony, period. If you want to wrap it in religious trappings, so be it, but in the end, what you are asking, is for the state to re-define long standing law to appease religious zealots. As for us regularly passing laws to appease them, the only ones I can think of are the anti-abortion laws, which ultimately are to appease the same exact zealots that you are talking about. Again, if it were Muslims acting this way, I'm betting you would be pretty upset, but because it is Christians, you make excuses.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I hear you. Often such people you describe, many ex-Catholics, are so pessimistic about anything Catholic, that if given the choice of two evils to befall the church, they would choose both and hope for the worst. lol. They especially can't imagine Catholics who are highly educated and content with their achievements and faith. That would be an oxymoron, a mistake, a blunder, promoting a statistic that doesn't deserve a hearing. But such thinking is kind of mob-like, with hands to type and not brains, no balance. That's how I see it. And you are right, common folk are regarded as \"dumb animals,\" as it were, \"led by their pastors,\" ruined by the over-verification of parish bulletins or whatever. If I took this fume seriously, it would be purgatory. But I don't. Posting on a Catholic publication like this, ex-Catholics are often like little figures on a wedding cake arguing: no celebration allowed; just rant! As the Bard notes: the \"tartness of their letters will sour ripe grapes.\" lol", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Phony \"christians\" trying to force their religious beliefs into law is no different than sharia law, you just don't want to admit it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You are patently choosing to remain in deliberate ignorance! Consider that future readers will be able to view your response and can judge for themselves that you and at least two other posters here are members of the invertebrate Catholic ultra-right wing who want the entire church to do everything their way, never mind the facts! Caveat lector!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No, a small branch of fringers do. That does not equal the general sweeping deflection you just attempted of \"Christians.\"\n\nWhat kind of fool bashes a religion he's never studied?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, people have ascribed motives to many crimes on far flimsier evidence. This person's strongest opinions were about atheism and his disdain for Christians. I fully believe in his twisted mind it was a 2 for 1", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"According to the New York Times the \"richest 1 percent in the United States now own more wealth than the bottom 90 percent\". \nSo your minimizing and excusing of \"an extremely tiny percentage\" of white supremicists being Christian does not in any way diminish the harm and effect. For example, Donald Trump, Steve Bannon and an extremely \"tiny\" percentage of \"Christian\" Americans are causing immense harm among, what -230million Americans and, what, how many and how much around the world - Christian and non.They are giving \"all\" Christians a bad rap.\nA \"huge\" number of Catholics have left the Church because of the \"tiny\" number of US Bishops.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What does America stand for? Freedom? Liberty? Justice for All, Right to bear arms, freedom to worship, Slavery, Corruption? Genocide? As a Native, to me, America is built off the backs of 100 million slaughtered Natives so the Christians could steal and take the Natives resources and lands, and imprison the survivors into concentration camps called reservations, the same kind Adolph Hitler studied and utilized to commit genocide.\nType \"What's the CIAs role in creating terrorism\". Look up the \"American governments role in creating terrorism\". Look up the \"corporate bribey's role in creating terrorism\".\nAs a Native who sees American policies of colonialism and its theft and murder as the root cause behind the creation of terrorism, I realize my highly paid Native leaders are infected with the Stockholm Syndrome and cannot wait to give what little Native people possess away, with not one iota of thought of taking the government to the International Criminal Court to demand reparations", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We can agree that violence was committed by both sides. And Trump denounced it.\n\nBut consider the motivations of the two groups. One wants a white America and for many decades has promoted hate and committed acts of violence against Catholics, Jews, immigrants, blacks, and all else who do not look or think like they do. \n\nThe other side was composed of Americans who are deeply disgusted by white supremacy, and, yes, they fought fire with fire. \n\nPlease tell us which side you are on.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Islam hasn't killed anyone. But Islamic extremists have, just as have Christian extremists.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "why were you at catholic school? i don't believe in Gesus either... and did not goto a gesus school.. you should sue your parents for suffering you through a catholic school.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why is this a story now? What's the connection? I see Charles is still typing for the radical left. So Charlie, why do you refer to Christians as , the \"Religious Right\". What would happen if Christians referred to Homosexuals the \"Gay Left\". Wonder what the leftist would say?? Well, I just said it.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You give such opposing viewpoints as to what your morals are. Typical christian. Whatever fits you at the moment.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You aren't seriously claiming that blacks and Hispanics aren't Christians, are you? They probably don't wear it on their sleeves as much because it would expose their hypocrisy, particularly with regard to abortion. They're Democrats because the Welfare System pays them to be, so they put their financial interests ahead of their religious beliefs.\n\nYou anti-Christian Democrats are a small minority in your party. Even the Evangelicals in your party out-number you.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed, many US Christians are afraid of terror attacks on their churches, homes and schools by supposedly Christian American citizens. And with good reason - those people have no reason to think American Muslims will attack them, only their Christian so-called \"brethren\".", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why would the smiling, lying, Christian crusader Mike Pence need a lawyer for...............for lying?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Questioning Islam?\nPeople have been murdered for doing exactly that.\nAs for the Catholic Church, they stunted Western Civilization for over a thousand years before the Protestant Reformation...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Funny how you failed to acknowledge the other half of the statement--that Trumpty-Dumpty is every bit an amoral sham as Hillory the Blood Countess. Kind of like how bigoted Christians justify their arrogance by quoting the bible out of context.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Intolerance and Exclusion\", you are correct, I have very little tolerance for a religion that preaches that Westerners, IE, Christians and Jews or anyone not Muslim is an Infidel and an enemy. The following countries BAN any Israeli Jew from even entering their country:\n Syria\n Iran\n Iraq\n Yemen\n Libya \n Algeria\n Bangladesh\n Brunei\n Kuwait\n Lebanon\n Malaysia\n Oman\n Pakistan\n Sudan\n Saudi Arabia\n United Arab Emirates\n\nThis is your idea of \"Tolerance\" Doug?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, who are gay people to expect that being beaten, choked, and threatened with murder should result in prison sentences for the assailants?\nI myself think 3 years seems on the light side.\nDo you have proof that people convicted of similar assaults on victims who were not gay routinely received lesser sentences?\nWe subject people to tougher sentences who use guns to commit crimes to send a message that such acts will not be tolerated.\nWhat's wrong with sending a message that beating and choking people solely because they are gay will not be tolerated?\nBecause they are gay?\nDo some research, and you'll discover that if someone is attacked solely because they are white or male or Christian, the perpetrator can also be charged with this act.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Well, you've answered my question. Either TV or one of Jack Chick's little Christian \"comic books\". Boy-rape is not countenanced in Shari'a (try one of the Thalmudiim for that), \"Jizyah\" is a tax whereby non-Muslims under the protectorate of the Islamic state are absolved from military service at the low, low price of $23.00/year in today's money, and you'd have to do a lot better (or perhaps worse) than you've done if you were hoping I'd renounce my faith. Neither I nor my faith feel threatened by contrary views, particularly when they're predicated on such egregious misinformation that my first impulse is simply to point and laugh. As for \"attacking\" the US, I'm a patriot after the manner of patriot described by H. D. Thoreau. I won't shut up about the idiots dragging my nation to hell, not even if it occasionally rattles your cage. Khalas.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Infallibility! Ah yes - but they often got that wrong didn't they! Remember the infallible Pope who declared that the crossbow, the world's most lethal weapon at the time, could not be used against Christians but only against Muslims because they were inferior both morally and religiously. Remember the Pope who declared that native South Americans were animals and so they could be slaughtered in order that the Spanish and Portuguese could steal their lands. Remember the Pope who declared that black Africans had no souls and so they could be used as slaves in the colonies to benefit the wealth of the Jesuit sugar plantations! Get educated about infallibility!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The problem is that you allowed yourselves to be used -- \"objectified,\" you might say.\n\nDon't you see how stupid that looks? Would you put underpants on your head and go out in public? \nHave you heard of Dr. E Michael Jones, who has spent the last 30 years defending Catholic teaching from attempts to marginalize it by the likes of George Soros and the organizations he uses his billions to fund?\nOne of Jones's most important books is \"Libido Dominandi,\" which details how people like Soros who seek to subvert the Catholic Church, start out by degrading the sexual mores, targeting, first, young women. Once young women are persuaded to think of themselves as sexual objects, and to think it is fine to do so, it is a simple matter to take over the rest of the culture. Reducing women to degraded sexualized objects is an instrument of control and domination, in which the dominated participate in their own domination. \nGoogle Michael Jones.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is beyond surreal. Holy Church dogmatically teaches that homosexual acts are one of the four sins which cry to Heaven for vengeance. A practicing homosexual simply can not be \"faithful to Catholicism\". I also find it odd that the APA once listed homosexuality as a pathology in the DSM, but later--under HEAVY pressure from homosexuals and leftists--declassified it as such. Now they've gone completely 180 and claim any treatment to alter sexual orientation is \"unethical\". As for the rainbow flag, its tantamount to putting a middle finger on big sheet and sticking it in God's face. One expects this kind of nonsense at Georgetown, Fordham, or any other Jesuit school, but Notre Dame now jumps the shark? God help us.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"So what if the \"embryo\" has no chance of survival. How does that justify murder? You care to answer that,\" says Faithful Catholic. \nFirst of all It is abortion is not and has never been considered Murder. So it matters a lot there was a case at a Catholic Hospital in Arizona of a mother of 4 intubated in the ICU with Pulmonary hypertension. She was at 12 weeks gestation and was going to die soon without an abortion. Yet Bishop Olmstead, without a medical degree, decreed that she should have been treated with medication and excommunicated the nun who led the ethics committee at the hospital. Bishop Olmstead had no knowledge of the difference between Arterial Hypertension and Pulmonary Hypertension. It was certain that both mother and fetus would die in several days without an abortion. The fetus was in no way viable outside the womb. Yet this bishop thought it was wrong to abort the baby because the baby had equal rights to the mother. So they both should die!! Nonsense!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How ironic that most liberals and gay rights people who support Muslim refugees, support people who stand so strongly against homosexuality. While the Christian Bible only have one passage condemning homosexual behavior, Islamic Koran got several paragraphs on the subject and Koran clearly stated the death penalty for gays. Most Muslims believe that homosexual activity is utterly blasphemous to God and even if they don't say it out loud or claims they deplored what happened.......if they believes in the Koran as deeply as they all claims, they cannot help but to approved of what just happened. And this commentary shouldn't be considered hateful or nasty. It is the way of life in the world of Islam. How many gay bars do you find in the Middle East (not including Israel)??? How many Muslims are there who claims to be gay?? (zero to none??)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Folks are completely entitled to harbor ill-feelings, deep-seated anger, biases, and the assorted what-not of being human.\nSharing them with others, however, is not how we build a Christian community.\"\n\nReally, Marty E? You call people to the left of you communists. Your hypocrisy is showing.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly. And very well said. My Grandfather was a class-A old school bigot. When IRA bombs went off he'd go on about the 'G.D. Irish\" and the G.D. Catholics\". In his mind they were \"all crazy\". When we see a statistically tiny number of people doing horrendous things it is absolutely wrong to hold the whole group responsible. It also ignores the innumerable statements made by Muslims, easily found in five minutes of searching, condemning terrorism and violence. It also ignores large protests in Pakistan and Egypt against extremism.\nIt allows the lunatics to control the narrative, which benefits them. It helps the extremists in their efforts to radicalize disaffected people; they can point to headlines, newscasts, and comments by people who are essentially saying about Muslims what my Grandfather said about the Irish and Catholics. So if you want lunatics to control what you think, jump on the bandwagon and help their cause by doing so.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Its America's right to properly vet those who wish to immigrate to the US.\nThis is a temporary ban while immigration filters are reviewed and updated.\nIts not as if Muslims are not terrortist threats.\n\nThey are in dozens of countries including their owns.\n\nSo, all Christians are banned from entering Mecca.\nIs that not a hate crime.\n\nThe Koran explicitly states that non muslims ( infidels ) are must be converted or killed.\n\nIs that not a hate crime.\nGermany has ban on immigration from Nigeria.\nIs that not a hate crime.\nUK is building a wall at Calais to prevent illegal migrants from muslim countries.\nIs that not a crime ?\nEurope has deported thousands of muslins in the past year.\nIs that not a hate crime.\n\nThere are none so blind as those who will not see..", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The First Amendment states, \u201cCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.\u201d The \u201cfirst freedom\u201d is not the free exercise of religion - it is freedom from established religion.\n\nGovernment cannot change people\u2019s minds; it can only punish them for the content of their thoughts. As Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, wrote in his \u201cNotes on the State of Virginia\u201d in the early 1780s:\n\u201cIs uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned: yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth.\u201d", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "180k a year for 20 hrs/week? Not to mention his family and friends were on the payroll, the questionable tax fillings and inconsistencies. Its clear the charity was nothing other than a vehicle to enrich himself and his political career. Its amazing that this guy is so unqualified and has repeatedly broken the law but because he is a Christian fundamentalist it makes it ok???", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The role of the apostles (not just the twelve) was the happy duty of witnessing to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The administrative BS is a human invention that can change, including how we select them and whether we give them a checkbook (I say no). At the Last Supper, Jesus demonstrated in the washing of the feet how he wanted Church leaders to behave. Their actual behavior has turned Holy Thursday's reenactments into a cynical farce.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "a right wing rag is your source for unbiased \"news\" was it page 2 or 3 that told of the clintons eating christian children for breakfast and burning wax coated christians for funsies? only in anonymity, or on FOX news, can one cite such a eyes closed source over and over in ridiculous statements.\n\n what the heck kind of MD are/were you? did you bleed people to rid them of the evil spirits in their bodies? or cups them to produce copious bleeding?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "A person who states that \" The only real apology that should be made is to God \" about the Catholic Clergy Sex Abuse Crisis, is for some twisted reason, minimizing, trivializing and dehumanizing The Crisis. This is hurtful and totally unnecessary. Who would do such a thing? Who wants to strike back at innocent victims? Oh, I know... an abuser.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not so sure he would be the lesser evil in this case. Trump is ineffective, mostly because he knows nothing about how politics works and doesn't seem capable of learning. Pence has been in politics for years, and would probably be somewhat more effective. Pence is also a religious zealot, couple that with him understanding our political system, and we have someone who could lay the groundwork for many laws that some would see as a Christian version of Sharia Law.\n\nPersonally, as much as it pains me to say it, I would rather we keep Trump as much of a buffoon as he is, rather than open the door to a religious zealot.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Most of the people trying to kill me thought they were just white Christians doing God's will. The KKK is a Christian organization.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "First of all. Modernism is passe. We are living in a post-modern world. SOme even say post post-modern. \n\nSecond, I stand by what I said. Utter nonsense--specifically, the One, Holy, Catholic part. As far as \"outside of which\" that is simply not provable.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Of course Francis has the warmest relations with Evangelicals -- and thanks to that he can see through the nutters surrounding Trump just as he sees through Catholic integrists.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So, you have exceptions to your rules huh? I have nothing against protection if it is in fact about protection and not just discrimination. In this country, I have just as much possibility of being killed by some radicalized, far-right angry, white Christian male with free access to guns or even cars and improvised bombs as I have of being attacked by an Islamic terrorist, but your president can't even use the words \"radical far-right white Christian domestic terrorist.\" So, protecting us is not his main motive.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Because Canada was founded on Christianity.\nIslamic countries that are based on Islam have Islamic holidays, etc.\nWhat is really worrisome is having to change our ways to meet a religion that does not always appear to have tolerance. Unfortunately, I cannot say anything about misogyny associated with being forced by a religion to cover one's head or about gays being killed in the name of this religion as it offends people. And because it does, I shall refrain.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"... some people have argued that the sexual abuse crisis is a liberal or progressive phenomenon, a crisis of the post-Vatican II church. I don't know if you were one of them -- ....\"\n\nI would simply argue that a sexual crisis will occur -- not 'rape of children\" -- whenever and wherever homosexuals who reject celibacy are inducted into a male seminary. It is not an ideological or liturgical matter, but rather, one of lust, fraud and immorality. No-brainer. Then, those who engage in it begin to cover for each other, form lobbies and issue threats and blackmail against those who do not share in their deplorable conduct.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, NCR, you should have kept quiet about child abuse, covered up like the hierarchy, and kept schtum about the disgraceful treatment of female religious by a bunch of church princes who have never even seen a soup kitchen.\n\nWe are all in your debt, NCR, for giving a voice to the people of God. And if many more Catholics had read your pages and informed themselves, Trump would certainly not be President.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with you. Which is why I condemn many aspects of most all religions and am not affiliated. You dig yourself into a hole quickly when you think your religion is blameless and the rest are fundamentally flawed. They are all flawed.\n\nOur neighbors here in Eugene have done nothing to warrant this kind of scrutiny. You should be outraged that people would be threatening individuals in our community with violence based on their religion. I assure you that the vast majority of Muslims are just as against terrorism and extremism in the name of their religion as any one of us are.\n\nI am not going to get into a theological discussion with you (remember I'm in capable of that because I was never a true Christian).\n\nMute me all you want, I'm not here to convince you - just anyone reading who might agree with your ignorant claims. You've proved you're incapable of avoiding special pleading and a number of other fallacies. Nothing new here. As you put it: Yawn.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So, am I committing a mortal sin by leaving the Roman church for the Lutheran church? I experience Christ in the Eucharist here, even when given by a female pastor. I don't feel I have left the Church--I have simply moved to a part of the Church which has been able to follow the Holy Spirit in terms of women's ordination, priestly marriage, and homosexual relationships without facing the human obstacles in the Roman church. I can trust women to make decisions about their pregnancy, and I can trust couples to determine how to express their love.\n\nWhen the Augsburg Confession was written in 1530, it was fully within the teaching of the undivided Church. Why should I believe the Council of Trent was a valid council? Why was Trent right and Augsburg wrong?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ruse's fixation on gay people and rage on this issue suggest that there is way more going on there than just a dispute about Fr. Martin's approach to dialogue with gay Catholics.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I wouldn't lump all gun owners in one group, or all homosexuals in one group like you are. Fair is fair, but \"Sky daddies\" was a cheap shot at God above. True liberal, anti-gun, anti-Christian, but gay is ok!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Well, I suppose, you can't very well divide your heart.\nYou evidently choose men with power and money and disregard clergy sex abused powerless children! You are proud that you are being a part of this society's back bone I suppose. \nI would think Jesus would cry with one little child who cries in pain rather then with pompous Pope F. It is the most chilling aspect to think none of Catholic Institution clergies except one that I know of speak for the fifty some clergy raped children who killed themselves in horrendous pain. That tells me that they are far from God who is LOVE! \nNone of us can't help being who we are!\nYou go ahead love your idol Pope F. & be proud!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Just visit any Catholic school you'll find more criminals. Go up to Barrie and Orillia its filled with criminals.\n_\nThat is because the Lord always forgives the sinners, so why not commit sins?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Flee sexual immorality.\" 1Corinthians 6:18 is found in the midst of Paul's correcting the oh-so-open-and-welcoming church in Corinth for allowing a heterosexual church member to remain a church member while having a sexual relationship with his father's wife (apparently not his mother). Paul was clear - demand his immediate repentance (which would requiring stopping the sexual activity or be put out of the church). In 2Corinthians, we learn that the man did repent and the church was now judgmentally refusing to allow his return. Paul corrected them again. The sin had stopped, he should be let back in and the sin should never be mentioned again. 1Corinthians also makes it clear that Christians must judge their fellow church members' lifestyles to assure the church doesn't violate God's standards, but we're not responsible for the rest of the world. Let the dead take care of the dead. Christians must discipline the church.\n\nI'll explain the rest in another post.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "MSW missed the point. In his desire to try to impress, he just obfuscated what need not be fancy talk. \n\nThe conscience is an act or work of the intellect.\n\nThe intellect uses \"criteria\" to generate moral tests and comparisons.\n\nIf individuals come up with their own criteria, there will be chaos, as relativism will rule the day. Abortion is ok, abortion is not ok. Adultery is ok, not ok. \n\nThe criteria MUST come external to the person. \n\nThe Church is where Catholics get criteria from.\n\nAnd it's a life time work to keep the Conscience well operating and tuned up. \n\nInstead of using his article space to teach a bit...MSW used it to slam conservatives and then noisily bring in some nonsense from some BC prof.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Disgrace to the Catholic Church was not caused by Bernard Law, but rather by the immoral men he ordained and then declined to remove from the priesthood after he knew they were using the priesthood for sexual access. Law is a red herring to distract the saps of the world from the true cause, i.e. the perpetrators.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The fact that Evangelicals bought that load makes them seem backwards, bigoted, and sexist. This is from someone who goes to church and helps in Sunday school.\n\nTrump had to ask if the denomination he claims to be part of was evangelical. He's on his third marriage and has cheated on his wives. He was recorded making statements no evangelical should condone. He lies as a matter of habit. In every way other than some words, he's a very bad example to anyone's faith. Even on the issue of abortion he's gone back and forth through time enough for anyone to know that he's pandering for votes on the issue. \n\nHillary isn't perfect either. She's a better example than Trump in every way when it comes to religious principals. She's a life long Methodist with a history of policies to help families. Not all her policies align with Evangelicals it's true, but we live in a society that's made of of many groups.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You read all 1217 pages?\n\nYour sad sick religion is just like the pre Lutheran Catholic church. Keep the tombs in a dead language that no one can understand so that they can never be questioned. It worked then, for 800 years, but it will not work now, as you are beginning to see.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This is sad on a number of fronts. Firstly Paul or Paula is a male, so it's a 'he' regardless how he may feel. If I, a descendant of arabs decide I feel like I am black, can I demand to be classified as such? Second, the slavery or heliocentric exemples as old 'Christian ' beliefs that are now outdated is at least ignorant, there is nothing in the Bible that supports chattel slavery, nor heliocentrism. Absolutely nothing! Thirdly, a church embracing the gay or transgender lifestyle as pleasing to God is no longer practicing Christianity, rather their own invented religion. The church is to welcome all but Not condone all behavior. If this mans original church mistreated him that's wrong but they were quite within their rights to fire him provided they did so in a fair and equitable manner. If an Imam on a mosque became a Hindu, he no longer hold Islams values so why should he not be fired?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "True, White, bible thumping, hillbillies are not that much different than Koran thumping Muslims. I guess the big difference is that the hillbillies don't kill in the name of their faith.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus did teach that we should cut off offending appendages. Naturally, some might suggest this be applied to the evil-doing bishops, cardinals and popes who aided pedophile priests for all those years--cut them off from the Church. Of course, that can't be right, because the clergy are the church, the laity are just furniture.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Dolan's 'wisdom' (prideful choice) re: personal participation on Black Friday is deplorable. IMO Trumpelthinskin and his morally bent minions will be laughing at the ridiculous spectacle of the festooned Cardinal pontificating about wisdom to a callous, corrupt dictator. Many others like me on the Day will be appalled. To the legions of Catholic walkaways, hereabouts and elsewhere, if they even momentarily notice Dolan's puffery, it will be 'ho hum, church business as usual.'", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I think equality is going to happen really fast and be a big ho hum, of.course we are equal, or maybe we should say of course you are equal. It will be due to a sense that it is idiotic not to be equal. More and more women will take the back door to ordination. Many many retirement age women will have some income, time, energy and dedication. More will become known about the early church in england , ireland, france and the role of women...we can bypass st paul and his problems with women as women preceded him as church founders. We will figure out that this has been a mater. ..freudian typo..matter of self selection..anyone who thought women belonged at all levels and was possibly not freaked out by them would not be admitted to the holy orders. Keeping women out will just be too darn trokublesome", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No ethnic or race issues to be found in Anchorage crime statics. Must be old privileged white Christians and Jews causing all of the problems.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "In the wake of Donald Trump\u2019s election, the news is flooded with reports of abuse, assault, and harassment, largely of minorities, by jubilant Trump supporters celebrating the ascent of their candidate, a candidate who campaigned by appealing to white heterosexual Christian supremacy. \n\nOver the past 48 hours, women have been assaulted for wearing the hijab, property has been defaced with swastikas, LGBT Americans have been threatened, and African Americans have experienced election result-specific harassment by fellow Americans touting the election of Donald Trump as the dawn of a new America, apparently one where they consider that the ugliest of racial and social animus to have the seal of presidential approval.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the jews were insulated from life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness by the 3rd Reich made up of total control of all levels of government, just like our nation ruled by Republican fascists. Trump's rhetoric is identical to the rantings of Hitler in Mein Kampf and the later speeches. Make Germany Great Again! is the same slogan for Hitler. Trump has the same disdain for Jews as his German ancestors. The only BS is you believing this election is anything except a disaster for any non-white, Jew, or non-christian in this country reflective of the mental cases voting for this tyrant.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Roy Moore isn\u2019t the abusive anomaly, he\u2019s the patriarchal norm.\n\n\n This goes back to the Bible itself that puts brutal men in charge of churches where women must be silent. \n\n\n\n\nVoices raised in protest are exiled. \n\nMoore is a poster boy for evangelicals like Ralph Reed, who should be in jail for double dealings with the casino owners. \n\nHe\u2019s a poster boy for the professional hater Franklin Graham. \n\nMoore with his gun-waving, Bible-quoting is no different in hypocrisy than is Sarah Huckabee, as she quotes Jesus with one side of her mouth and lies for Trump daily out of the other. \n\nAWAY with these scum! \n\nTake back the House in 2018.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Republican nominee appeared before a rich, mostly white, mostly Republican, mostly Catholic audience -- and managed to get booed. On the one hand, this unlikely (in any other year) scenario exposes once again (as MSW rightly says) the boorishness of Donald Trump, his remarkably poor judgment, temperament and timing; on the other hand, the reaction of the audience to his boorishness is reassuring: most people, regardless of politics, religion, or social status, are fundamentally decent and still capable of righteous indignation when face-to-face with someone who isn't. One would hope -- but unfortunately not expect -- that Catholic clerics, especially bishops, who have been explicitly or implicitly supporting the candidacy of the fascist, racist, xenophobic, misogynistic know-nothing Republican nominee will apologize and stand down.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Right. Christians have embraced a man who calls Mexicans \"rapists,\" a man who touches women's genitalia and forces himself on without their consent, and a man whose corporation has discriminated against African-Americans in housing. \nThese \"Christians\" have embraced Donald Trump with open arms and have placed themselves squarely at his service. They have aligned themselves with his \"sins\" and future crimes. They cannot actually be considered Christians any longer but rather, in order to distinguish them from those who really do live a life like Jesus, should be referred to as KKKristians since their false religion is now completely aligned with white supremacy. Such counterfeit Christians will be detained at the gates of heaven and required to prove their identity as Christians which they will not be able to do. They'll be sent to detention center to await deportation to Gehenna where they belong.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It is strange that the school would give an ex-Catholic an honorary degree. Maybe all the big white Catholic donors who voted for Trump and Pence strongly \"urged\" the committee that he receive the honor. So as they say, hypocrites do the devil's drudgery in Christ's livery or, in this case, Notre Dame's livery. (But Samuel Johnson puts it best, at least regarding Fr. Jenkins: \"The hypocrite shows the excellence of virtue by the necessity he thinks himself under of seeming to be virtuous.\" Shame on Notre Dame's president!)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "She IS going to undo what damage she can. Your heroes are entirely responsible for trying to divide the country. The Traitor Obama's race war failed to materialize. 20 years of professors raking in HUGE loot to teach our kids that America and Christians are evil. 1 school district is an out of control lootfest, 13,500 such districts in America= Jeez, I dunno, a gazillion or 2. You're feeling the swirl of the drain, aren't you, swamp rat?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"So much for liberals being tolerant\"\n\nThis is a popular meme, but should also be a clue. I would call a liberty-threatening thug a liberal as soon as I'd call a Bible-burner a Christian or a Republican a fiscal conservative. Definitions or qualifications have to matter at some point, I think. Also, the ever-present scattered nuts are less of a threat than a man who jokes about political assassination in front of large, impressionable audiences.\n\nIn my view, anyways, and I'll punch you if you disagree. ;)", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Really? My Goodness! I would think words like Anglican Church and Catholic Church would be far more offensive than a Star Trek reference. Oh well.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Black Lives Matter, and so Blacks lecture the Church to raise consciousness.\n\nThen why do Black people kill more Black people more than any other race? Why are Black people more prone to violent acts than any other demographic group in America?\n\nWho will lecture Black people on this inconvenient truth? Not NCR, that's for sure.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Haha... Wakey Wakey, time to get real. But no, don't worry about it - keep up the Getting-more-UNreal thing. You and me baby we're nothing but mammals, so let's do it like they do it on the Japanese Channels: human relationships are icky sticky mucky affairs, so.. [DELETE] >The new thing is to have relationships with inanimate electronic devices, and if you're really bold - latex covered sex robots. Have you seen all the lovely Virtual-Reality and Augmented-Reality devices here now and or in the works? Well you will. With the loss and losing of visceral spirituality, something, anything must be brought in to fill the void. So while the political-media keeps trying to sweep Christian stuff into the wastebasket, the media-political keep sweeping in the replacement spirituality. Forget your Western (Anglo-Franco) roots - supposing now you've got 'em, we've got something much much better for you - you get a choice in fact: 1) Electro Do-Dads & i-Moms, or 2) Eastern Dervishes & Imams", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "We must be friendly to homosexual laity and priests. Here's how:\n\nWe must spread the word that when a man rapes a boy, it does not mean he's a homosexual. \n\nWe must build glorious bridges of welcome to the homosexual Catholics. In that orifice or that one, who are we to judge?\n\nWe must forever protect the rights of the thousands of gay priests to stay in the closet.\n\nWWJD?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Jeez man! The article even says that the wording is identical except for the removal of islamophobia. It was a blatant attempt to bury the Liberals' own motion which was targeted at the current problem - bigotry against Muslims. The CPC uses the fear of Islam to cement its base, particularly among evangelical Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You might be right Caiside. I'm actually more interested in the fact they conspired to delete a comment I made on another thread when TomZ went on another rant about sodomy. I wrote that men were more than capable of having an orgasm without an erection, and that had implications about gay sex in terms of his sodomy fixation. Here's one of a number of links that explain a phenomenon most people aren't aware of: https://www.harvardprostateknowledge.org/achieving-orgasm-after-radical-prostatectomy\n\nIt's interesting to me that the Church is blind to this fact, but then when it comes to orgasm and procreation the Church has never seemed to know about orgasm as distinct from any procreative issues in men or women.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No, the government is there to protect the people. We didn't have an income tax until, what, 1860 or so? And that was to fund a war. As far as how tax money is spent, we are at the mercy of whomever is in Congress (hence why we vote). This country has had a lot of religion co-mingled with government since its founding, mostly Judeo-Christian-based. All of this fairness crap started in the 1960s, with Johnson. Remember Kennedy's, \"Ask not...\" speech?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Look at Middle Ages and Reformation-era Europe before and during the time the USA was colonized.\nJews and the \"wrong kind\" of Christians were forcibly converted, had to flee, or were killed.\nLook at Spain in 1492. NOT because of Christopher Columbus. But because Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand \"celebrated\" the unification of Spain by ordering all Jews to leave within two months, convert, or be executed. Many Jews left. Many Jews converted. But the Spanish Inquisition was suspicious of the conversions, fearing they weren't \"sincere\" enough. That's right, they told Jews convert or die, and when Jews converted, they wondered whether the conversion was sincere.\nMartin Luther -- I assume you've heard of him -- preached the theology of Protestantism to the Jews. When the Jews weren't impressed, preferring their own faith, Martin Luther preached and wrote a bitter, cruel anti-Semitism, including burning down synagogues with the Jews inside.\n\"Convert or die\" didn't originate with Islam.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church took Newfoundland to court after the Government acted on the result not one but two referendums (the 2nd time with 73% Yes) where voters chose to replace the Archaic Church Run but Government Funded denominational school system with a modern secular school system. The courts found that decision constitutional. \n\nhttps://www.thestar.com/news/2007/09/16/newfoundland_offers_religious_school_lessons.html\n\nOne seventh of Ontarion lands used to be held in a Clergy Reserve under the constitution act of 1791. Among other problems that hindered economic development. \n\nStupid provisions in Constitutions can be changed or reinterpreted by courts in the light of the current secular majority in Canada.\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clergy_reserve", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Using the bible to justify the shameful slaughtering of animals is very poor reasoning. Try thinking for yourself.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Does appear to me that Donald Trump could be well described as \"scheming, robotic liar with a lifelong appetite for power with a serious impulse control problem\". Carey9 makes reference to alleged anti-catholicism in the Clinton campaign. I'm no fan of Hillary, but as a Catholic husband of a cradle Catholic wife, neither of us found Clinton to be anti-catholic.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Too many people who claim to be Christians have rejected their own Savior's message, \"Be not afraid.\" Instead they use their religion as a weapon and an excuse to spread fear and hate.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"...corruption, worldliness, greed and lust for power that existed in the Catholic Church at the time.\"\n\nas far as i can tell, in reference to the above, nothing has changed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know the ones...those Catholics that support without reservation abortion and birth control.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u2018Catholic Church officials still dither and wring their hands over whether...same-sex couples are living in sin, a matter long settled in the minds of most American Catholics.\u2019\n1. I would hope Church officials (=bishops?) are not dithering but answering with a simple, \u2018Yes, they are living in sin.\u2019\n2. We all live in our little bubbles, and it\u2019s possible that in the author\u2019s bubble most people have \u2018long settled\u2019 the question in her favour. But she might be surprised if she visited other bubbles. And ultimately, does it really matter what \u2018most Americans\u2019 think? Can that change what\u2019s right or wrong?\n3. The strident tone of this article\u2014indeed, of many NCR articles/editorials\u2014is not helpful not conducive to true dialogue. Indulging in phrases like \u2018homohatred\u2019 to describe people who hold diverging opinions only debases the author\u2019s credibility.\n4. I don\u2019t know anyone who is against \u2018same-sex love\u2019. It's the eroticisation of such love that's the sticking point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The evangelicals' support for Trump glaringly displays their complete moral bankruptcy. They are not Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does your pettiness know any bounds?\nThe words, \"Take and eat\" are a command by Christ, but are not a part of the consecratory formula. Again, the Council of Trent, in response to the Protestant heresies of the time, made clear, dogmatically, that the words of the consecration (of the host) are: \"Hoc est enim corpus meam.\" The English translation is \"for this is my body.\"\nThe only \"bad proof texting\" is yours, borne of your flagrant, willful ignorance.\nOh, I'M getting personal? Excuse me Michael, but you again made it personal when you began your most recent chain of lies and distortions, something you can't seem to avoid.\nIf you think \"sexism\" is the reason behind the all-male priesthood, take it up with Christ who ordained only men.\nMagicism? No Michael, it's just your heresy. Whatever you think your \"Faith paradigm\" is, it certainly isn't Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess you might be right. So we don't know by whose authority he makes his religious claims. He is not an ordained minister so where do his \"Christian\" mandates come from? Heaven or hell?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read more closely. I never accused you of saying that. But Bolcon has repeatedly said that for the Church to insist on an all-male priesthood is to hate women. \n\nKnow what it is you don't know. You know nothing of what I know or don't know about Canon Law. You supposedly teach at the college level, but to begin your discussion with the unsubstantiated, general accusation that \"my] background in both [sic] canon law, theology, and the Vatican II documents leaves much to be desired\" is amateurish. \n\nFYI: Canon Law sec. 216 says that \"no undertaking is to claim the name Catholic without the consent of competent ecclesiastical authority.\" Not only is the AWRCP in violation of this Canon, but so are those who, like Bolcon, encourage and aid and abet them.\n\nFinally, I never agreed that \"Roman Catholic Women Priests 'are trained but are not'.\" What I agreed to was that women \"priests\" BELIEVE they are trained but are not. Get the difference? \n\nYour post gets a D-, prof.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clearly, the sting of the lost election has produced an ultramontain reaction.\n\nWhat to do when one's agenda for open borders and climate change was foiled by cooperation between Evangelical and Catholic Christians? Christians who are more concerned about abortion, illegal immigration and Islamic terrorism than faith in socialism?\n\nObviously, you make the silly argument that such cooperation is unjust.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dougie, the first large scale genocide in the modern world was committed by the Muslim Turks against the Christian Armenians in 1915 over 1.8 million murdered. Armenia was the first nation in the world to accept the Christian faith.\nTurkey and the Muslim world refuse to admit to these terrible crimes.\nPresent leader of Turkey makes it a crime to mention the Armenian genocide.\nJust imagine if modern day Germany would do that regarding the holocaust.\nThe narrative is this pushed by Dougie and friend West and Christians bad and Muslim victims . This narrative is pushed daily buy the Globe and the media in general. Lets have a discussion regarding the Armenian Genocide and putting pressure on Turkey to act more civilized regarding this issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Phew. When folks live their lives based on outdated racist and sexist guidebooks such as Rev Parker's, they're doomed to this sort of forced yet nonsensical wordsmithery to justify their flat-earth world view. We shouldn't be surprised, this is the way it is, has been, and always will be, forever and ever, amen.\n\nBut answer me this, Rev.: he Bible tells us that no matter how anti-Christian the president's actions are, or how abusive priests are to our children, we should just support them blindly? Not gunna do it.\n\nIn the real world, Reason Trumps Faith, again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'It wasn't land use that was being disputed; it was the word 'muslim.' \n\nBy that token, the word Islam attached to anything is not a golden ticket for Muslims to get anything and everything they want, and to rump the social standards of the rest of the country. \"Islamic\" prayers in schools is good but Christian prayers i n school is bad. \"Islamic\" gender segregation is good but secular gender segregation is bad. Islamic homophobia is at least tolerated but white people homophobia is not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "NO ONE has the right to tell you what to do with your body.\n|\n\nThe Christian governments in Canada are way out of control - they are creating war everywhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Probably because they follow in the footsteps of the male celibate Jesus Christ.\n\nJesus, a devout Jew, no doubt held to the Jewish belief that the command to procreate and populate the earth was binding, since his Father had commanded it.\n\nThus it precedes your whipping boy of a \" male, celibate Roman Catholic hierarchy\".\n\nOnce you get the Father to endorse your morality of \"if you have a flagpole, it needs to be saluted\", you'll be cooking with gas.\n\nUntil then, it is all just gas.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Granting the premise--climate change is the most crucial issue facing humanity at this time--who exactly ought to be raising this issue, who is guilty for fact it is not a significant election issue?\n\nNot the candidates and their campaigns, for as Elagabalus says, we know that Trump is nuts on this issue as well as many others, so the only rational vote on this issue is Clinton. Given the absurd nature of this campaign, I wouldn't expect her to go there. \n\nThe US Converence of Catholic Bishops, on the other hand, they should be blamed for not raising this issue as a factor. Because it is urgently relevant to an honest preoccupation with life. Because the universal Church has declared it the issue of our time. Because the bishops focus on abortion inclines those who care what the bishops think to vote for Trump and his party, who are on record as standing four square against trying to save our bacon on climate change.\n\nMay God have mercy on their anti-salvation stance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I did not realize about any breach of ethics...i just looked at todays eyeliner everyone wears and today a box of crayons still decides someones future one way not the other? It should not get her fired from her job unless she is truly racist, and an argument against her is that shes running around in blackface like she is owned by the cooking network... Even better some of those vine vids...Reed, those have gotz to go! It was halloween...the vine vids are n worded and people posting latino vids about hispanics being stereotyped as the religious catholic. I can see how lines get blurred. Yet she is sorry. So if my comments seem offensive, i never did that. I have worn eyeliner?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The decision to build a 'Catholic school' seems to have been a trick, designed to get around the spirit of the law, which is there to support one \"entrenched\" and historic right: the right of Francophones of the province, who _used to be_ schooled exclusively by the Church, so their schools were parochial. This is not a legal Catholic school, it's a school of convenience funded by the public purse. Normally, Catholic education is separated because Catholic educators don't want the students to have any contact with non-Catholics. Seems to me there is no \"right\" here except the right to cheat the system. If there are \"not enough\" real Catholics to fill the \"real Catholic schools\" then shut them down (and provide French education to those who want it).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, Ryan, your first point would have merit if I was arguing that Christianity shouldn't be taught (of course it should, though not as a sanctified subject). My point entirely was different: approaching all learning with that colored lens is self-defeating. Would one expect true learning in an orthodox madrasah? A communist-funded university?\nYou supplied the \"simply:\" I have many more thoughts about Christianity (isn't it interesting that there are so many different religions huddled within that vast cloak?) but the space here is limited. Frankly, I found Christianity unsatisfactory, intellectually, when it specified that god was a \"He\" and created \"man\" in \"His image and likeness.\" Exactly what was this god doing with his sexual organs? The rest of Genesis, of course, is all twaddle and was taught as THE truth until incontrovertible evidence arrived through the vehicle of science--- suddenly, the argument became that the Old Testament was metaphorical. Righto!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This voucher bit, how would it work for poor kids? Most large and many small cities managed to confine people of color to certain areas then continued to inflict them with poor services, schools, street maintence, garbage service, police protection, voting rights etc.\nNow the voucher system is pretending to stand up for these kids by taking money away from whatever schools are left to them and saying that the poor kids have to go a long ways to attend a real school, maybe on an unsafe bus or subway. Then when they apply they will be told the other school is full and they can't get in\nThen there is this gals Christian angle, we don't believe in global warming, evolution or even the constitution as far as peoples rights , \"given by God \" but taken by racist thugs. There are very few integrated churches in America. How often does one see the confederate battle flag among \"Christians\" whose main agenda is a Nazi like \"keeping the blood pure\". Go to Walmart my friend look at the people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does the Catholic Church force nuns to wear uniform, and don't they force nuns and priests into celibacy. To me that is more repressive!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians have plenty a platform. Churches, schools, radio stations, tv channels. They actually have too many in my opinion. For once it's actually refreshing to hear from the opposite side.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The cognitive dissonance is amazing. Mitch McConnell extends the Senate session determined to pass a so-called health care bill depriving millions of access and Christians cheer? What?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "El Duque 2, Christians in Alberta are not attacked daily, no matter what is happening in the whole world. In fact they are very rarely attacked at all in Alberta. Someone calls you to account and you call that an attack ... That is making yourself into a victim, can you not see that? As John the Baptist would say, \"You brood of vipers!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For me,its easy to dislike Trump because he is a Christian and a Conservative, but the reason Ibbitson is criticising him is because of his appointments of extremely religious people whose beliefs are mainly ignorant, bigoted and racist and have a good chance of being promoted by his government.. although we dont know for sure. If Trump is serious about Making America Great again this is not the way to do it; he will make the US into a kind of backward theocracy that will be extremely damaging to the US population in general as well as everyone influenced by the US. If it was not so damaging the US will become a laughing stock.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is how it is being spun by the author and presumably the Conservative party as he speaks for them..It is a disgraceful assertion. Trying to paint those who oppose the policies of Mr Scheer as anti Christian is shameful and unworthy even for a former Harper spokesman.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Heroic Barbara Blaine was inspiration to survivors and all men and women who know that transubstantiators shouldn't be allowed to rape kids. Wilton Gregory conducted the Dallas convention which appointed Cardinal Levada, then archbishop of San Francisco, to create sex abuse policies for the entire church. Levada came back to San Francisco and gave the job to Father Gregory Ingels, pedophile priest, about whom Levada testified under oath after 2002, that he knew Ingels was a sex abuser since 1996. Appointed him anyway.\nI suppose Wilton Gregory doesn't remember all this when he asks that God have mercy on Barbara Blaine's soul.\nWithout Barbara Blaine and David Clohessy Catholic mothers would still be having their sons going over to rectories for sleepovers and then confessing their sins to the pedophile priests abusing their children.\nThe Pontifical Secret still keeps their pedophile priests and bishops in business and Barbara Blaine's courageous, holy, life exposed the evil. \nAW", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The conception of Catholism the msw presents here is one that pegs pride in country as racist, respect for personal and public property and the rule of law as racism, respect for nationalism as red-flag racist, respect for capitalism as egregiously anti-Christian, respect for Christian norms of family as pure hatred-of-the-Other, respect for culture and American civics as hopelessly backward.\n\nThat is what msw is trying to sell you as \"the real Catholicism.\" Voters in this country knew better. They do not want to be hyper-liberal. And, they never, ever, will.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The \"popular\" reaction places this issue at the level of \"Christianity versus the rest\". In point of fact, Christianity itself is so much fragmented into different sects that it is sometimes even difficult to rationalise that they have anything in common at all (many other faiths share the same problem). At times, in considering immigration applications, the NP government (itself strongly Calvinist-oriented) found Roman Catholicism and atheism equally repugnant.\nIt could perhaps be questioned whether studies of comparative religion have any place in schools below the senior high school levels. Are the younger children sufficiently mature to derive any benefit from them?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, do we carry a photo ID of our genitals? (Will there be funding for \"landscaping\"?) Do we drop our drawers for inspection (TSA-like) before entering a restroom or locker room? Blood test? Flash our boobies? What if someone has man boobies? What happens to a person who has no genitalia? Females with beards because of hormone disorders? \nAnd let's leave churches out of it shall we? Unless we include all spiritual traditions, which of course will only create further conflict. Sorry Jim, but the \"Christian church\" isn't the only spiritual practice out there. \nWho the heck carries their birth certificate around? \nAnd now, I've just wet my pants. Sigh. I just wanted to go pee. Middle age sucks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "why did you delete your comment insulting my father? are you (these are your words that you used against me for absolutely no reason other than projection): \"...ashamed of who you are and what you promote.\"\nAlso curious, since earlier in your tirade, you were preaching about true christians etc....is it true christian behavior to insult another person's father?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Love all sinners no matter the crime hahahahaha. A liberal christian hahahahaha. Give it up dude you lost. Just get over it. Try again in eight years. Bye.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh shoot I find Ted Haggard and Jimmy Swaggart wildly entertaining, they absolutely do not upset me in the slightest and therefore they are not false Christians!!!!!!! I have complete faith in those fellas, they speak with the tongue of Jesus, Praise the Lord!!!! Yes I agree with you on this!!!!?!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, now isn't that fair. Remove Christianity and replace it with any thing but(I have a good idea of which peaceful religion you are thinking of) No religion in schools! Persue your faith at home!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sure all the Good Christian people of Alabama will be clutching their pearls in Outrage over Dump's use of foul un-Jesusy language. \nWhatever Will We Tell The Children", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's a fact. People don't comprehend that those biblical characters were illiterate and filled with their superstitions at the time. and anything out of their realm of comprehension was... \nThese self proclaimed republican and democrat evangelicals and Christians, spouting off their words of cruelty, racism, greed, avarice and self legalized corruption, think they have the hand of the refugee who was jesus, even as they kick refugees out of our country, and immigrants, even though their ancestors were illegal immigrant aliens who stole and murdered their way across this country. These Christians defund the health and social programs that help the same class of people their jesus lived and breathed to help, in order to give the same money to the same class of people their jesus punted out of the temples.\nThese corrupt evangelicals and Christians, expecting to go to their heaven, makes as much sense as terrorists, expecting to their heaven with their 72 virgins, after murdering so many", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You seem to have a remarkable knowledge of the duplicity of early Christians in fabricating the Scriptures, putting words into Our Lord's mouth.\nIn esssence then we have no evidence that Jesus Christ said or did anything whilst on earth. Indeed we have only the testimony of Josephus and Pliny that He even existed.\nFrom this then no one need believe then anything they read in the NT; about the life, the teaching, the passion, the death, the resurrection and ascension of Our Lord, and this on the say-so of an agnostic-atheist which some dumb University employs to teach Christian Scripture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trid is presenting his tired old \"you are only Catholic if you agree with EVERYTHING the magisterium says\". Differ by one iota, and you are not truly Catholic.\n\nTrid does not accept \"the hierarchy of truth\" -- I would prefer to call it \"the hierarchy of teachings\". Some teachings are more significant than others. To claim the teaching on contraception is as important as the teaching on Christ's divinity is silly.\n\nHe is reading most of the American Catholics out of the Church. It is estimated that 90% of married Catholics in the US and Canada of childbearing age have used contraceptives. Clearly, this is a teaching that has been firmly rejected. \n\nSomething that Trid denies, the magisterium has changed teachings. For example, Pius IX condemned freedom of religion several times, Vatican II said it was a right of all people. So when teachings change, do you go with the old or with the new?\n\nHe is really saying, \"Those who disagree with me are not Catholic\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians praising their jesus and then supporting mean spirited laws banning refugees and immigrants, are Christians in their own minds.\nTheir jesus was himself a refugee, fleeing a guaranteed death from a Roman Empire propped up despot, no different than the despots America props up to allow thieves and murderers free access to resources and lands belonging to others.\nAs a non Christian, I have to shake my head at the beliefs and actions of Christians that are 180 degrees opposite of what their jesus stood for. To me, todays Christians in Washington saying they have the right hand of their god and expecting to go to their heaven after lifetimes of corruption on behalf of the well monied money changers, makes as much sense as the Mideast terrorists expecting to go to their Islamic heaven with 72 virgins after the wholesale slaughter of untold thousands of innocents, who are caught between the purveyors of thievery and genocide that are following bastardized versions of their religion", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The internet, yes, reports like this reality in France don't help foster a welcoming attitude to mass Islamic immigration:\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gZFGpNdH1A\n\n'Islamophobic' - an irrational fear of Islam. There is nothing irrational about fearing the implementation of Islam and Quranic/Sharia values. 'Islamophobic' may be an acceptable term if being a Muslim was inherent. But it's not, people become Muslims and stop being Muslims - there is no Muslim gene. Being a Muslim (for adults) is a CHOICE. \n\nI don't think we should ban the Quran or Mein Kempf, but we do need to be aware of what the content espouses and freely criticise it. Many passages in the Quran are antithetical to the notion of a judo-Christian secular culture - see Q5:51 for a start. \n\nAnd then there's the fact that the mighty Western press is Sharia-compliant in its behaviour of suppressing Motoons: Yale university published a book about them - without showing the cartoons themselves (for safety reasons)!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What's even worse, the bishops, dogged dogmatists that they are, will insist that God revealed the structure of the Catholic church to be hierarchical. But too many Catholics these days know better than to believe that, and many of those Catholics have been catechized from the cradle, as it were! Maybe it's the bishops who need to be catechized!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To quote President Trump: \"Now THAT'S a grab in the p---y.\" I've been dreading a report like this, and now it has dropped in our laps like lead. How sad, and frustrating. It is reflected in just about every comment made on this thread. I hate to say it, but it lays out for us how incapable this organization is of producing any sort of reform that has real meaning to it. Will this mobilize a greater reform movement of the laity? Will this produce the outcry from the majority of the Church that shakes the rafters of the Vatican City buildings? Will there be demonstrations in St. Peter's Square like the marches in resistance to Trump? Sad to say, I doubt it. Catholics, like other religions, simply withdraw under such conditions, and leave completely (\"nones\") or stay based on \"I like my parish priest.\" But Trust in our faith leaders has been so very fragile for years due to this very topic, and now this will be the final blow for many faithful that will push them out and away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your comment presumes that Christianity is incompatible with the Constitution, and that Christians don't want to abide by the Constitution, and that Christians can't practice their religion without wanting to force it down the throats of others.\n\nI reject that notion, as I know many Christians who favor religious freedom for all, and understand and respect the establishment clause of the First Amendment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You would deny the Church's right to fire people from positions where they are required to teach or represent the Church's teaching that gay sex is wrong. By what right do you do that? Do you not see that to maintain in a teaching position one who's in a gay marriage is to seriously undermine important Catholic teaching?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Important. After the U.S.S.R. left Afghanistan, the U.S. abandoned our 1980s Pro U.S. Afghan Muhajeen instead of Rebuilding \"Little America\" Afghanistan as previously since the 1950s built up to be a 20th Century Nation, with all Funding Cut by U.S. Congress, the 1980s Pro U.S. Afghan Muhajeen lacked everything. The 5 Million Pro U.S.S.R. Afghans then returned from U.S.S.R. Backed Muslim Nation of Iran, Fully backed by the Muslim Nation of Iran, and easily massacred the surviving 20,000 to 50,000 1980s Pro U.S. Afghan Muhajeen. Democrat Congressman Charles Wilson (\"Charlie Wilson's War\") then said \"We F_cked Up The End Game\". 5 Million Pro U.S.S.R. Afghans then became the 1990s Afghan Taliban, and massacred Million Afghans as Collaborators to the Christians, Jews, and Unbelievers, then redistributed their Lands (like Democrat Wealth Redistribution) amoungst loyal Muslim Pro Taliban Afghan Civilians. 5 Million Afghan Taliban is the low number.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Point well taken on the vss 20-21. There are theologians who are of the mind that the Trumpets are a result of the Christian Church going into error, and admittedly I am partial to this view. But in fairness, it would seem that text could be addressing much of humanity and not necessarily just medieval Catholicism.\n\nAgreed that Moslems are not exempt from 7 Last Plagues. Those plagues are in the future. We are discussing the interpretation of the 5th and 6th Trumpets from the perspective that they are fulfilled already.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "i'm talking about what are in effect 'cultured' arrogant religious attitudes of insensitivity toward others who don't perform religion in the same way that we Catholics do -- and how we conclude they don't \"follow Jesus\" because they don't think and act like us. i'm not surprised that you just don't get it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another example would be the Christian extremist who murdered a doctor who performed abortions... or the people who firebombed abortion clinics... or the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta... or the Ku Klux Klan... or the Aryan Nations group.... all terrorist acts or terrorist groups and all who justify their actions and views based on their Christian faith.\n\nI was simply using Bernardo as an example, but don't doubt for a second that there are violent people out there who claim their Christian faith as their motivation. Now, do you want to continue to argue that all Muslims are terrorists or that nobody else is? Because I could keep this up all day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Uh, since the majority of people in Seattle are theologically illiterate, may I point out the mayor may *not* receive communion in the Catholic Church if he is in what Christians for 2000 years or so call a fake \"marriage\"? Or involved in an extramarital affair? I know it's a shock to bring up such triviality to such a sophisticated group of readers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What in the world is happening to this country? Another obsessive attack on one of the 5 Catholic non-negotiables.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But you don't try to make Presbyterians accountable for the few Christians who refuse blood transfusions to the point of ending up with dead children. \n\nMost religions have a nutbar brand or two kicking around to swell their ranks.\n\nWhile I don't disagree with the idea that Islam has some particularly virulent brands that are wreaking havoc everywhere they go, I don't have any reason to imagine that mainstream Muslims are any more responsible for the conduct of Islamic militants than I am for my fellow atheist Mao Zedong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some Christians do enjoy playing the martyr don't they? It's almost like they were being shot by police with impunity and for no reason.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Northrup, how very naive you are. True, you don\u2019t see \"folk being forced to pray, give to the church or profess Christ as the true and living God\" but what you do see is the majority religion--Christianity--being forced on American women in the form of restrictions on their right to access reproductive healthcare. \nAmerican women have endured Christian fanatics and their harassment at the places they seek healthcare for decades depending on where they live. Depending on where American women live, they may not have access to bias-free medical care which is the standard for American men in this country. The fact is that the pro-life movement has successfully inspired violent religious fanatics with their rhetoric and have relied on them to move their agenda forward. It's been a success. Now Texas, the most pro-life state, has the highest maternal mortality rate of the developed world. All Christians are responsible for this permissive attitude concerning violence towards women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She stated that criticizing FGM and honour killings is tantamount to \"persecuting\" them (i.e. we shouldn't say anything because it would make them upset). She compared Bible verses that nobody in the Judeo-Christian world takes literally with the fact that 20% of people in \"moderate\" Muslim countries like Indonesia support honour killings. She is a whackjob.\n\nMy point is, before criticizing Tories on alleged fringe members, the Liberals should kick out their own first.\n\nI'll let others decide for themselves : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heynpDBmTfw", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Change 'Catholic' to 'Islamic' and watch him froth at the mouth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You support institutionalized sexism, you upbraided me for loving my homosexual brothers and sisters, and you continually repeat the LIE that the magisterium has never changed a teaching (not to mention your praise of the pseudo-Christian Thatcher) -- yes, I do wonder if you aren't really on the side of the father of lies.\n\nPerhaps if you were to show some love for your fellow Christians in your posts I would not have questions. But as long as you maintain the attitude that the letter of the law gives eternal life, and man was made for the Sabbath, I will have doubts. Certainly, I see no reason to join the group of modern-day Pharisees that you belong to.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Josephus documents the death of Jesus, although some dispute the acuracy of this. We have artifacts that call Jesus the King of the Jews, but he was not a historic messiah, as he did not overthrow the Roman government over the Jews. His dominion was not of the earth. As for his resurrection, the ministry of Paul and others testifies to the factual nature of it and the discovery of contemporaneous copies of his Epistles testify to his reality as a historical figure and his belief that he and others had seen the risen Jesus. Without such witness, Christianity would be a silly religion and the New Testament would be read with the Oddesy as ancient literature rather than theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(cont.) That priest was not teaching class or on the School Premises two days later on the following Monday. He and his new BUICK car were GONE............They TRANSFERRED him somewhere they would not disclose. This is TYPICAL in the whole Catholic Organization...........Just move them around so they can Offend or TRY to Offend again, Discus-sting...........", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Name ONE person who has died as a result of smoking marijuana in the last 100 years? I'm listening. How many people died of fentanyl, YESTERDAY? Gail Beck, is a RADICAL RELIGIOUS ZEALOT, who's information is based on a stereotype generated by a RADICAL RELIGIOUS CHRISTIAN group, almost 100 years ago, it was called REEFER MADNESS. She calls herself a child Psychologist, well, I have news for you, her education, is based on religion, not facts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A Phobia is described as an irrational Fear. Fear of Islam is not irrational, they have been fighting Christians for thousands of years. This is all about Liberal engineering of their politically correctness on the rest of us...I'll think and fear what I decide. I'm getting a Liberalphobia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Providence bilked Alaskans for tens of millions of dollars, most likely is much more, by lobbying our politicians in support of CON laws. The big lie that Providence promotes is that the CON laws are keeping medical cost down at their facility by restricting competition. Then they throw one million at the minions as a gesture of Christian charity. I find the results of their lobbying a disgusting abuse/shakedown of Alaskans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"OK, Catholics don't recognize same sex marriage. No one is expecting the church to change its position.\"\nMore importantly, that's NOT a Christian value, because Jesus never said anything about it. For politicians to be good Christians they should be talking about the sick and the poor and the sinners, like Jesus did, instead of trying to pass laws about who we can get naked with.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, you're right about a Pope not banning Catholics from the military. Thanks for pointing that out. As you say, people should not enlist because they are responding to Jesus' invitation to the better way of nonviolence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At least one thing ought to cheer Catholic liberals: Paul Ryan has been neutralized. Ryanism is dead.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Artster...you would think a well informed bible thumpin' gun totin' evangelical republican standard bearer would realize it's Canadian conservatives who gather at Timmies instead of directing alternative facts at you like, \"You may be a hit with your morning coffee group at Timmie's but other that that, not so much.\"\n\nAlas, not everyone can live in a maintenance free active adult lifestyle community complete with their own cyber cafe, full-time, on-site Lifestyle Director and \"actually live and experience the day to day evolution\"...instead some of us are to still \"perched\" in neighbourhoods that expose us regularly to the entire milieu of Canadian society.\n\nWhat never fails to surprise me is they don't have a full time funeral director & crematorium as the angry aging republicans lash out on the Globe and Mail comments columns, then go play 11:00 pm pickle ball and then their hearts blow up before 2:30 pm bible study class and 3:00 pm bocce ball!\n\nSee you at Starbucks in the morning:)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "how many more decades of despicably absurdist depravity by cons and zealots do we have to endure before I jump to another blatantly obvious conclusion? if I need to list just some of the overwhelming proof you'd refuse to acknowledge a lick of then how far into the depths of 'believer' denial are you? is the Earth just a few thousand years old? are women doomed to eternal abusive servitude because they were laughably made from a rib out of a man? is W a burning Bush? I was raised in a decent Baptist church and NOBODY ever espoused a bit of the trash being spewed by these lowest road evangelicals with agendas far outside of 'Christ's teachings', so please, give it a break!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evidently, the smaller, holier Church is going to be built on hate, which is probably not the rock that Jesus had in mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Marty, where have you been?\nBTW - I asked you some days ago to substantiate your statement that Francis (when in Argentina, as Bergoglio) had been known in the seminary (so you claimed) by the nickname 'la comadreja'. You also claimed to know the reason for the alleged nickname - and I asked you to let us know it.\nBut only silence has ensued from you.\nTherefore it must be presumed that you have nothing with which to substantiate your statement.\nOh - you were also asked to explain what you meant by saying to me: 'do you want me to throw the board in your face?'.\nStill 'supporting the Church' with your deep Christianity, I see.\nWhoopee indeed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your post violates the first principle: Human intelligence in good faith. Jesus' maleness demonstrates only that \"He\" was/is male.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marty, bans against abortion, which is quite often a medical necessity, is a religious ban that was invented by Political Christian Fundamentalist and Evangelicals to control society. Its Pro-life centers are funded by those radical fanatic Christians who reminiscent of the Crusades are actually fighting the equivalent of the Ottoman Empire's goal to rule the word under sharia law. So you represent those radical Christians. You sound very autocratic women who you accuse of murder when in fact all they re trying to do is survive along with their families. You speak like a theocratic dictator. It is not surprising that you like Trump. I used to communicate with the now defunct Archbishop of the Harrisburg Diocese, MacFadden. He explained to me that women cannot get away with having sex and not paying for it by suffering through a grueling 9 month pregnancy. He did not quite use those terms but that is what he meant. Women are not to enjoy sex without the suffering of pregnancy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Liberals do not point to Newman\u2019s homosexuality as a slander. Just the opposite. Gay Catholics relate to Cardinal Newman as a brother. It is those who would find that to be a slander that they malign.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anti-Christian much??...I once had respect for your paper, but no longer do I harbor such delusions that you try to faiely represent our city of Portland, everyone included....everyone that is, EXCEPT Christians. :(", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CUE: \"What else would you expect from a DRUGGIE like Kesey. Here is one of Kesey's quotes, source, BrainyQuotes, \"I was raised a Christian and was a stone-faced ACID head\". Ken Kesey. Well, you gotta love Honesty.\"\n***************************\nwhat's your point?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When you accuse someone of being homophobic it is because in line with the teaching of the Church, the Catechism and both Testaments of Holy Scripture they consider homosexual activity to be gravely sinful.\nNo one posting here hates homosexuals or advocates that they should be hated. On the contrary, the Church offers forgiveness and reconciliation to all sinners who repent and try to amend their lives according to God's Will.\nYou belong to a Church which teaches that homosexual activity is \"intrinsically disordered\" a teaching which only recently Cardinal Tobin endorsed. You haven't condemned him as a homophobe or a liar. Why is that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Aesthetics does matter. The church has given a great deal of attention to aesthetics in its history, from the beautiful chants to the stained glass. The visual, the auditory, the aesthetic is completely relevant. The aesthetic was abandoned in the novus ordo mass, which is just plain ugly. How about this: I'll agree to female priests if you agree to replace the novus ordo mass with the TLM entirely, throughout the catholic church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Sad. You can't even acknowledge that other people have the right to hold beliefs that differ from your own.\"\n\nNow you're just lying. I've never said any such thing.\n\n\"In your mind, you know what is true and best for you and all others. Sounds downright fascist to me,\"\n\nNo, that's what religious nuts like yourself say.\n\nStill waiting for an actual example of how atheists \"tear down churches\" by not buying your theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True, but those who incite violence at \"rallies\" do self-identify as both \"republican\" and \"Christian.\" They did vote for Trump, and he did thank them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish people would understand that \"worshiping\" or following a deeply held religious faith, regardless of the sect, denomination, etc. is more than just what happens on Sunday morning from 11am-noon. Religious faith and religious life is not a suit one wears one day in a week, and then one puts on a different suit for the remainder of the week. True faith affects a person's every action. It forms one's view of the world. Requiring Christians to help facilitate something their faith strongly condemns, e.g. baking a wedding cake, photographing a wedding, counseling a same-sex couple etc., is in the same vein as forcing a conscientious objector to go to war. We don't force C.O.'s into the Army, many of whom have religious objections; why do we force other people of faith to go against their religious objections? If the First Amendment is to be anything more than feel-good legislation, then people of faith must be allowed to live that faith every day-even if it isn't popular with others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus didn't come for the 'sinless' but for the sinners. Christians can sin as much as anybody else.\nSadly, it is the official church which made 'sexual expression' a worse sin than:\n1) cold-blooded murder\n2) extortion/black-mail \n3) nuclear proliferation\n4) an authoritative corruption by officials---church & state", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not a hate crime and the US has every right to decide who enters its territory. It just so happens that Mr. Trump feels those particular Muslim countries at this point in time are possible risks for terrorist activities in the homeland. I don't agree with his choice of countries (Saudi Arabia should be in there over Iran), but it is what it is. \n\n If it was radical Christians coming from Canada to cause trouble in the US then I'm sure he would not hesitate to ban Canadians from entering. Canada is predominantly Christian yet we likely would not see this as a ban on Christians. I don't see that there is a ban on Muslims from Indonesia or Malaysia so this clearly is not a \"Muslim ban\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Do you also find it strange that Catholic churches are allowed to exist?\"\n\nAre you accusing Catholic churches of being monuments that celebrate slavery? Does your bishop know about this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh look dozens of coptic christians murdered in Egypt. Go Allan, go. There's work to do.\n\nPeople might be critical of Islam.\n\nGet in there and set the record straight!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Peter, if the conservative Christian were requesting a cake to celebrate say his son's birthday, then yes refusing his request because the baker does not like conservative Christians, would essentially be discrimination. BUT, if he were requesting the cake to celebrate his son's gay conversion therapy, and if the baker refused because he did not want to be instrumental in celebrating gay conversion therapy, then that would not constitute discrimination. The Colorado case is comparable to the second scenario rather than the first.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course not ! The law only applies to Christians who are straight. gays are a protected species like the spotted owl .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tell me:\n\nThose were Church councils. Why do you accept the authority of the Church to speak on these issues, and accept the creed, and you accept the authority of the Church when it comes to social teaching? \n\nThat same authority also teaches that women cannot be ordained, abortion is murder, gay marriage is sinful, divorce and remarriage is sinful ,etc. Why on those issues can the Church not be trusted? Why all of a sudden does the Church not know what she is talking about?\n\nWhy should I accept what the Church says about Jesus in her councils if you are telling me I should not accept what the Church teaches about the moral life? If the Church can't be trusted in the moral demands of the Gospel, then it seems to me the Church cannot be trusted on social justice or matters concerning the identity of Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kieran thanks for your response. Will Francis receive a copy of the 'Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church: An Interpretive Review of the Literature and Public Inquiry Reports\u2019? \nThe victims have been spiritually murdered and have had their communion with Christianity shattered. If the Liturgy is to be revamped on a country/diocesan need, then, I feel, that it would be a wise and a very charitable act to pray for and acknowledge those victims of clergy sexual abuse. \nSomething that hasn\u2019t been covered and it is whether or not there is any correlation between transvestism (but, only with paraphiliac symptoms, such as, sexual violence, psycho-spiritual) and pedophilia. I\u2019ve noted that the priestly vestments were upgraded from the simple Roman white frock to the more flamboyant-royal purple look of lace and silk frock. (11th C. Eng. or Fra) The possible attraction for some seminarians and could stir latent or repressed sexual deviancy. Maybe or maybe not, just a thought.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "SNAP has done some good things and some bad things. There will always be some pedophile or abusive priests as in the USA there are almost 40,000 Catholic priests, you will always be able to find some, if only a few. SNAP should be delighted that there are much, much fewer abusive priests and fewer victims than 30-50 years ago. But it looks like the fewer problems does not work on SNAP as they always seem to say, \"Catholic children are not safe!\"\n\n Pedophiles and pederasts are marbled throughout society. In the past 40 years or so, this has become a moral panic of sorts. I well remember the recovered memory theory, the Satanic day care centers and other incredible stories of supposed pedophiles. Julia Yost, an editor of \"First Things\" write a interesting essay in Nov, 2015 that gives a credible narrative of our obsession, and inability to accept good news on the subject, titled \"Children of Desire\", linked here\n https://www.firstthings.com/article/2015/11/children-of-desire", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Voting for Hillary and being Catholic is an oxymoron . Abortion is an abomination in the eyes of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed. And does she not know that red onion skins are the preferred egg dye among Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It really should not bother you to be called a troll.\n\n1. Consider the source, a full-time disparager of the Catholic Church, communicant of a Protestant sect, and member of a clique who wants a \u201cBlock Function\u201d. \n\n2. Consider the provocation, disagreeing.\n\nIf you operate without a thick hide you\u2019re going to stay desolate since approval is never going to be forthcoming.\n\nAs they say, just pay it no nevermind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good point. Traditionally, Conservative \"elites\" have less knowledge and much lower morals. For example like Augusto Pinochet who just raped and killed people who opposed him like catholic nuns. Also not an aspirational term in this context.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many of these\"new communities\" so favored by John Paul \"the great (something)\" were instruments of physical, psychological and sexual abuse: The Legion of Christ, Miles Jesu etc. All seem to be clones of Opus Dei and and stress secrecy. \n\nWhen traditional religious communities committed themselves to the updating directed by Vatican II these new groups sprang up in the dark closets of the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cIf you were blind, Jesus replied, \u201cyou would not be guilty of sin. But since you claim you can see,\u2019 your guilt remains.\u201d (John 9:41)\nYou, Catholic Institution clergies starting from Pope F portray 'Dev!l'!!!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims been coming to this country for about 100 years. The kids are now doctors lawyers accountants, etc. This is the same as it has been for Jews, Italians, Hungarians, Sikhs, Vietnamese and Irish Catholics if you want to go back far enough. Each of those groups had people like you saying they were primitive and would never adapt. Shame on you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They have lived their entire lives supported by the laity. No wives, no children, no pediatrician or day care or tuition bills. They impose their distorted understandings of marriage,sexuality, family, and children on those who support them in the style to which they are accustomed - as princes. The hypocrisy reeks.\n\n BUT, who is at fault for this? Thirty million+ cradle Catholics in the US have left the RCC, or at least ceased to participate actively. They, and their money, are gone, because the only voice lay Catholics have in their church is their money and their presence. I read this site every day, even though I stopped participating as an active Catholic. The RCC was a very important part of my life for 50+ years, and I can't totally ignore it. For one thing, the bishops try to impose their beliefs on ALL, not just Catholics. The one thing that amazes me is that so many Catholics complain - bitterly and rightly - yet still write the checks that support the status quo. Why?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Worrying about just the right words is magicism. I am not at all ignorant. I am making fun of your way of approaching dogma. I have a similar view of efforts like Humanae Vitae which go out of their way to not change doctrine, even if called for, lest the magic of papal infallibility be visibly disturbed. The protection of Christ for the Church and its leaders is about actually changing rather than pesisting in error and calling that persistence divinely protected truth. Faith is about doing what is right and relying on God, not in scrupulous adherence to the past.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course, he gives us no actual reason women cannot be ordained. He just says \"I, your pope, say so.\" Which is an excellent cause for rejecting it. The Vatican's position paper on \n\nFrancis won't respond to the \"dubia\" men because he just full well that they aren't asking questions, they are playing Church politics. These Pharisees believe, as do you, that it is the letter of the law that gives eternal life, and man was made for the Sabbath. Allow the divorced and remarried to receive the Eucharist? The rules say they can't, and the rules must be obeyed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Writing in the November 5, 2012 issue of Commonweal, Gene McCarraher alludes to \" \u2026 Fr. Robert A. Sirico, whose Acton Institute is the horrid love-child of Thomas Aquinas and Ayn Rand \u2026 \" \nThe article is titled \u201cMorbid Symptoms: The Catholic Right\u2019s False Nostalgia.\u201d As Paul Ryan, Fr. Sirico and others try to wrap libertarian social and economic policies in the mantle of Catholic social teaching, this article deserves another look:\nhttps://www.commonwealmagazine.org/morbid-symptoms", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Somehow it looks like the Adventist have allowed a worldly gospel to come into the fold! And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. 2 Cor 11:14,15 \nWe cannot serve \"GOD\" anyway we want to and expect to survive the Second Coming of \"JESUS CHRIST\"!\nThere is no such thing as Civil Rights in the kingdom of heaven! For this written: But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. 1Cor11:3\nIt was \"GOD\"JESUS CHRIST\" that came down from heaven,\nand personally selected \"MEN\" to carry-out \u201cHIS\u201d Gospel into all the world, not women! Matt 28:18-20\nGOD\"Did Not Create The Woman For The Purpose, of What You Brethren Are Trying to Use Her For; an Overseer! We have an Achan within our camp,Brethren and he is well hidden!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Pope Benedict gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to charity and held dinners for and with the poor. There may have been other works of charity equally unreported. \"\n\nIf they were unreported, then how did you know about them?\n\nYour comment only makes sense if previous popes did not have a press office. L'Osservatore Romano was founded in 1861, and was preceded by another newspaper, Giornale di Roma (I am unable to find out when it was founded). The Vatican has had not just a press office, but a newspaper for over a century and a half.\n\nYes, there is a lay journalist in charge of the press office, who succeeded a Jesuit. Federico Lombardi, SJ. Father Lombardi was preceded by Joaquin Navarro Valls, a lay journalist, who was installed by John Paul the Much Reported On.\n\nNo, you just want to slam Pope Francis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When the Obergefell decision came out, Cupich issued a statement that said in part\n\nIt is important to note that the Catholic Church has an abiding concern for the dignity of gay persons. In fact, the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: \u201cThey must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.\u201d (n. 2358). This respect must be real, not rhetorical, and ever reflective of the Church\u2019s commitment to accompanying all people. For this reason, the Church must extend support to all families, no matter their circumstances, recognizing that we are all relatives, journeying through life under the careful watch of a loving God. \n\nContinued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The headline should read: \"St. Petersburg subway bomber identified as Islamic man\" since his motivation was his religion not his nationality. If this had been a Christian behaving badly the AP would be highlighting that fact in big bold letters. I wonder if AG Chin has an opinion on this sad incident?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a lie!\n_\nImmigration has not improved our lives. If you earn $20/hour in 1990 you would need to earn $116/hour today. Our cities are so polluted, we can't find family doctors, communities are fragmented, housing is a disaster.\n_\nEven the immigrants arriving today, who are just looking for easy money, will have children who will grow up and face the same problems of living in a false society. A society with no identity or harmony. \n_\nThe truth is that Canada is broke. We are in the tax hole. That is why the want more immigrants to pay their salaries and endless spending for TAX. Every immigrant will buy stuff and the government will collect GST, PST\n_\nAs for this Canadian values BS, i think we all know what the Con's are about: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. We had enough with Harper's evangelism. Unfortunately Trudeau is just post-christian and even worse a feminist. Again feminism is only about getting women to work and pay taxes.\n_\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4811viyarc", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All the comments are very valid, with the exception of the man who tries to justify the Sins of the previous Christian Government. To this very day the Banks charge whatever they feel they need to make more profit for the share holders. As far as I am concerned the Banks a legal thieves. Inflation runs at \"6%\" according to the statistician general. But just recently Nedbank increased my fees by a whopping 25%. maybe they are like JZ they don't understand numbers. The supermarkets are just as bad the staff look at you as though you are bothering them, when doing your grocery shopping. Three years ago I was confined to the Helen Joseph after a rather nasty fall breaking my femur. The staff again treated the patients like dirt.\nI asked a friend of mine why would they do such a thing, his reply was \"because they can.\"\nSo my comment here is if you go about doing your own thing without caring for your neighbour then you are encouraging this attitude which says \"I am alright JACK\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By the way, per these alleged incidents of White Supremacy mentioned in this colorful column, it's useful to consider how many times such incidents turned out to be have been performed by liberal agitators. Just one example among many:\n\nhttp://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/11/fake-hate-jewish-students-painted-swastika-trump-campus-church/\n\nand more:\n\nhttp://reason.com/blog/2016/11/11/election-night-hijab-attack-false\n\nNCR never mentions this, and treats all reports of a supposed tide of white supremacy as gospel truth.\n\nLosing faith in this online Catholic newspaper, big time. Selling hoaxes and fear, it ain't cool. There are few real journalists here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Merciless oppression is Christians being beheaded by ISIS. Losing your job as a head of the USCCB's doctrinal committee for dissing the pope in public is not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Demand proof. Deny proof if presented. Qualify any statement made and quibble about definitions. Deny the terms of the posting. Accuse other poster of misrepresenting posting. Claim to be a victim of snark and harassment. Having derailed discussion, sign off and await another opportunity to repeat the game. Never, never, never admit a mistake, and never ever say anything bad about Saint Pope Saint John Paul II the Great, who is seated at the right hand of God, having displaced Jesus, who was a little, well, liberal, you know...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems like the opposition to Pope Francis is centered in the UK among the far right traditionalists and former Anglicans there. I suspect that it might be a class envy. The upper-class far right British types don't like the fact that the pope is a Latin American slum priest from a working class Italian immigrant family.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can someone please explain to me in an understandable way why the Catholic church must ordain women, if there are other denominations that do that, why do we have to do the same thing? Between the article railing against Priests being called fathers and this I honestly don't get it. \n\nIf the Church got something so fundamental as gender roles wrong how can anyone rely on it to be any credible source of truth, based on supernatural claims. \n\nI honestly don't understand why ascent to being Catholic yet reject the beliefs, maybe it is because I am not a cradle Catholic and actually had to say yes to the Church, but I really don't get it. Maybe I am too privileged, but I can't imagine voluntarily signing up for something I don't believe or trust in.\n\nPerhaps someone can explain, preferably with theological arguments instead of emotional and/or secular arguments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"That's more astonishing than finding life on another planet.\" Wow! That really put your position in perspective. I'm not going to agree with it because I think your perspective is really skewed. And I can't speak for all 'whites', but I'm not embarrassed. I am appalled at the arrogance of a people that used their religion to justify moving in and destroying the cultures of two continents. The fact that these people called themselves Christians only made it worse. \"Might makes right.\" and \"Because we have the guns and they have the treasure.\" don't seem to be part of the same philosophy as \"Turn the other cheek.\" and \"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.\" And there's considerable controversy over whether he was actually the first to find the New World. If we're going to remember him for his accomplishments it would be nice to know he'd actually accomplished something worth remembering.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church does not think women are inferior. You incorrectly infer that from the fact that the priesthood is restricted to men. Read Edith Stein, and you may come to a different understanding. \n\nAs for sensus fidelium changing, my position stands: The exclusion of women from the priesthood was the accepted sensus fidelium, sanctioned by the Holy Spirit. If it implied the inferiority of women, then that was sanctioned by the Holy Spirit. Do you really contend that? Or do you contend what is far more reasonable: That there is no stigma of inferiority in the Church's seeing an ontological difference between men and women, and giving to men the role of \"father.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"we must consider all that Jesus said and Paul wrote about the working of the Holy Spirit \" \nTo gainsay my post..Do you have a couple examples?\n\nRaoul Dederan told me, many years ago, that 1 Tim 2:12 was a problem for women's role. I would think that was a smidge significant. And he was pro women.\nI figure the SDA institution will continue to make women as pastors in general. I think they are na\u00efve about the institutional, societal and familial consequences. The reason why is because of my previous post. They are fanatics. It is really no big deal to me. I dealt with this issue back in the early 1980's and saw what the trend was going to be. One reason that women will make gains in ordination is because the men pastors are inept and that the people are so desperate for something inspiring & relevant that they will try anything to not be disappointed & bored at church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Homosexuality is a grievous sin but if if repented of it is pardonable by God. It is contrary to everything in nature. Junior said he used to read the Bible with his dad but it seems neither found Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't understand your comment. I don't think we have a church FOR imperfect human beings, but one that wants to sort out those who have particular kinds of \"flaws\" - you know, those who want to limit the number of children or don't even want children so use contraceptives, those who are LGBT and want to have a life mate, those who made a mistake forming a bad marriage and have since corrected the mistake but supposedly are \"living in sin.\" \n\nHowever, if you get away from certain categories, then any sin can be forgiven with confession and a firm commitment to sin no more. Even applies to pedophile/ephebophile priests. And fear of scandal causes bishops to lay down incredible rules about the mention of any LGBT partner if an LGBT Catholic is to receive a funeral, but mafiosa dons publically named in news media all over the country - no problem with a lavish funeral for them. \n\nPeople see a great deal of hypocrisy in the Church. God Bless Pope Francis-he is working on another way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Globe still has not reported on the ISIS inspired Muslims woman who attacked \"white Christians\" in Scarborough at the Can Tire. It's as if it never happened, which is taking the side of the jihadists,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems like the conservatives who hate Pope Francis are using two tactics to try to get at him: the passive aggressive whining about Amoris Laetitia and the hit on child abuse claims. On the child abuse claims, Dougherty is associated with Fr. Cipollini, who is one of the passive aggressive whiners who post at Rorate Caeli. They have been out to get Pope Francis since March 13, 2013. As for the AL opposition, I've never heard so many conservative Catholics so obsessed with other people's messy love lives. Really, I have not heard of one concrete case of a person who has been helped by either the new annulment reforms or AL. I did a quick survey of some secular sites (i.e. wedding forums) and Catholic sites and didn't find one post suggesting that being a remarried Catholic is more bearable due to Pope Francis. I however did read lots of precious snowflakes whining about a hypothetical divorcee being able to receive Communion on sites like Catholic Answers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, indeed so much more effectively that Catholics there now tolerate abortion, contraception, divorce, homosexual unions with euthanasia just around the corner.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are not many bishops saying, \"Sure, he's a blowhard who's trampled on every gospel value, but that's a small price to pay for having his pro-life pledge to us\"? \n\nAnd how is that conclusion not consistent with magisterial teaching?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, John. This points out clearly the failure of those ministers who fawn over Trump because he will give them \"religious liberty\" and protect them from women, LGBT, and non-white non-Christian foreigners. They are still aligned with those Martin Luther King, Jr. was talking about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe its the generation I grew up with, but I'm aware of the reckless behaviors they engage in which is part of their culture. Even the seemingly most conservative of them. And if I didn't have kids or if they were beyond adolescence, I suppose I wouldn't be concerned so much.\n\nCall me selfish or antiquated, but I want my kids to get married and have kids as all generations in my family have. Just last week one of my daughter's friends from college, decided that she was bisexual. This is a Catholic girl who used to read in church and who attended church regularly with her married parents and siblings. For most of her adolescence she had steady boyfriends. But she got involved in theater, and is now living in Manhattan where she lives with a lesbian, a gay man. It's going to break her parents' hearts when they find out their daughter has entered a world of sexual confusion and instability. This coming-out-bi is becoming a common story in my kids' schools. It's messed up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You misunderstand.\nCommunism, like Islam, was an ideology that demanded blind faith from it's followers.\nThey would no more allow another faith than the Vatican would.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus said nothing whatsoever about homosexuality. His concerns were that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kurtz, Vigano, Lori, Cordileone have been speakers or sponsors at NOM , marches in DC ...see quote above.\n\nNOM is an organization that is anti gay and of great interest to the Southern Poverty Law Center.....who has on occasion noted it as a hate group....\n\nThere was a close NOM connection to Liberty Council (identified by SPLC as a hate group) and Staver (also a supporter of NOM) and the Kim Davis situation in which Vigano was involved and involved the Pope....\n\nI think the deal is this....starting with Cordileone in an impassioned desire to pass Prop 8 in CA which would affect a whole class of CA citizens who might wish to engage in SSM..NOM was created...with the help I believe, of the Mormons, and conservative catholic groups....SPLC definitely identified NOM as an anti gay hate group.\n\nThis grew with USCCB leadership support...hence the NOM citation noted above.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The further we get from the foundation of Jesus Christ as found in the Holy Bible the more insane we become!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So LARPing in medieval drag is needed to inspire people to follow Jesus? Silly, I thought that people's actions are what inspired people. Do people find Oscar Romero inspirational because he stood up against injustice and violence and was martyred for it or because he wore vestments while saying Mass?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not being in the PC set, I don't really know what misogyny and/or homophobia are, except to be whatever anyone wants them to be. But I think it a safe bet that the call of the golf course or the comfort of one's bed are more threatening to Catholic practice than either of those nebulous notions of overbearing self-righteousness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You may think this unbelievable--Jim Bakker (yes the one from the PTL Club) says if President Trump is impeached that Christians would begin a second civil war. But think again. Trump spent 5 years promoting the Birther Lie. Not only did he demonstrate his ability to sustain a lie, he used it to give white supremacists a public voice to oppose President Obama and claim he was unqualified to be President and to organize. \nI noticed this from the time DT declared his candidacy. \nWe need to remember why the Black Civil Rights Movement of the 1950-60s practiced nonviolence. MLK was aware the hatred of racists could lead to a civil war. By refusing to respond to that violence they allowed the American public to witness where the real violence was coming from.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anyone who confesses his homosexuality during the Last Rites because the Roman Catholic Church told him to has turned away God's gift.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a white man, what have you done to help your kind stop killing innocents? \n\nThe author has obviously condemned the fanatics who warp the religion to suit their goals. What else do you want her to do? What else have you done to prevent the numerous attacks by Christians all over the world?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ancient Israel had two kinds of prophets -- those who were \"of the company of prophets\" (\"professional,\"institutional) and those prophets who were NOT \"of the company of prophets.\" Amos, often called \"the Prophet of Social Justice,\" reckoned himself as one of the NOTs, and thus one who was independent of human, partisan control or influence. Today's Catholic bishops are typically too given to voicing the \"party line\" to qualify as OT-quality genuine prophets. If it's Social Justice we want, the situation needs to change! Clericalism needs to get gone!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem in the church runs so much deeper than one errant pedophile priest, or for that matter one or more popes (including our current one) who simply don't have the stomach to truly change the church.\n\nAt it's core, the way church leadership has handled this mess has made this all about the very nature of the church itself. Pedophilia could just as well be any number of grievous sins, and save for one particular class of sins, it wouldn't really matter. That one the MIGHT make a difference is that class of sins related to money and financing in the church. Scandals in THAT area bring about changes, and usually pretty quickly. All others rarely drive change. The question is why, and the answer is obvious.\n\nTo address the question property requires a serious look at the nature of the church itself: it's structure, what it stands for, and what it wants to be. Battle lines are drawn. The very thought of addressing these questions is anathema to conservatives and bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is hard to construct a credible argument for your assertion. \"Retorationists\" are such a small part of the Church, and a part the institutional Church has marginalized except in a few diocese, that their influence is minimal. Far more likely explanations would include some of the \"former Catholics\" who embrace traditional morality moving to the evangelicals because they think the vastly larger non-restorationist Church is abandoning it. It is more plausible to believe that former Catholics moving to nones is the result of institutional failures on sex abuse, banal liturgy and discovering that the Church becomes irrelevant when it subscribes to all the same things the secular world does. Restorationists are a favorite whipping boy, but you give them way too much credit to think they have the power you ascribe to them. They are too few and marginalized to have much responsibility for what you blame them for", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. Yes. They told her that she had to authorize the marriage licenses. \n\n2. No they aren't. Right to discriminate against gay people and shun them from society because Jesus laws go over as well as lead balloons. The homophobes couldn't get one passed in Arkansas because Walmart was against it. LOL\n\n3. Fr Lombardi said that Francis' meeting with Kimmie was in no way an endorsement of the particulars in her case. Yes there can be accomodations to low level employees; no a county clerk cannot stop doing the function of her office because she thinks the gheys are yucky.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Fr. Thomas J. Reese,\nI have noticed you being a columnist for NCR on \u2018Faith and Justice\u2019, do not write about the CI (Catholic Institution) clergy sexual abuse of children. However if you did write about it some other time(s), please, direct me to your writing(s), so I can be enlightened by your thought on this. Unless of course, you think CI clergy rape of children is not a part of \u2018Faith and Justice\u2019 issues. You seem to write about all other articles as though the biggest problem in CI does not exist! Or is it your personal stone walling, as if you have nothing to do with CI\u2019s devilish practices of insisting a right to use children as a sex slave for the clergies starting Pope F. & all his clergies! \nYou are responsible for what is happening in CI same as any Catholics especially if you are a priest whether you like it or not! Since priest being single without children of their own could lack for their welfares!\nI regard now, single men are not fit for a ordained priest!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, yes, yes. Abortion became the sanitized issue behind which hid the sentiments of Brown v Board. It's not surprising to me the Anglo Catholics joined hands with Evangelicals at the same time demographic studies showed the US would have a white minority by 2040. Forty years later we have the utter mess we now call the US Government, and a schizophrenic American Church torn between supporting it's Hispanic members or voting GOP for 'religious freedom and abortion' issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I understand you, are you serious? Is a Church worth defending that requires defending those who violate children or the vulnerable to ensure its survival? Forgiveness is possible to be sure. But, if Church exists to guide us in emulating Christ's life, does that not seem incompatible with what you seem to be suggesting?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe the author shows his own bias (which is natural, of course) when he insists that mass attendance \"fulfills a divine command.\" Does he derive this from a protracted understanding of the 3rd commandment? This seems quite silly and archaic to me... did Jesus *invite* us to follow Him or did he \"command\" us to attend RCC mass? I certainly fit the mold of \"skeptic\" in terms of his idea of mass being a \"sacred obligation,\" especially where he presents as \"fact... that it's offensive to God if they deliberately choose to ignore him\"--as if tending to an elderly parent (for one example) would be a poor way to keep holy the Sabbath. To keep holy literally means to \"set apart.\" Other than tradition in the early church (the earliest of whom attended house gatherings--not mass--incidentally), there are no \"facts\" that command mass attendance and/or that it is offensive to God to honor Him in other ways... not suggesting that mass attendance is bad but \"sacred obligation\" seems a stretch.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"This is not a justification\"\n\nReally?\n\nIf an entire city taken over by Daesh affiliated terrorists raising the filthy Daesh flag over churches while taking priests and Christians hostage isn't then what is?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mary E,\nThe church can teach with authority -- BUT ONLY if it follows the Laws of God (Ten Commandments) and the teachings of Jesus Christ. UNfortunately, it is so far OFF those Laws and teachings that it has violated it's mandate with Christ. \nPlease recall: ...shalt NOT bear false witness (violation), shalt NOT covet (not even for money -oil or power) ...shalt not STEAL( not even for George Bush, oil or any kind of earthly/political (Constantine) power(my kingdom is NOT of this earth) ...shalt not KILL* not even for Hitler (Reichskonkordat of 1933 or Fatima, 1917) , Reagan (Iran-Contra) or Bush, Bush(oil, personal aggrandizement - war prez) or Trump.\nYes He said: whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth... BUT then ONLY within those Laws and teachings. Some half crazy pope cannot just USE human beings lives to get Comminuists out of POland. \nAS far as human frailty is concerned even the church hierarchy has admitted to that (pedophilia and the protection of same by the bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The looming question is how much have Church attitudes and harsh teachings contributed to bullying and hate-filled opinions, first by planting the idea of persecution in children, and then by giving cruelties a moral cover for bullies seeking that egging on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why did Christians kill in the name of theirs? Why was it public practice to stone a woman/man for adultery? I mean did you ever even read the book aka the Bible? \n\nEvery god has been a vengeful god and there will always be people who want to exploit the crazy and fanatical ends of the book rather than the love, redemption or forgiveness aspects. \n\nPpl tend to take what they want from any religion like it's a buffet table.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is time to end the bigoted funding of Catholic schools....no other denomination is afforded this \"right\". Let's treat all Ontarions EQUALLY, even if it means a Constitutional amendment or override.\n\nwww.catholicarrogance.org", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Arguments based on generalizations or \"no True Scotsman\" fallacies are unhelpful and as here, somewhat demeaning. That a wide swath of the Left has always been anti-theist is very old, and hardly a new development. Should we hold our tongues and crawl under the covers just because our views may sometimes be congruent with militant atheists?\n\nHave you forgotten that Jim Crow in the USA was first attacked by open Marxists before people of more moderate politics (and faith) took up the cause of civil rights? As to alliances with those who don't like you at all, consider the many evangelicals and biblical inerrancy and advocates of premillenialism who have toxix things to say of your church and the Papacy in general. Doesn't seem to faze folks like you. How come?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hello \"Just as good as you\",\n\nThank you for your personal insults based on my name. Personal insults are always compelling in debate (roll eyes).\n\nIf you go to the news report about the recent airline flight from the Middle East, you will see my comment: \n\n\"This news report does a good job of reporting on the constitutionality matter of Trump's recent move on refugees, for example from Syria, to ban all Muslim refugees but to have a case-by-case basis review of Christians for possible admittance. My prediction would be that a US Court judge (or Supreme Court) would likely rule against Trump. The establishment of religion clause of the US Constitution has been widely interpreted as providing a muscular freedom of religion, and a requirement for hands-off from government in he area of religious favouratism. I predict that Trump does not have a leg to stand on, legally, with that part of his proposal on refugees.\"\n\nAh, but perhaps you dismiss the above as the mere ramblings of dementia?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't understand at all what you are saying. If you agree that the 'truth' doesn't change, what is the problem with adhering to the time-honoured teaching of the Catholic Church regarding what is 'true'? Homosexual activity, for example, has always been condemned as greviously sinful by the Catholic Church and even prior to its inception according to the Law of Moses.\nIf this condemnation explicit in the Word of God (both Teastaments) is the 'truth' then it can never be revoked. How do we grow to a greater understanding of it? What do you mean by, \"... it is we who change\"?\nDo you mean that because the 'world's\" understanding changes, the Church's ought to keep in step with it which I suspect you do? If so, how do you reconcile this with your statement that the 'truth' doesn't change?\nI simply don't understand what is meant by, \"The 'truth' doesn't change when we grow to greater understanding. It is we who change.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your keyboard must have a few stuck keys, just like your logic. Other than that, \u201cWhen you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.\u201d Jiddu Krishnamurti", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jimbob7,\n\nOne of the most effective pastors I ever met was not a skilled preacher and I've met plenty of great preachers who were horrible pastors. Unfortunately, the point on which pastors are most often evaluated is the popularity of their sermons instead of their other skills in leadership and making disciples for Christ. Now we are more concerned that they have particular genitalia instead of measuring the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are in them and how those gifts are being used to grow the church. That's spiritual blindness no seeing eye dog is going to help!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The teaching of the Catholic Church about homosexuality is wrong; and not only wrong, but irresponsible and dangerous.\nAs you know (because I've told you before), I am a daily communicant; I am not gay; I have no children who are gay. There are gay persons among my friends and extended family; some of them have suffered because there was a time in their lives when they took the teaching of the Catholic church about homosexuality seriously. They seem to be pretty well recovered now; I like to think that I helped them.\nI have zero interest in your assessment of my orthodoxy or catholicity or my relationship with God or the church. I post on this subject occasionally in the hope that I can dissuade other readers from taking seriously anything you or your fellow travelers write about sexuality in general and homosexuality in particular.\nSome day, I'll try to tell you how I really feel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The wave/crush of refugees is only started. I find it kinda strange that the real issue/problem is being over looked totally? The issue that will/can last for decades upon decades is the lack of BIRTH CONTROL....is way to many countries. The FLOOD of refugees knows no limits. The countries sending the flood of humans are endless: India, Costa Rica. China, Malaysia, most of Africa, Middle East, Mexico an half of South America.....endless supply of people wanting to leave their OVER POPULATED PIG STY.....the USA can't be the destination of millions of people an not become a 3rd world country? Like the Muslim women \"practicing\" working in a food business....what joke, nothing clean about the clothing at all, there are health laws to meet for food handlers. The Catholic charity running the Alaska resettlement program I am sure gets $$$ help from the US Government....BIRTH CONTROL an breeding like rats....is needed to end the FLOOD.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 2\nby confront the hirelings who hide (Run away) behind cannon law, or do we build on that we have by remaining true to our heritage as authority comes with Truth and those who serve it.\nA possible way forward would be to set up pray vigils after mass to pray for the lamp of Truth to be held high above the elite in regards to the culture of cover up in Rome and in doing so create cohesion based on Truth in those who desire change, forming a base for further/future endeavors.\n\nThe above was taken from one of my Posts in the link below\n\nhttp://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2017/03/a-no-brainer/\n\n\n\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kukailimoku, i just cant picture you as an ethnic minority (non-white), a woman, an LGBTQ, disabled in any way or poor. that might account for your ignorance about the treatment dished out by white, christian males for the last 400 years or so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's his answer on the same plane ride re: same sex couplings in portugal.\n\n\"I think it\u2019s a political problem. And that also the Catholic conscience isn\u2019t a catholic one of total belonging to the Church and that behind that there isn\u2019t a nuanced catechesis, a human catechesis. That is, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is an example of what is a serious and nuanced thing. I think that there is a lack of formation and also of culture. Because it\u2019s curious, in some other regions, I think of the south of Italy, some in Latin America, they are very Catholic but they are anti-clerical and \u2018priest-eaters\u2019, that \u2026 there is a phenomenon that exists. It concerns me. That\u2019s why I tell priests, you will have read it, to flee from clericalism because clericalism distances people. May they flee from clericalism and I add: it\u2019s a plague in the Church. But here there is a work also of catechesis, of raising awareness, of dialogue, also of human values.\"\n\nEither 'early onset' or bad evasion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus did show sympathy by curing the man. You just spout sanctimonious platitudes, without a scintilla of sympathy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If our Church a) believed, and b) acted in a genuinely \"counter cultural\" manner they would be champions for women's equality -\"...in the church and in the world\". Our \"masters\" are whitened sepulcures. Some know it but do nothing.\nThe answer? Dunno. Even if these \"men\" admit women it will more likely be extremely \"like-selective\", limited to \"the willing subservience\" and on patriarchal terms. Worse - the decision, the legitimization of women would be \"declared\" by men. A virtual metaphysical contradiction. I suspect that the only road ahead with human dignity of the redeemed, is for growth in the woman priest movement, joined by men to the point that a Christian detente with a diminished institution is the only salvation for our tradition that is worth keeping. Men CANNOT grant equality to women; they can only recognize it. So far, the depth of misogyny rationalized seems too deep to make this possible. Thoughts?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He didn't say that, but if he did the use of the word \"radical\" would be wrong. The correct word is \"reactionary\". It is a true statement that the Christians who run the west with their War against Drugs, War against Sex, Sin , freedom of speech and even men are just as reactionary as the Muslims in the east with their intolerant attitude toward freedom of speech, gays, and women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are not doing your job. You are not spreading the Gospel Truth. Your views are contrary to the Apostles. Your pastoral approach results in lukewarm, low information, confused catechism. I'd be surprised if any of the kids stick with the Church past confirmation based on your description. I wouldn't want my kids in such a parish. How's your track record of producing vocations? The pastoral approach you describe is not new, but it has resulted in 80% of my extended family falling away from God and His Church. We all descended from one devout set of church-going grandparents. Today, failed liberal pastoral practices has led to abandonment and apostasy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no institutional Church.\n\nThere is one Church, visible & invisible. One unity in Christ.\n\nIt's our pride (or vanity) that makes it appear to divide. Sometimes it's our laziness thinking that it's so and so's responsibility....you know that bishop over there..or that priest. No responsibility undertaken as a confirmed Catholic to drive greater unity right where they are \n\nThese people who write such repetitive articles don't understand that their whole life was intended to bring unity, mainly around themselves.\n\nInterior unity...a will and intellect that works toward the good & true, using all of its faculties given by God, their body, their appetites, their emotions. \n\nOne. That's part of the Sacrament of Reconciliation: restoring interior unity.\n\nFamily unity....neighborhood unity...workplace unity...all working to serve God. \n\nOur leisure activity too are opportunities to bring about greater good and unity in God. \n\nThese articles are just so superficial and griping", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The logical reasons for not allowing women to serve as deacons are numerous and well known:\nJesus was a man and so was his dad, so only people with male genitalia may be deacons;\nThe twelve were men, so Jesus always intended deacons to be men (although they don't have to be jewish and every twelfth one does not have to be a traitor);\ntradition!;\nit just doesn't feel right to the men running the Church.\n\nI think that covered all the bases.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Depends on what the question is of course. If you damn a whole religion with millions of peaceful followers based on those who use that religion as a prop for their hate, that is bigotry. I don't recall millions of Roman Catholics being questioned when the IRA was blowing up buildings and killing innocents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "misogyny: \"dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women.\"\n\nhomophobia: \"dislike of or prejudice against homosexual people.\"\n\nThese definitions come not from \"the PC set\" but from the dictionary, available to any and all. And yes, the magisterium of the Catholic Church systematizes both.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Generally speaking\" is neither here nor there in theology, it's your opinion. Many Christian faiths hew to a literal interpretation and many also privilege the old over the new testament and many, frankly, don't seem to have a clue who this SJW Jesus was or what he taught.\n\nIn Leviticus, in the bible, there is a call for the death of homosexuals and that is what Joe Dick was pretending not to know about Christianity, the better to smear Islam.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "@let me tell you\nPlease give me a definition of a Christian. If I refer to America, Christians elevated the Grifter Trump to a very high level position. For the rest of us, is that christian? If so, the hell with Christians...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Ivo, I'm a Christian, or as I prefer a Christ follower, please allow me to respond to some of your points.A rational discussion is not impossible between Christians and Atheists, difficult but not impossible. Atheist views do not upset me, I always ask if I can tell my story, after that what you do with it is up to you. Christians can be extremely irritating, and downright stupid sometimes, but then again so can many non Christians, in all sections of the community you will find idiots, even the Atheist community. I agree with you that one does not have to be a Christian or a religious person to be charitable and generous, in fact many non Christian folk put Christians to shame in this area. You took an extract from Mathew 6 regarding praying in public, nice, try Isaiah 45.7 \"I form the light and create the darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster, I, the Lord do all these things\" He acknowledges that he is responsible. Your rant at the people is valid, at God ? No sir !", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Since when are Christians victims? What a bunch of nonsense. Scheer is Christian ...so what. So was Tommy Douglas founder of the NDP. That is not what is being criticized. His political views are being criticized, not his faith. No one is making this an issue except embittered right wing losers for a cheap religion sympathy card. Let's also consider the nasty politics of religion and hate of the Harper government (recall the niquab comments?) This article is deeply hypocritical and dishonest. Don't throw stones when you live in a glass house. \n\nI bet the progressive Christians are wondering what on earth this guy is talking about.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christians are not hypocrites. They are weak people just like everyone else who are trying to live up to the divine life of the one they worship. The distractions and temptations that are presented to the human race by the principalities are tremendous. At least Republican Christians try and they are secretly racked with what will sow. All will fall short. Secular democrats don't even try as they believe in the power of themselves to do what ever they want to do regardless of the consequences.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "if i recall christians and jews are considered infidels and despised by the ones who are requesting a mosque in schools", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"I'm not sure who the \"jerk\" is here. But it's not me.\" Naturally, when one denies something the implication is that they believe they are being accused, although perhaps they simply believe the issue is in such doubt they must deny as a matter of course. Another possibility, one that I simply cannot believe of a good Christian and better Catholic, is that the denial was an attempt to call the other person a name. Perish the thought! Obviously, this was an attempt at humor on your part, but perhaps next time you should attach an emoticon or one of your signature LOLs, so the joke is recognized. Personally, I think your postings are very funny and hope you continue to inject your special brand of humor into these discussions.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trudeau is an international embarrassment. If he had of done an Inuit accent the Human Rights Commissions would have fined him already, but to do a Scottish accent..hey no problem, it's OK to make light of white Christian folks, they can take it!.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Sanders, Obama is an anti-Semite who supports Jihadi rebels in the Middle East. Under his rule, secular leaders of the Middle East have been wiped out (Assad still holding thanks to Russian courage).\n\nAssad is no angel, but living in the Middle East, I know that one has to be cruel to survive.\nUnder Obama's rule Europe is undergoing a blitz-Islamization partly due to their weakness and decay. \n\nMr. Sanders, you have the right to hold these obscene views of yours, but do remember, that your views are an insults to secular people like me who do not want Islamic religious rules in society, an insult to Christian minorities in the Middle East, and last but not the least insult to Jews, Obama's backing of UN where UNESCO denied the Weeping Wall to the Jews.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Saturday and Sunday weekends are what we do in this country. It is long past being specifically for Christians, it is how things work in Canada plain and simple. If you go to their home country, they won't change their traditional days off for your religion or ideals.\nCanada is sad and wishy washy. Hope i'm dead before Sharia law kicks in.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This forum is filled with luke-warm heretics who only care about the destruction of the True Church. Cardinal Burke is fighting the final battle of marriage and family and all you liberals care about is bashing His Eminence. This has been a long time coming. The masonic, liberal, diabolical movement will not succeed. Satan's alloted time is coming to an end. The Pope will either agree with Christ's teaching or be overthrown as a heretic. The liberal \"church\" has nothing to offer. You don't believe in the Eucharist, you don't believe in family, you don't believe in marriage, you have no doctrine, and you have no truth. Our Church will last until the end of time, and Cardinal Burke is doing his best to help it. You heretics have no place in the Church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "They get that idea because it's written in numerous places in the Quran and, unlike devout Christians who have mostly ceased adhering to similar message-of-love biblical passages, too few Muslims challenge either these passages or the apparently large number of Islamic whack jobs internally. Too busy banging the Islamophobia drum.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What, you mean any worst than the Christian cult. All religions are cults warping people into believing fakes gods and other fairy tales.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Cemeteries I would not want to live beside:\nChristian,\nCatholic,\nJewish,\nMormon,\nHindu - no wait they cremate,\nAtheist,\nAgnostic,\nQuaker,\nAutomotive,\nPet Cemetery,\nSpace Alien, \nGreek, \nTurkish,\nRastafarian,\nArlington National, ...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Rejected, so will try again.\n\nNotice the gospels are quite critical of the rich and the exploitative. The fact that so-called Christians elected a completely cynical and corrupt know-nothing committed to the interests of a tiny economic elite exposes the hollowness of American Christianity.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Killing babies is an important consideration, or should be, for all Catholics. But if you can tolerate that kind of murder, how can you tolerate Clinton's illegal activities, lying to congress, obstructing justice, misusing Clinton foundation funds ILLEGALLY, letting American's die in Benghazi, saying disparaging comments about Catholics, and on and on. But then, some people don't care what their candidate does as long as he or \"she\" is a Democrat. Right?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "That's disingenuous. We have Catholic schools in Ontario where religion and school are most definitely joined. We also have public schools where the law of the land applies, including requirements for reasonable accommodation. This is not new. What is new is the Islamophobic hysteria of ignorant bigots.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Get to the point...What are they? Do they have to join a christian type church first?\nChildren are hungry and you fuss about \"the state\" and \"lazy parents\"? You're so full of used food your breath smells like 3 day old fish heads. And you call yourself \"christian\"?\nDisgusting and fully supported by the likes of local troll boy Donald \"would you like fry sauce with that?\" the king of the christian cowpokes.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Pence can't be too ethical if he agreed to hitch his wagon up to the tRump corruption engine. What kind of person would even want to be associated with this psychopath unless you are equally corrupt/ Christian? LoL. What ever happens, it will be an equal shame if Pence gets to take over when he is just as illegitimate as his leader.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "in 30 years white people will complaining about ISIS statues in Ottawa celebrating the great silent takeover of Canada and the cleansing of the Christian, Indian, and Chinese infidels.\n\nI doubt the whites and other minorities bleating about white, yellow, and brown, genocide and inequality in Muslim Canada will get the Liberal muslim response", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If radical fundamentalist selective traditionalist conservative Catholics are tolerated on this site then, I guess, radical fundamentalist, racist, conspiracy theory ranters also have a place. Not!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Although I will not openly reject people I know that voted for Trump, how can I ever trust them again? Trump was the nastiest, rottenest, most ignorant, hateful, racist, bigoted, misogynist narcissist to ever run for President. He appealed to the worst instincts of Americans. He has given hateful White Racist organizations the courage and approval to openly campaign for the GOP. This is the hero of Christians? And you would never vote for Hillary because she's pro-choice? That's your lame excuse? No, no my former friends. You voted for Trump because you like him and some or all of his message! Don't try to hide behind the Pro-life issue. A Trump presidency would result in far more deaths, suffering, destruction, and world wide destabilization. Hillary's administration will be just as peaceful and just as Barack Obama's, maybe more. I will be avoiding contact with Trump trash if at all possible because I don't trust you and I never really knew you.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Not all people calling themselves Christians practice ego marketing or conspicuous consumption. Some people actually believe that Christ wasn't just kidding in Matthew 25:31-46, which if you read it, is pretty depressing instruction for anyone wanting to avoid refugees, blame the homeless, or feel entitled to make money off of the credulity of the easily impressed. How to fix human nature? Grisham is ego marketing, not practicing the commands of Christ, but it works for him--here he is, complete with video, in the newspaper. Christ said the poor would always be with us; unfortunately, the same is true of the jerks.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Will Muslims want separate bus seats on public transit to protect themselves from murderous Canadians ? Will they demand separate airport waiting rooms to protect them from murderous Christians they now live in fear of?. If they want segregated classrooms, , separate restaurants or segregated washrooms will it be necessary to provide them? They already do have private Muslim only TCHC public housing and daycare.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I clicked on your link, Butrovan. It advocates separation of the races. It makes the racist claim that the Founding Fathers only meant for citizenship and the protections of the Constitution to apply to white people. It states that claims that Jesus Christ was a Jew is blasphemy. Tell me, did you post that link in error, or are you a white supremacist member of the KKK?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Anti-mixed race marriage laws were definitely a certain fake Christian derivative. Then those racial perverts started lobbying for marriage freedom. What' s next ... Legalized divorce?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, I know how you feel. Your ilk are shooting us in the back as we pray in Quebec and slaughtering Christian bible-study groups in Georgia.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Using the criterion you set forth to determine who gets invited to the the Al Smith Dinner, does the racist, fascist, misogynist, serial adulterer and sexs offender who is the nominee of the Republican party get invited? Yes or No?\n\nThe question is utterly unrelated to whether Clinton is invited. You asserted the criterion by which YOU would have excluded her. I'm asking how YOU would apply that same criterion to Trump. \n\nI think the fact that some putatively \"pro-life\" and \"pro-family\" \"conservatives\" are supporting the relentlessly anti-life candidacy of the racist, fascist know-nothing nominee of the Republican Party exposes the deep and abiding hypocrisy that lurks in certain corners of those movements. As a self-styled advocate for \"Christian and Catholic values\", you must surely agree.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with you 100%. This article is very misleading. We, Catholics need to understand what is written in the Qur'an about Jesus Christ and Christians because the Muslims won't stop until we convert, pay the jizya, or be killed. The Middle Eastern Christians who live under Muslim rule are treated as second-class citizens and are considered worthless to Muslims in terms of value life. Don't let this article fool anyone. The Muslims believe Jesus Christ is NOT the Son of God, that he never died on the cross and that the Trinity consists of God, Jesus Christ and Mary.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cGo get cake elsewhere\u201d\nis not a consideration in the case.\nYou,want to say they are jerks for suing for their rights? Super. That is not a consideration. \nAll you are doing is whining. \n\nHow is the baker participating in the wedding? No baker participated in my wedding.\n\nWhat if only one of the gays showed up and orderedthe wedding cake? What if the guy who showed up was marrying a man named Kim. The gay man orders an elaborate, custom wedding cake that has says on it, \u201cCongratulations on your Wedding, John and Kim.\u201d\n\nThe baker would not refuse to do that because he would not know it was for a gay wedding.\nIs the baker going to go to hell?\n\nThe problem is the baker is a really bad Christian and has weird beliefs.\nReligion religion is not an excuse to discriminate.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I do not loathe gays. I have said on this very page, within the past few days, that to bully or criticize gays simply for being gay is wrong and contrary to the love God demands us have one another, simply because we're created by Him. What I do loathe is gays insisting that to oppose gay marriage is \"homophobic.\" It is a false accusation, intended to harm the one it is aimed at. THAT is un-Christian. But hey, since when is the left Christian any longer?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The joke in the gay community is better latent than never. (The term latent homosexual is no longer used except as a perjorative because psychology no longer considers homosexuality as a disorder. It never was, they just stopped listening to Catholic bishops who craved not religious freedom but religious power). Some priests are very queer in affect but would never consider themselves homosexual. There is no reason not to ordain them or any gay man or married man or gay woman or married woman. It\u2019s not a doctrinal issue. It has nothing to do with abuse and everything to do with Trad prejudice. The generation that insisted on that prejudice is dying out. Those of us who were not bold enough to resist are not far behind them but the younger adult generations will force change, not by voting with their feet but with their contribution envelopes. Our craven hierarchy will listen.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "...but they're not in the Constitution. And which of those Judeo-Christian principles do you suppose compelled those good Christians to slaughter and persecute all those Native Anericans while expanding the empire?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "20 of the 27 terror attacks in the last 40 years were from white American Christians. Where's my protection from them?\n\nWhy did trump's list of countries on the ban not include Saudi Arabia and UAE? \nOh yeah, because he has hotels there. Why does the list wholly include countries where nobody killed Americans on our soil?\n\nOnly the naive or dumb think Trump's actions are protecting us.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Chaput said very clearly that if those who dissent in any way remain in the Church, including them becomes a form of lying and an act of \"betrayal and violence\" towards those who obey. He went on a mysterious rant about \"democracy\" and \"equality,\" which he reduced to fake concepts that have no place in the crucible (only word I could come up with) of Catholic \"heroism.\" \n\nSpeaking of heroism, the speech appeared in a publication that included an article on the \"fortitude\" of the Catholic \"man\" and suggested in all seriousness that he regularly inspect and evaluate the outside influences on his wife and children because well, they're probably kind of stupid and susceptible, whereas he, because of his phallus, of course, is uniquely qualified for the role of spiritual leadership. \n\nNext.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, google \"Christians are the worst part of Canadian society\" and you'll find it was a claim by a fundamentalist preacher on Facebook, not even a quote. Fake news as some like to say.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Tasty minimalism? Oh, LOTL! You rogue. Roman Catholicism has, for generations, taught that it is morally ok to kill neighbour...in direct and GRAVE violation of Jesus' command to love one's enemy", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for admitting that you did not read the document with an open mind. If you didn't have an open mind one could ask why you bothered to read it at all. I suspect that for whatever reason, you have convinced yourself that you are right and the Church is wrong. You have told us that this is your usual procedure in evaluating dogma and doctrine and castigated those whom you accuse of 'just following orders' or 'failing to think for themselves.\nYour language in describing Vatican documents \"sexist crap\" and \" bovine feces\" suggests that you harbour a deep animosity towards the Catholic Church which makes your comments about it nearly always so negative.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"his sect is often referred to as a cult.\" Often referred to by who? People who dislike that religion. Anyone can refer to religions they don\u2019t like as cults. I could refer to the Catholic Church as being exclusivist, claims it's the only way to God, forces you to accept their ideology before you can have communion, most people are born into it, its leader the Pope is supposed to be the representative of God on Earth, has rabid anti-homosexual views, has had thousands of priests who are pedophiles, etc.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Radical christian / white nationalist terrorism is a major domestic threat. We need to start taking it seriously and start clamping down on bigoted / religious extremists.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm waiting for somebody -- anybody -- from the Evangelical community to say publicly, \"We condemn Mr. Trump's uncharitable and mean-spirited behavior toward others, and we acknowledge that his public demeanor does not reflect Christian values. Furthermore, we admit that our support of him is purely political.\"\n\nInstead, it's all about how they believe Trump's really a Christian at heart and how his foes have it coming, yada, yada. The hypocrisy of these people is enough to make one puke.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Even though the motivations were different, the end result is the same. In fact, I would say that it is even more dangerous as it was closer to home. But, where are the white Christians denouncing such violence as they expect 1.2 billion Muslims to do every time there is a Muslim perpetrated attack?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Radicalization is taught at home, around the dinner table, as the family enjoys mom's good home cooking, while the grown ups discuss destroying Israel, eradicating homosexuals and the evils of dirty infidels It is drilled into young minds with every tale of glorious martyrdom for Allah in every mosque in every city around the world. Extremism for Islam is taught the same way Christians are taught about Jesus and his message of mercy and forgiveness. It is not at odds with anything because it is central to the religion", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What a ridiculous statement. One can not have mercy without justice. No one here disputes God's mercy, the issue is one needs to repent and ask for it. Are you stating Jesus was telling tall tales about the existence of Hell?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You wrote:\n\n<>\n\nToo funny. I've mentioned right here in these NCR threads my appreciation for Catholic traditions like the Tridentine Mass and the rosary. You don't know what you're talking about.\n\nWhy did you think I'm scared? That's ridiculous. I'm furious at the Catholic right's affiliation with the alt-right and with its complicity in the election of the dictator-wannabe and dangerously ignorant Donald Trump. I don't like its culture wars against its own society. I don't like its embrace of an antagonistic foreign power. And I don't like con men like Gruner. I imagine, like Joseph Smith, Gruner believed his own BS. Who knows.\n\n<>\n\nI agree with this. Why would you think otherwise?\n\nYou're just flailing at this point. Either put up some substance or call it a day.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Never happen. If you want some truly scary reading, go to the Ontario College of Teachers website and read some of the 'Governing ourselves' cases. For sexual abuse, the OCT makes the Catholic Church look like amateurs.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks, AnonAJ. I'll call this morning and hope many others do as well.\n\nNow to wait to see how our Church leaders react. Am I foolish to hope they will confront this abomination of a bill in any sustained and effected way? Perhaps a phone call to them may help as well.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Because he was getting out of the way of his cousin, the Christ. He deliberately spoke out against the sinfulness of the King. He was not stupid, he knew the consequences.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Is their faith sacrosanct\"? LOL. Yes! That's what a religion is. And I did have a problem with criticizing Catholicism when it was rabid, which was not that long ago. I suppose you don't remember that Prostestants used to believe that nuns were prostitutes for priests and other such nonsense. And Jews? Read Mein Kampf if you want to know what criticizing Jews used to be like. So you're gay. You must recall then that there was a time when European gay males would go to Muslim countries to enjoy their trysts free from the laws that would have put them in prison in Britain or other countries. Funny that. How soon we forget! And I'm sure you find a common bond with Trump supporters, eh? Don't make me laugh.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's kinda like there are so many tools laying around everywhere any mentally ill user or idiot can get their hands on a gun .. and do their worst . we can thank the tool manufacturers and the GOP and the NRA for that sad ,sick twisted state of affairs in our Loving God fearing and Peaceful Christian Nation . \n Besides your blame game don't work because we have toddlers accidentally gunning down other toddlers just how do blame the toddler and not the TOOL the toddler is holding .. You defend death because it makes you feel powerful . Any idiot can own a gun and most do but the argument for self defense has been lost in a sea of ever rising home homicides and Mass shootings that make the worst Terrorist organization in America seem like nothing . Wake up man it's more pro-life than anti-gun . You just see it as a threat to your self image a man's man with gun in one hand a Bible in the other only that does not work either because Jesus was a pacifist .. Then it's only a Gun I guess", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I never portrayed Islam as squeaky clean, and I never said that being weary is being hateful. I'd appreciate it if you take what I say at face value and not load my statements with assumptions.\n\nI did say it's bigoted, which is basically ignorance and intolerance of views you do not understand.\n\nMy question to you is that if Islam is dangerous for these reasons then why isn't Christianity? I can find bible versus where God himself orders the murdering of children. Do I assume that you serve a violent religion and I should be concerned about having you in my community? The reasons you give me for why that isn't true apply to Islam as well. Your failure to understand that is what makes your views bigoted.\n\nYou demand special pleading for your views, and then hold others to stronger scrutiny than you hold yourself.\n\nThis is no justification, but: you'd be surprised how many young Muslim men list ignorance, racism, and bigotry like in this article as their reason for becoming radicalized.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Of course, the thing about Muhammad is that he always maintained he is just a human being. Unlike Jesus (whose teachings I prefer). And Muhammad did kill a bunch of Jewish citizens who proved to be traitorous when he could have shown compassion. Also he allowed raiding parties where murder was part of the package to allow the new village (Medina?) to take hold and thrive. He made some very questionable decisions but was a very decent human being and that certainly included respect for women. Conservative Muslims altered that when it comes to the female. Similar to our conservative Christians (so-called) advocating he!! fire for homosexuals.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "For clarity,\n.\nWhite evangelicals are 32.7% of Virginians.\nHistorically, white evangelicals have much higher turnout than other voters. Even at average turnout, though, a 54% - 46% result implies:\n.\nwhite evangelicals - 79% R, 19% D.\nall others - 30% R, 70% D.\n.\nAstonishingly stark bi-modal polarisation - apparently driven by religion and race, only.\n.\nA parallel universe.\n.\nIn 2016, that universe, of \"family values voters\" hypocritically rationalised voting for a lying, abusive, lecherous, misogynistic, homophobic, adulterous, non-church-going, Russia-loving, denizen of Gotham - the heart of American moral corruption.\n.\nRussia can interfere in US elections, China can displace the US as the most important country, NATO can be abandoned, but as long as the clown opposes abortion, it's all ok with them.\n.\nThat is the cost of their obsession with abortion.\n.\nThis religion is a mortal threat to democracy, and to the security of the western world.\n.\nIt endangers us all.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Obfuscation. Sex with teenage boys is not paedophilia. And 80% of the sexual abuse by male Catholic clergy was homosexal acts perpetrated against teenage boys.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am religious and if the baker did what he did based on Christianity then his position is hypocritical at best. Id be willing to bet he has never turned away a heterosexual couple who had sex before their wedding day in his entire career. Where this case gets sticky is...does the government have a right to make you be a part of something you don't believe matches up with your moral code. People have typed a lot of words but nobody has shown me anything that would prevent a Jewish Baker from having to do business with a Nazi sympathizer or a Black baker from doing Business with someone who really loves the KKK. \nThe Little Guy", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"What a coup for Satan! Cardinal Pell charged with sex abuse and now Cardinal M\u00fcller is dismissed, all in the same week.\"\n\nLeave Satan out of this. It was a coup for all the people who want to take the rubbish out of the Catholic Church, particularly the cover-ups of child sexual abuse crimes.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic church wants to \"pray\". Maybe they're getting too much $$$$ from the gun folks and will limit their opposition to prayers which don't mean much. Maybe that's why, for years, they moved their pedophile priests from parish to parish since defrocking them would also reduce income. Churches without a full time priest don't bring in much money and the supply of young priests from Ireland has just about dried up since all the pedophile scandals broke there.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Syria is not at all like Saudi Arabia, and there are no refugees coming from Saudi You are saying that because there are awful criminals running Saudi Arabia, we should be following their lead and running Canada like awful criminals?? and what does Saudi have to do with Syria? Syria is a very tolerant nation, with many different sects including christians (eg the Yazidi), Kurds, Alawites, Shia and Sunni allowed to practice their religion openly. President Assad married a christian dutch lady, btw. It is not like Saudi at all. It is the crimimals of ISIS that have victimized these refugees. You don't know a darned thing about Syria it seems.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I can think of so many issues that divide us Christians today that would just fade away into the mists of time if we could just get back and start over as if we were the 1st century Jesus movement. Isn't that a good definition of the Sacrament of Reconciliation? \n\nThat doesn't mean we forget or ignore our history, but rather learn from and live ABOVE that sordid and bloody history. Hans Kung has already given us a good place to start:\n\n- Martin Luther's rehabilitation,\n- Lifting all the excommunications that were pronounced in the Reformation era,\n- Recognizing Protestant and Anglican ministries,\n- Mutual Eucharistic hospitality.\n\nMake it so. Engage!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Voters can use any criterion they want, including the religion of the candidate. Presumably members of the electoral college can do that too (since theirs is mostly a ministerial role, although if a party\u2019s electors en masse picked a different candidate because of religion, it might form a constitutional crisis. It is Congress, who counts presidential votes, who is prohibited from a religious test in qualifying a President, sitting a member or approving a federal officer.\n\nI like JFK\u2019s remark about the direction of prelates. It applies to Kathleen Sebelius, who was misused by Burke for P.R. purposes, as were all Catholic pro-choice politicians, although this does not get them out of their obligation to tell the Church where it has it wrong on Roe. As experts in law, they are honor-bound to speak up, if only to counteract caustic voices like Bill Donohue. They should also proffer a Catholic solution, like higher refundable child tax credits. Why are non-Catholics in the lead on this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OCF people are healthy, law abiding, and quite normal. What's normal to you is complaining about others who don't fit your cookie cutter ultra-christian mold.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the Catholic Church for some reason, preference for high church is seen as a marker of conservative theology while preference for low church is seen as a marker of liberal theology. There are tons of low church Protestant denominations that are conservative and high church Anglicans who are liberal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"As serious and revealing is the instant reaction of Horst Seehofer, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of Ms. Merkel\u2019s Christian Democratic Union: \u201cWe owe it to the victims, those directly affected and the whole population to rethink our whole immigration and security policy.\u201d ...\"\n\nYes, rethinking those policies would be wrong, very wrong.\n\nIt is columns like this one, and reactions like some of the posters on this board that cause intelligent people to ask: \"what exactly would it take for liberals to admit that their policies are wrong?\"\n\nThe limit of German guilt is being tested. Stay tuned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True Christianity at work is for all mankind. These Universities and Colleges are indeed Christlike in that they are color blind and are not after the economic elite...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Cub and Boy Scouts are liberal Deists, I went through the Cub Scout Books and they endorse Allah, Catholics, JW's, Mormons etc. there is no requirement to be a Christian (which is what Jeannette Bishop was implying), Heterosexual or anything else.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How very Christian of you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Muslim's are the most anti-Christian culture in the world. In every country they have become a majority in they ran out the Christians and became openly anti democratic. Not a single example in world history can say otherwise. 1.6 billion Muslims in the world and its the fastest growing religion through birth rate. Canadians should consider these facts before trusting our feel good government to allow tens of thousands more into our country which we'll have to deal with for decades to come.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Through baptism all Christians are members of the priesthood of the faithful. That is what matters. Any other priesthood that would place walls up to exclude others is merely a self-serving construct.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "95% of all Germans were Christian in 1939, 45 million Protestant and 20 million Catholic. 13.1 million soldiers fought in the war 4.8 million died. For you to say all 13.1 million soldiers abandoned their religion is absurd. \n.\nTo further prove Christians killed Christians, between 650,000 and 850,000 civilians were killed during the bombings in Germany. The vast majority Christians. \n.\nRead, Small Christmas Truce, of WW2. https://owlcation.com/humanities/About-World-War-2-A-Small-Christmas-Truce\n.\nWars where Christians killed Christians; Revolutionary War 24,000 British, 8000 Americans, Spanish American 4234 Filipinos, Mexican American War 13000 Americans, 25000 Mexicans, Civil War 620,000 died.\n.\nYou state \"Christians don't do this kind of thing\" the facts speak for themselves. You are obviously in denial and don't know your history!\n.\nHow do you like that!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can you provide proof that they're Christian? Actually many contemporary white supremacists subscribe to Odinsim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A thought on what Lonergan demonstrates. \nThe article is about a theological work. However, his methodology, the basis of his process is based upon how \"I\" know, our insatiable urge to know and exploration of how we know. The epitome of secularism?\nNo, the search, the quest, the questioning that leads or can lead to the image and likeness of God. It does not replace revelation; it is the \"image\" seeking that which it is the image of.\nThe process applies analogically to \"WE\". Christians, led historically by Catholicism, has focused on the diminution of self, of person, \"emptying oneself\" as what is pleasing to God: \"abnegation, mortification and self-denial\", the will suffering of submission towards nothingness. As Christians believe we depend on \"Other\". It (should) takes little reflection to realize that we depend on \"other\", as well on innumerable levels. The question is do \"seek the common good\" as nurturers or do we exploit, use, manipulate?\nCivility is human THEN Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sir, prophylactics are 50 cents. No one needs free birth control compliments of the Catholic Church. \n\nAbstinence is free. Again, no one needs free birth control compliments of the Catholic Church.\n\nIf you liberals like birth control so much--then you provide it with your money. Stop trying to raid the coffers of the Catholic Church to pay for your ideology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Disclaimer: inside baseball post.\n\nI'm sick of your bs concerning John's alleged plagiarism. I happen to be pretty intolerant of plagiarism (hi, Rogue Catholic!). But I remember the instance John cut and pasted from the Times. I figured he had just forgotten to cite. John knows many of us read the Times, and IIRC it was a widely-reproduced piece; in other words, he could count on some of us recognizing it. John has a robust regard for truth, so I chalk this up to oversight. And you NEVER criticized utilitas for plagiarism, though he cut and pasted copiously from the heinous Ann Coulter without attribution and then whined and whined at me for complaining about it (Rogue Catholic simply muted, or pretended to mute, when I outed him). But then, utilitas was a Trump troll.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ha! What makes you think I'm Christian? Its that passive aggressive holier than thou attitude is why you can still count me out. But thanks for being the epitome of your values. \n\nSecondarily, I fled for my life too. She that much better than me she doesn't have to go through the process?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What would be your position if a Democratic President declared that all Children must go to a Jewish kibbutz or Catholic primary school, or, funds would be withheld? Does the public have the right or responsibility to defy an immoral directive? (If not immigration, how about torture, gun confiscations, declaring 3 periods of prayer a day that must be given to all workers.) \n=====================\nI'm not in favor of undocumented immigration. But our country, and a lot of personal wealth., has been built with underpaid immigrant labor. To fail to accept that reality of America's role in open boarders, (for OUR benefit), is avoiding our nations personal responsibility for the current problems. \n\nP.s. I'm OK with a public vote if you're OK accepting the results. What happens if Portland and the Feds disagree? \n\nI think the issue will fall on the unfunded mandate complaints. Local police have neither the time or money to prosecute low level immigration enforcement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Michael--- you are like many Christians/ conservatives who stand on faith and principles, yet fail to realize the world around you is on fire. When you learn to focus on what you have in common with others (such as Mr. Trump) you will begin winning small battles in the overall (war) of restoring conservatism. Pride comes before a fall... (think you'd learned that by now). Failing to vote for Mr. Trump IS a vote to secure liberalism for years (via the Supreme Court for starters). Time to grow up little buddy...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I notice nobody has disagreed with John's \"confession.\" Could it be when there are actual human situations and names known, the rational response of trusting a loving, Catholic, anti-abortion couple prevails?\n\nIs there any man on this site who, if told another pregnancy would kill his wife, the mother of his children, would discern anything other than what John did? Are we to assume total silence is assent? \n\nIf I am wrong, and I have been before, I would like to know the alternatives one would suggest...or, better yet, I would like to know from anyone here what they did differently when they actually experienced such a situation. Thanks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MacDougall, the ex-Harper spokesman is a spinmeister like the rest of them. It is MacDougall that is saying that an anti-Christian card being played while in fact it could apply to somebody from any one of a number of religions or even no religion but who has strong social conservative views.\n\nSince Justin Trudeau is a practicing Roman Catholic just like Andrew Scheer, it's hard to see why he would play an anti-Christian card. Pierre Trudeau was a devout Catholic but he separated his religious beliefs from his political and governmental policies. Scheer should make it clear that he too can separate church from state.\n\nMacDougall's article reflects his Harper PR days and could equally have been written by Dmitri Soudas - it's just twisting of the facts which is one of many reasons that the Harper government was finally booted from office. This kind of garbage was imported by Harper from the Republicans in the US and it cheapens politics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christianity predates the Byzantine Empire, and Islam predates the Ottoman Empire. You really need to check your centuries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I keep writing about the ''sheep'' /. ''shepherd'' business. it is disgusting........ an insult to all of us!!!! drop those two words and then proceed. until that happens, nothing will happen because the framework itself of the proposed 'change etc.'' would be immoral and doomed to failure. we are all human beings... for better or worse. ((truly, there are two things in ''my world'' that I cannot fathom: 1.that Trump was elected . 2. that christians still tolerate being referred to as ''sheep'' being cared for (to the eventual slaughter) by clerics,...bishops etc. I don't understand it any more than I can Trump. leads me to believe that the same human beings who voted for T and slaughter....would be in favor of being referred to as ''sheep.'' incredibly disgusting......... our bishops / shepherds lead the sheep among us to the slaughter /Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u2018I assure you, as often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me.\u2019 (Mat 25:40) \n We can understand from these words that God is immanent in all of us. In that case, a prejudice against one person is a prejudice against God as well. \n \nWhen Jesus was on earth, he was a darker skinned middle easterner not a \u2018white\u2019 European, i.e. he would be considered a \u2018minority\u2019 by current general standard. Would you refuse shake hand with Jesus if you sit by him at the Mass? Do you know there are Catholics who refuse to shake hand with 'minority' even today, 21st century? \n I assure you he sits next to you and in you at every Mass. God is one whole indivisible spirit. There is nothing and nowhere in this universe where God is not present. God\u2019s one whole indivisible spirit is our true spirit. \n \nIt is a serious lack of wisdom for a country to teach her children, who are born pure, self boasting and hate instead of humility!!! Wake up Catholics, Americans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yesterday Premier Philippe Couillard came out against a plan to build a new suburb near Montreal for Muslims only, saying it runs counter to Quebec\u2019s values.\n\nIs there anything wrong with developers providing devotees of the one true god with affordable rent-to-own housing which pays lip-service to the Koran's prohibition against paying interest and which limits their contact with those who would corrupt them, Christians in particular, as demanded by Allah?\n\nhttp://boreal.ca/Koran/Friends.htm\n\nI am sure any English-Canadian politician, with the exception of Ms. Leitch, will tell you that this all in keeping with Canadian values, nothing to worry about.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi, John. This very question came up in a Catholic medical ethics class I took a few years ago. The principle of double effect comes into play here. It states that one can participate in an act that causes an intrinsic evil if their actual intention is to bring about a greater good. (An example would be the passengers of the plane that crashed in the field on 9/11. They caused the crash, but their real intent was to prevent greater loss of life.)\n\nIn the case of giving a dying person painkilling drugs, it is justifiable from a Catholic moral perspective if the intent is not to kill but to ease their suffering. This is true even if the amount necessary turns out to be a lethal dose.\n\nOf course, \"intent\" is tricky and people can talk themselves into anything, especially under stress. That's why it's good for such decisions to be made thoughtfully in dialogue with family members, doctors and pastoral care personnel. Nobody should be alone when they have to make life and death decisions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "PF has shown to be authoritarianism, ill mannered and insulting to anyone who remotely holds to church teachings and morality. He is open to those who contradict Catholicism and accept most of the world's immorality. What has happened in the last 4 years can best be summed up as confusion, pain causing and frightful. I pray that he retires and returns to his beloved Argentina before he leaves a disaster in the church like he did in his home diocese of Buenos Aires where vocations were next to nil. We are seeing the fruits of his administration from the See of Peter, vocations plummeting, persecuted Christians in the East left unprotected, condoning the overtaking of Europe by an a hostile Muslim invasion masked as immigration, faithful orders and bishops suppressed and questionable liaisons with apostate Protestant groups.\nOne proof of his increasing unpopularity are the sparse groups that are now attending audiences and papal masses in Rome. But he and his collaborators don't care", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "in this case, nietzsche was right:\n'the last christian died on the cross.'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is fascinating censorship of civil ideas on this board.\n\nTwice now - twice - I have had my commentary deleted on this board.\n\nThe part of my post that apparently gets (wrongly) interpreted as uncivil is, I guess...\n\n... the part where I point out that if a Syrian in Toronto had apologized in a column on behalf of all Muslims for an attack by Islamists on Christians in Syria...\n\n.... the elites would bristle and be outraged, exclaiming that a Muslim in Toronto has no right to speak for the world's Muslims, nor the right to invoke some kind of group guilt by apologizing on their behalf for an attack by some Islamists in another country.\n\nAnd yet today's column is comparably afflicted: A born-and-raised American in Toronto is apologizing on behalf of white people of the world for the acts of some US white people.\n\nWhy does my post keep getting deleted? It says NOTHING uncivil.\n\nWell, enjoy it till it gets deleted again, I suppose...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can I ask, how does the \"Catholic Church invalidate [your] personhood because [you are] female\" ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm glad you're are seeing reality BEFORE you convert.\nIf I were you, I wouldn't.\nIf you want true peace and harmony, you'll have to find it elsewhere.\nThere are many good churches out there where people love each other and work together.\nThe Roman Catholic Church is not one of them.\nI'm a cradle Catholic with 16 years of \"Catholic\" education behind me.\nI can tell you: convert at your own peril.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Pontiff IS the Magisterium. Insofar as the Magisterium has defined a matter - e.g., the divinity of Christ - any Pontiff is absolutely obliged to conform himself to it, just as any other Catholic is so obliged.\n\nThe cardinals have clearly identified the confusion arising, and it is the Petrine role to clarify it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul Ryan consistently proposes budgets that funnel wealth to the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the less well-off and policies that would fray the safety net. Do explain how one reconciles \"objectivism\" with the gospel. Ryan's hero Ayn Rand complained that Jesus introduced an untenable paradox between individualism and altruism that accounts for Christianity's history of political and psychic violence.\n\nIt's rich you accuse Edna of partisanship when Christian conservatives are all too willing embrace an ideology in stark conflict with the gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All justified by the illegal adoption of the Roman Catholic Pope edict of \"Christian Discovery\" to legalize the conquest of all of the world by \"christian\" nations, i.e., Russian, Spanish, British, France, Belgium, Dutch, etc. Like the religion, all based on lies, but fully established in legal precedents.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting that the red states that push abstinence only and do all they can to restrict women's reproductive health have the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the nation, in contrast to ours, which accepts the fact that sex is inevitable so the best policy is to provide the most effective birth control methods at little to no cost. (At least until the cons started killing funding.) Thus sheer evidence proves that abstinence only is the least effective approach. \n\nThe Christian churches have always known that abstinence was impossible and that making sex outside of church sanctioned marriages a SIN (including masturbation, and any sexual thought) was great for business. What better way to expand their ranks than to convince people they were going to hell for this SIN unless they repented and declared their allegiance to the church. \n\nThis belief still lingers to this day, and is extremely counterproductive and it exposes the hypocrisy of the \"pro-life\" movement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If they have their way, what is to become of faithful Catholics, who\" think that sexism is just peaching-keen? Because that is the actual reason for not ordaining women. They used to be open about it. For example, Thomas Aquinas, in the Summa Theologica Supplement, q 39 art 1 considers the question, \"Whether the female sex is an impediment to receiving Orders?\". He says that it is, for two reasons. The first is that women are inferior to men: \"since it is not possible in the female sex to signify eminence of degree, for a woman is in the state of subjection, it follows that she cannot receive the sacrament of Orders\". (The second reason is that the tonsure is not appropriate for women.)\n\nNow, they try to pretty it up with words like \"complementarity\" and \"ontological differences\", but \"inferior\" is what they really mean.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are the Bishops addressing any of this? Are they talking about the anti-Catholicism of the Trump campaign, Katrina Pierson and her tweet, etc? Are they addressing racism and reminding people that racism is on par with abortion in that it is an intrinsic evil? I may have missed something, so let me know. I am willing to be corrected.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Koran verses\n1.\u201cKill the unbelievers wherever you find them.\u201d Koran2:191\n2.\u201cMake war on the infidels(nonbelieversof Islam) living in your neighbourhood.\u201dKoran9:123\n3.\u201cWhen opportunity arises, kill theinfidels(non believers of Islam) wherever you catch them.\u201d Koran 9:5\n4.\u201cAny religion other than Islam is not acceptable.\u201d Koran3:85\n5.\u201cTheJews and the Christians areperverts;fight them.\u201d\u2026 Koran 9:30\n 6.\u201cKill people who criticizeallah or do mischief ( wage war against allah )\u201d Koran 5:33\n7.\u201cAllah will Punish the unbelievers withgarments of fire,hooked iron rods, boiling water;melt their skin and bellies.\u201dKoran 22: 19 to 21\n8.\u201cThe unbelievers are stupid; urge theMuslims to fight them.\u201d Koran 8:65\n9.\u201cMuslims must not take the infidels(non-believers of Islam) as friends.\u201d Koran3:28\n10.\u201cTerrorize and behead those whobelieve in scriptures other than the Qur\u2019an.\u201d Koran 8:12&13", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Between the Evangelicals and all the generals, he is supporting his own notion of patriarchal authoritarian governance. Pence is also a dominionist so pay very careful attention to the policy for Israel and the Palestinians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joe B,\nSo sorry to disagree with you but the GOP has oftewn said that it wants NO government at all. But when pushed on that subject the GOP will admit that it wants ONLY enough government to control the military and just enough to regulate commerce. And NO more!\n\nScalia in his speech May,2000 called for \"the end of The Rule of Law in America AND \"The end of Democracy in America\". Scalia and Clarence Thomas were great friends of the Koch Bros and also represented the last two popes and the Catholic Church in America! \nScalia then was telling us exactly what they intended to do in America!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wynne knows the public isn't stupid that all the teacher's unions (Public&Catholic) are only agreeing to these short term extensions because they are generous with pay increases and other concessions. She is doing this to prevent some of them from legally striking when she introduces a major education policy change that is going to affect them. The Federal NDP lost the last election by moving right of the Trudeau liberals with balanced budgets despite their major social commitment of $15/day childcare funded through increases in Corporate Tax Rates (which both PC & Liberals opposed claiming they would kill jobs and force companies to relocate to US). Wynne embraced this style plan for Ontario however and changed course when it was the Mulcair NDP pushing it over the Liberals in the Federal election. She could introduce a similar plan just for Ontario and easily find the money by abolishing Catholic School funding (reports of the past estimate 2B+ in savings).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another fundamentalist christian Theocrat using his restuarants to impede human and civil rights of workers and patrons to spread the \"Word\" in violation of everyone else's rights. Every dollar spent at these Corporate christian proselytizing profit generated to aid in the establishment of a christian theocracy. Along with Chic fil la, these organizations are traitorous to every principle of democracy and freedom in this nation. The populace needs to quit feeding their bloated bellies with this fat-laden, greasy threats to health. Time to boycott them all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow. You really need to take a course in Church history, apart from the Jesuits. Paul did not found the Catholic Church. And theologians are not the teaching authority of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am wondering if you will be addressing the crude stunt that Pavone pulled to get more money from little grannies. Apparently this is an outrage among #NeverTrump conservative Catholics. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/11/07/a-catholic-priest-put-an-aborted-fetus-on-the-altar-in-an-appeal-for-donald-trump/\n\nReally, the EWTN crowd is proving Pope Francis' point. Can he do a more thorough job cleaning up the Catholic Church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Gospel is neither liberal nor conservative sir. It simply is. It is truth. Jesus did not denounce the teachings of the clergy of the day but their immoral behavior and hypocrisy. \n\nTeachings should not disregard scientific truth, but that does not imply theologians should jump to conclusions every-time some scientist somewhere gets a brain storm and thinks he has everything figured out. Scientific progress is not stable, the Faith is. \n\nI have no problem with unionized teachers and certified teachers in Catholic schools. Just realize in order to pay for that tuition would have to rise, making the schools even less accessible to the poor.\n\nJesus was indeed humble of heart, etc. That does not imply Jesus was a wimp, a pushover or a nice guy. It also does not imply that Catholic social teaching is all there is to the Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<\"Obviously many Bishops are ignoring Her more loving views on life and death. These guidelines or rules are indeed horrible.\">\n\nWhen did these new revelations become apparent? One takes it you'd be happy to offer Hitler and Stalin Catholic funeral Masses under these revisions of what constitutes sin and how we should be nice. One wouldn't want to \"horrible\", now would one. Has Hell and eternal damnation also been scrapped too? You don't get much more \"horrible\" than that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I grew up in Montreal in the 50s and 60s in two different neighbourhoods and never even experienced that kind of mild, childish verbal jousting. We just lived parallel lives that rarely intersected, except for a few bilingual francophones going back and forth between groups. That was real \"biculturalism\", and it was not a good thing.\n\nBut no one ever heard of ethnically-based gangs with real violence involving knives, guns, etc.\n\nThere were different ethnicities, who spoke different languages at home, went to different religious places of worship, and ate different foods, but those were minor differences, everyone shared a basic common culture which we would now would call Judeo- Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have you ever heard a homily about the primacy of your conscience, about how you can learn to discern, about Amoris Laetitia? Of course not. There are still too many JPII and BXVI poorly educated priests who are steeped in clerical superiority. Likewise, there are too many JPII and BXVI Cardinals and Bishops who thrive on Canon Law rather than on the pastoral well-being of Catholics. Nothing will change until these men are gone. They could not be bothered to attend this Conference.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no doubt that both sides engaged in violence. For that, both sides need to be taught the gospel principle of peace. Only one side killed someone by using a car as a weapon. Only one side explicitly espouses racial hatred and nationalism, both of which are opposed to Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, the whole of the CI (Catholic Institution) start from Pope F., the Vatican prelates, Bishops are weeds, it needs to be plow under. Any one rooted in Christ will flower after the plow since nothing can destroy the one who loves God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A.J.L., it is illegal. That's why a judged stayed the decision. The US Congress passed a law sometime ago outlawing using race, religion, etc to decide who could apply for entry. And Trump's decision to exempt Christians coming from Syria has earned him the condemnation of many of America's church leaders.\n\nDon't forget. What makes Americans Americans is the US Constitution. The Declaration of Independence said All were Equal. And the Statue of Liberty welcomes the wretched of the Earth. Trump's own grandfather was a penniless German immigrant. Americans are ashamed of the days when they shipped of Japanese Americans to internment camps, barred Jews who were fleeing Hitler, segregated White from Black, and forced all First Nations people to the west of the Mississippi.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How would Pence even know this? How are non Catholics defenders of Catholic VALUES? And if those values are so worth defending why is Trump not Catholic? Did I miss something here? Is Pence saying Trump knows the Real Presence of Christ is found in the Eucharist and he desires to convert??? And Pence will be attending Confession and Mass? What does this even mean?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholicism will always have its \"smaller, purer\" exclusive Roman branch which takes a more literal approach to doctrine. Yet Roman Catholicism has no right to claim hegemony over the whole Catholic Church. Catholicism has been far more than one single faith practice since the earliest times with the Roman and Eastern Churches branching out from the original Jerusalem Church.\n\nThere is even a Vatican II branch of Catholicism which has no desire to exclude its fundamentalist brother Rome or any other catholic church from the union of the Body of Christ. RiteBeyondRomeDOTcom", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So God the Father is exclusively male? God the Son was exclusively male before the incarnation? God can be reduced to the limitations of patriarchal language pronouns? The patriarchal analogy about husbands and wives is to be understood literally? HINT: See TOB 33:3 about the proper understanding of biblical analogies; and by the way, when was the last time you heard Ephesians 5:21-33 chosen as a reading in a Catholic wedding?\n\nSo, there is no difference between the patriarchal priesthood of the Old Law and the sacramental priesthood of the New Law? The TOB, as a theological anthropology, is not relevant to the priesthood? My questions are impertinent? The catechism says nothing about what is essential to one of the sacraments? The feminine genius is irrelevant to understand Jesus as a personal subject? WHO created the feminine genius is also irrelevant? A priest in the divine liturgy is an icon of Christ as a sex object, and not as a divine personal subject?\n\nPLEASE... :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You must think it is un-Christian to carry a gun. But when did Christ say it's impermissible to kill in self-defense or defense of a third party? He didn't. In fact, the Catechism correctly says that such self-defense is a duty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I appreciate your comment. I'll add that even within a particular Christian denomination, with a shared creed and all that, Jesus seems quite varied. I sometimes think that everyone has their own.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 2 ....\nI became a 'none' because my Parish Church had been staffed by a Religious Order with several priests on site which meant that Missae Cantatae, Solemn High Masses, Solemn Benedictions, etc were celebrated regularly and the Holy Week ceremonies fully performed. The Missal of Paul VI, alas, put paid to all that. I found myself becoming increasingly disillusioned during Mass by comparing what it used to be to what it had become.\nSome years later seeking to bring my children up in the Catholic Faith I found an Anglican Church where the liturgy and the teaching were more in tune with what I had been brought up to believe and practise. For years I deceived myself that the C of E was as Catholic as the Roman Church but as you can imagine given the current state of Anglicanism today I had to admit defeat.\nContinued ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have a VP, as well as a large group of his followers, that would ban gay marriage like yesterday if they could.......just because the concept upsets their religious sensitivities. \n\nThat's why they're marching. You're naive if you think the evangelicals that voted for this president aren't going to want a favor returned at some point (vis a vis SCOTUS overturning the same sex ruling).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Will this allow Catholic schools to continue refusing non-Catholic students they don't want casting a shadow in their schools' hallways based on the possession of a baptismal certificate? Yes\nWill this allow public schools to refuse Catholic students they don't want casting a shadow in their schools' hallways? No\nDoes this mean the Catholic schools will continue to say they operate morally superior schools with a strong values system even though they selectively discriminate against non-Catholic students? Yes", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My diocese - Raleigh - was actually very proactive on integration especially in the Catholic schools, and our cathedral features a weekly mass of African-American music which is attended by white and black parishioners. We regularly hear homilies on racial tolerance....But I wish the Catholic clergy were visible at Rev. Barber's demonstrations for voting rights where there are always ministers, rabbis, and imams.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our duty as \"Christians\" is to obey GOD. We are to pray for peace and seek it with all. Even our enemies. But when our leaders do not follow the commands of GOD we are not under any obligation to obey. Blindly following our leaders even when they are in the wrong is not what Yeshua taught us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump's \"Catholic Advisory Council\" was formed for the purpose of trying to sanitize Trump's filth on the basis of the always flimsy lie that Trump is pro-life. If the members of the \"Council\" have a shred of integrity -- and I would like to think that some of them do -- they will dissociate themselves and whatever groups or organizations they represent from Trump today (10/08/2016) and apologize for the horrendous mistake they made in associating with him in the first place. I think the members of the \"Council\" who have formal ties to official church agencies or ministries have a special obligation to abandon this effort, and to abandon it publicly, humbly and apologetically. I have specific reference to Fr. Pavone, Dcn. Fournier, Ms. Flood, and Mr. Monaghan. We'll see what they are made of.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "we can only hope Jesus calls Trump home sooner than later", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good for Bishop Scharfenberger. \n\nHe will be pilloried here by many, I am sure - but beautifully stated - \n\n\"When individuals, particularly those in political office, gloss over or ignore the core issue of whether or not taxpayers should be funding the world\u2019s largest abortion business by citing Planned Parenthood\u2019s other services, they are engaging in obfuscation that is, at best, confused and, at worst, dishonest. And when such individuals publicly hold themselves out to be Catholic, their local bishop has a responsibility to offer correction, both for the well-being of the individuals\u2019 souls and to avoid scandal among the Catholic faithful.\"\n\nYup. Good for Bishop Scharfenberger.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Acid tests comment was terrible.............. but his background is not typical of most run of the mill politicians,.....he had a rather \"cloister\" youth attended private Catholic schools, spent his entire adult life in the \"conservative\" movement and politics, never had much real life experience, never met a payroll or held a privaste enterprise job, was unable to complete any higher educations, once worked for the liberals in Saskatchewan, lives with his mother at age 49.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ahh I see Alceste has appeared. My question to you is should the organizers of the art exhibition have been charged with a \"hate\" crime, as the impact on practising Christians and Jews of defacing a bible, would be the same as for those muslims who received this defaced koran?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is not entirely untrue Eric, when Christians say there is one God. God says there are false gods which would not be a true God, because the definition of God is the supreme, and there can only be one supreme, superlative or whatever word you would like to use. How dare you call Motley a Troll, he is the glue that holds this whole operation together. Without him on this blog we would, no doubt, have had another holy war by now. Carry on Motley, live long...and prosper.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is funny how politician and people mix what suit them into this debate. We ear \"muslim\" or imigrant or different or, well what ever touch them for people or bring vote to politician.\n\nWhen in reality it's all beside the point. As Quebecker's we do not care if you are muslim or boudhist or catholic or Christian or you worship a plant. It's all the same. It's not abouth you or your difference. It's all abouth a mouvement that use religion or faith to influence society. We been there, done that. It alway's end up whit a small group that want to impose other their way, their truth and their beleif.\n\nWe did kik litteraly our own priest from our own religion, out of everyting that is \"public\" and said to them \"no more, will you do politic, no more will you teach, no more will you have any kind of influence in any sphere of public life. We bought back their school, fired them from even the slightest clerk job for renewing driver liscence.\n\nDont think we will give that easely.. Sorry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ignnorance on high, ps. The Jewish God, the Christian God and the Muslim God are one and the same. Jahwee, God and Allah. Same God different religions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Given that the actual positions of power and authority in the institutional Catholic Church are reserved solely to the ordained, saying \"Being a priest isn't about power or even authority.\" is rejecting reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for pointing out a mistake. I should have written something like:\nHere we have another conservative Catholic revealing what he thinks, which seems consistent with what the Vatican is doing to the Commission regarding whether or not having survivors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You might disagree with the major or the attendant rigor, but you should be sent back to basic English and basic theology, because you've terribly misused the word \"apostasy.\"\n\nAnd while I'm grading, your quotation marks around \"Catholic\" are baseless, ergo wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"God bless you please, Mr. Robinson heaven holds a place for those who pray\".\nIt is a good thing to expose the un-Christian racism from this pretender to the presidency.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't it fair though to ask which wing of the RCC is more willing to \"tolerate\" this type of behavior? Those whose clear goal is to protect the institutional church at all costs have been conditioned to deal with this deviant behavior (perpetrating the evil deeds and ensuing cover up but perhaps not in speech), and it seems apparent that many church right wingers (ardent pro-lifers, etc.) are employing their right to be single-issue voters in hopes that the Donald will be less of a threat to the \"ruling class\" of the institutional church. Am I wrong about this?\n\nI certainly don't want to see our religious freedoms attacked but I see terrible hypocrisy in voting for a low-life predator in order to (hypothetically) preserve this. Strength of character and morality are important and IMO Catholics/Christians should not be so willing to overlook obvious character flaws in order to protect their institution. This cuts both ways so it behooves us to resist the urge to be single-issue voters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree any man abusing any women or children is sin and evil. However, you are not correct on your beliefs. There is no evidence to support married men rape less or molest any children less. In fact most rapist of women are either married or in a long term relationship with a woman who is not one of their victims. The same is true of molested children-male and female. The belief that celibacy increases the need to rape or molest is simply false. \n\nHowever, men who choose to be in exclusive male groups are more likely to be aggressive towards women, sexually and otherwise, and if they also have access to children, these groups attract more pedophiles. The answer is make the group less attractive to both abusers of women and children by including women as equals. This would also represent simple Christian Justice and decency as well. \n\n\nWe do not have a vocation crisis. We have a misogyny crisis and it is destroying us more and more over time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you saying that you have to pay tuition to attend a Catholic school in BC. In Ontario they are treated the same as public schools coming out of the general tax base.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who, really, is \"demanding\" it? Must your argument be propped up with red herrings?\n\nWho says working in the home must be evil, or \"drudgery\"?\n\nIt's our unrectified (and often selfish) intention that makes any work drudgery. \n\nThe Catholic Church teaches beautifully that all work - as long as it is licit - can be raised to a supernatural act. That's what \"priestly souls\" means. We get to participate in the salvific work of Jesus Christ, daily, by whatever work we put our heart and love to. \n\nThat's what is such a bummer about a \"UN\" definition of work. \n\nSome people aren't happy until they can make the whole world unhappy with their choices!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks Luis. I think NCR loses credibility by allowing censoring of free exchange of ideas by Civil. I agree with you that this problem of \"pre-Easter religious patriarchy\" goes back before the agricultural revolution. In fact, I do not recall any equal rites until the first-century Paulists who proclaimed 'neither male nor female.' So in that regard, an amazing innovation. To answer your question, Violet is a pen name. I was a Done for many decades, now a None, so not a Christian. I do not know everything so I don't mind calling myself an Agnostic. Let's see if the gremlins in Civil will allow this to be published.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You can do what you want at home!\n\nI celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. I feel sorry for people that aren\u2019t Christians. I ridicule the hypocrisy present in the current \u201cChristmas Co-opted by Corporation\u201d at play in North America. I am dismayed by the lack of Christianity displayed by my \u201cfellow Christians\u201d to immigrants and refugees. \n\nThose are all my personal opinions. I don\u2019t force anyone to share them. Isn\u2019t freedom wonderful?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps they disagreed with the subtext--the insinuation that the Pope is less than Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you are reading JP II's SOURCES OF RENEWAL: THE IMPLEMENTATIN OF VATICAN II, written in 1979, you don't know WHAT Vatican II taught. In that book, all JP II did was give what the council said and then, gave a paraphrase.\n\n\n\nHe missed most of what the Council was saying---and he had a very narrow interpretation of it. For him, the hierarchy/clergy are in charge and the laity should keep their noses out of church business. That's how he missed the sexual abuse scandal, too. He couldn't fathom that such a thing like this could happen in the Church. And during his pontificate and Benny's ---both missed the point that the laity are going to continue to put up with being led by the nose. We're in a post-Christian era----and bishops, if they are being honest, understand that as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Episcopal Church, Anglicans, Methodists and Lutherans which by the way are all main line Protestant denominations with much in common with our Catholic faith and practices - except our treatment of women as un-Christlike and incapable of ordained ministry due to ritual impurity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why? Seems to me the \"christians\" are the most butthurt religion. They're the ones writing all the pearl-clutching editorials.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is very bad -- but then again, NCR pays its top people huge 6 figure salaries.\n\nSo does almost every Catholic apostolate I know of. If you are a professional Catholic, more often than not you're insisting on a 6 figure salary from donations to your \"important work.\"\n\nIt's funny, the Mormons get a bad rap for their tithing requirement. But few know that Mormon leaders are usually unpaid workers. Catholics, on the other hand, have apparently found something in Tradition that tells them they deserve fat stacks for memorizing the CCC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you really think AL is going to be used to help abused women remarry as opposed to their abusers?\n\nWhom will the average Catholic priest find more sympathetic in the secrecy of the \"interior forum,\" Newt or his ex? Seriously.\n\nAL is basically just a free annulment coupon for guys like Newt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is such a thing as an \"inauthentic Catholic.\" To know one, obviously, takes knowing what \"authentic Catholic teaching\" is. That there is such a thing as \"authentic Catholic teaching\" also seems obvious. When someone teaches as Catholic that which clearly isn;t, I don;t see the harm --- in fact, I see good --- in pointing that out. And if that person routinely spouts stuff that's not Catholic, that person should be known for what he is, an \"inauthentic Catholic.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you a Catholic? If you are, what on earth does that mean to you if you're ashamed of its history, reject one of it most central tenets (changelessness), and probably much of its teachings (\"rules\"). If you want to make a religion of feminist buzzwords and \"Jesus loves me\" emotionalism, go be a Protestant (I was) -- plenty of likeminded people among them. Just leave the Church intact for those of us that love it -- ALL of it, including the \"rules\" and \"outdated\" Theology.\n\nLook, I love Catholics -- even laps-y cafeteria Catholics -- but I simply do not understand why Catholics who don't believe in some/most of Catholicism always want to change a 2000 year old Faith for everyone to suit your preference, rather than just privately ignoring whatever you don't like or finding a Protestant sect that shares your beliefs. It is amazingly selfish, and utterly pointless -- and yet It's practically a cliche for \"I-Was-Raised-Catholic\" types to have their own private laundry list of changes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've said nothing contrary to what Christ teaches. In fact, what I've said was that there isn't really a tension between being a Catholic first and an American second, if you keep certain facts in focus: 1) These are God's children. They're entitled to love, compassion, and respect on that ground alone. 2) # 1 does not entitle them to be here legally. It's a matter of reality. We cannot absorb all the world's poor, and we have taken in so many poor from south of our border that it is going to crush our children and grand-children. As Borjas said, we're hurting our own poor. That's neither Christian nor American. No country owes a Christian duty to impoverish itself or commit national suicide. Your play at moral superiority is a ploy. Unimpressive. Would anyone call YOU holy? If so, re-examine the company you keep, especially your own, for it's plain you DO consider yourself \"holy,\" and that you DO see the face of Jesus in the mirror. And you tell me so! What ghastly pride.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In that respect is simply reflecting the will of the substantial portion of the pop that also does not support overturn Roe, including a large number of Catholic women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, a quick peek at Wikipedia does say it's the largest practiced religion. But if you ignore #1 (Christian) and #2 (Islam) the next 3 (Hinduism, Chinese folk, Buddhism) are more than \"Christian\" or \"Islam\" individually. As to the rest of your statement, as far as I'm concerned, it's conjecture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Jewish member of my family who impressed me the most with her acceptance of me as a Catholic was my great-aunt Pauline. She was sent to Auschwitz in 1943 along with some of my other Jewish relatives. She said that the words she lived by was, \"I will not die, even if they kill me\". She loathed Christians, especially Catholics and Lutherans, because they were the ones who had put her in that hellhole. \n\nYet, she accepted me and my brothers as members of the family. She welcomed us to her home and taught us to appreciate Jewish traditions. When I was confirmed, her gift to me was a mezuzah, which is attached by my front door.\n\nI suspect, though this is only a suspicion, that she felt the family had lost too many in the Holocaust, and she was not going to turn away any member of the family.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let history be the judge, whether the church and any of its pronouncements hold true. A declaration solely based on authority has little validity, evidence does matter. The legacy of the church is ridden with errors, and such errors contnue to be dismissed with the facile of saying so. It is also long past time the church quits with its labelings; anathema, heresy, calling its member objectively disordered, intrinsically evil etc. Rather, when wrong admits so, manifest humility over arrogance. There is no issue with me for the church to preach what it believes, but when such belief is found erroneous move on and adapt to what is known to be true. To hold onto a belief accepted as truth, dated to the first centuries, despite present knowledge to the contrary is the folly of faith. Infallibility in the wake of truth is laughable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The people who blew themselves up at the Christian churches in Egypt are the same people (ISIS) who blew themselves up at a school, university and market in Damascus, Syria a few weeks ago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry, I don't recall differentiating anyone by their religion? It appears that the madman is a Canadian. I've no idea which \"sky fairy\" he talks to. My guess is the Christian \"god\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The 2018 Synod will consist of clerics talking to clerics, plotting with clerics against other clerics, debating issues of the same relevance as how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, and then the synod will produce some document of intense interest to clerics and very small number of church-watchers. The youth, by and large, will continue to drift away because they don't see the point in joining an organization that traces it hallowed traditions and teachings to the middle ages while occasionally referencing Jesus, but never imitating him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed. He is a pious Catholic and serious person. Another one might have been Bobby Jindal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Eucharist is a given at Catholic parishes. Hospitality? Surely you joke!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why must the so called media continue to talk down to the Christian... Will they ever learn?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And that one Muslim woman speaks for every single Muslim person out there. I'll keep that in mind when a Christian fundamentalist shoots up an abortion clinic down south...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I was Prime Minister I'd book a bunch of one way tickets.\n\nMind you I would never have been in this position.\n\nIn Germany the birth rate has exploded as refugees go bat&hit repro to overwhelm the christian population.\nYou can expect the same here as every kid gets the family another 1-2K a month.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one is forced to seek employment with the Catholic Church, and if one works for the Church and wants birth control they can pay for it with their own money.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Watch out maybeinoregon, the KKK thing is like mentioning \"BlackFace\". Quote from Ken Kesey, \"I was raised a Christian and was a stone-faced acid head\". And another one, \"I've been to too many Dead concerts. There've been smokin' holes where my memory used to be\".\n\nAnd, they could park the Beetle next to the Kesey statue down at Broadway Plaza, and try to explain why Kesey is mentioned as a Role model or Mentor, NOT, Remove them both..............................", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Attacking the pope\"; Modernist-speak for upholding magisterial teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again with the irony andy, the way you've flooded these articles with posts defending religious bias in education indicates that this is much more a hot button topic for you. I'm just in favour of treating people equally and not labelling them as sick simply because they don't fit your narrow view of sexuality.\n\nIt's bizarre how your last few posts fixate on gender reassignment surgery and are filled with terms like \"vulnerable and confused children\" and \"cure\". You've drifted a long way from Catholicism and modern sex education haven't you? You seem to have an obsession that the updated curriculum is somehow forcing children into gender reassignment. Here's a hint. It does nothing of the sort. You've clearly lost the plot and are now rambling on about \"a possible cure\" and people \"barring science\".\n\nMakes me think it's time to invest in tinfoil shares.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(continued) \"... as it has NOW been revealed...To preach to the Gentiles,\" including overlooked African Americans and tohers, \"the inscrutable riches,\" especially inscrutable to the racists among the Faithful, \"riches of Christ...hidden from ages past in God who created all things,\" including Black Catholics, so that the manifold wisdom of God might NOW be made known through the Church\" (Ephesians :5, 8-10). (to be continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you only place importance for certain groups over others. What about Palestinians, Rohingyas, Tamils, Congolese. In fact, Yazidis and Coptics are not under threat the way Yemenis have been targeted. The same goes with Syrians fleeing the Middle East due to ISIS that was funded by Trump and even Trudeau and Harper.\n\nI don't view Trudeau and Freeland as internationalist on this issue but for a national audience as well. Harper was also being internationalist by your notion regarding Yazidis and Coptics as well because it played to Americans and racial nationalists in Western Europe and Eastern Europe.\n\nThe fact is the two major parties use pet issues to play to certain constituents but we need to stop the wars and advocate for all people. Both parties only want more votes when we need to have targeted immigration and to end wars and to have more diplomacy. This is not rocket science. In fact, I believe Yazidis, Coptics, and Kurds are favoured because of Christian fundamentalists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joe B,\nOthers who are against government regulations to protect us from Godless, soulless, predatory Reagan Republicanism that has reached feverish Rand-ism are the last two popes - no matter what their few and weak proclamations say.. Our nation is now in the deepest throes of unprincipled corporatism. Of which the KOch Bros are the way-far Right proponents. \nMy cousin ran for a judgeship and lost. He was eminently qualified. I was sad then, but not now. We must remember that the Koch Bros have a list of every liberal judge in America and have publicly announced that they have targeted them for removal!!! \nAn old girlfriend of mine attended and liked it very much. Now the CUA must have changed or the business school has gone down the corrupt path of Koch-ism and predatory Republicanism. \nIn predatory Republicanism only PROFITS count people never count. THAT is the legacy of the last two popes and the Koch Bros AND the American Catholic Republicanism adherents. \nAmerica is a machine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Celibate hierarchs\" as you call them are not an elite, they are flesh and blood just like you and I. They undergo the same inclinations towards evil as the rest of us and many, if not most resist those inclinations or if they fall, they repent and start again. They don't expect the Moral Law, the Law of God infallibly revealed in Scripture and Tradition to be changed in order to accommodate them.\nThe Commandment to love the Lord with all thy heart, etc and thy neighbour as thyself places love of God a priority and we love God only by keeping His Commandments, as summarised in the Decalogue: Christ came to fulfil the Law not abolish it.\nIf one's conscience is the supreme arbiter between right and wrong, good and evil then we have no need of the Natural Law or the Divine Law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Usually the church teaches with authority. Sometimes what it teaches is questionable at best. Sometimes what it teaches is nonsense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Debate over dominant cultural religion aside, what are the true facts regarding prayer in the first place? Why isn't anyone asking this question? Fact is, double-blind studies with control groups have been conducted on the efficacy of prayer and the results show that prayer is little more useful than an act of meditation or practice of yoga. Google \"Harvard prayer studies.\" Those who insist that one religion holds precedence over another in our democratic republic and claim that others who disagree are \"bigoted\" need to look to theocracies like Iran for guidance in these matters. The last time Christianity was allowed to dominate government policy it set Western civilization back by a thousand years. Read up on what theocrats did to dissenters and early scientists looking for answers based on evidence rather than the dominate superstition of the day. The separation of church and state is meant to keep this from ever happening again. In some states it already is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"[T]hey will know we are Christians...\" is a line from a song, paraphrasing Tertullian, not a verse from the Bible. \n\nMore than a call to Charity, the Gospel message is a call to repentance. The mass, even without a homily, even done by an unworthy sinner like the priest, even without receiving communion remains the primary way in which we, as Catholics, express the virtue of Religion. If one believes in a God, One Who created us from nothing but for mere love, one has a duty to offer Him praise. Raised in the faith, a Catholic understands that individual praise is laudable but that the mass is a different level of prayer.\n\nIndividual churches - their priest(s) and community of believers or the actions of wicked men and their enablers (whether intentional or no) - may not offer everything we might hope for, but this does not obviate a responsibility to God and to ourselves to practice the faith as it has been handed on. \"Commitment to the faith\" - doubt is no excuse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have accused you of nothing. I appreciate that you are genuinely following your conscience. I have acquaintances who I suspect are homosexual, that suspicion does not make me shun them because they do not advertise it. I give them the benefit of the doubt.\nWhat I want to know is upon what basis do you come to the conclusion that homosexuality and I presume you mean 'active' homosexuality, is compatible with the Catholic Faith.\nI suppose I am asking why a Catholic such as yourself can reject a teaching which goes back thousands of years even into Old Testament times.\nI don't know how old you are nor do I know whether you have changed your mind on the issue over the years or have always been of the same view. I simply want to know how a core teaching of the Catholic Church can be rejected yet the the one who rejects it can claim to be a Catholic.\nThis is a genuine enquiry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some people go looking for slights where there are none, like hallucinations in sensory deprivation chambers. Nobody thinks translating \"propter nos homines et propter nostram saultem\" as \"for us men and for our salvation\" somehow changes the meaning to male men to the exclusion of female men without being taught that by somebody with an axe to grind. There is no authentic confusion about Christian doctrine caused by this translation.\n\nConcede this change, in the awful way 1998 did it or some other, and what is next? This kind of feigning that one doesn't know one's own language never ends. The demands never end. A slight will be found someplace else. And given the origin of these feigned slights and this pressure campaign, not out of Christianity itself but out of a worldly and often atheistic and hostile ideology they should be nonstarters. We should no more change a translation of the Credo because feminists find English defective than we should change words for Ayn Rand fans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "stealing? really, you are arguing that Israel should give Jerusalem and its old city back to Hamas and other Terrorist organisations like Isis to destroy the western wall, all the Christian monuments, and even the muslim monuments that they dont agree with because since 1967 when Israel conquered these terrioritories and protected all people with the right to practice their religion - they should now give it back and Trust the same people who are running things in Syria, the Gaza Strip, Libya etc...Really, never in my lifetime will I support that and I will fight that with all my heart, money and abilities", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. I don't understand why no one ever mentions that some Catholics who stayed are leaving, or becoming less active, in even the senior years. I wonder if anyone has thought to survey this population -- or break down the continuing exodus by age?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Herr tRump is giving Tim Dolan TV time, something they both relish, as a payoff for helping to get the white Catholic vote for the Republicans. That Dolan will be consorting with the prosperity \"gospel\" crowd shows TV time and the Republican Party are more important than theological confusion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We can see that gender is a spectrum. The faction that controls the Church is at one end of the spectrum for sure. They discriminate against women and heterosexual males and anyone not like themselves. Now it is time, not just to allow married male heteros to become priests, but to welcome women priests, and priests of all genders/orientations, all shades of the rainbow. To allow married male priests, but to continue to discriminate against women and others would not be Christian. I rather doubt that gender is the most important quality among the myriad qualities we each have. Jesus put no emphasis on it. Each person expresses his/her gender in a unique manner. No two women are alike. No two men. No two priests are alike. If you think all women are alike, then just marry any woman, it won't matter which one. By the way, the women priests are Roman Catholic. That is part of the name of their organization. They are 'within the church.' So editor, please honor that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're preaching to the choir. Just last week I lectured a Southern Baptist friend on scrupulosity. But you confuse an insistence on keeping the Church's rules, which is in itself a good thing, with excessive guilt about breaking them, or worse yet, regarding as sin that which is not sin. If, in general, you don't think the Church's rules are a good thing but still call yourself Catholic, then you have a huge case of cognitive dissonance. But then you're in numerous company here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not only that, by normalizing homosexual activity and by proclaiming that gays are born that way (implying that God makes mistakes), priests like Martin are encouraging the homosexual lobby to be more aggressive in corrupting the minds of our children through the educational system. All you have to do is look at the sex education modules of the UN, Common Core and even the Vatican curricula to see their game plan to normalize the kind of homosexual activity that is consistently condemned in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. Not once is same sex sexuality praised or encouraged in the Bible. Not even once. So the scorn and ridicule heaped on high profile catholic priests like Martin are justified and necessary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This Roman Catholic does not think Pope Francis is \"practically a god himself\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To the extent that Catholics conform to your model intellectual they're hardly distinctive. And isn't Catholic social doctrine MSW's bailiwick? Obviously not all ideas are equal, and the critic is obligated to ridicule ridiculous ideas. Being \"inclusive\" shouldn't mean uncritical reception of opposing views. MSW rightly disdains Sirico's Crux fluffy piece of anti-socialist apologetics, as if anti-libertarianism is surely the road to socialism, communism and tyranny. What nonsense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\".....The church not only needs to \"reform and renew\" its own institutions,\nbut its members also must be \"witnesses and strong advocates\" in\nsociety....\"\n\nThese are the WORDS. We need ACTIONS. \n\nThat Archbishop Charles Chaput of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and all of the other PA RCC leaders that make up the PA CATHOLIC CONFERENCE should rally in Harrisburg in SUPPORT OF the current legislative proposals sponsored by Rep. Mark Rozzi, which would extend and/or eliminate the SOL's for child sexual abuse, civilly and criminally as well as provide a \"window\" of time during which prior victims of childhood sexual abuse will be allowed to have their voices heard and identify their alleged perpetrators by seeking redress through civil court proceedings.\n\nThe retroactive provision of such legislation will provide legal access for older victims as well as an opportunity to identify many as-yet unidentified sexual abusers living in PA communities.\n\nMichael Skiendzielewski\nPhiladelphia, PA", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On the contrary Marc, spiritual beliefs focused on highest-good will have one striving towards living a humble/Christ-like/Buddha-like/ life in service of others with deep Love and appreciation for the Universe and all we share it with. (I am pretty sure that is the core message of ALL religions) Remaining insular in one's beliefs, that they simply \"know it all\", merely because some other clever people have figured out teeny-tiny-parts of the puzzle with their amazing intellect is self-serving, lazy and breeds indifference. And indifference always procreates a divisive(aka scrambled) mind. P.S. My scrambled egg comment is reflective of one's life; heart, mind, body and soul/spirit - we are all given the egg to do with what we like - you can't just unscramble your egg and believe in God because one-day you find out you were supposed to try and grow into a chicken ;) - I know it's a lot to take in, it's called a metaphor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, lets punish children for the actions of adults. Is that what they teach \"Faithful Catholics\" in church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I never heard of Eponymous Flower ... the other two, well, I've heard of them and even looked at their sites. LSN is a not a pro-life site, but rather a platform for the pseudo-religious alt-right in much the same way as Breitbart is for the political alt-right. Today, the virulently anti-life President of the United States threatened the total destruction of North Korea. This threat cannot be reconciled with Catholic moral teaching. If LSN is a pro-life site, they will have to condemn Trump's speech unequivocally. Maybe they will -- but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope Francis can put a fire under the feet of the bishops to GET REAL. I can't believe he hasn't been briefed by other sources about what the ACP have been doing/saying or about the state of the Church in Ireland. \n\nO'Hanlon's idea that \"God is missing but not missed\" is really off the mark It assumes that God is only present in the forms presented/practiced by the Church. But God is not missing and never has been. He is with the priest speaking up, the women who feel frustrated, the cultural, seasonal, observant, inspired and/or emancipated Catholics every good deed. God doesn't fit in the Catholic \"package\" any more - if He ever did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What denominiation? This is an article about Catholics. Catholics don't have denominations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sure, we should have an ideal. That is what I spoke of above when I said \"the hard work of love.\" The ideal is not just about following the rules, honoring the commitment, it is also about mountaindweller's description of glory and joy. I thought it was sad that you described glory and joy as \"Disney fantasy.\" I have experienced what mountaindweller writes about, but first I had to do the hard work of love. \nAnyway, the issue is how we apply the ideal to real life situations, many of which are not ideal. For example, when it comes to personal finances, the Christian ideal is trust in God's provision, lack of greed, and simplicity, but I've never seen the guy who owns a boat and a second home on the beach turned away from Communion. We might want to teach this guy how his possessions impact him and other people, encourage him to be content with less, but we don't condemn him or exclude him. Gradualism is not a problem here. And no, I don't think this is a gay conspiracy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Stefanini affair was not Pope Francis' finest hour (to put it mildly).\n'America' magazine recently reported on a \"Catholic renaissance\" in France. A friend who has been spending weeks, often months, in France almost every year for many years agrees, mostly, that there are signs of life in the French church. The America article is here:\nhttp://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/04/07/zombie-catholics-vs-french-secularism", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"\"Racism is a poison of the soul. It's the ugly, original sin of our country, an illness that has never fully healed,\" Chaput said. \"\n- This is a good article!\n- ArchbCharles of Philadelphia finally writes something every Christian may claim.\n- By way of a suggestion, not a criticism; it would be good if ArchbCharles also expanded these remarks to include the lack of justice the Trump administration is directing to the sovereign Indian nations in the USA.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If Jesus is being sacrificed again in an \"unbloody\" manner I take issue with this as an emphasis in need of reform.\"\n\nThat the Mass is an \"unbloody sacrifice\" is core Catholic teaching. You apparently didn;t know this, and say you want to \"reform\" it. The reasonable conclusion is that you're either not a well-informed Catholic, or are a \"Reformer,\" a Protestant. Why do you care whether the Catholic Church \"reforms\"? You now have an array of Protestant denominations from which to choose.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was listening to \"Relevant Radio\" today. In code anyone could see through, the host said Catholics have to vote for the candidate of the party that is \"pro-life\" and anti-same sex marriage. They even played a Trump soundbite as if he were the only candidate running. Republican Catholics tell us we have to vote like them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think since God is merciful, loving, and forgiving he will be accepted in His hands. Not because he follows doctrines of the Church. God is not a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not really. Most Catholics can understand that some Americans -- even some Catholics --- don;t believe that a human being's right to live begins at conception. What Catholics cannot understand is how someone can support partial-birth abortion, which Clinton does support. All the good social work in the world --- and, granted, Hillary has done more than her share --- shouldn't save a candidate who believed in killing a few thousand people on account of their race. Why should it save a candidate who supports the killing of thousands of babies about to be born?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can Anchorage be safe when it is a sanctuary city? Three women from Catholic Social Services were responsible for placing hundreds of Muslims in Anchorage which were not properly vetted and CSS was paid $200,000.00 by the government for this. Constitutionally illegal as religion and government are supposed to be separate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Active practicing Catholics who are fully formed in their faith and love for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, may not be able to vote for Mr. Trump in good conscience for a variety of reasons. However, no serious Catholic or Christian of any denomination can vote for Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Kaine (the either lost or false-Catholic) who both support and defend with all their might and influence a woman's ill-gotten legal right to murder and slaughter helpless innocent children while they are still growing inside the womb. Slavery used to be legal too, but it was never right!!!\n\nSo if truly good (Godly) Catholics can not vote for Mr. Trump then the only two options left, besides a write-in, are not voting at all or voting for Mr. Castle from the Constitution Party. The woman from the Green Party is pro-abortion as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps, given much of what you have written here over the years, you would be happier then as a Protestant minister rather than a Catholic priest?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting post. Again, we have a writer, with a name, with real life experience, who offers a different perspective on Castro that we have been reading in the paper. \n\nIt's valuable to know how people view events/personalities differently based on their own life situation. There is value in any disagreement, conflict, to making a choice to understand what each party is thinking. It's the first step in mediation, reach a point of understanding the other perspective, to remove misconceptions, before you move to resolution.\n\nA lot of Americans, including many white Christian neighbors, do not understand or accept the theology of liberation that is common in many black church's. \n\nIf you don't know the term, and most writers probably don't, just google 'liberation theology'. It is NOT a 'black' theology by the way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's funny that you place Donald Trump in the same camp as Europe's absolutist monarchs. While in hospital recently, I finished reading a book on the shenanigans of the Roman Catholic church in the medieval era. The author argued that the church, which throughout much of the period was corrupt and prone to internecine squabbling, had less power and prestige than we often imagine to have been the case and the Popes were unable to easily muster forces for the Crusades. It was a more politically complex era than many understand to have been the case. I suspect that these days the Pope, whom I suspect has no interest in a modern version of the Crusades, has greater moral credibility than did his medieval counterparts and that Trump much less power than his counterparts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The world needs peace activists like Zawada. It's a shame so many of them, like Zawada, look to one of their biggest allies for world peace, the Catholic Church, as an adversary of a sort. \n\nWith all due respect to Zawada (who few have heard of), the Church has done much more for world peace than he could ever possibly have hoped to accomplish. But in attacking the Church because of his personal beliefs, thereby creating enemies of the Church, he undoes all the good he has done for peace.\n\nRest in peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Truly the Catholic Church in the US is not and never will be your handmaiden.\n\n\u201cThe bishops tilted toward Trump\u201d is code for \u201cthe bishops refused to give the Democrats a free pass on abortion and their campaign against religious freedom\u201d.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How would you know? Judging by the names of commentators and the history of the North American Catholic church, you'd think it was an Irish and German affair, with a few token Poles and Italians.\nFor a group that claims to be universal, you seem awfully provincial.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I read up a bit on Accion Francaise on a translated wiki page, and it was all rather murky, You know more about these parties than I do. Why not just say precisely what it is that France's National Front party is doing that makes it \"the farthest thing from Christianity\"?\n\nIt is definitely nationalist, but is nationalism itself grounds for the pope saying the party \"isn't Christian\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "By the way, Merry Christmas to all from a non-christian. \nBeing told how to think by these social zealots running universities is from the mouths of disingenuous folks; their only interest is not to offend those having a massive supply of money from overseas that is funding their institutions to a great degree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, who would you call a \"traditionalist Catholic\"? Is there an objective standard, or just anyone is a \"traditionalist\" who does not agree with you? :))", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This was my experience growing up in the 50's. We public school kids were told by the nuns our parents were practically heathens for not sending their children to Catholic school. Sadly in raising my own children many years later I found pretty much the same attitude, only this time the disparagement came from lay teachers. At the present time there is no such attitude since almost all the Catholic schools have been closed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "After Vatican II, the saying: \"Walk the walk; talk the talk,\" was quite popular in my part of the country. It has since seemed to fall out of favor, though I must admit I have moved around quite a bit, since the time I first heard it. But it has since become a solid part of my belief system. Sister's article rings true for me, as I and others I have talked with have been greatly disheartened by the increasing silence and pressure to just accept the status quo without resistance. For us, this is totally against what we, also have gathered from Jesus' life, that of the Saints, and that of righteous people everywhere. This a pertinent concern in America today. In Revelations, John describes the \"Complacent Church\", the Church of Laeodicea. \"Like the church at Sardis, Laodicea had been bitten by the bug of complacency. But this church was also spiritually arrogant in its self-satisfaction. It was the only church Christ did not commend for anything.\" (Googled) Rev. 3: 13- 15.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many of them are not only irrelevant but also inhumane, misogynistic and largely based on fear and superstition... that is why primacy of conscience plays such a vital role in the spiritual life of most Catholic Christians, it is essentially the glue that holds the church together.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Patriarchal sex/gender theory is *not* revealed truth. Reiterating old patriarchal assertions uncritically is not helpful. Let's try a \"question and answer\" format:\n\nQuestion 1: Can you find, in the TOB, any support for the old assertion that patriarchy is natural law, or divine law, or anything like that? \n\nQuestion 2: Actually, can you find the word \"patriarchy\" anywhere in the TOB? \n\nQuestion 3: Can you find, in the Trent definition of the sacrament of holy orders, any mention of masculinity being intrinsic to priesthood? \n\nQuestion 4: Can you find, in the 1994 Catechism of the Catholic Church, anything about only male bodies being \"proper matter\" for priestly ordination?\n\nQuestion 5: Is there such thing as a \"feminine genius\"?\n\nQuestion 6: If so, *WHO* created the feminine genius in the beginning?\n\nQuestion 7: Should a priest, acting in the person of Christ, make visible the divine \"feminine genius\" in Jesus? Yes, or no, and why?\n\nPLEASE answer my questions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance is like reading the Communist Manifesto\" - Betty Taylor, Liberal\n\nLook at any liberal public school calendar and you will see that \"Christmas Break\" has been replaced by \"Winter Break\".\n\nLast Christmas, a liberal Equal Opportunity Officer from the Army advised soldiers not to say the word \u2018Christmas.\u2019\n\n2005 - The city manager of Eugene, Oregon, Liberal Jim Johnson, has issued a directive banning Christmas trees from public places. Johnson argues that the tree is a religious symbol and therefore cannot be placed on public property. The ban was issued after \u201ca number of non-Christians\u201d complained.\n\nEugene libs hate the Fourth of July and Christmas so much, they don't even have a parade.\n\nA handful of Eugene libs hate Christianity so much they had a war memorial taken down from Skinner Butte.\n\nThe Liberal agenda of Socialism cannot advance without first tearing down cherished American traditions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, I read it. Check Daniel Pipes' critique on it, with a link to another critique:\nhttp://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2009/06/islam-in-obamas-cairo-speech\nIt was a delusional speech from a strange man who seemed to want Christians to believe he was a Christian and Muslims to believe he was a Muslim. What kind of man would do that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did he not also say \"Love thy neighbor as thyself\"? Maybe if the christians thought a little more about this, they wouldn't have to worry other things that are causing problems for themselves", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also, I see no Tory or Conservative talk about how Western interventionism and wars were responsible for 4 to 6 million Muslim casualties since 2001, and 7 to 9 wars started and 2 coups launched by Western nations against nations such as Ukraine and S. Sudan. The fact is we are responsible for displacing nations and no Western leader can be brought before the ICC or any international body for destroying nations, using illegal substances, invading nations illegally, annexing land, calling for regime change, massive genocide, or any other illegal atrocity. \n\nMost of the people on here are fine with genocide as long as it is not Christians or their preferred minority group.\n\nFrankly, all groups deserve protection including Muslims killed by groups that the West funded through the Gulf States and the Saudis.\n\nThe fact is you just want to bash the Liberals but this crosses all major parties that have turned a blind eye to wars, intervention, where money goes and so on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Free speech is a testy topic, and the deal - draconian perhaps - to trade off free speech for a tax exemption seems trivial until you consider that the US church is probably the largest land holder in the nation behind the government. To risk the property tax exemption so Fr. Wise, Unwise, or Otherwise can opine about a particular candidate from the pulpit , risks throwing out the baby with the bath water. \nBesides, if a priest hits your stated hot buttons of abortion and homosexuality from the altar, he is fair game for someone in the congregation to stand up and hit back. The altar may be elevated, but the high ground isn't, and while Catholic moral theology is foundational, moral/political opinions are just that, an opinion, and everyone has them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus made forgiveness a prerequisite for anyone who wished to follow him. Where on earth do you get this 'acceptance of sins' from and who on Earth is advocating it? Forgiveness is the essence of what Jesus taught and Chaput displays a complete ignorance of this very basic tenet of Christ's being.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"In its quest to stop the sexual abuse of children, the Australian government has put the Catholic church on equal footing with other institutions, and treated its leaders as fellow citizens.\" \n\nthis is the heart of the matter. IN the Middle Ages Catholic priests were immune from criminal law. As recent as our life times, the sexual crimes of priests were swept under the rug by civil as well as church authorities. Now that that has come to an end, priests, especially bishops, still believe they deserve special treatment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK , Faithful , I cannot say anything regarding anyone's ( including yours ) \" self-righteousness \" \nIn Genesis the Lord promises the hope of setting to rights the tragic event of the eating of the forbidden fruit . So we can have trust that sin has consequences for us and Jesus knows that . While we have a childhood and some of us have good enough parenting Adam and Eve did not have the benefit of a childhood . But this benefit also has its drawbacks . Our condition is the human predicament .\nPaul expresses it so well ending by saying , \" Who will save me ? \" Jesus !\nJesus knows our innermost self better than we know ourselves : Father forgive them they know not what they do \". \nWe are redeemable otherwise God would not have bothered .Recently Francis spoke about what matters . If we examine how the intellectual aspect of faith has grown we know it will continue to develop . And we know we see change !!,\nBTW , I 'm a \" Ma'am \".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, no. It encourages its members to follow the teachings of its founder, many of which are contrary to the Gospel Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where's the headline about Rev. Jeremey Lucas and the Christ Church Episcopal Perish helping the 1,000's of homeless? \nGood luck to the girls softball team, Christian money gots their back now. \nI'll pray for you Rev. Jeremey Lucas. May one day, God, show you the light, from where hate and violence truly originates. When that day comes, you'll truly be one step closer to reducing violence in this world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The need for a priest to have a \"natural resemblance\" to the male Jesus is just another rationalization of patriarchal gender ideology. Going forward, I think we need to *make visible* the feminine genius in Jesus, and the masculine genius in Mary, that influenced their behavior in the flesh, their actions and their body language. The \"acting person\" is what matters, not just the external appearance of the body. The body is a sacrament of the entire person, but is not the entire person. If this is true for humans, even more so for Christ, who is a divine person.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This current discussion brought to light by the Boston Globe addresses a reality intentionally kept hidden by bishops and religious superiors. It dies not take away from the topic of children born out of wedlock. It does, however, address the SPECIFIC REALITY of children of priests--which is not a new issue but one haunting the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church since the imposition of universal clerical celibacy (again only on the Latin Rite).\n\nNot knowing about these facts of clerical life does not make them less true.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "David, I believe your suggestion would destroy the Catholic Church. Is that your intention?\nThe protectionism of which you speak has been largely destroyed (at least I pray it has been), with many priests and several bishops removed from service. Many have been imprisoned. Yes, such abuses should never have occurred. The protectionism has been largely purged over the past couple of decades. Among those most hurt are the 98% of priests and bishops who are Godly men who have had their hearts torn out because of the few percent who were guilty of abuse or protecting the abusers. The Catholic Church in the US has a zero tolerance policy, with very good success. Hopefully the entire Church will soon have such a policy if not already implemented. Please pray that God will make it so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it beyond the issue of equality -- it's the call of the Holy Spirit being rejected -- utterly REJECTED! -- by the hierarchy in charge and those who believe they can do no wrong. Rejecting, without any consideration or thought, those who may have been called and sent BY GOD to serve his people as priests, or in positions of church authority. It's sneering in the face of God -- \"we've decided we know better than you\" -- and turning their backs on the will of the Holy Spirit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The law makers of each jurisdiction, which reflect the most obvious existence of harm in human action itself. By insisting that someone who has broken a law, to confess to the authorities as well, is saying to all, that the Church accepts the laws of the land and the reasons they exist. Now, I can almost hear you thinking, what if laws go against Christian/Scriptural doctrine. Yes, that is a far more complicated, an issue which would need to be considered for each situation/law. However, in the case of this issue, the point I'm making (as is Kieran) is that one can accept the Law without giving up the seal of confession Tradition, AND avoid having to go to jail as a conscientious objector AND but mostly be saying to abuse victims that they are the first priority in all this. It's a win-win-win situation. However, it would take changes in Canon Law (not Scripture, but perhaps scriptural interpretation), and correspondingly, in Catholic culture, particularly at the top end.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For an \"exited\" Catholic like myself, the choice of Mrs. Gingrich is merely another affirmation, in a vast series of affirmations, that the Church is not for me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You didn't read the article very closely. Christian families are not accepting their kidnapped daughters back into their families because it brings shame on the family. It is far from true that global Christianity recognizes women as equals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Many radical environmentalists can accurately be\nlabeled \u201cnature mystics.\u201d And many of them express\naffinity with religions they generally consider more\nnature-beneficient than occidental religions, such as those\noriginating in Asia such as Buddhism and Daoism,\nreligious beliefs or practices surviving among the world\u2019s\nremnant indigenous peoples, or being revitalized or\ninvented anew, such as PAGANISM and WICCA. Paganism\nand Wicca are considered to be (or to be inspired by) the\nAboriginal nature religions of the Western world, which\nhave been long suppressed by imperial Christianity and\nIslam.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you actually just say: \"Church Tradition began with Pius IX\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We as Catholics must change our tune. The main problem is overpopulation, at least now in certain spaces. We have not told everyone..well, the pope has actually said 3 children is OK...that they can and they should plan their families so they can feed them, if not educate them, give them decent housing etc. too many children leads to political instability which leads to all sorts of chaos. Oh but we have just ignored that rule. We have. Have they in Mexico? Have they in the Philippines? Are they making free choices that would be best for their families, communities, the world? Are the bishops still going on about contraception?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Francis has been pope for 4 years. He is trying to balance the imbalances created during the 35 years of JPII/B16. It will take some time, so until there is some kind of balance, he must try to appoint as many progressives and pastoral types as possible. It is not likely he will have another 30 years to undo the damage that has been done by the heavy weighting to the \"conservative\" side that exists now and which has contributed to the loss of tens of millions of Catholics in the developed countries of the world (those where the vast majority of the population are educated)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought miss leading was a contestant in Trump's beauty contest? The seven countries aren't banned, just refugees from those nations: Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Yemen. Each of those nations has a more-or-less functioning government. Of course they are \"territories for the Islamists. Islamists are people who follow the religion Islam, and there are 1.6 billion such people in the world, the vast majority of whom are peaceful. I don't know what yoou mean by \"Christians are the lefts (sic) problem of freedom.\" That doesn't make sense in any way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The pope did not create the commission \"at the recommendation of his advisory Council of Cardinals.\"\nThe pope responded to the UN Committee on the Rights of Children's request for information on December 4, 2013, by stating that it was not the practice of his government to \u201cdisclose information on specific cases unless requested to do so by another country as part of legal proceedings\u201d and \u201cthat the Vatican can provide information only about known and alleged child sex crimes that have happened on Vatican property.\u201d\nA rarity, his response was criticized in the media. The next day, O\u2019Malley stated that the pope would create a special Commission for the Protection of Minors with no authority other than to advise him on ways to address the subject.\nThe Vatican may move slowly, but the pope removed the \"Bishop of Bling\" Franz Peter Tebartz-van Elst and excommunicated We Are Church head Martha Holzer and her husband without a hearing, commission or due process.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You seem to be implying it's fine for the pope to talk with non Catholic religious opportunists who have verbally assaulted Catholicism (as in the case of Jeffress) but not those within the Catholic fold like Bishop Geoffrey Robinson....and then of course, there was the Catholic right's magnanimous approval of Notre Dame giving President Obama an invitation to speak at graduation. cough cough. Why is it that what the right deems terrible in the left, is perfectly fine behavior when they do it themselves?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the shooter had done the same thing in a Catholic church.... everybody from the Pope down would urge 'forgiveness' for this horrendous act of savagery.\n\nWonder if the mosque's imam will preach forgiveness too ... I suspect not ...!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pell has always asserted authority by a bullying silence.\n\nThat silence was never accepted by his fellow bishops in Australia. Until Pell the head of the Conference of Bishops in Australia had been the Archbishop of Sydney. When Pell became the Archbishop tradition was overthrown and Pell was never elected.\n\nBefore being Archbishop of Sydney Pell set up a sexual abuse office in Melbourne that seemed to have as its' main aim - to keep abuse matters away from secular scrutiny. \n\nOne of the main problems with the abuse office that Pell set up was that it dealt with abuse one perpetrator at a time. That approach meant that paedophile rings were not discovered nor Church hierarchy that could be hiding these rings.\n\nThe news of Pell being charged has been told as the local Church is in shock. The truth is that many Churchmen are celebrating that finally the Church might be cleansed and all the pointments he has made in Australia can be re-examined.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Adhering to one's religion rather than sell what one's religion forbids is now regarded as \"shoving\" customers off to other providers. My, my. Are you even aware of your own suggestion of violence, or did that just creep into your thinking? Refusing to do what one's religion forbids is like taking your ball and going home? Terrible analogy. When a kid does that, he's just spoiled, looking for an unfair advantage in order to win. Unable to find one, he quits. This is totally unlike a Catholic refusing to do what his religion tells him not to do. You made a really bad argument here.\n\nYour better argument is that a woman has a right to buy contraceptives, and if there's no one around to sell them to her, she suffers a deprivation of right. There's a serious flaw in this argument, though, because the woman's Constitutional right is vis-a-vis the state. The woman has no Constitutional right to obtain contraceptives from ME. She only has the right not to have the State . . .\ncont'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not Christ or Francis-like to demonize others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bizarre patriotic political statements now embedded in almost every athletic event should be offensive to any true patriot. What should we be subjected to this bizarre ritual at EVERY entertainment event?? What are we North Korea?? I mean, hell, why stop there? Aren't we a \"Christian nation?\" Shouldn't we have to recite the \"Our Father\" immediately after the National Anthem - Oh and hug or shake hands and wish peace upon fellow spectators too?? Or is that going too far because it would screw with beer sales???", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a carefully worded statement of support for Pope Francis:\n\n\"In relation to recent events, the Council of Cardinals pledges its full support for the Pope\u2019s work, assuring him at the same time of its adhesion and loyalty to the figure of the Pope and to his Magisterium.\u201d\n\nThe \"recent events\" being the poster campaign stating\" \u201cAh Francis, you have intervened in Congregations, removed priests, decapitated the Order of Malta and the Franciscans of the Immaculate, ignored Cardinals... but where is your mercy?\u201d And a satirical spoof of the Vatican newspaper L\u2019Osservatore Romano poking fun at his wishy-washy doctrine on marriage.\n\nAll Catholics are \"loyal\" to the figure of the Pope and to his Magisterium. However, the Pope should be a figure of unity - not division; he should teach clearly - not ambiguously; and he should preserve our faith - not contradict established doctrine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Arabic speaking Christians also \"yell\" Allahu Akbar.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Recall the Harper Refugee policy was to focus on getting Yazidis, Christians and LGBT to Canada in Syria and Iraq during last election? Liberals labelled the Conservatives anti-muslum and racists. Although these groups were being targeted and possibly victims of genocide by ISIS. Instead the Liberal policy was to focus on refugees in UN camps. Who in many cases didn't even want to come to Canada.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islam isn't radicalized, it IS radical. Catholic corruption is not a relevant comparison.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I read where Jesus taught me that if I have two coats to give one to my brother in need. But somehow I\u2019ve never found that passage in the Bible where Jesus tells me to inspect my neighbor\u2019s closet, confiscate any clothing I deem superfluous, and give it to those who I deem more worthy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"With more time to reflect, I found myself facing the hard question \"Just where is God, anyhow?\" in the current political travesty afflicting the poor and those fighting for the common good.\" \n\nChristine, you are neither the first nor the last person to ask that question. Just think of all the Christians who endured the 31 year period from the start of World War One to the end of World War Two. First there was the pathetic slaughter of millions of young men in the WWI. It was followed by the great flu epidemic of 1918 that killed even more than the war. The Russian Civil War killed millions more. Between the world wars a series of dictators arose throughout Europe. Stalin killed millions. Another million were killed in the Spanish Civil War. People watched helplessly as Adolf Hitler consolidated power in Germany. Then came World War 2 and the Holocaust. That was another 50 million dead.\n\nPeople then had good reason to ask, \"Where is God?\" God is right here suffering with us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "--Speaking of hoods and sheets redux: \n\n https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2017/08/25/post-bannon-catholics-sway-trump-white-house/\nPost-Bannon, do Catholics have sway in the Trump White House?--", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kag, I think the bishops as a group have been weak on immigration for the same reason that they have been weak with support of Laudato Si. They are protecting their cash flow from Catholic Republicans conservatives who believe that the path to salvation is \"pay, pray, and obey\" and likely can afford to put more in the collection basket than supporters of immigration reform and environmental protection. There are notable exceptions but they remain the exception, not the rule.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You should have read your own link. \"Evangelicalism did not take recognizable form until the 18th century.\"\n\nAnd if someone wants to follow all the rules in the Old Testament, it isn't me who would deny them that right, it's the DA.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As an aside: \nDespite what some may think, the Military has many in the ranks like James Gillcrist. Our son being one of them, they may keep low profiles, but they are there, as my wife says: \u201cWe need people with a conscience in the Military.\u201d They serve as a counter force to the \u201cdoor kickers\u201d and \u201cwild eyed trigger pullers.\u201d Too often people get lumped into a basket and ignored or marginalized. If people with a sound Catholic conscience or similar, left the Military, the US would be in a world of hurt. GW Bush proved with rampant bullying, we can antagonize the whole world and leave ourselves open to attacks against people living here. Asymmetrical warfare, was originate because of overbearing military might. I applaud James Gillcrist, for his work, but we need to remember those who stay behind trying to accomplish the same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "DP Board officially endorses vouchers, but decries the label of segregationists. Sorry, but vouchers are backdoor segregation. Perhaps the DP Board should have THIS tactic misfire so DougCo doesn't get a board beholden to Catholic Bishops and the Koch Brothers. The complaint is the division. The division is 4-3, with all 4 reformer seats up (with all of them mysteriously not opting for re-election, perhaps they're aware they've poisoned the political waters), so if the Elevate Slate is elected, the division that is so complained about will absolutely remain. Great job ignoring basic logic, DP Board.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"British bishops tackle anti-LGBT bullying in Catholic schools\"\n\nIsn't that kind of hard to do, when the RC clergy worldwide have bullied LGBT & females for millennia?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a welcome respite from political opportunism. The existence of tax-funded Catholic schools is a vestige of our bi-national history, not a principle of public education. It was designed to allow French-language education in majority-English provinces, where, by tradition alone, the francophones would expect such schools to be run by the Church. Which of course, is now an anachronism. The issue in public education is language of instruction, not religion of teachers, curriculum, or students. Catholic schools recruiting non-Catholics today is the height of hypocrisy. There was a reason why Catholic education was officially called \"separate\" in Ontario -- it was partly to accommodate Franco-Ontarians, and to keep the English-Catholic students away from the Heretic Protestants.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lucky tourists, indeed.\n.\nHow often do you get to see in-the-flesh living embodiments of representatives of both Christ and the anti-Christ at the same time?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Would this include the death penalty? Care for the poor? Doesn't \"catholic\" really mean \"universal in extent; involving all; of interest to all\"? Just wondering, because your comment doesn't seem very catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My impression is that the question is today's priesthood and the roles of men and women in the Church today. I believe JPII is wrong that the Church \"has no authority.\" The Church hierarchy has a choice, and will be judged by that choice, not just in this world, but in the next.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A public funeral service will be held for Anthony Foster, father of two children who were sexually abused by a priest. The funeral will be held by the State of Victoria, Australia. on Wednesday, June 6, at 10:30 a.m., Australia time. (That would be -I think- 8:30 pm EST tonight in the US.) Flags are being flown at half staff in Victoria all day.\n\nAnthony and Chrissie Foster were instrumental in the establishment of the Victorian inquiry into child sex abuse and into the establishment of the Royal Commission on Institution Response to Child Sex Abuse. Both of these investigations and the investigations in Ireland have been instrumental in exposing the extent of child sex abuse and in its coverup within the Catholic Church. \n\nYou can search his name for more information and tributes to the contribution of these this extraordinary man and his wife.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part four of four) We are living in a post-truth environment. Which is why \"dialogue\" is useless.\u2014Neko\n\tLike the Pax Romana in which we crucified my Lord. Dialogue is never useless. \u201cCrucify him,\u201d however is no more dialogue than \u201cLock her up.\u201d\n\nWhatever happens from now on is on them, not me. I'm absolved.\u2014Elagabalus\n\tSelf-absolution does not work and I do not absolve you from living a Christian life, letting light shine through the darkness of Trumpism.\n\nI am definitely feeling probably for the first time in my life, just what it feels like to be isolated and alone in my opinions.\u2014Littleway\n\tAnd I have never felt what it is like not to be isolated and alone in my opinions. Anyone who thinks the same thing in the same way at the same time as someone else is probably not thinking and, especially is not thinking about \u201cthe rights of his chosen ones.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think mercy shaped the life of the Church in 2016. I think mercy is what popes and pastors talked about in 2016, but the people in the pews neither felt such mercy nor, by and large, made it their priority in their voting pattern.\n\nOne sign of mercy in the Church would be to stop equating papal statements with pastoral practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"People of the Book (Arabic: \u0623\u0647\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0643\u062a\u0627\u0628 \u200e\u200e \u2032Ahl al-Kit\u0101b) is an Islamic term referring to Jews, Christians, and Sabians and sometimes applied to members of other religions such as Zoroastrians. It is also used in Judaism to refer to the Jewish people and by members of some Christian denominations to refer to themselves.\n\nMembers of some Christian denominations, such as the People of the Book (Arabic: \u0623\u0647\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0643\u062a\u0627\u0628 \u200e\u200e \u2032Ahl al-Kit\u0101b) is an Islamic term referring to Jews, Christians, and Sabians and sometimes applied to members of other religions such as Zoroastrians. It is also used in Judaism to refer to the Jewish people and by members of some Christian denominations to refer to themselves.\n\nYou have been instructed in your little Christian sect/cult/church. \n\nAs a 'believer' you prefer to remain ignorant of others' beliefs. \n\nAs an agnostic, I prefer not to remain ignorant. \n\nOne of these hundreds of religions might actually be correct!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The latter questions in the article hit home for me. Why are Western concerns and understandings of equality and spiritual roles pushed aside when they conflict with social and cultural roles among non-Western Catholics -- many of whom go along with \"woman as lesser vessel\"? The same hierarchy so worried that Western European and North American Catholics aren't reproducing enough and Roman Catholicism might become Sino-Afro-Hispanic Catholicism with a focus south of the equator. When it comes to the issue of women's roles, it appears a mighty convenient excuse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nora, I'm going to have to disagree with you. It's not 'hateful misogyny' to believe that men and women are fundamentally different and need to have different roles. It's just basic biology and common sense\u2014can you think of another vertebrate species that doesn't have this hard-wired into them? Why would humans be any different? The problem the church's anthropology\u2014rather, it's secular western society's notion of 'gender equality' that's absurd.\nAnd I'm not sure what you mean by 'better treatment of LGBT'. Let's start with the T\u2014transgenderism is simply delusional thinking. As far as LGB, that's a paraphilia. These are psychiatric issues, not ecclesiastical.\nThe shortage of priests is a self-inflicted wound and is a 'fruit of Vatican II'. Likewise, the drop-off in the faithful is because Paul VI's unasked-for liturgy has no staying power.\nBut thanks for your thoughts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course my morals are lacking... like yours, and everyone's. The only ones lacking moral defect I'm aware of were Jesus and his mother. \n\nIt's sad to hear when people like your son leave the Church. But \"love your neighbor as yourself\" doesn't mean anyone can live any life they choose without consequence. Real love is putting people on the better path toward salvation, which is the mission of the Church.\n\nYou have made yourself clear for a long time about your opinion of the Church's position on human sexuality. It doesn't jive with the Church and traditional Christian values. Perhaps your attitude toward Church teaching contributed toward your son's departure, maybe it didn't. The Church is bigger than our personal feeling and opinions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Nothing can perfect unity in the church but the spirit of Christlike forbearance.\"\nUnity of what? Unity of denominational membership? What is the characteristic of this ambiguous unity? \n \"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?\" Amos 3:3\n\nUnity in attending the same church & saying \"Happy Sabbath\"...but sitting far apart from each other in the pews and at potluck?\n\nWhat about churches where the pastor and most elders are against WO but the women are elders, the church has guest women speakers & Sabbath school adult teachers?\n\nWhat are the youth supposed to think?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The selling of the Vatican, 2017.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So nice to read about actual cases of infraction on religious liberty rather than the bishops' usual whining about not being able to eat their cake and have it too, i.e. taking their generous tax-exempt status handout from Uncle Sam while simultaneously insisting that Catholic institutions be exempt from adhering to U.S. law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First graders think that to kill someone, simply means that they won't see that person ever again. Or that they are \"Sending them to be with Jesus\". Their greatest worry for \"killing\" anyone, would be that they may get on Santa's \"bad\" list. In their childish world view, they have not yet grasped what death really is. How often are children told that \"Grandma is in heaven with Jesus, watching over us.\" In my day, we played \"Cowboys and Indians\" all the time, and we \"killed\"each other all day long. Get a grip people!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clinton, 1) Jesus stands in full agreement with all Scripture, whether he said something directly or another said it (John 1:1-3, 14), so the real issue isn't that this isn't Christ's stance, but that you don't like this stance. Jesus got the woman caught in adultery out of a stoning, but also told her immediately afterwards that she needed to stop that behavior - there's a difference between compassion and permissiveness. 2) Scripture, Old Testament and New, is full of commentary about living a LGBTQ lifestyle: Deuteronomy 22:5, 1 Corinthians 6:9, Romans 1:26-28 among others. As Tesa wrote, \"God teaches to love the sinner but hate the sin.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You got that right! These kinds of spurious law suits have been thrown at SNAP for years. \n\nThe hierarchs are desperate: vocations remain low with relatively low caliber candidates, donations continue to decline, the average age for priests is rising, sordid allegations of child sexual abuse continue to surface around the world as survivors mature and gain the psychological wherewithal to challenge their abusers - not looking good for the hierarchs.\n\nDesperate men will do desperate things. The hierarchs are vestigial organs on the Body of Christ. Papa Francesco is right: \"the lepers of the church.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It's way past time that the Catholic bishops reconsider their position(s) on LGBTQ relationships \u2014 in light of the accepted psychological understandings of same-sex love. And it's time they took the lead globally in re-shaping the official theology of such relationships.\"\n\nYes. But, sadly, they are so preoccupied with holding on to their waning power, that they have little interest in such matters....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'Consubstantial' is very awkward. Maybe it sounds better in Italian.\n\nNone of this Vatican maneuvering begins to address the major underlying theological ERROR of having liturgy and scripture which refer to God as a male -- Father-god. God is neither male nor female or is It both? Even the Vatican Catechism acknowledges this. Yet every Sunday people worship \"Him,\" and women say, 'for us MEN and for our salvation.\" Awkward does not begin to describe this error-thinking\n\n#239 Vatican Catechism: \"God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God. He also transcends human fatherhood and motherhood, although he is their origin and standard\" \n\nThey can't refrain from saying \"He\" even while saying It is not a \"He.\" When are they going to begin to address the really important issues? \n\n\"Consubstantial\" is awkward. \"Consubstantial with the FATHER\" is a glaring error. God is not limited by gender", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In life there is joy and grief, love and sorrow, night and day, man and woman. We must bear our suffering but that will not make it joyful. Joy and suffering are two sides of the same coin. When we must suffer, it is the time that the strong ego part of us grows or not. I do not know and neither does anyone know what Jesus sang, said or did on the way to Calvary, this is a misconception that many people use. It in fact, is sadistic to think we must sing joyfully while we suffer; NO we must bear it and move on. BTW, the type of ideas that RD shows in this section comes from the close ties between sadism and masochism. While we are suffering, physical or emotional pain, it is indeed very hard to rejoice, the author indeed has it right, it is faith in our God and the presence of God in each of us that allows us to have great growth during our necessary but fearful times of suffering. It is not the joy of suffering itself--- that is pure masochism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To answer your question: 1) Christianity doesn't advocate for the killing of non-Christians, forcing women to dress in burquas, throwing gays off of rooftops, etc....; 2) There is a difference between government forcing people by law to adhere to a given religion, and government officials subject to election, exhibiting a preference for the tenets of a given religion. Sharia makes no bones about its desire to make religious law through the government.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "However, there is little evidence of critical thinking in the Church, even should there be many intelligent and committed and even beautiful people in it. It is threatening to the maintenance of an idolatrous fiction. It is about the Gospel, and the Gospel is a gift to the whole world and for everyone. I feel compelled to say this once and hopefully, like the raven, never more. THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION IS NOT GOSPEL. \n There is no way ANYONE knows anything about the conception of Jesus' mother except by an exercise of the imagination and a form of theological sorcery. Psychic legardemain (pardon my French) if you will. Theological fiction. \n And how many people recall what Scriptures were part of the liturgy on a given Sunday-and what Scriptures can they say they hold particularly close to their hearts? If St. Paul said we are not under law but under grace, what implications does that have for theories of natural law and obligatory obedience?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another legacy of JPII and Benedict. \n\nThese horrible young men are everywhere. One of them used to post on here. He had his own website and posted his sermons and 'views' on there. I read all of it and came to the conclusion that the guy was mentally ill.\n\nBtw, can I just correct a misapprehension which is often just uncritically 'floated' out there and accepted as true. In my experience, the majority of older Catholics adapted very well to changes post Vatican II (although changes were very slow in coming in, in many parishes.)\n\nThey readily accepted receiving from the chalice, the Eucharist on the hand instead of the tongue, the sign of Peace, etc.. It tended to be the younger generation who were awkward about things, perhaps through self-consciousness - which is understandable.\n\nI feel a debt of gratitude to the generation that came before me and feel nothing but contempt for those who are treating them so shabbily.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of three) So, why is NCR looking into the Knights charitable giving? \u2014Dennis Coday The unmitigated attack on Planned Parenthood is the most hateful thing done by the K of C. Calling that attack \u201cpromote a culture of life,\u201d all the while excluding females from membership works hand-in-glove with priests and bishops doing the same hateful thing. The difference is that the hierarchy is directly responsible for the sexual cover-up. The K of C just goes along with the cover-up, in the context of its attack on Planned Parenthood. \n\nIn other words, KofCs, like Church, perpetuate the ignorant meme of wrongly discriminating against women.\u2014Sylvester(pat)steffen", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What the church has taught is irrelevant to objective reality. The Church doesn't teach Genesis is a factual historical account. You are in error. Capitalizing Latin, merely a form of logical fallacy of appeal to authority doesn't change anything. Are you aware the earth is spherical? Man has actually traveled to the Moon. It is not made of green cheese. Diseases are not caused by imbalances in the humors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've wondered that myself.\nVincent Carroll used to constantly complain about the Blaine amendment in Colorado's constitution when he was editor, and never once showed how the amendment was currently harming Roman Catholic parochial schools.\nBut, screaming \"anti-Roman Catholic bias!\" is apparently considered a great way to attack opponents of public funds for private schools.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is really a question of priorities. The Pope Himself praised the US Bishops for their courage and handling of the scandal, and lamented the harm it has caused to them. Obviously, the priority, recognized by the Pope, is the emotional welfare of the Bishops, not victims or laity who commiserate with victims. Certainly, to us this may seem wrong, but remember, God chose these men to teach us morality and define right and wrong for our uneducated consciences. Francis has shown us what is important. It is what he and his Bishops consider important. Their welfare. No doubt, this is what Christ intended when he died upon the cross. Otherwise, one might tend to question the moral authority of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What are the white supremacists doing? I heard Joel Osteen didn't want to share his church. So v. v. Christian of him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Still, Cyprian and Stephen were in conflict over a points of doctrine, (whether or not heretics must be re-baptized, and whether or not bishops who had apostatized could still exercise episcopal authority and confect sacraments once they had returned to the Church). Cyprian called 3 separate councils to decide these very issues, not to, as you falsely claim, to \"deny his (Pope Stephen's) bogus claims of authority.\" Cyprian was actually incorrect as we know from how all these things were eventually ironed out. As far as the papacy is concerned, Cyprian certainly supported the teaching of the Church, and his own words prove your assertion is completely bogus:", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the middle east Catholics are having their priests and bishops murdered and their churches burned and they are being killed for participating is centuries old pilgrimages. Even in death we find no rest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I do not know it.\n\nThe phrase \u201cchaste men who never have been married, had children, or been women\u201d can mean nothing else.\n\nThe Church\u2019s teaching authority lies with those to whom it was given.\n\nThat a teaching may be unpopular should no surprise, Jesus found the same thing when He walked the earth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The anti christ is in place. Summon the demons, and let loose the hellhounds. Where's Lord Vladimir?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Creationism...the religious belief that the universe and life originated through the actions of God.\" Not true, as it is a faulty definition. The popes of the past sixty years hold true to the belief 'that the universe and life originated through the actions of God'.\nThe National Academy of Sciences defines science as the 'systematic enterprise of gathering knowledge about the world and organizing and condensing that knowledge into testable laws and theories'. The church which accepts life and the world through the actions of God, also is accepting of that definition by the academy of sciences. Creationism does not. Creationism\ntakes the Gospel as the literal word of God, that it is historical, and that it is true to science...the Creationist account is fiction and a denial of the real world. Worst of all would be if the Bible had stated that 2 plus 2 equals five, Creationists would have to accept it and deny the math saying it equals 4. Science is a verified search for truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This Anglican does know that distinction, and has known for a very long time. Don't be so patronizing. It does you no credit as a (I assume) Catholic Christian. Besides I see the local and national news media make that same mistake almost daily and many of them are at least cultural Roman Catholics.\n\n The author of the article being a well informed journalist and religious observer, undoubtedly also knows that Eastern Orthodoxy has nuns and so does Anglicanism, from the 19th century though the return of religious orders was very controversial at the time. The Victorians saw it as a fifth column plot by Rome. Scholar, hymn writer, and Ch. of E. vicar John M. Neale, founder with his sister of a woman's order was inhibited for years by his bishop, and ostracized by many fellow clergy of the Ch. of E.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't be fooled by the hospitality. Xi is concentrating all power in his hands, Beijung steals billions in U.S. tech, its navy is taking over the western Pacific, it's used the WTO to destroy thousands of American jobs, it jails Christians, dissidents, Tibet, Hong Kong. \n\nhttps://www.meetup.com/Lafayette-Sq-Tours-of-Scandal-Assassination-Spies-Meetup/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tri, those folks mentioned above had their marriages outed by self righteous Catholics or inadvertently by others. They were not proclaiming anything to the rafters. It is really tough for gays in today's Church work place. It is truly a hostile work environment, and unfortunately, it's not usually their coworkers who make it hostile. It's those folks who just can't seem to mind their own business and call that kind of behavior being a defender of True Catholicism. Frankly it's junior high behavior and it costs competent people their livelihood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not Canada ...with a bunch of \u00ab Loyalists \u00bb Orangemen. \nThere is no place for a bunch of Ku-Ku-Klowns in Canada.\nAfter the establishment of the Canadian Federation (1867), the English speaking several provinces attended helplessly to the adoption of several LAWS and regulations, anti-Catholic and anti-French in English Canada, especially in that regard to denominational schools outside Qu\u00e9bec.\nAnti-Catholic and anti-French attitude drew its source, among others, the fact that many of the Loyalists who came to Qu\u00e9bec after the American Revolution of 1775 (Eastern Townships/ Ontario and Western Provinces) were \"Orangemen\" convinced. Orangemen advocated an anti-Catholic and anti-French doctrine, inspired by the reconquest of England in 1690 by the Protestant Prince William III of Orange.\u2026\n\nAnd Paf ! Problems started across French Canada ever since ! Got it Anglo Canada ?\n\"Ever Since\" !...look at the mess today...bashing Qu\u00e9bec...Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois are this, Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois are that!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since she and her group of Satanists believe in Satan and the power of Satan/Lucifer and ended their plea with Hail Satan, their group presumably must believe in God since God put Lucifer in the very place this group of misfits are calling for Satan to rise from. The fallen Angel Lucifer already lost the coup, the battle, the civil war. Satan does exist. Satan exists in Iris Fontana's heart, mind, and soul. Ironic that protestors who demanded Free Speech for themselves protested against the Catholic's right to express their beliefs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is trying to re-manufacture what he imagines to be \"the issues\" to gain some traction among right-wing Catholics, whom he imagines to be THE authentic Catholics. That's how he got the GOP nomination, and how he imagines he will win the November 8 election. He truly lives in a bubble where reality doesn't matter, and where all speech is subordinate to his dictates!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But we're not just Biblical illiterates.\n\nWe're also terribly illiterate in philosophy (the substantial kind), metaphysics, logic, rational inquiry, Church history (real vs. what gets picked up in the ether here...e.g., the Crusades, the Inquisition, the real details of Galileo, the Reformation, prior actual heresies), and bioethics.\n\nWe're really illiterate in what the Church actually teaches about marriage, conjugal union, etc...and, of course, the Sacraments, and grace, and sin, and the universal call to holiness (see Vatican II).\n\nWe have people here who pretend to be Vatican II fans, but draw a blank when the universal call to holiness and apostolate is mentioned!\n\nThey reject the fact that we all are called to do apostolate, every day, like the beating of our heart (as a modern-day saint said). \n\nHoliness? What's that?\nApostolate? What's that? \n\nHeresies get repeated all the time because so few know what was teased out before.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump only mouths [although in much more vulgar language] the same anti-feminine ideology that Dolan and other hierarchs only say during cocktail hour at bishops' meetings - far from the microphones. \n\nNotice that Dolan's brother hierarch there in Philadelphia Chaput boldly takes out after President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi but I doubt we will hear anything from Chaput about this tawdry juvenile performance from Trump.\n\nAt least the \"sheeple\" Catholics in that Manhattan ballroom last night had the moral good sense to boo Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) I agree that choosing to believe something doesn't in itself make that belief true, but to hold a \"God doesn't exist\" position (versus a more honest \"I don't know either way\" stance), you have to deny the existence of all things supernatural, as otherwise opens a door of possibility for God's existence. You have to believe that all the tremendous matter and energy that exists in the universe just came from nowhere magically (and the laws of entropy don't allow for matter and energy to have existed forever), and also that life, or even just DNA and RNA, in it's tremendous complexity is a random accident. 2) Comforting? The Christian path, in this life, is a much harder path than an atheist \"do whatever you want as long as the law doesn't catch you\" path. Recognizing God's existence avoids the harder questions of life and death? Quite the opposite actually - atheists are trying to avoid those harder questions by pretending that you die and that's the end of it, with no accountability.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except Ms Wente\nBad things happen when good people do nothing\nDecent Americans did not get out and outvote The Deplorables, so enter The Donald\n\nOr as WB Yeats wrote so eloquently and succinctly and presciently (oh and BTW I\u2019m a highly educated, multiracial, Catholic \u201celite\u201d)\n\n\u201cThe best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is bravery in the formation and work of The U.S. Association of Catholic Priests I am certain. It is my hope that their bravery will extend to supporting women's ordination. I believe that disruption of misogyny is essential to the core of our Church's social justice work and world leadership.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Jesus came back today, He might look around at creation, recalling its pristine beauty, and lament that this precious earth has been made into a den of thieves by greedy corporations and wealthy countries that gobble up resources from the rest of the world. When there is nothing left, no fresh air to breathe, no life in the oceans and the soils are sterile from chemicals and overuse, we will have our Judgment Day. We are expected to be good stewards of this earth, including of the oxygen and CO2.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My mother failed me that day. I remember that the day in fifth grade that I came home from school to tell her I had been selected to be an altar boy, she was ecstatic. I never saw her so happy. The fact of the matter is that if I tried to tell her that I had been molested by a Catholic priest, she would not have believed me. If I could have reported this to the police, they would not have believed me either. The truth is that back then in 1961 nobody could or would believe a twelve year old boy was sexually molested by a priest. I was taught in Catholic school that priests were Gods' representatives here on earth. Priests were a little less than the angels. I believed this myself. So I must have deserved what he did to me. No other conclusion was acceptable. About six months later, I made the first attempt to hang myself by attaching a belt around my neck and attaching it to the top bed railing of my bunk bed. My brother walked into the bedroom. I tried again later but didn't succeed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This \"voter guide\" is of use only to those who are single-issue voters. Most people are not. At the top of concerns measured by several different polls are jobs, the economy, terrorism and trade. Abortion was the second from last. That has to be taken into account in the examination of the public vs. Catholic record.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I did not blame mothers. I blame strictly those who, of their own free wills, chose to betray the priesthood and the Catholic people. They are the ones who should be paying the damages, not the rest of us. I don't understand why people want to blame everyone but them. Or perhaps I do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump's evangelical team must want the pope's endorsement pretty badly. Why else would they request such a meeting?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No you don't understand.\n\nIt's not secret at all. It's discreet, and it encourages one never to live on a name or a banner. But instead to develop one's understanding of Church teaching so deeply and competently that one doesn't need to \"stand on a banner\" for living as faithful Catholic people.\n\nIn some countries living one's Catholic faith is quite dangerous...not only in Spain during their Civil war, but in Cuba and in China today. One can die.\n\nWhere one receives additional formation in order to pursue holiness isn't anyone's business..and that's why Opus Dei doesnt' publish list of people who are members.\n\nIf a member themselves wants to tell others where they receive spiritual help, it's entirely in their personal freedom to do so.\n\nBut again, one doesn't stand behind a banner. One must study and learn the teachings of the Church that no banner is needed. \n\nYou don't understand the difference.\n\nJohn Allen wrote a book on this and presented the same points as I am here doing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think there is a link between the loss of faith practices and vocations, and the anger over the role of woman, and the scandal. But here's what stuck me for this article: it's pretty clear that they are DONE with the scandal. Nada more. That such a statement can be made, and then just pretty much ignored speaks volumes.\n\nIt is precisely this kind of cold, calculated response that has driven so many Catholics to take a very hard look at the relationship between religion and spirituality. Until the church's bishops and popes can offer a cogent, persuasive explanation for themselves, and then (and ONLY then) use that newly found opportunity to address spirituality in a way that makes sense for the modern world, will there be even a chance at renewal. Sadly, if that doesn't happen soon, it will be too late. It may already be....\n\nThat neither Francis, nor his bishops can seem to see this is disheartening.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Monica, I think some Catholic media could at least help. But what Catholic media could be counted on? Yes, this NCR but not the other NCRegister. America Magazine and Commonweal are both capable of real truth telling. I am ignorant of other Catholic media that are nationwide and are not right wing.\n\nWe need to also encourage local and national news media to work on good investigative reporting. I am extremely disappointed in major news outlets such as CNN, NBC, (forget Fox) for their reporting on this campaign - all of them were fighting for media ratings rather than real reporting on issues and on the truth. Maybe what our media have become is just an arm of the entertainment business, seeking to win the ratings battles by bringing the most entertainment to the viewer. Biggest mistake was treating equal campaign coverage as giving equal time to the spin meisters on each side. The facts were ignored.\n\nI am still numb from the election results and not sure how to react.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"When women become a clear and present danger at the Vatican\". \nThis is truly an understatement.\nIt seems that once Jesus' mother \"ascended\" women became a clear and present danger to church authorities, period. \nInstances like this bring that \"culture\" -enshrouded and disguised as dogma and \"sacred tradition\" - which has existed for centuries, into dramatically \"incarnate\" currency. \nPatriarchal civilization generally has seen women as seductively dangerous, off-loading male lust- blind and otherwise- as intrinsically seducing yet utilitarian feminine evil.\nThis is not only a \"Catholic\" thing. However, Catholic theology, philosophy, tradition and practice, up to and including Pope Francis' de facto endorsement of Pope John Paul/Ratzinger 2004 updating of Tertullain, has sadly, exemplified, rationalized and reinforced global misogyny. It has tragically resisted and slowed the creational intention of peership among men and women not only in western society but globally.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no perfect candidate for evangelicals and if there were it would be the wrong choice possibly for Catholics, and if the Catholics liked him and the evangelicals liked him then it would be the wrong choice for the Episcopalians. etc etc. Here is what you are missing Mr. Kristof: Christians understand right and wrong much better than non-Christians who often times fly with no moral compass and no bright line absolutes in their lives. \n\nThis election poses no problem for Christians of any kind because it pits a known very corrupt, very dishonest, serial killer and professional politician whose policies are hell-bent to destroy what's left of our society against an imperfect man (like all of us are) who listens to what were are saying and who have so far hasn't betrayed our trust that he will do what he promises... Yet. While the other person has spent 30 years of her life betraying all of us for her own personal benefit. cont'd", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yah, same Jesus that cursed a fig tree when it didn't produce fruit out of season.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree, Monica. It's always seemed to me that even our most generous efforts at formal \"reconciliation\" have had a win/lose feel to them. The endgame always seems to be submission to central authority and acceptance of doctrine rather than kinship in the Body of Christ. I've often wondered what the point is.\n\nTrue reconciliation will, by necessity, mean a surrendering of our insistence on things that really don't matter. An exclusively male clergy is one of them. And, by my thinking, papal infallibility is right up there with it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, some converts come to us as a hedge against modernity, or worse as a refuge back into the misogyny of male-only ordination. Francis is surely scaring the Brits, who remember that female deacons were ordained first before any female priesthood. There will be few places left for them when we start going down this road. If Francis starts talking about differing sexual orientations, hetero, homo and asexual, we will know the end is near for contience, male ordination, celibacy and of asexuals asserting they are the perfect flowering of Catholic sexual morality, rather than the smallest sexual grouping. We are all not the same and that is OK.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pope is a Jesuit and most of us Catholics know the history of the Order. If the Vatican could see the REAL cause of Central and South American illegal immigration then, maybe, many people's lives would be saved and their home countries cleansed of the murderous criminals who run them today. Deal with the CAUSE not the effect! After all, these are supposedly CATHOLIC majority countries! Spend some of that huge fortune to restore law and order THERE!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My dad was a Protestant and had to sign one of those forms to agree to raise us Catholic. He stayed home and made us lunch, while mom took us to church every Sunday. When my younger brother was confirmed, he all of a sudden decided to come into the church too. Mostly we missed the lunches! ha ha...but seriously, he only remained Catholic until my mom died, and then he returned to his Protestant faith when he re-married. Life is complicated. I think in the end, we all make our own choices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are absolutely right, DonInKansas. In early Christianity most priests, deacons and bishops were married. [This included popes, who like St. Peter, were married as well]. The origins of celibacy go back to the Spanish Synod of Elvira, meeting in 306 AD, had to content itself with requiring married clergy not to engage in sexual relations with their wives. Pope Damasus [366-384] taught that spiritual fatherhood was more important than biological fatherhood, and thus prohibited priests in Rome from marrying. Pope Damasus spoke to preserving priests' \"cultic purity.\" He thought that sexual intercourse made a man unclean and unsuited for priestly service.\n\nGnostic dualism was completely contrary to the gospel, based on the idea that God had become man. The Incarnation meant that the body was just as good as the soul. To say that sexual intercourse in marriage interferes with someone's holiness is not a Christian ideal", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 2\n\nArchbishop Lefebvre wrote in Religious Liberty Questioned: \n\nall of this is based on the Church's fundamental principles, on the fact that the Church is truth, the only truth. This is the way it is; you either believe it or you don't, of course, but when you believe, then you have to draw the consequences. That is why, personally, I do not believe that the declarations of the Council on liberty of conscience, liberty of thought, and liberty of religion can be compatible with what the popes taught in the past. Therefore we have to choose. Either we choose what the popes have taught for centuries and we choose the Church or we choose what was said by the Council. But we cannot choose both at the same time since they are contradictory. \n\nNope, the schismatic Lefebvre rejected Dignitatis Humanae. He was right about one thing, however: DH flatly contradicts what Pius IX said about freedom of religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As Pope Francis' representative to the KoM, Burke was to represent the Holy Father ... no one was to be fired ... there was to be dialogue and reconciliation. Burke has sworn obedience to the Holy Father. Burke has betrayed the Holy Father. No wonder he has been sidelined as Francis' representative to the KoM! He is a disgrace, and should fade into insignificance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wolf Eagle wrote: \"One more Okie Nazi...\"\n\nYou might also want to add evangelical Christian to your description of Mr. Pruitt. ;)\n\nhttp://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2017/january/trumps-pick-to-head-up-epa-steps-directed-by-god", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very selective commentating.\n\n\"Ecclesia is mentioned only twice in gospels. A latter insertion?\"\n1. I guess you meant \"later\" ... \n2. Selective:\na. you ignore its occurrence in the letters of Paul, which all predate the Gospels ...\nb. you ignore its use in the Acts of the Apostles, which is contemporary with Luke's Gospel.\n\nYour typification of Brown is shallow. If you really want to call him an \"archaeologist\", then please recognise this as a valid science, revealing valuable insights.\n\nYou, on the other hand, sound like the one scrabbling around ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In order to understand the term \"islamophobia\" we must also understand Islam's own misogyny, homophobia, hatred of Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Europe, America, democracy, dogs, free speech, human rights and now even Canadian social norms. There is nothing in Islam that ordains women to wear the face covering, but they want us to think there is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the USCCB obsesses in its support for \"anti-racism\" - & in any manner & to any degree makes it part of the USCCB \"platform\" - it risks an even worse irrelevance than it received for its earlier support for Humanae Vitae.\n\nThe Catholic \"Right\" made a grave mistake in supporting Humanae Vitae,\nThe Catholic \"Left\" will make a fatal mistake in its support for multicultural \"anti-racism\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cont.\n\nWhat about \"Feed my sheep\", or \"I am the good shepherd.\" And certainly Christ was aware of his impending death, which He chose to sacrifice for us.\n\nWhat is this about? Women can and do feed sheep and are able to do all that priests and shepherds do symbolically and physically and sacramentally so I don't know what this blurb is about. \n\nActually, shepherds are one of the few trades that both men and women always did equally even back to the most ancient times. Zippora, Moses' wife was a shepherd and that is how she met Moses at the well and so was Rachel the wife of Jacob when he met her.\n\nI don't believe this is a coincidence either that Christ seeks to equate his works to a humble shepherd, something he knows the culture realizes both men and women take part in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump's \"support\" for Catholics is outlined on his website at: https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/issues-of-importance-to-catholics . Part of that is support for the \"First Amendment Defense Act\" which would legalize discrimination against LGBT and others based on religious grounds (similar to the act enacted and then repealed by his running-mate Pence in Indiana). No thank you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you're referring to countries such as Saudia Arabia, Iran, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc then I 100% agree. And to be precise, in those countries women/girls do not have anywhere near the same rights as men and are often forbidden to get education. There is a serious problem with that religion then, right?\n\nBut are you suggesting there is a significant problem in Canada where Christians are indoctrinating their children in religion to the exclusion of arts, music, science, etc etc? Surely that can't be the case...that would suggest parents who home school their children are in fact, religious zealots instilling the \"cave mentality\" in their children. If children were in school, then it would mightily suspicious if whole hordes of kids suddenly walked out art, music, science, math classes and would that not raise alarm bells?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The United States is a secular country. The Way of the Christ is irrelevant to US policy. If people want health insurance and public housing and university tuition from the Christ, they should apply to their churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Dubious\" is a mild term to address the fraudulent actions of the FedWreck Crew headed by their fearless leader & perjurer: Robin Danner! How is it that Robin Danner was able to even get homestead? She's not even a beneficiary! A \"native Hawaiian Beneficiary\" is defined as a person having at least 50% blood quantum of Hawaiian. Robin's father is pure Haole, and her mother is 75% Hawaiian/25% Filipino, according to Ribin Danner's own Aunty Elsie Ka`aha`aina who is an upstanding role model of integrity & devout Christian, who will not lie for her niece!\n\nTherefore, Robin Danner had to have lied on her application for homestead, & her siblings are all on the wait list, which means they all have also fabricated their Hawaiian blood quantum.\n\nThen, Robin exposed her own self by seeking the court to evict her own sister Jade from Robins Waimanalo Homestead house, which Robin does not even live in. That's a clear cut violation of the lease agreement!\n\nRobin needs to be prosecuted!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What exactly CI (Catholic Institution) is doing anything properly?\nThey don\u2019t have any authority to exclude anyone since \u201cfeed my sheep\u201d was Jesus\u2019s commend to Apostle Peter. CI is fast putting themselves out of business.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And 'The Church' does not vote, nor does it represent a single moral judgement, let alone should it be expected to represent a single political view.\n\nA church that would spend its time campaigning for a political party or individual has lost it's focus on our spiritual lives. I would immediately walk away from such a church", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "FN also have a history of slavery, abuse, and murder. All societies do, from the dawn of humankind. No religion or society has ever been immune to it. Christianity also has it's roots in Judaism. Look into the practices of Jews, including their laws on conservation: stock keeping, and land use. Look into their \"social justice\" laws. Every number of years debts were forgiven, slaves freed, and land laid fallow for preservation of the soil among other things. In modern day Christianity, many of these tribal views, ie slavery, have long been abolished. I wish we could say the same for some other religions. If you want to play the race/religion card, a white Christian man spearheaded the abolition of slavery in NA., but I don't like to do this: you cannot put history into todays context. This constant blaming of Christians and colonists for all what ails society is simply not fair, and perpetuates normalization of anti-white sentiment, since most colonialists were white.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It might be good to remember that the \"good old days\" where the social norm meant attending church regularly also embraced the good old-fashioned fear factor, where if you didn't show up on Sundays, you were bound for hell for sure. I don't question the fact that ours was a much more churchgoing culture (it is, after all, when I grew up), but as far as living Christian principles and ideals, not so much -- unless institutionalized and accepted racism, sexism, homophobia, etc., don't really matter. \n\nIt seems to me our society changed drastically in the 1960's, including the effects of Vat II. That is only 50 years ago, which may not be enough time to accurately assess, or make predictions about, the long-term, more permanent influences. We've seen the reductions...but do we really know what more positive changes may result? \n\nThanks, Mr. Briggs, for this column...nice to have the real you back after last week!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am so glad he wrote this, because it explains how those, like him, who are part of the problem really do think they are part of the solution--and, quite apparently, they're not! \n\nOh how I wish Bishop Tobin had a wife, sons, daughters, grandkids, a mother in law, a daughter in law, heck a close female companion who could look into his eye and say, \"Tom, let's be honest...\" I'm not saying celibacy is THE problem, but it sure reflects a problem.\n\nLE'S BE HONEST... many of us were taught a \"faith\" based on \"fear.\" Mass attendance mirrored a flock driven to the church at 10:15 a.m. by fear of Hell, more so than by \"faith.\" \n\nAvoiding SIN was the effective motivator--obedience was the solution.\n\nBishop:\n\nLack of faith? C'mon, it's lack of fear that puzzles. \n\nLack of faith? C'mon, it's lack of compliance that bothers. \n\nLack of faith? C'mon, it's lack of certainty that challenges.\n\nIf \"more catechisis\" is the answer on the exam, maybe you're on the wrong Catholic campus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a serious person, not an angry person--- or at least that's my goal.\n\nLot's of people have intense emotional events that may color their opinion for a lifetime. It seems you have had a significant emotional event(s) at some point, because your anger has been pretty palpable since you started posting. \n\nThat is not a criticism. I'm can't feel what you feel, but in no way do I diminish your experience\n\nI do not like the gender roles defined by many churches. I do not believe them to be in line with the larger vision of Jesus and his own view of universality of all life. You would be wrong if you assume all Christians are chauvenist, but you're completely right that many are. \n\nGod as mother has always seemed far more life affirming to me. Personally I don't think of God as male or female.\n\nMathew 22:30 \"In the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like the angels in heaven\" Angels have no gender.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again a comment of mine pointing out to a 'progressive' poster taken in by Kurgan that he was lampooning orthodox Catholicism has been deleted as 'uncivil'. Unfortunately I did not copy my comment as I thought it was completely innocuous, however, I will copy every comment I make in future and take it up with Civil Comments. They are very much on the ball and the complaint I made regarding a post deemed uncivil yesterday they upheld and offered to republish it.\nIt seems that I am being targeted by posters who do not like my comments. Apparently if two posters vote one's comment 'uncivil' it is deleted immediately without notification so it could disappear completely.\nI am going to copy all my posts and e-mail Civil Comments every time they are deleted as uncivil. Presumably Civil Comments will eventually identify posters who are trying to drive people off this forum.\nI'll address the rest of your comment in another post as I am near the word limit and I must go to bed. Goodnight.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is the only dogma that cannot change. Paul was very clear on the fact that all of the moral teaching is inferior to a belief in the Resurrection. Now, there are those who question how the Resurrection took place (whether there was ever a burial - because the crucified usually rot on their trees - but the fact is that people report seeing the risen Lord and that witness is why there is Christianity. The rest can be handled without that bit of faith by philosophy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As much as I dislike Trump, he's no Hitler. Has he borrowed a few pages from his playbook, yes! Does he use fear tactics, absolutely. Is he relying on the under educated, of course. He admits it. This combination of shoddy, unethical tactics have garnered him millions of supporters. How he won over evangelicals is easily explained. In my opinion, it's that common thread, that familiar element of borderline hysteria that we recognize with religious zealots - fear and fantasm. \n\nGet that adrenaline going, like a preacher at the pulpit, and his followers are hooked regardless of what nonsense he spouts. And like so many preachers at the pulpit, Trump is purely self serving. He never has and never will do anything to promote the common good. He doesn't know how nor does he care to learn. Vague, empty promises to promote his own agenda and that of his children - that's it! It shouldn't take one of his peers, Mark Cuban, to point this out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Impressively consistent, the Catholics progressives here are united: \n\nNeither likes the leader of their country, nor the leader of their religion.\n\nFight the power!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But that's NOT really an issue, nor can it be made into a bona fide issue! And that alone would both prompt and justify papal silence. Pope Francis is not a policeman, in the style of his two immediate predecessors. And the nature of conjugal intimacy in particular cases is both private and confidential, and does not easily lend itself to hard and fast rules such as would please right-wing cardinals who have revealed their intent to \"correct this pope\" if his response or non-response does not satisfy them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your statement is merely proof of what God Almighty said about the disbelievers among the Christians and Jews nearly fifteen centuries ago: \"...the Jews and the Christians will never be pleased with you until you follow their religion...\" (Sura Baqara 120).\n\nYou'll just have to go on being displeased, then. Do try to get over it. That young Qutb (\"Imam\") was a much nicer guy that I am. I'd have stomped that murderer's face into the pavement.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is the preferred candidate of white racists and their collaborators. I consider them domestic terrorists and their sympathizers. Those of us that are not white or Christian watched them for over a year and know if we some how just disappeared, they would be very happy. They made it very clear that they will use the 2nd Amendment on us. I would not be surprised if Trump pardons Dylan Roof just to insult us, since he knows virtually none of us voted for him. He is petty that way. His voters won't mind at all. Trump does not care enough to be a full blown racist. That takes work and focus. However, his minions are another matter.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "1) It's nice to see that Notre Dame is still Catholic.\n2) The hypocrisy of all these Jesuits asking the Jesuit-educated members of Congress to vote for the \"dreamers,\" while they never asked these same people to protect the unborn is pure hypocrisy.\nThe Catholic people can hear and see the hypocrisy LOUD AND CLEAR.\nThat's why we'll keep voting Republican.\nYou elitists do yourselves more harm than good with \"the people.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "And if they hate Jews, are we supposed to believe they love Christians ? This is no surprise to anyone who is a Christian, but this nonsense of calling evil good has to stop...Crazy days we live in.\n\n Isa 5:20\u00a0 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This one sided, tripe article is yet another example of the pro Islam left having another tantrum. The US is again being falsely judged by these \"bleeding hearts\". I just read that of the 11,000 refugee from Syria, only 56 were Christians yet they make up over 10% of the population and they are ALL being persecuted. Gee... I wonder how many Christian refugees Saudi Arabia has taken in? This shouldn't take too long to count. \n\nYou go Mr. Trump! Ban them all before it's too late and they take over and change everything. If only we had politicians in Canada that had the same clarity of vision that Mr. Trump has. They would/will certainly get my vote.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trump was a lifelong Democrat so that would meet one qualification for a racist. Democrats are the Party of Slavery and Jim Crow Laws which gave us legalized second-class citizens. The KKK was formed by former white supremacist military officers defeated by Lincoln's army. They were all Democrats who hated the Republican President. Their nice statues are being pulled down by other Democrats. \nAmerican Nazis hate just about everyone; Jews, Blacks, Catholics, Mexicans... and more. I won't put those morons on the Democrats even though Democrats put them on Republicans everyday.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You are spot on and she is hypocritical for not seeing this however the British and Christian's were far worse colonizers and invaders.... From destroying the Cathar's to ignoring offers of peace by the Muslims during the Crusades..... There is blood on all sides....", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If you believe your religion has been hijacked by these scumbags then take it back from them. Be willingly to speak out against other Muslims who give you a bad name and stop blaming everything and everyone except the terrorists for what they do. These attacks on you are caused by terrorists who hate you and everyone who is not them whether they are Muslim, Christian, or Atheist and not the \"right wing\". To blame anyone but the terrorists is exactly what they want you to do and you're falling right into their trap.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "short hairs is another form of the same statement. I guess you agree that Trump has not lied under oath as the last I knew bears are not catholic and I believe the pope does not poop in the woods. You got the way that we knew Obama and Hillary were lying. Trump on the other speaks more truth then both Obama and Hillary combined.\nNo, I am not a drinker. I am also not living in a glass house, though I once helped build a glass Applebee's tower once. \nI do not know about talking about it, but women sexually assault men and extort them all the time. How many times have women said, don't do this or I will cry rape, or withhold sex if you do not do what they want. Women will also take advantage of drunk, drugged, or sleeping guys. Women will also physically assault guys.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"Christians\" showed what hypocrites they are when over 80% supported Donald Trump, a person who's every word and action throughout his life is the antithesis of the teachings of Jesus. Why? To push their politics of intolerance using Trump as a tool. Beyond shameful. Jesus weeps.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Oh please. We all know why they aren't standing and it has nothing to do with social justice. There's an entire segment of American society that has grown up being brainwashed that they are victim's and that brainwashing is now manifesting itself as hatred for the white race, specifically white Christians.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What do you mean by \"let us restore clericalism\"? Is it a sarcasm? \nI thank God for V.II changes just in time for my joining Catholic Church.\nWithout that I would have not survived being a Catholic! \n \nHowever, now even V.II is useless for me since CI clergy rape children in sacristy and confessional.\nIt is abominable sex abuse of children condoning devil's clergies celebrating mass is not a God worshiping but devil worshiping liturgy!\nGod have mercy on US, Catholics!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Political religiosity is social ornamentation and theater, and it's futile to speculate about a politician's religious, or irreligious, sentiments. American voters are remarkably credulous when it comes to religious lip service. Look at all the Christians who tell themselves Trump has come to Jesus and is one of them. Sad!\n\n\"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites...\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis has messed up the current situation with his own hands by his unwillingness to be open with his Amoris Laetitia document, not to mention his openly liberal stance in recent appointees made to Vatican offices that suit his desires. Not all Catholics are dumb and can see that the RCC is being sold down the drain. Hence don't be surprised at these changes you mention!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Okay I think everyone can agree that the idea of residential schools was, according to the time period, a concept that might be good. \n\nThe mistake of course was letting the Catholic church anywhere near them with their perverted priests and nuns.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Complete garbage. His agreed upon salary with the Foundation was $180,00 which was less than his Chief Justice salary. And he was actually getting paid that - the foundation could not afford to do so - so the disclosed payments to Moore are accurate. And you snide remark about Moore being like a televangelist betrays your anti-Christian bigotry.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Islamophobia is such a facile attack on critics of the burqa but please do explain how Egypt came to ban it as well. Must be those racist Coptic Christians that put that through?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How? If people don't believe in your pretend friend, it's because of what your religion says, not because of other people who never believed it in the first place. Every non-Christian could be \"blamed\" for tearing down churches using your \"logic\", yet you only whine about atheists.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Did you even read this article? much less the budget proposal. The hatred in this editorial is ridiculous, cruel this, frightening that. You failed to mention that Planned Parenthood would be de-funded, certainly good news that Catholics can support. We've tried it the Obama way and it failed miserably, it's time for a change.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You are either profoundly ignorant or intellectually bankrupt. This was not merely a cake, that is bald face lie, gary. had they simply ordered a cake it would have been filled as they filled other orders. This was an in your face order that is as obnoxious as if I were to order a cake promoting my Satanic event. This is as obnoxious as targeting an organic baker, and ordering a cake that reads; the organic industry is consumer fraud...GMO is good for you.\n Furthermore, the KKK event is relevant as they have 1st amendment rights. that contrary to your ignorance or lie is protected or this group would be outlawed. Your bigotry is a vulgar double standard Gary. \n Christianity is as vulgar to me as the KKK. I have no problem serving a Christian a slice of pie and coffee. I do have a problem with filling an order for a cake that celebrates a demigod that wants to torture me in hell for eternity. I'm not filling the order.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing ironic about it at all. They hate everyone who isn't a greedy, lying, white Christian, old man. They have never had and morals or values since day one.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Bath House was invited to speak several times but refused, after all the BSA is a young mans Christian leaning organization, eschewing homosexual scoutmasters. Obviously an organization Barry Boy would despise.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "...and need not be obeyed. The sad thing is that Catholic politicians have not had the courage to correct these bishops on why Roe is not going away, at least not by repeal, that doing so would repeal most privacy law. While the bishops would love to return to rule by a Catholic mob at the state level, most of us would not.\n\nThis goes to the big dissent and obedience argument. It is not contraception and marital chastity, the sense of the faithful has already rejected that and we are not leaving. There will be no small faithful remnant that dotes on every word asexual Catholic bishops speak. Like any dysfunctional organization, we simply ignore the powers that be.\n\nThe big argument is about elections. The bishops long for the day that they can speak from the pulpit and be obeyed in the voting booth. Sadly, this happened this year and we got King Donald the Idiot. It did not happen with Obama, who wisely listened to those who said to attack the movement rather than debate the...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Why would white racists burn the church and then write \"Vote Trump?\" This is an act by the Saul Alinsky crowd. They drove down from New York in a Mercedes limo, committed the act of terrorism, then drove back. This is what we get if Hillary is elected.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "imagine. a lifestyle that lives in harmony with others, the environment. doesn't impose on others, doesn't condemn or hate. how the hell did this guy come to integrate, show us that compassion and respect and love and equality are actually achievable? wait a minute, i didn't hear a word that his god was better than mine, never heard a word about homosexuality being an abomination or women are inferior and dont have a right to control their bodies. a few hawaiians and others i've met share his philosophy. not a single fundamentalist christian i have met does. just saying.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I am a proud Italian and I can think of nothing more selfish in the world than to patronize a murderer, rapist, thief, scum bag like columbus while so many suffered in his wake. Yes it is nice for Catholics and Italian immigrants to have a special day cut out for them, but what about the people who lost everything literally driven to extinction by us, religious-spewing white people who ruined the lives of peaceful, innocent indigenous people's of the America's and around the world in painful violent ways. It is goddamn unbelievable that we celebrate this pathetic excuse for a man, while children are taught to see him as a hero. Numerous articles on the web offer evidence to the claims of columbus's horrible history:\n\nhttps://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/history/events/8-myths-and-atrocities-about-christopher-columbus-and-columbus-day/\n\nhttp://www.americanindiansource.com/columbusday.html", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The easiest way to win a beauty contest is to stand next to the fat girl wearing a diaper and bad pants suit. \n\n- Mental Instability? Ask Matt Lauer who went bat sh%$ crazy on him yelling and screaming and cursing him and threatening she was going to have him fired ...all for asking a question she hadn't pre approved..Advantage Shrillary\n- Used Evangelicals? Hardly, their moral compass worked just fine in rejecting a 30 yr criminal who regularly has her political opponents and body guards whacked...advantage Killary\n- Suckered Workers? Not this time They rejected Corporate Americas candidate - Advantage Corpillary\n- Unprepared Millenials? Try again they don't want the TPP, and are anti war...Hillary was the \"Gold Standard of endless war candidates- Advantage - TPPillary \n- Misguided Tools? - Those are the ethically and morally bankrupt voters who ignored Hillary's 1,000's of felonies and selling out of this country to vote for herb - advantage Toollary\n\nOut of space Hillary Wins 5-0", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The Bible and the Koran are indistinguishable based on what you are talking about. You're a stone-cold cretin, and I usually reserve that designation for someone after they have posted dozens and dozens of inane comments, but yours is so bad that I will use the designation on you based on the first comment I've ever seen you post. Congratulations!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Who votes for Republicans because of abortions are really nothing but stupid hypocrites. Life is not just about being born it is about being able to live. Republican try to lessen that everyday. Just look how they now want to take away healthcare from 35 million Americans. That is not pro-life. In fact the church has gone in the wrong direction and need to do more to show parishioners that you have to take the whole picture into account. What religious people do not understand is that they need to work on themselves instead of condemning everyone elses behavior. It is about you and how you treat other (including sinners) and not about punishment and being critical. Yo do not get closer someone to God by criticizing them instead you do by example. Well in todays society our elected leaders are the last we should be looking at as being good Christian considing how so many could careless about those who they represent but instead how much money they make.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As a pro-choice Catholic, and one who has been repulsed by the clerical sexual abuse scandal, I believe that everything is negotiable. Some people, especially women, do not believe that the church has their best interests at heart, only the interests of rich white men.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Check out this hate speech from the Christian God:\n\"The LORD said to me, \"See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his country over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.\" When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz, the LORD our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army. At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed them--men, women and children. We left no survivors...So the LORD our God also gave into our hands Og king of Bashan and all his army. We struck them down, leaving no survivors. At that time we took all his cities. There was not one of the sixty cities that we did not take from them...We completely destroyed them as we had done with Sihon king of Heshbon, destroying every city--men, women and children...If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Erickson seems to have an alternate Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That you are able to publicly make this statement is disconcerting as this is where fundamentalist ideals which fuel hatred stem from. Islam is among the Abrahamic religions which also includes Judaism and Christianity. By your own statement then Catholic and Protestant denominations should also be axed from public schools because they, too, are heavily steeped in politics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Let those who advocate for this progressive insult to God lead by example.\"\n\nCould you explain how letting people with painful, terminal diseases choose to end their suffering is an insult to god? Is Morphine an \"insult to god\"? What about Penicillin? \n\nWhat about peacefully putting down an old, arthritic, sweet dog surrounded by his toys and blanket and people who love him? Insult to god or not?\n\nI am very wary of laws based on religious beliefs whether christian or muslim or something else. \n\nMaybe you could require unnecessary suffering as a requirement of membership into your particular sect, and leave me and my family out of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I had the same question about the definition of Catholic used in this poll. Did the poll survey only the \"pay, pray, and obey\" Catholics (tending towards an older demographic) who regularly go to Mass on Sundays and consider abortion their top voting issue? Or those that self-identify as Catholic because they were raised Catholic (tending towards a younger demographic), probably only go to Church on Christmas and Easter with their parents, and consider social justice their top voting issue?\n\nIt would be interesting to see how the results of this poll would look if subdivided to reflect the voting choices of these two distinctly different groups of self-identifying Catholic voters. Based upon observations within my parish, family, and circle of friends, the latter group appears to be growing while the former group is declining.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Um, so what about the Christians that are being persecuted in the Middle East? The heck with them? I'm embarrassed that the Catholic Church is turning its back on them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"form the vast majority\" \n\nThe 'majority' consists of the Abrahamic faiths of Christians, Islam and Jews. The rest are pretty much in single digits worldwide. \n\nChristianity 2.2\u00a0billion 31.50%\nIslam 1.6\u00a0billion 22.32%\nSecular[a]/Nonreligious[b]/Agnostic/Atheist \u22641.1\u00a0billion 15.35%\nHinduism 1\u00a0billion 13.95%\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_populations\n\nThe Christians in the US are the 70% folks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You do realize that Catholic schools also indoctrinate students into a particular ideology, don't you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the reminder about Schindler's List. I had honestly forgotten about that incredibly moving account. I must admit that I wrote my piece too quickly and in an attitude of deep frustration. But I really am weary of films depicting the sins of the Catholic Church, especially the sins of centuries ago. At the same time I understand that to forget those sins is to run the risk of repeating them. I do, however, fear that every time one of these films pops up it can easily refuel hatred toward the Church even though the Church has already repented for that particular transgression. It's unfair to make a judgement about an age-old misdeed using the logic of the present context. At any rate, I hope Spielberg's new movie is met with balanced judgement and maybe even have something to say about our present American dilemma. Thanks for causing me to rethink this through.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tradition and Scripture are both important for doctrine. In scripture, so are history and archeology and in morals so are the natural and social sciences. Nothing is irrelevant. Indulgences are based on St. Anselm\u2019s worldview of salvation. There are others. Purgatory is valid, not for burning off sins but to gain a forgiving spirit and end anger, for an angry person, even the most scrupulous Trad, cannot enter Heaven. Indeed, as angry Catholic Trump voters start dying off, Purgatory will need a new wing. The Marriage decrees are valid, however they are still wrong and unscriptural if you accept that the debate between Hillel and Shammai must be considered. Francis is tempering the severity of Trent, but more needs to be done for charity and sanity. The Calender is a temporal question and it could yet change again civillly without the Church having a say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I thought I explained why the bible doesn't count as evidence - when you make a book up a century or more after the fact and only use the bits you like, that is not evidence for anything, other than that you were determined to get your version (and only your version) of the story told. If, however, you have any real evidence, I will be quite willing to change my view. \n\nUnfortunately, I will never be able to change your mind either, since it is simply impossible to prove that something DOESN'T exist. Which is why, of course, most atheists subscribe to the doctrine of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, as you can't prove he doesn't exist either.\n\nOh, and just BTW, the world no longer uses the BC/AD description (and it was only the West that ever did - chiefly because they were christian nations. That is only evidence that religion had far too strong of a hold on most governments in years' past, nothing more). Today, the correct terminology is BCE & CE, which stands for Before/ Christian Era.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The most serious problem we face is dysfunctional families..not climate, not wages, not Trump, not health care.\n\nIt's a root problem...\n\nFailed families cause selfish people, lazy workers, corrupt employers, higher health care costs, poverty, a run on \"federal benefits\", extra burden on teachers, economic hardships (split families), a lack of the harder virtues in people (industriousness, generosity, patience, temperance, uncontrolled emotions, runaway appetites (not just the obvious ones).\n\nThat's the only thing serious Catholics should be focused on because it is such a root problem, and it's very addressible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have been saying the same thing for years now. First I stopped giving money. Finally I walked out. Yes, I keep up, especially after Francis came in. But he also does nothing as far as this issue goes. So I will not be back. I have lost all hope that the institutional RCC will ever return to putting Christ and the gospels ahead of their own concern for power, wealth, and privilege. The real church - the people in the pews - needs to cast off the institution, stop supporting it, and begin anew. They can choose their own leaders, as was done in the early church. No top down hierarchy, just leaders from their own groups, men and women, married and single, preferably meeting in house churches, where the Eucharist is again a shared meal, including bread and wine to \"remember \" Jesus, as he asked. A return to the simplicity and true shared communion of the first years after Jesus' death.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The comments in the emails are obnoxious, but to be honest, they aren't too different from ones I've read on this very blog (especially back in the Disqus days) between Catholics of different ideologies. The fact is, Catholicism is a hot-button topic these days and there are a lot of impassioned opinions.\n\nAs for Archbishop Chaput, if he isn't willing to extend his righteous indignation to the excesses of the Republican candidate as well -- especially these recently revealed comments about getting away with sexually abusive behavior -- he'd be better off keeping quiet. He comes across here looking like he's just taking advantage of an opportunity to attack the Democratic party.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pro-birth politics as usual, this time from a self proclaimed \"evangelical Catholic.\" Cheerless.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is impossible to attain social/ecological justice without integral human development, and it is impossible to attain integral human development without a proper male/female balance in human institutions, both secular and religious. For your consideration:\n\nAppeal to Pope Francis\nhttp://pelicanweb.org/CCC.TOB.120.html\n\nThe Christ-Church mystery transcends the patriarchal analogy in Ephesians 5. The Catholic faith is that the Church is \"one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.\" It is ludicrous to keep insisting that the apostolic mark of the Church is dogmatically patriarchal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seems like a new batch of gnostics who know supernatural realities even the Pope does not know. It used to be a joke when somebody said: \"Is the Pope Catholic.\" not so much with the trads.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A good argument for the Presbyterian system - elect your own pastor. That is not, however, Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So it's come to this: Christians against Muslims. Thought so. That's why the evangelical right dropped whatever integrity it had and supported Trump who is rumoured to be an atheist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Civil Rights Act, which quite a few white, southern Christians loathed. The GOP and the Fallwell/Robertson \"flock\" made their deal, known as the GOP \"Southern Strategy.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The imagery of women dancing is joyous. Until women can preach and preside (and men can join in the dance) the core message of social justice rings hollow. We cannot be Christ to the world until we embody Christ....Jesus, in His inclusivity....His radical love.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's actually a nice metaphor. And, I agree with you, it is. I like it, along with the many other things that are contained in the sayings attributed to Jesus.\n\nRegarding the Catholic institutions abiding .;.. the thing is that universities ought to actually be pushing the Church to move forward, not encouraging it remain mired in teachings based on discredited scientific understandings. But that's only my opinion, and no institution is asking. I only get to post ideas on these boards. :-)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very obviously Amoris Laetitia is not clear, hence the confusion; Very obviously only Pope Francis can clarify this document; Very obviously Catholics want to know; and so, equally obviously, he should answer the questions! Why not? Why keep a dog if you can bark yourself? (especially given the quality of the dogs!). Just answer the questions. What kind of person (Pope) thinks that he is so superior that he doesn't need to answer questions put by so many people? Forget the rest of this correspondence, we are ALL entitled to answers whether we like them or not. We are entitled as Catholics to clear teaching from the successor of the Apostles. Enough with this evasion and obfuscation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's sad. Now 20+ years after we learned of the betrayal, and after the promises of 3 popes and innumerable commissions, we require a formal program to train people in how to acknowledge a letter. It will probably be headed by a cardinal, with 2-3 supporting bishops, and a hundred clerks. Jesus Wept.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In a country with 25% Evangelicals and 23% Nones, is it surprising that public policy doesn't reflect the social teaching of Catholics (22%), especially since most Catholics are only vaguely familiar with the tradition and many actually disagree with it? Ask any US Catholic about Leo XIII and see if they mention Rerum Novarum (or can tell you who Leo was). \nSince so many Catholics voted for Mr. Trump in 2016, I think we have to acknowledge that Catholic Social Teaching has not been well explained by our leaders or well received by the people. The idea that Catholics would vote en masse against their perceived self-interests in order to promote the common good as defined in papal encyclicals -- well, it's hard to find instances of that happening in practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I recomend that your readers read the interview themselves so thay may clearly decifer for themselves the intent of the interview. I know I learned a lot by reading it. You are doing in this article exactly what you are falsely accusing Cdl Burke of doing only you have a very obvious antagonistic flair. The Cardinal is not \"ultra\" conservative, he is simply Catholic. Catholic Teaching cannot be changed, because it is the consistant teachings of Jesus Christ and the Magesterium of His Church through the centuries. so Catholicism is conservative by nature. You might even say \" ULTRA CONSERVATIVE \" The Cardinal is addressing a big issue of confusuion within the Church, as he sees it. You mock him when he says that schism would be a no no....you mock him! why?. I do not see what is wrong with questioning the Pope about the confusion within the church that this shepherd is concerned about. You do yourself and the Church no good with this article.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I could never understand is how a woman would allow herself to lose her dignity by submitting to the many and varied solutions to the situations.....maybe because I'm not a cradle Catholic.\nChildren have rights written in law, [UN Convention] including to a father and a mother more the issue now with the church's stance on SSM and concern for children of the unions.\nI wouldn't mind betting this is where the good cardinal comes in with his statements, we can't have heterosexual clergy having children and abandoning them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, we must not act as if Jesus is the final word on anything. Being the Divine Son of God hardly gives him precedence over the men who run the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I am not mistaken , Alaska has the highest percentage per capita than any other state. I agree that the V A needs to work better for our Veterans. I , for one , can still vividly remember coming home to a greeting I never expected from nice little Catholic girls with a sense of indignation , and a cruel approach to welcoming home those that believed they were protecting you. We need to stop the Wars , but Korea is looking ripe for the picking. We need to lower Medical cost , instead of allowing 1000% arbitrary increases, for profit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Well it's time to shut the church down.\"\n\nHow profound -- as if things should be instantly changed by a self-righteous opinion! Well your opinion is tolerated where other opinions, written rarely and reluctantly, are left free to discard it. My stick, however, doesn't near me to your sad aim. I forgave the person who abused me, and have moved on. But if Cardinal Pell is guilty, I hope he does time in jail. If convicted, he will be convicted as a serial abuser and a liar. But to shut down my church, which has nourished me -- and millions of others -- and still does, because of his alleged crime is outrageous. The church teaches and embodies more than the nakedness of its contemporary sinners (which includes us all) and its criminals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part two of two) Theology based on \"social science\"?\u2014mjmchale. No, but being unafraid to draw from social science, afraid as the censure of the administration The (Pontifical) Catholic University of America, extending from 1990, seems to verify.\n\nThe Church does not have a monopoly on truth?\u2014mjmchale. That is right. Not only did Galileo have a grasp of truth separate and independent from the RCC, but so does the rest of the thinking Faithful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course you are within your rights to analyse it. However, that doesn't mean that your analysis is correct. I read it and frankly it amazes me that anyone could have the arrogance to pit himself against Christ and His Church, especially with the bizarre opinions you publish.\nPius IX was simply repeating what the Church had taught since its institution by Our Lord, Himself, and you think you can overturn it all, unbelievable!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What? Students have to endorse TWU's evangelical religion to be admitted. They deny entry to everyone who won't sign the covenant. Ontario and BC Courts rejected TWU's argument that they don't discriminate against LGBT -- they require married LGBT to forgo a normal life which de facto excludes them. TWU also excludes Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and even Christians who don't share evangelical beliefs. Again, as a private religious institution, they can create rules about who they exclude.\n\nAs a private secular institution, LSUC has the same right to exclude those who don't share their legal principles, including that one's religion not be a criteria for entry into the secular legal profession. The LSUC banned religious oaths as a criteria for membership in the mid 1800s -- no reason they should change that principle by proxy now. And they aren't excluding former students of TWU -- they won't accredit the law school because its religious principles conflict with their legal ones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RD: Should a priest \"sit back\" while we're looking at women other than our spouse, going into places on the internet where we shouldn't, cheating our brother out of some item as we close out our parent's estate?\n\nIf this is your confession you should know that I am not a priest so you will have to seek your absolution elsewhere. As for the rest of your banter, your vain attempts to discredit those who seek church reform is just another form of the tired look-the-other-way mentality. Ask yourself which is harder, tackling a 1,500 year-old institutional giant (some might say \"monster\") or going with the \"imperial\" flow. You seem to get off labeling progressive Catholics as lazy and selfish, perhaps that is a mere projection of an inner conflict the trads have with their undying reluctance to change, grow and (dare I say it)... EVOLVE.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you rdp46 for your comment\n\n \u201cthe human mind can never discern \"absolute truth.\"\n\nYes our interpretations will always be incomplete or I would rather say sufficient for the day, we are subject to the scrutiny of God\u2019s Word, God is His own interpreter and over time will lead us into the Truth, we walk in darkness with His guiding light, His Living Word has to be lived (Absorbed) to fully understand it . \n\nTo embrace Jesus is to devour His Word and we do this when we acknowledge His inviolate teaching within the heart and then His Word (Will) could be compared to \u201cThe Truth is a burning fire it looks not at man\u2019s desire\u201d\n\nAs we contemplate His Word (Will) the Holy Spirit, purifies (Burns) us, and in this knowing (Seeing) our true self/nature we see our own brokenness, in relation to His inviolate Word (Will) and when acknowledged openly will and does form a bond of trust (Unity of Purpose) based on humility, between Him and those who love Him.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What do you think the false theory of evolution says? There is plenty of evidence to prove that we were created. If he accepts evolution, he denies Genesis and the Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The tired old \"they weren't catechised\" isn't good enough. These people are saying things like \"we see a lack of love in the Church\". Instead, they see leaders who cover up sexual abuse, who reject their LGBT brothers and sisters, who fail to lead.\n\nWhy should they associate themselves with the Catholic Church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is an \"ad homines\" argument that does nothing to further this discussion. In the eyes of Jesus, we are all one church. Denominational loyalties (\"mine is better than yours\") are a sinful human creation. We are of the Old Catholic tradition, as is clearly stated on our website and in our brochures. We regard Roman Catholics not as adversaries but as sisters and brothers in Christ with whom we share a common heritage. Our mission is to offer options that most of our local Roman Catholic Churches do not, namely a completely sung liturgy executed in a formal manner. Also, our ministry \"fills in the gaps\" by serving those whom the Roman Catholic Church refuses to serve, such as same sex couples wanting to be married and women called to ordained ministry. Again we are all sisters and brothers in Christ. There is no need for anyone to boast one institution over another.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Haven't seen any/many beheadings by Christians of late. \n\nNot very \"instrumental\". \n\nLooked on youtube...but I only saw the other kind. Wow.\n\nHere you go..just a list.\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Islamist_terrorist_attacks", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"As long as there is exclusion we're not whole. We're not complete\".\nHow true, but also worse. As he says later, we are in fact violated, as Catholic, Church, as, a lever, a mission in humanity for good, The Good, for justice and peace.\nFull access to sacramental inclusion, its penitential refutation for its exclusion and diminution of woman and its statement of full peership \"...in the church and in the world\" would initiate the crucial restructuring of humankind from its history of misogyny towards kindness and away from sexual violence. It is the crucial fulcrum for the eradication of violence against women in the world - because they are women.\nIt's an evolutionary step that we must make in humility & freedom of choice so that the church, men and women together can, with dignity can credibly embark upon the age of inclusion and equity. To make the inevitable choice from fear, for survival, in humiliation will render the sinful stain of misogyny indelible. \nWe pray; we must act.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians are the targets over there Paul so yes Christians go to the front of the line besides Christians aren't likely to want blow up buildings and people", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What we have are bullies trying to intimidate a faithful Catholic when they are respecting the dignity of marriage as being between a man and a woman. Marriage by definition can only occur between a man and a woman. The courts have exceeded their authority by changing its definition, hence creating an unjust interpretation of the law. We have a moral obligation to stand for what God has created and his purpose for marriage. It seems to me the farmer is well within his rights as a Catholic and as an American.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm white and nominally Christian and would vote for Trudeau over Trump any day.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paging US bishops. When are the bishops going to condemn types like Gorka as anti-Catholic and chastise EWTN for interviewing them. Cupich? McElroy? Anyone please? I am begging you to show moral authority. \n\nI guess I will have to keep this up. It took a few months but the MSM finally investigated the ties between Burke and Bannon; perhaps if we yell loud enough, we can get real condemnations and sanctions against the neo-fascists who purport to be Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "actually he said (on the tv news) that Christians are favored from these countries and he spoke about the terrible treatment Christians in their Arab countries receive. I believe this is a form of apartheid.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a fan of Michael Voris though he would not return the compliment. I am a former Catholic, now a Bible believing Christian. And I respect Voris even though he is very deceived by Rome. But unlike the writer of this diatribe, he is faithful in his defense of the Catholic Catechism. He interprets church doctrine down to the letter of the law and abhors all you hypocrites who play fast and loose with RCC dogma. He is more admiral for his heroic efforts in confronting you fake Catholics. Both sides in this dispute are wrong, but Voris is at least being honest and no respecter of persons, while his Catholic critics are a bunch of cowards that don't believe your own teachings. I laugh at your pain. You have it coming.\nChat Conversation End", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"give me a post where I can read the entire graduation comments.\" I'm confident that those remarks are published on the internet somewhere in their entirety. If you believe them to be relevant it is not My job to go find them for you. \n\nI told you what was in this article that I disagreed with; you want to go off into Obama's life story since his birth, your hatred of Trump's statements and your own personal philosophy of life and your religious views about both Muslims and Christians instead of responding to my post. \n\nSo be it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am fine with talk and exchange but many, many of your posts are obsessed with sin management and clearly uncivil. Just look how you have again dominated this discussion with your \"I have the truth, my way or the highway attitude.\" Don't worry about being Roman Catholic, your responses aren't even Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, I've lost the thread here. You claiming to be included as \"catholic\" (as per Creed) versus \"Catholic\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish to add to the above, that Catholics stratified themselves. The Irish, from which my family came, looked down on the Italians and the Poles, who arrived in the US later. It is amusing in driving through the Catholic cemetery in Hartford to see from the names that the ethnic groups seem to buried with those of their compatriots from the old country. (I want to think this may be based mostly on the order in which plots were purchased.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You just gotta love ALABAMA Officials digging deep into their Christian moral Caldrum . To pull the Mary and Joseph analogy out of the Bible.. They are saying in essence this Conservative Idiot Roy Moore is the moral equivalent in the Bible to GOD himself, creator of the entire Universe . Because had the ALABAMA OFFICIALS Actually READ their BIBLE they love beating people over the head with down South there Ways ...... Joseph did not have relations with the Underage Mary ..... GOD DID . SO their analogy fails all Ethical and Moral test set out by Modern Law and biblical teachings as well . Because this Ten gallon hat right wing Gun waving Constitutional shredding Republican ... Is not God no no no I think he truly takes his cues from the Other side of that spectrum as does our President . \n Perhaps the people that love to quote the Bible should READ that which they believe is all Truth in every word before they try and save a Moral midget like Moore with the Gods word .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 1\nWhat is just as bad, is the Church's teaching on Mary, the Mother of God. In the Gospels, Mary says very little. After the Wedding of Cana, when she tells the servers to \"do whatever he [Jesus] tells you,\" she is not recorded as saying anything else.\n\nThis gave the official church the opening to CREATE the complete personality of Mary. Mary is the opposite of all women, because she and she alone is the perfect women [because they created her to be so]. She is called \"ever Virgin' [to refute Eve for 'tempting?' Adam into having sex]. Mary, a young girl, was not barren due to old age, but conceived a child completely through the Power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was set as the most exceptional child in the entire human race. But even after Jesus' birth, Mary and Joseph had no sexual contact [hard to believe given the Jewish culture].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have no evidence that Andrew Scheer is a \u201cChristian Supremacist\u201d. Calling someone that without evidence is a what typical Leftists do when they disagree with someone. Socialist fascism is what you need to be scared about and you\u2019re playing your part perfectly, unfortunately.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "C'mon deplorables ... what do you have to say in response to genuine Christians?\n\n\"If Mr. Trump had hoped for Christian leaders to break out in cheers, that is, for the most part, not what he has heard so far.\n\nA broad array of clergy members has strongly denounced Mr. Trump\u2019s order as discriminatory, misguided and inhumane. Outrage has also come from some of the evangelical, Roman Catholic and mainline Protestant leaders who represent the churches most active in trying to aid persecuted Christians.\n\nBy giving preference to Christians over Muslims, religious leaders have said the executive order pits one faith against another. By barring any refugees from entering the United States for nearly four months, it leaves people to suffer longer in camps, and prevents families from reuniting.\"\n\n\"Christian Leaders Denounce Trump\u2019s Plan to Favor Christian Refugees\" -- NY Times", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have many Jewish friends and have associated with even more during my many years of\nworking in Toronto, and I can say that all of them would be the first to attest to seeing\nthemselves as different from me, a Christian by birth. They are proud of their heritage and\nculture as they should be, as I am of mine. I'm also of European background and I did not\nfeel that things were that much different there during my first 24 years of life on that \ncontinent. There is however a much better understood understanding of the political\n'war' fought between Israel and the Palestinians and there is no doubt a backlash today\nagainst Jews in Europe because of this (something Saunders does not note). These are not\nsuch simple issues. Anyone who is a minority in a majority society will find themselves\npointed out, seen or noted. That's the price of being the different one. It does not mean that\neverybody who sees oneself as different finds the difference of negative value.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure the scandal is responsible for the loss of the \"nons\" - that only broke about 2002 with much of it hitting the news around 2008 - the loss of the parental generation and 20 somethings occurred before.\nIt is not only the Catholic Church that is losing outright membership - Protestant churches are faring even worse. \nI think there are many factors are contributing to this phenomenon. The increase in all things secular - even the loss of the \"Blue Laws\" - certainly took away from the focus of going to Church. The increase in having both parents working outside the home, the subsequent decrease of doing things together as \"family\" - even eating meals together, the increase of sports on Sunday morning, the laws & rules against mentioning God in school (including changing \"Christmas vacation\" to \"winter recess\"and \"Easter break\" to \"spring recess\") in the hopes that everyone would not be offended....& much more, but running out of characters :-) has led to demphasis on God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem with Hassan was that he advocated extremist views, which was a concern among many of his military peers, and he came from a Muslim background, which doubled the concern. However, admin views toward not offending people of other religions led to an ignoring of these concerns, which ultimately led to the terrorist attack on U.S. soil. That was the result of a \"Good Samaritan\" treatment of a clearly radicalized Muslim.\n\nMuslim terrorism exists on a large scale throughout the world, including Europe. It's a significant issue.\n\nConcern about protecting Americans from terrorism is characterized by the author as \"a vitriolic campaign our immigrant roots, not to mention our Christian heritage and Pope Francis\u2019 message of reaching out to those at the margins.\"\n\nActually, the concern about Muslim immigration from radicalized countries is based on concern for national security. If it were merely based on ideas about race or religion, I'd be agin' it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: \" The mayor of Calgary is Muslim. Do we hear anything about how his religion is going to destroy Calgary?\"\n\nNo. Because he doesn't make laws BASED on his beliefs. Trumpence shouldn't be either, considering how un-Constitutional it is.\n\nRe: \"Just because someone is devout doesn't mean they want to destroy the environment\"\n\nYou clearly know nothing about Dominionism.\n\nRe: \"or ban abortion.\"\n\nYou clearly know nothing about Mike Pence.\n\nRe: \"Geez, can the abortion debate ever go away? It's legal. It's not going to be overturned.\"\n\nYou clearly haven't been keeping up. You don't seem to realize that is part and parcel of the GOP platform, and that the Trumpster will be naming between 1 and 3 uber-conservative Supreme Court Justices.\n\nRe: \"the faith\"\n\nThere are some 35,000 branches OF \"the [Christian] faith in America and they are NOT of one accord .. on pretty much ANY matter. Your gratuitous insult was unwarranted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Biblical prophecy of the end times is not limited to the book of Revelation. Most Christians have focused on other topics in prophecy, but the earth is pivotal to the entire story. According to prophecy, Satan also wants to destroy the earth because God loves it; God loves all of his creation.\n\nProphecy says there will be mass die-offs of animals, which are occurring all over the world: 'Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.' Hosea 4:3\n\n'And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and *shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.*' Revelation 11:18 *My emphasis.\n\nNote that destroying the earth is THE defining mark of the wicked.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, come on, he is Christian, so he asks for forgiveness for his sins and all is forgiven. Isn't that how it works?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't see anything anti-Christian about attacking somebody for being an anti-abortionist, or generally opposed to individual rights. Given that about 70% of Canadians identify as Christian, attacking Christians as a class would seem to be political suicide. I also don't know of any evidence that non-Christian anti-abortionists would be exempt from similar attacks for the same reason.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "and how do you determine who wishes to do harm? Crimes are committed by persons who are male female etc. Jew Muslim Christian Hindu Sikh atheist. White black brown red.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you get the time, Mchale, perhaps a lecture would be appropriate for all of us non-historians on the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Popes support for wars between England, France and Spain, the genocides committed against the indigenous peoples of South America, the burning of so called witches and the Popes silence on slavery (until it had been overthrown.)\n\nMore people have been butchered in history by white, European Christians than by any other group on the planet.\n\nGlad to help.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".\n\n...\"with God and His Church\"? ? ?\n\nI think God would DEMAND Excommunication from this Corporate CHURCH.\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think this article is bound to make anyone who reads it dumber. I wonder why G&M's \"this comment did not meet civility standards\" detection didn't kick in and remove Andrew's article.\nI trust everybody noted that there was no anti-Christian accusation or evidence in any of the article or its referenced anecdotes. Talk about lying through your teeth, Andrew. It certainly makes sense that you were Harper's director of communications!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I had to look up secular theocracy. The accusation really does seem to be led by those who hate the First Amendment. They want to privatize the public space to destroy the secular and bring in the power of the church. Their church.\nVery few Americans want to destroy the right of Christians to worship as they please. However, many of us see that religion as an ancient collection of myths and that it is used by goofy charlatans to gain power and wealth. Many of us see very little historical proof of the very existence of a God, never mind the magical Christ. Of course, the opposite of secular theocracy isn't democracy, it is a return to 1864, when people respected the superiority of rich white men.\nHugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon\nhttp://crooksandliars.com/2015/04/hump-day-quiz-what-secular-theocracy\nhttp://www.independent.org/publications/article.asp?id=3206\nhttp://www.salon.com/2015/04/21/rick_santorum_finds_a_new_completely_nonsensical_object_of_hate_president_obamas_secular_theocracy/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes Easter. The time of bunnies, eggs, and chocolate celebrated around the time of the Spring Equinox.\n\nAll very Christian, but the pre-Christian pagans would feel right at home.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you keep saying poor women cannot access birth control? Prophylactics are .50 cents. You mean to tell me a poor women can't afford that?\n\nLet me just make sure I understand you: the Catholic Church cannot force people to live by Catholic values? The other end of that is that liberals force people to live by their values. Either way someones values are getting imposed. If Catholic hospitals are forced to hand out contraception and abortions, then liberals are imposing their liberal, secular, atheistic, humanistic values on the Church. Why do they get to impose their values?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope Quebec gets rid of Christmas, Easter Monday and Good Friday as statutory holidays, then, and bans ALL religious clothing and symbols in public spaces, including crosses, habits, robes, etc., not to mention doing away with all tax exemptions and write offs for churches and clergy, most of which/whom are Christian. And they should definitely get rid of Qu\u00e9bec Religious Heritage Council, which supports and promotes the conservation and enhancement of Quebec\u2019s churches. OH...and stop with all the tourist promotion around Qu\u00e9bec City, of course, as one of the world\u2019s top destinations for celebrating the Holidays. (Which holidays, you might never ask?)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Turkey, however is adamant. It refuses to acknowledge the crimes committed by the Ottoman Caliphate against its Christian Armenian citizens. In fact, when Pope Francis earlier this month referred to the Armenian Genocide as one of the \"three massive and unprecedented tragedies\" of the last century, Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, rebuked the Pontiff, warning him not to \"repeat this mistake.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That was for sins by the Catholic clergy [priests]. It was Not for sins by the HIERARCHY---including popes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you think the Scientologists won't pull funds to their private schools via vouchers. Or that Moonie cult members won't do the same. If you are wigged out about any religious cults think long and hard how you can deny their schools these Trump vouchers. If the Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans and atheists get vouchers so will the small cults. Including the snake charmers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes--it is true that some small churches live like that.\n\nMy comment was based on most mainline Protestant churches---and I think you knew that.\n\n The Anglican pastor down the street gets 80K a year. The Lutheran minister up the street from me gets 60K a year--and all this with housing, education allowances, etc. How do I know this? I have family and friends who are not Catholic. They show me the financial reports of their churches. \n\nThis is at least double and in some cases far more than double than what any priest gets, even considering they get free housing. Don't get on your high horse about priests living off their parishioners unless you want to say the same thing about the other mainlines.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well the purpose of the Catholic Church is supernatural. Concern and \"heading\" of souls, all souls.\n\nChurch-State relations are best understand using some teaching developed by the Catholic Church, which hinges on two principles: \"distinction of ends\" and \"harmonization of ends\".\n\nThe Church's focus is, as I said, supernatural.\nThe State's focus is on the common good of all.\n\nIt's the lay's job, mainly, to do the \"harmonization,\" as we live out the Gospel in our ordinary work. \n\nSo our concern should be toward ways that can help people reach their end: heaven. And most of the concerns of native american's isn't eco related, but truly spiritually related. \n\nAddictions on reservations are a huge problem. \n\nBut \"occupiers\" love a protest..and invade reservations..or anywhere, where they think cameras will be clicking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The theology contrast between even evangelical Christians and devout Muslims, in my analysis, after years of study of both, is that Pence's religion would permit and require him to meet his Constitutional requirements as President while the Muslim theology does not.\n\nIt is a difference in kind rather than a difference in degree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is the information incorrect in and of itself? If you are able to, please refute the information presented, and cite your own sources.\n\nYou claimed that Congress begins every session with a Christian invocation. This is a false claim as Muslims, Jews, and Hindus have done so as well. If you have proof that non-Christians do not or cannot offer congressional invocation, please share it. If even one has, you are factually incorrect.\n\nI have been to the Supreme Court :) The 10 Commandments are nowhere near it; if you have a picture, please share it (Incidentally, you changed where you believe they are written--first \"on the front\" of the building, now \"carved\" somewhere inside. Which is it?) You're right about Moses-he is joined by Confucius and Solon (in the center) and Muhammad, Hammurabi, and Napoleon, among others.\n\nDeism began in the time of the ancient Greeks, well before Jesus' time. Deists do not believe in Christ as Christians do, as a tenant of faith, any more than Jews do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a Catholic and i voted for Trump . the issue for a Catholic is this - there are some non-negotiables that have been written about in papal bulls encyclicals and the historical teaching of the Church rooted in Scripture and tradition. the third commandment say though shall not murder/kill (hebrew translates kill unjustly) The church has always taught the protection and promotiion of all life at all stages. Abortion - euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research are above othersocial justice issues becasue these issues involve the willful act of the destruction of life. Sin has 2 levels mortal which kills the soul and venial which darkens the intelect to Gods will. Not all sin is the same. So when we look at moral issues we have to prioritize them in a hierarchical system. Immigration is an issue that is definitely a social issue we must address but there are a myriad of ways to address it and none of them are the willful destruction of the persons life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That would be the equilibrium amount determined by the tax accountants and lawyers. Former used car salesmen don't just give it away willy nilly.\n\nAnd being a devout Christian, Jimmy surely must have read Jesus' admonition about giving alms - don't draw attention to yourself like the Pharisees do. What happened?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but God did not DEMAND Jesus' bloody death. That was the result of POLITICS---religious and secular. The Jewish hierarchy was jealous and angered by Jesus' following. They wanted to maintain their 'cozy' relationship with the Romans. So they conducted a 'kangaroo court' at night, found Jesus guilty, sent him to the Roman governor to be crucified. \n\nJohn's Gospel states that \"God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.\" [John 3:16]. God used Jesus' death [but did not demand his blood nor death as payment for OUR sins]. As Jesus got further and further along in his ministry, he knew that there were those plotting his death, even among his chosen followers.\nIn John's gospel, Jesus was crucified on the preparation day for the Passover,when lambs were being sacrificed in the Temple. The symbolism, used by John, writing for his community, would not be missed. Jesus is presented as the new and perfect Passover lamb. But God does not DEMAND the bloody death of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Churchianity - the RCC pretending to be Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is the beginning of a beautifully grand and interesting experiment, whereby Christian cults and a Muslim cult, both religious absolutists with a long history of violence with each other, are mixed with Polynesian Cargo cult, all on small islands competing for depleted resources.\nIf we let this religious stew ferment for a few years, I'm sure we'll have another entertaining update.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interracial marriage also made some devout Catholics sick...and off limits in certain polite circles...and not for discussion with children. Not long ago. \n\nWe grew up. We listened to experts. We valued the experience of others. And we admitted that a segregated Catholic Church could not be a holy Catholic Church. Mea Culpas.\n\nI am \"shocked and sickened\" by things Cardinal Burke says. But I have NO right to silence him, to mock his Catholicity, to isolate him from the family, to call him a sinner, to demean him, to degrade him, to doubt his entry into heaven, or to tell him he can't come to Sunday dinner because he might influence my grand kids. \n\nMaybe we can agree (for once?): In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, humility. In all things, charity.\n\nDo we really want to put the private love lives of other Catholics in the \"essentials\" category along with the Real Presence, the forgiveness of sins, and the resurrection of the body?\n\nIf we do, we commit the sin of Trivialization.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gee, Natanya, that's funny; I submitted a cordial comment in response to yours before noon today, but it seems to have never passed muster. For the record, at the time I said that the very choice of reporting on this particular church's function was a reflection of a secularist mindset. Secularists are bound and determined to eliminate God, His Church and its teachings from the public marketplace. This article of yours appears to have been posted in an effort to advance that agenda. You appear to be Jewish. If so, doesn't the trampling of your Sacred Tradition bother you at all?\n\nTonight, I see that the only fish that swim in this thread's sea of secularism are sharks. Will anyone take a Christian's arguments seriously, or do you all consider it your duty to snuff us out like a cigarette butt? Regardless of your biases, the Truth is what it is, and it will never change itself to satisfy your prejudices. It does not require your support to be right. That is the very nature of the Truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I invited you to demonstrate that and you didn't. You're the one spreading misinformation.\n\nRead what I wrote! I AGREE that the bill didn't contain a \"health of the mother\" exception. That's not at issue. The issue is whether the bill contained a \"life of the mother\" exception. I did. That wasn't good enough for Clinton. She wanted a \"health of the mother\" exception, knowing that \"health of the mother\" means, essentially, abortion on demand. \nFace it, Neko; you're supporting a candidate who supports partial birth abortion on demand. Can you tell me why Clinton's grand intelligence should be allowed to hold sway? What has she accomplished that makes up for this overwhelming deficit? Her influence in going to war in Libya? Posing a no-flight zone to the Russians, who are fighting ISIS? Her coziness with anti-Catholic bigots who want a \"Catholic spring\"? The understanding she expressed towards Bill's accusers? As bad as Trump is -- and he's bad --- he's not Clinton.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have devoted myself to dismantling a system of oppression, subjugation, and white heterosexual privilege (especially of the Christian ilk in the USA). The dominator culture imported from Europe is the albatross around our necks and it is time for that culture of assumed superiority to be crushed. Until we eliminate all barriers to treating one another as human beings instead of \"other\" we are doomed. That means any religion that claims superiority over another, any race, any sexuality, and sex or gender, and level of income, any social position... it all has to come down until we all stand on equal footing with one another. We retain our uniqueness and individuality, and relish our diversity, instead of seeing any innate quality as making one person better than another.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the interview, whose link could be found on the Regensburg boys' choir website, Probst said he felt the bishop actively protected abusers, and that \"it got even worse when he was appointed head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; it was like putting a fox in charge of the henhouse.\"\n\nI am surprised the Catholic New Service ran this article.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Totally agree. I'm an agnostic and I love both history and civics. Some very vocal atheists out there are keen to attack Christianity at every turn, including the Bible itself. If you want to understand our place in the world, you have to understand the major religions - Christianity and Islam included. Trying to describe our world without that is like trying to describe the circulatory system without mentioning the heart. \n\nMore to the point, the Bible isn't bad literature. Parts of it are hard for modern readers to engage but that's true of so much important literature that it's a silly point to make. Ever try to read Beowulf? Milton? Rousseau? Homer? Cicero? It's rewarding to do so if one is so inclined, but it doesn't jump off the page like a Stephen King novel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jim-bakker-hurricane-doomsday-food_us_59af847be4b0354e440d93dd\n\nWhy \"Christians\" are becoming ever more UNpopular...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So when the church owned black slaved not 200 years ago in the U.S. we should have been radically Christian in your opinion and just told those black slaves to shut up and realize they are just playing the victim. \n\nGreat job.\n\nI think you do not know what Christian means and actually need to read the Gospels which provoke all believers to stand up against hypocritical teachings of religious leaders. Do what is right and treat all the same because there is no authentic unity without authentic justice for all. \n\nThat is why Jesus tells us that above all else Love God and then love your neighbor no matter who he or she is and never treat others differently than you wish to be treated yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With comments like this, it is difficult for me to believe that you stand for the Christian values proclaimed in your avatar Mr. Campbell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gail, as a Catholic, I understand that the teaching of the Church for too long has been that life is either black or white. As a physician, I have to acknowledge that much of life is grey. I think Pope Francis is helping us to mature out of black and white thinking and to see people as people struggling to find themselves and be themselves. Legalistic black and white approaches were not the way of Jesus, who saw the person. Pope Francis stresses the importance of using discernment and following one's personal conscience. For too long, Catholics have acted as if following Church rules or a Church Catechism was the most important thing. Jesus cares about the person and often criticized the law and the teachers of the law. The more you read the Gospels instead of the Catechism, the more you will get to know Jesus and not man-made Church rules.\nSincerely, Dr Rosemary Eileen McHugh, MD, MSpir", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The KKK Christians in the Bible Belt and the Southern Baptists Christians hardly face destruction but they love to destroy others. Most of them are in the upper crust of society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It would appear that Burke .... Burke appears .... Burke looks like .... All pure speculation borne of sheer prejudice. We, as Christians are cautioned not to judge but to pre-judge is the most un-Christian of all.\nPerhaps Pope Francis ought to highlight this in one of his daily homilies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very few atheists say they know for certain there is no god. What the vast majority of atheists say is that, until there is empiracle evidence for a supernatural god, they will not choose to believe in one. That is not arrogant. That is simply rational thought.\n\nThe ONLY difference between an atheist and a Christian in terms of beliefs are, that out of the hundreds of gods ever created, an atheist believes in one less than the Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The left knows they have no arguement forillegal aliens, other then to turn a blind eye to the law of the land. So they need to abandon logic and go to emotion (breaking up families, racism, unchristian...) or deception (the artful find and replace of \"illegal alien\" with \"immigrant\") and then remind us that we are a nation of immigrants and then start with the emotional arguements. If you don't want ICE agents hanging out and enforcing the law, then change the law which you had ample opportunity when Dems had POTUS, House and Senate...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another great RC hot issue to expend energy - to encourage discourse on dancing. As relevant as how many angels dance on the head of a pin!\nThe plight of 11 million immigrants here is under vicious assault by trump and sessions and where is NCR's coverage? You would think it isn't happening! \nMany greenhouse issues as this find space to expound endlessly over trivial pursuits. \nA huge majority of our immigrants have a Catholic identity, yet there is little passion to make their plight a priority in RC publications. Perhaps an occasional article when constant public pressure is needed to give their plight priority in public consciousness. Sidelining, ignoring it only deepens their suffering. Can we not imagine the anxiety individuals and families are going through now from a soulless administration (clogged with many Catholics) without any hope on the horizon? We're doomed as long as we dither with articles on dancing. No only is the issue irrelevant, increasingly Catholics are!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The USCCB is selling out on support of the immigrants' cause, in order to keep full control of its affairs and its ever more neo-con agenda. Concerned Catholics can count on NO support and NO encouragement from their bishops, except token and camouflage gestures to mislead or confuse those who take the Gospel seriously.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When I was in high school, we had a Christian group that met on Fridays during lunch. At the same time, the few Muslim students booked a small room on Friday during lunch hour for their prayer. Nothing ever happened, there was no conflict, and people went along their merry ways. I never became a Muslim, nor did I find Jesus because I was originally neither and did my own thing.\n\nAnd your quote about how no other group asks that class time be moved to accommodate their needs is quite fun. We do have Christmas off, as well as Easter, right? If I recall correctly, those are Christian days of worship...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi John, \n\nI believe to follow Jesus means to swim against the tide, not swim with the tide of cultural opinion. I worked both in a Catholic Grammar School and a Catholic High School and we were all very much aware of the teachings of the Catholic Church. If a teacher is not aware of the Church's teachings and the reason why Catholic Schools exists (after all, no one is forced to attend a Catholic School/receive a Catholic School education), naturally it is necessary for the Principal to make them aware of her teachings. I do not understand taking a Catholic School to court because a teacher does not agree\nwith what Jesus Himself said about marriage. Teachers may not agree with Jesus' teachings, but then\nwhy work at a Catholic School or if they do, why do everything they can to hurt their employer because of their Mission Statement to hand down Jesus' teachings?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "3D Tek Lab. The Jew - god is also the Christian god and the god of Islam. Your point about the kapu on Mauna Kea sounds plausible, is lost in your bashing of other religious traditions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Danno: Unfortunately, there is this perception that those of us who were sexually molested by Catholic priests are living on luxurious estates where we spend the millions of dollars we have received in settlement payments. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most of my life, I have lived paycheck to paycheck. Today I live social security check to social security check. With Trump and the Republicans in control that might not be much longer. I remember you saying you received some thirteen or fourteen hundred dollars in the Milwaukee settlement. What are you doing with all that money? So, if we are not in this for the money, as many believe why do you and I bear our souls to the world? Why do we share our innermost secrets, our transgressions, our struggles. I cannot answer for you, but for myself, despite everything that has happened to me, I still believe in the goodness of mankind. If only people knew the truth.If only they knew the horrors of sex abuse, if only they knew.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most Catholics have no alternative to the Novus Ordo, many, most have never experienced the Mass of all Ages. Pope Francis has recently expressed his difficulty in understanding why young people who never experienced the Tridentine Rite until recently are so attracted to it. He dismissed them of course as rigid traditionalists wedded to the past, much in the same way he dismisses anyone who disagrees with him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Notice how few people even commented on this article. This is because everyone knows if we make women permanent deacons, it changes nothing of real weight. Until women are ordained priests and equally to all men they are subjugated and treated inferior and less sacred as human beings than men. \n\nDemand our pope and hierarchy ordain women priests immediately and consecrate women cardinals as well. Otherwise Catholic's biggest problem is that they don't know what it means to be a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't it true that the best way to influence someone is to become their friend and speak to them with respect rather than condemn them and talk down to them? In the case of both the Arabs and the Russians, the road to obtaining peace and harmony might just be making them true friends. The notion of live and let live might be the best approach. We went into Iraq to instill democracy for the benefit of the people (and get rid of the nonexistent WMD). In the end, we directly and indirectly contributed to the deaths and dislocation of hundreds of thousands of people. In our \"concern\" for the people's well being we killed so many of them. Live and let live is criticized because some feel we must impose our values and system on others (just like Islam and Christianity). Yet how many deaths are we hypocritically going to cause in order to set other countries on the right path?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, Faithful Catholic, it's the Church's interpretation. All-or-none is the only legitimate way to read what you are offering as the Church's interpretation. Otherwise, you are simply saying that the Church is the one who picked out roles for the men and roles for the women based on its whimsies. You can't claim that this is what directs the Church, then say that, oh, but it gets to spin it. I'm okay with it. We can agree. I do have a few roles that are now up for grabs though--anyone?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A lawyer doesn't have to take your case. Restaurants tell you \"No shoes, No shirt, No service\". But, if you are a baker, you must participate in a ceremony antithetical to your religion? Give me a break!\nThe baker offered to bake the homosexual couple any cake they wanted - just not a wedding cake. Because doing that would make him a tacit party to a celebration of sinful behavior according to his religious beliefs.\nWhy should we as Christians, Jews and Muslims continue to allow homosexual activism to distort, disparage and destroy long-held \ntenets of our religions? If the court rules against the baker, then where is one to go to practice his and her religion in peace - if not here in our beloved America?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As usual, just safely short of actual civil disobedience.\n\nThis is what being \"on fire\" means for the progressive Catholic activist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another great article that includes a sound and true depiction of my experience of Boston College as well. BC need not apologize nor take a back seat to any school in terms of its Catholic identity. It is running strong through every vein in its being.\n\nI wonder if the marriage of big time college athletics and the Catholic university might merit our attention in terms of preservation and development of the mission of the school. I get part of Burtchaell's concern over the lay character of the Boards of Directors of these schools. Men and women are appointed sometimes with much greater emphasis on their ability to contribute than on their ability to loudly support the mission of the school. In occasionally selling out to the god of sports may we not be sending the message that the mission is not paramount but the bottom line financially is?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is NCR divisive? Was it divisive when it was the first Catholic paper to call for a real solution to the sex abuse crisis? If NCR had been followed instead of ignored by the bishops, the Roman Catholic Church would be much better off.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is a \"swell of Catholics\" like a \"gaggle of geese\" or a \"bloat of hippos\"? I like to see energy conservation programs, even in renewables and \"sustainables\" just as long a people don't think that these are less problematic than fossils, in some ways.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And this very morning the now-retired Catholic archbishop in Newark lolls in his splendid and costly refurbished retirement mansion while victims of sex abuse by Newark clergy continue to suffer due to Myers' chronic hack of effective oversight! Big disconnect there, bishops, he's one of YOU! If it's credibility you're after, get your act cleaned up, but we won't be holding our breath! Too much time in the huddle already!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More than thirty years ago, the US bishops took a detour from the road of \"Catholic social teaching.\" But now we know that the infamous \"trickle-down\" economic theories do not work! Meanwhile, our bishops continue to act as though they do! What's more, the priests who actively espoused \"Catholic social teaching\" are mostly long gone -- marginalized, silenced, safely in their graves. And those same bishops are still brutalizing clergy sex abuse victims and trying to stomp out SNAP, to avoid being (fully) accountable to us. Even now, McElroy is being marginalized by his peers, and O'Malley has way too much on his plate! Over the next four years, the bishops will continue to be like the GOP Congress under McConnell and Ryan -- what we really need are one-term bishops!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh come now, Sven. You know very good and well that Christianity converted by the sword and the flames at the stake for hundreds of years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps this \"Christian publishing company\" has a experienced a slide in its business due to a softening of the market for their anti-Mormon screeds.\n\nOne can only hope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a very insightful comment. The church is paralyzed by an inadequate and insufficiently Christian anthropology. The paralysis is evident especially in a clerical culture which is entirely dependent on the discipline of mandatory celibacy and on the exclusion of women from the men's club. The closet is a very unhealthy place, and men who have lived in it for all their lives cannot and do not make good decisions.\n\nWhen Chuck Todd suggested to Rudy Giuliani (with his own history of infidelity and promiscuity) that he might not be the best person to defend Trump in the aftermath of the Access Hollywood tape, Giuliani replied, \"Everybody does that. I just tell my priest.\" This was the most virulently anti-Catholic statement in the campaign, but the Trump pinned the 'anti-Catholic' tag on Clinton. I think Giuliani makes your last point perfectly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you realize this issue is about Muslim kids wanting to have their weekly mass on a day which is normally a weekday & regular school day? \n\nJewish and Christian kids do not have this challenge, because Saturdays and Sundays are weekends and whoever wants to go to the synagogue or church can do so without interrupting their own work or school routines. \n\nThe reasonable accommodation here for Muslim students AS PER THE LAW is to allow them 20-30 minutes of their own time during school hours to hold their weekly mass in a secluded room, in a manner which is not burdensome in any way to others. \n\nNo one is demanding we turn schools into mosques. These prayers have been going on for 20 years with no objections from anyone. The only reason why its in the national conversation right now is because a small group of intolerant bigots are on a crusade to disallow Muslim kids from exercising their legal rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Based on other statements Francis has made, I don't think he opposes free enterprise. I do think, though, that he is highly cautious about unregulated, unbridled capitalism. I think the \"god of money\" to which he refers is greed, which inevitably leads to a violation of human dignity.\n\nFor Christians, making a \"god\" of anything other than Our Lord and Creator is a violation of the first commandment. Idolatry isn't only harmful under certain conditions. It is always harmful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) Women may have progressed in the Church, but they are not treated as equal members of the Body of Christ. \n2) Perhaps the Church ought to be more of a democracy than it is. From what I have read, the early Church was far more democratic than the institution that we have today.\n3) In what sense would it not be \"proper\" to have a woman Pope? Just to allay your fears, even if the Catholic Church were to permit the ordination of women (as I believe it should), it will take many generations to have a woman Pope, so your sensibilities will, most likely not be offended, because you will probably not live to see the day.\n4) Yes, I happen to believe that it is not right that gays are not afforded the Sacrament of Matrimony.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why was this comment deemed uncivil? Any ideas? \n\n\"Yes, people have ascribed motives to many crimes on far flimsier evidence. This person's strongest opinions were about atheism and his disdain for Christians. I fully believe in his twisted mind it was a 2 for 1\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well well, buddy.\nYou must have forgotten George Dubya Bush. He was some kind of born-again Christian. He said God told him to attack Iraq. How much more bizarre can you get?\nYou see why we need to finish the revolution that started in the 1960's. Because when miscreants like Ronald Reagan, all the fanatic religious evangelists like Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority, Brian Mulroney in Canada, attacked everything the boomers accomplished in the 60's and 70's, most of them were married and unfortunately did not fight back. Generation X was too timid to carry on with the move towards democracy, equality, inclusiveness, and an economy that works for all.\nThus all the elitist institutions and corrupted dysfunctional democracy we are burdened with today in North America, with all its religious divisions causing so much trouble, drifting ever further to the right wing where militarism, corporatism, fascism, and religion march in lock step keeping the people down.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ScottG, I have been posting since the NCR Cafe opened 10 years ago. I apologize. I am too tired to explain my perspective on the Church in all facets and areas right now. This is not a brand new set of thoughts you raise.\n\nThe thread started as a response to someone calling for the resignation of the pope over supposed missteps on the way to not yet solving a 2000-year-old problem in four years. You said we should all be punished with an uber guy so we will all leave. That's what I responded to. I don't want another uber guy, and I am at a point in my life where I'm not at all likely to leave over any mere pope. I have been given and have developed a sacramental spirituality that brings me closer to God. I don't want anyone to be hurt for the sake of your theoretical exodus. \n\nAs to whether I believe someone has to be Catholic to be Christian, no, I don't. I am a V2 Catholic, raised pre-V2, and not a B16 whippersnapper.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Plenty of logs in eyes for Christians and Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True. Lots of fundamentalist Christians in the scouts. Trump's Youth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have the Democrats started calling for the prosecution of those who weaponized the Federal government against their political rivals? And those who covered it up by feigning or inducing \"hard drive failures\" and the like? Or has Mr Perriello (conveniently) forgot that this happened?\n\nAlso, this being a Catholic rag at all, maybe some note about the free exercise of religion is in order. Have the D's gotten back to their historical position in support of RFRA and the First Amendment or are they still gone hard-left? If they got to pick judges would the Little Sisters of the Poor be chased out of the USA and faithful Catholics be barred from certain professions (or at risk of losing their businesses and savings to malicious parties who'd force them to participate in mockeries of the sacraments)? Not a peep from Mr. Perriello about this. He'd have us to believe there's no reason (Rerum Novarum aside) a faithful Catholic should be wary of the Democratic Party.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Personally, I'm a spiritualist and not religious but it's good to know that the Church of Satan and the Satanic Temple are two different things, I think. Or does it matter? I see what you mean regarding tax exemptions and validity pertaining too. From a strictly religious perspective if they are using written word (The Book of Satan) and are organized with a body of people involved in the organization than I suppose it's undeniably a religion even if formally not recognized. \nAccording to Christian belief Satan is the master of deception. I believe Judaism gives a more complete history in my opinion which is humble in all regards.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A \"wealthy\" Muslim nation like Bangladesh you mean? As for your deep concern over Christians in the Middle East, cite an instance when 400,000 of them were ethnically cleansed by their own government. You can't. Violence against Christians in the Middle East is sporadic and small scale.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These other \"Catholic\" churches appear very dubious to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you believe in the Hell Jesus speaks of in the Gospels?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If American law violates their religious beliefs maybe they'd be happier in some other country. Americans are worried about Sharia law coming from the Muslims. We have the same problem with the Catholic church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "WeAreHypocrites: \"I would agree to increase my taxes to pay for ALL children to receive medical attention. It is the Christian thing to do. Would you turn away a sick child\"?\nThat's fine....you go right ahead...I do agree that it is the Christian thing to do, and you are certainly free to do so on an individual basis, BUT, You and your ilk want to impose this Cost on All of us! \nNO.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe, as all Catholics must, that when the Church pronounces definitively on a given subject concerning faith or morals, the Holy Ghost protects Here from error.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Its a mystery. You let in a couple of million violent, uneducated robots who are trained from birth to hate everything that isn't familiar. Rape statistics increase \nlogarithmically, violence explodes, social services overrun, Jews AND Christians threatened, (Athiests too), parts of cities even the police won't go now. What ever could be the reason for her unpopularity? Its a mystery.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I respectfully disagree with the author's conclusions. The Jesus who Christians believe in is not the Jesus found in the Qur'an. To believe otherwise is as false as the Muslim belief that Mohammed is foretold in the Gospel of John. I applaud is efforts to find commonality between our Faiths, but should be based on shared goals of mercy, charity, and social justice. Pseudo-ecumenicalism waters down our Faith because it presumes that the \"other side's dogma/theology\" could be true. As a Muslim colleague once said to me \"Both of our Books cannot be right.\" I will take the New Testament over the Qur'an.\n\nIslam denies Christian dogma and theology. Jesus is not the Son of God. He was not crucified. There is no Trinity. There is no Resurrection. No Salvation. It claims that our Scriptures are corrupted. Within Sharia, Islamic Law Christians and Jews are not treated well and live under oppression. Read the Jihad and Dhimmitude sections in \"Reliance on the Traveler\" by Keller. Educate yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Every time the NCR gripes about advocacy for free exercise of religion in the USA I wonder whether their object is for the government to restrict the practice of Catholic Christianity to only the parts they approve of. \n\nThey could not win over Catholics by persuasion so they will do it by force. The Little Sisters of The Poor and the orthodox faithful will just have to get with the NCR's post-Christian revisionist program or lose their churches, schools, maybe their personal livelihoods.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even as a child, in Catholic school, I realized there were things they were teaching that just weren't true. I guess I have just always been an independent and critical thinker.\n\nCalifornia used to be called \"the land of fruits and nuts.\" That title shifted to Florida, and having visited there often, I can tell you it is certainly true. Are we here determined to claim that title?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Anglican cathedrals referenced in the article were stolen in the aftermath of the Act of Settlement. This is historical fact. \n\nFrom the RC perspective, Anglicans don't have valid orders. This is not a sneer but a statement of belief. \n\nMy only sneer is at the watered down, milquetoast Christianity displayed in the article, which is not the exclusive domain of Anglicans; sadly Catholics aren't immune to this. The Anglicans have many gifts, among which their music and architecture. They are not iconoclasts like liberal Catholics who tore out the altar rails, and more of them kneel to receive what they believe to be Holy Communion and don't have hang ups about ad orientem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The growing anti-Semitism in Europe is fanned both by radical right wing white ppl (Christian or otherwise) and the growing radicalism in the Muslim community (a small but driven group.) Trying to excuse or deny either group serves no good purpose.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hope You like public funded schools of Satan. Thats how freedom of religion works thats why we have separation of church and state. If christian schools can get voucher funding from the federal government so can schools of satan. Way to elect the least educated person ever to be in charge of education. #Devoslution", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nice rant. And nice job conflating a whole set of issues - which you have clearly spun to suit your own narrative - that are unrelated to sex ed in Catholic schools. Time to check your Catholic privilege at the door and recognize that if the school is publicly funded then it must follow the same curriculum as every other public school.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gary: Several times in the past (years ago) I have attempted to have a reasonable discussion with a conservative Christian. There is no way ever to win, compromise, or even to have a truce based on 'can we agree to disagree'. They always know who is going to heaven (those who live the Bible word-for-word and call themselves Christian) and everyone else who is going south. My family contains beliefs on both ends, which led to a total ban of religious discussion at any gathering. Like other humble thinkers, I feel my strong spiritual belief is my own business, between me and my creator. Just keeping myself humble and contemplative is a full-time occupation, let alone judging someone else's piety. Why do some here have such a chip on their shoulder about religion? Perhaps their beliefs are not quite firm enough for confidence, and they must constantly defend themselves for fear they might begin to doubt.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And how do you feel about the legal/civil right on homosexuals? You don't have to guess if you stick to your own opinion.\n\nI agree, (My post from this morning not showing?). The chances of Muslims leadership supporting LGBT rights are small and none.\nIt's always stunned me that some liberals defend ultra conservative/authoritarian Muslim culture. \n\nI fine with Muslim in my neighborhood and would find it interesting. That doesn't mean I want to be a Muslim. I hope most 'liberals' think the same way? \n\nOf course I don't understand why Conservatives fear Muslims considering their values align pretty well with fundementalist in the Christian church on issues like: birth control, abortion, homosexuality, male centered family, narrowly defined rolls for women in a Muslim society, elite wealth controlling most authority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dogma can change, but it takes a council as authoritative as Chalcedon, Ephesus and Nicea. Sexual morality arguments are not dogma, by the way. They are natural law teachings. Dogma is about what the Church agrees to (and Rome did after the fact, they were Aryan at the time of the great councils), not the Church thinking for us.\n\nBy the way, it was Dogma to never accept the priority of a long time gay companion in a Catholic hospital, instead favoring the family of origin and attempting to get the individual to recant his lifestyle while not letting him or her see the person they love most. The Catholic Hospital Association has recanted from such nonsense. Gay spouses now have priority (and it was the case before the law changed).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"the first pope to visit India and the Philippines and Africa.\" Like so many authors you list \"Africa\" as a country ..... And don't forget, Paul VI was the first pope to visit Indonesia which has the largest Muslim 'umma in the world, then and now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not only that, the author states that this town has no Muslims. Why would they want a cemetery full of people who have no connection to their town?\nCount UP\n-\njust as in Saudi Arabia and Iran\nthey would not want a Christian or Jewish or Hindu or Buddhist cemetery \nwith no connection to their town", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As I've been saying for ages, Christ chose only Jews for the apostles, therefore gentiles cannot be ordained is exactly the same argument as Christ chose only men for the apostles, therefore women cannot be ordained.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To quote Gandhi, \"I like your Christ, no so much you Christians.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article reminds us that being a Christian in any meaningful sense always exacts a price, a fact so many of us in the so-called developed world tend to forget.\n\nProfessor Philpott is quite right when he talks about the importance of not framing this as a 'Muslims vs. Christians' debate. It's religious intolerance itself that needs to be condemned, whatever form it takes. \n\nIt's a balancing act to advocate for persecuted Christians without allowing the conversation to devolve into a Trump-esque verbal slap fight. It's easy for those of us in nations that enjoy true religious liberty to speak in platitudes when we aren't the ones who pay the price for such rhetoric.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry to bust your bubble, Pesel - http://www.familytree.com/blog/british-convicts-in-american-colonies/\nThe Spanish arrived in 1492 and they were wealthy, well educated and married the native people. They brought back steer and tomatoes and much more to America. The priest in those days were the intellectuals and they brought that to America. With your arrival we have barely survived. You have ransacked our house and destroyed what was left. Your Founding Fathers were imposed upon us and so were their laws and language. We were used to sharing: we were arab, muslim, jewish, christian and you brought your \"racial\" prejudice. You are the plague.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "<>\n\nI was faced with this very predicament at Mass this morning. The celebrant -- a good man, a good priest -- asserted that a Catholic could not vote for Hillary Clinton. To be fair, he did not mention Clinton's name and he did not recommend a vote for Donald Trump; but his meaning was unmistakable. I did something I haven't done in thirty years or more -- I left Mass after the homily because of the homily. Already, I regret that I did -- and I'll probably confess it the next time I go to confession. And I will discuss it with the priest-celebrant. But this gets precisely to your point -- the church's ministers must find the language to promote Christian and Catholic teaching, and support the exercise of the voting franchise, without being complicit in the election of Donald Trump; indeed, without endorsing anyone. The single issue approach fails; it leads to simplistic, false conclusions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sure. They will try the Truth (lone wolf, mental illness, etc) rather than biased racism. Assuming that it isn't an accident, of course. \n\nAnd it is indeed a fact that Christianity and Islam share a common background. It think that Christianity is better but mainstream Islam is certainly no worse. As the leader of a SECULAR government, Trudeau has no choice but to acknowledge that.\n\nIf you actually look at the people who are 'terrorists' you will find almost NO religious fervor. They use Islam as an excuse (just like the Christian Crusades, nothing new on earth).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How would you react to Catholic colleges who might refuse an administrative order to return undocumented workers, based on religious liberty. Btw, they have already signaled they would do that?\n\nIf Trump were to initiate a \"Muslim registry\" (or some such measure), should the USCCB publicly denounce it as an action against religious liberty?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"not just lefties like me....\" Michael, if you sincerely believe you are a \"leftie\" in the Catholic world, you may need your compass recalibrated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another Faux Christian that has never spent 6 minutes studying her own religion.\n\nP.S Read Hosea 13:16, Deuteronomy 17:12, Deuteronomy 13:13-19 Exodus 22:19, Chronicles 15:12-13, etc.\n\nOf course the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) all share the same source material, the Torah. The Christians just added their messiah bit, and Islam just took both and reworked it a bit. The Virgin Mary is actually mentioned in the Koran more than in the New Testament. All three are down with killing non believers. \n\nUsing the term \"religious relativist\" as a slur merely indicates your profound lack of knowledge relating to these religions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A review of Christian's Facebook page found numerous posts espousing extremist views.\nIn a post from April 19, Christian praised the Oklahoma City bomber, writing, \"May all the Gods Bless Timothy McVeigh a TRUE PATRIOT!!!\"\nTrump sent the message, these people carry his message into action.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First thing the Conservatives need to do is purge the ultra-right Christian fundamentalist rednecks out of the party altogether. Otherwise, no one will vote for them, and we'll be stuck with Liberal waste / theft / graft / corruption / incompetence forever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funnily enough, they were not a 'thing' in the Catholic schools. Guess the Catholics didn't want to share the coin with a secular group.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My country is lost.\nTime to take care of my own\nAdios \n\nAs more and more immigrants take political power from you, your rights as white people will taken form you and laws banning Christianity, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc.\n\nYou children will suffer from your arrogance. That is as it should be.\nYou chose to abandon your race, culture and your language that made this country great. \n\nBut that is the way it is. Go to England and see your future....\nEntire parts of cities are no-go zones now\nThe Marxists have won...\nSo remember you own this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Have women won? NO Have Muslims won? NO Have African-Americans and Latinos won? NO Hove College students won? NO Have poor people won? NO Have working people won? NO Have Evangelical Christians won? NO Have children won? NO Have disabled people won? NO Has Europe won? NO\n\nSo who has won? Have billionaires won? YES Have racist bigots won? YES Has Vladimir Putin won? YES Have those in lobbying positions for war, chemicals, coal, outsourcing jobs, hiding money in the Bahamas won? YES, YES, YES, YES, YES!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hire: I've been watching your comments closer than most others, as some of them hinted at you having a dark-side ... and here it is, outing someone's past ... attacking the person, to try to silence them. I suppose you're a saint? In one post, I sort of jokingly asked you if you were stalking me ... because I sensed a high probability that were you to know anything bad about me, you wouldn't be able to resist blabbing it to the world. The Bible describes your types as tale-bearers, wicked persons who prefer to tear down, and not build up ... and your behavior is associated with that which brings God's anger (bad karma, for unbelievers) down upon themselves. Rough cut made a very worthwhile comment, that brought up an important point. If there were more moderates in the minority party, they would probably have a good chance of becoming the majority. You're no better Horde! Your type are what keeps the comment section so \"dirty\" ... and why we have to put up with CivilBot!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus didn't address the physical deficiencies of the community? Really? He fed no one? He didn't visit the sick? He didn't heal people?\n\nWho is your Jesus???", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"So are the grandchildren of immigrant Catholics really hopelessly reactionary?\" Anyone who thinks they can answer that question knows nothing about social analysis. The grandchildren of immigrant Catholics run the spectrum of religious and political ideas. I have to assume that the author of the book managed to say that better than the author of this article.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Members of one religion bombing members of another...just as Christians killed Cathars or Catholics killed Protestants (and vice versa) years ago. Maybe absolute certitude that you are hearing the true teachings of God is not always a good thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was not accusing anyone of racism. I was just expressing the desire for more of \"a culture of encounter\" - not to stop having English and Spanish masses. It might be good though to have more bilingual services and community celebrations with foods and music from both traditions ... so that \"We all may be one\" as Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I did not claim what you think I did. There is a compelling body of Christian theological and sociological thought in development that establishes very clear boundaries for assisted suicide. The laws found in just about every country or US state that allows AS are badly lacking in that area, thus my position of resisting allowance of those laws as being a compelling position of any and all Christians. The Catholic Church, along with all of Judaism, have the most well developed, clearly elucidated foundations for life and death (although some aspects of the Church's positions are too ignorant of current knowledge and cultural practicalities) and are useful as a framework for discussions on AS. At the same time, we know what a growing number of people think about the issue, and the newer laws allowing for it are a clear indication of that shift in personal attitudes. The comment of mine to which you responded was, actually, in agreement with your sentiments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We just agreed that God, being love, would not kill whom he loves. And he loves everyone; he does not discriminate, unlike us. How then can you now say that God commanded the killing of some in Old Testament Times? Can't you see that you are back to being self- contradictory?\n\nFor a Christian to justify the death penalty morally is to go against the sure belief that God is love. And, as we've agreed, God does not kill those whom he loves. And he loves all. Therefore we must love all. Practically in one respect, that means aspiring not to kill them.\n\nWhich brings me to Bin Laden, on a purely human level, I'd have shot him, nursed him back to health, and then shot him some more. And so on, ad infinitum if possible. But that's me ('I', of course. Was being colloquial) However, we are not called to be our natural selves alone, but this transformed into God's image through Grace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In other words I called it correctly. These Catholics -- and yes, they are Catholics -- disagree with YOU. And you read out of the Church those who do not fit into your version of what a Catholic should be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good point.\n ALL present and past Colonization was and is \"Ideological Colonization\". We thought it was a great idea when it was called \"Spreading Christianity\".\n Now we want to make it a perjorative term when some group or nation or donors want to promote something we disapprove of. \n Opposing female circumcision, child marriages, polygamy, or a host of \"non-Christian\" things is all \"enlightenment\" and wonderful and good.\n Proposing respect for homosexuals or considering same sex marriage, or suggesting legalizing contraceptives, not even to mention de-criminalising abortion \u2013 this is the terrible new thing we want to tag as \"Ideological Colonization\".\n And now that we have pretty much done with our own colonizing of Asia, and Australlia, and Africa, and North and South America, everyone knows how bad \"Colonization\" is!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hello, Bill T.\nYou haven't given up try to figure out what irks you personally in what Catholics do?\nBe a MAN, try to get over these trivial things that do not make much differences on your spiritual journey to eliminate your big EGO, pls!\nUnless you had to do this to make a living. Pay attention to your inner life instead spend your precious little time you have left to squander on Catholics calling priest 'father'! What difference that will make one way or another, for your inner transformation, tell us pls!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately, a lot of Catholics also voted for him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow. These are the facts jangm. You have been listening to a smooth talking gutterswipe born from the pigeon wiping of the Democratic machine in Chicogo. His pastor hated America and Whites.His heroes were communists and arnachists as a teenager. He wanted to change America. Replace Christian influence with Muslim. To achieve this he needed open borders, civil disobedience, weaker armed forces. An end to free speech. Exile of Industry. Resulting in Racial War for the jobs and resources left. His next step was to become leader a the UN and for that he needed Hillary to win and Nominate him. Last Oct in a speech at the UN he clearly stated that the US citizen must expect to give up traditional rights to allow a higher international authority to find solutions. His last move before transferring power to send millions to Palestine to promote anti-semitism in children's study books. Obama financed Planned Parenthood to abort more black babies in history. Made KKK jealous and unnecesary!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Executing Gray accomplishes the primary purpose of any punishment - justice.\n\nChrist ordered individuals to forgive, not the State. The State is neutral and - according to Catholic teaching - acts in God's stead.\n\nJesus said to render to Caesar what is Caesar, and the justice system is Caesar's.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is it that I'm throwing stones? I was just responding to you and your remark that other religions beside Christianity hate homosexuals, too. (I really dislike that saying \"love the sinner, hate the sin,\" because it exudes an air of superiority, not love.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"You're saying that Islam is to blame?\n\nCorrect.\n\n\"Overwhelmingly, those who have committed terrorist attacks in the US and Europe aren\u2019t Muslim.\"\n\nStats, please.\n\n1 case 5 years ago in Norway. Got it. You can't be serious right now.\n\nGive us where you got your stats on attacks by Christians- I'll see ALL of them, combined, and raise you one single attack on a gay night club in Florida by an Islamic terrorist who directly supports Clinton- as does his ISIS-supporting father, who also showed up at her rally to support her.\n\nOh- also please find us where the Oklahoma City bombing occurred because of Christianity. The offender was Catholic: what direct link was there again, between that and his actions?\n\nSeriously, get your stats elsewhere besides Vox- that would be super helpful to you.\n\nthereligionofpeace.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You wrote: \"Who are we to declare right and wrong?\" Well, if someone comes up and shoots your pet, is that right or wrong? If someone threatens violence, is that right or wrong? Being a namby pamby in the face of violent groups like white supremacists and neo-nazis that threaten and have committed violence to achieve unworthy goals shouldn't be tolerated. They are like inner city gangs, like the crips and the bloods, that shouldn't be tolerated, either. Oh, they are just exercising the 1st amendment rights. Look at what German Nazis did with their sense of Aryan, white-supremacist purity. \n\nThis is America. We are ethnically diverse and mixed. We are multi-religious, Scientology, Judaism , Christianity, Islamism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Totemism, and other belief systems. The CONSTITUTION and rule of law PROTECTS US ALL. Take the motto, \"make America great, again\". There is no 'again' about it. We are already great.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alabama people are too smart for the LEFTIST.. Thank you Judge Moore for running. They are scared of a Christian Conservative..A TRUE CONSERVATIVE. Sincerely, Florida", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I raised nothing, God made us with two sexes, and he made the world with reason. The body of Christ is different from Christ's ministry of the sacraments within the liturgical priesthood, and not the royal priesthood that all baptised Christians are part of. \n\nWhat is the point of making us like that, surely God could have steered the evolutionary process to only procreate in another manner.\n\nAlso why did God only choose men in the old testament? \n\nAlso most importantly when God chose to incarnate himself he did so as a man. Why not a woman, we see prophetess' in the old testament, why not come to us as a baby girl instead of a baby boy? \n\nIf a female priesthood is to be considered, then first there needs to be a separation of the liturgical priesthood from fatherhood, or more accurately the role of a husband.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It isn\u2019t just \u201cConservative Christians.\u201d Any such ruling would apply equally to Orthodox Jews, Fundamentalist Muslims, and any others who do not like being forced to sacrifice their faith-based principles in order to conduct business.\"\n===========\nThe ironic thing is that if I went into a bakery and asked for a \"traditional husband and wife wedding cake\" and the baker said, \"You do realize that I am gay and this bakery only makes wedding cakes for same-sex couples\".....I would have thanked him for his time and gone elsewhere. \n-\nNow the SCOTUS will rule with regards to Masterpiece Bakery....and the ruling on \"the principle of it.\" Be prepared. I was. I am. I'm not sure how the vote will go....but I will be shocked if it is not another 5-4 one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the Church is being a leader in this. The Church is saying \"Protecting Catholic children, or protecting children from clergy is a very fine goal--but ALL children matter--not just children abused at the hands of clergy, in particular Catholic clergy. ALL victims matter. We cannot rest until ALL victims have had the opportunity to pursue justice and hold those accountable.\" \n\nWhat is so hard about passing a law that holds private and public institutions to the same standards? It isn't that hard. How can a legislature who claims to want to protect children NOT get behind these efforts? Any legislature who wants the public institutions to get a pass--cannot claim with a straight face that they care about protecting children or ensuring justice--not when they are covering for pubic institutions. \n\nIt is a grave injustice when certain victims of sex abuse don't matter--all because of who did the abusing. If it was a priest--they matter. If a teacher--they don't matter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But God is NOT Catholic. Nor is God the supreme male deity of any other 'man' made religion on this planet. Catholic teaching is just that-- 'Catholic' teaching based on a group of males that 'talk their party line'. Catholic teachings do not reflect God but merely reflect 'catholic' teachings based on individual and in some cases, small group translations and theologies. Your translation of catholic teaching remains your personal understanding. Catholic teachings have been 're-manufactured' over the centuries and will continue to be 're-manufactured' for centuries to come.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What a silly argument and set of assertions.\nMSW I think really really really wants to be seen as a Catholic thinker vs. someone who is employed by a Catholic newspaper.\nHe wants \"speaker engagements\" like Weigel gets around the world.\nAnd so his way to do this is to badger actual Catholic thinkers (how many MSW articles rail against Weigel),\nTake a look: https://www.ncronline.org/search/site/winters%20weigel?f[0]=im_field_byline%3A35528\nin hopes that some liberal organizations will view him as a \"counter Weigel\" and invite him to $peaker engagementS", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry bootie, over 70% of Americans still identify as being Christian. And we're not really concerned with your take on how you feel Christians should behave. It's not your call.. \nStick with castigating the GOP, it's apparently your life's mission.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The NEA definitely got its money's worth of controversy on the Piss Christ. They paid artist Serrano, an immigrant from Chile, $20,000. And the controversy is still hot and topical. An original print of the art work sells for $70,000. One was badly damaged by enraged Christians recently in France.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is our Christian duty to welcome the stranger and not give in to fear and hate, no matter how fashionable it gets.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This doctors 'religion' has been murdering one another for centuries, in fact, the Christian Crusades were in response to Muslim warriors trying to take over Jerusalem. \n\nThis 'cult' has been at the center of nearly every inhuman activity since 2000 years ago, they pray to a warrior, they all have similar ides of 'right and wrong' and Wrong is the side they all come down on. From warriors to terrorists, it's been going on for thousands of years and will continue, for nothing has changed in their medieval cult for as long.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I obviously disagree with you that racism and misogyny had nothing to do with Trump's victory. There's quite a bit of evidence correlating racial attitudes and authoritarianism, which tends to subsume misogynistic attitudes (ex.: Catholic Church), with support for Trump. Regardless, your opinion (or mine) simply isn't definitive on that score.\n\nI doubt there aren't restrictions on the essayists, but even if that's the case, they're working for the owners of this site. We aren't. A comment forum isn't an entitlement, and if it's draining away resources then it's understandable to seek an alternative. Many sites do away with comments altogether, but perhaps NCR figured if they did so they would lose a lot of traffic.\n\nI agree the journalistic standards and depth of sensibility at NCR often leave much to be desired. I, too, skip many of the writers, and whole sections for that matter. With the credentials and ability and existing fan base it's curious you haven't been offered a column.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This how some family treat there kids. Christian families also treat there kids the same way with the help of their village and all there friends. The devil and his demons are the inside the walls.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Church is now in a full-blown civil war over doctrine.\"\n\nA headline from a Catholic paper not pron to hyperbole or click-baiting.\n\nhttp://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2017/02/15/the-church-is-now-in-a-full-blown-civil-war-over-doctrine/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, the purpose of the material world is to make us saints. We must \"give back to the material world\" its original purpose.\n\nA modern day saint said: \"Either we learn to find our Lord in ordinary, everyday life, or else we shall never find Him. That is why I can tell you that our age needs to give back to matter and to the most trivial occurrences and situations their noble and original meaning. It needs to restore them to the service of the Kingdom of God, to spiritualize them, turning them into a means and an occasion for a continuous meeting with Jesus Christ.\" (Escriva)\n\nWater into wine. Bread into Jesus Christ. Get it? These matters are not \"at odds\" at all. \n\nI don't despise medicine at all. I make my living with it! I am an engineer/scientist. I work on projects focused on very tricky medical problems!! This work can be a great good, and if it's done for the love of God, then every action of mine at work can have \"infinite value\" through the grace of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The danger in government supporting one religion (Christianity\"\n==========\nThomas Jefferson: \"There should always be a wall of separation between Church and State.\"\n-\nThose words were penned by Thomas Jefferson in a personal letter and were first used many decades later by the SCOTUS to begin the process of striking down laws that were \"too religious\" or \"too Christian\" in \"modern-day liberal\" thought.\n-\nAnd that \"wall of separation between Church and State\" is still quoted and used today by Liberals, Progressives, Democrats, and Atheists. But has anyone thought \"why\" Jefferson wrote those words.\n-\nThomas Jefferson was not a Christian. He was, at best, a Deist who penned his own version of The Bible because he didn't like the real one. And he didn't like the real one because (gasp!)Jefferson owned slaves. He owned slaves. He had sex with slaves. He fathered children by slaves.\n-\nAnd the last thing Jefferson wanted was a bunch of Christians telling him that owning slaves was wrong.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You 'surmise' correctly. \n\nI decided, on hearing of the higher than average incidences of suicidal ideation and death among young LGBT people, to research the topic of homosexuality and to examine my own homophobia. As a Christian, I could do no less. You?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Association of Catholic Priests is a heterodox/ internal anti-Catholic group, so their elevation of a worldly concern over the care of souls comes as no surprise. (Their name is misleading. They're at least as much of a fringe organization as SSPX and their leaders have been repeatedly censured by the CDF.)\n\nPeople need what deacons can provide (and would that canon law changed so that deacons could hear confessions!)--there should be more of these men. But those like the ACP who do not share the Catholic view of the Sacraments as divine ordinances and ordinary channels of grace naturally do not see the ministry of the permanent deacon as worthwhile.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing. Interpretation will always be contested; that's a constant. If you're referring to \"ecumenism,\" I can't read Italian so have no sense of the effect of the word in the original but in translation \"ecumenism of hate\" is obviously a rhetorical device. The point is the political alliance with fundamentalists has had and will continue to have adverse, anti-life effects. Donald Trump is really president, he really stokes bigotry, he's really ideologically aligned with rapacious capitalists invested in fossil fuels indifferent to the fate of the planet, the GOP is determined to deprive millions of access to health care in order to deliver tax cuts to their donors. The anxiety that far-right Christians enable a perilous agenda really exists.\n\nWhile I appreciate the charity of your allowances there are urgent and morally profound issues at stake that can't be put on hold until we (you; I've left again) determine \"the Church we want to be.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Or the Catholic charities could have changed their stance. But obviously they think a kid being in a stable two parent home if the parents are same sex is not healthy. At least not healthier than being a ward of the state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re \"It is sad\": It is sad that modern Christians still feel themselves absolved from doing critical research on the nature of biblical literature. The historical Jesus (of Nazareth) may indeed have referred to his followers as \"sheep.\" That tells us nothing, really, about either God or human beings, or for that matter the Christian church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gotta be careful here.\nI wrote about totalitarian regimes since and including the French Revolution, therefore my comment was not general.\nUp until the end of the 19th century most civilised countries were European where Judeo-Christian morality prevailed and this morality prevailed in th colonies. This general consensus even included many non-Christian regimes. After WW1, this consensus began to fall apart.\n\"On the other hand, perhaps you mean that a civilisation that is built on Christianity might have difficulty surviving without Christianity. I would be inclined to agree with that.\" I would agree with you. The consensus even among Christians and indeed Catholics has almost disappeared in the West?\nI don't know what you are fishing for when you ask, \"... what kind of Christianity is needed within a \"civilisation\" that has been traditionally \"Christian\"? Is it always as it has been in the past?\" Perhaps you can tell us.\nV2 was concerned with being in the world but not of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspect what the Canadian voters will support is authenticity and integrity. If they find that in a white male Catholic or a man with a turban, they will support it. If they find neither of those qualities they will drift away from that leader and that party.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The low birth rate in \"Catholic\" regions such as Quebec, France and Italy proves that lay Catholics with modern educations have no trouble doing what is in their own best interests regarding birth control. \n\nIn any case the RCC, like other brands of belief in Imaginary Supernatural beings, is literally dying in Canada, as older zealots die off without recruiting enough new zealots to keep temple roofs from leaking or the heating plants running in winter. \"No Religion\" has already overtaken \"Catholic\" as the top response when Stat Can pokes its nose into that aspect of our private lives, without adjusting for the lie rate. People give socially conventional answers. About 1 person in 2 who says that they go to church regularly and gives tithes is lying.\n\nThe sad irony is that the RCC encourages abortion by teaching that an abortion is a sin of the same magnitude as taking 1 active birth control pill, or 1 of the 7 placebo pills in pack, using a condom, or using a pessary with spermicide.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Democrats have become increasingly emboldened in their use of identity politics to create fissures within American society.\" Says the guy peddling the fallacy of the persecuted white male, of the persecuted Christian, of the...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, this guy gets a free ticket to Rome on top of every other perk. Where does the money come from, to support this opulentus amarium Catholic who brings tidings of \"good news to the poor.\"\n\nBut as to the column itself: here is yet another NCR piece that attacks Trump before he's even taken office. \n\nWhere is the journalism?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"so obviously it's not the religion that's the problem\"\n\nIt isn't an either/or. Neither religion nor politics is a sufficient condition, but both together are.\n\nRetaliation based on the notion that the infidel West is \"attacking Muslims\", and therefore it is incumbent on Muslims to avenge their \"brothers\", is based on the religion. No one except those radical Muslims was interpreting the western interventions as being against Muslims qua Muslims. They are against dictators, or some radical factions, in what is an already religious conflict-ridden region of the world.\n\nNo Buddhist ever retaliated with terrorism against civilians in the US for US intervention in the internal conflict between North and South Korea, or North and South Vietnam, because the US was \"attacking Buddhists\"....\n\nThe Muslim religion provides a handy justification for disgruntled young people in a way Buddhism or Christianity does not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Israel has muslim voting citizens and MP's. Muslims and Christians practice their religion freely in Israel. Just saying...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why are Christians so opposed to Gay marriage? I thought getting married was far preferable to just shacking up together.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I will never understand how a Catholic could vote for Trump. If they only listened to his speeches, what was Catholic about them, did they hear about his sexual proclivities, about beliefs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another great attack on the Christian faith by Wahabbist-indoctrinated Islamic radicals, and the best the NCR could muster in response to this massacre of 28 whom Pope Francis officially proclaimed to be Martyrs is a disposable Reuters article not composed by any one person in the NCR's staff. An article which, fails to even mention this act of terrorism was a result of Islamic extremism, fails to mention the demands by these attackers to renounce their Christian faith, executing them if they refused, that fails to mention the deaths of children in this violent act of hatred.\n\nFrom those whom frequent this fine community, absolute silence, not a word. Not a care for the horrors being faced by their brethren elsewhere in the world, being more concerned with false ecumenism and modernization of the faith to correspond to the more progressive protestant denominations. To these, Catholicism is only a stylistic accessory, which is why a story of great violence against is obscured from view.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a classic Chicken Little \"the sky is falling\" slippery slope argument, and like all slippery slope arguments is based on nothing but irrational fear. \n\nFor generation upon generation Catholic priests, Protestant ministers, Jewish rabbis, etc. have been perfectly free to tell straight couples that for whatever reason they cannot be married in a particular house of faith. The reasons are myriad: incompatibility based on the cleric's assessment of the couple, the couple's failure to comply with one or more requirements as established by the church, synagogue, or mosque, or even if the cleric just doesn't think a couple is ready to make a marital commitment. No civil authority has ever censured a church for doing so in any way because churches have always had license under the Constitution to decide such things for themselves. \n\nWhat on earth makes you think any of that will change now that gay people can get married at city hall?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I found most interesting in both reports was the connection between the lines of the historically \"sovereign nature\" of the relationship between the Knights of Malta and the Vatican...how Pope Francis has moved to change that relationship under his vision of the Roman Catholic Church as a papal monarchy over subjects whose obedience is required regardless of prior historical arrangements between religious orders and the Vatican.\n\nThere was a time not so long ago when religious orders sought papal recognition as protection from bishops and others who wanted rule over those orders in their respective dioceses and parishes. Now, one can see that this protection is in jeopardy for ALL religious communities, including monastic orders like the Benedictines, in light of good Pope Francis' vision of papal authority. This change sets a precedent for future popes seeking sole autonomy.\n\nIt is ironic that a traditionalist lay order should be the case to bring this point into the light.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Brother I hear what you are saying. Did you see other posts I wrote? That first one I wrote I was angry because our people are being lead astray from the GC level and it's seems as if no one cares! It seems as if MOST of God's people will go to hell because our pastors have been taught in our school by Jesuits or Jesuit trained professors, and they've been taught that the foundation of OYR faith is no longer important or valid, this is why si-called SDAs can write sordid articles like the ones written in the issue published. I also fund that today SDAs are super sensitive and touchy about the wrong things. Brother, we should be sensitive and touchy about the things that hurt Jesus' heart and most of us are not!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are not \"blaming\" Trump. They are saying that Trump has allied himself with antisemites, and refuses to part ways with them. Trump certainly has no personal problems with racism, antisemitism, sexism, or any other form of institutionalized hatred. Why should he? He is rich, white, male, nominally Christian and narcissistic. He is at the top of the heap, and his interest in the real problems of anyone who isn't Donald Trump is essentially nil.\n\nNo, not all Trump supporters are racist or antisemitic. Too many of this sad bunch are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When the language of the surrounding culture changes, the Church is faced with a choice.\n\nWhen the language of the Roman Empire changed from Greek to Latin, the Church decided to go with it \u2013\u2013 and was enriched by it. \"For example, Tertullian invented the word \"sacrament\" to translate the Greek \"mystery\".\n\nMany years later, when the language of the world had changed from Latin to a multiplicity of vernaculars, the Church faced the same challenged. This time the Church decided not to go with it ... and was impoverished by it.\n\nTwo parallel paradigm moments.\n\nI am glad that Pope Francis acknowledges the genuine insights of Sacrosanctum Concilium,and the need for the Church to be alive and speaking to the culture of the time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your reflection, Sister Joan. As an Afro-American Catholic Christian woman, I was astounded and saddened to read on NCR's website that 32% of Catholics support Trump. Support for his ignorance, racism, misogyny, and xenophobia indicates a disconnect from Catholic social teaching. What is clear is that our country will thrive with a qualified female president, and begin to take care of our climate and planet, and remove the structural economic inequalites wrought not by free trade, but corporate tax avoidance and tax breaks for those with high earned and unearned income. The culture has moved beyond what Trump (and the US bishops) represents. I am hopeful, even though I never thought the voting rights battles of the 60s would have to be refought. Peace and all good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Letter to the bishops: \"Through this same spousal [Adam + Eve] perspective, the ancient Genesis narrative allows us to understand how woman, in her deepest and original being, exists 'for the other'.\" (From here, a short, ugly road to women being the fluffers, helpers, listeners, doormats, and sex outlets of the universe.) \n\nIt's too bad the Vatican can't recognize this awful distortion and how it has led to the sin of male entitlement. The proper principle is that All--male, female, and in-between--exist to be in relation with each other. Not in \"spousal\" relation, but in relation generally. \n\nBig difference. I believe Jesus Christ, in word and deed, lived and died as though the latter were the case. In fact, it's one of the few things that give me hope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis does deserve praise and thanks for internationalizing the college of Cardinals. At the same time, he has continued to appoint electors from Italy. There are simply way too many Italian cardinals. For all the talk of decentralizing curial and ecclesial power, that Italian electors are still named, including to the degree done in the current pontificate, shows that we will have to wait for a future papacy to truly embark on this task. \n\nThe authors usually nonsense about \"sexism\" is expected and unfortunate. Old liberals such as those on NCR editorial staff, need to start encountering and accompanying Catholics outside their safe space. When they do, they will realize that being a cleric, even a cardinal is not about power, but supposed to be about sacrifice, duty, and service, of a type limited to males with orders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is what the Vatican delicately alludes to as \"inability to relate correctly to men and women.\" The attitude that women are filthy and defile the sanctuary and should be invisible in Church lest they offend God with their presence and/or emissions. The incessant appearance of the celebrant's mother in the homily, the cloying sentimentality of the cult of Mary, the insistence on treating the mass like an opera-substitute for a diva who can't sing, complete with shiny baubles and gorgeous costumery and regiments of prancing (all-male) extras, the vicious parish gossip circle with priest in the position of queen bee, the unhealthy dynamic of the ecclesiastical hierarchy based on favoritism, dominance, jealousy and secretiveness. \n\n\"Inability to relate correctly.\" A Vatican circumlocution the whole world understands.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Controversial\" is the first word of the headline (and prominent in the first sentence) so I had to see what all the fuss was about. Finally several paragraphs in, ok, apparently they don't agree with mainstream Catholicism. Not that controversial. Oh, but the SPLC doesn't like them?!?!? I find the SPLC to be plenty controversial itself, and shameful of the RG to lean on the SPLC to generate controversy in this story. I'd rather have this group own land in Veneta than the SPLC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RockChalk had this question, but where is post? \"So what's your point? That we should all be eager to die since we believe in heaven? This is a stunningly cavalier statement considering ...\"\n\nRespose: Wasn\u2019t this Paul\u2019s dilemma, Philippians 1:23? And for Paul, \u201cWe have no tenting place here.\u201d This world is not important. Christians were counseled to hate the world.\n1 John 2:15. \n\nWeren\u2019t Christians fleeing the world, off to deserts, mountains tops, monasteries, etc.? \nWhat is the point of cling to the world when heaven & the Beatific Union is the end goal? Let's get life over with for the ultimate end: to be with God forever, as Baltimore Catechism indoctrinated.\nOf course, Christian theology does throw in the devil package.\nThose who cling to life here don't wanna be with the devil forever?\nSlow to leave here, then?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because it's true.\nConservative Christians want to use \"freedom of conscience\" to deny goods and services to gay people, while at the same time they would be outraged if someone discriminated against them.\nThat is what the baker's lawsuit is all about. That's why so0 many conservative Christian groups support the baker.\nFreedom of conscience for you, but not for me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"You need to defend the assertion that not ordaining women to the priesthood somehow makes the Church patriarchal.\"\n\nJust take a look at any photo of a Catholic liturgy, especially at the Vatican. If this is not patriarchy, then what is it?\n\nWe believe that the Church is \"one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.\" \nDo we believe that the Church is, in addition, patriarchal? No, but this is what the patriarchal priesthood reduces the Church to be: an artificial and obsolete patriarchy.\n\nThe complementarity of man and woman is for reciprocity and interpersonal communion, and was never intended to reduce human relations to patriarchal gender stereotypes. See JP2's \"Theology of the Body,\" links included here:\n\nReligious Patriarchy ~ Annotated Chronology of Key Events\nhttp://pelicanweb.org/CCC.TOB.html#CHRONOLOGY\n\nWe celebrate \"Corpus Christi,\" not \"vir Christi.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry - your comment on a column by the current San Diego bishop makes it appear as if he pulled this bankruptcy filing. You paint by innuendo, gossip, and mis-direction. How is your comment any different ethically from what you both accuse and allege happened 10 years ago.\nLet's stick to facts (not your version of faux news and logical fallacies).\nLink to what you reference - http://www.zalkin.com/blog/the-baseless-threats-of-catholic-dioceses-bankruptcies/\nNote:\n- 2007\n- former bishop who was cited by the judge\n- former bishop who left a trail of embarrassments\n\nSo, because of Brom, current bishop must not speak on any issue? Really\n\nOnly issue recently that pertains to your allegation - is the issue with hotline and Msgr. Callahan.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Looking back at American History since the end of WW II, one can easily see that conservatives need an enemy to hate. First it was communism. But now that the threat from communism has been greatly reduced. The conservatives needed a new enemy to hate. On 111 Sep 2001, they were given one. ISLAM.\n\nMSW is very correct in his assessment that if the Catholic Clergy was more in tune with the totality of Catholic Social Justice teaching, they would have been opposed to Trump from the moment that he announced his campaign with nativist leanings. But they didn't.\n\nNow, even though the hour is late, those clergy must step up and indicate that they now oppose what Trump stands for. They should, but by their opposition to Trump will, show that their prior positions were illconceived.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suppose you have never been to a service in a Black Baptist church. People talk -- indeed, shout -- all the time. It's an integral part of the service, and I wish more Catholics could be like that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once the church demonstrated it was just another institution more interested in its own welfare, people realized it was not deserving of their obedience. It demonstrated it is lead by men so depraved they won't protect children. Can't do that and still claim to be the infallible church and only road to salvation. Frankly, if god really chooses people like Law, JPII, Finn, et al, and gives them a say in salvation, he doesn't deserve to be worshiped and the crucifixion begins to look like a properly meted out punishment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why liberals want to re-open the abortion and same sex marriage debate in Canada is beyond me. It's 2017. Enough with the fear mongering and deceptions already.\n\nMost faiths have social conservatism entrenched in their dogma and Justin is on record as being a devout Catholic who is also personally opposed to abortion.\n\nIslam and Catholicism mirror each other in their views on abortion and same sex marriage. \n\nCan you EVER recall a liberal bashing a Muslim for their views? No? Why? You will be labelled a bigot. \n\nCan you EVER recall a liberal bashing a Catholic for their views? Yes? Daily? Why? You are now a progressive.\n\nThe irony is, liberals have a strong Catholic base in Quebec, so liberals are in fact self-loathing in their ideology. Canada can't afford ideological leaders like Justin (all MP's must vote pro-abortion) and the identity politics emerging from this regime.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because laughing at people's heads exploding is what evangelical/Pentecostal Catholics do for fun?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does this mean that Trump knows of the terrorist attack by a white Christian Trump fanatic ?\n\nHave Trump or Fox News mentioned the terrorist attack yet ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The 5th commandment said \"thou shalt not murder,\" but as illustrated in the Old Testament, that was not an absolute. The Israelites, on God's orders, murdered civilians, men, women, children, babies, throughout their conquest of the Promised Land. From that, we can extrapolate that God allows murder when convenient or expedient, so the Church's various war theories, as well as the Church's various wars were, because the One True Church is Infallible, Just.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, all people are different from all other people at a genetic level and all different groups of people, ie, black, while, male, female, hispanic, asian, etc. have strengths and weaknesses based on their genetics. All people are equally complimentary towards one another which is why as many men will disagree with other men as they will agree with women on the same issues. This means Complimentarianism is not based on any one birth issue alone. So since none of the aforementioned categories have proven to be incapable of doing the work of a Roman Catholic Priest, to state that one group must be restrained of using their talents, while no other group is being restrained this same way, equates to unjust discrimination based on illogical, unreasonable and false beliefs most likely spawn from fear and ignorance resulting in a hatred. In other words, you have a real problem with women and should seriously seek therapy for your own health's sake.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's suppose an American travels to another country and then, once receiving the hospitality of those people, openly criticizes and derides them, and defiantly spurns their laws and customs - do you suppose that country will continue to tolerate them? At the very least they will kindly escort them out of the country to make room for a more appreciative and thankful guest.\n\nNo matter what reason I go to another country, for love or family or occupational opportunity - if I have disdain in my heart for the country and customs and laws of the very people who are welcoming me into their home land, I am an ingrate, exemplifying the opposite of the true Christian virtue of humility. \n\nThis IS the attitude of many (perhaps not the majority) who come to America today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... Cheetolini has been married how many times? Sued how many times (and counting)?\n\nCan you please TRY to point to how Cheetolini represents Christianity IN THE LEAST ... think hard ... I'll await your response with popcorn, bourbon, and a J the Badger game starts in an hour. Gimme a laugh ... :)\n\nCheetolini represents the super fakey 'christians' that are so common one can hit one swinging a dead cat as is evidenced by Cheetolini being ELECTED by 'christians'. \n\nYou cannot be a Christian, AND a Cheetolini supporters. You are either one, or the other.\n\nWhich are YOU?! I know the answer, as do the majority of Americans now. Would you guys stop breeding? Seriously ... you hold the USA back!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The alt-right labors under the notion that having more Neanderthal DNA than anyone else on the planet is somehow a good thing. It is simply a renaming of reactionaries with a white nationalist bent from the Tea Party, to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (how Maoist is that?), to the John Birch Society and the KKK, as well as the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic League for Decency. They traffic in moral superiority to distract the working class from their real problems of economic exploitation. Being open about ones resentments is empowering, especially as an excuse for violence or the abuse of the other and they always seem to fin an other to abuse. \n\nMSW does not see that BLM is a response to racism in the police force as a reaction against black youth empowerment through rap music. The cops have more than their share of the alt-right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clearly if the church is to accomplish its mission to proclaim the gospel and sanctify the entire world it needs a huge increase in ordained personnel, deacons, priests and many more bishops. We are losing priests at a precipitous rate and not ordaining even enough replacements. Without a married clergy, women involved at least as deaconesses, and many, many more parishes where the Mass is celebrated every week and people are accompanied on their daily spiritual life, the church will soon wither and die. Unless we are content to become a museum church (much like Europe now) we have to embrace change, eliminate celibacy and misogyny and begin to train and expand our clergy everywhere. I think Pope Francis now realizes this basic need.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent suggestion. Seems like what some of the Protestant churches do when choosing pastors. Worth a try over the current situation where these 'horribles' are thrust upon the laity who have no input or choice in the matter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I may have missed it but I didn't see any contributions that would show an interest in supporting immigrants' rights. Nor was there much that I saw to support groups that work to alleviate poverty like the St. Vincent de Paul Society.\n\nI'm a K of C member, but have gone light after being turned off by the right wing politics-cum-faith aspects of the local leaders of the Knights. I had thought this was only something that was a local thing because I live in conservative Southern California. This article is eye-opening though.\n\nI notice the same slant among members of the EOHSJ, which I belong to as well. But their strict objective of supporting Christians in the Holy Land\u2014I think, anyway\u2014limits the influence of their considerable fund raising ability. It's still distressing to witness the extreme prejudice against Muslims that some EOHSJ members exhibit. \nV-II's Nostra Aetate has apparently been buried by some.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alexandra, \nThere are some actresses who have boasted about having an abortion and their were many women at the \"Women's March\" in Washington, DC and all over the USA back in January -which took place the week before \"The March for Life\" who talked about abortion or a women's right to choose whether or not the child that is growing in her womb (and yes, Alexandra, the child is growing - is alive, because if it were not, it would not be necessary to have it vacuumed out of the uterus with a medical instrument)! Many Democratic politicians and Democratic voters talk about inclusion and rights for everyone except rights for a child that has been conceived in the womb and the rights of Catholics who trust in Jesus' Word (Holy Scripture/ Commandments/Statutes) and not man's understanding (and his own opinion) of issues like contraception, abortion, same sex marriage, divorce, pre-marital sex, chastity. Why are so many people threatened by Jesus' Commandments, when they make good sense?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"That claim appeared to irk the judge, who pointed out that the federal workers took the girl, against her wishes, to a Christian pregnancy facility for counseling and also informed her mother about the abortion. Both steps potentially violated the girl\u2019s constitutional right to privacy and other protections, Chutkan said.\"\n\nWhat are they, the Taliban?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus wasn't a social worker preaching \"social inclusion\". \n\nAs I said, His focus with the Samaritan woman was her conversion as a sinner and offering her His Truth. He didn't accept her sin or her false beliefs. Jesus is kind and loving but He always converts from sin and false belief, and frees us from the human misery it brings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I take that to be a rhetorical question. :-)\nIt seems that the Church is always looking to create hierarchies. Men are more worthy than women; priests are more worthy than unordained men; the hierarchs are better yet. Then, of course, we have LGBT people who are, PERHAPS, to be engaged in dialogue, but only if they recognize their inherent state of being disordered..... and so on and so forth. It's very different from what the message of Christ is -- the One whom they claim to follow. And, rather than looking critically at the distorted picture that they have created, many of the \"true believers\" are sticking to their positions ever more stubbornly. \nIt seems that something has to give, and, just perhaps, Cupich might be the first step....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ahh... but the road, you see. Not a one of them would have been on it were it not for the taxes of the Caesers. (Render to...) If you want to cut out tax paid healthcare, I think we should take a look at fire departments, police departments, and public ambulances. They are kind of connected with life, too. And let's not forget all the federal loans to kids who attend Catholic colleges as well as tax money going to Catholic health care systems.\n\nAs for the abortions, I thought that the federal government no longer paid for them, at least directly. At the rate some people are going, I think that they want to abolish the whole government.\n\nNot that I am trying to convince you. Me thinks you are far more than a traditional Catholic. I have never heard health care put in the same category as lawn care and car washes!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one is asking you to, you make it quite plain that anyone who doesn't agree with your personal concept of Catholicism is savaged by you. You have even had some unpleasant things to say about Pope Francis when he says anything contrary to feminist dogma.\nSo when you criticise those academics using such intemperate language, people are inclined to say, \" Oh, it's just Kag again on one of her rants.\" People will respond to a criticism which is constructive but not to intemperate name-calling.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reading the Washington Post OP/ED by the former parishioner I had no issues with her intelligent curiosity. She discovered something that needed to be discoveted. Old bones and fully formed skeletons have s way of being discovered.\nWhat needs to be discussed and truly dialogued here is the Roman Catholic priest /poet John Bannister Tabb. He and Sidney Lanier-also a poet and also attached to the Roman Catholic faith both fought for the Confederacy and both were POWs.\nSome of their writings were used in the time when Roman Catholic educational institutions used \"catholiized\" text books that inserted Roman Catholic writings. My father's Jebbie high school used them and I read them many times.\nBoth poet's works were included but it isn't until now that I realized the problematic nature of their writings and their inclusion of their work.\nSo it is not just the institutions - art has to work through racism.\nNot easy but Ezra Pound despite his talent became a patsy for Mussolini. It happens", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Moderate Muslims, especially those living in other western countries have no implicit responsibility to address this any more than a white Christian Canadian had to address the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tip: Better to just use emojis to make your point, like DonfromKansas. That's progressive Catholic rhetoric at its finest.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's replace evil for equality in your example. Striving for evil is satanic vs evil is satanic. Without the plea of ignorance, both are true as you stated, cause vs result. CHRIST specifically stated that thinking to do bad is as evil as doing bad, in proof.\n\nCHRIST also stated in Matthew 20:\n15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?\n16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.\n\nIs it HIS application of equality or ours? The preceding parable notes the inequality in the promise of the covenant, but the covenant was HIS to make. Would you not be pleading for those working all day in the hot sun, within your concepts of equality? While in all honesty we should be thankful for those working an hour and for HIM Giving what is agreed and promised? \nJust asking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It would be an interesting case.\"\nThen let's start with National CATHOLIC Reporter.\nLOL!\nIf the hierarchy tried to control EWTN, think of the push back from the wealthy Catholics and the Knights of Malta and Knights of Columbus who support EWTN. \nThe hierarchy would scream uncle. \nWhether you like it or not, and even with Pope Francis, money has the true power in and outside the Church.\nFrancis does a lot of TALKING, but I haven't heard him turn down any donations from those \"bad capitalists.\"\nIf he did: The Vatican would cease all operations, but that will not happen. Where do you think he got that $500,000 to give to that poor nation last week? From the destitute? NO WAY!\nLOL!\nDO NOT FOOL YOURSELF.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What the Catholic Church teaches about men and women is illogical and indefensible. Unfortunately, Violet, there are a bunch of people out there willing to go along with it. This is what I find most depressing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My bet 'foreshortie\" is you know nothing about Armenia where I served. And nothing about the 500,000 enslaved Irish kidnapped. And your \"etc\" is an insult to those the euro people at the top of the pile have slaughtered. Your lack of knowledge is nothing new. Your history is your personal wish, rather than history of fact. So be it. We have many allies. Go your own way. We are Christians not opportunistic 'armchair' bloviators about a supposed 'history' that holds as much water as a sieve.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's understandable that one relate one's life to segments of age, or development- from childhood-adolescence-etc. This is a fruitful reflection. What you describe in implicit terms, is a life that is also measured by your experience along the way and how it affects you; how you related/relate whether to change, intransigence, or a combination of both. I heard part of an interview with Trevor Noah on growing-up in South Africa. That was the closest I have come to just listening to \"being black\" and not tinged with resistance to one's treatment. \nI write this with respect - you sound so much like people I know, or would like to know yet with the acknowledged difference - within and without - of being of colour.\nThe \"difference\" though is only hinted at. Maybe you could shed light - being black, catholic, (apparently) of the cafeteria, in a Church you obviously love, an institution that finds excuses for not loving you as a peer because of being \"woman\". How \"black\" frames this. Thanks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, she is loyal in her misfortune and disgust.\nHowever, what she wants -- from her singular perspective -- cannot prevail in the church without the diminution of what we have now. Most Catholics I know are generally not unhappy with what we have now, and are certainly not as miserable as Dennism. Catholics might have a solution apiece, but not a universal one to impose on all. \nDennism has a long road ahead of her learning the grounds of her own strong opinions against the nuanced opinions of most Catholics. If she is happy being so tortured, more power to her. But most Catholics just don't share her \"torture.\" (Of course, many people have a torture apiece, as it were, have their own victimization dramas to deal with [different from Dennism's] , often outside a faith community or church.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fun article. Always entertaining to see David Hume type-Catholics who are...erm...uncomfortable with supernatural stuff try and juggle the Marian apparition bit. Their interpretations of Guadalupe (Mary the intercultural dialogue warrior princess!) and Lourdes (spiritual renewal in the waters on the periphery) are laudable efforts.\n\nAs this article demonstrates though the benign Fatima interpretation remains most elusive out of the big three apparitions in recent centuries.\n\n\"Pray for peace? Be like shepherd children? War is bad?\"\n\nThe constant exhortations to penance and reparation through suffering because God is offended by humanity's many sins and many poor souls are going to hell doesn't bend so easily to ambiguous spirituality...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That \"all sexual intercourse between unmarried people is a (objectively) mortal sin\" seems to be bedrock in Catholicism. When that is said, it is with the unsaid proviso that, as with all sin, one must be aware that the conduct or inaction is prohibited, the objective severity of the sin, and at the subjective level (God, sinner) the culpability may be mitigated or in fact non-existent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"For the most part, abortion occupied the foreground by itself, the fulcrum for alone deciding whom to put in the White House.\" \n\nKen Briggs, I respectfully disagree. Most Catholics who voted for Trump did so because they fell for his racist fear campaign and not because of abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's sweet of you to try to cover for everyone, but I've been pointing out this little issue to whole gangs of people periodically for the past 11 years online at NCR. People do call 'the words of the Psalms \"insipid\"' over and over again. They don't like music without a bad organ and it should all have words like \"Holy God\" (which I personally like occasionally) sung badly by a few Catholics over and over again every Sunday, with an occasional \"America the Beautiful\" thrown in on national holidays. THIS IS THE OLD CHURCH YOU ALL STRAIN FOR. \n\nThe truth, Jay, is that some Catholics don't know and/or don't like the personal nature of the Psalms--the focus on people and their lives, their relationship with God, the focus on the daily struggles and wars and wanting glory and validation from God, the beauty of God and life, love and being in-love with desirous sexuality and sensuality. They believe Scripture to be only about people failing under the weight of hard teachings...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Pope Francis often calls for an outspoken and fearless dialogue between all members of the Church in matters concerning the spiritual good of souls ....\n\n\"In light of these pronouncements of Pope Francis .... the unusually violent and intolerant reactions on behalf of some bishops and cardinals against the calm and circumspect plea of the Four Cardinals cause great astonishment. Among such intolerant reactions one could read affirmations such as, for instance: the four Cardinals are witless, naive, schismatic, heretical .... \n\nSuch a violent reaction has only one aim: to silence the voice of the truth, which is disturbing and annoying the apparently peaceful nebulous ambiguity of these clerical critics.\"\n\nhttp://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2016/11/exclusive-bishop-athanasius-schneider.html#more", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My issue with people like you is this. (i)You criticize from the sidelines with ad hominem attacks but offer no solution. (ii) When a solution is offered you take a cynical posture and just say that it's just P.R. (iii)You have a very simplistic view of how to solve a crisis like this in the first place. \n\nWhen you have a crisis like this that has been ingrained in the Catholic Church for 50 years going back to Pope John XXIII with his document \"Crimen sollicitationis\" as well as a crisis of a global nature, thinking that one man can just clean up that global crisis spanning 50 years in 3 or 4 years is nonsense. \n\nThe tribunal episode shows how difficult it is because of the opposition the Pope faced over it. People like you cynically suggesting that the Pope just wants to cover it all up doesn't help the situation. Criticizing from the sidelines and offering no solutions doesn't solve the situation either and just makes your cynicism useless and counter productive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just to put this into Saskatchewan's perspective we have a Public School Board which took on the role of plaintiff suing the Separate School Board and the Provincial Government, originating the lawsuit 12 years ago and spending over $6 million to date of Taxpayer's Money. And for what? They were jealous that the Separate School Board would accept students that were not baptized Catholic - bear in mind there are great distances in this province and in the Theodore situation it saved a 45 minute bus ride each way, the children attended school in their home town across the street. I am disgusted with the Public School Board of Saskatchewan wasting taxpayers money for what amounts to a \"Cheap Turf War\". They themselves have even stated it was \"all about enrollment and cut the amount of dollars they would collect\"..... These people are wasteful stewards and the child takes the back seat to their \"kingdom building\" aspirations...... AS I said, A Cheap Turf War...... at taxpayer expense.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's like that monkey trap where the monkey could pull his hand out of the trap by letting go of the nut, but he won't let go till the hunter is too close.\n\nThe whole concept of the Satanic Temple is a perfect trap to give the lie to those who claim to want religious liberty. But Christianity, by its very commandments from god, requires the faithful to discriminate against Satanism. And even better, Satanists who openly confess there is no Satan and that their efforts are just for this purpose.\n\nThis is like watching a video where they pull the same prank on multiple passers by. Everyone falls for the same trick, in the same way, to the same outcome and we all sit back and laugh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's the rub . . when we merged the old cities to create new jumbo City of Toronto, the rationale was saving $$, economy of scale, consistency of service delivery, etc. But because public service are archaic union-bound bureaucracies overseen by populist political patrons, taxpayers ended up getting the worst of everything, the costliest of everything and years later, very little uniformity of anything. I have seen my kids go through both the TDSB (eldest) and TCDSB (youngest) . . these were starkly different teacher/kid/parent experiences. In terms of value-for-money, the TCDSB wins hands down because they are more traditional in offering readin', writin', 'rthmatic as the core focus and they have fewer $/student and crappier facilities at their disposal. Our \"catholic\" kid emerged well educated and unspoiled. Meanwhile, over at TDSB, our public kid got strikes, ineffective teaching concepts and horrendous elitism in the staff. Agree it may be archaic, but the TCDSB does work!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From: The Bundy Brothers\n\nTo: The Judge\n\nIn addition to our other demands, we would like a better selection of snacks: Cool Ranch Doritos, Dark Chocolate Dove Bars, and Diet Pepsi, NOT Diet Coke. \n\nOne more thing: can you please get the big black guy on the lower tier who listens to Christian radio all day and night to turn the volume down a bit? Thanks. We would ask him ourselves but he's not very friendly ... some kind of attitude problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Darn you, internet.\nI spent a goodly time reading on the good converted Catholic Knox, who was the Pope's choice to represent Catholics at Oxford when he let them attend. Not sure why they were forbidden..\nHe was of his grandfather's time, no doubt. Kind of glad he doesn't teach at the UofO, all in all. \nSure, in the (American) Founders' time there was a need for hard edged thinking that told all Americans work or die, find your plot of land and make something of yourself. No one owed you anything because the jobs were there, as were the acres. Who needed health care? \nHowever, this ain't that time. In my far right New Hampshire Republican Grandfather's world, hippies were to be shot on sight, a comment I heard him make. His town had a large manufacturing base. Then that base moved, as did the hopes of many that the America dream was possible for them.\nKnox was a creature of his time, and like my grandfather, not one one would hope to reason with.\n\nHugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I feel bad for these bishops, but worse for the people. The bishops were trained to be managers of self-supporting small businesses and pastors of large flocks who would come to them if they just kept their doors open. Now the businesses are no longer self-supporting and the large flocks have many choices. These poor guys don't know what hit them and, worse, don't know that downsizing just manages the problem for the short term, but eventually drives a stake through the heart of the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The lack of credibility may be yours.....please advise which US Bishop(s) told American Catholics to vote for Mr. Trump??", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Firstly, the Australian bishops were covering up pedophilia for decades just like the bishops world wide. They were not only bound by Canon Law, they were residents of a gated community called Clericalism. Isn't it ironic that a secular authority, the type Benedict XVI lashed as being infected with 'moral relativism' now rightly claims the moral high ground.\nJust wait till the lid comes off Catholic Poland and Latin America.\n\nSecondly, only the Pope can unilaterally change Canon Law. Francis has not erased 'Secreta Continere' which continued to impose the Pontifical Secret of 'Crimen Solicitationis' of 1922. \nDiscounting Pope John Paul I, that's six popes since Pius XI who have maintained a provision in Canon Law which forbids bishops and religious superiors from reporting the crimes of pedophile priests and religious to secular authorities except where such reporting is demanded in civil law.\n\nThe Canonical provisions for coverup continue. Francis is complicit in this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cont. \n\nChange will eventually come, but only after an entire generation of homophobes die out. By then it will probably be too late to rescue the church from the reputation for intolerance it has rightfully earned for itself. Pope Francis surely understands this but there's only so much he can do short of convening another Vatican Council. Given the high cost of hosting a Vatican council not to mention the valid concerns over terrorism, I suspect doctrine on LGTB issues will remain, stagnate, and eventually go stale the same way church teaching on contraception has gone stale. People will pay less and less attention to that teaching, further eroding the bishops' authority and further marginalizing their influence. As Martha Stewart would say, \"that's a good thing.\" \n\nSo, in the end, patience is the better part of valor, but young people are not so patient, and why should they be? Justice shouldn't have to wait. Sadly, for gay people in this church, patience is our only option.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It would be nice, and it's all of our's life work to help Catholics understand far more deeply and intimately what is really going on at the Mass.\n\nThis \"megachuch\" nonsense just reveals the ignorance about the Mass that remains. It's your faul and my fault. \n\nOnce one understands what the Mass is really about - we go to the Last Supper, to Calvary and to the tomb...at each Mass...no one ever complains about the homily, the priest, the garlic smelling pew sitter next to oneself.\n\nThe Mass is infinite. \n\nIn fact the whole focus on \"the church\"...\"the parish\" subsides.\n\nThe parish has become for many a thing to judge, and fix, or criticize.\n\nBut if one understands the Mass...one becomes rather unaware of the parish gossip and intrigue and other goings on.\n\nThey should only support us getting more out of the Mass, getting ever closer to Jesus Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The greatness of the American experiment (so far) has been that, while America is a majority Christian nation, it is fundamentally a pluralistic one that has made room for all religions and those who profess no religious affiliation at all.\n\nAs a Christian, I don't want a Muslim telling me what I ought to believe any more than I want the late Jerry Falwell or his Trump-supporting son telling me what I ought to believe. The fact that we've made room for everyone to believe in whatever or whomever they want or nothing at all is our greatest strength as a country. \n\nWhy anyone, religious or otherwise, would want to trade that in for a terrifying theocracy like Iran or Saudi Arabia, a moribund state religion on life support like Anglicanism in England, or a stultifying atheism as existed in communist China, is beyond me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With all due respect, your comment implied those of us who do not share your beliefs do not believe in God. You also said the left \"loves violence,\" which was ludicrous IMO -- reaction to a comment, NOT a personal attack such as name calling, implying someone isn't intelligent, etc. \n\nAs a Christian, I don't believe in a Christianity that includes bigotry, and am against the GOP cuts to programs that help the most vulnerable -- the sick, the elderly, the disabled, the hungry and poor -- people in need.\n\nYour basing marital laws on the Old Testament also doesn't fly with me. If it did, men should never shave, people couldn't wear mixed fabrics, slavery would be fine, and selling off daughters should be legal? \n\nIt's fine to be in a government position regardless of religious belief. However, Kennedy, Biden, etc., understood the need for separation of church and state, and that freedom of religion (or no religion) means not legislating based on ones personal religious beliefs IMO.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True Catholics do not recognize lies told by the Princes of the Church. They substitute the Cardinal's reality for theirs, and then the lies are Truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus said the MOST IMPORTANT commandment is to love our neighbor as ourself. Would you defend T-rump if he tried to seduce your wife, or grabbed your daughter by her genitals, or stole wages from your children he hired to build his gilded palaces? The man is VILE, in so many ways that contradict what Jesus taught that only the self-deluded or hypocritical can still defend him. He is unworthy of leading our nation and should be in prison, tho' he'll likely pull a Nixon and resign, cutting a deal with Pence to pardon him. Why would any TRUE Christian defend this monster? I can think of only one reason -- greed, their shared value.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"They were poorly catechized\" means that when people leave the Church, it is not because of any flaw in the Church or its doctrines, but rather that they weren't taught the wonderful truths of Catholicism properly. \n\nTo misquote Sir William Gilbert, \"The Church is the true embodiment/Of everything that's excellent;/It has no sort of fault or flaw\". Except, of course for things like rampant homophobia and sexism, hierarchs who cover up the crimes of priests and a few niggling things like that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Leslie I hope that you are well.\nI agree, I would add one more. (3) Care for victims past and current. \nI have forgiven the sick priest who repeatedly raped and molested me (countless times).\nI cannot forgive the coverup\nIt will never even be a possibility to forgive the intentional ruthless response of the Milwaukee archdiocese fraud bankruptcy, intentionally prolonging the torture, leaving victims with nothing but pain and betrayal.Those acts were meant to inflict deep pain. That ruthless treatment was more painful than the very significant sexually assaults (too many to count) inflicted on my little body by my offender.\n\nThe church fights victims at every turn. They oppose change in SOL. They treat us horribly. They are fraudulently using Federal Bankruptcy to cheat victims and to sidestep accountability for raping children and committing fraud. \n \nMost Catholics say they want victims treated fairly, just not the ones in their diocese.\n\nTreating victims horribly must end now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a conservative, I wholeheartedly endorse that all people have dignity, and that Catholic schools need to teach that all people are made in the image and likeness of God, as long as the Church's authentic teaching against homosexual behavior is fully taught and understood at the same time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's a good point about everything in the Catholic Church moving at a snail's pace. Ever since the second year of this papacy things have slowed to a crawl and in some cases just stopped. I'm now mostly convinced Pope Francis is doing exactly what he was elected to do, and that's slow everything controversial to a crawl if not a stop, and cover over the lack of progress with personal photo ops and repetitive story telling about mercy and helping the poor. It's like all oxygen is being sucked out of the system slowly but surely. Marie Collins tried to be the canary warning about the lack of oxygen, but it doesn't look like anyone has enough O2 left in their Catholic brain cells to get her point about the duplicity, deceit and continued unchecked power of the CDF.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That closing ministries thing has been a joke from the beginning. Catholic universities and corporations founded by no-longer-functioning religious congregations almost universally were offering normal commercial insurance plans -- which cover all these reproductive services -- before Obama and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. \nWhy? Because they have to compete in the employee market for acceptable licensed practitioners like everyone else in their industries. Their employees are not all Catholic--nowhere near it and they want normal commercial insurance benefits. These institutions are hospitals & universities, public corporations much like any others. They'll charge you every bit as much for that procedure as they will your atheist buddy at work. It's a business.\n\nProof: Think of the 2 biggest & most prestigious Catholic universities in the US? Did they close their doors? Do you really think they will over this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And? It is actually easier for an abuser to get an annulment now than his/her victim for the simple fact that an abuse victim is probably not going to want to go through a process which permits a controlling ex-spouse to harass them for years. This just levels the playing field.\n\nAnd yes, the terms for economia are actually stricter than the loosest interpretation of Amoris Laetitia or the annulment tribunals. However, we are where we are because conservative Catholics want to continue to complain about remarried divorcees receiving Communion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My experience is that most people at Mass on Sunday haven't a clue what is going on. In one Church I attended a group of women nearby were engaged in conversation through tha Mass. Almost all the congregation received Communion when time-slots allotted to Confession could not possibly have accommodated all of them. Without being judgemental, I find it difficult to believe that no one in the whole congregation at a Sunday Mass was in a state of grace. In my day mortal sinners refrained from receiving the Eucharist and in those days we were well aware of what constituted a mortal sin.\nMembers of my non-immediate family, educated in Catholic schools yet never normally go to Mass have no compunction about receiving Communion during 'Rites of Passage' Masses.\nFormal liturgical prayers in one's own language might as well be in Old Church Slavonic insofar as they engage the mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know, I just reread this and all the comments.\n\nI really am both amazed and shocked at the viciousness, hatred, and pure vitriol offered as \"civil\" comments. If some of these comments were directed at anyone other than the Cardinal, they would never have passed peer review...and if one did slip through, it would have been flagged.\n\nSo many of the posters offering these \"comments\" claim to be followers of Francis - he who calls for a cessation of vitriol and mercy. So many claim to be accepting of those who are different - but see nothing wrong with calling the Cardinal a \"vicious queen\" - if that remark were offered to one of the homosexual posters here, I can't imagine what would have happened.\n\nThe judgemental and hateful remarks here are embarrassing, yet those making them call themselves Christian. Commenters feed off the hate of the previous remark, trying to outdo it with greater hatred.\n\nHope they're proud. I am disgusted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bob, I don't think the purpose of the Arroyo interview was to GAIN him votes, but to stop the bleeding. There are a lot of older very/extremely conservative religious and political Catholics who are disgusted with Trump, especially after the Access Hollywood tape, and the Al Smith Dinner fiasco certainly didn't help.\n\nSo his campaign has to carve out precious time to reassure voters who should have been his to begin with. Not a good thing for his campaign, and it shows you what bad shape he is in.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Further light is shed on this at the Catholic Education Resource Center website where the hilariously titled \"Serving LGBT Students in Catholic Schools\" makes it clear that science simply isn't relevant. Transgenderism is described as \"willful gender confusion\" that Catholic schools must never tolerate. It is recommended that schools stick rigorously to the Catholic line--no exceptions allowed--as the . . . wait for it: best protection against litigation. This is clearly what is on the minds of those who gave us these guidelines, not the psychological or physical health of transgendered students. \n\nhttp://www.catholiceducation.org/en/education/other-topics/serving-lgbt-students-in-catholic-schools.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill: Yes, indeed \"abstinence only\" birth control....such a great system. Geez, I wonder why impoverished Central and South American Catholic families have far more children than they can support? However, the idea has been very successful for some of its high-profile advocates....like Bristol Palin, for example....oh, wait a minute....forget that example...\n\nI'm going to tell you a secret...don't share it with anyone!!!! The best, and I mean the very best, way to avoid abortions is to avoid unwanted pregnancies. A second little secret: the best way to do that is to practice effective birth control. \n\nMen and women enjoy sex. It's an integral part of marital and \"long-term\" relationships. Effective birth control allows such sexual relations w/o the risk of that \"unintended pregnancy.\" Please explain why that is NOT a desirable thing. Thanks, Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Losing people who are members of the church in name only is an imaginary loss. It may in fact be more honest for those who leave and healthier for those who stay. We should be focused on commitment, not numbers or institutional throw-weight.\"\n\nWell said, Archbishop. \n\nThere's no problem with being an inclusive church of imperfect believers at various stages in their spiritual pilgrimages. There is a problem with distorting the faith and \"accompanying someone over a cliff\" by ignoring church teachings. \n\n\"If 'inclusive' means including people who do not believe what the Catholic faith teaches and will not reform their lives according to what the church holds to be true, then inclusion is a form of lying. And it's not just lying but an act of betrayal and violence against the rights of those who do believe and do seek to live according to God's Word.\"\n\nAgain, very well said, Archbishop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree entirely on the sense of loss since the change to this comment format. And, the real problem of not being able to get a discussion going. Part of the problem is the short comment length - can't develop an idea in the limited space. Well, some can. I can't. And part of the problem is interrupters, who seem to deliberately sidetrack or attack. This is selfish of me, but one of the problems is those who \"feed\" the disrupters by replying when knowing no decent discussion will result; another problem is long back-and-forths, each trying to get the last word. No learning or enlightenment going on - just useless.\n\nI don't comment nearly as much - I just don't like the tone as much any more. But, I like the range of stories at this NCR. \n\nOther good sources are Catholica out of Australia, Eureka Street out of Australia, and the Association of Catholic Priests - Ireland. America Mag., Commonweal are good, but don't get into gritty stuff as much. Big Pulpit - ugh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, \"considered heretical by many Catholics\" is it? So now we vote on whether the Pope is Catholic? ROFLOL! I thought the Church was not a democracy. \nBut nevermind, one head of CDF trumps four cardinals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The idea that the Church needs an exhortation to explain why \"fulfilling a moral duty towards innocent persons\" is important is simply ludicrous. Given that it has taken roughly 1700 years (since the imperial Church was founded) to get to this point, it really calls into question the moral compass of the centuries-old RCC. For the hierarchs, was it ever about centering our lives around Christ's message? Or has preservation of wealth, power and privilege always been the focal point?\n\nOf course (once harsher penalties fell out of favor), this new \"liberal\" approach is not without imposing the requisite guilt attachment upon its faithful adherents: \"Coccopalmerio suggested that when it is possible for a remarried couple to abstain \"without difficulty\" from sex they should do so.\" Seriously folks, you can't make this stuff up... when will the church stop vilifying normal and healthy human behavior?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Our priests are afraid to speak about this cancer that is tearing our country apart. I attended Mass at two parishes in our city this weekend, and not a word was mentioned about Charlottesville. Remember, we had 42% of white Catholics vote for trump. This tells me that racism is alive and well in the Catholic Church. This has to be brought out into the open and worked on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin, took it a step further. In a statement, he said Catholics should also \"exercise due moderation and temperance in festivities and celebrations of the memorial of St. Patrick, in keeping with the solemnity and honor that is due to so great a saint and his tireless efforts to inspire holiness in the Christian faithful.\"\n\nAnother bishop with his thumb on the pulse of the laity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since the old anti-abortion laws began to be repealed, a state by state process that was trumped by the Roe v Wade Supreme Court, new mainly Christian theology has been devised. Some of that in cynical 'RightWing' \"Think Tanks\". Changes to our language like changing the pregnecy from \"I'm going to have a baby' to 'its a pre-born child' (never a pre-born dirty old man). Religious arguements were used after the Civil War when the 'doctors' of the time stole the birthing market from the midwives by making abortion illegal (those docs could not do either & killed a lot of women & the unborn), but the issue in-spite of religious excuses was a market share deal. The religious have a right to their beliefs, even the ones concocted recently and out of thin air, but not understanding their own religion enough not to know that \"bearing false witness\" is one of their Commandments is sad. The president and this valley legislator show no hesitation in lying about the motives of others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly, John!\n\nAnd this is coming from a church that has a L O N G history [more than 1800 years] of sexual confusion/predatory sexual action toward boys, young men, girls and women. This is a church that still does not acknowledge that ugly history nor has it admitted its own current sins/crimes against the young. Furthermore, it has not learned how to dispense any MERCY in dealing with students and their families who are not physically/psychologically/spiritually mass-produced on the Catholic church's theological assembly line. \n\n\n\"You hypocrites! First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye.\" [Matthew 7:5-6]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can't have any of those truths and facts from intelligent scientific research interfere with the Republican Terrorist Traitor Party's false christian faith-based ideology created from ether without substance. All found floating in the blank spaces of the universe revealed and interpreted by the chosen few in the pulpits, party headquarters, vatican, TV arenas. All created by a bearded white guy seated on a golden throne somewhere in those blank spaces. All such scientific knowledge to be stopped and the rest eliminated by Der Fuehrer Trump and his Luddite CONgressional sycophants through the corruption of the entire U.S. Constitution and governing process. All bought and paid for by the Billionaire Barons of the Corporate Oligarchy led by Wall Street and the Oil Monopoly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "After reading this very enjoyable article, I wondered how well Augustine would have fit into the post V2 church but would have been challenged by the stricter controlling church prior to V2. It also occurred to me that perhaps much of Canon law was not present during his lifetime. I found this on wiki, \"The first Code of Canon Law (1917) was almost exclusively for the Latin Church, with extremely limited application to the Eastern Churches. After the Second Vatican Council, (1962 - 1965), another edition was published specifically for the Roman Rite in 1983.\" Catechism is also a relatively recent creation (from US Catholic.org), \"In 1566 the so-called Roman Catechism was published in response to the request issued three years earlier by the Council of Trent. Used until 1978, it inspired, as intended, the creation of many national catechisms.\"\n\nMost of church history is without catechism or canon law. It makes me wonder why either were needed; & maybe we were better off without.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He also was content to exploit Chinese Labour to build the CPR. \n\nHe also most likely claimed to be a Christian.\n\nNow we know better than to exploit desperate people from other countries and to believe in supernatural beings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, it's the religion. All religion separates people behind hateful walls. The evidence is in the US election - the Christians are the ones who support building a wall between the USA and Mexico, even though they use tunnels to cross the border. How high of a fence do you build to keep out people in a tunnel? ;)\n\ntl;dr: Religion is the PROBLEM.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Phrogge,\nI agree with you, but I might take it one step further here. I think where the church has gotten itself tangled up is in the transition between how jesus lived, and the concept of \"commands\" of or by Jesus. \n\nI think his \"commands\" were very simple: Love God, Love your neighbor. In all likelihood, all else was about examples of what that might mean. I think when we try to interpret Gospel stories as a \"command\" by Jesus, we miss the point. The cost of that \"miss\" plays out in the hot button issues of our day. I could imagine a very different position for a vibrant church today, for example, if the focus were on just those two commands, followed by good faith efforts to understand how those might apply to homosexuals, woman's ordination, the scandal, etc.\n\nI agree that we have all the tools we need today. Can/will we use them? I think there's a growing sense that if we are to use them, we'll have to find a place outside the church to do so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh they would never do something so public, so up front. No, no. But they have taken huge amounts of money donated by parishoners and given it to defeat state laws granting full rights (under the Constitution) to LGBTQ citizens in a clandestine manner so as to try and escape public scrutiny. The USCCB and many individual bishops, needing to find whipping bo..uh...youngsters to draw attention away from other Church crimes in which they have been complicit (all in the name of Jesus Christ), focused on LGBTQ social issues that had nothing to do with religious practices. How \"divine\" of them, don't you agree, mjmchale?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where's your mercy for this woman. Holy Father Francis will not be happy with your LACK OF MERCY.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you are employed by the Catholic Church in this country, and wish to have your contraception covered by your health insurance, the Catholic bishops insist that you cannot, since they find it morally objectionable. You are being obliged to live according to the religious views of your employer, whether or not you share these views. The bishops call this \"religious liberty\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Btw way, Mark, there is a shortened version can be read on Sunday as the full gospel for this weekend is very long. I assume there is no problem in shortening it as that is exactly what the Church did with a gospel at Christmas when they just airbrushed out quite an important sentence about Joseph having normal marital relations with Mary after Jesus was born. No wonder Francis is having a pop at the Virgin Mary soldiers. That half sentence reveals a pretty inconvenient truth for the Church-teaching-never-changes, fraternity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is SNAP still important, and why should it continue? \n\nHasn't SNAP done its job? Hasn't the Church long ago mended its ways, and is no fully committed to protecting children and turning in deviant priest to law enforcement? So, isn't SNAP obsolete?\n\nOne can argue that the above is true. Indeed, there are many in the Church -- all throughout Catholic media, well paid professional Catholics -- who vociferously argue that the sex abuse scandal is a thing of the long-ago past. They say the Church has everything under control now. \n\nAnd they also say something more: the sex abuse scandal never really happened. \n\nThey use a number of clever arguments. First they say \"I am totally for the protection of children!\" Then comes the revisionist history, where they tell the world that \"every org in the secular world did it.. but the Church did it less,\" \"they weren't children,\" \"it was an invasion of gays,\" \"seminary's fault,\" \"liberals/hippie era,\" \"we're all sinners.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "although it is none of your business what I do or don't believe, I do not believe that the Catholic Catechism is an inspired document, I do not believe that the Catholic Catechism binds anyone under pain of sin, I do not believe that the Catholic Catechism if infallible, I do not believe that the Catholic Catechism is anything more than a document written and promulgated by men and fallible men at that. if you find something in it, good for you, but for me it does nothing to add to the revealed faith and takes away much. \n\noh, and for your information, I am no longer a part of the Roman Catholic Church and have no desire to be any part of it ever again. I have seen and experienced way too many horrible things at the hands of the the hierarchy and have been lied to way too many times to believe anything that comes from any bishop or pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelicals believe that they know the law of God. They believe that not only should they live by it, everyone else should live by it as well. In this way, they have exactly the same attitude as the Taliban.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well the \"Eucharist\" at the Episcopal Church isn't valid unless the (male) priest got orders from an Old Catholic or Orthodox bishop, so there's that for starters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...nothing specific to cite\"? That is one of the most inane statements I have seen from this poster. \nIn-utilitas really believes that \"protecting America\" by becoming that which he accuses the other is protecting? It is numbing the acquiescent and subservient (like a traditional catholic woman knowing her place or being put there) and violent subjugation of the resistant and objectors. It might be called: TRUMP-ISIS.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. They're not. Large Catholic institutions were overwhelmingly offering regular commercial insurance before Obama, they still are, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. FACT. You've been had. Fake news strikes again. I don't care who in the Church spouted this nonsense, but it doesn't mean you have to do it too. Look this stuff up before you repeat it.\n\nProof: Think of the 2 largest & most prestigious Catholic Universities in the country. Look up their insurance plans. Did either one of them go out of business since Obamacare??? Of course not. Did either one of them stop receiving money from the Feds? No. Business as usual. Of course. They're big businesses. Get a grip.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You make the logical error of equivocation: from the fact that Gruner was an anti-Semite and a holocaust denier it does not follow that Pope Francis is; from the fact that the Fatima Center is a hate group it does not follow that all persons or groups who are devoted to Mary under the title of Our Lady of Fatima are bigots. Moreover, nothing I posted suggested any of that.\nThe SPLC and ADL are both well-respected advocacy groups. Your description of them as \"hate-groups\" says more about you than it does about them.\nCatholics ought not allow devotion to Mary to be co-opted by right-wing nuts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're right in every respect. I think this change will come, but it may well be too late when it does. As I've said many times, I believe the church cannot be whole, healthy or holy until every office and ministry in the church is available to every baptized person. I'm increasingly inclined to think that the change will come from the grassroots, and that at some point the bishop of Rome will affirm the development. But you're right: it may be too late. The arguments against the ordination of women are embarrassing. Pope. John Paul's attempt to end debate and discussion (\"Because I said so!!) did great harm to the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh yes, mimicking the Mormons is JUST what we Catholics want to do to get more young people in the pews. I suppose it never occurred to you that all those perky, well-dressed Mormon youth had no more choice in being present for bible class than they did in their choice of underwear:\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_garment\n\n\"By all appearances these young people were impressively psychologically mature, everyone friendly, well dressed, glad to be there, intelligent, and full of zeal.\" Appearances can be deceiving.\n\nRecently I talked with a woman who just moved to Salt Lake City. She told me that if you're not a Mormon people will be kind to you superficially but that they will never, ever invite you in to be part of their lives because to them you are damned, and associating with you makes them unclean.\n\nYes, we want to be JUST like Mormons. NOT!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And after months of passive aggressive enabling of horrifying attacks and threats directed at non-white, non-Christian minority communities, Trump began his address with a belated acknowledgment that, on balance, untrammeled race hatred may not be such a great thing for the country to embrace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because it is our Church as well. We worship at it and we contribute to it. We hate our right to have our voices heard about these things. \nLet's just give some examples:\n1. Apparently until this year, religious sisters weren't invited to the main Vatican session for religious. In this case these women are directly affected by these regulations but had say in them.\n2. A pastor can basically do whatever he wants with a parish. He has the right under Canon Law to act as a dictator. Again lots of laywomen who worship at the parish can be ignored.\n3. Women are affected by requirements for marriage and the other Sacraments, parochial school registration, annulments, etc. Laypeople are rarely consulted on these things. \n4. There are charities, hospitals, etc. run by sisters and laywomen. These women find themselves on the losing ends of arguments because clerical collars always win out. One sister in AZ was excommunicated for authorizing an abortion for a sick woman.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can there be homosexual and transgender clubs in Catholic schools when the Catholic Church condemns their behaviour as gravely sinful and intrinsically disordered?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "lies-vast majority of Christians support ay marriage", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is your example ? This is a description of the millennial reign of Christ where the judgment is delegated to Christ. Even if I give you some editorial license, you still cannot get a command for NEW TESTAMENT Christians (not OLD TESTAMENT Jews) to go out and kill unbelievers. There is a judgment delegated to Christ as being a perfect Judge, that authority is not delegated to his followers. Nice try though.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, beating and killing women and children is fairly common in our so-called \"Christian\" society. Check the domestic violence stats, almost always it's the man who is the aggressor. And scripture requires a wife to obey her husband, also that recalcitrant sons may be killed.\nAs for women wearing coverings, I can remember going to church with y mother who required to wear a hat to be seated for Sunday service.. And that was the Anglicans, IIRC the Catholics were the last to give that one up in the 60s.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thought it was a good piece, though I tend to think that if one is going to treat such topics, better to go long than short. \n\nFor anyone interested in a fair and dispassionate discussion of the subject, which expands on the current article, try Oxford Islamic Studies Online: \n\nhttp://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0567\n\nThis is should put to rest some of the more specious claims being made here. Kind of silly to judge Islam through the lens of Christianity, as a Christian heresy. Self-defeating.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let us see: Chemical weapons depot bombed out by Israel. Good. People affected are - mainly - the same ones that want to see Israel's \"deleted\": good. I dare ANY other people, culture, religion or ANYTHING, to step in, and wear Israelis - Jews - shoes. Any one? For 21 centuries they have been the target of The Catholic Church, Nazis, communists, socialists, Islamic peoples. Now the same people have the nerve or calling out them out, because they have the power and will to defend themselves? Good, Israel. Defend yourself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You've got to love christians. They love to shove their beliefs in your face. But can't take it when a different religion or belief is shoved in their face.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If their deeds do not match their words, their deeds show us who these hierarchs really are. They are not serious about dealing with the evil pedophile scandal. This is another reason why a future iteration of Catholic Christianity will be one without clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Reactionary nonsense\"??? 2000 years of tradition is \"reactionary nonsense\"???\n\nYou obviously do not believe in divine revelation in any meaningful sense. For you, revelation is whatever coincides with progressive ideology. And this ideology is grossly distorting the Christian faith you claim to profess.\n\nWhen you say \"our Lord,\" I suggest you speak for yourself. You and I serve two different lords. Mine is the Lord of the Gospels, the Lord of Life, the Lord of Creation, the Giver of the Law; yours is obviously a different lord. \n\nThis conversation is at an end. I will not waste any more of my valuable time arguing with an apostate. I have real students to teach.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He's also right.\n\nYou have claimed many times that Christians that do bad things aren't really Christian....and yet, in your view, Muslims that do bad things are still Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a gay man I have more to fear from Muslims than from Christians. The Orlando massacre was done by a devout Muslim with assistance from a host of others, who praised Allah while killing 50 LGBT people. No Catholic has ever done that. At worst, a Mormon might not bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. I can live with that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The source about the attackers being Muslim is nothing else but ...... The Globe and Mail ..... LOL\n\nAnd my friend, even a dimwit knows that Mohammed Khadir could only be a Muslim. Never met a Christian or a Jew named Mohammed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don\u2019t believe that my mind is big enough to understand the mind of God. I believe that my mind is sufficient to understa Hims to mankind through Christ\u2019s teaching handed down through the Apostles and the Scriptures. Why would God reveal Himself to mankind if mankind was incapable of receiving and understanding that revelation?\nWhen I said I wasn\u2019t a conservative it was because amongst Catholics there are no conservatives. There are orthodox Catholics who believe what God has revealed and those who don\u2019t. The Truth comes to us via the teaching of Christ through His Church. The idea that the Holy Spirit is \u2018whispering\u2019 snippets of so-called \u2018Truth\u2019 into the ears of 1,2 billion Catholics is absolutely preposterous.\nRather than scurriously accuse of being an idolatrous reactionary, you ought to take a good look at how your own, personal concept of Catholicism bears so little resemblance to what the Church actually teaches about herself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do you know what the majority of Canadians think? We just have to pay our taxes and shut up if we are not one of the magical minorities that gets everything. Free stuff, consideration of every one of their desires & promotion of non-Canadian values. If you are coming to Canada and you have no money, I shouldn't have to pay for it. Then after we pay for everything we have something shoved in our faces saying they refuse to accept parts of our society. The problem is they all do it then people preach inclusion. There is no inclusion or accepting of alternate paradigms on the Muslim side. Please point to one places other than \"Little Mosque on the Prairie\" where there is inclusion. Everything is separate. Churches, education, living. Other stuff is only shared because they have to. However the practice of Christianity is slowly becoming unsavory. Christmas celebrations must be replaced so we don't offend our new \"Canadians\". We must respect Islam but there no reciporcation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...Taylor, a married man with seven children and a deacon in his church, denied the allegations and maintained the sex was consensual....'\n\nNow there's a Christian with some credibility. LOL", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another secular liberal invoking a Bible he's never studied. Show us where compassion in Christian terms means coddling law breakers and thieves by giving them what they steal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sa'udi Arabia does not treat all faiths equally, like democratic nations such as Canada and the United States. This contributes to a mentality that is unable to accept that the Jews of Israel had a right to resort to arms to resist being treated the way Coptic Christians are in Egypt, and it's this mentality that is the basis for terrorism. So regime change is the answer.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The effete practice of pardoning the turkey should be eschewed. No time for such noisy ceremony.\n\nKill the turkey in private...clean it yourself, and cook it for others, and give generous thanks. \n\nVery Christian and manly practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "they reject CHRIST because they HATE GOD.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can't imagine how anyone would see Pence as our country's savior. His Talibangelist Christianity is intolerant of others' beliefs and his record as governor of IN is undistinguished to say the least -- except for the one-sided religious edicts he tried to pass off as proposed legislation.\n\nThis whole cockamamie tale about Flynn being fired because \"he misled Pence\" is nothing but kabuki. Does anyone really think Pence is that far out of the loop? Nah, he was well aware of Flynn's predicament and they're just pretending he was caught by surprise.\n\nHe would've lost his re-election bid and become just another \"has-been who never was\" if Drumpf hadn't tapped him as his VP choice. Does anyone really think a failed one-term politico is Presidential material? Nah, if he'd been at the top of the ticket the GOP woud've gotten clobbered. America can do better and certainly deserves better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are making assumptions that no one ever taught her about birth control. Birth control isn't 100% effective, as countless folks called \"parents\" will attest.\n\nBut the teaching of abstinence in the school code is not about avoiding pregnancy. It is about respecting the instructions of God in regard to sexual activity. The school code is not about how to avoid getting caught, it's about patterning behavior after God's Word.\n\nThere are, no doubt, other students and parents who know that \"there for the quality of a condom go I\". The punishment is foolish and short-sighted, I agree. The sad statistics of abortion in Christian families come directly from this sort of reaction. The principal and school board really screwed this situation up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Whats a mullin? \nWhat Christians did 2000 years ago is not relevant in this day and age. As a civilized people our only goal at the end of the day is to live in peace. Unfortunately there Muslim terrorist like Hamas that want to rain rockets down on your head.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good for the pope for finally mentioning that Muslims are persecuted. \u201cPope Francis repeatedly has referred to what he calls an \u2018ecumenism of blood\u2019 playing out around the world today, and also stressed there are more Christian martyrs today than in the early era of the Church,\u201d Vatican reporter John L Allen Jr wrote.\nHowever, the pope is a hypocrite about human trafficking. He was notified in July 2013 that his ambassador, Archbishop Wesolowski, was sexually abusing poor street boys in Santo Domingo, dismissed him but left him a free man. As reported by Corriere Della Sera In Sept. 2014, Wesolowski was found by Italian police with more than 100,000 computer files of pornography. \"Images show youngsters aged between 13 and 17 being humiliated for the camera, filmed naked and forced to have sexual relations with each other or with adults,\" i.e. probable victims of human trafficking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Harold, I totally understand and agree with the precept you have just laid out, but where you are wrong is that it is NOT RELEVANT here. Firstly, it presupposes that there is a calculation involved here and that one of the answers is correct. That is simply not true in the 2999/3000 gods argument. This argument is ONLY about pointing out the hypocrisy of a christian not believing in 2999 gods and then claiming that the atheist is wrong to not believe in 3000. What you are doing is classic Strawman Fallacy. Please don't!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Bishops should support the letter. We have too long and sad a history of Anti-Semitism to ignore the increase in crimes and hate directed against Jews -- Muslims, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe the early Church was often prosecuted for the Roman equivalent of obstruction of justice. Perhaps the poster is suggesting Christians should be persecuted again? It would certainly weed out those who aren't serious.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who's number one? Will the comments section be \"White Christians only\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But you kind of proved the point that he was a convert. He was a British, Nontransplant and converted to a hateful extreme. \n\nIt's not just Islam, I'm sorry but obviously you don't listen to the home grown psychos in your own country. \n\nWe have alt rights talking about gearing up for war, stock piling guns, tearing down the government by force if necessary to take back their liberties. What happens when they decide to take that first step in what they believe is their God given right due to Christian teachings? \n\nAnyone who uses religion as an excuse to hate someone is a terrorist. It's just that we don't want to deal with our own. Because it's easier to point the finger always outward. I'm not saying open the border and let in the new nuts. But let's contain or at least monitor some of our own nuts while we're at it...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Three months, and 15,000 Catholic signatures? That's all? \n\nWell, I guess one can't be too surprised by that paltry showing, considering the number of Catholics who voted for a guy who claimed the notion of climate change was a foreign conspiracy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A Catholic worshipping in the protestant tradition\". Are you ill? There is no such animal as the \"protestant tradition\". There is only error and truth, fidelity and rebellion, heresy and Divinely revealed teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are assuming that because there are some corrupt members, the whole premise is flawed. Yet, you wouldn't say that the justice system should be abolished because of a corrupt judge, or that democracy is bad because of a corrupt politician. \n\nThere are a number of corrupt members in the Catholic Church. That doesn't make all the rest corrupt, or the Church's teachings invalid. There are also many many virtuous members, who strive to live a holy life and help others, but you deliberately choose to ignore those because they don't serve your argument.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow.\n\nTo the layperson who refused to post my comment on the grounds that it was somehow (?) in violation of civility, you SERIOUSLY need to park your ideology at the door when you screen submitted posts. Your censorship was unwarranted.\n\nMy submitted post pointed out it is strange that the American columnist living in Toronto is issuing an apology on behalf of white people, when you consider that white people live far and wide, from Vladivostok to Algeria to New Zealand to Belgium, and do not all get Netflix or boycott its shows.\n\nMy submitted post pointed out that it is odd to write such an (on behalf of white people) apologetic column in a Canadian paper, when the event involves white and black folks in America.\n\nAnd my submitted post suggested the columnist would actually BRISTLE had a Syrian in Toronto issued an apology on behalf of all Muslims for an Islamist attack in Syria against Christians. Yet that apology would be comparable to her own.\n\nNothing uncivil about my post.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Any woman who works for the Catholic Church is free to \"access\" contraception whenever she wants. It is just that the Church is not going to pay for it.\" The Church is you and me---if the woman is Catholic---she is part of this larger group called THE CHURCH. Don't worry, with the 'peanuts' that women who work in the churches, schools, and other institutions, receive as pay---she would need to add in much more of her pay---than most women would. \n\n\nSecondly, this bill would effect more than Catholic women. Women who are not Catholic, never have been Catholic, never want to be Catholic----would also be effected.\n\n\nYou campaign for the rights of the unborn, but you care nothing for the rights of the people who are born---the women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You obviously don't have a clue about the place of the Old Testament in Christianity and how it has been superseded by the teachings of Jesus. At numerous points in the Gospels He instructs that the old teachings of the Law were wrong - e.g., not an eye for an eye, but love your neighbour.\n\nHis defiant insistence on such a definitive break from the old Law is one of the things that got him into such serious trouble with the Jewish leadership of the day. Even His disciples were incredulous and had difficulty grasping how radically He was insisting on the new order as exemplified in the Beatitudes.\n\nTo try to equate the teachings of Jesus with those of Muhammad is ludicrous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gladys - why do you hate Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry to hear that you consider the Catholic Church to be a \"basket of deplorables\", Motley. For the most part, RCs are folks like everyone else, who have been persecuted by thugs from the KKK and other intolerant right-wing groups. Certainly, the US RC church has had its pedophile scandals, and certainly its leadership in the US opposes contraception; on the other hand, the RC Church has done a lot for the poor, and has provided decent education to children who might not otherwise get it.\n\nThe issue here is that Hillary Clinton was not in the loop in regard to emails discussing contraception and the ACA, and conservative church reaction to it. Hillary Clinton has never stooped to church bashing, as Donald Trump has done, over and over and over again, against the Muslim religion and people who adhere to that religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is so important to pray for all clerics who are truly trying to do the will of God despite the resistance. Pray for Pope Francis but also for all of the good shepherds who are willing to stand up for what is right. The devil's minions would love to destroy Pope Francis and McElroy and Cupich and the others, known and unknown.\n May God bring down the two faced, hypocrite, false Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop Cupich, If the leader of the Roman Catholic Church was pursuing the call of Christ would he begin with banking?\nHow can a pope have credibility in anything they say after four years of publicly talking about protecting children from dangerous clerics and helping its own victims by treating them fairly and with love and concern then privately doing almost nothing of substance and many times the opposite of their promises?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but the Koran is the foundational document for ISIS/Daesh/Al Qaeda (sp?).\n\nYou cannot separate the doctrines of Islam from the stated aims of those terrorist organizations: a world caliphate, killing or converting all infidels.\n\nIf you have read the Koran, you'll see it there in black-and-white.\n\nThose very same organizations read the same holy books, pray to the same Allah, venerate the same Mohamed.\n\nYou may call it cherry-picking, and that's fine. All religions and believers do it, whether they're Christian or Muslim or anything else. Those who believe in the peaceful bits of their religion are also cherry-picking.\n\nBut the sad fact is that the entire structure of religion, whatever it is, is based on fallible human interpretation of non-existent divine entities. Made-up stuff about made-up stuff.\n\nIt is time that the human race left religion behind. In the words of Christopher Hitchens, religion poisons everything.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Look at what is being censored - two votes up no down votes but it was removed:\n'huh? you cannot complain of sectarianism then also want religious belief protected from criticism, mocking etc my friend. No, the fear or dislike of Islam is entirely normal, just like hating the lie of Christianity.\n\nUntil you understand secularism means no one's religion matters to anyone but to the INDIVIDUAL, you will be perpetually lost.'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've yet to see one Catholic progressive here say that violence is unacceptable. Instead, many here are saying that millions of Americans are fascists and racists, and this implies that they believe these Americans are criminals who should be defeated by any means necessary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Frankly I find this editorial to be profoundly misleading.\n\nTo credit the national March actions of 4-5 million women the day after inauguration as a \"catholic response\" to Trump is ridiculous.\n\nTo identify the efforts of members of the 6000 Indivisible groups in the last year in terms of their very varied political resistance as a catholic deal is also ridiculous.\n\nTo identify the efforts of folks who rushed to those airports or marched in all those subsequent marches nationwide in this last year as a catholic response is equally ridiculous.\n\nI don't know what planet you guys are operating on...but for those of us involved in these matters I can definitely assure it was NOT a catholic deal....yes there were a few Catholics involved...but please remember who both supported and voted for Trump.\n\nAnd one speech by McElroy, while good...in no way at all constitutes major public response.\n\nI get very tired of the Church claiming credit when it was so palpably missing.I was there..were you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Radicalization is taught at home, around the dinner table, as the family enjoys mom's good home cooking, while the grown ups discuss destroying Israel, eradicating homosexuals and the evils of dirty infidels It is drilled into young minds with every tale of glorious martyrdom for Allah in every mosque in every city around the world. Extremism for Islam is taught the same way Christians are taught about Jesus and his message of mercy and forgiveness. It is not at odds with the teachings, but is central to the religion", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This has to be one of the dumbest decisions in many years by a Judge of the Court of Queen\u2019s Bench. Students attend a Catholic school for many different reasons, not just for religious teaching. Non-Catholics may attend because they want to attend the same school as their Catholic friends, or students might choose because of the courses offered. Others may attend because of the close proximity to where they live. If this decision stands as is, we could have the prospect of tens of thousands of students having to leave their Catholic schools to attend a public one. This is a disaster in the making. We can only hope that the decision is appealed and successfully overturned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"these aren't bishops, they're community organizers.\"\n\nExactly. In their ignorance, they actually think that the Christian community is more important than the RC oligarchy. ERROR!!! ERROR!!! Where is the Inquisition when we need it? I will bet they even sneak gluten-free bread into the Communion. How intrinsically disordered is that!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since you didn't seem to get it, people who slam Christians are usually fans of Obama. Obama, who claimed to be a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I stand by what I said before. Anyone who claims that it is a person's \"legal right\" to vacuum a live baby from the womb, and dismember it, and then count the parts to make sure none were left behind; or burn the baby in the womb until it withers and dies is not a true Christian. I'm sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, but that's how I see it, and it is how the Catholic Church and Pope Francis sees it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He didn't kill to defend or enforce his religion.\nHe didnt shout \"Convert to Christianity or die\".\nStop. Dissembling by comparing Apples to Oranges.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes I do know it, I was being smug. This has to do with practicing religion, which I hope you will do. My religion requires me to love my neighbor, not rally against them and shun them from my house. I have my own sin's to worry about thank you very much. I just don't like seeing my religion (Christianity) used to publicly humiliate other human beings regardless whether I perceive their lives as sinful. We are called to look inward at the planks in our own eyes and avoid pointing out the specks of dust in others. Seeking to make the lives of others miserable is an even greater sin. Jesus spent a LOT of time teaching us that lesson. He spent very little time talking about sex. Let's put it in perspective.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. See things like the Christian Identity movement. \n\n\n\nThis garbage has been bubbling under the surface for decades at least. The John Birch Society types were mostly out of the limelight. \n\n\nThe EC selecting the idiot for the WH was like kicking over a log and finding all these worms and bugs under there, suddenly out in the sunlight. That, combined with the power of the net for the deplorables to find each for their whiney snowflake tiki torch and khaki safe spaces, means that Nazis are now out in public. \n\n\nThankfully, when they come out in public they can also be doxed and subsequently fired from their jobs. If they act like the violent thugs we know them to be, they can also be doxed and then ARRESTED.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think using the term \"Christian\" in this article is bastardizing the legitimacy of the term. Kristyun is more like it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... gotta love you modern Republican 'christians' just can't pull the thumb and speak the truth about what is, always have to point the finger in all directions.\n\nY'all are completely screwed in sideways.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "..\"who registered to vote for the first time last year solely \"based on Trump's ability to be politically incorrect.\" If that's one's sole reason to vote for Trump, it is deplorable and rube like, and a form of white elitism. MSW in your paragraph on various elites, you left out white elitism. You yourself seem unable to accept a core reason Trump won. Perhaps you are blinded by your need to believe all those white evangelicals and Catholics and Mormons who voted for Trump did so because they were 'pro life'. In reality they were 'pro white life'.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It\u2019s one type of model (folks of various religions showing up in marches of support), a model which, regrettably if ironically, is rejected by anti-Muslim bigots in the West, many of whom took the opportunity today to further Islamophobia.\"\n\nHello?\n\nSeriously, hello?\n\nWhy is it that, when Christians are slaughtered en masse by violent Islamists, the subsequent columns always dutifully have some quip about Islamophobic bigots being present among the Christian hordes?\n\nI mean, when the Montreal Massacre happened, killing 14 women, I do not remember the columns dutifully including some quip about how some women in Canada are sexist and anti-male.\n\nAnd when the Quebec mosque massacre happened more recently, I do not remember the columns dutifully including some quip about how some Muslims in Canada are bigoted against non-Muslims.\n\nSeriously, what gives? Why the special spread-the-hate-reporting (i.e. pampering) of only \"group X\" in columns after deadly massacres?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Outrage over female Doctor Who can be heard through time and space\".\n\nUm, no.\n\nOutrage of that magnitude would be if somebody dared to create a re-make of \"The Handmaid's Tale\", a modified version where the stifling, rights-crushing barbarians were either extremist fringe Muslims of the future or else were extremist fringe man-hating feminists of the future, and poor white male Christians were the main trampled victims.\n\nIndeed, the predicted outrage would be so intense that nobody would dare propose such a project and, actually, the sound right here of keyboards frantically hitting this post as a \"flag as offensive hate speech\" is like a roar of thousand velociraptor dinosaur claws hacking at a linoleum floor... \n\n... now THAT is outrage heard through time and space!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good for them! Thank you for being there, ladies. Pence is a conservative Christian prig who likes nothing better than \u201ckeeping them barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.\u201d Save us should the likes of him become President.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a 70-year-old Catholic heterosexual male, father of four, married for nearly half a century. \n\nLet me just say it: I find your rules, your regulations, your stipulations, and your conclusions simplistic at best, insulting at worst. \n\nWhat the heck does \"mere instrument of selfish enjoyment\" mean? And with all due respect, how would a lifelong celibate male know?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing about the candidate that called millions of Americans \"deplorables\"? But a mention about the utter injustice of mentioning pantsuits?\n\nI love tuning in here for the best commentary on Christian ethics and social justice.\n\nAnd speaking of social justice....Hillary is gone forever, and the nation elected Mr. Trump.\n\nOh, the bliss of living in that reality! Paul must of felt this good right before he fell off his horse!\n\nWait....let me say it again..\n\nHillary is gone forever....\n\nOh gosh that feels gooood to say...!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One more example of fundamentalist christian operators feeding at the government trough for profit and prosyletizing the insane ideology of their bible and made-up religion. Creaming the prison population for those who will do anything to get out including total subjugation to fundamentalist christian dictators. Psychology proved long ago that anyone can be brainwashed into obedience in an incarcerated situation whether by the state or kidnappers. The minimal successes would occur with any secular programs offering real education and training without the bible-banging and brainwashing. The military uses the same principles of total control of the individual 24/7 without any phony religious dogma. The best part of shutting the facility is getting rid of this useless, wasteful, religious government trough feeding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've always wondered that too, why homosexuality (which I will never understand, actually) is the biggest thing that Christians rally against. I personally knew a straight man who committed suicide, leaving behind two teen boys! And there are many straight young parents who kill themselves, leaving behind devastated children and their own parents. Yet Christians never rally against the concept of suicide -- which leaves an enormous and permanent wake of destruction for multiple people. Few acts are more reprehensible. I also never hear of Christians rallying against child beaters and wife beaters and animal abusers--all far more heinous than loving someone of the same sex.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And when was the last time a suicide bomber killed innocent children in the name of Jesus? Christians have left those parts of the Bible behind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, there a a LOT of reasons that a business person can legally fail to provide accommodation, but this train of thought has just gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. You may refuse service to a person because you don't like the color of his shirt. But you cannot refuse service to a Christian, a Muslim, a woman, a black person, people with children, or a gay person solely because of their status. It really is that simple, and all this hypothesizing is ridiculous. Oh, the things people can contrive in their little minds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How come no Wikileaks of Republican emails? Certainly, they would hotter with the likes of Ann Coulter in the mix; make for more sizzling read!\nSad thing are the \"Catholic\" lap dogs for Trump: Guiliani, Christies, Hannity, O'Reilly, KA Conway, etc. (Bloggers, add to the list; they are legion).\nThe list competes with Trump's distortions, lies, personal attacks, etc.\n\nHow RCs can be in his toxic company & maintain their Catholic virginity is difficult to comprehend.\n\nI guess they feel they can get this in during the Year of Mercy & be absolved.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Loving your neighbor as your yourself does not imply that you ought not kill your neighbor to prevent them from deliberately and intentionally acting in a manner that grievously violates your basic rights and dignity.\n\nFurther, Christian love, of the type regarded in the commandment, \"Thou shalt love...\", cannot be seen as emotive. It is a position in which we place ourselves with regard to others, taking into consideration their perspective. Christian love can easily be understood as equality of respect (in fact, this is what the vast majority of Christian theologians and philosophers have claimed for the past 2,000 years).\n\nBut, there is nothing inherently disrespectful in killing the person who, without justification, attempts to kill me, rape me, torture me, etc. If you believe that God is love and that he does condemn some souls to either hell or incredibly tortorous stints in pergatory, then you must believe that you can love someone while imposing physical pain and even death.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry - I don't watch many movies. And what is even more pathetic is watching those ride into this issue on the moral high horses of convenience. And one thing is for sure - I do not covet or need your pity. And I know you are a Casey hater because he is a Christian, not a Beaver. You really need to knock off the stereotypes - it is lame.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is it a lousy church school. You just can't think outside of the box that is labeled Pete's Ideas of How Things Ought to be, Regardless of Reality. In your mind, the only motive for a church school is to indoctrinate. It couldn't possibly be to educate. However, if they have regular assemblies, which ALL schools do, and if at the assemblies a devotion is given, that does not mean that the main purpose of the school is to indoctrinate. And letting students have a quiet time of Bible reading, meditation and prayer is not indoctrination, it is healthy because today's kids are too hyper. Now, you would have a case if during each class, the teacher did a devotion and spent time explaining the passage before opening a book or doing an experiment or having students practice cursive. I taught at two Christian schools and 95% of a typical week looked like the school I attended on the west side of Denver in the 50's 60's with 5% left for chapel once a week and devotions daily.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop G. did you ever thought about why the RCI (Roman Catholic Institution) fail to inspire young people?\nLook at you clergies\u2019 rape children and bishops hide and condone the rapist clergies to continue rape children for over thirty years. And Pope refuse to punish the criminal hierarchies and instead promote and stand by them openly before the world so proudly. And criminal financial scandals, and their luxurious life styles and their pompous attitudes! This kind of unethical and criminal organization needs to be dismantled for Christ sake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More false claims. Besides, now that the conservatives own tRump, his corrupt and unethical business practices, misogyny, and fraud pretty much disqualify them from having any claim to moral authority. Even the Evangelical Christians who adopted him can pretty much give up their saintly moral hood.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes that's correct. I don't blame the Jews for killing Christ, and I don't blame the Muslims for their conquering ways in the past. I live in the modern world, and I see what's happening today. In no way, shape or form are innumerable people being \"subjugated and vanquished under the relentless onslaught of Islamic imperialism.\" You must be living in an alternative universe, where the roles of Western and Muslim countries are reversed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cAll I said is that you can't blame the institution.\u201c \nThen who do you suggest that we blame for fifty some clergy raped children who killed themselves in a hell of pain in Australia? Do you want to see the Catholic churches burn down like what happened in Australia? \nTry to hide the sun with the palm of your hand Hans! \n\u201cYou need to be careful of being a false witness and spreading gossip.\u201d You are doing exactly that.\nAre you one of bishop\u2019s paid troll or \u2018dev!l\u2019 helper to fan the stanch of CI here in disguise of defending CI?\nYou are not a Christian to defend Catholic clergy rape Christ immanent in children, are you?\n\u2018I assure you, as often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me.\u2019 (Mat 25:40)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are referring to the Holocaust where the Jewish Bolsheviks killed 40 million Christians and Orthodox Russians right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll be looking for your expression of outrage the next time that Coptic Christians are murdered in Egypt and their churches are torched.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You must learn not to be judgemental of those who disagree with you. Just because one disapproves of homosexual activity does not mean that they hate homosexuals. The Catholic Church manifests this in its unceasing attempts to persuade people of the sinfulness of homosexual behaviour for the sake of souls whilst being in the forefront of those who accept repentance and the resolve to sin no more.\nMake no mistake, the Catholic Church will never, can never accept homosexual acts as anything but gravely sinful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who are you to judge? Presumably you do all the things you accuse these cardinals fail to do and scrupulously avoid doing what you accuse them of doing? How Pharisaical; remember the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee?\nWhat do you actually know about how these cardinals have lived their lives? Most good Christians do not advertise the good works they do so that the world will think highly of them. Nor do good Christians pass such damning, unsubstantiated judgements on their fellows Christians.\nAs for the Cappa Magna jibe, well I won't lower myself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinals discuss 'theology of the laity,' pope Francis and a few others develop a 'theology of women,' Roman catholic prelates' 'theology of the Reformation,' blah, blah straight bishops and pope reassert the ban on homosexual priests (just in case we'd forgotten) all are titles found in this liberal Catholic newspaper but to the non-Roman, non-clerical, gay folks, this sums up pretty much everything that is wrong with you lot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are politicians, judges, teachers, soldiers, dancers, musicians, religious, etc. in the world.\nDo proper and correct political practices help this nation, world, human race more than religious wisdom?\nDoes Catholic religion proper and correct in leading this nation, world, human race now?\nI for one, in wits end and weeping inside for what is happening in RCIC (Roman Catholic Institutional Church)!!!\nThe religious teaching is about an interior work because interior work governs our external life of all professions on this earth! \nWhy on earth a Benedictine nun talk about political matters when RCIC is showing to the world clergy rape of children and their refusal to give up clergy sex crime cultures?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They will make the fatherland great again, they say,\nby weeding out the non-Christians and \"dangerous\" ethnic people,\nby slashing aid to the elderly and care for the poor, and by building the greatest military the world has ever seen.\nThey will publicize government-sponsored lists intended to demonstrate the \"criminality\" of the ethnic other.\nThey condemn revelation of inconvenient facts as merely the continued plotting of the L\u00fcgenpresse.\nAnd they brag to their admirers about the inspiration for all those plans, not being the least bit shy about doing so.\nCall it what it is\u2014and call Republican support for their plans what it is, as well.\nTrumpism = Fascism = Republicanism.\nThe right adopted Trump and his agenda, all of it. The Fascism, the Racism, the Nazism.\nThat's what winning looks like.\nYou're a winnner.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You need to develop more ways of thinking than Thomism. At the end of deconstructing sin into parts, you need to put it together to make for \"sin\". There is no \"objective sin\" because there is nothing outside of the cognitive model--a mental construct--of bad or wrong that you are calling \"objective sin\". It doesn't exist. It isn't some ideal bad form out in the sky that we grab and decide that we are going to implement or not. Sin is personal and contextual. \n\n\nThomas lived in a time and world that understood itself in terms of Christian thought, so he has the mixture of wrongs and injustices against other people identified as some version of sin...material, actual, etc. We don't live in that time--and the thought processes of scholasticism are NOT required for Catholic faith. They are not required and it is confusing and ambiguous to say that they are. Cognitive constructs, developed in the academic world and used practically as heuristic tools, do not exist outside of the mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religious people in general are the most intolerant of all beings.They can wheel billboard signs out to the street in front of their churches. Yet when a bus campaign(Toronto) a few years back questioned the existence of god, it was shut down very quickly by the god fearing. Where's the free speech?\nThe belief in an unfounded object of admiration is all the proof you need to understand how people can be manipulated into believing anything, so Trump is no surprise.\nHypocrisy begins in church. Oh, and can I get the exact date of Jesus's coming? Seems he's always late and God is always in need of money. Not the kind of folks I admire.\nAtheists are the second largest group following RC. Why do atheists need to be grouped with religions? I like to say I'm not an atheist as why do I need to be called something for not believing in something that doesn't exist?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As usual, liberals like to try to make a false equivalence by dragging Christianity through the mud when the usual suspects strike, but oddly they never try to drag Islam through the mud when a Christian goes bananas.\n\nWhy is that, sir?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was actually there.\n\nThe entire episode was a setup from beginning to end.\n\nA devout Catholic woman\u2019s two children used her funeral to advance their anti-Catholic agenda. Shameful, shameful.\n\nNo, he was NOT removed by Cardinal Wuerl.\n\nYes, Cardinal Wuerl is a politician, not a bishop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is not an issue of services ... Canada is not a theocracy. State and religion are separated. If Canada is an open democratic modern & secular nation, then it stands separate from all the religions. Judaism, Islam and Christianity developed over 1,000 yrs ago. All have developed schisms since their introduction. If factions continue to multiply and split those 'main' religions, then the state must refrain from encouraging the continuation of such divisions.\n\nBody coverings that conceal a person are a form of segregation. They are not diverse, inclusive or liberating. At Queen's University, Prof. Mohammad Qadeer said there is no real evidence that such covering is a religious requirement relating to modesty. He said: \"In western society, the niqab is also a symbol of distrust for fellow citizens, a statement of self-segregation. The wearer of a face veil is saying 'I am violated if you look at me'. It is a barrier in civic discourse and subverts public trust.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pseudo-fidelists whose response to dissent and/or angst is an \"invitation\" to leave give abundant evidence of an intolerance that seems unbecoming of a Christ companion. I suspect that the storied \"disagreements\" of Judas the administrator with Jesus was not unique, e.g., Thomas the \"questioner\". What was unique is that Judas left in anger, hate and despair...shutting Jesus out. Cafeteria'ists and most who leave don't shut Jesus out, they shun the \"administrators\". Certainly Jesus doesn't shut us out.\n\nThose \"selective traditionalists\" seem to reflect a Judas the administrator who got his way. They tell us to go elsewhere but have absolutely no power, no authority over my/our conscience, my/our catholicism. Despite, ironically, their presumption, their pious sanctimonious pretense of fidelity is actually more akin to sycophantic submission, the \"legs up\" give up of a resentful pack animal.\nI bet there's a strong correlation with homophobia, misogyny, racism, bi..try, trump'ism....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...what a sham that was [Nostra Aetate]....\"...during the Argentine dictatorship....\" \n\nNevertheless, Nostra Aetate has had a huge impact on Jewish-Catholic relations in the US, in US parishes, Catholic universities, and in academia in general. The major concerns of US Catholics and Jews today is to retrench the evils of anti-Semitism by the dialectics of (or reasoning in) dialogue and openness. On the other hand, only the zeal of bigots will multiply anti-Semitism by sentiments of prejudice, intolerance and hate (as we have seen recently in Charlottesville, VA.). \nFinally, Francis's frequent addresses to Jews, re-echoing the teachings in Nostra Aetate and reaffirming the right of Israel to thrive, have endeared him to Jews today. His closeness to two Jewish Argentine rabbis only confirms this. Finally, only a dump pope would directly intervene in the Polish Church. It -- along with the German Church, Brazilian, and French Church -- are the most autonomous in the global church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If they are a Christian School why should they \"tolerate\" other views ? Parents are paying for an environment consistent with their spiritual beliefs, and any parent who would want to enroll their kid in a Christian School without holding those beliefs the school hods to needs to have their head examined, unless they are simply doing it to cause problems.\n\nMy three boys attend a 1 day a week co-op where they are taught by ex teachers (and Professors) as well as Biblical Truths and that is what we want. The kids are also taught the Classical Method of memorization, and your nonsense about \"School vouchers equal the dumbing down of America\" is completely without basis and is your OPINION... I will not bother to list all the Christian Private Schooled success stories.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People forget that The United States is the world\u2019s top resettlement country for refugees. \nNo one else comes close.\n85,000 were accepted in 2016, meeting Obama's ceiling.\n\nHow many muslims were accepted by Saudi Arabia ?\nHow many Christians ?\nHow many muslims by India ?\nHow many by Japan?\n\nWhat is also startling is that in 2016, the US accepted more muslims than Christians in countries which had both. This was the case for Syria for example.\n\nRetrospectives show that virtually no jewish refugees were accepted by Muslim countries during the Holocaust \nA hate crime ?\nHow many muslim countries accepted jewish refugees when they were driven out( or kicked ) by middle eastern countries from the 1940s onwards ?\n\nWe all live in glass houses", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Trid, for reminding us that you consider homophobia to be a Catholic value.\n\nActual followers of Christ would disagree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now they do it by drawing district lines. When forced busing stopped, so did desegregation. One aspect of the growth of suburbia are white parents moving their children out of the city to avoid inter-racial dating. For many Catholic parents, Catholic school is not about faith, it is about whiteness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We know she was a nude magazine model who also posed in same-sex porn shoots--- First Lady material? Of course, this begs the question: what else did she do? Films? More than films\u2026.?\nOne looks in vain for the Family Values crowd in all of this. \nIt's hilarious how quickly these strong Christians suddenly misplace their values and morals, isn't it?\nQuestion: would you like your son to date a woman with such a history?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good. Businesses shouldn't be run on bigotry \u2013 keep it to your church where you can equate LGBQT people to pedophiles all day long until you're blue in the face. Homosexuality is victimless. Gay people should be able to live their life with dignity and respect just like Christians do. That is what tolerance and freedom looks like. Not your homophobic utopia you think people should be allowed to create.\n\nTo pretend there aren't any pro-Christian things on TV is silly. There are entire Christian networks. There's no late-night conservative Christian TV shows because they'd be awful. The networks care about ratings not creating your \"freedom of association\" society. You can even subscribe to a pure Christian cable network if you want. That's how catered to Christians are in this country.\n\nI don't want to walk into a business and worry about what the person behind the counter thinks is obscene. As long as we're both obeying the laws and stated policies we should be able to do business.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "''not a single anti-Christian hate group is identified''\ndo you call them a hate group just for being anti fake Christian?\n''Actually, Christian groups, in its map, turn out to be the haters''\nhaters, yes, true Christians, no\n''LGBT rainbow flag dogma''\nI'll bet they just want their civil rights & haters to leave them alone", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"While there have been priests who were pedophiles, the overwhelming majority of cases involved a disorder called ephebophilia, a term that refers to sexual attraction to minors who have arrived at puberty ... But we shouldn't give a false emphasis to the clinical term ephebophilia, because it masks the real nature of what is occurring: priestly homosexual activity with under-aged males ... \n\nThe overwhelming majority of the priests involved in these incidents are accused of sexual molestation of adolescent males, not females. This means that nature of the scandal is homosexual ...\n\nA handful of pedophiliac priests and a much greater number of other priests, almost exclusively homosexuals, engaged in varying degrees of inappropriate contact with minors, up to and including coercive sex (rape).\"\n\nhttp://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/qa-understanding-the-priest-scandal", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am only voting Hillary, because she represents the status quo, not the fundies want to ram a Christianist from a 6th tier law school into SCOTUS. Trump represents dangerous change. Bernie would have been positive change. Status quo is better than a breakdown of law and order that benefits violent racists and the KKK. Trump and Hillary are both crooks and Wall Street shills who will say anything to get into office. Status quo beats 3rd reich for now....\n\nWhat happened to Bernie in the DNC was a disgrace, and we need to elect our own candidates at a state level so that we can eventually form our own party. Murkowski is like the fat kid whose friends dumped her and now wants back into the cool kids clique. She's not a rebel by any stretch. She's establishment all the way. No more write-ins for Murky...like Hillary, she doesn't get it either, she can fall on her sword for all I care. I'm going to vote for Margaret Stock or any independent who has a mind of his/her own..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The problem is that unless you are debating transitional deacons & not permanent deacons, & we are not, then it is not a step in the right direction but the opposite. \n\nWe should get rid of any ministry that has only been re-instituted to support clericalism & sexism. The permanent deaconate, has consisted of 90% white, middle class or wealthier, western, married men, on a global scale for the last 40 years. Most countries outside of US, Europe & Canada have had lay men & women doing these functions, incl baptisms because they could not afford the costly deaconate. Seeking women being made perm. deacons instead of demanding women be ordained priests immediately causes us to kick aside laity from work they enjoy, to make the ministry appear necessary, when it isn't. Time to stand up for equal ordination for women now!! & not another cage for women. \n\nOtherwise, the deaconate, which is voiceless & lacking in any authority, just becomes the new face of sexism in Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Might his Excellency help these teens by distinguishing the difference between accepting that \"people can be themselves...and love who they want\u201d, but that sexual acts are for marriage, marriage is between a man and a women, and sodomy is one of the 4 sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance [Genesis 17:20-21]? Having a same-sex attraction is not the same as ACTING upon that attraction. Sin is in the will. We are not animals, subject to being ruled by our feelings and senses.\n\nFrom the Catechism of the Catholic Church: http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm\n\nCC 2357 \"Homosexuality refers to relations...sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex... Basing itself on sacred scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that 'homosexual acts are intrinsically disorded'...under no circumstances can they be approved.\"\n\n\"UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES CAN THEY BE APPROVED\" (Catechism of the Catholic Church)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Will Bannon provide backbone to increase the kill ratio of terrorists who murder men, women, and children en masse, no matter whether they be Shiia, Sunni, Jew, Christian, non Muslim? If so, let him have a go at it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cvery grateful the good Lord watched out for us\u201d\nYep, Jesus was watching out for YOU but apparently didn\u2019t give a damn about the 14 who died and about 130 who were injured. Do you even realize how offensive you are?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is why I refer to them as trolls. It fits the classic definition. Try going to LifeSite and be a progressive Catholic and watch yourself get blocked in a nano-second. To whit: go there and watch the most vile stuff said about Francis, none of which will be deleted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A certain irony in the Catholics calling LDS a cult. I know certain Protestants that consider both Catholics and Mormons to be in a cult.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wouldn't a true Christian repent? I'm talking about Munoz's fellow church member. This mentality -\" I'm religious so I can do no wrong/ should not be punished for my wrong doings\" is dangerous and perhaps the most sickening thing about religion. The fact that Munoz uses it as a reason to have this woman avoid punishment speaks volumes about Munoz. Also, many child rapists have a ton of great deeds to talk about, until you examine them in light of their actions. Many are volunteer coaches and Sunday school teachers - for a reason.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I still cannot believe that a government that calls itself progressive and champions Diversity can fund a system of segregation. I find it abhorrent that non-Catholics are excluded from applying for jobs in the Catholic system. If you are Jewish or Hindu it is just one more example of systemic racism, funded by our tax dollars. Can you imagine if Catholics were prevented from applying for public school jobs? This hypocrisy really undermines all that the Liberals are trying to stand for. Brave article Globe and Mail.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The preacher doesn't care if Jesus was fictional as long as the believers keep filling the collection plates.\nThe citations listed in the Smith letter are unverifiable since no original documents exist(ed). Everything cited was written 100+ years later and most was cited in the creation of the Bible and its fictions by a 3rd Century Pope in his monasteries containing the few literate people in the Roman Empire. All by direction of the Roman Emperor to rid the subjects of the multi-god paganism for a One God dictator more reflective of his own reign. Judaism was the only One God religion in existence at the time, so it provided legitimate historical basis becoming the Old Testament(with a few? alterations) to introduce the New Testament of the newly created Jesus Christ mythology. Every change in dogma thereafter adopted the pagan rituals to aid in later conquests of barbarians, i.e., December birth, Spring resurrection, et. al. The circular logic of scholars reproving all of it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This gets very messy. Rights of religious believers vs rights of the LGBT community. Since sin is fundamental to many Catholics that it drives the conversations we have had here. The way many people react to LBGT community is one of exclusion more than inclusion. The Church is not following the example of Jesus. The rules forbid it! The bridge is broken and the wall intact.\nThe result is their human rights are being violated whether intentionally or not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1} I said McCarthy got it right much more than wrong; not that I admired him. 2} No Catholic who knows his catechism can look favorably upon the separation of Church and state or the modernist/enlightenment notion of religious liberty---as both propositions have been repeatedly condemned. 3} No Catholic can dissent from Paul VI's teaching in HUMANAE VITAE. 4} What, exactly, is \"red baiting\"? And why do I hear only leftists, statists, and Marxists employ the term? 5} How could any sane Catholic speak glowingly of the vehemently anti Catholic Jefferson? 6} \"Silencing\" is EXACTLY what the Church does to heretics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My God the God of Mercy AND of Justice...your Bible must have a lot of parts cut out of it.\n\nNo cursed fig tree, no demons going into a herd of swine, no goats sent to eternal punishment in your Bible.\n\nAlso, kindly point me to one Scripture where the pronoun \"she\" is used to refer to Him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You really should check your story before calling someone else a liar.\n\"However, the USCCB asked him to resign from his current position as consultant to the bishops, and he has submitted his resignation.\"(Several sources...try Catholic World Report for starters).\n\nCalling someone else a \"laughingstock\" is somehow considered civil in your world? You are cruel and nasty. Caught in a lie? Not at all. You?\n Yeah. An ex-Franciscan, right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Joy Behar just showed her ignorance of the Bible. God destroyed Sodom and Gamora with fire and brimestone because of the homosexuality and fornication that was rampant in the city. So, she thinks Jesus would have made the cake. Please, get real woman. \nThe Supreme Court, however, should take that into consideration as well as the point that the customers were rude and mean after he told them no.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed! A great many people fail to realize that the tax burden from which religious superstition is exempted does not evaporate, it is spread among taxpayers. Christians who pay taxes might be shocked to find out that the same measures that exempt their mythologies from taxation also require them to underwrite Scientology, Mormonism, Catholicism and (gasp!) GAY CHURCHES.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Women should have the right to terminate their pregnancy. Plain and simple. Dan Sullivan is a little \"Ritchie Rich\" brat that got all his \"come upance\" from his billionaire family who owns controlling interest in the RPM corporation, which is probably the nations largest supplier of petroleum by products. Dan Sullivan's family and entire Corporate holdings stand to profit wildly from a Koch controlled Keystone XL pipeline. He is a wolf in the hen house. \n\nYou Republicans are acting like foolish uninformed little school children bullying and ostracizing people on political and religious lines, because that's what you are taught to do in your circle of haters. \n\nJesus himself would have you Republicans sent to hell to burn forever. And you are so blind, you can't see the fire pit in front of you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bible was written by 40 different men, over a 1500 year period. It was written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. So this book has many ways and lots of time to be full of error. Laughable error. Massive error. Richard Dawkins claimed to have found 300 errors. Most of what he \u201cfound\u201d was the difference in spelling of names. Well my name(Steven, Stephen) is spelled differently so which one is an error. There are some parts of the Bible which are very hard to understand, but that does not make the statements wrong, that makes the reader \u201cignorant\u201d of the meaning. (note: ignorant as in lack of understanding, not stupid as in lacking the mental ability to understand) There are NO proven errors in the Bible. However \"the earth is flat\", \"the sun goes around the earth\", \"the earth is the center of the universe\", all true in their time, laughable now. Make up your on mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't worry about African Catholics, they don't need our whitesplaining.\nThey have strong voices that are rather uncomfortable to many European and American mostly white vatican elites.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The wilful ignorance refers to the more credulous members of the Trump camp dismissing anything even remotely critical of the man who would make America great again as fake news or mainstream media bias.\nIt is difficult to counter arguments with facts when the facts are airily dismissed as lies.\nI am reminded of debating evolution with fundamentalist Christians when I see this -- or Galileo's battles with religious figures over the shape of the Earth . Wilful ignorance is what it is.\nPlease understand that I do not characterize all Trump supporters as such -- but some among them would do Kim Jong-Un proud in their fervent and unwavering faith in Trump's judgement and deeds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The church hesitates to expose its criminal priests because it fears its enemies would exploit the situation\"; so instead the institutional Church covers the crimes up, not understanding that it will look worse when the crimes are found out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Marty E: \"science is irrelevant\"\n\nPeter Beacham: Of course, science is not irrelevant and the Church knows this. There is a battle for truth and supremacy between science and the church in certain areas. This bid for authority is why Catholicism has waged a long battle with science even murdering scientists, Giordano Bruno, for example, who shone truth on ridiculous church teachings, such the earth being the center of the universe. Now, science is again outing the church's smug ignorance in matters related to LGBT people. The Church can't kill these scientists but it can encourage the murder of LGBT people by its ignorant and vengeful pronouncements against them. The result is that people are leaving the church in droves. The smaller the church gets the more it snarls and fights with its back against the wall in a bid to save itself. Instead it could gain converts if it only looked realistically and dispassionately at the truths science presents. Scientific truth isn't contrary to God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Patrick Brown won the PC party leadership by flooding the vote with huge numbers of social conservative insta-Torys from the evangelical churches, brought in by \"Doctor\" Charles McVety, and his contacts in the south Asian community.\n\nSince sucking in these gormless so-cons by telling them he was one of them (anti-abortion, against gay marriage, against the provinces new sex education curriculum) he has \"pivoted\" to a more \"progressive\" stance, trying to move the PCs into the middle of the political spectrum, from which governments in Ontario are usually elected.\n\nHis ridiculous flip-flop on the sex-ed letter to constituents in the recent Scarboro bi-election exposed, him to his erstwhile so-con allies, as the crass and disloyal opportunist that the \"Progressive\" wing has always known him to be.\n\nThis leaves Mr. Brown twisting in the wind, with both wings of the party furious with him.\n\nHe's making Tim Hudak look like a brilliant tactician and the Liberals optimistic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "''What has religion done to you?''\nW and wannabe President Cheney started a bogus Holy War which has killed maimed millions of innocents and still is, and killed / maimed thousands of our troops (our sons, daughters, Fathers, Mothers, brothers, sisters, Aunts, Uncles, friends, and their future kids) and ultimately our nation, JUST FOR STARTERS. but you have a real problem keeping your chosen god to y'self so we don't have to suffer from it? I grew up in a fine Baptist home and church, today's fake Christian NAZI-luvn Taliban-lyke blasphemous money grubbin' prosthelytizers are a million miles opposite of those I respected and whom kept their faith in their church & homes, not up our noses like Reagan started.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Being \u201dpro-life\u201d is like being a populist. It is a vague thing. Even saying you are for the unlikely event of the Supreme Court overturning Roe essentially dodges the question of how you want abortion and women to be penalized and controlled. The pro-choice idea of what a pro-lifer is about is not vague at all, of course. It means someone who would ultimately force women into back alley abortions, and if you really understand law, jail. It is a naive vision which does not understand that repealing Roe means that the Court decisions on birth control, sodomy, gay marriage, Latino rights, and Catholic rights also become controlled by states, which cannot really be trusted with such matters to go beyond religiously led mob rule.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims excoriate us about Islamophobia, but we should bear in mind Islam's entrenched racism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, anti-Semitism, hatred of Christianity, Europe and America, destructive iconoclasm, and even Islamophobia against each other. Ancient tribal wars between Kurds, Shiite, Sunni, Wahhabi, Druze and other Islamic sects, ISIS , Taliban and Al Quada are the root causes of most of the wars and social chaos happening around the world today. It is worse than anything expressed in the west, even by Trump", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you approve of homophobia, dishonesty and misogyny in the Catholic Church, and this is what the people who run should be standing for? You think that \"pray, pay and obey\" is the sole job of the laity?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What was it Jesus said to 11 other men again? - \"You will all lose faith.\" Those 11 went on to show themselves to be weak, cowards, unbelievers and..... the greatest saints of our Church.\n\n\"Can anything good come out of.... Germany?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He has made a pact with the devil.\nHow many will sicken and die without insurance.\nThere is no plan other to end Obama care.\nHow many men women and children will go to bed hungry? Or have no home?\nNo plans except to cut taxes on businesses and the wealthy. See the state of Kansas to see how that is working out.\nUntold misery, damaging families with mass deportation.\nAnd what are the plans for all the babies from all those unwanted pregnancies? \nTrump, a disaster waiting to happen, brought to you in part, by the white men of the Catholic church.\nAnd how will the Catholic Church members feel when the Pope shakes the man that said \"grab them... \".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't it funny how the controlled corporate mainstream media calls this anti Muslim rhetoric , blaming whites for being concerned about favouritism of a specific group of people . First of all when Christians ask to bring back the lords prayer in schools , all hell breaks loose , all the left wing media groups scream bloody murder along with all the their left wing followers . They claim that prayer is better done in church not in the schools , however when Muslims want to have prayer time in schools , and the right speaks up against it , the controlled mainstream media and the lefties cry racism and islamophobia. All religions and their theology should be kept out of the schools and remain in their churches or mosques and the problem would be solved . the real culprit to this mess is Justin Trudeau and the Liberals , from their M-103 ruling to the turning of a blind eye to illegals crossing the border and his mass immigration policy and basically giving Islam free reign in Canada .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Father Reese writes as though he hasn't heard that the US Bishops got Donald Trump elected by going on and on and on about Hillary the baby killer..as though being pro-birth under all circumstance is a pro Life stance. Donald Trump has proven to be a denigrator of both women and the men he loves to dominate... and without the help of bishops in just three states, he wouldn't be in the White House. Father Reese must certainly know this. The Catholic vote elected the President. \n\nAW", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I post the facts about the origins of the official Catholic view on sex, and you just blow it off,. Because, of course, you actually don't know anything about it. You are remarkably ignorant of the history of your own religion, RD. In particular, the history of religious thought is something you neither know anything about, nor do you care to know.\n\nYou also blow off the choices that my wife and I made, because another field you have no interest in is the Real World. You would rather stay inside your OD cocoon, where your religious ideas get spoon-fed to you like a baby. In OD, thought is neither encouraged nor desired. They want pietistic robots, who spew the political, social, economic and religious ideas that they want you to have. You peek out of your cocoon to spew the drivel that you are told to spew.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You do realize that segregation of the sexes is not limited to Islam right? What about Orthodox Judaism? It's just as sexist. Come to think of it Catholicism is pretty sexist too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quoting Richard Rohr erases any pretense on your part to speak as a credible Catholic. I'll pray for your conversion. Reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church would serve you better than heretical drivel from a modernist dissident like \"father\" Rohr. May God have mercy on you and all those who may have been led astray by your arrogant, intolerant, pseudo-intellectual error.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I refuse to respond to them. How influential we must be that they see us as some kind of threat to their orthodoxy. Heck, I'm not even Catholic anymore and, apparently, I'm still a threat. I think the main point is, as Neko pointed out, that we support LGBT rights and marriage equality in the secular sphere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I read it on traditional Catholic website. The Paul and the Gospel writers were Jews, not Catholics. The Twelve continued worship at the Temple. They were a Jewish Sect that followed Jesus' teaching. The churches that Paul started were house churches where the husband and wife would lead the community in a shared meal. In some cases the leader was a women as Paul states. The followers were called disciples. The word apostle came later. \nDo you see that this historical version is different from Church Teaching? Church Teaching gives us a \"faith\" version.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess you've never heard of Catholic schools and other religious based institutions. But then, I'm not surprised. Ignorance is bliss, they say.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was on my second war in Iraq in 2004 at Camp Balad/LSA Anaconda. There was a heavy rocket attack and the Christian Chaplains were hiding. The Jewish Chaplain was one tough hombre. He didn't hide and was involved in getting people moved around during the rocket attack. \nThe chaplain was not parochial. He was the one many of us non-Jews wanted to help us through the tough times and was not a snob.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These observations, are, of course, your opinions, which you are most certainly entitled to, but you have no basis in fact to prove God does NOT exist. Philosophically speaking, if a \"Supreme Being\", as you put it, did in fact exist, who would you or Science Duck be to question his ways ? Is he \"bad\" simply because you do not like what he does ? If that is the case, and it appears to be so, then you would be making yourself out to be God. It appears you make your judgments based on what you see on the scandal shows (Westboro B exhibits none of the spiritual fruit listed in Galatians), but I know many Christians who are very active in serving and loving the homosexual community, as well as Mormans, JW's and Muslims, with the purpose of leading them into the truth. As far as who is the true and living God, I have placed my faith (yes we all live by it) in the God of the Bible, would you like to know more about him ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The ongoing rule of the Roman Catholic Church over healthcare throughout the U.S. Entire states and citizenry like Alaska are condemned to obeisance to Roman Catholic dogma enforced by Bishop, Archbishop, Cardinal, and Pope and government. All conducted under the false ploy of non-profit escapement from taxes of a revenue-generating business claiming special exemption of religion. Will these emergency rooms allow abortions for women in crisis or any other necessary reproductive-related or end-of-life procedures? No matter the belief of the citizen patient, they are refused any treatment that is banned by the Princes of the Church yet secularly legal. Healthcare professionals are threatened with dismissal for disobedience. Time to end the profiteering restricted under the religious banner for all healthcare or any other business run by churches. The only operation exempt should be their church grounds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's interesting that this article does not mention the apparent 67% of white Catholics who voted for Trump and the results that the bishops' almost uniform and fairly constant support of the Republicans might mean for the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I hear there's a Catholic church in Laurelhurst somewhere with a gay trans woman for a priest, where everyone defines God for themselves and Mondays are for meditation and yoga and Thursdays are vegan dinners for the homeless.\"\n\nOh, that:\nhttp://gnosis.org/portland/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, Christianity was illegal for the first three centuries. Second, there is no academically sourced historical record that supports your claim of female priests at any time. The only source you can point to are books written in the 20th century that use dubious historical records.\n\nMy suggestion is if you are truly wanting to know the whats and why's of Catholicism - Stop reading NCR and seek a real Catholic online resource like Catholic Answers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Name-calling DOES hurt. Ask any kid who is fatter or taller or less attractive, or poorer -- or whatever -- than the \"norm.\" Ask how those wounds never seem to heal, erupting well into adulthood in the form of social anxiety to the extreme of suicide. And isn't it \"basic human survival\" we are to overcome by love, as Jesus asked? Or was that \"turn the other cheek\" phrase merely a metaphor? We don't know that answer as it's rarely been tried, even/especially by those who call themselves \"Christian.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here we see the truth that the Church is truly Catholic. The abuse of the flock by some priests is aided and abetted, universally, by the Bishops, regardless of nationality. Truly, the bishops of India have shown themselves to be in communion with those of the US, Ireland, Australia, Germany, and other countries, and show they continue to carry on the legacy of the Saint.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Merit-making really has another name: pride, & perhaps vanity.\nPride is putting one's security in oneself, or cults like Opus Dei's ability to control events, the outcomes, etc.\nVanity is putting one's security (sense of worth, well being, etc.) in the opinion of others, like other members of your respective cult (such as Opus Dei, Society of Pius, Legionnaires, etc. \nThese cults lead to a stiffening of our will and loss of use.\nSo the practice of \"articulating\" our will is a helpful thing for Christians to do, occasionally examining the why of our behavior. Why do we do the things we do? Are we mindlessly following some rules-bound leader or dogmatic cult? Have we perverted Jesus' teachings in favor of loveless philosophical ramblings, rituals and narrow-mindedness? The articulated will realizes that doing things for others, out of love for them as well as God is the true good, not self-righteous lecturing and self-flagellation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think one can do both. Your right that Jesus was not a political person. But there is clearly more than one voice heard amoung Christians. I find it difficult to accept guns, God and country as a Christion being that Jesus made it clear he only accepted one authority. \n\nI'm not the one to judge Ryan or Kristoff. I think both sincerely believe they are doing what they believe is right for the country. I believe that government, representing authority should show compassion and structure to aid the poor and sick. I\"m sure many people who are not Christian also believe the same thing. I'm not saying the current approach is perfect, but the goal of compassion and aid should be a part of our nation character, in my opinion. I believe the teacher Jesus would say the same thing about compassion in our personal character. Not the only part, but a significant part.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems that Mr. T has \"skirted\" the usual leaders and brokers - except on abortion - and appealed to the so-called \"masses\". He will no more tolerate or attend to the hierarchy than he will \"forgive his enemies\". He'll use them as a lever as he did in the campaign \"tantum quantum\" as they say - as long as its useful.\nIf the Catholic Church is to protect immigrants and preserve its innate values it has to become a Pope Francis Church and begin to teach, not dogma or doctrine, but rather the essence of humanity (which is what God created in His image and Jesus embraced). Its leadership needs to become an exemplar of civility, realism, reason, mercy and demand public truth. It needs to teach, practice and lead in discernment and listen, become engaged. Win us back, or else. Reform itself\nFinally, the Church in America must become THE world leader in resolving the contradiction of women and men as equals and not equal.\nWhether this brings down or reforms Trump doesn't matter. Just do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree. Your kids should not be forced to acknowledge God - in any way not just at school. I'm not asking to have it both ways. My comment had nothing to do with God or Christianity. It's about assuming responsibility for your own choices in life and not expecting that someone else should be FORCED to give it to you. True freedom requires self-reliance. Otherwise you are enslaved to the whims of your provider. No thank you. I'll take freedom and assume control of my own destiny.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2 <>\n\nWhat say you, Gospel of Jesus Christ?\n\n<

\u201cSacramental signs,\u201d says Saint Thomas, \u201crepresent what they signify by natural resemblance.\u201d19 The same natural resemblance is required for persons as for things: when Christ's role in the Eucharist is to be expressed sacramentally, there would not be this \u201cnatural resemblance\u201d which must exist between Christ and his minister if the role of Christ were not taken by a man: in such a case it would be difficult to see in the minister the image of Christ. For Christ himself was and remains a man.
\n\nIn other words, the laity is too stupid to see Christ in a woman.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Bishop Stowe and again thank you to New Ways Ministry for actually being Christian. It seems to be getting harder and harder for many in the Church hierarchy to understand what the Gospel is about with regard to gays and women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like the one in charge who thinks there are nice people in those groups? The one who created the hateful birther movement. Have you ever considered your level of hypocrisy? I mean you hate people for everything from religion to orientation in the conservative ranks. Now if you said conservatives can't be Christians, that makes sense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For all these years of war in Syria we haven't heard much about pleas of Christians or other \"non-conforming\" groups suffering under the \"goodness\" of \"moderate rebels\".\n\nThis MSM orchestrated propaganda blitz now that East Aleppo \"fell\" is both insulting and nauseating.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your point is well taken in light of the evil alt-right, who today murdered one innocent and injured 19 others. There's no excuse for the bigotry and hatred brought to the forefront by Trump, Bannon, and the other right-wing extremists and phony Christians who support their anti-American agenda of fascism and bigotry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes they have, just as nearly all Muslims have left behind the more violent passages of the Koran. Nice to see that you're not denying that the Bible does contain such passages though.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "the 39% may not, but that's okay, they're a pretty strange group of bigots, racists, christian fundamentalists, commies lovers, juveniles, and ordinary good people........and they mean well, bless their hearts, lol imua & aloha", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "3. Rather than engaging the alt-reich, the Church must stand up to this hatred. I really believe the alt-reich should be declared un-Catholic by the Church like Action Francaise was and leaders associated with it like the Le Pens and Bannon should be excommunicated. This hate is unacceptable and must be nipped in the bud.\n\nAt the same time the Church has to build up some sort of alternative to the scapegoating for the \"Lost Boys\" attracted to the alt-reich or ISIS or another form of extremism. Institutions like religion are the only thing that can counter this and we certainly need some authentic ones now given how badly bruised are current ones are. But it must be an authentic religious community where all are welcome, not the sex-obsessed American Catholic Church that is too wedded to money and power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These religious anti-sexual crusades are an attempt to establish moral relevancy for a religion which has lost so much actual power it has been relegated to forming alliances with the political\u2026and therefore the ruling economic classes. The \u201cChristian right\u201d is in active, political collusion with America\u2019s economic and military wars-for-profit abroad---mostly against Muslim countries. Then there are the political-economic campaigns against Americans on behalf of the extremely wealthy. This leaves room only for an exaggerated moral outrage against the most weak and tragic among us\u2026those with sexually ambiguous characteristics and afflictions. Transgender is the most unfortunate and vulnerable\u2026a perfect target for religionists who are unwilling or unable to speak out against the rampant evils of our time. Or active players.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you absolutely insane? Since when does an ordained minister have control over Christ's relationship with ANYONE? Salvation has NOTHING to do with any human being other than ourselves and most certainly is not dependent on membership in the Roma Catholic Sect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently it is not considered a religious freedom to wish to have a president who is not a habitual liar and who insults the dignity of women, the disabled and other minorities. \n As for the contraception issue, most married (presumably) Catholics use artificial contraception, so whose religious liberties are at stake here?\n Not all Christian ministers are taken in by Trump's rhetoric. The issue is whether the religious \nliberties of clergy are to be given the right to dominate the public square to the exclusion of others who may have a better claim to moral integrity.\n It is helpful to have access to secular media such as NPR, where one will find another take on what Protestant clergy have had to say about Trump's view of religious liberty and the relationship between Church and State. It was the New York Times that informed me that Steve Bannon is a right-wing Catholic, not the NCR. \n Were it not for Pope Francis I would say Church is going to hell in a hand basket.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When a progressive cause is silenced with a ban, NCR publishes a story decrying a curtailment of free speech on the American campus.\n\nBut when a violent mob shuts down the free speech of a gay Catholic at UC Berkeley (as happened last week with Milo Yannapoulis) NCR won't even bother to mention it.\n\nMy conclusion is that NCR fully sides with the thugs who use violence to stop the free speech they don't like.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But don't expect the biggest (for profit) church in Houston to help! Celebrity \"pastor\" Joel Osteen who makes over $56 million a year has the doors locked on his 16,500 capacity church claiming \"flooding\" while pictures show it high and dry. Nope, this \"Christian\" doesn't want any soaked, displaced unfortunates messing up his digs. Jesus weeps at the hypocrisy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear friend, you keep going on and on and on about the jewish foodbank. The crux of the problem is not a foodbank. The underlying issue is that as the muslim population grows at an alarmingly fast pace they are changing our traditional ways. They are agressively imposing their will. Jews, hindus and christians have their faith and cultural centres but they are also part of mainstream Canada. New muslims have no desire to become part of mainstream. For example; A new muslim immigrant has told his child to not stand for our national athem in our school. Again the issue is deeper than a silly food bank. Someone stated in a post above look at what has happened in Europe the last little while.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the \"praying\" with Paula White never happened before Trump started his campaign. How interesting. It is all for show, and even if one regards the praying as being a good thing, where do we have proof that Trump has undergone a change of heart? Of becoming a compassionate Christian? Nope....it is all a deception and this so-called Evangelical minister is selling her soul to the devil for the travels she gets and the wonderful hotel rooms she stays in and the exceptional dining, and shopping - all paid for by Mr. Trump. It is insult to all of us, and especially to true evangelicals who live what they pray.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump will do as he's always proposed like Clinton: enforce the death penalty and other severe penalties for murder.\nWhat does a white Christian have to do with a Tunisian Islamist murdering 12 and injuring 50 in Berlin?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Meanwhile, the sexual abuse of children continues while some clerics dither over communion.\nNCR has yet to report recent arrests of priests and others in pedophile ring in his own Argentina.\nSeems Italian priest who was involved with sexual abuse of deaf children in Verona, Italy got a papal pass to continue his abuse in Argentina. Attempting to make this non-issue of communion cover over the gangrene in the Body of Christ of the ongoing abuse of children, especially deaf, handicapped children is beyond reproach at this point.\nFrancis, minimally, should resign!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "YES! My parish does. Four stations for the distribution of the Eucharist, the Body of Christ, and four stations for the ministers of the cups of the Precious Blood. The pastor sits [God bless him---his legs are bad].\n\nHaving Eucharistic ministers is not an abusive practice. What is 'abusive' are people who are too lazy and too ignorant to understand that they do not know all of the situations in all of the parishes in the U.S. [and another parts of the world].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi John,\n\nBecause Hillary Clinton has said that deep seated religious beliefs have to be changed. She is especially referring to religious beliefs about the Sanctity of Life (from natural conception to natural death) and marriage between a man and a woman. As a faith filled Catholic, I try to do my best to attend Holy Mass during the week, not only on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, to pray the Rosary at least 4 times a week, to kneel before Jesus in Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament at least once a month and go to Confession regularly. \n\nJohn, we are already seeing Catholic Schools being taken to court by teachers in same sex marriages, bakery or restaurants/reception halls being sued for following their consciences, Kim Davis being arrested and put in jail for not issuing a marriage license to a gay couple. I pray to remain strong in my faith when I am challenged for following my conscience and not deny Jesus. Religious Freedom is at stake in this election!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The title says Good vs. Evil.\n\nIn the article, it says \"Great joy interrupted by pure evil. That is the truest way to consider what happened last Sunday as two Egyptian churches filled with worshipping Christians were targeted by Islamic State bombs\".\n\nApparently, many people making comments here think Christianiy is evil and that Christians have been killing people for centuries.\n\nSo which group does the author think is evil?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Andrew, your comment is disturbing. You wrote \"we have lesbian and gay members who are fully committed to Christ.\" God designed that marriage is between a man and a woman. You can not find one single case in the Bible when a man took another man to be his wife. Can you explain how a man that defies God in His intent to join together a man and a woman and instead prefers to join himself to another man can be \"fully committed to Christ?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is looking for victory and playing to the masses on his side. Kind of pathetic and not Catholic of him. Can't be happy being stuck in purple.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"73% of Republicans belong to a white Christian religious group.\"\nWhich is why it is the GOP: Party of Hate\u00ae.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Conservative'Christians' wont help anybody with healthcare. Blind to the fact that is climate change. Actually think that being gay is a choice or something that is taught. And when things get bad prayer is supposed to be the answer?\nThese people are incredibly good at destroying rights because religion creates a intolerant mindset that our founding fathers were wary of. \nEver try to have a debate with religious people? Its like arguing with a glassy eyed dog.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Poorly catechized Catholics are so sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We do owe Donald Trump a yuuuuuuuge debt of gratitude for exposing the hypocrisy of the phony-Christian groups and for showing America the true nature of Republican supporters.\n\n/Silver lining and all...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Try listening and learning--Jesus didn't say \"kill your enemies.\" Our species is a mess and those wanting to forever hold onto their killing weapons are likely the leading perpetrators. If you believe in God and Jesus per your comment, then you will use your divine gift of a brain to help the human race continue to evolve little by little. That involves leaving off the old west \"I'll kill you first before you kill me\" attitude of those addicted to guns. How is your life so valuable as to be the exception to the spiritual masters' advice? All that are seriously attempting to follow the teachings of Jesus or Buddha, for example, or simply yearning for evolving and improving humankind's virtuous qualities of wisdom and compassion, are not wanting more guns.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cool story bro.\n\nWhile it is technically true that no one has produced video or audio proof of Gorka actually calling for anti-Semitic action, it is CLEAR from his words both on television and in articles that he supports groups who DO espouse anti-Semitic beliefs.... 'warning' someone that anti-Semitism night not be a wise policy politically is NOT the same thing as condemning anti-Semitism.\n\nAlso, under ANY OTHER Republican President, Gorka might have some small chance of surviving, since it is unlikely that charges of anti-Semitism would have much merit toward an administration that offers enormous support for Israel. Donald Trump,however, is another story. He is already reeling from accusations of bigotry, racism, misogyny and religious hatred toward any 'non-Christian' group.... so Gorka had to go.... Maybe next time don't nominate and elect someone with so little moral character, and then you won't have to have a crisis every time an aide says something that seems bigoted...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No faithful Catholics need apply to the farmers market?\n\nThis decision is totally about punishing this man for living by his beliefs. Mr. Tennes doesn't have a right to make a living selling apple because his Catholic faith doesn't allow him to host a gay wedding on his farm? Not just \"you can't sell wedding venues\" but \"you can't sell anything\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Roughly 40 Coptic Christians were killed in Egypt on Palm Sunday, and many injured in their places of worship by Islamic terrorists. Our families immigrate to Canada to escape this kind of religious persecution. I find it ironic there's a genocide of an entire population in the Middle East, that has been happening for years and no one cares. Meanwhile, we are debating prayers in public schools - which is an important and necessary conversation. But the bottom line here is that it is no more a fearful time to be Muslim than it is to be Orthodox Christian, or gay or anything else. There is anti everything rhetoric. I find it is anomalous indeed though, that when rhetoric turns to death, there's no media coverage and we a turn a blind eye.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And if by some stroke of fate Trump is removed from office during his term, it will be even worse for all minorities... the undocumented, LGBT folks, persons of color, Muslims, anyone that isn't white or \"Christian\" and conservative. Oh and the poor, they hate them too. Even though most of the ones voting for them fit into that category.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where is all that archeological evidence that Christ is an all powerful deity? Where is the archeological proof of his miracles? Carbon dating refutes what the bible says about creation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If they engage in homophobic or hateful behavior, then it is fine to call them what they are. It is like saying the KKK is racist. Ruse's Tweets were homophobic and hateful. They were clearly uncalled for.\n\nAnd Fr. Martin is preaching tolerance toward people who have been hurt by the Catholic Church because of its dogma. His book has been endorsed by many bishops, including Cardinal Farrell, who is not who I would consider a flaming liberal. I don't see how this is different from the Catholic Church engaging in ecumenical dialogue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that \"homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.\" They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. \n\nThe number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial.\" (CCC 2357 - 2358)\n\nThis term \"disorder\" does not refer to the person himself. Catholic teaching is that the homosexual inclination and homosexual acts are directed towards an end not intended by God, mutual complementarity, marriage, and procreation, which lead to man's flourishing and happiness. The sexual attraction between male and female is naturally ordered toward this good; same sex attraction is not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Vatican can't deal with gay priests then we need to start outing every ordained Catholic gay male that is alive. Starting at the top in the Vatican, naming one a day (and his position) . It could take decades naming one a day because there are so many.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "could you cite the source for the data you claim that catholics are suddenly stumbling over themselves to get to the altar rails of your neotraditionalist masses?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "sorry, but you're wrong. the current hierarchy and the forms of the sacrements are not protestant. they are as catholic as St. Peter. \nyou may not like the music, or think your bishop is a jerk, but the Church Council was just as valid as Trent, The Fourth Laeteran, Nicea and Jerusalem. To claim otherwise is heretical and schismatic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christen is what Apple thinks Christian is when you are talking to Siri. I don't type I talk to the computer and sometimes the computer gets it wrong just like the GOP is wrong....... hey grammar police nobody cares about you .....we are more worried about the end of our country because of some loser named Trumpthinskin a Russian SPY! \nWho is closest to Russia Alaska.......\n Where will Russia attack and invade first Alaska......\n Who doesn't have enough people in the state to defend themselves Alaska.....\n Start brushing up on your Russian because they're coming soon.......", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These days you'd think the Roman Catholic Church would be glad to see just about anyone drawing people in the door to listen to the church's teaching, certainly in urban southern Ontario. But it looks as if institutionalized misogyny trumps all.\n\nI hope, when the Vatican determines how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, they are careful that these are only male angels -- if angels have gonads, they had better have the right kind.\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Righteous Catholic R & R disdains the notion that women, minorities, the poor and elderly, the homeless, and the marginalized could ever be deprived and worthy of state support. R & R also offers the straw man that the \"left\" opposes \"liberty to pursue happiness and property,\" because s/he is mired in an anachronistic ideology that confuses liberalism with communism.\n\nPerhaps feudalism is the religion you're looking for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know better than to feed the trolls...but I can't let this one slide. Mr. Yakopatz, this phony story about Soros is a classic Ann Coulter creation. He was a child who pretended to be Christian to avoid arrest, and associates of his father confiscated property from Jews. That's it. Your claim that he sent Jews to Auschwitz is nothing more than slander for the purpose of scoring political points in a game no one else is playing. You should be ashamed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again, our Pope proves to us that he believes women know nothing about what it means to lead a family and make good decisions regarding faith, church and family life. Always, he puts some priest or Layman of the Great Opus Ding Dong Group to rule over the frail, silly, child like women. \n\nSnnorrrrrr nothing new, same old super boring bad decisions coming from the top. Wonder where are all those young secular Catholics? Why don't they find us exciting? Because they are out in the world not hating women and LGBT people, as Christ commanded, wondering why anyone would join such a misogynistic and mean religion as ours. \n\nThe Pope tells us thats right - we don't have priests because those wild crazy sinning women just refuse to give birth to tons of excess men who could increase out chances of getting more priests! Those nasty women - it is always their fault things don't work out better so that is why we can't let them lead anything or answer their call to Holy Orders Ever!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You jave no idea what \u201cpersecute\u201d means. \nThe baker broke the law knowingly and is now asking to be able to legally discriminate.\nThat is not persecution by and definition. \n\nHe is a child, whining that a business transaction is against his religion.\nHe is a terrible businessman, a terrible christian and he went back on his word.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Indeed. Too often trolls here attack others for being angry (their subjective response) but you underscore where healthy anger is necessary. If Jesus could be so angry about financial deals in the Temple, I should think he'd be ferociously angry about the church's failure with regard to flesh and blood little ones.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You would like to concentrate on fees that lawyers receive from payments paid out to victims. The Catholic Church has spent millions of dollars on their own lawyers to defend their pedophile priests and their reputations. Most victims of clergy abuse went first to the Church with their complaints about abusive priests.And how were they ministered to by the Church? They were called liars, out to destroy the Church. Some were counter sued. The sexual abuse destroyed families, mine being one of them, because parents could not believe that Father X sexually molested them in the sacristy of the Church. What we wanted at the beginning when we thought we were the only one was for the Church to remove the perpetrators from their access to children so that more children were not abused. What did we get in return? Priests were moved to new parishes where they were free to molest children again. Victims were paid for their vow of silence. Yes it was the Church who first instigated payments.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gonna paste this all over the paper? Gays and abortion, cloaked in christian righteousness. All the talking points you will ever need.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently there is considerable interest among NCR readers in the LBGT issue, but I don't know many people who think it is an important issue for the Church. Poverty, war, attacks on Christians in so many places in the world, secularization of Western society and the decline in Church participation are more than enough in importance to occupy the attention of concerned Catholics and of our Holy Father. The scandal which is given to the church by sexually active priests (gay or straight) is devastating, particularly when directed toward children, and clearly neither gay nor straight clergy have a monopoly in this field, but it is just undeniable that throughout the world (and the Church is everywhere) that the gay lifestyle is abhorrent to many. It is reasonable, since no one has a right to be a Catholic priest, to limit opportunities for scandal even where the means are not perfect.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unless I missed something in Sunday School or my Bible is missing a page, Popes are a man thing and not a God thing. Man things aren't perfect and are often wrong - think of all the people who thought the earth was flat, bleeding patients helped get rid of disease, and earth was the center of the universe. If I'm wrong about Christ, God, etc., when you and I die, we both end up worm food. If I'm right, it's eternal life (with great weather) and in the meantime, I'm focused on loving people well, being kind, and avoiding being a jerk - all because of what I believe. Sadly, lots of historical and even modern examples of people twisting Christ's teachings for their own benefit, profit, and power.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An invented, invisible, made up cloud being that has supposed supernatural powers and that millions of people have killed millions of other people over...\nYou are free to be as irrational as you choose. I defy you to define that word \"God\" in a way that actually includes all Americans and includes all the religions that mumble about this \"God\". Is that the Jewish God, or the Muslim, or Baptist, or Catholic, or...\nI really mean no disrespect to those who get through their day clinging to whatever religion they have that uses the word God. I define \"God\" to mean spirit, that which is generated by a common people on a common goal. So, the Christian God referred to, in that it divides us one from another, is not Godly, but instead the opposite, a tool to destroy cohesion and a sense of safety, evil.\nThat was my experience as a child, and it is certainly my experience as an adult. \nWhen your \"God\" returns, men and women like me will be again burned at the stake.\nHugh Massengill, Eugene", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Take a look at the time and age when the 'canonized saint' lived. We don't speak the \"Middle English\" of Chaucer any more. We don't speak English as Shakespeare did. We don't use the same expressions as was used in the Victorian age. Why aren't we able to use \n\"Godself' today. God is not a white guy in the sky. Maybe your 'autocorrect' [which isn't Christian, never mind Catholic], needs up-dating. \n\nIf you think that God is from the past and only is comfortable with how we USED to refer to God----you are forgetting that God's name is \"I AM\" [the PRESENT], not \"I WAS\" [from the PAST].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is a rather foolish insertion by Mr. Trump into Catholic participation in the election. He clearly knows nothing - and his letter-writer as well - of Catholic Social Teaching, of the Church's opposition to most of Trump policies or claims, and how the single issues of abortion or contraception do not even begin to cover the wide array of Catholic thought and practice. Once again, Donald demonstrates such ignorance of the group he is courting, and therefore makes it just one more strike out in a series of them that continues to damage the GOP in ways we will see unfold for many, many more years. May God help and keep us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW, thank you for foregrounding Trump's unholy alliance with the white supremacist, anti-Semitic alt-right movement. The complacency among some Catholics regarding this toxic ideology is nothing short of astounding. This isn't merely a virulent strain on the fringes of conservatism, but, as exemplified by \"CEO\" Steve Bannon, a central force in the Trump campaign. The KKK and the American Nazi Party have also given Trump their enthusiastic support.\n\nA vote for Trump is a vote for neo-Nazi authoritarianism. Incredible the United States has come to this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OMG- now Meredith is playing the 'race\" card, as well as the card played by morally deficient pastors- (like Swaggart) - whatever that one is called.\nPerhaps it is the \"Jesus forgives me- why can't you\" card.\nSad. \nPlease get rid of him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is not about indignation. Self-righteousness is the conviction that one's beliefs are right and that anyone who disagrees with those beliefs is wrong.\nRighteous indignation is a reactive emotion of anger over mistreatment, insult, or malice. It can be attributed to someone who feels they have been subjected to an injustice.\nWhat David Brin is talking about is not applicable to someone who simply accepts the inerrancy of the Church's teaching as no anger, resentment or indignation is involved.\nE.g. Catholics, who with the Church believe that homosexual activity is intrinsically disordered, are not exhibiting any anger or indignation nor do they feel any sense of injustice.\nIt seems that you trawl the internet searching for any entry, however obscure and irrelevant, which appears to support your beliefs which you are convinced are right and the Church's are wrong. Why don't you start your own church like the reformers if you can't accept what the Catholic Church and what it teaches?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Evangelicals voted for Trump because of the ongoing harassment (and in some cases, persectuion) of conservative Christians and Jews under the Obama administration. Doubt it? Check out the websites for the Alliance Defending Freedom or the American Center for Law and Justice and read the current cases being litigated. The Obama administration is determined to make The Little Sisters of the Poor pay for abortion. Catholic Charities in Massachusetts was forced to withdraw from the adoption process because they believed in placing kiids with one mom-one dad families. The \"gay\" activists believed that hurting needy children was supereded by political correctness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do Roman Catholics think Freedom of Religion gives them the right to impose their religious views on everyone else?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Alt-right is a shorthand way of referring to extreme rightists who generally disdain traditional conservatism. It has no formal ideology, although white nationalism is fundamental to it. This means it has overtones of white supremacism, Islamophobia, antifeminism, homophobia, antisemitism, and right-wing populism. Yes, hatred does seem to be an integral part of it. It makes me very afraid, and I am a white, male, straight Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I deeply regret to say this may be the case. BC Liberals are a wealth-gospel christian-crypto government of the .1% for the .1% but Horgan seems to be immune to understanding Democracy means everyone has a right to run and be elected. Their banning of men, white men from running is an odious evil that cannot be squared with the word democracy. Take a real stand Mr. Horgan and say you are against the anti-male, anti-bon in canada, anti-white provisions of your party and I will vote for you. Until then, Marxism is out with this concerned 'progressive voter.\nClark the crazy one will win otherwise.\nLook the men of BC NDP are exactly like the polygamists: older white men saying younger white men have to leave community because they have theirs and no one else can. Outrageous!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not a game... are you sure about that?? What sort of institutional hijinks would convince you otherwise? Imagine a successor pope in the vein of Cdl Burke... not only would there be a mass exodus in the Roman Rite (exponentially greater than we see now), they would be renounced as fascist, regressive pigs and then local, legitimate Catholic communities might finally emerge. \n\nDo you sincerely believe you/we need to have any allegiance to the Roman hierarchy to be disciples of Christ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus told Peter to put his sword away not because using a sword was always wrong, but because (as Jesus told Peter) he had to fulfill his mission on the cross, and the apostles' opposing that would be wrong. Note: Jesus did not say, \"What? Where you get THAT? Didn't I tell you to never use one of those things? Great. Now they's all think we're right-wing NSA (National Sword Association) nuts.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Church not a museum? Why then in the museum business?\nMoney stream! Francis can yap on but as long as it clings to investing YUGE resources of personnel, etc. Vatican is primarily a museum.\nImagine follow-up to Francis' assertion, headlines in L'Osservatore Romano: Francis to divest Vatican museums, return stolen property, inappropriate gifts, resources to pay off pedophile claims and daily bread for the poor. Now that's evangelization!\nFacta, non verba!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now I have heard everything, Catholic church leaders suffered from delayed consciousness and moral numbing brought on by the conscious coverup of sex crimes against children.\nFrancis claims this is new to him and he did not understand. The Popes track record says otherwise.\nPope (Obvious I)Francis, instead making off the cuff remarks(lies) he could roll up his cuffs and take transparent action. But he will not because he does not want to.\n\nPOPE FRANCIS AND EVERY LEADER IN THIS ORGANIZATION HAVE KNOWN FOR DECADES WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE BUT REFUSE TO ACT.\nThey refuse to ...\nHold complicit bishops like Law, Mahoney, Listecki, Pell, Weakland, Barros and many others accountable for their actions.\nWipe out the pontifical secret in four seconds with the stroke of a pen.\nStop fighting victims, compensate them fairly and reach out to them with loving concern.\nRelease all secret archives about offending clergy and how they were dealt with, finally coming clean.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is nothing funny about a priest raping a child. Nothing humorous about the destructive and many times evil response of church leaders and all others \"in the know\". \nSNAP and Jeff Anderson exist because the response of the church was not church-like. The names of dangerous men in roman collars are still being kept secret. \nYou should be thanking these people for helping victims when no one else would. These people that you despise have done more to help this church by exposing the system wide horrid acts on children committed by people that they revered as Gods representative on earth. The bishops continue to fight any true reform kicking and screaming all the way. \n\nAs we all have come to expect, you will continue to throw hurtful jabs at victims and their advocates.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Masked gunmen kill at least 28 in attack on Christians in Egypt\"\n\nDoug Saunders will blame the Irish.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is ridiculously absurd. According to the Bible we are conceived in sin, born in sin, and come forth from he womb speaking lies. that there is none righteous, there is none that doeth good, as we are incapable of doing either because we are A SLAVE to sin. Furthermore, this book plainly states #1 only the sheep given to Christ, the elect, will be given ears to hear, and all others are cut off as God has no intention of saving them. #2 Jesus himself said he poke in parables so that those he had no intentions of saving can come to him. #3 no one can come to Christ of their own, they come to Christ because the father drew them.\n Too which Paul in Romans 9 addresses this issue Bill struggles with. Why then doeth God find fault? The answer is blunt, and doesn't fill pews. Because God can create a vessel just to destroy for his good pleasure.\n Peter was right, they make merchandise of Christ, and cash in. through false antichrist doctrine that fills pews.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes and we have the opioid epidemic in our country because everyone has the will power never to do what they can't afford or shouldn't do. \n\nI would say thank you Jesus since only he is actually perfect and reading your comment and how perfect you are, I thought maybe you were Jesus Christ. Then I realized how full of misogyny the comment was and thought no - Jesus never speaks from hate so maybe you are just a hypocritical traditionalist Catholic Man or a Bishop or both.\n\nYou will want to remember though what goes around comes around so I hope you are not overweight, because if you are a few pounds overweight and get a heart attack - that is your fault since you ate the extra food and were too lazy to burn it off so others should not have to pay the hospital to fix your heart.\n\nWhat a nice world you have envisioned for us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am a former Catholic. Little girls are not allowed to be Altar \"boys\" or priests for that matter. In Catholic school there was lot of gays, especially in the priesthood. Even in the 1960's we noticed the gay priests and nuns all the time. We thought they went into the priesthood and sisterhood to escape the real world and being \"gay\" thus avoiding the temptations of sexual sins.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But celibacy (and chastity) comes to some more easily, which is a mark of asexuality. It is time to out asexualism in the clergy, because it has produced an unworkable sexual ethic, one that makes universal Catholicism impossible. I am not talking about changing the nature of the Faith, but removing its quirks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I just finished reading all the comments posted in response to this article. One can be critical of everything. But there is a clear difference between constructive criticism and hatefilled jealousy. Unfortunately the great majority of the comments belong to the latter. \n\nThere is a Catholic organization that is actually working and another Catholic entity spearheadeds a campaign among its likeminded supporters to smear, damage, hurt and potentially destroy it. All this is done, of course, in the name of 'tolerance', 'inclusiveness ' and 'love'. This is really sad ... disgusting... I feel like needing a shower....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I bet you liberals had a field day with Clinton!\n\nPhiladelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput used a weekly column to excoriate a \u201cscheming\u201d Hillary Clinton\u2019s presidential campaign for anti-Catholic bigotry on Thursday and for being a scheming, robotic liar with a lifelong appetite for power and an entourage riddled with anti-Catholic bigots.\u201d\nBy Douglas Ernst - The Washington Times - Thursday, October 13, 2016", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah, there are no Gods on Mount Olympus's Mytikas peak, and no supernatural Gods anywhere. There probably was no historical person \"Jesus\" though no doubt there was a wandering preacher or two with that name. Make up any religion you want, but it is still myth worship. A human makes a story up, and forces others to bend a knee. That doesn't make it reality, though Christianity has (and I am sure will), killed many innocent people who didn't want to worship nonsense. You can often translate the word God to \"me and the boys\" so \"God says women should submit to men\" becomes \"I say that women should submit to me and the boys\".\nHugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"TR takes Vatican gently to task.\"\nReally, We have a heartless monster as a Pope!!!\nPope F. must have known approximate 55 clergy rape victims killed themselves in Ballarat, a city in Victoria where the cardinal was born and where he returned after he was ordained a priest. However Pope disregardid all those died claergy raped victims and hired him as a finalcial chief to launder mahia's illegal money in the Vatican bank! \"not publishing pablum\"? We need a sledge hammer to get through these heartless monsters in the Vatican, I simply do not know what your intention is for your deceitful statement? Are all RCI clergies are like you?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The two reasons given for the decline are the ordination of women and the blessing of same sex marriage,\" \nAll that proves is that those leaving the Episcopal Church aren't any more Christian than those responsible for policy in the Diocese of Madison. Just like the so-called Christians who think it's okay to hate black folks and to ignore the needs of the poor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Silver Shadow\nThat non denominational christian group isn't there any more, it was banned. Instead the muslim prayer group took over and it's there, menstruating girls at the back with other girls. Now tell me little silver, you call that systematic muslim introduction , a \"nothing happened\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Students do not have to \"endorse TWU's evangelical religion to be admitted.\" Nowhere in the covenant is such a thing suggested.\n\nTWU's covenant tells students about its guiding principles and where they come from. Students in turn are asked to sincerely consider and embrace TWU's perspective. They aren't required to become evangelical Christians and many students do not, just as I may sincerely embrace a LGBTQ person without becoming one. \n\nI have also refuted your claim that LGBTQ people are \"cruelly\" singled out by the covenant. They are not. The belief at the core of the conflict is that sexual intimacy is only acceptable within a heterosexual marriage. That belief affects all of TWU's unmarried students and faculty equally, regardless of their sexuality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "JPII fans in the US like Weigel actually have done quite a bit to alienate milennials from the Catholic Church. I can think of three trends off the top of my head.\n\n1. US Catholicism has become overly politicized and too cosy with the GOP. People of all political stripes should feel comfortable in the Catholic Church and their prudential judgments on voting shouldn't be questioned.\n \n2. There is a hypocrisy based on wealth and power. Rich people get access and special favors, which is contrary to the Gospels. Many milennials witnessed this in parochial schools. The rich students were never disciplined.\n\n3. JPII created a culture among the Catholic laity that suggested that bullying and tattling on other Catholics are okay and that it was okay to turn a parish into an elite country club where people like gays, single moms, singles in general, etc. aren't welcome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The deposit of faith was entrusted solely and exclusively to the Catholic Church. To the extent any of the schismatic/protestant cults happen to follow the Church's teachings is only to say they have not gone completely insane. To say otherwise is heresy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Put plainly if the shoe fits or the label it is a bit silly to get angry at the person who merely observes the obvious & states what is clear. \n\nActions which create greater sexism such as greater discrimination displayed thru offering priesthood & a 2nd vocation to men yet conting the unjust bias against women for their 1st vocation is an absolutely obvious action of sexism & that is fact. It would be the same if you did this using race as the bias for discrimination. Not liking the label when it fits is not something I can help you with. \n\nOptional celibacy while women are not being ordained priests will (not maybe will) definitely will cause greater gender segregation. It will slow down women being ordained because putting married men in these spots will take the pressure off the hierarchy as the desperate need for priests will lessen some. That is common sense.\n\nChristians should be most concerned that labels like racist/sexist don't accurately describe their persona or acts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course the progressives here are 'praying' for Cardinal Pell to be convicted. Why? Not because he might be guilty or innocent, that is immaterial. It because he is an orthodox Catholic bishop. Orthodox Catholics in the Curia have been regularly cursed by Pope Francis who has gradually placed his heterodox cronies into high places in the Curia.\n\"I am the Pope.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Frances,\nIf you'd like to project your politics so much on to the Church, a politic which goes against hundreds, if not thousands of years of Church teaching, a politic which prizes the concerns of Man over God, a politic which Pope John Paul II and later Holy Father Francis rightfully called the \"Culture of Death,\" then perhaps you should consider apostatizing yourself if this is so important to you. You appear solely concerned with the faith conforming to contemporaneous politics, to become nothing more than another social organization but with a vague idea of faith. \n\nEven more telling of your accessory-Catholicism is your belief that God is but symbolic figment \"ever-changing\". Don't lie about your grossly obvious disbelief in a true, objective God, this is precisely what you believe when claim that God is ever-changing-- that you can form God to be a figurehead to whatever damned ideology you pick from, the same mistake made by the Right decades ago.\n\nI'll pray for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lots of conservative Catholics held the same opinion, before even the Gulf war. I remember reading Fidelity magazine back in the early 90s, which published articles and multiple letters from subscribers scolding JPII for being a foolish peacenik.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah, nonsense. If Stein hadn't been Jewish, she wouldn't have been gassed. If memory serves only Jewish converts to Catholicism in the Netherlands were sent off to the cattle cars. So it's crystal clear the criteria was Jewishness, not \" Nazi hatred of the Catholic faith.\"\n\nI pondered over all this some years ago and arrived at the conclusion that the beatification of Edith Stein was institutionally self-serving and an embarrassment, so little snippets from \"Catholic Culture\" aren't likely to sway me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no way that we laity can demand, reform, or renew the Roman Rite/Church Catholic priesthood. The Roman hierarchy principle will simply not allow it. And there WILL be and ARE Roman Rite Catholics who will continue to multiply and fill a number of the empty pews left by us so called \"Vatican II heretics.\"\n\nIf we laity, however, proclaim a Vatican II Rite/Church as the Eastern Rite/Churches did 1,000 years ago over the issue of collegiality/synodality, we would be able to shape the priesthood differently. This is not for the purpose of schism, but rather unity in diversity and for the sake of the universal Catholic Church. Presently there are 23 diverse Catholic Rites/Churches in union with Rome...with different theological, governing and liturgical interpretations and practices. Google Rite Beyond Rome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pietism is not piety.\n\nPiety is a great Christian virtue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Chin gets to declare victory. Blanket ban based on nationality (and obvious to everyone, religion) was disallowed. Now there has to be review based on reasons other than JUST nationality. Good on Chin. US CANNOT be allowed to enact a policy of presumptive and complete nationality (or religious) based discrimination. Had that been a rule or even future possibility, MOST READERS OF THE STARADVERTISER would end up never having existed here, or worse, could have one day been subject to some sort of ex post facto lineal review. How long before Fox News commentators begin trumpeting Hebrew, or Buddhist, or Taoist, or Hindu subversive conspiracies? Maybe even Catholic. That is what is at stake. Think about the hearts and minds of the most racist and bigoted in our country. Those hearts and those minds mandated the structure of the travel ban and were the ones Trump sought to appease or reward (for electing him). SCOTUS cut out those hearts and minds. Good on Chin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can you be Catholic and cast a vote for abortion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Taqiyya is the Islamic art of deception. . It is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, as importation to Muslims as charity is to Catholics, or hard is to Protestants. Telling falsehoods to promote and defend Islam from the questions of infidels is a blessed act of piety.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your sanctimonious comments do not further the conversation.\n Please let us know dates when you have been prevented from worshiping at the church of your choice. When you could not pray.\nWhen you or family members, could not marry who they chose. When you or family members were denied care because another religious person decided that you were an abomination. Because not too long ago, Catholics were.\n\nI am happy for you that you and your family lead perfect Catholic lives. But the whole world is not Catholic or evangelical christian.\nIf you want to lead a Catholic life, why can't you allow others to lead the life they wish?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do you Christians take pleasure in wanting to take away health care for 30 million people? Think that's going to earn you some points? Think again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then why are Christians and other minorities from those areas exempted? And why did the ban not apply to countries where the 911 terrorists came from?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When dd a Jew ever acquire the \"right\" to insist a shop provide kosher products and to claim discrimination if they refused specifically on religious grounds? Or if they wanted a cake with the slogan: \"Christianity is Minuth.\" A Jew would, in all probability, respect the religious views of the other in this respect and go elsewhere. Now, if a Jew were barred entry to the shop, simply because of his faith, irrespective of what he wanted to purchase, this would be discrimination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "See, now I see the real issue. You are liberal and the priest is conservative. The priest does not support the liberal, secular, atheistic, humanistic agenda of the parish. \n\nWhat you really want is a democratically run Church. You ask something that the Catholic Church cannot give you--not now, not ever. The Catholic Church is not a democracy. The Church never was a democracy and never will be a democracy.\n\nIf you want a Church that is governed congregationally, if you want a Church with a board of trustees to boss around the priest, go join a Protestant Church. We cannot be that church for you.\n\nAs for contributing to the Church: the money people offer is a gift. Gifts are supposed to be given without strings attached. .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your first sentence: No. Your second sentence: I agree. The rest of your paragraph: Did you notice the quotation marks in my comment? It's a quote. We know that there are terrorists operating in certain countries. We know they have training camps. We know they turn people from other countries toward terrorism. We know that those committing past terrorist acts were either from certain countries, traveled through them, or visited them. So, exactly how is demographics not important? Ensuring a thorough vetting process is the goal of the temporary ban. Keala, I think we essentially agree on this issue. Too often, those who discuss it omit the word \"illegal\" preceding \"immigrant\" and equate Muslim theocracies (a system of government grounded in the Quoran/Muslim religion) as racist. I wish those people would show as much concern and empathy for the thousands of Christians who are slaughtered in the Middle East in the name of religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One recalls the parables of the Last Judgement, where those welcomed into the Kingdom of God are surprised and ask \"Where did we see you in need, a minister to you?\" and Jesus answers \"And the King replied, when I was thirsty you gave me to drink, when I was hungry you fed me, when I was sick and in prison you visited me. for if you did it to the least of these you did it to me.\" \nAmong these might be found atheists. \nOn the other hand, there were others who protested their condemnation: \"We taught in your streets, we worked miracles in your name\". They meet with a stern rebuke-\"If you did it not to the least of these you did it not to me. It is not they who say, 'Lord, Lord' that enter the Kingdom of Heaven but they who do the will of the Father.\" \nWhile salvation is of grace, grace may be given to whomever God pleases to give it. This is a hedge against hypocrisy and a warning to the proud and self-righteous. \nApparently many Catholics are not acquainted with the Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rik,\nIn all these discussions of hateful symbols from the past, whether tributes to slavery or genocide, there were 2 comments that especially stood out as very enlightening. One by a self-described true Christian (one who wears his religion on his sleeve) and one by his sycophant who could only grunt out one word \"move\". Of all the comments, it was only the so-called \"true Christian\" who was censored and censured for not meeting the Herald's standards for civil comments and decency. The other comment speaks for itself.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And which religion says everyone who isn't \"saved\" is going to hell when they die, where they'll they burn in agony for all eternity, including unbaptized babies? How many Christianity based cults have committed mass suicide? As for \"Christian cults\" claiming the lives of thousands in self-described terror attacked: again, I refer you to the Crusades where an estimated 200,000 perished.\n\"The crusade was a long drawn war which lasted for over 200 years. Can we then fathom the bloodiness of the war and the number of people who died? The anticlimax in this war was that it had the sanction of the Pope. The novelty of war otherwise would be to defend one\u2019s territory or self-defense. In the crusade not only did the blood-shed get justified, it was also called \u2018just\u2019 and the crusaders were reassured forgiveness for their sins and a place in heaven in the event of death in war.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The 'great theologian' is great, because he doesn't pretend that he has \"ALL the ANSWERS\" as people like Cardinal Burke or as sadly, as you do. Theology is not about re-hashing concepts from by-gone-days and regurgitating it to each new generation. It is presenting it within the context of the people's lives of TODAY. \n\nSecondly, Cardinal Kasper is not an apostate. And you don't seem able to follow his very correct statements about the 'resurrection miracles' by Jesus. You stated that he said, \"the clear purpose of the stories of the raising from the dead of Jairus's daughter, the widow's son at Naim and Lazarus is to present Jesus as Lord over life and death.\" YES---Jesus is Lord! And these miracles are MORE IMPORTANT than even the 'nature miracles' of Jesus walking on the lake or feeding the thousands of people---which are epiphany miracles, especially for Jesus' close followers.\n\nYou don't understand what Kasper is saying and in your ignorance, you are condemning him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly. Yet some people get all indignant when pointed out that our society is based on Christianity. Of course it is. And which society is the one most of the world wants to live in?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Only the modernists/relativists would employ a phrase such as \"set the Church back\". The Church, insofar as She carries the deposit of faith, can not be \"set back\" or--contrary to the Vatican II cult, \"updated\". St. Pius X, unlike the last six Vicars of Christ, actually put this truth into practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catechism is a product of the Vatican bureaucracy. It actually has remarkably little authority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry Paul, you are making things up. Nobody has criticized Christianity. But Mike Pence is a rigidly dogmatic Christian who believes it is government's job to eliminate funding for contraception and many aspects of women's health, and he thinks government should outlaw all abortions including for rape and health of the mother. Most Americans are opposed to this stance. There are many other things that Mike Pence stands for that are objectionable to a majority of citizens. Pence is a right-wing fringe politician, and that's why Trump chose him as running mate. \n\nGary Crum did not call half of Americans racist. You can read his post yourself, find those words. Those are YOUR words, and what you wrote is a dishonest accusation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Opposition is the only way you ever define your position--but that is a good thing! As conservative defenders of the One True Church we are called not to be examples of Christian Virtue, but rather to be relentless warriors, attacking all who defy any traditional or conservative aspect of Holy Mother Church. We are not constrained by teachings of meekness or concerns of truth, as long as we hit back at the progressives and modernists who offend, as Jesus would want us to do!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Malta is not the most wildly liberal country. And still....Wow. It shows how far the Catholic Church has run off the rails, its hierarchy refusing to see, even to acknowledge, light and divine inspiration in the world unless it comes from within the hierarchy itself or from its caskets of rules. And there's very little of that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How did this remark ever get posted? It is beyond non-Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, they are components of stoic and neoplatonic philosophy, not Christianity and adopted by a clerical culture made up by a sexual orientation that is more disordered (if you use such terms) than homosexuality. Modern thinking is that it is innate and therefore differently ordered, but the sad fact is most of its clerical orients are unaware that they are not normal, which is toxic for the Church and renders their entire teaching suspect. They are even worse than celibatea reformed homosexuals. Why do I keep saying it? To get others to say it so that the clergy finds some peace and the rest of us, some quiet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many are of these cemeteries have zoning to be built this year across Canada? Maybe the Muslims could have got the proper zoning if they had bought additional land when they bought the land to build their mosque. What is stopping them from applying for zoning on land they currently own that is attached to their places of worships like the Catholics and the Jewish have done over the years past?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are kidding right? Jesus was a Jew? He read the Jewish bible? Who would have known...just kidding of course. And I will argue that Jesus was a liberal feminist that valued each person equally and left most judgements to God...he did note that you will be judged by your choices and actions rather then your speech...think of the little d and Hillary. Whose actions look like Jesus? One of my favorite bumper stickers has relevance...'I wish Christians acted more like Jesus and less like god.' So much of the vitriol had been the permission to judge others...personal choices with their own god. Oh well...\nI wish we could learn more about the early church, before the Roman Empire got ahold of it...was he married? What was the role of women given the harsh Jewish view at the time. Did he have children? Of course both Christianity and Judism evolved, if I can use that word, over the other few thousand years to better represent our current view of science and reality...well one did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because they may be the only work in your field or the best paying work in your field that is present. If a Nazi Skin Head has to hire fairly because of the law for his bank, and he is the only Banker within 20 miles out in the mid-west, the black employees should not have to give up any benefits or be kept from company funded gatherings just because the Nazi owner does not want to pay for blacks to come as a matter of upholding his religious/political beliefs. People can only find work where work is available & not all work is necessarily available outside of these businesses. Say like with the only hospital in a town perhaps which happens to be Catholic run. \n\nBasically, if you are funded in part, by the government, such as a college or hospitals & therefore you must hire non-catholics who are qualified for the jobs you offer in order to keep that tax funded support then you must afford them the same benefits working outside your business offers or choose to give up the funds.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump is practicing his usual practice of dominance politics with this choice. He wants the Catholic Church, and the Pope especially (with whom he had a sharp disagreement during the campaign) to accept this choice in order to prove that their morals are no better than his. And to publicly validate his own. He wants to bring the Catholic Church down to his level. And if the Vatican accepts this obviously inappropriate choice, he will have done so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nope, he is just a cafeteria Catholic, but instead of all the wonderful exotic delicacies available, he thinks everyone should stick to the same cold, soured congealed oatmeal that had sat in the back of the refrigerator for centuries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics don't receive Jesus in holy communion. Instead, Jesus receives Catholics in holy communion. No pope or anyone else has divine authority to stand in the way of Jesus receiving Catholics in the communion line. Standing in the way is an affront to the Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Bible says that no man knows the day nor the hour, so this guy is another kook. I can't believe he claims to be a Christian and also proclaims this \"prophecy.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for an honest explanation of your (and presumably your compatriots') reason for participating on this openly Progressive forum. I have long wondered why you collectively spend your time and energy in an environment you so vigorously oppose. (I'm serious --thanks.) \n\nThe problem I see with your approach, however, is that a few of \"you\" still reference and live ONLY BY the pre-Vat II teachings, while most of the rest of us have been educated in and have embraced the updated EMPHASES of Vat II and beyond, as has the mainstream institutional Church. Some of you do not admit the validity of Vat II at al, and others of you cling to pre-1960 Catholic culture. Many of us have moved on, especially in matters relating to conscience, obvious fatal flaws in both policies and praxis, and in imply living in THIS century, not the 16th, doctrinally, philosophically and scientifically. \n\nThanks again, though, for your courteous explanation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agree! Certainly, no religion should not be advocated in a public school, but I see nothing wrong with teaching ABOUT the religion, perhaps in a historical sense, so we can better understand each other. In college, I recall taking such a religion class where we covered most of the major ones: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. None of the lessons made me want to change my faith, but it was certainly good (and interesting) to know what each religion stresses and why certain events in history occurred. But having said this, even if the lessons did make you want to switch faiths, you are at least more knowledgeable about it vs. blindly being a certain religion because everyone else seems to like it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If we could go back in time to the atrocities of the Holocaust imagine the different outcome that may have been if photographs of the death camps and victims were readily available to the public on social media as they are today. This matter is no different. That is a developed baby boy, who was burned and killed by a saline solution abortion. This happens much more than anyone wants to accept. Shame on those that fail to see what is clear to those with eyes to see. \nYou claim this priest is concerned about politics? It simply comes down to right or wrong, and abortion is wrong. Clinton wants to repeal the Hyde amendment and appoint only pro abortion Supreme Court Judges. This good priest wants to abolish abortion, not increase it. The sad part is that I assume the majority of Catholics will vote for Clinton.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The generation of priests who caused millions of Catholics to abandon their Faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think the dialogue needs to be open though. With abortion and gay marriage solidified in our country(its really not going to be reversed) We need a healthy discussion between people of true faith and non followers. Only positive communication can 1. Allow people to properly understand the true Catholic Church and be respectful of what they believe 2. Join or come back to the Church after it is seen in a positive light 3. Live in a real secular world where Catholics and Nones can actually live peacefully", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Amen. and thank you for pointing out the vice versa. Without women being ordained priests, and equally to all men, and at the same time, this suggestion equates to gender segregation and all women being held under subjugation to all men in our church. This would be true even if women were ordained deacons. So I thank you for making the distinction that we need to not continue the abuse against the human dignity of all women by excluding them from priesthood or any other ordained ministry that a priest can rise to in our church. \n\nMany in these optional celibacy pushing groups do forget that very important fact. They won't bring up the obvious harm of bias against women because they just care about themselves.\n\nThis church needs to realize that all examples of sexism in our church increases poverty, violence, slavery, child abuse, and so many other ills on a global scale. We cannot claim to be Christians and continue to oppress women in our church. Sexism is the greater evil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing I said was promoting Christianity. But find me a story where Jesus was a displaying pedophiliac tendencies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In his parable on the last judgment (Matthew 25:31-46), Jesus says to those being admitted to the Kingdom of Heaven \u201cI was sick and you took care of me,\u201d and among the sins of those destined for hell is their failure to look after others. Trumpcare is simply slamming the door in the face of the poor and the sick. It\u2019s also a firm rejection of the Catholic \u2018preferential option for the poor\u2019 and, as such, is also slamming the door in the face of Jesus. As Jesus himself noted, there are a lot of people who call him \u2018Lord, Lord\u2019 but do the opposite of what he commanded. So far, we see the Trump administration refusing to welcome the stranger, refusing to care for the sick, refusing to feed the hungry \u2026 welcome to a federal government run by the Herodians!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I fully understand where you are commenting from FC. What comes to mind for me as a Catholic and part of that same Church; is that the fall-out from the abuse crisis, is a scandal of epic proportions for the credibility of the institutional church worldwide; & the bishops that make up the universal hierarchy. These are the same men that proclaimed and preached adherence to all dogmas; doctrines; commandments; Canon Law etc. They stood on the \"moral high-ground\" and by the power & authority invested in them; moralised to the rest of us from the pulpit, how we were all sinners. They could not find anything good to say about us. They preached fear & damnation, and the kept waving their book of rules. I know because I lived through it from the 1940's. The exposure by the Judicial Reviews, of the cover-up of the abuse scandal; exposed how immoral these same bishops were, when it came to their own moral standards. Their credibility collapsed; has not recovered & is unlikely to do so again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many thanks to Ms Andrews and Mr McClintock for this piece. \n\nWhy does Jim Minnery's church still retain its tax exempt status? Minnery and fellow theocrat Jerry Prevo are two of the most politically active residents of Anchorage. Their church is ground zero for ultra-conservative Christian political extremism. They and their church should have lost their tax exempt status years ago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How do you figure?\n\nSo, tell me then......is Ted Nugent the right-wing's leading celebrity spokesperson? You should check a concert video of his when he said that Obama should \"suck on my machine gun\" and for Hillary Clinton to \"ride off into the sunset with one of these, you worthless b____\" (both said while brandishing military style assault weapons). He then later jammed out with Mike Huckabee (a fine evangelical christian, of course) on his show on Fox News a year or two later.\n\nSo, is Nugent the right's spokesperson, or can we just agree that NONE of these people fairly and accurately represent the mainstream of their sides?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I remember my older brother (who served in Vietnam) telling me about the Catholic chaplain who would ask, after every patrol, about the enemy body count so he could mention it at the next morning's Mass.\n\nHas there ever been, in the history of this planet, a more destructive force than the self-righteousness of those who belief, unquestioningly, that God is on their side?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@Teleology (?)\n-\nFran\u00e7ois Jourdan, French islamologue;\n\u201c...Islam is very frozen for many centuries and basically lack of freedom - today, it must be said clearly that we cannot build a society of one religion, Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist... or atheist. \nThis phase of human history is now overtaken by religious freedom and human rights. Secularism requires not the ban but the discretion of all religions in the public space as other citizens have the right to have another way of life. \nThis isn't the Koranic trend where Islam does not consider itself \nas other religions and must...DOMINATE !...\u201d\nSo, He said;\n\u201c...Secularism requires not the BAN but the DISCREATION OF ALL RELIGION in the public space...as others Citizens have the right to have ANOTHER WAY OF LIFE\u201d, oui ?\nIslam does not consider itself as OTHER religions and MUST... DOMINATE !...DOMINATE, don\u2019t you get it Canadians ???...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@Michael Kaczorowski + Rudy Buller + Terry Hollands +James Cook +\nRifleman & their ROC friends=\nAnd I say again...\nThis is not Canada ...with a bunch of \u00ab Loyalists \u00bb Orangemen. There is no place for a bunch of Ku-Ku-Klowns in Canada. In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century an English three Canadians was a member of the white supremacist organization Anglo-Saxon, WASP equivalent to the United States (\"White Anglo-Saxon Protestants\"). \nFour members have been Prime Ministers of Canada, \nSir John A. Macdonald (father of \u00ab Canadian Federation \u00bb of 1867\nbut not \u00ab Father of Canada \u00bb which is Sir Samuel de Champlain in 1608 ), \nSir John Abbott, \nSir Mackenzie Bowell (a past \u00ab Grand Master \u00bb (?)), \nand John Diefenbaker. \nIn 1927 the \u201cOrange\u201d movement gave birth to a more intolerant and racist group, the Canadian Ku Klux Klan, which had its deepest roots in small towns in Saskatchewan because of the \"yellow peril\", but also because of the blacks...Jews...Catholics..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suspect that the GOP leaders and evangelicals would happily move Pence to the top of the ticket from second-string due to his culture war creds and policy positions as a governor (disaster though they were). Rhetoric that appeals to strong emotion has a more mobilizing effect among the electorate than actual policy outcomes with a certain group of voters... Donald Trump being exhibit-A.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Ergo, more reliable? ;-) Couldn't resist, T.\" I walked into that one.\ud83d\ude42\n\nTornielli is a fan and an apologist for Pope Francis and therefore is unlikely to be critical of him, Lamb works for the Tablet which I subscribed to years ago when it was an orthodox, Catholic weekly, alas it is no longer so. Lamb seems to have a dislike if not a hatred of Cardinal Burke. For these two reasons I consider him to be unreliable. His pursuit of this story and his bias towards Boeselager, I think, bears this out.\nI have seen your exchange with MarkWilliam, it will be interesting to see his reply.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Luther, as well as most leaders have their faults. The hate of jews was a tract equally seen in the RC leadership. Pius IX kidnapped a jewish child and justified it by saying a maid had baptized him and that he Pope Pius had a religious duty to see that this boy was brought up correctly. This in truth was hatred of the jews. We can see way too much hatred in this world. However, it was not just Luther who thought the Papacy was the antichrist. Many other \"heretics \" were burned at the stake for such beliefs. Was that not a public display of hatred? Catholic leadership supported slavery and abuses all the way to child assault. With all his faults, Luther did point out 95 propositions and nearly all of them were accepted in the late 1990's by a RCC group of Bishops appointed by JPII. The big point here is that omniscient authoritarians such as Pell cause lots of hatred and damage to the people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And did you read anything where Jesus created an office to be filled by others after Peter? And while you are relying upon scripture, how about those passages that say Jesus had siblings and that Joseph only abstained from sexual relations with Mary until after Jesus was born. If you want to rely on scripture for the dubious proposition that a position with a history of corruption was implicitly created by that one passage, then you must accept that Mary, contrary to the lies of the Church, was not \"ever virgin.\" Perhaps you should shout some latin at that, to avoid the inherent inconsistency of your position.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "True, He did provide a model for the living. I do know about the debate about speaking in tongues. I will not get into that one. or some of the other debates. The only one I will argue about is accepting Jesus as the only way to the Father and accepting Jesus as God and Lord. That is the basic fundamental to every thing else. Jesus himself said that He is the Truth. If you think that it is okay to accept Jesus as just a good man, remember that He claimed to be God, which makes him on of three things, God, a liar, or a madman. In none of those cases is he 'just a good man'. Actually, from what you have previously written, I suspect that you say that not all of the quotes that are attributed to Jesus were actually said by Jesus. In other words, you do not believe when Jesus is quoted as saying He and the Father are one and the same.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, well, well. Tridentinus, I have just read your revelations elsewhere. Three long consecutive posts shedding light on your past - it has to be said, sad - life. You walked out of the Catholic Church to attend an Anglican Church. Eventually it didn't come up to your standards so you reluctantly now go to a local Catholic Church but add that you don't want to be seen as connected with the parishioners there. Your life has been a litany of dissatisfaction with Catholic priests, Catholic people, Catholic Liturgy and you have the brass neck to come on here every day belittling decent people and questioning their Catholic credentials. YOU left, they didn't!\n\nI see now what a service this blog site provides for you. It's simply a place you can come to get out all that bitterness and frustration because you have alienated yourself from everyone else. \n\nYou can also cut out the 'calls himself a priest' schtik. Practiced Catholics have the right to say that to me.\n\nYou don't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My take is that Connecticut's educated Catholic citizens are smart enough to see that discernment of Catholicism is in order. \n\nAnd having done due diligence in discernment found the RCC sorely lacking in whatever area(s) they thought important -- be it sermons, social issues, sex/gender issues, wayward priests and the cover-ups, financial mismanagement, etc. Perhaps even all of that as a bundle with which they no longer want to be associated.\n\nPray-pay-obey is just not enough for educated, thinking, discerning individuals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Anytime I see the title \"Christian\" attached to some political group,I am reminded of the Kristian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.Attaching Christian to anything is a warning and Bible believers should take heed.Just because I sit in a garage for two months doesn't make me a car.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"There is only one Christ Jesus. One Faith, and one baptism. All else is a dispute over trifles\". Elizabeth I.\n\nSo, we (here I mean the mainline churches) and you both say the same creeds, believe in the same Gospel, follow the same Trinity, believe in the sacrifice of the Cross and its redemptive and saving power, and now are even together on the same road toward Easter, known as Lent. Many a forehead was marked with ash the other day in places as diverse as Westminster Abbey, and St. Thomas Fifth Avenue in New York. Some ( many?) of those heads belonged to either local or tourist RC in attendance. Those churches are Anglican/Episcopal. Ordinary People are not theologians in your pews or ours.\n\nI for one don't grovel for any RC official approval beyond a Christian gesture of respect and the end of our mutual anathemas and hatreds. Obviously Pope Francis goes further with his profound expressions of a solidarity \"of blood\" among Christians terribly persecuted in our troubled world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How does a Christian know he/she is \"in Christ\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You would be wrong Bill. I think there are lots or area's of knowledge and wisdom, some I'm sure the human race hasn't found yet. No matter, I have a lifetime belief in my image of God and Jesus as learned by the Bible, group discussion, meditation and time spent in nature.\n\nI think I know Jesus well Bill, and you are not Jesus. I'm fine waiting for that his judgement not yours, although my move compassion for immigrants is biblically based as well as Christian based meditation. \n\nYou might do a search on 'immigrants' on an electronic copy of the bible, there are lots on line. Or just google 'immigrants and bible' or 'immigrants and Jesus', or immigrants and Christianity. \n\nJesus was supernatural in his capacity to show love to all persons, including that who hated him. Jesus never said that his Jewish faith was exclusive and he blasted church leadership for their hypocrisy and religious arrogance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "it also suggests that he is white and of a Christian heritage.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The decision to fund a separate school board system existed a century before the 1980s. I agree though that we should should do away with the Catholic Boards.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, Archbishop Rummel did it in New Orleans in 1962. I believe one of the three segregationists he excommunicated is still alive and still excommunicated.\n\nThat said, excommunication of public officials has not been a particularly successful tactic for the Catholic Church since at least the sixteenth century. Depending on the political context, it can backfire.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a , ahem, \"historian\" you are doubtless aware that EVERY pre conciliar Catechism {and maybe even the JP II version} teaches as follows: QUESTION \"Why did God make us?\" ANSWER \"To KNOW Him, love, Him, and serve Him so that we me obtain eternal happiness with Him in Heaven\"{on the other hand, insofar as modernists don't typically read formal catechisms, perhaps I expect too much in assuming you do know this}. Your utter nonsense that truth or dogma changes has been condemned more times than I can count. God the Holy Ghost wills that all men--including schismatic protestants-- abandon their false cults and become members of the Catholic Church, outside of which there is no salvation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Why should I believe the Council of Trent was a valid council?\"\n\nBut, ashpenaz, it is good you have moved on to Lutheranism, if only because you have abided by your conscience and no longer have an affinity for what believing Catholics assent to. But in your post, are you suggesting believing Catholics don't believe as much as they ought to or as much as they can regarding your new found faith, the \"Augsburg Confession,\" the \"Lutheran church\"? This is more than a non-obvious question, especially on a Catholic post.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More importantly, than the quote on dissolution of marriage is the issue of whether Jesus said any of this. As important as scripture is to Christianity, the fact remains we have NO writings from Jesus, nor do we have any writings from anyone who witnessed anything of Jesus. What is present today is oral tradition, embellishments of scripture, copying errors, no original Gospels available, faith and belief in a static and unchanging doctrine and dogma unsupported by evidence or proof...often in conflict with modern findings...so why bandy any of this, what for the rationalizations...truth matters, knowledge continually is added to, and we ought to be earnest in all endeavors seeking to learn and discover and trust in proof.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of the many Trump voters I've talked to, most if not all have some wildly inaccurate and/or racially or gender biased reason for doing so: One said he was going to raise the minimum wage to $12.50 the moment he was in office, or that he was going to have Hillary Clinton arrested and thrown in jail for murdering children, or because Obama had vowed to leave the country. I've heard several assert that Trump is a devout Christian, that he's a self-made millionaire, that he's a genius who will \"fix\" everything. I've even heard he's for universal health care. The remainder, and unfortunately the majority, have to do with pejorative racist ideas of getting Obama out of the White House (even though he's leaving anyway). As a \"corollary\" to these, I've listened, stunned, as young Trump supporters (and not rich ones) have argued that education shouldn't be \"free\"---that all schools should be private.\n\nThe indoctrination is strong with this crowd....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Supreme Court, however, should take that into consideration\"\nGod, Sodom, Gamorah, Lot, and Lot's wife being transmuted into a tall pile of sodium chloride are totally irrelevant to the discussions of the US Supreme Court.\nThe USA is not, and I hope to God never will be, a Christian Republic. It is a secular constitutional democratic republic.\n\"So, she thinks Jesus would have made the cake.\"\nJesus of Nazareth is also irrelevant to the discussions of the US Supreme Court, but:\nAu contraire, woman, Jesus of Nazareth would have sat down with the gay couple, broke bread with them, talked with them, made them feel welcome and asked them what kind of cake they wanted him to design.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But his spokesboobie, Good Catholic Gurrl Kellyanne, just told us to NOT take him literally!\n\n--www(.)youtube.com/watch?v=IohJfovz9pQ--", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And people like Rhyner call themselves Christian. Me thinks God has another name. Just saying.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, Christ calls all to the Father. There's far more scripture that encourages those who hunger and thirst for God than there is for those who wish to exclude them because they don't conform to their beliefs . \"For there is more rejoicing in heaven in the repentance of one sinner...\" (And we all, including bishop Chaput, are sinners.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I may not fully get your rationale for claiming my position to be neither Christian nor Catholic. However, from what I understand of your position you seem to be the \"heretic\"(?). Jesus' sacrifice is generally understood as His suffering and death. If it is your contention that Jesus' suffering and death alone constitute Eucharist - outside of His resurrection then I suggest we call the Inquisitor. One really would not consider the resurrection a \"sacrifice\"? One of the evangelists, as I recall, noted that if Jesus did not rise from the dead then all is in vain.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What you call \"teaching\" is infallible doctine. Spin it all you want, but it still means obedience to the dictates of the church as respresented by the infallibility of the human pope's interpretation. Your attempt to concentrate only on the word \"infallibility\" is just another ploy to deny the dogma required by the church and pope to be obeyed by all. I have full knowledge of the catholic magisterium and its agent's attempts to obfuscate and spin to deny the actual effects of all of its \"teachings\" on humanity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's take a clear eyed look at this issue. First, it is not muslim ban as progressives would have us believe. If it were other Muslim majority countries would have been included in the travel ban. Second, Islam is in need of reform as demonstrated by actions of ISIS and similar religiously inspired terror groups not to mention 9-11. Last time I checked Bhuddists, Christians, Jews and Hindus are largely able to control their urges to kill innocents in the name of their faith. Just remember next time you board an airplane and complain about intrusive security measures what religion makes that necessary. Add to that they way the way Islam treats LGBT's and women and you have a fairly intolerant and violent bunch. Understand not all Muslims are terrorists but almost all terrorists are Muslims. Mr. Trump knows this and is acting accordingly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Within four months, Alexios IV was deposed and strangled, and a new man took over as Alexios V. The new emperor told the crusaders that they were getting nothing, and should up and leave. A mob attacked the crusader camp, and showed what happens when essentially unarmed civilians attack a proper military unit. After thrashing the mob, the crusaders attacked the city, sacked it, and took it over. Alexios V fled to take shelter with Alexios III (remember him?) and was first greeted warmly, but afterwards blinded (the law said that the emperor had to be perfect physically, so blinding a deposed emperor or a possible rival to the throne rendered him ineligible to be emperor), and then sent back to the crusaders, who killed him.\n\nThe crusaders first offered the throne to Dandolo, who turned it down, then put Baldwin of Flanders on the throne. Baldwin was extremely unpopular, if for no other reasons that he was Catholic, not Orthodox, and spoke no Greek.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As has been pointed out to you many times over the years, the argument is NOT \"Christ chose only males to be apostles, therefore non-males cannot be ordained\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah....and it got nothing to do with the case in hand because in 1490s, whole of Europe was part of the Roman Catholic Church. So if you say that Catholic Church was bad, how can you blame Columbus or any one living during that time period since they had no other church to guide them? You just wanted to put up an bigoted website just to show your displeasure toward the Church. Let us not forget that some of the major Indian civilizations were just as bad as some of the European ones. Aztec Empire grew due to their need for more human sacrifices. Inca Empire grew out need to conquered, enslaved and rule. In several waves of immigration from the Asiatic continent, each waves of \"Indians\" displaced the wave before them. Indians too, were just like the whites, immigrants. North and South Americas had no original indigenous human life, everyone here, came from somewhere in the past. Some may been here longer but that don't make them better or more privilege.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When someone starts out with, as Wikipedia puts it, \"purportedly\" that pretty much encapsulates the whole theory of a \"Blue Wall\" as being just that, a theory. It only took a second to investigate that bit of nonsense as 'purportedly' shows up in Wikipedia's very first sentence. \nIndeed, the truth will set you free! Jesus said it first.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How does one determine a great pope from a \"terrible\" pope?\n\n Maybe we should hold their behavior up to the two great commandments, or the beatitudes, or to their imitation of Christ, or their willingness to be led by the Holy Spirit or by the requirements of being a good shepherd, (Ez. 34), or by walking the talk, or by their humility, or by their compassion, or by the way they speak truth to power, or by their concern for the poor, or their empathy for the refugee or their compassion for the sinner.\n\nThe \"terrible popes of the history of the church would not have passed these tests. Pope Francis on the other hand passes all of those tests and he isn't done yet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is correct. Modernists don't realize that nothing has changed since Peter ascended the Throne of Peter in Rome. Dogma and Doctrine have been solidified and unchanging for almost 2000 years. If anything has changed, well, it turns out those things were Dogma and Doctrine. But I think all True Catholics agree we would be better off with the Latin mass instituted by Christ at the Last Supper.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What if Biden, Kaine, Pelosi, and Kennedy are right about abortion and Chaput is simply wrong? What if God trusts women to make the difficult decisions about their pregnancies without interference from the State? I think if a woman approached Jesus and said, \"I'm pregnant and I don't know what to do,\" I think Jesus would say, \"I trust you to pray and make the right decision.\" \n\nWhy is that not Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Somehow I think that the historical-critical method will take a terrible beating at tbe Museum of the Bible. I seriously doubt that this \"Museum\" will be taken seriously by biblical scholars. Although evangelical Protestants profess great devotion to the good book, most of them have never taken the trouble to learn Classical Hebrew(a very difficult language to learn) or Biblical Greek, which is needed to seriously study both the New Testament and the Old Testament (the LXX). And no, fellow RCs, the original language of the Bible was not Latin. This whole enterprise sounds like an elaborate tax scam---the IRS should shut it down.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Francis is weeding out Bishops who adhere to the old dogmatic, overly concentration on rules and a smaller church in favor of the \"Big Tent\" open, welcome, inclusive approach. New Bishops in Chicago, San Diego and other Dioceses reflect Francis's philosophy and his emphasis on \"social justice issues\". I don't know where you are, but the Parishes that I have seen are jammed packed with people catechizing their children. Parishes have new , very elaborate programs for catechizing children, teaching the sacraments, offering dozens of outreach ministries and much more. Churches are bursting at the seams with people learning and converting to Catholicism under Francis. Comments sections after articles about Pope Francis are alive with comments of people from all faiths and even atheists who are touched by Pope Francis and his inclusiveness . Those, who under past administrations, stopped coming to Catholic services and sacraments did so because they were made to feel unwelcome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't buy into the sexuality, gender, or family theory promulgated by any traditional iteration of an Abrahamic faith. Doesn't stop me from living my faith and, as with Roman Catholics, there are plenty of Orthodox liberals who share my views. The difference is the Orthodox Church has never had its hand down people's underpants like the RC Church has.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sexism is saying that you vote for a candidate because she is female, even if she is AWOL on the preeminent civil rights issue of our day: the right to life. Even if she and her campaign denigrate Catholics and expect us to abandon the faith for her orthodoxy. Even if she is \"ethically challenged,\" to put it nicely. Happy to say she is bound to a retirement in Chappaqua.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Who reimagined God\u2019s mercy? Mormons? \n\nSt Paul believed in mercy much like Francis:\n\u201cthe gift is not like the transgression. For if by that one person\u2019s transgression the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one person Jesus Christ overflow for the many.\n\u201cAnd the gift is not like the result of the one person\u2019s sinning. For after one sin there was the judgment that brought condemnation; but the gift, after many transgressions, brought acquittal.\u201d\n\u201cFor if, by the transgression of one person, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one person Jesus Christ.\u201d Romans 5:15", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "MSW's snarky comment concerning Msgr. Pope is both childish and unprofessional. The fact that he calls himself a \"journalist\" is absurd - that comment is better offered in a combox, if it had to be offered at all. I am also surprised NCR deemed it professional, and further erodes my respect for the publication - it that is possible.\n\nWhy not simply say with respect (as the other articles are treated with respect) something along the lines of \"Over on NCRegister, Msgr. Pope delineates his reasons for questioning several aspects of Amoris Laetitia, concluding it must be \"interpreted in the light of the Church\u2019s constant teaching and practice since apostolic times\" and let others draw their own conclusions? \n\nNo, instead we get MSW's viciousness...and articles with which he seemingly agree get kid glove treatment. Shame on you, Michael. And shame on NCR for publishing it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The killing of Jordan Edwards by a police officer is a clear case of police over-acting that lead to a death. That needs to be addressed for justice for young Mr. Edwards family.\n\nBut there was also another attempted cover-up. All those who participated in the attempted cover-up need to be fired. I don't even know if it is a crime for a person who witnesses a crime to lie to the police about what he/she witnessed. But to any extent a non-police officer is accountable for lying in the same situation, then any other officer present who lied should also be charged.\n\nCovering up wrong doing is endemic to institutional culture - that sense that it is important to \"protect one of our own\" and to protect the reputation of the institution. We see it everywhere - God knows we see it in the Catholic Church. But this cover-up mentality, this lying and evasion that puts others at risk, that has to end.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't believe that progressive Catholics like msw even believe the stuff they preach. \n\nLook at him. He makes $100,000 from gullible progressives who donate to ncr. He writes about global warming being a crisis, yet says he's flies on gross polluting jets, to Europe, for 2 day conventions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Will not happen. Not under Francis, He has already been very very clear. On women priests: That door is shut. On married priests: Not dogma , so it may be discussed in the future, to me, it is a gift from God.\n\nHis words", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Track was a driver of big wigs in Iraq for one year. Cushy job, never got near any combat. The PayMe's have tried unsuccessfully to spin the PTSD story, but there's not a lick of truth to it. The woman he beat up is expecting his baby in October. # 4 out of wedlock grandbaby for The Quitter. Such an inspirational, Christian family!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We need to admit (confess?):\n\n1) many Catholics demanding religious freedom don't value (they even disdain) that concept within their own religion, ergo they bring to the debate minimal credibility and no track record. \n\n2) When you can define policy in terms of virtue vs. sin--and you tell your followers they are \"morally bound\" by your assessment--you have a huge advantage in the marketplace.\n\n3) There is a Catholic Amnesia that insults our ancestors who not long ago were told by \"good Americans\" that THEIR religion was evil, un-American, a cult, disloyal to the flag, beholden to a foreign leader in Italy. They were the Muslims of their time--told to take their beads, idolatry, and Latin and go back where they belong. \"No Catholics Need Apply\" was seen as sound, pro-American public policy. They were beginning to infect our traditions and our WASP heritage with weird and dangerous ways. They were called un-American by fellow citizens. We called them grandma and grandpa.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"It was appalling to see Democratic presidential candidates unwilling to state that \"all lives matter\" for fear of being shout down by activists from the Black Lives Matter movement.\"\n\nSaying \"All Lives Matter\" is a way of blowing off the racism that is all too pervasive in this country. White people don't need to be reminded that their lives matter; as the privileged group in the U S, everyone knows it.\n\nWhite, male heterosexuals are at the top of the heap. Everyone else is at least a little bit below. It is a scandal that the American bishops see nothing wrong with this state of affairs. You will recall that when Christ was asked, \"Who is my neighbor?\" the example he gave was a Samaritan, a group despised by the Jews. This seems to be a lesson many American Catholics have forgotten.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What other points of doctrine should change? Should the Church no longer teach that Christ rose from the dead, so as to make the Church more \"liveable\" for those who believe that Paul (and others) were writing and teaching metaphorically?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church has been outspoken in its condemnation of the intrinsic evils of abortion and euthanasia.\n\nThe Church constantly reminds Catholics that while capital punishment is moral, its use should be rare and carefully weighed.\n\nThe Church teaches that defense of self and family is a right and at times a duty.\n\nAs long as the means are legal and do not invariably cause death the Church is silent about how that self-defense is accomplished. The Church provides the moral principles, the faithful make prudential judgements.\n\nThere is no one in the Catholic Church who is an expert on firearms, which is the province of the faithful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course this was \"a whole lot of nothing.\" It was merely an excuse for a photo-op. I think Cardinal Wuerl should apologize to American Catholics for participating in it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When created a cardinal, the candidate promises and swears to be constantly obedient to \"Blessed Peter in the person of the Supreme Pontiff N., and of his canonically elected Successors\". This is because the Pope is his temporal boss ... i.e. the person in authority over him in the institution of the church (you are the rock upon which I will build my church, etc, etc) ... of course, you twist this by referring to the eternal master ... but it makes you sound so much like a cafeteria catholic who doesn't like the current incumbent of the chair of Peter ... gosh, how the worm has turned!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In consigning the wicked destined for \u201cthe eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels\u201d (Matt. 25:41), Jesus says he was \u201chungry and you gave me no food \u2026 [and] sick and in prison and you did not visit me.\u201d What will Jesus says to those who not only refused to help Him when He was sick, but actually worked to refuse the Messiah health care? \u201cYou will know them by their fruits\u201d (Matt. 7:16). \n\nAny elected official who schemes to take health care away from sick people is doing it to Jesus. For those who actively support Republican schemes to rob the poor of health care, and thus shorten their lives, Jesus asks (Luke 6:46) \u201c\u201cWhy do you call me \u2018Lord, Lord,\u2019 and do not do what I tell you?\u201d One waits in vain for an answer from the likes of Paul Ryan and Donald Trump.\n\nIt is a great tragedy to see people who are always quick to proclaim in word that Jesus is Lord scouring our Lord with their deeds by denying Him health care. With Jesus, we pray 'Father, forgive them ...'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics should be wary of Evangelical converts to Catholicism. They don't actually understand the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Micheal: It's great the \"consistency\" stereotypes that are allowed to be challenged here...you'll find rare birds who think like you about the priesthood...you'll find rare birds who are pro-contraception and anti-abortion...you'll find rare birds who believe in last week's and this week's marches in DC...you'll find rare birds who are pro-family and pro-gay rights...you'll find rare birds who support their parish priests but not their bishop...you'll find rare birds who went to Catholic colleges and believe in public education...you'll find rare birds who believe in the glories of celibacy and the glories of married clergy...you'll find rare birds who think both the liturgy and sex are gifts to be embraced with gusto...you'll find rare birds who recall Catholic school with laughter and with tears...most of all, you'll find rare birds who are mindful of the needs of others and needful of the minds of others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If he were authoritarian, Burke would be confined to a Monestary. I wish he were more open to changes in doctrine, rather than simple changes in practice regarding communion and remarriage. Some people should have a right to Catholic divorce and women should be ordained (and gay marriages celebrated at Mass). He is far more traditional than real lefty's like me think he should be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My work experience (and state Board experience) with Catholic Charities has been good....\n\nThey employ competent social workers, compete for govt and other funding and perform a very useful function in our culture. \n\nThey are NOT the only social services entity in town, I have found both the protestants and the Jews to provide excellent services as well and the staff can well be interchangeable depending on where the grant money is, AND there are many independent private service providers who are outstanding as well.\n\nI think it was CC in Illinois that lost her quite large adoption monies as the agency would not place adoptive kids in the homes of gays.\n\nAs I understand it all those funds were redirected to new agencies (probably with much of the same staff).\n\nIt was the gay parents who were willing to take the very hard to place babies? Doesn't surprise me.\n\nI do object that CC does not credit it's govt funding sources, more actively....(I.e., CC in SF is 86% govt funded et al).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"the science is settled\"\n\nA pious true believer of the Church of Climate Blame cites the \"Gospel according to Saint Suzuki\"....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, c'mon now, Pandora. There are clear, established patterns and \"teachings\" that do just that. I'll give two examples, both recent and done by Pope Benedict XVI. First, he pressed the term \"intrinsically disordered\" regarding homosexuals a number of times, ignoring all that science has showed him and us was clearly misguided and, by extension, a sinful attitude to hold. Second, B16 included the issue of female ordination right along with his all-talk condemnation of clerical child sexual abuse. So, as a Catholic women you, in the midst of your sense of appreciation and love of the Church, are also called to recognize the human frailties and outright sins that are committed in the name of Our Lord. You do not do this, and as a result become complicit in its continuation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For the 'official' church [hierarchy/clergy] as well as the other 96% of the laity, it can no longer be \"business as usual'. The church in America is changing---whether it deals with youth who are Hispanic [or immigrants from India, China, or Syria], whether it deals with \"nones,\" whether it deals with the LGBT community---things are changing.\n\nIt means that PASTORS [clergy/arch/bishops, cardinals], must not only be life-long learners [READING], but they must keep their fingers on the 'pulse' of their parishes/arch/dioceses. They must also get out among the people---not only the well-to-do and articulate, but among the poor, blue-color middle class and white color middle class. DIALOGUE---not monologue from 'on-high' is what building community/evangelization is about. All---including the pastors----need to learn and grow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Churches don't pay property taxes. They also try to argue that any church-based income should not be taxed (see Christian Bros. winery), and sometimes they succeed. All the rest of us make up what churches don't pay.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Call it like it is Christian...the owners of Seneca are the Jones sisters, Becky, Kathy, and Jody, who prefer to remain at arms length from the little people while polluting the air, thumbing their noses, and taunting the public with threats of buying and clear cutting the Elliott State Forest. They own Seneca and are 100% responsible for it's purpose - greed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've flagged your comment for being too rational and well reasoned. I agree, now that people are not press-ganged into attending a church, the various denominations are going to have to change how they operate, or continue to slide into irrelevance. Clinging to traditions that date back to the age of feudalism isn't working. This is not just an issue for Catholics. Does anyone take an Episcopalian bishop seriously, when most realize he or she is little more than a district manager for a company that is losing market share and profits?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Flores sees it among her students, with whom she's trying to share the best of what Catholicism has to offer. \"They remain very skeptical, given the legacy of not telling the truth and not confronting our own power structures to prevent the violation of vulnerable people,\" she said.\"\n\nYounger generations see sexual harassment and abuse as a function of power over others, not sex or lust. Obviously an all male clerical power structure is going to stay dead silent when the issue is presented as abuse of power rather than a sin against chastity or celibacy. We will keep discovering this issue anew,..as it was in the beginning, is now, and probably will be for yet quite some time.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Listen Liberal by Thomas Frank is the best take down of the Democratic elitist economics. That also had Tim Kaine as VP rather than Corey Booker. The game was demographics and the Dems did not play. What Tony called social individualism is more rightly thought of as egalitarianism because the low rules environment is mixed with solidarity with gays and women. Sexism is as big a part of the GOP victory as white backlash (although Obama's election did prime the latter). Many white traditionalists would simply not vote for a woman. The right-wing ideology mentioned was bought and paid for by the Kochs and their friends. The worship of the rich is a part of the prosperity gospel, which Catholics are not immune to. As for abortion, Clinton thought her strategy would rally women. Instead, she should have focused on the unlikelihood of there being any action to change abortion policy - that the pro-life movement is a scam and the bishops are complicit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am stunned, simply stunned, that catechesis was so bad back then. They gave you \"inviolable and unchangeable\" systems of \"Faith and Morals\" instead of teaching you prudence and justice, hope and love? You were taught to treasure unchangeable language and gestures at mass, instead of delighting in the life giving presence of the Holy Spirit? You didnt know which was eternal, the words or the Word?\nYou should have learned that Catholicism has been forged by threats internal and external. Dante has a few saints in Hell because they supported the wrong political party. Conclaves are named for \"con clave,\" with key, because people would argue and intrigue for months without choosing a Pope.\nThe anti-modernist campaign in the last century was a pox on the Church. It encouraged political alliances that drove wars, like the Spanish Civil war. You should be glad the modernists prevailed over a Church stuck in the past unable to even talk to others.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The document you disagree with is a a moral analysis, not a Kama Sutra for Catholic couples where your experience might be more relevant.\n\nWhen the possessor of the flagpole tells the successor to Peter that he is talking through his hat on matters of morals, it is time to tell Mr. Flagpole the facts of the moral life and bring his ego back into perspective.\n\nWhile you keep up the mantra that I do not follow the Pope, every example you provide turns out to demonstrate your inability to decipher what the Holy Father is teaching.\n\nYou, on the other hand, want folks to follow the Eichmann model, to reject the Church, its authority, and its teachings and follow the self-appointed leaders of the minority party in its Church Hall Putsch.\n\nNo thank you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Steven Spielberg has zero obligation to \"Catholic efforts at inter-faith relations.\" Cultural producers aren't under the patronage of the church in the 21st century.\n\nYou wrote:\n\n<>\n\nBS. And I'll eat my hat if your name is actually \"Mindi Cohen.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I haven't seen anything indicating this is a done deal, only that Trump intends to nominate her. She wouldn't be my first choice either.\n\nOne of the problems with Catholicism (and I am Catholic) is the whole pesky repentance/forgiveness thing. We're not allowed to shun or devalue sinners (Dang it!).\n\nAnother problem is the concept that we are more than the sum of our parts, that our abilities and skills are not defined only by our past, that we are capable of extreme growth and change. We see it all through the New Testament. Jesus chose fishermen, rebels, adulterers, Semaritians, tax collectors and other sinners to go and create a global community (without Facebook!) and they did. Any list of Catholic Saints is full of sinners who turned their lives around and changed their corner of the world for the better. MIght Calista Gingrich be able or inclined to do the same? \n\nAs I said, she isn't my choice either, but she might be accepted for reasons beyond her sins.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a traditional conservative who supports civil liberties, including same sex marriage, but this is issue is a civil, and not a religious issue. The same can be said of religious schools.\nAlthough public schools must not discriminate against anyone, a Catholic or religious school should be permitted to make its own rules when its religious values are involved. Should a Catholic school permit a club for students who identify as white supremacists? No, of course not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic position against abortion is based on the view that abortion is the killing of a defenseless person, and that the fetus is a potential person. The view that killing a person is wrong isn't restricted to Catholicism or any other religion. Rather, it's a fundamental principle of secular law, even in highly secular nations. And the view that abortion is wrong isn't confined only to religious believers.\n\nIf one wants to argue that the fetus isn't a person and the government should fund 10,000 abortion clinics, he has the free speech right to make that argument. But by the same token, those who DO believe the fetus is a person ALSO have the right to their say on this matter. Right? Or are you arguing that only atheists or those with your specific views on human reproduction have free speech and political rights in the U.S. as regards abortion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "..\"then shouldn't we also register every white Christian male in America because they account for the greatest number of mass killings here?\" gag me elise; Christians didn't murder the Jewish people. the fighting in the middle east, including syria, is between sects of islam. it is a religious war. it is not our problem. the displaced should be placed in camps in arab nations and re-homed when they quit fighting. our troops need to come home, stay home, go to work, live their lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How did I write him off? My point was that \"elitist/imperialists\" like myself are consistently chided as \"dogmatic\" in nature, needing the comfort of rules, hard and fast beliefs, black and white answers. Hands in the air I am guilty as charged!\n\nBut (here's the part that escapes so many accusers) if you propose something like sprietsma29 you are by definition JUST AS DOGMATIC. I would assume that as a Christian he sort of lives and dies on the hard and fast, non-negotiable belief that Jesus is indeed loving, merciful, forgiving, etc. And that if someone came up and said \"Oh, well, sorry to burst your bubble but Jesus is really not any of those things but rather a sadistic maniac deceiving everyone into misery and gleefully awaiting the moment to cast everyone into hell,\" sprietsma29 would be just as bewildered as and begin babbling about how that's not the Jesus he knows with utter certainty! He would also rightly claim that the Gospel says differently. So do I for other issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...far-right Catholic groups\"?\nIs this - are they - Catholic? Would not \"radical fundamentalist\" be more illustrative. Whatever cause they promote is sort of irrelevant, no?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Justin Trudeau.\n\n\u201cFor someone to start questioning my own faith and accusing me of being a bad Catholic, is something that I really take issue with. My own personal faith is an extremely important part of who I am and the values that I try to lead with.\u201d\n\nMr. Trudeau added that neither he nor his father saw any incongruity between enshrining the rights of gays and lesbians, for example, and the tenets of Catholicism. He notes that he is personally very opposed to abortion, but still believes nobody can tell a woman what she should do with her body. - globeandmail\n\nOh dear, do you not know who your PM is?\n\nHow embarrassing. How awkward.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh Mucky, because of course you would try to pick the Danberry Baptist letter from Jefferson, wherein the ONLY mention of \"wall of separation\" is ever uttered. Do you have any idea the letter he was replying to? How about the history of the government of Connecticut at that time? Doesn't sound like it. England's Parliament passed the religious toleration act in 1689, & it included a condition that Connecticut's laws could not be in conflict with the laws of England. That \"wall\" in his letter was talking about the CT General Assembly faced with great intolerance from protestants, specifically Anglicans. When Republicans won the Connecticut election of 1817 (yes!),CT was able to disestablish the Congregationalist mandate - and Jefferson expressed his satisfaction in a letter to John Adams.\n.\nAs it stands, your number of quotes that could refute the fact that our Founding Fathers made us a Christian nation through their Judeo-Christian paradigm stands at ZERO:Keep trying, though, yes?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus also said \"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone\", didn't He? Bravo to the Bishops of Texas for making this a valid Pro-Life issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry but you are responding from your faith convictions which are different from mgarderner's reflections which come out of rational, scientific studies.\nExamples - fetus is a child (faith conviction) - medical science sees much more nuance based upon proven facts (and not your simplistic division using actual birth - it is much more complex than that)\n\nOR\n\naccess = free (biased opinion)......can you prove or document this opinion?\n\nWe also have faith convictions based upon catholic social justice thought that sees health care as a right (including contraception); that every person has dignity (including their health decisions); that medical decisions are often conscience decisions (they have a right to exercise their own conscience); etc.\n\nToo often, access also means that anyone can *get* contraception, etc. even though they can not afford to purchase it; etc. So, it is a hypocritical statement about access knowing that the person can't get it to begin with. Sad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do you have such antipathy towards the Tridentine Rite of Mass? It is the Mass that the overwhelmming majority of Latin Rite Catholics have experienced for centuries. Are you saying that since Vatican II it no longer has any efficacy? \nCompared to an Eastern Rite Mass it is very simple in its vestments, its repetitions and elaborate, unreformed ritual. I do not hear those who seem to abhor the Vetus Ordo ever criticising the Eastern Rites which were not required to reform afer the Council.\nI would just like to hear your opinion on this in view of your comment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only dems who have a shot in rural America are the homegrown dems. This is why you see states like Montana always vote GOP for president, but split tickets in races for the house and senate.\n\nMSW leaves out white Evangelical and Catholic voters who went Trump bigly. There has been a lot of ink spilled on that fact as well. They weren't voting for 'jobs' and they voted for a man who hardly demonstrated their repeatedly professed all important 'family values'. So what were those votes all about? I doubt it was all about abortion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... and \"Jesus wept\". As Jesus did when he encountered the impact of Lazarus's death. And I am sure he does with all the victims of this living death. I wept as I read this article, for these people and for us all. This story has been repeated so many times. The survivors have to live with the consequences for the rest of their lives. I have known men AND women survivors. For them there is actually no justice (financial compensation does not heal, and the accusations of deny-ers (looks stronger than deniers!) another burden they must bear) as they have to re-live their pain and humiliation publicly every day. No wonder they keep silent or anonymous. \nThe process which ScottG describes results in the inevitable: absolute power corrupts absolutely. (I, for one, doubt that the Institution can or wants to reform itself.) It is humbling that survivors have the grace to cling to their faith in the God who is indeed Love and do not resort to hate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I have published at http://CatholicArrogance.Org/MoralRelativismLatinAmericanStyle.html are the atrocities perpetrated by Roman Catholics. When you complain that this is \"anti-Catholic\", should we take this to mean that -unlike ME - YOU are IN FAVOR of the atrocities your church perpetrated ? \nMy friend, you have learned well from your church the practice of dishonestly maligning its critics, instead of confessing its sins and trying to repair the damages done to others. \nIf reporting on HISTORICAL FACTS that makes Roman Catholics ashamed of their church makes me a \"bigot\", then I am guilty as charged. [continued in next post ...]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A lot of people seem to think this is a Liberal/Conservative debate. It isn't. I don't much care what side of the spectrum you sit on. My opinion is simple: I am opposed to unhinged violent nutbars.\n\nIf you agree with or support people who commit acts of violence, threaten acts of violence or forgive acts of violence, I have a problem with you. I don't care if you're Jew, Muslim, Christian, Athiest, White, Black, Red, Yellow, Blue or Purple.\n\nKhalid's motion is harmless. It won't bring about an Islamophobia SWAT team and it won't bring about Sharia law. There actually HAVE been attempts to introduce Sharia law in Canada. Did you know that? They failed... and they will ALWAYS fail because they don't fit within the Charter. They'll always be struck down. That's reality. Everything else I've heard here is largely NOT reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are simply so many things that can be said here, but the bottom line is that we've heard this kind of language so often, and for so long, and yet we KNOW that little if any real change of substance will come from this. And that's the secondary tragedy to all of this.\n\nWhere is the archbishop who will drop the Vatican's version of \"political/episcopal\" correctness, and mimic what Jesus did in cleaning out the temple. I don't remember Jesus sitting down with each of the vendors in the temple, hearing out their stories, concocting ways to shelter them, and in general, leaving those who visited temple to be subject to these vendors. I don't remember any words that might suggest that he saw some as more guilty than others, or that those who were supervising should be allowed to remain in place. No, Jesus tied knots in a rope, and went after them, angrily, physically, and with a righteous anger. When was the last time we saw ANY of that in church leadership? \n\nWhy don't we?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...AND just to note here that many other nations and cultures are \"farther behind\" with this REALIZATION that you speak of. Imagine that the reporting of sexual crimes is still almost non-existent in many places. Thank the Lord there are advances in USA and Europe. I believe the Holy Spirit does move us...little by little. I mean just look at the numbers of priests being ordained nowadays. Whether the hierarchy likes it or not, change is on the way and YOU MONICA and your descendents are the CHURCH. (me too)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think it's because of the legalization of gay marriage. That is what most of them are rallying against. For example, there are many Christian organizations that support victims of abuse, but as far as I know, no one is trying to legalize child beating or wife beating.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's no doubt that religion and politics mix. They're built on each other. Judeo Christian scripture is the story of people living together, being powerful and fair together, governing themselves, etc as if there were a God entity of some sort. The history of the Christian religion is simply a version of the history of western civilization. Likewise, western democracies, though they may have grown and progressed along the lines of reason, are actually built on the work and the hopes and the courage of people of faith.\n\nSo, with so much rootedness in common, it is hard to say they are a bad mix. HOWEVER, governance must pass the tests of reason, along with the convictions of people that they have come to by experience. \n\nWestern societies are losing the ability to hold religions to account. Religions get treated as antiquated houses of superstition, or people simply ignore them, which allows wing nuts to pose as religions. Religions, themselves, must stop whining about their rights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bishop has firmly asserted that God is on the side of the migrants and not those who would terrorize and deport them and he is right. He went beyond arguing the point, although he did that well, and claimed eventual victory. The immigration debate has always been a fight within the GOP between the xenophobic racists, those who want to bring workers in under law and those who use the law to bring in workers and use their illegality to treat them like slaves. As long as the first exists, the third will thrive. The bishop has made it clear that the first is not a moral stance in the Catholic Church. \n\nOf course, there will be those who say, but abortion! Legal abortion does not justify this because those who oppose legal abortion have no plan except to keep those voters in the GOP camp on immigration, taxes and accepting the plutocracy. To use a phrase from my home state of Texas, they are all hat, no cattle.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, condemned the \u201cviolence and hatred\u201d playing out at a gathering of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va., saying that U.S. bishops \u201cstand with all who are oppressed by evil ideology\u201d and joining their \u201cvoices to all those calling for calm.\u201d\u2014Michael J. O\u2019Loughlin Did it take the NCCB even longer than The Donald to take a stand. The article does not put the timing in juxtaposition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please stick to the facts. Georgia attacked Russian peacekeepers and Russia responded to the attack. See the EU report findings on the Georgia war with conclusion that Georgia started the war.\nCrimea voted 94% to join Russian Federation. 82% of Crimea population is Russian speaking and are Orthodox religion. The majority in Ukraine are Catholics.\nYour \"Rational Ideas\" are completely wrong .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have run into Catholics, recently, who have had it with the church shoving their agendas into our faces. The separation of religion and state protects both religion and state so it needs to be respected. It is not the churches job to make laws.\n\nI myself was so angry after Trumps win that I was thrilled that Massachusetts approved legalizing recreational marijuana only because the churches were pushing hard to keep it illegal. I don't even care about this issue - I am just angry our church is abusing its powers to play politics. \n\nI met a women coming to work today who rescinded her pledge of more than 1,500. She sent her Bishop a letter that she is so angry how our church's pushing of sexism likely helped Hillary to lose this last election, she just felt she was not going to pay her diocese this year the amount she had recently pledged. \n\nI am with her! If you want change too - write- restornow @ mail.com (no spaces) help us to set up grass roots groups to act for change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Naturally, one must disagree with those portions of gospel that contradict one's political views and personal prejudices. It also helps to pretend gospel says things it doesn't, if those help your position. Worst case, resort to the Old Testament and Paul: you can justify anything with those.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"There is no problem. Don\u2019t register with the parish and don\u2019t initiate contact with the pastor. You mind your business and he\u2019ll mind his.\"\n \nParishes have thousands of families in them nowadays. The fact that a priest has time to nose into the living arrangements of one family that hasn't asked him to suggests that he has too much time on his hands. I provided some helpful suggestions for how such a man could better spend his time. \n\n\"Children are routinely denied baptism if there is not a sound belief that they will be raised as Catholics.\"\n\nIt seems like the only thing that the priests' focus on is the parents' \"irregular\" relationship. Otherwise, most children would be denied Baptism. \n\nAnd it certainly is easier for a child to get the rest of his/ her Sacraments, marry in the Catholic Church, etc. if the Baptism is on record.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And doesn't this prove that we will also put up with more child abusing priests since we are so desperate? \n\nIt is time we picket at churches, chancery's, seminaries and financially protest against the discrimination against women, in our church, and demand equal ordination be installed immediately! We have plenty of women already ordained and trained to start tomorrow in the Roman Catholic Women Priests organization, and there are other women who are as trained, with Divinity Degrees in hand, who could be ordained transitional deacons tomorrow and ordained priests in less than 6 months. Then we could petition the Pope for optional celibacy for all male and female priests. \n\nAnglicans, may have their other problems but they have no shortage of priests. We need to stop the hate against women and Ordain Women Priests Now both as a matter of need and Human Justice.\n\nIf you agree - Please join Women's Ordination Conference (WOC) as they continue to fight for genuine equality in church", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is this not simply an example (among many) of the just discriminations that the CCC posits to be consonant with the faith of Jesus Christ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Weinandy's complaints against Francis reminded me of how dissenting views were marginalised and stamped upon during the two previous papacies. \n\nJesus' words came to mind:\n\n\"How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? ....\" (Luke 6:42)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you ever stop and think it may simply be about the desire to not offend Jesus, by the taking of an innocent pre-born child's life?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gary, lunch sounds great...but...this dialogue will only succeed if we have some true NCU/Hobby Lobby Christians as guests too-- so far this list looks like a bunch of fellow infidels.\nBut it's not impossible- you may remember the violence surrounding Measure 9, the fundamentalist anti-gay measure on the ballot in 1992. It was ugly. In fact, Springfield conservative Ralf Walters and local gay rights activist Scott Siebert wound up shouting at each other on the old Phil Donahue TV talk show.\nWell, Jack Roberts (yes, that Jack Roberts, one of the the last remaining liberal Republicans) and I organized a press conference with Walters defending the bill, and Siebert opposing it.\nIt worked remarkably well, with the two ending up hugging each other and declaring that while they strongly opposed each other's positions they could embrace one another as friends. \nThe only unhappy person was the TV news guy who was disappointed there was no screaming and shouting to film.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You think that every Catholic who doesn't agree with you has a \"closed mind,\" and there is no point even talking to them? And since the question wasn't about you, but about how NCR feels about dialogue, it seems that you're accusing the NCR editors of lying in their recent essays about the need for dialogue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't heal anybody by using steel wool to rub in iodine on open wounds, either.\n \n \nMany of the evangelical churches are well known for their welcoming stance [people are trained to spot new people and go out of their way to make them feel at home their first time attending services]. The Catholic churches still doesn't do a good job of training their 'greeters' to be that perceptive. There needs to be some REAL warmth and maybe some flyers explaining what activities the parish offers [child care during Mass, family activities, adult religious interests, etc.]. This would give new-comers & visitors an ideal about the \n\n\nThe \"I'm ok, you're ok\" mantra is as old as the hills already. Maybe you should start REALLY reading and reflecting on what people are hungering for spiritually in today's world. It surely isn't the Spirit of Jansenism with which you seem to be infected.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This man is a menance and does not speak for many many Catholics", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No wonder 70% of Catholics left the Church; they were tired of being indoctrinated into progressive values. Perhaps that's why there are so many \"nones\" today.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And, \"[There has been] a deep rejection by the Catholic faithful of the Church's theology of sexuality based on the interlinking of sexuality and procreation, especially following Humanae Vitae in 1968, with the result that the Church has had no widely accepted theology of sexuality since that time (p. 310).\"\n\nCahill and Wilkinson's point is that by taking the position it did in Humanae Vitae, the magisterium so undermined its credibility in the area of sexual ethics that nothing it says about it is now seriously by many. This leaves a big gap both within the Catholic community and the world at large, given how much influence the Catholic church has around the world. This lack of credible, coherent sexual ethic is a factor that played into what may have been an acceleration of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy in the second half of the twentieth century.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cardinal M\u00fcller is acting in exactly that way his priest's colleagues expect from him. We should realize that Catholic priests for usual dispose in view of child abuse of no real consciousness about what is wrong or right. Nevertheless, young men who judges ethically as correct as the normal population, will not be consecrated the priest. Thus seen I can understand cardinal M\u00fcllers outrage, while some of his prominent cobrothers try to persuade the public, he, M\u00fcller, was the person, who hinders changes. All we have seen till yet ist not clarification, but processing simulation. Everytime, everyyear, everyday the same procedure. \nAngelika Oetken, Berlin-K\u00f6penick, one of 9 million adults in Germany who became a victim of heavy sexual abuse in their childhood and/or youth", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A U.S. Air Force chaplain who ministers to thousands of men and women at an Ohio base is asserting that Christians in the U.S. Armed Forces \u201cserve Satan\u201d and are \u201cgrossly in error\u201d if they support service members\u2019 right to practice other faiths.\n\nIn an article posted on BarbWire.com three days ago, Captain Sonny Hernandez, an Air Force Reserve chaplain for the 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, criticized Christian service members who rely on the Constitution \u201cand not Christ.\u201d\n\n\n------\n\nHe needs to be given the boot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This argument that pro-lifers care nothing about the 'born' is absolutely spurious. Orders of sisters and brothers have for ages looked after children who could not be cared for by their parents. The Catholic Church used to run numerous institutions for destitute unmarried mothers and orphaned children? They were cared for according to the same conditions and discipline which prevailed in ordinary family households at the time.\nThese long-dead Religious are now pilloried by today's liberals because they didn't conform to modern standards of childcare in an era now long gone. We can see from the anarchy which currently prevails in our families, schools and neighbourhoods that modern standards have failed miserably.\nIt is therefore a downright untruth to suggest that pro-lifers are not concerned with the born. The Church has always looked after destitute, poor and disadvantaged children and will continue to do so despite the efforts of secular states to thwart it at every turn.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What really irks me still about this article is that it is still up after a week and a half but the Fling Open the Doors seeking women priests article was taken down in about 3 days. So an issue about ending the discrimination and abuse against all women called to priesthood, an actual human justice and human dignity issue, gets tossed away offline very quickly but this one about men wanting 2 vocations stays. Also the article about women ends up on the last page of the newspaper when delivered. But I bet this article gets the front page of the next paper. \n\nNCR - please put down your unjust, Future Church Agenda, & preference to see married men gain more privilege while all women are still ignored & rejected, due to nothing but bias and hatred by our hierarchy. Your bias shows thru the timing given these articles. It is truly irresponsible & manipulative reporting. There is nothing Christian in this preferential treatment of articles like these & this has been an ongoing issue", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a difference here. Kaepernick's act is political protest; Tebows wasn't. And yes, the fact that he's protesting inequality does make it okay. Dropping to a knee and thanking Jesus for scoring a touchdown is, well, not wrong, but kind of tacky. Look at me, America! I'm a Christian! \nProtesting inequality is not disrespectful in America, or it shouldn't be. The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence says \"All men are created equal...\". Aren't these athletes simply demanding that their nation live up to it principles?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Baptist, Presbyterian, or atheist has also sued the Catholic Church for refusing to administer the Sacrament of Matrimony upon them, and religion IS a protected class. In fact, priests have also refused to marry two Catholics in their first marriage if they don't follow all the rules first.\n\nI don't see this as an issue that needs \"compromise.\"\n\nAs long as the state confers certain legal rights and benefits (including tax) as well as the responsiblity of a legal contract upon married couples, then the state gets to define the terms of that contract, and who can enter into it.\n\nBut if a church raises marriage to the level of sacrament, then the church gets to define who can receive that sacrament in their church. We don't get to make the rules for anyone but ourselves.\n\nIn other words, render to Caesar.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "david, you're an honest, probably good man. i take offense at christians and muslims because they think their 'book' applies to me. they dont. it only applies to people that believe in them. that's it. i dont, nor do i presume to try, to tell you anything. all of you religious people, just stop telling me i'm going to hell, or anything else from 'your' book. i dont believe. ok? leave me alone and stop helping pass laws that make me acknowledge your beliefs. go out, everyone of you, pick a homeless person to help for the long run. i used to attend new hope until they started actually preaching and urging members to picket the capital against gay marriage. its none of you business unless a gay asks you to marry them. you love jesus, great, keep it to yourself, please. cant even enjoy a cup of coffee on fort street and hotel most days because of christians calling me, in a very loud voice, a sinner. leave us alone. we are happier than you are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dr Strangelove,\nYes, that's true. I think the mentally ill unfortunately are still valid targets for the politically correct crowd, as are conservatives, Christians, men, civility and the list goes on. You may be right about his short attention span, yet it may have actually benefitted him as a businessman. He may have some small OCD's but nothing so terrible. I see him as the sort of character Jack Nicholson played in \"As Good As it Gets\" At one point 'Melvin' tells Carol that she makes him want \"to be a better man\" Trump supporters see through the layers that engulf him and see a 'true' heart in Donald Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "...ought to establish beyond doubt that women were ordained deacons in the East while the East and West were still the Great Church in the 8th century. There is evidence, apparently, of female deacons in northern Europe as last as the 12th century, but the evidence for the nature of that diaconate as Major Orders is primarily Byzantine.\n\nThis is the third commission on this topic under the auspices of the CDF. The first report, written by an expert in Byzantine theology and ritual, determined that indeed women were \"true\" deacons, and thus Tradition affirms the Church is free to reestablish that diaconate should it so wish. Ratzinger, then head of CDF didn't like that answer, so he suppressed the report, and ordered another to be written by a Roman theologian known to oppose the female diaconate. Unsurprisingly that report reached the opposite conclusion, and was published. \n\nSo the issues here are very technical. One side argues from the comparison of the ritual with male diaconal...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps any one of the homeless or desperate would step up to help themselves??? Unthinkable? Un-Christian?\n\nSeriously, do any of the \"advocates for the homeless\" stop to ask those without homes what they want? If not, perhaps you should start there before all of your do-gooding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm wondering if the authors ever give a thought to what would happen in Syria if the Assad government fell? The two most powerful anti-government forces in Syria are Islamic State and various factions of al Qaeda. Had they overthrown Assad, what would be the fate of Syria's millions of Christians and Alawites?\n\nI don't excuse any crime committed by the Assad government. But I believe they are justified in thinking that defeat would be a catastrophe even worse than what's happened thus far. Until one is willing to look at the bigger picture in Syria, including the involvement of foreign nations in the carnage, it behooves everyone to hold their tongues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Still saying that half of America wanted a latter-day Hitler? \n\nDear readers, not all Catholics are like him. Do not judge us all by what some write here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does the gospel require us to teach one another not to bully LGBT students, or to love and welcome them into our communities? In the first instance, we agree not to harm others; in the second, we agree to accept and welcome. I don't think people of faith can argue that the former is what is required by the gospel.\nI think the gospel mandate is to welcome one another in love and share in Word and Sacrament, trusting the Lord to bring about the conversion of minds and hearts required of believers. The more we isolate and alienate one another, the less opportunity exists for our conversion through the power of the gospel. Bishops who look forward to the \"conversion of sinners\" should understand that such \"conversion\" won't take place unless we bring the gospel to others, or allow them to come to us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How convenient a belief system. Of course, it makes one wonder why that/those Papal Commissions on the pill were created at all, if the matter were already doctrine. Makes one wonder why a Pope might create such a Commission at all. If the argument were that the doctrine were created wth the issuance of HV, then that too would raise some pretty serious concerns, would it not? A doctrine shoved down the throat of a laity that objects... interesting.\n\nAnd no, I don't think the abuse scandal is really all that different, for if you say the Spirit presents bishops from contradicting the Word of God, one must wonder then what Jesus really meant when he suggested being cast into the ocean with a millstone around ones neck were better than leading children astray... No, I think it's the same basic caste of people wanting it both ways, conveniently hiding between terms like doctrine and dogma when convenient, yet quickly brushing off accountability for their failures.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The marketplace of ideas tests popularity, not truth\" (EFC...)\nThis and its like is ONE of the reasons why \"Catholicism is not a strong contender\" as Jim McCrea notes above.\nIt was; it could be; it isn't; it should be.\nThe so called \"marketplace of ideas\" is the real word for the most part. When someone equates reality with \"popularity\" they expose themselves to be the culpably blind. It seems that these mentally and spiritually blind really believe that they \"see\". That includes our most vocal hierarchy and the selective traditionalists who are more \"cafeteria\" than we cafeterians. We are led by old blind men who demand that we join them and their ilk in a sightless journey into oblivian.\nJesus has wide-open eyes, mind and heart. He sees the Parent and the Parent in evolving creation, in us. He took (and takes) a lot of hits because of it but His arms are wide and, wait a minute, His mind is open.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I love Joan of Arc . When hierarchy accused her of not being in the state of grace she replied that it was God who put her and would restore her to grace were she in need .\nThe Lord has been pleased to give me a home within Catholicism and I will not give up on that calling . My \"theses \" are posted on the inside of the door . \nYour job is not to interfere with God's Will for anybody let alone decide who you'd approve of as belonging as a member in church .\nHow dare you pose such blasphemous suggestions ? I pray you have not harmed anyone with your arrogance &/or ignorance .\nFrancis of Assisi was given the command by Jesus way back in the 12th century to rebuild a church in ruin . You want him booted out ? \n\nA little knowledge is a dangerous thing\nDrink deep or naught the Pyrrenean spring . ( spelling ? )", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The first paragraph of this article says it all. This alliance of Fundamentalist Christian groups who used to dislike each are joining forces to change the US Democracy into a powerful Dominionist Theocracy under their rule. This perception of the current situation has been mentioned by both secular and religious people. Spadaro and Figueroa are being very direct and are warning us that this could very well happen, without beating around the bush. I would take this warning very seriously and become involved in the current US political activities under the ultra right GOP as much as possible to prevent this calamity from becoming reality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are many women who can give better homilies any day of the week than many priests can. They were trained as teachers---some even as teachers of public speaking. Women have a tendency to KEEP UP with religious studies [check out the balance of genders in parish bible study classes], and in graduate school, courses leading to advanced degrees of theology, church history, the history of theology, and spirituality----have more female students in them than male students.\n\n\nIt has nothing to do with clericalism. It has to do with selecting the best person for the ministry. Considering the fact that in many dioceses, the bishops brought priests over from India, Africa and the Philippines [sadly many are difficult to understand---and many are confused with what is demanded of them from their pastors and parishioners], having clear-speaking women delivering the homilies would be a breath of fresh air.\n\n\nGet over your 'we've always done it this way.' It is time for new growth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "comment 2\n\nThen Aug. 29, Andrew Hamilton has a great piece on Eureka Street. \"A credibly Christian church would respect gay employees,\" https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=52963#.WacCbfmGPX7 . It makes the points that the typical arguments of the bishops \"belongs to a past age. It presupposes a tightly bound Catholic world in which Catholic faith is accepted and shared, where the Catholic Church is a primary allegiance for its members and where Catholic schools, hospitals and welfare agencies are staffed by Catholics. Faith is maintained and transmitted through adherence to the close and disciplined Catholic community.\" Good argument here.\n\nAlso Aug. 29, Hart does an interview: \"Archbishop hits back at claims the church will fire staff who wed same sex partners\" http://www.3aw.com.au/archbishop-hits-back-at-claims-the-church-will-fire-staff-who-wed-same-sex-partners/ \u201cI said nothing whatever about sackings,\u201d Archbishop Hart said. \nHe implied it.\n\nSee comment 3.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can't agree with the idea that diplomaccy will do anything positive. We know what type of character Kim has shown himself to be. He is ruthless, a killer of kin and friends. He can't be trusted to act with Judeo-Christian, or western values. To negotiate with him simply gives him legitimacy in his eyes, a trump card that the west is weak. It would only embolden him to carry on as he has been, likely with even more impunity. He wants power internationally just as he has exerted within his country.\n\nA man will not change his ways unless he experiences a severe traumatic event. That event is not likely to come from within his country. That leaves only externally sourced events. That event won't come until Kim oversteps internationlly based boundaries, and he's moving toward conflict at a measured pace. The time will come and the world can expect it. I suspect Putin gave N.K. weapons technology. Kim may be Putin's puppet, emboldening him even more. Putin will push NK when Putin is ready.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Native man, I will stand with you and the people. You are 100% correct. I watched when some elders began to discuss some abuse at a Christian led talking circle. Immediately the subject was changed \"because we are here to praise Jesus\". Fact is the subject was changed because MANY Christian Churches participated in abuse and they want to cover it up. It makes whites uncomfortable to admit that this happened. I say to my fellow non-Natives, TRUTH ALWAYS MAKES US FREE. Do unto others as you would have done to you. Speaking truth is part of the healing process and for the mainstream to make a safe place for that to take place and to repent of those early abusive years is what is needed. Here is a video that explains \"Intergenerational abuse\" for folks. And I totally support truth and reconciliation circles....You go guy!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZwF9NnQbWM", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about the Ugandans, influenced directly by US evangelical Christians to create a \"kill the gays\" bill (later changed to \"torture and life imprisonment for gays\")? \n\nAnyway, you asked for an example of a Christian-fueled terrorist group, and then reject my example because \"violence isn't Christian\". By that standard, you can turn a blind eye to any example. How about the Atlanta olympic bomber, raised in a \"Christian Identity\" church, who bombed a lesbian bar because of his beliefs?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Saint John Paul was speaking from superstition. Real marriage marriages occur beyond discussions of intrinsic evil. The intrinsic evil in questions of divorce and remarriage happen to the people involved. What is intrinsically evil is for the Church to demand practices which deepen their pain. In the reality of pastoral ministry as it existed before Amoris and even before Veritatis, pastors heard confessions and blessed remarriages which have lasted (as well as other civil marriages and probably in the future, gay marriages) to ease the burdens on the faithful rather than make them heavier. Indeed, the four ex-bishops who are yelling from the cheap seats are like the pharisees whom Jesus condemns who used the Oral Law to pile burdens onto the Jewish people for the same reasons of moral self-righteousness and personal (and prideful) purity. Prostitutes and the remarried will enter Heaven before these four.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The average age of women in the US is increasing. \n\n20 years ago, abortion rates among Catholic women were identical to rates in the general population. Now, there is a small differential which probably reflects the fact that the average age of a woman who identifies as a Catholic is, on average, 3 years older than the average woman in the US. As a religion, we're aging out of the problem.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess I don't get it.\n\nIf these Catholic college administrators were truly concerned about the poor, shouldn't they be rejoicing at any plan that puts a college education within the reach of more children from poor families, rather than worrying about how it affects their institutions?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well, yes, mistakes were made. But priests are not required to be perfect, the Institution is Perfect and Inerrant. Individual priests can err, even commit hideous crimes against children, or, betray Christ, but the Institution remains Miraculously Inerrant. Thus, Judas was Ordained by Christ, and having not be laicized by the Vatican, is presumably a priest in good standing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And this is where dissenters fall apart.\n\nWhat you say is true....and this is exactly what the Church says. A null marriage.\n\nThe Church takes a couple at their word when they say that they said: \"I do\". \n\nIt's up to the couple to provide the Church with a credible reason why the marriage is null. \n\nThat is, they must show that a \"defect\" preventing union existed BEFORE the marriage was declared. \n\nSaying later...well he committed adultery after we were married...doesn't fit the test.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sam..\n\nTry reading .\"The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse\"\n\nAs long as audiences are on the receiving end of ambiguous, abstract, obscure, religious lingo full of clich\u00e9s and platitudes..while pastors talk about the same ancient religious stories over and over again performing amateur psycho therapy and superficial relational damage control..(groan)\n\n\"It has often been presented to me that there should be less sermonizing by ministers acting merely as local pastors of churches, and that greater personal efforts should be put forth. Our people should not be made to think that they need to listen to a sermon every sabbath. Many who listen frequently to sermons, even though the truth be presented in clear lines, learn but little. Often it would be more profitable if the Sabbath meetings were of the nature of a Bible class study. Bible truth should be presented in such a simple, interesting manner that all can easily understand and grasp the principles of salvation.: EV 348 \nSEE NEH 8:8", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ himself had a wicked sense of humor. Google it. The whole rip out your eye thing? He was making fun of the overly pious. The ultimate joke was naming Simon as Peter or Rocky, as in rocks in the head because he was a little slow on the uptake. That you have taken a funny door sign as a scandal is very predictable. If you can\u2019t handle a funny Jesus, you may not like Heaven too much.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course one would not \"tear up St. Peter's\", this is because the Roman Catholic Church is the one true Church founded by the One True God Himself. Native American, Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman, and other pagan religions are myths only. There's bigger considerations here than just pandering to and appeasing a tiny minority of people based on their pagan beliefs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I don't bow to kings?\" Who cares. \"Christ is Lord?\" I thought you worship the FakeNews.com God. Well, I guess you could worship more than one God. Isn't freedom of religion great?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part I)\nI don't think the horizontal needs to be at parity. The horizontal member of a cross is shorter than the vertical. \nIf a priest says mass by himself, is he less in communion with the rest of the Church? Of course not. First and foremost, the Mass is a sacrifice and practice of the virtue of Religion. It is not self-reflective, though it may give rise to that, nor is it, strictly speaking, oriented toward any other that God. However, even though the mass is oriented to God, it does not negate the fact that when we hear mass, we also do so in greater communion, both with those present and those who are members of the Body elsewhere. The Minor Elevation is the high point of the mass, and it is certainly not (or shouldn't be) a witness to our own Redemption nor should it be a consideration of anyone other than God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Archbishop Ladaria: \"In my opinion, at this moment the Pope wants to make an objective study, not to come to a decision, but to study how things were in the early times of the Church. This study doesn\u2019t pretend to have an ecumenical scope. The desire is to give the Holy Father some elements of judgment and nothing more. The Pope has said that \u201cthis aspect should be studied, especially in the early times of the Church.\u201d It must be a serene reflection without pressures and without the urgency to come to a decision in a short time.\" (Archbishop Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, Secretary of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, Chair of Committee on Women Deacons.)\n\nAs the ball is kicked into the long grass .....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "... we PROUDLY AND CONSISTENTLY stand up for equal rights, it ain't a 'hobby', you are either born with and instilled with it or you ain't ... \n\nMy father is a Republican my mother is a Dem, they BOTH taught us kids right and wrong each and every day. They aren't perfect people, but they both TRIED.\n\nWhen dictators/fascists go on the offensive, so do the liberals of the world. I wrote my history BA thesis on the Abraham Lincoln Brigade of the Spanish Civil War. \n\nRepublicans USED TO BE the progressives of their day, which makes modern day Republicans SO DISAPPOINTING. Republicanism started in Ripon Wisconsin, Little White Schoolhouse, those were religious agrarian PROGRESSIVES. Lincoln and Jesus would spit in the face of many of today's Republicans and super fakey 'christians' using religion as a method and reason to discriminate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think you have displayed your fruits very well on this post, and they are spoiled! This insane conspiracy has plagued all churches since the 1900s when Catholics were hated by Protestants. It's surprising it still exists in 2016. I know more about this lie (which is bearing false witness) than you do. If it weren't so sad, it would be a joke! \n You might write to the church headquarters about your \"conspiracy theory\" and see what they have to say. I think your belief in \"Jesuits\" pretty much makes your other claims on this post not credible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did you ever ask the Native Peoples in Canada and the US what they thought about those Europeans, including Ukrainians, coming here and taking their land, culture and religion? Or is your comment simply a self-justification that since we did it to them, everybody should be able to do it everyone else? \n\nWhy is it that Poles, Finns, Latvians, Ukrainians don't like Russians occupying their land, taking their language and culture? Shouldn't they be simply more Christlike (after all Russians are fellow Christians) and invite them in to take more?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I rely on the words of Christ, \"this is my body.\" He didn't say: \"this will be my body when it touches your tongue.\" \nThe thing about Faith is that it doesn't depend on the physical sciences for proof, and why would it, being in the realm of the spiritual, the existence of which can't be proven either. Can you prove that Jesus rose from the dead? Or that He walked on water? Cured the blind? Healed the sick? Of course you can't. If you accept that Christ and the Apostles performed miracles, you do so by faith alone.\nWhat you deem \"magical\" thinking could just as easily be applied to you. Is your tongue magic? Is your tongue miraculous? The only thing you've proven is that you lack faith and the intellectual honesty to admit you do not believe as the Church teaches. Spare us what you wrongfully believe is profound; nothing you've ever stated passes the slightest scrutiny.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sarasi, I hope you will write about \"in persona\" and how the priest should represent the Church, not a god.The idea that a priest is \"in persona Christi Capitis,\" meaning that he represents Jesus the Head of the Christ, is a recently blossomed idea with Vatican II. Yes, there is 2Co 2:10 which is mistranslated in the Vulgate to mean \"in the person of\" (now correctly translated in the Catholic NABRE to mean \"in the presence of\"). Aquinas wrote one sentence on the mistranslation. A Pope in 1947 wrote one sentence on Aquinas. The Baltimore Catechism has nothing on \"in persona.\" And yet we are told now by the new \"traditionalists\" that this is part of the faith tradition, that the priest is like unto a god, a representative of Jesus no less. Nonsense. Then some extrapolate from these errors to infer that since Jesus was a man, the Bridegroom, then women may not be priests. Apparently, representing a god is men's work only. See #1548 in the Catechism. NCR should address teaching errors", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I somebody wants pre-Vatican 2 Theology back, then they must be 'dissidents' o what the universal Church taught in the Vatican 2 Council. Hopefully bad theology ain't coming back, for most members of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So?\n\nHere's some information you may find interesting - \"Yet, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints looked long and hard not only at this line of reasoning, but also at the Nazi attitude toward the Church, especially in Holland in July 1942, at every word Stein said and wrote, at every act of hers after her conversion, particularly in the last few days of her life, and decided she should be venerated as a Christian martyr. It did not reject the argument that her Jewish heritage made her a target of Nazi exterminators. But the Congregation found that Stein\u2014in religious life Sister Benedicta a Cruce (\"blessed by the Cross\")\u2014gave witness to her Christian faith by words and actions while facing death, and concluded that Nazi hatred of the Catholic faith (odium fidei), in July 1942, was clear and present and the immediate cause of her being seized and killed.\" https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=804", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If scriptures are man made then why believe anything they say? If scripture (and tradition) are not the word of God then why be Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Everyone here is comparing the Church to a Government, i.e. a democracy.\nThe one thing the Church isn't, and never will be - is a democracy. \nThe Church is 'run' by the Holy Spirit - and God doesn't put things to a vote.\nDo you think, in several years, the Church will 'vote' on abortion - and if a majority of so-called Catholics say it is ok, the Church will then proclaim that abortion is no longer wrong??\n\nIf the pope feels the Holy Spirit compel him to have women ordained - then it will be.\nIf he doesn't - than it won't.\n\nPicketing and protesting will not bring about what you hope for.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This was an age in Canada when many of the young and disillusioned of the liberal left became enchanted with communist revolution and the infamous characters that brought it about. It became a fashion statement, to wear maoist agrarian clothing, having a copy or having read his pocket sized red book, Che, the Cultural Revolution, Fidel, Gadaffi, Israel, Arafat, Mugabe, Vietnam, Angela Davis, et al. It was also the origins of overlooking collateral damage as it was a means to achieve the end.\n\nThe FLQ consisted of people who knew better than anyone else. When democracy became a setback, they chose a marxist path of violence aimed at the federal government, the provincial government, English speaking Quebecers, business, and industry, in their quest to be recognized as harbingers of revolution. The FLQ severely injured a postman who never recovered, kidnapped a good man playing football with his son, and slowly strangling this man to death with an article of his Christian faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with milenials. I have deal with EWTN Catholicism for my entire life and find it vapid and disgusting. Here is one little tidbit; when I went to Catholic school, they refused to let people go stag to dances. This was during the late 1990s BTW. I was a math nerd who was bullied in school and did not get to go to senior prom because heaven forbid we allow people to go stag. When I was in college, the Catholic Church dorm formal was date oriented so I again felt excluded. Ironic that all the secular clubs were not focused on dating the way the Catholic organization were. So it is not shocking that milennials find CYO type events wanting. They are focused on some 1950s fantasy world where people marry their high school sweetheart rather than dealing with contemporary young adults.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr. Martin has Christ's love at heart if he ministers properly to gays. God bless him. In that case, his purpose is to help them deal with --- that is, to correct --- their sin, and repent for it. However, to lead them to think they're just fine as they are, without repentence, is the opposite of love. What Scripture says about leading children to sin and having millstones around the neck seems equally applicable to leading adults to sin.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, John. I don't present myself for Communion if I know I am not in a state of grace. I must confess my sins in sacramental confession, first, be truly contrite, and to try amend my ways which are not His ways. These are the standards of the Church, not mine.\n\n These women \"priests\" know what the teaching of he Church is, and yet they rejected it and still presented themselves to receive. They excommunicated themselves by rejecting what the Church believes and teaches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey \"There it is\", there it is NOT. Typical weak criticism that is not only anonymous, but also superficial, incorrect and of course, no supported by any facts. Try going to the USCG, USN, Red Cross, Catholic Social Services, Governor of Puerto Rico, FEMA, NASA and many other web services, you may get some more accurate information. Put down the chips, turn off CNN and MSNBC, your judgment may be fading.\nHave the guts to identify yourself, take responsibility for what you claim. BTW, why are you not complaining about the efforts in Texas or Florida ? Because the ADN (alias pawn of WA. Post) has not published any trash ? Or is it because things are going well enough down there ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If TradCath represents traditional Catholics, I am more happy than ever I am not one of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Cheetos-in-Chief is a bit dim and doesn't understand that NATO is a military alliance set up and led by the U.S. in large part to defend its own interests.\n\nLast year Merkel stated German military spending will increase. In light of the newly-demonstrated unreliability of U.S. leadership this can only accelerate... Who would ever have thought that a U.S. president would effusively praise the likes of Vladimir Putin while undermining democratic leadership in France, Germany, Australia and the UK?\n\n--------\nMerkel told representatives from her Christian Democratic Union's youth organizations that Germany would be increasing its military spending to 2 percent of GDP, in line with an agreement that NATO states reached in 2014. The country currently spends around 1.2 percent of GDP on the Bundeswehr.\n\"In the 21st century, we won't be getting as much help as we got in the 20th. We need to greatly increase the Bundeswehr budget to get from 1.2 to 2 percent.\"\n--------\nhttp://dw.com/p/2RHMS", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Conservatives, Republicans, Evangelicals, Libertarians and true Americans all look to the ruling from the US District Judge Nathaniel Gordon as the lawful standard for this order instead of the unlawful drivel given by the activist judge Robarts. Judge Gordon's succinct question on \"Does the word Muslim make a profound presence in this executive order is answered that it does not.\" \nRobarts's order will overturned by the precedence set by the lion of the Democratic Party, Franklin Delano Roosevelt when he used Executive order 9066 to remove Japanese Americans from the west coast and put them in interment camps. FDR used the same order to return the SS St. Louis, full of Jewish refugees, back to Germany. Roosevelt's order was in precedence of another Democratic hero, Andrew Jackson who used the Indian Removal Act in 1830 to occupy the land east of the Mississippi.\nHistorically, Democrats and liberals are guilty in reference to immigration. This is why they are crying now. Shameful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was thinking of what is happening in Honduras, where indigenous people are fighting to protect and hold the lands they have lived on and the virtual silence of/lack of support from the Catholic hierarchy of those countries. See this article in NCR: https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/eco-catholic/berta-caceres-dorothy-stang-remembered-notre-dame-de-namur-vigil \n\nIt isn't that the people there aren't already fighting. It is that those who have a more powerful voice are silent. \n\nI don't expect the bishops and the members of the clergy to carry the entire ball. But I don't think it is unreasonable to expect them to speak up, participate, when the less powerful are already doing their part.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is most striking - and most educative - is Fr. Orobator's constant use of the terms \"complete/incomplete.\" Such an insightful way of framing a discussion! We are called to completeness in Jesus Christ. Just as the Church is Unfinished, the Church is also just as Incomplete without open doors to ALL of the faithful who are called to any of its ministries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let the whining begin. All the Liberals have done so far is remind us of Scheer's voting record. It's one thing to be a devout Catholic in one's private life. It's another to try to impose one's religious values on everyone else. OK, Catholics don't recognize same sex marriage. No one is expecting the church to change its position. However, when one enters the political arena he doesn't have the right to impose his religious viewpoints on others who do not share them. In fact, Jesus allegedly said something to the effect \"give to Caesar those things that are Caesar's. Give to God those things that are God's.\" That seems to me to be a call for the separation of church and state. I hope that Scheer remembers that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I very much agree with you Monica and it is even Biblical. Wherever there are 2 or more .... The Eucharist, Baptism, Confession, Matrimony and Anointing of the Dead can and should be exercised by all members. Furthermore, there is no more Apostolic sacrament than Baptism. Clericalism especially a supposedly \"celibate\" group of male priests can no longer be seen as authoritative leadership. Clericalism has become authoritarian and serves only for self preservation. WE do need good leadership, But that should come from anyone at any stage of life that is committed to Love of God and neighbor. It seems clericalism has forgotten this idea all together in its attempt to rule as authoritarian Princes of the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hello Tony and Ry,\n\nI am in a striped shirt and I am the referee for your match.\n\nTony, please spell out what you mean when you say \"the media narrative is the correct narrative\" on racial and ethnic matters. What do you see as the \"media narrative\" in Canada when it comes to entities such as Toronto's chapter of Black Lives Matter, or the question of race and ethnicity in Toronto crime, or the question of race and ethnicity among UBC students, or the matter of friction between natives and others, or between Muslims and others, or between Christians and others? What there is the \"media narrative\" and how is it \"correct\"?\n\nAnd Ry, to you as well: What exactly do you see as the \"media's narrative\" in the above arenas?\n\nIt is hard for readers to understand exactly what you two mean, so please spell it out a bit more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are right of course. I would also ask how many have experienced a supportive learning environment where one was \"called-out\" for lying, or brought back to \"fact\"; or lovingly brought back into the logic - the \"if...then\" or the \"if not...then not\". My father was a conservative catholic but he was as wary of \"domination\" as he was of \"liberal\".\n\"Faith\" that elevates belief to an ideology has already departed from the possibility of engagement. As soon as I detect \"ideology\" whether it is the triumphalism of political right or left, or \"Jesus...\", or \"Mohammed...\" then you have already lost me.\nBut talk to me about \"subsidiarity\" or \"common good\" or whether the sun rises or not, and I will engage. \nI doubt that Democrats are much better (I tend to think they are) but it seems the Republicans are so mired in ideology and self interest that they are virtually unreachable. Scary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nah... When he speaks of unformed, he means that if you ask people my age (I'm a millenial) or younger about the tenets of the faith, they can only come up with moral platitudes that do not sound any different than any typical kid. People are taught tenets without reasoning, so they disregard it, or they are taught whitewashed versions of the teaching of the Church, so they grow think there is nothing special about being a Catholic, leave the life of the Church and adopt a general modern somewhat synchretized theism. Most Catholics are not educated to disagree with the Church... no, most are not even exposed enough to its teaching in any meaningful way to make a real decision about it. I'm not maligning these people or calling it evil. I'm simply giving my observations and experience as one who has lived and grown up with the children of those who experienced new modes of formation. It's not even that we hate the Church... we don't even know it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why do modernists behave and write as if the Church has discovered the virtues of \"mercy\" and \"compassion\" only since Francis ascended the throne of Peter? The author speaks of \"disrespect\", but fails to see the all too frequent occasions on which Francis has shown exactly that to nearly 2000 years of Church teaching and tradition. Does he { the author} really believe more traditionally minded Catholics \"fear those who look different\"? Does he have to play the race card? What we truly \"fear\" is a pope who often times fails to meet the duties of his office and causes scandal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Conservative opinions are \"looked down upon,\" the report said.\n\n\"The 'true minorities' are Christian, conservative, white \u2014 and they are being discriminated against,\" said one comment, echoed by another that said, \"high-income people feel they are suddenly being discriminated against because of their status.\" Another line read, \"especially being older, white, conservative (and) a homeowner.\"\"\n\nThe conservatives in this country need to pull their head out of their asses and start showing a little gratitude for how great they have it. We won the lottery when we were born and your world view revolves around how your being discriminated against? Ridiculous.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Most religious people are born into their faith and brain washed from birth to follow their parents religion. I'm well aware of Obama calling himself a Christian, I'm also well aware of Muslims calling themselves Christians to avoid prosecution and to gain confidence from others and to carry out their mission in secrecy as Muslim wolves are permitted by faith to dress like sheep to lure in the suckers. For a self proclaimed Christian, there sure were a lot of Muslims like Huma Abedin in government positions. LOL", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Faga: Your intrusion of christianity is unwelcome. Your christian missionaries in native communities are directly responsible for incalculable suffering. Christianity is ludicrous and irrelevant and a serious distraction from the topic.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The anti-Islamophobes\n-\na strange group\nusually they are leftists and anti-relgion, anti-Christian\nmaybe even atheists\nthey are against religious extremism if it is American but not if it is ...\nthey are for separation of church and state\nand for secularism\nbut suddenly they will pose as anti-Islamophobes\n-\nalso they love gay marriage, Pride parades, abortion, women's rights, pre-marital sex, extra-marital sex etc\ndrinking alcohol, marijuana\nthings Muslims don't like\nbut strangely they are anti-Islamophobes", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "ACLU, once again trying to justify their funding by taking a ridiculous position.\n Religion is variously defined as: \u201cthe belief in & worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods\u201d \n \n islam is not a religion, it is a brutal,fanatical theocracy aimed at invasive control of politics & every aspect of peoples\u2019lives - worldwide.\n\n Satanism certainly should not be considered to be a religion.\n So allow -no, encourage - prayers to be made in public meetings within our Christian Republic.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So your good with Black Christians....", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "These Hard Line Catholics are evil. \nNYT reports today that the Vatican has warned Conservative US Catholics in collusion with Evangelicals that they're no better than Jihadists! \nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/world/europe/vatican-us-catholic-conservatives.html", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "yeah those pesky catholic head choppers need to be driven out of canada right?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Christian wedding cake bakers are suing gay couples? Nope, never happened. \n\nChristian schools are suing gay teachers? Got that backward.\n\nChristian churches are suing city governments, because there's a secular symbol in a public park? Hardly.\n\nWhat a strange and silly article, as it completely ignores the decades of lawsuits by the ACLU, SPLC, and other liberal law sharktanks that target Christians and Christian orgs. And it suggests that it's somehow very wrong for Christians to ever oppose these relentless legal attacks.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It's \"lone wolf\" when it is a white christian. White christian's were the first terrorists.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Watch out for radical Christians, too. And radical vegans; they're the ones who bring their gluten free blankets.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "In his pre-cardinal days, Burke was an arrogant, imperious and tyrannical despot. Oh, he's sweet, smarmy and so pious, bedecked in splendor at his Tridentine recreations, but he loves power. He's running for pope as we speak. Simply put, he wants the pope dead...or at least destroyed.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Was this guy clean? Not a pervert or a gay priest enabler? Article sex, \"DiLorenzo suspended the diocese\u2019s Sexual Minorities Commission, which had been the first official group reach out to gay and lesbian Catholics in the late 1970s. He also sparked controversy by dismissing an advocate for ordaining women as priests from a diocesan women\u2019s commission.\" Just a company man who places the corrupt church above humans and civil rights. Be suspicious of this dirty church.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Saying \"Merry Christmas\" is INSULTING to anyone but christians, but, of course, that wont stop you because you don't care about anyone but yourselves.\n.\nBelieve it or not, the whole world is NOT christian, but you're too ignorant to know that.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics stand up during a homiletic rant and hit back?!?\n\nSurely you jest! These are CATHOLICS, remember?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Now that is true. I'm very negative on the abject lies about starving etc., but compared to the wifes of wherever,\" this place and that place\", especiallly the Rhode Island and Georgia. I guess I'm a racist, these black women dressed to the nines, expensive everything, yet talk like they are in the Congo ready to chop arms off each other. As if They are digging blood diamonds. If their forfathers had not been enslaved, they'd be on commercials with starving babies asking the world to feed them. And by the way, light skinned black women are EXTREMELY PREJUDICED AGAINST DARKER SKINNED BLACKS. THIS IS A FACT. but, we all seem to covet, want to be known, all the haughty loooks these people give the camera, read Proverbs 6:16-19 God will deal with mankind without Christ in your life. Hardest thing as a Christian is to learn to love everyone. Not judging other people constantly, hate, wanting justice, these are my daily struggles. ORIGINAL KILCHER ESCAPED NAZIS, HE WAS REAL, NOTTHESE.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You are right, Michael, that Christians should speak the truth and warn about the dangers of sin, disordered desires, etc. It is a real concern that the catholic church did not ban the priests who abused children - all the contrary, they were protected and hidden. Instead they ban gay priests just because they are gay. Does not make sense to me!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You can support your gay child, but you can't be Catholic too. The two things are completely incompatible. Catholics preach that homosexuality is evil. End of story.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Every time I think the LEFT has stooped as low as is humanly possibly, someone with even LESS intelligence comes up with a piece like we see here. Hillary is one of the most disgusting people to ever run for President yet the Media and left wing just chose to ignore what she has done and did their best to shove her down our throats. Trump wasn't MY first choice either but HE IS NOW GOING TO BE OUR PRESIDENT. Comparing him to Hitler is idiotic at best. He will do far better than Obama and we don't have Hillary's criminal past or support for the murder of Gays and Christians and poor treatment of women to explain to the world..", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You mean the \"Christian\" who has repeatedly threatened to immolate 70 million men, women and children by deploying tactical nuclear weapons against the Islamic Republic of Iran? If Killary is a \"Christian\", then so is satan.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If you cannot make the distinction between what consenting adults do in the privacy of their bedrooms and those who sexually abuse underage children, then there's no point in reminding you that the overwhelming vast number of child abusers are men who abuse little girls. Abusers tend to abuse whatever prey is most readily available to them - in the case of Roman Catholic priests that has mostly meant boys.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "\"In the midst of Trump's dangerous vitriol, where is the Catholic church?\"\n\nWhile most of the laity sees Trump fore the con-man demagogue that he is, a large portion of the white laity and the white clergy say we have to vote for him because he is \"pro-life.\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Gee, I've seen lists of 25-30 things..just for starters, starting with making fun of a disabled reporter, saying most Mexicans are rapists and drug dealers. How are these consistent with Christian values? THEY ARE NOT \ud83d\ude21\ud83d\ude21\ud83d\ude21\ud83d\ude21\ud83d\ude21", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "correction:\n\nthere are three heads on that snake - christianity, islam and judaism.\n\nthe mindless and endless quarrels between those bronze age goat-herding death cults may bring about the end of humanity.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What would you qualify as 'the authentic Catholics'?\nWould you call all those clergies who rape children in confessionals & sacristies?\nOr all those so call bishops who let these sacrileges go on for over thirty years let alone couldn't care about the innocent children who's life are ruined?\nOr Pope F., C. Pell, C. O'Malley dilly dally deceiving whole world for three years accomplishing nothing in resolving clergy sex abuse of children problems? \nOr like Ab. Jerome Edward Listecki, & C. Dolan, who swindle money from clergy sex abused victims? \nWell, take your pick, since you sound like you know who are 'the authentic Catholics'!!!\nYou sound like one of those condescending authentic Catholic without ounce of humility!\nAnd so judgmental too!\nI would not call those people 'the authentic Catholics'!!!!! LOLOLOLOLOL!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Is you blatant racism meant to be representative of the views of most Catholics?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Those Senators so enamored of the body counting in all of the foreign wars from Vietnam to present seem to disregard home body counts. What is the magic body count number that will activate their collective conscience? The Republican majority claim Christian morality and loyal followers of the Prince of Peace, yet they ignore the slaughter plaguing the nation from within. The sole purpose of the Republican Party and too many Democrats is the complete gridlock of government. This latest deliberate rejection of any action to stem the tide of massive armament distribution within the nation demonstrates just how evil they have all become. Body count doesn't matter to those protected by massive armament and law enforcers. They sit in their Capitol Bunker divorced from the rest of the nation and rejecting all accountability for their actions and non-actions. Disgusting.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "So? \"Christian\" men assault their wives and kids every day, no matter what they're wearing. \n\nOr are you only upset when non-white men beat their women?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "This guys hispanic, and scitzo now some crazy white christians are probably going to go commit some hate crimes. I think the police and FBI dropped the ball and let to much information out about their screw up by giving his gun back, and releasing his insane ramblings of the right medias hate&fear campaign inciting hate toward middle eastern people. Lets hope nothing else comes of this. By the way more U.S. citizens are shot and killed by toddlers every year than ISIS. Statistically you should be more afraid of toddlers thats why we keep Um locked up ! .http://greatstartforkids.org/sites/default/files/image/Child%20family%20photos/Evacuation%20crib%20photo.jpg", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Your typical straw man of fear and loathing of homosexuals by the Church is nonsense, and an easy excuse to justify behavior counter to Church teaching. All people have inclinations to sin and give into temptation. We are called to be better than that.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Pastor Francis, the church of God, is the body the Christ, and is dirtied and corrupted by priests(majority of them) and is in need of swift remission, but you are full of jokes.\n\nDo it before God judges you. Stop the abuse -- the sex abuse, the child sex abuse, monetary corruption, homosexuality within the priesthood.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Nice generalization Pan. My daughter is a none. She is a none because Catholicism became a bankrupt joke of a spiritual system with the abuse crisis. She graduated from a Catholic college and all of her friends are nones, except for the one prosperity gospel evangelical. Many of them work in social services for non profits. Your generalization is as useless as the one above based on a sample of two. At least Rita was honest about her sample size. You are mixing your own opinion in as fact.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It seems strange that Chaput, the first ever 'Native American' Roman Catholic Archbishop, has not rooted his comments in his ancestral memory, history and experience. One might expect that he would be a foremost champion of the poor and a willing ally of Pope Francis, given the genocidal history that white western 'Christian' 'civilization' subjected Americas First Nations (North, Central and South) to. Instead, he comes across as a clumsy apologist for the Trump administration. What a strange title for someone who is not 'a stranger in a strange land'. His book, if like his sermons, must be full of intellectual masturbation and devoid of the earthy and humane wisdom of those from whom he is a descendant.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Canadians must wake up to Sharia practices for muslims from Syria. Female sex mutilations occur in Canada today. Crimes of honour that allow for murder of wong women by parents or relatives showing a North America society traits is reality in Canada today. So, hygene is also part of our difference. Integration to a christian society means adapting to new rules. Will they?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You realize how silly your question is, right? How can there possibly be multiple organizations representing fundamentalist religious views? How can there be 634 First Nations in Canada? You appear to expect that members of the LGBTQ community all belong to some sort of common organization or union of sorts. Maybe it's good for those who oppose their interests that they don't as such an organization would likely represent hundreds of thousands of Canadians. My guess is that the LGBTQ community may well exceed in size the population of Christian fundamentalists in Canada.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Sarasi1. I appreciate that (and am very glad you're here!). I have considered leaving again, because NCR Comments is fast becoming another vector of the alt-right, and it's grotesque.\n\nI've encountered Nazi/fascist/anti-Semitic/racist/fanatical Catholics on (and off) the internet over the years, but however repugnant, at least they could be relegated to the crackpot fringe. That's obviously not the case anymore. The fringe has gone mainstream, and a Catholic white nationalist with grandiose ambitions is now one of the most powerful people in the world. NCR is obviously critical of Trump and his administration, but if there's been any in-depth reportage or analysis of Catholic participation in the alt right, I missed it.\n\nWhen this kind of stuff is recommended in Comments and gets upvoted by a promiscuous troll, with virtually no pushback, things are far gone (warning: venomous anti-Semitic Catholic site with really bad graphics):\n\nhttp{:}//www{.}realjewnews{.}com/?p=476", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Right. They should just stay where they are, tough it out, watch their children get slaughtered. How dare they not \"\"have the courage\" to fight for the genocidal regime running their country? How dare they refuse to go out and kill women and children indiscriminately? What traitors! And if they do have the audacity (sheesh, the nerve of these people!!) to protect their family and get them to safety in another country, they should definitely expect to be treated like second-class citizens. They should NOT get involved in anything in their new community - they should just work at their minimum-wage job and keep their heads down and their mouths shut. How dare they hope for any type of respect or compassion from \"whitey.\" \n\nSMH. How honorable and Christian of you people. I'm disgusted by some of these comments and thoroughly ashamed of our national leadership.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Trudeau should worry more about the present dangerous religion/ideology: Islam. \n\nInstead, infected by the German disease, he has to do \"mea culpa\"s for the crimes of \"our\" now moribund Catholic Church. I am from Quebec and I cannot think of a single of my relatives or friends attending Church over there.\n\nIslam, that is the danger now. Forget the Pope: as irrelevant as Santa Claus. If the Pope had any balls, he would excommunicate Trudeau for supporting abortion.\n\nPS: Apologies also do not solve the problems of our Aborigines. The first nations have tons of problems and the Pope cannot do miracles.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Baking a cake for a wedding is celebrating that ceremony and the acts which are the expression thereof. \n\nDo we want liberal Sharia where Christian bakers are bullied for taking what the Bible says about homosexual activity sinful? Why is it so important to get a wedding cake from someone with a religious objection when there are plenty of bakers with no objection happy to take the money? The comparison with segregation is just to invoke an emotional response. There is no Scripture that teaches black and white people can't eat together, but there is Scripture that teaches marriage is between a man and a woman and homosexual sex is sinful.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Married man here, not a priest.\n\nSimple question though: who do you think Jesus would say has fuller participation in His Church?\n\nThe power hungry cleric or the ignorant farmer receiving Communion?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ward, your an (insert insult here) .. The mission is a Christian organization-I highly doubt that a \"Right winger\" would have done such a thing to its own kind.. Now if this was an abortion clinic then you might be on to something.. Also Lane County DOES have a free dining room to feed the homeless and believe it or not its called The Dining Room..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A practical example of \"favoring\" a candidate in a Catholic parish is to announce his support for pro life and the noting of the pro Choice position for the other candidate....\n\nThe defense will be its \"voter education\" the reality is that due to the Church's clear position on the issue its the \"pro life\" candidate who is being favored...\n\nA clear scrutiny by an informed legal counsel is useful here.....suggest sending this to CREW.....the nuncio, the IRS and Rome.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Christianity neither is not ever was part of the common law.\"\n- Thomas Jefferson \n\n\"The government of the United States is not in any way founded on the Christian religion.\"\n- John Adams \n\n\"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish (Muslim), appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.\"\n- Thomas Paine \n\n\"Religion and government will both exist in greater purity the less they are mixed together.\"\n- James Madison \n\nI'm sorry, what were you blathering about? I couldn't hear you over the actual objections to religion of the founding fathers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know what goes on in other countries in relation to this, but here, in the US, it seems to me that part of the reason that the \"voices that want change are disorganized\" is that many of those who would normally be organizing the push for change are no longer in the Church. Some of us are just tired. I know that I live in a part of the state where the Catholic Church is very conservative, and those who still go to church seem to be just fine with it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then, what is needed is not an advisory group for the Pope, but the power and umph of a dicastory/congregation behind it. Perhaps members of this advisory group should be incorporated under or as a Vatican Congregation. I also wonder if members of the group should also be appointed to the CDF, Congregation for Bishops, and Congregation for Clergy, and the highest levels of the Roman Rota, perhaps even the Apostolic Signatura. Yes, lay people appointed to positions within these congregations specifically to coordinate the work of these parts of the Vatican with the work of addressing child sex abuse. Titles equivalent to \"bishop\" and \"cardinal\" should be created for lay people.\n\nI would recommend that Tom Doyle be appointed to the advisory group and to the Apostolic Signatura. He is a canon lawyer and he certainly know about sex abuse within the Catholic Church. Francis could make him a cardinal so he has equal power to other cardinals.\n\nA dream?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Does anyone know why it has to be owned by muslims? Is there a particular reason the 500 plots should not be used?\"\n\nIt's a shame that Layla4 doesn't suggest answers rather than leading questions.\n\nMuslims would like to own their cemeteries for the same reasons that Jews and Christians like to own their own cemeteries. Simply put, they want their final resting places to be among people that share their point of view. A Christian may not wish to be buried beside a Satanist, for example. Call it irrational if you wish, but that's the way it is. And as it's the deceased's last wish on earth, is it too much to ask?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In majority Muslim countries it is extremely difficult to get permission to build a small Christian church, let alone a non-Muslim cemetery. I've heard very little criticism of that in the West.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"\"We want to be more actively involved in the life of society here, and we count on Russia's church and government being more attentive in future to Catholic needs.\"\"\n- Kirill is pining for a patron-client relationship were the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox gets to decide and control the 'Patriarch of the West' and all those who are in union and / or communion with him.\n- That ArchbBenedictxvi threw off the office of Patriarch for the successor of Rome is probably signalling that Kirill gets to view his own governance status as superior, not equal. After all the orthodox know that 'cardinal' is an honour, not an office, and archbishop and bishop are but ecclesial offices that are subordinate by church governance to the office of patriarch.\n- The lay catholics in russia and ukraine need to practice their own realpolitik and start a gentle but persistent campaign to separate church from state, while responding to patriarch of all russia as one christian equal to another.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The accusation of exerting political influence? There are liberal Catholic groups that do just that. Receive large amounts of money? Ask NCR about their receipts. If you're very concerned, ask the Hilton foundation about their contributions....\nWhat seems to be the issue here is that you don't agree with the KoC and their positions...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "==================\nOur Civil Society:\n==================\n\nUNICEF\nOxfam\nWorld vision\nCARE International\nSave the Children\nRed Cross\nFeed the Children\nShriners\nChristian Children's Fund\nDoctors Without Borders\nThe United Way\nHabitat for Humanity\n\n=======\nTheirs:\n=======\n\nISIS/ISIL\nal-Qaeda\nCAIR\nIslamic Jihad\nHezbollah\nal-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades\nTaliban\nHamas\nMuslim Brotherhood\nIzz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades\nChechen terrorist bombers\nBoko Haram\nAl-Shabaab\nHaqqani network\nAbdullah Azzam Brigades\nJabhat al-Nusra\nAnsar Dine\nJemaah Islamiya\nLashkar-e-Taiba\nHussein Bin Ali cell\nAbu Sayyaf", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you really know a lot about India? Or are you taking little bits and extrapolating with your prejudices? \n\nOf course Hindus, Jews and Sikhs said they loved Christmas. The Hindus and Sikhs love it in India too. It is in a western country that tolerance was defined as allowing an another religion to exist. That was a huge step for a Christian country (like I mentioned before, in Spain, Portugal and Italy every single non Christian was killed, converted and expelled. After that the Inquisition was launched to find those who had \"pretended\" to convert, and kill them too).\n\nI have celebrated Christmas in Muslim countries, when I am of neither faith. For me, that is tolerance. To learn about other cultures that I live with, instead of patting myself in the back that I let them practice their religion. That is the India definition of tolerance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So faithfully Catholic that they were asked by the ordinary of where they are located to remove Catholic from their and they disobeyed. \nBTW your last sentence is not well constructed", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jewish, Christian, Muslim - they all read from the same initial book and in that order, add more. The \"Jewish\" Old Testament, the \"Christian\" New Testament and the Muslim Koran -- all build on the previous.\n\nAnd all sects point, in varying degrees of adherence, to the scriptural writings calling women to yield to men and to accept the female status as subservient. Orthodox Jews cover their heads and women are not allowed to pray at the Western Wall. Orthodox Christians (Mennonites, Hutterites, etc.) cover their heads and women walk behind their husbands. The hijab, the niqab and other garments of Muslim women follow the same tradition.\n\nAnd it seems the orthodox followers of all these religions are deeply sure that the way they treat \"their\" women is what god wants.\n\nFun, eh! Maybe women should create their own goddesses. \n[But goddesses with power this time, not helpmates to male god(s).]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly, when I point out the evils of clergy sex abuse of children and CI (Catholic Institution\u2019s) systematic hiding & condoning of child rapes, it is my desire to help protect children first of all and to help CI clergies to realize the evils of what they practices. \nIf I don\u2019t care about the Catholic Church, I would just consider that as one of those evils in the world and move on.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reading and believing in the Bible would make me paranoid? Nice to know. You obviously are not a Catholic, may I ask what if any faith you follow?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wasn\u2019t terribly surprised when it was reported a few weeks ago that Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore is tied to the \u2018League of the South\u2019, the pro-Southern secession/slavery apologism group that wants to lead the South in a second rebellion against the federal government in order to found a \u2018white Christian republic.\u2019\nBut I confess I was a bit surprised that Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who is currently the leading Republican candidate to succeed Sen. Bob Corker, does too.\nIn 2004, Blackburn invited the Rev. David O. Jones, a neo-Confederate, secessionist and slavery apologist, to give the opening prayer in the House.\nAnd that happened and went largely unreported!\nhttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/marsha-blackburn-brought-neo-confederate-secessionist-to-deliver-prayer-to-congress", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While addressed to Christians, this is an excellent commentary on anger. I just mentally delete all the \u201cGod\u201d and \u201cJesus\u201d stuff. Besides, isn\u2019t there a myth about a very angry \u201cGod\u201d wiping out most every living thing on Earth but the contents of some \u201cArk\u201d\u2026an oversized craft that would have been impossible to build\u2026and would have sunk in days had it actually existed? Now that is some real anger! The old testament God was supposedly superseded by a new covenant but is still widely embraced by new testament believers.\nI have acquaintances who are non-angry Christians. Very pleasant\u2026although I find it rather bland after a while\u2026and I have seen some of them explode with repressed anger (at their kids, no less). I presume the author also addresses the frothing-at-the-mouth Christians...the fear-based cults so politically active these days. But again, his non-denominational views on anger apply to us all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are you a German Catholic? If you in fact are then you just proved my point.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If followers of Satan were barred from office, the congressional chambers would be empty. Oh, wait, we're talking about public statements by the politicians, not their actual actions. So they are \"christians\" even though they serve the other guy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cThis will take the courage and faith of an apostle like James, Peter and Paul. The question is: Are there any men in Catholic hierarchy today of that caliber?\u201d\n\nNo, I think it will take a mother/father\u2019s heart! And these single male clergies lack the most important qualification to be a man of God to \u2018feed my sheep\u2019.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think religious fanatics should be given a platform to tell us what the think about internal matters of CSIS. Christian Jew whatever, if you are a true believer who constantly pushes your beliefs upon everyone NO RESPONSIBLE NEWSPAPER would allow this unless they were a Religious Newspaper pushing belief upon everyone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a matter of fact, I am a progressive Catholic who believes that sin is subjective rather than objective. My point was that maligning other prelates' spirituality and psychological makeup is \"fanning the flames\" when theological discourse \nshould be expected from a pope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tks Shante from a fellow Christian. In the late 1800's Nietzsche proclaimed; 'God is dead and we have killed him, you and I\". He saw that 'science' was in the process of killing God and with it (in the West) christian morality. The result: deep psychological trauma and a vacuum of meaning. The vacuum was filled by tribal nihilism (fascism) and economic utopianism (marxism). Movements that almost turned the 20th century into our last. Those 'pushy/hateful' people shoving God/etc down our throats are the 'Happy Clappers' trying desperatly to reverse the last 200 years. My interaction with Christians makes me guess that these people are at most 10/15% of the world's Christians. Much of what we call charity had its origins in the Christian Church. The norm those days was to cast widows/orphans/poor out in the cold. Christians reversed that and were thought to be odd that they share their means (even meagre) with others and allow widows/women into their homes and councils as equal, very odd", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, \"our Church\" is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic; not a cumbaya club.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pharisees also twisted God's word for their own gain. The problem with some christians is the same as it's always been. Instead of changing themselves to the Word of God, they change the word of God to fit the life they want. This is where religion has failed and only faith and obedience to God's Word will save the few who chose to follow it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I predict that white Catholics will vote overwhelmingly Republican in 2018 and 2020. Black and Hispanic Catholics will continue to vote Democrat. That's been the trend and I don't see it ending especially since the Democrat Party appears to only care about race and identity politics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "2/2\nI'm old enough to remember a time when I thought I didn't know any gay people (not the word we used). When I found out that I did, I was surprised in two instances by who they were and how much they suffered. Both men were friends of my parents; both were in relationships with other men (not each other; they didn't even know each other.) Both lived most of their adult lives in faithful relationships with their partners, but neither ever shared a home with his partner. Only late in her life, after my father was gone, did my mother realize the nature of the relationship that her great friend and neighbor had with his \"friend.\" I was moved by the way the insight dawned on her, and on the compassion she had for him as his life-partner was dying -- compassion rooted in her own then-recent loss of my father. I learned a lot; and I was changed.\nThe teaching of the church about homosexuality is not only wrong; it is evil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It used the very example of Jesus Christ. Jesus put the \"institutional\" Church together and sent the Holy Spirit to guide her. \"That they may be one...\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only priests I like and trust are those over 80. The ones over 80 went into the priesthood when the Catholic priesthood was about sacrifice and service. (OK, also about status, but by the time a guy is 80 years old, he's usually got over himself, especially if he looks out at a dome full of empty pews every Sunday morning.) The ones I can't stand are the ones under 65. By the time they went in, the Catholic priesthood was about hiding from the draft, from meritocracy and from women in the workplace.\n\nI hope the old guys keep working forever. When they head off to Purgatory, I just might quit going to mass altogether.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is fairly untrue. Women had no divorce rights in Christianity, but did so in Islam. Women had to (and still do) change their names after marriage. Not done in Islam. For its time, it was far more women friendly than Christianity. The Arabian Nights stories were considered extremely risque by the repressed Victorians of the 19th century. Belly dancing exposes a lot more skin than most traditional western performances.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is such a personal journey that I don't think it could have justice done in print. \n\nAs for Mister Brownlee; don't let your waders get too far away. Even Jesus and my hometown priest went fishin'!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know if this will pass the editorial review, and I offer it in good faith and in good Faith. But there is no canon or no canon lawyer who can challenge this: \n\nThere is nothing in the 'flow of life' that can inspire, humble, educate, challenge, or make a man feel like a child of God like holding a grandchild or making love to a grandmother. \n\nI'm not saying these are requirements for holiness or sainthood, but.....it does take some theological arrogance to challenge it without knowing or without trusting the unique charism of those who do. I think Pope Francis trusts. I am not sure how many prelates join him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop Tobin blames the fallen away for falling away. He even admits that some criticisms of the priests and the liturgies are justified, but no one with faith would stop attending Mass. I believe Bishop Tobin is way off the mark. \n\nIn Andrew Greeley's The Making of the Pope 2005, he says we need a church that listens. It doesn't sound to me the Bishop Tobin has any interest in listening. He has decided he knows it all already. This kind of attitude is the undoing of the Catholic Church. It is interesting that this column comes right after this Sunday's Gospel where Christ meets the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus meets and converts a woman that by the religious standards of his time he shouldn't have even been speaking with. I wonder what would have happened had it been the bishop there rather than Jesus. Instead of writing people off as unclean or unredeemable, we need church leadership that engages people where they are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is between you and God. All of these questions, however, are matters of natural reason, not theology. To say their are unchangeable is idolatry on your part. If there is change (and so far most of what you are looking at has had no change in teaching), it is to make morality more in tune with actual humanity rather putting piety before the needs of the flock. You seem to be like the pharisees who had their heads in their falactories instead of on the needs of their people, which Jesus condemned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is not a mortal sin. How can moving from Christ to Christ be a mortal sin?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is mighty curious how certain so-called experts in God's law claim that God's law is as perennially binding in 2017 as it must have been in 17 AD, or even in 17 BC or years prior! It's more than enough to make any reasonable person realize that these \"experts\" do not understand law or the nature os law (including God's law) or human sexuality! And the Catholic hierarchy has has plenty of opportunities to update itself, but has chosen not to do so. Wonder if all that could have something to do with the clergy sex abuse crisis, as well as defective seminary formation!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How sad is the state of the USCCB when you read MSW's preview. In Baltimore, Archbishop Lori expects his 120 active priests serving 150 parishes to shrink to 80 in the next few years! No thought about a married clergy, much less women ordinations or lay/religious parish directors. And the parishes think that pianos and no organs, projector screens and no hymnals (is there a better use of our native lumber?), video projections of the assembly (selfies gone amuck!) and for God's sake save the kneelers(!) is the way to go in the 21st century? Ignore Evangelii Gaudium and Amoris Laetitia; the Holy Spirit was asleep when the conclave elected this pope! Dear God, save us from ourselves!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi! , EFC1127A\nI have been following your on going communication with Old Abuelo. I assume that you will have picked up on our communications, would you be prepared to also respond to my proposal of a way forward in humility, before God\u2019s Divine Mercy.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Says something in the bible about the more in your neighbors eye and the stick in yours.\n\nDo you really think you have the moral high ground to discuss the subjugation of women in other countries?\n\nIs North America really that good for women?\n\nThey\u2019ve only had the vote for less than a century. They are statistically payed less. The USA hadn\u2019t had a female president in its entire history even though the most qualified politician in history vied for the job last year. And look at the latest Hollywood scandals! Do you not think that women were treated like second class citizens?\n\nMight wanna take a look around. . .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Too many catholics, especially here, believe the church may be judged by human standards, and those standards say it is bad to rape children. However, you correctly point out that the duty of catholics is to support the church, no matter what it does. So if the bishops protect child rapists and those rapists go on to offend again and again, then we must support the church. You demonstrate exactly the loyalty to the institution that the bishops desire and expect and should be proud of your stance, regardless of whether it condones child abuse or not. The important things is not some sense of \"right or wrong\" but rather, supporting the church, whatever it does.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Any doctrine not accepted by the faithful disqualifies as doctrine. This is good old sane Catholic teaching.??? Where on earth did you hear that one? The only time I have heard this was in a talk given by Father Martin on YouTube. Tell me, where is that teaching actually found? Just because some random person, even a priest says something, doesn't mean it is true. About 500 years ago many people in Europe disagreed with Rome about many doctrinal issues including divorce and remarriage - These were the Protestants. The church would not change and they left the church. The doctrine was not \"disqualified\" it remained - they left. I will leave you with this:\n2 Timothy 4:3 ESV \nFor the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What the heck has happened to these people? \n \nMoney is so important that they will let people, our fellow citizens die; not get medical treatment; let children suffer, just so they and the wealthy can be even richer? \n \nAt least they can't take the wealth with them when they meet Jesus on the other side and He mentions that Camel and the eye of the needle. But how many of our fellow citizens, our neighbors, will have died before these republicans because of their greed?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The middle bunch will side wherever their advantage lies. We have such a thing as \"politeness\" and it is all it takes. Calling it, derogatorily \"political correctness\" is counter-productive (if understandable, there are shades of grey), we all need to accommodate differences without buying into them. Over time, unless stoked, the fires of mistrust will die out.\n\nI tend to use the term \"courting\" as the level of politeness demanded of all of us, I guess a Christian would call it \"turning the other cheek\". Of course, the consequences must be taken into account. The Nats failed to use their advantage to build respect rather than resentment. I guess that unwittingly we are continuing on that path, except that now we can see where it is going to lead. We're not to blame for creating the conditions, but we are guilty of perpetuating them.\n\nAnd I think we have a case here that the shades of grey are subtle, very subtle. Robert Heinlein would insist that we do not throw sand into the cogs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "e,g, and k are all signs of apostasy.\n\nBut we really only need one measure: How many confessions heard per week.\n\nSupplement it with:\nNumber of infant baptisms\nNumber of adult baptisms\nNumber of adults finishing sacraments of initiation\nNumber of Protestants being received into full communion\n% of nominal Catholics attending Mass on Sunday\n% of nominal Catholics confessing once per year\n% of nominal Catholics making their Easter duty\n% of nominal Catholics who understand Church teaching and agree with it\nNumber of radical sanations and convalidations per year.\n\nAll these externals indicate conversion: a turning to Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Matt 11:20-24\n\nAlso Matt 10:35, division of the family, \n\nBringing the sword\n\nTaking all that together, if we want to apply Christian principles to immigration, then we ought consider that Jesus didn't seem to be a fan of ecumenical/humanistic multiculturalism. \n\nInstead, Jesus did welcome the stranger and outsider, but only if they were in harmony with his principles.\n\nTherefore, WWJD if he were in charge of U.S. immigration policy? Christian immigrants before Muslim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why would people take the \"religion content of Christianity\" seriously if it was something that needed to \"be brought up to date with informed faith's science-sense of reason\"? (Whatever that is.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again, Archbishop Chaput confuses American conservative orthodoxy with Catholic orthodoxy. To be sure, the two overlap in part, but they are not the same. While he criticizes others for their promotion of secularizing the culture, he does the exact same thing by promoting American political conservativism. For him to single out political progressives/liberals and suggest that they leave the Church is clerical/episcopal malpractice. \n\nAn orthodox Catholic is one who roots his or her life in Christ and seeks to follow him. There always has to be an understanding that one will never get this right, and will always be in need of reconciliation. That is why Pope Francis consistently preaches about the importance of accompanying those who have lost their way. That is the mercy of Christ in action. In this instance, I sadly do not see Christ in Archbishop Chaput, but a shill for American conservatism. That's not orthodoxy. However, I don't think he should leave the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No man is without sin, Harry, and neither am I. The difference between Trump and I, in principle, if also in degree, is that since I accepted Christ I endeavored to sin no more. That he continues to sin, now even sending more mercenaries to murder innocent Afghan people. When I recognize sin in my past I TRY to make amends for it. Trump doesn't do that, and continues to sin, so there's no doubt in my mind that he (and his supporters) are fake Christians. I can forgive those who do wrong to me, and have even done good to them, as Jesus commanded, but when I see them harming others, even after I've forgiven them, I KNOW they must be stopped.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re: \"Only in Vancouver or elsewhere on the left coast would Franklin Graham be considered contentious\"\n\nBlarney. Canada refused entry to Patrick Buchanan with his 'christian' hate message not so long ago.\n\nAbout the only thing you got right is that church has become a \"business\". Graham is a perfect example of how Christ's message has gotten lost as the \"church\" became political.\n\n\"Sad!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We do have a say, if someone does not want to buy insurance from a company that performs sex changes or abortions we can choose another company, unless, of course if it is company insurance (which I have), and which covers those two things, I could opt out if I chose to and would if it was affordable. As costs continue to skyrocket, and insurance becomes more un-affordable other options that do not include those things will become available, and a message will be sent by $$$ to the insurers, and people will buy elsewhere. The Christian groups that share medical costs are becoming quite popular and affordable, largely because Christians who opt in to programs like those will probably not have abortions, lung cancer from smoking, diabetes from gluttony, cirrhosis from alcoholism etc...It will happen, and Obamacare will make it happen sooner !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians also have zealous members but they become pastors and missionaries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Peel students have spoken respectfully about the importance of their faith.\"\n\nDid they include Catholics and Presbyterians, Jewish and agnostic. ? No certainly not. They would have tainted the discussion with things like Christianity God and Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also, the fact that Richard G. Malloy, SJ has a PhD but doesn't know how to concisely explain transubstantiation or an ontological mark shows something about his education. I could tell you those things in second grade. Catholic education has gone down the tubes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's be clear - the motion condemns all forms of phobia against religion, including islamophobia, that may lead to hate crimes. It does NOT condemn criticism of Islam, or Christianity, or Judaism, or any other religion. There's plenty of room to be critical of something without resorting to hatred.\n\nAs an atheist, I have no problem with anyone's personal beliefs, as long as they don't try to foist them on me or anybody else. Hate crimes and hate speech against a particular religion (be it Islam or Judaism) try to do just that.\n\nNo, I don't think that this particular Private Member's Motion (that's MOTION, not BILL) will harm the country at all. I see no problem in decrying hate speech of any sort. There is no \"slippery slope\" here.\n\nTabatha is right, again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The hubris of Christianity, exhibit A. If God made science then Christians would do well to show it a bit more respect.\n\nAlthough I agree it's true we can't destroy or save the planet, merely render it a radioactive wasteland unfit for human habitation. The earth doesn't care if we live or die.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": ".\n\"Not up to Alberta Premier to dictate how Catholic schools teach sex education: Kenney\"\n\nActually Jason.....it is.\n\nThat's why they/the NDP are the government and you are NOT.\n\n.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church most certainly did hold that slavery was moral. One of the Lateran Councils said that those who aided the Muslims were to be reduced to perpetual slavery. Various Church official, up to and including popes, owned slaves.\n\nYou traditionalists pretend that the magisterium never accepted the morality of slavery, you do this in one of two ways: You either outright lie about it, or else you play dishonest word games. You make it quite clear that you would embrace dishonesty rather than admit the fact that the magisterium can and has changed its teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...if you want to be seen as standing in the presence of Pope Francis or standing with him. And if it is the latter, what will you do to demonstrate that solidarity?\"\n\nSteven, fyi. Francis is not Jesus Christus, ipse (himself). \n\nWhat will the pope do to demonstrate that he's not just another angry SJWer, declaring some people as rigorists and others as deplorables?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You want to prevent Kerns from ever being employed? Interesting.\n\nAnd I'm willing to bet you aren't even Catholic....your religion appears to be hate....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please, as Heinbecker states, there are more Christian than Muslim member states.\n\nOnly 2 of the 12 security council members in this unanimous YES vote were Muslim. \n\nCareful with using \"dishonest and hypocritical\" as slings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Taking, therefore, the words of Christ and of the Apostle [Paul] as the strict rule, should not one say that the Church of today is rather inclined more to coddling than to severity? It so happens that the accusation of oppressive rigidity made against the Church by the \u2018new morality,\u2019 in reality, attacks, in the first place, the adorable Person of Christ Himself.\"\n(Pope Pius XII)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One important difference you leave out Germany had admitted its guilt paid compensation to Jews and others and most importantly its taught in the school. Christian churches have apologies for lack of doing nothing. Now take modern day Turkey a nation of 80 million refuse to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide of 1915 but also make it a crime to mention the Armenian Genocide. Education in modern day Turkey makes no mention of the Armenian Genocide. We have hate laws regarding denying the holocaust this could be used against the Turkish government and its religious followers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't remember trashing you but I apologize. I have a lot of issues with Christianity but any particular Christian I look at as an individual. \nThere are people who I do a lot of things with that claim themselves to be Christian. There seems to be diversity among those who call themselves Christians. \n\nAs far as growing up under the 60s generation, wouldn't that include your parents? What specifically did they do that was unfair?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "protestants seeking their own church by their definition. not roman catholic at all", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"... though it is based on many Judeo-Christian precepts...\"\n\nNo, it is not. The USA Government was formed and designed to be against everything Judeo-Christian.\" Read the Federalist Papers, please. Also, the person who named the country \"The United States of America\" was actively, loudly, aggressively anti-Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Only Carter is Christian. Sanders is Jewish.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is one \"christian\" judging other \"christians\" for not being \"christian\" enough? Judge not dude, or as Tom Waits wrote: \"...come down off the cross, we can use the wood, come on up to the house\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let us pray also for the faithless Jews {perfidis Judaeis}: that Almighty God may remove the veil from their hearts; so that they too may acknowledge Jesus Christ our Lord.\n\nAlmighty and eternal God, who dost not exclude from thy mercy even Jewish faithlessness {Judaicam perfidiam}: hear our prayers, which we offer for the blindness of that people; that acknowledging the light of thy Truth, which is Christ, they may be delivered from their darkness. Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nice piece of revisionist history you present there, Sher-e. You conveniently forgot to mention that Islam has only ever been spread by the sword. Spain, for example, was invaded by Moors from North Africa in the early 700's.\n\nYou also conveniently forgot to mention that the New Testament doesn't call for any mistreatment of non-Christians. Contrast that with the Koran's teachings regarding nonbelievers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, you should be the opposite of what you are. You should be honest, open, sympathetic, humble. So why aren't you?\n\nYou say I should forget that you have lied about me, and blamed me for your refusal to apologize. What really got to me in our back and forth about my not getting over the bullying I suffered in school was your refusal to offer either sympathy for those being bullied or condemnation of the bullies. The only one you did condemn was me for my inability to forgive. You call being bullied an \"extremely small matter\", which shows that your empathy is non-existent. I knew someone who committed suicide because he was bullied.\n\nI am not a perfect Christian. But the \"Christianity\" you show is quite unattractive. It is wholly self-centered., showing no concern for others. You slam \"social justice warriors\". Do you support injustice? You won't condemn racism. Do you see nothing wrong with it? You have a tiny view, just you and the \"Christ\" created in your own image and likeness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope Frank is a decent guy, sure.\n\nBut over the centuries the Catholic Church has been responsible for plenty of evil deeds. Nonetheless, not even the Catholic Church has done the damage to America that has been done by evangelical Christians \n/\n- and, given the history of the Catholic church's opposition to\nthe spread of public education,\nthe study of virtually any kind of science,\nfreedom of conscience,\nfreedom of religion,\nfreedom of speech,\nfreedom of association,\nfree and fair elections, and\nwomen's rights \n/\nthat's saying something.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is what the report does NOT tell you. When you look at the actual history of Christian refugees, the overwhelming majority of them are from: Burma (Myanmar), Democratic Republic of Congo, Bhutan, the Ukraine, Burundi, Sudan, Cuba, Iran, Iraq. But the main bulk of Christian refugees are NOT coming from the Greater Middle East. \nHere is what the RPC IWRAP report shows for all nations:\n-- 1/21/2017 - 6/30/2017 shows 7,250 refugees of Muslim faiths from all nations.\n-- 1/21/2017 - 6/30/2017 shows 8,095 refugees of various Christian faiths and sects from all nations. \nBut when you look this U.S. refugee for the world and Greater Middle East and ROW except Burma, Congo, Burundi, Sudan, Bhutan, Ukraine, Cuba, you see a VERY DIFFERENT story for this time period during 1/21-6/30/2017:\n-- 1/21/2017 - 6/30/2017 shows 6,444 refugees of Muslim faiths (filtered)\n-- 1/21/2017 - 6/30/2017 shows 2,395 refugees of various Christian faiths and sects (filtered by same countries)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I spent some years in Spain.The town had a \"Catholic\" cemetery, within whose walls only baptised could be buried. The unbaptised (and I suspect that in Franco's Spain that might have included people who may have been baptised, but had clearly invalidated that by not supporting the Caudillo) were buried outside, but just outside, the cemetery walls.\n\nIn the years after the civil war, the town prospered, so much so that the cemetery proved too small, so it was extended. This means that those buried outside now find their graves are inside the \"Catholic\" cemetery ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow, who knew that Venezuela and North Korea were Muslim countries? \ud83e\udd14 and that Sudan has suddenly become Christian! \ud83d\ude2e", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Little Bear,\nWhen you say that \"Catholics aren't used to supporting a married clergy\", please remember that you're talking about the Latin rite only. Eastern Catholics have long had a married clergy. US RC (ie Latin rite) bishops did their best to prevent that in the US, but they lost that battle.\nRegarding women's ordination: I think that it's important to push for that. If we choose to wait for the mythical \"right time\", we will certainly ensure that there will never be equality for women in the Church. Only if we consistently speak up for the need of ordaining women will there be any hope for change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, what we actually mean is \"the church needs to listen to me well and then decide to accept or refute my claim freely with an argument\". The bishops do not listen to anyone other than themselves. Oh, we would love it if they would agree with us, but all they do is either ignore us or else spout the stuff we disagree with, as if simply repeating it is enough of a response.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The fact that Kaaihue received 7449 votes, regardless of what party she was running in, is extremely disturbing to me. She doesn't represent American ideals in any way from what I can tell so far. \n\nI realize that Trump has taken American democracy to new levels of low with vague promises and a weird pride in being uneducated about the world in general..., but there is no excuse for the rest of us to continue to degrade American ideals. There is no need to follow such poor examples of supposed leadership.\n\nA respect for the separation of church and state has be degraded slowly over the past 3 decades. If we choose to form a Christian government, then our hypocrisy pulls all moral high ground out from under our own feet. We would be no better, and eventually no different then ISIS or the Taliban. Religious political power always becomes the most destructive and oppressive kind of power. \n\nKaaihue's ignorance, requires that our voices should be united and loudly against her.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quit hiding behind words like \"true\" and \"great\" and \"patriot\" and \"liberty\" and have the courage to admit that you are afraid that the once-white Christian majority in this country is changing. Get used to it, or move to... I don't know, the moon?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wrong again, there are no Catholic right-wingers just ordinary, orthodox Catholics who are not committed to protestantising the Church. The Pope can speak as extemporaneously as he wishes. Tha more he does the more he drops himself in it. There is absolutely no censorship in any publication where the words of the Pope are concerned.\nFor his own sake he ought to be more circumspect but that's up to him?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're right, A timeless God wouldn't feel shamed. Not all Christian have the same values and using God for political purpose is a shameless form of bigotry. That would enclude Mayers stereotypes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "he didn't say anything that isn't true. America isn't and never was a \"Christian\" nation. and it shouldn't be one. we are a secular country and our laws should remain secular in every way.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wish people would get specific when critcizing Islam and speak to which ever particular branche of Islam with which they have issues. To not do so would be the same as lumping all Christians in the Westboro Baptist basket because you have an issue with Westboro Baptist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A Muslim suicide bomber just recently killed 80 and injured about 350 poor innocent civilians including some children in Kabul, Afghanistan.\n\nIn other cases, Muslims have attacked maimed and killed Christians in Pakistan and burned their churches.\n\nIn April 2017, Muslims bombed 2 Coptic Christian churches and killed and maimed Christians in Egypt and Muslims have attacked Coptic Christians and burned their houses in Egypt before.\n\nBut the Christians in Pakistan and Egypt haven't been attacking Muslims in Pakistan or in Egypt or in Iraq or in Syria or anywhere else.\n\nSo why are Muslims attacking the Christians in Pakistan and Egypt?\n\nIt must simply be because the Muslims are following Islam and the verses in the Qur'an that call for the death and destruction of non believers.\n\nWhat else would it be?\n\nWhen will the so-called moderate Muslims put a stop to the so-called radical Muslims?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am not Catholic but I am deeply offended by your sweeping generalization about what Catholics supposedly believe. If you had made the same comments about a certain other ideology, you would have been accused of hate speech and of having a particular type of phobia. Your comment might not even have seen the light of day. Although your comment would be considered uncivil by many, my fervent belief in freedom of speech compels me to defend you. It is a shame however that criticism of another faith - one whose adherents not only condone the murder of gays but also carry it out - can result in legal charges being brought against the critics. It is a sad statement about our times that one of our most cherished liberties - freedom of speech - has become a one-way street.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your view is a development over time. It is not one I wish to criticize. However a close historical analysis will show that the early church had no ordained ministers as we have today. Unleavened bread was used for what became the Mass later in the history of the Church (some have it around 700 years C.E.).\n I object to the idea that a priest is ontologically superior upon ordination. He is called to serve, but the abuse of power in the church is evidence for me that there are theological and doctrinal issues that must be addressed before these structures are reformed. And reform is the only option-not becoming Protestant or Catholic but more Christian. Catholic with a small \"c\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very well said. It's the adults, having learned from their parents and prevalent social examples before them, that pass on these anti-social traits to further morph their upcoming generations into even greater aberrant behaviors; and, further, refuse to fully punish the aberrants due to inexplicable matured insecurities of self-righteous guilt masquerading as compassion, Christianity, humanity, and aloha.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Authentic Catholic alternatives\". Modernist for \"heresy\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Georgetown story is a hoot! \nBasically, the folks looking to defund Love Saxa are guilty of the very things they accuse Love Saxa of.\nGeorgetown, an allegedly Catholic university, will have some explaining to do if they accede to the request to defund a group that supports Catholic teaching. \nMuch better to see them defund the groups that would bring such a silly charge, simply for disagreeing with them. Talk about censorship!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Trump Christians\" don't read that verse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What are they? Of course, faithful Catholics oppose abortion, period.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"There continues to be a tremendous misunderstanding or ignorance about the serious moral and psychological harm done to children and vulnerable adults.\" Really! Start with it's a crime and work from there! One of the few recommendations - a day of prayer for the survivors. Three years of work and this is a major accomplishment. As for the inadequate funding - clearly the Vatican doesn't want to deal with this issue. The Church has paid out hundreds of million dollars - perhaps by now a billion and they don't adequately fund a commission whose charter is to advise the Pope on how to solve this horrific problem - of priests, bishops and cardinals who sexually assault and molest children and other innocents. To propose eliminating the two seats for survivors will insure nothing of value will come from this commission, which it appears was the Vatican's goal all along. Shameful!!! Perhaps those involved should ponder what Christ would say about his representatives committing such crimes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sounds good. Now maybe the PM can denounce the persecution of Christians, Hindus, Buddists and Jews in most of the Moslem majority countries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian morality settled before the incarnation? How do you have \"Christian\" before Christ? Seems a little nonsensical. Unless, of course, your christianity is really just misapplied OT mythology, leavened with with medieval dress up and glazed over with Paul's jabbering. No Christ needed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"According to Franaszek, Milosz often confided in Sadzik, telling him \"that Catholicism lay at the core of his thinking...\" How could Catholicism not lie at core? He was submerged in Catholic culture which like Jewish culture is extremely difficult to extricate one's self from particularly when inculcated in childhood. Wonder what his poetry would be like without his Catholic roots?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Eric: This is one of those contentious topics which some folks simply can't address w/o those personal attacks. AT, for example, repeatedly presents the \"Christ is the ONLY way...all others are condemned\"...the \"on Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand\"... that the Bible condemns all non-believers to everlasting Hell. AT professes that the majority of those on earth are going to Hell. We confronted, he says \"hey, I don't condemn them,, the Bible does.\" If a persons accepts that the Bible is \nTruth (with a capital T) that person has taken ownership of that condemnation. Yet, if you or I or someone else points this out, we're being prejudiced or biased against Christians. Why do Eugene Muslims live in fear of bigots? Follow the comments on this thread of conversation and you will see why. Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Given the number of cheap shots that are aimed against Christians with total impuniy and in view of the clear complicity of the media's 'monitors' in this regard, there is an obvious need for a Parliamentary motion to condemn Christianophobia.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the 1960's and 70's we were fighting for peace. Well, what happened?\n-\nIn 2016 we are stilling fight for peaces against the war makers. The war makers with their morality and victimless crime laws, the war the trudeau's/harpers are perpetuating around the world. \n-\nThe Christian and Muslims are fight a war with the jews in the middle. So what has changed in 70 years?\n-\nAll we want is peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We are stopping cold the attacks on Judeo-Christian values,\"\n----DJ Trump\n\nYou know, people not saying \"Merry Christmas\".\n\nI think the War on the War on Christmas is starting early this year.\n\nAnyway, I'm laughing at the Jewish Trump supporters, who signed up to make this a Christian Nation!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So bishops defend illegals. Daily, stridently, and \"morally.\" \n\nHas even ONE bishop defended Professor Amy Coney Barrett from the vicious anti-Catholic attack she was subjected to by Senators Feinstein and Durbin?\n\nDurbin (D-IL) describes himself as Catholic. Has Cardinal Cupich of Chicago reprimanded him publicly the way he has opponents of amnesty?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't have a Jesus and Obama doesn't have disciples...isn't that taking the lords name in vain? How do christian's rid themselves of sin anyway? Is there an app for that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It should be blindingly obvious that the Church is losing young people. Look at the absence of them at Mass. I would say that barely 5% of students attending Catholic schools show up at weekly masses. Two-thirds of Mass attendees would be 65 years old or older.\nMy parish recently had a fairly level headed priest come in to replace a rather conservative one (mildly conservative to be fair) and things have started to improve. He always leaves out the \"through my faults\" nonsense, for example. Trouble is that he will be retiring before Christmas, and I bet the bishop will replace him with a \"grievous faults\" priest, which will cause a consubstantial reduction in the number of regular attendees, both young and old.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The House of Saud sits on the U. N. Human Rights Council. It is up to the Mohammedans to tell you what are human rights. If I recall the Arabs screaming in my ethics seminars at university, they seem to have different ideas than we Christian Europeans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since there are a hekuva lot of parents who enrol their kids in catholic schools - that's what this is all about - they are obviously OK to have their kids taught some religion. And what's wrong with that exactly? I don't see them demanding 'a division between state and religion'.\n\n I've been an atheist for 50+ years but why should I care if some other parent sends their youngsters to the school of their choice? Doesn't hurt me. The few extra tax $ paid for a separate school board is not going to make or break a community.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This situation is another example of cleriical incompetence. With the exception of King Henry VIII, virtually every church disaster has been caused by the \" ontologically different,\" The clergy are unable and/or unwilling to deal with the church's problems. Not surprisingly, the laity are not buying into it or leaving a church that the clergy have made so unattractive. While it will not happen during our lifetimes, a future iteration of Catholic Christianity will be one without a clergy. The status quo simply isn't working.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Read the Quran....there's no ifs, buts, or maybes about it.\nMost of the worst krap in the Bible is in the Old Testament....Christians are taught not to follow it.\nThere is utterly no compunction for Muslims not to follow Jihad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for demonstrating that you are a Cafeteria Catholic in full bloom. \n\nCatholic social teaching arose as a response to Marxism, by men who were staunch antimarxists. Anyone with even a superficial knowledge of Catholic social teaching is well aware of this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings.....Father Weinandy and Cardinal De Nardo need to be reminded that service to the Church includes respecting the Vicar of Christ on Earth. They should take a lesson from St. Martin de Porres who's feastday is today.....an immigrant of mixed races, lay Dominican who was service minded carrying for his sick brother s.....always following his vows under much scorn and criticism from fellow Dominicans.....Blessings to Holy Father Francis!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ryan's bishop from Wisconsin should waltz right into his office and inform him of his responsibility as a Catholic Christian. In fact, so should the head of the USCCB.\n\nLetters and petitions are not going to do the job.\n\nIf bishops could lobby for Pelosi and Biden to be denied the Eucharist, then they can do the same for Ryan as the author and lead man of the dissolution of the safety net for his own citizens. \n\nAnd, YES, the disrespect for life of the living is as equally wrong as the Republicans preach it is for the unborn.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You use the term \"Evangelical Christian\" as a matter of convenience for what purpose I don't know, but suspect it is not an endearing one. A Christian is one who has the Spirit of Christ dwelling within them, trying to take the quantum leap of lumping a mass murderer/serial killer in with a person who is tempted and falls into Sin once in a while is a leap I cannot make, nor does it make logical sense. The guy you referenced was methodical and planned out his sins well in advance - Although I cannot prove it, I can't believe this guys was a Christian, it is inconsistent, the Bible makes it clear those who have a practiced \"habit\" of sinning cannot be counted as Children of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "His so-called \"creed\" tells him that discriminating on the basis of sexusl preference is good. My creed, the one called Christianity, says it is not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many of the nones have been brought up by the children of the parents who were raised by THEIR Catholic parents to fear and loathe their natural humanity and to categorize mortal and venial sins before they could name any plants. I believe there has been a generational laying to waste of the notion of original sin as people have simply backed off the concept that human beings are inherently sinful. It lines up with no acceptable theory of cognitive development, nor any effective philosophy of child discipline. No wonder the nones are spiritual yet freed from fear. Just another example of science exerting a greater influence than the church when it comes to human nature.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope all understands that I was teasing blackmorano. The point is Obama is not a Muslim, but a Christian. But more importantly it should not matter if he was a Muslim or even a transgender.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1.Bishop Tobin seems to confuse \"faith\" with \"traditional catechesis\" as espoused by the institutional church, its leaders, and definition of practice requirements. Wrong.\n2.\"If your faith is strong...\"? The issue is really about people whose faith is weak, has been weakened, has been lost. The Good Shepherd story, for example, speaks loads about people like himself, a hierarch, going off to find those who have been lost. He is rebutting Ms.Sotelo's concern/observation about those who have been lost. Something is wrong here?\n3. It seems to me to be the height of misplaced arrogance for Bishop Tobin to aver - at the expense of dismissing the sheep who have strayed - that the institution of the Catholic Church is one that represents Jesus in such a demonstrable, consistent way, that merits the dismissal of doubts, pain, experience of contradictory behaviour, and intellectual intransigence.\nWell, it may not be arrogance but only a failure to acknowledge reality, the human condition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...used as a cudgel against them for far, far too long.\"\n\nYes, it is awkward. It's like negatively describing fellow human beings the way they don't describe or see themselves -- engendering a kind of self-service bigotry. And it gets worse, short of emergency, when Christians nurse this prejudice in the Gospels with little attempt (when among LGBT people) to be tolerant, considerate, and impartial. No secrets here, either!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Excellent comment, \"justmaybe.\" Too many in the hierarchy believe that the only way to achieve the # 4 answer is that: 4 + 0 = 4 [the hierarchy tell Catholics what to think '4' and the laity say '0' and obey].", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm sorry to see that this exchange got lowered to sweeping generalizations (\"It's a disgrace to his office and to the church\") and character assaults, especially when I was talking about the courage to speak out publicly as a priest.\n\nEven though you may not agree with the priest's judgement, his view is no more a disgrace to the Church than the astounding percentage of \"Catholics\" who don't care about abortion and plan to vote for Hilary and her severely lost running mate (see polling data).\n\nThe Church is full of disgraces because we are full of sinners who do many terrible and horrible things, but thanks to God and His Grace we have the means of reconciliation available to us. More are always welcome, given the proper disposal of course.\n\nHaving said that, I'd like to ask what exactly you're \"for\"? You're criticizing others but not opening up yourself to the same. What do you support and why? You don't support Donald so are you voting for Hilary, independants, or not at all?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "VP Pence is too cynical to be in denial: he is simply lying to divert attention from the fact that where Obamacare was weak, it was because of Republican intransigence. Where it was strong, Republicans have attacked it or allowed private insurers to undermine it. The GOP bears 100% of the responsibility for the weaknesses of Obamacare, for its almost certain collapse, and for the ruination of health care for more than 20 million Americans in the short term and many more in the long term. The fact that he says these things is proof positive that he knows no shame, and is no Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What I find fascinating about this column...\n\n... is that, if the target of concern had, instead of being a bunch of Christians...\n\n... had instead been a bunch of Muslims or Feng Shui adherents gaining power in North America...\n\n... the editors would never have let the column see the light of day.\n\nPolitical correctness is a very, very strange thing....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have seen no comments from the Left admiring the courage of conservatives, evangelicals, anti-abortionists, etc. in fighting for THEIR convictions....\n\nMost of those on the left seem unable to distinguish between the courage, and the beliefs they disapprove of when it comes to their political adversaries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You have been speaking of the Bible as though it were a book of rules, or manual, i.e. a supreme source of authority on ethical and moral issues, to which it is God's will that all submit and obey. That is an unwise attitude at best, and a potentially tyrannical one. If for the sake of negotiating your own conduct you choose to read the Bible that way, go ahead. But if you demand that other Catholics join you in that style of reading, then you risk looking like a bully.\n\nInterpretation is everything. The Church (i.e. the community of faithful Catholics of all sorts from all centuries) has certain norms for the interpretation of biblical literature, but these are by no means as thorough, absolute and definitive as you imagine.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mike Pence says that he is a Christian first, a conservative second, and a Republican third. \n\nDo you think Mike Pence is at odds with the US constitution?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He doesn't say the extraneous aspects of Christianity are tertiary, that's just something you made up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good done by individuals has nothing to do with the worst aspects of religion. All good works can be done without religion. Don't trot ot Mother Teresa or the current or past popes as they used their religion to maintain the worst poverty in the world. Catholic healthcare is sucking massive amounts of untaxed revenue from the economic system while denying basic healthcare for reproductive and end-of-life care based on catholic dogma. The worst traitorous denial of human rights in this nation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian Taliban??? Interesting thought, since the Taliban are all about pedophilia, child marriage, subjugation and degradation of women, oh and death to everyone not subject to the will of the perfect human being, the unholy prophet Mohammed... You should really study your history, but being a hater of Christianity, what's really the point?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part 4 of 4\nYour Fourth point suggests the US media ignored the 13 Cardinals\u2019 letter to the Pope prior to the second synod, simply because Burke was not a signatory.\nYou are mistaken here, because a quick bit of online searching finds that The New Yorker covered the story on October 16, 2015. There may be other 'non-Catholic' reports too, but I stopped at the first one that disproved your suggestion.\nTo conclude: As stated, your overall thesis is that Burke is an unimportant bishop, about whom we are talking only because the US media has inflated his importance in order (so you say) to make it seem that Francis has a stronger opposition than is the case. The reason you make this claim, is because you wish us to believe that Francis is an all-powerful dictator, who - if he desired - could do whatever he wanted. From this, you wish us to believe that everything in the Church is the Pope\u2019s fault. \nWell, big organisations don\u2019t work like this in the real world. And I reject your thesis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I can appreciate your attempt to relativize these issues, but by doing so you're painting a false portrait of the situation.\n\nWesterners stopped the enlightened Hindu practice of suttee, in which widows threw themselves on the flames of funeral pyres. Christian missionaries helped end this horrible practice.\n\nIf you read the news, like in the NYT, there is indeed a huge government sponsored movement in India to persecute Christians. There is no such movement in the West against Hindus. None. \n\nAgain, as far as major Hindu religious orgs policies, a Westerner may NOT convert to Hinduism. Westerners can say they converted, but their conversion will not be respected or honored by orthodox Hindu priests.\n\nStating the particulars of actual history isn't \"hating,\" not in my book anyway.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"God has ordained man to be head of the civil government, the home and the church. This has been shown from the bible again and again. But many seem to think the modern agenda of society should trump bible mandates\"\n\nYes. Having a woman as the GC vice-pres is perfectly okay though. As long as she doesn't make it that one position further. EGW had far more authority and control in the church than even the GC president. The issue isn't about 'ordination' but the anti-women arguers have to make it so because all other evidence discredits EGW. For the issue (even by Bill's standard) is about authority (as is Paul's arguments) and NOT ordination. Like mainstream Christianity taking 4 words for 'hell' and amalgamating them into one causing confusion, so the anti-WO group mushes 'ordination' and 'authority' together, arguing for one while ignoring the other and switching sides in their argument when it suits them. What a convoluted and hypocritical mess they create.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You claim to be a Catholic. Catholic teaching says that healthcare is a right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow! Racist much? We should all strive to look the same, act the same, and eat nothing but hamburgers and BBQ, right? \n\nNo, she should learn our language, abide by our laws, and strive to be a productive member of society, all of which she has done in spades. She is under no further obligation to assimilate beyond that and she is welcome to embrace her cultural heritage. I know the head scarf is scary to you 'cause it ain't Christian, but we have no established national religion and she is welcome to dress as she wishes so long as it is lawful. Embrace diversity, especially people such as Zabeeba who contribute so positively to our community.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Christians in the United States put a stop to it Chuck.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This time, RD blathers. Come on, RD. Exercise that humility you say is so essential to Christian spirituality. Admit that you did say that \"Turing machine\" was another name for the Turing test, and apologize for calling me a liar. \n\nYou are really big on telling us to practice various virtues in our spiritual journeys. How about practicing what your preach.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ascalepius, when largely muslim countries are named, and it is specifically stated that exceptions can be made for Christians, then yes, it's aimed at muslims. If you want precision, try 'muslim countries that don't do business with the Trump hotel development empire.'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You make very good points but the people who hate Christians or religion of any kind will never see past their prejudices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is no denying that the left is advancing Secular Liberalism. I don't care what Hilary or Obama claim in regards to their personal \"Christian\" beliefs. If you look into the intellectual history of Progressiveism and its development up to the present, you will see that it advocates for the dominance of the State and the imposition of a Secular Godless ideology. \n\nSocialism inevitably leads to statism. The church has categorically condemned socialism. While it finds that Capitalism is problematic in many respects the Church has not condemned it. As far as Canada is concerned if you look closer it has adopted many anti-Christian and anti-church policies. \n\nHow can millions of illegal aliens not take jobs from Americans and lower wages. It defies much research and common sense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's the walk-away: +Chaput refers to \"the post-Christian developed world,\" which is #FakeNews. I'm much less interested in anyone's prescriptions, when they traffic in such facile diagnoses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately most of thei nonsense isn't based on anything Jesus taught. These later day scribes and Pharisees need to read Matthew 23 every night before bed to see how they measure up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, you should check out the real history on that. It wasn't Christians that made the laws that forced individual businesses in the south to discriminate against blacks. It was the government that made those laws. Go on, read a book!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I, for one, am glad to see the Trump will stand with the catholic church. As our courageous bishops realized back in the late 90s, when the church was being attacked by many forces that seemed to believe pedophile priests should be prosecuted, not relocated, the church needs political power, and lots of it. Now we have a candidate who isn't afraid of nobody, willing to get down in the mud and be as mean as necessary. This is a political friend that any bishop would welcome. With him in power, the war on Christianity will end, all will greet one another with Merry Christmas, Happy Easter, Happy Saint [insert name] feast day, depending on the date, and the liberal elite will think twice before using the word \"accountability\" when discussing a bishop! Once again america will be governed by the strong religious values so prized by our leadership. Donald Trump should not only be president, he should be honorary czar of the USCCB!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On top of that, even leading Evangelical leaders are coming out, bashing tRump with his fake leadership and false hopes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We need Vatican III so the Holy Spirit can blow the doors off their hinges, open more windows, and INCLUDE women as ordained priests, bishops and cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church. The current Catholic Church is diminished greatly by excluding women who are called and qualified to serve as deacons and priests, etc. Women in this pastoral ministry would enliven and greatly enrich the\u200b Catholic Church!\n Come Holy Spirit and enlighten the male hierarchy who choose exclusivity over inclusivity. \n WWJD?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ed said; \"If the world ever wants to figure out how to get along as one species on one planet some day, they need only look at us for how to do it\"\n\nNothing to be pride here !\nThis is not Canada ...with a bunch of \u00ab Loyalists \u00bb Orangemen. \nThere is no place for a bunch of Ku-Ku-Klowns in Canada.\nAfter the establishment of the Canadian Federation (1867), the English speaking several provinces attended helplessly to the adoption of several LAWS and regulations, anti-Catholic and anti-French in English Canada, especially in that regard to denominational schools outside Qu\u00e9bec.\nAnti-Catholic and anti-French attitude drew its source, among others, the fact that many of the Loyalists who came to Qu\u00e9bec after the American Revolution were \"Orangemen\" convinced\nAnd Paf ! Problems started across French Canada ever since !", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Obama did not condemn Dylann Roof. He merely expressed revulsion at the evil act Roof committed. Nor, in a fine display of Christian charity, did the survivors of Roof's massacre condemn him. They forgave him for an act so hateful and depraved it beggars the imagination.\n\nEven though Roof's act was a premeditated, cold-blooded massacre of African-Americans in church by a white supremacist, no one- not even Barrack Obama- was vocal in their condemnation of white supremacism at the time. Yet when protesters and counter-protesters in Virginia got violent at a rally, Trump is excoriated for not IMMEDIATELY denouncing white supremacists, neo-Nazis and the rest of the alt-right.\n\nTell me you don't see the media's double standard.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find the comments of those who have (most likely) no understanding of Courage truly mystifying (and humorous). When good men and women choose to live by the teachings of the Church of their own accord, who are you to criticize? Here are men and women who have clearly accepted their sexual orientation (otherwise, why would they belong to a same sex oriented group), and found a way to place that in perspective of their Catholic beliefs. Instead of the name calling and attacking this thread is highlighting, how about a little encouragement and support for them. It is not everyone's calling - that's clear when Fr. Bochanski says diocesan chapters may have 20 members (I can usually count 20 gay men in my parish's 10:0 Mass alone each Sunday). And who are these people interfering with? No one is saying all gay and lesbian Catholics must attend Courage in advancement of their faith - instead, it is an offered ministry, just like many of the Church's other ministries for the faithful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Canada doesn't have two million Muslims, and even if it did, it doesn't make a difference. \n\nMuslims don't care about changing stat holidays like Christmas or Easter. I'm a Canadian Muslim citizen. I was born here. And I never objected to Christmas or Easter or any other holiday based on the Christian faith. I have no objections to people wishing me (or others) Merry Christmas. And I have zero objections to my tax dollars going towards the funding of a Constitutionally-protected religious school board (Catholic). ZERO. \n\nI do have objections to hatemongers and misinformed, uneducated, illiterate bigots claiming to know what I do or don't want. \n\nI have tons of Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Atheist, etc coworkers, neighbors, friends., etc. Stretching from Vancouver to Halifax. And I can't think of a single Muslim from any ethnicity, whether born here or immigrated, who opposes Christmas. A very small, negligible minority do. \n\nBut not the overwhelming majority of Canadian Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is you who are mocking Christ and His Church by attempting to separate Him from his Church. Trent rescued Christ's Church from the errors of Protestantism yet you want to drag us back there again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And, unlike the Methodists, one large issue facing Catholic parishes is a lack of potential pastors (among Methodists, there are plenty of ordained ministers but relatively few jobs; many pastors are now part-time ministers).\n\nAnd this seems to be true, our churches declined for different reasons. Protestants - both Anglican and Methodist depended on surviving by continuous and steady birth rate. Neither of these churches, in recent times, has been big on evangelization. I have had more Catholics suggest I consider becoming Protestant than Anglicans or Methodist put together. \nWe are sexist & won't ordain with justice so we deserve to pay a price for that evil with a scarcity of priests. However, Methodist and Anglicans have repented that sin & have equal ordination & so ample ministers but those ministers need to start going into the streets and get back to evangelizing Jesus Christ if they want to grow again. \nAll Christians need to seek growth not prepare for closing churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the 17th Century Europe was under siege from the Islamic armies of the Ottoman Empire. The caliphate spread north conquering Christian Istanbul in 1453, taking Christian lands of Greece and the Balkan states, with bloodshed, slaughter, terror and destruction. The Ottomans got right up to the gates of Vienna but were turned back by superior Western technology.\n\n Until stopped by Spain's Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, Muslim Moorish armies were invading and sieging France getting all the way to Toulouse, Lyon and close to Paris. Today we are expected to welcome Islam with open arms and forget all that history. Nothing has changed about Islam since then.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Allan, how many French Catholics among the colonists in New France and how many Protestant Huguenot ?\nthe French colonists were predominantly maybe 98% Catholic\nand you want to make a case the French were \"protestant\"?\nName one Huguenot church !\nover to you", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It doesn't take much to bring hate to the surface no matter where you live. I remember the separate unequal hospital wards for Blacks, the separate water fountains, the segregated churches, the unease of living in Virginia & Alabama in the 60's. Unfortunately supposed CHRISTIAN churches have played a role in their teachings and actions of intolerance. I have long supported the Southern Poverty Law Center from which I just received a certificate of appreciation. I do agree that the U.S. Justice system has failed in this area. Right now most Americans are not represented on the US Supreme Court. 5 Justices are Roman Catholic, 22% of population, 3 justices are JEWS, 3% of the population. CHRISTIANS, Muslims, Hindus, Atheists, Buddhas, etc. Americans are not represented on the US Supreme Court. That is tragic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When you say \"Catholics believe something different\" of whom are you speaking? You cite a Vatican website. Are Catholics only those who are members of the hierarchy and clergy? Only the 4% world-wide in this category of Catholics? What about the other 96%? What do they believe?\n\nThe Problem with JP II's commentary is that he, like too many of the clergy and hierarchy place an over-weighted on the differences between men and women. Actually, the difference is purely biological/sexual. In Catholic theology if something is different, then it must be treated differently. Women's sexuality is different than men's so women are different and they must be treated differently. \nThis view of theology fails to see how many other areas in which women and men are similar. It fails to count dedication, perseverance, desire to serve, willingness to sacrifice all for the sake of the kingdom. Mostly, it fails to value the great love of God and neighbor that can be common in both genders.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have a question. If the practice of accepting young boys into Catholic seminaries leads to \"psychosexually immature\" seminarians, why do we not hear of sexual abuse in Buddhist seminaries, whose priests are also celibate and who usually accept young boys as initiates? I'm just curious.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pastor Thompson,\n\nThank you for this courageous column. You've touched on very important points.\n\nThat some of my fellow Whites ignore the context and misinterpret the meaning of \"Black Lives Matter\"as a devaluing of other lives. \n\nThat Regional Conferences are needed as long as African-Americans feel they are the best option for dignity, equality, and mission within a dominant culture. (In regards to abolishing them, it's revealing that other Conferences don't volunteer to be absorbed into Regional ones.)\n\nThat we of other races need to open our hearts to Black suffering. We Adventist Christians before anyone else. Forgive us for not walking beside you as we should. Even when \"it's not our fault\" may we see that \"it is our fight\u201d in Christ Jesus.\n\nYou've tried to enlighten and educate us. I pray the Holy Spirit empowers great change in us and among us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The line is sooo thin between being a good anti-Catholic and a good Catholic. Catholic-hating Archie Bunker would have made a great Irish-Catholic; he sounded just like the reincarnation of good-Catholics Fr. Coughlin and Joe McCarthy. \n\nThe historic tension between the Church and American Democracy is minimally discussed. And it's at the very core of so many current issues. Most Catholics today are ignorant of the damning by the Church of freedom of the press, freedom of expression, freedom of thought. The two enemies of the Church hierarchy in the 19th-20th centuries were \"Modernism\" and \"Americanism.\" The Church, itself, was anti-American.\n\nIndeed, \"separation of church and state\" is NOT a Catholic ideal at all. In fact, latter day cardinals have openly challenged JFK's famous speech to the Baptist ministers as NOT reflective of the Church! Inside the hierarchy, we have found, the election of an Irish- American Catholic was no cause for celebration but for lament.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am bothered by it, but not \"offended\" or \"scandalized.\" The left is becoming hostile? Yes, perhaps a bit. Don't underestimate how hostile many leaders in Christianity - Catholic bishops, included - that have opposed virtually every initiative that Pres. Obama has put forth. From what I can see, the Administration has made a couple of attempts to compromise on the contraception mandate. From what I can see, our leaders are not interested in compromise or dialogue. They just say \"No.\" When Bush started wars, that St. John Paul II forcefully condemned, these same hierarchs were strangely silent, however. Pope Francis' views on immigration are diametrically opposed to Trump's. Where are our bishops on that?\n\nAre you outraged by that?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Patrickson, I'd love to hear what actions you take to help the homeless. Please, do tell. Your perceived hatred towards Catholic nuns is puzzling. Perhaps you'd like to comment about Islamic extremists next.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The use of condoms in Africa, specifically to stem the occurrence of HIV is not contrary to Catholic teaching. BXVI approved of this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was born and raised as a catholic.\nFortunately I am fully recovered.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are many of good faith and intent who have no question, no reservation about the \"inadmissability\" of women to full sacramental inclusion. It simply is. It's God's will, affirmed \"theologically\", by timeless tradition, by scripture, by \"infallible\" edict. To question for them is h....sy, anathema, even \"hate\".\n\nMore capable expound convincingly, as does Fr. Orabator so well. I used to think there was a \"secret\" file at the Vatican that would convince me. No more. Regardless of how old the tradition is, no matter how widespread is the abuse and diminution of women, its roots in our Catholic Church, so calmly, pastorally, authoritatively,definitively stated, it is at its fundamental base (as Card. Ratzinger affirmed) because God created woman - all, wherever, whenever, \"...in the church and in the world\", to willingly serve man. How women are treated, involved or not, may vary, but it is the prerogative of men to decide.\nAnd that is before \"Eve\" sinned.\nIt gets worse...\"muchly\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Could This new law really be bad? We know the Golden rule through Christianity love your neighbor as yourself. Islam teaches that you. are to kill those who don't submit to allah but. Not all Muslims follow that teaching. Go to a Muslim nation and Don t submit and see if I M okay your okay works there. The Christians believe in marriage as between a man and woman which in nature only reproduce. So hasn't the culture turned it's back on what is normal? Shouldn't people who have belief in God be able to live out their beliefs or should our new view of life be forced upon them as they do in other countries? They also believe waiting for marriage to have sex is good since 98.3 percent of abortions are done by choice. I really cant see wrong with these views maybe our new culture has it wrong and they got it right.. Yes I used to believe like the culture and l iived a selfish life but now that I see the truth I became a Christian .... In. Love of all. Scott", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Government paid for? Uh, no.\n\nSeems like the Catholic Church was quite generous with some coreligionists.\n\nYou forgot to actually read what you posted", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you read my comment here you will know I partly agree with the first part of your statement which inaccurately ignores some elite conservative contempt for the Rust Belt denizens.. You, however, choose to ruin the argument by adopting some sort of so-called \"alt-right\" racialist white power/victimhood theme. No Christian who believes as most of us do, that we all all children of God and all part of the Kingdom can go there. After all at least one-third of white Americans didn't vote for either (stayed home) or left the top line blank or a minority voted for HRC. To my eye and ear \"Take America\" back has a distinct message and it's awful, considering we have a black family in the White House as I write this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A fitting word applies not only to the Leader, but to the whole nation. We get leaders in our own image.\n\nAsian Miracle is based on education, America failed to invest in it. And childbirth nosedived for White Protestants, and their few children are not interested in Math and Sciences anyway, preferring LIberal Arts, so are over-represented in Govt and Law enforcement.\n\nAmerica used to get its educated by destabilizing faraway lands, then open its gates to their well-educated - Europe, Asia, Latin America, Middle East. So the most rapidly growing population is Latino, Blacks, Asians, Catholics, and Muslims who have large families and education, but not the power yet.\n\nCanada is doing the same. Should we not learn from others' mistakes?\n\nElectronic media lauds DPRK's Un for using \"Dotard\" - Un has done great for American education as Americans had to hit the OED to know what it meant LOL. It appears that the educated in America agree with Un. Trump is Dubya II galore, another WP.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, since you are writing from another place, you are trying to say that the 'half of the Catholic population that didn't vote for Trump doesn't take the charge of living in faith seriously'?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "to ask only the Pope is anti-Catholic\n\nbecause residential schools were run also by\n\nUnited Church\n\nand\n\nAnglican church\n------\ncould it be that with the Pope more publicity\nmore selfies for Justin\nmore photo ops", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Conservatives love and respect our Jews.\" This statement will not impress most Jews, they have a heritage that includes slavery. Are they like Trump's black man? Self awareness is not a Republican strength. They keep saying these kinds of things about non-whites and non-Christians and claim not to be bigots or racists. In fact, when people point this out, Republicans call them racists. This is one out come of a fact free social environment.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Roman Catholic dogma will not change at the bequest of a provincial politician in any hurry if at all. Nuns across Canada helped build our hospital & education system for little or no $$$$$. We didn't have huge deficits then either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "OK. There are five major divisions among Muslims, because--just like Jews and Christians did before us--our forebears started squabbling over worldly goods/power once the founders of their respective faiths departed, and claimed they were doing so in the name of 'the true Faith.' Those divisions are: Ithna-Ashari Shi'a (13%), Zaydi Shi'a (~2.5%) and Maliki, Hanbali, Shafa'i and Hanafi Sunni \"sects\" which make up the remaining 84.5% of the world's Muslims.\n\nShi'a are the oldest of the five groups. The so-called 'salafi' movement, including \"ISIS\", which was largely armed and financed by the US, are a hateful bunch of murderous ignoramuses--we called their like \"Kharijites\" in the old days--who take the position that anyone who disagrees with them should be killed. Starting with the Shi'a. Being Shi'a myself, I'm kind of against that. Due to word-count restrictions is difficult to get into the historical details.\n\nHope this helps a little.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, only the Pentecostal Evangelical Churches are not losing members. All other Evangelist churches are losing numbers, some at larger percentages than mainstream Protestant Churches. \n\nIt is interesting to note that many Pentecostal churches were founded by women pastors and Pentacostalism remains a largely non-sexist evangelical form of Christian practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My it doesn't take much to make some snowflakes meltdown and go on a rant. Unfortunately, one cannot help but wonder if this type of anger-driven, hate-filled approach to life is actually what drives \"traditional\" catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Getting absorbed into a discussion about the causes of the hurricanes -- something that can be neither proved nor disproved at this point -- is a distraction from the real justice issue at hand, which is that disasters like these are hardest on those who have the least to begin with. \n\nIt's the inner-city poor in this country and those living on the margins in undeveloped nations like the Dominican Republic that are hit hardest and have the longest recovery when such events happen. It's not just poverty that is the issue, but the systems we all support (knowingly and unknowingly) that perpetuate poverty.\n\nThe coldest, hardest truth for Christians to own is that others pay a price for our comfort. Climate science may well prove to have a role in these disasters, but the science I'm most concerned about at the moment is the science of economics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The cultural values surrounding women (etc.) . . .in many Muslim countries are often at odds with prevailing Western norms. Canadian Muslims must begin to have meaningful debates on how to reconcile these two world views.\" Bravo. Start the conversation. Where it should lead to is the establishment of a new \"sect\", the Western Muslim Religion (for want of a better term). Throw off the shackles of Fatwa, Jihad, Apostasy, Misogyny, Middle Eastern trained religious leaders, and the other religious and cultural accretions that bedevil all middle eastern spawned religions until wiser men and women realize that only a kind of major schism could rectify these no longer appropriate, indeed sometimes downright harmful, customs and beliefs. The Christian and Jewish religions did so. Embrace modern western enlightenment. Embrace the separation of religion and the state. Once that occurs, there is absolutely no excuse for the kind of anti muslim sentiment we see now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you actually knew your history, perhaps you would go easy on the bigotry there. Sorry to hear your grandpa was a bigot, too. The protestants burned more people by a factory of 20 than the Catholic Church ever did. It was the governments, not the Church, who did the torturing and lit the fires. And for the record, abortion was outlawed by the Romans long before there was a Catholic Church. Jesus was the one who said divorce was a sin, not the Church. We simply do as Jesus told us by not murdering our children or divorcing our spouses. But YMMV.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church Militant thing isn't just about anti-gay speech, but it doesn't surprise me that it would include it.\n\n\"Church Militant\" is an ancient expression that originally meant the Church in the temporal realm -- in other words, the Church active in the world. Today it has been co-opted by a group of highly aggressive, very conservative Catholics who have made it their cause to fight anything progressive, either in the Church itself or in society in general. They're not interested in dialogue, only in forcing their point of view. \n\nThese people are characterized by a kind of no-holds-barred rhetoric that is anything but charitable. You might recall that people from this group were at least partly responsible for taking down the old NCR Disqus site with their hateful messages.\n\nAgain, I really hope NCR explores Steve Bannon's relationship with this movement. In my opinion, it's exactly the sort of thing they should be devoting attention to.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because it's irrelevant, and only advanced as an argument on this issue by people who fundamentally misunderstand what religion is and how Section 2(a) of the Charter works.\n\nSection 2(a) is a personal right, meaning that it is grounded in the religious beliefs of the individual. If a Muslim woman sincerely believes that wearing a niqab is a religious requirement (seeing as there are many different interpretations of Islam, just as with all religions), that's the end of the inquiry. Just as, if a Catholic sincerely believes that something is a religious requirement, the courts don't send a request for clarification to the Pope.\n\nMoreover, all religions have aspects beyond those set down in their holy texts. There's loads of Christian doctrine not found anywhere explicitly in the Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What will happen will be a court challenge, Christmas Day, Good Friday and News Day being Christian holiday and stat holidays. Courts will side with Moslems and Jews.\nThis is the end result of diversity it does not work. \nWhat they could do is give a voucher to everyone and you pick the holiday u want.\nChristmas, Easter and New Years will be a regular day. New Years is based on Christ.\nBC is before Christ and AD is after After death. Islam calendar is based on their prophet and i believe the year is 800 ad after his death.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Separation of over a 1,000 years is cemented. Religious tribalism reigns.\nTR is probably more blunt in assessment than religious scholar who make a cottage industry of endlessly discussing the nuances of what holds 'em united in disunity.\n\n\"Catholic and Orthodox teaching on morals are also quite compatible.\" Only sexual morals? At least, Orthodox clergy can know the joy of sex without it being a sin. RCs are less compatible with sexual guilt than Orthodox, no? \n\nBesides, RCs have vastly more Marian apparitions. So there, you know who's side heaven is on! I rest my case!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"...become negligent in their 'faith practice,' the RCC is not satisfying the needs of its flock.\"\n\nNo church is satisfying the needs of its flock across the board, especially in the US, given the hemorrhaging among all denominations. And it could get worse, too, dropping from 71% of the population being Christian to 61%. We'll see. But every church is serving the needs of some of its flock, though not all, owing to it theology, tradition, and degree of pastoral care. Whether there will be exiting flocks or whistles of departing trains, withdrawing from these \"unhelpful\" churches to found a new church -- \"His church\" -- is absurd. Some disgruntled Episcopalians, for example, have left their church to found a new church, a new \"His church,\" and it has come to nothing, practically speaking (especially since they lost in the courts -- taking church property, household removals with them). Exiting from one church to found a \"new church\" -- a church apiece -- is not a modern invention.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is what silence on mob rule produces. Its produces encouragement for more mob rule.\n\nA riot that shut down the free speech rights of a gay Catholic.\n\nStudent newspaper justifies violence for the sake of shutting down free speech.\n\nThis is the most violent assault on free speech and Catholicism is decades, but NCR refuses to even comment on it. \n\nIt would rather allow voices to justify violence in the name of silencing Catholics.\n\nhttp://www.mediaite.com/online/uc-berkeley-student-paper-publishes-five-op-eds-defending-violent-riots/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hillary has also been accused of being a pedophile, and the veracity of her accuser is just as weak or strong as Trump's accuser. Accusation does not equal fact. Both accusers have faded away, rendering both accusations pure rumor and gossip. \n\nThis Catholic is not OK with repeating a rumor as \"fact\". Are you OK with repeating a rumor as \"fact\"? There's a word for that, and it is a mortal sin by Catholic teaching.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No certainly not. I am gay, and not Christian but I am shocked by the anti Christian prejudices that verge on persecution of Christians. THese LGBT hearings are an effort to steal rights away from Trinity College, rather than to defend the rights of all people which I thought was the role or the SCC.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"\"Innocent until proven guilty.\" I still subscribe to that thought process in our court of law.\"\nEven given the tortured syntax, it's still obvious you're being disingenuous.\nYou have no problem convicting the Clintons or any other liberals in the public arena with no evidence at all and then demand a court conviction to impugn donald.\n\nAnd tell us como, how did the Salem witch trials end up?\nHow many accusers and participants in the prosecution went to jail or were killed?\nHow much did the trials affect the spread of poisonous christianity?\nYeah...not at all, they even got to elect our current figurehead, so I guess the trials worked out pretty well for them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Innocent? Then the question one must ask the Kennedy family is; how did his sperm if the DNA test be correct, get ejaculated inside the woman who was out or totally inebriated, whether a soft-spoken, gentle Christian, or otherwise? That is pretty straight up as far evidence, pretty hard to refute in most people's opinion. \n\n\nHow about a shy, soft-spoken, and hiding a very repressed and unfulfilled desire, because he lacked the social skills to find and an engage a beautiful, sober, and intelligent woman in consensual sex, and this woman's condition, being out like a light, gave him opportunity in his warped mind?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The limit of our love is the reach of our charity.\n\nAfter we have given God our all, we rest in assurance that we need not do another thing, until He gives us more to give. \n\nGod doesn't ask us to hoodwink our governments (printing money, robbing from our children's future earnings by going into 20 trillion dollars of debt) into doing our charity work for us, like many liberal Catholics believe. \n\nWhen the government does our charity both the giver and the receiver are robbed of great graces, all under the pretense of \"efficiency\" and other material concerns. \n\nFaithless approach.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "CMD: The details of this case are readily available. The Court's findings are readily available. The Bakery was found to have discriminated in violation of Statutes regarding protected class status and refusal of accomodations/services. The case will likely go clear to the Supreme Court regarding the Bakers' contention that their First Amendment Rights include the right to refuse service to a gay couple, based on their religious beliefs trumping the anti-discrimination law. \n\nI have absolutely no knowledge of what kind of Christian your Grandmother was. However, I do criticize Christians who use their religion as a tool to justify discriminating against LGBT individuals. I feel we should allow others to live their own lives w/o our interference so long as they aren't hurting anyone else. IMO, individuals in consensual gay relationships are hurting no one. Indeed, I will continue to criticize discrimination against such couples. I make no apologies for that. Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"....In Egypt, gunmen opened fire on Coptic Christians as they were travelling to a monastery, killing 28 people \u2013 including children \u2013 and injuring dozens...\"\n.\n.\nRandom gunmen?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Like I said -- disagree with progressives, they call you blind.\n\nI forgot to add that they also often quote the bible to \"prove\" they are right. \n\nBy the way, the \"you have eyes\" verse seems awfully self-justifying and very one size fits all. But let's not forget that Jesus' reference to the yeast of the Pharisee and Herod had zero to do with the putative wisdom of allowing in 11 million unskilled illegals and turning a blind eye to the dangers of radical Muslim culture.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is a Breitbart propagandist and is the main person that is helping Bannon in his campaign to get Pope Francis to resign or at least sidelined because Francis could successfully oppose Bannon's campaign of bigotry and hatred against brown non-Christian people. More interesting to me about this story is that it was first reported in Lifesite News which is run by Burke's buddies. It is almost like there is an alliance between Burke and Bannon and their allies on these things.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"You really have no idea what a Christian is like\"\nAnd neither do you. No one usually mistakes people as Christian who self label themselves as one. Especially alt right white trump supporters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh please is correct. No need for Churches or any of the sacraments. How do we get rid of those few remaining Catholic Priests? Enjoy your happy \"meal\" at the table, I refer to it as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on the Altar. Not surprising to see a Catholic Brother on this website agrees with your comment. Why have many in the Catholic Church lost the faith in your opinion?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Why can't you understand that on account of the practice of our Saviour....\". \nBlame Jesus, eh? \nOf all the things that Jesus said - most of which cultish traditionalists ignore, I don't recall reading anywhere that Jesus said: \"Woman, and I mean all women for all times, thou art not called by Dad to ontologically other priesthood of My Roman Catholic Church - which, by the way, I will institute after I am killed by the perfidious Jews - and, and...of course, because you are not called, you cannot be ordained.\"\nIn response to the question a child didn't ask: \"Jesus, what's \"ordination?\"\nJesus's response was evasive, not.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If any group needs protection in Canada it is the secular and the agnostics.\n\nWe need a law against secularphobia's. Put an end to the victimless crime witch hunts.\n\nListen to Sam Harris, A Letter to a Christian Nation,\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6BxzA3hbGc", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tragically, this practice of abduction is common for the Copts in Egypt, and I suspect the same in many Muslim societies. An Egyptian bishop described the status quo recently on Catholic TV's program, \"Where God Weeps.\"\n\nThe Christian families often know where the daughter is, but the authorities will not act. The Christians are afraid of repercussions if they do rescue or try to rescue their daughters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well for starters there weren't even 6 million Jews in Europe before the start of WWII and the evidence that anyone was gassed is practically non existent. Obviously death on any scale is a tragedy and I can't help but point out the irony that Israel of all the genocidal countries should be the ones to play the role of victim of this holocaust is mind boggling. The same Israel currently engaged in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the Jewish people who were directly responsible for the murder of 40-60 million Christians and orthodox Russians after the Jewish bolsheviks took over in the early 1900s. That was the true holocaust and it is for those people that my prayers go out to on this day", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely. On the topic of Atheism, the Bible says:\n\n\"If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant; 17:3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; 17:4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel; 17:5 Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.\"\n\nOh wait, were you talking about another historical book of hate that 100's of millions of believers follow?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This ADN is hilarious. One news story bending over backwards about the \"possible\" injustice to one muslim couple in small town Alaska and we go berserk. Yet - column after column from their opinion writers about how evil and backwards the so-called christians are in this country. Good lord - let's get back to the deficit and winnie the pooh.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic cemetery has the right to designate a portion of its grounds for muslims. No zoning change or bylaw is needed. It needs a vote about as much as a restaurant's decision to start serving halal food.\n\nThe issue is the spray-painted graffiti. It's hard to argue that isn't an expression of hatred and bigotry.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "An interesting coincidence perhaps? ...the gospel reading for Mass today was Jesus' story about the 'good Samaritan' who actually went the extra mile to tend to the man who was beaten and robbed, as opposed to the ultra-religious folks who were schooled in the law yet passed by the messy human need and did nothing. Our priest made a point in his homily that it was the hated Samaritan whom Jesus made the hero of the story. Those who want to live with their respective heads in a book, nitpick the law and ignore human need, can take it up with Jesus :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jack,\nYes, we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves and even love one's enemies. Here's the catch. The world looks at love far differently than most Christians. In many cases love means a different thing than it means in the Bible. I think love has lost its true meaning and the Bible even predicted that in the end times \"The love of most would grow cold.\" Mathew 24:12 This is due to the increase in wickedness. The world, in general, confuses Christian \"love\" with human \"lust\" The increase in sexually explicit movies, TV and internet all have led to a loss of true love and an increase in lust. That's just where were at now.\n\n You wouldn't stick a needle in your arm to get high would you? But its OK for your neighbor? It would be like watching them jump off a cliff. Warning people about danger IS love. Its not love to just stand back and let people kill themselves. To warn and plead with a 'hell bound' society is not only Christian, it is the humane thing to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"... everything is unadulterated Catholic doctrine.\"\n\nAll your comment says is that your view of the Church matches their view of the Church.\n\nIn terms of pure logic, that does not mean \"it is unadulterated Catholic doctrine\". \n\nAll it means is that you agree with them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some of my neurologist friends might not think so. There are many working on that. Higher orders of all living things have consciousness, and evolution accounts for that. The church has from its distant past claimed that consciouness resided in the soul. But, the many neurological declines in thought processes dismiss that. Then there are others such as Daniel Dennett and Sam Harris working on issues such as artificial intelligence and free will, but they suffer the wrath of traditional Catholics \nwith ad hominem attacks due to their atheism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting how some want to play the alt-right angle to simply smear a straight forward request for clarity. Creating calumny is a scandalous sin. But like most American Catholics you probably believe in a more evangelical (protestant) idea of a more Lutheresque form of forgiveness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks, LG, for asking if I am well. I am no worse off than most of the living creatures who are my neighbors, or were until their fate overcame them.\n\nThe Ravens serve a great if troubled Democratic city; the Colts have moved to a GOP state, once governed by a homophobic ultra-Catholic (i.e. taking the worst of right-wing Catholicism with him as he chose the company of evangelical extremists, now playing a Machiavellian game in DC), even if their city is a Dem stronghold. Those matters alone might matter to Catholics, as Catholics. Then, the name of the one is inspired by a brutal, competitive business, so-called sport, based on animal abuse, the other by the poetry of a distinguished US writer. And since competitiveness is the root of all moral evil, one may mention that the men called Colts and Ravens are just overpaid mercenaries good at pointless competition. These are all great moral/ethical issues that might engage any Catholic. Or have they no place in your Catholic ghetto?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ignore the father, he is entitled to his opinions, if you tune him out he will temper them around you. We all have relatives that we arent crazy about, he sounds harmless. He might even have his reasons, I recall a man I knew who was imprisoned by the Japanese in WW2 and hated them. The Japanese act more civilized today, but his breaks and physical torture were real. He was a very fine caring man. FWIW Ive also met Christians who have been forced out of the mideast who are not fond of Muslims and of course who doesnt know people who hate people from Israel often for no reason..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"LGBTI people are diseased and can be cured, men should dominate women and physically punish children in the family unit, joining hands with other religions is an abomination to god\"\n\nIf this is the kind of 'christianity' he wants more of in government, I think I'll stick with JZ783, thanks - far better a thief in charge than a lunatic.\n\nOh, and BTW, Angus you suggest that women should submit to men, otherwise 'the children become traumatised when the wife belittles the so-called head of the house, or he beats up his wife because she will not submit'\n\nHere's a thought: perhaps try an equal partnership between man and woman, where you share the load and do things together. I've been with my wife for a decade, and we've never had a fight or argument of any substance in all that time, because we share the load equally and have an equal partnership.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To begin with I just read your comment and had nothing to do with your former response getting deleted. I certainly don't get offended over matters of taste in regard to the liturgy wars (which I couldn't care less about).\n\n1. I assume you mean by not \"catholic\" the abandonment of a universal language. Shrug. It seems most Catholics appreciate an active role in the liturgy and being able to understand what's being said.\n\n2. <> We do? Please fill me in on this background.\n\nSince I have self-exiled from the Catholic Church and now attend Episcopal services I concede that the NO and the Episcopal service are virtually indistinguishable, except for the woman priest (HOORAY) and dipping the Eucharist into the wine. Further, the Episcopalians recite the pre-Latinate version of the Nicene Creed, thanks be to God.\n\nBy the way, are you a priest?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She didn't say she disagreed with the magisterium on abortion and contraception, she said that the polls say that a majority of American Catholics do. That is something quite different.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Catholic church and conservative Christian groups repeatedly frame the issue of abortion in misleading terms that shame women who end a pregnancy, whatever the reason.\"\n\nThe left shames the Catholic church and/or conservative Christian groups and individuals who choose to not bake cakes. \n\nThere is no such thing as \"reproductive justice\". There is no such thing as \"social justice\". There is only justice. Either it is or it isn't. Adding or creating an adverbial clause does not enhance justice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, we were (almost) just like the Mormons when I was growing up. All our friends were Catholic, we were not allowed to attend a Protestant wedding or funeral, or even peek into a Protestant church. We were forbidden to swim in the YMCA pool (Protestant water, you know). It was only after Vn. II that most of us saw the light.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholicism has been marginal to the African-American experience, so it should be no surprise Catholicism isn't featured at the Museum. This article was a great read, though (are numbered paragraphs a bishop thing?).\n\nThis news broke after Bishop Braxton wrote this piece, and it makes his story even more painful, but the white woman who claimed Emmett Till had accosted her (\"flirted\"?) has admitted she lied.\n\nhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/27/emmett-till-book-carolyn-bryant-confession", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The idea that any Christian who voted for this con man has any moral superiority is laughable. It's also why thousands refuse to identify as Christian anymore.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, \"those were the days.\" But religious had to go to Confession even more than the Catholic school kids or their parents. If school kids [and I agree with you] made up sins for the 'once a month' confessions, can you imagine 18, 19 or 20 year old kids in the Novitiate---where there was---no dating, no nights out or week-ends out, no drinking----having theology or religious lessons every day of the week, and spending time either praying, with spiritual reading, or else CLEANING the provincial building [most of them LARGE building with hundreds of windows to wash]. Going to Confession weekly----would cause young religious to make up sins OR to become scrupulous. And there were religious who became so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So why should it take a Charlottesville for Catholics to understand that racism needs to be rooted out?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gary, I agree, the odds of me identifying as a Christian are much higher because of where I was born. But in my experience, those from the non-Christian areas of the world who do find Christ end up being the strongest followers of all, much like those who reject God and hit rock bottom before finding him. Most who identify as Christians are really merely fans of team Jesus, and I\u2019ll admit I sway that way sometimes too. In fact, I think you are closer to God than the average guy who identifies as Christian because you are thinking about it and asking critical questions, whereas most will say they are Christian if you ask, but live their life with Jesus far from their minds. I know you don\u2019t like Bible quotes, but this one is so relevant to what I just said\u2026 Revelation 3:15-16: I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm\u2014neither hot nor cold\u2014I am about to spit you out of my mouth. ,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which bomb? \"The bomb\" (as in Hiroshima\" or the bomb dropped a few weeks ago? Big difference. If you find 90 members of ISIS in one place at one time and fail to kill them, you're derelict (provided you yourself are not killing an unwarranted number of innocents). Why? Because there is a duty to protect innocent human life against attack by a deadly unjust aggressor. Jesus never said anything to the contrary, and in fact, supported the principle I just stated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some people's \"vile nonsense\" is others' comic relief. And I would rather expend energy on soul-cleansing laughter, than on issuing solemn condemnations of the Catholic far right. A laugh a day keeps the Devil away, and aids digestion, and reduces stress.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've heard this specious argument a hundred times. Seems like it never gets old for some.\n\n\"I don't hate gays, I just hate homosexuality.\" \n\"I don't hate the Irish people, I just hate Ireland.\"\n\"I don't hate Jews, I just hate their religion.\"\n\nLet's just call the argument what it is: an attempt to deny one's bigotry.\n\nCharacteristics that are intrinsic to a person's identity cannot be hated without hating the person that holds them. In Canada the core human attributes are: race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability. That's not my definition, it's explicitly stated in the Constitution of Canada.\n\nFundamental beliefs transcend all other human characteristics. Beliefs are intrinsic to every human being. No matter what your race, nationality, colour, sexuality, or physical or mental circumstances, you can be a Muslim. Or a Christian. Or an atheist. Beliefs are at the core of what makes us who we are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A bit of heretical advice. If you have committed one of the minor mortal sins, like masturbation or remarriage, go to Communion. Did Christ greet you warmly in the Sacrament? If not, confess. If so, keep going.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not too many priests grab the tongue, either. Most know how to offer Communion without incidental contact.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps you can show where the Catholic Church has admitted that most of Luther\u2019s theses are correct?\nPerhaps you can also show the parallel between selling indulgences and the Church\u2019s constant teaching about sex and relationships.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not short on specifics at all, neither is there innuendo, the bishop\u2019s statement speaks for itself.. It is first and foremost in black and white a rallying cry to cause political \u201cdisruption\u201d. It is aimed squarely at Donald Trump and has nothing to do with the Gospel.\nAll His life on this earth the people even the apostles at times took Our Lord\u2019s mission and goal to be a political one, the restoration of Israel. All His life He did His utmost to disabuse His followers of this idea: His kingdom was not to be of this world.\nThe sole concern of Pope Francis and the bishops he appoints seems to be socio-political and this rant of +McElroy\u2019s bears this out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What if this is how God sees us? What if this is a glimmer of how there can be billions of us humans, but each one of us is unique and special in God's eyes?\u2014Amy Morris-Young Thank you, Amy, for not sermonizing, but, rather wondering. I am about to get sermonized at Sunday Mass and that nonsense is enough. Sunday sermons are bland to the point of meaninglessness, because Catholic preachers in the JPII mold are afraid to read, lest they have a thought and be labeled heretics. \u201cWith one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip\u201d (Acts 8:6). Fat chance of the preacher calling he morning congregation to \u201cpay attention.\u201d \u201cSay to God, `How tremendous are you deeds!\u201d (Psalm 66:3), that you even remember my face. I fear the sermon about being obliged to thank God for another new day, rather than excitement about what God has in store for the Faithful before, during, and after the rains headed this way. Liturgy of the Word, Reading 55A, Sixth Sunday of Easter I.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As an atheist myself, I couldn't agree more. Interestingly, it seems that we can pretty much criticise any religion (especially Christianity, and I'm not counting cults like Scientology) but the minute one mentions anything negative about Islam, one is called a bigot, islamophobic or racist (which is even more absurd since it isn't a race). Would the writer have been so bold as to condemn Islam if folks starting praising Allah for his wonderful mercy? I mean, we can't even draw a picture of the guy. I would love to hear the thoughts of my SJW friends at the Daily Maverick.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 2\n\nMike what I am trying to ask you is that we are taught that God\u2019s Word (Will) is inviolate it is not possible to give the laity His Word (Will) and then say (Private Revelation) you do not have to accept it, it is either His Word (Will) or not, as it is impossible for God\u2019s Word to contradict Itself.\nCan you enlighten me.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What does your comment have to do with my original comment to Doninkansas regarding the ability of a 7 yo to believe in the Divinity of Jesus? Are you questioning this simple concept?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In a Catholic context, discussions about issues of human sexuality are meaningless as long as our mindset remains locked in the patriarchal gender binary, as institutionally exemplified by the male-only priesthood. Dialogue with integrity is always helpful, but the main obstacle is religious patriarchy disguised as apostolic authority. Hope this \"new Catholic conversation\" will lead to some statement that can be submitted to Pope Francis, who is the only one who can put an end to this vexation in the body of Christ. We should refrain from personal attacks on the Pope and the Vatican curia, as they are prisoners of the patriarchal culture we are trying to overcome. The domestic church and the church as a family are like two sides of the same coin On religious patriarchy in the Church as a family, consider where we are:\n\nReligious Patriarchy in the Judeo-Christian Tradition\nhttp://pelicanweb.org/CCC.TOB.html#CHRONOLOGY", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So in other words what you're saying is let's just sit back and continue to see things though (imperial) Rome colored glasses. Pay no attention to clerical malfeasance and centuries of injustice within church ranks. Let's keep on pretending that God/Jesus intended to create three classes of humans--men, women and celibate male-only priests as alter Christus. Let's not consider new advancements in science, technology and (God forbid) theological re-assessment and understanding. Let's just continue to do as the Romans do and all will be okay, despite deeply-held convictions throughout the civilized world that imperial legislation enacted during the middle ages is not the best way forward for the Church (people of God)... nor was it divinely inspired for that matter. Lay people should just pray, pay and obey ad infinitum and then \"crawl back to the parish\" to receive sacraments and blessings from the holy, exalted clerics who are the true gatekeepers of the bread of life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is outrageous! Paul Shanley has served his term as decided by a court of law. Now these troublemakers want to chain him for life in some institution with guards and it would be just another prison. They have no right to try to convict this man to prison for life! It is shocking and horrifying what some people are prepared to do! They should all go somewhere else and roll around in the millions of dollars they have gotten from the Catholic Church and leave people alone who are coming out of prison.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Rogue Catholic---I'd agree with you somewhat. But what about those pastors who have two or three parishes to care for. I know a priest who in a matter of 10 days had 6 funerals from the two parishes that he has. He doesn't just celebrate the Masses. He met with the families to help them plan for the Masses for their loved ones, did a funeral vigil for each of the dead, then the funeral Masses, then the Committal Rites at the gravesites. He teaches religion to the high school youth in both parishes and he's on the diocesan tribunal [marriages] where he goes at least once a week---more if needed.\n\nHis homilies are excellent and he's often called to give conferences at other parishes in the evenings.\nMany priests have and do more than meets the eye of those who are only at the parish church, themselves, once a week.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sheema, you are asking the non-Muslim community in Canada to do many things to help support Muslims, in addition, is there anything that Muslims can do? Isn't it time that \"thinking Muslims\" took the bull by the horns and decided that their religion needed some updating. The \"Christian\" bible has had many revisions over the centuries. Perhaps some Imans could start deleting many passages from the Koran that modern Muslims do not accept and radical Muslims use to support their atrocities, they could start by deleting \"kill the infidels\", ensuring that females are treated equally and abandoning Sharia law. This, of course, would not be accepted by many \"purist Muslims\" and perhaps it would be necessary to create an offshoot like the \"Reformed Muslim Church\", regardless of this, any attempt to update the religion would be seen as a giant step in the right direction by non-Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These numbers are misleading and need more unpacking.\nWhen Vatican claims \"the number of Catholics globally rose 1 percent, to 1.3 billion, in 2015\" it continues to include RCs who have left the institution. But, according to the Vatican, once a Catholic, always a Catholic. So, we'll count 'em no matter where they are.\nAs for the surge in vocations in Africa especially - in poorer countries as formerly in Europe/America joining the clergy was an upward career move, especially when they were few options for poor males.\nAn increase in clergy has less to do with religion than with economics.\nBut, as long as the RCC insists on no contraceptives, they'll give Muslims a run for higher birthrates, at least among poorer folks who will be urged to procreate, procreate, procreate - or you'll go to hell. Muslims & RCs are leading contenders for high birth rates. Question remains, who will become more first in sex education?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No it means the lay have been found unwilling to live their Catholic faith heroically and generously, living family well, sacrificially, cheerfully, fruitfully.\n\nVocations generally come from very generously lived family life...no divorces, large families, a cheerful and sporting spirit of Christian poverty (a bit of - egads - austerity) in how money and time is spent. \n\nThat's where vocations come from; these sorts of families are the Petrie dish of vocations. \n\nAnd so in those families that live that way....some children decide to become self-sacrificing priests...and they then live a life of generous gift to the Church...and so it goes.\n\nTreating this as an \"administrative\" task is a dull approach.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are right, the Church has always been authoritarian for the last 1800 years or so, but for all of those years, governments did not have the capacity to destroy cities and kill millions, and at the end, kill the planet. That called for a different world view and not just of authoritarianism, but man's place in the universe and in relationship to God. Europe rejected the pre war foundation of the Catholic clerical world view, was not swayed by Vatican II. and now the rest of the world is moving beyond Vatican II for similar reasons. Catholicism's view of man's relationship to God and the clergy's self proclaimed place in that relationship does not hold water any longer. Male authoritarianism no longer holds sway. It's almost killed our existence on this planet and the backlash associated with it's death may still accomplish that feat.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't know if you know this, but Mother Theresa's Missionaries of Charity shut down their adoption services to avoid accepting applications from single or divorced parents. Mothers and fathers were cited as \"natural\"; single parents as morally suspect people who might not be able to provide \"real love.\" At least some of this appeared to be based on Catholic teaching about marriage. \n\nJust wondering why the priest gets a pass. Do you know what kind of background check they do on you if you adopt? It sucks up a year of your life. Hope the priest goes through the same process.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Healthcare for whom? Certainly not the baby and it really is not that good for the woman. Like I said, you have explained where your hatred of God comes from and it is a mistake to give up on Him. I have had my disagreements with congregations over the years but have yet to find a good reason to give up on Him. \nAs far as freedom to worship, I almost welcome your persecution. You know where the church grows the fastest and under what conditions? Here is an interesting story for you. I forget if it was a missionary or a pastor that told it to me. A Chinese person got talked into going to a illegal Chinese house church. He liked what he heard and decided to become a Christian. Shortly after he started attending, the church was raided and the people imprisoned. The new recruit thanked the raiders for proving he was worthy to be a Christian. I will say the same when you come to behead me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you think that god might of had it right and man in his greed messed it up. In the beginning and shortly after races were contained in their areas and maybe that's the way it was meant to be. Part of the problem in America is the importation of large numbers of people from Africa to do the work for slave owners and the classification started then. Had time passed and people from Africa come to this country like everyone else over time I doubt there would the problem in the proportion that exists. Had Mexico not been influenced but the Catholic religion their population wouldn't have exceeded their ability to feed them. Had the American Indians had a better immigration policy they wouldn't have been overrun so soon. So we have the problems of today and it won't end but much has been done to help. Watching the Olympics and the contributions and the smiles and the manners of all of the athletes gives hope that man can straighten out the wrongs that he caused and there be peace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Four years in, here's my take on Pope Francis. On the negative side, he's an undisciplined communicator. He tends to ramble when he speaks off the cuff and, now and then, he says things that he (or his aides) have to walk back, creating too many unfortunate distractions. He can be ambiguous when speaking about Church teaching, tending more toward platitudes than clarity, and he's insensitive and awkward when speaking about women. \n\nOn the plus side, he understands and articulates what's essential and urgent about the Church (mercy, solidarity with the poor and suffering, acting as Christ in the world) and what's excess baggage that should be jettisoned (triumphalism, cancerous clericalism, rigid legalism over compassion.)\n\nHis negatives are sometimes irritating and embarrassing. But, in my view, his positives are so strong that, on balance, I believe he's the leader the Church needs at this moment in history. Warts and all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I suspect that Crossan may be correct about the bodies of the convicts being left on their crosses or dumped into a convicts grave, as a general rule, I have sincere doubts that that would have been allowed just outside of the Upper City in Jerusalem of the First Century. I believe that there are various purity laws that would have forbidden that practice and the Romans, though cruel, were pragmatic rulers.\nRegarding the crucifixion victim's discovery, I've always found it interesting that the leg bones support the Gospel account of what was planned for Jesus; the breaking of the legs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The election results were an indictment of U.S. culture. Who better than Pope Francis and the Catholic church to point to an alternative vision... I expect the opposition to Trump will come, quickly and forcefully, from the church, both from its leaders and from the people in the pews. That expectation is a little less certain than the hope that animates it: There will be some cranky culture warrior bishops who cling to Trump and excuse his destructive policies.\"\n\nI expect little in opposition to Trump from the bishops. I believe they helped get Trump elected. More I believe that the USCCB is in the hands of the \"culture warrior\" bishops and they are pretty much delighted with the outcome. Oh, they will have a thing or two to say about deportations, and they will say a thing or two about the way African Americans are truly afraid of what can happen with Bannon as a Senior Advisor and Sessions in charge of the Justice Department. \n\nTrump's election is an indictment of the USCCB.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If something goes on for centuries and everyone knows it, the Church is complicit by history. This is one such situation. The Roman culture and history is to make laws that the privileged can buy their way out of.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "His is the same philosophy as that of the Taliban in its essence, but obviously not in degree, and not in method of implementation. \n\nExample: \nTaliban will not allow girls to learn to read; \nVatican will not allow women to read the Gospel from the pulpit. \n\n\u2640\u2640\u2640", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The foreign, heretical (i.e. Samaritan) woman at the well had had five husbands who had either died or divorced her. None were her choice as she had to marry whoever her father and his brothers decided on. At last she HAD made her own choice! Jesus made no negative statement. Indeed, this woman became the first missionary in John's Gospel - not the male disciples accompanying Jesus since Ch.1! Read John Ch.4 carefully: the woman changes the topic five times and leads Jesus to reveal worshiping God in \"spirit and in truth\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You mean, of course, that my comments are wholly factual. You have supported Burke in his homophobia, saying that he was being doctrinally correct. You support Paprocki in his homophobia. You support that student group at Georgetown in their homophobia. And now you are supporting Morlino in his homophobia. And you are calling these homophobes \"Bishops who adhere to Catholic teaching\".\n\nNo, YOUR words demonstrate the accuracy of my statement, that you consider homophobia to be part of Catholic teaching.\n\nWhat is even more annoying than your support for bigotry is that you lie about it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, Cupich isn't concerned with someone who wants to marry in the Catholic Church if they have an invalid attempted first marriage?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Over the years the right-wing Christian anti-gay pro-gun crowd has been dubbed the American Taliban. This is exactly the kind of behavior which helped them earn that label. \n\n\"This is Oregon. This is not who we are. This is America. This is not who we are.\"\n\nThis IS who they are. The American Christian right-wing is willing to terrorize anybody that gets in the way of their killing-machines or their stone-age religions beliefs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Speaking of recycling, Mr. McDonald: why are you hiring Chief Kerns as your chief-of-staff? As police chief, he refused to discipline a Captain that took a revealing and licentious picture of a subordinate. An independent party, hired to investigate, upheld the charge. During Kern's tenure, at least three more officers were guilty of similar charges: is this the environment you want or condone at St. Vinny's?\nThis is inexcusable in today's world. Are there no fair-minded men or women on your board? \nThe fact that St. Vinny's is a Catholic, religious organization especially is troubling.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The fear you ascribe to the Trump campaign was fake, then, but the fear those protesting democracy feel is real?\" - Nate Romanowski.\nNope,you got it wrong. Both fears are real. Trump supporters just fear the wrong people for the cause of their fear.\nRather than me elucidating you why don't you explain to us arbiters of genuine feelings just why someone who says the things he says, who robs, cheats, hates, disrespects, assaults and in general cavorts like the Christian notion of the Devil is not a maniac.\nActually never mind. We'll only end up arguing, or at least you will. I don't do that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What Chaput says is more anti-Catholic than what was in those emails.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Over the course of 1,000 pages, Studs and his family are presented as hypocritical, bigoted, violent and politically reactionary.\"\n\nThe more things change, the more they stay the same. At least in the between the wars period, Catholics were still trying to find their place in American society. Now they are fully assimilated and too often have embraced the most xenophobic and anti-intellectual tendencies of the people who once oppressed them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The seeds of those horrible deeds began with poor formation and selection in the seminaries. It began with the ideas that priests were alter-Christus' at all times, and that they were always to be believed. Clericalism was fostered by the clerics, long before the 1960's and the 1970's, or Vatican II. It was this firm belief in the belief of the clergy that they were untouchable that is to blame, that and the circle the wagons, \"protect the good name of some abusive priest\" that were the seeds of these horrible deeds. Do you not know even one person who was abused and degraded at the hands of the church? If you do, I don't know how you can continue to publish such drivel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So who is it that believes that??? I know of no one - even non-practicing Catholics - who \"forgets\" what Christ Jesus wanted His followers to do. Where in heaven are you getting your (dis)information from, Bennett?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pilgrims fled here to escape religious persecution and set up a country where they could freely practice their religion, including the freedom to banish Catholics and hang witches. Ever since then, religious freedom has been under assault. Perhaps now we can retrace our steps to the good old days.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Presumably your post was an intentionally uncivil demonstration of snark meant to prove how unchristian some can be. Really not funny, however.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We will see, but I tend to agree. What Trump is covering up is his business contacts in Russia that are likely in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which his kids could go to jail for. It is up to the Special Counsel to prove it. \n\nHillary sprung her own trap by not making Booker VP (yes he is neo-lib, but not more than Hillary and would not alienate any Bernie Bots who are not already lost) to edge the black vote in the four key states she lost and by not immediately attacking Trump when he brought up partial birth abortion, which is already banned under the U.S. Code (she could even promise to support it, she would not have lost any female voters), and by showing how much the pro-life cause is an electoral exercise, not a movement to really do anything for the unborn. She would have then got the same percentage of the Catholic vote as Obama and would have won.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We all call God father. Jesus never said he was The Son of God. And your comments on the rest of what I wrote? As I said, not everything in The Gospels is factual.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John the Baptist was beheaded as a birthday gift to Herod's wife. They also had 'dreams' about him that troubled their sleep. Trump is sinful and so are you. So is everyone else on this planet. Jesus said, \"No one is good, except God alone\" Mark 10:18 So, if the opposite of good is evil, then, yes Trump is evil, just like the rest of us 'sinners' But some of us evil sinners are saved. The good news is, you can be too!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On the subject of deacons and charity, we ought to note the longstanding precedent in Judaism for the collection and distribution of charity by men known to be of good character. The understanding that there was a debt to the poor, as well as systems to honor that debt, were thoroughly and admirably worked out in Jewish law and daily life well before the time of the apostles. It seems unlikely that the Christian approach was arrived at in ignorance of Jewish law and tradition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, he was fired for saying he had a gay lover and was going to get married. That it what is clear.\n\nAnyone who writes a letter as he did was certainly not looking to retain his job. Anyone who was going to hold a high--profile announcement and planned it with a pr man is not looking to retain his job. He is not a dumb man - he knew perfectly well that he was leaving the priesthood, and planned it to be as volatile as possible. That is a resignation....\n\nHe was involved with his gay friend at least a year from all reports - and was living a double life. \n\nMy comment was correct. He was sacked because he did everything possible to embarrass the Church and further his agenda. He was sacked because of his incredible publicity stunt. He was sacked because he said he was going to marry his gay lover. He was NOT sacked simply for coming out. There are other priests who have - and they have not been sacked. \n\nYup. Nitpicking....and not misdirection on my part.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You_use_the_word_incorrectly,_which_mocks_those_Christians_facing_persecution_in_China_and_Iraq.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You may be right, in that those who behave like this may not have enough brain cells left to vote by November. On the other hand, of those college students that do vote, far more of them will likely vote Democrat than Republican if polls of university students are correct. And it is my considered opinion that far fewer children raised by conservative Christian parents would ever behave like this compared to those raised in liberal atheist households. There are always exceptions to such generalizations, and nobody ever wants to think the values they teach their children would result in behavior like this. But these are indeed SOMEONE'S children, and a statistic I gave motleycrew is that 86.2 percent of them self identify as liberal at the U of O. But I am willing to see anything you have to the contrary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The Church is guided by the HOLY SPIRIT.\"\n\nSo it was the HOLY SPIRIT who guided the hierarchy in its predatory priest cover-up. I guess She was concerned about Her reputation in the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not all Christian schools are like this. And public schools make mistakes and errors in judgment based on beliefs instead of common sense, just different ones. Research the mistakes made by LPS and Arapahoe High School administrators that resulted in a young lady missing graduation because she was murdered.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yup. And il papa just gave Trump another big boost..... Pope on Mexico: \"A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.\"\n\nDid I mention that the pope resides in the Vatican, a veritable fortress surrounded by impenetrable stone walls? The pope just revealed to the galaxy what a mental midget he is. Obama must have put him up to that one. \n\nWhat's really funny is that Trump is getting all this campaign publicity for FREE. Lovin' it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Although I usually agree with Lifeoftheay, I have to disagree with his underlying premise that engineering is inherently worth more the \"softer\" sciences: psychology, socioliology, etc. Sociology and psychology, properly taught, are arguably as valuable as engineering. The same can be said for even softer programs, like literature, philosophy, and the arts. In fact, since the main meaning of life is more important to a Catholic than a bridge, it would seem that a well-taught, Christ-centered philosophy degree is more is more valuable than an engineering degree. But Lifeof the Lay has a point. Lots of sociology and psychology grads are tending bar, and sociology and psychology departments do not teach a Christ-centered meaning of life. Indeed, most teach the opposite, and what passes for well-written scholarship in many sociology and psych departments is jargon-laden gibberish. As an undergraduate, I read way too many sociology and psychology journals to think otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Then tell me, if that's true, why be Catholic at all? Why have a church? Anyone can love. But there's a right way to do it. Obedience is also virtuous in many instances... It's one of the major vows of religious life. And why not? Guidance, especially in matters of faith are essential. So is humility to know others may know better. And faith without works is dead.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is adn not calling it what it is. A BLM MARCH IS STARTING AT SHILOH BAPTIST CHURCH. NICE WAY TO GET PEOPLE TO COME TOGETHER BY HOSTING A TERRORIST GANG THAT ARE KILLING POLICE OFFICERS DAILY IN OUR WORLD NOT TO MENTION THE INNOCENT CHILDREN.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "-And if you lived in the SF Bay Area and wanted a LGBT-friendly Black Catholic parish in/near Oakland, you would love this place: \n\nhttps://evilleeye.com/in-the-neighborhood/neighbor-spotlight/father-aidan-mcaleenan-of-st-columba-featured-on-kqed/\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtI9fojkErcqIAD7QDB13Gw--", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She was not \"Catholic-confession-bugging\", however. Once again, you over-claim from any fact to match your particular bias. \n\nFrom Ward: \n\n\"The lead prosecutor suggested to record the meeting, the DA (Doug Harcleroad) approved it, and Judge Brian Hodges signed the order.\" \"Please provide us your revisionist history regarding how Ms. Perlow was part of the act of the recording.\"\n\nYou still haven't done that!\n\nBecause that did not happen! Facts are facts. Biased memory of facts doesn't count!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yep. There is definitely a connection between Bannon, the Lepanto Institute, the Remnant, etc.. Kellyanne Conway has a connection to another far right priest in NYC - George Rutler. They are all related and I've done some hypothesizing in the past that they want to be rid of Pope Francis, especially Bannon who is openly interfering in the election of our allies. However, which rich far right Catholics are funding institutions like the Lepanto Institute? They certainly aren't funding their organizations with the $10 donations from little grannies. Perhaps someone should look into this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So say Protestants, the Catholic Church teaches otherwise.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Angelo Cardinal Roncalli was ordained a priest 55 years before he convoked Vatican II. These younger priests may prove even more consequential to our church! Never underestimate the powers of a few grayhairs!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What do most Catholic apologists/catechisisesisters (sp) make?\n\nA check of their IRS 990s tells the story: They are all taking huge salaries.\n\nJimmy Akin: $110,000 a year\nTim Staples: $120,000 a year\nPatrick Madrid: Salary for radio show unknown, but demands $2500 plus expenses for giving a speech.\nMarcus Grodi of the \"Coming Home Network\": $180,000 a year\nDirector of Immaculate Heart Radio: $120,000 a year\nDirectors of Catholic Answers: Over $200,000 a year\nDonohue: $400,000 a year\n\nThese people are making money from religion. I've heard several of them, on air, basically telling listeners to give because it's what the Lord wants them to do, and that giving their money to Catholic media is a \"good investment\" for their hopes of salvation.\n\nIn my view, their salaries are obscenely plump, and they are taking advantage of people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do the Catholics in the U.S. who are \"a rich part of our history\" include the Mexicans and Mexican Americans he disparages? He thinks he will buy Catholic votes with this one superficial act? Sadly, perhaps he will. Some seem to overlook everything else about a candidate as long as the person pretends to be pro-birth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria claimed responsibility on Monday for a New Year's Day mass shooting in a packed Istanbul nightclub that killed 39 people, an attack carried out by a lone gunman who remains at large. \n\nIt described the Reina nightclub, where many foreigners as well as Turks were killed, as a gathering point for Christians celebrating their \"apostate holiday.\" The attack, it said, was revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria. \n\nOntario woman among those killed in Istanbul attack\nPHOTOS | Turkey mourns after New Year's revellers gunned down", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find this comparison odious. Fr. Martin is not accused of heresy by any authority in the church but by some minor fringe groups who imagine they are the orthodox \"police\" of the faith. Church Militant, Lifesitenews, nor Fr. Z have no authority to pass judgements on other Catholics, and it is these minor groups that are the pain in the side of the body of the church. Most just ignore their vitriol, but apparently this author is trying to give these small groupies some credence.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pew often lists pentecostal churches within evangelical churches and so gives an erroneous statistic when it does. \n\nThe Southern Baptists Churches -are Evangelical and have fallen a lot over the last decade. \n\nMany Pentecostal churches on and off of TV have female pastors - there are several in Massachusetts. You are simply incorrect on this figure.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Liberal colleges filled with snowflakes\"???? Really? You think so ...\n\nSo if you're at one of those ideological reactionary right-wing colleges - which includes some of those Catholic institutions of lower learning - it's NOT \"politically correct\" when they systematically demean and denigrate in word and action people [usually people of color and same-sex gender identity] who are most vulnerable to exploitation?\n\nWWJD? Before you answer that question, make sure you reread what Jesus said about \"who is my neighbor\" and what he had to say about \"whitened sepulchers?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My, what a litany of complaining you make. You forgot to throw in, \"I wish these Vatican II kids would keep off my lawn!\"\n\nAh, yes. How we miss the era of the Latin Mass, when a member of the Catholic faithful could travel the world, go into any church and be just as disengaged and confused as they were at home. Those were the days!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I just want to know if the Trump Catholics will 'own' their vote when the blinders fall off and the reality hits about Trump. The man is a narcissist. He is not at core a card carrying member of the GOP. At best he is a proponent of a secular version of the prosperity gospel. He will run his bus over anyone who gets in his way and that includes his loyal supporters. Like any good con man he knows scared people are looking for miracle cures and he's convinced too many people he himself is the miracle. I'm sure he's convinced this is true every time he looks in the mirror to make sure his hair is just right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Veritatis Splendor is essentially Saint John Paul's redux of the Syllabii on Error by Blessed Pius IX and Saint Pius X. It is a rear guard action in defense of the fantastic Natural Order and a doctrine of original sin that presupposes the reality of the Eden myth. It is essentially anti-pastoral. It would refreshing if Pope Francis preached a more realistic view of morality - one that existed in the lives of the people involved rather than one based on the old superstitions of doctrine past. Sins happen to people, not to God or some natural order idealized by the Vatican. Amoris Laetitia is an attempt to break us out of that cycle. While many of us would welcome a repudiation of faith as superstition, many of the weak of faith, including the four ex-pastors, would not be able to handle it. Faith is not loyalty to the Church, it is trust in God and His benevolence to people in pain.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh, for heaven's sake, yourself! Before I began teaching on a university level, I taught in a diocesan Catholic high school. \nThe headmaster, a diocesan priest, sexually abused 11 boys over a period of 10 years.\nTwo of them came to me to speak of it after class. They were troubled, afraid of the consequences of speaking up [the headmaster threatened the kids with changing their grades---keeping them from getting into college---and other things]. I went to the other priest on staff---who taught religious courses and told him what the boys said to me. He wanted to meet with the boys---and guaranteed their confidences in him. He sent them to the police [and this was way before the scandals of 2002].\nThe diocese was informed---the bishop at that time---laicized the priest. The priest who listened to the boys' complaints is now a bishop himself. \n\nThe numbers of priests who sexually abused kids are not infinitesimal, by a long shot. You can't deal with reality!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My brother was a doctor totally educated in the Catholic university system. Even his residencies. Ob/Gyn. Got hired by Kaiser and one day was assigned an abortion. He asked for surgical assist. Was asked why. Said due to his education circumstances, he never had performed an abortion. Portland, Oregon. He was fired on the spot. Kaiser placed him on the Sen Ron Wyden \"poor performance\" national list. Finally got a job in \"wetback\" CA farming community. Delivered over 5,000 babies and never lost a mother, most of whom had never seen a doctor during their pregnancy, and showed at the hospital door in labor. Mexico was just a dozen miles away. I don't buy any of the hysteria about no access to medical care by government intent. It's Big Business and what s good for General Bullmoose, is good for America. \n\nI will support publicly paid for abortions the day that Oregon executes death row prisoners who have been found guilty and sentenced by a jury of their peers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would like to see Valir Christian compete with equal rules to all of the other teams they play in Colorado. When boasting of their record do not forget that they are allowed to recruit the entire country while every team in their schedule from Colorado must draw from their own boundaries. \n\nIt is a ridiculously unfair playing model clearly slanted towards a team allowed to recruit.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Studying the history of the Christian religion requires considerable study of theology. Your statement is like saying that a physicist does not know mathematics. I wrote my master's thesis largely on Augustine and I have read his works repeatedly, both in English and Latin. And, of course, Augustine is far from the only theologian I have studied. My \"howlers\" exist in your \"mind\" and show YOUR ignorance of theology.\n\nYour saying things such as \"the magisterium does not change its teachings\" demonstrates your ignorance of history.\n\nI know both history and theology. I have yet to see any expertise in either from you.\n\nI used to know a man who was an expert on the history of the US Supreme Court. He was not a lawyer, but he knew more constitutional law than most attorneys. \n\nYour statement about psychology says that you know it on a high school level. I am not surprised.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I meant only the part which equated bishops asking people to stop using the word \"Catholic\" in their name. \n\nBut I actually do think there is an important difference between denigrating Popes and Cardinals and denigrating nuns, altar girls and journalists. It's the \"pick on someone your own size\" principle. Picking on someone a lot bigger than you is brave. Picking on someone smaller than you is contemptible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Both, I believe that marriage is an option for all men an and women and that the church is wrong to withhold it to anyone without just cause, including sexual orientation. Anything else is a perversion of the sacraments. What Jesus said about the Sabbath goes doubly so for the sacraments: they were made for us and not we for them. I feel the same way for the the Sacrament of Orders. I am an out and proud gay man and have been since my early 20's. Most, if not all, of the church's teachings about homosexuality is based on a toxic mixture of superstition, bad science and bad theology, fear, disgust outright lies and self hatred by way too many clerics. It, as well as other church teaching on sexuality in general need to be scrapped and started all over. And it definitely needs input from those who are actually living it every day, i.e. The Laity. And not just the bishop's pet lay folks either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings.... I signed this petition because this contentious bishop in Madison has censored, morally wounded and obstructed not only gay Catholics, but many other Catholics in the 11 county diocese. This is yet another example of why bishops should be appointed by a committee of clerics and lay people from thru out the diocese. I pray that the Holy Father removes this bishop soon.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Didn't Jesus try to simplify worship with his \"where 2 or 3 are gathered, there I am!\" Unlike the Jewish minyan of 10 men, for Jesus just 2-3, male, female!\nLot less overhead. A reason for closing so many church was the YUGE maintenance costs from dwindling collections. Imagine if French government didn't pick up the repair bills of French cathedrals, a bankrupt RC French church.\nSeparation between sacred & secular space is an imaginary line. A binary.\nProblem today is church have too much empty space, to few folks to fill it up.\nNow that's a design project! How to get 'em in to any space called church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "S96734, are you white? did you have two parents? had parent or parents that didn't abuse you or alcohol or drugs? lived in a small town? are a christian? never knew despair or trauma growing up? didn't have any major birth defects at birth? didn't contact a debilitating illness early in life? if even one of these is a yes, you had a head start on everyone that has to answer no to one of these.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No it's mindset of liberal Catholics who spurn teaching of the Church.\n\nOr both liberals and conservatives who either want the government to do their charity or don't want to do charity at all.\n\nSomeone is always trying to shrink the word of God into a more tasty minimalism, aren't they?\n\nA better fit cross, yes?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How can the GOP call itself Pro-Life when it passes a medical care bill that cuts so much care to the poor -- it targets parents with children, women bearing children, and the elderly. That's Anti-Life. \n\nThis big tax break for the wealthy is so inconsistent with the Church's teachings. .Maybe the American Bishops will have a Fortnight for Freedom on these serious violations of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why doesn't this essay help? It may not be cogent, but MSW is right to criticize de Souza's contention that a belligerent, theocratic alliance between conservative Catholics and evangelicals doesn't even exist. Truth should be the first priority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The best source I have seen is Peter Brown, The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity (New York: Columbia University Press,1998). It covers the history from Paul to Augustine and is quite readable.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Jesus said this because divorced women would have to prostitute themselves to survive economically, why does Jesus forbid a man from marrying a divorced women as well?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "With all due respect to these petitioners, it is no fault of Bishop Barres that their generation failed to pass on the faith and failed to foster priestly vocations among their sons. We are only reaping what the Vatican II generation sowed, an enemic, bland and immanent vision of Church that leaves the next two generations thinking that Catholicism is a pathetic response to the world. It is the JP II and B XVI priests that have stemmed the tide of the bland 70s adolescent Catholicism that reigns among the elderly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's not perfect, but it's a far cry from what Christians, Judaists, and Muslims do. 300,000 dead in Iraq alone, thanks to a \"Christian\" nation. That doesn't include Afghanistan or Syria, not to mention all of the other little missions we have scattered throughout the middle east. 3000 died in Myanmar. \n\nAlso, the global colonization by Christian countries (genocide by Christians created the United States) is a huge part of the problems we see throughout the middle east and southeast Asia.\n\nEven their take on sex vs. what the middle east religions say is indicative of their very core of humanity. Middle east religions see it as dirty; The religions I mention embrace it.\n\nApples to oranges.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "wow these memes are terrible, jesus christ use some basic meme design rules, lefties", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is UC Berkeley a Catholic university? It might be outside the purview of NCR.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And Trudeau who states that all refuges are welcome to Canada. If they jump the line, they should be deported. we dont know who we are letting in. They now are coming through Mexico across US and coming to Canada, this is a big problem and Trudeau is the cause of this by stating that they were welcome. No they are no. We will be like Sweden soon and be overrun, only let in the Christians, they do not blow up planes or cut peoples heads off. Or drag 70 year old women naked in the streets, simply for being a Christian in a Muslim country. We need a Muslim tax to pay for all crimes against humanity this religion is causing to pay for the victims of this religion", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So show me where I'm wrong? Gospel Quotes?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Kevin,\nSorry it took time to get back to you. Jesus rebuked the Pharisee who boasted before God. His actions were not humble. His actions did not show he even needed God. The tax collector, on the other hand was humble before God - his words, \"God be merciful to me a sinner\" are a far cry from, \"God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers or even like this tax collector. (in other words: Thanking God that he is not a sinner). No one can say that they are not a sinner. If we do, we are saying that Jesus is a liar. \n\nJesus said the tax collector went home justified. To be justified means being made righteous, just, holy and acceptable before God. In this parable and others in the New Testament, \"justification\" describes a change from the \"state of sin\" to the \"state of grace\". The doctrine being taught by Jesus in this parable is that when we are in the state of sin and alienated from God, nothing we can do ourselves (\"good deeds/works\") Continued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He is \"a champion of Catholic values\". Mm-hmm...& white is black, right is wrong, & the skies are not cloudy all day....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Assault is a \"nanny state crime\" now? And we are to believe that Montana, AKA Montucky, is a \"nanny state\"? Again, he's being charged with assault and you applaud it. You're a real stand up guy and I bet you call yourself a Christian to boot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Only Pope Francis could get away with saying that the church should not obsess over abortion, birth control and gay marriage.\"\n\nThis observation highlights a very serious problem WAY BEYOND BRANDING: \nWhat is wrong with so many U.S. bishops? Did the past two popes drive debate away, molding it into hierachical bureaucratic consensus? Prior to these 2 papal reigns, U.S. bishops had no fear unity would be diminished by strong difference of opinion within the Church. \n\nWhere is the backbone of our so-called moderate U.S. bishops? Has it gone soft for FEAR OF BEING BRANDED LIBERAL? The conservative bishops certainly have no problems standing firm on their issues despite strong criticism. Are the \"moderate\" bishops so invested in purifying the Church of its left/right differences that its Eucharist becomes insipid? \n\nPerhaps some bishops need space within a Vatican II Church/Rite/Prelature to be as true to their integrity as Opus Dei is to its integrity. https://RiteBeyondRome.com", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not presenting an original angle and never claimed to be. The National Catholic Reporter has always attracted progressives. My very progressive priest read it faithfully while I worked for him and until he could no longer read. What is your purpose for posting on this forum other than to insult and accuse us that we are not Catholic or American enough for your tastes?\nThe regulars here do not visit Zed or Register. We come here to filter out Catholic misogyny and republican racism. I just realized that you may be Marty Erble of last week. I'm done. Pretty dishonest to keep changing your screen name. What kind of a Catholic does that? Ciao!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The social gospel is what Jesus spent most of his ministry preaching, not the sex rules. He was most concerned by how the powerful exploited others. Matthew 25:31-46 is about how we treat others, not about sex. It says enter the kingdom because when you were a stranger, you welcomed me, not because you used complicated NFP as birth control rather than the Pill. I'm not sure where the Church's obsession with all things sex came from; I guess probably Augustine's personal hang ups centuries later.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good question, given that at least 1 million catholics are involved in the pedophile scandal, according to the poster, who does not believe one should be emotional about child abuse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Buster, I think you may not understand why the anger at the bishops continues to fester. Yes, the church has responded to the scandal. It's put in place all manner of program to try to keep the laity from abusing children on church property. And that IS good. \n\nBut why that, when he problem wasn't the laity? Where are the rules for bishops?\n\nThe simple truth is that growing up Catholic, we've been taught one thing, one ethic, one morality, only to find out that something was left out: we weren't told that this does not apply to bishops. Yeah, if a bishop himself abuses and gets caught, he might be removed now, maybe, but that's about it. What's underlying the problem is that so much of everything else it takes to be a good Catholic doesn't apply to these guys.. The trust has been shattered.\n\nThe question becomes then, how to restore it. Programs put on everybody else just fall short, and leave a hollow, emptiness in their place - that place where trust should reside is empty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My priest last Sunday said a prayer for the \"violent events and evil\" that happened over the weekend but never said racism and white supremacy was the evil. I haven't seen any bishops or priests among the clergy who are coming out for vigils-plenty of Catholic sisters, though. Sometimes the \"regular people\" have to lead by example, from the ground up. Cozying up to power never works.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And yet NCR chief writer Michael Sean Winters flies to Europe on a super polluting, climate-destroying jet, for a whimsical conference in Italy.\n\nYet, NCR is appealing to Catholic readers to do whatever they can to save the planet.\n\nThis sure makes sense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The christian neo con/teabaggin/conservative trumpin republicans do not want education, as it opens doors for people to engage their brains in critical and common sense thinking. They need undereducated people to maintain their voting base. If you want, type \"Study links low intelligence and low IQ, to conservatism and prejudice\". It clarifies that children with limited education, tend to turn into into conservatives with orejudices toward others not like them.\nBut they do send the privileged offspring to get educated, to boss and guide the easily led uneducated,mfollowers with limited intelligence, for pushing through their corrupt agenda", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I get the impression that Mr Trudeau is only concerned with persecution of Muslims, as I've never heard the Liberals criticize the Middle Eastern countries where Christians are persecuted and have even been killed, or even any other country where various religious minorities are persecuted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Granting that Montt (who btw was an ex-Catholic and a Pentacostal) was a war criminal who was supported by a U.S. president, what does that have to do with the communist Guatemalan death squad that killed fr. Rother and other innocents?\n\nThe author make a vague argument that the \"complicity of our culture\" led to the murder of this priest. I don't follow his logic. If Montt was a war criminal, then it's justified to kill Catholics who are simply trying to help the poor? How so?\n\nOr if the Catholic Church is anti communist, then it's necessarily complicit in the acts of war criminals who fight communism?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But most christians believe in satan.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To put forward the view that Angus Buchan is no good because Zuma is no good because both Zuma and Buchan are Christians is a ridiculous assumption and error in logic. \n\nOur President has stated that he is honest, not corrupt and holds the interests of the South African people above his own and that he is a christian. Judging by his works all of these claims are patently untrue including the assertion that he is a Christian. I expect a better standard of journalism from DM", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your conclusions are false, and opposition to gay marriage is thoroughly Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where is your sense of humor...of irony....of absurdity? An \"alliance\" between, say, Archbishop Chaput and Jerry Falwell Jr. or between Cardinal Burke and Rev. Jeffress is fodder for humor. Our Irish, Italian, Croation, and Polish Catholic-American great grandparents could not imagine such a shotgun marriage of convenience with those who mocked, degraded, and demeaned them as \"anti-American\" and \"instruments of Rome\" who \"put on a magic show every Sunday morning.\" To use your word, they'd see it as \"pathetic.\" To align so strongly because some Catholics agree with the evangelical right on sex, drugs, and rock and roll (and immigration and taxes) is to diminish and trivialize our priorities and our focus. Have we gone from papists to pawns in just a few generations? Norman Vincent Peale would be happy to see how easily we were taken in. And it took only a few social and cultural issues to do it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The article is complete nonsense. No one is playing an \"anti-Christian\" card; they're playing an anti-social conservative card. There are many Christians who aren't socially conservatives, and many social conservatives who aren't Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The church has changed throughout its history as it has made bad decisions, even about matters of Doctrine. \n\nNo church can be considered Christian if its laws demand that its leaders & laity abuse half of its people's human dignity. This breaks Christ's greatest commandment to love God above all else & treat our neighbor as we wish to be treated-including women. \n\nSexism -keeping women from anything they are fully capable of doing or performing, has always been proven to have extremely harmful results. These include: poverty, violence, slavery, child abuse, torture, forced illiteracy, & even terrorism. When religion shows the example of women being treated less sacred than men, as by our unequal & unjust ordination rules, these ills increase even more. \n\nIt is right to fight for our church to become what Jesus taught for us to be. Sexism is hatred just as much as racism. The church practiced both of these evils for centuries. Would you have the church own slaves again?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But the Christians only go to church on Xmas and Easter...... and the Jewish to synagogues on High Holidays ..... and the rest of the time they work work work .......... while the muslims must pray 5x daily facing Mecca and prostrating themselves on the ground.\n\nAnd that's why Western civilization surpasses Islamic civilization .... too much praying and not enough producing ..... soooo obvious", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Republican Party is a based on Oil, Racism, Guns and Abortion.\n.\nBig Oil already has what it paid for:\n.\nClimate Change Denial in the White House; Senate; and House\nState Dept.;\nEPA\n.\nThe Red-Necks, gun-nuts, and evangelical Christians will never stop ranting, not even when the courts and public opinion are against them.\n.\nThey nonetheless remain \"useful idiots\", as Lenin might have said: as long as they are periodically tantalised with red meat they will keep frothing at the mouth, and will keep voting for the Climate Change Denial policies. That's all Big Oil cares about.\n.\nIn the end, politics is about money; and for the money guys in the Republican Party the only thing that ever matters is Oil.\n.\nIf Trump and Congress never manage to pass a single bill, the Oil Companies don't care.\nThey already have what they want. Anything more is gravy.\n.\nRepealing Obamacare would have been bad for Big Oil = 2018 loss of the House or Senate.\n.\nSo Big Oil let repeal die. Not what they need.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your post is a fine example of religious discrimination and bigotry. Remove the words 'evangelical christian' and substitute the word 'jew' and you would make a fine Nazi.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is it fundamentally wrong for a Catholic organization to fund \"right wing\" causes?\n\nBecause MSW says so?\n\nThat appears to the gist of it.\n\nMeantime, MSW is funded to promote left wing causes, and keeps his salary a secret.\n\nSeems like hypocrisy to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hello Kelly, there has been no \"lumping,\" \"stereotyping,\" \"bigotry.\" My responses have been in defense of Mr. Naval's right to protest against LOUD biker thuggery for which I commend him wholeheartedly! \n\nI see you are a \"Christian Biker\" and have a family of Police Officers who ride? Ride LOUD? If so, I invite you to view my rather popular video titled, Philanthropy or Thuggery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCvd-j6yMMM\n\nIt details the hypocrisy of the \"Christian\" LOUD biker and police officers, veterans, the Patriot Guard who attempt to justify LOUD biker thuggery via associations with legitimate and worthy organizations. Let me ask you Kelly, does a \"Christian\" have the Biblical authority to disobey the rule of law? Does a \"Christian\" have the Biblical authority to disrespect their neighbor via the operation of an illegally equipped, illegally LOUD motorcycle? What is the 2nd Greatest Commandment Kelly? \n\nPlease, enjoy the video...\n\nRick Holtsclaw C-CALM FB", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This shows the mindless bigotry of many Christians. That's better described as reinforcement rather than revelation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How to quantify it is a good question, but all the concern about how young Muslims risk becoming violent because they are feeling \"alienated\", because Canada isn't Muslim enough is one indicator.. I don't remember ever hearing about how young Orthodox Christians were feeling \"alienated\" because Canada didn't celebrate Christmas and Easter at the same time they did, they just celebrated both, or how young Buddhists were feeling alienated because we didn't celebrate Buddhist holidays....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Evangelicals in the governing coalition need to find ways to demonstrate that this was not the reason they supported Trump \u2014 that their hard choice was motivated by other, nobler causes.\"\n\nMy goodness. Let's be apologists for wrongdoing, or as they would say, \"sin.\" Is this not the very definition of \"temptation\"? I get something I want, but it is attached to sin, to things I know are wrong? This is how \"Christians\" have supported war, torture, genocide, slavery, witch hunts, etc., for the past 1700+ years, by thinking that way. \n\nThe thing I see in conservative Christians is that they are actually just materialists. They can rarely apply the living spiritual principles of Christ's words. In fact, they are so deficient at it, it's obvious that they do not really believe in those teachings for *themselves.* Gerson avoids Christ's real teachings entirely in his open letter to evangelicals, when respect for those teachings would eliminate the need for this column altogether.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Good point.\nWhen will our Liberal Government show some concern for the Coptic Christian minority in Egypt who are experiencing violent acts against their houses of worship. So called western leaders turn a blind eye to discrimination against Jews and Christians in Arab \nCountries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Calling Bishop so-and-so a fascist would indicate that (a) he is the ruler of a country which is fascist or (b) he is an advocate of fascism. That seems to preclude anyone discussed her in the last year or so.\n\nIt would also require evidence other than a half-baked personal opinion.\n\nOf course, were CC in place at a \"Let's Call Catholic Prelates Names\" forum, the consensus might be otherwise.\n\nI appreciate your fascination with name-calling, but this is not Usenet or Fidonet.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is this to protect us from the Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Look, the relief work and support shown by Christian and other faith groups, e.g. Gift of the givers was amazing. But to come out and focus on the negative aspects, when the positives outweighed them is just silly and makes me wonder if you'd rather have the people suffer and than have religious groups reach out to help.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Silly me, I thought from the headline that church (as in...lots of different denominations) were going to be reported on. Instead, the article should have been CATHOLIC CHURCH leaders speak out.... Because that's the only ones cited...but there are many other American church leaders who have also spoken. Out....yes I know this is a Catholic newspaper, but still....\n\nPR Chris", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've attended the SSPX Chapel in Livonia since 1997. It is a place of peace, holiness and serenity in a crazy, mixed up Catholic world. Go to the website at www.sspx.org and study the information there. There are many links to videos, books and other material you will find interesting. Attend a Mass at the local SSPX Chapel and see what is going on. You may be surprised.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Terrorists, he added, seem to have \"a special hatred for the followers of Christ.\"\"\n\nThat's an odd thing to say when most victims of terrorism are Muslim. I suppose he's playing to \"the base\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really?\nMuslim Albanians burn down Christian Churches in Kosovo\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn5SkGpIKDs\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDCt7gq6OAY\n\nRadical islam in bosnia\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUEcmn3F2dY\n\nMujahideen In Bosnia - El Mujahid Terrorist Unit\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFsfCD4Z_RQ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You live in a dream world. You think all white men have the best of the best in America? \nWow...You paint everything in your propaganda. I know people personally I can give countless examples. Feminism: I worked a job for a retired teacher from the Catholic School board in 2010. He told me the majority of the men he taught had been financially devastated by divorce. Oh well...Just white privilege? \nMy neighbour's son moved to our town after his school in Brampton became an impromptu esl school and his son was sitting there twiddling his thumbs not to mention ostracized etc. \nThe Walmart in my town went from white to all South Asian. The entire tone of the store is more hostile and rude and I have witnessed sickening mistreatment of elderly white people I won't bother going into detail. Just white privilege?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "@rolandX what's wrong with abolishing all religions from Canada? They bring very little to the table, but claim to be the reason we are \"civil.\" All of Canada's dark past is directly related to religious bigotry. Religious groups for the most part horde money, and heck the Catholic church just siphons Canadian dollars t the Vatican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about the murder by Christians of abortion physicians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Lillian,\n\nWomen are most controlled by men from their religious beliefs, and that is why many do not allow women to preach or lead equally. This misogyny is not taught by Christianity in the Gospels, or the faith of Islam or actually Judaism without making big assumptions.\n\nHowever, I didn't write the facts reveal SOME sex abusers are married or living like married men with long term relationships with women. On the contrary - the facts state clearly that the majority of abusers are found among these men.\n\nYou also brought up another myth: men are more promiscuous than women. Women are not less promiscuous than men. They do however molest children less. \n\nOf course no abuse of any person should happen at the hands of any clergy. However, priests are not perfect and abuse does happen and such clergy should be laicized. However, This does not support optional celibacy as beneficial for the church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree entirely which is why Christians who claim to be patriots are liars.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.\"\n\nWho put price tags on the fruits of creation? Who gave anyone the authority to hoard its resources to those who could \"afford' them or make them \"private\" possessions?\nWho downgraded the value of the fruit of human work to salaries and wages?\n\nThese charlatans and thieves and their mentors.\n\nBusch, Koch and their ilk are simply redefining Christianity in their own capitalism coddling image.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Church taught for centuries that women were inferior to men. This teaching has been officially repudiated, but still underlies the institutional Church's actual attitude towards women. The one who is trying to \"blur\" things is you, RD.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This is Christian extremism... because Christians got shot? What? Makes no sense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And you progressives equate Catholic social teaching with the evil systems of socialism and communism. Political conservatives (capitalists) have been improving the lot of mankind for centuries whereas socialism has usually brought poverty and enslavement in its wake.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Harry,\nYou wrote Hitler murdered all the Jews and that \"Christians were next\". If you take that nonsense literally, he would have to murder 94% of the entire population of Germany (54% Protestant and 40% Catholic--1939 Census).\nYes, I think my neighbor's theory that you are trying to make Republicans look bad is just as believable as your theory that Charlottesville was staged by the Democrats, dressed up as KKK and Nazis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Still, by voting Trump, Americans have proven smarter than Europeans, as they showed they really care about preservation of their Christian traditions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christ said, \"Turn the other cheek.\" Where in the Bible does it say that Christ commanded, \"Expose thy son's and daughter's throats to those who would murder them in the name of Islam.\"?\n\nGo re-read the Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another example of something that doesn't exist. An inauthentic Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's so sad to read about these \"Christians\" who are so unlike their Christ.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed. Nonetheless, we are seeing growing open fascism on the part of many Whites, Catholic and non-Catholic, because of the growing non-white population. When I was a kid this country was over 80% white and they held nearly 100% of all positions of power. Obama's victory showed that the white monopoly on power would not last forever. White racists found their champion in Trump as he promises to deport millions of non-whites.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Very presumptuous indeed, Gary. Then your statistics are meaningless, you clearly implied the majority of women who got abortions claimed they were Christians. I have no idea who are Christians, In know many of them, and not one states they could get an abortion, so from my perspective your stats are very questionable. And if you want to know how I know who is Christian and who is not read what I wrote above. Good Day, Sir. I still wonder why you talk to me, you said you were not going to anymore.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Of course there is nothing subjective about \"irrational\" and Southey mirrors the smug self-righteous ignorance of her \"progressive\" peers by omitting the similar direction of Europe's \"blasphemy\" laws. Interesting how Judaism and Christianity are fair game for comedy - now imagine if Islam was subjected to the same satire and comedy in South Park and Family Guy. The left can't seem to address the double standard staring everyone else in the face where Islam is afforded more \"sensitivity\" based on a misguided duty to political correctness. Islamists believe Islam should be omitted from any humour or satire based on sharia law but there are no sacred cows in Canada and that means all religions are open to humour, satire, and even ridicule. Southey is shameless, countries governed by Islamic law are regressive regimes where Canadian values of gender equality, free expression, and freedom of sexual orientation or treated with violent hostility. This article is embarrassing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's progressive Catholicism -- it calls half of America a national disgrace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More of the \"both sides\" garbage now the mantra of pseudo-journalists. The entire agenda of the Republican party and their massively funded propaganda machines has to instill as much hate and fear as possible by demonizing anyone refusing to accept their evil rhetoric and fundamentalist christian demands. Billionaire Barons funding organizations, radio/TV propaganda operations, \"Think\" tanks to create and revise language and fill print columns with as much obfuscatory lies as possible. Creation of the Moral Majority and nationwide fundamentalist christian rich preachers to spread hate and lies and deny human rights to any who refuse to bow to their versions of religion. The Republican Party and all of its White Supremacist brethren joined with the NRA to ramp up violence to maximum level to the point of approving the criminal assaults of journalists and murder of non-whites without penalty. One \"side\" is responsible for the hate, so enough of these cowardly writers' lies.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ah the classic \"but Christians\" deflection in response to article about Muslim terror. Never seen that before........", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"the actual Jesus - not the transubstantiated version\". Well the thing is that me being a Catholic I do not recognise any distinction. So I'll ignore the rest of your nonsense.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You would not believe it; however, I was in the Church.\nI used to go to church attending morning mass before I go to work, go to church at lunch hour doing silent prayer and went to church after work to attend the evening mass regarding it as attending a vesper. I used to go to the Eucharistic adoration chapel every day, counted time to make sure that I spend at least 2&1/2 hours before our Lord thinking that I will give our Lord 10 % of my day. That is until the clergy sex abuse scandal hit our archdiocese. \n \nNow I can't even enter Catholic church because it presents the sexual impurity, and entire CI clergies participation actively or inactively in sexual rape of children are portraying hell to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women,\" ISIS proclaimed in its declaration of war against the Catholic Church in 2014. \n\nI guess Trump wasn't kidding.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the early 1800's we did not have the extreme threat of Islamic terrorists and Mexican drug gangs crossing into our country on a daily basis thru the porous southern border.\n\nChristianity is brought into the world, primarily thru the nurturing of the family unit.\nThe family unit falls apart in conditions where 'civilized' society breaks down.\nThe family unit is being decimated in middle eastern countries where terrorism and groups like ISIS rule.\nThe family unit is under extreme duress in Mexican territories where the only local authority is the drug lord.\n\nTo ignore these tremendous threats to the very existence of the family and 'civilization' itself, is utter lunacy.\n\nThe border should be secured.\nLegal immigration, in an orderly manner should be our goal.\nDon't tell me it's not Christian to use your mind to make an intelligent decision.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "not only that, but a Catholic who has lapsed into heresy!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps Pope Francis didn't have any idea what this organization was doing. He doesn't know everyone and everything. (See the Kimmie Davis fiasco.) And my personal opinion of Steve Bannon is the same opinion that the ADL and other Jewish organizations - that he is an anti-Jewish bigot. I am not sure why any Catholic organization that purports to be faithful to the Catholic Church and supports the Vatican's commitment to interfaith dialogue would proudly tout their connection to Steve Bannon given how much it upsets Jewish organizations.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"We must disrupt those who would seek to send troops into our streets to deport the undocumented, to rip mothers and fathers from their families. We must disrupt those who portray refugees as enemies, rather than our brothers and sisters in terrible need. We must disrupt those who train us to see Muslim men and women and children as sources of fear rather than as children of God. We must disrupt those who seek to rob our medical care, especially from the poor. We must disrupt those who would take even food stamps and nutrition assistance from the mouths of children.\"\n\nBishop McElroy sets an agenda that every Catholic should embrace.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure what would cause a local born and US Combat Veteran Soldier to consciously decide to study Islam and pledge allegiance to the Islamic State, but this ideology has spread throughout the world. IS has established a following on every continent (Antarctica the exception). There's IS terrorists involvement in the US, SA, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia (Philippines, Indonesia) and recently discovered strong IS sympathizers in Australia. Their ability to recruit worldwide on social media and other methods is amazing being that they appeal to a new generation that really have no loyalty to the country of their birth or national origin; especially the younger crowd who are searching for a purpose in life and are not satisfied with the politics, religion and direction of their country. Islam is driven to destroy countries and the people of Judeo-Christian faith among other non-Islam believers. We will become the playground of what\u2019s happening now in the Middle-East. RESIST!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They're no more insistent on keeping outward manifestations of personal beliefs than many other immigrant groups to Canada over the centuries: roman catholic Irish, mennonites, hasidic jews come to mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Even people with a good interior life are sick of the gross mismanagement of the bishops. Constant scandals and appalling liturgy. It is so obvious that they despised the laity, or they wouldn't have treated them like that. The day of the medieval monarchy and jack boot Catholicism are over. Spiritual people will find their own path. God isn't missing. The Church is !missing and no, it isn't missed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From http://www.salon.com/2017/03/11/does-the-trump-administration-want-a-holy-war-against-islam-its-a-terrifying-but-reasonable-guess/\n\nIn his prescient 2007 book, \"American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America,\" Chris Hedges observed the many other parallels between Christian fundamentalists and Islamic extremists: \n\n \"The Christian Right and radical Islamists \u2026 share the same obsessions. They do not tolerate other forms of belief or disbelief. They are at war with artistic and cultural expression. They seek to silence the media. They call for the subjugation of women. They promote severe sexual repression, and they seek to express themselves through violence.\"\n\n Christian theocrats who are \"arrayed against American democracy,\" observed Hedges, \"are waiting for a moment to strike, a national crisis that will allow them to shred the Constitution in the name of national security and strength.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They are white and \"christian\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You keep asking, \" Where did the pastor say that banks and jewelry stores should not let gay people in the door and should refuse to do business with gay people?\"\n\nSo, we keep showing you where.\n\nIt's in the \"we don\u2019t have to do business with them\" part. He's just another theocrat (akin to Kim Davis - only hers is on a government level instead of on the commercial level). Neither of them will be happy until gay people are eradicated from the face of the earth. THAT's the kind of \"love\" they show to God's LGBTQ children. 'Get out of my store/office/church!' kind of thing. Quite the opposite of Christ's message.\n\nYour nonsense about Antarctica and lions is not worthy of a response. (Though many other 'christian' pastors HAVE said such things - and worse!) \n\nSeems you have to make stuff up to support your POV.\n\n\"Sad!\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why would anyone allow publicly-funded Catholic schools to promulgate the church\u2019s perverse and dangerous views on sex?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christian and Jewish religions discriminate against women in much the same way as do the muslims, differences are cultural.. With progress in the western world we have managed to \"equalize the sexes\" in christianity and judaism. But there are still sects that are no different that sects of muslims.\nReligion discriminates against women, all religions, and all women.\nps... yes there are jewish rabbis, so what ... what does it accomplish!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Right. So, by what passes for your logic did McVeigh accurately identify himself as a Christian? And it's not what I say. The majority of MUSLIMS both Shi'a and Sunni say it.\n\nYou're a personification of Bill Watterson's jibe: \"...why expend effort learning when ignorance is instantaneous?\" And shouldn't you be in school? Or is it a \"snow day\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The usual patronising put down I have come to expect from you. The nonsense about you can tell that I am in a great of pain.\nMy standard for evaluation are the figures themselves, they don't lie no more than the figures for the laity who began to leave in droves after Vatican II. Why would I feel pain when if the current trend continues, people like me will be the only ones left and the schism will be no more?\nAre you seriously trying to tell us that the last 50 years has been one long success story for religious orders and the Catholic Church? Do you really regard the mass apostasy over this period something beneficial for the Church and the world?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please wait. If we're not careful, we destroy the country we're trying to protect by crushing the principles at its core. Our country was founded by people fleeing from religious persecution. We have a constitution that includes the bill of rights. If we let the horrific acts of Jihadi extremists and barbaric fanatics turn us against the 3.3 million Muslim fellow citizens, we stoop to the same level as Nazis putting yellow stars on Jews. \n\nWe separate Christians from Timothy McVeigh, don't we? The Christians among us (including myself) don't take the bizarre extreme texts of the Bible as law. Can't we do the same for our Muslim neighbors? Protest the terrorists, and the barbarity, not the religion. America wins on the long term by standing for the values we believe in. If we lose what we stand for, then what are we defending? \n\nWe can defend ourselves against Jihadi extremists without blaming all Muslims for them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Spoken like a true American Terrorist aka Christian, Muslims do it for Allah, Christians do it for God , Its just a diversion to call it Terrorism, Religion itself is the problem ban that and watch the carnage disappear.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "hmmm sounds a lot like Isreal trying to drive everyone out that isn't a jew . The Christians in the USA love muslims don't they?? tit for tat my friend. take your usa made blinders off please", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe conservatives do not align themselves with any hate group. They just support a president who is a bigot, and has the full support of the white supremacist, the neo-nazi's, and the KKK. Oh and he does have support from the god's squad, the evangelicals, lol", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did Omar renounce Allah and Islam ?\n\nThe Quran wants your neck, to stone you, crucify you if you don't believe in the Allah of Islam.\n\n Jesus offers you eternal life as a free gift. Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Test Jesus ! Google why the Bible is the true Word of the only true God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Them GOP'ers are just uneducated and hateful and in many cases, are evil Christians. Git 'em!! Right? And all Demmykrats are well-educated, hate business, are just plain superior in all ways, and rely on Government to satisfy most of their needs. The generalizations just fly around in these comment sections as if they are all 100% correct about all groups and factions. Incredible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Trying to tie Christianity to white supremacy seems a real stretch.\"\n\nI'm told stretching keeps us limber. Just because I can't reach my toes, doesn't mean they aren't there.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If there was anything to reinforce the perception of the Catholic Church as a fetus-fetishism cult, this would be it.\n\nJust ghastly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "David Lewis: Your understanding of matters may make you seriously doubt that Jesus existed, but there's no \"us\" here. From the same material, I chose to believe in the God of Abraham. My choice!\n\nI often tell others what I believe, and why, but I leave it at that. If there is a real God, then He can do the persuading and convincing. Many Christians view themselves as \"soul-savers\" but there is no such thing. They attempt to usurp God's authority, standing in the place of God.\n\nMany unbelievers consider it their duty to dissuade believers of their \"false beliefs\". Not their job, they're just being busy-bodies, sticking their noses into other peoples business.\n\nApparently you got some friends to help you flag my original comment? Well, here it is again! There was nothing in my comment that was out of hand. Actually, yours is so anti-Christian as to be characterized as hate speech.\n\nMaybe it was some \"soul-savers\" who flagged my original comment?\n\nI flagged you as offensive and abusive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unity is not achieved by clobbering those whose life situations do not fit into the neat little boxes that the hierarchy think everyone's should. \n\nIt seems to me that some bloggers are always looking at other people's lives and try to measure whether or not these folk fit within the parameters of \"moral law\"[as the bloggers interpret it]. What a bunch of Catholic Pharasees!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"cultural default\" - the Alt-Right synonym for \"nationalism\" combined with \"might makes right\". The same justification for all human military conquests, enslavement, and subjugation of other humans for wealth and profit far beyond any survival needs. The definition revisions of language to claim bringing improvement to all subjugated lives stemming from the invisible \"god(s)\" superiority over all humans. The worst characteristics of the human predators not satisfied with personal, healthy existence, but only find ultimate satisfaction in the domination of other humans to the extent of torture, maiming, murder, genocide, slavery. The current modern forms plaguing the world demonstrate the failure of too many humans to evolve from the worst characteristics as represented by Trump, Putin, Assad, Republicans, christianity, Islam, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, ad nauseum. The rise of fascism in the 2 most powerful military nations in the world confirms it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tell me how, exactly, are Trump, Jr.'s, tweets of his own e-mails fake news? He met with Russian agents and he lied about it. Is it a Trump family genetic trait to resort to bald-face lie whenever expedient, or sometimes for no apparent reason? What mystifies me is why so many of this administration's core supporters, a great many of whom claim to be rock-solid conservative Christians, give this crowd of moral reprobates a pass on the Ten Commandments. As far as I can see, about the only one Trump himself hasn't broken is \"thou shalt not kill.\" Clearly, others' wives and property are in his sights.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"NCR tacitly endorses violence for the purpose of curtailing the free speech of a gay Catholic.\"\n\nReally, Utiltas? Care to actually show some evidence to back up your claim. BTW, said Gay Catholic is also a racist hate monger.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Blood and execution are to Islam as taught by Mohammad, what charity and forgiveness are to Christianity as taught by Jesus. But we are the bad guys?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't know where you've been ... For sure, there are some priests who faithfully practice chastity. However, being primates who have tendencies toward crazy when not having access to sexual partners, many, if not most, Catholic priests have had some kind of normative adult sexual experience during the course of their clerical careers.\n\nIt's long past time that Catholics speak frankly about how most priests cannot be honest about a fundamental truth of their lives. These men can never be happy if they have to lie each day to us, and to their mirror.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But so-called \"Christians\" keep ignoring the warnings of James, Jesus (alayhis-Salaam) and God Himself speaking through the Prophet Isaiah and continue RATIONALIZING being false Christians because \"Jesus (alayhis-Salaam) paid the price for our sins\", \"we're under Grace, not the law\" (although Jesus himself, alayhis-Salaam, tells them the opposite). Paulist doctrine BREEDS false Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks, James. Private schools certainly do have the right to make their own rules. However, as Catholics, many of us question the way that our Church treats gay people. Not allowing gay students to have a club that would function as a support group seems to me to be going in the wrong direction.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All religions seem to believe they, and only they, are the truth. All others are wrong. ......\n\n\"Religions\" cannot believe anything as they are not conscious beings. Religions, or Religious writings, can make claims, which \"Fundamentalist Christian\" writings do, as do Hindu, Catholic, Islamic writings etc. All of these writings cannot be true, and although I am not an expert on every one of them, I believe most make claims to have the exclusive or absolute truth. Jesus Christ claimed to be the way, the truth and the life, and nobody was going to make it to the Father except through him (John 14:6). So the choice is yours, Is Christ the only way to God, or is he a liar and lunatic ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"There was concern, especially among more progressive Catholics and Vatican officials about the effects of Trump's election on the pressing need to combat climate change. Here we can expect no good news for four years, and many scientists warn us that four years can set back efforts to heal the planet in ways that are difficult to calculate but which are overwhelmingly negative.\"\n\nSince Trump and his henchmen claim climate change doesn't exist, we can expect only the worst. His alt-right constituency believes that white Americans are discriminated against by a government led by a Kenyan president. If Trump voters are that delusional, there is no reason to expect intelligent governance from Herr Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They will make the fatherland great again, they say,\nby weeding out the non-Christians and \"dangerous\" ethnic people,\nby slashing aid to the elderly and care for the poor, and by building the greatest military the world has ever seen.\nThey will publicize government-sponsored lists intended to demonstrate the \"criminality\" of the ethnic other.\nThey condemn revelation of inconvenient facts as merely the continued plotting of the L\u00fcgenpresse.\nAnd they brag to their admirers about the inspiration for all those plans, not being the least bit shy about doing so.\nCall it what it is\u2014and call Republican support for their plans what it is, as well.\nTrumpism = Fascism = Nazism = Republicanism.\nThe right adopted Trump and his agenda, all of it. The Fascism, the Racism, the Nazism.\nThat's what winning looks like.\nYou're a winnner.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Catholic church didn't have a policy of protecting child molesters this man would have been a registered child sex offender instead of a superstar progressive career politician.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The curse of dissident publications is that they must write about what is familiar to have a readership, but what is familiar is what they hate. \n\nThis will always be like the child, who even as a man, will never be out of Daddy's shadow. Unable to match Catholicism's accomplishments and unwilling to define itself as something apart from Catholicism, it will spend itself not in celebration of its movements accomplishments, but in trying to diminish what it hates. \n\nWhat it can write about its heroes and heroines is now mostly obituaries. What it can write about successful current initiatives would fall into the category of fake news. \n\nIt will always be trying to work out its daddy issues. More is the pity because there is some talent here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most of the strong hymns sung in Catholic parishes are Protestant in origin. If you want good congregational singing attend a parish that is predominately African-America or Hispanic. White bread parishes tend to be terminally borrrrrrrrrrrrring in their approach to making a joyful noise unto the Lord.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe we have to keep in mind that the moral standards established by Christ are very high and we fall far short of living up to them. He called upon us to love one another with the same love he has for us which is the love the Father has for him. We will never achieve that goal, but we must ever strive to make progress in that direction. War, while we have not found ways to avoid it, should always be the last resort and should always be a reminder of how far we are from reaching the ideals placed before us by Christ. It is a constant reminder of the failure of Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Traitors and collaborators. Put their names on a list of such. Someday they should be prosecuted for dereliction of duty. Trump's closest advisor publishes media for the neo-nazis, white supremacists and kkk. He was propelled to so-called 'president-elect' by Russian intervention....he wants to break with the Geneva Convention and restore the use of torture going against American and Christian values, an action that will endanger American troops and civilian captives in the future. What sort of people are in the Republican Party that they are not horrified?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This nation's greatest strength is the European culture that built this nation.\n\nYou can look at the cultures that built governments in South America or Africa, China or Russia. People from those regions, to America, to escape those cultures. They did not come here for \"diversity,\" they came here because their culture was unjust and brutal.\n\nHere's the deal: it is not in the best interest of any nation to swamp itself with people who believe in Sharia law. That's a deeply inferior culture of brutality to women and gays, and to Catholics, and to Jews, etc.\n\nNot all cultures are equal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fine - but not all cultures are equally meritorious. By his actions of routing out those converted Indians who backslid into their pre-Christian pagan ways, I think St. Juan Diego would agree.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're probably right re the impact. But the entire thing smacks of Catholic authoritarianism. It's also all so ridiculous -- as your proposed ads show.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "People, people! Settle down! It's nowhere near as bad as the author is suggesting. I mean, everybody has to compromise a little in this country so we can all get along. So in that light I offer the following reasonable compromises to the christian faith:\n - from now on the age of the Earth is 12,000 years, not 6,000\n - evolution happens, but we won't talk about humans\n - a woman need only walk two steps behind her husband, not three\n - daughters' marriages will be arranged, but not to men over 50\n - premarital sex by men is OK, but not with unmarried or married women\n - women may use birth control after the first eight kids\n - public stoning will not be permitted, but 'encouraged' conversions will, as long as the scars are below the collar \n - tithing to the church will be mandatory, but only for 60% of your income\n - children of immigrants and non-christians will placed in special 'bible schools' for the first ten years of their lives. It's for their own good. You'll see.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Greed & Intolerance Party (GOP) and Radical Christians define \"fairness\" as their rights \"trump\" the rights of gay folk. Simple as that. I knew this was coming: First they came for the gay folk....\nWho will be next in Alaska (politically Oklahoma with mountains). \nMinnery: your \"inclusive\" framing style masks hate, bigotry and is disingenuous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jim Lieb, after 250 years of whites enslaving blacks, 100 years of Jim Crow laws enforced by the KKK, and still more decades of white cops shooting blacks with impunity, is it reasonable to discuss widespread white racism, white terrorism, and the specific concerns of the Black Lives Matter movement? Just wondering...\n\nYes, Islamism -- the political perversion of Islam -- is a concern. But by far the vast majority of Muslims worldwide are just going about their daily business, trying to be good people like anybody else, and NOT supporting Islamist terrorism.\n\nOn the other hand, there certainly ARE elements in Islam -- in Muslim theology or doctrine -- that need careful examination by Muslims, and in some cases repudiation and reform. You're right that SOMETHING in Islam is contributing to the rise of Islamist terrorism, and Muslims who want to live in peace with the rest of the world need to examine what that is and fix it.\n\nBut it's not like Christianity has never been used similarly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How about this: If the priest is a woman \"it would be difficult to see in the minister the image of Christ. For Christ himself was and remains a man.\" This says (1) the incarnation of Christ as a male is more significant than his incarnation as a human being; (2) that women are inferior to men, since they are not worthy of \"imaging Christ\"; (3) the faithful are too stupid to see Christ in a woman.\n\nNo, the reasons that women cannot be ordained is the hoary old \"women are inferior to me\". You traditionalists show your dishonesty in pretending it isn't, which is a major reason for rejecting your ideology.\n\n\"All your objections to OS and subsequent documents are reduced to, 'women can't be ordained because the pope said so', and you expect people to take that as Gospel just on your say-so. There is now no reason to investigate further because John Hobson has pronounced upon the matter.\"\n\nI spoke about ONE document, OS. I said NOTHING about subsequent documents. You didn't investigate.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More ignorance - try actually studying the history of the sacrament of marriage.\n\nhttp://johnwijngaardsmoodle.org/mod/page/view.php?id=1567\nLiturgical marriage ceremonies date from the 12th century in western Christianity (the Catholic tradition), but there is evidence of church weddings as early as the seventh century in eastern Christianity (the Orthodox tradition). Before the development of these sacramental rites, betrothals and weddings were primarily family celebrations presided over by the parents who arranged the marriages. In the past, both the relationship between the spouses and the ceremony that united them were also called matrimony, derived from matrimonia, the Latin word for marriage. \n\nhttps://books.google.com/books/about/Catholic_Divorce.html?id=OJEKAQAAMAAJ\n\nDUH", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Taliban Catholic strikes again...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems like the cake baker wanted to make a federal case of this. He could have just had an assistant make the gay wedding cake if it violated his religious views. I'm not sure what his views are but the Bible doesn't even seem to be on his side with such advice as \"Judge not lest ye be judged.\" and \"Do unto others as ye would have them do unto you.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did the AB read today's Gospel from Luke? That reading asks us to not divide between us and them. It also suggests that \"them\" are usually powerless. When we keep thinking of us versus them we are probably like the hypocrite that Christ was describing. \n\nAs far as Traditional Orthodoxy is concerned, he needs to define that since there is a quite a bit that was added and some things suppressed. This is especially true where the bishops become absolute barons without a real Acclamation by their people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why don't Saudi Arabia. Egypt, UAE, Bahrain and some of the rich gulf states take some of these Muslim refugees?\n\nWhy is it that the west has to shoulder everything? \n\nWhy are you Muslims so entitled? You don't have a right to enter the US unless you are a citizen. Why do you beat women, teach your children to hate Jews, Christians, atheists, gays, and everyone else who is not of your particular branch of Islam. \n\nAnd I'm not some Christian Biggot. I'm an atheist who believes in upholding western values of tolerance. Islam by definition is not tolerant.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where was Luis when Obama's Fast and Furious gun running program killed over two thousand Mexicans? Where was Luis when Obama's open border policy unleashed cartels, MS 13, criminals into our community who abused our children, women and terrorized us? Where was Luis when Obama banned Christian Cubans from entering the US to appease Castro? Luis is a disgrace to America and Latinos.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Commonly informed consciousness instructs faith as property of People and not the right and privilege of hierarchical claim given by God from the top-down. Church is The People.\u2014sylvester(pat)steffen felgercarb to deny any and all authority to the Teaching Magisterium of the Church and having it reside in The People. The People are gross, crass, and greedy; rude, crude, and lewd; given a chance they will kill you and shoot themselves in the foot, at least, sometimes, so it seems to me. When The People are endowed with all authority, no one has any authority, so it seems to me, anyway.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Part of me wonders if most Catholics even care how the bishops are branded these days. I think many have put a distance between these guys and themselves precisely nbecause their antics have embarrassed or even shamed many Catholics. What is there possibly to be proud of in the way the bishops have handled the scandal? When Cdl. Dolan recently set up that new program in his archdiocese to pay victims, did most of us rejoice, or did we sigh, and presume the program was to be yet one more round of traps designed to shut victims up without holding anybody accountable for what happened to them?\n\nHow many Catholics truly CARE what these guys say on human sexuality anymore? They haven't listened to us for decades...\n\nThe point is that the bishops have become their own caste, separate from us,, above us, and oblivious to us. In that context, why would branding/rebranding even matter to most of us?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Where is the concern for the common good\"?\nThe core issue(s) is (are), it seems: what is the common good for him and \"them\". Is it \"good\" and/or is it \"common\"?\nOnly an imbecile would would deny that \"making America great again\" includes - if not stands for - a heavy measure of white privilege, authoritarian control, more money for the \"movers and shakers\", fear mongering, international disruption to lever US advantage at any cost, disengagement from environmental stewardship, all as, at least, means to that \"good(?)\".\nOne can be proud of \"Christian\" groups and/or dismayed with the bishops. This is more of a human issue before it is a faith one. Until Churches unite under the banner of common issues of human value and decency, the religious involvement will likely be more divisive than cohesive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the author of this ill written article were well versed in her Bible she would know that sex outside of marriage/with anyone other than your husband is sinful. The dark always runs from the light for fear of their continued sin being exposed. They hate the truth & those who speak it. \nOne scripture says it all although there are many. Hebrews 13:4 says, \"Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed should be kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and the sexually immoral\" Sexual Immorality includes adultery, prostitution, sexual relationships between unmarried persons, homosexuality and beastialty\nWould all the unbelievers on this forum be comfortable with their own parents, siblings sons, daughters or even grand-parents actively participating in these activities and being okay with that? \nAll I can say is thank the Lord that I am now a reborn Christian headed for heaven and not for hell. \nGod help us all in this fallen evil world where false prophets abound.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re JHM4 Isis murdering kurds, Christians,jews,the wrong kind of Muslims, 911, Belgium,France Germany, the Uk, Canada more that offset people like the nut job in Vegas. JHM4. Leave the doors open, and these terrorist will enter. Ler down your guard and they will attack. If you have a compelling argument to show that they are not a threat....present it. There are plenty of non brainwashed people willing to debate it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "HV says that a primary reason for having intercourse is procreation. This stems from Gnosticism and Roman stoicism, neither of which thought much of sex. The Gnostics thought that \"the flesh\" was evil; and the Stoics thought that anything as pleasurable as sex was to be avoided, but could be justified by saying it was for procreation. These ideas, promulgated by heretics and paganss, were taken up by Christian ascetics who also distrusted pleasure. Augustine, in one of his sermons, says that a man should look forward to heaven where he can embrace his wife as if she were a statue.\n\nThe ideas that being \"open to procreation\" is desired by God is unsupported by anything in scripture. It is a wholly man-made concept, stemming from the thought that sex is nasty.\n\nRD trots out the standard traditionalist twaddle in support of this.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings....Bannon and his gang of Neo Fascists find something exceptional and push it into the mainstream culture ....Just like Propaganda Minister Goebbels did for the Third Reich giving hate full speeches about race,ethnicity, master race superiority and God given vision....Very scary times! Having Bannon in the Vatican with Cardinal Burke discussing Christian ethics is really disturbing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201c\u2026 many people will see nothing other than the complete and utter destruction of the Church as satisfactory recompense for what happened.\u201d\n \nWhy don\u2019t you speak for yourself or show proof of other\u2019s actions!!!\nWhat about thousands and thousands of children whose lives are in \u2018utter destruction\u2019 or end their own lives because of clergy rape? You can safely believe that Lord care more for one little child then the whole CI (Catholic Institution)! And CI is \u2018utterly destroying themselves by raping thousands, and thousands children all over the world. Shame on you to blame others for what CI did.\nDo you care about the children\u2019s lives at all? Where is your heart? Anyone who do not care about utterly destroyed children have no heart, thus can\u2019t claim that they care about anything else!\n\u2018The Church\u2019 is not something any human can destroy. \n\u2018The Church' is Man become conscious of his destiny as son of God\u2019 Bede Griffiths", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But Michael, get with the program. Sin no longer exists - subjectively - and even the objective commandments are too strict and harsh. here's no Hell anymore. \n\nIt's Catholicism via a bit of tweaking John Lennon's \"Imagine\" and the Beatles \"All you need is Love\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u2018You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as had mercy on you?\nWhen God\u2019s Mercy/pardon is received in humility/honesty it compels us to pardon others as it goes to the heart of our faith, which is trust in God\u2019s infinite Mercy.\nGalatians 3:24.\nSo the Law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.\u2026\n\nSo\n\n\u201cWho Is Forgiven Much Loves Much\u201d. ... On the other hand, those who are forgiven little, as Jesus said, \u201clove little\u201d\nFor many\nThe Truth His inviolate Word (Will) challenges our sinful hearts as to induce \u2018humility\u2019, as we attempt to walk the \u2018Way\u2019 His Way of self-enlightenment, in our own brokenness, accompanied by His Words\n.\n\u201cLearn from me I am meek and lowly in heart\u201d\n\n1 of 3", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Donna is Well respected by her peers and as a Holy Christian woman. I ask how could she a so-called Respected Christian woman put POLITICS in front of her Christian Faith?\nWho knows, Donna may have visited her local Confession booth and the Clergy told her to come clean. Yikes!\nI just got an early sniplet that could be not true but I read it that Hillary actually took reigns of the DNC incognito! theDonald was right yet again, Lying Hillary. Lock Her Up!\nThere's no wonder why I despise all Politicians but HATE the Democratic Party and it's m.o., Lies, Deceit, Racists, playing it's followers to advance their agenda. No different that Islam teachings, condoning it's followers to LIE for their Faith such as the Democrats that post here inwhich I won't name names.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(As to those younger people:)\nEspecially why they (communion rails) are actually quite useless, unless one clearly desires to create a barrier between clerical and lay children of God who creates us all as equals, and our shared baptism makes us full participants in all aspects of this Church. But by all means, feel free to take a section home with you to use as you please!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you say so Jimbo.\nTruly you live in a fantasy world, 96 percent of Trump supporters would vote Trump again.\nLets face facts, Hillary was a tired old hag who Jesus Christ couldn't have dragged across the finish line.\nA must see !!!\n\"The moment Hillary Clinton was forced to give up her dream\"\nhttp://nypost.com/2017/04/30/the-moment-hillary-clinton-was-forced-to-give-up-her-dream/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More accurately the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints reiterated its teaching that engaging in same sex activity is prohibited, and restating the consequences of flouting that teaching. Nothing here to see folks, move along.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The New York Times late to the game as they preferred for months to cover every Trump utterance. Far greater coverage and intelligent, factual reporting on various Indian Country sites, Standing Rock Sioux website, Democracy Now, Inside Climate Change, etc. Interviews an Oklahoma tribesman, but a local policeman; why not interview an imported out-of-state riot squad member. The bias of the white police contained in his words. \"Folks are terrified,\" \"I'm the son of farmers, and we worked hard for everything we have,\" \"...remembers learning about the diversity of this country as the only white child in his class.\"\"... son of a Lutheran pastor...\" i.e. All of the protestors are lazy, good-for-nothings, non-christian heathens, outside agitators stirring up those lazy locals. All despite the history of the protest was started by a lone local Sioux woman walking across the prairie to defend her tribe's lands and waters from the Texas Oil Monpoly polluters.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don\u2019t know Mr. Trump. But I\u2019ve been chagrined at his antics. He ridiculed a war hero. He made a mockery of a reporter\u2019s menstrual cycle. He made fun of a disabled reporter. He referred to the former first lady, Barbara Bush as \u201cmommy,\u201d and belittled Jeb Bush for bringing her on the campaign trail. He routinely calls people \u201cstupid,\u201d and \u201cdummy.\u201d One writer catalogued sixty-four occasions that he called someone \u201closer\u201d, as of Feb., 2016. These were not off-line, backstage, overheard, not-to-be-repeated comments. They were publicly and intentionally tweeted, recorded, and presented.\n\nSuch insensitivities wouldn\u2019t be acceptable even for a middle school student body election. But for the Oval Office? And to do so while brandishing a Bible and boasting of his Christian faith?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I didn't pretend anything of the sort. Who would pretend that those acts you mentioned didn't occur?\n\nI certainly didn't. I want measures taken to stop all religious extremism.\n\nDon't you?\n\nIf some of these attacks can be prevented by increasing immigration vetting for people from radicalized nations, I'm all for it. \n\nI don't get these arguments about Christian's committing crimes, as if there is some policy that allows it. Or that you suggest that I allow it. Or that two wrongs somehow make a right. Or that since Christians do commit terrorism, we should be ashamed to vet people from radicalized Muslim nations.\n\nIn other words, your argument makes no intellectual or moral sense to me whatsoever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am talking public (and private) schools becoming sex ed teachers.\n\nYou brought up parents belonging to churches, in particular the Catholic Church.\n\nI do not think government or private school's role is one of teaching sex ed to students as some of that teaching could or does goes against parents beliefs, be they religious, moral or 'other.' \n\nI believe parents role is to teach sex ed and morals and values to their own children (among other things.)\n\nThe good thing is: parents receive an \"opt out\" form to remove their child from public sex ed classes should they so desire. \n\nI am old school-but we did not practice putting condoms on a penis model (like they do today) and we also had much less teen pregnancies among my classmates. I tend to think that is because of parenting back then.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Reasonable accommodations? - does that include retro fitting a room in a Catholic high school into a muslim prayer room for 24 students? (approx student population 1400).\n\nBTW, there is no chapel in the school for the Catholic students, so how exactly do the 2 dozen muslims think they are owed a room?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Homosexuality is perversion. Sodomy is an abomination that cries to heaven for vengeance. It was condemned by saints and the magisterium. Christ destroyed five cities because of it. God created men and women to be sexually complimentary to each other. That is his plan of creation and the natural order. People who behave in a sexual manner with others of the same sex is contrary to the plan of creation and natural order and is gravely offensive to God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Isn't it a bit ironic that Catholic Churches ring the Church bells on Patricks day to welcome destroyers into the country, and, right on cue one such savage kills our people in London. The clergy are complicit! They step up to the pulpit and pray for 'world peace' as if they are dimwitted beauty pageant contestants. The clergy have despised their noble birthright and sold it away for the sod pottage of social-work. 'Preaching' enviromentalism as incompetent 'scientists'; they make themselves fools addled alongside 'global warming' hot-shots who have been ridiculed for decades. [even 'global-warming' has had to have been changed to 'climate change' because the 'scientists' are always repudiated by the evidence...which contradicts 'warming']. [Or, 'cooling';...because in fact the nature of it is CYCLICAL; driven by the sun][indict me for mortal sin of 'climate denial', or, call me Capernicus]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's no surprise that LGBTQ youth are more likely to turn to drugs and violence when they are pushed out of their homes and communities by intolerant Christians.\n\nI've done work with ministries in the Bay Area and most of those youth are seeking solace from bigots back home.\n\nYou pick and choose from your book of iron-age myths. It's a shame you pick the parts of bigotry and intolerance. There's a lot of hurting young people who could use the empathy The Bible also teaches. \n\nSo who is right? Your ancient book, or the LGBTQ people sitting right in front of us begging to be heard?\n\nI don't think you realize the utter pain and torture your ideas cause, and for what? So you can thump your bible?\n\nYou're free to have whatever ideas you want. If you think homosexuality is a sin then by all means live that way. But I draw the line when you think that freedom and justice means telling people who to love and what they can or cannot do in the bedroom. The bigotry and intolerance is vivid.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He, like all televangelists I know of, is a con man. Those who donate $$ to him and his ilk are sheep who should be fleeced.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cWhen I first came I could feel it \u2014 they (Filipinos) were treated as second-class citizens\u201d in society as well as in the Catholic Church. She said they were never invited to read the Scripture, serve Communion or perform any other duties at the altar, but just allowed to \u201cclean the church and the yard.\u201d\n\nThis treatment is not Christ like but like the evil world. Jesus never turned anyone away. Jesus never treated anyone like second-class citizens in society and in any church. One day God will separate the wheats from the tares and all the tares will come to Jesus and say lord, lord; didn't we cast out demons, did good deeds, and help the poor and the sick. But Jesus will tell them, \"I never knew you who love and practice evil (i.e., pedophile priests, bishops, arch bishops, cardinals, and the Popes). They will be cast in the lake of fire. Ha Ha Ha! They are life long pagans and devil worshippers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Among white Catholics, Trump's margin stood at 60 percent to 37 percent while Hispanic voters preferred Clinton, 67 percent to 26 percent.\"\n\nSince skin color is more important than religion when it comes to the voting booth, the prospect of healing our nation's wounds is grim. In 1861 a new president called upon, \"the better angels of our nature,\" with little success. Since the next president calls upon the worst demons of our nature, the prospect of binding the nation's wounds looks even more grim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Clinton reminds me of Nixon. When he was elected, he already had a history, and even some of those who voted for him called him \"Tricky Dick\". And we all know what happened... JFK is remembered as iconic, but I remember as a little kid when he ran, that even many democrats such as my folks had their doubts about him. Not because he was Catholic, but because he was the son of Joseph, a crooked, philandering Nazi sympathizer (at least at one time). Seems to me that politics in America is inherently corrupting. Just a matter of degree...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Julia is not an apostate. She is rather a muddled platitude-spouting Deist. The God of Christianity abhors untruth and spells it out quite clearly in His Word. To reject that is to reject Christ. Julia chooses the broad way rather than the narrow way. She is essentially saying that what God has written for us is wrong or irrelevant or mistranslated or outdated - something to be ignored. If that is her position, it is really a stretch to call herself a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I guess criticizing things like Sharia Law, Hanging gays in Iran, the mass sexual assaults in Colonge Germany by Muslim migrants and the ISIS genocides against Christians and other minorities is considered \"Islamaphobic\" and everybody mentioning those things should be silenced??? \n\n\nIs that what we are going with here? stop pretending like reservations against massive Muslim immigration is somehow unfounded or not based on facts.\n\n\nCanadians simply want reassurance of some assimilation. Because Immigration without any assimilation is not immigration it's an invasion. (see Europe \"NO-Go\" zones)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And they chose to move forward by electing Dolt 45. A man who is a walking advertisement for everything these people claim to abhor. A literal exhibition of the 7 deadly sins. And a Russia colluding traitor to boot. Everything these people have said to us about their Christianity and patriotism was a lie. They are consumed by anger and selfishness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only people who whine about how much they're \"persecuted\" as much as the LGBTQ alphabet soup-nuts are the born-again bigots on the \"Christian\" right. What it really comes down to as they don't feel they get enough attention because fewer folks take either seriously with each passing day.\n\nA Palestinian Muslim brother of mine had his Middle-Eastern restaurant next door to a coffee house that catered to \"gays\". When asked, he merely shrugged his shoulders and said, \"...between them and Allah. I'm not the Judge.\" You can't imagine how outraged they were at being ignored thus...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Aggressiveness in small Baltic states, seizing control of Crimea, hacking into American computer systems in order to put in place the president of his choice, soon to do the same in France and Germany, suspicious deaths of outspoken dissenters in his own country who dared to speak out against his brutality. The list of Putin's atrocities goes on and on. \n\nBut this is the \"good friend\" of the \"pro-life\" President-elect whom countless American Catholics supported in order to protect unborn fetuses, ignoring the lives of the already born. And we haven't even begun to see what damage Putin can inflict on the entire planet once his chosen puppet is eating out of the palm of his hand and giving him everything he wants in exchange for... what? No doubt the answer to that question lies in Trump's tax returns that all of his supporters didn't seem to mind not seeing. \n\nIt's only going to get worse and worse, and every time it does I'm going to be pointing my finger at every Trump voter I know.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'll give you the titles since in the past I have not been allowed to place the URL's in the comment section. You can google the titles with my name. You will find ample documentation:\nVatican Inc.'s Future Secured by Pope Francis\nPope Francis is not anti-capitalism. By his actions he supports the plutocracy\nWhy a Miscreant Like Cardinal Pell is Head of Vatican Finance\nPope Francis and the Dirty War - Keeping the Recond Straight Part I\nThe Rise of Pope Francis\n\nI never claimed that the pope and Burke were on the same side. Only that they\nare both conservatives re: access to women's healthcare and anti-gay and anti-transgender.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He cannot clear his name. Despite the standard issue defenses and outright lies spouted by some in a desperate attempt to canonize this man because they agree with his stance on doctrine, he participated in the protection of clergy who raped children. He, like JPII, violated Jesus' instructions regarding children and like some who post in support of him, lack a sense of decency.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again, we have a religious opinion about a psychological/medical condition, and the pretty good body of research accumulated in the past 10-15 years regarding it be damned. A celibate man, dressed in robes and capes, thinks he knows enough to lecture the rest of the world on a matter he clearly knows very, very little about. How convenient - and easy- it is for some men of the Church to victimize a group that possesses little power. Why not? - they've been doing it to young people, LGBT folks, the divorced-remarried and women for centuries. If Pope Francis steps in the middle of this (well, any further then he has already) he will be creating another albeit minor version of Paul VI's disaster with Human vitae. The entire matter of \"gender theory\" as presented here, is a made-up Church version, based on disinformation and a purposeful rejection of what science, and personal experience, informs us about now that many of us choose to listen. We already know the Church doesn't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The coinciding of pews and the printing press is not mere coincidence. Unless I am mistaken, it was Protestants and their heavy emphasis on The Word which introduced classroom-style pews into churches for instruction about The Word by learned men to the ignorant masses. That naturally changed the power dynamic in Catholic liturgy as well when pews were introduced into our churches.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Could not agree more... That is something Canada needs to change and fast. I grew up in the Catholic school system and it was great, but it is only fair to do away with it as we are now having a large Muslim population and they want to have separate schools for their children. Personally I find that ungrateful on their part and stupid on our part for allowing it. Have our children co-exist in school as they are our future and will hopefully be brighter than we have been. I recognize this is a very politically incorrect view...but I feel it is for the best in the long run.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some of you white folks just refuse to take responsibility for your behavior. If a black man made your statement to a white cop, \"I DID NOT!!! In fact I said I DIDNT pack heat\", he could have been killed, and you sound like you would be okay with that state sponsored murder. White people invented racism when they decided to be white, rather than merely human or Christians. Among other benefits of that decision, it made race based slavery okay with the church, with a few exceptions. Before you folks decided to be white, slaves were just the loser of the last war, regardless of color. We are still dealing with the the white racist ramifications of that choice by European immigrants. Own your heritage, if you have any honor. The subsequent European immigrants learned to become white by learning to fear and hate minorities in general, and blacks in particular. Merit and equality are demotions for most poorly educated white folks. Most of them are Trump voters. Can you handle the truth?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Muslims excoriate us about Islamophobia, but we should bear in mind Islam's entrenched racism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, anti-Semitism, hatred of Christianity, Europe and America, destructive iconoclasm, and even Islamophobia against each other. Ancient tribal wars of extermination between Kurds, Shiite, Sunni, Wahhabi, Druze and other Islamic sects such as ISIS , Taliban and Al Quada are the root causes of most of the wars in the world today. It is worse than anything expressed in the west, even by Trump. When will she examine Islam and make recommendations about how to over come its failures.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "rangerMC, the point is that you only post links that support your privileged white, christian male, homophobic, racist, bigoted, intolerant point of view. when you link a site, link another with a contrasting view. you know, give us a glimmer of hope you aren't the jerk you try to make us believe you are. show a little humanity, compassion and common sense once in awhile. leave out right and left extremes, religious and political sites. neuroimaging has revolutionized psychology in the past five years, making it possible to predict, with some certainty, whether a child will grow up normal or need treatment. its not rocket science anymore.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, lets go to the standard liberal playbook -\" you must be a troll\". I am a true believer, why else would I waste my time on this heretical site if I was not concerned about the truth of the Catholic Faith. One of us is correct, I happen to believe it is me. Truth be told I an mostly concerned with the diabolically disoriented priests on this site. They definitely need our prayers. If you think I am a troll then simply mute me. I won't lose any sleep over it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "~\nI hear that Creationists will be joining with other Deniers of reality&responsibility for a CounterMarch for NonScience.\nI hope they'll have signs summing up their views on real scientists' expertise & extensive peer-reviewed research:\n~\n\"YEAH, WELL, Y'ALL CAN'T EVER PROVE THAT WHAT-I-CLAIM IS NOT TRUE!!!\"\n~\n\"I KNOW MORE THAN 97% OF THE WORLD'S DOCTORAL SCIENTISTS DO!!\"\n~\n\"F*** NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON! THE EARTH IS NOT 'BILLIONS' OF YEARS OLD!\"\n~\n\"OUR GOD DID NOT COMMAND CHRISTIANS TO VALUE S.T.E.M. EXPERTISE!!!\"\n~\n\"MY FUNDAMENTALISTS CAN BEAT UP YOUR ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICISTS!!!\"\n~\n\"COME JOIN US! FOR INFO, JUST CALL 1-800 + THE LAST 7 NUMBERS OF PI.\" \n~", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And when you go to confession, do you claim that you keep the commandment - thou shalt not steal - when you clearly steal the reputations of gay people and dismiss them as morally useless. Can't you kill someone stone dead by what you say about them? \n\nWe can all play the Ten Commandments card.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Black Catholic who can pass for White, Anton Scalia was nothing more than an unthinking, but highly skilled, mouth-piece for Pope John Paul II. So long as the Papacy keeps insisting that one cell human zygotes merit full human rights (e.g. they ought to be baptized) ranting about Roe v Wade lacks credibility. No Catholic judge has ever recused himself or herself from a case because being Roman Catholic.\n\nElagabalus has it right, as does Sephen Healy and others.\n\nThey thought Hitler was too extreme to be effective, either.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now there's an example of the sort of civility \"progressive\" Catholics are known for, eh? Unlike those terrible, awful right-wingers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As usual, the so-called \"Christian Right\" is neither. Their embrace of Trump is so politically craven it takes one's breath away.\n\nThe \"Christian Right's\" endorsement of Trump recalls Jesus' comment on the pharisees of his day:\n\n\"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitened sepulchers, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men\u2019s bones and every impurity.\" (Mt 23)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you!\nThis rap on Obama -- that he's not a Christian, that he's anti-Christian, that he's a Muslim, that he's pro-Muslim, that he's not an American -- this rap is all of one piece, and it reduces to this: he's not one of us; he's not white. It's racism, straight up and undiluted.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Stop pretending to give a damn about children or their abuse or poverty\". The Pope has been addressing poverty and lived among the poor in the slums of Argentina most of his life so your criticism there seems thin skinned and uncharitable at best. \n\nThe Church definitely needs major reform but have you ever considered both the massive challenge and problem Pope Francis inherited as well as the resistance to reform that he's facing at the moment? This is like those people who attack Obama for not being a superman type figure or changing everything instantly. \n\nThe ordination of women is very important and I support it 100%. But the idea that if you had women cardinals poverty would go away is laughable. I'm Anglican and I have a woman priest and bishop. Is poverty gone because of it? No. The notion that if women were ordained there would be no sexual abuse is also laughable because women are just as capable of sexual abuse as men are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Washington elite\". LOL\nTrump IS part of the elite. That's the most ironic thing about his election.\nYou got played by Trump. You're still being played by Trump.\nAs long as Trump blames Hillary Clinton and attacks GLBT people, you'll follow him to the ends of the Earth.\nAnd I hope the only people making incisions on atheists or agnostics are qualified doctors.\nOh! Did you mean \"imagine\"? You have to change your iPad settings.\nYes, I CAN imagine atheists or agnostics caring about jobs or the border. How dare you impugn all of them.\nWhat does evicting transgender people without cause from the military do for either? Except make thousands of transgender people who were doing their military job unemployed?\nI'll tell you what evicting transgender people does: It makes conservative Christians like you stand up and salute Trump. It has NOTHING to do with military readiness.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does Andrew seriously believe that Africans are anti-abortion because of the USA anti abortion policy?\nsuch devoted allies of USA?\n.\nor that they don't use condoms because of the Pope?\neven the non-Catholic Africans?\n-", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What is worse than active homosexuality is the claim that God purposely created homosexuals and approves such behaviour.\nYou credit Fr Martin with saying that in time the Church will have to acknowledge that homosexuality and gender fluency, whatever that might be, are a given. If he did then his critics are right about him. He is advocating what the Church regards as a serious sin. Fr Martin claims that he has written or said nothing against the Church's teaching. Who is correct, you or he?\nThe Church cannot loose on earth what is bound in heaven so there is not the remotest possibility that at any time in the future this teaching will change. Even if it were to reverse its teaching then it would simply cease to be Christ's Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Amen - EWTN did a real number on Catholicism. I watched this Sister Angelica actually introduce several seminarians on her show one time. She grabbed each one by the shoulders individually, describing them as handsome and very masculine, sort of like wouldn't you want to @!# them? It was truly gross and the men looked wholly embarrassed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Taliban Catholic alert...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Donald Trump came out against abortion and says he will choose people of the same opinion for the Supreme Court.\n\nPence has the same views and adds his version of Christianity to it.\n\nThey have already moved to defund Planned Parenthood (as Harper did, btw) - it's a right wing obsession with that group.\n\nPlus the Trump bragging about sexual assault of course.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, in cahoots with Julia Stasch, head of the McArthur Foundation (Chicago, violence and the Catholic Church) which substantially funds Planned Parenthood and other organisations which fund abortions.\nI wonder what Fr Spadaro would have to say about that unholy alliance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just saw an amazing video on Youtube. and what annoys me more is that one of the commentators is a Christian Minister who should defend all life\n1. 338 000 odd deaths a year CONDONED by all religious denominations in the USA, one every 97 seconds as part of the freedom to choose to abort\n2. 284 deaths caused by crazy gunmen in the same year in the USA ( both 2014 figures)\nwhy are guns which are innate objects then blamed for death by people bending the stats to suit themselves. Most shootings are followed by the following caveat from the local police forces;\nIF THE PERSONS SHOT HAD BEEN ABLE TO RESPOND AS FIRST \"RESPONDANTS\" THE DEATH TOLL WOULD HAVE BEEN MIMINMISED - I.E. IF THE PERSON AT THE SCENE HAD BEEN ARMED THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLETO DEFEND THEMSLEVES.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mike: I agree with you one hundred percent. The Catholic Hierarchy continues to want to deal with those of us who were abused on their terms. They want to pray for us, pray with us, hold Healing Masses for us and never ever do they ask us what we want. They do not ask because basically they do not care. When they pray, I suspect they pray that this whole subject could be forgotten. In February of 2016, I attended a \"healing circle\" held in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. It was held in a private home, far removed from Churches, prayers and the Hierarchy. About a dozen members of the laity, three survivors and two priests attended. It was an eye opening experience for me. I came away convinced that the Hierarchy will never be part of the solution. It will be the laity and some priests who will eventually deal with this crisis. If anyone is interested in attending one of these \" healing circles\" go to the Voice of the Faithful website and contacting Bill Casey.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Internet sites for the Catholic right, like Catholic Answers, have been having an extended fit over the Spadaro article while proving that the criticisms leveled in it against conservative Catholic are 110% correct. As for the American Catholic right, I've noticed that it has been veering more and more to the right over the past five years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From a Catholic perspective, substituting \"black\" for \"gay\" falsifies the document, and how it sounds to modern ears is irrelevant.\n\nThe Church is silent on the source of \u201csexual orientation\u201d, whatever that currently means in today\u2019s jargon, except to note that the natural order is attraction between a male and a female.\n\nScience has literally nothing to do with that.\n\nNor is there any comparison between racial bias and the Church\u2019s teaching on same sex attraction. The comparison is a political one designed to equate two quite different things.\n\nSince the Church\u2019s teaching is based on the Natural Law, not St. Paul\u2019s letter to anyone, it is not going to be changing. \n\nhttp://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c3a1.htm\n\n1979 The natural law is immutable, permanent throughout history. The rules that express it remain substantially valid. It is a necessary foundation for the erection of moral rules and civil law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Has it occurred to MSW that the 4 Catholic political leaders he mentions as \"out of step\" with life issues are not pro abortion but are in favor of individuals exercising their personal consciences? That these four and so many of the rest of us really do think personal conscience has to be the ultimate arbiter for adults, in moral decision making? That children follow authoritarian dictums....adults think and act for themselves.\n\nThat indeed to qualify as an adult...one has to make ones own decisions....right or wrong.\n\nThree times in the VP debate it was Kaine who kept asking \"Don't you trust women\" relative to pro choice....issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It does make one to seriously consider the many and varied apparitions and messages of Mary the Mother of Triune figure head in my opinion.\nNot once has there been any condemnation of the crimes committed against Catholic children and the mothers whose womb has been violated bringing them into the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Syria and Libya hundreds of thousands of Christians have been killed because of Clinton's actions and decisions. This for some reason is not criminal? This lady needs an international trial for the countries she has destroyed, the democracies they have installed are everything but democratic. The lady is not even well, physically and needs to be checked by psychologists and doctors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Catholicism I've heard of doesn't allow a sin repented of to be forgiven.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the county where I live, which has a declining urban city at its core, half of children born are out-of-wedlock. In the urban core itself, 70 percent are born out of wedlock, and among African-Americans, 90 percent, per the county Health Department. I have never heard of a single Catholic priest fathering any of these children. If you want to attack the problem of out-of-wedlock fathering, you are looking in the wrong place. If you want to encourage hate of the Catholic Church, I guess you're onto something. \nAs an aside, I note that the vicious types who are raising this issue have resumed calling children \"illegitimate,\" -- (only those fathered by priests, of course) -- as if it were their fault. Amidst the mad frenzy of throwing mud at the Catholic Church, could the heathens at least refrain from that? Just a small request in the interest of \"civility.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's an unfair double standard Always. The most religious place I've lived was Pella, Iowa, almost 50% of the citizens attended church every week. As an example they started with a single Reformed church, but now have 2nd and 3rd reform churches that emphasized different directions in their ministry and definitely included different interpretation of the bible and its intent.\n\nYour belief that there is only one real Christian church theology is a lie. The arrogance of that lie is not unusual, I've seen Christian churches that expel member for breaking that church's 'rules,' (who find other Christian churches by the way), Fundamentalist Islam is closest to what you seem to be saying. The believe only strict adherence to their form of Islam will bring salvation. The kill other Muslims because of this conceit.\n\nWhen you tell others that their faith life means they are going to hell what are you telling them at the emotional level? \n\nWho makes judgements on those of faith?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Unlike you, I speak from experience not conjecture.\"\n\nWrong again. I am a working parish priest of over 25 years experience. I have experienced the wonderful practice of authority and have supported wholeheartedly such leadership. I have also experienced woeful authoritarianism dressed up as authority which I have consistently challenged. \n\nYou may think that you are being a very good Catholic by giving assent to demonstrably poor leaders - on the grounds of the office they hold - but I'd say that, that was a very immature and irresponsible attitude. In any case, the truth is that any Bishop or Cardinal who expressed a view with which you disagreed, would soon be labelled as a heretic etc.. (You've already labelled me - wrongly.)\n\nI notice too that your use of the term 'failed' has considerably softened since you first used it - now that it's desired impression of humility has been questioned. You didn't fail, you discerned that religious life was not for you. A very different thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Honestly, I suspect the average Catholic isn't even aware of the Vatican silencing theologians, or most of the other issues we read about and discuss here. The Catholic whose only contact with the Vatican is what they hear in church on Sunday isn't going to hear a homily on why Father So-and-so, Sister This-and-that, or Professor Whatever have been ordered to be quiet or why their theology is \"wrong.\" And the Catholic who's stopped attending isn't likely interested one way or the other.\n\nThe bishop complaining about the laity isn't going to make much impact on the ones who've walked away, and the ones who stay, well, they may not be paying much attention anyway because they don't see it applying to them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let me just make sure I understand what you are saying:\n\nThe problem of child abuse is only relevant when it involves the Catholic Church. Accountability is only for the Catholic Church. How dare I suggest that the problem of child abuse extends far wider in society than the walls of the Catholic Church. How dare I suggest that anyone in any institution, public or private who has abused children and or covered up abuse and sheltered abusers should be made to pay. How dare I suggest that the laws should apply equally to all institutions. \n\nThat is what I am hearing you say. If that is what you are saying, that is fine. I do have a question, though. If we are only supposed to care about child abuse when it involves the Catholic Church, and if accountability is only for the Catholic Church, how is justice served and how are children kept safe?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This article and the comments about it are examples of why having clergy just isn't working. Either there is a seal or there is not a seal. The philosophical and canonical contortions mentioned are not convincing. The corruption and incompetence of the clergy is at the heart of this terrible situation. While it will not happen in our lifetimes, a future iteration of Catholic Christianity will be one without clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I totally agree. However should Catholic bishops, because they are against abortion and contraception, favor the Rebublican candidate because of this one issue. The Republican Party is Pro-Life, but work very hard to cut back on programs that help poor people. In my mind, Trump would not have been elected without the Catholic vote and the evangelical Christian vote. I believe in a more progressive tax system. The top 1% make much, much, more than the average worker. I'm pretty sure that a lot of Republicans vote Pro-life but are supporting programs that hurt the poor. I think it's a grave sin that in a country as rich as ours, children are going hungry. I think that abortion should be legal. I also believe that contraception should be readily available so that abortions are not necessary. During the time of St. Augustine, the baby wasn't considered a person until ensoulment (when the mother could feel life. I think that late term apportions should be for very serious reasons.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So what - It takes decades or centuries to establish doctrines, that means nothing. Scripture demands a Trinitarian explanation for God, I could give you verses, but I really don't see why this is so important to you. Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God, period. The Quran even contradicts itself on the nature of God and other items and should be tossed based on that issue alone. Jesus said plainly I and my Father are one, the Arians (later to be JW's and Mormons) were rebuked and labelled heretics at the earliest church Councils (Nicea), and with very few NT Manuscripts to analyze at the time, that should not alarm anybody, who was not predisposed in some fashion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bishops and popes since 1958 are all at fault for these things.\nToday's popes and bishops are \"shocked\" that there is a lack of faith today.\nThey shouldn't be surprised: They created this mess.\nAfter Vatican II, they overestimated the maturity of the faith of the Catholic people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, there is a moral equivalency between the Taliban and Christian Evangelicals? WOW, there's the problem with the sanctimonious LEFT right there in one neat little package.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What statements do you disagree with, Edward?\n\nHere's Jones on how those who seek to dominate other nations do so by first undermining their sexual mores -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojx8-oNGnMU\n\nAs for the other three statements, they are facts, plain but not simple.\n\nMost of us, esp. Catholics, are very uncomfortable criticizing anything \"Jewish\" or \"Israeli\" or zionist: we've been trained to be PC at all times-- lest we be called Nazis --even as we watch our faith & values being undermined. I try to develop a response that reflects & defends Catholic values without vilifying others. Telling the truth is not vilification, however unsettling.\nGaining as much knowledge as possible, even, or especially, info that challenges comfort zone, is one way to confront PC. \n\nFor info on Iran, I read Flynt & Hillary Leverett. He directs international studies at Penn State, she negotiated w/ Iran at UN, they wrote \"Going to Tehran. \" \nI've been to Iran and urge all to see for themselves.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In a civil proceeding, (not the rule of mob), how would the conflict in legal opinion(yours vs his) be resolved? If one is on the losing side of the decision, what should that person's commitment to the ruling be (assuming they don't want, or don't have a higher review to point to)?\n\nYour statement is not a legal review, it's a personal opinion. \n\nP.S. We are a civil nation, civil law must be honored over religious law when in conflict. It doesn't matter if it's Christian, Jewish, Muslim ... \nOf course a religious person can certainly follow their own moral compass, including breaking civil law, if they are willing to accept the consequences. Millions have made that choice, it's not a fantasy. \n\nPersonally, i've never had a problem reconciling the two, you can't cage a heart, or mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't really know the history of the Catholic church. Otherwise you wouldn't be citing as ANCIENT practice what was NOT present from the beginning.\n\n\nI am a highly educated Catholic. I don't fall for the baloney that some of the hierarchy spew out and think that most Catholics don't know any better.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Baby steps--what can I say? Breaking up and changing the culture that allowed this crisis to happen cannot happen over night. It will slowly begin to change when bishops recognize that the pope is going to hold them accountable. Pope Francis is not my favorite pope, I admit, but I was heartened by his words on the sex abuse crisis. So far, however, they seem to be only words. The best thing Pope Francis can do is put the bishops on notice: they will be held accountable. \n\nBishop Finn--I liked because of his ideology--but even I was heartened to see that he had to resign and was being held accountable. The problem is that Pope Francis didn't state that--and I didn't like that. Pope Francis should have made it abundantly clear that Bishop Finn was forced out because of his poor handling of the Shawn Ratigan case", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you want to talk about politicians and religion, let's talk about that picture of Trump yesterday being prayed over by a bunch of evangelicals. Does anyone else find it more than a little coincidental that that picture was released to the public after several days in which Trump was basically in hiding from the public, and during which time frame his White House was in meltdown mode from the news of Donnie, Jr.'s damning email exchange with the Russians? I don't. He was shoring up his ever-loyal evangelical base to make sure that around 88% of them continue to give him high marks while his ratings continue to plummet elsewhere. Since MSW mentioned JFK, Trump could easily borrow JFK's famous line and turn it upside down to go something like this, \"Ask not what you can do for religion, but rather what religion can do for you.\" That basically sums up Donald Trump's relationship to Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is that where we will find you today Layla? Just because you are Jewish does not mean that you cannot partake of the Christian spirit of giving and compassion. We are all God's children Layla there are no special distinctions for Jewish people no matter how confused you get.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "DeFranza made a very important point in the discussion: \"What we are learning about science and gender is changing,\" she said, noting that church reformers need to relook at how Christianity has viewed transgender people. Christian scholars, such as Thomas Aquinas, translated the knowledge of the day into a Christian framework. DeFranza said that is the current challenge. \"We need to do what they did even if it means not saying what they said,\" noted DeFranza.\n\nNote \"...scholars... translated the knowledge of the day into a Christian framework...\" And \"We need to do what they did EVEN IF IT MEANS NOT SAYING WHAT THEY SAID.\" In other words, even if a different conclusion is reached. \n\nWhat is recorded that Jesus said and did, and the Old Testament base on which so much thinking is derived - all that needs to be viewed anew in light of what we know today. We need to \"translate the knowledge\" of THIS day \"into a Christian framework.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More liberal genuis perspective. Perfect example why this country as a whole is sliding into the trash pile. Not all private schools are \"Christian\". Nor does a voucher force anyone to send their kids to a private school. Nor does it give those schools your (or anyone else's) money, if you (or others) decide public is the better option. That's the genius of it, you, even if you're not an elite member of society, get to chose where your tax funds and kids go, rather than having the public school system steal those dollars when you're not even utilizing their system. It's called free market. It motivates competition among opposing sides, thereby improving performance. So much for that. DCS will continue to slide to nothingness after this. Same path as our country as this agenda increases steam. I wish all these socialist sympathizers would just move to North Korea and reap their reward.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1) God did not take pen in hand and write Sacred Scripture. Humans did [inspired to write by God]. But the humans wrote from THEIR perspective.\n2) Remember that the Gospels were written AFTER Jesus' death and resurrection. That is how humanity sees God's hand. God never punishes to destroy, but to restore. We have a choice to accept this or not\n3) Do you see Jesus' soul as a separate entity from his body and life? [how could Jesus suffer if he saw the Beatific Vision?].\n4) I stated that as the plot was thickening, Jesus could certainly perceive what the religious hierarchy was planning for him, and he certainly understood it perfectly in the Garden. And yes, Jesus knew that this Cup of suffering would not pass from him.\n5) God writes 'straight with all the crooked lines' that humanity uses. On the Cross, the Trinity was present---Jesus, with faith and trust, offered his life and all that he did to the Father, and the Spirit infusing the Love/Forgiveness of God back to us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You know, I wrote specifically about separating the word Muslim from Shariah law because of the governance style. Shariah is passed off as a peaceful religious guidance yet their decisions affect legal outcomes. There is no separation between church and state therefore, the religion is a governing tool - often brutal and misogynistic. I wrote about the distinction in an attempt to pull apart the conversation so that we can start to ask people, whether they intend on assimilating or colonizing as they come to our country. \n\nLegal avenues are being subverted and colonizers are coming by the planeloads. They are colonizers with no desire to matriculate - as their Shariah guide book tells them. I give you Dearborn Mich. with the same unfolding in 5 more states. \n\nI don't care if you're pink, polka dotted, purple, brown, baptist, muslim, jewish, catholic, etc. I do care if you're American or a colonizer. If you're not going to become American go home and take your laws with you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In defense of the firing of the Rhode Island music minister, Bishop Thomas Tobin points out that Pope Francis \"fired a priest who was working in the Vatican upon learning the priest was gay and in a relationship.\"\n\nAnother example of false equivalency. A priest in a relationship (gay or straight ... it doesn't matter) has violated a solemn vow, his vow of celibacy. Last time I checked, music ministers do not profess vows.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think in terms of church culture, it may be helpful to remember the era in which it was created. The \"Western World\" of the day was making the shift from a polytheistic world, towards monotheism, often adopting the Jewish model which had been around for a long time. The polytheistic model was rife with \"levels,\" within the gods, to the civil leaders (often seen as lesser gods), to any number of social layers. There's no shortage of allusions to this in the gospels (Jesus \"dared\" to eat with a tax collector, or a prostitute, or touch a leper?) So I'm not surprised that there are echoes of that in the early church. What IS saddening, is that church leadership still clings to that.\n\nUltimately, so much of what we're seeing in our own society today is a rebellion against the echoes of that within our society (racism, sexism, elitism, etc...) Once again, society leads the church. Jesus taught that real power wasn't in \"position.\" A message not warmly by religious leaders, then and now.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bravo, the USCCB! \nThe astonishing thing is that Fr James F Keenan SJ of the Georgetown University Press was full of praise for the book and the Catholic Press Association gave it an award.\nNo wonder Catholicism in the US is in such a parlous state.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You really have to wonder at the mindset of those who want to ban tools of defense in the face of an ideological attack. Is it a product of conditioning, or a congenital defect that causes a skewed thought process?\n\nI mean... take guns away and everyone will magically make nice?? Really?? That's what you believe?\n\nAre you not aware that most of the worst genocides and conquests in human history occurred before the invention of gunpowder? Do you not realize this is how Islam has been spread, steadily, for 1,400 years??\n\nThe entire Middle East was once under Christian rule, Lebanon as recently as the 1980s. Afghanistan, Indonesia, and Malaysia were once Buddhist. Pakistan was once Hindu?\n\nHow do you think these countries became Islamic? Because abstaining from pork was just an awesome selling point?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, not at all. I am saying that we needn't run immediately from every little pain.\n\nPain can be sanctified.\n\nWhy do some Catholics have a problem with understanding that pain is a natural reality?\n\nThey can admire some athletes who pummel their bodies, stretching their capacities, putting themselves through painful routines, growing in fortitude, patience, longsuffering for some temporal goal they may have, however noble.\n\nBut they can't understand fasting, or delay, or patiently delaying a rest toward some good.\n\nThey think they want intimacy with Jesus Christ, but they only want it when they are waving their hands or holding their hands at the guitar mass on Saturday evening.\n\nThey don't understand that they are missing a much deeper intimacy with Jesus Christ during for the other 100 or so waking hours of the week!\n\nOffering things up through the day also serves other functions...tempers us from our appetites, serves as penance for our sins and the sins of others, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Green Party might work if done right. I would love a libertarian presence of social liberal and fiscal conservative/anti-rail myself. But we often get the worst of both parties. The dems Tax and spend and the gops want to convert everyone to Christianity and intrusively control every thought and decision you make and if that doesn't work they use racism and bigotry and all that good stuff.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "taipan, i do agree the rich will always keep we peons so divided we cant see what harm they are doing. i can't think of a single instance, since england in the 1700's, where other countries have told us what to do. i do know a majority of americans think global warming is a threat, abortion is a woman's right to choose and lbgtq and civil rights are universal rights, regardless of what 52 rich, white, christian males in congress think. and its a real stretch from 2017 back to ww2.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Copernicus was a polish priest who believed earth orbited sun. Too afraid. THe ROman Catholic CHurch needed their geocentric model as if was a foundation of their teaching. Yes he died imprisoned comfortably in his home still no excuse , the only conclusion is for that period SCIENCE 1, RELIGION 0. Want to be smart stay away from parochial dogma is the end truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You do realize that you are talking about a CATHOLIC parish and not a parish in a denomination in which the laity have enshrined rights and responsibilities? How many Catholics in a typical parish would have the cojones to do what you are suggesting? That said, I agree with your ideas 100%. Of course, I spent years in a non-denominational parish where the laity asserted its rights and obligations, and the pastor expected them to do so. It was a true partnership of equals.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To only believe this guy had \"mental issues\" as the reason for his allegiance to the Islamic State shows ignorance and a lack of understanding how rapidly this ideology is spreading throughout the world. IS has established a following on every continent (Antarctica the only exception). There's IS terrorists involvement in the US, SA, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia (Philippines, Indonesia) and recently discovered a strong IS sympathizers in Australia. Their ability to recruit world wide on social media and other methods is amazing being that they appeal to a new generation that really have no loyalty to the country of their birth or national origin; basically the younger crowd who are searching for a purpose and are not satisfied with the politics, religion and direction of their country. They're an ideology that is driven to destroy the Judeo-Christian faith and to impose their will to destroy us because they know we are tolerant and don't like to fight back. WAKE UP AMERICA!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I believe I did address your comment. Those on the far left spectrum believe anyone who follows the consistent teachings of the Catholic Church is a Fundamentalist. Those on the far right spectrum believe anyone who desires to change those aforementioned Church teachings is a heretic. I believe in the eternal Church teachings about Jesus' Divinity, his miracles, virgin birth, his sacrifice on the Cross and his physical resurrection. I Believe in the Ever Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, who was immaculately conceived, assumed into Heaven Body and Soul and is the Queen of Heaven and Earth. I believe in Original Sin, Adam and Eve, the Seven Sacraments, Purgatory, Heaven and Hell. I believe that Satan is real, and he is engaged in a battle with us right now, and is currently drawing many souls to Hell. Those are my simple Catholic beliefs, those taught by the Catholic faith. Those that preach beliefs opposed to those simple tenets of the faith are heretics in my opinion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not trying to \"target\" fundamentalist Christians, it's just that they often seem to be the strongest voices for keeping dead people alive artificially. Also, \"euthanasia\" is actively killing a living being and should not be confused with keeping someone 'alive' by artificial means. Ultimately this isn't about religion vs the state it's about being willing to accept the natural process of death realistically.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Someone want to remind Graham that he has no business interfering with government. Separation of Church and State means \"the church\" stays out of the government's business. Franklin Graham is simply distorting Christ's message.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All the terrorist that have threatened to kill me have been born in America white Christians. One of the terrorist groups was called the Order. They were based in the Northwest, with some members living in Springfield. Among other crimes they murdered an elderly Jewish radio talk show host in Denver that was critical of neo-Nazis. They sent me several death threats including sending certain of my body parts \"back to Africa\". This after I called them cowards during an interview I had on KUGN back when it was locally owned. Their leader was killed by federal marshals in Washington state back in the 1990's. The experience caused me to get a CAC permit. Don't forget those Nazis that shot up the Jewish temple here in Eugene about the same time. BTW, we let the KKK adopt highways in some states. They have easy access to all the guns they want thanks to the NRA.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If he was 15, then maybe he was a \"youthful offender\" and the records were sealed - until he left the State of Washington where such determinations may not apply across state lines? I have seen that before. So sexual molestation of a minor is probably one of the most heinous crimes that could have been exposed. But while not a Christian in my adult life, I do follow the norms of my childhood and have a hard time with the harsh judgement stated in this column. Where does compassion and forgiveness play into our polarized society?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So what ? What does having an Ordained Minister in your family mean ? Is that supposed to buy you some credibility over and above ? The Priest who was just busted for Child Prostitution in this paper was \"Ordained\" as well. You have no basis for any of your truth claims, other than your opinion, which you are most certainly entitled to, but don't try to pass it off as fact. Your own spokesman. DeGrasse Tyson says we may be living in a digital simulation, then thinks we were seeded by Aliens cannot even make up his mind. And you call us who have the nerve to take the Bible literally those who believe in \"Myths\"...Give me a break with the Piety, this kind of nonsense turns my stomach.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(2/3 part post) - the last part is further down the page\n\nBack then circumcision was the surface issue, but the Council saw it fundamentally as a gospel issue. And the gospel was about fulfilment of the Law in Jesus. And if you understand Jesus; love for one another.\n\nIf a person was circumcised or not didn't matter, so those who wanted to carry on the practice could, and those who wouldn't find it significant to their faith were not required to. \nOne can expect that there were many from the law end of faith expression who wouldn't appreciate such freedom. After all wasn't circumcision an eternal sign between God and his people? And who has the right to tamper with Gods law!? . . . I'm sure some continued to persecute the free. \nInteresting too that the Council asked the Gentiles to not eat food sacrificed to idols, yet a reading of Paul indicates that even this wasn't a blanket rule. He was happy to eat food sacrificed to idols just so long as it didn't offend someone weak in faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Well said. This is largely about bringing Christianity into schools for DeVos and her husband, multi billionaires and longtime lobbyists for an end to separation of church and state. Drain the swamp, indeed! As Trump continues to bring in wealthy white people to his circle, we can all just sit back and feel the Bern. And, despite the advice and wishes of some to be silent, the whole deal rests on Progressives getting out the vote in the midterms of 2018.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We have a province here which still laments the loss of its feudalism. It was a set up as a counter-reformation effort to rewind the clock, reinstate feudal lords with tithing, all tightly controlled by the Roman Catholic church. \nThey also sustained both chattel and debt slavery. \nThere are uncountable symbols and memorials to the past and the current license plates have the logo , I remember. \nI don't criticize them because that is their history even if it has been sanitized and, excuse the term, white-washed. \nGiven all this, are we sure that we should be running an article with this theme about Virginia?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting isn't it? Chaput must think the \"male\" in Jesus Christ is what saves us but the risen Christ has no gender.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The only positive I see from the inability of the majority to address our fiscal problems and kick the can down the road yet again is that maybe the voters will finally have had enough and elect a new group of leaders come November. Problem is...Alaskan voters have a dismal track record. I mean...SB21? Kevin Meyer? Ohio Dan? Christian taliban John Coghill and Mark Neuman?...And Don Young for 43 straight flipping years?...I mean...what the bleep. \n\nIf I was a betting man, I'd bet that the voters of the far north aren't up to the challenge...a bet I would hope to loose...but...there it is.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, but Charlie is no \"theological giant\" nor budding Angelic Doctor, and it's only in a certain Catholics' dreams (hallucinations) that some Pope after Vatican IX will issue Aeterni Patris bis, recommending we teach morality according to Curranian (rather than Catholic) theology.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time but they cannot fool all of the people all of the time.\nThe bishops do not GET the FACT that their moral authority is disappearing by the day.\nSure they came out with a statement or something about health care. Sounded good. But it was pretty much hidden below the radar. Deliberately. \nSimilar to sex abuse. Only they verbally come across stronger on that issue. If they weren't getting sued every other minute, I wonder what they would be saying.\nBut when it comes to abortion, they manage to SCREAM from the rooftops. So they can be heard when they want to!!!\nSimple fact: they don't want to.\nThey'll mouth some niceties and go back to their daily routine of currying favor with the people who have more rather than the people who need more. \nThe Church is falling apart and they just don't get it. The pope pretty much does get it and many of the Bishops say nice things but can barely stand him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Definitely something wrong with romanticizing a religion which denies the Divinity of Christ while not wishing to dialogue with those whom you proclaim to share faith in Jesus Christ with.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Recognize that white American Catholics are complicit in putting Trump in the White House, and then think what the Roman Catholic Church has become.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is the Body of Christ, its Head.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really Bill? You're not allowed to call out sins during a discussion of Catholicism? Wow, just wow,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "there were 3 Commissioners who wrote the report\n----\none was First Nations\none was married to First Nations\none was probably \"progressive\" liberal do-gooder\n---\nbiased?\nso much for drama like asking the Pope to apologize\ninstead of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"What is the metrics-based relationship between levels of higher education and disaffection with traditional religious institutions?\" \nAs one of the thousands of priests who left after it became obvious that the reforms of the second Vatican Council were going to be undone, and the church was going to head BACKWARDS again, I can assure you that as Catholics become better-informed, they can't help but learn about a whole slew of problems that I catalogue at my http://CatholicArrogance.org web site, and decide as I did to DIVORCE THEMSELVES from such a fraudulent and immoral institution!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I should also add on a personal note that fasting truly is a humbling tool to highlight my own inequity. Especially for people like me that live in an affluent western country. Fasting enforces the empathy for those that are forced to fast out of impoverished circumstances by feeling true hunger and denial of wants, at least when following the preconcilar fast. \n\nIt makes almsgiving and charity that much more personal when I realise how much I have been given, from others and God, and how much I squander, during fasting St Basil the Great's homily against the rich and selfish rings true in my own life, as my affluency when not shared with others, is theft against the poor. It also magnifies St John the Baptist's words of how we must decrease in order to bring greater glory to Christ our Lord. \n\nI wish the great spiritual gift of ascetic praxis was not hidden away in the corners of the Latin Church, for me it is a gift that begets many gifts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This organization should be dismantled and all of it's property sold to Starbucks.\nOur Children will never ever be safe in this church. \nThe Roman Catholic Church has had decades to sincerely change. It refuses to.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The standard bleat of the conservative Catholic: If you don't agree with ME, you should leave the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bingo. (No cultural pun intended.) \n\nI'm not in Connecticut, but ALL my California friends and family who were lifelong Catholics are now Nones...and are white, educated, professionals. They left outraged over the child sexual abuse, as well as the misogyny, LGBT exclusion and the rest of our progressive agenda. Our children left before we did, and I see no signs that anyone is interested in returning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Most conservative Catholics love this pope.\" Erm, no, no they don't. \n\nThey love him in terms of wanting his soul to get to Heaven, but there's no love lost for Francis the man.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Bernie supporter, I held my noise and voted Clinton because I knew Trump's history and that of his running mate. \n\nWomen, people of color, LGBTQ, immigrants (documented or not), the non-religious/non christian, the physically impaired, those with chronic illness, those who like to breath clean air and drink clean water, the environment, science, wildlife, and our planet earth all know that Trump is by far the worst of two evils.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "P.S. - If you look up their Facebook profiles, you will find multiple men in this family who clearly owned guns.\n\nAgain, remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: \u201cThose who use the sword will die by the sword.\u201d\n\nIf you own and use guns, you yourself will die by the gun. Please, do not ignore the holy teachings of Christ!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings....all these super Tradie sites like..... Eponymous Flower, Church Militant, and Life Site News have been trashing and calling Holy Father Francis terrible names and saying he is not their Pope! Now they are going after anyone that does not meet THEIR standards of Catholism! I give the Holy Father great credit for standing tall and refusing to be intimidated. May the +Holy Spirit+ continue to shower Pope Francis with wisdom and the grace to continue the reforms so necessary for our Church to continue it's mission of offering the message of our +Savior Jesus Christ+", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Every year is a Year of the Laity unless we abdicate our responsibility and allow .00015% of the Catholic population to control our faith lives.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1.)\nThe Catholic Advisory Group Members are as follows:\n1. Sen. Rick Santorum, Former US Senator and presidential candidate\n2. Marjorie Dannenfelser, President, Susan B. Anthony List\n3. The Honorable Matt Schlapp, Chairman, American Conservative Union\n4. Ambassador Francis Rooney, Former US Ambassador to the Holy See\n5. Sean Fieler, President, Chiaroscuro Foundation\n6. Rev. Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life\n7. Chris Slattery, Founder & President, Expectant Mother Care\n8. Cong. Andrew Harris, US Congressman, Maryland, 1st District\n9. Janet Morana, Co-Founder, Silent No More Campaign\n10. John Klink, President Emeritus, International Catholic Migration Commission\n11. Marjorie Murphy Campbell, Founder & Publisher, New Feminism\n12. Deacon Keith Fournier, Chairman, Common Good Foundation and Common Good Alliance\n13. Tony Maas, President & CEO of JTM Food Group\n14. Patrick Walsh, Former Chief Secretary and Attache, US Embassy, Dublin, Ireland\n(continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Lake of faith = Lack of hope (as you espouse here)\n\nIt is really too bad to meddle in such pessimism if you call yourself a follower of the living Christ... or are you only concerned with being in lock step with the Roman magisterium (minus the current pope)?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "RD, once again is giving his \"accept social injustice, don't bother trying to change it. Is there racism? It's OK. Are the poor going to be deprived of access to health care? That's fine. Gorget that guff about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless and so on; Christ didn't really mean it. Just tend your own interior garden and clean out your garage.\"\n\nRD, despite his pretenses to the contrary, is not actually a follower of Jesus Christ .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mr. Sean Michael Winter's column is nothing more than a \" HIT JOB\".... an anti-Catholic piece that \nshould've been printed years ago in the editorials of the K.K.K. or Know Nothing Party rags.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\nThe Vatican issued a decree to that effect concerning Father Kung, but never about Curran. Of course, I could be mistaken, in which case I'm sure you'll cite the relevant document.\nIt is Curran -- not \"the Vatican\" -- who has been teaching in conformity with the mind of the church for all these years, if the \"mind of the church\" is understood to align with the faith and practice of the People of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Martin said he is happy to converse with people, even critics, if there's fertile ground for dialogue....\"if it's a thoughtful critique and raises good points, I'm happy to engage it.\" says Martin.\nThat is a bald-faced lie by Fr. Martin. I used to like & trust him. No more. Way before this brouhaha w the Building Bridges book, Fr Martin would post many things on FB that seemed to go directly against Catholic teaching & the words of Christ. When I, as a faithful Catholic truly wishing to understand, would ask respectful questions, request clarification or pose challenges to how what he said could square with the Faith, he would never answer, even when many others \"liked\" my comments because they needed to know too. Finally he just blocked me. Many PMed me to say he did the same to them. He blocks anyone who dares question or call him out for his lies and I do think he may be harming souls. He's on social media to spread confusion & dissent, push an agenda & reap adulation.Pray for him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I understand now, she writes for the BBC and Guardian. I notice she uses the discredited word Islamophobia.\nHow come she hasn't been writing about the daily 'Christian Phobia', ' Protestant phobia', ' Lutheran phobia ', 'Anglican phobia' going on daily in UK, European, Canadian and Australian mosques and carried out daily and brutally in Indonesia, Saudi, Pakistan, Egypt and numerous other superstitious fundamentalist lands?\nShe still doesn't get it that any religion or irrational belief system , especially the misogynistic one she believes in, is wide open for evaluation and criticism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Seems you have a lot of disdain in you? I consider myself to be an evangelical and I consider this election to be unimportant in the \"big picture\". Sure, I have my worldly desire on how I'd like to see things turn out but when it comes down to it, it really doesn't matter what happens. The end has been written and so few will enjoy the results. You've made your choice and I've made mine. I won't change your mind nor you mine. Those that proclaim to be Christian while not following the Word will have to answer as well. \nII Timothy 4:3-4 says it well. People have turned to their own desires and have made leaders out of them that preach that it's ok to justify their choices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic schools perform valuable service - they provide an alternative public school system and provide some level of competition. This way, if public schools go down some rabbit hole, like trying alternative math education, you could at least switch boards.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think abortion and gay marriage were the only issues, and I suspect abortion played more heavily than gay marriage for many Catholics. I think too many Trump voters thought he was going to somehow actually change the playing field. He was going to turn them from feeling like the lowly '62 Mets of Casey Stengel into the '69 World Series winning Mets and he was going to do it 'big league' quick. Now they are beginning to know it isn't going to happen 'big league' quick, but they still believe it will eventually happen, and mostly because they want it to happen so Trump will somehow make it happen. The fact the Trump is actually working against this belief is never going to matter because he articulated the belief in a way that made it seem like he got it. \n\nSo in the end it will be an exercise in futility. The question I wonder about is if the Dems can figure out how they lost a significant part of the voting population that used to be bank. I haven't seen they have.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So was your idol Hitler a liberal or conservative? You seem to have boiled the cause of all the serious problems down to one causal agent. Your bogeyman has jumped out of your closet and is now everywhere taking tax credits, passing bills of rights, arming rebels, stealing water, educating the next generation. Looks like you are doomed. Wonder what your leftist pal Jesus would do?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here's the first thing wrong with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms:\n\n\"CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS\n Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law:\"\n\nWhich god are we talking about? Jesus, Allah, Thor, Poseidon, the Tooth Fairy? Right off the bat there's a conflict: 1) The separation of Church and State; 2) Which god is supreme?; 3) As a non-theist, non-unicornist, non-fairyist, and non-Wizardist-- I am excluded!\n\nIt's an absurd opening line, and it gets worse; stand by.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "annexe@Forest Creature\n\u00ab Treaty of Paris \u00bb (1763) ceded Canada (aka New France) to Britain after the (European) Seven Years' War. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 created the \u2018Province of Qu\u00e9bec\u2019 out of New France (based from original \u2018Qu\u00e9bec Constitutional Act\u2019 of 1662).\nTo \u00ab avert conflict \u00bb in Qu\u00e9bec the British passed the \u2018Qu\u00e9bec Act\u2019 of 1774 (a \u00ab deal \u00bb ?);\n-expanding Qu\u00e9bec's territory to the Great Lakes AND\u2026Ohio Valley \n-it re-established the French language;\n-+ Catholic faith; \n- + French civil law. \n(\u2026\u00ab ONLY IF \u00bb you (Qu\u00e9bec) stayed \u00ab Loyal \u00bb to the British Crown-\nIt\u2019s a \u00ab deal \u00bb ! It\u2019s (almost) \u00ab a State into a State \u00bb\u2026\nAnd paf ! This ANGERED many RESIDENTS of the Thirteen Colonies, fuelling anti-British sentiment in the years prior to the 1775 outbreak of\u2026badaboum !-\nthe American Revolution !)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That seems to be a reasonable approach, since national bishops conferences are more alert to local conditions. If there were a change in the universal canon law, how would a bishop in Pakistan negotiate mandatory reporting? If he had a proven case of pedophilia and had to report it to a government already anti-catholic, would it not result in riots and killings? But a national conference could simply remove him for good, for the good of children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hope timeline is much sooner before we women just walk out enmasse. Feel more alienated with each passing day, especiaaly with so many Catholics having voted in the likes of Trump!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill: here's the definition of religion: re\u00b7li\u00b7gion the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods\" I have absolutely no problem with you holding the religious beliefs of your choice. \n\nAs you know the Constitution and hundreds of Court decisions based on it, have established the concept of \"separation of church and state.\" This includes NOT using tax dollars to promote any religion...again, a concept which is firmly established.\n\nYou don't pay a penny \"to promote (my) religious beliefs.\" Neither do I or anyone else. You and many Christian fundamentalists attempt to equate the curriculum taught in public schools WITH religion. The fact that your religious beliefs impact your view of such topics as evolution does not make the teaching of evolution, ipso facto, teaching religion. That's a false equivalency.\n\nAs I suggested above.....Home school your kids...It is NOT expensive. It's your choice. best regards, Gary Crum", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If by coming home you mean joining the 'Jesus would do this' or 'Jesus wouldn't do that' crowd then I'll avoid it like the plague. I have no intention of being lured to Horeb. The God I believe in is the same God that the Church proclaims not the false god that people construct in their minds to assuage the guilt they feel on account of their lifestyles.\nPeople who refer to their fellow Catholics as \"sheeple\" show profound contempt for them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don't be silly. You and a few others are here to complain about how NCR and many of those who comment here don't have a balanced view. You complainers do sometimes even offer a different view rather than just complaining. Unfortunately, your comment does not do this - it just complains. \n\nYou might want to consider that your complaint about the lack of a balanced viewpoint at NCR is on my comment which complains that the conference, as structured, will lack a balanced viewpoint. Would you like to actually address the subject of the article or my comment - or just use either/both as another chance to complain? \n\nIn a 1969 address at the CLSA national meeting, one presentation made the point that \"...arguments are at risk of being hijacked by agenda-driven groups in Church..\" He is quite right. What needs to be recognized is that the \"agenda driven groups\" come from many directions. \n\nI like NCR's agenda. It provides a counterpoint to so many other Catholic sites rigidity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Johnson Amendment has bolstered the separation of church and state, and I happen to be of the belief that the separation of church and state has been a good thing for both church and state. That's one of the reasons the USA has always been one of the greatest nations on earth, and also one of the most religious. Combining deep religious faith with deep diversity has been one of our greatest strengths. That is what has made us the \"shining city on a hill\" that people from so many other nations have always admired. That is, until now. Under Trump that's all changing, and any religious group that is eager to cozy up to such a thoroughly corrupt administration, one that defends neo-nazis, should think very carefully about what they're doing. (Remember Catholic bishops in Nazi Germany.) Being the state religion killed Anglicanism in England. It exists now mainly as a quaint cultural curiosity for tourists. Is that really what Catholics in this country think should happen here?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ambiguity is the quality of communicating something that is open to more than one interpretation through inexactness. Its antonym is clarity. Jesus had this to say on clear communication: \"All you need to say is simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.\"\n\nAny teaching of a Catholic doctrine that is cast in ambiguous terms by a skillful turn of phrase or a clever sleight of hand gives the false impression that the discussion is safely rooted within the parameters of Catholic orthodoxy without realising that it has undercut the full meaning and authority of the doctrine itself. \n\nThere's nothing heroic about ambiguity when dealing with doctrinal truth. It's deception. As Pope Pius X observed, heterodoxy does not operate in this way; it's technique is infiltration \"without order and systematic arrangement, in a scattered and disjointed manner.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hard to believe that despite the supposedly extraordinary events surrounding Jesus' birth -- from annunciations by herald angels and the heavenly host, to shepherds and magi seeking out the messiah, to Herod's wrath -- that from the beginning, Jesus was not recognized by the rest of his family as God's anointed one (Mk. 6:4). Instead, there are times when they think him out of his mind (Mk. 3:21). Nor did any of his brothers become disciples during his lifetime (John 7:5). \n\nHow does that square with the story of Joseph being a saint who was fully aware of Jesus' divinity?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Kinda wondering if Francis has been moved this week by Office of Readings which includes, Augustine's pretty scathing sermon On Pastors ? He speaks candidly about the \"wicked shepherd\" who \"kills the sheep under his care\" etc. urging , \"Let such a shepherd not deceive himself.\" Tough, convicting words from this 4th century bishop. Good words. Truthful words. Humbling words for us all, I think.\"\n\nIt is more likely that Pope Francis was moved by reading \"Potiphar's Wife: The Vatican's Secret and Child Sexual Abuse\", by Kieran Tapsell.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly, the Catholic anti-homosexual movement is entirely bigotry. Give even an inch and you have to preform gay weddings. Fr. Martin is wrong. There is no room for dialogue, only demands for justice for gays and lesbians and/by their families.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kamala Harris is lucky because of a negligence of our ancestors in writing the U.S. Constitution. They should have made it clear that only Christian Caucasian Europeans were entitled to forever be the rulers of this country and no negro and no other group of people. Our ancestors never imagined that their descendants down the line would have granted citizenship rights to non-Whites and passed immigration laws allowing them to come here and infect our once beautiful society. Now we have this non-White Kamala Harris telling Whites what to do. This has to change.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "T: You stated, \" nothing about this event hurt ANYONE OR ANYTHING\". Sorry, anyone who believes in Paganism is hurting, \"Themselves\". There are many scriptures in the Bible that address NOT believing in one God, the True God and Jesus. For those who do not believe in God & Jesus the picture is NOT Pretty, YOU will NOT be Resurrected when God takes back control of the Earth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"Against those in the church who think the natural moral law is the only viable form of societal moral analysis (even though those same people usually do not employ the natural moral law as the grounds for shared discourse so much as they use it as a bludgeon to beat people over the head), ...\"\n- Imagine the delight of Trump's team were this found in a Wikileaks.\n- Imagine how Archbishop Charles of Philadelphia would wax 'elephantly' on behalf of the 'Church' (read - hierarchy that are in agreement with the pure catholic church crowd) were he to continue developing the growing thesis that the best US government is a roman church chancery government.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yet another anti-Christian screed. And to what end?\n\nWant to have some real fun? Take a look at the damage the transgender foolishness is doing to women's sports. The feminsts are beside themselves, but now find themselves a rung or two down the newly defined pecking order. Men and boys pretending to be women competing and winning in women's sports events. Couldn't happen to a nicer group of people. Cheers -", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholic morality starts with the premise that Jesus is gentle and humble of heart. His yoke is easy and his burden light. He does not require we pretend to all be hetero when he created some not to be.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No Trid, I'm rejecting your \"have it both ways\" logic when it comes to church teaching, because I think it presents an image of God that just makes no sense. A Spirit that would somehow protect what the church teaches, while ignoring the fate of 80-90% of Catholics presents a very stern, rigorous, rules driven God. A Spirit that is powerful enough to somehow keep church leaders free from error in teaching, is certainly also powerful enough to protect children, demand accountability, etc. \n\nI think that if there even IS an active Spirit in the church, such a Spirit will not be limited by man made rules, but will likely be more interested in compassion and the overall development of mankind than what any given pope may want. Such a Spirit will work through EVERY human, and thus church leadership must listen to the laity, to society, and not just themselves, if they truly hope to discern. If the Spirit protects teachings from error, She would likely also protect the kids Jesus so loved.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Jesus can say a man who divorces his wife and marries another or marries a divorced woman commits adultery, how on Earth can you say His followers can't say this?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "'rechristening of schools'?\nPlease, do need to remind us what 'Christianity' did for the education of\nIndigenous people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For Catholics, not for anyone else. And this is a pluralistic society. If it is against your beliefs, don't do it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More recent analytical studies indicate that your percentages are inaccurate - 52% wrong!\n\nhttps://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2017/04/06/new-data-suggest-clinton-not-trump-won-catholic-vote\n\nKey points:\n\nGeorgetown University\u2019s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, Catholic voters narrowly went for Democrat Clinton, 48 percent to 45 percent. Among Hispanic Catholics, Clinton cleaned up handily, winning by more than 50 points.\n\nTrump earned the support of Catholic voters in the Northeast and Midwest, while the two candidates split Catholics in the South. Clinton beat out Trump among Catholics in the West, 64 percent to 25 percent\n\nTrump fared well among white Catholics, who backed him nationwide 56 percent to 37 percent. The reverse was true among Hispanic Catholics who backed Mrs. Clinton 74 percent to 19 percent. \n\nSorry, abortion had little impact. Francis also said - \"individuals who seek to build walls and not bridges are not Christian\" \n\nCherry-picking!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I gave interpretations from a strictly Catholic viewpoint ... \"\n\nYou defended the Magisterium, Papal Primacy and infallibility? You argued against Penal Substitution? Against imputation of grace and in favour of infusion of grace through the sacraments? Presumably, you also challenged the Five Solas?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Comprehensive immigration reform is what Oregonians want. Of course most Oregonians want secure borders, that isn't a political football, it is a requirement for good government. But wanting secure borders isn't the same as discriminating against Muslims and other non-Christians. It isn't the same as hating people identified as non-white. But then, we now have a President who made a political career out of hating our first African American President. \n \nHugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Conscience is about more than conforming your will to teaching - it is about listening to God and doing the right thing, even when the teachings of the Church or society are wrong. Real natural law is from within, not from the circular reasoning of the CDF or the nostalgic and simplistic moralism of Raymond Burke.\n\nI would dearly love to hear Garry Wills response to this disastrous interview by Chaput. By the way, only western Rome fell. Constantinople went strong for almost another millennium and still holds more moral authority than the western Church. Rome showed the problem of the end of militarism and imperialism. Of course, the new President is building more weapons, if he can, while at the same time wanting to isolate. What he is trying is worse than Rome - and his only Gospel seems to be the prosperity gospel - hardly something a Catholic Cardinal can endorse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr Jim doesn't have to preach tolerance for adultery because 'good Christians' elected Trump to the presidency, and Trump just appointed the adulterous third wife of Newt Gingrich as our Ambassador to the Holy See. There is plenty of tolerance in this 'Christian nation' for the the sexual sins of straight men. In fact they are celebrated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LoL,\nWhat you may see as \"raw hate\" is often far from that. Quite to the contrary, it's often a truly deep concern for the church, which most here would define to be the laity. In as short a period as my own lifetime, we've seen bishops squander generations, perhaps centuries of trust. It's not that every one of them was a \"Cardinal Law\" kind of poster boy on the issue of abuse. Rather, it's that each and every one of them has a voice, and just about all of them have chosen to remain silent in the face of one of the most heinous institutional coverups in history.\n\nIt's become clear that their understanding of married life, and especially that sacrament of children, leaves a great deal to be desired. As presumably celibate men, that's somewhat understandable. That they refuse the counsel of the married laity, the counsel of the parents of these children, the counsel of the abused themselves; THAT's where the problem lies. Respect must be earned. Deference must be deserved.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The g&m continues to suppress the truth - do they think we're in Turkey or Russia?\n.\n\"China is after our inventions? Who are we kidding?\"\n.\n\"Some things never change. For as long as I can remember, people in the west have been paranoid about the orient \u2013 and about China in particular. I grew up in an ultra-devout Catholic household in rural Ireland and I remember my mother being petrified by what people then called \"the yellow peril\", by which they meant the supposed threat to western civilisation posed by the Chinese communist regime.\"\n.\nhttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/sep/22/west-chinese-hackers-hysteria-naughton", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually you make a good point. If I were born Jewish, I would always be a Jew regardless of what religion or belief system I adopted or practiced. Some religions are synonymous with race or so they identify as such. But there are Christian Jews, Buddhist Jews and so on. People are persecuted for their religions daily, so they are NOT protected. Their right to choose and practice IS protected by law. While it is true that I can't change my (born) color as you say, I can change my sexuality on a dime if I desire. Until it is proven that people are born as an LGTB human being (with verifiable DNA or genetic science). Sexuality is simply a choice.Many folks have had gay experiences, especially in the 60's & 70's and it didn't make them gay, but many chose to be gay as a result of those experiences. So I maintain, sexuality is a personal self-view. That is the heart of the argument here. So being black and being gay are NOT the same thing. You feel they ARE and the law IS on your side.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To this article and all agreeing:\nBecome Protestant. Really, it's that simple. Luther and Calvin already pushed forward ideas on church teaching that you'd like 500 years ago, and to this day there are plenty of Protestant and non-denominational sects that support more progressive ideas such as same-sex unions, contraceptives, female clergy, and universalism. \nSeriously it's really that simple, but of course many of you cannot do part with the pretty art and lore, and of course Holy Father Francis whom many appear to be under the delusion that he's an ultra-progressive ready to disestablish hundreds of years of church doctrine and practice for social justice. Also the fact that the church is the single largest Christian denomination appears to cause many of salivate in the potential social leverage they'd have in pushing quite frankly whatever they please in an act of what Holy Father Francis has called Cultural Imperialism.\n\nA shame you won't quit the disingenuousity and just leave.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My suspicion is that he has a few trusted advisors, lay and priests, to help him keep up with the many issues he feels compelled to rule on. The world is big, wide, complex and bishops don't have personal experience in looking at what parents would look for in groups that can help their kids. Unfortunately, those chosen advisors are not also chosen by all the lay people to present different views to the bishop. So, if he choses who to listen to, and doesn't seek widely, yes, he is apt to get led around by the nose.\n\nI don't mean to imply that he is not responsible for the decisions he ends up making or to excuse his poor decisions or to say that those who advise him are the bad guys. He is responsible. \n\nLike you, I suspect pelvic issues, especially when it comes to women, are a primary concern. After all, what does his training and experience lead him to expect of women?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The head of 90000 Catholics drawfs most hyphenated stories here.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To your point:\nRCC proselyitizing in collaboration with the violent spreading of European Colonialism, is an extension of Garden-of-Eden justified exploitation of Mother Nature -- done \"in God's Name\" -- no less.\nThe super-arrogation of males over females is nothing less than irreligious sacrilege. The New Generation, in the present time, is sensing the self-destructive effects of male, cultic irreligion.\nBishops need to take the universal ecological theology of Pope Francis (St. Francis) VERY SERIOUSLY if they would 'religiously' authenticate common well-being.\nReligion is 'in-common' in the same way that ecological belonging is -- which is the premise and urgent reason for CHURCHES UNITED. If we are to be true to God, to Nature and to each other, we cannot escape challenging the violent traditions of religions toward each other that we are heir to. http://www.secondenlightenment.org/Churches%20United%20Flyer.pdf", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My God, My God, Why have you abandoned me! is the key to our understanding of Good Friday and Holy Week. The key is why he said it. Was he simply fulfilling Psalm 22 like an actor repeating his lines? I used to think that, but that view makes the passion a sterile ritual. Was Jesus complaining about his lot? If so, he is fighting back against St. Anselm\u2019s punishing God and being a bit of a cry baby. No, his feelings of despair must be real, because their purpose was to feel what we feel when apart from God by sin and blame. The clue to their reality comes in John\u2019s Gospel, when toward the end he gives his mother, who first told him of his divine origins, unto John\u2019s care, telling her he was dead to her and thus giving up that story, and at the same time giving up his mission to save the world by commissioning John (or Lararus) to care for Mary, not baptize the world. His entire psyche being shattered, he calls out to God in despair, just as we do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Its time to let the alt-right Catholics have this church instead of trying to rescue it from them. Once they have it, it will fade into oblivion because it will devour itself.. Then a new Church can rise from the ashes - one that reflects the gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Now you have reminded me why attempts to have any discussion with you are useless. BTW what was the name you used when we all used disqus? Again, you reflect such a poor understanding of liturgical reforms, of the proper place of the reposing of the Eucharist, and of even reading and comprehending what it is I state in my comments. You are really outrageous, Ebes64 in your rush to judgment. And BTW - Jesus presents Himself to m every single day, in the Eucharist and in those I encounter in so many different ways. I fear you never learned the latter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, a catholic social justice argument can be made along with using VII's Dignitas Humanae to show that a catholic institution can (and should) support PPACA and offer benefit programs that offer birth control options. The tired, old meme that folks who work there know it is against catholic beliefs, so why complain is ridiculous and groundless. People choose to work at institutions for many reasons - this generalization rejects a key core of catholic social justice - the dignity of the human person.\nhttp://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/controversial-obama-birth-control-rule-already-law\nKey: \nDePaul University, the largest Roman Catholic university in America, added birth control coverage to its plans after receiving an EEOC complaint several years ago.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry Nora, but that is a straw man argument. Of course I don't advocate for slavery, no reasonable person would. Are also you a proponent for married priests and dropping the vow of chastity? I'm a married male convert that was ordained for over a decade in a protestant church, should I demand that the church allow me to become a priest and that it is abusive to prevent me from doing something I am fully capable of doing and performing? I think not despite my over a decade of theological training at world renowned seminaries.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"As a good and faithful Catholic, and therefore it goes without saying an ardent Trump supporter, ...\"\n\nWe do not need to read any further.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No that wasn't my point at all ... No one (except you in your female persona) has been able to ignore the mountain of real life evidence and facts you both are bombarded with on a daily basis in order to keep a perilous grip on your progressive worldview. Both you and Hugh and Old Soul too for that matter have the unique ability to stifle critical thinking and reject hard cold facts in order to remain in lockstep with left wing lunacy. MY point was that with Hughes demonstrated ability to remain faithful to a ideology based upon a mountain of lies and unamerican propaganda imagine how faithful he would be to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and an ideology of love and hope and faith that he would find is both very real and exceptionally compelling", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Awful\". An interesting concept of what is \"awful\" in the RCC. This is what is truly \"awful\" - a church that has as official teaching the notion that the celibate males in the church have the right to limit women to roles that serve their needs. Teachings that define women effectively as second-class members of the church by denying access to a sacrament due to DNA alone; teachings that define women's roles to be acceptable only in deferential support to males in the church, that define women in their marriages as second-class only, passive instead of active (see some of JPII's writings), etc. The success with some women of the indoctrination of these sinful teachings is the biggest sin of all. Jesus weeps.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The safe thing, clearly, is never to name anything after anybody. James McGill owned slaves, so we\u2019ll have to rename his university. William McMaster excluded non-Christians from the university that bears his name, so that will have to be excised. Winston Churchill, a man of his times, was quite racist in many of his views so lots of name changing to be done there. Oddly, Queen Victoria harboured unfortunate views about women (vehemently opposed to suffrage), so there are schools, colleges, even entire cities and Australian states to be renamed. \n\nLet's just use numbers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You said that you didn't 'recall Jesus rebuking anyone for putting to death the two criminals on either side of him', in order to prove your point that God does not condemn the death penalty; I merely confirmed the fact that Jesus made no such rebuke (not that he didn't condemn the death penalty). You read my post, but you have not understood it.\n\nYes, they put to death an innocent man, but you have assumed that, (for argument's sake) had Jesus been a sinner, then his Father would have approved such a punishment. No, he would not. But you, and too many others like you, will not listen to Jesus in the round: in the context of the entire Gospel. Jesus' mission was one of love, mercy and forgiveness. And that love was manifested towards the adulterous woman. No matter how much you and others twist and turn to avoid this, Jesus made no reference whatever to Mosaic Law to defend that woman, but to Love, which is above and beyond encapsulation by any law.\n\nBTW. I think for myself. Try it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Correction..the Church is the mystical body of Christ.\n\nJesus didn't have the time to tease out details about test tube babies, and a thousand other details...that's why He gave the keys to Peter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The State of Hawaii needs to make clear what its goals are: 1) turn Hawaii into Manhattan island, covered in concrete and asphalt because of jobs, education, money, or 2) make Hawaii become more Hawaii by recovering what has been lost. Hawaii has had European-Caucasians dictating what is \"good\" for Hawaii, make something \"useful\" of the land, for 200 years, and that needs to come to an end. Hawaii doesn't need \"to be made use of\", development for the sake of development. Things like TMT finding an archaeology site is in the way (ancient ali'i burial area) show no respect for the culture. The \"science\" is always brought up. Isn't archaeology a science? One factor is these are Kapu archaeological sites. The kanaka maoli officially denounced the kapu in 1824, and replaced it with a Middle Eastern jewish superman-god religion. These heiau and ahu were torn down by kanaka maoli after becoming christians. The legends are makaaina'na versions, the ali'i nui know Mauna Kea isn't Mauna Wakea.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One bright spot in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is the establishment of an FSSP apostolate. \n\nMaybe Archbishop Gomez thinks he can be a moderating influence at the REC. I hear it was worse when Cardinal Mahoney was around but there is still weirdness surrounding the event. Bishop Barron gave a good speech one year decrying the Catholicism of felt banners and balloons which was a gutsy thing to say there!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "McCarthy seems to have the right experience, 75th Rangers, which although as an organization they have come to be a symbol of the best a regular force offers short of being \"Special Forces\". He should have appreciation of main land and special forces.\nHe is an Afghan Vet and has done well in the private sector.\nHe also does not seem to have the sort of baggage that is said to have stopped two prior nominees because he is identified as a Christian by LGBTs. \nThe biggest task an incoming Secretary of the Army may face is man power shortages . Some analysts claim a draft is the only solution. \nThose pushing a liberal agenda in the services none have asked or are afraid to ask if that has hurt enlistments, also the demands placed on mental, physical and other standards like beig drug free, has been a problem; I have to wonder how a draft could fix?\nA draft will result in activism against the military. Since the end of Vietnam and the anti-\"war\" mobs have not protested.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Columbus has been referred to as the man who brought slavery to the New World and Syphilis to the Old. In the sense that his methods included imperialism and genocide under the cloak of christianity, in a fervent, some might say insane, quest for gold and land; then yes, I suppose it could be called part of the American tradition---Just not one of the good parts, and certainly not one to unite anyone.\n\nThe stain of Columbus's actions in the face of a friendly, welcoming Arawak people is with us to this day; and his methods of duplicity, slavery, and extermination were commonplace in America well into the 19th century. Much blood has been shed, and many heinous crimes committed, for the ideals he espoused, but his own actions comprise one of the darker chapters of what is called the Columbian Exchange.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Canadian Con's are always the same: Jesus, Jesus,Jesus..\n\n`\nWhy can't have a Sam Harris in Canada?\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZHHCFxee8E", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You've been sold, like most Protestants, on the notion that you are saved \"by faith alone.\" \n\nI once had a discussion with a Southern Baptist seminary student on this subject, and pointed out that the phrase \"by faith alone\" is used but once in the Bible, and then to say, \"NOT by faith alone.\" He looked at me like I was a blasphemer, and he had a certain fear in his face, as if to say, \"Oh, God, what if he's right?\" Well, Luther had the same fear, because he tried to toss James 2:24 right out of the Bible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Catholics call our priests \"Father\" in the US. Pastor might be their job, but rarely do we use it as a title.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hard to tell whether Garvey is playing dumb, thinks we're dumb or is just angling for the job of director of the Smithsonian Museum of Strawmen.\n\nThe concern is not that the KoC's money is enshrining the Church's positions in secular law. And it's not that Catholics who dislike the KoC's emphasis aren't getting equal time. Two big fat strawmen.\n\nThe concern is the KoC leadership is soliciting money from Catholics, professing to lobby for things the Church supports, but actually using it to lobby for tax cuts and deregulation that line their already very cozy pockets.\n\nOne can't help noticing that the KoC's favorite political party has never diminished the abortion rate a hundredth of a percent point, but has managed to cut taxes on incomes in Carl Anderson's bracket several times. (Unlike, incidentally, the birth control mandate in the ACA, which seems to have cut the abortion rate by several points within a few years.)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Most Catholics\" is a stretch. 60% of something doesn't qualify as \"most.\" If you don't accept this, shall we talk about the number of Catholics who don't oppose abortion as a personal choice or who support gay marriage, or those who believe remarriage after divorce doesn't imply an impediment to full participation in the sacraments?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is the Christian actual leader:\n\"Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the LORD must be destroyed...If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death...Moses was angry with the officers of the army--the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds--who returned from the battle. \"Have you allowed all the women to live?\" he asked them. \"They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the LORD's people. Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man...\" there's plenty more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely yes, there should be no mythology of any kind in our schools .....any of them. Its time to do away with the childish trappings of religion and teach our children the truth based on scientific fact. The Bible, The Torah, The Qur'an are all complete nonsense. Man created god and it was our biggest mistake.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hillary Clinton is not \"merely wrong on abortion.\" Her position on abortion seems to be the one invariant of her Policy Navigation System. If you get to say that she is merely wrong about it, then Trump supporters get to say that boorishness, misogyny, narcisism and fascist/racist dog whistles are just little blemishes on the heart of gold and basically sound policy-line of the Great Messianic Leader, DJT. Hillary Clinton's thoughts on abortion express the core of her thinking about women, about the family, about the meaning of prosperity and economy. The disturbing thing is how her thinking in this matter coincides with that of the Establishment; and how the Establishment thus grooves on Hillary. Michal Sean Winters in his efforts to fall in with Hillary shows obliviousness to these realities. Far better is Melissa Nussbaum's Christian abstention. Do I obsess on abortion? I will ad this: The corrupt Clintonian foreign policy line wil be the shortest line to global conflagration.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You cannot seriously be claiming that the Latin Mass and rituals, as practiced before Vatican II, were not instituted, word for word by Jesus himself! That implies they were created by men, which means at one point in time they were new or \"modern.\" As all true Catholics know, nothing modern is good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 2\n\nHis mercy and were only concerned with a worldly image of goodness, the very same problem which has led to the cover up of the child abuse scandal. \n\nAt this crucial time can Pope Francis and the leadership of the Church embrace humility before mankind by venerating the true image of Divine Mercy, an image of their own brokenness and in so doing break the power of the spider (Clericalism) \nIn acknowledging their dependence on His Mercy before mankind, they will give glory to our Father in heaven in bearing witness to the Truth (Their own failings), teaching others by their example to serve the Truth and walk in humility before our Creator. \n\n\u201cI desire that this picture be venerated first in your chapel and then throughout the whole world\u201d\n\nThis is a missionary call instigated by our Lord to the whole Church to Evangelizing through the action of Humility, a disarming action in its honesty, that embrace all in its simplicity, \n\nContinued", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The letter of the law of Moses was that a man could give a bill of divorce to dimiss his wife. Jesus went beyond that to remind us that in the beginning it wasn't so, and that when a man leaves his mother and father to join with his wife, the two become one flesh, and therefore when a man divorces his wife and marries another or marries a divorced woman, commits adultery.\n\nThe Pharisees would have no problem with divorce and remarriage. Jesus on the other hand, told us this is adultery. What exactly is the \"spirit\" of thou shalt not commit adultery and Jesus' teaching as presented in His Gospel on this subject?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's nothing wrong with hating --- yes, hating --- those whose main mission in life is to destroy the Church's basic moral teachings. It's time someone said that. If Fr. Martin says he's hated for the same reason as LGBT --- they who are out to destroy the Church --- then I have to credit him with knowing what he stands for, and who he stands with.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My Parish is packed and thriving with OF and a Latin Mass, we have a good and welcoming family Mass which is always full. Young people attend until they go to University or leave home, it is a very expensive area for anyone starting out in marriage. The decline happened because more people got divorced, women wanted to decide on whether or not they use birth control, people in their 30s and 40s saw their parents rejected by the church and lost faith, because of the abuse scandals or where brought up by people that were badly hurt by the church, and want nothing to do with it.. I have family who left because they supported a son and brother who is gay, they accept him, not church teaching and they hated their Catholic Schools. They also had a hard time when a family member committed suicide, being told he was in hell a lot. I don't think EF is attractive outside the US.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Except for dying in office, I don't think there is anything that President Trump can do that will make MSW happy. Whether Mr. Trump's administration is a success or failure will depend upon the Americans. Whether Brexit is a success or failure will depend upon the British people. \n\nThe Catholic Church has largely lost it's power and influence in the States. As for Pope Francis, there will be another conclave before the next four years is up. Don't look for the Catholic Church and Francis to effectively oppose President Trump. If there is a church leader with influence, it is Patriarch Kirill.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Strangely, I was first to make an entry here yesterday & noticed today it was removed! Here 'tis, again!\nWill look forward to reading this work as I grew up on the Catholic segregated Southside. My parish, perhaps, the largest in the archdiocese, Visitation, was in a state of high tension for years as I was growing up. The fear of blacks breaking the boundaries to move into our neighborhood, which they eventually did, was ever present. Never a word, a sermon, a lesson about the racial conflict which hung as a persistent cloud over us. A non-Catholic couple had a meeting in their home regarding union activities. Some black persons were invited to attend. Parishioners swelled to about a 1,000 a night for a period of time till the couple was forced to sell and the parish bought the property to keep the neighborhood white. The RCC was proactive in maintaining segregation. This is well documented. Check out: The Siege of South Peoria Street.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Be more careful in what you think and publicly say that 2/3rds actually meant.\n\nCruxnnow, as always, is less tendentious and more precise than NCR, MSW, America. See:\n\nhttps://cruxnow.com/church/2015/10/24/excerpts-from-the-synods-final-report/\n\nTwo Michaels (MSW, and Binder) don't make a right. The telephone game going on here. \n\n\"While not advocating that divorced and civilly remarried Catholics should receive Communion, the bishops nonetheless declared that the Church should figure out whether they can be included in any elements of Church life from which they are now excluded.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are also conservative catholics who feel that nature and Scripture must conform to the Magisterium, the sole arbiter of truth. Where they do not (human exceptionalism, male predominance, etc.) episcopal bulls must be published to push nature and Scripture into a \"canonical box.\" In a sense, they are fabulators - fabulators in the sense of fabricators.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting the pope's fans (you and 18 others) think the \"adorable grandpa\" persona is just an act, for show. Who cares if he is genuine if he might overturn 2,000 years of Christ's teaching? It's not really about following Christ but settling scores.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ironic that some of your \"likes\" are from people who, if I remember correctly, reject Jesus's teaching on divorce. \n\nBut putting that aside, there are moral issues in the Bible that Jesus simply didn't address. In those interstices, natural law is a valuable tool to aid in hewing to God's will.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What other persecuted community would the pope tell to reject fanaticism and to respect other faiths?\n\nI wonder how this message was received by Egyptian Catholics/Christians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear Foreshorten3, yes, and for those reasons i gave up working at Catholic Hospitals and felt the need to warn friends and family members about end of life care and obstetrics in Catholic Hospitals. Seems some Catholic Bishops believe they can practice medicine with no training or license.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank God for the Australian Commission. It is an example for all governments around the globe. It was thorough, detailed, fair, professional and powerful. Australia showed the world how much they care for those so horribly wounded. \n\nI am embarrassed to be in a country where an arrogant, spoiled, reality TV \"star\" was elected president. My government will protect the Catholic Church and their dirty deeds because there is more money in protecting the church than in protecting abuse victims. \n\nI know Ireland has done a good job and I hope that England will do a good job as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cosmic Wheels: A lot of non-indigenous Canadians rightfully resent the derogatory \"settler\" terminology that's been created by the aboriginal movement. My mother was a post-WWII immigrant who never lived in any agricultural setting. So how was she a settler? And my father's ancestors were French-Canadian and Irish. The French \"settlers' in many cases intended to come to this country only temporarily and were stranded here when the French regime, worried about the viability of New France, refused to let them return to their homeland. And the poor Irish Catholics. Was any place on earth more victimized by British colonial policy than their homeland? They were banished to the colonies and to the U.S. by means of government policy over which they had no control whatsoever. In today's terminology, they arrived here more as refugees than settlers. Few Canadians today can trace their ancestry to anybody who actually had any control over British or French colonial policy or practices.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"They have to positively say that discrimination against LGBTQ people in nonreligious employment, housing, and public accommodations is not okay.\"\n\nOf course, this won't be enough. Remember the brouhaha over Catholic schools expecting teachers to live according to Catholic teaching a while back. Many on NCR felt that Catholic schools should be forced to employ teachers that openly lead lives at variance from Church teaching either through public pressure or through force of law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder if the answer might be the lack of a free press and the rule of law.\n\nDo you think the Chinese would stop at half measures and, for example, ensure that any prisoners (there wouldn't be any prisoners!) were given a copy of the Koran?\n\nThey would be what we cannot be in the West, i.e. ruthless in wiping out any terrorist networks and would not err on the side of caution as the rule of law demands we do here.\n\nPlus there would no problem in imposing a news blackout which would avoid the problem we have here where news coverage ensures that any new mode of attack is quickly copied and incites terrorists to seek their fifteen minutes of fame.\n\nPlus if the author were correct in that we are dealing with something in the nature of a retaliation why are the Coptic Christians being slaughtered?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cBut commencement exercises are different.\u201d\n\nMike Pence was baptized a Catholic. Inspired to get involved in politics by JFK and MLK, he became an active Democrat, campaigning for Jimmy Carter. His is now \u201ca Christian, a conservative, and a Republican \u2014 in that order.\u201d He attributes his conversion to the \"common-sense conservatism of Ronald Reagan.\u201d\n\nOn \u201cThe Mike Pence Show\u201d (WRCR-FM, Rushville, IN), he discussed topics like \u201cthe normalization of adultery\u201d and \u201cwhether or not it was time to rethink this whole business of women in the military.\u201d In 2015, he signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, setting off the biggest controversy of his political career.\n\nThe issues and his career are still unsettled matters. During this \u201cexistential threat to our democracy,\" vice-President Pence must do his best to \u201cnormalize his occupancy of that office.\u201d\n\nThis commencement will be different.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Working class means lots of things, but it is useful to separate it out from the middle class, which is even more muddled.\n\nUntil school choice advocates start supporting unionization of such schools they have nothing to offer. Teachers pay union dues. They also pay taxes and insurance (which may even cover abortion). Getting rid of high central office costs and nonsense is always a good thing, as is empowering strong principals - but you can do that with Charter Schools as well and unionized teachers are not a down check.\n\nOrdinates are there because they fit more with Rome than Canterbury on women's ordination and gay married bishops and priests. Note to the bishop - you can't hide from progress forever, even in the Church. Sadly, Francis essentially said that the pastoral is more important than doctrine, which the trads can't begin to understand. \n\nIt seems they can't understand artwork on defeating Satan either. No sense of history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump won solely on the religious vote. For the first time in eight years the Catholic vote went to the Republican party. Trump understood the importance of the Christian vote and went after those voters. I personally don't think Trump is religious in the least, but as a business man made a deal in order to get the vote. I don't trust him, but so far he has kept his promises, especially dealing with pro life issues. He has also reversed the gender identity issues regarding bathrooms. The liberal side of the Democratic party has abandoned religion, and now they are paying the price for their foolishness. By the way minorities have always voted Democratic, so nothing was different in this election.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just because someone in the Vatican condemns something doesn't mean that it's bad. Cardinal Burke consistently condemns things in the church itself, including liturgical practices. Does that make the church bad? Does his wearing the capa magna, white gloves and red shoes make his version of the Mass better than the Ordinary Form? I don't think so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A \"fair and balanced\" article that, in its approach, challenges those who say NCR is biased in its reporting on this issue. The commitment, the size, the diversity, and the mood came through.\n\nI hope we can finally discuss this issue of our time with charity to all and malice toward none, as the man sitting at the head of the Mall said. \n\nI would hope we Catholics can focus the messages and facts more literally on \"anti-abortion,\" not on anti-campus sex, anti-culture, anti-career women, anti-sex education, anti-Pill, anti-secular, anti-modernity, anti-feminism, anti-Francis, anti-Hillary, anti-seminaries, anti-Georgetown, anti-practicing gay, anti-Anglican, anti-Hollywood, anti-condom, and anti-Vatican II----all too-oft-cited and self-inflicting stabs that can dilute, not enhance, the image, credibility and hope for wider support of the anti-abortion cause.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Church were to proclaim that owning a gun/weapon is a mortal sin, and were to preach that message at every Mass every Sunday from now on, the people who buy guns would still buy guns, but more people would leave the Church.\nVery few people still think of the Church as prophetic, and even fewer think the gospel should decide whether or not they have a gun.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"All my instincts say that we are undergoing a profound shift away from religion in the United States today.\"\n\nAnd how could we expect it to be otherwise, when \"the greatest generation,\" most of whom hewed to \"old-fashioned\" ways, were ridiculed by their children, the boomers, and the children of boomers were indoctrinated by their parents and college professors in the belief that to be a traditional Catholic or Episcopalian or Lutheran was to be racist and homophobic? How could there NOT be a \"profound shift away from religion in the United States,\" given the constant pummeling of the Church? This is by design.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings.....the good cardinal should have to listen to the confessions of men and women broken from divorced unions....but the dear cardinal would have to come back to earth and actually use discernment in his ministry to these wretched sinners! His preoccupation with a smaller True Catholic membership leaves little room for evangelization to the non true Catholics. Burke needs to repent and ask the+Holy Spirit+ and Holy Father Francis for guidance!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1. Is there evidence beyond a few outlier cases that there's any need for it? 2. Anyone half clever will simply lie 3. Why do you think a lot of immigrants come to Canada? 4. It's Kellie Leitch...she of the \"Barbaric Cultural Practices Hotline\", which did nothing more than take a list of acts that were already illegal in Canada and give them a catchy new title. 5. Some of the items she's suggested screening for run contrary to positions her own party held until recently 6. There are Canadian citizens, like some of my in-laws, who already hold views that wouldn't pass her test...they think gays are the spawn of Satan and that if you aren't \"saved by Jesus\" you will roast in hell for eternity, because God loves you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No initially I do not think you have to panic, most Muslims are like most Christians, like most Jews, like most Sikhs etc. They are all people and by and large you will probably like almost every one of them you have a chance to interact with. \n\nWhat you have to be careful of are the extremes... the ones like the Klan with Christians, or the radical Jews or the violent Sikhs. That is why you have to be careful of the long Niqabs where a man can dress up and have bombs or guns underneath the garb, and I mention the danger with escalators etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The AUDACITY of the Liberals for attacking Scheer on his voting record! Don't those commie, god hatin' Libs know you attack a man on intangibles like \"leadership\" or imaginary patriotism (\"didn't come back for YOU\") and most reasonably, on having nice hair.\n \nAnd this continual whine that white male Christians are oppressed in Canada - it seems to be the only honest belief Harper Conservatives have these days. And even at that it's lifted whole from the US republicans.\n\nSad!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow! I have not heard that one before. That is truly Ghastly!!\n\nMy father was a professor at a College run by Jesuits, and I remember, as a teenager, when I questioned why the church was so against birth control. My dad told me that there is an old adage among the clergy. Keep the women barefoot and pregnant, and the laity will be too exhausted and have so little money, they wont have the means or energy to rebel against church rules and teachings.\n\nIt is creepy because it is true. If you have 20 kids to raise, you don't have time to argue how wrong sexism or clericalism or anything else is in the church. Effective birth control discontinued women as baby making machines and now we are demanding justice in the world and in church - as we always should have.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're too high on bishops, and Catholics. Maybe you missed last summer's episcopal laicization, or missed the latest Catholic census, which turned up less than half the number of Catholics you claim!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It was not imposed to save money!\n\n\"The three evangelical counsels or counsels of perfection in Christianity are chastity, poverty (or perfect charity), and obedience.[1]\"\n\n\"A young man in the Gospel asked what he should do to obtain eternal life, and Jesus told him to \"keep the commandments\", but when the young man pressed further, Christ told him: \"If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor\". (It is from this passage that the term \"counsel of perfection\" comes.)\n\nhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelical_counsels", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "yes, and many more suspect things. they are nothing more than a Catholic cult.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So it's kind of obvious they're not going to get too worked up about Trump deporting the pew-sitters, which is what MSW is predicting.\n\nI don't really see Trump caring much what the Catholic bishops think of his deportation policies. He seems kind of vague about what the \"little cracker\" thing is about; I doubt he has any great awe for Apostolic Succession.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Maybe the cradle Catholics felt insecure that those choosing to be Catholic actually believe all the Catholic Church's teachings?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So what is our goal as Christian Nations involved in these Muslim Nations problems. Their own people flee the Countries instead of fighting for them. Are we going to create Democracies of these Countries, lol, NOT. All we have done in every country Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and now Syria is make it worse for the Christians living there because those leaders we took out kept Islam in check. Now the whole area is in chaos, Christians are being heavily persecuted by Islam, look at the recent attacks on Christians Palm Sunday by Islam in Egypt. Unless we are going to conquer them totally, which will not happen, lets stay out of it and let them fight and kill each other, their choice.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm still chuckling over Trump thinking he can convince ANYONE that he's a Christian.\n\nYou'd have to be Extra Special Stupid to buy into that bs.\n\nGood times...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Pull that old head out.....of COURSE it's different!!!! (And I would submit that the Crusades were a direct response to the moslem attacks on Europe, and those seeking visits to the Holyland...and thank GOD for Charles Martel!!!) So, in oh, I don't know, in the past 50 years or more, how many witch hunts, and inhumanity have been caused by Christians? \nislam is a violent, political, murderous cult masquerading as a religion. It was founded by an insane, misogynistic, pedophiliac, goat herder. It has been at war with the civilized world for over 1400 years....it hasn't, and never will evolve, because it's basic tenets are evil, and to change those would be to destroy islam itself. It's like communism (murdering hundreds of millions), or nazism (murdering tens of millions). It is evil in and of itself, and THAT is the problem. It is very different than Christianity, in the message, and today, in the actions.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Songs of the Reich land!Fascist Christian soldiers.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Sure why not? But Jews and Christians don't seem to be attacking and killing non believers like many Muslims are attacking and killing innocent, civilian, non believers frequently in many countries around the world.\n\nJews and Christians don't seem to pose anywhere near the same threat based on religion.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It would help our general understandings of human sexuality within the Catholic Church if it just weren't aging male celibates conducting the discourse.\n\nFrankly, we need a Catholic \"Vagina Monologues Tour\" in every diocese, parish, university were women would feel free to tell their own stories about their own sexuality: No shaming allowed!\n\nFrom my own clinical experience, a lot of the issue with Catholic male celibates is that few if any have any primary emotional and intimate relationships with women. Like any human, priests naturally fear what they have little if any personal experience. [Human sexuality is something that \"intellectualizing it\" - too much in their heads??? - like it is done in most seminaries has not worked, will not work.]\n\nA colleague- a Sulpician priest who worked in seminaries - once told me that when screening candidates he looked for evidence of men ever having \"been laid\" as an positive indicator of their fitness for ordination. Made sense to me ...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "It will be too soon when this work of art is out of office. The mentality of the people who elected him has much to be desired, claiming to be Christians but doing the most unchristianlike things to others. Defunding health and social programs in order to give the funding to the likes of the billionaire club that is his cabinet and hisself.\nAs a non Christian, if I go to the white mans hell, I will see Trump and his cabinet as well as Congress there, as well as most of their supporters. Clinton is also a shoe in for their hell also.\nThey expect to go to their heaven, but that makes as much sense as the terrorists expecting to go to their Islamic heavens with their 72 virgins after slaughtering so many innocent people around the world.\nSecrecy, worldwide slaughter, corporate thievery is the norm for America the colonial giant, who's government is bribed to do what Imperial Rome did. Invade and occupy so a few parasites can leech for free off stolen resources", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "i don't want catholic terrorists or muslim terrorists educated with my tax dollars", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Gay people have it not terribly bad in Russia, of which Chechnya is an integral part, they can move around. Just google the topic and you will find gay guides to Moscow and other Russian cities on Tripadvisor, Travelgayeurope, the Guardian, and 900,000 other results such search delivers. \n\nPutin's Moscow: Why the city is pinker than you think; Top Moscow Clubs and Bars; Gay nightlife 2017: where to stay, party and play; are just some of the typical headlines. Thus some of those refugees may find some cities in Canada even less inviting than what they have in Russia.\n\nPerhaps a bigger emergency is the plight of Coptic Christians in Egypt. They are discriminated, attacked and many murdered, as are many of their brethen in the Middle East. Their victims count in the thousands. \n\nI am sure that John Ibbitson and even the LGBT community in Canada would agree that the plight of Coptic Christians deserve as much support and prominence as the plight of gays in Chechnya. Both are horrible.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "These people here regularly hold up Westboro Baptist, the Catholic Crusades, and the Catholic Pedophilia as a model for Christianity, which is ludicrous, they only demonstrate their own ignorance and bias.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How true, in the Liberals' world Christians bad, Muslims good. So much for being inclusive.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "But Pence is the sanctimonious-hypocrite, religious-conservative Republican \"devil we know.\" Trump is unhinged and a menace to the country.\n\nPlus, Pence isn't popular even in his own state of Indiana. He is unlikely to sweep in on a wave of goodwill and get loads of \"Christian\" legislation passed.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Those are your words, not mine. After all ISRAEL illegally and immorally occupies PALESTINE who are Christian and Muslim. A brutal occupation like ISRAELS can raise a lot of emotions especially when Palestinian children are indiscrimately abused and murdered by ISRAELIS.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What's Catholic anymore???\nCatholicism and Protestantism merged some time ago.\nCatholic \"identity\" is dead.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Your cut and paste skills far exceed your ability to rationalise and debate. Where have I justified aparheid?\nYes, white Christian Europeans traded in african slaves - detestable. Over the same period and beyond, black africans were traded by Arabs, black Africans were kidnapped and traded BY OTHER BLACK AFRICANS to European and Arab traders, and many more black Africans died at the hands of other black Africans in ordinary run-of-the-mill warfare in acceptable fashion - equally detestable.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "As usual, the right wing obsession with racism, intolerance and Trump overshadows any message that tries to be put forth. All too often motivated by fear and driven by anger. Unfettered capitalism and Judaeo-Christian: good. Anything else: evil. It is like an endless tape loop playing in their heads they seem to regurgitate with only minor modifications.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "No, papal infallibility is modernist for relativism. Truth does not depend on authority. To-say-so is a logical fallacy. Truth needs evidence, not just pristine-reason. Especially on sex. Relativism is to say there is some kind of unique Catholic sexuality, which in truth are a collection of neoplatonic arguments that have been disproven by science. Morality is for the good of people, not of God. Saying otherwise does not serve God but makes him look like an Ogre and a Fool, and God is neither of those things, but many clergy are both.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Genital Mutilation is certainly practiced on a worldwide scale on males. The female part, while horrific, is a cultural phenomenon, not religious.\ngoogle:\nFemale Genital Mutilation occurs in non-Muslim societies in Africa and is practiced by Christians, Muslims and Animists alike. In Egypt, where perhaps 97 percent of girls suffer genital mutilation, both Christian Copts and Muslims are complicit.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Really? Maybe I should re-post some of your vile and nasty hate against Jesus and Christians from days gone by?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "What....what article did you read? I swear, EVERYONE just wants to get upset and argue now. The author of this article said they had the right and what was on the sign was fine. It's just amazing how stupid people are. They get it in their head that the medium their reading is not on their side and then they just can't comprehend what they're reading. The article TOTALLY agreed with you. \n\nThe ONLY thing that I would say about that is the owners are not \"private\" business owners, they are part of a franchise and using the ever so clever phrase \"snowflake\" is a bit obnoxious, especially when it comes from the right wing who gets worked up into just an absolute hissy fit over almost EVERYTHING(as do many on the left). This war on Christmas nonsense? It's just that. Nonsense. And supporting the military is conservative? Sorry...nope. \n\nThe REAL snowflakes are the right wingers and Christians who are SOO under attack! LOL...", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "How far did the Saudi revolt get? Oh that's right they don't allow Christian's to live there, they behead homosexuals and now the Saudi's are murdering innocents in Yemen... Is it ever a time to be balanced in our thinking Moseby or should we always be hypocrites. Assad is bad, but there are worse and they are supposed Allies. Why is Mugabe still in power? El-Sisi?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Ah...Christian conservatives:descendants of those felons who left England, fleeing from the government there that was hanging and imprisoning them for acts of violence against local innocents; acts which they brought to the shores of North America and began perpetrating here. Things like outright murder in the name of their faith. Acts that they wish to perpetuate through their grab at governmental power to somehow legitimize the same.\n\nReligious freedom, my backside: religious totalitarianism is more like it! What they really want is to continue to commit these acts through government, allowing them to walk away saying \"see, we have no blood on our hands!\"", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "The basket of deplorables are the noisy racists, misogynists, homophobes, xenophobes, white supremacists and ignoramuses who saw Trump affirm their prejudices.\n\nAbsolutely, I have withering contempt for them. This country doesn't belong to white Christians. It belongs to all its citizens.\n\nNever let go again? Dream on. When Trump proves unable to deliver, the white mob will become disillusioned and forget all the destruction Trump caused (George who?) and turn to some other fatuous demagogue.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I have to call bs here. I'm a churchgoing Christian, and there is nothing in our teachings that says it's okay to prey on young girls. These people are lunatics. It's not okay to generalize. There are lunatics in every faith (or non-faith).", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "re: The guidelines state that \"wherever possible, enrollment is the goal,\" yet make it clear that enrollment is only possible if the parents agree to sign and uphold a \"Covenant of Trust\" in which they pledge to \"support the moral and social doctrine of the Catholic Church.\" <<<\n\nHow in the world do they manage to keep the doors open?\n\nI mean what with all the irregular couples involved: divorced-remarried, LGBTQ, contracepting and, if modern sociological data are indicative, both hetero- & homo-erotic behaviors that are considered s#d%my --- well, all of them, too! But, wait, I'm being ridiculous, the auto-eroticism, alone, dwarfs all the other grave moral lapses.\n\nSeriously, this is beyond absurd. Just do a \"find & replace\" on these types of guidelines & commentaries and, wherever you see \"LGBTQ,\" replace it with \"contracepting.\"\n\nNo, all of us in irregular situations are NOT suffering from poor formation or invincible ignorance. Instead, we are exculpable because you are wRong!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You really are a joy to read. So because I didn't support a communist as you did, I am the extremist. Supporting an old fool like Bernie is bad enough but you brag about it too. Than you compare this loser hippie who couldn't make a living outside of government to Jesus Christ. Yes they are both Jewish and wear sandals. You have a match. Your ignorance of representative government is only outpaced by your ignorance of Christianity. Bernie sells the lie of salvation on Earth while Christ always had to remind his followers that his Kingdom was not of this World. Jesus teaches of personal salvation through a personal relationship with God. Bernie teaches salvation of the collective by all placing their faith on \"enlightened\" men. Bernie may not really believe it but has found that by hyping it to kids, he can afford a new beachfront home. \nYou don't have to tell me about majorities and minorities. There is no shortage of idiots and fools. Enjoy your majority.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "McElroy is a leftist tool in shepherd's clothing. He should behold the decapitated corpses of Christian children in Syria and the imprisoned, tortured Christians of Pakistan who merely offered water to Muslim workers when he preaches his Soros gospel. Find an occasion today where Christians have molested and cut off the heads of little Muslim girls, or merely desecrated a mosque -- oh hypocritical deceiver, McElroy!", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a liberal because I cannot stand racist and bigoted Babdist hypocrites swarming all over the place demanding that I get saved or some such nonsense as that. Then throw me out on the street saying I'll pray for you\u2026.LOL\u2026.Right-wing conservatives always carry a bible in one hand telling people Jesus loves you and an AR-15 in the other, looking for blood.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "If only God were allowed back in school these white Christian terrrorits would stop killing everybody?", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "Michael Brooks' most obnoxious line is that gays don't have sex, they have sodomy. So does anyone who does good foreplay. Pederasty is patterned behavior which is ingrained by rape. Gays self identify when still virginal. Half the clergy is gay and the other half is asexual. It is the asexuals that have made Catholic sexual teaching irrelevant.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "frank, wow, not much i can add to that, except that i wonder where you got that bs. the fbi crime report for 2015 shows that, indeed, hate crimes against jew headed the 'religious' hate crime category, but, blacks continued their first place position of 'most hate crimes', for the 400th year in a row, i think. the difference is that a vandalized jewish headstone gets the same, or in some cases more, air and other media time than when a black man is dragged behind a truck until his head is separated from his torso. im sure there is a reason for this, a justification, besides that the media is white owned. remember good, but black ethiopian jews, and the arms wide open love and acceptance that awaited their arrival by white israelites. i dont know if there is a real christian left on this planet earth. right here in hawaii we have over 600,000 professed christians and 8000 homeless people. what would jesus do????? i'm sorry folks, but i meet a lot of hypocrites on my daily rounds.", "gold": "True", "sub_split": "toxic"} -{"text": "You don't speak for Christianity. Many support Jesus' commandment to support the poor, help the sick, heal the sick and that we are judged by our charitable actions. Jesus was an advocate for social justice. The prodigal son and tax collector are examples where Jesus showed that even when they acted wrongly but were forgiven, transformed and rewarded. Maybe, by following God's will (Love) will lead you to follow Jesus rather than your will to deny charity to everyone.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, Truth_in_charity---but not all Catholics are uneducated. We know that the church has changed over the centuries [a study of church history demonstrates that]. We have too many people who believe that what the last two popes taught HAS BEEN TAUGHT for 2000+ years. WRONG! \n\nThe church is comprised of people---human beings---who respond to the world that they live in---to the cultures that they live in---to the times that they live in. Because it deals within that context---it isn't very objective. Only robots can be totally OBJECTIVE. BTW---the Council of Nicaea I was called by Constantine and it was dealing with questions on the very nature of 'Who is Jesus'? Because it wasn't complete---a Council of Constantinople was called in 381, followed by another Council of Ephesus in 431 dealing with 'Who is Mary' and the burning question of the meeting---Did Nestorius get the shaft? Many of the bishops were practicing and teaching Arians.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cidney\u2019s allegations are not at all surprising to me. In my experience, many Christians are truly unaware of how often their religious dogma creeps into public life. If the allegations are true, I suspect the school faculty didn\u2019t even realize they were doing anything wrong. The concept of a person rejecting their holy book is almost inconceivable to many Christians today - partially those of the evangelical flavor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"They have become beholden to the special interests of entertainment industry elites, trial lawyers, environmentalists and an assortment of groups with a grievance.\"\nThat's probably correct. What's wrong with a political group have alliances with like-minded people? Republicans certainly do - business elites, corporations with offshore tax havens, the NRA, evangelical Christians, and the oil lobby. That's the way the political world works.\nTo claim one side is better or worse than the other is the height of hypocrisy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think this is a very good column, one of Brook's better ones. Much to think about-- reminded me of friends, good old Bill the Jehovah'a Witness who comes by monthly with his good heart and his Watchtower, such spiritual warmth but a theology far from my own; those two good Mormon lads who came by the other day, sweet and goodhearted, and when I questioned their curious historical views, reminded me \"by their fruits ye shall know them\"; and my friend the Christian Scientist who is brimful of health without doctors, dentists, medicine or aspirin.........\nAll of these folks are \"purists\" in the sense they \"have contact with a transcendent ideal\"...yet have the ability to \"throw oneself more deeply into friendship with complexity, with different believers and atheists, liberals and conservatives, the dissimilar and unalike.\"\nI admire them all for their passionate ability to love their own faith yet live in a world of multicultural respect, which is America's best hope.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So the Holy Spirit was guiding circularization of the Mass, the tearing out of communion rails, disobedience to the plain letter of Vatican II documents, and the decline in participation at Mass and belief in the Eucharist, but is certainly not guiding the new liturgical movement or the revival of sacred architecture? And it wasn't guiding our forefathers in developing an architectural idiom to facilitate authentic Christian worship including the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Got it.\n\nPlain appeals to \"The Holy Spirit is Withus! (And not you!)\" are about as convincing as appeals to Marian apparitions. \"Somebody (Veronica Leuken? The punctual \"seers\" at Medjugoogoo?) said that Santa Maria herself agrees with me!\"\n\nBut more seriously, if the Spirit is with the wreckers then why is the wrecker's Christianity so sterile? It doesn't make converts or even teach the next generation.\n\nLike it or not, architecture is not asemic. In taking out the rail one removes something that conveys meaning.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Orthodox will have nothing to do with Rome no matter what Rome does or doesn't do. The Catholic Church must do what is just and right not mattter who or how many disapprove.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I do my own thinking and I form my own beliefs about God.\" You've nailed it. That's what Christianity is all about. Taking the information offered in God's Word about Christ's work on the Cross, thinking about your own life and forming a belief in the transforming power of God to take the mess you've created and letting God remake it in His image. And if you read the Bible carefully, you will realize that believers are called to be stewards of this Planet. I take that seriously and I hope you do, too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, it wasn't. Maybe a different one of the privileges, of which there were/are more than one. Married couples with one member who became Christian could ask for the marriage to be ended so they could marry another Christian and get away from the pagans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is safe to say any non-Muslim, perhaps a Christian \"child soldier\" in the same situation as Khadr would receive nothing from the Liberal government.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have no idea, especially since I don't frequent synagogues, mosques or Greek Orthodox churches. But if I ever do see it, I won't immediately interpret it as a sign of disrespect.\n\nThere are plenty of real problems the Catholic Church needs to deal with. I'm not going to waste my energy on things that don't matter.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the beginning all schools were religious, Catholic in French speaking and Protestant in English speaking Canada. When the French speakers and Gaelic speaking Irish showed up in Ontario they had to make their own arrangements for schools, hospitals, fire services and local security. All those sainted hospitals were started by Quebec and Irish nuns. Later on the Italians, Poles and others added to Catholic numbers and this is when the province paid Catholic School Boards roughly 50% of the cost with the other 50% being collected from Catholic residents and businesses as local taxes. At one time the thought of Catholics attending the established schools was much the same as in the American South where segregation was looked upon as being the way God wanted it. \nOrganised religion is in decline and in the Public Schools the climate in the classrooms toward religion is quite frigid. The Catholic schools do accommodate Jews, Moslems and others where all are based on the \"Book\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Changes have occurred in society over the last thirty some years because of SNAP and people like Barbara Blaine and David Clohessy. Changes have even occurred in the Catholic Church. Most of those changes they fought tooth and nail. The changes were imposed on them from the outside. We continue to wait for internal changes. Perhaps that will happen but I would not hold my breath. I believe that the biggest change is that parents are today more aware of the dangers their children face with regard to sexual abuse. They are also more aware of the effects that sexual abuse has on a child. The work SNAP has done has helped to educate our society that children are not only in danger from strangers but also from priests, boy scout leaders, coaches, teachers etc. When I was growing up back in the fifties and sixties, A common theory was that children are resilient. I believe we have learned that children are indeed resilient, but that resiliency has its limits.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Francis reminds us what it is to be Christian. His critics keep reminding us what it means to be a Pharisee.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you for your comment. I am a fan of Julian and find her revelations fascinating as I do the stunning revelations that were given to so many other Catholic women mystics like Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, and a host of others.\nI must also say, of course God cannot be limited by gender since He is above and beyond all human distinctions. At the same time however we cannot forget the greatest divine revelation of all, as God the Son became the incarnate Son of Man, Jesus Christ. \nIt is through Christ thst we have come to understand God as our Father. We are so familiar with this divine title given to Almighty God that we forget how remarkable it was to those Jews who heard Jesus speak. God is called Father only 7 times in the Old Testament. In the New Testament Jesus uses the term 70 times.\nIn relation to Christ and his Father we in the Church are all female because we are the Bride of Christ, destined to be joined with our spouse in Heaven.\n\nSorry, I am out of characters!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can you cite any specific cases where someone has been denied a public service simply because he or she is a Christian? How about just one?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm afraid I put down Farley's book after the second chapter. Too much theory and talk about justice. I liked the work she did on cultural viewpoints, but once she got to Christianity, it all devolved into concepts and theories too much for my taste.\nIn my opinion, the point of departure for a theology of human sexuality is the simple statement that we are sexual beings whose self-realization is necessarily tied to our sexual expression. Sometimes that means being chaste. Sometimes it means giving your boyfriend a little hand relief during Harry Potter reruns. But none of it is intrinsically bad and most of it is intrinsically good unless it exploits us or our partners. Most importantly, there is not a God out there somewhere getting all bent out of shape because someone's wife got a vibrator for Mother's Day. \nSorry if that offends, but no one has sex by concept. Sex necessarily has to do with rubbing something or someone, and if we're not willing to talk about that, we're full of ...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump got his when we, the American people, bailed him out of nearly a billion in business debt, that after he inherited a fortune. Now he is under investigation for financial ties with Russia, money laundering etc. He is a good example that many rich people are greedy parasites on our country, not to be admired, who believe the rules don't apply to them (and vacation more than everyone else). BTW - I have a brother who is one of them and is one of the meanest, most greedy, nasty, abusive people that I know who has complete contempt for people not like him (and he takes a lot of vacations and lives an extremely extravagant lifestyle and calls himself Christian when he doesn't give a dime to charity). That is what it takes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many more centuries of christ-less scandal and shaming do we need to demonstrate that its time to end the post Apostolic aberration of a church dancing to the self serving tunes of a male bachelorhooded ministry?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Presently in the U.K. There is a huge scandal in the headlines - the abuse of young men and boys in football (soccer) clubs. This follows similar scandals in all male Boarding schools and of course in the Catholic Priesthood.\n\nThe common denominator in all three is the complete absence of women.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Episcopal Church in the USA is minor player in American religion. Forty years of internecine discord, schisms, and on and on have left it a shadow of what is was between the wars.\n\nThe situation in the UK is quite different. The reasons are complex and embedded in English history.\n\nI believe I am rather unusual in having a fair knowledge of matters Anglican, as well as Old Catholic, among American Catholics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "david, you say: 'But does anyone really think abortion gives human life the dignity Jesus expects us to give it?' since 'Jesus' #2 said to love your neighbor as yourself, why dont Christians care as much about the poor, helpless and hopeless in their midst as they seem to about abortion, lgbtq issues and guns?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church is not the foundation of our lives. At least it shouldn't be. Family is more foundational than Church, and a personal relationship with God even more so.\n\nThe true foundation is Christ, as we are reminded in Matthew 7:24-27. The Church serves to facilitate our relationship with him, not to supplant it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One way to gauge a society is how it treats its poor, destitute, and mentally ill segment. Ronald Reagan shoveled the mentally ill out to the streets when he was governor of California, \"to save money\" no doubt. He was responsible for a tax system that heavily rewarded the top tier of society while ignoring the folks at the bottom. He set the standard by which America has treated those less fortunate in the years since then. With all the wealth Alaska took in from oil, it never seemed important to politicians to get the proper help or housing for the members of our society that Jesus said to help. So much for this being a so called Christian society. We have failed as a country to treat these illnesses properly and this is the result of a society bitten by the greed bug. I appreciated you comments Celia. We seem to have a Wild West mentality of toting guns and bullying our way toward wealth while ignoring the least of fellow human beings. Alcoholism is a disease. Treatment ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pay less attention to this and more attention to his support from Evangelicals.\nImagine, the bible crowd supporting the groper.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The israelis use more sophisticated methods than racial profiling.\n\nI used to be racially profiled in the US, though I am neither Arab nor Muslim. Being non white meant that I was the same as the others. Ironically, Jesus Christ would have been racially profiled by these Bible Thumpers too (Jesus was a single non white, non christian male under the age of 35).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I detect the hand of Mike Pence; yet another Fundamentalist Christian goes to the White House.\n\n\"Pruitt is also an evangelical Christian \u2014 he serves as a deacon at First Baptist Church in Broken Arrow, Okla. and graduated from Georgetown College, an evangelical school. He has a record of opposing marriage equality, transgender bathroom access and abortion, and opposed a church-state separation ballot initiative on the Oklahoma ballot earlier this year.\"\n\nhttp://religionnews.com/2016/12/05/evangelicals-in-trumps-cabinet-educators-worry-science-will-be-a-casualty/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know some of you are wondering now...why does he hound my posts so...well he's my best friend here that's why. Friendliest and most complaint free place in Catholicism. Cheery, hardy, uncomplaining.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is a clear and overriding problem in all of this that needs consideration. The scriptural sources - even for female deacons - is rather weak and at best sporadic. The males of the Church have done a astonishingly complete job of making sure that there is 1500 years worth of doctrine that rules women out of ordination on all levels. I just finished reading \"Women Deacons\" and although there are useful accounts of a (very few) female deacons, support for it remains flimsy at best. Phyllis Zagano, in her chapter, summarizes a 2002 report from the International Theological Commission (under the CDF of Cardinal Ratzinger): \"(1) the history of deaconesses does not support a historical argument for women deacons, and (2) the sacrament of orders clearly distinguishes between the ministries of the bishop and priest and those of the deacon.\" (p.73) This leaves just one source for allowing female ordination of any kind: a Church Council.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, but that is not a contradiction of what Jesus has taught us. A contradiction of God's law would posit that a sin is no longer considered a sin, which would include approval of abortion, same sex marriage, gender identity and so forth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I knew the reference to double jeopardy would snag you. I said it is a form of double jeopary because vetting in a form of putting a person's life on trial.\n\nI do not feel any safer with this nonsense because it expressly leaves out the countries whose nationals have conducted terrorist attacks on this country like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey and Egypt. It also implies preferential treatment for Syrian Christians and has inflamed the Islamic world and confused our allies. I personally believe it was precisely intended not to make America safer, but to put it on a path for yet another war in the Middle East. I am not interested in supporting the Kelly/Pence/Bannon Crusade against Islam and neither are most other Americans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is not hate to care about the souls of others. Regardless of what you may think, there is such a thing as sin, and some sins are more harmful to our souls than lesser sins. One of those is homosexual sex among other sexual sins. Fr. Martin is doing people with same-sex attraction a grave disservice by omitting the fact that, if they are Catholic and truly want to follow Christ, then they must not engage in sex. He has placed himself in a position to do authentic, spiritual and charitable work and he not only drops the ball (truth), he hides it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's a sick joke, thinking that Donald Trump would read a book, admitting that he might not know everything he needs to know let alone just having the curiosity to read a book. You see, he said that he doesn't need to read books because his instincts and superior 'common sense' are enough. His Norman Vincent Peale's 'The Power of Positive Thinking' training taught him that. You see, he was a Peale acolyte and a member of Peale's Marble Collegiate Church as a youth and young man. He and his first wife were married in that church. And, Peale himself said that Trump was one of his brightest followers.\n\nOne of the peculiar things about that church is that there is not one picture or representation of the cross of Christ's crucifixion anywhere in the building. And, Donald Trump said during his campaign that he has never prayed for forgiveness and that he doesn't have to. He is superior and complete and he said that he alone can save this nation and make it great again.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ironic this speech falls just before the gospel of the Pharisee and the tax collector, a parable prefaced by Jesus speaking to those \"who despised everyone else...\"\n\nI will keep you in prayer archbishop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Okay everyone we have a busy Monday morning and we have to go through these applications for employment. Okay lets see the first one...\n\nJohn Smith, born in Toronto, male, white, parents were born here, grandparents and great grandparents born here, Christian, heterosexual... \nAha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha... deep six this one.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Continued 2\n\n It is not possible for same sex couples to participate with our Creator in a sexual union; having the quality or power of creating new life.\n\n Only the act of pairing a male and female (Compatibility for reproductive purposes) can (create) become one flesh. \u201cWhat God has joined together let no man put asunder\u201d\nAnd for this reason Mark the Church cannot change Her teaching on marriage.\n\nkevin your brother\nIn Christ", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Re \"misogyny\" & \"patriarchy\": What about Kellyanne Conway, Melania, Ivanka & prospectively Sarah Palin! That does not spell true \"misogyny\" in anyone's language. Besides, Pence's Christianity will not tolerate it.\n\nThe only \"misogyny\" present is rightful hatred for the Hillary-style anti-Christian Femi-Nazis - thankfully still a tiny & unrepresentative minority amongst the sisterhood.\n\nAll the cultural rest for which Mario so bitterly complains is pure, sweet music in the ears of almost all White Americans - a beautiful Haydn or Tchaikovsky symphony.\n\n2016 is the final high-water mark for Latina influence (& even presence) in the USA - we can only see both decline in the years ahead - perhaps quite swiftly. Quite soon, Spanish will disappear as a \"official language\" in America - followed shortly thereafter by the death of Spanish media due to its being unnecessary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Church wants to meddle in politics, then it should start paying taxes. \nWhy should hard-working, tax-paying citizens have to foot the bill for the Catholic Church's projects. \nI think all federal funds going to religion-based organizations should halt immediately. \nThe deficit and debt are too high to fund projects or propaganda from either side of the aisle.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration has already stated categorically that he will not open Canada's doors to Christians. That would be religion faith based immigration policy and against our secular moral standards. He will however welcome all Muslims fleeing Trump's persecution in the US.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This odious episode is another example of why having clergy isn't working. With the exception of Henry VIII, is there any church scandal that hasn't been caused by clerics? An \"ontologically\" different clergy presiding over the laity is an example of \"disparity of power.\" Clerical corruption is inherent with this arrangement. The present structure of the church is a way that it can be, not a way it must be. As I have mentioned before, while it will not happen in our lifetimes, a future iteration of the church will be without clergy if Catholic Christianity is to continue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Tri, just what are those Christian values that have been debased? I'm not being facetious. I really am interested in what you see as the Christian values you were taught prior to Vatican II. What I remember is an abject fear of a judgmental god and obedience, obedience, obedience....in that order. Even attending Mass was an act of obedience intended to hold off the wrath of god, not an invitation to receive and ponder the meaning of the Eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think we can all agree that, for thousands of years, both good and evil have been done \"in the name of religion.\" Too often, IMO, zealots use religious doctrine and twist it to justify their actions. Certainly this is true of \"radical Islamic terrorists.\" It's also been true of \"radical Christian zealots\" who have bombed abortion clinics and killed abortion doctors. We can trace the history of the wars which were very frequently based on, among other factors, religion. \n\nOf course not all Christians are \"right-wing wackos\", just as not all Muslims are \"radical Islamic terrorists.\" We need to remember that many of the targets of the anti-abortion radicals were (and are) Christians themselves....and we need to recognize that the chief targets and victims of radical Islamic terrorists are, themselves, Muslims. \n\nRadical Islamic terrorism involves, as well, nationalism, tribalism, and other economic and social issues ...\n\ncomplex questions seldom have simplistic answers...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is precisely that Church of Nice (Church of Flab) which is why England is in the situation it is in: \"spiritual\" but not \"theological\" (be that Catholic, Anglican, Druid, Witch, Nice Pine Tree to Hug, etc.) But, of course, the Church of England was born out of accommodation in order to \"pastorally tend\" to Henry's \"irregular\" union.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jews and Arabs, brother really killing each other. There will never be a settlement, I for one thought the Jews just push hard and kill and steal the Arabs populace. Arabs that do not like it there will have to leave, the ones that stay will not vote but be second class citizens and the Jews will patrol the entire boarder with their military and police inside. There will be no Gaza strip run by one Muslin sect and the highlands run by another both will be vanquished, just like the Christians have been over the last 2000 years. Myself it is not and will not be on my todo list.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just part of the grand schemes of the Republican Terrorist Party to impose absolute dictatorship over all under the guise of \"protecting\" them. The same vocabularies and propaganda used in 1930s Germany and Italy to convince the christians they were protecting them against the jews. First, identify an enemy; next villify every aspect of the enemy; Militarize all policing functions; Eliminate any individual civil rights replaced by government rights; Invade through search and seizure; Kill a few to generate maximum fear in all; Hijack all government functions. Welcome to the world of the new Fuehrer, Trump with his band of horrors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The neonazis and the Klan have racism as their core beliefs. Racism is not a Catholic value.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't assault what isn't being used.....\n\nStatements like this got Shea fired....\n\"What the GOP--and above all conservative \"prolife\" Christians both Protestant and Catholics--still orgasmically support. They *love* torture! Love it! And they wonder why the prolife movement is dying in the US.\"\nhttps://www.facebook.com/mark.shea2/posts/10153829420405218\n\nWhich is patently untrue, of course - I know the liberal left would like it believed, but it is false.\n\nAs a good article articulating the reasons Shea - and Fischer were fired (did you miss that she's gone, too?) stated:\n\n\"What cannot be denied, however, is that Shea and Fisher use vulgar and insulting language online, often directed toward pro-life conservative Catholics, which at some point must prove embarrassing to the National Catholic Register.\" \nhttps://stream.org/pro-life-catholics-deserve-better-writers-national-catholic-register/\n\nNothing about President Trump, no matter what you may like to believe.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You looked it up but you did not understand it. You are relying on piety, not proof. BTW, the monstrance was borrowed from the Mexican Church, which used that particular instrument from the Aztecs (see Diarmaid McCulloch's chapter on Christianity in the New World in Christianity, the First 3000 Years, unless you are too xenophobic to read a history written by an Anglican.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "AR-15's now tools of abortion. Maybe now the Christian conservatives will demand they be banned.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Church going\" Catholics, I take it? They belong to the group which is so liked by certain hierarchs as far as I see it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Does anyone else find it curious that Ms. Khan relates the account of Mohammed's trip to Ta'if as historical fact and not qualified by a remark such as \"Muslims believe...\" or \"The Islamic tradition recounts that...\".\n\nIn a previous column Ms. Khan stated, again without qualification, that Mohammed was sent as a blessing to mankind (or similar words).\n\nWould the Globe permit a columnist to recount the parting of the Red Sea as an historical occurrence or to state that the host becomes the body of Christ, without a qualification similar to those set out above?\n\nIf people wish to believe such things they are within their rights to do so. But I expect the Globe to point out that we are talking about beliefs and not historical facts.\n\nI just hope that one day I do not read a column in the Globe asserting, without qualification, that Mohammed traveled on a winged horse.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A person is not defined by a sexual orientation,\" said Bochanski. \n\nI thought defining men and women as having a heterosexual orientation (by natural law created by God) was the foundation of Catholic teaching on the marriage and the family. \n\nSeems clear that the church does define everyone by sexual orientation. Except when they're gay? In which case the church defines their ss attraction as a phantasm of disordered emotion. \n\nNot being gay myself, I can't say how gays should feel about the Courage approach. No doubt some find it a path to wholeness, while others feel it's a denial of their personhood. But to claim that a person isn't \"defined by their sexual orientation\" seems at best a half truth to me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "At some point, Catholics need to reject both Arroyo and Coulter. They are more right wing loyalist irritants than thought leaders.\n\nI will look at Dave later.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LifeoftheLay,\n\nIt really is time that you used English grammar properly. If you are quoting someone, quotation marks should be used. If you are simply intending to highlight a word or phrase, inverted commas should be used.\n\nStrangely enough, MJMchale who is presently attempting to disrupt another thread, makes exactly the same grammatical errors as you do in post, after post, after post. Even stranger is the fact that you appear nowhere on that thread, a thread which is attempting to debate a subject - the magisterium - which you would normally be all over like a rash.\n\nSurely no Catholic, especially one who constantly demands the highest of moral behaviour from others, would be guilty of such immoral and shabby behaviour themselves.\n\nYour time on here is hopefully coming to an end.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Absolutely no way this will withstand an appeal to the SCOC. It clearly violates their rights. It's solely about appealing to the worst in our society. If this stands, I'll never go to Quebec again, and I love Montreal. This is basically a Christian attack on Muslims. As an Atheist, I have no dog in this fight, but this is pure bigotry. All Christians have a responsibility to speak out against this travesty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If we're going to be talking about \u201ccult,\u201d the most dangerous cult is the Roman Catholic Church. If you want to know why, look at the movie \"Spotlight\" (true story) about how bishops, cardinals and other \"gurus\" of the Catholic church sexually molested thousands of boys and girls. These horrendous acts have been and covered up from the top Roman Catholic guru (the Pope) all the way down to the parish priest. \n\nIn my view, the real reason why some people in and out of the media carry out witch-hunts against smaller non-Christian religious organizations is to take the spotlight off those powerful religious organizations like the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your words are a breath of fresh air! Truth! Thank you!\n\nFuture Church, AUSCP (Assoc of US Catholic Priests), Voice of the Faithful are supporting this push for women deacons ONLY, in order to hopefully get the laity's support for optional celibacy for male priests. This trade off can only result in complete gender segregation of our church's governing and sacramental authority, where all men will have all power, voice, and control over all the women of the church. Do not be fooled by these groups they are largely containing of ex-priests who have married and many deacons who want ordination only for men. \n\nIf you want to support real equality in our church, that can only come thru equal ordination, starting with priesthood because priesthood is the initial step to all the other levels of sacramental and governmental authority. Join Women's Ordination Conference or write me at restornow @ mail.com if you want to actively seek real justice for all, in our church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This just in...Michael Sean Winters is a Rastafarian and not Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are many of good faith and intent who have no question, no reservation about the \"inadmissability\" of full sacramental inclusion to women. It simply is. it is God's will, affirmed \"theologically\", by timeless\"tradition\", infallible declaration by Pope(s). To question for them is \"hatred\", heresy, anathema.\nMany more capable would, I hope expound better and more convincingly, especially as Fr. Orabator does here. I used to think, that there was a \"secret dossier\" that made sense but could not be revealed. No more. Regardless of how old the tradition may be, no matter how widespread it might be, the roots of Roman Catholic exclusion, so calmly, pastorally, authoritatively stated is, at its fundamental base, (as Joseph Card. Ratzinger affirmed) that God created woman - all women, whenever, wherever, to willingly serve man. How women are treated, involved or not may vary but it is the prerogative of men to decide. \nAnd....this is before \"the first sin\" . \nAnd, it gets worse \"muchly\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Charles, you might remember that the reason the GOP took racists in was because their gullibility could be exploited in support of an economic agenda to free greed from all moral and legal restraint.\nFor all the crocodile tears from the GOP over Trump his overt catering to that gullible base is all that keeps them in the party. The GOP never actually intends to roll back the Civil Rights Act or establish a Christian theocracy and those people are finally figuring it out.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This says it all about the Vatican's response to the rape and sodomy of children by priests: \"... another smoke and mirrors production\" - Tom Doyle, O.P.\n\nThe very same strategy for not confronting the abuse and sexual exploitation of children, for obfuscation, for denial that American bishops adopted when I was chair of the SF review board now is in full operation at the Vatican: Talk, delay, say pious things publicly, hold out for the day when all the survivors are dead, the time when there will be no more voices to speak for the child victims of the abuse. Then the clerics in the curia will be free to re-write the salacious history of priests violating every tenant of the Gospel and Beatitudes.\n\nI can hear it now: \"What abuse?\" \"The church has always acted with integrity and justice.\" No one will hear the cry of the poor ... there will be no \"reform and renewal.\"\n\nI hope these pitiful excuses for priests in the Vatican burn in the hell of their own creation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "FYI\nThe Church teaches that human life is created and begins at the moment of conception. The Catholic Church sees abortion as the termination of an unborn life, and therefore, it's always wrong, sinful, and immoral. The circumstances by which that life was conceived are considered irrelevant.\nThe Catholic Church and Abortion - dummies\nwww.dummies.com/religion/christianity/catholicism/the-catholic-church-and-abortion/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Mainstream christians\" are no different than\"mainstream muslims\", both seek peace. Your current idol, Donnie T, wants to torture muslims.\nI suppose you do as well. Am I right?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Roy Anthony was a cop. And a serial rapist. Body cams could have prevented some of those victims from being raped, and it sure as hell would have easily proven/disproven the accusations much earlier on in the investigation. You still have \"no doubt in APD\"? You should. If you blindly believe that everyone is a good person solely based on their career then you are delusional. Check out the sexual abuse in the Catholic Churches for an easy example. Remember: everyone acts better when they know they are being filmed and it isn't simply a \"he said, she said\" situation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Groups granted intervenor status on Monday:\n................................\nReformed Political Action (ARPA) Canada\nAdvocates\u2019 Society\nCanadian Bar Association\nChristian Legal Fellowship\nInternational Coalition of Professors of Law\nNational Coalition of Catholic School Trustees and Lawyers\u2019 Right Watch Canada\n Criminal Lawyers\u2019 Association (Ontario) and Canadian Civil Liberties Association", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The usual anti-Semitism from anti-Zionist Michael Bell. He openly puts the Muslim claim to 'East Jerusalem' above the Jewish claim, based on religion. So he denies the Bible and Jesus too. Over the years, Michael Bell has proven to be a consistent opponent of the Jewish State, and now openly bases it on religion. In Europe, this would be defined as anti-Semitism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hope your numbers are wrong on who is funding Mosques in the US. The Saudi Wahhabi and Salafist theologies are the worst of Islam. It is a tiger's tail the Saudi govt can't let go of even when it comes back to threaten them in the form of al-Qaeda and ISIS. Imagine this nation if the most backward and intolerant Christian group was funding 80% of the Christian churches- we would look a lot like Saudi Arabia..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hate to burst the bubble but we are at war with a portion of the Muslim population which hates the west and which has openly declared war on us. Would it have made any sense to pretend that we were not at war with Germany or Japan after they declared war on us. Listening to pundits pretend that the attack on the CHRISTKINDLMARKT had nothing to do with an attack on Christianity would be funny if it weren't so ludicrous and wrongheaded. \n\nThe political correctness which pretends that any recognition of Muslim terrorism is racist , is not only wrong but it is dangerous. How can you combat the ideology if you deny that it exist? Did Britain go after Swedes when the IRA was waging a bombing campaign.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Biblical illiteracy far better than biblical fundamentalism. Catholic theology irrelevant anyhow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh pleeeeze! People voted for Trump because the Donald promised to keep and build up JOBS in the U.S. Most American Catholics believe that women have the right to decide how an if they want children. That has been posted on this site and others so often---that it is ridiculous to state otherwise. Belief in God is not just centered on one or two issues---that some Catholic bishops try to make as #1 issue. When people begin to see what they're NOT receiving because of Trump's actions, he'll be a one-term president.\n\nTrump isn't religious, you are right about that. As far as gender identity is concerned---the YOUNG people are in favor of this---and it will only grow in favor with the people. Trump isn't going to be able to drown that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's amazing how unaware so many Americans are about just how right-wing their country is. HRC is only going to go enough to the left to capture the Sanders voters whose faculties of observation and reasoning function to a minimal degree. She must steer a fairly centrist course in a country where Christian religious terrorism has successfully debased or eliminated healthcare rights for women in a great many states. Denmark or even France this country is not. \nClinton will be able to co-opt most of Sanders' ideas and make them palatable to a country still dominated by conservative (populist) thinking. \nIt's easy to write passionate letters with fiery metaphors, it's more difficult to inform the sound byte generation about the importance of issues such as voting in mid-term elections, gerrymandering and the last 35 years of American history. Hillary is no worse than Obama, just less melanin and female reproductive organs. Most of what Sanders claims he would do wouldn't happen anyway.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Too bad that the article and the experts fail to mention that the Shias, Christians and other minorities in Syria will be obliterated if Assad is deposed. They also fail to address why the US and its allies, including Harper, chose to fund and arm the rebels (including extremist groups) in Syria - without that support, this mess would never have happened, Assad would have rolled over any opposition.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Erroneous autonomy is the erroneous belief there is such a thing as a Catholic who can have a private relationship apart from God, The Ordered Communion Of Perfect Love, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, and remain in communion with Christ's One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church; one can know through both Faith and reason, that a Catholic cannot be autonomous and in communion, simultaneously.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Speaking of an \"ecumenism of hate,\" if I may use the Vatican's phrase -- in the last 20 years over 7000 people have died trying to make a perilous illegal entry into the U.S. These people were tacitly encouraged take this risk by their Catholic leaders, who assured them that illegal immigration was morally just. \n\nIf the priests and bishops had instead told them to respect the law, and to not risk their lives....but no.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When the pope visited, I didn't see him being concerned with giving compassion to US Citizens who are poor, uneducated, who have lost their jobs to Illegal Aliens. This effect was warned about in 1965:\n\nhttp://www.newswithviews.com/Spingola/deanna3.htm\n\n\nhttp://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/24/catholic-church-collects-16-billion-in-us-contract/\nCatholic Church collects $1.6 billion in U.S. contracts, grants since 2012\n\n\"Not to be lost in the pomp and circumstance of Pope Francis\u2019 first visit to Washington is the reality that the Catholic Church he oversees has become one of the largest recipients of federal largesse in America.\"\n\nhttp://www.ncronline.org/news/peace-justice/catholic-social-teachings-call-dignity-creation\n\n\"We also note that the majority of the undocumented are Roman Catholics who would formally join their parishes and help support them with their just wages.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First, the bishops need to be warier of the nonsense that is coming out of EWTN. One of the shows had Sebastian Gorka on to discuss his Catholic faith. Gorka probably has ties to Hungarian Nazis. So there is something wrong with that channel. EWTN have followed the Evangelicals into uncritical Trump worship.\n\nSecond, something needs to be done to weed the far right nuts out of the seminaries. Lots of these Latin Mass types are emotionally immature and drive people away from the Church. I am not sure how \"Father\" Z got ordained. He is a living billboard of what people hate about Catholicism and priests.\n\n Third, the divisiveness with Latin Mass is when Bishop Culture War drops Father Traddie in a liberal parish to \"reform\" it and Father Traddie goes about making changes like a dictator and causing divisions between the existing parishioners and his \"fans\" who drive a hundred miles because they think the regular Mass is invalid.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"This movement comes at the expense of Catholics who came of age in Vatican II, many of whom are unimpressed with rearranging the church furniture to emphasize clerical status.\"\n-------------------------\nExcept that it has nothing to do with trying to emphasize clerical status and everything to do with emphasizing the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. That's the real battle going on and the real clericalism comes from those who seem to think the role of laity is not worthy unless it is made semi-clerical in nature.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here we have a Catholic priest telling us Catholics that we don't have to take the Bible seriously. Unbelievable! What next, I wonder?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians aren't making themselves into victims. Christians and Christianity are attacked daily - and with total impunity - by the media and the government. Christianity is now the most persecuted faith in the world.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You judge Christians very harshly. My kind of Christianity comes from the Sermon on the Mount. Read it and don\u2019t pay much attention to the TV hucksters. Jesus taught freedom from theology but \u201cmoral relativism\u201d was not on his to-do list.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a parent of 4 grown kids, I found that even with a good \"Christian\" upbringing, and a very good education on sexual matters, kids are going to do what they want anyway. Peer pressure being the biggest influence after the loose morality of the media is what drives these kids/teens. Look at who they are looking up to as idols. \n\nWhy not just give the Health Depts. the job of sponsoring sex ed classes and then parents can choose to attend with their kids. I'm sure many parents would learn a thing or two as well.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The anti-Ukrainian sentiment expressed by our Russian friends here in their comments is not exactly surprising.\n\nYou should see how Russian nationalists are trying to rehabilitate Stalin's image in today's Russia. Can you imagine a \"St. Iosef Stalin\" ikon after all the Orthodox Christians that monster killed? Probably not, yet here it is:\n\nhttps://sputniknews.com/russia/201505311022778000/\n\nhttp://newslanc.com/saint-stalin/\n\nSince Mao is already the object of religious veneration in China, the only equivalent I can think of is the erection of a St. Adolf Hitler church in Germany.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Patriot. Exactly. Look at all those loyal Christians who followed Hitler. The end result was horrific mass murder. Then all those Americans blindly followed Bush- more murder, almost one million innocent people (men, women, and children) killed in Iraq.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Okay well that is a bowl full of nonsense. If I ignore that one group of people is enslaved by another and think I can go to God and justify not helping those people when they asked for my help, I am kidding myself if I think God would be fine with that. \n\nJesus Christ did not just condemn the oppressive behavior of individuals, he also condemned the group oppression of the Pharisees and Sadducees and the Romans for that matter. He also warned that if they did not change their ways God was going to allow their whole way of life and way of structure of their worship collapse around them. This prophecy did exactly take place 70 years later with the fall of the Great Temple in Jerusalem and later on after that the with the Fall of Rome. \n\nCatholicism's version of Christianity, because it refuses to act justly and present a true version Christianity on account of its clericalism and sexism, is on the brink of falling too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So who defines what one needs to believe in order to be a Catholic; the Catholic Church or your good self. Perhaps you can convince us that you speak with authority and with whose authority you speak.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know, I'm an atheist but I find it disturbing that many progressives piled on Sheer for supposed ultra right wing Christian leanings but is willing to give Singh a pass.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These are who we should have taken in the first places. Them, the Mandeans, and the Christians targeted for genocide by ISIS.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God has spoken that apostasy shall not overcome the Light [prevail forever]; but, we are in the midst of great crisis. The children of Christian civilization have repudiated the foundation for Blessing;...Law and [B]order. The Truth of Liberty and Freedom has been transformed into liscence. And now the walls have fallen for uncultured hoardes of uncivilized savages to rape, rob, and plunder. A plague of devouring locusts sent for judgement to destroy the blessings. JOEL 2:3\nWhy do the clergy cast off all fear of God?...holding to a servile sycophantic cult-like addling, mesmerized by this messiah of apostasy like rats after the pied-piper.\nThe Mighty God judge with fire the judas-clergy aiding and abetting this globalist criminal enterprise.....or, better yet, let fear have her imperfect work. Proverbs 9:10", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Don\u2019t be ignorant of the international politics by just following the media directives. In Syrian war there was no only Assad but entire world involved so small scale world war 3. Some of the western and eastern countries supported financially or by all other means and used barbaric isis terrorists to reach their goal in a short time. What Assad did. He protected all the people who has different religious beliefs than the barbaric, brutal terrorists. After \u0130srail, Syria is the only modern country in entire Middle East whatever left. Nobody will force you cover your head or face or prevent practicing your religion freely Christian, Muslim, Jew etc. Western world focused on regime change, neighboring countries focused on to force their ethnical believes in Syria, and nobody cared bring democracy or western style freedoms to Syria. The only western style democracy in Middle East is \u0130srail.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Would be beneficial if they, as have the Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, started using English as a liturgical language instead of Arabic which even the majority of Muslims do not really understand and which would make non-Muslims feel more welcome at their services. Some \"reformation\" is needed/", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The psychological studies have found that homosexuality as such is not the cause of abuse, but when gay seminarians do not come to terms with their orientation in the church's closed homophobic environment, it is more difficult for them to become psychosexually mature enough to resist opportunities with minors.\"\n\nYes. So from that, isn't barring men with same sex attraction from Catholic seminaries the most sane and effective approach to protecting children?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since you are such a historian, perhaps you should go back and r-read the history of Spain or Andalusia where Muslims, Christians and others lived side by side in peace after the \"Islamic invasion\". Or you can cherry pick facts and continue your ignorance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sorry, we don't call them that. We call them \"Da'esh\". They call themselves \"Islamic\", which is no more valid than the movement which \"inspired\" McVeigh calling itself the \"Christian Identity Movement\". How old are you? Such concepts shouldn't be that hard to figure out. You're not capable of instructing me. Come back when you've learned a little. And matured a little.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus himself is a \"layman?\" \n\nYour entire argument proves too much. If I accept your argument at face value, why all the fuss? We should not only not be ordaining women, we should not be ordaining men! We should also not have an institutional church--and that means every self proclaimed \"bishop\" in the women's ordination conference and priest, together with the structure they set up should be torn down in keeping with Jesus non-hierarchical, non institutional Church!\n\nGood gravy--you dissidents are so desperate to advance your agenda you don't pay attention to the fact that your arguments cut both ways.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "why should that make a difference whether he's hindu, muslim, Christian or jewish?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Such as? Can't really say Hillary as I voted for her as no way would I go to the town butcher for brain surgery. I think this is turning out much as I thought it would. Say have you gotten a job yet building the new shiny wall along the southern border? I heard that a new purpose for it is to keep Hurricanes out too. :-)\n\nHave to laugh at phony conservatives. They really believe this stuff. \n\nMeanwhile major problems facing America are being ignorned in favor of fluff. Enjoy as it sure won't last. Do you really think it would be good to kick all those people out of the country? Good thing you aren't a christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Typical Marxist Pfleger. Has he ever sought the conversion of any non Catholics to the one true faith. The \"violence\" of damnation is far worse that that which the gun or knife can inflict.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I remember the Christian gay advocate Mel White saying on TV years ago that if all the gay church musicians suddenly didn't appear for work at church there would be silence in Christendom. A similar scenario is true for the clergy as well. As a lesbian Episcopal priest I once knew said, \"the church has run on gay power for centuries.\" It's just a pity that gay people can't be recognized for their hugely significant contribution to Holy Mother Church. Perhaps, as Jesus said, \"your reward will be great in heaven.\" I certainly hope that's true for your sake.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I as a Christian worked in Saudi Arabia for several years. There is not a chance in hell I would have dared to pray anywhere but in my own privacy. This effect you speak of can and should work both ways. Go over there and preach Christianity, start a church better yet. See what it gets you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That \"whole Party\" are liars and deceivers playing with words for their constituents minds to fantasize about. These people used the Russians talk of intervention of our elections to distract the REAL facts that Wikileaks/or Russians had exposed the Party's dishonesty. My JAW dropped seeing Megyn Kelly interview and trap the Holy Women who knows how a Christian women feels to be prosecuted in Donna Brazille! For the life of God, a Holy Christian women who lied in front of millions of tv viewers in which I can't distinguish from Bill Clinton's lie in front of millions of people about the Monica Lewinsky scandel in the WH Oval Office! The Democrats are Full Of It, not all but the Leaders, the Pied Pipers of your Party, Your party needs to DRAIN the SWAMP to survive", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yet you have no problem with MSW's big salary from Catholic donations. A lack of consistency rainbow.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You will not find any more of these \"Death Penalties\" in the New Testament, Christians are now under Grace, not the law. You strawman complaints would hold water 2000 years ago, but in these times they are null and void. And even though God killed his own son, the Son laid down his life willingly to achieve forgiveness to all who believe in him. Why did God choose to do things this way ? I do not know, but he did.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What was found in those emails .... to be remembered as an exchange of ideas and thoughts between and among CATHOLIC staffers, not a position of Clinton nor her running mate .... is about the same as one will hear from thinking Catholics who bother to take the time to be introspective about the growing rottenness that can be found in the very fallible, very human, very unholy, very unmotherly institutional accretions that seem to replace the Good News of the gospel message.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you are getting your \"relevant data\" from the National Schismatic Reporter, a newspaper that was told long ago to take \"Catholic\" off its title because it is NOT Catholic, then naturally, the \"relevant data\" don't back up my claim. Look elsewhere, at reliable sources, not at the Fishwrap.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Discussing character is something that doesn't matter to you? Yet it is important to you to take your uncouthly witty jabs at the Christians. Nice. Somehow I don't expect the same from you when the secularists have discussions with each other. Lower standards, I suppose.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"The idea of that \"caste\" has painted the church into a corner...\" \nJesus was not a clergyman. He was in conflict with the religious authorities of his day. His comments about them could not be described as laudatory. Why would he want -- or need -- a \"clergy\" to act for him? \nWhile it will not happen in our lifetimes, if Catholic Christianity is to continue, it will be in a new iteration without clergy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hmm ... \n\nDoesn't your \"charity\" and tolerance extend to \"Cardinal Newman Society types\" who have given this considerable thought and accept the teachings of the Catholic Church?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I've read through this piece twice without finding a suggestion that opposition to the Muslim Ban, be it from the religious or broader community, arose primarily from spiritual conviction, which, at any rate, isn't mutually exclusive to revolt against Trumpism.\n\n<<...the American character is at its best when the people's pragmatism is heavily influenced by a generosity of spirit and when fear of the other yields to more fundamental insights regarding our common humanity.>>\n\nThis describes the response very well. It's a visceral reaction that corresponds to what I observed at protests. They were emotional. People were in tears. Muslims expressed heartfelt gratitude at such a formidable show of solidarity.\n\nI don't mean to discount the religious convictions that animated so many of the protesters. There was quite a presence from Jews and Christians (as well as other religions, obviously, and non-religious). But...fundamentally it seemed an outburst of common decency.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sarah, sold your sole for the proverbial 30 pieces of silver. How low will you go for your job? Sorry excuse for a so called Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Here is an excellent link to the 5 Catholic non-negotiables, along with brief explanations.\nhttp://stjoseph-marysville.org/faqnonnegotiables.html", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There was no anti-Christian card played in the anecdotes Andrew disingenuously, though deliberately misrepresented. I'm not sure there even is an anti-Christian card in Canadian politics to play - it's never been done. Andrew is just making up nonsense, just as he did for Harper for many years.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's a typo for Leo XIII, who wrote an encyclical, Aeterni Patris, in 1879. This made Thomism the official theology of the Catholic Church. Thomism was to be the standard for the training of priests but also in the education of the laity at universities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cahill and Wilkinson say, \"Humanae Vitae re-emphasised a traditional sexual morality based on isolated acts, which are regarded either as being 'ordered to nature' or 'against nature', rather than a sexual morality based on relationality. Such was the intensity of the division it caused that it has led to a dangerous and damaging situation, whereby the Catholic Church effectively lacks an accepted sexual morality, with many negative consequences (p. 59).\"\n\nAnd, \"After the refusal of many members of the Catholic community to 'receive' the contraception message of the 1968 papal encyclical Humanae Vitae, the Catholic Church was left without a community-accepted sexual morality at a time of rapidly changing sexual mores because the Church was no longer credible in matters concerning sexuality and human relationships (p. 97).\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Where he fits completely in, unlike his square peg in a round hole fit when he tried teaching at a Catholic university.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, the Catechism of the Catholic Church isn't very good either. And nowhere near as authoritative as some would claim.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You said, \"Let's keep abortion safe.\"\nDid you mean safe for the mom, or safe for the baby?\n\nGod forgives women (and men who have pushed women into it) who have had abortions - if they want forgiveness.\n\nThere is always hope and mercy.\n\nBut one thing we as Christians must insist on, and that is calling things for what they are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why don't you write something about that issue that reflects what you believe. If you think the statement is wrong, then write about religious tolerance as you see it. Or write about where you see religious intolerance. I think it would be interesting to think about religious intolerance in this country - how do we show tolerance or intolerance to fellow Christians and to people of other faiths. Or think about how we manifest intolerance just within Catholicism - in the divide that seems to exist between those who practice a JPII/BXVI kind of Catholicism and those who in tune with a Francis kind of Catholicism. We have a bad habit of telling some people who claim Catholicism that they are not Catholics or inviting them to join a different faith because. I find that intolerant. \n\nSo speak up.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't believe the book of Hebrews to be divinely inspired?\n\nI again ask, why do you claim to be Catholic when you reject the most fundamental truths of the faith - the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It leaves me cold to hear a preacher preach hate. It leaves me cold to listen to the gospel of prosperity from a minister decorated in gold rings. It makes me sick to find pastors in a small town that lost their job because of affairs with their parishoners. It makes me sick to my stomach to see a sign that say God, Guns and Country, being as Jesus clearly rejected both violence and human kingdoms. It makes me sick to hear Muslim leaders preach hate/death to those who don't conform.\n\nHave you not heard the President make any of the thousands of praises he's given to Americans from about every walk of life? Are you so jaded toward the man that these positive statements don't register at all?\n\nI'd be glad to leave my children in the Obama's care. *For me being a good parent means a lot more than 10 second audio clip.\n\nAnd people wonder why good men and women shun a public life.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Not sure if Ms Nawaz has ever read Fox's Book of Martyrs, but that would be enlightening in terms of the treatment of heretics by those that would control all people and would use anything, including religion/faith, to do so. I disagree with her claim that the kind of white people really wanted were just \"white protestants\". I think the main criteria was probably just people escaping persecution. To claim that people \"like her\" were never supposed to be let in belies the fact that Canada has one of the highest percentages of both recent immigrants and ethnic minorities of any country. DID THAT JUST HAPPEN BY MISTAKE??? Who was sleeping at the door to let that happen (in her view). this claim should not be considered seriously. Frankly, TRUE christians follow Gal 3:28 which states that \"There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus\". If someone acts differently than that, they aren't a true Christian. Period.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are not, however, entitled to tell people that they are not Catholics or to tell them to leave the Catholic Church since they stayed and lived their faith, whereas you walked out.\n\nThe prodigal son did not presume to tell his family where they were going wrong or to blame them for his departure in the first place. A humble, contrite heart would be good from you but absolutely no sign of it whatsoever.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Just like Christianity, most religions have been used by self-inflicted nutcases, over time.\nThe German Peasants' War (1524\u20131525)\nThe Second War of Kappel in the Old Swiss Confederacy (1531)\nThe Schmalkaldic War (1546\u20131547) in the Holy Roman Empire\nThe Eighty Years' War (1568\u20131648) in the Low Countries\nThe French Wars of Religion (1562\u20131598)\nThe Thirty Years' War (1618\u20131648), affecting the Holy Roman Empire including Habsburg Austria and Bohemia, France, Denmark and Sweden\nThe Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1639\u20131651), affecting England, Scotland and Ireland Scottish Reformation and Civil Wars\nEnglish Reformation and Civil War\nIrish Confederate Wars and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Despite it's getting so much bad press these days, due not a little bit to ignoramuses defaming my faith by claiming their \"identifying\" with it justifies the most evil, reprehensible behavior imaginable, fundamentalist is really a \"null\" word--adhering to a set of principles isn't necessarily, or even usually, a bad thing. \"Do unto others as ye would be done by\" is a fundamental principal. So is \"al \u02bfamr bil ma\u02bfr\u016bf wa-in nahi \u02bfan al-munkar\"--demanding right and opposing wrong.\n\nReality is that the current idol of the Christian right arrogantly and cavalierly violates Christian principals at nearly every turn. He is anything BUT a fundamentalist. He eschews humility for hubris. Breaking promises and lying violated both Christianity and Islam.\n\nIf anything he deifies his own desires. And the Christian right, whether they admit it or not, deify him as the man who will save them from \"scary foreigners\".\n\n\"If such are the priests, God help the congregation.\" (old Arab proverb)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How much knowledge do you have about \"Christians\" and their care of the planet ? Can you share some valid examples ? Or are these simply the same type of nebulous allegations we are so used to seeing in CNN and CBS ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "the mockery is claiming that muslims sincerely believe that women should be separated from men when worshipping or that women are incapable of leading a congregation (christian, muslim, jewish). The SCC has it wrong. The SJW's have it wrong. \n.\nFor a court to opine on the sincerity of pastafarians while condoning the second class status afforded women in many religions leaves me without polite words to describe their decisions. We should not be aiding this practice any longer. It is time for Canadians to support equal rights for all.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, \"Faithful Catholic\" Jesus was just kidding when he said, \"Welcome the stranger?\" So does voting Republican make you a faithful Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While I don't think either was religious, and I don't think either claimed their killing was in the name of religion, there are people who claim because they were head of nominally Christian countries and had some background in church, they were not atheists. Personally I agree they should be included, but didn't want to argue with those claiming they weren't really atheists.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "oh my god, Christians would take over. God save us all.from warm beer and kippers.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sir, the ends do not justify the means--even when it comes to the preservation of human life.\n\nA Christian can never, ever compromise with evil in order to bring about a good. Death is preferable to sinning in order to bring about a good.\n\nThat is what \"the ends to not justify the means\" means.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly. It's so strange that MacDougall seems to think Christian values are about who you have sex with, how you get married, and what private parts you have, when Jesus never spoke about any of those things. And they don't seem to care about the poor or the sick or the sinners, who Jesus spoke about all the time. Which is to say, the problem is that they call themselves \"Christians\" while pushing a totally non-Christian moral agenda on everyone around them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No misrepresentations, just accurate descriptions of a posting. If that appears insulting, that is an indictment of the posting, not the description. Sigh. It is worth noting the poster in question never seems to post comments consistent with christian values, although he appears to claim to be a devout catholic. Perhaps he is merely posing as a catholic to sully its name?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The nationwide Catholic Healthcare business(Providence, PeaceHealth, etc.) requires all patients to bow to the Roman Catholic Dogma of reproductive and end-of-life restrictions regardless of that patients beliefs. The cowardly governing system allows this denial of Constitutional and human rights by granting religious exemptions for this totally secular economic operation. No religious institution should have any exemption to deny individual human rights to legal healthcare under our secular Constitution. The Bill of Rights' Freedom of religion applies only to individuals not institutions. Unfortunately, christian religious institutions have been given unwarranted exemptions by religious politicians occupying governing seats in power. Long past time to remove all religious exemptions from the secular, scientific, legal healthcare economic system. The attacks by religious legislators on human rights continues in the old slave states South.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No, we do not have \"hate radio\" in this nation, in the sense that we allow anyone to call for acts of violence. Anyone who does that is prosecuted, and that of course includes calls for assassinating the president.\n\nIf you define \"hate\" as the voices of those who call for respect for current U.S. laws on our borders, or who side against the Catholic church on SJ matters, then you have a deep misunderstanding of American civics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "After watching most of the sessions of this Catholic summing up in the Royal Commission over the past three weeks, I have come to the firm conviction that we need to abolish priesthood altogether, and the empire mentality that goes with it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't get how you feel able to criticize us Catholics for things we believe in common with the Orthodox Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That is a laugh, wondering which side I am on, when you dispute, reject and deny any teaching of the Church which you personally disagree with. \nThis idea that there is an 'institutional Church' implies that there is somewhere out there another 'non-institutional' Church which is following the Gospel which the 'institutional' Church allegedly has abandoned. This is exactly what happened in the 16th century when Protestants broke away from the 'institutional Church' and lo and behold what did they do? They set up 'institutional churches' of their own. They number now around the 40,000 mark, so much for the One Church.\nThis is classic strategy of Satan, division: to set firstly man against God then man against man, nation against nation, race against race, Christian against Christian, Catholic against Catholic and man against woman. This has been going on since the beginning of time, I oppose it and you wonder whose side I am on; as Kag would say, \"sheesh\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you understand what you've written? Referring to Pence as a \"Bible Thumper\", (which is a bigoted, discriminatory remark to begin with. Your remark makes you a Christianophobe ) and juxtaposing that against a miffed Muslim world to say that will infuriate the terrorists more? So we should simply placate terrorism in the hopes that it goes away? What a world we live in! We are all so brain-washed against our own civilization here we will let it go down without a fight. Oh, by all means, lets not anger the terrorists, the bullies of the new world lest they commit more terrorists acts! Age after age has proven one thing: The only language a bully understands is it's own. The only way to rid bullying behaviour is with a stronger bully. You call the extremists \"Miffed\"?You do understand there is a group of people out there that wants Western Civilization dead and gone, right? By any and all means? And you worry about a \"Bible Thumper\".....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You do realize that Christians don't follow the Old Testament?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is it brain-washing? Is there anything inaccurately stated?\n\nWasn't Spain already Christian well before the Muslims arrived? And how does their arrival not constitute an invasion? Were their armies welcomed as liberators? And when the Christians re-took Spain, is the term \"conquered\" any less accurate than \"defeated\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regardng: \"The best thing to come out of Amoris Laetitia is the fact that the clergy are actually conteplating divorce and remarriage and not just spewing catholic teaching.\"\n- AL also helps them move away from theology of the pelvis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They were actually Benedict's Communist Cardinals. They helped write Caritas in Veritate. As for the question, just ignore anything in the Spectator. Don't read, don't share. It destroys their power. Find someone better to read who is being ignored instead.\n\nThis decision is the second step (Charter Schools are the first) toward publicly funded Catholic elementary schools (colleges and universities already get support). Indeed, the prohibition on such funding was explictly anti-Catholic and must be repealed. Of course, when this happens, the Church should consider allowing unions.\n\nSwim teams usually are formed at the lowest levels from neighborhood pools, which were segregated and unequal, as were the neighborhoods themselves (which largely still are). It will take a more socialistic workplace that buys housing for employees to stop this, but bravo to our new phenom.\n\nAin't it a thing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Pope and bishops obeyed Our Lady and consecrated Russia, there would have been no Bolshevik revolution in 1917. No Communism, then no National Socialism. Thus, we would not have had a WWII.\n\nBut world leaders didn't choose Our Lady. They rejected God's message and picked Communism as their alliance and support. So, now you have to live with the consequences. \n\nIt's not too late. One can convert to the Catholic faith and avoid hell. One can choose to pray the rosary. How about it? It's not too late.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In Burke's day, every Catholic thought the teachings he is defending were mandatory. Since Humanae Vitae, most Catholic sexual teaching is considered optional and there are no consequences for ignoring it, even in the Communion line.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If one wants to stand, more power to them. For some of us, standing is difficult and a chore. \nI don't think that there is any one posture that, by itself, improves participation in Liturgy. I have seen many people who are standing, but from their facial expressions, it is clear that their thoughts are not in the present. But you are certainly free to disagree with me.\nRe the various postures during Liturgy -- in some Eastern Catholic Churches, people do not kneel at all (eg http://www.epiphanybyzantinecatholic.org/faq.html). There are still many, throughout the world, where people stand for the entire Liturgy. I don't know enough about the history of the Mass to know when and how the various postures developed. \nI always become wary when it seems that people start romanticizing anything -- in this case standing. I know from personal experience and observation that standing during the entire Liturgy can be difficult for many and does not guarantee engagement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the Pope supports keeping Fr. Martin out of seminaries, I will know Father is saying something worthwhile. Sadly, Fr. James is not even talking about his book, so this is a matter of fear by the Rector. The Catholic Church is devolving back into a shame culture, which is not good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump will no more be for Catholics than the man in the moon. He knows nothing of the Catholic heart, spirit or soul. He will only align himself with what are today's \"talking points\" and will never grasp the true issues which challenge the Church and Her members. If he were elected, he would throw the Church onto the same trash heap of discarded women and business people, contracts, promises and other detritus leftover from others who have dealt with this person. To use a favorite description of the Church... this man IS truly \"disordered.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Again, you show how little you know about Christiandom. Catholics are part of the equation and doctrinally, they most certainly do believe in the rapture. It's your World View that needs help, not mine. Your World View extends from border to border and not beyond when it comes to Christendom.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The modern left actual do not believe in logic. They think that logic is a tool of the patriarchy to oppress them. They would rather go with 'how they feel.' It is is post-Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The rest of the Wiki sets forth the relationship between the Nazi regime and the Arab world. Nothing new there. \n\nJew haters united. \n\n Just as they were in Russia at the time, and Poland and all the rest of Europe. They had been killing Jews for centuries as \"Killers of Christ\". The Catholic Inquisition had special procedures for Jews and the Protestants carried on their own pogroms. \n\nThe Jew haters in Eugene were the KKK, although they also nailed an American flag across the door to our Catholic Church in 1925. \n\nSome of their descendants are still here, of course. It's a family tradition!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And thus, as discussed above, we see the deflection and victim playing. A script drafted by Cardinal Law, and widely used under the reign of the Saint Pope John Paul II. Defend the indefensible, when called out for defending child abuse, deflect, debate terminology, and in the end, whine that one is being attacked. Now some might say that a person who defends child abusing priests is opening one's self to criticism, \"personal attacks\" if one prefers. But we True Catholics would never take that position, because that would imply that The Saint, his predecessor, his successors, and virtually every cardinal of the 20th century was subject to such criticism. And that would imply they were no more Holy Men of God than the average tree shrew. Apologies to tree shrews, of course.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Subsidized Public Broadcasting Is our only protection against Money worshipping Brainwashing !!!! George Will is a simple minded ideological fanatic. \n\nPublic Broadcasting teaches children to think out of the box. It finds innovative cutting edge ways to teach math, reading and science to all of our children in proven ways that rival the best schools, and do not include dogmatic right wing religiousness, or archaic disproven religious narratives. Public Broadcasting is largely the intellectual power that keeps our great nation from devolving into an animalistic and hedonist cesspool. I would venture to say it's more important than Christianity, to the past and future development of a decent American civilization.\n\nGeorge Will's opinion is that of a barbarian repeating and emulating catch phrases from a large body of intellectually flawed ideological works to fabricate something convenient, to \"sound\" like it's meaningful. \n\nWill's commentary Is up there with Charlie Browns teacher", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201c\u2026the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.\u201d\n\nThe left holds up Hamilton, as being the one who defined who could be President, Vote and who could be on the Electoral College and that is an interesting concept from the Left and the Media.\n\nConsider who Hamilton felt was qualified or more importantly who were not deemed fit, women (misogynic), Jews (anti-Semitic), Catholics (religious discrimination), Blacks (considered by Hamilton to be sub-human), People had to own land or property ie black slaves, ie Hamilton who held slaves as a \"status\" symbol\n\nUnder Hamilton, Obama would not have had the vote, let alone be President, Kennedy would not have been President, and there would always be a glass ceiling for women.\n\nPerhaps the left should consider that Hamilton beleifs of who meets the , as the individuals who defined who could be President of the KKK or a White Hate Group,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The brutal attack of an innocent kid is inexcusable. Perhaps Brits fear that allowing more asylum seekers into their country will result in more no-go communities for white Brits, and more harassment of single white women who dare parade the streets without dress deemed to meet Sharia standards.\nWhen those of evident eastern origin start writing about the isolation of their co-religionists and their unwillingness to accept the customs of the countries into which they have so graciously been allowed into to seek asylum, perhaps more people will empathize with their plight. As it stands, the overwhelming majority of hate crimes reported in the media are committed by Muslims against other Muslims, Christians and Jews. I hate to see a kid hurt because he's brown, just as I hate that people kill because they don't approve of another person's religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Many radical environmentalists can accurately be\nlabeled \u201cnature mystics.\u201d And many of them express\naffinity with religions they generally consider more\nnature-beneficient than occidental religions, such as those\noriginating in Asia such as Buddhism and Daoism,\nreligious beliefs or practices surviving among the world\u2019s\nremnant indigenous peoples, or being revitalized or\ninvented anew, such as PAGANISM and WICCA. Paganism\nand Wicca are considered to be (or to be inspired by) the\nAboriginal nature religions of the Western world, which\nhave been long suppressed by imperial Christianity and\nIslam.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "ALL of us have \"a number of things\" that we \"would be ashamed of should they come to light.\" Even St. Paul called himself the chief of sinners, and I am certainly no better than St. Paul. But, that is beside the point.\n\nIf we roll out and take a long look at the big picture, the issue here is whether a Christian church can continue to hold to its doctrine in an age when doctrines repugnant to the Christian Tradition are being enshrined into law an imposed on them. The corollary issue is whether adherents to that religion can gather together with a common commitment to those doctrines in the midst of an increasingly hostile society.\n\nHomosexual \"marriage\" may be statutory law, but it has never been and can never be canon law. Since Christians consider their true citizenship to be in heaven, for us the laws of God trump the laws of Caesar. The benefit of that fact to society is that the laws of God, as understood by the Christian Church from the Holy Scriptures and Tradition, are good.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Interesting thing is that Laurent Stefanini was not in a relationship, which means that he was perfectly in line with Catholic values. But yeah, if the Vatican is going to be consistent they should reject the woman who is an actual adulteress (unlike you know a battered woman who divorces her abuser and gets remarried.) I doubt that they will because the Vatican doesn't want to anger the US while it didn't matter that they angered the French, especially the spectacularly unpopular Hollande.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would agree but how can anyone support a party who lies to get to office < just a weeee debt >\nor breaks allll their key campaign promises ????\nHow many Christian Yazidis died horrible deaths because Justin choose to use it as a wedge issue against Harper and then dragged his feet on the file.\nOne can only hope his actions has consequences in 2019.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is becoming more and more clear that clericalism in the RCC is simply not Christ-like and if we can not force change than we must have the integrity to refuse to recognize the leadership of our organization. We must realize that the power of the priesthood is fully encompassed in our own baptism and refuse to pay money to any part of the institution organized or run by the clerics. Dignity Health Care is a good start. When a Bishop attempted to practice medicine without a license, Catholic Health Care West broke away from episcopal control to become Dignity and ethical Catholic Institution. It is past time for all Catholic Organizations to realize this. No Money NO Respect, NO authority is to be given to Catholic Bishops. Yes, there are a few good Bishops, very few......I owe my Catholic Medical School a lot, but I was forced to quit contributing to it ethically over 10 years ago because they have not broken from the controls of the local bishop.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I, for one, have lost confidence in both the leadership and doctrine of the RCC, particularly with respect to the treatment of Women. Their exclusion from Holy Orders, synods, etc. belies the term, 'Catholic.'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am confused.\n\nWhy should we name a stadium for a man who was abusive in his position of authority to the Bosco football players he coached?\n\n\"May 22 (2013) Ford is fired as football coach for Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School. He is also not allowed to coach at any other Catholic high school of the Toronto Catholic District School Board\" (Wikipedia)\n\nNaming the stadium for such a badly behaved abusive disingenuous person is not appropriate.\n\nIt would be like the United States naming a new aircraft carrier the \"Richard M. Nixon\" the 37th US President who resigned under a clould as he wa son the cusp of being impeached.\n\nPlease do not rename Centennial Stadium. If anything please rename a drug addiition treatment centre for this troubled man..\n\nThank you", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thanks for the warning. I just checked out the trailer. That is another one that I won't be watching. Part of me is glad it has been made IF it is seen for the crass and evil brutality of a time not so long in our past and understand how we still institutionalize in law, custom and beliefs some of the attitudes that allowed such brutality to occur. I fear what some may make of it - as an example of what it took to create the \"golden times\" of past Christian hegemony when it took strong men to beat women into the purity of obedience.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A cursory look at the pictures of the event on Saturday will tell you that there were nowhere near the million people there being bandied about. If there were 120 000 that's a lot. I thought it was a SIN for Christians to tell lies. So stop lying about how many pitched up to pray on Saturday.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religion is a wonderful and useful tool. For example, it can be used to judge and attack others, while claiming to be merely applying the laws of God to the allegedly erring individual. Thsue, one may invoke the last judgment against someone with whom disagrees. Some might suggest such conduct is hypocritical and point to Jesus' discussion of removing the beam in one's eye, which would raise the question of whether the person ignoring this teaching is merely ignorant of it or is intentionally ignoring the teaching. Fortunately, as Catholics were are not constrained by the contents of the gospel, and can rely upon tradition, habits, canon, law, rules, whatever, to justify our actions as we see fit. Correct, however, is the comment on small minds, but one must wonder if the mind behind that comment fully appreciates the applicability.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unfortunately Elagabalus, I have spent most of the last two hours in a debate with Catholic and Evangelical conservative women, who are still defending Trump, even after seeing and hearing the video released today. I don't understand it, I have tried my best to argue sense into them...but they believe he is now born again, and a baby Christian who has reformed his ways. He will be pro-life, and Hillary won't...and he will change Washington and work for them, the little people. Sigh....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So according to the Catholic School Board, rape is less of an offence than sex outside of marriage. Such a belief is not only against contemporary mores, it is contrary to morality itself.\n\nConsent is the only factor that allows sex to be morally permissible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This case was mispled, no? The founding of the Abrahamic religions is in Abraham's torture of his son, Isaac, to prove Abraham's fealty to \"God\". If the religion requires children's lives be put at risk then the religion itself is violating the rights of the children and it, and parents who put their children at risk in a church facility (or who do things in their own homes that violate the child's rights, in obeisance to these religious laws and legal fictions or otherwise) are responsible for addressing the problem, no?\n\nThe Mediterranean/Abrahamic/Cult of ISIS religious laws and legal fictions are framed to institutionalize child abuse, neglect and abandonment - and even require it of their adherents. Buddhism as well is based in Buddha's (Siddharta's) neglect and abandonment of his child, Rahula.\n\nThe SCOTUS is 100% adherents of the Mediterranean religions (6/9 Catholic, 3/9 Jewish) and excludes anyone with substantial knowledge in the Anglo-legal systems. The RFRA laws, also.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny that the cake case should be brought up by this writer. Local and state laws force religious dissenters who don't want their product in a homosexual ceremony that their genuine religious beliefs find disgusting and abhorrent, and against their beliefs but the Obama EEOC just ruled that Muslim Somali drivers who took jobs as delivery drivers can refuse to carry liquor based on the very religious beliefs the States, and local laws deny the religious dissenters. \n\nSo one set of rules for Muslims and another for Christians here in freedom loving America founded by peoples seeking religious freedom?\n\nNo double standard here?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My comment was addressed to Bob. The Catholic Church in Germany is completely lost, and by far the most capitalistic of all. I wonder why he missed that clear point?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you, Danno...your response to this sordid situation is one of the best I've read on this site. You Roman Catholics should lift your heads up out of the pseudo-theological sand, free yourselves the ideological Stockholm Syndrome known as Roman Catholicism, and finally realize: The Gates of Hell prevailed against this bogus, man-centered religious system that YOU regard as\"church\" a LOONG time ago!! WAKE UP,CATHOLICS!!! \ud83e\udd15\ud83e\udd15\ud83e\udd15.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Comment 2\n\nWhat made an enormous difference once Civil Rights laws were passed was a recognition that the market places where jobs are secured and where goods and services were exchanged were to be places in which people of different skin colors all had to be treated the same. We are not separate societies \u2013 we are one society.\n\nThe cake baker bakes and sells cakes on the public markets. If the cake baker were white, black, straight or gay, Catholic or Muslim, he should be expected to provide the same cakes to all who come to buy what he has to sell. He doesn\u2019t have to make a different product for a gay wedding \u2013 he just needs to make the product he sells to white, black, Catholic, Muslim, straight people. Gay people are not a separate society but part of the same society as non-gay people. We all live under the same laws.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am English by Birth but Canadian by choice and British History contains many periods which are nothing to be proud of.\nJews were burned or expelled, Catholics slaughtered Protestants and vice versa,children were used in the mines, the list is endless.\nBritain holds no monopoly on this,Americans and Canadians slaughtered Indigenous groups, as did the Australians and the Spanish.\nJapan and China,the Mongols, go back far enough there is no one immune,including the Vatican, a corrupt and dark history stains it.\nMove on, the past is the past,today is our reality, just do not repeat past errors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I was wondering if the NC reporter would actually publish this.\n\nClear proof of how anti-catholicism is alive and well and using deception to get Catholics themselves to reject Church teachings.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree. We must be consistent and vigilant in our defense of an open Catholic marketplace--even when (ESPECIALLY when)--we disagree with the content or with the advocates. \n\nOne request: let's avoid--on both \"sides\"--a \"we are more Catholic than thou\" arrogance, claiming to speak with the authentic, official Catholic voice, thereby justifying a perceived rightful superiority in the marketplace and allowing--when it comes to billions spent--ends justify means rationalizations by the wealthier. Dollars might assure marketplace dominance, but they can't buy truth or Truth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Which religion are you referring to?\n\nAnswer -- Republican supremacist Christianity, of course. It has gotten violent and hate -filled toward everyone who is not them. \nThe Catholic Christianity of the last two popes is very suspect. Their book Catholicism was evident. Their people Catholicism is doubtful almost non-existent. Misanthropy ruled their thinking. Same for the GOP -- which only cares about money and is extremely militant about it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most Catholics are still blissfully unaware that bishops and popes are politicians and have been since the time of St Ambrose, a Roman provincial governor (and not yet baptized!) when he became bishop of Milan by popular acclamation in A.D. 374. A few years after that, Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire, and bishops became public officials. Until the end of the eighteenth century, some European bishops were secular princes in their own right. Some were Electors of the Holy Roman Empire. \nThat now-vanished social order still persists in the language and comportment of some bishops.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"blah blah blah since Vatican II\". You either dishonestly or ignorantly cast B XVI as a rigid traditionalist when--in point of fact--he was merely the least heterodox of the post conciliar popes. Was it not then Father Ratzinger who said we needed to \"raze the battalions\" of Catholicism? Was he not compelled to re work part of his post doctrinal thesis because of modernist content? Was he not an aide de camp to the notorious Father Karl Rahner at VII? You may not like the Pope Emeritus, but please don't make it seems as if he was ready to get the racks out of the Vatican basement.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wake up Jimmy. I am guessing not many people \"realize\" your nonsense.\n\nName one mass shooting (4+ dead) in the past 10 years that was based solely on the teachings within the Christian bible. Over the past WEEK jihadists have killed 615 worldwide. If you were paying attention over the last week you would have known better than to pronounce such fiction, with such condescension, that your comments lose all credibility.\n\nYou are right about one thing: education [knowledge] is power. Get some.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "first I'd say conservative Christians are neither truly conservative (those who are truly conservative are known as Liberals) nor Christian, if they call themselves religious and voted for Trump they mostly did so because they typically vote republican and / or blindly hate Hillary.\n\nwhile abortion voters are simply lumped into the 'dedicated to ignorance' and war on women's rights collective, who typically react emotionally instead of with the readily available facts.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many have asked why did devout, practicing Catholics vote for Trump. First of all, I have never voted for a Democrat in my entire life. Born and raised a Republican and would not vote any differently. Secondly, I was a Jeb Bush supporter, and he lost. Trump was my only candidate. I would never have voted for Clinton. Was not even part of the thinking process.\n\nNow, how do I reconcile that decision with my Catholic faith. I don't because the church is not monolithic. Any of us, whether Republican or Democrat, can twist and turn our partisan politics in any religious direction to justify our vote. I did not vote for Trump because of my faith; I did so because I am a conservative. Hilary was not.\n\nI think that it is disingenuous to assume that good Catholics wear their religion on their sleeves when they vote. They don't. No one takes the faithful citizenship booklet to the voting booth; they hardly read it. Instead, we vote according to how we were raised and how we currently think.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"And then the election of Donald Trump, who won handily in Suffok County, where Wyandanch is located, changed that. With a president-elect who began his campaign by calling Mexican migrants murderers and rapists, promising to deport the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S., the creche sign accidentally became a more potent symbol.\"\n\nHerr Trump's campaign of racial and religious hatred brought the neo-Nazi element out of the sewer and into the voting booth. It is the Christian duty of every patriotic American to stand up to religious and racial hate. We have a big job ahead of us!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "cont'd\n\non issues like contraception, gay marriage, and women's ordination as proof that \"Catholics come in many varieties,\" and you ask me, \"Who are you to judge?\" \n\nThe fact that many people who call them selves Catholic while refusing to believe what Catholicism says must be believed in order to be Catholic says a lot about the rationality of these people. It certainly doesn't prove, as you contend it does, that \"Catholics come in many varieties.\" By definition, a Catholic believes what is essential to Catholic teaching. To say otherwise would be not only illogical, but pointless. Why on earth would someone claim to be Catholic while rejecting Catholicism? Ah! A mystery. OK, sister, you got me. \n\nAs for your question, \"Who are you to judge?\" I see you're trying to channel Francis. Oh, dear. Problem is, at least Francis was talking about about moral judgment. I make no moral judgment about people who reject Church teaching on\n\ncont'd", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ok for the church that had a serious problem with Pedophiles quoting the Catholic Church seems oh a little disingenuous. Second, your point of the church teachings tacks on your interpretation of their interpretation. Whats the church say about adulterers? Can we bake a cake for them? How about pedophiles? Your biblical verse, well funny how you pick one part of that so I will put it another way by your standards can someone bake a cake for President Trump? He is an adulterer, he is a swindler, he is greedy, all of those are in 6:9. This is why your argument is bull you ignore other sins and passages and then focus on the actions of certain people. We all know what Jesus said about that right? Yes please do provide me with more bibical proof.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Separation of church & state is an American concept. No such thing exists here save and except the rabid secularist belief. Look at Quebec...while passing it's anti-Muslim law it was done so under the watchful eye of the Catholic cross.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "All of those Republican Christians now claiming to be humanitarians doing their true natures of evil.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There are a lot of Christians who support marriage equality and transgender rights. There are a lot of non-Christians who don\u2019t. These are not uniquely Christian issues and criticizing Scheer\u2019s position on them is not in any way an attack on Christianity in general. \n\nIt's more like some conservatives have wasted no time playing the anti-Christian card.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "This seems to be \"faux outrage\" being expressed by some adherents of the Tridentine Rite. Most progressive posters I know are okay with the Latin Mass...for those for whom that spirituality works. Great! Have at it. I think what the article is saying, and most posters are not addressing, is how a retrograde ecclesiology and moral theology get tangled up in the language of the liturgy. (There is also a healthy dose of anti-Semitism in many adherents of the Tridentine Liturgy.) I have also noted that now that there is an indult to allow for the Tridentine Rite, some want to impose that on every Catholic. I think that's why a number of traditional Catholics are upset with Francis. They saw in JPII and then B16 a slow but steady restorationist tendency. Francis, for his many faults, is not that.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "But it hasn't changed on this issue and it's very unlikely Pope Francis will make such a change. Why? Because some Canon Laws actually reflects established doctrine and cannot change because discipline and doctrine are indistinguishable. \n\nIf one believes in a Creator who has purpose in His creation, and who made us in His image and gave us a moral compass to live as we ought for our own good and that of others, then of course their is \"objective sin\". What would the wanton murder of a child be if not objective sin? \n\nThe idea that sin is a \"human construct\" stems from a view that natural selection blindly created us and our behavioural imperfections stem from our struggles to socialise and civilise our brains that were biologically shaped in prehistoric eras.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "John Brown (rah'matullahi alayhi) was a 'failed' farmer because he refused to engage in the corrupt practices of his competitors. He was laughed at for being honest. But he succeeded as America's greatest (white) Christian martyr. And were he alive today, he doubtless would say the same thing to America's failed \"liberals\" as he would to her failed \"conservatives\": \"These men are all talk.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The West has become more and more secular over time, particularly in the last 20 years as secular governments are demanding to disassociate themselves and their citizens from religion (either as a power move or as a perceived conflict of interest). \n\nSo do you think that the Catholic Church risks going \"belly up\" if it doesn't stop emphasizing God so much? At the rate things are changing, the secularists will have you believing that God and Jesus are transgendered, and don't laugh, because there have been many here quoting Galatians 3:28 recently.\n\nThe Church should not be changing to avoid going belly up or to cower to the whims of a degenerate society. The shepherd does not follow the sheep.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That would be news to St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Venerable Pius XII, and any Catholic from before Francis declared the death penalty anti-Gospel.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So the heretics want priestesses. Nothing new. Women cannot, under any circumstances, be legitimate priests. No pope can change that; no council, no lay group, no theologian, absolutely no one. The editors are trafficking in full blown heresy - something for which they are notorious.\nI say bring it on. It will fully expose them as the heretics they are and force those who desire to remain Catholic to make a choice between the dying Protestant New Order sect and true Catholicism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Church, is not a social service. It is up to Catholics themselves either individually or in groups to carry out the corporal works of mercy. It is a cop out to throw a few coins on the plate and expect the parish or the diocese to do it for you.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Instead of reading minds, why don't you look at how the logic of AL is being used in Canada to justify giving the Eucharist to somebody who has already arranged to defy God's will one last time by killing himself on his own terms. Or how that San Diego bishop has extended the logic of AL to include active homosexuals who can't be bothered to change their lifestyles to follow a God they claim to love and obey. The Eucharist, the real presence of Jesus Christ, is the heart of the matter. Once you turn that real presence into a symbolic meal then you relativize everything just like mainline Protestantism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For starters the people I was referring to aren't even Semitic making it hard to be anti Semitic wouldn't you agree? Secondly nothing I said is even the least bit anti Semitic even if it were. My point was that the numbers don't work ...I am a numbers girl and it doesn't matter whether they are Jewish or catholic or Episcopalian. \n\nBut I see you have abandoned your challenge to my statements on a factual basis...which is a smart thing to do.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The definitions are clear, you just wish to follow another course. Calling the things I mentioned that NcR promotes very Catholic practices is a joke.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Huh? The Christian religion was formed in the first century so are you saying Christian ideas are even less valid? And Judaism goes back even further so maybe that's even more irrelevant. Don't even mention Hinduism which is something like 7,000 years old. Or how about Socrates and Aristotle who lived over 2,000 years ago. Shakespeare wrote about 400 years ago which isn't that much more recent than Islam so maybe we shouldn't pay much attention to him either.\n\nWhat modern philosophies do you follow? Where do you find spiritual guidance? Drake? Bieber?\n\nAnyway, nobody is calling you a racist for what you described. We think you're racist because you're intolerant of people who are different from you. Oh, hey, that actually does make you a bigot!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The behaviors to which Bill Clinton is associated were either litigated or not proven. The Lewinski affair was consensual as opposed to Trump's admission that he forced his intentions on several women. This is a false comparison since Bill Clinton is not running for President but Trump is and he is the one bringing it up to score points with his base vis a vis Hillary about whom they relish anything disparaging even if it doesn't pertain to her. Bill and Hillary have remained married for 30+ years. Trump has had mistresses through his three marriages. Hillary is a greater exemplar of a Christian than is Trump yet certain clerics ignore her virtues and Trump's vices all for the sake of catering to the one-percent.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "FINALLY --\n\nFr. Rother protested for others.\nNearly everyone on this site are also protesting these Catholic Republican wars for oil and profits and the Repub use of Catholicism to wage war on others. \nIs it not apparent to you that the ME and the entire world is in a disastrous mess due to these Bush Repub wars in which no one but us were in protest??? \nPlease wake up and raise your voice in protest!!! \nJust watch what Trump does, then you decide. Have you not noticed the demand by church prelates for Trump to be elected? \nWhere have you been for the past years beginning with Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan? Did you not hear in church from the pulpit that we Catholics were supposed to vote for Reagan and the Repubs under penalty of sin and in some cases under penalty of hell. I always thought God decided that. Evidently the church believes that it decides that outcome. \nI thought the church was against war and killing, but not the current church. Where is Pro-life???", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Multiculturalism is not a doctrine of the Catholic Church and is proving to be a demonstrable failure in many European nations\".\n\nPAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT TENTMAKER FROM TARSUS WHO WROTE TO THE GALATIANS \" There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think I understand where your thoughts and concerns are. I think Catholic institution need to re-evaluate their claims in dialogs with other religions on earth.\n\nSt. Aquinas has written. \"to be is to be with\". Our being is being with God. \n\nGod is omnipresent! To claim God is on our side, against others, is quite simply a blasphemy. Catholic institution clergies can't claim one true apostolic religion, since that is same as declaring Catholic religion boxed in God! What Pope F said is quite true, that God is not a Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "WA - 'I don't think liberalizing is the way to save anything. Torah study is what saves Judaism.'\nHoping you might be able to clarify, William, just which 'Judaism' is being saved by Torah study. Orthodox Judaism, Reform Judaism, Lubavitcher Judaism, Hasidist Judaism, Mystical Judaism, Zionist Judaism, secular Judaism, atheistic Judaism or any of the umpteen others?\nOne should note that the NT is now thousands of years old and preserved and studied. In fact, one could say that Christianity is itself a type of Judaism. Was Jesus' message to his fellow Jews of 'love YHVH your God' and 'love thy neighbour' rejected because He was too liberalising? Maybe Jesus didn't study Torah sufficiently.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus was a Jew. Not a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I assume you refer to this:\n\nhttps://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/francis-christians-must-apologize-gay-people-marginalizing-them\n\nHe does not appear to apologize for the way the Church has treated gay people. However, given his proclivity for ill-considered off-the-hip comments he may yet.\n\nHe does suggest - not magisterially - that Christians, sinners one and all, should apologize for anything they have done.\n\nThere\u2019s in that conflicting with my statement(s).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It begins to amaze me how concentrated the posters here have become in discussing Mr. Trump to the exclusion of everything else.\n\nNot just posters. In the last few days...At a very quick glance - no less than 7 articles concentrating on Mr. Trump. Seven!!! All pretty much saying the same thing. And hundreds upon hundreds of comments. All pretty much saying the same thing. Even the article on ordaining women - Mr. Trump figures prominently in the posts.\n\nTwo weeks ago, there were articles about the horrible plight of Christians in the Mideast. Now...if it were about Muslims in the US, one could safely bet someone would have a comment, but Christians? Only one comment. Mine.\n\nThere is an article today about Turkish Catholics. No remarks. An article about the priest kidnapped months ago. One remark. Chicago? 14 comments - that poor city deserves more consideration...And Mr Trump is brought up there, too.\n\nObsessive????", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians who refuese to participate in Pride parades get intimidated constantly so it's more than a Muslim problem. It's a human problem. We disagree and voice those disagreements.\n\nI'll mention it for the fourth time only to see it rejected.\n\nThere was an Iman in Montreal promoting hatred against Jews but there is no protest or mention of this incident.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pope F. should talk, the whole Catholic Institution keeps the stone walls to ignore children's suffering the clergies sexual abuses. \nThe whole Catholic clergies except just handful of clergies, are silent behind this Vatican stone wall!\nThe thing is that the Catholics are learning to live without them!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think that if Christians were honest they could see many similarities between Buddhism and Christianity as well as other religions that believe that everyone can co-exist peacefully irregardless of dogma. Both believe in the golden rule and that good things come back to those who do good. Buddhists call this karma. Christians call it being an humanitarian. Holistic approaches to medicine are also found in Christian and Buddhist texts. The biggest difference I can see is the name of our messiahs. Throughout the years people have perverted peaceful teachings and have become very self centered. hateful of things they don't understand and judgemental. That's what causes wars.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If Canada only allowed twenty law schools and TWU was one of them, your \"some access\" comment would have a little merit but that's not the case. LGBTQ students don't get more access to law schools if TWU is shutdown or discredited but Christian students who want to study there lose access. .", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know of a Catholic priest who recently retired in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He refused to go to this same retirement home because he didn't want to live with all\" those perverts\". He decided to live in a rectory with a fellow priest who has not retired. It is really sad that even the good priests have been put out to protect the perverts. Look for more news coming out of Pennsylvania. The legislature is about to take up statute of limitations legislation again. Also, there are multiple Grand Juries holding hearings in the State hearing stories from sex abuse victims. I don't know when these Grand Jury Reports will be issued, but they are guaranteed to be quite explosive.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I read this claptrap from Fr Hedermann somewhere else recently.\nThe idea that the Catholic Church is in trouble is nonsense. Only those who reject it, who deny its teachings, who leave it are the ones who will ultimately be in trouble.\nThose who remain faithful in the barque of Peter will ultimately be saved, those who have jumped ship are left to the mercy and judgement of God.\n\n\n\n\n\nAd", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How many different religious and racial groups have been discriminated against in Canada over the years? I'm old enough to remember when the Protestants discriminated against the Roman Catholics. We weren't allowed to date their girls. Then it was local Jews and their refugees who we didn't allow into Canada just before WW11. Since then it's been a long list of OTHERS. Now it's Muslims. I wonder how many Canadians have actually visited or lived in a Muslim country. My family has lived and worked in the Middle East for ten years and I have visited there including to the Grand Mosque of Kuwait. The millions of people there are very peaceful and are NOT terrorists. When are we going to get over this labelling every different group as somehow not acceptable. Canadians should learn much more about the OTHERS in this world before they dare to pass judgement. Bill Baldwin", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A man with a homosexual orientation going into the priesthood is not sacrificing a wife and a family of his own, he is just refraining from activity that as a Christian and a Catholic he is not supposed to engage in anyway. You can't give up something you don't have a desire for. Also, the priest is supposed to be the icon of Christ the bridegroom married to the Church. If a man isn't capable of marriage how can he reflect this in a priestly vocation?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Actually, SCOTUS did not re-define marriage, or do anything even close to that!\"\n\nNonsense. Your system may be repulsed by the notion that is what Obergeffel did. But that IS what it did. Until Obergeffel, marriage by definition included ONLY man and woman. \n\nAnd you're right. It took a Constitutional AMENDMENT to grant full equality to blacks, an immorality that as Jefferson said, was \"self-evident.\" Where's the Amendment with respect to marriage? How is it \"self-evident\" that marriage is for man and man? Until well past the initial craziness of this post-sixties, post-Christian age, the idea was laughable.\n\nYou seriously place slavery on a par with society's restriction of marriage to one man-one woman? Your notion that they're even in the same league doesn't pass the laugh test.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "WORDS, SYMBOLS AND... KNIVES\n\nIn the aftermath of the January, 2017 murder of six men at a Quebec City mosque -- and with reference to arguments and counter-arguments between adherents to rival religions -- the Premier of Quebec, Philippe Couillard, stated, among others: \"Words can be knives slashing at people's consciousness.\" To the Premier's statement, we can add, in my opinion, that religious symbols of rival religions -- such as Christian crucifixes, Muslim niqabs / burkas, Sikh turbans etc. -- can also be knives \"slashing at people's consciousness.\" And the wounds caused by \"sacred\" beliefs and religious symbols in people's consciousness can, in turn, become themselves murderous knives slashing at people's... human flesh -- or, for that matter, machine-guns and bombs shedding human blood... Thus, I suggest we start behaving like adults and not like children -- or like religious fanatics... Let's keep our symbols in our... pockets. A. C.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, RD. Looked what's still happening in Boston, fifteen years after SPOTLIGHT went public, and diocesan bankruptcies multiplied faster than at a bunny rabbit convention! Thank God for some good and caring trial lawyers who weren't afraid of Catholic bishops!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm not sure which article is a worse example of the shallowness of Catholic thought on the left, MSW's or Tom Reece's most recent entry. \n\nWeathervane tendencies. Reveals a lot.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your editorial has made it very clear: not all Catholics are welcomed. Yes, the Knights are more conservative and more Republican than you would like, but they do a lot of good. It seems to me that the editors are looking for a monolithic church, which does not exist in the United States. If progressive Catholics are disappointed in the Knights and their advocacy, then create a progressive Catholic organization that can counter balance the Knights equalling their investment and capital. Will the progressives find such a Catholic organization. No. So they attack those who try to do good in the world. Shameful! Just shameful! All politics.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wrong. Even the poorest woman can get birth control advice from a source other than a Catholic pharmacist. She can walk down the street to another pharmacy, ask a doctor at a local clinic, etc., etc., etc., etc. etc. ............ But you say the result of the Catholic pharmacist not giving her advice is that she will then have an abortion. My God, you libs get nuttier by the day. \n\nAnd without some supporting facts, your bare allegation that \"Trump has rescinded babies at risk food\" is no more believable than \"Obama has a twin born in Kenya.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Oh hilly you have and had such a heavy cross to bear, when I attend church this week I will gaze at Jesus on the cross and never again will I see his face but instead see yours! We are truly blessed that you are among us teaching as you travel to talk show after talk show.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "More important that your \"opinions on EF v. OF\", is what you think about your fellow-Catholics, and how you express your thoughts. It is these things which will \"affect\" any young person who may be hearing you. Your contempt will surely be a scandal.\nI don't believe you speak for \"many young people\".\nThe choice of OF and EF now exists in many places, and if anyone (young or old) wishes to participate in the EF, they may do so. But why some of them (including you) feel entitled to rubbish the OF and its participants is a complete mystery.\nBut let's both agree with your opening comment - That those young people who like the Latin Mass may also be listened to. Yes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"If there is anything our Christian faith, and Catholic social teaching, call us to do it is to stand with the poor and the powerless, to resist injustice and to offer a love and solidarity to replace fear.\"\n\nHerr Trump was elected on a wave of white rage out of imagined discrimination against whites. America's parallels with the Weimar Republic can not be ignored. It is the duty of every Christian to be prepared for the Burning of the Reichstag moment that will surely come quickly after Jan. 20.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Accurately written, this report describes well the actual experiences and conflicts as reported. I know members of the affected group and have heard their reports and cries. The laity do not wish to be in conflict with the clerical and hierarchical church. \nLet us pray that the Holy Spirit responds to this prayer of the people of God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fr. Weinandy's speaks for the living and young Church. Even a liberal like Faggioli admitted that in an article he wrote in the last week. The living, young, and strong Church is found in places like faithful seminaries, campus centers, among younger diocesan priests, traditional communities, Poland and Africa. \nMost Catholics are oblivious to what is happening. But there is a divide among those who pay attention. Those that agree with Fr. Weinandy are young, dynamic and growing in numbers. The other (the Bergolians) are old, schlerotic and remain in power through intimidation and name calling.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings. If Cardinal O Malley let's the Vatican have it's way and send all the abused members packing......he is a disgrace to the priestly ministry! Pope Francis too needs to wake up and see the Sheep need protection......NOW!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Poor LFT!, so wrapped up in a cocoon woven of racism, uninformed opinion, insularity, nationalism, love of greed and corruption as American rights when pursuing profit and Christianity as a tool of social control with no regard for spiritual comfort that s(he) (it?) has no sense of humor.\nGarrison Keillor is the Jon Stewart of radio and print. Stewart famously stated on FOX News that he is a comedian. He happens to use politics as a subject but he doesn't expect people to take him seriously. Sadly however both of these entertainers are correct in their comedic assessments of so many politicians from all the ideological maundering.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The bishops think they are Gentile judges of Israel under a New Covenant?? As for this question I think this is where our Bishops in the later 3rd century & after started connecting things that aren't supposed to be connected. A little of the Free Mason issue today where they are following ancient rituals assuming purposes that are not really correct because they lost touch with the ritual's base or they were never really raised in the culture of which the ritual came & so are ignorant of its purpose. These later leaders of the church are no longer from Judaism but are converts from pagan faiths so they often made decisions regarding Jewish Rituals that don't belong in Christianity because they misunderstood why they were in Judaism. So we get these nasty reasons for excluding women or just very sexist beliefs being taught overall by Augustine, and others - they quote Aristotle, etc. not Jesus when they make these nasty remarks & try to mix this with the Gospels and Church Law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Some other interesting viewpoints:\n\na) if you go to the website of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) - 28 Jesuit institutions - and search for adjunct faculty, unions, etc. Nothing comes up!\n\nb) It appears that there is no consistent AJCU policy on this issue to date - instead, each institution makes up its own response, protocols, etc.\n\nc) former college student of mine is at Loyola Chicago and is the VP for legal affairs, etc. He has written letters outlining the questions and current approach.\n\nHere is an excellent analysis from the Jesuit Post: https://thejesuitpost.org/2016/02/tbt-labor-rights-and-jesuit-schools/\n\nKey sections:\n\n\"..opportunity to connect more deeply with their Catholic mission and their Jesuit history of standing on the forefront of labor rights; ....definitive choices: first, to see contingent faculty as partners in mission who should be fairly compensated; ....recognizing their right to unionize.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "last comment for this.. funny you say golden rule. as the apostles hammered on jesus about this rule and that rule - righteous jewish men - on how to become 'good' people..there were no christians yet ..right? they hammered on him up to the night he asked them, begged them, to stay up with him - he knew where he was headed and was anxious - wanted company and they fell asleep. but after being asked again - he finally said just love thy brother! i can hear it almost in an exasperated way. i don't think labeling oneself one thing or another means a hill of beans. good people is good people", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes. I don't know how any faithful Catholic could have voted in good conscience for someone who approves of the murder of innocent children. How does one get past that moral and religious objection unless one supports such actions themselves, in which case how Catholic are they really?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If it was not for help from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), I would never have had the courage to speak up about my own sexual assault by a Carmelite priest. I am deeply grateful to Barbara Blaine, Barbara Dorris, and David Clohessy for supporting me and all the other victim/survivors of clergy sexual abuse. It is unconscionable to me that these church leaders are allowed to be above the law. They have no children of their own and they do not seem to value the innocence of children. The good priests and bishops are afraid to speak up, since they would be marginalized and victimized by their brother clergy. I believe that the majority of the leaders in the hierarchy do not have a personal relationship with Jesus. They are told to be obedient to the pope, not to Jesus, so they do not know Jesus as real in their lives. They ignore the command of Jesus to protect the innocence of children because the popes ignore Jesus and demand conformity to man-created rules.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So you used the exact excuse I thought you would, free will. You should just pray for help when your car won't start next time. That is a non-medical piece of equipment. I mean god didn't say anything about them, so they must not be okay right?\n\nOr are you misinterpreting the mark of the beast as microchips? Since the men that wrote the bible had no idea what a microchip is I think you are stretching your own dogma to cover things that you yourself don't like.\n\nInjecting your ancient religion into a discussion on technology is silly at best. Seriously, if your best answer is it is against god, then expect most of the people on earth to not take you seriously, especially in a science debate.\n\nLast question, you do get that if god knows everything past present and future and you have free will that both cannot exist at the same time right? That is a logical fallacy. You cannot both be free and predictable at the same time. But then god will probably have a good cop out for that too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Sadly, Monica, I don't think any of the bishops, cardinals, or the pope, really understand how angry Catholics still are about the pedophilia scandal. They act like it wasn't that big a deal, and how wrong they are.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Religious Liberty is not the loss of religious power, as some in the USCCB believe. It is something to get killed for. The Catholic Church now adapts more than witnesses. For the Evangelicals, persecution may pull them out of the belief that they will be raptured rather than face persecution, which was an ironic belief in a Church that prizes martyrdom. Of course, martyrdom did nothing for the Church in Japan when it was closed to foreigners. The Church disappeared.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "O NCRers, just what is it you want?\n\nYou're Catholic, right? So you should be pleased that the winner is pro life, anti-military engagements (Peace over War), pro-worker, pro parochial education voucher.\n\nYou're progressive, right? So you should also be pleased that the winner is also pro gay, pro gay marriage, pro bathroom choice, anti-government corruption.\n\nInstead of at least being happy that the candidate with these positions-- positions you likely agree with -- won the election, you act like all your hopes have been dashed to pieces. \n\nI can understand if you're against some of Trump's positions....but how can you be against all of them? \n\nPerhaps the writers at NCR, like other media outlets, are encouraging you to be against literally every position of the new administration. It is all wrong, and it all spells doom.\n\nBut I don't see how this can be so, unless you're buying into a wholesale polemic that is far more political (in the sense of propaganda) than rational", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Do you understand that by bringing scripture to a natural law argument you are surrendering the point on both, since the original scriptural prohibitions were based on natural law and not revelation? Think before responding. Asexuals in the Catholic Church have their own peculiarities that they are trying to teach as holy writ. Now that we know that Celibacy is less a charism than a feature of sexual identity it is time for a change in how we deal with these issues.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are, once again, showing that your empathy is essentially nil. My wife is slowly getting weaker and weaker, from an incurable disease, and you say \"Jesus has sanctified it\". Not a word of compassion -- just like you had no compassion for those who have been bullied (coupled with no condemnation for those who bully) -- just OD-inspired blathering.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am sure it was a beautiful liturgy, BCP, Anglican Evensong celebrated traditionally is really uplifting.\nHowever, didn\u2019t the Pope\u2019s confidante and \u2018\u00e9minence grise\u2019, Fr Antonio Spadaro together with His Presbyterian sidekick, Rev Marcelo Figueroa recently label such alliances between Protestants and Catholics as the \u201cEcumenism of Hate\u201d?\nDoes the Vatican\u2019s right hand truly know what its left hand is doing?\nReading the above article, Archbishop Gallagher\u2019s sole reason for Ecumenism is political.\nCome to the think of it, how could the ecumenical relationship between Catholic Rev Spadaro and Protestant Rev Figueroa be described?\nThe original \u00e9minence grise was that Friar Fran\u00e7ois Leclerc de Tremblay\u2019s habit was beige (French translation \u2018grise\u2019= grey). It is alleged that he exerted enormous influence over the famous Cardinal Richelieu, France\u2019s 17th century First Minister. Spadaro\u2019s habit is black, would it not be more fitting, therefore, to refer to him as \u2018\u00e9minence \u201cnoire\u201d\u2019?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "JW - Compare apples to apples. Terrorism is illegal and results in death of men, women, and children. All communities, whether faith-based or other ideological foundations, have a responsibility as citizens to report illegal actions or potential illegal actions to law enforcement. Freedom of speech, even obnoxious, aberrant, and hurtful, which I and many others would lump Mr. Grisham's public pronouncements, is not illegal. If so, that would be a police state and America might as well look to North Korea for a leadership model. As a Christian, I'm not defending Grisham - just his right as an American citizen to voice his views, which I strongly disagree with, regarding his approach, his venue, his message, etc. Generalizing regarding the lion's share of some group is not based on facts but your own beliefs. Talk to the leadership of mainstream Anchorage churches and you won't hear a message about Muslims should fix it only from isolated radicals, which are a danger to any society.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Gaudium et Spes recognizes, as taught in another document of Vatican II, that is obligatory to rightly form a conscience, which for a Catholic particularly means particular attention to the Church\u2019s teaching:\n\n\u201cHence the more right conscience holds sway, the more persons and groups turn aside from blind choice and strive to be guided by the objective norms of morality. Conscience frequently errs from invincible ignorance without losing its dignity. The same cannot be said for a man who cares but little for truth and goodness, or for a conscience which by degrees grows practically sightless as a result of habitual sin.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut in their manner of acting, spouses should be aware that they cannot proceed arbitrarily, but must always be governed according to a conscience dutifully conformed to the divine law itself, and should be submissive toward the Church's teaching office, which authentically interprets that law in the light of the Gospel.\u201d", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kind of mixed words from Vatican here. Rather than being solely objective, the statement is a defense largely of Pell.\nWhile he is given a leave of absence from Vatican job, he still can function openly as a priest. I thought the procedure in place that when accused, a cleric is not to function as a priest until issue resolved. Am I missing something here? Policy changed?\nOr, special privilege to special clerics?\nPell statement underscores his medical condition caveat. Strange, if he has medical issue why is he supposedly working full time? Something conflictive here. Fishy?\nWill Card. Law be recalled to USA about his complicity in cover up of pedophile priests?\nFrancis' record on ending this self inflicted wound to the Body of Christ makes it look now like the wound is mortal!\nJM doesn't include item other papers are reporting: in one 4th grade class of 33, 12 have committed suicide relative to abuse. Something rotten in Australia!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Once again, you confuse the Church with God. Just because the Church says something, doesn't mean God is bound by it. You have no idea who is in heaven or hell, or even if either exist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A call for tolerance??? I disagree, we should be angry over this attack. Tolerance and turning the other cheek doesn't work when the other team is counting on you doing just that. Radical Islam does not play by our rules. \n Instead of a vigil everyone should be on the phones, email and letter writting campaigns to Washington to stop this nonsense on American soil. They know who the top ISIS players are and my question is why are they still walking around free while we are holding funerals. I think we've been tolerate enough as a country and are playing the price. Gay or not, Christan or not, white or black, it doesn't matter, they were Americans. It's time our giver many took action instead of making excuses.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So many Democrats and liberals refuse to consider that perhaps it isn't a women president Americans didn't want so much as it was Hilary that they didn't want. They also apparently can't seem to believe that perhaps Americans are not as liberal and secular as they think. \n\nAs for me, I never understood how it is that those who support Hilary can actually believe that this women is honest and cares about the American people, especially the poor. How can a women who has worked in government her whole life, is rich and hasn't driven her own car in the last 30 years actually understand the plight of the average American citizen, much less poor immigrants. \n\nI haven't even started on her anti-Catholic bias. How could any Catholics possibly support her after her anti-Catholic comments?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hey, that's some funny stuff! As always, I look to the fellow traditional Catholics on this board to bring some clarity to the conversation and, of course, mock those with whom we disagree, because that is what Jesus told his followers to do. There can be no mercy in the culture war. Souls are at stake.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "For the love of Allah, Buddha, Christ, Vishnu, or whomever you believe in.....it's TIME to rid the country of this liberal scourge once and for all!!!!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The distinction between having one's cheek slapped and being stabbed in the face is not one that Matthew's Jesus was interested in. And there is nothing to suggest he had much regard for people who resort to violence to defend themselves. It is one of the themes of the Beatitudes that those who are assured of heavenly consolation are explicitly those who are weak, helpless and persecuted. And he himself joins their number, when after the Last Supper he surrenders his power, and without a struggle lets himself be taken away unto a painful, shameful, violent death.\n\nWhy in the world do you \"take it\" that I \"advocate total disarmament of the country\"? I advocate no such thing; I believe in the \"responsibility to protect,\" and agree with Nicholas Kristof that the US should all along have done more to save Syrians from the attacks of their government. Nevertheless, killing is ALWAYS an evil, and prominent aspects of US militarism are sinful.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Vatican II was supposed to \"fix\" the product and the Church went from good to bad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Saint Martin was not an immigrant - not every one of color is you know. Just like not every Catholic has to take the idea of being a sheep too, too seriously. Papalolatory is a sin too whether it refers to Francis, John Paul or even Pius ix!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And the hilarious part is that while BOTH al-Qur'an and the bible caution that neither Jesus (alayhis-Salaam) nor Muhammad (Saala Allahu alayhi wa Ahlihii wa Salaam) themselves knew the Day nor the Hour of Calamity, the Qutb--\"preachers\", I won't honor them by calling 'em \"prophets\"--in both my faith and the Christians' who claim to know that the Day of Judgment is imminent are as numerous as cockroaches, and about as pleasant to be around. \"Allah (God Almighty) Knows, ye know NOT.\" That's what scripture says. Would it KILL these weeble-wobbles to READ it?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "STO,\nNo, you are actually twisting. How is defending yourself un-Christian? How is turning a blind eye to your neighbor being attacked, Christian? Jesus said no greater love exists than for someone to lay down their own life for a friend. Soldiers on the battlefield have seen this. There has been more than one case of a man throwing themselves on a grenade to save his buddies.\nIf someone is 'physically' attacking me or a loved one, I don't just 'think' they're guilty, I'm witnessing it and yes, I will defend. If someone tells you they won't, they are either lying or are mentally unstable. To allow evil to go unpunished is neither Christian or human. It is, in fact the very definition inhumanity. \n\nI believe in the law. Christians are to obey the governing authorities as they are God's servants and do not wield the 'sword' for nothing. The law, justice, mercy and punishment are all derived from the same place.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi, Monica. You may be right about the Old Testament/New Testament dichotomy. To my mind, insofar as religion is a part of this massive rift in the body politic, it has mostly to do with the tendency most of us have to form our religious views based on our politics and not the other way around.\n\nThe road less traveled -- far less -- is to allow the Gospel to transform our world view. But that isn't so simple since the Gospel can't be neatly stuffed into either a \"liberal\" or a \"conservative\" playbook. \n\nI think one of the great temptations for religious people is to fall into the trap of interpreting faith through the lens of ideology rather than personal conversion. When that happens, it becomes all too easy to use religion as a weapon for beating others into submission rather than as a light for individual illumination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Are Pope Francis' opponents in a bubble that prevents them from seeing the growing numbers of \"nones\" and \"dones?.\" \nIn the Field Hospital, Pope Francis is trying to stop the bleeding. \nAs far as schisms go, they require a certain amount of enthusiam -- a quality much lacking in the church these days. \nRemember the end of Ellliot's The Hollow Men: \"This is the way the world ends: Not with a bang but a whimper.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These Catholics need not worry, NATO will protect them. Unless the man endorsed by the US Bishops for the presidency decides to ignore that treaty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, a woman\u2019s body is hers, and she should therefore choose to behave responsibly with it. Once she has taken action to create a new human being whose body is their own, not their mother\u2019s, the mother has a new responsibility, that of motherhood. The goal of mainstream conservative Christians (not the far right as you suppose) is not to control any woman, but to encourage self-responsibility, and for her and her spouse to teach the same responsibility to their children. Taking responsibility for ones self and passing that along to ones children is the ultimate empowerment, regardless of economic status or the number of humans in existence. Shirking that responsibility and taking away any chance of it for your offspring by killing your child is the ultimate acknowledgement that you lack power over yourself and have become a slave to the mind-control of the abortion movement and the arbitrary timelines set by the Supreme Court.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly so. One of the many ways in which clericalism undermines the church and the Gospel is that it tends to infantilize the laity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LGBTQ people may also be Christians in good standing, even to the point of accepting traditional views on marriage and sexual intimacy. (Everyone is free to believe what they wish, and likewise free to choose a celibate lifestyle.)\n\nLSUC's refusal to accept any TWU law graduate doesn't provide more choices for LGBTQ people. It reduces them. And it does so regardless of the individual's personal views on marriage and sexual intimacy. Certainly some LGBTQ students will not accept TWU's rules, just as many heterosexual students wouldn't. However LGBTQ students, depending on their personal views, could also sincerely embrace everything about TWU's covenant.\n\nBut what does LSUC say to such a LGBTQ law graduate, including those of exemplary merit? LSUC says, 'You can't work in Ontario. We don't agree with TWU's religious views on marriage and sexual intimacy. We can't punish TWU for its views, so we will punish you instead.'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Is it 'conservatism' which holds on to the Oregon anti-Catholic provision in our State? I find both political parties to have zealots regarding their secular ideologies. \n\nI believe that the zealotry has been growing at both ends of the spectrum as well. This election, like the last couple, is likely to accentuate the divisiveness from and hatred of 'those others' who are out of lockstep with the Democrats or the Republicans on their respective fringes. \n\nThose zealots post here daily. The truly vehement on each end of the spectrum are found at OLive, Breitbart, etc. \n\nAs an agnostic, I acknowledge faith but have no use for religion, doctrine or theology. \n\nI believe all three of those are primarily tools invented to give 'religious' individuals secular power over others, whether of their 'faith' or not. \n\nA pre-historic shaman is just as 'holy' as the Pope, an Iranian Ayatollah, the Metropole of the Greek Orthodox church or any other religious leader; no more, no less.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Can anyone blame them considering the mess they deal with? They should ignore the calls and let Beans and Francis shelters use some of all those donations to hire armed security and their own Fire & Rescue services. Holiday's are coming so get ready to be hit with all those ads by Catholic Services, Salvation Army, Beans and anyone wanting tax free money for us to donate, donate, donate, donate to the Beans and Francis charities. Always wanting more. Had a request stuck on my car already begging for money. Get a job. Better yet, get out of Alaska and find a warmer climate. Want to help poor? Find a person busting their butt, on minium wages, not on welfare, to pay rent, food, car ins, meds and give them a nice Christmas surprise. If able, pick up part of rent, buy some groceries for the home, pay a light bill. Give them a gift card from Fred Meyers for medicines or gas. Thats what I will do. I Never donate to organized charities, shelters or soup kitchens. They hurt more than help.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Being \"a person of colour\" is not forbidden by scripture or 2000 years of orthodox Christianity. Being \"a person of colour\" does not entail engaging in immoral activities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it \"deplorable\" that you use Catholic teaching to impose your views on other and kick Catholics who don't conform to your strict views. I find it \"deplorable\" that you could in good conscience vote for someone with connections to white nationalism. \n\nAnd sorry I find your beliefs sexist because you support the Church's retrograde views on women. You cannot be pro-woman while cheerleading for complementarianism and Humane Vitae.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Donald Trump is heavily backed by New York and American Jews, and world wide Zionism including his son in law and conveted Jewes daughter and his daughter in law and his patrons at his club in Palm Beach among others. The false narrative that he won the election because of angry displaced red neck white males is a lie and myth. If Donald Trump had stood up on the campaign trail and said we are pulling out of the middle east...we dont need their oil anymore, we at keeping our money at home to really make America great again....no money for Egypt or Muslims and no cash for Israel we have sacrificed enough lower middle class Christian males over there in those useless wars, with nothing to show for it, and it has cost us 14 trillion dollars which could have gone into many liberal causes.....had he said that he would not have been elected dog catcher of Buffalo NY.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No. You say he's made cakes for gay people before. You claim that as fact. How many has he made?\n\nNice buzzwords. Sounds to me like this man's faith \"triggers\" you. Why is it you \"SJWs\" never want your justice for the Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, any discrimination based on religion is...Remember how the \"Know Nothings\" said this about Catholics. When Catholics show such amnesia, it is distressing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If the church waits on the USCCB it will wait forever. Until the laity stop worshiping the hierarchy and begin making their voices heard, nothing will happen. Empty words. The laity have only two ways to be heard - stop going to mass and/or stop giving money to the church. At the parish level they should set up 501(c) corporations to pay the bills of the parish, keeping money out of the hands of the bishops. As a male, you apparently don't yet get that shutting out women (as shown by only 8 female faces in the photo) is one of the things that is killing the RCC in the developed nations. Young adult women are leaving in greater numbers than the young adult men - the first time ever. Women carry the church at the parish level - but have no voice unless the priest is willing to listen. Few of the new priests respect the laity, especially the women. After all, they have been led to believe in their 'ontological superiority\". Forget the USCCB - it is not their church and they do nothing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "First off, the church people do have a tendency to want to help the people among them. I think you have explained where your hatred of God comes from. What you fail to understand is that God still loves YOU. He still died for YOU. 2nd. there is no woman-hating agenda that evangelicals or Republicans have. There might be a few in both that hate women and want to promote that. Do you deny that there are people on the left that hate men and have a anti-male agenda? What healthcare rights are we denying women? The right to commit murder? That is not a healthcare right. What workplace protection rights are we denying them? The right to be treated equal? The right to chose a career field that suits them? The left seems to think there is no difference between men and women. That you can change your sex on a whim. Neither are true. So, you want people that promote evil to join you. Do you not do that well enough your self?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It seems that many Evangelical Protestants believe that God visits disasters on us when people do things the EP disapproves of. Pat Robertson said that Hurricane Harvey was God's punishment for people disrespecting Trump.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What an amazing time we live in when we can practice our freedom of speech like Z. Debating feelings and opinions is healthy. The opposition will always think they're right and both side needs a devil to go against. Let the people decide and the results will speak for themselves. \n\nI think Jesus or God or KAMEHAMEHA the Great once said there must be opposition in all things. May the best candidates win. Winners win.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Magnificent analysis! And that Charlie Curran made 30 million US Catholics walk away as well I suppose. \n\nBut of course, they all came running back when JPII and Benny revoked the revival. Oh wait a minute...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If I don't have business being in the sanctuary, I don't go in there, regardless of if there is a rail or not, so a barrier already exists, be it visible or invisible. Most lay people don't have a reason to go into the sanctuary anyways...the main purpose of the Communion rail is for you to recieve Our Lord kneeling. If we can't have a Communion rail because it's supposedly a barrier, why are Eastern Catholics allowed their iconostasis? Even Episcopalians, Lutherans and Methodists have rails, it's only low-church liberal Catholic types that want to force us all to stand. Are kneelers in the pews useless too?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I attended Vic for four years (South House) and then was a Don at St. Mike's for a year while I was in professional school. First, neither Vic or St. Mike's are satellite campuses. Those of us who attended those colleges think that they are rather the centre of campus life. While it is possible things have changed over the years (I admit its been a few decades) since I was there, I found the students at St. Mike's far more willing to engage in rigorous intellectual debate about all sorts of topics, even abortion, than those at Vic. As the only non-Roman Catholic Don in the residence I was impressed with the students receptiveness to ideas that were counter to Roman Catholic orthodoxy. That is not to say that there aren't students who have racist and Islamophobic ideas at St. Mike's, but I wonder whether the members of student council (who are often more interested in padding their resume than actually doing anything substantive) are reflective of the St. Mike's student body.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trinidad - Thank you for commenting here. Firstly I would like say you sound very wise for a 16 year old, and an environment with challenges can be good for a persons character. I watched my mother and father get drunk, take drugs and beat each other up on a weekly basis and tried to shield my younger siblings from this. It sounds like in some ways you are growing up in a better environment than I did. Your environment may be positive and loving, but many in this particular demographic of homosexuality and transgenderism are not, and when society begins to celebrate situations like this, it becomes very concerning to many people (myself included). Mutilating ones body in order to meet a a perceived inner desire is a VERY dangerous road to start out on and confuses younger children in many ways, and most importantly it is not God's will for families. I believe I can speak for all the Christians here on when I say we wish God's best for you and your family. Have a Merry Christmas,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Catholics no longer trust the church, bishops or priests,\" said Joseph O'Callaghan, a founder of the Voice of the Faithful chapter in the Bridgeport diocese.\n\nWhen bishops play fast and loose with the truth, money, and worst of all, our children, the faithful have good reason not to trust them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Notre Dame for instance has yielded many iotas.\"\n\nNot sure what you mean -- that ND has \"yielded to many iotas\" --when ND still has an excellent Theology program, attracts many notable Catholic scholars, has an undergraduate student body that is predominately Catholic (nearly 80%), has liturgies in all its dorms, has a critical mass of religious there (i.e., Congregation of Holy Cross, including the president, who is a Holy Cross priest), who comprise half the membership of the Board of Fellows (with lay men comprising the other half), and, finally, nurtures a very active seminary program for future Holy Cross priests and brothers, among other things. What else is missing?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So happy to see someone give Baptist leader Moore and journalist Michael Gerson credit for their courageous calling-out of Mr. Trump during the campaign. I'm sure they paid a price, especially Rev. Moore, for upsetting evangelicals. Both of them are men of conscience and principle. I'd also put Gov. Kasich in the group. He has refused to grovel before the Trump altar and pay him obeisance since the election like most of the GOP politicians have done.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A rather confusing and pointless article. Lost somewhere in the diatribe is the fact that global overpopulation is a key contributor to marginalized ecosystems, equatorial desertification and global warming. A phenomenon not evident in our western world but of critical importance in the developing and third world. Unfortunately foreign aid and NGO intervention has focussed on \"saving lives\" to the neglect of the far deeper issue of managing birth rates. Culturally embedded family sizes used to be restricted by disease or famine - but no more. Thus the result. Never mind religious ( e.g. Catholic ) dogma against birth control. Never mind population growth in isolation - include lifestyle creep whereby the Third World tries to achieve our energy consumption levels and related CO2 emissions. In many cultures treating women as equals is a non-starter but that is perhaps a secondary issue. Instead of our singular focus on fossil fuels we need to include population management as a priority.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Why is the term \"spiritual leader\" limited to Church hierarchy who are so confused about applying rules? \n\nMaybe some of these decisions should not be clergy-driven applications of the rule book but of the prayerful \"spiritually leading\" hearts, minds, and consciences of those involved. \n\nTo say the umpires are confused about applying the infield fly rule is to diminish and demean the women and men directly called to exercise their consciences in the best interests of love, loving, mercy, and their families. \n\nWhere is the TRUST? To defer to canons is to relinquish responsibility. To declare this a legal issue is to show ignorance of the many other issues at play. \n\nTo those, like the Dubia Cardinals, who sternly bemoan the Pope's lack of clarity and who demand from him ambiguity-free rulings, I say: \"Welcome to marriage and family life. To pain. To love. To discernment. To nuance. To prudential judgment. To kids. To weighing human-humane costs and benefits. Not so easy is it?\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nice dodge , but par for the course. What are you talking about regarding my last comment? It needed many reviews or rewriting? I was gone for the afternoon and responded when I got back. Funny you can't admit that Jon82's comment was not appropriate. He clearly wants those Catholics that don't agree with his personal views of the Church to leave his Parish, his cross as he put it. What a wonderful idea. No need for fraternal correction by you on that matter. You pull this nonsense quite often, and never answer a simple question with a direct response. You always deflect your responses, with silly excuses. I have wasted enough time on this matter. Lesson unlearned for you as well, sadly.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I really doubt that millennial women would give them the time of day, much less dialogue with them. The hierarchy has completely missed the boat. These young women have been exposed to a constant barrage of anti-abortion and anti-birth control sentiment from the pulpit since they were little girls. They were attending RE and preparing for confirmation when the scandal came to light. They've lost a whole generation of young women. I realize that there are a few very vocal, pro-church millennials, but they won't be able to keep the church filled with Catholic children.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "While we have a duty to help those that need it with their \"physical needs,\" those needs are NOT even close to the individual's spiritual needs. A man can be the richest person in the world, with the best of everything in his life, but if he loses his soul, he was an abject failure in life. Therefore, the Church's primary duty/responsibility is to keep people from falling out of the \"Grace of God.\" Today's Church - the \"Church of Nice\" - does't do that, they only seem concerned with the physical needs of man, not his spiritual needs. \n\nWhen was the last time you heard a priest give a sermon about hell and how most of today's Catholics are destined for it because they voted for a democrat politician in the USA or any politician that supports the evil of abortion or homosexual marriage? Read about what St John Vianney, the patron saint of priests - said about how most bishops and priests are destined for hell for not preaching about it and leading their flock astray with liberalism.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It is very important to distinguish between revealed truths, dogmatically defined as such, and provisional doctrines that may be amenable to further development as the deposit of faith is better understood. Everybody taking something for granted, and then acting accordingly for 2000 years, is no proof that revealed truth has been exhausted.\n\nThis is not about ancient/modern academic theologies. Aquinas failed to refute that women are defective males (Summa 92). So much for patriarchal theologies.\n\nI believe, with certainty of faith, that the Church is \"one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.\" I do not believe, with certainty of faith, that \"apostolic\" means \"patriarchal.\" Like the Trinity, the Church is a communion, not a patriarchy. I have offered many references to the CCC and the TOB that you have not considered. Please do.\n\nThe CCC is a good book that filters out ancient/modern theological garbage. Find me something there about the ontological masculinity of the Eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "HRC belongs to a Church which does not have a hard position on abortion. Catholics were not to give her a pass on that issue because she was a Methodist and not a Catholic. There is no question the USCCB in the main wants Catholics to identify with the GOP. Hence abortionabortionabortion, gaymarriagegaymarriagegaymarriage, but not male heterosexual serial monogamy. That's OK because....why is that OK?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bishop Tobin: Your article requires answers from priests & laity. Others have posted the suggestion of an independent poll be taken of American Catholics; would you support such action? How many young people have you personally interviewed in the last 24 months; what did the interviews tell you? How many Catholics raised the issue of Mass, the most stilted worship service known to mankind? Yes, you bishops made it impossible for the celebrant to even say, \"Good morning\" to the congregation, restricted homily topics, use the most phony, archaic language (how many times did Jesus say 'chalice'?), and then you wonder why the pews are not filled? A 'lack of faith' you say; I say misogyny, continuous sexual abuse, financial mismanagement (see Timmy the Dolan), and institutional arrogance leaves a bad impression for young and old alike. Get off your high horse, man, and smell the sheep. . .a few of us are still around, but the younger two generations have by and large left the barn!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I like the otherworldliness of the Latin Mass, it's not banal or pedestrian, the priest doesn't try to dumb things down to appeal to the lowest common denominator. I like the reverence, the beauty, incense, smells and bells. It's ancient - not something that was put together by a committee in the 1960s. It clearly expresses Catholic doctrine that Mass is a Sacrifice. (Novus Ordo prayers were watered down to make it palatable to Protestants). The folks who attend tend to take their Catholic faith seriously (as do a minority at the NO). The music isn't the same lame GIA songs but draws from our rich musical patrimony. I've been to the Ordinariate Mass, they wonderful...I wouldn't go to an Episcopal Mass, I'm not Episcopalian, and they don't have the Real Presence (yet they kneel to receive Communion). We have the Real Presence and many Catholics receive with a casual attitude in tshirt and jeans. If you pick up a missal, you can follow along. Latin connects us to our ancestors in faith.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus reserved his most scathing criticisms for the religious leaders of the Jewish people. The Cardinals are their successors. The common folk are the ones that Jesus came for. What have these Cardinals ever done for the poor, the sick, the homeless? Absolutely nothing!\n\nAs far as the rich, young man is concerned---how do you know that he 'didn't think better of it later, sell what he owned and give it to the poor? That would certainly be more than any of these Cardinals have ever done.\n\nBut Jesus didn't tell his followers that they could not marry. That came later from a pope who was influenced by the Gnostics. He felt that any sexual encounter 'sullied' the celebration of the Eucharist.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Fannie Lou Hamer's suffering was by no means chosen as part of a calling, especially when she was arrested, sent to a prison and there nearly beaten to a pulp for trying to recruit and register black voters. She forgave those who had beaten her mercilessly, but by no means did she choose to be abused and dishonored that way. I also don't think Dr. King wanted his home bombed or his family terrorized. These were completely unjust and un-redemptive acts of hated. Both, however, accepted other people's cruelty and abuse with love. Both believed their suffering and openness to forgive would eventually win over their oppressors. They were holy people, truly engaged in the discipleship of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora,\nThere's certainly a lot of truth in what you say! But I think it's important to recognize that the drop seems worse in the RCC, and that was the point I was trying (hoping) to address. \n\nFrom what I can tell, being Catholic has long (for many at least) had a strong cultural component. I know as I grew up, my parents tried to form me in a way that relied heavily on what the church taught. I was strongly encouraged, for example to be an altar boy, and to \"get involved\" in things church. I doubt most nones were pushed in that direction. And I also think it important that the church's leadership continues to \"double down\" instead of taking a second look at some of their man-made positions (like the blanket prohibition against ABC.) That rigidity just doesn't stand up to scrutiny, which tends to lead people to see the church as more \"cult-like\" than as an intellectual community bound together by common beliefs and shared values.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "How is a president who is willing to cut Food Stamps, WIC, and other nutrition programs for poor families with children \"pro-life\"? What would happen to the abortion rate if this man's budget were enacted? Some Catholics are supporting wolves in sheep's clothing.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So, he is being better at being Christ-like than Christ was?\n\nYou don't see this as a subtle attempt to \"correct\" Our Lord? Not unlike redefining what Jesus called \"adultery\" an \"irregular union\"?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Catholic hospitals have had a very rough time, that many have closed and that the current GOP proposals will put all Catholic hospitals in that boat. Conversely, Catholic health care in states that did expand Medicaid has done very well.\"\n\nYeah, except for that whole ACLU law suit thing. But we wouldn't want to appear morally superior, or anything.\n\nI'm happy for more diversity in the Conference, but if \"more diversity\" simply means divying people up into teams (as is done here), & dismissing the other team for acting in bad faith, then I'm not sure that the spirit of Pope Francis has truly amounted to much more than score-keeping.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, clericalism should be abolished. We are all priests by our baptism!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's cherry picking like this that gives the RG a bad name. Obama has many many quotes from Letterman, Jon Stewart, Ellen show et al that are comparable to Trump's. Remember the \"special olympics\" gaffe?\n\nDuring the 2008 campaign, during an interview with ABC\u2019s George Stephanopoulos, Obama said, \u201cWhat I was suggesting-you\u2019re absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith,\u201d before Stephanopoulos jumped in to help, saying \u201dyour Christian faith.\u201d\n\nMost famous - \"my grandmother was a typical white person\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Funny thing to say for someone who gets Sundays off and Christmas and Easter and lives in a province where there's an entire school system devoted to Catholicism funded by the government.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin, (continued)\nand falling to his knees Peter said to Jesus, \"Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man.\" He owned his sinfulness and from that point on did not deny/betray Jesus. Judas on the other hand upon betraying Jesus became so distraught and instead of humbly going to Jesus, he took his own life. We betray/deny Jesus when we go against His Commandments.\u201cDo you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; fornicators, idolators, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers - none of these will inherit the kingdom of God.\u201d [1 Cor. 6:9-10] \u201cNow the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do these things will not inherit the kingdom of God.,\u201d [Gal. 5:19-21].\n(Continued)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The church is a Pilgrim People, a people on a journey toward health, wholeness and holiness. The church cannot be fully healthy, whole or holy while women and married men are excluded from any office or ministry in the church. The laws, arguments and distinctions that exclude them are artificial constructs that are at odds with and undermine the unambiguous teaching of Scripture: \u201cThere is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female (there is not clergy or lay); for you are all one in Christ Jesus.\u201d (Gal. 3:28). While it would be radically wrong to exclude women and married men from orders even if there were a plethora of celibate men to celebrate the sacraments, it borders on blasphemy to exclude them while large portions of the People of God lack regular access to the Eucharist and sacraments.\nIt is time, and past time, to open the doors, to break them down.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My sense, Monica, is that clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church at least in this country (Australia) has been reduced to almost negligible levels as a result of all the negative publicity and the Royal Commission. The evidence seems to be though that it is still a major problem in families and, as Cahill and Wilkinson argue, the experience in countries like Australia and North America does not reflect on what is going on in third world nations where the Church still runs huge numbers of orphanages and the cultural ethos is far different. The big sleeper, it has been pointed out by Cahill and Wilkinson amongst others, is adult sexual abuse and inappropriate power relationship abuses. Des Cahill in a recent radio interview here suggests that child sexual abuse may well re-emerge in the future in the institutional Church if the lessons are not heeded from our recent history.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The gospels says both that Jesus advised arming and that \"he who lives by the sword dies by the sword.\" It may be Jesus was more militant than the evangelists let on. After all, the Messiah was expected to vanquish the Romans.\n\nBut...we don't know. And we certainly don't know enough to assert that Jesus would approve of American militarism.\n\nI'm no pacifist, but the U.S. could use more peace advocates (thanks, John Fitzgerald) like Dan Berrigan. The country certainly has an excess of hawks.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one is touching this because current politically correct climate favors the transgendered as being at the top of the pecking order, the most protected class of individual above lesbians and gays, blacks, undocumented latinos and women in that order, with any type of conservative and white Christian man occupying the lowest possible positions. No one is allowed to comment without harsh criticism or worse about those above them in the PC rankings and the ramifications of their particular situation for our society, even though we are all stakeholders. This needs to change if we are ever to have a society of equals rather than a culture of grievance based political power struggles.\n\nThat said, my opinion is family situations of this sort will rarely last long term, and great emotional damage will be done to all members, particularly children. I hope this is not the case for this or any other example, but I fear for them and for any society that institutionalizes it in policy or law.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "God will take care of the abuser when he gets in front of Jesus the Final Judge.\nUntil then, the criminal child rapists need to be prosecuted and if found guilty be sent to life imprisonment with no chance of parole. That will take care of the offense against humanity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\u201cI expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history\u201d Cardinal George\n\nThis elections season will be the ultimate test of our resolve to defend our religion. We are beset with conspiracies, dangerous forces move in the shadows, systems are rigged!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wait a minute, utilitas. Trump did not call himself Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wall Street deregulation allowed all of the major drug companies to be bought by foreigners. They have Universal Healthcare at home, but gouge the U.S. following the model created by the locals. The \"non-profit\" Catholic \"healthcare\" system is a major player in the escalating costs of hospitals and physician groups as they have absorbed the same in a mad acquistion drive over the past 20 years. The major components are Providence, Peacehealth, in the Northwest. The result is almost monopoly control of all healthcare providers from Alaska to Oregon and beyond. All without paying taxes as religion exemption despite being some of the biggest corporate revenue producers throughout the nation. At the same time Bishops determine access to procedures under religious claims against abortion, contraception, and end-of-life, all not allowed to any citizen. The Catholic healthcare industry is the largest private healthcare system in the nation. Time to end the tax exemptions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Exactly, Bro. Look at this website. Half a dozen posters use double or even triple log ins to give the impression that many share their views. They would see a website for young Catholics as manna from heaven and poison it from the off.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\nThe affirmation of religious freedom by V2 was a massive transition from the previous magisterial position that \"error has no rights.\" Two things concern me about our current Catholic culture re religious freedom:\n\nFirst, do we accept that Religious Freedom = Freedom of Conscience. That is, in Venn terms, is the concept of Freedom of Conscience synonymous with Freedom of Religions or is it broader? And if it is broader, why are the consciences of non-religious (secular) persons less entitled to protection? (My view is that the two must be understood as synonymous.)\n\nSecond, since is it we who affirm religious/conscience freedom, is it not our FIRST obligation to actively respect and protect and defend the freedom of others; rather than, as the US bishops seem to think, a right we claim for ourselves, other be damned.\n\n...2", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your attempt to malign Islam (and indirectly justify attacks on it) is transparent.\n\nThe Talmud says some pretty unflattering things about Jesus but this was because his followers were making inroads not only among Gentiles but also Jews and the authors naturally sought to neutralize the threat. \n\nLikewise, the New Testament contains some virulently anti-semitic themes (like blaming the killing of Jesus not only on those who cheered Pontius Pilate but on all their descendants) because the followers of Jesus were being persecuted by Jewish authorities at the time of the Gospel's writing. \n\nArmed jihad is a common theme in the Quran, only because Mohammed was a military man living in turbulent times where shifting alliances with different tribes, including Jewish ones, found expression.\n\nContext is all-important. To suggest that the Quran more than the Bible or the Talmud promotes intolerance is simply unfounded.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The GLBT community has known that for a long time already! And the Magisterium is scared of that! Mag is afraid that more and more Catholics will find out!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Also in Glennallen where previously there was only a Christian radio station there is now NPR - an arm of liberal propaganda. The left knows that the remaining pockets of conservatives mostly reside in rural areas of the US. They progressives are out to change that. In Iowa, Owe-bama is behind grants to \"lesbian\" farmers. The loans are for lesbians who what to try farming and there are rural house and land loans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The consequential majority of your reference immigrants are either A) Christian, B) Aetheist, or C) not white-nuckle clinging to their archaic beliefs.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bring a check or cash, that usually blinds the denizens of the vatican to any irregularities.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(Part one of two) In 2013, it was estimated that 6,500 of the 7,000 properties the City of Gary owned were abandoned. The unemployment rate in Gary in Dec. 2016 was 8.2 percent, double that of the state.\u2014 Kristen Whitney Daniels In the parallel universe of the Church, what was Church membership in 1960 and now. How many properties does the Gary Diocese own and how many are abandoned? What is the unemployment rate for Catholics in Gary versus the rest of the state? Is White flight involved? How ae Black and Hispanic Catholics doing? Most significantly, what are the budget implications of this synod. Budget implications are reasonably subject to the prudential judgement of the Faithful, rather than being only the purview of the pater familias or local ordinary.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hello Just As Good,\n\nIt is strange that you stereotype all Muslims into one group, a group that in your claim is 100 percent opposed to having theocratic rule over America. I would agree the vast majority do not want that, but I nonetheless find it striking that you feel comfortable to ignore diversity among Muslims and bunch them all together as 100 percent against theocracy. Your blanket statement is all the more strange when you consider that over a third of US Muslims want gay marriages banned for religious reasons, a greater proportion than white Catholics and about on the same level as black Protestants who want a ban on religious grounds. Too bad the facts are not on your side, I suppose.\n\nThe fact that Muslims are not holding big federal power positions does not rebut my prediction, that this newspaper would take a far less muscular attack. Indeed, it is very difficult to imagine this paper publishing verses from the Koran and pointedly expressing concerns about the follower.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nostra Aetate of Vatican 11, what a sham that was. In what was a little more than a decade later, the Jews were once more the butt of anti-Semitism during the Argentine dictatorship and once again, the Pope was Silent; in fact he continued to indirectly accept financial support from the government and allowed them the choice of bishops to stack their cards.\nHow fortunate for Francis JP11 covered his back him when he did.....and nothing to do with the Holy Spirit when elevated to Christ's representative on earth in my opinion.\nTwo, three, even more wrongs never make a right.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Believing Christ is present in those who need forgiveness is not hard, but believing He is present in those who mindlessly repeat arrant nonsense is darn near impossible.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "And, yet, this is who white Catholics voted for.....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The long standing Catholic moral principle of double effect does not presuppose they are. Another way of putting what Ken Briggs is trying to say is that the End does not justify the Means or it is immoral to select an Evil Means to achieve a Good End.\n\nIt is sound, traditional Catholic ethics to argue that it would be immoral to choose the means of electing Trump to achieve the Good End of ending abortion, if it is known and predictable in advance that President Trump is likely to, among other evil things, overturn Obamacare which will in turn cause thousands to die before their God-intended time because Trump has taken away their medical coverage. \n\nNot really all that complicated, although very badly stated in this article. Complicated only iifone holds that the life of the unborn is more valuable the the born but sick the Trump's policies are going to cause. Is that what you mean when you say the lives taken are not equal?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The President's job is to defend the Constitution, the document that creates our system of government with express limitations on its power over the citizens' rights. His responsibility is to the country and the citizenry, not the rest of the world. If Trump adopted a Christian platform, you'd be all over him like white on rice over his breach of the wall between church and state. \n\nEven Jesus expressed that government should be left to its own devices. The Romans had one of the most violent governments in recorded history, but Jesus did little to protest them even as they crucified him unjustly at the behest of those who saw him as a threat to their own system of government.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cassie....I have a friend who sent her daughter to Stuebenville.....I happened to like both my friend and her daughter a lot....but I would never have felt comfortable raising any controversial issue with them as they were \"truly saved and in the arms of Jesus\" charismatics...and Steubenville was really the only safe place for them....\n\nWe send our kids to Jesuit schools and state and private universities.....we debate everything....it could be argued that we are adults....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Most know that sending Christian G. to prison may either make him a better crimainal or a better human being. The current status he is emerging as a criminal before the bird killing incident happened. Killing the albatrosses shows how serious with his cohorts shows serious criminal behavior from this young criminal.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What an appalling request to make on the leader of the world's Catholics. It insults the apology from the former Pope as not being good enough as it did not happen when Trudeau was PM. This news creation is the best Trudeau can do to attract attention from Trump?\n\nAnd we are still waiting for the PM's congratulations to the newly elected Conservative Party Leader.\n\nTrudeau is devoid of good manners and decorum.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find Cardinal Muller' quotes both sickening and hypocritical eg. \"we always ask the bishops to take pastoral care of the victim, clarifying to him or her that the Congregation will do all that is possible to give justice\"\n\nWhere has this Cardinal been for the last 32 years since Fr Tom Doyle exposed the situation in the U.S.A. Ireland's Judicial Reviews triggered a domino effect across Europe and now the Australian hierarchy had to hang their heads in shame at their Judicial Review. \n\nBishops have proved beyond all reasonable doubt; that they have no understanding of what \"pastoral care for victims\" means. Equally beyond doubt, as documented in Judicial Reviews; the Congregations within the Curia do not understand the concept of \"justice\". In the words of our Irish Taoiseach (P.M.) Enda Kenny (22nd Nov 2011); \"the Cloyne Report excavates the dysfunction: disconnection; elitism; .. the narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day\". Nothing has changed to date.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Eating shellfish, wearing gold, men cutting their hair, eating pork, eating any meat with dairy products (among a plethora of other arcane Levitical prohibitions) were all once considered acts contrary to the Divine and natural law by the Holy Roman Catholic Church. While Orthodox Jews, Muslims, and other fundamentalists retain their adherence to Levitical law, the church CHANGED! (horror of horrors) and now allows us to enjoy the delights of raw oysters, cheeseburgers, and pork chops, along with men like me who like to keep their hair neatly trimmed.\n\nThe church will one day change its tune on gay issues because all but the Orthodox Jews, Muslims, and other fundamentalists will have moved on, as a great many already have, leaving the Roman Church in the dust clinging to its precious tradition but little else. The church will change, as it always has, or it will die a deserved death of natural causes.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Islamic history is about putting people to the sword if they do not accept the religion\"\n\nTed I totally get where you are coming from but you are talking about \"Haddith-Islam\" that exists in 99.9% of the world, which is based on reading the Qu'ran through the Haddith. I am talking about \"Messianic-Islam\", which is based on reading the Qu'ran through the Bible. \n\nIt is arguable that \"Haddith-Islam\" took over very soon after the death of Muhammed. The Sunni-Shi'ite split happened almost immediately after his death. \n\nIt is not unlike how \"Catholic-Christianity\" took over very soon after the death of the original apostles. We Adventists \"disown\" the atrocities of most Christian history too, by saying they were \"apostate\" Christians. \n\nI personally believe Muhammed WAS a false prophet. But many Christians also claim Ellen White a false prophet, with a later \"book\" too and Adventists are not \"Christians\". Yet these are not \"salvation issues\" if someone accepts Christ as their saviour.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If only a third of the population is a \" threat\" as you see it, what is the problem ?\nPeople discriminate all the time, my wife discriminated against other guys when she married me .\nSo if a \" Christian \" business did not want to do business with, or hire a person because of a closely held religious belief, there are another 60% of businesses, using the authors stats, that would love to have that business, or employee.\nOnly control freaks want to force every one to conform.\nBeing \" free\" means we have the right to be wrong, at least as far as others may see it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "In the RCC ALL authority, pronouncements, canonizations, Canon Law, and directives of all types have male sources only and that is not \"accidental\".\nOrdained ministry would give women the possibility of making Jesus present for the salvation of souls, just as His mother did by actually building His body and blood in her own body. What she did was a bit more than transubstantiation. If called to be bishop, women can perfectly well fulfill the roles required as leaders. There is, and should never be a reason to reject the CALL a woman may receive as a Baptized member of the Church Community to serve. We serve with our brains and hearts, not our reproductive organs.\nRejection of the service of half of the human race is foolish, and God being the fount of Wisdom might have other plans in view.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dismantling of all government including those pesky human and civil rights contained within the U.S. Constitution? The prayer of all good Republicans to return to the Old South Confederacy of plantations, slaves, and christian theocracy over all. Used to be called traitorous, but now the accepted operating system of the One Party rule spreading from Alaska to infect the entire nation driven by Der Fuehrer Trump and his Billionaire traitors.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "My understanding is that a PPS employee/fundamentalist Christian complained because Frida is bisexual and it is mentioned in the film.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The ban is on countries where the majority of people are Muslim; the only exception in Trump's order is for \"minority\" religions, meaning Christians. \n\nI was born in Alaska since before it became a state. I've seen it turn into a rather ugly right-wing place, where all sorts of accusations are made about \"liberals.\" It used to be a place where all were welcome. How sad these comments make me.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's stay at our posts until the good work is finally done, and done well, with Christian cheerfulness and fortitude.\n\nCS Lewis talked in \"Men without Chests\" about \"the third hour of bombardment\".\n\nElsewhere in that same marvelous work he said, so presciently \"...And all the time\u2014such is the tragi-comedy of our situation\u2014we continue to clamour for those very qualities we are rendering impossible...In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful...\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, I oppose bigotry. You support it. Your claim that I oppose that farmer's bigotry makes me a bigot would be laughable were it not that it comes from someone claiming to be a Christian. You are snotger who reads Christ's command as \"You shall live your neighbor as yourself, unless the neighbor is gay. Him you shall loathe, hate and fear. And you shall support others in this same loathing.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Your question isn't about discrimination. It's about a product that the baker doesn't offer, and does not involve discrimination. The baker is able to decorate the cake any way he wants, and refuse to decorate a cake any way that he wants, as long as he consistantly does it. If the homosexual baker doesn't bake the cake that says \"Sodomy is Evil\" for anybody, then it's not discrimination when he doesn't bake it for a conservative. Now, if he will bake it for Muslims, but not Christians, then you get into discrimination.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Really? Who is banned? Only Muslims. There's an exemption for Christians. The US already has a 2 year long process, perhaps the most rigorous in the world to screen refugees. There is no comparison to Europe where refugees streamed across borders without controls.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am sorry to say that Don Cherry is as far from being a Christian as GW Bush Jr. was before he sent the military to Iraq. They are the western version of the Taliban only claiming to be Christian but in fact following no part of it whatsoever (like Bin Laden claiming to be a follower of Mohamed). \n\nAnd yes, those Christians in the ME deserve our prayers and help the same as the Yazidi's and Shia's etc. \n\nMr. Richards comment was intended to emphasize the reason for the recent player's protest which is noble; bending a knee to pray to Jesus after a touchdown is not a Christian act.....it is a misguided act that shows the typical American distortion of the teachings of Jesus.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One cannot discuss this without being uncivil, apparently. I apologize for the inference. A study of eucharistic theology over time shows a development. St. Augustine, for example. What was used to celebrate the Last Supper. Likewise, the transubstantiation was an 11th century idea. \n I m referring to the renewal as a work of the Spirit, and the description of the Mass referred to in Vatican II documents and Pope Francis as signs of renewal. I am not referring to what I want-that would be grandiose. We don't say \"Thy will be done\" for nothing. \n I DO want to see renewal. I DON'T believe these Medieval pieties help promote a contemporary spirituality in the context of an ancient tradition. In another vein I am trying to find a truly catholic theology (small \"c\") because the divisions, some of which you refer to in typically retrograde fashion, are a sign of ignorance, stupidity and egotism. Original sin. ( I don't judge you.) We as a species are a work in progress.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Written like a true White Supremacist/Aryan Nation follower praising a god for whites only as reflected in Der Fuehrer Trump and his German terrorists. If you define \"free\" as the result of genocide, starvation, plague and total subjugation to government through ongoing violations of treaties, you merely continue the godless fundamentalist christian dogma still plaguing the Native Nations. Every \"free\" item is restricted by regulatory bureaucracy and subject to the dictatorial budgeting process currently rule by White Supremacist Dictators of the Republican traitors in all branches of governing. Your demand for White \"privilege\" denying all others reflects the evil of a diseased mind.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I would like to know the definition of a domestic Muslim community. The local media continues to trumpet with great fanfare our ethnically diverse city its school system and on and on. Are the pastor and the Rabbi again trying to focus our attention to things that are not broken or even Anchorage related. Obviously neither are pragmatists. Anchorage is already over crowded and suffering from serious public safety issues. I hope some of your protests and rallies will be directed toward those issues as well as Presidents Nieto and Assad and all of the other third world despots and other leaders who do not look after their citizens. Let's quote some of that scripture. Muslims also share many sacred texts with Christians and Jews.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(...CONTINUED from ABOVE)\n\n\"And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as life his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying: \"God, be Merciful to me, a sinner!\" I (Jesus, alayhis-Salaam) tell you, this\" (publican) \"went down to his house JUSTIFIED, and not the other. For everyone who is exalted shall be abased, and he who humbleth himself shall be exalted.\" (Luke 18:10-14)\n\nI'll mention in passing that sincere, believing Muslims put their faces on the floor before their Creator, and still smite their breasts in grief and repentance for their sins. Christians like you congratulate themselves that they're \"saved\", like the Pharisee did. Good luck on that.\n\nA Sunni religious scholar from India, who was my beloved mentor and friend, and who returned to his Lord nine years ago, once remarked that he'd never seen any people make a greater SHOW of their \"humility\" than these so-called \"Christians\"\n\n(CONTINUED BELOW...)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Apparently you've missed much of the news over the past 1,400 years, but even within your lifetime, the slaughter of infidels by various Islamic factions has been a more-or-less daily news item since at least the 1980's.\n\nRead the Koran. There are passages that may be ignored by Muslims in the west about as broadly as the Bible is ignored by Christians, but the murderous edicts and the blessing of deceit are encoded within. And yes, it is about interpretation, but how much comfort is there in relying on 'most'?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A \"future iteration\" of Catholic Christianity\" already is without clergy. They call themselves \"Nones.\"", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Regarding: \"This is not good news for ecumenists. It shows that although theologians may issue consensus papers and bishops may issue joint statements, Catholic-Orthodox relations at the ground level are pretty weak, especially among the Orthodox.\"\n- No doubt several factors are at play such as: holding onto faith and onto orthodox church during the Soviet era even at risk of death makes ceding any aspect of the faith / church seem like a weakness.\n- No doubt decades of absorbing propaganda about the west generally, and papacy as a tool of the west specifically is still part of the ethos of orthodox christians in those parts.\n- No doubt the business of the ArchbofRome being 1st among equals is cause for suspicion especially when orthodox look at the way other major archbishops, primates, and especially patriarchs who are in union and communion with the ArcbofRome are actually treated.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Globe regularly publishes articles critical of Christians. And for the record, the Danish cartoons were not hateful or even disparaging of Mohammed.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "As a Christian, I am speaking up. Congratulations to the Government of Quebec for this long awaited bold move to remove public displays of Islam.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Since they're Christians not Muslims in South Sudan, don't expect the media or people to care. The low positioning of this story and the very few comments on this disaster prove this. Our MSM is truly the enemy of the people.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I am ASTONISHED that a man of the cloth would so completely ignore the bulk of Trump's disgusting behavior and lionize him in such a saccharine and inauthentic manner. Trump's lies; broken promises; broken LAWS; hatred of the poor and the immigrant; hatred of and assaults against women; his sophomoric tweets; his insults given to America's friends; his policies that take food out of the mouths of children, the elderly and the disabled; his support of medical plans that kick 24 million people off of medical insurance while making it more expensive for the most vulnerable and least able to pay; his participation in the destruction of our planet through pollution and global warming..ALL of these AND MORE..should make it plain to everyone that this man has FAR more in common with Satanists than any Christian religion. He is the antithesis of everything Jesus commanded, EXCEPT for a weak (and yet to be proved) opposition to abortion, and a newly made claim for religious freedom. HYPOCRISY!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus had much more in common with Protestantism than he did with your version of Catholicism. It's over, David, you had 35 years and got nowhere.\n\nWhat a mess you made.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You're right. The bishops who have covered up clerical sexual abuse, JPII and BXVI silencing those who did not agree with them are two excellent examples. And there are those who are stuck in the Thirteenth, Greatest of Centuries, who are failing to understand the Catholic Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When the violence you mention includes ethnically cleansing hundreds of thousands of Christians and driving them into another country, I expect you will hear Western leaders speak about it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These self-proclaimed \"Christians\", Pence & Sarah Huckleberry Sanders, need re-education about what the Bible says about liars: \"...all liars...shall have their place in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone.\" Revelations 21:8", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Every thing you stated was a mirror of my youth. Except I went out to bars with my girlfriends to hook up with cute guys. \n\nI even, to some degree, agree with your statements on sex in marriage except I find no reason not to enjoy it fully with each other - I don't think God has any problem with people thoroughly enjoying sex with one's spouse whether or not you want to have children. I agree with sex being an enjoyable part of marriage's love but not the main source of that love. Core Marital Love needs to based on a Holy Spirit infused friendship between siblings in Christ. That being said if my husband were not expressing any outward symptom of having an orgasm during sex, I would be concerned that he was not very satisfied in our marriage, as this is a joy, and should be a part of marital satisfaction for both unless there is some kind of physical problem. I would at least work with him to see if we could not have him enjoy sex more.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Shhh, it's not politically correct to talk about Europe's issues with cultural segregation. Interesting how Judaism and Christianity are fair game for satire but Islam is a sacred cow? We can't ask why women are forbidden from taking part in prayer during their menstrual cycle. We can't ask why Canada's basic human rights (freedom of expression, gender equality, and freedom of sexual orientation) are foreign concepts in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, etc. We can't ask why secular Muslim women who choose not to wear head coverings are ostracized from their communities. We can't talk about the persecution faced by Ismaili Muslims from the orthodox fundamentalists. South Park and Family Guy satire Christianity on a weekly basis but any satire of Islam is \"Islamaphobic\", because it's 2017? Hirsi Ali was forced to flee the Netherlands for her own safety, I suppose she shouldn't \"provoke\" rabid zealots? If only Theo van Gogh had known better...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So your point is... \"to heck with the poor, they will always be among us... given the choice, mass attendance is more important in the eyes of Christ?\"\n\nThat about sums up the complete and utter calamity of a doctrinal purist... i.e., cant see the forest through the trees!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow! The reality of the Catholic experience - the good and the bad.\n\nFirst, big \"Thank you\" for pointing out the ways in which Catholics were told to support Trump, without acknowledging what a brutish lout he is, and the narrowness of the thinking of many one-issue Catholics. (Or, maybe, it was not narrow thinking but lack of thinking on the part of so many Catholics - just robots obeying their programming?)\n\nFolks read the articles and listen to the presentations of the Domestic Violence Outreach program of the Archdiocese of Chicago. This is an important issue that Catholic parishes everywhere should be working on. It would be powerful if priests talked about domestic violence and brought it out of the shadows. \n\nOne would think worshiping as a group at St. Peter Claver Church, \"Baltimore's historic African American Church, known for its civil rights activism,\" would move the bishops to an awareness of the need for action now on the growing racial divide. Still they wait! Sad", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There's something about that flavor of Catholicism that is attracted to fascism. If there ever was a flag signaling that there is something rotten with extremely traditional, extremely inflexible Catholicism, this is it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you can tell me what Canadian culture is other than an amalgam of what has developed over 150 years, then your argument might hold water. I also take issue with your notion of adapt to Canada. Does that mean giving up ones religion? If so, tell it to the Jews, the Hindus, the Sikhs as well. Maybe the Catholics too, at least outside Quebec perhaps? Perhaps lets stop St. Paddy's Day celebrations as foreign culture, maybe even a barbaric practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "To which groups are you referring? The National Front party of France declares itself pro Christian.\n\nI believe that the group that attacked a crowd at UC Berkeley and shut down a speech by a gay Catholic is anti-Christian. Others too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "However, nothing of the sort would ever happen. Assuming that Catholics only hire and associate with other Catholics is utterly ridiculous. In case you missed it, the world \"catholic\" means universal. All are welcome, none are turned away.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What does not knowing who Jerry Prevo is or how the supposed Christians in Anchorage act and behave have to do with the fact that Christians in general are the ones that always get the blame from the left. Also. I am an Alaskan and have been for a long time. Bush time. \nYou can attempt the spin anyway you like.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nonsense. \nThere is no proof of an actual historical Jesus. The Greeks had their \"churches\" that forced the gullible to worship non-existent supernatural creatures. The Romans did the same. In America, if one has the ability to see and speak clearly, one sees that we are caught in the same manipulating trap...profess a belief in a non-existent supernatural thing, or be cast aside.\nToday, religious power centers called churches need to be taxed and seen for what they are, anachronistic burdens on a culture. The Greeks (https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net) didn't profit from their Gods' justice, they suffered from the myth. The Romans (https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/roman/) had more \"Gods\" and more myth. \nLuther's hatred of Jews is well documented ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther). Luther changed little, just put different idols on the altar of religiosity, and put the Jews up for slaughter.\nThere is no God, Jesus didn't exist.\n Reform that. \nHugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The best thing mainstream Muslims could do to ease the mistrust many feel, would be to come out clearly against the extremists and dissociate themselves from their views, instead of deflecting as the author does here.\n\nThe Catholic Church was guilty for decades of closing ranks and protecting the guilty priests out of a misguided sense of solidarity, denying there was a problem. It backfired badly.\n\nMuslims should learn from this that deflection and \"closing ranks\" is counterproductive. For example, they should be encouraging Muslims to get evidence against the imams preaching hate so they can be prosecuted, instead of \"closing ranks\" and accusing those enouraging them to do so of \"Islamophobia\".\nThat is like accusing the people denouncing child abuse by priests of \"Catholicaphobia\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Undocumented workers cannot collect any sort of welfare benefits, but they do pay into the system with the withholdings taken from their pay checks. The jobs they are doing are not jobs that Americans are willing to do. Remember a few years ago when Georgia went after people renting to undocumented workers and they fled the state. How farmers and businesses pleaded to have the law repealed because there was no one to do the work. The law was repealed quickly. They immigrants are some of the hardest workers in our country and you want them thrown out because of racist propaganda. And even worse consider yourself a Christian.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yeah give the country away to the Muslums, but don't cry when they gain control and want Sheila Law start throwing people off buildings etc. this is a Christian Nation.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "read a book? 'Jesus' was portrayed as the ultimate outsider who had nothing but unpopular concepts to promote, wasn't a pretty white guy, and wouldn't be having any of the endless nasty behavior committed by so-called Conservatives such as we see here and certainly not by any of the multitudes of fake Christians who've been getting away with murder for decades if not forever, both figurative and literal, who BTW mostly glom onto the republican party of unbridled hate / ignorance and then went in unprecedented droves to support / commit the ultimate hypocrisy in the form of Trump. maybe we'd have better scope if reading the many missing chapters from that book which was rewritten many times and published by men.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She was representing the defendant. Dromig, where else have we Catholics seen lawyers attack victims? I believe that would be from our bishop's attorneys in sexual abuse cases.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Christians in the United States aren't \"persecuted.\" That's obscene. Christianity is the dominant religion in the United States, and phony religiosity, contra the Constitution, is pervasive in government. Christians elsewhere in the world are actually persecuted: terrorized, driven from their homes and livelihoods, murdered. \n\nPerhaps you could make some distinctions.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The state does pay for the programs. The only psychobabble is found in the christian and other god religions based on nothing except air and created solely by human scam artists to gain control over other humans. More value and long lasting positive effects would be installing vocational and edcuational programs along with life training without the god babble. The limited successes of these programs are always excused as if any individual success is the result of the program, when, in fact, the same prisoners would succeed once they make up their mind to do so without any god connections.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Kevin Appleby,...said the bill \"is a nonstarter from a Catholic perspective, as it weakens the family unit and favors the rich over the poor. The President and Senators Cotton and Perdue responded with \"Excuse us, but you have us confused with someone who gives a s**t about the family unit and the poor\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Shallow men and women posing as good and faithful Catholics accusing this Pope of heresy do not deserve forgiveness. They deserve scorn and shame for creating and promoting their pompous divisiveness in the name of Christ!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"I don't have to refute anything according the the original rules you established.\" - then why are you demanding ten quotes? You either demand the quotes under the \"10 for every 1\" condition- or you don't: which one is it? AGAIN- for every quote you may think may refute the fact that our Founding Fathers made us a Christian nation through their Judeo-Christian paradigm- I HAVE found you 10 that say otherwise-- this is 10 quotes, by the way, given to you despite you having found ZERO that say otherwise. This claim has been upheld and you haven't refuted it: just say \"you're right,\" or refute them-- which one? When will you find at least a SINGLE quote that refutes this fact? This isn't a \"game,\" silly: I could give you 1 or I could give you 60: if you can't refute a SINGLE one, then how do you make it matter? It doesn't.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "the fact that you personally do not believe what the Church teaches does not alter the fact that it is a divine institution. For 2 thousand years the Church has proclaimed this truth and now you have suddenly decided to disagree with it. Doesn't it strike you as at least a little odd that after all this time you, solely upon your own authority have come to this conclusion and expect everyone to agree with you?\nIt seems as far as you are concerned those who profess and those who in their lifetimes professed the Catholic Faith in the Catholic Church only do or did so out of 'institutional loyalty'. It is highly unlikely that Satan would come up with that one, wanting Catholics to remain steadfast in their Faith is the last thing Satan desires, why do you think he inspired the abuse scandal?\nThe devil may be evil but he is not stupid.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "whats your point, piano2? since we have shootings, might as well invite more possibilities? I think its insane to say that Christians are just as much of a threat to society as Muslims.. it could be possible that we're so used to seeing bombings, shootings, terrorist acts, etc etc from radical Muslims that we just dont care about it anymore..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "When it comes to Spadaro: Any Catholic priest who can charge that the pro-life movement is built on \"hate\" has handed himself over to Satan,", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "So what do you propose to do with the 90%+ of Catholic couples who engage in a wide variety of sexual positions and practices, yet continue to attend church and receive the sacraments? \nWould you propose to excommunicate them or, as Fr. Martin has proposed, to engage them in dialogue? The gospels seem to say we should go out of our way to reach folks....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Jesus chose only Jews to be his disciples. Therefore, by the logic YOU follow, gentiles may not be ordained. Your argument is bogus. The institutional Church used to be honest in giving its reason for not ordaining women: Women were inferior to men. Now, it admits that this argument is invalid, even while hypocritically holding on to it.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The SMH has covered the Chaldean Christians being settled in Australia - all speaking English, holding down jobs etc...I can't quite understand why they don't take illiterate Muslim ones like Canada does...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "According to his Own Social media pages he was an Avowed Atheist who hated & Mocked Christians. If it was Just a \"Domestic Dispute\" as the Authorities claim then Why the heavy body count including children as young as 2 & 7? This was a Hate Crime Nothing less! I wonder how many days it will be before we discover he was also on anti-psychotic drugs?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Many thanks to AG Chin for continuing to oppose the Muslim ban. The new Know-Nothings pushing the ban will eventually enter the history books alongside the original scalawags who eventually lost the battle to keep my Irish Catholic ancestors out of the country.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I hear there's a struggle going on to preserve \"Christian civilization\". Putting Matthew 25:31-45 into practice will help preserve it.\n\nPreserving Christian civilization is much, much more than just insulting Muslims.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Pastoral needs of the faithful were served by abandoning the views that Jews were Christ killers, that separation of Church and state was only necessary in mixed societies and not all of them and that all non-Catholics were going to Hell. Actually, these sounds like doctrinal statements to me and they certainly override the offhand comment of the idiot Pope Pius IX that error has no rights. Individuals have rights. All of them. Not just Catholics. Further, his comments came from extreme hubris. Such triumphalism should be a thing of the past. It is better to have dialogue and seek truth than to use authority to foreclose progress (or to undo the Church's vincible ignorance of biology and sexuality - often for selfish reasons which have nothing to do with the glory of God).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You fell far short of making any excuse for the lack of values inherent in so-called 'christian' Republicans.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "1/2\n \nThat's not what Jesus taught; it's not what the early Christians believed or practiced. You were and are wrong about this. \"Turn the other cheek ...\" \nYou accuse Fr. Berrigan of not being serious and me of being silly and lacking the courage of my convictions. Yet you lack the integrity to acknowledge that you did not (and apparently do not) know much about how the church's teaching about war and violence changed after the first three centuries of the Christian era. Why not read some history and learn something? \nYou still haven't answered my question about Jesus dropping the bomb, yet you excoriate another writer for supposedly not answering yours: you demonstrate a deficit of courage and a surfeit of hypocrisy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "It's true Harper was a devout Christian and he was a disaster.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Taqiyya: the Islamic practice of deception to promo, defend and protect Islam from criticism by Infidels and Jews. Lying for Islam is a moral duty which is unique to all otehr religions and as intrinsic to Islam as charity is to Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"To suggest that the Quran more than the Bible or the Talmud promotes intolerance is simply unfounded.\"\n\nWhile it is true that the Jews and Christians disparaged one another, the extent of the condemnation of disbelievers (Jews/Christians/Polytheists) is the most persistent incessant theme of the Quran. The Quran is promoted as god's words pertinent for 'all people for all time'. \n\nWhile I reckon the relative amounts of disparaging 'the other guy' is an important comparison metric, the more important issue is intransigence as the Quran is promoted as being the very words of god. Rabbis had a crack at Jesus, and Christians had a crack at Jews - they were the words of adherents; but the Islamic cracking is being done by god's own words, allegedly. It's that authority that ingrains intransigence, the unacceptability of exposing Mohamedic foibles, the resulting imposition of Quranic values backed by Jihadi mentality and uber-sensitivity about 'Islamophobia', that causes so much concern.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Cal, you need to retire to the real world. What a bunch of malarky! I thought bearing false witness was a sin to christians? Evidently not a bad one since they do it so often.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I suppose you believe it is okay to kill your neighbor because he is wearing two different kinds of fabric too. That isn't violence, just good Christianity.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "She was shot in the head by fellow Muslims yet she forgives them enough to hold no grudge and remains in the faith. How bad does it have to get before they run for their lives? Many people have left the Christianity because of bad things done by the church, yet we are supposed to embrace Islam all the more regardless of such barbarism for Mohammad.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You must be wearing blinders. FOX news, Breitbart, National Inquirer, are fronts for the Right Wing Fascist groups like the Klu Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis, White Christian Supremacists and other hate groups", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Pandora: MikeAA is clearly fighting his owns demons, and pulling the orthodox people on these threads into his own hell; I refuse to be pulled into his confused mind filled with moral relativism. He keeps reiterating the cunard that \"Catholics\" should follow their own consciences, when we know that most \"Catholic\" consciences today are secularized and faulty. The Magisterium of the Church, including Holy Father Francis, expects Catholics to conform their consciences to authentic Church teaching. He just doesn't get it as it appears that he's willfully ignorant, possibly due to moral failures of his own impairing his thinking.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Too often, that balance was neglected, and the \"setting apart\" seemed to exist for itself, resulting in a pervasive, if always theologically flawed, Jansenism.\"\n\nThe setting apart has been a disaster for the Catholic Church. It has resulted in the creation of the corrupt clergy culture which enabled the sex abuse crisis.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Discrimination is discrimination-No matter who it' used on. Not really a good Christian attribute.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I'm a constitution believing, WHITE, Christian, Viet-Vet, gun owner. I believe that ALL immigration should be stopped for 100 years. Even the pro-ball players, even the actors/singers/performers, even the third cousins, even the engineers & technical experts. STOP ALL immigration until ALL Americans have a job.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "No one \"embraces\" abortion. The issue is legality. And of course, many, many Christians think abortion should remain legal. Just who are you to declare pro-choice Christians not \"truly\" Christian?\n\nIt's as if I said Trump supporters aren't \"truly American\" for supporting a Russian puppet for president.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Because supporting infanticide, homosexual marriage, the nanny state, and open borders is soooooooo Catholic.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Actually, I have a couple of problems with Fr Martin's book. He assumes that the hierarchy wants to have a respectful dialogue with the LGBT community. With a few exceptions, there seems little desire on the part of the bishops for such a dialogue. Much of the gay community has said, \"the hell with the Catholic Church, which has amply shown that they have not the slightest interest in accepting us\" and left.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I know the pronouns and the mnemonic which of course is meaningless. I can imagine how it would appeal to small minds and amuse those who for example would find Nic amusing despite the fact that he has played it all out now and is confined to endlessly repeating his silly parodies of the Catholic Faith. We all know what to expect from him now so now we can ignore him. \nHe has, alas, turned to bullying and harassing a certain poster and for the life of me I cannot understand how he gets away with it. Well I do know, I suppose. Most of you underneath your veneer of sophistication and pseudo-intellectualism don't want to argue or discuss you just get more pleasure out of hurling brickbats.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Mainstream Muslims should be denouncing and distancing themselves from the extremists among them who claim Allah demands that women hide their faces in public, instead of defending them, just as mainstream Christians denounce the white supremacists among them.\n\nThe extremists deserve to be \"marginalised\", not defended.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "We never were a white Christian country. I remember the phony, fake, stifling forced artificial piety of the 1950s. Religion in Canada has always declined from East to West and from South to North. The Frontier gave people a chance to get away from the control of Priests and Bishops. The only places in Canada that still have Lord's Day shopping restrictions are on the East Coast, where folks still go on and on about their \"Loyalist\" ancestors sticking with Insane King George.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I agree with everything you write, but for me, it's better to simplify. BLOTUS is a very, very bad man and always has been.\nI was recently scolded on this site for being un-Christian because I said that I despise the man; when in reality, it is the pinnacle of un-Christianity to actually be a despicable man.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The command \"Thou shalt not kill\" is a block of Swiss cheese - full of loop holes.\nChristians historically always rationalized killing as if it was only a suggestion.\nSuddenly, in this century it becomes an absolute!?\nIt is only a ruse against women making a choice.\nHistorically, men had no qualms in being relevant in taking life.\nAnd the RCC is run by men.\nIf women had parity in governance there might be a different interpretation.\nBut women will never have parity in the RCC, so men can rant against abortion but continue their killing sprees elsewhere.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"A devout Christian, Parker sees his work as a calling to protect women's health by respecting their right to make independent decisions about their pregnancies\"\nA devout Christian, James Henley Thornwell sees his work as a calling to protect slave owner's property by respecting their right to make independent decisions about their slaves.\n\n\"Parker...offers a Christian view of abortion, one informed by compassion and anchored in science.\"\nParker avoids debates with real Christians because he is a coward. He knows he would look stupid in any cross-examination of his thoughts and theology.\n\n\"Equally misleading is the reference to fetuses as 'babies' - something they are not.\"\nWhat's really misleading is your use of euphemistic terms to hide humanity: fetus is simply Latin for \"young, offspring, progeny, brood, baby.\" Disguising a human through such obfuscation is shameful. The Nazis did this too.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "A top post bashes an identified religious group, saying:\n\n\"I wonder how the evangelicals who support Trump deal with Matthew 25, where it say \"I was a stranger and you took me in\".\n\nWow.\n\nWe need to look into a mirror. Look, our immigration system is not set up on the idea of taking in desperate strangers. To the contrary, for decades our system has selectively vacuumed up well educated foreigners and rich foreigners. \n\nWe said yet to the doctors and nurses and professors and engineers from overseas. We said yes to the rich millionaires of Hong Kong and Shanghai. We wanted them, en masse.\n\nAs for the poor huddled poorly-educated and impoverished masses of strangers in Hong Kong and Beijing (and Mexico and South America and Africa), we mainly told them to go suck an egg, we do not want you in Canada.\n\nIt is breathtakingly offensive that we, with our stunningly selective immigration system that looks out selfishly for our interests, point fingers at American Evangelicals on this issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Hi Boots. In the Jewish faith there is a Biblical basis of the prohibition against homosexual acts. There isn't a prohibition against being inclined to homosexuality as long as one does not act on that inclination. The prohibition derives from two biblical verses I believe, Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13. The Jewish ideal family is a happy marriage and lots of children. The notion of a marriage not being between a man and a woman would have been entirely alien to rabbis of the past - likely so alien that it never crossed their minds. Finally, I suspect Christians share the same Biblical verses I cited. As for Muslims, I'm not sure which teachings they cite in this regard.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "DB - How do you respond to these:\n 1. Over 50% of Christians, and the vast majority of younger Christians, don't share your belief that providing services or selling goods to LGBTs amounts to facilitating sin (don't trust me, google it). So this can't be The Christian Position.\n 2. This argument was widely used by Christians to justify racial discrimination in the not too distant past, and there are undoubtedly some that still believe this. Do you support legalizing such discrimination because it is based on strongly held religious belief?\n 3. If we protect bakers and florists as you recommend, aren't we also allowing doctors to refuse to treat someone on the same grounds? Does it matter more if a patient dies because the Christian doctor refuses treatment to a gay man, or when the Muslim doctor refuses treatment to a Jewish man?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "On their video they have some window dressing: look, we're modern, we have balls and harbour cruises! But in reality they behave as if Vatican II never happened. Great fans of Raymond Burke - say no more!\nIt's worth noting that this is the only Catholic club* on campus that George Pell would support. The current archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, thinks Opus Dei is the ant's pants. So there will be no change under him! I very much doubt that he would allow a \"Catholic Jesus Seekers\" club where young people can talk about and explore issues the traddies think are settled. Nothing to stop any individuals from starting one up, but he probably wouldn't allow any clergy to support it. \n(*There is a Catholic Asian Students Society also, but I don't know much about them).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Thank you Virginia. First you seceded from the US to defend the rights of white human beings to take away the rights of black human beings. Now by you're protecting our country from people who look and pray differently from us (white Christian people), you're once again on the white side- oops, I mean right side. Unlike Hawaii you understand, as my friend Steve Bannon likes to say, Justice means just us. And that just because I said things like \"Islam hates the West\" and \"I'm calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the US\" there's absolutely no proof that I want to block all Muslims from coming to the US by blocking people from coming to the US from Muslim countries. No proof at all.\n\nNow if you'll excuse me I have to get Baron a genetic test and a white robe so he can come a thankkk you party Jeff sessions and I throwing for the great people of Virginia - well some of them at least.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You mock the saints with the words of a pop star? I am guessing you are not Catholic? What about the apostles, were they also fools for letting themselves get killed for dogma? Only John live to old age, every other of the men that Christ chose suffered torture and death for dogma. \n\nThese were the men that new the Son of Man closest, they ate, spoke and lived with God incarnate, their faith that led them to death and sainthood, was the same deposited to their successors who also suffered for their love of God, for the dogma they received as gifts from God.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Another whopping dose of heresy. How can you even claim to be a Catholic?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Paul Ryan just showed that he wants to deny health coverage to those who need it--he's actually quite elated, which is one of the saddest things I've ever seen from a Catholic. Who do you think is on the Medicaid and Medicare portions of what is going to be cut or cut out by 2026? \n\n\nThis bill won't fly with anyone with a conscience, but perhaps you just don't understand it well enough yet. And now that the GOP politicians have admitted that they didn't even read the few pages they are now supporting, it's apparent that they don't care if those who need it die in the process. They were too lazy to even work on it for the past six years. They are the death panels.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Catholic Priests and the Boy Scout leaders are just DISSCUSSTING, they all should be in prison FOREVER............", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I see that as arse-backwards. The Church's law comes from God, and so should be unchangeable. But the Church can help meet the people where they are and show them the way to salvation (i.e, how to comply with Church teaching), not moving the goalpost of salvation closer to them. Why have a Church at all if a degenerating culture drives what it teaches?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "They're also full of spit and vinegar and have a zeal for Christ and His Church that none of you can match. Like I said, if I was in your shoes, I'd go become Episcopalian or something.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The clergy blaspheme the Holy Pulpit; exploiting its high dignity; ....communists 'preaching' high treason against the Nations, the sedition of globalism. These have transformed themselves into evil POLITICIANS and have made themselves fair-game for ridicule. The vatican has become hillary clinton wrapped in a cassock; ....many authentic catholics now refer to jorge bergoglio as 'the vicar of george soros'. Even EWTN is beginning to anticipate a schism, and no Christian is going to be following team bergoglio ['the forces of evil'] headlong into this apostasy. [why hasn't this apostate vatican defrocked 'fr' tony flannery? ..maybe because he is spiritual-brother to this 'pope'; even now denying the Resurrection while, professing the essential things like climate change!]", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Boston Globe 2003:\n\n\"At least 789 children and probably more than 1,000 have been sexually abused by 250 priests and other church workers in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston since 1940, according to a 16-month investigation by the Massachusetts attorney general that was made public today.\nThe attorney general, Thomas F. Reilly, described the clergy sexual abuse scandal that has rocked Boston since early 2002 as ''the greatest tragedy to children in the history of the commonwealth.''", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Trump's principal opponent was, as far as we could tell, opposed to the free exercise of religion, especially for Catholics, and her advisors conspired against the Church by astroturfing nominal-Catholic dissenter organizations, one of which thought it could bring the Church down altogether in some Arab Spring-style collapse.\n\nBut you choose racism as a motive for Catholics who voted for Trump. Why is that?\n\nFWIW, before someone says something wild: I didn't vote for either of them.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Nothing shocking from you, Nora -- more left-wing feminist drivel.\n\nYou were told years ago to join the Unitarians, where you'd be happy. You could even be a minister.\n\nIt's win-win: you'd be happier, and Catholics would be happier, too ! LOL", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "because he can't, never can. he just keeps regurgitating the \"gospel\" according to Opus Dei, you know... black is white, war is peace, nuclear bombs are good talking things out is bad, that sort of thing. you know, all of those things Jesus never told us to do. you also need to remember, that the founder of OD was a major fascist and good buddy of Franco, war is a big part of the fascist ideology, none of that sissy turning other cheek stuff like that Palestinian peacenik Jesus taught.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Quite honestly, I think they do. We should never forget what can happen if we do not remain vigilant. For example, In many ways, ISIS is following the Nazi playbook in trying to exterminate jews (and Christians for that matter). But yet, many here still believe that it can't happen on a large scale...Maybe something along the lines of them being a J.V.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I have never read such a load of drivel before. Peoples and \"nations\" have been exploring and moving around the world and \"taking\" land for eons, well before the catholic church. Even the so-called \"first nations\" have driven other \"first nations\" from their land. I am waiting for some clear headed person to follow the money transferred to the \"first nations/indigenous\" to see where there really is a lack of funding. As for dealing \"nation to nation\", I believe there are over 300 entities calling them selves \"first nations\" and they cannot agree on anything, so there is little likelihood of anything getting done in trying to \"negotiate\" a trans Canada project with \"first nations\" as A would agree but B next in line would disagree, etc, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "What Diocesean media...most of those outlets have been closed to input for years...not just from wacky minded abortion loving Catholics, but from the initialed people you mention above. \n\nI agree totally with your last sentence. Ours shut down too, when someone insinuated abortion was acceptable. \n\nI don't think that many conservative Catholics spend that much time around the diocese and parish offices, too busy having children, doing carpool, scouts, or working two jobs. \n\nI don't even know what a Cappa Magna (or a CM admirer) is!\n\nWith regard to reconciliation....it doesn't make a difference how many initials he or she had after his or her name...if he/she is not teaching what the Church teaches on a topic like reconciliation, it should find its way to the trashcan.\n\nIt's the bishop's job to teach. Not even his priests have authority to teach outside of his approval/reach. The don't have any power to teach in the eyes of the Church. They receive it from the Bishop.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Republican party, corporate media and enabler Democrats were never held responsible for starting a war based on lies.\n\nWe had obvious forgeries being passed off as evidence, by the corporate media who Republicans pretend is liberal.\n\nThey supported Bush's wars every step of the way, and they will do it again for Trump.\n\nI am truly hoping that the Republicans that voted for Trump really did want to drain the swamp. \n\nI thought that maybe there were some Christians out there that felt bad about supporting that war based on lies which resulted in the deaths of so many innocents, mothers, babies, pregnant women!\n\nI prayed that there were Republicans that cared about the debt and the waste of Trillions of dollars. I assumed they cared because of the way they want to cut off the poor, ill and disabled in this country.\n\nWe shall see if they have real values or are just blind followers.\n\nGod Help Us!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "97% of Irish citizens call themselves Catholic. And that nation voted for gay marriage overwhelingly. That is a wonderful thing, beautiful & kind. African-Americans are 97% Christian. (only 3% of blacks claim to be atheist according to a poll taken in July 2017 by ABC News). According to this same poll, 83% Americans say they are Christian. \nIf you look at people like Jimmy & Rosalyn Carter (and their many, many compatriots) whose foundation Eradicated river blindness, and Habitat for Humanity (a Christian organization), and all the Christian & Jewish charities that feed the poor, you see what good comes from kind theist workers. The article says Nothing about what these atheists are doing to help the poor.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"Time to quit living in the past.\"\nWhat are you talking about? There are an estimated 80,000 residential school survivors living today. The feds have paid out claims to about 34,000 living victims, costing taxpayers more than $3-billion.\nThe hypocrisy is stunning.\nIf one of your children had been sexually or physically abused at school, I do not think you would be saying -- \"Oh, let's just let it go, time to move on.\"\nThe fact that the victims are non-white and a marginalized group in our country makes it so much easier to hold that position though, doesn't it?\nThe Catholic Church has spent billions settling sexual assault claims worldwide.\nAlthough the $3 billion out-of-court settlement allowed Ottawa and several churches to escape a handful of class-action lawsuits, Trudeau would have every right to ask the Pope for some of that money back.\nIt ain't coming out of his gold embroidered pockets. The RC church has billions in assets.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The Christ would no doubt be in of the \"Basket of Deplorables\".", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Wow what an ignorant comment...as if women who use NFP don't have jobs or educations. Or there is something wrong with a mother staying home to raise kids instead of sending them to day care if the family is able to. You are aware that sometimes it is more expensive to put children in day care than for one parent to stay home, and some parents would rather be with their children rather than work. \n\nFor you faithful Catholic women would need not apply to this committee.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "He's a deranged individual who was easily influenced to believe that his god not only condones killing, but commands it. God does not operate in this way. But many Christians claim to have marching orders from their god, too. And yes, they have killed in that god's name. The Crusades and the Inquisition are two, good examples.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Greetings...I think finally Holy Father Francis gets it that....sexual abuse is a crime and not just a scandal! All those victims whose souls have been inflicted with shame.....guilt....and even condemnation are to this day still dealing with this! Pope Francis should personally meet and pray with the abused....and Cardinal O Malley should be demoted for his terrible running of this do nothing commission!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think if we are honest, we must admit \"top-down\" meddling is only bad when it's \"our side\" that's being messed with centrally. Thus, the validity of your noting Cardinal Burke's hypocrisy in selective approaches to investigations. \n\nBut progressives also have to admit inconsistencies in supporting/decrying over-zealotry in hierarchy involvement with issues better handled \"locally\"--whether that be in a marriage or the Knights of Malta or Nuns on the Bus or a Catholic university.\n\nWe must be very careful not to set standards for others we don't accept for ourselves. Because those reasons for doing so will one day come back to bite us when we complain about Church intrusiveness and lack of trust.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LOL!\n\nWhere are you Kool-Aid parrots getting your propaganda?\n\nNRA membership is at a record high and growing. Your technical ignorance on firearms is too vast to address.\n\nBy the way, even a passing student of history knows Muslims have been doing this since before the invention of gunpowder. I wonder if the dumbest of hippies will ever pull their heads out and realize white male Christian gun owners are the least of their problems.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The resignation of the two key lay people on the Vatican commission on sex abuse says it all. Pope Francis never should have accepted the resignations. Instead he should have extolled them and gone after the Curia cardinals who impeded them every chance they got. The church has no credibility when it comes to teaching sexual morality.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You are of course correct in that the Church has traditionally placed a much higher emphasis on moral teachings, especially sexual and procreative, than it has on social justice teachings. But, this is the exact opposite of Jesus' actual teachings which emphasized social justice far more than sexual and procreative morality. As for the death penalty, it's always puzzled me that Catholics worship a God unjustly executed by the Roman Empire, but instead of being appalled by the very idea of state executions, they instead applaud them. I like to think that's why the whole bit about Barabbas is in the Gospels. It's there to point out he average mob really gets into those executions..guilty or innocent, someone better die.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Please send this bible thumping quack back where she came from.\n\nSomeone who thinks everyone in school needs a bible needs their head examined", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "- Many people have supported the womens' allegations.\n- Therefore, from the point of view of Moore and his supporters, they are all liars.\n- Using scripture to defend and rationalize Moore's behavior is a sign of sickness, spiritual and mental sickness.\n- Fundamentalist Christianity is a form of religious fanaticism.\n- Moore will continue to receive support from Christian fanatics.\n- Their arrogance goes before them, and their hubris.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes indeed, withholding donations is the best and only way to get the bishops/Vatican to pay attention. Because the bottom line is it's all about the bloody money -forget about 'saving souls' -they could care less. The Charlotte diocese tends to be rather right wing and monied from my experience with visiting there. The huge St. Mathews church is like a mega church - the pastor is very condescending and gives terrible homilies. He has a captive audience as churches are so spread out. The audience consists of transplanted Northerners for the most part. Plus they have a school so everyone sends their children there as it is very much in vogue to do so.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I think to a degree, but I think that hatred of the left is going to continue to hold them together. The religious feel that the left wants to make being Christian illegal or something. The gun guys feel that the left want to outlaw all guns. The fiscal conservatives feel that with the left, Soviet style communism is only a week away. The social conservatives are afraid the left will mandate gay weddings or abortion or something. That fear is going to keep these disparate groups together, not out of a common belief system, but out of fear. The last 8 years, they had a boogeyman to rally against, but take him away and they still have their other fears to keep them together.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I find it interesting that when a black person is the killer, the subject of race is automatically raised. When a Muslim is the shooter, of course, the first consideration is to label him a \u201cterrorist\u201d. When a white guy is the mass killer he becomes a \u201clone wolf\u201d or the generalized \u201cgunman\u201d, or a \u201cdistraught\u201d individual\u2026even depicted by the President as some sort of abstract \u201cpure evil\u201d a \u201csick INDIVIDUAL\u201d.\nThe point of the editorial is NOT to deny that black people kill other people, or that there is no such thing as an \u201cislamic terrorist\u201d. The point is how knee-jerk the characterization of shooters has become based upon race or religion or ethnicity. \nWe white American Christians get a pass when one of our own goes on a killing spree. He\u2019s a \u201clone wolf\u201d. NOT one of us. Of course he\u2019s NOT one of us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Ignorance of and inexperience with a subject are not considered problems by those who formulate Catholic Church policy.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You don't believe in Catholicism. You are not Catholic and are not looking to be reconciled with the Church or Catholicism.\n\nWhat you do want apparently is to come to a site purportedly of a Catholic mindset and tear down the Church and Catholicism? Oh, my....", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You write:\n\n\"I wonder how the evangelicals who support Trump deal with Matthew 25, where it say \"I was a stranger and you took me in\".\n\nWow.\n\nWe Canadians need to look into a mirror. Look, our immigration system is not set up on the idea of taking in desperate strangers. To the contrary, for decades our system has selectively vacuumed up well educated foreigners and rich foreigners. \n\nWe said yes to the doctors and nurses and professors and engineers from overseas. We said yes to the rich millionaires of Hong Kong and Shanghai. We wanted them, en masse.\n\nAs for the poor huddled poorly-educated and impoverished masses of strangers in Hong Kong and Beijing (and Mexico and South America and Africa), we mainly told them to go suck an egg, we do not want you in Canada.\n\nIt is breathtakingly offensive and arrogant an hypocritical that we, with our stunningly selective immigration system that looks out selfishly for our interests, point fingers at American Evangelicals on this issue.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Today's outrageous Executive Order focused on Islamic Terrorists from seven Muslim majority countries must be a source of celebration to Tulsi. What a Trump triumph! The \"Keep Out\" and \"Go directly to Jail\" signs are now official. \n\nThis is an anti-Muslim action which had little to do with terrorism. It's an American retreat from the challenges of armed conflict and refugees in the world today. \n\nAre Buddhists next, Mazie? Jews, Schatz? Are Hindus on the list, Congresswoman Gabbard, or are they exempt as honorary white Christians?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I wonder if these religious types ever considered whether their acts that turn their LGBT sisters and brothers away from Christ may not be judged well when they meet their Maker. I can hear them now, \"but it says so in the Bible.\" Really???", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "The SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center) is one of the United States' most effective campaigners against hate groups. Some of their findings have been challenged, but their main opponents are the many hate groups they have won significant legal battles against, including: White Patriot Party, United Klans of America, White Aryan Resistance, Christian Knights of the KKK, Aryan Nations, and Imperial Klans of America.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "There is NO god. He's just an invention for mind control and money making by the Catholic Church. Just a commercial product. Had to laugh at the ending of the original series of Planet of the Apes where the hero played by Charles Heston rages in anger at the albino human race when he discovers they are worshipping an atomic bomb. He was so enraged that he pushed the missile down and everyone dies. Then his lovely topless girlfriend rides off into the Hawaiian sunset on a romantic sandy beach happy that her boyfriend taught her the lost joys of sex and bore her a baby to continue the human race devoid of religion and violence. Unforgettable. :)", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Courage can serve a distinct group of Catholics, but not all non-heterosexual Catholics who are not called to celibacy. The mistake is to act as if Courage was the right answer for all LGBTQI Catholics. It isn't. \n\nWe are not all \"called\" to either heterosexual marriage or total suppression of sexual expression. And not all those called to heterosexual marriage are called to parenthood, and certainly not to unending unplanned parenthood.\n\nTime for a whole new sexual ethic, a whole new understanding of the role of sex in human life and loving expression.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Yes, it does Allie, I'm sure those Catholic priests are glad that those alter boys lost their virginity to them instead of those Mandans where they'd probably contract the HitLAIRy bobble head STD and suffer from life long bobbling every time they hear Trump's name. LOL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLoVjvBL5Po", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Eh... Muslim, Christian same thing with different logos. Religion is 100% a social construct, unlike sexual orientation or gender which is innate. Your faith is the ultimate \"lifestyle choice\", and its high time your strongly held superstitious beliefs took a back seat to reason.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Dear, dear Max de, There is a type of Catholic, a kind of catholicism that says that the state must enforce church rules. That catholicism used to turn over people who disagreed to the king to be mutilated, evicerated, burnt, tied to four horses, etc. That is the church in the \"public square\"? What would a church under Donald Trump \"protection\" look like? \nWhy not \"defeat\" a Clinton \"pro abortion\" policy by advocating and even espousing the improved education, employment, and social standards for those vulnerable girls and women. I include here the men who empregnate them. Why not stand as adamantly against any and all inequality of women \"...in the church and in the world\"? Why not stand with uncompromising will against the sexual abuse of women and girls, (and boys mind you) wherever it happens, especially by people in authority and by those self-professed abusers who seek public office ?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Frances, the official answer of the Church to their priests who father children has always been to give up the woman so that the man can remain a priest. Children were not even mentioned or second thoughts. So now the hierarchy does not like the heat because, they believe in their own royalty. They continue to believe that they are seen by God as holier than the laity so their horrible behavior has always been forgiven and kept silent and often the silence has been justified by the sanctity of confession. Now that many lay Catholics have years of education, more so than most priests, this misbehavior by those who consider themselves some how above the laity is seen for what it is---- Pure hypocrisy... If the current hierarchy wishes to have any self respect, they will reform their own clericalism. FAT CHANCE! All their commissions are just an attempt to spread blame back to the laity and further obfuscate their own responsibilities in support of their own myth.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Bill, I truly do not understand the concept of 'faith alone' being sufficient for salvation. If one claims to 'have faith' (i.e. is a baptized Christian) but then goes forth and does all kinds of awful deeds (unfaithful to wife, beats his kids, steals money from his employer, is racist, sexist and just plain mean -- how is it that person can count on 'salvation' while a kind, generous and trustworthy agnostic is NOT going to heaven? Doesn't Scripture tell us, 'By their fruits you shall know them'? Remember, 'faith without works is dead.'", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Agreed, ATF. Church is the last place where women should be divided from men, and where men feel entitled to define and confine women. Soon there simply won't be any women to confine anyway because the contrast between the Church and the rest of the world will be so embarrassingly large, if it isn't already. \n\nAt a Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation meeting in Rome last December, Spanish theologian Emma Mart\u00ednez Oca\u00f1a said, \u201cIt is the triumph of patriarchy to believe what they tell us about ourselves.\u201d She went on to say that everybody should dare to dream of a very different Church. \n\nI believe it was a German group that appealed to the Vatican last year to stop talking about women. If they were going to do nothing else, just stop spewing the nonsense. I fear there is more silly talk coming. If a theology of women shows up, get out your umbrella. More talk about our specialness will not undo this travesty.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "You posted these questions:\n\n\u201cWHY IS THIS A STORY NOW?\u201d It\u2019s a part of history, and\u2013good, bad or indifferent\u2013history matters. Sometimes we can learn from it (present company excluded).\n\n\u201cWHAT\u2019S THE CONNECTION?\u201d To what?\n\n\u201cSO CHARLIE\u2026(W)HAT WOULD HAPPEN IF CHRISTIANS REFERRED TO HOMOSEXUALS AS THE \u201cGAY LEFT?\u201d\n\nThis question is addressed to Mr. Wohlforth, therefore I\u2019m not obliged to answer it.\n\n\u201cWONDER WHAT THE LEFTISTS WOULD SAY??\u201d Ditto. I\u2019m not a \u2018leftist\u2019. I neither know nor care.\n\n\u201cWELL, I JUST SAID IT.\u201d\n\nShould we applaud? You\u2019re always saying something. Problem is most of it is bakwaas (that\u2019s Urdu for green, steaming, odoriforous matter that periodically drops from the south end of a northbound male bovine mammal).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Secrets. New Mexico, it seems, was a kind of ground zero for Catholic Clergy Sex Abusers. The fallout. The cover up is, was, and always will be about the fallout, will always be about keeping secrets secret. I think this time of reckoning for mostly well-meaning, but complicit, non-abuser clergy and religious, is upon us. Many are in their eighties and nineties... Speak up now about what you know, or remember, in your own lives, in your own communities. It's never too late to walk a path of healing. You never know what crippled souls might stumble in out of the silence, to a new life in the light of friendships lost so long ago, now found.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "(1) Your hero, McCarthy, got nothing right. (2) Separation of Church and state is an excellent idea. I don't believe that you would approve of the state if it were run by, say, dominionist Protestants. Freedom of Religion is good for you, personally. (3) Catholics should dissent from Humanae Vitae, which is a terrible piece of moral theology, written by someone whose knowledge of the subject approached zero. (4) Red baiting is the tendency of conservatives to pretend that anyone even mildly to their left is a communist. Pandora, for example, called Barack Obama an extreme leftist, which is laughable. (5) Jefferson may have been anti-Catholic, but dismissing him is like dismissing calculus or . Newtonian mechanics because Isaac Newton was also anti-Catholic. (6) Silencing is also what Stalin did to those who disagreed with him.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "From what you have written, it seems that you are believing the lies of the bishops, that the sexual abuse and rape of children by priests, brothers, nuns is something that happened in the past and is no longer happening. That is what the pope and bishops want us to believe. When we reflect on the fact that the bishops have lied to the faithful for many years and have covered up the rape of innocent children by clergy worldwide as a policy from the popes, who have deliberately chosen to demand secrecy and denial of the truth by the bishops under threat of removal from office, who have deliberately chosen to ignore the command of Jesus to protect the innocence of children, who have allowed the priesthood to remain a haven for the sexual predators, it seems clear to me that you are still naively believing the lies of the bishops. I too believed the lies of the bishops and popes until I became a victim/survivor of sexual abuse by a Carmelite priest. \nPeace, Dr Rosemary Eileen McHugh", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Islamic rulers (Ottomans, among others) came up with this idea first. I guess that makes it okay because they imposed it on whitey (Balkan Christians, and presumably any other infidels that came under their rule).", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Justin Trudeau.\n\n\u201cFor someone to start questioning my own faith and accusing me of being a bad Catholic, is something that I really take issue with. My own personal faith is an extremely important part of who I am and the values that I try to lead with.\u201d\n\nMr. Trudeau added that neither he nor his father saw any incongruity between enshrining the rights of gays and lesbians, for example, and the tenets of Catholicism. He notes that he is personally very opposed to abortion, but still believes nobody can tell a woman what she should do with her body. - globeandmail\n\nOh dear, do you not know who your PM is?\n\nHow embarrassing. How awkward.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "That's really big of this church to extend amnesty to the victims. The Catholic church has been doing the same thing with their pedophile priests who sexually molest innocent little boys for years. Nothing like organized religion.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LittleBear,\nYour post reminds me of a number of those highly-touted (by the bishops) abuse oversight committees that were formed to 'restore trust' in the bishops. Quite a number of them quit en masse when they realized that their bishops were simply going around them: not submitting all the cases to them, handling new stuff \"on the side,\" etc...\n\nEarlier, I spoke of the wisdom that comes from our life experience, as perhaps the real source of the Divine in the church today. The problem (as ATF and others have pointed out), there is virtually nothing in the church that solicits that wisdom. Worse however, is that to even be able to, under the current setup, requires money. How many of the poor have the wherewithal to fly to Rome, or even take a day (or night) off to attend a meeting? Just like is the case in politics, for the most part the system is rigged in favor of the more affluent. \n\nYou're right about the power of a local pastor to control or ignore parish councils, etc.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Did a quick search of Tupola and she was against the same sex marriage law in Hawaii. That is not a deal breaker, but she needs to channel the late John Burns and say she is deeply religious and neither agrees nor understands same sex marriage, HOWEVER she will clearly state and back up her words to not allow her personal religious beliefs to get in the way of her decisions as governor of Hawaii. Burns was a devout Catholic but allowed abortion rights in Hawaii to become law. IF Tupola is like Aiona & runs her political campaign based on religious fanaticism of anti gay, anti same sex marriage, anti immunizations and choose a paster running mate as lieutenant governor, she might as well give up now like McDermot as she will lose.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If a person came into the Scouts promoting Pornography or heterosexual group sex they would be banned or asked to leave as well. The bottom line, Ducky, is to keep your sex life in your own bedroom and it will never become an issue. As a matter of fact someone here at one time asked me about Christians and Sex, so I explained (in a general sense) my personal Sex Life and the Usual Suspects (Crum, Skpeticat, Norstog etc.) went off on me for sharing things they did not need to know. You guys are always so liberal, until it clashes with your personal bias.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Let's say it will be expand the watch list to Christians, Jews, your grandfather who has Alzheimer's. Where would it stop Hmmmmm?", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "$2k!!! Jesus Christ. If this is considered affordable housing I'd like to know who makes this much money and can feed my two boys at the same time! Ridiculous.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "LGBT shouldn't have any rights for their cause in our country.. They are doing their best to push their beliefs on non believing LGBT.... They cry and have temper tantrums to make people feel bad about not supporting them.... Well I don't support them and they reap what they sew.... and will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. God loves those that obey Him and keep his commandments and have faith in His Son Jesus Christ..", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "If you are going to attempt to ridicule others, the least you could do is get it right. Genesis (the book in the Bible that contains the creation) clearly establishes the sun was created before the earth. You know, the whole \"Let there be light\" thing? Just a bit interesting that both the Bible's creation narrative and the Big Bang Theory start with the same event, wouldn't you say? You would acknowledge that the Bible was the first to chronicle the event, whether or not a person's belief in a Creator ends up being valid, wouldn't you? FWIW, the chronology of events are the same in the Bible and in evolutionary theory, just in case you want some knowledge to replace your ignorance.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "One man's perceived willful ignorance is another man's faith. Theologians think that if they study long and hard enough that they will discover all of the \"right\" answers to the thousands of questions that the arise from our sources of religion. It's a fool's errand from which Jesus Christ relieved us.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Perhaps the Catholics in the \"underground church\" in China have different ideas from this academic over what is the proper stance of the Chinese Church...", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "These politically correct politicians who claim to be \"catholic\" are phoney Catholics in name only. They could be even worse--wolves in sheep's clothing. Agents of the devil serving his intent to destroy souls and undermine the Church. Certainly their selfserving practice must be a grave risk to the youth who are vulnerable; and they only undermine and create confusion about the Truth. I wonder if bishops should excommunicate them for 2 spiritual benefits: 1. To protect souls who are weak and vulnerable because of them and their position of power and influence in the world. 2. To rebuke and convert the politicians to humbly return to face Jesus with true love and humility. Recognizing Him as the Lord and King which He is; restoring their own roles as Sons and Daughters of the Father.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Based on your previous posts, one assumes that \"(t)hese horrible young men\" are what used to be called \"Catholic priests\".\n\nAs with the minority who did not adapt \"very well to changes post Vatican II\", most parishioners will adapt just fine to the swing of the pendulum towards a more centrist polity and practice.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "Unity is God's will) for gays and straights. Complementarity is a conclusion, not an argument. If you quit thinking of gay sex as icky, it will start to click. The institute for marriage tried that argument in Perry and it was not coherent to anyone who heard it. This issue is settled civilly and resistence to it from the Church will be ended from within by gay couples, their families and gay priests and bishops. There is ample justification for when they make their move to do so, just as clerical celibacy and a male priesthood will also fall.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "\"He is a bad person.\"\n\nI can think of a lot of reasons why Trump is a bad person. Making some rich and powerful people feel mildly uncomfortable at a white-tie dinner isn't one of them. And no, insulting Hillary Clinton at a white-tie charity dinner is not insulting the Catholic Church anymore than insulting rich conservative converts in an e-mail is insulting the Church.", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"} -{"text": "I don't think I can picture Christ ever saying \"good riddance\" to anyone. I could see the Pharisees saying such. In fact, I cannot picture Christ passing judgement on anyone as the RCC has done through it's teachings for the divorced and remarried, those on birth control, gay people and women in the church. \n\nI think there is plenty to discuss!", "gold": "False", "sub_split": "non-toxic"}